The Difference Between Religiousness and Faith in Flannery O`Connor`s Revelation - Book Report/Review Example

The Difference Between Religiousness and Faith in Flannery O`Connor`s “Revelation” The short story “Revelation” by O`Connorexamines one of the most delicate aspects of faith in God – its deep essence and verity. It seems that for most religions adherence to certain rituals and literal following the Scriptures can be enough for considering oneself a true believer but everything is not as simple as it seems. But even interpretation of the Holy texts requires knowledge and ability to grasp the deep meaning behind metaphors. Religion is just the coverage of faith while what real faith means is the major question for all those who believe in God. The principle character of O`Connor`s “Revelation” Mrs. Turpin seems to be perfect Catholic woman at first glance. She works a lot, earns her own bread, praises God and addresses him often. She is married and in communication with people she remains pleasant and grateful. Nevertheless, her religiousness seems artificial and superficial as it serves as coverage to her arrogance and judgmental character. On the example of Mrs. Turpin the author claims that religiousness does not have anything in common with real spirituality and grace, and love. The episode with the main character makes the reader understand that sometimes people can fool themselves about being religious and living the right life; however, their absence of faith will inevitably lead to the painful revelation. Powerful inner transformation happens gradually to the main heroine-in the beginning of the story she is completely confident and happy with her life. Mrs. Turpin appears in the waiting room of the hospital where she comes with her husband, and it seems that she is the most pleasant and agreeable of all the patients. The first thing to notice is that Mrs. Turpin wants to create an image of well-educated woman with good manners: she makes nice jokes and instantly starts small talks with other visitors, however, she chooses her interlocutors very carefully. The pleasant woman even makes a compliment to Mrs. Turpin about her good disposition which is exactly what the main heroine aims to portray. However, after a brief acquaintance with the public Mrs. Turpin takes to her favorite pastime – judging people by appearance, level of income, and some visible traits of character. This helps the heroine to construct and maintain a “simple” hierarchy in her mind: “On the bottom of the heap were most colored people, not the kind she would have been if she had been one, but most of them; then next to them -- not above, just away from -- were the white-trash; then above them were the home-owners, and above them the home-and-land owners, to which she and Claud belonged, Above she and Claud were people with a lot of money and much bigger houses and much more land” (O`Connor 6). Such “simple” classification allows Mrs. Turpin making conclusions about the person in a several minutes and then adjusting her attitude and behavior according to the place of the person in this classification. It is shocking how Mrs. Turpin can simply neglect some people and be chatty with others depending on their class and place in society. There are people in the room whom she seems not to notice – the old lady with a dirty and ill-mannered boy, and a fat girl with acned face whom Mrs. Turpin nevertheless sympathizes for being ugly. It is interesting how this attitude to people is totally justified in Mrs. Turpin`s mind: not a hint of doubt about the wrongfulness of this division ripens in her. Moreover, her narcissism needs constant fuel: she aims to know and prove herself that she is better than others that is why every thought is finished with the conclusion about her own perfection. That is how she distorts the basic law of Christianity is violated: loving others ad treating them equally. Her adoration of self and judgmental and picky attitude to the rest is what makes her faith rotten but her visible success prevents her from seeing it. As the action takes place in the times when black were dominated by white people, and that was one of the basic sources of narcissistic pleasures for the main character: feeling superior on the basis of racial difference, feeling superior as a class on the basis of skin color. Mrs. Turpin skillfully turns the small talk about the weather into the desired course: land possession and niggers. These topics permit to underline higher social status and to demonstrate it to the others. She boasts her feigned grace towards niggers: “When they come in the morning, I run out and I say, ‘How yal this morning?’ and when Claud drives them off to the field I just wave to beat the band and they just wave back." And she waved her hand rapidly to illustrate” (O`Connor 8). However, Mrs. Turpin does not really consider niggers to be worthy humans, which becomes evident from the episode on a farm. When in the end of the day she meets the labors of her cotton field she tells them about the episode in the hospital in order to receive their compliments. Mrs. Turpin knows niggers` flattering nature and manipulates them consciously to receive some sympathy. However the heroine still remains arrogant in her thoughts being pleasant in her words: “You could never say anything intelligent to a nigger. You could talk at them but not with them” (O`Connor 14). Being in elevated and excited with her mood Mrs. Turpin finally voices her judgmental, egoistic thoughts aloud with almost stupid sincerity: “If its one thing I am ... its grateful. When I think who all I could have been besides myself and what all I got, a little of everything, and a good disposition besides, I just feel like shouting, Thank you, Jesus, for making everything the way it is! It could have been different!" (O`Connor 16). Such uncovered flattering to oneself and such sense of grandiosity allows concluding that Mrs. Turpin considers herself a goddess, someone having-it-all, able to judge people, choose the attitude to them, despise them. Her behavior proves that she violates one of the basic commandments of Christianity: having no other Gods ad creating no other Gods. And the whole issues suggests that the woman knows only that side of Christianity which appeals to her denying its essence. However, living in illusion often leads to unpleasant crash with reality. In case of Mrs. Turpin her illusion of being superior to the rest of the world covered with her politeness and smiles is ruined by a humble girl. It is worthy to notice, that the only person who has a name in this story apart from the Turpins is Mary Grace, ugly, reserved girl with eyes filled of “peculiar light, an unnatural light like night road signs give” (O`Connor 10). This symbol instantly hints the girl’s ability to transmit important messages, and Mrs. Turpin understands it on the subconscious level. After noticing what others seem not to notice in Mrs. Turpin and unable to stomach disguised irony, pomposity, and hollowness of Mrs. Turpin the girl reading the book “Human Development” throws it at the heroine and explains this fact by a single phrase: “"Go back to hell where you came from, you old wart hog". O`Connor often compares her characters to animals, and in this story we meet with the image of the hog. The animal is often perceived as dirty and “gruntin and a-rootin and a-groanin “(O`Connor 10). Mrs. Turpin mentions hogs in the dialogue proving that her hogs are cleaner because her husband washes them often. Mary Grace chooses the most accurate message to Mrs. Turpin comparing her to the hog, well-washed, clean looking but in love with mud anyway. In the final episode after girl`s attack and accusation the woman even goes to the pig parlor and sprays them madly in order to wash away the dirt from her own soul as now she associates herself with these creatures. Lying to herself and covering her inability to love and sympathize people regardless of their appearance, social status, and level of income makes Mrs. Turpin`s religions hollow and superficial. This bright image of hell and a hog strikes the woman and she plunges into thinking trying to realize why she was chosen as a victim. Mary Flannery O`Connor admitted that violence played crucial role in her works as it was capable to return her characters to reality (Simpson 21). And often for the heroes to understand and to realize something a serious impact is needed. The author did not wish to separate the spiritual from material declaring that "supernatural" is present in "concrete" and becomes obvious under certain conditions. However, she often placed the heroes in paradoxical, deliberately hypertrophied situations, between the worlds real and unreal. In the works of OConnor reality is indissolubly merged with strangeness, whims, grotesque, absurdity, ugliness, perversions and madness, and faith in God and Christian mysticism often play a defining role for the characters in the forms of enlightenment and revelations (Simpson 34). After painful reflections, anger, and denial, Mrs. Turpin gets pure revelation – she has a vision of the divine procession: “Upon it a vast horde of souls were tumbling toward heaven. There were whole companies of white trash, clean for the first time in their lives, and bands of black niggers in white robes, and battalions of freaks and lunatics shouting and clapping and leaping like frogs. And bringing up the end of the procession was a tribe of people whom she recognized at once as those who , like herself and Claud, had always had a little of everything and the God-given wit to use it right” (O`Connor 24). For Mrs. Turpin the truth that God does not judge people by appearance or income as she does, and it is only the ability to love and to be graceful that matters come a little bit late. But not too late. Mrs. Turpin realizes that for heaven and hell her superficial waving to the niggers and quality of her house would matter nothing. The author suggests that Mrs. Turpin receives a chance of spiritual redemption by changing her personality. Mr. Turpin seems to be painfully struck by the understanding of her false religiousness and dirty inner world. She needed to feel the strike physically to understand its transcendental meaning. Therefore, the difference between external beauty and inner beauty, religiousness and real faith, real understanding of religion is revealed in the short story. It is clear that the more person tries to fool himself/herself and hide behind illusion, the deeper he/ she can go in his/her wrong belief and ignorance. That is why deep thinking and analysis and telling truth to oneself is desperately needed in such a difficult and puzzled concepts as religion and faith. Works Cited O`Connor, F. Revelation. 1965. Retrieved from: http://unfoldingflanneryoconnor.blogspot.com/2011/05/full-text-revelation-by-flannery.html Simpson, M. Flannery O`Connor. A Biography. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2005. Print. Read More