Flannery O Connor's Short Story Revelation

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“Directly across the table, the ugly girl’s eyes were fixed on Mrs. Turpin as if she had some very special reason for disliking her” (O’Connor 455). Flannery O’Connor’s short story “Revelation” presents a self-absorbed woman’s view of the world around her with her own strategies of determining social categories with the aid of a grand deception. Mrs. Turpin and her husband, Claud visit the waiting room of a doctor’s office in hopes of treating Claud’s leg, in which this is the majority of the setting. Evidently, this is also the place where Mrs. Turpin reveals her views and thoughts on the various social divisions of the occupants she encounters in the waiting room. A strong confrontation with God, the reasoning behind the inclusion of the…show more content…
The misunderstanding of Mrs. Turpin’s view of the world around here is evident throughout the entirety of the story. In fact, the author utilizes ethos, or ethical appeals to demonstrate the racist behavior of the protagonist, Mrs. Turpin. This goes in hand with her poor judgement of people, however, her negative social behavior towards black and lower class white people are evident. For instance, when the black boy entered the waiting room to sell something from the drugstore to the doctor’s office, the woman Mrs. Turpin distinguished as ‘white-trashy’ and herself were speaking on the subject of sending “all them niggers back to Africa” (457). Mrs. Turpin believes she is a good, respectable Christian, but it’s pretty obvious to…show more content…
To begin with, there is the character Mary Grace, which is also the only name revealed in the story which in my opinion plays a huge importance. Her name itself marks a symbol of grace and she is the person that reveals the revelation to Mrs. Turpins for her to realize as I previously mentioned. The author develops pathos, or emotional appeals in the ending scene where Mrs. Turpin begins to question the statement that Mary Grace told her. “How am I a hog?” she demanded. “Exactly how am I like them?” (O’Connor 464). Afterwards, she is in a confrontation with God and roared, “Who do you think you are?” (465). The answer was a manifestation with colorful imagery, but most importantly, had a visionary of vast load of souls projecting upwards in the sky. “There were companies of white-trash, clean for the first time in their lives, and bands of black niggers in white robes…” (O’Connor 465). This revelation from God proved to ultimately teach a lesson to Mrs. Turpin, who had previously believed that her way of thinking was superior. While walking back to her home she hears souls shouting hallelujahs in the woods. The author intended to reveal, through the use of pathos, the experience of one receiving grace from
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