What Is The Epiphany In Where Are You Going Where Have You Been

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Short stories have many similarities and connections with one another, and often times a similarity is that characters experience epiphanies. An epiphany is when a character has a moment of sudden revelation or insight, which are important because it is the turning point of a character and when everything makes sense to he or she. In the stories “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor, “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, and “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, the main characters experience epiphanies and come to a realization in their lives which suggests that no matter how set someone is in his or her ways, he or she is still able to change for the better. In “Where are You Going, Where Have You Been,”…show more content…
She notices that she has a connection with the Misfit and says, “Why, you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children!” (O’Connor 388) However, just as she says this, the Misfit shoots and kills her. The fact that she is able to connect with the Misfit proves that she has changed. Earlier in the story, the grandmother is unable to see any real connection between her and a small black child the family passes along the side of the road on their trip to Florida. June Star notices that the child “didn’t have any britches on” and the grandma replies by explaining “He probably didn’t have any. Little niggers in the country don’t have things like we do. If I could paint, I’d paint that picture” (O’Connor 375). She cannot see how her family and the black boy are similar just because he is poor. Throughout the story, the grandmother assumes that she is different from people such as The Misfit. For example, when discussing contemporary problems with Red Sammy Butts, she says “Europe was entirely to blame for the way things were now” (O’Connor 378). She believes that Europe is responsible for any problems that existed in the world and puts the blame on other people. The grandma goes from believing that she is superior to everyone else into becoming aware that she is similar to other…show more content…
He has been viewing life with a different perspective and is extremely close-minded. The narrator claims that he does not want to be visited by the blind man: “I wasn’t enthusiastic about his visit. He was no one I knew. And his being blind bothered me. My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed. Sometimes they were led by seeing-eye dogs. A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to” (Carver 84). The narrator is close-minded because he has never met a blind person before and has preconceived notions about them. This shows he is unwilling to try new things and meet new people. However, at the end of the story, the narrator views the world differently than he has before when he says, “My eyes were still closed. I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn’t feel like I was inside anything” (Carver 98). This epiphany is when he notices that even though Robert is actually blind, he has been living life in an optimistic way and understands that one does not need eyes to

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