O'Connor's "Everything that Rises Must Converge" and the Concept of Grace

As is common with Flannery O'Connor, Everything That Rises Must Converge is rather a violent story in which the characters learn lessons about themselves and human nature. O'Connor provides a contrast between the old South and the new South (after the Civil Rights movement) by contrasting a character like Julian's mother against a character like the African American woman on the bus. What O'Connor tells us overall is that none of us really "know" ourselves until we are confronted with a moment of grace in which self realization comes.

Julian's mother is the representation of the old South. She keeps her apartment in an area of town that used to be fashionable. She never stops reminding her son that her grandfather was a former governor of the state. Her father was a rich landowner, and her mother was well-bred. She, herself, is a well-bred woman who can spend money on a hat rather than paying her bills because a hat will show everyone around her that she has class. Ironically, she states time and again, "I know who I am." However, she needs constant reassurance from her son about everything, including whether she should wear the hat or take it back. Like the old Southern ways, she has prejudice in her heart and the need to prove that while times have changed, she is still superior to African Americans. She believes she is using Southern hospitality when she "tolerates" blacks riding the bus. Even though when a black man gets on, she proclaims "Now you see why I won't ride on these buses by myself" (O' Connor) as though he is a dangerous criminal.

Julian's mother clearly does not know who she is. She is a Southern woman who believes that she has Southern charm and hospitality, but really is only clinging to the past because it makes her feel superior. She takes the condescending attitude in saying that "I can be gracious to anybody" (O'Connor). She believes that she knows her son, but she doesn't know him at all. He is not grateful to his mother; he views his mother as an idiot and a nuisance. It is not until the black woman enters the bus that things start to change. This large, black woman is wearing the very same hat as Julian's mother. How could a black woman possibly have the same social station as a good Southern woman? This is what Julian's mother cannot understand. And so, she tries to patronize this family in order to show them their "place." She tells the mother how cute the child is and tries to give him a shiny cent when he exits the bus. When the black woman hits her in an act of violence, she receives grace. She receives a message that will help her character, but this also shatters her image of who she thought she was. She finally must face the fact that times have changed.

Julian, on the other hand, is the opposite of his mother. In fact, he despises everything she stands for but in many ways is no better than she is. Rather than putting down her racist attitudes but loving her anyway (the way she is unwilling to do with people of other races), he resents her. In the very beginning of the story, he goes so far as to say that "everything that gave her pleasure was small and depressed him" (O'Connor). Rather than being accommodating to her because of everything she sacrificed in order to put him through school and give him a first rate education, he says things like "Shut up and enjoy it" when speaking about her hat. He believes that he is free of prejudice, and maybe he is when it comes to racial relations, but no human being is free from all prejudices. It is arrogant of him to think that he is. He has no problem living off her money while he remains unemployed, but he is unwilling to show her the slightest kindness or compassion.

In fact, Julian is downright cruel to his mother. He behaves in ways that simply provoke her. He dreams of ways that he might be able to teach her a lesson. In other words, he sees himself as above her and looks down on her old Southern ways. He seems to want to make friends with black people just so he can irritate her, but he is unsuccessful in doing so. He mentally reviews a list of ideas designed only to provoke her, such as securing a Negro doctor for her, participating in a sit-in, or the worst crime of bringing home a Negroid woman as his girlfriend or wife. When the Negro woman gets on the bus with the same hat as his mother, he is elated. "The vision of the two hats, identical, broke upon him with the radiance of a brilliant sunrise. His face was suddenly lit with joy" (O'Connor). Again, no matter how prejudiced his mother is, that woman is still his mother. She still loves him and considers him her hero; she likens Julian to Saint Sebastian.

In one of the climactic moments when his mother receives her moment of grace in the form of violence, he has no sympathy for her. He tells her that she got exactly what she deserved. He then proceeds to absolutely berate her in every way, saying that nobody is interested in her condescending pennies anymore and that her world is gone. He tells her that she has no idea who she really is. However, when she begins to call for Grandpa and Caroline, he realizes that this situation may be serious. As she falls forward to hit the ground, Julian receives his moment of grace. He calls her "Mother," "Darling," and "Sweetheart and finally "Mamma." O'Connor notes that soon he will be entering "the world of guilt and sorrow" (O'Connor).

What O'Connor attempts to tell the reader through the characterization of both Julian and his mother is that humans should not judge others. Julian's mother judges black people and views them as inferior and yet Julian judges his own mother. Humans need to get rid of the petty prejudices that separate us and come together as members of the human race. Just possibly both Julian and his mother are relics of another time. They both falter and fall at the end. They both cannot face the future for different reasons. Maybe the ideal of the "new" person is the black woman who looks both past and future in face and walks on.