To best apprehend the significance behind Flannery O’Connor’s short stories it is essential to first recognize Flannery O’Connor as an individual. Flannery O’Connor was raised in Savannah, Georgia predominantly by her mother since her father passed away from lupus during her early teen years. O’Connor attended numerous religious schools throughout grade school and had a robust religious background. O’Connor graduated from Georgia State College for Women with a bachelors’ degree in the Arts of Social Science in 1945. Shortly after her graduation she decided to advance her education and attended the University of Iowa. From what is identified about O’Connor’s personal life, she had no known love affairs and lived an isolated childhood. In 1951,
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The racial discrimination O’Connor writes about is especially evident with Julian’s mother from “Everything That Rises Must Converge,” and the grandmother in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” The two women still lived in the past, unable to accept the social changes being performed in their present life. The grandmother can be described as an emblematic southern woman of her generation, who is ignorant- viewing black people as inferior individual’s who are incompetent of any kind of intelligence. Specifically, when the grandmother referred to a young black child as a “cute little pickaninny” (O’Connor 424). Julian’s mother can be viewed as a petty and slightly contradicting individual, who viewed black people as “being better off when they were [slaves]” (O’Connor 449). When Julian’s mother arrived on the bus she was relieved there were no African-American’s on it, which anticipates the buses had recently been integrated. The relief soon disappears when the bus stops and an African-American woman and her child board the bus, to Julian’s mother’s surprise the African-American women is wearing the exact same hat she was. Which, assumes both Julian and Carver’s mothers are living on a lower income, which is evident because they use the same transportation system, probably shop at the same places, and have the same taste in clothing. It is apparent O’Connor presented the two identifiably unique women wearing the same hat to demonstrate when two people become bare of all their materialistic possessions and exposed for who they actually are in the eyes of God they become analogous in several ways. In a review, Anna Woodiwiss wrote O’Connor’s “characters are often shocked into recognizing unpleasant or difficult realities” (Wooodiwiss). Julian’s mother is an example who brings truth to Woodiwiss’s words, when Julian’s mother is forced
The racial discrimination O’Connor writes about is especially evident with Julian’s mother from “Everything That Rises Must Converge,” and the grandmother in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” The two women still lived in the past, unable to accept the social changes being performed in their present life. The grandmother can be described as an emblematic southern woman of her generation, who is ignorant- viewing black people as inferior individual’s who are incompetent of any kind of intelligence. Specifically, when the grandmother referred to a young black child as a “cute little pickaninny” (O’Connor 424). Julian’s mother can be viewed as a petty and slightly contradicting individual, who viewed black people as “being better off when they were [slaves]” (O’Connor 449). When Julian’s mother arrived on the bus she was relieved there were no African-American’s on it, which anticipates the buses had recently been integrated. The relief soon disappears when the bus stops and an African-American woman and her child board the bus, to Julian’s mother’s surprise the African-American women is wearing the exact same hat she was. Which, assumes both Julian and Carver’s mothers are living on a lower income, which is evident because they use the same transportation system, probably shop at the same places, and have the same taste in clothing. It is apparent O’Connor presented the two identifiably unique women wearing the same hat to demonstrate when two people become bare of all their materialistic possessions and exposed for who they actually are in the eyes of God they become analogous in several ways. In a review, Anna Woodiwiss wrote O’Connor’s “characters are often shocked into recognizing unpleasant or difficult realities” (Wooodiwiss). Julian’s mother is an example who brings truth to Woodiwiss’s words, when Julian’s mother is forced