Racial tension in America was at an all-time high in the 1960’s thanks to the Civil rights movement. The rise of many great African American leaders such as Malcom X, Rosa Parks, and Martian Luther King Jr. Being on the forefront of the movement and speaking out on the racial injustice made a lot of Caucasian people feel uncomfortable and was the birth of many stereotypes. The author, Flannery O’Connor, is no stranger to writing about race in those times in her stories from “Judgement Day” and “The Enduring Chill”. In the short story “Revelation” Flannery O’Connor uses Mrs. Turpin and the other unnamed characters to illustrate the common stereotypical and racist attitudes held by white Americans in the 1960’s.
One way in which O’Connor’s is …show more content…
troops out of former Confederate states because of this the south could get away with treating black people as second class citizens. So when the Civil Rights movement started and brought attention to the ongoing danger blacks were still facing in the south the government was forced to take action. However, Equality is not something southern white people wanted to accept overnight at least this is how the situation can be perceived. So they had a hard time converting to the New South when the Old south ways were still very much alive. In the story Mrs. Turpin makes a statement which reflects this perfectly “It’s good weather for cotton if you can get the niggers to pick it," Mrs. Turpin said, "but niggers don 't want to pick cotton any more. You can 't get the white folks to pick it and now you can 't get the niggers because they got to be right up there with the white folks.” (O’Connor 455). She says “if you can get the niggers to pick it” as if them not wanting to pick it is just crazy, basically implying that she thinks that black people belong picking cotton. Also “the niggers because they got to be right up there with the white folks” so black people should strive to be below white people? Are we not created equal? I guess she just wants black people to accept their place in society as slaves and be okay with living a life of no freedom. O’Connor’s character reflected what many white southern felt about the black community during that time. But sadly we are still having some of the same problems
One way in which O’Connor’s is …show more content…
troops out of former Confederate states because of this the south could get away with treating black people as second class citizens. So when the Civil Rights movement started and brought attention to the ongoing danger blacks were still facing in the south the government was forced to take action. However, Equality is not something southern white people wanted to accept overnight at least this is how the situation can be perceived. So they had a hard time converting to the New South when the Old south ways were still very much alive. In the story Mrs. Turpin makes a statement which reflects this perfectly “It’s good weather for cotton if you can get the niggers to pick it," Mrs. Turpin said, "but niggers don 't want to pick cotton any more. You can 't get the white folks to pick it and now you can 't get the niggers because they got to be right up there with the white folks.” (O’Connor 455). She says “if you can get the niggers to pick it” as if them not wanting to pick it is just crazy, basically implying that she thinks that black people belong picking cotton. Also “the niggers because they got to be right up there with the white folks” so black people should strive to be below white people? Are we not created equal? I guess she just wants black people to accept their place in society as slaves and be okay with living a life of no freedom. O’Connor’s character reflected what many white southern felt about the black community during that time. But sadly we are still having some of the same problems