Everything That Rises Must Converge

2 Pages 538 Words

In the story Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O’connor, there is question as to why Julian acts so negatively towards his mother. There are many examples in the story that can prove or disprove either side. Julian was disrespectful towards his mother based on different views they had caused by changes in society.

Throughout the story Julians’ mother portrays her prejudice views in numerous ways. It is stated that she wouldn’t ride the bus alone after dark because busses were now integrated. When she gets on the bus, she expresses happiness based on the fact that there were no blacks riding with them. She is clearly stuck in the past, having grown up in the south before the civil war. She lived on a plantation owned by her grandfather, which had about 200 slaves on it.
Julian seems absolutely disgusted with his mother , especially in the beginning of the story. Everything she liked seems to depress him. She was unsure if she liked a hat that she had previously bought, but as soon as she decided she didn’t like it Julian insisted that she wore it.
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Some thoughts Julian had throughout the story about his mother were harsh and surprising to be coming from her son. For instance, at one point the looked her as if she ceased to exist, and he felt he could have slapped her like she was an annoying child.


Julian tries to prove a point to his mother, that they aren’t living back on some plantation with slaves. On the bus, he gets up out of his seat and sits next to a black man just entering the bus, and tries to engage in conversation with him, basically to spite his mother. When that didn’t go as planned he sat there and thought of ways to really get under his mothers’ skin. He thought of how upset she would get for him to come home with a black woman.
While he is disgusted with his mothers views, it is difficult to tell whether or not Julian himself is prejudice. He tries to interact with ...