Revelation by Flannery O'Connor

1 Pages 354 Words

When I finished reading “Revelation” by Flannery O’Connor I began to realize
the importance of the title. The definition of a revelation is to uncover, unveil, or
to discover and that is exactly what took place in this specific short story. A
revelation is not merely a word a character continuously says but a life lesson
that is taught to a character. It was the main character, Mrs. Turpin, who was
taught in such a bizarre way what a cruel person she is that it initially shocked
me. However, as a reader I found the literary element of foreshadowing used
when Mrs. Turpin replies, “I thank the Lord he has blessed me with a good
one(disposition). The day has never dawned that I couldn’t find something to
laugh at.”(O’Connor Page 315)
When Mrs. Turpin and her husband, Claud, had to remain in the waiting
room the very first thing that Mrs. Turpin did was question the doctor for
charging five dollars a patient and not having a “decent size waiting room.” The
next thing she did was harshly judge the other patients including an older lady,
a “white-trash woman” and a cruel depiction of an eighteen year old girl, Mary
Grace. The narrator says, “The poor girl’s face was blue with acne and Mrs.
Turpin thought how pitiful it was to have a face like that at that age.”
Mrs. Turpin does rude things such as occupy herself at night by naming
the classes of people and question who she would be if she couldn’t be herself,
having to choose from a poor white citizen or an African American. Mrs. Turpin
doesn’t understand that she isn’t the only person who can judge until she notices
Mary Grace trying to single her out by starring at her and rolling her eyes. Mrs.
Turpin is astonished and says, “It was the ugliest face she had ever seen anyone
make and for a moment she was certain that the girl had made it at her.” Shortly
after Mary Grace threw the text book she was reading about Human
Develop...