Everything That Rises Must Converge | The Character of Julian in Detail

In the following essay, Montgomery examines the character of Julian in detail, finding the ‘‘convergence’’ of the title in Julian’s confrontation with himself, when he realizes that he has ‘‘destroyed that which he loved through his blindness.’’

Flannery O’Connor’s ‘‘Everything That Rises Must Converge’’ first appeared in New World Writing Number 17, in 1961, from which it was selected for inclusion in both Best American Short Stories of 1962 and Prize Stories of 1963: The O. Henry Awards. It appeared posthumously, as the title story of the final collection of her fiction, in 1965. It has, in consequence, had special attention called to it over a period of years and has received critical, if sometimes puzzled, readings at a number of hands. Predictably, much (though not all) of that attention has...

[The entire page is 5221 words long]

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

eNotes Pass

Summary and Analysis – Themes – Characters – And much more...