Everything That Rises Must Converge Group at eNotes

In O'Connor's fiction, she consistantly uses violence to depict a...

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 08:50:17 PST

In O'Connor's fiction, she consistantly uses violence to depict a character's realization that they are fallen and need something outside of themselves (take a look at her prose collection Mystery and Manners). It is usually after such a violent act that her character has an internal epiphany of sorts (see some of her other stories such as "Greenleaf" and "A Good Man is Hard to Find"). In this story, both the mother and...

In everything that rises must converge hypocricy is the major theme. How...

Mon, 6 Oct 2008 13:10:56 PST

In everything that rises must converge hypocricy is the major theme. How does Julian show it and why?

My Lucy Friend That smells Like Corn

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:44:24 PST

I need help in writing an essay on this story. Is the narrator part mexican or is she a white emerican?

At the end of the story the black woman hits the mother for giving the...

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 04:03:17 PST

At the end of the story the black woman hits the mother for giving the young boy pennies. Throughout the story the son has been complaining to himself about how racist and old fashioned she is: she constantly embarrases him, and meanwhile her life revolves around him. When she is hit, the grandmother apparently dies, and the man cries, “Mama, Mama.” The narrator then says, “The tide of darkness seemed to sweep him back to her,...

Explore O'connor's use of violence to awaken her characters to...

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 15:50:40 PST

Explore O'connor's use of violence to awaken her characters to self-revelation. I have no idea what this means and was hoping someone could help

Explore Flannert O'Connor's use of violence to awaken her characters to...

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 15:40:53 PST

My university teacher gave me this title to write a reaserch parer on it. I have no idea how to start this and i was hoping someone could help me get started.

One more comment on mirroring: it is through this that her theme...

Sun, 7 Oct 2007 17:09:55 PST

One more comment on mirroring: it is through this that her theme "everything rises must converge" develops. All of us, no matter how different we may seem, are part of a human community and as such share responsibility for its weaknesses, its (and I think O'Connor might use this word) "sins." In understanding this, we will rise and meet each other in a fuller, more just society. Indeed, even if we don't understand...

A good fun question! The doubling works in relation to the theme by...

Sat, 6 Oct 2007 12:34:08 PST

A good fun question! The doubling works in relation to the theme by making the bus, the story, and the society places full of mirrors (as you mention). This means that no one in the story can freely look down on someone else. If he or she does so, he or she is looking into a mirror. They share situations, characteristics, and therefore humanity. This doubling gives O'Connor a way to have her story's structure comment on racism without her...

How do they develop O'Connor' theme and her study of racism?

Sat, 6 Oct 2007 12:30:58 PST

How do they develop O'Connor' theme and her study of racism?

Masterplots offers an excellent explanation of the title, and you can...

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 15:50:32 PST

Masterplots offers an excellent explanation of the title, and you can find the full discussion on the link below. Here is an excerpt: "The title is a quotation from Catholic theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who imagined an “omega point” at which the “rising” or evolving human being would meet God. By analogy, people of the lower classes who “rise” socially must inevitably “meet” with the higher. To Mrs. Chestny in...

What does the title refer to? What is rising and what is converging?

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 14:30:58 PST

What does the title refer to? What is rising and what is converging?

The cent that Julian’s mother gives the black child carries...

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 07:12:08 PST

The cent that Julian’s mother gives the black child carries metaphorical values. The coin carries the portrait of Lincoln with the motto “liberty.” On the other side is a picture of the Lincoln Memorial. Given the fact that Lincoln is the Great Emancipator but Julian’s mother still retains the traditional southern (condescending) views toward blacks, her giving the child this coin is very ironic. ...

How does O'Connor's figurative language support her themes in...

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 20:21:26 PST

How does O'Connor's figurative language support her themes in "Everything That Rises Must Converge"?

One might understand the words of the mother and son in ironic relation...

Mon, 2 Jul 2007 11:18:11 PST

One might understand the words of the mother and son in ironic relation to the title of the story, which is also the tile of the collection of short stories in which it was published. Following this direction of interpretation, the mother “rises” to childhood innocence as she descends into death; however, the son, though speaking in the language of a child’s love for his mother, does not rise, but rather remains in a quagmire below...

At the end, Julian's mother is having a stroke which causes her to...

Sun, 17 Jun 2007 07:41:10 PST

At the end, Julian's mother is having a stroke which causes her to become disoriented about where she is, etc. She's dying, so it's natural that she would think of her happiest days on the plantation before she dies. Julian wishes evil on his mother just before she suffers her stroke, so when it happens, he refers to her as "darling," "sweetheart," and "Mamma" because he realizes what his cruelty toward her has...

In the story "Everything that rises must converge" Why do both Julian...

Sun, 17 Jun 2007 00:11:28 PST

In the story "Everything that rises must converge" Why do both Julian and his mother revert to childhood at the end of the story?