“Everything that Rises Must Converge” by Flannery O’Connor Southern gothic literature often revolves around damaged and delusional characters. Within that genre, Flannery O’Connor, a southern gothic writer, focuses heavily on moral and ethical issues, especially those relevant to southern culture during her time period. “Everything that Rises Must Converge” is one of the most classic examples of O’Connor’s writing style and the southern gothic genre in that it includes an unstable mother and a disturbed son, as well as touches on one of the most pertinent social and moral conflicts in the south during the 1950s and 60s, the prejudice against African-Americans. The story is set in the south in the 1960s, during the time of racial integration. The main character, Julian, is a recent college graduate who is currently unemployed. His mother, who he resents, has retained her prejudice against the African-American people from when she was younger, before integration took place, and her grandfather had a plantation with two hundred slaves. One evening, Julian is accompanying his mother …show more content…
Julian almost immediately feels guilt about the way he treated his mother. The “tide of darkness” could be a metaphor for death, and the “world of guilt and sorrow” is the metaphorical world that Julian will live in when his mother dies. This is also a revealing moment in the text, because it allows the reader to see past Julian’s false persona. It shows that he doesn’t truly hate his mother, even though he makes a conscious effort to make it seem that way throughout the story. Moreover, a reader can use this passage to infer that Julian’s outward expressions of acceptance of African-Americans were all just to offend his mother, and that deep down, he has the same racist tendencies as