How Does Mrs. Turpin Change

It is the 1960’s and racism is still a major problem in the United States; however, there were those such as Martin Luther King and Flannery O’Connor who use speeches and stories to fight the ever growing problem of discrimination. As read in O’Connor’s short story “Revelation”, Mrs. Turpin is a prejudiced woman who believes she is better than African-Americans and “white thrash”. She even states at one time, “You can’t get the white folks to pick it and now you can’t get the blacks because they got to be right up there with the white folks (O’Connor 9).” She says this while she waits in a waiting room of a doctor’s office to a nice lady of her status. Although Mrs. Turpin has judged African-Americans and white trash her whole life, she has a revelation that changes her

When the story first started out I had no clue as to the drastic change Mrs. Turpin was soon to face in the upcoming day. She started as an undeniable racist woman who could not be persuaded that African-Americans and poorer white people are bad and should not live a life of pleasure. She thought that she was better than most (not including people with a “higher” social status than her). Mrs. Turpin had an extraordinary experience that allowed her to finally break through and see that she was a horrible person she had manifested into. After the attack Mary Grace had imposed on Mrs. Turpin she goes home and later while washing the shoats had a vision. The visualization is that of people of different race, white trash, and lunatics and freaks all cleaned and on their way to heaven. With this revelation Mrs. Turpin is successfully changed into a new woman who does no put down those who may be below her. From prejudiced wart hog to changed lady, Mrs. Turpin always thought the worst people were the ones below her however the real enemy to her was