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Theme Of Revelation By Flannery O Connor

859 Words4 Pages

An Examination of Theme in the Short Story “Revelation” Flannery O’Connor’s short story “Revelation” explores the issue of racism and class dynamics in the southern United States during the 1960’s, the time period that O’Connor wrote this story. The main character, Mrs. Ruby Turpin, is a privileged white land-owning wife. While she is somewhat sympathetic of people of lower class, she is also quick to categorize and judge people by their rank in society. However, a young girl’s unpredictable outburst and Mrs. Turpin’s own obsessive self-consciousness eventually lead her to the revelation that regardless of class, all people are equal in the eyes of God. Through the use of the three rhetorical appeals: ethos, logos, and pathos, O’Connor supports her theme that in the grand scheme of existence, societal class is pointless. Because the story primarily focuses on Mrs. Turpin’s character, O’Connor’s use of ethos to support her theme is abundant. The reader is able to focus completely on Mrs. Turpin and her unabridged perspective which offers the most genuine evaluation of her character …show more content…

Turpin’s revelation allows the reader to sympathize and understand Mrs. Turpin’s feelings. After being called a “wart hog from hell”, Mrs. Turpin takes her frustration out on the real hogs in her pig parlor. She screams and shouts, and sprays them with water, all while supposedly demanding that God answer her. She even asks “how am I a hog... exactly how am I like them?”, in reference to both the actual hogs and the lower class people (464). This moment is filled with a rage, passion, and frustration as Mrs. Turpin self-consciously tries to cope with the fact that she believes God is equating her to the lower class members of society through the young girl in the medical office. She then has a stunning vision where all the lower class people she would judge are dressed in white robes ascending into

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