Journal 5 - Everything That Rises Must Converge

                In the story “Everything That Rises Must Converge” by Flannery O’Connor, the use of symbols is amazing. Throughout the story, Julian is trying to get his racist mother to see the error of her ways and to simply understand that there was nothing wrong with the black people of this world. Julian took his mother to her reducing class every Wednesday night because “she would not ride the buses by herself at night since they had been integrated” (The Norton Introduction To Literature, 520).

This night was different though, Julian was extremely testy and couldn’t tolerate the way his mother talked about the colored people and the pride that he should have for being the grandson of a former slave owner.  Julian’s mother was dressed and ready to go, putting the final touch on the outfit by putting on a hideous purple and green hat, and off they were to the bus stop. Once on the bus, Julian’s mother couldn’t help herself but talk to all the other passengers about how nice it was that “we have the bus to ourselves” (523).

After a few moments, a well-dressed black man stepped on the bus and Julian went to sit with him, but couldn’t seem to get the man to start conversation. A few moments later a large black woman and her young son got on the bus. The woman, gaily dressed, and wearing a hideous purple and green hat, sat beside Julian and her son beside Julian’s mother. The hat, which looked much better on the black woman, showed just how much his mother and black folk were alike. Julian laughed at the thought of his mother seeing that, “the women, in a sense, swapped sons” (526). A hat which cost the same amount as Julian and his mother’s gas bill was bought both by a proud white woman and a black woman who got no respect from the white people on the bus.

When Julian and his mother got off the bus, so did the black woman and her son. Julian’s mother was rushing, wanting to find a nickel to give the little black boy, but could only find a penny. Against Julian’s advisements, his mother attempted to give the boy “a bright new penny” and ended up being punched in the face by the black woman who shouted, “We don’t take nobody’s pennies!” (528). Julian could not see his mother not learn from this experience, and so he told her that it was exactly what she deserved, that not one black person would take the pennies of a condescending white woman. Julian’s mother had a heart attack on the way back home, and Julian blamed himself because of him shattering the world she thought she lived in.

The end of the story centers on Julian’s mother wanting to give the young boy a penny. The penny, which dons Abraham Lincoln’s face, the man who started a war over the immoral thoughts of slavery. The black woman, who was obviously just as well off as Julian and his mother, would no longer take the condescending smiles and stares of white people that thought they were better than herself. Julian’s mother needed to be taught a lesson, it’s only a shame that she had to learn it so close to death.

Work Cited

O’Connor, Flannery. “Everything That Rises Must Converge”. The Norton Introduction To Literature. 10^th ed. Ed. Alison Booth and Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2010. 519-529. Print.