In Flannery O’Connor’s short story “Everything That Rises Must Converge,” the racism which was so prevalent in the South during the 1950’s is portrayed in its more overt form through Julian’s mother and her perceptions, as well as being shown in its reverse form, through the actions and thoughts of Julian. Through his unwavering resolve to appear as if he harbors no prejudice, Julian does an injustice to himself and others by exhibiting reverse racism.Julian’s self-absorption, arrogance and racism blind him to his unfortunate similarity to his mother.
Julian’s self-absorption becomes apparent through the accounts of his vivid imaginings. Julian is upset with his mother for her assertion that she enjoyed having slaves but agrees that they should be allowed to rise above their station in life, only as long as they do so “on their own side of the fence” (insert page #).Nevertheless, he cannot help but dream about living in the old mansion where she grew up, feeling that “it was he, not she, who could have appreciated it” (insert page #). As Julian and his mother sit on the bus on their way to the Y, he begins to imagine ways in which to thwart his mother, with one being the thought of bringing home a fiancee who is Black, not because he would desire her but only to attempt to force his mother to be tolerant of the situation.Later, when the pair get off the bus and his mother is assaulted by the large Black woman with child, Julian’s first thought is of how this incident will finally teach her a lesson about prejudice as he has been attempting to do, and not of her wellbeing.
Although Julian sells typewriters for a living and is dependent upon his mother to provide him a home, his arrogance has not been affected by this fact and he believes his intellect is superior to that of others.He is arrogant enough to believe that with his college education he can someday become a wealthy writer and move he and his mother to a grand house with expansive grounds. On the bus, he reads a newspaper to withdraw into his own little mental bubble where he feels free to judge others and be safe from “the general idiocy of his fellows” (insert page #). Julian believes that his mother is responsible for their reduced circumstances and if she had not made “a mess of things” (insert same page #) there would have been no struggle to provide him with all the expensive trappings expected of a Chestny.She claims to enjoy the struggle and Julian denigrates her for this trait, never taking responsibility for his own life and the choices he has made.
Throughout the story, Julian shows contempt for his mother and her racist comments without ever realizing that he is every bit as racist as she. Julian struggles so hard to strike up a conversation with a Black person, as when he asks his seatmate on the bus for a match when he does not smoke, that he is exhibiting reverse racism.When the large woman with the child enters the bus, he is disappointed that he is forced to suffer the woman sitting beside him while the child sits across the aisle next to his mother – this will not teach her a lesson but makes him uncomfortable. His perceptions of the woman and child are outlined by his categorizations of the pair based on the color of their skin. It is the final scene, in which Julian’s mother is suffering and she asks for the help of anyone other than her son, including her former Black nurse, Caroline, that Julian finally begins to accept that he, too, has faults.O’Connor has created a story that interweaves overt racism with reverse racism, showing the harmful effects of both through the miserable lives led by two people who have not learned to look beyond the color of a person’s skin.
The mother is a product of her environment and upbringing in the intolerant South while in Julian’s case it is his own arrogance and self-absorption which cause him to deny the fact that he, too, is as racist as his mother.
