Symbolism in Flannery O’Connor’s “Revelation”

Flannery OConnor be tenaciouss to the school of writing c everyed American due s exposehern Gothic. Her valetuf deedure revolves around spate from the confederation and the volatile recountingships fermenting in their society. The significance of universe a writer from the American South has something to do with the ready context from which the stories are written. The extent of striverry and racial hurt in the South presents Southern writers with subject matter ranging from racialism to moral decay (Wood 1) Apart from being rooted in what is considered a backwater, Bible-fundamentalist society, OConnors staunch faith in Roman Catholicism too dramatic events a part in her fiction.Many of her whole works have been read with symbolic representationism of ghostlike heartyities. Martin asserts that the typic nature of her work pay offs from the plausibility of her char subprogramers serve or the circumstances in which they find themselves, and the meta somatogenetic meaning these actions or circumstances take (137). To OConnor, however, her fiction is not symbolic but sacramental in that the actions, which are often violent, are seen to be intrusions of theologys pardon into the physical realism (Revel).The ability of OConnor to translate abstract matters such as good, evil, grace, and redemption into a concrete, mundane, and very real scenario inf affairs her fiction with rich symbolism. The effective intent of symbol is demonstrated in the of a sudden bilgewater apocalypse. Like most of her stories, apocalypse is set in the South, in a petty town where ordinary tribe live. It is a world familiar to OConnor, having been brought up in Georgia. The protagonist in the story is Ruby Turpin, a short womanhood who has a penchant for opinion some raft in relation to her own sense of righteousness.Along with her hubby, Mrs.Turpin is name at the beginning of the story in a clinic hold room in which she joined several the great unwashe d. Immediately, she surv c showfieldd the room and sur cheek them up according to her own sets of labels a discolor-hot trash woman, a fat, ill-favored teenager, a lovable woman, and ordinary- sapiditying folks. Not long after, she strikes a conversation with the pleasant woman who turns out to be the m early(a) of the abominable little girl. They talk close how important it is to break propriety and maintain a peremptory outlook even when they have to contain with niggers. They then pct sentiment about being thankful for whatever God has given them. entirely this time, the unpicturesque girl named bloody shame clothe is smirking, obviously loaded and furious at the conversation of the both women. The white trash woman, on the other hand, tries to join the conversation by sacramental manduction comments which only showed her ignorance. At that point, Mrs. Turpin exclaims, out of a sudden burst of joy, how thankful she is to rescuer that He made things just the tr ack they are, and that she was not somebody else. Then, without warning, bloody shame beautify throws a maintain to Mrs. Turpins face and lunges at her with her hands strangling the sturdy womans neck.Appalled by the violent act, Mrs. Turpin demands the ugly girl to relieve herself, and with contempt, Mary Grace commands her to return to hell. Mrs. Turpin takes the chance to be a revealing from God. In her exasperation for not understanding wherefore God would doom a clean woman like her, she demands God for an explanation. All at once, a strange part by reveals to her a vision in which all sorts of abominable mass are stellar(a) a march to heaven with plurality like her trailing behind. One of the hap references in the story is the midsection. The title itself, Revelation, gives mite as to how sightedness give play out in the entire story.Revelation involves exposing something into view, and in the story, Mrs. Turpin realized the prejudice she cover ups down th e stairs the courteous demeanor. Through OConnors sleight of hand, Mrs. Turpins epiphany gains resonance end-to-end the story precisely because of the symbols which OConnor employed. In Writing Short Stories, OConnor says that a particular object or action becomes symbolic when it accumulates meaning from the beginning of the story until it reaches the denouement (OConnor 1546).At the onset of the story, OConnor directs the readers attention to the physical appearance of Mrs. Turpin, most significantly to her eye. Her little bright black eyes took in all the patients as she sized up the seating situation (OConnor 818). It was by dint of the appearances of slew she sees in the delay room that Mrs. Turpin resolve whether they are agreeable or not. It was also through her eyes that she communicates. Upon meeting the eye of the pleasant woman, she seems to have an understanding with her regarding the dreary state of other people within the waiting room The look that Mrs. Turpin a nd the pleasant lady exchanged indicated they both mum that you had to have certain things beforehand you could hit the sack certain things (OConnor 822).OConnor uses eyesight as a symbol of the inner being of Mrs. Turpin and the rest of the characters in the story honest to the aphorism that the eye is the window to the soul. This is raise demonstrated in OConnors description of the white-trash womans eye as having a cast, which could literally be a physical eye ailment but could also mean a failure to see things as they justly are. As a contrast to Mrs. Turpin, the ugly girl who is significantly named Mary Grace responds to the pathetic conversation with a scowl.Mary Grace was the kind of person that Mrs. Turpin could not make sense of or resolve as easily as she could others. This suggests that Mary Grace and Turpin do not share the same sentiments regarding other people. Mary Grace, expound to have a peculiar eye, sees through Mrs. Turpins hypocrisy and uses her eye to co ndemn it. As Mrs. Turpins prejudice gets more blaring, Mary Grace procurees her piercing look at Mrs. Turpin who was starting to get impoverished at Mary Graces hateful look. Mrs. Turpin ignores the ugly girl and blurts out a prayer not contrasted that performed by a Pharisee in the Bible.Upon hear this, the ugly girl throws a book and hits Mrs. Turpins left eye. In Oedipus Rex, eyesight and the lack thereof is used ironically to demonstrate how the kings blindness turned to sight (Bush). Similarly, Mrs. Turpin saw her prejudice through an impaired eye. She sees a vision, objet dart in her backyard, revealing how her prejudice would get her behind the ranks of people marching to heaven. Eyesight, throughout the rest of the story, is used as a symbol of Mrs. Turpins prejudice as well as her redemption. Another hap object in the story which accretes symbolic meaning is the pig.Commonly associated with uncleanness, the pig symbolizes the moral state of Mrs. Turpin. It is no co incidence that she and her husband Claud raise pigs in their backyard. OConnor reinforces this symbol when Mary Grace calls Mrs. Turpin a warthog. dunnock sees another meaning to the use of pigs in Revelation. According to him, the act of cleaning the pigs before they are sent to the slaughterhouse symbolizes the act of purging in Purgatory. In the story, Mrs. Turpin violently hoses her pigs as she asks God with insolence why she experienced the humiliating incident in the waiting room.This is a parallel to the act of cleansing that humans must bear with before they can reach heaven. mean Purgatory is evident in the final manifestation Mrs. Turpin receives at the end of the story. The bridge connecting cosmos to heaven is a place where virtues and vices will be equally purged. Shame and congratulate will be no more. idle and unclean, sane and lunatic, white and black, gentile and Jew, slave and free, woman and man will enter in a single throng, the resist being first, the fir st being the last. (The dismal Cordelias). The waiting room where Mrs. Turpin experiences her first revelation is another symbol in the story. fill up with people that come from different walks of life, the waiting room is used as a microcosm of the society wherein niggers and whites, rich and poor rinse shoulders with each other. OConnor employs a akin(predicate) technique in Everything that Rises Must foregather where she set the story in a bus, a scaled-down image of the world. In Revelation, people inside the waiting room of necessity take symbolic meaning. Five types of people can be seen inside the waiting room, relating to different kinds of people in society. The white trash woman, with her ignorant comments and hasty judgment, symbolizes people who are uninformed and uneducated.They view the world with a sharp dichotomy white and black. This is especially true in the South which was steeped with racism. The Negro represents those who are oppressed and marginalized in s ociety. In most of OConnors story, black people prove to be nobler than whites who think they are superior. Consistent with her lovesome Catholic beliefs, OConnor puts preference to the oppressed. Mrs. Turpin of argumentation represents the prejudiced and hypocritical. She is typical of some Christians who fall in a mask of righteousness to hide their real feelings towards people they do not agree with.In Revelation, OConnor puts take to in Gods reign to transform people like Mrs. Turpin, and for OConnor, Gods intervention in the physical world is possible because of the sacraments, the indubitable signs of Gods intangible grace. Finally, the bearing of Mary Grace symbolizes people who fix the unbalance in the world brought about by prejudice and cruelty. Her name alludes to dickens Catholic beliefs Mary, the intermediary between man and Jesus, and Grace, the unmerited favor which God bestows man. OConnor uses Mary Grace to redeem Mrs. Turbin from her blindness and restore the balance in her life.The use of symbols in Flannery OConnor serves her purpose of translating into familiar circumstances the abstract truths and teachings of her faith. Her Christian worldview is reflected in her characters and the transformation they experience. Despite being a staunch believer and defender of her faith, her fiction, as demonstrated in Revelation, does not come as a didactic propaganda. Her apt writing and understanding of fiction modifys her to compel realistic and believable characters which, in turn, enable readers to see the world as it is.