Revelation

About the Author 

Flannery O'Connor, author of the short story Revelation, was a southern writer born in Savannah, Georgia. Her biography stated that as a writer, she relied heavily on regional settings and grotesque characters. In her short story Revelation, Mrs. Turpin was illustrated as a heavy southern woman who identified others by their social class and threw around the word nigger nonchalantly. O'Connor portrayed Mrs. Turpin as a wealthy southern woman of a high social class who owned several African Americans to work on her cotton farm. This high social status woman truly held no class based on her attitude towards others, making her a grotesque and hated character throughout the story.

Flannery O'Connor also corresponded her heavy Roman Catholic faith with her writing. Along with her religion holding a strong part in her writing, O'Connor also tied in the idea of morality into her stories and novels. This holds an influential role in Revelation because morality is the differentiation of intentions or actions of those who are good, right, bad or wrong. Throughout the story, Mrs. Turpin strongly believed her views, beliefs and her way of life was right and no one else had a say to argue it. At the end, when she herd Mary Grace call her "an old wart hog from hell," she realized that the way she had been carrying herself had been wrong along with being quite bad. In the biography, O'Connor described herself as a "pigeon-toed child with a receding chin and a you-leave-me-alone-or-I'll-bite-you complex." This description can be seen as grotesque and ugly, tying into the way she portrays Mrs. Turpin, Mary Grace and the white trash woman in Revelation. O'Connor's father died from systemic lupus erythematosus and died when she was only fifteen. This tragic accident that happened to O'Connor can have a connection with her grotesque and bold writing style with somewhat of an aggressive feel.

One of O'Connor's trademarks is foreshadowing, giving the reader an idea of what will happen to a character before it happens. This came up several times in the beginning of Revelation when Mary Grace continuously stared at Mrs. Turpin with an aggressively vicious look. Each time it happened, the stares at Mrs. Turpin became more violent and flustered Mrs. Turpin, not knowing what she did wrong to this young girl. Finally, Mary Grace could not take Mrs. Turpin's crude behavior and wailed a book at her head. O'Connor's texts mostly take place in the south, always revolving around a morally flawed character. One of the quotes about her emphasis of the grotesque that stood out most to me was, "anything that comes out of the south is going to be called grotesque by the northern reader, unless it is grotesque, in which case it is going to be called realistic."

Costume Jewels

I found Guy de Maupassant’s short story, “The Necklace” very intriguing. This story was striking to me because I found it relatable and I strongly connected to the main character Mathilde Loisel. The ending of the story was the most surprising to me because I didn’t expect the necklace to be costume jewelry. I also learned a lot through the underlying themes about the superficiality of our society today.

Throughout the story, I assumed that Mathilde’s necklace that she borrowed from Madame Forestier was authentic. I was caught off guard when I found out the necklace was costume jewelry. I believe this has a lot to say about how society is materialistic and finds happiness only in shallow manners. I feel this relates significantly to the world we live in today because many people value items rather than personal relationships. After reading this story, I felt that I learned a lot about myself as well as others. Mathilde learned that the real value of life isn’t all about ones socio-economic status but should be focused on family and internal happiness.

During the story, I felt a lot of anger towards Mathilde because she took for granted what she had and was only centered on making herself appear better to others. The focus that she held on her outward appearance made me frustrated because it had a full effect on her husband, Monsieur Loisel. Mr. Loisel went out of his way to make Mathilde happy and it seemed like she was never satisfied. I felt a lot of sympathy towards Mr. Loisel because he was trying to fulfill her needs for high culture, but these needs were unattainable at their level of income.

This story impacted me as a reader because it taught me to never jump to conclusions before I finish the story entirely. I automatically assumed that the jewelry was real, which was obviously incorrect, meaning that a lot can change towards the end. I enjoyed the style of writing that the author used throughout his story. I also thought that Guy de Maupassant used a spontaneous writing technique of adding a twist at the end. This twist at the end of the story changed the meaning and kept me thinking even after the story was over. By the end of the story, I felt that I learned a lot about myself and the world around me. I also felt that I learned a lot about the different writing techniques that an author can use to strengthen a story.