Everything That Rises Must Converge Summary
Everything That Rises Must Converge
has been written by Flannery O’Connor. In the story, a boy named Julian and his mother were shown. They’re white people or belong to the British community. Julian’s mother was a widow who struggled her whole life to bring up her son. His mother was a patient of high blood pressure.
And her doctor told that she had to lose twenty pounds to manage her blood pressure. So, to reduce her weight, she used to take weight reducing classes on Wednesday nights at the Y. These classes were designed for working girls who were over fifty, and who weighed from 165 to 200 pounds. Her son used to travel with her in buses every Wednesday night for her classes. And, he also used to bring her back home.
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Julian’s mother was a proud white lady who had some high financial status during her married life. Her financial conditions became worse during her married life. However, she lost her stable financial status after the death of her husband and then became a monetary struggler for bringing up her son. She disliked black people and considered them inferior. And, her son disliked her proud nature. Julian was a wise person while his mother didn’t think so. He wanted to become a successful writer, so he was struggling as a junior writer. He recently completed his college education.
Despite studying in a cheap college, he was a highly qualified person. His ideas were also sound/practical about life. However, his mother thought that he didn’t know any practical thing about life. Whereas the fact is he was more practical/rational than his mother. His mother did some embarrassing talks and actions in a bus about negros or black people that embarrassed Julian a lot. His personality was already depressed due to his mother’s diplomatic, selfish, and proud nature. Julian beseated himself beside a negro man to irritate his mother as well. And, his mother became extremely angry due to this action.
Then, a negro woman came with her son in the last bus that Julian and his mother were on. Julian’s mother became irritated when she saw that the woman sat beside her son. And, that woman also wore the same hat that she wore on her head. This coincidence increased the irritation of Julian’s mother.
After coming down the bus, Julian’s mother insulted the woman’s boy by trying to give him a penny. Due to this action, the woman became so angry that she threw the purse of Julian’s mother and insulted her as well. Then, his mother remained shocked for some time and moved towards her home with Julian.
Julian tried to convince her that she must leave her old ideas and accept that the world is changed. All white and black people are equal. Nobody is inferior. But his mother couldn’t understand anything. Her blood pressure might have been high because she fell on the road. And, Julian became extremely upset on seeing her lying on the road. He was running here and there anxiously to find some help so that he could save the life of his mother.
O’Connor’s intro:
Mary Flannery O’Connor was an American writer. That writer is one of the most popular short story writers of the 20th century. She was born in 1925 and died in 1964. The writer published many short stories such as “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” and “Good Country People”, and “Revelation”. And, she also published two novels, “Wise Blood” (1952) and “The Violent Bear It Away” (1960).