Significant World Writers
Grp 7: Class & Race

"even their virtues were being burned away" (654)
Flannery O'Connor's "Revelation" (1964)

Flannery O'Connor's "Revelation" (1964), 633-54

1. does Mrs. Turpin’s confidence manifest itself in coercion of others—physically or emotionally?
2. does Mrs. Turpin’s frequent, categorical (if quiet) assessment and judgment of others constitute a form of psychological or spiritual violence?  What of her particular brand of pity?
3. how frequently/thoroughly does O’Connor use free indirect discourse, allowing Mrs. Turpin’s perspective to infiltrate and modify the narrator’s descriptions of settings, situations, and other characters?
4. another lady in the doctor’s office kindly comments on Mrs. Turpin’s large girth by noting, “‘I don’t think it makes a bit of difference what size you are. You just can’t beat a good disposition” (634).  Does the story bear out the truth of this axiom, or challenge it?
5. who serves as a better reflection of Mrs. Turpin’s own temperament and perspective, the “fat girl of eighteen or nineteen” (635), or the “white-trash” woman she so thoroughly despises?
6. consider the gospel hymn playing on the radio in the doctor’s office (635).  Why might O’Connor have detailed lyrics from this particular song?  Consider their thematic relevance to the entire tale.
7. is Mrs. Turpin’s racism less offensive than that of the “pleasant lady” or the “white-trash woman”?
8. look up the complete lyrics of Phillip H. Lourd’s song “Your Church and Mine,” quoted partially by O’Connor (641).  Does such a song best capture the vision of equality rejected by Mrs. Turpin, or a vision of segregation recommended by her and the others in the doctor’s office?
9. Mrs. Turpin notes silently, a few times, that she laughs easily and often (635, 643).  What is likely the cause of her easy smiles and laughter?
10. which carries more of a wallop, the book or the “old wart hog” bit?

Winter Landscape (1909)
Wassily Kandinsky

Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu