Wow. What a great discussion we had today about "Good Country People." I enjoyed hearing your comments. My students never disappoint me in their ability and willingness to delve into a text that's not necessarily an easy or comfortable read and come out with astute insights. Good job all ya'all (if it's okay for a yankee like me to appropriate a "southernism").
So our next literary journey will involve another Flannery O'Connor tale that is just as disturbing as "Good Country People," but in a more subtle way. I'm curious to see how you react to the main characters of this story and hear what your insights are into their characters and motivations. And just as Faulkner focuses on the clash of the old South and the new South, this story does so in a more overt way--within the confines of a weekly bus ride to the "Y."
So here's your link for "Everything that Rises Must Converge" (Yes, the title is just as significant for this one as it was for "Good Country People")
http://www.geocities.com/cyber_explorer99/oconnorconverge.html
Also, I wanted to round out your picture of the writer--Flannery O'Connor herself, so I'm including a wonderful piece that was published in Time magazine. Here's the link for that:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,916650-1,00.html
Finally, it's time to start a conversation about the literary tradition that Miss Flannery and Mr. William employ in their writing. I've suggested that their writings might fall in the Southern Gothic tradition. Here's a pretty accurate website chock full of informative links should you run across a term that is unfamiliar:
http://www.answers.com/topic/southern-gothic
So here's your assignment for this weekend. First of all, read and digest all the material here.
Second, is a two part assignment:
1. Instead of answering my questions, post at least three questions concerning "Everything that Rises Must Converge," Southern Gothic Literature, and/or the biographical information posted for this assignment.
2. Pick one question from a classmate and answer it--as always providing good details from the story/articles to support your answer.
Have a fantaxtic weekend, enjoy your reading, and I look forward to our next conversation.
Mrs. M
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34 comments:
1. Which character is or favorite or least favorite?
2. How do you feel about Julian's additude?
3. It is said that most of O'Conner's characters have some kind of disability, name some that occur in this story.
1. Why does Julian feel such resentment towards his mother?
2. Why did the black women get so upset with her son on the bus?
3. Julian and his mother both have their own imaginary worlds. What are they?
Eleni #2
I think the black woman gets upset with her son because she doesn't want him to be around/make friends with the white people. The story takes place in a time when people are still skeptical about the opposite race. The black woman didn't want Julian's mom to look down at them like they were nothing, which is exactly what she did.
1.) What were you expecting at the end of this story compared to what actually happened?
2.)What are the similarities of this story and William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" and "That Evening Sun"?
3.) What is the meaning of the title "Everything that Rises Must Converge"?
In response to Kim's question (#2), I have several mixed emotions towards Julian. I feel that he has a brilliant mind, but selectively uses it. For instance, he graduated from college, but still sells typewriters and lives with his. I also believe that he is very liberal, even too liberal for his time, because he wants to befriend the colored people just to spite his mother and her prejudices towards them. To me, Julian should not disrepsect his mother, even if she is extremely small minded. Afterall, she went without just so he could have the opportunity to attent college and for him to have his teeth fixed even when she needed her teeth filled. I think if Julian is truly miserable living with his mother, he should move away.
kim 2. Julian's attitude is terrible. He doesn't have a good outlook on life, which causes him to lash out on the people around him. He treats his mother with disrespect through out the whole story. Considering everything his mother did for him, including sending him to college, he seems very ungrateful and spoiled.
1. What is the relationship between Julian and his mother?
2. Do you think Julian felt bad at the end of the story? explain
3. Do you think Julian's mother can execpt change? explain
eleni #1
I think Julian feels such resentment towards his mother because she still lives in the past and not the present. She can't except how things have changed after the war of the south. It mentions in the story about how she wants to impress everyone and that she wants Julian to look nice taking her to town. When he took off his tie she made him put it back on. They seem to be poor in the story and she still wants to live like their not. She talks about the status of their relatives. She still wants to live in the past.
1. Does Julian's mother really understand that now days are different than when she was growing up?
2. Why do you think that Julian and his mother have so much hostility towards each other?
3. Why do you think that Julians mother was nice to the little black boy but she did not like black adults?
I feel that Julians attitude is one of depression and anger. His mother does everything for him and i beleive that he feels bad and ashambed by it. Hes seems angery about how his mother lives her life though she is still in the past and that she doesnt acknowledge that times are different now. Hes a fustrated person and trys to degrade his mother though she does him good and means good.
1. How is the title "Everything that Rises Must Converge" significant for this story?
2. What are some similarities between this short story and "Good Country People"?
3. Why do you think Julian's mother reacted the way she in the end of the story?
Kim #2
I think that Julian does have alot of resentment for his mother and his attitude is a little over-reacting. When he was on the bus, he sat there thinking and fantasizing about scenarios that would upset his mother. I can understand where he might be coming from that his mother just thinks she's better than everyone else but still puts on a friendly and hipicritical face.
1. Why did the black women get so angry with Julian's mother?
2. Why does Julian feel he will always live with his mother?
3. Does Julian's mother represent the way most white women felt during this time period?
The black women on the bus was highly upset with her son. She is raising a strong black male. Not such a small feet during this time period. Julian's mother constantly spoke of knowing who she was during the story. The black women seemed to truely know who she was and were she and her son were going. The black women knew how Julian's mother felt about herself and her son. Her smirk only intensified the black womens fury. Julian's mother looked at the black women and her son as beneath her station. I guess the black women showed Julian's mother what she could do with her good southern manners.
kim's question 1 :
My favorite character is Julian because in some aspects he is like me. He doesn't agree with everything his mother believes in. He isn't afraid to act on his true feelings.
1. Why does julian`s mothers small pleasures depress him?
2. Why does julian feel he could deal with his mother better if she were selfish or would scream at him?
3. Why did julian feel that he would never have money?
Kim#1.
The character that i liked was the little boy on the bus. it seemed like he just wanted to play and his mother was this big mean woman he would not let her child have nothing to do with other people.
1. What do you think is the mean of "Everything that Rises Must Converge" to the story?
2.Why do you feel Julian wants to teach his mother a lesson?
3.Do you find it funny that Julian's mother and the black women have the same hat? why?
Kim #2 I feel that julians attitude comes from seeing things the way they are but having his mother trying to change what he thinks. His mother did not care for blacks, but Julian saw no problem with blacks. his attitude was cause from being tired of having to deal with is mother and the way she tought.
Brittany W.
1. Why does Julian always try and think of ways to torture his mom?
2. Does it seem to you that maybe julian is also a little racist because the way he "uses" black people to make his mother black?
3. Why does the black lady get mad at her son?
1. What is the significance of the title of the story?
2. Why does O'Conner have to have a person with a disability in most of her stories?
3. Why was the little boy so facinated by Julians mom?
Kim#3
In this story, there were a few characters with disabilities. Julian's mom had high blood pressure which caused her to take a class at the Y. Also, the lady on the bus that his mom sat next to had protruding teeth. I don't know if thats a disability, but it is a defect. Then, the big black woman, she was huge and over weight with a temper problem.
1. O'Conner is very selective in naming her characters. What do you think is significant to this approach?
2. Which character do you sympathize with most, Julian or his mother?
3. In what ways is the title of the story symbolic or significant?
1. Is Julian really as depressed as he acts?
2. Does the racisim of the bus stick strictly to whites vs. blacks?
3. What do you think the significance of the hat i?
eleni #2
It is a given that she does not want her son to get the idea that there are nice white people, I think that she is basing everything about white people on the past. Not even taking in to consideration that no every one is prejudice. But that was a different time and a different place.
Kelly #3
Julian's mother exhibits clear disdain for the black population, regardless of age. Why, then, was she so able to tolerate the little boy on the bus, but not any of the adults? Unfortunately, the reason has nothing to do with compassion for children, or it being easier to hate adults. No, there was an ulterior motive to her kindness, as she hoped to utilize the little boy as a weapon in her arsenal against her son in their miniature war. The child was an easy target for her to reestablish herself as the superior race, and so she freely acted as condescendingly as possible, treating the boy more like some small animal to be pitied. By offering the little boy charity, she was openly displaying her belief that her role in society was higher than that of the black population. The little boy's mother was quite justified in her reaction and I was grateful, in that moment, to see Julian's mother's well deserved foil.
1.Why do you think Julian so for the blacks?
2.Did you expect the end of the story?
3.Why was Julian so down during the story?
1. What is the significance with the title of the story?
2. Which character in the story do you sympathize with the most?
3. What do you believe the point of the story is?
Christina #2
I think that the black woman gets upset with Julian's mother over the penny because its as if she was looking down on them like they didnt have any money because they are black. It seemed as if Julian's mother was trying to rub it in like she had something and she could afford to give money to the boy even though it was a penny.
Elini #2
I feel that the black woman got so upset with her son on the bus because she did not want her son to make friends with a white person. I think that she felt that whites and blacks should just stay away from each other. This was during the time period where whites believed that blacks were beneath them. Such as the whites in front of the bus and blacks in back. The black woman did not want to be judged by julians mom or for her son to be hurt in the situation that it was just not "normal" to have and opposite race as a friend
I don’t like Julian’s attitude very much. He’s kind of a meany head. Please excuse my third grade insults, but he is. His mother paid for him to get his teeth fixed even when she needed to get her teeth filled, and she paid for him to go to college. And despite his college education, he still lives at home and sells typewriters. I don’t think its right for him to disrespect his mother even if he doesn’t agree with her all the time. I think its wrong and he needs a good spanking.
1. Do you think the title best reflects the story?
2. Why did the black ladies get mad at Julian’s mother?
3. What similarities did Flannery O’Conner and Julian’s mother share?
1. Why does Julian treat his mother the way he does?
2. What significance does the title "Everything That Rises Must Converge" have?
3. Why do you think Julian's mother likes black children but not black adults?
Candice #2
I think that Julian believes that he will live with his mother until she dies because she already has a health condition and will most likely not be around much longer. Also, he's not making much of an income so he couldn't support himself financially. Finally, I think that even though he resents his mother he is very dependent on her as well as she is on him and he sees that.
1. Who, if anyone, do you sympathise with in this story and why?
2. What does Julian's mother mean when she says that you need to know who you are?
3. Why do you think Julian's mother is still making excuses for his lack of accomplishment after she's already given up so much for him and is still going unappreciated?
abby #1
I was expecting that Julian would start to do something with his life and his mother would start to learn that blacks were now equal with whites. I know that I should learn to expect dire endings, but I have always liked stories with happy endings, so I guess it's become habit.
1) What was the signifigance of the identical hat that Julian's mother wore and the negro woman?
2) What was Julian trying to prove to his mother between the past and the present?
3) How do you think the negro woman felt about white folks?
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