Analisys Of The Characters Of Mrs.turpin And Mary Grace

Name Course Instructor Date “Revelation” by Flannery O’Connor “Revelation” by Flannery O’Connor is a fiction narrative about religious themes and the southern lifestyle in the early nineteenth century setting. The story revolves around the protagonist Mrs. Turpin who considers herself holier and constantly judges other people based on their socioeconomic status and race. She is flawed with a great sense of satisfaction and propriety and she self-righteously matches through life with the assumption that her place in heaven is assured. She however is forced to rethink her stand on life and how she perceives other people when she encounters a young girl called Mary Grace at the hospital waiting lounge where she had taken her husband Claude for ulcer treatment on his leg. Mary Grace is a fat teenage girl that Mrs. Turpin had judged to be extremely unattractive based on her appearance. These two form the core characters in the major themes of the play. The essay intends to analyze the characters of Mrs. Turpin and Mary Grace and their significance in highlighting the themes of the play such as racism, spirituality and judgment. O’Connor portrays the protagonist Mrs. Turpin from the beginning as self-centered and disillusioned woman who judges all people based on their race, appearances and status in the society. She is arrogant and malicious. The narrative begins with Mrs. Turpin in the hospital waiting lounge where she had taken her husband for treatment. The lounge is filled with people from different social categories and Mrs. Turpin proceeds to put them in their “proper categories” from their appearances. She segments them using clichés that showcase her view of the world in comparison to her and those she deems worthy. The author notes that she refuses to sit next to a child she considered dirty and would rather stand and wait for another space to open up. She pushes her husband to sit next to the dirty child and states “Sit down. You know you are not supposed to stand on that leg” (O’Connor 353). In addition to being judgmental she is also bossy and orders her husband around. She then sizes up the other occupants in the room and decides to converse with the only lady there she considered pleasant because of her stylish dressing which showed her materialistic nature. She then proceeds to identify the other occupants based on their appearances and identifies a white-trash woman, who was the mother of the dirty boy she refused to sit next to. Mrs. Turpin is seen to be critically judgmental in all aspects of her life including the people she interacts and identifies wit...