Friday, September 30, 2011

Revelation pp. 455-69

What connections can be made between Flannery O'Connor's "Revelation" and the book of Revelation in the Bible?  If a moral can be tagged onto O'Connor's "Revelation," what would it be?

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

In Scripture, Jesus reveals to us that a person's "class" does not matter in terms of his acceptance into the Lord's Kingdom. It does not matter how much "stuff" he has nor to which race he belongs. All that matters is that he believe in the existence of the Lord Jesus Christ and His power to save, allow Him to save, and strive to live a Christ-like life. We see this fact revealed to Mrs. Turpin at the end of the story as she, somewhat of a high-class woman, stands among the pigs. She realizes that there is real evil out there and that one must learn to look beyond the material world and physical appearance toward the heart. A person is not evil just because he is black, or because he is dirty or "white-trashy". As stated by the Lord, man is made in God's image, and anyone is welcome to join Him in paradise.

bekaht12 said...

Flannery O'Connor's "Revelation" parallels the biblical Revelations in many ways. The strongest parallel is the theme of prophesy. The entire biblical book is an account of John's visions. In O'Connor's "Revelation," Mrs. Turpin views Mary Grace as a sort of prophetess to reveal to Ruby her sins. Another parallel is Mrs. Turpin's own vision of heaven. She sees humanity's true equality though it had previously been hidden by her own pride. The moral of O'Connor's "Revelation" is that all men are equal regardless of one's original presuppositions.

CK said...

The most obvious connection between O'Connor's "Revelation" and the book of Revelation in the Bible is the vision of Heaven. At the end of O'Connor's story, Mrs. Turpin sees a vision of people going to Heaven. Similarly, one can read about the Rapture in the book of Revelation in the Bible. The most important part of the book, though, is a moral. Mrs. Turpin continually judges other people according to what she thinks, but she is wrong to do this. Only God can judge people because He created us. No man on earth is any better than another person or has a right to judge someone else. God placed people here to help others, not tear them down.

annamac said...

The clearest connection between the story and the book of Revelation in the Bible is Mrs. Turpin's vision of the saints ascending into heaven. This parallels the end of the world when Jesus comes back to take His followers into heaven with Him. However, in that day the Christians will not be seperated by class, as they are in Mrs. Turpin's vision. I think the most important moral that could be tagged onto O'Connors "Revelation" is God does not discriminate based on wealth, class, or color. Mrs. Turpin is obsessed with the order that she thinks people should fall into. It is very sad that she is so blind to her own prejudice, and when she sees herself for who she truly is she still doesn't really want to change. No matter what we think about others, in God's eyes we are all equal, and Jesus died to save all of humanity.

cdm37 said...

Obviously, they both have the same name. But on a serious note, both O'Connor's "Revelation" and the book of Revelation are filled with prophecies and revelations. John's revelation in the Bible is seeing what the future holds for the world and all of mankind. On the other hand, Mrs. Turpin's revelation is seeing the vision of Claud, herself, and others like her filing into Heaven from the rear. The moral is all people who choose to be saved are equal in the eyes of the Lord. Although Mrs. Turnip had more earthly riches she was not more saved than anybody else.

DTrag said...

O'Connor's story "Revelation" has many connections with the actual book of Revelations in the Bible, but the one that stands out most to me is Mrs. Turpin's vison of heaven. She sees the people of God going up to heaven in her vision. This parallels and rapture and when Jesus comes back for His people to take home to Heaven and be with Him for eternity. Just like Anna said though, the children of God will not be seperated into differnt groups like those in Mrs. Turpin's vison. Everyone will be together na dthere will be no division amongst God's people. The moral that can be tagged with this story is that God does not judge His people by their social class. He judges everyone equally, and He is the only one who can even judge others in the first place.

Rubik said...

As many have stated the connections that can be seen are those of the saints rising to to heaven. She saw all kinds of people from all kinds of class and all kinds of races filing up to heaven, not just the people she believe to be in heaven. On another note, she always seemed to notice peoples shoes. This can be seen as when she sees a person, she looks down on them, as if, immedialty, she sees herself as a better person than they are. This lady is also extremely full of herself. The white-trash lady was right that those colored should go back where they belong. She may not have been stating it this way, but had the people done this, the colored would be out of slavery and with people of heir own color and also not having people being prejudice against them, they would all be alike in their own country. The possibly moral is that no matter how high you seem to be, someone or something can easily bring you down to a level that you belong at or deserve to be at. In this case, she was brought down to realize her true level in this world: she is just like everyone else.

Mary Caitlin said...

Several connections can be made between Flannery O'Connor's "Revelation" and the book of Revelation in the Bible. The most noticeable one though is Mrs. Turpin's vision of Heaven. This parallels the rapture, the day that Jesus will take his followers with him to Heaven. I agree with annamac in that the moral that could be tagged onto "Revelation" is that God does not discriminate based on class, color, or wealth. Social class does not matter to God. Mrs. Turpin obsessed over social class and who belonged where. She thought it would be horrible to be part of a much lower class than she was. None of that matters to God at all. He loves us all equally as we are.

Bwood said...

One of the many connections that can be made from Flannery O'Connor's "Revelation" to the Biblical book of Revelation is the portrayal of heaven. In the closing of the story, Mrs. Turpin sees the pathway of heaven from her pigpen. This is symbolic for that even the dirtiest most unclean can still go to heaven. It does not matter what class a person is in because anyone can go to heaven through the belief in Christ. Mrs. Turpin was called a "Wart hog from hell" and she may be that but she still can recieve forgiveness and go to heaven. A person's civil class does not matter, the only thing that matters is their life's testimony.

Aaron Bowman said...

In Flannery O'Connor's "Revelation", there is a strong parallel with her story and the biblical book of Revelations. The most visible connection between these two is view of heaven. This view ultimately shows God views every man equally. As a result, if a moral was applied to O'Connor's "Revelation", equality shall then be focused upon. Because Mrs. Turpin sees the every person being accepted into heaven, it is evident man shall not judge upon their outward looks but look into the inside of their life.

james hartley said...
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james hartley said...
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