Curtain calls in plays allow the audience to contemplate the ending of the story and the way characters have reconciled their differences. The appearance of the main characters of different generations at the end of the story calls for a reaction from the audience – either applause or disapproval. Mary Flannery O’Connor gives her book, Everything That Rises Must Converge, an outstanding finish – an open-ended exploration that allows the readers to come to their own conclusions. Here, as the main character Julian runs toward a cluster of lights in the distance for help, the spotlight is focused on him and his mother, acting as a curtain call for the main characters one final time.

The Labelling

O’Connor was an American novelist who grew up in a Roman Catholic family. It was in high school that she began writing books while still maintaining excellent grades. Having grown up in the South after World War II, her writings were influenced by the circumstances of the time, including racial prejudice. She passed away in 1964 at the age of 39 but is still regarded as one of America’s finest writers.

However, O’Connor’s style of writing in the Southern Gothic genre generated some criticism among critics, and she was even suspected of being racist by people who, at this time, misunderstood her because of the bigotry that prevailed at that time. The deformed characters in her novels and stories caused some people to label her as an atheist – in particular, she features characters that behave like godless people. Everything That Rises Must Converge, published in 1965, is about the South being transformed, with racial integration leading to equality so that whites and blacks can share a bus and even be seated together. However, O’Connor’s motivation to write this story was to confront sin and repentance, which led people to misunderstand her as a writer and individual. Thus, literary critics have tried to reconcile her writing style with her upbringing and influences like religion and social prejudice.

The Convergence

Everything That Rises Must Converge is a story about a mother and a son who struggle with each other’s conflicting points of view of the social upheaval in the South in the 1950s. Julian, the son, is a college student who goes to a university and has a more open view towards African-Americans, while his mother is a bigot who is prejudiced against blacks. The relationship between mother and son is revealed more clearly when the son accompanies his mother to a weekly weight-loss class on a non-segregated bus. The differing mind-set of mother and son reveals a conflict in their relationship arising from the mother’s prejudiced or wrongheaded attitude, which is a result of her Old South upbringing, while her son prides himself in being free from prejudice because he was put through school. Thus, a struggle between mother and son emerges, with one contending that genuine culture is “in the heart,” whiles the other believes it is “in the mind.”

Julian is obligated to accompany his mother because she sacrificed so much for him in order to provide everything he ever needed, including his college education. Despite this, the son challenges his mother inside the bus, intentionally conversing with every African-American who boards the bus, under the disapproving gaze of his mother.

Eventually, the mother and the son come to terms with what they believe in – revealing what is in their hearts regarding each other and people of color. The struggle begins with a test of how the mother reacts to being close to someone of a different race. As both the mother and the son continued to challenge each other’s beliefs, people around them begin to be affected, either avoiding them intentionally or striking back. The convergence in the story occurs with the discovery by Julius that his mother has been hurt much more deeply than he thought. The lack of respect that the son had shown to his mother had caused pain in her heart – both physically and emotionally. After attempting to humiliate his mother in the bus by talking to black passengers despite the looks his mother gives him, he manages to push her further away, with his mother not even calling to him for help when she was in dire need.

However, this realization comes to him too late, and the book concludes at a point that the author clearly intends – at a moment of recognizing one’s transgression and sorrow; as the story comes to an end, the spotlight centers on the main characters, leading to an indeterminate ending, with the audience having to decide the conclusion.

Book Information

Title: Everything That Rises Must Converge

Author: Mary Flannery O’Connor

Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux

Publication Year: 1965

Pages: 269