Mrs. Turpin's Revelation.

Ryan Fuller

Mrs. Crabb

English 1302

October 13, 2003

Mrs. Turpin’s Revelation

Revelation a story is written by Flanery O’Connor, which tells the story of a woman, named Mrs. Turpin. She believes that since she is a religious women and a devoted Christian that she would be going to heaven before any white trash or blacks. The story takes place at a local doctors office were Mrs. Turpin takes her husband to the doctor, after he sustained a kick to his leg. “Revelations” is spoken in the third person selective omniscience.

“Revelation was written in a pyramidal structure where the story has a rising action, a climax and a falling action with a climax inserted in the middle of the story. In the rising action of “Revelation,” the author gives the reader a complete description of the physical and mental view of the mind of the protagonist. Mrs. Turpin and her husband live outside of town were they own some land were they raise cattle, hogs, and grow cotton. They hire local black people too help them to harvest and take care of there crops. In the rising action, the reader gets a glimpse of the arrogance of the protagonist. Every morning and every evening Mrs. Turpin goes out to greet them when they arrive and when they leave, always with a smile and a bucket of ice water. Always happy to see them come to work, inwardly hating them and not liking that her husband Claude has to go and pick them up. Under her breath she curses, good for nothing nigger, and white trash people are no better. She despised colored and white trash people even though she was a religious women, she felt that she was better than they were even though they were not that far away from the life style they were living, even with a house and some property. “If she had died and giving the opportunity to come back as some body else and the lord told her she either could be a white trash women or black woman she would choose the black women, but only if it was a clean black women.”(Pg. 310)

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The Turpin’s go into town to the local doctor to have Mr. Turpin leg examined. He has a bump on the side of his leg, which he sustained when he had been kicked by a cow. Mrs. Turpin is not a petite woman to say the least, a robust woman and jolly and kind hearted on the outside, and always willing to strike up a conversation with anyone willing to talk. While waiting to see the doctor, she strikes up a conversation with the woman sitting next to her. In the rising climax builds up with the teenage girl Mary Grace giving Mrs. Turpin looks. The lady is there because of her daughter Mary Grace. Throughout her conversation with the lady, Mrs. Turpin notices that Mary Grace is always giving her the evil eye. Finally, after sitting there and listening to the conversation, Mary Grace snaps and throws the book, which hits her in the eye and then lunges towards Mrs.Turpins and grabs her throat. They both fall to the ground and the doctor and nurse come in to break them apart and to sedate Mary Grace. Mary Grace seems to have suffered a nervous breakdown and Mrs. Turpin is the subject that made her snap. She sees Mrs. Turpin as all things that are evil in the world and taken delight in telling Mrs. Turpin so. The climax of the story is when Mary Grace looks at Mrs. Turpin straight in the eye and tells her" Go back to hell from where you came from, you old warthog."(Pg. 316) In the falling action or resolution, Mrs. Turpin is hurt by the words of the teenage girl rather than the blow to the eye. This bothers Mrs. Turpin greatly, as the wife of a farmer, she knows first hand that hogs are clean creatures and she herself is a God- fearing woman. Even if her inner thoughts and outward actions don't match, how would a girl she's never met or spoken to know that? She ponders on this topic for the rest of the afternoon.

After being pelted with a flying object and her self righteousness stepped on, the Turpin’s pulled into their driveway and drove down the long road to their house. While her husband took the help home, she stood there washing the hogs with the hose and watching the sunset go down. She was remembering what Mary Grace had called her in her last moment of wakefulness, and why she said, “go to hell you old wart hog”. Mrs. Turpin was ashamed of this comment; she felt that she was better than this. To be compared to a warthog was like being called a nigger or white trash. In the falling action, the type of conflict is revealed to be man v. himself. The protagonist finally realizes that the skin color or ownership of land does not make you superior to another person.

In conclusion, Mrs. Turpin felt that she was a good honest person and a good religious woman that seemed to think; she was better than certain individual’s. But to find out that she was only an average person that let her Christianity go to her head, and that we should only judge somebody by who they are and not solely on the color of their skin. God does not judge solely on the color of our skin, but on how we see and help others in the time of need. For Mrs. Turpin, the judgment had come in the form of a young girl who could see her soul underneath all that goodness and the way Mrs. Turpin was really like. It was now time for Mrs. Turpin to see how she was and change her racist attitude towards those who are less fortunate. If I was to give a possible theme to revelations: “Ignorance is in the eye of the beholder.”