Revelation

Mrs. Turpin in Flannery O’Connor’s short story Revelation, is a prejudice and judgmental woman who spends most of her life prying in the lives of everyone around her. She looks at people not for who they are, but for their race or social standing. In fact, Mrs. Turpin is concerned with race and status so much that it seems to take over her life. Although she seems to disapprove of people of different race or social class, Mrs. Turpin seems to be content and appreciative with her own life. It is not until Mrs. Turpin’s Revelation that she discovers that her ways of life are no better then those she looks down upon and they will not assure her a place in Heaven.

Mrs. Turpin shows prejudice in several different aspects of her life. Her prejudice is first seen when she is in the doctor’s waiting room. The story states that “her little black eyes took in all the patients as she sized up the seating situation.” (339) While in the waiting room, Mrs. Turpin is surrounded by people of many different cultural and social backgrounds. As she gazes around the room Mrs. Turpin immediately begins putting the people into categories. Some she called “white trash”, others were wealthy and pleasant, and the remainder such as Mary Grace, were ugly. Most of Mrs. Turpin’s free time is also filled with prejudice thoughts. The story states that “Mrs. Turpin occupied herself at night naming the classes of people.”(341) She spends so much of her life judging other’s lives that she does not stop to see the faults of her own.

Mrs. Turpin is happy that her life is unlike those that she has prejudice against. She is thankful and content with the life she leads. During the story Mrs. Turpin states, “if it’s one thing I am it’s grateful. When I think who all I could have been besides myself

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and what all I got, a little of everything…, I just feel like shouting, Thank you, Jesus, for making everything the way it is.” (346) Mrs. Turpin feels that despite her few flaws, she has a wonderful life. She feels that she has been truly blessed with a loving husband and an abundance of land. Furthermore, Mrs. Turpin