Everything that Rises Must Converge

Just one year before her death in 1963, Flannery O’Connor won her second O. Henry Award for ‘‘Everything That Rises Must Converge,’’ a powerful depiction of a troubled mother-son relationship. In 1965 the story was published in her well-regarded short fiction collection, Everything That Rises Must Converge.
Most critics view ‘‘Everything That Rises Must Converge’’ as a prime example of O’Connor’s literary and moral genius. The story exemplifies her ability to expose human weakness and explore important moral questions through everyday situations. Considered a classic of the short story form, ‘‘Everything That Rises Must Converge’’ has been anthologized frequently.
The story describes the events surrounding a fateful bus trip that an arrogant young man takes with his bigoted mother. The mother insists on her son’s company because she doesn’t like to ride the bus alone, especially since the bus system was recently integrated. The tensions in their relationship come to a head when a black mother and son board the same bus.
O’Connor utilizes biting irony to expose the blindness and ignorance of her characters. The story’s title refers to an underlying religious message that is central to her work: she aims to expose the sinful nature of humanity that often goes unrecognized in the modern, secular world.


http://www.enotes.com/everything-rises

Doe season

Personal Information: Family: Born April 4, 1946, in New York, NY; son of Sidney and Minnie Marie (Henson) Kaplan; married Elizabeth Hope Crighton, August 16, 1976 (divorced); married Joyce Winer, July, 1988. Education: Yale University, B.A., 1967; University of Iowa, M.F.A., 1987. Addresses: Office: Department of English, Crown Center for the Humanities, Loyola University of Chicago, 6525 North Sheridan Rd., Chicago, IL 60626
Career: North Carolina Advancement School, Winston-Salem, English instructor, 1965-66; Learning Institute, Durham, NC, curriculum construction, 1968-71; Shadowstone Films, Durham, NC, creative director, 1971-76; National TV News, Los Angeles, CA, production director, 1976-84; Loyola University of Chicago, IL, assistant professor, then associate professor of English, 1987--.
Comfort (short stories), Viking (New York), 1987.
Skating in the Dark (novel), Pantheon Books (New York), 1991.
Revision: A Creative Approach to Writing and Rewriting Fiction, Story Press (Cincinnati, OH), 1997.

http://www.amyscott.com/david_michael_kaplan.htm

A good man is hard to find

O'Connor's story is told by a third-person narrator, but the focus is on the Grandmother's perspective of events. Even though she complains that she would rather go to Tennessee than Florida for vacation, she packs herself (and secretly her cat, Pitty Sing) in the car with her son Bailey, his wife, and their children June Star, John Wesley, and the baby. In a comical instance of foreshadowing, she takes pains to dress properly in a dress and hat, so that if she were found dead on the highway everyone would recognize her as a lady.
When the family stops for lunch at Red Sammy Butts' barbecue place, the proprietor, a husky man, is insulted by June Star. Nevertheless, he and the Grandmother discuss the escaped murderer known as the Misfit. Noting that the world is increasingly a more dangerous and unfriendly place, Red Sammy tells the Grandmother that these days "A good man is hard to find." Back on the road, the Grandmother convinces her hen-pecked son to go out of their way so they can visit an old plantation she recalls from her childhood. The children second her suggestion when she mentions that the house contains secret passageways.... »
http://www.enotes.com/good-man

The problem with human compassion

This is a story that needs your help... Many of you know me and the dogs I save and advocate for. This is a compelling story. PLEASE, don't go back and attack the shelter system, as they are making the dog available to rescue, not killing him as others might. The fault here lies with the civilian who broke the rules and put his hand into a cage and then reported it.There are a series of disturbing questions, however: Eight years before the Hokget saga began, the same world that showed extraordinary compassion for a dog sat on its hands as hundreds of thousands of human beings were killed in the Rwandan genocide. The 20th century reveals a shockingly long list of similar horrors that have been ignored by the world as they unfolded. Why have successive generations done so little to halt suffering on such a large scale?

http://www.pittsreport.com/2010/02/the-problem-with-human-compassion/

the dinner of the hour

It takes place only after the young Andy realizes that death is involved in this thing called "Hunting." There are three symbols in this story that have a great deal to do with the central theme. Of course, the doe would represent the innocence being destroyed. The ocean is supposed to be adulthood, when it is mentioned that "That was the first time she'd seen the ocean, and it frightened her. It was huge and empty, yet always moving. Everything lay hidden" (345-346). As well as the last context stating, "...all around her roared the mocking of the terrible, now inevitable, sea" (354). Her mother's accidental exposal of her breasts is a symbol of Andy's seeing that she will, one day, be like that. Her mother is the only way of seeing what womanhood is like. Finally, the changes made in the main character, Andy, have a lot to do with the central theme. She first prays, " Please let us get a deer" (348). After she shoots the deer, she thought, "What have I done" (352)? At the end, when she watches her father cut the deer open, Andy started running away from them. "Charlie Spoon and Mac and her father--crying ‘Andy, Andy' (but that wasn't her name, she would no longer be called that)" (354). Each experience enabled her to lose a little bit of innocence each time. Actually, for a child to advance and grow in life, it takes the loss of innocence. So that is what the change in the character was; her loss of innocence. It is clearly shown throughout each and every one of the elements that in order to fully become an adult, a child must come to terms that living comes along with the difficult reality of dieing. In the sense that the child's loss of innocence cannot be avoided, just as the doe's loss of life cannot be. This is just a part of life, a part of growing, a part of becoming an adult. Everyone goes through it. Everyone has their own personal experience of the loss. This little girl's was conveyed in the scenario of death.
http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Doe-Season-Analysis/65513