Reviews with content warning for Racism - Everything That Rises Must Converge: Stories

Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Everything That Rises Must Converge: Stories by Robert Fitzgerald, Flannery O'Connor

10 reviews

dagnysreads's review against another edition

challenging dark funny sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

O’Connor’s writing is efficient and evocative. Each story took me on a journey; I knew each character from jump and the plots felt like runaway train cars (in an exciting way). That said, coming at it in 2025, I struggled with her portrayal of non-white people in particular. Different time, but hard to reckon with nonetheless.

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jnkay01's review

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dark sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

True horror stories, but instead of the supernatural or ghostly adversaries, the source of the horror is racism. Never more relevant than now, and a searing indictment of our social failures since these stories were first published.

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fluffernutter's review against another edition

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challenging informative medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I read about 3/4 of the stories, skipping the ones that were too racist and n-word using. Parker's Back and The Enduring Chill were my favorites. O'Connor doesn't present likable protagonists or simple scenarios, and I definitely didn't grow up Catholic. What writing of hers I appreciate I do so whole heartedly.

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lyatheenaka's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

analysis on the hat:
What’s in a hat? In Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O’Connor, the hat shared between two ladies is one of the focal points of the story. A hat that says a million words with all its unique features. With the hat, O’Connor crosses the identities of the two ladies in such a way that brings up larger points of southern culture and race. By making these two characters wear the same uniquely gaudish hat, you are tying them intrinsically to one another. Julian’s mother parallels the black woman and vice versa. Even before Julian notices the hats, he is already comparing them with the switching of the sons, “Julian saw that it was because she and the woman had, in a sense, swapped sons. Though his mother would not realize the symbolic significance of this, she would feel it” (O’Connor 415). The women are intertwined by the narrative even before the hats are introduced.

The parallel is made because, despite racial differences and different personalities, they share the same place in life. They both use dress to project a certain image of themselves, one that is more regal than their situation allows them. While the black woman presumably dresses up for the life she is working for, Julian’s mother dresses for the status she lost. Through the changing, newly integrated world, these two women have been brought to the same station in life. Despite this, all things that converge must diverge too. The hat, the item that connected the two women, is tipped off Julian’s mother's head after her altercation with the woman. “Her legs were stretched out in front of her and her hat was on her lap” (O’Connor 418). Their shared identity has ended, as the woman will continue homeward in good health while Julian’s mother will see her life change from a stroke. Julian's mother has lost herself in the confusion of the stroke and she lost her hat as well.

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nb61's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Abundance of time period and geographically attributable racism.

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greatexpectations77's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

This was my first O'Connor, and I'm not sure that I'll return. Ms. O'Connor wrote well - there's no denying that. But it comes to that question where if one writes nine stories about horrible, classist, cruel bigots, does that mean that one might have much in common with those bigots? I guess in the past, because the writing was good, Lit Folks saw the stories as extreme on purpose to give a moral message. But that's a little harder to argue alongside the letters from Ms. O'Connor that have been more recently made public. Maybe one day, I'll have a more nuanced reading of this work, but currently I'm not finding it either fun nor thought-provoking. And it's just CHOCK full of racial slurs. Sooooo no thanks.

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