"Everything That Rises Must Converge": Flannery O'Connor Analysis

“The further irony of all this was that in spite of her, he had turned out so well. In spite of going to only a third-rate college, he had, on his own initiative, come out with a first-rate education; in spite of growing up dominated by a small mind, he had ended up with a large one; in spite of all her foolish views, he was free of prejudice and unafraid to face facts. Most miraculous of all, instead of being blinded by love for her as she was for him, he had cut himself emotionally free of her and could see her with complete objectivity. He was not dominated by his mother” (4).

I found this quote to be interesting for many reasons. First of all, it is strange to me that Julian actually thinks that his life is not dominated by his mother. He prides himself on how little he cares about her and how free he is from her views of the world, but in reality his mother is basically all that he has in his life and vice versa. Without his mother, Julian would not have been able to go to school and would not have a place to live while he searches for a better job in writing. Without Julian, his mother would have no one to take her places and care for her, and more importantly, her love for him seems to be what keeps her going every day. The two are completely reliant on each other, much to Julian’s denial.
Another interesting aspect of this quote is how Julian chooses to completely ignore all that his mother did for him and the contributions that she had on his life, which were obviously plentiful. Without her, Julian would not have been able to go to college at all, never mind a third-rate one. He thinks that he ended up successful in spite of his mother, but truthfully he is not successful and he would be even less successful than he already is without the help of his mother. He sells typewriters, so clearly he had not come out of college with a “first-rate education” as he claims. He says that he is free of prejudice and unafraid to face facts, but he is terrified to love his mother and to allow her to be satisfied with the way she raised him and her opinions on the world, as well as herself. Julian constantly puts down his mother’s opinions, and even her own pride and dignity annoy him; he thinks that she needs to come to grips with reality when he is just out of touch with reality as she is, if not more. His mother has the opposite problem: she loves him so much that she chooses to ignore that he is most likely going nowhere in his life. She brags about him every chance she gets, and takes pride in the fact that he went to college, but he cannot even let her have this glory, because he says that the school he went to wasn’t great. Still, his mother supports him and is optimistic about his future career in writing, which she shouldn’t be, and it is very apparent in this story that both of the main characters need a bit of a reality check: Julian’s mom to benefit herself, and Julian to become a better person in general.