Joshua Nixon

The Eyes Have It

Flannery O'Connor's "Revelation"

            Flannery O'Connor's "Revelation" is a story about social prejudice. The main character, Mrs. Ruby Turpin, is obsessed with upholding class distinctions based on her own perspective. As critic Richard Giannone puts it, "She is a closed circuit of intolerances that pass for social distinctions" (213). Inherent in Mrs. Turpin's problem of prejudice is her ability—or inability—to see clearly. One major theme in the story is how she views the other people she meets.

            Some critics emphasize O'Connor's use of women in "Revelation" (Rath 65, 198-199). Others draw attention to her treatment of black characters and racism (Cash 152). Giannone remarks on the importance of justice in the story, and O'Connor's Christian view of justice (220). Although these are legitimate views of "Revelation," another equally important view of the story emphasizes O'Connor's description of the eyes of her characters—what their eyes look like, what they see, and how they are concerned with how others see them. The significance of the characters' eyes relates to their social perspective, and in this analogy lies the essence of O'Connor's story.

            The very title of the story is the first clue to the importance of eyes: "Revelation." A revelation involves bringing something into view, and this title gives a hint that eyesight will play an interesting role in the development of the plot.

O’Connor begins to make us of eyesight early in the story. In the first paragraph, Mrs. Turpin walks into the doctor's waiting room with her husband Claud. The first descriptive statement about Mrs. Turpin is her size (another important element), but the second thing O'Connor mentions is her eyes. "Her little bright black eyes took in all the patients as she sized up the seating situation" (O'Connor 818). Mrs. Turpin looks around the room and begins to take in the room's other occupants: an old man, a little boy and his grandmother, a stylish lady and her sullen teenage daughter. As Mrs. Turpin surveys the room, she makes judgments on the other characters based on what she sees.

            Mrs. Turpin's first communication with the "stylish" and "pleasant lady" is by way of her eyes. O’Connor says that “her gaze settled agreeably on a well-dressed grey-haired lady whose eyes met hers and whose expression said: if that child belonged to me...." (818). Without speaking an audible word, Mrs. Turpin and the lady express their similar views on the rudeness of the little boy and the thoughtlessness of his mother. As seen later in the story, Mrs. Turpin's ability to gaze into another character's eyes is related to her ability to communicate with them. This lady is the first person to meet Mrs. Turpin's eyes, and a comradery forms which lasts through most of the story. Later on, O'Connor says that Mrs. Turpin and the lady "exchanged a look” about the white-trash woman: "The look that Mrs. Turpin and the pleasant lady exchanged indicated they both understood that you had to have certain things before you could know certain things" (822). They are continuing to communicate with their eyes, and it seems that the lady shares Mrs. Turpin’s "eyesight" problem of prejudice.

            Throughout the story, countless details refer to the eyes. When Mrs. Turpin made a joke, she "rolled her eyes" and the ugly girl has "peculiar eyes." One particularly interesting detail is that "there was not a wrinkle in [Mrs. Turpin's] face except around her eyes from laughing too much" (O'Connor 819). Perhaps this suggests that Mrs. Turpin, upright in morals and friendly in temperament, has managed to get through life without any significant wear or decay, except in one area—her eyes. Her character (at least up to this point) remains intact, but it has developed one important flaw: her perspective is warped by the very moral condition she pride herself in. She is blinded by her own goodness and kindness; she thinks she is better than other people who don't meet her social standing.

            O'Connor also gives importance to the eyes of the white-trash woman. She has a "cast in one of her eyes," indicative of her own prejudices against blacks and social groups lower than her own. The "cast" in her eye probably refers to strabismus, an eye condition resulting in the slight crossing of the eyes, which impairs the vision. It is quite evident that the white-trash lady's vision is impaired in the social sense. Rather than seeing the evil in prejudice by its negative effect on her own life, she continues the train of prejudice by her attitudes toward blacks. O'Connor also notes that the white-trash woman "appeared to look a little to the side of Mrs. Turpin" (821). This is possibly due to the strabismus, but it is also indicative of the woman's inability to meet Mrs. Turpin's gaze. No comradery exists between these two women; in fact, no real communication ever occurs. They may even express similar opinions (about blacks, for instance), but still there is no significant connection between them.

            The elderly man, whom O'Connor describes as a "lean stringy old fellow" isn't making any of use of his eyes at all; he has them closed, "as if he were asleep or dead" (818). O'Connor surmises that his closed eyes are merely a pretense to avoid getting up and giving his seat to Mrs. Turpin. By refusing to open his eyes, the old man avoids Mrs. Turpin's faults of unjust criticism and prejudice, but he also ignores the needs of the others in the room. Clearly, the answer to Mrs. Turpin's problem is not to keep her eyes closed as the old man is doing.

            However, the most striking example of eyes in the story are the eyes of the “ugly” girl. From the outset, the girl seems to have little problem with meeting Mrs. Turpin's gaze. When Mrs. Turpin comments on the clock on the wall, the ugly girl "cast an eye upward at the clock, smirked, then looked directly at Mrs. Turpin and smirked again. Then she returned her eyes to her book" (O'Connor 821). She has the "same blue eyes" as her mother, the stylish, pleasant lady; and like her mother, she looks into Mrs. Turpin's eyes as an equal. However, unlike her mother, she does not smile when she exchanges glances with Mrs. Turpin, but scowls and smirks instead.

            The ugly girl uses her eyes as weapons, making Mrs. Turpin more and more uncomfortable. At one point, the ugly girl's eyes are fixed on Mrs. Turpin, expressing her hatred and dislike. The girl's gaze seems to pierce through Mrs. Turpin, her eyes "lit all of a sudden with a peculiar light, an unnatural light like night road signs give" (O'Connor 821). Mrs. Turpin looks behind her, wondering if there is anything wrong going on behind her, but there is nothing; the girl is directing her hateful glances straight at Mrs. Turpin. Mrs. Turpin is discombobulated; she thinks the girl must be confusing her with someone else. "There was no reason why the girl should single her out for her ugly looks" (O'Connor 821). But is there a reason?

            The girl's hateful gaze intensifies, until her eyes are "fixed like two drills on Mrs. Turpin" (O'Connor 825). Mrs. Turpin keeps talking, spouting her prejudiced views, as the girl (now known as Mary Grace) continues to stare. The story reaches its climax when the ugly girl throws her book at Mrs. Turpin's face. "The book struck her directly over her left eye" (O'Connor). It is significant that the ugly girl chose to throw the book at Mrs. Turpin's eyes. It suggests that Mary Grace saw in Mrs. Turpin's eyes what the rest failed to see—the judgmental, prejudicial way in which she sized up the other people in the world by their appearance, damning or blessing them according to her own social perspective.

            Immediately following the attack, Mrs. Turpin's "vision narrowed and she saw everything as if it were happening in a small room far away, or as if she were looking through the wrong end of a telescope" (O'Connor 826). When the girl crashes to the floor, Mrs. Turpin's vision reverses, and she sees "everything large instead of small" (O'Connor 826). It is evident that Mrs. Turpin's "eyesight" is being troubled by the attack. Suddenly she finds herself staring into Mary Grace's "fierce brilliant eyes" again. They seem to have changed color, to become lighter, "as if a door that had been tightly closed behind them was now open to admit light and air" (O'Connor 826).

At this point Mrs. Turpin realizes that the girl does know her. Not because they have met before, but because Mary Grace can see deep into Mrs. Turpin's soul. She sees beyond the outward friendliness and good morals to the prejudices that lurk in Mrs. Turpin's heart, and she sees it for what it truly is. "Go back to hell where you came from, you old wart hog" (O'Connor 827). Turned inside out, Mrs. Turpin doesn't look like a kind old lady, but an ugly beast.

            In the end, Mrs. Turpin's "eyesight" problem is corrected by a heavenly vision. She sees a procession of people in various degrees of social standing, marching their way to heaven, and she realizes that her judgments were prejudiced and distorted when compared to God's vision of mankind. Finally, Mrs. Turpin can see clearly.

Word Count: 1556

Works Cited/Consulted

Andrews, William L. et al., ed. The Literature of the American South. New York: W.W. Norton, 1998.

Asals, Frederick. Flannery O'Connor; The Imagination of Extremity. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1982.

Brinkmeyer, Robert H., Jr. The Art and Vision of Flannery O'Connor. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1989.

Cash, Jean W. Flannery O'Connor; A Life. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2002.

Driskell, Leon V. and Joan T. Brittain. The Eternal Crossroads; the Art of Flannery O'Connor. University Press of Kentucky, 1971.

Giannone, Richard. Flannery O'Connor and the Mystery of Love. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1989.

O'Connor, Flannery. “Revelation.” The Literature of the American South. Ed. William L. Andrews, et al. New York: W.W. Norton, 1998. 818-832.

Orvell, Miles. Invisible Parade: The Fiction of Flannery O'Connor. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1972.

Rath, Sura P. and Mary Neff Shaw, ed. Flannery O'Connor: New Perspectives. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1996.

Stephens, Martha. The Question of Flannery O'Connor. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1973.