I was completely shocked when I realized that Mrs. Turpin, the main character of “Revelation”, could be the long lost missing DNA strand of someone I work with. Yes, have pity on me, I know someone of Mrs. Turpin’s nature all too well. Mary Flannery O’Connor’s story “Revelation” was fantastically realistic to me, and therefore I enjoyed every word of it. The story spoke to me and made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside because I realized I was not the only one dealing with a Mrs. Turpin. O’Connor is a brilliant writer and has hooked me forever as a devoted reader. Her writing style stimulates my literary juices because of the realistic characters and situations she creates. O’Connor hit a fiery nerve of mine with her pious main character of the story, Mrs. Ruby Turpin. Some readers might just be appalled by Mrs. Turpin’s thought process and extremely horrifying judgments, but I am sickened to the bottom of my bones by this character because she is a mirror image of someone I unfortunately have to work closely with. Some days it is unbearable to hear this certain woman speak, and other days I am lucky that my ears do not bleed from the sickeningly sweet harshness and judgments that escape her mouth. I sympathize immensely with Mary Grace, the protagonist in the story who utters the earth-shattering revelation to Mrs. Turpin, “Go back to hell where you came from, you old wart hog.” I cheered in my seat when Mary Grace put the snooty Mrs.Turpin in her place.
My feelings were parallel to Mary Grace’s when she was sitting in the doctor’s office simmering over Mrs. Turpin’s abrasive comments. Mary Grace immediately pin points Mrs. Turpin’s behavior as “holier than thou” at their first encounter ,“The girl raised her head and directed her scowl at Mrs. Turpin as if she did not like her looks.” It is incredible how this story has lit a fire under me, because I have absolutely no tolerance for individuals like Mrs. Turpin who think they are better than everyone else. I have stumbled upon the revelation that Mrs. Turpin is the long lost twin of a person whom I know too well. “Grumpy” is a devout Catholic who is the furthest example of a “good Christian” but believes she is God’s gift to mankind. “Grumpy” is extremely nasty, intensely mean, and excruciatingly judgmental. Whenever she is present her negativity radiates through the walls and the mood becomes funereal. Check please! If you are not a practicing Christian you will certainly not find your way on her radar. She is extremely contradictory in every way; she says one thing and always does another. She is verbally abusive to people, and then wonders why no one wishes to speak with her. She once became very upset that another acquaintance used the term “colored people”, but then the next week she was caught calling an Indian student a “brown boy”. Politically incorrect? I think so!
I have zero tolerance for condescending individuals who focus on social status. This issue is deeply personal to me because I embrace people with an open mind and a kind heart. It absolutely repulses me when someone passes judgments and stereotypes on people they do not know a thing about. I believe many people spend too much negative energy judging people, when they should be worrying about more important things in life, like improving themselves. Go Team Mary Grace!!
