Contradictions

Often people hide behind their self-proclaimed, religious façades. The ardent church attendees and devout bible readers can also be hypocritical monsters. So wrapped up in the technicalities of religion are they that pure intentions are forgotten. In Revelations by Flannery O’ Connor, Mrs. Turpin is so enthralled in her own definition of righteousness that she is ignorant of her impiety. In her mind people are placed on a ladder to heaven by ascending class order. Her time is spent reviewing this line and struggling with those groups whom she sees misfit. She often speaks on God’s behalf and feels that she this omni knowledge of people. In Mrs. Turpin’s mind Jesus conscientiously rewarded her with being a respectable white woman and by doing so placed her closer to heaven. Turpin is forgetful of Christianity’s recurring theme that those who suffer prosper in heaven. She proclaims that her life’s philosophy is to help all in need, but her helping is for her own satisfaction. Her own religious self-righteousness has clouded even the most simply of Christian morals.

Mrs. Turpin is a bossy, judgmental and ungrateful woman. She is the superior figure in her marriage. Though Claud, her husband, has an ulcer on his leg, when Mrs. Turpin cannot find a seat he simply sighs and begins to rise. Rather than be flattered that he would give up his seat, she demands that he sits down, and has justify to her audience that he has an ulcer. In complete submission Claud rolles up his pant leg and reveals the purple swelling. In this scene Claud’s actions reveal that he is subordinate to Mrs. Turpin. Her next order of business is classifying the people, when she cannot sleep; she is comforted by reviewing the distinct classes and putting herself in line. Seated next to her is the blue-eyed fat girl, next to the girl is a “leathery old woman,” and across the room a “pleasant lady, the mother of the disrespectful child, and after an examination of their shoe selections, their castes defined them. Every aspect of the people was a result of their class.

In the disillusioned mind of Mr. Turpin, being black dirty or ugly is an impurity from God; therefore, as a white homeowner Jesus destined her to be a better person. Even Mrs. Turpin’s hogs are superior to most; they are raised on concrete and washed daily; almost like she is fearful that others will judge her on her on the cleanliness of her animals. After the reader learns about her hog washing, Mary Grace, the fat girl, calls her a hog, alluding to the fact that Mrs. Turpin is symbolically trying to cleanse herself of her impurities. But a hog cannot erase its identity; it may seem superior because of its lack of dirt but inside it remains a naturally dirty animal. Mrs. Turpin pretends to be a friend to the black help, but this falsehood is only for her own benefit. She even defends the race to the trashy lady saying that they are different kinds of black people, but had she believed this statement, she would not have lumped blacks into one category on her caste ladder. When the delivery boy enters the office her fist observation is that he is “colored,” and after a short description of his delivery, she returns to the fact that he is “very black.” Though she objects to the Christian notion that all people are equal, she considers herself holy.
O’Connor reveals Mrs. Turpin’s impiety not only through her actions but symbolically. In the waiting room gospel music is playing creating the illusion that the room is not only a waiting room for the doctor, but also to heaven. Like trying to jam the wrong puzzle piece into a space, Mrs. Turpin does not fit. O’ Connor opens the story with the fact that Mrs.Turpin is too large for the room, and the tension grows when the seat fits her like a corset. Her character is too inflated for heaven. Her name is not revealed until the last quarter of the story; by creating this formal situation, O’ Connor does not want the reader to feel a connections towards her. Even her name, Ruby, has a connotation of both beauty and impiety. Rubies are precious, expensive gems, the type of lady that Mrs. Turpin wants to emulate, but they are also red, which is associated with the devil, and is a representative of her true character.
Mrs. Turpin’s character can be summarized by saying that she is a character of contradictions. It is almost as though she looks at herself through a distorted mirror, for she is truly blind to her ignorance. As a reader her blindness is tough categorize. Because the reader is torn between sympathy and hatred, thorough out the story, her transformation at the end of the story is unexpected but realistic. The light is finally shown on Mrs. Turpin, ironically, in the hogs’ pen, and her foggy reflection is ultimately cleared, seeing herself as a true hypocrite, and vowing to become a true child of God.