Short Story Spotlight: Everything that Rises Must Converge

First, I must say that is such a great title. I love the title more than anything. Everything that Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor references a work called Omega Point by Pierre Tielhard de Chardin: "Remain true to yourself, but move ever upward toward greater consciousness and greater love! At the summit you will find yourselves united with all those who, from every direction, have made the same ascent. For everything that rises must converge." (Source) Learning this makes me love the title even more and explains the sentiment of the story better.

Everything that Rises Must Converge is the story of Julian, a recent college graduate who is an aspiring writer but instead sells typewriters. He has begrudgingly agreed to accompany his mother to her exercise class at the YMCA because she is afraid to travel alone on the bus at night since integration has been introduced to their city. Julian has such a deep disdain for his mother because of her bigoted views and refusal to change them. She asserts that she knows who she is and that is all that matters. Julian also dislikes her for playing the martyr in his life; she has an elevated sense of self that does not match her circumstances because she thinks it's "fun to struggle" so that one can look back on the hard times with a hearty laugh when one has moved past them. The mother shares camaraderie with two other women on the bus in her views of black people before a black man comes on to the bus and then soon after a black woman and her son.

It is unfortunate that race problems are present today with certain people refusing to acknowledge the fact racism still exists. The story shows that racism exists in an elevated sense of self and lack of compassion and understanding and small moments in daily life that balloon to larger issues. The idea black people are dangerous and should be controlled influences how people interact on public transportation and in stores and on the street at night and is the same intrinsic thought internalized by police officers who shoot innocent black people.

I love when a story can have different meanings depending on what's going on in your life. As Julian says, "Knowing who you are is good for one generation only." Regrettably during this read, I saw myself in the jaded recent college graduate, Julian, who had learned too much about life through observation  rather than living. The story was also a reminder that the relationship between history, present, and future in the world has similarities and change. The story was published in 1965, yet ideas of the world being a mess and young people just needing time in the story can be heard today. I just realized that young people don't need time to change themselves all the time; sometimes they just need time for the world to change and catch up to them.

A PDF of the story can be found here. Hope you enjoy it!