Stairway to Heaven (not the Led Zeplin version)
“Go back to hell, where you came from, you old Warthog!” Mary Grace shouts at the self-righteous Ruby Turpin, which causes Ruby an uncharacteristic moment of self-doubt. In this scene from “Revelation,” the unlikely prophet, Mary Grace, is so fed up with Mrs. Turpin’s racist and elitist comments that she simultaneously throws a book of Human Development at Mrs. Turpin’s head. Obviously, Mary Grace believes that Mrs. Turpin’s development and sense of justice have been so warped that she must get her attention. This is a typical scene of grace in O’Connor’s work. O’Connor believed that grace means change and change is uncomfortable, so sometimes through our most baffling, humbling, painful moments, we really begin to see who we are. Most of us at times like these, like Mrs. Turpin, rail at God, shouting, “Who do you think you are [to put me through this]?" Mrs. Turpin’s final vision of the stairway to heaven undercuts everything she’s ever believed about herself and others—that is, the “best” people will go to heaven. In her vision, the people whom she has always considered beneath her, are actually first on the stairway and the “righteous” people’s good deeds and "things" are aflame. It’s our pride that always gets us in trouble. I like the term epistemological humility these days—acknowledging that I don’t have all the answers, and that I need to be less judgmental.
Paradox: We talked about many things in class last Thurs. but one thing was the paradoxical nature of the story--which would go with the famous biblical paradox of the Last Shall Be First. Mrs. Turpin’s name is the blend of something majestic (Ruby) and something very mundane and paradoxical itself—a land turtle—Turpin. Also, it seems ironic that in the story, pigs take on starring roles. The “clean” Mrs. Turpin wants to control her pigs and clean them up artificially. Yet at the story’s end, the old sow ends up being a symbol of grace and beauty, just doing what she does naturally—in giving life to the piglets. Also, Mrs. Turpin seems to be linked (somewhat) to the elder brother of the prodigal son story—with a twist being that she lives with the pigs. Someone mentioned that the setting of the doctor’s waiting room is a type of paradoxical judgment scene-- people are waiting to be “healed” while being judged by the merciless Mrs. Turpin. (And, of course, ironically, people end up getting hurt emotionally and physically in this office.) This opening judgment scene repeats itself in the final part of the story with another ironic twist, where Mrs. Turpin is no longer a judge but a disturbed witness on the bottom rung of the staircase to Heaven. This is her great revelation--she is one of those luke warm Christians that the book of Revelation describes.
Context: The story was written in 1964 shortly after Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream Speech” that advocated racial harmony—hence the significance of the heavenly stairway with African-American people at the head of the line. We did discuss the racial divides in this story and the signifying that went on between Mrs. Turpin and the African American workers on her farm. Mrs. Turpin is trying to be authentic with the workers but since she’s always played roles with them (see the early part of the story about her codified role-playing with her employees), they continue in the “play.” Mrs. Turpin ends up being entirely dissatisfied with the whole exchange.
We also talked about the blending of the liturgical color symbolism in O’Connor’s stories. Here are some ideas that I found on line:
RedSignifies action, fire, charity, spiritual awakening. It also glorifies the sun and the joy of life and love. In the Christian symbolism, it denotes Holy Spirit. It is the color of Pentecost.BlueBlue signifies the blue skies or the life-giving air and often signifies hope or good health. It is an alternate color for the season of Advent.WhitePurity, virginity, innocence, and birth, are symbolized with this color. White is the liturgical color of Christmas and Easter.
Purple speaks of fasting, faith, patience and trust. It is the liturgical color used during seasons of penance, Advent and Lent.
There is a great deal of red, purple and blue in the story. You might want to draw up your own schemata of what the colors all mean. Here’s a caveat, though—don’t get too carried away. O’Connor once said of the misfit’s hat in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” that “sometimes a black hat is just a black hat.” But who knows? She may have been saying this tongue-in-cheek.
I’ve also pasted in this week’s questions and the handout that I distributed in class.
“Revelation” and questions for “Parker’s Back”
Matthew 19:30: But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first
Revelation 3 14"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. 15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. 21To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
Background for the story: The story’s character Mary Grace is based on FO’s real life friend Mary “Maryat” Attaway, who was also a Wellesley student. This story was written quickly, within 8 weeks, and in July of 1964 she won the O.Henry Prize for it. Sadly, she found out this good news only a few weeks before she died. On Feb. 24, 1964, she had entered the hospital (for a hysterectomy for fibrous tumor. Near the end, she would rest for 22 hours just so that she could write for 2. She died on August 4 and her funeral was held one day later so many of her northern friends couldn’t attend, but her death was announced in the New York Times .
Comments from Critical Responses to Flannery O’Connor (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004). Ed. Douglas Robillard, Jr.
“The revelation is unmistakable. Its explicitness is in keeping with the minds of the Ruby Turpins. And although Mary Grace is a manipulated character, she expresses O’Connor’s certainty that man can never dictate the conditions in which truth will be revealed. Because human definitions of God’s ways are too limited to be wholly accurate, they must be corrected by violence which disturbs the creature so that he may be open to the creator” (Gossett 85).
[M]arvelously funny apocalypse of the Laodicians, but the story goes on too long” (Hyman 92). “ Secularism never has a chance. [This story and others contain] religious visions that the development of the story does not justify” (Lorch 108).
Milder comments that O’Connor’s stories turn upon a moment of humiliation which then ends with a decision for grace or a realization that one is in badly need of redemption. Furthermore, Milder asserts that for O’Connor, in a word, original sin is equivalent to ‘self,’ and before grace can be extended to a character that ‘self’ must be annihilated” (170).
Wood says of Mrs. Turpin’s epiphany, “As almost always in O’Connor’s work, the answer occurs through silence. The talky woman who has raged against God receives no divine lecture but an eschatological vision. With the sky darkening toward sunset, Ruby stares down an old sow who feeds her suckling piglets in utter disregard for her own welfare. This scene of unstaunched giving and vibrant receiving enables Ruby to gaze ‘through the very heart of mystery.’ She seems, in fact, to be ‘absorbing some abysmal life-giving knowledge.’”
He further notes, “O’Connor never ends her stories with easy victories, since neither good art nor authentic faith is ever less than arduous and exacting. Ruby Turpin is still far from salvation. Her false goodness will not be easily cleansed. Even in receiving her divine vision, she retains her tone of arch condescension…yet neither will she be able
to forget what she has glimpsed.”
Wood also calls this short story, O’Connor’s most “winsome.” He ends his book, in fact, with commentary on “Revelation,” which he then extends into his closing comments: “Yet hope remains [for our nation], the eschatological hope that Ruby Turpin encountered, the hope that God’s burning mercy hurries terribly and wonderfully near. Flannery O’Connor’s work both enlivens and extends this hope because it was inspired by a terribly and wonderfully Christ-haunted region.”
Questions for “Parker’s Back”
1. Why in your judgment, did Parker marry Sarah Ruth? Why did she marry him?
2. At the end of the second paragraph, the author says of Parker and Sarah Ruth: “He could account for her one way or another; it was himself that he could not understand.”
How accurate is each part of this assumption?
3. What does Parker’s employer think of him? How valid is her estimation?
4. What is the basis of Parker’s fascination with tattooing? What kinds of feelings usually prompt him to get a new tattoo?
5. “Long views depressed Parker. You look out into space like that and you begin to feel as if someone were after you, the navy or the government or religion” (paragraph 36). What insights does this statement give us into Parker’s character and behavior?
6. What motivates Parker to get the tattoo on his back? How does he expect Sarah Ruth to respond to it?
7. While waiting for the artist to finish the God tattoo, Parker feels that “his sensations of the day and night before were those of a crazy man and that he would return to doing things according to his own sound judgment” (paragraph 117). How much self-awareness does the observation demonstrate.
8. When the artist asks him if he’s “gone and got religion,” Parker says, “I ain’t got no use for none of that. A man can’t save his self from whatever it is he don’t deserve none of my sympathy (paragraph 119). What does this attitude illustrate about Parker’s personality? By his own standard, how much of his own sympathy does he deserve?
9. Why does Sarah Ruth refuse to recognize parker by his initials? What is the significance of his whispering his name through the keyhole, and what effect does doing so have on him?
10. Can you think of how this story might relate to the iconoclasts? Also do you see any
11. Do you see Biblical typology here? Biblical typology uses an OT figure to point to a New Testament figure. Think about how the prophet Jonah is used in this story.
Come and join us next Thurs. for this final class!
Paradox: We talked about many things in class last Thurs. but one thing was the paradoxical nature of the story--which would go with the famous biblical paradox of the Last Shall Be First. Mrs. Turpin’s name is the blend of something majestic (Ruby) and something very mundane and paradoxical itself—a land turtle—Turpin. Also, it seems ironic that in the story, pigs take on starring roles. The “clean” Mrs. Turpin wants to control her pigs and clean them up artificially. Yet at the story’s end, the old sow ends up being a symbol of grace and beauty, just doing what she does naturally—in giving life to the piglets. Also, Mrs. Turpin seems to be linked (somewhat) to the elder brother of the prodigal son story—with a twist being that she lives with the pigs. Someone mentioned that the setting of the doctor’s waiting room is a type of paradoxical judgment scene-- people are waiting to be “healed” while being judged by the merciless Mrs. Turpin. (And, of course, ironically, people end up getting hurt emotionally and physically in this office.) This opening judgment scene repeats itself in the final part of the story with another ironic twist, where Mrs. Turpin is no longer a judge but a disturbed witness on the bottom rung of the staircase to Heaven. This is her great revelation--she is one of those luke warm Christians that the book of Revelation describes.
Context: The story was written in 1964 shortly after Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream Speech” that advocated racial harmony—hence the significance of the heavenly stairway with African-American people at the head of the line. We did discuss the racial divides in this story and the signifying that went on between Mrs. Turpin and the African American workers on her farm. Mrs. Turpin is trying to be authentic with the workers but since she’s always played roles with them (see the early part of the story about her codified role-playing with her employees), they continue in the “play.” Mrs. Turpin ends up being entirely dissatisfied with the whole exchange.
We also talked about the blending of the liturgical color symbolism in O’Connor’s stories. Here are some ideas that I found on line:
RedSignifies action, fire, charity, spiritual awakening. It also glorifies the sun and the joy of life and love. In the Christian symbolism, it denotes Holy Spirit. It is the color of Pentecost.BlueBlue signifies the blue skies or the life-giving air and often signifies hope or good health. It is an alternate color for the season of Advent.WhitePurity, virginity, innocence, and birth, are symbolized with this color. White is the liturgical color of Christmas and Easter.
Purple speaks of fasting, faith, patience and trust. It is the liturgical color used during seasons of penance, Advent and Lent.
There is a great deal of red, purple and blue in the story. You might want to draw up your own schemata of what the colors all mean. Here’s a caveat, though—don’t get too carried away. O’Connor once said of the misfit’s hat in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” that “sometimes a black hat is just a black hat.” But who knows? She may have been saying this tongue-in-cheek.
I’ve also pasted in this week’s questions and the handout that I distributed in class.
“Revelation” and questions for “Parker’s Back”
Matthew 19:30: But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first
Revelation 3 14"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. 15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. 21To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
Background for the story: The story’s character Mary Grace is based on FO’s real life friend Mary “Maryat” Attaway, who was also a Wellesley student. This story was written quickly, within 8 weeks, and in July of 1964 she won the O.Henry Prize for it. Sadly, she found out this good news only a few weeks before she died. On Feb. 24, 1964, she had entered the hospital (for a hysterectomy for fibrous tumor. Near the end, she would rest for 22 hours just so that she could write for 2. She died on August 4 and her funeral was held one day later so many of her northern friends couldn’t attend, but her death was announced in the New York Times .
Comments from Critical Responses to Flannery O’Connor (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004). Ed. Douglas Robillard, Jr.
“The revelation is unmistakable. Its explicitness is in keeping with the minds of the Ruby Turpins. And although Mary Grace is a manipulated character, she expresses O’Connor’s certainty that man can never dictate the conditions in which truth will be revealed. Because human definitions of God’s ways are too limited to be wholly accurate, they must be corrected by violence which disturbs the creature so that he may be open to the creator” (Gossett 85).
[M]arvelously funny apocalypse of the Laodicians, but the story goes on too long” (Hyman 92). “ Secularism never has a chance. [This story and others contain] religious visions that the development of the story does not justify” (Lorch 108).
Milder comments that O’Connor’s stories turn upon a moment of humiliation which then ends with a decision for grace or a realization that one is in badly need of redemption. Furthermore, Milder asserts that for O’Connor, in a word, original sin is equivalent to ‘self,’ and before grace can be extended to a character that ‘self’ must be annihilated” (170).
Wood says of Mrs. Turpin’s epiphany, “As almost always in O’Connor’s work, the answer occurs through silence. The talky woman who has raged against God receives no divine lecture but an eschatological vision. With the sky darkening toward sunset, Ruby stares down an old sow who feeds her suckling piglets in utter disregard for her own welfare. This scene of unstaunched giving and vibrant receiving enables Ruby to gaze ‘through the very heart of mystery.’ She seems, in fact, to be ‘absorbing some abysmal life-giving knowledge.’”
He further notes, “O’Connor never ends her stories with easy victories, since neither good art nor authentic faith is ever less than arduous and exacting. Ruby Turpin is still far from salvation. Her false goodness will not be easily cleansed. Even in receiving her divine vision, she retains her tone of arch condescension…yet neither will she be able
to forget what she has glimpsed.”
Wood also calls this short story, O’Connor’s most “winsome.” He ends his book, in fact, with commentary on “Revelation,” which he then extends into his closing comments: “Yet hope remains [for our nation], the eschatological hope that Ruby Turpin encountered, the hope that God’s burning mercy hurries terribly and wonderfully near. Flannery O’Connor’s work both enlivens and extends this hope because it was inspired by a terribly and wonderfully Christ-haunted region.”
Questions for “Parker’s Back”
1. Why in your judgment, did Parker marry Sarah Ruth? Why did she marry him?
2. At the end of the second paragraph, the author says of Parker and Sarah Ruth: “He could account for her one way or another; it was himself that he could not understand.”
How accurate is each part of this assumption?
3. What does Parker’s employer think of him? How valid is her estimation?
4. What is the basis of Parker’s fascination with tattooing? What kinds of feelings usually prompt him to get a new tattoo?
5. “Long views depressed Parker. You look out into space like that and you begin to feel as if someone were after you, the navy or the government or religion” (paragraph 36). What insights does this statement give us into Parker’s character and behavior?
6. What motivates Parker to get the tattoo on his back? How does he expect Sarah Ruth to respond to it?
7. While waiting for the artist to finish the God tattoo, Parker feels that “his sensations of the day and night before were those of a crazy man and that he would return to doing things according to his own sound judgment” (paragraph 117). How much self-awareness does the observation demonstrate.
8. When the artist asks him if he’s “gone and got religion,” Parker says, “I ain’t got no use for none of that. A man can’t save his self from whatever it is he don’t deserve none of my sympathy (paragraph 119). What does this attitude illustrate about Parker’s personality? By his own standard, how much of his own sympathy does he deserve?
9. Why does Sarah Ruth refuse to recognize parker by his initials? What is the significance of his whispering his name through the keyhole, and what effect does doing so have on him?
10. Can you think of how this story might relate to the iconoclasts? Also do you see any
11. Do you see Biblical typology here? Biblical typology uses an OT figure to point to a New Testament figure. Think about how the prophet Jonah is used in this story.
Come and join us next Thurs. for this final class!
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