Flannery O’Conner’s short stories are all characterized by a moment of grace. Many of these moments of grace occur due to a significant, life-altering event. Her main characters are portrayed as flawed and their moments of grace are often the result of some kind of violent or sinister incident. Julian from “Everything that Rises Must Converge” and Hulga from “Good Country People” are two of these imperfect characters that experience a moment of grace. These characters are alike in their vain personalities, which cause their comparable downfalls. Their similarities convey the message O’Conner plants in her short stories. This message says that if one thinks that only they know best or that they are superior to others, they will learn the hard way that this is just not the case. The most obvious similarity between Julian and Hulga is that they think they’re superior. Julian often retreats into a mental bubble when he doesn’t want to be a part of what was going on around him. He does this to judge the others around him from the safety of his mind. “He could see out and judge but in it …show more content…
Julian’s moment of grace occurs when he looks “into a face he had never seen before.” The face is his mother’s, who had been reduced to a childlike state from the hit she received. This in itself is a moment of grace for his mother, since she seemed to be living in the past for the majority of the story. Now she is almost knocked back into her past, perhaps a time she thought was better than the times she lives in now. For Julian, however, his grace does not seem as nice. His impenetrable bubble has been broken, and he can no longer support himself, even in this moment. His mother provided so much for him, and as soon as she is taken from his life, his head clears. He realizes that he was wrong to be so rebellious against his mother, and he cannot even tell what his future will hold without