Everything That Rises Must Converge

Everything That Rises Must Converge
Flannery O'Conner

"What she meant when she said she had won was that she had brought him up successfully and had sent him to college and that he had turned out so well—good looking (her teeth had gone unfilled so that his could be straightened), intelligent (he realized he was too intelligent to be a success), and with a future ahead of him (there was of course no future ahead of him). "

I love this quote because it says a lot about Julian's mother. While she is quite racist and is not the perfect, she really does try her best. Julian is less racist than his mother, and seems more okay with the new integration, but his moral compass doesn't exactly point due north. He is "okay," with the idea of sitting next to a black person on a bus, not because he sees the black man as his equal, but because he wants to prove to his mother and the other people around him that he has black friends. So while technically he is more accepting towards the people on the bus, it is not for the right reason.

His mother, on the other side, isn't the most accepting, but tries very hard to be the best person she can be. She does not believe she is hurting anyone around her. She tries really hard to be sweet to everyone. It is probably generational. She grew up segregated and doesn't know how to live somewhere that is integrated. Other than her ignorance of race, she is a very good mother and member of society. She gave up everything to encourage her son to follow his dreams and tries to make conversation with everyone on the bus.