The narrator of "Everything That Rises Must Converge" is the author, Flannery O'Connery. It is written in a third-person omniscient point of view, therefore the all character's thoughts and actions are revealed in the story. For example, even the background characters' thoughts are revealed by the author throughout the story. O'Conner writes, "The woman with the protruding teeth was looking at him avidly as if he were a type of monster new to her" (O'Conner, pg.152). Right here, O'Conner is describing the thoughts of the random stranger on the bus. He also does this with all of the characters throughout the story. This style of narration is important because it connects the reader to all of the characters of the story in some way. It helps the reader to be more engaged in the story and to understand each character's moods and tones by including their thoughts, dialogue, and actions. O'Conner also includes descriptions of the characters' appearances and thoughts, which allows the reader to create an image of what each character looks like.
"Everything That Rises Must Converge" is about a boy named Julian and his mother. Julian's mother lived in segregated times when whites were separated from the blacks. In the story, she still lives in that mindset, and she is very uncomfortable around African Americans. Because of this, she gets Julian to escort her on the city bus to her weekly weight-loss class at the YMCA. She has refused to take the bus alone ever since integration of races started to occur. While on the bus, Julian starts to dream to be wealthy and live in a house in the country. His mom proceeds to tell him about how her grandfather at one time owned a plantation with about 200 slaves. Julian becomes embarrassed and tells his mother that the days of slavery are over. He eventually becomes irritated with her talking about the black nurse that she had, and he moves to sit next to a black person on the bus to frustrate his mother.
