In the story Julian is a young man that despises his mother and her values. Julian's mother is a woman who believes in old-fashioned Southern white values. She is very prejudice against the African-American race. In Julian's mind his is the exact opposite of his mother, but as the story goes on the reader begins to realize that Julian is a hypocrite. That he acts the way he does just to get a small revenge on his mother.
Julian believes that his mother is small-minded and her beliefs are old-fashioned. Julian turns against his mother after he goes away to college. In college Julian was taught differently. He was taught or learned that African-American's were just as well off as whites, and that they are equal. He basically indirectly learned that his mother's beliefs were wrong. .
When Julian's mother and the other white lady on the bus are talking they are talking like African-American people aren't even human. They talk like they don't deserve to even be on the bus. Julian rolls his eyes and totally despises his mother, even when she brags about her son. They say that the world is a mess and they don't know how they let it get this far, as to say that they don't know how African-American people has gotten so much freedom, and power. Julian doesn't say a word at this point. This caught me off guard because I thought he would stand up for what he believed in and not let them blame all the worlds problems on African-Americans, such as people stealing automobliles.
Later in the story you come to realize that Julian is a hypocrite. We learn that he does the things he does to think he is better that his mother. He also does certain things just to make his mother mad. For example, when he gets on a bus he makes it a point to sit next to an African-American. He is just doing this to try to make up for what his mother believes and how he acts. You also get this feeling when he hints that he would like to own his mother's family's old mansion, which used to be the home of over 200 slaves.
