“EVERYTHING THAT RISES MUST CONVERGE”
by Flannery O’Connor
ANTICIPATION GUIDE
| Before Agree Disagree | Statement and Evidence | After Agree Disagree |
1. Julian was insecure about his future. Evidence: "Someday, I’ll start making money.” “He knew he never would” (Page 2). | ||
| 2. Black people after the Civil War felt that they had made progress and were in a better position. Evidence: “The bottom rail is on the top” (Page 3). | ||
| 3. Julian’s mother was proud of her past upbringing and history. Evidence: "Your great-grandfather had a plantation and two hundred slaves” (Page 4). | ||
| 4. Julian felt ambiguous about his upbringing and past. Evidence: “Doubtless that decayed mansion reminded them,” Julian muttered. He never spoke of it without contempt or thought of it without longing (Page 5). | ||
| 5. Julian felt guilty and ashamed about his mother’s views of black people. Evidence: “When he got on a bus by himself, he made it a point to sit down beside a Negro, in reparation as it were for his mother's sins” (Page 5). | ||
| 6. Julian felt vindictive towards his mother. Evidence: “She was holding herself very erect under the preposterous hat wearing it like a banner of her imaginary dignity. There was in him an evil urge to break her spirit” (Page 6). | ||
| 7. In the end, Julian learned a valuable lesson about how he should have honored and respected his mother. Evidence: “The tide of darkness seemed to sweep him back to her, postponing from moment to moment his entry into the world of guilt and sorrow” (Page 19). |
Reference
Reading Rockets. (2023). Anticipation guide. WETA. https://www.readingrockets.org/classroom/classroom-strategies/anticipation-guide