Critical Analysis Paper

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanliness" (Matthew 23:27). Thus Jesus Christ denounced the Pharisees in one of his last discourses in Jerusalem. These Pharisees judged quickly and ostentatiously displayed their righteousness, drawing attention to themselves so that men would praise them for their perceived righteousness. However, their notion of religion focused more about strictures than spirit, their actions just a façade for what lay beneath.

Unfortunately, despite the supposed enlightenment that has graced the human race over the past two thousand years, these Pharisaic tendencies have not disappeared. Mrs. Ruby Turpin of Flannery O'Conner's "Revelation" is a prime example of a "whited sepulchre" that is full of "all uncleanliness." She is full of "pride and prejudice" and is quick to point out others' faults while remaining oblivious to her own. Because she is domineering, self-righteous, hypocritical, prideful, and judgmental like the Pharisees, she will not apply her vision at the end of the story to her life and fail to change her life for the better.

Just as the Pharisees were overly domineering, Mrs. Turpin needs to control her surroundings. She forces her husband to sit in the chair, and she speaks for him when he is questioned (69). From these actions, the reader can infer that Mrs. Turpin is the leader in the marriage and that Claud just follows her actions. Not long after entering the waiting room, she says, "You can eat all you want, can't you, Claud?" (70) This condescending tone she uses almost makes Claud seem like a child or a well-loved pet. Later, Claud tries to introduce himself into the conversation by noting that Mrs. Turpin has laughed a lot more since she married him (75). Instead of simply leaving it at that, Mrs. Turpin feels the need to add her own explanation to Claud's comment. She notes that "he's such a caution . . . that [she] can't help but laugh at him" (76). This is a subtle jab at her husband, pushing him back down where he "belongs" and bringing her back up to the commanding position she is so used to.

This notion of position is quite important to Mrs. Turpin. Her self-righteousness is evident even in the beginning of the story as she enters the doctor's office. Instead of quietly slipping in like most people would do, she "loom[s] at the head of the magazine table" (69). She is not interested in being quiet and inconspicuous: she is meant to be seen. Her self-righteousness turns from outward displays to inward ones. As she listens to the gospel song, she mentally supplies the words that "wona these days [she] know[s] [she]'ll we-eara crown" (71) This woman is not merely adding in missing words; she is also fully expecting without any doubts that she will be saved in the Lord's kingdom instead of humbly acknowledging that she still has a long way to go.

Mrs. Turpin is also proud of her social status. As she thinks of all the classes of people "moiling and roiling around in her head" (71), she is very explicit to separate out all those who are of a lower class than hers. However, she affords those of higher classes but a single line full of generalizations. They simply have "much bigger houses and much more land" (71). By separating out all the various lower classes in her mind, she can exercise control over them and thus reassert her own social position.

As the conversation drifts toward Mary Grace, Mrs. Turpin's pride becomes even more evident in how she speaks of herself. When the woman makes a pointed comment about Mary Grace's bad disposition, Mrs. Turpin asserts to everyone that she "thank[s] the Lord he has blessed [her] with a good one" (75). With this statement, she is not only bragging about her own gifts and abilities but is also indirectly insulting Mary Grace. She caps this statement by exclaiming, "When I think of who all I could have been besides myself and what all I got, a little of everything and a good disposition besides, I just feel like shouting 'Thank you, Jesus, for making everything the way it is!' It could have been different!" (76). This statement is the climax of Mrs. Turpin's pride in this paper. While it might seem that she is glorying in the Lord's goodness, she is in reality glorying in herself: her personality, her social standing, and her material goods.

Even after the incident in the waiting room, Mrs. Turpin is as self-righteous and judgmental as before. When she refutes Mary Grace's statement, she points to all the other people in the room who deserved it more than she. She considers herself a "respectable, hard-working, church-going woman" (78) and thus completely undeserving of such a title as a "wart hog from hell" (77). In her mind, her outward works are all that is necessary, and that she is perfect because of her exactness in following them. As she ponders the point later alone, she demands of the Almighty, "Who do you think you are?" (81). Such a blatant question to the Creator of the universe is one of the most overt acts of pride she could commit. Rather than reevaluating herself or getting upset with Mary Grace, she gets upset with God.

Her judgments are not limited solely to herself; Mrs. Turpin is quite adept at forming judgments about others as well. As she surveys he room after just having arrived, she quickly qualifies and criticizes everyone and everything she sees without a second thought. The room is small, so she assumes the doctor "couldn't afford" a larger one (70). The secretary doesn't do any real work, she "listen[s] to the radio" (70). The nurse and the mother of the child are not blondes; instead, they have "yellow hair" (70). Even the seemingly innocent observations are twisted under her critical eye. The old woman is in a cotton dress that matched the print of Mrs. Turpin's "three sacks of chicken feed" (70). She describes the mother's shoes, and then noted that they were "exactly what you would have expected her to have on" (70).

After having made these observations and forming opinions on everyone in the room, Mrs. Turpin contents herself with thinking biting little statements after many of the comments. The child's mother tries to start a conversation using the experiences with which she is familiar and the comments made earlier by Mrs. Turpin to the pleasant lady (72). Mrs. Turpin's response, instead of being friendly, is to attempt to end the conversation immediately, because "once somebody like her got a leg in the conversation, she would be all over it" (72). As the woman continues and says that she got "joo'ry" with her green stamps, Mrs. Turpin, thinks almost spitefully that the woman "ought to have got . . . a wash rag and some soap" (72). The woman could be a perfectly nice person with an interesting life, but Mrs. Turpin's prejudices limit her to surface observations and petty responses. She even thinks that "there was nothing you could tell her about people like them that she didn't know already" (75), clearly demonstrating her refusal to change any of her initial impressions.

Like the Pharisees, Mrs. Turpin's biggest fault is her hypocrisy. As much as she tries to project herself as the perfect person, she is really not all that she seems. The first instance of it she gives occurs as she sits into the chair. She says "I wish I could reduce" with a "comic sigh" (70). Such a statement was probably not made with an earnest desire to lose weight, nor to elicit agreement from the others in the waiting room. Rather, as the "comic sigh" indicates, she is perfectly content with her weight and is merely fishing for a compliment.

Later, as she talks about the workers on the farm, she notes that she dislikes "buttering up niggers," but she had to do it if she wanted them to work for her (72). She gives examples of how she is friendly to the workers, but she made it clear that she has never been sincere in her greetings to them. When she hears the gospel song on the radio, she thinks about the ways in which she helps people (74), but then she notes that she really couldn't help the ones who needed it most because all she gave them would end up "broken or filthy" (75). By not helping those that need it most, the scope of her help is limited to those of her own class. For all her outward appearances of giving help, she really does not.

Although Mrs. Turpin has some good attributes such as a pleasant disposition and an inclination to help others, they are paled by her pride and hypocrisy. She does all the things she needs to, but not with "real intent; and yea, it profiteth [her] nothing" (Moroni 7:9). Her refusal to recognize others as they really are and herself as she really is indicates that she will be less than receptive to the vision she receives at the end of the story. As Laman and Lemuel demonstrated in 1 Nephi, it is not a hard thing to rationalize or ignore revelations, even as dramatic as Mrs. Turpin's. She will not change and will continue in her petty life with petty thoughts and petty possessions to keep her content.

This paper was written 26 October 2000 by Beth Siler. Please do not use without permission.

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