Paper Example on Class Distinction and Human Rights

Introduction

Flannery O'Connor's "Everything That Rises Must Converge" illustrates the theme of racism which is seen throughout the story. The book contains a collection of short stories where the author uses plenty of dialogue to express the inner thoughts and emotions of the characters. Julian's mother views herself as superior simply because of her race but ignores the fact that her family's glory already been history. While Julian does not seem racist, he still has some prejudice to the person he dreams to be and the job he has right now. The thought that he wants to be the bridge between black people and white is racial discrimination. However, after deeper analyzing and considering,

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I realized that there are also plenty of information and details about class distinctions and job pre-judgment which caused me to relate the problems with a story of ancient China that I have been told when I was young. That was at the late Qing dynasty, the French envoys Rogers said to the emperor of China: "Your eunuch system making healthy man became disabled people who are very inhuman." Before the emperor reply, the eunuch Yao Xun says: "This is the gift of our majesty. We are all willing to be eunuchs for our emperor. How can you denigrate the great Qing Empire, interfering in the internal affairs of our Qing dynasty?"

At that period, the great Qing Empire's people were all sick. They were slaves but didn't realize it. They thought that they have freedom and gift. Mr. Lin Yutang once said that China has the kind of person, who stay at the bottom of the society but have the ideas of the ruling class. Just like Julian's mother acts, on the bus of present China, people who dress up by fake "global brands" imagine themselves to be unique and wearing colored glasses to see people who with regular clothes and shoes in sarcasm. They try to away from anyone else and behave insolently. Both the little history in ancient China and the present situation on the bus reflect on the massive problem in modern China which is increasingly explicit class distinction and human rights issue. In general, O'Connor's story and China's history and present reflect the difficulty of increasingly explicit class distinction.

Class distinction and hierarchy polarization are the specific stages of social development. This is because, in any given social setting, there exists both class distinction and ranks that define the social recognition of the people. In the story, the narrator talks about the situation of Julian's mother; according to the narrator, her mother was one of the few members of the Y reducing class who arrived in hat and gloves and who had a son who had been to college (OConner, 406). Julian's mother believes that she is always in the higher class than anyone else in the Y reducing class even though her economic problems are serious. She claims that good breeding initially produces manners and gentility.

The history of her grandparents who once had political influence and wealth profoundly influenced her, urging her to care passionately for the past by always dressing up in public like a woman who born in the aristocracy. She enjoys the fact that she's the only woman at the Y reducing class who dresses up for classes who has a son graduated from the college. She enjoys it because it makes her feel superior and reinforces her belief that her family's identity has not changed. Although she is in the same social level as the women in the reducing class, she pretends like she is not.

Much like in the story, present conditions in China also demonstrate how people at the lower level are too weak to live. Current conditions in China involve a conflicted relationship between human rights and the privileges afforded to members of a particular class. 50 years ago, it was not uncommon to hear a story like people who born in a normal whose parents are teachers studying hard at Peking University and then get into the high scholarship to the United States for further study. Several years later he has a job as a vice president in an international corporation which sent him a house to live, paying for all of his medical expenses.

Nevertheless, present China's national conditions are that the official second generation, rich second generation, celebrities, leading to the social severe "spell dad" phenomenon. Underlying personnel human resources is weak which almost decided that lower class people do not have the same competitiveness as all of the second generations in society. Gradually, they became cynical, hatred, so that create more social issues in the country. China has the kind of person, who stay at the bottom of the society but have the ideas of the ruling class.

In the story, because Julian's mother regards her once noble family lineage as the same situation about identity she had right now, she seems live in an impractical illusion with a sense of superiority that she is better than everyone else. The woman on the bus said to Julian's mother in the story that "I told my boy, I said you might not be rich but you have been raised right, and if I ever catch you in any such mess, they can send you on to the reformatory. Be exactly where you belong."(OConner, 410). This quote shows that the woman in the bus valued moral values more than richness, this was an advice to Julian's mother because she has bias through class distinctions and thought that even if they are not rich, they still stand higher than the colored people. Julian, himself, is a salesman, however, only dreams of being a writer. From his deep heart, he has prejudged to his job and shamed with it. Although he claims to have liberal views treating race and social fairness, he barely acts in his everyday life and uses them primarily to boost his meaning of existence and value of life as the word "hypocrisy." Although he has already seen the faults of his mother, he cannot look at his weaknesses.

Conclusion

The story "Everything that rises must converge" reflect in the huge problem in modern China which are increasingly explicit class distinction and civil rights issue. In the story, in one hand, Julian considered himself to be the bridge between black people and white is racial discrimination to show better off and stand in "higher" moral standard to judge other people. Julian creates a fictitious gap between her and the black people. All of these phenomena that the characters showed in the article address the current situation in modern China that people in the bottom class of the society are trying to have the ideas of the ruling class but act in a "slave" way. Their thought already being solidified by the government but haven't realized it. They live under the growth of the country and believes that they are already as strong as their country being addicted to it. How to solve these would be a severe case for people to think about. Merely saying that improve the cultural heritage of the people would not work well.

Work Cited

Flannery, O'Connor. "Everything That Rises Must Converge." The Complete Stories. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1971, pp. 404-420.