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Rood, Joseph
Mr. Coleman
American Literature
27 October, 2015
A Field of Lavender
Flannery OConnors acclaimed short story Revelation, written in 1964, follows the
social shortcomings of a woman named Mrs. Turpin. Mrs. Turpin throughout the story displays
her intense feeling of superiority towards nearly the entire world around her. After having her
entire worldview shattered by an unassuming college girl, Mrs. Turpin undergoes a violent
Revelation. Near the end of the story an extravagant vision from God is thrust upon her. From
there her heinous views about other classes of people begin to change forever. In Revelation,
OConnor argues selfless biblical ideologies through her repetition of the color purple and
associating it with lower-class characters.
OConnor uses the color purple in order to illustrate her biblical point. This repetition
includes a purple swelling on Clauds leg, a field dotted with lavender weeds, and a purple
streak in the sky, leading to heaven (OConnor 354). The first use of purple comes when Mrs.
Turpin and Claud are in the hospital. Earlier, Claud had been ferociously kicked in the leg by a
cow. This left a putrid purple swelling on a plump marble white calf, which required medical
attention (354). The second use of purple comes later after Mrs. Turpin and Claud return from
their ordeal at the hospital. The Turpin family has enlisted a substantial number of African
American slaves to work in their cotton fields. Every day Claud drives to the cotton field and
transports the workers there back to the Turpins home before taking them to their own homes.

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While Claud and the African American workers are returning home from the fields Mrs. Turpin
gazes out the window and observes the scene as they all return. She sees that the land slope[s]
gracefully, parading through a field dotted with lavender weeds (365). Another use of purple
comes in the vision God inflicted upon her. While Mrs. Turpin is experiencing this transcendent
experience, she sees God forming a vision which includes all the people she has so harshly
ridicules previously in the story. All of these people are walking on a purple bridge that slices
through the land like an extension of the highway, and from there into the descending dusk
(371). All these examples involve colors related to the color purple, a color that throughout
history, including biblical times, has often been associated with royals, people of high stature,
and wealth. In Europe the color purple was mostly associated with royalty and was worn by the
majority of Roman Emperors, and it is even used by todays British Monarchy (Purple). It was
also considered to be affiliated with people of high status in biblical times. In the book of Mark,
when Roman soldiers escort Jesus to be flogged, they put a purple robe on him, then twisted
together a crown of thorns and set it on him (Holy Bible 1,019). This helps establish peoples
association of purple with piety and Christ. In other books, such as Exodus, Judges, Luke, and
Revelation, the color purple is worn by rich kings, members of the priesthood, and sold to lower
class people at exorbitant prices. Separately from this, it is important to note that in Revelation,
the color purple is never associated with Mrs. Turpin.
Instead, purple is reserved for many of the people that Mrs. Turpin believes are below
her, including Claud, the African Americans, and the white trash people (OConnor 356).
Flannery OConnor references the color purple as an allusion to biblical and historical
ideologies. Because of their relation to purple, these facts form a constellation of greater, more
significant, and deeper-meaning ideas that OConnor conveys in the story, one that was first

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conveyed in the book of Matthew. Here Jesus talks about the Rich and the kingdom of God
(983). In this teaching his concluding statement is that many who are first will be last, and many
who are last will be first (983). In Revelation, it is clear that Mrs. Turpin believes very highly
of herself and in return very insufficiently of others. She is married to Claud, but orders him
around so much it becomes belittling, an expression of her placing herself above him. But Claud
has been bludgeoned by a cow on their farm and received a purple hued gash on his leg. This
signifies Clauds association with royalty and his privileged place in the eyes of God compared
to where he stands in the eyes of Mrs. Turpin. The next example is specifically pertinent to the
African American workers the Turpins employ. When the workers return home their truck travels
through two fields parallel to each other. On either side of the road is a plethora of lavender
weeds. The lavender completely surrounds the African-Americans. This soundly cements their
connection between the verse in Matthew and the color purple. Mrs. Turpin regards African
Americans as some of the worst of all people; they are regarded as last in her eyes. But
OConnor signifies that this is not only false, but they are in fact first in the eyes of God. Lastly,
when Mrs. Turpin is recognizing her revelation, a purple streak, helps constitute the bridge
exploding from the highway leading classes of people into heaven (OConnor 371). Of those
proceeding towards heaven were the people Mrs. Turpin had the least regard for. Those on the
bridge included whole companies of white trash, African Americans, and battalions of
freaks and lunatics shouting and clapping and leaping like frogs (371). But at the conclusion of
this parade of souls was Mrs. Turpin herself. She had considered all of these people in front of
her as lesser human beings than she was. This is possibly the most pointed reference to the
biblical ideology that OConnor dramatizes. The people Mrs. Turpin had ordered into the lowest
class traveled up into heaven as the highest class. In addition all of these classes of people

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walked upon a bridge the same color that is most often associated, with royalty and piety
(Purple).
A Italian semiotician named Umberto Eco once said in his book The Island of the Day
Before, to never affirm, always allude: allusions are made to test the spirit and probe the heart
(Goodreads). Revelation, by Flannery OConnor deals with a woman named Mrs. Turpin with
a socially detrimental and immoral outlook of other human beings. She is obsessed with sorting
them into classes and putting herself over them. OConnor displays an expert use of allusions to
communicate the deeper meaning of her story. By using the color purple in multiple situations
OConnor reflected biblical ideologies, displayed her spirit, and her true feelings about racism
and hierarchy between classes.

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Work Cited
Goodreads. "The Island of the Day Before Quotes." By Umberto Eco. Goodreads, n.d. Web. 23
Oct. 2015.
Holy Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011. Print.
OConnor, Flannery. Revelation.
"Purple." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2015.