Discussion Questions

"Everything that Rises Must Converge" Discussion Questions

I feel like the title has to do with several factors of the story, generally I think it deals with the times that are changing. Julian mentions that his mother needs to change because it isn't the good life she was use to anymore, they were poor and didn't have the wealth she use to have. She also wasn't use to the fact that there were no more slaves, that had been the rise in her life because her family was very well off when they had slaves. I think for Julian's perspective, the title means that even though he doesn't show his love for his mother, he does at the end but by then he was too mean to her and felt extremely bad for it all.

I felt sympathetic for both Julian and his mothers characters, but at different times of the story. In the beginning I felt sympathetic for Julian because he seems to be trying to do so much for his mother, even though some of it is forced, he is still there for her and helps her through her life. But when he begins to get an attitude with her, the sympathy goes away and shifts to his mother. His mother seems to be old and doesn't really care for changing into the new times but seems that she cares very much for her son and just wants the best for him even though she knows he deserves better than what she can offer him.