ENGL 4310

Sorry, I feel like I am stepping back in time a bit with this blog.
I want to go to a definition of epiphany by Aristole, anagnorisis: the point in the plot especially of a tragedy at which the protagonist recognizes his or her or some other character's true identity or discovers the true nature of his or her own situation (from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anagnorisis).

I have seen that a lot in both of Porter and O’Connor’s stories. But I believe that epiphanies also happen to the reader, not just the protagonist of a story. I don’t remember who said it, but in another blog is the idea that the boy in “A&P” doesn’t have an epiphany, but the reader does. I have found in different stories and books that I as a reader have an epiphany at a different time than a character does or has one when a character never does. In others (a lot of O’Connor stories) I have an epiphany with the character at the same time. That is one thing that I love about O’Connor’s stories. She sets the reader up to have an epiphany at the same time her character(s) does.