Everything That Rises Must Converge

From the beginning of “Everything That Rises Must Converge,” Julian’s mother’s hat is a central symbol. Purchased for $7.50, the hat is made partly from purple velvet, a color and fabric often associated with royalty. It symbolizes Julian’s mother’s changing status in the world and her disconnect from reality. The hat’s cost was a stretch for Julian’s mother, who wonders if she shouldn’t return it and use the money for bills. The hat’s luxuriousness is juxtaposed with the setting, as Julian and his mother are taking the public bus to a free exercise class at the YMCA. This symbolizes how Julian’s mother commits to her self-conception as an upper-class white woman, even though that reality has disappeared. Carver’s mother also owns the same hat, representing the lack of social and economic distance between the two women. Julian’s mother no longer holds the status she imagines; she is no longer automatically superior because of her skin color. Julian’s assertion that the hat is “atrocious” emphasizes that his family’s glamorous past relied on enslavement and exploitation.