A Critical Analysis of "Revelation" by Flannery O'Connor Flannery O'Connor's background influenced her to write the short story “ Revelation.” One important influence on the story is her Southern upbringing. During her lifetime, Southerners were very prejudiced towards people of other races and lifestyles. They believed that people who were less fortunate were inferior to them; therefore, people were labeled as different things and placed into different social classes. The South provided O'Connor with the images she needed for her characters. Similarly, this can easily be identified