Julian

Julian is the main character in “Everything That Rises Must Converge.” He is a young college-educated man who wanted to be a writer. However, he sold typewriters in the meantime. He tries to help his mother after the United States integrated blacks and whites in public. However, he hates that his mother is so wary of blacks. He thinks that he is too educated to hate blacks. Yet he cannot strike up a conversation with a black person.

Mrs. May

Mrs. May is a widowed dairy farm owner in “Greenleaf.” She has two sons who she considers failures, but she is jealous of her hired help’s family. When a bull arrives on her land, she sees it as a personal vendetta from the Greenleafs against her success. She takes the opportunity to drive a wedge between Greenleaf and his two sons. This backfires, though, as the bull...