This is a story about a guy named Julian who is accompanying his mother to an evening exercise class. They live on the poor side of town even though they come from a family with old money. Julian is an aspiring writer who sells typewriters, having just graduated from college.

They catch the bus, and his mother, an opinionated old woman, expresses her dislike and distrust of Blacks.

As Julian is disgusted with his mother's prejudice, a Black woman and her young son enter the bus. Julian smiles as he sees that both the woman and his mother are wearing the same hat.

Julian's mother takes kindly to the young boy and as they are both getting off the bus at the same stop, his mother offers the boy a penny.

Insulted, the boy's mother gets upset and punches Julian's mother in the face. …show more content…
And it's in this time that she sees herself that she views the world as a rich woman from old money who owns servants and lives an entitled life.

But her reality is quite different. She is neither wealthy or privileged. They live in a poor neighborhood and catch the bus.

It's from the mother's self-delusion that readers see her biggest flaw - the idea or need to feel unique and special. Her disdain of "meeting herself coming and going" drives her to be antagonistic towards others, especially those she feels she is better than. The purple hat is a symbol of this attitude in that it makes her feel better than other women.

But what does this title mean? Does everything that rises converge? Ultimately, no matter how society categorizes or groups people, everyone is fundamentally the same. And it's this sameness that will create these opportunities for different groups to be on equal levels. So while this idea may infuriate some, it does give hope to those who are considered in low level social groups. Again, returning to the idea that we are all just human