Question

What is an example of an epiphany in literature?

Answer 1

Hint: A tiny, ordinary event or experience triggers an epiphany. For example, during a typical argument with his wife, a man discovers that he has been the one who has caused every single argument and that in order to maintain his marriage, he must stop being so violent.

Complete answer:
An epiphany is a moment when you realise something for the first time. Generally, the term refers to scientific advancement or a theological or metaphysical revelation, but it may also refer to any situation in which an enlightening insight allows for a new and deeper understanding of an issue or situation.
In literature, an epiphany is a visionary moment in which a character has a sudden insight or revelation that alters their view of themselves or their understanding of the universe.

In a more specialised context, the term refers to a literary device exclusive to modernist literature. In Stephen Hero (1904-1906), an early version of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, author James Joyce borrowed the religious word "Epiphany" and used it in a profane literary sense for the first time.

Example:
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee was a very forward-thinking novel for its time. It was about race relations in the deep south as seen through the eyes of Scout, a six-year-old girl. She had an epiphany on her way home one evening while walking. Scout finally understood what her father was trying to tell her. Indeed, he was attempting to instil in her the value of equality and compassion, regardless of skin colour.

“I turned to go home. Street lights winked down the street all the way to town. I had never seen our neighbourhood from this angle. There were Miss Maudie's, Miss Stephanie's-there was our house, I could see the porch swing-Miss Rachel's house was beyond us, plainly visible. I could even see Mrs Dubose's... Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough.” -- To Kill a Mockingbird.

Note: In Stephen Hero (1904-1906), an early version of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, author James Joyce borrowed the religious word "Epiphany" and used it in a profane literary sense for the first time. The emergence of epiphany in modernist art, according to philosopher Charles Taylor, was a reaction to the rise of a "commercial-industrial-capitalist culture" in the early twentieth century.