Parker's Back
"Parker's Back" is a short story by American author Flannery O'Connor. "Parker’s Back" was published in 1965, in her final short story collection, Everything That Rises Must Converge. O'Connor, a devout Roman Catholic, often used religious themes in her work and examined the depth of human nature. As O’Connor once revealed in an interview, "All fiction is about human nature. What kind of human nature you write about depends on the amount and kind of your talent, not on what you may consider correct behavior to be. The best forms of behavior are not more desirable than the worst for fiction, if the writer sees the situation he is creating under the aspect of Truth and follows the necessities of his art."[1]
| "Parker's Back" | |
|---|---|
| Author | Flannery O'Connor |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Southern Gothic |
| Published in | Everything That Rises Must Converge |
| Publication type | single author anthology |
| Publication date | 1965 |
Holding this belief, O’Connor would many times use seemingly shocking methods to get her messages across, as her characters all experience brokenness and pain in various ways. "Parker’s Back" provides one of those such characters, who moves from a self indulgent, painless lifestyle to a life of true sacrifice and pain for God.
Plot summary
"Parker’s Back" takes place in Georgia in the early 1960s following the life of protagonist, O. E. Parker, a religiously estranged man. Later, he develops a tenuous interest in religion, motivated by the lack of shared priorities with his wife. The story starts with Parker and his Biblically named wife, Sarah Ruth, on the front porch of their house. Sarah Ruth is "snapping beans" on the front porch and Parker, lost in thought, occasionally makes sharp comments to her. The reader is given insight into the attitude and thoughts of Parker, which shows he does not think highly of Sarah Ruth and questions why he continues to stay with her. Parker dislikes Sarah Ruth’s fundamentalist Christian attitudes—she disapproves of his smoking, drinking, and tattoos.
Parker begins to contemplate his relationship with Sarah Ruth and how his life has developed. As a young boy, Parker is described as being less-than-ordinary and quite earnest. One day, he saw a man at a fair who was layered with tattoos. For the first time in his life, Parker felt the wonder and awe he desired; he recognized a greater sense of purpose. Parker then proceeded to get his first tattoo, and decided that they were worth it so he began working to pay for more. He falls into a bad crowd and begins to drink, smoke, and sleep around. His mother is upset by his lifestyle and tries to interfere religiously to make him change his ways. Finally reaching her limit, his mother drags him to a revival, and upon arrival at the church, Parker runs away.
Parker then lies about his age and joins the Navy. During his Naval service, Parker begins to acquire more tattoos in various ports: an eagle, along with several other animals, royalty, and even some obscenities in places that are not visible. Parker departs from the Navy without official leave, but they chase him down, imprison him for nine months, and give him a dishonorable discharge. Following this, Parker settles down in the country and begins to pick up odd jobs, only keeping them for as long as he feels like working.
One day, as Parker is selling apples in the countryside, his truck breaks down. He senses that someone is watching him; he loudly curses and pretends to hurt himself. The next thing he knows, a young woman is hitting him with a broom. This woman is Sarah Ruth, who would become his wife. He returns over the next few days finding himself attracted to Sarah, yet he does not know why. Despite her constant back-and-forth attitude, Parker continues to pursue Sarah Ruth, going as far as to tell her his full name so that he could learn hers. Ultimately, in order to bed Sarah Ruth, Parker marries her. However, this improves nothing in their relationship. Sarah Ruth constantly judges Parker for having too many tattoos, and Parker repeatedly decides that he will leave her, but he always finds himself returning.
When Parker finishes contemplating his relationship with Sarah Ruth, he thinks about getting a new tattoo. The only bare area for a tattoo is on his back, because he didn’t get tattoos where he can’t see them. Now, he wants a tattoo that will both win Sarah Ruth over and stop her constant nagging. While at work, Parker rides a tractor in a field, however, he is so busy contemplating what tattoo to get that he pays no attention to where he is going and crashes into a tree his boss explicitly told him not to hit. The tractor is destroyed, resulting in a fire that destroys both machine and tree. Parker's tension comes to a head and he runs to his truck, driving the 50 miles it takes to get into the city. He runs into the tattoo salon and demands to see the book of tattoos pertaining to God, feeling that when he found the right one there would be a sign. As he flips through the book of tattoos, one particular image of Christ catches Parker's attention so much so that he turns back to it after flipping past it.
Going against the tattoo artist's suggestion for the image, Parker asks to have the tattoo of the Byzantine Christ put on his back, exactly as it is done in the book. While reluctant at first, the tattoo artist begins the procedure of putting this tattoo on Parker’s back. That night, Parker sleeps in the city's homeless shelter and returns to the tattoo shop the next morning to have the image finished. The tattoo artist mocks Parker about the possibility of being "saved", and Parker explains that he is getting the tattoo in order to make his wife back off about how he is a sinner. After the tattoo is finished, Parker originally refuses to look at it; however, the tattoo artist ultimately forces him to look at it. Parker is unhappy with the way the tattoo looks. While the artist reminds him that it was Parker's choice and that he would have recommended something different, Parker goes to a pool hall he has frequently visited in the past. After the men figure out that Parker has a new tattoo, they lift up his shirt to look at it. After seeing it, they begin to mock Parker for his "new-found faith." Parker is thrown out of the bar for starting a fight, and after laying in the dirt for some time afterward, drives home to the country.
When he arrives home, Parker knocks on the door and begs for Sarah Ruth to let him in. At first, Sarah Ruth refuses, but she opens the door after Parker refers to himself by his full given name, Obadiah Elihue. Once inside, Parker shows Sarah Ruth his tattoo, hoping for a positive reaction—that she will be glad to see that he has supposedly accepted Christ. However, Sarah Ruth flies into a fury, claiming that God doesn't "look" like anything because he has no corporeal form. She then begins screaming that Parker is committing idolatry, and that she will not tolerate that in her house. Ruth begins beating Parker's back with a broom, until he is bruised and left with welts on his back. She then proceeds to shake the broom out of the window to "get the taint of him off it". The story ends with Parker crying up against the tree in the front yard as Sarah Ruth watches dispassionately.
Byzantine Christ
When Parker sought a tattoo for his back, he knew that he wanted to procure a tattoo of Christ. As he flipped through the book of tattoo designs, the tattoo of Christ with piercing eyes stopped him. As Parker continued to look at the picture, the eyes of Christ looked into him, and Parker felt compelled to choose that tattoo. The tattoo that Parker obtained was one of the Byzantine Christ, the Pantocrator. The Pantocrator was glorified by the Byzantine Empire through its literal definition as "all-powerful or Almighty Christ". This image is a popular icon among the Eastern Catholic and Orthodox Churches.[2] The Christ Pantocrator is a wooden panel that dates back to the 6th century and from St. Catherine's monastery from Egypt. The wooden panel is to be considered one of the oldest icons for Byzantine religions. The book that's in the hands seems to be a gospel book, and it has some jewels on it.[3]
Parker’s tattoo of the Byzantine Christ helps him to see the deeper mysteries of God. When he looks at the image of Christ, he looks through the “window” of the iconic image and sees the depth of God’s love, as he gives his life to Christ. Parker sees that his previous, hedonistic views in life are false, and that suffering—at the hands of Sarah Ruth—for Christ is the way to fulfillment.
"But Parker’s back is now Christ’s face and the welts, rising redly on one, also disfigure the other. The bond between the two is irrevocable and Parker’s only comfort now is the supreme comfort—that he has a tree, a cross, to lean on, that in his suffering he experiences only what Christ himself felt. The spirit of utter mutuality and unity, what his tattoos have always up to now lacked, descends on him and he realizes the terrible cost. The Word has become flesh on his own flesh."[4]
The reason that Sarah Ruth does not accept his tattoo is because, her faith does not approve of idolatry. She believes that Christ is a "spirit", and that "he has no face". Sarah Ruth follows the God of the Hebrew people, who have established that God cannot be seen, which differs from other branches of faith.[5]
Literary technique
O'Connor uses a variety of literary techniques. In her stories, she is willing to use unconventional means to provide an original look at reality. As she revealed in a correspondence about notable American novelist and literary critic Caroline Gordon, "no Caroline didn’t mean the tattoos in Parker’s Back were the heresy. Sarah Ruth was the heretic—the notion that you can worship in pure spirit. Caroline gave me a lot of advice about the story but most of it I’m ignoring. She thinks every story must be built according to the pattern of the Roman arch and she would enlarge the beginning and the end, but I’m letting it lay. I did well to write it at all."[6]
This story is narrated in Third-person through the viewpoint of Parker. A strictly objective third person narration would not be conducive to having an intimate tie with Parker. By looking through the lens of Parker's experience, the reader is able to empathize with Parker; the reader can see the extent to which Parker is struggling. The viewpoint of this story helps to create a very strong protagonist in Parker.
The story also uses irony as an effective element. In "Parker's Back," O'Connor presents one ironic situation after another. The situational irony is effective at catching the reader by surprise, so that the story is more riveting. O'Connor is known to use irony throughout her stories, for example: Parker's marriage to Sarah Ruth is ironic. Parker, with his hedonistic lifestyle of drinking, cursing, tattoos, and apathy toward religion was the antithesis of Sarah Ruth. And yet Sarah Ruth marries Parker, and their marriage—though rocky—does not end in divorce within the story.
O'Connor continues this irony with Parker beginning a relationship with God through his experience of getting a tattoo. The reader may expect—with the negativity surrounding Parker's tattoos—that he would not find God through them. And yet, ironically, Parker's encountering the tattoo image of Christ proves to be a profound experience. There is also irony also at the end of the story when Parker returns home to display his tattoo for Sarah Ruth. He expects her to approve of his new-found relationship with Christ, but she denounces his tattoo and throws him out of the house.
The story uses symbols to help tell Parker's life story. The tattoos he receives are a reflection of his life. O'Connor suggests that they are major symbols of his most important things in life, however, they are all linked to something he did wrong in the past. Parker has tattoos all over his body, except for his back. The tattoo that fills his back shows that Parker had a troubled life before he was able to finally find peace.[7]
References
- Magee, Rosemary M (1987). Conversations with Flannery O'Connor. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.
- Homik, Heidi; Parsons, Mikeal (2015). "Christ Pantocrator, Alpha and Omega, surrounded by angels, the elect, and Mary, Mother of God, Dome of Paradise, by Giusto de' Menabuoi (1320-1391)". Christian Century. 132: 47.
- Cormack, Robin. "Christ Pantocrator". Medieval Art.
- Baumgaertner, Jill (1999). Flannery O'Connor: A Proper Scaring. Chicago: Cornerstone Press.
- Bleikasten, André (1982). "Writing on the Flesh: Tattoos and Taboos in "Parker's Back"". The Southern Literary Journal. 14 (2): 8–18. JSTOR 20077673.
- O'Connor, Flannery (1979). The Habit of Being. New York: The Noonday Press.
- Cormack, Robin. "Christ Pantocrator". Medieval Art.