The Facade of Tattoos
In "Parker's Back" by Flannery O'Connor, the tattoos O.E. Parker receives are crucial to the reader's understanding of him. Furthermore, O'Connor suggests them as major symbols throughout Parker's life. Parker, the main character in this story, goes through the actions of life without really knowing who he is and why he is on the earth. "Parker gradually experiences religious conversion and, though tattooed all over the front of his body, is drawn to having a Byzantine tattoo of Christ placed on his back..., O'Connor was using unusual symbols to convey her sense of the mystery of God's redemptive power (Shackelford, p 1800)." Because of the tattoos, the reader is able to see O'Connor reveal the major characteristics in Parker's life and sympathize with this man as he searches for his identity and finds God. First of all, in order to understand O'Connor's short story, the reader must look into the background of her life. "Parker's Back" was the last story written by O'Connor before she died at the early age of thirty-nine from the disease of Lupus. Her writings all reflect from her religious background of Catholicism. "O'Connor wrote brilliant stories that brought the issue of religious faith into
He now understands what Sarah said, and he knew he would "have to answer" to God at "the judgment seat". Parker refuses religion in his own life also. Parker runs from all authority and religion to maintain absolute rule and power over his own life. "I ain't got no use for none of [religion]," says Parker. He thinks that at anytime he can choose to he "would not return" to Sarah, yet "every night he returned". O'Connor uses the tattoo symbols to reveal the growth of the protagonist, for it takes him years to get past his outer image of his body, to examine his own soul. Parker's life is a life full of deceit. Like Adam and Eve, Parker is discontent.
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Acceptance Essays
