1
Composition 303
April 4, 2017
Parker’s Back
In Flannery O’Connor’s writings, discussing the Incarnation in a real way by sharing her
experiences and biblical knowledge through her characters, is a common pattern. She
withholds nothing in her literature, nor shies from the truth sharing her experiences and being
gentle through the way she structures her stories. In her short story, Parker’s Back, O’Connor
introduces grace in a beautiful, yet surreal way. She writes with honesty, yet she is careful to
not scare away her readers in fear of pushing them away from experiencing what she has seen.
She intrigues them with a compelling storyline and delivers truth. O’Connor’s storytelling in
Parker’s Back is a well-written story that either informs or introduces her readers, depending on
their faith and experiences, about the images of grace and salvation through Christ.
According to Vigen Guroian’s study over O’Connor’s techniques, he writes that, “She
embraced the Incarnation with utter seriousness in her life and in her fiction” (609) and the
evidence is there in Parker’s Back. She rejoices in her own spiritual journey and finds it her
responsibility, as a believer, to share that love and experience with others. The bigger picture –
the purpose behind O’Connor’s stories, is to compel the heart of the reader. He continues on to
say that as the writer, O’Connor must to be consistent in her structure maintaining a balance of
truth through reality (610). O’Connor even says this about herself and all religious novelists in
her short story, Novelist and Believer, “Unless he is writing fantasy, he [novelist] has to stay
within the concrete possibilities of his culture” (563).
2
One literary technique O’Connor uses in Parker’s Back is the introduction of a character who
does not see eye to eye with religion and God. O’Connor found it vital, almost foundational,
that religious writers be gentle in their techniques when addressing religion to their readers in
order for them to be open to the idea. In Parker’s Back, O’Connor’s protagonist, Parker, refuses
to believe in God. He has yet to experience God for himself and his wife’s religious lifestyle does
not seem like one that he could enjoy, and therefore is not quick to become a believer.
O’Connor writes that Parker’s home environment felt like nothing but a judgement seat (574).
Parker struggles to do life with his wife and is negatively influenced by her judgmental behavior.
Parker stretches himself through playful schemes when he tells his wife that a kiss from her
could save him, but his wife takes religion too seriously, frowning at him and then replying,
