The Unexpected Chosen One

During class, the question arose about who the true religious person in Flannery O’Connor’s “Parker’s Back” is. Is it Parker, the seemingly rebellious, non-religious, tattooed man? Or is it Sarah Ruth, his seemingly deeply religious wife who thinks Parker’s tattoos are ways of him “putting some more trash on [him]self” (394)? Through this short story, O’Connor questions traditional beliefs pertaining to both understanding God and exactly what being religious means. Through Parker’s back, the author shows that to have God choose you does not equal being a fanatically “religious” person like Sarah Ruth; sometimes, God picks the person least expected to carry His religious torch.

In the beginning of “Parker’s Back,” Sarah Ruth seems to worship God in the sense that she shows the reader and Parker that religion is the very definition of her life; however, this type of behavior appears as a type of falsehood: she merely devotes herself to God, not to find salvation but to act like she has been saved, for her own purposes. As the story proceeds, the reader gets the impression that Parker develops a better and deeper connection with God and religion, even though he does not fully understand that feeling. A turning point in the story that exemplifies this deeper connection with God is when Parker finally acquires the tattoo of God on his back, but unlike the other tattoos that he often examine in the mirror, Parker refuses to see this one, stating “That tattoo ain’t going nowhere. It’ll be there when I get there” (392). What does Parker, the rebel to religion, mean by that? I saw it as Parker thinking, or knowing, that God will be there for him whenever Parker gets there. At whatever time Parker finds religion and is able to devote himself to that type of life, he knows that God will be there waiting for him. This begins a certain change in the story, focusing the reader on the connection between Parker and religion, rather than Sarah Ruth and religion.

Another revelation happens when Parker whispers his real name, Obadiah, into the door after Sarah Ruth refuses his entrance into the house. When he murmurs his religious name aloud, suddenly he “turn[s] his spider web soul into a perfect arabesque of colors, a garden of trees and birds and beasts” (394). His soul and his tattoos are no longer “haphazard and botched” because of the significance between his name and the tattoo on his back (385). The final connection between his reaching his “destination” from the first time he sees the beauty that the colors on the man at the fair exerts to his crashing into the tree to his dwelling at the Haven of Light Christian Mission all end up happening for the same reason: God has chosen Parker.

So, maybe Parker is the more religious one in the story, and maybe God selects Parker as a man of religion, but is that the only reason Parker becomes the true religious person? In a way, it almost seems like Sarah Ruth is the one who makes him religious in the end. Parker had only wanted tattoos where he could see them; he did not necessarily care about where other people could see them, until the end of the story. He gets a tattoo on his back because of Sarah Ruth; he is willing to please her, but at the same time, this pushes him onto a path to find a religious connection. It seems like Sarah Ruth plays a role, however significant, in Parker finding religion. (593)