42 pages • 1 hour read
Flannery O'ConnorParker's Back
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1965A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Symbols & Motifs
Tattoos
Parker’s tattoos are a motif that explores his desire to achieve meaning and his frustration at not being able to do so. When, at a young age, he sees the tattooed man at the fair, he interprets the intricate design on the man’s body that seems to “have a subtle motion of its own” as something mysterious and powerful (513), and it awakens a deep emotion within him. The emotion is compared to patriotism, another powerful sensation that invokes intangible ideals.
Afterward, he chases that powerful emotion by getting tattoos as often as he can in a variety of locations and at the hands of a variety of artists with different instruments from “ivory needles” to “thin pointed sticks” to “pins and soot” (523). But the thrill of getting a new design is short-lived and wears off, leaving Parker feeling empty and dissatisfied once more. It is only when he gets the tattoo of the Byzantine Jesus on his back, a place he can’t see, that he begins his journey toward meaning.
Burning Tree
The burning tree that Parker crashes into with the tractor symbolizes an encounter with the divine. The image of a burning tree, and Parker standing barefoot before it, is an allusion to Moses who spoke with God in the form of a burning bush. Parker feels the presence of divinity in the burning tree, noting that, “if he had known how to cross himself he would have done it” (520). This encounter leads to Parker getting a tattoo of Jesus on his back, signifying a shift in his attitude toward the unseen (since before this Parker refused to get a tattoo anywhere that he could not see it). During his time in the city, visions of the burning tree continue to haunt his mind, suggesting that God continues to pursue him even beyond the initial encounter in the field. At the end of the story, Parker leans against a tree crying, creating a symbolic return to the divine, and showing the misunderstanding and suffering that is a part of embracing an authentic spiritual life.
Sunlight
The sun symbolizes the presence of the divine, which at first is described in harsh and frightening terms, and later described in beautiful and gentle terms after Parker accepts his calling. The Bible frequently uses the imagery of light or sunshine to indicate the divine presence, such as during the baptism of Jesus. When Parker is baling hay for the old woman he works for, he notices the sun “began to switch regularly from in front of him to behind him, but he appeared to see it in both places as if he had eyes in the back of his head” (520). This unsettling image makes it seem as though the sun is demanding Parker’s attention, eventually leading him to crash the tractor, and indicates to the reader that God is intervening in Parker’s life.
After Parker returns from the city, he sees a “tree of light burst over the skyline” (528), suggesting that once again a divine presence is with him. When Parker finally says his name aloud, indicating his submission to his divine calling, he feels the light enter his soul, turning it “into a perfect arabesque of colors, a garden of trees and birds and beasts” (528). At the end of the story, the sunlight is within Parker, showing that he has accepted the divine light into himself.
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By Flannery O'Connor
