Tattoos In O. E. Parker's Back By Pamela Anderson

Gineva Reese
Dr. Sharrow
AP Lit
22 May, 2023

On Parker’s Idolatry and Sarah Ruth’s not-so-hidden Evil
“Tattoos are like stories -- they're symbolic of the important moments in your life.” Although this statement by Pamela Anderson is considered a basic fact among those with tattoos it doesn’t always hold true. While some people choose to get tattoos of meaningful symbols, places, or people in their lives there are just as many who get tattoos simply for the aesthetic designs of them. Regardless of intent tattoos are often planned and thought out methodically to the exact desires of the person, it will after all be premanty etched on their body. Still other thoug, we have the protagonist of Flannery O'Connor's “Parker’s Back”; O.E. Parker.

For Adam was formed first, then Eve.” (1 Timothy 2:12-13) She repeatedly holds moral authority and judgement over Parker for his words, actions, and tattoos. Throughout the story she condemns and scorns his tattoos, as well as his tales of his ‘attractive’ employer and their interactions with one another. When they first met she, “showed not the least bit interest in anything but what he brought” and “marriage did not change Sarah Ruth a jot.”(Parker’s back 7 and 8) Although Sarah Ruth has every right to be dissatisfied with her husbands choices according to the Bible in Proverbs 25:24, “It is better to dwell in a corner of a housetop, Than in a house shared with a contentious

In this way it can be understood that not only is Parker’s search for meaning in tattoos futile, his search for meaning and acceptance in his wife is a far more ruinous offense. Though through a traditoinal reading of O’Connor’s short story one could assume Sarah Ruth’s influence is good for Parker and is ultimately what brings him close enough to God to permeanatly alter inself with Christ’s image, the exact opposite is true. Sarah Ruth and her influence on Parker as ‘Eve’ appears to be salvation but in fact diverts him farther from God as he begins to idealize her. She is deceptive, just as the serpent in the garden of Eden is, appearing to be offering Parker good but in reality dragging him more remotely out of the possibility of grace. While he is no saint Parker is better off before marring Sarah Ruth, in the terms of his eternal soul. Sarah Ruth’s presence however is devestating influence on his already afloat spiritual compass.
Parker’s desperation to create an outer skin which he is satisfied with is a reflection of his inner search for meaning in order to be truly satisfied with himself. He refuses to acknowledge religion in this search as an option, the closest he comes being his devotion to Sarah Ruth. In idolizing her she is revealed as the true antagonist of the story, with her