The Virtue of Reverence in Parker’s Back

Parker’s Back, one of Flannery O’Connor’s final short stories, tells the story of O.E. Parker. As a child, Parker encountered a man at the circus who left him in awe. The man was covered head to toe in colorful tattoos. O’Connor writes:

“The man, who was small and sturdy, moved about on the platform, flexing his muscles so that the arabesque of men and beasts and flowers on his skin appeared to have a subtle motion of its own. Parker was filled with emotion, lifted up as some people are when the flag passes.”

Flannery O’Connor, Parker’s Back

Some sort of desire for the transcendence was awoken in Parker, and he consequently spent his whole life in search of the perfect tattoo. He eventually tattoos nearly his entire body (only to feel ultimately disappointed), but he always left his back clean as it was the one part of his body that he could not see. Though there is a practical reason for his not tattooing his back, this gesture is a symbol of the one virtue O.E. needs to find fulfillment: Reverence.

The Art of Living, written by Dietrich von Hildebrand is a compilation of essays on various virtues, and his opening chapter is on the virtue of reverence. Hildebrand describes it as the first of all the virtues- the virtue that is needed to experience a moral life, and to have the correct disposition towards reality. Both of these are to say that reverence is needed for conversion of heart to take place. Without reverence toward being, one could never allow his heart to be moved to where it needs to be. 

Parker’s Back begins telling the story of O.E.’s initial experience of reverence. The tattoos are an obvious symbol for the meaningful in life. O.E. sees the man with the tattoos and is left dumbfounded. O’Connor writes, 

“Parker had never before felt the least motion of wonder in himself. Until he saw the man at the fair, it did not enter his head that there was anything out of the ordinary about the fact that he existed. Even then it did not enter his head, but a peculiar unease settled in him. It was as if a blind boy had been turned so gently in a different direction that he did not know his destination had been changed.” 

Flannery O’Connor, Parker’s Back

He wants what the man has; he sees the beautiful colors, the diversity of life depicted, and he wants all of it. He wants to obtain the beauty that he saw in front of him on that day.

As he grew older, O.E. lost this reverence. He took matters into his own hands by trying to recreate the beauty he once saw. He joined the army to travel to exotic lands and to be tattooed by many different people, but ultimately these things never satisfied him. He was trying to do the work that only reality could do in his life. Instead of taking a receptive position toward reality, he took an active position, trying to force his will. He forgot about the awe that he once had.

We can see that this lack of reverence also leads to a decline in values in O.E. The story says that he began getting drunk, getting into fights, and it implies that he sleeps around. Despite all this, there is an underlying sense of reverence that stays throughout his life, which is depicted primarily through two facts: 1) He marries a Christian woman. Though she is a peculiar and supremely flawed character herself, she does carry some form of truth with her that helps keep O.E. in reality. 2) O.E. leaves his back clean of tattoos. He does this because he cannot easily see his back and doesn’t see the point in tattooing something he cannot see. Despite this superficial reason, through this act he is leaving reality room in his life. By leaving reality a blank slate, he takes an inherently receptive position. 

Hildebrand writes about reverence in a way that ties into O.E. leaving his back bare perfectly. Hildebrand says, 

“The man possessing reverence approaches the world in a completely different way. He is free from the egospasm, from pride and concupiscence. He does not fill the world with his own ego, but leaves to being the space that it needs in order to unfold itself.”

Dietrich von Hildebrand, The Art of Living

Though O.E. clearly doesn’t live this highest form of reverence that Hildebrand talks about, in a symbolic way he leaves Being the space to act, and Being acts! Determined to do something to make his irritable wife happy, O.E. decides to tattoo his back with the only thing that he thinks his wife will like- an image of Christ. Though it ultimately does not appease her, Christ becomes incarnate in him through this act and O.E. is led to an authentic conversion. 

O.E. describes the eyes of Christ, which are now tattooed on his back, 

“The eyes that were now forever on his back were eyes to be obeyed. He was as certain of it as he had ever been of anything. Throughout his life, grumbling and sometimes cursing, often afraid, once in rapture, Parker had obeyed whatever instinct of this kind had come to him — in rapture when his spirit had lifted at the sight of the tattooed man at the fair, afraid when he had joined the navy, grumbling when he had married Sarah Ruth.”

Flannery O’Connor, Parker’s Back

“Eyes [that were] to be obeyed” is a statement of surrender. He knew he was not his own anymore, and he knew that he was not the greatest either. Hildebrand explains this new being in reverence, saying, “The man who possesses reverence knows that the world of being is greater than he is, that he is not the Lord who can do with things as He likes, and that he must learn from being, not the other way around.”

We can sense this obedience and change of heart and conformity to Christ through O’Connor’s writing. As O.E. makes his way into town he is mocked and beaten for the Christ tattoo he received. His wife denies knowing him and O.E. is forced to acknowledge his Christian name that he rejected for so long: Obadiah Elihue, which literally translates to “Servant of God” and “My God is he” respectively. His name literally speaks of this conversion and conformity with Christ that he experiences. 

After this conformity takes place and he is rejected, he sits alone and reverently ponders his life and the new relationship he possesses towards reality. O’Connor writes, “All at once he felt the light pouring through him, turning his spider web soul into a perfect arabesque of colors, a garden of trees and birds and beasts.” He finally receives the gift that he longed for so many years ago- for the vibrancy and life he saw on the body of the man at the circus- but it came to him as a gift from reality, not as something he could will into existence himself. It took an empty space on his back (and in his heart) for this gift to be received and for his relationship with Reality to be changed forever.