GLOBAL ENCOUNTERS AND RACIAL METAPHOR IN FLANNERY O'CONNOR'S "PARKER'S BACK".

This article analyzes Flannery O’Connor’s short story “Parker’s Back,” focusing on its exploration of global cultural encounters and racial metaphor within the context of American postwar expansionism and the civil rights movement. It examines how the protagonist Parker’s tattoos—acquired during his...

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Publicado en:Renascence Vol. 78; no. 1; pp. 3 - 18
Autor principal: An, Mengyuan
Formato: Literary Criticism
Publicado: Marquette University Winter2026
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        atl: GLOBAL ENCOUNTERS AND RACIAL METAPHOR IN FLANNERY O'CONNOR'S "PARKER'S BACK".
      aug:
        au: An, Mengyuan
        affil: Lecturer at the School of Foreign Languages at Huazhong University of Science and Technology
      su:
        Parker's Back (Short story)
        O'Connor, Flannery, 1925-1964
        American civil rights movement
        Imperialism
        Symbolism in art
        Christian fiction
        Metaphor
        Theology
        World culture
        20th century (Literary period)
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        subj:
          Parker's Back (Short story)
          O'Connor, Flannery, 1925-1964
          American civil rights movement
          Imperialism
          Symbolism in art
          Christian fiction
          Metaphor
          Theology
          World culture
          20th century (Literary period)
      ab: This article analyzes Flannery O’Connor’s short story “Parker’s Back,” focusing on its exploration of global cultural encounters and racial metaphor within the context of American postwar expansionism and the civil rights movement. It examines how the protagonist Parker’s tattoos—acquired during his travels in Asia and elsewhere—symbolize both American imperialism and the complex interplay between Western and Eastern cultural influences, including O’Connor’s ambivalence toward the rising popularity of Buddhism in the United States. The article further interprets Parker’s Byzantine Christ tattoo as a racialized and political symbol reflecting Southern racial tensions and the struggle for Black civil rights, highlighting O’Connor’s conflicted attitudes toward race, suffering, and redemption. Ultimately, the story reveals O’Connor’s cultural anxieties about multiculturalism and social change, portraying a limited vision of salvation that intertwines Christian theology with the persistence of racial hierarchy.
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      doctype: Literary Criticism
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    language: English
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