Love and Merit
If only our actions could earn us God’s love, then Sarah Ruth, a vehemently sinless woman in Parker’s Back by Flannery O'Connor, would be the most loved of all women. However, Parker’s Back is not a message of the achiever being loved by God. Rather, it is in those who are found lacking in many ways who seem to have Christ’s light shine upon them. It is Sarah Ruth’s husband, a man covered in sin which permanently sinks deeper into his skin who ends up sharing his life with Christ through a bond of love. That is love which is a giving of ones very self for the other. It does not seem that in contrast to the unstained Sarah Ruth that Parker’s life could lead him closer to Christ. What difference is there to separate the one who
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Parker wants to have a purpose, he wants to be lovable. Just as the tattooed man was loved by the crowds so too does parker seek to love himself and have others affirm him in is worthiness of love. In a very actual way, Parker seeks to become lovable to himself through tattoos. However, every time that he added a new tattoo, the mirror would soon reflect something unsatisfying (O'Connor 514). A way in which he tried to convince himself that he had made himself loveable is in winning over women with his tattoos. For, they served to convince Parker that his tattoo creation was lovable. With every square inch of himself, Parker sought to create something that was worthy of love yet ended up always lacking. There was no way in which Parker could see himself as truly loveable despite every effort he put into convincing himself. So, he kept looking for that one thing that would make him …show more content…
Parker is saved from a one-man tractor accident which justly should have killed him because he caused it. Instead, Parker was flung from the tracker and the shoes which were on fire should have been on his feet to burn him as well. Yet, Parker gets up and runs away from his accident. Unscathed physically, Parker “knew that there had been a great change in his life” (O'Connor 521). This incident is not a moment of complete clarity for Parker; it is not as if all had been made clear in an instant. However, as he keeps recalling the image of the empty shoes burning into his mind, Parker is convinced that his life has more purpose than he ever thought before. It is in his best and selfless act of surrendering the last part of himself to the Christ, obeying His eyes, that Parker’s action shows that he sees goodness for himself as beyond his capability. In examining his soul, Parker sees that his whole life is a surrender to the movement of his spirit causing the spider web of his life to be necessary (O'Connor 527). How has every part of his life been necessary? It is not in his life’s achievements that Parker was loved by the Christ on his back; it is in recognizing that despite all that he had done, it is only in being Obadiah Elihue Parker that Christ’s love shined His light on him (O'Connor 528). Christ loves Obadiah Elihue in his self-surrendering despite his sin and
Sarah was a woman who had gone through many hardships in her life. She thought she was doing well, but believed that the devil still had it out to get her. She even believed that it was impossible to be saved at this point in time. No matter what she did, she was going to perish in Hell. It was then that she felt the spirit of the Lord come down and help her banish the devil. This is what drew her to the religious revivals because they validated her testimony of the help from God. Her testimony was as good as any man’s and would not be questioned. This is what drew many women to the religious revivals. Their public testimony of the grace of God was just as good as any man’s. In the eyes of the Lord, a testimony was a testimony. It did not matter the gender of the person testifying. This was different from the old ways of the church because women were seen as quasi-equal to men. Whereas in the old ways, women were always below
Alan Sitomer’s newest fast paced novel Homeboyz is a hardcore suspense story that will immediately put readers on the edge and leave them breathless in the end. Sitomer’s character, Teddy ‘T-Bear’ Anderson is an aloof seventeen year old that doesn’t care for anything other than to avenge his innocent fourteen year old sister Tina’s death, by targeting the infamous gang members of his city. As Teddy’s family mourns and his mother falls into a deep depression, his father Mr. Anderson, also known as Pops attempts to run the dysfunctional ailing household and his linen delivery company by himself. While Teddy observes his family, his desire to seek revenge grows stronger each day until he finally uses his extraordinary visionary skills to come up with a plan.
Anne Bradstreet’s inability to perfect her work before it was released frustrated her to the point where she internalizes the book’s imperfections as a reflection of herself. Bradstreet uses an extended metaphor of a mother and a child to compare the relationship between herself as the author and her book. Rather than investing her spirit in God, she repeatedly focuses on trying to improve the quality of her writing with no success, “I washed thy face, but more defects I saw” (Bradstreet 13). Like a mother protecting her child, Bradstreet’s attempts to prevent critics from negatively analyzing her work of art (20). Her continuous obsession about people’s opinions consumed in the Earthly world and essentially distracted her from developing a spiritual relationship with God. Bradstreet was enveloped by her dissatisfaction with her to the point of ridiculing herself, “Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble mind” (1). It was obvious that her mind and spiritual
Parker lived his life by a couple key principles according to the author, principles that he always followed in every situation. Some of his principles included that he would never kill unless there was a purpose, he would always honor a deal, he would always settle a score to bring balance back to his life, and that liabilities always had to be removed (Stark). Some of Parker’s less poignant principles are that business must come before pleasure, and that he would never allow himself to hate someone. Lastly, Parker adds a final rule to his value system, he vows to never love again, since love makes him vulnerable and blind (Stark 24). These principles make Parkers apparent eradicate actions become more understandable and even appealing. An individual that lives their life in a controlled fashion, with discipline, morals and values is often someone that people will gravitate towards, even though aside from these things, the person’s is someone we would never associate with
The story, “Good Country People,” by Flannery O’Connor, is a third person limited narration which means the reader can only look into the mind of only a few of the characters. Those characters are Mrs. Hopewell and Hulga, or Joy. Schmoop discusses a deeper understanding about the narrator of the story.
Strong, self-contained, Independent, mild-mannered, and courageous are all words that come to my mind when I think about my grandmothers. These are also words that I think of when I look at other black women throughout history. Over the duration of this course I have learned about the tenacity and strength of African American Women. There are many hardships that come along with being an African American female. The trails that African American women have faced molded us into the strong people that we are today.
Yet the Reverend also uses the word 'beautiful' and appreciates the wonders of the natural world. Certainly, a sense of something beyond the pragmatic permeates Maclean?s story. This ?something? is incarnated in Paul, who obviously does not conform to a narrowly-defined description of a ?good Christian.? He is a rabblerouser adrift in the world, a sophisticated ladies? man and gambler who squanders what is seemingly ample journalistic talent. Paul, however, is also effortlessly artistic, able to break free of his father?s strict fishing instructions to create his own poetry with a rod. Surely, something holy must reside in the sheer, effortless beaut...
In both The Martyrdom of Saints Perpetua and Felicity and Appeal to the Christian Women of the South, the women in the stories are using scripture to explain and justify the claims they make about their faith and the faith of others. They do this by sharing stories about their life and events in their lives to show how the spirit has been moved into them. Both texts describe how these women see themselves as readers of the Bible, what religious authority each is claiming, and what new social reality each woman is arguing that is in keeping of God’s will for human beings.
Tattoos are the focal point of the story and prominent on many occasions. Without purpose in life, people often make bad decisions which impact the rest of their lives and those they interact with. How often do we pretend to be something or somebody we are not, and have to live with the unpleasant results? Throughout the story, Parker is trying to escape reality and as a result becomes entrapped with no hope of escape. He is ashamed of his name and goes by his initials O.E. to prevent people from knowing his real name, Obadiah Elihue.
Straying away from life as a whole only to be alone, some may say is the strong way to heal themselves when dealing with extreme grief or a major crisis . In the book Wild, twenty-two year old Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost it all. Dealing with the loss of her mother, her family torn to pieces, and her very own marriage was being destroyed right before her very eyes. Living life with nothing more to lose, lifeless, she made the most life changing decision of her life. Strayed never seems remorseful on her decisions to up and leave everything behind while deciding to flee from it all. This being her way of dealing with life, it shows her as being strong; a woman of great strength and character. She shows personal strength, which is more than just a physical word. It is a word of very high value and can only be defined by searching deep within your very own soul.
In Black and Blue, Fran Benedetto tells a spellbinding story: how at nineteen she fell in love with Bobby Benedetto, how their passionate marriage became a nightmare, why she stayed, and what happened on the night she finally decided to run away with her ten-year-old son and start a new life under a new name. Living in fear in Florida--yet with increasing confidence, freedom, and hope--Fran unravels the complex threads of family, identity, and desire that shape a woman's life, even as she begins to create a new one. As Fran starts to heal from the pain of the past, she almost believes she has escaped it--that Bobby Benedetto will not find her and again provoke the complex combustion between them of attraction and destruction, lust and love. Black and Blue is a beautifully written, heart-stopping story in which Anna Quindlen writes with power, wisdom, and humor about the real lives of men and women, the varieties of people and love, the bonds between mother and child, the solace of family and friendship, the inexplicable feelings between people who are passionately connected in ways they don't understand. It is a remarkable work of fiction by the writer whom Alice Hoffman has called "a national treasure." With this stunning novel about a woman and a marriage that begins in passion and becomes violent, Anna Quindlen moves to a new dimension as a writer of superb fiction. Black and Blue is a beautifully written, heart-stopping story in which Anna Quindlen writes with power, wisdom, and humor about the real lives of men and women, the varieties of people and love, the bonds between mother and child, the solace of family and friendship, the inexplicable feelings between people who are passionately connected in ways they don't understa...
Many times when reading a novel, the reader connects with one of the characters and begins to sympathize with them. This could be because the reader understands what the character is going through or because we get to see things from the character’s perspective and their emotions and that in return allows a bond to form for the reader. The character that is the most intriguing for me and the one I found comparing to every book that I read during school was Stacey from the book “Ravensong” Lee Maracle. The character Stacey goes through a lot of internal battle with herself and it’s on her path to discovery that she begins to understand herself and what she’s capable of. Throughout the novel, Stacey has a few issues she tries to work through. This is emphasized through her village and in her school that is located across the bridge in white town. Stacey begins dealing with the loss of Nora, and elder in her town. And this in return begins the chain of events that Stacey begins on the path of self-discovery not only on herself but everyone around her. She begins to see things differently and clearly. Stacey is a very complex and confused character, and she begins to work through these complexities through her thoughts, statements and actions.
An ardent Catholic as she was, Flannery O’Connor astonishes and puzzles the readers of her most frequently compiled work, A Good Man Is Hard to Find. It is the violence, carnage, injustice and dark nooks of Christian beliefs of the characters that they consider so interesting yet shocking at the same time. The story abounds in Christian motifs, both easy and complicated to decipher. We do not find it conclusive that the world is governed by inevitable predestination or evil incorporated, though. A deeper meaning needs to be discovered in the text. The most astonishing passages in the story are those when the Grandmother is left face to face with the Misfit and they both discuss serious religious matters. But at the same time it is the most significant passage, for, despite its complexity, is a fine and concise message that O’Connor wishes to put forward. However odd it may seem, the story about the fatal trip (which possibly only the cat survives) offers interesting comments on the nature of the world, the shallowness of Christian beliefs and an endeavour to answer the question of how to deserve salvation.
Why are the colors of the tattoos important in the short story Parker’s Back? The tattoos represent O.E. Parker’s life and what he has been through. Each tattoo is a different color, representing the type of emotion Parker was feeling at that time of his life. The tattoos on Parker’s body are major symbols throughout Parker’s life. Parker goes through the actions of life without knowing who he truly is and why he has been placed on this earth. Parker experiences religious conversion, his entire body is covered with tattoos but Parker is drawn to having a Byzantine tattoo of Christ placed on his back. O’Conner used unusual symbols to represent her sense of mystery of god’s redemptive power. The tattoos help the reader see the major characteristics in Parker’s life and help understand Parker as he searches for his identity and finds god.
2. “I was truly alone, orphaned not only of my family, but now of Richard Parker, and nearly, I though, of god” Chapter 94