Global Encounters and Racial Metaphor in Flannery O’Connor’s “Parker’s Back”

Recognized as a regional writer, Flannery O’Connor displays an unprecedented interest in the cosmopolitan world, particularly Asia, in her final story, “Parker’s Back.” Contextualized in the 1960s United States, O’Connor’s reference to the East carries significant cultural and political weight. While ramifications of Parker’s encounters with the East signify the cultural openness brought to his country by globalization, Parker’s return to the American South demonstrates her cultural anxiety about the increasingly popularity of Asian influences, especially Buddhism. Furthermore, the globalist symbolism of Parker’s tattoos also bears a political significance — anti-colonialism in Asian and African countries inspired the Black community to fight for its due rights. In this way, the fictional racialization and humiliation of the male protagonist metaphorize Black people’s suffering; and O’Connor’s equation of physical suffering with redemption thus reflect her sympathy for Black people but also a reluctance to see any immediate change of the Southern racial system.