I love to find out where writers get their "inspiration" for their stories, so I really loved reading O'Connor's letters that related to "Parker's Back." The first mention of it is really inobvious (is that a word?) because she doesn't mention a story at all. She is writing to a friend about newspaper clippings and how she is a depository for them. She says, "The latest I have got to add to my collection is one of a man who has just had Christ tattooed on his back. This is obviously for artistic and not religious purposes as he also has tiger and panther heads and an eagle perched on a cannon" (1145). When I read that, I basically laughed out loud. "Parker's Back" is based off a newspaper clipping! Go figure.
There are few other times that O'Connor talks about "Parker's Back" in her letters, but they are after she has actually written the story. I thought they also gave some clarification, at least for me. She says, "As for the 'on the back' business--that's a cherished Southern white assertion--the that negro is on his back and in a way it's quite true. But you had to be born below the M.D. line to appreciate it fully" (1216) I didn't quite understand this particular quote, so I hope that someone else does and can explain it to me. I get the gist, but if anyone wants to expound, I would be grateful.
Then O'Connor talks about heresy when it comes to "Parker's Back." She starts by saying that someone who read it told her she had
Succeeded in dramatizing a heresy. Well not in those terms did I set out but
only thinking that the spirit moveth where it listest. I found out about
tattooing from a book I found in Marboro list called 'Memoirs of a
Tattooist.' The old man that wrote it took tattooing as a high art and a
great profession. No nonsense. Picture of his wife in it--very demure
Victorian lady in off should gown. Everything you can see except her face &
hands is tattooed. Looks like fabric. He did it. (1217)
After first reading this I was wondering whether she was referring to Parker or Sarah Ruth being the heretic. I was hoping she would say Sarah Ruth, and I was not disappointed. In another letter To A. she says, "No Caroline didnt mean the tattoos were the heresy. Sarah Ruth was the heretic--the notion that you can worship in pure spirit" (1218). Hurrah! I feel as if I have been vindicated by these words. I know that we discussed the idea in class, but it always feels nice to have the "authority" of the author. If you believe in that (and not the death of the author stuff), that is.