When rereading “The Displaced Person” like Josie I also found lots of hypocrisy, and almost all of it was done by Mrs. Shortly. A very interesting part of the story is when Mrs. Shortly is afraid that Mr. Guizac will find Mr. Shortly’s still and tell Mrs. McIntyre, which will lead to Mrs. McIntyre firing the Shortlys. Mrs. McIntyre would consider the still a second job and plus, just the fact that she would disapprove of having a still on her land would result in the firing of the Shortlys. So wouldn’t a person think that if where they were working and someone is breaking the rules, shouldn’t that someone tell the boss what is going on? I personally think that that is good ethics. Mrs. Shortly however doesn’t think so, “But with foreigners on the place, with people who were all eyes and no understanding, who had come from a place continually fighting, where the religion had not been reformed—with this kind of people, you had to be on the lookout every minute” (295-296).
Mrs. Shortly just can’t understand that Mr. Guizac is a good honest man and expects others to be, so he is more Christian and just a better person than Mrs. Shortly, even with all of her talk of the Guizac’s not having a “reformed” religion. She thinks that she can do whatever she wants because she is not trash and has been with Mrs. McIntyre for two years. I love the fact that Mrs. Shortly considers “no understanding” to be that of “do what you want, just don’t get caught by the boss. “ She puffs herself up so highly in her own mind that she just can’t see her own short comings or even realizes that she is being hypocritical. I love the fact that Mrs. Shortly considers “no understanding” to be that of “do what you want, just don’t get caught by the boss. “