Parkers Back :: Religion, Divine Intervention

Parkers Back is filled with biblical allusions as one mans journey towards God and pleasing his wife ends unsuccessfully. Parker has always been a climb however, his wife is a devout, plain woman who has an indescribable control on him, possibly due to his subconscious wish to be saved. Parker wishes to leave her, scarcely finds he never nominate do so. Not only is he unable to please his wife, but also he is unable to grow spiritual gladness, and in the brief moment at the end where he does have a connection to God, his wife rids him of it. Biblical allusions are penetrate throughout Parkers Back, and they serve to emphasize O.E. Parkers failure as a spiritual person.Parker notices a tattooed man at fair, where he became inspired to get tattoos. The mans tattoos are of beasts and flowers, (384) full of intricate material body of brilliant color (384), as they represent an Eden that Parker cannot have. Parkers reception to the mans tattoos can never be replicated Parker alway s feels dissatisf run with his let tattoos. The mans tattoos counted to be alive and have a deadly motion (384), and Parker is never able to experience the emotion he snarl when looking at the mans tattoos, as if he can never experience Eden again. On the other hand, Parkers tattoos seem to represent something entirely different. The serpent on Parkers arm represents the wrongs he has done, and with the serpent on his arm, Parker cannot truly experience the religious and spiritual satisfaction that his wife does. This biblical allusion of Eden and the serpent shows that Parker has struggled to find peace, and has had a riotous life.As a tattoo-clad high school dropout, a dishonorably discharge ex-navy, and a heavy drinker, O.E. Parker is a failure. His soul is a spider vane of facts and lies, (393) and compared to his devout wife, he is a failure in religion because of his drop of faith. Parker detests his own wife, calling her plain, (382) but he still stays with his wife, a n action that caused him to be puzzled and ashamed of himself (382). Perhaps the documentary reason he is staying with his wife is that she had married him because she meant to save him, (382) and Parker is waiting to be saved. Sarah knows that O.E. Parkers real name, Obadiah Elihue, is significant when she says it out loud in a reverent give tongue to (387).