André Bleikasten, a scholar who studied Southern American writers and their works, said "'Parker's Back' belongs with O'Connor's most explicitly religious stories" as well as “one of her most enigmatic and gripping texts”.

[1] "Parker's Back" first appeared in Flannery O'Connor's short story collection Everything That Rises Must Converge published in January 1965 after her death on August 3, 1964.

The story starts with Parker and his wife, Sarah Ruth, named for Old Testament characters, on the front porch of their house.

While at work, Parker rides a tractor in a field, however, he is so busy contemplating what tattoo to get that he pays no attention to where he is going and crashes into a tree his boss explicitly told him not to hit.

That night, Parker sleeps in the city's homeless shelter and returns to the tattoo shop the next morning to have the image finished.

Parker is thrown out of the bar for starting a fight, and after laying in the dirt for some time afterward, drives home to the country.

At first, Sarah Ruth refuses, but she opens the door after Parker refers to himself by his full given name, Obadiah Elihue.

Once inside, Parker shows Sarah Ruth his tattoo, hoping for a positive reaction—that she will be glad to see that he has supposedly accepted Christ.

The story ends with Parker crying up against the tree in the front yard as Sarah Ruth watches dispassionately.

[6] For the protagonist, the image has "eyes to be obeyed", representing his commitment to fulfill the meaning of his given name as a "servant or slave of God".