O'Connor....You SON OF A.....carpenter? She's a GENIUS I tell you!

These few lines reflect Mrs. McIntyre's character in Flannery O'Connor's The Displaced Person:

"Then she stood a while longer, reflecting, her unseeing eyes directly in front of the peacock's tail...She might have been looking at a map of the universe but she didn't notice it any more than she did the spots of sky that cracked the dull green of the tree" (204).

If you didn't notice, Mrs. McIntyre's character was riddled with faults.  Her worst fault was her inability to see what was right in front of her.  She did not appreciate what she had until it was gone.  She enjoyed having Mrs. Shortley around but did not notice this until after she fired her husband and they were long gone.  She betrayed her best friend. (Keep this in mind for later.)  She hypocritically on page 224 makes comments about how her slave help is so wrapped up in money.  She could also not see the beauty in the peafowl in her possession.  With each husband, her peafowl (the correct term for the species of bird.  Peacock being the male and peahen being the female. fyi) disappeared along with her ability to see the beauty in life.  Her priorities are all messed up and she can't figure out which way is up.  She can give good advice to others but does not follow it.

I have the feeling that O'Connor's Mrs. McIntyre is supposed to represent humanity.  Mr. Guizac is the clearest Christ-like figure we have read in O'Connor's collection.  He does no wrong and yet he is disliked.  With Easter and all coming up I'll relate it to that.  Mr. Guizac's first days and arrival are like Palm Sunday.  He is worshipped by Mrs. McIntyre (the people) and she loves him but slowly her affection towards him turns to dislike and disappointment.  Eventually, she decided to put him out in the cold like she did to the Shortleys.  The day he was run over was like Good Friday because he was sacrificed without doing any wrong.  He did not mean to cause harm to the Shortley family.  There is no resurrection and as O'Connor often does, the story ends glumly with Mrs. McIntyre becoming an invalid.  Here O'Connor notes once again Mrs. McIntyre's eyesight, which "grew steadily worse" (252).

An interesting side note.  I looked up the surname McIntyre.  I have found that O'Connor usually picks names with meanings.  I found that one of the many meanings is son of a carpenter.  Jesus=carpenter, McIntyre=humanity.  It works perfectly.  O'Connor never ceases to amaze me.  It could be a coincidence but I think not!