The Theme of Displacement in "The Displaced Person" by Flannery O'Connor

    In Jose Liste's essay "Strategies of Displacement in Flannery O'Connor's 'The Displaced Person,'" Liste defines displacement as the following: "Put simply, displacement consists in the substitution of one element by another, both of which are at least remotely related, usually through similarity or contiguity. Displacement is of the realm of metaphor and metonymy. lt thus partakes of the nature of figurality and, in a literary text, manifests itself through rhetorical devices and thematic contrasts" (Liste 1). In "The Displaced Person," we see numerous examples of displacement displayed throughout the story through many different literary forms such as irony.

    In "The Displaced Person," readers get an idea of what a "displaced person" is in the following excerpt: "'It means they ain’t where they were born at and there’s nowhere for them to go—like if you was run out of here and wouldn’t nobody have you'" (O'Connor 209-210). O'Connor establishes what a "displaced person" was early on so that the reader can identify who is who throughout the story.

    Furthermore, the narrator is displacing characters throughout their narration of this weird story: "The people she hired always left her—because they were that kind of people. Of all the families she had had, the Shortleys were the best if she didn’t count the Displaced Person" (O'Connor 225). The fact that the narrator is displaying the theme of displacement and displacing the "Displaced Person" through their descriptions of the Shortley's previous work staff shows the importance of displacement in this story and how layered O'Connor's writing truly is.

    Finally, another example of this displacement can be found when Sulk moves to a different part of the state while Mr. Shortley attempted to find work elsewhere. The two characters are displacing themselves from the farm after the horrific tractor incident which not only showed other characters feeling displaced, but showed social order within the story, too.

    All in all, along with racism and social order, displacement is an important theme in O'Connor's "The Displaced Person." Although this course has given me an introduction to the life and literature of Flannery O'Connor, after reading this story, I'm wondering why displacement isn't a theme more often seen in O'Connor's works? There has definitely been a point in everyone's lives that they have been "displaced" so to say (given the context); however, I wonder if O'Connor's life and her own experiences forced her creative thinking in a different direction (especially because racism and racist characters are a constant in her works). This story was definitely an interesting read, to say the least.

Works Cited

Liste, Jose. Strategies of Displacement in Flannery O'Connor's "The Displaced Person". https://institucional.us.es/revistas/estudios/2/art_3.pdf

O'Connor, Flannery. "The Displaced Person." The Complete Stories Flannery O'Connor. Giroux, Robert, 1971, pp. 205-245. https://www.pothe.org/documents/2017/1/The-Complete-Stories-Flannery-OConnor.pdf%2012,%20Feb,%202023


Comments

  1. Julie CFebruary 22, 2023 at 4:59 PM

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  2. Julie CFebruary 22, 2023 at 5:01 PM

    Hi, Bobby!
    Displacement is definitely a big theme in O’Connor’s “The Displaced Person,” but another theme could be racism. The African American characters in the novel are not allowed to live on Mrs. McIntyre’s land while the white families, like the Shortleys and the Guizacs, can. They are even given the more tedious jobs on the farm instead of being able to milk the cows or drive the tractors. Also, there is racism regarding immigrants: the Polish Guizacs. Not only does Mrs. McIntyre try her hardest to get Mr. Guizac off her farm, but he is killed by not only her, but Mr. Shortley and Sulk--an African American--who refuse to warn him about the tractor heading his way. They don’t want him on the farm anymore because he is different and disturbing the balance between white and blacks. Guizac even wants to have his Polish cousin marry Sulk which would cause an integration of whites with blacks which Mrs. McIntyre doesn’t want, especially not on her farm. So, while displacement is a major theme in this short story so is racism, and who knows how many more.

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  3. Phillip S.February 23, 2023 at 4:31 AM

    Hi Bobby,
    I agree with you that displacement is a big theme in not only this story but in other O’Connor works. One family of characters displacement is that of the Shortleys. Mrs. McIntyre seemed to care a great deal about them since they were the only family that did not leave her, however they are the first ones she decides to cut when the Displaced Person is working harder and better than everyone else on the farm. Instead of letting Mrs. McIntyre fire them, Mrs. Shortley takes matters into her own hands and packs up the family. As they are driving away from the farm, Mrs. Shortley has this thought, “They didn’t know that she had had a great experience or ever been displaced in the world from all that belonged to her” (O’Connor, 224). This family that was so against the Displaced Persons because of them not being from America is now a family of displaced people. That’s some irony if I have ever heard it. Mrs. McIntyre does not even seem to be phased by the family leaving either. She says this, “Well…we can get along without them” (O’Connor, 225). She was so happy that they had not left her but does not seem to be as bothered that they left her now.

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