From Mary Hathaway on Flannery's Symbolism

Like "The Comforts of Home" is a direct reference to St. Thomas driving out the prostitute his brothers sent to him to try to get him to quit his vocation. It makes everything that much funnier in her stories. I suppose there are quite a few people who read Flannery and can't quite grasp it all because they're like the widow in "The Displaced Person," watching the last rites being given and are on the outside looking in. She bowls me over every time. I would also add that every widow should also be considered an image (very imperfect of course) of the Blessed Mother as much as it is a reference to Regina O'Connor. The Widow McIntyre is the Widow Carpenter, a title Mary the Mother of Jesus rarely is given, but yet that is exactly who she would have been referenced as in her life on earth.

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