The Displaced Person

American writer Flannery O’Connor’s novella “The Displaced Person,” published in her 1955 short-story collection A Good Man Is Hard to Find, concerns a family of Polish refugees, the Guizacs, who arrive at the Georgia dairy farm of Mrs. McIntyre, having been freed from the death camps of the Second World War. The Guizacs encounter prejudice and hostility from the local people, and eventually, Mr. Guizac is killed in a dubious “accident.” O’Connor’s novella was inspired by the treatment of refugees in her own Georgia neighborhood of Milledgeville. A refugee family was hired to work on the dairy farm owned by O’Connor’s mother in 1951.

The novella opens with a description of the peacock that lives on Mrs. McIntyre’s farm. O’Connor saw the peacock as a symbol of the divine, and throughout the novella, characters’ reactions to the peacock tell us something about their spiritual wellbeing. The local priest, Father Flynn, is moved by the sight of it, while Mrs. Shortley, who works for Mrs. McIntyre, sees it as “nothing but a peachicken.”

Father Flynn is visiting the farm as an escort to the Guizacs, a Polish Catholic family fleeing the horrors of the Second World War. The arrival of these new workers causes some concern for Mrs. McIntyre’s other employees: a young black man known as Sulk, an older black worker Astor, and the Shortleys, a white family.



Mrs. Shortley is especially hostile to the Guizacs. She has seen newsreels depicting the Nazi death camps and she does not distinguish between victims and perpetrators. All she knows is that the Guizacs come from the place where these horrors are happening, and she suspects they might be capable of perpetrating similar crimes themselves. Her suspicions are intensified by the involvement of the Catholic Father Flynn. As an evangelical Protestant, she sees the Guizacs as part of a plot “to plant the Whore of Babylon in the midst of the righteous.” However, her racial prejudice gives her some comfort: if anyone is to be displaced by the Guizacs, it will be the black workers, not the white Shortleys.

Mr. Guizac quickly proves himself diligent and able. Mrs. McIntyre—who is concerned above all with profit—declares that Mr. Guizac is her “salvation.”

Seeking reassurance, Mrs. Shortley turns to religion. She has an “inner vision” and prophesies, “The children of wicked nations will be butchered.” She goes on to describe scenes of dismemberment, based on the newsreel of the Polish camps. She learns a secret about Mr. Guizac that she is confident would horrify Mrs. McIntyre. However, she decides not to reveal it, preferring to rely on her confidence that she outranks “the Displaced Person” on the farm.



Nevertheless, she soon overhears Mrs. McIntyre discussing her plan to fire the Shortleys. The Shortleys pack and depart from the farm. Mrs. Shortley is shaken so badly that she has a stroke and dies. In her last moments, she experiences a vision of dismemberment, recalling her prophecy.

Mrs. McIntyre learns the secret that Mrs. Shortley kept from her: Sulk has an arrangement with Mr. Guizac. The black worker is giving the Guizacs money towards a ticket for Mr. Guizac’s cousin to come to America. In exchange, Mr. Guizac has agreed that Sulk and his cousin will marry.

Mrs. McIntyre confronts Mr. Guizac, declaring that this marriage is impossible. Mr. Guizac, unfamiliar with the American prejudice against racial intermarriage, assumes that Mrs. McIntyre is upset about his cousin’s age. He explains that unless he can bring her to America, his cousin might die in a camp. Mrs. McIntyre refuses to listen, acquiring an unshakeable dislike for her worker.



She asks Father Flynn if she can fire the Guizacs, but the priest evades her, refusing to give her his permission.

Mr. Shortley returns to the farm to report the death of Mrs. Shortley. He blames Mr. Guizac and demands that Mrs. McIntyre fire him. Mrs. McIntyre promises to do so but finds that her conscience prevents her.

Mr. Shortley begins to speak to other local people, drumming up prejudice against Mr. Guizac. Soon the whole community is looking askance at Mrs. McIntyre for continuing to employ the Displaced Person. This pressure outweighs Mrs. McIntyre’s conscience, and she goes to fire him.



She finds Mr. Guizac working on the underside of a tractor. Sulk attends. While Mrs. McIntyre dithers, Mr. Shortley parks a larger tractor on the hill above Mr. Guizac, leaving the brake unsecured. The tractor begins to roll downhill. Mrs. McIntyre has the opportunity to warn Mr. Guizac, but she doesn’t. She passes out, and when she comes round, Mr. Guizac is fatally injured. He takes last rites from Father Flynn and dies.

Sulk and Mr. Shortley leave the farm and it begins to decline. After suffering a “nervous affliction,” Mrs. McIntyre is forced to sell her cattle at a loss. Bedbound, she has few visitors, but she does see the priest. The novella concludes with the suggestion that Mrs. McIntyre is beginning to sincerely absorb Christian doctrine.

“The Displaced Person” explores themes of prejudice and charity. The novella, and the collection of which it forms a part, form a key part of Flannery O’Connor’s reputation as one of the greatest writers of the American South.