The main characters in the story are Enoch, Haze, Mrs. Flood, Asa Hawks, Sabbath Lily, Mrs. Hitchcock and Hoover Shots. The main character Haze, is displeased with Christianity and seeks ways to spread anti-religious messages.
Haze is from a strong religious background and several experiences weaken his devotion to Christianity. In the story, he is portrayed as an atheist who despises Christianity. However, he is still influenced by religion despite his loathing for Christian practices and beliefs.
Haze brings out his spiritual connections to Christianity in a strange way. Asa Hawks and Lily portray the manner in which the church and its leaders participate in immoral and corrupt practices for their own personal gain.
They represent the moral decadence that has negatively affected the sanctity of Christianity. Hoover Shots uses his trickery to take advantage of gullible worshippers to become rich yet he does not have a strong religious conviction.
Enoch, Haze, Hoover Shots, Asa and Lily show the manner in which religious beliefs are corrupted or misrepresented to achieve certain ends. Haze has a strong drive that encourages him to spread anti –Christian messages.
However, in his quest to do so, he finds out shocking details about the true nature of Asa, Hoover Shots and Lily. The three are not righteous as they claim and are only motivated by what they can gain from religion. The main characters in the story satirize Christianity and how it is practiced in different places.
These characters show how appearances are easily disguised by some people to portray a false image of what they are not. They interpret the concept of spiritualism and religion through bizarre methods to achieve different objectives.
The car represents the theme of death as shown in the story. Haze runs over Hoover’s false prophet using his car who later passes away. Haze also succumbs to injuries in the police car and later passes away.
The car is used symbolically to show the transitions Haze is going through in his life. Enoch’s gorilla transformation is motivated by his desire to show others how important he is. He uses the gorilla suit to make other people recognize his worth in the society because the job he does at the zoo makes him feel inferior.
The potato peeler seller in the street makes Haze meet with Enoch, Sabbath and Asa. This is symbolic because they are some of the main characters who help to advance the plot in the story.
O’Connor shows sacraments to be very important to Catholic devotees. Sacraments are used to signify that Catholics identify with doctrines their religion contains. Sacraments serve as a testimony to their faith which binds them together as devotees with common religious beliefs.
The aspect of mediation in Catholicism is used to make peace between two or more parties who have a conflict. Mediation encourages conflicting parties to tolerate one another as it is the only way through which people can co-exist peacefully.
This concept encourages Catholics to act as mediators during conflicts so as to be peacemakers in the society. The doctrine of communion is used to encourage people to relate their personal experiences and situations with their religious beliefs.
Communion makes Catholics stronger because they are able to encourage each other to live righteously which strengthens their faith. Communion also helps Catholics to learn from each other on how to live as responsible Christians.