The story’s basis is based on the old black woman who is interested in the white church. Although she had the interest in that church, she kept on being thrown upon making visits
because everyone fills that the woman does not and cannot belong to that place. The entire white church members can be described to be indifferent based on their actions and treatment towards the older woman who dies upon following Jesus. Based on my understanding and analysis of this story and my understanding based on Hemingway’s Iceberg theory, I think that Walker’s motive and the surface of the story are to depict to the readers concerning hypocrisy as closely intertwined behavior amongst the Christians. The church members threw the woman out of the church but carried out their regular services without worrying or concerned. This shows that according to their understandings and beliefs, the woman was unworthy in God’s presence. I strongly feel that the underlying message based on this story is that attending church services daily or Sunday does not necessarily mean that the person is right. Because of hypocrisy amongst the people, this story made them chase the black women away because of her color. Contrastingly, he got favor and love from Jesus and only saw Jesus after living the church. The hypocrisy of these individuals can be realized in this quote when they considered the black woman as “the desecration of the Holy Church and saw an invasion of privacy, which they struggled to believe they still kept” (220).