"The Displaced Person" is a short story by Flannery O'Connor. It was published in 1955 in her short story collection A Good Man Is Hard to Find. A devout Roman Catholic, O'Connor often used religious themes in her work and her own family hired a displaced person after World War II.As Part I of the story begins, Mrs. McIntyre and the woman who works on her farm, Mrs. Shortley, are watching as the Guizac family arrives to work on the farm. The new family, whose arrival has been organized by a priest, Father Flynn, is Polish and has been displaced due to the war. Father Flynn marvels at the peacock that has followed Mrs. Shortley to the scene, and Mrs. McIntyre reveals that there used to be many more on the farm but that she has let them die off. Mrs. McIntyre leaves to lead the Guizac family to the shack in which they are to live, and Mrs. Shortley discusses their arrival with the two black farm hands, Astor and Sulk. Her disdain for them is revealed not only in the way she speaks to them, but in her thoughts about them. She attempts to spark fear in them that the arrival of the Guizacs will jeopardize their jobs on the farm. Then she reports what has happened to her husband, Mr. Shortley, who is smoking while using a milking machine in the barn, and he predicts that the new family will be fired soon.

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