Strangers in If the Violent Bear it Away

While reading about the strangers that drive Tarwater back to his home, I could not help but wonder why O'Conner decided to have the one man whom drives him during the night and is using him to stay awake an then the other man whom assaults him. I was thinking maybe she was using the first man to clarify what occurred with Bishop and Tarwater and how Tarwater feels about drowning Bishop. Tarwater not only cannot stop obsessing about his murder but also he feels ill. So it was nice to see that Tarwater has some remorse because he just seemed so cold and heartless throughout the story to me. Like how he tries to burn Old Tarwater's body rather than burying him properly and also how he treats Bishop throughout the rest of the story.

I also thought it was interesting how the first man just abandons Tarwater and kicks him out of the truck because he does not drive people during the day. It just seemed odd that the driver suddenly had a change of heart about driving him especially since he kept grilling Tarwater about his life. Maybe he decided to abandon him because Tarwater was seemingly disturbing talking about drowning Bishop and baptizing him and even when the driver tried to change the subject he brught up the fact that he was born in a wreck. So maybe the driver just did not want to know anymore about Tarwater's life which is understandble in my opinion.

The stranger that picks him up after shocked me I did not think that Tarwater was going to be assaulted in the woods but I guess their was the hint of him making fun of him for not smoking and what not. It just seemed odd that O'Conner placed this at the end of the story it seems out of place and does not really make sense to me because it happens and then it seems to be over and he does not bring it up again after he burns the brush that it occurred in. I wonder why she decided to have this piece of violence placed within the story. Which is also odd because O'Conner and Porter both describe the violence within their stories very elaborately and in a brutal manner where in this story it is barely alluded to and really the only clues that it is a sexual assault is the fact that his clothes are laying right next to him.

So I was just wondering what everyone thought about O'Conner's theme of strangers and why these two men are supposedly helping Tarwater but end up kind of taking advantage of him in very different ways, one sexual and the other by tyring to keep himself awake? And why does the violence in the assault differ from how O'Conner usually expresses violence within her stories?