OConnor’s Greenleaf :: Flannery OConnor Greenleaf Essays

O'Connor’s Greenleaf O'Connor’s story, "Greenleaf," is a dramatic and violent exposition of the workings of grace. The story takes its title from the name of a family who work on the property of a Mrs May. Throughout the story, contrasts are built up between Mrs May's children, who haven't been terribly successful, and Mrs Greenleaf's children, who somehow seem to have succeeded even though Mrs May regards them as very low down on the social scale. Mrs Greenleaf becomes the subject of some satire in the story in terms of her fundamentalist Christianity. For example, there is an instance in which Mrs May comes across Mrs Greenleaf sprawled on her hands and knees on the side of the road with her head down: "Mrs Greenleaf!" she shrilled, "what's happened?" Mrs Greenleaf raised her head. Her face was a patchwork of dirt and tears and her small eyes, the colour of two field peas, were red-rimmed and swollen, but her expression was composed as a bulldog's. She swayed back and forth on her hands and knees and groaned, "Jesus, Jesus." (31) Mrs May, of course, doesn't like this very much and feels that Mrs Greenleaf is, so to speak, "over the top." As we are told: She was a good Christian woman with a large respect for religion, though she did not, of course, believe any of it was true. "What is the matter with you?" she asked sharply. (31) We feel in the story that while O'Connor doesn't approve of Mrs May's lack of any real Christian spirit, she probably doesn't approve of Mrs Greenleaf's excess of spirit either. The end of the story focuses on a bull which keeps breaking into Mrs May's property. This bull takes on a symbolic function when we find Mrs May pursuing the bull trying to get it off her property: She looked back and saw that the bull, his head lowered, was racing toward her. She remained perfectly still, not in fright, but in a freezing unbelief. She stared at the violent black streak bounding toward her as if she had no sense of distance, as if she could not decide at once what his intention was, and the bull had buried his head in her lap, like a wild tormented lover, before her expression changed. One of his horns sank until it pierced her heart and the other curved around her side and held her in an unbreakable grip.