Greenleaf by Flannery O'Connor Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Greenleaf by Flannery O'Connor - Essay Example She is inwardly tormented by a world that is not of her making and outwardly by a wild bull that is eating away at what little peace she has left on earth. The Greenleaf sons were content with their modern dairy operation while Mr. Greenleaf and his wife, "... lived like the lilies of the field, off the fat that she struggled to put into the land". "Greenleaf" is a story of families and faith. . Mrs. May had hired the Greenleafs after her husband passed away and left the dairy farm to her and her two sons. When they were hired, Mr. Greenleaf and his two sons brought along Mrs. Greenleaf and 5 little girls. At this point in their history the families were not remarkably different. Mr. Greenfield's total possessions were little more than a "... pieced-together truck, his wife and five daughters". Mrs. May had inherited little more than that from her husband. Her friends were awestruck that she had gone "...practically penniless and with no experience, out to a rundown farm...". Still, Mrs. May viewed herself as a remarkable woman. The hired help were a necessary annoyance. The sons also grew in different directions. The Greenleaf boys, O.T. and E.T., spent a successful stint in the Army and returned with their new wives to set up a successful dairy business. Tormented by her own sons' failures, Mrs. May attributed E.T.'s and O.T.'s success to government handouts.