The Bull as a Symbol in Flannery O'Connor's “Greenleaf”

Mayella had a great amount of power in the courtroom during the trial of Tom Robinson. This completely classless manipulative woman used the disadvantages she was dealt in life to her benefit. She made advances toward this black man, when he did not reciprocate those feelings she accused him of rape. He is convicted and sent to prison because of her. Through this, she also gains power that removes her from her father’s sexual abuse. He does not want her because of the relations with a

O’Connor employs the grandmother’s selfish and manipulative character to reveal the true definition of justice. In the very beginning of the short story, the grandmother’s real nature evinces through her actions. The

Mrs. May is a smug and self-righteous protagonist who thinks that she can control all the events of her life. O'Connor thought that this sort of people are out of the touch of God. Her revelation consists in the discovery of a higher knowledge of life which implies an encounter with God. Mrs. May achieves this knowledge through her death, through a violent encounter with a bull.

Flannery O’Connor was a short story author from Savannah, Georgia. She has produced many critically acclaimed pieces and has won several awards for them. Two distinct pieces she wrote are titled The Life You Save May Be Your Own and Good Country People. While both of her stories are unique, the underlying storyboard and character creation process that O’Connor used is the same throughout her stories. Her stories usually involve one or more self-centered woman, a younger person who become the victim of egregious crime, and a conniving male driven by his own motives. Good Country People and The Life You Save May Be Your Own do not stray from this rule. In either story, the narrative is driven around a shocking tragedy that is very unexpected. Even though in the tragedies committed in the book always have a belligerent and a victim, it is not easy to discern who amongst the two are the antagonist and the protagonist. In either of these narratives, the tragedy that occurred within the stories blurs the line between antagonist and protagonist.

“Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman are two stories that reveal the consequences of individual suffering. These consequences include estranging relationships, bitter behavior, and even illness, addiction, or death. Throughout each of these stories, Sonny and John’s wife, known as the narrator of “The Yellow Wallpaper”, continue to suffer due to John’s and Sonny’s brother’s, known as the narrator of “Sonny’s Blues”, failure to meet obligations and familial compassion. Neither the narrator in “Sonny’s Blues” nor the husband, John, in “The Yellow Wallpaper” serve as the villains of the stories, however, I believe we are able to see how both their inabilities to effectively

The story's protagonist, Charlie Wales, is less a victim of bad luck than of circumstance, both socio-economic and personal. Charlie does not deserve Marion's continued denial of custody of his daughter, but the story is less about what Charlie does or does not deserve than how easily one's life can spin out of control due to unforeseen circumstance.

Continuing from above, May is once again compared to Diana. Before the archery competition, May’s entrance is described, “In her white dress, with a pale green ribbon about the waist and a wreath of ivy on her hat, she had the same Diana-like aloofness as when she had entered the Beaufort ball-room on the night of her engagement” (173). May is once again compared to Diana in the same sentence where she is depicted wearing white, further implying the innocence the entire society believes she has. However, this quotation introduces a new concept: May’s aloofness. By depicting her as a goddess who is also distant, Wharton is able to add more of this untouchable nature of perfection. At this point in the novel, May suspects an affair between Newland and Ellen, however, she is sticks with

Throughout our lives, we are faced with people who are sincere and people who do not have our best interests at heart. In "The Chrysanthemums" by John Steinbeck and "Good Country People" by Flannery O'Connor, readers are left with many questions about romantic relationships, personal value, and betrayal. While seeing both these works through a feminist scope, I found that they both shared three main components: gender roles, scammers, and victims. The authors of both stories illustrated these three main ideas differently. Although there are many parallel themes, contrasting elements can also be deeply analyzed.

Everyday, people are forced to make choices. Some of those choices are fairly easy to make, and others are not. In the short story “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” by Flannery O’Connor, a man by the name of Tom T. Shiftlet stumbles across a farm where an old woman and her daughter, Lucynell Crater, reside. When the author first introduces the readers to Mr. Shiftlet, he is described as “a tramp and no one to be afraid of” (674). What starts as a man accidentally coming across the woman’s farm, becomes a story that follows Tom through his unrealized quest for love and acceptance. With the help of Ms. Crater and Lucynell, Tom learns that his choices have consequences. In “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”, O’Connor creates a world in

The trails and tribulations of life can cause a person to go down a road they could have never imagined. Some people are able to rise above the issues that come their way and while others become consumed by their problems. In a male dominated society, the issues of women are often pushed to the side and they are left to deal with them alone. Therefore, some women become abused by their thoughts and problems due to the fact that they do not have the ability to tackle them alone. It becomes an internal and external battle for the scorned woman to please herself, husband (or father) and the society at the same time. In the short stories, “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by

Mayella Ewell has been often mentally, physically, and sexually abused by her father Bob Ewell. Even though Mayella takes care of her siblings each day, she is lonely most of the time, considering nobody wants to be around her. Her father abuses her and beats her often, and Mayella wants the abuse to come to an end. Mayella comes up with and fulfills a plan to end the abuse coming from her father. Her plan involves a Negro man named Tom Robinson. Mayella accuses Tom of beating and raping her, and brings Tom to court, and goes up against him in a trial. Her plan is successful and comes out in her favor because she is manipulative, and she knew what it took to win the trial. Mayella Ewell, a poor, white woman, who lives in a dump, is powerful, when considering certain factors such as her social class, her race, and her gender.

    “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” one of O’Connor’s best works, describes a family on a trip to Florida and their encounter with an escaped prisoner, The Misfit. Although “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is an early work in O’Connor’s career, it contains many of the elements which are used in the majority of her short stories. The grandmother, a selfish and deceitful woman, is a recipient of a moment of grace, despite her many flaws and sins. A moment of grace is a revelation of truth. When the grandmother calls The Misfit her child and reaches out to touch him, the grandmother has a moment of grace that enabled her to see The Misfit as a suffering human being who she is obligated to love. The grandmother realizes that nothing will stop The Misfit from killing her but she reaches out to him despite this. The Misfit rejects her love and kills her anyway. This moment of grace is very important

“It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder, that life might be long.” (Chopin 17). “"Poof!"… gave a revealing look at the victims of domestic abuse and how they wrestle with overcoming their fear and their doubts after suffering years of abusive treatment.” (Toomer 5) Loureen unlike Mrs. Mallard, witnesses her husband’s death first hand during a marital argument. Loureen goes through denial questioning whether her husband’s death. She is happy her husband is dead but also feels guilty, because she knows how a mourning wife should react, but the joy of his demise is greater,” I should be praying, I should be thinking of the burial, but all that keeps popping into my mind is what will I wear on television when I share my horrible and wonderful story with a studio audience…”, Loureen’s husband, Samuel, was physically abusive, as revealed by Florence, Loureen’s best friend and neighbor. “Did that mother***** hit you again?” (Nottage 1563) This abuse, physical by Samuel and mental by Brently, is what allows Loureen in the drama “Poof!” and Mrs. Mallard in the short story “The Story of an Hour” to have the shared freedom they feel in the release from their respective abusive relationships.

In Flannery O’Connor’s short stories, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” and “Good Country People,” the main characters’ trust is put to the ultimate test. Trapped in vulnerable situations, the protagonists become powerless and have to put their trust in the hands of the “bad guy.” As a result, the main characters fall victim to manipulation. Those who were once in total control of their situations are now stripped of their superior titles and are taken advantage of by the person they once trusted. Egos are bruised in the game of trust and manipulation in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” and “Good Country People.” The grandmother and Joy-Hulga are taught lessons of a lifetime that changes the way they see themselves and life forever.

In Sharon Olds’s poem The Victims, the speaker tells the multifaceted story of her abusive father and the subsequent estrangement of her family, while eventually likening her story to bums she sees sitting in filth and squalor. The speaker’s family withstood torment from the father all the while taking “it in silence” (2). In a nice twist, the father is divorced and humiliatingly grinned at by his own children when he loses his job, presumably becoming a bum after losing his income and family. The speaker tells her story in two different parts with two similar, yet different, tones, beginning with one of resentful glee and ending with one of wonderment.