¶ … Flannery O'Connor's "Greenleaf," the unpleasant Mrs. May awakens to find a bull chewing on her shrubbery. She considers getting dressed and driving to her handyman Mr. Greenleaf's house in the middle of the night to tell him to tie up the bull, but rejects this idea because she believes Mr. Greenleaf would use the experience as a chance to belittle her sons and glorify his own. Mrs. May detests the entire Greenleaf family, from Mr. Greenleaf who has no common sense, to Mrs. Greenleaf, who spends her days on "prayer healing," to the Greenleaf boys who have married and started a farm of their own while her sons remain unwed and living at home. As she investigates throughout the day, she learns that the escaped bull belongs to the Greenleaf boys. She maliciously tells Mr. Greenleaf he is to shoot his sons' bull. Mr. Greenleaf reluctantly appears to comply, but instead chases the bull into a wooded area. Mrs. May angrily honks her horn, and the bull reappears, charges her, and buries "his head in her lap." As she dies, her face assumes the look of somebody "whose sight has been suddenly restored but who finds the light unbearable." Such shocking, violent endings for small-minded hypocritical characters are not at all unusual for Catholic writer Flannery O'Connor, who uses her novels and short stories to express her belief that redemption, no matter how painful or violent, is available to everyone (Wood 55). Critic Jill Baumgaertner states: "The characters in O'Connor's stories find grace, but between their flights from the City of Destruction and their arrival at the gates of the Heavenly City, they must encounter the...

May is a prime character for O'Connor's harsh redemption. She exhibits her lack of faith in a true God in multiple ways throughout the text. First, she believes she can -- indeed, must -- do for herself rather than trusting in God; second, she rejects the extremely religious Mrs. Greenleaf; and third, she does not appear to believe in heaven but wishes to control earthly matters even after her demise.
Mrs. May is a woman who wants to do for herself whenever possible. Even though she hires a handyman, Mr. Greenleaf, she convinces herself that she must oversee his every movement and that nothing would be done right if it weren't for her influence. She even considers adding to her will that her sons cannot employ Mr. Greenleaf after her death because she doesn't think they will be able to manage him. Nor is this the only area in her life over which Mrs. May wants complete control. For instance, she never eats breakfast with her adult sons, but sits with them "to see that they had what they wanted." Mrs. May cannot even seek help in matters of the spirit. "She was a good Christian woman, with a large respect for religion," O'Connor tells the reader, "though she did not of course believe any of it was true."

Mrs. May's approach to life delineates a sharp difference between the do-it-oneself Protestant ethic and the Catholic belief that all must be done through God and his church. Critic Karen Bernardo states, "According to O'Connor, God does not help those who help themselves, but those who depend on his grace" (Paragraph 4).

Mrs. May not only rejects true…