Social Class Battle

The human condition suggests that people yearn to increase pride or self esteem through the degradation of others. Likewise, Mr.Greenleaf, from Greenleaf by Flannery O'Connor, represents the social class versus social class struggle. Such a class battle ultimately leads him to express his male dominance and thus lose his Christian grace. Because of Mr. Greenleaf's actions, Mrs. May is thus affected and uses him as a tool to heighten her sense of social superiority. Human defects colorfully paint the two characters and bind them in an everlasting struggle against each other and themselves. Mr. Greenleaf's presence sets a tone in the short story that embodies the wrongs of the southern coulter as well as the class distinctions.

Social superiority illustrates itself through the actions of Mr. Greenleaf coupled with the reactions of Mrs. May. Mr. Greenleaf, the hired help, lacks quick wits and intellect and accordingly needs to be told to do something three or four times by Mrs. May. Even the way he approaches an object propagates his listlessness because he never appears to come forward but seems to "walk on the perimeter of some invisible circle" (O'Connor 491). Mr Greenleaf also embodies a character that is too "shiftless" to find another job and lacks the "initiative" to steal (O'Connor 491). His slow pace expresses itself when he never tells Mrs. May about a sick cow until it is too late. Because Mr. Greenleaf epitomizes such characteristics a class versus class struggle persists throughout the story, providing the reader with an insight on exactly what Flannery O'Connor feels about such a delicate topic. Mr. Greenleaf's position, the helping hand in a farm owned by a female, juxtaposed to Mrs. May's, illustrates that she and Mr. Greenleaf are on the opposite sides of the social spectrum. Such rigid social positions allow her to use him and his label to procure the euphoric high aristocrats achieve. Although Mr. Greenleaf is socially inferior, Mrs. May feels threatened by the success of his offsprings. She remains bitter and confides in the idea that no mater how successful the Greenleaf boys become "they still came from that [Mr. Greenleaf]" (O'Connor 498). Albeit Mr. Greenleaf poses a problem for Mrs. May, she still insists on keeping him around the farm, which suggests that she wants to enforce her social superiority on Mr. Greenleaf and therefore secure a status for herself. By using Mrs. May and the characteristics she embodies, a defect in humanity radiates itself. Through Mr. Greenleaf's presence, Mrs. May indulges in material ideas, such as class distinctions, which ultimately divert her away from Christian ideals. She is so enthralled by pride that she indulges in "willful disregard of obligations of humanity" and inevitably becomes "deaf to the call Christian charity" (Walters 24). Therefore, Mr. Greenleaf functions as an object on the farm that contributes to Mrs. May's welfare and thus establishes his social inferiority and Mrs. May's fears.

Mr. Greenleaf's social position, despite its inferiority, radiates his male potency. His physical description is so similar to the bull's that Mrs. May suggests "that's a Greenleaf bull if I ever saw one" (O'Connor 502). By allowing the bull to roam the farm freely provides an opportunity for Mr. Greenleaf to assert his male dominance over his female employer and thus establish his territory (Paulson 40). Mrs. May does not seem shocked by this and even realizes that "you [Greenleafs'] can get away with anything when you're dealing with a woman. If there were a man running this place" they would not feel the urge to assert their phallic nature (O'Connor 506). Mr. Greenleaf's ability to produce five daughters and two sons exhibits his self-procreative power (Paulson 41). What builds a stronger foundation for such a characteristic is the fact that both his sons marry French wives and produce three offsprings each. On the same token, Mrs. May's sons are unmarried and still live with their mother thus represent weakness in their inability to further their generation. Circumstantially, Mr. Greenleaf's sons represent male competence while Mrs. May's sons represent female helplessness and powerlessness in the world and male provocation at home (Paulson 41). Mr. Greenleaf's actions and his qualifications draw on mythical male/female stereotypes. By inhabiting an extremely slow persona and not accomplishing Mrs. May's tasks, Mr. Greenleaf assures his male dominance and minimizes Mrs. May's grasp over him. The ironic situation of Mr. Greenleaf barely being able to complete his tasks but somehow accurately and precisely shoots the bull three times in the eye, proves his ingenuity in rearing as much male power as possible (Snipes). By cleverly and exquisitely disguising his adroitness, Mr Greenleaf enables himself to assert his male dominance over Mrs. May.

Aside from playing on male/female stereotypes, Mr Greenleaf also highlights a religious theme in the short story. He represents his facile sense of Christianity when he boasts of his son's milking barn, wives, and overall success as compared to the May brothers. Such an object-oriented mind set is evident when Mr. Greenleaf refuses to shoot the bull due to its symbolism of his sons' wealth and accomplishments. Even though he is unprosperous, Mr. Greenleaf is an imperious man who shows little reverence to God and is slowly but surely losing his purity and the simplicity of religion. By forcing Mr. Greenleaf to shoot the bull, Mrs. May places him in a compromising situation that "ensures his humiliation because he will have to kill his sons' bull" (Meek). Instead of worshiping God, he adulates the symbol of his sons' success, the bull. Through such examination of Mr. Greenleaf's character, it clearly becomes evident that it is he, "not Mrs. May, who must ultimately accept God's grace- why in effect, O'Connor chose to call the story Greenleaf" (Schiff). Towards the end of the novel, Mr. Greenleaf finally kills the bull, revealing his acceptance of Christian grace.

By examining Mr. Greenleaf and his actions, affirmation arises suggesting that he symbolizes, in all, the new era that accepts ethnic equality as a growing revolution. Because Mr. Greenleaf is on the opposite end of the social spectrum, Mrs. May forces her superiority over him and rejects such a subversive idea. Likewise, Mr. Greenleaf emits his male potency upon Mrs. May by vaunting about his sons' success. This pride ultimately leads to Mr. Greenleaf's downfall, which subsequently leads to his downfall [the lose of reverence to God and gained appreciation of material goods] which is only restored when both the bull, his material pride, and Mrs. May, his weaker female counterpart, die. Through this sole character, a broad array of characteristics radiate out of him which provide key symbols underlying the human condition.

Works Cited

Meek, Kristen. "Flannery O'Connor 'Greenleaf' and the Holy hunt of the Unicorn". The Flannery O'Connor Bulletin 1990. PROQUEST. 4 October 2005.

O'Connor, Flannery. Greenleaf. Perrine's Story and Structure Tenth Edition. United States: Earl McPeek, 2002. 490-511.

Paulson, Suzanne Morrow. Flannery O'Connor A Study of the Short Fiction. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1988.

Schiff, Jonathan. "'That's Greenleaf Bull': Totemism and Exogamy in Flannery O'Connor's 'Greenleaf'". English Language Notes 31, no.3. PROQUEST. 4 October 2005.

Snipes, Katherine. "Greenleaf". Masterplots II: Short Story Series. EBSCOHOST. 4 October 2005.

Walters, Dorothy. Flannery O'Connor. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1973.