The Bull's Symbolism In O'Connor's "Greenleaf"

900 Words4 Pages
Grace Animals are often used as literary symbols, and the bull in Flannery O’Connor’s “Greenleaf” is very significant. Instead of simply telling a story about a bull that kills a woman, she tells an ironic story of God's grace. The meaning of the story is somewhat unclear until the end. After reading it again, I realize that the bull becomes symbolic when Mrs. May tries to remove him from her property. This is a representation of her trying to keep Christ out of her life. The bull is compared to Christ in several ways, first by appearance. A few times in the story the bull seems to be beaming, like a light. “The bull silvered in the moonlight, with a hedge-wreath that he had ripped loose for himself caught in the tips of his horns” (1088). Many people imagine Christ as a person or a spirit with rays of light flowing from Him. “Bars of light slid across him as the venetian blind was slit” (1088). Another time the bull appears to be Christ like is when it has the wreath stuck on its horns, like a crown of thorns. “The bull lowered his head and shook it and the wreath slipped down to the base of his horns where it looked like a menacing prickly crown” (1089). Ironically Mrs. May thinks of herself as a good Christian, yet never does or says anything nice or Christian-like. She evens puts others down who actually are Christians, like Mrs. Greenleaf. One morning while Mrs. May was walking through a wooded path, “Out of nowhere a guttural agonized voice groaned, “Jesus! Jesus!”” The voice belongs to Mrs. Greenleaf, who is on the ground in the woods talking to the Lord. “Mrs. May winced. She thought the word, Jesus, should be kept inside the church building like other words inside the bedroom. 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

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