“Everything is against you, the dirt is against you, and the help is against you. They are all in a league against you” (O’Connor). The bull and the Misfit have one thing in common. They are both portrayed as the bad guys in these short stories. The bull causes Mrs. May to become very irritable. Mrs. May thinks the bull does all he can do to aggravate her. He makes noisy chewing noises outside of her window constantly. Mrs. May hounds Mr. Greenleaf about killing the bull because she feels as if she has taken all she can take. The bull shockingly kills Mrs. May before Mr. Greenleaf can kill him. The author states “Mr. Greenleaf reached her, to be bent over whispering some last discovery into the animals ear” (O’Connor). At this moment Mrs. May receives her moment of grace. On the other hand, the grandmother speaks very badly about the Misfit. The grandmother states, ”I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that on the loose” (O’Connor). She speaks about the Misfit throughout their trip, but she never thinks they will ever run into him until the car accident. “The grandmother had a particular feeling he was someone she knew” (O’Connor). The grandmother asks the Misfit “You wouldn’t shoot an old lady would you?” (O’Connor). The Misfit replies “I would hate to have to!” (O’Connor). The grandmother begs not to be killed and at that moment she has her moment of grace. As she tries to talk the Misfit out of killing her she has a sudden change of heart. Everything that she used to talk about she now actually believes it. The bull and the Misfit help Mrs. May and the grandmother receives their moment of grace by killing them. Mrs. May and the grandmother have very rude children in their families. They both do not respect other people. Mrs. May’s son whispers, “I wouldn’t milk a cow to save your soul from hell.” (O’Connor) The boys despise their mother because they think she is mean and hateful. They wanted her to treat them like Mrs. Greenleaf does. Mrs. Mary’s boys are rude to negro children. Her son yells “I’m the best nigger-insurance salesman in this country!” (O’Connor). Mrs. Mary’s sons are very disrespectful .The grandmothers grandchildren were also disrespectful. They made of the negro child for not having on any pants. The grandmother explained to them he didn’t have on any pants because he was poor. June Star is very rude to Red Sam’s wife, she tells her “I wouldn’t live in a broken down place like this for a million bucks.” (O’Connor). That is a very rude thing for a child to say to an adult. Although Mrs. Mays son’s and the grandmother’s grandchildren may not know each other the both can be very disrespectful towards other people. In the short stories Greenleaf and A Good Man is Hard to Find, there are many things that can be compared such as the grandmother and Mrs.
May, the bull and the Misfit, and the children in their families. However, the major points of the short stories were how the grandmother and Mrs. May receives their moment of grace. The two ladies consider themselves to be Christians but do know practice what they preach. In life we all will have our moment of grace as the two ladies in these short stories does. Hopefully we won’t it doesn’t take for us to be at the point of death before we realize we need to have a change of heart. The moral of the story is don’t talk about it be about
it.