Character\'s Attitude Toward God in a Piece

¶ … character's attitude toward God in a piece of literature can add depth, not to mention offer the reader a greater understanding of the character's attitude and personality.

Flannery O'Connor's short story, "Greenleaf," is a good example of the reader can take a character's belief system and understand why they behave the way they do. Mrs. May, a self-centered old woman, is unable to see the good in those she does not consider her equal. Mrs. May thinks is she behaves respectfully, she is blameless in the eyes of God. She also thinks that a person's social standing is representative of their level of righteousness. These beliefs help the reader understand her attitude toward others.

Mrs. May refuses to let her sons help her, which is also reflection of her relationship with God as she insists on taking care of everything herself. Mrs. May also believes that the world operates by cause and effect. If she behaves well, good things will happen to her and those who behave like trash will reap nothing but sorrow.

That is why she is puzzled by the Greenleaf family. She has always behaved respectfully and has raised two well-educated sons. But her grown sons sponge off of her even after they have become adults and they have no respect for her. They mock and taunt her; one even tells her that he wouldn't milk a cow to save your soul from hell.

Mr. Greenleaf, on the other hand, raised two successful young boys who made their mark in the Army, married French wives and now live in an attractive duplex, working their joint farm in harmony. This doesn't make any sense to Mrs. May. By reassuring herself that "No matter where they go, they came from that," she misses the point that God does not judge a person by where they came from, but from where they are.

The Greenleaf and May have different reactions to the stray bull characterize their feelings toward life. The Greenleaf family see the bull as a force of nature that cannot be contained, and therefore one needs to just move over and provide room for it as a fellow member of God's creation. Mrs. May on the other hand, is obsessed with controlling it because she is obsessed with the idea of imposing her will onto every aspect of her life. In fact, trying to control a force so much bigger and so much more powerful than she is becomes her undoing.

Mrs. May thinks of her life as progressing in a linear fashion. Her husband died and left her the dairy farm and when she dies, she will pass it on to her sons. She puts all of her energy into the farm because, in her view, legitimate gain comes only from hard work. The soil produces crops because she wants it so. Yet no matter how much she does, things always seem to deteriorate.

In contrast, the Greenleaf family seems to be getting along very well. This is incomprehensible to Mrs. May since Mr. Greenleaf is her hired hand.

Another view of religion the reader experiences is through Mrs. Greenleaf, who does quite a bit of "prayer healing." This was certainly something Mrs. May could not understand, telling Mrs. Greenleaf that God would surely be ashamed of her for such behavior.

But in the end, it is clear how Mrs. May was a victim of her own beliefs and the restrictions she placed on herself and life as a result of those very beliefs.

Another example of how God is perceived can be expressed in the poem, God's Grandeur, by Gerard Manley Hopkins.

Hopkins is able to reflect upon the beauty of nature with optimism. The opening lines of his poem show the reader that Hopkins has hope.

Hopkins refers to the grandeur of God among the "ooze and oil" even though "Generations have trod, have trod, have trod..." And have seared, bleared, and smeared all. It is as if God's grandeur saves this world from itself as "it gathers to a greatness." He is able to see the beauty beyond the mess.

The result of the Industrial Revolution and its affect on mankind and the earth are the focus of this poem. The reader is able to sense the tension Hopkins feels, knowing that in order for mankind to advance, nature must suffer some destruction. There may be a certain amount of apprehension about what impact this advancement might have on the future but Hopkins has faith that everything will work out for the best. He embraces the future without any fear.