In contemporary American southern female writer Flannery O’Connor’s short story“Greenleaf”, the author depicts the conflict between the representative of the southern old force, the self-righteous Mrs. May and the representative of the south?ern new force, Mr. Greenleaf. This paper approaches“Greenleaf”from the symbolic meaning as well as the point of view of the short story to demonstrate the inevitability of the defeat of the South by the North.