Flannery O 'Connor's The Life You Save May Be Your Own'

Shiftlet is so desperate to escape the responsibility of marriage that he is willing to showcase his more materialistic side, in hopes of making himself undesirable or seemingly unfit for that type of commitment. Another example of symbolism in this story is the title itself. Although he does not realize it, Tom has stumbled across the old woman’s farm because fate brought him there for a specific reason; he is given the choice of helping these people and possibly “saving” their lives, or saving his own life (in his eyes, his freedom). “In Mrs. Crater and Lucynell, Shiftlet is presented with an opportunity for a real sacrifice, an opportunity to love unlovable people. Shiftlet refuses it in order to remain free and mobile...Shiftlet is trying to save his own life - while he is given the chance to at least improve Lucynell’s or Mrs. Crater’s.” (Ragen). Just from the very first description of Tom, the readers could sense he may not be the most reliable or trustworthy person, but they also secretly hope that, as the story moves along, he will become a better person and realize his full potential as a husband and caretaker. The symbolism of the story’s title immediately gives the audience an idea that something is at risk here, and while the obvious answer is Mrs. Crater’s and Lucynell’s lives, Tom believes the answer is his version of life: freedom.

Throughout the story, O’Connor places emphasis on signs and the decisions that lay in front of both characters. The characters, Mr. Shiftlet and Mrs. Crater each struggle with which path to take. At their first encounter, Flannery points out how Mr. Shiftlet knowingly sheds doubt on his character by introducing himself with different names (439). While considering they had just met, he introduced himself in an absurd manner to Mrs. Crater. After all, the name Shiftlet portrays a negative light. Albert J. Griffith a known author of criticism echoes the image that Flannery portrays through her comparison of Shiftlet’s figure and a “crooked cross” (web). Granted this description allows the reader to envision Shiftlet as a twisted individual. Just the mere sound of his name reminds one of a shady person. While Mr. Shiftlet scopes out the property, he notices a rusty vehicle protruding from the shed. This provides him with an ample motive to stick around. A writer of criticism, Tom Deignan, affirms that Shiftlet’s goal is to acquire the automobile so he can travel like many other Americans of the time period (web). Naturally, it is understandable that Mr. Shiftlet yearns to feel like every other American. Despite the fact that Shiftlet had many jobs, some were more prestigious than the others. He boasts about his carpentry skills and

The religious imagery in Flannery O'Connor's 'The Life You Save May Be Your Own' gives the story a cynical undertone along with a healthy dose of irony. O'Connor uses allusions to Jesus and Christianity to examine the hypocrisies of the religion and its adherents. Her character Tom T. Shiftlet is portrayed paradoxically as both the embodiment of Christ and an immoral, utterly selfish miscreant. By presenting these polarities side by side within one persona, O'Connor shows the dichotomies between so-called Christian morality and the reality of the Church.

The minister then questions her but after his unsuccessful attempt, Mother’s actions become a scandal throughout the town because “any deviation from the ordinary course of life in this quiet town was enough to stop all progress in it” (C670). This does not bother Mother and she successfully continues with her plans. By overcoming this alienation both characters achieve feminine empowerment.

It symbolizes her family in a way. When the family is down, the plant is down. Mama is constantly in protection of the plant, in hopes of holding on to her dream. Walter in comparison is always looking to be somebody and make it in life. Walter sees wealth as the only solution to this. He longs for financial support. He becomes corrupted by society -to find his identity through money. Walter tells his mother, "I want so many things"(60). This shows his greediness.

The author of two novels and multiple classic short stories, Flannery O’Connor is widely regarded as one of the greatest fiction writers in American literature. However, as a Southern and devoutly Christian author in the 1950s, O’Connor was often criticized for the religious content and “grotesque” characters often incorporated into her works. They were considered too “brutal”, too “sarcastic.” (The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O 'Connor). O’Connor begged to differ.

Flannery O’Connor’s short story The Life You Save May Be Your Own, takes place in a rural area with a few powerful main characters, and though the literal meaning is not challenging to comprehend, the symbolic and metaphorical meanings are much more complex, requiring further analysis. One of the most touching and relatable themes in the story is that redemption is often overlooked because of personal greed.

Religion is a big influence in Flannery O 'Connor 's writing. “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” stresses the idea of good and evil. This can also be viewed at the evil in Christ. The story is set in the early 1900s. “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” begins with a woman and her disabled daughter sitting on their porch and she notices a man walking towards their home. The man, Mr. Shiftlet, sees an old car that he wants. The old woman, Lucynell, is also craving something and takes the opportunity to achieve it. By her use of symbols, imagery, and irony, she reveals that there is corruption within Christ.

Not only does he use obscene diction, he also uses extended metaphors to compare two things and how they’re related in the story. In the book, he compares the woman to the land by saying, “She was part of the land.” He is saying that the woman is a danger. He states Lieutenant Cross and Martha were pressed together and that the “pebble in his mouth was her tongue” (11). O’Brien compares the pebble and Martha’s tongue to show that Lieutenant Cross loved Martha with all his soul and that he carried her everywhere he went.

Within the outlining theme of Choices and Possibilities the short story The Life You Save May Be Your Own focuses on the choices made by the main male character Mr. Shiftlet. Mr. Shiftlet demonstrates choices by choosing to stay and work for food and a place for him to stay without the old lady he is working for being able to pay him for his work. While working around the elderly lady’s home, Mr. Shiftlet starts to take a great personal interest in her old place and even promising to restore an antique 1920’s Ford automobile belonging to the woman's late husband.

The mother is a complex creature proven throughout the story. These actions all help express why mothers and their presence are so important. As shown, they are very crucial in the development of younger beings. The mother is a helper by nature, impacting by teaching its child to survive at life. Independence is the arch lesson that is taught by the mother. Harlow enduringly grasps the cardinal meaning of why it is inhumane to destroy any kind of maternal bond. Mothers are not people to depend on, but are people to make depending not

They partake in a war revolving around the ideals of Christianity and the existence of God and morality, however it is entirely filled with hypocrisy. O’Conner’s belief of a single gesture is proven to be true when Rufus tears a page of the Bible and eats it, and act that would typically to be considered sacrilegious, in order to show his faith in God and/or Jesus. O'Connor believes that people that are liberal and atheistic are wrong and egotistical. O’Connor also shows that conservatives and people that are religious can be hypocritical and egotistical. I believe that she thinks that naturally people are inclined towards religion and that people by nature are hypocrites even if they do not try to

The central idea communicated by point of view in this story is that if one is resistant to adapting to the changing times then they’ll become ignorant. The point of view O’Connor uses to convey

Flannery O'Connor is one of America’s best Catholic writers, by a wide margin. In, “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”, she goes to great lengths to portray catholic concepts, especially the fall of man to sin. At the beginning of the story, we can see Tom Shiftlet as a man who is very concerned with his own “moral intelligence”, showing that he is open to the love of God. However, right away, hints har given to show that he could also reject God. When he is first described, he wears black, traditionally representing the christian adversary, as well as a disconnection from God more generally. In addition to this, he forms his body into a cross in front of the sun, however it is lopsided and incomplete due to his missing arm. Immediately (though he seems to care little for money) it is obvious that he lusts after Lucynell Crater’s automobile. Mrs. Crater offers to give him a place to stay and feed him, in exchange for work around the farm. However, lest one think that Mrs. Crater is saintly, she is mostly of the hope that Shiftlet will marry her deaf daughter. This forms one of the main interplays of the story, in that both characters have something the other wants, and both know it. This produces quite witty and interesting dialogue throughout. Lucynell the younger, it should be pointed out, is portrayed to be the perfect woman for the man. Indeed, she seems to represent more than simple innocence, but a gift from God. In the end, Mrs. Crater trades the truck for her daughter's hand in marriage, in her mind, winning her salvation. Shiftlet takes the car and Lucynell the younger for a honeymoon. They stop to get food, and Lucynell manages to fall asleep on the table, after which Shiftlet leaves her. Thus he has sealed his fate through rejecting the goodwill of God in the name of freedom in true luciferian fashion. The car has previously been likened to a casket and a coffin, through Mrs. Crater and Mr. Shiftlet conversations. It has now become his casket,

Death is inevitable to all forms of life. In giving birth to a typical family, Flannery O’Connor immediately sets the tone for their deaths, in the story, A Good Man is Hard To Find. O'Connor’s play on words, symbolism and foreshadowing slowly paves the way for the family’s death.