The Life You Save May Be Your Own By Flannery O Connor: Character Analysis

Everyday, people are forced to make choices. Some of those choices are fairly easy to make, and others are not. In the short story “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” by Flannery O’Connor, a man by the name of Tom T. Shiftlet stumbles across a farm where an old woman and her daughter, Lucynell Crater, reside. When the author first introduces the readers to Mr. Shiftlet, he is described as “a tramp and no one to be afraid of” (674). What starts as a man accidentally coming across the woman’s farm, becomes a story that follows Tom through his unrealized quest for love and acceptance. With the help of Ms. Crater and Lucynell, Tom learns that his choices have consequences. In “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”, O’Connor creates a world in

Loyalty is trait that every person in the world should have. An example of loyalty is when

Lucynell Crater, an old woman, and her thirty-year-old, deaf daughter, also named Lucynell Crater live in a run-down house that needs to be repaired. One day a man who calls himself Tom T. Shiftlet stops and offers to fix the house and Lucynell’s car. Lucynell explains that she has no money to pay him, but he can eat and sleep in the house for free. Mr. Shiftlet fixes parts of the house and begins to work on the car. Mrs. Crater and Tom come to agreement that Tome will marry Lucynell. Tom, Lucynell and Mrs. Crater go to the court house and finalize the marriage. Tom and Lucynell take off in the car for their honeymoon. They stop to eat for the night and Lucynell falls asleep at the table. Tom Shiftlet tells the waiter that she was a hitch hiker and he needs to take off. Mr. Shiftlet leaves Lucynell at the restaurant and takes off with her mother’s car. As he drives away, he passes a sign that says, “The life you save may be your own.”

(146) In order to emphasize his humility and goodness, Tom has been cast as a ?one-arm jackleg? (as he so eloquently puts it). He is a carpenter, ably fixing up the Crater property. He performs the miracles of reviving Mrs. Crater?s long-dead Ford (the religious connection reinforced by O?Connor?s characterization of his expression ?as if he had just raised the dead? [151]) and teaching deaf and mute daughter Lucynell to say the word ?bird?. He eschews modern man?s obsession with money and claims that he has a ?moral intelligence? despite his physical shortcomings. By emphasizing his focus on the spiritual nature of life, Tom succeeds in marrying the daughter and receiving money from Mrs. Crater.

Being loyal is to have a strong feeling of support or allegiance for someone or something.

Tom Walker sat at his bedside feeling rather melancholy for he had not much to do but be chided at by his notorious witch of a wife. They both lived in their humble abode of an apartment in the middle of a city but they had a sublime view that overlooked the scenery of the domicile's dumpsters. They lived poorly, just barely getting by to afford a couple gallons of gas. Tom grew a hatred for almost everyone around and had only a handful of “friends”, he believed that money was the most valuable and important thing in his life.

Very rare are there people who are truly loyal. The definition of loyalty is to strongly support. In Homer’s epic poem, “The Odyssey,” there are two people that are consistently loyal to Odysseus through the whole story. Odysseus has been away from Ithaca for twenty years. He has been trying to get home from the Trojan War.

convictions about a certain individual, cause, place, idea, and so on. Loyalty entails one's dedication to that individual,

Crater is trying to draw Tom Shiftlet to her house to receive a helping hand around her house and marry her mute daughter ("The Life You Save May Be Your Own”). Mrs. Crater believes he is just a “tramp” since he is missing an arm. She lies to Tom when she says her daughter is only fifteen or sixteen even though she is thirty. This is believable because of Lucynell’s innocence. Not only does Mrs. Crater lie to Tom, she is greedy about getting a son-in-law (“The Life You Save May Be Your Own). She tries to convince Mr. Shiflet multiple times that Lucynell is an innocent girl that would be perfect for him. For instance, she says, "One that can't talk," she continued, "can't sass you back or use foul language. That's the kind for you to have." (O’Connor). Mrs. Crater’s ulterior motives show how Lucynell is less important to her than what Mrs. Crater claims she is. On the other hand, Mr. Shiftlet is trying do the same thing. While he talks to Mrs. Crater in the beginning of the story, he eyes up the car he sees in the barn. He says, "I can't get married right now," he said. "Everything you want to do takes money and I ain't got any" (O’Connor). Mrs. Crater gives Tom money to paint the car, but he persuades

Tom swung his body forward, thrusting his, “short arm up slowly” as to indicate, “an expanse of sky and his figure formed a crooked cross" (O’Connor 1). Shiftlet’s unique opportunity at redemption is manifested by the crooked cross in his figure. As he deliberately planned what actions he was going to undertake next, Tom suddenly began to smile as it “stretched like a weary snake waking up by a fire" (O’Connor 6). This example of literary elements suggests that Tom is following the mindset of the devil, in contrast to his possibility at redemption. Tom’s immoral behavior or lack of integrity forces him to surrender himself to the devil and take over his thoughts as he abandons Lucynell at their local restaurant, Hot Spot. Supposedly to go on their honeymoon, Tom drives off with Lucynell, while her mother, hesitant of their departure, realizes both Tom and Lucynell will be back within a day or two. As Tom is driving, the weather had been cloudless and neighboring by “a pale blue sky”, thus indicating Tom’s last opportunity at redemption and to ponder his thoughts before making another move (O’Connor 8). But, after all Tom’s integrity was lacking as he abandons Lucynell at the diner, therefore he has lost all chances at redeeming his immoral behavior. This is personified by the weather as it begins to down pour and “drain every drop of from the earth before it

The Life You Save May Be Your Own,” is a short story by Flannery O’Connor. The author uses many types of literary techniques in her story. O’Connor incorporates situational irony in her story to further the plot. O’Connor also uses symbolism, which appears frequently throughout the story to represent the good and evil symbols hidden in life.

"The life you save may be your own", Flannery O'Connor. Mr.Shiflet is on a journey that stops at an old beat up home of an elderly and young woman, both with the name Lucynell Crater. He bargains with the older woman to detect how much they can receive from one another. He works for food, car, and wife, while older Lucynell receives work on her home. The two lie about themselves to appear greater than what they are. While young Lucy is observed as innocent since she cannot achieve anything from being disabled. The whole time in the story people lead others to witness only what they want them to notice.

Hypocrisy is seen through the character of Mr. Shiftlet. First Tom convinces Mrs. Crater into marrying her handicapped daughter. After the couple is married and he promises to take care of her, he dumps her at a diner called The Hot Spot. Feeling guilty about his actions, Tom picks up a boy hitchhiking and advises him with virtues from his past. Picking up on Mr. Shiftlet’s hypocrisy, the boy jumps out of the moving car. Dramatic irony occurs when Mrs. Crater believes Mr. Shiftlet that he is interested in her daughter, and believes that they will return home soon towards the end of the

The first part of the story takes place in a hotel in Florence, Italy, where Lucy and her cousin, Charlotte Bartlett, have come for vacation. When their hotel rooms have unpleasant views from their windows, two guests of the hotel, Mr. Emerson and George Emerson, offer to give up their own rooms to the women, causing other guests of the hotel, as well as Charlotte, to question the morality of the two lower class individuals to hand rooms to people of the upper class. Mr. Emerson and George are seen by many people of society to be socially unacceptable because of their social status and personalities. Lucy is upset by all of the guests’ attitudes toward the Emersons, as she approaches the situation in a completely different way than everyone else; she seems to think good of the Emersons despite society’s criticisms because she personally believes they mean no harm or disrespect. Lucy

The movie 50 First Dates is about a girl named Lucy and a guy named Henry who live in Hawaii. Every day she wakes up thinking it is the same day as the accident, which is her father’s birthday. She goes to the same diner every day, thinking it is Sunday, for breakfast eating waffles and making houses out of them. While Henry is testing out his boat, he has troubles with it and goes to the diner on shore to wait for the coast guard to tow his boat back. While in the diner, Henry sees Lucy, thinking she was just a normal girl eating breakfast. He meets her and talks with her, having a strong connection, they agree to meet up again at the same place for breakfast the next morning. Henry waits at the diner for Lucy, but when she walks in, she does not say a word to him. He tries to talk to her and make the same jokes he did the day before to her but because of her condition, she has no clue who he is and gets scared. Thinking Lucy is crazy or psycho, the waitress who knows about Lucy’s condition, pulls Henry out to tell him about what has happened and why Lucy is acting this way. Immediately, Lucy’s father, brother, and everyone who is close to her want Henry to stay