Short Stories of the South

Paper Summary:

This paper presents a review of two short stories, both written about life in the South. The first, ?The Life You Save May Be Your Own" by Flannery O?Connor, illustrates the gullible in Mrs. Crater, and the second ?Barn Burning" by William Faulkner, gives us insight into the lives of those who lived under slavery with Abner?s family. The writer points out that, even though both stories are set in the same area, the focus of each is different.

From the Paper:

"Southerners are depicted as very trusting in this story. For instance, even after Mr. Shiftlet goes into his speech about how "nowadays people'll do anything" (264), and then tells her that he could not be who he says he is, Mrs. Crater still believes his name is Tom Shiftlet. Mr. Shiftlet uses his time with Mrs. Crater to build her trust. For example, he "patched the front and back steps, built a new hog pen, restored a fence, and taught Lucynell, who was completely deaf and had never said a word in her life to say the word "bird"" (267). O'Connor also depicts Southerners as simple people. For instance, Mrs. Crater agrees when Mr. Shiftlet says that if cars were built by just one man, "You could get a cheaper car . . . and it would be a better car" (267). These scenes provide Mr. Shiftlet with the information needs to know."

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