"The Life You Save May be Your Own"

Paper Summary:

The paper points out the satire, religious irony and symbolism and southern literary elements in Flannery O'Connor's "The Life You Save May be Your Own". The paper discusses the questionable motivations of the two major characters; the older Lucynell, mother to a deaf daughter by that same name and ever-wandering Mr. Shiftlet.

From the Paper:

" Three relatively minor characters in "The Life you save may be Your Own" - daughter Lucynell; the Hot Spot's boy behind the counter who finds young Lucynell "an angel of Gawd" (O'Connor) as Mr. Shiftlet escapes without paying her food bill; and the non-hitchhiker near the end - further underscore the questionable motivations of the major characters. Both mother Lucynell and Mr. Shiftlet, whose opposing drives compel the plot, are transparently self-interested. Lucynell the elder wants a fix-it man around. Mr. Shiftlet is on the take, as O'Connor reveals early: "Mr. Shiftlet's pale sharp glance had already passed over everything in the yard . . . and had moved to a shed where he saw the square rusted back of an automobile. 'You ladies drive?' he asked" (O'Connor)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• O'Connor, Flannery. "The Life You Save May Be Your Own" [online]. Retrieved March 26, 2007, from: <http://faculty.smu.edu/nschwart/2312/lifeyousave.htm>.

More papers on "The Life You Save May be Your Own":

• Analytical Essay # 50829 : "Short Stories of the South"
• Essay # 33677 : "Works of Flannery O'Connor"
• Book Review # 107817 : "John Ortberg's "The Life You've Always Wanted"

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