Mr. Shiflet Character Analysis

In Flannery O’Conner’s tale, “The Life You Save May Be Your Own,” a supposed carpenter, Mr. Shiflet, travels to the worn out house of Lucynell Crater, a middle aged women with a daughter named after herself. Mr. Shiflet proves himself a useful guest, by working odd jobs around the house, such as mending the roof and repairing Lucynell’s car, and in return Lucynell provides food and shelter for him. The true intentions of the characters begin to unravel as the story’s plot begins to tangle. Mr. Shiflet, in sharp contrast to his lofty philosophies of moral actions, begins to reveal his desire to leave the house by stealing Lucynell’s car. Lucynell, seeing the benefits of a second pair of hands, attempts to land-lock Mr. Shiflet to her home by

Shiflet teach her a nickname commonly used between spouses. She does not want her daughter to learn how to speak; she wants Mr. Shiflet to marry her. On a more intuitive level, beyond the actions of these grotesque characters, O’Conner plants hints about what connotations to connect with Lucynell and Mr. Shiflet. The moon that hangs in the sky during the first converse between Lucynell and Mr. Shiflet is described as “a fat yellow moon.” The moon is hiding its true form by pretending to be something radiant and bright like the sun. The moon is a fake, much like the characters in the story, much like the people in society. Lucynell also names her daughter after herself. As a result, the name Lucynell Crater, appearing twice, foreshadows the duplicity of the woman. Ultimately, the three protagonists in the story, Mr. Shiflet, Lucynell Crater, and Lucynell Crater junior, sample populate the world. O’Conner, through Mr. Shiflet and Lucynell, illustrates how duplicity and hypocrisy manifest in today’s society. Taking it a step further, with understanding that the characters in the story are a sample of the greater society, O’Conner delivers the somber message that just as Mr. Shiflet and Lucynell hold the majority within the story, the majority of humans within society are corrupt and false

As Mr. Shiflet drives away from the town in a stolen car, he believed he “had a responsibility to others, and kept a look out for a hitchhiker.” This detail reaffirms the man’s inconsistent beliefs and behaviors. Eventually he finds a boy in need of a lift. Mr. Shiflet begins to preach about how his mother was “an angel of gawd” and the religious benefit he got when she “taught him his first preys. Instead of lapping up Mr. Shiflet’s words, “the boy gave him a quick dark glance and then turned his face back out the window. Eventually the boy cannot bare the lies and yells to Mr. Shiflet “go to the devil” and “My old woman is a flea bag and yours is a stinking pole cat,” and with that “he flung the door open and jumped out with his suitcase into a ditch.” This boy was attentive and skeptical, quickly debunking the falseness of his driver, Mr. Shiflet. The unnamed child was not naïve nor innocent, he had run away from home and called his mother a “flea bag” showing his rough edged and rather cynical personality; however, it is this exact trait that kept him alive. With just one “dark” or skeptical glance, he understood that Mr. Shiflet, was devious and immoral. When Mr. Shiflet began to speak of “prayers” and “gawd” the boy knew that the man he was not who he sounded like, and that he was in danger. Should the boy have been innocent and naïve, like Lucynell, he would never