Theme Of The Life You Save May Be Your Own By Flannery O Connor

Short Story Essay
Flannery O'connor was the only child of Catholic parents and grew up around the same time of the great depression. Flannery lost her father to Lupus at the age of 16. A quote from the biography of the author states, “her father developed lupus, at a time when it was untreatable and her father died in 1941”(Flannery O’Connor). She was left to be at home alone along with her controlling mother. That is a very tragic and hard thing to deal with. There was a lot of stress put on her, especially at her young age. But it only motivated her to keep pushing and to write more and this was around the time of World War II. Going through grief was a rollercoaster of emotions for her. She had to live the rest of her life without her father.

The story starts with a one armed man by the name of Mr. Shiftlet arrives at the farm belonging to Lucynell Crater and her deaf daughter, also named Lucynell. Mrs. Crater offers food and shelter in exchange for him to work around the farm. When Mrs. Crater sees how helpful he is, especially with Lucynell. Mrs. Crater begins to scheme for him to marry her daughter. The literary criticism states, “In the short story, The Life You Save May Be Your Own, the book illustrates the spiritual struggles between good and evil that we as humans face”(Kibin, 2023). It involves how life can be hard sometimes and how you deal with certain situations. In the short story The LIfe You Save May Be Your Own, by Flannery O’Connor, utilizes symbolism in the forms of Mr. Shiftlet's one arm, the broken down car, and the rain to convey the hardships and spiritual meaning of

A choice Mr. Shiftlet must make between redemption or sin. Mr Shiftlet had caught the attention of the broken down car right away. He thought this could give him salvation by stealing it. The car gave him an opportunity to betray the craters farm and Lucynell. At the end of the night, Mr. Shiftlet chooses sin and drives away from the diner. Mr. Shiftlet decided to help the Craters but only for himself to benefit from it. He fixed the broken down car, stole it, then abandoned Lucynell. In the story it states, “He had always wanted an automobile but he never was able to afford one before” (O’Connor). The car shows how selfish Mr. Shiftlet was because he only fixed it and helped the family for himself. Instead of Mr. Shiftlet abandoning Lucynell he could have fixed the car and helped the family without stealing and sining. He could have chosen to turn the car around and rescue Lucynell from being alone at the diner but he chose sin. He wouldn't have had to cost anyone pain if he chose to be redmenned, in the text it explains, “he was more depressed than ever as he drove on by himself”(O’Connor). Him being depressed shows how his poor actions caused him pain and not just Lucynell. His choosing to sin caused hardships in both Lucynell and Mr. Shiftlet's life. In the analysis of the short story it explains, “He claims to be disheartened with the current state of society, yet while talking to the women, he is assessing the