The Life You Save May Be Your Own Symbolism
Do any selfless people exist? Flannery O’Connor opposes this notion through the utilization of the short-story The Life You Save May Be Your Own. Throughout the plot of O’Connor’s story, many instances illustrate the notion that people appear more kind and selfless than they actually are. Author O’Connor utilizes details, symbolism, and allusion to convince readers that although people may appear kind and selfless; people live extremely selfish lives. To commence, writer Flannery O’Connor provides details occurring throughout the text to reveal the true selfish nature of mankind. One of the situations throughout the text that reveals this notion occurs when Shifflett marries young Lucynell Crater. Tom Shiftlet agrees to marry young Lucynell
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Several names hold symbolic meaning. Shiftlet sounds like “shifty”. And, Tom Shiflet’s actions throughout the short story connote his name with “shiftiness” and quackery. In other words, his name symbolizes all of the fraudulence he commits throughout the text. At first, Shiftlet had the characterization of a harmless man. “Although the old woman lived in the desolate spot with only her daughter and she had never seen Mr. Shiftlet before, she could tell, even from a distance he was at lamp and no one to be afraid of”(O’Connor 1). Author O’Connor even characterizes Shiftlet with a broken arm. However, in reality his actions cause him to defy his harmless and kind persona and cause a shift to selfishness. His character shift occurs when he selfishly marries Lucynell to gain ownership of Mrs. Crater’s car (O’Connor 6). Likewise, Lucynell Crater’s name has symbolism. Crater means a vacuole or empty space. Mrs. Crater begs Mr. Shiftlet to marry young Lucynell. She even lies about young Lucynell’s age to convince him to marry her. “Fifteen, sixteen, the old woman said. The girl was nearly thirty but because of her innocence it was impossible to guess”. (O’Connor 5) As a result of selfishly tricking Shiftlet into marrying her daughter, Mrs. Crater no longer possesses ownership over young Lucynell. Thus, creating a void (crater) in her life.( The burden of childcare now becomes the husbands because marriage has the husband taking ownership of the wife from the wife's
Several names hold symbolic meaning. Shiftlet sounds like “shifty”. And, Tom Shiflet’s actions throughout the short story connote his name with “shiftiness” and quackery. In other words, his name symbolizes all of the fraudulence he commits throughout the text. At first, Shiftlet had the characterization of a harmless man. “Although the old woman lived in the desolate spot with only her daughter and she had never seen Mr. Shiftlet before, she could tell, even from a distance he was at lamp and no one to be afraid of”(O’Connor 1). Author O’Connor even characterizes Shiftlet with a broken arm. However, in reality his actions cause him to defy his harmless and kind persona and cause a shift to selfishness. His character shift occurs when he selfishly marries Lucynell to gain ownership of Mrs. Crater’s car (O’Connor 6). Likewise, Lucynell Crater’s name has symbolism. Crater means a vacuole or empty space. Mrs. Crater begs Mr. Shiftlet to marry young Lucynell. She even lies about young Lucynell’s age to convince him to marry her. “Fifteen, sixteen, the old woman said. The girl was nearly thirty but because of her innocence it was impossible to guess”. (O’Connor 5) As a result of selfishly tricking Shiftlet into marrying her daughter, Mrs. Crater no longer possesses ownership over young Lucynell. Thus, creating a void (crater) in her life.( The burden of childcare now becomes the husbands because marriage has the husband taking ownership of the wife from the wife's