Adéla Koutná
Professor Joel C. Head
KAJ/4123 Composition
23 March 2016
How I understand to characters of story The Life You Save May Be Your Own by Flannery O´Connor
I have read story by American writer and essayist Flannery O´Connor. Name of the story is The life you save may be your own and it is short story from her story collection A Good Man Is Hard To Find. Flannery O´Connor was Southern writer and wrote in Southern Gothic which appears in almost every story she wrote. Her favorite themes to write were morality, grace, catholiscism and transcendence. In this story we can mainly see issues with morality.
In the beginning of the story we get to know two women. First is an old woman named Mrs. Crater and second is her daughter Lucynell Crater. At first it seems that Lucynell is little girl who can not speak yet. This impression we have probably because Lucynell does not lead any conversation with her mother and also because she does not make any decision with a men who appears also in the beginning of this story. She is just sitting in the porch and looking around. But during the story Mrs. Crater mentions about daughter´s deafness. The third character is men who looks like a tramp because of his clothes, hair and because the woman and her daughter have never seen him before in their small farm. He is very mysterious from beginnig of the story to the end. When woman starts conversation with him the big mystery begins. She tries to get to know him but it is little bit complicated. He tells her that his name is Mr. Shiftlet but he also tells her that the name may be lie.
I have to agree with this moral theme. When we first meet someone there is always possibility that everything that the person tells about him may not be true. So why do we want to ask the new person questions about his name, birth place and many other question we normaly ask. We do not have quarantee that it is true. It always takes lot of time to get know someone better. Because of his words he seems to be wise man with many experiences. However there is also chance that he simply person with mad mind and shifted personality and like to play with others mind. During conversation between Mrs. Crater and Mr. Shiftlet we can see that she presents herself as loving mother who would never give up on her daughter, that she does not have money but she has her child and that is all she needs. The proof is in this conversation
"Is she your baby girl?" he asked.
"My only," the old woman said, "and she's the sweetest girl in the world. I wouldn't give her up for nothing on earth. She's smart too. She can sweep the floor, cook, wash, feed the chickens, and hoe. I wouldn't give her up for a casket of jewels."
"No," he said kindly, "don't ever let any man take her away from you."
"Any man come after her," the old woman said, " 'll have to stay around the place." ( Flannery O´Connor)
He offers her help with household, old broken car and with her daughter but only she can give him back is warm meal and palce to sleep because she does not have enough money to pay him for his work. And as he said in the begging he does not look for money and is happy with all that Mrs. Crater can give him. Because of this act he looks like humble man that does not need much but only someones happiness. The main impression of the beginning of the story is that the woman is mother with strong motherly love who would never give her daughter to any man. And the man is frugal traveler who likes to help other people without expectation of getting something in return.
As the story continue we can observe some changes of characters. Mr. Shifter emphazises the countryside, sun, her farms and says that man as him only needs beautifull view like from her farm. This is character of Southern writers, they loves farms, sun and they are very humble with their life. People from south are also friendly and social. Mr. Crater shows this characteristic of southern life in her behavior because even that she sees him for the first time she ofers place to sleep. She obviously isn´t afraid of him and is extremly trustworthy.
Mr. Shitler´s main focus is the old unroadworthy car. He continuously repairs Mrs. Crater´s farm, teaches daughter Lucynell her first world ´´BIRD´´ than second word ´´SUGARPIE as Mrs. Carter wanted her to learn. He did this all for her just because he was intersted in it and because he says that people nowadays do not care about anything, do service for others and expect money for it. The old car does not give him a sleep and he constantly speculates about the repair but he does not have money for missing materials. He tries to offer Mrs. Crater help and asks for cash support. She was possibly fascinated how skilled and handy man he is or happy how good he is to her daughter that she offers him to pay for those materials but under one important condition and that is he has to marry Lucynell. He does not answer at first and continues with his speech about the vehicle and says that the car not only needs new parts it as well needs new paint.