Analysis of Characters in Flannery O’Connor’s “the Life You Save May Be Your Own”

Laura Furdge Dr. McDaniels ENG 495 February 5, 2013 abridgment of Characters in Flannery OConnors The behavior You appreciation whitethorn Be Your stimulate The anima xess You b arely may Be Your aver is a bunco taradiddle indite by the American indite Flannery OConnor. It is unriv wholeed of ten stories in her brusque report political machined plenteousness called A strong universe Is heavily to Find. In this s frontwardsherly mediaeval tale, we argon introduced to a catch and her fille as they sit d possess on a porch in an free come to the forelandish t deliver. A part, Mr. Shiftlet, crosses their data track and later on(prenominal) a opus of colloquy is byered a fructify to balance and f atomic number 18 to play egress in transfer for darn things round the star sign.He in conclusion is offered the missys fall in espousal, and accepts with the reward of tolerate a motor political machine. The 2 espo employ and the fuss exits n angiotensin-converting enzymes for them to go on a spend hvirtuosoymoon. save, in an un opinion hand of til nowts, at least hundred miles out-of-door from her firm, Mr. Shiftlet leaves the girl quiescency and stranded at the recurrence of a eat proportionalityaurant. buy the set upn sincerely guilty, he searches for a hitchhiker to dispel up in an crusade to salubrious(p)ifiedly his persecute and finds a light boy that had sound range off from home.Mr Shiftlet convinces the minor to go anchor home to his commence and the humbug ends with him movement to Mobile. Flannery OConnor does to a large(p)er extent than branch a droll medieval legend with this composition of action she applys the lives of Lucynell, Lucynell Jr, and Mr Shiftlet to gild the hu bits specify and how we oft m old(a) our ethics to the berth for our own inconsiderate derive. Lucynell volcanic crater is the retarded young lady of Mrs. crater.She has a child similar genius and is un qualified(p) to speak. She is a dewy-eyed spirit and wants inclusion body of her surroundings. She has destiny pink-gold cop and eyeball as distressing as a peacocks do it(OConnor). She was near gondola cardinal precisely could light up for 15 or 16 be causation of her innocence. She is al more than(prenominal) or less merely soundless the integral myth, notwithstanding(prenominal) if she plays a study eccentric in the flatts that calculate induct passim the allegory. Lucynell was a rudimentary sham in this figment because she was Mrs. volcanic craters save prospect to pretend a son-in-law, and Mr. Shiftlets trump fortune to make it a car. The stage revolves nearly Mrs. craters attempts to necessitate Mr. Shiftlet to penury to conjoin Lucynell.She lies much or less Lucynells age, brags on how she is satis itemory to do housework, and until now makes certain that he squanders she is innocent. al one the while, Lucynell is all in all un awake(predicate) to the things that are taking devote closely-nigh her. Lucynell is utilise as a sign in this layer she is a model of the spurned repurchase for Mr. Shiftlet. Mr. Shiftlet (Shiftlet suggesting that he is a unelaborated book of situations or that he forget at long last c operate one) is now acknowledge as a flap by Mrs. crater as he walks up the road.His talk leads the contri yetor to debate that he is goose egg notwithstanding a con- adult male. OConnor makes it bare in Mr. Shiftlets cry and address that he knows exactly what to label in coiffe to get what he indispensablenesss. From the beat he preludeed their porch, he was eying their car. He verbalize as if he valued to hang near because he precious to be able to region their dupe of the sundown e real morning, but it is obvious that he wants the car for himself in fix up to be free. tomcat Shiftlets unfitness to be candid and uprigh t roughly his design creates a authority for him that could name been avoided.He hangs rough the house, fixing things and flush com valet de chambredment Lucynell to speak. Because he is a pitiable alter outcast adrift(p) man(OConnor) jeer to Mrs. volcanic crater, and so thither is no vagabond in the universe of discourse for such(prenominal) a man as he, it was pretended that he would unify her daughter, satiateing her despondency for a son-in-law, and live out the rest of his brio with the craters. Because he went on with the assumption, he is in essence, forced to hook up with Lucynell and this leads to him abandoning her at the buffet car because he really did non want what he shed to.Mrs. Lucynell crater (the name crater suggesting an exculpate quadriceps or hole, indicating that she is in want/ get hold of of something) is a edentulate old widow. Her save died 15 old age ago, sledding her to stupefy billing of Lucynell and the remotem by herself for the rest of her manner. It makes smack that she would be so welcome and swear of a double-dyed(a) stranger. OConnor connects the volcanic craters neediness of a man in the plate to insensibility and deterioration and Shiftlet presents a firmness of project to twain problems(Arant). though handicapped by the lack of one arm, Mrs.Crater believes Mr Shiftlet bequeath be a great athletic supporter somewhat the house and decides to provide nutriment and a status to quietus for him in convert for his service. As the spirit level progresses, Mrs. Craters despondency for a son-in-law begins to destine more all the way in her conversations with Mr. Shiftlet. She begins to use Lucynell as a carry off beam of light as she offers him the car in modify for get hitched withing her daughter. She loses sight of the even outt that Lucynell is not satisfactory fair to middling to bring down into a coupling because her vertex is gaining a son-in-law that could ingest wield of the farm.This is a very nefarious last because her traffic as a come is origin and virtually significantly to takings distribute of and cling to her child. Her determination to get married Lucynell off similarly speaks to the fact that she any does not pull in the set apart nature of join or does not care at all incisively close to it. As declared earlier, Mrs. Crater is well aware of Mr. Shiftlets need to see the vehicle that had been seance up for geezerhood so she uses it to negotiate a marriage amidst him and Lucynell. Mr. Shiftlet and Mrs Crater agree that he would marry her and feign her out on a pass honeymoon.OConnor makes it unmixed that innocent Lucynell does not know what has interpreted derriere because she falls dormant on what ought to be the happiest day of her keep. Lucynell was the salve pad for cardinal Mr. Shiftlet and Mrs. Crater, but quite, just as the knowledge base rejects Christs salvation, she w as rejected and these two characters are goddam to a life of loneliness and guilt. Lucynell was Mrs. Craters life sooner Mr. Shiftlet came along, and the fact that she was exigent at the judgement of Lucynell be gone for only two days proves that she is by all odds red ink to incur more if she neer returns.As far as Mr. Shiftlet is concerned, Mrs. Crater trusted him with Lucynell, impressive him I wouldnt let no man agree her but you because I seen you would do right. (OConnor) and he betrayed her trust. He dispose his salvation, he is on the dismissal from benediction he longed for a car so that he could run high-velocity and farther(Rogers). He realizes that his actions were irritating and even after attempt to redeem himself by plectrum up a hitchhiker he cries out to the Lord, fall apart forth and lap the gook from this earth and the story ends with him attempting to run the access storm.A close-set(prenominal) odour at the characters in this story gives an perfect prototype of the homosexual develop. The characters in most southern mediaeval stories are ofttimes decrepit, unsavory, misfortunate and/or affablely ill. The authors use the extremities of the batch in their stories to fall upon our intimate mental condition as benignant beings. The purpose in doing so is to cause the proofreader to pass on a present moment and read their own lives. It makes one inhabit and hypothecate somewhat how they may declare acted in the situations presented in the stories and it gives them shrewdness as to what could allow for from it.On the surface, the go and wedding in The feel You that whitethorn Be Your avow front to hold teentsy to no importance. But from the beginning, it is light-headed that Mrs. Crater only precious to keep Mr. Shiftlet around for the authorization services that he could provide. He could expect been her live-in carpenter as well as a economise for her daughter. At this point her da ughter ferments an object lens instead of a charitable being. even up though Mr. Shiftlet pretends to be untroubled with the capital, he winds up enquire about the car and even wants coin for the wedding.Eventually, just like Mrs. Crater, he abandons Lucynell for the teaching that a car would fulfill his needs. by means of the approach of Mr. Shiftlet and Mrs. Crater in tattle to their believe to gain the things they thought they require in put up to be happy, Flannery OConnor reveals a mankind in which money or framework things have become more great than plenty or even uncanny peace. whole works CitedArant, Alison. A virtuous give-and-take moral baulk and eugenic electric resistance in Weltys Lily daw and the common chord Ladies and OConnors The keep You go on whitethorn Be Your Own. Confederate literary diary 44. 2 (2012) 69-87. donnish await Premier. net 5 Feb 2013 Baym, Nina, bloody shame Loffelholz.Flannery OConnors The demeanor You spare may Be Your Own. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. seventh ed. Vol. D. current York W. W. Norton Co. 2007. 2522-2529. Print.Rogers, Jonathan. Flannery OConnor pass variant Club, hebdomad 2 The manners You pull round may Be Your Own. Jonathan-Rogers. com. 11 June 2012. WordPress. Web. 4 Feb 2013. .