The Life You Save May Be Your Own: Main Ideas

Desperate people make questionable decisions.

One of the hallmarks of O’Connor’s work is the portrayal of disadvantaged people, usually poor and Southern, making morally ambiguous decisions. In this story, both Shiftlet and the old woman are people in bad situations who try to manipulate each other into getting what they want. Shiftlet is obviously intelligent and quick-witted, moving from place to place in an attempt to find a situation that will ultimately be advantageous. The old woman is reliant only on herself to make sure her house and land remain viable, while taking care of an adult daughter who cannot care for herself.

Even before he introduces himself to the Crater women, Shiftlet keenly surveys their property and spies the back of the rusty old car. His inquiry as to whether or not the Crater women drive appears to be a casual conversation opener, though as the small talk continues, Shiftlet’s continued mental assessment of the vehicle reveals that his true interest is not in the Craters. The time he then spends with the women becomes a necessary evil he must endure in order to build enough trust to gain what he truly seeks.

In the same vein, even as the old woman talks about how much she loves her daughter and how much she is capable of doing, “she was ravenous for a son-in-law.” In her desire for someone else to talk to and help her care for her daughter, she allows herself to believe that Shiftlet, who she doesn’t seem to fully trust, will use her money, treat her daughter to a honeymoon weekend, and then come back to live with them. She looks down on Shiftlet, with his missing arm and homelessness, and believes that she has the power in the relationship. In her understandable desire for someone to alleviate her loneliness, she has ultimately only increased it.

Overconfidence can lead to great loss.

The elder Lucynell Crater is in a tough situation even before Shiftlet arrives in her yard. She is an aging woman with a grown daughter who will never leave home because she is incapable of taking care of herself. Though the Craters have gotten by under trying circumstances up to this point, Shiftlet’s arrival and subsequent framing as a kind of savior figure awaken the old woman to a reality that has seemed out of reach for a long time. Shiftlet’s presence in the Crater women’s lives presents the potential for less work and worry. The rapidity with which the old woman accepts Shiftlet into her home reveals her desire to have him stay and help take care of her daughter, and in tandem, of herself and her property. In her hunger for progress, she fails to see the trap that Shiftlet has set. She further victimizes herself as she takes on the role of the cunning huntress; in her enthusiasm for manipulating Shiftlet into believing he needs to stay with them, she ignores the warning signs of danger and fails to recognize herself as prey. Her overconfidence in her assessment of the situation and her ability to win a prize through trickery causes her to lose both people she gambled to keep.

Innocents who can’t advocate for themselves are often taken advantage of.

The younger Lucynell is the only character in the story who does not speak. When Shiftlet first enters the yard, she “jumped up and began to stamp and point and make excited speechless sounds.” She is incapable of articulating what she wants, so she is thrust into a position as a bargaining chip between Shiftlet and her mother. Her mother wants Shiftlet to stay so that there can be another caretaker for an intellectually disabled adult, as well as, it seems, to have someone to talk to, even as she regularly seems unimpressed by his philosophizing. Therefore, her mother is angling toward convincing or manipulating Shiftlet into feeling beholden to her for pitying a man like him in his condition.

Shiftlet, on the other hand, understands what the old woman wants. From the first moment he sets foot on the plantation, he only has eyes for the car in the garage. He also understands that to get what he wants, he will have to play along with and into the old woman’s desires and hopes for him as a son-in-law. Since he has nowhere in particular to be, he is in a position to play a long game, to slowly build enough trust to gain access to the car. It seems an unlikely coincidence that his last name is very close to the word “shiftless.” It is, then, not particularly surprising when he abandons the younger Lucynell at the diner. He has gotten what he wants, and is thus satisfied. The woman who has been at the center of the machinations of the two main characters is left, quietly sleeping, on a diner counter with her future uncertain.

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