Skip to main content

In "The Life You Save May Be Your Own," what does Mr. Shiftlet discover in the shed?

Mr. Shiftlet discovers "a 1928 or '29" Ford automobile in the shed of Mrs. Crater's property. Mrs. Crater claims the car hasn't run in fifteen years but Mr. Shiftlet says he can get it running. He sleeps in the car while he is fixing things around the place. When he raises the hood of the car he brags about how the car was "built in the days when cars were really built." He tells Mrs. Crater that he just needs some money for a fan belt and the car would run. Sure enough, after walking into town and purchasing a fan belt and some gasoline he is soon seen driving the car out of the shed. All the while, Mrs. Crater is eager for Mr. Shiftlet to marry her deaf daughter Lucynell. She promises Mr. Shiftlet that she will give him the money to paint the car and to take Lucynell to a hotel and buy her a meal if he will marry the girl. They settle on seventeen dollars and fifty cents. Mr. Shiftlet takes the money and the girl in the new car but dumps her at a roadside cafe and takes off in the car to Mobile.

O'Conner suggests throughout the story that Mr. Shiftlet is very much interested in the car. It is one of the things he notices on the property when he first arrives:



Mr. Shiftlet's pale sharp glance had already passed over everything in the yard—the pump near the corner of the house and the big tree that three or four chickens were preparing to roost in—and had moved to a shed where he saw the square rusted back of an automobile.



And again, a little later in the story, he notices the car as Mrs. Crater talks about how she wants Lucynell to be married, but that the man who married her would have to stay on the property:



Mr. Shiftlet's eye in the darkness was focused on a part of the automobile bumper that glittered in the distance.



Even as he claims money is not important and that spiritual matters are what he cares about most, Mr. Shiftlet ends up stealing Mrs. Crater's money and the automobile.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is the meaning of "juggling fiends" in Macbeth?

Macbeth is beginning to realize that the three witches have been deceiving him since he first encountered them. Like jugglers, they have kept changing their forecasts in order create confusion. This is particularly apparent when the Second Apparition they raise in Act IV,   Scene 1 tells him that no man of woman born can overcome him in hand-to-hand battle--and then Macbeth finds himself confronted by the one man he has been avoiding out of a... Macbeth is beginning to realize that the three witches have been deceiving him since he first encountered them. Like jugglers, they have kept changing their forecasts in order create confusion. This is particularly apparent when the Second Apparition they raise in Act IV,   Scene 1 tells him that no man of woman born can overcome him in hand-to-hand battle--and then Macbeth finds himself confronted by the one man he has been avoiding out of a sense of guilt, and that man tells him: Despair thy charm. And let the angel whom thou still hast serve...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why did Tybalt attack and kill Mercutio instead of Romeo, who he had originally been targeting?

Though Tybalt's quarrel is with Romeo, he begins the momentous duel in Act 3 by fighting with and killing Mercutio instead. Tybalt ultimately attacks Mercutio because the garrulous and hot-headed character insults Tybalt and goads him into a duel to protect Romeo's honor. From the beginning of the encounter in Act 3, Scene 1, it's clear that Mercutio is itching for a fight. For instance, when Tybalt signals that he wants to talk to Mercutio... Though Tybalt's quarrel is with Romeo, he begins the momentous duel in Act 3 by fighting with and killing Mercutio instead. Tybalt ultimately attacks Mercutio because the garrulous and hot-headed character insults Tybalt and goads him into a duel to protect Romeo's honor. From the beginning of the encounter in Act 3, Scene 1, it's clear that Mercutio is itching for a fight. For instance, when Tybalt signals that he wants to talk to Mercutio and Benvolio, Mercutio responds "And but one word with one of us?/ Couple it w...
Post a Comment
Read more

Follow the relationship between Pi and Richard Parker. They endure over two hundred days of hardship together, but in the end Richard Parker leaves...

When Pi and Richard Parker are at the beginning of their journey, after Pi's family is killed in the shipwreck, Pi fears Richard Parker, but he is forced to find a way to co-exist with him in order to survive.  Over time the two develop a somewhat co-dependent relationship.  Richard Parker depends on Pi to feed him by catching fish, while Pi's will to live is bolstered by Richard Parker's presence.  Richard Parker recognizes that... When Pi and Richard Parker are at the beginning of their journey, after Pi's family is killed in the shipwreck, Pi fears Richard Parker, but he is forced to find a way to co-exist with him in order to survive.  Over time the two develop a somewhat co-dependent relationship.  Richard Parker depends on Pi to feed him by catching fish, while Pi's will to live is bolstered by Richard Parker's presence.  Richard Parker recognizes that he also needs Pi to survive.  At one point in the book, Pi's starvation and thirst reduce him to a st...
Post a Comment
Read more