Essay #2
The life you save may be your own The story “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” is written by an American writer and essayist called Flannery O’Connor, who is an important figure for the American literature. The origin of the author is from the southern part of America and largest part of the time she uses the Southern Gothic style. Very often she relies on the grotesque characters, just like Mr. Shiftlet in this story, which originate from the Southern Gothic style. The author describes the protagonist as a humorous character, despite his tries to look as a smart guy and expression of his charisma, his southern accent and the words he says make no sense; qualities that turn him into the humorous character he is.
Author’s humor is
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Moreover, this is a symbol of evil, but then he comments about the beautiful sunset and how he would do anything just to watch it every day. The senior lady, Lucynell with her deaf-mute daughter around thirty years, judging by the looks of this unknown man, accordingly they recognize that Tom Shiftlet, the one-armed man is a tramp and can’t bring any harm. When the old Lady asks Mr. Shiftlet why he carried a toolbox he introduces himself as a carpenter. The young Lucynell, a beautiful pure innocent girl with long pink-gold hair and blue eyes, keeps looking at him like he is a bird that a approached close. Meanwhile the senior lady, Lucynell being in a need for a man to take care of the house offers Mr. Shiftlet to become a hireling housekeeper, in compensation for a shelter to cover his head and meals, which offer he accepts, since he had nowhere to stay or didn’t have any money with him. He, as a tramp or better said as a hobo, investigates the whole yard and his eye catches a fancy aged car of type Ford. Since has never had one in his life, he is astonished and asks if the ladies could drive. The old lady replies: “That car ain’t run in fifteen year” “the day my husband died, it quit
In her short story “The Life You Save May be Your Own,” Flannery O’Connor uses characterization and symbolism to develop the theme that selfish actions lead to self destruction. While Mr. Shiftlet obtains the Crater’s car, doing so leaves him less happy than before. “In spite of the car,” Mr. Shiftlet becomes “more depressed than ever” after abandoning Lucynell. By acting on his selfish desires, Mr. Shiftlet rejects the opportunity to form a connection with Lucynell, leaving him feeling alone in a desolate world. Thus, Mr. Shiftlet’s pursuit of the Crater’s car brings him misery rather than happiness.
A Comedic Hero’s Journey is a story that involves a sympathetic character(s) on a quest because they are motivated, a setting that is either closely resembles real world or is the total opposite, and each main character going through a change. The book has a main character that is “motivated only by loyalty and love of friends.” (Purtill), a setting where life is “‘exemplary actions are presented as historically true. The imitations of life it presents are "rare," "most perfect," and "wonderful"” (Peterson) and each main protagonist “undergo a radical transformation….” (Eliot).
In the short stories “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” and “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor, the author uses physiognomy to advance the theme of each work. In “The Life You Save May Be Your Own,” the theme of people are who they appear to be is present, particularly in the characters of Mr. Shiftlet and the older Lucynell. In “Good Country People,” the theme of intellectual superiority is driven by the character Joy believing she is better than the people around her, due to her education. Flannery O’Connor’s use of physiognomy in “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” better advances the overall theme than in “Good Country People.”
In order to survive this world, people sometimes take risks to aid other people in a chaotic event. Sometimes, it won’t work out the way it did. People don’t really save everyone’s lives all the time, but that’s okay. In addition, people have to face horrible and painful events in their life that might be an effect on them forever. In the memoir “Night”, by Elie Wiesel, many Jews struggle to survive in Auschwitz during the holocaust, careless to save others.
Flannery O’Connor expresses the theme of pride in her short stories, “Good Country People”, “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”, and “The Displaced Person”. Hulga Hopewell thinks she is above Manley Pointer and can out smart him. Mr. Shiftlet claims everyone else is slime and should b washed away when in reality it is him who is slime. Mrs. McIntyre watches a worker get killed to save herself the trouble of firing him.
Our trip was coming to an end in the city, and Daisy was getting aggravated. She was frustrated because her love triangle was becoming more noticeable to everyone around. Once she had enough of being with everyone her and Jay Gatsby left, taking Tom Buchanan’s car instead of Gatsby’s. Since Daisy was the one that wanted to leave, she took control by driving back to East Egg. On the way, she was ignoring all the speed limits and came upon a block with a man staring the vehicle down. When she was nearing him, he started to approach the street as if he was wanting to talk with the driver.
O’Connor’s physical descriptions of people and landscapes are often serious, dramatic and weighted with symbolism. (Garbett) She often used animals as well, like the pigs in “Revelation”. O’ Connors stories are stories within themselves, there are meanings behind meanings. In the works of Flannery O’ Connors short stories “A good man is hard to find”, “Good Country People” and “Revelation”; the author portrays to her readers that the Protagonist oncoming’s are the result of fate due to their own selfish ways.
"The Girl Who Survived" by Carol Bierman and Bronia Brandman. This book is about a family who went into hiding during the holocaust. Bronia starts of at the age of nine years old and ends up being the only one out of her family to survive. Bronia along with Mila, Mendek, and Bonzeka are the main characters in this book. The story was about the family and unsuspected new friends and what they experienced long the way.
The price to pay for assisted suicide costs a lot more than just money. Some of the elderly or sick people believe that they would become a financial burden to their friends and loved ones. In fact, in one of the states where assisted suicide is allowed, a poll was taken. The poll revealed that 66% of citizens would only consider assisted suicide because of being a financial burden on their loved ones. One person even says “If I had terminal cancer, I had a few weeks to live, I was in tremendous amount of pain - if they just effectively wanted to turn off the switch and legalize that by legalizing euthanasia, I'd want that” (Key).
In Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy, he writes to illustrate the injustices of the judicial system to its readers. To do so, Stevenson utilizes multiple writing styles that provide variety and helps keep the reader engaged in the topic. Such methods of his include the use of anecdotes from his personal experiences, statistics, and specific facts that apply to cases Stevenson had worked on as well as specific facts that pertain to particular states. The most prominent writing tool that Stevenson included in Just Mercy is the incorporation of anecdotes from cases that he himself had worked on as a nonprofit lawyer defending those who were unrightfully sentenced to die in prison.
The narrator is leaving work at around midnight because he had to work late, when he is on the bus he sees a lady struggling to get off the bus. He is then faced with the decision as whether to assist her or not. The lady who is struggling to get off the bus has two small children and one large suitcase. His first instinct was to help her, but after much thought he decided against it. He feels as though the woman will perceive him as trying to get too familiar or threatening.
The author describes the protagonist as a humorous character, although he tries to look as a grandiloquent, smart guy with his southern accent but the words he says make no sense those qualities turn him into the humorous character he is. The author’s humor is the eye-catching point of the story which allures the readers. The title alone, “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”, indicates the author’s using symbolism and her southern jocularity. There is a sign in the story with the exact same phrase as the title, which shows us that the protagonist could save his own life by saving the life of his just married wife.
The child can see right through Mr. Shiftlet’s act. He says that their mothers are flea bags and pole cats, and jumps right out of the passenger side door. To conclude the story, Mr. Shiftlet’s last attempt at redeeming his bad habits and evil ways, failed to a young boy who was not fooled by his deceiving actions and
This paper describes and analyzes a life review interview with an older adult. The purpose of this paper is to discuss, record and reflect on an older adult’s life in order to evaluate them on the last stage of Erik Erickson’s theory of psychosocial development; integrity versus despair. This paper will also focus on the elements of a life review as well as the reflections of the interview on the part of the author. JC is a seventy-seven year old white male who lives by himself in New York City. He was born in London, England, and was an only child.
"The Life You Save May Be Your Own" is a short story written by the author Flannery O'Connor. It is also one of the ten stories in her short story collection which was published in 1955. O’Connor uses humor in this story just as she does in her other stories to tell the tale of Mr. Shiftlet’s journey through life and to explain the changes in his character while living with a major disadvantage. One evening Mr. Shiftlet arrives at the desolate Crater farm in hopes to find a place to work. While doing so he ends up striking a deal that allows him to live on the farm in exchange for fixing up the Crater’s place.