Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Life You Save May Be Your Own, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Free Will and Redemption
Brokenness and Repair
Gender and Disability
Deception and Unknowability
Summary
Analysis
An old woman and her daughter are sitting on their porch when a stranger, Mr. Shiftlet, approaches. Even from afar with the sunset blinding her, the old woman can tell that the man is only a “tramp” and she shouldn’t be afraid of him. The daughter, meanwhile, can’t see very well and keeps playing with her fingers. The stranger only has one arm, but in his good hand he’s carrying a toolbox. As Shiftlet gets closer to her yard, she stands up to greet him, and her daughter—noticing him for the first time—stomps her feet and makes “excited speechless sounds.”
The story opens at sunset, a period of transition from light to dark that foreshadows the significance of Shiftlet’s arrival. It’s clear the old woman and her daughter live a fairly isolated life from the interest they show the stranger. The fact that “tramps” are the most common kind of visitor suggest that this is not a prosperous area. Shiftlet’s missing arm makes him seem vulnerable and tragic, which contributes to the old woman’s sense of safety. Meanwhile, it’s not immediately clear whether the daughter is a child or a disabled adult.
Themes
As Shiftlet steps into the yard, he casually puts down his toolbox and tips his hat as though the daughter weren’t at all “afflicted.” They can see that he’s a fairly young man. The old woman greets him and he doesn’t answer, instead raising his arms—including his shorter one—towards the sunset, making the shape of a “crooked cross” and holding the pose for almost a minute. When he finally drops his arms, he says he’d “give a fortune” to see a sunset like this every night. The old woman affirms that the sunset is always like this here.
Shiftlet’s gentlemanly entrance and courtesy to the daughter create a positive first impression of his character. The world “afflicted” strongly suggests that the daughter is sick or disabled. Because Shiftlet seems to be polite, his behavior in response to the old woman’s greeting seems strange. Instead of responding, he salutes the sun, forming his arms into a “crooked cross.” This language suggests something divine is happening, as the cross is a symbol of Christianity. But it’s also possible that something darker is afoot, given that the cross is crooked. The old woman’s statement that the sun sets like that every night from her farm associates the setting with that same divinity.
Themes
The daughter watches Shiftlet carefully, so he offers her a piece of gum. She takes it, but when he offers the old woman one, she shows him that she doesn’t have any teeth. By this point, Shiftlet has already looked over everything in their yard, but his eyes settle on an old, rusted car. When he asks if they drive it, the old woman says that the car hasn’t run in 15 years, since the day her husband died. Shiftlet replies that nothing is as it once was, and the world is “almost rotten” now.
The daughter’s behavior towards Shiftlet makes it clear she finds him interesting. His kindness towards her continues to contribute to the reader’s positive assessment of his character. The old woman’s toothless mouth is a small moment that suggests decay is everywhere on this small farm; the broken car accomplishes the same thing. Shiftlet’s immediate interest in the car seems intense, but not yet devious. Importantly, the car is associated with Mrs. Crater’s deceased husband, linking it with a deep sense of loss. Shiftlet’s cynicism, introduced here for the first time, contributes to the tone of the story—the world has not been kind to any of these characters.
Themes
As the woman asks more about Shiftlet, his eyes remain fixed on the car. She introduces herself as Lucynell Crater, which is also her daughter’s name. When she asks why he’s here, he’s mentally estimating the car’s age, but he replies by saying that there’s a doctor in Atlanta who cut a man’s heart out of his chest and studied it. Even so, that doctor “don’t know no more about it than you or me.” Mrs. Crater agrees, and Shiftlet clarifies that the doctor still wouldn’t know anything about the heart if he cut every inch of it. When Mrs. Crater asks where Shiftlet is from, he doesn’t answer.
Shiftlet’s continued focus on the car hints that it will be increasingly significant as the story unfolds. The fact that the mother and the daughter are both named Lucynell Crater contributes to the sense that this farm is stuck in the past. Even worse, the younger Lucynell Crater doesn’t seem destined to progress past her mother—instead, she’s likely to always be dependent on her, which their twinned names also suggest. Shiftlet’s meditation on the nature of knowledge comes out of nowhere, another hint that he’s an unconventional person. The anecdote about the doctor in Atlanta has an anti-authority and anti-intellectual streak: Shiftlet doesn’t accept scientific discovery as worthwhile. Moreover, the physical heart in the story stands in for the metaphorical heart, exemplifying a core theme of the story: human nature is unknowable.
Themes
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Shiftlet rolls a cigarette, lights it, and stares for a while as the flame of his match descends towards his skin. Lucynell, the daughter, begins making worried noises, and he blows it out. Slyly, he tells Mrs. Crater that these days, people will say anything. He can tell her that his name is Tom Shiftlet and he’s from Tennessee, but she won’t know that he isn’t someone else from somewhere else. Irritated, Mrs. Crater acknowledges that she knows nothing about him, and he replies that while people lie all the time, he can at least say he’s a man. Then his tone grows darker and he asks, “what is a man?”
Shiftlet’s wry response to Mrs. Crater’s simple question again emphasizes the impossibility of truly knowing anything about another person. He tells her his name and where he’s from, but by pointing out how easily he could be lying he casts doubt on everything else he’s said so far. She’s frustrated by this, but strangely Shiftlet’s acknowledgment that he could be lying seems to make him more trustworthy. Shiftlet’s preoccupation with what defines a man, meanwhile, points to his own insecurities about his masculinity.
Themes
Mrs. Crater asks Shiftlet what he carries in his toolbox. He replies that he’s carrying tools because he’s a carpenter. Mrs. Crater tells him he can hang around and work for food, but she can’t pay him in money. Shiftlet leans back and says that there are some things that mean more to some men than money. He then starts asking a lot of questions about what a man is for while Mrs. Crater wonders whether a one-armed man can fix her roof. He also claims to have traveled far and wide, worked a number of jobs, and fought in a war. As the moon rises, he says he wishes he lived in a “desolate place” like this where you can see the sun go down “like God made it to do.”
Shiftlet seems affronted by Mrs. Crater’s question about what he carries in his toolbox, even though he’s just given her every reason to doubt external appearances. The conversation about money emphasizes the characters’ poverty, but Shiftlet seems offended by Mrs. Crater’s assumption that he’s after money. He again seems preoccupied with what defines a man, and Mrs. Crater’s private doubts about his missing arm suggest that he’s not wrong to feel some insecurity. Shiftlet’s sudden talkativeness about his background, so soon after he pointed out how easily he could lie about himself, is hard to take entirely seriously. His observation about the Crater’s farm being remote, desolate, and how “God made it” associate the farm with holiness, as if it’s a strange kind of Eden.
Themes
Mrs. Crater asks Shiftlet if he’s married. He says no, asking where a man could find an innocent woman rather than “trash.” Lucynell falls and begins to whimper. Shiftlet asks if she’s Mrs. Crater’s daughter, and Mrs. Crater says she is. She says Lucynell is “smart,” and can cook and wash, and that she wouldn’t let any man take her away for anything. Shiftlet agrees. Mrs. Crater insists that any man who came for Lucynell would have to stick around.
Mrs. Crater’s interest in whether or not Shiftlet is married is a clue to her desire for a son-in-law. Shiftlet’s response—that he wants an innocent woman rather than trash—introduces a dichotomy of female virtue that will become significant later on. Lucynell’s fall makes her seem vulnerable and helpless, and while her mother seems to love and value her, it’s significant that Mrs. Crater’s idea of value and what it means to be “smart” revolves around doing household chores. The idea that Lucynell should get married seems totally divorced from the reality of her character, but Mrs. Crater doesn’t notice or care.
Themes
Shiftlet’s eye catches the glittering automobile again. He says he can fix anything on the farm, even with one arm. He exclaims that he’s a man, if not a “whole one.” Mrs. Crater, unimpressed, says he can stay and work for food if he doesn’t mind sleeping in the car. Shiftlet, grinning, responds that the monks of old slept in their coffins. Mrs. Crater responds that they weren’t as advanced.
The automobile, described as glittering in the dark, appears increasingly seductive to Shiftlet. He proclaims his masculinity despite his disability, which seem linked together in his mind. Shiftlet’s excitement when Mrs. Crater says he can sleep in the car again points to how intensely focused on the car he is.
Themes
Shiftlet stays on the farm and begins to work, quickly making a difference. He patches up steps, fixes the fence, and even teaches Lucynell to say the word “bird,” the first word she’s ever spoken. Mrs. Crater watches him work with pleasure, “ravenous” for a son-in-law.
Shiftlet’s rapid progress around the farm frames him as a fixer, a teacher, and a potential man of the house. He’s doing good work, repairing broken things like Christ (a fellow carpenter) did, and his kindness to Lucynell suggests he cares about her. Mrs. Crater’s desire for a son-in-law seems desperate and almost greedy based on the description of her being ravenous.
Themes
Shiftlet sleeps in the car at night, where he’s made a neat little bedroom setup in the backseat. In the evening he sits on the porch and talks while Mrs. Crater listens and Lucynell rocks back and forth. He says he’s working to improve the farm because he’s taken a “personal interest” in it, and that he even plans to make the car run. He’s studied the broken car and says that it was built back when cars were “really built” by a single craftsman with a “personal interest.” He says that cars are worse and more expensive nowadays because you have to pay “all those men” in an assembly line rather than paying just one. Mrs. Crater agrees.
The description of Shiftlet’s meticulous bedroom setup in the car emphasizes the extent to which he’s settled in—both in the car and at the farm more broadly. Shiftlet’s comment about his personal interest in the farm also implies that he might consider staying there, and Mrs. Crater certainly would like for that to be the case. His anti-industrialist speech about the problem with modern cars reinforces the recurring idea of the world being rotten. However, he’s wrong: assembly line production drastically lowered the price of cars in the early 20th century. Mrs. Crater’s agreement emphasizes the naivete of both characters, and the extent of Mrs. Crater’s deference to Shiftlet.
Themes
Shiftlet says the trouble with the world is that nobody takes any trouble, pointing out how he was able to teach Lucynell a word just by taking the time. Mrs. Crater asks Shiftlet to teach Lucynell another word. He asks which word and Mrs. Crater, wearing a “suggestive” smile, chooses “sugarpie.” Shiftlet realizes she’s got something on her mind.
Shiftlet’s kindness towards Lucynell continues, and it still seems like he genuinely cares for her. However, his role as a teacher to her is more paternal and platonic than romantic—and so Mrs. Crater’s suggestion that Shiftlet teach Lucynell a term of endearment seems like a misread of the situation on her part. It communicates to Shiftlet that she’s plotting a marriage.
Themes
The next day Shiftlet tells Mrs. Crater that if she buys a fan belt he can make the car run. She agrees to give him the money. Then she points to Lucynell and tells him that if a man ever wanted to take Lucynell away she would say no, but if he wanted to marry her and stay on the farm she would agree, since Lucynell is “the sweetest girl in the world.” Shiftlet asks how old Lucynell is and Mrs. Crater says 15 or 16, even though she’s actually around 30, which seems believable because of Lucynell’s “innocence.”
This passage emphasizes that Shiftlet is primarily interested in the car, but Mrs. Crater is primarily interested in marrying off her daughter. In an attempt to make her daughter seem attractive, Mrs. Crater emphasizes Lucynell’s sweetness and innocence, qualities that are partially rooted in her disability. She also claims Lucynell is a teenager rather than an adult woman in a bid to make her seem more sexually attractive. Mrs. Crater’s lie emphasizes the absurdity of “innocence” as a desirable female trait: even Lucynell, whose disability renders her unable to communicate, is not sufficiently innocent as a 30-year-old to be enticing. Instead, she has to also be 15.
Themes
The next day Shiftlet goes into town and buys the missing part and some gasoline. Later, Mrs. Crater hears a strange noise and rushes into the shed, thinking Lucynell is having a fit. Instead, she finds Lucynell crying out “Burrddttt!” in excitement because Shiftlet has managed to make the car run. He has “an expression of serious modesty as if he had just raised the dead” as he sits in the driver’s seat.
This scene is the climax of Shiftlet’s series of good works around the Crater farm. His ability to resurrect the long-dead automobile parallels Christ’s miracle of raising the dead, and this comparison is one of the most explicit moments that casts Shiftlet as a Christlike figure. His expression of “serious modesty” while doing so is ironic, adding humor to the moment while also suggesting a degree of insincerity and performance to Shiftlet’s composure.
Themes
That night, Mrs. Crater asks Shiftlet sympathetically whether he wants an “innocent” woman, not “none of this trash.” Shiftlet agrees that he does. Mrs. Crater goes on, saying he should have a woman who can’t talk, “can’t sass you back or use foul language,” and points to Lucynell, who is sitting cross-legged with both feet in her hands. Shiftlet admits that she wouldn’t be “any trouble.”
By repeating his own words back to him, Mrs. Crater tries to trap Shiftlet into agreeing that Lucynell is the right woman for him. Her argument that Lucynell will make a good wife relies on Lucynell’s silence as a result of her disability: a woman who can’t talk can’t “sass” her husband, and this docility and lack of independence is seen as desirable under a patriarchal system, even to another woman. Shiftlet’s agreement that Lucynell wouldn’t give him “trouble” emphasizes the extent to which the ideal woman in the characters’ time and place is one who is easy to control.
Themes
Mrs. Crater tells him they can drive into town on Saturday and get married. Shiftlet protests that he can’t get married without any money; he says he wouldn’t marry a woman if he couldn’t take her on a trip and treat her. He says he was raised that way by his mother. Mrs. Crater protests that Lucynell doesn’t know the difference and points out that he’d be getting a permanent home and “the most innocent girl in the world.” She also tells him angrily that “there ain't any place in the world for a poor disabled friendless drifting man.”
Shiftlet uses his supposed chivalrous code as an excuse to hide his reluctance to marry Lucynell, claiming that he can’t get married if he can’t “treat” his wife. At this point, it’s unclear if he’s sincere, but by claiming a strict adherence to the masculine role of the provider, he’s trying to avoid scrutiny. Mrs. Crater’s cruel words demonstrate how angry she is at his refusal, and therefore how desperate she is for this marriage. Even though she’s been deferent to Shiftlet throughout the story, and genuinely wants him as a son-in-law, she’s willing to use his biggest insecurity to win the argument as soon as she thinks she might not get what she wants.
Themes
Shiftlet contemplates the “ugly words” that settle in his head “like a group of buzzards.” He rolls a cigarette and says evenly that a man is divided into two parts, body and spirit. The body is like a house and stays put, Shiftlet says, but a man’s spirit is like an automobile, “always on the move.” Mrs. Crater responds by listing her home’s amenities: it’s warm in winter, has a well that never runs dry, and now has a working automobile. At the mention of the automobile Shiftlet’s “smile stretche[s] like a weary snake waking up by a fire” before he “recall[s]” himself. He says he would still have to take his wife out for a weekend to follow his spirit.
Shiftlet is hurt by Mrs. Crater’s words, made clear by the line about the buzzards settling in his head. However, he doesn’t let on that this is the case, instead speaking “evenly”—once again, Shiftlet’s control over his expression seems almost dishonest. His comparison of his spirit to an automobile suggests that he could abandon the Craters at any time, and it also intensifies his identification in the story with the Craters’ car. It’s Mrs. Crater’s mention of the car that rouses Shiftlet’s snakelike smile, a negative comparison that is a major turning point for how Shiftlet is characterized. In the light of that simile, Shiftlet’s quick agreement to marry Lucynell is deeply suspicious.
Themes
Mrs. Crater offers $15 for a weekend trip, saying it’s the best she can do. Shiftlet barters, saying that would only cover gas and a hotel, not food. Mrs. Crater counters with $17.50, saying it isn’t any use trying to “milk” her, a word choice Shiftlet is “deeply hurt” by. He suspects she has more money sewed up in her mattress, but he says he’s not interested in her money. He agrees to the wedding.
Shiftlet’s bargaining with Mrs. Crater for more money sets off alarm bells that he perhaps isn’t entirely invested in marrying Lucynell. Nevertheless, Shiftlet internally claims to be “deeply hurt” by Mrs. Crater’s observation that he’s trying to “milk” her, a reaction that reads as insincere after the description of his smile “like a weary snake waking up.” The suggestion that even his own inner thoughts can be inauthentic suggests a deep disconnect between Shiftlet’s self-image and his actual nature.
Themes
Shiftlet, Lucynell, and Mrs. Crater drive into town on Saturday. Shiftlet and Lucynell are married at the courthouse. Shiftlet complains afterwards, looking morose and bitter. He says the ceremony didn’t satisfy him as it was just paperwork and blood tests. He repeats a line from his earlier anecdote about the doctor studying a heart, saying “If they was to take my heart and cut it out… they wouldn’t know a thing about me.” Mrs. Crater responds sharply that it satisfied the law, and Shiftlet spits before saying that the law doesn’t satisfy him.
Shiftlet’s bitterness on the day of his wedding sets the marriage off to a bad start. He seems frustrated with the superficial nature of the ceremony, echoing his earlier language of how nobody can know “a thing about me” through medical or, in this case, legal examination. Mrs. Crater, meanwhile, is satisfied with the conventions of a legal marriage ceremony, and upset by Shiftlet’s lack of respect for them.
Themes
They get in the car. Mrs. Crater comments on how pretty Lucynell looks, like a baby doll. Lucynell has a “placid expression,” every so often changed by a “sly isolated little thought like a shoot of green in the desert.” Mrs. Crater says to Shiftlet that he got a prize. Shiftlet doesn’t even look at her.
Mrs. Crater’s comments compare Lucynell to an inanimate object, emphasizing how little anyone in this story seems to view Lucynell as a real person. Instead, she’s framed as a doll or a prize, to be handed off to a husband at everyone else’s convenience. The description of Lucynell as having a “placid expression” and “isolated” thoughts compounds the sense that she has no idea what’s happening to her, creating a horrific mood in the aftermath of her marriage. Shiftlet’s complete lack of interest in her makes it clear that he's got something else on his mind, though.
Themes
They drive back to the farm, where Shiftlet drops Mrs. Crater off. She cries as she says goodbye to Lucynell, saying she has never been parted from her daughter for even two days before while Shiftlet stares at the motor. Mrs. Crater says it’s alright because she knows Shiftlet will do right by her. She clutches at Lucynell, who doesn’t seem to see her at all. Shiftlet eases the car forward to release her grip and then drives off.
Mrs. Crater’s tearful goodbye to Lucynell contrasts with Lucynell’s neutral, unseeing expression, which again suggests that she has no idea what is happening to her. Mrs. Crater’s belief that she’ll see her daughter again in just two days—and that Shiftlet will “do right”—reads as ominous in context with Shiftlet’s increasingly detached and selfish behavior. His impatience to drive off is another clue that he doesn’t care about either woman’s wellbeing: he literally forces Mrs. Crater to let go of Lucynell (and the car!) by stepping on the gas.
Themes
The afternoon is clear and blue and the car helps Shiftlet forget his earlier bitterness. He has always wanted a car but could never afford it. He drives very fast, because he wants to make Mobile by nightfall.
The huge reveal in this paragraph is that Shiftlet has no intention of going on a nice little weekend holiday with Lucynell—he has a different destination in mind, the coastal city of Mobile. The clear blue sky adds a sense of optimism to this scene, which mirrors Shiftlet’s own mood but contrasts heavily with the revelation that Shiftlet has been after the car the whole time.
Themes
Shiftlet eventually looks at Lucynell, who is pulling cherries off her hat and throwing them out the window, and becomes depressed. After about a hundred miles he decides she must be hungry and pulls over at a roadside restaurant.
It takes a while for Shiftlet to even remember Lucynell—clearly, she’s extraneous to his plans. His depression looking at her, and his decision to make sure she gets a good meal, suggest some lingering kindness and affection towards her. He’s clearly never wanted her for a bride, but he did at one point behave generously towards her and at this moment it seems he might continue doing so. They’re already more than a hundred miles from the farm, emphasizing how lost and vulnerable she is.
Themes
Shiftlet orders Lucynell a plate of food and she immediately falls asleep in the empty restaurant. He tells the waiter to give the food to her when she wakes up. The waiter comments “She looks like an angel of Gawd,” and Shiftlet says she’s just a hitchhiker, and that he has to leave to make Tuscaloosa. The waiter touches a finger to Lucynell’s hair and Shiftlet leaves.
Lucynell falls asleep at a pivotal moment in the story, which means she’s even less aware than usual about what’s happening. The waiter’s comment that Lucynell looks like an angel—spoken with hushed reverence at her beauty—is an important moment, because it explicitly associates Lucynell with holiness and divinity despite her often hapless characterization. Shiftlet’s callousness towards her in this scene fully confirms his distance from God: by describing her as a mere hitchhiker and abandoning her to an uncertain fate, he’s done something truly sinful.
Themes
As Shiftlet drives on he becomes more depressed. The afternoon becomes sultry and hot and a storm cloud gathers in the distance. The narrator notes that there “were times” when Shiftlet preferred not to be alone. Shiftlet reflects that “a man with a car had a responsibility to others” and keeps an eye out for hitchhikers. He also sees a billboard that says “Drive carefully. The life you save may be your own.”
Shiftlet is upset after abandoning Lucynell, but he can’t seem to articulate why. The narration suggests he feels lonely in this moment, but the vagueness and distance of the language—“there were times”—reads like he can’t identify these feelings of loneliness and guilt on his own. Nevertheless, he seems to want to atone for something by picking up a hitchhiker. The gathering storm clouds symbolize his dark mood the way the blue sky symbolized his earlier optimistic one. The billboard, which contains the title of the story, suggests that salvation is available to Shiftlet if he “drives carefully”—that is, if he behaves with virtue, and turns the car around.
Themes
As the sun begins to set Shiftlet sees a small shack. He stops for a hitchhiker, a young boy in overalls who doesn’t have his thumb out but is carrying a cheap suitcase. The boy says nothing before getting in the car. His silence bothers Shiftlet, so Shiftlet starts talking about his mother, how much she taught him about right and wrong, and how much he regrets leaving her. “My mother was an angel of Gawd,” he says, tearing up and slowing down the car. The boy yells insults about both their mothers and jumps out of the moving car into a ditch.
The encounter with the hitchhiker rattles Shiftlet because his attempt at atonement—kindness to a stranger, praise towards his mother, an “angel of Gawd” like Lucynell—is roundly rejected. The hitchhiker has no interest in Shiftlet’s rambling memories of a mother’s love, and indeed is so offended by them that he jumps out of the moving car. Shiftlet’s attempt at an act of generosity therefore fails completely.
Themes
Shiftlet is so shocked he drives for a while with the door open. More storm clouds begin to gather. He feels as if “the rottenness of the world was about to engulf him.” He cries out to God, asking Him to wash the slime from the earth. The rain begins to fall and eventually crashes over the rear of Shiftlet’s car, but he steps on the gas and races the shower into Mobile.
Shiftlet is upset by this encounter, and the gathering storm clouds mirror his darkening mood. The “rottenness” of the world, a frequent motif throughout the story, finally reaches its peak in his mind, as if it’s “about to engulf” him—which is curious, as he still seems to view himself as a victim of the approaching rottenness rather than an active participant. His prayer to God for a cleanse of the ”slime” contrasts with his commitment to avoiding the rain storm that most closely symbolizes the kind of biblical flood he seems to be asking for. As he continues to race the rain towards Mobile, he seems to have learned nothing.
Themes
