57 pages • 1 hour read
Flannery O'ConnorThe Life You Save May Be Your Own
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1953A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Essay Topics
Analyze the parallels between Mr. Shiftlet and Mrs. Crater. How are the two similar and how are they different? How do they affect one another and reveal one another’s characters?
How does the character of Lucynell function in the story? Why do you think Flanner O’Connor chose to make her deaf and mentally disabled? What emerges through her lack of speech and her repetition of the one word Mr. Shiftlet teaches her?
How is “The Life You Save May be Your Own” an example of Southern Gothic literature? What comment does it make on society at the time?
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