Flannery O'Connor's story, "The Life You Save May Be Your Own", illustrates in words the importance of sticking to your roots through a man of deception who is hypercritical to this idea. It seems since Mr. Shiftlett was born in the royal south, he does not know how to put his responsibilities together, and he doesn't seem to have any priorities in his life. He is a carefree man who goes from place to place trying to find jobs where he may be able to hustle someone out of something. There are many instances in this story that show Mr. Shiftlett only goes to Crater's to hustle a poor woman out of her money and car. Mr. Shiftlett has a deceptive personality that is even conjured up in his name, "shifty".
             Mr. Shiftlett does not seem to have his priorities together. He comes to Mrs. Crater's home looking for a carpenter job. While talking to Mrs. Crater, he starts scoping out her home with his "pale sharp glance" (pg125). he notices the car, which might as well have been a pot of gold the way he was mesmerized with it. Just as Shiftlett is eyeing the car, Mrs. Crater has been sizing him up from the start as a potential son-in-law. Shiftlett knows this, however, and plays it as his trump card for the rest of the story. He's only helping Mrs. Crater with odd ends around the farm to get a hold of the car. He pretends to take interest in what she talks about to get on her good side. Throughout the story, Mrs. Crater and Shiftlett subtlety negotiate with each other to achieve their ultimate desires: Shiftlett's car and a husband for Lucynell. His self-awareness only consists of getting the car and money to fix up the car. He doesn't care about Lucynell or what happens to her.
             Shiftlett hangs around the place serving as a sort of Bob Villa, fixing things up and sleeping in the car at night. Interestingly, Shiftlett teaches Lucynell to say the word "bi...