The Life You Save May Be Your Own

The Life You Save May Be Your Own Summary | Detailed Summary

This story is set around 1944 on a rundown, desolate Southern plantation. On this plantation there lives an old woman and her daughter, Lucynell Crater. The old woman's name is also Lucynell, but she is simply referred to as "the old woman" throughout the story. Lucynell is slow and does not speak. Though she is around 30 years old, her mother presents her as being 15 or 16 years of age, because of her "innocence." Lucynell is a physically beautiful girl, with long golden hair and blue eyes.

In the opening scene, the old woman and her daughter are sitting on the porch when Mr. Tom T. Shiftlet walks up their path at sunset. The old woman views him as a tramp, and no one to be afraid of. Mr. Shiftlet is gaunt, with long, black, slicked hair, and is missing half of his left arm. Mr. Shiftlet wears a black suit and a brown felt hat, and carries a toolbox. When he approaches, Lucynell wordlessly jumps up, begins to stamp, point, and make excited sounds. Mr. Shiftlet tips his hat and watches the sunset, while the two women watch him. The old woman watches him with her hands folded, "as if she were the owner of the sun." Mr. Shiftlet comments that he would do anything to live somewhere where he could see such a sunset every evening, and the old woman informs him that it does set every evening.

Mr. Shiftlet offers the old woman a piece of gum, but she raises her upper lip to show she has no teeth. Mr. Shiftlet looks around, taking in the whole yard. There is a water pump, some chickens, and a rusted old automobile in the shed. Mr. Shiftlet asks if they drive, and the old woman tells him that the car has not run in nearly fifteen years, since her husband died. Mr. Shiftlet then states, "nothing is like it used to be, lady, the world is almost rotten." Mr. Shiftlet looks at the tires, judges the car to be a 1928 or 1929 Ford, and then turns his attention to the women.

They exchange names. Mr. Shiftlet tells her about a doctor in Atlanta who removed a human heart from a man's chest and held it in his hand, "studying it like a day-old chicken." Mr. Shiftlet says the doctor does not know anything more about it than they do, and the old woman agrees. The old woman asks Mr. Shiftlet where he is from. Mr. Shiftlet comments that he could tell her his name and where he was from, but how would she know he was not lying and was actually someone else. Mr. Shiftlet states the best thing he could tell was that he was a man, but went on to ask rhetorically what a man was.

The old woman asks Mr. Shiftlet what was in his box. Mr. Shiftlet informs her they are tools and that he is a carpenter. The old woman tells him that she could provide him with work in exchange for a place to sleep, but no money. Mr. Shiftlet says that to some men, there are things that matter more than money. Mr. Shiftlet asks the old woman if men were made for money, but she does not answer. Instead, she wonders aloud if a one-armed man could put a new roof on her house. Mr. Shiftlet informs the old woman that he is 28 years old, and has worked as a gospel singer, railroad foreman, undertaking assistant, and in the military, where he traveled the world and was injured. Mr. Shiftlet also states that, having seen the world, he now wishes to live somewhere desolate, where he could watch the sunset every night.

The old woman asks him if he is married or single. Mr. Shiftlet tells her that instead of the "trash" he could just pick up, he is looking for an innocent woman. The old woman tells him she would not give up her daughter for anything on earth, and any man who wanted her would have to live at her place. Mr. Shiftlet tells her, half-arm or not, there was nothing around their place that he could not fix. Mr. Shiftlet also boasts that he is a whole man "with a moral intelligence." The old woman, unimpressed, tells him he could sleep in the car. Mr. Shiftlet, undeterred, advises her that the monks of old slept in coffins. The old woman tells him that the monks were not as advanced as they are now.

Mr. Shiftlet begins work on the roof the next day, with Lucynell watching him. Within a week, he has patched the front and back steps, built a hog pen, restored a fence, and taught Lucynell her first word, "bird". The old woman watches from a distance, secretly pleased and ravenous for a son-in-law. Mr. Shiftlet tells them he has taken a personal interest in the plantation and is even going to make the car run. Mr. Shiftlet tells them this car has been built when cars were made right, when a single man took a personal interest in building the car. Mr. Shiftlet also says that nowadays, cars were more expensive, built by a group of men with no vested interest. Mr. Shiftlet states the problem with the world nowadays is that no one takes any time or trouble. Mr. Shiftlet points out that Lucynell would not have learned a word if he had not taken the time and interest. Then he asks what he should teach her to say next. The old woman says "sugar pie" and Mr. Shiftlet knows what is on her mind.

The next day, Mr. Shiftlet tells the old woman that if she would buy a fan belt, he could fix the car. The old woman says she will give him the money. The old women then extols the virtues of her daughter again, calling her the "sweetest girl in the world", and that she would not let anyone take her away, but that a man could live with them. The old woman says she would not pass up an opportunity to marry such a girl and live in such a place, and Mr. Shiftlet did not appear to be a fool. Mr. Shiftlet does not answer, instead commenting that the car could also use painting. The old woman says she will see.

At night, on the porch, the old woman continues to point out the virtues of her daughter, in particular that, since she did not speak, she could not sass him. The old woman suggests they marry the following Saturday. Mr. Shiftlet says that he could not marry without money, because he would not marry someone unless he had the money to take her to a hotel and buy her something to eat like she deserved. Mr. Shiftlet says he was just raised that way. The old woman points out that Lucynell did not even know what a hotel was, and that he was already getting Lucynell, a deep well, a house without a mortgage, and that the world was unfriendly to disabled drifters such as he. Mr. Shiftlet tells her that a man was made of body and spirit. The old woman then tells him she would pay for the painting of the car.

Mr. Shiftlet states that his spirit insists that he be able to take his wife away, so the old woman offers him $12.50. Mr. Shiftlet replies that this amount would not pay for food, but the old woman says they could take lunch. The old woman says $17.50 was her final offer, and she did not have anymore, so it is pointless to try to "milk" her. Mr. Shiftlet is hurt, but accepts without further discussion.

On Saturday, Mr. Shiftlet and Lucynell are married at the courthouse. Mr. Shiftlet is morose and bitter, complaining about the inadequacy of the ceremony. Mr. Shiftlet comments on the blood tests, and about how taking his blood told them nothing about him. The old woman states that the ceremony satisfied the law, but Mr. Shiftlet responds that the law did not satisfy him. The old woman commented on pretty Lucynell looked, "like a baby doll", but Mr. Shiftlet did not look at her.

They drove back to the house in the freshly painted car, green with a yellow strip, to drop off the old woman. The old woman becomes teary, saying she and Lucynell had never been parted for two days before. Mr. Shiftlet starts the engine. The old woman states that she would not have let any man but Mr. Shiftlet have Lucynell, because she knows he will treat her right. With that, Mr. Shiftlet drives off. Mr. Shiftlet drives fast; he has never had a car before and wants to get to Mobile by nightfall. Lucynell sits beside him, pulling the cherries off her hat and throwing them out the window.

Mr. Shiftlet decides she must again be hungry, she had eaten lunch in the car, and stops at an eating place, ordering her ham and grits. Lucynell falls asleep at the counter before the food was served. Mr. Shiftlet says he will pay for the food now, and that the boy behind the counter should give it to her later, explaining that she was a hitchhiker. The boy behind the counter states that Lucynell looks like "an angel of God." Mr. Shiftlet states that he had to make Tuscaloosa, and leaves Lucynell in the restaurant.

Depressed, Mr. Shiftlet drives on, while a storm threatens to emerge. Mr. Shiftlet does not feel like being by himself. Mr. Shiftlet keeps an eye out for hitchhikers, for whom he feels cars have an obligation to stop. Mr. Shiftlet passes a number of signs warning: "Drive carefully. The life you save may be your own." When the sun begins to set, Mr. Shiftlet sees a boy standing at the side of the road with a suitcase. Though he did not raise his thumb, Mr. Shiftlet slows and stops in front of him, asking if he needs a ride. Wordlessly, the boy gets in the car and they drive off.

The boy rides silently, looking out the window. Mr. Shiftlet feels oppressed and begins to speak. Mr. Shiftlet tells the boy he had the best mother in the world, therefore the boy could only have the second best. Mr. Shiftlet goes on to praise his mother, saying that she taught him his prayers and he never rued a day like the day he did when he left her. The boy looks at him and back out the window, remaining silent, but putting his hand on the door handle. Mr. Shiftlet's voice becomes strained when he calls his mother an angel of God and discusses her death in a mist of tears.

The boy becomes angry, stating that: "You go to the devil! My old woman is a fleabag and yours is a stinking polecat!" With that, he jumps out of the car, which is barely moving. Mr. Shiftlet is shocked, reflecting on the rottenness of the world. "Oh lord!" he prays. "Break forth and wash this slime from the earth!" A cloud, shaped like a turnip, colored like the boy's hat descends in front of the sun, and another behind the car. Thunder begins behind him and huge drops hit the rear of the car. Mr. Shiftlet drives, racing the shower into Mobile.