The Life You Save May Be Your Own

In the short story ‘The Life You Save May be Your Own,” there is three main characters, that are descripted and follow the story line. Three characters are the mother, Lucynell, the daughter, who is named Lucynell as well, and Mr. Shiftlet. They all help drive the story in a very deep and odd way. Each character is quite dynamic and interesting. As readers make their way throughout the story the characters help develop the plot. The main character is the mother Lucynell. The mother’s name is Lucynell and she is an old woman. She has no teeth and is the size of a cedar fence post. Lucynell is displays how sassy she is, as she stands with her hands on her hips. Her husband has been dead for fifteen years and the farm that she now owns is run down. In which, she wants it to be fixed up for free, which is why she is so pushy when it comes to asking Mr. Shiftlet to marry her daughter. He fixed up around the farm and fixed their car, which shows the mother only wanted him there to repair the farm. After the farm was repaired, she wanted to give him no money to take her daughter into town after then were married. Therefore, the mother shows to be quite selfish and lazy.

Lucynell is very underdeveloped. At the beginning of the story she was sitting on the porch in a large blue dress playing with her fingers. She was described as looking very innocent and child-like. Throughout the story it shows that the daughter is deaf and cannot speak at all. Mr. Shiftlet teaches her how to say bird, that is the only word she knows. This character can cook, clean, harvest eggs, and do much work even though she is in her mid-thirties and still acts like a small child. Her mother uses her looks to convince Mr. Shiftlet to marry her but she doesn’t clearly know what just