In much of Flannery O’Connor’s work, she creates many characters who have disabilities, two in which can be found in her story “The Life You Save May Be Your Own.” From what is told in the story, Lucynell Crater is a girl about thirty years old with the disability of being completely deaf. The story also hints at the idea that she may have some sort of intellectual disability. Along with Lucynell, there is also the character Mr. Shiftlet who has a disability. The disability that O’Connor has given Mr. Shiftlet is that he has only half of an arm. Each of these characters have very differing disabilities. While one is affected mentally, the other is affected physically. Because these characters have what the other lacks, did O’Connor pair them together on purpose?
Some could argue that O’Connor made Mr. Shiftlet have half of an arm and Lucynell be completely deaf to simply add to her collection of odd characters. However, I believe that she brought them together for the reason that they complete each other. From the time Mr. Shiftlet arrives, Mrs. Crater tells of Lucynell’s disability and hints that the only thing she is able to do is physical labor: “She’s smart too. She can sweep the floor, cook, wash, feed the chickens, and hoe” (O’Connor 149). Her mother reveals that despite being deaf, she is physically able to do things any normal person could do, unlike Mr. Shiftlet. As the woman sat and listened to Mr. Shiftlet talk and ask questions, all she could think about was his lack of a full functioning arm: “He asked her what she thought she was made for, but she didn’t answer, she only sat rocking and wondered if a one-armed man could put a roof on her garden house” (O’Connor 148). While Lucynell is able to do things like sweep the floor and hoe the garden, Mr. Shiftlet would struggle completing these tasks. However, Mr. Shiftlet is able to sit down and have meaningful conversations while Lucynell is only able to somewhat mutter out the word bird.
By having their paths crossed and being joined together by marriage, O’Connor seems to be completing her characters. Because she puts two halves of one whole together, I believe it explains the way Mr. Shiftlet feels after leaving Lucynell at the diner. As he left the diner where Lucynell was fast asleep “he was more depressed than ever as he drove on by himself” (O’Connor 155). He now feels as though something is missing as he drives on into a storm, and what is missing is his other half, Lucynell. Mr. Shiftlet’s whole speech to the boy about leaving his mother also reveals the deepening sadness he feels for leaving Lucynell behind:
I never rued a day in my life like the one I rude when I left that old mother of mine… ‘My mother was an angel of Gawd’ [he] said in a very strained voice. ‘He took her from heaven and giver to me and I left her.’ His eyes were instantly clouded over with mist of tears. (O’Connor 155-156)
Though he is saying this about his mother, Mr. Shiftlet seems to be referring to Lucynell. While in the restaurant the boy behind the counter refers to Lucynell the same way Mr. Shiftlet refers to his mother: “She looks like an angle of Gawd” (O’Connor 154). Mr. Shiftlet is feeling so emotional because he knows he is leaving behind the only thing in the world that can complete him.
I like how you connect each character with the argument that they are “two halves of a whole.” To further this discussion, I want to incorporate the Oedipus complex from Freudian theory. According to Sigmund Freud, this was “one of the most powerfully determinative elements in the growth of the child.” Purdue Owl explains the Oedipus complex “involves the children’s need for their parents and the conflict that arises as children mature and realize they are not the absolute focus of their mother’s attention.”
ReplyDeleteThe Oedipus complex, however, varies among boys and girls. For example, Freud argued that as boys mature, they would begin to identify with their father “with the hope of someday possessing a woman like his mother.” Like you mentioned in your post, at the end of the story, Mr. Shiftlet appears to be emotional as he discusses his mother, but he also seems to be referencing Lucynell. The ambiguity regarding who Mr. Shiflet is referring to demonstrates the Oedipus complex--Lucynell and his mother are so similar that they are indistinguishable. Evidence of this from the text is when Mr. Shiflet calls his mother an “angel of Gawd,” after the boy working at the diner claims Lucynell Crater looks like “an angel of Gawd” (O’Connor 156).
Source used: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_theory_and_schools_of_criticism/psychoanalytic_criticism.html
I was really interested in your comparison of Shiftlet’s disability and Lucynell’s disabilities. Your analysis of the disabilities within the story is so intriguing to me because I only thought of the disabilities in regard to the readers’ reaction to the characters’ disabilities. Your post made me see the similarities between Mr. Shiftlet and Lucynell and the way they seem to fit together, which made me wonder why O’Connor would depict an innocent person with disabilities in the same story that she depicts a man with disabilities who deceives the innocent Lucynell.
ReplyDeleteSince O’Connor’s religious beliefs frequently hold significance in her stories, in an attempt to understand the large difference between the innocent Lucynell and the deceptive Shiftlet, I looked at verses of the Bible that discuss disabilities.
The Bible speaks of Jesus’ ability to make the deaf hear and the mute speak, so it seems that, in the Bible, Lucynell’s disabilities are considered opportunities for God to display his power of healing. The Bible also says “cursed is anyone who leads a blind person astray on the road” (Deuteronomy 27:18-19). This verse from the Bible is a direct assertion of the sinfulness and cruelty of someone who would deceive a person with a physical disability such as Lucynell’s. So Lucynell’s disabilities allow the reader to see Shiftlet’s cruelty. I had a harder time understanding why O’Connor would depict a man who only has “half an arm” in his shirt sleeve as a conniving and morally corrupt character (O’Connor 145).
I think it is possible that O’Connor depicts a sinful character who has disabilities in order to show her readers that all people are sinful, and a person with disabilities is a human being and a human being who has the potential to sin. So I think that it is important to compare Mr. Shiftlet and Lucynell because the comparison allows readers to understand O’Connor’s assertion that Mr. Shiftlet’s disability combined with his actions show readers that there is sin in all humans, no matter the perceived differences in humans. It seems that O’Connor utilizes disabilities within the story show that sin is spread equally across all humans and no one can escape God’s judgement for the sins committed on earth