Life You Save May Be Your Own Grotesque Analysis

In the text “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” by Flannery O’Connor, a common mood emerges from the somewhat humorous yet unfortunate work. A mood of grotesqueness among the characters and overall story as it presents itself, generally, making the audience feel quite uneasy and uncomfortable while reading it. Grotesque is a literary style, which comically and somewhat repulsively represents a distorted character or a series of twisted actions or thoughts that embody a character. The text creates a grotesque mood simply because the actions carried out by the characters resemble an extreme sense of despair and uneasiness, yet the way in which it is executed is somewhat funny and jocular to the reader, therefore creating an awkward overall mood

He is made known to be a static character, because his first intention was solely to swindle the vulnerable characters Lucynell, mother, and Lucynell, daughter, and he takes that intention and puts it into play by the end of the text. Though Shiftlet is a static character, his character development is something to consider when discussing how his disposition makes him grotesque. In the beginning of the novel, the audience may believe that he is a character of good will, but through his development it is made apparent to the reader that he is nothing but a con. Upon his arrival, Ms. Crater explains she does not have enough to pay him Shiftlet for his services. In response, O’Conner says, ‘“Lady, there's some men that some things mean more to them than money.”” This indicting to the reader the man is willing to do the job for free because he is of good character. Despite this, a basis for a grotesque mood is laid down once the reader discovers, through his character development, that his only character is one of a