Ironic humor in The Life You Save...

In class, we discussed self-interest in "The Life You Save May Be Your Own" and the ironic humor of the sign bearing that message.

It is O'Connor's attempt at humor, I think, and also a view of human nature and motivation. If human nature was to be courteous and altruistic, then the sign would have said: "Slow Down: You Might Harm Other People." But that doesn't work. For the sake of this story at least, human nature is to act in your own self-interest.

So it is with every character in "The Life You Save..." Shiftlet is not in search of a wife. He's in search of a place to stay, a car and money. He takes a wife as a means to get those things. The senior Lucynell is not looking out for her daughter's best interests. She wants her daughter gone, and she pays off Shiftlet to take her away.

In the final two pages, I seriously doubt that Shiftlet pulls over to pick up a potential hitch-hiker with altruistic intentions. We never get that far, but I suspect it's yet another graft. Only the boy sees through this, tells Shiftlet off and gets out of the car. When Shiftlet bemoans the "slime," I wonder if he's simply referring to the people who aren't willing to play this game of give-and-take manipulation.