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Overview
Originally published as part of the 1955 short-story collection A Good Man is Hard to Find, “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” is an example of Flannery O’Connor’s bitingly funny, morally ambiguous mode of storytelling that would mark her as one of the most important Southern writers of the mid-20th century
. The story revolves around two people working to get what they want and the fallout from the decisions they make chasing that end. O’Connor’s stories are often about damaged people in a broken world and the consequences that they are forced to live with as they pursue their desires.Read a full story summary, an in-depth character analysis of Tom T. Shitflet, and descriptions of the main ideas in “The Life You Save May Be Your Own.”
