The+Life+You+Save+May+Be+Your+Own

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Flannery O’Connor, a women raised in George, was a writer in the modernism literary period(Tekija). O’Connor grew up in a Catholic church being the only daughter in her family(Tekija). Comparing her life to her writing there are many similarities. Shown in her story is a young girl who is deaf, also being an only child. O’Connor was devastated by her father’s passing, and displayed that through this story(Tekija). She made the daughter the same age as she was when her father passed. Also O’Connor had Lucynell deaf which translates her frustration with her father’s passing. O’Connor felt like she had no voice(Deignan). The daughter, Lucynell Crater, was treasured by her mom. As told in “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” Lucynell’s mother swore that she would never let her leave the house permanently(O’Connor). “My Only,” the old women said, “and she’s the sweetest girl in the world. I wouldn’t give her up for nothing on earth. She’s smart too.” “I wouldn’t give her up for a casket of jewels”(O’Connor 3) Modernism is defined as a tendency in theology to accommodate traditional religious teaching to contemporary thought and especially to devalue supernatural elements and modern artistic or literary philosophy and practice; //especially// **:** a self-conscious break with the past and a search for new forms of expression according to Merriam-Webster Online dictionary. A characteristic shown in this short story was breaking social norms. Breaking a social norm is going against what the usual is. An example of breaking a norm may be sitting next to a person in a movie theater. The main social norm broken was Mr. Shiftlets not only stopped to talk to total strangers, but also lived in their broken car(O’Connor 3). Also Mr. Shiftlets married Lucynell and then left her in the middle of no where (O’Connor 6). Flannery O’Connor’s other works include two novels and thirty-two short stories. "The Life You Save May Be Your Own" was based off of human greed with Mr. Shiftlets taking advatage of the women and young girl. //"A Good Man is Hard to Find"// related to a serial killer(Deignan). "The River" was focused more on religion(Deignan). Although she based her stories on what seem like random events and subjects they all have one thing in common. Almost all of these things are based off of her own life experiences. As for "The River" may have been more focused on the depression and the sad times in life(Deignan). Also pointing back to her fathers death.

Comment: The connection to Modernism with the example of breaking social norms is good, but there must be more than one connection of Modernism to this short story? The essay is short and sweet but there could be more examples from the text of the story to present more evidence of the Modernism time period. I did learn quite a bit though, seeing as I had never heard of Flannery O'Connor. Thirty-two short stories is impressive!

Works Cited "The Life You Save May Be Your Own." //Southern Methodist University//. Web. 29 Apr. 2010. <[|__http://faculty.smu.edu/nschwart/2312/lifeyousave.htm__]>. "Modernism." //Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online//. Web. 03 May 2010. <[|__http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/modernism__]>. O'Connor, Flannery. "The Life You Save May Be Your Own." //Southern Methodist University//. Web. 21 Apr. 2010. <[|__http://faculty.smu.edu/nschwart/2312/lifeyousave.htm__]>. Tekijä, Jonka. "Flannery O'Connor." [|__//Www.kirjasto.sci.fi//__]. Web. 03 May 2010. <[|__http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/flannery.htm__]>. Deignan, Tom. “Overview of ‘The Life You Save May Be Your Own,”’ for Short Stories for Students, The Gale Group. Web. 01 May 2010. [|__