Mr. Shiftner in Flannery O’Connor’s “The Life You Save May be Your Own” is, as his name suggest, very shifty. He tricks the old woman and her daughter to get away from his troubled past. When Mr. Shiftner first appears in the story, he smooth talks the old woman to first get on her good side. He says to her, “‘I’d give a fortune to live where I could see a sun do that every evening’”(1082). Since the woman and her daughter see the gracious sunrise and sunset every morning it peaks their interests. Persuading an elderly and a disabled woman is not becoming of a hero, but is for an anti-hero. After the sweet talking is over, Mr. Shiftner gets married to the daughter. Of course the old woman is beyond rejoicing when her daughter gets married to
