When Tom Shiftlet arrives on a farm owned by an old woman and her deaf daughter, he is at first only interested in finding a place to stay in exchange for work. However, when the old woman offers her daughter Lucynell to him in marriage, along with a sum of money, he accepts, though his intentions towards the girl remain unclear.

Similar in theme and style to many of other Flannery O'Connor's short stories, "The Life You Save My Be Your Own" was originally published in O'Connor's short story collection, A Good Man Is Hard to Find.

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