Mr. Shiftlet, the protagonist of, “The Life You Save”, exemplifies self-deception seeing his role in life is to be other’s savior. Yet, is invalid due to the religious symbolism O’Connor uses. Much of the symbolism used is God telling Shiftlet that he needs to find redemption. Shiftlet as a repairman illustrates how he views himself as someone who needs to fix others. As O’Connor narrates “He felt too that a man with a car had a responsibility to others and he kept his eye out for a hitch-hiker”. In other words Shiftlet feels that with possession in the car he feels the need to help arrive to their destination. In addition, while fixing the car he stole from Mrs. Crater he viewed it as a soul that needed repairing or “raising car from the dead”.
