The Life You Save May Be Your Own

The first encounter between Mr. Shiftlet and Mrs. Crater is filled with foreshadowing, a device in which a story hints at later events. Mr. Shiftlet begins a conversation about how the world is full of lies and liars, asking, “How you know I ain’t lying? How you know my name ain’t Aaron Sparks, lady, and I come from Singleberry, Georgia […]” (Paragraph 19). This foreshadows the revelation that Mr. Shiftlet is in fact dishonest; his long-winded speech about liars was a tactic to induce false confidence in his words. Mrs. Crater, on the other hand, says, “I wouldn’t give [Lucynell] up for nothing on earth” (Paragraph 31). This is ironic because only a few pages later, she allows Mr. Shiftlet to take Lucynell away from her. Not only that, but she is the one who pushes Mr. Shiftlet into a quick, ill-advised marriage. 

Juxtaposition is a literary device that places two people, places, or events side by side to suggest a comparison between them. The strongest juxtaposition in this story is between Mrs. Crater and Mr. Shiftlet. The two characters seem to be in alignment, agreeing to mutually benefit one another, yet the way they each speak and act shows how different their motivations are, as in this exchange about Lucynell’s age: