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Mrs. Crater
Lucynell lives with her mother, Mrs. Crater, on a remote farm in the south. She is deaf, mute, and has mental disabilities, but she is able to do work around the farm like sweeping and feeding the chickens. Lucynell is in her late twenties, although she seems younger. She’s described as looking like an angel or a baby doll, with pink-gold hair and very blue eyes. Lucynell is excited when Shiftlet arrives at the farm. She enjoys following him around as he works, and he teaches her to say the word “bird” for the first time. Eventually, her mother arranges for her to marry Shiftlet, though it seems unlikely that she understands or consents to this arrangement. Shiftlet then takes her on a road trip, supposedly a honeymoon, but ultimately abandons her as she’s sleeping in a roadside restaurant. Throughout the story, Lucynell is associated with innocence and holiness, and when Shiftlet abandons her, he is also abandoning God and virtue.
Lucynell Crater Quotes in The Life You Save May Be Your Own
The The Life You Save May Be Your Own quotes below are all either spoken by Lucynell Crater or refer to Lucynell Crater . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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The Life You Save May Be Your Own
Quotes
He swung both his whole and his short arm up slowly so that they indicated an expanse of sky and his figure formed a crooked cross. The old woman watched him with her arms folded across her chest as if she were the owner of the sun, and the daughter watched, her head thrust forward and her fat helpless hands hanging at the wrists.
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He had patched the front and back steps, built a new hog pen, restored a fence, and taught Lucynell, who was completely deaf and had never said a word in her life, to say the word "bird." The big rosy-faced girl followed him everywhere, saying "Burrttddt ddbirrrttdt," and clapping her hands. The old woman watched from a distance, secretly pleased. She was ravenous for a son-in-law.
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The boy bent over her and stared at the long pink-gold hair and the half-shut sleeping eyes. Then he looked up and stared at Mr. Shiftlet. "She looks like an angel of Gawd," he murmured.
"Hitchhiker," Mr. Shiftlet explained. "I can't wait. I got to make Tuscaloosa."
The boy bent over again and very carefully touched his finger to a strand of the golden hair and Mr. Shiftlet left.
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Lucynell Crater Quotes in The Life You Save May Be Your Own
The The Life You Save May Be Your Own quotes below are all either spoken by Lucynell Crater or refer to Lucynell Crater . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
The Life You Save May Be Your Own
Quotes
He swung both his whole and his short arm up slowly so that they indicated an expanse of sky and his figure formed a crooked cross. The old woman watched him with her arms folded across her chest as if she were the owner of the sun, and the daughter watched, her head thrust forward and her fat helpless hands hanging at the wrists.
Related Characters:
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
He had patched the front and back steps, built a new hog pen, restored a fence, and taught Lucynell, who was completely deaf and had never said a word in her life, to say the word "bird." The big rosy-faced girl followed him everywhere, saying "Burrttddt ddbirrrttdt," and clapping her hands. The old woman watched from a distance, secretly pleased. She was ravenous for a son-in-law.
Related Characters:
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
The boy bent over her and stared at the long pink-gold hair and the half-shut sleeping eyes. Then he looked up and stared at Mr. Shiftlet. "She looks like an angel of Gawd," he murmured.
"Hitchhiker," Mr. Shiftlet explained. "I can't wait. I got to make Tuscaloosa."
The boy bent over again and very carefully touched his finger to a strand of the golden hair and Mr. Shiftlet left.
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