Desmond, John F. "The Shifting of Mr. Shiftlet: Flannery O'Connor's 'The Life You Save May Be Your Own,"' in Mississippi Quarterly, Vol. 28, No. 1, Winter, 1974-75, pp. 55-9.

A close reading of Shiftlet's character, in which the author argues that his motivations devolve during the course of the story from good to bad.

Gentry, Marshall Bruce. Flannery O'Connor's Religion of the Grotesque

A reading of the religious themes and O'Connor's use of the Grotesque in "The Life You Save May Be Your Own."

Giannone, Richard. Flannery O'Connor and the Mystery of Love, University of Illinois Press, 1989, pp. 54-7.

A study on O'Connor, which concentrates on Shiftlet's denial of spiritual grace.

Kessler, Edward. Flannery O'Connor and the Language of the Apocalypse, Princeton University Press, 1986, pp. 141-47.

Through analysis of language in O'Connor's fiction, Kessler develops a largely negative reading of "The...