Flannery O'Connor's Stories Lesson Plan

In "The Life You Save May Be Your Own," Tom Shiftlet says, “If they was to take my heart and cut it out...they wouldn’t know a thing about me.” What does he mean by that statement?

Tom is of the opinion that the heart is a mere muscle, and does not reveal a man's soul. This idea aligns with Tom's evasiveness in general: he refuses to tell Mrs. Crater where he's from, because he says that there is no way she could know whether he is lying. Tom's assertion that it is impossible to know a man by his physical attributes could be seen as a response to his missing arm. However, as Flannery O'Connor demonstrates through the story, the problem is not...