The life you save may be your own

The elder Lucynell points out to Tom that, "Lemme tell you something: there ain't any place in the world for a poor disabled friendless drifting man." Ironically she actually ends up having a point. Tom Shiftlet does end up showing his ugly side and it isn't his looks. He uses both the mother and the daughter for a car and some money. He ends up abandoning the daughter, after marrying her, at some roadside bar.