Question

Read the excerpt from Flannery O’Connor’s “The Life You Save May Be Your Own.”

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.

“Hitch-hiker,” 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.

Which statement most accurately represents the excerpt’s larger idea?
Getting what you want may not make you happy.
Beauty and truth appear in unexpected places.
Social isolation may lead people to act immorally.
You may not get everything that you have bargained for.

Answer 1

Beauty and truth appear in unexpected places.

The boy’s innocent description of the sleeping woman as “an angel of Gawd” contrasts with Mr. Shiftlet’s cynical, self-interested behavior, showing that genuine beauty and moral truth can be found where adults least expect them.