Crater's actions can be linked to the title by the way he ultimately reacts to his company, Tom, and tries to send his daughter, Lucynell, away. At the beginning of Flannery's tale, the reader meets Lucynell Crater, the old woman in the story. At first one can easily assume that the old woman is a kind and caring lady. This can be surmised by how he quickly offers Tom Shiftlet a paid job with room and board. Readers also believe that Mrs. Crater is a good woman because of the way she talks about her daughter, Lucynell. Lucynell's mother talks about her in such kind and loving ways, trying to see the best parts of having to care for her even though she is mentally disabled and deaf. About halfway through the story, readers are able to see a pattern in the attitude of Mrs. Crater, who tries to convince Tom to marry her daughter. Mrs. Crater is taking control of her own destiny by successfully convincing Mr. Shiftlet to marry Lucynell because he no longer has to take care of her now that she is Tom's responsibility. So by tying her experiences in the story back to the title, she may have saved herself from living her life for someone else for the rest of her life.