When Mr. Shiftlet first enters the lives of the Crater’s, it is stated that he “had a look of composed dissatisfaction as if he understood life thoroughly.” Mr. Shiftlet’s strong belief in his intellectual power and superiority over others foreshadows a miserable end for the Crater women. All of Mr. Shiftlet’s considerate actions revolve around his greedy desire for a car. Once in possession of the beloved car, his accustomed prideful ways and lack of morals make it easy for him to strand his new wife, Lucynell, approximately one hundred miles from home. At the end of the story, Mr. Shiftlet faces the inevitable fate brought upon by the symbolic dragon talked about by St. Cyril of Jerusalem. While on his journey to reach “the father of souls,” Mr. Shiftlet has placed his spiritual life in danger, by continuing down the same road as numerous cheating people. He realizes that his pride has been overthrown when making an attempt to pray to God. He prays for the slime of the earth to be washed away; shortly after his thought to be heartfelt prayer, he is engulfed within a storm and continuing rain crashes against his car. With this ending, Flannery O’Conner directly expressed how she felt the people consumed by pride and greed should end