They Were Only Trying to Help

When discussing Saunders’ “The Red Bow” in class, I found myself wondering if the narrator of the story had any regrets about the craze that went about the town. I mean, things seem to escalate pretty quickly to the point where the whole town is opting to kill all the animals to get rid of this so called “disease” of some sort. Everything is just blown out of proportion, and the main culprit is Uncle Matt, who seems to show more interest in eradicating this disease than the narrator, whose daughter was the one who was killed by one of the dogs. Things get out of hand as the town seems rattled by the fact that they could be the next ones to die. Also, with mob mentality and all, everyone seems to side with Uncle Matt because who wants to be the one who's against avenging a little girl’s life? With this all in mind, the town goes with Uncle Matt and his plan, not thinking about the future consequences. But, the one question in my mind is: Looking back, does the narrator feel guilty for what happened? Or does he think it was the right thing to do?

There really is no right answer to this question, because the narrator seems to be some place in between the two extremes. But, personally, I believed that the narrator leans more towards feeling bad about the situation rather than believing that what they did was the right thing. See, the narrator recognizes that he didn’t really play a part in the action plan. It was basically all Uncle Matt’s doing (rallying up the people and such). And, he feels guilty about this because it was, in fact, his little girl in the red bow who was killed. He even admits that, “Uncle Matt hadn’t seen me carrying her inside either, having gone out to rend a video” (79). Even before, Uncle Matt was known to not like children that much. In fact, the narrator mentions that Uncle Matt even used to avoid kids. But now, he seems really into this little girl’s case. Why? Guilt, maybe. Feeling guilty for not being there. Or, feeling guilty because his dog did it. We don’t really know, but we do know that the narrator feels some sort of guilt of his own for not taking charge of this operation. It was his daughter, and all we see is him hiding in the background, being pulled from place to place by Uncle Matt. Now, this sort of behavior is acceptable because, if it were me, I would be in shock and probably unable to think straight. I think both the narrator and Uncle Matt were in shock about what had happened, and the narrator couldn’t think of anything to do, but Uncle Matt took charge and acted on the fly. He didn’t think about the repercussions, he just did what he thought would be right.

Thinking back, I think the narrator takes the blame for not stepping in and rationalizing the situation. “I don’t know, I found it deeply moving, that all of those good people would feel so fondly toward her, many of whom had not ever known her, and it seemed to me that somehow they had come to understand how good she had been, how precious, and were trying, with their applause, to honor her” (87). The keyword is “trying”. He doesn’t want to put the blame on these people for the terrible thing they have just done, because he knows they were just trying to help. Help out this girl they didn’t even know. Help this grieving man who is unsure of what to do. Help, in the best way they think they can. They are all rallying behind this “family of his that had been sadly and irreversibly malformed by this unimaginable and profound tragedy” (87). He knows that he can’t change things. He knows that, if he had had the chance, he would take certain things back. But, like he says, it’s all irreversible. They were only trying to help he and his family get some kind of redemption, while also trying to save the town.

It’s sad because, even now, it seems like the narrator is still grieving over what had happened. Not only with his little girl, but also with the aftermath. The craze that sent people flying over the roof. I mean, people went all out with the t shirts and fliers, mostly just to feel like they were part of the group and went against children dying, but still. It was, relatively, all for the narrator. So, with that in mind, the narrator believes that the blame is on him for letting things get out of hand and not stopping people when he had the chance. It was all because he was in this shock, this trans in which, since he couldn’t think of a solution, he just blindly accepted Uncle Matt’s plan, not thinking ahead about the inevitable repercussions. He supposedly let innocent animals be hurt while people were rallying behind his cause. It’s a huge burden to bear, especially since, on top of this whole situation, this was all revolving around his daughter and such, and so it makes him a very sympathetic character. Although I can see how some people may see the narrator as a little evil, thinking that he believe that what they did to the animals was right and just. But, personally, I see him more a regretful and terribly sad about the whole situation. He understands the motives behind everything, but the outcome is unsavory and irreversible, and so he must deal with this for the rest of his life.

This obviously isn’t a very happy story--in fact, it’s extremely sad--but Saunders does show how mob mentality can persuade people to do things that they wouldn’t normally deem as morally correct. You don’t want to be against the crowd, so you just go with it. And in this story’s case, things got out of hand very quickly with no one brave and clear minded enough to stop it all.