Red Bow Redder

George Saunders is a freaking weird author. Not going to lie. But, the story The Red Bow was very interesting to say the least.

The story is about this guy whose daughter is killed by a dog. His uncle goes nuts trying to kill all the dogs and cats and animals in the town. The weirdest part of this story is how eerie it becomes. The whole story starts to revolve around how the uncle starts using the daughter's red bow as propaganda to try to control the entire town.

Basically Uncle Matt is becoming a dictator in this story. The whole time, even the narrator seems cautious about what he is saying and he glosses over the fact that he isn't okay with what Uncle Matt is doing but he is just going with it. Uncle Matt plays the sympathy card the entire time and ends up forcing everyone to do what he wants.

Another thing that was weird about this story was how the red bow played a role in the story. The narrator's daughter was wearing a red bow when she was killed and he carries it around with him the entire time. Uncle Matt uses a fake bow as a tool to get people to support the cause. As his campaign grows, so does the bow. The bow gets larger, and redder, and the people get more and more brainwashed.

This whole story just seems like it is set in the twilight zone. It seems very resemblant of some eerie other world that isn't even real. The thing that makes it feel that way the most is the fact that the whole time the narrator seems very detached from what he is saying, as if he has no opinion on any of it or he doesn't agree with what is happening. He is just going along with it all.

This story I think was one of the least weird in this collection, but it still had a weird and eerie vibe.

Edison, New Jersey

Something that I found very interesting about Edison, New Jersey was how open the narrator was about what he was doing... That made me wonder, what did the narrator think of the listener?

Edison, New Jersey was a story basically all about conning rich people. The narrator was talking in a style as if he was letting the reader in on a joke. He tells us about how he steals money from his work, little bits at a time. He tells us about how, if he has a bad customer, he will clog their toilet and steal their toiletries. It seems like he is the one in control in these situations, even though you would expect the rich people to be the ones in control.

This is super different than what you would expect as well. Normally, someone of lower middle class would be jealous of the upper class. But in Edison, New Jersey it is completely opposite. The narrator is very content with where he is and actually prefers what he is doing rather than having a job that might make him richer, which he is offered at one point in the book.

Anyways, my hypothesis is that the narrator is talking to us, assuming that we are also lower to middle class as well. If we were rich why would he be letting us in on these secrets? Let me know in the comments if you think this hypothesis is accurate or not. Can't wait to read!