This story by Richard Ford featured a man and his partner, Arlene, as he took Arlene’s ex-husband to jail. The narrator, Russ, tried to tell a story about Bobby, Arlene’s ex-husband, and the events of the morning and trip of taking him to jail. It was a relatively slow-paced story being that it wasn’t a fight or anything dramatic in the process of taking Bobby to jail but merely Russ and Arlene trying to give Bobby some decent time with people he knew before turning himself in. The narrator spoke about the uncertainty in life. He spoke about the event looking back, perhaps thinking about it rather than speaking or writing about it, not long after he took Bobby to jail. At the end, I realized this is a recent event and see the fear the narrator had about being able to lose everything one day and unable to get it back — where he would end up alone.
The narrator thought the story is about Bobby, but I find it is more about the unspoken fear the narrator had toward being alone. He feels bad for Bobby losing his life and winding up in jail, sure, but he feared making the same mistakes as Bobby has that he would never do — surely, Russ would never make the same mistakes. I don’t think the narrator understands the fear he had toward being alone. It is possible Bobby merely went crazy, but he seemed normal to me, just fearful and irrational when in fear. I don’t think the narrator saw that, from where he stood, it shouldn’t be easy to lose his life when he hasn’t done anything wrong or illegal to throw him in jail. I don’t think he understood anyone else — Bobby and Arlene at least — besides is daughter, Cherry. He probably saw Bobby as a crazy man or a man with crazy streaks that can be very dangerous, but he doesn’t know Bobby very well, so it’s understandable why he’d think Bobby is insane. As for Arlene; Russ, to me, didn’t quite understand the relationship she and Bobby had. It sounded as though when Russ had his divorce, they washed their hands of each other, and yet there is this divorced couple where she is trying to give her ex a little bit of life before having him turn himself in. It seems, toward the end at least, that the narrator realized Bobby and Arlene still have love for one another.
Russ seemed to think of the events as a reflection. He thought about the situation, and it was almost as if he was putting himself in Bobby’s shoes. He was thinking about the possibilities of things going wrong in his life, how to prevent them or to get out of them, but also about how other relationships influenced him and his relationships. Arlene clearly stated that she was not Cherry’s mother, which while sounding hostile, can stand as a permanent crack in the family he was trying to hold together. Bobby and Arlene had a life together before he and Arlene became an item — there will always be comparisons, reflections, and more falling on her previous relationship and husband. She may compare Bobby and Russ, as she did near the end, or think about what life could be like if Bobby didn’t go to jail or if she’d stayed with him. I think the narrator saw these strings tied, in one way or another, together. He seems tender in his telling of the story, sympathetic even. He wanted to be kind to Bobby and be a good man for Arlene and good role model for Cherry, but he can’t help but wait for Bobby to get out of the picture so he can start his life and family without interruptions.
I think the narrator didn’t change much over the course of the story, other than maybe becoming a little more fearful of life’s uncertainty. Telling this story seemed meaningful to the narrator because it’s his way of reassuring himself that he is not Bobby. He hadn’t done what Bobby had done. He would not end up in jail like Bobby had. It was as if it was a way of protecting and reassuring himself.