The Ogress and the Orphans

These chapters continue the buildup of tension leading to the book’s climactic sequence. Cass’s return shows how people only see what they want or expect to see and how emergencies take over our attention. Though Anthea, Bartleby, and Myron repeatedly tell people Cass is back unharmed, the cobbler’s wife and others don’t acknowledge their words. Specifically, the cobbler’s wife is too busy making sure needs are met so the search can continue, and later, the people want to believe the butcher’s story about the Ogress rather than the good news of Cass’s return. The fact that people would rather blame the Ogress shows how prejudice hardens people against the truth. The Ogress has done nothing wrong, but the Mayor has planted the idea that the Ogress is bad. In conjunction with the butcher’s insistence that the Ogress is to blame, the people are primed to believe the Ogress is trying to harm them. They don’t listen to Myron and the kids because their version of events doesn’t match the one they want to believe, which is another way misinformation spreads.

Chapter 28 shows the butcher concocting the story that turns the townspeople entirely against the Ogress. The butcher sees only the Ogress holding a child. He doesn’t know if this is the child who was reported missing, and the child seems to be peacefully sleeping, not in distress. Regardless, he concludes that the Ogress is kidnapping children, partly because the Mayor has turned him against the Ogress and partly because he likes the attention such a discovery will bring from the townspeople. The butcher’s inaction shows how he doesn’t truly believe the Ogress is to blame. If he actually thought Cass was in danger, he would have done something. Instead, he talks himself out of acting, offering excuses like the Ogress’s size and his long days of work that have made him tired. Rather than get the facts, he clings to the belief he likes best and that he believes will earn him the most prestige.

Chapter 29 is foreshadowing, as well as a bit of philosophy. The book Bartleby reads discusses goodness and wickedness (or kindness and meanness) as meaningless without context. Two people may view the same event differently and define it as good or wicked according to their personal beliefs. Misinformation can also influence whether an event is good or bad. If two people have conflicting information about the same event, they will view it differently, even if they share similar personal beliefs. The book says that definitions of a term may be incorrect, suggesting that there is a universal definition of correctness, which further implies that correctness is rooted in goodness. This does not mean that everyone views the world the same way. Someone may believe that what most people consider good is actually wicked, which calls into question whether that individual is wrong or if they just have a different way of viewing the world.

The angry group of townspeople in Chapter 30 exemplifies groupthink, a phenomenon where people are more concerned with group loyalty than making good choices. The butcher’s sentiments about the Ogress match those of the Mayor, and the people want to remain loyal to the Mayor because they believe he has saved Stone-in-the-Glen over the years. Rather than listen to Myron about the return of Cass and make choices based on the facts, they rally behind the butcher and decide to pursue violence toward the Ogress when they have no proof she’s done anything wicked. The constable twisting Bartleby’s answers to make the Ogress sound guilty is an example of confirmation bias—the tendency to interpret information in a way that aligns with preexisting beliefs. The constable believes the Ogress is wicked, so she finds ways to support this belief with Bartleby’s information, even though Bartleby says nothing against the Ogress.