Kindness

Throughout A Gift From Bob, the author uses the Christmas season setting in order to consider the possibilities of human generosity and kindness. At the start of Chapter 1, “Golden Paws,” Bowen feels a sense of foreboding as the 2010 Christmas holiday approaches. One of the causes of Bowen’s despair is the fact that “Times were tighter than they had been for a long time, which was saying a lot for someone who had lived on the breadline for the best part of fifteen years” (21). Though his circumstances are not as dire as they have been in years past, Bowen has a general sense of anxiety surrounding the Christmas season. He does not want his 2010 Christmas to mark another year where he is “begrudging the festive season’s entire existence,” yet feels unsure how he will keep his apartment lit and heated during “the coldest winter . . . since 1910” (29, 71). Therefore, he...