Humans can surprise you sometimes.
The One and Only Ivan“Humans can surprise you sometimes” is Stella’s wary recognition that human beings can act in unexpected ways. First spoken in response to Ruby’s rescue story, the phrase later returns to Ivan as he remembers Ruby’s rescue and finds a way to honor his promise to her.
First Use: A Cautious Reassessment
After Ruby insists that her account is true, Stella slowly makes her way toward her and says she has heard rescue stories like it before. Weary rather than celebratory, she describes humans as an unpredictable species and concludes, “Humans can surprise you sometimes.” The wording holds open the possibility of human kindness without erasing the harm Ruby has suffered.
Doubt Beside the Story
Bob challenges the hopeful implication by pointing out that Ruby is now at the mall and asking who hurt her if humans are so admirable. Ivan gives Bob a grumpy look, recognizing that the question comes at a moment when he does not know when to keep quiet. The exchange keeps Stella’s observation from becoming a simple endorsement of people: Ruby’s rescue and her captivity both belong to her experience of humans.
Return in Ivan’s Memory
Later, Ivan looks at the billboard’s faded picture of Stella and remembers George and Mack adding Ruby’s picture to attract visitors to the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade. He also recalls Ruby’s story of the villagers who came to her rescue, then hears Stella’s words again. With his fingers coated in red paint the color of blood, Ivan understands how to keep his promise. The remembered phrase thus links an earlier story of human rescue to Ivan’s resolve to act for Ruby; its significance rests in the contrast between human harm and the possibility that people may help.
