The owner himself is not a bad person; it is stated that he treated his men well, even offering each man five bottles of vintage wine each new year.
While as a whole the men seem morally unaffected by the situation, Yvers, the protagonist, can't stop thinking about the little girl.
At the end of the story, Yvers breaks his silence and confides in his wife all that has happened in the course of the day, and concludes by uttering "Ah!
Just like Father Paneloux and the plague-stricken young boy in Camus' The Plague, death belittles our other problems and emphasizes man's struggle to make sense of what he has.
It is explained "that they were not sulking, that their mouths had been closed, they had to take it or leave it, and that anger and helplessness sometimes hurt so much that you can't even cry out."