George Saunders has published four books full of short stories, and I have read all of them like a cat at the water bowl. I drink up the disfigured, misogynistic, abused, middle-aged man lusting after a younger woman. I absorb the harried, foolish, sycophantic employee sympathizing with the furious customer and defending the company that exploits and employs him. Saunders's stories poke at the hurting places, at the sadness of our little lives, and in these stories, we are all small, we are all victims of the system.
I'd like to point out two craft elements involved: both stories are based on innovative formal structures and a point of view that is very close, embarrassingly close, to the painfully small-minded protagonist. The structures are innovative, but we can easily recognize them. The barber's story is patterned almost like a fairy tale. The letter, while ridiculous, is very much a letter. In both stories, the protagonist is distanced from us by being so small-minded, but then Saunders gives each such specific language that his magnified small desires become our own. We ogle, too. We picture the pretty girl rubbing corncobs. We sit stiffly. We wet our comb, flex our chest, dance around our nubs. We sit at our own (cluttered!) desk. If you have a story that wants to critique the world we live in (a magic trick a.k.a. satire), you might take your cue from Saunders's playful structure and his specificity.
Saunders fascinates me because he managed to capture the sick way we all take a small delight from being able to stare freely at people's deformities. Getting close to characters that live in a world that is structured like fiction. Look at the way Micky follows the same pattern over and over again, like his life is a series of rehearsals before the big twist. I want to reread the short stories again, because between the language, and the unique structure, I felt like I needed to parse out these stories in the way that we are taught to analyze fiction.
ReplyDeleteI think that where Saunders wins us over is in his ability to manipulate the reader around the character so that we both understand and side with the character, while being disgusted, and glad that we are nothing like the character.
George Saunders takes characters that would be completely unlikable in other stories and makes them sympathetic, primarily through showing the nitty-gritty embarrassing thoughts and feelings that most people keep secret. When making a believable lie, one usually includes some detail that is somewhat embarrassing for the teller to say and in the same way, it doesn’t feel cheap when Saunders makes the big turnaround from pathetic and despicable to sympathetic. Mickey starts out as a chauvinist pig but by the end it’s feels cathartic to know that he has a chance at being better and being in a better relationship. For Rickey Sminks, it’s a matter of what is perceived as a common annoyance, customer service, revealed to be human by being far too personal and intimate than one would expect from someone like Ricky. The real achievement of “I CAN SPEAK” is that it manages to do so with a very formal and impersonal method, a company letter, that at first seems to be as if a robot is talking.
ReplyDeleteAfter finishing these stories by George Saunders, I thought about some of the other things we've read in class recently that are very dark and sad by the simple fact of being true to life, such as Mary Gaitskill's work. The character of the barber has all the qualities of someone I've probably passed on the street or encountered online, but a lot of what Saunders writes about this man are the kinds of things we don't want to think about. We want to think that this creepy old man isn't really creepy but that he's had a tough life and just been unlucky. Even when seeing the barber's thoughts about the women he's been with and sees, some part of me still wanted to like him, even though he was obviously such a disgusting man. It's interesting that he doesn't really grow as a character by the end, and I got the feeling that what happened with the other girls is going to happen with this girl as well. By the end, his condition seems inevitable, still sad but something that follows from the way he is. The reader feels sympathy but also knows that his fate is unable to be changed, which I think is a skill that is good to develop as a writer, creating sympathy without letting the reader forget the negative sides of characters.
ReplyDeleteBre makes a very good point, but when I was reading The Barber's Unhappiness, I disliked the barber a lot. I actually felt as if he was a nonredeemable character since he was introduced, well after he really started talking. it was really hard for me to like Mickey, or Ricky even, as they pretty much spoke things about a person's private life that they would prefer to never have had attention brought to. I think it may have just been my personality clashing with his, which Kudos to Saunders for that, as I like to think of myself as being very kind and nice and things like the sort, so it is hard for me to feel sympathetic for these type of characters easily unless they go through some profound change or do a great act of kindness. I feel that Saunders did neither of those with his characters, they felt the same by the end of the very well written stories. I also really liked the language of the stories as well, it felt as if it were as gritty as the central characters. I may not have liked the characters much, but I was interested by them, kind of like how people don't like serial killers but really enjoy learning about them and their state of mind during a psych class.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, George Saunders literally blew me away with his writing! As I read "The Barber's Unhappiness", I could not stop thinking "Wow, does this guy have ADD or what." Th ability to create all these images and small scenes inside a character's thoughts was incredible. The sentences were long, almost as long as paragraphs, but it worked because it went along as one continuous train of thought. We as the reader really got into the head of the barber as he had encounter after encounter with women. He seems to never be happy, he always finds a way for his mother to essentially "cock-block" any chance of happiness he could have. Saunders ability to get us in this character's head, actually understand his viewpoint, was amazing. The reader actually related to everything the barber thought, and there was never a trace of doubt.
ReplyDeleteI kind of think it's funny that Laura mentions thinking that he could have ADD, because when I was reading "The Barber's Unhappiness" I felt overwhelmingly connected to the way that he thinks, which means that if he is showing signs of ADD I guess I do too. I just found the play of how someone can go into their own head so much that they actually become upset at a hypothetical situation, or even have full on conversations with themselves when they realize that what they are thinking is absurd, and then trying to convince yourself again that it isn't absurd. Other than this, I found the story intriguing in that I didn't actually feel all that bad for the barber. Yes, his mother is, to put it bluntly, a controlling manipulative bitch, and yes he has this deformity, but he is just such an ass. He thinks that someone's worth is through their looks and how fit they are, but the same standard shouldn't be put to him, because he is a businessman. I found myself more sad for the woman that he is going on a date with, the "fat girl" and the other girls that he has slept with. I wasn't entirely put off by him, but I didn't feel any reason to feel bad for him either.
ReplyDeleteI think Christine hit how I feel about Saunders writing right on the money. I love 'his ability to manipulate the reader around the character so that we both understand and side with the character, while being disgusted, and glad that we are nothing like the character.' In both stories we come to understand what type of person the narrator (letter writer) is and while we want to be nothing like them, especially the barber, there is still that sense that everyone is like this person. I actually felt like a deplorable person when I had to explain the reason why I was laughing out loud to my roommates. At the end of the story, I was accustomed to the barbers cruel and unashamedly judgmental thoughts and views of other people. It was specifically two instances on page 610. 'She looked so hopeful. But oops. Oh my God she was big.' and 'Forgetting last night was not an option. What were the options? Well, she could trim down. That was an option. That was a good option.' This is pure, disgusting honesty of how a human mind works. We do not want to be this character and yet we cannot help but understand him. It takes a fantastic writer to hold a reader that long with this kind of character.
ReplyDelete'I CAN SPEAK!' is simply one of my favorite short pieces of literature of all time. I have to disagree with Dylan that the voice sounds like a robot at any time in the piece. Yes, Rick Smith is saying the things that are required of him by the company but he is doing so with a giant dose of sass for this lady. It is just something I enjoy reading when I can't yell at people in my own job for the stupid questions and complaints.
George Saunders can write. I was blown away by his innate ability to so accurately capture the essence of one's inner thoughts. In "The Barber's Unhappiness" the barber's stream of consciousness comes out so effortlessly on the page that we doesn't even think twice, we simply find ourselves nodding in agreement. As Bre mentioned above, the power in this piece lies in its characters. The sadness, regret and longing we see in the barber can be seen in so many of the people that are apart of our lives. The hypocritical behavior in particular rings true as a human flaw we ourselves are guilty of.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that the story at times breaks from POV, an example being the young woman on the street looking at the barber. Dividing the piece into 8 sections was an interesting approach that I liked as it felt like I was reading small chapters within the piece itself. "I CAN SKEAK!" is a dose of sass and then some, the hilarity and blunt honesty had me smiling and laughing throughout it.
Going off of what Laura and Jenna said, I’m not completely sure that ADD is what’s going on. Granted, I have ADD so my argument may be invalid but when reading “The Barber’s Unhappiness” I felt like this was how I always assumed most people thought. The narrator in this piece doesn’t think on the typical path most narrators and characters think.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, on page 591 it says “Why was she going into church on a weekday?” Most other narrators may just leave it at this and move on to something else. Instead, Saunders takes us on a similar thought path that I would take in real life. Like, if we see an older woman walking on the side of the road in a baggy brown stained jacket pushing a shopping cart the assumption will be “She’s homeless.” Where the idea that Saunders uses comes into play is after this statement, do people just stop at that thought? I, personally, would continue on to “Where’s she headed? Where did she get that cart? I wonder if her kids know where she is.”
I want to focus on the first paragraph of the first story, The Barber’s Unhappiness. George Saunders holds no hesitation to throwing in the reader from the get go. To begin, Saunders sets us up with a first sentence that is short and direct and yet already sets up the story. Its morning and there is a barber who is “ogling” at women. I’m already starting to get a premature feel for this character and a little laugh in, too. But that was just the intro. From there, Sunders jumps into a sentence that is sixteen lines long. As soon as we are introduced to him, we are immediately implanted into his blunt honest train of thought, as he sizes up a passing woman and creates and imaginative situation, a day dream of her, in his mind. As it grows and details, everything is a continuous flow. She gets a name, an skimpy outfit, theme, setting, witnessing characters, sexual intimacy, culture, and it builds and builds in his own mind as she walks by unknowingly. He only stops himself when he reassesses an unbelievable detail in his long description, “stereo in a Mexican mud hut.” It is ironic as he just delivered an extensive alternative world with a complete stranger! He proceeds to then short step by step decide how he would move about his and we learn that this character is not all he has presented himself as, rather lonely and seeking affection apart from his mother. Its comical yet poignant. By this quick trusting nature towards the reader, we are hooked. Comedy, curiosity, character has drawn us in and by the end of that first paragraph you are bound to the story. Even as Saunders uses the barber to drive the story, he changes direction, reveals more, changes his mind and instead of getting lost, it is by this genius connection to the reader, and understanding of how we perceive the barber and intrigue, we flow with it convinced and hoping for the best.
ReplyDeleteThis was my first experience reading George Saunders, and I was not disappointed. The Barber's Unhappiness was dark, but in that real-life-way kind of dark that makes you examine yourself. The protagonist is this small-minded protagonist, but he is painfully self-conscious and hates to think others are making wrong assumptions about him, yet that's all he does is see someone, like the very pretty big girl, and project all of his fantasies onto her. You are rooting for this protagonist to change, to find someone he really connects with and accept her for who she is. But no. He is only accepting the idea of a thinner version if this woman, losing all the weight only to please him, and you get the sad/frustrating feeling like this relationship will only be like his other failed ones. You want to say the protagonist is kind of a creep, but you also know he's lonely. The point of view leaves no room for distancing yourself from the character, and I felt that as I read, being coerced right into the protagonist's lonely, selfish train of thought.
ReplyDeleteAs a reader who is interested in post-modern writing, I was really struck by Saunders and his stream-of-consciousness style, especially in The Barber's Unhappiness. I also love the way that he incorporates the barber's imagination in that train of thought, because I often think that we place too bold a line between the life we see in our real, day-to-day life and the world we create in our heads. Those things are not mutually exclusive, and I love that we see this interwoven train of thought through our barber. The way that he perceives people, time, and place felt really genuine to me. For some reason, even though our supposed "moral" selves would normally denounce a figure like the barber (which is a topic I won't touch right now), I am pulling for him for some reason by the end. All in all, Saunders is a really interesting writer.
ReplyDeleteIn George Saunders' first piece, it is imediately evident how voicey the narrator is. I like the way that he really uses pace to change the flow of the story at certain parts and to develop narrative character. In the first section of his first piece there is a sentence that is 16 lines long, which describes a woman in significant detail, but this is cut short by the next sentence which is short and completely unrelated to the woman. I found myself smiling at the way he almost makes fun of his writing by doing that, and these types of juxtopositions are very different from the other stories we have read thus far. George Saunders also makes use of physical deformity in order to minipulate our feelings towards a character. Specifically, I found myself feeling compassion for the character without toes because it was completely out of his control it that made the character feel alienated. I liked how after a story which involved significant development of trust in the narrator, this is undermined at the very end by someone looking at the narrator. I thought this kind of twist showed how in our own minds, all of our perceptions of the world are justified and reasonable, but from someone elses perspective we may be very deformed beyond something like missing a couple toes.
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