Nicholas Ferretti

George Saunders Analysis

George Saunders: An Escape from Reality

George Saunders conceptualizes a dark, dystopian future for America in his writing. His
stories are comic-tragedies told through a first person narrative, in a not too distant future
America, in which civilization is deteriorating along with the lives of the people in it. In
Offloading for Mrs. Schwartz and CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, George Saunders writes in
a moderate, satirical style utilizing point of view, foreshadowing, and symbolism to convey the
theme of escaping reality.
In both stories, Saunders uses the point of view of a first person narrator to introduce the
theme indirectly through the characters experiences. In Offloading for Mrs. Schwartz, the
narrator is an employee for a company that steals peoples memories and uses them to create
virtual reality software to make a profit by charging people to use it for entertainment. This
represents the theme of escaping reality and living out a fantasy to avoid the misery of everyday
life. Saunders pokes fun at the fantasies of others through the narrator such as Mr. Bomphil
comes in looking guilty as always requests violated Prom Queen, then puts on high heels and
selects Treadmill Three (863). This is an example of Saunders satirical style as he exposes the
petty vices that people have. In CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, the narrator is an employee of a
virtual reality theme park in which people can experience a simulated life, in a historical
reconstruction of the Civil War, that is haunted by both violent gangs and a family of ghosts.
Similarly to the virtual reality consoles, people go to CivilWarLand to escape their daily lives
and live out a fantasy. Saunders satirizes the idea of real life theme parks and how people use
them to escape their mundaneness of their lives. We distribute the slave and Native American
roles equitably among racial groups. Anyone is free to request a different identity at any time

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Nicholas Ferretti
George Saunders Analysis

(10). This exemplifies how people used the theme park to invent another identity for them in
order to live a life other than their own. The narrator has his own delusions with reality as he
buries the severed hand of a harmless boy that was killed by an employee of the park in order to
keep his job and support his family despite his guilt. He resigns himself to stay clammed up
forever and take his lumps in the afterlife rather than face reality (20)
Saunders foreshadowing in both stories signify his style and fortify the theme. In
Offloading for Mrs. Schwartz the narrator mourns of his late lover Elizabeth throughout the
story and is tormented by the memories of the fighting and words he said to her before she died.
He offloads the memories of Mrs. Schwartz, who is mourning the loss of her husband, and a
Marine, who was troubled by his violent experiences, ridding them of their bad memories. The
Marine hops off the table looking years younger, suddenly happy-go-luckyfree of all memory
of youthful slaughterhe left here a happier man (867). This foreshadows the ending of the
story where the narrator offloads his own memories in order to forget the loss of Elizabeth. This
reinforces the theme as the narrator wanted to escape the pain of his reality by forgetting that he
loved her and starting over as a blank slate. It is also a trait of Saunders style as he satirizes the
clich that it is better to have loved and lost then never to have loved at all. He has the narrator
overcome this clich and achieve happiness through a state of ignorance. In CivilWarLand in
Bad Decline, the McKinnon familys death and ghostly presence in the theme park foreshadows
the death of the narrator. The narrators guilt involving the fact the he considers himself an
accomplice and an obstructer of justice for burying the hand foreshadows his confrontation with
the ghost of the boy (20). The ghosts presence in the park and the later explanation of how they
came to be there through murder also emphasizes the theme. In the living world people went to
CivilWarLand to find entertainment and live a virtual life and only in death could they no longer
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Nicholas Ferretti
George Saunders Analysis

escape reality. The narrator comes to the realization that he should have loved his children and
wife more and comes to possess perfect knowledge and clarity after becoming a ghost (26).
Symbolism is also utilized by Saunders in the two stories. Both stories contain symbols
for peoples methods of escaping reality. Saunders puts them in a literal sense as he creates the
module systems and CivilWarLand. This is a testament to his style as he derides how people
attempt to escape reality in real life. In Offloading for Mrs. Schwartz, the narrator states that
In spite of my problems, personal interactive holography marches on which embodies how the
virtual reality system is a symbol for escaping the problems of reality by turning to fantasy for
comfort (863). In CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, the park represents an escape to the past. The
McKinnon family symbolizes the opposite of this as they remind the reader that reality is
inescapable as the ghostly apparitions of their former selves reenact their horrific deaths. The
Mr. is whacking them with an invisible scythe...When hes killed everyone the Mr. walks out to
his former field and mimes blowing out his brains (24).
The satirical writing style of George Saunders is made evident in both stories. He
ridicules how people today attempt to escape reality by any means necessary and suggests it
futility through dark humor and tragedy in the future American society of his stories.

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