...Sarah Munoz Professor Nixon English 1102 7 February 2013 Learning from Satire in George Saunders’s “Sea Oak” George Saunders composes dark and weird short stories which usually turn out to be a blessing in disguise for his characters, good and bad. In his story “Sea Oak” Saunders gives us a glimpse of everyday life for an uneducated lower class family. There is optimistic Aunt Bernie, negative Nancy’s: Min and Jade, and the stripper pilot narrator (whose name is not disclosed). Aunt Bernie dies and comes back to life as a bitter and vulgar old lady who can see the future and has telekinesis; through her powers she forces her nieces and nephew to get their life together. Satire is used by Saunders in most of his short stories to show some problems he thinks contemporary America is facing. In an interview with The Missouri Review Saunders says, “Satire, for me, is a way of encouraging clear sight. Teasing is a way of encouraging clear sight.” Throughout “Sea Oak” Saunders exposes the imperfections of contemporary America, such as: stupid reality shows, laziness, the need to look perfect, the “American Way,” and doing shameful things. Saunders uses Aunt Bernie as the motivation for her nieces and nephews to “encourage clear sight” for the problems they face in America. First impressions are made not by how smart you are or your personality but by looks. In this particular story the narrator’s job is dependent on looks since it’s a male version of Hooters. At the narrator’s...
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...what George Saunders is trying to say with the speech he held at the Syracuse University. Saunders believes that as we get older we also get more kind, because we “come to see how useless it is to be selfish – how illogical, really.” As we get older we discover that after all, we are not the heart of the universe, there are other people on this planet and it would be wrong to just keep thinking about ourselves. We discover that our lives are now dominated by people who need us to be kind, because given that we are not, we probably won’t stay in touch with a lot of people. That would be a shame. So what we need to do is to understand, as soon as possible, that we should “[…] be less selfish, more aware of what’s actually happening in the present moment, more open, and more loving.” Saunders is afraid that most of the new generation will spend their whole lives trying to succeed, as he states here; ““succeeding” whatever that might mean to you, is hard, and the need to do so constantly renews itself (success is like a mountain that keeps growing as you hike it), and there’s the very real danger that “succeeding” will take up your whole life, […]”. To achieve success by yourself, you have to be selfish. But according to Saunders our lives are just one long gradual process of becoming kinder, we might as well speed it up. Why would anyone one want to achieve success by himself or herself if they could be able to make more people happy at the same time with less effort? Saunders talks...
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...1st Graded Response Doruk Arkis Sticks The short story ” Sticks “ ( Tenth of December by George Saunders, pg. 29 ) talks about an old veteran who expresses his feelings by decorating a pole on important or life changing events. His family and people around him finds his acts strange but he doesn’t stop because what he is doing is the meaning of his life. George Saunders’ short story addresses that people can choose symbolic ways to express their feelings. ( How does George Saunders’ short story addresses that people can choose symbolic ways to express their feelings? ) In his short story, George Saunders’ addresses that people can choose symbolic ways to express their feelings by giving real life examples from the story’s main character, veteran father of the family. He sees the pole as his expression of his feelings. He decorates it on veteran days, people’s death, basically, on every important events. The medals he hangs on the pole, shows us that he is a veteran and it is known that veterans are usually have hard time expressing their emotions or feelings. This is why he chooses a “ different “ way of expressing his feelings and emotions. Narrator says, “The pole was Dad’s one concession to glee.” ( pg 29 “ Sticks”, Tenth of December) which tells us the importance of this pole to the Father. When he died, his children sold the house to a young couple and they threw the pole away. One’s most important or valuable thing might not have any meaning for...
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