The story is told through both mothers’ points of view, which makes the misunderstanding between them at the end more tragic. Of course, the second mother has a story as well, but the first never asks, and the two never reach a satisfying understanding. Informed by a dysfunctional upbringing, the “happier” mom has second thoughts when she sees the living conditions of the puppy’s owner who is also a mother. The points of view are ironic, yes, but they are also sympathetic.Īnother example of Saunders’s use of perspective for this dual purpose occurs in “Puppy”, in which a mother who is trying to keep her kids happy visits the home of a less privileged family to buy a puppy for her children. There is darkness, but the reader does Tenth of December a disservice by missing the light. Similar examples can be found in each of the stories in the collection: humanity of characters shining light into the surrounding darkness. He also allows genuine human moments, like the narrator noticing a life-affirming leaf after a tragedy strikes a friend from work, or his two daughters’ tenderness towards each other at an unlikely time, to shine through. Saunders is careful to mock one but not the other. In “The Semplica Girl Diaries”, for example, the narrator is oblivious to why the Girls (called SGs) would be unhappy, but his concern for his wife and children, while misguided, is genuine. : George Saunders – The Tenth of December
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