America’s social classes can roughly be divided into three categories: Upper, Lower, and Middle. However, when it comes to incorporating these classes into literature, George Saunders does not write to accommodate all of them. In “Puppy”, Saunders main characters belong to two opposite ends of the spectrum: one in the upper class and one in the lower class. There are multiple faults with both characters stemming from their financial status, supporting the idea that, “[Saunders's fiction] challenges us to reconsider basic questions of class representation” (Rando 1). “Puppy” is a thought provoking story that provides a deeper look into the stereotypes of social classes. Saunders goes beyond the classes, and focuses on the dark, underlying similarities between two women who seem completely different.
The characters include Marie, Callie, Josh and Abbie (Marie’s children), Robert (Marie’s husband), Bo (Callie’s son), and Jimmy (Callie’s husband). Marie and Callie are both mothers and wives who love their families; but live very different lifestyles. Marie is more upper class; she frequently interacts with her kids and enjoys spending time with her family. Callie is more lower class; she owns a filthy home with trash scattered throughout and keeps her mentally unstable son chained out back on a leash. Neither woman is satisfied with their lives. Marie hints at a rough childhood through her thoughts, and almost seems jealous of all the love she gives her own kids. Callie’s son is mentally slow, and she struggles with trying to keep him safe without taking away from his quality of life. To a woman like Callie, a life in the upper class may seem ideal, but the reader knows Marie has enough problems of her own; supporting the claim that the grass is not always greener on the other side.
Even the character’s names reflect on the class they belong to. Callie’s son Bo, and her husband Jimmy, both have simplistic almost “country bumpkin” –like names. Marie, Robert, Josh, and Abbie have more common names associated with middle and upper classes. Though this is not a significant indicator, one can assume giving the odd names to the odd lower class family is no coincidence.
Marie is completely out of her element in Callie’s home, and is sarcastically talking herself through the situation, “O.K., then, all right, they would adopt white-trash dog. Ha ha. They could name it Zeke, buy it a little corncob pipe and a straw hat. She imagined the puppy, having crapped on the rug, looking up at her, going, Cain’t hep it” (Saunders 176). Through her thoughts the reader can pick up that Marie feels uncomfortable around Callie and her poor lifestyle. The San Francisco Chronicle praises that, “…Saunders uses humor to amplify tension rather than avoid it, and the results are superb” (qtd. in George Saunders In The Media). Not only do Marie’s condescending thoughts add humor to the story, they also amplify the tension of the situation.
The narration is third person omniscient, allowing the reader to read the story through both Marie and Callie’s point of views. Uniquely it is, “…told in multiple third-person voices, but those voices are both so tied to the specific characters' inner workings that third person and first person become almost indistinguishable” (Ervin ‘Tenth Of December’). A large portion of the beginning is all about Marie and her family. The reader does not know Callie will be a narrator as well until two pages in. Without any significant indication, the story suddenly changes from Marie’s point of view to Callie’s. After Callie is the narrator for a couple pages, the point of view switches back to Marie and continues that way for the rest of the story. Through this smooth transition the reader might not realize there are two different people telling the story. This helps make the similarities between the two more significant. Simply through narration, Saunders creates the idea that, although the two women belong to very different lifestyles, when it comes to their family issues they are not all that different. Saunders is said to, “write stories that are not only high-energy, oddly amusing, and unpredictable but also provocative” (Minus 332). Saunders is breaking the common stereotype that people in the upper class are better off than people in the lower class.
Although Marie and Callie could not seem more different, they are more alike than one would think. Marie’s history of family issues coincides with Callie’s current situation with her mentally ill son and aloof husband. Saunders creates dark similarities between Marie and Callie, which makes for a thought provoking story that questions if social classes are all that accurate when it comes to common misconceptions about the people who make them up.
Works Cited
Rando, David P. "George Saunders And The Postmodern Working Class." Contemporary Literature 53.3 (2012): 437-460. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.
Mays, Kelly J. ""Puppy" by George Saunders." The Norton Introduction to Literature, Shorter 11th Ed. 11th ed. New York: Norton, 2013. 172-78. Print.
"George Saunders In The Media." George Saunders. Square Space, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.
Ervin, Andrew. "'Tenth of December,' by George Saunders." SFGate. SFGate, 11 Jan. 2013. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.
Minus, Ed. “Competent, Fair, Good, Better, Best.” Sewanee Review 117.2 (2009): 331-334. Humanities Abstracts (H.W. Wilson). Web. 22 Feb. 2015.
The characters include Marie, Callie, Josh and Abbie (Marie’s children), Robert (Marie’s husband), Bo (Callie’s son), and Jimmy (Callie’s husband). Marie and Callie are both mothers and wives who love their families; but live very different lifestyles. Marie is more upper class; she frequently interacts with her kids and enjoys spending time with her family. Callie is more lower class; she owns a filthy home with trash scattered throughout and keeps her mentally unstable son chained out back on a leash. Neither woman is satisfied with their lives. Marie hints at a rough childhood through her thoughts, and almost seems jealous of all the love she gives her own kids. Callie’s son is mentally slow, and she struggles with trying to keep him safe without taking away from his quality of life. To a woman like Callie, a life in the upper class may seem ideal, but the reader knows Marie has enough problems of her own; supporting the claim that the grass is not always greener on the other side.
Even the character’s names reflect on the class they belong to. Callie’s son Bo, and her husband Jimmy, both have simplistic almost “country bumpkin” –like names. Marie, Robert, Josh, and Abbie have more common names associated with middle and upper classes. Though this is not a significant indicator, one can assume giving the odd names to the odd lower class family is no coincidence.
Marie is completely out of her element in Callie’s home, and is sarcastically talking herself through the situation, “O.K., then, all right, they would adopt white-trash dog. Ha ha. They could name it Zeke, buy it a little corncob pipe and a straw hat. She imagined the puppy, having crapped on the rug, looking up at her, going, Cain’t hep it” (Saunders 176). Through her thoughts the reader can pick up that Marie feels uncomfortable around Callie and her poor lifestyle. The San Francisco Chronicle praises that, “…Saunders uses humor to amplify tension rather than avoid it, and the results are superb” (qtd. in George Saunders In The Media). Not only do Marie’s condescending thoughts add humor to the story, they also amplify the tension of the situation.
The narration is third person omniscient, allowing the reader to read the story through both Marie and Callie’s point of views. Uniquely it is, “…told in multiple third-person voices, but those voices are both so tied to the specific characters' inner workings that third person and first person become almost indistinguishable” (Ervin ‘Tenth Of December’). A large portion of the beginning is all about Marie and her family. The reader does not know Callie will be a narrator as well until two pages in. Without any significant indication, the story suddenly changes from Marie’s point of view to Callie’s. After Callie is the narrator for a couple pages, the point of view switches back to Marie and continues that way for the rest of the story. Through this smooth transition the reader might not realize there are two different people telling the story. This helps make the similarities between the two more significant. Simply through narration, Saunders creates the idea that, although the two women belong to very different lifestyles, when it comes to their family issues they are not all that different. Saunders is said to, “write stories that are not only high-energy, oddly amusing, and unpredictable but also provocative” (Minus 332). Saunders is breaking the common stereotype that people in the upper class are better off than people in the lower class.
Although Marie and Callie could not seem more different, they are more alike than one would think. Marie’s history of family issues coincides with Callie’s current situation with her mentally ill son and aloof husband. Saunders creates dark similarities between Marie and Callie, which makes for a thought provoking story that questions if social classes are all that accurate when it comes to common misconceptions about the people who make them up.
Works Cited
Rando, David P. "George Saunders And The Postmodern Working Class." Contemporary Literature 53.3 (2012): 437-460. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.
Mays, Kelly J. ""Puppy" by George Saunders." The Norton Introduction to Literature, Shorter 11th Ed. 11th ed. New York: Norton, 2013. 172-78. Print.
"George Saunders In The Media." George Saunders. Square Space, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.
Ervin, Andrew. "'Tenth of December,' by George Saunders." SFGate. SFGate, 11 Jan. 2013. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.
Minus, Ed. “Competent, Fair, Good, Better, Best.” Sewanee Review 117.2 (2009): 331-334. Humanities Abstracts (H.W. Wilson). Web. 22 Feb. 2015.