George Saunders - The Wavemaker Falters

The narrator of Saunders' "The Wavemaker Falters" works at an amusement park where he operates the wavemaker, a machine titled for its function. It's a strange setting to say the least and the narrator's description of his surroundings makes this clear: "The Night crew's hard at work applying a range of commercial chemicals and cleaning hair balls from the filter. Some exiting guests are brawling in the traffic jam on the access road. Through a federal program we offer discount coupons to the needy, so sometimes our clientele is borderline." Saunders' unique voice is present throughout the story. He has a way of describing things that feels playful but also quite discerning. The narrator sees a great deal in a relatively short period of time, and most of what he sees is generally unpleasant. What kind of place has chemicals, hairballs, and people fighting in the same location? It's hard not to laugh at Saunders' humorously depressing descriptions of setting.
The defining moment of the narrator's life is when a young boy dies in the wavemaker while the narrator stares at members of an all-girl's glee club; a traumatic moment that causes much guilt for the narrator. Guilt is definitely a key word in the story. Much of the narrator's frustration derives from the inadequacy he feels compared to his boss Leon who might be even stranger than the narrator: "On the wall of his office he's got a picture of himself Jell-O-wrestling a traveling celebrity Jell-O-wrestler. That's pure Leon." This about sums up the eccentricity of the story. Our first glimpse into Leon's character is through the image of him Jello-O-wrestling (whatever that looks like). The narrator feels that this picture represents Leon perfectly, but how can this sort of image convey Leon's personality? Is he an the ostentatious type who enjoys showing off his crazy adventures? I choose to believe that the narrator is strange for thinking he understands Leon because of this picture.

A typical Jell-O mold.

Because of his guilt, the narrator visits a therapist who makes him repeat the phrase: "A boy is dead because of me" got half an hour for fifty dollars. The narrator needs to quantify this experience, showing possible resentment for his therapist's motivations. The narrator is visited most nights by the ghost of the boy he killed who brings interesting conversation topics with him: "One night he showed up swearing in Latin. Another time with a wild story about an ancient African culture that used radio waves to relay tribal myths." How about that? The complete ridiculousness of the situation is made even more bizarre by Saunders inclusion of these details. Saunders heaps weirdness onto more weirdness, creating a stew of bizarre scenarios. Thankfully these scenes combine to form a coherent narrative.

At the core the story is quite tragic as the narrator's life seems be spiraling downward.  Towards the end the narrator discovers his wife's affair with Leon and can't muster up the courage to confront them in the act. When he brings up the topic with his wife at home, she doesn't even deny the fact. She tells the narrator bluntly that the affair is going to continue. The narrator hits rock bottom when the father of the child he killed calls to say that he's going to kill him: "I don't hate you, he says, But I can't have you living on the earth while my son isn't." Curiously, at the exact moment of his impending death, the child's father disappears out the front door. The narrator leaves his house and wanders to a graveyard where he reflects on past events. Fully aware that his life is going nowhere, the narrator says, "this is as low as I go." A somewhat hopeful ending for a story dominated by hilariously tragic circumstances. Frankly, I can't imagine how this narrator will discover any satisfaction in his life, yet this abrupt shift in tone leaves a sense that things can only get better.

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