Today I am writing about one of George Saunders' lesser known stories "Offloading for Mrs. Schwartz" which is the fifth story in the collection CivilWarLand in Bad Decline. Like most of the stories in this collection, this story focuses on someone who hates their job working a strange company. Saunders uses this premise so much because its easy for people reading to relate to it since pretty much everyone has worked a job they didn't like.
In this case the strange company's business is interactive personal holography. People pay to enter a virtual reality in a process that involves treadmills and headsets. The specifics of how this futuristic process works are not explained in detail because that is not what Saunders thinks is important. Saunders chooses to focus instead on the grieving process of the main character who lost his wife. The strange futuristic setting is simply an interesting backdrop that doesn't really factor into the story's core.
The narrator volunteers to help a dying old lady named Mrs. Schwartz who requires a live-in caretaker. The narrator feels it is his responsibility to provide this service for Mrs. Schwartz but unfortunately his virtual reality business doesn't provide him with the necessary money. Towards the end of the story the narrator is held at knife point by a hapless intruder. The narrator knocks the intruder unconscious and accidentally offloads his memories onto a hard drive. When the intruder wakes up he appears happier without the many painful memories he once possessed. This gives the narrator the idea to sell the intruder's memories as virtual experiences for customers and this idea is profitable enough that the narrator can afford to hire a caretaker for Mrs. Schwartz. This idea eventually forces the narrator to offload all of his own memories. The narrator leaves a final note telling himself to take care of Mrs. Schwartz with money that will arrive in the mail.
This is perhaps the least satisfying ending of any George Saunders story I have read. The ending is somewhat tragic because the narrator has sacrificed all of his memories but it also seems happy since the narrator will have a much better life without any memories. The central question of this story is how does memory help us when there are so many negative events to ruminate on. Judging by this story, Saunders seems to believe that memory serves a harmful purpose more often than not and most lives would be better lived if we could start over with a blank mental slate. This is the lesson Saunders hopes to teach us.
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In this case the strange company's business is interactive personal holography. People pay to enter a virtual reality in a process that involves treadmills and headsets. The specifics of how this futuristic process works are not explained in detail because that is not what Saunders thinks is important. Saunders chooses to focus instead on the grieving process of the main character who lost his wife. The strange futuristic setting is simply an interesting backdrop that doesn't really factor into the story's core.
The narrator volunteers to help a dying old lady named Mrs. Schwartz who requires a live-in caretaker. The narrator feels it is his responsibility to provide this service for Mrs. Schwartz but unfortunately his virtual reality business doesn't provide him with the necessary money. Towards the end of the story the narrator is held at knife point by a hapless intruder. The narrator knocks the intruder unconscious and accidentally offloads his memories onto a hard drive. When the intruder wakes up he appears happier without the many painful memories he once possessed. This gives the narrator the idea to sell the intruder's memories as virtual experiences for customers and this idea is profitable enough that the narrator can afford to hire a caretaker for Mrs. Schwartz. This idea eventually forces the narrator to offload all of his own memories. The narrator leaves a final note telling himself to take care of Mrs. Schwartz with money that will arrive in the mail.
This is perhaps the least satisfying ending of any George Saunders story I have read. The ending is somewhat tragic because the narrator has sacrificed all of his memories but it also seems happy since the narrator will have a much better life without any memories. The central question of this story is how does memory help us when there are so many negative events to ruminate on. Judging by this story, Saunders seems to believe that memory serves a harmful purpose more often than not and most lives would be better lived if we could start over with a blank mental slate. This is the lesson Saunders hopes to teach us.
BUY HERE:
https://amzn.to/2P7XTJp
Funny that we both visited this short fiction in the same year, 25 years or so after it was featured on This American Life.
ReplyDeleteAs I listened to Saunders' reading, I couldn't help but draw similarities (almost troubling) to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I love the film and the director. I wonder if Michel Gondry is even aware of the story.