"Civilwarland in Bad Decline" by George Saunders

In the book of short stories Civilwarland in Bad Decline, by George Saunders we encounter a few mildly confusing yet somewhat entertaining stories that involve everything from ghosts with morals and guilt to themes of poverty vs. decency. In the first we encounter a Civil war themed park with a gang violence problem. The investors of the park are going to pull the plug on the project soon if the ownership cannot make the place a safe attraction for family fun. Local gangs are running ramped in the park, tagging graffiti on old colonials and even beating up patrons. The park takes action by trying to hire one of the soldier actors as "security". He is told to scare the gangs with warning shots. Along comes Samuel, a Vietnam vet that was dishonorably discharged for violence, true irony. Sam impresses the owner by intervening on a situation where a gang tried to rape a teenage girl attending a cousin’s baptism on the parks grounds. Sam kills six of the gang members, sending a message to the rest of the community. Our narrator is caught between a rock and a hard place, morally speaking, he feels it is wrong to kill these gang members but if he speaks up he may lose his job. He cannot afford to take the moral high road with a wife and two children at home. Sam suffers from post traumatic stress syndrome, just as Mr. McKinnon, the father of the civil war ghost era family that haunts the park does. We see similarities between the two near the end of the story. The pair both suffer from skeletons in their closets, causing them to feel only two emotions hate and hate. The symbolism here is how ghosts from your past can haunt your present.
In "the 400 pound CEO" we encounter Jeffrey an overweight office worker who is constantly harassed by his co-workers about his weight and unsightly looks. He was not always so large, at one point he would describe himself as portly, which is a nice way of saying fat but without such a negative connotation. His job is to sell humane capture and release of pesky varmint like raccoons. Certain housewives cannot deal with killing such pests and it weighs lighter on their conscience if they go the humane route. The problem is they are capturing and killing the raccoons anyway. Jeffery's boss is a rotten man with many deficiencies. He spent time in jail for intentionally backing over a frat boy with his car. While in jail he conceptualized his rouse. He even has an S&M chamber in the basement of the office. When an animal rights activist uncovers his mode of operations we finally see Jeffery step out side the norm and stand up to his boss. He was going to kill her in the woods and burry her in the same mass grave as the raccoons. Here Jeffery intervenes accidentally killing his boss. In the end he is sentenced to 50 years to life in jail, suffering for the rest of his days for doing what was right. His boss gets off easy with death while he has to endure nightly go-rounds with an inmate that has made him his property. If he just let evil run its course he might not have ended up in such a bad situation. He made a choice to do what is right; sometimes the law is blind to right and wrong. At least he can take solace in knowing he did the right thing regardless of the repercussions.


Posted by Michael Clark