A Persuaded Nation

One of the major themes of In Persuasion Nation is advertising and its effect on American culture. The biting satires in this book focus on the downfalls of modern America and a major theme is how we are affected by the commercials that bombard us constantly. Several stories focus on this, while others feature subtle references to the insidious nature of consumer culture.

            One of the first stories in the book is “Jon.” This story is set in a semi-dystopian world and is told from the perspective of a teenager who has been living his entire life as a member of some sort of permanent focus group for the products and advertisements to which the rest of the world is exposed. The main character knows by memory an immense catalog of advertisements and uses them as analogies to relate to his daily life. He even goes so far as to describe his first sexual experience in terms of a cereal commercial. This exemplifies, albeit to an extreme degree, how the advertisements we see stick with us and how an effective advertisement will pop into your head at seemingly inappropriate times.

            A discussion of advertising in this story would not be complete without an analysis of the titular story, “In Persuasion Nation.” Perhaps the most surreal of all (although that would be a hard distinction to make for this collection), this story is about the trials and tribulations of characters in the advertisements that we watch. One of the main aspects of this story is a critique of the violence that pervades advertising, often for comic effect. By personifying the injured polar bears and decapitated workers, Saunders effectively makes us question why these images are successful in inspiring us to buy things.

            In In Persuasion Nation, Saunders is critical of many aspects of American culture. “Brad Carrigan, American” focuses on television entertainment with a critique very similar to Saunders’ discussion of advertising. Needless and excessive violence is used to make the American public laugh in “Brad Carrigan” much like it is used to sell things in “In Persuasion Nation.” In short, George Saunders use satire, wit, and polemic to show us how pervasive persuasion is in our consumer culture.

Two Different Worlds in Interpreter of Maladies

The stories in Interpreter of Maladies alternate setting between America and India. In class earlier this week, we briefly discussed some of the differences between the American and the Indian settings. I would like to delve into that further and explore how living arrangements in America and India shape Lahiri’s social commentaries.

            In this blog post, I will be focusing on “A Real Durwan” and “The Treatment of Bibi Haldar” as examples of stories set in India, and “A Temporary Matter” and “This Blessed House” to discuss America. When I started reading “Bibi Haldar,” I immediately noticed that it was set in a similar apartment block to “A Real Durwan.” These Indian apartment complexes are crucial to these two stories. The building is not just a place to live, but a social structure that resembles a small town, where everyone knows each other. There are wise men people seek out for advice, like Mr. Chatterjee in “Durwan” and there are eccentric characters like Boori Ma or Bibi Haldar. Everyone knows everyone. Perhaps more importantly, stories set in these apartment blocks seem to be narrated by the community, adding to the feeling of a large social group involved in the story.

            The stories in America could not be further from this community setting. In “A Temporary Matter,” much is made of the large size and resulting emptiness of the house shared by Shukumar and Shoba. Due to this, it is mentioned that Shukumar and Shoba would often find themselves in isolated corners of the house, avoiding each other. “This Blessed House” may at the surface seem to be about the social potential of the American household—the story’s climax is a housewarming party. But I observed that Sanjeev seems to be having a bad time at this party while his wife Twinkle enjoys herself greatly. I believe this at least partially has to do with Sanjeev’s desire to stay connected to Indian culture, while Twinkle is breaking away. Twinkle’s split can be observed in everything from her collection of Christian trinkets to her very non-Indian nickname.

        When these Indian characters divorce themselves from the more typical “Indian” social patterns that Lahiri describes so engagingly, they falter socially and emotionally.   America itself is a factor in these stories, and it plays a disorienting role.  The stories that take place in India can be messy, complex, and disheartening, but they take place within a community.  Without overt critique, the author nonetheless making a statement by introducing a lack of a communal setting (and/or spirit) in the stories that take place in America.