The End Of FIRPO In The World by George Saunders, 1998
The magic trick:
Creating radically different emotional effects, first half to second half
Some of my favorite songs are split personalities. They go about their business for a few minutes in one direction and then abruptly shift into a totally different gear. The Super Furry Animals are masters of this. “A Day In The Life” by The Beatles is probably a more recognizable example.
Anyway, I think of this story as being akin to those kind of two-toned songs. The emotional pull in “FIRPO” changes dramatically from first half to second half. I’m not sure Saunders is 100-percent effective in this magic trick, but it’s a heck of thing to attempt.
The story begins with humor. We get classic Saunders interior monologue taking us into the mind of a kid who imagines a time when he will have the last laugh about his bullies. There’s some sadness in there too, I suppose. It’s certainly easy to feel sorry for the kid. But mainly this is reading like gothic comedy.
Then things switch.
Suddenly – and I mean very suddenly – the plot necessitates a change in tone. This kid is pulling on the reader’s heartstrings in the extreme. We have a closing scene drenched in the kind sentimentality that would make Dickens cry. Seriously, it’s really, really sad.
In all, it kind of feels like a writing experiment more than a story. Something just didn’t quite connect for me. Maybe neither extreme – first half follies or second half sadness – rang true enough for me. But, again, I’m dazzled by the attempt to slam such changing emotional manipulations into one 10-page story. And that’s quite a trick on Saunders’s part.
The selection:
Were the Dalmeyers home?
Their gray car was still in the driveway.
He would need to make another lap.
Yesterday he had picked up a bright-red goalie pad and all three Dalmeyers had screamed at him, Not that pad Cody you dick, we never use those pads in the driveway because they get scuffed, you rectum, those are only for ice, were you born a rectal shitbrain or did you take special rectal shitbrain lessons, in rectal shitbrain lessons did they teach you how to ruin everybody’s things?
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I think the trick in this story is actually that the tone and content of Cody’s thoughts stay the same throughout, even during the end scene. The content of Cody’s thoughts is deeply sad. Kids shouldn’t feel that way about themselves, right? But, we aren’t paying attention to that because Saunders’ voice is goofy, and the kid’s imagination is goofy; we find it ok to laugh. Then the incident happens and we realize that no, actually, this kid’s thoughts and actions are deeply disturbing. We almost feel bad for laughing at the first bit. The old man treats Cody with reverence, accepts him for the first time in his young life, and he can’t recognize that as a fulfillment of his deepest desire – to be accepted – because his brain is the same as it’s always been, only the context has changed. I think it’s less of an emotional juxtaposition and more of an invitation to reflect on whose pain we take seriously.