George Saunders Puppy

Words: 927
Pages: 4

“We know that our early experiences likely affect all of us to a certain extent, Jay Belsky a professor of human development at the University of California, says. And we know that due to variations in psychological makeup, some people are more sensitive to environmental factors than others” (Singh). George Saunders’ short story Puppy, reacts to this idea of the past influencing decisions, thoughts, and feelings of things happening in life. Deborah Treisman, fiction editor of the New Yorker magazine, says, "Ultimately, Saunder’s stories are ninety nine point nine percent ridiculous and point one percent heartbreaking, but that point one percent is the most important part, the crucial part” (Werlock). The point one percent in Puppy is expressed …show more content…
Then there is, a break in the story, in which Saunders transitions to his new character, Callie, whom is influenced by her earlier concerns about her son Bo, in which she is told could die unless she does not take action (Saunders p. 188). Saunders did not write this story from the perspective of Marie or Callie, instead he chose to write it in third person omniscient, giving the reader the ability to know what is not just happening on the outside, but inside their heads as well. Not only with the way Saunders structures this short story, or the way he uses point of view, he shows us that multiple perspectives is a key point within the written words of the story itself. Multiple perspectives is a term used to surround several heterogeneous views, this is brought to attention when listening to what Marie is thinking about her kids: “Which was the beauty of it, because, after all they were their own little people! You were just a caretaker. They didn't have to feel what you felt; they just had to be supported in feeling what they felt” (Saunders