ninasilverlee

 Rating: 8.9/10      To some extent, becoming a hypocrite is inevitable in the era of social media. Everyone seems to have a hot girl's summer body in summer and kisses from her perfect boyfriend on Christmas. However, under these immaculate masks, there exist unspoken rules of social confidentiality. As George Orwell quoted, most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. It is a universal fact that extremely few people can indulge in Gucci bags and drive Lamborghini, but people do not hesitate to like nor become dubious of daily Instagram posts of a fake extravagant life.  The short story 'The Enormous Radio' portrays a small society obsessed with schmancy outward behaviors often at odds with reality. Irene was at the extreme at looking oblivious and naive. However, those self-deceptive attitudes were merely acts cultivated to hide their past behaviors those could be accused of serious sins. Witnessing the parallel structure between people...

Rating: 9.8/10   In this hyper-capitalistic society, rich people make the poor feel dopey and inadequate. Even the white-collard are resorted to feeling insecure about their economic status due to gold-collared people’s gruesome representation of wealth. The protagonist reveals envy or rather obsession with possessing semplica-girls while wistfully expressing his desire to compete more effectively in the materialistic society. Even as a middle-class worker, he couldn’t help but feel helpless for her daughter among other hyper-rich parents. As an international student myself, I could completely engage in the story. First-generation students are less likely to be in the highest social echelon, and a broken immigration system and racist policies would render my life as a foreigner harder. I know from deep down myself that Eva’s morally right. However, I wouldn’t easily do what Eva did just to save myself in a cruel, materialistic society where every problem can be solved by comple...

Rating: 8.5/10     Adults who affect children the most in their early periods are their own parents. Parents are the social acquaintance that helps develop fundamental life skills such as socializing and psychological thought process. In the short story 'Victory Lap,' two kids and one adult, Alison, Kyle, and the Stranger, experience the same incident but reflect it in drastically different aspects. Kyle and the stranger show similar fears by being traumatized by manipulative parents. On the contrary, Alison's parents are the only refuge that protects her safe from all the harm.     Throughout the entire story, Kyle and the Stranger fail to seek independence from their parents even after almost twenty years of death. Each character's honest inner voice was always disrupted by their parents' comments on their behaviors. For instance, Kyle his the stranger's head with Geode, which symbolizes his parents' oversimplified quantification of his goodness. Even when...

 Rating: 8.4/10     Still, in 2022, it is not hard to witness people of severe capitalistic America looking down upon the lower classes, refusing to accept their lives of hunger. Marie, a mother who drives a sumptuous car, encounters the poverty-stricken mother who keeps her ADHD son leashed in the backyard. Marie instantly feels sympathy for those in the lower economic echelon; however, instead of helping those in need, she chooses to turn away from their horrible lives, ultimately creating a vicious cycle of capitalism.     In the short story 'puppy,' Sanders depicts the dark side of U.S. society by juxtaposing the perspectives of two families in different financial circumstances. Each parent does their best to support their child with defective motor functions, but their methods are relative to their various background, knowledge, or experience. Intermittent changes of point of view throughout the story completely flipped how I grasped each scene the characte...

 Rating: 8.5/10     Through communication, a man fosters, improves, and succeeds. Anyone who lacks this tool of human interaction is gradually isolated from its society, either autonomously or forcibly. In a dysfunctional family of Rod's, Rod's father stubbornly tries to communicate his feelings and emotions with society through a set of metal bars, gathered in the shape of a crucifix. As George Saunders fixes the focus on sticks through the progression of the story, the man's perception of the sticks as a medium of commemorating holidays develops into the embodiment of his identity. Perhaps Rod's dad constantly attempted to express affection and apologies for being inadvertently irresponsible. However, in the end, he accomplishes nothing but death, and his embodiment gets obliterated.     Through this story, I learned to appreciate my relationships with my family. Inevitable death may do us apart, but my dad isn't a control freak, and my mom actively lets me fe...