CivilWarLand in Bad Decline

Theme parks are the setting for “CivilWarLand in Bad Decline” and much of “The Wavemaker Falters.”Further, BountyLand, in the book’s novella, is a sort of MiddleAges-era theme park for the wealthy. Saunders chooses the setting of the theme park repeatedly for the juxtaposition it provides. Countering the amusement and fantasy of the rides and settings of theme parks are their often poor treatment of workers and the inordinate amount of trash and other pollution these parks create. Superficially, these settings offer joy and escape; underneath, such places are bastions of corporate protocol and profit margin. These same rules can also be applied to the museum that functions as the setting for nearly all of “Downtrodden Mary’s Failed Campaign of Terror.”

In “Bounty,” the collection’s novella, America is divided into two groups: Normals—humans who do not have genetic mutations—and Flaweds, those who do. Flaweds are not allowed to procreate and have no voting rights; further, all examples of Flaweds in the book show them as either working menial, demeaning jobs (effectively being the working poor) or being slaves.

In this way, Saunders sets up the Normal/Flawed binary as haves vs. have-nots. This binary can be extended out to other stories, as well, especially “Isabelle,” in which the title character suffers immensely through no fault of her own.