Sticks - George Saunders

References to look up:

Thanksgiving

Santa

Crucifix

Glee

Super Bowl

Fourth of July

Uncle Sam

Veteran’s Day

Crayola

Groundhog Day: It derives from the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if a groundhog
emerges from its burrow on this day and sees its shadow, it will retreat to its den and
winter will go on for six more weeks; if it does not see its shadow, spring will arrive early.

Sticks by George Saunders

Every year Thanksgiving night we flocked out behind Dad as he dragged the Santa suit to
the road and draped it over a kind of crucifix he'd built out of metal pole in the yard. Super
Bowl week the pole was dressed in a jersey and Rod's helmet and Rod had to clear it with
Dad if he wanted to take the helmet off. On the Fourth of July the pole was Uncle Sam, on
Veteran’s Day a soldier, on Halloween a ghost. The pole was Dad's only concession to
glee. We were allowed a single Crayola from the box at a time. One Christmas Eve he
shrieked at Kimmie for wasting an apple slice. He hovered over us as we poured ketchup
saying: good enough good enough good enough. Birthday parties consisted of cupcakes,
no ice cream. The first time I brought a date over she said: what's with your dad and that
pole? and I sat there blinking.

We left home, married, had children of our own, found the seeds of meanness blooming
also within us. Dad began dressing the pole with more complexity and less discernible
logic. He draped some kind of fur over it on Groundhog Day and lugged out a floodlight to
ensure a shadow. When an earthquake struck Chile he lay the pole on its side and spray

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 painted a rift in the earth. Mom died and he dressed the pole as Death and hung from the
crossbar photos of Mom as a baby. We'd stop by and find odd talismans from his youth
arranged around the base: army medals, theatre tickets, old sweatshirts, tubes of Mom's
makeup. One autumn he painted the pole bright yellow. He covered it with cotton swabs
that winter for warmth and provided offspring by hammering in six crossed sticks around
the yard. He ran lengths of string between the pole and the sticks, and taped to the string
letters of apology, admissions of error, pleas for understanding, all written in a frantic hand
on index cards. He painted a sign saying LOVE and hung it from the pole and another that
said FORGIVE? and then he died in the hall with the radio on and we sold the house to a
young couple who yanked out the pole and the sticks and left them by the road on
garbage day.

1. What does the father put on the pole in the first paragraph and why are these significant?

2. ‘The pole was dad’s only concession to glee.’ - What does this sentence reveal about the
dad’s personality?

3. ‘We were allowed a single Crayola from the box at a time. One Christmas Eve he shrieked
at Kimmie for wasting an apple slice.’ - How is the father portrayed in this description? Is the
father a generous man?

4. ‘The first time I brought a date over she said: what's with your dad and that pole? and I sat
there blinking.’ - What does the narrator’s reaction imply about his thoughts and feelings
about his father?

5. ‘We left home, married, had children of our own, found the seeds of meanness blooming
also within us.’ - Can you explain the significance of the simile ‘seeds of meanness blooming
also within us’? Who are they mean towards and why?

6. After the children leave, the narrator says his ‘Dad began dressing the pole with more
complexity and less discernible logic’. Why might this have happened? (Do you think the
father needed his children more than he realised? Explain)

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7. How does the father express his grief after his wife dies?

8. ‘He ran lengths of string between the pole and the sticks, and taped to the string letters of
apology, admissions of error, pleas for understanding, all written in a frantic hand on index
cards. He painted a sign saying LOVE and hung it from the pole and another that said
FORGIVE?’ - Who are these signs aimed at? Why do you think he has written these?

9. ‘then he died in the hall with the radio’ - Why do you think the father had the radio on?

10. Do you think the father is good at expressing his feelings? Explain

11. Do you think the narrator admired his father? Explain

12. ‘we sold the house to a young couple who yanked out the pole and the sticks and left
them by the road on garbage day.’ - Why does the narrator tell us this? What does this
abrupt ending symbolise?

13. At the beginning of the story, the narrator refers to the sticks as a ‘crucifix’. What is a
crucifix and what might it symbolise in the story? (Who do you think is suffering in the story
and why?)

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 14. The stern, silent dad is a stereotype in American culture. What do you think are
Saunders’ views on this stereotype based on the story you have just read? (Are stern, silent
dads quite as strong as they appear?)

15. How is the father figure presented in George Saunders story Sticks?

Quote What is revealed about the father?

‘draped it over a kind of

crucifix he'd built out of
metal pole’

‘The pole was dad’s only

concession to glee.’

‘Dad began dressing the

pole with more
complexity and less
discernible logic’.

‘taped to the string letters

of apology, admissions of
error, pleas for
understanding, all written
in a frantic hand on index
cards.’

‘then he died in the hall

with the radio’

Saunders presents the father as…

This is shown in the line…

Here the writer has used…

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The effect of this is…