However wretched it might be, human beings seem to thrive on the brutalization and abusement of others below them. If there is no one below them, history is an indicator that a caste system will be created in order for someone to be. Whether you hear "history does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme," or "man learns from history that man never learns from history", the message remains the same- the human race has a tendency to repeat the same mistakes in all kinds of creative, innovative ways. For instance, the United States has a tendency to enslave, massacre and exploit marginalized groups; whether it is the Japanese, the homosexual, African, female; or even the disabled-in this way the United States is history's greatest poet. If human …show more content…
By including similar characters, struggles, and what can only be described as a caste system within each story, readers are led to see that the future is actually the past, just with different characters. Readers see this most clearly within Bounty, perhaps Saunders's most complete representation of the future. Throughout the course of the story, readers witness the nameless protagonist withstand countless degradations in a post apocalyptic world. Environmental poisoning has led to the creation of a caste system where those who developed genetic mutations, people called "Flaweds", are at the bottom. Completely dehumanized, the protagonist and his kind can either work at a park called "Bounty Land", where they face all sorts of dehumanizing treatment for three meals a day and cocaine, or alternatively face enslavement or lynching outside the park. Even as he embarks from the "safe" park on a journey to save his sister from rape and enslavement, it is clear that the hopelessness of his brave expedition echoes the hopelessness that so many in history have experienced. How can he, a man who might be lynched simply for existing as he is, hope to take on a world hell bent on brutalizing