Summary Of The Story 'Sticks' By George Saunders

A Need To Express Oneself In the story “Sticks” by George Saunders, a father is incapable of showing loving affection to his children and expresses himself with a metal pole. This pole is placed in the yard and decorated as directed by the father for holidays and events. The father is the only one who seems to understand or take pleasure in dressing the pole. The central idea is that a person who is unable to express their feelings will often project them onto something else. The tone of the story begins with somber children resigned to follow their father into their yard as he decorates a pole that leads the reader to believe the father is unloving. As the story continues, the critical tone intensifies because the children are unable to please their father and never know what he will do next.

As the father grows older, the decorations become more elaborate and reflect personal loss and world events. The narrator tells the reader how the father “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” (Saunders). The father symbolically becomes the pole and apologizes to the “stick” people in his life. The string between them represents their relationship and that they are taped together because he is their father. The letters were taped together and not tied because knots are strong and their relationships were weak. Through his display in the yard, he asks his children to forgive him for the things that he has done wrong in his life. The notes are written in a frantic manner because the father knows he is running out of time to tell his children how he feels. The use of symbolism ties to the central idea because even though the father lacks the ability to have a healthy relationship in person he still feels the need to show his remorse to his