Liberation Day: Stories

“Well, I love my work. I aspire to always be feeling more, thus Speaking with more gusto, thus evoking greater emotion in my listeners.”

Jeremy has been conditioned to enjoy and appreciate his work—which, ironically, involves enslavement and total control. This quote articulates Jeremy’s unwavering devotion to his job and Mr. Untermeyer and therefore foreshadows his decision to side with the oppressors later in the story.

“There are many of us who see this for the monstrous excess it is. You’re human beings. You are. Even if the world—even if my parents—seem to have forgotten it. But help is coming. It is. Soon.”

This is the first moment in the story in which a character points out the obvious barbarism of the Speaker system. Mike, Mr. Untermeyer’s son, makes this objection, thus putting into words Mr. Untermeyer’s system of enslavement. In this quote, Mike also foreshadows an upcoming day that is referenced in the story’s title: “Liberation Day.”

“And then we become those ‘fiends,’ those Lakota, Arapaho, and Northern Cheyenne, these sons and husbands and brothers, to whom the white devils on the hill no longer appear frightening.”

This quote describes how Jeremy changes his perspective during the performance of the battle. Jeremy describes the Indigenous warriors as ‘fiends,’ but he includes quotation marks around that word, in his own narrative. This suggests that the source of his historical information—in this case, the Knowledge Mod—described the Indigenous people in this way and that, as a result, Jeremy is forced to see them as “fiends” as well. This instance represents the power of rhetoric in historical information; that the source of power and knowledge in this society sees Indigenous communities as “fiendish” suggests that this is a pervading, sociocultural narrative that reduces and erases the experiences of Indigenous tribes during America’s westward expansion.

“I love Mr. U. Is this not a betrayal of his trust? It is, I know it is. I do not wish to disturb the happiness of our family. I have known these dear people all my life.”

This ironic quote illustrates Jeremy’s fidelity to the Untermeyers, whilst it also reveals the extent to which they have oppressed him. That Jeremy is an adult man but believes that his life began with the Untermeyers four years ago shows how deeply his memory and history have been erased. As a result, Mr. U enjoys Jeremy’s absolute loyalty, demonstrated in this quote by his concern over his romantic affair with Mrs. U.

“‘A bunch of old rich people get to hear an old rich guy tell the story of a bunch of youngish imperial oppressors dying gloriously,’ says adult son Mike.”

Although Mike ends up being an unreliable entity within the resistant group who attempts to liberate the Speakers, he is continually a sole voice of reason and reality throughout a story that is deeply entrenched in its own dystopia. Saunders utilizes proper nouns like “Pinioned” and “Speaking Wall” with no explanation or definition throughout the story. As a result, the voice of Mike in this quote is a reprieve from the reprehensible actions of Mr. U, as Mike comes the closest to a true description of reality without such nouns.

“The intention of the tribes is to continue to exist, here on land that, in truth, has changed hands many times before, often by violence, i.e. on land seized by force from other people.”

In this moment, Jeremy expresses a central idea of the text, which is that oppressive groups throughout history have sought to remove other groups’ rights to exist. This is reflected in both the imperial nature of the US Military and in the Untermeyers’ own enslavement of “Speakers” and “Singers” for their personal hobby.

“Oh, John!, one trooper will call out to the mounted brave about to bash in his brains, using the name the troopers apply to all Indians.”

This quote reflects the way in which the US army dehumanized Indigenous tribes in their attempts to expand Westward in the 19th century. By describing all Indigenous individuals with the same (English) name, the Americans reflect their own erasure of an entire community and people and represent their imposition of Anglo-American culture across the continent.

“[T]here will come a time, and let us pray it will be soon, when no family participating in this barbaric, degrading practice will ever feel entirely safe in their home again.”

In this moment, the intentions of the rebel group become clear. Ironically, although they resist the violence that the Untermeyers perpetuate through the “Speaker” system, they do so by threatening violence and intimidation of their own kind. This suggests that Oppression and Control begets only more violence and attempts to control.

“Why am I even here? I Speak. On this murderous march? Upon this Speaking Wall? Have my thoughts and deeds ever truly been my own? Do I not hang perpetually inert here, until Pulsed?”

Although Jeremy is technically Speaking from the perspective of a historical character in an artificially manipulated performance, this statement is a pointed look at his own oppressed condition. For the first time in the story, Jeremy breaks free from the confines that surround his speech and uses his verbal power to question the system that enslaves him.

“For whatever Mr. U may in the future give me to Speak, I will never enjoy it again, any more than would a puppet, picked up off the floor, enjoy the suddenly manipulating hand.”

In the story’s final sentence, Jeremy at last comes to the realization that his colleagues had the day before: that, to the Untermeyers, he is only a puppet. This realization will forever impact his work and ambiguously foreshadows a future in which Jeremy tries to rebel against his oppressors.

“She adored it. Having a family. TV families were always fricked up, but hers was something else entirely. They liked one another. Had so much fun.”

This quote, from the perspective of Derek’s mother, expresses her contentment with her own family life. It is an ironic statement, because the story will be marked by disturbances that alter the family’s peaceful, pleasant exterior and create guilt and turmoil within their “fun.”

“But Church Street did not belong to them. Or Derek. It belonged to those two freaks, who, because freaky, were somehow the most powerful players in the whole idiotic deal. Why were rejects running the show?”

This quote reveals the extent of Derek’s mother’s intolerant attitude toward the two impoverished men who were suspects in the attack against her son. It reveals how unempathetic the mother is and how deeply she resents these men for their behavior and their position in life. The rhetorical question articulates her anger at this state of affairs, which she believes to be unjust.

“Forgive my cousin, the beam said. As I have forgiven you.”

The mother imagines a communicative beam from one of the suspects in her son’s attack. Her entrenched solipsism is articulated when she cannot forgive the cousin for his attack on her son, although in the past she forgave her own cousin, Ricky, for his criminal and violent behavior. The mother, in this moment, prioritizes her own family and perspective over that of anybody else.

“We called, we wrote letters. Would you have given money to certain people running for office? We did that as well. Would you have marched? For some reason, there were suddenly no marches.”

The grandfather describes an increasingly authoritarian state, in which protests and free speech are shut down. As the grandfather describes this state, he uses rhetorical questions to ask his grandson what he might have done, thereby emphasizing his own feeling of futility and powerlessness during the rise of the authoritarian government.

“It was this thing with Brenda. Tim might be in his office right now, thinking less of her. Believing that she’d been agreeing with Brenda’s negative yammering about him. Why did she care? Well, she did.”

In this ironic quote, Gen obsesses over Tim’s possible reaction to Brenda’s statement in the break room. It is especially ironic because, as it turns out, Tim hadn’t even heard Brenda’s insult at all; Gen’s narcissism and self-obsession, however, is displayed in her obsessive rethinking over the event.

“She worked longer hours than any of them and made like ten times less and didn’t get to lounge around discussing shit such as new clients and Lessons Learned and hadn’t gotten to make a spaceship out of Legos that time in Team Building but just had to sit there in her dungeon all day like a good robot.”

Brenda’s perspective is illuminated when she describes her feeling of ostracization from her colleagues. Besides the overall sense of exclusion, this quote also highlights the firm social boundaries that govern the company and which create divisions based on rank and position. These ranks and positions are correlated with socioeconomic standing and, as such, Brenda’s exclusion from “Team Building” becomes a metaphor for her exclusion from a privileged life more generally.

“That woman, that young, energetic woman with whom you often now find yourself in pleasant agreement, might suddenly start to seem even prettier to you, even if no one else seems to notice it.”

In this quote, the narrator attempts to understand the developing romance between Sparrow and Ricky. The narrator concludes that there must be some shared understanding between the couple, which only they know; they spend the rest of the story speculating on the (im)possibility of their happiness together. This speaks to Outward Appearances Versus Reality since the narrator has preconceived judgements of Sparrow based on her appearance, which leads to their inability to empathize, as they try to do in this passage.

“And find myself somewhat cursing Law 6 in my heart.”

This is one of the instanced in which the legal system in “Ghoul” is elucidated. It is also one of the earliest instances of Brian questioning Law 6, which foreshadows his eventual character development that sees him evolve into a fully-formed rebel.

“That is correct: the Egress Spout goes up, yes, but as far as Egress? There is none (!). The Spout is merely a long vertical tunnel terminating in that ceiling of rock against which, as mentioned, climbing fast, I bent my neck.”

This is the first description in “Ghoul” of the actual construction of the underground community in relation to the world above. Rolph’s description highlights the extent to which Brian has been lied to throughout his whole life. The image of a bent neck against the rock of the world alludes to the Greek myth of Atlas who is condemned to hold up the earth as punishment, thereby invoking an image of oppression.

“But as I write, light of an entirely new type pours in through dozens of tiny cracks in the plug. So, Above is real, but it is not meant for us.”

In Amy’s description of the world above, she muses about its utter inaccessibility. Her tone of defeat and futility reflects the way in which oppression and manipulation have defeated her and contributes to an explanation for her suicide upon seeing the light from “Above.”

“Though I will not live to see it, and dread the kicking that must come, may these words play some part in bringing the old world down.”

Brian’s final words reflect how deeply his character has developed throughout the story. Once a conforming citizen, he will now embark on a highly dangerous mission to disseminate the truth in the hope that there may be a better world one day. He is entirely self-sacrificing as he knows that he will not live to see this better world. This is a conventional heroic ending.

“She waved Debi off. We don’t need you, slut. We won’t have you.”

Even in Alma’s final moments, just before she has a heart attack that kills her, she refuses Debi’s help. Her harsh words to Debi reflect how deeply her hatred runs for the other woman and how strongly humans hold onto past grudges even in their most vulnerable moments. The use of “slut” also captures the gendered dynamics of the story as Saunders suggests that women must choose between being shamed for their choices or feeling depressed for ignoring their desires.

“Know: night, star, moon. Know: walk, know hide. Know: path and little bit smiling take it.”

In Elliot’s final words, he uses his limited syntax and vocabulary to articulate his decision to, metaphorically, take his own path. Despite the brevity and grammatical incorrectness of the sentence, its intent is entirely clear and economically conveys Elliot’s desire for freedom.