Essay Questions

Why do you think so many of the characters turn a blind eye to the amorality going on around them?

Most of those who turn a blind eye to what they are seeing do so because they don't want to disrupt the status quo of their own lives. They withdraw in some way from social contact with the person whose amorality they have witnessed, but they don't take the next step of actually confronting them, or reporting them to authorities. The only exception to this rule is Lilly's little sister, who releases the captive Semplica girls and she is the one who gets into trouble.

Kyle knows that he should tell what he knows about Allison's kidnappers; the trouble is, if he admits to seeing them, then he will also have to admit to breaking the many rules that his parents structure his life with. He doesn't want to get into trouble; besides, Allison hasn't been that nice to him lately so he can just about justify turning a blind eye.

Callie loves her husband and doesn't want to make him angry. After all, he is clearly capable of heinous acts of violence because he kills the unsold pets himself. Callie doesn't want that fate to befall her if she angers him and so she turns a blind eye to the fact that he kills puppies with his bare hands. Maria, her neighbor, has no idea that her neighbor kills unsold animals, she is merely trying to rescue a puppy, but when she sees that Callie has chained her son to a tree, she doesn't want to get involved. She becomes quite frightened of her neighbor, pulls out of the agreement to purchase the puppy, and doesn't speak to Callie again. She turns the blind eye in order to avoid protracted involvement in someone else's train wreck, and doesn't want her status quo disrupted.

Ted turns a blind eye because he is in a position of having no power at all. He's the janitor, and the man whom he sees raping his co-worker is the manager of the theme park where he works. Even if he says something about what he has witnessed it's unlikely anyone will believe him. He takes the promotion offered and intends to keep his mouth shut, turning a blind eye out of necessity and because of his position in the company.

How does the author deal with the issue of suicide?

Quite a few of Saunders' characters end up committing their own lives in the short stories he writes, but only one actually starts the story with the intention of doing so. The un-named man in "Tenth of December" sets out with the intention of ending his life to avoid the pain of the disease that he is suffering from. In his case, suicide is not seen as the result of mental illness or emotional distress but as a reaction to a specific circumstance. He is not depressed; he is euthanizing himself humanely.

Similarly, Jeff commits suicide to avoid causing pain, both to himself, and to other people. He doesn't want to choose which woman should receive a drug that causes emotional and physical pain and so rather than having to make this decision, he kills himself. Again, he is not depressed, but is killing himself to avoid a specific situation.

Heather has also committed suicide whilst under the influence of the drug that Jeff wants to avoid choosing her to be given again, not because of depression but because of a specific event (being essentially changed by a drug). This set of traits characterizes the suicides in the collection of stories.