Caleb LaCross

Dr. Bruce

English 307

17 April 2022

Sticks: Exploring Intergenerational Trauma

Using what feels like few words, award winning author George Saunders crams

an unbelievable level of detail into his short story “Sticks”. Covering multiple decades,

the story is told from a son's perspective and depicts the strange relationship between

his emotionally closed off father and the rest of his family. The story revolves around an

ordinary pole located in their yard. Acting as a coping mechanism the father adorns a

pole as a way to express his innermost feelings and mark the passage of time. He

dresses the pole up because deep down he desires an outlet for the thoughts that he

keeps bottled inside, seemingly ashamed of the emotions he feels.

Saunders at the very beginning of the story refers to the fathers pole as a Crucifix

made of metal. Born into a staunchly Catholic

family, it makes sense that Saunders would refer

to it as such a well known religious symbol (Burke).

The Crucifix serves as an important figure in the

Catholic faith. It normally depicts Jesus' hands

spread as he lies dead hanging from a cross, but

can also be shown as empty. This version is

simply known as a cross symbolizes the idea of

sacrifice for the greater good.

 The son contextualizes his fathers relationship with the pole stating that “The

pole was Dad's only concession to glee.” The pole acted as his fathers singular outlet to

interact with his emotions in a meaningful way and express those emotions broadly at

those that he most desired them to be heard by. The father may feel like he is making a

“sacrifice for the greater good” of his family by keeping himself emotionally closed off

from the rest of them by keeping his thoughts locked inside himself - thus he searches

for a way to be heard.

Saunders' words are saturated with context that surrounds the fathers seemingly

strange actions, “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.” This text suggests that

the father was cheap or more likely had lived through a food shortage of some sort, a

product of the great depression or subject to poverty and struggle at a young age. This

is the first inkling that his bitterness and anger may have a point of origin in his past and

that he may try to prevent his children from suffering as he did.

Saunders depicts the evolution of this man’s painful emotional journey, starting

with his completely stoic attitude occasionally delving into bursts of anger as it slowly

evolves into a desperate, openly apparent cry for help.The pole parallels the fathers

emotional state; it goes from being dressed up as Uncle Sam on the Fourth of July

eventually evolving into a more visceral abstract expression of his feelings, a confession

of sorts. Eventually it turns into purely a symbol of death, symbolizing the coming end of

both the father and the pole.

 The father starts to show empathy for people outside his immediate circle,

dressing it up for an earthquake in Chile - an unthinkable action for one once so

inwardly focused. Long after his children had left home and his wife had passed away

he adorns it with signs with the words LOVE and FORGIVE? on it. They were simple

requests for the things that he never gave away as a younger man. The way that

Sanders goes out of his way to capitalize these words makes them stand out from

everything else of the page - causing this sense of separation and importance from the

rest of the work. It forces the reader to stop and look, it both demands and generates an

emotional response. It is almost like the father is returning mentally to his adolescence,

he wants to be forgiven - to be loved. He wants the things that any human needs and

craves, he wants the things that his father never allowed him to experience as a child.

“Sticks'' is the textbook definition of intergenerational trauma, both father and

son (and daughter) are emotionally scarred from events passed. “We left home,

married, had children of our own, found the seeds of meanness blooming also within us

(Saunders).” Saunders makes the situation feel bleak and hopeless, ultimately ending it

abruptly without follow up as to create your own conclusion. According to psychologists

Pinquart and Sörensen in their 2001 study, as we age we become more susceptible to

loneliness based on the quality of our social networks that we build earlier in life,

something the father has deeply neglected. The father was left sad and destitute

through no fault but his own.

The father in “Sticks” went out of his way to isolate himself, he seemingly has no

social interaction and he acts like a stranger to his own children. He did not build social
networks at all for himself, the only person that he had to provide emotional support was

his wife. After she passed his mental state rapidly declined as depicted by the pole.

“Sticks” paints an eerily relevant picture about the realities of post covid life, as

we slowly reintegrate back into life, there is a small loss in connection. We as people,

largely in regard to the older generation, will find that they have to live with the fallout of

the time lost to isolation. “More than half of U.S. adults aged 50-80 years felt isolated

from others due to the COVID-19 pandemic (Elfein).” This lack of connection, of feeling

is what the Father is going through.

Emma Brocks, a writer for The Guardian, describes Saunders' catalog of work as

an excellent example of role reversal. I don’t find this to be true in the case of “Sticks”.

Sticks is a story of repetition not reversal, a story of how one's father can influence the

lives and personalities of many generations to come. Instead of reversing the role, they

are simply doomed to repeat their fathers sins in this never ending cycle of emotional

unavailability. It’s a story of loneliness and stubbornness, a cautionary tale by every

measure.
 Works Cited

Saunders, George. “George Saunders on What Buddhists Can Offer the World Right

Now.” Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, 22 Feb. 2021, tricycle.org/trikedaily/george-

saunders/.

Brockes, Emma. “George Saunders: ‘a Lot of My Extended Family Are Trump

Supporters.’” The Guardian, The Guardian, 16 Nov. 2018,

www.theguardian.com/books/2018/nov/16/george-saunders-interview-booker-

prize-short-story.

“Processional Crucifix - Sullivan’s Church Supplies.” Sullivan’s Church Supplies,

www.sullivanscs.com.au/product/processional-crucifix-11/. Accessed 20 Apr.

2022.

Elflein, John. “Loneliness among Older Adults before vs during COVID Pandemic U.S.

2020.” Statista, 29 June 2021, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1247146/us-

older-adults-feeling-lonely-before-vs-during-covid/.

Pinquart, Martin, and Silvia Sorensen. “Influences on Loneliness in Older Adults: A

Meta-Analysis.” Basic and Applied Social Psychology, vol. 23, no. 4, 2001, pp.

245–266., https://doi.org/10.1207/s15324834basp2304_2.
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