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Graciela Asenjo Abarzúa

Professor Andrea Casals Hill

Introduction to Literary Studies LET1341-1

09 March 2023

Sticks by George Saunders: a representation of how gender roles affect male parenting

Loneliness might be one of the biggest fears parents face when their children grow older.

From this perspective, Sticks by George Saunders presents to us the story of a son and his father;

a man whose happiness relied on a pole placed in his backyard. From the very first word of the

story until the end, it is possible to perceive the rather tragic tone of the narrative. Disguised as

an innocent childhood anecdote, the path of the father and the consequences of his actions are

depicted letting the reader observe a madly regretful parent and an injured child. Moreover,

Sticks can be gathered as a representation of the struggles of parenting, specifically male

parenting, and the effect that social expectations and gender roles have over the articulation of

father-son relationships.

In this narrative, the figure of the father is described as a tough and strict entity, being the

activity of decorating the pole his “only concession to glee” (Saunders 1). According with

Fischer,