The perfect planet and a bag of puppy excrement

George Saunders is a write who is known for his stories that are often satirical aswell as having a moral meaning. The short story of 'In persuasion Nation' seems to be made up of events that have no meaning, not to mention making no sense whatsoever, however, by the end of the story, not only does it make sense, but a moral meaning has been put across and all is understood and parallels made between the reality and fiction. The same can be said of the weekly columns that he wrote for the Guardian up until October 2008.
http://http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/may/03/healthandwellbeing
This column entry at first does not seem to make alot of sense. He talks of a beautiful day and the delights it holds. All the while holding a bad of dog poo and a dead half eaten fish. He states later in his column that if he meets someone who sees all this wonder, then he wants to say 'you are only seeing partly, you blind bastard.'
This is very true in the sense of the United States of America for go to be astounded by this magnificent place with miles of natural land and amazing architecture. The first thing you find when you arrive is an airport. When you eventually step out of the Airport, especially in a big city such as New York, you will be met by pollution and many many people, all rushing around to get to where they want to be. The buildings may be majestic, but they are also dirty and covered in pigeon poo. This I must say is an image collected from different TV programs such as friends. But when thinking of an American City such as New York, the amazement and the dirt walk hand in hand. The way that Saunders describes the spring with a bag of poop in his hand reflects that all is never perfect. That is in the literal sense, the dog poo can also be seen as a metaphore for all that is wrong with America. The generic advertisements and consuming people. In a land that could have been as diverse as they claim to be, their own wish to expand has made them the dog poo hanging from a tree in an otherwise pretty park, the blind may not see it, but when summer comes that bag is going to stink.
The message that Saunders puts forward is not overt. It is subtly beneath his words, in the image that he creates. A fact that I find rather amusing in regards to George Saunders is his hatred of the Image World that the United States has created, but they way that he puts his complaint forward is through the use of Images. Even so the image of America that I recieved through this article is that all is not pretty in the Land of images, if you look with your eyes and not your indoctrinated heart then you will see the dog poop hanging in the maple tree aswell.