Liberation Day: Stories

Content Warning: The source text and this study guide discuss oppression, mental and physical control, wartime violence, addiction, suicide, and sexual abuse.

“Liberation Day” is the eponymous short story in Saunders’s collection. The story opens with a first-person narrator who says that it is the third day of “Interim” and who also immediately introduces other characters: Mr. U, Mrs. U, and their son, Mike, who is an adult. The narrator speaks for a collective “we,” wondering when the others will return to a “Podium” to allow the narrator and his collective to “Speak” (3). Mr. U approaches the narrator, Jeremy, and his two companions Craig and Lauren, who are all in the “Listening Room.” Mrs. U asks Mr. U what he is doing, and he explains that he is “jamming.” Then, Mr. U sends a “Pulse,” which enables Jeremy, Craig, and Lauren to speak according to his chosen settings. Tonight, they are tasked to speak about “Nautical.” When Mr. U does not send pulses to Jeremy, Craig, and Lauren, they are forbidden to speak, and they must stay still in certain positions against the speaking wall. If the narrator and his peers do speak out of turn, they will be punished. After a brief break, Mr. U returns and gives each speaker specific instructions to talk aloud about a city. They creatively describe these cities based on settings that Mr. U puts into a control board, and the speakers feel satisfied with their work upon completion of the speaking session.

That night, Mrs. U comes into the speakers’ rooms. She moves stealthily as she approaches Jeremy, as she doesn’t want to be caught by Mr. U or the other speakers. Mrs. U instructs Jeremy to speak according to her chosen settings: “Rural, plus Ancient; overtones of Escape” (7). As Jeremy speaks, he begins to describe Mrs. U in a sensual manner, expressing their shared love and desire. Mrs. U begins to touch herself in response, and Jeremy notes that because he is “Pinioned” (forced to remain still by the machine that he is connected to), he is unable to move at all. When Mrs. U leaves the speaking room, Jeremy notices the way she checks that Craig and Lauren are still asleep, and he describes how they pretend to sleep through these events, even if they are fully awake. Jeremy also thinks about how his love for Mrs. U is growing and about how her nighttime visits have taken place over the last four years.

The next night, Mr. U has guests over to watch the speakers’ performance. The speakers are repositioned against the speaking wall for the performance, and each speaks before the crowd about a city, within the parameters of their speech settings. During the performance, Jeremy notices that the audience appears unengaged and unimpressed; Mr. U is consequently flustered and becomes disappointed in the event.

The next morning, Mike comes into the speaking room and expresses his concern over the speakers’ situation, describing it as “monstrous.” He ominously says that help will be coming soon. Then, Jeremy describes Mike’s personality, saying that Mike avoids hard work and often doesn’t see his passions and projects through.

The next morning, Mr. U returns to the speaking room with a new plan to better the performance. He introduces eleven “Singers” to the room, along with a “Knowledge Mod,” which makes the performers’ voices and speech stronger by imbuing them with seemingly infinite historical information. Mr. U sends the performers information about the historical Battle of the Little Bighorn, or Cluster’s Fight, an 1876 battle between the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes and the US Army, who sought to expand into the American West. Each performer is given a historical character from either the US’s side—specifically, the 7th Cavalry Regiment—or the tribes’ side, to play in the story. The Singers and Speakers rehearse the performance, which impresses both Mr. U and the performers themselves. When Mrs. U comes in that night to be Spoken to by Jeremy, he is still connected to the Knowledge Mod and therefore Speaks to her from the perspective of Captain Evers, an American solider within this historical event. After he Speaks, Jeremy decides that he is wholly in love with Mrs. U, but he feels some remorse for betraying Mr. U, whom he sees as a good man and a member of his family.

The Speakers and Singers continue to rehearse the Cluster’s Fight performance. On the day of the performance, Mike is frustrated with the oppressive system that the speakers are unaware of, due to prior brainwashing. Mike tries to show the Speakers how oppressed they truly are by illustrating their lack of memory prior to being in Mr. U’s home and the lies that they have been fed by Mr. U and his team. When Mr. U stops his son from speaking further, Mike suggests that he reconsider the exclusion of the Indigenous narrative throughout the performance. Mr. U reprograms the Knowledge system to include further details about the Indigenous triumph over the US army, which are incorporated into the performance later that night.

During the performance, the Speakers and Singers first narrate the Battle from the perspective of the US Army soldiers. They then rewind the narrative and begin to speak and sing from the perspective of the Indigenous tribes, which highlights particular Indigenous figures on the day of the ambush, including a mother who attempts to save her disabled son from the violence. The audience is thoroughly engaged with the show, although Mike goes in and out of the performance room door, apparently restless. Mr. U calls intermission just before the battle’s climax.

As Jeremy prepares for his solo monologue—in his role as Henry Harrington, one of the last American soldiers left alive—Mike interrupts the performance. A group of young people rush into the room, their faces hidden by masks and hoods. Two male members of the audience question the intruders’ motives, and the leader of the new group shoots and kills both men in response. The intruders—called the White Cap Consortium—say that they have come to dismantle the system of Speakers and restore decency; eventually, they will find everyone who owns Speakers and punish them, too. Mr. U interrupts their leader to argue that the system is not oppressive, because his Speakers volunteered to work for him and their dependents are fairly compensated. The leader retrieves a notebook containing information on the previous lives of the Speakers and tells Lauren and Craig that they once had families, including children, and loved ones.

The leader of the White Cap Consortium sentences Mr. U and Mrs. U to death for the abuse and degradation of the Speakers. When Mrs. U claims not to be an abuser, Lauren says that she has personally seen Mrs. U sexually abusing Jeremy at night, when she forces him to Speak to her while he is pinned to the wall. Jeremy speaks up, saying that these sexual behaviors were consensual and that he is in love with Mrs. U. In her frustration, the leader of the White Cap Consortium turns the Speakers and Singers on once again, and they resume their performance of the battle.

Chaos ensues because the Speakers and Singers are fully attuned to the Knowledge Mod and are forced to perform to completion. During his frenzied solo scene, Jeremy loses his grasp on reality and becomes wholly immersed in the battle; he snatches the gun and kills a man who was readying to shoot the Untermeyers. Jeremy then shoots and kills a woman as she attempts to help the dying man.

Mr. U turns the Speakers off and the performance ends. Mr. U and his audience turn on the White Cap Consortium, who are now supported by the Speakers who have had their memories jogged. Lauren punches Mrs. U in the face. Jeremy holds the gun and is caught between the two sides—that of the woman he loves and his colleagues and friends. He sides with the Untermeyers and hands Mrs. U the gun; the uprising is quelled and the Speakers who joined in are taken away for brainwashing.

That night, Jeremy feels lonely and upset. Mr. U joins him in the speaking room and orders Jeremy to end his romantic relationship with Mrs. U. Jeremy thinks that Mrs. U loves him back and decides to continue to see her despite Mr. U’s orders. Soon, however, Mrs. U comes to tell Jeremy that they can never interact again and that she and Mr. U have agreed to rekindle their romance. Jeremy is upset and jealous over their decision to work on their marriage.

The following day, Mr. U asks his Speakers to finish the performance. Craig and Lauren have been reprogrammed to be Ed and Sharon and have no memory of the uprising. All three Speakers finish the performance of the battle, this time from the perspective of three Indigenous women who observe the violent, bloody aftermath of the ambush. Although Ed and Sharon seem very pleased with the performance, Jeremy cannot share their pride, because he suddenly understands that he is merely Mr. U’s puppet.