52 pages • 1 hour read
George SaundersLiberation Day: Stories
Fiction | Short Story Collection | Adult | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
“Love Letter”Chapter Summaries & Analyses
“Love Letter” Summary
A grandfather writes a letter to his grandson, Robbie. He apologizes for hand writing it and says that, because these are “strange times” (95), it is probably best not to send the letter by email. The grandfather describes three people by their initials—G., M., and J.—saying that G. lacks proper paperwork and that M. may be implicated for knowing this information without acting on it. Then, the writer focuses on J., saying that he knows his grandson is very concerned for her. Although the writer has tried to speak to a lawyer regarding J., he worries that the lawyer is not who he once was; though the lawyer once went after the Department of Justice, he now stays mainly at home and refuses to speak out against the government in any way. He asks where J. is now and speculates that J. may be implicated by the government, despite her citizenship status, and for declining to give information on G. and M. in their respective citizenship inquiries. The grandfather reiterates a question that Robbie asked him in a previous letter: “You asked if you are supposed to stand by and watch your friend’s life be ruined” (97). He asks, rhetorically, what his grandson could possibly do in this situation.
The grandfather describes an incident in the past in which he attempted to speak out through the local newspaper, only to be intimidated out of further action by a policeman. The grandfather describes his and his wife’s own complacency in the lead up to the present day, in which they underestimated how much an election could alter society. After this critical election, the power of the government expanded: Those with political power increased term limits, targeted certain judges, and cut off constituent access to elected representatives. Although the writer and his wife were increasingly aware of these social and political changes, they took little action beyond financially supporting certain politicians and attempting to write letters to the government. Soon, the grandfather realized that citizens and groups were no longer mobilizing or marching in protest, due to increased governmental oppression.
After this description of the past, the grandfather advises his grandson to “stay out of this business with J.” (102). Although, he acknowledges, his grandson may have romantic feelings for J., his involvement in her governmental and legal affairs could be very dangerous for both he and J. The writer wants Robbie to grow old himself one day, and he fears that antagonizing the government for J.’s sake may reduce his grandson’s chances at a long, happy life. Instead, the grandfather advises, he should wait passively and quietly and hope that this period eventually passes. Should “push come to shove” (104), he adds, he has some money set aside if his grandson needs it.
"Love Letter" Analysis
This is one of the shorter stories within the collection, but it nevertheless encapsulates a detailed image of a dystopian society that is marked by governmental control, especially with regards to questions of citizenship and deportation.
A deliberate vagueness pervades the grandfather’s letter, which contributes to the overall sense of claustrophobia and secrecy, not only within his writing but within this society more generally. The grandfather does not refer to subjects by name, using only initials (J., M., G.) when he references his grandson’s friends. His letter to Robbie also begins in medias res, as the grandfather is writing in response to a previous message from his grandson, in which Robbie asked for advice regarding his friends’ struggles to provide citizenship paperwork. This increases the vagueness as Saunders withholds Robbie’s letter, mimicking the disorienting effects of Oppression and Control.
As the grandfather offers more details about their society and the events leading up to this degree of government control, Saunders deliberately references events and terminology in the contemporary US. He references a critical election, for instance, in which certain judges were expelled and term limits were extended, and he refers to the existing American political system when he writes, “[t]hose f----ing Republican senators” (100), clarifying that the story alludes to the 2016 presidential election won by Donald Trump. These allusions to contemporary life and recent political events differentiate this story from the other stories in the collection that are also set in dystopian futures. While the future worlds of stories, including “Liberation Day” and “Ghoul,” are nonsensical and outlandish satires, marked by extremity and imaginative science-fiction elements, the dystopian future of “Love Letter” is reminiscent of the contemporary US. Because of these references to immediate political concerns—including, of course, the overarching question of citizenship and illegal immigration, which pervaded cultural and political debates in the years leading up to the publication of Liberation Day—“Love Letter” becomes not only an experiment about a possible future but a warning against what Saunders deems a likely one.
The conclusion of the grandfather’s letter adds to the story’s general feeling of secrecy. Although the grandfather advises Robbie to stay out of the business between the government and J., he nevertheless tells Robbie, in a seemingly off-the-cuff departing sentence, that there is some money set aside should he come to need it. This detail complicates the story’s portrayal of the grandfather and his advice because it is a subtle show of support for Robbie, should Robbie decide to act. While the grandfather is highly cautious and protective of Robbie, to the point of suggesting inaction in the face of injustice, the ending hints that he fears that his letter may be intercepted by the watchful, controlling government. His departing message that there is support on the off-chance that Robbie decides to act is deliberately ambiguous: It could be just that—a departing message; it could also, however, be a signal to his grandson to act against injustice and a reminder that he will have his grandparents’ support should he do so. This ambiguity contributes to the overall sense of a near-future in which family members must communicate with one another in vague, indirect means to express dissonant opinions.
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By George Saunders
