Pastoralia by George Saunders

I found this story on a list of modern short stories I came across on Google. Most of the stories did not have links, but this one did. I thought the name George Saunders looked familiar, so I thought it would be a good story. I was right. The story "Pastoralia" by George Saunders is a story about a man that is working in a theme park as a prehistoric times actor. He wears animal skins, and lives in a cave, and isn't supposed to speak in English while he is on duty. He has this job because he has a child who is very ill. He also works with a woman named Janet. Janet is not very good at her job. She speaks in English and drinks and smokes. No matter what Janet does the main character will not rat out Janet on her behavior even if the management of the park insists that he tell them if she is not doing her job. I thought this story was very funny. It had many similarities to the other story we read in class by George Saunders, "Sea Oak". In "Sea Oak" there is also a character in an odd professions because of problems in their lives. I liked this story better though because there was less magical realism. Even though this theme park has odd exhibits, I can still see there being something real about the situation. I mean some TV shows now days are quite a bit out there. I also really liked the Dynamic that Janet and the main character had. Janet hates her job, and shows it in her performance. The main character tries to get her to do better, but she just won't listen. Yet, he still will not rat her out to management. Even when management comes to the main character and tells him they no how bad Janet is at her job, and how they just need proof in his daily reports, he will not rat out his co-worker. I think he does this because He knows she has problems in her life too, and he feels for her. George Saunders has a way of adding his dry hilarious wit into even the most serious situation. I love this because no matter how bad things get in the story the depression never bogs me down. I would definitely recommend this story. I had to buy this story on the New Yorker in the April 2000 issue. I will also print out a copy if anyone wants to read it. Thanks Zach Larmer, and for some reason I can't make it not look like one big paragraph.