A METACOGNITIVE READING REPORT ON

GEORGE SAUNDERS’S

“TENTH OF DECEMBER”

Submitted to:

DR. ILYN R. FAMINIAL

Professor

Submitted by:

DULCE AURA C. NAPOLES

2021.08.08
 CONCEPTS

The book “Tenth of December” is an award-winning contemporary fiction written

by George Saunders in 2013. It is a collection of ten (10) short stories of Saunders

published in different magazines from 1995 to 2012. The following is the complete list of

titles of this collection: “Sticks" (1995), "Exhortation"(2000), "Puppy"(2007), “Victory

Lap"(2009), "Al Roosten"(2009), "Escape from Spiderhead"(2010), "Home"(2011), "My

Chivalric Fiasco"(2011), "Tenth of December" (2011), and “The Semplica Girl

Diaries"( 2012). In a nutshell, this book talks about class, sex, love, loss, work, despair,

and war, the core of the contemporary experience. These stories move the readers to

reflect their own morality.

For the purpose of this paper, I will focus my review on the title story “Tenth of

December” originally published in The New Yorker magazine in 2011. Below are some

of its notable features:

Plot

It is a short story tracking the internal monologues of characters Robin, a young

boy, and Don Eber, a terminally ill 53 year-old man. The story begins in medias res with

Robin, one of the major characters/narrators, who goes on to save a supposedly

“kidnapped girl” Suzanne Bledzoe from the “Nethers”. The story constantly shifts from

reality to fantasy. For example, Robin walks through the woods imagining himself a hero

(fantasy) then reality sinks in as he sees the thermometer reading and when he begins

to follow actual human footprints. The footprints belong to Don Eber who is heading to

the woods, too. Like Robin, Don is also imagining that he is a hero- he believes that by
freezing himself to death, he will spare his family from the burdens he is causing

because of his terminal illness.

Seeing Don’s coat on the ground, Robin decides to return it to the stranger.

Unfortunately, before Robin could give the jacket back to Don, the boy falls into the

frozen pond. Upon witnessing this, Don feels guilt that the boy with good intentions is in

dire need of help because of him. With much effort, Don pulls the boy out of the pond,

revives him, and tells him to go back home. Now bare naked, cold, and alone in the

woods, Don changes his mind-he still wants to continue living because "there could still

be many - many drops of goodness". As he continues to recall his past experiences,

Don realizes that he is taken in by the family of Robin. It is Robin’s mom who

successfully rescued Don.

Reality vs. Fantasy

Saunders is able to highlight familiar themes such as reality and fantasy. For

example, Robin's fantasies include his imagination of the Nethers torturing him but only

"in ways he could actually take." He also makes believe that Suzanne will invite him for

swimming, telling him, "It's cool if you swim with your shirt on." Then Robin faces reality

after battling a near-death experience in the freezing pool. He also imagines Suzanne’s

answer, then thinking to himself, "Ugh. That was done, that was stupid, talking in your

head to some girl who in real life called you Roger."

On the one hand, Don is creating imaginations in his head. He imagines how his

stepfather suffered a terminal illness and at the same time transformed into a fierce

creature. To avoid the same fate, he decides to die with dignity in the freezing
wilderness. But his thoughts of killing himself with dignity are interrupted when he sees

Robin moving dangerously across the ice carrying his coat. Here, Don’s fantasy of an

ideal, poetic passing won't happen.

Saving Each Other

Don saves Robin from the biting cold of the frozen pond. On the other way

around, Robin tries to rescue Don by taking his coat to him. After being revived by Don,

Robin saves him by asking his mother to rescue him. Unbeknownst to Robin, he has

also already saved Don from ending his life. The boy gives the dying man a final chance

to recall who he really is.

Because Don feels the urgency to help the well-intentioned kid, Don comes into

grip with the present. Being in the present, Don realizes what his disease has caused

him to do. He is also able to come into terms with his past and present. He sees that

there are "drops of goodness" even in the worst situations. Though he and his wife are

in unfamiliar territory, "stumbling a bit on a swell in the floor of this stranger’s house,"

they are together.

INSIGHTS

I find the “Tenth of December” a moving story about starting a day with bad

circumstances but ending it on a more positive tone. This is a story of how a seemingly

insignificant and socially awkward boy and terminally ill, desperate adult can be each

other’s redemption. This makes the reader imagine himself/herself as savior, too. First,

it feels like a dream and a nightmare but closes as a wake-up call for Robin and Don,

both outsiders living in their own altered reality. For Robin, he imagines a world where
he is not at all different from other children and thus, acceptable. For Don, he imagines

that ending his life is a heroic pursuit, freeing his loved ones of the burden.

This story also touches on the themes about parenthood, hope, heroism, identity,

fear, and kindness. In addition, it can be seen how the author emphasizes the role of

memory and imagination in the unveiling of the plot. Robin and Don seem to experience

the same recollection of the past to the point of being delusional, often wandering in

wishful thinking, or sugar-coated remembrances. Here it seems memory and

imagination offer a way of escaping reality towards a more comfortable place.

This moving yet not maudlin tale feels like a dream that veers toward a nightmare but closes as a
wake-up call for the two main characters. The boy and the man are both outsiders living in their own
altered reality. For Robin, it is a pretend world where he is no different from other children and not a
"loser." For Don, it is disease and dependence on others along with frequent visits to his past.

Memory and imagination have important roles in the story. They are poised to oppose each other -
fact versus fiction - but where is the line that divides an accurate recollection of the past from self-
delusion, wishful thinking, or sugar-coated remembrances? In their own way, both memory and
imagination offer a means of escape, a place of possible comfort. There are no neurological or
psychological constraints that mandate all memories must be more truthful, more correct than
imagination. 

Parenthood, hope, heroism, identity, fear, and kindness are additional concepts explored in this

Makikita sa akda ang pagkakaroon ng

story.

“favoristism” sa mga estudyante kagaya na

lamang kay Armando na pinaboran ng kanyang
mga guro na hindi bigyan ng mababang
marka dahil siya’y pogi at ang ama niya ay
isang doktor. Nailahad sa akda na mayroong
naganap na pag-uusap ang mga guro tungkol sa
paghahatol nila ng marka sa kanilang mga
estudyante at nailahad sa akda ang
pagkakaroon ng diskriminasyon kay Minyong
na isang
cultural minority dahil dito ibinagsak
nila si Minyong at dahil baka rin
magbilin ng
masamang larawan sa kanilang paaralan ang
kanyang pagiging bobo. Makikita rin sa akda
ang pagdadamayan nina Jojo sa pamamagitan
ng pag-iinom nila naipahayag ni Jojo ang
kanyang saloobin. At naipakita sa wakas ng
akda ang pagiging matapang ni Jojo na
natutong
ipaglaban ang kanyang
QUESTIONS

#1 How is the concept of “suicide” addressed in the story?

Don Eber’s suicidal tendency is addressed with inappropriate humor. Thus,

Saunders writes “Don Eber considers whether he will employ “the boulder idea”. As Don

Eber makes his way into the freezing wilderness, he creates an active interior dialogue

with himself, remembering past experiences that are embedded in his heart and mind.

The simple presentation of these memories gives a clue that Don Eber is just a normal

person and an unusual suicidal suspect. He even considers his plan of killing himself a
dignified act because in so doing, he saves his family from the burden of caring for him

in his terminal illness. Here, Don Eber is featured as a protagonist. The author seems to

normalize the idea of suicide.

#2 How does the story compare the moral compass of Robin and Don?

There are events in the story wherein Robin and Don are faced with the dilemma

of choosing what is right from what is wrong. For instance, upon finding Don Eber's

jacket, he decides to return it without a doubt. For doing this, Robin thinks his crush will

definitely call him a "hero". Even though young and childish, Robin has his own

standard of morality. On the one Don Eber's moral compass is also evident. Compared

to Robin’s sense of morality, Don Eber’s is more equivocal. First and foremost, Don

Eber decides to commit suicide, saying, "let me bring no dishonor." He believes he is

causing so much trouble to his family ever since he got terminally ill. The highest point

in the story is when Don Eber has to resolve whether or not to save Robin which

obviously leads him to rescue the well-intentioned kid.

#3 What does this story say about kindness?

In this story, the author introduces to the readers Robin and Don who are both

kind in spite of and despite of being compromised by their own circumstances. The

story allows the readers to see in Robin and Don what they could also see in one

another. Even if people are sometimes misguided, they have good intentions. It also
teaches the readers that kindness pays and leads to the voice that will guide them to do

good. Timely kindness is truly a savior in several ways.