In her droll and incisive analysis of the cult of cheerfulness, Ehrenreich also ranges across contemporary religion, business and the economy, arguing, for example, that undue optimism and a fear of giving bad news sowed the seeds for the current banking crisis. She balked at the way her anger and sadness about having the disease were seen as unhealthy and dangerous by health professionals and other sufferers. (This, too, feels specifically American to me, as outlined by Barbara Ehrenreich in her book Smile or Die.)Įhrenreich conceived of the book when she became ill with breast cancer, and found herself surrounded by pink ribbons and bunny rabbits and platitudes. Throughout the story, every time Morse starts to become maudlin and bitter he pulls himself back into more positive thinking. (I hadn’t noticed that the right commonly describe the left in this way even when the right wield the real power, though now I’m alerted to it, manifested so clearly in America, I’m sure this is true of Australia, too.) Cummings can’t see the world for what it is, and is an example of someone so set in their convictions he’s a wacko. Macken points out that right wing culture will often characterise left wing culture as the power elite. There’s a disconnect between how the interior monologue of Morse presents himself to the reader as a hapless individual without material resources, yet another character describes him completely differently, as a member of the power elite. The potential fall from grace if rescue is not attempted SETTING OF “THE FALLS” PERIODĪs a non-American myself, this discussion alerts me to extra meaning specific to a USA context.The literal meaning of ‘falls’ meaning ‘waterfall’.Then he throws them into the same emotionally fraught reaction and shows us how they react.
Saunders allows readers to get to know two characters. Will Macken discussed this story with Deborah Treisman in December of 2021, on the New Yorker Fiction podcast.
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