‘Lincoln in the Bardo’
by George Saunders
George Saunders’ 2017 book, Lincoln in
the Bardo, is not a Civil War novel, nor is it an examination of the life or career of the late president. Rather, it is a look into a single part of his character over the span of a single event. The book focuses on the bonds of parenthood (specifically fatherhood in this case study) by depicting how Abraham Lincoln dealt with the death of his son Willie.
By putting the Civil War on the periphery, Saunders manages to separate the well-known story of the savior of the Union, and instead display Lincoln’s humanity through tragedy. Were it not for the specifics of the events being examined in this book, Lincoln could easily be replaced with any other parent and the novel would progress in a similar way with the same message. The goal of
the novel is to display the necessity to move on from tragedy and to how to live despite the severances of family bonds. Even the strongest people, we learn from this book, can still bleed at heart.
Saunders displays the death of Lincoln’s son through two contrasting but complementary literary methods. Half of the novel is written in a cut-and-paste style. It is not the words but the order of events that is of Saunder’s making. Saunders pulls quotations from a series of historical archives and arranges them in order to best serve his narrative and create the historic atmosphere that such a tragedy deserves. This practice also allows for the factual events to be recounted in painstaking detail through numerous perspectives. This method can occasionally seem repetitive, but it does serve to detail a specific point or event to the reader.
The other half of the novel is written from the perspectives of a plethora of ghosts residing in the “bardo” — a realm comparable to purgatory, where the cynical and lost persist before moving on. These ghosts are all rather ordinary people: pessimistic, bored and, more often than not, depressed. They serve as foils and guides for Willie as he lingers in the bardo. By contrasting these spirits with legitimate accounts, Saunders is able to expand a single event — the death of a child — into Lincoln’s true emotional odyssey.
Sanders’ story successfully depicts the best of humanity in the worst of circumstances. Though I have yet to fully appreciate parenthood as Saunders presents it, the painstaking care involved in describing Willie’s character and Lincoln’s mourning process is beautiful an heartbreaking at once.
Harvey McGuinness will be a senior at Santa Fe High School in the fall. Contact him at harveymcguinness@yahoo.com.