The Victory Lap Analysis

The Victory Lap, a Story of Redemption

In “The Victory Lap,” by George Saunders, the author takes us deep into the scene of an attempted kidnapping and rape in an ordinary suburban neighborhood. Much of the emotional power in the story comes from two distinct sources. The first is the setting in an innocent suburbia which is much like the quiet ordinary setting of “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson. The second is the author’s use of POV, telling most of the story through the inner dialogue of each of the three characters; the girl, the boy, and the would-be rapist.
Dealing with the setting first, it is disarming how completely ordinary this day and this place are. There isn’t a hint of anything sinister on the horizon, a predatory rapist would be almost unimaginable. Saunders presents the town and his characters in an almost blase manner. They aren’t particular interesting, they are most notable for their lack of salient interest. This is a town that is nowhere and everywhere. It is a place everyone knows, where nothing whatsoever happens. This is part of the chilling aspect of the story, as one considers that just such a thing can happen in any neighborhood at any time.
However, the story is at its most creative with its shifting point of view, exploring the inner monologue of each of the characters. The reader is first introduced to the intended victim, a young girl named Alison. The story opens with her idling her time away in the house, performing pirouettes, dreaming of