The following version of this short story was used to create the guide: Saunders, George. "Elliott Spencer." The New Yorker, 2019.

George Saunders's short story "Elliott Spencer" is an experimental work of fiction that toys with the conventional rules of syntax, grammar, and punctuation. The story begins in medias res, is written from the first person point of view, and employs the present tense. The first person narrator's name changes over the course of the story. The following summary follows the same patterns as the original text.

Shortly before the first person narrator, 89, is meant to start his new job assignment, his Supervisor Jerry teaches him a list of words he must know. Afterwards, 89 goes to sleep, listening to the same words and phrases repeating on a tape in his room. The next day, Jerry teaches 89 about his mission with the Program. On Job One Day, he will join the other members of his cohort. He must then throw a list of prescribed insults in the direction of the people they will be facing. Jerry then gives 89 the new name Greg.

Greg is excited for Job One Day. Finally he will be able to fight for freedom, and use his voice to defend the weak and the poor.

On Job One Day, Greg and his cohort travel by bus to their assigned location. They line up in front of a line of Police, behind which other people stand. They yell their insults, and finish their day's work.

On Job Two Day, members of the other side cross the Police line and invade Greg's cohort. Seeing his cohort kick and punch the interloper disturbs Greg. On the ride home, he cries, though he cannot understand why. Jerry scolds him and gives him a sedative.

That night, Greg cannot stop thinking about the violence he witnessed. Suddenly he remembers similar altercations from his past. These memories remind him that his real name is Elliott Spencer. When the Supervisors discover what he recalled, they have his mind Scraped for the second time. Elliott's initial mind-wipe destroyed his vocabulary and memory, so that the Program could fill him with new, biased information, and use him as a vehicle for their political agendas.

On Job Three Day, 89 is back to his old self. He eagerly joins the fight. However, once the opposition begins beating and kicking him, 89 again remembers he is Elliott Spencer. He is then transported into the past. In his memory he is living under a bridge, drunk and penniless. People attack him constantly, but Elliott does not think any of it is his fault.

Afterwards, the Supervisors coach Elliott for an interview with a reporter named Janet. During the interview, Elliott gives Janet the prescribed responses. Janet suspects that he has been brainwashed, and begins questioning him about his real identity and beliefs.

The Supervisors then decide they must Rescrape Elliott's mind and pretend as if the attack caused the brain damage. Before signing the consent form, Elliott remembers his childhood, and his mother.

Jerry takes him outside, trying to coax him into staying in the Program. Elliott keeps remembering things from his past. He does not want to be the man he was. He desperately wants to make amends for all the hurt he caused. He leaves the Program, and wanders off into the unknown, determined to achieve at least one good thing before his death.