I agree with demeatloaf's line of thinking. It also is a stab at the social actions people go through without meaning, just to appear normal, like putting up a Christmas tree, telling your spouse you love him, etc. when it is not heartfelt. It is a nice bit of sardonic humor to say the perfect people who adhere to these traditions and are apprearing as "perfect Americans" also are resisting an urge to kill. At the end, he says take the empty symbol of a pumpkin and throw it at the other empty symbol of the tree and just eat the damn pie and forget all about the pretenses.
I agree with demeatloaf's line of thinking. It also is a stab at the social actions people go through without meaning, just to appear normal, like putting up a Christmas tree, telling your spouse you love him, etc. when it is not heartfelt. It is a nice bit of sardonic humor to say the perfect people who adhere to these traditions and are apprearing as "perfect Americans" also are resisting an urge to kill. At the end, he says take the empty symbol of a pumpkin and throw it at the other empty symbol of the tree and just eat the damn pie and forget all about the pretenses.