Box-garden

"Box-Garden" by Allen K. Lang is a speculative fiction short story that explores the dark side of advertising and consumerism. Set in a bar in the late 1950s, the story captures a tense exchange between the narrator and an odd man lamenting the deceptive nature of television commercials. He uses the art of bonsai as an analogy, highlighting how advertising twists reality and preys on consumers' minds, reducing people to simplistic caricatures driven by psychological manipulation rather than genuine needs. The man's fervent argument leaves the narrator pondering the dehumanizing potential of media messages and the unsettling truth concealed behind the polished facade of advertisements.