The major theme of this J. D. Salinger story is an extension of another we have featured by the same author. In For Esmé with Love and Squalor, a teenager’s friendship and compassion help a young soldier recover from PTSD. Here, a returned soldier is suffering its long-term effects. He copes by trying to avoid the company of adults (including his vain, materialistic wife) and finds pleasure in music, poetry and spending time with young children. Major themes: the effects of war on mental health, alienation, loneliness, childhood innocence, vanity and materialism, suicide. More…
The End of Something / Three-Day Blow
These two Ernest Hemingway stories should ideally be read together as they are linked by storyline (the end of a relationship) and major themes (change, friendship and moving on). The lumber town of Hortons Bay has died and its people have left because all the old-growth trees have been cut down. Like the townspeople, Nick Adams is planning a new beginning. He has decided to break up with girlfriend Marjorie, telling her “it isn’t fun anymore”. We learn the reason in the second story, which introduces additional themes of class and/or racial prejudice, selfishness, mateship and regret. More…
Don’t Look Now
This Daphne du Maurier story opens with a British couple dining in Venice. The holiday, through which they hope to rebuild their relationship following the death of their young daughter, takes an eerie turn when a fellow diner claims to be able to “see” the spirit of the dead girl sitting between them, and issues a grim warning that they should leave Venice immediately. When a family emergency calls them back home later that day, they take this as the meaning of the warning. The wife leaves the next morning; the husband never does. Themes: grief, the supernatural, scepticism, suspicion/paranoia. More…
The Enemy
In this story by Pearl S. Buck, a Japanese surgeon finds a badly wounded man washed up on the beach in front of his house. Set during World War 2, the man is an escaped American prisoner of war and sworn enemy of his people. The doctor faces a dilemma. Does he hand the man in, in which case he will certainly die, or treat him first and risk execution for treason? The forgetfulness of a well-connected existing patient saves both the doctor and the American. Themes include choices and consequences (medical ethics vs. patriotic duty), indoctrination, racism, humanity. More…
In the Region of Ice
In this story by Joyce Carol Oates, a young nun teaching her first semester at a Jesuit university is confident in her academic role but feels confused and alienated by the outside world. Things change when a brilliant but mentally disturbed Jewish graduate student joins her literature class. Although stimulated by his questions and probing mind, he exhibits a need for emotional support beyond her comfort zone. When she refuses a request to lend him money and take his hand, he becomes hysterical and verbally abusive. Themes include identity, connection (emotional detachment), mental illness, alienation, faith, compassion. More…