Featured Stories

Two Kinds

Two Kinds: Short story by Amy TanA new slang term came into existence several years ago: Tiger Mother. This story by Amy Tan involves a perfect example of one. A fierce argument takes place between a mother and daughter following a disastrous piano recital. When the daughter refuses to continue practicing, the mother responds: Only two kinds of daughters. Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind! Only one kind of daughter can live in this house. Obedient daughter! Ironically, blind obedience may not be the best strategy for success in America. Themes include mother-daughter relationships, matriarchal power, pride, individuality and self-determination, rebellion.

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A Choice of Butchers

A Choice of Butchers: Short story by William TrevorIn this confronting story from William Trevor, a seven-year-old boy is faced with several issues he is far too young to understand: a hard-drinking, overbearing father he catches passionately embracing their maid; a monetary gift and unexpected good-night kiss from their soft-spoken, empathetic lodger; and a perpetually tired, unaffectionate mother who appears to passively accept her lot. Add to this that he is an “afterthought child” with both parents in their fifties and the question of why a butcher’s family would need a maid, and the story becomes an amateur psychological sleuth’s dream with some serious unstated themes.

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The Velveteen Rabbit

The Velveteen Rabbit: Short story by Margery WilliamsThe major theme of this touching children’s fantasy (aka How Toys Become Real) from Margery Williams is the transforming power of love. A cheaply made stuffed toy (Rabbit) is made to feel inferior by the more “advanced” toys in the nursery. A wise but badly worn old toy (Skin Horse) gives it some memorable advice: Real isn’t how you are made. It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child [someone] loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real. Other themes: being different, rejection, hope, loss, fulfillment.

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The Night Face Up

The Night Face Up: Short story by Julio CortázarIn this story by Julio Cortázar, a man hospitalized after a motorcycle accident drifts in and out between the “present” and a “dream” in which he is a member of an ancient tribe being hunted by Aztec warriors for sacrifice. As he struggles to stay awake in his hospital ward, his dream-self is captured, imprisoned, and carried up the temple steps for execution. At the moment of death, he recalls a dream about riding through an astonishing city on an enormous metal insect that whirred away between his legs. Themes include time and space (parallel worlds), existence, dreams vs. reality.

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The Budget

The Budget: Short story by Mario BenedettiThe major theme of this satirical tale by Mario Benedetti is the inefficiency of government bureaucracy and decision-making in 1940s Uruguay. A small government Office, which doesn’t seem to exist for any purpose, has operated within the same annual budget for decades. When its financially struggling staff hear rumours of an imminent budget increase, they go into debt and splurge on luxuries as if a salary increase had already been granted. A year later, as the paperwork weaves its way through the Ministerial approval process, the disillusioned employees are still waiting. Other themes include indolence, hope and disillusionment.

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A Silver Dish

A Silver Dish: Short story by Saul BellowThe central theme of this thought-provoking story from Saul Bellow is protagonist Woody’s relationships with his extended family. Although much of his week is spent fulfilling the sense of duty he feels towards them, he also makes time for carnal and other pleasures. A turning point in Woody’s youth was his con-man father (Morris)’s theft of a silver dish. Despite their differences, father and son remained close and Morris’s death affects Woody greatly. In the heart-warming denouement, he proclaims his love by climbing into the dying man’s hospital bed. Other themes: ethnic/religious allegiances, pretentiousness, humiliation, aging, death, duty, self-indulgence, solitude.

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Walker Brothers Cowboy

Walker Brothers Cowboy: Short story by Alice MunroAlthough set in rural Ontario, there isn’t a cow to be seen in this Depression-era story from Alice Munro. The “cowboy”, once a successful fox farmer, is now a door-to-door household product salesman. The story’s central themes are father-daughter relationships, poverty, pride, dealing with reduced circumstances, and nostalgia. The man’s wife is bitterly resentful of the extent to which the family have “come down” in the world, while an arguably worse-off ex-girlfriend he and his children visit during one of his rounds is still able to enjoy life. Understandably, his daughter (the narrator) is somewhat disturbed by the meeting.

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What We Talk About When We Talk About Love

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love: Short story by Raymond CarverThe power of this minimalist story from Raymond Carver about the difficulty of defining “real” love lies in its realism. The two couples involved in the alcohol-fueled conversation are not experts; each member has experienced a failed marriage. None of them can describe love, but they do manage to give examples of what it is and isn’t, and what can go wrong when it ends. The mood darkens along with the emptying bottle, and by story’s end all four are too despondent to move. Themes: the nature of love, the limits of language, marriage and divorce, alcohol abuse.

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