Like two of our earlier Edgar Allan Poe tales (The Back Cat and The Tell-Tale Heart), this story involves an unreliable, unhinged narrator facing execution for murder trying to account for his crime. He blames his actions on an agent he claims to be in all of us called the “Imp of the Perverse”. The Imp, he argues, is an urge that drives people to do things they shouldn’t for the simple reason that they know it to be wrong. Ironically, the Imp that drove him to murder also drove him to confess. Themes include perverseness, obsession, madness, self-destruction. More…
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The Ant and The Grasshopper
This story by W. Somerset Maugham takes its name from a famous Aesop fable. The fable carries the message that hard work is rewarded, while laziness leads to disaster. The story presents a more balanced view of the world. Sometimes good things happen to lazy or even quite bad people, causing them to be better off than those who work hard every day. After years of hard work, Gordon Ramsay (the Ant) is rewarded with a comfortable retirement. He thinks it unfair when his brother Tom (the Grasshopper) ends up many times richer after a life of laziness and cheating others. More…
The Champion of Quiet
This story by Tracy Stewart for Highlights Magazine includes a number of important life lessons for young learners. The first is individual differences. Nobody is good at everything, but almost everybody is good at something. Importantly, you don’t have to be good at something to enjoy it. By joining in and trying your best, you can have just as much fun as those who are great at it. Maggie proved that she wasn’t just the Champion of Quiet. She became the Champion of Understanding and Kindness, and learned that this is the easiest way of all to make new friends. More…
The Wave
The only “characters” in this vignette from Liam O’Flaherty are a cliff, waves, and “the wave”. Major themes include permanence, time, the power of nature/many. O’Flaherty was a noted Republican, and the story can be looked upon as a powerful allegory of Ireland’s struggle for independence. The cliff (Britain) stands firm and resolute, having successfully weathered many storms over its long history. Individually, the smaller waves (the Irish people) make little impression against its rocky walls. Working together, and combining to form “the wave”, they have enough power to begin breaking down the mighty cliff. More…
The Secret Room
Although attributed to the folklore of Schoharie County New York, this folktale almost certainly has German origins. In common with Perrault’s famous Bluebeard, the plot involves a large house, a set of keys and a room that must not be entered. The main difference is that in this story the heroine falls in love with and marries a bull! Having killed and decapitated her older sisters, the beast was planning the same fate for her. The story teaches two life lessons: 1) don’t let curiosity get the better of you; and 2) black cats are not so evil after all. More…