This partly autobiographical story from James Baldwin explores aspects of African-American life in Depression-era Harlem. It contrasts religious zeal with violence and division in the community. In addition to the violence taking place in the children’s “gang” skirmishes on the rockpile, a climate of fear and intimidation exists in the protagonist’s household. Religion is presented not as an uplifting faith that gives meaning to life, but rather something to be feared and obeyed, and through which people are automatically classified as either “redeemed” or “wicked”. Themes: religion, fear, obedience/temptation, choices and consequences, alienation, motherly love. More…
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The Weeping Fig
This story by Judith Wright is a tribute to the pioneering families who tamed the harsh Australian outback. A man comes into possession of his great-grandfather’s diary. In search of his roots, he visits the cattle station on which his ancestors had settled. He finds what he came for in a weeping fig tree planted by his great-grandmother… a mass of green and the tallest tree for miles. The tree stands as a testament to his forefathers’ courage and determination, and in reconciliation for their failure. Themes include man vs. nature, the pioneering spirit, hope, suffering and defeat, reconciliation, identity/connection. More…
The Night the Bed Fell / Ghost Got In
These two light-hearted comedies from James Thurber involve the same house, the same family (notionally Thurber’s), the same attic bed, and the same message common in slapstick humor: Things aren’t always as they initially seem. In the first story, confusion over the location of a collapsing bed results in chaos in the house. In the second, ghostly sounds in the night extend the pandemonium to involve a neighbor and the police. Both stories include themes of memories, eccentricity, paranoia, misunderstanding and mayhem. The Night the Ghost Got In includes additional themes of the supernatural and responding to the unknown. More…
The Difference
A more apt title for this story by Ellen Glasgow would be The Differences. It explores differences in attitudes to love, marriage and infidelity between men and women, and between women born in the Victorian era and those born in the early 1900s. A middle-aged woman’s calm existence is shattered when she receives a letter from the much younger mistress of her husband of twenty years. She meets the woman, confronts her husband, and initiates a discussion about who loves whom and what is to be done about it. Themes include gender roles, love and adultery, the generation gap, sacrifice. More…
The Answer is No
This story explores the dilemma of a teacher who, having been raped by a trusted tutor at fourteen years of age, must face the attacker again as her school’s new headmaster. She refuses to cower before the man, and manages to maintain her dignity and self-respect through two encounters. Naguib Mahfouz is one of the few Islamic writers with the reputation to be able to not only successfully take on such a confronting issue, but also present it from an openly feminist perspective. Themes: abuse of trust, sexual assault, strength of character, courage, empowerment. More…