Snapshots of a Wedding

Snapshots of a Wedding: Short story by Bessie HeadSet in the mid-1990s, this story by Bessie Head explores two aspects of a Botswanan wedding. The first is the rituals observed at the event and how, as a “modern wedding”, a lot of the traditional courtesies had been left out of the planning. The second is the circumstances leading up to the wedding, with the author seemingly inviting readers to judge whether the groom, who is rich in cattle and loved and respected by all who knew him, made the right choice for a bride. Themes: tradition vs. modernity, marriage, education, hubris vs. humility, money and status vs. love.

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The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Short story by F. Scott FitzgeraldThis F. Scott Fitzgerald story recounts the life of a man who grows “younger” by getting “older”. Themes include identity, social standing, and self-centeredness. The major theme, identity, is explored in the context of chronological age dictating expected behavior (e.g. “young” Benjamin obliges his father by constantly breaking things, whereas his “old” body would rather be smoking cigars). The people around Benjamin care more about protecting their reputations against gossip and scandal than they do about his condition. Finally, Benjamin proves himself as heartless as they are by hiding the problem and luring an unsuspecting woman into a doomed marriage.

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My Lucy Friend Who Smells Like Corn

Seventh Grade: My Lucy Friend Who Smells Like Corn by Sandra CisnerosMany of Sandra Cisneros’s stories are vignettes (narrative descriptions without a plot). This one provides a snapshot of a young girl’s relationship with her friend Lucy. The two girls identify as Chicanos (USA born Mexican-Americans). Cisneros makes extensive use of Chicano dialect and fragmented sentences to create a realistic atmosphere. The narrator’s tone (feisty) is also typical of Chicano youth. The main theme is, of course, friendship. However, a closer read will reveal deeper themes and emotions beneath the narrator’s bravado. These include ‘aloneness’ (the wish for a large, close family like Lucy’s) and envy for Lucy’s freedom and independence.

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In Search of Epifano

In Search of Epifano: Short story by Rudolfo AnayaIn this story by Rudolfo Anaya, an eighty-year-old woman leaves her loveless marriage and unfulfilling life in California behind to follow her passion (painting) and search for her familial, ethnic and spiritual roots in the Mexican desert. She journeys to the abandoned ranch of her great-grandfather Epifano, who she believes is calling her in her dreams. As she overlooks the ruins of his hacienda, a tall Indian with Epifano’s eyes guides her through an ancient ceremony in which her moan of love is like a new life as a blinding flash fills her body. Themes include heritage, identity, emptiness, epiphany.

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Sunanda

Sunanda: Short story by BanaphoolThis story by Banaphool opens with a young Indian woman dreaming about what might have been… the power and prestige that comes with a good education. The dream ends with her contemplating revenge on a man who had recently rejected her as a prospective bride. We don’t learn the outcome, because she wakes to the grim reality of her miserable existence. Despite excellent grades at school, her father denied her a tertiary education. As her poverty-stricken family desperately tries to marry her off, she takes drastic action. Themes include poverty, the importance of education, rejection, despair.

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Drifting House

Drifting House: Short story by Krys LeeThis confronting story by Krys Lee opens in a remote North Korean village created for those the government called the “wavering or hostile class”. Government food rations have been cut off and two starving, malnourished boys abandoned by their mother struggle across a snow-covered mountain to try to join her in China. The older boy carries their dying infant sister. Unable to carry her any further, he humanely ends her suffering. Despite their dire circumstances, he reveres his country’s “Dear Leader”, and expresses hatred for the American imperialists said to be responsible. Themes include family, abandonment, hunger, despair, guilt, indoctrination.

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The Spinoza of Market Street

The Spinoza of Market Street: Short story by Isaac Bashevis SingerIsaac Singer’s protagonist is an aging philosopher who has struggled for thirty years to write a commentary on the 17th century philosophical treatise, Spinoza’s Ethics. Frustrated, sickly and too weak from hunger to get out of bed, a reclusive spinster nurses him back to health. Her kindness leads to marriage and a wedding night in which he miraculously regains his youthful virility and passion for life. The story’s denouement: Spinoza, forgive me. I have become a fool. could thus be taken several ways. Themes: obsession, isolation and loneliness, renewal through passion, the difficulty in reconciling Spinoza’s views with traditional religion.

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Javni

Javni: Short story by Raja RaoRaja Rao’s Javni highlights the inequity of India’s caste system and how it is so interlinked with religious beliefs that most of those affected accept their lot without question. (A Brahmin is not meant to work. You are the “chosen ones”… you are the twice-born. We are your servants — your slaves.) Javni, a devout servant, accepts the exploitation and indignities suffered at the hands of her employer as a normal aspect of working life. Sadly, being a widow, the poor woman faces even greater cruelty from her family and fellow villagers. Themes: compassion, innocence, religion, fate, superstition, cruelty, sacrifice, love.

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