The Bakery Attack / Second Bakery Attack

The Bakery Attack / Second Bakery Attack: Short stories by Haruki MurakamiThe Second Bakery Attack, one of Haruki Murakami’s most popular stories, is the sequel to an earlier, less well-known work. In the first story, an empty stomach symbolizes a life empty of ambition and intellectual stimulation. In the second, it symbolizes the insecurity inherent in a recently married couple’s (as yet) superficial relationship. The man has a lot to learn about his new wife, as becomes clear when she proves surprisingly adept at planning and carrying out a robbery. For the couple, the successful robbery proves a bonding, curse-lifting experience. Themes include marriage, insecurity, gender roles/’manhood’, the supernatural, change (Westernization).

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Showdown

Showdown: Short story by Shirley JacksonA major theme of this Shirley Jackson story is community responsibility in preventing violence. Before the “showdown”, young Billy’s Saturdays were quiet and uneventful. When Tom Harper’s death breaks the pattern, a mystical power puts Billy (and possibly other townspeople) into a time loop. After many repeated Saturdays, Billy realizes that to break the cycle he must do something to prevent Tom’s death. Could the “haunting” be a result of Tom’s girlfriend Susy’s promises: I won’t ever forget you, and neither will anyone else! I’ll see that they don’t get off easy! Other themes: violence, love, hope, revenge, the supernatural.

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The Bet

The Bet: Short story by Anton ChekhovThis Anton Chekhov opens with a dinner discussion about capital punishment. A banker claims the death penalty is kind because a lifetime in prison is not worth living. A lawyer argues that any life is better than no life at all. To prove his point, the banker bets the lawyer a small fortune that he couldn’t survive being locked up for many years with minimal contact with the outside world. Towards the end of the period, the banker visits him with murderous intent. Themes include crime and punishment, idealism and conviction, isolation and dehumanization, acquired wisdom, greed and excess.

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The Pit and the Pendulum

The Pit and the Pendulum: Short story by Edgar Allan PoeIn this story by Edgar Allan Poe, a man in a dreamlike state of consciousness swoons upon being sentenced to death by the Spanish Inquisition. He wakes to find himself tied to a wooden frame in a chamber housing three forms of horrific death: a deep, water-filled pit; a slowly descending, razor-sharp pendulum; and contracting, red-hot walls. After almost giving up and welcoming death, he finds the will to live and devises a plan to escape the pendulum. As the walls close in, an unexpected visitor saves him. Themes include injustice, sadism, fear, time, the will to live, inventiveness, salvation

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Goodbye, Columbus

Goodbye, Columbus: Short story by Philip RothMajor themes of this captivating story by Philip Roth are passion, sexuality, Jewish identity, and social class. When Neil, a twenty-three-year-old man from a working class Jewish family falls for Brenda, a spoiled college student from a wealthy one, the relationship appears doomed. Brenda’s competitive nature, Neil’s idealism, and his daily encounters with her emotionally dysfunctional family, lead to snide comments and constant bickering between them. The glue that holds their relationship together is sex, and readers are left to decide if Brenda ended it accidentally or deliberately. Other themes include family, materialism, manipulation, and control.

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A White Heron

A White Heron: Short story by Sarah Orne JewettA major theme of this story from Sarah Orne Jewett is exploitation of nature. A young girl (Sylvia) must choose between much needed money and protecting a rare, beautiful bird. Some see the story as a metaphor for industrialization encroaching upon the pristine Maine woods. The repeated references to “whiteness” (the heron, cow’s milk, Sylvia’s pale skin), symbolize the purity of both the environment and the girl. Other themes: temptation, feminism (the right for Sylvia [women] to live as she chooses and not to serve and follow him [a man] and love him as a dog loves!)

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Diamond Cuts Diamond

Diamond Cuts Diamond: Thai FolktaleIn this Thai folktale, a poor man has only plain rice to eat during a trip to visit a sick relative. Along the way, he smells some delicious curry being cooked for a rich man’s lunch. He stops nearby to eat his own lunch, and enjoys the plain rice more than ever because he imagines eating it with the curry. The rich man finds out about this and tries to make him pay for the smell of his curry. Thanks to a village chief who is cleverer than the rich man, things don’t go as he had planned.

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The Golden Windows

Golden Windows: Short story by Laura E. RichardsThis story by Laura E. Richards is about a poor farm boy who, at the end of most working days, would sit on top of a hill and look at a far-away house that appeared to have golden windows. As he did so, he wished that he could live in a wonderful house like that. One day he sets out to find the house. When he gets there, he is disappointed to learn that the house doesn’t have golden windows. A little girl takes him to the top of her hill and shows him the real house with golden windows.

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