Contents of the Dead Man’s Pockets

Contents of the Dead Man's Pockets: Short story by Jack FinneyThis exceedingly suspenseful story by Jack Finney is a tale of drive, ambition and the pursuit of quick success taken too far. It also raises an interesting question: At what point does a material object become worth risking your life for? A man climbs out of a window onto the ledge outside his eleventh floor apartment to retrieve a piece of paper. Ironically, what is on the paper is “incomprehensible” to anyone but him, and could readily be replaced with two months of repeated research. Themes: misplaced priorities, risks vs. consequences, determination, fear, desperation, enlightenment.

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The Secret Sharer

The Secret Sharer: Short story by Joseph ConradThe term secret sharer in this Joseph Conrad adventure could apply to both the protagonist (a young ship’s captain preparing for his first sea command) and his fugitive cabin guest. The similarities between them in terms of age, appearance and background suggest that Conrad is using the guest as a foil to highlight the captain’s strengths and weaknesses. Unlike the guest, the captain is unsure of himself and does not project the self-confidence and authority needed to gain the respect of his older, more experienced officers. Themes include leadership, isolation, identity, duality, self-awareness, self-mastery, and the power of the sea.

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The Ant-Lion

The Ant-Lion: Short story by Judith WrightIn this story by Judith Wight, a brother and sister playing in the Australian bush discover the pit of an ant-lion larvae. Out of curiosity, the boy drops small ants into it. When these prove easy prey, and against his sister’s protests, he drops a much larger meat-ant into the pit. He prevents the meat-ant’s desperate attempts to escape, and the two watch in silent horror as the meat-ant’s abdomen is severed from its body. Disgusted, the two run from the scene. Themes include childhood curiosity, the cruelty of mankind vs. cruelty in nature, horror, shame.

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The Return

The Return: Short story by Fernando SorrentinoOn the surface, this story by Argentinean writer Fernando Sorrentino reads like a typical ‘campfire’ horror story. A man looking out his window witnesses a mean neighbor accidentally causing the death of an old beggar. Later, he sees the dead beggar return in the form of a newborn baby boy. When the boy is older, he “accidentally” causes the death of the man who killed him and then suddenly disappears. The author has cleverly created the character of the narrator so that if readers look a little harder, they might question if this is what really happened.

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Four Summers

Four Summers: Short story by Joyce Carol OatesThis story from Joyce Carol Oates charts the coming of age of a woman through four stages of life: infancy, childhood, adolescence and early womanhood. Her emotional development and the lives of those around her are portrayed through experiences over four summers at the same lakeside bar. Growing up in a working class environment in which hard drinking and angry outbursts are the norm, she is increasingly disillusioned by what she sees. At nineteen, she finds herself married, pregnant and facing a life of the same. Themes include marriage, family and the role of social class in determining one’s future.

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Other People

Other People: Short story by Neil GaimanThis Neil Gaiman is not for the fainthearted. Upon entering a room in Hell, a man meets the “demon” that will be his tormentor. After suffering excruciating pain from each of the 211 torture instruments lining the walls, he asks the demon what comes next. The answer: the true pain begins! And so it does for several thousand more years. In the last sentence, we learn why Gaiman agreed to change the title from his original choice (Afterlife) to Other People. Themes include sin and punishment, and the nature of Hell (suffering and inflicting dehumanizing pain and suffering).

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The Selfish Giant

The Selfish Giant: Children's story by Oscar WildeThe Irish writer Oscar Wilde is known for his plays, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and his short stories. He also wrote children’s stories, and this is one of the best known of these. A giant finds that his beautiful garden has become a playground for children. He drives them away and builds a wall around it. The seasons close in and his castle becomes a cold, miserable place. Redemption comes in the form of a small child the giant comes to love. The two main themes of the story are greed vs sharing, and Christian love.

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Absalom’s Hair

Absalom’s Hair: Short story by Bjørnstjerne BjørnsonIn this story by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, friends and family are dismayed when an intelligent, independent twenty-one-year-old woman marries a dominant, sixty-year-old recluse. When she tries to leave, he cruelly confines her and their one-year-old son to his seaside estate. On his death, she moves with the then twelve-year-old boy to England and spends the next ten years trying to control every aspect of his life, including separating him from any girl/woman he shows interest in. His love/hate relationship with her almost destroys his life. Themes include power and control, the struggle for independence, vulnerability, desire, societal norms, mother-son relationships.

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