This story by O. Henry provides a mix of adventure, mystery, romance and humor. By day, Rudolf Steiner lives a normal life working in a piano store. At night, he walks the streets looking for adventure. One night, adventure calls in an unusual way. A man standing outside a building hands him a card containing the words: The Green Door. Rudolf goes inside and knocks on the only green door he can find, leading to a series of events that could change his life. Themes include the nature of adventure (risk vs. rewards), chance vs. fate, romance. More…
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The Raft
In this story from Stephen King, the last swim of the season by four college students also proves to be the last swim of their lives. On an alcohol-fuelled whim, the foursome drive to a deserted lake to swim out to a raft moored fifty yards off shore, say good-bye to summer, and then swim back. As they reach the raft, they learn to their horror that a mysterious black mass floating on the surface is stalking them for its next meal(s). Themes include teenage exuberance, machismo, chauvinism, sexuality, fear, the unknown/supernatural. More…
The Little Match Seller
This well-known story by Hans Christian Andersen is one of the saddest Festive Season tales ever told. A cruel father sends his little girl out into the snow to sell matches. She crouches between two buildings, afraid to go home because she hasn’t made any sales. As she imagines the people inside their warm houses getting ready for a big New Year’s dinner, a vision of her beloved grandmother appears to take her to a better place. Themes include loneliness, poverty, cruelty, exploitation, indifference to suffering, hope, the power of fantasy, Christianity and life after death. More…
Thongproi the Rich Girl
Have you ever wished you were so rich that you could have anything you want? There are two types of people in this group: those who work hard to capitalize on their good fortune, and those who live a life of indolent luxury. This story by Kukrit Pramoj is about a girl from Thailand who fits into the second category. Thongproi was spoiled from the day she was born, one of the most beautiful women in the district, and had a devoted husband in a senior government position. One would expect her to be very happy. But was she? More…
Extra
This story by Yiyun Li highlights the helplessness of the working class in China’s race to modernity. A fifty-one-year-old spinster comes of age after being retrenched by a bankrupt garment factory. Her next two jobs involve “extras”, people who have been cast off by their family. First, as wife/carer to a dying old man; second, as a maid in a boarding school where she experiences love in a special friendship with a rejected six-year-old boy. In a fit of temper, the boy does something that sees her jobless again. . Themes include social change, compassion, abandonment, isolation, maternal love, survival. More…