In this H. G. Wells classic, a Victorian era scientist who invents a time machine and travels over 800,000 years into the future finds a disintegrating world. Mankind has devolved into two species: the care-free, childlike Eloi (descendants of the elite) who live above ground in crumbling cities, and the aggressive, ape-like Morlocks (descendants of the working class) who live in perpetual darkness underground. He soon learns the gruesome secret of their co-existence. Themes include time travel, technology and “progress”, inequality and social class (the capitalist divide), the decline of humanity, love and kindness, entropy and decay. More…
All posts by shortsonline
Where Have You Gone, Charming Billy?
Private First Class Paul Berlin faces three antagonists in this story by Vietnam veteran Tim O’Brien: the enemy (it is after all a war story!), his fellow soldiers (he will be punished and/or branded as a coward if he fails in his duty), and himself (the ability to control his fear). Although the major theme is clearly fear, the story also highlights the naivety and youthful innocence of many of those sent to fight in the war. Fear is presented as two-dimensional. While giving in to it can have grave consequences, facing and harnessing it can save a soldier’s life. More…
The Man in the Well
In this story by Ira Sher, a group of children find a man trapped in a well and reach an unspoken agreement to leave him there. Readers are left with three questions: 1) How/why did the man end up in the well? 2) Why wouldn’t he give the children his name? and 3) Why didn’t the children get help? The first question is of interest, but doesn’t affect the story. The second question begs another: Would the outcome have been different if the man had given his name? The third suggests a major theme: insensitivity to the suffering of others. More…
Notes to My Biographer
The narrator of this dark comedy by Adam Haslett is a mentally ill seventy-three-year-old. The proud, delusional man won’t acknowledge the problem, refuses to take his medication, and is in severe financial difficulty. After a road trip to visit his son Graham, the only family member who will see him, he comes up with an idea for a revolutionary new bicycle that will make both of them rich. Graham, who is secretly battling the same illness as his father, is left shattered by the visit. Themes include mental illness, pride, estrangement, loneliness, obsession, paranoia, sexuality, embarrassment, fear. More…
The Destructors
This acclaimed but rather disturbing story from Graham Greene is set in the aftermath of World War 2. A group of boys known as the Wormsley Common Gang meet daily to plan acts of mischief around London. A new member successfully challenges the leader and, in suggesting the destruction of an old man’s stately two-hundred-year-old house, elevates their mischief from harmless fun to wanton vandalism and cruelty. The major theme of the story is class (rebellion against the pre-war materialistic social order, as symbolized by the house). Other themes: innocence, the quest for and misuse of power, cruelty. More…