Shells

Shells: Short story by Cynthia RylantIn Shells by Cynthia Rylant, a recently orphaned boy named Michael is having problems adjusting to living with his aunt Esther. She has never had children, and is very set in her ways. Michael feels alone in the world. He misses his parents, and goes to a new school where he has no friends. Desperate for company, Michael looks in a pet store for ‘some small living thing’ to brighten up his life. He finds just the right pet. When Aunt Esther shows an interest in it, both Michael and the pet start to come out of their shells.

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The Adulterous Woman

The Adulterous Woman: Short story by Albert CamusThe adultery in this story from Albert Camus is not of the sexual kind. For the married protagonist, the vast expanse of the Algerian desert puts into perspective something she already knew but had refused to face. Although she has a caring and possibly still loving husband, married life has become mundane and, through lack of communication, lonely. With both existentialist and feminist undertones, her epiphany on the rampart provides a brief escape from misery and the realization that life could offer so much more. Themes: lack of fulfillment, loneliness, natural splendor, freedom, finding meaning and purpose in life.

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Quiet Town

Quiet Town: Short story by Jason GurleyThe recently released 6th Assessment Report by the UN Climate Change Panel presents a pessimistic assessment of the world’s progress in controlling global warming. That makes this an appropriate time to feature science fiction writer Jason Gurley’s Quiet Town, a grim picture of what may be the future of low-lying townships along world coastlines. Bev, her son Benji, and annoying neighbor Ezze are among the few remaining residents of a small town in which the rising ocean has just breached the sea wall. Experts had originally predicted that this would not happen for fifty years: it had taken five!

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My Milk Goes Dry

My Milk Goes Dry: Novelette by Minh QuanMajor themes of this humorous story by Minh Quan include alienation, indoctrination, insecurity, obsession and motherhood. An orphaned Vietnamese girl grows up constantly being told that, because she was brought up on an animal (cow milk) based baby formula, she will grow into a barbarous woman devoid of human sentiment. This and many other evils, her uncle says, is all the fault of the French. The comments not only reinforce her lowest in the household childhood inferiority complex, but also lead to an unhealthy obsession with her breasts and breast-feeding when she has her own children.

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At War’s End: An Elegy

At War's End: An Elegy: Short story by Rony V. DiazThis story by Rony V. Diaz takes place during the Philippine Hukbalahap Rebellion at the end of World War 2. The “Huks”, originally a peasant resistance who fought the Japanese, embraced communist principles and turned their attention to overturning the country’s feudal farming system. The heir to a large landholding mysteriously commits suicide. It is unclear whether he acted because of a promise made to break up his family land, or uncertainty and fear about doing so. The answer may lie in a cryptic poem confiscated by police. Major themes include tradition, feudalism, wealth vs. poverty, social change, suicide.

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The Dead

The Dead: Short story by James JoyceThe major themes in this James Joyce masterpiece are failure to change (paralysis) and, of course, death and “the dead”. Other themes include Irish Nationalism, cultural identity, tradition, privilege, pride, and self-discovery. Gabriel, a condescending Irish intellectual, has rejected his country’s entrenched “backward” culture and embraced cosmopolitan British ways. His wife’s reaction to a little-known Irish folk-song sung by her long-dead first love brings about an epiphany. Gabriel suddenly realizes the need to take more positive steps in his own life, and how the lives of the dead can have a major influence on the living.

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The Oval Portrait

The Oval Portrait: Edgar Allan PoeThis Edgar Allan Poe story demonstrates the sinister side of how beauty can live on through art. An injured traveler takes shelter in an empty mountain chateau. There are paintings on and around the walls of his room. On his pillow is a book describing them. His eyes fall on the portrait of a beautiful woman that seems a little too lifelike. Disturbed, he finds its entry in the book. The woman’s story suggests that although art can preserve beauty, artistic obsession can destroy it in the making. Themes include art and artistry, rare beauty, love, obedience, obsession and death.

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Paste

Paste: Short story by Henry JamesThe main theme of this story from Henry James is that things aren’t always as they appear. The stepson of a deceased vicar’s wife offers her gaudy costume jewellery to his young cousin. Later, the cousin learns that one piece, a pearl necklace, may be genuine. This is one of those rare stories where a protagonist who chooses to do the right thing is the only loser. Mystery surrounds how the dead woman came by such a necklace, and its fate after she returns it. Other themes: temptation, morality, vanity, greed, betrayal.

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