The Other

The Other: Short story by Jorge BorgesIn this story by Jorge Borges, a younger man sits beside an aging teacher sitting on a riverside bench. As they talk, the teacher realizes that the younger man is himself at an earlier age. An ‘impossible’ date on an American banknote convinces the skeptical young man this is true. The teacher concludes that while the meeting was real and he definitely took part in it, the younger man wasn’t really there… he was dreaming the encounter! This begs the question, Could it have been the other way around? Themes include human existence, time, memory, dreams, old age, relativism.

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A Simple Heart / Soul

Seventh Grade: Short story by Gary SotoSet in nineteenth century France, this story by Gustav Flaubert portrays the life of an uneducated, simple-minded country girl who lives through fifty years of drudgery as house servant to a “disagreeable” woman who has fallen on hard times. The girl’s story evokes feelings of both admiration and sympathy: Admiration for her loyalty, piety, kindness and failure to give in to despair; Sympathy for her shameless exploitation, history of disappointment and loss, and misery and suffering approaching death. Themes: innocence; duty, faith and virtue; love and compassion; social class; wealth, poverty and exploitation; suffering, loss and death.

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All You Zombies

All You Zombies: Short story by Robert HeinleinDespite the title, this fascinating story from science fiction writer Robert Heinlein has nothing to do with zombies of the “walking dead” kind. Rather, it is a cleverly constructed brainteaser that explores some potential problems and paradoxes of time-travel. We can’t say more without spoiling the story, but can tell you that first time readers usually come away with their heads spinning from trying to work out “who is who” and “who did what to whom”. If you are similarly confused, Wikipedia has an excellent summary of the relationships and sequence of events here. Themes: time-travel, intersexuality, isolation.

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Hearts and Hands

Hearts and Hands: Short story by O. HenryAs with many O. Henry stories, in Hearts and Hands things may not be as they first seem. An attractive, refined-looking young woman is returning East by train after spending time in the ‘Wild West’. She greets a handsome young man she knows, only to see that he is handcuffed to a roughly dressed, glum-faced companion. One of the men is a marshal, the other a criminal being escorted to prison for counterfeiting. Themes include understanding and compassion, deception, appearance vs. reality (beware of judging people by appearances), crime and justice, the lure of the West.

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The Velveteen Rabbit

The Velveteen Rabbit: Short story by Margery WilliamsThe major theme of this touching children’s fantasy (aka How Toys Become Real) from Margery Williams is the transforming power of love. A cheaply made stuffed toy (Rabbit) is made to feel inferior by the more “advanced” toys in the nursery. A wise but badly worn old toy (Skin Horse) gives it some memorable advice: Real isn’t how you are made. It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child [someone] loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real. Other themes: being different, rejection, hope, loss, fulfillment.

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Trick or Treat

Trick or Treat: Short story by Padgett PowellIn this disturbing story by Padgett Powell a bored, frustrated housewife is approached by a twelve-year-old boy intent on exploring his sexuality. Notwithstanding the fact that the woman, who frequently walks past the boy’s house, is old enough to be his mother, he is fixated on having sex with her. The woman, who had sought relief from her unsatisfying marriage before, compares the tryst and the prospect of some comical but not ungratifying sex with the boy to Orpheus’ ascent from the underworld. Themes include boredom and dissatisfaction, escape, sexuality, desire, machismo, illicit relationships/child grooming.

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The Egg

The Egg: Short story by Sherwood AndersonThis dark comedy from Sherwood Anderson follows a contented farmhand and his ambitious wife who, after starting a family, decide to pursue the American Dream. In their first venture, a chicken farm, everything that can go wrong does go wrong. More troubles follow when they move closer to town and open a diner. The stressed husband tries to help business by being someone he is not (an entertainer), and ends up “with egg on his face”. The egg, which usually symbolizes the cycle of life, is for them a symbol of the cycle of poverty. Other themes: death, isolation, hope.

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Kabuliwallah

Kabuliwallah: Short story by Rabindranath TagoreIf you are a parent, this touching story by Rabindranath Tagore may well bring a tear to your eye. One of Tagore’s most popular stories, it describes an unlikely friendship between the precocious five-year-old daughter of a middle-class Bengali writer and an Afghani fruit-seller (Kabuliwallah). When the Kabuliwallah visits on the girl’s wedding day after an eight-year stint in prison, she barely acknowledges him. On learning why the fruit-seller had spent so much time with his daughter, the writer and Kabuliwallah form an instant bond. Themes: childhood innocence, friendship, growing up, change, class, prejudice, fatherly love.

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