This thought-provoking story from Naguib Mahfouz is an allegory of the phases and brevity of life. An old man’s nostalgic description of his first day at school triggers a stream of associated memories. He recalls completing his schooling and going on to experience friendship and love as if this all took place the same day. He then imagines setting out alone on a mystical journey “home”. Changes in the social and urban environments cause him to lose his way, and he becomes increasingly anxious to reach his destination and seek explanations (enlightenment?) from his “father”. Themes: time, memory, aging, change. More…
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The Grandfather and the Python
On the surface, this story by Ruskin Bond is a light-hearted tale about a vain python that falls in love with its own reflection. However, like Bond’s A Tiger in the House, the story raises serious questions about the capture and confinement of wild animals. Rather than being in “love”, the python is more likely confused by its reflection after being isolated from its kind for years. Moreover, if the python has no jungle survival experience, it is unlikely to live long when it finally emerges from its cage. Themes include eccentricity, fear, tolerance, vanity, (unintentional) animal cruelty. More…
Elbow Room
This metafictional story by James Alan McPherson is an account by an unidentified black writer of his relationship with a young multiracial couple in the late 1960s. Interspersed with the narrative are questions and observations from either his editor or himself. The intense husband struggles with his identity (both his “whiteness” and place in the world). His protective black wife, who has travelled extensively with the Peace Corps, is comfortable in hers. While the parents on both sides initially opposed the union, a baby brings them onside. Themes include race and racism, loss of innocence, identity and self-awareness, storytelling. More…
The Machine Stops
This Science Fiction classic by E. M. Forster explores the role of “the machine” in the rise and fall of a future dystopian civilization. After developing the machine the population grow dependent upon it, become controlled by it, worship it, and are ultimately destroyed by it. In the process, they regress in terms of human interaction, family relationships, physical strength, critical thinking ability and free will. Only the “homeless”, who have no access to the machine, survive. The major theme is the danger of over-reliance on and losing control of technology. Other themes: environmental degradation, religious faith, freedom, rebellion. More…
One Ordinary Day, With Peanuts
The protagonist in this story from Shirley Jackson initially appears too good to be true. A seemingly ordinary man fills his pockets with candy and peanuts and walks the streets of New York, helping strangers and acting “Mr. Nice Guy”. The apparent theme is making a difference… how a good deed, a kind word, or even just a smile can brighten up someone’s day. It is not until we reach the end of the story that we are presented with two other themes: things are not always what they seem, and the duality of good and evil. More…