Aquifer is from Tim Winton’s collection The Turning. Set in an Australian immigrant suburb, the overlapping stories explore life-shaping events in otherwise ordinary lives. Here, a drop in the aquifer brought about by land clearing and prolonged dry weather drains a nearby swamp. A news story about the discovery of human bones at the water’s edge prompts a middle-aged ex-resident to re-live his childhood and the time when, as the only witness, he calmly stood by and watched a neighborhood bully drown. Themes: change, racial stereotyping, perceptions of time. Change is explored on three levels: personal, community and the environment. More…
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The Reluctant Dragon
In the popular legend of St. George and the Dragon, a courageous soldier rescues a princess chosen as tribute (and next meal) for a marauding dragon. This witty, light-hearted tale from Kenneth Grahame is a parody of this legend. However, there is no princess and the dragon in question is friendly, cultured and, as he admits himself, lazy. The major theme is that the best way to resolve a problem is to sit down and talk about it. Other themes: friendship, daring to be “different” (Boy and dragon); judging by appearances, bloodsports (the villagers); maintaining face/reputation, compassion (St. George). More…
The Egg
Andy Weir’s The Egg is so thought provoking that I have re-read it several times over the years. The story comprises a conversation between “god” and a dead man about the meaning and purpose of life (to grow his soul through new experiences), and his place in the universe. Other themes (equality, consideration for others, and empathy) are nicely summed up in the paragraph: Every time you victimized someone, you were victimizing yourself. Every act of kindness you’ve done, you’ve done to yourself. Every happy and sad moment ever experienced by any human was, or will be, experienced by you. More…
He
The central theme of this poignant, rather dark story from Katherine Porter is a mother’s relationship with her devoted special needs son. The woman is obsessed with appearances. Although she professes greater love for him than her other children combined, one wonders if this is out of pity or, worse, a mere show for neighbors. Similarly, are her tears as she takes the boy to the County Home the result of losing him, a sense of failure/shame as a mother, and/or (as the narrator cruelly suggests) wishing he had never been born? Other themes: struggle against poverty, family, appearances, guilt. More…
The Replacement
This story by Alain Robbe-Grillet is an example of the Nouveau Roman literary trend of the 1950s. Rather than following a traditional short story structure, The Replacement inter-weaves three seemingly unrelated plot lines involving a frustrated teacher and his bored students, a story they are reading in class, and a schoolboy outside interacting strangely with a tree. In presenting the sequence of events objectively with no authorial interpretation, readers are left to draw their own conclusions as to the story’s meaning and message. Themes could include the attainment of knowledge, the reading process, perseverance, classroom learning vs. curiosity and self-discovery. More…