Dusk

Dusk: Short story by James SalterJames Salter’s Dusk is about the loneliness of reaching middle age and finding yourself alone in the world. Mrs Chandler is a cultured woman who once led an active social life. The narrator describes her as a fine woman whom no one now wanted. Her only son is dead, her other children have moved on, her husband has left her, and her lover is reuniting with his wife. It is hunting season, and she identifies with the wild geese being shot for sport: The rain was coming down, the sea was crashing, a comrade lay dead in the whirling darkness.

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Women in Their Beds

Women in their Beds: Short story by Gina BerriaultGina Berriault’s protagonist is a struggling young actress who has just begun a day job as a social worker in the women’s ward of a city hospital. With no qualifications or experience, she finds it hard to maintain clinical detachment and begins to identify with the suffering, often troubled women in the ward. She reflects on turning points in her own life, and concludes that women are shaped by the beds (a metaphor for common life experiences) they have chosen, or someone else has chosen for them, to lie in. Themes: empathy, choice vs. superstition/destiny, identity, aloneness, connection.

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Born Worker

Born Worker: Short story by Gary SotoThe main theme of this story by Gary Soto is that there is honor in honest hard work, and accordingly no shame in having a manual or menial job. It also deals with some common social stereotypes. On the one hand we have Jose, representing the hard-working, down-to-earth, family-oriented Mexican working class; on the other, Arnie, representing an exploitative, materialistic, entitled Mexican middle class. Soto contrasts Jose’s hard work with Arnie’s fast-talking attempts to get a “free ride”. Jose bears his sun-darkened Mexican looks proudly; Arnie prefers to claim French heritage and a “Portuguese or Armenian” complexion.

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The Elephant Vanishes

The Elephant Vanishes: Short story by Haruki MurakamiThe major theme of this surreal mystery by Haruki Murakami is how commercialism and modernization have upset Japan’s traditional social order. Other themes include unity, perception, disillusionment, alienation, paralysis, isolation and connection. An aging elephant and keeper symbolize the old ways, destined to vanish when displaced by urban development. The city’s absurd responses to the disappearance signify the uneasiness and confusion brought about by the changes. The narrator, a loner used to unity and balance in his life, becomes so disoriented by what he saw on the night of the disappearance that he is unable to make important decisions.

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The Skater

The Skater: Short story by Joy WilliamsIn this story by Joy Williams, parents (Tom and Annie) take their teenage daughter Molly on an awkward trip from California to New England to look at boarding schools. Sending Molly to school across the country is ostensibly so that the distance will help her deal with the recent death of her older sister Martha. Molly thinks her parents have an ulterior motive… to help them cope more easily with their own grief. Although Molly rejects all the schools, the trip helps all three on their road to recovery. Themes include family, death, grief, acceptance.

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The Red Convertible

The Red Convertible: Short story by Louise ErdrichThe titular car in this confronting coming of age story by Louise Erdrich symbolizes freedom and the youthful bonding of Native-American half-brothers Lyman and Henry. Lyman is good with money and responsible. Henry is older, stronger, and more impulsive. On buying the car, they take a summer road-trip through the wilds of Montana before picking up a hitchhiker and driving her all the way home to Alaska. Upon their return, Henry is drafted and sent to Vietnam. He comes back a changed man, suffering a downward spiral of depression and despair. Themes: brotherhood, youth, freedom, PTSD, alienation, suicide, loss.

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The Balek Scales

The Balek Scales: Short story by Heinrich BöllThis story from Heinrich Böll is a social commentary about a rich family’s exploitation of farm workers. This occurs on three levels, characterized by different forms of “scales”: 1) systematic cheating, involving an incorrectly balanced set of weighing scales; 2) legal injustice, where the scales of justice are weighted firmly in favor of the landowners; and 3) social injustice, where the imbalance of power results in poor pay, long hours, and dangerous working conditions. The workers are incensed by the cheating, but accept the other injustices. Other themes: the whistle-blowing family’s courage and pride, church and wider community apathy.

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Squeaker’s Mate

Squeaker's Mate: Short story by Barbara BayntonBarbara Baynton’s Squeaker’s Mate is an Australian bush story in which gender stereotypes are reversed and the man is found wanting when disaster strikes. The story raises some interesting issues. Why would a strong, capable woman like Mary choose and put up with a lazy, simple-minded weakling like Squeaker for a “mate”. Could it be that he was her only option? Is Baynton suggesting that other men were intimidated by Mary’s independence and masculinity, or possibly even hinting at sexuality issues that were taboo at the time? Squeaker may not be solely to blame for the outcome.

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