The Snob

The Snob: Short story by Morley CallaghanIn this story by Morley Callaghan, a young man shopping with a new girlfriend shames his poorly dressed father by not acknowledging him when they find themselves close to each other in a department store. The girl’s family are more affluent and sophisticated than his, and he is self-conscious about the difference. Ironically, although he is guilty of snobbery in ignoring his father, his anger at himself over having done so causes him to lose his temper and wrongfully accuse the girl of being a snob. Themes include identity, class, judgement by appearances, shame, guilt, hypocrisy.

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A Great Day

A Great Day: Short story by Frank SargesonAn unusual aspect of this story from Frank Sargeson is that it is largely made up of superficial conversations between two ‘friends’ out in a boat for a morning fishing trip. Readers are given sufficient clues to piece together the men’s backgrounds and the major issues between them. However, they must make their own judgements about the grim climax. An important question in assessing Fred’s character is the timing of his plan. Was it a callous, premeditated decision made before the “Great Day”, or a spur of the moment, opportunistic idea? Themes: envy, jealousy, class, self-esteem, masculinity.

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Hominids

Hominids: Short story by Jill McCorkleIn this story by Jill McCorkle, a woman hosting a dinner party for a group of her husband’s old friends is disgusted by the way the men joke about the bodies of women they had encountered at a strip club earlier in the day. She muses about modern man’s obsession with breasts, and the contrast between the privileged life of the wives present and the circumstances that might lead other women to take up such work. She confronts the men, along the way cynically threatening to open her own club called “Peckers”. Themes include machismo, sexualization, misogyny, beauty and womanhood.

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The Man Who Was Almost a Man

The Man Who Was Almost a Man: Short story by Richard WrightAt seventeen, Richard Wright’s naïve protagonist (Dave) is old enough and strong enough to do a man’s work. Unfortunately, his family and co-workers treat him like a boy. Dave buys a gun, believing that having one will win him the respect he deserves. Instead, a wayward shot when he first uses it brings humiliation. Despite the accident, the gun gives Dave a sense of power. Faced with losing it and resuming his former life, he leaves town to look for somewhere a seventeen-year-old with a gun can be a man. Themes: class/racism, coming of age, respect, rebellion, the gun debate.

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The American Embassy

The American Embassy: Short story by Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieSet following Nigeria’s 1993 military coup, this Chimamanda Adichie story includes themes of corruption, civil unrest and army brutality. The protagonist has a seemingly perfect case for U.S. asylum. Her anti-government journalist husband has already fled to America, and some troops searching for him accidentally shot their four-year-old son. Yet mid-way through the visa interview, she decides not to continue. The shooting has caused her to question their future together. This introduces two additional themes: the strong ties Africans have to their roots, and the importance of traditions… in this case the need for someone to tend the boy’s grave.

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Dry September

Dry September: Short story by William FaulknerWilliam Faulkner’s Dry September deals with events leading up to and shortly after the vigilante murder of a presumably innocent man. Set in a racially prejudiced community in America’s South, a misplaced or malicious complaint from a middle-aged spinster incites hatred against a local negro. Only one man (the town barber) stands up for him. A decorated ex-soldier leads a mob to avenge the woman’s honor. After the killing, the reliability of the woman’s story is called into question, as is the mental condition of the soldier who is shown to be violent by nature and possibly suffering from PTSD.

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Evening Primrose

Seventh Grade: Short story by Gary SotoIt is always nice to find a story with a quirky, innovative storyline. John Collier’s Evening Primrose is in the form of a journal describing the experiences of a failed poet who gives up the outside world to spend the rest of his life living in a department store. He plans to hide out by day and wander the store at night collecting food and other necessities. To his surprise, he finds that a small community of like-minded people already inhabit the store. The only things they fear are discovery by the night watchman and the gruesome “Dark Men.”

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Prayer for the Living

Prayer for the Living: Short story by Ben OkriThis story by Ben Okri highlights the suffering of innocent civilians caught up in regional conflicts. Set during the Nigerian Civil War when a government blockade of the self-proclaimed Republic of Biafra resulted in mass starvation, a man who hasn’t eaten for three weeks walks among corpses scattered in an unnamed town. He has come to the grim conclusion that the dead seem happier and more alive than the living. His purpose… to make sure that his family and lover are dead before finding “happiness” himself. Themes include the horrors of war, corruption/ethnic rivalry, suffering, acceptance, death as relief.

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