The Storyteller

The Storyteller: Short story by H. H. Munro (aka Saki)This story by Saki satirizes the way many traditional children’s stories had become so “sanitized” during the prudish Victorian period that they lost much of their original appeal. A major theme of the story is pride. The outer or “frame” story highlights the Aunt’s false pride in thinking that a bachelor couldn’t possibly tell a better children’s story than she could. The inner story illustrates the meaning of the English idiom Pride comes before a fall. Other themes include childhood, curiosity, control, “goodness” vs. reality (not all good people/things in life end happily!)

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The Hitchhiking Game

The Hitchhiking Game: Short story by Milan KundaraIn this story by Milan Kundera, a young couple on a road trip play what they think is a harmless game. The woman, normally shy and sexually inhibited, plays the role of a seductive hitchhiker. She finds the experience liberating, but carries the game too far. The man, who liked the woman for her purity, now sees her as no different to all other girls he has known. He begins to hate her, and humiliates the poor woman in a hotel room. Themes include identity, fantasy vs. reality, purity vs. promiscuity, jealousy, misogyny and cruelty.

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Unto Dust

Unto Dust: Short story by Herman BosmanThe major themes of this story by Herman Bosman are attitudes towards the dead, and equality in death. A Boer farmer and native enemy die side by side while fighting in a ‘Transvaal Kafir War’. When the farmer’s friends return to take his body home for a proper burial, they find that wild animals have mixed up the bones. The friends spend a lot of time trying to sort out which is which so that the dead farmer does not have to lie forever among the warrior’s bones. A yellow ‘kafir’ dog judges the result. Other themes: war, mateship, racism.

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The Eatonville Anthology

The Eatonville Anthology: Short story by Zora Neale HurstonRather than a single story, Zora Neale Hurston’s Eatonville Anthology is a series of vignettes and anecdotes about life in a small African-American community outside Orlando, Florida in the early 1920s. Eatonville was Hurston’s hometown, and the power of her anthology is that each story is based on either real people and events or local folklore. This and the use of authentic dialect capture the local color and folksy spirit of the town, and highlight an important theme: the traditional role of storytelling in preserving cultural heritage. Other themes: community, connection, change.

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Misery / The Lament

Misery / The Lament: Short story by Anton ChekhovIn this story by Anton Chekhov, sledge driver Iona Potapov is distraught because his son has died and he feels alone in the world. Another translation of the title is “The Lament” (a show of sorrow for someone who has died or something that is gone). The story addresses the question: What could be worse than the sadness associated with losing a loved one? Chekhov’s answer: To feel so lonely and cut off from the world that you have no one to talk to about it.. Themes include grief, discomfort, indifference, cruelty, loneliness, the healing power of animals.

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Heavy-Set

Heavy-Set: Short story by Ray BradburyRay Bradbury‘s character Lenny (Leonard) lives at home with his mother and has a lot going for him. He has a body-builder’s physique, secure job, nice car, and no shortage of girls wanting to go out with him. Unfortunately, he is also mentally and socially challenged. He doesn’t take disappointment or ridicule well, often barely able to control his temper. The story takes place over a Halloween night. Lenny is excited, but the party he was looking forward to is a flop, leading to a potentially explosive homecoming. Themes include alienation, repression, interdependence, arrested development, fitting in, fear, despair.

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Grandfather’s Story

Grandfather’s Story: Short story by Catherine LimThis two-part story by Catherine Lim begins with the background of the narrator’s grandparents. We learn that the grandfather, unable to live with his wife who cruelly exploited bondmaids (female slaves) in growing a successful garment business, found lifetime love with another woman. In the second part of the story, the grandfather relates a folktale-like account of how the fates of all three were predestined a thousand years previously when the Almighty passed judgement on a Chinese farmer, his good-hearted but naïve wife, and a cruel, mercenary nun. Themes include love, cruelty, slavery, greed, fate, rebirth and karmic justice.

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Markheim

Markheim: Short story by Robert Louis StevensonThe central themes of this Robert Louis Stevenson classic are self-awareness and the nature of good and evil. Markheim, a hitherto petty thief, “steps up” in the criminal world by murdering an antique dealer. It is Christmas day, the dealer’s shop is closed, and his maid has gone out. As Markheim searches the house looking for money, a mysterious stranger appears. Believing him to be the Devil, Markheim must choose between accepting the stranger’s offer of help and killing the returning maid, or paying the supreme price for his crime. Other themes: poverty, crime and punishment, death, redemption, the supernatural.

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