Like one of our earlier Manoj Das stories, Farewell to a Ghost, this story illustrates the prevalence of superstition in traditional Indian village life. A foreign professor visits a remote village and is fascinated by the story of the Crocodile’s Lady. In appreciation for her protection, villagers take it in turns to feed and care for the now ninety-plus year-old. As a young woman, she had been carried off by a crocodile and reappeared a decade later, claiming to have fallen in love with and lived with it in the river. Themes include religious faith, the supernatural, unnatural love, loyalty. More…
The Raft
In this story from Stephen King, the last swim of the season by four college students also proves to be the last swim of their lives. On an alcohol-fuelled whim, the foursome drive to a deserted lake to swim out to a raft moored fifty yards off shore, say good-bye to summer, and then swim back. As they reach the raft, they learn to their horror that a mysterious black mass floating on the surface is stalking them for its next meal(s). Themes include teenage exuberance, machismo, chauvinism, sexuality, fear, the unknown/supernatural. More…
The Legend of Nai Raeng
This folktale from Southern Thailand is about a man who was so big when he was born that his parents named him Nai Raeng (in Thai ‘raeng’ means strength, energy or power). The boy eats so much that his poor parents cannot feed him. They get him a job as a sailor, but the captain also cannot feed him. As Nai Raeng grows, he proves to be so wise that he gets a high government job. He is also very honourable, and one day must order that his own head be cut off and placed above a buried treasure. More…
Yellow Fish
On the surface, this story by C. S. Lakshimi (aka Ambai) is about a grieving mother who arranges the rescue of a discarded fish dying on the shore because its struggles remind her of those of her premature baby Jalaja before she died. The story also reflects the cycle of life (the vibrant colors and frenetic activity associated with return of the fishing fleet), death (Jalaja’s passing and the yellow fish flapping on the sand) and rebirth (the fish’s return to the sea). Themes include loss, grief, insensitivity, maternalism, the cycle of life. 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…