The message of this satirical story by Philip Roth is applicable to all religions: the need to guard against zealotry. A teenaged Jewish boy is disciplined for suggesting that God could impregnate a woman without intercourse. He wasn’t questioning the Jewish belief that Jesus was a man, but rather asserting the power of God to do so. After being slapped for questioning his rabbi’s knowledge of God, the boy flees to the synagogue roof and finds a creative way to force the whole community to acknowledge his point of view. Themes include bigotry vs. tolerance, irreverence, search for truth, hypocrisy. More…
The Bridal March
This story by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson spans four generations descended from a Norwegian cottar said to practice the black arts. He composed a bridal march for his daughter, warning that woe would come to any girl it played to church who was not a happy bride. One descendent wasn’t and paid the price. A major theme is forbidden love, with each descendant marrying someone from a different social class. In the final union, the cottar’s great-great granddaughter brings alienated sides of the family together by marrying his grandson. Other themes include social class and conventions, family duty and conflict, the supernatural. More…
Shooting an Elephant
This story by Eric Arthur Blair (aka George Orwell) is a narrative essay in which the thesis is the wrongs of British Imperialism. A young officer in the British Colonial Police in the early 1920’s describes an experience with an elephant that had killed a villager. He tells how he felt pressured into shooting the animal, even though he knew this to be unnecessary. His fellow Europeans had mixed opinions but fortunately, none of them guessed the real reason for the shooting. Themes include culture clash, prejudice, the need to maintain authority, and moral conscience vs. pride/”face”. More…
The Hitchhiking Game
In 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, cruelty. More…
Journey into a Dark Heart
In this story by Peter Høeg, a naïve young mathematician becomes disillusioned at the impossibility of reducing all things (including humanity) to a set of equations. He gives up his academic career, joins a Danish trading company, and finds himself in Africa mixing with royalty at the opening of a new railroad. During the inaugural train journey, he discusses European notions of colonial Africa with three fellow passengers. He later learns that one is a rebel leader, another a gunrunner, and a bridge ahead has been sabotaged. Themes: colonialism, race and racism, war/rebellion, honesty, idealism vs. reality, despair. More…