Featured Stories

At Dead Dingo

At Dead Dingo: Short story by Henry LawsonThis story by Australian poet and writer Henry Lawson takes place in an outback pub one hot New Year’s Day. There are four people in the pub: the girl behind the bar, two customers playing cards, and another on a sofa sleeping off a hangover. When one of the card players loses all his money, he bets what he says is his sheepdog. Shortly after the card players leave, the other man wakes. He asks about his dog and threatens to go to the police unless the hotel pays him in some way. Question: Who really owned the dog?

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The White Umbrella

The White Umbrella: Short story by Gish JenIn this story by Gish Jen, a young Chinese-American girl is embarrassed about her mother having to work. It is a rainy afternoon, and at piano class the girl admires a beautiful white umbrella. She knows that if she asks for one her mother’s answer will be something like: What’s the matter with a raincoat? All you want is things, just like an American. When the kind piano teacher gives the girl the umbrella she says: I wish you were my mother. She soon regrets these words and decides that the umbrella is not so great after all.

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A Jury of Her Peers

A Jury of Her Peers: Short story by Susan GlaspellThe three dominant themes of this story by Susan Glaspell are feminism (gender roles), deception and justice. Men investigating a farmer’s murder bring two of their wives to the scene of the crime (his farmhouse) to collect clothing, etc. for the suspect (the farmer’s wife) while in jail. Ironically, although the men mock the women’s ability to contribute to the investigation, the wives find evidence that would convict the suspect. They then face a moral dilemma. A jury of men would not understand the suspect’s suffering. Would justice be served by proving her guilt?

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You’ll Learn Soon Enough

You’ll Learn Soon Enough: Short story by Lao KhamhomThis tale by Lao Khamhom is a loosely based sequel to one of our earlier stories, As If It Had Never Happened. Road and bridge building projects have connected a once isolated Thai rice farming village to the outside world. A young girl, excited about her first bus-trip to a nearby town to sell vegetables, is befuddled by a petty extortion attempt at a government counterinsurgency checkpoint. Later, she experiences real graft when the “concessionaire” of a newly built highway refuses to allow her and other village busses to proceed. Themes include innocence, family, progress, connectivity, change, fear, oppression, corruption.

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Signs and Symbols

Signs and Symbols: Short story by Vladimir NabokovVladimir Nabokov once indicated that Signs and Symbols contains a second story hidden behind various textual clues. The frame story, which involves an elderly couple’s dilemma about how to deal with their institutionalized mentally ill son, is a moving piece of dramatic prose in its own right. The supposed inner story has been the subject of much speculation. So far, nobody has convincingly decoded it. Perhaps there is none, Nabokov’s intention being to encourage readers to pay more attention to the signs and symbols in their own lives. Themes include mental illness, alienation, misfortune, suffering, poverty, death, parental love, hope.

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Henne Fire

Henne Fire: Short story by Isaac Bashevis SingerSet in pre-World War 1 Poland, this story by Isaac Bashevis Singer explores how a small Jewish community interacts with a seemingly deranged woman who the narrator describes as not a human being but a fire from Gehenna [hell]. Her abusive behaviour forces her family to flee their home and, in keeping with the biblical analogy, small fires tend to pop up around her wherever she lives. A major theme of the story is community, reflected in the support she receives despite her offensive behaviour and the fire risk to neighbors. Other themes include madness, fear, alcohol abuse, the supernatural.

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A Worn Path

A Worn Path: Short story by Eudora WeltyIn this Eudora Welty story, an aged woman makes a long, dangerous trek through the Mississippi woods. Its power lies in the vivid descriptions of nature and the various obstacles she encounters. Once in town, she struggles to remember the purpose of the journey. Although we learn later that she has come for the regular medicine needed by her ailing grandson, many readers question if the boy still lives. Her confusion suggests that such visits may simply be a way of handling the grief (or guilt) associated with his death. Themes: nature, old age, perseverance, duty, poverty, dignity, racism, redemption.

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The Selfish Giant

The Selfish Giant: Children's story by Oscar WildeThe Irish writer Oscar Wilde is known for his plays, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and his short stories. He also wrote children’s stories, and this is one of the best known of these. A giant finds that his beautiful garden has become a playground for children. He drives them away and builds a wall around it. The seasons close in and his castle becomes a cold, miserable place. Redemption comes in the form of a small child the giant comes to love. The two main themes of the story are greed vs sharing, and Christian love.

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