In this enigmatic story from Franz Kafka, a man who works hard as a traveling salesman to support his parents and younger sister wakes up one morning having metamorphosed into a giant bug. The father brutally confines the man/bug to his room, and for a period he/it is treated with consideration and compassion by the mother and daughter. However, as the family struggles to deal with their new financial situation, he/it gets less and less attention and ultimately suffers a rather cruel end. Themes include family, identity, self-sacrifice, alienation, transformation, isolation, betrayal, and the absurdity of life. More…
The All-American Slurp
The major themes of this story by Lensey Namioka are: 1) the innate desire of most people (especially the young) to “fit in” with the community in which they find themselves; and 2) the need to understand and accept cultural differences when they appear. Said to be based on real experiences from the author’s early life in America, the story makes these points in a light-hearted way. Its main message is expressed cryptically in the very last line: All Americans slurp. This suggests that if we put aside cultural differences, we are all the same inside. More…
Axolotl
Julio Cortázar gives away the plot of this story in the first paragraph: There was a time when I thought a great deal about the axolotls… Now I am an axolotl. The rest of the story talks about this Kafkaesque transformation, which is partial and may have only occurred in the protagonist’s mind. He (the axolotl part) sits in an aquarium tank watching himself (the unchanged part) looking in from the other side. Considering his life from this perspective seemingly builds the man’s self-esteem, and he no longer feels the need to return. Themes: loneliness, alienation, obsession, connection, enlightenment, inertia. More…
‘If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth…’
This coming of age story by Arthur C. Clarke carries a familiar theme for 1950s/1960s science fiction: the prospect of Earth being rendered uninhabitable due to nuclear conflict, and humankind existing only in isolated settlements throughout space. Here, a man takes his ten-year-old son on his first trip outside the protective dome of a moon colony. The boy’s wonder at seeing stars for the first time soon fades as he observes the glowing, radiated Earth and realizes that his generation will never be able to return. Other themes include isolation, survival, self-sufficiency, misused technology, legacy, hope. More…
Unnecessary Things
The message of this story by Tatyana Tolstaya is the need to let go of things that are no longer important to your life. The protagonist, who is moving alone into a new apartment, finds the remains of her childhood teddy bear while rummaging through a cupboard in her parents’ house. The find brings back long-suppressed memories and results in a feeling of overwhelming nostalgia. Sleeping next to the bear that night, she decides it has to go. Themes include hoarding, the relationship between objects, memories and feelings, sentimentality, moving on. More…