When the young protagonist in this Judith Ortiz Cofer story reluctantly visits a nursing home to spend an hour with his abuelo (grandfather), he admits to knowing very little about the old man’s background. The abuelo has written a short biography. He seems quite proud of what he has achieved in life given the challenges that came his way. However, the naïve boy is left wondering why the old man didn’t fight harder to realize his childhood dreams. Themes: aging, memories, language (words), ambition, acceptance (Asi es la vida = Such is life!), regret, sacrifice, family responsibility. More…
Why Had I Left Home?
This extract from Carlos Bulosan’s semi-autobiographical novel America Is in the Heart relates how, as a young man, he immigrated to America to start a new life. Upon arrival, he falls victim of a Filipino scammer and earns just $13 for three months’ work in an Alaskan canning factory. Later, he witnesses violence and death in a “Filipino” dance hall, and experiences camaraderie, friendship, and a racist gang attack on an apple farm. He must have asked himself several times: “Why Had I Left Home?” Themes include expectations vs. reality, exploitation, friendship, violence, racism, resilience, perseverance. More…
The Vane Sisters
Readers often need to re-visit this Vladimir Nabokov story several times to grasp the nuances of the plot. The major characters are the haughty, misogynistic, first-person (and therefore unreliable) narrator and two sisters, one of whom strongly believes in the occult. Like other Nabokov stories, secret codes are involved. The acrostic message hidden in the final paragraph leaves readers wondering how much of the story came from the spirits of the then dead sisters. Themes include unfulfilled love, death, mourning, and interconnections (between memory and imagination, past and present, the real and spiritual worlds). More…
Some Families, Very Large
Central themes of this “Christmas Offering” by Jose Dalisay Jr. are the unconditional love and acceptance of obvious flaws that young children exhibit for their parents, and the bitterness of grief when there is no one with whom to share it. It is Christmas, but nine-year-old Sammy’s con-man father is more interested in gambling than celebrating it with him. Later a grieving mother, desperate for company, welcomes them both into her “family”. The Christmas message of the story (hope!) comes as the three close their eyes and imagine a better life. Other themes include childhood innocence, poverty, loss, responsibility. More…
The Pose
In this story by Anwar Khan, an attractive Indian college student makes a spur-of-the-moment decision to exchange places with a mannequin in a shop window. She feels an immediate sense of comfort in being able to watch passers-by without inhibition. Shortly afterwards, she realizes that she is as much an exhibit to them as they are to her. Thinking she is a mannequin, men and boys openly lust over her and women stop and admire her beauty. She leaves the shop empowered by the experience. Themes include identity, (repressive) social conventions, performance, liberation, self-discovery. empowerment. More…