This T. C. Boyle story holds a powerful message for teenagers in their first serious relationship. All too often, young lovers mistake the closeness that comes with shared sexual awakening for long-term, enduring love. The truth remains hidden until the relationship is tested in some way, in this case with an unplanned pregnancy. Initially, readers admire the young couple for the strength of their affection towards each other. Disappointment begins with the girl’s selfish indecision about the pregnancy, quickly followed by disgust at the couple’s terrible treatment of the new-born baby and willingness to blame each other for what happens. More…
Interpreter of Maladies
Interpreter of Maladies is the titular tale in Jhumpa Lahiri’s award-winning debut short story collection. The stories deal with different aspects of the cultural and relationship issues facing people of Indian heritage in the modern world. This story contrasts two empty marriages. The Indian protagonist (a doctor’s translator who moonlights as a tour guide) fantasizes that the wife in an Indian-American family he takes sightseeing has a romantic interest in him. Rather than love, she wants his help to find a “cure” for a foolish mistake she once made. Themes include marriage, communication, poor parenting, loss, guilt, loneliness, self-esteem. More…
The Ordinary Son
The story from Ron Carlson is a satire of 1960s life and its fixation with science, war, protest and material possessions. Protagonist Reed had a spartan, lonely childhood. His parents (NASA physicist father and poet/activist mother) are eccentric geniuses. His brother and sister are equally intelligent. When Reed discovers he is “ordinary”, he feels a sudden sense of relief and freedom. He gets a low-level job, buys a car, drinks beer and goes fishing for the first time, and fantasizes over a lewd picture he sees in a magazine. Themes: family, materialism, diversity, pressure to meet expectations, work/life balance, sexuality. More…
Magnificence
This confronting story by Estrella Alfon explores one of a parent’s worst nightmares: the sexual abuse of a child by someone they know. An after-school tutor, loved and trusted by his two students, “loses control” and soils the dress of a seven-year-old girl he had placed on his knee. The major theme is the “magnificence” of the mother in confronting and humiliating the man. Set in 1950s Philippines, a secondary feminist theme is gender reversal and empowerment – the need for women to fight back against male mistreatment. Other themes include innocence, motherly love, child abuse, betrayal, absentee parenting (the father). More…
The Tiger
In this moving tale by S. Rajaratnam, a pregnant Malay villager bathing in a river notices a tiger watching her from tall grass near the riverbank. Initially too scared to move, she is surprised as the tiger takes less and less interest in her. Eventually able to swim away, she immediately tells fellow villagers about the encounter. She feels uneasy when a party of men set out to shoot the apparently harmless animal, and is horrified by what they find after killing it. Themes include: fear, connection, compassion, bloodlust, motherhood, conservation (co-existence with vs. destruction/exploitation of nature). More…