When Lydia Davis wrote this flash story, she may have been reminded of a quote attributed to Albert Einstein: Never memorize what you can look up. Some people have a knack for remembering almost every detail of past events; others have a talent for putting names to faces or remembering facts and figures. However, most of us forget more than we remember. A word that often comes up in describing Davis’s writing is “playful”. Here she takes a playful look at memory (or rather lack of it!), and then moves on to memories and their relationship to original thought. More…
The Lesson
A well-educated woman living in a poor New York neighborhood takes a reluctant group of local children on day trips to teach them about the world. The Lesson in this Toni Cade Bambara story involves an excursion to Manhattan’s up-market FAO Schwarz toy store. The children soon realize that nothing in the store is in their family’s price range. The young narrator is disturbed by not only the point of the lesson (economic inequality), but also the condescending way the woman talks about their neighborhood and the people living in it. Themes include education, social class, inequality, ostentation, patronization, resentment. More…
Youth
As is often the case with Isaac Asimov’s longer science fiction stories, Youth includes some profound “earthly” themes. Written in the early years of the Cold War, the first is the danger that atomic war poses to civilization. The second, which is strongly reinforced by the twist ending, is not to judge sentient beings (people) by their looks, no matter how strange they appear. A final theme, as reflected in the title and the Astronomer’s exasperated final exclamation (Youth!) is the naïve innocence of the young, and the responsibility that we as adults hold for their future. More…
The Middleman
The most succinct summary of this Bharati Mukherjee story I’ve seen came from a Goodreads review: An Iraqi Jew unwittingly aids a Central American revolution. There is obviously a lot more to it, including lust, arms smuggling, treachery and murder. Moreover, rather than being a revolutionary hero, the protagonist is an unscrupulous American criminal on the run from the law. Although he calls himself a “middleman”, we don’t see him act as such. Being new to the country, he is hoping to make a living from things that fall. And something certainly does! Themes: lust, corruption, exploitation, betrayal, violence. More…
Barn Burning
Barn Burning by William Faulkner is a story of how a ten-year-old boy rises above the intimidation and bullying of his embittered father. The father’s simmering anger stems from jealousy and lack of respect, fueled by an exploitative sharecropping system that keeps tenant families like his in perpetual poverty. He seeks retribution through senseless acts of arson (barn burning) against landholders he believes have slighted him. The boy, sensing the immorality of his father’s actions, has the courage to rebel and do something about it. Themes: family, class, alienation, exploitation, pride, anger, revenge, loyalty vs. morality, courage, betrayal. More…