In this story by NoViolet Bulawayo six hungry children from an African slum “raid” the guava trees of a rich neighborhood. Aged eight to eleven, one of them (a ten-year-old) is pregnant to her grandfather. As they return home they discuss their dreams and aspirations, with one making the grim prediction that one day they will move to bigger things inside the houses. Close to home they find a woman’s body hanging from a tree. Before reporting it, they remove her shoes to sell for a loaf of bread. Themes include social inequality, poverty, dehumanization, friendship, freedom, childhood innocence. More…
Ghosts
The ghosts in this Edwidge Danticat story are not the spectral kind. They are chimès… gang members of the Haitian slums. The story takes readers into one of these slums, and provides a glimpse of what life is like for young people growing up inside. It helps explain why young men join the gangs, the problems they face with police brutality and corruption at every level of society, and how the only way out for many is a bullet. Sadly, the problems described are not unique to Haiti. Themes include: social breakdown, gang culture, betrayal, parental love and sacrifice. More…
One Friday Morning
This Langston Hughes story introduces an often-overlooked element of the American racial debate. A community committee reverses a decision to award an arts scholarship to a promising high-school senior when they learn that she is colored. Her art teacher, who is of Irish descent, describes the discrimination and violence suffered by her people when they first arrived in the country. Although the girl didn’t win the award, she emerges from the experience stronger and even more determined to succeed. Themes: equality, the American Dream (defined in the story as liberty and justice for all), racial discrimination, injustice, resilience, determination, hope. More…
Because My Father Always Said He Was the Only Indian Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ at Woodstock
In this story by Sherman Alexie a Native-American boy recalls the good and not-so-good times before his father rode off on his motorcycle, never to return. His father led a rebellious early life, spent two years in prison, visited Woodstock, and came home a heavy drinker. The relationship between his parents was volatile, alternating between alcohol induced arguments and lovemaking. The boy’s father had difficulty opening up and music, especially the titular song, was an important catalyst for communication between them. Themes include father-son relationships, war (in all contexts), alcoholism, marriage breakdown, abandonment, memory, the power of music. More…
Adam and Eve and Pinch Me
In one of A. E. Coppard’s more enigmatic stories, a confused man finds himself unable to open the doors in his house or communicate with his three children or servants. The inference is that he is dead and doesn’t know it. Relief comes when he awakens from a daydream with his wife beside him. However, he has a different identity and the third child featured in the dream, who had special powers, has not yet been born. Themes include the convergence of reality and fantasy, death, family, frustration, anger, precognition, identity. More…