In a twist on the famous fairytale, this story from Tony Johnson is about big, hairy and very smelly Bigfoot girl. The Bigfoot prince is holding a fun-fest. A magic grizzly bear helps the girl get ready. He makes her fur especially dirty and smelly, and gives her special wooden shoes to wear. She wins the prince’s heart but (of course!) loses a shoe when she runs off early to be home in time. Fortunately, the story has a happy ending. She is the only girl in the forest with feet big enough to fit the shoe. More…
The Things They Carried
The strength of this Vietnam War memoir by Tim O’Brien is the matter-of-fact way the life of the soldiers (“grunts”) is portrayed. Although the military and survival equipment carried by the men is listed, the major theme of the story is the emotional burdens they carried – both those the men brought to the war, and those they took on during its course. First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross learns an important lesson: in order to do your duty and survive the war, you need to find a way to let go of these. Other themes: war, love, individual and collective responsibility. More…
The Lighthouse
In this story by H. E. Bates a man recovering from a troubled marriage begins a passionate affair with a lonely woman working at a beach-side café. The climax is his sense of confusion, anger, and betrayal when, having lied and told her he is single, he learns she is also married. Her husband works away from home and returns on weekends. For her, the relationship with the man appears primarily sexual. She presses him to remain her mid-week lover, and he could well be too weak-willed to refuse. Themes include isolation, loneliness, insecurity, sexuality, deception, jealousy. More…
The Drover’s Wife
In this story by Henry Lawson, a woman remembers the many hardships and few good times in her life as she sits up all night with only a dog to help protect her and her children from a deadly snake. The snake has crawled under their house. They can’t sleep inside, as the wooden floor has gaps in it. They cower in the kitchen, which is attached to the side of the house and has an earthen floor. The children sleep on the table. She sits on a chair with a stick on her lap, waiting for the snake. More…
Swimming Lessons
The major themes of this entertaining story by diasporic author Rohinston Mistry are alienation, cultural adjustment, and memory. The plot alternates between the experiences of an unnamed Parsi immigrant living in Toronto, and his parent’s reaction to his nostalgic manuscript about growing up in Bombay. Swimming is a means of moving forward while staying afloat, and his swimming lessons in order to “fit in” could also be seen as a metaphor for surviving and flourishing in his adopted country. Other themes include loneliness and desire, fear, racism, aging and death, cause and effect. More…