There is a saying that your life flashes before your eyes in the moments before you die. In this James Salter story, the protagonist has twenty minutes to think about it. A woman riding a horse in the countryside is paralyzed in a fall. She estimates that she will die from her injuries if help doesn’t arrive within twenty minutes. As the minutes tick by, she recalls recent events in her life. Sadly, the picture they paint is not a very happy one. The central theme is, of course, death. Other themes: family estrangement, marriage, unfaithfulness, loneliness, desperation, unfulfilled dreams. More…
Sweet Potato Pie
Like the titular pie, life is sweet for a professor and his cab-driving older brother. The themes in this heart-warming Eugenia Collier story (poverty, family, sacrifice, education and gratitude) lie in how the two got where they are. A close-knit family works together to survive poverty, with the older children caring for the young and leaving school as soon as possible. The family can afford for only one child (the professor) to complete his education. Although his brother proudly hails him as a “somebody”, it is clear that their childhood experiences have helped both make successes of their lives. More…
Trick or Treat
In this disturbing story by Padgett Powell a bored, frustrated housewife is approached by a twelve-year-old boy intent on exploring his sexuality. Notwithstanding the fact that the woman, who frequently walks past the boy’s house, is old enough to be his mother, he is fixated on having sex with her. The woman, who had sought relief from her unsatisfying marriage before, compares the tryst and the prospect of some comical but not ungratifying sex with the boy to Orpheus’ ascent from the underworld. Themes include boredom and dissatisfaction, escape, sexuality, desire, machismo, illicit relationships/child grooming. More…
Foreign Shores
A feature of this story from James Salter is its ambiguity, starting with the identity of the protagonist. Is it Gloria, the young divorcee who is too caught-up in partying to take proper care of her demanding six-year-old-son? Or is it Truus, her conscientious nineteen-year-old au pair? And although Truss is certainly the erotic focus of the story, does she really develop the morals of a housefly? Alternatively, could she an exploited victim, guilty only of misguided love, or is everything an unfortunate misunderstanding? Themes: sexual grooming / exploitation, appearance, motherhood, condescension, judgmentalism, jealousy, insecurity, emptiness. More…
The Killers
In this coming of age story by Ernest Hemingway, two hit men come to a small-town restaurant to shoot a man to oblige a friend. The three men already in the restaurant (its manager, cook and a young customer) are detained but, when the intended victim (a prize-fighter) doesn’t turn up, they are released and the hit men leave. The customer hurries to warn the prize-fighter. However, the poor man appears to have accepted his fate, saying there is nothing anyone can do to save him. Themes include crime, passivity (“looking the other way”), futility, acceptance, courage, manhood, disillusionment. More…