A major theme of this story by Saul Bellow is work ethic. Times are tough in 1930s Chicago. An intellectual white man starts a much-needed job delivering unclaimed welfare checks to people in a depressed black neighborhood. On his first day his younger supervisor implies that, as a city worker, he isn’t expected to “push too hard”. That’s not the way he works: he wants to do well for doing-well’s sake, and goes above and beyond in a quest to find the elusive Mr. Green. Other themes include poverty, race, suspicion, duty, tenacity, identity. More…
This is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona
In this story by Sherman Alexie a young Native-American man enlists the help of a boyhood friend he had grown away from to go on a road trip to bring back his father’s ashes. The focus of the story is the relationship between the two, and how it reflects growing individual and cultural disconnection among tribal Native-Americans. The other man’s help is not in recognition of their former friendship, but rather out of obligation for a deed of kindness once performed by the dead man. Themes include poverty, storytelling, friendship, alienation, loneliness, forgiveness, decline of Native-American culture. More…
The Budget
The major theme of this satirical tale by Mario Benedetti is the inefficiency of government bureaucracy and decision-making in 1940s Uruguay. A small government Office, which doesn’t seem to exist for any purpose, has operated within the same annual budget for decades. When its financially struggling staff hear rumours of an imminent budget increase, they go into debt and splurge on luxuries as if a salary increase had already been granted. A year later, as the paperwork weaves its way through the Ministerial approval process, the disillusioned employees are still waiting. Other themes include indolence, hope and disillusionment. More…
Small Change
This impressionistic novella by Yehudit Hendel describes the psychological trauma experienced by an Israeli woman while imprisoned for a minor crime in post-World War 2 Switzerland. After growing up in an oppressive atmosphere dominated by a cold, autocratic father, her nightmarish ordeal is an allusion to Germany’s inhuman treatment of detainees during the holocaust. Although severely impacted by the experience, she is empowered to rebel against her cruel, obsessive father, who has cared more about his stamp and small change collections than his family. Themes: parent-child relationships, obsession, anti-Semitism, injustice, cruelty and sexual violence, self-empowerment. More…
Once Upon a Time
Although Nadine Gordimer’s Once Upon a Time follows a fairy-tale pattern (there is even a wise old witch!), the storyline doesn’t have a fairy-tale ending. On a superficial level, it could be regarded as a parody of The Three Little Pigs: a family builds a stronger and stronger house to keep out the big bad wolf, only for the extra security to ruin their lives. On a more serious note, the story has several important themes: Racism, Apartheid and Inequality (which lead to Social Decay) and the consequences of being ruled by Fear (Anxiety, Overreaction, and in this case Self-Destruction). More…