This Tobias Wolff story features a protagonist who is so unlikable that it seems a relief when a bank robber silences him. Sarcastic to the point of being obnoxious, Anders provides some humorous moments (Love the comment about The Killers!) before getting the richly deserved Bullet in the Brain. Unlike Bierce’s Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, where the protagonist enjoys an uplifting moment-of-death experience, Anders re-lives a childhood baseball game. The highlights of his life were the simple pleasures of youth (such as enjoying the musical quality of a strange accent), before losing his innocence to conceit, disillusionment and cynicism. More…
Bartleby the Scrivener: A Tale of Wall Street
Herman Melville’s Bartleby the Scrivener is regarded as a classic of Modern Literature. A major theme is the depression that comes with being alone in the world and lacking a purpose in life. Other themes include exploitation, insensitivity and guilt (the Lawyer), conformity and coping with boring, repetitive work (Turkey and Nipper), alienation, apathy and passive resistance to one’s responsibilities (Bartleby), and loss of hope and the inevitability of death (symbolized by the Dead Letter Office). The Lawyer’s final words, Ah, Bartleby! Ah, humanity!, reflect the irony of Bartleby finding himself in the two worst possible jobs for his disposition. More…
The Ordinary Son
The story from Ron Carlson is a satire of 1960s life and its fixation with science, war, protest and material possessions. Protagonist Reed had a spartan, lonely childhood. His parents (NASA physicist father and poet/activist mother) are eccentric geniuses. His brother and sister are equally intelligent. When Reed discovers he is “ordinary”, he feels a sudden sense of relief and freedom. He gets a low-level job, buys a car, drinks beer and goes fishing for the first time, and fantasizes over a lewd picture he sees in a magazine. Themes: family, materialism, diversity, pressure to meet expectations, work/life balance, sexuality. More…
The Bridal March
This story by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson spans four generations descended from a Norwegian cottar said to practice the black arts. He composed a bridal march for his daughter, warning that woe would come to any girl it played to church who was not a happy bride. One descendent wasn’t and paid the price. A major theme is forbidden love, with each descendant marrying someone from a different social class. In the final union, the cottar’s great-great granddaughter brings alienated sides of the family together by marrying his grandson. Other themes include social class and conventions, family duty and conflict, the supernatural. More…
My Sweet Sixteenth
In this story by Brenda Wilkinson, a school friend helps a young a girl deliver her baby in her upstairs bedroom while a house-full of guests celebrate her “Sweet Sixteenth” birthday downstairs. The baby’s father wanted her to keep it; she wanted a termination but waited too long. The next morning, she secretly takes the baby to a hospital, claiming she found it on the street. Fortunately, the truth comes out and the prospect of family shame encourages her to keep the child, which she now loves. Themes include naivety, choices and consequences, deception, abortion, friendship, social image, and motherhood. More…