A major theme of this story by Jason Reynolds is dreams vs. reality. Four African-American boys on the way to hang out at one of their homes after a day at the swimming pool try to outdo one another with descriptions of the exotic sandwiches they would like to eat when they get there. What they are served is very different to what they imagined. The sad message of the story is that in later life they are likely to encounter many similar reality checks. Other themes include Brooklyn life, social inequality, friendship, individuality, imagination, disappointment, acceptance. More…
Notes to My Biographer
The narrator of this dark comedy by Adam Haslett is a mentally ill seventy-three-year-old. The proud, delusional man won’t acknowledge the problem, refuses to take his medication, and is in severe financial difficulty. After a road trip to visit his son Graham, the only family member who will see him, he comes up with an idea for a revolutionary new bicycle that will make both of them rich. Graham, who is secretly battling the same illness as his father, is left shattered by the visit. Themes include mental illness, pride, estrangement, loneliness, obsession, paranoia, sexuality, embarrassment, fear. More…
The Little Match Seller
This well-known story by Hans Christian Andersen is one of the saddest Festive Season tales ever told. A cruel father sends his little girl out into the snow to sell matches. She crouches between two buildings, afraid to go home because she hasn’t made any sales. As she imagines the people inside their warm houses getting ready for a big New Year’s dinner, a vision of her beloved grandmother appears to take her to a better place. Themes include loneliness, poverty, cruelty, exploitation, indifference to suffering, hope, the power of fantasy, Christianity and life after death. More…
The Underground Gardens
This story by T. C. Boyle is a fictional account of the founding of California’s Forestiere Underground Gardens by an Italian immigrant in the early 1900s. The immigrant is initially disheartened to find that 70 acres of land he bought by mail order is too dry and hard to farm. He survives by working as a day laborer on other farms and, spurred on by a love interest, hand digs a subterranean mansion in his spare time. When the woman rejects him, he keeps on digging. Themes include faith in oneself, self-sufficiency, infatuation, appearance, perseverance, vision. More…
The Visitor
This flash story by Lydia Davis starts with the narrator foreshadowing a visitor to his/her home who will require around the clock care and attention. The visit reminds the narrator of two similar experiences, one by a family member and the other by a friend. In both cases, healthy old men with whom they were living deteriorated physically to the point that their bodily functions collapsed and they became dependent on others for their day-to-day care and well-being. The story takes an unexpected twist in the heart-warming final paragraph, where the narrator reminds us of the circle of life. More…