Featured Stories

The Three Hermits

The Three Hermits: Short story by Leo TolstoyIn this story by Leo Tolstoy, a bishop of the Roman Orthodox Church schools three devout hermits seeking salvation by living alone on a deserted island in reciting the Lord’s Prayer. He claims that although that their own prayer ‘Three are ye, three are we, have mercy upon us.’ encompasses the essence of Christianity, it is insufficient to please God. The bishop is humbled and admits his mistake when they miraculously follow him by gliding across the sea, having forgotten the words. Themes include humility and devotion, religious dogma vs. faith, the nature of prayer.

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Spunk

Spunk: Short story by Zora Neale HurstonIn Zora Neale Hurston’s Spunk, a mild-mannered man (Joe) is killed when he bravely but foolishly confronts his cheating wife and her macho lover. The story raises some interesting questions. Did Joe act out of love for his wife, or shame because she had humiliated him? Why did he stop at a store on the way? Was he hoping the “loungers” would talk him out of going, and too weak to back down when one of them encouraged him? Finally, who or what caused Spunk to fall into the saw? Themes include love and passion, courage and fear, the supernatural.

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Heat

Heat: Short story by Joyce Carol OatesIn this confronting story by Joyce Carol Oates, mischievous eleven-year-old twin girls are brutally murdered by Roger Whipple, a supposedly harmless, mentally challenged man. Major themes are power, cruelty and violent revenge. The twins exercise persuasive power by demanding compliance with their wishes from school friends and cruelly harassing and making fun of Roger. The power theme is emphasized through anecdotes about the girls’ antics and dark humor: We liked it that Rhea and Rhoda had been killed … but we didn’t like it that they were dead; we missed them. In the end revenge, and Roger’s physical power, prevail.

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Kabuliwallah

Kabuliwallah: Short story by Rabindranath TagoreIf you are a parent, this touching story by Rabindranath Tagore may well bring a tear to your eye. One of Tagore’s most popular stories, it describes an unlikely friendship between the precocious five-year-old daughter of a middle-class Bengali writer and an Afghani fruit-seller (Kabuliwallah). When the Kabuliwallah visits on the girl’s wedding day after an eight-year stint in prison, she barely acknowledges him. On learning why the fruit-seller had spent so much time with his daughter, the writer and Kabuliwallah form an instant bond. Themes: childhood innocence, friendship, growing up, change, class, prejudice, fatherly love.

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I Stand Here Ironing

I Stand Here Ironing: Short story by Tillie OlsenIn this story by Tillie Olsen, a woman reviews events that may help a counselor better understand her nineteen-year-old-daughter. In the process, she questions the extent to which she may be responsible for her daughter’s problems. Poor care choices and lack of attention as an infant, and conflict with her younger sister as she grew up, have clearly affected the girl’s emotional development. A key question is what, if anything, could the woman have done differently in a society indifferent to the plight of single mothers. Themes: parenting, mother-daughter relationships, female identity, child cruelty, guilt, acceptance, hope.

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Lob’s Girl

Lob's Girl: Short story by Joan AikenThe major themes of this story by Joan Aiken are love, loyalty, family values, death and the supernatural. The moment Lob saw five-year-old Sandy on the beach, it was love at first sight. Lob is a dog: a large, bouncy German Shepherd with “a yard of tongue” that he puts to good use smothering Sandy with affection. As with many girl/boy and dog stories, Lob must overcome several difficulties (in this case by walking the length of England twice!) before joining Sandy’s family. A touching aspect of the story is that Lob’s love is so strong that it transcends death.

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Speech Sounds

Speech Sounds: Short story by Octavia E. ButlerThis story from Octavia Butler takes place in a violent, post-apocalyptic world. A virus has killed billions and left most survivors unable to speak, read, write or understand spoken language. Governments and the corporate world have collapsed, there are no police or community services, fuel is scarce. People must fend for themselves. The protagonist, whose husband and children fell to the virus, is contemplating suicide. The desperate woman finds and cruelly loses a new lover, but in the process discovers a renewed purpose in life. Themes: the importance of language, isolation, loneliness, fear, violence, hope.

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Islands

Islands: Short story by Aleksander HemonSet in the 1970s before the breakup of Yugoslavia, this semi-autobiographical story by Alexsander Hemon describes a Bosnian family’s holiday visit to relatives on a Croatian island. The narrator is a nine-year-old boy indoctrinated in communist ideology. He experiences several traumatic events over the week, the most notable of which is his uncle’s account of the brutal mistreatment and torture of children in Stalin’s prison camps. This shatters his view of the world, and challenges his belief in his own government (the Tito regime). Themes include memory, trauma, loss of innocence, self-awareness and identity, disillusionment, birth, death and futility.

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