Featured Stories

The Patient Cat

The Patient Cat: Short story by Laura E. RichardsThis short fable by Laura E. Richards teaches a lesson about patience. The cat showed patience in waiting for the bird to lay all of its eggs, and then waiting until the eggs had hatched. It also showed patience in not pouncing as soon as the chicks were born, but leaving them until they started to get fat. There was a point shortly after this where the cat should have enjoyed its meal. This leads to the moral of the story: being patient is a good thing, but it is equally important to know the right time to act.

Continue ReadingThe Patient Cat

The Lesson

The Lesson: Short story by Toni Cade BambaraA well-educated woman living in a poor New York neighborhood takes a reluctant group of local children on day trips to teach them about the world. The Lesson in this Toni Cade Bambara story involves an excursion to Manhattan’s up-market FAO Schwarz toy store. The children soon realize that nothing in the store is in their family’s price range. The young narrator is disturbed by not only the point of the lesson (economic inequality), but also the condescending way the woman talks about their neighborhood and the people living in it. Themes include education, social class, inequality, ostentation, patronization, resentment.

Continue ReadingThe Lesson

The Law of Life

The Law of Life: Short story by Jack LondonJack London‘s The Law of Life tells of the life and impending death of Koskoosh, an old Inuit who was once chief of his tribe but is left by them to die in the snow. Some critics suggest that although Koskoosh is the protagonist, the real hero of the story is an old moose that was too weak to keep up with its herd. Can you see why? Major themes: the inevitability of death (the law of life), survival of the individual (man vs. nature), survival of the tribe (expendability of the old and weak), tradition, courage, acceptance.

Continue ReadingThe Law of Life

The Golden Nugget

The Golden Nugget: Chinese folktale from Norman Hinsdale PitmanThis Chinese folktale tells of two friends who would do anything for each other. One day they decide to go for a walk in a forest. During the walk, the friends see a gold nugget on the path. Unable to decide who should have it, they leave it where it is so as not to cause trouble between them. They later tell a greedy farmer about the nugget. He goes to get it, and becomes angry when he finds something unpleasant in its place. The two friends go back to look, and are well rewarded for their trouble.

Continue ReadingThe Golden Nugget

The Way It Felt to Be Falling

The Way It Felt to Be Falling: Short story by Kim EdwardsThe major theme of this story by Kim Edwards is fear. For the nineteen-year-old-protagonist working to save money for college, the principal fear is losing her mind like her father. Her life revolves around work, helping her overwrought mother with her home cake-decorating business, and hanging out with her mentally unstable boyfriend. When the boyfriend talks her into going skydiving, she faces an even greater fear: death. Her exhilaration over confronting this fear and making the jump help displace her other fears and turn her life around. Other themes include responsibility, loneliness, mental illness, substance abuse, shame, freedom.

Continue ReadingThe Way It Felt to Be Falling

The Sacrificial Egg

The Sacrificial Egg: Short story by Chinua AchebeThe major theme of this story by Chinua Achebe is culture clash, as reflected in the changes forced on the Ibo (Igbo) people of South-Eastern Nigeria as they reconciled their traditional values and beliefs with the effects of Westernization under British colonial rule. One of the biggest changes observed by the narrator is the move from a village-based to an urbanized society, which resulted in a resurgence of smallpox. We also learn how some people, including the narrator, try to minimize such conflicts by maintaining a foot in both cultural camps. Other themes include colonialism, tradition, superstition, compromise.

Continue ReadingThe Sacrificial Egg

A Joke

A Joke: Short story by Anton ChekhovIn this story by Anton Chekhov, a young man plays a trick on a terrified lady-friend by whispering a ghostly I love you as they speed down a mountain on a toboggan. Unsure of what she heard, the woman asks the man to repeat the ride over and over. Each time they do so, he whispers the same words. Soon it becomes an obsession and every day she wants to go up the mountain to listen for the words. Her reaction when she thinks she has the answer is a surprise. Themes include fear, innocence, playful deception, confusion, obsession, regret.

Continue ReadingA Joke

Going Steady

Going Steady: Short story by Adam BagdasarianIn this story by Adam Bagdasarian, a boy cruelly asks a girl to go steady in order to win a bet. The girl, who he knew liked him, is free-spirited, controlling, and has highly romantic perceptions of what going steady should entail. He wasn’t looking for such a commitment, likening her to a boa constrictor, and after four days decides to call it off. He finds this easier said than done and, after finally plucking up the courage to do so, immediately puts himself in a similar position. Themes include teenage relationships and expectations, insensitivity, honesty, control, commitment.

Continue ReadingGoing Steady