The Sailor-Boy’s Tale

The Sailor-Boy’s Tale: Short story by Isak DinesenTold in the form of a fairy-tale, this story by Isak Dinesen (aka Karen Blixon) includes the rather unusual suggestion that manhood comes with killing someone, kissing a girl and accepting one’s destiny. A young sailor is hurrying to visit a girl who the previous night had promised him his first kiss. After accidentally killing an aggressive Russian sailor who tries to delay him he flees, gets his kiss, and is saved from an angry mob by a grateful shape-shifter returning a good deed. Themes include innocence, romance, coming of age, destiny, karma (good deeds returned), the supernatural.

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The Time Machine

The Time Machine: Short story by Dino BuzzatiIn this story by Dino Buzzati, a scientist builds a luxurious walled city in which a machine slows down time. Animals and plants grow and age half as quickly as those outside, allowing occupants to live for two centuries. Residency is expensive and, once inside, it is impossible to leave as the effects of normal time will be fatal. Life in the city proves not to be the utopia residents expected, and ends in disaster when something happens to the machine. Themes include self-preservation, alienation, monotony, the dangers of relying on technology and toying with the basic laws of nature.

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Vengeful Creditor

Vengeful Creditor: Short story by Chinua AchebeThe major themes of this story by Chinua Achebe are political hypocrisy, class conflict, and education as a pathway out of poverty in postcolonial Africa. Other themes include exploitation, child labor and city vs. country life. A government introduces free education for all as an election ploy, but later abandons the policy due to its cost and resultant cheap-labor shortages. The vengeful creditor is a ten-year-old girl subsequently employed by a rich family as a baby-nurse. When they are too slow keeping what she thought was a promise to pay for her schooling, she decides to impose a heavy penalty.

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A Clean Well-Lighted Place

A Clean Well-lighted Place: Short story by Ernest HemingwayThis story by Ernest Hemingway takes place in a cafe. Two waiters (one young, the other middle-aged) talk about an old man sitting alone at one of the tables. A line from each waiter exemplifies three major themes. From the young waiter: I wouldn’t want to be that old. An old man is a nasty thing. (attitudes towards the aged). From the older waiter: It [life] was all a nothing and a man was a nothing too. (emptiness and despair). Other themes include aging and death, gender stereotyping, and the fact that money doesn’t buy happiness.

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The Final Problem / Empty House

The Final Problem / Empty House: Short stories by Arthur Conan DoyleToday we have two stories by Arthur Conan Doyle dealing with the “death” and “rebirth” of Sherlock Holmes. In The Final Problem, Holmes has his first and last encounter with master criminal and his intellectual equal, Professor James Moriarty. After a pursuit across Europe, the pair are believed to have perished when they tumbled off the Reichenbach Falls during a struggle. In the Adventure of the Empty House, Holmes miraculously returns to bring three remaining members of Moriarty’s criminal network to justice. In capturing the first, he solves an important murder investigation. Themes include justice, pursuit, deception, courage, sacrifice, death.

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Nothing Ever Breaks Except the Heart

Nothing Ever Breaks Except the Heart: Short story by Kay BoyleIn this story from Kay Boyle, a harried man working in an airline ticket office befriends a woman trying to reach America from war-torn Europe. The essence of the story lies in his response to a complaint by a fellow employee: I tell you, I can’t do it much longer. I’m at the breaking point. His retort: You’ve been saying that for a year and a half. But nothing ever breaks. We later learn that something has broken for the man (his heart), and it is not over a woman! Themes: unfulfilled dreams, alcohol abuse, self-reproach, despair, flight from war.

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The Third Wish

The Third Wish: Short story by Joan AikenThis story from Joan Aiken takes the form of a “three wishes” fairy-tale. The protagonist does something very unusual for someone given three wishes. He decides not to make the third wish. When asked why, he says: I’ve learned that even if your wishes are granted they don’t always better you. Themes: 1) change (it is wrong to force change on someone who is happy as they are); 2) family (for many people, family ties are just as important as a happy marriage); and 3) sacrifice (true love means being prepared to let someone go if it makes them happier).

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Earthmen Bearing Gifts

Earthmen Bearing Gifts: Short story by Fredric BrownIn this sardonic science-fiction story by Fredrick Brown, the people of Mars are looking forward to their first visit from Earth. The planets have planned an exchange of gifts. Each civilization is more advanced in an important area of science. Martians have mastered the para-psychological sciences and can teach Earthmen how to avoid crime and war. The Earth is ahead in technology and the physical sciences. This could help the Martians restore their dying planet. Earth’s first “gift”, delivered in an unmanned spacecraft, is not what the Martians expected. Themes include scientific progress, communication and cooperation, trust, betrayal.

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Sorrow-Acre

Sorrow-Acre: Short story by Isak Dinesen (aka Karen Blixen)This story by Isak Dinesen (aka Karen Blixen) has an “overall” plot, a “subordinate” plot, and an “incomplete” plot. The overall plot considers how moves towards democracy elsewhere in Europe might affect late eighteenth-century Danish society. The subordinate plot (the tragic story of a mother given a near-impossible task to save her son) illustrates why change is necessary, and the difficulty the ruling class will have in adjusting to it. The incomplete plot (see below) foreshadows a possible affair between the protagonist and his seventeen-year-old love-starved aunt. Themes: culture and tradition, birthright, duty, feudalism vs. democracy, injustice, motherhood, suffering.

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Tennessee’s Partner

Tennessee's Partner: Short story by Bret HarteBret Harte’s Tennessee’s Partner is said to be one of America’s first ‘bromance’ stories. Set in an isolated mining town during the California Gold Rush, two men sharing a cabin have a friendship so strong that it survives when one of them (Tennessee) runs away with his partner’s new bride and returns after she leaves him for someone else. Unfortunately, the townspeople become tired of Tennessee’s mischief and begin to suspect him of theft. A purported armed robbery, frontier justice and a hanging separate the two friends. But not for long! Themes: friendship, loyalty, crime and punishment, justice.

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