This touching short story from Daniel Keyes is about a mentally handicapped man who undergoes experimental surgery to enhance his intelligence. The operation’s initial success highlights an interesting aspect of intelligence: the very gifted can be as out of touch with reality and friendless as the intellectually challenged. The story raises an important issue: How far should medical science go in tampering with nature or, as some would say, the will of God? Perhaps the answer lies in Charlie’s ultimate fate, ironically going backwards in intelligence rather than forwards. Other themes include innocence, friendship, compassion, bullying and sacrifice. More…
The Hell Screen
In Ryūnosuke Akutagawa‘s re-working of this 13th century Japanese tale, a cold-hearted, conceited artist considered to be “the greatest in the land” insists upon personally experiencing the scenes he creates. When commissioned to paint a folding screen with a scene from Hell, he is able to complete all but the central image of a beautiful woman burning alive in a nobleman’s carriage. He asks for help from his Feudal Lord, who agrees to stage the event for him. As the artist watches, his emotions range from horror to ecstasy. Themes: hubris, inhumanity, obsession, inspiration in art, innocence, perception of truth. More…
The Three Sillies
Not all folktales are designed to teach or explain. Some, like this one, were popular for their entertainment value. In this story, a rich young man finds that the woman he loves and her family are not very clever. He decides that he will only marry the girl if he can find three people sillier than they are. A woman trying to push her cow up a ladder, a man who can’t get his trousers on, and a whole village trying to rescue a shadow from a pond prove that there certainly are sillier people in the world. More…
Exchanging Glances
This autobiographical story by Christa Wolf provides a unique perspective on the final days of World War II, told from the viewpoint of a middle-aged German woman looking back on her time as a teenager fleeing the Russians with her family. Part of a column of refugees, she recounts being strafed by American fighter planes, learning of Hitler’s death, encountering a retreating Wehrmacht unit, and coming face-to-face with liberated concentration camp survivors. Ironically, some confronting experiences on reaching the “safety” of American lines leave her in tears. Themes: war, the vagaries of memory/selective amnesia, changing perspectives, dislocation, loss, death. More…
A Cup of Tea
Although written in a lighthearted tone, this innocently titled story from Katherine Mansfield deals with some big issues. Its major theme is the materialism, hypocrisy and vanity of the British upper class. The desire for a “cup of tea” symbolizes the one similarity (womanhood) between a young beggar and middle-aged socialite. One is poor, desperate and astonishingly pretty; the other rich, entitled and not exactly beautiful. The socialite’s reason for wanting to help the girl was to show how compassionate she is. However, she soon realizes this may highlight a less favorable difference between them. Other themes: appearance, jealousy, insecurity. More…