Featured Stories

The Dinner Party

The Dinner Party: Short story by Mona GardnerThe theme of Mona Gardner’s The Dinner Party is gender stereotyping. The story is a satire of attitudes towards women in upper class colonial England. It begins with a debate over dinner between an army officer and young girl. The officer argues that men are better than women at staying calm during a crisis. The host’s wife proves him wrong by demonstrating nerves of steel when the guests are threatened by a deadly visitor. Although one of the other guests foreshadows the looming danger, the full extent of the woman’s courage is not evident until the final paragraph.

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Nadia the Willful

Nadia the Wilful: Short story by Sue AlexanderThe central theme of this story from Sue Alexander is dealing with grief and loss. When a Bedouin boy is lost in the desert, his shattered father (a tribal sheik) decrees that none of his people speak the boy’s name. Nadia, his willful daughter, finds that the only way she can cope with her brother’s loss is to talk about their happy times together. When others follow her example, the sheik reacts angrily. However he, too, soon learns that rather than blocking out the memory, the best way process the death of a loved one is to celebrate their life.

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Little Whale, Varnisher of Reality

Little Whale, Varnisher of Realitye: Short story by Vasily AksyonovSeen as an allegory of aspects of Soviet life (censorship and fear of malevolent authority), this story by Vasily Aksyonov contrasts the stressful life of a father with the blissful world of his three-year-old son. Returning home after a difficult day, the weak-willed man would rather spend time in the fantasy world of the boy, whose imagination makes everything right, than make an important phone call. He dreads the outcome of the call, which appears critical to his family and friends, and keeps putting it off. Themes include childhood innocence vs. adulthood, father-son relationships, fantasy, manipulation of reality, fear, procrastination.

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Dead Men’s Path

Dead Men's Path: Short story by Chinua AchebeThe major theme of this story by Chinua Achebe is cultural clash, as reflected in the reformist zeal of a new headmaster who objects to local villagers walking through school grounds to access a path that is important to their animist beliefs. Set in a rural Nigerian mission school, the story takes place in 1949 when the country was still under British rule. It is ironic that, being Nigerian, the young headmaster failed to grasp the seriousness of the villagers’ concerns, whereas his “white Supervisor” seems to immediately understand the situation. Other themes include colonialism, tradition, superstition, pride, arrogance, retribution.

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A Good Man is Hard to Find

A Good Man is Hard to Find: Short story by Flannery O'ConnorFlannery O’Connor is a master at coming up with stories in which almost every main character has some kind of flaw. It is hard to like any of this dysfunctional family of six (except maybe the baby) as they cruise down Highway 441. When their car overturns beside a deserted road, they attract the attention of a crazed killer who calls himself “The Misfit”. As the rest of the family are murdered around her, the grandmother tries to convince the Misfit that deep inside he is one of those hard to find men. Themes: prejudice, deception, violence, religion, “goodness”, redemption

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The Father

The Father: Short story by Bjørnstjerne BjørnsonThis story by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson opens with the wealthiest and most influential peasant in his parish asking for special treatment in the baptism of his son. He visits the priest on behalf of the boy on two subsequent occasions… to have him stand first in his confirmation, and to publish the banns for his marriage. Shortly after the last visit, his son drowns. A year later, the devasted and humbled man sells his farm, gives half to the church, and promises to do “something better”. Themes include pride (in seeking to elevate his status), loss, achieving humility through suffering.

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Once Upon a Time

Once Upon a Time: Short story by Nadine GordimerAlthough Nadine Gordimer’s Once Upon a Time follows a fairy-tale pattern (there is even a wise old witch!), the storyline doesn’t have a fairy-tale ending. On a superficial level, it could be regarded as a parody of The Three Little Pigs: a family builds a stronger and stronger house to keep out the big bad wolf, only for the extra security to ruin their lives. On a more serious note, the story has several important themes: Racism, Apartheid and Inequality (which lead to Social Decay) and the consequences of being ruled by Fear (Anxiety, Overreaction, and in this case Self-Destruction).

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The Possibility of Evil

The Possibility of Evil: Short story by Shirley JacksonThe major theme of this Shirley Jackson story is that appearances can be misleading. A secondary theme, which is particularly relevant these days, is ‘fake news’. Miss Strangeworth, who possibly suffers from OCD, believes that her letters, although based purely on suspicion, are for the good of the community. Her objective may be noble, but many of the thoughts expressed are evil. The story’s message is two-fold: 1) we must be constantly on guard against the “possibility of evil”; and 2) evil is sometimes committed under the guise of seemingly good causes. Other themes: heritage, haughtiness, alienation, community, revenge.

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