Featured Stories

America and I

America and I: Short story by Anzia YezierskaIn this semi-autobiographical story, Anzia Yezierska begins by outlining her expectations of life in America as a young Russian immigrant in the late 1800s. Instead of a land of acceptance, equality and opportunity, she experiences alienation, exploitation and poverty. Although her situation improves as she develops English proficiency and vocational skills, her factory job is not satisfying. Fortunately, the study of American history leads to the revelation that her adopted country is a world still in the making, and helps her find a fulfilling purpose in life. Themes include innocence, poverty, immigration and cultural diversity, assimilation, opportunity, fulfilment.

The world, and America’s need for unskilled migrants, has changed. Yezierska laments the fact that America was unable to tap the human and cultural potential of many other immigrants of her day. Sadly, the poor woman would turn in her grave if she knew how far off the mark the idealistic prediction expressed in her last paragraph has proved to be.

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I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream: Short story by Harlan EllisonThis story from Harlan Ellison is an example of New Wave Science Fiction, a literary movement that flourished in the 1960s and 1970s. Distinguishing features are storylines that are intellectually implausible, and disturbing themes that would not normally be included in traditional science fiction. A sentient supercomputer has destroyed the human race other than five ‘specimens’. With no creative outlet for its powers, it has kept these alive and subjected them to torturous challenges for over one hundred years as revenge against humanity for creating it. Themes: humanity vs. technology, godhood, individualism, revenge, cruelty, violence, misogyny, self-sacrifice

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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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Cold Spring

Cold Spring: Short story by Aharon AppelfeldThis story by Aharon Appelfeld describes the emergence of six Jews from their forest hiding place at the end of World War 2. Each has been physically or mentally scarred by the experience. One rushes off immediately, but the others are reluctant to move. They feast on food and alcohol abandoned by departing soldiers, leaving only when thawing snow fills their bunker with water. They then join a long line of refugees, their presence among whom is met with surprise, prejudice and kindness. Themes include camaraderie, survival, the aftermath of war, uncertainty, superstition/sorcery, hope.

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The Yellow Wallpaper

The Yellow Wallpaper: Short story by Charlotte Perkins GilmanThis partly autobiographical story by Charlotte Gilman describes the experiences of a creative, imaginative woman suffering from post-natal depression. She follows the then (1890s) generally accepted medical advice to spend her time “resting” in semi-isolation. Gilman skillfully uses the setting to turn an otherwise clinical account of a mental breakdown into a chilling psychological horror story. Although living in a colonial mansion amid idyllic countryside, the poor woman spends most of her time in a prison-like room with creepy wallpaper. Major themes include the fallibility of doctors and our reluctance to question them, mental illness, freedom and self-expression, and gender roles in society.

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Valediction

Valediction: Short story by Sherman AlexieThis coming-of-age story by Sherman Alexie was extracted from The Rumpus website. Valediction means the act of saying farewell, and in the story two boys who have been close friends for years break up over an act of shoplifting. They had shoplifted together several times, but when guilt and fear cause the narrator to stop, his friend continues and is caught. Disappointingly, instead of thanking his friend for telling authorities he wasn’t involved in the previous thefts, the narrator cuts him off without a word. There is no valediction. Themes include choices and consequences, crime and punishment, reputation, shame, ingratitude.

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Borrowing a Match

Borrowing-a-Match: Short story by Stephen LeacockHave you ever asked someone if you could borrow something, and then watched them go to so much trouble looking for it that you wish you hadn’t asked? If so, you will understand the building frustration of the man in this Stephen Leacock story. All he asked of a “decent, ordinary-looking” stranger was the loan of a match. In the process of looking for one, the stranger destroys his overcoat and the parcels and letters he is carrying, and then threatens to beat his young son when he gets home. Finally, . . . (you’ll have to read the story to find out!)

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Markheim

Markheim: Short story by Robert Louis StevensonThe central themes of this Robert Louis Stevenson classic are self-awareness and the nature of good and evil. Markheim, a hitherto petty thief, “steps up” in the criminal world by murdering an antique dealer. It is Christmas day, the dealer’s shop is closed, and his maid has gone out. As Markheim searches the house looking for money, a mysterious stranger appears. Believing him to be the Devil, Markheim must choose between accepting the stranger’s offer of help and killing the returning maid, or paying the supreme price for his crime. Other themes: poverty, crime and punishment, death, redemption, the supernatural.

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