Featured Stories

Customs

Customs: Short story by Julia AlvarezIn this story from Julia Alvarez, a Dominican American college student makes her annual trip home to reconnect with her wealthy extended family. Set shortly after the 1965 Dominican Civil War, the story contrasts 1960s Western youth counterculture with her country’s traditional social, economic and political values. Although most Dominican youth cling to the old ways, she finds a kindred anti-establishment spirit in her father’s young chauffeur. It takes a disastrous (sabotaged) camping trip to teach her that she still retains some of her family’s outdated ways of thinking. Themes: culture/tradition, misogyny, class, deception, teen rebellion.

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Do What You Can

Do What You Can: Short story by Carolyn Sherwin BaileySometimes a short, simple children’s story can carry a powerful message for people of all ages. Adapted from an old fable by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey, this story is about a raindrop that sees a farmer in distress. His carefully tended crop of corn is beginning to wither and droop and, although the raindrop knows it cannot save the crop alone, it decides to bring the farmer a moment of happiness. Contrary to the raindrop’s expectation, this makes a big difference. The story shows how a single act of kindness can often motivate others to also do good.

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The Bridegroom

The Bridegroom: Short story by Nadine GordimerThis story by Nadine Gordimer begins with a poetic description of the camaraderie between an Afrikaans overseer and his native African work crew as they enjoy a musical evening around a campfire. The living arrangements in their isolated road-building camp are segregated. However, loneliness has brought the overseer relatively close to the men, who look upon him indulgently. Things are about to change. The overseer is bringing his new wife to live in the camp. He shows his true self by having all the cooking and cleaning done for her, and forbidding the men from going anywhere near their caravan.

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The Baby (The First Thing the Baby Did Wrong)

The Baby (The First Thing the Baby Did Wrong): Short story by Donald BarthelmeThis story by Donald Barthelme may be confronting for some readers because it appears to make light of an example of child abuse. Through exaggeration and humor, Barthelme leads us to his central theme: the coming of a baby can change the whole dynamics of family relationships. Most parents like to think that they are the ones in control. However, all too often they find themselves dancing to their child’s tune. By the end of the story, this baby has totally turned the tables. Some might even say that it has been guilty of a form of parental abuse!

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The Hit Man

The Hit Man: Short story by T. C. BoyleT. C. Boyle’s The Hit Man is a clever satire of the short story genre. Written in short paragraphs under sub-headings, the story contains all the necessary elements of a short story. What makes it unusual is that Boyle is able to provide a meaningful account of his protagonist’s entire life (boyhood, adolescence, courtship, death of parents, ‘career’, marriage, family, retirement, death… and even dislike of peas!) in less than 1,200 words. He also manages to deal with some serious issues (bullying, schoolyard violence, judicial system failure, gratuitous murder, glamorized crime and death) along the way.

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Neighbour Rosicky

Neighbour Rosicky: Short story by Willa CatherThis heart-warming story from Willa Cather exemplifies all that is said to be good about life in rural America. Anton Rosicky followed other impoverished Czech immigrants seeking a better life overseas. Assisted by small acts of kindness along the way, he reaches America where he acquires a modest farm and raises a large, contented family. This is quite a long story with many themes: love, family values, neighborliness, doing what’s right vs. chasing money, city vs. country living, connection, hard work, contentment, reminiscing and (with a grandchild on the way as Anton dies) the cycle of life.

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The Egg

The Egg: Short story by Sherwood AndersonThis dark comedy from Sherwood Anderson follows a contented farmhand and his ambitious wife who, after starting a family, decide to pursue the American Dream. In their first venture, a chicken farm, everything that can go wrong does go wrong. More troubles follow when they move closer to town and open a diner. The stressed husband tries to help business by being someone he is not (an entertainer), and ends up “with egg on his face”. The egg, which usually symbolizes the cycle of life, is for them a symbol of the cycle of poverty. Other themes: death, isolation, hope.

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A Hunger Artist

A Hunger Artist: Short story by Franz KafkaThemes of Franz Kafka’s A Hunger Artist include alienation and isolation, spiritual emptiness, art, voyeurism, exploitation, change and suffering. The unnamed artist does not hunger for food, but rather artistic recognition and spiritual fulfillment. When, as often happens, public tastes change, he has outlived his usefulness and is quickly forgotten. The story has variously been described as an allegory of the suffering of artists for the sake of their art, a metaphorical representation of the life of Jesus, and a reflection of the tortured final years of Kafka’s own life as an alienated artist dying from tuberculosis.

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