The central theme of this thought-provoking story from Saul Bellow is protagonist Woody’s relationships with his extended family. Although much of his week is spent fulfilling the sense of duty he feels towards them, he also makes time for carnal and other pleasures. A turning point in Woody’s youth was his con-man father (Morris)’s theft of a silver dish. Despite their differences, father and son remained close and Morris’s death affects Woody greatly. In the heart-warming denouement, he proclaims his love by climbing into the dying man’s hospital bed. Other themes: ethnic/religious allegiances, pretentiousness, humiliation, aging, death, duty, self-indulgence, solitude. More…

A major theme of this story by Saul Bellow is work ethic. Times are tough in 1930s Chicago. An intellectual white man starts a much-needed job delivering unclaimed welfare checks to people in a depressed black neighborhood. On his first day his younger supervisor implies that, as a city worker, he isn’t expected to “push too hard”. That’s not the way he works: he wants to do well for doing-well’s sake, and goes above and beyond in a quest to find the elusive Mr. Green. Other themes include poverty, race, suspicion, duty, tenacity, identity. More…

In this depressing but captivating story by Saul Bellow, a seventy-two-year-old woman reviews her life of lost opportunities after an accident threatens her ability to live independently in her off-the-grid Yellow House. A heavy drinker, she is portrayed as irresponsible, selfish, brash and demanding. With no close relatives and the six other eccentric white people in her isolated desert community tolerating rather than befriending her, she has no one to turn to and, more importantly, nobody “good enough” to bequeath her only treasure (the house) to. Themes include poverty, aging and death, identity, self-deception, alienation and isolation, disconnection, alcohol abuse. More…