The Chosen Vessel

The Chosen Vessel: Short story by Barbara BayntonThis story by Barbara Baynton paints a graphic picture of the isolation and dangers faced by women living in ‘outback’ Australia during the 19th century. A ‘swagman’ traveling the countryside looking for work visits a woman on a farm whose husband is away. She does not like the way he looks at her, and locks herself and her baby in their house. The man is about to break in when they hear a horse rider coming. The woman runs outside and calls for help. However, when the horse rider hears and then sees her, he races away in fright.

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The Willow Walk

The Willow Walk: Short story by Sinclair LewisIn this story by Sinclair Lewis, twins Jasper and John Holt couldn’t be more different: Jasper, a well-dressed, respectable bank teller and admired member of a community theatre group; John, a disheveled, reclusive religious fanatic and admired member of an obscure religious cult. Yet they are the same person, a skilled actor carrying out an elaborate bank heist. The robbery goes off perfectly… “Jasper” mysteriously disappears, and John, who no one suspects, has the money. All goes well until John’s conscience causes him to descend into madness. Themes include crime, dissimulation, social class, religious zealotry, guilt, madness, atonement, despair.

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Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?: Short story by Joyce Carol OatesThe plot of this award-winning story by Joyce Carol Oates in a nutshell: attractive, self-absorbed, rebellious teen under Why can’t you be like your big sister? pressure meets a predatory psychopath with, one imagines, predictable results. What sets the story apart is the way Oates, using dialogue alone, transforms a cautionary tale for young women into a psychological thriller that gradually develops into a horror story. Themes include search for identity, independence, sexuality and control, appearance vs. reality, malevolence, psychological manipulation and (if you believe Connie really sacrificed herself for her family), self-sacrifice.

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The Black Cat

The Black Cat: Short story by Edgar Allan PoeThe Stephen Kings of the writing world tend to use external, often supernatural forces as their instruments of terror. With Edgar Allan Poe, the horror generally develops from the tortured mind of man. The protagonist here has lost his mind to alcoholism. Like many alcoholics, he becomes violent when in a drunken state. This is initially directed towards family pets. Extreme cruelty to animals can indicate psychopathic tendencies, and this proves true later in the story when he shows no remorse for any of his actions, including the murder of his wife. Themes: alcoholism, mental illness, brutality, death.

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The Ghost upon the Rail

The Ghost upon the Rail: Short story by John LangThis supposedly true story by John Lang is set in the early 1800s. John Fisher had come to Australia as a convict. He worked hard, won his freedom and became rich. One day a neighbor tells everyone that Fisher has returned to England. A year later, he says that Fisher has written asking him to sell all he owns and send the money to him. According to this version, at about the same time three men (one a policeman) are returning home late one night. Sitting on a rail beside the road is Fisher’s ghost. This spoils the neighbor’s plan.

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A Municipal Report

A Municipal Report: Short story by O. HenryO. Henry wrote over 600 short stories, of which some critics consider this to be one of the best. The plot involves what happens between the unnamed narrator, three main characters, and a torn dollar bill that keeps coming back to its original owner. The characters: Azalea Adair, a self-educated, gentle lady of the old South; Major Caswell, a cruel husband who treats her badly; and Uncle Caesar, a kind African-American man with a royal bearing who tries to help Azalea. Themes include: pretense, pride, change, domestic violence, loyalty, self-learning and the power of imagination.

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The Killers

The Killers: Short story by Ernest HemingwayIn this coming of age story by Ernest Hemingway, two hit men come to a small-town restaurant to shoot a man to oblige a friend. The three men already in the restaurant (its manager, cook and a young customer) are detained but, when the intended victim (a prize-fighter) doesn’t turn up, they are released and the hit men leave. The customer hurries to warn the prize-fighter. However, the poor man appears to have accepted his fate, saying there is nothing anyone can do to save him. Themes include crime, passivity (“looking the other way”), futility, acceptance, courage, manhood, disillusionment.

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The Murders in the Rue Morgue

The Murders in the Rue Morgue: Short story by Edgar Allan PoeWritten in 1841, this rather unlikely story by Edgar Allan Poe is considered one of the world’s first modern detective stories. In a seemingly insoluble locked-room mystery, the wrong man is arrested for the violent murder of two women. In an effort to find the truth, Poe’s amateur detective Dupin demonstrates the importance of “mental analysis” in problem solving and, in the process, shows how an “Ourang-Outang” was able to make a monkey out of the police. Themes include ingenuity (inventiveness) vs. mental analysis (critical thinking), violence, the pursuit of truth, justice.

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