It is hard to like or feel any sympathy for the American-raised Dominican Harvard professor at the centre of this story by Junot Diaz. The serial cheater who slept with fifty other women over the course of a six-year relationship belatedly realizes that the fiancé who dumped him was “the one”. Over the next six years he struggles to deal with the consequences of losing her while facing debilitating physical conditions and constant racial taunts and profiling. Themes include love vs. desire, infidelity and its consequences, heartbreak, depression, self-awareness and redemption, racism. More…
Menagerie, a Child’s Fable
Like George Orwell’s Animal Farm, Charles Johnson’s confronting allegorical fable about animals left to fend for themselves in a locked pet shop is not for children. Some see the story as a religious allegory for the consequences (chaos and hell fire) of losing faith in God (Tilford) and listening to the devil (the monkey). Another interpretation is as a political allegory for the anarchy that can arise after a breakdown of authority and the rule of law, much like modern day (2024) Haiti. Themes include oppression, freedom and democracy, pluralism vs. racism, lawlessness and power (greed, violence, murder and rape). More…
Big Black Good Man
In this story by Richard Wright, an elderly man working the night desk at a seedy waterfront hotel is used to handling rough customers. However, when the biggest, strangest, and blackest sailor he had ever seen asks for a room, he is irrationally terrified. Living in constant fear, he meets the sailor’s demands (whisky and a woman) for six days. As the sailor checks out, he playfully puts his hands around the man’s neck, causing him to wet his pants in fear. A year later, the sailor returns. Themes include appearance and stereotyping, racism, fear, alienation, hatred and revenge, misjudgment. More…
The Age of Lead
In this story by Margaret Atwood, a frozen 150-year-old body buried in the permafrost provides a lesson for the living. The story uses the solution to mystery cause of death of members of the ill-fated Franklin Expedition to highlight the dangers of consumerism and modern technology such as soil and water pollution, toxic waste and acid rain. The issues are brought home in the parallel story involving the the protagonist’s frustrating relationship with her eccentric, possibly gay lifetime friend who dies of an unknown viral infection. Themes include tragedy, side effects of consumerism and technology, individuality, friendship/unfulfilled love. More…
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
The major themes of this famous children’s story from Rudyard Kipling’s Second Jungle Book are duty, loyalty and courage. When viewed from a Western perspective, the story’s motif is the triumph of good over evil. However, as the cobra is a revered Hindu religious symbol, the plot can also be interpreted as an allegory of colonial conquest: the victory of “benevolent” British imperialists (Teddy and his family) and the Indians who support them (Rikki-tikki) over those resisting domination and change (Nag and Nagaina). Other themes: family, the balance of nature, progress and peace under British colonialism.