Featured Stories

Nothing Ever Breaks Except the Heart

Nothing Ever Breaks Except the Heart: Short story by Kay BoyleIn this story from Kay Boyle, a harried man working in an airline ticket office befriends a woman trying to reach America from war-torn Europe. The essence of the story lies in his response to a complaint by a fellow employee: I tell you, I can’t do it much longer. I’m at the breaking point. His retort: You’ve been saying that for a year and a half. But nothing ever breaks. We later learn that something has broken for the man (his heart), and it is not over a woman! Themes: unfulfilled dreams, alcohol abuse, self-reproach, despair, flight from war.

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Inem

Inem: Short story by Pramoedya Ananta ToerThis story by Pramoedya Ananta Toer is set in 1930s Java. A six-year-old boy’s best friend, an eight-year-old girl, is married off to a seventeen-year-old-man. The naïve girl, who has no idea what marriage entails, is excited only because of the new clothes and make-up she will wear at the ceremony. Her family are neighbors, and for months afterward the boy is kept awake by her screams at night. A year later she is divorced, a tainted “woman” facing a miserable future. Themes include cultural tradition, innocence, friendship, child marriage, brutality, patriarchy, shame, compassion vs. social correctness.

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The Pardon of Becky Day

The Pardon of Becky Day: Short story by John Fox, Jr.A motif of this classic Western by John Fox, Jr. could well be the scheming nature of women. A neighbor misled the community as to Becky’s virtue to win her boyfriend Jim’s heart; both women manipulate the men around them to maintain their “honor”; a missionary uses the threat of a deathbed curse to force the reluctant neighbor to seek Becky’s forgiveness; and, based on the smile on Becky’s face when she dies, her words of forgiveness may have been feigned to make sure that she will “git thar” [where Jim is] first. Themes: deception, hate, lawless violence, forgiveness, superstition.

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The Wall

The Wall: Short story by Jean-Paul SartreIn this story by Jean-Paul Sartre, a foreign volunteer in the fight against Franco’s Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War is arrested. He and two other men are put in a cell where they learn they will be shot the following morning. Most of story is about how each deals with the prospect of death. After the other two are led away, the narrator is given a choice: to follow them or give up the location of a Republican leader. Themes include the brutality of war, death, existentialism (free will to determine the meaning and purpose of our life).

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Gloria’s Saturday

Gloria's Saturday: Short story by Mario BenedettiThe message of this tragic love story by Mario Benedetti is to treasure the time you have with your loved ones because life can be cut short at any time. The story is told in the form of a narrative written by a husband sitting in an all-night vigil at the bedside of his critically ill wife. Intending to share it with her when she survives, he expresses regret over how they allowed their busy lifestyles to hinder their ability to spend quality time together. Themes include fear, love, mortality, work-life balance, grief, regret.

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Dragon, Dragon

Dragon, Dragon: Short story by John GardnerThe central theme of this humorous story by John Gardner is to respect the views of one’s elders. A dragon ravages a medieval kingdom with some modern touches (clocks, novels, cars and cigars). When the king’s knights and wizard prove ineffective, he calls a town meeting to ask for ideas, promising his daughter’s hand and half his kingdom to anyone who can slay the dragon. After the two older sons of a wise cobbler ignore their father’s advice and fail, their nervous younger son heeds his words and succeeds. Other themes include social class, honor, and courage (overcoming one’s fears).

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Master Jacob

Master Jacob: Short story by Howard PyleThe story by Howard Pyle is similar to the “trickster” narratives found in many folktales. Three greedy community leaders (a priest, a provost, and the town mayor) decide to trick an unsuspecting farmer out of a fat pig (or is it a dog?) he is taking to market. Later, the sly farmer turns the tables with three tricks of his own. For his last trick, he tells them the truth! The tricksters woe their foolishness at the bottom of a deep pit, and the farmer ends up with a lot of their money. Themes: greed, cleverness, revenge, distrust.

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Seven Floors

Seven Floors: Short story by Dino BuzzatiDino Buzzati’s Seven Floors is an allegory of both the stages of life, and the futility of trying to fight bureaucracy. A slightly ill patient enters a ward on the top floor of a seven-story sanatorium. He learns that more seriously ill patients are progressively moved to lower floors, with the dying relegated to the dreaded first floor. Once caught up in the system, and against his perception of the severity of his illness, he makes the slow, inexorable progression to the bottom. Themes include the inevitability of ageing and death, institutional inflexibility, the unpredictability of life, fear.

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