Featured Stories

Identities

Identities: Short story by W. D. ValgardsonIn this story from W. D. Valgardson, the smell of burning leaves on a Saturday morning evokes pleasant memories for a man of childhood drives in the countryside. With his family otherwise occupied, he decides to leave his up-market neighborhood and re-live the experience. Unfortunately, the open spaces of his youth have been replaced by urban sprawl. Late in the day, he finds himself lost in a seedy, seemingly dangerous neighborhood. A stop to call home and warn his family that he will be late for dinner is the last act in his life. Themes: nostalgia, appearance, prejudice, stereotyping, misjudgement.

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Daisy Miller: A Study in Two Parts

Daisy Miller: A Study in Two Parts: Short story by Henry JamesHenry James’s “Daisy” Miller is a young American socialite traveling through Southern Europe with her mother and younger brother. Flirtatious, independent and free-spirited, she enjoys the competing attentions of several men who she subtly manipulates to do her bidding. Her behaviour, especially going about with men unchaperoned, is scandalous by American expat community standards, resulting in gossip and her ostracization. A question in the mind of a man smitten by Daisy is whether she could possibly be as innocent as she appears. Themes include social conventions (Europe vs. America), gossip, reputation (innocence vs. immorality), double standards (male vs. female independence).

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The Shawl / Rosa

The Shawl / Rosa: Short stories by Cynthia OzickToday we are featuring two award-winning stories from Cynthia Ozick. The first, The Shawl, is set in Second World War Poland and deals with the horrors of the holocaust as experienced a young mother (Rosa), her infant child (Magda), and fourteen-year-old-niece (Stella). The second story, Rosa, is a sequel to the first. Set in the USA over thirty years later, it demonstrates the devastating long-term effects of the women’s war-time experiences.

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The Distant Past

The Distant Past: Short story by William TrevorIn this story by William Trevor, Irish villagers ridicule an elderly brother and sister for living in the past by clinging to their family’s long-held British allegiance. Almost forty years have passed since the Anglo-Irish War. The rest of the community, who are predominantly Republican, have moved on. That is until “The Troubles” of the late 1960s, when the other villagers’ hatred and mistrust of the British resurfaces. The once well-liked siblings find themselves ostracized, proving that the past is never far away. Themes: family loyalty and pride, isolation, tolerance, friendship, religious/political conflict, alienation, the interrelationship between past and present.

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Bluebeard

Bluebeard: European Folktale by Charles PerraultAs in real life, many folktales have protagonists who attain riches and/or happiness by questionable means. Bluebeard, Charles Perrault’s serial killing nobleman, obviously deserves his fate. However, it is also hard to see how his last wife, who first rejected him based on his looks, seemingly only married him for his riches, and then betrayed his generosity and trust by entering a forbidden room, deserves a “happily ever after” future. Themes include judging by appearances, greed, vanity, betrayal of trust and justice. One question remains: if the beard made women and girls run away, why didn’t Bluebeard shave it off?

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Ahoy, Sailor Boy!

Ahoy, Sailor Boy!: Short story by A. E. CoppardThis story by A. E. Coppard takes a light-hearted look at death and what comes after. Following a discussion in an English pub about death and divine retribution, an off-duty sailor unsuccessfully tries to solicit an attractive ghost in a park. The woman’s sin was vanity, as represented by a huge collection of expensive clothing. In order to obtain redemption, she must re-wear and discard every item in the collection. She is wearing the last outfit, and the sailor eagerly watches as she undresses for the last time. Themes include death and the afterlife, vanity, sexuality, kindness, redemption, the supernatural.

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Life in the Iron-Mills

Life in the Iron-Mills: Short story by Rebecca Harding DavisSet in the 1830s, this story by Rebecca Harding Davis highlights the desperate plight of mill and factory workers during the early stages of the industrial revolution. A young furnace attendant, ostracised by other iron-mill workers because of his mild manner and artistic leaning, lives in squalid conditions with his father and a mildly disfigured female cousin. The cousin, whose love for the man is not reciprocated, destroys both of their lives by stealing money to try to help him. Themes include social inequality, exploitation, poverty, artistry, lack of opportunity, unrequited love, crime and punishment, despair, redemption.

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The Minority Report

The Minority Report: Short story by Philip DickPhilip Dick’s The Minority Report is a dystopian adventure story set in a society that takes policing a step even further than the infamous “Thought Police” in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. Its premise is that the authorities have found a way to identify a crime and imprison the would-be perpetrator before he or she even thinks of committing it. Their methods in doing this are disturbing to say the least. Themes: (general) free will vs. fate, injustice, trust vs. paranoia, self-fulfilling prophesy, extrajudicial murder; (for the “precogs”) violation of human rights, enslavement, degradation.

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