Featured Stories

Tennessee’s Partner

Tennessee's Partner: Short story by Bret HarteBret Harte’s Tennessee’s Partner is said to be one of America’s first ‘bromance’ stories. Set in an isolated mining town during the California Gold Rush, two men sharing a cabin have a friendship so strong that it survives when one of them (Tennessee) runs away with his partner’s new bride and returns after she leaves him for someone else. Unfortunately, the townspeople become tired of Tennessee’s mischief and begin to suspect him of theft. A purported armed robbery, frontier justice and a hanging separate the two friends. But not for long! Themes: friendship, loyalty, crime and punishment, justice.

Continue ReadingTennessee’s Partner

Wandering Willie’s Tale

Wandering Willie's Tale: Short story by Sir Walter ScottWarning, this story by Sir Walter Scott can be hard going for inexperienced readers due to its use of original dialect and obsolete vocabulary. When a violent Scottish Lord presses a tenant for long outstanding rent, the man borrows the money and returns to pay it. The Lord dies as he hands it over, and the money disappears during the commotion. The Lord’s son doesn’t believe the rent was paid, and demands payment. A mysterious stranger helps the devastated tenant by accompanying him to hell to collect a receipt. Themes: changing times, the supernatural, beware who you travel with.

Continue ReadingWandering Willie’s Tale

Hot Ice

Hot Ice: Short story by Stuart DybekMajor themes of this story by Stuart Dybek are urban decay and social change. The state of a 1970s Chicago neighbourhood is reflected in the desolate, drug and alcohol-fueled lives of the story’s main characters. A prison, which features prominently in the story, signifies their bleak chances of escaping these circumstances. The story is tied together by an urban myth about a “saintly” girl encased in a block of ice. Her rescue and “release” symbolizes hope for change and a better future. Other themes include religion, loss, grief, coming of age, identity, nostalgia, despair, drug and alcohol abuse, myth.

Continue ReadingHot Ice

The Replacement

The Replacement: Short story by Alain Robbe-GrilletThis story by Alain Robbe-Grillet is an example of the Nouveau Roman literary trend of the 1950s. Rather than following a traditional short story structure, The Replacement inter-weaves three seemingly unrelated plot lines involving a frustrated teacher and his bored students, a story they are reading in class, and a schoolboy outside interacting strangely with a tree. In presenting the sequence of events objectively with no authorial interpretation, readers are left to draw their own conclusions as to the story’s meaning and message. Themes could include the attainment of knowledge, the reading process, perseverance, classroom learning vs. curiosity and self-discovery.

Continue ReadingThe Replacement

Meeting Mrinal

Meeting Mrinal: Novelette by Chitra Banerjee DivakaruniIn this story by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, an Indian-American woman struggles to come to terms with the failure of her arranged marriage and her Americanized teenage son’s increasing withdrawal. After an unexpected visit from her closest childhood friend and rival, now a highly successful single businesswoman, she realizes that, despite the different directions their lives have taken, both have ended up lonely and disillusioned. Fortunately, after considering suicide, she recognizes that no life is perfect and decides to face up to her problems. Themes include cultural conflict, gender roles, arranged marriages, identity, generation gap, single motherhood, rivalry, pride, loneliness, disillusionment.

Continue ReadingMeeting Mrinal

Zoo

Zoo: Short story by Edward HochThis very short science fiction tale from Edward Hoch is an excellent story to illustrate the meaning of point of view in literature. A traveling zoo makes annual visits to world cities. But this is no ordinary zoo: it is a space ship displaying strange creatures from different parts of the universe. The story can be interpreted from three perspectives: the people who visit the zoo, Professor Hugo’s (the zoo’s owner), and the creatures behind bars inside. Each sees the zoo differently, and benefits from the visit in a different way.

Continue ReadingZoo

Javni

Javni: Short story by Raja RaoRaja Rao’s Javni highlights the inequity of India’s caste system and how it is so interlinked with religious beliefs that most of those affected accept their lot without question. (A Brahmin is not meant to work. You are the “chosen ones”… you are the twice-born. We are your servants — your slaves.) Javni, a devout servant, accepts the exploitation and indignities suffered at the hands of her employer as a normal aspect of working life. Sadly, being a widow, the poor woman faces even greater cruelty from her family and fellow villagers. Themes: compassion, innocence, religion, fate, superstition, cruelty, sacrifice, love.

Continue ReadingJavni

The Money-Box

Seventh Grade: Short story by Gary SotoModern readers tend to associate W. W. Jacobs with tales of the macabre, such as his famous The Monkey’s Paw. What few realize is that most of his stories were humorous. His favorite subjects were ships and those who sail in them, and how tricksters take advantage of slow-witted villagers. In this story, two sailors tired of squandering their wages in the first few days ashore trust their pay to a very steady old teetotaler who agrees to give them a moderate amount each day. Needless to say, they soon regret the decision. Themes: money, irresponsibility, temperance, duty.

Continue ReadingThe Money-Box