Short Story 1: "Cathedral" by Raymond Carver
"Cathedral" follows a man whose wife is friends with a blind man named Robert. One day, Robert decides to come visit the family, they share a few drinks, and Robert shows the main character that just because you're blind, that doesn't mean you can't see.
While this may sound absolutely boring and bland, the writing style, interestingly enough, is supposed to make you feel that way until the end of the story. I think the author's goal was to make the narrator as unoriginal, boring, and made sure he was lacking an identity. I mean, he's not even given a name. The narrator seems bored by life, and is very shallow. In the beginning of the story, he won't even acknowledge Robert as an actual person, believing him to be part of some "race" that the narrator is superior to. Yes, even though the narrator is boring, he acts superior to those who he believes to be below him, including those of other races. His relationship with his wife is also rather stale, with the narrator kind of viewing his wife as more of an object than anything else, though not necessarily in a "womanizing" way; kind of just as if she was just there, and there wasn't much of an emotional connection between the two. This is shown by the narrator's disinterest in his wife's activities, such as with this quote: "Right then my wife filled me in with more detail than I cared to know. I made a drink and sat at the kitchen table to listen." Note how he stated, "than I cared to know." So, we have a narrator who is insensitive, bored, and about as average as you can get. Again, though, this is one of the only cases where it's used to the story's advantage, especially towards character development, of which I'll get to in a moment. When Robert arrives, the narrator acts insensitively towards him, but gradually warms up to him when they talk and get to know each other...kind of. They both get drunk, and then Robert asks the narrator to describe a cathedral for him, of which the narrator thinks, "How could I ever begin to describe it?" He then tries to literally describe a cathedral, and then states, "...I can't tell you what a cathedral looks like. It just isn't in me to do it. I can't do more than I've done." Finally, they draw a cathedral together, except the narrator does it without sight, and sort of has a mental catharsis, if you know what I mean.
The main points of Cathedral are how even the shallowest of people have some sort of depth to them, but you just need to "break through the sand" to find it. Its major symbol, in my opinion, is the Cathedral, because they symbolize perseverance and hope. I mean, do you know how long it takes to build one of them? Another message that could be interpreted is how sight is represented as. We all have judged people by first glance despite all denial, but what happens if you take away that sight? You'll have to rely on your other senses to learn about people and where you live. Because, in the end, it's really what your heart sees that matters, if that makes any sense. In other words, it's really the the inside of the person that counts.
So, do I recommend this short story? Sure, if you have some free time to kill. Overall, I give "Cathedral" a 4 out of 5, and a recommendation to check it out.
Read "Cathedral": http://nbu.bg/webs/amb/american/6/carver/cathedral.htm
Short Story 2: "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin
This...isn't my favorite short story out of the five I'll be talking about today, but it's still pretty good. It follows a math teacher who again lacks a true name who lives in Harlem, whose brother Sonny has just been released from drug rehab after doing heroin. Great start. So we learn more about the brothers and their family's past, and we end with the narrator finally gaining an understanding of Sonny's life.
I really like how this story demonstrates between pragmatism and following your heart. One brother wants Sonny to do what is best for him, while Sonny himself just wants to do what he wants to do. For example, the fact that the main character is a math teacher represents how he is always someone who sticks to the books, as further proved by his treatment of Sonny, who is the exact opposite. Sonny wants to just go on with his life and do what he wants to do, rather than do what everyone else expects of him. This is the main conflict of the story, as Sonny wants to become a musician even though it is probably not what is logically best for him, in accordance to the narrator. This does beg the question, "Which way should you go?" The story evolves not around what the true answer to this question is, however, but acceptance of the opposite. Sonny always accepted what the narrator did, to the point of which Sonny listened to his older brother and tried to live by the book, but ultimately failed. The narrator has always lived by the book, but when he listens to Sonny playing his music in a bar, he comes to accept the fact that his brother is different, and that there is some value in following your heart. There's also the story of their father, whose own brother was run over by a car driven by racially insensitive white people in the past. I interpreted this as more of a second chance to make things right in the brother-to-brother relationship, as the father failed to protect his brother, so the narrator has to protect Sonny. However, I still view this as adding to the main theme; you should look out for the ones you love, but you shouldn't completely control them and accept them for who they are.
Looking back on it, this is just one of those cases where personal taste gets in the way, I guess. I didn't like the writing style, and I thought that this was too long for a short story. Still, I give "Sonny's Blues" a 3.75 out of 5, and a recommendation to read it.
Short Story 3: "A Pair of Tickets" by Amy Tan
This is another story of acceptance, except more of an acceptance of yourself. It follows a Chinese-American woman named June who visits China with her father to learn more about her family, along with reuniting with her long-lost twin half-sisters. The sisters were the children her mother had with her original husband, before she had to abandon them due to the Japanese invasion of China during WWII.
The main themes of the story, in my belief, are acceptance of your origins and preservation. Throughout the story, June learns more and more about her family in China, and while at first tries to deny it, gradually comes to terms with it. Also, preservation plays a huge part in the telling of the story. There are a lot of flashbacks, and taking photographs, and just learning to remember what matters most. This is actually something that I hold closer to my heart, because I believe that people should remember all of the happy moments of life, especially when depression and hardship hit them in times of need, like, studying for midterms (you should have seen that coming).
So, even though the themes aren't nearly as elaborate within this story, I feel like it's worth reading. I give "A Pair of Tickets" a 3.75 out of 5, and a recommendation to read it.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find a link to it online. You'll have to find it yourself.
Short Story 4: "A Worn Path" by Eudora Welty
This is without a doubt my favorite short story out of the bunch, mainly because of how much it reflects life as it is. It basically follows a woman named Phoenix Jackson as she travels through the forest, encounters obstacles, and does it all to obtain a medication for a grandson that may or may not be dead.
The title, "A Worn Path", has much more meaning than the literal, "She's been walking on a worn path". The worn path, metaphorically, is a representation of Phoenix's life. She encounters obstacles, like racial insensitivity, falling into holes, and all because of the motivation to get the medicine for her grandson. Each time, she is "reborn" in a sense (get it? because a Phoenix repeatedly dies and comes back to life?) Sound familiar? People live through life, they encounter obstacles that try to hold them back, but if they're strong enough and have enough motivation, they live through it and move on, the key word being motivation. We, as an audience, don't actually know whether or not the grandson is dead. Some might interpret this as Phoenix going insane, but I see it as she either does it because her grandson is, indeed, alive, or because she's done this trek so many times and always for the same reason that the motivation itself still lives inside her, though the reason may be forgotten. You know how, in Black Lagoon; Roberta's Blood Trail, Roberta lost sight of the reason why she wanted revenge in the first place? Well, to be frank, I haven't actually seen Black Lagoon or its OVA, but I've heard of it, and I think it makes sense. Sometimes, motivation exists, but you can be so engrossed in it that you can actually forget why you wanted to achieve that goal in the first place, and forget why it's even important in the first place.
I absolutely love this short story, and highly recommend it. I give "A Worn Path" a 4.8 out of 5, and a recommendation to read it.
Read "A Worn Path": http://xroads.virginia.edu/~drbr/ew_path.html
Short Story 5: "A Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury
Yes, this one is probably the most famous on the list, popular enough to spawn a movie adaptation in 2005 that looks really stupid, but I digress. "A Sound of Thunder" follows a group of hunters in the future who go back in time to kill a Tyrannosaurus Rex, along with spouting exposition about how the butterfly effect works. Huh, "butterfly effect"; is this where is came from? So, one of the hunters steps on a prehistoric butterfly, and his world is changed forever and the story ends with one of the vaguest endings I've ever seen.
This is my least favorite out of the short stories, to be perfectly honest, mainly because of the lack of subtlety this story provides. This story basically flat-out tells you that the plot is going to end in disaster, and while it is a short story and therefore subtlety shouldn't really be expected, I pretty much predicted what would happen right from, "We don't want to change the future." Almost all of the dialogue is exposition, making the story kind of boring to read. The only aspect that I really liked about this short story is the fact that its message is that one small thing can change your life forever, but even then, it's a predictable theme, considering how this story is about time travel.
Overall, I give "A Sound of Thunder" a 2.9 out of 5, and you can read it if you want to. It's just not my type of story.
Read "A Sound of Thunder":
http://teacherweb.com/ON/SacredHeartHighSchool/MrStriukas/A_Sound_of_Thunder.pdf
I will review a normal book again come next weekend. Here's the hint: Ghostbusters, with a little more horror thrown in.
See you then!
I will review a normal book again come next weekend. Here's the hint: Ghostbusters, with a little more horror thrown in.
See you then!
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