The Sojourner - Carson McCullers

Author: Carson McCullers Date: 1950 Setting: primarily New York, in the 1940s Availability: Read The Sojourner on line, free

Carson McCullers photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1959 July 31. Collection of Library of Congress

Story: John Ferris, the sojourner, has returned from Paris to the United States for his father’s funeral in Georgia. It is revealed in the first sentences of the story that he has been a world traveler, and his half-awake, half-asleep dreams may symbolize his inability to grasp real life.

While waiting in New York, to catch a plane back to Europe, he happens to see his ex-wife, Elizabeth. He follows her for blocks, but can’t quite convince himself to approach her. He returns to his hotel, and impulsively calls Elizabeth. She invites him to dine that evening with her new husband and family; he accepts.

The evening is pleasant, but with moments of strain, politeness, and always that sense of unreality. Elizabeth plays the piano- reminding John of what he has lost, John speaks cautiously with Bill, her current husband. The most distressing moments come when their young son Billy learns that this stranger and his mother used to be married. He cannot accept this as a possible situation, and after being initially friendly with John, turns hostile when his outbursts result in being told that he can’t stay up to have cake for dessert.

John tries to focus on his current love, Jeannine, and her son. He even portrays the relationship to Elizabeth and Bill as stable and that they are on the brink of marriage. The truth is that Jeannine is just one more woman in a sequence of loves since the divorce, and he doesn’t particularly like her son.

The story closes with a poignant scene, back in Paris, between John and Jeannine’s boy, Valentin. John reaches out in an attempt to create an actual relationship.

Commentary: The Sojourner seems to be descriptive of John Ferris both in a physical sense- he never stays in one place for long, and a psychological sense- he is unable to form lasting relationships.

He was close to his father, but "Papa Ferris" is now dead. He has lost Elizabeth who haunts him; her music keeps coming back to him in inverted, minor motifs, always fragmented. He has lost a father, he has no wife, no son, no one to hold him in one place. There is a sense that John always brings too little to a relationship, and that too late. The final sentence Valentin speaks is the essence of the problem: "Monsieur Jean, the guignol is now closed."

Author info: Carson McCullers was born Lula Carson Smith in the state of Georgia, 1917. She is best known for the novel, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. Her stories were always set in the American South, and always dealt with themes of the difficulties of love and human relationships. Her health was fragile. She suffered several strokes at an early age, and died in 1967.

Unusual Words:
The Tuileries- gardens at the Louvre museum in Paris
guignol- refers to a puppet theatre which is sometimes playing at the Tuileries

Rating:
Language skills 10
Depth of meaning 10

 

Elements of Time

Here is the trailer for the newly released anthology of short stories and poetry from Twin Trinity Media, Elements of Time.

Authors include:
Lindsay Maddox
Rissa Watkins
M. Lori Motley
Andi Caldwell
Steven Thor Gunnin
Jo Brielyn
Lucinda Gunnin
Nancy Smith Gibson
Linda St. Cyr
Cathy Graham

Poets:
Laurie Darroch-Meekis
Felicity Tillack
Jennifer Wright
Lucinda Gunnin
Andi Caldwell

Healing Scars - Jo Brielyn

Author: Jo Brielyn Author web: jobrielyn.com Date: 2009 Setting: anywhere, in the present day Availability: In the anthology Elements of the Soul

Story: Cassie, and her 10-year-old son Matt, are doing Christmas shopping with money Matt has earned shoveling snow. They don’t have very much to spend on the holiday, and Matt understands this, as much as a child can, but he really would like a brand new bicycle.

To escape from crowds, and the difficult shopping decisions, they go to the park and make snow angels for an hour, simply enjoying each other and having fun. They are startled by a homeless woman who has been watching them, and also enjoying the angels they have made.

We are well into the story before we realize that Matt’s father died in a house fire, and that Matt, himself, is badly scarred. Cassie hates the way that other people look at her son, since she is so grateful that he was spared, when she had first thought that both the boy and his father were dead.

The homeless woman, Rose, notices Mattie’s scars, but after a quick double-take just treats Matt normally. Matt loves Rose’s dog, and seems completely oblivious to the woman’s ragged clothes and layers of grime.

Rose encourages Cassie to tell her about the fire.

Commentary: This story offers counterpoint and harmony on the various types of scars that people can carry. Mattie’s are physical, but Cassie and Rose have their own kinds of emotional scars to deal with.

Cassie looks normal, but is struggling with her immense losses at the young age of 25. Rose is philosophical about her lack of family, friends or material possessions, but she is shunned by most of society. Mattie is the most outwardly scarred, but seems least damaged in his soul.

The story is told mostly in the present tense.


Author info: Jo Brielyn is a free-lance writer, mother, and host of the Creative Kids Ideas blog and blog talk radio show. She is an Air Force veteran, and holds a degree in Workforce Education and Development from Southern Illinois University. She loves writing for children, and creating educational and creative opportunities for them. Learn more about Jo at JoBreilyn.com. She is currently writing a fiction story for middle-age children

Rating:
Language skills 7
Depth of meaning 7

 

The Outstation - W. Somerset Maugham

Author: W. Somerset Maugham Date: 1924 Setting: Borneo, in the 1920's Availability: Read The Outstation on line, free (note: there are numerous typos), or order a Maugham anthology below

Story: A British gentleman, Mr. Warburton, is in charge of an Outstation in the colony of Borneo. We learn that he is there because he tried to live a life rubbing elbows with the peerage in Britain, which was a little above his station. In so doing, he gambled a lot, and lost all his money. The standard solution to that problem, at that time, was to go to a distant colony.

In Borneo, Mr. Warburton has managed to create a nice little slice of the world, very much to his liking. He gets along well with the natives, and although he is revealed to be a snob in many ways, he does not feel that way toward the Malays at all.

The story opens as his new assistant, a young Australian, Alan Cooper, arrives by boat. Mr. Warburton has misgivings before Cooper even arrives. He has been the only white man in the area for years, and he’s quite content with that situation. But he greets Cooper politely, recognizing that travel is a dirty business, shows him to his bungalow, and invites him to come to the main house for dinner.

Mr. Warburton dresses for dinner, as is his custom, in full British formal style. Cooper shows up in his dirty, casual clothes. The clash between these two men’s attitudes toward civilized life begins, and goes downhill from that point. Cooper does not respect the natives at all and does not want to listen to Warburton’s recommendations of how to get good work from them. Cooper reads Warburton's newspapers, enraging the Brit, and finally calls Warburton “a snob” to his face, which is just the final straw.

Commentary: This is a realistic tale where there is no clear hero and villain. Each of the men has good qualities and serious failings. Warburton represents everything that is both bad and good about the British Empire of the 19th Century. Although he tends to think that he is better than most other white men, Warburton does not think of other races as inferior. Cooper represents the brash, new attitude toward life where no class of persons is better than another. But he is clearly racist, and treats the Malays as little more than slaves.

The inability of these two men to come to any sort of compromise leads to a self-imposed isolation from each other, at this outstation, where they should be looking for ways to find things they have in common. Once each has thoroughly offended the other, there is no way to extricate themselves from a descending spiral of attitudes and actions that leads to the tragic conclusion.

Author info: W. Somerset Maugham, 1875-1965, was born to an English family who served in the British Embassy of Paris. But his mother died when he was eight, and his father also died just two years later. Maugham was unhappy at school and developed a stutter, which he retained for his entire life. Although his guardians had many ideas of an appropriate career for him, Maugham desperately wanted to be a writer. He did complete medical school, but soon thereafter, concentrated on writing. By 1914 he was already famous as an author.

Unusual Words:
prahu- a double-hulled sailing boat
topee- a pith helmet
Dyak- natives from the interior of Borneo, sometimes headhunters
songkok- a hat similar to a fez

Rating:
Language skills 10
Depth of meaning 10

 

Unfortunate - Angel Sharum

Author: Angel Sharum Author web: angelsharum.webnode.com Date: present Setting: some port town Availability: in the anthology Consequences

Story: Carl tells this story in the first person. He and his girlfriend, Sara, have just visited the fortune teller at the local fair. Sara always thinks it's great fun to have a fortune read, and has pressed Carl into trying it. He leaves the tent feeling very disturbed, having received the foretelling of a disastrous future. Although he doesn't believe in such things, he's clearly worried.

Some time later, when Sara leaves him, he recalls the first part of the prophecy. Events in his life continue to unfold in a way that could be either a fulfillment, or simply coincidental. Carl is concerned that the prophecy is becoming self-fulfilling. He sets about to guard against the final portion of the prediction, which is not revealed to the reader until near the end of the story. Can he succeed in preventing the disaster, or is he doomed?

Commentary:"Unfortunate" explores the mysterious question of why things happen to us. Do we bring them on ourselves, or are we controlled by some external fate, which can be known and foretold by seers? Does the mere power of suggestion force us into paths which inevitably lead to the events?

By telling the story in the first person, Sharum guides the reader on a journey through Carl's thought processes, as he considers these possibilities for his own situation.

Author info: Angel Sharum lives in Alabama, and writes non-fiction articles, fiction and poetry. After beginning with non-fiction, she quickly discovered that fiction is her true passion, and she likes to employ her "vivid and sometimes twisted imagination." She feels a special connection with her readers when she succeeds in making them think. Consequences is available as a paperback, or in ebook format.

Rating:
Language skills 5
Depth of meaning 5

 

Liberty Hall - Ring Lardner

Author: Ring Lardner Date: 1924 Setting: New York and environs in the 1920s Availability: in various collections, see link below

Story: Ben Drake is a well-known writer of scores for musical comedies. He is a man who knows what he likes in terms of comfort, but he has trouble standing up to people who have differing ideas. When at home he can have “a decent light for reading in bed,... coffee, any time... “, etc. However, as celebrities, he and his wife are always being invited to people’s homes. Ben can tolerate dinner and bridge, but hates to stay overnight.

In fact, he is often so annoyed at the small impositions of staying at someone else’s home that he has devised a series of fake telegrams to be sent to him. His secretary wires one, 24 hours after he leaves for any visit, which contains some emergency message having to do with the current show. Ben can choose whether to ignore the telegram, or use it as an excuse to leave post-haste. After several stays at less-than-satisfactory homes, he decides to go on no more extended visits.

Then Ben and his wife make the acquaintance of the Thayers. Much to their surprise, they like this couple quite a lot, and accept an invitation to spend a week at their home, just after the opening of a play. The promise is that the Drakes can use their guest room, named “Liberty Hall,” and won’t be bothered by anyone at all. They decide to go.

Immediately, Mrs. Thayer begins insisting on having things done in a certain way to please Drake. While sounding like the perfect hostess, she is actually a tyrant. He likes his coffee black. She insists that he will love their fresh cream, and forces it on him. She takes away his favorite brand of cigarette, and insists that he will enjoy their more expensive brand better. This basic scene continues through a long litany of kindnesses. Mr. Thayer takes Drake on a tour of the shrubbery, believing that he will enjoy his walks more if he understands the botany. Finally, when Ben wants to use the piano to reinforce a tune he just thought up, Mrs. Thayer refuses to let him, because she says he’s trying to be polite and play for them. The examples go on and on. Drake just wants to be left alone, but seems powerless to exert his will beyond a vague mention of discomfort at the beginning of each incident.

Even his emergency extraction ploy fails him when the indomitable Mrs. Thayer intercepts the telegram. How can he escape from Liberty Hall?

Commentary:The story is told by Drake's wife in a conversational tone, with run-on sentences, and little asides. We are drawn in, as if we are being let in on a great, personal bit of humorous family gossip.

The story is funny on many levels. We’ve all suffered from too much “kindness” by those who think they know what we want, better than we do. Irony is at play in both the title “Liberty Hall” (yet they find no liberty there), and when we learn that Ben is a member of the “Lamb’s Club.” The sheer repetition of the various ways in which Mrs. Thayer manages to torment Ben will almost bring on the giggles.

On a deeper level, "Liberty Hall" explores class structure, and tyranny. Although the Drakes are famous and the Thayers are just admirers, the Thayers hold the upper hand because Ben seems unable to assert himself enough to insist on simple things which give him great pleasure. He’d rather run away and hide than act in a way which might be construed as impolite.

Written in the 1920s, the story is probably also poking fun at the concept of it being a man’s world, and yet women control men in so many ways.

Memorable quotes: "I really believe he would prefer to spend a week in the death house in Sing Sing than in somebody else’s house."

Author info: Ring Lardner 1885 – 1933, was an American sportswriter and author of satirical short stories. His favorite themes were sports, marriage and the theatre. Lardner grew up in Michigan, the youngest of nine children. His unusual name was a shortened form of Ringgold, bestowed on him by a father who admired the distinguished Rear Admiral Cadwalader Ringgold. He was a master of using vernacular language to create the ambiance for a story, and is credited with influencing such writers as Hemingway, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Tragically, he died at age 48 of tuberculosis.

Rating:
Language skills 10
Depth of meaning 10

 

Love & Loss - Lindsay Maddox

Author: Lindsay Maddox Author web: lindsaymaddox.com Date: 2009 Setting: anywhere, in the present day Availability: In the anthology Elements of the Soul

Story: This tale follows the parallel stories of a college girl named Sara and another young woman named Lauren. Both have just found out that they are pregnant, but their reactions to this situation are completely different.

Sara is devastated, but Lauren and her husband have been trying hard to have a baby for years. They have previously lost three babies through miscarriage. This new pregnancy is a another chance, yet they are wary of becoming too hopeful of the outcome. The story line alternates between the lives of the two women, and eventually they become intertwined.

Commentary: The emotions of the two women are the key element of the action. Anyone who has ever wanted a baby will identify with this story. Themes are maternal love, and making good choices. I don't believe there are any secondary meanings in Love & Loss. It's a straightforward read, with a bit of a twist on situations that are all too common in our society where some women want a child desperately, while others prefer a career path.

Author info: Lindsay Maddox is a graduate of Western Washington University with a degree in Business and Marketing, but her true love is writing. That is, when she can find a scrap of time and energy left over from loving and caring for four small children, which includes a set of twins. She is the author of a popular blog, Silly Mom Thoughts, and is working on a novel for young adults.

Rating:
Language skills 7
Depth of meaning 7