Sunday, December 27, 2020

The Guest by Albert Camus — Review

The short story “The Guest” by French author Albert Camus put forward for readers the dilemma of choice in a very complicated situation. The main character is a schoolmaster who has to convoy an arrested person to the police.


The other important theme is: who has a right to be a host and who is a guest in the disputed territory, in an area where the war takes place.


The attitude of readers of the story about the actions which the characters of the story have makes an interesting subject for discussion.


Here is the link to the text of the story:

https://jerrywbrown.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Albert-Camus-The-G uest.pdf


Sunday, December 20, 2020

Sredni Vashtar by Saki -- Review

"Sredni Vashtar" is a short story written by Saki (Hector Hugh Munro). The main character is a sickly 10-year old boy, Conradin. He lives in the care of his cousin Mrs. De Ropp. She enjoys having power over this boy which results in him sincerely hating her.

The story is about the pressure that adults sometimes impose on children. The result of it readers can see in the story.


Here is the link to the text of the story:

http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/SreVas.shtml


Sunday, December 13, 2020

The Medicine Bag by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve -- Review

The short story "The Medicine Bag" by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve talks about an American boy who belongs to a Native American family.  During summer vacations he would visit a reservation where his grandfather lives, but he has little in common with the traditions of Native Americans because he is now used to living in Western society.

One day the grandfather unexpectedly comes to town to visit his children and grandchildren. The author of the story, Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve, belongs to a Native American family too. In her story, she truthfully and naturally describes the boy’s reaction as well as other people’s, in relation to meeting with the old man.  

The story raises the interest of the reader to know more about Native American traditions, about their beliefs and culture. Reading this story brings lots of positive emotions to the readers.



This is the link to the text of the story:

https://iblog.dearbornschools.org/issa/wp-content/uploads/sites/1187/2015/11/Themedicine_bag_fulltext.pdf


Sunday, December 6, 2020

The Beggar by Anton Chekhov -- Review

The story "The Beggar" by Anton Chekhov is a short and very deductive work with an unexpected ending.

The writer presents two main characters: drunkard and beggar Lushkov and Petersburg's lawyer Skvortsov, who has intentions to help a degraded person to come back to normal life.

It seems before the final part of the story that there are only two characters there. It appears in the end, there are three main characters in this very clever, great story.

Here is the link to the text:

https://theshortstory.co.uk/classic-short-story-the-beggar-by-anton-chekhov