The story “The Things They Carried” By Tim O'Brien is about the soldiers of the American army in Vietnam. The author describes what exactly they take with them and this description refers not only to physical things (photos of girlfriends and letters from home, a flask of water etc) but also to moral settings.
Tim O'Brien is a veteran of the Vietnam War, to which he was called up at the age of 20, from his student days. It becomes frightening how the young people become cruel killers of civilians.
This is the link to the text of the story:
https://lessonbank.kyae.ky.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/TTTC_Full_Text.pdf
The story “Symbols And Signs” by Vladimir Nabokov" is written in the genre of family drama.
The plot centres on an unnamed husband and wife who are about to visit their terminally ill son in a psychiatric hospital.
What should they bring him for his birthday which wouldn’t offend him or provoke a nervous attack?
This is the link to the text of the story:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1948/05/15/symbols-and-signs
The story "Runaway" by Canadian writer Alice Munro is about relationships between people. It seems they reached a dead end, but after a real threat of losing a loved one they rekindled their relationship again.
The main characters of the story are ordinary women whose desires can’t match with their dreams. The theme of escape (escape from life) is presented as a main idea of the story.
A distinctive feature of Munro’s story is unpredictability. As soon as readers expect a logical outcome, the author turns to the opposite direction and everything goes upside down.
This is the link to the text of the story:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2003/08/11/runaway-4
In the short story “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings: A Tale For Children '' prominent Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez described the appearance of an angel to ordinary people.
The desire of people to see magic results in some unpleasant things such as consumerism, obsession with money, inadequate attitude to old age, and absence of gratitude.
The author perfectly describes the character of human nature in a crowd of people using the character of an angel.
Here is the link to the text of the story:
https://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~cinichol/CreativeWriting/323/MarquezManwithWings.htm
The story "Interpreter of Maladies" is about an Indian tour guide who communicates with a client, a woman who tells a shameful secret from her past.
The laconic style and deep psychologism of Jumpa Lahiri depicts the inner world of the characters. The subtle humour of seemingly insignificant events in the life of ordinary people acquire a deep meaning.
The story is included in the debut book of Jhumpa Lahiri. This book won the Pulitzer Prize.
Here is the link to the text of the story:
https://onlinereadfreenovel.com/jhumpa-lahiri/page,5,36922-interpreter_of_maladies.html
