‘‘Sweet Potato Pie’’ is set in both the present and the past, telling the story of the narrator’s day while he simultaneously recalls his childhood. The exact time in which the story is set is unclear, though it is likely the time in which it was written, that is, the 1960s or early 1970s. This…
Tag: Summary
Sorry Right Number – Summary
Act 1 The first act of ‘‘Sorry, Right Number’’ begins in the Weiderman house. Katie Weiderman, the family’s mother, is on the telephone in the kitchen, talking with her sister Lois. In the living room, the three children are watching the television. An argument ensues among the children. Thirteen-year-old Dennis and ten-year-old Connie plan to…
The Son From America – Summary
‘‘The Son from America’’ is set in Lentshin, a small Jewish village in Poland in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. In Lentshin live old Berl, a man in his eighties, and his wife, Berlcha. Berl was driven from Russia by the persecution of Jews there, and he and his wife settled in Poland….
The Prisoner Who Wore Glasses – Summary
As ‘‘The Prisoner Who Wore Glasses’’ opens, the narrator describes rows of cabbages, white clouds, and a blue sky on a still day. Not until the third sentence does the reader learn that this is not an idyllic farm but a prison; the cabbages are grown by prisoners who work long days and are not…
One Ordinary Day With Peanuts – Summary
‘‘One Ordinary Day, with Peanuts’’ opens with a cheerful Mr. John Philip Johnson, leaving home on a beautiful day wearing comfortable, newly soled shoes. Although he lives in a big city— probably New York, based on the street references in the story—he freely greets the people he passes, handing out candies, peanuts, and even the…
No Witchcraft For Sale – Summary
After having been childless for some time, the Farquars finally have a son, Teddy. When he is born, all of their servants rejoice. They praise Mrs. Farquar and marvel over Teddy’s blond hair and blue eyes. When Teddy is old enough to have his first haircut, the Farquars’ cook, Gideon, is fascinated by Teddy’s golden…
Marriage is a Private Affair – Summary
‘‘Marriage Is a Private Affair’’ is set in Nigeria, West Africa, in the early 1950s. The story begins in Lagos, the capital city. Nnaemeka, a young man, is visiting his girlfriend, Nene Atang, in her room. The couple has recently become engaged, and Nene asks her fiance´ if he has written to his father to…
Love Must Not Be Forgotten – Summary
In Zhang’s ‘‘Love Must Not Be Forgotten,’’ the narrator is a thirty-year-old woman contemplating marriage. Shanshan, the narrator, describes her suitor Qiao Lin as handsome but quiet. Unable to discern whether his silence derives from a contemplative nature, which makes him reluctant to speak, or from the fact that he simply has nothing to say,…
The Leap by Louise Erdrich – Summary
‘‘The Leap’’ begins with the narrator telling how her mother, Anna, is the surviving member of a blindfolded trapeze duo known as the Flying Avalons. Although now blind, Anna never stumbles or falls, never knocks over objects in the New Hampshire home she shares with the narrator, who has come back to her childhood home…
The Heavenly Christmas Tree – Summary
Dostoevsky’s short story ‘‘The Heavenly Christmas Tree’’ opens with the narrator observing that as a writer, specifically a novelist, he has created this story, although he has the sense that it surely must have actually happened at one time somewhere. As the narrator explains, a little boy aged six years or younger wakes up one…