an incomplete list of unsettling short stories I read in textbooks
the scarlet ibis
marigolds
the diamond necklace
the monkey’s paw
the open boat
the lady and the tiger
the minister’s black veil
an occurrence at owl creek bridge
a rose for emily
(I found that one by googling “short story corpse in the house,” first result)
the cask of amontillado
the yellow wallpaper
the most dangerous game
a good man is hard to find
some are well-known, some obscure, some I enjoy as an adult, all made me uncomfortable between the ages of 11-15
add your own weird shit, I wanna be literary and disturbed
The Tell-Tale Heart, The Gift of the Magi, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calavaras County, Thank You Ma’am
the box social by james reaney. i remember we all had to silently read it in class, and you would hear the moment everyone reached the Part because some people would audibly go “what”
wHat did I just put my eyes on
“The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury
Not quite a short story, but read in class: “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” from The Twilight Zone
Harrison Bergeron, Cat and the Coffee Drinkers
“Where are you going and where have you been” by Joyce carol oates
“The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury
the lottery by shirley jackson
i can’t believe Roald Dahl’s “The Landlady” wasn’t already mentioned
and also it’s not so much unsettling as more absurdist but “The Leader” by Eugene Ionesco definitely made me go wtf
Ett halvt ark papper. I cried so much.
Ночь у мазара, А. Шалимов
A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury
I Have no Mouth, and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury
Some of Us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Colby, by Donald Barthelme
I read Ray Bradbury’s “All Summer In A Day” in seventh grade (it wasn’t assigned, I was just going through my textbook for new stuff to read) and as a bullied kid with SAD, it Fucked Me Up.
An Ordinary Day with Peanuts, by Shirley Jackson
Eh, this was more like community college, but The Star by Arthur C. Clarke
Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl
and this story that I can’t remember the name of and can’t find, though it might be by O. Henry? it’s about a bunch of demons who want to stop Santa Claus from going through with Christmas, and he must travel through the mountains they inhabit to escape their vices? (good christ I can’t remember the name for the life of me)
Ok but the laughing man and a good day for bananafish but j.d. Salinger
The City (195) Ray Bradbury. An intense commentary on colonialism and space exploration. I read it for a sci fi survey class.
Another short story I read in that sci fi class was Vaster than Empires and More Slow (1971) by Ursula K. Le Guin. A commentary on humanity and how human we believe ourselves to be. Also, an interesting commentary on mental health.
In the Woods Beneath the Cherry Blossoms in Full Bloom, written in 1947 by Ango Sakaguchi. It made my skin crawl the first time I read it.
“The Circular Ruins” and “The Secret Miracle” (both by Borges) blew my mind
also there was one I read in 7th grade about some guy named Mr Sommer and I don’t remember a lot about it other than the weird and fucked up ending. I think it was German. anyone recognise it just from that vague description?
There’s certainly a double standard because no one would talk about it if it were a woman, and I would say… Why? Because are women expected to do it and men aren’t? And why aren’t men expected to do it, and why haven’t men done it before? Does it show vulnerability? Does it exhibit this vestigial, kind of puritanical shame over the human body and human intimacy? Yet violence and self-flagellation, self-hurt, hurting one another, we can do, because that’s what we’ve been taught culturally is okay? I don’t know, but it certainly seems to be an odd thing.
This is what pissed me off in the Graham Norton interview – he was trying to say this (which I knew because 1. he’s talked about it before, and 2. I have ears and can understand human speech and inflection) but Sally Fields kept going all bitchy on him and arguing even though they were saying the same thing. He was asking these rhetorical questions trying to get a conversation going – he wants to talk about this stuff, he wants to dive in, he wants equality; he wants to understand why it’s different, not just take it at face value and say, “men are bad, women are victims” – he wants to know WHY, he wants to start that conversation. He wants to dig into the undercurrents and start from the beginning so that maybe we can start fresh as a culture. Avoid the mistakes of the past. Mend some things.
He’s with us, here.
Women have GOT to stop fighting with men who are trying. If someone has good intentions but isn’t going about it the way you think is correct, just… help them. Don’t argue with them. Explain why they’re incorrect, or at least how they can change their approach. Pushing them away is not going to help anyone.
“Anyone you’re dating who gets upset upon learning you’re bi is doing you a favor by disqualifying themselves from the list of People Who Get to Date You.”
Smile It Won't Suck Forever 