What was that about. . .

TORDA'S FALL 2025 TEACHING SITE

What was that about. . .

10/22/2025

Select one of the short stories that we read for this week. Do what English Majors do: analyze it. If someone forced you to write an explication of one of this week's stories what would you write about?

Why am I asking you about this? Because these are the kinds of stories that are getting published now in small presses. These are the kinds of stories that get you into graduate school. So figuring out what that seems to look like matters if that is a path you are interested in going in. I'm not saying this is the only way to be a writer, but more like pay attention to what people are saying is "literary".

6 Comments

10/22/2025 03:28:12 pm

I've got to say, there is zero right or wrong answer here. I personally struggle with short stories. There is not a lot to work with and so it takes some time. But, that, said, I think I would write about the idea of complicity in the face of evil. And I would probably look at two of the stories we read: "Day Care" and "Nineteenth Sunday". Both stories culminate in surprising acts of violence under questionable circumstances. In Day Care, our child narrator is convinced that the people watching her are Nazis. Her relationship to what a Nazi is is based solely on her relationship to her French Nanny who had to leave her, but the child is convinced because they speak German in the house that they must be Nazis and therefore are complicit in the loss of Chantal. The story is not entirely clear on whether or not they actually are Nazis, though it is certainly in the realm of possibility. The child is reprimanded very severely for hitting the old man to the point that she is convinced she will never be safe again, will never be "normal." There is something sinister in the way Mrs Mueller says she could tell her parents but will not tell her parents. It suggests that Mrs Mueller, the adult, has as much or more to lose by telling the parents. The child says that what might be wrong with her is that she doesn't understand what other people seem to understand. Which is a normal state of childhood, but, more broadly, the Muellers could well be "good Germans" with a lot to lose and a lot to hide. And what would there be to understand about people who willingly witnessed atrocities and still live a normal everyday life? They make Jane complicit in that silence about who they might be by forcing her into silence because of her own behavior. She is complicit in that way.

Alexandra O'Brien

10/22/2025 03:31:45 pm

The story surprised me the most with its directness. I loved the narrative voice and the duality of the main character. Showing the many-faceted sides that women can have as "winners" or "losers" in life. Showing that being a woman can be complicated. We can be young, flirtatious, and some may say careless. Bold even. Our confidence in our bodies and in the different stages of our lives can vary, especially after parenthood. It really speaks to the fact that socially, women are supposed to fit into various roles, and this piece of writing really aims to break out of this box and show the versatility in women as human beings. As young women, then as adults, mothers and partners in relationships, we experience so many changes, so many wins and so many losses. Especially who we are when faced with confronting our bodies, sexuality, and the future of motherhood. It really shows the ups and downs, and the many different feelings one can go through with these different things in life. The transition of growing up too, and what you used to think were highs and was important and how those things change. And also that life is not plain and simple - it is messy and not black and white - not all just wins and losses.

Nina Hamel

10/22/2025 03:33:05 pm

“The Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time” by Austin Smith was an interesting read for sure. In only four pages, Smith recalls a story of a Sunday Mass ceremony in a regular church in Illinois, but what makes this Sunday different is that the statue of Christ in the front of the church came to life, turning what Smith referred to as a “moment of exhausting triumph” into an “actual crucifixion” (179). The rest of the story revolves around the church goers and other onlookers as they decide what to do with Christ, which ultimately leads to their choice to kill him, which was driven by the idea that “whenever something is suffering… the merciful thing to do was put it down” (180).

While the story is relatively short, it can serve as a social commentary that questions the true faith of religion. Throughout the text, Smith incorporates elements and characterizations of characters that reveals either a distrust with religion, or the realization that faith was never truly believed. One example of this was on the first page, as the narrator notes how a man was “stingy” when it came to giving money into the collection, as he figured the change he gave would go towards some sort of indulgence for the priest (177). Later on when Christ comes to life, Austin explains how the people in the church, followers of Christ, grew progressingly fearful or confused, including the priest himself who hid himself away with Christ’s resurgence. Their confusion and fear led to drinking, which is often associated with religion as sin, and they questioned if it was truly Christ and not just the devil. One quote in particular that emulates this distrust and lack of acceptance reads “Had he done anything yet to convince them that he should be saved?” (179). From a reader standpoint, there seems to be hypocrisy present. People follow Christ as they know he saves individuals who follow him, so why are they not giving him this same grace? Why does he need to be killed in order to be saved? Going back to how this story is a social commentary, I think Smith is trying to convey the idea that religion can be harmful and not uphold the values that are claimed to be held.

Ashley Luise

10/22/2025 03:34:14 pm

“The Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time” explores what would happen if Jesus was resurrected in our contemporary world. Since “Nineteen” is a number that does not have any connection to Christian celebrations, it is assumed that He becomes real at a seemingly random Sunday church service. Before He came to life, some servicegoers were hesitant about whether or not their donations “went right into Father Jeffries’s sizable belly” (Smith 177). This indicates the schism that takes place in stereotypical American Christianity—many people are split in believing this religion is about genuinely loving thy neighbor or using religion as a tool to advance corporate greed.

His resurrection also looks into this mentality divide regarding Christianity, because many people aren’t sure what to do with the Lord once he becomes real. He has brown eyes and speaks in an ancient Eastern language (Smith 178), which goes against the Whitewashed and Europeanized conceptions many Christians have about Him. While it is not clear whether it is the Lord’s features or the sheer absurdity of what is occurring that leads people to be unsure of what to do with the Lord (Smith 179), I read this as a commentary on those who consider themselves culturally Christian. Though the consensus of helping one another no matter what should be the lesson learned from the Bible, the parishioners “had broken off into little factions that argued one against another” (Smith 179), much like many Christians do nowadays in the midst of social injustices. The Lord could be a stand-in for anybody who is deemed dangerous or seen as suffering by society. Innocent people are harmed each day by the hands of their fellow humans, many of whom use freedom as a guise for protection. For instance, “Christ seemed to be giving [His shooter] the permission and the strength to pull the trigger and put a bullet plumb in the center of his bloody forehead” (Smith 180) in much the same way people use relaxed legislation about firearms to harm innocent people based on false assumptions. If the Lord really came back to this life, it is those who claim to love and support Him who may be the first to harm Him solely because he is different. Smith achieves the goal of literary fiction, which in my opinion is to write compelling stories and pieces that make worthy and substantial commentary about the world we live in in an implicit, powerful way.

Anna Dykhoff

10/22/2025 03:34:30 pm

"The Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time" by Austin Smith is a piece of creative fiction that outlines the second-coming of Christ in a church in Illinois. The title reflects the beginning of the story in that this is a day just like every other in the church: the usual patrons submitting their donations to the parish, the priest taking a moment to doze off. However, this day quickly moves from "ordinary time" to an unexpected phenomenon - Jesus on the cross begins to move. The children notice this first, which may point to the idea that children see things in the simplest way, often with more clarity than we do as adults, muddled with prior beliefs and doubts. As Jesus slowly gains life, we are given descriptions of the horror of what has been done to him. The blood is dripping down his face, his lips are chapped, this symbol that has been copied and pasted everywhere becomes real and confronts its viewers with the reality rather than the commerciality of Jesus' suffering. Next, something interesting happens - the priest flees to cower in the parish house. This man who is supposed to embody the closest relationship to Christ out of everyone in the church is the first to abandon him. As a larger crowd begins to form in the church, people feel called to shout suggestions. The suggestion to take him down from the cross and help him is quickly dismissed in favor of further bickering. Those who were self proclaimed Christians refused to help him, to believe that he was before them, showing their true nature not as followers of Christ but as followers of man. Eventually the bickering turns into two options from the crowd: taking him off the cross, or putting him out of his evident suffering. The crowd votes for the latter. Christ is shot by the member of the crowd who suggested the option. In this ending, the members of the church become like those who crucified Jesus first. They could not believe that the figure before them was the Son of God, and they believed the price for this was death. Through this story, the author shows the disconnect between Christianity and actually acting in the name of Jesus and his teachings. Especially in today's world, Christianity has been used to justify the separation of immigrants from their families, the invasion of foreign land and the murder of their people, even the defense of a President who mocks Jesus' teachings. Christianity has often become removed from Christ himself, as with the statue placed at the front of the church, but when faced with the reality of suffering, many have the tendency to turn away, place blame, or even kill rather than face it.

I.S.

10/22/2025 03:37:59 pm

The Zamindar’s Watch by Nishanth Injam explores the themes of inequality, loss, and familial relationships through the story of a girl living in a rural area who “befriends” the Zamindar. The inequality is readily apparent within the girl’s dynamic with the Zamindar. He possesses a nice watch, a radio, a phone, lots of land, has travelled, and has servants. The girl is mesmerized by these possessions that she lacks and due to her naivety, doesn’t recognize the dangers of getting close to this man. When the Zamindar’s watch goes missing, her father is blamed and arrested. Her brother is arrested as well and tortured. It could be inferred that the constable may be white and involved with Britain’s colonial influence in India during this time. Although the watch ends up being found in a small crack in the Zamindar’s bed, the damage done to her family is irreparable. Her brother takes his own life and her father leaves her mother and her shortly after they move to another town.

The only person she’s had to consistently rely on is her mother. The story’s main focus is really on their relationship. It’s stated that her mother “had an extraordinary talent for recovering lost things” (162). However, her mother couldn’t recover the watch, her brother, or her father. Although I’d need to spend more time with this to figure out the deeper meaning, it appears that it’s the main character’s job to recover something at the end of the story – the second half to her mother’s proverb that she says before she dies. The girl, who is now a woman, states “nothing is lost forever. Sooner or later, everything is recovered” (174). This could possibly be implying that she’ll be forever trying to recover those lost words from her mother and that her mother’s death doesn’t mark the end of their relationship.

What was that about. . .

Leave a Reply.

Torda and the 489s

Archives

Categories