These words from Friedrich Nietzsche have inspired many of us over the years – and like a perfectly-aged whiskey, they have only gotten better.
The times that we find ourselves in today amid the COVID-19 crisis, these words are more powerful than ever before : What does not kill you, makes you stronger.
Here, let me ask you a question: what did your life look like just two weeks ago? And what does it look like right now?
Maybe a couple of weeks ago, you went for dinner at a fancy restaurant, attended a work party or were out there vacationing with no care in the world.
Today’s picture is not that, regardless of where you are in the world.
If you do not live under a rock, you probably are constantly hooked to news channels, looking at statistics, gleaning off every little piece of information about Coronavirus that you can find, pretty much like a trader hooked to a Bloomberg screen.
You want to know how the situation is going to evolve so you can make decisions. You want to be in the know. Knowledge is power. Isn’t it?
You want to be able to control, and there is nothing wrong in that. After all, it has been scientifically proven through numerous studies that humans that feel they are in control are happier than those that are not (I humbly invite you to read Stumbling upon Happiness).
And the loss of control on your life right now is unsettling. It is scary. It is okay to feel scared, angry or sad (and one of those bad days, all of those three things at once).
However, the key is to NOT dwell on those emotions.
After all, how much worse could it have been that it’s not already?
You might think that you have hit absolute rock bottom. But think again.
You are still breathing.
You still have people in your life that you love and can count on. You can still listen to your favorite music, read your favorite books and continue on with your Netflix marathons.
If anything, technology has ensured that you can still keep in touch with them. You have an entire planet with people experiencing almost the same scary emotions as you. This you can be absolutely sure of. There are millions of people out there feeling the same emotions.
You are not alone.
Yes, life could have been better. And it will be. But we have time from now until then and the quality of this time that we spend is directly proportional to our willingness to put a positive spin to our circumstances right now.
Yes, we are on house arrest, longer than we would want to be.
But, I want to draw your attention to the perks it brings – wearing pyjamas to work EVERYDAY, not having to take a bath everyday (how awesome is that!), watch two movies a day, go on a ‘Call of Duty’ mission on your computer, listen to music while working… the list can be as long as we want it to be.
We are the choices we make.
And lucky for us, Corona or not, we still call the shots.
Drunken Fireworks is a short story written by Stephen King. It was first released as an audio book in 2015 as one of the stories in a short fiction novel titled The Bazaar of Bad Dreams.
Stephen King mentions an anecdote with this short story, wherein an old woman, recognizing him at a grocery store, told him that she does not like horror stories.
He did clarify that horror was not the only genre that he has written in. He mentions that he loves to read and write stories that are funny and it shouldn’t surprise anybody, because humor and horror are Siamese twins “you write some scary stories and you’re like the girl who lives in the trailer park on the edge of town: you get a reputation.”
Too bad that he didn’t write humor as much; because going by what this story offers, we can do as much with King’s humor as with horror, if not more.
Drunken Fireworks: Summary and Plot Analysis
The story is narrated by Alden McCausland, who has been taken into custody by the Castlecounty police.
Alden lives with his mother, and they are what he calls themselves – idle rich, having recently acquired a lot of wealth from his father’s demise followed by a lottery win.
Both Alden and his mother have comfortably settled in a life that usually involves them spending a lot of time idling around and drinking. They spend most of their summers at Lake Abenaki.
Their neighbors, on the other side of the lake, are an Italian-American family – The Massimo. They are very rich and owe their wealth to a very successful construction business.
The McCauslands, however, do not think much of them.
Thanks to them being Italian and operating a business out of Rhode Island, they are obviously connected to the Mafia, in the eyes of McCauslands.
Starting from one fateful day of 4th of July celebrations, both families engage inadvertently in what came to be called the “4th of July Arms race”.
What ensues is an insane game of McCauslands and Massimos going to great lengths to one-up their neighbors. Being ‘trumped’ by the Massimos on almost all occasions, Alden and his mother become more and more desperate to win the next showdown.
Their desperation takes Alden to forge new connections himself – going to the extent of sourcing “Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind” or “GE4” – illegally.
In the ensuing showdown, completely oblivious to the dry summers that Castle county had that year, Alden launches the GE4, only to witness that the fireworks go further than the intended purpose of showing Massimos who’s the boss.
A shift of wind sets the pine trees around Massimo’s house on fire. Soon after, flames engulf the house and destroy it.
Alden is then arrested by the police.
The story Drunken Fireworks has a lot to do with fireworks… duh!
The police, upon receiving a full statement from Alden, lets him know that Massimo will not be pressing charges, considering that they were also accountable for taking the arms race to ridiculous proportions, eventually leading to damage.
Alden is not convicted but soon comes to know that his cabin is burned down too and the cause was attributed to his carelessness, keeping the fireworks too close to the stove. He is advised that getting along with that story, and having insurance pay for the damages is the best course of action for him.
Drunken Fireworks: Analysis and Review
The story has humor written all over it. Be it Alden’s complete insensitivity to other
Cultures or his mom avoiding ‘alcohol abstinence’ like leprosy.
The story is not devoid of time-tested wisdom either. Consider the following for an example:
“I guess a lot of Ma’s weight gain had to do with coffee brandy, they don’t call it fat ass in a glass for no reason. But she said she was never Miss America to begin with.”
We have all seen someone like that – family or friend – haven’t we? Oh forget all that , how much it reminds me of myself!
Look here:
“something’s gonna kill everyone, am I not right? Doctors have a way of forgetting that but Ma knew.”
I noticed two things in that statement- the way I have seen our dear elderly folks try to brush off requests for making some healthy changes to lifestyle and the creative excuses that they come up with to counter them and Alden’s dog-like devotion to her mom.
“..but they were Italian, and Massimo construction was based in Providence, Rhode Island, and you’re cops, you can connect the dots. And Ma always used to say if you put two and two together, you never get five.”
A sharp comment on the number of babies of Massimos:
“Massimos must have had half a dozen babies, and they wore colors so bright, they burn your eyes if you looked at them too long.”
The next one here makes me laugh every time I read it:
“Someone ought to dip that trumpet in olive oil and stick it up his ass. He could fart out ‘God Bless America.’”
Alden’s blatant disregard towards his Italian neighbors is so disgusting yet hilarious.
Some motivational quotes from Drunken Fireworks
There were a few motivational gems referenced in the story as well. Consider the ones listed below:
“It ain’t the size of the dog in the fight but the size of fight in the dog.”
Then there’s this:
“I didn’t bother telling her no made up story, because she always sees through them and has since I was knee-high to a collie.”
This one did elicit an aww from me. The mother-and-son relationship shown in this is the only glimpse of love that you get, hiding behind all the humor and stupidity of the characters.
Mr King does not write humor much and I don’t see why.
The Stone boy is a short story by Gina Berriault. It was first published in 1957 in Mademoiselle magazine. The story revolves around a nine-year-old boy who accidentally shoots his older brother, but is freakishly calm about it later on.
The short story catapulted its author, Gina Berriault, to international fame when the story was made into a movie in 1984. Before this short story became so popular, her first collection of short stories – The Mistress, and Other Stories – had helped a great deal to establish Gina as a consummate writer.
The Stone Boy: Summary and Plot Analysis
The story is about a nine-year-old boy, Arnold, who lives with her mom, dad, sister and an elder brother, Eugie. Although not very expressive, he admires his elder brother, Eugie in his heart and hopes to grow up to be like him.
One morning he wakes up early to pick peas in the fields with his brother Eugie. He wakes him up and goes downstairs. He then picks up the rifle his dad gave them a few days ago to shoot ducks.
Eugie comes downstairs too, reminds Arnold that it wasn’t duck season and the two boys leave the house for an early morning trip to the fields to pick peas.
They come to the wire fence that divides the fields from the lake. Eugie passes through the fence first. Arnold follows him, but his gun is stuck in the wires.
In an attempt to untangle it, he jerks at it and accidentally fires a shot.
Feeling foolish for making this mistake and bracing himself for the impending
teasing from his brother, he reluctantly walks on but notices that his brother is lying on the ground.
Unable to understand this behavior, he looks more carefully and sees blood on the back of his head.
He realizes that the shot that he accidentally fired ended up killing his elder brother.
Poster of the 1984 movie The Stone Boy, which is based on the short story.
Instead of running to his family, informing them about the accident and seeking their help, he stays on in the field to pick peas as if nothing had happened.
To him, it was reasonable to complete the task that he came to do in the first place. Leaving the task incomplete for something that was beyond his control didn’t appeal to his reasoning, logical mind.
He stays on, finishes the task and goes back home. He dreads breaking the news to his family but does so with amazing calm.
Quite unsurprisingly, his family is devastated.
While his mother finds it hard to come to terms with her elder son’s death and Arnold`s pathological calm, his sister completely ignores his presence. His father, in addition to arranging for his son’s funeral, has to take Arnold to the County Sheriff.
Upon being asked to narrate the incidents from the morning that day, Arnold explains everything to his father and uncle Andy. However, he is at a loss of words when asked why he didn’t run back home to announce the news.
His father is puzzled by his cold demeanor, and Arnold starts to feel even more distant and aloof.
The spell of silence finally breaks when the Sheriff arrives.
He asks Arnold a series of questions including why he had the gun in the first place and if he had a “good relationship” with his elder brother.
Although his answers seem extremely cold, which is disconcerting, he concludes that there is no foul play and the shooting was indeed an accident. He lets Arnold and the family go. However, he does mention that the freakishly cold demeanor displayed by Arnold was indicative of a criminal mind in making.
Uncle Andy agrees with Sheriff’s explanation and goes till the extent of mocking his reasonableness. His cousin taunts him as well, saying that his father might have punished him severely if he did the same thing to his brother.
Arnold keeps growing uneasy and even more distant, the weight of judgement from everyone around weighing heavily on him. At night, he eventually goes to his mom’s room to explain to her in person about the events that transpired earlier that day, but his mother, who is still grieving, turns him away.
He feels more and more like a burden on his family – an unwelcome presence and with his brother gone and everyone else around him grieving – he shuts himself off completely, vowing never to be vulnerable again.
The following morning, when his mother asks what he wanted from her, he says “nothing” with a freakish calm, leaving his mother terrified.
The Stone Boy: Analysis and Review
Gina has managed to pack so much power in this short story – it’s unbelievable!
She makes you root for the boy, but not without questioning his judgement (or worse without judging him once). The fact that his reason is mistaken as being completely unfeeling is so inexplicably daunting.
There are certain incidents from the story that are so beautifully human yet painful, such as:
1 – “What did he mean “good friends”?
Arnold was clueless when the sheriff asked if he was ‘good friends’ with his elder brother, whom he had accidentally killed earlier that day.
It’s heart-wrenching to see how this young boy, who had so much love and admiration for his brother, unable to express himself in a socially acceptable form – is perceived to be a criminal in making and stone-cold, or rather, a stone.
2 – Arnold never tired of watching Eugie offer silent praise unto himself
Arnold loved watching his brother look into the mirror, inspecting himself and feeling proud. He secretly wondered if he could ever be able to fill his shoes. If his parents never called him, he thought, he would stay up in the loft forever, out of the way.
When Arnold broke the news to his parents, who disbelievingly went out of the house to see for themselves, Arnold sneaked out to the barn. He was ready for the punishment in case his parents never call him.
He would be prepared to forever live in the same space and stay out of their way. In that very instant, Eugie playful young brother had transformed into someone wholly guilt-ridden and prepared to face the consequences of his actions.
Gina Berriault once said – Short stories and some short novels are close to poetry–with
the fewest words they capture the essence of a situation, of a human being. It’s like trying to pin down the eternal moment.
She has done just that with Stone Boy.
Movie based on The Stone Boy
If you are one of those readers that love watching movie adaptations of your favorite reads, you are in for a treat. The movie, The Stone Boy, was released back in 1984 and had Robert Duvall as one of the lead actors.
This movie was one of the reasons why her short story catapulted to instant fame.
Do you want to read The Stone Boy?
The Stone Boy, and other famous short stories written by Gina Berriault can be found on Amazon through the links given below:
The Judgement is a short story written by Franz Kafka. It was first published in 1912. The story revolves around a young merchant and his relationship with his father. Franz Kafka was running a business while writing this story, which limited his literary creativity. This conflict inspired the protagonist of ‘The Judgement.’
“So now you know what else existed in the world outside of you before you knew only about yourself!”
The Judgement by Franz Kafka is one of his most prominent works, also perceived as the closest to his autobiographical memoir – the relationship between a father and son – one that resembles closely to his own.
The story was first published way back in 1912 as Das Urteil, in Arkadia (a literary yearbook) owned by his friend and close confidante Max Brod.
The Judgement: Summary and Plot Analysis
The protagonist of this story is a young merchant, a man called Georg Bendemann. It opens with him writing a letter to an unnamed friend, who left for Russia a few years ago to start a business – one that showed a lot of promise initially but is now in a fragile state.
On the contrary, Georg has been having tremendous success in managing his own business.
Until now, he has only been giving his friend little pieces of information – and not that frequently either. But now he decides to let his friend know about his upcoming marriage to Freida Brandenfield, a girl from an affluent family.
Georg decides to check on his father and let him know of his intentions and seek his approval to break this news to his friend.
Although, quite ill and heartbroken after his wife’s death, his father appears huge to him.
His father questions the existence of his friend and blames Georg for keeping him in the dark regarding his business dealings. He also attacks him personally saying that the death of his mother didn’t impact Georg as much as him.
Although hurt by his father’s accusations, he insists that he lay on bed, rest for a while and get his strength back.
But the father claims that he’s only asking him to lay on the bed because he wants him dead.
In a fit of rage, he also admits to knowing all about his friend and that he has been informing his friend about everything that has been happening in Georg’s life.
He ridicules Georg about his fiance, mocks her and implies that he doesn’t value anyone but himself. He completely disregards Georg’s love and care.
Georg, deeply hurt by his father’s statements, recoils.
His father’s anger still rages on. He calls Georg selfish and sentences him to death by drowning.
Georg feels a strange but powerful force that pushes him out of the room.
He then runs out of the house and onto a bridge. Then he swings himself off the railings and jumps to his apparent death, wherein the sound of the jump is muffled by sounds of traffic.
The Judgement: Analysis and Review
This story from Kafka stands out for the parallels drawn to his real life. There are a few examples of that:
1 – Kafka’s relationship with his father
Kafka’s father, Hermann, had a very forceful personality that had a deep impact on him. I couldn’t help but notice how frequently Kafka’s protagonists are shown to cower in their father’s presence, which closely resembles a fearful reverie.
When Georg goes to meet his father (whose health is failing), he still appears huge to him. All the care and devotion towards his father is met with scathing contempt.
A portrait of Franz Kafka – the author of The Judgemment
2 – Kafka’s relationship with Felice Bauer (his fiance)
Similar to how Georg’s upcoming marriage is a significant plot point in the story introducing tumult, so is Kafka’s relationship to his real-life girlfriend and later, fiance, Felice Bauer. In the story, Freida is the indirect cause of Georg’s death. In real life, Kafka both dreaded and loved Felice for the impact that she had on his art.
3 – Kafka’s seclusion and Georg’s bachelorhood
Georg has been shown to love his fiance, but at the same time has also been shown indifferent in some aspects – even going to the extent of considering it a mistake or liability at some point.
Exhausted by Georg’s comments when Freida suggests that he should not have been engaged at all, Georg replied by saying -“Well, we are both to blame for that.” Same has been known to be true for Kafka’s relationship with Felice as well.
Kafka’s curse of writing in seclusion is coupled with the idea that an association with her is only going to drive him further away from his path of writing – which he considered his life’s only reward.
4 – Similarity in professions
When Kafka was running his business, he was continually pressed for time to satiate his creativity cravings, hardly getting any time to write. This was an inspiration behind the protagonist character.
The poet W. H. Auden once called Franz Kafka “the Dante of the twentieth century”.
I couldn’t agree more.
Want to read The Judgement?
The Judgement is available on Amazon if you want to get yourself a copy. You are welcome to use the links given below to order a copy:
The Bear Came Over The Mountain is a short story by Canadian author and Nobel laureate Alice Munro. It revolves around Grant and Fiona, an elderly couple who have been married for several decades and their struggle with Alzheimer’s and infidelity.
“I don’t think there is anything to worry about. I expect I am just losing my mind”- Fiona, an Alzheimer’s patient, says to her husband in this poignant short story by Alice Munro.
The story was originally published in The New Yorker in their 1999 edition. In 2006, the story was adapted into a film Away From Her directed by Sarah Polley.
The Bear Came Over The Mountain: Summary and Plot Analysis
The story revolves around Grant and Fiona, an elderly couple who have been married for several decades. Grant is a retired University professor who is takes Fiona to a residential facility for patients with dementia, despite resistance from her.
He recalls how their journey together started one day, when she had whimsically proposed marriage to him wondering if it would be fun. The residential facility, where Fiona is scheduled to be staying, has a policy of patients to have no visitors for a month.
Grant, although troubled by this, goes through this period with help from Kristy, a nurse who keeps Grant posted with Fiona’s status – health and otherwise. Grant skis and dines alone in the meantime, constantly remembering these occasions from the past with Fiona in them.
The Bear Came Over The Mountain is a short story within a book of short stories by Alice Munro. The book’s title is ‘Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage’
Grant has plenty of time to ruminate about his past during the day to the extent that he dreams about them as well.
One of those incidents was when his decision to end a relationship with one of his students had driven her to commit suicide. This eventually ended up having him socially ostracized at the university.
He eventually escaped the environment promising his wife a new chapter in their lives by moving to a Farmhouse which Fiona had inherited from her father. This, he thought, was a chance life had given him to work on his marriage, and he felt grateful for this perfectly-timed opportunity of avoiding losing Fiona.
With his one month wait period nearly coming to an end, he prepares to meet her at the facility. On the day of the meeting, feeling the anticipation as that of a fresh affair, he buys a bouquet of flowers for her.
He meets Kristy, who directs him to Fiona’s room. Unable to find her there, he moves to the communal area, only to see a different Fiona, with her short hair and a few extra pounds. He sees Fiona playing bridge with a man called Aubrey. Although she is friendly to Grant and answers his questions, she is eager to return to Aubrey’s side.
Grant comes to know that Aubrey is a temporary resident at the facility and will be leaving upon his wife’s return from vacation. Grant tries to gather more information from Kristy about his wife’s new relationship but is quickly told that it is a common occurrence among patients.
His wife’s behavior towards him continues to be the same – polite yet distant while her intimacy with Aubrey continues to grow.
Although he is happy to see his healthy wife, her close association with Aubrey – walks in the hall and co-dependence, continues to bother him. He drifts back to incidents from his past, where by indulging in an affair with a married woman, he becomes an infidel in his own marriage.
He thinks of himself as a philanderer, although not liking to label himself that way.
Grant returns to the facility to see his wife again, only to find both her and her companion distraught at the thought of separation. Aubrey’s wife, having returned from her vacation, has arrived to take Aubrey back home.
Scared that this separation might adversely affect Fiona, he seeks Kristy’s counsel and feels relieved when told that patients usually recoup once the separation is over.
Unfortunately that does not seem to be happening to Fiona, who continues to be distraught long after, has given up eating and refuses to leave her bed.
The hospital staff, seeing her complete lack of willingness in participating in the recovery program, propose to move her to the intensive care section of the facility. Completely disheartened to see his wife in that sorry state, Grant decides to discuss the situation with Aubrey’s wife Marion to work out an arrangement with her.
Grant visits Marion at her place. The two discuss their experiences of managing illnesses of their spouses. Grant comes to know that Aubrey has been pulled out of the facility by Marion for financial reasons and Marion has no plans to bring him back. Grant requests Marion to bring Aubrey to the facility once a week. He thinks this will help heal his wife and aid faster recovery.
Marion rejects Grant’s request. But when he returns to his house, he finds two voicemails from her proposing the idea of going to a singles dance. Puzzled by this, Grant wonders what change could have led to Marion reaching out to him.
He thinks it to be a great opportunity, thinking that spending more time with Marion could lead to a change of her heart r and she might eventually accept Grant’s request for Fiona. Grant decides to call her back.
He visits Fiona again, this time with Aubrey. Fiona recognizes Grant, this time, and not Aubrey.
She thanks Grant for not deserting her as they embrace.
The Bear Came Over The Mountain: Review and Theme
Like any other Munro story, this story will leave you thinking and smiling, leaving you with a lesson or two. There are quite a few things in the story that got me thinking.
1 – The title of the story
Why is the story titled “The bear came over the mountain?”
When I read the title of the story for the first time, I imagined it to have something to do with children. After all, what does a childrens’ rhyme have anything to do with dementia and that too in much older adults?
Turns out, everything!
There is not much left once you are atop a mountain except to come down from it, symbolizing the descent downhill. In many ways that signifies the journey of an
elderly alzheimer’s patient.
So much depth and meaning hidden in a child’s rhyme! Thank you Alice for bringing it alive, in a way only you can!
2 – (A)typical love
Although it has been shown that Fiona and Grant love each other, their relationship does not fit the conventional mould by any measure. Difference in their financial status, Grant’s infidelity, Fiona’s blatant and somewhat inhuman disregard for a student’s suicidal attempt – all screaming that it is a perfectly imperfect relationship.
This does not, however, stop Grant from doing whatever he possibly could – going to
the extent of potentially starting an affair with Aubrey’s wifeto bring Aubrey to Fiona, even when it meant that he might drive Fiona further away from him.
Flawed yet sweet, I was at loss to decide if I would ever want a Grant in my life.
Courtesy New Yorker, the story is available to read online for free.
To those of you who love comparing books/stories with their movies, I bring good news! This story has also been adapted into a film by Sarah Polley, back in 2006.
About the author – Alice Munro
Alice Munro (b. 1931) is a Canadian writer who has numerous literary awards to her credit including but not limited to Nobel Prize in Literature (2013) as well as Man Booker Prize (2009). She is mostly known for her collection of short stories. Almost all of her stories are set in Canada, mostly small towns. The stories navigate the lives of ordinary people in the most extraordinary ways.
