Literary ponderings

I suppose if I'm ever to make a habit of writing I will have to start out with more typing than editing. So, I'll just type away. . . .

I finally found a story I like in my creative writing book. Each chapter of instruction is followed by several stories as examples of that chapter's topic. They are all short stories. Most of the ones I have read so far (more than ten) have been bleak, depressing and self-centered. I suppose all this is part of the conflict which I am having difficulty understanding as the main movement of a story. I thought there were different types of conflict, but I'm not sure if I am seeing them all used among the stories I have read:

Man vs. Man (a physical struggle with men, animals or nature)
Man vs. Circumstances (the struggle against fate, providence, or destiny)
Man vs. Society (struggle against ideas, customs, and concepts)
Man vs. Self (struggle with the person's own views, state of life, condition of soul, physical limitations, etc.)

In these stories I see mostly this last, Man vs. Self, and even though this may be the conflict which no story is without, for all conflict is between man (a self) and an other, I cannot help but think there is a sort of hopelessness found along with it, at least in these stories. Each creative story:has a negative note ending. The sick foot soldier:dies, the teenage girl:kidnapped, the clown seeking lover:pitiful and rejected, the imaginative boy:a mentally mixed up adult, the unfortunate man:dead, philosophical, or intoxicated. For the students who read these stories, what they read is captivating and disappointing at the same time. Life is much like the story and they will be as sick of the latter as they are of the former.

I am not saying these stories should not have been written. They convey a truth of human emotion and experience. Struggle is part of that, but I say, We, the real human beings, are in need of more of what is just beyond that struggle, an insight, a change, a hope, a victory. I believe here on earth we may have victory, and yes, perhaps the only human victory we will have is the one which overcomes the Man vs. Self struggle, but, I believe this victory is possible and should be hoped for, fought for. And, I think more stories should reveal, point to, and highlight this possibility.

The story I enjoyed tonight is called: Mrs Dutta Writes A Letter, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. The story is about a Indian widow who comes to live with her son in America, and her memories and thoughts as she attempts to write her best friend back in India. Why Do I like it? Maybe it's because I agree with the old lady's disapproval of the in a hurry, don't have time for you, mind your own business, society. Maybe it's because I can relate to her, embarrassed, desiring companionship, do-not-belong-in-this-world, feelings. I am not even sure if what I see in this story is really there. I only can say I see that among the difficulties she has adjusting her traditional ways to fit in with the acceptable American way, one traditional persisting thought prevails. She writes to her friend, "It has something to do about love, I still think that" Love, and thoughts and actions for others, for the sake of love, will help us be victorious even in our most degrading and lost of times.