The Catch (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Kenzaburō Ōe
- First Published: 1959
- Type of Work: Adventure
- Time of Work: Late in World War II
- Setting: A small mountain village in Japan
- Principal Characters: The young Boy, The Captive, The Father, Harelip, The Clerk
- Genres: Short fiction, Adventure
- Subjects: Maturation or coming of age, War, Farms, farmers, or farming, Aviation or aviators, Prisoners of war
- Locales: Japan
The Story
It is a hot, lazy summer in an isolated mountain village in Japan. Floods have washed out the only direct link to town, a suspension bridge. The teacher refuses to travel the long, treacherous path along the ridge, so the village children find time on their hands.
The narrator of this story is searching for bone fragments in the village crematory when Harelip, the local Tom Sawyer, appears with a wild-dog puppy that he has captured. Suddenly the narrow sky of the valley is filled with the shadow and roar of an enormous airplane.
Harelip shouts that...
[The entire page is 1555 words long]
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