Summary: The story  The Looking Glass  by  Anton Chekhov  is about a young woman who dreams day and night about getting married and settling down happily with the perfect man. One night, while sitting in front of her looking glass, she has a vision of what her future might be like. She sees the reality of living and raising a family in rural Russia in the late 1800s. The couple battle disease, financial difficulties and the challenges of raising errant (uncontrolled) children. She then sees her husband’s death and asks herself:  Why is it, what is it for?  Her dreams have turned into a nightmare. In this story, Anton Chekhov explores the theme of love through the essence of a dream. Through an omniscient (all-knowing) perspective, the reader is able to grasp the importance of the dream through the mind of the main character,  Nellie , who has always fantasised about marriage ever since she was a little girl and believes that only by depending on a man ...

  The Gift in Wartime            Tran Mong Tu (Translated by Vann Phan) Tran Mong Tu  was born and grown up in Hai Dong, North Vietnam in 1943. She frequently contributes poems and short stories to Vietnamese literary publications in the US and other countries.  “War is a terrible thing,”  says Tran, who has first-hand experience of the Vietnam War (1954-1975). According to Tran, “The Vietnam War is a shameful experience, for both Vietnamese and Americans.” Many people in both countries felt the terrible tragedy of the war. Losses in the war were heavy; more than two million Vietnamese and 57,000 Americans died. In the poem  'The Gift in Wartime' , Tran addresses an absent person (a loveable person). For example, as she says, “I offer you roses,” the person to whom she is speaking is not present and can neither hear nor understand what she is saying (because he is no more). The theme of the poem is the consequences of...