# Short Fiction — Chapters explained

> Chapter companions for Short Fiction by Voltairine de Cleyre.

- [A Rocket of Iron](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_55_se/chapters/a-rocket-of-iron.md): The narrator, oppressed by a misty October night and a sense of universal death, flees into the city and is drawn to the Iron Works. There, he witnesses a catastrophic explosion that injures three workers, one of whom is
- [The Chain Gang](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_55_se/chapters/the-chain-gang.md): The narrator recalls a time in the South when, amidst personal despair, he witnesses a chain gang of black convicts working on a road. Their spontaneous, collective singing—a raw, untaught music—strikes him as a profound
- [The Heart of Angiolillo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_55_se/chapters/the-heart-of-angiolillo.md): The chapter contrasts a naturally charming baby girl with Effie, a woman who received a 'wrong portion' in life. Effie, a Scottish peasant turned domestic servant, is trapped in poverty and an unequal relationship with a
- [The Reward of an Apostate](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_55_se/chapters/the-reward-of-an-apostate.md): The narrator recounts their sin of forsaking the god of Beauty to follow the god of Energy, and the resulting punishment: an inability to worship or feel beauty any longer. They describe their former life as an ugly, ear
- [At the End of the Alley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_55_se/chapters/at-the-end-of-the-alley.md): The narrator describes a narrow, squalid alley in the slums, where life is harsh and beauty is scarce. The alley ends in a dead wall, and the narrator visits a widow who lives there, finding her drunk and despairing. The

> 11 more chapter companions — [open a free preview](https://www.betterreads.dev/reader?bookId=short_fiction_55_se_901kb&preview=1) to unlock the rest.

- [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_55_se/chapters/i.md)
- [Alone](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_55_se/chapters/ii-alone.md)
- [To Strive and Fail](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_55_se/chapters/to-strive-and-fail.md)
- [The Sorrows of the Body](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_55_se/chapters/the-sorrows-of-the-body.md)
- [The Triumph of Youth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_55_se/chapters/the-triumph-of-youth.md)
- [The Old Shoemaker](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_55_se/chapters/the-old-shoemaker.md)
- [Where the White Rose Died](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_55_se/chapters/where-the-white-rose-died.md)
- [The Individualist and the Communist](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_55_se/chapters/the-individualist-and-the-communist.md)
- [Some Nihilists I Have Met](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_55_se/chapters/some-nihilists-i-have-met.md)
- [Between the Living and the Dead](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_55_se/chapters/between-the-living-and-the-dead.md)
- [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_55_se/chapters/endnotes.md)

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_55_se/chapters