[The twenty-two stories in Selected Short Stories of Mulk Raj Anand are divided] into five groups from the thematic point of view. The first group of six stories represents those of "lyric awareness," in which are treated the elemental themes of birth and death, beauty, love and childhood. "Lost Child" is the most significant story in this group, one that reveals a symbolic dimension, the heightening of style apropos the mood and tone of the narrative.

The second group of five stories, which includes "Lajwanti," "The Gold Watch" and "Old Bapu," is entitled "The Tears at the Heart of Things." The treatment here … is in the main not symbolic but realistic (though symbolic overtones do occur), and the emphasis is on bringing home to the reader the pathos of the plight of men and women crushed by forces too strong for them to bear. These tales of pathos...