Just simple musings...

Perhaps I have a fundamental misunderstanding about literary short stories. If you ask pretty much any creative writing professor, stories should be "a discussion of a theme." Fair enough, I suppose, but most of them pass judgments in one way or another. Who are we, the authors, to pass judgments? I guess I am discrediting the audience by even asking that question, because when authors pass judgments, readers then have the choice of agreeing or disagreeing (or any other array of reactions) to that judgment. I don't know. Life is a confusing thing.