Literature Plotlines

Taking place on Christmas Eve, Nora Helmer once secretly borrowed a large sum of money so that her husband could recuperate from a serious illness. She never told him of this loan and has been secretly paying it back in small installments by saving from her household allowance. Her husband, Torvald, thinks her careless and childlike, and often calls her his doll. When he is appointed bank director, his first act is to relieve a man who was once disgraced for having forged his signature on a document. This man, Nils Krogstad, is the person from whom Nora has borrowed her money. It is then revealed that she forged her father's signature in order to get the money. Krogstad threatens to reveal Nora's crime and thus disgrace her and her husband unless Nora can convince her husband not to fire him. Nora tries to influence her husband, but he thinks of Nora as a simple child who cannot understand the value of money or business. Thus, when Torvald discovers that Nora has forged her father's name, he is ready to disclaim his wife even though she had done it for him. Later when all is solved, Nora sees that her husband is not worth her love and she leaves him.

A Doll's House Henrik Ibsen

The book begins with a crisis at home. Anna's brother Stiva has been caught cheating on his wife, Dolly. Anna manages to convince Dolly to forgive him. Quickly, Anna is understood as a generous person, interested only in benevolence. She is married to the high-ranking, upper class Karenin. Their marriage seems stable and united from the start. Shortly, though, Anna meets and falls in love with the dashing Count Vronsky. She tries hard to escape his stares, to avoid meeting him, but he is persistent and she is smitten. They have an affair that rips at the threads of their social lives when Anna becomes pregnant. She must, obviously, tell Karenin the news. He demands that his social pride and honor be preserved throughout the whole matter, and he and Anna pretend nothing is happening. He fears the ridicule of society far more than the destruction of his own marriage. Yet Anna cannot let go of Vronsky--she continues to see him quite often. Karenin discovers the extent of the affair when he sees Vronsky leaving his house, and helooks into divorce. Anna, meanwhile, runs off with Vronsky. After having Vronsky's baby, Anna becomes seriously ill. Karenin thinks she is going to die, so he forgives her for everything she did. Anna swears that is all she wants out of her remaining life. Yet Anna recovers and forgets quickly about Karenin, once again taking up her torrid affair with the count. While Anna was sick and Karenin was present at her side, Vronsky was humiliated by what he had done. He tried to commit suicide by shooting himself, but he, like Anna, did not die. Now he and Anna leave for Italy. Karenin refuses a divorce with Anna, in order that he might deepen her guilt. Anna's life becomes terrible. Her friends abandon her, ashamed of her behavior. She cannot go out in public with Vronsky, to the theater or the opera, because they would be subjecting themselves to the rumor mill. Vronsky, however, goes out without Anna; he is free to do so. Anna becomes horribly insecure, thinking that Vronsky goes out so much because he is in love with someone else. He is only in love with Anna, however, and the two fight often because of the unspoken tension that exists between them. Anna is in a tough position. She isn't Vronsky's wife, but she is more than just his mistress. She depends entirely on him for internal peace and love. But what she finally realizes is that no one has the power to satisfy her emotional desires, not Vronsky nor anyone else. She has woven a complex web for herself, one she feels she can only escape by killing herself. This is what she does, jumping in front of a train. She reconsiders briefly before the train hits her, but has no time to dodge. Running side by side with Anna's story is Levin's, one that mimics the life and interests of the novelist himself. Levin, a landowner and country man, comes to the city to propose to Kitty, a pretty young lady who is mesmerized instead by Vronsky. She rejects Levin's proposal and keeps her eye on the count. Vronsky, however, is smitten with Anna. Levin is crushed. He goes home to the country and immerses himself totally in his relationship with the land. He writes a book about farming practices in Russia, revealing his belief that landowners should split the land with their peasants so the peasants have an incentive to work harder. This is a controversial plan as Russia becomes more industrialized. Kitty, too, is crushed by Vronsky's disinterest. She becomes ill, and her family take her to a spa in Germany, where she recovers and realizes that she has truly loved Levin all along. They meet again shortly, and Kitty accepts Levin's second proposal. They marry happily and have a boy named Mitya. Kitty is a huge force in Levin's life, helping him to come to grips with his lifelong struggle with faith and religion. She also helps Levin cope with the death of his brother Nicholas. In Tolstoy's eyes, the two have the ideal marriage and love. Though Anna and Levin's plot lines connect at times, Tolstoy dares only the briefest encounter between the two, near the end of the book. Levin is temporarily swept into Anna's world, proving to Tolstoy how dangerous a character like Anna is to Levin's (and his own) world. As Anna and Levin's stories are contrasted, Tolstoy makes a thematic case, through Levin, for pre-industrial societies as the major source of happiness, wealth and sustenance. He advocates the idea of caring for the land as if it were the wealth of the world, and he labels the land as the only mutual association which can bind societies and families together. Tolstoy shows us the valuable role of rural society in preserving the family. Through Anna, Tolstoy associates city life with vice. That Anna is a creature of the social, urban world makes her character revolve less around virtue, and more around romance, sex, and societal affirmation.

Anna Karenina Tolstoy

The novel opens in the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre, in the years A.F., or After Ford. Ford is the God-surrogate that many citizens of the World State believe is also Freud, the controversial psychosexual psychologist. The Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning is leading a tour group of young students around a lab. He explains the scientific process by which human beings are fertilized and custom-made, and shows them the Social Predestination room, where workers create the social castes. They pass onto the conditioning rooms, where they reinforce the caste divisions by sleep-teaching. There are some short interludes between Mustapha Mond, Resident Controller of Europe, and the students; Lenina and her friend Fanny; and Bernard Marx and Henry Foster. Lenina confirms with Bernard that she would like to go on a trip with him to The Savage Reservation. Following her departure, there is more bitterness on the part of Bernard concerning his own inferiority. Lenina and Henry eat dinner, go on a soma-holiday, and see a concert of synthetic music. Later, they have sex. The next day is Bernard Marx's Solidarity Service Day. A group of men and women sing and take soma together, and it eventually turns into an "orgy-porgy". Lenina and Bernard go on a date. He tries to show her the ocean, and to express some of his subversive views to her, but she cries. She convinces him to take soma, and they go back to his rooms and have sex. The next day, when Lenina asks him if he had fun, Bernard is pained at the way she seems to degrade herself. He and Lenina go to The Savage Reservation. Lenina shudders at the unclean conditions. They meet John, The Savage. He tells his story to Bernard, and it turns out that he is the illegitimate son of the Director and Linda, a woman who disappeared twenty-five years ago. John tells Bernard his life story. He feels desperately unhappy and alone. Bernard identifies with John and invites him to return to London with them. Bernard triumphantly presents Linda and John, the Director's lost woman and illegitimate son. The Director is laughed out of office. Bernard is the big man on campus. Lenina is interested in The Savage, and so she takes him out, and much to her chagrin, they do not have sex. The Savage refuses to appear at an assembly. This shatters Bernard's reputation. Lenina is absent-minded, thinking about the Savage. He tells her he loves her and she undresses. Disgusted by the sexual degradation of the society, he violently rejects her. The Savage is in the Hospital for the Dying to visit his mother. He hears the low-caste workers and several children talking badly about her and has a violent reaction. Suddenly, Linda wakes, recognizes him, and dies. He attempts to destroy a large supply of soma, causing a riot, and the police take him away, along with Bernard and Helmholtz. The three meet with Mustapha Mond. Mustapha Mond and the Savage speak of religion. Mond says that there is a choice between machinery, scientific medicine, and universal happiness-- or God. The Savage flees, planning to become independent. He repents by whipping himself. One day a photographer makes a popular film about The Savage. The Savage becomes a celebrity. There is a huge riot which turns into an orgy. The next morning, reporters find that the Savage has hung himself.

Brave New World Huxley

This poem is written to sound like a galloping horse. It opens with "Half a League, Half a League, Half A League onward", and tells of the noble "600" riding "into the valley of death", with "cannons to the left of them" and "cannons to the right of them", while "all the world wondered". This poem has a group of Cavalry rushing onward into Russian enemies during the Crimean War.

Charge of the Light Brigade Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Jane Eyre is a young girl, orphaned as a baby; both her mother and father die together from a type of fever. Jane goes to live with her cruel Aunt Reed, who only takes her in as the result of a promise to her husband on his deathbed. Mrs. Reed does not treat Jane so very well, and her son often beats and verbally abuses her. Jane grows up for many years very unhappy-an overly mature, sad, sallow and un-childlike child. Finally it is too much for Mrs. Reed. Jane is sent to Lowood Institution, a charitable, cheap and strictly kept school for clergyman's daughters. Jane attends this school for over eight years; after a couple years, the standard of living at the school is improved. Jane makes the friends of Helen Burns, and Ms. Temple, a teacher, while she is there. These two individuals greatly affect Jane's personality and character, especially related to personal philosophy, religion, and treatment of others. Jane spends the last few years at Lowood as a teacher. Miss Temple finally marries, and Jane places an advertisement for a position as a governess in the local paper. Soon she is contacted by a Mrs. Fairfax, about the position of governess in Millcote, -shire, for a young single girl. Jane gets leave from Lowood and journeys to Millcote to take the position. There she begins as governess for Adèle Varens, a young French girl, and ward of the master of Thornfield Hall, Mr. Rochester. Thornfield Hall is where Jane lives, now. Jane begins to spend much time with Rochester; they grow a great friendship and affection for each other. Jane begins to realize she is falling in love with Mr. Rochester. Simultaneous to this, it appears that Rochester is courting the hand of Blanche Ingram, in hopes of marrying her. This turns out to simply be a ploy by Rochester to make Jane jealous, and increase her love for him. Jane goes home for her aunt's death for several weeks. She returns to Thornfield Hall, to find Mr. Rochester greatly missing her. During her time at the house, she has noticed the presence of a madwoman in the attic, presumably, Grace Poole. In the middle of the night, this woman tries to light Rochester's bed on fire. Jane wakes, smells the smoke, and saves him. This happens before she leaves for her aunt's funeral. When Jane returns, Rochester finally tells her of his love for her. They become engaged. The ceremony approaches, and as it comes closer and closer, Rochester becomes more and more arrogant. Jane declares she will still work once they are married-she will only be his equal. Their relationship becomes off-balance. On the day of the marriage ceremony, the rite is broken up by the entrance of Mr. Mason and Mr. Briggs. Here they reveal that Rochester has been previously married. The madwoman in his attic, is Bertha Mason, his first wife. The marriage doesn't go through; Jane sees Bertha, feels numb, sad, and realizes she cannot marry Rochester out of wedlock, for fear of inequality in their relationship. Jane flees Thornfield, and arrives at Whitcross. She is destitute, begs and is near death almost for three days, until she comes upon a house, whose members take her in and care for her. She stays there for many days. She wakes and tells them most of her story. She develops a great friendship with Diana, Mary and St. John Rivers, who is a pastor, and are inhabitants of the house. Within good time, St. John finds Jane work as the teacher of a village-school for peasant girls in that town, Morton. Jane takes the job. Soon she finds through St. John that she has been left a fortune of twenty-thousand pounds by her uncle in Madeira, who had died. She also finds out that St. John, Mary and Diana are her cousins; her uncle is also their uncle with whom their father had once had a terrible quarrel. Thus they were left no inheritance. Jane immediately divides her fortune equally between the four of them, and vacates the school position. Jane goes to live at Moor House with her cousins. They are happy for a while, and St. John begins to teach Jane Hindostanee. Jane finds him intelligent and greatly admires him, but nevertheless is inwardly wary of his cold power over her. Finally he asks her to marry him, for the "service of God" to become a missionary with him in India. Jane is torn, but knows she could never have a kind and warm, loving relationship with St. John that way as a husband. She tells him so, but he will not take her unless she is his wife. She refuses him. At this time, she hears a sudden spectre of Rochester's voice calling her from the near garden. She takes it as a sign, and the next day leaves from Whitcross in a coach to see what has happened to Rochester. Jane arrives in Millcote after a day and a half. She finds out and sees that Thornfield Hall is a ruin; it burned down last fall from a fire Bertha Mason started. During the fire, Bertha killed herself from jumping from the battlements; Rochester was blinded and lost one of his arms from falling timber, when helping servants out of the house. He turned to depression and utter isolation after her disappearance. Now he lives with two servants, John and Mary, at Ferndean Manor, thirty miles away. Jane journeys there that night, sees Rochester and makes herself known to him. He almost does not believe it is her, but finally is convinced, and blesses the Lord for returning Jane to him. He is utterly happy, and so is she, and despite his blindness and being a cripple, she accepts his hand in marriage. They marry three days later. Jane brings Adèle to a closer school and makes frequent visits. Mary and Diana marry and see her on a regular basis. St. John goes off to India. Jane gives birth to one baby boy of Rochester's. The novel ends with Jane telling us that she has been married to Rochester for ten years; she is happier than she could ever be, because they love each other so much, they are each other's better half and never tire of each other. They are perfectly suited for each other, and Jane is happy spending her life loving and helping Rochester, being his 'prop'.

Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte

The play opens in a palace in Athens one hour before the wedding of Theseus, Duke of Athens, to his newly conquered Amazonian queen, Hippolyta. Their nuptials are interrupted by Egeus, an Athenian father begging help of Theseus. His daughter, Hermia, is in love with young Lysander, and wants to marry him. Egeus already bequeathed her to Demetrius, who is also in love with her. Hermia's childhood friend, Helena, is in love with Demetrius, and follows him around like a lost puppy. Theseus tells Hermia that she has until morn to decide to marry Demetrius, join a nunnery, or die. Lysander and Hermia decide to run away together into the woods and elope near his aunt's home. They get ready to leave as they see Helena ranting about her love for Demetrius and her unhappiness that he puts her down all the time. They tell her of their plan to escape. In a room in the carpenter Quince's house in Athens, six commoners discuss their plan to put on the play, Pyramus and Thisbe, at the Duke's wedding. Quince dispenses the roles to the players, most notably the over-dramatic weaver Bottom. He will play Pyramus, while Flute will play Thisbe. In the woods, the sprightly fairy Puck addresses the audience with his mischievous nature. Oberon and Titania enter the woods, furious with one another over the possession of a little Indian boy. Oberon spot Demetrius running into the woods looking for Hermia, followed by a doting Helena, whom he hates. He tells Puck to find a magic flower that holds juice that when placed on sleeping eyelids, makes the person sleeping fall in love with the first creature he or she sees upon waking. He tells Puck to place it on the sleeping eyes of a man he will notice by the Athenian clothes he has on (namely Demetrius). Puck plans to obey these orders. Oberon sees Titania and plans to play a trick on her by placing the magic juice on her eyes, as well, allowing her to fall in love with a fool. Lysander and Hermia go to sleep, separately because they are not yet married. Puck sees them and thinks that Lysander is the man on whose eyes Oberon wants the magic juice placed. He does so. Helena runs into the woods at the same spot, sees Lysander, wakes him for fear of death, and Lysander falls in love with her. He leaves the sleeping Hermia to follow Helena and win her heart. The six players rehearse in the woods. Puck plays a trick on Bottom by transforming his head into that of a donkey's. The rest of the men are frightened off. Bottom is unaware of his appearance. Titania awakens, sees Bottom, and falls in love. She and her fairies adorn him with flowers, attention, and "love." Demetrius follows a lonely and distressed Hermia through the woods looking for Lysander. She blames him for Lysander's disappearance. They bicker as Oberon and Puck watch, realizing that Puck placed the juice in the wrong's Athenian's eyes. They sleep and Oberon squeezes the juice into Demetrius's eyes for Helena. He awakens, sees Helena, and falls in love. Lysander and Demetrius now fight for Helena, where they used to fight for Hermia. Hermia is now cast aside and cursed by the two men. Helena believes they are all playing a cruel joke on her. Hermia attacks Helena for stealing her lover and the insults fly on both parties' end. The two women then run away enraged. Oberon reprimands Puck for his negligence and vows to make peace of the chaos. Puck tricks the two men into falling asleep and places the juice back in Lysander's eyes. He gets all four lovers to sleep in one location and says that in the morning, both couples will be happy and all will be well. Titania still tends to Bottom, but they get tired and lay down to nap. Oberon, pleased with his handiwork, places the juice back in her eyes and allows her to return to her normal state. She awakens and returns to Oberon, thinking it was all a dream. Bottom's head returns to human status and he returns to Athens finding the players at Quince's house worried. They prepare to perform the play at the Duke's wedding night. Egeus, Theseus, and Hippolyta are on a hunting trip in the woods and spot the four lovers asleep together. They are shocked at the amiability between the four, but welcome the new couples. The three happy couples, Theseus and Hippolyta, Lysander and Hermia, and Demetrius and Helena return to the palace for a triple wedding. The play concludes with a hysterical presentation of Pyramus and Thisbe by the six players and a fantastical closing by Titania, Oberon, and Puck.

Midsummer Night's Dream

Viola has been shipwrecked in a violent storm off the coast of Illyria; in the process she has lost her twin brother, Sebastian. She disguises herself as a boy and assumes the name Cesario for protection. Thus disguised, Viola becomes a page in the service of Orsino, the Duke. It seems that Orsino is having little luck courting Olivia, who is in mourning for the deaths of her father and brother. As Orsino's proxy, Viola is sent to Olivia with love letters. Viola refuses to budge until she is let in to see Olivia; Olivia, intrigued by the impudent young "boy," contrives to get "Cesario" to return by sending her steward, Malvolio, after her with one of Olivia's rings. Viola realizes to her dismay that Olivia has fallen for her Cesario rather than Duke Orsino—further complicated by the fact that Viola has had stirrings herself for Orsino. In the two major subplots of the play, Sebastian (Viola's twin, presumed dead) comes ashore in Illyria thinking that Viola has drowned in the shipwreck. A man named Antonio rescued him from the surf, and continues to aid him—at some risk to himself, as Antonio fought against the Duke at one time. Meanwhile, in Olivia's house, Sir Toby Belch (her uncle) has hoodwinked a foppish Sir Andrew Aguecheek into supporting him by convincing him that he could be a suitor to Olivia. There is a running feud between Malvolio and Belch; with the help of Maria, Olivia's maid, and Feste, a clown, Belch plots to make a buffoon of the steward. Maria writes a love letter to Malvolio that will make him think Olivia has fallen for him. Malvolio falls entirely for the sport, which eventually leads to his confinement as a madman. All the while, Belch is egging Sir Andrew into a duel with Viola's "Cesario" character as she departs from Olivia; Olivia is now entirely smitten with Cesario, even though Viola continues to press Orsino's cause. As Viola and Sir Andrew prepare for a duel that neither one wants, Antonio happens upon the scene. Believing Viola to be Sebastian, he intervenes and is arrested. Viola, of course, does not recognize Antonio. Later, Belch and Sir Andrew encounter Sebastian, who doesn't back down from Aguecheek when challenged and resoundingly beats him. Olivia intervenes in the matter, and—mistaking Sebastian for Viola/Cesario—presses her suit for him. A bemused Sebastian agrees to marry her. Antonio is brought before the Duke for questioning, and Viola relates the events of the duel. Antonio tells everyone how he dragged "this man" from the surf, saving his life. Then Olivia enters, searching for her new husband—which she thinks is Viola (as Cesario). Adding to this confusion, Belch and Aguecheek enter claiming that Viola/Cesario has violently assaulted them. In the midst of Viola's denials, Sebastian appears. The brother and sister recognize one another and are reunited; Sebastian helps to clear the confusion as to who fought and married who. At the end, Orsino and Viola pledge their love, Olivia and Sebastian will remain satisfactorily wed, and Olivia rebukes Belch and Maria for their abuse of Malvolio, who vows his revenge upon the whole lot. Belch agrees to wed Maria to make up for getting her in trouble, and all—except the disgruntled Malvolio—will apparently live happily ever after.

Twelfth Night William Shakespeare

It is 1801 and Thrushcross Grange has a new tenant, Mr. Lockwood. He visits his landlord, Mr. Heathcliff, who lives at Wuthering Heights, the neighboring property. Mr. Heathcliff is out, and his young relatives, Mrs. Heathcliff and Hareton Earnshaw, are very disagreeable. It starts to snow, but no one is willing to help Mr. Lockwood get home, or to let him stay. He is attacked by a dog while leaving, and in his bloody state, Mr. Heathcliff begrudgingly allows him to stay. Mr. Lockwood passes his time reading from the journals of a young girl named Catherine. He starts to dream. In the dream he quarrels with a preacher, and the parishioners attack him. A tapping awakens him, and he breaks a window in his attempt to quiet it. He grabs the hand of a ghost child, who calls herself Catherine Linton. Terrified, his scream awakens Heathcliff, who calls for the ghost to reappear. Heathcliff escorts Mr. Lockwood home through the snow-covered moors, but he still catches a bad cold. Sick for several weeks with this cold, Mr. Lockwood asks Nelly Dean, his serving woman, to tell him about the inhabitants of Wuthering Heights. She was once their housekeeper, and she has lots of stories to tell. Mrs. Heathcliff, who was married to Heathcliff's son, is the daughter of Mrs. Dean's late master, Edgar Linton. Hareton Earnshaw, the nephew of Mrs. Linton, is Mrs. Heathcliff's cousin. Mr. Heathcliff was married to Mr. Linton's sister, who bore Linton, Catherine's husband. Heathcliff was an orphan Mr. Earnshaw found wandering the streets of Liverpool. Hindley, the eldest child, was very jealous of him. When Mr. Earnshaw died two years later, Hindley made Heathcliff work in the fields. Catherine and Heathcliff remained close friends. One day, while spying on Thrushcross Grange, they saw two children, Isabella and Edgar, nearly tearing a puppy to pieces in a selfish rage. One of the Linton's dogs attacked Catherine when they tried to run. She stayed for several weeks to heal, and when she returned from the Lintons, she was well mannered and nicely dressed, which annoyed Heathcliff. In 1778, Hindley's wife gave birth to Hareton, then died soon after. Hindley, crazed with grief, could not care for him. Despite their differences, Edgar and Catherine grew closer. Catherine agreed to marry Edgar, telling Nelly that Heathcliff was too inferior to marry. Heathcliff heard this, and disappeared without a word. Catherine became sick, but when her health improved, she and Edgar married and moved to the Grange. The marriage was good until Heathcliff returned. Edgar's sister Isabella fell in love with Heathcliff, but he despised her. Heathcliff kissed Isabella to hurt Catherine, and they had a big fight. During the fight, Edgar came in, demanding Heathcliff leave his house. Disgusted by both of them, Catherine shut herself in her room for three days, becoming ill and mad. Isabella ran off and married Heathcliff, but she hated her new life at Wuthering Heights. One night, Catherine gave birth to Catherine Linton, and died. Soon after Catherine's death, Isabella escaped to the Grange. She moved to London and had a child, named Linton, and died twelve years later. Hindley died six months after his sister. Upon Isabella's death, Edgar tried to keep Linton, but Heathcliff sent for him. A few years later, when wandering near the Heights, Cathy met her cousin. But Cathy's father forbids the relationship. She starts a secret correspondence with Linton, and they think they are in love. Mr. Earnshaw finally agreed the two cousins may visit if they do not go onto the Heights land. Linton coerced Nelly and Cathy to enter the house. Once inside, Heathcliff imprisoned them until Cathy agreed to marry Linton. With her father dying and escape impossible, Cathy relented. After her father died, Heathcliff moved his daughter-in-law to the Heights. Linton died soon after the wedding, and Catherine befriended Hareton, teaching him to read. The following year, 1802, Mr. Lockwood returns to the Heights. He learns from Nelly that Heathcliff died unexpectedly after a strange and restless madness. He was buried next to Catherine, but several people believe they see he and Catherine wandering the moors. Cathy and Hareton are in love and plan to marry, then move into the Grange.

Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte

Frederic Henry is an American serving as a Lieutenant of an ambulance division in the Italian Army. In the first part of the book, Fred goes on leave to Naples and returns. Through his friend, Lt. Rinaldi, he meets a British nurses' aide named Catherine Barkley whose fiancee perished the previous year in the Somme. Fred is immediately smitten with Catherine and he spends a lot of time courting her. At the mess hall, they make fun of Fred's other friend, the priest. As the snows clear, it is time for the offensive to begin again, and Fred goes with his three ambulances to a post in the mountains. During the first night here, there is a bombardment and Fred is seriously wounded in the legs. One of his drivers is also wounded and another is killed. Fred is shipped to a field hospital, but when an American hospital is opened in Milan, he is shipped there. Fred is not expected by the hospital in Milan, but they receive him anyway. Catherine comes with her friend, Miss Ferguson, to work at this hospital and be close to him. The first estimate for Fred's recovery is six months, but a second doctor operates on him almost immediately. Before long, Fred is walking on crutches and going to restaurants with Catherine. She works the night shift so they can be together at night. Fred has begun to drink too much. Once recovered, Fred is granted a threeweek leave but he loses it because he comes down with jaundice from drinking too much. Catherine confesses to him that she has become pregnant; Fred is not upset with her, only worried. Before he is to return to the front, they spend a night together in a hotel. He leaves on a train in the middle of the night to return to Gorizia. There are fewer people at Gorizia and the town is not as cheerful. Lt. Rinaldi has become more depressed. He makes a scene in the mess hall and then leaves. The priest and Fred talk about life and war. The next day Fred reports to a mountain post to find his ambulance team. That night there is an Austrian attack and they are forced to retreat.. After a couple of days, a traffic jam is created from all the people retreating. Fred directs his three trucks to take a side road. Soon after, the trucks become stuck. They must continue on foot. At a river, one of the drivers is killed. Soon after, another tries to leave, but is captured. After a day, Fred and his last driver attempt to rejoin the Italian army. The Italian officers, afraid of German spies, are interrogating and shooting anyone who is not Italian. Fred jumps into a river to escape execution,and floats for some time. He jumps a train and rides it to Milan. In Milan, he finds out that Catherine has gone to a town called Stresa near the Swiss border. He gets some new clothing from a friend and takes a train to Stresa. He checks into a hotel and finds Catherine with her friend Miss Ferguson. They are happy to be reunited. However, Miss Ferguson isn't happy to see Fred because she doesn't trust him. They stay in Stresa for a day, but one night the bartender, who is Fred's friend, warns him that he is to be arrested in the morning. He offers them his boat to row to Switzerland. Fred rows through the night and arrives in Switzerland where he and Catherine are first arrested, but later issued provisional visas. Together, Catherine and Fred stay in a remote mountain town called Montreux. They spend all of their time together reading, hiking, and talking. Catherine's pregnancy has matured and when the spring comes they move into a larger town. When Catherine goes into labor, they rush to the hospital. Even though it is early in the morning when they arrive, Catherine still hasn't delivered the baby by noon. The doctor suggests a caesarian. The operation seems to go well, but Fred soon finds out that Catherine has hemorrhaged and that the child was born dead, choked by its own umbilical cord. Soon after this, Catherine dies from repeated hemorrhaging.

A Farewell To Arms Ernest Hemingway

The play opens as the Younger family anxiously awaits the arrival of a check. It is the life insurance check of $10,000, made payable to Lena (Mama) Younger, the matriarch of the family, because of the death of her husband. The entire family lives within the walls of a tiny apartment and the play takes place entirely in its worn out, lived-in living room. Travis, the young son of Ruth and Walter Lee, sleeps on the couch in the living room and is constantly awoken by noise from the adults. Walter Lee and Beneatha are Lena's children. Walter Lee is married to Ruth, and works as a chauffeur, while Beneatha, much younger and energetic, plans to study to become a doctor. Each member of the family wants to do something different with the money, and therefore, waits anxiously for his/her new lifeto start. Walter Lee is working with low-life street men, Willy Harris and Bobo, to start a liquor store. He is obsessed with money and constantly feels as if the world is against him, especially his wife and mother. He storms out of the house, seeking the two men with whom he plans to do business and also to complain about his job. Mama meanswhile suspects Ruth to be pregnant. Beneatha discusses her new, independent style in college. She is courted by two men: the first boy, George Murchison, is a wealthy Negro concerned with appearances and material, while the second, Joseph Asagai, is a native African that inspires her intellectually and spiritually. Asagai brings Bennie authentic Nigerian robes as a gift, and she puts them on, pretending to be an African princess. George arrives to take Bennie out to the theater and is appalled by her attire, forcing her to change. The Younger family is in favor of George because they believe his money will help her and themselves. When the check finally does arrive, Lena has trouble dealing, for she realizes that the ten thousand dollars is a replacement for her husband. The family tells her to do what she desires with the money. Walter irrationally urges Mama to give him the money, gradually become irate and furious. Mama reprimands him, not understanding how he became so obsessed with money and so disinterested in his own family. She reveals information that Ruth is pregnant and may abort the fetus. When Ruth confirms these suspicions, Walter is silent, sending Mama into shock. Mama tells the family that she put a down payment on a house in Clybourne Park with the insurance money, so that Travis will one day be able to grow up to become a man with property. Walter is upset and wonders why he can never be the one in charge of all actions. The entire family is concerned about the location because it is an all white neighborhood. While Mama is gone, Karl Lindner, a white business man and representative of the Clybourne Park Welcoming Committee comes to the Younger household under the false auspices of brotherhood, and offers to pay them off so that they will not move into the house. They throw him out and later tell Mama. Mama listens to Walter's pleas and decides to give him the rest of the money to manage. A portion of it will go to Beneatha's medical school fund, but he may keep the rest. Bobo comes to the house weeks later on moving day to inform Walter Lee that Willy Harris has absconded with their money. Walter Lee never deposited the money in the bank and has lost his father's check forever. The entire family is outraged and deeply hurt. Later that same day, Asagai comes over to help the family pack, only to find a disheartened Beneatha. He asks her to marry him and return home to Africa to practice medicine. Walter decides to call Mr. Lindner over to accept money and 'play into the scam' that is supposedly already in place. Mama and Ruth cannot believe that Walter would sell his soul and his pride for money. The moving men arrive around the same time as Lindner. Walter Lee transforms into a mature man of pride and miraculously tells Lindner that his family cannot be bought. They plan to move into Clybourne Park and live as a happy family. Ruth and Lena are proud of Walter and happily walk away from their old living room to a new life.

A Raisin in the SUn Hansberry

Blanche Dubois, a very proper, talkative woman from Mississippi, arrives in New Orleans to stay with her sister, Stella Kowalski. Blanche is overly concerned with her appearance, cleanliness, dress, and upper-class mentality, while Stella has married someone of lower status, Stanley Kowalski. Stanley is from Poland, works in a factory, has little education, but is extremely passionate and handsome. Stella and Stanley have strong chemistry, which fuels their love. From the beginning of her stay, Blanche and Stanley are at odds; opposing ideals, ways of life, and each other on every minute detail of life. Blanche tells Stella that she has lost Belle Reve, their childhood plantation home. Stanley wants to see the paperwork regarding the property and confronts Blanche about it. During their first conversation/confrontation, they argue and discuss Blanche's past. Stanley tells her that Stella is pregnant. Stanley has a poker game in his small flat in Elysian Fields inviting three good friends, including Mitch. Mitch spots Blanche at that game and they spark a romance. He has never been married and lives with his sick mother, while Blanche's young husband died tragically many years ago.. While Blanche is flirting with Mitch, she turns on the radio to dance. Stanley erupts, tears it out of the wall, and throws it out the window. Stella is furious and scolds him. He hits her. She runs upstairs away from him to stay with Eunice for the evening, but later comes back to him. They love each other very much despite Stanley's violence. Mitch and Blanche begin to see each other frequently. Blanche keeps up the facade of virginity, innocence, and properness. She tells him of her young husband's tendency toward homosexuality, her discovery of his secret, and his ultimate suicide. They open up to one another saying how they both need somebody and that they would be good for each other. Stanley continues to search for evidence on Blanche's blemished past, finding people who knew her in Laurel, the town where she lived and taught English. She lived at a second-rate hotel called the Flamingo, sharing company with many men. She was involved with a seventeen-year-old boy at her school, which is the reason for her sudden departure. She was also evicted from the hotel, because her personal life was too seedy even for them. Stanley tells Mitch these stories and Mitch stands Blanche up at her birthday dinner. Stanley presents her with the present of a bus ticket out of New Orleans on Tuesday, and erupts at the table, breaking plates and glasses and scaring both Stella and Blanche even more. Mitch arrives later to talk to the drunk Blanche. She attempts to cover up her drunken state and keep him in her life. They fight and he tells her he wants to sleep with her, but she responds that she will only if they were married. He tells her she is not clean enough for him and leaves. Blanche believes that she is to leave New Orleans to go on a Caribbean cruise with one of her old beaux, Shep Huntleigh. Stanley laughs at her, but tries to make amends because his wife is having a baby. They fight and Blanche tries to stab him with a broken bottle top. She admits to her sketchy past and he shows his bad temper. Weeks later, Stella has the baby and Stanley hosts another poker game. Blanche believes that she is going on a vacation in the country with Shep. Instead, a doctor and nurse arrive at the door to have her committed. She screams and tries to stay with Stella. After a skirmish, the doctor is kind to her and she begins to trust him. She walks out of the house with him and will go to the institution. Stella cries, wondering if she did the right thing while Stanley hopes that everything will go back to normal now that Blanche has gone.

A Streetcar Named Desire Tennessee Williams

The story is about Jack Burden, the right-hand man to the corrupt politician, Governor Willie Stark. As Willie's power and corruption grow larger, Jack's conscience becomes more eroded. He alienates his family and friends by working for Willie, but he resents himself for staying on Willie's payroll. Jack spends the novel narrating how he became Willie's lackey while unknowingly uncovering family secrets. Jack Burden, Willie Stark, and Willie's political associates are on their way to Mason City for a press opportunity. It was Willie's second term as governor in the summer of 1936, and he was trying to get more publicity for another reelection. Willie tells Jack, his personal aide, to look into the history of Judge Irwin. The Judge had publicly defied Willie, so Willie wanted to find out some secret in order to blackmail the judge in revenge. Because Jack was a former newspaper reporter and research historian, Willie used him to do his dirty work. Back when Willie was just the Mason County treasurer in 1922, Jack was working at a newspaper. He was sent to cover a scandal surrounding Willie; he had tried to stay away from corrupt politicians, but the politicians had framed him anyway. When a schoolhouse collapsed and killed a group of children, the public realized Willie was innocent. He won the support of the people and the 1930 race for governor. Jack, meanwhile, had entered what he called a "Great Sleep." He only awoke after Willie hired him. Willie resisted the temptations of political power at first. It took three years before Willie succumbed to corruption. A member of his cabinet was caught in a scandal. Rather than firing him, Willie protected his associate. However, the rest of the state government officials wanted Willie gone after he proposed his wealth-sharing programs, and the cover-up was the last straw. However, Willie had Jack find incriminating evidence against each of his accusers. This is also when Willie started his affair with another woman after he and his wife had gotten a separation. Now that Jack had given Willie all the ammunition Willie needed to stay in power, Willie kept Jack on his permanent payroll. Jack was able to find out that Judge Irwin, formerly the state attorney general, was guilty of taking a bribe. He also found out his best friend's father had covered up the bribe. Since Jack had found out information on Judge Irwin, Willie felt comfortable moving forward with his plans for a public hospital that would take care of its patients for free. Willie asked Adam Stanton, one of Jack's two best friends, to run the hospital. Adam wanted nothing to do with Willie or the hospital. However, it was his father who covered up for Judge Irwin years ago. Willie disclosed this information, and Adam was blackmailed into working for Willie. Jack then finds out Anne Stanton, Adam's sister, was the woman having an affair with Willie. Jack is distraught by the news of Anne and Willie's affair, so he runs away to the West Coast in order to clear his mind. Anne was his first love, and they had a serious relationship back in college. Anne, though, discovered Jack was lazy and cynical. She left him, and Jack soon dropped out of graduate school and began working for a newspaper. When Jack returns to the South, though, he is surprised to find things have taken a negative turn for Willie and his office. Willie's son, a college boy, is accused of fathering a child out of wedlock. Willie's opponent in the election is using the news as a way of disrupting Willie's campaign. Willie then used the information on Judge Irwin to make the opponent leave the issue alone. Jack goes to visit Judge Irwin, his childhood father figure. Judge Irwin, refusing to be blackmailed, kills himself. It was only after the judge's death that Jack's mother let him know that Judge Irwin was his real father. Because the threat to Judge Irwin didn't stop his opponent from dropping the issue about the child, Willie gives the hospital contract to a major supporter of his opponent. However, Willie's son goes into a coma after a serious football injury. Willie takes back the contract, angering his lieutenant governor, Tiny Duffy. Tiny finds Adam and tells him his sister was the woman having an affair with Willie. Furious, Adam assassinates Willie and is subsequently killed by Willie's guards. The person who told Tiny about Willie's affair was his secretary and longtime mistress. She felt so guilty about Willie's death, though, that she checked into a mental institution. Willie's wife adopted her grandson soon after her own son died. At the end of the story, Jack marries Anne. He has stepped away from politics, and he is completing his book about Cass Mastern, Jack's Civil War-era ancestor. He had previously tried to write a thesis based on Mastern's diary, but Jack lacked the focus and drive to finish.

All the king's Men Warren

Buck is a marvelous doge living the high life in California!... he's kidnapped... and put into slavery... and forced to pull sleds in Alaska...whoops. Buck's completely out of his element here, he's domesticated! He starts having weird dreams about the days before buildings and man and dog. He learns quickly about "the law of club and fang", how stuff is run out in the wilderness. One dog, Spitz, is in constant competition with Buck, so they fight. Buck wins, and establishes himself as the leader of the pack. The sled drivers are changed, and they suck, so they wind up getting everyone killed. Buck is saved by a man named John Thornton before he's plunged into an icy river. Buck saves Thornton's life on multiple occasions, and truly befriends him. However, he gets the urge to just go off in the woods and kill things. He's left in a pickle: John Thornton or being wild, going off and being a free wolf. Well, one day John is killed by the Yeehat tribe, and Buck wants to just absolutely kill every single one for doing what they've done. But wait... he's totally free now, and he can finally get to roam free with the wild dog packs, and get pack to his animal roots.

Call of the Wild Jack London

Captain Yossarian is an American bombardier stationed off the Italian coast during the final months of World War II. Paranoid and odd, Yossarian believes that everyone around him is trying to kill him. All Yossarian wants is to complete his tour of duty and be sent home. However, because the glory-seeking Colonel Cathcart continually raises the number of required missions, the men of the "fighting 256th squadron" must keep right on fighting. With a growing hatred of flying, Yossarian pleads with Doc Daneeka to ground him on the basis of insanity. Doc Daneeka replies that Yossarian's appeal is useless because, according to army regulation Catch-22, insane men who ask to be grounded prove themselves sane through a concern for personal safety. Truly crazy people are those who readily agree to fly more missions. The only way to be grounded is to ask for it. Yet this act demonstrates sanity and thus demands further flying. Crazy or not, Yossarian is stuck. The frantic bombardier employs alternative measures to avoid combat flights. Faking a liver condition, Yossarian checks into the hospital and passes time by censoring mail and forging "Washington Irving" to official army correspondence. Yossarian postpones the mission to Bologna when he stealthily moves the bomb line on the map of Italy. A sudden outbreak of diarrhea caused by poisoned sweet potatoes also delays the mission, much to the chagrin of Milo, the mess hall officer and entrepreneur responsible for a complex international trade syndicate in which everyone has a share. Hungry Joe has flown more combat tours of duty than anyone. Orders shipping him home are constantly unfulfilled and the ragged hero has frequent screaming nightmares. Yossarian is blamed for the loss of Kraft's plane over Ferrara because he flew over the target twice. Colonel Cathcart and Colonel Korn cover-up the disaster by awarding Yossarian a medal for bravery and promoting him to captain. Yossarian stands naked in formation to receive his medal. Still traumatized by Snowden's death over Avignon, Yossarian refuses to wear his gore-soaked uniform. Young Nately crashes in an emergency mission and Yossarian bears the news of his death to his beloved ***** in Rome. Heartbroken and furious, she stalks Yossarian with animalistic rage and tries to murder him with a kitchen knife. Yossarian rebelliously refuses to fly more missions. Colonel Cathcart offers Yossarian a deal: Yossarian will be sent home if he promises to praise his commanding officers. Realizing that such a bargain would betray his fellow soldiers, Yossarian refuses to sell-out. The chaplain brings Yossarian the thrilling news that his former tent-mate, Orr, has washed ashore in Sweden after many weeks lost at sea. Yossarian realizes that Orr was not the blundering pilot that he pretended to be. Instead, Orr ingeniously rehearsed his escape with every planned crash-landing. In a rush of excitement, Yossarian decides to run away and join Orr in Sweden. Yossarian discovers that there is no such thing as Catch-22. However, it does not matter, because people believe in it anyway. He will not stick around and risk being killed in a war that is almost over. Yossarian escapes to Sweden, determined to stay alive.

Catch-22 Joseph Heller

It's Florence, Italy, 1348, and the Black Death has ravaged the city. Whole families have died. Neighborhoods are empty. Chaos reigns and the routines of daily life have been abandoned. In the church of Santa Maria Novella, a group of seven young gentlewomen gather to pray and discuss their sad life, hoping to find some way of alleviating their suffering. The oldest of the group, Pampinea, hits on a solution: road trip. It seems like a good idea to get out of a city filled with contagion. There's nothing to do but watch the bodies pile up and hear the news about who died. Plus, it's dangerous to stay somewhere where all social and moral controls are gone and people are succumbing to "carnal pleasures." Better to leave for the country and enjoy the beauty of nature where the houses are far enough apart that you're not watching your neighbors die every time you look out the window. The prevailing medical advice at the time suggested that healthy air and a cheerful frame of mind could decrease your chances of catching the deadly disease. But the ladies are afraid of traveling alone. After all, women are irrational and fickle, and without a man in charge they won't be able to get anything done. Fortune is kind in that moment and sends three young men of their acquaintance into the church. The ladies seize the opportunity—and the young men—and they have their posse (brigata in Italian) ready to go. They don't have to travel far to escape the horrors of the city, and in about two miles they reach a lovely palace where they've arranged to stay. It has all the amenities: ample living space, servants, beautiful gardens, nature everywhere in the form of singing birdies, gentle breezes and clear flowing water. Once they arrive, they realize that all kinds of mischief might happen if they get bored, so they invent a storytelling game to occupy their time. They set the rules, choose a "Queen" to rule them for the first day, and the structure of their two-week stay is set in motion. The ten young people spend the next two weeks (except for four days of religious observances) telling one story per day each on a chosen theme. Each day has a new king or queen that chooses the theme and makes arrangements for their meals and entertainment. It's the regimen of storytelling, they say, that refreshes them and keeps them on the straight and narrow path while they're away from the city, so that no one will gossip about them. After telling a hundred stories on themes like the Power of Fortune, Unhappy Loves and Pranks Played by Wives on Their Husbands—and one relo to a new palace just to mix things up—the brigata return to the city to face their fate.

Decameron Giovanni Boccaccio

Tom Wingfield, the narrator as well as a main character, appears at the beginning to explain that this play is made up of memories, and as such, it will seem unrealistic in some respects. He introduces himself, his mother Amanda, his sister Laura, and the photograph of his long-absent father. He also tells that audience about the most realistic character, Jim, who will be Laura's gentleman caller. The play is set in the 1930's in St. Louis where his family lived in a shabby apartment that looked just like the ones surrounding it. Tom works in a shoe warehouse and is miserably unhappy with his life because he wants to find adventure and write poetry. His job at the warehouse certainly doesn't satisfy these desires. His mother, an aging Southern belle abandoned by her husband sixteen years ago, is constantly nagging Tom about ways to improve himself; he's so miserable with his life, that her nagging only increases his irritation and drives him to the movies night after night to escape his pathetic life. Laura, who is too shy to interact with people outside her family, is a recluse with a slight handicap who is unable to have a life outside the apartment and her collection of glass animals. Laura has dropped out of the typing class that Amanda insisted she take to prepare for supporting herself if necessary; Laura quit because she was embarrassed that she threw up in the classroom before the first timed test. Amanda, at her wit's end for how to procure a stable life for Laura, decides that marriage is the only other option, and she must seek a man to marry. Amanda convinces Tom to bring home someone from the warehouse to meet his sister. She tells Tom that he can go seek adventure only when Laura's future is certain, and he cooperates. Tom brings home Jim O'Connor, a guy he knew vaguely in high school as the golden boy of high school. Tom knows that Laura knew Jim slightly, but he doesn't realize that Jim is the only man Laura's ever had feelings for. When Jim arrives, Laura is too overcome with anxiety to eat dinner with them, but circumstances (with a little help from Amanda) find Laura and Jim alone in the living room. When he finally remembers who she is, Laura begins to come out of her shell. The conversation wanders through high school to the present, and Jim, convinced that Laura needs someone to boost her confidence and a little overcome by the moment, kisses her. Only then does he realize his drastic mistake. He explains that he's engaged and can't be involved with her, and he leaves, breaking her fragile heart in the process. Amanda, completely enraged and hopeless, believes that Tom set them up to look like fools. She and Tom have a huge fight that sends him out to the movies again. Shortly after that night, Tom is fired from the warehouse for writing a poem on a shoebox lid, and he goes off with the Merchant Marines to find the adventure he craves just as his father did. The only problem is that Tom can't forget about Laura no matter where he goes, and he hasn't completely escaped the life he led in St. Louis.

Glass Menagerie Williams

Tom Joad is released from the Oklahoma state penitentiary where he had served a sentence for killing a man in self-defense. On his trip home he meets Jim Casy, a former preacher. They travel together to Tom's home but find it deserted. Muley Graves, a tenant farmer, discovers Tom and Casy and tells them that all the families in the neighborhood have left for California or are leaving. Tom's folks have gone to a relative's place to prepare for the trip. All over the Southern Midwest, farmers were moving west. Land banks, bad weather, and machine farming had made farming unprofitable. Junk dealers and used-car salesmen took advantage of these families. Tom and Casy find the Joads at Uncle Tom's place. The family includes Pa and Ma Joad; Noah and Al their sons; Rose of Sharon, Tom's sister, and her husband; Ruthie and Winfield, the two youngest children; and Grandma and Grandpa Joad. Casy is invited to accompany the family on their trip west. The trip is arduous, but the promise of agricultural work kept the Joads on their path. Grandpa Joad dies of a stroke at the first stop. Returning migrants tell the Joads there is no work in California. Noah, feeling he is a hindrance to the family, runs away from the party as they near the California line. Grandma dies during a night trip across the desert. After they bury her, the Joads move into a migrant camp, Hooverville, where they discover that work is almost impossible to find. A contractor offers fruit picking work in another county. The Joads ask him for his license and a fight ensues. Tom escapes and Casy gives himself up in Tom's place. Connie, Rose of Sharon's husband, leaves the group and his pregnant wife to fend for himself. The Joads leave the Hooverville and move to a government camp for migrant workers. This camp is clean and has a local government made up of migrant workers. For the first time since arriving in California, the Joads find themselves treated as human beings. However, when the work runs out they must move on. They look for work at another large farm and find agitators attempting to keep migrants from taking work as a protest against unfair wages. In desperation they take work picking peaches for five cents a box. Tom goes looking for the protesters that night and finds that Casy is their leader. While Tom and Casy talk, deputies who had been looking for Casy, find them. A chase and fight ensue. Casy is killed and Tom kills a deputy. The family hides Tom in their shack. Their wages drop and the Joads must look for better paying work. They join other migrant workers camping in abandoned boxcars and soon find work picking cotton. Tom hides near the camp, while he recovers from a wound he got in the fight. Ruthie discloses Tom's presence and Tom flees. The rainy season begins and a nearby stream begins to fill the boxcars. Rose of Sharon gives birth to a dead baby boy, and the family is forced to move by the rising water. They walk in the rain to a barn, where they find a boy and his starving father. Rose of Sharon feeds the man with the milk from her breasts.

Grapes of Wrath Steinbeck

The play opens on a dark night at Elsinore Castle in Denmark. A couple of guards discuss an unsettling recent phenomenon: a ghost resembling Denmark's newly deceased king has been regularly appearing outside the castle at night. Convinced that the appearance of a ghost means evil is afoot, the guards resolve to tell the late king's son, Prince Hamlet, about the ghost of his father. Prince Hamlet has returned from his studies in Germany to attend his father's funeral and to witness his mother's remarriage to his uncle, Claudius, who has now assumed the throne. In addition to the recent upheavals within the royal family, Denmark is under threat from Fortinbras, the son of the late king of Norway. Unbeknownst to his uncle (the current king of Norway), young Fortinbras has been gathering troops to attack Denmark and reclaim the lands his father once lost. One night, the ghost of the late king appears to Hamlet and reveals that his seemingly accidental death was actually a murder. The ghost tells him that the murderer was none other than Claudius, the king's brother and Hamlet's uncle. Disgusted by the thought that Claudius murdered his own brother before stealing his wife and his throne, Hamlet vows revenge. He decides to feign madness in order to investigate the matter further. Hamlet begins to act erratically, even toward Ophelia, a beautiful young noblewoman and the object of Hamlet's affection. Ophelia's father, Polonius, and her brother, Laertes, warn her to stay away from Hamlet, though Polonius believes that Hamlet's recent madness must stem from his love for Ophelia. Wanting to uncover the cause of Hamlet's strange behavior, King Claudius and Queen Gertrude summon Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Hamlet's old school friends, to court. At Polonius's suggestion, he and Claudius eavesdrop on a conversation between Hamlet and Ophelia to ascertain whether it is love that has altered Hamlet's mental state. When this encounter proves inconclusive, Claudius decides to send Hamlet on a trip to England, and Polonius suggests that he attempt to eavesdrop yet again—this time on a conversation between Hamlet and his mother, Queen Gertrude. Meanwhile, inspired by the arrival of an acting troupe, Hamlet decides to have them perform a play that will mimic his father's murder. Hamlet closely watches Claudius during the murder scene, and he interprets Claudius's suspicious reaction as a confirmation of his guilt. After the play, Hamlet spies Claudius at prayer and realizes that this would be the perfect time to enact his revenge and kill him. However, he reasons that it would be too lenient to allow Claudius to go to heaven cleansed of his sins and decides that he should wait to act. As Hamlet goes to meet his mother in her chambers, Polonius conceals himself behind a tapestry to listen in on their conversation. When Hamlet hears someone behind the tapestry, he thrusts his sword through it, killing Polonius. Desperate to maintain order, Claudius decides to send Hamlet (accompanied by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern) to England at once. In secret, Claudius drafts a letter to England, instructing that Hamlet be killed immediately upon arrival. Ophelia is driven mad by the loss of her father and ultimately drowns after falling into a brook. En route to England, Hamlet discovers Claudius's treacherous plot and manages to return to Denmark. Enraged by the untimely deaths of his father and sister, young Laertes returns to court, and Claudius persuades Laertes to help get rid of Hamlet once and for all. When Hamlet returns to Elsinore, Claudius arranges a public fencing match between Hamlet and Laertes. Unbeknownst to Hamlet, Laertes's fencing sword has been secretly sharpened and poisoned, ensuring that even the smallest nick will kill Hamlet. As a backup plan, Claudius has also poisoned a cup of wine to offer Hamlet should Laertes fail to wound him. During the duel, Gertrude accidentally drinks the poisoned wine intended for Hamlet. Laertes wounds Hamlet with the poisoned sword and is, in turn, wounded with it himself in the ensuing scuffle. When Gertrude suddenly drops dead from the poison, Laertes admits his and Claudius's treacherous plot to Hamlet. Enraged, Hamlet kills Claudius by stabbing him with the poisoned sword and forcing him to drink the remaining poisoned wine. Laertes dies after asking for Hamlet's forgiveness. Beginning to succumb to the poison himself, Hamlet begs his friend Horatio to live and tell the world what has happened here. As young Fortinbras's troops approach the castle, Hamlet says that Fortinbras should be made king. Hamlet dies just before Fortinbras enters the room, which is now littered with the bodies of the royal family. Horatio promises to explain the events that have led to this tragedy, and Fortinbras orders that Hamlet's body be carried away with dignity.

Hamlet William Shakespeare

Heart of Darkness tells the story of Marlow, a sailor, who describes to his shipmates the unusual experience he had traveling upriver in the Congo and the effect it had upon him. Hired by a Continental trading company as a steamboat captain between the outer stations and the interior, Marlow's primary mission was to visit and, if necessary, retrieve the mysterious Kurtz, an extraordinarily successful agent who had lost contact and reportedly fallen ill. Marlow tells the men that the entire journey was a sort of dream--lacking any real-world logic, deeply affecting, and difficult to describe in its details. The trip took several months, occurring in stages--a trip along the coast, an overland trek to the Central Station, and finally the riverboat journey to Kurtz's outpost. During the entire expedition Marlow was struck by the mistreatment of natives by the Company and its agents, the preponderance of disease, the intimidating presence of the jungle, and the absurdness of the colonial operation carrying on for a relatively small amount of ivory. He began hearing of Kurtz as soon as he arrived, and everything he heard--of Kurtz's eloquence, of his high moral principles, of his effectiveness, of his influence in the Company--aroused Marlow's interest. The idea of Kurtz began to obsess Marlow. When they arrived at his station, they found he had set himself up as a sort of god to the natives he had once wanted to civilize; he had become more savage than even the natives, taking part in bizarre rites and using violence against the locals to inspire fear and obtain more ivory. Against his wishes, Kurtz was taken back by Marlow and the other whites; his illness overcame him on the return trip, and he died. His last words--"The horror! The horror!"--were his realization of the depths to which he had sunk from his noble goals. He entrusted Marlow before his death with his papers, including an article he had written on bringing enlightenment and progress to the natives of the Congo. As evidence of Kurtz's decay, however, was the postscript he'd scribbled at the end of this article: "Exterminate all the brutes!". Marlow was shaken by his encounter with Kurtz, who had, because of his isolation, been exposed to the darkness within himself and had gone mad as a result. When back in Europe, Marlow contacted Kurtz's fiancé but could not reveal to her the terrifying last words. Ultimately, Marlow tells the story of how when the thin shell of civilization has fallen away, the corruption and evil within can surface. Seeing the darkness lingering immediately under the surface of a man who thought himself moral forever affected Marlow as a deep nightmare would. As Marlow finishes his story, trailing off as he reaches the lie about Kurtz's last words, the sky has grown dark.

Heart of Darkness Conrad

Dante spends a horrific night, the eve of Good Friday 1300, in a forest. The date is significant because the chronology of Dante's journey through Hell mirrors Christ's decent into Hell after his crucifixion. In the morning, he tries to scale a mountain but is impeded by a lion, a wolf, and a leopard. The spirit of the poet Virgil appears and offers to take him by another path to the top of the mountain. The way leads first through Hell but ends in Paradise. Dante accepts this journey to enlightenment in spite of self-doubt and fear. As they approach the entrance to Hell, Virgil and Dante see a crowd of people hurrying along the banks of the river Asheron. Wasps torment them continually. Virgil tells Dante these are the souls who neither sinned nor worshipped God, and so are rejected by both Heaven and Hell. They are ferried across the river by Charon and meet the noble heathen in a castle on the first ring of the inverted subterranean cone, which is Hell. These souls are not punished except by exclusion from Paradise. This is Virgil's eternal home. The second ring is guarded by Minos and is the first ring of four in which souls are punished for indulgence of natural desires. In the second ring, the souls of the lustful are blown about by ceaseless winds, as in life they were buffeted unreasoningly by passion. In the third circle, the poets find the gluttons soaked by heavy rain and clawed by the three-head dog Cerberus. They encounter a soul from Dante's city, Florence, who predicts that one of the two warring factions in that city will conquer the other. Continuing downwards, the poets meet Pluto, the Greek god of wealth, at the entrance to the fourth ring, which holds both the squanders of wealth and the greedy. These souls are condemned to roll heavy weights back and forth for eternity. The fourth ring is the prison of the wrathful, those who indulged their anger, and the sullen, those who indulged their ill humor. The wrathful fight in the mud of the marsh called the Styx and the sullen gurgle completely covered in the mud. Dante and Virgil are ferried across the fifth circle to the entrance of the walled City of Dis, but a group of fallen angels deny them entry. A messenger from heaven arrives and opens the door for them, but not before the Furies threaten to turn Dante into stone with the head of Medusa. Within the city walls is a plain filled with flaming open tombs. The souls of heretics, Christians who denied certain doctrines of the Church, are stacked within these tombs. Dante converses with the soul of a political rival of his family, and is disturbed by his prediction that Dante will be exiled from his city, but Virgil reassures him that he shall hear the whole of his future when he reached Paradise. The pilgrims pause at the cliff that divides the sixth circle from those below, and Virgil gives an overview of the classes of sinners held in the three final rings below. The first circle is reserved for the violent and divided into three rounds: violence toward God, towards one's self, and towards one's neighbor. The second circle nests hypocrisy, flattery, sorcerers, cheating, theft, simony, and pandering. The third and last circle of the City of Dis holds traitors. After this introduction, they proceed down into the seventh circle. Passing the Minotaur, they view a river of blood in which men, who committed acts of violence towards their fellowmen, are sunk at varying depths according to their guilt. Centaurs armed with arrows guard them, one of which guides the poets to a ford in the river. They cross and find themselves in a mystical wood. Here men who committed suicide are transformed into trees and tormented by Harpies who tear their leaves. At the edge of the wood lies a great plain of fiery sand. Blasphemers, sodomites, and usurers are punished here by the blistering heat. The poets meet a reptilian monster with a human face, called Geryon, guarding the usurers and have to ride upon its back down a watery vortex in order to reach the eighth circle that holds the fraudulent. The eighth circle, Malebolge (evil pouches), is divided into ten rounds, which are like ten fortified trenches of a fortress. The poets pass through the circle along footpaths that bridge the chasms. In the first chasm, former seducers are lashed while marching. In the second, flatterers covered in excrement and enveloped in vile vapors gasp and beat themselves. The third round holds those who sold spiritual things. Here Dante meets a former Pope, imprisoned upside-down in a stone cylinder with flames licking the soles of his feet. The fourth round holds magicians who attempted to see the future. They weep and march backwards because their heads have been twisted around backwards. The fifth chasm holds those who used their public office or authority to make money. They boil in pitch and are attached by hook wielding demons when they rise above the surface. One of the demons informs Virgil that the next bridge is in ruins and outfits the pilgrims with an escort of unruly demons to take them to the next bridge further along the chasm wall. Along the way the demons are distracted by a wily soul and end up fighting among themselves while the poets continue. Easily angered the demons pursue the pair who deem it wise to plunge into the sixth chasm rather than await their escort. There they get an up-close view of the hypocrites trudging along in leaden cloaks gilded on the outside. Climbing out of the chasm they reach the seventh chasm, which holds thieves. The thieves are enveloped in serpents and some morph in between human and reptilian form. The eighth chasm holds evil counselors, including Ulysses, who are individually enveloped in flames. The ninth chasm holds those who willingly created division among other people. They are mutilated in various ways symbolic of their particular sins. The tenth and final chasm of the eighth circle holds the falsifiers, who are afflicted by various diseases. The ninth circle of Hell is a well surrounded by giants embedded to the waist in its wall. Nimrod who led the building of the tower of Babylon is the first they encounter. The mythological giant, Antæus, lifts the two poets and sets them down in the frozen marsh at the center of the well. The circle of the traitors is divided into three rounds: betrayal of one's family, betrayal of one's country, betrayal of hospitality, and betrayal of lords or benefactors. All are frozen into the marsh. They meet various infamous Italians who Dante treats mercilessly, and finally they arrive face to face with Satan, who is a massive three-faced, winged monster frozen breast deep in the center of Hell. In each of his three hideous mouths he chews an archetypal betrayer of Church or the Empire. Judas, Brutus, and Cassius hold these places of honor in Hell. After a brief but memorable pause, Virgil takes Dante in his arms and climbs down Satan's back emerging on the other side of the center of the earth, which marks their exit from Hell. It is now the dawn of Holy Saturday. To reach the surface of the earth the two poets follow the path of the river Lethe, which at the end offers a view of the beauties of Heaven.

Inferno Dante

Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is the story of a young black man whose name the reader never learns. He is a young man from the South who is haunted by his grandfather's deathbed warning against conforming to the wishes of white people because the young man sees that as the way to be successful. The narrator's first real glimpse at the cruel manipulation of white people comes when he is invited to the local men's club to read the speech he prepared for his high school graduation. He gives the speech and is rewarded with a briefcase and a scholarship to a black college, but only after he endures the humiliation of performing for the white men there. He and several black boys are forced to box each other and then scramble around a rug pulsing with electric current to grab coins while the white men laugh at their pain. The narrator goes off to college and determines to model himself after Dr. Bledsoe, the college's dean and a successful black man who is well respected in his community and his field. Unfortunately, the narrator makes a dreadful mistake when he is chauffeuring Mr. Norton, a wealthy white man who donates a great deal of money to the college. He inadvertently reveals the seedier side of the black race by allowing the man to stop and speak with Joe Trueblood, a poor, black man ostracized from the black community because he got his own daughter pregnant. After the upsetting encounter with Trueblood, the white man is feeling weak and needs a drink, so the young man takes him to the closest place he can think of, the local black bar and brothel. After a disastrous encounter with a mentally altered war veteran, the narrator takes Mr. Norton back to campus. Dr. Bledsoe is so furious with the narrator's indiscretion and stupidity that he expels him. Dr. Bledsoe offers him some hope, however, by offering to write him several letters of recommendation to deliver to the school's trustees in New York. The dean tells the young man that if he makes enough money for tuition, he can come back to school. The young man sets out for the city unaware that the letters of recommendation are really a hoax just to get him quietly away from the school. Once he finds out about the letters, he is so broke that he takes a job in a paint factory where he has an accident. He wakes up in the factory hospital where they are doing painful experiments on him that leave him disoriented. He recovers somewhat and is released only to dump a spittoon on some man whom he mistakes for Dr. Bledsoe at his boarding house. After that incident, he moves into a room in a kindly woman's apartment and stays there without a job until he gets caught up with the Communist party. They give him a position as a speaker in Harlem and he works with them until he becomes so disillusioned by their politics and betrayal that he gets caught up in a riot in Harlem and falls into a manhole. He builds himself a room in the cellar of an all-white building and hibernates there contemplating his relationship to reality and the invisibility he feels is caused by his race. He lives in that hole until he runs into Mr. Norton one day in the subway and realizes that he will no longer conform to white expectations of him. Instead, he will reclaim his humanity by being who he is and no longer struggling to change that.

Invisible Man Ellison

Ivanhoe takes place about a hundred years after the Battle of Hastings, which gave the Normans rule over the Saxons in England. The brave and respected King Richard of England became prisoner while fighting the Crusades abroad. In his absence, the nobles made their weaker neighbors tenants, and Richard's brother John oversaw it all in his attempt to take the throne. The Saxon noble Cedric, the father of Ivanhoe, is a strong supporter of Saxon heritage and rights. He threw out his son when he fell in love with Cedric's ward, the Lady Rowena. Cedric hoped to marry her to Athelstane, thus forming a powerful Saxon alliance. Ivanhoe goes to fight with King Richard, and is next seen as the masked victor at a tournament. He is wounded during the tournament, but the Jewess Rebecca and her father Isaac take him in. Rebecca is a practicing healer, and she takes good care of him. She also falls in love with him, but resists her urges. Among Prince John's men are Maurice De Bracy, Front-de-Boeuf, and Brian de Bois-Guilbert. De Bracy likes Lady Rowena, so he and his men take her and her family prisoner. Bois-Guilbert likes Rebecca, and so he aids De Bracy in this evil endeavor. They take the women, their families, and the wounded Ivanhoe to Front-de-Boeuf's castle. King Richard also makes an appearance at the tournament, dressed in disguise. He meets up with Friar Tuck and Robin Hood's men, and he aids them in their plan to take the castle and free the prisoners. They win the castle, which an old enemy of Front-de-Boeuf's burns to the ground. Front-de-Boeuf dies, De Bracy is taken prisoner, and Bois-Guilbert escapes with Rebecca. During a scuffle over Rebecca (whom he mistakes for Rowena), Athelstane is killed. Bois-Guilbert is a member of the religious order of Templars, and he takes Rebecca to their headquarters. Unfortunately, the group's Grand Master returns, and is very angry about the Templar's sinful behavior. He accuses Rebecca of sorcery, and sentences her to death. Her only hope is that a knight will challenge the Templars and Bois-Guilbert, who has agreed to testify and fight opposite her cause. Rebecca gets a message out to Ivanhoe, who is attending Athelstane's funeral. King Richard patches things up with Ivanhoe and his father Cedric, and just after Cedric agrees Ivanhoe and Rowena may marry, Athelstane appears. He was not dead, but nearly buried alive by priests greedy for the funeral money. Fortunately for Ivanhoe, Athelstane does not fight for Rowena; he wishes the couple nothing but the best. Shortly after, Ivanhoe leaves to save Rebecca. At the Templars' headquarters, Ivanhoe fights Bois-Guilbert. The Templar dies, not from battle, but from his own wild passions. Rebecca is free, and Ivanhoe and Rowena marry. Rebecca expresses her gratitude to the happy Lady Ivanhoe before leaving with her father for Grenada. Ivanhoe lives a happy life with his wife, and goes on to do more of the King's work. Richard arrests many of Prince John's men, and has some put to death. He does nothing to his brother, who eventually comes into power when King Richard dies in battle.

Ivanhoe Scott

King Lear, the aging King of Britain, determines to split his domain evenly between his three daughters: Goneril, Regan, and the young Cordelia. Goneril, when asked, gushes her protestations of love for her father; Regan follows with even more flattery. Cordelia, however, is sincere in her love of Lear, and she declines to pander to him—she simply says she loves him the way a daughter should love her father. Lear is put off by this lack of pomp and disinherits her, although the King of France says that he would be proud to marry her. When one of his lords, Kent, tries to reason with him, Lear banishes him from the kingdom. Also introduced are Gloucester's two sons, Edgar and Edmund. Edmund is Gloucester's bastard, and intends to gain his father's inheritance by tricking him into thinking that Edgar is plotting to murder him. Edgar disguises himself as a madman and goes into hiding. Lear is soon to find out how much love Goneril and Regan actually have for him. Both daughters treat him miserably when he stays with them, and Lear is transformed from a powerful king to an impotent old man with only Kent (who has disguised himself and disobeyed Lear's decree of banishment) and a Fool to accompany him. In the middle of the play, Lear is driven mad by his grief at seeing the true nature of his daughters. On a lonely heath, he rages at a storm. There they encounter Edgar, in his disguise as Tom o' Bedlam. Gloucester helps them, providing shelter and sending them to Dover to meet Cordelia and the French king, who has landed an army in England to come to Lear's aid. For his succor to Lear, Gloucester is betrayed by Edmund and has his eyes put out by Cornwall. However, a servant comes to his aid and manages to deliver a fatal wound to Cornwall before being slain by Regan. In his poor, blind state, Gloucester encounters Edgar (still disguised). Edgar does not yet reveal himself but leads his father toward Dover. In the meantime, Albany, husband of Goneril, has voiced his displeasure at the treatment of Lear and Gloucester. With Regan becoming a widow, and Goneril seeing her husband as a coward, both women turn their attentions to Edmund as a prospective love interest. While this intrigue is going on, the English and French armies meet on the battlefield; the English win the day. When Lear and Cordelia are taken captive, Edmund gives an order that they be hanged, unbeknownst to Albany. Edgar encounters Edmund, and the two duel, with Edgar giving Edmund a mortal wound. Word also comes that Regan and Goneril are dead; Goneril poisoned Regan to win Edmund from her, then killed herself upon Edmund's defeat. Knowing he is about to die, Edmund repents and reveals his plots—including the impending deaths of Lear and Cordelia. His repentance will go for naught. Lear enters, bearing Cordelia's body. Overcome by his sorrow, Lear collapses and dies beside his lone loving daughter. Gloucester is dead as well, having been reconciled at the last with Edgar. Kent and Edgar depart, leaving Albany to rule Britain.

King Lear William Shakespeare

The story begins at Christmas time. The March girls, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, are unhappy because they have agreed to give up their Christmas presents. They have done this because it is war time, and, since their father is in the war, they have no means of support and very little money. The girls have a little money and decide to all buy their mother presents instead of buying things for themselves. On Christmas, the girls give their large breakfast to some needy neighbors, the Hummels. This act of kindness is noticed by their wealthy neighbor, James Laurence, who sends them a large dinner. On Christmas afternoon, the girls put on a play, written by Jo and put together with various props found around the house, for an audience of girls. Jo and Meg are invited to a party at the Gardiners' house. They dress up in their best and attend. Jo, hiding in an alcove, meets Laurie, James Laurence's grandson. They talk and become friends. Meg sprains her ankle and Laurie brings the girls home in his carriage. After the holidays, the girls go back to their various duties. Meg is a governess. Jo is a companion for Aunt March. Beth studies and home and helps with the housekeeping. Amy goes to school. Jo decides one day that Laurie is kept inside his house more than a boy should be. She throws a snowball at his window and gets his attention; he invites her over. She meets his grandfather, who realizes that Laurie is lonely. The Marches and the Laurences become good friends. Beth begins going to the Laurences' to play the piano there. She makes Mr. Laurence a pair of slippers to thank him and he gives her a little piano of her own as a gift. At school, Amy brings some pickled limes to trade with other girls and is caught by the teacher. He hits her hands and has her stand in front of the class. She goes home at recess and her mother agrees that she doesn't need to go back, but says that she disobeyed the rules by having the limes in class. One Saturday, Meg and Jo go to a play. Amy is very upset that she is not invited. Jo is rude to her about it, so, when they have gone, Amy burns the book that Jo has been writing. Jo discovers this the next day and is very upset. She won't forgive Amy. Jo and Laurie go ice skating and Amy wants to go with them, so she follows them. Jo refuses to pay attention to her and skates away. Amy skates onto the ice and hits a thin patch. She falls through. Jo panics, and Laurie helps pull Amy out of the water; they get her home. Jo forgives Amy for burning her manuscript. Meg is invited to stay with the Moffats for two weeks. She spends the time shopping, calling, and riding with the other guests. The Moffats have a party, and because Meg's dress is plain the girls offer her one of their dresses, then dress her up fashionably. At the party, Laurie sees her and disapproves of her appearance. She tells him not to tell her family. When she gets home, she confesses to her mother about the party and admits that it wasn't right for her, even though it was nice to be complimented on the way she looked. At this point, readers discover that the girls have secret society called the Pickwick Club, which puts out a paper each week. When Laurie gives them the gift of a mailbox set up between their yards to send letters and gifts to each other, Jo convinces her sisters to allow him into the club. It is now summer, and the girls have a little vacation from their everyday duties. They decide to try an experiment: they will also take a vacation from housework. After a week has passed they cannot take it any more, and they decide it is no fun to play all the time. Laurie has some English friends visiting him. He invites the girls to Camp Laurence, a picnic with food, croquet and games. One day when Laurie is bored he sees the March sisters going into the woods. He follows them and finds that they are having a meeting of the Busy Bee society, a club in which they each have to keep busy while they sit outdoors. Laurie joins them, and they talk about what they each want to do some day. They decide to meet in ten years to see if they got their wishes. Jo submits some stories to a local newspaper They are published. She tells Laurie about this; in return he tells Jo that his tutor, Mr. Brooke, has kept one of Meg's gloves because he has a crush on her. In the fall, a telegram comes that tells the family their father is sick in a Washington hospital. Their mother goes to him, escorted by Mr. Brooke. The girls take care of the house while their mother is gone, but they start to get lazy. Because no one else is willing, Beth takes the needed food to the Hummels. Their baby has scarlet fever and dies in her arms while she is there. She comes home sick, having caught the fever from the baby. Because Amy has not yet had scarlet fever, she is sent to Aunt March's while Beth is sick. Beth has a high fever. The family at first doesn't contact their mother about it, but Beth gets so bad that the doctor advises them to do so. Just before she returns, the fever breaks. While their mother has been in Washington, Mr. Brooke has told her and the girls' father about his feelings for Meg, but they agree she is too young to marry. Laurie sends Meg a few fake love letters from Mr. Brooke, and Meg is upset by them. Their mother make Laurie apologize. Beth health improves, as does that of her father. Christmas arrives, and Mr. March comes home to the family. Soon after all of this, Mr. Brooke speaks to Meg about marriage; she says she isn't interested. Just at that moment, Aunt March comes in and forbids Meg to marry Mr. Brooke because he is poor. Because of this, Meg agrees to marry Mr. Brooke after all. Time passes. Mr. March becomes a minister, and John (Mr. Brooke) goes to war briefly, then returns. Amy becomes Aunt March's new companion Jo begins to publish stories in the newspaper every week. John gets a bookkeeping job and a house; he and Meg are married in a simple ceremony at the Marchs' home. Amy has been working on her drawing and has been improving. She invites her drawing class to her house, but none of them show up. She is very disappointed. Jo wins a writing contest. She receives one hundred dollars and uses it to send her mother and Beth to the seaside for a vacation. Jo begins writing to help her family financially, and she publishes her first novel. Unfortunately, it is not very good. Meg tries to be a good wife. She goes through several cooking disasters, including trying to make jam. She also struggles with money: she wants more things than she has or can afford, and at one point she buys a dress she cannot afford. She sells it and buys her husband a new coat instead to cover her mistake. Meg is pregnant, then gives birth to twins, Daisy and Demi. Amy drags Jo out of the house to visit several friends. Jo is in a bad mood and behaves poorly, which upsets Amy. Their last visit is to Aunt March, who notes how pleasant Amy is, and how rough Jo is. There is a fair. Amy is asked to sit at the art table, but because of the jealousy of one of the other girls she is later asked to sit at the floral table instead. She takes the things she made for the fair with her when she moves from the art table to the floral table, but she later decides to do the kind thing and replace her wares on the art table. Jo has Laurie and her friends buy all the flowers at Amy's table, then has them buy all the vases at the art table, as well. Because of her sweetness, Amy is asked to go abroad with Aunt Carroll. She does. They tour Europe. While there, Amy runs into Laurie's English friends and becomes friends with them. At home, Mrs. March is worried about Beth, who doesn't seem as happy as usual. Jo tries to find out what is wrong. She decides that Beth is in love with Laurie, then realizes that Laurie loves her, not Beth. Once she understands Laurie's feelings for her, Jo decides to go to New York as a governess in order to be out of the way for a while. In New York, Jo meets Professor Bhaer, a kindly German man. She writes for a newspaper until she finds out that Bhaer disapproves of her sensation stories, at which point she stops writing. Laurie graduates from college and Jo leaves New York to go back home. Laurie asks Jo to marry him, but Jo turns him down, explaining that she does not love him. Laurie is heartbroken and goes to Europe with his grandfather in order to recover. Jo notices that Beth doesn't look very well. She takes her to the seaside for a vacation. She realizes that Beth is getting weaker and that she will not live long. Beth is relieved that Jo knows this because she had known it herself for a while. In France, Laurie and Amy meet again. They begin spending time together. Amy notices there is a change in Laurie, but she can't figure out what it is. She discovers that Jo has turned down his offer of marriage. She tells him to take it like a man. He leaves her to go back to his grandfather, and he begins spending time on his music again. Meg becomes so absorbed in her children that she doesn't spend enough time with her husband. Because he is lonely at home, Mr. Brooke begins spending evenings at a friend's house. Recognizing his need, Meg begins to include her husband more in taking care of the children and makes an effort to spend time with him. The March family accepts that Beth is going to die, and they make things as comfortable as possible. She dies, and Jo falls into a depression. She doesn't know what to do, but her mother tells her to write. Jo writes a story from the heart, which is so good that her father publishes it for her. The story gets a great deal of attention, and Jo writes more like it. When Laurie hears of Beth's death, he goes to Amy to comfort her. The two begin spending time together; they eventually fall in love. They marry in order for Amy to be allowed to go home with Laurie, and they surprise the family with this news when they arrive. Jo wonders if she will ever marry. Professor Bhaer unexpectedly makes a visit and stays for some time. The March family grows fond of him. They notice the change in Jo when the Professor is around. Soon the two are engaged. The Professor does not have money for marriage yet, however. He goes out west for a year to teach and earn money. Aunt March dies, leaving her house to Jo and thus making it possible for her and the Professor to marry. Jo starts a school for boys in the large house. At the end of the book, there is an apple picking festival at Jo's house. The March family reflects on the dreams they had for themselves when they were young and decide that everything has turned out for the best.

Little Women Alcott

Othello, a Moorish general of Venice, has promoted Cassio as his lieutenant; Iago, who was hoping for the promotion himself, makes plots against both Cassio and Othello to exact revenge. Othello has secretly married Desdemona, the beautiful daughter of Venetian senator Brabantio, and Iago determines to use Desdemona as the means of his revenge. When Othello is posted to Cyprus by the Duke of Venice, Iago escorts Desdemona there to meet him, taking along his own wife, Emilia. When they've arrived in Cyprus, Iago sets his machinations to motion. He tricks Cassio into getting drunk, then has Roderigo—a former suitor of Desdemona whom Iago has convinced to aid him with the hope of winning Desdemona back—pick a fight with Cassio that ends in Cassio's arrest. Because of this, Cassio is demoted. Then Iago has Cassio visit Desdemona, saying that an appeal to her might do well to convince Othello to reinstate him. This accomplished, Iago goes straightaway to Othello so that he can lead him to where Desdemona and Cassio are talking. As Iago and Othello view the scene, Iago plants seeds of doubt and jealousy in Othello's mind concerning Desdemona's fidelity. The scenario Iago suggests is that Cassio and Desdemona are having an affair. Later, fortune literally drops Desdemona's handkerchief into Iago's hand; he gets the handkerchief from Emilia, who discovered it, plants the handkerchief in Cassio's room, and then tells Othello that he saw Cassio with it. When Othello asks Desdemona about the handkerchief, she tells him that it was lost (which is the truth as she knows it). Cassio, meanwhile, has given the handkerchief to a courtesan with whom he is intimate. Iago manipulates a conversation with Cassio about his courtesan to make it appear to Othello—who is eavesdropping at the behest of Iago—that Cassio is talking about Desdemona. His smoldering rage now beginning to bubble over, Othello tells Iago to kill Cassio and then angrily confronts Desdemona. In spite of Desdemona's protests of innocence (backed up by Iago's wife, Emilia), Othello is now convinced of her infidelity with Cassio. Iago, meanwhile, has Roderigo attempt to murder Cassio; when Roderigo fails to do more than wound the soldier, Iago slays him so that Roderigo can't implicate him in the affair. Othello strangles Desdemona in her bed. When Emilia discovers the crime, she decries the Moor as a villain and at first refuses to believe that Iago has so evilly manipulated Othello. However, Iago's appearance and subsequent answers lead Emilia to confront the fact that her husband is responsible for this tragedy. When Iago cannot keep Emilia from telling the truth about the handkerchief, he stabs her and attempts to escape; not only is he captured, but letters found on Roderigo's body thoroughly implicate Iago as the treacherous villain that he is. Faced with the shame of having murdered an innocent Desdemona, Othello stabs himself in front of Cassio and dies on Desdemona's bed, beside her.

Othello William Shakespeare

the main character being the stage manager of the theater who directly addresses the crowd. There will often be interactive elements to productions, with the manager taking questions from the audience. Known for being performed on a mostly bare stage and relying entirely on the performers to get across the setting and events, it is considered a masterpiece of minimalist theater. Renowned for its exploration of themes, including life, love, mortality, personal choices, and what it truly means to be an American, Our Town has been consistently staged since its 1938 debut in Princeton, New Jersey. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1938, and a revival won both the Drama Desk Award and the Tony Award in 1989. Film, radio, and opera adaptations have also been staged. Our Town is divided into three acts. The first act, titled "Daily Life," begins with the stage manager introducing the audience to the small town Grover's Corners, New Hampshire. As the people begin their day, the manager introduces the residents. Professor Willard, a long-winded local lecturer, speaks to the audience about the town's long history. The town's doctor, Frank "Doc" Gibbs, gets the newspaper from paperboy Joe Crowell, while milkman Howie Newsome makes his daily deliveries. The two main characters, Emily Webb and George Gibbs, are introduced in their respective homes as they start the day, interact with their families, and head off to school. The stage manager emphasizes that this is a beautifully simple morning, and the residents of Grover's Corners don't have a care in the world. Act two, "Love and Marriage," flashes forward three years. George and Emily are now engaged and their wedding day is finally here. Everyone is feeling the stress of the preparations. It's a rainy day, and Howie Newsome is delivering milk again. Si Crowell, Joe's younger brother and the new paperboy, is talking about how George could have been a professional ballplayer if he had chosen not to get married. George pays an awkward visit to his future in-laws. The Stage Manager then takes the audience back a year, as Emily and George discuss their future at the end of their junior year of high school. Emily confronts George about his pride, and as the two share an ice cream soda, they try to figure out if their plans for the future can work together. George agrees to turn his back on his original plans to go to college and play baseball, and instead go to work, and eventually take over, his uncle's farm. In the present, both George and Emily are consumed with doubts about the wedding, confessing their cold feet to George's mother and Emily's father respectively. However, their parents are able to calm them down, and soon George and Emily meet at the altar and are happily married. Act three, "Death and Dying," picks up nine years later. The Stage Manager opens with an extended monologue talking about mortality and eternity, and focuses the audience's attention on the cemetery outside of town. In the nine years that have passed, several characters have passed on. They include George's mother, who died of pneumonia while traveling, and Emily's younger brother Wally, who died of appendicitis while camping. Choir director Simon Stinson struggled with alcoholism and eventually committed suicide, while local gossip Louisa Soames is gone as well. Joe Stoddard, the town undertaker, is introduced, as is Sam Craig, a young man who is in town for a cousin's funeral. That cousin is revealed to be Emily, who died in childbirth having her second child with George. The funeral is held, and Emily steps out on stage to join the other dead. Mrs. Gibbs urges her to let go of her life on Earth and to move on with them, but she ignores the warnings and returns to Earth to relive one perfect day—her twelfth birthday. Reliving the memory from beyond turns out to be extremely painful; she realizes that every moment of life must be treasured. She asks the Stage Manager if anyone truly understands the value of life while they're alive, and he says that perhaps only the saints and poets do. Emily returns to her grave next to her mother-in-law and watches as George weeps over the grave. The Stage Manager concludes the play by wishing the audience a good night.

Our Town Thornton Wilder

Elizabeth Bennet is a country gentleman's daughter in 19th Century England. She is one of five daughters, a plight that her father bears as best he can with common sense and a general disinterest in the silliness of his daughters. Elizabeth is his favorite because of her level-headed approach to life when his own wife's greatest concern is getting her daughters married off to well-established gentlemen. Only Jane, Elizabeth's older sister, is nearly as sensible and practical as Elizabeth, but Jane is also the beauty of the family, and therefore, Mrs. Bennet's highest hope for a good match. When Mr. Bingley, a young gentleman of London, takes a country estate near to the Bennet's home, Mrs. Bennet begins her match-making schemes without any trace of subtlety or dignity. Despite Mrs. Bennet's embarassing interference, Mr. Bingley and Jane become fond of one another. Mr. Darcy, who has accompanied Bingley to the country, begins his acquaintance with Elizabeth, her family, and their neighbors with smug condescension and proud distaste for the all of the country people. Elizabeth, learning of his dislike, makes it a point to match his disgust with her own venom. She also hears from a soldier that she has a fondness for that Darcy has misused the man. Without thinking through the story, Elizabeth immediately seizes upon it as another, more concrete reason to hate Mr. Darcy. She contradicts and argues with Darcy each time they meet, but somewhere along the way he begins to like Elizabeth. When Bingley leaves the countryside suddenly and makes no attempts to contact Jane anymore, the young woman is heartbroken. Elizabeth, who had thought well of Bingley, believes that there is something amiss in the way that he left Jane in the lurch. Only when Elizabeth goes to visit her friend at the estate of Darcy's aunt does the mystery begin to unfold. After several encounters with Mr. Darcy while visiting her friend, Elizabeth is shocked when Darcy proposes to her. Elizabeth refuses him and questions him about the way that he misused her soldier friend and his undoubted role in the way that Bingley abandoned Jane. Darcy writes a letter to explain himself, and Elizabeth is embarrassed to learn that she had been mislead about Darcy's character. Had she known the truth, she would have loved Darcy as he loved her. Darcy leaves that part of the country before she can sort out her feelings and make amends with him. Then she meets him again when she is touring the gardens of his estate with her aunt and uncle. Darcy treats her with kindness and she believes he may still love her, but before anything can be done about it, she learns that one of her younger sisters has shacked up with the very soldier who mislead Elizabeth and the rest of her family about Mr. Darcy. Elizabeth returns home immediately. When the indignity of her sister's shot-gun wedding is straightened out, Elizabeth is surprised that Darcy returns to the country with Bingley. She expected that the shame of her sister's actions had ruined any chances of a relationship with Mr. Darcy, or Jane and Bingley. Elizabeth learns from her aunt that Darcy did a great part to help get her younger sister properly married to the infamous soldier. Jane and Bingley sort out the misunderstanding that drove him away before and get engaged. Then Elizabeth and Darcy work out their misunderstandings and agree to marry.

Pride & Prejudice Jane Austen

One rainy evening in London, two gentlewomen, a mother and a daughter, are waiting for Freddy, the son and brother of the pair, to hail a taxi. They're standing under the shelter of a portico crowded with people when Freddy carelessly bumps into a flower girl. The girl attempts to get the mother to buy the flowers her son has damaged, and is successful. She then tries to sell her flowers to another gentleman, when someone in the crowd warns her that a man is taking notes on what she has been saying. She becomes hysterical, believing the man wrongly suspects her of prostitution, but it is discovered that he is merely a phonetician taking down her accent in phonetic script. He demonstrates that he can tell where any man in England was born just by hearing his accent. The gentleman the flower girl originally propositioned introduces himself to the phonetician as Colonel Pickering, an expert in Indian dialects. The notetaker reveals himself to be Henry Higgins, author of the Universal Grammar and professional language tutor. They part together for dinner, after Higgins throws a generous handful of coins to the miserable flower girl. The next morning, Higgins is showing Pickering his laboratory when the flower girl arrives at his house. She announces that she want to take English lessons in order to speak well enough to work in a shop. The two phoneticians are shocked but amused by her proposition, and Pickering bets Higgins that he cannot transform the flower girl, Eliza, into a convincing duchess in six months. Higgins decides to take the bet and persuades the ruffled Eliza to agree to it. While Mrs. Pearce, Higgins's house servant, takes Eliza to her room and gives her a bath, Eliza's father, Alfred Doolittle, arrives. Higgins guesses that Doolittle has come to blackmail him in some way, and tells Doolittle to take his daughter back. Doolittle does not want his daughter back; he just wants a little money. Higgins suggests that it is immoral to pay for a person, and Doolittle replies saying middle class morality is only an excuse to never give money to the poor. Higgins is amused and gives him some money. Eliza begins her lessons the next day, and she is tutored in the language and manners of a gentlewoman for the next six months. Eliza's first public test takes place at Higgins's mother's house. Eliza has been instructed only to speak about health and the weather, but Higgins is nervous and in a bad humor. He succeeds in insulting the guests and worrying his mother before Eliza even arrives. The guests happen to be the same gentlewoman, who bought a flower from Eliza during the rainstorm, and her daughter and son. Eliza makes quite a good impression, as her pronunciation and dress are perfect; however, when she tells an off-color story about her family Higgins realizes that she has a lot more to learn. Freddy, the son, is taken with Eliza's beauty and her peculiar ways. Clara, the daughter, is eager to master Eliza's shocking manners, which Higgins explains are in vogue. When all the company leaves, Higgins and Pickering gush over how fun their project with Eliza has been. Mrs. Higgins warns them that they must consider what to do with Eliza when the game is over. At the end of the six-month period, Higgins and Pickering take Eliza to an Embassy ball. The Ambassador's wife is impressed with Eliza's perfect speech and all the guests marvel at her beauty; however, her crowning success is determined when a translator and former linguistic student of Higgins announces to the Ambassador that Eliza is a Hungarian princess. Later that evening back in Higgins's study, Pickering congratulates Higgins on his success. Higgins complains that it was a boring task that he will not repeat. Eliza is insulted, and feels that her efforts are unappreciated. She is silent but then in a fit of desperation throws Higgins's slippers at him. He is insulted and says she has nothing to complain about. She says she is leaving and gives him back a ring he previously gave to her. He leaves the room angrily, and she gets her things together and leaves the house. She meets Freddy in the street and they embrace impulsively. She decides to go to Mrs. Higgins in the morning to ask for her advice on what to do. The next morning, Higgins arrives at his mother's house in a panic. He has reported Eliza missing to the police, and seeks his mother's advice. Before she can tell him that Eliza is in the house, Mr. Doolittle arrives dressed in a wedding suit. He accuses Higgins of ruining his happiness. Doolittle has inherited three thousand pounds a year from an American philanthropist who was told by Higgins that Doolittle was the most original moralist in England. Doolittle laments the new responsibilities he must take on as a member of the middle class, including marrying his girlfriend, but says he cannot resist accepting the money. Eliza comes down and reconciles with Higgins, and they all accompany Doolittle to the wedding. Later, Eliza marries Freddy and opens a florist shop with Pickering's financial assistance.

Pygmalion Shaw

a fictional psychological portrait of a young soldier named Henry Fleming, tracing the thread of his emotions and reactions to events that transpire during an unnamed battle of the Civil War. Henry is an average farm boy from upstate New York, who dreams of the glory of battle that he has read about in school. He has enlisted in the 304th New York regiment, which fights for the Northern (Unionist) forces. The novel opens with Henry's regiment in camp by a river, where they have been for several months. Rumors of upcoming battle fly among the men but are largely unfounded, and the perpetual anticipation throws Henry into a bitter interior fight. He questions if he has the inner strength and courage to become a good soldier and is unsure whether or not it is in his realm of capability. He knows battle only through schoolbooks and soldiers' stories, and fears the possible ridicule of his peers, should he be deemed a coward by running from battle. The northern army is finally put on the move and marched across the river, where they meet with Southern (Confederate) forces. Henry's regiment is initially put in a reserve position, and he is able to witness battle before actually coming in contact with it. Finally his regiment successfully repels a charge by the enemy, and Henry feels relief and elation at his feeling of success. The enemy charges again, however, and Henry flees, in the belief that his regiment will be overrun. This sends Henry on a long day's journey along the battle lines, in which he bitterly reproaches himself for running, but at the same time tries to justify what he has done. He witnesses battle, then journeys into the surrounding woods, where he finds a decaying dead man in a clearing. Running away from the body and back to the battle, Henry takes up with the procession of wounded men trudging to the army's rear for care. There he meets his friend Jim Conklin from his regiment, who has been shot in the side. He cares for Jim with another man, called the "Tattered Soldier," until Jim dies in a field. The Tattered Soldier's repeated questions regarding Henry's supposed injuries anger and embarrass Henry until he leaves the Tattered Soldier alone to die in a field, a fact that later haunts Henry. Leaving the Tattered Soldier, Henry witnesses the charge and subsequent retreat of a Union regiment. The men retreat right through the spot from which Henry is watching the battle, and a man that he stops to ask questions about the charge hits Henry in the head with the butt of his rifle, injuring him. Having been wounded by his own comrade, Henry is only able to stumble toward the rear. He is later helped back to his depleted regiment by a cheerful soldier whose face he never sees. Back in camp, Henry meets up with another man from his regiment named Wilson. Henry senses an incredible psychological growth and maturation in Wilson since their first days in camp, and envies him. The two become great friends. The next day the battle continues, and Henry's regiment is placed on the edge of some woods and ordered to defend it. Here Henry achieves the classic valor for which he has sought; he fights so hard and courageously that both his comrades and his command look up to him. Later, while looking for water, both Henry and Wilson overhear a general speaking poorly of their regiment, saying he can spare them for a charge because they fight so poorly. This angers them, and creates in Henry the desire to show up the command. The regiment is sent in to charge for the first time, and amid heavy casualties, Henry saves the regiment's flag when the color bearer is shot. He becomes, along with Wilson, the noncommissioned leader of his regiment. The charge essentially fails at first and Henry's regiment is forced to retreat. Then however, they are charged by a Confederate regiment, and Henry's regiment repulses them, eventually taking their regimental flag. Even though the generals reproach the regiment's command for failing in the charge, Wilson and Henry are considered heroes in the classic sense, at least externally. Henry undergoes countless interior changes throughout his ordeal, which offset the externally visible accolades of courage that the others shower on him. His newfound manhood at the end of the battle is described as a strong, clearheaded confidence, a sense of self-assurance that he had never before felt in his endless internal bickering. The internal peace and calm is a far cry from what had first brought him to war - the idealistic Greek-like portrayals of valor and manhood that he had been exposed to only in books.

Red Badgeof Courage Stephen Crane

The death of Mr. Henry Dashwood's uncle opens the novel. Upon the uncle's death, Norland estate is inherited by Henry Dashwood, on the condition it should next pass to his son John and John's young son, and not to his three daughters Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret. John Dashwood is wealthy, but at Mr. Dashwood's death, the Dashwood women are left with only a small fortune. On his deathbed, Mr. Dashwood made his son promise to provide for his stepmother and stepsisters, but John is easily persuaded by his selfish wife that they should use the money for their "real" family, namely their son. He and his family move into Norland estate. Feeling like guests in what had been their home, the four Dashwood women seek a new house on their limited budget. In the interim, the family is visited by Edward Ferrars, Fanny's brother. He and Elinor get along well, and the family expects they will marry. Their courtship is interrupted by a telegram from a relative telling of a cottage they may rent in Southern England. With mixed feelings, the Dashwoods leave their home and travel to Barton Cottage. They arrive to meet the owners of Barton Park, Sir John Middleton and his wife Lady Middleton. They also meet Mrs. Jennings, Lady Middleton's mother. She likes the girls very much, as does Colonel Brandon, an older friend of the Middleton's who takes a liking to Marianne. Marianne thinks the Colonel is too old for romance. She prefers the dashing Willoughby, who assists her after she falls down a hill and injures her ankle. After carrying her home, the two would meet often and discuss their many mutual interests. People begin to suspect they will be a match, until one day Willoughby suddenly leaves Devonshire for London, upsetting everyone, Marianne most of all. Soon after Willoughby's departure, Edward Ferrars makes a belated visit to the Cottage. He seems distant, and Elinor fears he may no longer have feelings for her. After he leaves, the Dashwoods receive two new guests, the Palmers. When the Palmers leave, they are replaced by two young ladies, Ann and Lucy Steele. Sir John tells the Miss Steeles that Elinor is attached to Mr. Ferrars. When Lucy Steele asks Elinor for her confidence, Lucy reveals that she is attached to Edward Ferrars. Elinor conceals her own connection while Lucy tells her about their secret four-year engagement. Mrs. Jennings invites Elinor and Marianne to her London home. Upon arriving in London, Marianne immediately writes Willoughby, but her letters go unanswered. Elinor becomes increasingly suspicious of their engagement. When they encounter Willoughby at a party, he is cold and formal, and accompanied by another woman. Marianne writes to Willoughby the next day, and soon receives a letter from him. In it, he denies any feelings for her, apologizes for any confusion, and tells her he is engaged to another woman. This woman, they learn, has a large fortune. Marianne admits there was no formal engagement, but her love for Willoughby is clear. Marianne falls into a terrible emotional and physical sickness. Colonel Brandon reveals to Elinor how Willoughby seduced the Colonel's young foster daughter, leaving her alone, penniless, and pregnant. When Elinor repeats this story to Marianne, Willoughby's poor character is cemented in her mind. Soon after they hear of Willoughby's marriage, the two Miss Steele's arrive. John and Fanny Dashwood are also in town. John tells Elinor that Edward Ferrars is likely to be married soon, to a woman with a large fortune. When Elinor next sees Lucy, it is in the presence of Mrs. Ferrars, Edward's mother. Mrs. Ferrars, suspecting no connection between Edward and Lucy, treats Lucy wonderfully, while she coolly ignores Elinor. Mrs. Jennings has some startling news to tell Elinor. Fanny has learned of Lucy and Edward's long-standing engagement. Feeling angry and betrayed, Fanny threw the Miss Steeles out of her house. They learn from John Dashwood that Mrs. Ferrars asked Edward to end the engagement, and when he would not, she disinherited him, leaving him nearly broke. While walking in the park, Elinor runs into Ann Steele. She tells Elinor that Edward offered to end the engagement, but that Lucy was firm that it continue. Edward expects to take religious orders in his effort to support them. The next day, Elinor receives a letter from Lucy, telling her what has happened, and that though she urged Edward to end the engagement for his own sake, he would not hear of it. Elinor and Marianne plan to return to Barton Cottage, but they visit a few weeks at the Palmers' house in Cleveland first. Before leaving, Colonel Brandon tells Elinor of a parsonage on his estate that Edward could manage. With this addition of income, his marriage is likely. Shortly after arriving at Cleveland, Marianne catches a violent cold. She becomes feverish and delirious. Elinor sends Colonel Brandon to fetch her mother while she calls the doctor, and many anxious moments ensue. Willoughby arrives, anxious to explain himself. He tells Elinor he did and still does love Marianne, and was going to ask her to marry him, when his benefactress became informed of his behavior towards Colonel Brandon's foster daughter. He was dismissed, and to keep his wealthy lifestyle, he had to marry well, which he did, and now deeply regrets. He admits to Elinor that the cruel final letter written to Marianne was actually written by his wife. Mrs. Dashwood arrives with Colonel Brandon. During the ride, the Colonel revealed to her his love for Marianne, and Mrs. Dashwood hopes to have them married. When Marianne is well enough, the three return to Barton. Several days after their arrival, they learn of the marriage of Mr. Ferrars. The next day, Edward arrives at Barton. When Elinor inquires about Mrs. Ferrars, he tells her that it was his brother, not he, who wed Lucy Steele. Edward asks Elinor to marry him, and she agrees. Edward attempts to reconcile with his mother, and she gives them a little money. The two are now able to marry, and take up residence at the Colonel's parsonage. With everyone desiring it, Marianne finds herself unable to resist a marriage to Colonel Brandon. His kindness has made him more attractive to her over time. They are married, and live happily only moments away from Edward and Elinor.

Sense & Sensibility Austin

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," Charles Dickens writes in the opening lines of A Tale of Two Cities as he paints a picture of life in England and France. The year is late 1775, and Jarvis Lorry travels from London to Paris on a secret mission for his employer, Tellson's Bank. Joining him on his journey is Lucie Manette, a 17-year-old woman who is stunned to learn that her father, Doctor Alexandre Manette, is alive and has recently been released after having been secretly imprisoned in Paris for 18 years. When Mr. Lorry and Lucie arrive in Paris, they find the Doctor's former servant, Ernest Defarge, caring for him. Defarge now runs a wine-shop with his wife in the poverty-stricken quarter of Saint Antoine. Defarge takes Mr. Lorry and Lucie to the garret room where he is keeping Doctor Manette, warning them that the Doctor's years in prison have greatly changed him. Thin and pale, Doctor Manette sits at a shoemaker's bench intently making shoes. He barely responds to questions from Defarge and Mr. Lorry, but when Lucie approaches him, he remembers his wife and begins to weep. Lucie comforts him, and that night Mr. Lorry and Lucie take him to England. Five years later, the porter for Tellson's Bank, Jerry Cruncher, takes a message to Mr. Lorry who is at a courthouse. Mr. Lorry has been called as a witness for the trial of Charles Darnay, a Frenchman accused of being a spy for France and the United States. Also at the trial are Doctor Manette and Lucie, who are witnesses for the prosecution. Doctor Manette has fully recovered and has formed a close bond with his daughter. If found guilty of treason, Darnay will suffer a gruesome death, and the testimony of an acquaintance, John Barsad, and a former servant, Roger Cly, seems sure to result in a guilty verdict. Questions from Darnay's attorney, Mr. Stryver, indicate that Cly and Barsad are the real spies, but the turning point in the trial occurs when Sydney Carton, Stryver's assistant, points out that Carton and Darnay look alike enough to be doubles. This revelation throws into doubt a positive identification of Darnay as the person seen passing secrets, and the court acquits Darnay. After the trial, Darnay, Carton, and Stryver begin spending time at the Manette home, obviously attracted to Lucie's beauty and kind nature. Stryver decides to propose to her, but is dissuaded by Mr. Lorry. Carton confesses his love to Lucie, but does not propose, knowing that his drunken and apathetic way of life is not worthy of her. However, he vows that he would gladly give his life to save a life she loved, and Lucie is moved by his sincerity and devotion. Eventually, it is Darnay whose love Lucie returns, and the two marry with Doctor Manette's uneasy blessing. While the couple is on their honeymoon, the Doctor suffers a nine-day relapse of his mental incapacity and believes he is making shoes in prison again.

Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens

During a night in in the "bleak December", the narrator is mourning over the death of a women named Lenore. He hears a tapping on the door, and finds that no one is there. He hears another tapping on the Window, which he assumes is the wind, but when he opens it, a bird flies in and perches "upon a bust of Pallas". The bird continually responds "Nevermore", which aggravates the narrator, as he interprets it as him never seeing his love Lenore again. Our narrator feels that his soul will "nevermore" leave the shadow of this bird.

The Raven Edgar Allen Poe

Jurgis Rudkus and his family come to America from Lithuania to seek their fortune. They arrive in Chicago's stockyards district, where the gigantic meatpacking plants operate, and find employment performing various tasks in the slaughterhouses. Quickly, the family realizes that their dreams of America and its wealth were painfully far from reality. Instead of being a land of promise, it is a land of interminable toil and poverty. The workers at the meatpacking plants are poorly paid, overworked and subject to unfair labor practices and dangerous working conditions. What's more, the stockyards neighborhood is a pit of poverty and squalor, with rat-infested boarding houses, a smoldering garbage dump on one end of the yards, and a large sewage pit on the other end. Jurgis's family finds that they all must work to survive, including Jurgis's dying father, his pregnant wife, her cousin, her uncle, and her stepmother's children. All of the family members who work in the slaughterhouses see the unbelievable filth in the factories where the meat is processed and the sickening secrets of meatpacking. Diseased cattle and hogs are processed for consumption, as well as pregnant cows and their fetuses. The sausages are made of a random mixture of animal parts, as well as the dirt, rat carcasses and poison scooped up off the floor. The corruption within the plants runs thick, with bosses demanding "gifts" of money from their workers, and grafting off those in the hierarchy of management. After a series of tragedies, including a stint in jail for Jurgis, the death of his wife Ona and baby son Antanas, Jurgis flees to the countryside, leaving the rest of the family behind. Once he's away from Chicago, he becomes a transient. He returns to Chicago where he finds himself penniless and starving. He begs on the streets, gets into rows in saloons and is in and out of jail. During one of his visits to jail, he meets a con man named Jack Duane who initiates Jurgis into a life of crime. As a criminal, Jurgis learns about the corruption in city politics, in various industries such as steel and horseracing, in the packing-plants and even in the Chicago police force. Everyone, it seems, is crooked. The elections are fixed and Democratic and Republican Party members pay men for votes. Jurgis even helps out a candidate by bribing fellow workers at the meatpacking plant and offering them money for their votes. After another scrape and some more jail time, Jurgis wanders the streets of Chicago, begging and trying not to starve. He stumbles into a Socialist party meeting and is instantly transfixed by the speaker. He is introduced to a party member named Ostrinski who teaches him the tenets of Socialism. Jurgis is transformed by what he learns: finally there is an explanation for his suffering, and even a way to change it! Capitalism, he learns, is the bane of society, constantly keeping the common worker in poverty while enriching the wealthy. Jurgis finds a job at a hotel run by a Socialist and finds himself obsessed with Socialism. He runs into an old friend who tells him Ona's cousin Marija is living in a whorehouse, working as a prostitute. He finds her addicted to morphine and quite sick and cannot convince her to leave. She tells him to find the rest of the family and he does, supporting them with the money he makes at the hotel. The novel ends with a Socialist polemic supporting the movement and promising that the party will become stronger as time passes and, in the end, will "take Chicago."

The Jungle SInclair

Bassanio, needing money to be a suitor to Portia, asks his friend Antonio for a loan. Antonio's money is all tied up in shipments away from Venice, so he approaches Shylock, a money-lender. Shylock agrees to lend the money, on condition that if Antonio does not pay it back by an appointed time, Shylock may cut a pound of flesh from him. Not taking him seriously, Antonio agrees. Bassanio prepares to leave, allowing his friend Gratiano to accompany him. Launcelot Gobbo, Shylock's servant, decides to leave him, telling his father about his plan. Lorenzo, with the help of Solanio, Salerio and Gratiano, plot to help Jessica, Shylock's daughter, to escape. While Shylock is out dining with Antonio, Jessica and Lorenzo elope with some of Shylock's money. Meanwhile Portia is unhappy with her suitors. Her father has decreed that she must marry the man who chooses from three caskets the one containing her picture. Fortunately for Portia, both the Prince of Morocco and Arragon both fail, being seduced by the external glamour of the two incorrect caskets. When Bassanio arrives he chooses the right casket. Gratiano falls in love with Nerissa, Portia's waiting woman. In Venice, Solanio and Salerio hear that some of Antonio's ships are lost, and Shylock promises to redeem his bond. Another Jew, Tubal, brings him news of Antonio's loss and Jessica's fortune. Portia and Nerissa give Bassanio and Gratiano rings in honour of their love, and make them vow never to be parted from them. Salerio arrives with Lorenzo and Jessica, bringing news that Antonio, unable to repay his loan, has been arrested and that Shylock is demanding his bond. Bassanio returns to Venice with money from Portia to repay the loan. Shylock refuses to listen to Antonio's pleas. Portia and Nerissa travel to Venice, disguised as a lawyer called Balthasar and his clerk, to defend Antonio against Shylock, leaving Lorenzo and Jessica in charge of the house. At the court, the Duke hears Shylock present his case, protesting but accepting the legal validity of the claim. Shylock rejects the offer of money from Bassanio. 'Balthasar' arrives and agrees that Shylock must take his bond, if he will not be merciful, but only if the pound of flesh is exactly excised and no blood is spilt. Realizing this cannot be done, Shylock tries to leave, but because he has tried to take the life of Antonio, his goods are confiscated, and his life falls into Antonio's hands. Antonio lets him live if he agrees to become a Christian and gives his possessions as a dowry to Lorenzo and Jessica when he dies. Shylock agrees, and leaves. By way of thanks for their work, the disguised Portia and Nerissa each ask for the ring they had given Bassanio and Gratiano in their true identities. Reluctantly the men agree. Portia and Nerissa then return to Belmont, where Jessica and Lorenzo are waiting. When Bassanio and Gratiano arrive soon after, along with Antonio, the woman trick their men into begging forgiveness for giving their rings away. They then reveal their identities at the court. Antonio learns that his ships are safe. The couples prepare for their marriage.

The Merchant of Venice William Shakespeare

It's Florence, Italy, 1348, and the Black Death has ravaged the city. Whole families have died. Neighborhoods are empty. Chaos reigns and the routines of daily life have been abandoned. In the church of Santa Maria Novella, a group of seven young gentlewomen gather to pray and discuss their sad life, hoping to find some way of alleviating their suffering. The oldest of the group, Pampinea, hits on a solution: road trip. It seems like a good idea to get out of a city filled with contagion. There's nothing to do but watch the bodies pile up and hear the news about who died. Plus, it's dangerous to stay somewhere where all social and moral controls are gone and people are succumbing to "carnal pleasures." Better to leave for the country and enjoy the beauty of nature where the houses are far enough apart that you're not watching your neighbors die every time you look out the window. The prevailing medical advice at the time suggested that healthy air and a cheerful frame of mind could decrease your chances of catching the deadly disease. But the ladies are afraid of traveling alone. After all, women are irrational and fickle, and without a man in charge they won't be able to get anything done. Fortune is kind in that moment and sends three young men of their acquaintance into the church. The ladies seize the opportunity—and the young men—and they have their posse (brigata in Italian) ready to go. They don't have to travel far to escape the horrors of the city, and in about two miles they reach a lovely palace where they've arranged to stay. It has all the amenities: ample living space, servants, beautiful gardens, nature everywhere in the form of singing birdies, gentle breezes and clear flowing water. Once they arrive, they realize that all kinds of mischief might happen if they get bored, so they invent a storytelling game to occupy their time. They set the rules, choose a "Queen" to rule them for the first day, and the structure of their two-week stay is set in motion. The ten young people spend the next two weeks (except for four days of religious observances) telling one story per day each on a chosen theme. Each day has a new king or queen that chooses the theme and makes arrangements for their meals and entertainment. It's the regimen of storytelling, they say, that refreshes them and keeps them on the straight and narrow path while they're away from the city, so that no one will gossip about them. After telling a hundred stories on themes like the Power of Fortune, Unhappy Loves and Pranks Played by Wives on Their Husbands—and one relo to a new palace just to mix things up—the brigata return to the city to face their fate.

The Merry Wives of Windsor Shakespeare

The story begins with Hester Prynne, who has just given birth to an illegitimate daughter, leaving the prison to serve her sentence of standing in the town scaffolds for an hour with her three-month-old baby. She has also been required to wear a red letter "A," to stand for Adulteress, on her chest. Hester has embroidered the A with beautiful gold thread and amazing artistry. While Hester is standing on the scaffold, Roger Chillingworth, who appears to recognize her, appears out of the woods. Hester is also asked to name the man with whom she sins, but refuses. The years pass and Hester's daughter Pearl grows into an impetuous little girl. Hester has moved with Pearl into a small cottage on the outskirts of town and makes her living by embroidering and sewing clothing for the townspeople. Roger Chillingworth, who turns out to be Hester's long presumed-dead husband from Europe, befriends Hester's Pastor, Arthur Dimmesdale, and the two eventually move in together. Chillingworth has billed himself as a physician, and therefore able to care for Dimmesdale, who is in very poor health. In a rare moment when Dimmesdale lets his guard down, Chillingworth discovers an open, self-inflicted wound on Dimmesdale's chest. Dimmesdale's health continues to decline, and Chillingworth's character changes noticeably. He becomes a demon-like presence in Dimmesdale's life. Hester notices this change in Chillingworth and confronts him. It is suddenly clear that Chillingworth has determined that Dimmesdale is Pearl's father, and that Chillingworth intends to make Dimmesdale's life a living hell. Hester understands the gravity of the situation and decides to tell Dimmesdale who Chillingworth really is. At first, when Chillingworth first entered the settlement, he had sworn Hester to secrecy about his true identity. Hester decides that, for the sake of Dimmesdale's sanity, she must warn him about Chillingworth's character. In a surprise and secret meeting with Arthur Dimmesdale, Hester reveals her secret, and begs a defeated and angry Dimmesdale for forgiveness. He eventually grants forgiveness, and agrees to leave the colony with Hester and Pearl as soon as possible. Unfortunately, somehow Chillingworth manages to find out about their secret plan to leave, and books passage on the same boat bound for Europe. In the meantime, Dimmesdale prepares for his final sermon, the Election Sermon given on the day the local officials are sworn into office. He writes and re-writes a dramatic speech which proclaims his sinful nature, which none of his parishioners can understand or accept. Dimmesdale is known as a brilliant and inspirational preacher, and his congregation is convinced of his godliness. After the exhausting sermon is over, Dimmesdale leaves the church and approaches the town scaffold. As he climbs the steps, he comes upon Hester and Pearl standing in the shadows, and pulls them onto the scaffold with him. In that moment, the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale bares his chest wound to the congregation, and takes Pearl's hand to confess his fatherhood. He then dies. After this dramatic admission and Dimmesdale's death, Chillingworth no longer has anything to live for. He dies shortly thereafter. Hester and Pearl go to Europe for many years, and Hester eventually returns without her daughter. No one knows where Pearl is, although Hester is seen sewing extravagant baby clothing that no one in the colony would ever use. In addition, Hester continues to receive letters from a man of great means throughout the rest of her life. She lives a long life, and serves as counselor to many troubled women, as well as a giver of charity. When she dies, Hester is buried next to Dimmesdale's sunken grave under a tombstone that says "On a Field, Sable, the Letter A, Gules."

The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthrone

Prior to his reinvention of himself, Don Quijote's name was Alonso Quijano, owner of an estate in La Mancha. After years of obsessively reading books of chivalry, his mind finally snaps and he decides to become an actual knight errant like those in the tales he has read. He initially ventures forth alone with only his horse, Rocinante and his hand-me-down armor and helmet. All the knight errants in the tales he has read had a lady love that they worshipped and Don Quijote decides he will be no exception and chooses Aldonza Lorenza (a peasant girl from a nearby village of Toboso to whom he has never spoken) and reinvents her into Dulcinea del Toboso, a lady. He returns home from his first adventure where he injures innocent muledrivers in order to better prepare himself with money and a squire. He convinces Sancho Panza (a poor married farmer with children) to become his squire and they set out to right wrongs and perform great deeds. Instead, Don Quijote generally injures the innocent and wreaks havoc everywhere he goes; getting him and his squire beaten up in the process. Sancho stays out loyalty and his own growing delusion that his master will be able to secure a governorship of an island for his squire as he has promised. Eventually, his friends -- the village priest and village barber -- from his village travel to rescue him. They arrive on the scene just after Don Quijote has finished mimicking a lover gone insane butt naked in the mountains. Through the help of a wronged maiden named Dorotea who volunteers to play Princess Micomicona they lure him out of the mountains, back to civilization and finally trap him in a crate and carry him home. That's the end of Volume 1. In Volume 2, a new character enters the story -- Samson Carrasco. He is a university student who seeks out Don Quijote after reading of him in a published book of he and Sancho's adventures written by a Moor named Sidi Hamid Benengeli. Squire and master sneak off again to pursue their delusions and dreams. This time Don Quijote wants to see his idealized lady love, Dulcinea, before his adventures and asks his squire to lead him to her. Sancho who lied through his teeth about having delivered a message to her in Volume 1 has no idea where she lives and instead points out a homely girl from Toboso claiming that he sees a beautiful Dulcinea. Don Quijote believes that the evil magicians who persecute him have placed her under an enchantment that (initially) only causes her to appear homely to Don Quijote's eyes. Aside from creating a minor skirmish with some puppets, most of their adventures this time result from people recognizing them; with the fallout coming down on their own heads. They meet up with a Duke and Duchess (who read and loved the book about them) who adopt the pair as their own personal playthings and with their imaginative steward create practical jokes, adventures and disasters for Sancho and Don Quijote. They devise stories and assemble servants to play the necessary parts. A sampling of their choreographed creations includes: cursed bearded ladies-in-waiting, an enchanted Dulcinea who now needs the squire to whip his bare buttocks 3,300 times to free her, an "island" Barataria where Sancho finally gets a chance to govern, and a lovesick maiden who dies from her unsatisfied love for Don Quijote whom Sancho brings back to life by enduring some prescribed physical abuse. Sancho grows in wisdom and self-esteem throughout this volume. Don Quijote is brought down to reality when the disguised Samson Carrasco challenges him and wins; forcing Don Quijote to go home. Feeling like a failure as they return home, Don Quijote, perks up as he begins reinventing himself as a romantic pastoral shepherd. However, it is not to be, for after he is home he soon becomes gravely ill; but returns to sanity and reality and reclaims his former name and identity -- Alonso Quijano, and dies soon after.

Don Quixote Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra

Willy Loman, a sixty-year-old traveling salesman, is having trouble lately because he can't seem to keep his mind on the present. He keeps drifting back and forth between reality and memory, looking for exactly where his life went wrong. Having been demoted to a strictly commissions salesman, as he was in the beginning of his career, Willy begins to wonder what missed opportunity or wrong turn led his life to this dismal existence. Willy always believed that being well liked was the key to success -- it's not what you know, it's who you know. But now, as he nears the end of his life, he realizes that the only things you can count on are the things you can touch. You can't touch appointments and half-hearted sentiments. This was something that his brother, Ben, a man independently wealthy by the age of twenty-one, tried to tell him years ago. Despite this, Willy insisted that his success would come from being well liked. Throughout his life, Willy attempted to show his sons the keys to success and to prepare them, or at least Biff, his oldest son, for excellence in the business world. Willy pretended to be an important, respected, and successful salesman to win the love and respect of his family (and himself in some ways). He even started believing that he was as important as he convinced the boys he was; whenever he couldn't live up to that expectation, and reality contradicted the image he tried to put forth, his whole life began to crumble. He realizes that he is a failure and he has wasted his life. Not only that, but he has taught his sons the wrong things. Now Biff is a bum who can't hold a job anywhere but in the West as a farmhand, and Hap is a philandering assistant's assistant who is just as deluded about his importance as Willy. Willy taught his sons the wrong things, and now their lives are mediocre because of it. Willy and Biff, although close when Biff was younger, are always at odds because Biff hasn't lived up to Willy's great expectations for him. Biff was never given the proper direction to fulfill these expectations. Willy encouraged him only to be well liked and popular; Biff learned he never had to work for anything or take orders from anyone, and as a result, he couldn't keep a job in the business world. Willy even encouraged his boys to steal: another reason Biff couldn't hold a job, because he kept getting in trouble for stealing. Integrity was never an emphasized characteristic in the Loman house. Now Biff has come home and he realizes that he's just an ordinary guy who was meant for a life outside the business world. He is happy only when he is honest with himself. This realization prompts an entire overhaul of the values taught to him by his father, and Biff wants to expose the lies Willy has been telling for years. Willy won't have it. After a series of long arguments, Biff decides it's best if he leaves for good; he will never fulfill his father's dreams, nor will he convince Willy to confront reality. Willy, now unemployed and completely broken down, decides that he must do something magnificent to prove to Biff his life wasn't useless and completely wasted. Feeling he will be of greater value dead, he kills himself so that Biff can use the insurance money to start his own business. His son will consider his father a hero, and appreciate the sacrifice that he made for his son. He also wants to prove that his importance and success as a salesman was not fake, expecting a grand funeral attended by many buyers in New England (similar to the funeral of Dave Singleman). It doesn't work out that way. The insurance doesn't cover suicide and only Willy's family and their two neighbors attend the funeral. In the end, Willy's legacy is one of a broken man, whose life had become a sad failure.

Death of a Salesman Miller

Winston Smith lives in London. This London is very different; It's called Oceania. There's never enough to eat, there's some war going off, bombs explode on the street, and "Big Brother is Watching" them all. Thought police have littered the streets with cameras. There are "Two minutes of hate" where you can release your emotion every week. He starts to write a diary in secret, which is something you can get killed for. The government has practically rewritten all of history. One day, he begins a love affair with a girl called Julia, after she passes him a note that says "I Love You". They are found by the thought police because O'Brien, a once acquaintance, turned them in. They're now in the Ministry of Love, the torture chamber. It's here O'Brien tells him that the ultimate goal is to have total control off of what people think. They break him emotionally in Room 101, where they threat to have rats eat through his face. He says "Do it to Julia", a complete betrayal on the thing he cares the most about. At the end of the novel, he has lost his spirit completely, and says that he "Loves Big Brother".

1984 George Orwell

On Christmas Eve, young Pip, an orphan being raised by his sister and her husband, encounters a frightening man in the village churchyard. The man, a convict who has escaped from a prison ship, scares Pip into stealing him some food and a file to grind away his leg shackle. This incident is crucial: firstly, it gives Pip, who must steal the goods from his sister's house, his first taste of true guilt, and, secondly, Pip's kindness warms the convict's heart. The convict, however, waits many years to truly show his gratitude. At his sister's house, Pip is a boy without expectations. Mrs. Joe beats him around and has nothing good to say about her little brother. Her husband Joe is a kind man, although he is a blacksmith without much ambition, and it's assumed that Pip will follow in his footsteps. Only when Pip gets invited unexpectedly to the house of a rich old woman in the village named Miss Havisham, does Mrs. Joe, or any of her dull acquaintances, hold out any hope for Pip's success. Indeed, Pip's visits to Miss Havisham change him. Miss Havisham is an old woman who was abandoned on her wedding day and has, as a result, given up on life. She wears a yellowed wedding gown and haunts around her decrepit house, her only companion being Estella, her adopted daughter. Estella is beautiful, and Pip develops a strong crush on her, a crush that turns into love as he grows older. But it is unrequited love, as Miss Havisham has made it her dark life's project to raise Estella as a cruel-hearted girl who will break men's hearts, satisfying Miss Havisham's own desire to spurn love. Pip frequently visits Miss Havisham, until one day she tells him never to return because the time has come for his apprenticeship with Joe to begin. Having tasted the spoils of a better life, Pip is miserable as a blacksmith and constantly worries that Estella will look through the forge window and see him as horribly common. Estella soon leaves the village, and things progress until one day Mrs. Joe suffers an attack which leaves her mute and incapacitated, although a lot nicer. A young girl about Pip's age, Biddy, comes to live at the house in order to care for Mrs. Joe. Pip again settles into his routine until one night at the village bar a London lawyer, Jaggers, approaches Pip, revealing startling news: Pip has inherited a lot of money from an anonymous benefactor and must leave for London immediately, to become a gentleman. In London, Pip studies with a tutor and lives with a new and close friend, Herbert. Pip is certain that his benefactor is the rich Miss Havisham. In addition, he becomes convinced that Miss Havisham's financial support, toward his elevated social status, is the result of her desire that he may marry Estella someday. Pip passes many years in London; he remains ashamed of Joe, and they grow apart, Mrs. Joe dies, and though he falls harder and harder for Estella--who seems to get colder and colder by the day--he never confesses his love. Among the people he knows in London are Wemmick, a clerk in Jaggers' office who becomes a friend, and Bentley Drummle, a horrible brute of a boy who begins to make moves on Estella. One stormy night, Pip learns the true identity of his benefactor. It is not Miss Havisham (who has made many misleading comments indicating it was her), but rather a petty criminal named Magwitch. Magwitch is the convict Pip fed in the churchyard many years ago, and he's left all his money to Pip in gratitude for that kindness, and also because young Pip reminded him of his own child, whom he thinks is dead. The news of his benefactor crushes Pip--he's ashamed of him, and worse yet, Magwitch wants to spend the rest of his days with Pip. Pip takes this on like a dreadful duty, and it's all the worse because Magwitch is a wanted man in England, and will be hung if he's caught. Eventually, a plan is hatched by Herbert and Pip, whereby Pip and Magwitch will flee the country by rowing down the river and catching a steamer bound for Europe. This must be done on the sly, and further complicating matters is the fact that an old criminal enemy of Magwitch's, Compeyson, is hot in pursuit. Compeyson, it's discovered, is the same man that swindled and abandoned Miss Havisham so many years back. Miss Havisham, meanwhile, is softening a bit, and seems repentant for her life-long mission against love. Estella has been married to Bentley Drummle, a marriage that anyone can see will be an unhappy one. Just before Pip is to flee with Magwitch, he makes one last visit to Miss Havisham, and finds her filled with regret, wanting his forgiveness. Unfortunately, she gets a little too close to the fire and sets herself ablaze. Pip heroically saves her, but she's badly burned and does eventually die from her injuries. Pip and Magwitch, along with Herbert and another friend, Startop, make a gallant attempt to help Magwitch escape, but instead he's captured--pointed out, in fact, by his old enemy Compeyson. Compeyson dies in the struggle, and Magwitch, badly injured, goes to jail. Pip by now is devoted to Magwitch and recognizes in him a good and noble man. Magwitch dies, however, not long before he's slated to be executed. Pip has discovered that Magwitch is actually Estella's father, and on Magwitch's deathbed Pip tells Magwitch his discovery, and also that he loves Estella. Without money or expectations, Pip, after a period of bad illness during which Joe cares for him, goes into business overseas with Herbert. Joe has married Biddy, and after eleven relatively successful years abroad, Pip goes to visit them out in the marshes. They are happy and have a child, whom they've named Pip. Finally, Pip makes one last visit to Miss Havisham's house, where he finds Estella wandering. Her marriage is over, and she seems to have grown kinder, and wants Pip to accept her as a friend. When the novel ends, it seems that there is hope that Pip and Estella will finally end up together.

Great Expectations Dickens

The play opens as the drunkard Christopher Sly is thrown out of a tavern. A wealthy Lord returns from hunting and finds Sly passed out on the street. He dresses him up as a Lord and has his servants and players convince him that he is a lord who has been asleep for nearly fifteen years. He also tells his players to put on a show for this man. The show they perform is about the taming of a shrew. The play within the play begins as the young noble scholar Lucentio enters a street in Padua with his servant, Tranio. He overhears Hortensio and Gremio discuss their affections for the youngest daughter of nobleman Baptista of Padua. When Lucentio sees the young daughter, Bianca, he also falls in love with her. The problem remains that Bianca is not allowed to marry until her older sister, Kate the shrew, is first married. Finding the task almost impossible, Lucentio and Hortensio both devise plans to woo Bianca. Lucentio changes clothing with Tranio and disguises himself as a schoolteacher named Cambio, so that he may live in Baptista's house and woo Bianca. Tranio will impersonate Lucentio and win her affection from Baptista. Likewise, Hortensio devises a plan that enables him to live in the house as a schoolteacher named Litio. Petruchio of Verona comes to Padua to visit his old friend, Hortensio, as well as seek a new life and wife. Hortensio tells Petruchio of Kate, the shrew with a large dowry, and convinces him to tame and marry her. Petruchio introduces himself to Baptista as a suitor to Kate and offers Hortensio (dressed as Litio) as a teacher. Tranio (dressed as Lucentio) does the same to Baptista for Bianca's affections, and offers Lucentio (dressed as Cambio) as a teacher. Baptista accepts these teachers and gifts and welcomes the men into his home. He also agrees to give Petruchio Kate's hand in marriage and generous dowry. Petruchio quickly marries Kate and takes her away to his country home. He is cruel, shrewish, and arrogant toward her and treats her worse than an unnecessary object. He also strikes her, yells at his servants, and strikes them. Because of his unruly behavior, everyone near Petruchio fears for his or her life. Meanwhile, Lucentio has revealed his true identity to Bianca and successfully won her affections. Tranio has made arrangements with Baptista for Lucentio to marry Bianca. Tranio also meets a Pendant on the streets of Padua and convinces him to impersonate Vincentio of Pisa (Lucentio's father) so that the deal of marriage may be completed. He agrees. As Hortensio, Kate, and Petruchio make their way back to Padua, they come across Vincentio, Lucentio's father. They congratulate him on his son's engagement and bring him back to Padua with them. When Vincentio seeks Lucentio, he finds the Pendant and Tranio. The imposters call Vincentio a madman and a liar and ask that Baptista imprison him. However, when Lucentio appears on the scene, he bows down to his father and all truth is revealed. The true Vincentio agrees to his son's marriage to Bianca, while Hortensio marries a doting and shrew-like widow when he realizes that he has lost Bianca's affections. Petruchio continues to scold and treat Kate and his servants horrifically. At the final banquet, celebrating the three nuptials - those of Kate and Petruchio, Bianca and Lucentio, and the widow and Hortensio - the men decide to make a wager. They intend to discover who is the shrewish of the three women. They ask Biondello to send for each of them. When both Bianca and the widow decline their husband's requests, Kate appears before them, obedient and tamed. She proclaims her ultimate loyalty to her husband and intends to live for him forever. As al three couples exit, Hortensio and Lucentio look to Petruchio in awe. He has truly tamed the wild shrew.

Taming of the Shrew Shakespeare

Uncle Tom, a slave on the Shelby plantation, is loved by his owners, their son, and every slave on the property. He lives contentedly with his wife and children in their own cabin until Mr. Shelby, deeply in debt to a slave trader named Haley, agrees to sell Tom and Harry, the child of his wife's servant Eliza. Tom is devastated but vows that he will not run away, as he believes that to do so would plunge his master so far into debt that he would be forced to sell every slave. Just before Tom is taken away, Mrs. Shelby promises him that she will buy him back as soon as she can gather the funds. Tom is sold to Haley, who eventually sells him to a kindly master named Mr. St. Clare. Eliza, however, cannot bear to part with her son and escapes the night before he is to be taken from her. She escapes successfully and makes her way to a Quaker village, with a family that harbors slaves. There, she is reunited with her husband George, who lived on a neighboring plantation and has also escaped to flee his master's cruelty. The couple and their son spend a night with the Quaker family before returning to the underground railroad. Tom befriends his new master and especially his young daughter Eva, who shares Tom's deep religious faith and devotion. Eva abhors cruelty and eventually is so overcome with grief over slavery that when she becomes ill, she accepts her impending death peacefully and tells her family and their servants that she is happy knowing that she is going to heaven, where such cruelty does not exist. St. Clare begins to confront the realization that he believes slavery is evil, and he promises Tom that he will fill out forms guaranteeing his freedom in the event of St. Clare's death. Shortly after Eva dies, her father dies tragically in an accident, and Tom's fate is left entirely in the hands of Marie, St. Clare's selfish and unsympathetic wife. Marie decides to move back to her parents' estate and to sell all the slaves, despite Miss Ophelia's exhortation that Marie should fulfill St. Clare's promise to give Tom his freedom. Marie refuses, and just before he is sold, he writes a letter to the Shelbys (with the help of Mr. Legree) telling them his plight and asking for their help. The letter goes unanswered, and Tom ends up in the hands of Simon Legree, an evil and bitter plantation owner whose philosophy is to work his slaves hard and replace them when they inevitably die just a few years later. On Legree's plantation, Tom meets two fellow slaves, Emmeline and Cassy. Emmeline is a young mulatto woman sold to Legree at the same time as Tom, and she attempts to befriend the embittered Cassy, who has suffered at the hands of Legree for several years. Cassy has seen her children sold and is so destitute that Tom's pleas that she put her faith and trust in God fall on deaf ears. Legree soon comes to hate Tom after Tom refuses to beat and discipline the other slaves. Legree had planned to turn Tom into a brutal overseer, and when he realizes that Tom will not participate in cruelty, he becomes enraged and takes out his wrath on Tom. Tom becomes discouraged until he has a vision of heaven one night as he is drifting off to sleep. The vision reinvigorates him, and he decides it is his mission to suffer for the other slaves. He regularly fills their cotton baskets at the expense of his own, gives them his food and water, and reads the Bible to them. Tom's acts of kindness enrage Legree, and when Emmeline and Cassy escape, he demands that Tom tell him everything he knows. Tom admits that he knew of their plans to escape and is aware of their whereabouts, but he refuses to disclose where they are. Legree beats Tom so severely that after a few days, he dies. Cassy and Emmeline eventually escape, and they happen to wind up on the same northern-bound ferry as George Shelby, who is rooming next to a woman named Madame de Thoux. Through conversation, it is discovered that Eliza Harris is Cassy's daughter, and George Harris is Madame de Thoux's brother. Cassy and Madame de Thoux journey together to Canada, where they are reunited with their family. Madame de Thoux reveals that her husband has left her a large inheritance, and they all move to France together, where George is educated. The family then relocates to Africa, and Cassy's long-lost son, who has been traced, joins them. Topsy moves with Miss Ophelia to New England, then moves to Africa to work as a missionary. George Shelby gives all the servants on the Shelby farm their freedom, and tells them to be Christians and to think of Tom.

Uncle Tom's Cabin Stowe

In the mid-1960s, journalist and fiction writer Gabriel Jose Garcia Marquez was little known outside his native Colombia, having never sold more than seven hundred copies of a book. Everything changed, however, after he had a sudden insight while driving his family through Mexico. In an instant, he saw that the key to the imaginary village of Macondo he had been creating in short vignettes was the storytelling technique of his grandmother—absolute brick-faced description of extraordinary events. He turned the car around and drove straight home, where he proceeded directly to a back room. There he wrote while his wife, Mercedes Barcha, sold, mortgaged, and stretched credit to keep the family going. Gradually the entire neighborhood was involved in helping to bring forth what has since been recognized as a masterpiece. After eighteen months, a hefty tome of thirteen hundred pages was sent to the publishers. The result was Cien anos de soledad, later translated into English as One Hundred Years of Solitude. The first printings sold out before they could be shelved. Today, the novel has been translated into more than thirty languages and there are a number of pirated editions. The exceptional achievement of One Hundred Years of Solitude was highlighted in the citation awarding Garcia Marquez the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature. Often compared to William Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County in its scope and quality, Garcia Marquez's Macondo is revealed in several of the author's short stories and novels. The most central of these is One Hundred Years of Solitude, which relates the history of several generations of the Buendia family, the founders of this imaginary Colombian town. Interwoven with their personal struggles are events that recall the political, social, and economic turmoil of a hundred years of Latin American history. In addition to establishing the reputation of its author. One Hundred Years of Solitude was a key work in the "Boom" of Latin American literature of the 1960s. Trie worldwide acclaim bestowed upon the novel led to a discovery by readers and critics of other Latin American practitioners of "magical realism." This genre combines realistic portrayals of political and social conflicts with descriptions of mystical, even supernatural events. Garcia Marquez is known as one of its foremost practitioners, although he claims that everything in his fiction has a basis in reality. Nevertheless, it is his inventive portrayals of his homeland which have made him one of the most acclaimed writers in the modern world.

100 Years of Solitude Marquez

Old Major one nights, calls all the animals together and tells them of his vision, where their home is ruled purely by animals. The rebellion begins one day when the animals chase Mr. Jones doesn't feed the animals. rename the farm the title of the book. The rules are put up, the main one being "All Animals are created equal". However, Snowball and Napoleon, two pigs, are at odds. Snowball is driven off the farm, and the animals are told that he was wrong from the beginning. The animals, led by Boxer the horse, start to create a windmill... with tools the pigs traded with humans. It is destroyed by neighboring farmers. Boxer, the hardest and truest believer in the windmill, retires, and the pigs "send him off", but really just give him to a stockyard to get money for booze. In the end, the animals notice the pigs laughing and having dinner with humans, and they cannot tell who is who.

Animal Farm George Orwell

After the bloody siege of Thebes by Polynices and his allies, the city stands unconquered. Polynices and his brother Eteocles, however, are both dead, killed by each other, according to the curse of Oedipus, their father. Outside the city gates, Antigone tells Ismene that Creon has ordered that Eteocles, who died defending the city, is to be buried with full honors, while the body of Polynices, the invader, is left to rot. Furthermore, Creon has declared that anyone attempting to bury Polynices shall be publicly stoned to death. Outraged, Antigone reveals to Ismene a plan to bury Polynices in secret, despite Creon's order. When Ismene timidly refuses to defy the king, Antigone angrily rejects her and goes off alone to bury her brother. Creon discovers that someone has attempted to offer a ritual burial to Polynices and demands that the guilty one be found and brought before him. When he discovers that Antigone, his niece, has defied his order, Creon is furious. Antigone makes an impassioned argument, declaring Creon's order to be against the laws of the gods themselves. Enraged by Antigone's refusal to submit to his authority, Creon declares that she and her sister will be put to death. Haemon, Creon's son who was to marry Antigone, advises his father to reconsider his decision. The father and son argue, Haemon accusing Creon of arrogance, and Creon accusing Haemon of unmanly weakness in siding with a woman. Haemon leaves in anger, swearing never to return. Without admitting that Haemon may be right, Creon amends his pronouncement on the sisters: Ismene shall live, and Antigone will be sealed in a tomb to die of starvation, rather than stoned to death by the city. The blind prophet Tiresias warns Creon that the gods disapprove of his leaving Polynices unburied and will punish the king's impiety with the death of his own son. After rejecting Tiresias angrily, Creon reconsiders and decides to bury Polynices and free Antigone. But Creon's change of heart comes too late. Antigone has hanged herself and Haemon, in desperate agony, kills himself as well. On hearing the news of her son's death, Eurydice, the queen, also kills herself, cursing Creon. Alone, in despair, Creon accepts responsibility for all the tragedy and prays for a quick death. The play ends with a somber warning from the chorus that pride will be punished by the blows of fate.

Antigone Sophocles

Long ago, at the beginning of creation, two brothers, Cain and Abel lived peacefully, until Cain killed Abel, starting a blood-feud of kin-murder. This legacy of kin-murder was passed down through time, for the murder split the bloodline into two groups: Abel's, whose decendants were human, and Cain's, whose descendants were monstrous and sub-human. The poem Beowulf begins with this legacy of kin-murder and revenge. In Denmark, an evil monster, Grendel, who is ritually ravaging his kingdom, torments King Hrothgar. Currently, the monster breaks into the castle and eats as many of Hrothgar's men as he can stomach each night. Beowulf, a noted and respected warrior from Geatland, arrives with a ship of his warriors to assist King Hrothgar in stopping Grendel. King Hrothgar accepts Beowulf's pledge to kill Grendel. That night, Grendel comes to the castle and kills some of the men, devouring them. Beowulf meets Grendel, and a battle ensues--Beowulf uses no weapon against Grendel, and fighting barehanded, rips off his arm. Grendel escapes, but when he returns to his underwater lair, he dies. King Hrothgar is utterly grateful to Beowulf for killing Grendel. Grendel's arm is hung in the battlehall as a trophy of his bravery and the victory of mankind over monster. The danger has not passed; Grendel's mother has become enraged by her son's death. She comes late one night to King Hrothgar's battlehall, grabs one man, eat him, and flees. She also retrieves her son's arm, which had been hanging in the hall as a trophy. Hrothgar is anxious and upset, and calls on Beowulf to aid them once again, offering him much gold and treasure, as well as alliance with his people, for doing battle with Grendel's mother. Beowulf travels with his men to the evil fiery lake where Grendel's mother lives. Beowulf makes a great speech about bravery, citing that God will look after him in his deed, and leaps into the lake wearing armor and carrying a great sword. Beowulf swims down through the lake for many hours, finally coming upon Grendel's mother. They fight for a brief time, Grendel's mother batters Beowulf around, but is unable to harm him through the armor. Beowulf finds his sword to be useless against Grendel's mother, and she swims to her underwater battlehall with him in tow. There, they continue to fight, until Beowulf takes a giant sword off the wall of the battlehall and cuts off her head, killing her. The sword is a magic sword, created by ancient monsters and giants at the beginning of creation. He swims to where Grendel's arm is located and finds the dead Grendel, whose head he decapitates as well, and takes with him as a trophy. Beowulf swims back through the fiery lake to his men who are waiting for him. Hrothgar's men have already left, sure of Beowulf's defeat. Beowulf's men rejoice, and Beowulf goes back to Hrothgar's battlehall. Hrothgar names him as one of their friends and rewards him with gold and important advice about being a king. Beowulf and his men leave on their ship to go back to Geatland and King Higlac. Beowulf gives his King all the treasure and great weapons he received. Higlac rewards him with a great sword. Higlac rules a long time, but eventually is killed in battle. His sons rule and are killed as well, and after this, Beowulf is crowned as King of Geatland. He rules long and well. Then, when he is an older man, a runaway slave comes upon a hidden tower in Geatland. An evil dragon lives in the tower, and guards a mighty golden treasure. The dragon had found the treasure many centuries ago, when it was left to be buried with an ancient king, whose people had died out. The slave steals a golden cup from the tower, awakening and enraging the dragon. The dragon leaves its tower, and the next night begins to ravage the kingdom, burning down villages, people, and Beowulf's castle. Beowulf hears of the horror and vows to once again rid the land of a fiend. He meets the dragon during the day, with many of his warriors by his side. He fights the dragon, but is losing, because he is an old man. His weaponry is melting, and the dragon is burning him up. One of his fellow warriors and men, Wiglaf, runs in to distract the dragon. He brings his shield up to distract the dragon, while Beowulf takes his sword, and with the last of his strength, wounds the dragon. He then slits the dragon down his middle, cutting him in two. But with this victory comes Beowulf's death. The dragon has wounded him, and his poisonous venom is killing the brave Beowulf. Beowulf is dying, and Wiglaf cleans his lord and brings him jewels from the dragon's lair, as his lord has asked. All the rest of Beowulf's men have run away, fleeing when the dragon began to beat Beowulf. Beowulf leaves his kingdom's rule to Wiglaf, giving him his rings and mail. Beowulf dies. Wiglaf calls to the men that fled, telling them that they were cowards and from this moment on will be banished from Geatland. Then he sends a messenger to the rest of Beowulf's warriors to tell them of Beowulf's death. Beowulf is burnt and his ashes buried in the Dragon's tower. There the jewels are left forevermore. And as Beowulf asked, the tower is built up high and tall, and named Beowulf's tower, so that sailors on the sea may always see the tower as a guide and know of the great Beowulf.

Beowulf

The merchant sailor, Billy Budd, is inspected and enlisted for naval service on the Bellipotent. Although his civilian captain is not happy to see him go, he has to release him to the navy. Billy is a wonderful sailor. All the other sailors like him for his charming looks and honest simple personality. He waves good-bye to his shipmates as he is taken aboard his new ship. Billy does well in his new surroundings. The other sailors like him as much as he was liked on the merchant vessel. He works in the topsails and makes fast friends with his companions and a veteran sailor, referred to as the Dansker. The captain of the ship is Fairfax Vere. Captain Vere is a very stern man. He is well-read and educated and he speaks often in historical allusions. Many find him to be less than personable and he is not popular with the sailors, although he is respected. There is a new master-at-arms on the ship and his name is John Claggart. The job of the master-at-arms has turned into policing his own crew. He is primarily responsible for watching over the men. In recent months there have been mutinies on British ships, so the officers are ill-at-ease. Claggart's job is more difficult as a result of this. One of the corporals tells Claggart that Billy Budd was ridiculing him. Claggart takes offense at this lie and begins to watch Billy carefully, counterfeiting pleasant hellos. When Billy finds out from the veteran sailor that Claggart doesn't like him, he doesn't believe it. After the pursuit of a an enemy ship, Claggart goes to captain Vere and tells him that he thinks one of the men is dangerous, liable to mutiny. When he tells him that he means Billy Budd, the captain doesn't believe him. He takes Billy and Claggart into a room and makes Claggart accuse Billy to his face. Billy is stunned by the accusation and when pressured to talk, he punches Claggart in the forehead. This punch hit just right and kills the master-at-arms. Captain Vere is at first confused, but he calls a court of other officers to review the crime and set a sentence. Although some of them feel that Billy unintentionally committed a crime, Captain Vere maintains that on a warship a murder is a murder regardless of intention. They convict Billy and sentence him to hang at dawn. At dawn, all the men assemble and Billy is hung by the main mast. The sun rises on his body framed by the mast and the yardarm Some men think that he seemed to die before the noose tightened. Although an official report stated that Billy stabbed Claggart after he was rightly accused, the truth of his execution lived on in a ballad sung by sailors all over the world.

Billy Budd: Foretopman Herman Mellville

Candide is expelled from the Baron's castle for kissing Cunégonde. After forced enlistment in the Bulgarian army, he witnesses the atrocities of war. Candide flees to Holland, meets Jacques the Anabaptist, and finds the philosopher, Dr. Pangloss, now a beggar ravaged by a venereal disease. Pangloss reports that the Bulgarians raped and disemboweled Cunégonde. Candide, Jacques, and Pangloss sail to Lisbon. A storm destroys the ship, Jacques drowns, and Candide and Pangloss survive only to watch as an earthquake and tidal wave level Lisbon. Pangloss insists that despite the total ruin of Lisbon, the world is still the best of all possible worlds (optimism). For making such a heretical statement, Pangloss is hung while Candide is beaten during a ceremony of the Spanish Inquisition. An old woman reunites Candide with Cunégonde, who survived the Bulgarian invasion, surviving a rape and partial disembowelment. Cunégonde is now the mistress of both Don Issachar and the Grand Inquisitor of Lisbon. Candide kills them both. Candide, Cunégonde, and the old woman flee to Cadiz. There he volunteers to fight against the Jesuits in Paraguay. They sail to Buenos Aires. When they arrive, Candide flees when the old woman spots a ship from Spain in hot pursuit. Candide and his valet Cacambo join the Jesuits instead. The Commandant of the Jesuits is actually Cunégonde's brother, the Baron's son. The reunion turns sour when the Baron's son forbids Candide to marry Cunégonde. Candide stabs him. Candide and Cacambo escape only to be captured by the Oreillons, a tribe of natives, but the diplomatic Cacambo convinces the natives to release them. Candide and Cacambo happen upon the utopian kingdom of Eldorado. Candide and Cacambo then leave (with 102 red sheep covered in jewels) to find Cunégonde. They arrive in Surinam where Candide is swindled by a Dutch sailor and a judge. Candide sends Cacambo to fetch Cunégonde in Buenos Aires and to meet him in Venice. Candide befriends Martin the pessimist. Candide and Martin sail to Bordeaux. In Paris, Candide falls ill and loses money to various con artists. Candide and Martin sail to England where they watch the public execution of an English admiral who did not kill enough people. In Venice, Candide and Martin meet Cacambo. They sail to Constantinople. En route, Candide, Martin and Cacambo find Dr. Pangloss, who survived the hanging, and Cunégonde's brother, the Baron's son. The group then rejoins Cunégonde and the old woman. The Baron's son forbids Candide to marry his sister again. Candide sends him back to the galley ship. Candide settles down on a farm. Cunégonde, the old woman, Martin, Cacambo, and Pangloss join him. After much philosophical debating between Candide, Martin and Pangloss, Candide declares that one must stop philosophizing and cultivate one's garden as the only defense against boredom and dissatisfaction.

Candide Voltaire

A poor (former) university student struggles for nearly a month with thoughts of murdering an old woman, a pawnbroker, whom he considers a leech on society. After a "experimental" visit to the old pawnbroker, Raskolnikov meets a man named Marmeladov at a tavern, who confesses that his drinking problem has been the cause of his family's poverty, which has forced his daughter, Sonia, into a life of prostitution. Raskolnikov accompanies Marmeladov home, where he witnesses firsthand the family's misfortunes. Raskolnikov receives a letter from his mother, informing him that his sister, Dounia, is engaged to a rich businessman named Luzhin, and that they are going to visit him in St. Petersburg. Still struggling over his theories and ideas, Raskolnikov discovers, by chance, that the old pawnbroker's dimwitted half-sister is going to be out at a certain time. He cannot pass up this opportunity. But after murdering the old woman, he also kills the sister who walks in on him. Despite his mistakes, Raskolnikov, through chance and good fortune, barely escapes without notice. Shortly after the murders, Raskolnikov falls ill. His friends, Razumihin and Zossimov try to help him recover. Wavering between feelings of empowerment and guilt, Raskolnikov almost confesses to the police about the murders. But Raskolnikov is distracted by the death of Marmeladov, who dies in a carriage accident. Raskolnikov gives money to his widow. He also meets Marmeladov's daughter, Sonia, whose self-sacrifice and suffering greatly affect him. His mother and sister's visit further complicates Raskolnikov's life because he disapproves of his sister's marriage to Luzhin. Meanwhile, Raskolnikov discovers that the police is suspecting him. While being hotly questioned by the chief examiner, Porfiry, Raskolnikov is let off the hook by an unexpected confession from Nikolay, a painter, who is one of the suspects in the murders. But unable to bear the burden of his guilt, Raskolnikov chooses to tell of his crime to Sonia. Svidrigailov, a man who tried to seduce Dounia when she worked at his home, tells Raskolnikov that he overheard his confession. Svidrigailov manages to maneuver around Raskolnikov and get Dounia alone with him. But instead of taking advantage of her, he lets her go and then shoots himself. Raskolnikov goes to visit his mother for the last time, knowing that he will soon turn himself in. He parts in bitter tears. With Sonia's encouragement, Raskolnikov walks to the police station and confesses that he is the murderer. Raskolnikov is sentenced to eight years of hard labor in Siberia. As promised, Sonia follows him there. Sonia's patient love for him finally breaks through and Raskolnikov experiences rebirth and resurrection.

Crime & Punishment Dostoyevsky

David Copperfield is a bildungsroman, the story of the narrator's life from early childhood to maturity. In it Copperfield describes the obstacles he overcame and the unhappy events he lived through before becoming a successful novelist in later years. The book is an expert blend of fiction and autobiography. While Dickens was not an orphan, he felt abandoned by his parents during the harsh experiences of his early years. David Copperfield's father had died before his birth and his mother dies when he is twelve years old. David had led a happy life with his mother and the housekeeper Peggotty until his mother's second marriage to Murdstone, who beats David severely and whose treatment breaks his mother's spirit and finally causes her death. Before her death, Murdstone sends David to Salem House, a school presided over by a master as cruel as Murdstone himself. It is here, however, that David meets two lifelong friends, James Steerforth and Tommy Traddles. With his wife dead, Murdstone, who hates David, sends him to his business in London. He lodges with the amiable Micawber family. David runs away from the hated warehouse and becomes the ward of his great-aunt Betsy Trotwood, who sends him to school in Canterbury, a vast improvement over Salem House. Here he lodges with the Wickfields and is attracted to Agnes Wickfield, but dislikes Uriah Heep, her father's obsequious clerk. He studies law under Mr. Spenlow and falls in love and marries his daughter Dora. Micawber and Traddles ultimately expose Uriah Heep as a thief, and the Micawber family immigrates to Australia. David himself eventually becomes a skilled journalist, but shortly after he finds success, his wife Dora dies. After a period of wandering, David begins his career as a popular novelist and marries Agnes.

David Copperfield Dickens

Alexander Pushkin's poem/novel tells the story of two sets of lovers. Eugene Onegin, the hardened socialite, rejects the love of passionate Tatyana Larin, while his friend, poet and romantic Vladimir Lensky, falls head over heels for her sister Olga. Onegin's annoyance at Vladimir leads him to pretend to seduce Olga, and Vladimir challenges Eugene to a duel to revenge his love. Eugene kills Vladimir. In his sorrow, he leaves his country estate forever. Years later, Eugene meets Tatyana, now a confident, cold beauty, married to a prince. He falls madly in love with her; however, although she still loves him, Tatyana must reject Eugene as he rejected her years ago. Eugene Onegin is a socialite whose hobby is seducing women. He preys on young beauties at all the Moscow social events, understanding all the arts of attracting them. However, Eugene becomes bored with this meaningless seduction. While he's still a young man, Eugene's uncle dies, leaving Eugene a country estate. He goes to live in the country as a recluse, bored with everything, including country life. Eugene makes friends with his neighbor, Vladimir Lensky, a poet. The two friends spend their evenings in conversation, and Eugene curbs his caustic wit in the face of Vladimir's romanticism. Vladimir is madly in love with a young local girl named Olga Larin, and he writes poetry that sings her praises. When Vladimir brings Eugene to meet the Larins, Olga's solemn, shy sister Tatyana falls in love with the brooding Eugene. She is tortured by her feelings and finally writes Eugene a love letter, laying her feelings out before him. Eugene, though, is disillusioned with love, and he rejects Tatyana, warning her not to be so open with her feelings lest a young man take advantage of her. Tatyana is miserable. Vladimir convinces Eugene to come with him to Tatyana's name-day celebration, and when they get there, Eugene finds that it's a huge social event with all the locals in attendance. Tatyana is visibly disturbed at Eugene's presence, and Eugene curses Vladimir for bringing him. He plans to revenge himself on Vladimir, and later, when the dancing begins, Eugene stays by Olga's side. He manages to monopolize Olga's time and attention, dancing every dance with her. Vladimir is enraged and leaves the dance in a huff. Vladimir challenges Eugene to a duel, and Eugene accepts. The two men meet, and Eugene shoots his friend dead. Horrified at what he's done, Eugene leaves his country estate forever. He travels around the world, trying to forget his sorrow. Meanwhile, Tatyana spends her time in Eugene's library, learning about him from his notes in his books and brooding over her lost love. Olga, after briefly mourning her lover, marries a soldier and goes off with him to start a new life. Tatyana, however, rejects all offers of marriage. Her mother finally brings her to Moscow to find Tatyana a husband. Two years later, Eugene returns to find Tatyana married to a prince. He falls instantly in love with this self-possessed, confident, cool woman. Initially, Tatyana ignores all Eugene's letters and advances, and Eugene goes into seclusion again. Finally, he goes to visit his love and finds Tatyana crying over one of his letters. Tatyana confesses that she still loves Eugene, but she is now another man's wife. She must reject him, as Eugene rejected her so long ago.

Eugene Onegin Aleksandr Pushkin

Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is considered to be one of the finest works of prose in all of English literature. The book was introduced and annotated by Walter Kaufmann, a noted German translator and philosopher. In addition to Kaufmann's lengthy introduction, the book is broken into five sections of the actual text. They are: Dedication, Prelude in the Theatre, Prologue in Heaven, The First Part of the Tragedy, and The Second Part of The Tragedy. The Dedication serves as a type of strange epilogue during which Faust is very old and preparing to die. The Prelude in the Theatre details a conversation between three men: The Director, a Clown, and a Dramatic Poet. The men discuss and argue over how to rejuvenate or create a play that will captivate their audience. The Prologue in Heaven takes place between the Lord, Heavenly Hosts, Mephistopheles, and the Three Archangels - Gabriel, Michael, and Raphael. The Lord asks Mephisto if he knows Faust. Mephisto says he does know Faust, the doctor. Mephisto comments that Faust serves the Lord in a peculiar way. The Lord says Faust is on the wrong path but He is convinced that Faust will come to Him in the end and be saved. Mephisto disagrees. The two entities make a bet as to whose path Faust will follow in the end. The First Part of the Tragedy is the major portion of the text and crux of the entire tale of Faust. Faust is a professor, doctor and Master of the Black Arts. Faust sits in his den lamenting the state of the world and his ongoing misery. Faust feels that his life of intellectual pursuits has taught him nothing, that it has all been a farce and is utterly useless. Faust conjures Mephisto, the devil. After a long discussion Faust makes a pact with Mephisto. Mephisto will act as Faust's servant, granting every wish, as long as Faust lives. When Faust dies, Mephisto will claim his soul and the roles will reverse. Faust leaves the university and travels with Mephisto. Faust is granted the power he seeks. Faust sees a young maid in the town and immediately falls in love with her. Faust cannot understand what is happening to him because of this newfound power. Faust pursues the woman and wins her heart. Gretchen's brother learns of the affair and Gretchen's pregnancy. There is a duel between Faust and Valentine, during which Valentine is mortally wounded. Faust flees. While Faust is away still seeking help from the earth spirit, Gretchen gives birth to Faust's child. Gretchen kills the child, is convicted of the crime and is sentenced to death. Faust visits Gretchen in prison to find that she has gone insane. Gretchen dies. In Part Two of the Tragedy, Goethe presents Faust as an old man. Faust is wealthy beyond compare. Faust feels responsible for the death of an old couple on a nearby property and attempts to repent. There is a battle between Faust and the Heavenly Host. The Heavenly Host whisks Faust's soul to Heaven. The Virgin Mother intercedes on Faust's behalf and Faust's soul is saved.

Faust von Goethe

It is the late 1930's in Spain, during the Spanish Civil War, and a guerrilla group is in the mountains behind enemy lines. Robert Jordan plans to blow up a bridge, which the enemy uses to move trucks, tanks, and artillery. Pablo, the leader, objects to blowing up the bridge, for it puts them in danger. Robert Jordan worries Pablo will betray them. They arrive at the camp. A beautiful girl, Maria, brings stew. She and Robert Jordan fall in love at first sight. Robert Jordan meets Pablo's woman, a large and heavy peasant with gypsy blood. One of the guerrillas, Anselmo, tells Robert Jordan that he is a hunter and not a killer of men. They meet Agustín, who speaks in a filthy manner, but is a loyal man. The gypsy Rafael says they want him to kill Pablo. Robert Jordan does not want to. That night, Robert and Maria make love. She confides that she has been raped, and he says that if she is with him, all her pain will go away. Pilar tells about how Pablo arranged for the massacre of over thirty fascists. She tells Robert Jordan she is jealous of he and Maria and feels old. Robert Jordan thinks about how one can live as fully in seventy hours as in seventy years. A bad snowstorm starts. Pablo is very drunk, and things get tense as they try to provoke him. He leaves, then announces that he is back with them. Robert Jordan resents the situation. He thinks of the Hotel Gaylord in Madrid, where he used to talk to his friend Karkov about wartime politics. Robert Jordan shoots an enemy soldier who comes to the camp. They take his horse. El Sordo goes to look for more horses and he and his men are massacred. The others can do nothing. Robert Jordan sends Andrés with a dispatch for Golz asking him to cancel the attack. He tells Maria of a fantasy that they will live in Madrid. She tells him about her rape when Falangists took her town and shot her parents. Pablo steals dynamite and equipment and disappears. He returns with five men, and they are shocked. Robert Jordan feels optimistic again. Andrés reaches brigade headquarters. Commander André Marty is crazy and locks him up and confiscates the dispatch. Karkov arrives and gets it back. They are able to reach Golz, who says they are all screwed. At dawn, Robert Jordan and Anselmo shoot the sentries and blow the bridge. The impact kills Anselmo. While escaping, Robert Jordan's horse falls on his leg, breaking it. Maria is grief-stricken and he says she must leave, but she will carry him with her always. They leave, and Robert Jordan knows he must keep himself conscious so that he can kill one of the approaching enemy officers to delay them on the trail of his friends.

For Whom the Bell Tolls Hemingway

Cassius & Brutus want to bring back the Republic to Rome... at least that's what Cassius says. Brutus is from a famous family, and is very noble & humble. WIth brutus' help, other members of the senate would get in on the plot to kill the tyrant. The tyrant beats Pompeii, and has full control as dictator now. The tyrant's wife, Calpurnia, and Marc Antony, his most loyal supporter, go to a foot race, where Cassius manipulates Brutus to be apart of the conspiracy. A soothsayer tells the tyrant "Beware the Ides of March", people see a lion in the capitol, and Portia, Brutus' wife, tries to see wtf is going on. On the way to the senate, the senators all neal around him, and then stab him. He utters "Et Tu Brute?". Marc Antony speaks at the tyrant's funeral: "Friend's, Roman's, Countrymen", and shows how Brutus betrayed the tyrant. Ocatvius, Lepodus, and Marc Antony form a triumvate to try to kill Cassius & Brutus. After fighting, it's clear defeat is near, and Brutus runs into one of his soldier's swords. Marc Antony finds him, and says that Brutus was the noblest roman of all.

Julius Caesar William Shakespeare

The play is set in the summer home of the Tyrone family, August 1912. The action begins in the morning, just after breakfast. We learn as the first act unravels that Mary has returned to her family recently after receiving treatment in a sanatorium for morphine addiction. Edmund, meanwhile, has in recent weeks begun to cough very violently, and we learn later on in the play that, as Tyrone and Jamie suspect, he has tuberculosis. Throughout the course of the play, we slowly find out that Mary is still addicted to morphine, much to the disappointment of her family members. The gradual revelation of these two medical disasters makes up most of the play's plot. In between these discoveries, however, the family constantly revisits old fights and opens old wounds left by the past, which the family members are never unable to forget. Tyrone, for example, is constantly blamed for his own stinginess, which may have led to Mary's morphine addiction when he refused to pay for a good doctor to treat the pain caused by childbirth. Mary, on the other hand, is never able to let go of the past or admit to the painful truth of the present, the truth that she is addicted to morphine and her youngest son has tuberculosis. They all argue over Jamie and Edmund's failure to become successes as their father had always hoped they would become. As the day wears on, the men drink more and more, until they are on the verge of passing out in Act IV. Most of the plot of the play is repetitious, just as the cycle of an alcoholic is repetitious. The above arguments occur numerous times throughout the four acts and five scenes. All acts are set in the living room, and all scenes but the last occur either just before or just after a meal. Act II, Scene i is set before lunch; scene ii after lunch; and Act III before dinner. Each act focuses on interplay between two specific characters: Act I features Mary and Tyrone; Act II Tyrone and Jamie, and Edmund and Mary; Act III Mary and Jamie; Act IV Tyrone and Edmund, and Edmund and Jamie. The repetitious plot also helps develop the notion that this day is not remarkable in many ways. Instead, it is one in a long string of similar days for the Tyrones, filled with bitterness, fighting, and an underlying love.

Long Day's Journey Into Night Eugene O'Neill

The play opens as three witches plan a meeting with the Scottish nobleman Macbeth, who at that moment is fighting in a great battle. When the battle is over, Macbeth and his friend Banquo come across the witches who offer them three predictions: that Macbeth will become Thane of Cawdor and King of Scotland, and that Banquo's descendants will become kings. Banquo laughs at the prophecies but Macbeth is excited, especially as soon after their meeting with the witches Macbeth is made Thane of Cawdor by King Duncan, in return for his bravery in the battle. He writes to his wife, Lady Macbeth, who is as excited as he is. A messenger tells Lady Macbeth that King Duncan is on his way to their castle and she invokes evil spirits to help her slay him. Macbeth is talked into killing Duncan by his wife and stabs him to death. No-one is quite sure who committed this murder and no-one feels safe, but Macbeth is crowned king. Now that Macbeth is king he knows the second prediction from the witches has come true, but he starts to fear the third prediction (that Banquo's descendants will also be kings). Macbeth therefore decides to kill Banquo and his son, but the plan goes wrong - Banquo is killed but his son escapes. Macbeth then thinks he is going mad because he sees Banquo's ghost and receives more predictions from the witches. He starts to become ruthless and kills the family of Macduff, an important lord. Macbeth still thinks he is safe but one by one the witches' prophecies come true, Lady Macbeth cannot stop thinking about Duncan, becomes deranged and dies. A large army marches on Macbeth's castle and Macbeth is killed by Macduff.

Macbeth William Shakespeare

The story begins with Ishmael heading out to find a whaling vessel to join. On his way to Nantucket, the first American City of whaling, he meets a harpooning savage named Queequeg, and the two become quick friends. They find their ship, the Pequod, and despite ominous warnings, and absence of the captain, they board with the rest. However, things are not what they seem, because when the head of the boat, Captain Ahab, make his first appearance, there is something troubling about him. Things become even more clearly wrong when Ahab gives voice to his desire: he wishes to hunt down the White Whale, Moby Dick, the whale that took his leg, and kill him. All other desires in him are second to that, and nothing can prevent him from achieving his goal. The majority of his crew is all for the adventure, although one man, the chief mate Starbuck, is worried about its eventual end. The Pequod sails over foreign seas, in order to reach the equator, a known hangout of Moby Dick, at the right season. They meet various crafts, and some ships have stories to tell of the White Whale; their stories describe only death and destruction; Moby Dick is unable to be killed by human hands, an immortal creature. Moby Dick takes on mythical overtones, as an avenging angel, and even possibly God himself. The ship goes about the regular business of whaling, and in between chapters of the story, Ishmael takes up instructing his reader on the process of killing whales and processing it for oil, the persistence of whales in our culture, and even biology lessons on their physical natures. Finally they approach their intended destination. With each ship they pass, they come closer and closer to finding Moby Dick, and Ahab is driven further into madness. He creates a weapon out of steel, blessed by harpooner's blood, for the specific purpose of killing the whale, and he ignores the pleas of help from another ship, trying to find it's lost men. Moby Dick is seen at last. The hunt spans over three days, and after it is done, the entire crew of the Pequod, save one, has been killed. The ship is sunk, the whale-boats destroyed, and Ahab himself is yanked to his death by the very iron he himself forged. Only Ishmael survives, to be picked up by another vessel; only he is left to tell the tale.

Moby Dick Herman Melville

Don Pedro of Arragon comes to Messina with his comrades, Claudio of Florence and Benedick of Padua after successful battles, to visit with his friend Leonato. Leonato is the governor of Messina and a kind gentleman to all the men who visit. Claudio is enamored with Leonato's only child and daughter, Hero. Benedick, a sworn bachelor who thinks poorly of all women, cannot understand how Claudio is so love-struck. Despite his misogynistic attitude, Benedick does find time to exchange witty insults with Beatrice, Leonato's niece. Beatrice and Benedick are two strong-willed and witty confirmed bachelors who enjoy taunting one another. Don Pedro plans to help Claudio indirectly by wooing Hero and asking for her hand to give to Leonato at the party that evening. Borachio overhears this news and tells his confidant Don John the Bastard, the brother of Don Pedro, who has also come to Messina. Don John plans to cause mischief by destroying this intended marriage. At the party that evening, Ursula flirts with a masked Antonio, Margaret flirts with a masked Borachio, Beatrice wittily flirts with and insults a masked Benedick, and the masked prince Don Pedro woos Hero for Claudio. Don John approaches the masked Claudio, pretending to be Benedick, and tells him that Don Pedro has wood Hero for himself. Claudio becomes jealous and leaves the party. Don Pedro returns with Hero and everything works out. Hero and Claudio are to be married. After being turned down by Beatrice, Don Pedro proposes that everyone help him trick Beatrice and Benedick into falling in love with one another, since they obviously are fit for none else than each another. The next day, Claudio, Don Pedro, and Leonato trick Benedick into falling in love with Beatrice. He believes their word because Leonato reveals that Hero told him that Beatrice loves Benedick. Ursula, Hero, and Margaret do the same with Beatrice. They say how wonderful a man Benedick is in Italy and that he is in love with her. The two are still so stubborn that they have trouble revealing their real emotions. Dogberry and Verges, two comic officers for the prince, establish a night watch for the evening before Hero and Claudio's wedding. John the Bastard pays Borachio one thousand ducats to seduce Margaret outside Hero's window so that Claudio and Don Pedro will witness the affair and think Margaret is Hero. He does so and speaks with Margaret (as Hero) outside her window, as John brings Pedro and Claudio to watch. They are so angered that Claudio plans to disgrace Hero at their wedding in the morning. A drunk Borachio tells Conrade of John's plot and brags of his manly conquest. The night watchmen overhear his story and place the two men under arrest. Dogberry plans to examine them, but first asks Leonato what to do. Leonato tells him to go away and examine the men. At Hero and Claudio's wedding, Claudio shames Hero, Don Pedro defends Claudio, and the men leave irate. Hero faints and Beatrice defends her innocence. Friar Francis devises a plan to save her name. She will feign death from slander, whereupon her name will be saved. Beatrice and Benedick proclaim their love for one another and Beatrice makes Benedick challenge Claudio for his wrongdoings. He does so. Dogberry tells Leonato, Antonio, Claudio, and Don Pedro of John the Bastard's crime and Hero's innocence. Claudio places an epitaph on Hero's supposed grave and promises to marry Antonio's daughter the next morning. The four women arrive masked at the wedding. Hero unmasks herself after Claudio promises to take her without seeing her face. Benedick plans to marry Beatrice. The double marriage is celebrated as a messenger arrives saying that Don John the Bastard has been captured.

Much Ado About Nothing Shakespeare

An orphaned ten-year-old Jim Burden is sent to live with his grandparents on their farm in the country, just outside the town of Black Hawk, Nebraska. He is not the only one to discover and explore the country; early on, he meets the immigrant Bohemian family, the Shimerdas, who have come to Nebraska at the same time as Jim's arrival. They are the Burdens' nearest neighbors. Antonia Shimerda, the elder daughter, becomes his good friend and pupil. Antonia's father, Mr. Shimerda, who Jim finds to be intelligent and genteel, asks Jim to teach Antonia English. The Shimerdas have a hard life on the farm; they are very poor and live in a shabby dugout, but Antonia remains dedicated and determined to improve the conditions of her life and her family's. From the first time Jim meets Mr. Shimerda, Jim feels his sadness and exhaustion. Antonia's father takes his family's poverty hard, and he is very homesick for his native land. It was Mrs. Shimerda, Antonia's mother, who had made the family immigrate to America so that Ambrosch, the Shimerdas' eldest son, would have the chance to become a wealthy farmer. Despite the Shimerdas' hard conditions, Antonia finds much comfort and happiness in the land. Together, Jim and Antonia, who is a few years older than Jim, explore the prairie - the animals, the river, and the hunting-grounds. During one of their many adventures, Jim kills a snake. Antonia suddenly views Jim with more respect, admiring his strength and courage. After the loss of Mr. Shimerda's only friends, Pavel and Peter, Mr. Shimerda becomes even more heartbroken and unhappy. At Christmas time, Mr. Shimerda comes to visit the Burden household to thank them for their kindness to his family. Jim notices how happy Mr. Shimerda is to feel the warmth and friendship in the Burden kitchen. The New Year begins with terrible news - Mr. Shimerda has killed himself. Jim knows that Mr. Shimerda had been terribly unhappy with his life and felt homesick for his life in Bohemia. Mr. Shimerda felt he could never be happy again, and tired of putting up with the constant demands and complaints of his wife and eldest son, Ambrosch. Mr. Shimerda is buried in a corner of the Shimerda property. One day, this corner will be the intersection of two roads. After Mr. Shimerda's death, Antonia must work in the fields, helping to herd the cattle and tend the crops. She does not have time for English lessons anymore. When Jim asks her to go to school with him, she scoffs and replies that she must work like a man. Jim, knowing Antonia, can see how much Antonia wants to learn, but she does not have the freedom to take time off from farming. Jim witnesses with a sinking heart how Antonia is beginning to lose the genteel ways her father had taught her. Seeing Antonia working in the fields and doing heavy, male farm work does not seem proper. The Burdens move to the town of Black Hawk. Jim's grandparents are getting too old for farm work and they want to become involved with town activities. The Burden's next-door neighbors, the Harlings, become good friends with the Burden household. Mrs. Burden, Jim's grandmother, suggests that Mrs. Harling hire Antonia as their cook; the Burdens fear that Antonia might be completely under her brother Ambrosch's harsh control and want her in town, where she will no longer have to do heavy farm work. Once the Harlings hire Antonia, Jim is happy to see her and spend time with her again. The Harlings and Antonia get along very well, until the Vannis' dancing tent comes to town. The young men of Black Hawk are attracted to the "hired girls" - immigrant girls (like Antonia and Lena) who have come to town to earn money for their family in the country and are viewed as free and promiscuous. Social custom separates the hired girls from the young men at all times, except for the evenings when the dancing tent is open. At the dancing tent, the hired girls and the young men all come together. Mr. Harling forbids Antonia to go to the dances because, to Black Hawk citizens, she now has developed a reputation as free and easy. Antonia, unwilling to give up her love for dancing or her freedom, quits. She goes to work for Wick Cutter, the shady and evil Black Hawk money-lender, and his wife. Jim graduates from high school with top honors. He and some of the hired girls: Antonia, Lena Lingard, and Tiny Soderball, all whom Jim had known from the country, have a picnic on the prairie. They are moved by the spetacular sight of a plough against the sunset in the horizon. One night, a troubled Antonia visits the Burdens. She suspects that Wick Cutter might have a scheme in mind, for he and his wife have gone off on a trip and he made specific instructions for Antonia to stay in the house alone at all times. Mrs. Burden suggests that Jim switch places with Antonia to watch the Cutters' house. On the third night that Jim stays at the Cutters', Wick Cutter comes home, apparently to rape Antonia, but finds Jim instead, and beats him up. Jim escapes, seriously bruised. He blames much of his ordeal on Antonia, and vows to stay away from her from now on. Jim enters the University of Lincoln as the protege of Gaston Cleric, his Latin advisor. While in Lincoln, Jim is visited by Lena Lingard, who has also come to Lincoln. She has her own dressmaking shop. The two of them begin a relationship. Cleric finds out about Jim's relationship and warns Jim against Lena, for he can see that Jim is becoming distracted by Lena's attention. Also, Cleric wants Jim to follow him to Harvard, where he has accepted a job offer, and finish his education there. Jim accepts the offer. He finishes college and visits his grandparents' on his summer vacation before he enters Harvard Law School. When Jim returns home, he learns what happened to Antonia while he had been in school. She had been engaged to Larry Donovan, but he deserted her and their unborn baby. Jim learns that she is living on her family's farm. He is disappointed in Antonia, and saddened that she let herself get taken in by Donovan. He is even more disgusted at the Black Hawk citizens who now view Antonia with pity and Lena with regard because she is successful in her job. Jim learns that the town looks down upon Tiny Soderball as well; however, this disdain is most likely jealousy. Tiny has become even more wealthy than Lena. She had been deeded a claim out West and invested her money wisely. When Jim wants to know more of Larry's desertion, Widow Steavens tells him the whole story. Mrs. Steavens also recalls the night Antonia gave birth to her baby. She remembers the happiness Antonia felt at that moment, and regrets that Antonia might never have a chance to be married and raise a real family. Jim goes to visit the Shimerdas' the next day. A tearful, happy Antonia greets him, and Jim is struck by Antonia's appearance. Antonia looks tired, but Jim sees that her will is extremely strong and confident. He and Antonia talk about the events that have occurred in the past few months. Antonia tells him that she is happy that she is back in the country; she knows she could never be happy living in a city. Jim admits that he thinks of her more than he thinks of anybody else, and that she will always be an important part of his life. Antonia agrees; she believes that Jim and her father will always be a part of her. Jim promises to see her again, but twenty years pass before he is convinced by Lena Lingard to visit her. By now, Antonia is married to Anton Cuzak, Anton Jelinek's cousin, and has a number of children. His visit to the Cuzaks' farm turns out to be one of the happiest times of his life. He sees that Antonia is truly, genuinely happy, and she and her family are thriving on their farm. She is a rough-looking woman, big and worn, but extremely vibrant and lively. Jim is touched by how loving and caring everyone in the family are toward each other. Jim gets along well with two of Antonia's sons, Leo and Ambrosch, as he does with Antonia's husband, Anton Cuzak. Antonia and her eldest son, Rudolph, tell Jim the story of Wick Cutter's murder. Jim is extremely proud of Antonia and the way she has turned her life around to fit her vision of success and destiny. When he leaves the Cuzaks' farm to return to Black Hawk, Jim feels sad at the number of changes in town, but the sight of the unmarked, pure prairie erases his sadness. Highways and roads have destroyed the country, but Jim can still see the very first roads deeply imbedded in the land, the roads he and Antonia walked and ran upon as children. Jim knows that he can never forget the past between him and Antonia, and looks forward to the future that lies before them.

My Antonia Willa Cather

This is the ultimate tragedy. The royalty of Thebes are cursed, and said that their child will kill them. The father gives this baby to a servant, who breaks his feet, and leaves him on the mountain. A shephard picks him up, and brings him to Corinth. After questioning his relationship to his siblings, he visits the temple of APollo and asks the Oracle, and learns of his prophecy. He never returns to Corinth to avoid killing his "father". But, he kills his actual father on the way to Thebes (one witness lives). He answers the Sphinx's riddle, and becomes the king of THebes! And marrys the queen... *his birth mother, he doesn't know. During a plague, he sends his brother-in-law, Creon, to see how to stop it. THe answer is to see who killed the original king of Thebes. He talks to the blind prophet to find out who it was; he tells him he killed him! He doesn't believe him, but his wife (& mother) puts two and two together, and kills herself. The lone witness that escaped comes to tell the TC the truth. He comes home and makes the big revelation, and realizes that the man he killed the many years ago was his father. His prophecy comes true. HE cuts out his own eyes from disgrace, knowing that his prophecy came true.

Oedipus Rex Sophocles

In a small fishing village in Cuba, Santiago, an old, weathered fisherman has just gone 84 days without catching a fish. On the 85th day, he is determined to catch a big, impressive fish. For years, Santiago has been fishing with a young boy named Manolin. Manolin started fishing with the old man when he was only 5 years old. Santiago is like Manolin's second father, and has taught the young boy everything about fishing. Manolin is extremely loyal to Santiago and makes sure that the old man is always safe, fed and healthy. Manolin's parents, however, force the boy to leave Santiago and fish on a more lucrative fishing boat. Manolin does not want to leave Santiago, but must honor his duty to his parents. On the new boat, Manolin catches several fish within the first few days. Santiago, meanwhile, decides to head out on the Gulf Stream alone. He feels the 85th day will be lucky for him. He sets out on his old, rickety skiff. Alone on the water, Santiago sets up his fishing lines with the utmost precision, a skill that other fisherman lack. Finally, he feels something heavy tugging at one of his lines. A huge Marlin has found Santiago's bait and this sets off a very long struggle between the two. The Marlin is so huge that it drags Santiago beyond all other boats and people - he can no longer see land from where the fish drags him. The struggle takes its toll on Santiago. His hands become badly cramped and he is cut and bruised from the force of the fish. Santiago and the Marlin become united out at sea. They are attached to each other physically, and in Santiago's case, emotionally. He respects and loves the Marlin and admires its beauty and greatness. He sees the fish as his brother. Despite this, Santiago has to kill it. He feels guilty killing a brother, but after an intense struggle in which the fish drags the skiff around in circles, Santiago harpoons the very large fish and hangs it on the side of his boat. He feels brave, like his hero Joe DiMaggio, who accomplished great feats despite obstacles, injuries or adversities. After enjoying a few moments of pride, a pack of sharks detects the blood in the water and follow the trail to Santiago's skiff. Santiago has to fend off each shark that goes after his prized catch. Each shark takes a huge bite out of the Marlin, but the old man fends them off, himself now bruised, but alive. He sails back to shore with the carcass of his Marlin. He is barely able to walk and slowly staggers back to his hut, where he falls into bed. The next morning, the boy finds his mentor and cries when he looks at Santiago's bruised hands. He promises he will reject his parents' wishes and vows to fish with Santiago again.

Old Man and the Sea Hemingway

Our main character, boi, grew up in a child farm. Starving, he asks for more food! The orphanage send him off to a coffin-maker, Mr. Sowerburry. After abuse, he just takes off for London on foot. He meets the Artful Dodger & Fagin, who are pickpockets. When the boi tries this, he's chased down in the street. It's clear he's just a sick boy though, so a dude called Bronlow give him some money... which Fagin pickpockets.Fagin keeps our boi locked up. Our boi is forced to spot out a house for a robbery, but is shot. Whoops. But the family takes him in. Yay. Now Nancy, a prostitute, finds out about our boi's heritage, and tries to tell someone, but is murdered by her boyfriend, Bill Sikes. He ends up dying by falling off a roof and inadvertently hanging himself. Monks, our boi's older step-brother, was in on the plight, trying to steal the entire family inheritance. He confesses though. Our boi ends up getting the inheritance, winds up with a happy family, and lives happy for once.

Oliver Twist Charles Dickens

The story opens in hell, where Satan and his followers are recovering from defeat in a war they waged against God. They build a palace, called Pandemonium, where they hold council to determine whether or not to return to battle. Instead they decide to explore a new world prophecied to be created, where a safer course of revenge can be planned. Satan undertakes the mission alone. At the gate of hell, he meets his offspring, Sin and Death, who unbar the gates for him. He journeys across chaos till he sees the new universe floating near the larger globe which is heaven. God sees Satan flying towards this world and foretells the fall of man. His Son, who sits at his right hand, offers to sacrifice himself for man's salvation. Meanwhile, Satan enters the new universe. He flies to the sun, where he tricks an angel, Uriel, into showing him the way to man's home. Satan gains entrance into the Garden of Eden, where he finds Adam and Eve and becomes jealous of them. He overhears them speak of God's commandment that they should not eat the forbidden fruit. Uriel warns Gabriel and his angels, who are guarding the gate of Paradise, of Satan's presence. Satan is apprehended by them and banished from Eden. God sends Raphael to warn Adam and Eve about Satan. Raphael recounts to them how jealousy against the Son of God led a once favored angel to wage war against God in heaven, and how the Son, Messiah, cast him and his followers into hell. He relates how the world was created so mankind could one day replace the fallen angels in heaven. Satan returns to earth, and enters a serpent. Finding Eve alone he induces her to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree. Adam, resigned to join in her fate, eats also. Their innocence is lost and they become aware of their nakedness. In shame and despair, they become hostile to each other. The Son of God descends to earth to judge the sinners, mercifully delaying their sentence of death. Sin and Death, sensing Satan's success, build a highway to earth, their new home. Upon his return to hell, instead of a celebration of victory, Satan and his crew are turned into serpents as punishment. Adam reconciles with Eve. God sends Michael to expel the pair from Paradise, but first to reveal to Adam future events resulting from his sin. Adam is saddened by these visions, but ultimately revived by revelations of the future coming of the Savior of mankind. In sadness, mitigated with hope, Adam and Eve are sent away from the Garden of Paradise.

Paradise Lost John Milton

The city is Verona, and the Montagues & Capulets have a long feud. One Montague, we'll call him Alpha, crashes a Capulet party. He quickly falls in love with "Omega" at the party. He meets her on the balcony, and they tell each other of their love. Alpha asks Father Lawrence if he'll do a marriage ceremony, and agrees. Tybalt and Mercutio feud in the streets, and when Alpha tries to break them up, Mercutio is stabbed. Alpha tracks down and kills Tybalt, realizes he's an idiot, and says "I am fortune's fool!" He's banished from Verona. Omega, awaiting him to get married, gets mad. She winds up in an arranged marriage, and gets a vile from Father Lawrence to make it seem like she's dead. She ends up "dead" the next day, and the message isn't given to Alpha. Whoops. He visits her tomb, and takes a poison next to her body. SHe wakes up to find him dead, and kills herself too.

Romeo & Juliet William Shakespeare

The narrator opens with an elaborate hyperbole of a subtitle for the book, explaining that he is a veteran living in easy circumstances, who witnessed the bombing of Dresden, Germany as a prisoner of war and survived to tell the tale in the manner of the planet of Tralfamadore where the flying saucers come from. He went back to Dresden with a war buddy years later. He ends the first chapter saying that his war novel, his novel of looking back is over, since there is nothing intelligent one can say about a massacre. He then tells the story of Billy Pilgrim, who is unstuck in time-- he uncontrollably gets flung around the scenes of his life. He was a prisoner of war, became an optometrist, and married a rich girl who died of carbon monoxide poisoning. He was the only survivor of a plane crash. He was abducted and kept in a zoo on the planet Tralfamadore, where he was mated with movie star Montana Wildhack. With every mention of death in the book, the narrator says, "So it goes," Tralfamadorians believe that time exists all at once and not moment-by-moment like beads on a string. So a person is never dead, because he is still alive in the past. Billy's daughter Barbara is furious at him for trying to tell people his crazy notions. He wandered behind enemy lines with a fat, sadistic soldier named Roland Weary and two scouts, who ditched them. Weary got so mad at Billy for this that he beat him and when they were captured by German soldiers, he convinced many others that it was Billy's fault when he died. Pre-capture, Billy also traveled to, among other places, his mother's nursing home, where she asks him weakly how she got old, and to the YMCA where his father taught him to swim by throwing him into the deep end. He also goes back to the night of his abduction. Everyone at the prison camp was shocked to see how weak the Americans were. Billy was delirious, and he flipped out and was hospitalized. Edgar Derby, an older soldier who would be shot for plundering a teapot, stayed with him. Paul Lazzaro, a weak, hateful man, told Billy he had sworn to avenge Roland Weary by shooting him. Billy was not worried; he had seen when he would die. He traveled in time to his second hospitalization during his last year of optometry school. There he met Eliot Rosewater, who introduced him to the science fiction works of Kilgore Trout. While there, Billy traveled back to Tralfamadore. When he told the crowd at the zoo to fear the power of Earthlings, they thought he was stupid; they knew it would be them, experimenting with a new jet fuel, who would destroy the universe. Billy and the other soldiers were transferred to Dresden, which was a beautiful city. Billy traveled to the airplane crash, where he mistook the people who rescued him for German soldiers. During surgery, he traveled back to Dresden. In Dresden, he worked at a factory that made malt syrup with vitamins, which everyone illegally spooned. They were kept in slaughterhouse number five. About a month later, the city was bombed, and the prisoners survived in an underground bunker. At his eighteenth wedding anniversary party, to which he invited Trout after they met in an alley, Billy flipped out; the barbershop quartet reminded him of the Dresden guards. Years later, in the hospital after the plane crash, Billy met Air Force Historian and war-hawk Bertram Copeland Rumfoord, who told him that the bombing of Dresden was necessary and had to be kept a secret because of all the American "bleeding hearts." After the crash, Billy escaped to New York, where he snuck onto a radio show to preach his Tralfamadorian wisdom. In the last chapter, the narrator tells of how he traveled back to Dresden, and how Billy and the other prisoners had been made to dig up corpses from the ruins.

Slaughterhouse Five Vonnegut

The Sound and the Fury is the story of the fall of the Compson family, a bourgeois Jackson, Mississippi family in the early 1900's. The novel is divided into four sections, each told by a different character. The three Compson sons, Benjy, Quentin, and Jason Compson, and the family's black servant, Dilsey Gibson, each have their own section in which they tell their collective story. Benjy's section is first. He is severely mentally retarded, thus the narrative is confusing, largely because his memory jumps back and forth in time at a moment's notice. The present date in the book, however, is April Seventh, 1928, his 33rd birthday. On this day, he recalls memories of his beloved sister, Caddy, who, we find out, is no longer a part of the household. Benjy's father and brother, Mr. Jason Compson and Quentin, have both died. The people left in the family are Benjy's mother, brother, and niece, Mrs. Caroline Compson, Jason, and Quentin, who is actually Caddy's daughter. Dilsey, who has worked for the Compsons for years, is still around, managing the entire household, as Mrs. Compson, a hypochondriac, confines herself to bed and complains endlessly about her life and her family. Dilsey's daughter and grandson are also around, helping out with chores in the house. Benjy's memories reveal that Caddy was the only family member that truly cared for him. While Quentin was always good to him, he was usually lost in thought, or trying to grab Caddy's attention. Jason, as a child, was a cranky tattletale. While Caddy always gave him her sisterly affection, as she grew up she got into lots of trouble with young men in town. She had many boyfriends, and Benjy always used to cry whenever he saw her with them. Her promiscuity ended up producing the illegitimate Quentin, a girl named after her dead brother. Quentin (the male) tells his story on June Second, 1910, while attending Harvard University. The day of his death (he committed suicide by drowning himself in the Charles River) he walks around Cambridge, running errands and mulling over his thoughts. Quentin is a character filled with anxiety. His obsession with his sister, Caddy, largely contributes to his angst. At first, it appeared as though he were sexually interested in her, but as he recalls conversations he had with his father about it, we find that it is her promiscuity and the accompanying shame and disgrace that troubled him so deeply. He wanted to protect his sister from the harshness and judgment of the world. Ensconced in his neuroses, he kills himself, having not yet completed his first year at Harvard. Jason Compson narrates the third section, which takes place a day earlier than Benjy's birthday. At the time of his telling he is the breadwinner among the Compsons, working at a general store. He spends his time being bitter about his pathetic family, and is thus cruel to everyone, especially his niece, Quentin, from whom he steals the money that her exiled mother sends her every month. Jason tells us that he plans on sending Benjy to a home for the mentally handicapped once his mother passes away. We also find out that his father drank himself to death, just one year after Quentin killed himself. Before Mr. Compson died, Caddy had her daughter, Quentin. Mrs. Compson insists on raising her, for she doesn't want her granddaughter living with a disgraced single woman like Caddy. Jason spends his energy tormenting his niece for her truancy and promiscuity. Their antagonistic relationship surfaces again during Dilsey's section, the fourth and final part of the novel, which takes place on Easter day, one day after Benjy's birthday. Dilsey is an old woman who still does the bulk of the household work for the Compson. She shows love to Benjy, taking him to her black church for Easter services. She is not only the backbone of the family for whom she works, but also she is highly respected among Jefferson's black community. While Dilsey enjoys church, Jason spends his energy chasing after his niece, who ran away with a man from the visiting circus. When she finds the stash of cash her uncle had been accumulating and had kept from her all her life, she immediately skips town. Jason goes after her in a blind rage. He never finds her, but in the process he gets hurt in a fight, and his car breaks down. He must retreat back to the Compson estate empty-handed. The final image of the novel depicts, Benjy and Jason, slouched in a carriage drawn by one of their black servants--Jason is left defeated and pitiful.

Sound and the Fury Faulkner

Robert Cohn, shy and insecure, is plagued by feelings of inferiority because he is Jewish. He starts boxing to feel better about himself. He marries the first girl he dates after college. Though unhappy with her, it is a great blow to his ego when she leaves him. He moves out to California and meets a new woman. They travel to Europe, where he writes a novel. After he goes to America to get it published, he loses his shyness but becomes mean and egotistic. Undirected, he tries to get his friend Jake Barnes to go to South America with him. But Jake is not interested. Jake meets a girl at a café, and he brings her with him to the Bal, a dance club. At the dance club he runs into Brett, the love of his life. During World War I Jake was injured and is now impotent; Brett loves sex, and she cannot give it up, even to be with a man she loves. Cohn is there and can barely take his eyes off Brett, but she and Jake leave the club together. They ride around Paris and talk about why they can't be together. They kiss, but cannot go beyond that. Jake goes home alone and thinks about things and cries. He falls asleep, only to be awakened by the sound of an argument downstairs. It is Brett, drunk. She comes up, but soon leaves. She makes a date with Jake for tomorrow, but another man, a count, is waiting for her now. The next day Cohn comes by and he and Jake go out for lunch. Cohn asks Jake about Brett, and Jake tells him she's engaged. Cohn thinks he's in love with her. Cohn gets mad when Jake, annoyed by Cohn's questions, tells him to go to hell. Brett doesn't show up to meet Jake. Jake runs into his friend Harvey Stone, a broke gambler. When Cohn comes by he and Stone nearly have a fight. Cohn, who has writer's block, is not happy. He doesn't want to marry his girl, Frances, and she is not very happy about this. She humiliates Cohn in public, and he takes it all in silence. Brett and the count come to Jake's that night for drinks. Brett and Jake talk more about how they love each other. For his sake, she says, she's going away to San Sebastian for awhile. The three go out to a club and Jake and Brett dance together. Jake's friend Bill Gorton arrives, and the two get ready for their trip to Spain. When they go out they see Brett at a café. She is with Mike Campbell, her fiancé. Mike is hanging all over Brett, and he manages to invite himself and Brett onto Jake's trip to Spain. Brett asks if Cohn will be on the trip. She was with him in San Sebastian. Jake is jealous and angry, mostly with Cohn. Despite the awkwardness, Cohn still wants to come on the trip. Bill and Jake will meet Cohn in Bayonne, then travel to Pamplona to meet the rest of the group. Cohn arrives, and the three of them rent a car and head for Pamplona. Brett and Mike are supposed to arrive that night, but do not. They have stayed over in San Sebastian, and Cohn, uninvited, goes to see them. Jake and Bill continue on to Burguete, and spend a few days fishing. It is very pleasant, and they make a new friend. They receive a note from Mike, who will be in Pamplona that day. Bill and Jake leave for Pamplona. Jake and Bill find Mike, Brett, and Cohn at a café. Mike and Brett seem annoyed with Cohn. Mike is especially angry with Cohn, who followed Brett all around San Sebastian. He and Cohn almost have a fight. The fiesta starts. It is a week of drinking and partying, with bull-fights every day. The group drinks and parties all night. Jake meets Pedro Romero, one of the bull-fighters. In the ring, Romero is wonderful. Brett becomes infatuated with the attractive young bull-fighter. One day during the festival it rains, so there are no bull-fights. Jake and his friends have a drink with Romero. Brett talks to Romero, and Mike is very obnoxious. Mike and Cohn almost have another fight. Jake and Brett go for a walk, and Brett confesses she's in love with Romero. Jake finds Romero, and arranges it so Romero and Brett can go off together. Cohn finds Jake, and demands to know where Brett is. He calls Jake a pimp, then he beats him up. Jake goes back to the hotel, and Bill tells him to go see Cohn. Cohn is crying, and begs Jake for forgiveness. Jake reluctantly forgives him. Cohn plans to leave in the morning. Jake learns that Cohn beat up Romero last night. Romero demanded Cohn leave in the morning. Brett now spends all her time with Romero, who was badly hurt in the fight. Romero still fights in the last bull-fight. His first bull has bad sight, but the second one is healthy and Romero shines. He is much better than the other two fighters. That night, Brett leaves with Romero. She does not say good-bye to Jake. The festival is over and Jake heads north with Bill and Mike. They then go their separate ways, Jake travelling alone to San Sebastian, where he swims, reads, and relaxes after the stressful time in Pamplona. He is only there a few days when he receives a telegram from Brett, who is in Madrid. She needs his help. Jake, ashamed of himself, cuts his trip short and heads for Madrid. Jake finds Brett broke in a fleabag hotel. She tells him that she made Romero go, because she didn't want to hurt him. Brett knew she wasn't good for Romero, so she sent him away. Brett and Jake leave the hotel. Romero had paid the bill. They drink a little, then take a ride around Madrid. They talk again about their frustrated romance.

Sun Also Rises Hemingway

Huck is kidnapped by Pap, his drunken father. Pap kidnaps Huck because he wants Huck's $6000. Huck was awarded $6000 from the treasure he and Tom Sawyer found in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Huck finally escapes from the deserted house in the woods and finds a canoe to shove off down the river. Instead of going back to the widow's house, he decides to run away. He is sick of all of the confinement and civilization that the window enforces upon him. He comes across Jim, Miss Watson's slave, and together, they spend nights and days journeying down the river, both in search of freedom. While traveling on a raft down the river, Huck and Jim have many adventures and during many long talks, become best of friends. They find a house with a dead man. They end up stealing many things from the house. They find a wrecked ship, and go on it, only to be mixed up with murderers. They get away with money and some other goods. They get separated from each other in the heavy fog, but eventually find each other. A steamboat crashes into their raft and Jim and Huck are separated again. Huck has a run-in with the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons, two families at war with each other. He is reunited with Jim shortly after this. Then, they meet the King and the Duke, and get into a good deal of trouble performing plays. The King and the Duke pretend to be Peter Wilks' long lost brothers from England and try to steal all of the money left behind in his will. They escape before they are caught. Huck finally gets rid of them, but is left to search for Jim, who gets sold by the King. He ends up at Tom Sawyer's Aunt Sally's house, where Tom and Huck rescue Jim. Through all of the adventures down the river, Huck learns a variety of life lessons and improves as a person. He develops a conscience and truly feels for humanity. The complexity of his character is enhanced by his ability to relate so easily with nature and the river.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain

begins with the General Prologue, a detailed introduction and description of each of the pilgrims journeying to Canterbury to catch sight of the shrine to Sir Thomas a Becket, the martyred saint of Christianity, supposedly buried in the Cathedral of Canterbury since 1170. The pilgrims, a mixture of virtuous and villainous characters from Medieval England, include a Knight, his son the Squire, the Knight's Yeoman, a Prioress, a Second Nun, a Monk, a Friar, a Merchant, a Clerk, a Man of Law, a Franklin, a Weaver, a Dyer, a Carpenter, a Tapestry-Maker, a Haberdasher, a Cook, a Shipman, a Physician, a Parson, a Miller, a Manciple, a Reeve, a Summoner, a Pardoner, the Wife of Bath, and Chaucer himself. They each bring a slice of England to the trip with their stories of glory, chivalry, Christianity, villainy, disloyalty, cuckoldry, and honor. Some pilgrims are faithful to Christ and his teachings, while others openly disobey the church and its law of faithfulness, honor, and modesty. The pilgrimage begins in April, a time of happiness and rebirth. They pilgrims hope not only to travel in this blessed time, but to have a rebirth of their own along the way. The pilgrimage consists of these characters journeying to Canterbury and back, each telling two tales in each direction, as suggested by the host. At the conclusion of the tales, the host will decide whose story is the best. The Knight is the first to tell a story, one made up properly of honor and chivalry. His tale is followed by the Miller's opposite tale of dishonor and frivolity. Chaucer frequently places tales of religion and Christ-like worship with tales of unfaithful women and cuckolded men. The Reeve, the Cook, and the Man of Law tell the next stories, while the host interjects his opinions throughout. There are several rivalries that grow from within the intertext, including the small quarrels between the Friar and Summoner and between the Miller and Reeve. Between each tale, most pilgrims have a prologue, in which they tell about themselves or allow Chaucer to illustrate the dynamics of the group. The Friar and the Summoner develop a minor feud, in which they each tell tales of ill-will towards the other's profession, and the Pardoner brings his own immoral behavior into the Tales. The Wife of Bath is a memorable character and is often thought of as a primordial feminist who acts on her own terms instead of those of the man. The Canterbury Tales are not fully completed, for the original task of having each pilgrim tell two tales is never realized. Furthermore, two of the tales are begun and then suddenly cut off before their grand conclusion, such as the Squire's Tale and the Tale of Sir Thopas. Some of the pilgrims never even tell one story, such as the Tapestry-Maker and the Haberdasher, and the destination of Canterbury is not explicitly mentioned in the pilgrims' prologues or Chaucer's Retraction. Chaucer concludes his tales with a Retraction, asking for mercy and forgiveness from those whom he may have offended along his course of storytelling and pilgrimage. He hopes to blame his ignorance and lack of education on any erroneous behavior or language, for he believes that his intentions were all moralistic and honorable. In the end, he gives all credit to Jesus Christ.

The Canterbury Tales Geoffery Chaucer

Holden Caulfield just flunked out of Pency Prep. He keeps reminiscing about his brother, Allie, who had previously passed away from Leukemia. He leaves for New York a few days earlier than he should. He tries to communicate with a girl on the train, a prostitute, and a taxi driver, and asks him "where do the ducks go during the Winter". He keeps trying to communicate with three women in the parlor, two nuns with breakfast, and a drink with an old friend from school. Holden can't stop thinking about Jane Gallagher, a girl he likes, and wants an interaction like that. After sneaking into his house and saying hi to his little sister Phoebe, he stays with his old teacher, Mr. Antolinni, but runs away because he thinks he's a pervert. He tells his sister he's going to run away, but she wants to go with him. Instead he just takes her to the zoo and watches her ride the Carousel. He's finally happy...? The only real thing he wants to do is live a fantasy where he saves kids from jumping off a cliff.

The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger

1692, A group of girls are dancing in the woods doing witchcraft. Reverend Parris calls for a witchcraft expert to come investigate. Thomas Putnam pressures Parris that there's witchcraft. Abigail Warren tells everyone to not tell of their witchcraft, or she'll kill them. John Proctor confronts Abigail, and we find out they had an affair. Betty, one girl, starts screaming. Reverend Hale, the expert, comes in, and Abigail blames Tituba. Tituba says she got a vision from the devil, and instead names people they don't like who are working with the devil. Everyone now confesses to witchcraft to avoid trouble, as you'll get away just fine. Now at John's house, Elizabeth tells him about the truth with the witchcraft trials. Elizabeth now finds that her name was mentioned in the court, just so Abigail can get back with John. Now that all the wives are arrested, John has to admit adultery to prove the trials are a fraud. However, his wife Elizabeth says otherwise to save his reputation, not knowing that it goes against his claims. Now Abigail claims that John works with the devil. Abigail has run away now with money. John rips up a statement saying that he made deals with the devil in order to save his kids' reputation. He is executed, but dies happier than he was.

The Crucible Arthur Miller

Nick Carraway moves out to West Egg, in Long Island. The title Character (TC) lives an outlandish lifestyle, but his whole life he tells is completely synthesized. The TC loves Daisy, but she's married to a man called Tom Buchanan. Daisy lights a green light every night, and it symbolizes the regret the TC has for not staying with her. From getting to West Egg, there is a depressing, ashy place with a billboard with big eyes and a gas station. Tom, married to Daisy, is having an affair with Myrtle, who lives at the gas station. Daisy ends up having an affair with the TC now. Daisy doesn't like the big parties though, so the TC calls them to stop. One day in New York, Tom & the TC confronts Daisy to say which one she loves, Where Daisy says that she does love Tom. ON the way back, Myrtle is killed by a "yellow car", obviously Gatsby's. Myrtle's husband tracks the TC down and shoots him in a pool. No one shows up to the funeral, only the TC's dad. The TC is obviously obsessed with the past

The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald

Mersault lives in Algiers, and receives word that his mother died, but shows very little emotion of her death. He starts a relationship with a girl named Marie, and has a neighbor, Raymond, who is a pimp. Raymond beat up one of his prostitutes, and her brother seeks revenge. While at the beach one day, these "Arab terrorists" stab Raymond, and Mersualt ends up shooting and killing one of them. On trial, little attention is given to the death, rather to how Mersault has no soul. When he is sentenced the guillotine, a priest visits him to comfort him. However, Mersualt blows up in his face, saying that he doesn't want to hear any of that nonsense, and that he's tired of having the meaning of life shoved down his throat. He at least will die happilly, accepting his role as a freak; The universe doesn't care anyway

The Stranger Albert Camus

Prospero, a sorcerer and the rightful Duke of Milan, dwells on an enchanted isle with his daughter, Miranda. Twelve years earlier, the duke's brother, Antonio, and Alonso, the King of Naples, conspired to usurp his throne. They set Prospero and Miranda adrift in a boat, and they eventually found themselves marooned on the island. Prospero is served on his island by Ariel, a spirit who he freed from a tree with magic, and Caliban, son of the witch Sycorax. When magic reveals that a ship bearing his old enemies is sailing near the island, Prospero summons a storm to wreck their ship. The survivors make it to shore in scattered groups. Among these is Ferdinand, the son of Alonso. He is lulled to Prospero's abode by the singing of Ariel; there he meets Miranda, who is enthralled with the young prince. Meanwhile, Antonio, Alonso, Sebastian, and Gonzalo wander the island in search of Ferdinand. Antonio now plots with Sebastian to murder Alonso, but this plot is thwarted by Ariel. Elsewhere on the island, Stephano and Trinculo encounter Caliban. After sharing a few drinks, Caliban tries to enlist the two in a plot to kill Prospero and rule the island himself. He even promises Miranda to Stephano. Ariel, however, reports all these goings-on to Prospero. In the meantime, Miranda and Ferdinand pledge their troth to each other. Prospero isn't finished with his sport of Antonio and Alonso, either. He creates a magical banquet for the two men that vanishes whenever they try to eat. He also sends Ariel in the guise of a harpy to hound them for their crimes against Prospero. Later, at a masque to celebrate the upcoming marriage of Miranda and Ferdinand, Prospero remembers Caliban's plot and abruptly calls the revels to a halt. He sends Ariel to punish them as well; the spirit does so by first luring them with some fancy clothes, then setting other island spirits upon them in the shape of hunting dogs that chase them around the island. Finally, Prospero confronts his brother and Alonso, revealing his true identity as the rightful Duke of Milan. He demands that Antonio restore his throne; he also rebukes Sebastian for plotting against his own brother. To Alonso, he reveals Ferdinand alive and well, playing chess with Miranda. As a final act, Prospero abandons his magic and releases Ariel and Caliban from their servitude. From Ariel, Prospero asks for one last boon: calm seas and favorable winds for their trip back to Naples.

The Tempest William Shakespeare

Okonkwo is part of the Umuofia tribe in modern-day Niger. His father was lazy and just wanted to play the flute all day, so Okonkwo lives his life to prove that he is a man, as true to the word as possible. He's afraid his son, Nwoye, will be like his father. One day, the village recieves a kid called Ikemefuna during a settlement, and is like a second son to Okonkwo, and big brother to Nwoye. In fact, he is the son Okonkwo always wanted. However, he's told that the elder's recieved a vision from the gods that he has to be killed. Okonkwo does this to show that he isn't weak, despite everyone telling him he doesn't have to take part. Okonkwo falls into a massive depression due to this, and ends up shooting a teenager at a funeral. Whoops, now Okonkwo is exiled from his village. He returns seven years later, and wtf, English missionaries are converting the town. Okonkwo leads a rebellion, but it turns on him, and is shocked to find that his village wouldn't take keeping their culture into their own hands. Later, they find Okonkwo hanging from a tree; he had no place in the Umuofia culture that was coming to fruition. But did it REALLY happen when the missionaries came, or was it already happening before?

Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe

Scout Finch lives in Macomb, AL, during the 1930s. During the summers, DIll comes to play with Scout. Across the street is a broken up house, where Boo Radley lives, a total recluse. Scout, Jem, and DIll, keep trying to see him. He ends up leaving him presents in the tree. They try to spy on him, but the older brother tries to shoot at them. Boo ends up being a nice person, she realizes: put a blanket around her while the neighbor's house was on fire. Atticus, Scout's father, is defending Tom Robinson, a black man arrested & charged with raping a white woman. When Tom is moved to the county jail, a group of men come to lynch tom, but they disperse after Scout intervenes. The Yule's, Bob Yule in particular, have faulty stories. Even though it's clear he didn't do it, he loses the trial anyway. Bob tries to kill Scout & Jem on Halloween night, but Boo comes out and kills Bob. The sheriff decides to not give Boo Radley the spotlight, in order to give him the privacy he wants. Publicly acknowledging Boo would be killing something that didn't do any harm. As she walks Boo Radley back to his house, she looks at his porch, wonders what it would've looked like from his shoes all those years.

To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee

The novel deals mainly with the interwoven fortunes of two women, the wellborn, passive Amelia Sedley and the ambitious, essentially amoral Becky Sharp, the latter perhaps the most memorable character Thackeray created. The adventuress Becky is the novel's central character and the person around whom all the actors revolve. Amelia marries George Osborne, but George, just before he is killed at the Battle of Waterloo, is ready to desert his young wife for Becky, who has fought her way up through society to marriage with Rawdon Crawley, a young officer from an aristocratic family. Crawley, disillusioned, finally leaves Becky, and in the end virtue apparently triumphs when Amelia marries her lifelong admirer, Captain William Dobbin, and Becky settles down to genteel living and charitable works. The rich movement and colour of this panorama of early 19th-century society make Vanity Fair Thackeray's greatest achievement; the narrative skill, subtle characterization, and descriptive power make it one of the outstanding novels of its period.

Vanity Fair William Makepeace Thackeray

Two men, Vladimir and Estragon, meet near a tree. They converse on various topics and reveal that they are waiting there for a man named Godot. While they wait, two other men enter. Pozzo is on his way to the market to sell his slave, Lucky. He pauses for a while to converse with Vladimir and Estragon. Lucky entertains them by dancing and thinking, and Pozzo and Lucky leave. After Pozzo and Lucky leave, a boy enters and tells Vladimir that he is a messenger from Godot. He tells Vladimir that Godot will not be coming tonight, but that he will surely come tomorrow. Vladimir asks him some questions about Godot and the boy departs. After his departure, Vladimir and Estragon decide to leave, but they do not move as the curtain falls. The next night, Vladimir and Estragon again meet near the tree to wait for Godot. Lucky and Pozzo enter again, but this time Pozzo is blind and Lucky is dumb. Pozzo does not remember meeting the two men the night before. They leave and Vladimir and Estragon continue to wait. Shortly after, the boy enters and once again tells Vladimir that Godot will not be coming. He insists that he did not speak to Vladimir yesterday. After he leaves, Estragon and Vladimir decide to leave, but again they do not move as the curtain falls, ending the play.

Waiting for Godot Samuel Beckett