Gre in Literature -- Major Works/Authors

O Pioneers!

Alexandra Bergson, John Bergson, Mrs. Bergson, Carl Linstrum, Oscar Bergson, Lou Bergson, Emil Bergson, Marie Shabata, Frank Shabata, Crazy Ivar, Amédée Chevalier, Angélique Chevalier, Annie Lee, Mrs. Lee Hanover is a frontier town huddled on the windblown Nebraska prairie. One winter day, young Alexandra Bergson and her small brother Emil go into town from their new homestead. The Bergsons are Swedes. Their life in the new country is one of hardship because their father is sick and the children are too young to do all the work on their prairie acres. Alexandra goes to the village doctor's office to get some medicine for her father. The doctor tells her there is no hope for their father's recovery. Emil, who had brought his kitten to town with him, is crying on the street because the cat had climbed to the top of the telegraph pole and would not come down. When Alexandra returns, she meets their neighbor, Carl Lindstrum, who rescues the cat. The three ride toward home together, and Carl talks of his drawing. When Alexandra and Emil arrive home, their supper is waiting, and their mother and father are anxious for their return. Shortly afterward, Bergson calls his family about him and tells them to listen to Alexandra, even though she is a girl, for she has proved her abilities to run the farm capably. Above all, they are to keep the land. Alexandra is still a young girl when her father dies, but she immediately assumes the family's domestic and financial troubles; she guides everything the family does, and through her resourcefulness, she gains security and even a measure of wealth for her brothers and herself. Emil, the youngest brother, remains the dreamer of the family, in his mooning over Marie Tovesky, whom he had first loved as a little child. Marie had married Frank Shabata. Frank was wildly possessive and mistrusted everyone who showed the slightest kindness to Marie. Alexandra is in love with Carl Lindstrum, whose father gave up his farm because the new, stubborn land seemed too hard to subdue. He returned to more settled country and took Carl with him to learn the engraver's trade. Alexandra depends upon Crazy Ivar for many things. He is a hermit, living in a hole dug into the side of a riverbed. The kinder Swedes claim he had been touched by God. Those who are unsympathetic are sure he is dangerous. Actually, he is a kindhearted mystic who loves animals and birds and who lets his beard grow according to the custom of ancient prophets. Through his lack of concern for worldly matters, he loses his claim, and Alexandra gives him shelter on her own farm, much to the dismay of her brothers and their wives. They demand that she send Crazy Ivar to an institution, but she refuses. She respects Crazy Ivar as she does few other people. In the same way, Alexandra defends Carl Lindstrum. After an absence of sixteen years, he returns to their settlement. He had studied much, but in the eyes of the thrifty Swedes, his life was a failure because he had not married and had no property. He seems willing to marry Alexandra, who is now quite wealthy. Her brothers, Oscar and Lou, tell Alexandra that she must not marry Carl, and she orders them from her house. Carl, hearing of the disagreement, sets out for the West at once. Alexandra applies herself to new problems. She pays passage for other Swedes to come to America; she experiments with new farming methods. She becomes friendlier with Marie Shabata, whose husband is growing more jealous. She sees to it that Emil receives an education, and she lets him go off to the university despite the criticism of the other brothers. By now Emil knows he loves Marie, and he goes away to study because he feels that if he stays in the community, something terrible will happen. Even attending the university does not help him. Other girls he meets seem less attractive. His secret thoughts are always about Marie. Frank Shabata discharges hired hands because he suspects them. He follows Marie everywhere. Even at the Catholic church he is at her heels scowling at everyone to whom she talks. His jealousy is like a disease. At the same time, he treats her coldly and insults her publicly in front of their friends. She, on her part, is headstrong and defiant. At last, Emil returns from college. His friend, Amedee, becomes ill while working in his wheat fields and dies shortly afterward. Following the funeral, Emil resolves to see Marie, to say good-bye to her before leaving the neighborhood permanently. He finds her in her orchard under the mulberry tree. There for the first time, they become lovers. Frank returns from town slightly drunk. Finding a Bergson horse in his stable, he takes a weapon and searches for Emil. When he sees the two he fires, killing both. Frank, mad with horror, starts to run away. Crazy Ivar discovers the dead bodies and runs with the news to Alexandra. For the next few months, Alexandra seems in a daze and spends much of her time in the cemetery. She is caught there during a terrible storm, and Crazy Ivar has to go after her. She regains her old self-possession during the storm. Frank, who was captured soon after the shooting, was tried, convicted, and sentenced to prison. Alexandra determines to do what she can to secure his freedom. If she can no longer help her brother, she would help Frank. While trying to help Frank, she hears that Carl has returned. He had never received her letter telling of the tragedy, but on his return from Alaska he read of the trial and hurried to Alexandra. His mine was a promising venture. The two decide that they can now marry and bring their long separation to an end.

The Blithedale Romance

Based on Transcendentalist utopian settlement at Brook Farm. Characters: Miles Coverdale, Hollingworth, Zenobia (a version of Margaret Fuller), and Priscilla.

Sense and Sensibility

Characters: Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, Lucy Steele, Edward Ferris, John Willoughby, and Colonel Brandon "Edward returned to them with fresh admiration of the surrounding country; in his walk to the village, he had seen many parts of the valley to advantage; and the village itself, in a much higher situation than the cottage, afforded a general view of the whole, which had exceedingly pleased him. This was a subject which ensured Marianne's attention, and she was beginning to describe her own admiration of these scenes, and to question him more minutely on the objects that had particularly struck him, when Edward interrupted her by saying, "You must not enquire too far, Marianne--remember I have no knowledge in the picturesque, and I shall offend you by my ignorance and want of taste if we come to particulars. I shall call hills steep, which ought to be bold; surfaces strange and uncouth, which ought to be irregular and rugged; and distant objects out of sight, which ought only to be indistinct through the soft medium of a hazy atmosphere. You must be satisfied with such admiration as I can honestly give. I call it a very fine country--the hills are steep, the woods seem full of fine timber, and the valley looks comfortable and snug--with rich meadows and several neat farm houses scattered here and there. It exactly answers my idea of a fine country, because it unites beauty with utility--and I dare say it is a picturesque one too, because you admire it; I can easily believe it to be full of rocks and promontories, grey moss and brush wood, but these are all lost on me. I know nothing of the picturesque." When Mr. Henry Dashwood dies, leaving all his money to his first wife's son John Dashwood, his second wife and her three daughters are left with no permanent home and very little income. Mrs. Dashwood and her daughters (Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret) are invited to stay with their distant relations, the Middletons, at Barton Park. Elinor is sad to leave their home at Norland because she has become closely attached to Edward Ferrars, the brother-in-law of her half-brother John. However, once at Barton Park, Elinor and Marianne discover many new acquaintances, including the retired officer and bachelor Colonel Brandon, and the gallant and impetuous John Willoughby, who rescues Marianne after she twists her ankle running down the hills of Barton in the rain. Willoughby openly and unabashedly courts Marianne, and together the two flaunt their attachment to one another, until Willoughby suddenly announces that he must depart for London on business, leaving Marianne lovesick and miserable. Meanwhile, Anne and Lucy Steele, two recently discovered relations of Lady Middleton's mother, Mrs. Jennings, arrive at Barton Park as guests of the Middletons. Lucy ingratiates herself to Elinor and informs her that she (Lucy) has been secretly engaged to Mr. Ferrars for a whole year. Elinor initially assumes that Lucy is referring to Edward's younger brother, Robert, but is shocked and pained to learn that Lucy is actually referring to her own beloved Edward. In Volume II of the novel, Elinor and Marianne travel to London with Mrs. Jennings. Colonel Brandon informs Elinor that everyone in London is talking of an engagement between Willoughby and Marianne, though Marianne has not told her family of any such attachment. Marianne is anxious to be reunited with her beloved Willoughby, but when she sees him at a party in town, he cruelly rebuffs her and then sends her a letter denying that he ever had feelings for her. Colonel Brandon tells Elinor of Willoughby's history of callousness and debauchery, and Mrs. Jennings confirms that Willoughby, having squandered his fortune, has become engaged to the wealthy heiress Miss Grey. In Volume III, Lucy's older sister inadvertently reveals the news of Lucy's secret engagement to Edward Ferrars. Edward's mother is outraged at the information and disinherits him, promising his fortune to Robert instead. Meanwhile, the Dashwood sisters visit family friends at Cleveland on their way home from London. At Cleveland, Marianne develops a severe cold while taking long walks in the rain, and she falls deathly ill. Upon hearing of her illness, Willoughby comes to visit, attempting to explain his misconduct and seek forgiveness. Elinor pities him and ultimately shares his story with Marianne, who finally realizes that she behaved imprudently with Willoughby and could never have been happy with him anyway. Mrs. Dashwood and Colonel Brandon arrive at Cleveland and are relieved to learn that Marianne has begun to recover. When the Dashwoods return to Barton, they learn from their manservant that Lucy Steele and Mr. Ferrars are engaged. They assume that he means Edward Ferrars, and are thus unsurprised, but Edward himself soon arrives and corrects their misconception: it was Robert, not himself, whom the money-grubbing Lucy ultimately decided to marry. Thus,x Edward is finally free to propose to his beloved Elinor, and not long after, Marianne and Colonel Brandon become engaged as well. The couples live together at Delaford and remain in close touch with their mother and younger sister at Barton Cottage.

The American

Christopher Newman, Claire de Cintré, Mr./Mrs. Tristram, Madame de Bellegarde, Mrs. Bread, M. Nioche In 1868, Christopher Newman, a young American millionaire, withdraws from business and sails for Paris. He wants to relax, to develop his aesthetic sense, and to find a wife. One day, as he wanders in the Louvre, he makes the acquaintance of Mlle Nioche, a young copyist. She introduces him to her father, an unsuccessful shopkeeper. Newman buys a picture from Mlle Nioche and contracts to take French lessons from her father. Later, through the French wife of an American friend named Tristram, he meets Claire de Cintré, a young widow, daughter of an English mother and a French father. As a young girl, Claire was married to Monsieur de Cintré, an evil old man. He soon died, leaving Claire with a distaste for marriage. In spite of her attitude, Newman sees in her the woman he wishes for his wife. An American businessman, however, is not the person to associate with French aristocracy. On his first call, Newman is kept from entering Claire's house by her elder brother, the Marquis de Bellegarde. True to his promise, M. Nioche appears one morning to give Newman his first lesson in French. Newman enjoys talking to the old man. He learns that Mlle Nioche dominates her father, who lives in fear that she will leave him and become the mistress of some rich man. M. Nioche tells Newman that he will shoot his daughter if she does. Newman takes pity on the old man and promises him enough money for Mlle Nioche's dowry if she will paint more copies for him. Newman leaves Paris and travels through Europe during the summer. When he returns to Paris in autumn, he learns that the Tristrams were helpful; the Bellegardes are willing to receive him. One evening, Claire's younger brother, Valentin, calls on Newman and the two men find their opposite points of view a basis for friendship. Valentin envies Newman's liberty to do as he pleases; Newman wishes himself acceptable to the society in which the Bellegardes move. After the two men become good friends, Newman tells Valentin that he wishes to marry his sister and asks Valentin to plead his cause. Warning Newman that his social position is against him, Valentin promises to help the American as much as he can. Newman confesses his wish to Claire and asks Madame de Bellegarde, Claire's mother, and the Marquis for permission to be her suitor. The permission is given, grudgingly. The Bellegardes need money in the family. Newman goes to the Louvre to see how Mlle Nioche is progressing with her copying. There he meets Valentin and introduces him to the young lady. Mrs. Bread, an old English servant of the Bellegardes, assures Newman that he is making progress with his suit. He asks Claire to marry him, and she accepts. Meanwhile, Valentin challenges another man to a duel in a quarrel over Mlle Nioche. Valentin leaves for Switzerland with his seconds. The next morning, Newman goes to see Claire. Mrs. Bread meets him at the door and says that Claire is leaving town. Newman demands an explanation. He is told that the Bellegardes cannot allow a commercial person in the family. When he arrives home, he finds a telegram from Valentin stating that he is badly wounded and asking Newman to come at once to Switzerland. With this double burden of sorrow, Newman arrives in Switzerland and finds Valentin near death. Valentin guesses what his family did and tells Newman that Mrs. Bread knows a family secret. If he can get the secret from her, he can make the family return Claire to him. Valentin dies the next morning. Newman attends the funeral. Three days later, he again calls on Claire, who tells him that she intends to enter a convent. Newman begs her not to take this step. Desperate, he calls on the Bellegardes again and tells them that he will uncover their secret. Newman arranges to see Mrs. Bread that night. She tells him that Madame de Bellegarde killed her disabled husband because he opposed Claire's marriage to M. de Cintré. The death was judged natural, but Mrs. Bread has in her possession a document proving that Madame de Bellegarde murdered her husband. She gives this paper to Newman. Mrs. Bread leaves the employ of the Bellegardes and comes to keep house for Newman. She tells him that Claire is in the convent and refuses to see anyone, even her own family. The next Sunday, Newman goes to mass at the convent. After the service, he meets the Bellegardes walking in the park and shows them a copy of the paper Mrs. Bread gave him. The next day, the Marquis calls on Newman and offers to pay for the document. Newman refuses to sell. He will, however, accept Claire in exchange for it. The Marquis refuses. Newman finds he cannot bring himself to reveal the Bellegardes' secret. On the advice of the Tristrams, he travels through the English countryside and, in a melancholy mood, goes to some of the places he planned to visit on his honeymoon. Then he goes to America. Restless, he returns to Paris and learns from Mrs. Tristram that Claire became a nun. The next time he sees Mrs. Tristram, he drops the secret document on the glowing logs in her fireplace and tells her that to expose the Bellegardes now seems a useless and empty gesture. He intends to leave Paris forever. Mrs. Tristram tells him that he probably did not frighten the Bellegardes with his threat, because they knew that they could count on his good nature never to reveal their secret. Newman instinctively looks toward the fireplace. The paper is burned to ashes.

Return of the Native

Clement Yeobright, Eustacia Vye, Damon Wildeve, Thomasin Yeobright, Diggory Venn, Mrs. Yeobright, Captain Vye, Johnny Nunsuch It is, however, the brooding Egdon Heath itself that becomes the more significant structuring principle. In fact, as many have noted, the heath is one of the principal actors in the drama, for the actions of all the characters are reactions in some way to the indifference that the heath represents. Egdon Heath is the landscape from which God has departed. In its barrenness, it seems like some giant prehistoric monster lying dormant but ready to swallow up anyone who tries to escape its grasp. As in other rural idylls, there is a chorus of rustic characters in The Return of the Native. They belong on the heath because of their ignorance of the incongruity between the human longing for meaning and the intractable indifference of the external world symbolized by the heath. They still maintain a mythic, superstitious belief in a pagan animism and fatalistically accept the nature of things as they are. The Druidical rites of the fires that open the novel, the insignificance of Christian religion, the voodoo doll of Susan Nonesuch—all these characterize the pagan fatalism of the rustics. The main characters in the novel are not merely rustic, and they make something other than a fatalistic response to the heath. All of them are characterized by their various reactions to the heath's indifference. Mrs. Yeobright is said to have the very solitude of the heath concentrated in her face. Although she knows she no longer has hope of escape, she focuses all of her attention on seeing that her son Clym does. Damon Wildeve is an outsider, the mysterious stranger who seems detached from the heath but who ultimately must answer to its indifference. Tomasin Yeobright aligns herself with the natural world because of her innocence and therefore sees no discrepancy between human wishes and the blindness of the natural world. Diggory Venn, the most puzzling character in the novel, is an outcast, wandering the heath as both a rustic and a demoniac figure. The most towering figures in the novel, however, are Clym Yeobright, the native of the title who returns to the heath, and Eustacia Vye, the powerful, rebellious figure who yearns to escape its bleakness. As is typical of cultural values of the period, Eustacia's only real hope of leaving the crushing suffocation of the heath is by being "loved to madness"; thus her rebellion is often manifested as coquetry. Clym, on the other hand, wishes to remain on the heath, seeing only friendliness written on its face. Having spent some time in the intellectual ferment of the social world, he now wishes to escape the disease of thought and teach the rustics what they intuitively know: that the only life is the life of fatalistic acceptance. Clym is the disillusioned intellectual trying to return to the mythic simplicity of the natural world; he would prefer not to grapple with the incongruities he has seen. He is indeed blind, as his mother tells him, in thinking that he can teach the peasants the view that life is something "to be put up with" when they have always known and fatalistically accepted that fact. He furthermore reveals his blindness by marrying Eustacia, thinking she will remain with him on the heath, while Eustacia reveals that she is similarly misdirected by idealizing him and thinking that he will take her away. Both characters search for a meaning and a basis for value, but both are trapped by the irrationality of love and vain hopes in a basically irrational world. After the two marry and Eustacia, in one of Hardy's typical examples of human misunderstandings and the mischance of events, turns Clym's mother away from her door to die on the heath, Clym blames her for his mother's death and drives her away. Eustacia's trip across the heath is one in which the natural world seems inimical to her, for she stumbles over roots and "oozing lumps of fleshy fungi" that impede her path like the organs of some giant prehistoric animal. At the end of the novel, Eustacia's suicidal leap into the pool is less a capitulation to the forces around her than it is a heroic rebellion, for it is an assertion of the absurdity of human hopes by a romantic temperament that refuses to live by such absurdity. Some readers have seen it to be primarily the story of Clym Yeobright's spiritual odyssey, while others have declared as central Eustacia's struggle with the heath. Eustacia herself is one of Hardy's most puzzling creations. While one reader claims that her story is a realistic case history, another calls it a supernatural myth; while one sees her as a tragic heroine, another calls her the parody of a heroine. Even Diggory Venn has been the subject of much debate and argument, being interpreted as both a peasant laborer and a demonic visitant, while Damon Wildeve is seen alternately as a romantic adventurer and Eustacia's demonic familiar. Moreover, the accidents and coincidences that dominate the plot have been the source of much critical disagreement, called both the fault of weaknesses in the characters and the result of Hardy's philosophic determinism, while the framework of magic and superstition that surrounds the action of the work has been termed both grotesque parody and animistic gratuitousness. It is because the novel hovers between realism and romanticism, between the real world and the dynamic world of myth, that both its characters and its actions are so much a subject of critical controversy.

Lost Illusions

David Séchard, Lucien Chardon, Eve Chardon, Mme de Bargeton, M. de Bargeton, M. Petit-Claud, The Cointet Brothers, Coralie, M. Séchard The story of a young, handsome, talented man, Lucian de Rubempre, who travels to Paris with a married woman to make his literary name. He loses the woman, betrays his talent, and sells out not only himself but his family, mistresses, etc. He dies in the end after making an unlikely comeback orchestrated by Balzac's criminal matermind, Vautrin (who also figures prominently in Pére Goriot) Lucien Chardon, the son of a lower middle-class father and an impoverished mother of remote aristocratic descent, is the pivotal figure of the entire work. Living at Angoulême, he is impoverished, impatient, handsome and ambitious. His widowed mother, his sister Ève and his best friend, David Séchard, do nothing to lessen his high opinion of his own talents, for it is an opinion they share. Even as Part I, Les Deux poètes (The Two Poets), begins, Lucien has already written a historical novel and a sonnet sequence, whereas David is a scientist. But both, according to Balzac, are "poets" in that they creatively seek truth. Theirs is a fraternity of poetic aspiration, whether as scientist or writer: thus, even before David marries Ève, the two young men are spiritual brothers. Lucien is introduced into the drawing-room of the leading figure of Angoulême high society, Mme de Bargeton, who rapidly becomes infatuated with him. It is not long before the pair flee to Paris where Lucien adopts his maternal patronymic of de Rubempré and hopes to make his mark as a poet. Mme de Bargeton, on the other hand, recognises her mésalliance and, though remaining in Paris, severs all ties with Lucien, abandoning him to a life of destitution. In Part II, Un Grand homme de province à Paris, Lucien is contrasted both with the journalist Lousteau and the high-minded writer Daniel d'Arthez. Jilted by Mme de Bargeton for the adventurer Sixte du Châtelet, he moves in a social circle of high-class actress-prostitutes and their journalist lovers: soon he becomes the lover of Coralie. As a literary journalist he prostitutes his talent. But he still harbours the ambition of belonging to high society and longs to assume by royal warrant the surname and coat of arms of the de Rubemprés. He therefore switches his allegiance from the liberal opposition press to the one or two royalist newspapers that support the government. This act of betrayal earns him the implacable hatred of his erstwhile journalist colleagues, who destroy Coralie's theatrical reputation. In the depths of his despair he forges his brother-in-law's name on three promissory notes. This is his ultimate betrayal of his integrity as a person. After Coralie's death he returns in disgrace to Angoulême, stowed away behind the Châtelets' carriage: Mme de Bargeton has just married du Châtelet, who has been appointed prefect of that region. Meanwhile, at Angoulême David Séchard is betrayed on all sides but is supported by his loving wife. He invents a new and cheaper method of paper production: thus, at a thematic level, the commercialization of paper-manufacturing processes is very closely interwoven with the commercialization of literature. Lucien's forgery of his brother-in-law's signature almost bankrupts David, who has to sell the secret of his invention to business rivals. Lucien is about to commit suicide when he is approached by a sham Jesuit priest, the Abbé Carlos Herrera: this, in another guise, is the escaped convict Vautrin whom Balzac had already presented in Le Père Goriot. Herrera takes Lucien under his protection and they drive off to Paris, there to begin a fresh assault on the capital.

Middlemarch

Dorothea Brooke, Tertius Lydgate, Rev. Edward Casaubon, Mary Garth, Arthur Brooke, Celia Brooke, Sir James Chettam, Rosamond Vincy, Fred Vincy, Will Ladislaw, Humphrey/Elinor Cadwallander, Walter/Lucy Vincy, Caleb Garth, Camden Farebrother, Nicholas Bulstrode, Peter Featherstone, Jane Waule realist novel set in rural England. The central character, Dorothea Brooke, is a beautiful and serious-minded young woman who yearns for knowledge and the power to help others. She rejects a titled young man in favour of the Reverend Edward Casaubon, a middle-aged clergyman who, she imagines, will teach her and engage her in great works. Her marriage proves a terrible mistake, as Casaubon disdains her efforts to assist him in his research, and Dorothea begins to realize the meanness of his intellectual ambitions. Meanwhile, she makes the acquaintance of his poor relation, Will Ladislaw, who truly admires her and who matches her in passion and ambition; Casaubon then dies, willing Dorothea money but forbidding her to marry Will. interweaves the stories of various friends, acquaintances, and relations in the town of Middlemarch. She demonstrates genuine compassion for each of her characters, yet she seeds her portraits with critical—even cynical—assessments of human hypocrisy and weakness. She is particularly tart on the topic of gender relations and the limited role of women. The central character, Dorothea Brooke, is a beautiful and serious-minded young woman who yearns for knowledge and the power to help others. She rejects a titled young man in favour of the Reverend Edward Casaubon, a middle-aged clergyman who, she imagines, will teach her and engage her in great works. Her marriage proves a terrible mistake, as Casaubon disdains her efforts to assist him in his research, and Dorothea begins to realize the meanness of his intellectual ambitions. Meanwhile, she makes the acquaintance of his poor relation, Will Ladislaw, who truly admires her and who matches her in passion and ambition. When Casaubon dies suddenly, Dorothea inherits his large fortune and tries to use it for the good of others, despite her indignation on finding, in the terms of his will, that she is specifically forbidden to marry Will Ladislaw. In the end, she gives up the inheritance in order to find true happiness with Will. Dorothea's charitable works bring her into contact with Doctor Tertius Lydgate, who plans to build and run a hospital in anticipation of epidemic typhus reaching Middlemarch. Lydgate falls in love with the pretty but impractical Rosamond Vincy; their financial improvidence puts Lydgate in debt to the disreputable attorney Bulstrode, whose attempts to conceal a scandal in his past lead him eventually into real evil. Bulstrode never clears his name but finds true sympathy from his wife; Lydgate becomes a successful-enough London doctor but never achieves happiness at home or scientific greatness. Meanwhile, Fred Vincy, Rosamond's irresponsible brother, takes a step down socially and economically—but a step up in terms of integrity and hard work—as he allies himself with the Garth family and finally marries plain but kindhearted Mary Garth. Along with Dorothea, whose pursuit of true love is deemed socially unacceptable, Mary is a possible stand-in for Eliot herself. She is sensible and loving, and when she publishes an historical volume for boys, nobody believes that a woman could have written it.

The Master Builder

Ibson, Henrik

The Trial

Josef K, Fräulein Bürstner, Fräulein Montag, Willem and Franz, Inspector, On his thirtieth birthday, the chief cashier of a bank, Josef K., is unexpectedly arrested by two unidentified agents from an unspecified agency for an unspecified crime. The agents' boss later arrives and holds a mini-tribunal in the room of K.'s neighbor, Fräulein Bürstner. K. is not taken away, however, but left "free" and told to await instructions from the Committee of Affairs. He goes to work, and that night apologizes to Fräulein Bürstner for the intrusion into her room. At the end of the conversation he suddenly kisses her. K. receives a phone call summoning him to court, and the coming Sunday is arranged as the date. No time is set, but the address is given to him. The address turns out to be a huge tenement building. K. has to explore to find the court, which turns out to be in the attic. The room is airless, shabby and crowded, and although he has no idea what he is charged with, or what authorizes the process, K. makes a long speech denigrating the whole process, including the agents who arrested him; during this speech an attendant's wife and a man engage in sexual activities. K. then returns home. K. later goes to visit the court again, although he has not been summoned, and finds that it is not in session. He instead talks with the attendant's wife, who attempts to seduce him into taking her away, and who gives him more information about the process and offers to help him. K. later goes with the attendant to a higher level of the attic where the shabby and airless offices of the court are housed. K. returns home to find Fräulein Montag, a lodger from another room, moving in with Fräulein Bürstner. He suspects that this is to prevent him from pursuing his affair with the latter woman. Yet another lodger, Captain Lanz, appears to be in league with Montag. Later, in a store room at his own bank, K. discovers the two agents who arrested him being whipped by a flogger for asking K. for bribes and as a result of complaints K. made at court. K. tries to argue with the flogger, saying that the men need not be whipped, but the flogger cannot be swayed. The next day he returns to the store room and is shocked to find everything as he had found it the day before, including the whipper and the two agents. K. is visited by his uncle, who was K.'s guardian. The uncle seems distressed by K.'s predicament. At first sympathetic, he becomes concerned that K. is underestimating the seriousness of the case. The uncle introduces K. to a lawyer, who is attended by Leni, a nurse, whom K.'s uncle suspects is the advocate's mistress. During the discussion it becomes clear how different this process is from regular legal proceedings: guilt is assumed, the bureaucracy running it is vast with many levels, and everything is secret, from the charge, to the rules of the court, to the authority behind the courts - even the identity of the judges at the higher levels. The attorney tells him that he can prepare a brief for K., but since the charge is unknown and the rules are unknown, it is difficult work. It also never may be read, but is still very important. The lawyer says that his most important task is to deal with powerful court officials behind the scenes. As they talk, the lawyer reveals that the Chief Clerk of the Court has been sitting hidden in the darkness of a corner. The Chief Clerk emerges to join the conversation, but K. is called away by Leni, who takes him to the next room, where she offers to help him and seduces him. They have a sexual encounter. Afterwards K. meets his uncle outside, who is angry, claiming that K.'s lack of respect has hurt K.'s case. K. visits the lawyer several times. The lawyer tells him incessantly how dire his situation is and tells many stories of other hopeless clients and of his behind-the-scenes efforts on behalf of these clients, and brags about his many connections. The brief is never complete. K.'s work at the bank deteriorates as he is consumed with worry about his case. K. is surprised by one of his bank clients, who tells K. that he is aware that K. is dealing with a trial. The client learned of K.'s case from Titorelli, a painter, who has dealings with the court and told the client about K.'s case. The client advises K. to go to Titorelli for advice. Titorelli lives in the attic of a tenement in a suburb on the opposite side of town from the court that K. visited. Three teenage girls taunt K. on the steps and tease him sexually. Titorelli turns out to be an official painter of portraits for the court (an inherited position), and has a deep understanding of the process. K. learns that, to Titorelli's knowledge, not a single defendant has ever been acquitted. He sets out K.'s options and offers to help K. with either. The options are: obtain a provisional verdict of innocence from the lower court, which can be overturned at any time by higher levels of the court, which would lead to re-initiation of the process; or curry favor with the lower judges to keep the process moving at a glacial pace. Titorelli has K. leave through a small back door, as the girls are blocking the door through which K. entered. To K.'s shock, the door opens into another warren of the court's offices - again shabby and airless. K. decides to take control of matters himself and visits his lawyer with the intention of dismissing him. At the lawyer's office he meets a downtrodden individual, Block, a client who offers K. some insight from a client's perspective. Block's case has continued for five years and he has gone from being a successful businessman to being almost bankrupt and is virtually enslaved by his dependence on the lawyer and Leni, with whom he appears to be sexually involved. The lawyer mocks Block in front of K. for his dog-like subservience. This experience further poisons K.'s opinion of his lawyer. (This chapter was left unfinished by the author.) K. is asked by the bank to show an Italian client around local places of cultural interest, but the Italian client, short of time, asks K. to take him only to the cathedral, setting a time to meet there. When the client does not show up, K. explores the cathedral, which is empty except for an old woman and a church official. K. notices a priest who seems to be preparing to give a sermon from a small second pulpit, and K. begins to leave, lest it begin and K. be compelled to stay for its entirety. Instead of giving a sermon, the priest calls out K.'s name. K. approaches the pulpit and the priest berates him for his attitude toward the trial and for seeking help, especially from women. K. asks him to come down and the two men walk inside the cathedral. The priest works for the court as a chaplain and tells K. a fable (which was published earlier as "Before the Law") that is meant to explain his situation. K. and the priest discuss the parable. The priest tells K. that the parable is an ancient text of the court, and many generations of court officials have interpreted it differently. On the eve of K.'s thirty-first birthday, two men arrive at his apartment. He has been waiting for them, and he offers little resistance - indeed the two men take direction from K. as they walk through town. K. leads them to a quarry where the two men place K's head on a discarded block. One of the men produces a double-edged butcher knife, and as the two men pass it back and forth between them, the narrator tells us that "K. knew then precisely, that it would have been his duty to take the knife... and thrust it into himself." He does not take the knife. One of the men holds his shoulder and pulls him up and the other man stabs him in the heart and twists the knife twice. K.'s last words are: "Like a dog!".

The Ambassadors

Lambert Strether, Chadwick (Chad) Newsome, Maria Gostrey, Mme Marie de Vionnet, John Little Bilham, Miss Barrace, Mr. Waymarsh, Sarah Newsome Pocock Mr. Lambert Strether is from Woollett, Massachusetts and he has come to Europe at the request of his employer, Mrs. Newsome. Mrs. Newsome's son, Chad, has been in Paris for a long time and the Newsomes are worried that Chad will never return home. Strether is to bring Chad back home. Despite the assistance of his old friend, Waymarsh, and his new friend, Maria Gostrey, Strether is unable to fulfill this task. He is Mrs. Newsome's "ambassador," sent to Paris to protect her interests. Strether arrives in Paris and his trip becomes a return to his own youth. He enjoys spending time with Chad's young friends, Miss Barrace and Little John Bilham. Strether is charmed by the Countess, Madame de Vionnet, a married woman with whom Chad has begun a relationship. Quite impressed by the Countess, Strether agrees to help her as well - though he does not know how he will be able to appease both Mrs. Newsome and the Countess. From the very beginning, Strether's plan is doomed to fail. He hopes to convince Mrs. Newsome that the Countess has been a positive influence on Chad and that Chad has changed for the better. Waymarsh gives Strether very sound advice: Strether should either follow his directions from Mrs. Newsome, or give up altogether. Strether rejects this advice and tries to find the compromise between two conflicting positions. Just when Chad seems willing to co back home to Woollett, it is Strether who convinces the young man to stay in Paris for a little while longer. Strether's fate quickly runs downhill. Mrs. Newsome sends her daughter, Sarah Pocock (Chad's sister), to bring Chad home. Sarah arrives with her husband, Jim Pocock, and her sister-in-law, Mamie Pocock. It is suggested that Chad will return home to marry Mamie Pocock and continue in the family business: advertising. Unlike Strether, Sarah Pocock is not amused by Society and its trappings, nor is she impressed with the Countess, nor is she inspired by the architecture and atmosphere of Paris. Sarah intends to do her job and she does it quickly. It does not take very long for Chad to get himself ready to leave Paris. His condition to Sarah is that he will agree to return home if Strether gives him the word. Sarah turns to Strether, considering that the task has been completed - for how could Strether refuse? This is, however, exactly what Strether does. Fearing that Chad will return home and live a miserable life in business, Strether looks at his own miserable life and is unable to condemn Chad to a similar fate. Strether knows that Chad will return home regardless of what he says. Still, Strether does not want the blot on his conscience. This move is costly for Strether: he will likely lose his job with the Newsomes. The possibility of his marriage with Mrs. Newsome is nullified as well. In sum, Strether, a man with very little money, has lost the opportunity to get a good deal more. In the end of the novel, the only solace that he has is in knowing that he has been true to his ideals and has gained nothing for himself. "I've come, you know, to make you break with everything, neither more nor less, and take you straight home; so you'll be so good as immediately and favourably to consider it!"—Strether, face to face with Chad after the play, had sounded these words almost breathlessly, and with an effect at first positively disconcerting to himself alone. For Chad's receptive attitude was that of a person who had been gracefully quiet while the messenger at last reaching him has run a mile through the dust. During some seconds after he had spoken Strether felt as if he had made some such exertion; he was not even certain that the perspiration wasn't on his brow. It was the kind of consciousness for which he had to thank the look that, while the strain lasted, the young man's eyes gave him. They reflected—and the deuce of the thing was that they reflected really with a sort of shyness of kindness—his momentarily disordered state; which fact brought on in its turn for our friend the dawn of a fear that Chad might simply "take it out"—take everything out—in being sorry for him. Such a fear, any fear, was unpleasant. But everything was unpleasant; it was odd how everything had suddenly turned so. :

The Golden Bowl

Maggie Verver, Prince Amerigo, Charlotte Stant, Adam Verver, Fanny Assingham, Colonel Robert Assingham, The Principino Adam Verver, a US billionaire in London, dotes on daughter Maggie, an innocent abroad. An impecunious Italian, Prince Amerigo, marries her even though her best friend, Charlotte Stant, an alabaster beauty with brains, no money, and a practical and romantic nature, is his lover. She and Amerigo keep it secret from Maggie that they know each other, so Maggie interests her widowed father in Charlotte, who is happy with the match because she wants to be close to Amerigo. Charlotte desires him, the lovers risk discovery, Amerigo longs for Italy, Maggie wants to spare her father pain, and Adam wants to return to America to build a museum. Amidst lies and artifice, what fate awaits adulterers? On the eve of Maggie's and Amerigo's marriage, Charlotte Stamp, an old friend of Maggie, arrives in London to attend the ceremony. Unknown to Maggie, Charlotte was once the prince's lover, and she enlists his help in choosing an appropriate wedding gift—the gilded crystal bowl of the title. After the wedding, Charlotte remains, at Maggie's urging, to act as companion to Maggie's father, the millionaire Adam, whom Maggie feels she has abandoned. Adam ultimately asks Charlotte to marry him. In the course of the two couples' life together, Charlotte resurrects her affair with the prince. By chance, Maggie discovers that Charlotte and the prince had purchased the bowl together, surmising the truth about their past and the painful reality of their present relations. Maggie is thus confronted with a dilemma: Either she must continue to tolerate her husband's adultery or she must contrive to send Charlotte away, with the result that she will be deprived of her father. Opting for the latter, Maggie persuades her father to return with Charlotte to the United States and undertakes the task of constructing a secure relationship with her husband. While the fate of Maggie and the prince remains in the balance at the end, the real losers are surely Adam and Charlotte, the former because he is now forever separated from his daughter, the latter because she is exiled from the only amorous ties to which she can aspire—it being reasonably clear that Adam is impotent. While the plot is, in a way, simple and the premise is uncomplicated, the rich, textured performance of the novel transforms the material into a powerful portrait of the complex psychology of adultery and power. Maggie's ostensible maturity in accepting the fact of her husband's adultery is matched by the ruthless cunning she evinces in removing her rival from the field—this all without ever openly declaring her knowledge or her intentions. It is by no means clear at the end that Maggie and the prince's relations can be so readily resolved, although the prince's dependence on Maggie's fortune will surely constrain his behavior, as it motivated him to marry her in the first place. Beneath this plot of love and intrigue lies a fable about the growing hegemony of American wealth in the world market, for it is that which has brought Maggie and the prince together and sustains their marriage. If the impotent Adam Verver is one side of James's image of the American haute bourgeoisie, the resourceful and single-minded Maggie is surely the other. Bereft of her innocence in much the same way as Isabel Archer, Maggie Verver contrives a more forceful plan of action that, if it does not absolutely ensure her supremacy over her husband, gives her a much more powerful hand to play.

One Hundred Years of Solitude

Melquíades, José Arcadio Buendía, Úrsula Iguarán, José Arcadio, Rebeca, Colonel Aureliano Buendía, Amaranta One Hundred Years of Solitude is the story of seven generations of the Buendía Family in the town of Macondo. The founding patriarch of Macondo, José Arcadio Buendía, and Úrsula Iguarán, his wife (and first cousin), leave Riohacha, Colombia, to find a better life and a new home. One night of their emigration journey, while camping on a riverbank, José Arcadio Buendía dreams of "Macondo", a city of mirrors that reflected the world in and about it. Upon awakening, he decides to establish Macondo at the river side; after days of wandering the jungle, José Arcadio Buendía's founding of Macondo is utopic.[3] Founding patriarch José Arcadio Buendía believes Macondo to be surrounded by water, and from that island, he invents the world according to his perceptions.[3] Soon after its foundation, Macondo becomes a town frequented by unusual and extraordinary events that involve the generations of the Buendía family, who are unable or unwilling to escape their periodic (mostly self-inflicted) misfortunes. For years the town is solitary and unconnected to the outside world with the exception of the annual visit of a band of gypsies, who show the townspeople technology such as magnets, telescopes and ice. The leader of the gypsies, Melquiades, maintains a close friendship with José Arcadio Buendía who becomes increasingly withdrawn, obsessed with investigating the mysteries of the universe presented to him by the gypsies. Ultimately he is driven insane, speaking only in Latin, and is tied to a chestnut tree by his family for many years until his death. Eventually Macondo becomes exposed to the outside world and the government of newly-independent Colombia. A rigged election between the Conservative and Liberal parties is held in the town, and this inspires Aureliano Buendía to join a civil war against the Conservative government. He becomes an iconic revolutionary leader, fighting for many years and surviving multiple attempts on his life, but ultimately becomes tired of war and signs a peace treaty with the Conservatives. Disillusioned, he returns to Macondo and spends the rest of his life making tiny goldfish out of gold in his workshop. The railroad is brought to Macondo, bringing in new technology and many foreign settlers. An American fruit company constructs a banana plantation outside the town and builds their own segregated village across the river. This ushers in a period of prosperity that ends in tragedy as thousands of striking plantation workers are massacred by the Colombian army, an incident based on the real life Banana massacre of 1928. José Arcadio Segundo, the only survivor of the massacre, finds no evidence of the massacre and the surviving townspeople refusing to believe that it happened. By the novel's end Macondo has fallen into a decrepit and near-abandoned state, with the only remaining Buendías being Amaranta Úrsula and her nephew Aureliano. Aureliano's parentage is hidden by his grandmother Fernanda, and he and Amaranta Úrsula enter an incestuous relationship unknowingly. They have a child who bears the tail of a pig, fulfilling the lifelong fear of the long-dead matriarch Úrsula. Amaranta Úrsula dies in childbirth and the child is devoured by ants, leaving Aureliano the last member of the family. He decodes an encryption left behind in a manuscript by Melquiades generations ago. The secret message informs the recipient of every fortune and misfortune lived by the Buendía family's generations. As he reads the manuscript, a hurricane destroys all trace of Macondo's existence. First line!: "Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice"

Le Père Goriot

Mme. Vauquer, Sylvie, Christophe, Poiret, Mlle. Michonneau, Mme. Couture, Victorine Taillefer, Bianchon, Vautrin, Old Goriot, Eugène de Rastignac, Gobseck, M. Taillefer, Frederic Taillefer, Mme. de Rastignac, Laure de Rastignac one of the series of novels to which X gave the title of "The Human Comedy." It is a comedy, mingled with lurid tragic touches, of society in the French capital in the early decades of the 19th century. The novel follows Eugene Rastignac's entrance into heartless Parisian society. This heartlessness is embodied by the cruel fate of Goriot who has reduced himself to a state of squalour to provide his daughters with the material luxuries they desire. These daughters do not even come to visit him as he's dying and Rastignac is the only attendent at his funeral The novel opens with an extended description of the Maison Vauquer, a boarding house in Paris' rue Neuve-Sainte-Geneviève covered with vines, owned by the widow Madame Vauquer. The residents include the law student Eugène de Rastignac, a mysterious agitator named Vautrin, and an elderly retired vermicelli-maker named Jean-Joachim Goriot. The old man is ridiculed frequently by the other boarders, who soon learn that he has bankrupted himself to support his two well-married daughters. Rastignac, who moved to Paris from the south of France, becomes attracted to the upper class. He has difficulty fitting in, but is tutored by his cousin, Madame de Beauséant, in the ways of high society. Rastignac endears himself to one of Goriot's daughters, Delphine, after extracting money from his own already-poor family. Vautrin, meanwhile, tries to convince Rastignac to pursue an unmarried woman named Victorine, whose family fortune is blocked only by her brother. He offers to clear the way for Rastignac by having the brother killed in a duel. Rastignac refuses to go along with the plot, balking at the idea of having someone killed to acquire their wealth, but he takes note of Vautrin's machinations. This is a lesson in the harsh realities of high society. Before long, the boarders learn that police are seeking Vautrin, revealed to be a master criminal nicknamed Trompe-la-Mort ("Cheater of Death"). Vautrin arranges for a friend to kill Victorine's brother, in the meantime, and is captured by the police. Goriot, supportive of Rastignac's interest in his daughter and furious with her husband's tyrannical control over her, finds himself unable to help. When his other daughter, Anastasie, informs him that she has been selling off her husband's family jewelry to pay her lover's debts, the old man is overcome with grief at his own impotence and suffers a stroke. Delphine does not visit Goriot as he lies on his deathbed, and Anastasie arrives too late, only once he has lost consciousness. Before dying, Goriot rages about their disrespect toward him. His funeral is attended only by Rastignac, a servant named Christophe, and two paid mourners. Goriot's daughters, rather than being present at the funeral, send their empty coaches, each bearing their families' respective coat of arms. After the short ceremony, Rastignac turns to face Paris as the lights of evening begin to appear. He sets out to dine with Delphine de Nucingen and declares to the city: "À nous deux, maintenant!" ("It's between you and me now!")

The Bostonians

Olive Chancellor, Adeline Luna, Basil Random, Verena Tarrant, Selah Tarrant, Mrs. Tarrant, Miss Birdseye, Dr. Prance, Mrs/Henry Burrage, Mrs. Farrinder A bittersweet tragicomedy that centres on Basil Ransom, an unbending political conservative from Mississippi; Olive Chancellor, Ransom's cousin and a zealous Boston feminist; and Verena Tarrant, a pretty protégée of Olive's in the feminist movement. The storyline concerns the contest between Ransom and Olive for Verena's allegiance and affection, though the novel also includes a wide panorama of political activists, newspaper people, and quirky eccentrics.

The Pickwick Papers

Samuel Pickwick, Nathaniel Winkle, Augustus Snodgrass, Tracy Tupman, Sam Weller, Tony Weller, Alfred Jingle Supporting: Joe, Job Trotter, Mr. Wardle, Rachael Wardle, Mr. Perker, Mary, Mrs. Martha Bardell, Emily Wardle, Arabella Allen, "Ben" Allen, "Bob" Sawyer The novel's main character, Mr. Pickwick, is a kind old gentleman, the founder of the Pickwick Club. Mr. Pickwick travels with his friends, Mr. Nathaniel Winkle, Mr. Augustus Snodgrass, and Mr. Tracy Tupman, and their adventures are the chief theme of the novel. Written for publication as a serial, X is a sequence of loosely related adventures. The action is given as occurring 1827-8, though critics have noted some seeming anachronisms.[5] It has been stated that Dickens satirized the case of George Norton suing Lord Melbourne in The Pickwick Papers.[6] The novel's main character, Samuel Pickwick, Esquire, is a kind and wealthy old gentleman, the founder and perpetual president of the Pickwick Club. To extend his researches into the quaint and curious phenomena of life, he suggests that he and three other "Pickwickians" (Mr Nathaniel Winkle, Mr Augustus Snodgrass, and Mr Tracy Tupman) should make journeys to places remote from London and report on their findings to the other members of the club. Their travels throughout the English countryside by coach provide the chief theme of the novel. A distinctive and valuable feature of the work is the generally accurate description of the old coaching inns of England.[7] (One of the main families running the Bristol to Bath coaches at the time was started by Eleazer Pickwick).[8] Its main literary value and appeal is formed by its numerous memorable characters. Each character in The Pickwick Papers, as in many other Dickens novels, is drawn comically, often with exaggerated personality traits. Alfred Jingle, who joins the cast in chapter two, provides an aura of comic villainy, with his devious tricks repeatedly landing the Pickwickians into trouble. These include a nearly successful attempted elopement with the spinster Rachael Wardle of Dingley Dell manor, misadventures with Dr Slammer, and others. Further humour is provided when the comic cockney Sam Weller makes his advent in chapter 10 of the novel. First seen working at the White Hart Inn in The Borough, Weller is taken on by Mr Pickwick as a personal servant and companion on his travels and provides his own oblique ongoing narrative on the proceedings. The relationship between the idealistic and unworldly Pickwick and the astute cockney Weller has been likened to that between Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.[9] Through humor Dickens is able to capture quintessential aspects of English life in the mid-nineteenth century that a more sober approach would miss. Perhaps the popularity of this novel was due in part to the fact that the readers of the time were able to truly see themselves, and could accept themselves because of Dickens's skillful use of humor. Other notable adventures include Mr Pickwick's attempts to defend a lawsuit brought by his landlady, Mrs Bardell, who (through an apparent misunderstanding on her part) is suing him for breach of promise. Another is Mr Pickwick's incarceration at Fleet Prison for his stubborn refusal to pay the compensation to her — because he doesn't want to give a penny to Mrs Bardell's lawyers, the unscrupulous firm of Messrs. Dodson and Fogg. The generally humorous tone is here briefly replaced by biting social satire (including satire of the legal establishment). This foreshadows major themes in Dickens's later books. Mr Pickwick, Sam Weller, and Weller Senior also appear in Dickens's serial, Master Humphrey's Clock

Benito Cereno

Short story of a slave mutiny cunningly hidden from American discoverers through a performance of order. Characters: Captain Amasa Delano, Babo, Benito Cereno, Alexandra Aranda After entering the harbor at St. Maria, off the coast of Chile, Captain Amasa Delano soon sees another ship approaching as well; it is an old and majestic Spanish galleon. Delano then notices that the second ship has tattered sails and wanders here and there, nearly running aground, even though it is clearly manned. Delano has one of his small boats lowered and is taken over to the ship to offer his assistance. He is met by a skeletal Spanish captain (Benito Cereno), his attentive black servant (Babo), and a motley crew. When Captain Delano offers his aid, no one seems eager about his assistance; they offer only apathetic thanks. As Delano waits for his crew to return to his ship and get the necessary supplies to help the San Dominick, he gets the story of the strange ship's troubles and observes many odd proceedings. Benito Cereno begins to explain why the ship appears so tattered and broken. He tells Delano that the San Dominick tried to round Cape Horn and hit terrible weather. Then disease broke out on board and killed all but a few of the Spaniards and many of the Africans. Next the ship was largely stuck in calm water for two months. The ship has come to St. Maria to get water and food, for the few people on board are starving and dying of thirst. Most of Cereno's explanation is plausible to Captain Delano, except for the two months of calm. As a result, he feels sympathetic to their plight. As he spends the day on the ship, Captain Delano sees several oddities. He notes that Babo seems to be a devoted servant, never leaving Cereno's side; sometimes, however, he seems rather forward and acts rather inappropriately. Delano also notices that the Africans on board seem to be in charge of the deck, supposedly because most of the crew has died; these powerful black men strike him as a bit threatening, even though they work in orderly fashion. Additionally, Delano notices that many times during the course of the day Cereno is reduced to trembling and speechless gagging. Delano asks many questions, both orally and silently. When Delano's questions become especially direct, Babo leads Cereno away into the hold in order to shave him; he explains that they are on a strict schedule. Although he is shocked at the poor manner in which Cereno runs his ship, Delano cannot help having pity for Benito Cereno. By the time the crew of The Bachelor's Delight returns with water and supplies, Captain Delano has decided to wash his hands of the whole weird affair. After making sure that the San Dominick has the minimum necessary supplies, he takes his leave of Benito Cereno and climbs into the waiting boat with his crew. As they push off, Benito Cereno jumps into the boat with them. Then Babo jumps in after Cereno and attempts to stab him. Captain Delano quickly understands what has been happening on the San Dominick; he realizes that the African slaves have revolted and control the ship. When the small boat finally pulls away, Babo has been taken prisoner, and Cereno has become the grateful cargo. As they depart, a shroud falls from the bowsprit of the San Dominick; it has a human skeleton tied to it. Underneath are the scrawled words: Follow your leader.

Northanger Abbey

The story centers around the character of Catherine Morland, who is an avid devotee of the genre. Invited to spend some time at the Abbey home of the Tilney family, Catherine hopes for and fears all the cliches of the Gothic novel, only to appear foolish before her hosts. Names to associate with Northanger Abbey: Cahterine Morland, the Allens, Henry Tilney, and John Thorpe. Catherine Morland is also a fan of Anne Radclife's The Mysteries of Udolpho, and Austen novel uses Radcliffe's for parodic effect. Northanger Abbey is the coming-of-age story of a young woman named Catherine Morland. It is divided into two sections, Book I and Book II. The two Books differ significantly from each other in setting and, to a degree, in tone. Book I begins when the Allens, family friends of the Morlands, offer to take Catherine with them to Bath, a resort for the wealthier members of British society. The 17-year-old Catherine eagerly accepts the Allens' invitation. Catherine is young and naïve. Her life has been relatively sheltered, so Bath is a new world for her. In Bath, Catherine is introduced to Henry Tilney, a young clergyman who impresses Catherine with his wit and pleasant conversation. Catherine quickly falls for Henry, but after their first meeting she does not see him again for some time. Mrs. Allen runs into an old acquaintance, Mrs. Thorpe, and her three young daughters, including Isabella, who is slightly older than Catherine. Catherine and Isabella are soon best friends. Isabella, superficial and fond of gossip, inducts Catherine into the social world of Bath, with all its balls, dances, shows, fashion, and its gossip. Just when Catherine and Isabella have settled into a close friendship, they are met with the arrival of James Morland, Catherine's brother, and John Thorpe, Isabella's brother. James and John are friends at Oxford University. Isabella wastes no time in flirting with James, and soon it is obvious to everyone except Catherine that James and Isabella are in love. Taking a cue from James, John tries to woo Catherine, asking her to be his dance partner. But at a ball, Catherine sees Henry Tilney again and is more interested in Henry than in John. John's bragging and his arrogant nature put off Catherine. Soon all of Isabella's time is taken up with James. Without Isabella to spend her time with and saddled with the unpleasant John Thorpe, Catherine decides to become friends with Eleanor Tilney, Henry's sister. Eleanor quickly sees that Catherine has feelings for Henry, but does not say anything. After rain seems to wash out her plans for a walk with Henry and Eleanor, Catherine is pressured by James and Isabella into riding with John, much to her dismay. On the way, she spots Henry and Eleanor walking toward her house for the planned walk. John refuses to stop, angering Catherine. Catherine apologizes to Eleanor and Henry, and plans are made for another walk. John, Isabella, and James again intervene, pressuring Catherine into another outing. Catherine firmly refuses this time and joins Eleanor and Henry in a walk around Beechen Cliff. They discuss novels, and Catherine is delighted to find that Henry and Eleanor love books as much as she does. Catherine returns home to discover that James and Isabella have become engaged. She briefly meets with John, who is leaving Bath for several weeks. John leaves with the false impression that Catherine is in love with him, although Catherine does not realize this. Book II begins with the arrival of Henry's older brother, Captain Frederick Tilney. Isabella quickly catches the eye of the captain and, dismayed by the discovery of James's modest income, begins to flirt with Frederick. Eleanor invites Catherine to visit the Tilney home in Northanger Abbey. The invitation is seconded by Eleanor's father, General Tilney. Catherine eagerly accepts the invitation, delighted at the prospect of visiting a real abbey and at seeing more of Henry. Before Catherine leaves, Isabella tells her that John is planning to propose to Catherine. Catherine tells Isabella to write him and tell him, with her apologies, that he is mistaken. Frederick appears and flirts with Isabella, who returns his attentions. Dismayed by this behavior, Catherine asks Henry to convince Frederick to leave Isabella alone. Henry refuses, knowing that Isabella is at least as guilty as the captain, but he tells Catherine that Frederick will probably leave Bath with his regiment soon anyway. Catherine leaves with the Tilneys for Northanger Abbey. On the way, Catherine tells Henry how she imagines the Abbey to resemble the haunted ruins of the Gothic novels she loves. Henry, amused, responds by giving a hypothetical account of her first night at the Abbey, complete with mysterious chests, violent storms, and secret passages. Northanger Abbey turns out to be quite dull, having been fixed up by General Tilney. Due to her overactive imagination, Catherine entertains all sorts of frightening ideas about the place, each of which is thwarted. For instance, a strange bureau in Catherine's room turns out to contain nothing more mysterious than receipts. Catherine becomes intrigued by the death of Eleanor and Henry's mother years earlier. Her mind full of Gothic plots, Catherine suspects that General Tilney of murdering his wife. Catherine sneaks into the mother's old chamber and discovers nothing. She is caught by Henry, who guesses her thoughts and scolds her. Mortified and ashamed, Catherine quickly resumes her good behavior. Catherine receives a letter from her brother telling her that his engagement to Isabella has been called off. Catherine thinks that Frederick forced himself between them, but Henry convinces her that it was as much Isabella's fault as Frederick's. Catherine visits Henry's house at Woodston. The General drops hints about Catherine marrying Henry. Catherine gets another letter, this time from Isabella, telling her that Frederick has left her, and asking Catherine to apologize to James for her. Angry at being manipulated, Catherine wishes she had never known Isabella. The General leaves on a business trip, and Henry goes back to Woodston for several days. The General then returns unexpectedly and tells Eleanor to send Catherine away the next morning. Though she is very embarrassed, Eleanor has no choice but to send Catherine to her home in Fullerton. Catherine's family is irritated by the General's rudeness, but is glad to have her home. Catherine mopes around, despondent, until suddenly Henry arrives in Fullerton and proposes to her. Henry explains that his father's behavior was due to John Thorpe. In Bath, when John thought Catherine loved him, he had told General Tilney that Catherine was from a very wealthy family. When the General ran into John much later, after Isabella had told John about Catherine's true feelings, John had angrily told the General that the Morlands were almost poor. Mortified, the General had sent Catherine away, furious that his hopes for John to make a wealthy match were to be frustrated. Henry and Catherine decide to wait until the General gives his consent to their marriage. Within a few months, Eleanor marries a very wealthy and important man, which puts the General in a good mood. Once he is told of the true nature of the Morland's financial situation, which is moderate, he gives his consent, and the novel ends with the marriage of Henry and Catherine.

The House of the Seven Gables

Theme: the sins of the fathers visited on later generations Characters: The Pyncheons, especially Hepzibah Pyncheon, Old Maule, Phoebe, Holgrave, and Clifford

Gravity's Rainbow

Tyrone Slothrop, Captain Weissmann (Blicero), Roger Mexico, Ned Pointsman

My Ántonia

Ántonia Shimerda, James Quayle Burden, Mr. Shimerda, Mrs. Shimerda, Ambroz Shimerda, Yulka Shimerda, Marek Shimerda, Mr. Burden, Mrs. Burden, Lena Lingard, Tiny Soderball, Wyclife Cutter, Mrs. Cutter, Larry Donovan, Mrs. Steavens, Otto Fuchs, Jake Marpole, Christian Harling, Mrs. Harling, Pavel, Anton Jelinek, Cuzak, Martha, Gaston Cleric, Genevieve Whitney Burden Orphaned Jim Burden rides the trains from Virginia to Black Hawk, Nebraska, where he will live with his paternal grandparents. Jake, a farmhand from Virginia, rides with the 10-year-old boy. On the same train, headed to the same destination, is the Shimerda family from Bohemia. Jim lives with his grandparents in the home they have built, helping as he can with chores to ease the burden on the others. The home has the dining room and kitchen downstairs, like a basement, with small windows at the top of the walls, an arrangement quite different from Jim's home in Virginia. The sleeping quarters and parlor are at ground level. The Shimerda family paid for a homestead which proves to have no home on it, just a cave in the earth, and not much of the land broken for cultivation. The two families are nearest neighbors to each other in a sparsely settled land. Ántonia, the elder daughter in the Shimerda family, is a few years older than young Jim. The two are friends from the start, helped by Mrs. Shimerda asking that Jim teach both her daughters to read English. Ántonia helps Mrs. Burden in her kitchen when she visits, learning more about cooking and housekeeping. The first year is extremely difficult for the Shimerda family, without a proper house in the winter. Mr. Shimerda comes to thank the Burdens for the Christmas gifts given to them, and has a peaceful day with them, sharing a meal and the parts of a Christian tradition that Protestant Mr. Burden and Catholic Mr. Shimerda respect. He did not want to move from Bohemia, where he had a skilled trade, a home and friends with whom he could play his violin. His wife is sure life will be better for her children in America. The pressures of the new life are too much for Mr. Shimerda, who kills himself before the winter is finished. The nearest Catholic priest is too far away for last rites. He is buried without formal rites at the corner marker of their homestead, a place that is left alone when the territory is later marked out with section lines and roads. Ántonia stops her lessons and begins to work the land with her older brother. The wood piled up to build their log cabin is made into a house. Jim continues to have adventures with Ántonia when they can, discovering nature around them, alive with color in summer and almost monotone in winter. She is a girl full of life. Deep memories are set in both of them from the adventures they share, including the time Jim killed a long rattlesnake with a shovel they were fetching for Ambrosch, her older brother. A few years after Jim arrives, his grandparents move to the edge of town, buying a house while renting their farm. Their neighbors, the Harlings, have a housekeeper to help with meals and care of the children. When they need a new housekeeper, Mrs. Burden connects Ántonia with Mrs. Harling, who hires her for good wages. Becoming a town girl is a success, as Ántonia is popular with the children, and learns more about running a household, letting her brother handle the heavy farm chores. She stays in town for a few years, having her worst experience with Mr. and Mrs. Cutter. The couple goes out of town while she is their housekeeper, after Mr. Cutter said something that made Ántonia uncomfortable to stay alone in the house as requested. Jim stays there in her place, to be surprised by Mr. Cutter coming to take advantage of who he thinks will be Ántonia alone and defenseless. Instead, Jim punches him, until he realizes it is the owner of the house. One-and-a-half story wood house with peeling paint; in foreground, door leading to storm cave Pavelka house in rural Webster County, Nebraska, setting of "Cuzak's Boys"[3] Jim does well in school, the valedictorian of his high school class. He attends the new state university in Lincoln, where his mind is opened to a new intellectual life. In his second year, he finds one of the immigrant farm girls, Lena, is in Lincoln, too, with a successful dressmaking business. He takes her to plays, which they both enjoy. His teacher realizes that Jim is so distracted from his studies, that he suggests Jim come with him to finish his studies at Harvard in Boston. He does, where he then studies the law. He becomes an attorney for one of the western railroads. He keeps in touch with Ántonia, whose life takes a hard turn when the man she loves proposes marriage, but deceives her and leaves her with child. She moves back in with her mother. Years later, Jim visits Ántonia, meeting Anton Cuzak, her husband and father of ten more children, on their farm in Nebraska. He visits with them, getting to know her sons especially. They know all about him, as he features in the stories of their mother's childhood. She is happy with her brood and all the work of a farm wife. Jim makes plans to take her sons on a hunting trip next year.

Brave New World

Bernard Marx, Lenina Crowne, The Director, Linda, John, Helmholtz Watson, Mustapha Mond The novel opens in the World State city of London in AF 632 (AD 2540 in the Gregorian calendar), where citizens are engineered through artificial wombs and childhood indoctrination programs into predetermined classes (or castes) based on intelligence and labour. Lenina Crowne, a hatchery worker, is popular and sexually desirable, but Bernard Marx, a psychologist, is not. He is shorter in stature than the average member of his high caste, which gives him an inferiority complex. His work with sleep-learning allows him to understand, and disapprove of, his society's methods of keeping its citizens peaceful, which includes their constant consumption of a soothing drug called soma. Courting disaster, Bernard is vocal and arrogant about his criticisms, and his boss contemplates exiling him to Iceland because of his nonconformity. His only friend is Helmholtz Watson, a gifted writer who finds it difficult to use his talents creatively in their pain-free society. Bernard takes a holiday with Lenina outside the World State to a Savage Reservation in New Mexico, in which the two observe natural-born people, disease, the aging process, other languages, and religious lifestyles for the first time. (The culture of the village folk resembles the contemporary Native American groups of the region, descendants of the Anasazi, including the Puebloan peoples of Acoma, Laguna and Zuni.) Bernard and Lenina witness a violent public ritual and then encounter Linda, a woman originally from the World State who is living on the reservation with her son John, now a young man. She too visited the reservation on a holiday many years ago but became separated from her group and was left behind. She had meanwhile become pregnant by a fellow-holidaymaker (who is revealed to be Bernard's boss, the Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning). She did not try to return to the World State because of her shame at her pregnancy. Despite spending his whole life in the reservation, John has never been accepted by the villagers, and his and Linda's lives have been hard and unpleasant. Linda has taught John to read, although from the only two books in her possession: a scientific manual and the complete works of Shakespeare. Ostracised by the villagers, John is able to articulate his feelings only in terms of Shakespearean drama, especially the tragedies of Othello, Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet. Linda now wants to return to London, and John too wants to see this "brave new world". Bernard sees an opportunity to thwart plans to exile him, and gets permission to take Linda and John back. On their return to London, John meets the Director and calls him his "father", a vulgarity which causes a roar of laughter. The humiliated Director resigns in shame before he can follow through with exiling Bernard. Bernard, as "custodian" of the "savage" John who is now treated as a celebrity, is fawned on by the highest members of society and revels in attention he once scorned. Bernard's popularity is fleeting, though, and he becomes envious that John only really bonds with the literary-minded Helmholtz. Considered hideous and friendless, Linda goes into a permanent soma state, while John refuses to attend social events organised by Bernard, appalled by what he perceives to be an empty society. Lenina and John are physically attracted to each other, but John's view of courtship and romance, based on Shakespeare, is utterly incompatible with Lenina's freewheeling attitude to sex. She tries to seduce him, but he attacks her, before suddenly being informed that his mother is on her deathbed. He rushes to Linda's bedside, causing a scandal as this is not the "correct" attitude to death. Some children who enter the ward for "death-conditioning" come across as disrespectful to John until he attacks one physically. He then tries to break up a distribution of soma to a lower-caste group, telling them that he is freeing them. Helmholtz and Bernard rush in to stop the ensuing riot, which the police end up handling. Bernard, Helmholtz and John are all brought before Mustapha Mond, the "Resident World Controller for Western Europe", who tells Bernard and Helmholtz that they are to be exiled to islands for antisocial activity. Bernard pleads for a second chance, but Helmholtz welcomes the opportunity to be a true individual, and chooses the Falkland Islands as his destination, believing that their bad weather will inspire his writing. Mond says that Bernard does not know that exile is actually a reward. The islands are full of the most interesting people in the world, individuals who did not fit in the World State community. Mond outlines for John the events that led to the present society and his arguments for a caste system and social control. John rejects Mond's arguments, and Mond sums up John's views by claiming that John demands "the right to be unhappy". John asks if he may go to the islands as well, but Mond refuses and says he wishes to see what happens to him next. Jaded with his new life, John moves to an abandoned hilltop tower, near the village of Puttenham, where he intends to adopt a solitary ascetic lifestyle in order to purify himself of civilization, practising self-flagellation. This soon draws reporters and eventually hundreds of amazed sightseers, hoping to witness his bizarre behaviour; one of them is Lenina. At the sight of the woman he both adores and loathes, John attacks her with his whip. The onlookers are wildly aroused by the display and John is caught up in the crowd's soma-fueled frenzy. The next morning, he remembers the previous night's events and is stricken with remorse. Onlookers and journalists who arrive that evening discover John dead, having hanged himself.

David Copperfield

David, Mr. Murdstone, Betsey Trotwood, Mr. Micawber, Uriah Heep, Clara, Daniel Peggotty, Little Em', Barkis, Mrs. Gummidge, Miss Betsey Trotwood, Richard Babley, Dora Spenlow, Agnes Wickfield, Uriah Heep, Wilkins Micawber, Mrs. Emma Micawber The story deals with the life of David Copperfield from childhood to maturity and deals with issues of child labor. David Copperfield - the protagonist; later called "Trotwood Copperfield" by some ("David Copperfield" is also the name of the hero's father, who died before he was born). Edward Murdstone - Young David's cruel stepfather who caned him for falling behind in his studies. David reacted by biting Mr Murdstone, who then sent him to Salem House - the private school owned by his friend Mr. Creakle. After David's mother died, Mr Murdstone sent him to work in a blacking factory. He appeared at Betsy Trotwood's house after David ran away. Mr Murdstone appears to show signs of repentence when confronted with Copperfield's aunt but later in the book we hear he has married another young woman and applied his old principles of "firmness". James Steerforth - A close friend of David of a romantic and charming disposition; though well-liked by most, he proves himself to be lacking in character by seducing and later abandoning Emily. He eventually drowns at Yarmouth with Ham Peggotty, who was trying to rescue him Fatherless David Copperfield's idyllic relationship to his pretty and childlike mother is utterly ended by her second marriage. Austere Mr. Murdstone lives up to the fairy-tale model of the wicked stepparent, whipping the terrified boy when he stammers over impossibly long sums, sending him away to school (where he meets and worships handsome Steerforth), and finally depriving David of his inheritance when his mother dies in childbirth, consigning him instead to the hell of Murdstone and Grinby's (that is, Warren's) factory. Comfort, however, is provided by the feckless, wordy, self-important Mr. Micawber, a masterly comic transformation of Dickens's own father, with whom the lonely boy takes lodgings. Micawber suffers the same fate of imprisonment in debtors' prison but remains convinced that his luck will change. Meanwhile, an important subplot centers on the seafaring folk David meets through his devoted nurse, Peggotty: her brother Daniel, whose house is an upturned boat, the stalwart fisherman Ham, and Little Em'ly, the reckless and beautiful girl who is eventually seduced and ruined by Steerforth, David's idol. Steerforth's treatment of Little Em'ly is only partially redeemed by his death in a storm at sea, which also kills Ham, who had hoped to marry Little Em'ly. When Micawber departs in search of his fortune, David also leaves London in quest of love and family. Robbed even of his clothes, he walks the long miles to Dover, where his is rewarded by the half-unexpected affection of his cantankerous and eccentric Aunt Betsy. She provides the schooling proper to a gentleman at Dr. Strong's academy and sets David on the path to becoming a successful professional writer. The text pays little attention to his work; however, his romantic life looms far larger. David enters into an unsuitable marriage to sweet, frivolous, luxurious Dora Spenlow, who calls herself his child-wife. On her deathbed—tragic but inevitable, given her inadequacies—Dora commends David to the woman who will be her successor, Dr. Strong's daughter, Agnes, an incarnation of the Victorian ideal of the domestic angel, and, as such, somewhat lifeless and unbelievable. Embedded in this development is a hint at Dickens's dissatisfaction with his own marriage and his desire for escape. Yet several hurdles must be negotiated before David can be safely delivered into the haven of a proper Victorian marriage. Dr. Strong and Agnes must be rescued from the clutches of the reptilian, mock-humble Uriah Heep, largely through the agency of Micawber. Little Em'ly must be found and rescued; old Daniel Peggotty finally immigrates with her to Australia—a treatment of the taboo fallen woman theme that was radical and humane for its time, and which reflects the lessons that Dickens learned in his ten-year involvement with a home for fallen women, Urania Cottage.

La Chartreuse de Parme (The Charterhouse of Parma)

Fabrizio del Dongo, Clelia Conti, Gina Pietranera, Count Mosca, Father Blanés Stendhal's second great novel, The Charterhouse of Parma, was first published in Paris in 1839 and had to wait more than fifty years before appearing in an English translation in 1895. Like The Red and the Black, its vivid characterizations, intriguing plot, and ironical style immediately confirmed its status as one of the major achievements of the nineteenth century novel. Almost ten years separate the original publication of The Charterhouse of Parma from The Red and the Black. The interval did not, however, produce a change in Stendhal's fictional themes or methods. Once again, the protagonist is a young man, and the environment in which he comes face to face with the world and his situation and destiny in it is one of political intrigue. Again, the protagonist's fate seems to be decided by his emotional nature, and the expression of that nature is subject to ruinous social manipulation. The larger backdrop to the novel's plot is the Napoleonic era. Yet it is used to illuminate the character of the protagonist, Fabrizzio del Dongo, and to prepare the reader for the struggle for autonomy and individuality that Fabrizzio must undergo. As in The Red and the Black, this struggle constitutes the bulk of the novel. What might be referred to as the Fabrizzio narrative in The Charterhouse of Parma opens with a series of his misadventures in pursuit of military glory. The presentation of an ignorant, inexperienced, confused, but spirited Fabrizzio at the battle of Waterloo has long been considered not only a high point in the depiction of the individual in history but also a telling instance of the essentially modern character of Stendhal's imagination. The impetus that inspires Fabrizzio to flounder self-deceivingly in the wake of Napoleon's army, however, is the same one that guides his behavior throughout the novel. This impetus is romantic in nature. Its generous and outgoing aspects are dramatized, but with a more sensitive irony than that of The Red and the Black. Fabrizzio's angelic appearance is, understandably, taken at face value by those who love him. Yet their acceptance of him is the basis of the tragic experiences that he brings their way. This acceptance places a far greater emphasis on the moral and spiritual dimension of the characters, which the remoteness of the novel's setting accentuates. The persistence with which remoteness of setting is featured throughout, ending in the charterhouse itself, and the fact that it tends to force the characters to tap their own internal resources, lends the work as a whole a distinctly operatic air, which Stendhal, the author of a biography of Italian composer Gioacchino Rossini and a lifelong lover of opera, undoubtedly cultivated.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

(same characters as Hamlet) The play concerns the misadventures and musings of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two minor characters from William Shakespeare's Hamlet who are childhood friends of the prince, focusing on their actions with the events of Hamlet as background. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is structured as the inverse of Hamlet; the title characters are the leads, not supporting players, and Hamlet himself has only a small part. The duo appears on stage here when they are off-stage in Shakespeare's play, with the exception of a few short scenes in which the dramatic events of both plays coincide. In Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are used by the King in an attempt to discover Hamlet's motives and to plot against him. Hamlet, however, mocks them derisively and outwits them, so that they, rather than he, are executed in the end. Thus, from Rosencrantz's and Guildenstern's perspective, the action in Hamlet is largely nonsensical and comical. After the two characters witness a performance of The Murder of Gonzago—the story within a story in the play Hamlet—they find themselves on a boat taking Prince Hamlet to England with the troupe that staged the performance. They are intended to give the English king a message telling him to kill Hamlet. Instead, Hamlet discovers this and switches the letter for another, telling the king to kill Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. During the voyage, the two are ambushed by pirates and lose their prisoner, Hamlet, before resigning themselves to their fate and presumably dying thereafter.

A Sentimental Education

Frederic Moreau, M. Jacques Arnoux, Mme Marthe Arnoux, Rosanette, Mme Moreau, Deslauriers, Louise Roque, Anténor Delamarre describes the life of a young man (Frederic Moreau) living through the revolution of 1848 and the founding of the Second French Empire, and his love for an older woman. Flaubert based many of the protagonist's experiences (including the romantic passion) on his own life. follows its hero Frédéric Moreau over a period of many years, from his youth and its romantic aspirations through a series of lessons in life in which Frédéric is exposed to the decidedly unromantic side of a number of lifestyles. Political idealism, brotherhood, high society, finance, and the art world are all demystified as Frédéric learns more about each segment of society. Gradually, his ideals are eroded, leaving him only with disillusionment. When he gets together with his old childhood friend, Deslauriers, at the end of the novel, they relive their schoolboy days, including one incident in particular when they went to a brothel. In the closing words of the novel, the two men decide that these were the best times they had ever had. The nostalgia for their lost youth and innocence is poignant, yet at the same time the reader is left wondering. If a botched visit to a brothel is the highlight of their youth and the best that they remember, this fact alone speaks volumes about the many disappointments their lives contain. A constant theme weaving together Frédéric's lessons in life is his love for Madame Arnoux. He meets her for the first time by chance when she is a fellow traveler on the ferry he is taking home to Nogent, and it is love at first sight for him. He is only eighteen years old at the time, but this idealized love quickly becomes the dominant passion of his life. Frédéric befriends the expansive and genial Monsieur Arnoux, Marie's husband, and becomes more deeply involved in his fortunes than he (Frédéric) would otherwise prefer, all in an attempt to retain his proximity to Arnoux's wife. Frédéric loans money and becomes implicated in Arnoux's affairs with mistresses, all to retain some contact with the family. Each time he resolves to take action, a twist of events thwarts him at the last minute (or are these merely pretexts to disguise his own ambivalence?), and Flaubert's talents are fully deployed in creating dramatic irony that constantly defers resolution of the plot. The most significant example of this irony comes when Frédéric finally has a chance to consummate his relationship with Madame Arnoux. They arrange a rendezvous, for which Frédéric even arrives early, but his anticipation gradually turns to disappointment as he waits and waits. Finally, after five hours, he leaves. This disappointment precipitates Frédéric's next action, for he goes to see Arnoux's mistress Rosanette in order to get his revenge. Thus, by the time he learns the real reason for Madame Arnoux's failure to appear (her child had fallen ill), he had already judged the situation and engaged himself in another course of action (with Rosanette). While preserving his ideal love, unconsummated, for Madame Arnoux, Frédéric enters a number of liaisons with other women that highlight in various ways the primary relationship. The relationship with Rosanette, for example, serves to contrast carnal love with the ideal and spiritual qualities with which Frédéric endows his love for Madame Arnoux. Similarly, his relationship with Louise underscores the role of inaccessibility in the development of the plot. Louise is ultimately uninteresting to Frédéric because she is accessible, and this paradox (wanting only what one cannot have) provides the key to understanding the failure of Frédéric's relationship with Madame Arnoux: The moment that he thinks that she has finally become accessible to him is the moment that he starts looking elsewhere. Frédéric Moreau is a male counterpart to Emma Bovary (indeed, the poet Charles Baudelaire once remarked that Emma Bovary had a man's soul in a woman's body), both characters trying to break out of the human condition of frustrated desire. Superficially, both characters can be read as weak and misguided individuals who suffer from the illusion that the grass is always greener somewhere else. Yet Flaubert treats this theme with indulgence for his characters' weakness and suggests that their dissatisfactions also possess a metaphysical dimension.

The Iceman Cometh

stages the story of the whiskey-soaked and disillusioned denizens of Harry Hope's saloon and the upheaval caused by the newly sober salesman Hickey, who — with all the annoying zeal of a recent convert — urges his former drinking companions to give up their "pipe dreams."

Oliver Twist

Characters: Oliver, Brownlow, Oliver's mother Agnes, Fagin, Monks, the Artful Dodger, the prostitute Nancy Plot: Oliver is taken in by Fagin and his criminal gang, but is eventually rescued by the respectable Mr. Brownlow after it becomes clear that he is the child of Brownlow's niece.

Emma

Characters: Emma Woodhouse, Mr Knightley, Miss Bates, Frank Churchill, Harriet Smith, Jane Fairfax A single woman, with a very narrow income, must be a ridiculous, disagreeable, old maid! the proper sport of boys and girls; but a single woman, of good fortune, is always respectable, and may be as sensible and pleasant as anybody else. : Austen, Emma (1816). Note the difference between this bit of wisdom and that which begins Pride and Prejudice--Emma's independence (financially speaking) is a good way of ID'ing this work Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her. Plot Overview Although convinced that she herself will never marry, Emma Woodhouse, a precocious twenty-year-old resident of the village of Highbury, imagines herself to be naturally gifted in conjuring love matches. After self-declared success at matchmaking between her governess and Mr. Weston, a village widower, Emma takes it upon herself to find an eligible match for her new friend, Harriet Smith. Though Harriet's parentage is unknown, Emma is convinced that Harriet deserves to be a gentleman's wife and sets her friend's sights on Mr. Elton, the village vicar. Meanwhile, Emma persuades Harriet to reject the proposal of Robert Martin, a well-to-do farmer for whom Harriet clearly has feelings. Harriet becomes infatuated with Mr. Elton under Emma's encouragement, but Emma's plans go awry when Elton makes it clear that his affection is for Emma, not Harriet. Emma realizes that her obsession with making a match for Harriet has blinded her to the true nature of the situation. Mr. Knightley, Emma's brother-in-law and treasured friend, watches Emma's matchmaking efforts with a critical eye. He believes that Mr. Martin is a worthy young man whom Harriet would be lucky to marry. He and Emma quarrel over Emma's meddling, and, as usual, Mr. Knightley proves to be the wiser of the pair. Elton, spurned by Emma and offended by her insinuation that Harriet is his equal, leaves for the town of Bath and marries a girl there almost immediately. Emma is left to comfort Harriet and to wonder about the character of a new visitor expected in Highbury—Mr. Weston's son, Frank Churchill. Frank is set to visit his father in Highbury after having been raised by his aunt and uncle in London, who have taken him as their heir. Emma knows nothing about Frank, who has long been deterred from visiting his father by his aunt's illnesses and complaints. Mr. Knightley is immediately suspicious of the young man, especially after Frank rushes back to London merely to have his hair cut. Emma, however, finds Frank delightful and notices that his charms are directed mainly toward her. Though she plans to discourage these charms, she finds herself flattered and engaged in a flirtation with the young man. Emma greets Jane Fairfax, another addition to the Highbury set, with less enthusiasm. Jane is beautiful and accomplished, but Emma dislikes her because of her reserve and, the narrator insinuates, because she is jealous of Jane. Suspicion, intrigue, and misunderstandings ensue. Mr. Knightley defends Jane, saying that she deserves compassion because, unlike Emma, she has no independent fortune and must soon leave home to work as a governess. Mrs. Weston suspects that the warmth of Mr. Knightley's defense comes from romantic feelings, an implication Emma resists. Everyone assumes that Frank and Emma are forming an attachment, though Emma soon dismisses Frank as a potential suitor and imagines him as a match for Harriet. At a village ball, Knightley earns Emma's approval by offering to dance with Harriet, who has just been humiliated by Mr. Elton and his new wife. The next day, Frank saves Harriet from Gypsy beggars. When Harriet tells Emma that she has fallen in love with a man above her social station, Emma believes that she means Frank. Knightley begins to suspect that Frank and Jane have a secret understanding, and he attempts to warn Emma. Emma laughs at Knightley's suggestion and loses Knightley's approval when she flirts with Frank and insults Miss Bates, a kindhearted spinster and Jane's aunt, at a picnic. When Knightley reprimands Emma, she weeps. News comes that Frank's aunt has died, and this event paves the way for an unexpected revelation that slowly solves the mysteries. Frank and Jane have been secretly engaged; his attentions to Emma have been a screen to hide his true preference. With his aunt's death and his uncle's approval, Frank can now marry Jane, the woman he loves. Emma worries that Harriet will be crushed, but she soon discovers that it is Knightley, not Frank, who is the object of Harriet's affection. Harriet believes that Knightley shares her feelings. Emma finds herself upset by Harriet's revelation, and her distress forces her to realize that she is in love with Knightley. Emma expects Knightley to tell her he loves Harriet, but, to her delight, Knightley declares his love for Emma. Harriet is soon comforted by a second proposal from Robert Martin, which she accepts. The novel ends with the marriage of Harriet and Mr. Martin and that of Emma and Mr. Knightley, resolving the question of who loves whom after all.

Bleak House

Characters: Esther Summerson, Richard Carstone, Ada Clare, John Jarndyce, Harold Skimhorn, Sir Leicester Dedlock The plot concerns a long-running legal dispute (Jarndyce and Jarndyce) which has far-reaching consequences for all involved (and eventually consumes the estate). Dickens's assault on the flaws of the British judiciary system is based in part on his own experiences as a law clerk. His harsh characterization of the slow, arcane Chancery law process gave voice to widespread frustration with the system, helping to set the stage for its eventual reform in the 1870s. The suit of Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce is a standing joke in the Court of Chancery. Beginning with a dispute as to how the trusts under a Jarndyce will are to be administered, the suit drags on, year after year, generation after generation, without settlement. The heirs, or would-be heirs, of suits such as Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce spend their lives waiting. Some, like Tom Jarndyce, blow out their brains. Others, like tiny Miss Flite, visit the court in daily expectation of some judgment that will settle the disputed estate and bring her the wealth of which she dreams. Among those involved in the Jarndyce suit are John Jarndyce, grandnephew of Tom Jarndyce, who shot himself in a coffeehouse, and his two cousins, Richard Carstone and Ada Clare. John Jarndyce is the owner of Bleak House in Hertfordshire, a country place by no means as dreary as its name. His two young cousins live with him. He provides Esther Summerson as a companion for Ada. Esther suffered an unhappy childhood under the care of Miss Barbary, her stern godmother, and a servant, Mrs. Rachel. The two told the girl that her mother is a wicked woman who deserted her. Miss Barbary is now dead, and John Jarndyce is Esther's benefactor. Upon arriving in London on her way to Bleak House, Esther finds an ardent admirer in William Guppy, a clerk in the office of Kenge and Carboy, John Jarndyce's solicitors. It is Guppy who first notices Esther's resemblance to Lady Dedlock, who is also tenuously connected to the Jarndyce suit. Sir Leicester and Lady Dedlock divide their time between their London home, where Lady Dedlock reigns over society, and Chesney Wold, their country estate in Lincolnshire. One day, when Lord Dedlock's solicitor, Tulkinghorn, is in the Dedlocks' London home, Lady Dedlock swoons at the sight of the handwriting on a legal document. Immediately suspicious, the lawyer traces the handwriting to its source, the stationer Mr. Snagsby, who can tell him only that the paper was copied by a man named Nemo, a lodger in the house of the junk dealer Mr. Krook. When Mr. Tulkinghorn goes there, he finds Nemo dead of an overdose of opium. He is convinced that Nemo is not the dead man's real name, but he can learn nothing of the man's identity or connections. Allan Woodcourt, a young surgeon called to minister to the dead Nemo, requests an inquest. One of the witnesses called is Jo, a crossing sweeper Nemo befriended. A short time later, Jo is found with two half crowns on his person. He explains that they were given to him by a lady he guided to the gate of the churchyard where Nemo is buried. Jo is arrested, and as a result of the cross-examination that follows, Mr. Guppy questions the wife of an oily preacher named Chadband and finds that the firm of Kenge and Carboy once had charge of a young lady with whose aunt Mrs. Chadband lived. Mrs. Chadband is the Mrs. Rachel of Esther's childhood. She reveals that Esther's real name is not Summerson but Hawdon. The mystery surrounding Esther begins to clear. A French maid who left Lady Dedlock's service identifies her former mistress as the lady who gave two half crowns to the crossing sweeper. It is established that the man who called himself Nemo is Captain Hawdon. Years before, he and the present Lady Dedlock fell in love. Esther is their child, but Lady Dedlock's sister, Miss Barbary, angry at her sister's disgrace, took the child and moved to another part of the country. Esther's mother later married Lord Dedlock. She was afraid of exposure but also guiltily overjoyed that the child her unforgiving sister led her to believe dead is still alive. Mr. Guppy informs Lady Dedlock that a packet of Captain Hawdon's letters is in the possession of the junk dealer, Krook. Lady Dedlock asks Guppy to bring them to her, and the wily law clerk agrees, but on the night he is to obtain the letters the drunken Krook explodes of spontaneous combustion; presumably the letters burn with him. In the meantime, Richard Carstone becomes completely obsessed by the Jarndyce case and abandons all efforts to establish his career. Living in the false hope that the Chancery suit will soon be settled, he spends the little money he has on an unscrupulous lawyer named Vholes. When John Jarndyce remonstrates, Richard thinks that his cousin's advice is prompted by selfish interests. Ada Clare is worried about Richard's behavior, but she remains loyal to him and secretly marries him so that her own small fortune might stand between Richard and his folly. When Esther falls desperately ill of a fever, Lady Dedlock feels all of a mother's terror. When Esther gradually recovers, Lady Dedlock goes to Hertfordshire and reveals herself to her daughter. As a result of her illness, Esther loses her beauty and thus her resemblance to Lady Dedlock. John Jarndyce feels free for the first time to declare his love for her and asks her to marry him; she accepts. Tulkinghorn is murdered, and several nights later, when she knows her secret is about to be revealed to her husband, Lady Dedlock flees. It is discovered that Tulkinghorn was murdered by the French maid through whom he learned of Lady Dedlock's connection with Jo. The maid attempted to blackmail the lawyer, and when he threatened her with imprisonment, she killed him. Inspector Bucket, who solves the mystery of the murder, also informs Lord Dedlock of his wife's past. The baronet, who previously suffered a stroke, tells the detective that his feelings for his wife are unaltered and that he will employ every means to bring her back. It is Esther, however, who finds her mother dead at the gate of the churchyard where Captain Hawdon is buried. Among Krook's effects is a Jarndyce will made at a later date than the one disputed in the Chancery for so many years. It settles the question of the Jarndyce inheritance forever. Richard and Ada are declared the heirs, but the entire fortune was consumed in court costs. Richard does not long survive this final blow; he dies, leaving his wife and infant son in the care of John Jarndyce. When John Jarndyce discovers that Esther's true love is young Doctor Woodcourt, he releases her from her promise to marry him and in his generosity brings the two lovers together. Before her wedding, John Jarndyce takes her to see a country house he bought in Yorkshire. He named it Bleak House, and it is his wedding present to the bride and groom. There Esther lives, happy in the love of her husband and her two daughters and in the lasting affection of John Jarndyce, the proprietor of that other Bleak House that would always be her second home.

Persuasion

Characters: Sir Walter, Elizabeth, and Anne Elliot, Frederick Wentworth, and Kellynch Hall (the family manor) X opens with a brief history of the Elliot family as recorded in Sir Walter Elliot's favorite book, The Baronetcy. We learn that the Elliots are a respected, titled, landowning family. Lady Elliot, Sir Walter's wife died fourtee n years ago and left him with three daughters: Elizabeth, Anne, and Mary. Both Elizabeth and Anne are single, but Mary, the youngest is married to a wealthy man named Charles Musgrove; they live close by. Sir Walter, who lavishly overspend s, has brought the family into great debt. When Lady Russell, a trusted family advisor, suggests that the Elliots reduce their spending, Sir Walter is horrified. He is exceedingly vain and cannot bear to imagine life without his usual comforts. But wi th no other option, the Elliots decide they must relocate to a house in Bath where their expenses will be more manageable. They intend to rent the family estate, Kellynch Hall. They soon find excellent tenants to rent their home; Admiral and Mrs. Croft are wealthy and well-mannered Navy people who have a model marriage. Sir Walter is relieved that the Admiral is a good-looking man. Though Sir Walter dislikes that the Navy br ings "men of obscure birth into undue distinction," he is satisfied with Admiral and Mrs. Croft as tenants for his home. Anne Elliot, the middle daughter, is also excited to meet the Crofts; Mrs. Croft is the sister of the man Anne loves. Eight years ago, she was engaged to be married to Captain Frederick Wentworth, but Lady Russell persuaded her that Captain Wentworth was not of high enough consequence, and Anne called off the engagement. With the Crofts at Kellynch, Anne hopes to see Captain Wentwor th again. Sir Walter, Elizabeth, and Mrs. Clay (a widowed, somewhat lower-class friend of the family) leave for Bath. Anne goes to stay with her sister Mary at Uppercross Cottage for a period of two months. Mary complains often and Anne patiently listens to her sister's worries. At Uppercross, Anne finds the Musgrove family absolutely delightful. Mr. and Mrs. Musgrove have three grown children: Charles (Mary's husband), Henrietta, and Louisa. Anne marvels at the bustling nature of the household and the Musgroves' clear affection for their children. Soon news comes that Captain Wentworth has returned from sea and is staying with his sister at Kellynch. Captain Wentworth makes friends with Mr. Musgrove, and he becomes a daily visitor at Uppercross. A nne is at first anxious to see him again after such a long time, but his actions toward her are merely detached and polite. He seems more smitten with Henrietta and Louisa Musgrove. Anne resigns herself to the idea that she has lost Captain Wentworth's lo ve forever. Captain Wentworth proposes that they all take a trip to Lyme to go visit his friends the Harvilles. While they are there, a good-looking gentleman takes notice of Anne; they later discover that this man is Mr. Elliot, Anne's cousin and Sir Walter' s heir to Kellynch. The group decides to go for a morning walk on the beach. Louisa Musgrove has a bad fall and is knocked unconscious. Anne keeps a level head and does all she can to care for Louisa. The doctor determines that Louisa will recover, but sh e will have to remain in Lyme for several months. Captain Wentworth blames himself for Louisa's fall and tries to help the Musgrove family. Anne returns to Uppercross to help Mr. and Mrs. Musgrove care for their younger children. After a few weeks, she le aves to stay with Lady Russell. After Christmas, Lady Russell and Anne decide that they must rejoin the rest of the Elliot family in Bath, much to Anne's dismay. Sir Walter and Elizabeth care little about her, but they are glad to have her come to Bath. In Bath, she is formally introduc ed to her cousin Mr. Elliot, who has made peace with his once estranged uncle, Sir Walter. Though she questions Mr. Elliot's motives for his sudden apology, she accepts him as a pleasing gentleman. Mr. Elliot is extraordinarily appreciative of Anne, and i t is soon apparent that he seeks to make her his wife. While in Bath, Anne becomes reacquainted with an old school friend, Mrs. Smith, who has recently been widowed and fallen on hard times. From Mrs. Smith, Anne learns about Mr. Elliot's hidden past; she finds out that he has mistreated Mrs. Smith and that he plans to marry Anne to ensure that he becomes the sole heir of the Kellynch baronetcy. Mr. Elliot fears that Sir Walter will marry Mrs. Clay, have a son, and thereby deprive him of his title. He plots to ensure that he will remain Sir Walter's heir. Anne is appalled to hear this news. The Crofts arrive in Bath with news of two engagements; Henrietta will marry her cousin Charles Hayter, and Louisa will marry Captain Benwick, a man she met at Lyme while she was convalescing. Anne is overjoyed that Captain Wentworth is not promis ed to Louisa and is free once again. Captain Wentworth soon arrives in Bath. He is now a much richer man than he was eight years ago and Sir Walter reluctantly admits him into their social circle. Wentworth grows jealous because he believes Anne is attach ed to her cousin Mr. Elliot. Yet he writes Anne a love letter in which is pours describes his true, constant, and undying love for her. Anne is thrilled and they become engaged. Mr. Elliot is shocked that his plan to marry Anne has been foiled. He and Mrs . Clay leave Bath; it is rumored that they are together. There is no longer any danger that Sir Walter will marry beneath his station. Sir Walter and Lady Russell give their approval for the marriage between Anne and Captain Wentworth.

What Maisie Knew

The story of the sensitive daughter (Maisie) of divorced and irresponsible parents (Beale and Ida Farange

All My Sons

Joe/Kate/Chris Keller, Ann/George Deever, Jim/Sue Bayliss, Frank/Lydia Lubey

The Crying of Lot 49

Oedipa Maas, Pierce Inverarity, Wendell "Mucho" Maas, Metzger

Major Barbara

Sir Andrew Undershaft, Barbara, Adolphus Cusins, Lady Britomart Undershaft An officer of The Salvation Army, Major Barbara Undershaft, becomes disillusioned when her Christian denomination accepts money from an armaments manufacturer (her father) and a whisky distiller. She eventually decides that bringing a message of salvation to people who have plenty will be more fulfilling and genuine than converting the starving in return for bread. Although Barbara initially regards the Salvation Army's acceptance of Undershaft's money as hypocrisy, Shaw did not intend that it should be thought so by the audience. Shaw wrote a preface for the play's publication, in which he derided the idea that charities should only take money from "morally pure" sources. He points out that donations can always be used for good, whatever their provenance, and he quotes a Salvation Army officer, "they would take money from the devil himself and be only too glad to get it out of his hands and into God's". Lady Britomart Undershaft, the daughter of a British earl, and her son Stephen discuss a source of income for her grown daughters Sarah, who is engaged to Charles Lomax, and Barbara, who is engaged to Adolphus Cusins (a scholar of Greek literature). Lady Britomart leads Stephen to accept her decision that they must ask her estranged husband, Andrew Undershaft, for financial help. Mr. Undershaft is a successful and wealthy businessman who has made millions of pounds from his munitions factory, which manufactures the world-famous Undershaft guns, cannons, torpedoes, submarines and aerial battleships. When their children were still small, the Undershafts separated; now grown, the children have not seen their father since, and Lady Britomart has raised them by herself. During their reunion, Undershaft learns that Barbara is a major in The Salvation Army who works at their shelter in West Ham, east London. Barbara and Mr. Undershaft agree that he will visit Barbara's Army shelter, if she will then visit his munitions factory. When he visits the shelter, Mr. Undershaft is impressed with Barbara's handling of the various people who seek social services from the Salvation Army: she treats them with patience, firmness, and sincerity. Undershaft and Cusins discuss the question of Barbara's commitment to The Salvation Army, and Undershaft decides he must overcome Barbara's moral horror of his occupation. He declares that he will therefore "buy" the Salvation Army. He makes a sizeable donation, matching another donation from a whisky distiller. Barbara wants the Salvation Army to refuse the money because it comes from the armaments and alcohol industries, but her supervising officer eagerly accepts it. Barbara sadly leaves the shelter in disillusionment. According to tradition, the heir to the Undershaft fortune must be an orphan who can be groomed to run the factory. Lady Britomart tries to convince Undershaft to bequeath the business to his son Stephen, but he will not. He says that the best way to keep the factory in the family is to find a foundling and marry him to Barbara. Later, Barbara and the rest of her family accompany her father to his munitions factory. They are all impressed by its size and organisation. Cusins declares that he is a foundling, and is thus eligible to inherit the business. Undershaft eventually overcomes Cusins' moral scruples about the nature of the business. Cusins' acceptance makes Barbara more content to marry him, not less, because bringing a message of salvation to the factory workers, rather than to London slum-dwellers, will bring her more fulfilment.

The Old Man and the Sea

tells the story of a battle between an aging, experienced fisherman, Santiago, and a large marlin. The story opens with Santiago having gone 84 days without catching a fish, and now being seen as "salao",[a] the worst form of unluckiness. He is so unlucky that his young apprentice, Manolin, has been forbidden by his parents to sail with him and has been told instead to fish with successful fishermen. The boy visits Santiago's shack each night, hauling his fishing gear, preparing food, talking about American baseball and his favorite player, Joe DiMaggio. Santiago tells Manolin that on the next day, he will venture far out into the Gulf Stream, north of Cuba in the Straits of Florida to fish, confident that his unlucky streak is near its end. On the eighty-fifth day of his unlucky streak, Santiago takes his skiff into the Gulf Stream, sets his lines and, by noon, has his bait taken by a big fish that he is sure is a marlin. Unable to haul in the great marlin, Santiago is instead pulled by the marlin, and two days and nights pass with Santiago holding onto the line. Though wounded by the struggle and in pain, Santiago expresses a compassionate appreciation for his adversary, often referring to him as a brother. He also determines that, because of the fish's great dignity, no one shall deserve to eat the marlin. On the third day, the fish begins to circle the skiff. Santiago, worn out and almost delirious, uses all his remaining strength to pull the fish onto its side and stab the marlin with a harpoon. Santiago straps the marlin to the side of his skiff and heads home, thinking about the high price the fish will bring him at the market and how many people he will feed. On his way in to shore, sharks are attracted to the marlin's blood. Santiago kills a great mako shark with his harpoon, but he loses the weapon. He makes a new harpoon by strapping his knife to the end of an oar to help ward off the next line of sharks; five sharks are slain and many others are driven away. But the sharks keep coming, and by nightfall the sharks have almost devoured the marlin's entire carcass, leaving a skeleton consisting mostly of its backbone, its tail and its head. Santiago knows that he is defeated and tells the sharks of how they have killed his dreams. Upon reaching the shore before dawn on the next day, Santiago struggles to his shack, carrying the heavy mast on his shoulder, leaving the fish head and the bones on the shore. Once home, he slumps onto his bed and falls into a deep sleep. A group of fishermen gather the next day around the boat where the fish's skeleton is still attached. One of the fishermen measures it to be 18 feet (5.5 m) from nose to tail. Pedrico is given the head of the fish, and the other fishermen tell Manolin to tell the old man how sorry they are. Tourists at the nearby café mistakenly take it for a shark. The boy, worried about the old man, cries upon finding him safe asleep and at his injured hands. Manolin brings him newspapers and coffee. When the old man wakes, they promise to fish together once again. Upon his return to sleep, Santiago dreams of his youth—of lions on an African beach.

Howards End

~Margaret, Helen, and Tibby Schlegel ~Charles, Paul and Evie Wilcox On the one hand are the Schlegel sisters, Margaret and Helen, and their brother Tibby, who care about civilized living, music, literature, and conversation with their friends; on the other, the Wilcoxes, Henry and his children Charles, Paul, and Evie, who are concerned with the business side of life and distrust emotions and imagination. Helen Schlegel is drawn to the Wilcox family, falls briefly in and out of love with Paul Wilcox, and thereafter reacts away from them. Margaret becomes more deeply involved. She is stimulated by the very differences of their way of life and acknowledges the debt of intellectuals to the men of affairs who guarantee stability, whose virtues of 'neatness, decision and obedience ... keep the soul from becoming sloppy'. She marries Henry Wilcox, to the consternation of both families, and her love and steadiness of purpose are tested by the ensuing strains and misunderstandings. Her marriage cracks but does not break. In the end, torn between her sister and her husband, she succeeds in bridging the mistrust that divides them. Howards End, where the story begins and ends, is the house that belonged to Henry Wilcox's first wife, and is a symbol of human dignity and endurance. "Only connect"

Sean O'Casey

(1880-1964) : A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes. His plays are particularly noted for his sympathetic treatment of his female characters. Most famous work was The Plough and the Stars (1926), which dealt with the impact of the Irish Civil War on the working class poor of the city. The play is one-third of his well known "Dublin Trilogy" - the other two being The Shadow of a Gunman (1923) and Juno and the Paycock (1924). It was misinterpreted by the Abbey audience as being anti-nationalist and resulted in scenes reminiscent of the riots that greeted Synge's The Playboy of the Western World in 1907.

The Aspern Papers

A novella about the unsuccessful attempts of the biographer of a famous and long-dead poet (Jeffrey Aspern) to secure some papers from the poet's aged former mistress and her homely daughter. It is set in Venice. The protagonist encourages the daughter's growing infatuation withhim in order to get the papers.

Adam Bede

Adam Bede, Seth Bede, Lisbeth Bede, Thias (Matthias), Gyp, Martin Poyser, Marty/Tommy Poyser, Totty Poyser, "Old Martin" Poyser, Hetty Sorrel, Dinah Morris, Adolphus Irwine, Mrs. Irwine, Squire Donnithorne, Arthur Donnithorne, Miss Lydia Donnithorne, Bartle Massey, Mr. Craig, Jonathan Burge The story's plot follows four characters' rural lives in the fictional community of Hayslope—a rural, pastoral and close-knit community in 1799. The novel revolves around a love "rectangle" between beautiful but self-absorbed Hetty Sorrel, Captain Arthur Donnithorne, the young squire who seduces her, Adam Bede, her unacknowledged suitor, and Dinah Morris, Hetty's cousin, a fervent, virtuous and beautiful Methodist lay preacher. Adam loves Hetty; Hetty impregnated by Arthur, flees the town in shame and murders her child, is hanged; Adam pairs up with Dinah and has children The story's plot follows four characters' rural lives in the fictional community of Hayslope—a rural, pastoral and close-knit community in 1799. The novel revolves around a love "rectangle" among beautiful but self-absorbed Hetty Sorrel; Captain Arthur Donnithorne, the young squire who seduces her; Adam Bede, her unacknowledged suitor; and Dinah Morris, Hetty's cousin, a fervent, virtuous and beautiful Methodist lay preacher. Adam is a local carpenter much admired for his integrity and intelligence, in love with Hetty. She is attracted to Arthur, the local squire's charming grandson and heir, and falls in love with him. When Adam interrupts a tryst between them, Adam and Arthur fight. Arthur agrees to give up Hetty and leaves Hayslope to return to his militia. After he leaves, Hetty Sorrel agrees to marry Adam but shortly before their marriage, discovers she is pregnant. In desperation, she leaves in search of Arthur but she cannot find him. Unwilling to return to the village on account of the shame and ostracism she would have to endure, she delivers her baby with the assistance of a friendly woman she encounters. She subsequently abandons the infant in a field but not being able to bear the child's cries, she tries to retrieve the infant. However, she is too late, the infant having already died of exposure. Hetty is caught and tried for child murder. She is found guilty and sentenced to hang. Dinah enters the prison and pledges to stay with Hetty until the end. Her compassion brings about Hetty's contrite confession. When Arthur Donnithorne, on leave from the militia for his grandfather's funeral, hears of her impending execution, he races to the court and has the sentence commuted to transportation. Ultimately, Adam and Dinah, who gradually become aware of their mutual love, marry and live peacefully with his family.

The Misanthrope

Alceste, Célimène, Philinte, Oronte, and the prude Arsinee Much to the horror of his friends and companions, Alceste rejects la politesse, the social conventions of the seventeenth-century French salon. His refusal to "make nice" makes him tremendously unpopular and he laments his isolation in a world he sees as superficial and base, saying early in Act I, "... Mankind has grown so base, / I mean to break with the whole human race". Despite his convictions, however, Alceste cannot help but love the flighty and vivacious Célimène, a consummate flirt whose wit and frivolity epitomize the courtly manners that Alceste despises. Though he constantly reprimands her, Célimène refuses to change, charging Alceste with being unfit for society. Despite his sour reputation as "the misanthrope", Alceste does have women pining for him, particularly the prudish Arsinoé and the honest Eliante. Though he acknowledges their superior virtues, his heart still lies with Célimène. His deep feelings for her primarily serve to counter his negative expressions about mankind, since the fact that he has such feelings includes him amongst those he so fiercely criticizes. When Alceste insults a sonnet written by the powerful noble, Oronte, he is called to stand trial. Refusing to dole out false compliments, he is charged and humiliated, and resolves on self-imposed exile. Arsinoé, in trying to win his affections, shows him a love letter Célimène wrote to another suitor. He discovers that Célimène has been leading him on. She has written identical love letters to numerous suitors (including to Oronte) and broken her vow to favor him above all others. He gives her an ultimatum: he will forgive her and marry her if she runs away with him to exile. Célimène refuses, believing herself too young and beautiful to leave society and all her suitors behind. Philinte, for his part, becomes betrothed to Eliante. Alceste then decides to exile himself from society, and the play ends with Philinte and Eliante running off to convince him to return.

The Glass Menagerie

Amanda Wingfield, Tom Wingfield, Laura Wingfield, Jim O'Connor is a memory play, and its action is drawn from the memories of the narrator, Tom Wingfield. Amanda Wingfield lives with her children in a shabby St. Louis apartment. Amanda worries that her son Tom will abandon them just like her husband did. At the end of the play, that's exactly what Tom does. Uneducated and unskilled, Amanda depends entirely on Tom for the family's livelihood. She fears he will abandon her and Laura, just as her husband left them, a possibility made even more frightening since Laura is disabled. When Tom mentions Jim O'Connor, a young man he works with at the warehouse, Amanda insists he invite Jim to dinner. She thinks of Jim as Laura's "gentleman caller" and imagines a secure future for Laura as Jim's wife. When Jim comes to dinner, the shy, introverted Laura is terrified, as she had known and admired him in high school. Jim remembers Laura fondly. As they reminisce, Jim is attracted by Laura's gentleness and beauty and kisses her. Laura is shattered when Jim apologizes for the kiss, explaining that he is engaged. Her dreams for Laura's future destroyed, Amanda vents her fury at Tom. Tom leaves to pursue his own dreams but discovers he can't escape the past.

The Playboy of the Western World

An unflattering portrayal of the working class Irish. It is set in a cottage in County Mayo (on the North-West coast of Ireland) during the early 1900s. It tells the story of Christy Mahon, a young man supposedly running away having killed his father. Christy arrives at the cottage, and the locals are more interested in vicariously enjoying his story than in condemning his morality. Characters: Christy Mahon Old Mahon, Christy's father, a squatter Michael James Flaherty, a publican Margaret Flaherty, called Pegeen Mike, Michael's daughter, and the bar-maid Shawn Keogh, Pegeen's fiance Widow Quinn, a widow of about thirty Philly Cullen and Jimmy Farrell, farmers Sara Tansey, Susan Brady, Honor Blake, and Nelly, village girls

Native Son

Bigger Thomas, Mr/Mrs/Mary Dalton, Jan Erlone, Boris Max, Bessie Mears, Britten, Buckley protagonist Bigger Thomas takes a job working for the wealthy Dalton family. He accidentally kills Mary Dalton, the daughter, and attempts to destroy the evidence by burning her body. In his attempt to flee Chicago, Bigger descends into guilt and fear, which dehumanizes him even further. His story illustrates the devastating effects of racism. Bigger Thomas's entire family lives in a single room. After they move to the South Side of Chicago, he's forced to take a job at the Dalton house in order to support his family. Bigger accidentally kills Mary Dalton after she forces him to drink rum with her. To hide the evidence, he burns her body in the furnace. He's forced to flee, however, when police find some shards of bone along with Mary's earring. Bigger plots with his girlfriend Bessie to extort money from the Daltons. When this fails, he realizes that she can implicate him in Mary's murder, so he kills her. He's later arrested and sentenced to death for his crimes.

Mourning Becomes Electra

Brigadier General Ezra Mannon Christine Mannon, his wife Lavinia Mannon - their daughter Orin Mannon - their son, First Lieutenant of Infantry Captain Adam Brant - of the clipper "Flying Trades" Captain Peter Niles - Orin's friend, from the U.S. Artillery Hazel Niles - his sister Seth Beckwith - the old gardener The story is a retelling of the Oresteia by Aeschylus. The characters parallel characters from the ancient Greek play. For example, Agamemnon from the Oresteia becomes General Ezra Mannon. Clytemnestra becomes Christine, Orestes becomes Orin, Electra becomes Lavinia, Aegisthus becomes Adam Brant, etc. As a Greek tragedy made modern, the play features murder, adultery, incestuous love and revenge, and even a group of townspeople who function as a kind of Greek chorus. Though fate alone guides characters' actions in Greek tragedies, O'Neill's characters have motivations grounded in 1930s-era psychological theory as well. The play can easily be read from a Freudian perspective, paying attention to various characters' Oedipus complexes and Electra complexes. Mourning Becomes Electra is divided into three plays with themes that correspond to the Oresteia trilogy. Much like Aeschylus' plays Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers and The Eumenides, these three plays by O'Neil are titled Homecoming, The Hunted, and The Haunted. However, these plays are normally not produced individually, but only as part of the larger trilogy. Each of these plays contains four to five acts, with only the first act of The Haunted being divided into actual scenes, and so Mourning Becomes Electra is extraordinarily lengthy for a drama. In production, it is often cut down. Also, because of the large cast size, it is not performed as often as some of O'Neill's other major plays.

Candide

Candide: The title character. Illegitimate son of the sister of the baron of Thunder-ten-Tronckh. In love with Cunégonde. Cunégonde: The daughter of the baron of Thunder-ten-Tronckh. In love with Candide. Professor Pangloss: The royal educator of the court of the baron. Described as "the greatest philosopher of the Holy Roman Empire". The Old Woman: Cunégonde's maid while she was the mistress of Don Issachar and the Grand Inquisitor of Portugal. Fled with Candide and Cunégonde to the New World. Illegitimate daughter of Pope Urban X. Cacambo: From a Spanish father and a Peruvian mother. Lived half his life in Spain and half in Latin America. Candide's valet while in America. Martin: Dutch amateur philosopher and Manichaean. Met Candide in Suriname, travelled with him afterwards. The baron of Thunder-ten-Tronckh: Son of the original Baron (a secondary character) and brother of Cunégonde. Thought to have been killed by the Bulgarians. Became a Jesuit in Paraguay. Candide means innocent. Candide is a very innocent young man living in the castle of the Baron Thunder-ten-tronckh in Westphalia. Candide lacks knowledge of the outside world. He believes that this castle is the best place to live in. He considers it ideal. One day he and Cunegonde, the Baron's daughter are seen in romantic positions. So he is kicked and thrown out of the castle. Candide goes through many adventures. His eyes open to reality. He sees that everything does not happen for the best as the philosophers and metaphysician Pangloss had told him in the Baron's castle. In Europe as well as in America, he encounters misery. He meets a number of people from various walks of life. He comes across many philosophers ranging from extreme optimism of Pangloss to the bleak pessimism of Martin. He experiences the love and total selflessness of Jacques and also the extreme cruelty and selfishness of the drunken sailor. He experiences the kindness of the old lady who happens to be the daughter of the Pope and a princess. She is always ready to help though she has gone through tremendous suffering herself. When Candide reaches Eldorado he feels peace but he leaves so he can find Cunegonde.' He finally finds her and she has become ugly.' But they get married and he and the rest of the people mentioned above live together and plant a garden and bask in their ideals.

Arms and the Man

Catherine Petkoff, Raina/Major Paul Petkoff, Louka, Captain Bluntschli, Nicola, Major Sergius Saranoff A young woman named Raina takes great pride in the Bulgarian army's recent victory over the Serbians. She unexpectedly takes in a Serbian soldier who fled the battle with pieces of chocolate in his pockets in place of ammunition. Though she initially despises the Serbian soldier for being a coward, she ends up falling in love with him and gives him a picture of her to take with him. When he leaves, she gives him a coat and a picture of her to take with him. Four months later, the man, Captain Bluntschli, returns the coat as an excuse to see Raina again. Sergius, the Bulgarian commander who won the battle at the beginning of the play, doesn't recognize Bluntschli Sergius grows jealous of his connection with Raina. Sergius and Bluntschli agree to a duel, but Raina comes in and tells them that she isn't in love with Sergius anymore. Bluntschli proposes to her, and she accepts.

Tartuffe ("The Imposter")

Characters: Orgon, Cleante, Tartuffe As the play begins, the well-off Orgon is convinced that Tartuffe is a man of great religious zeal and fervor. In fact, Tartuffe is a scheming hypocrite. By the time Tartuffe is exposed and Orgon renounces him, Tartuffe has legal control of Orgon's finances and family, and is about to steal all of Orgon's wealth and marry his daughter. Instead the king intervenes, and Tartuffe is condemned to prison. As a consequence, the word tartuffe is used in contemporary French, and also in English, to designate a hypocrite who ostensibly and exaggeratedly feigns virtue, especially religious virtue.

To the Lighthouse

Characters: Ramsay family, Lily Briscoe, Charles Tansley, Augustus Carmichael, Minta Doyle, Paul Rayley Theme: the passage of time, the horrors of war, the pressures of familial and social expectations [Beginning] "Yes, of course, if it's fine tomorrow," said Mrs Ramsay. "But you'll have to be up with the lark," she added. "It was all dry: all withered: all spent. They ought not to have asked her; she ought not to have come. One can't waste one's time at forty-four, she thought. She hated playing at painting. A brush, the one dependable thing in a world of strife, ruin, chaos — that one should not play with, knowingly even: she detested it. But he made her. You shan't touch your canvas, he seemed to say, bearing down on her, till you've given me what I want of you. Here he was, close upon her again, greedy, distraught." ). Lily Briscoe's anxiety at the pressures of marriage and artistic production.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Characters: Robert Jordan, Pablo, Maria It tells the story of Robert Jordan, a young American in the International Brigades attached to an antifascist guerilla unit in the mountains during the Spanish Civil War. As an expert in the use of explosives, he is given an assignment to blow up a bridge to accompany a simultaneous attack on the city of Segovia. Behind enemy lines, with the guerrilla band of Pablo, he meets María, whose life has been shattered by the outbreak of the war. It is here that the story develops, as Pablo's unwillingness to commit to the operation clashes with Jordan's strong sense of duty, and even Jordan's sense of duty clashes with his newfound love for life caused by the presence of María. A substantial portion of the novel is told through the thoughts of Robert Jordan, with flashbacks to meetings with Russians in Madrid and some reflections on his father and grandfather. Another character, Pilar, relates events that demonstrate the incredible brutality of civil war, in one case by the actions of a revolutionary mob and in another by those of governmental authorities.

The Scarlet Letter

Characters: Roger Chillingworth (husband), Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale (lover), Hester Prynne (adulteress), Pearl (illegitimate daughter of Hester and Dimmesdale)

Mansfield Park

Characters: the Bertrams, Fanny Price, Mrs. Norris A young girl named Fanny Price comes to live with her wealthy uncle and aunt, Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram. Fanny's family is quite poor; her mother, unlike her sister Lady Bertram, married beneath her, and Fanny's father, a sailor, is disabled and drinks heavily. Fanny is abused by her other aunt, Mrs. Norris, a busybody who runs things at Mansfield Park, the Bertrams' estate. The Bertram daughters, Maria and Julia, are shallow, rather cruel girls, intent on marrying well and being fashionable. The elder son, Tom, is a roustabout and a drunk. Fanny finds solace only in the friendship of the younger son, Edmund, who is planning to be a clergyman. Fanny grows up shy and deferential, caught as she typically is between members of the Bertram family. Sir Thomas leaves Mansfield Park for Antigua, where he owns plantations. In his absence, two new figures arrive at Mansfield: Henry and Mary Crawford, the brother and sister of the local minister's wife. Henry and Mary are attractive and cheerful, and they soon become indispensable members of the Mansfield circle. Henry flirts extensively with Maria, who is engaged to marry the boring but wealthy Rushworth. He also flirts with Julia when it suits his purposes. At first, Mary is interested in Tom, the older son and heir, but she soon realizes that he is boring and not really interested in her. She finds herself increasingly attracted to Edmund, although the prospect of marrying a clergyman does not appeal to her, and she is often cruel to him on this account. In the meantime, Fanny has innocently fallen in love with Edmund, although she does not even admit this to herself. Yates, a visiting friend of Tom's, proposes that the group should put on a play. His idea is eagerly received by all except for Edmund and Fanny, who are horrified at the idea of acting. The play goes on anyways, however; Maria and Henry, as well as Mary and Edmund (who has been prevailed upon to take a role to avoid bringing in an outsider to play it), get to play some rather racy scenes with one another. When one of the women cannot make a rehearsal, Fanny is pressured to take a role. She is almost forced to give in when Sir Thomas makes a sudden entrance, having arrived from Antigua. Sir Thomas is unhappy about the play and quickly puts a stop to the improprieties. Since Henry has not declared his love, Maria is married to Rushworth. She and Julia leave Mansfield Park for London. Relationships between the Crawfords and the Bertrams intensify. Edmund nearly proposes to Mary several times, but her condescension and amorality always stop him at the last minute. He confides his feelings to Fanny, who is secretly upset by them. In the meantime, on a lark, Henry has decided to woo Fanny. He is surprised to find himself sincerely in love with her. Fanny has become indispensable as a companion to her aunt and uncle, and on the occasion of her brother William's visit, they give a ball in her honor. Some time after the ball, Henry helps William get a promotion in the Navy. Using this as leverage, he proposes to Fanny, who is mortified and refuses. He continues to pursue her. Her uncle is disappointed that she has refused such a wealthy man, and, as an indirect result, she is sent to stay with her parents in their filthy house. Meanwhile, Edmund has been ordained and continues to debate over his relationship with Mary, to Fanny's dismay. Henry comes to see Fanny at her parents' and renews his suit. He then leaves to take care of business on his estate. Fanny continues to receive letters from Mary encouraging her to take Henry's proposal. A series of events then happen in rapid succession: Tom Bertram falls dangerously ill as a result of his partying and nearly dies; Henry, who has gone not to his estate but to see friends, has run off with the married Maria; Julia, upset over her sister's rash act, elopes with Yates, Tom's friend. Fanny is recalled to Mansfield, bringing her younger sister Susan with her. Edmund has finally seen through Mary, who has admitted that she would like to see Tom die so that Edmund could be heir, and who has more or less condoned Henry and Maria's actions. He is heartbroken, but Fanny consoles him. Maria and Henry eventually split, and she goes to the Continent to live with the evil Mrs. Norris. Julia and Yates are reconciled to the family. Edmund finally comes to his senses and marries Fanny, and Susan takes her place with the Bertrams. Edmund, Fanny, and the rest of those at Mansfield live happily, while Henry, Mary, and Maria are cast out.

Pale Fire

Charles Kinbote, John/Sybil/Hazel Shade, Jakob Gradus, Disa Shade's poem digressively describes many aspects of his life. Canto 1 includes his early encounters with death and glimpses of what he takes to be the supernatural. Canto 2 is about his family and the apparent suicide of his daughter, Hazel Shade. Canto 3 focuses on Shade's search for knowledge about an afterlife, culminating in a "faint hope" in higher powers "playing a game of worlds" as indicated by apparent coincidences. Canto 4 offers details on Shade's daily life and creative process, as well as thoughts on his poetry, which he finds to be a means of somehow understanding the universe. In Kinbote's editorial contributions he tells three stories intermixed with each other. One is his own story, notably including what he thinks of as his friendship with Shade. After Shade was murdered, Kinbote acquired the manuscript, including some variants, and has taken it upon himself to oversee the poem's publication, telling readers that it lacks only line 1000. Kinbote's second story deals with King Charles II, "The Beloved", the deposed king of Zembla. King Charles escaped imprisonment by Soviet-backed revolutionaries, making use of a secret passage and brave adherents in disguise. Kinbote repeatedly claims that he inspired Shade to write the poem by recounting King Charles's escape to him and that possible allusions to the king, and to Zembla, appear in Shade's poem, especially in rejected drafts. However, no explicit reference to King Charles is to be found in the poem. Kinbote's third story is that of Gradus, an assassin dispatched by the new rulers of Zembla to kill the exiled King Charles. Gradus makes his way from Zembla through Europe and America to New Wye, suffering comic mishaps. In the last note, to the missing line 1000, Kinbote narrates how Gradus killed Shade by mistake. The reader soon realizes that Kinbote is King Charles, living incognito—or, though Kinbote builds an elaborate picture of Zembla complete with samples of a constructed language, that he is insane and that his identification with King Charles is a delusion, as perhaps all of Zembla is. Nabokov said in an interview that Kinbote committed suicide after finishing the book.[11] The critic Michael Wood has stated, "This is authorial trespassing, and we don't have to pay attention to it",[12] but Brian Boyd has argued that internal evidence points to Kinbote's suicide.[13] One of Kinbote's annotations to Shade's poem (corresponding to line 493) addresses the subject of suicide at some length.

Daisy Miller

Daisy Miller, Frederick Winterbourne, Giovanelli, Mrs. Walker, Randolph Miller, Mrs. Costello, Eugenio This novella deals with the eponymous American girl and her courtship by Winterbourne, both of whom are expatriates in Italy and Switzerland. She is overly flirtatious and dies a tragic death. I hardly know whether it was the analogies or the differences that were uppermost in the mind of a young American, who, two or three years ago, sat in the garden of the "Trois Couronnes," looking about him, rather idly, at some of the graceful objects I have mentioned. It was a beautiful summer morning, and in whatever fashion the young American looked at things, they must have seemed to him charming. He had come from Geneva the day before by the little steamer, to see his aunt, who was staying at the hotel—Geneva having been for a long time his place of residence. But his aunt had a headache— his aunt had almost always a headache—and now she was shut up in her room, smelling camphor, so that he was at liberty to wander about. He was some seven-and-twenty years of age; when his friends spoke of him, they usually said that he was at Geneva "studying." When his enemies spoke of him, they said—but, after all, he had no enemies; he was an extremely amiable fellow, and universally liked. What I should say is, simply, that when certain persons spoke of him they affirmed that the reason of his spending so much time at Geneva was that he was extremely devoted to a lady who lived there—a foreign lady—a person older than himself. :

The Shadow of Glen

Daniel Burke, an elderly farmer Nora Burke, his young wife Michael Dara, a youthful shepherd A Tramp, a tramp A tramp seeking shelter in the Burkes' isolated farmhouse finds Nora tending to the corpse of Dan. Nora goes out to find Michael, and Dan reveals to the tramp that his death is a mere ruse. He plays dead again when Nora and Michael return, but leaps up in protest when Michael proposes to Nora. Dan kicks Nora out to wander the roads and she leaves with the tramp, who promises her a life of freedom.

Daniel Deronda

Deronda, Mirah Lapidoth, Gwendolen Harleth, Sir Hugo Mallinger, Ezra Mordecai Cohen The title character, raised by a wealthy benefactor, learns about his Jewish ancestry while trying to help a Jewish woman recover her family

An Enemy of the People

Doctor Thomas Stockmann, Mrs. Katherine Stockmann, Petra, Ejlif & Morten, Peter Stockmann, Morten Kiil, Hovstad, Billing, Capt. Horster, Aslaksen Amongst other things, it is concerned with the irrational tendencies of the masses, and the hypocritical and corrupt nature of the political system that they support. Dr. Stockmann is the popular citizen of a small coastal town in Norway. The town has recently invested a large amount of public and private money towards the development of baths, a project led by Dr. Stockmann and his brother, the Mayor. The town is expecting a surge in tourism and prosperity from the new baths, said to be of great medicinal value and as such, the baths are the pride of the town. However, as the baths are starting to succeed, Dr. Stockmann discovers that waste products from the town's tannery are contaminating the baths. He expects this important discovery to be his greatest achievement, and promptly sends a detailed report to the Mayor, with a proposed solution included. But to his surprise, Stockmann finds it difficult to get through to the authorities. They seem unable to appreciate the seriousness of the issue and unwilling to address the problem. As the conflict ensues, the Mayor warns his brother that he should "acquiesce in subordinating himself to the community". Stockmann refuses to accept this, and rents a hall in order to hold a town meeting and convince the people to close the baths. The townspeople - eagerly awaiting the prosperity that the baths are believed will bring - refuse to accept Stockmann's claims, as his friends and allies, who had explicity given support for his campaign, turn against him en masse. He is taunted and denounced as a lunatic, an "Enemy of the People." In a scathing rebuke of both the Victorian notion of community and the principles of democracy, Dr. Stockmann proclaims that in matters of right and wrong, the individual is superior to the multitude, who are easily led by self-advancing demagogues. Stockmann sums up Ibsen's denunciation of the masses, with the memorable quote "...the strongest man in the world is the man who stands most alone." With the entire town pitted against him, Stockmann considers leaving with his family; but he decides to stay and set up a school for poor children in the same hall where he was denounced as an enemy of the people. In doing so, he upholds the heroic ideal of defending the principles of truth and refusing to be silenced.

Madame Bovary

Emma Bovary, Charles Bovary, Rodolphe Bourlanger, Léon Dupuis, Monsieur Lheureux, Monsieur Homais, Hippolyte Tautain The important thing to know about this book is that the main character, Emma, believes herself to be in a novel, much in the same way as Jane Austen's Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey. Charles decides that Emma needs a change of scenery, and moves from the village of Tostes into an equally stultifying village, Yonville. There, Emma flirts with a young law student, Léon, who seems to share her appreciation for "the finer things in life." When he leaves to study in Paris, Emma begins an affair with a rich landowner, Rodolphe. Swept away by romantic fantasy, she makes a plan to run away with him. Rodolphe, however, does not love her, and breaks off the plan the evening before it was to take place. Emma and Charles attend the opera in Rouen one night, and Emma reencounters Léon. They begin an affair-Emma travels to the city each week to meet him, while Charles believes that she is taking piano lessons. Meanwhile, Emma is spending exorbitant amounts of money at the local dressmaker's. When Emma's debts begin to pile up and people begin to suspect her adultery, she sees suicide as her only means of escape. She swallows arsenic and dies, painfully and slowly. The loyal Charles is distraught, even more so after finding the letters that Rodolphe wrote to her. Soon after, he dies, leaving their daughter an orphan. The novel place in provincial northern France, near the town of Rouen. A doctor, Charles Bovary, marries a beautiful farm girl, Emma. She is filled with a desire for luxury and romance, which she gets from reading popular novels (cf. Northanger Abbey). Charles means well, but is boring and clumsy. When Emma gets pregnant and eventually gives birth to a daughter, she believes her life is virtually over. Charles decides that Emma needs a change of scenery, and moves from the village of Tostes into an equally stultifying village, Yonville. There, Emma flirts with a young law student, Léon, who seems to share her appreciation for "the finer things in life." When he leaves to study in Paris, Emma begins an affair with a rich landowner, Rodolphe. Swept away by romantic fantasy, she makes a plan to run away with him. Rodolphe, however, does not love her, and breaks off the plan the evening before it was to take place. Emma and Charles attend the opera in Rouen one night, and Emma reencounters Léon. They begin an affair--Emma travels to the city each week to meet him, while Charles believes that she is taking piano lessons. Meanwhile, Emma is spending exorbitant amounts of money at the local dressmaker's. When Emma's debts begin to pile up and people begin to suspect her adultery, she sees suicide as her only means of escape. She swallows arsenic and dies, painfully and slowly. The loyal Charles is distraught, even more so after finding the letters that Rodolphe wrote to her. Soon after, he dies, leaving their daughter an orphan.

Pride and Prejudice

Essentially the story of a mother attempting to marry off her daughters. Names to know: Elizabeth Bennet Jane Bennet Fitzwilliam Darcy Chrles Bingley George Wickham It begins: IT is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters. "My dear Mr. Bennet," said his lady to him one day, "have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?" The news that a wealthy young gentleman named Charles Bingley has rented the manor of Netherfield Park causes a great stir in the nearby village of Longbourn, especially in the Bennet household. The Bennets have five unmarried daughters—from oldest to youngest, Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty, and Lydia—and Mrs. Bennet is desperate to see them all married. After Mr. Bennet pays a social visit to Mr. Bingley, the Bennets attend a ball at which Mr. Bingley is present. He is taken with Jane and spends much of the evening dancing with her. His close friend, Mr. Darcy, is less pleased with the evening and haughtily refuses to dance with Elizabeth, which makes everyone view him as arrogant and obnoxious. At social functions over subsequent weeks, however, Mr. Darcy finds himself increasingly attracted to Elizabeth's charm and intelligence. Jane's friendship with Mr. Bingley also continues to burgeon, and Jane pays a visit to the Bingley mansion. On her journey to the house she is caught in a downpour and catches ill, forcing her to stay at Netherfield for several days. In order to tend to Jane, Elizabeth hikes through muddy fields and arrives with a spattered dress, much to the disdain of the snobbish Miss Bingley, Charles Bingley's sister. Miss Bingley's spite only increases when she notices that Darcy, whom she is pursuing, pays quite a bit of attention to Elizabeth. When Elizabeth and Jane return home, they find Mr. Collins visiting their household. Mr. Collins is a young clergyman who stands to inherit Mr. Bennet's property, which has been "entailed," meaning that it can only be passed down to male heirs. Mr. Collins is a pompous fool, though he is quite enthralled by the Bennet girls. Shortly after his arrival, he makes a proposal of marriage to Elizabeth. She turns him down, wounding his pride. Meanwhile, the Bennet girls have become friendly with militia officers stationed in a nearby town. Among them is Wickham, a handsome young soldier who is friendly toward Elizabeth and tells her how Darcy cruelly cheated him out of an inheritance. At the beginning of winter, the Bingleys and Darcy leave Netherfield and return to London, much to Jane's dismay. A further shock arrives with the news that Mr. Collins has become engaged to Charlotte Lucas, Elizabeth's best friend and the poor daughter of a local knight. Charlotte explains to Elizabeth that she is getting older and needs the match for financial reasons. Charlotte and Mr. Collins get married and Elizabeth promises to visit them at their new home. As winter progresses, Jane visits the city to see friends (hoping also that she might see Mr. Bingley). However, Miss Bingley visits her and behaves rudely, while Mr. Bingley fails to visit her at all. The marriage prospects for the Bennet girls appear bleak. That spring, Elizabeth visits Charlotte, who now lives near the home of Mr. Collins's patron, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, who is also Darcy's aunt. Darcy calls on Lady Catherine and encounters Elizabeth, whose presence leads him to make a number of visits to the Collins's home, where she is staying. One day, he makes a shocking proposal of marriage, which Elizabeth quickly refuses. She tells Darcy that she considers him arrogant and unpleasant, then scolds him for steering Bingley away from Jane and disinheriting Wickham. Darcy leaves her but shortly thereafter delivers a letter to her. In this letter, he admits that he urged Bingley to distance himself from Jane, but claims he did so only because he thought their romance was not serious. As for Wickham, he informs Elizabeth that the young officer is a liar and that the real cause of their disagreement was Wickham's attempt to elope with his young sister, Georgiana Darcy. This letter causes Elizabeth to reevaluate her feelings about Darcy. She returns home and acts coldly toward Wickham. The militia is leaving town, which makes the younger, rather man-crazy Bennet girls distraught. Lydia manages to obtain permission from her father to spend the summer with an old colonel in Brighton, where Wickham's regiment will be stationed. With the arrival of June, Elizabeth goes on another journey, this time with the Gardiners, who are relatives of the Bennets. The trip takes her to the North and eventually to the neighborhood of Pemberley, Darcy's estate. She visits Pemberley, after making sure that Darcy is away, and delights in the building and grounds, while hearing from Darcy's servants that he is a wonderful, generous master. Suddenly, Darcy arrives and behaves cordially toward her. Making no mention of his proposal, he entertains the Gardiners and invites Elizabeth to meet his sister. Shortly thereafter, however, a letter arrives from home, telling Elizabeth that Lydia has eloped with Wickham and that the couple is nowhere to be found, which suggests that they may be living together out of wedlock. Fearful of the disgrace such a situation would bring on her entire family, Elizabeth hastens home. Mr. Gardiner and Mr. Bennet go off to search for Lydia, but Mr. Bennet eventually returns home empty-handed. Just when all hope seems lost, a letter comes from Mr. Gardiner saying that the couple has been found and that Wickham has agreed to marry Lydia in exchange for an annual income. The Bennets are convinced that Mr. Gardiner has paid off Wickham, but Elizabeth learns that the source of the money, and of her family's salvation, was none other than Darcy. Now married, Wickham and Lydia return to Longbourn briefly, where Mr. Bennet treats them coldly. They then depart for Wickham's new assignment in the North of England. Shortly thereafter, Bingley returns to Netherfield and resumes his courtship of Jane. Darcy goes to stay with him and pays visits to the Bennets but makes no mention of his desire to marry Elizabeth. Bingley, on the other hand, presses his suit and proposes to Jane, to the delight of everyone but Bingley's haughty sister. While the family celebrates, Lady Catherine de Bourgh pays a visit to Longbourn. She corners Elizabeth and says that she has heard that Darcy, her nephew, is planning to marry her. Since she considers a Bennet an unsuitable match for a Darcy, Lady Catherine demands that Elizabeth promise to refuse him. Elizabeth spiritedly refuses, saying she is not engaged to Darcy, but she will not promise anything against her own happiness. A little later, Elizabeth and Darcy go out walking together and he tells her that his feelings have not altered since the spring. She tenderly accepts his proposal, and both Jane and Elizabeth are married.

The Bell Jar

Esther Greenwood is the protagonist of the story, who becomes mentally unstable during a summer spent interning at a magazine in New York City. Tormented by both the death of her father and the feeling that she simply does not fit into the culturally acceptable role of womanhood, she attempts to commit suicide in the hopes of escape. Doreen is a rebel-of-the-times young woman and another intern at Ladies' Day, the magazine for which Esther won an internship for the summer, and Esther's best friend at the hotel in New York where all the interns stay. Esther finds Doreen's confident persona enticing but also troublesome, as she longs for the same level of freedom but knows such behavior is frowned upon. Joan is an old friend of Esther, who joins her at the asylum and eventually commits suicide. Doctor Nolan is Esther's doctor at the asylum. A beautiful and caring woman, her combination of societally-praised femininity and professional ability allows her to be the first woman in Esther's life she feels she can fully connect with. Nolan administers shock therapy to Esther and does it correctly, which leads to positive results. Doctor Gordon is the first doctor Esther encounters. Self-obsessed and patronizing, he subjects her to traumatic shock treatments that haunt her for the rest of her time in medical care. Mrs. Greenwood, Esther's mother, loves her daughter but is constantly urging Esther to mold to society's ideal of white, middle-class womanhood, from which Esther feels a complete disconnection. Buddy Willard is Esther's former boyfriend from her hometown. Studying to become a doctor, Buddy wants a wife who mirrors his mother, and hopes Esther will be that for him. Esther adores him throughout high school, but upon learning he is not a virgin loses respect for him and names him a hypocrite. She struggles with ending the relationship after Buddy is diagnosed with tuberculosis. He eventually proposes to her, but Esther refuses due to the decision that she will never marry, to which Buddy responds that she is crazy. Esther Greenwood, a young woman from the suburbs of Boston, gains a summer internship at a prominent magazine in New York City, under editor Jay Cee; however, Esther is neither stimulated nor excited by either the big city or the glamorous culture and lifestyle that girls her age are expected to idolize and emulate. She instead finds her experience to be frightening and disorienting; appreciating the witty sarcasm and adventurousness of her friend Doreen, but also identifying with the piety of Betsy (dubbed "Pollyanna Cowgirl"), a "goody-goody" sorority girl who always does the right thing. She has a benefactress in Philomena Guinea, a formerly successful fiction writer (based on Olive Higgins Prouty), who will later pay some of Esther's hospital expenses. Esther describes in detail several seriocomic incidents that occur during her internship, kicked off by an unfortunate but amusing experience at a banquet for the girls held by the staff of Ladies' Day magazine. She reminisces about her friend Buddy, whom she has dated more or less seriously, and who considers himself her de facto fiancé. She also muses about Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who are scheduled for execution. She returns to her Massachusetts home in low spirits. She has been hoping for another scholarly opportunity once she is back in Massachusetts, a writing course taught by a world-famous author, but on her return her mother immediately tells her she was not accepted for the course. She decides to spend the summer potentially writing a novel, although she feels she lacks enough life experience to write convincingly. All of her identity has been centered upon doing well academically; she is unsure of what to make of her life once she leaves school, and none of the choices presented to her (motherhood, as exemplified by the vacuous, prolific child-bearer Dodo Conway, or stereotypical female careers such as stenography) appeal to her. Esther becomes increasingly depressed, and finds herself unable to sleep. Her mother encourages, or perhaps forces, her to see a psychiatrist, Dr. Gordon, whom Esther mistrusts because he is attractive and seems to be showing off a picture of his charming family rather than listening to her. He prescribes electroconvulsive therapy (ECT); and afterward, she tells her mother that she will not go back. Esther's mental state worsens; describing her depression as a feeling of being trapped under a bell jar, struggling for breath. She makes several half-hearted attempts at suicide, including swimming far out to sea, before making a serious attempt. She leaves a note saying she is taking a long walk, then crawls into the cellars and swallows about 50 sleeping pills that had been prescribed for her insomnia. In a very dramatic episode, the newspapers presume her kidnapping and death, but she is discovered under her house after an indeterminate amount of time. She survives and is sent to a different mental hospital, where she meets Dr. Nolan, a female therapist. Along with regular psychotherapy sessions, Esther is given huge amounts of insulin to produce a "reaction," and again receives shock treatments, with Dr. Nolan ensuring that they are being properly administered. Esther describes the ECT as beneficial in that it has a sort of antidepressant effect; it lifts the metaphorical bell jar in which she has felt trapped and stifled. Her stay at the private institution is funded by her benefactress, Philomena Guinea. Esther tells Dr. Nolan how she envies the freedom that men have and how she, as a woman, worries about getting pregnant. Dr. Nolan refers her to a doctor who fits her for a diaphragm. Esther now feels free from her fears about the consequences of sex; free from previous pressures to get married, potentially to the wrong man. Under Dr. Nolan, Esther improves and various life-changing events helps her regain her sanity. The novel ends with her entering the room for an interview, which will decide whether she can leave the hospital. It is suggested near the beginning of the novel that, in later years, Esther goes on to have a baby.

The Magic Mountain

Hans Castorp, Ludovico Settembrini, Leo Naphta, Clavdia Chauchat, Mynheer Peeperkorn The protagonist is Hans Castorp, who visits his cousin Joachim Ziemßen in a sanatorium in Davos in the Swiss Alps before World War I. Castorp's departure is repeatedly delayed by his failing health - what at first looks like a cold develops into the symptoms of tuberculosis. In the end, Castorp remains in the morbid atmosphere of the sanatorium for seven years. At the end of the novel, the war begins, Castorp is drafted into the military, and his imminent death on the battlefield is suggested. During his stay, Castorp meets and learns from a variety of characters, who are together a microcosm of pre-war Europe. These include the humanist and encyclopedist Lodovico Settembrini (a student of Giosuè Carducci), the totalitarianist jesuit Leo Naphta, the hedonist Heer Peeperkorn, and his romantic interest Madame Chauchat.

Far from the Madding Crowd

Gabriel Oak, Bathsheba Everdene, Francis Troy, Mr Boldwood, Fanny Robin, Jan Coggan, After shunning the first man to love her, the shepherd Gabriel Oak, she is courted by two others: the lonely and repressed farmer Boldwood, and the charming but faithless Sergeant Troy. The role of fate is clearly established, with each twist and turn in the book being more luck than the choice of one of the characters. The book is widely seen as Hardy's first masterpiece. Gabriel Oak is a young shepherd. With the savings of a frugal life, and a loan, he has leased and stocked a sheep farm. He falls in love with a newcomer six years his junior, Bathsheba Everdene, a proud beauty who arrives to live with her aunt, Mrs. Hurst. Over time, Bathsheba and Gabriel grow to like each other well enough, and Bathsheba even saves his life once. However, when he makes her an unadorned offer of marriage, she refuses; she values her independence too much, and him too little. Feeling betrayed and embarrassed, Gabriel offers blunt protestations that only foster her haughtiness. After a few days, she moves to Weatherbury, a village some miles off. When next they meet, their circumstances have changed drastically. An inexperienced new sheepdog drives Gabriel's flock over a cliff, ruining him. After selling off everything of value, he manages to settle all his debts but emerges penniless. He seeks employment at a hiring fair in the town of Casterbridge. When he finds none, he heads to another such fair in Shottsford, a town about ten miles from Weatherbury. On the way, he happens upon a dangerous fire on a farm and leads the bystanders in putting it out. When the veiled owner comes to thank him, he asks if she needs a shepherd. She uncovers her face and reveals herself to be none other than Bathsheba. She has recently inherited her uncle's estate and is now wealthy. Though somewhat uncomfortable, she employs him.

Sons and Lovers

Gertrude Morel - The first protagonist of the novel. She becomes unhappy with her husband Walter and devotes herself to her children. Paul Morel - Paul Morel takes over from his mother as the protagonist in the second half of the book. After his brother William's death, Paul becomes his mother's favorite and struggles throughout the novel to balance his love for her with his relationships with other women. Walter Morel - Gertrude's husband, a coal miner. William Morel - Their first son, who is Mrs. Morel's favorite until he falls ill and dies. Annie Morel - Paul's older sister. When their mother lies dying toward the end of the novel, she and Paul decide to give her an overdose of morphia pills. It tells the story of Paul Morel, a young man and a budding artist. This autobiographical novel is a brilliant evocation of life in a working class mining community. NB especially setting: Hell Row, The Bottoms, Greenhill Lane The refined daughter of a "good old burgher family," Gertrude Coppard meets a rough-hewn miner, Walter Morel, at a Christmas dance and falls into a whirlwind romance characterised by physical passion. But soon after her marriage to Walter, she realises the difficulties of living off his meagre salary in a rented house. The couple fight and drift apart and Walter retreats to the pub after work each day. Gradually, Mrs. Morel's affections shift to her sons beginning with the oldest, William. As a boy, William is so attached to his mother that he doesn't enjoy the fair without her. As he grows older, he defends her against his father's occasional violence. Eventually, he leaves their Nottinghamshire home for a job in London, where he begins to rise up into the middle class. He is engaged, but he detests the girl's superficiality. He dies and Mrs. Morel is heartbroken, but when Paul catches pneumonia she rediscovers her love for her second son. Both repulsed by and drawn to his mother, Paul is afraid to leave her but wants to go out on his own, and needs to experience love. Gradually, he falls into a relationship with Miriam, a farmer's daughter who attends his church. The two take long walks and have intellectual conversations about books but Paul resists, in part because his mother disapproves. At Miriam's family's farm, Paul meets Clara Dawes, a young woman with, apparently, feminist sympathies who has separated from her husband, Baxter. After pressuring Miriam into a physical relationship, which he finds unsatisfying, Paul breaks with her as he grows more intimate with Clara, who is more passionate physically. But even she cannot hold him and he returns to his mother. When his mother dies soon after, he is alone.

Women in Love

Gudrun/Ursula Brangwen, Gerald Crich, Rupert Birkin It was a sequel to The Rainbow (1915), following the continuing loves and lives of the Brangwen sisters, Gudrun and Ursula. Gudrun Brangwen, an artist, pursues a destructive relationship with Gerald Crich, an industrialist. Lawrence contrasts this pair with the love that develops between Ursula and Rupert Birkin, an alienated intellectual who articulates many opinions associated with the author. The novel ranges over the whole of British society at the time of the First World War and eventually ends high up in the snows of the European Alps. Like most of his works, Women in Love caused controversy over its sexual subject matter, and was only initially published for five years after it was first written. One early reviewer said of it "I do not claim to be a literary critic, but I know dirt when I smell it, and here is dirt in heaps - festering, putrid heaps which smell to high Heaven."

"Death in Venice"

Gustav von Aschenbach, Tadzio Aged Gustav von Aschenbach - a novelist in the novel, a composer in the film - travels to Venice, where he becomes obsessed with the androgynous beauty of an adolescent boy named Tadzio. An epidemic of Asiatic cholera has just broken out and von Aschenbach plans to leave but changes his mind because of Tadzio, even though he never even has the opportunity to talk to the boy. As his vacation continues, von Aschenbach's entire existence begins to revolve around following this young boy, both a symbol of faded youth and of attractions that von Aschenbach never made reality. The novel ends on the Lido beach where von Aschenbach is watching Tadzio play with his friends. The boy wanders out to sea but turns and finally shares eye contact with the old man, and von Aschenbach dies.

Billy Budd

Handsome titular sailor is undone by his own goodness and by the cunning Claggart (Budd is a Christ-like figure in this tale). Billy kills Claggart accidentally and the heroic Captain Edward Fairfax "Starry" Vere, though believing his innocence, must maintain order on the ship and so executes Billy. The plot follows Billy Budd, a seaman pressed into service aboard the HMS Bellipotent in the year 1797, when the British Navy was reeling from two major mutinies and was threatened by Napoleon's military ambitions. Billy, suffused with innocence, openness, and natural charisma, is adored by the crew, but for unexplainable reasons arouses the antagonism of the ship's Master-at-Arms, John Claggart, who falsely accuses Billy of conspiracy to mutiny. Brought before the Captain Edward Fairfax "Starry" Vere to answer to the charges, Billy is unable to find the words to respond, and lashes out seemingly involuntarily at Claggart, killing him with a single blow. Vere, an eminently thoughtful man whose name recalls the Latin words "veritas" (truth) and "vir" (man), is convinced of Billy's innocence before God but insists on following the letter of the Mutiny Act and sentencing Billy to death, arguing that any appearance of weakness in the officers and failure to enforce discipline could stir the already-turbulent waters of mutiny throughout the British fleet. Condemned to be hanged from the ship's yardarm at dawn the morning after the killing, Billy's final words are, "God bless Captain Vere!"

Wuthering Heights

Heathcliff (Byronic Hero), Catherine Earnshaw, Hindley Earnshaw, Edgar Linton, Nelly Dean The tempestuous love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff is at the centre, surrounding by the relationships between the Earnshaws and the nearby Lintons; Heath. wants Cath.; Cath marries Edgar and Heath. marries Isabella; Cath. and Edgar have Cath Jr., who ultimately falls in love with Hindley's son Hareton Characters: Lockwood, Nelly Dean, Catherine Earnshaw, Heathcliff, Hindley, Hareton, Edgar Linton, Isabella Linton, Catherine Linton (child of Catherine Sr. and Edgar) The story is narrated by a character named Lockwood, who is renting a house from Heathcliff. The house, Thrushcross Grange, is close to Wuthering Heights. Much of the action itself is narrated to Lockwood during his illness by the housekeeper of Thrushcross Grange, Nelly Dean. Lockwood's arrival is after much of the story has already happened - but his story is interwoven with Dean's. The plot is complicated, involving many turns of fortune. It begins with Mr. Earnshaw, the original proprietor of Wuthering Heights, bringing back the dark-skinned foundling Heathcliff from Liverpool. Initially, Earnshaw's children - Hindley and Catherine - detest the boy, but over time Heathcliff wins Catherine's heart, to the resentment of Hindley, who sees Heathcliff as an interloper of his father's affections. Later, Hindley is packed off to college by his father. Catherine and Heathcliff become inseparable. Upon Earnshaw's death three years later, Hindley comes home from college and surprises everyone by also bringing home a wife, a woman named Frances. He takes over Wuthering Heights, and brutalizes Heathcliff, forcing him to work as a hired hand. Despite this, Heathcliff and Catherine remain the fastest of friends. By means of an accident (a dog bite), Catherine is forced to stay at the Linton family estate Thrushcross Grange for some weeks, wherein she matures and grows attached to the refined young Edgar Linton. A year later, Frances dies soon after the birth of Hindley's child Hareton. The loss leaves Hindley despondent, and he turns to alcohol. Some two years after that, Catherine becomes engaged to Edgar, causing Heathcliff to leave. After Catherine has been married to Edgar for three years, Heathcliff returns to see her, having amassed significant wealth. He has duped Hindley into owing him Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff learns of, and takes advantage of, a crush Edgar's sister Isabella has on him and he seduces and elopes with her, much to Edgar's despair.

Hedda Gabler

Hedda Tesman née Gabler, George (Jørgen) Tesman, Juliana (Juliane) Tesman, Thea Elvsted, Judge Brack, Eilert Lövborg (Ejlert Løvborg), Bertha The action takes place in a villa in Kristiania (present-day Oslo). Hedda Gabler, daughter of an impoverished General, has just returned from her honeymoon with Jørgen Tesman, an aspiring young academic - reliable but uninteresting. It becomes clear in the course of the play that she has never loved him, and she fears she may be pregnant. The reappearance of her former lover, Ejlert Løvborg, throws their lives into disarray. Løvborg, a writer, is also an alcoholic who has wasted his talent until now. Thanks to a relationship with Hedda's old schoolmate, Thea Elvsted (who has left her husband for him), he shows signs of rehabilitation, and has just completed what he considers to be his masterpiece. This means he now poses a threat to Tesman, as a competitor for the university professorship which Tesman had believed would be his. Hedda, apparently jealous of Mrs Elvsted's influence over Ejlert, hopes to come between them. Tesman, on returning home from a party, finds the manuscript of Ejlert Løvborg's great work, which the latter has lost while drunk. When Hedda next sees him, he confesses to her, despairingly, that he has lost the manuscript. Instead of telling him that the manuscript has been found, Hedda burns it, and encourages him to consider suicide . She tells her husband she has destroyed the manuscript to secure their future, so that he, not Løvborg, will become a professor. When the news comes that Løvborg has indeed killed himself, Tesman and Mrs Elvsted are determined to try to reconstruct his book from what they already know. Hedda is shocked to discover, from the sinister Judge Brack, that Ejlert's death, in a brothel, was messy and probably accidental. The judge appears to be blackmailing her. Leaving the others to discuss the situation, she goes into another room and shoots herself.

The Wild Duck

Håkon Werle, Gregers Werle, Old Ekdal, Hjalmar Ekdal, Gina Ekdal, Hedvig The play tells the story of Gregers Werle, a young man who returns to his hometown after an extended exile and is reunited with his boyhood friend Hjalmar Ekdal. Over the course of the play the many secrets that lie behind the Ekdals' apparently happy home are revealed to Gregers, who insists on pursuing the absolute truth, or the "Summons of the Ideal". Among these truths: Gregers' father impregnated his servant Gina, then married her off to Hjalmar to legitimize the child. Another man has been disgraced and imprisoned for a crime the elder Werle committed. And while Hjalmar spends his days working on a wholly imaginary "invention", his wife is earning the household income.

House of Mirth

It is centered around Lily Bart, a New York socialite who attempts to secure a husband and a place in affluent society. The title is taken from Ecclesiastes 7:4: "The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth." In the Gillian Anderson version, she admits as much to Gus Trenor at the end of her downward spiral: "I have been such a fool." Of all of her best-known novels, "House of Mirth" seems the most tragic. The heroine, who is far from stupid, is so bound-up in her rigid principles, that she flatly refuses to grab hold of the virtual life-rafts thrown to her. Her lawyer friend, Lawrence Selden, would gladly have married her, but she thought him not rich enough. When Bertha Dorset's husband asks for her help in a proposed divorce suit against his wife by reason of infidelity, Lily coldly stands aside, uninvolved. Had the trial gone forward, she might have become his second wife. A wealthy and doting Mr. Gryce, evidently taken with her, is impetuously snubbed as she decides not to meet him at church. Compelled by her reverence for honesty, in a disastrous move she admits her gambling debts to her dour and snippy Aunt Julia, who then disinherits her. Having repeatedly refused the help of her powerful friends, she alienates them all, and now must seek increasingly menial and disreputable (i.e. proletarian) work.

Ethan Frome

It is set in turn-of-the-century New England, in the fictitious town of Starkfield, Massachusetts.In the novel, infidelity is explored as the title character wishes to feel vibrant and young again. His wife, Zenobia (nicknamed Zeena), is a hypochondriac and has led herself to believe that she is going to die. Her relatives send for her cousin, Mattie Silver, who needs work as she has been left penniless and an orphan. He embarks on a chivalrous affair with his wife's cousin, which culminates in Ethan nearly leaving his wife numerous times. When Mattie displeases Zeena, she sends her back to the city. Emotion overcomes Ethan, and he tells Mattie that he wants to live with her forever. They decide to sled into a bulky tree, so it will kill them instantly and they can be together in heaven. The accident paralyzes Mattie and leaves Ethan with many ailments. The story is presented in a style reminscient of Peyton Place, in that a visitor to the town hears of the entire story not from Ethan, but from other villagers, like the visitor's landlady, Mrs. Ruth Varnum Hale and the trolley operator, Harmon Gow.

The Sound and the Fury

Jason Lycurgus Compson (III), Caroline Bascomb Compson, Candace Compson, Quentin Compson, Jason Compson (IV), Quentin, Dilsey Gibson, Benjamin (Benjy) Compson, Maury L. Bascomb, Roskus, T.P., Luster, Frony, Sydney Herbert Head, Shreve McCannon consists of four sections, linked by a common set of characters and themes. Each might be read as an autonomous work. They all tell episodes in the decline of the Compson family, but are only loosely connected. Furthermore, the first three sections are presented from the perspective of characters whose impressions may not necessarily be reliable. Any reconstruction of the action is, therefore, somewhat uncertain. The first section is dated April 7, 1928, the birthday of Benjy and the day before Easter. It is told from the perspective of Benjy, who is severely retarded, and consists mostly of sensual impressions blended with memories. These range throughout his entire life, from relatively happy times with his sister Caddy and brothers Quentin and Jason to his castration for a clumsy sexual approach to a girl. The second section is dated June 2, 1910, and is narrated from the point of view of Benjy's brother Quentin. Like the previous section, it blends the present and the past, but it records a relatively continuous chain of events. Quentin is at Harvard, and has decided to commit suicide. Before he does it, however, he wanders through Cambridge, having adventures, reminiscing and getting into a fight. He thinks, above all, of his sister Caddy and his obsession with her loss of virginity. Finally, he drowns himself in the Charles River. The third section is dated Friday, April 6, 1928, and narrated by Jason Compson IV, brother of Caddy, Benjy and Quentin. He cheats and embezzles from all the female members of his family—his mother, Mrs. Compson; his sister, Caddy; his niece, Miss Quentin. But, though obsessed with money, he is an inept businessman whose circumstances remain fairly marginal. The final section is narrated in the third person and dated Easter Sunday, April 8, 1928. Miss Quentin steals the money that Jason IV has embezzled from her together with the rest of his savings to run away with a circus performer. Jason is more furious than ever. The section focuses, however, on the housekeeper Dilsey, who manages to maintain her dignity and perspective through all the trials and tribulations.

The Red and the Black

Julien Sorel, Madame de Rênal, M. de Rênal, Mathilde de La Mol The story concerned Antoine Berthier, a twenty-five-year-old tutor and former theological student who a few months before had murdered a woman whose children he had tutored; the murder took place in a church during Mass. This case was the seed for Stendhal's novel. Stendhal portrays a society fraught with materialism and hypocrisy at all levels. T

Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane

Le Sage, Alain-Rene (1715-35) Gil Blas of Santillane, Gil Pérez, Antonia, Dorothea, Scipio, Capt. Rolando, Donna Mencia Gil Blas is born in misery to a stablehand and a chambermaid of Santillana in Cantabria, and is educated by his uncle. He leaves Oviedo at the age of seventeen to attend the University of Salamanca. His bright future is suddenly interrupted when he is forced to help robbers along the route and is faced with jail. He becomes a valet and, over the course of several years, is able to observe many different classes of society, both lay and clerical. Because of his occupation, he meets many disreputable people and is able to adjust to many situations, thanks to his adaptability and quick wit. He finally finds himself at the royal court as a favorite of the king and secretary to the prime minister. Working his way up through hard work and intelligence, Gil is able to retire to a castle to enjoy a fortune and a hard-earned honest life.

The Mill on the Floss

Maggie Tulliver, Tom Tulliver, Mrs. Bessy Tulliver, Philip Wakem, Stephen Guest, Mr. Wakem, Lucy Deane, Mr. Riley, Rev. Walter Stelling, Dr. Kenn, Bob Jakin, Mrs. Jane Glegg, Mrs. Sophy Pullet, Mrs. Susan Deane, Gritty Moss The novel details the lives of Tom and Maggie Tulliver, a brother and sister growing up at Dorlcote Mill on the River Floss. Maggie Tulliver holds the central role in the book. The story begins when she is 9 years old, 13 years into the Tullivers' marriage. Her relationship with her older brother Tom, and her romantic relationships with Philip Wakem, a hunchbacked, sensitive, and intellectual friend, and with Stephen Guest, a vivacious young socialite in St. Ogg's and assumed fiancé of Maggie's cousin Lucy Deane, constitute the most significant narrative threads. At the end of the novel, the river floods and the siblings die in a mutual embrace.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955)

Margaret (Maggie) Pollitt, Brick Pollitt, Big Daddy Pollitt, Ida Pollitt, Gooper Pollitt, Mae Pollitt It is the story of a Southern family in crisis, focusing on the turbulent relationship of a wife and husband, Maggie "The Cat" and Brick Pollitt, and their interaction with Brick's family over the course of a weekend gathering at the family estate in Mississippi, ostensibly to celebrate the birthday of patriarch and tycoon "Big Daddy" Pollitt. Maggie, through wit and beauty, has escaped a childhood of desperate poverty to marry into the wealthy Pollitt family, but finds herself suffering in an unfulfilling marriage. Brick, an aging football hero, has neglected his wife and further infuriates her by ignoring his brother's attempts to gain control of the family fortune. Brick's indifference, and his nearly continuous drinking, date back to the recent suicide of his friend Skipper. Although Big Daddy has cancer and will not celebrate another birthday, his doctors and his family have conspired to keep this information from him and his wife. His relatives are in attendance and attempt to present themselves in the best possible light, hoping to receive the definitive share of Big Daddy's enormous wealth.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave

Master Andrew, Master Thomas Auld, Captain Anthony, Mr. Hugh Auld, Mrs. Sophia Auld, Harriet Bailey, Edward Covey, Frederick Douglass, William Freeland, Mr. William Gardner, William Lloyd Garrison, The Grandmother, Henry Harris, John Harris, Aunt Hester, Sandy Jenkins, Colonel Edward Lloyd, Anna Murray, David Ruggles recounts his experiences as a slave. He details the horrors of growing up on a plantation, being subjected to extreme racism, and running away to freedom. He later became an influential writer and activist. describes how he was separated from his mother and raised in Talbot County, Maryland, where he witnesses his slave owner beating his aunt. witnesses and himself experiences many beatings and acts of torture. His luck changes when he's sent to work on a plantation in Baltimore, from which he's able to escape. Without going into too much detail, recounts how he was able to flee Baltimore and reach one of the free states in the north. He then became one of the most well-known anti-slavery advocates of the time.

The Beast in the Jungle

May Bartram, John Marcher John Marcher, the protagonist, is re-aquainted with May Bartram, a woman he knew ten years earlier, who remembers his odd secret- Marcher is seized with the belief that his life is to be defined by some catastrophic or spectacular event, lying in wait for him like a "beast in the jungle." May decides to take a flat nearby in London, and to spend her days with Marcher curiously awaiting what fate has in stall for John. Of course Marcher is a self-centered egoist, believing that he is precluded from marrying so that he does not subject his wife to his "spectacular fate". So he takes May to the theatre and invites her to an occasional dinner, while not allowing her to really get close to him for her own sake. As he sits idly by and allows the best years of his life to pass, he takes May down as well, until the denouement wherein he learns that the great misfortune of his life was to throw it away, and to ignore the love of a good woman, based upon his preposterous sense of foreboding.

The Mayor of Casterbridge

Michael Henchard, Susan Henchard-Newson, Elizabeth-Jane Newson, Donald Farfrae, Lucetta Templeman, Richard Newson, Jopp, Abel Whittle Follows the life of Michael Henchard, who sells his wife and child while drunk. Hench. later returns to the titular town and becomes mayor, is reunited with his wife Susan and child. Daughter Elizabeth Jane falls in love with his ass't Donald Farfrae, while Hench's mistress Lucetta returns to woo him herself. Farfrae and Lucetta marry, the latter is disgraced and dies. Eliz-Jane marries Farfrae and Henchard dies.

Wings of the Dove

Mildred (Milly) Theale, Kate Croy, Merton Densher, Lord Mark, Mrs. Lowder, Mrs. Stringham, Susan Shepherd, Sir Luke Strett In the novel, Merton and Kate become secretly engaged while Kate is living with her middle-class father. Her Aunt Maud, finding Kate's father to be unacceptable for a young woman, takes Kate into her home, expecting her to marry well. Milly Theale, a wealthy American heiress, enters Kate's life and the two become friends. When Kate discovers that Milly has a fatal disease, she devises a nefarious plan. She, Milly, Aunt Maud, and Susan Stringham go to Venice. By Kate's suggestion, Merton comes later. It is Kate's plan that Merton will make Milly fall in love with him, marry him, and leave all her substantial wealth to him. Merton, a newspaper journalist, is not seen as a suitable husband for Kate by Milly's Aunt Maud. Milly's money would provide Merton with the financial (and thus social) standing to be accepted as a member of the elite of Britain. Despite Merton's unwillingness to stoop to the level of deception, his desire for Kate allows him to be manipulated by her. It is this deception and the ensuing moral battle that play out through the rest of the novel.

La Bourgeois Gentilhomme

Monsieur/Madame Jourdain, Lucile, Nicole, Cléonte, Covielle, Dorante, Dorimène "MONSIEUR JOURDAIN: Oh, really? So when I say: Nicole bring me my slippers and fetch my nightcap," is that prose? PHILOSOPHY MASTER: Most clearly. MONSIEUR JOURDAIN: Well, what do you know about that! These forty years now I've been speaking in prose without knowing it! The play takes place at Mr. Jourdain's house in Paris. Jourdain is a middle-aged "bourgeois" whose father grew rich as a cloth merchant. The foolish Jourdain now has one aim in life, which is to rise above this middle-class background and be accepted as an aristocrat. To this end, he orders splendid new clothes and is very happy when the tailor's boy mockingly addresses him as "my Lord". He applies himself to learning the gentlemanly arts of fencing, dancing, music and philosophy, despite his age; in doing so he continually manages to make a fool of himself, to the disgust of his hired teachers. His philosophy lesson becomes a basic lesson on language in which he is surprised and delighted to learn that he has been speaking prose all his life without knowing it. Madame Jourdain, his intelligent wife, sees that he is making a fool of himself and urges him to return to his previous middle-class life, and to forget all he has learned. A cash-strapped nobleman called Dorante has attached himself to M. Jourdain. He secretly despises Jourdain but flatters his aristocratic dreams. For example, by telling Jourdain that he mentioned his name to the King at Versailles, he can get Jourdain to pay his debts. Jourdain's dreams of being upper-class go higher and higher. He dreams of marrying a Marchioness, Dorimene, and having his daughter Lucille marry a nobleman. But Lucille is in love with the middle-class Cléonte. Of course, M. Jourdain refuses his permission for Lucille to marry Cléonte. Then Cléonte, with the assistance of his valet Covielle and Mme Jourdain, disguises himself and presents himself to Jourdain as the son of the Sultan of Turkey. Jourdain is taken in and is very pleased to have his daughter marry foreign royalty. He is even more delighted when the "Turkish prince" informs him that, as father of the bride, he too will be officially ennobled at a special ceremony. The play ends with this ridiculous ceremony, including Sabir standing in for Turkish.

Portrait of a Lady

Mr. Daniel Touchett, Ralph Touchett, Lord Warburton, Mrs. Lydia Touchett, Isabel Archer, Lilian Ludlow, Edmund Ludlow, Edith Archer, Caspar Goodwood First published in 1881. It is the story of a young female American, Isabel Archer, who inherits a large amount of money, which left her to the Machiavellan schemings of two European expatriates. Like many of James' novels, it is set mostly in Europe, notably Italy. The story is of a spirited young American woman, Isabel Archer, who "affronts her destiny" and finds it overwhelming. She inherits a large amount of money and subsequently becomes the victim of Machiavellian scheming by two American expatriates. The narrative is set mainly in Europe, especially in England and Italy. Generally regarded as the masterpiece of his early phase, The Portrait of a Lady is described as a psychological novel, exploring the minds of his characters, and almost a work of social science, exploring the differences between Europeans and Americans, the old and the new worlds. "She had had no hidden motive in wishing him not to take her home; it simply struck her that for some days past she had consumed an inordinate quantity of his time, and the independent spirit of the American girl whom extravagance of aid places in an attitude that she ends by finding "affected" had made her decide that for these few hours she must suffice to herself. She had moreover a great fondness for intervals of solitude, which since her arrival in England had been but meagrely met. It was a luxury she could always command at home and she had wittingly missed it. That evening, however, an incident occurred which--had there been a critic to note it--would have taken all colour from the theory that the wish to be quite by herself had caused her to dispense with her cousin's attendance. Seated toward nine o'clock in the dim illumination of Pratt's Hotel and trying with the aid of two tall candles to lose herself in a volume she had brought from Gardencourt, she succeeded only to the extent of reading other words than those printed on the page--words that Ralph had spoken to her that afternoon. Suddenly the well-muffed knuckle of the waiter was applied to the door, which presently gave way to his exhibition, even as a glorious trophy, of the card of a visitor. When this memento had offered to her fixed sight the name of Mr. Caspar Goodwood she let the man stand before her without signifying her wishes." :

A Doll's House

Nora Helmer, Torvald Helmer, Dr. Rank, Kristine Linde, Nils Krogstad, The Children, Anne Marie, Helene, The Porter It is sharply critical of Victorian marriage norms. It is considered a prime example of what is called The Well-Made Play (a genre with a neo-classical flavor, involving a very tight plot and a climax that takes place very close to the end of the story, with most of the story taking place before the action of the play; much of the information regarding such previous action would be revealed through thinly veiled exposition) scathing criticism of the traditional roles of men and women in Victorian marriage. As Ibsen wrote in his initial notes for the play, "There are two kinds of moral law, two kinds of conscience, one in man and a completely different one in woman. They do not understand each other; but in matters of practical living the woman is judged by man's law, as if she were not a woman but a man." Ibsen has his protagonist, Nora, leave her husband in search of the wider world, after realizing that he is not the noble creature she has supposed him to be. She is not even permitted a key to the mailbox. Ibsen noted, "A woman cannot be herself in contemporary society, it is an exclusively male society with laws drafted by men, and with counsel and judges who judge feminine conduct from the male point of view." When she is blackmailed because of an improper act that she commits in order to save her husband's life - forging her father's name on a note - her husband shows disgust and horror at what she had done upon finding this out. His only concern is his own reputation, despite the love for him that prompts her to do it. When the blackmailer (Krogstad) recants, it could all be over, and in a traditional Victorian drama all would then be resolved. For Ibsen, however, and for Nora, it is too late to go back to the way things were. Her illusions destroyed, she decides she must leave her husband, her children to discover what is truly real and what is not. As Ibsen described it, "Depressed and confused by her faith in authority, she loses faith in her moral right and ability to bring up her children. A mother in contemporary society, just as certain insects go away and die when she has done her duty in the propagation of the race."

The Darling

Olenka, Plemyannikova, Kukin, Vassily Andreitch Pustavalov, Smirnin, Sasha Olenka Plemyannikova, the daughter of a retired collegiate assessor, falls in love with the theater owner, Kukin. Olenka's father dies and she marries Kukin, the two of them live a happy married life. She soon takes over some of his roles in the box office by keeping accounts and the business end of some payments; during this time she becomes more involved in the business and acts like Kukin. Kukin travels to Moscow and dies; Olenka is given word of his death and mourns for three months. Olenka soon finds another man she becomes attached to, Vasily Pustovalov, a merchant from a timber yard; after a few days she becomes infatuated by him and they marry. Olenka disregards all responsibilities of the theater and concentrates on the opinions and thoughts of her new husband. The two of them live a comfortable life of casual talk and religious activities until Vasily becomes ill and dies from a prolonged cold. Shortly after Vasily's death another man enters Olenka's life, Smirnin, a veterinary surgeon. Smirnin complains that he had left his wife and son because of her unfaithfulness, so he is offered the lodge to live in with Olenka until he is able to fix the situation. Olenka and Smirnin become involved with one another, but try to keep it a secret; this fails because Olenka talks to Smirnin's friends about the cattle, which embarrasses him. Smirnin leaves to travel to Moscow and is gone for months, during this time Olenka cannot think of anything independently from her husband or predominant male figure and is unable to create an opinion. Smirnin finally returns and states that he has started working again as a veterinary because his son is now at the age of attending school and that he has reconciled with his wife; Smirnin's family moves into the lodge that Olenka offers to them. Olenka soon becomes obsessed with the son, Sasha; she follows him to school and confesses that she loved him, "never had her soul surrendered to any feeling so spontaneously." The final line in the short story is a quote from a sleeping Sasha, "I'll give it to you, get away! Shut up!"

Anna Karenina

Princess Anna Arkadyevna Karenina, Count Alexei Kirillovich Vronsky, Prince Stepan "Stiva" Arkadyevich Oblonsky, Princess Darya "Dolly" Alexandrovna Oblonskaya, Count Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin The novel, set among the highest circles of Russian society, is generally thought by the casual reader to be nothing more than the story of a tragic romance. However, Tolstoy was both a moralist and severe critic of the excesses of his aristocratic peers, and Anna Karenina is often interpreted overall as a parable on the difficulty of being honest to oneself when the rest of society accepts falseness. Anna is the jewel of St. Petersburg society until she leaves her husband for the handsome and charming military officer, Count Vronsky. By falling in love, they go beyond society's external conditions of trivial adulterous dalliances. But when Vronsky's love cools, Anna cannot bring herself to return to the husband she detests, even though he will not permit her to see their son until she does. Unable to accept Vronsky's rebuff, and unable to return to a life she hates, she kills herself.

Vanity Fair

Rebecca (Becky) Sharp, Amelia Sedley, Captain William Dobbin, George Osborne, Captain Rawdon Crawley Forced to earn an income, Becky takes a position as a governess for the household of Sir Pit Crawley. At Queen's Crawley, Thackeray begins to introduce the crowd of minor figures that populates the novel and whose purpose it is to authenticate the sprawling, wandering plot and emphasize the profuse and disorganized world in which both the characters and the readers live. The best example of these minor characters occurs in chapter 47 with the Gaunt family, which is given a history; Thackeray even describes Gaunt Square, with its statue of Lord Gaunt. In Becky and her quest to gain entry into the rich and pretentious life of the upper class, Thackeray expresses his resentment against English society. Becky makes fools of the pretentiously proud Crawleys and triumphs over the aristocratic Bareacres. Her adulterous affair with Lord Steyne and her murder of Jos Sedley (if she is indeed guilty) are far less damning in the reader's eyes than her lack of motherly love. That same motherly love is Amelia Sedley's only virtue. Other than that, Amelia is absolutely vapid. Her self-indulgent devotion to her dead husband's (George Osbourne's) memory and her unworthy attitude toward Captain William Dobbin are irritating. That Thackeray focuses upon Amelia's motherly love, however, suggests Thackeray's childhood and his separation from his mother at such an early age and reveals the systematic thought that underlies all of his works. In the end, Becky is reunited with the unsuspecting Jos, and although she cannot obtain a divorce from Rawdon Crawley, they live as man and wife. Upon Jos's suspicious death, Becky receives a considerable insurance payment and spends the rest of her life as a virtuous widow with a reputation for benevolence and generosity. If, then, everyone is a part of the vanity fair, to condemn Becky or any of the other characters is to condemn oneself. As the puppets are put back in the box, Thackeray suggests that the best that can be expected is to possess charity toward others and to care for others as one cares for oneself. Otherwise, all is vanity.

The Crucible

Reverend Samuel Parris, Tituba, Abigail Williams, Susanna Walcott, Ann/Thomas Putnam In Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, Puritan minister Reverend Parris finds a group of girls dancing naked in the forest. Among them are his niece Abigail and daughter Better, who faints upon being discovered by her father. Knowing that they've sinned, the girls claim they were bewitched. Given the severity of the claims, a special court is founded to investigate the accusations of witchcraft. Judges are sent from Boston to assist the residents of small town Salem. During the trials, the girls scream and faint whenever one of the supposed witches takes the stand. Over a hundred of Salem's citizens are found to be witches. One of them, Elizabeth Proctor, proclaims her innocence to her husband, John. Her accuser, Abigail, was once an employee and was dismissed after Elizabeth discovered that John and Abigail were having an affair. Realizing that Abigail has incited this witch hunt to target her enemies, John fights to save his wife. He admits his adultery, only to be accused of devil worship when Abigail denies the affair. John and Elizabeth are convicted of communing with the devil. The pregnant Elizabeth is spared, but John is hanged

Silas Marner

Silas Marner, Eppie, Godfrey Cass, Dunstan (Dunsey) Cass, Nancy Lammeter, Squire Cass, William Dane, Aaron Winthrop, Molly Cass, Dolly Winthrop Set in the early years of the 19th century, X was a weaver and had been since a young man. While living in this industrial town, he was also a highly thought of member of a little Dissenting church. Silas was engaged to be married to a female member of the church and thought his future happiness assured. However, due to the betrayal of a fellow parishioner, who blamed him for a theft that he did not commit, Silas was expelled from the congregation. He found out later that his former fiancee married the man who had betrayed him. Later on, he went to settle in the village of Raveloe, where he lived as a recluse who existed only for work and his precious hoard of money until that money was stolen by a son of Squire Cass, the town's leading land owner, causing him to become heartbroken. Soon, however, an orphaned child came to Raveloe. She was not known by the people there, but she was really the child of Godfrey Cass, the eldest son of the local Squire. Because the mother was a woman of low birth, Godfrey had refused to clarify her as his wife, and the woman, Molly, went to seek out Godfrey for revenge, but she never made it there and died on the way. Silas named the child Eppie (after his deceased mother Hephzibah) and changed his life completely. Symbolically, Silas lost his material gold only to have it replaced by the golden-haired Eppie. Later in the book, the gold is found and restored. Godfrey wanted to take her back when she was a young woman but she refused to go back with him and his second wife, Nancy Lammeter. At the end, Eppie married a local boy, Aaron, son of Dolly Winthrop.

The Egoist

Sir Willoughby Patterne, Laetitia Dale, Clara Middleton The novel recounts the story of self-absorbed Sir Willoughby Patterne and his attempts at marriage; jilted by his first bride-to-be, he vacillates between the sentimental Laetitia Dale and the strong-willed Clara Middleton. More importantly, the novel follows Clara's attempts to escape from her engagement to Sir Willoughby, who desires women to serve as a mirror for him and consequently cannot understand why she would not want to marry him. Thus, dramatizes the difficulty contingent upon being a woman in Victorian society, when women's bodies and minds are trafficked between fathers and husbands to cement male bonds.

Tale of Two Cities

Sydney Carton, Jerry Cruncher, Charles Darnay, Lucie Manette, Ernest Defarge, Madame Therese Defarge takes before and during the French Revolution. Jarvis Lorry is traveling to Paris to reunite Dr. Manette with his long-lost daughter Lucie. Dr. Manette has been living in hiding in Paris, awaiting his rescuers who will return him to England. Five years later, Lucie marries Charles Darnay who confesses to Dr. Manette that he is a member of the French ruling class. Charles is hoping to bury his past and begin a new life in England. When Darnay returns to Paris to save a former servant, he is arrested by the revolutionaries and sentenced to death. Sydney Carton, who resembles Darnay, trades places with him in prison and dies on the guillotine in his stead while Darnay returns to London.

Tess of the d'Ubervilles

Tess Durbeyville, Alec Stoke-d'Urberville, Angel Clare, Richard Crick, Jack Durbeyfield, Joan Durbeyfield, Sorrow The story concerns a simple country girl, Tess Durbeyfield, whose father's pretensions to social status lead her into the company of the nouveau-riche d'Urberville family. In a scene which suggests rape, though it is open to interpretation, Tess is made pregnant by the rakish Alec d'Urberville. Tess returns home in disgrace, but the child she bears soon dies, leaving her free to leave her village once again to look for work. While employed as a milkmaid, she encounters the morally upright Angel Clare, who falls in love with her. After their marriage, she is honest with him about her past; though Angel is educated, he remains basically naive, and cannot reconcile his real affection for Tess, his wounded pride, and his image of Tess as a semi-pagan Mary figure. Abandoned by Angel, Tess is lured into a liaison with Alec d'Urberville, who comes back into her life by chance. When Alec lays eyes on Tess once more, he ruthlessly hunts her down, determined to win her back into his life of sin. Tess, influenced by her desprate situation and the perception that her husband will never rejoin her, yeilds to Alec's determination and allows him to support her while she lives with him. Eventually Angel returns, repentant, to reclaim her, and Tess murders Alec in order to be with her legal husband. They flee together, but the police catch up with them at Stonehenge, in a memorable finale. Tess is hanged for the murder of Alec.

War and Peace

The Bezukovs, The Bolkonskys, The Rostovs, The Kuragins, The Drubetskoys The novel tells the story of five aristocratic families (particularly the Bezukhovs, the Bolkonskis, and the Rostovs) and the entanglement of their personal lives with the history of 1805-1813, specifically Napoleon's invasion of Russia. As events proceed, Tolstoy systematically denies his subjects any significant free choice: the onward roll of history determines happiness and tragedy alike. Central protagonist: Pierre Bezukhov

East of Eden

The Trask family: Cyrus Trask, Mrs. Trask, Alice, Adam, Charles, Aron, Caleb The Hamilton family: Samuel Hamilton, Liza, George, Will, Tom, Joe, Lizzie, Una, Dessie, Olive, Mollie Other characters: Cathy Ames, Lee, Abra Bacon, Mr. Edwards, Faye, Ethel, Joe Valery the lives of the Trask brothers are forever changed when the evil Cathy appears on their farm one day. Adam marries her and moves to Salinas, California, where she abandons him and their twin sons. She dies a wealthy but still evil prostitute, and Adam dies shortly after news reaches him that his son Aron has died in battle. Adam and Charles Trask are the sons of a rigid disciplinarian. Charles takes over for Mr. Trask on the farm, and Adam joins the cavalry. Eventually, both sons, made rich by their father's death, settle on the farm. Their world is turned upside down when the evil young Cathy crawls onto their property after being beaten by a former lover. She seduces and marries Adam, bears his twin sons, and then abandons them after they move to Salinas, California. Kate schemes her way into owning a brothel. Adam raises their sons. Kate later commits suicide, and Adam dies after learning that his son Aron has died in France during the war.

The Turn of the Screw

The governess, Miles, Flora, Miss Jessel, Peter Quint, Mrs. Grose Due to its style, became a favorite text of New Criticism. The reader is challenged to determine if the protagonist, a nameless governess, is reliably reporting events or instead is some kind of neurotic with an overheated imagination. To further muddy the waters, her written account of the experience — a frame tale — is being read many years later at a Christmas house party by someone who claims to have known her. An unnamed narrator listens to a manuscript read by a male friend from a former governess whom the latter claimed to know and who is now dead. A young governess is hired by a man who has found himself responsible for his niece and nephew after the death of their parents. He lives in London and has no interest whatsoever in the children. The boy is at a boarding school. The girl, Flora, is living at his country home where she is cared for by the housekeeper, Mrs. Grose. He gives the governess full charge of the children and makes it clear he never wants to hear from her again regarding them. The governess travels to her new employer's house and begins her duties. Shortly thereafter, the boy, Miles, turns up after being expelled from his school. For some mysterious reason, the headmaster feels he is a threat to the other boys. The governess begins to see and hear strange things. She learns that her predecessor, a Miss Jessel, and her lover Quint, a clever but abusive man, died under curious circumstances. Gradually, she becomes convinced that the pair are somehow using the children to continue their relationship from beyond the grave. The governess takes action against the perceived threat with tragic consequences.

The Age of Innocence

The novel is set in the middle and upper classes of 1870s Old New York. Newland Archer, a lawyer set to enter into a marriage with the naïve but beautiful May Welland, must re-consider his choice with the intrusion of Countess Ellen Olenska, May's cousin. Ellen has returned to New York because she is trying to separate herself from a bad marriage. Newland is at first confused and then intrigued by Ellen, while he becomes more and more disillusioned with May, who is seen as the perfect product of Old New York society. When Ellen wants to divorce her husband, Newland convinces her otherwise and realizes how much he cares for her. He begs May to push up their wedding date but she refuses at first. He then admits to Ellen that he loves her and receives a telegram pushing up his wedding date. Newland and May are married in the second part of the novel and Newland tried to forget about Ellen but sees her while he and May are in Newport. Ellen agrees that she will stay in America if they do not consummate their relationship. Newland soon discovers that Ellen's husband wished she would return to him and she has refused. Ellen comes to New York to care for her sick grandmother and agrees to consummate her relationship with Newland. Suddenly, she decides to return to Europe inexplicably. May and Newland throw a farewell party for her and May tells Newland that she is pregnant and told Ellen so a few days before. Twenty-five years pass and Newland and his son are in Paris after May's death. They arrange to meet Ellen in her Paris apartment but Newland changes his mind at the last minute, happy to live with his memories.

Hard Times

Thomas Gradgrind, Mrs. Gradgrind, Tom Gradgrind, Louisa Gradgrind, Mr. James Harthouse, Sissy (Cecilia) Jupe, Josiah Bounderby, Mrs. Sparsit, Lady Scadgers, Bitzer, Mr. M'Choakumchild, Mr. Sleary, Signor Jupe, Josephine Sleary, Mr. E.W.B. Childers, Master Kidderminster, Mr. Slackbridge, Stephen Blackpool Thomas Gradgrind raises his kids Tom and Louisa to learn facts and only facts. Consequently, Louisa marries a man she doesn't love, and Tom robs the bank he works at. The entire family ends up unhappy and unfeeling. Early in the novel, Gradgrind considers expelling a girl named Sissy Jupe for being a bad influence on his children. Realizing that Sissy's father has abandoned her, he lets her stay. When Louisa comes of age, she married her father's friend Bounderby. Her brother urges her to do this so that he'll have protection at the bank where he works. Tom robs the bank he works at, and Louisa nearly runs off with a man named Harthouse, with whom she has an affair. In the end, neither gets what they want, and the Gradgrind family winds up miserable and unloved.

The Grapes of Wrath

Tom Joad, Jim Casy, Ma Joad, Pa Joad, Rose of Sharon Tom Joad is released from prison at the beginning of Steinbeck's classic novel of the Great Depression. Tom meets a former preacher named Jim, who joins the Joads on their journey to California. begins when Tom Joad is released from prison. He then joins his family on their journey to California, where they hope to find a better life. This journey to California is a perilous one, and the Joads face death, heat, and poverty while traveling West. Upon reaching California, they're disappointed to find that life is no better there. After a flood, the Joads seek refuge in a barn where they find a starving man and his son. Rose of Sharon, who has recently lost her baby, feeds the starving man from her breast.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Tom Sawyer, Aunt Polly, Huck Finn, Becky Thatcher, Injun Joe In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Tom and his friend Huck witness a murder in a cemetery. The culprit, Injun Joe, makes an attempt on Tom's life. In the end, Tom and Huck trap Injun Joe inside of a cave and recover his stolen gold, making themselves rich. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer summary key points: Tom Sawyer becomes infatuated with a new girl at school, but their brief romance ends when he admits his previous ties to Amy Lawrence. Tom and his friend Huckleberry Finn witness a murder in the cemetery. Tom, Huck, and Joseph Harper run away from home and convince their families that they are dead, then surprise them at their own funerals. Tom testifies against Injun Joe at the murder trial, and Injun Joe escapes. Tom and Huck help to capture Injun Joe by trapping him inside a cave.

The Rainbow

Tom/William/Ursula/Gudrun Brangwen, Lydia/Anna Lensky, Tilly, Anton Skrebensky, Winifred Inger It follows three generations of the Brangwen family, focusing in particular on the sexual dynamics of its characters. The Rainbow tells the story of three generations of the Brangwen family, a dynasty of farmers and craftsmen who live in the east Midlands of England, on the borders of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. The book spans a period of roughly 65 years from the 1840s to 1905, and shows how the love relationships of the Brangwens change against the backdrop of the increasing industrialisation of Britain. The first central character, Tom Brangwen, is a farmer whose experience of the world does not stretch beyond these two counties; while the last, Ursula, his granddaughter, studies at university and becomes a teacher in the progressively urbanised, capitalist and industrial world. The book starts with a description of the Brangwen dynasty, then deals with how Tom Brangwen, one of several brothers, fell in love with a Polish refugee and widow, Lydia. The next part of the book deals with Lydia's daughter by her first husband, Anna, and her destructive, battle-riven relationship with her husband, Will, the son of one of Tom's brothers. The last and most extended part of the book, and also probably the most famous, then deals with Will and Anna's daughter, Ursula, and her struggle to find fulfilment for her passionate, spiritual and sensual nature against the confines of the increasingly materialist and conformist society around her. She experiences a same-sex relationship with a teacher, and a passionate but ultimately doomed love affair with Anton Skrebensky, a British soldier of Polish ancestry. At the end of the book, having failed to find her fulfilment in Skrebensky, she has a vision of a rainbow towering over the Earth, promising a new dawn for humanity: "She saw in the rainbow the earth's new architecture, the old, brittle corruption of houses and factories swept away, the world built up in a living fabric of Truth, fitting to the over-arching heaven."

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Uncle Tom, Shelby family, Eliza, Tom Loker, Cassy, Topsy The book opens with a Kentucky farmer named Arthur Shelby about to lose his farm due to massive debts. Shelby decides to raise money by selling two of his slaves — Uncle Tom, a middle-aged man with a wife and child, and Harry, the son of Emily Shelby's maid Eliza — to a slave trader. Emily Shelby hates to do this because she had promised Eliza that Shelby would not sell her son, while her son, George Shelby, hates to see Tom go because he considers the slave to be his friend. When Eliza overhears a conversation between the slave trader and his wife, she warns Uncle Tom, then takes Harry and flees to the North. The slave trader, Mr. Haley, pursues Eliza but she escapes capture by crossing into the free state of Ohio, so Haley hires a slave hunter named Tom Loker to bring Eliza and Harry back to Kentucky. Meanwhile, Eliza and Harry arrive in a safe Quaker settlement, where they are joined by Eliza's husband George, who had escaped earlier. He agrees to go with his wife and child to Canada, via the Underground Railroad. Confronted by Loker, George shoots him but brings him to Quakers to be healed before making it to Canada. Tom is captured and taken to Mississippi where he befriends a white woman named Eva and is purchased by her brother, who later dies causing Tom to be sold to a Louisiana slaver Simon Legree, who vows to break him. Tom helps another slave, Cassy, to escape before dying himself. Cassy makes it to Canada, realizes she is Eliza's mother, and the family travels to the free state of Liberia, while the Shelbys set all their slaves free.