American Literature
The Last of the Mohicans
A Narrative of 1757 is a historical novel written by James Fenimore Cooper in 1826. Set against the French and Indian siege of Fort William Henry in 1757, this book recounts the story of two sisters, Cora and Alice Munro, daughters of the English commander, who are struggling to be reunited with their father. They are aided in their perilous journey by Hawk-eye, a frontier scout and his companions Chingachgook and Uncas, the only two survivors of the Mohican tribe. But their lives are endangered by the Mangua, the savage Indian traitor who captures the sisters, wanting Cora to be his squaw. In setting Indian against Indian and the brutal society of the white man against the civilization of the Mohican, Cooper, more than any author before or since, shaped the American sense of itself as a nation.
The House on Mango Street
A 1984 novel by Mexican-American author Sandra Cisneros. Structured as a series of vignettes, it tells the story of Esperanza Cordero, a 12-year-old Chicana girl growing up in the Hispanic quarter of Chicago.
White Fang
A novel by American author Jack London (1876-1916) — and the name of the book's eponymous character, a wild wolfdog. First serialized in Outing magazine, it was published in 1906. The story details White Fang's journey to domestication in Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush.
The Catcher in the Rye
J.D. Salinger Published in 1951. Holden Caulfield is 16 years old and has failed out of four schools. He received word that he was being expelled so he left his school two days early to explore New York. He interacted with teachers, prostitutes, nuns, an old girlfriend, and his sister.
The Secret Life of Bees
Sue Monk Kidd Set in South Carolina in 1964, it tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily's fierce-hearted black "stand-in mother," Rosaleen, insults three of the deepest racists in town, Lily decides to spring them both free. They escape to Tiburon, South Carolina--a town that holds the secret to her mother's past. Taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters, Lily is introduced to their mesmerizing world of bees and honey, and the Black Madonna. This is a remarkable novel about divine female power, a story women will share and pass on to their daughters for years to come.
Moby Dick
an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is the sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship Pequod, for revenge on the giant white sperm whale that on the ship's previous voyage bit off Ahab's leg at the knee. A contribution to the literature of the American Renaissance, it was published to mixed reviews, was a commercial failure, and was out of print at the time of the author's death in 1891. Its reputation as a "Great American Novel" was established only in the 20th century, after the centennial of its author's birth. William Faulkner said he wished he had written the book himself, and D. H. Lawrence called it "one of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world" and "the greatest book of the sea ever written". Its opening sentence, "Call me Ishmael", is among world literature's most famous.
The Old Man and the Sea
A short novel written by the American author Ernest Hemingway in 1951 in Cayo Blanco, and published in 1952. This is the story of an epic struggle between an old, seasoned fisherman and the greatest catch of his life. For eighty-four days, Santiago, an aged Cuban fisherman, has set out to sea and returned empty-handed. So conspicuously unlucky is he that the parents of his young, devoted apprentice and friend, Manolin, have forced the boy to leave the old man in order to fish in a more prosperous boat. Nevertheless, the boy continues to care for the old man upon his return each night. He helps the old man tote his gear to his ramshackle hut, secures food for him, and discusses the latest developments in American baseball, especially the trials of the old man's hero, Joe DiMaggio. Santiago is confident that his unproductive streak will soon come to an end, and he resolves to sail out farther than usual the following day.
The Tell-Tale Heart
A short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1843. It is related by an unnamed narrator who endeavors to convince the reader of the narrator's sanity while simultaneously describing a murder the narrator committed. The victim was an old man with a filmy "vulture-eye", as the narrator calls it. The narrator emphasizes the careful calculation of the murder, attempting the perfect crime, complete with dismembering and hiding the body under the floorboards. Ultimately, the narrator's feelings result in hearing a thumping sound, which the narrator interprets as the dead man's beating heart.January 1843
The Color Purple
Alice Walker 1982: Celie is a poor, uneducated 14-year-old girl living in the Southern United States in the early 1900s. She writes letters to God because the man she thought was her father, Alphonso, beats and rapes her. Celie and her younger sister, 12-year-old Nettie, learn that a man identified only as Mister wants to marry Nettie. Alphonso refuses to let Nettie marry, instead arranging for Mister to marry Celie.
Death of a Salesman
Arthur Miller 1949 stage play which won 1949 Pulitzer Prize for drama and a Tony Award for best play. It addresses loss of identity and a man's ability to accept change within himself and society. The play includes a montage of memories, dreams, confrontations, and arguments within the last 24 hours of Willy Loman's life.
The Crucible
Arthur Miller A 1953 play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692-93. John Proctor, Abigail Williams, John Hale, Elizabeth Proctor, Samuel Parris, Mary Warren, Giles Corey, Tituba, Rebecca Nurse, Thomas Putnam, Ann Putnam, John Hathorne,Reverend John Hale
The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald Novel published in 1925. It follows a cast of characters living in West Egg and East Egg on the prosperous Long Island in the summer of 1922. Many considered it the greatest novel of all time. The moral of the story is that the American Dream is unattainable. Characters include Jay Gatsby who has attained great wealth and social status, but his dream was to have a future with his love Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby was killed in the end by George Wilson. George thought Jay had an affair with his wife Myrtle Wilson and killed her in a car accident. Other characters include Tom Buchanan, Daisy's husband and Nick Carraway the narrator of the story.
To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee Novel that was published in 1960. It won a Pulitzer Prize. The novel is set in Maycomb, Alabama during the Depression. It's a child's (8 year old Scout Finch) view of race and justice in the Depression-era South. Characters include Scout Finch, her brother (Jem) and their father (Atticus). The novel discusses the arrest and eventual trial of a young black man accused of raping a woman.
Of Mice and Men
John Steinbeck Novel that was published in 1937. It narrates the experiences of George Milton and Lennie Small. They are two displaced migrant ranch workers who move place-to-place in California in search of new job opportunities during the Great Depression. Lennie has multiple mental disabilities. George kills Lennie in the end so that he no longer "suffers."
The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck Published in 1939. Set during the Great Depression, struggles of migrant workers. Characters include Tom Joad and his family. They were forced from their home in dust-bowl Oklahoma and they migrated to California looking for jobs, land, and hope for a brighter future.
The Giver
Lois Lowry Published in 1993. It is written from the point of view of Jonas, an eleven-year-old boy living in a futuristic society that has eliminated all pain, fear, war, and hatred. There is no prejudice, since everyone looks and acts basically the same, and there is very little competition. Everyone is unfailingly polite. The society has also eliminated choice: at age twelve every member of the community is assigned a job based on his or her abilities and interests.At the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas is given the highly honored Assignment of Receiver of Memory. The Receiver is the sole keeper of the community's collective memory. When the community went over to Sameness—its painless, warless, and mostly emotionless state of tranquility and harmony—it abandoned all memories of pain, war, and emotion, but the memories cannot disappear totally. Someone must keep them so that the community can avoid making the mistakes of the past, even though no one but the Receiver can bear the pain.
Little Women
Louisa May Alcott Originally published in 2 volumes in 1868 and 1869. It is loosely based on the life of the author and her 3 sisters. Scholars classify it as an autobiographical or semi-autobiographical novel.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Mark Twain Tom Sawyer, an orphan, lives with his Aunt Polly and his half-brother Sid in the fictional town of St. Petersburg, Missouri sometime in the 1840s. A fun-loving boy, Tom skips school to go swimming and is made to whitewash his aunt's fence for the entirety of the next day, Saturday, as punishment. In one of the most famous scenes in American literature, Tom cleverley persuades the various neighbourhood children to trade him small trinkets and treasures for the "privilege" of doing his tedious work, using reverse psychology to convince them it is an enjoyable activity. Tom falls in love with Becky Thatcher, a new girl in town and the daughter of a prominent judge. Tom accompanies Huckleberry Finn, a vagrant boy whom all the other boys admire, to a graveyard at midnight to perform a superstitious ritual designed to heal warts.
The House of Seven Gables
Nathaniel Hawthorne A gothic novel, published in April 1851 by Ticknor and Fields of Boston. The novel follows a New England family and their ancestral home. In the book, Hawthorne explores themes of guilt, retribution, and atonement, and colors the tale with suggestions of the supernatural and witchcraft. The setting for the book was inspired by the Turner-Ingersoll Mansion, a gabled house in Salem, Massachusetts, belonging to Hawthorne's cousin Susanna Ingersoll, as well as ancestors of Hawthorne who had played a part in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.
Farenheit 451
Ray Bradbury 1953: Guy Montag is a "fireman" employed to burn houses containing outlawed books. He is married but has no children. One fall night while returning from work, he meets his new neighbour, a teenage girl named Clarisse McClellan, whose free-thinking ideals and liberating spirit cause him to question his life and his own perceived happiness.
The Red Badge of Courage
Stephen Crane Taking place during the American Civil War, the story is about a young private of the Union Army, Henry Fleming, who flees from the field of battle.
