Page 4 of 9 · 267 summaries in this section
Flannery O'Connor · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of O'Connor's The Life You Save May Be Your Own — Shiftlet's marriage of convenience, his abandonment of Lucynell, and the story's ironic ending.
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Read summaryJack London · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of Jack London's White Fang — the wolf-dog's brutal youth, his exploitation by Beauty Smith, and his transformation under Weedon Scott's care.
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Read summaryJohn Steinbeck · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of Steinbeck's The Red Pony — Jody's pony Gabilan, the old paisano Gitano, and the ranch stories that teach Jody about loss.
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Read summaryJonathan Swift · Essays & speeches
Read a full summary of Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal — the satirical essay that uses irony to expose British exploitation of Ireland.
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Read summaryGeorge Orwell · Essays & speeches
Read a full summary of George Orwell's Shooting an Elephant — the essay that uses one incident in colonial Burma to expose how imperialism traps the coloniser.
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Read summaryHenry David Thoreau · Essays & speeches
Read a full summary of Henry David Thoreau's Civil Disobedience — the 1849 essay on individual conscience, unjust laws, and the duty to resist.
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Read summaryRalph Waldo Emerson · Essays & speeches
Read a full summary of Ralph Waldo Emerson's Self-Reliance — the Transcendentalist essay on individual conscience, nonconformity, and trusting your own mind.
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Read summaryVirginia Woolf · Essays & speeches
Read a full summary of Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own — the 1929 essay on women, writing, and the material conditions creativity requires.
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Read summaryGeorge Orwell · Essays & speeches
Read a full summary of Orwell's Politics and the English Language — the 1946 essay on how bad writing enables political dishonesty, and six rules for clear prose.
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Read summaryE. B. White · Essays & speeches
Read a full summary of E. B. White's Once More to the Lake — the personal essay about memory, time, and mortality at a Maine lake.
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Read summaryEdgar Allan Poe · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven — the poem's narrative, the raven's role, themes of grief and madness, and analysis of Nevermore.
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Read summaryShirley Jackson · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of Shirley Jackson's The Lottery — plot, characters, and analysis of the story that shocked readers in 1948 and still does.
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Read summaryGuy de Maupassant · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of Guy de Maupassant's The Necklace — plot, characters, and analysis of the ironic twist that defines this classic French short story.
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Read summaryNathaniel Hawthorne · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Minister's Black Veil — plot, the veil's symbolism, and analysis of hidden sin and Puritan guilt.
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Read summaryAmbrose Bierce · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of Ambrose Bierce's An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge — the Civil War story whose twist ending reveals the escape as hallucination.
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Read summaryJoyce Carol Oates · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of Joyce Carol Oates's Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? — Connie's encounter with Arnold Friend and the story's themes of predation and innocence.
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Read summaryFrank R. Stockton · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of Frank R. Stockton's The Lady, or the Tiger? — the plot, the arena, the princess's choice, and why the ending is deliberately unanswered.
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Read summaryAlice Walker · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of Alice Walker's Everyday Use — the story about quilts, heritage, and the conflict between cultural display and lived tradition.
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Read summaryCharlotte Perkins Gilman · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper — plot, analysis of the wallpaper's symbolism, and the story's feminist critique of the rest cure.
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Read summaryEdgar Allan Poe · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart — plot, the vulture eye, the heartbeat, and analysis of guilt and the unreliable narrator.
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Read summaryRoald Dahl · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of Roald Dahl's The Landlady — plot, the landlady's secret, and analysis of how Dahl builds horror through apparent normality.
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Read summaryEdgar Allan Poe · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of Edgar Allan Poe's The Black Cat — plot, Pluto, the murder, and analysis of guilt, alcoholism, and the unreliable narrator.
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Read summaryLangston Hughes · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of Langston Hughes's Thank You, Ma'am — plot, characters, and analysis of what Mrs Jones teaches Roger without ever lecturing him.
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Read summarySaki (H. H. Munro) · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of Saki's The Interlopers — the feud, the fallen tree, the reconciliation, and analysis of the story's ironic twist ending.
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Read summaryStephen Vincent Benét · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of Stephen Vincent Benét's By the Waters of Babylon — John's journey to the Place of the Gods and the post-apocalyptic twist ending explained.
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Read summaryEdgar Allan Poe · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of Edgar Allan Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum — the dungeon, the pendulum, the contracting walls, and analysis of survival and despair.
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Read summarySaki (H. H. Munro) · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of Saki's The Open Window — Vera's prank, Framton's flight, and analysis of how the story constructs its ironic twist.
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Read summaryStephen Crane · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of Stephen Crane's The Open Boat — plot, the four survivors, and analysis of Naturalism and nature's indifference to human fate.
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Read summaryWilliam Faulkner · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of William Faulkner's Barn Burning — Sarty's conflict, his father's violence, and the story's themes of loyalty, justice, and moral choice.
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Read summaryEugenia Collier · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of Eugenia Collier's Marigolds — Lizabeth, Miss Lottie's garden, and the moment that ends childhood and begins compassion.
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