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Joyce 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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Read summaryErnest Hemingway · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of Hemingway's The Snows of Kilimanjaro — Harry's gangrene, his memories, and analysis of unfulfilled potential and the writer's life.
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Read summaryLiam O'Flaherty · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of Liam O'Flaherty's The Sniper — plot, the Irish Civil War setting, and analysis of the story's devastating final twist.
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Read summaryO. Henry · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of O. Henry's The Ransom of Red Chief — the kidnapping that goes wrong, Red Chief's chaos, and the comic twist ending explained.
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Read summaryShirley Jackson · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of Shirley Jackson's The Possibility of Evil — Miss Strangeworth's anonymous letters, her roses, and the story's ironic ending.
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Read summaryNikolai Gogol · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of Nikolai Gogol's The Overcoat — Akaky Akakievich, the stolen coat, and analysis of bureaucracy, compassion, and the 'little man' in Russian literature.
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Read summaryKatherine Mansfield · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of Katherine Mansfield's The Garden Party — Laura, the dead carter, and analysis of class, death, and moral awakening.
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Read summaryJohn Steinbeck · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of Steinbeck's The Chrysanthemums — Elisa Allen, the tinker, and analysis of female frustration and the limits of the domestic sphere.
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Read summaryRaymond Carver · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of Raymond Carver's Cathedral — plot, the blind man Robert, and analysis of how the drawing scene achieves the narrator's breakthrough.
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Read summaryJamaica Kincaid · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of Jamaica Kincaid's Girl — the mother's instructions, analysis of the story's form, and themes of gender, culture, and control.
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Read summaryJohn Updike · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of John Updike's A&P — Sammy, the girls in bathing suits, and analysis of the story's coming-of-age themes and ironic ending.
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Read summaryJames Joyce · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of James Joyce's Eveline — her choice, Frank, and analysis of paralysis and escape in Dubliners.
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Read summaryGraham Greene · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of Graham Greene's The Destructors — T., the gang, and analysis of nihilism and destruction in post-war England.
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Read summaryShirley Jackson · Poetry & fiction
Read a full summary of Shirley Jackson's Charles — Laurie's kindergarten tales, who Charles really is, and analysis of the story's comic twist.
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Read summaryEdgar Allan Poe · Poetry & fiction
Full summary and analysis of Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" — plot, characters, Gothic themes, and symbols explained.
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Read summaryEdgar Allan Poe · Poetry & fiction
Summary and analysis of Poe's "The Black Cat" — plot, characters, themes of guilt and perverseness, and what the cat symbolizes.
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