Book and Play Summaries

John Steinbeck Two migrant workers, George and Lennie, are dropped off a little outside a farm in California. They are going to start working on the farm. George is a short, dark man with \"sharp, strong\" features. Lennie, his companion, is his opposite. He is a tall man with a \"shapless\" face. They eventually stop at a clearing by a pool to satisfy their thirst and camp for the night. When they begin talking, it becomes obvious that Lennie has a small mental disability, and is dependent and devoted to George for guidance. George notices that Lennie is holding a dead mouse and throws it away. It is revealed that Lennie loves petting little animals, but he ends up killing them. George is angry and he throws away the dead mouse. George and Lennie dream about one day owning a farm of their own. George tells Lennie about this perfect life they have for themselves. The next day, they report to the ranch. George, in fear of what the boss might think of Lennie, does all the talking. He explains to the boss that the two of them travel together because they are cousins, and as a child Lennie was kicked in the head by a horse. They get the job. They meet Candy, a handyman on the farm, with a missing hand and an old dog. They also meet Curley, the boss's mean son, who is recently married. He is very protective of his flirtatious wife and full of suspicion. She appears in the bunkhouse after Lennie and George are alone. Lennie thinks she is \"purdy\", and fearful of Curley, George tells Lennie to stay away from her. The other workers return for lunch and Lennie and George meet Slim, a skilled mule driver. He tells Lennie about how rare it is to have a friendship like theirs. Carlson, another worker, suggests that they should kill Candy's old dog and give him one of Slim's new dog's puppies. The following day, George confides in Slim. He tells slim that he and Lennie are not actually cousins, but friends since childhood. He tells Slim that Lennie causes them a lot of trouble. George tells about how they had to flee their old job because Lennie tried to touch a lady's dress and was accused of rape. Slim agrees to give Lennie a puppy. Carlson hassles Candy by saying that he should put his dog to rest because it would stop his suffering. Once Slim agrees with Carlson, Candy gives in and allows Carlson to kill the dog. Carlson promises to put the dog down easily and without great pain. Slim goes to the barn to do some work, and Curley searching for his wife, goes to confront Slim about it. Candy overhears George and Lennie talk about their dreams of a farm, and he offers them his lifesaving to live on the farm. Lennie and George agree, and the three of them make a pact to not tell anyone else about their plans. Slim returns to the bunkhouse scolding Curley for his suspicions. Curley looking for someone to take his anger out on finds Lennie and fights with him. Lennie breaks Curley hand in a confrontation and Slim tells Curley that if he tries to get them fired he will be the laughingstock of the whole barn. The next night the men go to the brothel. Lennie is left with Crooks, a black stable-hand, and Candy. Curley's wife flirts with them, and refuses to leave until the other men come back. She notices the cuts on Lennie's face and suspects that he is the one who hurt her husband, not a piece of machinery, like her husband claimed. The next day, Lennie accidentally kills his puppy, and Curley's wife attempts to console him. She tells Lennie that life with Curley is a disappointment and she wishes she had perused her dreams of becoming a movie star. Lennie tells her that he likes to pet small animals, and she allows him to pet her hair. He pulls her hair to hard and she screams. In an attempt to quite her down he accidentally breaks her neck. Lennie flees to a meeting spot that George had set up for them in case of trouble. The men come back and realize what has happened and gather together a lynch party. George goes to meet Lennie. To Lennie's surprise, George is not mad at him. George begins to tell Lennie about their farm, and how Lennie will tend to the rabbits. As the lynch party comes closer, George shoots Lennie in the back of the head. When the other men arrive, George makes it seem as though Lennie had the gun and he tried to wrestle it away from him and shot him. Slim is the only one who really knows what happened, that George killed his Lennie out of mercy. Slim leads George away as the rest of the men stand there confused, watching Slim and George walk away.

Harper LeeScout Finch lives with her brother, Jem, and their father, Atticus, in Maycomb, Alabama. Maycomb is suffering through the Great Depression. Atticus is a lawyer and the family is reasonably well off in comparison to the rest of society. One summer, Jem and Scout befriended Dill, who is living in the neighborhood for the summer, and the three of them like acting out stories. Eventually, Dill becomes fascinated with the Radley Place. Mr. Nathan Radley, whose brother has lived there for years without venturing ouside, owns the house. Scout goes to school for the first time that fall and hates it. She and Jem find gifts apparently left left for them in a tree on the Radley property. Dill returns the following summer, and they begin to act out the story of Boo Radley. Atticus stops their antics, urging the children to try to see life from another person's perspective before making judgments. On Dill's last night in Maycomb, the kids sneak on o the Radley property, where Nathan shoots at them. Jem loses his pants. When he gets home, he finds them hanging over the fence. The next winter, Jem and Scout find more presents in the tree left for them. Nathan eventually fills the knothole with cement. Soon after, a fire breaks out in another neighbor's house, and during the fire someone slips a blanket on Scout while she watches the fire. Convinced that Boo did it, Jem tells Atticus about the pants and presents. To the dismay of Maycomb's racist community, Atticus agrees to defend a black man named Tom Robinson, who has been accused of raping a white woman. Because of this, Jem and Scout are subjected to abuse from other children, even when they celebrate Christmas at the family compound on Finch's Landing. Calpurnia, the Finch's black cook, takes them to the black church. Where the children are warmly embraced. Atticus's sister, Alexandra, comes to live with the Finches. Dill, who is supposed to live with his \"new father\" in another town, runs away and comes to Maycomb. Tom Robinson's trial begins, and when the accused man is placed in the local jail, a mob gathers to lynch him. Atticus faces the mob down the night before the trial. Jem and Scout join him. Scout recognizes one of the men, and her questioning about his son shames him into scattering the mob. At the trial, the children sit in the \"colored balcony\" with the town's black citizens. Atticus provides clear that the accusers, Mayella Ewell and her father, Bob, are lying: Mayella propositioned Tom Robinson and then accused Tom of rape to cover her shame and guilt. Atticus provides impressive evidence that the marks on Mayella's face are from wounds that her father inflicted; upon discovering her with Tom, he called her a whore and beat her. Despite the evidence pointing to Tom's innocence, the all-white jury convicts him. Tom tries to escape from prison and is shot to death. In the aftermath of the trial, Jem's faith in justice is badly shaken, and he lapses into despondency and doubt. Despite the verdict, Bob Ewell feels that Atticus and the judge have made a fool out of him, and he vows revenge. He threats Tom Robinson's widow, tries to break into the judge's house, and finally attacks Jem and Scout as they walk home from a Halloween party. Boo Radley intervenes saving the children and stabbing Ewell fatally during the struggle. Boo carries the wounded Jem back to Atticus's house, where the sheriff, in order to protect Boo, insists that Ewell tripped over a tree root and fell on his own knife. After sitting with Scout for a while, Boo disappears once more into the Radley house. Later, Scout feels as though she can finally imagine what life is like for Boo. He has become a human being to her at last. With this realization, Scout embraces her father's advice to practice sympathy and understanding.

William Shakespeare In the streets of Verona another brawl breaks out between two noble feuding families, Capulet and Montague, servants. Benvolio, a Montague, tries to stop the fight, but is brought into it by a Capulet, Tybalt. After citizens outraged by the violence beat back the warring factions, Price Escalus, attempts to prevent any other conflicts between the families. He says that any individual who disturbs the peace with be sentenced to death. Romeo, the son of Montague, runs into his cousin Benvolio, who had earlier saw him moping in a grove of sycamores. After prodding, Romeo reveals to Benvolio that he is in love with Rosaline, a girl who doesn't return his affections. Benvolio tells Romeo to forget about her and find another, prettier women, but Romeo stays hopeless. Meanwhile, Paris, a kingsman of the prince, seeks Juliet's hand in marriage. Juliet's father Capulet is overjoyed at this, but he asks Paris to wait because Juliet isn't fourteen yet. Capulet sends a servant with a list of people to invite to a masquerade and feast he holds. He invited Paris to the feast, in hopes that Paris will begin to win Juliet's heart. Romeo and Benvolio encounter the Capulet servant with the list of invitations. Benvolio suggests that they go so Romeo can compare Rosaline to other women of Verona. Romeo agrees only because he reads Rosaline name on the list and sees that she will be there. In Capulet household, young Juliet talks to her mother, Lady Capulet, and her nurse about the possibility of marrying Paris. She has not yet considered marriage, but she agrees to look at Paris during the feast to see if she could possible fall in love with him. The feast begins. Romeo follows Benvolio and their wity friend Mercutio to Capulet's house. Once inside, Romeo sees Juliet from across the room and immediately falls in love with her. As Romeo watches Juliet, a young Capulet, Tybalt recognizes him. He is enraged and ready to attack Romeo, but Capulet stops him. Soon, Romeo and Juliet speak, and they experience a profound attraction. They kiss, not even knowing each other's name. When Romeo finds out Juliet is a Capulet from her nurse, he becomes distraught. When Juliet learns the young man is son of Montague, she becomes upset. As Mercutio and Benvolio leave the Capulet house, Romeo leaps over the orchard wall into the garden, unable to leave Juliet. From his hiding place he sees Juliet in a window above the orchard. He hears her speak his name and calls out to her. They exchange vows of love. Romeo hurries to his friend, Friar Lawrence, who agrees to marry the two lovers in secret since he sees the possibility of ending the feud between the two families. The following day, Romeo and Juliet meet at Friar Lawrence's cell and are married. The nurse, who knows the secret, procures a ladder, which Romeo will use to climb into Juliet's window for their wedding night. They next day, Benvolio and Mercutio encounter Tybalt, who is still enraged that Romeo attended the feast. He challenges Romeo to a duel, and Romeo appears. Now Tybalt's kinsman by marriage, Romeo begs him to hold off the duel until he can understand why Romeo doesn't want to fight. Disgusted by this, Mercutio says that he will fight Tybalt. They duel, and Romeo tries to stop them, and Tybalt kills Mercutio under Romeo's arm. Romeo in a rage kills Tybalt. He flees from the scene. Soon, the Prince declares his banished from Verona for his crime. Friar Lawrence arranges for Romeo to spend his wedding night with Juliet before he leaves for Mantua. In her room, Juliet waits for her husband. The Nurse tells Juliet that Romeo has killed Tybalt. Juliet suddenly finds herself married to a man who killed her kinsman. She resettles herself, and realizes tat her duty belongs to Romeo. Romeo sneaks into Juliet's room that night. Morning comes, and they say goodbye, unsure of the next time they will see each other. Juliet learns that her father now intends her to marry Paris in three days. Unsure of what to do Juliet asks the nurse for advice. She tells Juliet that she should proceed as if Romeo were dead and to marry Paris. Disgusted with the nurse, Juliet disregards her advice and goes to Friar Lawrence. He concocts a plan to reunite the two lovers in Mantua. The night before the wedding to Paris, she will drink a potion that will make her appear dead. After she is laid to rest, the Friar and Romeo will secretly get her and she will be free to live with Romeo, away from their parents. Juliet returns home to discover the wedding has been moved ahead a day, and she is to be married tomorrow. That night, Juliet drinks the potion, and the nurse discovers her, apparently dead. The Capulets grieve and Juliet is laid to rest, but Friar's message to Romeo explaining the plan never reaches him. Romeo only hears that Juliet is dead. Romeo learns of Juliet's death and decides to kill himself. He buys poison from an Apothecary, and then speeds back to Verona to take his own life at Juliet's tomb. Outside the crypt, Romeo comes upon Paris, who is scattering flowers. They fight, and Romeo kills Paris. He enters the tomb, sees Juliet's inanimate body, drinks the poison and dies. Friar Lawrence arrives and sees that Romeo killed Paris and himself. At the same time, Juliet awakes. When Juliet refuses to flee with Friar, and sees Romeo dead she kills herself. She kisses his poisoned lips, and when that didn't kill her she stabbed herself with his dagger. The watch arrives, followed by the Prince, Capulet, and Montague. Montague declares that Lady Montague died of grief over Romeo's exile. Seeing their children's bodies, Capulet and Montague agree to stop fighting and to raise gold statues of their children side-by-side in peaceful Verona.

William Shakespeare The play begins with 3 witches and then moves to a camp where Scottish King Duncan hears about the defeat of two separate invading armies. After their battles Macbeth and Banquo encounter the three witches. The witches predict that Macbeth will be made Thane of Cawdor and then King of Scotland. They also predict that Banquo will be the beginning of a long line of king, but will never be king himself. The witches vanish, leaving Macbeth and Banquo treating there prophecies skeptically. Then King Duncan's men come to thank them and tell Macbeth that he is Thane of Cawdor. The previous thane betrayed the king by fighting for the Norwegians. Macbeth is intrigued by the possibility that he will be crowned king. He visits with King Duncan, and they plan to dine together at Macbeth's castle, inverness. Macbeth's writes ahead to his wife, Lady Macbeth, telling her about what happened. Lady Macbeth suffers none of her husband's uncertainty. She wants him to be king and kill Duncan in order to achieve it. When Macbeth arrives home, she overrides his objections and persuades him to kill the king that night. They plan to get Duncan's chamberlains drunk; the next morning they will blame them for the murder. While Duncan is asleep, Macbeth stabs him, despite his doubts and supernatural visions, a bloody dagger. When Duncan's death is discovered, Macbeth kills the chamberlains and easily assumes kingship. Duncan's sons Malcolm and Donalbain flee to England and Ireland, fearing that whoever killed their father will kill them too. Fearful of the witches predictions about Banquo's heirs, Macbeth hires a group of murderers to kill Banquo and his son Fleance. They ambush Banquo on his way to the royal feast, but they fail to kill Fleance, who escapes. Macbeth becomes furious and fears that his power is insecure. At the feast, Banquo's ghost visits Macbeth. When he sees the ghost, Macbeth raves. Lady Macbeth tries to neutralize the damage, but his kingship becomes resistant. Frightened, Macbeth goes to visit the witches again. They show him a sequence of demons and spirits who present him with prophecies. He must beware Macduff, he is incapable of being harmed by woman born, and he will be safe until Birnam wood reaches the top of Dunsiance hill. Macbeth is relieved. He learns that Macduff has fled, and he orders that Macduff's castle be seized and that his wife and children be killed. When news of his family's execution reaches Macduff in England, he is stricken with grief and vows revenge. Prince Malcolm joins him as he rides to Scotland to challenge Macbeth. Lady Macbeth becomes plagued with sleepwalking in which she bemoans the blood on her hands. Before Macbeth's opponents arrives he learns of her suicide. This causes him to sink into deep depression. He awaits the English and fortifies Dunsinane. He is struck numb when he learns that the English army is advancing Dunsinane with wood cut from Birnam Wood. This fulfills the witches prophecies. In the battle Macbeth is gradually overwhelmed by the English. On the battlefield he encounters Macduff, who reveals he is not of woman born but was ripped out of his mothers womb. Though he realizes that he is doomed, Macbeth continues to fight until killed by Macduff. Malcolm is now the King of Scotland, and declares his intentions for the country and invites all to see him crowned at Scone.

Arthur Miller In the Puritan New England town of Salem, Massachusetts, a group of girls are caught dancing in the woods with an African slave named Tituba. They are caught by Reverend Parris, the local minister, whose daughter, Betty, falls into a coma-like state. As people gather in his house, rumors of witchcraft fill the town. Reverend Hale is sent for because he is an expert of witchcraft. Parris questions Abigail Williams, who seems to be leading the girls, about the event in the forest. She claims that they were just \"dancing\". While Parris tries to calm down all the people in his house, Abigail talks to the other girls. She tells them not to tell anyone about anything that happened in the forest. A local farmer, John Proctor, enters and begins to talk to Abigail alone. Unknown to anyone else in the town, while Abigail was working in the Proctor's house the previous year, she began an affair with him. The affair caused her to be fired by John's wife Elizabeth. Abigail still desires John, but he resists. He tells her to stop her foolishness she has been doing with the other girls. Betty wakes up and begins screaming. The crowd rushes into her bedroom and argues whether or not it she was bewitched. A separate argument starts between Proctor, Parris, the argumentative Giles Corey, and the wealthy Thomas Putnam. The argue centers around money and land deeds, and suggests the deep fault lines in Salem. As the men argue Reverend Hale arrives and begins to examine Betty. Hale questions Abigail about what she was doing in the woods. He becomes suspicious of her behavior and demands to speak to Tituba. After Parris and Hale interrogate her for a short time, she admits to be communicating with the devil. She then accuses other people of communicating and conspiring with the devil. Abigail and Betty join in and start to accuse people too. This sends the town into a massive uproar. A week later, outside of the farmhouse, John and Elizabeth talk about the trials and the amount of people being accused of witchcraft. Elizabeth demands that John goes and denounces Elizabeth as a fraud, when he refuses she accuses him of still having feelings for her. Mary Warren, the Proctor's servant and Abigail's friend, arrives home from Salem and tells the Proctor's that Elizabeth has been accused of witchcraft. They continue arguing, but are interrupted by Reverend Hale. While they are talking, Giles Corey and Francis Nurse come and reveal that their wives have been accused of witchcraft and arrested. Officers of the court arrest Elizabeth. John Proctor browbeats Mary and forces her to denounce Abigail as a fraud. The next day Proctor brings Mary to court and tells Judge Danforth that she will testify that the girls are lying. Danforth reveals to Proctor that Elizabeth is pregnant and will be spared. Mary tells the judge that they are liars, but when the girls enter they make believe that Mary is the one bewitching them. Furious of what is taking place, Proctor reveals his affair with Abigail. Elizabeth is called in to verify this statement. Despite her naturally honest nature, she says that the statement is false in order to protect Proctor's name, Danforth says he is a liar. Abigail and the girls again to make believe that Mary is bewitching them, and Mary, in a panic, accuse John of being a witch. Proctor rages against her and the court. Reverend Hale quits the proceedings after John is arrested. The summer concludes and autumn arrives. The witch trials have caused uprisings in neighboring towns and Danforth becomes nervous. Reverend Hale pleads the convicted into falsely confessing their guilt, but they refuse. Danforth has an idea. He asks Elizabeth to convince John into confessing to save his life, she agrees. She is able to talk him into it and the officers of the court rejoice. He refuses to convict anyone else, and when the court insists that his confession must be public he tears it up and retracts it. Despite Hale's desperate pleas, John Proctor is sent to the gallows with the others and they are hung. This is the conclusion of the witch trials.

Ellie Wiesel Night is narrated by Eliezer, a young Jewish boy, who when the memoir begins, lives in Sighet, in Hungarian Transylvania. He is studying the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) and the Cabbala (a doctrine of Jewish mysticism), which is interrupted when his teacher, Moshe the Beadle is deported. A few months later Moshe returns and tells tales of how the Gestapo (German police force) took charge of his train and made everyone get off then slaughtered them. Nobody believes Moshe and he is considered insane. In the spring of 1944, the Nazi's occupy Hungry. Not long after, a series of laws are passed, and the Jews of Eliezer's town are forced into small ghettos within their town of Sighet. Soon they are herded into cattle cars, and a nightmarishly long journey ensues. After a couple of days and night crammed into the car, near starvation, they arrive at Birkenau, the entrance wat to Auschwitz. Upon their arrival at Birkenau, Eliezer and his father are separated from his mother and sister, whom they never see again. In the first of many \"selections\" Eliezer and his father endure are ways to evaluate the Jews. They decide whether or not to immediately kill them or send them to work. Elizer and his father seem to pass, but before they are send to the prisoners' barracks, they stumble upon the open-pit where the Nazis are killing babies by the truck- load. The Jewish arrivals are stripped, shaved, disinfected, and treated with unimaginable cruelty. Then their captors lead them to the main camp, Auschwitz. They eventually arrive in Buna, a work camp, where Elizer is sent to work at an electrical factory. They work under salve-labor conditions, are very malnourished, and are reduced by the frequent \"selections\". The Jews take care of each other and practice their religion, and in Zionism. In the camps, the Jews are subjected to beatings and humiliations. A vicious foreman forces Elizer to give him his gold tooth, which is pried out with a spoon. The prisoners are forced to watch hangings of fellow prisoners. On one occasions, the Gestapo even hung a small child because he was associated with some rebel groups within Buna. Because of the conditions in the camps and the fear of death people begin to become cruel. Sons abandon and abuse their fathers; even Elizer loses his humanity and faith in god. After months in the camp Elizer undergoes a foot operation. While he is in the infirmary, the Nazi's decide to evacuate the camp because the Russians are advancing towards it. The prisoners are forced to do a death run of 5 miles to Gleiwitz. Many people die because of the harsh weather. Once they reach Gleiwitz, they are once again herded into cattle cars. One hundred Jews are in the car, but only 12 are left when they reach Buchenwald. Throughout the journey, Elizer and his father take care of each other in means of mutual support and concer. In Buchenwald Elizer's father dies of dysentery and abuse. Elizer survives, an empty shell of a man until April 11, 1945, the day the Americans liberated the camp.

J.D. Salinger The Catcher in the Rye is set around the 1950a and is narrated by Holden Caulfield. Holden is not specific about where he is while telling the story, but he makes it clear that he is in a sanatorium. The events he talks about take place a few days after the end of school in the fall term and Christmas. He is 16 years old. Holden's story begins on the Saturday following the end of classes at Pencey Prep a school in Pennsylvania. This is Holden's fourth school; he has failed out of three others. He failed 3 out of 4 classes and received a notice that he is expelled, but he is not returning home to Manhattan until Wednesday. He visits his teacher, Spence, to say goodbye, but Spencer reprimanded him about his poor academics that Holden becomes annoyed. Back in the dormitory, his unhygienic neighbor, Ackley, and his roommate, Stradlater, further annoy Holden. Stradlater is taking Jane Gallagher on a date. Jane is a girl that Holden used to date and still admires. During the evening Holden becomes nervous about Stradlater's date with Jane. When he returns, Holden questions him about his evening asking if he had sex with Jane. Stradlater teases Holden, who attacks him. Stradlater pins Holden down and bloodies him. Holden decides that he had enough with Pencey, and he is going to go back to Manhattan three days early and stay in a hotel, and not tell his parents. While on the train to New York, Holden meets the mother of one of his Pencey students. He tells her that her son is very shy and while respected at the school, although he thinks that the kid is a real \"bastard\". When he arrives at Penn Station he goes into a phone booth and contemplates calling many people, but decides against it for various reasons. He goes into a cab and asks the cab driver where the ducks go in Central Park after the lagoon freezes. His question annoys the cab driver. He asks to take him to the Edmont Hotel, where he checks himself in. From his room at the Edmont, Holden can see into some of the other rooms of the guests. He sees one man dressing up like a woman. He also sees a couple taking turn spitting drinks into each other's mouths. He interprets this behavior as a form of sexual play, which arouses and upsets him. After smoking some cigarettes, Holden calls Faith Canvendish. He never met her but got her number from a friend of his at Princeton. Holden thinks that he remembers hearing that she was a stripper and he can persuade her into having sex with him. She is annoyed to be called at such a later hour by someone she doesn't know, but she eventually suggests that they meet up the next day. Holden doesn't want to wait that long and hangs up the phone without arranging a meeting. Holden goes down to the Lavender Room and sits at a table, but the waitor realizes that he is underage and refuses to serve him. He flirts with three older women, who seem like they are from out of town and are mostly interested in seeing a celebrity. Holden dances with them and feels that he is \"half in love\" with the blonde one after watching her dance. After making jokes about his age, they leave, letting Holden play their entire tab. As Holden goes out to the lobby, he starts to think about Jane and in a flashback remembers when they met and how he got to know her. On a summer vacation in Maine they met, and they played golf and checkers together. One afternoon, during a game of checkers, her stepfather came onto the porch where they were playing when he left she began to cry. Holden had moved to sit beside her and began kissing her on her face, everywhere except the lips because she wouldn't let him. That was the closes they came to \"necking\". Holden leaves the Edmont and takes a cab to Ernie's jazz club in Greenwich Village. Again he asks the cab driver about the ducks, and this one is more irritable than the last. Holden sits alone at a table in the club and watches the other patrons with distaste. He runs into Lillian Simmons, on of his older brother's ex-girlfriends. She invited him to sit with her and her date. Holden says he is meeting up with someone and leaves going back to the Edmont. Maurice, the elevator operator at the Edmont, asks Holden is he wants a prostitute for 5 dollars. A young woman named \"Sunny\" arrives at his door. She undresses, but Holden begins to feel \"peculiar\" and tries to make conversation with her. He claims he underwent a spinal operation and is unable to have sex with her, but he offers to pay anyways. She sits on his lap and talks dirty to him, but he insists on paying her five dollars and kicking her out. Maurice and Sunny come back demanding the other five dollars. When Holden refuses to pay Maurice punches him in the stomach. While on the floor Sunny takes five dollars out of his wallet. He goes to bed. He wakes up at 10 on Sunday morning and calls Sally Hayes, an attractive girl who he dated in the past. They arrange to meet for a matinee Broadway show. He eats breakfast at a sandwich bar, where he converses with two nuns about Romeo and Juliet. He tries to call Jane Gallagher, but her mother answers the phone and he hangs up. He takes a cab to Grand Central to look for his sister, Phoebe, but she isn't there. After helping one of her classmates tie her skate, she tells him that Phoebe may be at the Museum of Natural History. Though he knows that Phoebe's class wouldn't be there on a Sunday he goes anyways. When he gets there he decides not to go in and to take a cab to the Biltmore Hotel to meet Sally. Holden and Sally go to the play, but afterwards he gets annoyed with her because she talks with a boy she knows from Andover. At Sally's suggestion, they go to Radio City to skate. They both skate poorly and decide to get a table. Holden tries to tell Sally why he is upset at school, and urges her to run away with him to Massachusetts or Vermont and live in a cabin. She refuses, and he calls her a \"pain in the ass\" and laughs when she gets angry. She refuses to listen to his apologies and leaves. Holden calls Jane again, but no answer. He calls Carl Luce, a young man who was his student advisor at Whooton and who is now a student at Columbia University. Luce arranges to meet with him for a drink after dinner, and Holden goes to a movie at Radio City to waste time. Holden and Luce meet at a bar in the Seton Hotel. At Whooton, Luce had spoken with some boys about sex, and Holden tries to make a conversation about it. Luce grows irritated by his childish remarks about homosexuals and about Luce's Chinese girlfriend. Luce makes an excuse to leave early, and Holden continues to drink and listen to the pianist and singer. Quite drunk, Holden calls Sally Hayes and babbles about their Christmas Eve plans. He then goes to the lagoon in Central Park, where he watched the ducks as a child. It takes him a while to find it and by the time he does, it is freezing. He decides to sneak into him apartment and wake his sister up. He is forced to tell Phoebe that he was kicked out of school, which makes her angry. When he tries to explain to her why he hates school, she accuses him of not liking anything. He tells her his fantasy of being \"the catcher in the rye\", a person who catches children as they are about to fall off a cliff. Phoebe tells him that he misremembered the poem, which says, \"if a body meet a body, coming through the rye\", not \"catch a body\". Holden calls his former teacher, Mr. Antolini, who tells him he can come to the apartment. Mr. Antonlini asks Holden about his expulsion and tries to tell him about his future. Mr. Antolini puts Holden to bed on the couch. Holden awakes to find him stroking his forehead. Thinking that Mr. Antolini is homosexual, Holden excuses himself and leaves, sleeping on a bench in Grand Central. Holden goes to Phoebe's school and sends her a note saying that he is leaving home and that she should meet him at the museum. When she arrives, she is carrying a suitcase and asks Holden to take her with him. He refuses angrily, and she cries and then refuses to speak to him. Knowing she will follow him he leads her into the zoo and across the park to a carousel. He buys her a ticket and watches her ride it. It starts to rain, but Holden is so happy watching Phoebe that he is close to tears. Holden ends his narrative here, telling the reader that he is not going to tell the end of the story of how he went home and got \"sick\". He plans to go to a new school and is optimistic about his future.

Mary Shelley In a series of letter, Robert Walton, a seafarer on his way to the North Pole, recounts to his sister back in England the progress of his mission. Successful early on, it is soon interrupted by seas full of ice. Trapped, Walton encounters Victor Frankenstein, who has been traveling across the ice and is sick by the cold. Walton takes his aboard and nurses him to health and hears the tale of the monster Frankenstein created. Victor tells about his early life in Geneva. At the end of his childhood spend with Elizabeth and friend Henry Clerval, Victor enters the university of Ingolstadt to study philosophy and chemistry. He is consumed by the desire to discover the secret of life and becomes convinced that he has found it. Armed with knowledge, Victor spends months making a creature out of old body parts. One night, in his apartment, he brings his creation to life. When he looks at what he created he is horrified. After a night of poor sleep, interrupted by the monster watching him, he runs into the streets. Victor runs into Henry, who has come to study at the university, and return with his friend back to his apartment. Victor becomes ill. Sickened by what he has done, Victor returns to Geneva, to his family. Just before leaving he receives a letter from him father telling him that his youngest brother, WIlliam was murdered. Victor, grief-stricken, rushes home. While passing the woods where his brother was killed, he sees the monster and becomes convinced that he is the murderer. Arriving in Geneva, Victor finds that Justine Moritz, a kind girl who has been adopted by the family, has been accused of William's murder. She is tried and condemned and executed. Victor grows despondent, guilty with knowledge that he has created the monster who is responsible for the murder or William and now Justine. Hoping to ease his grief, Victor vacations to the mountains. While he is alone one day crossing a glacier, he is approached by the monster. The monster admits to killing William, and asks for understanding. He says that he struck out William in desperate attempts to injure Victor. The monster begs Victor to create a mate for him, to be his sole companion. Victor refuses at first, but the monster persuades him and Victor is convinced. After returning to Geneva, Victor heads for England with Henry to gather information about creating a second monster. Leaving Henry in Scotland, Victor goes to a desolate island and works to create a mate for the creature. Victor glance out the widow to see that the monster is watching him with a frightening grin. Horrified by the possibilities of another monster, Victor destroys the new creation. The monster vows revenge and tells Victor he will be with him on his wedding night. Later that night Victor takes a boat out to dumb the remains of the second creature, and the wind prevents him from returning to the island. He finds himself in the morning near an unknown town. Upon landing he is arrested and informed that he will be tried for murder. Victor denies any knowledge of a murder, but when shown the body he is shocked to find out it is Henry Cleval, with the monsters hand prints around his neck. Victor falls ill, and is kept in prison until his recovery, after which he is acquitted of the crime. After returning to Geneva with his father, Victor marries Elizabeth. He fears the monster's threat and suspects that he will be murdered. To be cautious, he sends Elizabeth away from him. While he waits for the monster, Elizabeth screams and Victor realizes that the monster was hinting at her murder not his. Victor returns home to his father, who dies of grief soon after. Victor vows to devote the rest of his life to finding his monster, and getting revenge. Victor follows the monster northward into the ice. He almost catches up to the monster, but the sea beneath them breaks the ice, leaving a gap between them. At this point, Walton encounters Victor, and the narrative catches up to the time of Walton's fourth letter to his sister. Walton tells the rest of the story in letters to his sister. Victor, already ill, worsens and dies. When Walton returns, several days later to the room where Victor's body lies, he sees the monster weeping over him. The monster tells Walton of his immense solitude, suffering, and remorse. He asserts that now that he creator is dead, his suffering can now end. The monster departs to die.

George Orwell Old Major, a prize-winning boar, gathers all the animals of the Manor Farm for a meeting in the barn. He tells them of a dream he has in which all animals live together with no oppressive human beings. He tells the animals they must work for this and teaches them a song, \"Beasts of England\". The animals greet Major's vision with enthusiasm. He dies three nights after the meeting. Three young pigs, Snowball, Napoleon, and Squealer take over and formulate his plans into Animalism. Late one night, the animals manage to defeat Mr. Jones in a battle. They rename the property Animal Farm and dedicate themselves to Major's dream. The carthorse, Boxer, devotes himself to the cause, committing his strength to the prosperity of the farm. He adopts a maxim \"I will work harder\". In the beginning Animal Farm prospers. Snowball tries to teach the animals to read, Napoleon takes young puppies to educate them in Animalism. When Mr. Jones reappears, the animals defeat him again, in Battle of the Cowshed. They take the farmers gun as a token of victory. As time passes, Napoleon and Snowball struggle with each other for power. Snowballs concoct a plan to build a windmill, but Napoleon refuses. At the meeting to vote on the situation, Snowball gives a passionate speech. Although Napoleon gives a short speech, he then makes a strange noise, and 9 attack dogs burst into the barn and chase Snowball from the farm. Napoleon assumes leadership and declares that there will be no more meetings. From that point on the pigs alone will make the decisions, for the good of every animal. Napoleon changes his mind about the windmill, and the animals devote their efforts to completing it. One day, the animals find the windmill knocked over because of a storm. The human farmers in the area declare smugly that the animal made the walls to thin, but Napoleon says Snowball sabotaged the windmill. He stages a purge at which animals come forward and say that they participated with Snowball. The dogs instantly killed them. With the leadership unquestioned, Napoleon begins to expand his powers. Napoleon rewrites Snowball as a enemy, he also begins to act more like a human. The original animalism principals strictly forbade his actions. Squealer, Napoleon's propagandist, justifies what Napoleon is doing. He convinces them that he is a good leader, despite the fact that animals are over worked and hungry. Mr. Fredrick, a neighboring farmer, cheats Napoleon in the purchase of wood and then attacks the windmill, which had been rebuilt in great expense. After the demolition of the windmill, a battle ensure, during which Boxer receives major injuries. The animals rout the farm, but Boxer's injury weakens him. He later falls while working, he sense that his time has come near. One day, when Boxer is nowhere to be found. According to Squealer he died in peace after being taken to the hospital, praising the rebellion. In actuality, Napoleon sold him to a glue maker in order to make money for whiskey. Years pass and the pigs become more like human, walking upright, carrying whips, and wearing clothes. Eventually the Seven Commandments become reduced to one single principal, \"all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.\" Napoleon entertains human farmers at a dinner and declares to ally himself with the human farmers against the laboring classes of both the human and animal communities. He changes the name of the property back to Manor Farm, claiming this is the correct one. Looking in at the party, the common animal can no longer tell which ones are pigs and which are human beings.

Edith Wharton Finding himself stuck in the small New England town of Starkfield for the winter, the narrator sets out to learn about a local named Ethan Frome. About 20 years earlier he had a terrible accident. The narrator tries to find out about his \"smash up\", as the locals call it, from other people in town. He has little success. The narrator then finds himself spending the night at the Frome residence because of a snow storm. Going back to that tragic year, we find Ethan walking to the local Church at midnight. The lights in the basement reveal a girl dancing. Ethan loiters by the window fixed on the girl in the red-scarf. He has come to the Church to pick up his wife's cousin, Mattie Silver, who had been living with the Frome's for over a year, helping around the house. Eventually we learn that Mattie is the girl in the red scarf and the object of Ethan's affections. When the dance lets out Ethan makes his presence unknown. Mattie goes the other way and refuses a ride from a man named Dennis Eady and begins walking alone. Ethan catches up with her. As they walk home together, Ethan experiences a thrill in Mattie's presence and tension between the two is apparent. However, the tension disappears when they arrive home because of Ethan's selfish, sickly wife Zeena. She waited up for them to arrive home, and she greets them with suspicion. Then Ethan goes to bed in a state of unease; without saying a word to Zeena. The next day, Ethan spends the morning cutting wood. Upon his arrive home, Zeena looks as though she is prepared for a journey. She reveals that she is going to seek treatment for her illness in a neighboring town, were she will be staying with distant relatives. Excited to spend an evening alone with Mattie, Ethan quickly assents to his wife's plans. He goes into town to make a lumber sale, then hurries back to the house in order to be with Mattie for supper. That evening tensions run high between them. Although the two never effectuate or verbalize their passions, their mutual feelings hang palpably between them, unspoiled by the constant reminders of Zeena in the house. Disaster happens when cat breaks Zeena's favorite pickle dish, that Mattie took out for her evening with Ethan. Ethan quickly puts the pieces back together and hides the dish. After supper, with Mattie at her sewing work, Ethan contemplates an outright showing of his affections, but he stops short full of disclosure. Just after 11, the two turn in for a night without so much as touching. The next day Ethan remains eager to tell Mattie his feelings, but in the presence of his worker, Jotham Powell, coupled with his own inhabitations, prevent him from making a move. Ethan makes a run to town to pick up glue to fix the pickle dish. Upon his return home, Mattie informs him that Zeena is home. Ethan visits Zeena's bedroom to greet her, but she is in no mood for kindness and informs Ethan that her health is failing rapidly. In light of this, Zeena announces that she is planning to replace Mattie with a more efficient hired girl. Ethan resents this decision, but holds most of his anger to himself. Going down to the kitchen, Ethan kisses Mattie passionately, and tells her about Zeena's plans to replace her. They are interrupted by Zeena herself, who originally wasn't coming down to dinner, but then decided to. After some meal, Zeena finds the broken pickle dish while searching for medicine. She is infuriated, and wants to chase Mattie out even more. That evening, Ethan retreats to his makeshift study, to contemplate his decisions. Unable to tolerate Mattie's dismissal, and unable to prevent it, he thinks about eloping with Mattie, and starts writing Zeena a farewell letter. He then reevaluates, and realizes that it is impossible to leave because of his financial situation. Ethan falls asleep in a state of hopelessness. At breakfast the next morning, Zeena reveals the plan for Mattie's departure and the new hired girls arrival. At mid-morning, having finished his works, Ethan runs into town for a last desperate errand. His plan is to attempt to get an advance from Andrew Hale on a recently delivered lumber load, hoping this could pay for his elope with Mattie. On his way down the hill, Ethan encounters the hale sleigh, and in passing, Mrs. Hale praises Ethan for his patience in taking care of Zeena. Her kind words serve to check his plan, and he returns home guilty. Against Zeena's wishes, Ethan takes Mattie himself to the station. He takes her in a roundabout route, and they eventually stop at a village hill for a sledding adventure they had once planned. A successful first run prompts Mattie to suggest a second, with a different purpose. She asked Ethan to run the sled into the elm tree so they can spend their last moments together. Ethan initially rejects the proposal, but is eventually won over. They take their positions on the sled, locking themselves into a final embrace. In the wake of their collision, Ethan comes to consciousness dazedly, reaching out to feel the face of Mattie, who opens her eyes and weakly mutters his name. Jumping foward twenty years, we find ourself back at the Frome's residence. Inside, he meets the gaze of two aging women. Frome apologizes for the lack of heat and introduces the narrator to the women preparing dinner, his wife Zeena, and the paralyzed girl sitting in the chair, Mattie Silver. The next day, the narrator lodges with Mrs. Ned Hale and her mother, Mrs. Varnum. Seeing their curiosity, he gives a brief account of his night at the Frome's household. After supper he sits down to have a more intimate discussion with Mrs. Hale. Together they mourn the plight of the tragic silenced man and the two women fated to keep him company during the long New England winter nights.

Ernest Hemingway Lieutenant Frederic Henry is an American ambulance driver serving in the Italian army during WWI. In the beginning, the war is winding down with the winter, and Henry arranges to tour Italy. The following spring, Henry meets Catherine Barkley, an English nurse's aide at the British hospital and the love interest of his friend Rinaldi. Rinaldi fades from the picture, as Catherine and Henry become involved together. Grieving the death of her fiancé, Catherine longs for love. Her passion, even though pretended, wakens a desire in Henry for emotional interaction. The war left him numb. When Henry is wounded, he is brought to a hospital in Milan to recover. Several doctors recommend him to stay in bed for six months and then get an operation on his knee. Unable to accept a long period of recovery, Henry finds a surgeon named Dr. Valentini who agrees to operate. Henry learns that Catherine has been transferred to Milan and begins to recuperate under her care. During the following months, their relationship intensifies. No longer a game, their love becomes powerful and real. As the lines between scripted and genuine emotions begin to blur, Henry and Catherine become tangled in their love. Once Henry's leg has healed, the army grants him 3 weeks convalescence leave, after which he is to return to the front. He tries to plan a trip with Catherine, who reveals she is pregnant. The following day, Henry is diagnosed with jaundice and Miss Van Capmen accuses him of bringing the disease upon himself because of abusive drinking. Believing Henry's illness to be an attempt to avoid his duty, Miss Van Campen has his leave revoked. He is sent to the front once the jaundice is cleared. Catherine and Henry vow their mutual devotion. Henry travels to the front, where Italian forces are losing ground and manpower. After his arrival, a bombardment begins. When the word comes that German are breaking through lines, the Allied forces prepare for a retreat. Henry leads his team of ambulance drivers into the column of evacuating troops. The men pick up two sergeants and two young girls on their way. They decide to leave the column and take back roads, which will be faster. When one of their vehicles gets stuck in the mud, Henry orders 2 engineers to help free the vehicle. When they refuse, he shoots one. The drivers continue in the other trucks until they get stuck again. They send off the girls and continue on foot. As they march, one of the drivers is shot dead by the Italian army. Another driver marches to surrender himself, while the remainder of them seeks refuge at a farmhouse. When they rejoin the retreat, chaos has broken out. Soldiers pull commanding officers from the line and execute them on sight. The battle police seize Henry, who breaks away and dives into the river. Swimming to safety down the stream, Henry boards a train bound for Milan. He hides beneath a tarp that covers artillery, thinking that his obligations to the war are over and dreams of his return to Catherine. Henry rejoins with Catherine in Stresa. The two escape to Switzerland, rowing all night in a tiny borrowed boat. They settle happily in a town called Montreux and agree to put the war behind them. Although Henry is plagued by guilt, the two live a beautiful life. When spring arrives, they move to Lausanne so that they can be closer to the hospital. Early one morning, Catherine goes into labor. The deliver is exceptionally painful and complicated. Catherine delivers a stillborn and dies of a hemorrhage. Henry stay with her until she is gone. He attempts to say goodbye but cannot. He walks back to his hotel in the rain.

F. Scott Fitzgerald In the summer of 1922, Nick Carraway, a young man from Minnesota, moves to New York in hopes of learning about the bond business. He moves into the West Egg district of long Island. It is an unfashionable place, where the new rich, people who have recently become rich, move. His neighbor is a mysterious man named Jay Gatsby. He lives in a giant, gothic mansion, and throws parties there every Saturday night. Nick is different from all the other people who live in the East Egg. He was educated at Yale and has social connections in the East Egg, a fashionable home of the upper class. Nick drives out to the East Egg to visit his cousin, Daisy Buchanan, and her husband Tom, an old classmate of Nick's from Yale. They introduce him to a beautiful, cynical woman named Jordan Baker, who he eventually has a romance with. She reveals to Nick about Tom and Daisy's marriage. She tells him that Tom has a mistress named, Myrtle Wilson, who lives in the valley of the ashes, a dumping ground between the West Egg and the East Egg. After Nick is told about this, he travels with Tom and Daisy to New York City. It is a vulgar party in an apartment Tom keeps for the affair. Myrtle begins to tease Tom about Daisy, and he responds by breaking her nose. As the summer goes on, Nick gains an invitation to one of Gatsby's house parties. At the party he sees Jordan and finally meets Gatsby. Gatsby is a surprisingly young man, with an English accent, and a beautiful smile. He is referred to as \"Old Sport\". Gatsby asks to speak to Jordan alone. Nick eventually learns, through Jordan, that Gatsby knew Daisy from 1917 in Louisville and is in love with her. Gatsby reveals to Jordan that his extravagant parties and fancy lifestyle is all an attempt to impress Daisy. Gatsby also says that he stares at the green light at the end of her dock across the bay from his mansion. Gatsby asks Nick to organize a meeting between himself and Daisy. Nick invites Daisy over for tea without telling her that Gatsby will also be there. After an awkward reunion, Gatsby and Daisy's love is rekindled and they begin an affair. Short after this, Tom become suspicious of Gatsby and Daisy's relationship. At a luncheon at the Buchanan house, Tom sees Gatsby staring passionately at Daisy and realizes that he loves her. Although Tom is having an affair he is astonished that his wife would be unfaithful to him. Tom forces the group to drive to New York City where he confronts Gatsby at the Plaza Hotel. He reveals to Daisy that Gatsby is a criminal, and gained his money illegally. Daisy realizes her allegiance to Tom, and Tom sends her and Gatsby in the same car back to the East Egg in order to prove that Gatsby cannot hurt him. When Nick, Jordan, and Tom drive home through the valley of ashes they discover Gatsby's car has killed Myrtle, Tom's lover. Nick learns from Gatsby that he was not the one driving the car, Daisy was. Tom tells Myrtle's husband George that it was Gatsby's car that killed Myrtle. George concluded that the driver of the car must have been Daisy's lover. George then goes to Gatsby's house, kills Gatsby in his pool and then kills himself. Nick holds a small funeral for Gatsby ends his relationship with Jordan and moves back to the Midwest. He wanted to get away from the disgust he feels for the people surrounding Gatsby's life and the moral decay of the people in the West Coast. He reflects that just like Gatsby's dream was corrupted by money so is the American dream of happiness and individualism. Nick thinks Gatsby is \"great\" because of his power to turn dream into reality. Nick states that the era of dreaming, both Gatsby's dream and the American dream, is over.

Tennessee Williams The Glass Menagerie is a memory play. Its action is drawn from the memory of the narrator, Tom Wingfield. Tom is a character in the play, which is set in St. Louis, Missouri in 1937. He is an aspiring poet that toils in a warehouse to support his mother, Amanda, and sister, Laura. Mr. Wingfield, Tom and Laura's father, left them and ran off years ago. He has not been heard from since except for one postcard. Amanda, originally from a genteel southern family, tells her children about her idyllic youth and how many suitors pursued her. She is upset that her daughter, Laura, who wears a brace on her leg and is terribly shy, does not attract any gentlemen caller. In hopes that Laura will make some of her own and the family's fortune in a business career, Amanda enrolls her in a business college. Weeks later, Amanda discovers that Laura's crippling shyness has forced her to drop out of the class, and spend her days wandering the city alone. Amanda decides that Laura's last hope must lie in marriage. She begins selling magazine subscriptions in hope this will help to attract a caller. Meanwhile, Tom loathes his job at the warehouse, and finds an escape in drinking, movies, and literature. This irritates his mother, and in one of the arguments between Tom and Amanda, Tom accidentally breaks some glass animal figurines that are Laura's prized possessions. Amanda and Tom discuss Laura's prospects, and Amanda asks Tom to keep an eye out for possible suitors for Laura. Tom decides on Jim O'Connor, a casual friend, and invites him to dinner. Amanda quizzes Tom about Jim and is delighted that he is a driven young man with his mindset on career betterment. She prepares an elaborate dinner and insists that Laura wears a fancy dress. When Laura learns the name of the gentlemen caller, she realizes that she had a desperate crush on him in high school. When Jim arrives, Laura answer the call, as ordered by Amanda, and then leaves Tom and Jim alone. Tom confides to Jim that he used his family's money to join the marine merchants in seek of adventure instead of paying the electric bill. E says that he is planning to leave his family and job at the warehouse. Laura refuses to eat dinner with the others, faking illness. Amanda wearing an ostentatious dress from her youth talks vicariously with Jim throughout the meal. As dinner is ending, the lights go out as a consequence of the unpaid bill. The characters light candles, and Amanda encourages Jim to entertain Laura, while her and Tom clean. At first Laura is paralyzed by Jim's presence, but his warm behavior soon draws her out of her shell. She confines that she knew and liked Jim in high school, but was too nervous to approach him. They continue talking and Laura reminds him of the nickname he gave her in high school, \"Blue Roses\", an accidental corruption of pleurosis. He chides her about her lack of self-esteem and shyness, but praises her for her uniqueness. Laura then ventures to show him her favorite glass animal, a unicorn. While dancing with Laura, Tom accidentally knocks it off the table and breaks it. Laura was forgiving, saying that now it is like the other horses. Jim kisses her, but quickly pulls away telling her that he was sorry and caught up in the moment, but he is in a relationship. Accepting, Laura offers Jim the broken unicorn as a souvenir. Amanda enters the living room, full of cheer. Jim hastily says that he must go because of an appointment with his fiancée. Amanda sees him off warmly, but then turns on Tom, who did not know he was engaged. She says that Tom was being a selfish dreamer, and throws herself to comforting Laura. From the fire escape, Tom watches the two women and explains that soon after Jim's visit he loses his job at the warehouse and leaves Amanda and Laura. Years later, though he travels far, he finds that he is unable to leave the guilty memories of Laura.