The beginning of the story by Nathaniel Hawthorne introduces us to Young Goodman Brown as he says goodbye to his wife of three months. He tells her that he must go on this journey (although we still do not know where he →
Animal Farm by George Orwell opens with the aged and dying Pig, Old Major, as he gives a an impassioned speech to the other animals of the farm imploring them to reject the injustice forced upon them by the humans. He rallies the →
In the course of writing author biographies, one of the things that never fails to make me laugh is how awful many of them did in school. George Orwell was certainly not an exception to this odd standard, despite the →
Before beginning this summary of “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift, it is important to clarify that this is a satire and thus Swift is using symbols and motifs to present the themes he wishes to discuss and is not →
The short story by Zora Neale Hurston “Their Eyes Were Watching God” the reader has its setting in a small village in the South, and the story picks up as the townspeople watch a strange female figure as she makes →
As the short story by Zora Neale Hurston, “Sweat” begins, the reader is introduced to the protagonist, Delia, as she is sorting clothes on a spring night in Florida at her home. The main character in Zora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat” →
The Great Gatsby is the story of eccentric millionaire Jay Gatsby as told by Nick Carraway, a Midwesterner who lives on Long Island but works in Manhattan. Gatsby’s enormous mansion is adjacent to Carraway’s modest home, and Carraway becomes curious about →
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1804 (incidentally enough for a writer who would go on to explore some of the darker aspects of American history—the Salem Witch trials) on the fourth of July. His ancestors were →
Miss Emily Grierson, the main character in William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily,” is certainly strange by any average reader’s standards and a character analysis of Emily could go in any number of directions. It is nearly impossible →
Need a Refresher? Click Here for a Detailed Act by Act Plot Summary of The Crucible Arthur Miller took the historical events of the Salem witch trials and dramatized them in The Crucible. In doing so, Miller exposed just how easily and how →