The Awakening Kate Chopin PLOT SUMMARY A young married woman in the 1890s awakens to the value of herself and demands her independence. CHAPTER 1 The novel opens on a Sunday in summer during the late 1800s, at a resort on Grand Isle, about

Animal Farm George Orwell PLOT SUMMARY Some farm animals revolt against their human owners and establish a “free” society that turns into a dictatorship. CHAPTERS 1–2 When drunken Farmer Jones staggers off to bed, Old Major, a prize pig, calls the farm animals together

All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Remarque PLOT SUMMARY A “lost generation” of young German soldiers courageously face death on the Western Front in World War I. CHAPTERS 1–2 At the urging of their patriotic teacher, Kantorek, a number of high school

Aeneid Virgil PLOT SUMMARY Aeneid: After many failed attempts, the Trojan hero, Aeneas, succeeds in founding the city of Rome. BACKGROUND Troy, an ancient city in Asia Minor, was sacked by the Greeks in the Trojan War (1200 B.C.). Aeneas, a Trojan, wanders the

All the King’s Men Robert Penn Warren PLOT SUMMARY All the King’s Men: Jack Burden, an ex-reporter, narrates the rise and fall of Willie Stark, an honest man turned corrupt politician who is assassinated by his mistress’s brother. CHAPTERS 1–2 The time is

As You Like It William Shakespeare PLOT SUMMARY A young woman disguises herself to test the man she loves, and in so doing teaches three other couples what love means. ACT 1 Young Orlando de Boys feels cheated out of his inheritance. In the

As I Lay Dying William Faulkner PLOT SUMMARY As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner: After Addie Bundren’s death, her husband and children encounter horrendous difficulties in fulfilling their promise to transport her body from their rural Mississippi home to a cemetery in