Kate Chopin
Father died in train wreck when she was 4 years old. High society in St. Louis. Was of Catholic Heritage. Married Oscar Chopin at 19 and moved to New Orleans. Husband died of Swamp Fever and she moved back to St. Louis. Raised 6 siblings. Major work, "The Awakening." Snubbed by friends and dropped from clubs after "The Awakening" publication.
Désirée's Baby
Désirée was thought to have been left by a party of Texans.Armand's mother died in Paris and he left with his father at 8 years old. Armand accused Désierée of being black; she wrote to her mother who told her to come home to Valmondé, so she left. Armand finds a letter from his mother to his father, in which she writes that Armand will never know that his mother "belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery.
Armand Aubigny
Armand is a neighbor of the ValmondesDésirée's influence seems to soften him, and he is kinder to his slaves Armand cruelly casts aside his wife and sonHe, not Désirée, who has African blood
Désiréé Valmonde Aubigny
Adopted daughter of the Valmonde familyShe was a toddler when they found her by the plantation's front gate
La Blanche
A slave
Zandrine
a servant at L'AbriTakes care of the baby
The Story of an Hour
Louise Mallard has heart trouble, so her husbands friend Richards broke the news to her softly that her husband, Brently Mallard, had been killed in a train wreck.Louise locked herself in her bedroom and whispered the words "free" over and over and thought of the years to come without her husband.Her sister Josephine got her out of her bedroom and as they were walking down the stairs Brently walked through the door and Louise screamed and died from seeing her husband she thought dead. Cause of death: heart disease-joy that kills.
Louise Mallard
Husband is reportedly killed in a train accidentShe is secretly happy because she is now freeShe has a heart attack when her husband comes home
Brently Mallard
Reportedly killed in train accident.Arrives home unaware that there was a train accident.
Josephine
Louise's sister
Richards
Brently's friendLearns about the train accident and Brently's death at the newspaper office
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Born in Hartford, Connecticut. Belonged to the famous New England Family which included: Lyman Beecher, Henry Ward Beecher, Harriet Beecher Stowe. Mother's family lived in Rhode Island since the middle of the 17th century. Father left her family for San Francisco when she was a baby. Tried for years to establish a relationship, but he would occasionally send lists of books she should read. Her mother wasn't affectionate. Felt strongly on women's rights. Within 11 months of her marriage, her first daughter, Katherine, was born. Her marriage and life began to fail so her mother and husband sent her to Philadelphia to go to Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, famous American neurologist. Obeyed Dr.'s orders of not touching a pen for 3 months and came to borderline mental ruin. She continued to go through periods of depression. Moved with daughter to Pasadena, CA, 1894 granted a divorce. Ex-husband married best friend. Sent her daughter east to live with them. Women and Economics earned her immediate celebrity and still most important non-fiction work. Married her first cousin, George Houghton Gilman in 1900. He died in 1934, she moved to Pasadena to be with her daughters family and committed suicide the next year when she found out she had inoperable cancer.
The Yellow Wallpaper
Narrator begins her journal by marveling at the grandeur of the house and grounds her husband has taken for their summer vacation.Wonders how they were able to afford it, and why the house had been empty for so long. Complains that her husband John, who is also her doctor, belittles both her illness and her thoughts and concerns in general.Her treatment requires that she do almost nothing active, and she is especially forbidden from working and writing.He feels that activity, freedom, and interesting work would help her condition and reveals that she has begun her secret journal in order to "relieve her mind.She is particularly disturbed by the yellow wallpaper in the bedroom, with its strange, formless pattern, and describes it as "revolting.John is worried about her becoming fixated on it, and that he has even refused to repaper the room so as not to give in to her neurotic worries.It begins to resemble a woman "stooping down and creeping" behind the main pattern, which looks like the bars of a cage.The narrator sees her shaking the bars at night and creeping around during the day.The next day she manages to be alone and goes into something of a frenzy, biting and tearing at the paper in order to free the trapped woman.She creeps endlessly around the room, smudging the wallpaper as she goes.John breaks into the locked room and sees the full horror of the situation, he faints in the doorway, so that the narrator has "to creep over him every time!
The Narrator
Newly married and a mother, who is undergoing care for depression. Records her thoughts as her obsession with the wallpaper grows.
John
Narrator's husband and her physician. John restricts her behavior as part of her treatment. He seems to love his wife, but he does not understand the negative effect his treatment has on her.
Jennie
John's sister. Jennie acts as housekeeper for the couple. Her presence and her contentment with a domestic role intensify the narrator's feelings of guilt over her own inability to act as a traditional wife and mother.
Edith Wharton
Born in New York City, educated by tutors and governesses while the family resided in Europe. Married Edward Wharton, 13 years her senior. Had an unhappy marriage. In 1911 she separated from her husband and moved to France. She wrote about her visits to the front line during WWI. She divorced in 1913 on grounds of adultery. Started writing as a young woman, writing over 40 books, and left a number of unpublished manuscripts , including stage plays and abandoned novels, as well as voluminous correspondence. At age 15, she secretly wrote a 30,000 word novella titled Fast and Loose. When she was 16, two of her poems were published. Discovered in The House of Mirth her central settings, plots, and themes. Won Pulitzer Prize for The Age of Innocence (1920). 1923, became the first woman awarded an honorary doctorate from Yale University. 1930, first woman awarded the gold medal from the American Academy of Arts of Letters. Her work reveals her engagements with literary movements of her time: realism, naturalism, and modernism.
Roman Fever
Alida Slade and Grace Ansley, are finishing lunch on the terrace of a Roman restaurant. They hear their daughters, Barbara Ansley and Jenny Slade, departing to spend the afternoon with two eligible young Italian men. Grace had been married to Horace Ansley shortly before Alida had married Delphin Slade. Alida considered the Ansleys insufferably dull lives in an apartment directly across the street from the Slades in New York City. The Slades moved to a more fashionable Park Avenue address. Both women were widowed only a few months before the time of the story and have renewed their friendship in the common bond of bereavement. Alida wonders how the Ansleys could have produced such a vivid and charming daughter, when her own Jenny seems by comparison so dull. She reflects that she herself would probably be much more active and concerned if she had Barbara for a daughter. Grace views Alida's life as sad, full of failures and mistakes, and feels rather sorry for her. Alida tells Grace of her envy, stating that she cannot understand how the Ansleys had such a dynamic child while the Slades had such a quiet one. Alida recalls that Grace was susceptible to throat infections as a girl and was forced to be very careful about contracting Roman fever or pneumonia. Then she recalls a story of a great-aunt of Grace, who sent her sister on an errand to the Forum at night because the two sisters were in love with the same man, with the result that the unfortunate girl died of Roman fever. Alida then reveals that she used a similar method to eliminate the competition she believed existed between herself and Grace when, as young women in Rome, they both were in love with Delphin Slade. She cruelly reveals that she wrote a note to Grace imploring a rendezvous in the Colosseum by moonlight, and signed it with Delphin's name. She gloats about how she laughed that evening thinking about Grace waiting alone in the darkness outside the Colosseum, and how Grace was bedridden for a few weeks. Grace, crushed to learn that the only letter that she ever received from Delphin was a fake, turns the tables on Alida by assuring her that she had not waited alone that night. Delphin had made all the arrangements and was waiting for her. Alida protests that she really had everything: She was Delphin's wife for twenty-five years, and Grace has nothing but the one letter that he did not write. In the final ironic epiphany, Grace simply replies that she had Barbara.
Barbara Ansley
Brilliant and vivacious daughter of Grace.Vacationing with her mother and neighbors in Rome. Spending time with some Italian aviators. Daughter of Delphine Slade.
Grace Ansley
Wealthy middle-aged widow of Horace Ansley, New Yorker who is vacationing in Rome with her daughter Barbara, and her neighbors. Calm exterior hides a secret past. Fell in love with Alida's fiance, Delphine. After meeting Delphine one night at the ruins of the Colosseum, she had become ill. When she rose from her sickbed, she immediately married Mr. Ansley.
Horace Ansley
Late husband of Grace Ansley
Harriet
Great-aunt of Grace. According to a story handed down, Harriet and her sister loved the same man. To get rid of her sister, Harriet supposedly tricked her into exposing herself to Roman fever. She later died of the disease.
Jenny Slade
Daughter of Alida Slade. She is beautiful but lacks the charisma and charm of Barbara Ansley.
Alida Slade
Middle-aged widow of Delphin Slade, a corporation lawyer. Despises Grace Ansley, who once was intimate with Delphin before he married Alida.
Delphine Slade
Late husband of Alida Slade. Met Grace Ansley at the Colosseum one night, and she became pregnant with their daughter, Barbara Ansley.
Stephen Crane
Born in Newark, New Jersey, and died at the age of 28, but he had published enough material to fill a dozen volumes of a collected edition and had lived a legendary life. Son of a methodist minister and a social reform-minded mother, but he rejected religious and social traditions and identified with the urban poor. He was the last of 14 children. Attended Lafayette University and transferred to Syracuse University. He was a baseball plater but withdrew before completing a full year at Syracuse. He began his first book while at Syracuse and it was rejected by several New York editors, so he published "Maggie, A Girl of the Streets" at his own expense. The book did not sell, even after revision. Obsessed with warm and other forms of physical violence. "The Red Badge of Courage" takes the Civil War as its background about the effect of battle on a young man. When it was published, Crane's fortunes began to improve. When it was published as a book, it won Crane international acclaim. He battled the New York police force on behalf of a prostitute who claimed harassment at its hands, so he left the city. On his way to Cuba, he met Cora Howorth Taylor, the proprietor of a bordello, with whom he lived the last 3 years of his life. Crane's ship, The Commodore, sank off the coast of Florida. "The Open Boat" came from this. He was a modernest ahead of his time. Crane settled in England. He suffered from tuberculosis and was seriously in debt, so he wrote furiously and it only worsened his condition. During a Christmas party, Crane almost died of a lung hemorrhage. He wrote all he could, but died in Germany in 1900.
The Open Boat
Off the coast of Florida, between the open sea and the surf, four men are in a dinghy. Their ship sank overnight, and they are the only survivors, left to bob in the waves until their bathtub-sized boat capsizes and they too drown. Despite not having slept for two days, each man works tirelessly to keep the boat afloat. The correspondent and the oiler share the work of rowing, while the cook huddles on the floor of the dinghy, bailing water. These men take their direction from the captain, who was injured during the shipwreck and sits grimly in the bow. As day breaks and the cook and correspondent bicker about being rescued, the men begin to make progress toward the shore. The gulls are at ease on the ocean, so much so that one lands on the captain's head. The men see this as a sinister, insulting gesture, but the captain cannot swat the bird off because the sudden movement would likely topple the boat. The captain sees a lighthouse in the distance. The cook expresses reservation that the nearby lifesaving station has been abandoned for more than a year, the crew heartens at approaching land, almost taking pleasure in the brotherhood that they have formed and in attending to the business of the sea. The correspondent even finds four dry cigars in a pocket, which he shares with the others. Unable to master the turbulent surf, they realize that help isn't coming. They make for the open sea, exhausted and bitter. The captain sees a man on shore. They think the man sees them. Then they think they see two men, then a crowd and perhaps a boat being rolled down to the shore. They stubbornly think that help is on the way as the shadows lengthen and the sea and sky turn black. During the night, the men forget about being saved and attend to the business of the boat. The correspondent and oiler, plan to alternate throughout the night. But they get tired and the cook helps out. For the most part, the correspondent rows alone, wondering how he can have come so far if he is only going to drown. Rowing alongside a monstrous shark, the correspondent thinks of a poem he learned in childhood about a soldier dying in a distant land, never to return home. The captain suggests that they try to run the surf while they still have enough energy. They take the boat shoreward until it capsizes, and then they all make a break for it in the icy water. The oiler leads the group, while the cook and correspondent swim more slowly and the captain holds onto the keel of the overturned dinghy. With the help of a life preserver, the correspondent makes good progress, until he is caught in a current that forces him to back to the boat. Before he can reach the dinghy, a wave hurls him to shallower water, where he is saved by a man who has appeared on shore and plunged into the sea to save the crew. On land, the correspondent drifts in and out of consciousness, but as he regains his senses, he sees a large number of people on the shore with rescue gear. He learns that the captain and cook have been saved but the oiler has died.
The Correspondent
A reporter and the central character of the story. The correspondent is presumably young and able-bodied, given that he shares rowing duties with the oiler. He is pleasantly surprised to find his heart warmed by the brotherhood that he and the crew have formed in the boat. Several times, the correspondent curses nature and the gods who rule the sea and wonders whether he is really meant to drown.
The Captain
Injured when the ship floods. Calm and quiet, talking for the most part only to give directions and lead the crew to shore. Does not take part in keeping the dinghy afloat, bears the full responsibility of getting everyone to safety. Always alert and cool-headed.
The Cook
Maintains a positive, even naïve, outlook on the men's rescue. First to suggest the presence of a lifesaving station and cannot help but turn his mind to the simple pleasures of living on land, such as his favorite pies and meats. Makes himself useful by bailing water.
The Oiler (Billie)
Only refugee from the ship to die in the final attempt at reaching land. Before the ship sank, the oiler worked a double watch in the engine room, and he is most likely to be exhausted in the dinghy. Staunch, obedient to the captain, and generous and polite to the correspondent whenever he is asked to row. The oiler also seems to be the most realistic of the men, never losing sight of the task at hand or the slim chance they have of surviving.
Henry James
Born in New York City. Father was a wealthy amateur religious philosopher, mother was a stay at home mom. Older brother, William, was America's first notable psychologist and most influential philosopher. Sister, Alice, was a perceptive observer and diarist. Spent life in England, Switzerland, and France. by 21, he was publishing reviews and stories in some of the leading American journals. Attended Harvard Law briefly. Settled in England. Never married and maintained close ties with his family. Advice to other novelists to "dramatize, dramatize, dramatize." The author withdrew, and the reader was forced to enter the process of creating meaning. Became a naturalized British subject out of impatience with America's reluctance to enter WWI. He was awarded the British Order of Merit.
Daisy Miller
Daisy's refusal to conform to the strict European laws of propriety that govern behavior, particularly relations between young unmarried people of the opposite sex, raises eyebrows among Rome's high society. Winterbourne meets Daisy and is charmed and intrigued but also mystified by her. Winterbourne finds Daisy alone with Giovanelli in the Coliseum and decides she is too unprincipled to continue troubling himself about.Daisy realizes that she has lost Winterbourne's respect, falls ill, sends a message to him through her mother, and dies. Mrs. Costello's attempt to warn Winterbourne against making "a great mistake" about Daisy (Chapter 2) looks forward to his too-late understanding of her at the end of the novel. The scene in which Winterbourne sees Daisy walking above the burial mounds at the Palace of the Caesars (Chapter 4), like the numerous references to "the Roman fever" (Chapters 3 and 4), prefigures her death.
Daisy Miller
A rich, pretty, American girl traveling through Europe with her mother and younger brother. Daisy wants to be exposed to European high society but refuses to conform to old-world notions of propriety laid down by the expatriate community there. In Rome, she becomes involved with an Italian man named Giovanelli, and she eventually dies from malaria as a result of being outside with him at night. Along with Winterbourne, Daisy is the novel's other possible protagonist.
Winterbourne
A young American who has lived most of his life in Geneva. Winterbourne is the novel's central narrative consciousness and possibly the protagonist. Initially intrigued by Daisy because of her frivolity and independence, but he loses respect for her. After she dies he regrets his harsh judgment and wonders if he made a mistake in dismissing her so quickly.
Randolph Miller
Daisy's younger brother. Randolph is a loud, ill-mannered, ungovernable little boy of about nine or ten.
Mrs. Miller
Daisy and Randolph's vague, weak, ineffectual mother. Mrs. Miller seems obsessed with her health and is utterly incapable of governing the behavior of her children. She is silly and clueless, but when Daisy falls ill, she proves "a most judicious and efficient nurse.
Mrs. Costello
Winterbourne's aunt, a shallow, self-important woman who seems genuinely fond of Winterbourne. Mrs. Costello is the voice of snobbish high society.
Eugenio
The Millers' supercilious interpreter/guide, often referred to as "the courier." Eugenio has better judgment and a greater sense of propriety than either Daisy or Mrs. Miller and often treats them with thinly veiled contempt.
Mrs. Walker
A wealthy, well-connected American widow who lives in Rome, knows Winterbourne from Geneva, and has befriended Daisy. Mrs. Walker shares the values of the rest of the American community. She genuinely seems to care what happens to Daisy and tries to save her.
Mr. Giovanelli
An Italian. Mr. Giovanelli's indiscreet friendship with Daisy is misinterpreted by the American community and leads to Daisy's ostracism and death.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Born in mid-class neighborhood in St. Paul, MN. Father's family were southern colonial landowners and legislators, mother's side from Irish immigrants. Boyhood spent in Buffalo and Syracuse. With help of an aunt, he went to Catholic boarding school in New Jersey. He entered Princeton University. He failed to make the football team and felt disappointment for years. Quit school to enter the Army. A novel he wrote in college was published as "The Side of Paradise" and became a best seller, in pursuit of Zelda Sayre. They married and lived an extravagant life, having one daughter. Moved to Europe to live more cheaply. The family could not get out of debt, and Fitzgerald became an alcoholic, Zelda broke down and spent the rest of her life in mental institutions. Moved back to America, near Baltimore, where his wife was in a mental hospital. In 1920's, he stood for all-night partying, drinking, and the pursuit of pleasure while in the 1930s, he stop for the gloomy aftermath of excess. "Babylon Revisited" written after the stock market crash was a personal and national story. He passed away from a heart attack at the age of 44. Recurring themes money, class, ambition, alcoholism, mental illness
Babylon Revisited
Opens in the middle of a conversation between Charlie Wales and Alix, a bartender at the Ritz. Charlie asks Alix to pass along his brother-in-law's address to Duncan Schaeffer. The narrator says that Paris and the Ritz bar feel deserted. Charlie says he has been sober for a year and a half and that he is now a businessman living in Prague. He and Alix gossip about old acquaintances. Charlie says he's in town to see his daughter. Charlie gets in a taxi. Charlie is a handsome 35 year old. Charlie goes to his brother-in-law's house, where his daughter, Honoria, jumps into his arms. Marion Peters, his sister-in-law, greets him without warmth, although his brother-in-law, Lincoln Peters, is friendlier. In a calculated remark, Charlie boasts about how good his finances are these days. Lincoln looks restless, so Charlie changes the subject. Marion says she's glad there aren't many Americans left in Paris, it's clear that she doesn't like Charlie.After eating dinner with the Peters family, Charlie goes to see a famous dancer, Josephine Baker, then to Montmartre, where he passes nightclubs he recognizes. He sees a few scared tourists go into one club. He remembers the vast sums of money he threw away. After ignoring a woman's advances, he goes home.Part II begins the following morning. Charlie takes Honoria to lunch. He suggests going to a toy store and then to a vaudeville show. Honoria doesn't want to go to the toy store because she's worried they're not rich. Charlie introduces himself to her as if they are strangers. He pretends that her doll is her child. She says she prefers Lincoln to Marion and asks why she can't live with Charlie. Leaving the restaurant, they run into Duncan Schaeffer and Lorraine Quarrles, two of Charlie's old friends. Lorraine says she and her husband are poor now and that she's alone in Paris. They ask Charlie to join them for dinner, but he brushes them off and refuses to tell them where he's staying. They see each other again at the vaudeville, and he has a drink with them. In the cab on the way home, Honoria says she wants to live with him, which thrills Charlie. She blows him a kiss when she is safely inside the house. Part III, Charlie meets with Marion and Lincoln. He says that he wants Honoria to live with him and that he has changed. He says he drinks one drink per day so that he doesn't obsess about it. Marion doesn't understand this, but Lincoln claims that he understands Charlie. Charlie settles in for a long fight, reminding himself that his objective isn't to justify his behavior but to win Honoria back. Marion says that Charlie hasn't existed for her since he locked Helen, her sister and Charlie's wife, out of their apartment. Charlie says Marion can trust him and begins to worry that she will turn Honoria against him. He stresses that he will be able to give Honoria a good life and then realizes that Marion and Lincoln don't want to hear about how much wealthier he is than they are. He craves a drink. The narrator says that Marion understands Charlie's wish to be with his daughter but needs to see him as the villain. She implies that Charlie was responsible for Helen's death. Lincoln objects. Charlie says that heart trouble killed Helen, and Marion sarcastically agrees with him. Suddenly giving up the fight, she leaves the room. Lincoln tells Charlie that he can take Honoria. Back in his hotel room, Charlie thinks of the way he and Helen destroyed their love for no good reason. He remembers the night they fought and she kissed another man; he got home before her and locked her out. There was a snowstorm later, and Helen wandered around in the cold. The incident marked the "beginning of the end." Charlie falls asleep and dreams of Helen, who says that she wants him and Honoria to be together.Part IV begins the next morning. Charlie interviews two potential governesses and then eats lunch with Lincoln. He says Marion resents the fact that Charlie and Helen were spending a fortune while she and Lincoln were just scraping along. In his hotel room, Charlie gets a pneumatique from Lorraine, who reminisces about their drunken pranks and asks to see him at the Ritz bar. The adventures that Lorraine looks back on with fondness strike Charlie as nightmarish. Charlie goes to Marion and Lincoln's house in the afternoon. Honoria has been told of the decision and is delighted. The room feels safe and warm. The doorbell rings—it is Lorraine and Duncan, who are drunk. Slurring their words, they ask Charlie to dinner. He refuses twice and they leave angry. Furious, Marion leaves the room. The children eat dinner, and Lincoln goes to check on Marion. When he comes back, he tells Charlie that the plans have changed.Part V, Charlie goes to the Ritz bar. He sees Paul, a bartender he knew in the old days. He thinks of the fights that he and Helen had, the people out of their minds on alcohol and drugs, and the way he locked Helen out in the snow. He calls Lincoln, who says that for 6 months, they have to drop the question of Honoria living with Charlie. Charlie goes back to the bar. He realizes that the only thing he can do for Honoria is buy her things, which he knows is inadequate. He plans to come back and try again.
Charlie Wales
Handsome,35 year old protagonist of the story. Once worth a small fortune, Charlie spent all his money in Paris during the mid 1920s. An alcoholic, he collapsed along with the stock market in 1929. Since regaining his sobriety and financial footing as a businessman in Prague, Charlie has become ashamed of his past recklessness. He adores his daughter, Honoria, and misses his wife, Helen, for whose death he may bear partial responsibility.
Honoria Wales
Charlie's daughter. Sunny, smart 9 year old. Loves her father dearly and, although she is happy enough with Marion and Lincoln, wants to live with Charlie. Has a rich inner life and thinks about difficult subjects such as money and love. Honoria claims that she misses her mother, but she doesn't seem to remember her well.
Marion Peters
Charlie's sister-in-law. Resents Charlie both because of his former recklessness and because she believes he mistreated her sister, Helen. Marion fixates on the night Charlie locked Helen out of the house during a snowstorm and believes he's responsible for her death. Understands why Charlie wants Honoria to live with him, but she worries that he will lapse back into his old ways.
Lincoln Peters
Marion's husband and Charlie's brother-in-law. Lacks Charlie's knack for business, but he is a solid, responsible father and husband. He is quieter than his wife and more sympathetic to Charlie's desire to live with Honoria. He takes Marion's side whenever he believes that Charlie's actions are hurting her.
Helen Wales
Charlie's deceased wife. Passed away many years before. She and Charlie loved each other deeply, and it seems they destroyed their relationship for no real reason. Even though their marriage ended badly, Helen appears encouraging and loving in Charlie's dream.
Lorraine Quarrles
A 30 year old blonde American woman. Lorraine is a figure from Charlie's past. She lost her fortune but hasn't stopped trying to live the way she did when she had money. Sad, almost pathetic figure, she chases after Charlie, whose newfound sobriety both amuses her and makes her jealous.
Duncan Schaeffer
Lorraine's companion and an American who attended college with Charlie. Duncan, who doesn't say much, amplifies Lorraine's recklessness. He accompanies Lorraine wherever she goes, drinks when she drinks, and unexpectedly arrives at Marion and Lincoln's house with her.
Elsie and Richard Peters
Marion and Lincoln's children. About Honoria's age, well behaved, but don't perform as well in school as Honoria.
Paul
A bartender at the Ritz. In the days of great wealth, he drove a fancy car to work.
Alix
A bartender at the Ritz. Alix gives Charlie updates on the Americans who used to live in Paris.
William Faulkner
Published novels about childhood, families, sex, race obsession, tie, the past, his native South, and the modern world. Invented voices for children, criminals, the insane, and the dead. Invented an entire souther county and wrote its history. Native of Mississippi, near Oxford. Great-Grandfather was a local legend: colonel in Civil War, lawyer, railroad builder, financier, politician, writer, and pubic figure who was shot and killed by a business and political rival. Father worked for the railroad and later as a business manager at the University of Mississippi. Father was a recluse and he was his mothers favorite of 4 sons. Dropped out of high school and had no other formal education beyond a special student at the University of Mississippi. Estelle Oldham, his high school love, married someone else. Enlisted in the British Royal Flying Corps and sent to Canada to train. First Novel, "Soldier's Pay" written in New Orleans. He married Estelle Oldham who had divorced and had two children. They bought a ruined mansion, Rowan Oak, and restored it. They had a daughter that died in infancy and a second daughter. Spent time in Hollywood and wrote the scripts for two famous movies. Died at 65 of a heart attack.
Barn Burning
Young Colonel Sartoris Snopes crouches on a keg in the back of the store that doubles for the town court. The justice of the peace asks Mr. Harris for proof that Mr. Snopes burned his barn. Mr. Harris describes the numerous times Snopes's hog broke through the fence and got into his cornfields. The final time, when Mr. Harris demanded a dollar for the animal's return, the black man who was sent to fetch the hog gave Mr. Harris an ominous warning that wood and hay are combustible. Later that night, fire claimed Mr. Harris's barn. Mr. Harris has Sartoris called to testify before the court. The boy knows his father is expecting him to lie on his behalf. The judge asks Mr. Harris whether he wants the child cross-examined, but Mr. Harris snarls to have the boy removed.The judge dismisses the charges against Snopes but warns him to leave the county for good, and Snopes agrees. Snopes and his two sons then leave the store and head to their wagon. A child in the crowd accuses them of being barn burners and strikes Sartoris. Snopes orders Sartoris into the wagon, which is laden with their possessions and where his two sisters, mother, and aunt are waiting. Snopes prevents his wife from cleaning Sartoris's bloodied face. That night, the family camps around the father's typically small fire. Snopes wakes Sartoris and takes him onto the dark road, where he accuses him of planning to inform the judge of his guilt in the arson case. Snopes strikes Sartoris on the head and tells him he must always remain loyal to his family.The next day, the family arrives at its new home and unloads the wagon. Snopes takes Sartoris to the house of Major de Spain, the owner on whose land the family will work. Despite the servant's protests, Snopes tracks horse manure into the opulent house, leaving only when Miss Lula asks him to. He resentfully remarks that the home was built by slave labor. Two hours later, the servant drops off the rug that Snopes had soiled and instructs him to clean and return it. Snopes supervises as the two sisters clean the carpet with lye, and he uses a jagged stone to work the surface of the expensive rug. Snopes forces Sartoris to fetch the mule and ride along with him to return the rug. At the house, Snopes flings the rug onto the floor after loudly kicking at the door several times. The next morning, as Sartoris and Snopes prepare the mules for plowing, de Spain arrives on horseback to inform them that the rug was ruined from improper cleaning. In lieu of the hundred-dollar replacement fee, the major says Snopes will be charged twenty additional bushels of corn. Sartoris defends Snopes's actions, telling him that he did the best he could with the soiled carpet. Snopes puts Sartoris back to work, and the following days are consumed with the constant labor of working their acreage. The next weekend, Snopes and his two sons head once again to a court appearance at the country store, where the well-dressed de Spain is in attendance. Sartoris attempts to defend Snopes, saying that he never burned the barn, but Snopes orders him back to the wagon. The judge mistakenly thinks the rug was burned in addition to being soiled and destroyed. He rules that Snopes must pay ten extra bushels of corn when the crop comes due, and court is adjourned. After a trip to the blacksmith's shop for wagon repairs, a light meal in front of the general store, and a trip to a corral where horses are displayed and sold, Snopes and his sons return home after sundown. Despite his wife's protests, Snopes empties the kerosene from the lamp back into its 5-gallon container and secures a lit candle stub in the neck of a bottle. Snopes orders Sartoris to fetch the oil. He obeys but fantasizes about running away. He tries to dissuade Snopes, but Snopes grabs Sartoris by the collar and orders his wife to restrain him. Sartoris escapes his mother's clutches and runs to the de Spain house, bursting in on the startled servant. Breathlessly, he blurts out the word Barn! Sartoris runs desperately down the road, moving aside as the major's horse comes thundering by him. Three shots ring out and Snope is killed, his plan to burn de Spain's barn thwarted. At midnight, Sartoris sits on a hill. Stiff and cold, he hears the whippoorwills and heads down the hill to the dark woods, not pausing to look back.
Colonel Sartoris Snopes (Sarty)
A 10 year old boy and the story's protagonist. Small and wiry, with wild, gray eyes and uncombed brown hair, Wears patched and faded jeans that are too small for him. He has inherited his innocence and morality from his mother, but his father's influence has made Sartoris old beyond his years. Forced to confront an ethical quandary that pits his loyalty to his family against the higher concepts of justice and morality.
Abner Snopes
Sartoris's father and a serial arsonist. Cold and violent, Snopes has a harsh, emotionless voice, shaggy gray eyebrows, and pebble-colored eyes. Stiff-bodied, he walks with a limp he acquired from being shot by a Confederate's 30 years earlier while stealing a horse during the Civil War. Known for his wolflike independence and anger, he is convinced of his right to unleash his destructive revenge on anyone whom he believes has wronged him.
Lennie Snopes
Sartoris's mother. Sad, emotional, and caring, Lennie futilely attempts to stem her husband's destructive impulses. Beaten down by the family's endless cycle of flight and resettlement and the pall of criminality that has stained her clan. Nervous in the presence of her husband, she is a slim source of comfort for Sartoris in the violence-tinged world of the Snopes family.
Major de Spain
Well-dressed and affluent landowner. De Spain brings the soiled rug to the Snopeses' cabin and insists that they clean it and return it. Snopes's unpredictable nature unsettles de Spain, and he uneasily answers Snopes's charges in court.
Mr. Harris
A landowner for whom the Snopeses were short-term tenants. The plaintiff in the first court case, Harris had attempted to resolve the conflict over the Snopeses' hog. In the end, he is left with a burned barn and no legal recourse, as his case is dismissed for lack of evidence.
Colonel John Snopes
Sartoris's older brother. Although his name is not given in the story, Faulkner's other works of fiction feature the same character and identify him. A silent, brooding version of his father, John is slightly thicker, with muddy eyes and a habit of chewing tobacco.
Net and an Unnamed Sister
Sartoris's twin sisters. In his brief description of the two women, Faulkner focuses on their physicality and corpulence. They are described as large, bovine, and lethargic, with flat loud voices. They are cheaply dressed in calico and ribbons.
Lizzie
Lennie's sister and Sartoris's aunt. Supplies a voice of justice and morality when she boldly asserts, at the end of the story, that if Sartoris does not warn the de Spains that their barn is about to be burned, then she will.
Lula de Spain
Major de Spain's wife. Lula wears a smooth, gray gown with lace at the throat, with rolled-up sleeves and an apron tied around her. Assertive but intimidated by the imposing presence of Snopes, she resents having her home violated.
The Servant
A man who works in the de Spain mansion. When Snopes bursts in and damages the rug, he calls the servant a racist epithet, viewing his presence as a mere extension of the slavery that dominated the South until the Civil War.
Ernest Hemingway
Born and raised in Oak Park, IL, one of 6. Mother was a music teacher, father was a successful doctor prone to depression, loved hunting, and shared household duties with his wife. After High School, Hemingway took job at the Kansas City Star. AN eye problem barred him from the Army, so he joined the ambulance corps. Within 3 weeks, he was wounded by shrapnel, and he went home as a decorated hero, carrying a more wounded soldier to safety. Became estranged from his family, and when his father committed suicide, he blamed his mother. He married Hadley Richardson and went to Paris. Became an international celebrity after "The Sun Also Rises." Criticized for his depiction of women living solely for men. Soon after the publication of "The Sun Also Rises," his first marriage broke up, married 4 times. Had a theme of politics and autobiographical. Fiercely anti-Nazi, used his fishing boat to keep watch for German submarines off the coast of Cuba, where he had a home. was injured in a small plane crash in Africa. His last work won a pulitzer prize, and he won a Nobel Prize. Never fully recovered from plane crash. Killed himself in 1961. At the time of his death, he was probably the most famous writer in the world.
Indian Camp
Nick Adams and Nick's father arrive at the lake shore with Nick's Uncle George. The Indians row the two men and one boy across the lake in two boats. Nick asks where they are going and his father replies that they are going to the Indian camp because a woman is very sick. Inside, they find an Indian woman who has been in labor for 2 days. She is lying on the bottom bunk, her husband is on top with a cut foot. When she cries out in pain, Nick's father explains that she hurts because her muscles are trying to get the baby out of her body. Nick asks if he can give her anything to make the pain stop, but Nick's father answers that he does not have any anesthetic. Nick's father boils some medical instruments and washes his hands carefully. He explains that babies are supposed to be born head first but sometimes become turned around. When he operates, several men must hold the woman down. She bites Uncle George. A boy is born. Nick's father asks Nick if he likes being an intern. Nick lies and says he likes it fine. However, Nick refuses to watch his father sew up the woman. Nick's father says that the father of the baby must be very excited. He goes over to the father and pulls back his blanket. The father's throat is slit and the razor lies next to him. Nick's father tells Uncle George to take Nick away, but he does not do so before Nick sees his father tip the Indian father's head back. On the way home, Nick's father apologizes for bringing him, all his excitement gone. Nick asks if women always have a hard time having babies. Nick then asks why the man killed himself, to which his father replies that he must not have been able to stand things. Nick asks if many men kill themselves. Nick asks the same question about women. Nick asks where Uncle George went. His father says that he will show up later. Then, Nick asks if dying is hard. His father says that he thinks it is probably pretty easy. Nick thinks to himself that he is pretty sure that he will never die.
Nick
Dr. Adams' son, about eight or nine years old; he goes with his father and uncle to the American Indian camp.
Nick's Father
A general practitioner and emergency surgeon who lives near a lake on the northern peninsula of Michigan. Using makeshift surgical instruments, he delivers a baby boy to an American Indian woman who has been in excruciating labor for two days.
Uncle George
Dr. Adams' brother; he accompanies Dr. Adams to the camp and with the help of three American Indian men, holds the American Indian woman down while Dr. Adams performs a cesarean
Indian Woman
Having screamed for two days while trying to give birth, she is helped by Dr. Adams, who makes an incision in her with a jackknife and delivers a boy.
Indian Husband
The presumed father of the baby that Dr. Adams delivers by cesarean surgery is found dead in his bed. Hearing his wife scream for two days and during the painful, crude surgery drives him mad. Silently and secretly, he cuts his throat.
Robert Frost
Identified himself with New England, born in California. Father died so he moved to New England. Shared valedictorian with Elinor White, whom he married 3 years later. Occasional attendance at Dartmouth and Harvard and may different jobs. Tried to run a farm. Took his family of 4 to England. Bought another farmland prospered through sales of books and papers along with teaching a lecturing at various colleges. A son committed suicide and his daughter had a mental breakdown. Poems fall into two types: Nature and dramatic narratives. Read "The Gift Outright" at Pres. Kennedy's inauguration. He could be humorous or sardonic. Presented himself as a New Englander in a New England landscape. Often interpreted as an ideological descendent of the nineteenth century. Believed that collective enterprises could do noting but weaken the individual self. Avoided political movements. Opposed FDR's New Deal and artistic programs aimed at the lessing of social grievances anther than exploration of enduring human grief. Deeply resented criticism. In last 20 years he increased activities as a teacher and lecturer at Amherst, Dartmouth, Harvard, Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College in Vermont, and poetry reading across the country.
Stopping By The Woods on a Snowy Evening
Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year. He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake. The only other sound's the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake. The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.
After Apple Picking
My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a treeToward heaven still,And there's a barrel that I didn't fillBeside it, and there may be two or threeApples I didn't pick upon some bough.But I am done with apple-picking now.Essence of winter sleep is on the night,The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.I cannot rub the strangeness from my sightI got from looking through a pane of glassI skimmed this morning from the drinking troughAnd held against the world of hoary grass.It melted, and I let it fall and break.But I was wellUpon my way to sleep before it fell,And I could tellWhat form my dreaming was about to take.Magnified apples appear and disappear,Stem end and blossom end,And every fleck of russet showing clear.My instep arch not only keeps the ache,It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend.And I keep hearing from the cellar binThe rumbling soundOf load on load of apples coming in.For I have had too muchOf apple-picking: I am overtiredOf the great harvest I myself desired.There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall.For allThat struck the earth,No matter if not bruised or spiked with stubble,Went surely to the cider-apple heapAs of no worth.One can see what will troubleThis sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is.Were he not gone,The woodchuck could say whether it's like hisLong sleep, as I describe its coming on,Or just some human sleep.
The Road not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowth;Then took the other, as just as fair,And having perhaps the better claim,Because it was grassy and wanted wear;Though as for that the passing thereHad worn them really about the same,And both that morning equally layIn leaves no step had trodden black.Oh, I kept the first for another day!Yet knowing how way leads on to way,I doubted if I should ever come back.I shall be telling this with a sighSomewhere ages and ages hence:Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference.
Mending Wall
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,And spills the upper boulders in the sun;And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.The work of hunters is another thing:I have come after them and made repairWhere they have left not one stone on a stone,But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,No one has seen them made or heard them made,But at spring mending-time we find them there.I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;And on a day we meet to walk the lineAnd set the wall between us once again.We keep the wall between us as we go.To each the boulders that have fallen to each.And some are loaves and some so nearly ballsWe have to use a spell to make them balance:'Stay where you are until our backs are turned!'We wear our fingers rough with handling them.Oh, just another kind of outdoor game,One on a side. It comes to little more:There where it is we do not need the wall:He is all pine and I am apple orchard.My apple trees will never get acrossAnd eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors.'Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonderIf I could put a notion in his head:'Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't itWhere there are cows? But here there are no cows.Before I built a wall I'd ask to knowWhat I was walling in or walling out,And to whom I was like to give offense.Something there is that doesn't love a wall,That wants it down.' I could say 'Elves' to him,But it's not elves exactly, and I'd ratherHe said it for himself. I see him thereBringing a stone grasped firmly by the topIn each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.He moves in darkness as it seems to me,Not of woods only and the shade of trees.He will not go behind his father's saying,And he likes having thought of it so wellHe says again, 'Good fences make good neighbors.'
William Carlos Williams
Modernist known for disagreements with other modernists. Thought of himself as the most underrated poet of his generation. Born in Rutherford, New Jersey. Grandmother was an Englishwoman deserted by her husband and came to America with her son, married again, and moved to Puerto Rico. His dad married a woman descended on one side from French Basque people and Dutch Jews. Mixed origins fascinated Williams, and he thought he was different from mainstream Americans. His mother and grandmother were the most important people to him. Entered the school of Dentistry at UPenn and then switched to medicine. Interned in NYC and did postgraduate study in Leipzig, Germany. Patients knew him as a dedicated old-fashioned physician. Pediatrics was his specialty, delivering more than 2000 babies. Williams married his fiancée of several years, Florence Herman. Towards the end of his life, his marriage became his subject for his beautiful work. Remained in Rutherford his whole life, opening a practice until poor health forced him to retire. He had a heart attack and strokes. He turned his medical practice over to one of his sons. He won the National Book Award, the Bollingen Prize, and the Pulitzer Prize.
The Young Housewife
At ten AM the young housewifemoves about in negligee behindthe wooden walls of her husband's house.I pass solitary in my car.Then again she comes to the curbto call the ice-man, fish-man, and standsshy, uncorseted, tucking instray ends of hair, and I compare herto a fallen leaf.The noiseless wheels of my carrush with a crackling sound overdried leaves as I bow and pass smiling.
The Red Wheelbarrow
so much dependsupona red wheelbarrowglazed with rainwaterbeside the whitechickens.
This is Just to Say
I have eatenthe plumsthat were inthe iceboxand whichyou were probablysavingfor breakfastForgive methey were deliciousso sweetand so cold
Langston Hughes
One of the most popular and versatile of the many writer connected with the Harlem renaissance. Born in Joplin, Missouri. Lived mainly with his maternal grandmother in Lawrence, Kansas. Lived with his mother in Detroit and Cleveland. His father disgusted with American racism went to Mexico. Went to Columbia University and he shipped out as a merchant seaman and worked at a nightclub in Paris and a busboy in Washington D.C. Amy Spingarn financed his college and education at Lincoln University and Charlotte Mason subsidized him in New York City. Was called "the bar of Harlem." FBI listed him as a security risk, and he found not travel outside the U.S. because he would not be able to reenter the country.
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
I've known rivers:I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.My soul has grown deep like the rivers.I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset.I've known rivers:Ancient, dusky rivers.My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
The Weary Blues
Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon, I heard a Negro play.Down on Lenox Avenue the other nightBy the pale dull pallor of an old gas light He did a lazy sway . . . He did a lazy sway . . .To the tune o' those Weary Blues.With his ebony hands on each ivory keyHe made that poor piano moan with melody. O Blues!Swaying to and fro on his rickety stoolHe played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool. Sweet Blues!Coming from a black man's soul. O Blues!In a deep song voice with a melancholy toneI heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan— "Ain't got nobody in all this world, Ain't got nobody but ma self. I's gwine to quit ma frownin' And put ma troubles on the shelf.
Theme for English B
The instructor said,Go home and write a page tonight. And let that page come out of you--- Then, it will be true.I wonder if it's that simple? I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem. I went to school there, then Durham, then here to this college on the hill above Harlem. I am the only colored student in my class. The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas, Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y, the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator up to my room, sit down, and write this page:It's not easy to know what is true for you or me at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I'm what I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you: hear you, hear me---we two---you, me, talk on this page. (I hear New York too.) Me---who? Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love. I like to work, read, learn, and understand life. I like a pipe for a Christmas present, or records---Bessie, bop, or Bach. I guess being colored doesn't make me NOT like the same things other folks like who are other races. So will my page be colored that I write? Being me, it will not be white. But it will be a part of you, instructor. You are white--- yet a part of me, as I am a part of you. That's American. Sometimes perhaps you don't want to be a part of me. Nor do I often want to be a part of you. But we are, that's true! As I learn from you,I guess you learn from me--- although you're older---and white--- and somewhat more free.This is my page for English B.
Zora Neal Hurston
Born in Notasulga, Alabama and moved to Eatonville, Florida, an all black town. Her father was a Baptist Preacher and was not a family man and made life difficult for his wife and 8 children. Her relationship with her mother was strong, but she died when she was 11. Her childhood was protected from racism, because she knew no white people. She completed college at Howard University in Washington D.C. She entered Barnard College. Her work is not popular with male intellectual leaders of the Harlem community. She quarreled with Langston Hughes. She did not write to "uplift her race" because she thought it was already uplifted. For the last decade of her life, she lived in Florida, and worked from time to time as a maid.
How It Feels to be Colored Me
Writes an essay about how it feels to be her race and what its like finding racism
The Gilded-Six Bits
Newlywed couple that is poor. Husband works for a seemingly rich man. The wife cheats with the rich man, becoming pregnant. The Husband knows the possibility that it is not his child, yet he still stay with her because he loves her.
John Cheever
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The Swimmer
About how a mans life changes, as he is swimming through a series of his neighbors swimming pools.