Title: To Kill a Mockingbird
Author: Harper Lee
Main characters: Scout, Jem, Atticus Finch, Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, Mrs. Dubose, Mayella Ewell, Bob
Ewell
Issues/themes: justice, discrimination/racism, loss of innocence, good vs. evil, addiction, gender
stereotypes
Short summary: Atticus Finch, father to Scout and Jem, is a lawyer who is assigned to a court case in
which he has to defend an African-American man named Tom Robinson. Tom is accused of sexually
assaulting Mayella Ewell; he is innocent, but despite Atticus’s efforts in court, he is convicted and
arrested. Scout and Jem are confronted for the first time with harsh realities of their racist society and
unnecessary discrimination.
Title: The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet
Author: William Shakespeare
Main characters: Romeo Montague, Juliet Capulet, Lord and Lady Capulet, Lord and Lady Montague,
Tybalt, County Paris, Benvolio, Mercutio, Friar Lawrence, Nurse, Friar Tuck
Issues/themes: forbidden love, family ties/feuds, vengeance, redemption, rebellion, reckless youth, loss
of innocence
Short summary: Romeo and Juliet come from two feuding families. They fall in love and are forbidden
from being together. Romeo kills Juliet’s cousin Tybalt and is banished after being married to Juliet. Juliet
is arranged to marry County Paris. To avoid the wedding, she takes a sleeping potion that gives her the
appearance of death. Romeo finds her, thinks she is dead, and kills himself. Juliet awakes, finds Romeo
dead beside her, and commits suicide to be with him. Their families come together after their death and
reconcile their differences.
Title: The Odyssey
Author: Homer
Main characters: Odysseus, Penelope, Agamemnon, Telemachus, Circe, Tiresias
Issues/themes: epic poem, adventure, physical and spiritual journey, temptation, forgotten dreams,
regret, homesickness, heroism
Short summary: After winning the Trojan War, Odysseus and the remains of his army go on a twenty-ish
year long journey and encounter a number of obstacles in their attempt to return home. They return to
find their kingdom in ruins and discover that their families have all but forgotten them.
Title: Oedipus Rex
Author: Sophocles
Main characters: Oedipus, Jocasta, Creon, Polynisus, King Leus, oracle, Tiresias, shephards
Issues/themes: Oedipus complex, self-fulfilling prophecy, blindness/darkness vs. sight/truth, pride, fear
Short summary: When Oedipus was a baby, King Leus and his wife Jocasta hear a prophecy saying that
their son would kill his father and marry his mother. They get rid of Oedipus and send him away to be
killed. He survives and is raised by Polynisus and the queen of Thebes. Oedipus hears the prophecy and
leaves Thebes to avoid hurting his adoptive father and mother. On the way out of the kingdom, he meets
King Leus (his father) on the road and kills him in a fit of rage. He arrives in the other kingdom and kills
the sphinx by solving her riddle. They make him king and he marries Jocasta (his mother). Plague and
famine come over the kingdom, and the prophet Tiresias tells Oedipus the truth about his family. He
gouges his eyes out, his mother commits suicide, and his sister-daughters run away.
Title: East of Eden
Author: John Steinbeck
Main characters: Adam and Charles Trask, Cal and Aaron Trask, Cathy, Lee, Samuel Hamilton
Issues/themes: destiny vs. free will, good vs. evil, human nature, sin and redemption, psychopathy, family
ties, reality vs. ideal world, timshel
Short summary: As a child Adam is abused by his father and brother Charles (play on biblical story of
Cain and Abel). He goes into the army but remains an idealist while Charles falls into a destructive
lifestyle. Meanwhile, Cathy is a beautiful manipulative girl who kills her mother and father and runs away
to become a prostitute. She is trademarked by manipulation and cruelty. Cathy marries Adam and he
adores her; she despises him and just wants his money. She attempts to abort their twins, Aron and Cal
(sons of both Adam and Charles), and shoots Adam and leaves him. Aron and Cal grow into young adults,
Aron a self-righteous, very religious scholar, and Cal a depressive, confused dropout. Cal discovers that
their mother runs a whorehouse and reveals that secret to Aron, who is crushed by this horrible reality.
Adam is close to death, and one of the last things he tells Cal is to remember “timshel,” saying that he has
a choice in what kind of person he is ultimately going to become. The sins of his mother do not determine
his destiny.
Title: The Inferno
Author: Dante
Main characters: Dante (narrator), angel Gabriel, Judas Iscariot, Opportunists, Gluttons, Traitors, Suicides,
Virgil, Beatrice, Lucifer (Satan)
Issues/themes: love, good vs. evil, sin and its consequences, redemption/repentance,
tribulation/suffering, salvation
Short summary: Dante lives a sinful lifestyle and his confronted by an angel who leads him through Hell.
Through the different circles, Dante observes all the past sinners of the world and the consequences of
the choices they made on Earth. He is horrified and vows not to ever sin again. After reaching the deepest
circle and confronting Satan, Dante escapes Hades and continues on to Purgatory now that his soul has
been cleansed.
Title: Night
Author: Elie Wiesel
Main characters: Elie, his family, other Jewish prisoners, Nazi concentration camp soldiers, Hitler, Moshe
Issues/themes: genocide, prejudice/discrimination, memoir of personal suffering, preventing future
tragedy, both narrative and didactic
Short summary: Elie and his family are practicing Jews living in Western Europe. As Adolf Hitler rose to
power during World War II, Elie and his family and forced into concentration camps.
Title: Animal Farm
Author: George Orwell
Main characters: Snowball, Napoleon, Mr. Jones, Boxer, Major, Benjamin, Molly, Moses
Issues/themes: Communism, Russian Revolution, Satire, Allegory, Brain-washing
Short summary: The pigs lead a rebellion because Mr.Jones is not doing a good job of taking care of the
animals. The pigs take advantage of the other animals. In the end, the pigs end up acting more like
humans and turn out more evil.
Title: Lord of the Flies
Author: William Golding
Main characters: Piggy, Jack, Ralph, Sam, Eric, Roger, Simon
Issues/themes: Human Cruelty, Good/Evil, Loss of innocence, Savagery
Short summary: Kids get trapped on an island after a plane crash and have to fend for themselves.
Eventually they turn on each other and become savage. They are rescued after many of the kids have
killed each other.
Title: Things Fall Apart
Author: Chinua Achebe
Main characters: Nwoye, Ezinma, Okonkwo, Ikemefuna, Mr. Brown, Reverend Smith
Issues/themes: Invasion of Africa, loss of culture, respect for others, discrimination
Short summary: There is a leader named Okonkwo in Nigeria who was a wrestling champion. White
people invade the colony and force Christianity on them. Okonkwo is afraid of becoming his father, so he
takes in a young boy named Ikemefuna and treats him as his own son. However, the rest of the village
does not accept him and offers him up as a sacrifice. Okonkwo is the one who ends Ikemefuna’s life and
later takes his own.
Title: Scarlet Letter
Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne
Main characters: Hester Prinn, Chillinsworth, Arthur Dimsdale, Pearl, John Wilson
Issues/themes: Revenge, Sin, Hypocrisy, Justice
Short summary: Hester commits adultery and gets shamed in front of the entire town. She is forced to
wear a red A on all her clothing. She goes to prison for a while and gives birth to her baby, Pearl. Hester
and Pearl move to a house on the outskirts of town. She makes a living by knitting, but she is still shamed
by the town people. Chillinsworth, her husband, shows up and tries to convince her to admit that she had
an affair with Dimsdale. Chillinsworth poisons Dimsdale. Chillinsworth dies and leaves money for Pearl.
Title: Crucible
Author: Arthur Miller
Main characters: Abigail, John Proctor, Tituba, Judge Danforth, Elizabeth Proctor,
Issues/themes: Salem witch trials, Adultery, Paranoia, McCarthyism, Jealousy, Lies, Puritan
Short summary: Abigail is jealous of John Proctor’s wife and she uses the witch trials to get rid of her. She
and Tituba do witch craft. The witch trials escalate and the girls pretend to be possessed and blame any
woman that they do not like, or people with land. A lot of innocent people die including John Proctor.
Title: Their Eyes Were Watching God
Author: Zora Neale Hurston
Main characters: Janie, Teacake, Joe Starks, Logan, Phoebe
Issues/themes: Gender, Love, Racism, Heroism
Short summary: Janie is meant to marry Logan but ends up running away with Joe Starks. They build a
black community together, but Joe dies and she falls in love with Teacake. They run away to the
Everglades to build a life for themselves. During a huge storm Teacake gets bit by a dog and becomes very
ill. He eventually becomes so ill and crazed by the rabies that Janie is forced to shoot him. Janie returns
back to her hometown.