American Literature books summary

about work. When they reach the fields where they are to work, Mr. Thomas,

the contractor, tells them that he is reducing wages from thirty to twenty-

five cents per hour. It is not his choice, but rather orders from the

Farmers' Association, which is owned by the Bank of the West. Thomas also

shows them a newspaper, which has a story about a band of citizens who burn

a squatters' camp, infuriated by presumed communist agitation, and warns

them about the dance at the government camp on Saturday night. There will

be a fight in the camp so that the deputies can go in. The Farmers'

Association dislikes the government camps because the people in the camps

become used to being treated humanely and are thus harder to handle. Tom

and the Wallaces vow to make sure that there won't be a fight.

While they work, Wilkie tells Tom that the complaints about agitators are

false. According to the rich owners, any person who wants thirty cents an

hour instead of twenty-five is a red. Back at the camp, Ruthie and Winfield

explore the camp, and are fascinated by the toilets they are frightened by

the flushing sound. Ma Joad makes the rest of the family clean themselves

up before the Ladies Committee comes to visit her. Jim Rawley, the camp

manager, introduces himself to the Joads and tells them some of the

features of the camp. Rose of Sharon goes to take a bath, and learns that a

nurse visits the camp every week and can help her deliver the baby when it

is time. Ma remarks that she no longer feels ashamed, as she had when they

were constantly harassed by the police. Lisbeth Sandry, a religious zealot,

speaks with Rose of Sharon about the alleged sin that goes on during the

dances, and complains about people putting on stage plays, which she calls

Њsin and delusion and devil stuff.' The woman even blames playacting for a

mother dropping her child. Rose of Sharon becomes frightened upon hearing

this, fearing that she will drop her child. Jessie Bullitt, the head of the

Ladies Committee, gives Ma Joad a tour of the camp and explains some of the

problems. Jessie bickers with Ella Summers, the previous committee head.

The children play and bicker. Pa comforts Uncle John, who still wants to

leave, thinking that he will bring the family punishment. Ma Joad confronts

Lisbeth Sandry for frightening Rose and for preaching that every action is

sinful. Ma becomes depressed about all of the losses Granma and Grampa,

John and Connie because she now has leisure time to think about such

things.

Chapter Twenty-Three: The migrant workers looked for amusement wherever

they could find it, whether in jokes or stories for amusement. They told

stories of heroism in taming the land against the Indians, or about a rich

man who pretended to be poor and fell in love with a rich woman who was

also pretending to be poor. The workers took small pleasures in playing the

harmonica or a more precious guitar or fiddle, or even in getting drunk.

Chapter Twenty-Four: The rumors that the police were going to break up the

dance reached the camp. According to Ezra Huston, the chairman of the

Central Committee, this is a frequent tactic that the police use. Huston

tells Willie Eaton, the head of the entertainment committee, that if he

must hit a deputy, do so where they won't bleed. The camp members say that

the Californians hate them because the migrants might draw relief without

paying income tax, but they refute this, claiming that they pay sales tax

and tobacco tax. At the dance, Willie Eaton approaches Tom and tells him

where to watch for intruders. Ma comforts Rose of Sharon, who is depressed

about Connie. Tom finds the intruders at the dance, but the intruders begin

a fight and immediately the police enter the camp. Huston confronts the

police about the intruders, asking who paid them. They only admit that they

have to make money somehow. Once the problem is defused, the dance goes on

without any problems.

Chapter Twenty-Five: Spring is beautiful in California, for behind the

fruitfulness of the trees in the orchards are men of understanding who

experiment with the seeds and crops to defend them against insects and

disease. Yet the fruits become rotten and soft. The rotten grapes are still

used for wine, even if contaminated with mildew and formic acid. The

rationale is that it is good enough for the poor to get drunk. The decay of

the fruit spreads over the state. The men who have created the new fruits

cannot create a system whereby the fruits may be eaten. There is a crime

here that goes beyond denunciation, a sorrow that weeping cannot symbolize.

Children must die from pellagra because the profft cannot be taken from an

orange.

Chapter Twenty-Six: One evening, Ma Joad watches Winfield as he sleeps; he

writhes as he sleeps, and he seems discolored. In the month that the Joads

have been in Weedpatch, Tom has had only five days of work, and the rest of

the men have had none. Ma worries because Rose of Sharon is close to

delivering her baby. Ma reprimands them for becoming discouraged. She tells

them that in such circumstances they don't have the right. Pa fears that

they will have to leave Weedpatch. When Tom mentions work in Marysville, Ma

decides that they will go there, for despite the accommodations at

Weedpatch, they have no opportunity to make money. They plan to go north,

where the cotton will soon be ready for harvest. Regarding Ma Joad's

forceful control of the family, Pa remarks that women seem to be in

control, and it may be time to get out a stick. Ma hears this, and tells

him that she is doing her job as wife, but he certainly isn't doing his job

as husband. Rose of Sharon complains that if Connie hadn't left they would

have had a house by now. Ma pierces Rose of Sharon's ears so that she can

wear small gold earrings. Al parts ways with a blonde girl that he has been

seeing; she rejects his promises that they will eventually get married. He

promises her that he'll return soon, but she does not believe him. Pa

remarks that he only notices that he stinks now that he takes regular

baths. Before they leave, Willie remarks that the deputies don't bother the

residents of Weedpatch because they are united, and that their solution may

be a union.

The car starts to break down as the Joads leave Al has let the battery run

down but he fixes the problem and they continue on their way. Al is

irritable as they leave. He says that he's going out on his own soon to

start a family. On the road, they get a flat tire. While Tom fixes the

tire, a businessman stops in his car and offers them a job picking peaches

forty miles north. They reach the ranch at Pixley where they are to pick

oranges for five cents a box. Even the women and children can do the job.

Ruthie and Winfield worry about settling down in the area and going to

school in California. They assume that everyone will call them Okies. At

the nearby grocery store owned by Hooper Ranch, Ma finds that the prices

are much higher than they would be at the store in town. The sales clerk

lends Ma ten cents for sugar. She tells him that it is only poor people who

will help out. That night, Tom goes for a walk, but a deputy tells him to

walk back to the cabin at the ranch. The deputy claims that if Tom is

alone, the reds will get to him.

While continuing on his walk, Tom finds Casy, who has been released from

jail. He is with a group of men that are on strike. Casy claims that people

who strive for justice always face opposition, citing Lincoln and

Washington, as well as the martyrs of the French Revolution. Casy, Tom and

the rest of the strikers are confronted by the police. A short, heavy man

with a white pick handle swings it at Casy, hitting him in the head. Tom

fights with the man, and eventually wrenches the club from him and strikes

him with it, killing him. Tom immediately fled the scene, crawling through

a stream to get back to the cabin. He cannot sleep that night, and in the

morning tells Ma that he has to hide. He tells her that he was spotted, and

warns his family that they are breaking the strike they are getting five

cents a box only because of this, and today may only get half that amount.

When Tom tells Ma that he is going to leave that night, she tells him that

they aren't a family anymore: Al cares about nothing more than girls, Uncle

John is only dragging along, Pa has lost his place as the head of the

family, and the children are becoming unruly. Rose of Sharon screams at Tom

for murdering the man she thinks that his sin will doom her baby. After a

day of work, Winfield becomes extremely sick from eating peaches. Uncle

John tells Tom that when the police catch him, there will be a lynching.

Tom insists that he must leave, but Ma insists that they leave as a family.

They hide Tom as they leave, taking the back roads to avoid police.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Those who want to pick cotton must first purchase a

bag before they can make money. The men who weigh the cotton fix the scales

to cheat the workers. The introduction of a cotton-picking machine seems

inevitable.

Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Joads now stay in a boxcar that stood beside the

stream, a small home that proved better than anything except for the

government camp. They were now picking cotton. Winfield tells Ma that

Ruthie told about Tom she got into an argument with some other kids, and

told them that her brother was on the run for committing murder. Ruthie

returns to Ma, crying that the kids stole her Cracker Jack the reason that

she threatened them by telling about Tom but Ma tells her that it was her

own fault for showing off her candy to others. That night, in the pitch

black, Ma Joad goes out into the woods and finds Tom, who has been hiding

out there. She crawls close to him and wants to touch him to remember what

he looked like. She wants to give him seven dollars to take the bus and get

away. He tells her that he has been thinking about Casy, and remembered how

Casy said that he went out into the woods searching for his soul, but only

found that he had no individual soul, but rather part of a larger one. Tom

has been wondering why people can't work together for their living, and

vows to do what Casy had done. He leaves, but promises to return to the

family when everything has blown over. As she left, Ma Joad did not cry,

but rain began to fall. When she returned to the boxcar, she meets Mr. and

Mrs. Wainwright, who have come to talk to the Joads about their daughter,

Aggie, who has been spending time with Al. They're worried that the two

families will part and then find out that Aggie is pregnant. Ma tells them

that she found Tom and that he is gone. Pa laments leaving Oklahoma, while

Ma says that women can deal with change better than a man, because women

have their lives in their arms, and men have it in their heads. For women,

change is more acceptable because it seems inevitable. Al and Aggie return

to the boxcar, and they announce that they are getting married. They go out

before dawn to pick cotton before everyone else can get the rest, and Rose

of Sharon vows to go with them, even though she can barely move. When they

get to the place where the cotton is being picked, there are already a

number of families. While picking cotton, it suddenly starts to rain,

causing Rose of Sharon to fall ill. Everybody assumes that she is about to

deliver, but she instead suffers from a chill. They take her back to the

boxcar and start a fire to get her warm.

Chapter Twenty-Nine: The migrant families wondered how long the rain would

last. The rain damaged cars and penetrated tents. During the rain storms

some people went to relief offices, but there were rules: one had to live

in California a year before he could collect relief. The greatest terror

had arrived no work would be available for three months. Hungry men

crowded the alleys to beg for bread; a number of people died. Anger

festered, causing sheriffs to swear in new deputies. There would be no work

and no food.

Chapter Thirty: After three days of rain, the Wainwrights decide that they

have to keep on going. They fear that the creek will flood. Rose of Sharon

goes into labor, and the Joads cannot leave. Pa Joad and the rest of the

man at the camp build up the embankment to prevent flooding, but the water

breaks through. Pa, Al and Uncle John rush toward the car, but it cannot

start. They reach the boxcar and find that Rose of Sharon delivered a

stillborn baby. They realize that the car will eventually flood, and Mr.

Wainwright blames Pa Joad for asking them to stay and help, but Mrs.

Wainwright offers them help. She tells Ma Joad that it once was the case

that family came first. Now they have greater concerns. Uncle John places

the dead baby in an apple box and floats it down the flooded stream as Al

and build a platform on the top of the car. As the flood waters rise, the

family remains on the platform. The family finds a barn for refuge until

the rain stops. In the corner of the barn there are a starving man and a

boy. Ma and Rose of Sharon realize what she must do. Ma makes everybody

leave the barn, while Rose of Sharon gives the dying man her breast milk.

The Great Gatsby

Summary

Chapter One: The novel begins with a personal note by the narrator, Nick

Carraway. He relates that he has a tendency to reserve all judgments

against people and that he has been conditioned to be understanding toward

those who haven't had his advantages. Carraway came from a prominent family

from the Midwest, graduated from Yale and fought in the Great War. After

the war and a period of restlessness, he decided to go East to learn the

bond business. At the book's beginning, Carraway has just arrived in New

York, living in West Egg village. He was going to have dinner with Tom

Buchanan and his wife Daisy. Tom was an enormously wealthy man and a noted

football player at Yale, and Daisy was Carraway's second cousin. Jordan

mentions that, since Carraway lives in West Egg, he must know Gatsby.

Another woman, Jordan Baker, is also there. She tells Nick that Tom is

having an affair with some woman in New York. Tom discusses the book "The

Rise of the Colored Empires," which claims that the colored races will

submerge the white race eventually. Daisy talks to Carraway alone, and

claims that she has become terribly cynical and sophisticated. After

visiting with the Buchanans, Carraway goes home to West Egg, where he sees

Gatsby come from his mansion alone, looking at the sea. He stretches out

his arms toward the water, looking at a faraway green light.

Chapter Two: Fitzgerald begins this second chapter with the description of

a road running between West Egg and New York City. A large, decaying

billboard showing two eyes (advertising an optometrist's practice)

overlooks the desolate area. It is here, at a gas station, where Tom

Buchanan introduces Nick Carraway to Myrtle Wilson, the woman with whom he

is having an affair. Myrtle herself is married to George B. Wilson, an auto

mechanic. Tom has Myrtle meet them in the city, where Tom buys her a dog.

They go to visit Myrtle's sister and also visit her neighbors, Catherine

McKee and her husband, who is an artist. They gossip about Gatsby, and

Myrtle discusses her husband, claiming that she was crazy to marry him, and

how she met Tom. Later, Myrtle and Tom argue about whether or not she has a

right to say Daisy's name, and he breaks Myrtle's nose.

Chapter Three: Nick Carraway describes the customs of Gatsby's weekly

parties: the arrival of crates of oranges and lemons, a corps of caterers

and a large orchestra. On the first night that Carraway visits Gatsby's

house, he was one of the few guests who had actually been invited. When he

arrives, he sees Jordan Baker, who had recently lost a golf tournament.

They hear more gossip about Jay Gatsby he supposedly killed a man, or was

a German spy. Jordan and Nick look through Gatsby's library, where she

thinks that his books are not real. Later in the party, a man who

recognized Nick from the war talks to him Nick does not know that it is

Gatsby. Suddenly, after he identifies himself, Gatsby gets a phone call

from Chicago. Afterwards, Gatsby asks to speak to Jordan Baker alone. When

she finishes talking to Gatsby, she tells Nick that she heard the most

amazing thing and says that she wishes to see him. Guests leaving the party

have a car wreck in Gatsby's driveway. This was merely one event in a

crowded summer. Carraway, who spent most of his time working, began to like

New York. For a while he lost sight of Jordan Baker. He was not in love

with her, but had some curiosity toward her.

Chapter Four: At a Sunday morning party at Gatsby's, young women gossip

about Gatsby (he's a bootlegger who killed a man who found out that he was

a nephew to Von Hindenburg and second cousin to the devil). One morning

Gatsby comes to take Nick for lunch. He shows off his car: it had a rich

cream color and was filled with boxes from Gatsby's purchases. Gatsby asks

Nick what his opinion of him is, and Nick is evasive. Gatsby gives his

story: he is the son of wealthy people in the Middle West, brought up in

America and educated at Oxford. Carraway does not believe him, for he

chokes on his words. Gatsby continues: he lived in the capitals of Europe,

then enlisted in the war effort, where he was promoted to major and given a

number of declarations (from every Allied government, even Montenegro).

Gatsby admits that he usually finds himself among strangers because he

drifts from here to there, and that something happened to him that Jordan

Baker will tell Nick at lunch. They drive out past the valley of ashes and

Nick even glimpses Myrtle Wilson. When Gatsby is stopped for speeding, he

flashes a card to the policeman, who then does not give him a ticket.

At lunch, Gatsby introduces Carraway to Meyer Wolfsheim, a small, flat-

nosed Jew. He talks of the days at the Metropole when they shot Rosy

Rosenthal, and proudly mentions his cufflinks, which are made from human

molars. Wolfsheim is a gambler, the man who fixed the 1919 World Series.

Tom Buchanan is also there, and Nick introduces him to Gatsby, who appears

quite uncomfortable and then suddenly disappears. Jordan Baker tells the

story about Gatsby: Back in 1917, Daisy was eighteen and Jordan sixteen.

They were volunteering with the Red Cross, making bandages, and Daisy asked

Jordan to cover for her that day. She was meeting with Jay Gatsby, and

there were wild rumors that she was going to run off to New York with him.

On Daisy's wedding day to Tom, she nearly changes her mind, and goes into

hysterics. According to Jordan, Gatsby bought his house just to be across

the bay from Daisy. Nick becomes more drawn to Jordan, with her scornful

and cynical manner. Jordan tells Nick that he is supposed to arrange a

meeting between Gatsby and Daisy.

Chapter Five: Nick speaks with Gatsby about arranging a meeting with Daisy,

and tries to make it as convenient for Nick as possible. Gatsby even offers

him a job, a "confidential sort of thing," although he assures Nick that he

would not have to work with Wolfsheim. On the day that Gatsby and Daisy are

to meet, Gatsby has arranged everything to perfection. They start at Nick's

home, where the conversation between the three (Nick, Gatsby, Daisy) is

stilted and awkward. They are all embarrassed, and Nick tells Gatsby that

he's behaving like a little boy. They go over to Gatsby's house, where

Gatsby gives a tour. Nick asks Gatsby more questions about his business,

and he snaps back "that's my affair," before giving a half-hearted

explanation. Gatsby shows Daisy newspaper clippings about his exploits, and

has Ewing Klipspringer, a boarder, play the piano for them. One of the

notable mementos that Gatsby shows Daisy is a photograph of him with Dan

Страницы: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30