Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
Siddhartha grows up with his friend Govinda in a small village in India. They are taught to believe in ancient Hindu teachings by Siddhartha’s father, yet the young man becomes restless and decides to go out and explore the world to find answers to his questions. The ancient Hindu teachings seem silly to him, and according to Siddhartha, they offer inadequate explanations of the ways of the world. Govinda leaves the village with him for different reasons; he admires Siddhartha’s intelligence and hopes that he shall become successful by staying with him, as his “shadow,” following him wherever he goes. They both lead lives as wandering Samanas, self-exiles of society living in self-denial. They suppress all bodily desires by fasting, breathing control, and living in poverty; only the natural world is embraced as truth, and meditation is practiced regularly. After three years, Siddhartha grows weary of this life, too, and decides to accompany Govinda to visit the Buddha in Savathi. Govinda becomes a disciple of Buddha while Siddhartha continues his journey alone, still wishing to understand the world for himself since all teachings have failed to accomplish this, including the ancient beliefs of the Hindus and this new religion of Buddha. However, Siddhartha wishes to have the enlightenment that Buddha has attained by listening to the voice of his Self instead of denying it.
It is lust that afflicts him first when he meets the beautiful Kamala in the town of Samsara. But in order to be his lover, she requires him obtain shoes, clothes, and money to buy her presents. Siddhartha becomes a merchant, accrues wealth and learns much about lovemaking from this beautiful woman. Over time, the desires of his body rage out of control; he gambles, drinks wine heavily, and becomes greedy. He remains in Samsara for many years, until, struck by his mortality, he notices how old he has become. Realizing his folly and how many years have been lost, Siddhartha simply walks away from Samsara, never to return to his riches or to Kamala. She is left pregnant with his unborn son. Ashamed at his wickedness, Siddhartha contemplates suicide near a river but stops after seeing his reflection in the water and being reminded of his innocent childhood. Falling asleep after this depression, he awakens to see Govinda nearby, who has remained Buddha’s disciple all this time and has not changed at all. Siddhartha has changed so much that Govinda doesn’t even recognize him and is disgusted to see his rich clothes. Govinda leaves; Siddhartha decides to remain near the river and live with the ferryman, Vasudeva.
Only after living a life of self-denial and then experiencing sins for himself does Siddhartha finally find wisdom about the world. Vasudeva teaches him how to listen to the quiet sounds of the river, endlessly flowing, and he realizes that the world is simply a recurring cycle. Nothing really changes at all. His selfish ego destroyed, Siddhartha realizes the unimportance of one self alone since his life is a part of the greater unity of things that is “Om.” Later Kamala dies after bringing his son, Young Siddhartha, to him. The young boy despises his father’s gentleness and his boring life near the river, for he has not experienced the world. After his son returns to Samsara, Siddhartha is heartbroken that Young Siddhartha must endure the same trials of sin and depression that he himself has already overcome. Realizing that he cannot shelter anyone from the world and that each must find his own path towards understanding, Siddhartha heals. He had as a young boy fled from his own Brahmin father and never returned; why should it be so bad now when his son leaves him? It is a part of the world’s cycle.
Vasudeva dies and Siddhartha is left to row the ferry himself. After a few years, old Govinda appears again, wishing to learn from Siddhartha’s wisdom. Govinda has remained unchanged, a devout disciple of Buddha, for he has not experienced the world like Siddhartha. Siddhartha’s smile and face have finally become much like that of the Buddha, although he had never been Buddha’s disciple. Govinda is stunned at Siddhartha’s transformation but remains confused as to how he has achieved enlightenment. Govinda has been devout, faithful, and subservient while Siddhartha led a life of sin before coming to peace. These two old men meet there at the river’s edge; one has progressed and found meaning in life, and the other has spent life stagnating, by blindly following the teachings of another rather than teaching himself by trial and error. It is personal experience, not age, which teaches wisdom.
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Sense and Sensibility
by Jane Austen
he death of Mr. Henry Dashwood’s uncle opens the novel. Upon the uncle’s death, Norland estate is inherited by Henry Dashwood, on the condition it should next pass to his son John and John’s young son, and not to his three daughters Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret. John Dashwood is wealthy, but at Mr. Dashwood’s death, the Dashwood women are left with only a small fortune. On his deathbed, Mr. Dashwood made his son promise to provide for his stepmother and stepsisters, but John is easily persuaded by his selfish wife that they should use the money for their “real” family, namely their son. He and his family move into Norland estate.
Feeling like guests in what had been their home, the four Dashwood women seek a new house on their limited budget. In the interim, the family is visited by Edward Ferrars, Fanny’s brother. He and Elinor get along well, and the family expects they will marry. Their courtship is interrupted by a telegram from a relative telling of a cottage they may rent in Southern England. With mixed feelings, the Dashwoods leave their home and travel to Barton Cottage.
They arrive to meet the owners of Barton Park, Sir John Middleton and his wife Lady Middleton. They also meet Mrs. Jennings, Lady Middleton’s mother. She likes the girls very much, as does Colonel Brandon, an older friend of the Middleton’s who takes a liking to Marianne. Marianne thinks the Colonel is too old for romance. She prefers the dashing Willoughby, who assists her after she falls down a hill and injures her ankle. After carrying her home, the two would meet often and discuss their many mutual interests. People begin to suspect they will be a match, until one day Willoughby suddenly leaves Devonshire for London, upsetting everyone, Marianne most of all.
Soon after Willoughby’s departure, Edward Ferrars makes a belated visit to the Cottage. He seems distant, and Elinor fears he may no longer have feelings for her. After he leaves, the Dashwoods receive two new guests, the Palmers. When the Palmers leave, they are replaced by two young ladies, Ann and Lucy Steele. Sir John tells the Miss Steeles that Elinor is attached to Mr. Ferrars. When Lucy Steele asks Elinor for her confidence, Lucy reveals that she is attached to Edward Ferrars. Elinor conceals her own connection while Lucy tells her about their secret four-year engagement.
Mrs. Jennings invites Elinor and Marianne to her London home. Upon arriving in London, Marianne immediately writes Willoughby, but her letters go unanswered. Elinor becomes increasingly suspicious of their engagement. When they encounter Willoughby at a party, he is cold and formal, and accompanied by another woman.
Marianne writes to Willoughby the next day, and soon receives a letter from him. In it, he denies any feelings for her, apologizes for any confusion, and tells her he is engaged to another woman. This woman, they learn, has a large fortune. Marianne admits there was no formal engagement, but her love for Willoughby is clear. Marianne falls into a terrible emotional and physical sickness.
Colonel Brandon reveals to Elinor how Willoughby seduced the Colonel’s young foster daughter, leaving her alone, penniless, and pregnant. When Elinor repeats this story to Marianne, Willoughby’s poor character is cemented in her mind.
Soon after they hear of Willoughby’s marriage, the two Miss Steele’s arrive. John and Fanny Dashwood are also in town. John tells Elinor that Edward Ferrars is likely to be married soon, to a woman with a large fortune. When Elinor next sees Lucy, it is in the presence of Mrs. Ferrars, Edward’s mother. Mrs. Ferrars, suspecting no connection between Edward and Lucy, treats Lucy wonderfully, while she coolly ignores Elinor.
Mrs. Jennings has some startling news to tell Elinor. Fanny has learned of Lucy and Edward’s long-standing engagement. Feeling angry and betrayed, Fanny threw the Miss Steeles out of her house. They learn from John Dashwood that Mrs. Ferrars asked Edward to end the engagement, and when he would not, she disinherited him, leaving him nearly broke.
While walking in the park, Elinor runs into Ann Steele. She tells Elinor that Edward offered to end the engagement, but that Lucy was firm that it continue. Edward expects to take religious orders in his effort to support them. The next day, Elinor receives a letter from Lucy, telling her what has happened, and that though she urged Edward to end the engagement for his own sake, he would not hear of it.
Elinor and Marianne plan to return to Barton Cottage, but they visit a few weeks at the Palmers’ house in Cleveland first. Before leaving, Colonel Brandon tells Elinor of a parsonage on his estate that Edward could manage. With this addition of income, his marriage is likely.
Shortly after arriving at Cleveland, Marianne catches a violent cold. She becomes feverish and delirious. Elinor sends Colonel Brandon to fetch her mother while she calls the doctor, and many anxious moments ensue. Willoughby arrives, anxious to explain himself. He tells Elinor he did and still does love Marianne, and was going to ask her to marry him, when his benefactress became informed of his behavior towards Colonel Brandon’s foster daughter. He was dismissed, and to keep his wealthy lifestyle, he had to marry well, which he did, and now deeply regrets. He admits to Elinor that the cruel final letter written to Marianne was actually written by his wife.
Mrs. Dashwood arrives with Colonel Brandon. During the ride, the Colonel revealed to her his love for Marianne, and Mrs. Dashwood hopes to have them married. When Marianne is well enough, the three return to Barton. Several days after their arrival, they learn of the marriage of Mr. Ferrars. The next day, Edward arrives at Barton. When Elinor inquires about Mrs. Ferrars, he tells her that it was his brother, not he, who wed Lucy Steele.
Edward asks Elinor to marry him, and she agrees. Edward attempts to reconcile with his mother, and she gives them a little money. The two are now able to marry, and take up residence at the Colonel’s parsonage.
With everyone desiring it, Marianne finds herself unable to resist a marriage to Colonel Brandon. His kindness has made him more attractive to her over time. They are married, and live happily only moments away from Edward and Elinor.
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The Scarlet Letter
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Narrator tells us that he found some documents telling the story of a Scarlet Letter used by a woman named Hester Prynne from Boston, Massachusetts in the early seventeenth century. He goes on to write an embellished version of the story.
The story begins with Hester Prynne, who has just given birth to an illegitimate daughter, leaving the prison to serve her sentence of standing in the town scaffolds for an hour with her three-month-old baby. She has also been required to wear a red letter “A,” to stand for Adulteress, on her chest. Hester has embroidered the A with beautiful gold thread and amazing artistry. While Hester is standing on the scaffold, Roger Chillingworth, who appears to recognize her, appears out of the woods. Hester is also asked to name the man with whom she sins, but refuses.
The years pass and Hester’s daughter Pearl grows into an impetuous little girl. Hester has moved with Pearl into a small cottage on the outskirts of town and makes her living by embroidering and sewing clothing for the townspeople. Roger Chillingworth, who turns out to be Hester’s long presumed-dead husband from Europe, befriends Hester’s Pastor, Arthur Dimmesdale, and the two eventually move in together. Chillingworth has billed himself as a physician, and therefore able to care for Dimmesdale, who is in very poor health. In a rare moment when Dimmesdale lets his guard down, Chillingworth discovers an open, self-inflicted wound on Dimmesdale’s chest.
Dimmesdale’s health continues to decline, and Chillingworth’s character changes noticeably. He becomes a demon-like presence in Dimmesdale’s life. Hester notices this change in Chillingworth and confronts him. It is suddenly clear that Chillingworth has determined that Dimmesdale is Pearl’s father, and that Chillingworth intends to make Dimmesdale’s life a living hell. Hester understands the gravity of the situation and decides to tell Dimmesdale who Chillingworth really is. At first, when Chillingworth first entered the settlement, he had sworn Hester to secrecy about his true identity. Hester decides that, for the sake of Dimmesdale’s sanity, she must warn him about Chillingworth’s character.
In a surprise and secret meeting with Arthur Dimmesdale, Hester reveals her secret, and begs a defeated and angry Dimmesdale for forgiveness. He eventually grants forgiveness, and agrees to leave the colony with Hester and Pearl as soon as possible. Unfortunately, somehow Chillingworth manages to find out about their secret plan to leave, and books passage on the same boat bound for Europe. In the meantime, Dimmesdale prepares for his final sermon, the Election Sermon given on the day the local officials are sworn into office. He writes and re-writes a dramatic speech which proclaims his sinful nature, which none of his parishioners can understand or accept. Dimmesdale is known as a brilliant and inspirational preacher, and his congregation is convinced of his godliness. After the exhausting sermon is over, Dimmesdale leaves the church and approaches the town scaffold. As he climbs the steps, he comes upon Hester and Pearl standing in the shadows, and pulls them onto the scaffold with him. In that moment, the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale bares his chest wound to the congregation, and takes Pearl’s hand to confess his fatherhood. He then dies.
After this dramatic admission and Dimmesdale’s death, Chillingworth no longer has anything to live for. He dies shortly thereafter. Hester and Pearl go to Europe for many years, and Hester eventually returns without her daughter. No one knows where Pearl is, although Hester is seen sewing extravagant baby clothing that no one in the colony would ever use. In addition, Hester continues to receive letters from a man of great means throughout the rest of her life. She lives a long life, and serves as counselor to many troubled women, as well as a giver of charity. When she dies, Hester is buried next to Dimmesdale’s sunken grave under a tombstone that says “On a Field, Sable, the Letter A, Gules.”
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The Tin Drum
by Gunter Grass
The Tin Drum is the fictional autobiography of Oskar Matzerath, who at the time of his writing is thirty years old. He is writing from inside a mental institution in Düsseldorf Germany, the reasons for which remain unknown to the reader until the end of the book. Oskar is, for all intents and purposes, a gnome; when he was a three year-old, he received a toy tin drum from his mother Agnes and decided voluntarily to stop growing, and to never become a grownup. At the same time, he developed a high-pitched singing voice that he could use to break glass - he nurtures this talent and uses it to many ends - defending his drum (which he is never without), breaking and entering, inscribing, and for the effect it has on an audience. As Oskar gets older, the events in his life impel him to grow - at the time of his writing, he measures four feet one inch, and in the middle of writing his book, he grows to four feet two inches.
Oskar’s autobiography is also the biography of his family and its history, starting around the turn of the 20th century and extending until after World War II. He begins with his grandparents’ generation and relates his story to the present day. His grand parents were Kashubes, a group of people who are neither ethnic Poles nor Germans, but hail from Kashubia, a province in northwest Poland. From them, Oskar inherits an “incendiary spirit.” His grandfather Joseph was wanted by the police for setting fire to several sawmills. Oskar’s grandmother, Anna, hid Joseph and then married him.
His grandparents moved to Danzig, a Polish port city, where Agnes, Oskar’s mother, and Oskar were born. Anna started a family tradition of owning grocery stores and food delivery businesses; the first part of the story revolves around the clique of storeowners in a section of Danzig.
Although Oskar’s mother marries a man named Alfred Matzerath, she has a lifelong adulterous love affair with her first cousin, Jan Bronski. Oskar calls both of these men his “presumptive father.” Alfred is a card-carrying Nazi, and Jan is a sickly Polish National too weak to pass his army physicals.
Oskar does not go to school, and is self-educated, although he claims to have been borne with all of his intellectual capacities intact. His two great intellectual influences are Rasputin and Goethe. His mother died before World War II began. Oskar weathers the war years in Danzig, which is the first city invaded by Germany in the war. He is present for the invasion of the Polish Post Office, where Jan works. Jan is later executed for his grudging role in the defense of the post office.
With both Agnes and Jan dead, Alfred marries Maria Truczinski, who is Oskar’s first love. Alfred marries her because he thinks he got her pregnant, but unbeknownst to either Maria or Alfred, it was Oskar that had impregnated Maria. She gives birth to Oskar’s son, Kurt, who spurns Oskar from the day of his birth and will not comply with Oskar’s wish for him to be a drum-wielding three-year old like himself.
During the war, Oskar takes up with a performing troupe of midgets like himself, led by his mentor, a midget-clown named Bebra. Oskar performs on his drum and breaks glass with his voice for legions of German soldiers on the front lines during World War II. He falls in love with Roswitha Raguna, an Italian somnambulist and midget like himself, but she is killed by artillery fire during the allied invasion of Normandy. After that, Oskar returns home.
Oskar becomes the leader of a band of anti-establishment youths called The Dusters. He refines their way of doing things and helps them break into government offices. They are finally caught in a church, sawing apart a statue of the Virgin Mary and the baby Jesus, because a sister of one of the members ratted them out.
Alfred, a member of the Nazis, is killed at the end of the war by the invading Russian army. Once Alfred is gone, Oskar, Maria, and Kurt are forced to emigrate to Düsseldorf to be with Maria’s sister, Guste. There, Kurt and Maria take up trading on the black market, and Oskar becomes a tombstone engraver. Later, during the tough time of the currency reform after the war, Oskar becomes a model at the academy of art in Düsseldorf. Later, he takes up jazz with his friend Klepp and they put together a jazz band and play at a nightclub called “The Onion Cellar” in Düsseldorf. Once the nightclub owner dies, Oskar is offered a contract to take his drum on the road for solo acts. This leads to a recording deal and makes Oskar rich.
The record company turns out to be owned by Bebra, who becomes close to Oskar and then dies. Oskar stops drumming. Out walking in the fields outside Düsseldorf, Oskar finds the severed ring finger of the woman, a nurse named Sister Dorothea, who had lived across the hall from him in his Düsseldorf apartment and had been murdered. He keeps the finger because he had been in love with her. He then meets another man, Vittlar, with whom he becomes friends. For Vittlar’s sake, he asks his friend to turn him in to the police for Sister Dorothea’s murder, which Vittlar does. Oskar is put on trial for the murder and is wrongfully convicted and forced to live in a mental hospital, where he writes his memoirs.
Ray Bradbury
Siddhartha grows up with his friend Govinda in a small village in India. They are taught to believe in ancient Hindu teachings by Siddhartha’s father, yet the young man becomes restless and decides to go out and explore the world to find answers to his questions. The ancient Hindu teachings seem silly to him, and according to Siddhartha, they offer inadequate explanations of the ways of the world. Govinda leaves the village with him for different reasons; he admires Siddhartha’s intelligence and hopes that he shall become successful by staying with him, as his “shadow,” following him wherever he goes. They both lead lives as wandering Samanas, self-exiles of society living in self-denial. They suppress all bodily desires by fasting, breathing control, and living in poverty; only the natural world is embraced as truth, and meditation is practiced regularly. After three years, Siddhartha grows weary of this life, too, and decides to accompany Govinda to visit the Buddha in Savathi. Govinda becomes a disciple of Buddha while Siddhartha continues his journey alone, still wishing to understand the world for himself since all teachings have failed to accomplish this, including the ancient beliefs of the Hindus and this new religion of Buddha. However, Siddhartha wishes to have the enlightenment that Buddha has attained by listening to the voice of his Self instead of denying it.
It is lust that afflicts him first when he meets the beautiful Kamala in the town of Samsara. But in order to be his lover, she requires him obtain shoes, clothes, and money to buy her presents. Siddhartha becomes a merchant, accrues wealth and learns much about lovemaking from this beautiful woman. Over time, the desires of his body rage out of control; he gambles, drinks wine heavily, and becomes greedy. He remains in Samsara for many years, until, struck by his mortality, he notices how old he has become. Realizing his folly and how many years have been lost, Siddhartha simply walks away from Samsara, never to return to his riches or to Kamala. She is left pregnant with his unborn son. Ashamed at his wickedness, Siddhartha contemplates suicide near a river but stops after seeing his reflection in the water and being reminded of his innocent childhood. Falling asleep after this depression, he awakens to see Govinda nearby, who has remained Buddha’s disciple all this time and has not changed at all. Siddhartha has changed so much that Govinda doesn’t even recognize him and is disgusted to see his rich clothes. Govinda leaves; Siddhartha decides to remain near the river and live with the ferryman, Vasudeva.
Only after living a life of self-denial and then experiencing sins for himself does Siddhartha finally find wisdom about the world. Vasudeva teaches him how to listen to the quiet sounds of the river, endlessly flowing, and he realizes that the world is simply a recurring cycle. Nothing really changes at all. His selfish ego destroyed, Siddhartha realizes the unimportance of one self alone since his life is a part of the greater unity of things that is “Om.” Later Kamala dies after bringing his son, Young Siddhartha, to him. The young boy despises his father’s gentleness and his boring life near the river, for he has not experienced the world. After his son returns to Samsara, Siddhartha is heartbroken that Young Siddhartha must endure the same trials of sin and depression that he himself has already overcome. Realizing that he cannot shelter anyone from the world and that each must find his own path towards understanding, Siddhartha heals. He had as a young boy fled from his own Brahmin father and never returned; why should it be so bad now when his son leaves him? It is a part of the world’s cycle.
Vasudeva dies and Siddhartha is left to row the ferry himself. After a few years, old Govinda appears again, wishing to learn from Siddhartha’s wisdom. Govinda has remained unchanged, a devout disciple of Buddha, for he has not experienced the world like Siddhartha. Siddhartha’s smile and face have finally become much like that of the Buddha, although he had never been Buddha’s disciple. Govinda is stunned at Siddhartha’s transformation but remains confused as to how he has achieved enlightenment. Govinda has been devout, faithful, and subservient while Siddhartha led a life of sin before coming to peace. These two old men meet there at the river’s edge; one has progressed and found meaning in life, and the other has spent life stagnating, by blindly following the teachings of another rather than teaching himself by trial and error. It is personal experience, not age, which teaches wisdom.
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Sense and Sensibility
by Jane Austen
he death of Mr. Henry Dashwood’s uncle opens the novel. Upon the uncle’s death, Norland estate is inherited by Henry Dashwood, on the condition it should next pass to his son John and John’s young son, and not to his three daughters Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret. John Dashwood is wealthy, but at Mr. Dashwood’s death, the Dashwood women are left with only a small fortune. On his deathbed, Mr. Dashwood made his son promise to provide for his stepmother and stepsisters, but John is easily persuaded by his selfish wife that they should use the money for their “real” family, namely their son. He and his family move into Norland estate.
Feeling like guests in what had been their home, the four Dashwood women seek a new house on their limited budget. In the interim, the family is visited by Edward Ferrars, Fanny’s brother. He and Elinor get along well, and the family expects they will marry. Their courtship is interrupted by a telegram from a relative telling of a cottage they may rent in Southern England. With mixed feelings, the Dashwoods leave their home and travel to Barton Cottage.
They arrive to meet the owners of Barton Park, Sir John Middleton and his wife Lady Middleton. They also meet Mrs. Jennings, Lady Middleton’s mother. She likes the girls very much, as does Colonel Brandon, an older friend of the Middleton’s who takes a liking to Marianne. Marianne thinks the Colonel is too old for romance. She prefers the dashing Willoughby, who assists her after she falls down a hill and injures her ankle. After carrying her home, the two would meet often and discuss their many mutual interests. People begin to suspect they will be a match, until one day Willoughby suddenly leaves Devonshire for London, upsetting everyone, Marianne most of all.
Soon after Willoughby’s departure, Edward Ferrars makes a belated visit to the Cottage. He seems distant, and Elinor fears he may no longer have feelings for her. After he leaves, the Dashwoods receive two new guests, the Palmers. When the Palmers leave, they are replaced by two young ladies, Ann and Lucy Steele. Sir John tells the Miss Steeles that Elinor is attached to Mr. Ferrars. When Lucy Steele asks Elinor for her confidence, Lucy reveals that she is attached to Edward Ferrars. Elinor conceals her own connection while Lucy tells her about their secret four-year engagement.
Mrs. Jennings invites Elinor and Marianne to her London home. Upon arriving in London, Marianne immediately writes Willoughby, but her letters go unanswered. Elinor becomes increasingly suspicious of their engagement. When they encounter Willoughby at a party, he is cold and formal, and accompanied by another woman.
Marianne writes to Willoughby the next day, and soon receives a letter from him. In it, he denies any feelings for her, apologizes for any confusion, and tells her he is engaged to another woman. This woman, they learn, has a large fortune. Marianne admits there was no formal engagement, but her love for Willoughby is clear. Marianne falls into a terrible emotional and physical sickness.
Colonel Brandon reveals to Elinor how Willoughby seduced the Colonel’s young foster daughter, leaving her alone, penniless, and pregnant. When Elinor repeats this story to Marianne, Willoughby’s poor character is cemented in her mind.
Soon after they hear of Willoughby’s marriage, the two Miss Steele’s arrive. John and Fanny Dashwood are also in town. John tells Elinor that Edward Ferrars is likely to be married soon, to a woman with a large fortune. When Elinor next sees Lucy, it is in the presence of Mrs. Ferrars, Edward’s mother. Mrs. Ferrars, suspecting no connection between Edward and Lucy, treats Lucy wonderfully, while she coolly ignores Elinor.
Mrs. Jennings has some startling news to tell Elinor. Fanny has learned of Lucy and Edward’s long-standing engagement. Feeling angry and betrayed, Fanny threw the Miss Steeles out of her house. They learn from John Dashwood that Mrs. Ferrars asked Edward to end the engagement, and when he would not, she disinherited him, leaving him nearly broke.
While walking in the park, Elinor runs into Ann Steele. She tells Elinor that Edward offered to end the engagement, but that Lucy was firm that it continue. Edward expects to take religious orders in his effort to support them. The next day, Elinor receives a letter from Lucy, telling her what has happened, and that though she urged Edward to end the engagement for his own sake, he would not hear of it.
Elinor and Marianne plan to return to Barton Cottage, but they visit a few weeks at the Palmers’ house in Cleveland first. Before leaving, Colonel Brandon tells Elinor of a parsonage on his estate that Edward could manage. With this addition of income, his marriage is likely.
Shortly after arriving at Cleveland, Marianne catches a violent cold. She becomes feverish and delirious. Elinor sends Colonel Brandon to fetch her mother while she calls the doctor, and many anxious moments ensue. Willoughby arrives, anxious to explain himself. He tells Elinor he did and still does love Marianne, and was going to ask her to marry him, when his benefactress became informed of his behavior towards Colonel Brandon’s foster daughter. He was dismissed, and to keep his wealthy lifestyle, he had to marry well, which he did, and now deeply regrets. He admits to Elinor that the cruel final letter written to Marianne was actually written by his wife.
Mrs. Dashwood arrives with Colonel Brandon. During the ride, the Colonel revealed to her his love for Marianne, and Mrs. Dashwood hopes to have them married. When Marianne is well enough, the three return to Barton. Several days after their arrival, they learn of the marriage of Mr. Ferrars. The next day, Edward arrives at Barton. When Elinor inquires about Mrs. Ferrars, he tells her that it was his brother, not he, who wed Lucy Steele.
Edward asks Elinor to marry him, and she agrees. Edward attempts to reconcile with his mother, and she gives them a little money. The two are now able to marry, and take up residence at the Colonel’s parsonage.
With everyone desiring it, Marianne finds herself unable to resist a marriage to Colonel Brandon. His kindness has made him more attractive to her over time. They are married, and live happily only moments away from Edward and Elinor.
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The Scarlet Letter
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Narrator tells us that he found some documents telling the story of a Scarlet Letter used by a woman named Hester Prynne from Boston, Massachusetts in the early seventeenth century. He goes on to write an embellished version of the story.
The story begins with Hester Prynne, who has just given birth to an illegitimate daughter, leaving the prison to serve her sentence of standing in the town scaffolds for an hour with her three-month-old baby. She has also been required to wear a red letter “A,” to stand for Adulteress, on her chest. Hester has embroidered the A with beautiful gold thread and amazing artistry. While Hester is standing on the scaffold, Roger Chillingworth, who appears to recognize her, appears out of the woods. Hester is also asked to name the man with whom she sins, but refuses.
The years pass and Hester’s daughter Pearl grows into an impetuous little girl. Hester has moved with Pearl into a small cottage on the outskirts of town and makes her living by embroidering and sewing clothing for the townspeople. Roger Chillingworth, who turns out to be Hester’s long presumed-dead husband from Europe, befriends Hester’s Pastor, Arthur Dimmesdale, and the two eventually move in together. Chillingworth has billed himself as a physician, and therefore able to care for Dimmesdale, who is in very poor health. In a rare moment when Dimmesdale lets his guard down, Chillingworth discovers an open, self-inflicted wound on Dimmesdale’s chest.
Dimmesdale’s health continues to decline, and Chillingworth’s character changes noticeably. He becomes a demon-like presence in Dimmesdale’s life. Hester notices this change in Chillingworth and confronts him. It is suddenly clear that Chillingworth has determined that Dimmesdale is Pearl’s father, and that Chillingworth intends to make Dimmesdale’s life a living hell. Hester understands the gravity of the situation and decides to tell Dimmesdale who Chillingworth really is. At first, when Chillingworth first entered the settlement, he had sworn Hester to secrecy about his true identity. Hester decides that, for the sake of Dimmesdale’s sanity, she must warn him about Chillingworth’s character.
In a surprise and secret meeting with Arthur Dimmesdale, Hester reveals her secret, and begs a defeated and angry Dimmesdale for forgiveness. He eventually grants forgiveness, and agrees to leave the colony with Hester and Pearl as soon as possible. Unfortunately, somehow Chillingworth manages to find out about their secret plan to leave, and books passage on the same boat bound for Europe. In the meantime, Dimmesdale prepares for his final sermon, the Election Sermon given on the day the local officials are sworn into office. He writes and re-writes a dramatic speech which proclaims his sinful nature, which none of his parishioners can understand or accept. Dimmesdale is known as a brilliant and inspirational preacher, and his congregation is convinced of his godliness. After the exhausting sermon is over, Dimmesdale leaves the church and approaches the town scaffold. As he climbs the steps, he comes upon Hester and Pearl standing in the shadows, and pulls them onto the scaffold with him. In that moment, the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale bares his chest wound to the congregation, and takes Pearl’s hand to confess his fatherhood. He then dies.
After this dramatic admission and Dimmesdale’s death, Chillingworth no longer has anything to live for. He dies shortly thereafter. Hester and Pearl go to Europe for many years, and Hester eventually returns without her daughter. No one knows where Pearl is, although Hester is seen sewing extravagant baby clothing that no one in the colony would ever use. In addition, Hester continues to receive letters from a man of great means throughout the rest of her life. She lives a long life, and serves as counselor to many troubled women, as well as a giver of charity. When she dies, Hester is buried next to Dimmesdale’s sunken grave under a tombstone that says “On a Field, Sable, the Letter A, Gules.”
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The Tin Drum
by Gunter Grass
The Tin Drum is the fictional autobiography of Oskar Matzerath, who at the time of his writing is thirty years old. He is writing from inside a mental institution in Düsseldorf Germany, the reasons for which remain unknown to the reader until the end of the book. Oskar is, for all intents and purposes, a gnome; when he was a three year-old, he received a toy tin drum from his mother Agnes and decided voluntarily to stop growing, and to never become a grownup. At the same time, he developed a high-pitched singing voice that he could use to break glass - he nurtures this talent and uses it to many ends - defending his drum (which he is never without), breaking and entering, inscribing, and for the effect it has on an audience. As Oskar gets older, the events in his life impel him to grow - at the time of his writing, he measures four feet one inch, and in the middle of writing his book, he grows to four feet two inches.
Oskar’s autobiography is also the biography of his family and its history, starting around the turn of the 20th century and extending until after World War II. He begins with his grandparents’ generation and relates his story to the present day. His grand parents were Kashubes, a group of people who are neither ethnic Poles nor Germans, but hail from Kashubia, a province in northwest Poland. From them, Oskar inherits an “incendiary spirit.” His grandfather Joseph was wanted by the police for setting fire to several sawmills. Oskar’s grandmother, Anna, hid Joseph and then married him.
His grandparents moved to Danzig, a Polish port city, where Agnes, Oskar’s mother, and Oskar were born. Anna started a family tradition of owning grocery stores and food delivery businesses; the first part of the story revolves around the clique of storeowners in a section of Danzig.
Although Oskar’s mother marries a man named Alfred Matzerath, she has a lifelong adulterous love affair with her first cousin, Jan Bronski. Oskar calls both of these men his “presumptive father.” Alfred is a card-carrying Nazi, and Jan is a sickly Polish National too weak to pass his army physicals.
Oskar does not go to school, and is self-educated, although he claims to have been borne with all of his intellectual capacities intact. His two great intellectual influences are Rasputin and Goethe. His mother died before World War II began. Oskar weathers the war years in Danzig, which is the first city invaded by Germany in the war. He is present for the invasion of the Polish Post Office, where Jan works. Jan is later executed for his grudging role in the defense of the post office.
With both Agnes and Jan dead, Alfred marries Maria Truczinski, who is Oskar’s first love. Alfred marries her because he thinks he got her pregnant, but unbeknownst to either Maria or Alfred, it was Oskar that had impregnated Maria. She gives birth to Oskar’s son, Kurt, who spurns Oskar from the day of his birth and will not comply with Oskar’s wish for him to be a drum-wielding three-year old like himself.
During the war, Oskar takes up with a performing troupe of midgets like himself, led by his mentor, a midget-clown named Bebra. Oskar performs on his drum and breaks glass with his voice for legions of German soldiers on the front lines during World War II. He falls in love with Roswitha Raguna, an Italian somnambulist and midget like himself, but she is killed by artillery fire during the allied invasion of Normandy. After that, Oskar returns home.
Oskar becomes the leader of a band of anti-establishment youths called The Dusters. He refines their way of doing things and helps them break into government offices. They are finally caught in a church, sawing apart a statue of the Virgin Mary and the baby Jesus, because a sister of one of the members ratted them out.
Alfred, a member of the Nazis, is killed at the end of the war by the invading Russian army. Once Alfred is gone, Oskar, Maria, and Kurt are forced to emigrate to Düsseldorf to be with Maria’s sister, Guste. There, Kurt and Maria take up trading on the black market, and Oskar becomes a tombstone engraver. Later, during the tough time of the currency reform after the war, Oskar becomes a model at the academy of art in Düsseldorf. Later, he takes up jazz with his friend Klepp and they put together a jazz band and play at a nightclub called “The Onion Cellar” in Düsseldorf. Once the nightclub owner dies, Oskar is offered a contract to take his drum on the road for solo acts. This leads to a recording deal and makes Oskar rich.
The record company turns out to be owned by Bebra, who becomes close to Oskar and then dies. Oskar stops drumming. Out walking in the fields outside Düsseldorf, Oskar finds the severed ring finger of the woman, a nurse named Sister Dorothea, who had lived across the hall from him in his Düsseldorf apartment and had been murdered. He keeps the finger because he had been in love with her. He then meets another man, Vittlar, with whom he becomes friends. For Vittlar’s sake, he asks his friend to turn him in to the police for Sister Dorothea’s murder, which Vittlar does. Oskar is put on trial for the murder and is wrongfully convicted and forced to live in a mental hospital, where he writes his memoirs.
Ray Bradbury
