Literary Criticism
Cliffs Notes: Potok's The Chosen
Chaim Potok's novel The Chosen, an admittedly autobiographical portrait of growing up Jewish in America, focuses on the challenge of living a religious life in a secular society.
Cliffs Notes: Lowry's The Giver
Jonas, the protagonist in Lois Lowry's novel The Giver, lives in what appears to be a safe, predictable, familiar community.
Cliffs Notes: Dorris' A Yellow Raft in Blue Water
The national bestseller A Yellow Raft In Blue Water is a fierce saga of three generations of Indian women, beset by hardships and torn by angry secrets, yet inextricably joined by the bonds of kinship.
Cliffs Notes: Shaara's The Killer Angels
The book tells the story of the Battle of Gettysburg from the points of view of four main characters: Lee and Longstreet on the Confederate side, and Buford and Chamberlain on the Union side.
Cliffs Notes: White's The Once and Future King
Based on medieval Arthurian legends, The Once and Future King is a twentieth-century version of young Arthur's quest for the sword Excalibur and his claim to the throne of England.
Cliffs Notes: Hemingway's Short Stories
The first writer to define a distinctly American literature, Ernest Hemingway wrote himself into most of his fiction. Summarized here are nine Nick Adams stories and four other well-known works.
Cliffs Notes: Lipsyte's The Contender
A multicultural perennial favorite by Robert Lipsyte, The Contender is a moral tale that emphasizes the importance of the fight rather than the prize, the quality of the struggle over the outcome.
Cliffs Notes: Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
The author, ex-slave Harriet Jacobs, speaks through her narrator Linda Brent to reveal a story of enslavement, degradation, and sexual exploitation. A book-length narrative, it is often cited as the counterpart to Frederick Douglass' An American Slave, Written by Himself.
Cliffs Notes: Rand's Anthem
Perfect preparation for the annual Ayn Rand essay contest, this allegory of man in a collectivist society places characters, such as Equality 7-2521 and Liberty 5-3000, in a struggle for individual freedom.
Cliffs Notes: Rand's The Fountainhead
The novel that made Ayn Rand famous, The Fountainhead is perceived as a modern classic. Taking place in New York City in the 1920s and 1930s, it chronicles the efforts of architect Howard Roark to achieve success on his own terms.