Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 December 21, 1940)

- Novel
THE GREAT
GATSBY

Nick Carraway, the protagonist, has recently moved from the midwest to get his career started in New
York. He lives on the island of West Egg (which is poorer) across from East Egg (richer) where his
pompous friends Tom and Daisy live. They gossip and party a lot, and Tom is cheating on Daisy with a
lady named Myrtle Wilson. Everyone knows except for Daisy and Mr. Wilson.

Nick lives next door to a mysterious man named Gatsby, who throws legendary parties, but no one
knows anything about him. Nick becomes friends with him and learns that he is in love with Daisy. They
almost married when they were younger, but he was too poor and decided to wait. He gets with Daisy
again, and they have an affair.

Tom is suspicious of this, and he tries to prove that Gatsby is not who he seems. Daisy becomes enraged
at Tom's condescending, superior, chauvenist attitude, and says that she will leave Tom for Gatsby.
However, she then finds out that Gatsby is not the respected pharmacist he claims to be. He gets his
money through bootlegging.

Daisy then refuses to leave Tom for him, and makes him drive her home. Daisy is at the wheel when the
car hits someone- coincidentally, Myrtle Wilson, Tom's other woman.

Mr. Wilson discovers his wife's affair, and asks around about the car that hit her (it is bright yellow and
immediately recognizable). So, thinking that Gatsby hit her, Mr. Wilson goes to Gatsby's house and
shoots him, and then shoots himself.

Gatsby dies alone, because no one shows up to his funeral except for Nick and his father. Tom and Daisy
go to Chicago and Nick never sees them again.

- Poem

SLEEP OF A UNIVERSITY

Watching through the long, dim hours
Like statued Mithras, stand ironic towers;
Their haughty lines severe by light
Are softened and gain tragedy at night.
Self-conscious, cynics of their charge,
Proudly they challenge the dreamless world at large.

From pseudo-ancient Nassau Hall, the bell
Crashes the hour, as if to pretend "All's well!"
Over the campus then the listless breeze
Floats along drowsily, filtering through the trees,
Whose twisted branches seem to lie
Like point d'Alencon lace against the sky
Of soft gray-black -- a gorgeous robe
Buttoned with stars, hung over a tiny globe.

With life far-off, peace sits supreme:
The college slumbers in a fatuous dream,
While, watching through the moonless hours
Like statued Mithras, stand the ironic towers.







- Short Stories

Crazy Sunday
The story concentrates on the young screenwriter, Joel Coles. He is 28 years, but he is still reached
nothing in this life. In a one word, he is a loser. But in one day, he was lucky. He was invited to the house
by Miles and Stella Calman. Every Sunday they arrange at home a party where stars and masters of the
film industry get together. He wanted to show a sketch to be appreciated by professionals. But he was
dishonored. After that he was very upset, but Stella, his friend since his living in New York, calmed him
down and invited him to a party again the next Sunday. There Stella told him about her awful tragedy.
Her husband had a relationship with her best friend and it disturbs her awfully. During Stella's ardent
tirade, Joel unexpectedly understood that he loves her. Some days after that, Stella called Joel and
invited him to keep her company in Saturday evening as her husband left. But in the evening when Joel
and Stella were at her home, phone called and Stella was informed that her husband died in a plane
crash. And Joel understood that she really loved Miles despite his mistakes.












Charles John Huffam Dickens (7 February 1812 9 June 1870)

A Christmas
Carol
- Novel
An old, miserly businessman treats everyone as inferiors. He's visited by 3 ghosts on Christmas Eve. Each
ghost shows him the past, present and future, respectively. By seeing his own life objectively, and by
viewing the circumstances of the people that work for him, he realizes that his choices have left him and
others miserable. When he sees that no one comes to his funeral, and upon seeing his own grave, he
realizes that he had made mistakes and regrets his choices. He believes he is dead, but upon waking, he
finds that Christmas morning has dawned, and he proceeds to make amends and starts treating people
better.









- Poem
The Ivy Green

Oh, a dainty plant is the Ivy green,
That creepeth o'er ruins old!
Of right choice food are his meals, I ween,
In his cell so lone and cold.
The wall must be crumbled, the stone decayed,
To pleasure his dainty whim:
And the mouldering dust that years have made
Is a merry meal for him.
Creeping where no life is seen,
A rare old plant is the Ivy green.

Fast he stealeth on, though he wears no wings,
And a staunch old heart has he.
How closely he twineth, how tight he clings
To his friend the huge Oak Tree!
And slyly he traileth along the ground,
And his leaves he gently waves,
As he joyously hugs and crawleth round
The rich mould of dead men's graves.
Creeping where grim death hath been,
A rare old plant is the Ivy green.

Whole ages have fled and their works decayed,
And nations have scattered been;
But the stout old Ivy shall never fade,
From its hale and hearty green.
The brave old plant, in its lonely days,
Shall fatten upon the past:
For the stateliest building man can raise
Is the Ivy's food at last.
Creeping on where time has been,
A rare old plant is the Ivy green.


- Short Story
THE SIGNAL MAN
The story begins with the narrator calling "Halloa! Below there!" into a railway cutting. The signalman
standing on the line below does not look up, as the narrator expects, but rather turns about and stares
into the railway tunnel it is his responsibility to monitor. The narrator calls down again and asks
permission to descend. The signalman seems reluctant, but assents and waits with an air of 'expectation
and watchfulness'.
The railway cutting is a damp, gloomy and lonely place. The signalman seems still to be in fear of the
narrator, who tries to put him at ease. The signalman appears to have seen the narrator before. The
narrator assures him that this is impossible. Reassured, the signalman welcomes the newcomer into his
little cabin and the two men speak of the signalman's work. His labour consists of a dull, monotonous
routine, but the signalman feels he deserves nothing better, as he misused his youthful academic
opportunities. The narrator remarks that the signalman seems a sane and dutiful employee at all times
but when he looks to his signal bell at two moments when it is not ringing. The visitor leaves with a
promise to return on the following night. Before he makes his exit, the signalman asks him why he used
the words "Halloa! Below!" on his arrival; were they not suggested to him "in any supernatural way"?
The narrator says no. The signalman implores him to by no means call out so again. He says that he is
"troubled".
The following day the narrator returns and does not call. The signalman tells him that he will reveal to
him the nature of his trouble, which is that he is haunted by a recurring apparition: he has seen a
spectre at the entrance to the tunnel on two separate occasions and that each appearance has
foreshadowed a tragedy. In the first instance, the signalman heard the shouted words that the narrator
spoke and saw a figure with its arm across its face, waving the other in desperate warning. He questions
it but it vanishes. He then runs into the tunnel but finds nobody. Within a few hours there occurs a
terrible train crash with many casualties. On its second appearance, the figure is silent, with both hands
before the face in an attitude of mourning. Soon afterward, a beautiful young woman dies in a passing
train. Finally the signalman admits that he has seen the spectre several times within the past week.
It seems to the narrator that the signalman is suffering from hallucinations. During the conversation the
signalman sees the spectre, and hears his bell toll out a phantom ring, but the narrator sees and hears
nothing of these events. The signalman is convinced these supernatural incidents are portents of a third
tragic event yet to happen, and is sick with fear and frustration: he does not understand why he should
be burdened with knowledge of an incipient tragedy when he, as a lowly railway functionary, has
neither the authority nor the ability to prevent it. The sceptical narrator believes that his new friend's
imagination has been overtaxed and suggests taking him to see a doctor.
The following day the narrator visits the railway cutting for a third time, and is struck to see a figure at
the mouth of the tunnel. This figure is no ghost, however. It is a man, one of a group of officials
investigating an incident on the line. The narrator discovers his friend the signalman is dead, having
been struck by an oncoming train. He had been standing on the line, looking intently at something, and
failed to get out of the way. The driver of the train explains that he did attempt to warn the signalman of
his danger: as the train bore down on the signalman the driver called out to him "Below there! Look out!
Look out! For God's sake, clear the way!" Moreover, the driver waved his arm in warning even as he
covered his face to avoid seeing the train strike the hapless signalman. The narrator notes the
significance of the similarity between the driver's actions and the actions of the spectre as the signalman
had earlier described them, but leaves the nature of that significance to the reader.