ap literature stories semester exam

Revelation

Takes place in the deep South, Mrs. Turpin has an extreme superiority complex towards the others (specifically the lower class and a certain race).

Flannery O'Connor

The Life You Save May Be Your Own

Lucynell and her daughter’s lives are put in a disarray when Mr. Tom Shiftlet intrudes their lives.

Flannery O'Connor

A Rose for Emily

A gothic short story abotu Emily, a reclusive Southern Belle, and her lonliness after her father’s death.

William Faulkner

The Necklace

The Loisels live in depressing porverty and yearn for a lavish life. They recieve an invintation to a fancy party, and Mrs. Loisel borrows a necklace from her rich friend. During the party, she loses the necklace and spends her entire life trying to repay the value of the necklace.

Guy de Maupassant

The Bet

A depiction of a lawyer who placed a bet that he would not be able to spend 15 years in prison. It shows his life of 15 years in prison, and shortly after he is “released”.

Anton Chekhov

Araby

A boy has a crush on a girl, and goes to the marketplace to try to impress her, but has a revelation during.

James Joyce

Homage for Isaac Babel

Catherine tries to impress Philip and the Narrator by bringing books written by Issac Babel.

Doris Lessing

The Man Who Was Almost a Man

Dave Saunders, a young teenager, buys his first gun to prove he is a man. However, he ends up killing his donkey and is faced with the consequences of his immature use of the gun.

Richard Wright

The Two

The gossip of Lorraine and Theresa after they move into an apartment in Brewster Place.

Gloria Naylor

Everyday Use

A family reunion between a mother and her two daughters, Dee and Maggie. The story unfolds as the characters grapple with their differing perspectives on their cultural roots (the quilts) and the meaning of heritage.

Alice Walker

The Son From America

Set in a small village of Poland, it follows an elder couple as their son finally comes back from the U.S. He is accomplished and extremely rich and wants to provide for them.

Isaac Bashevis Singer

Zlateh the Goat

A family decides they need to sell their goat, Zlateh, to survive the next winter. This story is a depiction of their journey together.

Isaac Bashevis Singer

The First Seven Years

The story is about Feld, a Jewish shoemaker who seeks a suitable husband for his daughter Miriam. But she is not interested in his choice of Max, a college student. Feld soon discovers that his assistant, Sobel, a Polish Jewish refugee, is in love with Miriam, and that she returns his affections.

Bernard Malamud

A&P

Sammy, a grocier, encounters 3 young girls in bikinis. This leads to a dramatic choice for Sammy and his boss.

John Updike

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

Arnold Friend stalks Connie.

Joyce Carol Oates

A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

A strange old man with wings appears in a small town, and the villagers are unsure if he’s an angel or something else.

• The Old Man, Pelayo, Elisenda, Father Gonzaga.

Gabriel García Márquez

B. Wordsworth

A young boy meets a mysterious poet, B. Wordsworth, who teaches him about life, beauty, and sadness.

• port of spain, trinidad

V.S. Naipaul

Cathedral

A blind man visits a married couple, and the narrator, initially uncomfortable, bonds with him through drawing a cathedral.

• raymond, the blind man, his wife

Raymond Carter

Désirée’s Baby

Desiree is cast out by her husband after their baby is mixed race, despite having a white husband, Armand Aubigny, who is rich and husband.

• Antebellum Louisiana, plantation setting.

Kate Chopin

Games at Twilight

The children are playing hide and seek, and the boy who wants win has a really good hiding spot, but realizes his insignficiance.

• Ravi, Raghu,

• hide and seek, shed, India

Anita Desai

Interpreter of Maladies

tour guide misinterprets the attention from an American-Indian woman, revealing loneliness and miscommunication.

• Mr. Kapasi, Mrs. Das, Mr. Das

• India, tourists

Jhumpa Lahiri

Miss Brill

a lonley Miss Brill frequents on a bench, but then comes across a depressing realization—- lonliness.

• Miss Brill, Boy & Girl (young couple), hallucinations

• France, public parks

Katherine Mansfield

On the Rainy River

a young man wants to avoid the vietnam war draft, so he thinks about fleeing to canada.

• Tim, Elroy Berdahl, shame, Worthington Minnesota, Tip Top lodge, the Rainy River, Malcaster College, June of 1968, USS Maddox,Gene McCarthy, Harvard, Phi Beta Kappa,

Tim O’Brien

Strangers

The importance of human connection, upon reflecting on an encounter with a fisherman.

• fisherman, robert bergman

Toni Morrison

Rocking Horse Winner

a little boy is addicted to riding his toy horse to predict the winners of darbies so he could win bet money to aid his mother’s expenses.

• Paul, Hester, Uncle Oscar, Bassest, wooden horse, England, fashion assitant, bets, Dafodil, Lively Spark, Malabar

D.H Lawrence

The Scarlet Ibis

A boy pushes his younger brother, Doodle to his death (on accident),

• Doodle, trees, old woman swam, miss leedie, william armstrong, october 8th, aunt nicey, mahogony coffin

James Hurst

The Train to Rhodesia

a tourist couple haggles with a poor vendor for fun.

• carved lion, honeymoon, haggling, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe)

Nadine Gordimer

Two Words

A woman earns a living selling words; she enchants a war hero with two secret words that change his fate.

• Belisa Crepusculario, El Mulato

Isabel Allende

The Jilting of Granny Weatherall

A grandma on her deathbed remembering her traumatic jilting (being left at the alter)

• Granny Weatherall, Cornelia, George, Doctor Harry, Hapsy

Katherine Anne Porter

El Tonto del Barrio

A beloved village fool brings the community together, and when someone tries to "fix" him, it disrupts the harmony.

• El Tonto (Romero), Seferino, Mr. Pacheco.

Jose Armas