Crash Course AP Literature

Cry, The Beloved
Country by Alan
Paton, published
1948

Main Plot/Idea/Concept: Stephen Kumalo struggles against white oppression

and the corrupting influences of city life that are destroying his family and his

country. He travels to Johannesburg to search for his son who has been arrested

for the murder of Arthur Jarvis. However, he is unable to save his son, who is

sentenced to death. Afterward, Jarvis’ father helps Kumalo to improve

conditions in the village.

Tags: Apartheid, fathers and sons, injustice, repentance

A Doll’s House by
Henrik Ibsen, first
published 1879

Genre: play

Setting: Norway, late 1800s

Main characters: Nora and Torvald Helmer, Kristine Lind, Dr. Rank, Nils

Krogstad

Main Plot/Idea/Concept: A young wife, who has forged her father’s signature

to gain funds to take her ill husband on a rest cure, finds herself about to be

found out, a result that would bring shame upon her husband and threaten her

marriage.

Tags: women’s rights, honor/duty, gender roles, marriage

An Enemy of the
People by Henrik
Ibsen, published
1882

Genre: play

Setting: 19 th century coastal Norway

Main characters: Dr. Thomas Stockmann, Peter Stockmann

Main Plot/Idea/Concept: The town the Stockmanns live in has just invested a

lot of money in new public baths, which they hope will pay off through an

increase in tourism. The baths become popular and lucrative, but Dr.

Stockmann discovers that waste from the local tannery is polluting the baths

and making them toxic to users. Far from being rewarded for his community-

minded act, Stockmann is ostracized for his unwillingness to go along with the

cover-up.

Tags: hypocrisy of political systems; disillusionment; illusion of truth

Ethan Frome by
Edith Wharton,
published 1911

Genre: novel

Setting: Massachusetts, late 19th and early 20th centuries

Main characters: Ethan Frome, Zenobia (Zeena) Frome, Mattie Silver

Main Plot/Idea/Concept: Ethan Frome is a married man who cannot act upon

his feelings for another woman.