Smart Lit Summary

                                                        The Little Match Girl                                                                                      Hans Christian Anderson The Little Match Girl is a fairy tale about a dying little girl’s wishes and her visions. The harsh reality of poverty, hunger and lack of parental care is presented in this story. The story begins on a freezing New Year’s Eve. A small, poor girl is shivering and bareheaded. She had lost her mother’s big slippers, hence barefooted too. She tries to sell match sticks in the street, but s...

                                                  Evil Allures, but Good Endures                                                                  Leo Tolstoy           Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer who is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time. He is best known for the novels War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1877). This short story "Evil Allures, but Good Endures", is about the evil ways in which the devil tempts us to commit sins against the kindness of God, and how God’s love sustains forever.           The narrator introduces us to a few slaves who love their mas...

  “Trifles” Susan Gaspell Susan Gaspell’s one-act play “Trifles” was written in 1916. This psychological play is loosely based on true events. The play begins with the murder of a farmer named Mr John Wright, for which his wife Minnie Foster Wright is suspected. The theme of the play deals with the psychological state of men and women along with their social roles. The word “trifles” typically refers to objects of little to no value. The interpretation may also be that men do not understand the value of women, and consider them trifles.   The sheriff, his wife Mrs Peters, the county attorney, and the neighbours (Mr. and Mrs. Hale) enter the kitchen of the Wright household. Mr. Hale explains how he paid a visit to the house on the previous day. Once there, Mrs. Wright greeted him but behaved strangely. She eventually stated in a dull voice that her husband was upstairs, dead. Mrs. Wright claimed that she was sound asleep while someone strangled her husband. It seems ...