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A cheap shot at a bestseller or a deeper book with connections relevant to the human race? In The Call of the Wild, the protagonist is a dog named...

Meet Emma Woodhouse of Jane Austen's Emma. She’s a rich young woman with a good social life living in 18th-century England. We bet she has an aw...

Anyone who has ever bought anything from IKEA knows this to be true.

The Old Man and the Sea was actually Hemingway's second title. His editor wouldn't let him use The Middle Aged Man and the Stubborn Fish.

Why does Dr. Watson keep appearing in Sherlock Holmes's stories? Shmoop amongst yourselves.

Dig up your trench coat, grab your magnifying glass, and stick on that fake mustache (we know you have one): it's time to unleash your inner Sherlo...

Oscar Wilde was a beast when it came to wordplay. Oh, maybe that's why Shmoop loves him so much—we're pretty wilde, too.

All Okonkwo was asking for was a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Granted, swinging your machete around may not be the nicest way to ask, but still. The guy d...

This novel is all about finding yourself, which hopefully you can accomplish before you find yourself smack dab in the middle of an ocean without a...

They say that honesty is the best policy, but Jack lies about his identity and still gets the girl. Does that mean we should all lie to get what we...

The house may be bleak, and so will your social life when you take on this epically long novel. Dickens is pretty hip, though, so you'll earn some...

What is the American Dream? Is it popularity? Or is it being content with what you have? In Arthur Miller's play Death of a Salesman, the American...

Stephen Crane wrote The Red Badge of Courage about the Civil War not long after the war had ended. And get this: he didn't even fight in the war. W...

The Salem Witch Trials in the 17th century. The Red Scare in the 1950s. Little to no evidence that witches/communists were anywhere close to taking...

The broken-hearted Abigail takes her revenge. You might never want to break-up with someone again after this video, so make sure the next person is...

A salesman dies—sorry to ruin it for you. But in addition to giving away key plot points in the title, Arthur Miller also liked to make some pret...