Upon encountering the limping Ethan Frome, a visitor becomes curious about the striking man's back story. Using extended flashbacks, author Edith Wharton paints a picture of a man who continually sacrifices his aspirations in order to care for the needy people in his life. After abandoning his goal of higher education to assist his ailing parents on their farm, Ethan's return to Starkfield results in a loveless marriage of service to Zeena, an older...

The Pilgrim's Progress is a 1678 Christian allegory written by the Puritan preacher John Bunyan. Begun while Bunyan served a 12-year jail sentence for his nonconformist preaching, the novel unfolds over two parts, one concerning Christian, and the other his wife Christiana and their sons. Both concern the central characters' ordeals in traveling from the worldly to the sublime, and are filled with allegorical characters with names like Hypocrisy and...