Short Story Summaries and Analysis

Find individual short-story summaries, themes, interpretations, and analysis pages.

• "20/20" by Linda Brewer Summary, Analysis & Meaning of Short Story
• "A Curtain of Green" Summary: Eudora Welty Short Story Synopsis
• "A Dark Brown Dog" Summary by Stephen Crane: Synopsis
• "A Day Goes By" Summary by Luigi Pirandello
• "A Journey" Summary by Edith Wharton
• "A Late Encounter with the Enemy" Summary by Flannery O'Connor
• "A Little Journey" by Ray Bradbury Summary
• "A Mild Attack of Locusts" Summary: Doris Lessing Short Story Plot Synopsis
• "A Newspaper Story" Summary by O Henry
• "A Piece of News" Summary: Eudora Welty Short Story
• "A Piece of Wood" Summary: Ray Bradbury Short Story Synopsis
• "A Strange Story" by O Henry: Summary, Short Story Plot Synopsis
• "A Sunrise on the Veld" Summary: Doris Lessing Short Story Plot Synopsis
• "A Temple of the Holy Ghost" Summary by Flannery O'Connor
• "A Vine on a House" Summary: Ambrose Bierce Short Story
• "African Morning" Summary: Langston Hughes Short Story Synopsis
• "Ah Bah's Money" Summary: Catherine Lim Short Story
• "Alaska" Summary: Alice Adams Short Story
• "Alicia" by Gabrielle Roy Summary: Short Story Plot Synopsis
• "An Eye for an Eye" by Jeffrey Archer Summary & Ending Meaning
• "An Hour with Abuelo" Summary, Theme & Analysis by Judith Ortiz Cofer
• "An Upheaval" Summary by Anton Chekhov
• "Beyond the Bayou" Summary by Kate Chopin
• "Bicycles, Muscles, Cigarettes" Summary: Raymond Carver Plot Synopsis
• "Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat" Summary by Russell Banks
• "Blue Winds Dancing" Summary: Tom Whitecloud Short Story Plot Synopsis
• "Bread" by Margaret Atwood Analysis: Theme & Summary
• "By the River" Summary: Joyce Carol Oates Short Story
• "Call If You Need Me" Summary by Raymond Carver
• "Cemetery Path" Summary & Theme by Leonard Q. Ross: Short Story Analysis
• "Charles" by Shirley Jackson Analysis, Summary & Theme: Short Story
• "Chivalry" by Neil Gaiman Summary, Plot Synopsis
• "Chunnel Vision" by Jeffrey Archer Summary & Explanation
• "Clean Sweep Ignatius" Summary by Jeffrey Archer
• "Click-Clack the Rattlebag" Summary by Neil Gaiman
• "Clytie" Summary: Eudora Welty Short Story
• "Daughter" Summary: Erskine Caldwell Short Story Synopsis
• "Day of the Butterfly" Summary: Alice Munro Plot Synopsis
• "Dead Men's Path" Analysis, Summary & Theme by Chinua Achebe: Sparknotes Substitute
• "Desiree's Baby" Sparknotes Substitute: Foreshadowing, Analysis, Theme & Summary by Kate Chopin
• "Dog" by Richard Russo: Summary of Short Story
• "Doubles" by Ray Bradbury Summary
• "Dusk" by Saki Summary: Short Story Plot Synopsis
• "Elephantiasis" by Dino Buzzati Summary
• "Embroidery" Summary: Ray Bradbury Short Story Synopsis
• "Escape from Spiderhead" Short Story Summary by George Saunders
• "Everyday Use" Theme, Analysis & Summary by Alice Walker: (Like Sparknotes, Cliff Notes)
• "Everything Stuck to Him" Summary, Analysis, Theme & Title by Raymond Carver
• "Exchange" by Ray Bradbury Summary
• "Fat" Raymond Carver Summary of Short Story
• "Father, Son, Holy Rabbit" Summary: Stephen Graham Jones Short Story Plot Synopsis
• "Flight" by Doris Lessing: Summary of Short Story
• "Flowers for Marjorie" Summary by Eudora Welty: Real or a Dream?
• "Fox 8" Summary: George Saunders Plot Synopsis
• "Game" by Donald Barthelme Summary
• "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid Analysis, Summary & Themes
• "Grandfather's Story" by Catherine Lim Summary
• "Hairball" by Margaret Atwood Summary
• "Human Greatness" by Dino Buzzati Summary
• "I See You Never" Summary: Ray Bradbury Short Story Synopsis
• "I Want to Know Why" Summary by Sherwood Anderson
• "In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried" Summary, Analysis & Theme by Amy Hempel (Sparknotes Substitute)
• "John Redding Goes to Sea" Summary by Zora Neale Hurston
• "Just One More Time" Summary: John Cheever Short Story
• "King of the Bingo Game" Summary, Analysis & Theme by Ralph Ellison: Sparknotes Substitute
• "Lather and Nothing Else" Theme & Summary by Hernando Tellez
• "Livvie" Summary: Eudora Welty Short Story
• "Love and Bread" Short Story Summary by August Strindberg
• "Luck" Summary: Mark Twain Plot Synopsis
• "Lucy Grange" Summary: Doris Lessing Short Story Plot Synopsis
• "Lusus Naturae" Summary by Margaret Atwood: Short Story
• "Magic": Katherine Anne Porter Summary, Plot Synopsis
• "Marigolds" Story Summary by Eugenia Collier: Short Story Analysis & Themes (Like Sparknotes)
• "Mars is Heaven!" Summary: Ray Bradbury ("The Third Expedition" Summary)
• "Miss Marple Tells a Story" Summary by Agatha Christie
• "Mono no Aware" Summary, Ken Liu Short Story
• "Mr. Mumsford" Summary: Larry French Short Story Plot Synopsis
• "My Flamboyant Grandson" Summary by George Saunders
• "Names/Nombres" by Julia Alvarez Summary, Theme & Analysis (Names Nombres)
• "Neighbors" by Raymond Carver: Summary of Short Story
• "Now I Lay Me" Summary by Ernest Hemingway
• "Oil of Dog" Summary by Ambrose Bierce
• "Old Mr. Marblehall" Summary: Eudora Welty Short Story
• "One of These Days" Theme, Summary & Meaning by Gabríel Gárcia Marquez: Central Ideas Analysis
• "Our Lady's Juggler" Summary by Anatole France
• "Paper" by Catherine Lim Summary
• "Personal Escort" by Dino Buzzati Summary
• "Pink Bow Tie" Short Story Summary by Paul Jennings
• "Popular Mechanics" Summary by Raymond Carver & Title Meaning
• "Powder" Summary & Analysis: Tobias Wolff Short Story
• "Prank" by Dino Buzzati Summary
• "Puppy": George Saunders Summary
• "Quiz at the Prison" by Dino Buzzati Summary
• "Regret" by Kate Chopin Summary: Plot Synopsis
• "Reunion" by John Cheever: Analysis, Theme & Summary of Short Story
• "Ricochet" Summary: Short Story by Angela Noel
• "Ripe Figs" Summary: Kate Chopin Short Story
• "Ripped Off" Summary: Alice Adams Short Story
• "Robot Dreams" Summary by Isaac Asimov
• "Rope" by Katherine Anne Porter Summary, Plot Synopsis
• "Say Yes" Analysis, Summary & Theme by Tobias Wolff
• "Season of Disbelief" Summary: Ray Bradbury Short Story
• "Skin": Roald Dahl Summary, Plot Synopsis
• "Sleeping" by Katharine Weber Theme & Summary: Analysis of Short Story
• "So Much Water So Close to Home" Summary by Raymond Carver
• "Sticks" by George Saunders Analysis, Summary & Theme: Short Story Meaning & Symbol
• "Sunday in the Park" Summary, Analysis & Theme by Bel Kaufman: Short Story
• "Tea" by Saki Summary: Short Story Plot Synopsis
• "Thank You Ma'am" Summary + Theme & Analysis by Langston Hughes (Like Sparknotes): Synopsis
• "The 400 Pound CEO" Summary by George Saunders: Plot Synopsis
• "The Balek Scales" Summary by Heinrich Boll
• "The Bewitched Bourgeois" by Dino Buzzati Summary
• "The Bewitched Jacket" Summary: Dino Buzzati Short Story
• "The Boarded Window" Summary by Ambrose Bierce
• "The Brown House" Summary: Hisaye Yamamoto Short Story
• "The Coffee House of Surat" Summary by Leo Tolstoy
• "The Colomber" Summary by Dino Buzzati
• "The Continuity of Parks" Summary, Analysis & Themes by Julio Cortazár (Continuidad de los parques)
• "The Dinner Party" Summary by Mona Gardner: Theme, Setting, Characters & Analysis
• "The Double House" Summary: Nancy Hale Short Story Synopsis
• "The Egg" by Andy Weir Summary, Analysis & Theme of Short Story
• "The Elevator" by Dino Buzzati Summary
• "The Empty Drum" Summary, Theme & Analysis by Leo Tolstoy
• "The End of the World": Dino Buzzati Summary
• "The Falling Girl" Analysis, Summary & Theme by Dino Buzzati
• "The First Seven Years" Summary by Bernard Malamud
• "The Flowers" by Alice Walker Sparknotes Substitute: Short Story Analysis, Summary & Theme
• "The Fourth Alarm" Summary: John Cheever Short Story
• "The Friday Everything Changed" Summary by Anne Hart: Plot Synopsis
• "The Gay Old Dog" Summary: Edna Ferber Short Story
• "The Gift of Cochise" Summary by Louis L'Amour
• "The Golden Apples of the Sun" Summary: Ray Bradbury Short Story Synopsis
• "The Golden Touch" Summary by Nathaniel Hawthorne
• "The Goophered Grapevine" Summary by Charles W. Chesnutt
• "The Great Automatic Grammatizator" Summary: Roald Dahl Plot Synopsis
• "The Handler" Summary: Ray Bradbury Short Story Synopsis
• "The Happiness Machine" Summary: Ray Bradbury Short Story Synopsis
• "The Intruder" Summary: Andre Dubus Short Story Plot Synopsis
• "The Island of the Fay" Summary: Edgar Allan Poe Short Story Plot Synopsis
• "The Jewbird" Summary: Bernard Malamud Plot Synopsis
• "The Kiss": Kate Chopin Summary
• "The Lame Shall Enter First" Summary by Flannery O'Connor (Sparknotes Substitute)
• "The Landlady" Short Story by Roald Dahl: Summary, Analysis & Theme
• "The Lesson" Summary, Theme & Analysis by Toni Cade Bambara: (Like Sparknotes)
• "The Lightning-Rod Man" Summary by Herman Melville
• "The Man of Adamant" Summary: Nathaniel Hawthorne Short Story Plot Synopsis
• "The Night Came Slowly" Summary by Kate Chopin: Analysis & Full Text
• "The Night" Summary: Ray Bradbury Short Story Synopsis
• "The October Game" Summary: Ray Bradbury Short Story Synopsis
• "The Old Chief Mshlanga" Summary: Doris Lessing Short Story Plot Synopsis
• "The Open Window" Analysis, Theme & Summary by Saki: Sparknotes Substitute
• "The Overcoat" by Sally Benson Summary
• "The Park" Summary: Short Story by James Matthews
• "The Pelican" by Ann Pilling: Summary of Short Story
• "The Perfect Match" by Ken Liu: Summary of Short Story
• "The Portable Phonograph" Summary by Walter van Tilburg Clark
• "The Princess and the Puma" Summary: O Henry Plot Synopsis
• "The Prophet's Hair" Summary by Salman Rushdie: Short Story Synopsis
• "The Purple Hat" Summary: Eudora Welty Short Story
• "The Ravine" by Graham Salisbury Summary, Theme & Analysis
• "The Scholarship Jacket": Summary, Theme & Analysis by Marta Salinas
• "The Scriveners" by Dino Buzzati Summary
• "The Second Hut" Summary: Doris Lessing Short Story Plot Synopsis
• "The Semplica Girl Diaries" Summary by George Saunders
• "The She-Wolf" by Barbara Walker: Summary of Short Story
• "The She-Wolf" by Giovanni Verga Summary: "La Lupa" Summary
• "The Sleuths" Summary by O. Henry: Plot Synopsis
• "The Sound of Summer Running" by Ray Bradbury Summary
• "The Spectacles": Edgar Allan Poe Summary, Plot Synopsis
• "The Stolen Party" Summary & Analysis by Liliana Heker: Short Story Theme
• "The Story of a Letter" Summary by Carlos Bulosan
• "The Survivor's Story" by Dino Buzzati Summary
• "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" Summary: Edgar Allan Poe Synopsis
• "The Taximan's Story" Summary by Catherine Lim
• "The Teacher" Summary: Catherine Lim Short Story
• "The Thing in the Pond" Summary: Paul Ernst Short Story
• "The Tin Star" Summary: John M. Cunningham Short Story
• "The Tower" Carl Jung Summary
• "The Treasure of Lemon Brown" Summary, Analysis & Theme by Walter Dean Myers
• "The Villager" Summary: Shirley Jackson Short Story
• "The Visit" by Ray Bradbury Summary
• "The Walls of Anagoor" by Dino Buzzati Summary
• "The Whistle" Summary: Eudora Welty Short Story Plot Synopsis
• "The Whole Town's Sleeping" Summary: Ray Bradbury Short Story Synopsis
• "The Wish" by Roald Dahl Summary
• "The Wolves of Circassia" Summary: Daniel Mason Short Story
• "The Worm in the Apple" Summary: John Cheever Short Story
• "The Writer's Secret" by Dino Buzzati Summary
• "The Yellow Wallpaper" Summary by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
• "The Zebra Storyteller" Summary: Spencer Holst Short Story
• "Theft": Katherine Anne Porter Summary, Plot Synopsis
• "There Was Once" Margaret Atwood Summary
• "There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury: Setting, Themes & Summary
• "This Blessed House" Summary by Jhumpa Lahiri
• "This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen" Summary: Tadeusz Borowski Synopsis
• "Those Are As Brothers" Summary: Nancy Hale Short Story
• "To Build a Fire" by Jack London
• "To the Man on the Trail" Summary by Jack London
• "Trail of the Green Blazer" Summary: R.K. Narayan Short Story
• "Unterderseaboat Doktor" by Ray Bradbury Summary
• "Verlie I Say Unto You" Summary: Alice Adams Short Story
• "Victory Lap" Summary by George Saunders: Short Story
• "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" Themes & Analysis by Raymond Carver
• "What Will Happen on October 12th?" by Dino Buzzati Summary
• "When It Happens" Summary: Short Story by Margaret Atwood
• "Why Reeds Are Hollow" Summary: Gabriela Mistral Short Story Synopsis
• "Wilshire Bus" Summary by Hisaye Yamamoto
• "Wine on the Desert" Summary: Max Brand Short Story
• "Winky" by George Saunders Summary
• "Winter Rain" Summary: Alice Adams Short Story
• "Wish You Were Here": Frank Jones Summary, Plot Synopsis
• Analysis and Themes of "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce: Story & Summary
• Analysis of "The Father" by Raymond Carver: Summary & Theme of Short Story
• George Saunders: Love Letter Summary
• Irony & Theme of "Good Country People": Sparknotes Substitute by Flannery O'Connor
• Read "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin
• Short Story Summaries and Analysis
• Summary & Analysis Themes of "The Pedestrian" by Ray Bradbury
• Summary & Themes of "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner: Analysis
• Summary of "A Story of Love" by Ray Bradbury
• Summary of "At the Round Earth's Imagined Corners" by Lauren Groff
• Summary of "Back for Christmas" by John Collier
• Summary of "Celia Behind Me" by Isabel Huggan
• Summary of "Changeling" by Ray Bradbury
• Summary of "Everyone Talked Loudly In Chinatown" by Anne Jew
• Summary of "Goalie" by Rudy Thauberger
• Summary of "Gotcha!" by Ray Bradbury
• Summary of "Horse Camp" by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Summary of "Maud Martha and New York" by Gwedolyn Brooks
• Summary of "Mortals" by Tobias Wolff
• Summary of "Mr. Tallent's Ghost" by Mary Webb
• Summary of "Never Stop on the Motorway" by Jeffrey Archer
• Summary of "Rendezvous" by Daniel Ransom: Short Story
• Summary of "Revelation" by Flannery O'Connor
• Summary of "Seven Floors" by Dino Buzzati
• Summary of "So What Are You, Anyway" by Lawrence Hill
• Summary of "Stolen Day" by Sherwood Anderson (Big Fish)
• Summary of "The Aged Mother" by Matsuo Bashō & Themes (The Story of the Aged Mother)
• Summary of "The Answer Is No" by Naguib Mahfouz
• Summary of "The Beautiful Shave" by Ray Bradbury
• Summary of "The Bench" by Richard Rive
• Summary of "The Calm" by Raymond Carver
• Summary of "The Chaser" by John Collier with Analysis & Theme
• Summary of "The Elephant" by Slawomir Mrozek & Commentary
• Summary of "The Feather Pillow" by Horacio Quiroga
• Summary of "The Garbage Collector" by Ray Bradbury
• Summary of "The Hartleys" by John Cheever
• Summary of "The Letter" by Laura Bulger
• Summary of "The Lie" by Raymond Carver
• Summary of "The Man in the Well" by Ira Sher
• Summary of "The Other Family" by Himani Bannerji
• Summary of "The Pose" by Anwar Khan (Anwer Khan)
• Summary of "The Rocket" by Ray Bradbury
• Summary of "The Wife's Story" by Ursula K Le Guin
• Summary of "While the Auto Waits" by O. Henry: Plot Synopsis & Theme Analysis
• Summary of "Wild Honey" by Horacio Quiroga
• Summary of "Zolo" by S. Bhattacharya-Woodward: Short Story
• Summary, Themes & Analysis of "The Use of Force" by William Carlos Williams
• The Little Liar Summary by Mitch Albom: Chapter by Chapter Synopsis
• Theme of "Condensed Milk" by Varlam Shalamov: Summary & Analysis of Short Story