A taste of the world’s best short stories

Great stories.
Small bites.

Free study guides for classic short stories and novels: themes, characters, symbols, quotes and endings explained in under 20 minutes, with flashcards and a quiz to make it stick.

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7 min · 1843 The Tell-Tale Heart Edgar Allan Poe Read the analysis → 7 min · 1905 The Gift of the Magi O. Henry Read the analysis → 7 min · 1911 The Open Window Saki Read the analysis → 8 min · 1894 The Story of an Hour Kate Chopin Read the analysis →

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Short stories 283 analyses American literature 258 analyses Under 20 minutes 133 analyses British literature 90 analyses Poetry 74 analyses

Featured today Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The Yellow Wallpaper

A woman is prescribed rest, silence, and a room she may not leave. Told in secret diary entries, her slow unravelling turns out to be the clearest sight she has ever had.

Short storiesAmerican literatureFeminist fiction

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“The front pattern does move—and no wonder! The woman behind shakes it!”— The Yellow Wallpaper

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StoryBites began with Karen Bernardo (1949 to 2021), who spent years explaining the short stories nobody else online bothered with. Her analyses are preserved here as she wrote them, at their original addresses.

Analysis by Karen BernardoThis Way for the Gas, Ladies and GentlemenTadeusz Borowski Analysis by Karen BernardoWhat We Talk About When We Talk About LoveRaymond Carver Analysis by Karen BernardoThe Rich BoyF. Scott Fitzgerald