The Winter Oak: Summary

Set in Russia, a young boy called Savushkin, was constantly late for his school lessons. A new teacher Anna Vasilevna, notices this and decides to confront him as to the reasoning behind his lateness.

• Anna talks to Savushkin privately asking to see his mother, he says gladly, innocently, not fully realising why at first. He invites her to meet his mother
• Savushkin walks Anna through the forest path, towards his house. He points out all the nature and beauty of the forest to Anna, explaining it to her when she did not understand
• Savushkin leads Anna to the Winter Oak. She realises why Savushkin is constantly late, but eventually accepts that it is appropriate for Savushkin to walk through the forest

The Young Couple: Summary

• Cathy and her newlywed husband Naraian move back to India, his home country
• At first everything was going well, there life was good and Naraian was looking for a job
• When Naraian meets up with friends they always talk about how bad their country is run
• On Sundays they would always go to see Naraian’s family who were rich and lived in a large and extravagantly designed house
• Cathy did not enjoy these Sundays and Naraian’s parents would offer him a job in the family business which he would refuse
• Cathy once visited the city bazaar which she enjoyed and the family interrogated her about it
• One night Cathy and Naraian get into an argument about these questionings and the change in their life since they moved there
• Things start to go downhill from there, they start to bicker more often and their home life seems to change for the worse
• This makes Cathy leave the house more often and becomes more rebellious
• Cathy discovers she is pregnant and this makes things appear better between them, she notices the mausoleum out of her window more often
• On the Sundays Naraian’s family start to spoil her and have a smug attitude towards her
• Naraian gets pressured into accepting the offer to work in the family business which makes Cathy miserable and she complains to him, ending in another quarrel
• Things change once again in their life and Cathy slowly becomes more unhappy
• Later the family gets a room ready for them, Cathy confronts Naraian about it resulting in another argument
• “..pointed towards the dome of the mausoleum darkening against a tender flush of a sunset and a formation of birds, wings a-tilt, going round it swift as bats in a flight before plunging down into the trees to settle themselves to sleep.”
• They make up but Cathy is still unsettled about the house

Pieces of Silver: Summary

• The headmaster demands money for the previous headmaster’s retirement and humiliates students who do not/cannot bring it in
• Clement comes home and asks for the money from his parents who refuse
• His sister listens/comforts him and gives him advice on how to raise the money and get back at the head teacher
• They go out busking for money and receive a large amount when they end up going to the previous headmaster’s house
• Clement comes in to school the next day and pays for himself and all the other students who couldn’t pay either

Clement is meant to be a symbolic figure like Jesus. Jesus died to save us, Clement saved his fellow students.