18. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens     

Charles Dickens tackles the French Revolution. In the tale, Dickens recognizes the legitimate reasons for the revolution, but challenges the justice of the reign of terror when it extends those legitimate grievances to falsely punishing the innocent in the name of those ideals. In particular, protagonist Charles Darnay almost suffers death at the hands of the guillotine because he is descended from a cruel noble family, but he has long since renounced them and the early part of the story establishes his impeccable virtue. In fact, he only returns to France out of a sense of honor in order to protect an innocent man (tax collector) in his employ and save him from prison. Dickens juxtaposes the justice of Britain with the justice of France; Darnay experiences a judicial trial in each of these countries to show the true nature of justice in Britain compared to his later trials in France where he is rearrested after being initially exonerated. Carton, a friend of Darnay and drunken misanthrope in love with Darnay’s wife (Lucie), commits the ultimate sacrifice by trading places with Darnay in prison in one the great scenes in literature. Dickens shows that while there is such a thing as righteous anger that righteous anger can go too far that it becomes an injustice itself that needs to be redressed.
19. The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder  

This a strongly philosophical novel built around the collapse of a bridge in San Luis Rey. A priest investigates the disaster and decides to research the lives of the victims in order to prove “scientifically” God’s plan exists and the bridge collapsed for a reason. Each chapters is a short biography of each victim: an unhappy lonely marquesa who is estranged from her daughter and viewed as a strange recluse by the town, a twin off to start a new life at sea after struggling to cope with the death of his brother, a washed-up actress who once lived the high life and lost her beauty to small pox.  It is told in a simplistic style punctuated by the occasional aphorisms about love and life. The story asks whether fate and God control our lives or if all the events and tragedies of our lives are merely random accidents; it also asks whether we control our own happiness or outside forces prevent us from being truly happy.

20. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

This is my first African novel written by an African and not a white European telling his story about Africa. The novels tells the story of Okonkwo, a respected hard-working man of the Umuofia clan who is a tragically flawed character. His embarrassment over his lazy impoverished father leads him to make poor decisions that include killing his own adopted son that spirals into a series of misfortunes, so that he won’t be perceived as effeminate and weak like his father. These misfortunes culminate when he is banished for accidentally killing a member of the tribe. He follows the rules of his culture, including the penalties. By while he is away white colonization of the clans of the Niger accelerates with the coming of Christian missionaries. When Okonkwo returns his culture is decimated. All his sacrifices for that culture prove fruitless; all his actions meaningless, since he left the tribe by following the rules of his culture and religion, which is slowly disappearing before the white man’s culture. Achebe anti-Colonial novel is more complicated than just criticizing European Colonialism. While condemning white imperialism and the loss of indigenous cultures to Christianity, he also recognizes part of those indigenous cultural practices were questionable morally, such as killing newborn twins and the poor treatment of those with lower status in the clan. These, of course, are the people initially attracted to Christianity since it allows them status and fairer treatment they’d never get in the traditional society. Achebe recognizes the terrible loss of  indigenous cultures, while not apologizing for all aspects of it (willingly criticizing the parts that should be criticized).

21. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum 

The introduction of my edition calls this kid’s book a truly American fairy tale. The style of the language reminds me a lot of a fairy tale. Whereas the movie focuses the plot, the novel meanders more across different parts of OZ with all sorts of strange creatures and people that feature for only a chapter or two that are absent from the film. The Wicked Witch of the West, which is an ever present force in the film narrative interfering with events to prevent Dorothy from progressing to the Emerald City and seeking revenge for the death of her sister, appears basically in one chapter. She is a cruel tyrant who enslaves the winkies, but doesn’t interfere with Dorothy’s journey, until Dorothy goes out of her way to kill her as a trade for getting her wish to return back to Kansas from the Wizard.  She could care less about the death of the Wicked Witch of the East who isn’t presented as a sibling like in the film. The difference between the Witch of the film and the Witch of the book demonstrates the diffuse nature of the plot. It’s more a random journey through an exciting strange fantasy world than a solid straight-forward plot.

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