10 Classics every reader should read in their lifetime

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lassics in literature are those works which have somehow found a way to stand the test of time. In fact it seems that no matter how many decades or centuries ago they were first published, they never go out of style.I happened to be curious enough to find out what qualifies a work of fiction as classic. I discovered that there are diverse opinions on the subject. 

Some persons are of the opinion that what qualifies as a classic is decided by the bookstore owner, librarian and so on. Another school of thought opined that any book published before 1960 is a classic.

According to Esther Lombardi,  About.com’s resident classics literature guide, “A classic usually expresses some artistic quality—an expression of life, truth and beauty. The work is usually considered to be a representation of the period it was written; and the work merits lasting recognition. In other words, if the book was published in the recent past, the work’s not a classic. A classic has a certain universal appeal. Great works of literature touch us to our very core beings—partly because they integrate themes that are understood by readers from a wide range of backgrounds and levels of experience. The themes of love, hate, death, life and faith touch upon some of our most basic emotional responses. A classic makes connections. You can study a classic and discover influences from other writers and other great work of literature.”

Here are some books widely acknowledged as classics irrespective of the differing opinions of what is a classic.

Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen,1813)  centers largely around the Bennets, a family of five girls. Mrs. Bennet’s major pre-occupation is finding good husbands for all her girls and she is thrown into a frenzy when Mr. Bingley moves into Netherfield estate as she sees him as a potential husband for one of her girls. “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”

 After much insistence, Mr. Bennet approaches Mr. Bingley and soon they become acquaintances. Soon the girls are attending the same balls as Mr. Bingley who brings his wealthy friend Mr Darcy, along. Everyone finds Mr. Bingley to be friendly and agreeable. However, Darcy is unfortunately descried as proud and unlikeable as he is mostly silent and will not dance with anyone. He even insults Elizabeth Bennet by calling her “barely tolerable” to her hearing. Mr. Bingley and Jane soon fall in love while Elizabeth fends off the ridiculous Mr. Collins and instead takes an interest in Mr. Wickham. Elizabeth dislikes Darcy and her dislike for him is fueled even more when she learn that Darcy had once cheated a man. Elizabeth argues and contradicts Darcy every time they meet but he somehow beings to develop a liking for her. Collins proposes to Elizabeth but she turns him down and soon after he proposes to Charlotte Lucas, Elizabeth’s friend agrees to marry him out of fear of becoming an old maid. Despite Mr. Bingleys’s interest in and affection for Jane, he leaves for London quite abruptly without her knowledge. She only hears about his departure from Caroline Bingley, through a letter. When Darcy proposes to Elizabeth, she is surprised but also refuses his offer because of his role in separating Bingley and Jane….

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald published in 1925 opens with Nick Carraway remembering a piece of advice given to him by his father - “Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the same advantages that you’ve had.”

Nick from Minnesota has just recently moved to West Egg District of Long Island, mostly inhabited by “new monies”. His neighbor is the mysterious Jay Gatsby who lives in a gigantic gothic mansion and throws extravagant parties every Saturday night but does not participate in them. As time passes by Nick becomes friends with his party-throwing neighbor and his obsession for winning Daisy back. Daisy is a woman he had met and fallen in love with during the war and also happens to be Nick’s cousin now married to Tom Buchanas, Mr. Old money and power matured through generations of privilege. As the summer wears on Gatsby becomes re-acquainted with Daisy and they start an affair. Daisy pays Gatsby special attention and her husband becomes suspicious of her relationship with Gatsby. What follows are the tragic consequences of Gatsby’s pursuit and determination to win Daisy back now that he is moneyed.

Great Expectations (Charles Dickens, 1861)  tells the story of Pip who lives with his cruel sister, Mrs. Joe. One evening he helps an escaping prisoner (Magwitch) who he discovered in the church graveyard. Pip receives an invitation to Miss Havisham’s house. Miss Havisham is was abandoned by her groom on the day of her wedding many years ago but as she never recovered from the shock she still wears the same wedding dress she was wearing on the day she was supposed to get married. She developed a deep aversion for men and indoctrinated her adopted child Estella as such. Pip developed feelings for Estella which eventually becomes an all consuming love but his love is unrequited. Pip soon comes into a fortune through an anonymous benefactor and moves to London to become a gentle man. He makes new friends in London particularly Herbert. But he spends too much money and is now ashamed of Mr. Joe, his sister’s husband whenever he goes home. Upon Estella’s return from touring the world, Pip tries to get her attention and affection but faces constant rejection. On Pip’s 23^rd Birthday, Pip discovers that Miss Havisam was not the anonymous benefactor as he previously thought. Rather it was Magwitch .

“ Ask no questions and you will be told no lies”

Wuthering Heights, is Emily Bronte’s only novel, published in 1847 under a pseudonym Ellis Bell Bronte. Emily Bronte died a year later but her sister, Charlotte Bronte revised the nove and had it published as a posthumous Second Edition. The novel is a wild, passionate story of the intense and almost demonic love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, a foundling adopted by Catherine’s father. Their love exists on an entirely different plane: one that involves ghosts, corpses, the possession of souls and revenge. After Mr. Earnshaw’s death, Heathcliff is bullied by Catherine’s brother, Hindley. Believing his love is not reciprocated, he leaves Wuthering Heights only to return years later as a wealthy and polished man. He proceeds to exact revenge for his previous miseries.

“ He shall never know I love him: and that, not because he is handsome, but because he’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made out of, his and mine are the same.”

Little Women written by Louisa May Alcott and published in 1868 follows the lives of four Sisters – Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy March and is loosely based on the author and her three sisters. The March sisters live with their mother in New England, while their father is serving in the army during the American civil war. The sisters struggle to support themselves and keep their household running despite the fact that the family recently lost a fortune. They soon become friends with their wealthy neighbor, Laurie. As the girls grow older, each faces their own personal demon and moral challenges. Jo must tame her tomboyish ways and learn to be more ladylike while pursuing her ambition to be a writer. Meg the oldest must put aside her love for wealth and finery. Beth the shy one must conquer her bashfulness, while Amy the youngest must sacrifice her aristocratic pride.

“ Watch  and pray, dear, never get tired  of trying, and never think it is impossible to conquer your fault.”

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee was published in 1960. It is narrated by the main character Scout Finch.  Finch lives with her brother and widowed father in the Sleepy town of  Maycomb, Alabama. Although the town is in the middle of the Great Depression, the Finch family is reasonably well of compared to the rest of the society. One summer Scout, Jem (Scout’s brother) and Dil, the nephew of the Finche’s neighbour become obsessed with the idea of making Boo Radley, the neighborhood recluse come out of his home. They go through series of plans but nothing worked and they soon tire of it all and decide to leave Boo in peace. Jem and Scout’s father is a prominent lawyer and well respected member of the community. When he takes a case that pits innocent, black Tom Robinson against two white dishonest people, Atticus knows that he will lose but he has to defend the man or he can’t live with himself. Eventually the case turns the whole town against. Scout and Jem are forced to bear the slurs against their father and watch with shock as their fellow townspeople convict an obviously innocent man because of his race.

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”

 Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (1878) “All happy families are  alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way ”  Anna Karenina is the story of a married aristocrat  and her affair with the affluent Count Vronsky. The story starts when she arrives I the midst of a family broken up by her brother’s unbridled womanizing,- something that prefigures her own later situation. A bachelor, Vronsky is eager to marry her if she will agree to leave her husband Karenin, a senior government official. But she is vulnerable to the pressures of Russian social norms, the moral norms of the Russian Orthodox Church and her own insecurities and Karenin’s indecision. Although Anna and Vronsky go to Italy where they can be together, they have trouble making friends. Back in Russia she is shunned, becoming further isolated and anxious, while Vronsky pursues his social life. Despite Vronsky’s assurances, she grows increasingly possessive and paranoid about his imagined infidelity, fearing loss of control. A parallel story within the novel is that of Levin Konstantine, a wealthy landowner who wants to marry Princess Kitty, sister to Dolly  and sister-in-law to Anna’s brother Oblonsky. Konstantin had to propose twice before Kitty accepts. The novel details Konstantin’s difficulties in managing his estate, his eventual marriage and his personal issues, until the birth of his first child.

Animal Farm, George Orwell (1945) is an allegory, set on Manor Farm where Old Major, a prize winning boar gathers the animals together for a meeting in the big barm where he inform them of a dream he had in which all animals live together with no humans to oppress them. The animals must however work towards such a paradise. The animals greet Major’s decision with great enthusiasim. Three days later, Old Major dies and it falls on three younger pigs to (Snowball, Napoleon and Squealer) to formulate his main principles into a philosophy called Animalism.

 Soon they are able to defeat Mr. Jones the farm owner in a battle and run him off the land and rename the farm, Animal Farm. The animals dedicate themselves to achieving Major’s dream. The cart-horse in particular devoted himself to the cause with extra-ordinary zeal, committing his great strength to the prosperity of the farm and also adopting a personal mantra, “I will work harder”. When Mr. Jones and other farmers try to recapture the farm, they are defeated by the animals. The event was named “The Battle of the Cowshed” to be celebrated annually with the firing of a gun, on the anniversary of the Revolution. At first animal farm prospers but soon Napoleon and Snowball being to quibble over the future of the farm and a power tussle ensues.  The animals on the farm start taking sides with the leader they support. Eventually, the original Seven Animalist principles are broken with justification such as , “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others”. , until it becomes totally impossible to tell the difference between humans and animals.

Robinson Crusoe, (Daniel Defoe, 1719) was the youngest son of a German merchant and his father encouraged him to study law but Robinson wanted to go to sea instead. One day, being unable to resist the temptation of the sea, he finally sets out on a ship bound for London with a friend and is nit deterred when a storm causes the near death of him and his friend. He goes on and sets himself up as a merchant another ship. Following a financially successful trip, he plans another, leaving his profits with a friendly widow. Unfortunately, this voyage is not as successful as the previous one as the ship is taken over by Moorish pirates and Crusoe is enslaved in the North African town of Salle. Crusoe eventually escapes and somehow finds his way to Brazil where he establishes himself as a plantation owner and soon becomes successful. He soon embarks on a slave gathering expedition to West Africa, but ends up being shipwrecked off the coast of Trinidad. He soon discovers he is the only survivor of the shipwreck and salvages guns, powder food and other items and set about building a   shelter for himself on the secluded island. He erects a cross that he inscribes the date of his arrival September 1, 1659 and manages to keep track of days by making a notch every day. Soon afterwards, Crusoe discovers that the shore has been strewn with human carnage. One day Crusoe sights a gang of cannibals heading for the shore with their victims and is able to defeat the cannibals since he was well armed. One of the victims vows his total submission to Crusoe in appreciation of his liberation from the cannibals. Eventually, Crusoe leaves the Island and set sail for England on 19^th December, 1686.

“ Wait on the Lord, and be of good cheer, and he shall strengthen thy heart; wait I say, on the Lord.”

Treasure Island, ( Robert Louis Stevenson, 1883)is narrated by  Jim Hawkins, son of the owner of the Admiral Benbow. Bones, an old, ragged sea man with a large sea chest takes up lodging at the inn but  asks Jim to keep an eye out for a one- legged sea man. Bones dies at the inn soon after and Jim and his mother hastily unlock Billy’s chest. They find a logbook and a map in the chest and make away with it before Billy’s pursuers   ransack the inn. Believing the documents to be valuable, Jim takes them to the local physician, Dr. Livesey,who deduces that the map is of an island where the pirate Flint buried a vast treasure. The district squire, Trelawney proposes buying a ship and going after the treasure, taking Livesey as the ship’s doctor and Jim as cabin boy. Naive in his negotiations to outfit the ship, the Hispanola, Trelawney is tricked into hiring one of Flint’s former mates, Long John Silver, and many of Flint’s crew. Only the captain Smollett, is trustworthy. The ship sets sail for Treasure Island with nothing amiis, until Jim overhears Silver’s plans for a mutiny. Jim tells the captain about Silver and the rest of the rebellious crew.
“Fifteen men on the Dead Man’s Chest Yo Ho Ho, and a bottle of rum! Drink and the devil had done for the rest Yo ho ho , and a bottle of rum!” 

So how many have you read? One, three or none? Get to reading fiction addicts!!! Do you think the list is perfect or did we leave out some books? Your comments are very much welcome and appreciated.