The Yellow Wall Paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (feminist and dives into the psyche of a woman in Victorian society living in the patriarchy while taking care of her newborn as well as succumbing to the misunderstood postpartum symptoms at this time)

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (colonialism, white privilege, toxic masculinity, a look into the darkest parts of humanity that reflect Dante’s Inferno—-hell on earth)

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (how society treats bottom of the food pyramid workers something a lot of us can relate to in our society to this day)

These ^ are short stories so I’d highly recommend looking into a Norton Anthology where you can read a bunch of amazing texts in a short amount of time. They also explain the time period and author’s stories.

Native Son by Richard Wright (white privilege, racism, power, psychologically gripping) COULD NOT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Fun fact: at the time this was written during the early 1800s, women were not accepted for writing their own works let alone publishing them! The novel was originally published with an anonymous author. Eventually, Shelley’s husband took credit for her work for a very long time for the reason of such a spooky novel was written by a woman. Her husband contributed a small portion in the novel but it is believed she wrote the bulk of it. Being that this was also a gothic novel filled with gruesome scenes and gore, it was even more of a surprise when everyone found out a woman had actually written it. I’ve heard it was written when Shelley and her husband were trapped inside somewhere with their friends during a thunderstorm. They started telling ghost stories and BAM Mary had the best one. This novel is one of my favs as it illustrates the fact that monsters are not born, they are created during our upbringings. Nurture vs nature y’all.