Project Gutenberg 2022-07-17 Public domain in the USA. 213 Dreiser, Theodore 1871 1945 18026757 Free, and other stories $aUnited States :$bBoni and Liverlight,$c1918. Free -- McEwen of the shining slave makers -- Nigger Jeff -- The lost Phœbe -- The second choice -- A story of stories -- Old Rogaum and his Theresa -- Will you walk into my parlor -- The cruise of the "Idlewild" -- Married -- When the old century was new. Amber Black, Emmanuel Ackerman and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) "Free and Other Stories" by Theodore Dreiser is a collection of narratives written in the early 20th century. The initial story, "Free," revolves around the introspective and complex struggles of Rufus Haymaker, an architect grappling with the illness and potential death of his wife, Ernestine. As he reflects on his life and marital dissatisfaction, the tension between his desires for freedom and his sense of duty creates a poignant exploration of happiness, regret, and the societal expectations surrounding marriage. The opening of the collection introduces Rufus Haymaker in his Central Park West apartment, where he contemplates the gray morning outside while dealing with the anguish of his wife's serious illness. Throughout this thoughtful segment, Haymaker oscillates between feelings of sympathy for his wife and a deep-seated yearning for liberation from his long-unhappy marriage. As he interacts with medical professionals and reflects on their life together, the narrative delves into his bleak realizations about love, obligation, and the complexity of marital dynamics. This opening segment sets a melancholic tone, urging readers to consider the costs of societal conventions on personal happiness. (This is an automatically generated summary.) https://archive.org/details/freeotherstories00dreiuoft/page/236/mode/2up 20210131071200dreiser 1918 US Reading ease score: 80.4 (6th grade). Easy to read. en Short stories, American United States -- Social life and customs -- 20th century -- Fiction PS Text Category: Short Stories Category: American Literature 658846 2025-07-27T07:41:12.634316 text/html 637382 2024-10-18T23:25:39 text/html 652320 2025-07-27T07:41:21.835286 application/epub+zip 650575 2025-07-27T07:41:14.807302 application/epub+zip 610281 2025-07-27T07:41:13.558343 application/epub+zip 1370405 2025-07-27T07:41:26.917331 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 1330246 2025-07-27T07:41:20.805318 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 1289925 2022-09-30T20:40:18.104403 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 610514 2025-07-27T07:41:11.678361 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 590547 2024-10-18T23:25:39 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 17154 2025-07-27T07:41:27.072247 application/rdf+xml 12274 2025-07-27T07:41:13.926308 image/jpeg 1840 2025-07-27T07:41:13.738332 image/jpeg 543934 2025-07-27T07:41:12.691366 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia