Stories For High Schoolers

The following collection features classic and thought-provoking stories for high school students, offering a variety of themes from personal struggles to societal reflections. These narratives provide insights into human nature, morality, and conflict that resonate with adolescent experiences.

Moral Lessons and Consequences

1. The Monkey’s Paw – A family comes into possession of a magical talisman that grants three wishes, but with disastrous consequences. After using a wish that results in the death of their son, the family tries to reverse their loss, only to confront the terrifying reality of their desires.
2. The Cask of Amontillado – Montresor seeks revenge against his friend Fortunato for a perceived insult. The story follows Montresor’s deceptive and deadly plot as he lures Fortunato into the catacombs under the pretense of verifying a rare wine.
3. The Tell-Tale Heart – A man becomes consumed by his obsession with an old man’s eye and ultimately kills him. After hiding the body, he is haunted by the sound of the old man’s beating heart, which drives him to confess his crime.
4. The Death of Balder – Balder, the most beloved god in Norse mythology, is foretold to die, and despite the gods’ efforts to prevent it, Loki manipulates the situation using mistletoe. His death leads to grief among the gods, who attempt but fail to bring him back from the realm of Hel.

Personal Identity and Transformation

1. The Story of an Hour – Mrs. Mallard learns of her husband’s death, but upon retreating to her room, she feels a sense of freedom. However, upon discovering that her husband is alive, she is overwhelmed and dies from the shock.
2. Young Goodman Brown – Goodman Brown leaves his wife Faith to journey into the forest, where he witnesses townspeople—including his wife—participating in a wicked ceremony. The experience profoundly changes him, leading him to distrust everyone, even his own faith.
3. The Lady of Pintorp – A noblewoman is taken to a mysterious castle where she faces humiliation and punishment for her cruelty toward her servants. Her fate is sealed when she disappears into a trap-door, a victim of her own actions.

Friendship and Betrayal

1. The Lion in Love – A lion asks a woodcutter for his daughter’s hand in marriage, but the woodcutter agrees only if the lion agrees to have his teeth and claws removed. After returning defenseless, the lion is rejected and driven away by the woodcutter.
2. The Lion, Jupiter, and the Elephant – The lion, despite his strength, is afraid of a cock, while the elephant is frightened by a tiny gnat. The lion learns to appreciate his own strength after realizing that his fears are not as overwhelming as those of others.

Justice and Morality

1. A Jury of Her Peers – A woman is suspected of murdering her husband, and a group of women, left to gather evidence in the kitchen, uncover critical details that the men overlook. They ultimately make a decision to protect her.
2. The Minister’s Black Veil – Reverend Mr. Hooper begins wearing a black veil, leading to speculation among his congregation about its meaning. Throughout his life, the veil becomes a symbol of hidden sin and sorrow, isolating him from others.
3. Timon of Athens – Timon, a wealthy man known for his generosity, is abandoned by his so-called friends when he falls into financial ruin. Consumed by bitterness, he withdraws from society and dies in despair, leaving a harsh judgment on humanity.
4. The Shipwrecked Man and the Sea – A man, stranded on an island after a shipwreck, blames the sea for the calamity, only to be corrected by the sea itself. The sea explains that it is not the sea but the winds that cause the destruction.

The Supernatural and the Unknown

1. The Fall of the House of Usher – The narrator visits his friend Roderick Usher, whose family’s ancestral home seems to be falling apart. As Roderick’s twin sister Madeline returns from a premature burial, the house collapses, symbolizing the family’s end.
2. The Golden Arm – A man becomes obsessed with his wife’s golden arm after her death. He digs up her grave to steal the arm, only to be confronted by her ghost, who reveals the consequences of his greed.
3. The Werewolf – A princess, manipulated by her stepmother, seeks her father’s marriage, only to encounter betrayal and a cursed prince. She rescues the prince, leading to the stepmother’s downfall.

Fate and Free Will

1. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge – A Confederate sympathizer named Peyton Farquhar is about to be hanged by Union soldiers. As he imagines an escape, he is ultimately confronted by the grim reality of his death.
2. Measure for Measure – In Vienna, the Duke leaves Angelo in charge, where his strict laws lead to the sentencing of Claudio. His sister Isabella must navigate a corrupt bargain to save her brother, ultimately uncovering deeper moral questions about justice.

These stories touch on the complexities of human emotions, the consequences of actions, and the balance between fate and choice. With a range of genres and settings, these narratives offer high schoolers both engaging content and deep themes for reflection.