The narrator in The Tell-Tale Heart is haunted by the sound of a beating heart, which he believes is the heart of the old man he has murdered.

Young Goodman Brown is the main character in Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown, a young man who ventures into the forest on a mysterious errand.

The Lady with the Dog explores the theme of love and infidelity through the story of a married man and a young woman who fall in love and embark on an illicit affair.

The protagonist of Araby is infatuated with a girl named Mangan's sister and desires to win her affection.

In The Yellow Wallpaper, the yellow wallpaper in the narrator's room symbolizes her deteriorating mental state, her sense of imprisonment, and foreshadows her eventual breakdown.

Paul Rockingham is the protagonist of The Rocking-Horse Winner, a young boy who develops an uncanny ability to predict horse race winners.

Hills Like White Elephants centers around the conflict between a man and a woman as they discuss the woman's decision to have an abortion.

In A Good Man Is Hard to Find, the grandmother's cat foreshadows the family's tragic fate when it is killed by a car.

A Perfect Day for Bananafish explores the theme of the loss of innocence through the story of a young boy named Seymour Glass.

In A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, the old man's wings are a metaphor for his dreams and aspirations, which remain unfulfilled.

The Beggar Maid centers around the conflict between a young woman's desire for love and acceptance and her fear of vulnerability.

In The Swimmer, Neddy Merrill's journey symbolizes his search for meaning in life and his attempt to recapture the past.

A Worn Path explores the theme of the resilience of the human spirit through the story of an elderly African American woman's determination to make a difficult journey.

In Cathedral, the blind man's description of the cathedral symbolizes his desire for intimacy and connection with another person.

In Bullet in the Brain, the title symbolizes the protagonist's mental state, which is characterized by confusion, disorientation, and a sense of detachment.