02785cam a22003493u 450000100060000000300070000600500170001300600020003000700050003200800410003701000130007804000110009104100170010205000070011910000340012624500280016026400510018830000470023933600260028633700260031233800360033850000310037450502620040550801910066752012700085853400680212865300280219665300720222485600770229685600430237399900190241668542UtSlPG20260610134601.0mcr n260607r20221918utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d  a18026757  aUtSlPG 7aen2iso639-1 4aPS1 aDreiser, Theodore,d1871-194510aFree, and other stories 1aSalt Lake City, UT :bProject Gutenberg,c2022  a1 online resource :bmultiple file formats  atextbtxt2rdacontent  acomputerbc2rdamedia  aonline resourcebcr2rdacarrier  aRelease date is 2022-07-170 aFree -- 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.  aAmber 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)  a"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.)  pOriginally published:cUnited States: Boni and Liverlight, 1918  aShort stories, American  aUnited States -- Social life and customs -- 20th century -- Fiction4 uhttps://archive.org/details/freeotherstories00dreiuoft/page/236/mode/2up40uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68542  c109346d109346