It depends on what type of essay you are writing . If it’s argumentative it also depends on if you are writing it for the intro. The intro goes:
Hook- catch attention
Thesis- restate argument
Claim- what you think
Sorry, but it's impossible to answer all your question because of character limit. But I suggest you to search via Internet sites that are specialized on story summaries. You can find what you need on such sources.
I'm not entirely sure what you're talking about, but perhaps you are talking about a yam?
Answer by YourHope:
How do the stories in the Realism and Regionalism unit reflect what was going on in the country then?
They reflect what people did in 1860 and 1900 talking about what they did to live.
:)