David Wisar, M.A.
eNotes Educator
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7
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322
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About
I have worked as a tutor and fully certified teacher for the last 7 years. I hold degrees in English Literature and Education and love reading and writing. I am working on developing a Science Fiction/Mythology class for next year and look forward to discussing themes, topics, and works of literature with you.
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Recent Activity
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Answered a Question in The Necklace
Alliteration is the repetition of sounds at the beginning of a set of words in close proximity. For example, tongue twisters are alliterative because they tend to repeat the same sound at the... -
Answered a Question in The Ramayana
The question of good vs. evil is not cut and dry in the Ramayana. The Rakshasa, or demons or Lanka, are not inherently evil, and humans are not inherently good. Instead, The Ramayana is meant to... -
Answered a Question in There Will Come Soft Rains
In “There Will Come Soft Rains,” we read about a smart house that exists after a nuclear holocaust. The house continues to function, though no one is alive to experience the care that it is... -
Answered a Question in Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
In chapter 12 of The Lightning Thief, Percy has a few moments that could be seen as pivotal based on the information revealed about him. Percy makes it clear to Grover that he doesn’t miss his dad,... -
Answered a Question in European History
The Great Schism, or the schism between the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, is a complex issue that started well before the mutual ex-communications in 1054 CE. Before we get... -
Answered a Question in Snorri Sturluson
The Prose Edda is one of the two texts that inform what we know about Norse mythology. The mythology contained within the text is written in poetic form—telling the stories of the gods of the... -
Answered a Question in The Raven
In “The Raven,” the titular bird flies into the narrator’s chamber and speaks the word “nevermore” over and over again. This is the word that the narrator hopes is last spoken between them. Over... -
Answered a Question in The Glass Castle
In The Glass Castle, Jeanette Walls tells the story of her life growing up in a dysfunctional home. Jeanette doesn’t seem to harbor much ill will toward her parents in the memoir, even going as far... -
Answered a Question in History
This question asks us to make a value judgment about the costs and benefits of World War I. It is important to note that the “worth” of the war depends mainly on the point of view of different... -
Answered a Question in The Metamorphoses of Ovid
The story of Europa from The Metamorphoses by Ovid recounts one of Jove’s many trysts. Much like Zeus in Greek mythology, Jove is a philanderer who chases women down and has sex with them, by... -
Answered a Question in The Odyssey
In Ancient Greece, one of the key values, and part of their religious law, was hospitality or xenia. Zeus was said to be the protector of guests and was called Zeus Xenios to show that he was the... -
Answered a Question in History
Taking a grand view of history, the Greco-Persian Wars was most definitely not the end of the Greek ideal of freedom. However, if we look at what happened to the Greek city-states in the aftermath,... -
Answered a Question in The Louisiana Purchase
In 1803, Thomas Jefferson wanted to open up trade routes through New Orleans and sent a delegation to Napoleon in France with an offer to buy the city for ten million dollars. However, Napoleon... -
Answered a Question in Haruki Murakami
In The Seventh Man, Murikami uses a technique known as a frame story to explore the way that guilt can haunt someone’s life. A frame story is when there are two stories told in a narrative. The... -
Answered a Question in Night
This is a speculation answer, but we can use the text of Night to determine some possible explanations for what would have happened if the dentist hadn’t kept the gold. In Night, Elie is told to... -
Answered a Question in Antigone
Antigone is a tragic hero in both the modern sense and the classic sense. She is a good person—probably the only person in the play willing to stand by her convictions—and she dies as a result.... -
Answered a Question in The Count of Monte Cristo
There are three principal antagonists in The Count of Monte Cristo: Fernand, Villefort, and Danglars. All three men realize they have something to gain by framing Dantes, and they together ensure... -
Answered a Question in To A Mouse
In the poem “To a Mouse,” a farmer speaks to a mouse about the unfortunate incident where he plowed up the mouse’s nest. The event is seen as regrettable because it was unintended and because the... -
Answered a Question in The Ramayana
In The Ramayana, Rama is the 7th incarnation of Vishnu—which is why he stands out as one of the greatest heroes of India. Rama represents the perfection of the princely class. Part of his... -
Answered a Question in How to Become a Writer
Introduction Lorrie Moore’s “How to Become a Writer” is a short story that was published in her first collection, Self-Help, in 1985. The piece, which is written in the second person, is one of... -
Answered a Question in The Odyssey
What makes someone heroic? There are a few definitions of hero, so I will pull quotes that help provide an excellent idea of how Odysseus fits the concept. Odysseus is clearly the hero of the... -
Answered a Question in The Cay
In The Cay, there are two principal characters: Timothy and Phillip. Timothy is an elderly black man from the West Indies, and Phillip is a young American boy whose father worked in Curacoa.... -
Answered a Question in Reference
If you are writing an essay about motivation, you might want to focus on one example per body paragraph. So you will want to look at three separate scenes that show Desmond’s motivation in the... -
Answered a Question in The Giver
In The Giver, their community is almost entirely engineered—the ceremonies the attend, the jobs people are given, the relationships they have with one another, etc. Families are not formed... -
Answered a Question in The Crucible
Mary Warren is a pawn throughout the entire play. She insists that she should rule herself, but there isn’t a moment she isn’t being used to further someone else’s ends. At the start of The... -
Answered a Question in Reference
These questions deal with the ethical questions around the concepts of disability, fertility, birth, abortion, and familial rights. Your opinion matters, but I will provide some points and evidence... -
Answered a Question in Monster
In Monster, the theme of victimization applies to Steve Harmon because of his plea of innocence in the story. Steve’s innocence isn’t apparent in the story, but the reader empathizes with him... -
Answered a Question in The Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was just that, a compromise—each side the North and South, were given parts of what they wanted—however, the impact of the compromise ultimately furthered the divide between... -
Answered a Question in Doubt
In Doubt, the main doubt in the movie is not of faith but rather doubt about the nature and innocence of the parish priest Father Flynn. The doubt is two-fold, as we see the doubt of Sister James,... -
Answered a Question in The Monkey's Paw
“The Monkey’s Paw” focuses on the idea of fate and free will. The paw was created in the story to “show that fate ruled people’s lives and that those who tried to change it would be sorry.” The... -
Answered a Question in Sonnet 73
“Sonnet 73” by William Shakespeare centers on a metaphor about death. A conceit uses an extended metaphor to compare two things, pointing out the similarities between them and establishing a link.... -
Answered a Question in Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
In chapter 4, Percy faces a few different trials. One is an existential trial, in which he must come to terms with the fact that his life has been a charade, and the other is a life-or-death... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
Scout shows passion throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, but the main issues that excite her emotions revolve around the way that people talk to her about her father, Atticus. One part of the book... -
Answered a Question in A Sound of Thunder
There are a few characters who are flat and static in “A Sound of Thunder”—these characters include the side or supporting roles. Here is a list of them: The man at the desk: A tiny part is played... -
Answered a Question in History
The three groups mentioned in the question were treated very differently by white society in the United States. Let’s start with the two groups that not only didn’t assimilate but that hardly fit... -
Answered a Question in History
The three groups mentioned in the question were treated very differently by white society in the United States. Let’s start with the two groups that not only didn’t assimilate, but that hardly fits... -
Answered a Question in History
The Article of Confederation was the first constitution of the United States of America. It was established in 1776 and lasted until 1789—taking the early United States through the Revolutionary... -
Answered a Question in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
The climax of “The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock” can be found near the end of the poem in stanza 15. The poem revolves around “the question” that Prufrock is considering asking, but he is an... -
Answered a Question in Coraline
In Coraline, one of the central themes of the text is the importance of family. However, Coraline doesn’t realize how important her actual mother and father are until she loses them in the story.... -
Answered a Question in Jonathan Swift
In “Market Women’s Cries,” each stanza of the poem depicts a woman selling a different product. The first woman sells apples, the second sells onions, and the third sells herrings. Each of the... -
Answered a Question in Reference
When doing a sentence diagram, you need to work on understanding each part individually first before you can understand how they interact together. Here are some necessary explanations of each part... -
Answered a Question in Mockingjay
Mockingjay is the third installment in the Hunger Games series and wraps up the trilogy with an end to the Capitol’s reign over Panem. The best way to chart the plot is to go through the parts of... -
Answered a Question in Bless Me, Ultima
In Bless Me, Ultima, Antonio’s dreams provide a framework for his growth in the story. Antonio’s dreams center on religion and identity, two of the critical issues he navigates in the story. Bless... -
Answered a Question in My Brother Sam Is Dead
Tim Meeker is the main character of My Brother Sam is Dead. When the story starts, Tim is still a child. He admires his brother, Sam, and looks up to his father. By the end of the story, both his... -
Answered a Question in Monster
Monster by Walter Dean Myers covers the trial of Steve Harmon through the lens of a movie script written by Steve. The book provides a vivid picture of Steve’s experiences through the court system,... -
Answered a Question in Everyday Use
To write a thesis for the story "Everday Use," you want to think about the main ideas and concepts explored in the story. So let's discuss some of the themes and concepts that the story reveals. In... -
Answered a Question in Lamb to the Slaughter
In "Lamb to the Slaughter," Mary and her husband are seen amid a marital dispute. At the start of the story, Mary is unaware that anything is wrong. She is pregnant and ispresented as a loving... -
Answered a Question in Always Running
Always Running is Luis Rodriguez's memoir about growing up and joining gangs in Los Angeles. Rodriguez might not have thought in these terms, but the inequality present in Los Angeles society was... -
Answered a Question in Into the Wild
Into the Wild tells the story of Chris McCandless, a young man who ventured into the wilderness in search of truth and understanding. The book begins with the story of Jim Gallien dropping... -
Answered a Question in Law and Politics
The development of the National Command Authority was a long process where the authority of the president was slowly cemented. Currently, there is no way that anyone could stop an authorized...
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