Kristen Goldberg
eNotes Educator
Achievements
4
Educator Level
180
Answers Posted
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Answers Bonused
About
I am a former high school English teacher with a Master's in English education. I am currently working at the college level, but I still love revisiting the high school classics!
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Recent Activity
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Answered a Question in Night
When Elie approaches selection at Auschwitz, Dr. Mengele and the SS officers separate the group -- men to one side and women to the other. At this point, Elie is not separated from both his... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
With regard to defending the Capulets, you could argue, first and foremost, that it was the Montagues' fault that Romeo and Juliet met in the first place. The Capulets were simply having a... -
Answered a Question in Night
It might seem odd to refer to love and connection as a "weak point," but when you are in a survival situation, concern for anyone other than yourself, of necessity, dilutes your resources -- both... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
Juliet's relationship to Romeo changes throughout the play. In the beginning, the two do not know each other, but are enemies by virtue of the hatred that their respective families share.... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
While Harper Lee (the author) gives specific locations for many of the houses on Jem and Scout's street in Chapter 1 of To Kill a Mockingbird, we do not get a direct location for Ms. Crawford's... -
Answered a Question in Night
After Eliezer and his father have spent the entirety of their concentration camp time together, Elie's dad's death is rather unemotional. There is little in the way of a teary goodbye,... -
Answered a Question in Night
As Elie and the rest of his block are ordered to begin a forced march from their camp (fleeing the Allies who are fast approaching), the head of their bunk realizes he has not cleaned the bunk and... -
Answered a Question in A Christmas Carol
Whether or not you find Belle to be "rich" depends on your definition of the term. If you are referring to money, we don't hear much about her financial situation either way. The fact... -
Answered a Question in Night
Allowing that different versions of this text have different pagination, the story appears at the end of Chapter 7, on what is (in my text) page 96. At this point, Elie and his father have walked a... -
Answered a Question in Night
There are several ways that Elie Wiesel used the concept of "the night" in his book. First, night has often been seen as a symbol of death in literature. One thinks of Dylan Thomas's... -
Answered a Question in Night
The SS, in general during World War Two and more specifically in Night, were a military arm of the Nazi party. The initials "SS" stood for Schutzstaffel. "Schutz" translates in English... -
Answered a Question in A Christmas Carol
Dickens uses the Cratchits in two primary ways within the text. The first is to establish that having money is not a prerequisite for being happy. While the Cratchits have little food... -
Answered a Question in Julius Caesar
Casca, a tribune, was loyal to the Roman people and felt that his duty was to kill Caesar to save them from themselves. He felt that the Romans' love of Caesar was fanatical. As for... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
The play offers few answers with regard to how the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets started. In the Baz Luhrmann movie version, the two lords are portrayed as competing business... -
Answered a Question in Seamus Heaney
At first blush, Seamus Heaney's "Blackberry-Picking" seems straightforward. As the title suggests, the poem is a nostalgic remembrance of the subject's youth, which he spent as a boy picking... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
There are several important instances of figurative language within scenes 3-5 of Act 3 of Romeo and Juliet. When Romeo curses his banishment, he uses hyperbole in his cry, "There is no world... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
The prologue of Romeo and Juliet not only sets the scene for what the audience is about to see, but also predicts the doomed ending of both Romeo and Juliet. Thus, from the outset, we know... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
In Act 1, Scene 4 of Romeo and Juliet, as Romeo prepares to head to the Capulet party, he shares that he has had a premonition or a disturbing dream the night before. When they ready to... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
Tybalt is Juliet's cousin, an outspoken and often hot-headed Capulet who is proud of his family name. With regard to his being a "villain," dictionary.com defines a villain as, "a character... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
The death of Mercutio prompts two very different responses from the Montagues and the Capulets. Benvolio and Romeo, both Montagues and friends of Mercutio, are devastated over the loss and quickly... -
Answered a Question in Night
The biggest way in which Elie retained his humanity was through his treatment of his father throughout their shared time in the concentration camp. While Elie laments times when he permitted... -
Answered a Question in Night
Idek, their "Kapo" or work commander, is a little off-balance mentally, and those who live and work in Elie's unit quickly learn to stay out of his way. In Chapter 4, prior to the scene where... -
Answered a Question in Night
This is a great question, and one that 125 words is not likely to cover entirely. I can, however, offer somethings to consider. First, in the case of the Holocaust, one has to remember that those... -
Answered a Question in Night
By Chapter 5 of Night, Elie's foot, which begins simply swollen, is infected. After consulting with the doctor, Elie is told that he needs an operation; without it, his foot will likely need... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
As a 13-year-old girl, Juliet is predisposed to impulsivity. Specifically, however, we can see evidence of her impulsivity in three main areas. First, Juliet shows impulsivity in her... -
Answered a Question in Night
At the start of Night, Eliezer is a devout Jew. Aside from attending synagogue services on a regular basis, Eliezer opts to delve into Kabbalistic study. While Madonna and Britney... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
It would be tempting to characterize Boo's relationship with the kids as one of a person seeking friends as equals. After all, the gifts that Boo gave in the tree knot are consistent with... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
Romeo's mood would be difficult to pin down. As Romeo is given to very strong emotions (and can, likewise, be described as both emotional and passionate), his mood vacillates wildly... -
Answered a Question in Night
On the surface, Moishe and Madame Schacter are very different people. Madame Schacter is a middle-aged woman, married with sons. She is a resident of Sighet, and one assumes (as we find... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet are married by Friar Lawrence just one short afternoon after meeting. They wed in secret, with the bulk of the major players in the story -- Benvolio, Mercutio, and Tybalt... -
Answered a Question in We Are Seven
The main idea of Wordsworth's poem "We are Seven" is that the dead still "count", even though they are no longer with us. In the poem, a man approaches an eight-year-old girl and asks her how... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
Although your initial question did not specify to which news Juliet was reacting, one assumes that the question refers to the death of Tybalt and the banishment of Romeo, as this is the biggest... -
Answered a Question in In a Station of the Metro
At first blush, "In a Station of the Metro" seems impossibly easy. After all, it is a two-line poem. That being said, there is a lot going on within the few words we get from Ezra... -
Answered a Question in Sonnet 130
The "problem" in Sonnet 130 is that Shakespeare is attempting to write an over-the-top sonnet full of elevated language about a woman who is clearly only ordinary looking -- or perhaps even ugly.... -
Answered a Question in Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar is a complex play, with multiple themes running concurrently. One major theme found throughout the text is the theme of "power and leadership." We see what happens when Caesar's... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
Mercutio utters this famous line as he is stumbling around, following his stabbing by Tybalt. At this point in the scene, the others are unaware that Mercutio has been injured to the degree... -
Answered a Question in Julius Caesar
The assassination of Julius Caesar is one of the most dramatic points of the play. The scene follows the plot initially hatched by Cassius and carried out by Cassius, Brutus, and the... -
Answered a Question in Julius Caesar
Is Cassius responsible for Brutus' part in Caesar's assassination? On the surface, yes. After all, it is Cassius who plants fake notes from the Roman people and who speaks on behalf of... -
Answered a Question in A Christmas Carol
The story primarily takes place in Victorian London in the mid-19th century. This is consistent with most of Dickens' work, as he tended to use contemporary issues and settings in his... -
Answered a Question in A Christmas Carol
Belle, Ebenezer's ex-fiancee, first appears in a distant memory, as Scrooge travels through his early years with the Ghost of Christmas Past. In that particular memory, we see Belle break off... -
Answered a Question in A Christmas Carol
The Ghost of Christmas Present takes Scrooge to a variety of Christmas celebrations, including a party aboard a ship and Fred's party, which Scrooge had been invited to, but declined to attend.... -
Answered a Question in A Christmas Carol
In A Christmas Carol, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come teaches Scrooge that his money is not "worth" anything in the end, unless he has used it to help others. In Stave Four, we see the... -
Answered a Question in Julius Caesar
The beginning of Act Two takes us to the eve of the Ides of March. Brutus is awake through the night, periodically asking Lucius, his servant, for either items or information. The major... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
One main theme that emerges from this portion of To Kill a Mockingbird is the idea that people are not always what they seem. Earlier in the text, Scout and Jem describe their neighbor, Boo... -
Answered a Question in Lord of the Flies
While the two works of literature vary greatly in topic, time frame, etc. there are commonalities between them. One interesting topic to tackle would be the role of "mob mentality" in the... -
Answered a Question in A Christmas Carol
During his visits with the Ghost of Christmas Past, Ebenezer revisits a scene involving Belle, his beautiful ex-fiancee. In the scene, Belle accuses Ebenezer of loving money more than he... -
Answered a Question in A Christmas Carol
In Stave Three of the story, we meet the Cratchit family as part of Ebenezer's tour with the Ghost of Christmas Present. While the family of eight (Mom, Dad, and six children) are poor, and... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
While my earlier answer details the entire plan, your question asked for one specific quote. If I were to choose only one, it would be lines 96-101 in Act 4, Scene 1: Take thou this vial,... -
Answered a Question in A Christmas Carol
All of the ghosts help Scrooge in their own way. The Ghost of Christmas Past reminds Scrooge of the happiness he used to know, while the Ghost of Christmas Present shows him alternatives to... -
Answered a Question in A Christmas Carol
Good catch on the double meaning! Dickens was very intentional with his wording, so we have to assume that this was intended as well. On the surface, we take the word "stave" at face value -- as a...
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