Olen Bruce, Ph.D.
eNotes Educator
Achievements
16
Educator Level
4315
Answers Posted
395
Answers Bonused
About
I am a high school teacher and have worked as a tutor for students in grades 3 through college. My particular interest is American history, and I enjoy reading current history books on subjects related to World War II, Civil Rights, the Kennedy era, women's rights, and other topics. History is a fascinating topic, and I hope to help students enjoy learning it. I've also worked with students on writing and understanding literature. I hope my explanations and answers make students' work more enjoyable.
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Recent Activity
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Answered a Question in Chronicle of a Death Foretold
The minor female characters give a fuller sense of Santiago Nasar and enable the narrator to get a sense of what Santiago was like when he was alive. Santiago's mother, Plácida Linero, was... -
Answered a Question in Secession and Civil War
In general, the Confederacy was technologically weaker than the Union forces. The Union possessed more than twice the length of railroad trackage that the South had, and while the northern... -
Answered a Question in The Cold War
The origins of the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union arose during World War II. The Soviet Union wanted the Allies to open a second front against the Nazis, but the US and the other... -
Answered a Question in Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth's Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa
Magdalene, Mark Mathabane's mother, had seven children with her husband, Jackson. Magdalene was a strong, inspiring woman who encouraged her children to pursue an education, though it was very... -
Answered a Question in Thank You, M'am
Hughes has a humorous tone at points of the story "Thank You, M'am." For example, at the beginning of the story, he writes that the woman in the story, Mrs. Jones, kicks Roger, the boy who attempts... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
Tom and Daisy are bothered by Gatsby's party for many reasons. They find the people gauche, as Gatsby's partygoers are related to Broadway and show business. Fitzgerald writes that Tom and Daisy... -
Answered a Question in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
In Chapter 6, McMurphy tells Chief Bromden that a black orderly is coming, and Chief immediately gets into bed. Later, McMurphy tells Chief that he saw him jump when he told Chief this information,... -
Answered a Question in Sonnet 116
Shakespeare's Sonnet 116 is a testament to the abiding power of love. These lines mean that time cannot change love. Father Time, the personification of time, is often pictured with a scythe, or a... -
Answered a Question in Immigration and Nativism in the 1920s
During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, immigrants began to arrive from eastern and southern Europe, including Poles, Russians, Italians, Jews, Greeks, and other groups. New... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
In chapter 8, Gatsby describes the time when he (along with other soldiers from his army camp) first met Daisy. He fell in love with her and felt a "breathless intensity" about her house, as it was... -
Answered a Question in History
American imperialism refers to the attempt to expand the power of the United States through military or economic control or interference in other countries. Manifest Destiny is the idea that it is... -
Answered a Question in The Devil in the White City
One theme that emerges from Devil in the White City is that people had not yet grasped the darker side of modern America. The Chicago World's Fair of 1893 marked the beginning of many aspects of... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
You are almost there. Your conclusion is very solid. Please make sure your conclusion repeats the main ideas of your thesis statement and the points you have developed throughout your essay. All... -
Answered a Question in A Farewell to Arms
One of the themes of A Farewell to Arms is the inexorable path of fate. It is fate that first throws Catherine, a British nurse, and Frederic, an American serving in the Italian army, together.... -
Answered a Question in Émile Durkheim
Durkheim was a functionalist sociologist, which means he looked at the ways the different parts of society worked together to create balance and stability. He believed that education served two... -
Answered a Question in The Other Wes Moore
Wes and Justin attended the private Riverdale school in the Bronx. To get there took as long as an hour and a half on some days, as there was always traffic, stalled trains, and weather issues to... -
Answered a Question in Populism, the Grange Movement, and Monetary Policy
The People's Party (also known as the Populist Party or Populists) backed William Jennings Bryan in the 1896 presidential election. The Populists were a third party that gained popularity in the... -
Answered a Question in A Tale of Two Cities
The first book is called "Recalled to Life" because Mr. Lorry, traveling in a mail coach, receives word from Tellson's bank that someone has been "recalled to life." Mr. Lorry falls into a fitful... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
Something that Gatsby does not like is drinking alcohol. His mentor, Dan Cody, was a drinker, and Gatsby formed an alliance with Cody by taking care of Cody when he was drunk. Dan Cody himself... -
Answered a Question in Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice is not a tragic novel, as it ends with the protagonist's wedding to a man she loves. Instead, Austen uses satire, a kind of humor in which people's flaws are exaggerated, to... -
Answered a Question in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
There is an argument to be made on both sides of the question of whether Mitty is a daydreamer or is mentally ill. Mitty lives in a world in which he is not able to feel confident or heroic. He... -
Answered a Question in Holes
Stanley's friends give him the nickname "Caveman" during an incident in the "wreck room" on the second day of camp. Stanley trips over a boy called the Lump when the Lump has his foot outstretched,... -
Answered a Question in Hilaire Belloc
Belloc's premise is that Napoleon fell because of the same types of qualities that allowed him to rise to power. Napoleon was critical in putting an end to some of the disorder and disunion that... -
Answered a Question in A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings
Poverty motivates the decisions of several of the characters. For example, Elisenda and Pelayo charge their fellow townspeople money to see the very old man. Elisenda makes this decision because... -
Answered a Question in Freedmen's Bureau Bill
Following the Civil War, the United States entered the period of Reconstruction, which ran from 1865 to 1877. Right after the war ended, Lincoln was shot in April of 1865, and his plan for... -
Answered a Question in The Outsiders
Sodapop is the middle brother in the Curtis family. He is loving towards Ponyboy and is a supportive older brother. After the Socs attack Ponyboy, who is rattled, Sodapop tells him, "Easy, Ponyboy.... -
Answered a Question in Washington Square
Catherine Sloper is the protagonist in Washington Square. She is the daughter of the wealthy, imperious, and brilliant physician Austin Sloper. In the marriage game carried out at the time,... -
Answered a Question in William H. Taft's Presidency
Taft, whose presidency was generally regarded as less successful than that of his predecessor, Teddy Roosevelt, had success in continuing the trust busting that Roosevelt had started. As the... -
Answered a Question in Herbert Hoover's Presidency
The timing of Hoover's presidency was unfortunate. Elected in 1928, he took office in March of 1929, shortly before the stock market crash of October of 1929 and the Great Depression that ensued.... -
Answered a Question in Pride and Prejudice
Lady Catherine de Bourgh says this when she hears Elizabeth is to marry Darcy. Among her other objections, Lady Catherine mentions that Lydia, Elizabeth's sister, had a "patched-up" marriage to... -
Answered a Question in The Witch of Blackbird Pond
On All Saints' Day, which the Puritans regard as a pagan feast, according to Matthew, Nat places lanterns in the windows of William Ashby's house. The windows do not yet have panes, and Nat and two... -
Answered a Question in Literature
"A Martian Odyssey" and "Native Aliens" both deal with the same theme—the troubled interactions between natives and colonizers and their attempt to understand each other. "A Martian Odyssey" by... -
Answered a Question in A Modest Proposal
After the word "food" in paragraph 9, Swift adds the words "whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled." He is referring to the way in which healthy children make good food for discerning eaters. By... -
Answered a Question in Segregation and the Civil Rights Movement
The writers of all three documents express their distrust of authority and call for a reordering of society. The "Port Huron Statement" finds fault with the establishment and their hypocrisy and... -
Answered a Question in Native Americans
While Iroquois women tended to the longhouses and were responsible for collecting and making food, the men were traditionally warriors, defending their people from attacks. As the source below... -
Answered a Question in Sonny's Blues
As Baldwin wrote it, "Sonny's Blues" is configured as a kind of psychological mystery. The unnamed narrator attempts to understand his younger brother by going back in time and reviewing moments... -
Answered a Question in Royal Beatings
This passage from "Royal Beatings" by Alice Munro reflects the theme of the performance aspect of Rose's beating at the hands of her father. Rose gets into an everyday kind of argument with her... -
Answered a Question in To Sir, with Love
To Sir, With Love is the story of a teacher's personal journey from discord with his students to forming a real connection with them. At first, the teacher, Braithwaite, has many sources of... -
Answered a Question in A People's History of the United States
Zinn's argument in Chapter 23, "The Clinton Presidency and the Crisis of Democracy," is that progressive movements in the United States starting in the 1990s and going forward would have to... -
Answered a Question in Gulliver's Travels
Gulliver's Travels is a commentary on how language affects the relationships between people. In each place he visits, Gulliver must learn the language. In Lilliput, for example, he cannot... -
Answered a Question in Fences
The characters in the play are not in total control over their lives or themselves. Troy tries to defeat the forces of death and mortality, and he regards death as something he can overcome. He... -
Answered a Question in The Help
Aibileen sees Elizabeth Leefolt trying to indoctrinate her daughter, Mae Mobley, in the ways of racism. Aibileen is Mae Mobley's nanny, and she has been toilet-training the toddler. Mae Mobley... -
Answered a Question in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
To answer this question, it is necessary to look at what happened to Junior's parents. In a graphic, the author illustrates the way in which Junior's parents would have been different if they had... -
Answered a Question in The First Great Awakening
The First Great Awakening, which took place starting in the 1730s, was about reviving predestination (the idea that people are selected before birth to be saved or not). This movement was also... -
Answered a Question in The New Jim Crow
The authors note that we are loath to speak about caste and race in the United States, and we also have the myth that social mobility is possible. That is, we believe that people can move up the... -
Answered a Question in Fences
Troy Maxson deserves to go to heaven because he has suffered greatly in his life. He has struggled against the forces of racism, which prevented him from becoming all that he could. He had the... -
Answered a Question in The Middle Colonies
At first a Dutch trading post that was established in 1614, New Amsterdam was founded by the Dutch West India Company in 1626. In 1664, the British took over New York. It was ruled as a proprietary... -
Answered a Question in Maus
In Auschwitz, Vladek gets the idea from a priest that the number stamped on his arm is lucky, as the digits add up to 18, a lucky number in Jewish tradition. The priest believes that Vladek will... -
Answered a Question in Fences
One of the literary devices in Fences is the symbolic use of fences. Troy wants to build a fence around his property, and the fence is both literal and figurative. The fence is intended to keep... -
Answered a Question in The First Great Awakening
The leaders of the First Great Awakening, which took place in the American colonies and England starting in the 1730s, hoped to bring back the belief in predestination, among other goals. This was...
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