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 "I Have a Dream" Speech
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his eloquent "I Have a Dream Speech" at the August, 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom at a critical time in the civil rights movement. Though the... -
Answered a Question in Soldier's Home
When Harold Krebs returns from fighting in World War I in Europe, he feels isolated and distanced from the girls around him. He notes that many now wear their hair short, which is a different style... -
Answered a Question in Look Back in Anger
The effects of World War II are apparent on the characters in Look Back in Anger. Jimmy Porter is a cynical character who voices the feeling of the age. He tries to remind his friend Cliff Lewis... -
Answered a Question in Religion in the Thirteen Colonies
The Puritans, who were Calvinists, believed in the idea of predestination. This is the concept that God chose those who were going to be saved before they were born. The elect were those who were... -
Answered a Question in Frederick Douglass
One example in which Douglass appeals to sentiment and emotion is in the first chapter. In this excerpt, he speaks about being separated from his mother at a young age. He writes: My mother and I... -
Answered a Question in Winter Dreams
Dexter has already been in love with the beautiful and mercurial Judy Jones when he dates Irene Scheerer. He is very close to becoming engaged to Irene—not because he truly loves her, but because... -
Answered a Question in Coming of Age in Mississippi
Anne Moody is involved in grassroots activism, including working for CORE in rural Mississippi. In her work trying to register African Americans to vote, she sees that people are so poor that... -
Answered a Question in Chronicle of a Death Foretold
Chronicle of a Death Foretold includes journalistic elements, such as the narrator's careful attempt to piece together the events that happened on the day Santiago Nasar was killed. Alongside these... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
Nick considers Gatsby a victim because Tom and Daisy use him. After Gatsby has been killed, Nick sees Tom and speaks to him. Nick asks Tom why he told George Wilson that Gatsby had killed Myrtle.... -
Answered a Question in History
In some ways, the United States was a freer country as the 1960s went on, but African Americans still lacked basic freedoms. In many parts of the South, African Americans were denied the right to... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
Tom Robinson is a decent man who is capable of sympathy for Mayella Ewell, who he knows is lonely and isolated. She is also likely being abused by her father, Bob Ewell. However, in the segregated... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
When Nick decides to pursue Jordan romantically, he reduces everyone in the world to four categories. These categories are rather cynical, but they describe the people in Nick's life. The pursued... -
Answered a Question in The War of 1812
The spirit of nationalism after the War of 1812 caused the United States to pursue a nationalist economic agenda. This agenda was named the "American System" and was advocated by Henry Clay and... -
Answered a Question in Winter Dreams
One of the symbols that appears in the story "Winter Dreams" is light. On the day that Dexter first sees the beautiful Judy Jones grown up, he sees the light of a harvest moon. When he goes... -
Answered a Question in God's Grandeur
The sacramental principle refers to the idea that God's presence is everywhere and that God's grace is available to people through everyday interactions with others and with nature. In his poem... -
Answered a Question in A Midsummer Night's Dream
In this scene, Puck is presented as the perennial jokester, always ready to poke fun at others to get the best of them. You can choose three main quotes and write a three- or four-paragraph essay... -
Answered a Question in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
On the reservation, Junior faces poverty and a school system that is missing a lot of vital resources. His parents' lack of money means that they haven't been able to realize their dreams, and they... -
Answered a Question in A Raisin in the Sun
Beneatha becomes interested in Africa when she meets Joseph Asagai, a student from Nigeria, on her campus. She approaches him because she is interested in learning about (what she considers) her... -
Answered a Question in The Middle Colonies
People immigrated to the Middle Colonies for different reasons. Some, such as the Quakers, came to Pennsylvania for religious freedom. Others, such as Germans, immigrated to Pennsylvania for... -
Answered a Question in Chronicle of a Death Foretold
The need for Angela Vicario to be a virgin and the social importance placed on virginity are what motivate Angela's brothers to slay the innocent Santiago Nasar. Angela marries Bayardo San Román,... -
Answered a Question in Coming of Age in Mississippi
Anne has been working as a CORE volunteer registering people to vote in Madison County in rural Mississippi. In her work, she sees firsthand the fear that prevents some African Americans from... -
Answered a Question in The Southern Colonies
Lord Baltimore (also known as Cecil Calvert, the Second Lord Baltimore) established the colony of Maryland in colonial America. His father, George Calvert, the First Lord Baltimore, was secretary... -
Answered a Question in Of Mice and Men
In structuring your answer to this question, you want to make an assertion, or claim, about why Lennie's dreams are important to him and how they help sustain him. Your assertion could be along the... -
Answered a Question in Trifles
Minnie Wright is kept offstage because the audience is intended to wonder at her actions. The audience is not sure if or why Mrs. Wright killed her husband. Glaspell puts the audience in the same... -
Answered a Question in Trifles
Delia, the main character in Zora Neale Hurston's "Sweat," suffers from an abusive marriage, as does Minnie Wright in Susan Glaspell's "Trifles." In both works, the people around the women come to... -
Answered a Question in Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth's Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa
Mathabane and his parents fight over religion. His father is committed to tribal religions and ways, and he consults with a witch doctor when he feels that he and his family are cursed. When... -
Answered a Question in James Baldwin
In his essay "The Uses of the Blues," Baldwin writes that the blues does not refer to a kind of music, but to a state of life and being. The blues are the not just the feeling of pain or suffering... -
Answered a Question in Lord of the Flies
In her TED Talk entitled "My Stroke of Insight," Jill Bolte Taylor, a brain scientist, speaks about her experience having a stroke. She also speaks, while holding an actual brain, about the... -
Answered a Question in Mrs. Dalloway
Woolf's novel is about the interior life of Clarissa Dalloway. Much of the internal action of the book centers on Clarissa's reminiscence about her previous love affair with Peter Walsh, who... -
Answered a Question in The Song of the Lark
The central idea of The Song of the Lark is that Thea, a great singer, must follow her own path and avoid conventionality to achieve artistic success. Her family does not understand her, and her... -
Answered a Question in The New England Colonies
The New England colonies had rocky soil (the result of glacial deposits) that was difficult to farm. As a result, the farms in these colonies tended to be small. The winters were quite cold, and... -
Answered a Question in Barefoot in the Park
The dramatic meaning of Barefoot in the Park is that love often involves the attraction of opposites, but people must make some accommodations to have a successful union. In the play, the newlyweds... -
Answered a Question in Rip Van Winkle
Irving might be suggesting that the American Revolution brought about great changes to the country. Rip Van Winkle falls asleep for twenty years and misses the entire American Revolution. When he... -
Answered a Question in Heart of Darkness
The Chapman Lighthouse is mentioned at the very beginning of the book. It formerly stood on the Canvey Island in the Thames. Canvey Island has been lived on since Roman times in England. The... -
Answered a Question in Bacon's Rebellion
In 1676, several colonists led by Nathaniel Bacon rebelled against the rule of elite governor William Berkeley of the Virginia colony. The colonists were unhappy with colonial rule, including... -
Answered a Question in European Colonization of North America
There is no doubt that the interchange of ideas and products between Europe and other nations around the world had benefits; however, these benefits were largely in favor of Europeans and not of... -
Answered a Question in Fences
Troy Maxson has made many choices in his life that have hurt his family members. He has not accepted the decisions and dreams of his sons, Lyons and Corey. Corey wants to play football, but Troy is... -
Answered a Question in Farewell To Manzanar
Here is another good quote from the book Farewell to Manzanar: Like so many of the women there, Mama never did get used to the latrines. It was a humiliation she just learned to endure: shigata ga... -
Answered a Question in The New England Colonies
The Pilgrims who settled in Plymouth in 1620 (the group that traveled on the Mayflower) were dissenters, or separatists, who had broken away from the Church of England and who hoped to reform the... -
Answered a Question in Great Expectations
Mr. Jaggers is a London lawyer who represents Miss Havisham and is also appointed to be Pip's guardian by Pip's benefactor. Jaggers is the person who first tells Pip that he has come into a fortune... -
Answered a Question in Just Lather, That's All
One potential thesis statement about "Just Lather, That's All" could be about the main character, the haircutter who narrates the story. The thesis could make a claim about why the narrator chooses... -
Answered a Question in Tess of the d'Urbervilles
According to Veidemanis (see the source below), Polanski's 1979 film of the Hardy novel portrays Tess as passive, weak, and childlike. However, Hardy conveys the strength and unrelenting quality of... -
Answered a Question in Hiroshima
Hersey uses similes and other examples of figurative language. An example is "Its front hall, packed with rolls of bedding and clothing, looked like a cool cave filled with fat cushions" (5). In... -
Answered a Question in Charlotte's Web
In Charlotte's Web, Fern Arable's parents are named Mr. John Arable and Mrs. Arable. John Arable is a farmer who plans on killing Wilbur, a young pig. However, Mr. Arable has a soft heart and... -
Answered a Question in The Old Man and the Sea
As the blog from the Chronicle of Higher Education (see the link below) points out, Hemingway uses Spanish words to convey the idea of the world that Santiago, the protagonist, and other characters... -
Answered a Question in Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
This sentence is in the past tense, as it uses the verb "was." Therefore, the sentence suggests that Connie, the protagonist, has died and that this story is a remembrance of her last days and the... -
Answered a Question in History
During the 1920s, America began to modernize following World War I. Many people moved to cities from rural areas, and the culture of these areas began to change. For example, the "New Woman" was... -
Answered a Question in Literature
In this volume, Leslie Jamison, the editor, has chosen what she considers to be the best essays of the year. The Foreword states that these essays "show an awareness of craft and forcefulness of... -
Answered a Question in The Yellow Wallpaper
The patient, who is the narrator, feels increasingly resentful toward her caregivers, including her husband, John. She says that perhaps it is because he is a doctor that she is not getting better.... -
Answered a Question in The Swiss Family Robinson
The Robinson family decides that they have to leave the hot, unsheltered bare rock where they have been encamped. Mrs. Robinson in particular finds the heat of this rock objectionable, and Mr....
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