Jamie Wheeler
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About
I hold a M.A. and B.A. in literature, currently writing my Ph.D in American Literature, specifically John Steinbeck's female characters. I have been teaching both Freshman and Sophomore literature at the college level for about ten years.
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Recent Activity
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Answered a Question in The Crucible
Betty reveals that the girls had actually participated in witchcraft. Abigail is *very* worried that she will spread her knowledge to others and get the girls in serious trouble. In this exchange,... -
Answered a Question in A Series of Unfortunate Events
In this, the third book in the "Series of Unfortunate Events", the Baudelaire orphans are sent to live with Aunt Josephine. The rickety house in perched above the ominous Lake Lachrymose. It is... -
Answered a Question in Sonnet 73
These lines refer to death being akin to the night. There are three images in this sonnet to pay attention to: fall, twilight, and embers. All three are reflective of the process of aging. The... -
Answered a Question in Julius Caesar
In Act 1.2, the Soothsayer (one who predicts the future) twice warns Julius Caesar, "Beware the ides of March." He has foreseen that on this date, March 15, Caesar will meet a grim fate. Caesar... -
Answered a Question in Much Ado About Nothing
Beatrice loathes men in 1.1, especially the Benedick. For example, in lines 29-30, she resolutely declares, " I would rather hear my dog bark at a crow/than a man say he loves me." In 2.1, her... -
Answered a Question in The Crucible
Though there are hints at the superstitions held in the community, the first real indication of how deep these beliefs lie comes when Goody Putnam claims she has seen Betty fly, then claims that... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
Tom flees because he has already been let down by the justice system once and has absolutely no faith that an appeal will do him any good. The reality that he will "get the chair" looms large. When... -
Answered a Question in Kiss of the Spider Woman
I would argue that the one of the primary reasons for the title is that it refers to the web in which the main character, Valentin, is drawn. Valetin shares a cell with the homosexual/transvestite... -
Answered a Question in The Silence of the Lambs
True, it is the title of the movie, but it is also a novel by the same name by Thomas Harris. It is called "The Silence of the Lambs" because lambs, when they are led to slaughter, go quietly and... -
Answered a Question in Harrison Bergeron
Harrison Bergeron, the protagonist of the story, has exceptional intelligence, height, strength and beauty, and as a result he has to bear enormous handicaps. These include distracting noises,... -
Answered a Question in The Man Who Was Poe
One of the themes in this work is that of the locked room. The theme is nothing new to detective fiction, poetry, or fairy tales, (ie, Sleeping Beauty, The Rape of the Lock). Here, Avi also... -
Answered a Question in Far from the Madding Crowd
There are three major themes in Hardy's novel: unrequited love, catastrophe, and social hierarchy. The following is excerpt from eNotes. You can find much more detailed information on each theme by... -
Answered a Question in William Shakespeare
Two of my favorite comedies are "Much Ado About nothing" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream." In the comedies, confusion abonds, misunderstandings are commonplace, and lover's are parted. However,... -
Answered a Question in The Tempest
In Act 2.1.293-325, we witness Prospero's loathing of the slave. Caliban protests and calls Prospero names, and Prospero, in a voice drippping with hatred, tells his "poisonous slave," For this... -
Answered a Question in The Merchant of Venice
Portia has cooked up a scheme in which music plays a key role. Critic Homer Watt expalins it this way: At his trial, aided by a hint embebbed in a song which Portia orders sung while he comments to... -
Answered a Question in Macbeth
These lines are from Act 2.1. Here, Macbeth is experiencing what might be a moral crisis. He knows he is about to kill Duncan, but he is imagining what it will be like to actually hold the dagger... -
Answered a Question in Sonnet 29
This is Sonnet XXIX. The setting is one of solititude and reflection. One can easily imagine the speaker, sitting alone on a hill, isolated from humanity and casting his anguished cries to the... -
Answered a Question in M. Butterfly
Gallimard has a pretty severe inferiority complex. At school, he is teased, even being voted ‘‘least likely to be invited to a party.’’ He is uncomfortable in his relations with the opposite sex,... -
Answered a Question in A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings
I would also add that like most fairy tales of the old days, such as Rumplestilskin, or even Sleeping Beauty or Snow White, or any fairy tale, really, there is a moral lesson that is perhaps more... -
Answered a Question in A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings
The tone is one of instruction and caution, like a fairy tale. In fact, if you look at the title, you will see that its complete title is "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings: A Tale for Children."... -
Answered a Question in Hamlet
Hamlet is convinced that she has committed a grevious sin by covering up Claudius' horrific deed and, perhaps even worse, continuing to live with the man and share his bed. He begs his mother to... -
Answered a Question in Hamlet
Polonius appears much more wily than we may have given him credit for in previous scenes. Though the following quote (3.2) comes later than the Reynaldo scene you point to, it is indicative of the... -
Answered a Question in 1984
2+2 = 5 It is the ironic reflection of the double-speak Winston had been trying to avoid internalizing his whole life. As he is dying, this is the last thing he does on earth: Almost unconsciously... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
Nick is the speaker here. The entire quote reads, "I waited, and sure enough, in a moment she looked at me with an absolute smirk on her lovely face as if she had asserted her membership in a... -
Answered a Question in The Necklace
I would say that there are two main ideas in De Maupassant's story and both are entwined and reinfoce one another. The questions to be considered are: what is beauty? and what is wealth? For... -
Answered a Question in The Seafarer
In the opening line and on through the first twenty, the speaker of this poem is miserable. He describes his experience at sea as being in constant "sorrow and fear and pain" (line 3), "suffering... -
Answered a Question in Lady Windermere's Fan
There are two major theme's in Wilde's play. The first is hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is insincerity; that is, saying or acting in a way that is not true or real. Most of the characters in Wilde’s play... -
Answered a Question in Everyday Use
Empathy is one strong emotion evoked in Walker's story. We feel for the mother, Mrs. Johnson, as she battles her strong willed and patronizing daughter, Dee. We also feel empathy for Maggie, who... -
Answered a Question in A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings
The decrepit angel is symbolic of Pelayo's and Elisenda's lack of faith. The angel is crippled, lice-ridden, and filthy. He *could* have been the miracle they hoped for if they had taken proper... -
Answered a Question in Of Mice and Men
There are lots of examples of irony in Steinbeck's novel, but the most glaring one is the fact that George must kill Lennie because he loves him. It is a heart-wrenching scene. Lennie thinks, in... -
Answered a Question in Six Characters in Search of an Author
The stepdaughter feels that she has to leave. The events of the play have transpired in a way that for her to stay would make no sense. At first, it seems that the Son should be the one to go, but... -
Answered a Question in A Rose for Emily
There are a great number of devices used to develop themes. I will speak to a few of the most frequent: symbolism, metaphor, rhyme, and the soliloquy. Symbolism is a literary device poets use to... -
Answered a Question in A Rose for Emily
The main conflict in this story may not be the most obvious one, but it is past versus the present. Miss Emily is part of the antebellum South. Her home "had once been white, decorated with cupolas... -
Answered a Question in The Cask of Amontillado
There really isn't a reason ever given for Montressor's hatred of Fortunado. This is what makes the tale all the more compelling and puzzling. Some critics feel that Fortunado embodies all that is... -
Answered a Question in The Odyssey
Athena's advice to Telemachus can be found in Book 1, lines 296-97. She is telling him that the time has come to leave his childhood behind and be a man, saying, “…You should not go on clinging to... -
Answered a Question in A Midsummer Night's Dream
Bottom, is a leader of a troupe of clowns of a ragtag group of "actors" (term loosely used) bent on putting on a play. He is boisterous and comically serious, directing his players with the utmost... -
Answered a Question in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
In this a very interesting insertion on Twain's part, for, as critic Daniel Hoffman says, it is incontestably of African origin. Reading hair-balls was/is a voodoo practice. Here is the text: "Miss... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
The listing of the guests shows just how shallow that set of people can be: the list is long to show the pervasiveness of this attitude. Fitzgerald describes the party-goers as "moths coming to the... -
Answered a Question in Pride and Prejudice
What an interesting question! I may be "colored" myself by Colin Firth's Darcy in my favorite version (BBC) of Austen's novel, but here is what I think. His feelings would be painted a bluish-grey.... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
For Juliet, romantic love was more important than familial love. Juliet lacks maturity as well, and is led by her hormones rather than her head. Her choice is also one of teenage rebellion. Her... -
Answered a Question in The Tempest
It's kind of hard to say, since if you were to line up Prospero's strengths on the right side of a scale and the weakness on the left, it would be akin to weighing a feather and a boulder. Bad... -
Answered a Question in Gulliver's Travels
First, recall that satire uses inversion, that is, what is normally expected is turned upside down. Additionally, satire pretends approval, but the approval is intended to rebuke or debunk. The... -
Answered a Question in The Waltz
The characters are the unnamed narrator and a number of anonymous dance partners, one of whom she dubs "Double-Time Charley." His name can be considered a literary device, that is, a metaphor. He... -
Answered a Question in The Odyssey
The suitors believe Odysseus to be dead. They wish to inherit his vast fortune and kingdom. They don't wait to begin sampling some of his delights, holding lavish parties and refusing to leave... -
Answered a Question in Death of a Salesman
Uncle Ben acts as Willy's foil. In Willy's mind, Ben is everything Willy is not and hopes to be: successful, bold, "well liked." Ben only appears in Willy's imaginative ramblings. Willy also wants... -
Answered a Question in To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time
The primary metaphor is "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may." Rosebuds are youth and beauty. This is the theme of the poem, which is "carpe diem" or "seize the day." We only have one life, and one... -
Answered a Question in A Rose for Emily
Miss Emily's cessation of the lessons is indicative of the distancing of the whole town from her, as well as the changing values of the town. In older days, the town was connected, cared for its... -
Answered a Question in Death of a Salesman
I believe you are referring to the Oliver incident in Act 2. Biff's "big secret" is that he stole a pen from Bill Oliver. It may seem a minor incident, but the desperately symbolic gesture holds a... -
Answered a Question in The Tempest
Prospero makes his amends in the final act (5). Dressed as the wronged Duke of Milan, Prospero reveals himself. He tells Antonio to restore the duke to his rightful position and warns Sebastian... -
Answered a Question in The Tempest
Ariel is male. You can find out more about him by visiting the eNotes link below. Here is an excerpt: He is a spirit of the air. In I.ii.250-93, we learn that Ariel was once the servant of Sycorax,...
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