Jamie Wheeler
eNotes Educator
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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 Handsomest Drowned Man in the World
"Wednesday drowsiness," "Wednesday meat," and "Wednesday bodies" all have a common meaning: tiresome. In many communities where the majority of the residents were (and are) ... -
Answered a Question in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Stevenson paints a clear picture of Edward Hyde for the reader by tapping into the baser parts of our human nature. We recognize him as real for he is us. (This notion is akin to... -
Answered a Question in Iliad
Poor Helen of Troy... minding her own business... looking hot. Helen was the subject of some serious male chest-beating and interference in her life from some very jealous goddesses. But let's... -
Answered a Question in The Necklace
In the beginning of de Maupassant's tale, Madame Loisel is stunning. Although she had to scrounge to find just the right accessories fpr the party, when she makes her appearance, She was... -
Answered a Question in Hamlet
I would also ask if he might have had clues about the affair before his father died. Which film version of your story do you like the best? What did you like best at school in... -
Answered a Question in Of Mice and Men
"Work cards" were issued by the WPA (Works Projects Administration) in an unprecedented effort by the Roosevelt administration to get money into the pockets of the thousands of men who were... -
Answered a Question in Of Mice and Men
Of course, there are the physical differences obvious from Steinbeck's initial description: The first man was small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features. ... -
Answered a Question in Winter Dreams
I disagree with the answer above in regard to Dexter. While he does have a distinct disadvantage over Gatsby in that he, at least, remains alive, for all intents and purposes, Dexter is... -
Answered a Question in Literature
Hi there- I think you will find it helpful to visit our How to Write a Compare and Contrast Essay page. There are other topics on our "how to" pages you might find helpful as... -
Answered a Question in Hills Like White Elephants
The hills also mimic the woman's growing abdomen and her white skin; her condition mimics the snow-capped mountains over which the train in passing, and of which both the man and woman are largely... -
Answered a Question in Macbeth
I think you will find this review that I wrote a couple of months ago very enlightening: Witches and Jesuits: Shakespeare's Macbeth. ... -
Answered a Question in Beowulf
You are in luck! A few months ago, I offered a free, complete analysis and discussion of this classic poem. Go to this link: eNotes Lit 101: Beowulf.... -
Answered a Question in Hamlet
This question has had several interesting answers. Click the links below to see them: What is a tragic flaw? What is the tragic flow of Hamlet and is Hamlet destroyed by his flaw? Does Hamlet... -
Answered a Question in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
I recommend a terrific essay by Nabokov (can be found in the collection Lectures on Literature.) Consider these three quotes by Freud and a correlative argument by Nabokov: Every normal person, in... -
Answered a Question in Hamlet
You might be interested in visting our free, online classes for Hamlet, including summaries, themes, and other relevant information. There are also discussion boards on Hamlet; there, you can... -
Answered a Question in Great Expectations
I have to throw in a bit of a warning here. I don't care for Dickens much, but that's really beside the point. While it is true that "great works" stand the test of time, for the... -
Answered a Question in A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
Discuss what Donne means by "laity" in the second stanza: 'Twere profanation of our joys To tell the laity our love. Laity are the common people, a term which is... -
Answered a Question in Hills Like White Elephants
The man and the woman are speaking about abortion. This is the primary theme, but there are others: tension, isolation, and disconnection. As the couple wait for the train, the... -
Answered a Question in The Chrysanthemums
Steinbeck uses in vivid imagery, which sets up the contrast between Eliza's "light" and the "grey" that consumes her world. The land parallels Eliza's isolation, both mentally and... -
Answered a Question in Oedipus Rex
The pull between fate (or destiny) and free will is a primary theme of the trilogy. While modern thinking typically scorns the idea of a pre-determined fate, there seems to be something that... -
Answered a Question in Oedipus Rex
The children are a connection for Oedipus to what is valuable. Antigone and Ismene are a result of Oedipus' union with Jocasta, his own mother. The prophecy, which Oedipus tried to desperately to... -
Answered a Question in A Rose for Emily
The unnamed narrator represents both the consciousness and unconsciousness of the town. He symbolizes their neglect and self-centered nature that has allowed one of their own to die an ignominious... -
Answered a Question in Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Phase the First, the Maiden, is so-called because it is the time of life when young women first enter the complex world of sexuality, with its temptations to both acquiesce to the relentless... -
Answered a Question in A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings
The overarching metaphor is that of the fallen angel, the old, decrepit being who arrives on Pelayo and Elisenda's farm. His degenerative state is a reflective metaphor for the impoverished state... -
Answered a Question in Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
There are no similes in Frost's poem, but there are a number of literary devices the poet employs to create a tone of physical and emotional isolation, both states the speaker does not find... -
Answered a Question in The Cask of Amontillado
Montressor and Fortunato are the primary characters. The setup for predator and prey begins in the first line: "The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured... -
Answered a Question in Heart of Darkness
This statement is part of Conrad's backlash against Enlightenment thinking. Proponents of the ideology believed all questions could be eventually be answered by science; Conrad casts... -
Answered a Question in Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Frost's poem is tightly constructed, imbued with multiple layers of meaning, and thematically important in its treatment of both the individual and the environment. From the first line, we see... -
Answered a Question in Harlem
Formalist perspective is a way to consider writing not as a means to knowledge or discovering meaning, but instead concentrates on simply stating a position. One may definitely consider Hughes'... -
Answered a Question in John Donne's Songs and Sonnets
The "good morrow" is always to be anticipated, for the speaker's love is so consuming that the promise of another day brings the prospect of more intense love. First, the speaker dismisses past... -
Answered a Question in Guests of the Nation
There are four tones, each claiming one of the four sections of O'Connor's short story: contentment, disillusion, tension, and regret. Section 1 finds Bonaparte, the Irish... -
Answered a Question in Death, be not proud
The ABBA rhyme scheme gives Donne's poem a measured tone that serves as something like a respectful yet gleeful triumph over the anthropomorphized "Death." Death be not proud, though some... -
Answered a Question in Macbeth
Both share culpability, but Macbeth is the most responsible, for it is he who murders Duncan. However, Lady Macbeth does everything in her power to make it happen. Much like Eve with the apple,... -
Answered a Question in American Poetry in the 1960's
Music may not be poetry, but lyrics certainly can be, especially many of those of the 1960s, the heyday of singer-songwriters. Poetry can be defined as "condense, intense, experience." One... -
Answered a Question in Macbeth
These lines belong to Lady Macbeth (3.2.6-9). Finally, she realizes how futile and hollow her (and her husband's) desire for power has been. "Naught had" equals "nothing had"; "all's spent" means... -
Answered a Question in The Pearl
The overt, moral lesson is that "money can't buy happiness." Before finding the "Pearl of the World," Kino's family is poor but content. Their basic needs (food, shelter) are met. Kino and Juana... -
Answered a Question in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The Carew Murder Case" (Chapter 4) contains many of the elements of horror and mystery that continue to intrigue the modern reader. First, we have the unexplained, gruesome murder of a wealthy and... -
Answered a Question in Flowers for Algernon
The first indication that the doctors, Nemur and Strauss, have ambivalence about the success of Charley's operation comes in "Progress Report 10." Charley overhears the colleagues... -
Answered a Question in The Leader of the People
For Jody's grandfather, the "crossing" represents his youth and opportunities to be both protector and conqueror. In Grandfather's day, the frontier was still... -
Answered a Question in Hamlet
I would ask why he found it necessary to be so cruel to Ophelia. She could easily have been persuaded to give him up without the overt degradation that drove her to suicide. His... -
Answered a Question in A Modest Proposal
Swift's work is the epitome of satire and few have paralleled its mastery. Overall, satire is characterized by its scorn or ridicule of a topic. Swift's "proposal" certainly does that from... -
Answered a Question in The Vietnam War
Tsk, tsk, tsk. Consult your Chicago Manual of Style (my favorite is the 13th ed.). Congress never declared war in Vietnam, so you cannot capitalize the word "war." You must either lowercase the w... -
Answered a Question in The Vietnam War
While Linda is right about the "official" reason, I can't help but think of Monty Python's Dead Parrot Sketch: Insist it's a (w)ar, a "conflict" or "Operation Iraqi Freedom," an invasion of a... -
Answered a Question in Invisible Man
Ellison's humor is typically sarcastic, a sarcasm enveloped by bitterness and anger. We see his rueful, ironic tone (a recurrent device) beginning in the prologue and scattering... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
This is a good question but a bit tricky. It is Juliet's Nurse who offers the best example of parental love even though Juliet is not biologically her child. The Nurse protects, dotes,... -
Answered a Question in The Bean Trees
Lou Ann suffers from a lack of self-worth. Her mother and grandmother are constantly critical. Lou Ann can do nothing right, especially in Granny's eyes. When Lou Ann... -
Answered a Question in In the Time of the Butterflies
Perhaps the best quotes which characterize the differences between the brutal dictator and the freedom-loving Mirabal sisters are found in Chapter Six. Here, we witness the callousness of "El... -
Answered a Question in The Sun Also Rises
Hemingway takes his the Old Testament Book of Ecclesiastes 1:15: The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose. Carlos Baker, Hemingway's biographer,... -
Answered a Question in Beowulf
Hrothgar is greatly loved by his warriors, who will do anything and everything to protect both king and kingdom. But as much as they admire him, they realize he has been unable to stop the... -
Answered a Question in Dulce et Decorum Est
The literal "occasion" is the moment and aftermath of a mustard gas attack on troops during a battle in World War I. Mustard gas has a particularly horrific effect on its unfortunate...
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