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 Night
Elie is referring to seeing his fellow Jews consumed by the flames of the ovens in the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Man's ability to be so cruel to his fellow man forever... -
Answered a Question in Much Ado About Nothing
The play is all about gender roles. Men are much more flat than the women. Don John is a flat character, Benedick is rounder, and Claudio is too dense for words. But in... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
Gatsby reveals his contempt for Tom Buchanan when he calls him "the polo player." The men had met "two weeks ago," although clearly they knew one another in the scuffles for the... -
Answered a Question in Annabel Lee
The second stanza takes us back to the simpler, magical time of childhood. "She was a child and I was a child, / In this kingdom by the sea," the speaker... -
Answered a Question in Beowulf
(continued from prievious post) I teach a monsters class at Hockaday premised on the psychology of monster making. They read Mephisto, Othello, some more recent things. The... -
Answered a Question in Beowulf
These comments come from my friend who is a biblical literature scholar. I asked for her insight: Fascinating discussion. A few thoughts. First, "free will" is a relatively modern notion,... -
Answered a Question in Beowulf
See, that's where you went wrong. They were delicious, especially basted in rum the way they were... Good thoughts, maybe we could get Grendel on the couch, ask him about his dreams... I... -
Answered a Question in Beowulf
Yes, yes! My point exactly! If God did indeed set up irredemable evil, then what does that mean for man and free will? Is there really such a thing? And as to Cain, you're very correct that... -
Answered a Question in Beowulf
You argue for the necessity, but then claim that the pic-within-a pic oriented 17 year olds demand action. I have had the same experience, btw, with my own thumb-happy-texting... -
Answered a Question in Beowulf
I agree, Linda. The original poet intended no sympathy; Gardner's version, while highly enjoyable, was a satire. Still, I personally feel some sympathy for the poor monster. He is... -
Answered a Question in Maniac Magee
If you are the unfortunate victim of a "finsterwallie," a bully has pushed you, much against your will, onto the property of the feared Finsterwald's. Rumor has it that the inhabitants will... -
Answered a Question in Macbeth
Macbeth is despondent when he learns of her death, and his sorrow contains some of the most quoted lines in all of Western literature: "She should have died hereafter; There would have been a time... -
Answered a Question in Hamlet
It isn't so much of a trick as just passive-aggressive information gathering. At Polonious' behest, Reynaldo (who has just thirteen lines in the entire play, by the way) is sent off to Paris... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
Fate is the ultimate variable; we could argue that the young lovers are "fated" for disaster. Their feuding families have a long history; both are young and hormonally influenced; neither has... -
Answered a Question in The Bronze Bow
By this point in the novel, Daniel is developing a conscience, largely due to the love and kindness of his friends, Daniel and Thacia, the dedication of his friend (the former slave)... -
Answered a Question in The Lady with the Pet Dog
Chekov's short story addresses the human characteristics of loneliness, desire to be loved, a propensity for longing, and a seeming inability to be satisfied. As the two characters... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
Mr. Avery probably does not truly believe this, but his claim in Chapter 7 is that disobedient children are the cause of odd weather phemonena. Here is the quote: Mr. Avery said it was... -
Answered a Question in A Raisin in the Sun
Beneathea occupies a unique place in Hansberry's play. Consider the symbolism of her name, for one thing (the entire family's last name, too, is "Young," symbolic, in part, of their... -
Answered a Question in Emma
Emma, like many young people, thinks that she knows everything, especially what is best for the important people in her life. Sometimes Emma's motivations are altruistic, that is, she wants... -
Answered a Question in Antigone
Wow! I hadn't caught that last one about making anarchy feminine. Sadly, it doesn't surprise me. Though it goes to show how short sighted men in the play are: it wasn't... -
Answered a Question in Antigone
Antigone's Insults of Creon We are supposed to analyze Antigone and why she insults insults Creon. What are the consequences for herself and for others? Hi there- I just finished... -
Answered a Question in Twelfth Night
Illryia is an actual location, found in the Adriatic coast of Italy. (For Shakespeare, the placement of his romantic comedy in this exotic locale had much to do with the... -
Answered a Question in The Crucible
Parris' beefs with his community are numerous. He claims to be unappreciated and underpaid, a true man of God, and those who don't see this are probably evil themselves, possessed of the... -
Answered a Question in Fahrenheit 451
Beatty is the captain of the firefighters, the one who advocates the burning of books. His character is the ultimate of hypocrites, for he uses quotations from famous pieces of literature to... -
Answered a Question in Heart of Darkness
Marlow's quote regarding Africa on the map reads as follows: "The biggest, the most blank, so to speak - that I had a hankering after (was Africa)." The English were... -
Answered a Question in Hills Like White Elephants
It's been a while since I've seen the cinematic version of Hemingway's classic short story about a couple who struggle to decide to do with an unexpected pregnancy, but here is what I recall. The... -
Answered a Question in The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Malcolm X was once an American Black Muslim minister. He also was one of the leaders of the Nation of Islam. It is the disparity between these two belief systems that has led... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
The ladies are condescending and judgmental, pious and gossipy, hardly the appellations one would attribute to true Christian behavior. But above all, they are prejudiced. Ms. Merriweather who... -
Answered a Question in A Raisin in the Sun
Hansberry feels sympathy for her character, Walter, for a number of reasons. An African-American herself, she personally watched men struggle with issues of racism that kept them working in... -
Answered a Question in The Lady with the Pet Dog
The central conflict is the pull between loyalty and infatuation, security and the unknown, and the failure to truly know if the latter is something real or illusory. Both the man... -
Answered a Question in The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963
The genre is that of the historical novel. Curtis sets his tale of civil war strife in Alabama circa 1963 (as indicated in the title) and follows the travails of ten year old Kenny Watson and... -
Answered a Question in The Grapes of Wrath
The "code" that develops in the camps is outlined in Chapter 22. The migrants who have made Weedpatch their home have decided that justice and care will only be accomplished by their own... -
Answered a Question in The Chambered Nautilus
The entire poem is rife with rich imagery. First, the speaker compares the shell to a ship that has been abandoned. As he beholds the "ship of pearl" he wonders about the years that it... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
The nurse is kind but coarse, loving but ineffectual, both a mother and not really a mother. She gives poor advice and is not a good disciplinarian. While she often provides comic... -
Answered a Question in Remember
The moral lesson is forgiveness and, as the title says, remembering. The speaker asks to be remembered after her death, when physical contact is no longer possible; when decisions can no... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
Although Daisy and Gatsby finally cross paths again, and are startled to see one another in Ch. 5, it is not until Ch. 6 that we finally find out the story behind their discomfort (and Gatsby's... -
Answered a Question in The Bronze Bow
Thacia is going through a bit of an identity crisis. She has been raised in a strictly observant, wealthy Jewish home, one that holds some negative opinions about classes lower than... -
Answered a Question in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
The setting of Irving's short story is in the fictional "Tarry Town," a primarily Dutch-settled village in New York, one that is very quiet, very remote, very pastoral. Irving describes his... -
Answered a Question in The Egypt Game
The "secret omen" the children had been waiting for is a shooting star, signalling their ability to return to Egypt. In my edition, this occurs on pg. 96. Here's an... -
Answered a Question in Slaughterhouse-Five
Vonnegut is referring to two things in his typical acerbic way. For one thing, Americans often think that "things" will buy them happiness, and frequently these "things" are useless pretty... -
Answered a Question in The Masque of the Red Death
The clock is symbolic of the passing of life. It's tolling means that the party (life) will soon be over. Also, note that the clock is "ebony," black, traditionally a symbol of... -
Answered a Question in The Crucible
Proctor does not want to reveal what he knows because of the way he came about the knowledge of Abigail's lies. He had been having an affair with her, and when he tells her it is over,... -
Answered a Question in Macbeth
Personally, I do feel some sympathy for Lady Macbeth. She, at least, has realized her sins. She is tormented by her wrong-doing, and understands that what has been done can never be... -
Answered a Question in A Rose for Emily
Faulkner is demonstrating the human propensity to re-write the past. The old people wanted to pretend that they knew her well and cared for her, but this clearly was not the case. This... -
Answered a Question in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Gunpowder is Ichabod Crane's horse. The old steed has clearly seen better days. Iriving writes: He was gaunt and shagged, with a ewe neck and a head like a hammer; his rusty mane and... -
Answered a Question in Leaves of Grass
I would say that the contemplation of life and death is a timless topic. When the child asks, "What is the grass?" the speaker takes the child seriously and contemplates the role of the... -
Answered a Question in The Gift of the Magi
In addition to both of the fine answers above, I would also argue that two of the social forces Tthakker speaks of as antagonists are poverty and youth. The name of the couple is a tip-off... -
Answered a Question in Beowulf
I think it would be fun to pretend Beowulf is writing to President Bush for the unenviable job of Homeland Security. Like the threat of Grendel, he could point out that he is the one who can... -
Answered a Question in Hamlet
Hi there- Don't worry, you are not alone in having trouble with the King's English. Fortunately, right here at eNotes we have a Modern Translation side-by-side with the orginial... -
Answered a Question in Slaughterhouse-Five
"So it goes" is Vonnegut's cue that another life has passed, or is passing. It is part of Vonnegut's genius that he is able to both poke fun at our mortality (I cannot recall how many times...
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