Erica Duran
eNotes Educator
Achievements
8
Educator Level
387
Answers Posted
105
Answers Bonused
About
I am a full-time English instructor at a community college in San Diego, CA. I have two A.A. degrees -- Liberal Arts and General Studies, and a B.A and M.A. in English. I am also a textbook author for Bedford St. Martin's Press. Some of my favorite authors are Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Truman Capote, and Harper Lee.
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Recent Activity
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Answered a Question in Bless Me, Ultima
Tony is very fortunate in the book to have multiple and varied educational influences. These influences come from his school, his church, and Ultima. The knowledge he gains from Ultima comes at a... -
Answered a Question in Battle Royal
A compare and contrast topic sentence for these two stories might look at a theme the two stories share (comparison) and then make a claim about how this theme is handled differently in each story... -
Answered a Question in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Diaz shifts not only back and forth in time, but also between different narrators, for a couple of different reasons. First, the book itself focuses on Oscar, but it is also the story of his... -
Answered a Question in Pat Conroy
Your question indicates you may need to do both a summary and an analysis of My Losing Season. Let's look at a very brief summary of the book, and then consider how you might complete one on your... -
Answered a Question in A Farewell to Arms
Thesis statements can be challenging to write, so brainstorming in advance will be very helpful! Let's look at two steps to get you started on a thesis for this paper. First, think about the... -
Answered a Question in Literature
Dr. Jekyll and Victor Frankenstein have several things in common when it comes to how and why they used science. Let's consider just two of these commonalities and the messages we get from them.... -
Answered a Question in In Another Country
"In Another Country" focuses on the intertwined stories of five recovering soldiers during WWI, four Italians and one American. The American is the unnamed narrator of the story, and although... -
Answered a Question in Antigone
Before thinking about the chorus in Antigone specifically, it is important to realize that the Greek chorus was a common theatrical element that many playwrights of the time used, so the purpose of... -
Answered a Question in The Giver
Jonas, the main character in The Giver, actually faces a few problems in the book. That being said, the primary problem he encounters, and then actually runs from, is that the elders of the... -
Answered a Question in The Birds
Many have argued over the years that the birds represent the power of nature and mankind's stubborn inability to recognize the power of nature. Throughout the story, the characters are at the mercy... -
Answered a Question in The Kite Runner
You have been asked to choose five of the eight options and write four sentences about each, for a total of 20 sentences. This is a fairly long assignment you have been given, and although our goal... -
Answered a Question in Fight Club
Fight Club is a very suspenseful novel with multiple plot twists that keep the reader guessing throughout. In fact, it is probably mostly due to these twists that the book, and then film, became so... -
Answered a Question in Fight Club
The author of Fight Club, Chuck Palahnuik created several characters that constantly surprise the reader with their complexity and unpredictable behaviors, all of which causes them to... -
Answered a Question in The Giver
Jonas begins to take pills because he begins experiencing "stirrings," which is really another word for sexual desire. In the community people do not talk about sexuality and it is physically... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
There is an old saying that goes something like this: "Drink your courage," or "take a shot of courage," referring to a shot of liquor. This saying implies that in a sober state someone is not... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
Atticus cries after losing Tom Robinson's case, and this is a powerful moment because Atticus is not one to show a lot of emotion, either positive or negative, throughout the book. He is a fairly... -
Answered a Question in The Giver
While the comfort object appears to serve a more significant purpose for an individual than it does for society as a whole, let's look at how it serves purposes for each. First and foremost,... -
Answered a Question in The Giver
In The Giver, the community in which Jonas lives does not value individualism. In fact, it is seen as dangerous and punishable. The community values uniformity instead, so everyone and... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
Scout is a very complex character, so an analysis of her should be fairly focused. For example, what kind of a person do you think she is? By answering that question, you can begin to analyze the... -
Answered a Question in Othello
The character of Othello is a classic hero of tragedy, or tragic hero. He has both positive and negative qualities about him that make the audience both sympathize with and fear him at different... -
Answered a Question in The Devil in the White City
A few words come to mind if I had to describe the America Larson depicts: Bustling Innovative Opportunistic Unstoppable The picture that is painted is of a society that is quickly changing due... -
Answered a Question in The Devil in the White City
Erik Larson has said before in interviews that he does all of his own research. He doesn't have a research assistant to help him because he says he likes to encounter the sources himself. He likes... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
The term "nigger-lover" was not only derogatory toward Blacks because of the cruelly termed reference to them, but it was also a derogatory term meant to describe the Whites who supported or... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
Each of these characters is complex, just like individuals are in real life. As a result, the way they are represented is multi-faceted. Scout is presented as innocent, rowdy, intelligent,... -
Answered a Question in The Devil's Arithmetic
The Devil's Arithmetic has one clear protagonist, Hannah. Her journey and personal growth is the central focus of the book. She really evolves from beginning to end. When we think of a... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
There are many similarities between Tom Robinson's case and the case of the Scottsboro boys, as they were called. First, both Tom Robinson and the nine men from Scottsboro were accused of raping... -
Answered a Question in Soldier's Home
The overall theme of the story is a soldier returning from war and having trouble going back to "normal" life after having gone through the traumas of battle. Krebs finds that the people around him... -
Answered a Question in Frankenstein
Isolation is the perfect theme to write about for this book, as it certainly does come up multiple times and for each of the characters you mentioned. The trick about writing a thesis is to make... -
Answered a Question in Othello
Typically the term intrigues is used in the context of the phrase "a comedy of intrigues," but Othello is not a comedy. A comedy of intrigues is defined as: "a comic form in which complicated... -
Answered a Question in Désirée's Baby
Another lesson we can learn from this story is that we sometimes tend to think we are more tolerant or accepting than we actually are. Armand is an example of someone who appears to be very... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
Technically, the only quote in the book that directly connects Boo Radley to a mockingbird is in Ch. 30. Sheriff Tate has told Atticus he will not be pressing charges against anyone, Jem or Boo,... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
The children don't seem to express any feelings whatsoever about her loss, but they do appear to be disappointed that Boo was not the one to kill her, as they had anticipated. This speaks more to... -
Answered a Question in The Grapes of Wrath
There are many instances of irony in this novel, mostly related to the main theme, man's humanity and inhumanity towards his fellow man. In Chapter 13 we see an example of irony when Tom... -
Answered a Question in Othello
In Act II, Iago lies to Roderigo about Desdemona and Cassio. He convinces Roderigo that Desdemona is cheating on Othello with Cassio. This leads to Iago convincing Roderigo to get into a fight with... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
Jem is four years older than Scout. At the beginning of the book she is just five years old and he is nine. Not only is Jem her big brother, but they are really best friends in many ways. They are... -
Answered a Question in Sweat
While on the surface these two stories seem vastly different, there are three major similarities between them. First, each of the main characters are prisoners, just in different ways. In "Sweat,"... -
Answered a Question in Lysistrata
This is an interesting prompt and while you need to write 500 words for this, my response is a bit shorter, but should provide you with a good start. In the 1960s in America there was a popular... -
Answered a Question in Oroonoko
Many of the characters in the book suffer through these particular conflicts. Here is one example of each conflict to get you started. One significant social conflict is in the war in which... -
Answered a Question in A Christmas Memory
Buddy never names the people, presumably family members, that they live with. He refers to them at one point as "those who know best," and he also says at one point that they have control over... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
Scout is, in a word, disappointed. She is an intelligent little girl who seems to be ahead of most of her peers. She can already read and write, but instead of having a teacher who recognizes this... -
Answered a Question in The Giver
No where in The Giver does someone read or have access to the constitution, nor do they mention a preamble. It is possible that your instructor is asking you to write one of your own based on what... -
Answered a Question in Frankenstein
First and foremost, Mary Shelley's topic is horrific, so anything else she did with style was almost second to the topic. This novel squarely fits the definition of Gothic Literature. Some of the... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
Scout is confused because Miss Gates has a rule for one group of people, the Jews, and follows another rule for a different group of people, African-Americans. In comparing Germany and the U.S.,... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
Chapter 24 is all about the meeting of the Ladies Missionary Circle to discuss the course that Mrs. Merriweather is giving on the Mruna people of Africa. They discuss the missionary J. Grimes... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
Jem waits to yell at his father for the same reason most of us do not yell directly at our parents; he doesn't want to get in trouble and he has a healthy respect for Atticus. Although Atticus... -
Answered a Question in The Lottery
"The Lottery" can certainly be seen as a postmodern story because some of its features closely align with the elements of postmodern literature. While Postmodern literature is characterized by many... -
Answered a Question in Frankenstein
Robert Walton is writing to his sister, Mrs. Margaret Saville, in England. He has been away at sea for six years and by his descriptions in his letter, he is an ambitious man who might be gone a... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
At the beginning of the book Scout tells us that, "Jem and I found our father satisfactory" (Ch. 1). This is a funny way of saying, "He was okay." She later tells us that he didn't play any sports... -
Answered a Question in The Old Man and the Sea
Age and experience dictates much of the behavior of both the young fishermen in this story and the old fishermen. The young fishermen are making fun of Santiago because they see his 84-day streak... -
Answered a Question in Julius Caesar
In Act I, Scene II we see similarities which draw them together, really at the prompting of Cassius, who is trying to draw Brutus into the conspiracy. First and foremost, both are concerned...
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