
Lorraine Caplan
eNotes Educator
Achievements
16
Educator Level
2590
Answers Posted
799
Answers Bonused
About
I have been an attorney for over 25 years and decided to change careers one day. I love teaching because, unlike law, everyone is on the same side! Or at least, I hope so. Between us, my late husband and I have had five children and nine grandchildren. Our children's ages range from the 40s to the 20s, and I must say, I have enjoyed every stage of their lives.
Earned Badges
-
Educator of the Month
This badge is awarded to one Educator each month for outstanding contributions to Homework Help. -
eNotes Educator
This badge is awarded to all eNotes Educators. Only official Educators can answer students' questions on our site. Educators are teachers, professional researchers, and scholars who apply to our... -
Hall of Fame
Educators can earn this badge by contributing over 1,000 answers on eNotes. -
Quiz Taker
This badge is awarded when an Educator has completed 10 quizzes. -
10K Points Earner
Educators earn points for every question they answer. This Educator has earned over 10,000 points. -
25K Points Earner
Educators earn points for every question they answer. This Educator has earned over 25,000 points. -
50K Points Earner
Educators earn points for every question they answer. This Educator has earned over 50,000 points. -
Expert
An expert badge distinguishes Educators who demonstrate strong knowledge in a particular topic, such as Hamlet or Math. It is awarded when an Educator has posted more than 25 answers on a given topic. -
Scholar
The scholar badge recognizes Educators who are especially knowledgeable about a particular author. This badge is awarded once an Educator has posted more than 50 answers on works by a specific author. -
Literature Whiz
Bonuses are awarded when an Educator has gone above and beyond and impressed the editorial team by offering an especially lengthy, nuanced, or insightful answer. This badge is given to an Educator... -
History Whiz
Bonuses are awarded when an Educator has gone above and beyond and impressed the editorial team by offering an especially lengthy, nuanced, or insightful answer. This badge is given to an Educator...
Recent Activity
-
Answered a Question in The Lottery
Jackson deliberately refrains from letting the reader know that the lottery in her story ends with a brutal death by stoning because she wants to surprise and shock the reader and because she wants... -
Answered a Question in A Theory of Justice
Rawls' idea is that we should proceed from the mindset that while we may have all of our needs met, we should make our plans based on the premise that this may not always be the case. In other... -
Answered a Question in Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
I am not sure exactly how intelligent horses are, but like many domesticated animals, they are creatures of routine. So, in Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," the horse finds it... -
Answered a Question in History (General)
Geography has an incredible influence on how we live. The buildings we build, the food we grow, the clothing we wear, and the kinds of work we do are just a few ways in which geography matters. A... -
Answered a Question in The Lottery
I always connect "The Lottery" with Ursula Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas." These stories are both based on the idea that if we sacrifice one person, everyone else can... -
Answered a Question in History
I imagine that are many reasons that people cannot understand the horror of what happened in World War II and actually, previous to World War II. But a few ideas do come to mind... -
Answered a Question in History
Sadly, there are so many reasons for two countries to become enemies. They can disagree about a territory, for example, as China asserts that it "owns" some areas of the South China... -
Answered a Question in The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
Le Guin published "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" in 1973, and it holds up quite well as a cautionary tale today. Le Guin has exaggerated for effect, of course, but in some ways it does... -
Answered a Question in History
After the war, the South had myriad economic problems. These included no more slaves, little industry, no money, ravaged lands, and a relatively uneducated workforce. The South... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald) begins with the green light in Chapter I, as Gatsby "stretched out his arms in a curious way, and. . . was trembling" (26-27), and it ends with the green light, too,... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
The very first chapter of The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald) features Tom Buchanan as a brute. Nick has already described him as a nationally prominent football player in college and upon meeting him... -
Answered a Question in The Giver
As The Giver (Lowry) begins, Jonas is eleven years old. We know this because he is looking forward to the Ceremony of Twelve. This ceremony takes place annually, as does the ceremony for all the... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
In the first chapter of The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald), Nick is about to see Tom Buchanan for the first time since they were in college together. He describes his recollection of him from those... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
Myrtle and George Wilson are two characters in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. George runs a garage on the edge of the ash heap, and they live in an apartment above the garage. They are relatively... -
Answered a Question in The Giver
In The Giver (Lowry), as Jonas watches his father release one of the newborn twins, he finally comes to understand what release is, and the horror of this, seeing a newborn put to death by his own... -
Answered a Question in The Aftermath of World War II
The economic boom following World War II was the result of pent-up demand. During the war, most production was directed to the war, weapons and ammunition, uniforms for soldiers, vehicles to... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
Daisy Buchanan is a character in The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald), the most important female character in the novel. She is a distant cousin of the narrator, Nick Carraway. She is the wife... -
Answered a Question in Literature
I think comedy can be a criticism of life, certainly, although there is comedy that is not. Very "broad" comedy appeals to our funny bones in a different kind of way, much like the difference... -
Answered a Question in The Giver
I would argue the inability to feel emotions makes someone not fully human, and Lois Lowry's The Giver shows the high cost of suppressing emotion. Without emotions, we are not really that... -
Answered a Question in History
As a general matter, people in a given territory are not going to willingly hand over their land to another nation. This means that if a nation wants a particular territory, it is likely that... -
Answered a Question in The Giver
In The Giver (Lowry), it is often just implicit that the Elders have all the power, but there are some quotes that do make it explicit. I'll provide a few. In the scene in Chapter 6 in which... -
Answered a Question in Literature
The theme "Life as a journey" is a very common one in literature, and if you stop to think about it, there is good reason for that. We all perceive our own lives as a kind of story, as we look back... -
Answered a Question in Outliers: The Story of Success
We answer one question at a time at enotes, and I have selected the question on culture and education to respond to. Each of your other questions can be submitted, one at a time. ... -
Answered a Question in Jane Eyre
This brings us to the reading of Jane Eyre (Bronte) or the viewing of it as a film. This story, of Jane's wretched childhood, the deaths of innocent children, the blinding of Mr. Rochester,... -
Answered a Question in Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
Priming is a way of implanting a suggestion in someone's brain in a way such that the person's mind will be primed in a particular direction. As I recall in Blink (Gladwell), people were... -
Answered a Question in Jane Eyre
This might sound like people are quite horrible, for enjoying the misery of others, but this is a human trait. I am not sure that "enjoy," though, is always the correct word. We are... -
Answered a Question in The Kite Runner
In The Kite Runner (Hosseini), one of the most powerful themes of the story is set forth in the simple statement of Rahim Khan, the old family friend of Baba and Amir, "There is a way to be good... -
Answered a Question in The Road Not Taken
In Frost's poem, "The Road Not Taken," all we know from the narrator is that his having chosen the less traveled road has "made all the difference" (line 20). Whether this is a positive or a... -
Answered a Question in The Giver
In Lois Lowry's The Giver, memories are "forever" in the sense that they must be held by at least one person. They will not cease to exist. Released by one person, they inevitably will attach... -
Answered a Question in The Kite Runner
In Afghanistan, which is the setting in which The Kite Runner (Hosseini) begins, the culture places great constraints upon women, and for a woman to run away from her husband was unthinkable, a... -
Answered a Question in The Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was America's "birth announcement" to the rest of the world as a separate entity, and it was meant to present to the rest of the world the reasons a new country was... -
Answered a Question in Harrison Bergeron
Seemingly, in "Harrison Bergeron," Vonnegut is critical of the idea of equality by showing what would happen if all people in a society were handicapped such that no one's capabilities could rise... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
We do not have a page number for this because we do not see the scene in which Tom tells Wilson who was driving the car, or at least, who he thinks was driving the car. We learn from Nick... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
This comment by Myrtle, Tom's mistress, to Nick in Chapter II of The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald) is meant to persuade him to go up to the apartment, where he can meet her sister Catherine. What I... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
That West Egg is new money and East Egg is old money is clear early in the first chapter of The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald). As Nick is explaining his new residence, he takes the time to... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
A dynamic character is one who shows some growth and change through the course of the story, and there is a case to be made for Nick being a dynamic character in The Great Gatsby. While Nick... -
Answered a Question in History
It is important to realize what a major undertaking the Louisiana Purchase was. It was far more than what is now the state of Louisiana. The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
We learn in Chapter I of The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald) that Nick and Daisy do not have a close relationship. Daisy is a distant relative, a "second cousin once removed" (10), and Nick shares... -
Answered a Question in The Kite Runner
In The Kite Runner (Hosseini), we learn fairly early in the book of the divide between Pashtun Sunnis and Hazara Shi'a in Afghanistan: the former is the ruling class and the latter is a far lower... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby makes clear that Daisy has chosen Tom over Gatsby and would have done so even had Gatsby lived. In the confrontation in Chapter VII, in which Gatsby tells Tom that Daisy has... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
Nick says that he is curious to see Tom's mistress, wondering, no doubt, what kind of mistress a man like Tom would have, but he also says he does not want to meet her. Nevertheless, one day,... -
Answered a Question in Literature
Graphic elements can have two slightly different meanings, and while I see this is posted under "Literature," I am not sure which context is being asked about. I will address both. As a general... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
Catherine makes her first appearance in Chapter II of The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald) and a brief appearance near the end of the novel. She is the sister of Myrtle Wilson, Tom Buchanan's... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
In Chapter III of The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald), we are introduced to the "love nest" of Tom Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson. And a nest it is, being a very small apartment overcrowded with large... -
Answered a Question in The Freedom Writers Diary
The Freedom Writers is one of my favorite "teacher" movies, and I encourage everyone to watch it. As Erin Gruwell begins to teach, she has at least three obstacles. First, she has her own... -
Answered a Question in Twelve Angry Men
In the first act of Twelve Angry Men (Rose), the foreman polls the jury after discussion of the case and finds only one juror voting not to convict, Juror Number Eight. It is clear from the... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
At the end of The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald), Nick is completely disheartened by his experiences in New York. He says that after Gatsby dies, "the East was haunted for me..."(185). He believes... -
Answered a Question in Mending Wall
Sometimes it's not a bad idea to look at a poem as a kind of mini-essay. In Frost's "Mending Wall," the narrator wants to make the point that the wall between himself and his neighbor... -
Answered a Question in Literature
In literature, whether it be a novel, a story, or a poem, there is not necessarily just one correct answer to the question of what the theme is. A literary text can have more than one theme, and... -
Answered a Question in Critique of Pure Reason
This quote from Immanuel Kant is about the idea that we are an inextricable combination of thinking and sensory input. Neither sensory input nor concept can stand alone in a way that is meaningful...
Showing 1-50 of 681