Lynn Ramsson, M.A.
eNotes Educator
Achievements
8
Educator Level
800
Answers Posted
14
Answers Bonused
About
Freelance writer and editor of over 15 years with a background in teaching.
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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...
Recent Activity
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Answered a Question in Macbeth
The wide variety of characters in Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Macbeth reflects a number of different groups that exist in medieval Scottish society. King Duncan and his sons, Malcolm and... -
Answered a Question in The Poet X
Elizabeth Acevedo's novel in verse The Poet X takes place in Harlem, a neighborhood in the northern part of New York City. The Harlem in which Xiomara and her family live is vastly different from... -
Answered a Question in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
An interesting parallel can be observed between the control that Mr. Hyde exerts over Dr. Jekyll and the restrictive nature of the Victorian society in which Robert Louis Stevenson lived and wrote.... -
Answered a Question in Into the Wild
Before developing a feasible thesis statement for this question, you might want to interpret some of the terms and phrases in the question and run your ideas by your teacher for approval. For... -
Answered a Question in Of Mice and Men
Curley's wife is deeply unhappy with her lot in life, and she does not try to hide her dissatisfaction from the men on the ranch. They discuss her behavior behind her back, worrying that her... -
Answered a Question in Outliers: The Story of Success
Malcolm Gladwell argues that the reality behind any success story is very different from the long-held assumptions that many people possess around the notion of success. Success involves a highly... -
Answered a Question in Edgar A. Guest
Two poetic devices used by Edgar Guest in his poem "Equipment" are apostrophe and anaphora. These devices work together to enhance the inspirational message of the poem as well as the personal tone... -
Answered a Question in Into the Wild
Jon Krakauer, the author of Into the Wild, provides readers with only a few clues and suggestions as to the true nature of the relationship between Chris and his father; this omission was... -
Answered a Question in The Most Dangerous Game
A successful newspaper article that details Rainsford's experience on Ship-Trap Island will contain some elements that are specific to newswriting as a genre. Some of these elements include a... -
Answered a Question in Ruined
Lynn Nottage explores several important ideas in the play Ruined, and three themes that stand out include: rape as a tool, changing definitions of masculinity, and resilience. The significance of... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
Nick Carraway, the narrator of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, uses his descriptions of Tom Buchanan to reveal his opinions of Tom's personality and status. Nick's tone and word choice... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
Narrative conventions are literary devices used by a writer to tell a story. One narrative convention used by Harper Lee to represent racism is the conflict between a black man and a white man. The... -
Answered a Question in Never Let Me Go
Both novels contain elements of speculative fiction. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go both explore various themes through characters that do not exist in the real... -
Answered a Question in A Good Man Is Hard to Find
When formulating any thesis statement, or literary argument, it is important to make sure that you create a statement that is debatable. Observations and facts are not debatable, so the first step... -
Answered a Question in Suicide in the Trenches
Siegfried Sassoon, the poet who wrote "Suicide in the Trenches," presents his ideas of war through simple but vivid imagery and a shift in tone at the start of the third stanza. According to... -
Answered a Question in Sweet Bird of Youth
By the end of act I of Tennessee Williams's The Sweet Bird of Youth, the character of Chance Wayne has been well-established as a young man with a flawed self-perception. By this point in the play,... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
The issue of racism in Maycomb has a significant effect on Jem and Scout in three ways: 1) through their relationship with their father, Atticus, 2) through their interactions with other children... -
Answered a Question in The Hunger Games
Haymitch Abernathy is an important character in Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games. He has many memorable characteristics, and here are two descriptors of his character to get you started. Haymitch... -
Answered a Question in The Importance of Being Earnest
Gwendolyn and Cicely are the two female leads in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, and the competitive elements of their relationship reflect some truth in Algernon's statement. It is... -
Answered a Question in The Scarlet Letter
A hook, or an opening sentence at the start of an essay, has a specific purpose, which is to draw the reader in and to give the reader reason to be interested in reading the essay. Some teachers... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
In chapters 21 and 22 of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, several literary devices work together to enhance the drama of the trial. Here are two to add to your list. Dramatic irony: Scout is... -
Answered a Question in The Monkey's Paw
The experience of suspense, both in literature and in other contexts like film and theater, involves the process of waiting. As the feeling of waiting intensifies, the reader/audience members wants... -
Answered a Question in History
Niccolo Machiavelli's contributions to Englightenment thought are considered innovative and practical by some and villainous by others. One of Machiavelli's most famous ideas has to do with the... -
Answered a Question in Lord of the Flies
The ending of William Golding's Lord of the Flies is dramatic and emotional. The growing suspense of the chapters leading up to this point lead the reader to wonder if Ralph will survive the... -
Answered a Question in Percy Bysshe Shelley
Much of Shelley's poetry discusses the Romantic ideals of freedom from tyrannical powers and other forms of authority. Here are two titles to get you started. Shelley wrote a long poem titled... -
Answered a Question in History
Slavery was not a nationwide phenomenon in America at the start of American history. The states in the Northern region did not value slavery as part of their rural, agricultural way of life, while... -
Answered a Question in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The morality of the act of lying is debatable, depending on the context of the lie and the mindset of the person involved in the debate. Also debatable is morality of the consequences of lying;... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
Here are three quotes with explanations of significance to get you started, as well as some tips for finding more quotes. Chapter numbers are provided as page numbers vary from edition to edition.... -
Answered a Question in Soldier's Home
Krebs, the protagonist of Ernest Hemingway's "A Soldier's Home," is simultaneously static and dynamic. A static character does not change over the course of a work of literature while a dynamic... -
Answered a Question in The Great Depression
During the Great Depression, in the Southern states and elsewhere in the United States, millions of American people lost their jobs and struggled to make ends meet while unemployed. One group of... -
Answered a Question in The Merchant of Venice
In Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, Salerio and Antonio are friends, and this friendship explains Salerio's great concern for Antonio and Antonio's wellbeing. Salerio is also a Venetian... -
Answered a Question in The Green Mile
Postmodernism is an artistic movement characterized by certain conventions. Some of these conventions include unreliable narration, unrealistic plots, dark humor, paranoia, and other bleak forms of... -
Answered a Question in Lord of the Flies
The following quotes are all from chapter 3 of Golding's The Lord of the Flies. His sandy hair, considerably longer than it had been when they dropped in, was lighter now; and his bare back was a... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
At the end of act 3, scene 4, Lord Capulet employs a paradox, a truthful statement that sounds contradictory, when he bids Paris good night: It is so very late, That we may call it early by and... -
Answered a Question in Beowulf
Beowulf as a whole work of literature demonstrates the importance of many Anglo-Saxon values, but this passage specifically implies the specific values of perseverance, loyalty, and duty. The... -
Answered a Question in Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
The hero's journey is a tried-and-true story structure. Many works of literature trace the journey of a hero from their place in an ordinary existence to a new world where challenges await, and... -
Answered a Question in As You Like It
Shakespeare's As You Like It is a classic example of a Shakespearian comedy; more specifically, As You Like It is a pastoral comedy, or a comedy that presents life in the countryside in an... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
One literary element that conveys Scout's maturing outlook is Harper Lee's use of diction, or word choice. As Scout grows up and learns more about the world around her, she chooses her words more... -
Answered a Question in Ruined
Most of the characters in Lynn Nottage's play Ruined are static, and the choice to present static characters very well may have been deliberate on the part of the playwright. The static nature of... -
Answered a Question in That Was Then, This Is Now
Connie's condemnation of Mike can be interpreted as a disturbing example of scapegoating in the context of race relations. Possibly, Connie needs to maintain her status as a black woman among the... -
Answered a Question in Beowulf
Beowulf is an epic hero, and by the nature of his role, he is not presented as a round character—complete with all the complexities of emotion and psychology that most people expect from others in... -
Answered a Question in The Witch of Blackbird Pond
The setting of The Witch of Blackbird Pond is Wethersfield, Connecticut in the 1680s. This New England town is a Puritan settlement, and though the settlers are trying to make the best of a... -
Answered a Question in The Glass Castle
Jeannette Walls titles her memoir with a striking image of a fragile building that lacks warmth and stability. Both the glass and the castle of the title function within the story as powerful... -
Answered a Question in History
World War I introduced new technologies in warfare that impacted both the numbers of deaths and the psyches of those doing the fighting. One example was first experienced in the spring of 1915,... -
Answered a Question in Moneyball
Billy Beane's pragmatism as well as his willingness and ability to think creatively about problems both enable him to become a successful manager, as depicted in both the book and the film titled... -
Answered a Question in The Thorn Birds
The Thorn Birds is a complex and deeply emotional novel. Several themes can be identified, but one theme stands out from the rest: the pursuit of something you want, with the knowledge that you... -
Answered a Question in My Papa's Waltz
Here is one way to approach thesis statements that offers you an opportunity as a writer to present and organize a thoughtful argument supported by literary analysis. First, think of a subject you... -
Answered a Question in The Last Leaf
Behrman's life before meeting Johnsy and Sue does not appear to be a particularly happy one. He drinks too much gin, his art has been stifled, and he makes a mediocre living facilitating the... -
Answered a Question in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
One way to understand the literary term of mood is to interpret it as the emotional atmosphere of a work of literature. The mood of James Thurber's short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" can... -
Answered a Question in Lord of the Flies
In chapter 2 of Golding's The Lord of the Flies, the boys gather and discuss leadership and rules. These two notions of order connect the boys to civilization as their civilized natures are...
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