Michael Stultz, M.A.
eNotes Educator
Achievements
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1913
Answers Posted
574
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About
~ Writer, Editor, Educator ~ Father of three ~ Cyclist
Earned Badges
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Recent Activity
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Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
Nick, the narrator of The Great Gatsby, goes through the following conflicts: East Coast-bias vs. Midwestern-bias: Nick, who is from Minnesota, thinks that most of those from the Northeast are... -
Answered a Question in The Things They Carried
In The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien says that storytellers are those with long memories--they keep the past alive, even the lives of the dead. That's why Norman Bowker, Jimmy Cross, Rat... -
Answered a Question in Modernism
This is a broad question, but a good one. There are exceptions, but in general, modernist writers' goals are focused on: the replacement of religious certainties, moral absolutes,... -
Answered a Question in The Road
Cormac McCarthy's The Road begins in medias res ("in the middle of things") but after the apocalypse ("series of low concussions"). The novel borrows narrative elements from science fiction,... -
Answered a Question in The Cask of Amontillado
In Poe's "Cask of Amontillado," Montressor's idea of perfect revenge is confessing to us that he murdered Fortunato over fifty years ago and knowing that he has gotten away with it and there's... -
Answered a Question in The Color Purple
Using a first-person confessional and epistolary (letter) format from a naive narrator who speaks in black English dialect, Alice Walker reveals her "womanist" themes using Christian and domestic... -
Answered a Question in Brave New World
Most of the characters in Brave New World are static and flat: they are undeveloped and do not change because they are born into and conditioned to be in a caste system. This is especially... -
Answered a Question in The Road
Cormacs McCarthy's The Road uses much pathetic fallacy (the mirroring of external events [weather] to correspond to internal, emotional tone), giving a perpetual cloud, or haze, over the father and... -
Answered a Question in Postmodernism
Modernism is very much from the print era with its hierarchical, rational, centered, and scientific structure. It's from the democratic era of print in which authors used deductive theses to... -
Answered a Question in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is a post-modern novel and, as such, a conscious blending of many styles and media, including the following: Coming-of-age story (Bildungsroman) Immigrant... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
In Part II of To Kill a Mockingbird, the relationship between Jem and Scout grows more distant for the following reasons: Jem is an adolescent now, nearly 13, and he becomes annoyed with his... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee characterizes Miss Maudie Atkinson as a "chameleon lady": a chameleon lady who worked in her flower beds in an old straw hat and men’s coveralls, but after her... -
Answered a Question in Othello
By the end of Othello Act II.iii, Cassio is very worried about his reputation, which, like a "soul," he calls the "immortal part" of himself: Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost my... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
This is Nick's final statement to Gatsby before Gatsby is killed, and Nick says he's proud of himself for saying it because at other, public times Nick does not defend Gatsby. This quote from... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
Fitzgerald submitted several titles to his publisher (among them Under The Red White and Blue and Trimalchio in West Egg) before settling on the simple and alliterative The Great Gatsby.... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
In The Great Gatsby, Meyer Wolfsheim is Jay Gatsby's mentor, father-figure, accomplice, business partner, a friend, and one who eulogizes Gatsby after his death. Really, "Meyer" is an alias... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
In The Great Gatsby, Tom and Gatsby are foils who both want Daisy. Specifically, Tom is the antagonist of the novel, and Gatsby is the romantic (or Byronic) and tragic hero of the novel.... -
Answered a Question in Othello
Here in Act II.i of Othello, Cassio uses multi-faceted imagery: mythological ("Jove") religious ("heaven," "let her have your knees") supernatural ("spirits") wealth ("riches") body ("Desdemona's... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
Chapter 23 of To Kill a Mockingbird presents a flashback (actually a flashback within a flashback) in which Stephanie Crawford narrates the spitting incident involving Bob Ewell and Atticus.... -
Answered a Question in Othello
In Othello, Shakespeare begins the play with two foils, Iago and Roderigo at night: one hidden and the other in plain sight. The former is a villain, the latter a fool, but both are be dark... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
In Chapter 1 of The Great Gatsby, Nick sets himself up to be operating as the novel's superego, the morality principle: "I’m inclined to reserve all judgments." He takes pride in not... -
Answered a Question in Lost in the Funhouse
As you know, postmodernism sees "art" in very open, flexible, and fluid terms: it is very self-conscious (metafiction), a mix of several styles and media, even if means art as a blatant rip-off of... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
At the beginning of Chapter 4 of The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses language usually reserved for weddings and comedies to set a festive, jubilant tone. Fitzgerald wants us to feel the... -
Answered a Question in The Stranger
In The Stranger, Meursault is Camus' absurdist (similar to existentialism) hero: he loves life, hates death, and scorns the gods. Instead of crying at his mother's funeral, he refuses to... -
Answered a Question in Oedipus Rex
In Antigone, Sophocles introduces us to the first great feminist hero, Antigone. She is outspoken against a man, the King. In terms of psychoanalysis, Antigone follows the gods laws... -
Answered a Question in Trifles
Dramatic Irony: a state of affairs in which the audience and a few characters know more than most other characters. Trifles: a thing of little value or importance In the play Trifles, dramatic... -
Answered a Question in Much Ado About Nothing
In Act II, scene iii of Much Ado About Nothing, Benedick says in his soliloquy: May I be so converted and see with these eyes? I cannot tell; I think not: I will not be sworn, but love may... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
In The Great Gatsby, we have a(n): Unreliable narrator: Nick claims to follow his father's advice and be impartial, but he is clearly in Gatsby's corner throughout. He falls for Gatsby's... -
Answered a Question in Macbeth
In Act I, scene i of Macbeth the witches are archetypal symbols of: Chaos: they throw the moral balance off kilter. "Fair is foul" and "Foul is fair" topples the natural order: good becomes... -
Answered a Question in Things Fall Apart
In Chapter 2 of Things Fall Apart, the women of Umuofia have little influence in deciding the murder case of an Umuofian woman. In fact, the arrangement is an entirely male enterprise, and... -
Answered a Question in Othello
Othello is full of geographical symbolism. The play takes place in two locations, Venice and Cyprus, while it mentions war with a third, the Turks (Asia-Minor mainland). As there are... -
Answered a Question in High Fidelity
In High Fidelity, Dick, Barry, and Rob are like one of their friends says, Under-appreciated Elitist Snobs. They are anachronisms stuck in the past (their rock n' roll youths), still... -
Answered a Question in The Stranger
In Chapter II of The Stranger, Meursault says: I remembered it was a Sunday, and that put me off; I’ve never cared for Sundays. In Chapter III, Meursault is prompted by Raymond to write a letter... -
Answered a Question in Everyday Use
In "Everyday Use" the inner and outer conflicts are interrelated. They both involve the female culture of the Johnson family, as symbolized by the heirlooms of the quilts and the butter... -
Answered a Question in Othello
The dominant symbol in Othello is the handkerchief, spotted with strawberries, Othello's first gift to Desdemona. It's white background is symbolic of Desdemona's suspected reputation... -
Answered a Question in The Stranger
The Stranger is, above all else, an absurdist novel. Absurdism says that the universe is chaotic and unpredictable; therefore, the individual has ultimate freedom. Specifically,... -
Answered a Question in The Catcher in the Rye
In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden is lonely (physically and emotionally), and so he calls up Sonny and Sally who will satisfy his need to talk, neck, or have sex. But, he refuses to call up... -
Answered a Question in Othello
In Othello, Othello is light years ahead of his time in terms of his character being noble. Could a former slave, pagan, black Moor be made general of a white, Christian city-state's armed forces?... -
Answered a Question in The Odyssey
In Book VI of The Odyssey, Nausicaa, daughter of King Alcinous of the Phaeacians, is well-versed in hospitality and the sacred guest-host relationship of the Greeks, known as Xenia. The... -
Answered a Question in Things Fall Apart
Things Fall Apart is one of the only books or plays that is both a tragedy of the individual and of the society. As you know, tragedy is structured for the downfall of the individual, while... -
Answered a Question in Othello
Othello is full of passionate speeches by its male protagonists: Othello, Iago, Roderigo, and Cassio. All four males compete publicly not only over Desdemona but their status in the male... -
Answered a Question in The Catcher in the Rye
In Chapter 9 of The Catcher in the Rye, it is ironic that: Holden hates most people (he thinks they are phonies), and yet he is very lonely in this chapter. He calls Faith Cavendish and... -
Answered a Question in The Stranger
In Part II of The Stranger, Meursault is being very candid with his lawyer. Meursault up until his trial and execution had lived in denial of death. He narrates: He went on to ask if I... -
Answered a Question in The Stranger
Just like Maman's funeral, the day of the shooting at the beach, and the magistrate and chaplain's questioning of him, Meursault focuses on how others determine and judge him silently.... -
Answered a Question in Alice Walker
In her novels (The Color Purple), short fiction ("Everyday Use"), and poetry ("Women"), Alice Walker shows the values of black women who were victimized in the Jim Crow South. A Baby Boomer... -
Answered a Question in The Stranger
In Part II of The Stranger, Camus uses a mix of visual and auditory imagery that is connected violently to nature and the body in order to show the gun shoots itself instead of Meursault... -
Answered a Question in The Stranger
Part I of The Stranger presents the first of three deaths: Meurault's mother's. Meursault has no connection or role in her death, unlike the death of the Arab in Part II and his own execution... -
Answered a Question in Things Fall Apart
In Chapter 3 of Things Fall Apart, Achebe writes: Unoka was an ill-fated man. He had a bad chi or personal god, and evil fortune followed him to the grave, or rather to his death, for he... -
Answered a Question in Siddhartha
"Peace" is used no fewer than 15 times in Siddhartha. Peace is mainly connected to Gatama (Buddha). Siddhartha says: ...his quietly dangling hand expressed peace, expressed perfection, did... -
Answered a Question in Much Ado About Nothing
In Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare shows that the duality between appearance versus reality is a matter of gender, social class, age, and status. In terms of gender, Beatrice appears to scorn...
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