Valentine England
eNotes Educator
Achievements
13
Educator Level
824
Answers Posted
135
Answers Bonused
About
University-Level English Composition/Rhetoric and Poetry Instructor // B.A. in English Literature // MFA in Creative Writing, emphasis in Poetry
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Recent Activity
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Answered a Question in Maya Angelou
The first person narrator in the story "Grandmother's Victory" is actually the author herself: Maya Angelou. Maya Angelou was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1928. She was named Marguerite Annie... -
Answered a Question in Shades of Gray
Shades of Gray by Carolyn Reeder tells the story of twelve-year-old William Page, a boy who is brought to live with his Uncle Jed and Aunt Ella at their Virginia-based farm after the deaths of his... -
Answered a Question in Nothing but the Truth: A Documentary Novel
In Avi's YA novel Nothing but the Truth, Philip Malloy is a high school student who aspires to join to track team. However, he is thwarted from doing so after he gets a "D" in the English class... -
Answered a Question in Because of Winn-Dixie
Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo tells the story of Opal Buloni, a ten-year-old girl who struggles to get adjusted to her new home in Watley, Florida, after her father (a preacher) moves the... -
Answered a Question in Peter Pan
Mrs. Darling is described as "tidying up her children's minds" in chapter 1 ("Peter Breaks Through") of Peter Pan as a means of explaining her maternal instincts and deep sense of care for her... -
Answered a Question in An Astrologer's Day
"An Astrologer's Day" is a short story written by R. K. Narayan from his larger collection of the same title. The story takes place in a city in India, and although the city is never explicitly... -
Answered a Question in The Open Boat
"The Open Boat" is a short story by Stephen Crane based upon the shipwreck he was involved in en route to Cuba, an experience which left him stranded in a small lifeboat with three other men off... -
Answered a Question in A Passage to India
It would absolutely be a fair assessment to say that Dr. Aziz was subject to undue prejudice by the British in A Passage to India. The novel itself is situated squarely in the era of British... -
Answered a Question in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
We first encounter the "Combine" in chapter 1 of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest when "Chief" Bromden argues that shaving before breakfast is the "worst time" to shave. He explains: When you got... -
Answered a Question in Fahrenheit 451
Guy Montag meets Clarisse within the first few pages of Fahrenheit 451. Montag is leaving work very late at night (approximately midnight), and as he walks home, he contemplates the odd feeling... -
Answered a Question in Nothing but the Truth: A Documentary Novel
The theme of Nothing But the Truth is self-evident in its title. The novel is focused on the role that the truth can play in upholding—or destroying—our personal values, the lives of those around... -
Answered a Question in Nothing but the Truth: A Documentary Novel
I would argue that the largest lesson that can be learned from Avi's Nothing But the Truth is a moral one: that of the importance of telling, as the title suggests, the absolute and most complete... -
Answered a Question in The Canterbury Tales
In The Canterbury Tales, the pilgrims—a group of 29 travelers and the narrator—are traveling with the objective of making a four-day religious pilgrimage to the Cathedral in Canterbury, where the... -
Answered a Question in Nothing but the Truth: A Documentary Novel
Verbal irony is the use of language in a manner that is meant to signify, usually for emphasis, the opposite of what is literally said. Dramatic irony occurs in literature when the true... -
Answered a Question in Nothing but the Truth: A Documentary Novel
The mood of Nothing But the Truth is constantly shifting—perhaps because the voices, points of focus, and character perspectives of this drama are also constantly shifting. When we first meet... -
Answered a Question in By the Waters of Babylon
The narrator of "By the Waters of Babylon" is a member of the tribe of the Hill People, the group of humans who are skilled in metalworking, hunting, and spinning wool, and yet who also retain some... -
Answered a Question in Nothing but the Truth: A Documentary Novel
Avi's YA novel Nothing But the Truth focuses on the consequences that unfurl after ninth grader Philip Malloy lies to his father by telling him that he was suspended from school for singing the... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
Well, it depends on your definition of a good match! For the inner romantics in us—the poets and dreamers who have looked to Shakespeare's tale of the star-crossed lovers as the pinnacle of true... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Dill serves as the close friend and part-time neighbor of the protagonist, Scout Finch, and her brother, Jem. Dill offers much needed outside perspective on... -
Answered a Question in Badenheim 1939
Aharon Appelfeld's novel Badenheim 1939 is considered the "greatest novel of the Holocaust." The book focuses on the Austrian resort town of Badenheim and the changes that occur there in 1939 when... -
Answered a Question in Tuck Everlasting
A simile is a device of figurative language in which a comparison is made between two things using the words "like" or "as." The following are a few examples of similes in Tuck Everlasting: "Jesse... -
Answered a Question in Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
In chapter nine of Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Percy is moved to cabin three by Chiron, where he is not forced to share his space with anyone. Despite having his own... -
Answered a Question in The Merchant of Venice
As the other educator has pointed out, it is widely agreed that the three subplots within Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice are (1) the romantic pursuit of Portia by suitors who have to win her... -
Answered a Question in Bridge to Terabithia
In Bridge to Terabithia, Leslie cannot go to Terabithia on the weekends because Mr. Burke is in the process of repairing the old Perkins place and wants Leslie to be around. Mrs. Burke is busy... -
Answered a Question in The Catcher in the Rye
Holden meets up with his former student advisor from Whooton, "Old Luce," at a bar in New York. This conversation largely deals with the boundaries between childhood and adulthood, which is... -
Answered a Question in Reference
An element is the simplest substance, one which cannot be broken down into smaller parts through typical physical or chemical approaches. Elements can be found in the periodic table, which... -
Answered a Question in Life of Pi
Pi begins the novel as a spiritually curious individual who is seeking a higher truth to guide his life. He is influenced by three of the world's major religions: Hinduism, Catholicism, and Islam.... -
Answered a Question in Kristin Lavransdatter
Kristin Lavransdatter is a series of historical novels written by Sigrid Undset, consisting of three novels: The Wreath (Kransen), The Wife (Husfrue), and The Cross (Korset). These novels trace the... -
Answered a Question in The Giver
In Lois Lowry's dystopian novel The Giver, the characters do not have birth mothers in the normal sense. Rather than staying with and being raised by their biological mothers, children are assigned... -
Answered a Question in Looking for Alaska
In John Green's Looking for Alaska, Miles is fascinated with the last words of the famous poet François Rabelais, who at the end of his life said, "I go now to seek the Great Perhaps." Miles uses... -
Answered a Question in Social Sciences
This is an interesting question, particularly since the environmental crisis we are now globally facing is one largely caused by destructive human behaviors (the stripping of land for resources,... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
In chapter 4 of To Kill a Mockingbird, Dill returns to Maycomb for the summer, much to the excitement of Scout, who associates the season with her friend. However, Dill, Jem, and Scout soon grow... -
Answered a Question in Linguistics
Actions verbs can describes two different kinds of movement: that of the physical kind, which involves movement that can be seen; and that of the mental kind, which describes movement that cannot... -
Answered a Question in The Giver
The Ceremony of Twelve is an annual event which is held in December. It is considered the final ceremony and represents the transition of the children in the Community into adulthood. It is... -
Answered a Question in The Hound of the Baskervilles
An oxymoron is a literary device in which two opposing concepts or words are juxtaposed against each other. We can find a great example of an oxymoron in chapter eight of The Hound of the... -
Answered a Question in European Exploration of America
Despite the popular misconception that Christopher Columbus discovered North America, he never actually did set foot there. Through four different excursions starting in 1492, Columbus explored the... -
Answered a Question in Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov's short story "The Lottery Ticket" follows the brief imaginings of a married couple after they discover that the wife's lottery ticket has a matching series number to the number... -
Answered a Question in The Devil and Tom Walker
In Washington Irving's short story "The Devil and Tom Walker," the protagonist, Tom Walker, is described as a "meagre, miserly" fellow who conspires to cheat his wife—who is equally as meagre and... -
Answered a Question in The Crucible
The literary device being used in this quotation, which is spoken by Reverend Hale in Act Three of The Crucible, is that of an allusion. An allusion is a reference to a person, place, idea, or... -
Answered a Question in The Cask of Amontillado
In "The Cask of Amontillado," we can infer that Montresor is a man of high status and wealth. Montresor hurries Fortunato to his palazzo, where his attendants are decidedly absent in order to... -
Answered a Question in Antigone
In Sophocles' play Antigone, the titular Antigone has lost two brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices, to the fighting in Thebes' civil war. Creon, the new ruler of Thebes, has made an edict that... -
Answered a Question in The Kitchen House
In The Kitchen House, a widower initially asks Lavinia to marry him. She agrees, but he attempts to take advantage of her, which results in the end of their relationship. Thus, she ends up marrying... -
Answered a Question in Antigone
Sophocles' play Antigone dives deep into an exploration of the roles women are expected to fulfill within society and what happens when women defy those expectations. First, let's establish... -
Answered a Question in Night
Elie Wiesel's Night (published in French as La Nuit) is titled as such because the night is the symbol of the physical and spiritual darkness Wiesel experienced and depicts in the book. Over the... -
Answered a Question in The White Tiger
I think what is missing within your thesis statement is an acknowledgement that Balram lacks a sense of accountability for his actions and ignores the consequences of them—or, at the very least, he... -
Answered a Question in Holy Sonnets
First off, I can say that from the perspective of a university-level poetry professor, your frustration with understanding meter is totally common; my students frequently struggle to understand how... -
Answered a Question in Holy Sonnets
This sonnet, written by John Donne, is penned in iambic pentameter. This means that each line contains ten syllables each, grouped into five (hence, the prefix "penta-") "feet" or two-syllable... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
Chapter 21: In this chapter, the court proceedings of Tom Robinson, who has been put on trial for the rape and beating of Mayella Ewell, come to a conclusion. Despite Atticus's stunning revelation... -
Answered a Question in The White Tiger
Balram's father is Vickram Halwai, a poor rickshaw puller who wishes for at least one of his sons to have the opportunity to "live like a man." Vickram ensures that Balram is taught to read and to... -
Answered a Question in The Giver
Intelligence: Jonas demonstrates intelligence when he is able to distinguish between his own reality and the reality of his family. He makes the distinction between his mother's "feelings" of...
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