Valentine England
eNotes Educator
Achievements
13
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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 History
Cotton production was critical to the economic success of the South, and slavery was a crucial (albeit horrific and inhumane) means of meeting the high demands of that industry. The American... -
Answered a Question in History
Reconstruction resulted in a point of conflict between black Southerners and white Southerners over what freedom itself means and entails. In the Reconstruction-era South, black Southerners... -
Answered a Question in James Monroe's Presidency
The "Era of Good Feelings" emerged in 1815 as a result of the disintegration of the Federalist party after the Hartford Convention and a lull in partisan politics between the Democratic-Republics... -
Answered a Question in Andrew Jackson's Presidency
Andrew Jackson's legacy regarding the status of Indians in American society is one of devastation, racism, and death. Known colloquially as the "Indian Killer" and "Sharp Knife" by the Cherokee... -
Answered a Question in History
The Spanish colonization of North American forever shaped the continent, largely to a detrimental degree to the indigenous people who were there first. With the arrival of the Spaniards came the... -
Answered a Question in The Report Card
Andrew Clements's novel The Report Card follows the attempts of Nora, the fifth-grader protagonist, to question the grading system so institutional to American schooling and to get the adults... -
Answered a Question in Colonial America
The relationship between the English colonists and the Native Americans they encountered when arriving in North America was a troubled and complicated one from the start. When the colonists first... -
Answered a Question in The Grievances of the Colonists
There were many reasons behind the American colonies' decision to declare independence from Great Britain: The colonists believed that they were being taken advantage of and treated unfairly by... -
Answered a Question in Life in the Thirteen Colonies
The English colonies saw a major shift in its demographic during the eighteenth century. The fifty years spanning between 1700 and 1750 marked a dramatic increase in population size from 250,000 to... -
Answered a Question in European Colonization of North America
England was motivated to establish the American colonies for complex reasons. The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries marked economic changes and the sudden increase in demand for woolen cloth.... -
Answered a Question in History
Women in the English colonies had three primary objectives: to maintain their households for their husbands, to productively submit themselves to men, and to operate as the spiritual backbone of... -
Answered a Question in The Giver
The page numbers that the rules are located on are going to vary depending upon the copy/edition of the book which you own. Thus, to make this answer as consistent as possible, I will provide an... -
Answered a Question in The Cask of Amontillado
Plot: Montresor, who feels that he has been slighted by his "friend" Fortunato, lures the drunken man back to the catacombs with the promise of showing him his pipe of vintage amontillado.... -
Answered a Question in A Mercy
Florens begins the novel as a slave girl who is distraught over the way that her mother has rejected and abandoned her. To clarify, Florens believes that her mother had sold her to Jacob Vaark to... -
Answered a Question in Seabiscuit: An American Legend
The quote you are referring to is "Brick by brick, my fellow citizens, brick by brick." This quote is originally attributed to Emperor Hadrian, who allegedly said it while urging his people to... -
Answered a Question in Lois Lowry
Let us examine the elements you mentioned below: Time: Lois Lowry's The Messenger takes place vaguely in the future. The novel is set approximately eight years after the events of The Giver and... -
Answered a Question in Atonement
There are actually multiple settings within Ian McEwan's novel Atonement. Let us examine them: Part I of the novel begins at the sprawling country estate owned by the Tallis family in England. The... -
Answered a Question in Othello
Unfortunately, Othello's character development over the course of the play traces a tragic fall from grace. Othello begins the play as a successful African general in the defense forces of... -
Answered a Question in The Epic of Gilgamesh
In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Enkidu is taken in by a temple prostitute who leads him toward Uruk and brings him to a camp of herdsmen. These individuals cook for Enkidu and provide him with beer and... -
Answered a Question in Tuck Everlasting
In Chapter Twelve of Tuck Everlasting, Tuck takes Winnie out onto the pond in a rowboat just as the sun is setting. They bear witness to the different kinds of wildlife and the natural world around... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
In Act Two, Scene Four of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, we learn that Tybalt has sent a letter to Romeo. This letter comes just a day after Romeo and his friends had crashed the Capulet ball,... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
Dill's mother remarries in Chapter Twelve of To Kill a Mockingbird, which prevents him from returning to Maycomb for the summer as he had previously done. This change is a sad blow to Scout's... -
Answered a Question in The Odyssey
When Odysseus first leaves Troy, he has twelve ships in his possession. Unfortunately for him and his crew, these ships do not manage to last very long in their epic journey to return home. ... -
Answered a Question in Lord of the Flies
I'd argue that if Ralph were a modern-day kid, he would listen to: "Energy" by Drake: As the leader of the group, Ralph is persistently facing the dissent of Jack, who is determined to undermine... -
Answered a Question in A Midsummer Night's Dream
When Oberon, the King of the Fairies, spots Demetrius following Hermia, he realizes that something has gone terribly wrong. Oberon knows that Demetrius has persistently rejected Helena, even as... -
Answered a Question in Oedipus Rex
The tragedy of Oedipus can be quite effectively explained through the three categories you mentioned. This examine this more closely: Reversal of Fortune: We see Oedipus's fortune reverse when we... -
Answered a Question in Night
In Chapter Three of Night, Eliezer and his family arrive at Birkenau, where the "selections" begin and families are separated. Eliezer learns from another prisoner that the Nazis have brought the... -
Answered a Question in Edgar Allan Poe
"The Raven" and "Annabel Lee" are both poems by Edgar Allan Poe that address the desolation experienced by a man who has lost his love. In both of these poems, the speaker is experiencing... -
Answered a Question in Zoot Suit
El Pachuco is representative of the very subculture (also called "Pachuco") embodied within this play. A pachuco is a Latino playboy with a strong aesthetic sensibility who wears zoot suits and... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
In Chapter Seven of The Great Gatsby, we can clearly see a major similarity in circumstances between Tom Buchanan and George Wilson—namely that both of them are on the verge of completely losing... -
Answered a Question in Secession and Civil War
While the North had some significant advantages—including a sizable population to serve as soldiers, an industrial base with factories to produce necessary materials, and a navy which could be... -
Answered a Question in The Giver
In Lois Lowry's novel The Giver, children begin volunteer hours after their Ceremony of Eight. At this Ceremony, the children begin their metaphorical initiation into adulthood. Their comfort... -
Answered a Question in Tonight I Can Write
As the educator who previously answered this question mentioned, Neruda uses repetition—or a "refrain"—to create a sense of mournful suffering throughout the poem. Additionally, Neruda uses... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
Very little information is offered up about Scout's physical appearance through To Kill a Mockingbird, possibly because she is the narrator of the novel, and as a narrator, she is unlikely to spend... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
In The Great Gatsby, it took Gatsby three years to accrue the money necessary to buy the house. Gatsby goes about earning this money in ways that are considered less than savory by the upper crust... -
Answered a Question in The Diary of Anne Frank
Anne writes in her diary that, "Paper is more patient than people," as a means of expressing the difficulties of sharing her often complex adolescent thoughts, feelings, and experiences with those... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
First, let's get clear on the literary definition of "allusion." In literature, an allusion is a brief reference to something of significance, be it a person, place, thing, or important part of... -
Answered a Question in Night
In Chapter One of Night, the Sighet Jews living in the ghetto established by German forces learn from Eliezer's father that they will be deported the next day, and that each person will be allowed... -
Answered a Question in The Kite Runner
The character of Paddy from Colleen McCullough's novel The Thorn Birds is arguably most like Baba in The Kite Runner. He also shares some pivotal similarities with Tariq from A Thousand Splendid... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
First, let's identify what a "foil" is within this context. In literature, a foil is a character whose qualities directly contrast the qualities possessed by another character; in doing so, the... -
Answered a Question in History
The triumph of the Allied Forces in World War II resulted in the United States rising to become a global economic superpower. Let's examine some of the more controversial foreign policies enacted... -
Answered a Question in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
The main occurrence of sexual abuse in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks occurs after Henrietta's death from cervical cancer, which results in her children being placed in the care of Ethel and... -
Answered a Question in The Giver
In Lois Lowry's The Giver, a family unit may receive a second child by going through an application process for one. Unlike our world, in which biological mothers often raise their own children,... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
In Chapter Thirteen of To Kill a Mockingbird, Aunt Alexandra has arrived in order to provide Scout with some "feminine influence"—a decision which Scout thoroughly does not agree with, since she... -
Answered a Question in The Wednesday Wars
The Wednesday Wars is a young adult novel by Gary D. Schmidt which follows the story of Holling Hoodhood, a seventh grader who finds himself trapped in the shadow of his father while dealing with... -
Answered a Question in Holes
The curse you are referring to is first placed when Elya Yelnats seeks help from Madame Zeroni in order to win the love of an incompetent local girl, Myra Menke. Zeroni tells Elya to carry a piglet... -
Answered a Question in Literary Terms
It sounds like what you may be referring to is, as the other instructor has pointed out, a frame story. Such stories start at the ending and then flash back in time to demonstrate how this pivotal... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
Jay Gatsby fires all his servants in Chapter Seven of The Great Gatsby in order to protect himself and Daisy Buchanan from gossip about the secret affair they are carrying on behind the back of her... -
Answered a Question in The Giver
At her Ceremony of Eight, Jonas's younger sister, Lily, receives a special jacket which provides identification and possesses pockets. This is a symbol of her increasing sense of autonomy and her... -
Answered a Question in Lord of the Flies
Diction is a literary term that refers to the specific tone of an author's writing; it is reflective of the word choice, dialect, style, and mood that were selected to create a particular...
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