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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 The Great Gatsby
In The Great Gatsby, we learn that Myrtle and George have been married for twelve years. This information is disclosed through a conversation that a neighbor of the couple, Michaelis, has with... -
Answered a Question in The Twenty-One Balloons
The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pène due Bois follows the tale of Professor William Waterman Sherman, who retires from his job as a schoolteacher in order to fly across the world by himself in a... -
Answered a Question in The Gift of the Magi
Situational irony occurs when the outcome of a series of actions or an event is incongruous with what we might expect to occur as a result of those actions/events. This kind of irony distinguishes... -
Answered a Question in Marge Piercy
Marge Piercy's poem "Breaking Out" examines the moment in which a young girl pushes back against the oppressive and violent patriarchal values that dictate her upbringing. The poem begins with an... -
Answered a Question in The Devil in the White City
The Panic of 1893 was major depression of the American economy which lasted for four years and served as a major source of political upheaval. It is attributed partially to the failure of wheat... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
This is a tricky question to answer as it involves a great deal of speculation. Although Juliet's age is specified within Shakespeare's text when the Nurse and Lady Capulet acknowledge that she is... -
Answered a Question in The Odyssey
Odysseus' refusal to listen to the well-intended and often very wise advice of those around him is what ultimately leads to the catastrophic journey he must take. It is his egotistical pride which... -
Answered a Question in Harrison Bergeron
An "inference" is a rational deduction which is made based upon premises assumed to be true. It is a logical conclusion that can be drawn by using observation—in this case, through the reading of a... -
Answered a Question in Macbeth
All of the predictions of the witches in Macbeth come true, though there is one prediction we don't see fulfilled within the text itself. Let's take a look at what manifests according to the... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Maycomb County re-elects Atticus Finch every year because he is a well-known, permanent fixture of the town; his historical roots extend far back in time in the area, as... -
Answered a Question in Holes
Stanley "Caveman" Yelnats and Zero are first and foremost bound by the crime for which Stanley is doing time at Camp Green Lake. Stanley is wrongfully accused of stealing a pair of sneakers—shoes... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
A simile occurs in Chapter Sixteen when Scout and Jem arrive at the courthouse for Tom Robinson's trial. Once they are seated, Scout looks around her, stating: Judge Taylor was on the bench,... -
Answered a Question in A Thousand Splendid Suns
In Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns, Rasheed is the abusive husband of both Mariam and Laila. Rasheed operates as an extremely conservative character who believes in the subservience of... -
Answered a Question in William Shakespeare
The way Shakespeare represents women in his plays varies wildly from play to play. This is a facet of his work that is both lauded and disliked by critics. Some believe Shakespeare has presented a... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
Mercutio's death serves as the "point of no return" for the primary characters in the play; there is no undoing the tragedy that befalls those involved once Mercutio has died. When Tybalt kills... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
Atticus' first act of protest is accepting his appointment as Tom Robinson's lawyer. Atticus does this even though he knows that the legal battle he is about to engage in is ultimately useless; it... -
Answered a Question in Othello
We can interpret this line in two different ways (although they ultimately both have the same end result). In the first interpretation, we can perceive "put money in thy purse" to mean that... -
Answered a Question in Into the Wild
Into the Wild follows the true story of Chris McCandless, who left behind the comfort and safety of his life as a college student in order to travel the United States. After giving away his college... -
Answered a Question in Khaled Hosseini
Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner follows the story of Amir, a Pashtun boy living in Kabul who loves to kite fight with Hassan, the Hazara son of Amir's father's servant. After an older bully by... -
Answered a Question in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
In 1951, shortly after the birth of her daughter Deborah, Henrietta Lacks noticed something wrong with her womb--a sensation which she described as a "knot" inside of her. She did not see a doctor... -
Answered a Question in Hamlet
I believe what you are referring to is the so-called "silent interview" which takes place in Act Two, Scene One of Hamlet. In this scene, Ophelia appears and reports to her father, Polonius, that... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
In Act Three, Scene Five of Romeo and Juliet, Lady Capulet visits Juliet very early in the morning to deliver some unpleasant news: the Capulets have decided that Juliet will be married off to... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
Act Three of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is riddled with similes. One of these similes occurs after the duel between Mercutio, Tybalt, and Romeo, in which Mercutio and Tybalt were both killed.... -
Answered a Question in The Changeling
The Changeling is classified as a Jacobean tragedy and, thus, exhibits many differences from the classic Greek tragedies (the origin of the genre). Early tragedies contained conventions that The... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
In the final scene of Act Five of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo has traveled to the Capulet's crypt to commit suicide at the deathbed of Juliet, who he mistakenly believes to have died while he was... -
Answered a Question in In Another Country
Ernest Hemingway's "In Another Country" follows the story of an unnamed narrator, an ambulance corps member--presumed to be Nick Adams--serving in World War I in Milan. The narrator receives daily... -
Answered a Question in Death and the Maiden
Death and the Maiden examines the unstable power dynamics that are created during the shift from one political agenda and infrastructure to another. While Dorfman's play does not name its... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
Jem gets even with Scout's dissent about the "hot steams"--which she has dismissed as mere folk lore--through an act of physical aggression. While the children are playing with an old tire, they... -
Answered a Question in The Catcher in the Rye
An allusion indirectly references something of literary, cultural, historical, or political significance. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield makes frequent allusions, often to works of... -
Answered a Question in Chains
Laurie Halse Anderson's young adult novel Chains follows the story of Isabel--an African-American slave living in New York in 1776--who is seeking her freedom while the Revolutionary War rages.... -
Answered a Question in The Outsiders
In Chapter Four of The Outsiders, Ponyboy and Johnny are ambushed by a group of Socs. Because Ponyboy is without a weapon, he quickly is beat down in the fight; when he awakens from his unconscious... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
In Chapter Two, Scout goes to school for the first time and immediately gets into trouble with her teacher, Miss Caroline, for being too good at reading and for explaining the impoverished... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
Scout's questioning of why Boo Radley has never run away from home suggests that Scout's attitude toward Boo has shifted from one of fear to one of genuine empathy. This arises after Scout learns... -
Answered a Question in Rules of the Game
Arguably the biggest "rule" that Waverly's family adopts within the story is that of the pursuit of the American Dream. This rule manifests as the firm belief that if an individual only works hard... -
Answered a Question in Freak the Mighty
Since you have already outlined two differences between the book version of Freak the Mighty and the movie adaptation, let's focus on explaining how and/or why those differences manifest. ... -
Answered a Question in Hamlet
An Act Three, Scene One of Shakespeare's Hamlet, Hamlet delivers the iconic "To be or not to be" soliloquy. In this passage, he ponders whether he should continue to live when life is merely a... -
Answered a Question in 1984
In Chapter Eight of 1984, Winston takes a walk through a prole neighborhood and visits a pub and an antique shop. After chatting with the owner of the shop, Mr. Charrington, and purchasing a... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
The apprehensive mood that is a core part of the setting in chapter eight of To Kill a Mockingbird is largely because the events leading up to the attack are transpiring on Halloween. The weather... -
Answered a Question in Night
In Chapter One of Night, twelve-year-old Eliezer lives in Sighet, an area annexed to Hungary which now exists as part of Romania. The government of Hungary falls under Fascist rule, which leads to... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
In chapter nine of To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus's brother, Uncle Jack, comes to stay with the Finch family for Christmas. The family goes to visit Uncle Jimmy, Aunt Alexandra (Atticus's sister),... -
Answered a Question in Oedipus Rex
Oedipus Rex (or Oedipus the King) is a Greek tragedy written by Sophocles and performed circa 429 BC. The play focuses on the aftermath of a fulfilled prophecy that predicted that Oedipus... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
Scout "accidentally" learns to read by spending time with her father in the evenings. On these nights, she would sit in Atticus's lap and listen to him read out loud from the newspaper, watching... -
Answered a Question in Literary Terms
In works of literature, a theme is generally considered an overarching truth--a message that serves as the core idea of the story. Themes provide insight (instead of serving as a mere subject), and... -
Answered a Question in Kristin Hunter
Kristin Hunter's short story "Mom Luby and the Social Worker" examines a day in the life of Mom Luby, an elderly woman who is caring for two children--Elijah and Puddin'--while simultaneously... -
Answered a Question in Lord of the Flies
"Castle rock" is quite literally the castle-like rock formation that Ralph and the boys decide to explore at the end of Chapter Six of Lord of the Flies. The area is described as consisting of... -
Answered a Question in The Crucible
In Act Three of The Crucible, Proctor provides Danforth with a deposition that testifies to the goodness of Elizabeth, Martha Corey, and Rebecca; this document features the signatures of ninety-one... -
Answered a Question in A Midsummer Night's Dream
In Act Five, Scene One of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Theseus asserts, "No die, but an ace for him," while watching the Pyramus and Thisbe play. This is a pun (although not necessarily one that... -
Answered a Question in The Giver
In our modern Western society, finding a mate is typically a matter of searching for a person who we view positively and romantically as someone we want to spend our life with. This process usually... -
Answered a Question in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
In Chapter Eight of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck bumps into Jim on his fourth day on the island. Although Jim initially thinks that Huck is a ghost, he is eventually able to settle down... -
Answered a Question in Frankenstein
In Chapter 20 of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Victor creates a second female monster; the original monster tracks Victor down at his workshop in Scotland in order to see the woman that has been...
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