Kathryn Tyson
eNotes Educator
Achievements
10
Educator Level
578
Answers Posted
98
Answers Bonused
About
I was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but lived most of my young years in Los Angeles, California. After graduating from the University of California in Santa Barbara, I moved to Oregon where I started my teaching career and completed my Masters in Literary Criticism. Six years later, I decided to add a little adventure to my life and traveled to Anaco, Venezuela, to teach grades 6-9 in an oil field school. It was a great experience and allowed me to indulge in my favorite pastime, travel. Returning to the United States, I taught middle school in Houston, Texas. I also taught English and writing on the Texas A&M ship, the Clipper II, during its maiden voyage. Careers and writing were two areas that interested me, and I presented inservices on both in Maryland, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Texas. It finally came to an end after 38 years when I decided to retire last year. I am totally enjoying my retirement, but I enjoy working with enotes and keeping in touch with students. I am, unfortunately, a widow. My husband, Tony, who was from England, died of heart disease. In England, I have two stepchildren, Jay and Lisa, and two grandchildren, Emily and Charlotte. If you haven’t guessed, they were named after the Bronte sisters. I still live in Houston, Texas, but love to travel and have visited every continent except Africa. A frequent visitor to the Caribbean islands, I am definitely a beach person – a part of California that will never leave me.
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Literature Whiz
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Recent Activity
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Answered a Question in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
According the Webster, naiveté “implies a genuine, innocent, simplicity”. The adults in this book may not be naïve, but instead they know what is happening but CHOOSE not to recognize it, or they... -
Answered a Question in Oedipus
In Greek mythology, Laius, king of Thebes, consulted the oracles and was told that he would have a son. This son was going to kill him. Consequently, when his son was born, he had him... -
Answered a Question in The Most Dangerous Game
General Zaroff hunts human beings for sport. He finds them challenging because they are the only animal that can reason. When Rainsford expresses shock at the idea of the game, Zaroff... -
Answered a Question in The Pearl
The doctor in The Pearl is a very greedy man. He was also a man filled with prejudice. When Coyotito is stung by the scorpion, Kino is desperate to get help. However, he does not... -
Answered a Question in The Nightingale and the Rose
In the short story, “The Nightingale and the Rose”, the most unlikable character is the young girl. She first teases the young student by telling him that she will dance with him if he brings... -
Answered a Question in The Most Dangerous Game
Physically, Zaroff is tall, handsome, middle-aged, and slender. However, it is the other aspects of Zaroff that are interesting. I am quoting from the story off the internet, so the... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
We learn about Mayella Ewell when the trial starts. A description of the Ewell home is given in Chapter 17. It is a very run down property. "The varmints had a lean time of it, for the... -
Answered a Question in After Twenty Years
O. Henry wrote with irony, and the ironic aspect of this story is that the police officer is Bob’s old friend, the very man he is anxious to meet. When Bob lit up his cigar, the police officer,... -
Answered a Question in A Christmas Carol
There are actually four ghosts in The Christmas Carol. The first ghost is that of Jacob Marley, Scrooge’s business partner, a man as stingy and unforgiving as Scrooge himself. The... -
Answered a Question in After Twenty Years
When the policeman approaches Bob that night, Bob realizes that it might look a little strange to the police officer that he is standing outside of this closed hardware store. So, he... -
Answered a Question in Fahrenheit 451
The three main locations in the book are the firehouse, Montag's home, and the woods near the river where he meets the other rebels. Each one represents a portion of Montag's life, and... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
Scout doesn't have a mother, and although her relationship with Atticus is open and comfortable, the only women she has to talk with are Calpurnia and Miss Maudie before Aunt Alexandra... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
Simon Finch was an ancestor of Jem and Scout. He immigrated from England to the United States due to religious persecution of the Methodists. He lived in numerous places before... -
Answered a Question in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
The house in Berlin was huge. It had lots of room and had a lot of little spaces to explore. The new house had only three floors, which included the basement where the servants... -
Answered a Question in Charles
Laurie's mother rues the fact in the first paragraph that he is growing up and going off to school. He has given up his short pants for long ones. He is now a little boy, no longer a... -
Answered a Question in The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
Mark Twain says in the first paragraph of the story that his friend asked him to look up a friend by the name of Rev. Leonidas Smiley, knowing that he would meet a storyteller who would... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
Atticus has great respect for the Cunninghams. Both the Ewells and the Cunninghams were poor, but they handled it differently. The Ewells were third generation welfare folk, and they... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
The children have never seen snow before. When Scout wakes up that morning, she thinks that the world is ending. School is closed and Atticus allows the children to go out and play... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
During the trial, the sheriff, Heck Tate, testified that Mayella was beaten basically on her right side. This indicated, even to Scout, a girl of nine, that someone who was left-handed would... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
The men of Maycomb visit Atticus at his home and decided there should be a change of venue. Heck Tate and a group of men visit Atticus and Heck tells him that, "....movin' him... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
Similarities: 1. They both sang songs during the service. 2. The both blessed the sick and the suffering. "Reverend Sykes then called on the Lord to bless the sick and the suffering, a... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
First Purchase Church was the church attended by Calpurnia, the children's nanny. Atticus was out of town doing legislative work, so Calpurnia invited the children to attend her church. ... -
Answered a Question in Three Questions
The king is a ruler. He is a conscientious yet ambitious. He has determined that if he knows the answers to the three questions, "...he would never fail in anything he might... -
Answered a Question in Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
The book starts out in Upstate New York where Percy is going to school at Yancy Academy. This is where he is attacked my Mrs. Dodds and eventually gets expelled and returns to his home in New... -
Answered a Question in Fahrenheit 451
Beatty, ironically a well-read man, explains to Montag that censorship happened because the people allowed it. They wanted to be happy and not disturb their thoughts with things that were... -
Answered a Question in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Cause and effect means that BECAUSE something happened or occurred, it resulted in another action or event, an EFFECT. Taking an example from the book. Because Bruno's father was a high ranking... -
Answered a Question in The Devil's Arithmetic
There is a definite connection between the beginning and the end of the book. In the beginning of the book, Hannah is a normal teenager going off to a family holiday called Passover. She... -
Answered a Question in The Pearl
Kino had decided to go into the big city to sell his pearl because he felt the local merchants were cheating him --- which they were. He brings the pearl back to his home, but there... -
Answered a Question in Paul Laurence Dunbar
Although it is never mentioned in the poem, this poem is thought to have been about the hanging of a black man. The story was told to Dunbar by an old Negro who nephew had been falsely... -
Answered a Question in Johnny Tremain
Things were changing with the rebels attitudes and the fighting. The rebels were threatening the Tories or King's Loyalists. According to their maid, Bessie, they had threatened to... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
On page 90 of the book, Atticus explains to the children that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. "Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up... -
Answered a Question in And Then There Were None
The poem says that the first one choked himself. Anthony Marston, who was a playboy, heavy on the drink and with a lead foot, was the first to die. His sin? According to the recording,... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
When Jem and Scout are attacked on their way home from the festival, Jem has his arm severely broken. He is not able to defend himself or Scout. Scout tells Atticus and the sheriff,... -
Answered a Question in The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
Mark Twain's friend, who happens to live in the East, asks him to find a good-natured person named Simon Wheeler at the Angel's mining camp and ask about a former school chum of his named ... -
Answered a Question in Tears of a Tiger
Rob and Andy had been best friends since seventh grade. They would always spend the day at the mall together, and the Christmas season was no different. Andy tells... -
Answered a Question in Leo Tolstoy
It was the time of year when the snow started to melt and make nice mud puddles in the street. Two girls, Malasha and Akulya, meet after church on Sunday. Their mothers had dressed them in their... -
Answered a Question in The Open Window
Vera is a bored fifteen-year-old girl who is having fun at Mr. Framton's expense. Framton has come to the country to take a rest because he is having a nervous breakdown. A nervous... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
Scout has adult conversations with Atticus. We, the reader, never really know how much she absorbs and understands, but she is smart and far beyond her years. However, there are certain... -
Answered a Question in The Pearl
In the first chapter, we see Kino relaxed and enjoying his family. His mind sings the song of the family. When he sees the scorpion, his mind sings the Song of Evil. In his... -
Answered a Question in Johnny Tremain
Sam and John Adams are on their way to Philadelphia to the Continental Congress. Someone mentions peace to Sam Adams and he responds with "No. That time is past. I will work for... -
Answered a Question in The Devil's Arithmetic
The girls believe that Hannah has come from Lublin, a big city compared to their shtetl. This fascinates them. They want to hear all about life in the big city. They believe... -
Answered a Question in The Silver Sword
Ruth, Jan, and Bronia have decided to head for Switzerland, the land of Ruth and Bronia's grandparents, and they wanted to find Edek. They knew that Edek was in Posen, so they headed in... -
Answered a Question in The Devil and Tom Walker
The reader is never meant to be sympathetic to Tom OR his wife. In the second paragraph, Washington Irving tells us that Tom's wife was, "....fierce of temper, loud of tongue, and... -
Answered a Question in And Then There Were None
Agatha Christie was a British crime writer. When she first wrote the story, the nursery rhyme she uses at the beginning was from a British nursery rhyme. When it was published in the... -
Answered a Question in Tears of a Tiger
I can give you some study questions based on the test I have given on the book. 1. Why did the car burn the night of the accident? 2. Why didn't Gerald go with them the night of the... -
Answered a Question in Fahrenheit 451
When the Hound numbs Montag's leg, in many ways it was symbolic of his life. He wasn't ready to move yet, not prepared. "He was afraid to get up, afraid he might not be able... -
Answered a Question in Fahrenheit 451
Montag is conflicted. He is finally at a point that he feels he cannot go out and burn any more houses. On his last trip, he finds himself in front of his own home. This occurs at the end of Part... -
Answered a Question in And Then There Were None
Mrs. Rogers is only the second person to die on the island. The characters are first beginning to make the connection between the the ten statues, the poem, and the ten of them. They have all been... -
Answered a Question in The Pearl
When Kino goes to the pearl buyers to bargain a price for his pearl, the whole community goes with him. His brother, Juan Tomas, warns him about the possibility of being cheated by... -
Answered a Question in The Devil and Tom Walker
After Tom met "Old Scratch" in the forest, he is offered a deal in which the fortunes that had been buried by Kidd the pirate would be his if he agreed to what the"devil" asked him. Those...
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