In Whirligig, what is Brent’s life like after the accident?

August 17, 2018 Educator

SONG OF MYSELF

According to Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself,” why is there really no death?

“Song of Myself” is Walt Whitman’s exploration of self, other, and what it means to be alive. Throughout the epic poem he addresses concepts that are both commonplace and taboo. Death is one of…

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THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO

What are three examples of dramatic irony in “The Cask Of Amontillado”?

The essence of dramatic irony is that something is not understood by a character in the play or story which is understood by the audience or the reader. There is nothing that Montresor does not…

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THE NECKLACE

As the story begins, why is Madame Loisel unhappy with her life in “The Necklace?”

Madame Loisel is unhappy with her life because she was born poor when she feels as if she should have been rich. Madame Loisel is a middle class woman, who for some reason feels that she should…

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MACBETH

How does Shakespeare develop Macduff in Act 5?

Shakespeare develops Macduff by showing that he is quick thinking and brave when confronting Macbeth in battle. Macduff is an interesting character. He is not hot-headed, and doesn’t want power….

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

What impact on the community would it have if the sheriff did charge Boo Radley or Jem for…

These hypothetical questions are interesting. If Atticus had his way, then either Jem or Boo would have been charged. If Jem was charged, no charges would stick. Jem is a boy and Bob Ewell is a…

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THE WESTING GAME

In the book, The Westing Game, who did Flora make a dress for?

Flora made a wedding dress for Angela Wexler. Each of the residents of Sunset Towers was chosen for a reason. One of the residents was a dressmaker named Flora Baumbach. Angela Wexler is getting…

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MACBETH

How can you explain these words from Macbeth? “Keep the word of promise to our ear and break it…

Context is important to understand what Macbeth means here. The Weird Sisters (witches) predicted to him in Act IV Scene 1 that he was to beware Macduff, that he could not be killed by a man of…

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THE RAVEN

How does the relationship between the speaker and the raven change over the course of “The Raven”?

The poem starts with a knocking on the speaker’s door, which he thinks is just a stranger. When the raven makes its first appearance, the speaker describes it as stately, with a countenance likened…

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THE NIGHT CIRCUS

In The Night Circus, what does the red haired girl give Bailey to take back to his friends?

In The Night Circus, Bailey is dared by his older sister Caroline to steal something from the circus. Because he is fascinated by the circus and does not want to appear cowardly, he accepts the…

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MANIAC MAGEE

Why did Maniac Magee love trash talk in Maniac Magee?

Maniac loves trash talk because the words “have spirit” and trash talk makes him feel included. Trash talk, or swearing, is something that Maniac learns from playing with boys in the…

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DUST TRACKS ON A ROAD

Why is young Zora so remarkable, especially for the time period she lives in?

Zora Neale Hurston grew up in the Deep South during the Jim Crow-era laws, including segregation. Fortunately for Hurston, she grew up in Eatonville, Florida, while not the first black community in…

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BY THE WATERS OF BABYLON

What are the Dead Places and the Place of the Gods?

By the end of the story and through the clues Stephen Vincent Benet gives us in the story, we learn that the Dead Places and the Place of the Gods are destroyed homes and a city in ruin from a…

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WALK TWO MOONS

What is the lesson in the book Walk Two Moons?

The title of the book, Walk Two Moons, comes from the proverb that Phoebe finds on her front porch: “Don’t judge a man until you’ve walked two moons in his moccasins.” This is the primary…

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THE DEMON LOVER

What day is the “anniversary” in “The Demon Lover”?

It was not clear in the short story “The Demon Lover” what the exact day of the anniversary was. It was only said that the day was in August. Twenty-five years before the story began, Kathleen had…

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THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME

What events led Rainsford to fall into the sea in “The Most Dangerous Game”?

Rainsford has a conversation with Whitney about the island, hears a gunshot, and then falls off the yacht. Rainsford and Whitney are hunters on a yacht in the Caribbean Sea. They discuss the spooky…

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THE PRISON

How do you interpret the title of the story?

If you knew nothing about the book, other than the title, how would you interpret it? “Prison” sounds closed, dark, regimented, disciplined, monotonous, restrictive and isn’t a place you’d like to…

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THE STORY OF AN HOUR

My assignment in Comp II is to write a literary research paper about a story in our comp book….

This is a great story for you to write about. So, first, do not panic! There are at least a few research avenues you can explore, and then we can look at what you can do to organize an essay,…

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THE OPEN WINDOW

Why do you think that the author gave us the information regarding Mr. Nuttel’s ailments?

We are told at the beginning of the story that Framton Nuttel is undergoing a “nerve cure” by spending time in the country. The only other details of his ailments are those he gives to Mrs….

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SCIENCE

Why is determination of lung volume and capacity important?

Lung volume and lung capacity are two measurements of respiratory health and measured during pulmonary functions tests. Lung volumes are parts of lung compartments into which the lungs are…

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ANIMAL FARM

Does Animal Farm have a reliable narrator?

The narrator in George Orwell’s Animal Farm does not reveal any information about himself (or herself). What we do know is that the narrator uses the “third-person omniscient” technique. Since he…

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THE LADY OF SHALOTT

In “The Lady of Shalott,” why does the lady risk her life to look outside the walls of her tower?

In Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem, the Lady of Shallot is under a curse if she stops weaving and looks outside the walls of her tower. Since “she knows not what the curse may be,” she is afraid to…

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THE CRUCIBLE

Why is Mrs. Putnam so eager to prove there is witchcraft in the village ?

Mrs. Putnam is very eager to prove that witches are in Salem because she is desperate to find the cause of the deaths of seven of her eight children as well as the cause of her only surviving…

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THE GREAT GATSBY

Through the incident with the drunk’s car accident and husbands and wives arguing, what does…

Both the arguments between husbands and wives and the drunk’s car accident are Fitzgerald’s way of introducing his themes and foreshadowing what is to follow. Let’s look at the details that support…

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THE VELDT

What form of narration is used?

The narration in “The Veldt” is what James Moffett and Kenneth R. McElheny in their excellent book, Points of View: An Anthology of Short Stories (Rev. Ed. 1995), would classify as ANONYMOUS…

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A JURY OF HER PEERS

How would you describe Mr. Peters’s thoughts and actions in the short story “A Jury of Her Peers”…

Mr. Henry Peters is the sheriff of Dickson County, where the murder of John Wright takes place. There is some direct characterization of Mr. Peters. He is described by Martha Hale as someone who…

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FAHRENHEIT 451

What smell causes Montag to vomit?

Prior to vomiting, Montag and the other firemen had just invaded the home of an old woman who was hoarding books. Montag, against his better judgment, steals one in the process, so he’s already…

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ROMEO AND JULIET

How does Juliet get more isolated in Act 3 of Romeo and Juliet? “Juliet grows up as the play…

Juliet becomes more isolated from her family when she marries Romeo, and then he is banished. Juliet becomes isolated after she marries Romeo, and is lying to her family. Then Romeo is banished…

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RULES OF THE GAME

Using the point of view of the mother in “Rules of the Game,” write two definitions of success in…

The mother , Lindo, in the “Rules of the Game” believes success is about doing things that matter and impress others like her daughter’s chess games. Another definition could understanding the…

LORD OF THE FLIES

In Lord of the Flies, what is the beast that crawls out of the forest in the middle of their feast?

In a physical sense, the beast is Simon. Simon had gone to the special place where he’d had a fit and ended up having his vision of the Lord of the Flies. After the vision, he proceeded up the…

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PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

How does Mrs. Bennet respond to Elizabeth’s decisions in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice?

In Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, their are two decisions Elizabeth makes that Mrs. Bennet responds dramatically to. The first decision is Elizabeth’s rejection of Mr. Collins’s proposal; the…

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SPEECH TO THE VIRGINIA CONVENTION

In the “Speech in the Virginia Convention,” what does Henry indicate are signs that the British…

Patrick Henry believed that war between the American colonies and the British was inevitable. He tells his audience to “Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with…

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ANTHEM

Who is the narrator in ANTHEM?

The narrator of the book, Anthem, is the main character, Equality 7-2521. The book begins with Equality committing a sin by writing down the story of his life in the “collective” dystopian society…

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A VISIT TO GRANDMOTHER

What is Chig’s general impression of his father, Charles, in the opening paragraph of “A Visit…

In the opening paragraphs of “A Visit to Grandmother,” Chig immediately recognizes that there is something wrong when he watches his father kiss his mother. For, his father’s demeanor is…

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THE CRUCIBLE

Why is Mrs. Putnam so very bitter in The Crucible?

Ann Putnam is a bitter, old woman because over the course of her life, she has lost seven babies to illness. This has affected Mrs. Putnam’s mental health. She only has one daughter, Ruth, who,…

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FRANKENSTEIN

What does Walton say that he is in need of in Letter II in Frankenstein?

In this letter Walton seems to be really feeling the loneliness of being on an isolating sea voyage. In this letter to his sister, Walton writes: “I have no friend, Margaret: when I am glowing…

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SCIENCE

How do larger molecules pass though the cell membrane?

Larger molecules wold require a transport protein in order to cross the cell membrane. There are three modes of transport across the cell membrane: diffusion, facilitated diffusion, and active…

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THE SCARLET IBIS

What clues to the ending of “The Scarlet Ibis” are revealed with the use of the past tense and…

Right from the first couple of paragraphs of the story, the reader knows this isn’t going to end well. Because of the past-tense language found therein, along with the melancholy descriptions of…

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THE DEMON LOVER

Why didn’t Mrs. Drover marry her soldier fiancé?

As a young woman, Kathleen had been engaged to a soldier in 1916, during World War I. They were supposed to be married when he returned from war. Kathleen was hesitant about marrying this man,…

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LYDDIE

What do Triphena and Mistress Cutler think of Lyddie when she arrives?

At first Mistress Cutler ignores Lyddie, but after she helps the paying guests get to the main door of the tavern, she looks at Lyddie “as though she were a stray dog” and asks her what she is…

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THE CAY

In The Cay by Theodore Taylor, what is an example of Timothy having a bad temper?

For the most part, in The Cay by Theodore Taylor, Timothy is very patient and kind. He only really loses his temper once. This happens when he is trying to teach Phillip how to make a rope, and…

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OF MICE AND MEN

Describe how Steinbeck creates a threatening tone by using features outside the barn in Chapter…

Steinbeck originally meant for Of Mice and Men to be a stage play, so he wrote it as if it were played out on a stage, with a limited number of scenes (the spot where George and Lennie first appear…

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THE CAY

What do Curaçao and Virginia have in common in Theodore Taylor’s The Cay?

Based on Phillip’s first-person narration in Theodore Taylor’s The Cay, segregation of blacks from whites and treatment of blacks is something Curaçao in the Caribbean shares in common with…

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PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

Why is Elizabeth certain that Miss Bingley’s romantic intentions with regard to Mr.Darcy are in…

In the opening chapters of Pride and Prejudice, Miss Elizabeth Bennet very quickly realizes that Miss Caroline Bingley desires to marry Mr. Darcy. Unfortunately for Miss Bingley, her designs were…

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FREAK THE MIGHTY

Max and Kevin run away from Tony D. What element of the King Arthur story matches this event from…

The beginning of Max and Kevin’s friendship is all about Kevin sharing the King Arthur legend with Max. Soon they will have many adventures that mimic the adventures of King Arthur’s knights….

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THE LOTTERY

What is the main irony in Shirley Jackson’s story “The Lottery”?

The main irony in Shirley Jackson’s story “The Lottery” is the title of the story itself, which relates to the story’s main tension, and the events that occur at the end. In order to answer the…

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THROUGH THE TUNNEL

What part of the setting represents both Jerry’s external and internal conflicts in the story?

An internal conflict has to do with a personal choice or struggle that a character feels inside himself. An external conflict is a struggle that the character has with something outside of himself,…