In July's People, how does Maureen become one with herself and with nature? Where could I find an example of this concept in the book so I can put...

After fleeing their comfortable home in Johannesburg, Maureen Smales and her family are taken in by the family of their servant, July. July and his family live in a rural village that lacks the amenities Maureen has grown used to in Johannesburg. In the bush, she has no access to electricity or modern plumbing. It is this stark change in surroundings that sparks a conscious awakening in Maureen. You can find an example of this idea in the line, "It pressed in upon her and filled her as someone's breath fills a balloon's shape." This line refers to Maureen's feeling of being taken over by or becoming one with the nature that suddenly surrounds her.

Prominent Examples

In Chapters 18 and 19, you can find multiple examples of Maureen's oneness with nature. This is not always a positive experience for Maureen, as seen when she travels into the woods in search of July. She begins to dissociate, feeling as if she is not present in the physical world and that the bush could easily swallow her up because there would be no witnesses. This feeling is brought on by her realization that the poverty of the village has left no human imprint on the land. There is no litter and no sign that Maureen, or anyone else, was ever there. In this place, nature is dominant and Maureen finds her own identity in danger of being swallowed up by it.

When faced with the vastness of the bush, Maureen finds herself drawn to it like a magnet. The power of nature is so deep and inescapable that she is consumed by it. Her thoughts lose their chronological order and structure. The forces of nature themselves, such as the water and the air, seem to replace her thoughts and concerns.

In chapter 19, Maureen has another similar experience just before the helicopter arrives in the village. As she sits alone in a remote hut, she begins to feel a disturbance in the air. This experience hints that she has developed a connection with nature that allows her to know when something is about to change. She runs to the river and wades into it, despite her concern about the water's sanitation. As the helicopter lands in the village, she dares to explore the bank she was previously wary of. These actions demonstrate Maureen's willingness to become one with nature and conquer her fear of it now that she has a hope of returning to her old life.

How do the foils to the character of Hamlet help in the development of Plot and Theme in the play?

A foil or a foil character differs from one character (in this case, Hamlet) and those differences highlight Hamlet's traits. So, we don't have to look far until we come to Claudius who serves as a foil to Hamlet. Claudius's crime highlights (and causes) Hamlet's need for vengeance. Claudius is the main villain/antagonist in this play and this contrasts with Hamlet's role as the main protagonist. Claudius continues to try to hide his crime, while...

A foil or a foil character differs from one character (in this case, Hamlet) and those differences highlight Hamlet's traits. So, we don't have to look far until we come to Claudius who serves as a foil to Hamlet. Claudius's crime highlights (and causes) Hamlet's need for vengeance. Claudius is the main villain/antagonist in this play and this contrasts with Hamlet's role as the main protagonist. Claudius continues to try to hide his crime, while suppressing Hamlet's role and importance (by sending him away). This is contrasted by Hamlet's desire to expose Claudius for the criminal that he is. These characters are actively working against one another, but they do not communicate this to each other until the very end. This unspoken but active duel fuels the plot and contributes to many themes of the play: murder, secrecy, revenge, madness, and justice. 

An interesting side note to this "duel" is that both Claudius and Hamlet are similar in that they both conspire and plot in secret. Each man has an agenda and the best way to achieve his goal is to keep the agenda hidden from others. Hamlet and Claudius do not trust one another, but they hide this suspicion from one another. It is like a chess game. Little by little, Claudius grows more suspicious of Hamlet. Even Polonius shows some suspicion and proclaims it in the famous line, "Though this be madness, yet there is method in't." (II.ii.216) Hamlet tries to hide his plot for revenge under a guise of madness. 

What is a compare and contrast essay?

In a compare and contrast essay, your job as the writer is to discuss and analyze the ways in which two (or more) texts, characters, settings, and so forth, are similar (this is the "compare" part) as well as different (this is the "contrast" part). It is not enough to simply point out that similarities and differences exist between your subjects; you must go beyond description and summary. You should use this "data"—your list of...

In a compare and contrast essay, your job as the writer is to discuss and analyze the ways in which two (or more) texts, characters, settings, and so forth, are similar (this is the "compare" part) as well as different (this is the "contrast" part). It is not enough to simply point out that similarities and differences exist between your subjects; you must go beyond description and summary. You should use this "data"—your list of similarities and differences—to make some compelling argument about your subjects. If you get this type of assignment, often your teacher is hoping that you will draw connections between the two subjects, develop an understanding of their relationship to one another, and discover what is most important about each.

In what ways is Theseus controling?

How is Theseus controlling? To begin with, he kidnaps Hippolyta, his bride-to-be, after defeating her people, the Amazons, and uses force to get her to agree to marry him. As he puts it in act 1, scene 1,

Hippolyta, I wooed thee with my sword

And won thy love doing thee injuries.

Theseus also upholds the patriarchy in this scene, backing Egeus, Hermia's father, in his assertion of his right to decide who Hermia will...

How is Theseus controlling? To begin with, he kidnaps Hippolyta, his bride-to-be, after defeating her people, the Amazons, and uses force to get her to agree to marry him. As he puts it in act 1, scene 1,

Hippolyta, I wooed thee with my sword

And won thy love doing thee injuries.

Theseus also upholds the patriarchy in this scene, backing Egeus, Hermia's father, in his assertion of his right to decide who Hermia will marry. Theseus tells Hermia he should think of her father as a god. If Egeus thinks Demetrius is a better husband for Hermia than Lysander, Hermia should arrange her mind to think so too, Theseus says. Theseus enforces this sense of male control by telling Hermia she will either marry Demetrius or go to the nunnery for the rest of her life. 

Theseus, however, will later prove himself to be a just and even-handed ruler, and in the end, true love will prevail for Hermia and the other young people.

Why is Curley's wife so lonely on the ranch in Of Mice and Men?

Curley's wife is lonely because there are no other women around to whom she can relate, and the ranch hands avoid any entanglement with her because she is the wife of the boss's son. She also isolates herself by cruel remarks to others.

Isolated on the large ranch, Curley's wife--who is but a genitive of her husband in this novella as she is given no name--hungers for attention and communication with others, although she often...

Curley's wife is lonely because there are no other women around to whom she can relate, and the ranch hands avoid any entanglement with her because she is the wife of the boss's son. She also isolates herself by cruel remarks to others.

Isolated on the large ranch, Curley's wife--who is but a genitive of her husband in this novella as she is given no name--hungers for attention and communication with others, although she often seeks this attention in the wrong manner. For, knowing that she is the only woman and that she is attractive, Curley's wife positions herself in a seductive manner:

A girl was standing there looking in. She had full, rouged lips and wide spaced eyes, heavily made up....
She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward. (Ch. 2)

But, even though she physically entices the men, they are afraid of tangling with Curley, who is very pugnacious, and can get them fired. Consequently, they do not respond to her seductive looks, nor do they engage in conversation with his wife. To her dismay, they instead leave her alone.

Curley's wife is also lonely because, although she desires company, she has the tendency to exploit the weaknesses of men with whom she has contact. For instance, she exploits the vulnerability of Crooks as she reminds him that he is a social inferior and outcast, rather than being friendly to him. So he retreats and will speak to her no more. 

How does Emily Dickinson treat death in her poem "Because I could not stop for Death"?

In the poem "Because I could not stop for Death," Dickinson treats death as a person.  Giving human traits and qualities to nonhuman things and ideas is a common literary technique.  It is called personification, and it is a main literary technique used in this poem. 

In reality, death marks the end of a biological life.  It is a moment.  It does not have a personality, but Dickinson changes that in this poem.  She turns...

In the poem "Because I could not stop for Death," Dickinson treats death as a person.  Giving human traits and qualities to nonhuman things and ideas is a common literary technique.  It is called personification, and it is a main literary technique used in this poem. 

In reality, death marks the end of a biological life.  It is a moment.  It does not have a personality, but Dickinson changes that in this poem.  She turns death into a person.  Treating death as a person is not a new idea. However, Dickinson definitely bucks the traditional personification of death.  Most readers might think of Death as an old guy dressed in all black who carries a scythe, but Dickinson portrays Death as a kindly gentleman.  He pulls his carriage up to her and kindly picks her up.  The two of them then casually and calmly ride through the town's streets.  The poem creates a beautiful image of Death and makes the carriage ride seem similar to a date between two lovers.  

We slowly drove—He knew no haste 

And I had put away 

My labor and my leisure too, 

For His Civility— 

What is Shakespeare's Sonnet 60 about? Which of the following best describes the whole structure of the poem as a whole? a) Three different...

(All line citations are taken from the text available at the Shakespeare Online reference provided.)

Question 1: Which of the following best describes the whole structure of the poem as a whole?

A) Three different conceits about the power of an idea, followed by a generalization about its ultimate fragility

B) A dispassionate analysis of an event, devoid of personal reference until the final image

C) Four contrasting views of an emotion, with no final resolution

Answer: A. Shakespeare's Sonnet 60 presents three images representing the inescapable passage of time and then challenges time's power in the final two lines. The first stanza's conceit is the incoming tide, each minute like a wave inexorably making its way up the shore. The second uses the conceit of the sun, in which birth is a dawn and youth a rise to the full brightness of maturity, which then descends into the encroaching darkness of advancing age. The third uses the familiar image of the reaper to represent time, age, and death, with youth depicted as a flourishing plant destined to be cut down. "Nothing stands but for his scythe to mow" (12). 

However, Shakespeare complicates his melancholy reflection in the final lines, "And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand, praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand" (13-14). This continues the "reaper" conceit of the final stanza but states Shakespeare's hope that, through poetry, the process of time might be forestalled and his beloved remembered through his verse. 

Question 2: The action of waves in lines 1-4 is best described as

a) an inexorable procession

b) a remorseless competition

c) a reassuring monotony

Answer: A. As noted above, the theme of Sonnet 60 is the progression of time. The waves are the core conceit of stanza 1, representing the minutes of life counting down inescapably to death.

Question 3: In line 5, "Nativity" refers primarily to

a) the youth of the speaker

b) earliest stage of life

c) birth of Jesus

Answer: B. The second stanza and the poem in general are about the progress of human life as a whole.

Question 4: The subject of lines 1-4 is best described as the                             

a) minutes of our lives elapsing

b) necessity of toil

c) power of natural force

Answer: A. This is explicit in the text. "Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, so do our minutes hasten to their end" (1-2). Lines 3 and 4 simply emphasize the point. They say that, just like the incoming tide, each minute follows the one before but progresses that much further forward to the ultimate end of death.

Question 5: The image of "crooked eclipse"(line 7) is most closely linked to which other image in the poem?                                                                            

a) the pebbled shore (line 1)                                       

b) sequent toil (line 4)                                                  

c) the main light (line 5)                                               

d) beauty's brow (line 10)                                            

e) nature's truth (line 11)

Answer: C. "The main of light" (5) refers both to the apex of the sun and to maturity, when life reaches the height of its beauty and power. Shakespeare's "crooked eclipse" (7) is an image of age and darkening light.

Question 6: In context, the phase "transfix the flourish" (line 9) is best understood to mean

a) preserve the growth.                                                

b) raise the hopes.                                                        

c) satisfy the desires.                                                    

d) thwart the ambition                                                  

e) diminish the vitality 

Answer: E. Throughout the third stanza, Shakespeare uses the imagery of harvest. When he says "Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth, and delves the parallels on beauty's brow" (9-10), he depicts Time as a farmer and the sonnet's subject as a planted field, reaching full fertility only for its fruits to be taken and its flourish "transfixed," in the sense of being pierced or cut.