The G.I. Bill of Rights opened the door of opportunity for the nation's returning veterans. The Serviceman's Readjustment Act provided federal money for higher education and it also guaranteed low interest mortage loans to those veterans. American G.I.'s came home from war, went to college, married their high school sweetheart, bought a home, and started having families. As a result of these experiences two major transformations took place, the baby boom and the birth of the suburbs, one of the first was Levittown Long Island. Quaint little identical houses with backyards. The suburbs were far enough away from the urban jungle of the cities, but close enough for Dad to travel there everyday to work. Block parties, backyard cook-outs, slumber parties for the kids on the 'block' became very fashionable. Although the suburbs were recognized for the prosperity the G.I. Bill brought to many with the neatly manicured lawns, the construction of schools, roads, and parks it was at the expense of the cities. The 1950's and 60's saw much of the taxpayer dollars going to the suburbs which resulted in what became known as 'urban decay'. Inner city poverty grew just as fast as the prosperity of the suburbs.
Saturday, December 5, 2015
Why is Wilson moving his wife, Myrtle, out West in Chapter 7 of The Great Gatsby?
Wilson has discovered that his wife, Myrtle, is having an affair. He does not know who it is, but it really does not matter. His wife is being unfaithful, and Wilson thinks that moving out of the Valley of Ashes will fix the problem. In all likelihood, moving Myrtle is a temporary solution. She will no longer be having the affair with Tom, but she will likely still be unhappy with her station in life and marriage. Moving Myrtle out west is not likely to fix the marriage. Wilson may or may not know this, but he does know that moving away from the Valley of Ashes will stop Mytle's current affair. It is a brave move on Wilson's part as well, because in some ways he is giving up on his belief that he can strike it rich in the East. However, the move does show that saving his marriage is more important to him than making money.
How does the poet creates an uncanny atmosphere using drama and mystery in "The Listeners"?
Using word choices, setting, ghosts and a mysterious errand, the author makes this poem very uncanny. He describes how there is a "moonlit door," so, it is at night, and it is so quiet that you can hear "his horse" as he "chomped the grass" in the woods. The traveller is "perplexed", so the author makes him confused and anxious, which takes the mystery and tension up a notch. Then, there is the uncanny "host of phantom listeners" that "stood thronging the faint moonbeams on the dark stair", which indicates that there is a large number of ghosts that are crowded in the house, in the moonlight, listening to him. Uncanny means creepy, eerie, or mysterious, and that description is definitely horrifying. Imagine not just one, but an entire "host" of ghosts just waiting and listening. It is a dramatic moment, and the mystery is just deepened as we wonder who they are and what they are going to do. It describes that the traveller "felt in his heart their strangeness," so, the man is aware of them on some level, kind-of like how the hair on your neck prickles when you sense someone in the room with you. That makes it even more dramatic, because he isn't oblivious, but knows something is up. The mystery is deepened as the author adds the dramatic dialogue from the traveller: "Tell them I came, and no one answered, that I kept my word." This mysterious, ambiguous and intrigiung phrase makes us wonder who are "they"? Where was he? What did he do? Why did he have to come back and tell them? It is a puzzle, and quite a mystery. We then wonder what the strangers will do, but they just "surged softly backward" as he leaves.
The entire poem is very uncanny and mysterious; the author uses word choices, an eerie setting, a host of ghosts, and a mysterious quest from the traveller to enhance that mystery. I hope that helped. Good luck.
What did John write in a letter to Nancy in Chapter 11 of Across Five Aprils?
Three of John's letters are actually recounted in Chapter 11. In the first, which arrives sometime during the fall or early winter of 1863, John tells about the infamous Battle of Chickamauga and its aftermath. Outnumbered by the Confederates "by as many as twenty thousand", the Army of the Cumberland had suffered a terrible defeat, but the defeat was not complete, as the left wing of the Army held out to regroup and fight another day. John tells how his brigade had been near starvation in the days after the Battle, with strategically placed Southern snipers preventing "food or provender to get through to either men or animals", and how, when reinforcements finally arrived, led by Hooker and Sherman, the Army of the Cumberland was treated like "a third rate army", but fought bravely and effectively alongside their haughty brothers nonetheless. John proudly relates how the Army of the Cumberland "had so broken the center of the Confederate line", that the Confederates had to "retreat and...leave Chattanooga in the hands of the Federals".
John's next letter comes "weeks later", and in it, John expresses praise for Jethro and pride that his little brother at home "is close to (John's) littel boys".
In the last of his letters described in the Chapter, John tells about a clash at Nashville, which occurred in December of 1864. A "second sheet" is added to this letter, containing "news that those at home had almost despaired of hearing". John had been "put in charge of helpin to feed the reb prisners" taken in Tennessee, and was stunned to recognize among their ranks his brother Bill, "growed to look as old as pa looked a fue years back". John got permission from his captain to spend some time with his "own blood brother", and the two sat and talk for awhile, "like brothers ought to talk". John related the news from home, and after awhile, when it was time to leave, the two "shook hands fer a long time like as if (their) fingers didnt want to let go". Bill's parting request was that John tell their mother that he was not at Pittsburg Landing, and so could not have fired the bullet that killed their brother Tom (Chapter 11).
Discuss Amanda's religious faith and Jim's advice to Laura and their effectiveness in Scene 7.
Scene 7, the last scene in the play is perhaps the most important scene in the play because it is in this scene that Laura is finally cured of her inferiority complex and is freed from her dependence on her collection of glass dolls. After dinner is over and the lights have gone out because Tom has forgotten to pay the electricity bill, Amanda leaves Jim and Laura alone in the parlor in candlelight.
This scene "is the climax of her (Laura's) secret life."The secret being she had a crush on Jim while at high school. In this scene, Jim helps Laura overcome her shyness and cures her of her inferiority complex and helps her to forget that she is a cripple: "being disappointed is one thing and being discouraged is something else." "Jim's smile lights Laura with a warmth and charm which lights her inwardly with altar candles." Finally he dances with her and kisses her on the lips.
But the very next instant he tells her that he is engaged to Betty. For a moment it seems that Laura is going to have yet another one of her nervous breakdowns but she quickly recovers and confidently presents him with the glass unicorn which he broke when dancing with her. It is a symbolic gesture which proves that Laura has been cured of her inferiority complex.' The scene ends with Amanda comforting Laura and Laura blowing out the candles.
Tom might have deserted his family, but Laura is now confident that she can face life all alone without relying on her "glass menagerie."
Regarding Amanda's religious faith she is most probably a member of the liberal Episcopalian Church which did not object to its members enjoying a hedonistic lifestyle. After dinner is over and the lights have gone out Amanda asks Jim to keep company with Laura who is alone in the parlor. She gives him a lighted candle on a misshapened candle stand which once was placed on the altar of the church of the Heavenly Rest before the church was struck down by lightning. A puritanical revivalist preacher called Gypsy Jones with strong evangelising tendencies pronounced that the Episcopalian Church was struck down by God as punishment because its members gave card parties.
Amanda's religious faith, if at all she has any, proves ineffective in curing Laura of her inferiority complex and preventing Tom from leaving home forever. It is Jim's warmth and affection for Laura which he communicates to her by kissing her and dancing with her which breathes self confidence into Laura and enables her to face life boldly and courageously.
Benvolio, Lord Montague and Lady Montague discuss Romeo's mood. What are three things that they say that indicate Romeo is depressed?
Yes, it's an odd little conversation - the only time Romeo's parents really appear in the play before his death! The Montagues are a lot less important than the Capulets to Shakespeare's design.
Benvolio is first out of the gates. He describes that, early, before sunrise, he was walking around and caught sight of Romeo:
A troubled mind drave me to walk abroad;
Where, underneath the grove of sycamore
That westward rooteth from the city's side,
So early walking did I see your son.
Towards him I made; but he was ware of me
And stole into the covert of the wood.
Romeo runs away from one of his best friends and longs to be alone. And, says Lord Montague, this is a common occurrence. Moreover,
But all so soon as the all-cheering sun
Should in the farthest East begin to draw
The shady curtains from Aurora's bed,
Away from light steals home my heavy son
And private in his chamber pens himself,
Shuts up his windows, locks fair daylight out
And makes himself an artificial night.
Romeo shuts himself up in the dark, locks himself in his private room (his "chamber").
Benvolio, finally, asks whether Montague knows why Romeo does this:
BEN:
My noble uncle, do you know the cause?MON:
I neither know it nor can learn of him.
Romeo's behaviour seems to be motiveless. Those three things together add up pretty clearly to the depression that you want to find in the text!
Hope it helps!
What are character traits of Tom Robinson in "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee?I also need three quotations from the book. If you could give me...
Tom's character is revealed in the novel primarily through his testimony at his trial. It shows, for instance, that he was a very kind and compassionate person. He felt sorry for Mayella trying to take care of her many brothers and sisters with no help from her father. Tom testified that he often tried to give Mayella some help, doing small jobs for her on his way to and from work. He expected no payment; he helped her out of the goodness of his heart. When Tom testified to this at his trial, he made a serious mistake by telling the truth--that he felt sorry for the girl. Because he was black and she was white, this was seen as "being uppity" on his part.
Tom was also realistic. He knew when he testified that he had no power to defend himself while being questioned by the white prosecutor, Mr. Gilmer. Tom spoke very carefully, trying not to offend, trying hard to play the racial role expected of him in Maycomb before the white jury. He accepted Gilmer's insults and condesension because he had to. When he dared to disagree with Gilmer on one point, Tom had to apologize to the prosecutor who attacked him for his "attitude." Tom was fighting for his life in court, and he knew he had little or no chance of winning.
Reviewing Tom's trial in the novel will provide numerous passages that show these character traits of his.