"Maybe people are younger when they are asleep." What do you think about this comment (chap. 7, pg. 104)?

This is an observation made by Ponyboy after he sees Sodapop sleeping and thinks he looks younger than 17 years old. He had also noticed that Johnny looked younger when sleeping as well.

In considering the meaning of the statement in the context of the book, it is important to note that the important people in Ponyboy's life, "the Greasers," have all had to grow up quickly and deal with adult responsibilities. This can age people. In their sleep, however, they are not dealing with the struggles of survival and keeping family together; therefore, they may look younger and more peaceful.

How is love expressed in the novel?

The idea of love is explored in many ways in "A Farewell
to Arms." The romantic love between Lt. Henry and Catherine is developed over the course
of the novel. At the beginning of the novel Lt. Henry has no real connections or
attachments to anyone. Henry is infatuated with Catherine when they first meet, and love
is treated like a game. Both Catherine and Henry are looking for something to fill the
hollowness inside of them. Their bond grows stronger as they face adversities and
eventually their love becomes evident. Henry begins to believe that love is more
powerful than honor and glory, and his is able to make his own peace with the war and
put it behind him.  Sometimes Catherine and Henry's love affair seems like a fantasy
(their house in Montreux) and sometimes it seems like a horrific nightmare (Catherine
and her baby's death). At the end of the novel Henry is left with nothing, making the
reader question if love is real or just an idea like glory or
honor.

Love is also explored through the characters of
Rinaldi and the Priest. Rinaldi and the Priest represent two different kinds of
love--Rinaldi represents the carnal and the priest represents the spiritual. Rinaldi
uses sex and relationships as a diversion. The Priest, who seems to have no source of
physical love, devotes his life to the spiritual love of God and his fellow man. When
Henry is in the hospital recovering from his war injury, he and the priest discuss the
difference between true love and lust. The priest mentions that true love requires
sacrifice. At the end of the novel, Henry realizes the true meaning of sacrifice after
he learns of the deaths of Catherine and his baby.

List five images that illustrate the supernatural forces in the poem and explain how they do so?

1. The men all dying at the same time without a sound is
not natural. People will die of thirst or exposure one at a time, depending on their
physical wellness.

2. The spirits of the sailors arising an
working the ship is not reality. Even if one believes in spirits, spirits would not be
able to grasp ropes or the wheel to control the ship.

3.
The ghost ship moving at a tremendous speed toward the ship is an impossibility. The
sails were full of holes, and the mariner's ship was not moving. There was no wind and
not from that direction either.

4. The ship moving at such
a speed that the mariner faints is also not possible. No ship can move that fast unless
it was jet powered.

5. Returning to his home port with no
crew, no navigation, no food is unlikely. Even with spirits guiding the vessel, they
would have little control over it.

These supernatural
events were supposed to tell the reader that a divine influence was in control, not the
natural world.

Why did Barlow want to speak privately with Charlotte?

Barlow wanted to warn Charlotte that all is not as it seems on the ship. Captain Jaggery is not the nice man Charlotte thinks he is; in fact, he is so abusive to his crew that they are near mutiny. It would be best for her to get off the ship as soon as she can.

What evidence can you give me to support the claim that Roderick and Madeline are not vampires?

It is easy to see how it might seem they are vampires. The setting of an old, creepy house, and strange seclusive inhabitants live inside. The Usher family has survived many generations in that setting. Yet, a few details point to the idea that they are not in actuality, vampires. First, and most obvious, Roderick was a school chum with the narrator of the story who comes to visit. Clearly he was able to leave the ouse in daylight hours at some point, and according to vampire lore, daylight is deadly to vampires. Madeline dies, as well, and vampires are supposedly immortal. True, it appears she becomes the undead, but this only gives evidence of some supernatural activity, as does the house destructing in such an unrealistic manner.

How are men portrayed in the play Fences by August Wilson?

Men are essentially weak in a world that is driven my the
American Dream. In fact, this play revolves around that theme and how it is out of reach
for African Americans. Consider the opening. It is payday, and Troy is coming home to
drink with his buddy Jim. His finances, however, are controlled by his wife. He is
emasculated, which is a common theme of African American writers writing about this
decade, because he is unable to provide for his family as well as he wants to. He is
striving to beat the system, as evidenced by the fact that he asks the question of why
the whites are always driving and the blacks lifting trash in his job as a garbage
collector, but when he "wins" and is made a driver he is still held back, one might
assume, by the fact that he has never learned to drive. He is still paying for furniture
on credit that is long since paid for because the "devil" (white man, symbolized in
almost a clan-like appearance) expects him to do so. He is downtrodden and turns to an
affair to have an escape, yet his wife, Rose, stays with him and raises his lover
Alberta's baby in the end. There is loyalty there.

Lyons is
the "wasted youth" trying to use music as his escape, but having a history of needing
money.

Cory, on the other hand, is portrayed as the one
with the most hope of breaking the chain. He wants to play football, but his father
discourages this as Troy believes that Cory will be destined for failure in what he
still views as the white man's sport.

Gabriel is
interesting. His head injury gives him a reason for his limitations, yet ultimately he
may be the strongest of them all  for he possesses acceptance of life and an attitude of
one who has not lost faith as Troy has. Consider him in light of the angel Gabriel for a
better understanding of how he is portrayed.

The men are
struggling to survive and make a way in a world that is still white-dominated. They are
prime examples of the emasculation of black men who were powerless under slavery's grasp
to help or save their families and who still felt a sense of power for many decades
after as they struggles to be "men" for their families (this is part of why Troy insists
on the fence - to keep what is his safe inside and to keep the outside world at
bay).

Describe the differences between the Foster's house and the Tuck's house in Tuck Everlasting. (Think of how it looks, ''feels'', and sounds.)

The Fosters' house was referred to as the touch-me-not
cottage. Everything was so neat and clean and organized that it did not look lived in.
It was more like an advertisement for a furniture company. The house matched the
Fosters' cold, sterile personalities. There was no warmth nor visible love in the
house.

By contrast, the Tucks' home had a shabby, run-down,
much used and loved to death feel, like a worn out teddy bear passed down from
generation to generation. The furniture was faded and saggy or broken. A mouse lived and
ate the crumbs left in the kitchen drawer for it. The house was not regularly cleaned
and dusted. It was a lived in sort of place. The Tucks, because of their immortality and
poverty-stricken economic status could not go out and buy new things. They moved
frequently and took everything with them. So, it was old and battered. However, the
Tucks' loving spirit and down-to-earth homeyness fit in with the furnishings just
fine.