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Tom and Nick's meeting in the Great Gatsby

At the end of Gatsby when Tom and Nick meet, after their conversation Nick states that Tom: "went into the jewelry store to buy a pearl necklace — or perhaps only a pair of cuff buttons — rid of ...
John D's user avatar
  • 203
1 vote
2 answers
561 views

Why did Robert Stadler claim that John Galt was "probably a second assistant bookkeeper somewhere"?

When Dagney Taggert went to see Dr. Robert Stadler at the State Science Institute, in explanation for his mistrust of humans and human reason, he told the story of his three students: "These three ...
EJoshuaS - Stand with Ukraine's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
768 views

In what way was Dr. Robert Stadler based on Robert Oppenheimer?

Wikipedia describes Dr. Robert Stadler from Atlas Shrugged as follows: A former professor at Patrick Henry University, and along with colleague Hugh Akston, mentor to Francisco d'Anconia, John Galt ...
EJoshuaS - Stand with Ukraine's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
274 views

Why did Lillian Reardon appear to admire the Steel Mills?

Shortly after their wedding anniversary celebration (p. 152 in my edition), Hank Reardon recalls Lillian coming down from New York on her own initiative to see his Mills: [Hank] remembered the day ...
EJoshuaS - Stand with Ukraine's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
314 views

What should we make of the newspaper vendor in Atlas Shrugged?

Related: How should we view Dan Conway? First, a quote from the opening scene of the book: "Who is John Galt?" The light was ebbing, and Eddie Willers could not distinguish the bum's face. The ...
EJoshuaS - Stand with Ukraine's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
362 views

Does Gale have a sadistic streak, or is he merely willing to be ruthless?

There are two particular incidents that I was thinking of in particular. First was his comment to Katniss prior to the first Hunger Games that killing people in the Arena wasn't really all that ...
EJoshuaS - Stand with Ukraine's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
72 views

How did Nita and Dairine's sibling relation change after Dairine became a wizard?

How did Nita and Dairine's sibling relation change after Dairine became a wizard in High Wizardry?
Marvin's user avatar
  • 21
5 votes
1 answer
1k views

Is there a contrast between Trofimov and Lopakhin in Anton Chekhov's 'The Cherry Orchard"?

I am an intern who is teaching in high school in India. In the syllabus, I got across Anton Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" in Hindi. After discussing the book with the students, I found out that there ...
Jemin's user avatar
  • 59
6 votes
2 answers
2k views

Why is It afraid of birds?

In IT (1986), Stan Uris is attacked near Derry light house by Pennywise. He is able to survive this attack by just speaking the names of several birds and It is just taken aback. For some reason ...
KDeogharkar's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
3k views

Why is the Emperor Beyond the Sea named that?

Closely related: Why does the Emperor-Over-the-Sea play such a small role in the Chronicles of Narnia? Why is the Emperor Beyond The Sea in The Chronicles of Narnia named that? What sea is he beyond, ...
EJoshuaS - Stand with Ukraine's user avatar
17 votes
1 answer
1k views

Why don't people in the Chronicles of Narnia have trouble "transitioning" back to their old life after extended times in other worlds?

In The Chronicles of Narnia, people often spend weeks, months, or even decades in other worlds. They return to their old life at the exact instant that they left as if they were never gone. For ...
EJoshuaS - Stand with Ukraine's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
710 views

What parallels can be drawn between Hunger Games characters and their classical namesakes?

In the Shakespeare play Julius Caesar, the minor character of "Cinna the poet" is brutally killed by an angry mob who mistake him for Cinna the conspirator. When he protests, "I am Cinna the poet", ...
Rand al'Thor's user avatar
  • 77.1k
2 votes
1 answer
2k views

How does Mazrim Taim's timeline work out?

Warning: spoilers follow for the Wheel of Time series, including the last few books! We know that Demandred recruited Mazrim Taim for the Shadow, but when exactly did this happen in Rand's timeline? ...
Lews Therin Telamon's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
718 views

Why are the bears bulgy?

Among the diverse characters introduced in Prince Caspian during Caspian's tour of the Old Narnians are three bears known as the "Bulgy Bears". What exactly does it mean for them to be bulgy? It's not ...
Rand al'Thor's user avatar
  • 77.1k
8 votes
3 answers
4k views

What's the significance of Liza-Lu?

In Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles, the character Liza-Lu (Tess's sister) plays a very minor background role throughout most of the novel, until near the very end when Tess says she wants ...
Rand al'Thor's user avatar
  • 77.1k
8 votes
1 answer
1k views

How does Effie Trinket's name relate to how she is portrayed throughout the series?

Merriam-Webster defines Trinket like this: 1: a small ornament (such as a jewel or ring) 2: a small article of equipment 3: a thing of little value How does Effie Trinket's name - either ...
Mithical's user avatar
  • 27.2k
13 votes
2 answers
14k views

How old is Romeo?

While answering a different question, I wanted to find out Romeo's age in the Shakespeare play Romeo and Juliet. It's well known that Juliet is 13, and generally assumed that Romeo is older (hence the ...
Rand al'Thor's user avatar
  • 77.1k
6 votes
0 answers
99 views

Is "The American Claimant" a veiled take on "The Indian Question"?

Mark Twain's 1892 novel The American Claimant was written very soon after the Wounded Knee Massacre (1890), which was basically revenge for the 1876 Battle of Greasy Grass ("Little Big Horn"). This ...
B. Clay Shannon-B. Crow Raven's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
1k views

Why did Dunbar consider a life of intentional boredom worth living?

In Catch-22, Dunbar would routinely cultivate boredom in an effort to extend his life. Why did he consider that worthwhile? Why did he want a long but boring life?
EJoshuaS - Stand with Ukraine's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
128 views

Do the characters in Line (by Israel Horovitz) ever fully grasp the absurdity of their behavior and situation?

In Line (a one-act play by Israel Horovitz), the characters constantly jockey for position in a line. All of the characters seem to have a very different idea of what they're even waiting for, or why ...
EJoshuaS - Stand with Ukraine's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
1k views

Benvolio and Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet

What do the characters of Benvolio and Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet symbolize, if anything? Mercutio's character mainly provides jokes, and then, in his hot-headedness, is slain by Tybalt. Benvolio ...
auden's user avatar
  • 4,880
12 votes
1 answer
864 views

Does Puzzle the Donkey have an allegorical relationship with any entity in the Book of Revelation or the Bible at large?

C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia are a great children's series which present an allegory the New Testament and Biblical history. That said, Lewis sometimes put in things that don't necessarily reflect ...
Sidney's user avatar
  • 221
8 votes
1 answer
970 views

Significance of the Pardoner's hair style

The General Prologue of The Canterbury Tales spends a lot of time talking about the Pardoner's hair: This Pardoner hadde heer as yelow as wex, But smothe it heeng as dooth a strike of flex; By ounces ...
user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
219 views

Was the motive behind this ever explained by the author of The Virgin Suicides?

In the novel The Virgin Suicides, we find that every daughter of the Lisbon family has attempted to suicide and succeeded. However, at the end of the novel, we don't find any motive behind all of ...
A J's user avatar
  • 491
3 votes
1 answer
1k views

What was the purpose of Sam Black Crow in American Gods?

In Neil Gaiman's novel American Gods, many of the characters Shadow encounters turn out to be somehow part of the world of the gods, even those like Low-Key Lyesmith who'd seemed innocuous. Most of ...
Rand al'Thor's user avatar
  • 77.1k
5 votes
0 answers
88 views

What does the teacher's clothing choice say about him?

In chapter 2 of I Am a Cat we see this chunk of text: He continues to wear his black cotton crested surcoat and, thereunder, a quilted kimono of hand-woven silk which, supposedly a keep-sake of his ...
Mithical's user avatar
  • 27.2k
13 votes
4 answers
1k views

Why wasn't O'Brien considered a thought criminal?

Given that O'Brien shows a high level of awareness of the Party's deceptiveness and malice (e.g. the fact that he admitted to being involved in creating and promoting the Goldstein myth), to what ...
EJoshuaS - Stand with Ukraine's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
935 views

How is the Brother Officer being portrayed in "The Hero"?

Siegfried Sassoon's short poem "The Hero" (full text here) is about a young soldier who has died in the First World War, and describes the news of his death being given to his grieving mother. When I ...
Rand al'Thor's user avatar
  • 77.1k
7 votes
3 answers
2k views

Why does Ishtar insist on being called "Ishtar"?

There are many characters in Gaiman's Sandman stories that have multiple names; Morpheus is one of them. For the most part, they usually don't mind if someone calls them by one name or another. The ...
Shokhet's user avatar
  • 6,050
3 votes
0 answers
179 views

Who or what is the narrator of “Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies”?

I just read Brooke Bolander's short story "Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies", which has been nominated for both Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Short Story after its publication less than a year ago (...
Rand al'Thor's user avatar
  • 77.1k
4 votes
0 answers
120 views

What is the essence of Undershaft's moral argument in Major Barbara?

I can discern certain Nietzschean undertones such as Undershaft's idealization of the will to power. I also understand Undershaft's discussion on the problem with describing poverty and starvation as ...
10101001's user avatar
8 votes
3 answers
54k views

What is the purpose of Owl Eyes in Great Gatsby?

Scott Fitzgerald rarely puts characters or events that have do not either have an underlying message or support in the character development of the lead characters. Therefore I was confused as to what ...
Clangorous Chimera's user avatar
14 votes
1 answer
999 views

Why did Morris and Clay preemptively dissolve the Red-Headed League?

Spoilers ahead for The Red-Headed League. In this Sherlock Holmes story, Holmes and Watson are recruited by a flustered pawnbroker, Jabez Wilson, who has been tricked into joining a fake society, the ...
The Dark Lord's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
565 views

What changed that made TenSoon want to run?

TenSoon is a kandra, a type of sentient magical creature in Sanderson's Mistborn series, and a proud one at that. After the events in the second book of the series, he travels to his homeland, ...
Shokhet's user avatar
  • 6,050
12 votes
2 answers
1k views

Does Nausicaä not develop as a character at all?

There will be spoilers regarding characters from the end of the manga here. In Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (Kaze no Tani no Naushika) manga, the characters are usually ...
Gallifreyan's user avatar
  • 8,554
4 votes
1 answer
410 views

Why is desire "a commodity [Lucifer is] short on"?

In The Sandman Presents: Lucifer - The Morningstar Option #3 (written by Mike Carey and drawn by Scott Hampton), Lucifer explains he needed Rachel Begai to channel her desire to destroy the Velleity, ...
Gallifreyan's user avatar
  • 8,554
9 votes
1 answer
1k views

Why is Regulus Black a seeker?

In Chapter Ten of the Deathly Hallows, we're told that Regulus Black is a seeker for the Slytherin team. Is there any symbolism behind Regulus Black's Quidditch position? I got the idea for this ...
user avatar
14 votes
1 answer
2k views

Understanding a reference to Tom Sawyer in the context of avoiding work

I am Brazilian, I frequent the Mathematica Stack Exchange, and I've never heard of Tom Sawyer. So it was confusing when I read a meta post that described people as "Tom Sawyers". "There are a few ...
LCarvalho's user avatar
  • 267
10 votes
2 answers
268 views

What is the source of Mr. Norrell's wealth?

In Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, the magician Norrell has cornered the market on magical books, which must have been a considerable expense. He also seems to have a considerable estate. How did he ...
Joshua Engel's user avatar
  • 5,128
7 votes
1 answer
822 views

Why are Delirium's eyes of two colors?

In The Sandman #21, some of the various members of the Endless families receive short biographic descriptions. Here's part of Delirium's (p 10): For Delirium was once Delight. And although that was ...
Shokhet's user avatar
  • 6,050
7 votes
0 answers
276 views

Byron's transition from Manfred to Don Juan

Manfred is more serious compared to Don Juan's light heartedness. While Manfred lives within the realm of seriousness and continuous self-pity, Don Juan lives in the realm of cynicism as it brings ...
anonymous's user avatar
  • 211
4 votes
0 answers
339 views

What does Manfred's character tell us about human consciousness?

I'm currently reading Manfred by Lord Byron and my professor said something that I found interesting. In Act 1, Manfred introduces the idea of humans being 1/2 dust and 1/2 deity. Both link to the ...
anonymous's user avatar
  • 211
10 votes
0 answers
2k views

How is the concept of cultural encounter treated in the short story “One Out of Many”?

In the story "One Out of Many" by V.S. Naipaul, how is the concept of cultural encounter treated? I have a few questions about that: Is the author aware of the cultural encounter theme? How does he ...
user1360's user avatar
  • 101
13 votes
1 answer
11k views

What does Narcissa Malfoy's name say about her character?

Many of the names in the Harry Potter series are chosen so as to reflect some trait of their character. For example: Sirius Black the black dog, Remus Lupin the wolf, Severus the severe teacher, Luna ...
Rand al'Thor's user avatar
  • 77.1k
10 votes
1 answer
11k views

Is the character of Randolph Henry Ash based on any particular Victorian poet?

The novel Possession contains some spot-on mimicry of several different writing styles, including lengthy poems by two fictional Victorian poets. The character of RH Ash in particular feels as if ...
Joshua Engel's user avatar
  • 5,128
9 votes
2 answers
542 views

Why does Night say Desire and Morpheus are alike?

In The Sandman: Overture #5, Morpheus speaks with Night while paying a "social visit". There, Night claims Morpheus and Desire are very much alike: Click for the full resolution I tend to agree ...
Gallifreyan's user avatar
  • 8,554
8 votes
1 answer
306 views

What parallels can be drawn between Don Reba and Beria?

From the afterword of Hard to be a God: On the advice of I. A. Efremov, we renamed the Minister of the Defense of the Crown Don Reba (he had previously been Don Rebia—an overly simple anagram, in the ...
Rand al'Thor's user avatar
  • 77.1k
21 votes
4 answers
8k views

Why is Gatsby great?

Jay Gatsby in Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby is no doubt smart, talented, and brave. But he only pursues his own egoistic desires, is quite delusional in his love affairs, does not hesitate to ...
Uk rain troll's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
271 views

Why were Colonel Cathcart and Colonel Korn so determined to undermine each other?

In Catch-22, both Colonel Cathcart and Colonel Korn seem bound and determined to undermine each other. I know both of them are desperately trying to get promoted (to the point of doing absolutely ...
EJoshuaS - Stand with Ukraine's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
494 views

How much did Eddie Willers understand about his situation by the end of Atlas Shrugged?

From the opening lines of Atlas Shrugged at the beginning of chapter 1: "Who is John Galt?" The light was ebbing, and Eddie Willers could not distinguish the bum's face. The bum had said it ...
EJoshuaS - Stand with Ukraine's user avatar