What implications are being made by the man being called "the man" and the woman being called "Jig?"

William Delaney

Hemingway's style of telling this story places the reader in the role of an
eavesdropper. The reader only knows what he can see and overhear. This has sometimes been called
the fly-on-the-wall perspective. It eliminates mostand gets right into the dramatic conflict.
There would be no benefit in our knowing the man's name or the girl's name. We only know her
nickname is Jig because the man calls her Jig. If Hemingway thought it was important for the man
to have a name, he might have had the girl call him John or Bob--or whatever. Since there is
only one man in the entire story, it is not necessary to have him identified by name. There are
two women, so one is identified both as "the girl" and as "Jig," while the
waitress is "the woman."

There is something very
"modern" about this way of telling a story. We live in a world in which we see
thousands of people who are complete strangers. We see many incidents which we don't understand
and while will never be explained to us. We...

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What is the importance of the following quotation from "A Worn Path"? "Without warning, she had seen with her own eyes a flashing nickel fall out...

In Welty's
"," Phoenix is so poor that a nickel, to her, is a great amount of money.  She gets
excited when she sees the nickel fall out of the man's pocket.  This puts her in a precarious
position.  First, we can assume she is hoping that the man does not realize he has lost the
nickel.  Then, after she picks it up, we can assume she hopes that he doesn't realize she has
his nickel.  She feels apprehension because she doesn't want to get caught.  She also, though,
as she says, feels shame for picking up the man's nickel:

God watching me the whole time.  I come to stealing.

This is a sick, distorted world Phoenix lives in.  It is a Southern Gothic world. 
Tension is heightened when the man points his rifle at her face.  The reader, like Phoenix,
doesn't know if he points the gun at her because he knows she stole his nickel, or for some
other reason.  As it turns out, he points the gun at her just for kicks. 

This quote and the entire situation is indicative of the world Phoenix lives
in.

 

 

 

Discuss your thoughts on the following statement: Dreams from My Father is the story of Barack Obama's search for his lost father. Discuss your...

To me, Dreams of My
Fatheris not so much of a search as it is an exploration.is not expressing a desire to seek out
and find his father, but rather is involved in the process of understanding the legacy of color,
race, and, importantly, values which he feels he has inherited from his
father. 

In what way might the United States be a henotheistic society?

The
United States can certainly be considered to be a henotheistic society in that, while there is
no official state religion, Christianity absolutely takes a dominant place as the central
religion in the nation and its governing structures. The Pledge of Allegiance includes the
phrase "one nation under God, indivisible," and this phrase refers specifically to the
Christian God, absolutely a monotheistic god. While other forms of religions are not outlawed in
the United States, Christianity and its holidays and traditions are central in our society. For
example, Christmas, a Christian holiday that celebrates the birth of a Christian savior, is a
national holiday, whereas the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad is not a national holiday.
Easter, another Christian holiday, is also a national holiday, whereas Kwanzaa, a celebration
recognized by Black folks across the African diaspora, including in America,...

What is the underlying meaning of the story "Hills like White Elephants"?

A story
does not have to have a meaning. The purpose of a short story is to convey an emotional effect.
What is important is the feeling that is left with the reader upon finishing the story. Most
readers must feel terribly sorry for the pregnant girl because she wants to keep the baby
growing inside her and also because she is coming to the realization that the man's feelings for
her are not as strong or as sincere as she had supposed. She loves him more than he loves her.
The reader might end up with the feeling that what is true in the relationship between this
couple is unfortunately true of many relationships between men and women. The fact that they are
in a foreign country...

'The city both offers and restricts possibility' (Lehan, The City of Literature'). Discuss this statement refering to "Araby."

One way of discussing
this statement with reference to this brilliant story would be to explore the way in which the
city provides an apt environment for the narrator to develop and explore his romantic fantasies
unchecked. When he goes to the market, for example, he sees around him sights that help spur on
his romantic illusions and thoughts, as the following quote describes:

These noises converged in a single sensation of life for me: I
imagined that I bore my...

How does "Annabel Lee" address the topic of love?

As is true
of many of Poe's poems, "" concerns the theme of lost love. In other words, love in
Poe's poetry does not have a happy ending culminating in marriageinstead, it culminates in the
loss or death of the beloved.

The narrator of "Annabel Lee" loves a
young woman. In his mind, the love is requited, and the two were happily in love. One should
note that this is the viewpoint of the narrator. Some readers might find that the phrase "I
was a child and she was a child" has disturbing implications of pedophilia and the
hyperbolic treatment of having no other thoughts than such love seems to border on a rather
unhealthy obsession.

In the poem, the love of the narrator and Annabel Lee is
so perfect that even angels were jealous. Due to this, two things happened: Annabel's kinsmen
separated the two lovers and Annabel died of a chill.