How does Ponyboy react to being stereotyped as a Greaser?

Ponyboy hates the fact that society judges him as a bad person simply because he dresses like and hangs out with Greasers. In Chapter 1, Pony mentions that he felt like Pip from the novel Great Expectations because of the way he was marked lousy because he wasn't a gentleman. Ponyboy understands that it isn't his fault that he was raised in a lower-class home and suffered traumatic experiences. Initially, Ponyboy embraces his Greaser image...

Ponyboy hates the fact that society judges him as a bad person simply because he dresses like and hangs out with Greasers. In Chapter 1, Pony mentions that he felt like Pip from the novel Great Expectations because of the way he was marked lousy because he wasn't a gentleman. Ponyboy understands that it isn't his fault that he was raised in a lower-class home and suffered traumatic experiences. Initially, Ponyboy embraces his Greaser image out of spite for society. Later on in the novel, the boys are preparing to fight the Socs in a big rumble. Ponyboy's friends put excessive amounts of grease in their hair, and Ponyboy mentions that the Greasers had their reputations to uphold. Ponyboy then comments,

"I don't want to be a hood, but even if I don't steal things and mug people and get boozed up, I'm marked lousy. Why should I be proud of it? Why should I even pretend to be proud of it?" (Hinton 113).

Ponyboy essentially feels helpless in his situation. He knows that regardless of his character, society will unfairly judge him. Ponyboy is not proud of being a Greaser and simply goes along with it because he feels that he cannot change society's perception of him. 

Based upon information in the text and through informed speculation, what does Miss Brill look like in Katherine Mansfield's story "Miss Brill"?

Miss Brill is probably a woman who is slightly past middle age because she seems rather old-fashioned, wearing a necklet that she has owned for some time. She also ranks other people that she sees as either "young" or "old."

In the story that is told from the perspective of Miss Brill, the reader notes when Miss Brill goes to the park to listen to the Sunday concert that she observes: "The young ones, the laughing ones who were moving together, they would begin...."
Later, Miss Brill alludes to the very "old invalid gentleman" to whom she reads the newspaper four times a week. This activity suggests that Miss Brill is older because usually young people do not want to read to really old people, nor do they have the time. Also, her association with this man suggests her connection to an era that is now obsolete. Further, when the old gentleman asks if she is an actress because of the way that she reads, Miss Brill smooths the newspaper as if it were a manuscript of a play and says with kindness, "Yes, I have been an actress for a long time." This remark may have the hidden meaning that for years she has pretended to be someone she is not because she has not married or has no children. She may even have called herself an actress because she has accomplished little that is significant in life.

After a while, as Miss Brill listens to the music and hears something "so beautiful--so moving..." her eyes fill with tears in her sentimentality, an emotion usually more reflective of a woman who is, at least, middle-aged. Also, she thinks to herself:

Yes, we understand, we understand, she thought--though what they understood she didn't know.

Then, when the "boy and girl" sit down where the "old couple" had been, the middle-aged Miss Brill notices that they are infatuated with each other. In her romantic mind, she thinks, "They were beautifully dressed; they were in love. The hero and heroine, of course...." as she sings along, soundlessly to the music being played.

Miss Brill then hears the girl tell her boyfriend, "No, not now....Not here, I can't." The boy asks her why not. "Because of that stupid old thing at the end there?" the boy asks. "Why doesn't she keep her silly old mug at home!" And, the two laugh at the little fur of which she has always been so proud.
Hurt by the young couple's remarks and giggles, Miss Brill returns to her "room like a cupboard" without stopping as she usually does for a "tiny present" for herself at the bakery. Once in her room, she sits for some time without moving. Finally, she puts away her obsolete little fur in the little box and she thinks that "she heard something crying." Such sentimentality is usually indicative of an older person who was young in another era. 

What are some statements and remarks of Crooks and Curley's wife that relate to personal alienation in Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men?

Both Crooks and Curley's wife have been marginalized as they possess single identities that differ from all the other people on the ranch.

Within the setting of the 1930's, Crooks finds himself subjected to the racial bias of this era. Even though he is probably better educated than many of the other ranch hands, he is made to live in the barn with the mules and horses, and is subjected to verbal abuse and being called pejorative racial names. In Chapter 2, for instance, the old swamper named Candy tells George and Lennie that the boss has been angered by their late arrival and has yelled at the stable buck:

"He sure was burned....Come right in when we was eatin' breakfast and says, 'Where the hell's them new men?' An' he give the stable buck hell, too."

"Give the stable buck hell?" [George] asked.

"Sure. Ya see the stable buck's a nigger."

"Nigger, huh?"

Yeah....The boss gives him hell when he's mad."

In Chapter 4, Lennie enters the barn while the other men and George have gone to town. There he wanders around and finds Crooks in the harness room. Crooks lives in this barn because he is not allowed in the bunkhouse and has a bed made from a long box filled with straw. Seeing Lennie, Crooks tries to prevent him from entering, but the child-like man does not understand why Crooks is unfriendly. Crooks provides Lennie the reason by saying that Lennie should not enter his room since he is not wanted in the bunkhouse. When Lennie asks why Crooks is kept out, Crooks tells him,

"'Cause I'm black. They play cards in there, but I can't play because I'm black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you, you all of you stink to me."

Further, Crooks complains of his alienation: "If I say something, why it's just a nigger sayin' it."
As he talks with Lennie, Crooks also reveals his loneliness:

"A guy needs somebody--to be near him....A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody....I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick...."

"Maybe if he sees somethin', he don't know whether it's right or not. He can't turn to some other guy and ast him if he sees it, too. He can't tell. He got nothing to measure by."

Later, when Crooks tries to get Curley's wife to leave after she appears in the barn, he tells her she has no right to come into his room. And, he adds that he will tell the boss to not let her come into the barn. These remarks anger Curley's wife and she retorts venomously,

"Listen, Nigger....You know what I can do to you if you open your trap?....I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny."

Knowing that this could happen to him, Crooks, must become submissive. So, he replies, "Yes, ma'am."

• Curley's wife

In Chapter 5, Curley's wife enters the barn and finds Lennie in a stall covering his dead puppy. When she kneels in the hay next to him, Lennie objects, "George says I ain't to have nothing to do with you--talk to you or nothing." Curley's wife tells Lennie that the men are all at a horseshoe tournament, suggesting that no one will know if he talks to her.

"Why can't I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely....You can talk to people, but I can't talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How'd you like not to talk to anybody?"

When Lennie insists that he cannot talk to her, Curley's wife becomes angry.

"Wha's the matter with me?....Ain't I got a right to talk to nobody? Whatta they think I am, anyways?....I tell you, I ain't used to livin' like this."

She goes on to tell Lennie that she lived in Salinas, implying that she was around people before marrying Curley and suffers now from loneliness. 

Clearly, the alienation of Crooks and Curley's wife both has caused them to become resentful of others and greatly dissatisfied in their lives.

When was Orwell's 1984 written?

George Orwell published 1984 in 1949, meaning that, though the year 1984 is now in the past for contemporary readers, it represented the not-so-distant future for Orwell. As such, the year becomes the perfect period in which to set a dystopia with eerie similarities to totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century. For instance, many similarities could be drawn between the party of Big Brother and the recently defeated Nazis. Likewise, Orwell's vision can in many...

George Orwell published 1984 in 1949, meaning that, though the year 1984 is now in the past for contemporary readers, it represented the not-so-distant future for Orwell. As such, the year becomes the perfect period in which to set a dystopia with eerie similarities to totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century. For instance, many similarities could be drawn between the party of Big Brother and the recently defeated Nazis. Likewise, Orwell's vision can in many ways be seen as a commentary on established totalitarian regimes of his day, such as Stalin's Russia. Thus, Orwell is imagining a near-future in which the totalitarian regimes of the middle twentieth century have grown into all-powerful entities capable of totally dominating human life across the globe. It's a chilling vision, especially since its relatively contemporary setting makes it impossible to avoid drawing parallels between Orwell's dystopia and our own society. 

What is a summary of Helen Keller's The Story of My Life?

The Story of My Lifeis the autobiography of Helen Keller, written in 1903 while she was a student at Radcliffe College. She describes her childhood memories prior to losing her hearing and vision, focusing on her memories of speech and early love for language. Later in her childhood, Keller became increasingly frustrated with her difficulties with communication and lashed out when she felt her sign language was insufficient. Much of the book focuses on...

The Story of My Life is the autobiography of Helen Keller, written in 1903 while she was a student at Radcliffe College. She describes her childhood memories prior to losing her hearing and vision, focusing on her memories of speech and early love for language. Later in her childhood, Keller became increasingly frustrated with her difficulties with communication and lashed out when she felt her sign language was insufficient. Much of the book focuses on her experiences with her teacher, Anne Sullivan, who Keller often refers to as Teacher. Sullivan was a teacher at the Perkins Institute for the Blind and started teaching a seven-year-old Keller to communicate by spelling out words and how to read Braille. By the age of ten, Keller could communicate with Sullivan and read Braille fluently, and had even learned how to speak. The book details her attempts to continue developing language skills with her teacher, and describes her later success as an honors student at Radcliffe College.

What is this book's thesis?

Michael Pollan's introduction to this fascinating book describes the moment when he had the idea and insight for what the book would explore. He was planting fingerling potatoes, thinking of how they presented different challenges from growing other varieties of potatoes, and had the thought that plants force humans to do their bidding. He wondered: was this how plants actually evolve alongside humans, by convincing us to do the things they want? This made him...

Michael Pollan's introduction to this fascinating book describes the moment when he had the idea and insight for what the book would explore. He was planting fingerling potatoes, thinking of how they presented different challenges from growing other varieties of potatoes, and had the thought that plants force humans to do their bidding. He wondered: was this how plants actually evolve alongside humans, by convincing us to do the things they want? This made him think about how plants have evolved over the years via human intervention, to develop qualities that made them more desirable to humans, so that humans would engage in activities to help the plants propagate and survive. 

Pollen then chose four plants and one specific quality of each plant, and in four chapters then explores in detail the various ways in which that quality defines the plant's evolution and history of being cultivated by human beings. For example, the quality chosen for the apple is sweetness. Wild apples are not known for being sweet; and each wild apple tree is a blend of two different apple trees. Humans discovered how to graft branches and buds of sweeter and better quality apples onto existing trees, and were able to then produce many more apples to satisfy the desire for a sweeter tasting fruit. The book explores many fascinating aspects of history, folklore and science to answer this intriguing question.

Why did Mama send Annemarie with the packet for Uncle Henrik instead of taking it herself in Number the Stars by Lois Lowry?

Annemarie takes the packet because no one will suspect a little girl.

Peter and Annemarie’s parents are preparing the Jews for their escape to Sweden. They are pretending that Annemarie’s Great-aunt Birte died to explain why all of the people are gathered, but there is no person in the coffin. It contains clothing and blankets for the escapees. 

Annemarie watches her mother help the people get ready. They all get food, blankets, and warm clothes....

Annemarie takes the packet because no one will suspect a little girl.

Peter and Annemarie’s parents are preparing the Jews for their escape to Sweden. They are pretending that Annemarie’s Great-aunt Birte died to explain why all of the people are gathered, but there is no person in the coffin. It contains clothing and blankets for the escapees. 

Annemarie watches her mother help the people get ready. They all get food, blankets, and warm clothes. They give the baby something so it will sleep, in case the crying might alert someone. 

"I want you to deliver this. Without fail. It is of great importance." There was a moment of silence in the hall, and Annemarie knew that Peter must be giving the packet to Mr. Rosen (Chapter 11).

Peter, who is a Resistance member, tells Mr. Rosen he is not going to go all the way to the boat. Once he gets his group to the boat, he has to go on. Peter doesn’t tell Mr. Rosen what’s in the packet, and Annemarie realizes he is protecting Mr. Rosen by not telling him everything. 

Mr. Rosen trips and drops the packet. Annemarie’s mother realizes this and worried their preparations “may all have been for nothing.” Annemarie knows the packet is important, so she volunteers to take it. 

Annemarie took the packet from her mother's hand and stood. "I will take it," she said. "I know the way, and it's almost light now. I can run like the wind" (Chapter 13). 

Mama has her get a small basket so she can pretend she is getting her uncle food if she is stopped. While a woman going early in the morning to see a fisherman might be suspicious, a little girl carrying lunch would not be. Annemarie will pretend to be a silly little girl if anyone stops her. 

Annemarie is stopped by four German soldiers with dogs. Although she is afraid, she tells them exactly what she planned to say: she is out early because she is bringing her fisherman uncle his lunch. She tries to think of what Kirsti would say, and chatters away like a little girl about how her uncle can’t stand fish. 

The soldiers take the food and complain there is no meat.  One finds a handkerchief at the bottom of the basket, but doesn’t know what it is. Later, Henrik thanks Annemarie for being brave. He tells her the dogs are used to sniff out hiding Jews, but there is something in the handkerchief that ruins their sense of smell.