What are some examples of "escape" in Jane Eyre?

The theme of "escape" or its opposite, imprisonment, is pretty dominant in Jane Eyre. Here are some examples:

Jane, at the beginning of the book, enforces a kind of self-imprisonment by hiding in the window seat from John Reed; later, as a result of being "found out"  she is imprisoned in the Red Room. She enacts her "escape" from Gateshead by terrorizing Mrs. Reed and getting sent to Lowood. Lowood is another kind of imprisonment, one which Jane is able to escape by advertising for a position as a governess. 

Rochester is imprisoned by his marriage to Bertha. He looks to Jane as a way of escaping Bertha; her goodness will excuse his abandonment of Bertha, although Jane leaves him when she finds out the truth of his marriage.

Bertha, of course, is physically imprisoned in the attic, and metaphorically imprisoned by her illness; her physical escape comes from the fire at Thornfield, and her symbolic escape comes when death releases her from insanity.

Jane, for her part, thinks Thornfield is a haven at first, but it turns into a prison when she finds out about Bertha. Her escape this time comes from running away, but her place of safety, Moor House, becomes another kind of prison, through the influence of St. John. Jane's escape this time is brought by Rochester, or his voice, which she miraculously hears calling her name at the moment when she must decide whether to marry St. John or not.

In fact, the whole novel can be seen as a pattern of imprisonments and escapes!

In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, is the play "One Man's Family" an accurate version of what happens in the Radley's home?

In Chapter 4, Scout discusses the game they called "One Man's Family," which is essentially a play that portrays the life of their reclusive neighbor, Boo Radley. She mentions that many of the scenes throughout the play come from bits and pieces of neighborhood gossip and legends that they heard about the Radley family. The other aspects of the play are creations from Jem and Dill's active imaginations which do not depict the reality of Boo's life. Scout plays Mrs. Radley's character who used to be beautiful until Mr. Radley took all of her money. According to the backstory of "One Man's Family," Mrs. Radley lost most of her teeth, as well as her forefinger after Boo bit it off. In the play, Mrs. Radley spends most of her days crying while her son, Boo, gnaws at the furniture. Jem portrays Boo as a grotesque monster who shrieks and howls throughout the play. During Boo's big scene, Dill, who played the role of Mr. Radley, walks past Jem, and Jem pretends to stab Dill in the leg with a knife. The children simply are replicating the negative rumors they hear on a day-to-day basis about Boo Radley and his family. Miss Stephanie Crawford provides the children with juicy gossip which excites the imaginations of Jem and Dill. In reality, none of the events that the children act out are accurate depictions of the Radley household. Boo is not a monster who eats his family member's appendages, or chews on furniture. For all the reader knows, Miss Stephanie Crawford made up the entire story about Boo randomly stabbing his father. In reality, Boo is a shy, compassionate individual who lives a reclusive life and ends up becoming the victim of nasty rumors. Boo's family is also strictly religious and does not socialize with the community, which is why they have a bad reputation. 

What might be left behind in place of the dead star after a supernova explosion?

It depends on the type of supernova. 

• Black Holes. Black holes are caused when the mass of a star surpasses the Chandrasekhar limit, and are so dense that light cannot escape the gravitational field of the star. These stars emit no radiation.


• Neutron Stars. Neutron stars are the cores of stars that have undergone supernova. While, like a black hole, are incredibly dense, they do not have a sufficient gravitational field to turn light around. These stars also tend to have incredible rotation, spinning several times per second. They are almost entirely neutrons, and are packed together in a similar density to that of an atom nucleus itself.


• Supernova Remnant (SNR). Supernova remnant is an expanding cloud of superheated gasses. These can be tens of parsecs across, and can take years to slow down. Eventually, these remnants coalesce into nebulae, where new stars can form. Supernova remnants contain heavy metals that were not present after the big bang. 


• Nothing. Sometimes, a supernova leaves nothing but supernova remnant, with no black hole or neutron star. These are exceedingly rare.

Causes for different supernovas include the initial mass of the star in question, the metallicity of the star (the proportion of the star that is metal compared to the portion that is hydrogen or helium), or the relationship the star may have to a twin star.

What story does Dill give to explain Jem’s missing pants in To Kill a Mockingbird?

Dill tells Rachel and Atticus that Jem lost his pants when they were playing strip poker.

When Dill comes to Maycomb, he is obsessed with Boo Radley. Dill understands what it is like to be lonely and misunderstood, and he believes Boo is not really a monster.  If the children can just get him to come out, they can be friends with him. Dill, Scout, and Jem engage in a campaign to make contact with Boo. While sneaking on the Radley porch, Jem accidentally loses his pants. They get snagged and he takes them off because he doesn't want to be in the range of Nathan Radley's gun.

Dill comes up with a story to tell the adults to explain why Jem shows up with no pants.

Dill’s hand sought the back of his head. He brought it forward and across his forehead. “We were playin‘ strip poker up yonder by the fishpool,” he said.

Jem and I relaxed. The neighbors seemed satisfied: they all stiffened. But what was strip poker? (Chapter 6)

When Miss Rachel becomes upset at the thought that the children are gambling, Jem explains they were playing with matches and not cards, which satisfies the adults.

“Just a minute, Miss Rachel,” he said. “I’ve never heard of ‘em doing that before. Were you all playing cards?”

Jem fielded Dill’s fly with his eyes shut: “No sir, just with matches.”

I admired my brother. Matches were dangerous, but cards were fatal (Chapter 6).

Atticus tells Jem to go get his pants, and tries to explain to Rachel that Dill and the other children do not mean anything by it. They clearly have no idea what strip poker is, and were just playing around and making things up. He tells her it isn’t serious.

For Jem, it is serious. He can’t just go get his pants, because he left them by the Radleys' house. He knows he will be in trouble if he tells Atticus he was there. He also doesn’t want to tell Atticus he was there because that would be admitting that he was still harassing Boo Radley. He wants Atticus to trust and believe in him, so that is out of the question.

Jem decides to sneak back at night and get his pants. He finds them folded on the fence, sewed up inexpertly. Jem finds this a little disturbing because he is unsure who did that for him. Scout does not want Jem to go because she does not realize it is more important for him to risk angering Nathan Radley by going to get the pants than to let Atticus find out he let him down.

In Little Women, why do you think Alcott kills Beth and how does that fit with her feminist agenda?

I think one of the main reasons that Alcott kills off Beth's character is that she was basing the March family on her own family, and her sister in real life, Beth, died young too.  Alcott seems to honor her, especially, with Little Women because she is the only sister whose name was not altered for the novel: Anna Alcott became Meg, Louisa (or Lou or Louie as she was called by friends), Beth remained Beth, and May became Amy.  

Further, Beth's whole life has revolved around her family: taking care of them, taking care of the house, tending their pets, and so forth.  She is painfully shy, far too painful to ever go out and get married.  She doesn't have any source of income; if she cannot go to school because she's so shy, then she won't be able to procure real employment either.  Once all of her sisters move out (which they all do), and her parents pass on (which they will do), what can Beth do?  Where will she go?  If she moves in with a sister, in need of support, she might fret that she's become a burden, and no one would wish pain for Beth.  Beyond this, Beth is an innocent, and to grow up and grow old might mean losing that innocence, and we wouldn't want that for her either.

In addition to the problem of her future, Beth has already fulfilled the goal that the book seems to claim is the whole purpose of life.  She has lived selflessly and achieved a goodness that is unmatched by any other character in the book.  Her gentleness and tranquility make her seem like an angel on earth, and this makes it equally as difficult to imagine a future for her.  

I don't think Beth's death necessarily fulfills some kind of feminist agenda.  Some might say, I suppose, that Beth has effaced herself to the point that she has no self left and that she must die as a result, but I don't think that is fair or accurate.  Beth hasn't given herself up by staying at home; on the contrary, she's found herself by staying at home, and this is partially why she has to die, I think.  She's only feels at home when she's at home, and so the only place for her to go next is her heavenly home.

Why does George tell Lennie not to drink so much water in Of Mice and Men?

George tells Lennie not to drink too much water because it is scummy and he is afraid it will make him sick. The men have not yet reached the ranch, and it is standing water. You should not drink water unless it is flowing, as standing water is likely to make you ill. George is aware of this, but Lennie just sees water. He is thirsty, so he drinks. 

Lennie dipped his whole head under. . . "That's good," he said. "You drink some, George. You take a good big drink." He smiled happily.

George unslung his bindle and dropped it gently on the bank. "I ain't sure it's good water," he said. "Looks kinda scummy" (Chapter 1). 

The incident demonstrates Lennie’s lack of inhibitions and his childlike nature. It also shows how George looks out for and protects him, in ways big and small. If George wasn’t around to protect Lennie, who knows what would happen? George sometimes gets frustrated at having to look after Lennie so much, but he also enjoys his company.

Why does Nick Carraway in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby reveal rumors about Gatsby rather than facts?

In the first few chapters, Nick tells us no more than what he knows about Gatsby.  At this point, all he knows are the rumors that he hears from other guests at Gatsby's parties.  Nick is an honest person, and doesn't want to give us the impression that he knew about Gatsby any earlier than anyone else.

In Chapter 6, Nick finally lets the reader in on Gatsby's lower-class background and pretensions to greatness.  Nick tells us that he himself did not find out all this about Gatsby until "very much later ... at a time of confusion, when I had reached the point of believing everything and nothing about him." In fact, Gatsby does not tell Nick the true facts about his own life until just after Myrtle Wilson is killed, which comes near the end of the novel and shortly before Gatsby's own death.  Why, then, does Nick put this information about Gatsby in Chapter 6, at a point in the narrative when he did not yet know it himself?

Nick, who is not very sympathetic to Gatsby, tells us that he shares Gatsby's story now in order to "explode those first wild rumors about his antecedents" ... in other words, in the interest of truth.  Nick is a moralistic person and doesn't like the idea of someone pretending to be something he is not.  He chooses this moment to share the story, because in Chapter 5 Gatsby has just been reunited with Daisy, and then there is a halt in the action for "several weeks," when Nick does not see Gatsby. 

So I take advantage of this short halt, while Gatsby, so to speak, caught his breath, to clear this set of misconceptions away. 

That is the motivation of Nick, the narrator of the story, who is also a character in it.  But the author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, had his own reasons.

This is Fitzgerald's masterful way of maintaining just the right amount of tension in the novel.  For the first part of the book, Gatsby has to be a man of mystery.  The reader has to feel the same fascination and curiosity about him that is felt by Nick and by the other guests at his parties.  Hence, we are given only rumors and the clues provided by Gatsby himself.

At this point in the novel, though, Gatsby is about to meet Daisy's husband Tom for the first time.  A few paragraphs later, Tom and Daisy attend one of Gatsby's parties. Tom is a true blue-blooded snob, and Gatsby's rival.  The reader needs to know about Gatsby's lower-class background in order to appreciate how insecure he is around Tom.  Otherwise, we might not be able to sympathize with Gatsby and might lose interest in him, which would be fatal to the novel.  The tension between Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby, is going to keep building until the end of the book, and for the reader to appreciate and feel this tension, we have to understand Gatsby.