Literature
Cliff has answered many Literature questions from other students who need a little help on their homework and tests. Browse this list of questions to find out if Cliff already has an answer for you. If not, return to the Ask Cliff page to ask your Literature question, keeping in mind, of course, that Cliff won't do your homework for you.
| 1. |
In House of Mirth, what are oubliettes? |
| 2. |
In Tess of the d'Urbervilles, what are thimble-riggers? |
| 3. |
In Wuthering Heights, what's a thible? |
| 4. |
Which Hemingway story references the "running of the bulls" in Spain? |
| 5. |
What's a clink? My dad mentioned that his granddad was there for a long time during World War I. |
| 6. |
If somebody is "toady," does it mean they're ugly? |
| 7. |
Who said "all's fair in love and war" and where? |
| 8. |
Why is there so much talk about baseball, especially Joe DiMaggio, in The Old Man and the Sea? |
| 9. |
In the movie Failure to Launch, there's a line that goes, "Well, she certainly is yar," in reference to a yacht. What's yar? |
| 10. |
What does mangle mean in Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities? |
| 11. |
I got detention because a teacher said I was being contumacious. What's that? |
| 12. |
What are encomiums? |
| 13. |
What are billets in The Three Musketeers? |
| 14. |
What is doublethink? |
| 15. |
What are orts? That's a weird word that reminds me of orcs from The Lord of the Rings. |
| 16. |
What are alliteration and assonance? |
| 17. |
How is John the Savage's name ironic in Brave New World? |
| 18. |
What's quinsy? |
| 19. |
What is a doppelgänger? |
| 20. |
What are the best courses to take if I want to end up doing research in metaphysics? |
| 21. |
What is New Historicism? |
| 22. |
I found the word unwonted in a book I'm reading. Is that a typo, you think? |
| 23. |
In Heart of Darkness, what does cipher mean? |
| 24. |
In the play The Glass Menagerie, would you describe Tom as selfish? |
| 25. |
What does Kantian mean, from a philosophical perspective? |
