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 has an answer for you.


1 What does perdition mean (from Wuthering Heights)?
2 What does impertinent mean (from The American)?
3 I know that the verb pluck means to pull out or pull at, but what's the definition when used as a noun?
4 Which novels would you recommend to 15-year-olds on the theme of places and forms of power?
5 In The Pearl, why didn't John Steinbeck give the pearl buyers identifying names?
6 In the play, The Crucible, why would Arthur Miller include the Note on Historical Accuracy?
7 What is perfidy (from Sister Carrie, by Theodore Dreiser)?
8 In The Outsiders, why does Ponyboy care about his hair so much?
9 Is being pedantic a good or bad thing?
10 Is a termagant a type of seabird?
11 What is ichor (from The Iliad)?
12 In The Hunger Games, why did Cinna choose to be the designer for District 12?
13 Is a rivulet really a river, only smaller?
14 Charles Dickens has this person called the beadle" in lots of his books. Is that like a nickname for a man with buggy eyes or something?"
15 In Brave New World, why are family words like father and mother viewed as obscene?
16 What is the main tenet of stoicism?
17 What's the meaning of obsequious (from Theodore Dreiser's urban novel Sister Carrie)?
18 Where are the Antipodes (from Much Ado about Nothing)?
19 What is a truckle bed (from Romeo and Juliet)?
20 What does truculent (from Great Expectations) mean?
21 If someone inculcates you, should you feel insulted?
22 What does the phrase Ethiop words" mean in Shakespeare's As You Like It?"
23 I was chatting with a neighbor who said I was quite garrulous. Nice or mean?
24 What does laconic mean?
25 At a restaurant famous for its rude servers, a waitress told me to lump it" when I asked for another napkin. Can you tell me about that phrase?"
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