Skip to main content

In A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck, why does Effie Wilcox have to use Grandma's privy?

In Chapter Two, Effie Wilcox has to use Grandma's privy because her own has been destroyed by the Cowgill brothers.


Accordingly, the morning after the Cowgill brothers blow up Grandma's mailbox, Effie Wilcox shows up at Grandma's front door. She requests to use the privy but initially shies away from telling Grandma why she has to do so. Too self-conscious to tell Grandma the truth in front of Mary Alice and Joey, Effie first tries...

In Chapter Two, Effie Wilcox has to use Grandma's privy because her own has been destroyed by the Cowgill brothers.


Accordingly, the morning after the Cowgill brothers blow up Grandma's mailbox, Effie Wilcox shows up at Grandma's front door. She requests to use the privy but initially shies away from telling Grandma why she has to do so. Too self-conscious to tell Grandma the truth in front of Mary Alice and Joey, Effie first tries to get Grandma to make the children leave the kitchen. However, Grandma refuses to honor Effie's request.


She tells Effie that Joey and Mary Alice are from Chicago and won't be shocked by anything Effie has to say. Eventually, Effie confesses that the Cowgill brothers had uprooted her privy the night before and had flung the pieces all over her yard. Upon hearing this, Grandma pretends to be shocked that the brothers had uprooted Effie's privy three months before Halloween.


Meanwhile, Effie thinks that town life has gotten so dangerous that she's afraid to live there. She maintains that her only consolation is that she'll get to do a whole lot of praying at the prayer meeting the following night. Meanwhile, Grandma plots to stop the Cowgill brothers from perpetrating further mischief on the people in town.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is the meaning of "juggling fiends" in Macbeth?

Macbeth is beginning to realize that the three witches have been deceiving him since he first encountered them. Like jugglers, they have kept changing their forecasts in order create confusion. This is particularly apparent when the Second Apparition they raise in Act IV,   Scene 1 tells him that no man of woman born can overcome him in hand-to-hand battle--and then Macbeth finds himself confronted by the one man he has been avoiding out of a... Macbeth is beginning to realize that the three witches have been deceiving him since he first encountered them. Like jugglers, they have kept changing their forecasts in order create confusion. This is particularly apparent when the Second Apparition they raise in Act IV,   Scene 1 tells him that no man of woman born can overcome him in hand-to-hand battle--and then Macbeth finds himself confronted by the one man he has been avoiding out of a sense of guilt, and that man tells him: Despair thy charm. And let the angel whom thou still hast serve...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are some external and internal conflicts that Montag has in Fahrenheit 451?

 Montag, the protagonist of Fahrenheit 451, faces both external and internal conflicts throughout the novel. Some examples of these conflicts are: External Conflicts: Conflict with the society: Montag lives in a society that prohibits books and critical thinking. He faces opposition from the government and the people who enforce this law. Montag struggles to come to terms with the fact that his society is based on censorship and control. Conflict with his wife: Montag's wife, Mildred, is completely absorbed in the shallow and meaningless entertainment provided by the government. Montag's growing dissatisfaction with his marriage adds to his external conflict. Conflict with the fire captain: Montag's superior, Captain Beatty, is the personification of the oppressive regime that Montag is fighting against. Montag's struggle against Beatty represents his external conflict with the government. Internal Conflicts: Conflict with his own beliefs: Montag, at the beginning of th...
Post a Comment
Read more

In A People's History of the United States, why does Howard Zinn feel that Wilson made a flimsy argument for entering World War I?

"War is the health of the state," the radical writer Randolph Bourne said, in the midst of the First World War. Indeed, as the nations of Europe went to war in 1914, the governments flourished, patriotism bloomed, class struggle was stilled, and young men died in frightful numbers on the battlefields-often for a hundred yards of land, a line of trenches. -- Chapter 14, Page 350, A People's History of the United States Howard Zinn outlines his arguments for why World War I was fought in the opening paragraph of Chapter 14 (referenced above). The nationalism that was created by the Great War benefited the elite political and financial leadership of the various countries involved. Socialism, which was gaining momentum in Europe, as was class struggle, took a backseat to mobilizing for war. Zinn believes that World War I was fought for the gain of the industrial capitalists of Europe in a competition for capital and resources. He states that humanity itself was punished by t...
Post a Comment
Read more