Question

what it means to be an "object". write thought  on how objects differ from simple, primitive variables in java

Answer 1

object is an instance of a class.

Object example:
Integer i = new Integer(); 
Where Integer is a class.  
A class can have instance variables and methods.
So, that public members if class can be accessed by its objects.

primitive variable example:
int i;
Here, there is no class named int.
int is just a keyword in java. 
It does not have methods or variable to access from variable 'i'.