What is the point of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas?

I think that "the point" in Boyne's work is multifold.  On
one hand, he seeks to provide a child's view towards the Holocaust.  The Holocaust is a
time period of such intense cruelty and violation of human trust that to place focus on
it from the frame of reference of a child is extremely powerful.  Boyne is able to bring
this out through Bruno's characterization.  From his beliefs on right and wrong to his
mispronunciation of "Auschwitz" and "The Fuhrer" ("Out- With" and "The Fury"), we see
the Holocaust through his eyes and this allows us to fully understand the inhumanity of
the Holocaust and its inversion of human values from a child's point of
view.

Another "point" in the book is to bring out a level
of humanity in the German people.  It is a difficult task to humanize a nation that has
to bear the moral responsibility for one of the worst crimes ever perpetrated in human
history.  In all honesty, how does one bring out the humanity in a people that voted
Hitler into office and zealously supported him when he made no concealment of his
overall purpose of extermination?  Boyne is able to bring out the element of the German
population that either did not support Hitler and were silenced because of it or the
part of the population that was ambivalent about what was happening and found themselves
unable to say anything about it for different reasons.  For example, Bruno's grandmother
speaks out against Bruno's father for his involvement in the Nazi party, insulting him
and his "costume."  Bruno's sister comes to represent the part of the German population
that supported the Nazis because of their social status and "popularity."  Yet, when
faced with the atrocity of Bruno's death, she is inconsolable with sadness.  Bruno's
father comes to reverse his position on what is happening when he experiences its cost
firsthand when his child is a victim.  In this, Boyne does not excuse the Germans, but
he brings about a transcendent level of humanity whereby true understanding and a sense
of moral reconciliation can occur.  This is a difficult thing to do and Boyne
accomplishes it well.

Finally, the notion of transcendence
and permanence in a time period of brutal contingency is another "point" to the work. 
Boyne points out that friendship and loyalty are universal qualities, ones that have to
be embraced in the worst of times for this speaks to their essential qualities to human
consciousness.  Bruno crosses the fence and wants to go back home.  Yet, Shmuel reminds
him of his promise, and Bruno stands by his word.  In a time period where so few honored
the bonds between themselves and others, Bruno and Shmuel are the exceptions in proving
the importance of universal qualities regardless of circumstance.  Bruno's last words to
Shmuel while in the gas chamber are that Shmuel is his “best friend for life.”  In the
moment of unspeakable horror and terror, when the metallic clang is the last thing heard
except for the screams of the naked bodies all around, Bruno speaks words of comfort to
his friend.  This is where the ultimate "point" of the work lies.  In the moments where
all the lights of humanity seem to be extinguished, individuals can be their own lights
that illuminate the darkness.

How does Lia fit into the community in terms of the relationships with other characters?

I think that this becomes one of the fundamental
challenges that Lia faces in the work.  Lia is shown to have had really a strong
relationship with Cassie.  Yet, this relationship is one predicated out of fear of
isolation.  Both depend on one another to endure their self- destruction.  Yet, neither
one is able to generate the strength needed to ask the other one for help through such
bouts of self- hate and self- destruction.  Once Cassie dies, Lia is sucked into a realm
where she really does not sustain viable relationships with anyone else.  Her parents
and social realm do not help her and Lia is forced to endure a systematic descent into a
"metaphorical universe," where constructive contact with others is limited, at best.
 Anderson posits that what is most redemptive and powerful for Lia is not as much
relationship with other characters as much as a healthy relationship with herself.  Lia
recognizes in the end that there is a way for her to stop the path she is on, a path
that Cassie dies while sojourning.  The ability to understand that she is hurting
herself helps to establish a relationship with her own sense of self that can help her
find a way to emotional and physical wellness.  It is from this point where the
potential exists in forming relationships with others.

Between 2 & 3 o'clock what is the time when the hour and minute hand are in the same position ?

Let the time when the hour and the minute hand are in the
same position between 2 o'clock and 3 o'clock be at T minutes past
2.

The hour hand moves 360/12 = 30 degrees in an hour. At
2, the hour hand makes an angle of 60 degrees with the line pointing towards
12.

At T past 2, the angle made by the hour hand with line
pointing towards 12 is 30 + (30/60)*T. The angle made by the minute hand is
(360/60)*T

As the two have to be at the same position, 30 +
T/2 = (360/60)*T

=> 30 + T/2 =
6T

=> 11T/2 =
30

=> T =
60/11

=> T =
5.45

The time when the two hands are at the
same position is 5.45 minutes past 2.

Where does irony exist in Swift's essay, "A Modest Proposal"?

Swift's opening epigraph is the first instance of irony
and lays the foundation for all irony that is
upcoming:

For
preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden ..., and for
making them beneficial to the
publick.

Children are
generally not thought of in terms of benefit to society. They are, instead, usually
thought of in terms of how they may themselves be benefited (e.g., education, health
care) or, in less fortunate cases, how they may add to the benefit of their families.
Hence, Swift starts his political pamphlet with the biting irony that will occur,
indeed, with heightening effect, throughout the
essay.

Aside from the generally ironical tone ("would
deserve so well of the publick, as to have his statue set up for a preserver of the
nation"), the first sign of explicit irony is when he speaks of Irish children as
one-year-olds. While up to the age of one, babies may exist on mother's milk, or be
supplemented with "other nourishment: at most not above the value of two shillings,"
Swift ironically suggests that at one year old, babies may perform a public function,
for "they shall, ... contribute to the feeding, and partly to the cloathing of many
thousands" of other people.

After this obscure
pronouncement, Swift carries on through an artfully placed ironic digression from his
point while he ironically discusses the "expence" of abortion and statistics relevant to
the age at which children may become thieves. Swift then makes his first
significant--and ironic--point, casting dispersion on Americans while doing so, that
babies might be sold at one year of age as an additional dietary
source:

I
have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young
healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome
food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will
equally serve in a fricasie, or a
ragoust.

There are many
instances of irony, either subtle (like the statue) or significant (like the nutritional
value of babies). To find more, as a detailed examination is not possible in this
format, look for "incongruity between what might be expected and what actually" is
suggested by Swift (American Heritage Dictionary).

What is a sign, a symbol and the difference between the two?

A symbol is a physical object that stands for something
else. An example of this could be something like the sun that stands for joy, or clouds
that stand for trouble and sadness. Symbols are often used in literature, and especially
poetry, to express what the author or poet wants the reader to see or feel. In this way,
it is often used to help the reader experience the author’s emotion or
thoughts.

Signs are more closely connected to
the idea that they promote. It could be a gesture or word that directly state what might
be expected. A thumbs-up sign, for example, is the universal sign that things are
alright. Signs can also be words or names to provide visitors with information about
shops or merchandise. Commonly, these types of signs can be street or shop
names.

For a symbol, it is therefore necessary
to think a little bit about the connection between the object and its meaning. This
meaning is often fluid.  Signs are generally less fluid and more likely to have a
clearer and concrete meaning.

Why does Montag take a book into the parlor in Fahrenheit 451?

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I'm assuming you
mean the part of the story where Montag brings a book of poems into the parlor where his
wife, Millie and a few of her friends are enjoying the pre-programmed comedy showing on
the parlor walls. At this point in the novel, Montag is seriously conflicted. He wants
to shake up the world and ask serious questions and see if there is any meaning left to
be saved in the world, and if books can help. So he enters the parlor and asks
questions, ultimately reading a poem.

He has enlisted an ally by
now, in the form of Faber, the old teacher he once confronted as a fireman. Now, Faber
is helping him with the listening device he invented, but warns Montag to take it slow.
He can't, and ends up frightening the women. The reader might consider Montag too far
gone to approach this sensibly. He's burned too many books, seen too many things to
behave rationally or cautiously anymore.

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Identify the allusions Judith Viorst uses in "A Wedding Sonnet For the Next Generation." What is the purpose of using these allusions, and what...

In Judith Viorst's poem, "A Wedding Sonnet For the Next
Generation," the author alludes to several famous sonnets, writing some of her lines to
mirror those of poets Shakespeare, Yeats and Elizabeth Barrett
Browning.

Viorst's first line, "He might compare you to a
summer's day" alludes to Sonnet 18, by William Shakespeare who
writes:

Shall
I compare thee to a summer's
day?

In the third and fourth
lines of Viorst's poem, she has written:

readability="10">

She might, with depth and breadth and many
sighs,

Count all the ways she loves you, way by
way.

These lines mirror
another famous poet and her sonnet: Elizabeth Barrett Browning's
Sonnet 43. Browning's poem reads:

readability="7">

How do I love thee? Let me count the
ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and
height...

Finally, lines five
and six of Judith Viorst's poem are:

readability="7">

He might sit when you're old and full of
sleep

He'll cherish still the pilgrim soul in
you.

These lines
are very similar to William Butler Yeats' poem entitled, "When You
Are Old." The lines he has written
are:

When you
are old and grey and full of sleep,

But one man loved the
pilgrim soul in you...

Viorst
uses these allusions to draw a comparison between the sonnets of the "old masters" to a
new kind of poem "for the next generation" of lovers. I would infer from her poem's
conclusion that "your mother or father's sonnets" won't do for a more modern audience.
The concept of romance has changed over time. Words of undying devotion may not be what
lovers are looking for today. Viorst makes it clear that instead of words that praise
one's beauty or attest to undying devotion, the modern-day poem (for she
doesnot write a sonnet) should include "plainer" words
like:

Respect.
Trust. Comfort. Home.

In a
more modern context, these are important elements to a more realistic relationship:
these are the promises that members of today's generation looks for from a sweetheart or
lover. Their importance, as seen by the author, is shown in the presentation of each
word: capitalized and followed by a period. They are not part of a one-size-fits-all
package: each element stands on its own, each one equally
important.

The only dangerous assumption that
Viorst makes in using these allusions is that her audience will be familiar with the
sonnets she is alluding to. If Viorst's audience
does not know the sonnets she has
referred to, they may well miss her point. In that case, the reader will simply read a
poem with a regular  href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhyme_scheme">rhyme
scheme: ABBA,ABBA, ABBA,
which is written in  href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iambic_pentameter">iambic pentameter.
However, he/she may well not understand the concept
of change that is demonstrated by
comparing a timeless sonnet to a modern poem in hopes of having the reader understand
that things are different than they were during Shakespeare, Yeats or Browning's
time—that rapturous poems with promises of love in "days of old," may not win the heart
of one in love today.

In the poem "Root Cellar" by Theodore Roethke is the poem just a series of sensations or do the detailed images try and make a point about the cellar?

I think that you could justify either understanding of the
poem.  "Root Cellar" is an imagery ridden poem which attacks the senses in many
different ways. The visual imagery brings about a very detailed and distinct picture for
the reader. At the same time, a reader, familiar with the smells associated with a
cellar described as such, can smell the mildew and rot described in the
poem.

Another interpretation of the poem could reference
life itself. The cellar represents an object in life (a lie, a bad relationship, a
choice gone bad) and depict that the atmosphere with which the object dwells is not one
that can sustain a proper life or being. Therefore, the cellar could show that a "bad
thing" will continue to grow until removed from the poisonous
atmosphere.

One last justification of the poem, and the
meaning of the cellar, could speak to the fact that no matter how diseased or dark a
place is, life is possible. WHile the poem speaks to the negativeness of the setting, it
shoes the hope that one can embrace in regards to getting out of the
dark.

What is the significance of the title of "The Odour of Chrysanthemums"?

A careful reading of the story reveals the way in which
the title of this excellent story relates to Elizabeth's gradual awareness of the true
nature of her relationship with her husband. We are told early on in the story that she
has associated the scent of the withering but colourful and beautiful chrysanthemums
with the stages of her relationship with her husband. She says to her children that in
her relationship with her father she has been a "fool." It is only after her husband's
death that she comes to realise that the smell from these flowers is really the scent of
death. Just as she realises that the odour of the chrysanthemums is related to death, so
she comes to realise when she cleans her husband's body the essential and massive
difference that lies between them which could never be
bridged.

The change in Elizabeth's perceptions of the odour
of the flowers thus is explicitly related to Elizabeth's changing understanding of the
difference between her husband and herself, and her recognition of the essential
differences between them, both based on gender and social class.

Compare/contrast Langston Hughes poems "As I Grew Older" and "Dream Deferred."

In Hughes's poem "As I Grew Older," the speaker has a
dream that is overcast with a shadow. The dream was there in the bright sun at one time,
but a "wall rose" and the dream became overshadowed. Fortunately, the speaker finds a
way to break through the wall so the light can once again shine on his dream. There is a
sign of hope as the wall comes down. His "dark hands" find a way to "break this shadow
into a thousand lights of sun, into a thousand whirling dreams of
sun!"

In Hughes's poem "Dream Deferred," the dream has
dried up "like a raisin in the sun." There is no hope for the dream deferred. The dream
is gone, dried up or crusted over. The speaker cannot use his hands to make the dream
come true, as he did in "As I Grew Older." In "Dream Deferred," the speaker wonders what
happened to the dream. Where did the dream go is a good question. In "As I Grew Older,"
the dream is just hiding behind a wall, a shadow. In "Dream Deferred," the dream is not
hiding. The dream has dried up and is no more. The dream is
gone:

What
happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?                  
        ...or does it
explode?

In Gary D. Scmidt's novel The Wednesday Wars, what is the main charracter trait of Meryl Lee?

In Gary D. Schmidt’s novel for young readers titled
The Wednesday Wars, Meryl Lee Kowalski is a seventh-grade girl who
has long had a crush on Hollis Hoodhood, the novel’s protagonist, also a member of the
seventh grade.  References to this relationship appear throughout the 2007 Sandpiper
Books edition.  Thus, at one point Hollis, the narrator, suspects that a teacher, Mrs.
Baker, whom he perceives as antagonistic, may have booby-trapped his desk, hiding
something dangerous or disgusting in it.  He then
reports,

So I
asked Meryl Lee Kowalski, who has been in love with me since she first laid eyes on me
in the third grade – I’m just saying what she told me – I asked her to open my desk
first. (p. 11)

This is a
splendid sentence in several ways, including the
following:

• Meryl Lee’s last name is already a
  bit comic (certainly more comic than if she had been named “Meryl Lee Smith” or “Meryl
  Lee Jones”).


• The claim that Meryl Lee has long been “in
  love” with Hollis might seem egotistical, but he is very quick to assert that this is
  her claim, not his. The use of the word “love” to describe a
  childhood crush is itself comical because it is
  exaggerated.


• The phrase “since she first laid eyes on me”
  is comically overblown, like something from a bad romance
  novel.


• The phrase placed between dashes catches the
  rhythm of real speech, and indeed one of the most appealing aspects of Schmidt’s novel
  is the way he creates a highly credible voice for
  Hollis.


• The phrase within dashes also suggests that
  Hollis is modest, embarrassed, and eager to make sure that the reader knows that Meryl
  Lee’s attraction to him was her
  idea.


• Finally, it is only after revealing
  Meryl Lee’s love for him that he reveals that he asked her to open
  the potentially booby-trapped desk!

In one
brief sentence, then, Schmidt manages, effectively and efficiently, to characterize two
of his book’s main personalities, and he does so in language that is simultaneously
funny, believable, and subtle.

Later indications of Meryl
Lee’s interest in Hollis occur later when

• she
  comes over to be his study partner (p. 27)


• Meryl Lee
  makes room for Hollis, who is sitting next to her in music class, on her music stand (p.
  57)


• Meryl Lee grabs and holds Hollis’s arm (p.
  57)


• Meryl Lee is accused by Miss Violet (a teacher) of
  flirting with Hollis (p. 58)


• Meryl Lee puts her foot on
  top of Hollis’s foot (p. 58)


• And so
  on.

Clearly Meryl Lee is interested
in Hollis and feels comfortable enough to manhandle (or maybe girl-handle) him.  Hollis,
meanwhile, does not resist her attentions.

How would you explain this quote from page 237 of Bless Me, Ultima?"Seeing him made questions and worries evaporate, and I remained transfixed,...

This is a very important quote because it relates to
Antonio's sighting of the golden carp, and clearly presents the golden carp as another
deity. To truly understand this quotation in isolation, you need to examine its usage in
context. It appears in Chapter 21 of this novel, when Antonio tells us that he is still
concerned about the limitations of his Catholic faith, and the way that God was "silent"
during communion. As Antonio discusses his doubts about God with Cico, Cico responds in
a very interesting way:

readability="12">

"There are many gods," Cico whispered, "gods of
beauty and magic, gods of the garden, gods in our own backyards--but we go off to
foreign countries to find new ones, we reach to the stars to find new
ones--"

As if to reinforce
this belief in the presence of other gods that surround us, if we only have eyes to
notice them, the golden carp appears, and the quote you have highlighted indicates
clearly the way in which the golden carp is one of these other deities, as it seems to
make Antonio forget his questions and his uncertainty about religion. Thus this quote is
important as it represents the view that there are many gods, and that no one god or
religion can hold all the answers that we need. This is of course a key theme in this
excellent novel.

what is the strengths and weaknesses of oedipus as a man as a ruler and as a husband?

One of Oedipus’ strengths as a King is his self-assurance.
This has brought him the powerful position that he finds himself in, being universally
respected and loved by his subjects.

However, as
a man, this easily morphs into arrogance. This led Oedipus to searching for a resolution
to his questions himself, rather than being cautious, as he is advised by numerous
others to do. His brash and rushed investigations, however, leads to the fatal discovery
and ultimate ruin for the king.

On the other
hand, another strength Oedipus achieved as a man and a husband is his sense of
responsibility. He takes full responsibility for his family, even at the end, when the
extent of his mistake becomes clear. He remains loyal to his family and takes
responsibility in the best way he can see available to him, by blinding himself and
accepting banishment from his kingdom and all he
loves.

Ultimately, Oedipus becomes a sympathetic
character because his strenghts outweigh his weaknesses, with courage perhaps being his
ultimate strength as a king, a husband, and a man.

What circumstances similiar to the Tutankhamun's tomb happened in the U.S. ?

The discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in November 1922
became more than just the 'discovery of a lifetime' for Howard Carter and the emerging
disipline of Archaeology, King Tut became perhaps the first popular cultural icon in the
United States. The discovery of the tomb influenced many aspects of American culture.
From American architecture, fashion, furniture design, home decor, and women's jewelry
anything Egyptian was definitely 'in'.  For example, the elevator doors of Empire State
Building in New York City have a lotus flower motif inspired by the 'ancient Egyptian
craze that took over during the 1920's.

Take the time to
research Tiffany jewelry designs and you will really see the influence that King Tut had
in the United States. I've included a few websites that might be helpful as
well.

When writing an analytical essay, for each body paragraph, are you only supposed to discuss one persuasive technique and explain that?I don't get...

When writing an analytical essay whose topic or focus has
been assigned by a teacher, the most important thing to do is to follow the teacher’s
directions as precisely as possible.  Each teacher may be trying to accomplish a
distinct objective in assigning an essay, including the objective of teaching students
to follow directions precisely. While there is no absolutely right or wrong way to write
an analytical essay, the “right” way in the case of an assigned essay is the way the
teacher wants you to accomplish the task.

Therefore, the
very best thing to do in writing such an essay is to follow very closely any written
instructions you have received from your teacher.  If you do not understand those
instructions, you should feel free to ask your teacher for clarification. Most teachers
welcome questions from students (unless the question concerns something that has already
been clearly explained, especially in writing). Teachers assume that a student who asks
questions is a student who is genuinely interested in following directions, doing well,
and exploring the assigned topic as fully as possible.  Therefore, never hesitate to ask
your teachers questions.

I can imagine ways in which you
could write an analytical essay on a piece of literature in which you focus, in each of
three body paragraphs, on a primary technique while also discussing subsidiary
techniques related to each primary technique.  For example, let’s assume that you were
asked to write three body paragraphs dealing with sound effects, imagery, and themes. 
In the first paragraph, you could break the general category of “sound effects” down
into such specific matters as alliteration, assonance, metrical rhythms, onomatopoeia,
etc.  Likewise, in a paragraph generally focused on imagery, you could, for instance,
discuss imagery involving sight, sound, touch, taste, smell, and hearing (to mention
just a few possibilities).  In a paragraph dealing with the general topic of “themes,”
you could deal with related themes (goodness, virtue, morality, ethics) or opposed
themes (evil, vice, immorality, unethical behavior).  In much analytical writing, it is
a good idea to break any topic down into its component parts, moving from general to
specific.

Let’s imagine that you were asked to analyze a
piece of persuasive writing by studying the text in terms of such standard analytical
categories as pathos, ethos, and logos.  Pathos involves an appeal to a reader’s
emotions.  Logos involves an appeal to a reader’s reason.  Ethos involves establishing
the ethical credibility of the writer.  As the Purdue web site linked below explains
it,

Ethos or
the ethical appeal is based on the character, credibility, or reliability of the
writer.

You might devote each
of three middle paragraphs to each of these broader methods of persuasion, but then
within each paragraph you might discuss more specifically how, exactly, the writer of
the essay appeals in these three ways.  For example, in appealing to the reader’s
emotions, does the writer use vivid language likely to stir an emotional response?  Does
the writer try to arouse pity, joy, anger, patriotism, etc.?  Does the writer ask
questions, employ exclamations, tell stories, etc.?

Take an
especially close look at the Purdue University site linked
below.

Good luck!

In "My Last Duchess," can we think that for the Duke the Portrait is better than the living duchess herself?

Thsi is a fascinating question to consider. Clearly, we
are not given a straight answer, so we have to look at what we can infer about the
Duke's character from what he says and what he tells us. I would first want to actually
look at the last few lines of the poem to give us a massive clue about the Duke's
character:

readability="14">

Nay, we'll
go

Together down, sir. Notice Neptune,
though,

Taming a seahorse, thought a
rarity,

Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for
me.

The importance of these
lines comes in the way that they are juxtaposed to the viewing of the portrait. Clearly,
the Duke is presented as something of an art collector, a gatherer of beauty. The way he
calmly turns to refering to a sculpture after talking about how his former Duchess was
done away with clearly indicates that, in a sense, to him it doesn't matter whether the
duchess is alive or dead. He has "possessed" her through the picture he has of her, and
in a sense prefers to have his duchess silent and pretty, a mere object to be admired,
than a complicated human who can defy him and his indomitable will with her behaviour.
If we read the Duke's monologue carefully, we can see numerable ways in which his former
wife's behaviour displeased him. Far better for him, then, to have captured her as a
picture, which can be objectified without complaint.

In James Joyce's, The Dubliners (in the story 'The Three Sisters'), give four characters in the short story and a brief description of each of them.

You must mean "The Sisters" in James Joyce's Dubliners.
 In this story there are several characters that deserve
attention:

(1) The narrator who was a friend of the Father
Flynn, the priest who died--He had a close relationship with the priest, who had taught
him many things about the church and the Catholic doctrine.  Through the narrator we see
a boy's reaction to death and to the adults who influence him--positively or
negatively.

(2) Father Flynn--the priest who dies when the
story begins.  He is as the sisters proclaim a "conflicted" man.  It seems that the role
of the priest never truly suited him, and he longed for escape.  His dream of taking a
ride back to his childhood home represents his need to escape the confining role of
priesthood.  Flynn's decline begins when he drops the chalice and begins laughing
uncontrollably in the confessional.

(3) The sisters--Much
of what we know of Father Flynn comes from the sisters.  The sisters are caught in the
daily routine of caring for Father Flynn, but they worry about his aberrations.  Their
worry, however, does not cause them to act.  When he dies, they proclaim that he is a
"beautiful corpse."  They seem to turn away from major issues and seek comfort in the
daily routines of life.

(4) Old Cotter- Old Cotter is the
first adult to cast doubt on the narrator's relationship with the priest, proclaiming
that the boy should be out playing with boys his own age.  At first the narrator resents
Old Cotter, but later puzzles over his words.

In Call of the Wild, what did Buck first learn to do to avoid being hungry?

After Buck is stolen and taken to the Klondike in Jack
London's Call of the Wild, he is forced to adapt to many cruelties
which he had never experienced before. In addition to learning about the Law of the
Club--the way men beat their dogs to gain obedience--Buck must adapt to the Law of the
Fang--the way in which other dogs take advantage of their mates. He watches the amiable
Curly torn apart and killed by the other dogs, but he also learns to bury himself in the
snow in order to keep warm in the sub-zero temperatures. As for food, Buck learns to eat
quickly so it is not stolen by other dogs, and he learns how to steal food without being
caught and beaten by his masters.

In chapter 7 of A Separate Peace, what does Gene mean when he refers to the appropriateness of being thrown into the Nagaumsett River on the first...

There are two rivers in A Separate
Peace, the Naguamsett and the Devon.  In Chapter 6, the Naguamsett River is
described, in part, as "...ugly, saline, fringed with marsh, mud and seaweed.  A few
miles away it was joined to the ocean, so that its movements were governed by
unimaginable factors like the Gulf Stream, the Polar Ice Cap, and the moon."  The Devon
River is quite the opposite.  "The Devon's course was determined by some familiar hills
a little inland; it rose among highland farms and forests which we knew, passed at the
end of its course through the school grounds..."  Furthermore, it is the river where the
boys had "so much fun, all the summer."

At the beginning of
Chapter 7, Gene states that "the Devon was like taking a refreshing shower itself, you
never had to clean up after it, but the Naguamsett was something else entirely."  He
further says, "...it seemed appropriate that my baptism there had taken place on the
first day of this winter session, and that I had been thrown into it, in the middle of
the fight."  Gene is referring to the fight he has with Quackenbush when Gene starts
working as the assistant senior crew manager.

Gene believes
it is appropriate that he is thrown into the ugly Nagaumsett River because it is the
river whose movements are decided by "unimaginable factors."  This is similar to what
has happened to Finny.  It is unimaginable to Gene that Finny is injured and not at the
winter session.  Gene also feels guilt for jouncing the limb and therefore, feels dirty,
much like the river.  Both Gene and Finny's plans for their lives have been affected by
Finny's injury and the war, both "unimaginable" events.

In "In Search of Our Mothers Gardens," what happens in the absence of positive role models?

The answer to this question can be found by considering
the importance that Walker places on the role of her mother in her upbringing, and how
she acted as a role model for her, in spite of all of the troubles and disadvantages
that she faced as a woman and as an Afro-American. Walker places her success as a writer
at the doorstep of her mother, who gave her a drive to engage readers and an
appreciation for the transforming power of details. If we look at the poem that Walker
cites in this essay, we can see that she managed to achieve this without any formal
education herself:

How they
knew what we

Must
know

Without knowing a
page

Of
it

Themselves.

Though
such mothers were uneducated and lacked even the most basic literary skills at times,
they valued the importance of making education and knowledge available to their
children.

The converse then can be clearly seen. Without
clear role models who can do what is best for their children and provide them with such
an example of life and how to live it in the face of significant setbacks and trials,
children would be brought up without a proper respect for education, learning, for
others and ultimately, for themselves and what they are capable
of.

What does ehrenreich mean when she uses the term wage slave

Barbara Ehrenreich uses the term "wage slave" to describe
the situation in which many of her coworkers in the book find themselves. They are
employed and are being paid, so they can be called wage earners. However, the wages they
are receiving are so low that they cannot begin to cover the expenses involved in
living, such as paying for housing and food and work uniforms and health care. However,
the workers frequently have no alternative but to continue working for the inadequate
wages they are receiving because they have no transportation to a better work location,
no training to take a better-paying job, or no energy to undertake the process of
searching for alternative employment. In that sense, the workers are slaves to the
situations in which they are trapped.

Explain modernism and abstraction. Refer to one example to illustrate your explanation.

Abstraction (or
abstract art) is usually based on objects from the real
world but the final result has little or no relation to the literal depiction. The work
is reshaped from its natural origins into the artist's own expressive interpretation.
Such abstraction often utilized recent advances in the scientific
world, psychoanalytical theories and geometric designs. Kazimir Malevich's
Black Square (1913) is such an
example.

Modernism (or modern
art) is generally defined as any kind of modern interpretation of an object, and the
movement was a revolt against the more conservative realist forms. Most modernists
questioned or even rejected the existence of God and of the Enlightenment (or other past
movements) and drew upon their own self-consciousness. Experimentation with form was
also a preoccupation. Edvard Munch's The Scream (1893) is one of
modern art's most famous paintings.

What arguments did the colonists use to object to the new taxes in the 1760s?

There were three major arguments that the colonists used
when objecting to the new taxes imposed by the British in these
years.

First, they argued that they should not be taxed by
a legislature in which they were not represented .  This is the famous "no taxation
without representation" argument."

Second, they argued that
Parliament should only tax for the purpose of regulating trade.  They argued that taxes
that were meant solely for the purpose of raising revenue went against the (unwritten)
British constitution.

Third, they argued that Parliament
only had the right to impose taxes on goods that entered and left the colonies.  They
argued that Parliament had no right to impose taxes on things that were not being traded
into or out of the colonies.

All of these arguments were
used at various times to oppose the new taxes imposed by the
British.

Rectangular box has a horizontal base EFGH where HG = 15 cm,GF =8cm and BF=7cm. X is a point on AB such that XB=4cm. Calculate the angle...

First, the rectangular base EFGH is parallel to the
rectangular top ABCD, therefore AB=EF=GH = 15cm.

Since the
lateral sides are also rectangles, therefore BF is parallel to CG => BF = CG =
7cm.

The triangle CGE is a right angled and the angle G
measures 90 degrees.

To calculate the included angle CEG,
we'll calculate the length of the side EG, using the right angled triangle EFG, where EG
is the hypotenuse.

EG = `sqrt(15^2 +
8^2)`

EG = `sqrt(289)`

EG =
17

We'll keep only the positive result, since a length of
aide cannot be negative.

We'll return to the right angle
triangle CEG, where EG and CG are the legs of triangle. To determine the measure of the
angle CEG, we'll use tangent function:

tan CEG =
CG/EG

tan CEG = 7/17

tan CEG =
0.4117

CEG = 22.37 degrees

To
calculate the measure of GXF, we need to determine the length of FX and
GX.

The length of GX can be determine from the right angle
triangle GCX. We need first to determine CX, from the top right angle triangle
CBX.

CX = `sqrt(4^2 + 8^2)`

CX
= `sqrt(80)`

CX =
4`sqrt(5)`

Now, we'll determine XG, from the right angle
triangle GCX:

GX =
`sqrt(80+49)`

GX =
`sqrt(129)`

We'll determine the length of FX from the
triangle FBX.

FX =
`sqrt(16+49)`

FX =
`sqrt(65)`

We'll use the law of cosine to determine the
measure of GXF:

FG^2 = FX^2 + GX^2 - 2FX*GX*cos
GXF

64 = 65 + 129 -
2*65*129*cosGXF

-130 =
-16770*cosGXF

cosGXF =
130/16770

cosGXF = 0.00775

GXF
= 89.55 degrees

Therefore, the angle CEG
measures 22.37 degrees and the angle GXF measures 89.55
degrees.

What role does Malvolio serve in Twelfth Night?

Let us remember that Malvolio is at the heart of one of
the central conflicts in the play. Twelfth Night was actually an important festival in
Elizabethan times, that celebrated one last final raucous celebration of excess before
the Christmas season was over and long, dark and difficult January began. In this play,
the party spirit is represented by Sir Toby Belch, whose antics and desire to celebrated
is matched by the dour and serious demeanour of Malvolio, who represents Puritan
sacrifice in all of its black and white seriousness. Consider their confrontation in Act
II scene 3, when Malvolio is awakened by the noise that Sir Toby and his cronies are
making. Sir Toby delivers a very important line in this
scene:

Dost
thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and
ale?

The supposed virtue of
Malvolio is matched against the die-hard party spirit of Sir Toby, which of course leads
to Maria's stratagem to make Malvolio look ridiculous.

This
leads us to the second function of Malvolio. The way he is made to believe that his
mistress is in love with him is one of the most hilarious elements of the play.
Malvolio's self-love and his arrogance in showing himself so easily persuaded that
Olivia is in love with him shows the dangers of ambition and of thinking ourselves to be
more than we are.

Lastly, I would also argue that the
character of Malvolio is important in the way that his presence strikes a discordant
note in this otherwise light-hearted comedy. There is a sense in which Act IV scene 2,
in which Feste plays with Malvolio as he is locked up, presents a punishment that is
more than is deserved. Making Malvolio doubt his own sanity is pitiful and makes us feel
sympathy for him, in spite of his many sins. Malvolio's final line in the final scene of
the play, "I'll be revenged on the whole pack of you!", should make us question if this
really is a comedy, and if it is, at what price the humour has been
bought.

What are all the wrong things Abigail Williams did at the end of act 1 of The Crucible?

Earlier in Act I, Abigail and her friends were seen
dancing in the woods which drew a lot of suspicion in Puritan Salem.  Parris' daughter
Betty has since fallen into a trance and residents seem to think her condition is a
result of the dancing in the woods and withcraft.  At the end of the chapter, Abigail
falls under heavy interrogation for her part in the dancing and her cousin's condition. 
It's at this point that Abigail decides to confess all the things she did (and more) and
"come back to Jesus.  However, she uses the colored housekeeper Tituba, from Barbados,
as the scapegoat accusing her of making Abigail interact with the
devil.

Some of the "wrong" things Abigail does at this
point is admit to dancing with the Devil, "writing in his book", and drinking blood. 
Act I ends with Abigail and the other girls calling out names of other women in town who
have made deals with the devil.  These names include those of her enemies and others who
have a questionable reputation that people would easily believe had an affiliation with
the devil.

The truth is Abigail asked Tituba to make a
"charm" for her and use witchcraft to harm Goody Proctor, whose husband Abigail recently
had an affair with.

Essay: How is energy flow though an ecosystem related to trophic structure? i need this by tommorow please :)

In order to answer this, you need to know exactly what a
trophic level is.  A trophic level refers to each step of the energy pyramid.  Producers
are located at the bottom level and each consecutive level is made up of different
levels of consumers.  All energy comes begins at the bottom of the pyramid.  As you go
up each step you lose 10% of the energy.

In approaching an
essay on this topic, I would consider writing a paragraph for each individual pyramid
level.  Describe what organisms you find there and what is happening to the energy at
that stage (are they making it, consuming it, or both).

What conflict in "The Scarlet Ibis" could fit with Man vs. TECHNOLOGY?I have to do a conflict chart and I already found conflicts for man vs. man,...

I think you may be able to argue that little Doodle could
have benefited from modern medical technology had he been given the chance. The family
just seemed to accept the doctor's verdict after Doodle was born that he would not
survive for long. Had they gotten a second or third opinion, they might have found a
physician who could have helped him more. His inability to walk could have been helped
by braces even during the time period of the story, and heart medication must have been
available as well. A doctor willing to operate on Doodle may have also found a way to
help him, thereby assuring the family that he would be with them much longer than he
was. A tutor or private teacher could have helped him catch up somewhat with his special
educational needs. Of course, had Doodle been born several decades later, even more
scientific and medical advancements would have been available to help
him.

What does purple refer to in Emily Dickinson's poem "a solemn thing - it was I said"?

A mystic and spiritual color, and a favorite of the
creative and eccentric poet, Emily Dickinson, purple in the poem "A solemn thing--it
was--I said--" symbolizes the relgious depths that the speaker contemplates, and is,
thus central to the controlling metaphor of the comparison of the mundane life, the
"small," to the "hallowed thing," the holy, mystical, and spiritual
life.

As the speaker considers what a "solemn thing,"
a grand and impressive act, it is to become consumed in the eternal life, she realizes
that there is a vagueness to this mystical vision in its purple depths.  And, then
comparing the daily life to this abstruse spiritual vision, the speaker decides that for
her daily life triumphs over the mystical life and she
"sneered--softly--'small'!"

What is the equation of the normal line to the curve y=cube root(x^2-1) at x=3?

We know that the product of slopes of two perpendicular
lines is -1. Therefore, we'll determine the slope of the tangent line to the given
curve, at x = 3.

We'll find the slope m using
derivative:

dy/dx = (1/3)*[(x^2 -
1)^(-2/3)]*(2x)

We'll calculate the slope at
x=3

dy/dx = m = (1/3)*[(9 -
1)^(-2/3)]*(6)

m = 2/8^(2/3)

m
= 2/4

m = 1/2

The slope of the
normal line is m1:

m*m1 = -1=>  m1 = -1/(1/2) =
-2

Now, we'll calculate the y coordinate at
x=3:

y = cube root(9-1) = cube root 8 =
2

The equation of a line that passes through a point and it
has a slope is:

y - y1 = m1*(x -
x1)

Comparing, we'll get:

y -
2 = -2(x-3)

Therefore, the equation of normal
line is:  y = -2x + 8.

In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and The Color Purple, what are the similarities in these women's writings?

To add to the above answer, a literal comparison between
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and The Color Purple
is the exploration of sexual violence that both books address.  In the first
text, eight-year-old Maya is raped by Mr. Freeman, her mother's boyfriend.  The
horrifying experience causes Maya to become reclusive, and she shuts everyone out of her
world except her brother, Bailey.  Maya is robbed of her identity and feels like she has
no place in the world.  Similarly, in The Color Purple, Celie is
raped by her father and is forced to bear his children.  Celie endures repeated sexual
abuse by her father until she is sent into a marriage with Albert.  Celie also feels
like her life means little, and she retreats into herself, expressing her thoughts only
through letters to God, and later to her sister, Nettie.  Maya and Celie eventually find
their inner beauty through close relationships with other women, Ms. Flowers for Maya,
and Shug Avery for Celie.

Describe the following lines in "Ode to a Nightingale."O for a draught of vintage! that hath been Cool'd a long age in the deep-delvèd earth,...

Keats, the narrator, is trying to become like the
nightingale. He considers the bird immortal because this nightingale reminds him of
nightingales he has read of throughout the history of literature and poetry. Since this
bird is linked to all other nightingales in history, it is as if the nightingale (and
all nightingales) is immortal.

Since Keats
cannot physically become the nightingale, he tries to create imagery and metaphors that
will verbally take him there. In other words, he is trying to write his way there. The
narrator is clearly trying to be like the nightingale, but why? He knows the nightingale
is not really immortal. But perhaps the nightingale believes he (the nightingale) is
immortal.

The narrator admires the beauty of the
nightingale's song and the beauty of nature in general. Keats often writes of his awe
for nature and the tragedy of being aware that he will die someday. When he dies, he
will no longer be able to appreciate nature's beauty.
So, the narrator admires
the nightingale's natural beauty but (and this is the key) he also envies the fact that
the nightingale does not have to face the constant conscious awareness of mortality
(death).

Keats, the narrator, a human, does have to live
with thoughts of his own mortality. In the third stanza, he writes about
this:

Fade
far away, dissolve, and quite forget
What thou amongst the leaves has never
known,
The weariness, the fever, and the fret
Here, where men sit
and hear each other groan;
Where palsy shakes a few, sad, last gray hairs;
(21-25)

In the stanza
(2nd) which you asked about, the narrator is asking for a wine (vintage) so that he may
become (metaphorically) drunk enough to forget that he is mortal. Thus, he can become
more like the nightingale: full of beauty but no longer plagued by thoughts of death. He
is actually writing about being drunk enough to forget about the fact of death. Then he
can enjoy nature without the constant fear that he will someday lose the ability to
enjoy nature.

Also note that Hippocrene refers to a
fountain in Greek mythology which could provide poetic inspiration when consumed.
 

How far can a snail crawl if it moves at an average speed of 8.0cm/min for: A) 3 min? B) 3 hour?

Distance = velocity x time, so for the first
scenario

8cm/min x 3 min = 24 cm
traveled.

There are 60 minutes in one hour, so 3 hours x 60
minutes = 180 minutes.

8 cm/min x 180 minutes = 1440 cm
traveled

This assumes the snail is crawling in a straight
line, of course - if it changes direction then we have to figure out whether to answer
the question with distance, which is simply an expression of how
much ground the snail has covered (like the odometer reading on a car), or
displacement, which tells us how far the snail is from its starting
point, measured in a straight line (regardless of whether the snail's path was straight
or not).

The first link below explains this idea in more
detail. The second link will take you to a nifty calculator that will actually do these
problems for you, as long as you input the data correctly.Always pay attention to the
units when you are doing these.

What are some character analyses for The Catcher in the Rye?What are some society topics related to the book?

HOLDEN CAULFIELD.  The
narrator-protagonist of the novel, Holden is a classic rebel of literature--though
misguided and without direction. He particularly hates "phonies," and just about
everyone he runs into are classified as such; Holden, too, is a bit of a phony, often
pretending to be something he is not. He also hates dishonesty, hypocrites, athletes,
and people in a position of power. His relationships with women are also unusual, and he
suffers from a typical case of teenage lust when in their presence. His directionless
lifestyle is best seen from his academic failures and his aimless wandering about New
York City. He dreams of leaving the northeast, but he scorns those (his older
brother) who have actually taken this
step.

PHOEBE CAULFIELD. 
Holden practically idolizes his 10 year old sister, an intelligent focused girl whose
maturity sometimes seems to surpass Holden's. Faithful and concerned for her brother's
welfare, she gives good advice willingly, which Holden rarely
follows.

ROBERT ACKLEY. 
Holden's next-door neighbor while at Pencey, he is disliked by all, primarily because of
his extreme unhygienic habits.

WARD
STRADLATER.  Holden hates Stradlater, who is everything that Holden
detests. Handsome, tall, athletic, vain and successful with women,
Stradlater particularly angers Holden when he goes out with Jane Gallagher, who Holden
admires. He cons Holden into writing an essay for him, and when it doesn't impress him,
Stradlater punches Holden in the
nose.

MR.
SPENCER.  Although he is Holden's favorite teacher at
Pencey, Holden has little respect for Spencer's old fashioned beliefs (or his aging
body). Holden takes the time to visit Spencer, who seems to like Holden and obviously
cares about his academic future, but Holden leaves as soon as possible after Spencer's
warnings hit the mark.

MR.
ANDOLINI.  Holden's favorite teacher from a previous prep
school, Holden attempts to spend the night at his house, getting some good advice from
Andolini in the process. But when Holden awakes in the middle of the night to find
Andolini rubbing his head, Holden perceives it as a homosexual advance. Or was it?
Nevertheless, the act only makes Holden more mistrustful of
adults.

How can we use our knowledge of genetics to predict or control particular characteristics?

I am certainly no expert in this area, but I think it is
clear that our ever-increasing knowledge concerning genetics is already being used to
make predictions and, to a limited extent, to control certain characteristics. In
particular, I am thinking of the specific example of the way that scientists are now
able to identify a breast cancer gene, which if you have it means you are much more
likely to contract the disease at some point in your life. I believe similar discoveries
have been made in terms of a gene indicating Downs Syndrome. Certainly, this is
something that we can only expect to increase as our knowledge of genetics and in
particular our identification of particular genes resulting in conditions or syndromes
grows. This of course does bring with it massive ethical and moral issues, which must
not be ignored.

How can we describe the role of women in the play A Streetcar Named Desire?

I think that one can describe the role of women in
Williams' work as complex.  Tennessee Williams is such a challenging writer because he
did not reduce human beings to simplistic, monochromatic individuals.  He brought out so
much complexity and depth to his characters, regardless of gender, that it becomes very
difficult to make sweeping statements about their nature.  This is by design and it is
the case with women in A Streetcar Named
Desire.

In such an analysis, I think that you
have to immediately go to Stella and Blanche.  Both sisters depict a fairly composite
view of women, and of men, in general.  On one hand, there is a desire to embrace
something that is not there, a hope of capturing something lost, and a propensity to be
crushed by the weight of one's dreams.  Blanche certainly fits this and Williams uses
this as an opportunity to reflect how women can represent these elements of
reality.

In a social condition where so much of women's
voices are silenced, Williams is able to bring out and evoke this sense of pain and
suffering.  Blanche experiences this in her desire to rekindle a flame of the past in so
many realms that have long since been extinguished. On the other side of the coin,
Williams' depiction of Stella reflects the lengths to which women and men can go in
order to be practical and how to "make do" with what is there.  Whereas Blanche might
represent what should be or the pain of knowing that what might be can never be, Stella
represents how one "gets along" in society.  The sacrifices made, the trade offs
endured, as well as the self-interests met are all examples of this getting
along.

In presenting women in both lights, Williams is able
to make clear that the role of women in both his play and society in general is a
complex one and dependent on both the individual and the configuration in which the
individual lives.

In Jane Eyre, through chapters 11-15 explain Jane’s identification with Adele.

This is a very interesting question to consider, because
it is possible to view every other character in this book as being relevant only in the
way that they cast light on the central character, that of Jane Eyre. Jane is juxtaposed
and influenced with almost every character in the book, and Adele is no exception. You
might like to consider the way in which Adele and Jane are presented as doubles of each
other. Both are orphans, and both find themselves dependent upon others. Note, for
example, how Jane in Chapter Fifteen responds to being told about Adele's past and that
she is the illegitimate offspring of a French opera singer who was wanton in her sexual
relationships:

readability="15">

Adele is not answerable for either her mother's
faults or yours; I have a regard for her, and now that I know she is, in a sense,
parentless--forsaken by her mother and disowned by you, sir--I shall cling closer to her
than before. How could I possibly prefer the spoilt pet of a wealthy family, who would
hate her governess as a nuisance, to a lonely little orphan, who leans towards her as a
friend?

Jane's personal
experience of life as an orphan and being disowned by everybody gives her a real
appreciation of Adele's position. In addition, you might like to think about the way
that Adele, like so many other characters, represents one extreme that Jane has to
battle against: that of being overpowered by passion and sensibility. Adele is persented
as rather a silly little girl who is overly fond of presents and dresses. The way that
her feelings rule her is something that Jane recognises and works to correct. Yet Jane
herself has been subject to the overwhelming force of her feelings: let us not forget
the famous Red Room incident. In this way, Adele presents another aspect of Jane's
internal psyche.

What are Grendel's thoughts about God or gods throughout the epic?

Very little is stated about how Grendel, from the Epic
Poem Beowulf, feels about God. While little is said, enough is
given to the reader to establish that Grendel hated
God.

Typically, in Anglo-Saxon literature, the antagonist
of the hero (in this case Grendel) was characterized as a "God-Hater." Written from a
Christian perspective, Beowulf is no
different.

In the early description of Grendel it is stated
that he is a descendant of Cain:

readability="10">

Grendel this monster grim was called,

march-riever mighty, in moorland living,
in fen and fastness; fief
of the giants
the hapless wight a while had kept
since the Creator
his exile doomed.
On kin of Cain was the killing avenged
by sovran
God for slaughtered
Abel.

Here, the reader is
shown that Grendel has been exiled by God based upon the fact that he is a descendant of
Cain. (What this refers to is the fact that Cain, jealous of God's acceptance of Abel's
sacrifice, murders his brother. God sees the hatred in Cain and exiles him to darkness.)
Therefore, given all creatures

readability="6">

Etins and elves and evil-spirits,
as
well as the giants that warred with
God

should be exiled to
darkness as well. Given that Grendel is an evil spirit, he is exiled to darkness as
well.

Grendel, angered that he cannot exist in light (and
therefore in God's graces) wages war on the people of Heorot. Grendel, unable to enact
his anger against God himself, wages war on the Heorot and its inhabitants (given they
are able to exist in light).

Basically, Grendel despises
God and, therefore, Christianity.

How effective is emergency contraception?

The degree of emergency contraceptive effectiveness
depends on what kind of contraceptive is taken and how quickly it was taken after
unprotected sex. In general, pills that contain only progestin are more effective than
combined emergency pills. Plan B One Step and Next Choice
are examples of emergency contraceptives that contain only progestin. Pills
that contain an antiprogestin are more effective than progestin-only pills. Ella would
be an example of this type of pill.

"Combined pills"
contain both progestin and estrogen and they reduce the risk of pregnancy by 75%.
Progestin-only emergency contraceptive pills that are taken within the first 24 hours
after sex reduce the risk of pregnancy by up to 95%. Emergency contraceptives are safe
and effective but not as effective as birth control used before or during sex, such as
the birth control pill or condoms.

What major problems does Atticus Finch face throughout the book?To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Atticus Finch faces sociological problems throughout the
narrative of Harper Lee's To Kill a
Mockingbird. 

The
neighborhood

In his own neighborhood, he has
Mrs. Dubose to contend with as she hurls insults about him to his children.
Understanding that she is addicted to morphine because she suffers from excrutiating
pain, Atticus remains sanguine whenever she confronts him, tipping his hat and
conducting himself as a gentleman.  Similarly, he instructs his children to be
respectful of her as their elder.

Against the disapproval
of Mrs. Merriweather and others such as Dill's Aunt Rachel and those who visit Aunt
Alexandra at his home, Atticus remains firm in his conviction that Tom Robinson is
deserving of a fair trial.

The
family

When questioned by his brother about
why he did not refuse to take the Robinson case, Atticus replies honorably to Uncle
Jack,

"...do
you think I could face my children otherwise? ....I hope and pray I can get Jem and
Scout through it without bitterness, and most all, without catching Maycomb's usual
disease."

Aunt Alexandra,
too, wishes that Atticus could avoid the dangers concomitant with the
trial.

The
townspeople

In Chapter 15 when Mr. Link Deas
suggests that the "Old Sarum bunch" might cause trouble, Atticus calmly suggests that
there is not much point in changing the venue of the trial.  Then, cleverly, he appeals
to the men's pride by asking if Mr. Deas is not afraid of this
group.

Of course, when the mob comes to the jailhouse,
Atticus faces them with courage as he sits before the door under the light.  Also, when
the men come to the front yard, it is a brave Atticus who defends Tom's right to a
equitable trial.

Confronted with Bob Ewell's insults before
the courthouse, Atticus again conducts himself as a true gentleman of integrity.  He
does not stoop to Ewell's level of insults, but merely wipes the spit from his face and
walks on.

Truly, Atticus faces all his social conflicts
with equanimity and conviction in the principles in which he
believes.

What are some examples of juxtaposition in Louise Erdrich's poem "Jacklight"?

Juxtaposition is used often in Louise Erdrich's poem
"Jacklight." One very useful web site defines juxtaposition as
follows:

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The arrangement of two or more
ideas, characters, actions, settings, phrases, or words side-by-side or in similar
narrative moments for the purpose of comparison, contrast, rhetorical effect, suspense,
or character development.
(http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_J.html)

Juxtaposition
appears, for instance, in some of the following places in Erdrich's
poem:

• In the juxtaposition of the prose of the
  opening epigraph with the verse of the succeeding
  poem.


• In the sudden shift from active to passive phrasing
  in the transition from line 5 and line 6.


• In the sudden
  shift from plural in the lines 1-7 to singular in lines 8-9.
  


• In the sudden shift back to plural from singular that
  occurs in line 10.


• In the phrase "night sun" (line
  11).


• In the sudden shift from an emphasis on "we" in the
  first three stanzas to an emphasis on "they" in stanza
  four.


• In the shift from the largely attractive imagery of
  the first three stanzas to the largely unattractive imagery of stanza
  four.


• In the abrupt shift that occurs midway through line
  18: "We smell their mothers buried chin-deep in wet dirt." (A similar shift occurs in
  line 21.)


• In the sudden shift back to an emphasis on "we"
  that occurs in line 28.


• In the sudden shift back to
  "they" that occurs in the final
  stanza.

Why does Thomas allow Red Dillion to control him?

In Hal Borland's When Legends Die,
Thomas needs Red Dillion in order to get started in the rodeo business.  Red enlists Meo
and together they teach Thomas how to ride horses in rodeo competitions.  Red acts as
his manager; Meo as his trainer.  Red teaches Thomas how to make money from his riding
which involves losing purposely on occasion so that Red can bet against him when the
odds are favorable that Thomas will win.  Red's scheming is only slightly profitable,
but it is definitely unethical, and Thomas struggles with his pride and his morality in
going along with Red's ways.

Several factors enter into the
break between the two of them.  The first is a rodeo in which Red bet a good sum of
money on Thomas, and Thomas loses.  Red is bitterly disappointed.  The second is
Thomas's decision that he is going to ride broncos "clean," or fairly. After being with
Red for several years, Thomas has essentially outgrown him.  Thomas is old enough and
experienced enough now to handle himself, and he knows he wants to compete his way--no
more intentional losses.

Could I have the summary of "The Blind Spot" by Saki?

In "The Blind Spot," by Saki, Egbert has just come from
his Aunt Adelaide's funeral. He has been named executor and principal heir of her
belongings. Egbert is having lunch with his Uncle Lulworth. Egbert desires to share a
mysterious letter with his Uncle Lulworth, but Uncle Lulworth will not hear of the
matter before or during lunch.

Uncle Lulworth takes his
lunch very seriously. He is in awe of his cook, Sebastien. Sebastien came to cook for
Uncle Luworth upon the untimely death of Aunt Adelaide's brother Peter for whom
Sebastien cooked.

Egbert has a letter with evidence that
Peter and Sebastien quarreled. Peter threw coffee in Sebastien's face. Sebastien then
muttered something about killing Peter:

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I [Peter] got so irritated and annoyed at
[Sebastien's] conceit and obstinacy that at last I threw a cupful of coffee in his face
and called him at the same time an impudent jackanapes. Very little of the coffee went
actually in his face, but I have never seen a human being show such deplorable lack of
self-control. I laughed at the threat of killing me that he spluttered out in his rage,
and thought the whole thing would blow over, but I have several times since caught him
scowling and muttering in a highly unpleasant fashion, and lately I have fancied that he
was dogging my footsteps about the grounds, particularly when I walk of an evening in
the Italian Garden.'

Shortly
thereafter, Peter died from a blow to the head, but no one suspected Sebastien. He and
Peter seemingly had never quarreled. Egbert had just found the letter addressed to his
Aunt Adelaide. With this information, Sebastien would have had a motive to kill
Peter.

Uncle Lulworth, who now employs Sebastien as his
cook, asks Egbert for the letter. Uncle Lulworth burns the letter, the evidence that
Sebastien could have had a motive for killing Peter. Egbert almost
screams:

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Egbert's voice rose almost to a scream. Sir
Lulworth had flung the paper well and truly into the glowing centre of the grate. The
small, neat hand-writing shrivelled into black flaky
nothingness.

Egbert gasped.
He cannot believe his Uncle Lulworth just destroyed the evidence that could have given
Sebastien a motive for killing Peter:

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"What on earth did you do that for?" gasped
Egbert. "That letter was our one piece of evidence to connect Sebastien with the
crime."

Uncle Lulworth
intentionally burned the letter so there would be no evidence against Sebastien who is
now his cook. Egbert asks why did he cover for a common murderer. Uncle Lulworth
exclaims that murderers are common, but cooks are
not:

"But why
should you want to shield him?" cried Egbert; "the man is a common
murderer."

"A common murderer, possibly, but a very
uncommon
cook."

Through examples from Othello, show Iago as a monster of villainy.

Iago is a monster of villainy. He hates Othello for not
making him his lieutenant; therefore, he is determined to ruin Othello's life. He plants
seeds of jealousy. Iago creates an affair between Desdemona and Cassio. Although there
is nothing going on between Cassio and Desdemona, Iago makes it seem that there is an
affair between the two of them.

First, he plants the idea
for Cassio to ask for Desdemona's help in reinstating Cassio to his position as
lieutenant. When Desdemona pleads with Othello for Cassio's reinstatement, Othello
becomes suspicious. Of course, Iago is there to plant seeds of
suspicion.

Next, Iago takes Desdemona's handkerchief and
plants it on Cassio. Iago tells Othello that he has seen Cassio wiping his beard with
the handkerchief that was a gift of Othello's love to
Desdemona.

Iago then claims that he will speak to Cassio
about his affair with Desdemona. Othello is observing from a distance. When Iago and
Cassio begin to talk of Cassio's affair with his mistress, Bianca, Othello thinks they
are talking about Desdemona. Fury overtakes Othello. In Act 4, Scene 1, Iago states that
his medicine is working:

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Work on,
My medicine, work! Thus
credulous fools are caught:
And many worthy and chaste dames even thus,

All guiltless, meet reproach. What, ho! My lord!
My lord, I say!
Othello!

Iago has planted
enough seeds of distrust until Othello turns on Desdemona and smothers her. Iago is a
villian. He has done all the damage he can do. Othello has lost his senses to jealousy
because of Iago's villainous lies.

To be effective, an opening scene must accomplish a variety of purposes. What different functions are served by Act I scene 1 of Macbeth?

There is something about this opening scene that gives the
play its overall tone of menacing evil. The way that the witches chant together, almost
as if there words were an incantation and they were casting a spell, immediately plunges
us into the world of evil and witches. We also need to be aware of the dramatic impact
of such a scene on an audience. It is very easy to dismiss such aspects because we study
plays like this rather than trying to visualise what they would look like. However, let
us imagine we are in the audience, watching this opening scene. Depending on how the
director chooses to play it, the opening scene is likely to involve darkness, thunder
and a storm, dramatically introducing the witches but also casting a shadow over the
rest of the play. Note too, the words of the witches and the way that they seem to
represent chaos through the paradoxes of their speech. They refer to a time "when the
battle is lost and one" and "Fair is foul, and foul is fair," indicating the way that
they represent an anarchic state that overturns the normal order of things. Starting
this play in such a fashion clearly emphasises the role of evil in the play and also
highlights the importance of the witches in Macbeth's downfall.

What is Auden's attitude towards the unknown citizen in his poem "The Unknown Citizen?"

I think that Auden holds a variety of attitudes in his
poem.  Yet, I think that he feels a particular sadness of the state of affairs that
envelop the modern body politic, "the unknown citizen."  Auden sees a collusion between
business, technology, and government as having reduced the complexity of the citizenry
to patterned and predictable conformity.  In his poem, he talks about how the "unknown
citizen" bought the products he was supposed to buy and that he articulated opinions
that he was supposed to articulate.  Technology has created a system where external
forces can know and determine what individuals will do.  It is in this light that Auden
feels a sense of sadness for the citizens who have to endure such a state of affairs and
anger masked in satire for those in the position of power who construct being in the
world in such a manner.  For Auden, the external forces that are upon the modern body
politic are too strong and severe to be repelled without a great deal of dissent and
resistance.  For this condition, Auden feels sadness as a sense of despair echoes in his
recasting of the modern condition.

In Act 3, scene 3 of Hamlet, Claudius suggests that he cannot 'repent' or be absolved for murdering the previous king. Why?

There are two aspects to consider when answering this
question. Firstly, this soliloquy begins by pointing out that the sin of Claudius is
actually pretty bad as far as sins go, because it is repeats the very first act of
murder that we are told about in the Bible, when Cain killed his brother Abel.
Therefore, according to Claudius, it is especially
bad:

Oh, my
offence is rank, it smells to Heaven,

It hat the primal
eldest curse upon't.

A brother's
murder.

Secondly, Claudius
says that he has no chance of being forgiven when he still has everything he gained from
committing that murder.

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Forgive me my foul
murder:

That cannot be, since I am still
possess'd

Of those effects for which I did the
murther,

My crown, mine own ambition, and my
Queen.

Claudius says that in
this world you can often buy your way out of justice, keeping what you gain by
committing crimes and avoiding punishment, but then in heaven, no such option is
available, because all of our faults are evident and cannot be hidden. Forgiveness or
absolution cannot be received whilst he still retains the crown, Gertrude, and his own
ambition.

What are some quotes that could answer "the setting gives the effect of" in The Secret Life of Bees?it must be a passage or quote from the book.

In order to choose quotations to "answer" the prompt, you
must complete that sentence.  What kind of effects do you see in the setting of the
story?  Remember, setting is time and place, so you can explore the effects of the story
happening in that particular time and that particular place. Once you do that, you can
support the completed statement with a quote or two from the
book.

Let me give you an example.  In Chapter Four, Lily
describes her first time in the honey house,

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....one big room filled with strange
honey-making machines - big tanks, gas burners, troughs, levers, white boxes, and racks
piled with waxy honeycombs.  My nostrils nearly drowned in the scent of sweetness
(75).

The effect of the
setting on me is that the people in this household are like the worker bees, laboring
industriously, and finding sweetness in what they do.  That's always how the honey house
strikes me.

What kind of effects do you see in the time and
places described in the book?  There is that wonderful description of the Boatwrights'
"parlor" when Lily first enters the house. There is May's wall.  There is T. Ray's
house. What effect does that have on the reader?  Decide what setting you wish to use to
complete the prompt, and then add some quotations that support the
effect.

What are some allusions in The Great Gatsby?

One kind of allusion prevalent in The Great
Gatsby is the allusion to people, places, or events of that era, or
immediately preceding that era.  These allusions give a richness to the novel's setting,
The Roaring Twenties, a decade-long celebration of the end of World War I and also an
era in which organized crime began its stranglehold on
America.

Here are some
examples:

Tom makes reference to a book called
The Rise of the Coloured Nations (17), which is a thinly disguised
allusion to a real book of the era, The Rising Tide of Color
(Stoddard).

There is a reference to Gilda Gray, the star of
the Ziegfield Follies (45), which was a series of Broadway productions of the
era.

Wolfsheim, who is a "friend" and business associate of
Gatsby's (73-75), alludes to his presence the night Herman Rosenthal, a notorious owner
of gambling joints, was gunned down in a gangland
killing.

These sorts of allusions run throughout the entire
book, firmly planting the story in a particular era, but not seeming to limit the
timelessness of its idea.

Summarize The Hangman's Daughter, by Oliver Pötzsch, discussing the plot development and the involvement of the characters.

The Hangman's Daughter, by Oliver
Pötzsch, is about a small town, Schongau, located in Bavaria around 1660. During a time
when the plague was blamed on sin, and women were accused of witchcraft simply because
they lived on the fringes of society or were old and scorned by their neighbors, this
novel is not so much about the hangman's daughter as it is about her father, Jakob Kuisl
(the hangman) and Simon Fronwieser, a young doctor educated at a university and a much
different kind of physician than his "old-school" father. Jakob's daughter, Magdelena,
is important to the story for two reasons. Simon is very much drawn to her romantically.
The Kuisl "class" or "clan" of hangmen (who trained their sons as hangmen through
generations) was respected but feared in the community. The hangman was tolerated
because of his "much-needed skills" (and providing a quick and clean death
was a skill), but the man and his family were not welcome among the
townspeople. For instance, Magdelena cannot hope to marry a member of the
community.

Simon has other ideas, and although Jakob
resists, Simon wears him down. Magdelena also has some strange ideas: she doesn't feel
she should be isolated because she is the hangman's daughter. She defies social
expectations—she does not turn away from Simon's attention, but welcomes and encourages
it. Magdelena (who is more a secondary character) is used not only to point out how fear
of witchcraft spreads quickly from town-to-town, but that no one (however respectable)
is above suspicion. She also becomes central to the story's climax and
resolution.

The plot takes off at the start of the story
when a boy is found at the river, near death (badly beaten). On his shoulder is a mark
that speaks of witchcraft. (It is later discovered, as Jakob and Simon start to
investigate, that it is a tattoo.) It does not take long for the rumors to start, and
like a flash forest fire, the townspeople are soon standing outside the house of Martha
Stechlin (the midwife), ready to take "justice" into their own hands and kill her
because she has been seen in the company of the boy...as well as many of the town's
"orphans" (some of whom have been taken in by families in the area. Jakob is there to
stop the mob, but Martha ends up in the jail: it is, after all, the safest place for her
when the story begins. Other children show up dead, and the blame is placed at Martha's
feet. Jakob hopes to save her, but is expected, too, to torture a confession from
her.

Beneath the panic and death that permeates this
village, evil is lurking not in the work of witches, but at the
hands of a devil: a man who thinks nothing of killing children (or anyone else in his
way). He is a respectable member of the community, and can move throughout society
unquestioned. He also employees a deadly "henchman" (a former soldier and his "cohorts")
to carry out his wishes.

The tattoo is on other dead
children, but means nothing. Some members of the community welcome the idea of the
devil's presence to cover their own tracks. In essence, the children (the orphans) were
somewhere they should not have been, and they are being killed to keep secrets from
going public. At the story's climax, Jakob and Simon have started to sort out the
mystery, and Magdelena is kidnapped. The men have become unlikely allies who finally
discover Matthias Augustin's involvement. In the end the dectectives are able to save
Magdelena and a few of the children, and Martha is released.

Looking only at Chapter 8 in Guns, Germs, and Steel, why is is it best to characterize Diamond as a cultural or an environmental historian?

If we look only at this chapter, Diamond is clearly an
environmental historian.

The subtitle of this chapter is
"Why did peoples of some regions fail to domesticate plants."  If Diamond were a
cultural historian, he would examine the cultures of the areas in order to explain why
the people failed to domesticate plants.  But Diamond does not do this.  Instead, he
looks at environmental reasons to explain why some areas' people did not domesticate
plants.  He points out, for example, that northern Australia had only two grass species
with large seeds and the rest of Australia had none.  This, he says, explains why people
in those areas did not domesticate plants.

Diamond is an
environmental historian in this chapter because he uses environmental explanations for
the phenomenon that he is trying to explain.

According to Guns, Germs, and Steel, why did Native American societies lag so far behind Eurasian societies in things like germs, technology, and...

The answer to this, as with almost everything else in this
book, has to do with geography and food
production.

According to Diamond, things like germs and
technology come to those who get food production earliest.  They are able to build large
societies and develop technology and political organizations and such.  Diamond argues
that the Americas were not a great place for food production.  There were few
domesticable plant species and essentially no large domesticable animals.  In addition,
the long north-south axis and the many barriers to movement (deserts, mountains,
jungles) along that axis made diffusion
difficult.

Geography, then, made it difficult for Native
Americans to develop food production and it made it difficult for crops and other
technologies to diffuse.  This meant that American societies had a harder time becoming
as developed and advanced as Eurasian societies became.

What is intertextuality?

This is actually rather a tricky question to answer,
because intertextuality has become one of those terms that is actually very wide in
terms of its usage. Many many books have been written on this subject, and it is
challenging to do this question justice in the space allowed, but a basic definition
would be that intertextuality refers to the way that the meaning of a text is shaped by
the meanings of other texts. This can refer to the way in which an author might borrow
from another text and transform it, or a reader's studying a text with reference to
another text. At its most basic level it could refer to a simple allusion or reference
to another text.

If these seems a bit abstract, let me try
and root this definition in something more concrete. The excellent book Wide
Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys is a perfect example of the value of
intertextuality. This is a book that was written with intertextuality in mind, as it
re-tells the story of one of the most neglected and maligned characters in Victorian
literature, Bertha Mason, the mad wife of Mr. Rochester in Jane
Eyre. Retelling such a famous classic but from the point of view of a
character who is only objectified in the original demands a dialogue between the two
texts, and only by reading the two books together can we understand how Rhys seeks to
transform the original text and the meaning of the character of Bertha Mason in her
re-write. Dialogue between the original text and the new text is
crucial.

You also might like to think about intertextuality
in the work of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and other Eliot poems. What do the
many quotes and allusions add to his work?