Please summarise this article based on the London...

This particular article on the London Riots focuses on the
consumerist element of the rioters.  The article brings out a very interesting
perspective on the riots.  In a consumerist and technologically driven age, the article
suggests that the riots were not driven by a political or social agenda.  Rather, they
were driven by the fact that the youth who rioted have been marginalized from this
economic reality.  One of the points that the article makes is that the riots are these
individuals' way of trying to reenter this domain that has been closed off from them. 
The article makes clear that there is a nihilistic element to the riots in that the
rioters are not really driven, outwardly, by political change.  They simply wish to gain
material items.  The article does point out that this only enhances their own
"criminality," and suggests that it is difficult to take the claims of social justice
seriously when seeing rioters bust into a clothing store, trying on different outfits
before taking what they want.  Yet, the article also points out that this materialism is
a part of this particular youth's approach, demonstrating the lack of fear of going to
jail over a pair of sneakers.  It is here where there is a sociological analysis of this
particular generation, and in the process some profound analysis that sees this group as
more than simply "criminals."

In Act 2, scene 2 of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth changes her mind about killing Duncan herself. Why, and what does this emphasize about her character?

Lady Macbeth does stress that she would have killed King
Duncan herself had he not resembled her father as he slept. This indicates that she a
murderous heart. She could not bring herself to stab King Duncan only because he looked
like her father as he lay sleeping.

The question is would
she really have murdered King Duncan if he had not resembled her father as he lay
sleeping? In her own words, she confesses murderous
thoughts:

readability="9">

Alack, I am afraid they have awaked

And ’tis not done. The attempt and not the deed
Confounds us.
Hark! I laid their daggers ready;
He could not miss ‘em. Had he not
resembled(15)
My father as he slept, I had done't.
My
husband!

As Lady Macbeth
claims that she would have killed King Duncan had he not resembled her own father, she
is sharing an insight into her own character. The fact that she even admits that she
would have murdered King Duncan is an indication that she has a murderous nature. As she
confesses that she could have killed King Duncan, she only has one condition for not
murdering him herself. King Duncan resembled her father as he lay sleeping. At least
Lady Macbeth has some type of respect for her own father, but had King Duncan not
resembled her father, she would have done the deed herself. Clearly, she has murderous
thoughts in her heart and head. In the end, she convinces Macbeth to kill Duncan. She is
as guilty as Macbeth is.

How do you write a successful essay body paragraph?

I always tell my students that there are two things that
they need to do in each body paragraph of an essay.  First, they have to make sure that
they are providing evidence that supports their thesis.  Second, they have to write the
paragraph as if it were a mini-essay on its own.

Taking the
second point first, each body paragraph needs to be like a short essay.  It needs to
have a thesis/topic sentence that tells what it is about.  This is like the introduction
to an essay, only shorter.  A really good thesis/topic would include a transition that
links it to the last paragraph as well.  The paragraph then needs to have a "body" of
its own in which you provide evidence to add detail to your topic sentence.  Each of the
sentences in the "body" must support the topic.  Do not put in sentences that are not on
that particular subject. Finally, the paragraph should have a brief conclusion.  It
needs a sentence that wraps it up and connects it explicitly to the thesis of the
overall paper.

This brings us to the other thing I always
tell students: your body paragraph must support the overall thesis of your paper.  The
previous paragraph tells you how to write the body
paragraph, but it does not talk about what to write.  A
good body paragraph must always refer to the overall thesis of the essay.  Its point is
to prove the thesis.  You must be sure as you write that the points you are making truly
do support your overall thesis.

So, there are two aspects
to a good body paragraph.  It must be structured logically, like a mini-essay.  In
addition, it must have the right content, content that supports the theme of the essay
as a whole.

What is the style of "somewhere i have never traveled gladly beyond"?

The poetry of E. E. Cummings is incredibly unique in the
way that it uses language and apparently breaks fixed rules of English to challenge
readers and make us see objects and actions in completely different ways. You might want
to consider the use of imagery in this poem as an example of this. Note the way that the
poem talks about things "which i cannot touch because they are too near." The
paradoxical nature of this statment is obvious and helps us appreciate the metaphysical
nature of the style of this poem, which serve to reinforce the central aspects of
passion and love.

In addition, consider the way that the
"frail gesture" of the speaker's beloved can completely "unclose" him, in spite of her
lack of strength. Nature imagery is also used to express the power that the speaker's
passion for his lover has over him. Consider the following
example:

readability="11">

though i have closed myself as
fingers,

you open always petal by petal myself as Spring
opens

(touching skilfully, mysteriously) her first
rose

The speaker compares
himself to a flower and his lover to the force of the seasons and the weather in
unfurling his petals and forcing him to bud. Such imagery thus reinforces the strength
of the lover's power over the speaker, as she is able to wield such power over the
speaker in spite of the way in which the poem emphasises her weakness, frailty and
diminutive stature.

Please give an explanation of the poem "Mushrooms."

This is a great poem by Sylvia Plath that really forces us
to reconsider mushrooms once again and to look at them in a new way, which is of course
the sign of a great poem. In the poem, Plath personifies fungi and talks from their
perspective, focusing on how they grow so quietly and
secretly:

readability="5">

Nobody sees
us,

Stops us, betrays us;

The
small grains make room.

Note
the way in which the mushrooms talk about nobody "betraying" them: the element of
secrecy and betrayal adds a somewhat sinister element to their otherwise benign and
"bland-mannered" presence. Again we see another hint that their quiet, subtle growth is
something sinister with the repetition of the phrase "So many of us!" reinforcing the
sheer number of mushrooms and how quickly they can grow and replace. The tone at the end
of the poem becomes very sinister. Consider the last two stanzas and what they
say:

Nudgers and
shovers

In spite of
ourselves.

Our kind
multiplies:

We shall by
morning

Inherit the earth.

Our
foot's in the door.

The
steady, quiet and subtle growth of the mushrooms gives them the surety of their final
dominance, as nothing can stop their strength of
numbers.

Critics seem divided about the meaning of this
poem by Plath, but most seem to agree that the mushrooms stand as a symbol for the way
that steady banality and petty ambition (as symbolised by the mushrooms) are shown to
triumph and be an unstoppable force.

Do you consider Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wall-paper” to be a work of Realism or Naturalism? Why or why not?

To answer this question, one must have a complete
understanding of both the Realist movement and the Naturalistic
movement.

Realism, historically defined as "the faithful
representation of reality," typically focuses upon life of the middle-class. Evoked from
the disapproval of the previous period, Romanticism, Realism was focused upon scientific
methodology, history, and rational.

Naturalism is very
similar to Realism given its base in science. Naturalists considered themselves as
observers. One of the characteristics of Naturalism was the giving of power to nature
over mankind. Naturalists did not believe in free-will.Typically, Naturalists depicted
the lives of the lower class.

Many critics have found it
very difficult to distinguish Realism from Naturalism. Many have found that one
characteristic which defines the difference between Realism and Naturalism is the focus
upon the socio-economic class depicted.

Therefore, based
upon a distinction provided by David Pizer in The Cambridge Companion to
American Realism and Naturalism: Howells to London, one could define Gilman's
"The Yellow Wallpaper" as a work of Realism. The class depicted is far from that of the
lower-level working (and struggling) class. Solely based upon this one distinction, the
story is one written from the Realist perspective.

What are common interest friends?

Common interest friends are people who are friends because
of an interest they have.  Many people have common interest friends. Suppose you like to
play chess and join a chess club.  You are likely to become friends with at least one or
two other players, people you have met because you have chess in common as an interest. 
If you play video games, you might have friends whom you met because of that common
interest. On social networks such as Facebook, we sometimes make friends through a
particular group that is based on a common interest.  Sometimes common interest
friendships are somewhat limited because the only activity you participate in together
involves a particular interest.  But sometimes, common interest friendships develop in
other ways and become more well-rounded friendships.

It is
good to have an understanding that different friends meet different needs in our lives. 
We have school friendships, work friendships, and common interest friendships.  Some of
our friends are people we grew up with. Some people we keep as friends, while others
come and go, depending on our life circumstances and how we ourselves sometimes change.
 I have friends that I love to discuss books with, but with whom I would never discuss a
personal problem, while I have other friends with whom I would discuss a personal
problem, but not necessarily talk about books.  Friendship is like any other kind of
relationship in that we cannot expect one person to meet all of our
needs.

In "The Lottery," how does the author use creative language to accomplish a specific purpose?Like for example using: imagery, symbolism, word...

In "The Lottery," Shirley Jackson uses imagery and
symbolism to develop theme.  At the beginning of the story, the narrator describes the
little boys building a pile of stones, and upon the first reading of the story, the
audience gets the impression that this image of the boys and the stones is simply
child's play.  Jackson continues to build these types of "ordinary" images to give the
impression that the village is a place just like any other place.  Later, the audience
understands that the stones are to be used for stoning the "winner" of the lottery.  One
of the themes of the story is questioning the blind following of traditions, and Jackson
wants the reader to understand that traditions are part of all cultures in all places,
thus depicting the village as an "ordinary"
place.

Similarly, Jackson uses symbols throughout the story
such as the black box and the black spot to suggest the tainting that the tradition is
implicitly having on this community.  Many people in the village question the reason for
the lottery, but symbols of the past like Old Man Warner convince the younger generation
that their traditions define who they are.

What is the effect of orality on Song of Lawino by p'Bitek?How does the Song of Lawino show the stylistic hallmarks of oral-formulaic composition?

"Song of Lawino" shares with most oral epic the large
scale form of an extended narrative poem. It is not an example of oral traditional epic,
in that it was composed by an single individual about a subject contemporary to that
writer rather than looking back to an heroic age. It does, however, borrow some of the
stylistic surface feature of oral poetry. It is composed in a simple rhythmic structure
appropriate for public performance, uses repeated epithets, invokes stereotypes, and is
structured agglutinatively, creating effects not by subordination and analysis but by
piling on layers of detail. Also like most oral poetry, it is close to the human life
world and makes its point via striking example rather than
abstraction.

In Othello, what are the arguments against the idea of Iago being evil?I am simply looking for opposing viewpoints to argue that Iago, though a bad...

OK, this is a very fascinating topic to discuss. Firstly,
I have to say that I don't agree that Iago is not evil, but it can always be interesting
to try and turn such issues on their head and look at them from a completely different
perspective for one moment. To answer this question, I would suggest that you would have
to start by looking at the cause of Iago's hatred for Othello. If we examine Act I scene
1 and how Iago justifies his actions and his hatred of Othello, we can see that Iago
does have cause to feel seriously disgruntled:

readability="25">

Three great ones of the
city,

In personal suit to make me his
lieutenant,

Off-capped to him, and by the faith of
man

I know my price, I am worth no worse a
place.

But he, as loving his own pride and
purposes,

Evades them, with a bombast
circumstance

Horribly stuffed with epithets of
war,

And in
conclusion

Nonsuits my
mediators.

Let us try to put
ourselves in the shoes of Iago for one moment. If we believe his words, Iago has been
turned down for a promotion that he knows he is capable of carrying out and that other
"great ones" believe he is capable of carrying out as well. How would you feel if this
happened to you? If we believe that Iago is a man who, as he says, "knows his price" and
knows what he is capable of doing, Iago must have felt horribly frustrated and angry at
the way in which Othello picked Cassio over him and ignored the opinion of the three
senior members who championed him. Is it possible to argue that Iago, rather than being
simply evil, becomes overpowered by his anger which leads him to commit acts that he
never would have wanted to commit? Trying to look at this speech from Iago's point of
view does help us to feel sympathy for him, as anybody who has faced a similar situation
can no doubt identify with him.

What is the main conflict in the story of Freak the Mighty? Can there be more than one main conflict?

For Max, the "learning disabled" boy who has low self
esteem at the beginning of the novel learns that he does, indeed, have value and merit.
Through his experiences and adventures with his newfound best friend, Kevin (who has
Morquio's Syndrome, and is deep denial of his impending mortality), Max learns to read,
and eventually write his experiences, which turn out to be the book, "Freak the Mighty,"
itself.

For Kevin, our tragic hero, his flaw is his outward
denial of his disease, which has left him stunted in growth, though his mind is far
beyond those of his 7th-8th grade peers. He has strong transhumanist views, ultimately
wishing to be surgically given a "new body." His fascination with knights and robots
brings us a theme of human frailty and its need for mechanical improvement, which is
ultimately ironic, considering Max's newly gained "strength" of mind and selfhood, the
opposite of physical weakness.

Another theme of the book is
that one does not have to turn out like one's parents, as evidenced by Max using his
great size and physical might in only beneficial ways (despite some tantrums). He proves
this to the community after he escapes his father. Max did have something to prove, and
this frightening experience teaches us that we do have some control over our destiny.
Another irony: Kevin did not. Hence his flight into his transhumanist
delusion.

What is a "persuasive, multi-modal speech"?I'm trying to figure out how write one on the relevance of one or more of Shakespeare's plays for modern...

Let's take this one step at a time. Your speech needs to
be persuasive - you are going to need to take a stand that one of Shakespeare's plays is
or is not relevant to the experiences of modern audiences, and you are going to use your
speech to try to convince your audience that your stand is correct. Your speech needs to
be multi-modal - it will need to combine several methods of presentation, meaning you
might use PowerPoint slides or recorded music or other media to support and illustrate
the points you make in your speech.

Start your speech by
identifying the Shakespeare play you will be discussing and explaining your basic
conclusion - whether you feel it is relevant and why or why not. In the body of your
speech, present the reasons that support your conclusion and use your other media to
help illustrate your explanations. End your speech with a review and summary of your
arguments and your reason for your opinion. Good luck!

In Chapter 33 of Great Expectations, Mr. Pocket is a lecturer on “domestic economy.” Why is this ironic?

Let us remember that irony is the name given to indicate
the discrepancy between appearance and reality. The irony in this instance therefore
lies in the way in which Mr. Pocket is a famed and well-known lecturer, said to be the
authority on topics such as the management of children, when his own household is such a
disaster. His inability to clearly put into practice what he knows so expertly in his
head gives rise to a rich irony. Note how Pip describes this
situation:

readability="11">

Mr. Pocket was out lecturing; for he was a most
delightful lecturer on domestic economy, and his treatises on the management of children
and servants were considered the very best text-books on those themes. But Mrs. Pocket
was at home, she was in a little difficulty, on account of the baby's having been
accommodated with a needle-case to keep him quiet during the unaccountable absence... of
Millers.

The way in which Mr.
Pocket is described as the leading expert on childhood management whilst his wife has
left their baby with a needle case to play with to keep it quiet brings home the full
irony of this situation. Pip himself, feeling tempted to share his troubles with Mr.
Pocket, takes one look at this situation and decides he would rather
not.

What were the Pentagon Papers and how did they impact the Vietnam War?

The Pentagon Papers were a compilation of government
reports for the Defense Department on the progress of the war in Vietnam. They
represented reports for a number of years during the course of the war. A Defense
Department Employee, Daniel Elsberg, photocopied the papers with the intent of leaking
them to the Press. He gave them to a reporter for the New York Times
which made plans to publish them. The government attempted to stop
publication, arguing that it was a matter of national security. The Supreme Court in
New York Times Co. vs. United States ruled 6-3 that the Government
had not met its burden to allow prior restraint of publication. In a concurring opinion,
Justice Hugo Black wrote:

readability="8">

Only a free and unrestrained press can
effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the responsibilities of
a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people
and sending them off to distant lands to die of foreign fevers and foreign shot and
shell.

The decision itself
emphasized the heavy burden required for prior restraint on freedom of the press. The
papers themselves made the public aware that the war had not progressed as had been
reported. The end result was rising opposition to the war and disillusionment with the
government. The opposition to the war which arose at least in part from the Pentagon
Papers ultimately led Lyndon Johnson to abandon plans to seek
re-election.

What are some important quotes from Into the Wild said by Chris McCandless?

One of the earlier quotes that comes from a letter that
Chris sent to his sister is very important in pointing out the kind of values that Chris
had and developed in opposition to his parents and their offer to help him out
financially. In response to being offered a new car, note what he
says:

I'm
going to have to be real careful not to accept any gifts from them in the future because
they will think they have bought my
respect.

This of course is
crucial in the way that it presents Chris's tough independent spirit and the way that he
looks down on financial wealth and money. Again, this is supported from a card he wrote
to Wayne Westerburg in Chapter Four:

readability="6">

Tramping is too easy with all this money. My days
were more exciting when I was penniless and had to forage around for my next
meal.

We see the true spirit
of Chris McCandless in this quote and the way that he loved nothing more than to be in
the wilderness dependent on nothing more than his
wits.

Lastly, I would pick the last message Chris sent to
Jan Burres and Bob:

readability="5">

This is the last communication you shall receive
from me. I now walk out to live amongst the
wild.

Here we see Chris
finally succeeding in achieving his goal of entering "the wild," and the way that it
represented for him a definite end of an era in his life where he felt it was necessary
to sever all communication and start fresh.

What is the significance of Hale's loss of confidence as the play progresses into Act II?

I don't think that Hale experiences a great deal of losing
confidence into Act II.  He approaches John Proctor with the suggestion that he get his
child baptized and that he "get right" and attend church more frequently.  When
Elizabeth is arrested, Hale is quick to say that the court will clear her.  He does not
necessarily stop Cheever from doing his duty.  He thinks that there is an answer and
believes that the faith in the religious order of Salem is that
answer.

I believe that the real loss of confidence is
evident during the trial in Act III.  For example, when he has to sign the death warrant
for Goody Nurse, he expresses his own sense of discomfort to Danforth.  At the same
time, he is increasingly weary of how the court is conducting itself and, of course,
Abigail.  It is herre where Hale's loss of confidence is evident and significant in that
he no longer can stand up what is being done.

In contrast,
I would say that the significance of Act II's conception of Hale represents how
individuals who fail to question their authority when they feel something is wrong
actually end up being complicit to it.  In this, I think that there is much significance
in Hale's support of what is happening in Act II.

In statistics, what would happen to the variance and standard deviation if the highest and lowest values were taken out? Explain why.I think they'd...

In statistics, what would happen to the variance and the
standard deviation if the highest and lowest values were taken
out?

In
general they will both decrease, except in the case where all
data entries are equal, in which case the variance and standard deviation were zero and
remain zero after removing the two data points.

Consider
the formula for the variance; in this case I would look at the "shortcut"
formula:

`v=(n(sum x^2)-(sum
x)^2)/(n(n-1))`

After throwing out the two data points, the
denominator will decrease by 4n-6. [Take n(n-1) - (n-2)(n-3)]. A reduced denominator
increases the value of a fraction, but the numerator is decreasing also. As long as the
decrease in the numerator is more than the decrease in the denominator, the variance
will decrease.

This is not universally true -- consider the
data 1,1,1,1,1,9,9,9,9,9. If you calculate the variance for this data you get `s(x)~~
4.216`

while the reduced set (eliminating highest and
lowest values) yields `s(x) ~~ 4.276` .

The standard
deviation is the square root of the variance, and since the square root function is
increasing, if the variance shrinks so does the standard
deviation.

So the answer is -- it depends on the data set.
Some unusual sets may show an increase, but generally the variance (and hence the
standard deviation) will decrease.

What is the theme inFreak The Mighty by Rodman Philbrick?

For Max, the "learning disabled" boy who has low self
esteem at the beginning of the novel learns that he does, indeed, have value and merit.
Through his experiences and adventures with his newfound best friend, Kevin (who has
Morquio's Syndrome, and is deep denial of his impending mortality), Max learns to read,
and eventually write his experiences, which turn out to be the book, "Freak the Mighty,"
itself.

For Kevin, our tragic hero, his flaw is his outward
denial of his disease, which has left him stunted in growth, though his mind is far
beyond those of his 7th-8th grade peers. He has strong transhumanist views, ultimately
wishing to be surgically given a "new body." His fascination with knights and robots
brings us a theme of human frailty and its need for mechanical improvement, which is
ultimately ironic, considering Max's newly gained "strength" of mind and selfhood, the
opposite of physical weakness.

Another theme of the book is
that one does not have to turn out like one's parents, as evidenced by Max using his
great size and physical might in only beneficial ways (despite some tantrums). He proves
this to the community after he escapes his father. Max did have something to prove, and
this frightening experience teaches us that we do have some control over our destiny.
Another irony: Kevin did not. Hence his flight into his transhumanist
delusion.

Why was the Battle of Trafalgar so significant of a loss for Napoleon?

Above all, the British victory at the naval Battle of
Trafalgar kept Napoleon from enacting any future plan to invade the British Isles.
Napoleon had hoped that the combined Franco-Spanish fleet would be able to break
England's longstanding blockade of the French coast. Once Napoleon had control of the
English Channel, he hoped to mount an invasion force against the British, though he had
apparently canceled these plans before the naval battle took place. The Royal Navy,
under the command of the daring Admiral Horatio Nelson, destroyed two-thirds of the
enemy vessels without losing a single ship of their own. The Battle of Trafalgar, though
a decisive British victory that made an everlasting hero of Nelson, did not mean the end
of the French navy, however. Napoleon immediately began a new shipbuilding program, and
the British--still maintaining a blockade along the French coast--watched anxiously as
Napoleon's navy grew larger and stronger. In the end, Napoleon's defeats on land put an
end to any chance of the French navy ever gaining superiority over the Royal Navy--or of
ever invading England.

What does "purple" refer to in Emily Dickinson's poem "Where ships of purple - ; gently toss"? What is the meaning of ships here?what does purple...

Emily Dickinson’s poetry has always been rife with
metaphors and imagery, and “Where ships of purple gently toss” is a great example.  The
“ships” have been interpreted as flowers in a garden and also as clouds in the sky. 
Laurence Perrine, in his essay “The Nature of Proof in the Interpretation of Poetry,”
believes that the “ships” are more of a reference to clouds, because some of the words
that Dickinson uses don’t work as well with the image of a
garden.

Instead of saying “daffodils,” which would work for
the garden imagery, she uses only the singular “daffodil,” which suggests the color
instead.  The “wharf” also doesn’t work well with the scene of a garden, but it could
work with the scene of clouds going by in the sunset, rich with color and the images
that we all can make up in the clouds we see.  Once the wind stops, though, the “wharf”
or sky, is still.

The sergeant compared Macbeth and Banquo in line "As sparrows are to eagles or the hare is to the lion" and why?Act - I scene II

The bloody sergeant came before King Duncan to report on
the battle at hand. He commended Macbeth and Banquo. When he compared their anxiety or
fear of the battle, he compared Macbeth and Banquo to sparrows who are afraid of the
great eagle. Also, the sergeant added a comparison of Macbeth and Banquo to a hare (a
rabbit) that is afraid of the lion. Macbeth and Banquo were afraid of the army. Still,
this did not stop Macbeth and Banquo. In fact the sergeant goes on to say that Macbeth
and Banquo just made double their strokes with their swords. In other words, they fought
doubly hard and became the heroes at the end of
battle.

As
sparrows are by eagles, or the hare is by the lion.
If I say truth, I must
report they [Macbeth and Banquo] were as upset [afraid]
As cannons overcharged
with double cracks.
So they doubly re-doubled strokes upon the
enemy.
Whether they meant to bathe in fresh, bleeding wounds,
Or
create another Crucifixion scene,
I cannot
tell.

The sergeant used a
great comparison to show the fear that Macbeth and Banquo had. He showed that Macbeth
and Banquo were like sparrows fighting against a great eagle. Also, the sergeant showed
a comparison of Macbeth and Banquo as a hare or rabbit fighting against a great lion.
There is really no comparison. Macbeth and Banquo used sheer determination to come
against a great army of soldiers. Through great effort, Macbeth and Banquo fought and
won the battle. The sergeant was just reporting on their gallantry or
bravery.

I would appreciate some guidance writing a definition essay on identity. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

This is a massive issue, particularly given the way that
recent schools of thought have profoundly questioned our identity and where we get our
identity from. Traditionally, postcolonialists argue, our identity has been profoundly
concrete and not malleable. Our identity was largely a product of our nation and
culture, so we were British if we were from Britain or American if we were from America.
More recently, however, postcolonialists have pointed towards the way that immigration
and globalisation has resulted in our identities becoming much more fractured and
malleable. Our identity is not something that is set in stone anymore, and the number of
different influences that can impact on our identity has risen greatly thanks to
exposure to a whole host of different philosophies, ideas and cultures. So now, many
people change their identity as they live their lives, or have a kind of pick and mix
identity involving a number of different cultures and influences. Instead of living one
life with one identity, now people are free to experiment with different identities in a
way that was never possible before. All of this points towards a change in our
understanding of the term identity and the way that now identities are much more
flexible and malleable than they were previously.

How is Ben Jonson's The Alchemist structured?

Ben Jonson prided himself on his skills of design as a
dramatist, and certainly the design of his play The Alchemist
reveals the kind of complex unity of which he was justly proud.  Samuel Taylor Coleridge
would later commend the play for having one of the three best plots in literature
(Oedipus Rex and Tom Jones having the other
two), and the skill with which Jonson manages the intricate complications of the play’s
structure is definitely impressive.  Among the most notable features of the play’s
design are the following:

• The way it begins so
  abruptly, by plunging us immediately in medias res (“into the midst
  of things”), thus demonstrating that the plot of a literary work is something quite
  different than the mere chronological order of incidents on which the plot is based. The
  plot of a play is the artistic design the playwright imposes on
  those incidents. The opening lines of the play are as startling on the page as they are
  on the stage:

readability="16">

FACE. Believe 't, I will.

SUB.
Thy worst. I fart at thee.

DOL. Have you your wits? why, gentlemen!
for love --

FACE. Sirrah, I'll strip you --

SUB.
What to do? lick figs
Out at my
–

• The
  “centripetal” nature of the play’s design, in which all the dupes are pulled into the
  house, as into a kind of vortex, where Face, Subtle, and Doll have set up their
  deceptive enterprise.


• The ways the different kinds of
  dupes represent different kinds and social levels of foolishness and greed, so that
  Jonson suggests an entire society pervaded by selfish motives (including such
  representative types as a knight, a druggist, a lawyer’s clerk, two Puritans, an
  aggressive young man whose wealth is rather recent, that youth’s attractive sister, and
  a perceptive if cynical gambler). Jonson, in other words, introduces great social
  diversity into the play; many representatives of many different social groups visit the
  house.


• The play’s adherence to the three classical
  “unities” (of time, place, action), although its unity of action has sometimes been
  disputed because some critics have seen it as being two diffuse in its presentation of
  varying incidents.  Most audiences, however (including Coleridge) have been highly
  impressed by the ways Jonson manages to tie all the threads of the plot
  together.


• The ways the characters are highly
  individualized (who can ever forget Sir Epicure Mammon?) while also representing clear
  social types.


• The methods by which Jonson complicates the
  plot in ways that at first seem threaten to unravel it, even as he
  manages to keep everything under precise control by giving his schemers opportunities to
  improvise. Thus, Dapper is being duped when Mammon unexpectedly arrives, so Dapper has
  to be quickly gotten out of the way (by being shoved into a water closet). Similar
  antics appear at the end of the play when the absent master of the house, Lovewit,
  unexpectedly appears.


• All in all Jonson manages to
  produce a play that seems both highly, comically chaotic and supremely ordered and well
  designed.

How does Maya's relationship with Bailey change over the course of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings?

It is clear that for most of the novel, the relationship
that Maya and Bailey have as brother and sister is a very close one that is very
important to Maya. This is particularly evident in their childhood relationship, as they
would often conspire together to do things they knew they shouldn't. For example, their
closeness is seen in the way that they worked together to trick Momma so that one of
them could hear the gossip when the Reverend Thomas came to
call:

We had
a system that never failed. I would sit in the big rocking chair by the stove and rock
occasionally and stamp my feet. I changed voices, now soft and girlish, then a little
deeper like Baily's. Meanwhile, he would creep back into the Store. Many times he came
flying back to sit on the bed and to hold the open lesson book just before Mommma
suddenly filled the
doorway.

Their closeness is
shown in the way that they conspire together and have fun together, and by the amount of
time that they spend playing together.

However, as they
both grow up, Maya is forced to concede that things change and people develop. Although
Bailey remains incredibly important to her, the beginning of Chapter 33 makes it clear
that during her absence when she went to spend some time with their father, Bailey has
changed:

readability="8">

Bailey was much older too. Even years older than
I had become. He had made friends during that youth-shattering summer with a group of
slick street boys... Although I had no regrets, I told myself sadly that growing up was
not the painless process one would have thought it to
be.

This sense of division
only widens as Bailey struggles with his feelings of love and attraction for their
mother, which finally ends in his leaving both Maya and his mother. Thus, although Maya
and Bailey are incredibly close throughout the novel, as they grow up and age, they are
shown to grow apart, slowly but surely.

What are the implications regarding the recent dna evidence showing that all non-Africans have Neanderthal blood in them?

What an interesting article!  Of course, there are many
possible implications for these results.

Most obviously,
Neanderthals and humans would have to have mated, which suggests a few possibilities. 
It might mean that Neanderthals were much more like humans than has been thought
previously. It could also mean that there were pockets of Neanderthals into which only a
few humans drifted, leaving little in the way of mating choices.  I am not certain of
the chronological overlap of the two species, but it would seem that Neanderthals did
not die out quickly after humans evolved. And in fact, there is a level on which it
would appear that they have not died out at all!

The
non-African part of this suggests to me some geographical implications, too.  It is
possible that there were few or no Neanderthals in southern Africa or Australia.  That
would explain the lack of their DNA.  This might be because they lacked the intelligence
to migrate to those places or because they were not well-adapted to those places and
died too quickly. Still another speculation is that Neanderthals did not arise at all in
the area we consider to be the cradle of mankind, which would explain at least the lack
of their DNA in southern Africans in particular.   I am not knowledgeable enough about
to fossil record to know where their fossils have been found, but that record might
support this speculation.

find the perpendicular distance between the parallel lines 3x + 5y - 7 = 0 and 3x + 5y +10 = 0. - find...

Given the parallel lines
:

L1: 3x + 5y - 7 = 0 ,
and

L2: 3x+ 5y + 10 = 0

We
need to find the perpendicular distance between both
lines.

First we will find any point on
L1

==> We will substitute with x = 0 in
L1.

==> 0 + 5y - 7 =
0

==>  5y =7 ==> y=
7/5

Then one point of line L1 is ( 0,
7/5)

Now we need to find the distance between the point (
0, 7/5) and the line L2 : 3x + 5y + 10 = 0

We know that the
distance between a point and line is given by :

D = l ax +
by + c l / sqr(a^2 + b^2)

==> D = l 0*3 + 5*7/5 + 10
l / sqrt(3^2 + 5^2)

==> D = l 7+10l /
sqr(34)

==> D =
17/sqr34

Then, the perpendicular distance
between L1 and L2 is 17/sqrt34 units.

what are some examples of parody, and paradox?

Parody and paradox, despite superficial similarities in
pronunciation, are unrelated concepts.

In literature,
parodies are literary works that imitate other works of literature for humorous
purposes, often to denigrate what the author of the parody considers trite or absurd
features of the original being parodied. For example, Anthony Hecht's "Dover Bitch"
parodies Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach" by using the viewpoint of the wopman being
addressed to make fun of the sentimentality of Arnold's work. Swinburne's "Heptalogia"
parodies what he sees as the triteness of many Victorian poets (and includes a
delightful self-parody). The mock-epic (e.g. "Orlando Furioso" and "Rape of the Lock")
parodies the grandeur of epic by injecting into the form either a trivial subject
(stealing a lock of hair as opposed to the "Rape of Persephone, in which the daughter of
a goddess is abducted by Hades) or a trivial approach to a serious subject (in Orlando
Furioso, the knight, blinded by their helms and clumsy in their armor, do a great deal
of damage to the surrounding scenery but little to each other in a duel). The
Brand-X Anthology of Poetry contains many examples of
parody.

Paradox is a philosophical concept of an inherently
irresolvable self-contradiction that leads one to revisit the plausibility of certain
premises for philosophical thought (see Quine, "Ways of Paradox"). Kant's "Antimonies of
Pure Reason" and Abelard's "Sic et Non" are examples. Zeno's famous paradoxes (that it
is impossible to cross a room, becuase first one would need to cross half the distance,
then half the remaining distance, etc. ad infinitum) were intended to refute the
physical theories of the pluralists by showing the absurdity of their assumptions (and
were not, in fact, fully resolved until the twentieth century discovery of space being
quantized and thus not infinitely subdivisiable). The paradox is related to the
"reductio ad absurdum." In literature, the common ancient sophistic genre of
"paradoxical encomium" praised something inherently unpraiseworthy, such as the
"Encomium of a Flea" which influenced John Donne's poem "The
Flea".

Explain the importance of the flying buttress in architecture.

Flying buttresses allowed architects to design buildings
with much higher ceilings and much thinner walls with more of the wall area being
available for windows. These changes allowed for significant changes in the construction
of churches and cathedrals in the Middle Ages.

The heavy
stone structure needed for vaulted ceilings of churches exerted tremendous outward
pressure on the walls of the building. Buttresses constructed separate from the main
wall could counteract that force through arches braced between the buttress and the main
wall. At various times, the arches and buttresses were given added decorative
touches.

Discuss the role of the grotesque in Joyce Carol Oates' "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"

You might like to consider the description of Arnold
Friend in response to this question. He, through his appearance and through his activity
could be considered to be "grotesque." When Connie sees Arnold Friend, he is described
as having "shaggy, shabby black hair that looked crazy as a wig," with mirrored
sunglasses that make it impossible to see his eyes, until he takes them off, when his
eyes are described as being "like chips of broken glass that catch the light in an
amiable way." He walks in a strange way, having to balance himself to prevent himself
from falling and is a muscular, short man. Some critics argue that this manner of
walking suggests that Arnold Friend is actually a devil-type figure, and that his feet
are actually hooves. This notion is reinforced by the way that Arnold Friend is so close
to "Arch-Fiend."

In action, we can also say that Arnold
Friend is grotesque in the way he uses language to prey on Connie and to almost
hypnotise her into doing what he wants her to do. We are told that Arnold speaks in a
"simple lilting voice, exactly as if was reciting the words to a song." Given the
importance of music in the story in symbolising Connie's fantasy world, Arnold's speech
thus is very powerful in representing the kind of adult sexuality that Connie plays at
experiencing. Note the end effect of Arnold's speech upon
Connie:

She
felt her pounding heart. Her hand seemed to enclose it. She thought for the first time
in her life that it was nothing that was hers, that belonged to her, but just a
pounding, living thing inside this body that wasn't really hers
either.

There is an element
of the grotesque in the way that Arnold Friend uses language to produce this effect in
Connie. Therefore we can argue that Arnold Friend displays the grotesque in his
appearance and actions.

Identify the significance of the Black Madonna in The Secret Life of Bees. What does she symbolize?

It is important to realise how the Black Madonna has a
number of different meanings in this novel and is therefore a very important symbol.
Most prominently, however, it is clear that the Black Madonna acts as a symbol of
motherhood and the various surrogate mothers that Lily finds during the course of her
novel. Note how Lily takes a picture of the Black Madonna with her on her travels, as it
was a possession of her mother. In a sense, the picture is a symbol of Lily's mother,
and is what guides her to finding her surrogate mother, August, who is able to give her
information about Deboarah and her love for Lily. Note how this link is established in
Chapter Three:

readability="14">

I was speculating how one day, years from now, I
would send the store a dollar in an envelope to cover it, spelling out how guilt had
dominated every moment of my life, when I found myself looking at a pictue of the black
Mary. I do not mean a pcitrue of just any black Mary. I mean the identical, very same,
exact one as my mother's.

It
is of course significant that Lily is experiencing guilt when she realises that she is
looking at the black Mary. As the black Mary symbolises her mother, and Lily still
struggles with massive guilt issues regarding her mother's death, we can see how the two
are linked.

You might also like to consider how the statue
of the Black Madonna is also used to symbolise the importance of faith and belief in
some divine power that is bigger than the individual. The way that the Black Madonna is
used by August and the other women as almost a religious icon indicates the faith that
they place in this figure as representing a strength greater than
themselves.

In Sonnet 130 by Shakespeare, are most of the images auditory, olfactory, visual, or kinesthetic?

When we think of imagery, we are talking about images that
the author or poet creates using words that appeal to our senses to help us imagine
them. Therefore, generally speaking, the most successful images are those that appeal to
as many of our senses as possible. When we think of this poem, and the complete picture
that the speaker builds up of his mistress and of her many imperfections, we can see
that the imagery he employs does appeal to many of our senses. Consider, for example,
the dominant sense of sight:

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My mistress' eyes are nothing like the
sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why
then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her
head.

We have a very strong
visual description of the eyes being "nothing like the sun," her lips not being like
"coral" and her "breasts" being a "dun" colour. In addition, the last line points
towards the feel of the mistress' hair, stressing the sense of touch as we can imagine
the rather unpleasant feeling of the speaker as he goes to touch his mistress'
hair.

There is a definite appeal to scent in the fragrance
that the mistress exudes, as the "breath that from my mistress reeks" captures, and an
auditory image is captured in the sound of her speech, even though "music hath a far
more pleasing sound." Thus we can see that this poem successfully appeals to a number of
the senses to create excellent imagery.

The chapters in Steinbeck's East of Eden seem to be in no particular order. Why did Steinbeck write the novel in this disordered form?

Critics have been asking this same question since
East of Eden was published in 1952. While none can agree that
Steinbeck chose wisely, there is at least some understanding of why he chose as he did.
The story tells a double account of the Trask family and the Hamilton family. Some
chapters are devoted to the one and some are devoted to the other family. The difficulty
comes in that Steinbeck made seemingly little or no or a merely inadequate attempt to
blend the story lines or to integrate the stories of the two families: they are and
always remain separate and distinct entities. It is felt by critics and readers that
there should be some way in which their stories are
integrated.

An example of this stylistic intent of
non-integration can be seen in the narratorial choices Steinbeck makes. For instance, in
Chapter 1 we encounter a first-person narrator who speaks at great length about the
streams and Gabilan Mountains and live oaks of California's Salinas Valley. He then
turns the tables and speaks of the dry years with little to no rainfall when the "land
dried up ... and great bare scabby places appeared in the valley. ... and the sage-brush
was gray." Then in Chapter 21, we encounter a limited third-person narrator who talks
about Kate and Miss Faye's will:

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Kate was in no hurry. She thought to the end very
quickly then put it out of her mind ... Three of the girls questioned kate about the
will ....

In conclusion, it
seems Steinbeck may have been attempting to make a statement about the isolation and
disordered condition of life and that he chose the novel structure as a sort of
pictorial representation of this isolation and disorder. Yet contemporary critics and
the original reviewers and critics of the story in general couldn't do much better than
to ask the same question you have asked.

What can I say in a 3 minute speech on "In order to achieve true freedom we have to be free from vices?"

To some philosophers, this statement is absolutely true. 
They argue that all vices tend to enslave people.  They say that when we indulge our
vices, we are letting our desires control us and are not truly free.  In order to speak
on this, you should introduce this idea to your listeners and then give examples that
tend to support it.

The clearest examples of how this is
true come from various sorts of addictions or compulsions.  Smoking is one example. 
Many people who smoke are addicted to nicotine and can therefore not stop smoking.  They
lack true freedom because they cannot decide for themselves (not easily, at least)
whether to smoke or not.  For some people, overeating is the same way.  They know they
shouldn't overeat, but have a very hard time abstaining.  This, too, seems like a lack
of freedom.

So, to do this speech, introduce the idea that
indulging in vices allows your (generally physical) desires to control you.  It is only
if you get rid of vices that your free will is in control.  This is the essence of
freedom since you are able to choose what you do.  Then give examples that you can think
of that support the idea.

How did Macbeth realize betrayal had a strong influence on him in Shakespeare's Macbeth?

Before Macbeth murders King Duncan, his thoughts of
betrayal to the King cause hallucinations. Macbeth sees a floating dagger that is
leading toward where King Duncan sleeps. Macbeth is already feeling the effects of
betrayal, even before he commits the murder.

Next, Macbeth
is influenced by the murder of King Duncan in that he cannot even say "Amen" as the
guards are praying. He shares with Lady Macbeth that he could not even
pray:

One
cried, "God bless us!" and the other, "Amen."
As if they had seen me with
these hangman's hands.
Listening to their fear, I couldn’t say
"Amen,"
When they said, "God bless
us.

As he commits the murder
of King Duncan, Macbeth keeps hearing that he has murdered sleep. He realizes he shall
sleep no more, not a true sleep:

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I heard a voice cry, "Sleep no
more!
Macbeth murders sleep," the innocent sleep,
Sleep that knits
up the raveled sleeve of
care,

Macbeth is being
influenced by his act of betrayal. He is having hallucinations and he is hearing voices.
He is deeply affected by his act of betrayal in murdering King Duncan. He shares with
Lady Macbeth that he forgot to plant the daggers on the guards, but he is afraid to go
back and look on the gruesome murderous scene. Fear had gripped his
being:

I'm not
going back.
I am afraid to think about what I have done.
I don’t
dare look on it
again.

Furthermore, Macbeth
sees Banquo's ghost after he has Banquo murdered. Macbeth is greatly influenced by his
acts of betrayal. He betrays King Duncan. Then he betrays his close friend Banquo. His
visions are terrifying hallucinations which seem real to
Macbeth:

readability="18">

Blood has been shed before now, in the old
days,
Before laws cleaned up the commonwealth.
Yes, and since then
too, murders have been performed
Too terrible to hear. The time has
been,
That, when the brains were out, the man would die,
And that
was the end of it. But now they rise again,
With twenty mortal murders on
their crowns,
And push us from our stools. This ghost is more
strange
Than such a murder
is.

Clearly, Macbeth is
terribly influenced by his acts of betrayal. He has just begun his journey of sleep
deprivation and ghostly hallucinations. He will never rest again. He will be tormented
in his mind until his death.

How many times are the words "mockingbird/songbird" mentioned in To Kill a Mockingbird (chapters and page #s would be appreciated)?

I believe the first reference to the mockingbird comes in
Chapter 10 when Atticus, who has just presented his children with air rifles for their
Christmas presents, warns Jem to

readability="9">

"Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit
'em, but remember, it's a sin to kill a
mockingbird."

Later in
Chapter 10, Scout discusses her father's statement with Miss Maudie, who tells Scout
that

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"Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music
for us to enjoy... That's why it's a sin to kill a
mockingbird."

The newspaper
editor, Mr. B. B. Underwood, refers to birds in his editorial following the death of Tom
Robinson in Chapter 25.

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He likened Tom's death to the senseless slaughter
of songbirds by hunters and
children...

Finally, in
Chapter 30, Scout recognizes the symbolism of the mockingbird in the simple nature of
Boo Radley, who has just saved her life from the attack by Bob Ewell. She knows that Mr.
Tate "was right" in calling Ewell's death an accident, since exposing Boo to the
"spotlight" of a murder investigation would

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"... be sort of like shootin' a mockingbird,
wouldn't it?"

Yet another
songbird is also mentioned often in the novel: the finch.

What are some questions I might put on a brochure on India's culture and food?

Assuming that your brochure is aimed at people who are not
Indian and do not know that much about Indian culture and food, you might want to
concentrate on things that people might know or think they know about India.  Some could
be true things, others might be things you would want to
correct.

Some
examples:

• Are many Indians vegetarian because
  they are Hindu?


• Do Indians eat a lot of
  curry?


• Do Indians truly treat cows as if they are
  holy?


• Do people care what caste other people are
  in?


• Who is the most famous (or maybe most popular or most
  respected) person in Indian history?


• Is cricket the most
  popular sport in India?

What external conflict exists between Ralph and Jack in The Lord of the Flies? What do you think is the source of the conflict?

Ralph and Jack are at odds over their mutual
desire to lead the boys on the island. Ralph becomes the default leader
through his possession of the conch. Jack, as the leader of the choir, thinks he should
be in charge of everyone. Ralph tries to diffuse the situation by making Jack's choir
the hunters, which works for awhile. Jack is happy being in power and providing the rest
with food. However, this blows up when Ralph, Simon, and Piggy are the only ones
building shelters. They almost physically fight, but both manage to pull it back
together.

It essentially becomes a fight over
responsibilities, & it threatens the very shaky truce established after Ralph
was voted leader. It is the first time Jack and Ralph have voiced their dissatisfaction
with one another, and it sets the tone for the rest of the novel. So this is the first
wedge driven into their friendship, & their mutual respect quickly becomes
mutual distrust and hatred. The true source of the conflict is Jack's
inability to let anyone else have power. Ralph truly wants what's best in
terms of survival, although he doesn't always behave according to those thoughts. Jack
loves power, and only seeks to have more and more.

How does The Boy in the Striped Pajamas relate to history and memory?

In order to understand the role of history and memory in
Boyne's work, I think that we have to go back to his closing words of the book.  At the
end, Boyne offers a categorical statement that might allow a greater facilitation of
understanding the role of memory in the book:

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...of course all this happened a long time ago
and nothing like that could ever happen again. Not in this day and
age.

History and memory are
linked in Boyne's mind.  The reality is that Boyne understands clearly that as more time
passes from the Holocaust, the foggier it becomes.  For Boyne, his novel is a reminder
that the Holocaust was real and that the suffering that happened as a result of both
political and personal cruelty should not be forgotten.  Boyne uses his text as a
launching point for reflection in the reader.  Essentially, he challenges the reader to
respond to his statement that the Holocaust could not happen, "not in this day and
age."  It is a stunning reminder that to deny the Holocaust is almost as bad as saying
that it will never happen again.  In this closing sentiment, Boyne's work is a reminder
that reflection about the Holocaust and all that it encompasses is the first step to
ensuring that individual rights for all are upheld and voices are not silenced.  This
becomes Boyne's purpose and how his work relates to history and
memory.

Find the derivative of y=10csc(3x/2) at x=2pi/6?

We'll recall the identity that gives the cosecant
function:

csc x = 1/sin x

y =
10csc(3x/2) = 10/sin(3x/2)

We'll calculate the 1st
derivative of the function using the quotient rule:

dy/dx =
[(10)'*sin(3x/2) - 10*[sin(3x/2)]'/[sin(3x/2)]^2

dy/dx = -
15*[cos(3x/2)]/[sin(3x/2)]^2

Now, we'll calculate the value
of the first derivative at x = 2`pi` /6

dy/dx = -
15*[cos(6`pi` /12)]/[sin(6`pi` /12)]^2

dy/dx = -15*cos(`pi`
/2)/(sin `pi` /2)^2

But cos `pi` /2 = 0, therefore dy/dx =
0 at x = 2`pi` /6.

Therefore the function has an extreme at
x = 2`pi` /6.

The requested value of the 1st
derivative, at x = 2`pi` /6 is dy/dx = 0.

List one advantage and disadvantage of the family unit in Jonas's community as compared to the family we know in our society.

In the community, there is no love.  The most significant
disadvantage of the family unit is that people do not experience either romantic or
familial love.  There are no spouses in the sense that we know them.  People do not fall
in love and marry.  A man or a woman decides to raise children, as a duty more than
anything, and applies for a spouse so that a suitable child-rearing partner can be
found.  The family exists only to raise the two children, a boy and a girl.  After the
man and woman decide they are ready they apply for a child, and a boy or girl is given
to them to raise.   After the youngest child grows up, the family unit disbands and the
adults go to live with the other childless adults.   The adults do not love each
other.

As the man and woman do not love each other, they
also do not love their children.  When Jonas asks his parents if they love him, he is
scolded for using imprecise language.  His parents tell him they are proud of him and
enjoy him, but of course they do not love him.  There is no love in the community,
including familial love.

The advantage of this arrangement
is that there are no broken families.  There is no divorce, and no unwanted children. 
Everything is carefully arranged to ensure that the adults are compatible, and capable
of providing a supportive environment for the children while they are with them.  Since
there is no love, there is also none of the pain associated with losing
it.

Please give three examples of truth versus falsehood in Othello.

There are examples everywhere in the play - almost too
many to list. Here are three, all from the first scene, Act One, Scene
One:

First, one from the end of the scene. Here's Iago
talking about Othello to Roderigo:

readability="9">

Though I do hate him as I do
hell-pains.
Yet, for necessity of present life,
I must show out a
flag and sign of love,
Which is indeed but
sign.

Pure and simple, Iago
is telling Roderigo that to protect his own life ('for necessity of present life') he is
going to have to pretend to show love to Othello - wave a 'flag' (a 'sign') of love -
but that 'sign' will be only a sign ('but sign'). It'll look like love, but it'll only
look like it - it's an appearance not a reality. A falsehood disguised like a
truth.

And, secondly, as I jump to the start of the scene,
here's the first two lines of the play for some more:

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RODERIGO
Tush! never tell me; I take
it much unkindly
That thou, Iago, who hast had my purse
As if the
strings were thine, shouldst know of this.

IAGO
'Sblood, but
you will not hear me:
If ever I did dream of such a matter,
Abhor
me.

Roderigo is angry that
Iago has known about Othello's marriage; Iago tells him that he never even dreamt of
such a thing. Now, Shakespeare doesn't tell us how Iago found out about the marriage,
nor do we know if he knew about it beforehand. We don't know whether he's lying or not.
Though he lies to Roderigo later, and we know that he has indeed had Roderigo's 'purse /
as if the strings were' his own, we don't know whether Iago is genuinely surprised or
not.

Point being, the audience don't know whether Iago is
telling the truth or not. Nobody knows. What's the truth of the matter here? Did Iago
know about the marriage? Who told him? Did he keep it from Roderigo? Shakespeare
deliberately leaves it ambiguous.

And this is the problem
with truth and falsehood in this play. We never find out for absolute certain whether
Desdemona and Cassio have slept together (it would be SO easy for Shakespeare to write a
short scene for the two characters together to confirm that it never
happened. But he doesn't). We never find out for certain whether Othello
and Emilia have had an affair (Iago certainly thinks so). You don't know whether anyone
is really what they claim to be or not.

And Iago even admits
this:

I am not
what I am.

True line or false
line? Well, it's both. He's admitting to lying ('I'm not what I seem to be'). But he's
being honest about lying. He's being truthful about his blatant falseness. And just like
everything else in the play, you're not quite sure what to do with him - not quite sure
what to believe. He's the liar who everyone thinks is 'honest' (go through and count the
number of times they call him that!).

So truth and
falsehood in this play are difficult categories to separate. But it's a great
question!

Did the Arab do the right thing in Camus' "The Guest?"

According to the philosophical view of Camus, in "The
Guest," the Arab did do the right thing by voluntarily walking to the jail even though
he was given the choice to avoid doing so by Daru.

readability="5">

The major theme of "The Guest" is that decisions
and choices have
consequences...

In light of
this theme, the Arab must go to the jail to assume the
responsibility for the decision/choice he made in committing murder. Camus believes that
the Arab would also have chosen to face his fate because he would have realized that
death is inevitable for all men, at one point or another. The Arab knows that he has
committed murder and that he deserves to be punished.

Daru
sees only that he cannot make the decision to take the Arab to
jail, so he chooses to let the Arab decide for himself. When he
makes his intention clear, the Arab is surprised, and it would seem, unpleasantly
so:

The Arab
had now turned toward Daru and a sort of panic was visible in his
expression.

This is not what
the man expected. The Arab expects that he will be taken to jail. Perhaps he has
accepted this fact as the men have traveled toward the prison. Daru certainly feels as
if the Arab will take his chance to escape, but he is also
surprised (as was the Arab at Daru's behavior) by what he sees when he turns back to see
how the Arab has progressed:

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And in that slight haze Daru with heavy heart
made out the Arab walking slowly on the road to
prison.

While Daru may not
believe that the Arab made the correct choice, Camus' existentialist's view would allow
the character to do nothing else.

What is the significance of the title MAUS I by Art Spiegelman?I have to do a project and they are asking me what is the significance of the...

The significance of the title Maus I
by Art Spiegelman is that the German word for mouse immediately points out the way Jews
were viewed by the Germans.  The rest of the title, A Survivor's
Tale, points out for the reader that Spiegelman is telling the
story of a survivor--that of his own father.  Because Spiegelman is an artist, all the
people are portrayed as animals with the Nazis being cats which hunt.  The Jewish people
are portrayed as mice which makes the cats' constant hunt feel much more real.  The
reader can visualize the mice's desperate attempts to hide or escape the traps set for
them.  Again, as mice, the reader can see how many ways the mice are caught, what
happens to them, and how many of them survive.  Spiegelman's father does survive, but
lives a very unhappy life, so that even survivors are still living the memories of being
hunted continually.

Why does Scout consider Boo to be a monster in To Kill a Mockingbird?

Scout has lived near the Radley home her entire life. The
house is creepy enough to her, but she has heard rumors as long as she can remember
about Arthur Radley, who she has never seen. His nickname to everyone in Maycomb is
"Boo," presumably for his ghost-like persona. Boo is only seen at night (and very rarely
at that), creeping around in the shadows. He is accused of every unsolved crime that
occurs in Maycomb, and Miss Stephanie Crawford claims that he peeks in her windows after
dark. Worse of all are the rumors of Boo's bloodthirstiness. Wild animals and pets are
in danger when Boo is around, and Jem claims that he has been known to eat squirrels
raw. The fact that Boo may be mentally unstable is another cause for concern among the
children. Even the truthful tales about Boo--that he stabbed his father with a pair of
scissors, for example--are unnerving to Scout. Of course, all of this changes once Scout
and Jem begin receiving gifts in the secret knothole. They soon come to realize that Boo
is no monster, but a friendly, though mysterious and invisible,
neighbor. 

'Business is not an end in itself.It is only a means to an end.'Explain the social responsibilities of Indian business in light of this...

Social responsibility is a voluntary effort on the part of
business to take various steps tosatisfy the expectation of the different interest
groups.

i. Public Image - The activities of business
towards the welfare of the society earn goodwilland reputation for the business. The
earnings of business also depend upon the publicimage of its activities. People prefer
to buy products of a company that engages itselfin various social welfare programmes.
Again, good public image also attracts honestand competent employees to work with such
employers.

ii. Government Regulation - To avoid government
regulations businessmen shoulddischarge their duties voluntarily. For example, if any
business firm pollutes theenvironment it will naturally come under strict government
regulation, which mayultimately force the firm to close down its
business.

iii. Survival and Growth -Every business is a
part of the society. So for its survival andgrowth, support from the society is very
much essential. Business utilizes the availableresources like power, water, land, roads,
etc. of the society. So it should be the responsibility of every business to spend a
part of its profit for the welfare of thesociety.

iv.
Employee satisfaction - Besides getting good salary and working in a healthy
atmosphere,employees also expect other facilities like proper accommodation,
transportation education and training.

What was the tone of the author in A Raisin in the Sun?

In A Raisin in the Sun, the tone is
somber, depressing yet realistic. The Younger family lives in a segregated Chicago
neighborhood. The apartment is worn from too many people living in
it:

The
family's inadequate living situation is conveyed through the fact that they share a
bathroom with other tenants in their apartment house and through the fact that Travis
must sleep on the sofa in the living
room.

At times, the tone
comes across as sarcastic and critical because of the characters' dialogue. Walter
and Beneatha argue constantly. Walter believes Beneatha's dream of becoming a doctor is
not realistic. He criticizes her dream, telling her to become a nurse, which is a more
realistic dream.

Likewise, Beneatha criticizes Walter's
dream of becoming a business man. The tone is quite sarcastic and critical and realistic
during most of the play. There is definitely a lack of respect from Walter and Beneatha
for one another.

The tone is quite serious and depressing.
The Younger family has such a hard time trying to make it in life. Walter is
a chauffeur, and he resents his job. Ruth and Mama do housework and laundry for other
families. The atmosphere is gloomy, almost without hope, except for the fact that the
father's insurance check is expected in the
mail.

Ultimately, the tone changes as the future becomes
brighter for the Younger family. Mama buys a house and the characters create a tone of
hope. Although the tone is still realistic, knowing to expect controversy by moving into
an all white neighborhood, there is an excitement in the Younger family's voices as they
move into their new home.

Can some one help me analyse Macbeth’s dagger soliloquy in Shakespeare's Macbeth?

In Act 2, Scene 1, Macbeth is seeing things. He thinks he
sees a bloody dagger floating. This occurs only moments before his attempt to murder
Duncan as he sleeps:

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Is this a dagger which I see before me,

The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.
I have thee
not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible

To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but(45)
A dagger of the mind,
a false creation,

The vision
of the dagger seems real, but Macbeth is hallucinating. He only thinks he sees a dagger.
In reality, Macbeth's guilty conscience is causing him to see things that are not there.

Macbeth thinks the dagger is leading him or guiding him to
where Duncan sleeps. He is obviously having second thoughts about murdering Duncan. He
sees the bloody dagger just moments before he plans to murder Duncan. His imagination is
over worked. His sense of dread and guilt are before him as he sees the bloody dagger
floating in the air.

From Odeipus Tyrannus, what is one specific thing we are meant to learn?

There is not but one thing to be learned from the drama of
Oedipus.  There are many truths to be learned from his narrative.  I would think one of
the most important elements to learn is that complexity marks human consciousness. 
Oedipus believes that there are simple and direct answers to everything.  The plague and
suffering has hit his people?  Simple:  He will "fix" everything.  Tiresias says
something to his disliking?  Simple:  He will "banish" him.  There is an oracle saying
something ominous?  Simple:  Oedipius' autonomy and free will can overcome it.  In the
end, this is what the play teaches us in that there are no simple answers to the
fundamental questions of human consciousness.  Individuals must wade through complex
waters and reflect in order to find whatever an appropriate answer might be.  In the
world of questions such as, "Who am I?"  or "Why is there suffering?" or "What shall I
do?" one cannot hope to find simple and rash answers.  There is only obscurity.  When
Oedipus sees the results of his desire for simplicity in the form of his dead wife/
mother, it is clear that he understands this.  This is why his blinding is the ultimate
response to the simplicity he has displayed.  The ending of the narrative is one where
blindness and obscurity will always accompany him.

the origin O and a point B(p,q) are opposite vertices of the square OABC. Find the coordinates of the points A and C.got as far as finding the...

If we'll join the opposite vertices of the square we'll
get the diagonal of the square, which represents also the hypotenuse of the right angle
triangle OAB, whose right angle is A.

Since the lengths of
the sides of the square are equal, let the sides OA and AB be
x.

We'll apply Pythagorean theorem, in right triangle OAB, 
to get OB:

`x^(2)` + `x^(2)` =
`OB^(2)`

2`x^(2)` =
`OB^(2)`

OB =
x`sqrt(2)`(1)

But, we can calculate the length of the
hypotenuse OB, using the distance formula:

OB =
`sqrt((xB-xO)^(2) +(yB-yO)^(2))`

OB = `sqrt(p^(2)+q^(2))`
(2)

Now, we can equate (1) and
(2)

x`sqrt(2)` =
`sqrt(p^(2)+q^(2))`

x = `sqrt(2(p^(2) + q^(2)))`
/2

Since we know the length of each side of the square, now
we can find the coordinates of the vertices A and C, using the distance
formula:

OA = `sqrt((xA-xO)^(2) + (yA -
yO)^(2))`

OA = `sqrt(xA^(2) +
yA^(2))`(3)

But OA = `sqrt(2(p^(2) + q^(2)))` /2
(4)

We'll equate (3) and
(4):

`xA^(2)` + `yA^(2)` = (`p^(2)` + `q^(2)`
)/2

We also can calculate the length of the side
BA:

BA = `sqrt((p-xA)^(2) +
(q-yA)^(2))`(5)

We'll equate (5) and
(4):

`(p-xA)^(2)` + `(q-yA)^(2)` = (`p^(2)` + `q^(2)`
)/2

We'll expand the binomials from the left
side:

`p^(2)` - 2pxA + `xA^(2)` + `q^(2)` - 2qyA + `yA^(2)`
= (`p^(2)` + `q^(2)` )/2

But `xA^(2)` + `yA^(2)` = (`p^(2)`
+ `q^(2)` )/2

2(`xA^(2)` + `yA^(2)` ) - 2(pxA  + qyA) =
0

xA(xA - p) = yA(yA - q)

The
length of diagonal OB being equal with the length of diagonal AC, therefore, we cand
determine the coordinates of the vertex
C.

Therefore, the relation between
coordinates of vertices A and B is: xA(xA - p) = yA(yA -
q).

Analysis of "The Second Coming"?

Yeats wrote the poem in 1919 after the First
Great War, but because of the Cristian imagery of the Apocalypse and the Second Coming,
and its terrifying, ritualistic language, the poem is an obscure allegory open to
several interpretations. May be that the poem looks simple in its structure, the first
stanza describing the present conditions of the world-the state of disintegration and
fragmentation as in things falling apart, anarchy being loosed, and the second stanza
surmising that a monstrous Second Coming is about to take place, not of the Jesus as we
knew, but of a new messiah, a “rough beast,” the slouching sphinx rousing itself in the
desert and lumbering toward Bethlehem.

The opening lines
describe a nightmarish scene: the falcon, turning in a widening “gyre” (spiral), cannot
hear the falconer. Those who are the best lack all conviction, while the worst are "full
of passionate intensity".

Then the poet/speaker asserts
that the ''second coming'' is about to come. But he is troubled by “a vast image of
the Spiritus Mundi, or the collective spirit of mankind: somewhere
in the desert, a giant sphinx is moving, while the shadows of desert birds reel about
it. What “rough beast,” he wonders "slouches towards Bethlehem to be
born?”

In A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, what is the author's message about life throughout the book?

In a sense, this book is more about the injustice in the
world thanks to racism than actually presenting a treatise on how to live life. Yet
arguably, we can infer such lessons from the way in which the novel presents us with a
world where obvious injustice and inhumanity exists. Clearly, the convinction and
execution of Jefferson is a prime example of this injustice deriving from racism. The
way that he innocently accepts a ride from two men and then is implicated in a violent
struggle, in spite of his lack of understanding of what is really happening, is enough
to give him the death sentence. The injustice is of course not merely limited to
Jefferson, but goes outwards onto his nearest and dearest and those who are associated
with him. For example, Tante Lou, the Reverend and Grant Wiggins all suffer injustice
and poor treatment when they try to visit Jefferson, for example the way in which Miss
Emma is treated and has to have her basket searched every
time.

However, in spite of this, the message of the novel
seems to concern the way that we should try to meet such injustice and live our lives as
a result. The way in which Jefferson is able to walk to the electric chair like a man is
therefore an important symbol of how we should live our lives in the face of such
injustice. As Jefferson writes in his diary before his execution, "I been shakin and
shakin but im gon stay strong." The overwhelming lesson of the novel seems to be that we
must not allow ourselves to be dehumanised by injustice.

What is an important quote in Number the Stars that shows one of the themes from the book?

You might want to analyse the theme of bravery in this
excellent children's book. During the course of the novel, Annemarie is shown to grow in
her understanding of the concept of bravery and what true bravery actually looks like in
the very real and horrendous situation that the Jews in Europe are facing. Consider the
following quotation, which is said by Uncle Henrikk to
Annemarie:

It
is much easier to be brave if you do not know everything. And so your mama does not know
everything. Neither do I. We know only what we need to
know.

Uncle Henrik explains
to Annemarie why Mrs. Johansen concealed the truth about Annemarie's Great-aunt Birte.
This quote is significant because Annemarie realises that complete knowledge--something
she feels she ought to possess--is not actually always a good thing. Annemarie equates
being told the complete truth with being an adult, and so when she discovers that she
has been lied to, she is annoyed because she feels that she is being treated like a
child. In this quote, Henrik explores how too much knowledge could actually be a bad
thing and might even make it harder to be brave. Of course, this is something that
Annemarie will discover that very night.

However, this
quote also is important because of the way in which it helps Annemarie to come to a
deeper and more accurate understanding of bravery. Bravery, to Annemarie, is the most
important characteristic one can possess. However, Annemarie by the end of the novel
comes to realise that bravery is not equated with facing every danger or threat
immediately.

Please explain the following stanza from "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer": "WHEN I heard the learn’d astronomer;/When the proofs, the...

It is important to realise that this poem is an example of
American Romanticism. Romanticism as a literary movement started in many ways as a kind
of backlash to rationalism and a period of history that resulted in many scientific
discoveries and a feeling that scientific method could be used to unlock and penetrate
even the most abstruse and recondite mysteries of
nature.

The section of the poem you have quoted features
the first four lines of the poem, and represents the triumph of the scientific method
and of rationalism. It appears as if the heavens themselves have been scientifically
understood, and almost seem to be chained in or encaged by the "proofs, the figures"
that were "ranged in columns before me." Looking at the stars from this scientific
viewpoint only makes the stars suitable objects to be quantified, as the diagrams and
charts that the speaker is shown can be used to "add, divide and measure them." This of
course shows the limitations of the scientific view, as it appears that this "learn'd
astronomer," in spite of his great intelligence and knowledge about the heavens, has
lost the simple human ability to marvel at what is beyond him. This section of the poem
presents the universe as if it were some easily explained scientific formula or
mathematical equation, which, if you read the rest of the poem, is what makes the poet
feel sick inside.

Could you share a quote that explores the main idea or theme of the book?Please cite the source of the text.

I would use this quote:

readability="6">

Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and
putting them together again in new shapes of your own
choosing.

This occurs in Book
3, chapter 3. Winston is listening to O'Brien preach about how the Party effectively
gets what it wants. This completely embodies the text of 1984
because the book is about how a government goes about completely controlling its people.
The warning of the book is to be on guard for a government that will surpass the
boundaries of human rights and infringe upon things like choice, freedom, happiness, and
ability. This quote also embodies the ideas of propaganda, manipulation, control and
power. With this variety of themes, a student could argue many different particulars
that this book explores.

What was the effect of the Declaration of Independence?

There are a number of ways that this could be answered. 
Let us look at two effects this document had, one immediate and one that took longer to
become evident.

First, the Declaration established that the
colonies were truly trying to become independent.  Up until that time, the rebellion had
not explicitly been about independence.  Even after the fighting started at Lexington
and Concord, there were still attempts, such as the "Olive Branch Petition," to
reconcile with Great Britain.  The Declaration made clear that such attempts were over
and that the war was about creating a new country.

In the
longer term, the Declaration's effect has been to serve as a statement of America's
aspirations.  It has helped to define who and what we are as a nation.  By setting out
the idea that our nation is dedicated to the idea that "all men are created equal," the
Declaration has helped to shape our history.  It has given support, for example, to
rights movements that range from abolition to gay rights.  It has served as a national
ideal that we have continued to strive to achieve.

In this
way, the Declaration had important effects both in the short term and in the long
run.

In To Kill a Mockingbird, how does Boo Radley's history of violence foreshadow his method of protecting jem and scout?To Kill a Mockingbird by...

Boo Radley's "history of violence" is more myth than
reality.  As Miss Maudie tells the children in Chapter 5, the stories about Boo are
"three-fourths colored and one-fourth Stephanie Crawford," meaning they are a
combination of superstition and fantasy.  However, because he has been so repressed in
his home, Boo could possibly have struck out at his father who refused to let him
leave.  After all, such an action is not uncommon for desperate
people.

In his loneliness, Boo has made efforts to be in
communion with the children, if only vicariously as he stealthily watches them.  His
mending of Jem's pants on the night when the children came to the windows in a dare and
Jem tore his pants on the wire fence in flight from Mr. Radley's shotgun, along with his
little gifts hidden in the knothole of the tree all indicate his efforts to establish
friendship as well as the value that some kind of relationship holds for
him.

So, while such a distanced relationship would not mean
much to others, to the isolated Boo, his "friendship" with Jem and Scout is of paramount
value.  When he discovers that the children are threatened by the rapscallion Bob Ewell,
Boo again becomes the desperate person who seeks to protect what he values greatly.  For
a shy recluse like Boo, there can be no efforts to talk Ewell out of his act that would
be effective.  Boo, in his panic and fear for the children that he must commit a
desperate act--he stabs Ewell who is of no value to him whatsoever, while the children
certainly are.