Describe the difficulty and/or ease with which Arnold transferred to his new school in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

DIFFICULTIES: The other kids made fun of his name. He
wanted to be called Junior, and that seemed strange to them. After hearing his name read
as Arnold Spirit, they thought that was funny too. Junior is ignored by the pretty girls
and the jocks even though he desperately wants to be one of them. As time goes on at his
new school, he feels more and more alone and loses more and more of his heritage every
day.

EASE: Eventually, Junior comes to realize that he is
in fact more intelligent than most of the kids at the new school and this is evidenced
by who he makes a friend. Gordy is the local school nerd who accidentally stuck up for
Junior and this seals the beginnings of their friendship.

What is the theme of "A Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost?

The theme of this poem centers around choices, and which
ones bring us the fullest life as human beings.

In "The
Road Not Taken," we see someone in the woods at the fork in the road...pondering which
way would be the better one to travel.

The one path is one
he has traveled before...so it would be safe, and easy to travel. The other path is
unknown, and will be scary to travel because there will be more obstales in the way. The
author chooses to take "the road less traveled", and he concludes that this has made
"all the difference."

We assume then, that the moral or
theme of the poem is that choosing individuality...stepping out of the comfort zone and
being a nonconformist...following ones own heart and dreams...is what makes life full
and rich.

How does Maniac define a home in Maniac Magee?How does Maniac define a home?

If we look at Chapter Twelve, which is when Maniac Magee
finds his first more stable "home" compared to the shed in the park, we can see that
Manic Magee defines home as being an address that is recognised in the eyes of the
world. Note the way that he is unable to go to sleep in the Beale's house until he has
performed one very important operation:

readability="16">

Before maniac could go to sleep, however, there
was somethign he had to do. He flipped off the covers and went downstairs. Before the
puzzled faces of Mr. and Mrs. Beale, he opened th front door and looked at the three
cast-iron digits nailed to the door frame: seven two eight. He kept staring at them,
smiling. Then he closed the door, said a cheerful "Goodnight," and went back to
bed.

Maniac Magee finally had an
address.

For a boy so used to
instability and having moved around so much, we can see the importance of an address and
the way that it symbolises a fixed abode and stands in opposition to his itinerant
lifestyle. However, if we look at the final chapter, when Maniac Magee is sleeping, in
all places, in a buffalo enclosure, when Amanda drags Maniac Magee back to his home, we
can see that home to him means something much more important. It is somewhere where he
belongs and is loved and is accepted without question.

What are some controversial issues in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian?

Racism is an obvious issue.
Rowdy, Junior's friend was almost racist against his own kind as he was mad at Junior
for being open to spending time with white people. The mascot at Junior's new high
school was an Indian which certainly felt a little racist to
him.

Education is inequitable.
On the reservation, it feels like education only occur for the students who want it, and
at that, not many do. Most Indians drop out anyways seems to be a common
attitude.

Government
assistance is a consistent issue that dominates the text as medical help,
type of glasses, and the welfare benefits or lack thereof are regularly referred to in
Junior's narration.

Alcoholism
is a consistent controversial issue on the reservations. In this story in particular,
Junior's dad's friend Eugene is considered a regular drunk driver who Junior actually
rides with during the novel at one point to get to
school.

Violence is a system
of managing behavior on the reservation. Parents express violence on children, and
children establish pecking order among each other in this
book.

These are the major controversial issues you will
find in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time
Indian.

In Guns, Germs, and Steel what is the relationship between food production and complex societies-does one lead to the other?Guns, Germs, and Steel...

In Chapter 14, Diamond tells us that there is not an
either-or answer to the question of which of these things leads to the other.  Complex
societies do not lead to food production or vice versa.  Instead, Diamond tells us (on
page 285 in the paperback edition) that these two things "stimulate each
other."

Of course, food production is needed to get a more
complex society.  There is no way to get a large and complex society without it. 
Diamond says that very few societies make it to the level of chiefdoms without food
production.  However, complex societies also make it easier to have food production. 
The existence of an organized government can make it possible for there to be public
works like irrigation systems that make food production more
possible.

So, the causation goes both ways.  Food
production and complex societies lead to one another.

How are the themes of witchcraft and rhetorical power portrayed in the play in relation to the main characters?

In terms of rhetorical power,
Iago uses imagery to twist what is said or understood. For example,
time after time, he allows Othello to believe something other than reality by
introducing a hypothetical situation or failing to use names. Other times he flat out
lies. For example in Act iv.i, he lets Othello imagine a "kiss in private" and being
"naked in bed with a friend". Both of these connote Desdemona and Cassio, but neither
name is ever mentioned. Other rhetorical devices that Iago uses include
puns and rhetorical questions. One line
captures both of these:

readability="7">

Lie - with her, on her, what you
will.

Iago is playing with
the word "lie" to mean sex here in Othello's mind. Ironically, we audience members know
that it isn't true and an untruth is a lie. He leaves the end of the comment "what you
will" meaning that Othello can believe whatever he wants or can imagine. Iago is
purposely being non-chalant to let Othello get worked up about this affair that is
actually not happening between his wife and Cassio.

The
theme of witchcraft also comes through in this same scene.
Iago is thought to be a representative of the Devil and the religion or practice of the
Devil would certainly be witchcraft. Here, after causing Othello's mind to run so wild
that he falls into an epileptic siezure, Iago demonstrates witchcraft in two
ways:

My
medicine, work! Thus credulous fools are caught:
And many worthy and chaste
dames even thus,
All guiltless, meet
reproach.

First, he notes the
work he has done as "medicine". One of the first images people experience in thinking
about witchcraft has to do with a big black cauldron or spells being cast.
Medicine is an allusion to each of these. Then, his work is to
defeat the righteous. The words credulous, worthy, and
chaste all speak to goodness, the enemy of
evil.

What does purple mean (represent) in Emily Dickinson's poem "A slash of blue"?What does purple symbolize in this poem? Why does she uses the color...

Emily Dickinson refers to the color purple in many of her
poems ("There is a flower that bees prefer", "Wait Till the Majesty of Death", and "We
like March", and "It will be
Summer--Eventually").

Typically her use of the color purple
lends itself to aspects of nature which many of her poems revolved around.  Many times
the color purple was the only color used in the poem. The poem "A slash of blue" is very
different in this aspect; purple is not the only color used in the
poem.

The poem is speaking to Dickinson's appreciation of
the morning sky. For Dickinson, the morning sky is a painter's canvas. The colors which
are used to depict the morning sky are blue, gray, scarlet, purple, ruby and
gold.

For one to understand the use of the color purple in
the poem, one must look at the meaning of the color
purple.

Purple
is the color of good judgment. It is the color of people seeking spiritual fulfillment.
It is said if you surround yourself with purple you will have peace of mind. Purple is a
good color to use in
meditation.

The relevance of
this definition is that Dickinson seems to be in search of piece of mind and meditating
as the sun enters the sky creating a mixture of many different
colors.