In what cities can "red light districts" be found? Give examples of where this approach has been or is currently being used.

The most famous red light district in the world can be
found in the De Wallen district of Amsterdam, Netherlands. Red light districts are, of
course, areas where known prostitution can be found. In Amsterdam, De Wallen is an area
located in the oldest part of the city, and the red light district there encompasses
several blocks where women--often dressed in lingerie and sitting in windows or
glass-paned doorways--legally offer their sexual services for a price. Prospective
customers can view the women and converse with them, presumably before deciding upon a
price for services rendered. The area is so renowned (or infamous) that it has become
one of the leading tourist attractions in the city.

Red
light districts exist in other parts of the world. In Hamburg, Germany, the Reeperbahn
is a legally regulated area which boasts many prostitutes. Illegal red light districts
also exist in Asia, particularly in Thailand.

In what ways are the upper class shallow and materialistic in The Great Gatsby?I'm writing an essay connecting how one character's (Gatsby's)...

In his novel The Great Gatsby, F.
Scott Fitzgerald depicts the dichotomy of the established upper class of the East and
the nouveau riche from the Midwest with the two areas of East Egg and West Egg.  When
Nick Carraway enters the home of Daisy and Tom Buchanan, it is a house that reflects
gold.  Women in white dresses that ripple and flutter as if the women "had just been
blown back in after a short flight around the
house."

After Nick asks Daisy if she knows Gatsby, she
demands, "What Gatsby?" Then, she speaks of missing the longest day of the year. 
Clearly, she speaks with Miss Jordan Baker in a "bantering inconsequence." Later, Daisy
asks Nick if he is engaged because she says,

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"We heard it from three people so it must be
true."

In Chapter Three,
Gatsby holds parties that mimic those of the upperclass where the guests do not know
each other and there are strangers who wear the same dress and people laugh at the same
things; laughter spills "with prodigality" much like the shallow laughter of Daisy who
calls herself a "silly fool."  Jordan declares ironically that she likes large parties
because

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"They're so intimate.  At small parties there
isn't any privacy."

As to
Gatsby's identity, a mystique develops, and rumors circulate that he has killed a man. 
In this mimicry of the upper class, Gatsby arranges for Daisy to come to his house with
its freshly manicured lawn by pulling out all his shirts and by trying to stand casually
by his mantle.   Impressed with all his material possessions, Daisy buries her head in
his shirts. With a voice that Nick says "was full of money," Daisy lives in the illusion
that money makes everything lovely.  While she allows Gatsby to be totally devoted to
her, she will not tell Tom that she does not love him, but turns to Gatsby and
cries,

"Oh,
you want too much!....I love you now--isn't that
enough?"

Far too
materialistc, Daisy will not relinquish those things between her and Tom.  In a shallow
betrayal of Gatsby, she allows Tom to arrange for Mr. Wilson to believe that it is
Gatsby who has struck and killed Mrytle Wilson.  But, while the loyal Gatsby stands
outside her window in hopes of protecting Daisy after the accident, Nick notices that
Daisy and Tom share "an air of natural intimacy" as though "they were conspiring
together"; thus, Gatsby watches over "nothing." For, Daisy allows Jay Gatsby, the man
with no background, to become the sacrificial victim to hers and Tom's shallow
materialism. 

What is Amir's ethnicity in The Kite Runner?

Like Baba, Amir is a Pashtun. The Pashtuns have long been
the largest and most powerful ethnic group in Afghanistan, and nearly all of the
nation's leaders for more than 300 years were Pashtun. They are also the second largest
ethnic group in neighboring Pakistan. The wide differences in the ethnic group are best
illustrated by the character Assef; although he and his parents are Pashtuns, Assef and
his family consider Baba and Amir traitors to the group, in part due to Baba's
friendship with Ali and Hassan--both members of the Hazara ethnic group, considered the
lowest and the most persecuted in Afghanistan. Baba is a far more tolerant and liberal
thinker than Assef and his family; Assef, like many other Pashtuns, joined the Taliban
following the departure of the Russians.

What kinds of literature could be assigned as companions with The Hunger Games?"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson is one I have. What others could...

If you are looking for short stories or other examples of
literature to help you, I think that you want to find works that play with the theme of
how the individual responds to a bizarre world.  Ursula Leguin's "The Ones Who Walk Away
from Omelas" is an excellent example of this idea.  It is something that can get the
reader to think about how bizarre the world of Omelas is and what parallels can be seen
in our world today.  Another similar example of such a story would be Bradbury's "The
Veldt."  In Collins' work, children are set to be the hunted.  Bradbury's short story
flips this in articulating what happens when the parents are the hunted?  Exploring this
inversion of power, contrasting it to Collins' work, and examining how violence is used
by those in the position of power would all be interesting ideas to emerge.  Lowry's
book, The Giver, is another great example of the bizarre nature of
a world where the protagonist has to make a choice as to whether they will instill the
idea of justice in a world that lacks it.  I think that these might be good starting
points for you.

Explain what you think is the key line in "Ulysses" by Tennyson.

I think that the closing line is the key line in the whole
poem and critical to unlocking both its meaning and greatness.  Honestly, there are many
great lines in the poem, but the closing is amazing:

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To strive, to seek, to find, and not to
yield.

On one hand, this line
can be a testament to the greatness of the poem's subject.  Ulysses can be seen as a
permanent warrior, someone who will not be withered with time.  His desire to continue
the pursuit of his life's work is evident in these words.  Tennyson's construction of
Ulysses is one who will always live in accordance to his spirit and there is a beauty in
that.  In a world where so much is fleeting and subject to contingency, Ulysses stands
as a benchmark of this lack of change.  Even though he has safely returned home, he will
not use that as an opportunity to deny the nourishment for adventure that his soul
obviously seeks.  It is here where this line reflects much that is great about its
subject.

Simultaneously, it is here where some of the worst
elements of Ulysses are seen.  The fact that Ulysses cannot honor in action the love and
devotion of Penelope is startling.  There can be fewer visions of virtue and loyalty
than Penelope to Ulysses.  She pined and suffered for his return.  The gratitude that
she gets is a condemnation of the domestic life she leads and envisions sharing with
him, her husband.  After everything, there is a level of selfishness revealed in his
declaration of the last line.  At the same time, the last line does not speak to how
important the son's relationship to his father is.  Telemachus wept for his father, and
never wavered in his commitment to see his father return.  While political provisions
are made for Telemachus, there is little in way of an emotional farewell in the idea of 
"To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."  In seeing a father tell his son that
he is, for all practical purposes, an impediment to his dreams is
repugnant.

In the end, this is why this line is so
important.  It reflects so much in Ulysses' character.  At the same time, this line
helps to bring out a rather complex rendering of Ulysses, one that compels the reader to
think and reflect, creating difficulty in judgment.  This becomes the testament to the
line, the poem, and its place in literature.

What is the main focus of the story "Araby"?James Joyce's "Araby"

The main focus of James Joyce's short story "Araby" is
upon the narrator/character whose deluded infatuation leads him to glorify his
perception of Mangan's sister, and, in so doing, become
disillusioned.

When the narrator initially see Mangan's
sister, he envisions her as having an aura behind her, like a madonna, she has "her
figure defined by the light from the half-opened door."  Later, he further
romanticizes himself as an Arthurian knight and confuses this image with relgious
fervor, 

...I
bore my chalice safely through a throng of foes.  Her name sprang to my lips at moments
in strange prayers and praises which I myself did not understand.  My eyes were often
full of tears....

Then, when
he speaks to her, Mangan's sister asks the narrator if she is going to Araby,
a bazaar that he considers exotic.  However, this, too, is an illusion; and,
when the narrator arrives at the bazaar as it closes and Mangan's sister is not there,
he realizes his adolescent folly,

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Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a
creature driven and derided by
vanity.

As he stands in the
dark hall, the narrator has what Joyce terms an epiphany and his eyes burn with his
shame and anger at himself for being so romantically deluded and foolish in his
infatuation.

How did African Americans take an active role in shaping their destiny during Reconstruction?

During Reconstruction, numerous attempts were made by
white supremacists in the South to keep Blacks as near to slavery as possible. These so
called "Jim Crow Laws" often used rather devious methods to prohibit Blacks from voting,
sitting on juries, or holding public office. Among the more durable obstacles that
prevented black advancement was the U.S. Supreme Court decision of Plessy vs,
Ferguson which affirmed that separate facilities for Blacks and Whites did
not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment as long as those
facilities were "equal," hence the doctrine of "Separate but
Equal."

Blacks were elected to public office in the South,
even to Congress during Reconstruction, but their progress in shaping their destiny
through the period was often stymied. Their greatest gains came on the heels of the end
of Reconstruction through the work of two men:  Booker T. Washington, who had been born
a slave, and founded the Tuskegee Institute. He advised Blacks to work where they were
to improve their station in life; and not resist the law.  Later, W.E.B. DuBois, who was
born during Reconstruction but was later educated at Harvard, said the key to
improvement was education and enfranchisement. He opposed the pacifistic attitudes of
Washington, and insisted that segregation must be ended immediately. He was instrumental
in founding the NAACP which used legal means to secure rights for Blacks. During
Reconstruction itself, Blacks were unable to make substantial strides in the South
because Southern Whites opposed them every step of the way.