In chapter 4 in Of Mice and Men, why is the stable buck given his own room?

The above editor is correct:  the information you need is
in chapter four of the novel, rather than in chapter
two. 

If you need evidence for your answer, it begins on
page 75 of my edition.  The entire chapter takes place in Crooks' room, which is
adjacent to the barn and is entered through the barn.  When Lennie appears and explains
that he saw Crooks' light on, so he came in, Crooks
says:

"Well,
I got a right to have a light.  You go on get outta my room.  I ain't wanted in the bunk
house, and you ain't wanted in my room."

"Why ain't you
wanted?"  Lennie asked.

"'Cause I'm black.  They play cards
in there, but I can't play because I'm black.  They say I stink.  Well, I tell you, you
all of you stink to
me."

Crooks isn't allowed in
the bunk house, because of segregation.  The races are kept apart.  The reader assumes
that the idea of Crooks stinking is a stereotypical idea the whites project upon him due
to their prejudices.  They don't want him in the bunk house because he is
black. 

How did Heck Tate alter the evidence about Boo Radley killing Bob to fit his lie?

The other teacher is correct. In chapter 30, Heck Tate and
Atticus are discussing what happened and Atticus thinks at first that Jem was the one
that killed Bob Ewell. Heck insists on calling the death an accident, but Atticus, ever
the fair and impartial lawyer, doesn’t want Jem protected from the law. Heck insists
that Ewell fell on his knife and that Jem didn’t kill him. Heck knows that Boo is the
one who stabbed Ewell but he wants to keep the facts secret. He says that Boo, with his
"quiet ways", doesn’t need the entire town bothering him any more than they have in the
past. He reminds Atticus that Tom Robinson died for no reason and now the man
responsible for that miscarriage of justice (Bob Ewell) is dead. “Let the dead bury the
dead,” he tells Atticus.

Some of my students have taken
issue with this ending - the fact that Atticus agreed to keep things quiet. They said it
was out of character - that a man who was even willing to allow his own son to be
exposed to the workings of the law (when Atticus thought it was Jem who killed Ewell)
would not have so easily agreed to hush up Boo's deed. What do you think about this? I
think Atticus did act according to character because sometimes we
must listen to a higher power, and surely that power would not have wanted Boo to suffer
any further abuse.

In a brief summary, can you explain "Waterland" by Graham Swift?

As the story begins, the main character, Tom Crick, is remembering childhood in eastern England. His thoughts return to the present, and we learn that he has lost his job teaching history because the school is closing its history department and because Tom's wife has committed a crime.

The plot flashes back and forth from the past to the present, all having to do Tom and his wife, Mary. Tom remembers finding a friend's drowned body, and Mary telling him that Tom's brother Dick had killed the man. It is plausible for the reader to suspect Mary.

While remembering the past and living in the present, Tom tells about the history of his family, his relationship with Mary, the story of his grandfather, and the usefulness of history. He describes trying to get Dick to confess to the murder, but failing. Mary decides to teach Dick, who is mentally disabled, all about sex, and when she becomes pregnant, she tells Tom she's not sure whether he is the father or whether it was Dick or their dead friend Freddie! Later in the story, we will learn that she aborted this baby.

In the present, Mary announces at the age of 52 that she is pregnant. However, when Tom comes home one day, he discovers that she has stolen a baby. He insists that they return the baby, and Mary is placed in a mental hospital.

There is a side story about Dick's having been conceived in incest, and the story ends with him committing suicide.

Whew! This story is hard to keep up with!

Are the events in Macbeth predestined (under the influence of Fate), or would you say that the witches manipulated Macbeth?

Concerning Shakespeare's Macbeth, the
answer depends largely on the beliefs you bring to the
play.

With a modern mindset, which you probably possess,
you probably, following a thorough reading and study of the drama, would insist that
Macbeth has free will and makes choices, then suffers the
consequences.

For an Elizabethan, or someone who believes
in predestination, however, plenty of evidence exists in the play that could convince
such a person that predestination, or fate, as you call it, is at
play.

For instance, if the witches know the future, do they
just know it or do they cause it?  Is there a line between knowing the future and
causing it?  Even if one finds rational explanations for the predictions concerning
Macbeth (he'll be Cawdor, king, Birnam Wood will move, a man born of a body instead of a
woman will kill him), one is still left with the prediction that Banquo's heirs will be
kings.  How do the witches know that?  And, again, if they know it, does a supernatural
force cause it?

And free will and predestination were
contemporary issues in Elizabethan England, brought into focus by the Protestant
Reformation.

In short, Shakespeare is often ambiguous, and
this issue, as it is presented in Macbeth, is no exception.  You
can make a case both ways.  My modern mind tells me that the witches are manipulative
and Macbeth obsessively ambitious, and he makes choices to get what he wants.  But I can
argue the opposite, as well. 

Give detailed notes and critical comments on Rosalind's character from "As You Like It."nothing

Rosalind is a fictional character and the romantic female lead in the comedy As You Like It (1600?) by William Shakespeare.

She is the daughter of the exiled Duke Senior and niece to his usurping brother Duke Frederick. After angering her uncle, she leaves his court for exile in the Forest of Arden. There, she lives disguised as a shepherd named Ganymede with her devoted cousin, Celia disguised as his sister, Aliena and her uncle's fool Touchstone. Eventually, Rosalind is reunited with her father and is married to her faithful lover, Orlando.

Rosalind is one of Shakespeare's most recognized heroines. Admired for her intelligence, quick wit, and beauty, Rosalind is a vital character in "As You Like It." Most commonly seen next to her beloved cousin Celia, Rosalind is also a faithful friend, leader, and schemer. She stays true to her family and friends throughout the entire story, no matter how dangerous the consequences. Rosalind dominates the stage. Her true decision-making skills can be seen in the last act of Scene V where she has to present herself as Rosalind to her father and to Orlando, but at the same time change Phebe's opinion to marry Silvius.

Rosalind has been played by various notable actresses including Elizabeth Bergner in a 1936 film opposite Laurence Olivier as Orlando,^[1] Helena Bonham Carter in the 2000 BBC Radio 4 version,Helen Mirren in the 1978 BBC version of the play directed by Basil Coleman,^[2] and Bryce Dallas Howard in the 2006 production directed by Kenneth Branagh.

Acclaimed Tony Award-winning American actress Patti LuPone played the role at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, after her award-winning portrayal of Eva Peron in the original Broadway run ofEvita. This caused much speculation because LuPone was leaving the Broadway stage and moving to "regional" work.

Adrian Lester won a Time Out Award for his performance as Rosalind in Cheek by Jowl's 1991 production of As You Like It. A male actor in the role (as would have been the norm in Shakespeare's time) underlines the confusion of gender roles within the play: at one point, a male actor is playing a woman who is pretending to be a man acting the part of a woman.

Explain the idea of heroism in Beowulf.

Beowulf is considered a "hero" of the story because he is representative of the qualities and characteristics of his people.  The Anglo-Saxons believed in fate or "wyrd", fame, later on they believed in religious faith, and they loved their stories.  Scops were even considered "heroes" as they were the Hollywood movie stars of the time period...memorizing thousands of lines of stories and traveling from place to place to entertain the illiterate masses.

The early Anglo-Saxons did not believe strongly in an afterlife as the Christians did.  Instead they believed heavily in fame--the kind of eternal life given by the scops who told the stories of you and your deeds during life.  This is why Beowulf brags about his sea monsters and swimming abilities, why he travels so far to conquer the monster Grendel, and why he stays to slay Grendel's mother, and again, why he faces the dragon in his old age.  The scops have much fodder and fuel for fireside entertainment with this hero.

The other thing that is very important to the Anglo-Saxons is loyalty.  Beowulf's loyalty to Hrothgar comes out of duty to him for Hrothgar's aid to Beowulf's father when he was in need.  This is the other reason Beowulf goes to Hrothgar's aid against Grendel.

Wiglaf also demonstrates this loyalty as well as bravery when he and Beowulf face the dragon alone since all others ran for the safety of the woods.  Heroes abound!

In "A Rose for Emily," what does Emily do to contribute to herself being out casted by the people in her town?

Relating to your question, Miss Emily was perceived as an outcast by her town when she refused to pay her taxes.  She would not accept the fact that Colonel Sartoris was long dead.

"Miss Emily, “a small, fat woman in black,” met them at the door, and she told them that she had no taxes in Jefferson."

Miss Emily is thought of as an outcast when the townspeople begin to notice a pungent odor emanating from her house.

"It was with the onset of the smell that the townspeople had begun to feel sorry for Miss Emily, as they recalled how Miss Emily’s great-aunt, old lady Wyatt, had gone crazy."

She is considered crazy, like her great-aunt, not warmly embraced by the town, but tolerated.

When Miss Emily starts taking buggy rides with Homer Barron, the townspeople do not approve of a southern woman dating a Yankee.  She is made a social outcast.

"When Miss Emily is seen in public with Homer Barron, the townspeople are abhorred on two accounts: first, that Barron is a “Yankee,” and second, that he is a “day laborer,” even if he is a foreman."

Miss Emily, even in death, was a spectacle for the townspeople to stare at and gossip about, speculating on what would be found in her old gloomy house.

".… What other person, or what other house, in the town had ever received this much attention?"

uprootedness, transplantation, and dual construction of ethnicity is the most aplicable to African Americans1. The pre-Civil War era with the...

During the pre-Civil War era, Africans could not even be
referred to as African-Americans, because they were considered property. They were
"uprooted" from their native homes (Africa, mostly) and "transplanted" into a foreign
country where everything was different - weather, customs, food, people. They were
removed from their families and thrown in together with other people that they did not
know - new family, new world. They were therefore removed from the cultural group from
which they obtained their "ethnicity." The first of the two concepts were the strongest
during this period because I don't believe they even thought about their eroding
"ethnicity" - they were in survival mode. Even when they had children, their families
were separated, so the cycle of uprootedness and transplantation continued, although
now, the transplantation was not as pronounced since they were not being moved to
another country, but to another place within the same
country.

During the Civil War and Reconstruction,
transplantation and uprootedness continued but again, it was inter-country, so maybe not
as pronounced as when they were torn away from their native countries. During this
period, they perhaps began to focus on their ethnicity more. Who were they really? They
were Africans, but by this time, most of them had not been born in Africa. They were
living in America, but they were not really like other Americans - they were
downtrodden, they were not treated equally. They were living in Jim Crow America, even
though they were emancipated. Most could not vote and persecution and prejudice were
rampant. This was when the KKK arose, after the Civil War and during Reconstruction. I
think that during post-Reconstruction, there was the strongest concentration on dual
construction of ethnicity because the people wanted to maintain their African culture,
but they also wanted to be accepted as free Americans --
African-Americans.

In some ways, African-Americans are
still struggling with a dual construction of ethnicity. For example, a personal friend
of mine recently chastised her daughter for wanting to name her child (my friend's
grandaughter) Abigail. My friend told her daughter that this name was "too Eurocentric"
and that she should pick something more along the lines of their ethnicity. So, the
little girl's middle name is Abigail.

Solve the equation cos5x+cos3x+cosx=0.

We'll notice the fact that we have a sum of 3 cosine
functions, so we can transform the sum of 2 of them into a
product.

We'll group the first term with the last and we'll
transform their sum into a product:

cos 5x + cos x = 2cos
[(5x+x)/2]cos[(5x-x)/2]

cos 5x + cos x =
2cos(6x/2)cos(4x/2)

cos 5x + cos x = 2 cos3x
cos2x

cos5x+cos3x+cosx = 2 cos3x cos2x +
cos3x

We'll notice the common factor
cos3x:

cos3x(2cos2x + 1) =
0

cos3x
=cos(2x+x)=cos2xcosx-sin2xsinx

cos2xcosx-sin2xsinx =
(2(cosx)^2 -1)cosx - 2cosx(sinx)^2

We'll transform (sinx)^2
= 1-(cosx)^2 and we'll open the
brackets:

2(cosx)^3-cosx-2cosx+2(cosx)^3=4(cosx)^3-3cosx

So,
cos3x(2cos2x + 1) = 0 will be written
as:

(4(cosx)^3-3cosx){2[2(cosx)^2 -1] +
1}=0

cosx(4(cosx)^2-3)(4(cosx)^2-1)=0

cos
x = 0, so x=pi/2 and
3pi/2

4(cosx)^2-3=0

4(cosx)^2=3

(cosx)^2=3/4

cosx=+/-sqrt3/2

x=pi/6,
11pi/6 and x=5pi/6,
7pi/6

4(cosx)^2-1=0

4(cosx)^2=1

cosx=+/-1/2

x=pi/3,5pi/3
and x=2pi/3, 4pi/3.

Explain the symbol of the wasp in, "A Passage to India".

The wasp symbolizes India itself.  Mrs. Moore admires the wasp for its beauty, especially since it is such an Indian wasp and not at all British.  However, she completely underestimates or ignores its power to sting. 

In the same way, she admires India's beauty, forgetting that this is a country desperately trying to survive and keep its own identity.  That beautiful "sting" will eventually be aimed at the British raj, as she finally understands at the end of the story, as she leaves to return to England.

Where does Jonas show courage and integrity?

Jonas shows courage in a lot of ways in this book. For
example:

• He shows courage when he starts to
  learn about pain in the memories he is given.  He has to keep going back for more even
  when some of them (like the war) are very painful.


• He
  shows it even more when he decides to take Gabe and leave the community.  He surely
  knows that he will die if he is caught, but he does it
  anyway.

To me, this is also his biggest show of
integrity.  He believes that what his society is doing is not right.  So he decides that
he is not going to just allow it to keep happening, even though that would be the
easiest thing to do.  I think this shows integrity.

Is there any alliteration in the first six chapters, if there is provide the page numberTo Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

It is interesting that students use alliteration so often
in their conversations, but yet seemed somewhat puzzled when called upon to identify it
in a work of literature.  Unlike assonance, which is the repetition of a particular
vowel sound, alliteration, the repetition of initial cosonant sounds, can be recognized
visually as well as phonetically. 

Here are some additional
examples with the letter's sound indicated:

CHAPTER
1

(the very first
sentence!)

readability="6">

When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got
his arm badly broken at the elbow
/b/

As Scout relates the
family history, she describes her father's law office in the sixth
paragraph:

readability="9">

Atticus's office in the courthouse contained
litle more than a hat rack, a spittoon, a checkerboard, and an unsullied Code of
Alabama. /c/

In this same
chapter, the final paragraph contains another
example:

The
old house was the same, droopy and sick, but as we stared down the street we thought we
saw inside shutter move.
/s/

CHAPTER
2

In the thirty-first paragraph, Scout describes the action
of her teacher:

readability="8">

Miss Caroline walked up and down the rows peering
and poking into lunch containers, nodding if the contents pleased her, frowning a little
at others.  /p/

As Burris
Ewell leaves the schoolroom, he shouts back at Miss
Caroline,

readability="5">

'Aint' no snot-nosed slut of a schoolteacher ever
born c'n make me do nothin'!'   /s/  and
/m/

CHAPTER
3

Not far from the end of the chapter, Atticus explains the
history of the Ewells to the children:

readability="7">

'In certain circumstances, the common folk
judiciously allowed them certain privileges by the simple method of becoming blind to
some of the Ewells activites.' /c/ 
/b/

CHAPTER
4

In paragraph eighteen, Scout describes a change at
home:

For some
reason,...Calpurnia's tyranny unfairness, and meddling in my business had faded to
gentle grumblings of general
disapproval.

CHAPTER
5

Describing their childhood play, Scout narrates in the
fourth paragraph,

readability="8">

Our tacit treaty with Miss Maudie was that we
could play on lawn,...terms so generous we seldom spoke to her, so careful were we to
preserve the delicate balance of our relationship....  /t/ 
/m/

CHAPTER
6

As the children sit with Dill on his last night in
Maycomb, Scout notices,

readability="5">

There was a lady in the moon in Maycomb.
/m/

What is the alien but recognizable look that comes over Gatsby's face several times in chapter 7 of The Great Gatsby?

That look appears on Gatsby's face whenever he is faced with a truth that he would rather avoid.  The first time is when Tom mentions "drug stores".  This is a reference to the illegal alcohol sales Gatsby is involved in at various drug stores.  The second time is when Tom indicates that a man named Walter has some information on Gatsby betting illegally.  The look would best be described as the "hand in the cookie jar" look.  These are moments when Gatsby knows that he has been caught out, and realizes he might have trouble holding the high ground in his argument with Tom.

What is the pattern of organization that Orwell uses to present his ideas in "Shooting an Elephant"?How does he arrange the story so that we feel...

Orwell begins the story by telling the reader about the political situation in Burma. He relates his feelings about imperialism and how, even though he is a colonial policeman, he feels sympathy for the Burmese people being ruled by a country of people so far away. He also talks about how difficult it is to be a policeman in British Burma because everyone there hates him because of his association with the police. He sets the reader up to instantly feel sympathy for his plight in life.

When he gets the call about an elephant gone mad on a murderous rampage he immediately answers the call. Upon approaching the elephant he sees that it has calmed down, even though he has seen the body of the trampled man. He knows how valuable elephants are to their mahouts and he feels like the elephant will be fine if left alone.

His internal battle ensues when he feels the hundreds of eyes of the natives watching him, silently urging him to shoot the elephant anyway. They see it for its valuable commodities they can use and sell if and when it's dead. Since we already feel sympathy for Orwell, we feel how difficult his struggle is. When he finally shoots the elephant and the elephant is suffering we feel bad for Orwell because his hand was almost forced.

what is the significance of piggys specs?

Piggy's specs are symbolic in several ways. First, they set Piggy apart. Piggy can "see" things the other boys can't. Piggy looks at the world in a logical and scientific way. He represents wisdom and learning, and is able to set up the Conch as a symbol of order and leadership. The specs also show how Piggy is able to "see" the truth about Jacks hatred of Ralph. Finally, the specs are symboic of the fire and rescue. Piggy's specs help start the fire which will help the boys to be "seen" and thus rescued. Without his specs, Piggy is blind to what is around him. This is what ultimately brings about his death.

Give a character analysis of the mother in "The Rocking Horse Winner." How does she differ from stepmothers in fairy tales such as Cinderella,...

The story starts off with a very full description of the
mother, and it would be worth going through this again to pick out some of the answers
you are looking for. We are told that although she started out with "all the
advantages", she had "no luck". In particular, we are given key facts about her
relationship with her children, who, although are "bonny", she feels no love
for:

She had
bonny children, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her, and she could nto love them.
They looked at her coldly, as if they were finding fault with her... when her children
were present, she always felt the center of her heart go
hard.

So, she appears to be
incapable of loving and has a hardness deep within her. It is her sense of frustrated
expectations and "the grinding sense of the shortage of money" because style must be
kept up that seems to imbue the entire house with the eery
phrase:

readability="5">

There must be more money! There must be
more money!

This
hardness of the mother's combined with her greed causes Paul, in perhaps an attempt to
gain her affection, to try to become "lucky" and thereby gain money to please her.
However, when he wins and organises for some of the money to be given to her, note how
the mother reacts:

readability="8">

As his mother read it [the letter informing her
of the money], her face hardened and became more expressionless. Then a cold, determined
look came on her mouth.

Note
too how this affects the voices in the house:

readability="7">

Then something very curious happened. The voices
in the house suddenly went mad, like a chorus of frogs on a spring
evening.

It appears than
trying to satisy the mother's hunger for money only gives her more of a thirst for it -
she is literally consumed by her desire for more money, and how ever much she has it is
never enough. The words of her brother at the end of the story clearly state the dangers
of this. She has gained a big sum of money but has lost her son in the process. Thus the
mother clearly shows the dangers of unbridled greed.

What is meant in line 8 in Sonnet 18, which is "By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd?"

You need to read the line in context and not separate from the rest of the poem. That said, here is the full text of the sonnet:

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimm'd:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Shakespeare is comparing his love to a summer's day, and she is much lovelier. The flowers that bloom in May often get blown away by the winds, or sometimes the sun is too hot or clouded over.

Then we come to the line you're asking about: "And every fair from fair declines,/ By chance, or nature's changing course untrimm'd." Everything that is "fair" (beautiful) about summer eventually "declines," either by chance (somebody comes along and plucks it up; insects destroy it; etc.) or by the change of season (nature's changing course).

Visit the link below for a critical analysis of this poem.

In "Macbeth," how does Macduff receive the news of his loss?Macbeth act4

Macduff undergoes different emotions when Ross brings the news from Scotland concerning the massacre of his family. At first he asks, "How does my wife?" (4.3.203). Ross is not honest and answers that all is well. However, as the conversation continues, Ross relents and gives him the news of his family's destruction. Macduff's first emotion is overwhelming grief and guilt; he did leave his family unattended while he went to England to enlist Malcolm's aid. Then, when Malcolm says, "Dispute it like a man" (4.3.259), Macduff vows to get revenge on the fiend of Scotland, and Macduff's anger and rage are apparent. This is a pivotal moment in the play because we know that only a man not born of woman can defeat Macbeth, and this man is Macduff.

Describe Miss Havisham and her house from Great Expectations.

Miss Havisham is an eccentric old lady who is always dressed in her wedding dress.  She is described as being "faded" - everything about her is old and decaying.  Her hair is white and wreathed with wilted flowers, and her clothing hangs on her withered body and is stained and yellowed with age. Mrs. Havisham had once planned to be married, but she was jilted at the altar, and she has left everything in her house exactly the way it was on what was to have been her wedding day. 

Mrs. Havisham's estate is unkempt and overgrown, and the house is dismal and closed up with iron bars.  The interior of the house is sunless and lit by wax candles, and all the clocks have been stopped at twenty minutes to nine.  On a long table in the great room, Mrs. Havisham's wedding cake still remains, covered with dust and cobwebs.  Mrs. Havisham has instructed that the table not be cleared until she has died, after which she will be laid upon it for her wake.

Mrs. Havisham is pathetic, but imperious.  When Pip comes over for the first time, she orders him to play so she can have some diversion.  It is her intention that he grow up to marry Estella, a young girl whom she has adopted.  Taught by Miss Havisham to reject all who would love her, Estella is cruel and unfeeling. Though Miss Havisham exhorts Pip to "love (Estella)", she cannot love him back, and the old lady's dream of marriage for them never happens.

What are the differences in the reactions of Nick and Gatsby to Daisy's voice in Chapter 7 of The Great Gatsby?

Nick and Gatsby have a brief discussion about the quality of Daisy's voice in Chapter 7, so we have some direct indicators of their reactions to Daisy's voice, but her voice continues as a motif through the chapter, which provides some indirect indicators of their reactions as well. Further, in order to understand what Nick might have said in the dashes, "'It's full of----'," we need to examine the voice motif developed in earlier chapters. Nick doesn't just come out with "'She's got an indiscreet voice'" all of a sudden; Nick's remark comes as a result of contemplation he has bestowed on her voice during previous encounters.

Nick's reaction to Daisy's voice while he and Gatsby's are at Tom and Daisy's home and commenting on why Gatsby can't speak to her while there is that her voice is indiscreet. What Nick means--what develops from those earlier encounters--is that her voice, with its musical "contralto" rising and falling quality, is rich in emotion, "rising and swelling ... with gusts of emotion," with "fluctuating, feverish warmth": Daisy's "voice [is] a deathless song." This musical expression of "feverish" emotion that is Daisy's voice would not be discreet, would not hide her feelings for Gatsby from Tom. Daisy and Gatsby would be exposed by the very texture of Daisy's voice. Nick's reaction is that the melody of her voice rising and falling on emotion is indiscreet, but he falters on filling in what, exactly, her voice is "full of"--besides music and emotion--that causes this indiscretion. Gatsby fills it in for him: "'Her voice is full of money.'"

Gatsby's reaction to Daisy's voice at this juncture implicitly (indirectly) confirms Nick's reaction (yes, he implies, her voice is indiscreet) while providing a knowing reason for why it is so. Gatsby provides the reason why her voice is indiscreet; why her voice is musical, "glowing and singing"; why her voice undulates with changing powerful emotion; why her voice rises and falls, entrancing those who listen; why the "exhilarating ripple of her voice was a wild tonic." Gatsby's reaction to her voice identifies the sound of wealth in it, a sound that lured him to chase his dream of winning her heart (if he could match the "sound of money" that motivates her heart, then he could capture her heart): "'Her voice is full of money.'" And Nick agrees with Gatsby's reaction:

That was it. I'd never understood before. It was full of money--that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals' song of it. . . . High in a white palace the king's daughter, the golden girl. . . .

It can correctly be said that, while their initial reactions may have different expressions, with Nick reacting to her voice's indiscretion and Gatsby, after some thought--"he said suddenly"--reacting to the underlying sense of privilege and entitlement born of money that makes it sing indiscreetly, their reactions to Daisy's voice accord with and are in agreement with each other. Both acknowledge the entrancing quality of her voice, with its "warm human magic"; both acknowledge the indiscreet quality ("money" has no need for discretion, which is for the powerless to be concerned with); both acknowledge it's musicality; both acknowledge its rising and falling ripple; both acknowledge it's emotive power.

Nick's reaction to Daisy's voice differs from Gatsby's in that Nick has noted the insincerity that can be wrapped in that musically entrancing voice while Gatsby has, up to their misadventure in the New York hotel suite, been blind to her insincerity, though he then awakens to it:

Nick: "The instant her voice broke off, ceasing to compel my attention, my belief, I felt the basic insincerity of what she had said. It made me uneasy, as though the whole evening had been a trick...."

Gatsby: "her voice, dropping an octave lower, filled the room with thrilling scorn ... Gatsby's eyes opened and closed. ... 'You loved me too?' he repeated."

In summary, the differences in their reactions to Daisy's voice are few while their agreements are many. They differ in recognizing the insincerity carried in the captivating thrill of her emotive contralto voice: Nick perceives it; Gatsby, until his shock in the hotel, does not. Yet they agree that hers is an entrancing musically emotional voice, a song, like a "nightingale," and that money is the "inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals' song of it."

[Daisy said,] "There's a bird on the lawn that I think must be a nightingale come over .... He's singing away----" her voice sang "----It's romantic, isn't it,...?"

What were the effects of anarchists at Hull House?

Jane Addams writes about her encounter with anarchists in the chapter "Echoes of the Russian Revolution" of her autobiography Twenty Years at Hull House. Although as a turn-of-the-century middle-class reformer Addams tried to change the society without subverting the Capitalist system, she wrote sympathetically about the Russian struggle against the autocratic regime of the Czars. In the chapter she clearly distances herself from the political goals of anarchists, but she defends their right to speak freely about their ideas and to be treated fairly by the authorities. "Challenged by a anarchist," she contends, "one is always sensitive for the honor of legally constituted society". However, Addams goes on to quote several episodes when "the legally constituted society" mistreated anarchists. For example, she argues that, following the assassination of President McKinley in Chicago in 1901, a veritable hysteria against anarchists suppressed civil rights and that she felt compelled to speak in support of the anarchists' right to have an attorney and a fair trial. Her declarations and her visit to the arrested anarchists stirred a huge controversy which, Addams writes, "made my mail a horror every morning" and whose "opprobrium . . . will always remain".

The chapter is also interesting as Addams portrays the assassin of President McKinley as a loner and not as a part of the anarchist movement. To this figure, Addams opposes that of a German anarchist who had conceived a plan to kill a priest, but was talked out of it by a friend. Therefore she presents a more positive image of anarchists and argues that the American government should not act against them as those oppressive European governments from which they are escaping and seeking refuge in the United States. Addams was also directly involved in raising funds to defend anarchists in courts against extradition in their own native countries.

In "To The Virgins, To Make Much Of Time," who is the speaker, why does he/she say "rosebuds" and not "roses" in line 1, and does the poem offer an...

Herrick uses "rosebuds" rather than roses since rosebuds are not fully bloomed yet...much like the virgins to whom the poem is addressed.

The speaker is probably an older male who is advising the young women of the community to hurry off and marry while they are still young and beautiful.  To "tarry" too long will mean that time will ravage them and cause them to age to the point that they will not be able to attract a worthy husband.  The tone of the poem suggests his age, as well as his opinion of the effects of age on the young women.

The argument is simply that time is not kind to women, and that their only chance at marriage is to do so quickly when they are still lovely enough to attract a husband.  Frankly, I do not see the support in this argument nor do I find it convincing.  In the first stanza, he tells them that rosebuds are pretty today, but dead tomorrow--parallelling the virgins' beauty.  In the second stanza, the speaker talks of the sun's race...signifying the passing of time and the loss of youth and beauty. In the third stanza, the speaker says that youth is better (blood is warmer) so don't waste time playing hard-to-get.  He carries this over to the fourth stanza by saying "use your time while you can and go marry!"  His argument is that if you wait too long, you will always be unmarried...a spinster.

What is the "magic charm" that Hannah works on Kit in "The Witch of Blackbird Pond"?

The "magic charm" that Hannah works on Kit is nothing more than that she accepts her with kindness and listens with sympathy.  By doing so, Hannah enables Kit to find peace and recognize that the answer to what she must do to fix the trouble she has caused lies in her own heart.

Because of her free spirit and willingness to use innovation in teaching the children, Kit has unintentionally gotten herself and Mercy fired from working at the dame school by Mr. Eleazer Kimberley, the schoolmaster.  Immediately after this incident, Hannah finds Kit crying in the meadow, and invites her home to give her a chance to calm down and have a bite to eat.  Hannah listens to Kit with a non-judgemental ear, and Kit pours out to her all the frustration she feels at not being able to fit into the life of Connecticut Colony, and her longing for her grandfather and her home in Barbados.  Kit gains strength from Hannah's kindness and sympathy, and when it is time to go understands that Hannah, by showing her a single plant from Africa which has flourished in the new land despite its strangeness, has given her hope and confidence to carry on.  Hannah tells Kit "the answer is in thy heart...thee can always hear it if thee listens for it", and Kit, taking courage, leaves to make things right with the schoolmaster (Chapter 9).

Why is Death personified as a Farmer in Chapter 1 of "A Tale of Two Cities", "The Period?"

In "Tale of Two Cities," hunger and poverty beseige Paris, so Death as a Farmer may be appropriate.  For, the famine of the farming class, the peasants, drives them to rebellion against the well-fed aristocrats that Dickens describes satirically in the chapter entitled "The Monseigneur."  In this chapter, attendants must aid the decadent lord as he attempts to drink his morning chocolate since has become so indolent and distracted that he is no longer capable of simple daily functions.

The able-bodied farmer is in sharp contrast to this arisocrat, also, and is, therefore representative of the starving peasant class who brings death to the aristocrats in the Revolution of 1789.

In "The Cask of Amontillado," is it possible that Montressor is jealous and Fortunato never did as many things as he says? Montressor mentions,...

The line you refer to is suggestive of sarcastic jealousy but I think the real motivation for Montresor's crime is a little deeper. If you read the first line of the story, Montresor says he had borne a thousand injuries but it was when Fortunato insulted him that he vowed revenge. Later in the story, Fortunato says,"Oh I forgot, the Montresors were once a rich and noble family". That statement, together Montresor's coat of arms and a family motto that says "No on insults me with impunity" is Poe's clue to the reader that Fortunato insulted Montresor's family in some way. Fortunato is also too proud. He is proud of his wine tasting ability, proud of his membership in the masons, and he's drunk far too much wine. That's why Montresor keeps giving him so much wine, to take away any judgment or mistrust Fortunato might normally had had. Granted, Montresor was jealous of Fortunato, because Fortunato was still rich and respected. But, the last straw was Fortuanato's insult, probably committed unknowingly, that prompted Montresor's revenge.

What role does Jupiter play in the "Aeneid?"

Jupiter was to the Romans as Zeus was to the Greeks, king of the gods. While many gods fought against each other, Jupiter is seen as a sort of referee who is more identified with the impersonal forces of fate. In the Aeneid, Jupiter therefore is portrayed as mature and levelheaded as he keeps Aeneas on track in the fulfillment of personal destiny. Behind all of this is the fact that since Jupiter, in Roman mythology, is the father of Mars, he is therefore the grandfather of Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome.

When we consider that Vergil wrote this epic for Augustus, as a means of legitimizing his succession and reign of the Roman Empire, it is quite appropriate we find Jupiter as a central deity to the underlying motive of the Aeneid.

How did Atticus explain Bob Ewell's provocative behavior in To Kill a Mockingbird?(Chapters 23-25)Why do you think he told this to his children?

I think that the answer you are looking for in at the
start of Chapter 23.  There, Atticus says that the reason Bob Ewell is acting like this
is that his pride and credibility has been destroyed by the trial.  If he does not do
something to fight back, he will lose respect for himself and maybe people will look
down on him even more.

I think that Atticus says this for a
couple of reasons.  First, I think he wants the kids not to be afraid.  Second, I think
he wants them to see all people, even Ewell, as people who have valid and understandable
feelings.  He wants them to stand in the other person's shoes and understand their
outlook.

Please provide me with a plot summary of "An Unfinished Story" by O. Henry?i need it for my presentation,please help me out.i m totally confused...

Most of the plot of this story occurs in "the past."  The
speaker has died and is going to be judged by God -- judged for his actions.  While
there, he is asked by an angel if he belongs to a certain group of men waiting to be
judged.  At that point, we flash back to the life of someone named
Dulcie.

She is a poor girl who works for $6 per week (a
long time ago).  That is very little money and she is often hungry.  She has been asked
on a date by a fairly rich guy (Piggy).  It seems that he dates poor girls.  What is
implied is that he gives them food and such and expects them to sleep with
him

Dulcie refuses at the last minute to go out with him. 
But the narrator tells us that at some later time when she is hungrier, she does go out
with him.

Then we return to the afterlife.  The group of
men the angel had asked about were men who owned the places that girls like Dulcie
worked -- the men who paid them so little they had to sleep with men to get
food,

The speaker says he burned down orphanages and killed
a blind man -- but he was not as bad as the men who paid the girls so
little.

What are some of the ways that you can compare and contrast Whitman and Dickinson?

The previous post was quite thorough.  I would only like
to add that one particular point of convergence in both is how the notion of American
literary voice was rooted in self expression.  Both thinkers held true to the idea that
any notion of the universal comes from the subjective, and that from this only can truth
be fully understood.  However, within this form of expression might also be a point of
divergence.  Whitman is quite passionate about the democratic political form as being
the best political structure to express this subjective experience.  Whitman is able to
assert complete confidence in how the heterogeneous composition of American Democracy
helps to enhance individual voice.  Dickinson is not so sold on the idea of political
expressions of the good, in general.  Her writing does not explicitly articulate how
politics fits into the subjective expression of self.  This difference in perception on
the role and function of political orders might be one additional area of contrast
between both thinkers.

What is the occasion for Wilfred Owens' poem "Dulce et Decorum est?"

Wilfred Owens is one of several poets known as the "trench poets"--a group of men who were actually involved in combat who wrote realistic, non-romanticized poems about what really goes on in battle and in the life between battles.  The trenches they dug, fought from, and lived in were disgusting, muddy, damp, smelly (littered with human waste and corpses), unsanitary hell-holes.  There was nothing glorified, dignified, or honorable in the way these men lived their day to day lives.

The occasion of the poem "Dulce et Decorum est" is the aftermath of an actual WWI battle where a man has not gotten his gas mask on quickly enough and the others have placed him in a wagon to carry him back to camp with them.  He describes how the man is gurgling and his eyes are writhing and it is not a good death.

Owens uses this description to let the world know that the romanticized views of war and fighting for your country is NOT the wonderful, patriotic, honorable thing they want you to believe.  He says the whole thing is horrible, destestable, and hell on earth.  There is nothing about it that is romantic or rosy.

One of the horrible ironies of his work as a trench poet is that Owens dies eight days before WWI is declared over. 

In The Taming of the Shrew, why does Bianca change into a "shrew" at the end?

yes you are right and that is because Katherine (when she was a shrew ) was learnt how to be tamed by Patruchio her husband... when he married her , he insisted to tame her by making the opposite of what she wanted saying that those deeds were for his love towards her ( like :shouting at the dress and hat makers declaring that their products were not good ones although they were made according to the fashion during that time)

Bianca was believed to be the tamed daughter of Baptista but at the end she proved quite the opposite by refusing to come to her husband when he ordered her to do so on their wedding day thus her husband said :"I wish your duty were as foolish too!The wisdom of your duty,fair Bianca, has cost me a hundred crowns since dinnertime."

So Patruchio was right and Katherine was a good lady and maybe her shrewish character was because she didn't know how to improve it while Bianca's character was a bad one hiding itself behind  untrue  words.

Moral lessons: we must compare between promises and actions ,,, live in peace & love eachother  to lead a quiet life.

Why is a death sentence decreed upon Frederick?

The answer to this can be found in Chapter 8.  Basically,
he is sentenced to death because he has cheated Napoleon and made him look like a fool. 
He will be boiled alive if captured, Napoleon says.

What
Frederick has done is to trick Napoleon when Napoleon sold him the wood pile left over
from Jones's time on the farm.  Napoleon insisted on being paid in cash rather than by a
check.  But it turned out that the cash that Frederick brought (and that Napoleon
proudly showed off the the animals) was fake.  Frederick had tricked
Napoleon.

What was the social background of 18th century society?

The society of Tom Jones's 18th century was one in which
classicism, elitism, new ways of community life, and social change was taking
place.

The aristocracy, particularly the nobility was held
on exaggerated high esteem, and they enjoy privileges that no typical citizen could ever
dream of. Those with money enjoyed VAST amounts of it, as well as land and properties.
This led to the often-witnessed fact that the upper classes were idle, ill-educated, and
snobbish to the core.

This, according to the Encyclopedia
Brittanica:

readability="16">

Nobility
The
major European monarchies had no standard of uniform law, money, or weights and
measures. Continental Europe had internal tolls that hampered the passage of goods.
Britain however, had no such tolls. In the 18th century, the nobility of that country
lived in the most magnificent luxury that the order had known. On the continent, the
nobility were wealthy. However, the noble was, to some extent, better off than a
prosperous peasant was. This is because the peasant tended to prosper with the
rest.

So basically Tom, the
foundling, was found by a clueless group of crass class and too much time to waste and
money to spend. This is where the mockery of the story is move
evident.

What did Rebecca do to Betty in "The Crucible"?no

When Rebecca Nurse enters the room where Betty is lying in bed appearing to be feverish and whimpering, she approaches the bed and stands over the child, her gentleness is evident. Betty calms down due to Rebecca's presence.

Reverend Parris is surprised by the effect that Mrs. Nurse has on Betty.  She explains that she has a great deal of experience with children, being a mother and grandmother many times over.  She advises Reverend Parris that Betty is not under any spell and that she would wake-up when she tired of pretending to be sick.

She tells Reverend Parris:

"I think she'll wake when she tires of it.  A child's spirit is like a child, you can never catch it by running after it; you must stand still, and , for love, it will soon itself come back." (Miller) 

In "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings," why does Elisenda let out a sigh of relief for herself and for him?

At first having the old man around was a boon to Elisenda and her husband. They had become very rich from selling tickets for people to see the "angel." As the weeks go on, however, the old man becomes a nuisance to her. He is no longer a curiosity, and everybody in town who wanted to see him has already done so. There is a new show in town--the spider woman. Besides the loss of money, the old man seems to be following her and to be constantly in her way. When he finally flies away, Elisenda is relieved for both of them--for herself because she'll no longer have this annoyance; for him because they were worried that he might die and because maybe she feels some sympathy for the poor old man who might now return to his home.

The answer to your question is given in the last sentence: "he was no longer an annoyance in her life but an imaginary dot on the horizon of the sea."

In the play "Trip to Bountiful" how should I read Jessie May's part? We are doing the Trip to Bountiful in one act play.

In the one act play Trip To Bountiful, Jessie Mae is the daughter-in-law.  She is selfish, and only concerned with money and what she can buy with it.  She is using her mother-in-law's monthly check to pay for her hair,nails,dresses, and all the little extras she wants to buy.  I would act out this role as a spoiled brat who always wants her way.  You might watch the movie before acting out the part.

You can learn more about this play at the link provided.

What are the differences and similarities between "The Yellow Wallpaper" and "A Doll's House"?

The similarities are in the period, the limited setting (all happens in one location in both works—in a home/house), symbolic issues related to the setting, a triggering event around illness or medical intervention in the family, and, especially, the focus on female subjugation, and the desire/attempt to break free.  There are several differences between these two works. The most basic is form: one is a play, and one a story told by the main character. This means viewers get what Nora externalizes—what she says and does—while the narrator of Gilman's story shares thoughts as well. After that, the nature of their rebellion. Nora is emotional at the play's start, and plays at being mindless. The woman in "The Yellow Wallpaper" starts rational, and ends up mad.

What is Neocolonialism?

Neo-colonialism can be defined as colonialism through other means. Under neocolonialism, the more powerful country will not actually have its soldiers occupying a country or running its government, but will rather have so many economic and social ties that the smaller, weaker country is basically under the control of the more powerful country. While France no longer maintains colonies in Africa, some nations such as Chad, are so deeply entwined with France that it can be said to be a neocolonial relationship.

I am writing a composition for my English class and I don't understand what it means when it says to have a reference to literary elements.

If you had no idea what the literary elements
are - you are probably wondering which ones would be the easiest to
write about.  I would suggest, like Missy, you identify three.  In fact, her prompt is
perfect and will get you started on the right track immediately.  If you are only going
to go for three, they need to be three biggies.

1. 
CONFLICT: no such thing as a story without a conflict. 
Write about the main conflict that the story centers around, internal or
external.

2.  SYMBOLISM: is
there any person or object in the story that obviously is meant to be symbolic of a
deeper meaning?  (My guess is probably.)  Go with it.

3. 
THEME: every major work of literature has more than one. 
This should be easy.  (Read the thread posted below.)  This makes a great ending too
because essentially it allows you to wrap up with the meaning of the
story.

Then you can spice up the rest of the paper by
referring to the main character as the protagonist and his
enemy as the antagonist.  Some others found in every great
book include the climax and
resolution (plot elements).  If you want to talk about a
major character and any great changes he/she goes through, this is the element of
characterization.

Explain the literary device in this sentence: "The princess kissed the frog; he croaked."I believe my teacher said this was a pun. I also have to...

The literary device used in the sentence "the princess
kissed the frog; he croaked" is known
as anthropomorphism.

ANTHROPOMORPHISM
is the attribution of human characteristics to animals or
objects.

In the sentence "the
princess kissed the frog; he croaked,' the frog is an animal and the pronoun 'it' should
be used instead 'he,' the third person singular personal pronoun is used to refer to the
animal 'frog.'

The word 'croaked' could mean either 'to
make a low hoarse sound' or 'to die.' The pun results because it could either mean that
the frog 'made a low hoarse sound' as soon as the princess kissed it or it could mean
that the frog 'died' as soon as the princess kissed it.

A
semicolon is used to connect two independent clauses. Independent clauses are clauses
which make complete sense on their own. In this sentence the two independent clauses
'the princess kissed the frog' and 'he croaked' make complete sense on their own and are
connected  by a semicolon.

The humour results because of
the punning on the meaning of the word 'croaked' and also because of the use of the
semicolon. The semicolon unlike the comma creates a lot of anticipation. In the fairy
tale the frog turns into a handsome prince as soon as it is kissed by the princess. But
in this sentence just as the reader conventionally expects the frog to turn into a
prince, it does not turn into a prince but it either makes a hoarse sound or it dies.
 The humour results because just as the reader pauses at the semicolon and expects the
conventional result his expectations are not fulfilled.

Why did Sheila agree to go out with the boy even though she isn't interested in him in "The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant?"Why did Sheila agree...

Sheila is essentially using the boy when she agrees to go
out with him. She is a self-absorbed young lady, as is evidenced by the way she talks
only about herself on the canoe ride to the dance, and, as she tells the boy straight
out,

"I'm
playing outfield...I don't like the responsibility of having a
base."

Although she is
talking about baseball, her words make the game a metaphor for the way she lives her
life. Sheila Mant is out to have a good time, and it really doesn't matter to her whom
she is with, as long as she gets what she wants at any given moment. When the boy asks
Sheila if she wants to go with him to the dance, she really doesn't "seem to see (him)
at all." Her only response is to ask if he has a car, and when she asks him this
question, she still does not even look up at him.

Sheila's
real motivation for wanting to go to the concert becomes evident when she nonchalantly
tells the boy that "Eric Caswell's going to be there" as he paddles the canoe towards
their destination. Sheila is interested in Eric, and she is basically using the boy as a
means to an end - to get her to the dance so that she can see this other guy. Totally
oblivious to the sacrifice the boy has made for her, she achieves her objective, and
gets Eric Caswell to take her home. It matters little to Sheila how the boy feels; other
than the short moment when she finally actually looks at him and tells him he's "a funny
kid," she gives him little consideration, so absorbed is she in her own
agenda.

In "The Most Dangerous Game", why doesn't Zaroff consider his sport immoral and what makes Zaroff act immorally?

Zaroff has become jaded by his life. As a general he has probably been involved in many battles; having done so and having seen men slaughtered just for the personal gains of others has, perhaps, led him to believe that a life is not valuable: "I refuse to believe that so modern...a young man as you seem to be harbors romantic ideas about the value of human life. Surely your experiences in the war--" he tells Rainsford. Zaroff goes on to criticize the idea of hunting a man as murder by calling it naive and mid-Victorian, saying that life is only for the strong. Zaroff further justifies his "hunting" by explaining that he only hunts "the scum of the earth--sailors from tramps ships..."

Since Zaroff has reduced life to the survival of the fittest/strongest, he feels the need to reassure himself that he is the fittest. So, he creates the hunt on his island away from civilization in which he probably no longer has any faith after being in the killing fields of war.

In "Taking Leave of a Friend" by Ezra Pound, explain what emotions are evoked.I must explain what emotions are evoked and how the nature images are...

Ezra Pound uses the classic technique of the evocative
power of sounds in his scheme (a kind of figure of speech) for evoking emotion in
"Taking Leave of a Friend." The image of "Blue mountain" and "White river" evoke a slow
contemplative feeling that is turned suddenly into a sad emotion when the next line
requires making "separation." The vowels of the first two lines enhance the imagery
evoked by the words describing nature because they are all round vowels of prolonged
duration.

These come into conflict with the sorrow evoking
third line with its more closed vowels and harsh sounding /t k h s
p/ consonants. The fourth line of the first quatrain (four lines) evokes a
sense of desolation by the inclusion of the word "dead." Change any of these elements,
and a different emotion altogether may be evoked. The second quatrain evokes a feeling
of anxiety partly because the vowels scattered between harsh consonants give an
unsettled feeling to the nature imagery of a "wide cloud" and the parting of the sun at
sunset.

Explain Laura's dark hair hiding her face and her smile at her mother at the end of "The Glass Menagerie".

It’s a reaction to the ending scene in the play. Jim, while wanting to show Laura how unique and wonderful she is, hurts her when he reveals he is engaged. However, Laura, in many ways may have still been comforted, reassured, and newly confident still, as her self-belief may have changed as a result of his perception of her strength and uniqueness, like that of the unicorn. All Amanda could see was the devastation of the lost opportunity that she thought was there for her daughter. Amanda's over-reaction uproots the stability that Tom provided in the home, by forcing him to leave. Tom provided both financial stability, and was a true emotional support for Laura. Laura is left with her mother, who has just finished stating how helpless she feels her daughter to be. Laura's hidden smile may reveal to the reader her growing sense that she is capable, and that she now knows there are people who believe in her (Jim and Tom). It may also be a smile that reveals to the reader Laura's understanding that Amanda needs to feel like Laura cannot do anything herself because it gives purpose to Amanda's life. If Jim married Laura, or Laura got a job, Amanda would have nothing to complain about, to nag about, to fuss about; she would be miserable. Laura in a way, knows this, and Laura also knows that she may spread her wings someday and fly away from her mother. It may be a smile of sympathy, understanding, hope, all of the above, but certainly not a smile her mother should see.

What is the imagery of darkness in "Sonny's Blues"?

The darkness in the story is both literal and figurative. 

The story is set in New York City.  The narrator lives in an area of the projects, which is oppressive and run down. 

The narrator's and Sonny's uncle was killed by white people who ran him over and there is a great hatred for them in his family. The narrator's and Sonny's mother lives in Harlem and races many hardships.  Sonny is in prison for a drug conviction and an addiction to heroin.  This factual information contributes to the dark, depressing nature of the story.  The narrator laments Sonny's plight, being in prison for his drug addiction and wonders if his brother will ever straighten himself out.  He and Sonny are disconnected emotionally and the narrator struggles to understand why Sonny did what he did.  

Despite the darkness of the story, there is a hopeful epiphany at the end of the story because the narrator is able to finally understand one of the driving forces behind Sonny and his potential recovery from drug addiction...Sonny's music.  The narrator realizes that Sonny's music is a driving force, a positive for him in a world of negative, and that the music is a peaceful escape for Sonny.

What symbols and instances of irony can be found in the story "A & P" by John Updike?

The most ironic moment of this story is when Sammy resigns.  He is making a statement on behalf of the girls, being their hero.  The irony is - they do not hear him.  They are gone and out of the store before the moment of the resignation is even finalized. 

...so I say "I quit" to Lengel quick enough for them to hear, hoping they'll stop and watch me, their unsuspected hero. They keep right on going, into the electric eye; the door flies open and they flicker across the lot to their car, ...leaving me with Lengel and a kink in his eyebrow.

However, the importance of this irony is that it drives Sammy forward, forcing him into a moment of maturity.  He has an opportunity to take back his declaration, buy chooses not to.  He wants to stand up for what he believes to have been injustice.  This should be a moment of pride and celebration, but there lies the other irony - it isn't.  Instead, this moment of adulty is marked by struggle, not achievement:

my stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter.

The symbols of this story revolve around the depiction of the customers.  The girls are described as bees, the lead one being the queen, who have a certain power in the store as they buzz about it, making others nervous.  The other customers are sheep, who flock together nervously, reacting but not responding to any situation.  And certainly not thinking.

Describe Beowulf's boasts upon meeting Hrothgar, king of the Danes.

When Beowulf first speaks to Hrothgar upon arriving in the land of the Danes, he tells Hrothgar that he is qualified to fight their monster, Grendel.  He says that his people, the Geats, have seen his strength in war where he's proven himself a good fighter.  He tells of how he chased the race of giants from the earth and how he swam in the blackness of night, hunting down sea monsters and killing them one by one.  When Unferth then challenges Beowulf's abilities by asking about a swimming match with Brecca in which Beowulf supposedly lost, Beowulf answers with more tales of his abilities.  Beowulf says that no one can match his swimming abilities and during this swimming match, he kept close to Brecca until a flood forced them apart, then Beowulf was attacked by sea creatures and he had to fight them off.  One monster in particular grabbed Beowulf but he was able to kill it. Then more monsters attacked him and he had to battle and kill them.  He concludes by saying he killed nine in total.  He goes on to brag that he won't fight Grendel using any weapons since Grendel uses no weapon when he attacks. He tells Hrothgar that he will emerge victorious or die trying.

What is the problem/conflict of "Whale Talk"?

The central problem of the book is the closed-mindedness and discrimination faced by those who are "different" at Cutter High School. 

Tao Jones, the central character of the story, is himself socially on the outskirts at Cutter High because of his mixed-race heritage.  Tao, or TJ as he is called, gathers together an unlikely group of misfits on the school swim team, and determines that together, they will each win a school sports jacket, the coveted symbol of prestige at Cutter High.  Among the team members are Chris Coughlin, who is mentally handicapped, Daniel Hole, the school "geek", Simon DeLong, who is obese and completely unathletic-looking, and Jackie Craig, who never speaks.  Through the unconditional friendship and mutual support the teammates provide for each other, each member is able to overcome challenges both physical and emotional, and emerge better face the prejudices inherent in the high school environment and in society at large.

Does Achebe show that politics debases the individual and the country in "Anthills of the Savannah"? How does he do so?

Certainly he does.  Sam, Ikem and Chris are all caught up in the mechanism of politics, and all of them lose at least a little of their integrity.  Beatrice, however, makes a conscious effort to remain removed from politics, and she is the one at the end who both survives and demonstrates integrity and hope for the future.  Achebe uses the contrast between the characters to demonstrate the negative influence of politics.

Sam is clearly the most debased, which makes sense, as he is the most political.  He is so caught up in the politics of his position that he has failed to think rationally about the issues facing him.  He is unconcerned with the fact that many of his countrymen are suffering from famine and drought - he cares only about the appearance of protesters in the city.  The ruthless murders he orders, particularly of Ikem, demonstrates the loss of his individual and human concerns.

Ikem, though more honorable than Sam, gets caught up in politics, too.  He fails to see his countrymen as individuals, lumping them together and assuming that he knows what is best for them.  His editorials and his protests do focus on the needs of the common people, but they criticize on philosophical grounds and do not seek to find reasonable solutions that are workable to end immediate suffering.  In this way, Ikem has lost touch with common people he fights for, as demonstrated by his interaction with the taxi drivers.

Chris is the most balanced of the three, but his attempt to maintain both his friendships and his politics lead to ... not being able to maintain anything.  He knows that Sam is a tyrant, and yet he is unwilling to give up his position in the Cabinet.  He foolishly believes that he will be able to fix the corrupt system from the inside, not understanding that by staying there he is condoning the system.  His death at the hands of the corrupt public is symbolic of the death of his integrity at the hands of a corrupt friend and boss.

Beatrice, in contrast, maintains true to herself and to her country.  She does not go to extremes - she sees that her country has problems.  She is willing to speak about those problems openly, but she does not rush headlong into "fix it" mode, as Ikem does.  Nor does she try to prop up the corrupt system, as Chris does.  She works and lives each day by itself, allowing her individual daily activities to speak for themselves.  In this way, she not only survives, but helps to give hope for the future in the naming ceremony that ends the novel.

Can I get some help and tips to answer empathetic questions, please?I get confused about giving my opinion and being in the character's place.

Empathy is the "intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another" (www.dictionary.com).  In other words, empathy is when someone is able to "put themselves in someone else's shoes," so to speak.  There is a difference between sympathy and empathy.  Sympathy means to feel sorry for someone and doesn't mean one necessarily tries to empathize.  To empathize, you simply must think as the character might think, for example, when he/she is in a certain situation or predicament.  Ask yourself, "How would I feel if I could step into this character's world?  How would I react if I was this character?" 

In "The Scarlet Letter," what reasons does Hawthorne give for Hesters' remaining in Boston, where she is an outcast? answers about the scarlet letter

In chapter 5, we learn that Hester, despite the fact that her punishment does not force her to stay in Boston, has decided to stay in Boston.  She takes up residence, with Pearl, at an empty cottage just outside of the town.  She stays here, in part,  because  she feels compelled to do so and this compulsion comes from the fact that a great event occurred to her here and marked her life.  Hawthorne tells us that this is normal human behavior. Another reason Hawthorne tells us that Hester stayed is that in Boston she would be near Pearl's father, the one with whom she shared her sin.  Finally, Hawthorne suggests that Hester stayed because Boston was the scene of her "crime" and some part of Hester felt that it should be scene of her "sentence" she paid for her crime.

What are three prejudices found in both To Kill a Mockingbird and Flowers for Algernon?In the two books, To Kill a Mockingbird and Flowers for...

The first prejudice that I would say unites both novels is
that against those who are intellectually challenged. Charlie with his IQ  of 70 and Boo
Radley with his isolation and lack of communication are both figures of derision and
ridicule in society and are cruelly regarded by
others.

Another prejudice I would see is that regarding sex
drive and sexual activity. Tom Robinson is gauged in the novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’
as being responsible for ravaging Mayella Ewell. At the time it was considered that
black men had tremendous sexual urges. The possibility that Mayella may have been
attempting to initiate physical contact was almost impossible to conceive. Similarly,
Charlie was repressed by his mother who feared that as he was of subnormal intelligence
he may seek to abuse his ‘normal ‘sister.

A final prejudice
would be the suspicion towards change in others. When Boo Radley is trying to
communicate positively with th children through the gifts in the knot-hole, his family
are swift to prevent this dialogue.  When Charlie becomes increasingly more intelligent,
his co-workers are so uncomfortable that the petition for his
dismissal.

I need to find some quotes for understanding others theme. What should I be looking at to help me find more quotes?

I'll be happy to provide you with a
few.

"If you
can learn a simple trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks.
You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of
view--until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."  (Atticus' advice, Chapter
3)

readability="8">

"People in their right minds never take pride in
their talents," said Miss Maudie.  (Concerning Atticus' marksmanship, Chapter
10)

readability="10">

"Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music
for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, they don't nest in corncribs, they
don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a
mockingbird."  (Miss Maudie, Chapter
10)

readability="14">

"Jem, see if you can stand in Bob Ewell's shoes
a minute. I destroyed his last shred of credibility at that trial, if he had any to
begin with. The man had to have some kind of a comeback, his kind always does. So if
spitting in my face and threatening me saved Mayella one extra beating, that's something
I'll gladly take. He had to take it out on somebody, and I'd rather it be me than that
household of children out there."  (Atticus explaining Bob's spitting in his face,
Chapter 23)

What is Piggy's response when Jack says Piggy didn't hunt?This is a question I got stuck on and I searched for the answer but nothing came up....

In Chapter Four of Lord of the Flies,
this question of Piggy's comes after pivotal action in the plot of Golding's narrative. 
For, while Jack and the older boys hunt for a pig, a ship has passed without knowing
anyone is on the island because the signal fire has gone out.  Enraged at the careless
irresponsibility of the boys, Ralph accuses Jack with costing their rescue because he
took them from their task of building the fire.  And, when Piggy joins in the scolding,
the "wails of agreement from some of the hunters, drove Jack to violence"; he smack's
Piggy's head, knocking off his glasses and breaking one of the
lenses.

Piggy
grabbed and put on the glasses.  He looked malevolently at
Jack.

Already appearing in a
bad light with the others for allowing the fire to go out, Jack is further humiliated
when Ralph tells him that knocking over Piggy is "a dirty
trick." 

So
Ralph asserted his chieftainship....Jack was powerless and raged without knowing
why.

In an act of defiance,
when the boys go to relight the fire, Jack goes to Piggy and takes the glasses from
him: 

Not even
Ralph knew how a link between him and Jack had been snapped and fastened
elsewhere.

This newly created
division between Ralph and Piggy and Jack is reflected in Jack's telling Piggy that he
cannot have any meat.  Golding writes that Jack neglects to give Piggy meat just to
leave him in doubt until Piggy asks and makes his omission
public:

Jack
had meant to leave him in doubt, as an assertion of power;
but Piggy by advertising his omission made more cruelty
necessary.....Numberless and inexpressible frustrations combined to make
his rage elemental and
awe-inspiring.

It is in his
actions towards Piggy that the reader discerns Jack emergence as a savage force in
conflict with the rational Piggy who in his
response explains to Jack why he wants meat:  "There isn't more than a
ha'porth of meat in a
crab." 

Significantly, Piggy and Ralph will soon only have
a "ha'porth," half portion of the leadership on the island.  Unwittingly, then, Piggy
has established his position of the island with his own response.  This question, "What
is Piggy's response when Jack tells him, 'You didn't hunt'? is, indeed, intrinsic to the
understanding of the novel's theme and characters as suggested by chocolate 975's tags
below the
post.

How does Angela Carter evoke feminisim in "The Bloody Chamber" and "The Company of Wolves" to re-tell fairy-tales?

Angela Carter's short story collection, The Bloody Chamber, is often viewed as a feminist re-telling of Charles Perrault's fairy tales, even though Carter herself denied that she was attempting to add feminism or make the stories particularly adult.

In "The Company of Wolves" the feminist theme is most obvious in the werewolf motif. The narrator suggests that all men at some point become werewolves, making the indirect statement that all men are beasts, predators. The women in the story are largely stereotypical -- the mother, the housewife -- and often fall victim to the wolves.  The protagonist -- the young girl in the red cloak -- is on the cusp of womanhood. We know that she has begun to menstruate, but that she is also a virgin. Carter describes her as being an "unbroken egg." Like the traditional version of "Little Red Riding Hood," the young girl is approached by the wolf while she is on her way to her grandmother's house, but unlike the traditional story, Carter's traveler displays characteristics that are traditionally masculine -- she is daring, confident, and predatory. When she is trapped in her grandmother's house with the werewolf, she does not go through the "what big eyes you have" routine of the traditional heroine, but takes control of the situation, removing both her clothes and the wolf's. Furthermore, she is taking control of her sexuality, choosing her own partner in a society that prizes a woman's virginity and uses her sexuality as a commodity in the marriage market.

Similarly, Carter's version of "Bluebeard," "The Bloody Chamber," also takes place in a society in which women are traditionally victims and the men are animals. Here, though, the animal is a lion instead of a wolf, and his sexual agression is demonstrated not just though the bodies of his former wives, but in the vast collection of pornography in his library. Like the heroine of "The Company of Wolves," the narrator begins the story as a virgin, but after her marriage is consummated, she becomes curious about sex, a curiosity furthered when she discovers her husband's collection of pornography. Although the heroine does require saving from her husband, her savior is not her brother, as in the traditional fairy tale, but her mother. The mother herself is a feminist figure, as she grew up not in frilly dresses, learning to embroider, but fighting pirates on a tea plantation in China. She is tough and fearless, taking on tasks that are traditionally given to men in fairy tales.

How does Pip's personality change throughout the novel, Great Expectations?

Pip begins the novel as a humble and loving young lad living in the house of Joe, the blacksmith, and Mrs. Joe, Pip's sister.  Mrs. Joe rules the home with an iron fist (even Joe seems a bit wary of her and her temper) and Pip tries very hard to please her and obey.  Pip is to be apprenticed to Joe and become a blacksmith himself, and we understand that he is pleased with this since Pip loves spending time with mild-mannered Joe in the shop.  He is happy with his life and content with his future.

When he helps a convict in the graveyard, Pip feels guilty about stealing a pie and other items from Mrs. Joe and a file from Joe to help with the convict's leg irons.  He has told lies and stolen, which plague him and tell us that he is a good moral character.

The convict, unknowingly to Pip, arranges for Pip to go to school and become a gentleman.  Pip begins to visit Miss Havisham and Estella regularly.  He goes to London to be educated and find a profession that suits a "gentleman" of his character.

Pip begins to get too big for his britches and looks down upon the dirt and filth of the blacksmith and the fact that Joe hasn't learned to read.  He is not the loving, humble, and content young man he once was.  Pip allows this to get between him and the ones he loves--namely Biddy and Joe.

Once Pip realizes that Miss Havisham is not his benefactor and he will not marry Estella, he once again nourishes his humble upbringing.

Is there some way that protest against a war even during a time of war-can be considered patriotic? If yes give examples of how it can be patriotic.

What is patriotic and what is unpatriotic is very much a
subjective judgement. Although in periods of war there is a kind of surge in intolerance
among government as well as general public towards anything which appears to be even
slightly opposed to, or critical of, the official government action. Many a times such
patriotic feelings are based more on national pride than long term national interests.
Real criteria of patriotism is not just what people at a particular time think to be
patriotic, but the intention of the person in acting in a particular way. If a person is
acting with the objective of securing good of the country, he or she is definitely
patriotic, irrespective of what others may think about him or
her.

As a matter of fact, the person protesting against war
during war time, with the intention of good of the country, is likely to be much more
patriotic than the millions of people who protest against war in time of peace. A person
protesting against war in war time risks a lot to secure national interest. While
marches in protest against war during peace time may be doing this just as way of
bringing exciting in life. Majority of such people may back out of such protest at the
slightest hint of major personal risk.

Who is the speaker in the poem "For My Mother (May I Inherit Half Her Strength)" by Lorna Goodison?

The speaker in the poem "For My Mother (May I Inherit Half
Her Strength)" by Lorna Goodison is the daughter of the woman being eulogized, her
mother. The daughter tells her mother's story from the love at first sight with a
cricket player come up to her town for a cricket match. He, dressed in blazer and serge
pants and she, standing by the oleander fell in love at first sight. He never played
cricket that day.

The daughter goes on to chronicle her
mother's life of sacrifice and hardship as she raised nine children, while he had a
special female "friend." The daughter tells of her father's funeral, also attended by
the "friend," and of how her mother sewed black dresses for all the women in the family
and buried her husband of nine children with a straight-backed dignified walk and dry
eyes.

Finally, the daughter tells how one day, while
peeling bananas, her mother realized that for one time, she didn't have to be brave and
cried--she cried for herself and for the husband she loved.

State the characteristics of an epic invocation with examples from the start of Paradise Lost.

An invocation is an address to a god or muse to assist the epic poet in his composition. Milton invokes divine guidance at the opening of Paradise Lost:

'And chiefly Thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer

Before all temples th'upright heart and pure,

Instruct me..'

Literary epic was regarded by Renaissance critics as the highest of all genres. They share a series of features, derived ultimately from the epics of Homer. These include central figures of national or cosmic importance; ample settings; superhuman deeds in battle; active participation of divine beings in the action; and a grand and formal style. Epics also employ certain stylistic conventions: the poet begins by stating his argument or theme, invokes his Muse (in Milton's case the Holy Spirit) and poses his epic question which introduces the narrative proper:

'Say first what cause
Mov'd our Grand Parents in that happy State,
Favour'd of Heav'n so highly, to fall off
From their Creator, and transgress his Will
For one restraint, Lords of the World besides?'

The narrative also begins in medias res, at a critical point in the action. In Milton's case, the opening sees the fallen angels in hell, gathering their forces and determining their revenge.

In The Drunkard by Frank O' Connor, who narrates this story?

The story is narrated by the central character, Larry
Delaney, who is actually thinking back on a particular incident from his childhood.  The
fact that he is an adult is important because of the distance it gives him from the
event as well as the perspective he is likely to have gained as an adult.  The incident
would have been confusing at best had he tried to narrate it at the time as a young
child.  It also allows Larry to reflect back on the incident as well as the rest of his
Father's life to make sure that the story doesn't end in a sickly sweet happily ever
after but, as most stories do, with further downfalls and incidents not
described.

How does luck play a role in the book Night? How does luck play a role in the book Night or Maus 1&2? Can you please give examples and quotes....

Asking how does luck play a role in
Night is asking how did luck play a roll in who survived the
Holocaust.  With as many people who went through "The Selection" at concentration camps
every day, I think it could be argued that luck played a HUGE role.  Sure there were
certain criteria SS Officers were perportedly looking for as they sent men and women to
the left or to the right, but how in the world could the criteria be at all fool-proof. 
Due to the sheer masses, either luck, fate, or faith had to have something to do with
those selected to continue working vs. those selected for the gas
chambers.

Consider Elie's experience in the hospital.  He
is advised that the Russian front is coming closer, and to get out of the hospital as
quickly as possible, as everyone left would be exterminated.  Elie and his father choose
to leave as the decision looks like the only chance they have of survival.  It turned
out, the Russians arrived earlier than expected and everyone left in the hospital was
spared.  Lucky for those who were even sicker than Elie and could not
leave.

What might the fight between Ahab and Moby represent in "Moby Dick"?

Captain Ahab's epic journey to find and destroy the white whale, called Moby-Dick by the crew of the Pequod, is fueled by maniacal obsession for vengeance after the whale destroyed Ahab's ship and chomped-off his leg.

The fight between Ahab and Moby represents a desire for revenge that becomes a unhealthy addiction, which, in turn, leads to an obsession that consumes him; the ultimate cost is his life, and the lives of those around him.

Ahab dies at the end of the book, but in reality, his life had already been consumed by his obsession; a life wasted well before he was dragged to the bottom of the ocean. When faced with his imminent demise, Ahab's obsession reaches its literary zenith:

". . . to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee."

The better question to ask here may be what parallels can be drawn from this specific tale? The answer is that it may be a representation of man's struggle against that which he can no longer control. When I think of Ahab, I think of his need for revenge as an allegory to a drug addict in need of his next high. He cannot control himself and he ruins his life and the life of everyone around him. But that's just one line of many that can be drawn from this tale.

How is Death a theme in the novel Banana Bottom?

Death is an underlying theme in the novel, subtle but present until the very end when it becomes a major part of Bita's maturation. Bita experiences violence in various ways, for example in the reaction of the community to her first sexual encounter. Thus, she always associates personal desires and lusts with violence, and is not entirely ready for the emotional responses of her friends and family when she refuses to play her assigned roles in society. Later, after a hurricane, death touches Bita directly for the first time, and she is changed by it:

He who had seemed to understand her all her life would understand now. Her spirit was finely balanced between the delicate sadness of death and the subdued joy of love and over all was the glorious sensation of life triumphant in love over death.
(McKay, Banana Bottom, Google Books)

Throughout the book Bita has her desires stifled, her individualistic thoughts fighting the push of societal expectation. After the death of her father, Bita discovers in her memories new meanings for herself and those people she loves; she is able to create her own life by her own hand instead of existing within the boundaries of others. The death event makes Bita aware of her own identity as it exists in life, and willing to go against expectation to find her own happiness. In this manner, the theme is not death itself, but instead the knowledge of death that allows personal fulfilment and improvement.

What is the difference between a simile and a metaphor?

Similes and metaphors are often confused with one another
as they are both forms of comparison and are similar.

A
simile means to be like something. When people are conveying a
message to someone else they often use similes to help the other person understand what
it is they are saying. For example, someone may ask you how your trip to the dentist
was. You may respond that you feel like a beaten up punching bag.
This is an example of a simile. 

A metaphor takes it a step
further. Instead of saying something is like another, we say
it is another. "An education is the passport
to your future" is an example of a metaphor. You are not saying it is like
a passport, but it is a
passport.

Here are some more
examples:

Examples
of
Simile:

• She
  swins like a fish.


• He's
  as hairy as a gorilla.


• Peter
  laughs like a hyena.


• Mr. John is as
  wise as an owl.
  

Examples
of Metaphor:

• He
  was a tornado, blasting his way through the opposing team.
  


• He was a lion in the fight.
  


• The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas.
  

What is Pony Boy comparing Two-bit to when he calls him a "Chessy Cat" in Chapter 2 of The Outsiders?

When Ponyboy says that Two-Bit is "grinning like a Chessy cat", he is comparing him to the character of the Cheshire Cat from the Lewis Carroll story Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.  The Cheshire Cat is a feline with the magical ability to become invisible except for his toothy smile; oftentimes in the tale, the large grin is all that can be seen of him.  Two-bit, who has just played a prank on Ponyboy and Johnny by impersonating a threatening Soc, is grinning from ear to ear, and his demeanor reminds Ponyboy of the famous cat from Wonderland. 

Ponyboy's use of the allusion and while mispronouncing the term (Cheshire/Chessy) illustrates through marvelous juxtaposition the two opposing and seemingly contradictory sides of his nature.  Ponyboy is a tough, unrefined member of the Greasers from the wrong side of the tracks, but at the same time he is highly intelligent, studious, and well-read.

In this book, is innocence preserved or is it replaced by bitter experience?Is the mockingbird killed after all?

I think that, in some ways, innocence is both preserved
and replaced by bitter experience in this novel. The lesson that an adult Scout is
trying to teach by telling her story is one of the importance of innocence. However, it
is a concept that cannot be fully understood or appreciated without the wisdom that
comes fro experience. To Scout, innocence was a given until she experienced the outcomes
of the events of that summer. Seeing a group of men that she knew from the town ready to
harm Atticus if he did not allow them to enter the jail, presumably to take and lynch
Tom Robinson, gave her a first glimpse at the evil that lies in the hearts of all men.
The outcome of the trial, which in her childhood wisdom she knew to be unfair, only
serves to further that loss of innocence and respect for humanity. However, she has
tempering influences as well. The scene when Atticus must kill the rabid dog, for
instance, reminds her that some things that may not be pleasant are necessary, but that
we must not hope or wish to be put into those situations. Boo Radley, as well, is an
influence on her. He also acts as is needed to protect the children, but he is a simple
man who has kept his own innocence through ignorance. It is these that provide her with
the wisdom that she needs to maintain her appreciation and respect for innocence and to
strive to teach those values to others through her narrative.