In "The Crucible," what will Abigail bring to those who breathe a word of the truth?

Abigail is a forceful character who is basically evil.  She has no status in the community as a single woman, who apparently, as everyone knows, had an affair with John Proctor.  However she is able to influence and control the behavior of the other girls, like Mercy Lewis and Mary Warren.

Abigail's accusations of witchcraft give her power in the court, she is seen to be aligned with good, in league with God, pointing out those who are working with the devil.

If anyone dares cross her and attempt to deflate her power, she will turn her smart, wily behavior on them, accusing anyone of witchcraft just to remain the center of attention.

Abigail could easily turn on Mary or Mercy if either of the girls tried to tell the truth.  She would put her considerable talents at performing to good use pretending to be possessed by spirits that are sent forth by anyone she chooses to name.

Abigail is very dangerous because of the power that has been invested in her by the court. 

"Her accusations initially reveal a mischievous enjoyment in wielding power over other people's lives."

"She is at once a frightening and pitiable character, malicious in her accusations and sad in her need for close human contact and attention."

In Act I, Scene 1 of "Hamlet", how does Horatio show that he also believes in ghosts after the ghost's appearance?

After the ghost's appearance, Horatio exclaims, "Before my God, I might not this believe / Without the sensible and true avouch / Of mine own eyes." In other words, he had to see the apparition to believe in it.

When the ghost appears again, Horatio addresses the spirit and tries to get him to speak. The ghost, however, does not respond and exits the scene again. At this point, Horatio, Bernardo, and Marcellus decide that they must tell Hamlet what they have encountered that evening.

WHY DID THE WOMAN ASK THE FAT MAN "THEN IS YOUR SON REALLY DEAD"?DIDNT SHE HEAR THE SPEECH THE FAT MAN WAS GIVING TO THE PEOPLE ON TRAIN? WHY...

In the story, the author says that she asks him
this

just as
if she had heard nothing of what had been said and almost as if waking up from a
dream

To me, this means that
you can definitely argue that she has not really heard all of what he has said.  She
must have heard some of it to know that he had a son, but maybe once she heard he was
dead she sort of got lost in her thoughts.

In terms of the
story, though, it makes sense for her to ask this.  Because what she is really doing is
confronting him about what he is saying.  She is really implying that what he's saying
can't be true if his son is really dead.  He can't have those grand feelings if his son
is dead.

She's right -- once he thinks about it, he
dissolves into tears.

So to me, I don't know if it's
believable for her to say it if this were real life.  But for the story, it makes
sense.

What is the structure used in "The Gift of the Magi"?

Although O. Henry uses the third person narrative form, he invites the reader to observe the opening scene and to contemplate it, much as a spectator does a play. The drabby setting of the homely apartment contrasts vividly with the evident wealth of love in the home. Della is first introduced, then Jim. Then the reader is invited to look away, as if being an intruder on the couple's intimacy. The author imparts other confidences, much as if the reader were a close friend: how endeared Della and Jim are to each other, how they have seen better times, how they maintain self-respect and dignity in spite of their poverty and loss.

Then the story line brusquely resumes as a sequence of scenes, now from Della's point of view (though rendered in third person): her idea to cut her hair before the mirror; her 'flight' to the hairdresser's before she changes her mind; her quest in town for the perfect gift; her preparation of the Christmas meal and anticipation of Jim's return; the couple's final exchange of gifts and ultimate surprise.

By narrowing the point of view as the story progresses to only Della's understanding and experience, the couple's surprise in the end is also the reader's surprise - though their gifts are useless, they have each given the best of themselves, they have given all.

O. Henry then pulls back to his initial vantage point -  he concludes in his prosaic, even paternalizing tone: 'Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.'

How does Hawthorne characterize the disciplining of children in the early days of the Boston Colony in "Scarlet Letter"?(from Chapter 6)

Hawthorne characterizes the disciplining of children in the early days of the Boston Colony as being harsh and unyielding, and like all other aspects of Puritan life, religiously based.  He says,

"The discipline of the family, in those days, was of a far more rigid kind than now.  The frown, the harsh rebuke, the frequent application of the rod, enjoined by Scriptural authority, were used, not merely in the way of punishment for actual offences, but as a wholesome regimen for the growth and promotion of all childish virtues".

Hester, however, "mindful...of her own errors and misfortunes", sought to temper her raising of Pearl with tenderness, but found that the task of disciplining the child "was beyond her skill".  Pearl was capricious and headstrong from the time she was an infant, and although "physical compulsion or restraint was effectual...while it lasted", she would not be controlled.  Hester was "ultimately compelled to stand aside, and permit the child to be swayed by her own impulses" (Chapter 6).

Compare and contrast East Egg to West Egg in The Great Gatsby.

As has already been suggested, East Egg is the place where the established wealthy people live.  The homes are old and classic, and there are all the accoutrements of the rich--such as stables and polo fields.  Tom and Daisy live here.  It's the more sedate and dignified of the two Eggs.

West Egg is where the rich Gatsby lives, it's true--but right next to his new, European-inspired mansion is Nick's $80-a-month shack.  Gatsby's money is "new," and he would have had no option to build in East Egg.  Instead, he builds an out-of-place home on West Egg.

Interestingly enough, though, there are plenty of East Egg men and women who show up at Gatsby's parties with people other than their spouses and act like drunken fools once they're there.  Apparently the behavior while on the East Egg must be proper and appropriate to the dignity of "old" money.  A visit to the West Egg, however, aparently allows them to be as wild and dissolute as they wish. 

This dichotomy of East and West Egg appearance and behavior is one of the great hypocrisies found in this novel. 

How do the Whites react when the family first learns about the monkey's paw? In what way is Mr. White first wish fulfilled?

When Mr. White learns about the monkey's paw and its ability to grant three wishes to three people, he is very intrigued. He does not feel afraid, even though Sergeant Major Morris advises him to throw it away. The Whites, after they make their first wish, think that the monkey's paw does not really have any power. Even though they were told that the first owner's last wish was for death.

Sergeant Major Morris does not tell us what he wished for, but he tries to dispose of the monkey's paw by throwing it in the fire. Mr. White rescues it.

Once he has properly paid Sergeant Major Morris a small amount for the monkey's paw, he wishes for 200 pounds, English money.

His first wish is granted through the loss of his son, Herbert. A stranger calls on the Whites to inform them that Herbert was killed in an accident at the factory, he fell into a machine. For their loss, they are given a check of compensation for the sum of $200 pounds.

What is the meaning of the title "Everyday Use"?

The title refers to the quilts but more metaphorically, to
the basic conflict in the story.

Literally, the phrase
"everyday use" refers to the way in which the mother wants the quilts to be used.  She
sees the quilts as useful objects, rather than as heirlooms to be hung up and looked
at.

The title also refers to the general conflict that is
going on in the story.  It refers to the conflict between the old-fashioned "everyday"
type of people like the mother and people like Wangero who has all these new ideas.  The
everyday people are down to earth and practical, the others are more interested in ideas
and philosophical statements.

In The Crucible, what happened in Andover?

The town of Andover, Massachusetts, was experiencing their own witch trials. The people of the town overthrew the courts and started a riot. They were not going to allow innocent people to be hung, and they stood up against the court system. Danforth is afraid this is going to happen in Salem, if John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse are hung.

"I tell you what is said here, sir: Andover have thrown out the court, they say, and will have no part of witchcraft. There be a faction here, feeding on that news, and I tell you true, sir, I fear there will be a riot here."

All of this comes to light in Act 4. Danforth is really pushing for John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse to confess to witchcraft so they won't be hung, and he will look like the victor. He doesn't care that they are innocent, all he cares about is that he looks like he has won to battle against the devil. Danforth is so afraid the people of Salem are going to see him for what he really is, and begin to riot, just like they did in Andover. He will go to any means necessary to prevent this from happening.

How does the absence of women affect the plot and theme of The Road?

Well, women are not completely absent from The
Road, although the female characters are temporary and tragic.  There is the
argument flashback between the father and mother, where the mother has decided to take
her life rather than face the reality of the post-apocalypse world.  Her decision, and
her absence from the book is a major theme: the absence of hope, the absence of future. 
Most of the other women in the book are horrible victims, those held captive and bred
for food, which simply reinforces McCarthy's theme of
hopelessness.

Only at the very end of the story does he
give a glimpse past the hopelessness, with the woman who embraces the orphaned
boy.

In Heart of Darkness, what does Marlow mean by "kernel" and "misty halo" in relation to storytelling?

The narrator uses the term kernel to refer to how Marlow tells a story and what interests him in a story. The kernel is the center of the story but what interests Marlow is not only the center truth but the shell around it.

The misty halo is referring literally to the mist surrounding the African coast but also to how the truth of a thing is surrounded by such a mist making it impossible to fully make out.

They are all connected in storytelling by letting the reader know that Marlow is interested in the shell around the story not only the kernel of truth which a story must have and that the truth of what lies within is shrouded by mystery.

What are summaries of chapters 22 and 23 of "Lyddie"?

Chapter 22. Lyddie withdraws all of her savings from the bank and buys another copy of Oliver Twist for Rachel and a dictionary. She finally discovers the meaning of "moral turpitude," and it makes her very angry. She tells Brigid why she was dismissed and that she has written a letter to Mr. Marsden to  warn him what will happen if he fires Brigid. Later that evening, she confronts Mr. Marsden face to face. The next day she leaves town for Boston and looks up Diana. She is surprised and happy to discover that Diana is living with a widowed shopkeeper and her daughter. She is happy for Diana, but she is sad about her own life. After visiting with Diana, she continues on to Vermont. 

Chapter 23. Lyddie returns to Cutler’s Tavern and is welcomed back by Triphena. Lyddie asks for her old job back, but that position has been filled. She then goes to see the Phinneys, where Charlie and Rachel are living. They are still at school when she gets there, so she decides to walk to the old farm. Once there, she builds a fire in the fireplace and sits in her mother's old rocking chair. Luke Stevens enters the house and apologizes for having written the letter in which he  tells her that his father has bought the farm and proposes that she marry him. He asks her what her plans are, and she decisively tells him she plans to go to college. Somehow, Lyddie knows that someday she will marry Luke.

How does “The Rocking-Horse Winner” portray the quest for material wealth?

To add to what has already been said, the obsessive
rocking on a horse that is, in reality, going nowhere presents an interesting parallel
to humankind's search for wealth. The rocking horse is stationary. It sits in one place
and does not move in spite of the fact that he keeps on rocking. This is a lot like life
in that we often pursue wealth incessantly with no clear direction for where we are
going. It is the vicious cycle of questing after possessions that, essentially, are
meaningless to us after we are dead. The family gets the money, and the father clearly
values the money more than the son, but in the end when we die we can't take material
wealth with us to the grave (well, we can, but what is the point?). Therefore, the story
asks a critical question - how important is wealth? Is money truly as valuable as we
make it out to be? And, in the end, which is more important: money or a life well-lived
in pursuit of something more tangible than spinning one's wheels in place for all
eternity?

What are the central ideas, ironies, and the mood of "Barn Burning"?

The themes of "Barn Burning" are related to cultural and
socio-economic class distinctions, namely family
clannishness.  The Southern agrarian tradition holds that family justice
supersedes national legal justice.  This is why the South seceded from the Union and why
Snopes expects his son not to sell him out to the
judge.

Another main theme is Faulkner's
disregard for "past." He
says:

“The past is never dead. It’s not even
past.”

AND

“[T]o
me,” Faulkner remarked, “no man is himself, he is the sum of his past. There is no such
thing really as was because the past is. It is a part of every man, every woman, and
every moment. All of his and her ancestry, background, is all a part of himself and
herself at any moment.”

Sarty's decision to run
away from his family is noble, but--according to Faulkner--the boy can never escape his
father's and the South's legacies.  They will forever haunt
him.

Irony is mainly
situational: Snopes' plans to soil De Spain's rug and burn his barn are spoiled by
Sarty.  Snopes expects family clannishness to win out over social justice, but this, of
course, backfires.

Mood is
mainly Southern Gothic, with its focus on the grotesque Snopes, fire imagery, soiled
rug, and violent ending.

What impact did the Korean war have on the American people?

Don't know why the poor rating on the answer above, I
agree completely.  I would add a couple of other effects the war had on Americans at
that time too.

First, this was the second major war
Americans had fought in one decade, which meant another draft which means the younger
brothers of those who had fought in World War II, and sometimes the same ones who had,
would be leaving again to fight another war they may not come home
from.

Second, Americans were unclear what we were fighting
for.  It ws an unpopular war, and Truman was an unpopular President because of it.  Once
the war ended in a cease fire, many Americans, and veterans for that matter, were angry
that we hadn't "won" and what had all the blood and sacrifice been for if they weren't
going to be allowed to win?

And it surely made them more
afraid of communism and the Soviet Union, as stated above, and more likely to vote for
hard core anti-communist politicians like Richard Nixon.

How might 1984 be a satire of communism?

Satire- "the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc." (dictionary.com)

According to my understanding of satire, 1984 is not a good fit. Orwell was very concerned about the rise of dictatorship as the political force of the 20th century, but he was equally concerned with the failure of language to deal with this reality. He discusses this in a paper entitled "Politics and the English Language," 1946. The major thrust of 1984 isn't about ridiculing vice or folly, but about predicting what will happen if we allow our knowledge of the past to be controlled by the government. You might be interested in viewing "Google Epic" to see what this could look like in our future. 1984 also discusses the attempt to limit the language that is available to us. The "Newspeak" dictionary is always shrinking, limiting the words and thoughts that are available to "us." Orwell discusses this in the aforementioned document.

The novel is probably best qualified as "dystopian" rather than "satirical," but I'm not sure the label is all that important. Exploring its meaning is critical.

Why was Jem determined to retrieve his pants in "To Kill a Mockingbird"?Why was it significant that Jem was determined to return alone to the...

Jem is also becoming painfully of what is right and wrong.  Not only does he not want to be punished by Atticus, but he also wants to be able to preserve his pride.  Jem is ashamed of what he has done and doesn't want anyone else (other than Scout, who already knows) to realize what he has done.  He doesn't want his father, especially, to know that he has done something to be ashamed of.

At one point, Scout tries to persuade Jem not to retrieve the pants.  She states that he'll only receive a whipping, but Jem does not want to be punished in that way, since his father hasn't done it before.  Scout says that Atticus has just never caught Jem doing anything wrong.  Jem replies, "Maybe so, but--I wanta keep it that way, Scout.  We shouldn'a done that tonight, Scout."  Jem's attitude makes it clear that he is growing up.

In "The Scarlet Letter," what important question related to Hester's crime is still unanswered?

The most important unanswered question in Hester's community is the identity of the baby's father. The adulteress is known (and branded with the scarlet "A"), but who is the adulterer?

However, while this may be the most obvious question that remains, The Scarlet Letter also poses others.  Hawthorne, for instance, opens up the whole nature of sin and sinners--Hester may wear the letter that marks her as a criminal, but Hawthorne shows us that the issue of sin is not so easily defined. Hester, despite her adultery, is ultimately a figure to be admired. In this way, the meaning of the "A" is also unanswered, to some extent.  Throughout the novel, Hawthorne repeatedly shows us the different meanings of Hester's mark, many of which are positive.

How many geniuses are there in the world?

There's all types of geniuses, just as there are all types
of intelligences and trades.  A MENSA genius may be a genius at taking a test that tests
for geniuses (there's bias in them), but he may not have that intelligence translate
into a successful or note-worthy speciality or a job.  In Malcolm Gladwell's
Outliers, he cites a study of so-called early childhood geniuses in
which the researcher discovered that only about half of them were even moderately
successful in the adult world.

There's 9 different
intelligences: bodily-kinesthetic, naturalist, musical, existential,
mathematical-logical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, linguistic, and
spatial.

Einstein, for example, was probably a genius in
spatial and mathematical-logical but certainly not in bodily-kinesthetic or
interpersonal.

Michael Jordan was a bodily-kinesthetic
genius, but not any of the others.  The same can be said for Mozart (musical), Faulkner
(linguistic), and Kierkegaard (existential).

Who's a
naturalist genius?  Survivorman?

In "The Odyssey," what are examples that discuss the unfair and arbitrary nature of divine justice. How and why are these examples unfair?...

Your biggest example comes from Calypso in book five of the Odyssey.  When Hermes come to inform her that the gods have ordered her to release Odysseus, she makes a long an impassioned plea about the unfair nature of the justice the gods mete out.  She accuses Zeus of sexism, saying that the male gods take human lovers all the time, but when goddess take mortal lovers, the way Dawn took Orion or Demeter slept with Iasion, the gods immediately grew angry.  She definitely feels like the gods do not have justice in mind but instead arbitrarily enforce whichever rules benefit themselves the most.

In "The Crucible", Danforth says he tries to be honest and assumes nothing, but then makes a comment about children. What does he say?

Danforth claims to be honest and impartial, harboring no assumptions; he states unequivocably, "I judge nothing".  Yet, he goes on to say, "I have seen marvels in this court...I have until this moment not the slightest reason to suspect that the children may be deceiving me".  A short while earlier, he asserted that "the entire contention of the state in these trials is that the voice of Heaven is speaking through the children".  Dansforth seems to have a preconceived notion that children are innocent, and cannot help but speak the truth, a belief that is at odds with his contention that he is free of bias.

Proctor challenges Danforth's perception that children do not lie by pointing out that, no matter how you look at it, one or some of the children are lying in this case.  He asks rhetorically, "Who tells us Rebecca Nurse murdered seven babies by sending out her spirit on them?  It is the children only, and this one will swear she lied to you".  Mary has recanted her earlier testimony, which must mean one of two things - either she is lying, or the other children are.  Proctor is arguing that Danforth's belief in the unquestionable candidness of children not only contradicts his claim to impartiality, but is also, in this case at least, false (Act III, Scene 1).

In "Fahrenheit 451," how do Montag and Faber plan to save their society?

Montag, the main character, has abandoned his life as a book burner.  He is reborn at the end of the book into an individual who wants to live a meaningful life and make a difference in the world, a positive difference.  As he looks at the burned out city, he realizes that he wants to dedicate himself to rebuilding a society that values books and help start a new culture, a society where free thought is encouraged.

Faber, a retired teacher, is inspired by Montag's determination to learn about and from books.  Montag's spirit fills Faber with a sense of renewed purpose. He will now live according to his beliefs and not hide, but protest the oppressive society and seeks its change. 

To what extent were Mozart and Salieri's tradgedies caused by themselves?

In Peter Shaffer's Amadeus, Mozart
has the God-given genius but none of the emotional or political savvy to be successful.
 A former child prodigy, he behaves, well, like a child still.  He makes crude jokes,
mocks the court, flirts with all the ladies, and pouts when not given his way.  Mainly,
though, he is haunted by his father.  He knows that he owes much of his talents to his
father, but he seems never to live up to his unwieldy expectations.  Whereas his father
and Salieri measure success by public and material show, Mozart measures it inwardly and
artistically--the way God intends.  In this way, Mozart works himself to death, trying
to please his father instead of his heavenly father or
himself.

Salieri is Mozart's foil in every way.  He has
none of the talent, but all of the political cunning.  An overachiever, Salieri suffers
from morbid jealousy, a need for spiritual revenge, and an intense inferiority complex.
 He curses God for giving Mozart all of the talent; more, he curses Mozart for taking
all his talent for granted.  A two-faced hypocrite, Salieri befriends Mozart, only to
destroy him.  He uses women and Mozart's memory of his father to drive the prodigy to
bankruptcy, near madness, and death.

What important laws were passed at the national level during the Gilded Age?

Notable federal laws enacted during the Gilded Age (1870–90) include:

• the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, which established federal regulation of the railroads. It outlawed collusion between railroads and prohibited many types of price discrimination. Wealthy business leaders in the Northeast opposed the legislation, but farmers and small business owners, particularly in the West, supported it.

• the McKinley Tariff of 1890, which raised tariffs (taxes on goods that cross national borders). Tariffs were a controversial issue because many business leaders and citizens supported tariffs as a way to support American businesses and increase U.S. economic growth. Cotton and tobacco growers in the South, however, strongly opposed tariffs because other countries retaliated by placing tariffs on U.S. cotton and tobacco exports.

• the silver coinage acts, the Bland-Allison Act of 1878 and the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890, which increased the federal government’s minting of silver coins. The resulting increase in the nation's money supply helped farmers and workers pay their debts, counteracting 30 years (1865-1895) of deflation (a decrease in the general price level). Wealthy business leaders feared the Act would lower faith in U.S. currency and harm the nation's economy.

Why is the Battle of Wounded Knee not well known in American history?

The answer is that well-worn but accurate adage, "history is written by the victors."  The treatment of Native Americans, as Brown so vividly depicts, is not a very palatable episode in the history of the United States. 

The Sioux Tribe were to be relocated to a reservation by force but they refused to give up.  The resulting battle, known as the Massacre of Wounded Knee (1890) left over 300 men, women, and children dead. 

Broken treaties, mistreatment, and ghettoization of Native Americans has been the norm.  Chief Joseph, one of the Lakota Sioux whose words Brown captures in his text, explains the discontent and dismay of his people.  He writes:

“I am tired of talk that comes to nothing. It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and broken promises…. You might as well expect the rivers to run backward as that any man who was born a free man should be contented when penned up and denied liberty to go where he pleases. …I have asked some of the great white chiefs where they get their authority to say to the Indian that he shall stay in one place, while he sees white men going where they please. They cannot tell me.”

Along with slavery, the treatement of Native Americans remains one of the most closeted and uneasy subjects in our nation's history. 

What is a genetic disease that begins with the letter "J"?

Jackson-Weiss Syndrome is a hereditary disease that
affects the skull, face, and feet. It is inherited in an autosomal dominant
manner.

One characteristic of JWS is an unusual skull
shape. This leads to an abnormally shaped face, usually a small midface. The toes are
also very wide and webbed between the second and third toe. Some of the bones may be
fused together as well.

The reason for the abnormally
shaped skull is due to the fact that portions of the skull fuse together too
early.

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Jackson-Weiss syndrome is inherited in an
autosomal dominant manner. This means that possession of only one copy of the defective
gene is enough to cause disease. When a parent has Jackson-Weiss syndrome each of his or
her children have a 50% chance to inherit the disease-causing mutation. JWS is believed
to have a high rate of penetrance. This means that almost all people who inherit the
altered gene will manifest symptoms. JWS has also occurred spontaneously in babies with
no family history of it or any similar disorder. This is known as a sporadic occurrence.
Most commonly, JWS is associated with changes in
FGFR2.

Why did the author name the story "A Rose for Emily"?

The rose is this remarkable story is not an image, a tribute or any other symbolism normally attributed to the "giving of a rose". In fact, the rose is Miss Emily herself, "the faded rose of days gone by," (from Tanya Tucker's hit 'Delta Dawn'). Miss Emily's inability to step out of the expectations of aristocracy into which she was born and to acknowledge change has caused her to fade into insanity. She could not accept the death of her father, and clung to her portrait of him even after giving up his body. She could not accept the novelty of a "free postal delivery" or of her need, in the new world order, to pay her taxes. And above all, she could not accept the fact that Homer Barron would not marry her, after escorting her publicly through town. She could not accept renewal, and so she faded into a world of insanity in which all things would ever be the same. A faded rose of days gone by...

Explain this quote from Macbeth, Act 3: "Naught's had, all's spent, Where our desire is got without content. Tis safer to be that which we destroy...

In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is instrumental in driving Macbeth towards his own destruction. She recognizes that he may not have the capacity to do what is required because he is "too full of the milk of human kindness" (I.v.14), meaning that he is essentially a good person. She intends to "unsex" (38) herself, removing all trace of any compassion so that she is tough enough for both of them. However, after having murdered Duncan, Macbeth finds an inner demonic strength which he knows stems from his "vaulting ambition" (I.vii.27) and the witches' words about Banquo's lineage which still haunt him. He cannot bear the thought that he has killed Duncan for Banquo's benefit. This compels him to continue his killing spree without any consultation with Lady Macbeth whom he believes will be impressed with his efforts.

In Act III, Macbeth has met with the murderers who will carry out Banquo's murder. In the meantime, Lady Macbeth who is now queen is anxious to talk to him and is waiting for him to come to her. It is during these moments of reflection that she ponders the lines from scene ii when she says, "Naught's had, all's spent, Where our desire is got without content. 'Tis safer to be that which we destroy, Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy." 

Lady Macbeth and Macbeth have made much effort to get to this point and she is suggesting that "all's spent" because there has been great personal cost to them in attaining this position. There is nothing to be gained when that which is striven for does not bring the anticipated contentment. She knows that Macbeth is distracted and that there is much talk around the kingdom about who may have done what and she is therefore not enjoying her new-found status. She continues to say that sometimes it may preferable to be the one who has been destroyed or, in Duncan's case murdered because there will be no anxiety then and no feelings of guilt or "doubtful joy" such as she is feeling. She recognizes that the "destruction" which she has wrought has brought insecurities and made her question herself which is something that Lady Macbeth is not used to. She is used to getting what she wants and not concerning herself with anyone or anything else. Now she doubts herself and wishes that these feelings would end (such as they would have done were she in Duncan's position). 

In Chapter 31, comment on the way the author summarizes earlier events to show their significance.

Well, the first way Lee summarizes earlier events is briefly. The entire chapter is only a few pages long, and the summaries don't take up much of that. Second, Lee does so by having Scout review (and re-view—re-see) those events in light of what Boo had done for her before saving her. The result (and third way) is that she reaches a conclusion about the events' meaning. Before the actions had been mysteries; now they clearly mean friendship.

What does the line mean "Still, that's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick" in the writing of Somerset Maugham?the line has a...

It is a difficult question to answer because I don't
believe that Maugham ever makes it quite clear what it means idiomatically.  Literally
it just means something along the lines of "could be much worse."  In "The Lotus Eater,"
Wilson utters the phrase when he compares the twenty five years he will have on the
island to the forty that "the mythical German" had after falling in love with
Capri.

Idiomatically it appears to go along with some of
the bent of the story.  Much of the feeling of the story is about the way that things
could be worse or this idea of Wilson who decided to take the simple road to happiness
and had planned on ending his life when the funds to keep him safely and in the form he
desired ran out.  The narrator is curious about him and thinks hard about what his life
is like, whether he has made the appropriate choice, etc.  In some ways this may very
well relate back to Maugham's use fo the phrase as it signifies that choice between
something pretty good and something that sounds downright
horrible.

in "The Mark of the Beast" what allusions to the Book of Revelation int he Bible are made?

Are you referring to the story by Rudyard Kipling? In this
story, three friends are celebrating New Year's Eve by drinking. They are British men
living in India. One, Fleete, gets particularly drunk and defaces the statue of an
Indian god, Hanuman the Monkey God, with his cigar butt. He states that he is giving the
statue the "mark of the beast." Immediately a leper/priest jumps out from behind the
statue and touches Fleete with his diseased body. Soon after, a mark appears on Fleete's
chest. He begins acting strangely - he is ravenously hungry, his horse is afraid of him,
he cannot bear light and he literally turns into a
beast:

The
human spirit must have been giving way all day and have died out with the twilight. We
were dealing with a beast that had once been
Fleete.

In the book of
Revelation in the Bible, the apostle John warns us:

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Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding
count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six
hundred threescore and
six.

The number 666,
therefore, refers to the Anti-Christ, who will one day come and wreak havoc on the
earth. The Anti-Christ will be empowered by Satan. The number 666 and the reference to
"the Beast" in literature is symbolic of evil, or Satan. Once one has received "the
mark" one is doomed. So in this story, Fleete is doomed. Strickland, his friend,
recognizes the spiritual nature of the danger to his friend, being familiar with the
Biblical prophecy. When Fleete cries out, Strickland notes that if this happens six
times, it will confirm the spiritual nature of the attack on
Fleete:

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'Watch!' said Strickland. 'If this happens six
times I shall take the law into my own hands. I order you to help
me.'

Fleete's friends then
trap the leper/priest and force him to reverse the evil
spell:

We
unstrapped the leper and told him to take away the evil spirit. He crawled to the beast
and laid his hand upon the left
breast.

They perform an
exorcism, driving out the evil.

The Bible says that when
the Anti-Christ appears, he will require everyone to "receive the mark" and those who do
not, will not be able to survive because they will not be able to buy food, water, etc.
When Fleete's friends force the leper/priest to exorcise the evil spirit from their
friend, they are acting in an opposite way to Jesus' words in John
10:14:

I am
the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know
me--

Since the Anti-Christ
will do everything "anti" Christ, he will also pervert Christ's sayings. So while Jesus
knows who his sheep are, so does Satan. That is why the evil leper/priest is the only
one who can drive out the demon in Fleete.

In "The Pigman", what are some problems that Lorraine faces at home with her mother?

Here is a quote by Lorraine about her mother:

"If I made a list of every comment she's made about me, you'd think I was a monstrosity."

This is the basis of the problems that Lorraine has at home.  Her mother, having been left by her husband to raise Lorraine alone, has become a bitter and angry woman.  She doesn't like her life, and she spends her time complaining about it, complaining about men, complaining about her patients, and complaining about Lorraine.  She directs her bitterness towards her daughter, whether it is in telling her that men are worthless or in suggesting that she herself (Lorraine) is worthless.  This last part she does by criticizing Lorraine's looks and behaviors.  She shows that this attitude isn't just related to Lorraine in comments that she makes about clients:

"I wish this one would go ahead and croak because her husband is getting a little too friendly lately."

However, for a teenager, it doesn't matter much that her mother acts that way to everyone.  What matters is that she acts that way towards her, causing Lorraine to be overly self-conscious and to lack self-esteem.  However, her mother's criticisms also cause Lorraine to be sensitive to the feelings of others and mature for her age.

How is Yank a tragic hero in "The Hairy Ape"?

Eugene Oneill's hero Yank of  "The Hairy Ape" and  the classical Greek tragic heroes are similar in many respects: 

1.The greek tragic hero was  a larger than life person who epitomized a certain emotional quality. In Sc. 1 Yank "seems broader, fiercer, more truculent, more powerful ....their most highly developed individual." He is the quintessential 'fire man.' He is the  demi-god of his group.

2. The greek tragic hero because of his superior position suffered from 'hubris' or pride. Yank's hubris is most evident in his long reply to Paddy in Sc. 1: "I'm steam and oil for de engines...And I'm steel-steel-steel."

3. The almost perfect Greek tragic hero suffered from a tragic flaw or 'hamartia' which would result in  his downfall. Yank's hamartia is, that he is so proud of his strength that he fails to notice that he is actually sub-human: He is blind to the fact that he actually resembles a "Neandertal Man." Sc.1.

4. The hubris and the hamartia result in 'peripeteia' or a reversal in the fortunes of the greek tragic hero. In Sc. 5 Yank's pride in his strength and his lack of intelligence are exploited by Long who uses Yank to attack the rich  capitalists, which lands him in jail. 

How does Simon change throughout the the story "Lord of the Flies"?

Simon doesn't change so much as he emerges during the course of the story.  He begins as a minor character and by the time of his death in ch. 9, he has become a major character.  When he is introduced in the first chapter, he is one of the choirboys and he "...flopped on his face in the sand..." when Jack had the choir line up.  Jack said this was not an unusual thing for Simon to do, so we know right away that he is different.  Then when he goes into his trances, especially the trance in ch. 8 where Simon converses with the Lord of the Flies, the difference is clear.  Simon is the mystic of the book; he is the one who seems to understand long before anyone else what is going on and why.  He knows that the evil that the boys fear is not an outside presence but it is the evil that is inside each boy.  He dies for this knowledge when he comes running into the boys' circle to share the news and they, in their frenzy, fall upon him and kill him.

Where had the stone and mortar that Montresor used been hidden?

Montresor had no particular reason to hide the stones and
mortar, since nobody ever came that far into the catacombs. If Fortunato saw them he
would not think anything of them except perhaps that there was some sort of repair work
being done. The bones are on top of the stones and trough of mortar, but they may have
been put there by Montresor to try to keep the mortar from drying out. The bones collect
dripping moisture. After all, he did not know when he was going to be able to use it. He
does not say that the materials were "hidden" or "concealed." This is how he describes
them:

As I
said these words I busied myself among the pile of bones of which I have before spoken.
Throwing them aside, I soon uncovered a quantity of building stone and mortar. With
these materials and with the aid of my trowel, I began vigorously to wall up the
entrance of the niche.

Poe
did not want to spend a lot of words describing how Montresor builds his wall. The
author wants to get the job done as quickly as possible. That is why Montresor has the
mortar already mixed. It would be a tedious and messy job to pour a whole bag of dry
powder into a trough, mix it with water, and then stir it with a shovel. That is why the
stones and mortar are all ready and waiting for Montresor. The trowel hasn't been left
there because it would rust in all that dampness, so Montresor carries it under his
cloak. Once he has Fortunato chained to the granite wall, it seems to take only minutes
for Montresor to build the wall, even though he could not have had much experience in
that sort of work. The climax comes when Montresor turns the key in the padlock. After
that the story should end as quickly as possible, which it does. Montresor covers the
whole wall-building, the conversation with Fortunato, and the passage of fifty years
with impressive speed. Here is a sample of how quickly the wall goes
up:

I
had scarcely laid the first tier of the masonry when I discovered that the intoxication
of Fortunato had in a great measure worn off. The earliest indication I had of this was
a low moaning cry from the depth of the recess. It was not the cry
of a drunken man. There was then a long and obstinate silence. I laid the second tier,
and the third, and the fourth; and then I heard the furious vibrations of the chain. The
noise lasted for several minutes, during which, that I might hearken to it with the more
satisfaction, I ceased my labours and sat down upon the bones. When at last the clanking
subsided, I resumed the trowel, and finished without interruption the fifth, the sixth,
and the seventh tier. The wall was now nearly upon a level with my breast. I again
paused, and holding the flambeaux over the mason-work, threw a few feeble rays upon the
figure within.

He lays the
first tier, then the second, third and fourth. Then he hastily lays the fifth, sixth and
seventh all in this one paragraph. We can well imagine how much time and effort such a
job would actually require. The mortar has to be troweled onto the top of a stone.
Another stone has to be set in place. It has to be adjusted, pressed down, and excess
mortar has to be scraped off. Poe intentionally makes the niche very narrow so that the
wall will not have to be very wide to conceal it.

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Within the wall thus exposed by the displacing
of the bones, we perceived a still interior crypt or recess, in depth about four feet,
in width three, in height six or
seven.

The wall only has to
be about three feet wide and six or seven feet high. The depth is only important because
it has to be deep enough to keep Fortunato from reaching out and touching the wall,
either while Montresor is building it or after Montresor has left and the mortar is
still damp. Poe specifies that the chain holds Fortunato tightly against the granite so
he could not reach out more than about three feet.

In "The Scarlet Ibis", what initiation/rite of passage did the main character, Brother/Doodle's brother, go through?

In "The Scarlet Ibis", Brother went through the right of passage of death.  He experienced the death of his brother, Doodle. Brother also experienced, with this death, that he was not infallible.  Brother had to face the truth that his love for his brother was overshadowed by his pride and arrogance.

Brother was a young man involved in his handicapped brother's life because their parents insisted that Brother take care of Doodle.  Brother loved his younger brother, but did not accept him.  Brother was prideful, arrogant, and overbearing.  He wanted to push Doodle to achieve more and more.  Yet, these achievements were not for Doodle, but for his own desire not to be teased, poked and prodded about being with a "handicapped" kid all the time.

Identify the methods of moral reasoning used in the film Twelve Angry Men.

The first type of moral reasoning introduced is a need to be responsible. This is voiced by Henry Fonda's character, but also the jury foreman (and some of those who vote guilty early on). All those characters are doing what they think they must.

Closely related is the sense of duty to the community. Though duty seems weak in the juror with the tickets to the baseball game and the advertising man, all feel duty sufficiently to play their roles in the system.

Faith in the system is a kind of moral reasoning, and it is articulated by both Fonda and by the angriest of those claiming guilt for the accused. Fonda's character thinks that they should spend full time as the system intended uncovering guilt or innocence; the angry jurors trust that the system has worked as it should.

Fairness is called for, a kind of moral reasoning, but also circumstantial reasoning and situational ethics, when various men try to discuss how his origins would affect the accused.

How did the fact that Dolphus Raymond was not really a drunk effect him as an idvidual? What impact did it have on him?Leads back to theme...

I don't think the fact that he's not a drunk
effects him.  Perhaps it simply says something about his
character.  I think the issue is more about the fact that he doesn't want anyone to know
his secret.

Dolphus Raymond is guilty of "questionable"
behavior according to the citizens of Maycomb - the fact that he is a white man who has
"a colored woman" and several "mixed children."

This
behavior, in the mind of the town, could be largely blamed on the fact that his original
fiance committed suicide on the day of the rehearsal.  By appearing to be a town drunk,
Dolphus encourages the perception that he still hasn't recovered from a circumstance
that made him a victim.  The fact that he is actually drinking Coke means he isn't
actually escaping anything - nor does he consider himeslf a victim any longer (if he
ever did).  His current life is clearly a choice made in a right
mind.

As he puts it himself: "Some folks don't - like the
way I live.  Now I could say the hell with 'em, I don't care if they don't like it.  I
do say I don't care if they don't like it, right enough - but I don't say the hell with
'em, see?" (ch. 20)

He isn't a drunk.  He's a level-headed
man making a choice to live outside of a social norm, but in order to show a respect for
that social norm, he avoids confronting it by hiding behind the pretense that he is a
victim and a drunk.  He's perhaps a character of perfect tolerance.  Tolerance of the
black culture and tolerance of the white culture.  He's managed to find a means to bring
everyone to a happy medium - and he's okay with the fact that it's a
lie.

What is the rising action, climax, and falling action in Gathering Blue?

There are several sets of rising, climax, and falling action in the story Gathering Blue. In the beginning of the book Kira's mother dies and when Kira tries to rebuild a home/cott on her mother’s site, she is challenged by another woman for the site.  The woman reports her and she has to await a trial to see if she will be allowed to live because she has a bum leg and foot that is painful and useless.  As she begins the trial the action begins to climb.  The climax is that she is found to have talent in weaving and is allowed to live but will not have her land.  The falling action occurs when she is learns she will have a new place to live and is taken to nicer quarters than she has ever had before.

The second set comes when Kira begins to find it suspicious that she, a gifted weaver, Thomas, a gifted carver, and Jo, a small tyke and a gifted singer, have all had their parents die and are taken to live under Jamison's care.  She knows they are each being pressured because of their gifts.  She and Thomas sneak around at night to try and find out the secret.

On the day of the gathering Kira attends but looks for her friend Matt.  She sees him in the crowd.  He sneaks to her room later with a blind man whom they hide.  The climax occurs when she learns that he is actually her father who had been left for dead in the field after Jamison had attacked him and blamed it on the beats.  She also puts things together and realizes that the singer is shackled ad kept as a prisoner and that Jo, Thomas, and Kira are also prisoners under different circumstances.

The falling action occurs when she decides to remain and rewrite the village's future on the singer's robe in hopes that it will lead to a better life for the citizens.

How does Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" connect with the American Romanticism period?

It is my understanding that Washington Irving is before
the Romantic period. If your teacher feels otherwise, see below for the description of
writers in the Romantic period and their characteristics. Generally speaking, there are
writers who cross-over or can be identifed as being in two periods simultaneously.

The Early National Period of American Literature saw the
beginnings of literature that could be truly identified as "American". The writers of
this new American literature wrote in the English style, but the settings, themes, and
characters were authentically American. In addition, poets of this time wrote poetry
that was relatively independent of English precursors. Three of the most recognized
writers of this time are Washington Irving, James Fennimore Cooper, and Edgar Allan Poe.

The period 1828-1865 in American Literature is commonly
identified as the Romantic Period in America, but may also be referred to as the
American Renaissance or the Age of Transcendentalism. The writers of this period
produced works of originality and excellence that helped shape the ideas, ideals, and
literary aims of many American writers. Writers of the American Romantic Period include
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville, Nathaniel
Hawthorne, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Emily Dickinson, and Walt
Whitman.

In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, who would be the best friend and give three reasons explaining why?

I think you could argue that Boo is the "best friend" in
this story. He is always there, no matter what. He leaves gifts to the children as his
show of friendship, takes care of Jem when he loses his pants, and, ultimately, saves
their lives in the end. To me, a best friend is someone who is always there for you, who
"watches your back" and is willing to risk of himself or herself in order to help you
out. Boo does this when he emerges from the shadows to save Scout and Jem. Up until this
point, he has stayed in the darkness because he is more comfortable there. Scout
realizes this, and this is why she takes him out of the light of the house and onto the
porch where the light is dimmer. This is also why she takes his hand and walks him home.
In true best friend fashion, she returns the favor that he has done by saving her life
in the best way that she can. He has protected her and Jem, now she will protect him on
the walk home. This is what a best friend does. They give of themselves unselfishly,
never asking for anything in return, never expecting anything in
return.

What does this 'Waiting for Godot' represent? is it a punishment, can it be Estragon & Vladimir's act of waiting just as "The myth of sisiphys".

The play opens with two tramps, Estragon and Vladimir, by
a roadside. We don’t know who or where they are; they talk throughout the play, but
nothing happens. There is, in fact, no purpose or reason for their existence; they are
in an absurd universe. We look for meaning in the circumstances in which we find
ourselves, but there is no meaning to be found. Waiting for Godot
is repetitive; the two characters cycle through certain exchanges. They have
quarrels, and they become affectionate at places. We may even suspect that there is
something sexual between them, but we don’t know because that would represent something
happening. As it transpires, the two tramps are doing something—they’re waiting for a
mysterious person or entity called Godot. Is this God? Toward the end of the play, a boy
tells the characters that Godot isn’t coming today; they will have to keep waiting.
Estragon asks Vladimir if they should leave, and Vladimir replies, “Yes, let’s go.” And
yet the final stage direction is: They do not move. On one level,
Beckett’s play is a witty game with the propositions of existentialism, a philosophical
school that held that meaning in life is created by action, not essence. If one does
nothing, existentialism proposes, then life is meaningless, absurd. Further, if God does
not exist, then the universe is meaningless. Literature must make itself out of that
cosmic emptiness. It must extract the meaning of meaningless-ness. Beckett creates a
world in which there is no heroism, no society, no superhuman agency—none of the
furniture with which we are familiar in literature. We are all stateless tramps, on a
road to nowhere. It’s impossible to exaggerate the impact that Waiting for
Godot had on English theater and culture in the
mid-1950s.

What is the summary of the story "A Retrieved Reformation" by O. Henry?

Jimmy Valentine is an inveterate gangster and his specialty is cracking safes (especially those in banks!). Once out of prison, it isn't long before he's "at it" again, and police officer Ben Price is determined to catch him in the act. While planning his next hoist, Jimmy falls in love with the banker's daughter and decides to reform. He writes a letter to an old prison buddy and explains that he is "bequeathing" him his burglary tools since he's decided to go straight and stop his "trade." He even opens a shoe store in town to make a modest but decent liviing.

While at the bank of his future father-in-law, Jimmy witnesses a scene where two little girls are playing and one encloses the other in a newly patented vault which won't open before a certain time. The mother is hysterical as she is afraid her daughter will run out of air before the vault opens. Jimmy happens to have his "toolbox" with him, and he doesn't hesitate to break open the vault and save the little girl, even if it means he gets "found out" and has to go back to jail. Ben Price is at the door to intercept his suspect, but when he sees that Jimmy has had a true change of heart, he decides to "let him off." He even pretends he doesn't recognise him, then strolls away.

What is the meaning of solitude in the novel 100 year of solitude?

Solitude takes on many forms in Marquez's novel.  The
Buendia family retreats into solitude for various reasons.  Jose Arcadio Buendia becomes
obsessed with science and isolates himself from his family, an obsession that eventually
leads to his being tied to a tree.  His son the Colonel becomes isolated by his power.
 He draws a circle around him that he allows no one to enter.  His other son Jose
Arcadio marries Rebecca, and Ursula forces him to live apart from the rest of the family
because she considers his marriage incestuous.

But these
are only a few examples.  Each Buendia in his or her own way eventually becomes isolated
or alienated either from choice or from circumstances beyond his or her control.  Ursula
is example of the latter.  Her old age causes her to shrivel up and eventually become a
plaything for her great children.  Throughout the novel, Marquez explores various ideas
of expansion and isolation, or solitude.  He shows the need to connect with others, but
he also shows the compelling urge to withdraw.  Each Buendia exhibits various
motivations for withdrawing from others--disillusionment (Jose Arcadio Segundo),
sickness (Jose Areliano Segundo), trauma (Meme), purity and extraordinary beauty
(Remedios the Beauty), pretensions (Fernando), incest and lust (Amaranta Ursula),
depravity (Jose Arcadio II).  And this compulsion to withdraw eventually has devastating
effects on the individual.

Incest is one of the key ways
Marquez shows this tendency.  Even though incest is not actually committed except in the
first generation of Buendias and in the last, it becomes a metaphor throughout the novel
for the family's withdrawal from connecting with the outside world--their solitude.
 Colonel Aureliano falls in love with a girl who could be his daughter.  His brother
marries a girl whom his mother and father raised.  Amaranta's nephew wants to marry her.
 We see the family begin to reject outsiders and retreat into themselves.  When incest
does occur at the end of the book between Aureliano and Amaranta Ursula, the family line
ends and the baby who is born with a pig's tail dies and Macondo is
destroyed.

So, in the novel, solitude means withdrawal,
alienation, retreat, and isolation.

Why doesn't Melanie from "The Egypt Game" worry when people call April "February"?

Melanie is not worried when people call April "February" because if the kids at school care enough to call her by a nickname, it means she has been accepted. 

When April first moves into the Casa Rosada, she acts fake and stuck-up.  Melanie, an exceptionally perceptive child, understands that April has a difficult homelife and is upset about being shuttled off by her mother to live with a grandmother she barely knows.  Although Melanie herself makes allowances for April's behavior, she is worried that the kids at school will not be so tolerant.  April insists on acting as if she, like her mother, is a Hollywood star, and she gets "furiously angry when she (is) teased".  Melanie predicts that "to the kids at Wilson, all (that) stuff" would make April appear to be "a smart aleck", and her "wonderful difference" only "kookiness".

April is indeed perceived as "an odd-ball" when school starts, but with Melanie acting as a "go-between" to smooth the waters, the other kids eventually begin to accept her.  When "two of the biggest wheels in class" start calling April "February", Melanie knows that "everything would be all right...it (is) teasing, maybe, but not the kind you use on outsiders" (Chapter 6).

On what parts of the novel "As I Lay Dying" can we can find elements of grotesque?

Grotesque refers to abnormal or macabre characters or incidents presented in a mix of comedy and pathos or horror creating something like a "sick joke." As I Lay Dying is full of the grotesque. One example is Anse's decision to set Cash's broken with cement because Anse is too cheap to pay for a doctor to set it properly. Doc Peabody says Cash will likely limp for the rest of his life; Cash never once complains. Darl's belief that God is talking to him, telling him to give Addie a "clean" death when Darl hears the bubbling sounds from Addie's decaying corpse is another example. Of course, one of the most grotesque aspects of the novel is that unembalmed corpse. The family travels for over a week in hot weather with an increasingly nasty-smelling coffin, nauseating everyone they meet. Poor Vardaman confuses his mother with a fish partly because no one explains his mother's death to him. Anse's only comment when his wife dies is "Now I can git them teeth," his ulterior motive for upholding his promise to Addie. As soon as Addie is buried, Anse wastes no time either bringing in the "new Mrs. Bundren," not bothering to mourn the loss of the mother of his children. This Faulkner novel demonstrates some fine examples of the grotesque. We are both appalled and amused by the dark humor.

In chapter 12 of Lord of the Flies, what two options did Ralph think he had to escape?

In chapter 12 of Lord of the Flies, Ralph is fleeing for his life. He is not sure which is the best plan for escape from Jack and the savage hunters. Ralph approaches the empty shelters that he himself built when first stranded on the island. He decides he cannot stay in the shelters:

He cannot stay there for he is too alone. He wishes to try again with Jack so he walks toward Castle Rock again.

After thinking on this, he realizes that Jack will never stop trying to kill him. He knows that he must escape in a different manner. 

He awakes next morning to the sound of the hunters pursuing him. Ralph hides in an indentation left by the rock that killed Piggy. He does not feel safe so he considers another escape plan. Ultimately, he feels he has the following options for escape:

He considers breaking the line, climbing a tree, or hoping they will pass. None of these are attractive alternatives for him. He decides to hide and retreats into what used to be Simon’s secret place. The fire approaches, leaving a huge curtain of smoke between the island and the sun. 

Ralph runs from the hunters and the smoke. He falls in the sand. He is prepared to surrender when he looks up into the face of the naval officer who has come to his rescue.

Can I have some help regarding two poems by Thomas Gray, which are "Hymn to Adversity" and "Ode on the Spring"?

"Ode to the Spring" was originally written as a letter to his friend, Richard West. The letter was returned to Gray unopened, and he found out West had died. Ironically, the subject of the letter had been how short life is, stemming from the fact that Gray was the only survivor of twelve children.

The poem itself tells about the poet watching insects while sitting under a tree. The insects begin to talk to the poet, saying he's wasting his life because he has no one and doesn't add any beauty to life. The theme of the poem deals with human mortality, that we are here for a short time, and we should contribute something while we're here.

The second poem, "Hymn to Adversity" deals with the quality of our lives while we are here. The poet says everyone has problems in life, and people are joined together by the problems of life. Our problems can teach us many things, including forgiveness, generosity, and love. Its theme is that humans should not complain about what they don't have. Rather, they should make something of the things they do have. In the poem, Gray personifies Adversity, which is an intelligent woman.

For more information, go to the site below.

What is Philip Larkin trying to say in his poem "This Be the Verse"?I'm guessing the meaning of the poem is what made the poem so famous, but I...

"This Be the Verse" is a blunt, in-your-face send up of
parenthood.  It's British colloquial ("mum") and modern vulgar ("They f*@# you up") in
its conversational voice spoken by a swaggering male persona who seems to have a pint in
one hand and a pen in the other.

But, there's depth in the
poem.  It reminds me of the Greek tragedy Oedipus, whose parents,
as you know, really f-ed him up by crippling him and leaving him for dead.  His fate
were those broken ankles that he hobbled on all the days of his
life.

Larkin, like Sophocles with
Oedipus, knows that the only fate is not controlled by the gods, or
oracles, or curses, but simply by blood, genetics, and "mum" and
"dad."

He's saying your parents curse you like they were
cursed.  Your vices were their vices.  Your suffering, theirs.  They went through it
with their parents, the Victorians in their "hats."  And your kids will go through it
with you: it's inevitable.  You end up just like your parents, even though your try to
escape it.  And you raise your children the same way you were raised.  It's generational
revenge: torturing of one generation by the next, out of
spite.

He's saying if you want to stop the cycle, then stop
having kids.  It's not a moratorium on parenthood so much as a wake up call for kids to
realize this before they become parents.  He wants his audience not to pass on the
suffering, but learn from it.  Trace it back.  Share it.  Get those skeletons out of the
closets.  Stop repeating stubborn age-old mistakes.

In the
last stanza, he wants his readers to be like little
geologists:

Man hands on misery to man. / It
deepens like a coastal shelf.

Family tragedy is
buried in the blood, in experience, like fossils in the geological layers.  Like
Oedipus, we must suffer to know it and stop it--not by not having kids, but by not
crippling them at birth.

What are some of the satirical aspects of John Donne's poem "The Sun Rising"?

John Donne’s poem “The Sun Rising” is satirical in a
number of different respects. The poem opens, for instance, with explicitly satirical
words, as the speaker calls the sun itself a “Busy old fool” (1). Immediately, then, a
satirical tone is established, and this tone continues for much of the rest of the work,
as when the speaker next condemns the sun by calling it a “saucy pedantic wretch”
(5).

The speaker’s mockery then moves from the sun to
various kinds of human beings, such as “Late schoolboys,” “sour prentices [that is,
apprentices],” “court huntsmen,” and “country ants [that is, rural workers]” (6-8).
First the sun is mocked, and then a wide social spectrum is
satirized.

The speaker next satirizes “hours, days, [and]
months,” which he lambastes as being the mere “rags of time” (10), but then he soon
returns to satirizing the sun (11-18). He subsequently mocks “Princes” (23), honor (24),
and “wealth” (24) before returning once more to satire of the sun (25-30).This poem, in
other words, is a tour de force of satire, presenting an extremely
self-confident speaker.

Is it possible, however, that Donne
himself is mocking the very speaker he presents? Is it possible that the speaker is a
bit too cocky, a bit too self-centered, a bit
too complacent and self-involved? Are we meant to sympathize with
this speaker, even in his mockery of honor (24), of all things? Is the speaker’s mockery
merely good-natured teasing, which we are meant to laugh at and enjoy? Or is Donne,
perhaps, offering some sly satire of the speaker himself? Is the mocker
mocked?

For an excellent edition of this poem and others,
see Theodore Redpath, ed., The Songs and Sonets of John Donne
[sic], 2nd ed. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009).

What happens to the Charter in "The Witch of Blackbird Pond"?hi

In Chapter 15, the historical incident involving the disappearance of the Connecticut Charter is described. 

The Charter was a document obtained from England by the Connecticut Colony which guaranteed them the right to self-government. In 1687, the Crown reneged on its agreement and ordered the colonists to surrender their Charter.  During discussion on the issue that lasted until dark, the candles were suddenly and mysteriously blown out all at once, and when they were relighted, the Charter, which had been displayed in plain sight on a table, was gone.  It had been taken and placed in hiding by unnamed dissidents, and William Ashby is one of the few who knows where it is.  Although the colonial government was ended nonetheless, the disappearance of the Charter was a symbolic moral victory, and Matthew Wood predicts that "when the hard times have passed...(they) will bring (the) charter out of hiding ...and show the world what it means to be free men".

Although the book says nothing more about what happened to the Charter, historical records show that it was spirited out of the room by Captain Joseph Wadsworth and hidden in a hollow oak.  It remained in its hiding place for two years, at which time the royal governor was removed from office and the precious document was brought forth once again. 

How does Birece convince you that he has not escaped though he is writing as if he had?"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce

On the contrary, the reader is not convinced that Farquhar
is dead.  Why continue reading if this is the case?

In his
essay, "'Something uncanny': The Dream Structure in Ambrose Bierce's 'An Occurrence at
Owl Creek Bridge," Peter Stoicheff writes,

readability="11">

Peyton Farquhar's death at the end is a
surprise,so carried away are we by his escape, yet it seems somehow presaged by the very
description that keeps it, until the story's last paragraph, obscure and
unanticipated.

So, while
there may be suggestions of Farquhar's death, they are ambiguous enough with the
surreptitious switch to objective, rather than omniscient narrator, that the
reader accepts the narrative of Farquhar's "awaken[ing]--ages later, it seemed to him."
As, in reality, Farquhar's experience is that of the dying in which time--forever a
state of the mind anyway--divides infinitesimally into the twenty-four hours of his
escape.  The metaphor of the pendulum conveys how Farquar's mind "swung through
unthinkable arcs of oscillation."  That is, not only did time slow down, but, as
Stoicheff contends, it "opens it from the inside."  In retrospect at the story's
conclusion, the reader realizes that the metaphor of the pendulum is the comparison of
Farquhar's body swinging as he is hanged, but Bierce is able to create the dream enough
that the reader gives it credibility. The amazing parallels between what Farquhar dreams
in that turning of time inside out against the reality are what lend verisimilitude to
his dream.  And, it is not until the final paragraph, the surprise ending, that the
reader is shaken from this dream.

How did Jeffrey Magee hit the world's first frogball for a fourbagger in the book "Maniac Magee"?

Jeffrey Magee appeared one day at the Little League field, just as John McNab, a giant of a pitcher, was showing off his stuff.  He had made the players standing around after the game take turns attempting to hit his famous fastball.  He had struck out thirty-five in a row, when Jeffrey stepped up to the plate.  Amazingly, and to McNab's chagrin, Jeffrey connected with his pitches, at one point hitting four home runs in a row.  Seething with frustration, McNab lobbed a frog up to the plate.  Not wanting to hurt the frog, Jeffrey executed a perfect bunt right in front of the plate.  As McNab lumbered foolishly after the frog, who was hopping playfully and erratically around the field, Jeffrey circled the bases for an "inside-the-park-home-run bunt" - he had just hit the "world's first frogball for a fourbagger" (Chapter 7).

Discuss the theme of appearance and deception in "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Can anyone help me with this?It's for an assignment.

It sounds like you're referencing reality (appearance) vs. illusion (deception) here, so if we approach this theme, we'll find many examples of it. 

Behind this theme is the word "dream."  Dreams figure prominently in the play.  Many characters fall asleep, then wake up to a different reality, which they then believe has been a dream.  For example, Titania falls in love with Bottom, then falls asleep and when she wakes up (after the love potion has been reapplied to her eyelids), she believes she has dreamed it.  The same applies to Lysander, Demetrius, Helena, and Hermia.  They all fall asleep at various times in the play, then wake to wonder if they have dreamed events they've experienced.  The intermixing of the faerie world and the "mortal" world also contributes to the reality vs. illusion theme. 

How would you summarize the personalities of the characters in Rules of the Road?

The main character, sixteen-year-old Jenna, is loyal and dependable.  Because her father is an alcoholic and her mother works a night shift to make ends meet, Jenna shoulders the responsibilties of having a job and caring for her sister, in addition to schoolwork and extra-curricular activities.  Jenna is protective of her sister, and shelters her from knowing the extent of their father's alcoholism.  Jenna tends to be overcritical about herself; she is self-conscious about how she looks, and blames herself for things such as her father's situation, which are beyond her control.

Mrs. Madeline Gladstone is Jenna's boss at work, and she also hires Jenna to be her personal driver.  Although she hides behind a gruff exterior, she is sympathetic and discerning, and has a strong sense of right and wrong.  She recognizes in Jenna a lot of the qualities she values most. 

Jenna's mother is loving but overworked, and must depend heavily on Jenna for help with her sister, Faith.  Faith has been sheltered from the truth about her father, and has an unrealistic view of how things really are.

Harry Bender is a recovered alcoholic.  He is outgoing and determined, and shows Jenna that alcoholics can indeed change, but only if they have tremendous courage.

Alice Lovett is funny and assertive.  She takes Jenna under her wing and helps her make some changes that make Jenna feel better about herself.

In "Daisy Miller", what is gained by having Daisy die at the end of the story?

Henry James' novel "Daisy Miller" is a commentary on society in general and on women in particular.  Daisy is a victim of her society.  She is trapped.  Being held back by the standards imposed on women, she is not able to grow intellectually.  In traveling abroad, she is forced to adhere to social standards that are even more strict than what she experiences at home.  Men are attracted to her because of her outgoing nature - however, it is her outgoing nature that makes her the victim of gossip and disapproval, making her unsuitable for men.  In order to stay critical of a society that so represses women, James could not allow Daisy to succeed in the end.  Her death represents to the full extent her victimization.

Discuss Chaucer as a modern poet.

Another important step toward modern literature that
Chaucer takes in The Canterbury Tales is his use of
irony.

Every writer is a product of his/her time, in one
way or another.  Chaucer reacts against the literature of
his time. 

In "The Pardoner's Tale," for instance, he takes
a didactic (preachy, or designed only to teach), allegorical form, and reverses it,
turns it upside down, so to speak.  He takes an often-told tale usually used to
didactically preach about the evils of greed, and turns it back on to the tellers
themselves. 

He does so by using the stock, usual
characters--death, drunkards, good-for-nothings--in the story itself, as so many others
did before him, but having the story told by a Pardoner that is himself greedy and
despicable and sly.  This makes the focus of the tale the Pardoner himself, rather than
the greedy drunkards in the tale.

This turns medieval,
didactic, church-oriented, mostly low-quality literature into brilliant
irony. 

That's Chaucer.  That's why he's still in the text
books.  That's why his works are a big step toward modern
literature.

In "The Scarlet Ibis," what is the symbolic significance of Doodle's death at the end of the summer?symbolism

Just like the beautiful and exotic Scarlet Ibis, Doodle is unable to survive in the world in which he finds himself.  He is delicate, fragile, and special and is pushed far beyond his abilities by his big brother.  Like the bird, he holds on as much as he can, but in the end is unable to push himself further.

In "To Kill A Mockingbird," why don't Jem and Scout call Atticus father or dad?

Scout does call Atticus "my father" when she is recounting her childhood experiences from an adult perspective.  However, as a child, both she and her brother indeed did call him Atticus. 

To understand how radical this was, one must understand a bit a bit about Southern culture, where, to this day, many children would never dream of calling their parents by their first names, and often that Miss, Mrs, or Mr, is followed by "ma'am" or "sir."

There are several theories about why Scout and Jem were permitted this familiarity.  One suggestion is that this lack of manners is indictive of Atticus' poor parenting.  The children grow up without a mother, raised largely by the maid Calpurnia instead.   Atticus is so busy with his law practice and distracted that he never bothers to teach the children proper social rules.

Another take is related to Atticus' own beliefs in the power of children and the unearned respect adults are often given.  The children call Atticus by his first name in order to cultivate a more open, rather than authoritarian, relationship.  Atticus wants to keep the pathways of communication open between himself and his children.  Allowing them to call him by name is a way he keeps their relationship more level. 

What is the prevailing mood in "To Autumn"?

The prevailing mood of "To Autumn" is peace and contentment. The year is winding down. The fruit trees and vegetables have matured and ripened, the fields have been harvested, the granaries have been filled. Like spring, autumn has its own music:

Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
        Among the river sallows, borne aloft
            Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
    And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
        Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
        The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
           And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

While there is a peaceful mood about the poem, there is a hint of sadness as well.

I cannot read one of Keats's poems without thinking about how short his life was and how his poetry reflects his thoughts on life and death. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 26 in 1821. He wrote "To Autumn" only two years earlier. In a sense, Keats was in the autumn of his own life. By showing peace and contentment in the closing of the year, Keats was in essence saying that he had come to terms and was at peace with the fact of his illness and imminent death.

Do you think that Montresor achieves the kind of revenge he says he wants in the first paragraph?

In the beginning of Edgar Allan Poe's story, "The Cask of
Amontillado," Montresor proposes a three-part definition of
revenge:

1.  The avenger must punish with
impunity.

2.  Retribution must not overtake its
redresser.

3.  The avenger must make himself known to the
one he punishes.

Certainly, the first part is fulfilled
as Montresor boasts that it has been fifty years since his crime, and no one has
"disturbed" the masonry that he has laid, enclosing Fortunato into a catacomb wall. (He
has also satisfied his family code of honor which is written on the Montresor coat of
arms.)

Regarding the second condition, its fulfillment is
questionable since Montresor is still telling this tale "a half century" later, a fact
that seems to indicate that he is rather obsessed ("overtaken") with what he has done. 
His mental disturbance seems evident, too, in the fact that he has neglected to cite
either for Fortunato or for the reader any of the "thousand injuries of
Fortunato."

That he has made himself known to
Fortunato--his third requirement--is  also apparent since Fortunato has demonstrated his
realization of what was being done to him as he cries, "For the love of God,
Montresor."  Yet, even with this statement, there is
some question as to whether Fortunato knows the reason for Montresor's revenge.  (Of
course, the reader does not know, either.)  So, if making oneself known to the victim
implies that the victim have both knowledge of the avenger and his reason for
retribution, the third condition has not been
fully completed.

Once again, Poe's typically unreliable
narrator leaves the reader with ambiguity as he/she may doubt the fulfillment of
the second condition and debate the third condition of retribution according to
Montesor.

Does Shakespeare presents Cassius as a strong or a weak character? Refer closely to specific examples.

Shakespeare presents Cassius as a strong character but one
who has many faults. He is greedy, miserly, cunning, and potentially treacherous, but
certainly not weak. He boasts about his courage: 

readability="23">

For once upon a raw and gusty day,
The
troubled Tiber chafing with her shores,
Said Caesaar to me "Dar'st thou,
Cassius, now
Leap in with me into this angry flood,
And swim to
yonder point?" Upon the word,
Accoutred as I was I plunged in,
And
bade him follow. So indeed he did.
The torrent roared, and we did buffet
it
With lusty sinews, throwing it aside,
And stemming it with hearts
of controversy.
But ere we could arrive the point proposed,
Caesar
cried "Help me, Cassius, or I sink!"
Ay, as Aeneas our great
ancestor
Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder
The old
Achises bear, so from the waves of Tiber
Did I the tired Caesar.     (Act
1.2)

A bit later Caesar
himself says to Antony:

readability="8">

Let me have men about me that are fat,

Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep anights.
Yon Cassius has a lean
and hungry look.
He thinks too much. Such men are
dangerous.

And he
continues:

He
reads much,
He is a great observer, and he looks
Quite through the
deeds of men. He loves no plays,
As thou dost, Antony; he hears no
music.
Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort
As if he mocked
himself, and scorned his spirit
That could be moved to smile at
anything.
Such men as he be never at heart's ease
Whiles they behold
a greater than themselves,
And therefore are they very
dangerous.

Even Caesar is
afraid of Cassius. It is Cassius who is the originator and organizer of the
assassination plot. Without Cassius, Caesar would not have been killed. He would have
gone on to become king or emperor. Cassius is a very strong, determined, resourceful
man. The only times he appears to show weakness are when he has differences of opinion
or quarrels with Brutus. It has been observed that Brutus continually overrules him.
This is especially to be observed in their quarrel in Brutus' tent in Act 4, Scene 2,
during which Cassius repeatedly threatens to kill Brutus. The quarrel comes to a head
when Brutus tells him:

readability="10">

There is no terror, Cassius, in your
threats,
For I am armed so strong in honesty
That they pass by me as
the idle wind,
Which I respect
not.

After this, Cassius
resorts to denials and appeals to their old friendship but not to any more threats
throughout their meeting. It would appear that both these men are strong--but Brutus is
the stronger. Cassius is handicapped by the fact that he knows he needed Brutus from the
beginning. Brutus is liked and honored by everyone, whereas Cassius knows he is not
liked or honored because he knows himself to be what he is, which is pretty much as
Caesar described him to Mark Antony.

Men are strong if they
have something strong to motivate them. It doesn't necessarily have to be anything good,
but they need motivation. Cassius is motivated, as Shakespeare shows, by selfishness,
greed, ambition, envy, and hatred. Brutus is motivated by patriotism and idealism. He
also has a strong sense of family honor he feels obliged to uphold. The two men do not
make good partners. The discord that erupted in Brutus' tent was bound to erupt sooner
or later. It would have done so even if they had won the battle with Antony and Octavius
at Philippi and had become join rulers of Rome. In such a case, it might have been
Cassius who overcame Brutus, because Cassius could and would plot against Brutus, while
Brutus is too noble to think of doing such a thing to Cassius.

In Chapter 4, how does Curley's wife feel about life on the ranch? Explain why you do or do not feel sympathy for her.

Marrying the first guy who smiles at you at the Riverside
Dance Palace wasn't an uncommon event in those days, where marriage wasn't just for
love, but a way to get out of the house into perhaps some security, especially with the
son of a ranch owner.  Married life, especially to a guy like Curley, isn't all she
expected.

I do feel a bit sorry for her, because of the
status of women at the time, as possessions to order around and to keep in the house. 
The fact she doesn't have a name in the story says, I think, a
lot.

What is the meaning of candlelight in the context of darkness in "The Glass Menagerie"?

The candlelight gives a surreal quality to the last scene, like most of the Wingfield's lives it separates them from reality, putting them in temporary dimness, just slightly out of focus, like the characters.

The candlelight is required because the lights go out, Tom fails to pay the bill.

The dim light allows Laura and Jim to have a romantic moment, that will be brief, before the darkness descends on any possible relationship or romance between the two.

The candlelight could represent the fading light that is going out of all the Wingfield's lives, soon they will be enveloped in emotional darkness when Tom leaves the family.  They are already literally in the dark, with no lights. 

Amanda's world goes dark when she finds out that Jim is not available and then when she argues with Tom about it, and he subsequently leaves the family.

Tom's world certainly goes dark after he leaves his family.  He is tormented by guilt for the rest of his life with regard to leaving his sister.

In Tom's final speech he says:

"The cities swept about me like dead leaves, leaves that were brightly colored but torn away from the branches.  I would have stopped, but I was pursued by something.  Oh Laura, Laura, I tried to leave you behind me, but I am more faithful than I intended to be!" (Williams, pg. 97)

What is the relationship between Macduff and Scotland in Macbeth?

Within the text of the play, Macduff is Thane of Fife in Scotland which puts him on an equal playing field with Macbeth before Macbeth is awarded another "Thaneship" having overthrown Macdonwald.

Historically, the character of Macduff did not exist although Macbeth and Banquo did.  The play was written for James I of England who had Scottish ties and was supposedly descended from the long line of kings prophesied by the witches from Banquo's issue.

The Macduff Clan, however, was a very powerful family in the middle ages in Fife.  The remains of their castle can still be visited today.

Can someone tell me what is line 24 in Act 2, scene 2 of "Romeo and Juliet"?I just need to know what is said in line 24,scene 2 Act 2 of Romeo and...

ROMEO:  "See how she leans her cheek upon her hand! 

O that I were a glove upon that hand,

That I might touch that cheek!"

In Act II Scene II, Romeo is spying on Juliet.  Line 24 is near the end of his romantic spying monologue. She is above, in the balcony of her room, and he is below, completely entranced with her beauty and innocence.  

"Oh that I were a glove upon that hand, that I might touch that cheek," is pretty self-explanatory when you break it down.  Romeo is so entranced with Juliet that he would be happy to simply touch her cheek--to be near her in any way--even if it means being an inanimate object--a glove on her hand!

Remember--Romeo and Juliet are teenagers, and they have just met at a costume ball.  Both fell for each other hard--so hard that Romeo completely forgot about his girlfriend Rosaline, who he lovingly discussed earlier in the play with his cousin Benvolio. 

Juliet has so captured Romeo--his heart, his head, his body, his lust, his affection, that it is as though he sees only her.  His life, in these few moments, has changed focus to Juliet and Juliet only, regardless of the danger (perhaps even a little because of the danger), regardless of the consequences, regardless of what this could do to their families, to Rosaline, and, as we find later in the play, to Juliet and Romeo themselves.

Lines 24-26 of Act II Scene II are simple and romantic--the longing of one to be with his lover, in any way possible.

In Hamlet, how does Claudius manipulate Gertrude, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Hamlet, and Laertes to achieve his own ends?

Concerning Shakespeare's Hamlet, in
short, King Claudius manipulates the characters you ask about in the following
ways:

• He gets Gertrude to marry him and, thus,
  gets the crown.  He also manages to keep Gertrude viewing Hamlet on his terms and from
  his point of view for most of the play:  at least until the bed chamber scene in Act
  3.4, and possibly until the final scene in the play when she realizes Claudius has
  poisoned the cup meant for Hamlet.  Gertrude is constantly on Claudius's side and
  perceives every issue that concerns Hamlet from the same point of view as Claudius (that
  Hamlet should shake off his sadness, that he should stay at Elsinore and not go back to
  school, that Hamlet may be "mad" because he is in love with Ophelia). 
  


• Claudius gets Ros. and Guil. to spy on Hamlet for him. 
  He turns them from being Hamlet's friends to his own agents.  He summons them to
  Elsinore for this purpose and uses them for it.  He repeatedly sends them on errands to
  Hamlet:  to find out what's bothering him, for example, and to find out where Polonius's
  body is. 


• Claudius redirects Laertes's wrath over the
  death of Polonius away from himself and toward Hamlet.  He leads Laertes to think
  that he is helping him kill Hamlet for Laertes's sake, when in reality he is helping
  Laertes in order to protect his own
  crown. 

Concerning Hamlet, however, Claudius
attempts to manipulate Hamlet, but it doesn't work out in his favor.  Claudius thinks he
is playing a cat-and-mouse game with Hamlet, and he is--the only trouble is that Hamlet
is the cat, not Claudius. 

Notice how much time and effort
Claudius spends trying to figure out why Hamlet is "mad."  This is by design--Hamlet's
design.  He tells Horatio that he will be putting on an "antic disposition" (Act
1.5.171)--pretending to be mad.  This is a diversion designed by Hamlet.  And it works. 
Claudius spends all his time trying to figure out why Hamlet is insane, and never
figures out--until Hamlet wants him to--that Hamlet knows about Claudius's murder of
King Hamlet. 

Only when Hamlet gets what he considers to be
proof or confirmation that the Ghost is telling him the truth and that Claudius is
guilty (by watching Claudius's reaction to the murder scene in the play-within-the-play)
does Claudius know Hamlet knows.  And notice what Hamlet tells Claudius the name of the
play is--The Mousetrap.  Claudius doesn't manipulate Hamlet; Hamlet manipulates
Claudius.  Hamlet is the cat.

In "Into the Wild", when Chris was arrested on his way back from Mexico and his gun taken by the Border Patrol, what story did he make up?

The author, Jon Krakauer, tells us that Chris made up a story, but he doesn't describe what the story was.  "Caught by immigration authorities trying to slip into the country without ID, he spent a night in custody before concocting a story that sprang him from the slammer, minus his .38-caliber handgun,"  (Krakauer, pg 36).

What is the centerpiece on the table at dinner?

The centerpiece on the table at dinner consists of ten
china figures of indians.  As each of the guests meets their fate, a china figure
mysteriously disappears from the centerpiece.  After the death of the first guest, Tony
Marston, Vera makes the connection between the china figures, the verse from "The Ten
Little Indians" poem, and the manner in which Marston died. After the second death, Mrs.
Rogers, it is discovered that there are only eight china figures remaining in the
centerpiece.  This pattern continues as one by one, the guests meet their untimely
end.

According to the book, "1984," what is the aim of modern warfare in accordance with principles of doublethink?

The aim of warfare was to maintain a continual state of emergency as a way to guarantee authoritarianism.  By continually being at war with one another, the three superpowers kept a balance of power, they kept the people toiling at making war supplies and at fighting, they kept the people too busy, worried, and confused to scrutinize what the governments were doing.  As long as there was fighting going on, there were jobs for the proletariats.  Also, as long as there was fighting going on, the population numbers could be kept down somewhat.  The main concept among the three powers was the concept that the past was changeable, i.e., the "mutability of the past".  This allowed history to be changed at will to be in accordance with the present.  As long as no one could prove any allegation against the governments by citing some doctrine or statistic or event from the past, then the governments remained in power and impervious.

In "Death of a Salesman," how are Willy and Biff's explanations different for Biff's failure to succeed in the business world?

I would only add two things to the first post which covers it pretty well.  Willie has always needed Biff to succeed, particularly after the Boston incident, because Willie thinks that Biff is falling apart because of Willie's "affair."  He needs Biff to succeed in spit of what he has learned about his father, almost as an act of forgiveness.  Biff's learned that his Dad is human; this is a difficult thing for any son to learn about his father.  However Biff had failed because he believed the same dream that Willie believed ... that the cult of personality was what really counted in this world, not performance; that he would be passed in algebra rather than pass it himself.

I also don't know that Willie consciously decides that he can no longer live a life of illusion; I'm not sure that Willie ever achieved that level of self-awareness.  He had been thinking of/trying to kill himself over time because he was a failure, and he had learned the horrible lesson that a man IS a piece of fruit; that you can eat the fruit and throw away the peel.  Who knows if Willie was ever a good salesmen; the evidence seems to indicate that he was not.  And perhaps more important than work, he had failed his son because Biff was never the same after Boston. It's not far from realizing that you're a peel to a total sense of hopelessness.