What does Ponyboy think about his brother Darry? Why could Pony be wrong?

As the story begins, it is apparent that Ponyboy considers Darry to be a leader and father-figure. As the chapters pass, however, Darry strikes/pushes Ponyboy much the same way their abusive father did.

At that point, Ponyboy runs off, much in the same way his brothers would when their father was present. What Ponyboy fails to realize is that Darry, as big brother, is still very much an adolescent himself, and is struggling to simply keep the family together, as seen in his dialogue about Ponyboy coming in at 2 a.m.; he responds with the threat that officials would "take them to the boys' home" if they didn't obey curfew.

Who does Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, blame for slavery?

This is open to debate, as you're talking about the
background motivations of an author in the 1850s.  The novel itself was written in
response to the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, requiring Northerners to aid the
recapture of runaway slaves.  In this sense, she blames
lawmakers. 

On another level, Stowe blames slaveowners,
some of whom are portrayed as kind and paternalistic in the novel.  To her, slaveowning
is an absolute moral wrong, regardless of how kind or cruel an owner
is.

Lastly, I think she places blame on those in the North
who tolerate slavery, or refuse to take up the abolitionist cause.  I think she is most
angry with this crowd, particularly northern Chrisitians.

What is the mood in the beginning of the story in "A Christmas Memory"?

At the very beginning, the mood is analytical, but sympathetic, as if memories were being examined. The analytical side of the mood comes from the hypothetical suggestions in the first lines: "Imagine a morning…" "Consider the kitchen…" Capote doesn’t put us there immediately; he methodically invites us in. The scene he evokes then suggests sympathy for the characters through the details of the description: " A woman with shorn white hair is standing at the kitchen window. She is wearing tennis shoes and a shapeless gray sweater over a summery calico dress. She is small and sprightly, like a bantam hen; but, due to a long youthful illness, her shoulders are pitifully hunched." That's very specific, and we have reason to pity her, but the distance keeps us somewhat uninvolved.

Why does Macduff go to England?I have a writing assignment for English. -From Macduff's point of view (to Malcolm in England) -Explaining who you...

Shakespeare has made Macduff  the savior of Scotland by making him appear as God's appointed angel of justice to reinstate the rightful and chosen king of Scotland. Macduff, along with Malcolm,  go to England to seek help from the historical King Edward the Confessor. Malcolm tests Macduff's loyalty before he embraces him as an ally. Once he is convinced of his loyalty, he explains that he will return to Scotland with ten thousand soldiers lent to him by the English king to defeat  Macbeth. 

Macbeth has brought only chaos to Scotland, symbolized in the bad weather and bizarre supernatural events, he offers no real justice, only a habit of murdering those he sees as a threat.  As the embodiment of tyranny, he must be overcome by Malcolm so that Scotland can have a true king once more.

In Act I, scene ii of Julius Caesar, interpret Brutus, lines 82-89, then another paragraph for Cassius lines 90-131.Can you please make Brutus's...

This scene introduces what will be one of the main conflicts, both internally and externally in the play. Internally, in lines 82-89, we find out Brutus's feelings toward Caesar. He admits that he does not want Caesar to be king. In addition, we find out that Brutus feels honor and the people of Rome are his highest priority. Thus the audience sees, throughout the play, the internal conflict between Brutus's desire to honor his friendship and loyalty to Caesar, and his desire to do what is best for his country. (Later in the play, it could be argued that Brutus is not acting wholly unselfishly, but this isn't really seen during this speech.) 

Externally, the plot against Caesar begins. Brutus's words provide the opening Cassius needs to convince Brutus to join in his plan. Knowing that Brutus will make his decision based on what he feels is the best thing for Rome, Cassius gets him to join in the assassination plot through a combination of flattering Brutus, emphasizing the importance of freedom (which he feels Caesar's rule would take away) and humanizing Caesar. Cassius begins his speech by pointing out that all three men (Caesar, Brutus, Cassius) are equal. He then goes on to flatter Brutus and tell him how well-respected he is. He ends this section by showing Caesar's physical inferiority. All of this he does in an effort to convince Brutus that something serious must be done to keep Caesar from ruling.  

What happens in Chapters 6-10 of Tuck Everlasting?

In Chapter 6, Winnie is whisked away as she is about to drink from the spring.  Her kidnappers are Mae Tuck and her boys Miles and Jesse.  When Winnie begins to cry, Mae soothes her with a music box, whose music Winnie remembers hearing in the woods before.

In Chapter 7, the Tucks tell her their amazing story, about how eighty-seven years ago they unwittingly discovered that the water in the spring has magical powers.  Anyone who drinks from it will never die.

In Chapter 8, the Tucks are euphoric that they finally have been able to share their secret with someone.  Their exhuberance in contagious, expecially when Winnie realizes that they are her friends.  No one notices that the man in the yellow suit has crept up by the stream, and has heard the whole story about the magic waters.

In Chapter 9, Winnie arrives at the Tucks' home, and is warmly welcomed by the patriarch, Angus Tuck.

In Chapter 10, Winnie, who has had a very structured upbringing, is surprised at the disorder in which the Tucks live.  After thinking about it, she realizes that their home, though not neat, is comfortable.  Mae tells her about some of the difficulties of life that occur because they will never grow old - for example, they have to keep moving around because people will get suspicious, and they can have no lasting friends.  The Tucks are positive in attitude, however, and accepting of whatever comes their way.

In "Beowulf", what happened to the sword Beowulf used against Grendel's mother?

The first time Beowulf tried to strike Grendel's mother with the sword, Hrunting, given to him by Unferth, nothing happened and he realized that no man-made sword could cut through her skin.  Beowulf dropped the sword and it lay on the floor of Grendel's mother's lair.  When Beowulf continued to fight the monster and she was on him, trying to strike him with her own dagger, he saw the sword on the wall.  This sword was made by and blessed by giants.  This time when he swung at Grendel's mother, he sliced off her head.  With her dead, Beowulf went in search of Grendel's body and lopped off his head.  The sword, now covered in blood from both monsters, melted like ice and was gone except for the hilt which Beowulf brought to the surface along with Grendel's head.  Beowulf presented both of these treasures to Hrothgar.

In The Pigman, why do you think John liked going to the cemetery, and why did Lorraine accept the gifts from Mr. Pignati?

The cemetery is where John and his friends go to drink, so it is kind of a hang out for them where they can do things they aren't necessarily supposed to do and not get caught.  John also finds the cemetery interesting, and "one of the loveliest places to be...the hills and green grass and flowers are much nicer than what you get when you're alive".  John also finds that the cemetery is a good place to be alone and just think.  It's kind of an escape for him, and he notes, "I think I'm really looking for ghosts...I'm looking for anything to prove that when I drop dead there's a chance I'll be doing something a little more exciting than decaying" (Chapter 7).

Although she feels badly about Mr. Pignati spending so much money on her and John, she accepts his gifts because she knows he is lonely, and that it really makes him happy to be able to take them shopping and buy things for them.  She notices how depressed he looks when she tells the saleslady she is not his daughter, and how he smiles when she offers that she is his niece.  Mr. Pignati almost begs them to let him buy them gifts, and Lorraine, who gets little from her mother who is always griping about money, admits that "it (feels) good...no one had ever gought me stuff like this before - something I just liked and didn't need and didn't even ask for" (Chapter 8).

What is the relationship between Ronny and Adela in "A Passage to India"?

Ronny is the son of Mrs. Moore, the elderly Englishwoman who comes to India with Adela, the girl whom Ronny is supposed to marry.  Ronny and Adela met in England, but Ronny, who is the City Magistrate of Chandrapore, has been working in India and the two have not seen each other for some time.  Ronny, an arrogant, pompous character, subscribes to the narrow imperialistic belief that the Indians are somehow an inferior race incapable of governing themselves, leaving the British to take on the task for the Indians' own good.  Adela, who is more open-minded and wants to mix with the Indian people and see the "real India", is disappointed with the changes she sees in Ronny, and ends up not marrying him. 

In "To Kill a Mockingbird," how do the two central plots connect?There are two plots in this book - Tom Robinson's trial and Scout, Jem and Dill's...

Think about the title, To Kill a Mockingbird, and remember Atticus' line where he reminds Scout and Jem that "it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."  TKAM is all about prejudice and the differing forms, innocent (as with the children's perceptions of Arthur Radley) and ugly (witness the false accusation and ultimate death of Tom Robinson) that it can take.  Arthur and Tom are both "mockingbirds" in that sense, because they are both kind, unassuming, and retiring - they bring nothing but pleasure to the people they know.  Arthur's kindnesses toward the children are downplayed, but speak volumes about the true nature of this neighbourhood legend.  Tom's kindness is toward Mayella Ewell.  Because of their "otherness", however, both Tom and Arthur are viewed as dangerous, frightening.  Arthur literally becomes "Boo", a boogie man, and Tom becomes that even more frightening figure, a black man with the audacity to show human kindness to a white woman.  Thus the two men are connected, under the title, and their two stories share more than characters - they share the role of scapegoat for the ignorance and prejudice of this archetypal southern town. 

What is the purpose of tone?Question is multiple choice A)To express the author's attitude toward the reader or a subject B)To quicken the pace of...

Tone is so important to a piece of writing that if the
reader does not recognize it correctly, the meaning of the work is either mitigated or
lost.  For instance, imagine--as has happened in some high school classrooms--that a
reader were to take Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" literally and not recognize the
biting satire that is prevalent throughout his work? 

Or,
imagine that a reader miss the ironic tone in so many works?  One example is Saki's
short story "The Open Window" in which a young girl toys with a nervous visitor and, at
the end, when she covers her act by telling her aunt another story, the narrator remarks
that "Romance at short notice was her specialty."

There is
no question that understanding the tone of a literary work is essential, for this tone
conveys the authors' attitudes, and, thus, their purpose for writing the work.
(a)

In Pearl Buck's novel The Good Earth, why does O-lan hate Cuckoo so much?

The basis of O-lan's lifelong enmity for Cuckoo is that when they were both slaves in the House of Hwang, Cuckoo did not treat O-lan well (Chapters 20-22).  Because of this, O-lan will not speak to Cuckoo, and Wang Lung must build separate kitchens for them when Cuckoo moves into his house.

It is interesting to note that while it is Cuckoo who facilitates the relationship between Wang Lung and his mistress Lotus, this is not the main reason that O-lan hates Cuckoo.  In a clear illustration of the cultural mores governing the place of women in China at that time, O-lan, who has worked tirelessly by Wang Lung's side for so many years, can accept that he does not love her and treats her badly; she can even tolerate having his concubine under her roof.  What she cannot let go of are her bitter feelings towards Cuckoo - the hatred and resentment against another woman who has dealt with her with cruelty and disrespect.

Are there any Shakespearean elements in "The Waste Land"?

This is a very good question. In The Waste Land, Eliot quotes from Shakespeare several times, with most of the quotations coming from or allusions to The Tempest.

For instance, lines 48 and 125 of The Waste Land

(Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!)

Are taken verbatim from Act 1, scene 2 of The Tempest:

Full fathom five thy father lies:
Of his bones are coral made:
Those are pearls that were his eyes:

An allusion to The Tempest is in The Fire Sermon section:

On a winter evening round behind the gashouse
Musing upon the king my brother's wreck
And on the king my father's death before him.
White bodies naked on the low damp ground
And bones cast in a little low dry garret,
Rattled by the rat's foot only, year to year.

This passage is intended to make the reader think of Ferdinand's speech, again in Act 1, scene 2:

Some god o' th' island. Sitting on a bank,
Weeping again the king my father's wrack,
This music crept by me upon the waters,
Allaying both their fury and my passion,
With its sweet air: thence I have follow'd it,--
Or it hath drawn me rather,--but 'tis gone.

In the section A Game of Chess, the reference to Cleopatra's "chair she sat……throne" is based on Enobarbus’s description of Cleopatra in Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra. Lines 280-85 also allude to Antony and Cleopatra.

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By the end of the 17th century, which European nations were in better shape, and which were weaker, than they were at the beginning of the 1500's?

Your use of the term "17th Century" means the 1600's,  so
your question spans the years from 1500 to 1699.   By 1699 the English, French, and the
Dutch were quickly gaining on the Spanish and Portugeuse in wealth and in world
dominance.   Since Spain and Portugal were still quite powerful nations in 1699,  its
really hard to pin down exactly which countries were dominate.   By the late 1700's
however;  with the British in firm control of much of India,  the Americas (minus the US
of course),  the Caribbean,  and other parts of Asia,  I would conclusively say they
were the most powerful nation at that time.  Spain was on the way out,  with most of
their new world colonies soon to gain Independence.   But in 1699,  world dominance was
very much up for grabs.   But Spain and Portugal were clearly losing influence world
wide mainly to the British, French, and the Dutch.  

In chap. 9, where does Squealer say Boxer will be sent? Where is he actually sent? How does Boxer spend his last hours, according to Squealer?

Squealer says that Boxer is going to be sent to the
hospital and that Napoleon is sacrificing great amounts of money to ensure that Boxer
gets the best care and medicines.

Boxer is actually sent to
the knacker. The knacker is a horse slaughterer who will use Boxer's parts for glue.
Thus we can believe that Napoleon was to make good money off of
this.

Squealer professes that Boxer's last hours are spent
saying that Napoleon is always right, and that we must keep working hard, and he
whispered in Squealer's ear that Animal Farm must live on. It was very inspirational
according to Squealer.

In "Macbeth," what was Lady Macbeth writing on her letter while she was sleepwalking?

Chances are that the paper was either filled with gibberish or it was blank.  It's possible, even, that the letter was actually the one that Macbeth sent to her telling her of the witches' prophecies.  Ldy Macbeth's sleepwalking is caused by the guilt she carries for her part in the murder of Duncan as well as the other murders that have taken place in the play.  In Act 1. sc. 5, Lady Macbeth received Macbeth's letter telling her what the witches told him in scene 3.  She then decides that she and Macbeth will do whatever it takes to make him become king - including killing Duncan.  She asks the spirits to fill her with cruelty and to make her strong and masculine so that she can commit murder.  She seems to have no problems with this strength until it comes to dealing with the guilt.  If Lady Macbeth is writing anything at all, it's probably a confession because her words from the sleepwalking scene are a confession.   

In "The Mark of the Beast" by Rudyard Kipling, what does the story reveal about the British presence in India?i need the answer really fast......

You probably cannot find this because it is not
specifically stated in the story -- you are supposed to infer it from what happens in
the story.

To me, what Kipling is trying to show is that
the British presence in India is often arrogant and ignorant.  He shows this through the
actions of Fleete.  Fleete is arrogant enough to desecrate the image of the god with no
regard for what the Indians might think of his action.

We
see the ignorance of the British the fact that none of them seem to understand, at
first, what is going on.

Pick out at least five key phrases in Kate Chopin's "Story of an Hour."

These are some phrases that advance the central theme of
the story, that of the oppressive position women were forced to accept in
nineteenth-century marriages.

readability="8">

"She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose
lines bespoke
repression..."

The author
does not spend a lot of time describing Mrs. Mallard's physical appearance. It is
significant that "repression" is one of the few words she chooses to describe
her.

"She was
beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was
striving to beat it back with her
will..."

The realization of
her situation and her longing for freedom are taboo during her time, and Mrs. Mallard
does her utmost to prevent herself from acknowledging these inclinations in herself,
knowing they can lead only to destruction.

readability="5">

"She would live for herself. There would be no
powerful will bending
hers..."

Women are subjugated
by the will of their husbands. What they want is not important; it is what the man wants
that takes precedence during these times. With the removal of her husband, Mrs. Mallard
will be able to experience a freedom which has long been denied
her.

"What
could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in face of this possession of self-assertion
which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her
being!"

Self-realization is
more important even than love by Mrs. Mallard; it is
all-consuming.

readability="6">

"She breathed a quick prayer that life might be
long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be
long."

Mrs. Mallard's married
life was so odious to her that she did not feel it was worth living. This was true even
though her husband was a kind man; the impulse towards self-realization inside herself
was that strong.

readability="5">

"...she had died of heart disease - of joy that
kills."

This statement has
multiple meanings. "Heart disease" refers to Mrs. Mallard's physical ailment as well as
to her longing. The "joy that kills" is the sense of identity and freedom she craves; in
the society and times she lives in, it is a forbidden thing that can only result
in ruin.

What is the importance of the title "By the Waters of Babylon" and what is the problem with the Forest People?

The title "By the Waters of Babylon" is a clear allusion to Psalm 137 of the Bible, which begins "By the Waters of Babylon I sat down and wept." This Psalm is a lament of the Israelites for their lost "promised land" of Israel from which they have been exiled. Their homeland was destroyed and its people scattered. There is a clear parallel therefore between the lament of the Psalmist for his home and the realisation of John of what has happened and his sadness at what has been lost. Using this allusion therefore reinforces the message of the short story: the eventual threat of self-destruction if we are unable to curb our thirst for knowledge - and not "eat it too fast."

The problem with the Forest people demonstrates the kind of primal, savage society that John and his tribe live in. Despite the incredible advances that man made, the resulting cataclysm reduced mankind to a neanderthal-like state, robbing him of ideals such as the capacity for mutual understanding and the ability to co-exist with different people and replacing them with a Darwinian survival of the fittest code of law. This likewise reinforces the dangers of knowledge by showing us that any future man could have after such a cataclysm can only be bleak, barbaric and bellicose.

What references to death and rebirth can you find in section one of The Waste Land?

Death is initially signified in the poem's title, "Burial of the Dead," and the poem continues on to deal centrally with ideas of new life coming from death -- like flowers in the spring emerging from a lifeless landscape. 

Early in the poem, mentions of new life are connected with lilacs.

April is the cruelest month, breeding

Lilacs out of the dead land

Later in the poem, the corpse flower replaces the lilac, suggesting perhaps that the product and result of growth that comes from decay or tainted earth is itself tainted. (The corpse flower is said to smell like rotting flesh.)

"That corpse you planted last year, 

has it begun to sprout? [...]"

In each of these instances, Eliot's poem presents images of rebirth, although the values and qualities associated with rebirth shifts toward the negative by the poem's end. 

Death and burial, naturally, are linked. Death images appear throughout the poem, from an earth covered in snow (a kind of burial) to a "dead tree" that "gives no shelter" to a "Hanged man," "death by water" and an observation that "I had not thought death had undone so many." 

Death and birth mark the poles of the poem, as it were, becoming the defining limits of the experiences the poem examines. In other words, the poem uses a netherworld as its setting, a place between life and death resembling Dante's journey into hell and purgatory and populated by specters that are at once familiar and monstrous.  

The narrating voice describes itself as being "neither living nor dead" and thus is well-aligned with Dante's conceit of visiting a world outside of normal, lived experience. The Wasteland pursues this concept further in its other poems and we can take "The Burial of the Dead" as, in part, a statement of entry that serves to define and describe the special setting of this poetic exploration. 

There is a fecundity to this region. It is a place where decay exists alongside the possibility for renewal. There is a fusion or confusion of forms, where life can resemble death (as in the copse flower) and death bears the signs of life and one can speak to the dead as if they were living. 

How does "Greasy Lake" compare and contrast with the short story "Battle Royale"?symbols,setting, language, tone etc.

The settings in both stories are very important.  Without "Greasy Lake" being set where it was (at the trash-filled lake at night), the story would not have the same effect.  Also, had "Battle Royal" not been set in the "Deep South" during a tumultuous time for African-Americans, it, too, would not have the same effect on the reader. 

There are also symbols in both stories.  The lake represents a baptism for the narrator in "Greasy Lake."  Once he enters the lake and runs into the dead body, he experiences an epiphany about what his life has become.  Things aren't as fun as he thought they were.  The blindfold in "Battle Royal" represents blindness on the part of both the protagonist and society.  The protagonist is blind to the world around him (Caucasian world) and society is blind to the plight of the African-American population, in many ways.

The tones of both stories are similar, actually.  There is an uneasiness in both stories, an unsettling feeling.  The reader can anticipate that something bad will happen in both stories.

In "The Odyssey," what "laws" of behavior and attitude does Polyphemus violate? Explain. [infer]

This is an interesting question, especially as we contrast the Cyclops and the Greeks in general and Odysseus in particular. The Cyclopes live in a society where there are no laws. They have no civility, no councils, no traditions, and no sense of what is right or wrong.  They are cannibalistic one-eyed giants. That pretty much sums it up. Polyphemus is the most famous of them. Part of the reason why they do not need structure is that they have an abundance of food; they land is lush. 

All of this is in stark contrast to the Greeks. The Greeks have councils, traditions, laws, and what is very important in the Greek world is  hospitality. This is why the whole Trojan War started. Paris stole Helen from the Greeks. It was a huge breech of hospitality. From this perspective, Polyphemus is a barbarian. He eats a few of Odysseus’s men and want to do the same to him. From this perspective, he is the anthesis of the Greek. 

Why does Antony say "The evil that men do lives after them;" ? Or in other words exactly what does this statement mean?

Marc Antony employs many statements with hidden meanings
in his famous funeral oration of Act III, Scene 2, and "The evil that men do lives after
them" is certainly one of them. This statement implies that history records the wrongs
of people in more inflammatory words that are long remembered, while often their good
deeds are either mitigated in the shadow of the more interesting evils or even
forgotten.

Those who hated Caesar were eager to speak of
his evil, Marc Antony hints in his statement; this act of suggestion is his subtle way
of beginning to cast aspersions upon the conspirators. Soon afterward, Antony alludes to
the accusations of Brutus and the others, but he again is subtle as he
adds, 

       
                   The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was
ambitious.
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously
hath Caesar answer [for]it.
 (3.2.79-80)

Thus, Brutus
begins to sow the seeds of doubt into the minds of the plebeians who listen, so that
when he reaches the end of his speech, the crowd will be eager for
rebellion.

How did Lower class American society behave in the 1920's?

Your question is rather broad, so I'd like to focus on
just one aspect of the way that poorer Americans acted in 1920 that is very
interesting.  As the conditions deterioriated throughout the decade, gathering momentum
at the end, with the loss of farmland to drought, the loss of good jobs to a faltering
economy, the continuous concentration of capital into the hands of fewer and fewer
people through the de-regulation of wall street, Americans tended to blame
themselves.

The ethic of being able to pick yourself up by
your own bootstraps had been so effectively inculcated into American society that so
many people who found themselves without a job, without land to farm, without a home,
they blamed this entirely on themselves.  There was no real welfare system so they had
nowhere to turn to and they tried to avoid bread lines and other things as long as
possible given the stigma that was attached to either of those
mechanisms.

How does what the doctor first say on page 119 in "The Outsiders" foreshadow Johnny's condition?

On page 119 of The Outsiders, Johnny and Two-Bit are in the hospital to see Johnny. However, the nurses won’t let them see him because he is in critical condition. Soon, the doctor finds out what is going on and tells the nurse to let the boys in because “it can’t hurt now”. 

This foreshadows that for Johnny has little hope of surviving. The damage done to him is over and Johnny will most likely die. Therefore, the doctor is allowing the boys to say their goodbyes to Johnny before he dies.

On page 119 of The Outsiders, Johnny and Two-Bit are in the hospital to see Johnny. However, the nurses won’t let them see him because he is in critical condition. Soon, the doctor finds out what is going on and tells the nurse to let the boys in because “it can’t hurt now”. 

This foreshadows that for Johnny has little hope of surviving. The damage done to him is over and Johnny will most likely die. Therefore, the doctor is allowing the boys to say their goodbyes to Johnny before he dies.

Can someone give me examples of Baba and Amir's relationship in "The Kite Runner" and how he is vying for his attention?

Amir and Baba's relationship changes throughout the novel. The novel starts out with Amir doing whatever he could to win his father's attention, which includes betraying his best friend, Hassan. He betrayed Hassan for his father's full attention. He then earns it when Hassan and Ali move out and Baba and Amir move to America. Here are the examples.

1. Amir and Baba's relationship is fake. Amir is pretending to be someone he is not by pretending to enjoy the soccer games Baba always takes him to see.

2. Amir and Baba's relationship becomes real when Baba is diagnosed with cancer. Amir cares for him and stays with him until he dies. They become very close.

3. Amir and Baba are very alike. They both betrayed their best friends. Baba betrayed Ali by sleeping with his wife, and Amir betrayed Hassan by not standing up for him while getting assaulted. Then they both try to redeem themselves with doing other good deeds. Baba, running an orphanage, and Amir going back to Kabul to save Sohrab, Hassan's son.

 I hope these work for you :)

About Henry Ford, the inventer of the car.1.What inspired him to start his car invention? 2.Is his car invention environmental friendly? 3.Did...

1.  His early career as an engineer working with steam
engines gave him a great deal of expertise working with engines and a passion for racing
and automobiles (still very exotic at the time) led him to his interest in building a
car.

2.  There are a variety of ways to answer the question
of whether they are friendly.  Some would argue that it was environmentally friendly as
it solved the problem of horse manure in city streets.  But most would likely argue that
it isn't as its primary mode of power comes from burning fossil fuels (though there was
a switch on early models to allow them to be powered by alcohol that some could argue
should never have been discontinued) so the emissions and carbon dioxide released make
the fundamentally not evironmentally friendly.

3.  Again
many would argue that his invention flourished and succeeeded.  Look around you.  A
possible argument against this would be the relatively slow pace of innovation and
improvement since he brought about a rather substantial change in the car market. 
Average mileage has only increased by around three to four miles per gallon since the
1930s...  Of course horsepower, reliability, other things have increased.  But so have
the costs of cars.  So you could go either way on this
one.

4.  He knew that people would enjoy the perceived
freedom of being able to get places more quickly and more comfortably than on horseback
or on foot, and he also knew that particularly at the time the idea of owning an
automobile was still exotic enough that the low price cars he offered would be
absolutely devoured by the public and he was correct.

What happened to the small boy with the birthmark who claimed he saw the beastie (snake) in chapter 2? What effect does this have on the boys?

Chances are good that he was burned in the fire that spread across the mountain.

This is the first glimpse for the boys into the reality of their situation.  They try to act like the young boys they really are, and someone dies.  It's a tough position for them to be in because they are all used to having society and adults set parameters for them.   Now they're in a situation where they have to learn to govern their own behavior and accept consequences for their own actions.  The death of this first little boy is a harsh jump into that reality.

What further aspects of Jim's character emerge in chapter 23 of Huckleberry Finn? How do the townspeople react to the killing?

The town becomes focused on revenge after the killing. The want to lynch Colonel Sherburn and the entire town, including the children, become a frenzied mob that storms Sherburn's yard. Sherburn cools them down rather quickly when he greets them on the roof with his shotgun. He spends some time berating them for their actions before making them leave.

Jim, in this chapter, shows his sensitive nature. It is a sharp contrast to the other events in the chapter, like lynching mobs and swindling couples. It is evident that he misses his family, and grieves for slapping his daughter for ignoring him, when in fact, she could not hear him. He is also kind to Huck, taking over the night watches so the young boy could rest. 

Analyze why is it remarkable to have the power to detach one's mind at will?

It is very easy for anyone to see why it is remarkable to be able to detach one's mind at will. All one has to do is to try to stop thinking. We all have ongoing streams of consciousness similar to those depicted more or less accurately by James Joyce in his Ulysses and by William Faulkner in his The Sound and the Fury. If we attempt to stop thinking we will find that we cannot maintain a blank mind for more than a few seconds. The yogis in India practice meditation by keeping their minds blank for longer and longer periods. No doubt some of them can do this for hours, or even days--but it takes practice and self-discipline. Here is a pertinent quotation from an ancient book translated into English by Christopher Isherwood.

This is the beginning of instruction in yoga.
Yoga is the control of thought waves in the                                   mind.
Then man abides in his real nature.
At other times, man remains identified with
the thought waves.
Patanjali’s first four sutras
How to Know God

What Patanjali means by "thought waves" is the same as the modern term "stream of consciousness." We all have these thought waves going on in our minds continuously. It is interesting to try to practice this form of meditation, which is also an important subject in the Bhagavad-Gita. For one thing, we realize that our stream of consciousness is not really "thinking," but something more like a car engine idling when the car isn't taking us anywhere. A lot of it is nonsense, and it is usually fragmentary and strongly influenced by free-association. If we can stop "thinking," then we can control our thinking better when we do want to think and have something important to think about. Sherlock Holmes evidently did not want to waste mental energy on daydreaming or woolgathering. His extraordinary mental powers, Watson suggests, were due to his being able to control his mind and to focus on a problem until the solution opened up to him.

It may be that all great thinkers such as Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton had the same ability to focus on a single problem until it seemed to solve itself. 

Why does Odysseus want to visit Polyphemus?

Odysseus doesn't necessarily want to visit the land of the cyclops or Polyphemus (the specific cyclops in whose cave he ended up trapped). However, he does stop to explore because he sees a fertile and quiet island. Travelling on a ship requires a lot of food and water in order to keep the crew alive and healthy, and since Odyessus' twelve ships are full of his friends and fellow soldiers, he certainly won't want to keep them on starvation provisions that slaves were often subjected to at the time. But if Odyesseus wants to keep the men fed and have fresh water available, he has to stop, find streams to refill water reservoirs and find fresh meat and grains.

It was this urge to raid the islands for food that led Odysseus and his men to raid the island of the Ciconian, the first place the stopped after leaving Troy. So, clearly Odyessus didn't mean to visit the cyclops. He wanted to grab some food, grab some water, and leave. However, the fact that he got caught by a one-eyed giant was one of those pieces of bad luck Odysseus seemed to run into a lot.

What does Miles tell Winnie about his two children in "Tuck Everlasting"?

Miles tells Winnie that if his children were still alive, his son would be eighty-two, and his daughter eighty.  Miles's daughter was named Anna, and he fondly remembers how he used to take her fishing, just as he is taking Winnie now, as he tells her about them. 

Winnie, seeing Miles's wistfulness in remembering his children, asks why he didn't "take them to the spring and give them some of the special water" so they could live forever too.  Miles explains that they didn't understand about the spring's magic power while they were still on the farm, and that actually, when he did realize it, he did think about looking for his children and taking them back there.  Doing so would have caused other problems, however, such as reconciling the fact that their mother was nearly forty by then and the children themselves were "near growed themselves".  In hindsight, Miles figures that it is just as well that he didn't take them to the spring, because if he had, "it'd all have been so mixed-up and peculiar, it just wouldn't have worked".  Pa Tuck was dead-set against it, warning that the less people that knew about the spring the better, and it would have been weird for Anna and her brother too, having a father close to the same age they were (Chapter 17).

What is the plot of "A Jury of Her Peers"?

The basic plot of this story, which becomes the play, Trifles, is a woman by the name of Minnie Wright has killed her husband, John Wright.  They live in a secluded farmhouse, and he is not kind to her.  He even kills her canary which the reader assumes was the one bright spot in her hard and isolated life.

John is already dead and moved from the house.  In fact, we never even meet Minnie.  We get to know her from the state of her house, the comments the women who are in her house make, and the items she asks them to bring to her in the jail.

The women go to the house with their husbands--they are the neighbors and the sheriff's wives.  The men leave the women to "women's things"--the little things that are important to them, not necessarily to the men.  The men are looking for clues.

It is ironic, then, that the women are the ones who find the evidence which will condemn Minnie to hang for murdering her husband.  They make a decision to protect her and hide the evidence from the men.  This is why the story is called "A Jury of Her Peers"--the women are Minnie's equals and know what she goes through on any given day.

The play which is later developed from the story, Trifles, is titled because the "little things, or trifles" of the women's lives are what serve as the evidence which, if found, would cause Minnie to go to jail or hang for murder.

We do not know how the trial came out, but we assume she went free.

How does Aristotle explore the relation of poetry and reader/audience through his definition of tragedy?

In his Poetics, Aristotle says that
tragedy is the greatest of literary art forms because its agents and devices are better
than us (the reader/audience).  Whereas comedy is more realistic, even below us in its
aims, tragedy leads man to question the moral choices and responsibilities of being a
human and, therefore, enters the religious and ethical
realms.

His definition of tragedy is as
follows:

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Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that
is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind
of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in
the form of action, not of narrative; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith
to accomplish its katharsis of such emotions. . . . Every Tragedy,
therefore, must have six parts, which parts determine its quality—namely, Plot,
Characters, Diction, Thought, Spectacle,
Melody.

So, the embellished
language (the poetry) must be elevated, higher in purpose and more beautiful than
everyday speech.  Since early Greek tragedy was religious in nature, its language was a
form of praise.  It is much like a combination of a poetry, sermon, and hymn from a
church service.

The chorus is the ideal reader/audience in
Greek tragedy.  Through their melody (embellished language, poetry, choral odes), the
chorus not only informs the audience how to act or respond to the action of the play,
but they give unity to the plot.  Since they are always on stage, and since the audience
is always watching, they are an intermediary between the actors and
audience.

In the end, the embellished language by the
actors and chorus must move the reader/audience toward a katharsis,
a purgation of pity and fear.  The audience must pity the tragic heroes and fear that
the tragic heroes' fate may be their own.

In chapter 4, why does Gatsby have Jordan ask Nick if he'll invite Daisy to his house, instead of asking Nick himself?

I think that he does it for a couple of
reasons.

First, I think he might be a bit embarrassed to do
it himself.  He might think it would be easier if Jordan did it so that he didn't have
to ask such a personal favor himself.  She says Gatsby was afraid Nick would be
offended.

Second, I think he wanted Jordan to tell Nick
about Gatsby's past with Daisy.  I think he figured Jordan could tell Nick about it and
make Nick a lot more likely to be willing to help him out.

How do events in Chapter Ten of "To Kill a Mockingbird" effect and transform the characters?

Hey Maxomillion,

Off the bat, we see that Jem and Scout are introduced to the new side of their father, Atticus, that they had never been exposed to before.

The irony that was displayed when Atticus shot the dog was great, in that, Atticus constantly mentioned, (something along the lines of) "Don't judge a person until you walk a mile in their shoes."

Following this scene, Maudie tells the kids about Atticus' nickname, "One-shot-finch," and Jem demands that Scout NOT brag or tell anyone about it.

This idea further implies the characterization of Jem... He's becoming a more responsible adult and is starting to realize how the real world works. He understands that bragging isn't going to get them anywhere, except confusion (or putting Atticus in a spot where he'd have to explain why he didn't tell his own kids about how good with a rifle he was)

If Hamlet confessed that he does not love Ophelia once, then why does he talk to her during the play and seem like he is flirting with her?

Well i dont really agree with gbeatty i dont belive that Hamlet is acting crazy. That might have been his intention at first but the madness took over him. Just imagine if you were him and you were depressed, contemplating suicide, your father died, you just saw his ghost, and it was your uncle that killed him. He was pushed over the edge.

I do belive that he does love Ophelia. It is mentioned that they were in a relationship prior to his madness. And in the letters that he wrote to Ophelia show a deep love for her. I think that he is fighting with himself to try and not to love her, because he saw his mother marry his uncle so quickly after the death of his father. He says "frailty thy name is women".

    If it wasn't for outside influences they would be happily together still. Ophelia loves Hamlet also but has to be loyal to her father and brother and distance himself from him. And also Hamlet confesses his love for Ophelia in the burial scene.  It can be interpreted anyway you want really, thats what makes this story so great.

What makes Macbeth a tragic hero and what lead to his downfall?

Macbeth is a tragic hero because he goes from being thought of as a courageous, heroic, loyal subject of King Duncan to a man who surrenders his soul to the powers of darkness for the sake of possessing power. 

Macbeth's downfall is due to unchecked ambition.  His desire to be king overwhelms his life, and, once this plan is set in motion, he murders  anyone who appears to be a threat to his future as king. 

Once Macbeth starts to use murder as a means to solve his problems, he becomes isolated from humanity.  He loses his ability to be comforted, he cannot sleep, he is unable to eat, he has hallucinations and is tormented.  This leads to his slow descent into madness. 

His life held so much promise at the beginning of the play, he was given a second title, Thane of Cawdor, he was looked upon with great favor by King Duncan.  By seeking that which he should not have, the throne of Scotland, Macbeth destroys himself, his wife, as well as all the lives of his murder victims.

At the end of the play, he reflects on the futility of life and he grows weary of all of it. He says:

"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more; it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing." Act V, Scene V 
 

What is the tone of "Morning Song" by Sylvia Plath?

In keeping with its central theme of alienation and awakening, the tone of the poem is at first objective and detached, then, in the last two stanzas, more involved and appreciative.  The poem is about a mother's reaction to her new baby, but, contrary to expectations, it does not express instant love and bonding.  With stark honesty, Plath is saying that she doesn't immediately feel strong emotion for her child - the only mention of love is in the first line, and it refers to the act that created the child, not what she feels for the child now that it is born.  Also, in the third stanza, she says, "I'm no more your mother than the cloud that distills a mirror". 

The tone changes in the last two stanzas, when the baby cries.  The mother responds by "stumbl(ing) from bed" to feed it, and then hears the baby's sated cries in a much more positive light, as a "handful of notes; the clear vowels rise like balloons".  Through her use of tone, Plath appears to be illustrating that it is the baby's need, as expressed in its cry, that spurs a mother to involvement and the beginning of appreciation and emotional attachment.           

What is the plot of "The Jungle Book"?

The original Jungle Book stories concerned Mowgli, a boy who is raised in the jungle by a pack of wolves and who learns how to be an animal in the jungle, rather than a human being.  Eventually, after many adventures involving animals like Baloo the Bear, Mowgli returns to live in a village with people.

There are other stories, however, in "The Jungle Book," including "Riki-Tikki-Tavi" and "The White Seal," all of which have to do with various types of animals and their interactions with humans.

Check the link below for more information.  Good luck!

What is the irony in "Hills Like White Elephants"?

With irony being a contrast between what a character thinks and what the reader or audience know to be true, the reader must seek the difference between what the characters think and what he/she discerns about them.

Since the girl mentions the hills being like white elephants, she understands their meaning:  She tells the man who says he has never seen a white elephant, "No, you wouldn't have." She is the one who expresses doubt about having an abortion.  But the young man, who tries to convince the girl to have the operation, says that everything will be all right and the couple can return to their life beforehand. (He "buys" the white elephant, something one thinks has value, but does not.)

The irony of the title, then, is that the man "buys" a white elephant believing that the action under consideration can return him and his girlfriend to their former relationship, but the girl, like the reader, knows they will never be the same, for she turns from the vision of life, fields of grain and trees, and agrees to the man's putting their bags on the "other side of the station."

Summarize the conflict John Proctor faces in Act IV of The Crucible. How does he resolve this conflict?

Proctor's conflict involves man vs. self.  He must decide what is more important - his reputation or his life.  Danforth wants him to confess to witchcraft in order to be released from prison.  Proctor is willing to this.  However, when it is explained to him that he must sign a confession, Proctor hesitates.  To do so would be to suggest to the townspeople and others that he really was involved.  To confess verbally to people who know he is lying is one thing; to willingly ruin his reputation in the whole community is another.  Proctor can not do this, particularly when he sees that his confession will be used to convince others to untruthfully confess as well.  Honesty and integrity have become too important.  He tears up the confession and goes willingly to the gallows.

What does the quote "Present fears are less than horrible imaginings" from "Macbeth" mean? Provide evidence from this scene and earlier parts of...

This line is in Act 1, scene 3. The scene opens with the witches telling Macbeth that he will be Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and eventually king of Scotland. They also tell Banquo that he will be the father of kings but that he will not be king himself.

Macbeth is Thane of Glamis by inheritance, but he can't understand how could ever be Thane of Cawdor because there is already a person with that title. Nor is it likely, he thinks, that he could ever be king.

Angus and Ross enter the scene and praise Macbeth for his heroism in the battle. They tell him the king wants to see him right away and that he will be named Thane of Cawdor because the present thane is a traitor.

That starts Macbeth to wondering if the witches had told him the truth. If they did, however, that means the king is going to have to die in order for Macbeth to become king. Horrible images of what must happen come into his mind, and that's when he tells himself, "Present fears/ Are less than horrible imaginings." In other words, he's letting his imagination get the better of him.

What relationships does Lady Macbeth have with other characters in "Macbeth"?

Although Lady Macbeth does not seem to have any overt relationships with other characters, she is deeply affected by the murders as evidenced by her breakdown.  Apparently, Lady Macbeth must have felt some affection for Banquo, King Duncan and Lady Macduff and her children, she goes mad with guilt thinking about them. Lady Macbeth says in Act V, Scene I

"The Thane of Fife had a wife:
where is she now? What! will these hands ne'er
be clean? No more o' that, my lord, no more
o' that: you mar all with this starting".

This obviously reflects her guilt, but if she didn't care at all, why would she be so remorseful, so troubled?  The murder of Lady Macduff and her children deeply troubles Lady Macbeth.  At the end of the play, it seems that Lady Macbeth cares more for the murder victims that she does her husband, with whom she had such a close relationship in the beginning

What is the mood in "The Most Dangerous Game"?

First to clarify the difference between tone and mood. The tone is the author's attitude, stated or implied, toward a subject. 

The mood is the feeling of the characters and the emotions of the reader. They include suspense, anxiety, fear, terror.

#1 - Falling off the yacht

"He struggled up to the surface and tried to cry out, but the wash from the speeding yacht slapped him in the face and the salt water in his open mouth made him gag and strangle."

#2 - When he is swimming toward the shore he hears:

"Rainsford heard a sound. It came out of the darkness, a high screaming sound, the sound of an animal in an extremity of anguish and terror."

#3 - When he comes up to the house, opens the door:

"The first thing Rainsford's eyes discerned was the largest man Rainsford had ever seen--a gigantic creature, solidly made and black bearded to the waist. In his hand the man held a long-barreled revolver, and he was pointing it straight at Rainsford's heart."

#4 - When he finds out Zaroff hunts humans:

"My dear fellow," said the general, "there is one that can." "But you can't mean--" gasped Rainsford."

#5 - After a long night of being hunted by Zaroff:

"The general was playing with him! The general was saving him for another day's sport! The Cossack was the cat; he was the mouse. Then it was that Rainsford knew the full meaning of terror."

At the end of All My Sons, Joe Keller commits suicide. Has justice been done? Is this an acceptable/satisfying ending?

The greater question is what is
justice?

Is Joe Keller a tragic hero? I don't think so
since he is not a man of great stature, not a king or leader or hero, so who is he?  Is
Joe a likable guy?  Yes, but he was man who makes a grave error.  He does not accept
responsibility for his actions but rather blames his partner.  Is this the action of an
honorable man?  I think not.  What Joe is is a human being.  When he is confronted with
the truth he justifies his actions.  Everybody who manufactured for the war effort did
similar things therefore in his mind he was not guilty and saw no reason why he should
have to go to prison.  It was terrible that 21 men died as a result of his decision but
it was wartime.

Kate states that if she were to admit the
truth of Larry's death, then Joe was to blame.  Ironically, he was since Larry could not
live with the shame of Joe's action and crashed his
plane.

Is the ending acceptable/satisfying?  It is the only
possible ending once the truth is out.  Joe stated earlier that he would kill himself
rather than go to prison. 

It seems to me that Miller was
influenced by Ibsen where we see recognisable human beings struggling with their
realities.  And as in Ibsen the ending is not neat or tidy.  What happens to Kate now
that she has been forced to face the truth?  What will happen with Chris and Ann since
they too have been forced to face the truth?  Life goes on and there are no easy
answers.

In The Outsiders, what circumstances does Ponyboy's teacher refer to, and what does Ponyboy think his teacher is referring to ? Chapter 12

Ponyboy's teacher, Mr. Syme, is referring to the events that have taken place in Ponyboy's life during the semester, beginning with the Soc's stabbing and ending with both Johnny and Dally being killed, as well as Ponyboy's subsequent emotional withdrawal.  Ponyboy at first reacts defensively, saying, "brother, was that ever a way to tell me he knew I was goofing up because I'd been in a lot of trouble" (Chapter 12).  He thinks his teacher is assuming that he has been in trouble because he is a greaser, but it appears that in reality, Mr. Syme might have had a better understanding of how deeply the trauma had affected Ponyboy, and that he was truly concerned about his well-being.  Mr. Syme would have known that Ponyboy had always been a good student, especially in his class, English, and he most likely perceived that Ponyboy's sudden disinterest and poor performance in school was the result of his shutting down emotionally after all he had been through.  Because of these "circumstances", he offers Ponyboy a chance to redeem his grade by doing well on his final writing assignment, which incidentally may have had potential therapeutic value by its very nature.  He even responds supportively when Ponyboy decides to take him up on the offer and calls late at night to clarify the assignment.

In Ishmael, what is the meaning of the poster "WITH MAN GONE, WILL THERE BE HOPE FOR GORILLA"?

Ishmael is an aged gorilla sage, exiled from his home country for mysterious reasons. In the U.S., he takes on a pupil [the unnamed narrator]. Through a series of dialogues, stories, and thought experiments, Ishmael teaches his pupil radical fundamental truths about the nature of human history and evolution. During these sessions, an ever-present question broods over them. Written in all caps across an old, cryptic poster, the question: "WITH MAN GONE, WILL THERE BE HOPE FOR GORILLA?" seems a riddle, or a taunt.

Ishmael's pupil is incredibly bright and well-learned. He has a gift for intellectual dialogue. Yet, this abstract intelligence proves more a hindrance than an aid in helping him see what Ishmael is pointing to. Ishmael spends a great amount of time getting his pupil to stop over-intellectualizing. Ishmael wants the narrator to think concretely, and to be literal. So, it makes sense, when asking what the meaning of this question is, to attempt a quite literal, concrete analysis.

We know that Ishmael is among the few of his species remaining. We know also that his species will probably soon become extinct. The question suggests then, quite literally: well, what if man were gone? If man were gone, would there then be hope for the gorilla?

Considered in this light, the question reads nearly as a threat. After all, it is a statement featuring a world with "man gone," written on a prominently displayed poster in the room of a radical, strangely mysterious, telepathic gorrilla. I think it's important to note here that this book is the first of a trilogy. The significance of this question is a theme that author Daniel Quinn returns to in each installment. 

What are some major personality traits of Jasmine? What are her values, attitudes, and morals?

Jyoti is beautiful and smart. According to an astrologer Jasmine has a fate of widowhood and alienation, and both predictions come true. She attends school twice as long as most Indian girls, and impresses her teachers with her intelligence. Jyoti's name and identity change and change. This is tied to the theme of rebirth and the theme of identity.

In the novel, Jayber Crow, where does his spirituality come from and how does he live out faith in his life?What made him resist organized religion?

When Jayber Crow answers what he believes to be a call to the ministry, he goes to college.  Here he begins to discover what he considers inconsistencies in the Bible.  True to his simple nature, he admits that he is able to accept only the words of Christ, and decides that if the most important prayer is "Thy will be done," than what is the purpose of all other prayer?

Though he does not become a minister and continues to ask questions of life and faith, Jayber Crow does not altogether resist "organized religion."  He does, after all, still attend church and attempt to accept its teaching.  However, what this character likely would attribute most of his faith and spirituality to, rather than church per se, is love.  He is a very down-to-Earth character, who, though seemingly simple, actually has a sense of understanding in his faith that he believes many church people and preachers do not.  He bases his faith on what he has seen, experienced, and what he observes on a daily basis, combined with how he feels.  Of the difference between his spirituality and the spirituality of those he observes in the church he says:

I took to studying my teachers...who were also preachers...Everything bad was laid on the body, and everything good was credited to the soul. It scared me a little when I realized that I saw it the other way around. If the soul and body really were divided, then it seemed to me that all the worst sins—hatred and anger and self-righteousness and even greed and lust—came from the soul.

Crow is a character of whom it could be said, "What you see is what you get."  He does his best to live an upright life, he honors the people and the places where he is at the moment he is with them, and he takes very little for granted.  His faith is evident in the respect and purpose with which he simply lives out his life.

How does Madame Loisel go about getting something special to wear to the party in the story "The Necklace"?

In "The Necklace," Mathilde Loisel goes to her friend, Mrs. Forrestier, to borrow the necklace for the ball.  Mathilde had told her husband that she had no fine jewelry or a dress to wear to the party, so her husband gave her money to purchase a dress (he had saved up money to buy himself something).  He also suggested that she go see Mrs. Forrestier to borrow some jewelry for the evening.  Mrs. Forrestier agreed; however, she did not tell Mathilde that it was a fake diamond necklace. Mathilde lost it at the ball, as we know, and then she and her husband had to work for 10 years to pay off the necklace.  In the end, Mathilde finds out the necklace was fake to begin with and that is how the story ends.

In "The Raven," what does the speaker begin to feel about the tapping? What happens when he whispers Lenore?Getting at meaning.

When the speaker first hears the tapping, he becomes
anxious and feels that he is filled with "fantastic terrors."  He attempts to calm
himself by reasoning that he simply has a late-night visitor.  However, when he opens
the door and sees that no one is there, the speaker's anxiety returns, and he begins to
think that the ghost of Lenore is in the hallway.  When he whispers the name "Lenore!"
all he hears in return is the echo of his own voice.  The confirmation that there is no
ghost in the hallway angers the speaker because he has been tormented by the loss of
Lenore.  His reactions to the tapping and his actions in the hallway suggest that the
speaker has not yet let go of his lost love.

In "Fahrenheit 451," what does Montag learn about the excessive cruelty of young people as he is making his escape?

We learn about the cruelty of the young early on. Clarisse comments on how many teenagers die in car accidents, get into vicious fights, and kill themselves by overdosing. Toward the end, as Montag flees, the cruelty of society is illuminated. Because the authorities cannot catch him, they sacrifice an innocent man by posing him as Montag and setting the hound on him. He is attacked and dies on live television.

What does the Flag Raising Ceremony held every Sunday represent in USSR history?

The Flag Raising Ceremony represents not a specific event in Soviet history but rather it symbolises a secular society one in which religion has been replaced by a state ceremony.  Instead of a praising God in church on Sunday, the people are encouraged to pay tribute to the state which has replaced what was considered antiquated notions of religion.  In Animal Farm, the animals raise the flag similarly to give thanks to the system under which they now live.  

Please explain this quote by Atticus from "To Kill a Mockingbird"."I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that...

This is spoken by Atticus to Jem.  In the previous chapter, Jem was amazed to find out that Atticus is an impressive shooter, the best in town.  This knowledge inspires respect in Jem.  However, Atticus doesn't want Jem thinking that courage is connected with having a gun and shooting things.  He doesn't want Jem to think that courage has to do with physical actions or fighting.  Atticus wants Jem to understand that standing up in the face of certain failure is what courage is.  If you know that you will fail, but you insist on standing up for what you believe in, or fighting for what is important to you, then you are showing real courage.

This is what Mrs. Dubose did.  She had the kids reading to her every day because she needed a distraction.  Her sickness caused her great pain, and she had become addicted to morphine.  She didn't want to be dependent on anything - she didn't want to be an addict.  Even though she knew she was about to die, Mrs. Dubose was determined that she would die free, not controlled by some substance.  This is the type of courage that Atticus was talking about.

What do you think the poet is trying to say in the poem "The Red Wheelbarrow"?

William Carlos Williams wrote this poem in 1923.  It was supposed to have been written as Williams, a pediatrician, was attending to a very sick young girl.  The poem depicts the image that was outside her window.

Williams would have been influenced by the Imagist poets, like Ezra Pound.  Imagists believed in using their poetry to portray pictures of life all around them.  The deeper, symbolic meanings that are associated with so many Romantic poets were not important - only the clear and pure representation of modern life.  This poem certainly holds true to that form.

However, with this genesis of the poem in mind, readers can connect Williams image to the beauty and importance of life itself.  The red wheelbarrow is symbolic of the blood of life, and the rain of life-giving water.  The white chicken is the innocent person, like an innocent young girl.  So much depends upon her being able to have the necessary elements of life - the blood and the water.  Life should go on.

Considering the time period, there can be another inferred theme.  The Industrial Revolution shifted the focus of this country from agricultural centers to urban centers.  Cities became heavily populated, and factories were tearing up both the landscape and the air quality.  This pure image of farm life is a reminder of how important the agrarian lifestyle is.

How does imagery enhance the atmosphere of Macbeth?

Shakespeare uses weather in his tragedies to express the disruptions in nature that evil creates.  In the early part of the play, the appearance of the witches is accompanied by thunder and lightening.  Drama is added to the scene, almost as if the weather is another character in the scene designed to enhance our understanding of the seriousness of the situation. Later in the play animals act out of character another example that nature or the natural order has been disturbed.

In Shakespeare's world there are forces of good and evil.  When the two are out of balance, such as when great evil is unleashed, by the witches, by the murders, by wars, he uses the images of disturbed nature to emphasize how evil unravels the very fabric of human existence.  At some point positive events must cancel out the evil.  Thereby restoring the balance of nature.  In the end the circle of evil is closed by the deaths of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and by Malcolm becoming the rightful and true king.

In "Macbeth," who are Greymalkin and Paddock?

To be more technical about it, Greymalkin and Paddock are the witches' familiars. A "familiar" is an attendant demon given to a witch to assist him/her in doing evil. The word is first seen in print in Reginald Scot, Discovery of Witchcraft (1584), a book that Shakespeare may very well have consulted. The fullest account is found in Matthew Hopkins' infamous Discovery of Witches (1647).

One reason for Shakespeare to give the witches familiars was that they seem to have been "the latest thing" in English and Scottish witch lore at the time. In other words, he was tossing in a contemporary reference that would have meant much more to his audience than it does to us, bringing the evil of the witches closer to his audience's immediate concerns and fears. The 1563 English law against witchcraft does not even mention them, but the 1604 law makes it a capital crime to "consult, covenant with, entertain, employ, feed, or reward any evil and wicked spirit." They are almost exclusively found in English and Scottish witch trials, being almost unknown on the European continent. 

What is a Kapo?

A Kapo was a concentration camp prisoner who cooperated with the Nazis to act as a police officer inside the camp. Even though they were prisoners themselves, they were given more food and were not tortured like the other people in the camps. So perhaps to keep their "privileged" positions, Kapos were notoriously brutal and often would beat the other prisoners for the smallest reason. Wiesel's father was beaten just because he asked permission to go to the toilet. Not all Kapos were evil, however. Wiesel tells of one who was executed because he had been hiding weapons for a prison resistance movement.  

How does Pip's first-person narration affect the story in Great Expectations?

The use of the First person limited narrator,  allows different possibilities for the author,  in the construction of the novel, and the reader in the perception of Pips drama. “Great Expectations” was written during the age of Realism,  so having a character telling his own story is a plausible way of putting the story in order, giving some information and not other, and making you feel that you are reading the story of a real person, not a character.  Also is a way of avoiding the effect of an external intelligence that can see everything, but chooses not to give us all the information.

Having  Pip telling his own story can help us perceive how he feels about himself, other people and what happens to him in a way that reflects also his own perception of the world. That is, the way he tells and understands his story tells us how he really is. When he first gets Joe’s visit we can learn how he really feels because of the way he narrates the encounter, more than what objectively happens. Then the way he feels about his benefactor changes as he knows more about the man, and so changes the vocabulary he uses to describe the convict.  Also, the way he perceives Mrs. Havisham and her house varies from the fist stage to the last stage of the book. In each of the three stages of Pip’s expectations we can trace the changes in personality much better by analyzing how he tells his story in each.

Explain this quote: "Good sir, why do you start , and seem to fear/ Things that do sound so fair?" What kind of literary device is it?

This was what Banquo said to Macbeth, on observing his startled reaction to the Witches' prophecies that were made on the deserted heath, after the 'hurly burly was done,' the battle was won.

The Witches' has prophecised Macbeth to become the Thane of Cowdor and the 'King hereafter', those were two promotions at the same time! These fortunate and good promotions were what Banquo said sounded 'so fair'. 'Why do you start, seem to fear' is a reference to his worried, anxiety-ridden expression, his thoughtful face, which was given rise to because Macbeth's ambitious nature had always dreamt of becoming the King of Scotland, but having the 'agents of devil' tell him that it was an actual possibility, was what shocked him beyond reality.

Was everything Brown witnessed a figment of his own imagination or a dream?

I can only suggest that it is irrelevant; the effect on Brown of what happened is all that matters. Much like Brown, we all must take a journey "into the woods"; we all must learn that everyone is made up of some good or some evil. How we deal with that knowledge is what is important. Brown can not (or choses not to) deal with what he learns. He wants people on his terms; he has developed a certain expectation of his catechism teacher, his pastor, his wife, and that is the way that he will take them ... no other.

This is a recurring theme in Hawthorne. If you have read "The Scarlet Letter," you know that all of the characters have some good and some evil in them, that they (we) are all complex characters. The society of TSL, much like Brown, fails to accept this and punishes only one aspect of a person. Even the threat of this punishment wrecks Arthur's life.

This theme of accepting only the perfect, and its destructive effects on individuals appears in many other Hawthorne works: "The Birthmark," and "The Minister's Black Veil" are other examples you might want to pursue.

"The enemy of the good is the perfect."

Please identify the characteristics of the short story, such as seen in "The Gift of the Magi."

Edgar Allen Poe used Aristotle's theory of unity for a play as also the criteria for a good short story. A short story should have unity of time, unity of place, and unity of action. This means that the plot will usually be fixed in one place, with the action happening over a relatively brief period of time (the setting). The story line will not be elaborated into complicated plots and subplots but will usually deal with one conflict, then focus on its resolution. Of course there are exceptions, but this is a good rule of thumb to follow.

You can see these guidelines applied in "The Gift of the Magi." The reader only sees things from Della's point of view although what happened to Jim when he made his purchase is just as important to the outcome of the story. 

An example of exception is the Nebula award winner "They're Made Out of Meat" by Terry Bisson.  The whole thing is just a dialogue between two extraterrestial beings.  There is no setting, no action, just talk; but it's great!

I need some examples from Lord of the Flies that indicate Golding's references to the evil in human kind.

While the boys' initial perception of the island is that of a type of Garden of Eden, the flaw in this idyllic island is the preexisting condition of evil inherent in the boys.  Golding hints at this innate evil in the passage of Chapter 4 in which Henry sits on the shore, delighting in his power to control the

transparencies that came questing in with the water over the hot, dry sand...Like a myriad of tiny teeth in a saw, the transparencies came scavenging over the beach....He poked abut with a bit of stick...and tried to control the motions of the scavengers....He became absorbed beyond mere happiness as he felt himself exercising control over living things... [which] him the illusion of mastery.  He squatted on his hams at the water's edge, bowed, with a shock of hair falling over his forehead and past his eyes, and the afternoon sun emptied down invisible arrows.

With this foreshadowing of conflict and killing, Roger, who keeps "to himself with an inner intensity of avoidance and secrecy" waits and watches furtively behind a great palm.  When a wind knocks nuts from the palm onto the ground, Roger picks up a stone--"that token of preposterous time"--and bounces it a few yards to the right of Henry.  Roger gathers more and throws them near to Henry:

Here, invisible, yet strong was the taboo of the old life. Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policemen and the law.  Roger's arm was donditioned by a civilization that knew nothing of him and was in ruins.

When Jack calls his name, Roger opens his eyes and sees him:  "a darker shadow crept beneath the swarthiness of his skin; but Jack noticed nothing." This "darker shadow" is the innate evil of Roger which is already on the Garden of Eden island. 

With the restrains of civilization gone, this evil then emerges.  The symbol of the rock carries this motif through Chapter 6 when Jack speaks of a large rock making a bridge across the island into the jungle.  As they cross, the intuitive Simon feels "a flicker of incredulity...[he] thought of the beast...before his inward sight the picture of a human at once heroic and sick."  Later, Golding describes the water sinking among the rocks:

There was one flat rock there,...and the waters sucking down on the four weedy sides made them seem like cliffs.  Then the sleeping leviathan breathed out, the waters rose, the weed streamed, and water boiled over the table rock with a roar.  There was no sense of the passage of waves; only this minute-long fall and rise and fall.

A profoundly symbolic passage, this suggests the rising of the stone-age primitive, ("leviathan"-whale-suggesting "huge and "powerful" with Biblical connotations) evil behavior of the hunters which will end in death as foreshadowed in the earlier passage about Henry and Roger.  Carrying the symbolism of the rock through the novel, the final chapter (12) has many references to this symbol.  One significant example is  "death rock flowered again."  And, of course, Piggy is brutally murdered in Chapter 12 as his head crashes against rock.  Even before his death, Piggy hears on top of Castle Rock voices raised where "the horrors of the supernatural emerged."  The inherent evil in the boys which has initially invaded their idyllic island emerges to wreak destruction.

In the poem "There Will Come Soft Rains" by Sara Teasdale, what is the basic summary and theme of that poem?

"There will come soft rains," written by Sara Teasdale in 1920, shortly after the First World War, is a 12-line poem that describes the beauties of spring in its first six lines,

And frogs in the pool singing at night,
And wild plum trees in tremulous white;

and continues to remark on how indifferent all this beauty is to human beings, who could go extinct without affecting the general harmony:

And Spring herself when she woke at dawn
Would scarcely know that we were gone.

The theme of Teasdale's poem, echoed by Ray Bradbury's story of the same title where it is prominently cited, is that the human race is not as important in the general order of things as it thinks it is:

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree,
If mankind perished utterly;

In fact, if "the war" that Teasdale casually refers to were to be nuclear, the utter destruction of mankind might well bring with it the end of "bird" and "tree" as well. Even without war, human activity is capable of enforcing vast changes upon nature.

And Spring herself when she woke at dawn
Would scarcely know that we were gone.

is not a couplet that retains much credibility with what we now know about global warming, for instance.

Teasdale's assertion of human insignificance has thus become out of date, even dangerous. It represents an older stream of environmentalist thought that met human arrogance with taunts of impotence rather than with a demand for greater responsibility.

The Canadian government did all it could for the people during the Great Depression. What did the government do to help the people?My teacher gave...

Although the government initially refused to provide large
scale aid to the people, they eventually gave in.  The government started a "New Deal"
type of relief effort in 1935.  Their program called for a minimum wage, unemployment
insurance, and other programs.  They began the Industrial Standards Act, which combated
sweat-shop type employment in favor of organized capitol and labor.  The National
Housing Act was implemented.  This promoted the construction of new homes and the
rehabilitation of older homes.  "It took the outbreak of World War II to pull Canada out
of the depression."  The increased need for materials and soilders provided a boost for
the economy.

What are some of the internal and external conflicts that the Mirabel sisters faced?

The Mirabel sisters are faced with several conflicts throughout the novel. Internally each young woman struggles with becoming who she desires to be while remaining loyal to her family wanted her to become. They each want to be loyal to their family, but some of their beliefs pull them in directions where they must make a choice. They must each decide whether loyalty or civic duty is more important to them all the while trying to be good wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters to their families.

Externally the Mirabel sisters must each choose to what extent they get involved in the revolution against Trujillo and his regime. For example, Minerva is committed to the revolution wholeheartedly. It's an easier choice for her to make and she meets conflict head on. Maria Teresa, the youngest sister lives to please Minerva and makes excuses for her whenever she needs it. Maria Teresa, until imprisoned met conflicts with a more joyful spirit. Patria, the oldest meets conflict with the revolution because she is unsure she wants any involvement but at the same time does not want to upset her family. Patria also struggles internally with her faith. Dede is the sister who gave into her husband's demand that she not join her sisters in the revolution and in doing so she met with conflict among her sisters. As a result of her obedience she lost her sisters and now lives alone to tell their story.

What are the three major conflicts in "The Lady, or the Tiger"?

The main conflict in the story is between the princess and herself. Should she betray her lover and send him to his death or allow him to be married to someone else, and allow herself to live in jealousy and self-consciousness for the rest of her life?

Another conflict is between the suitor and the princess and the king. The king dislikes that the suitor is not royalty, but the princess and the suitor believe that it shouldn't matter in the face of love.

The last conflict that I would consider would be an internal conflict of the suitor--should he listen to the princess or choose the door she doesn't point to?

Why is Mussolini's resignation a hopeful sign?

Mussolini was the leader of Italy during WW II. Italy was part of the Axis powers which included Germany and Japan. When he resigned, the Jews and people supporting the Allies were hopeful that this would weaken the Axis and shorten the war. With the Allies invading Italy, they now had a foothold in Europe and would continue to push north toward Germany and its defeat. With Germany being threatened from their south, perhaps they would ease up on the conquering of other European nations, lessening their military presence. More Jews would be able to escape or go into hiding. With the British bombing Germany regularly, and pressure from the south of Europe, surely the war would end sooner.

In Book 20 of "The Odyssey," how does Homer emphasize the special relationship between Odysseus and Penelope?

The main focus of The Odyssey is Odysseus's desire to return home to his wife and son after the Trojan War.His journey lasts for ten years, and although he is lured away from his goal many times, he always remembers that he loves his wife, and continues his journey, despite its pleasures and perils.

Odysseus is charmed and delayed by Calypso and Circe, who enchant him, diverted by The Lotus Eaters, survived the barriers set for him by his enemy, Poseidon, and outwitted the Cyclops who held him and his men prisoner. He survived the passage between Cylla and Charybidus, and a trip through the underground with one goal in mind: to return home to the only woman he loved, Penelope.

For her part, Penelope staved off the advances of the many suitors who had invaded her home in the hope of her declaring Odysseus dead, and marrying one of them. Their goal is to not only have a beautiful wife, but her property and wealth as well. To delay the suitors, Penelope tells them she must weave a burial shroud for her husband. She weaves the shroud by day and unravels it by night, prolonging the time when she will have to choose a suitor, and giving Odysseus more time  to return home.

Discuss the concept of class in Brave New World.

The "utopian" society of Brave New World
is set up in a pyramid caste system structure.  There are two, three, five,
or six castes/classes, depending on how you look at the novel.  Within the Alpha class,
for example, there are classes (plus or minus).  Bernard, for example, is an Alpha
minus: he's shorter than Henry, an Alpha plus.  Later, Bernard will be threatened with
outcast status (exile in Iceland).

In the Utopia, there are
obviously five castes, but if you include the Savages, there are
six:

SIX
CASTES/CLASSES:

1. Alphas - very
   small percentage of the population at the very top of the triangle who hold most status
   and power.  They are the top of the elite class.


2. Betas -
   small percentage of the population near the top of the triangle who hold secondary
   status.  They are the bottom of the elite class.


3. Gammas -
   middle of the triangle in terms of population, status, and power.  They are the highest
   of the support/worker castes.


4. Deltas - near bottom of
   the triangle; high population.  They are the middle of the support/worker
   castes.


5. Epsilons - highest percentage of the population
   who hold the least amount of status and power.  They are powerless.  Their only function
   is to work to support the other, higher castes.


6. Savages
   (Outcasts) - the non-genetically engineered; those born naturally outside of the utopia.
    They are interned at the Savage Reservation in New
   Mexico.

THREE CASTES /
CLASSES:

1. Upper class:  These are
   the World Controllers, the DHC, and most Alpha
   pluses


2. Middle class: These are primarily the Betas, but
   also some of the Alpha minuses and even a few of the
   Gammas


3. Lower class: These are most of the Gammas and all
   of the Deltas, Epsilons, and Savages.
   

TWO CASTES /
CLASSES:

1. The Elite: the Alphas
   and the Betas


2. The Workers: the Gammas, Deltas,
   Epsilons

As a narrator, how reliable is Jake's assessment of himself and others in The Sun Also Rises?

Jake can be considered to be a reliable narrator. He reminds readers of Nick in Gatsby-in the way he tends to withhold instant judgements. He is a keen observer and does not spare himself in his honest assessments of characters and their motivation.

He is meticulous in his accounting of money-he notes how money is spent, the value of what is bought, and the frequency with which it is spent. This honesty lends to his perception as a reliable narrator.

Jake does not sugarcoat his views for anyone, even Brett, whom he loves. Her flaws are given as well as her strengths. Jake's own flaws are readily available to the reader , as well. Jake inspires trust in readers , and therefore comes across as a reliable narrator.

What are three examples of foreshadowing that hint that Odysseus would have problems with the Cyclops in The Odyssey?

First, the Cyclopes are described in the very beginning as
"dealing out rough justice to wife and child." Obviously if they have no problem
treating their families violently, they would probably have no problem treating a
stranger with violence.

Second, when the Cyclops came home,
he used a big rock to cover the entryway. It is at this point that we realize that
Odysseus and his men will not be getting out. This foreshadows that there will be a
confrontation for them to get out.

Lastly, when we learn
that Posideon is the Cyclops' father and that Odysseus messed with the Cyclops' and add
to that that Posideon is the god of the sea where Odysseus needs to travel, we can
anticipate that Odysseus will have problems.

These are the
instances I see in the Cyclops section. It may be that you were looking for something
else and another editor might point it out to you.

i) Solve the simultaneous equations 4x + 3y + 4 = 0, 3x Could you please teach me step by step, so that I can understand easily...

The given simultaneous equations
are:

4x + 3y + 4 = 0   ...   
(1)

3x - 12y + 22 = 0   ...
(2)

Multiplying equation (1) by 4 we
get:

16x + 12y + 16 = 0   ...   
(3)

adding equation (2) and (3) we
get:

3x + 16x - 12y + 12y + 22 + 16 =
0

19x + 38 = 0

19x =
-38

Therefore:

x = -38/19 =
-2

Substituting this value of x in equation (1) we
get:

4*(-2) + 3y + 4 = 0

-8 +
3y + 4 =0

3y =
4

Therefore:

y =
4/3

Answer:

x = -2, and y =
4/3

why is chapter 20 included in the novel?i have no idea why this chapter is in the novel, thanks!

I agree that this is THE MOST IMPORTANT CHAPTER. For the
reasons above, and because the beginning of the chapter demonstrates how racism affected
a child.

Dill grew sick in the end of 19 and had to be
escorted out of the courtroom by Scout. Although it was hot, likely stinky, and stuffy,
this is not why Dill grew sick. He was physically troubled by watching Mr. Gilmer treat
Tom Robinson with such disdain and disrespect. I would imagine most children didn't see
many black-white interactions of their parents or caretakers because they were often
interacting with their own kind.

This ill-treatment of a
human being sickened him. The meeting with Mr. Dolphus Raymond and discussion that
ensued proved that perceptions and appearances aren't always what they seem. This is why
what Mr. Gilmer was doing was so wrong. He was treating Tom terribly because he was
black. Mr. Raymond, who loved the black community, demonstrated to the children that
things aren't always what they seem by letting them in on his secret Coke habit. He let
the community believe he drank too much (alcohol) just so that they could justify in
their minds why a white man would want a black woman... especially a rich white man.
This confirmed for Dill that his feelings were well-founded, and encouraged Scout and
Dill to return to the courtroom to see the situation conclude. Had he not intervened, we
wouldn't have seen the narrator finish her experience in the courtroom and would have
received second-hand information.

What would you say is the main point of "Games at Twilight" by Anita Desai?

Arguably, one of the central messages of this great short story is the way that we all go through a transition from innocence to experience, like Ravi does, that involves a recognition of our own insignificance as a human being and the world's utter indifference in that regard. This loss of innocence represents a metaphorical death, which is of course the death of childhood. The title of the story, and the way that it is set in twilight, which is of course the death of day, support this theme. The word "games" likewise indicates the idea of struggle and competition and the way that we all need to learn the rules of life, just as we have to learn the rules of the games that we play as children.

Let us examine this theme by looking at the epiphany that Ravi undergoes as he rushes out, believing that he is going to win the game and gain the glory and approval that he dreams of:

He would not follow them, he would not be included in this funereal game. He had wanted victory and triumph--not a funeral. But he had been forgotten, left out, and he would not join them now. The ignominy of being forgotten--how could he face it? He felt his heart go heavy and ache inside him unbearably. He lay down full length on the damp grass, crushing his face into it, no longer crying, silenced by a terrible sense of his insignificance.

Note the irony of this passage. Ravi has technically won the game and therefore should receive the glory that he dreams of gaining, however the game was abandoned long before he decides to come out. Instead of receiving honour, he is ignored. He refuses to play the "funereal" game that the rest of the children are playing, but nonetheless he experiences a kind of death himself--the death of his innocence and his own child-like sense of his own importance. He is left with nothing but the "terrible sense of his insignificance."

Discuss the features of metaphysical poetry in "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning."

One feature in "A Valediction:  Forbidding Mourning" that
reflects what we, today, label metaphysical poetry is stretched metaphors or conceits. 
Four of the stretched metaphors, with explanations,
follow:

1. Separation of death compared with
   separation when one lover leaves another (stanzas one & two).  Let we two lovers
   not cry or sigh, but keep our separation to ourselves.  The idea is that to speak
   loosely about their feelings is to lose them.


2. Movement of
   the earth draws attention to itself, yet movement among the stars, which is movement of
   far more importance, goes unnoticed (stanzas three-five).  Their love is like the
   movement of the stars.  It doesn't need to draw attention to itself to be monumental. 
   They don't need to cry or make a show of their
   separation.


3. Their love does not suffer a breach, or
   break, but experiences an expansion:  like gold that is beaten to airy thinness (stanza
   six).


4. Their love is like two legs of a compass.  One leg
   travels around, but is always connected to and anchored by the other.  Two legs of a
   compass cannot be fully separated, just as the two lovers can never really be
   separated. 

The most famous of the conceits is
the final one.  The metaphor is stretched in the sense that two things not usually
thought to have any thing in common are compared--the legs of a compass are compared to
two lovers.  The metaphor is highly artificial and witty, artsy, if you will.  This is
one of the marks of metaphysical poetry.

What is Jared Diamond's thesis?explain using historial evidence why Eurocentric and racist explainations for Yalis question are seen by Diamond and...

Your question addresses the belief that Europeans were able to conquer so many other nations and peoples because they were considered superior to other races of people. 

Jared Diamond sets out to disprove this theory by presenting us with his argument, nature vs. nuture.

"Major portions of the Eurasian area, Diamond points out, had a natural advantage in agriculture because of the presence of plants and animals that were easily domesticated. Not only did this allow food surpluses to develop, but it also enabled crops such as cotton, flax, and hemp to be easily processed into clothing, blankets, nets, and ropes."

 

"So the reason there wasn't a 15th century Inca invasion of Europe is that the Inca had no horses or cows, no grains to compete with rice or wheat, and so (ultimately) no vast metropolitan areas to serve as Darwinian proving grounds.  And thus no one with the free time to invent the alphabet, the blunderbuss and the caravel."

In Romeo and Juliet, what relationship does Friar Laurence see between plants and people?

In Act II, Scene 3, Friar Laurence describes a relationship between good and evil and man and herbs in his soliloquy.  The first reference is:  "The earth that's nature's mother is her tomb, What is her burying grave, that is her womb."  This says that even though we are placed in the earth when we die, it also brings life through the plants that it produces.

The next reference is, "O, mickle is the powerful grace that lies in plants, herbs, stones, and their true qualities; For naught so vile that on the earth doth live But to the earth some special good doth give."  The Friar says that there isn't anything from the earth that is only evil; it also brings good.

The third reference is:  "Within the infant rind of this flower Poison hath residence, and medicine power; For this, being smelt, with that part cheers each part; Being tasted, slays all senses with the heart.  The Friar says if you smell the plant it can improve your health, but eating the flower will cause uncertain death.

Friar Laurence says that if you smell the herb it can improve your health, but if you eat the plant it will cause uncertain death.  This goes to prove that there is good and evil in everyone and everything. It foreshadows the events to come.

Reference:  The Language and Literature Book by McDougal Littel

Is Brave New World a tragedy? If so, how? If not, why?Citations, please!

No.  Brave New World is a comedy.
 Comedy is focused on society, while tragedy is focused on the individual.  Clearly,
Huxley's targets are societal.

Brave New
World is a dystopian science fiction satire to be exact.  The novel parodies
several people, places, and things--namely totalitarianism.  Satires are meant to
ridicule and exaggerate human weakness and folly.  Huxley's attacks are not subtle: he
names names (Ford, Lenin, Marx, etc...)

A tragedy is much
more focused than Brave New World.  Tragedies are streamlined for
disaster from the start.  Brave New World doesn't even introduce
its most important character, John, until about half-way through the novel.
 Brave New World lacks the unity of place, unity of action, and
unity of time to be a tragedy.  Brave New World is a novel of
ideas: it doesn't conform to any rules or genres.  In fact, it tries to break
them.

John is certainly not a tragic hero: he is too naive
and immature, not noble enough, has too many weaknesses.  He's more of a Byronic
Hero--wounded by love, self-destructive.  He does not have a tragic flaw or make a
mistake in judgement that leads directly to his suffering and death.  He's more of a
victim of social evil.

Although the novel has some tragic
elements (John's death), the novel--as a whole--is definitely not a tragedy.  Here's
some reasons why:

Tragedy
VS. Comedy

1. acceptance of life
   vs. rejection of life


2. shows
   man's great potential vs. shows man's limitations,
   foibles


3. shows the dignity and courage  of
   man vs. mocks excess


4. high
   character vs. exaggeration and
   caricature


5. man in godlike state vs.
   folly, incongruity of human
   behavior


6. hero has a tragic flaw vs.
   hero has many
   weaknesses

In the novel "In the Time of the Butterflies," Rafael Trujillo is called "El Jefe." Why? In what ways did he act like an "El Jefe"?

"El Jefe" means "The Chief", and it is a fitting nickname for Rafael Trujillo, who ruled the Dominican Republic from 1930 to 1961.  Trujillo sought total control over all elements of government and the lives of his people, and was ruthless in erradicating dissent and eliminating obstacles that stood in the way of his goals. 

Trujillo rose through power by way of the military, and as Sinita explains, "all the people who were above him kept disappearing until he was the one right below the head of the whole armed forces".  Through ruthlessness and trickery, he quickly became the actual head of the armed forces, and then soon announced himself president of the country (Chapter 2).  An incorrigible womanizer, he kept mistresses in opulent palaces around the island, and his government was characterized by corruption and greed.  When faced with opposition, such as that represented by the movement in which the Mirabal sisters were involved, he responded forcefully and unscrupulously, putting those who dared to rebel under surveillance, imprisoning them, and, as in the case of Minerva, Patria, and Maria Teresa Mirabal, ordering their executions.