How does the author create suspense and tension in the story "Killings"?

The author creates suspense in many ways in this story. The first way is through the overall situation: the man who killed Frank is out on bail. What's worse, the parents keep running in to him. That's suspense in itself: what will happen?  Then more factors are added. Matt buys a gun, making it more likely that things will happen.

 

When Matt can't take it anymore, he goes to where Richard (the man who killed Frank) works—but instead of just killing him, he orders him into a car at gun point. This creates an unstable situation, and considerable tension. The picture of Mary Ann at Frank's place raises the possibility that another person might arrive, introducing another factor for tension.

In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, how does the nurse's character evolve?

I would actually argue that Nurse does not evolve as a character. She is recognizably a static character, a character that does not grow or change through undergoing self-revelations due to story development. Nurse is recognized as one of Shakespeare's best comic characters. In fact, she is one character that makes this play a cross between a tragedy and a comedy because it is characteristic of comedies to have a comic female companion; nurse serves as that comic female companion.

Nurse's one and only motivation throughout the play is to make Juliet happy. Juliet's happiness is the reason she agrees to venture out to meet Romeo the morning after the ball and find out if he is truly intending to marry Juliet. We see her ask Romeo what his intentions when she says:

If ye should lead her into a fool's paradise, as they say, it were a very gross kind of behaviour ... for the gentle woman is young. (II.iv.152-154)

Since marrying Romeo makes Juliet happy, she agrees to help them with the marriage and keep it a secret. Later in the play we see her believe that, since Romeo has been banished, marrying Paris would make her happy instead. Hence, we see her recommend that Juliet marry Paris as well, even though polygamy is a sin, which is a very comical suggestion. We see her recommend Paris in the lines:

I think it best you married with the County.
O, he's a lovely gentleman!
Romeo's a dishclout to him. (III.v.227-229)

While it seems from this passage and earlier behavior that Nurse has changed her mind about Romeo and now believes that he is of questionable character due to his murdering Tybalt, we still see Nurse bring Romeo to Juliet, even after his banishment. Hence, we can legitimately say that every decision Nurse makes is for Juliet's happiness alone. While Nurse may change her mind, she does not change her values as a character; she only values Juliet and everything she does is to make her happy. Therefore, we can easily argue that Nurse does not develop as a character throughout the story. She is a static character.

In Fahrenheit 451, how is Montag affected by the event and woman at 11 North Elm?

This is a huge turning point for Montag.  When the call comes in, the firemen go as usual.  However, the woman refuses to leave her home and her books.  They burn her as well, and Montag is haunted by the vision.  He had suspected up to this point that what they were doing was wrong...the complete annihilation of books and contrary thoughts and anything against the government...but when they burn the books regardless of the loss of human life, he is convinced.  This is also the time when we know he intentionally takes a book from the home.  He stashes it with all the others, which the reader is almost shocked to read about.  Until this point, we do not know Montag has hidden books in his home.  Even his wife is clueless on this fact.

Montag becomes ill and does not go in to work the next day.  His boss comes to the home and hints that the book needs to be brought back in to be burned...he knows that Montag has taken a book from the burn site and that every fireman suffers from this same illness.  They have complete confidence that Montag will recover from his illness and return to work soon to join his fireman brotherhood and continue the stamping out of thinking in their world.

What is the mood of this poem? Give 3 specific answers that support your opinion.

The lyrical poem, The Lady of Shallot's mood is created by the descriptive style that Tennyson employs in the early parts of the poem.  We learn of the landscape in great detail, until he tells us of the lady locked in the tower.

"On either side the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye,
That clothe the wold and meet the sky;
And through the field the road run by" (Tennyson)

"Willows whiten, aspens quiver,
Little breezes dusk and shiver
Through the wave that runs for ever
By the island in the river" (Tennyson)

There is a wonder and awe that is created in the poet's description of the landscape.  The beauty of the land is contrasted to the isolation of the lady in the tower. 

She cannot enjoy this beauty, she is cursed to remain alone and cannot even look upon the world.  She sees the world through a mirror.

"And moving through a mirror clear
That hangs before her all the year,
Shadows of the world appear.
There she sees the highway near
Winding down to Camelot;" (Tennyson)

When you understand what her life is like, the mood of the poem turns somber.  Then the mood turns happy, she is content in the tower, weaving the images she sees in the mirror.

"But in her web she still delights
To weave the mirror's magic sights,
For often through the silent nights" (Tennyson)

Then the mood turns again, she falls in love with Lancelot, which makes her determined to leave the tower.
 

How does claudius attempt to establish his popularity in the second scene of "Hamlet"?

Claudius attempts to establish his popularity by justifying his actions and thus convincing the people that he is the best man for the position of King.   First, he states how grieving for King Hamlet is good and right, but now they must move on and embrace his wedding to Queen Gertrude.  He also speaks to Hamlet about his own relationship with his "son" and convinces Hamlet to stay at home where he and Gertrude can be near him.  This, interestingly enough, is a very paternal speech to Hamlet and, therefore, establishes Claudius as a father-figure as well as compassionate and supportive. 

What the reader should find ironic is that Claudius' behavior, marrying the Queen within months of the King's death and his appeal to Hamlet, are all self-motivated and extremely sneaky.  Can he be trusted?  Absolutely not. 

In "Julius Caesar," what is ironic or surprising about Brutus's suicide?

I don't see any irony or find it surprising that Brutus took his own life. For the Romans, to die honorably was very important. If Brutus had lived, he most likely would have been captured and imprisoned. Roman generals had the habit of bragging about their conquests with huge parades in Rome. They would display whatever treasure they had brought back, including prisoners of war, who would have been shackled in chains and marched in the parade. Then they would have been executed. Brutus escaped this dishonor by killing himself.

What inspires Walter's daydreams?

James Thurber, the author of "The Secret Life of Walter
Mitty," never openly tells us what inspires his hero's
daydreams.

The dreams are prompted by
little things that Mitty does in real life.  For example, his dream of being a fighter
pilot is prompted by his reading about warfare in a magazine; his dream about facing a
firing squad is prompted by his standing momentarily in front of a brick
wall.

What really inspires Mitty's
dreams?  It would seem that he is stuck in a boring, mundane life, tied down to a
nagging wife.  His only escape is to dream.

The Mitty who
appears in the daydreams is daring, calm, and highly skilled.  He is a surgeon who saves
lives, a fighter pilot who flies "forty kilometers through hell," and a condemned man
who fearlessly faces a firing squad.  All of this is in sharp contrast to the real
Mitty, who can't remember a shopping list, who tangles chains around his tires, and who
mutters "puppy biscuits" as he walks around a shopping district.

What are the reasons behind the failure of the conspiracy in "Julius Caesar"?

The conspirators fail in Julius Caesar because they do not manage to take decisive control of popular opinion after their murder of Caesar. As Casca, one of the conspirators, notes, the crowd is extremely fickle and easily moved if its emotions are affected. For instance, regarding Caesar's fainting fit, Casca says: When [Caesar] came to himself again, he said, if he had done or said any thing amiss, he desired their worships to think it was his infirmity. Three or four wenches, where I stood cried, “Alas, goodsoul!” and forgave him with all their hearts. But there's no heed to be taken of them; if Caesar had stabbed their mothers, they would have done no less. (Act I, Scene 2) The conspirators know they must have popular approval -- this is why Cassius is so keen to get the support of Brutus. Again, Casca sums the matter up: O, he [Brutus] sits high in all the people's hearts, And that which would appear offense in us, His countenance, like richest alchemy, Will change to virtue and to worthiness. (Act I, Scene 3) It is not in failing to recognize the need for popular approval, but in not knowing how to successfully get it, that the conspirators fail. The most fatal manifestation of this failure is the conspirators' decision to not only leave Mark Antony alive, but to allow him to speak at Caesar's funeral. Cassius wishes to kill Antony: I think it is not meet Mark Antony, so well beloved of Caesar, Should outlive Caesar. We shall find of him A shrewd contriver; and you know his means, If he improve them, may well stretch so far As to annoy us all, which to prevent, Let Antony and Caesar fall together. (Act II, Scene 1) However, Brutus will not hear of it, thinking that this step is ignoble: Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius, To cut the head off and then hack the limbs Like wrath in death and envy afterwards; For Antony is but a limb of Caesar. (Act II, Scene 1) In the abstract, that might be a correct judgment, but the damage that the conspiracy might have taken from the ignoble assassination of Antony is probably much less than the damage the living Antony is able to do by whipping up the mob at Caesar's funeral.

What exactly can you see in an art piece of Janet Fish--an art piece named "June 1999"?

I'm not sure what you mean by "what can you see".  Janet Fish's process involves painting elaborate reflections, highlights and shadows, refractions of light through glass. The result is very complex and filled with light and convincing realism. It has been theorized that many artists who do this kind of photo realism resort to photographic projections to get the details, which is an old Renaissance technique. It's controversial but, in my opinion, not cheating.  As far as I know Janet Fish is not in the habit of imbedding secret messages into her work. The work speaks for itself in its virtuoso use of paint.

What are examples of simile, personification, and mood in "Lamb to the Slaughter"?

A simile is a comparison between two items using the words "like" or "as".  Her eyes were as blue as the sky and like huge, round sapphires when she smiled.

Personification is giving human qualities to any inanimate object.  Basically, it's making the object like a "person".  The wind whispered his name and tortured her with his memory.  Wind is not a living entity, so it can not whisper or torture. 

Mood is the feeling of the atmosphere in the story.  This can be achieved with lots of different things...stormy weather and wind, rain, thunder, lightening gives an ominous or threatening and angry mood.  Mood can be tense, happy, anxious, angry, frightened...basically any emotion humans can feel can be conveyed through description, language, and interactions with characters.  Sounds devices can also be used to achieve mood.  An angry person may use words that contain many hard consonant sounds which will give it a more clipped, hurried, and angry feeling.  Take this example from the Red Badge of Courage:

Besides, a faith in himself had secretly blossomed. There was a little flower of confidence growing within him. He was now a man of experience. He had been out among the dragons, he said, and he assured himself that they were not so hideous as he had imagined them. Also, they were inaccurate; they did not sting with precision. A stout heart often defied, and defying, escaped.

In "The Crucible" do you think Abigail alone was responsible for the Salem Witch Trials or did the blame lie with other people or situations?

There are many other people to
blame.

1.  The Putnams.  Mrs. Putnam was fixated on
assigning blame for the death of her children.  She had already resorted to witchcraft
to find out who "murdered" her children, so was quick to jump on the accusation
band-wagon.  Thomas Putnam, we learn in act three, had been "prompting" his daughter to
cry out against people whose land he wanted to take when they were
imprisoned.

2.  Reverend Parris.  Quick to blame those who
didn't like him, and to try to win favor in the town by being a lackey to the judges,
Parris often sided against the townspeople, asking incriminating questions and giving
the judges prejudiced backstories on people brough into the courts.  He also
conveniently left out the fact that his own niece had been caught dancing and concocting
spells in the forest; desparate to protect his reputation, he didn't tell this
information.

3.  Danforth and Hathorne.  These judges often
rejected logical fact, devised tricky scenarios and questioning, and refused to hear
testimony that would prove the innocence of so many that were accused.  Once it became
clear the accusations were false, they clung to their pride, refusing to recant
convictions, so that their reputations wouldn't be
foiled.

Those are just a few people that contributed, and
were all too happy to jump in and ride the wave of accusations. I hope that helped; good
luck!

What was the author's main purpose in writing, "To Kill a Mockingbird"?

There are many similarities in this novel and Harper Lee's own upbringing that suggest some of her childhood experiences helped create this work.

Harper Lee has denied that the novel is autobiographical, despite the obvious similarities between the author's life and that of Scout's. Lee's father was a southern lawyer in Alabama, and Lee was quite a tomboy who enjoyed the company of a spirited boy, Truman Capote, whom it is speculated was the model for Dill.

The book explores the key themes of racism and its causes and effects, as well as the aspects of courage and tolerance. While there was nothing to suggest anything so dramatic occurring in Lee's life, it can be seen that she witnessed plenty of these themes in her own childhood that she wanted to express.

What is Karana's father's name?

In this book, Karana's father is the chief of the
island.

At the beginning of the book, the Aleuts and their
Russian captain come to hunt for sea otters on the island.  When they get there, they
come on shore and talk to Karana's father about what they will pay for the otters and
other such "business" matters.

When the Russian captain
identifies himself, Karana's father answers by giving his name.  He says his name is
Chief Chowig.

Karana is shocked because that is her
father's secret name and he has told it to a stranger.

Describe the narrative technique employed by Jane Austen in Pride and Prejudice.

In this novel Jane Austen adopted the direct or epic
method of narration in which she employs the third person narration.As the events of the
novel are concentrated around the actions of Elizabeth,it can be said that she is being
used as a focalizer.Austen's technique of using focalization allows the readers to build
up a relationship with Elizabeth so that we can better relate to and sympathise with her
feelings.

Influence of drama is clear in the present
novel.One critic have tried to demonstrate how the actions of the novel can be divided
in five acts of drama.She uses dialogues to make her characters speak for themselves
while she overhears them and narrates everything to her readers in a manner of a
drammatist.It has been said ofPride and Prejudicethat many pages of the novel can be
read as sheer poetry of wit and irony.

The plot of
Pride and Prejudice is a neatly constructed one.Then the plot is
highly symmetrical also.

Letters are used as a dramatic
device in the novel to further the plot,aid in the revelations of characters and in the
exposition of theme in this novel.

Austen is a master at
ending each chapter in the novel with a bang,providing great humour or insight into a
character within few lines giving a greater impact because of the fact that it is the
conclusion to each little situation.

In Sherlock Holmes' novel The Hound of the Baskervilles, why did Stapleton murder Sir Charles and try to murder Sir Henry?

A great many of the Sherlock Holmes stories turn out to be about money, even though the mercenary motif is not visible at the beginning. Some examples are "The Speckled Band," "The Solitary Cyclist," "The Blue Carbuncle," and "The Red-Headed League." "The Hound of the Baskervilles" appears to be a story about the supernatural, a subject in which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was keenly interested. However, it turns out that one of Sir Henry Baskerville's neighbors, Mr. Stapleton, is exploiting an old legend about a gigantic mythical hound to kill off the two men who are ahead of him in line of succession to the Baskerville estate. Stapleton keeps a vicious hound in a secret place and has used it already to cause the death of Sir Charles Baskerville of an apparent heart attack. Stapleton occasionally allows the hound to run free at night in order to terrify everyone in the region and to perpetuate the legend that there is indeed a ghost-hound that haunts the moors. If Stapleton can succeed in having his hound kill Sir Henry, he will be able to claim the Baskerville estate. However, he cannot expect a young man like Sir Henry to die of a heart attack upon seeing the hound painted with phosphorous. The hound will have to kill this victim, and Stapleton would of course be guilty of premeditated murder. 

As is characteristic of most Sherlock Holmes stories, the great detective explains many of the essential details to his friend and biographer at the end. In Chapter XV, "A Retrospection," Holmes tells Watson:

“My inquiries show beyond all question that the family portrait did not lie, and that this fellow [Stapleton] was indeed a Baskerville. He was a son of that Rodger Baskerville, the younger brother of Sir Charles, who fled with a sinister reputation to South America, where he was said to have died unmarried. He did, as a matter of fact, marry, and had one child, this fellow, whose real name is the same as his father." 

In Chapter 8, what does the Lord of the Flies tell Simon?

Simon's conversation with the bease is imagined and comes from within himself, which is where, of course, the beast is in everyone. As Simon imagines a conversation with the pig's head, the Lord of the Flies, it tells him, “Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! . . . You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? When the beast tells Simon he is part of him, Simon understands. This leads the beast to reveal that the reason they haven't been able to do anything is because the beast is part of them. Their characters are too flawed with evil. Nevertheless his conversation with the beast within himself foreshadows events that will occur later. For instance, at the end of the chapter, Simon imagines that he falls into the mouth of the beast as he slips into his seizure. This foreshadows the violence that will later consume him and the others as they slip into beast-like savagery.

What were three negative effects of the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887?

It is a federal law targeting at unfair practices of the monopolistic railroad industry by eliminating the usage of discriminatory against small markets, and constructing a reasonable price standard. However, there are still negative effects regarding this policy.

Firstly, this policy is very contradictory as some provisions were used to stimulate competition amongst companies, while on the other hand, some were used to penalized and crackdown on competition.

Secondly, this policy only apply to railroads.

Lastly, the power that the five member board had was very limited to say the least, to enforce the goals of ICA of 1887, so it was plain useless.

What purpose do the hills, railroad tracks, station, and precise time reference in the first paragraph serve?

The setting and reference to the hills that look like white elephants reinforce that the Jig is pregnant.

The lovers are sitting in the shade just outside the station.  Beyond them is the light and tracks and baron landscape.  As they sit in the shade, they begin discussing Jig having an abortion.  In this way, they are trying to bring the issue into the light and get it out in the open.  Yet, they never say the world abortion or really talk about her pregnancy directly.  They are keeping it 'in the shade' - so to speak. 

Their relationship does not seem one that will lead to anything permanent, which may well be the reason the American is pushing her to have the abortion.  With this realization, Jig has a new perception of their relationship, one that is thrown into the harsh light of reality, like the tracks and baron landscape before them.  The fact that the man does not want a child, which would make them a family, does this crush any illusions she might have about him and their future?  Plus, without the child would she feel baron like the landscape?

The precise information about time at the end of the first paragraph reinforces the briefness of not only this story but also the couple's relationship.  Like the train on its brief stop, we are offered only a brief moment in the lives of these characters.  With the decision made, will the relationship be as brief as the train stop and our glimpse into their lives?

Can Of Mice and Men be compared to someone else's work from the Lost Generation?

John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men
exhibits many characteristics basic to others created by authors of the Lost
Generation. One that comes to mind immediately is Sherwood Anderson's
Winesburg, Ohio. The characters in both novels are lonely,
isolated, and filled with longing. There is an aimlessness to their lives, and they find
it difficult, if not impossible, to establish true connection with other people, for
reasons both within themselves and in their
environments.

In Of Mice and Men,
Lenny and George are itinerant ranch hands with no place to call their own.
They dream of having their own place, but though they work tirelessly, they do not
achieve it. Lenny and George are more fortunate than many because they have each other's
companionship. Still, that companionship limits George's ability to connect with others,
as he has taken on the responsibility to care for Lenny, who is developmentally
handicapped. Lenny's handicap makes it necessary for the two to move around constantly;
his propensity for not knowing his own strength gets him into trouble time after
time.

A parallel character in Winesburg, Ohio,
is Wing Biddlebaum in the story "Hands." Wing's "handicap" is that he uses
his hands in ways that are misunderstood, and are considered by some to be
inappropriate. Although he means no harm, his inclination to touch makes others
uncomfortable, and ultimately leads to his banishment from his hometown. He spends the
rest of his days in Winesburg, where, afraid of his own natural tendencies, he lives
friendless and alone. The only one who even talks to him much is George
Willard.

The theme of isolation in both books extends
beyond the main characters. In Of Mice and Men, Candy is old and
disabled, terrified of reaching the point to where he can no longer work, Crooks is set
apart because of his race, and Curley's wife is hungry for freedom, adventure, and love.
In Winesburg, Ohio, Enoch Robinson is consumed with fear over how
others perceive him and his family, Dr. Reefy is a lonely man who falls in love with a
married woman, Elizabeth Willard, whose life is similarly unfulfilled and lonely.
Sherwood Anderson directly names the characters he has written about, calling them
grotesques. Grotesques are people who are doomed to live in
isolation because of forces they cannot control; it is clear that the characters in both
books are grotesques.

Where do Johnny and Ponyboy go when they leave the park?

I assume that you are asking about what happens in Chaptr
4.  In that chapter, Johnny and Pony have gone to the park separately to avoid
situations at home.  They find each other there are are about to leave when the Socs
jump them.  Johnny ends up killing Bob Sheldon.

After that,
the two of them are kind of panicked about what is going to happen to them.  They leave
the park to go find Dallas Winston.  They think Dally will have a plan to get them out
of trouble.  He is at the house of a friend, Buck Merrill.

Where did Timothy hide Stew Cat while he was killing the evil jumbi in "The Cay"?

While Timothy is performing the necessary rituals to "chase d'jumbi", he keeps Stew Cat "off d'shore...on d'raff".  He hasn't exactly hidden the cat, but because Phillip is blind, he is unable to see the raft off the shore, and so does not know where the cat is.  Phillip does find the stick Timothy has pounded into the ground for the purpose of securing the raft, and has discovered that there is no longer a rope tied to it; he knows that the raft, at least, is gone. Timothy is afraid that the bad luck he and Phillip are facing on the island is being caused by evil spirits, or "jumbi".  He begins to think that maybe Stew Cat is actually the jumbi, but knows that Phillip is attached to the feline and will not tolerate its destruction.  Using a charitable substitution, Timothy painstakingly carves a likeness of Stew Cat out of wood, and sticks nails in it "to kill off the evil jumbi".  He apparently believes that in order for his remedy to work, it is necessary to get the real Stew Cat off the island while he performs this ritual, and thus puts the cat on the raft and anchors the raft offshore until he can complete the tasks necessary to rid the island of the spirits causing their bad luck (Chapter 11).

How does Macbeth feel in the soliloquy in act III, scene 1?

In Act III, Scene I, Macbeth is beginning to feel the effects of his newly acquired power.  His attitude is one of smug satisfaction at being crowned and he is planning a banquet, which is both the high point of his time as king and the beginning of his descent into madness.

In his speech in this scene, he shares conversation with Banquo about the two murderers, referring to Malcolm and Donalbain.

"We hear our bloody cousins are be-
stow'd
In England and in Ireland, not confessing
Their cruel parricide, filling their hearers"
Act III, Scene I

After dismissing Banquo, jealousy pours out of Macbeth at the fact that he has no son.  He is projecting his kingdom into the future and sees nothing but Banquo's heirs on the throne.

"Upon my head they plac'd a fruitless crown,
And put a barren sceptre in my gripe,
Thence to be wrench'd with an unlineal hand,
No son of mine succeeding. If't be so,
For Banquo's issue have I fil'd my mind;
For them the gracious Duncan have I murder'd;" Act III, Scene I

He works himself into a raging fury as he interrogates two men he has summoned to kill Banquo and Fleance.  The speech is particularly sad, because Macbeth is losing touch with his humanity.  He is cutting ties with his very dear friend Banquo and succumbing to a false sense of power that demands he protect his crown, as if he could fend off every possible threat by murder.

What are the seasonal winds that play a large role in South Asia called?

Yes the right answer is "monsoon". I am giving below some
additional information on monsoon.

The name monsoon is
derived from a local name for these winds, which means seasonal winds. The monsoon blows
over the northern part of the Indian Ocean, especially the Arabian Sea, and over most of
the surrounding land areas.  The monsoon blows from the southwest from April to October,
and from the northeast from November to March. The southwesterly monsoon brings heavy
rains to southern and southeastern Asia, including Bangladesh, Burma, India, and
Thailand. Popularly the word monsoon is used only for these winds tha bring tain with
them.

What is the conclusion of The Face on the Milk Carton?

At the end of the book, Janie is convinced that she was kidnapped, and fears that her adopted parents -- who she loves very much -- are actually the kidnappers. She tries, and fails, to get through her fears on her own, but the loss of a letter to her possible biological family convinces her that it is time for adult intervention. Her adopted parents, seeing all the information she has gathered, realize that their daughter Hannah lied about giving birth to Janie after joining a cult. In fact, Hannah kidnapped Janie from her real parents, the Springs. Janie is overcome with the emotion and pleads with her adopted parents to leave it alone.

"Then I'm not going," said Janie. "I've had enough emotion. I just want this to end happily ever after.

"Not everything does, Janie," said her father. "Hannah didn't. I don't see how this can."

[...]"It has to!" cried Janie. "Tell the Springs, Lizzie. Tell them it has to end happily ever after."
(Cooney, The Face on the Milk Carton, Google Books)

Janie's adopted mother Miranda, however, knows that Janie's real mother has been living the last decade in terrible agony; losing a child is, for a parent, the worst tragedy possible. Despite Janie's request, Miranda calls the Springs and hands over the phone to Janie. In the last sentences of the novel, Janie speaks to her real mother for the first time in her memory.

The conclusion of the book functions in two ways. First, it is a cliffhanger; it leads directly into the next book in the series, and allows the reader to be expectant and eager to continue Janie's story. The cliffhanger structure is a classic method of making the reader want more. Second, the end acts as a catharsis for all the emotional drama that precedes it; as the event is taken out of Janie's hands, she is finally able to relax, knowing that her loving adopted parents are working to help her. Janie has spent most of the novel under intense stress, and now with the revelations of her birth and the contact with her parents, she can finally begin to heal.

What background facts do we learn from the Nurse's opening speech in "Medea"?

The nurse provides the audience with information about what has happened to Medea.  She tells us of Jason's betrayal of his wife and gives us information about Medea's present condition: 

     "She calls out to the gods to witness
      how Jason is repaying her favours.
      She just lies there. She won't eat—her body
      she surrenders to the pain, wasting away,
      always in tears, ever since she found out
      how her husband has dishonoured her". (Lines 26-35)
 

What is the difference between Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter and Melinda Sordino in Speak in the terms of their motivation?

While Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter ostracizes herself from the community following her punishment, she does so with a motivation of working out her atonement for her Puritan crime of adultery. She was clearly wrong in her conduct and choices. She accepts her guilt. She accepts her punishment and she establishes her life in such a way that she might atone and be separated from those who scorn and continually chastise her.

Melinda Sordino in Speak is ostracized by her classmates, it is not with her own volition as Hester's choice of an isolated cottage is. Her classmates are angry with her for bringing the police to a party where illegal and harmful underage drinking was going on, and so they punish her for spoiling their fun by making her an outcast.

In response to the horrific event that disrupted her life and sense of reality, which occurred at the party, Melinda stops speaking, feeling a painful constriction on her throat. Her motive for this, if it can legitimately be said she had a conscious motive, is to protect herself and keep her secret that stems from events that night. Melinda is not motivated by a clear need to atone as Hester is nor is she motivated by a choice to stay and face a punishment given by the community's legal justice system.

The main differences between the two, Hester and Melinda, is that Melinda's reaction of not speaking is in truth a psychological reaction to shock, trauma, violence, and abuse. Hester's motive arises from a known violation that was punished according to community laws and distributed according to justice. While Melinda has some guilt feelings for having been at the party and for having been drinking, drinking and physical violation are two very separate things and of two entirely different natures.

In other words, drinking does not equate with physical violence; in general terms as they relate to Speak, drinking is something one does one's self, while physical violation is done by someone else. So even though Melinda feels guilty for the one thing (drinking), she was not a participant in the other thing (violation), she was a victim in the other thing, and therefore does not have the kind of guilt that Hester bears.

What does Daniel dream of presenting to Rosh?

Daniel dreams of presenting a group of young men to help
push the Romans out of Israel. Daniel had once been a part of Rosh's group hiding in the
mountains. He is also a Zealot, like Rosh and his men, seeking to free fellow Jews from
the oppressive Romans. When he must return to his village to care for his sister and
becomes the village blacksmith, he forms a group of young men eager to fight the Romans.
He, along with his friend Joel and his twin sister Malthace, meet secretly with an
ever-growing group to undermine the Roman rule of their land. At times, Rosh contacts
them to assist in the cause. Daniel respects and loves Rosh, seeking his approval
because Rosh saved his life when he was young. Though he is beginning to question Rosh's
methods in seeking liberation, Daniel still dreams to giving Rosh a body of fighting
men.

Whose struggles and feelings does the narrator relate in "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"?

Ambrose Bierce wrote this story using different perspectives. Although the entire story is written in third person, the point of view is limited, allowing Bierce to accomplish his "trick ending." 

At the beginning of Part I, the narration is highly objective, reporting on no feelings of the soldiers or the man being hanged. The last three sentences of the fourth paragraph allow the reader into the mind of Peyton Farquhar, the man being executed, and the remainder of that section continues from his point of view.

In Part II, the narration switches back to an objective description again, reporting the facts of Farquhar's background and the visit from the "gray-clad soldier." No character's feelings are described, but the last sentence of the section reveals a fact that Farquhar did not know, namely that the soldier "was a Federal scout."

Part III changes the perspective again, this time becoming fully Farquhar's perception. The reader knows everything Farquhar sees, feels, and thinks as well as what he does. Although there seem to be descriptions of actions as in Parts I and II, the reader is deceived by this because it turns out that all the action being described has occurred only within the few seconds of the hanging—all in Farquhar's imagination. The last sentence of the story returns to objective narration, describing what Farquhar is no longer able to perceive: The body of the man "swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge."

Peyton Farquhar's struggles and feelings are the only ones the reader is made privy to in this story. Interestingly, Bierce's vacillating points of view lull the reader into believing the story is more objective than it turns out to be.

Comment on male/female roles and expectations in Macbeth.

In Macbeth, men are at the top of the
Great Chain of Being, women at the bottom.  Here's the order at the beginning of the
play:

1. Duncan (King); 2. Malcolm (Prince); 3. Donalbain;
4. Macbeth; 5.  Banquo

So, this is clearly a patriarchy,
with males as Kings, Princes, and warriors.  Men fought in battle and women stayed
home.

Of the women, Lady Macbeth is ranked highest, but
still she is fairly low in order of importance.  Women's roles were domestic: to be good
hostesses and make babies.  Lady Macbeth is terrible at both.  She completely resents
her domestic role: she wants to be a warrior, or at least achieve the status of warrior.
 She doesn't want to be a man, but she definitely resents being a woman.  She
says:

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Come, you
spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex
me here,
And fill me from the crown to the
toe top-full
Of direst cruelty! make thick my
blood;
Stop up the access and passage to
remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of
nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace
between
The effect and it! Come to my woman's
breasts,
And take my milk for
gall, you murdering ministers,
Wherever in
your sightless substances
You wait on nature's
mischief!

So,
convincing Macbeth of murder is about the closest way for Lady Macbeth to get on the
"battlefield" and achieve status in this society.

The
lowest ranked, of course, are the witches.  Even if you consider them not supernatural,
just old hags, they are still at the bottom.  They are the equivalent of homeless
beggars or mentally ill patients.

But, after Macbeth kills
Duncan, Lady Macbeth becomes a queen and the witches become his advisors.  Though we
don't see the socio-economic benefits for these women, their status is clearly risen
after the toppling of the earlier patriarchal stratus.

What is the status of women in "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe? do women have respect? please explain your answer well.

Achebe presents women in the novel in a way that is faithful to the values of the Igbo tribe.

It is easy for a modern, western reader to feel that women have little respect in this culture. The society is polygamous; the mother of Okonkwo's eldest son is merely 'Nwoye's mother', as if she's defined only by the fact she's produced an heir. Men who are regarded as failures are deemed to be 'agbala' - the Igbo word for woman. However, to rely entirely on this reading would be to overlook the complex and subtle way in which Achebe reveals the centrality of the female in Igbo life.

Okonkwo is a war-like hero, but his ferocity is based on fear: 'the fear of being thought weak'. For this reason, he commits a series of atrocities, many of which involve some kind of violation of the female principle in Igbo culture.

When exiled to Mbanta, Uchendu, Okonkwo's uncle, reminds Okonkwo that the Igbo call their children by the name 'Nneka' (Mother is Supreme), and that an exiled man returns to his motherland- the proper place in times of sadness and suffering. Thus, the status of women is revered in Igbo culture, and in the novel, and that Okonkwo fails to recognise this is a contributory factor in his tragic downfall.

What is the difference between the A text and B text of Doctor Faustus?

Basically, they are just two different versions of the same play.

The 'A' text survives in two printed versions: a 1604 quarto (reprinted in 1609) which attributes the play to 'Ch.Marl', and, at 1485 lines long, is one of the shortest Elizabethan plays in existence.

The 'B' text is a 1616 quarto reprinted several times, and is substantially bigger than the 'A' text, adding around 650 lines.

Scholars still argue about the relationship between the two different versions of the play (and whether either or both plays represent the unedited work of Marlowe) - and so modern editions most usually print both, as is usually the case with a book just called 'Dr. Faustus'.

I'm sure the OU should have given you a more detailed reading list: if they specify a certain edition to buy, you could work out by searching it on Google Books which text is the one they want to study. But if I had to bet, I'd say it'll be the 'B' text you want.

In "Death of a Salesman," how has Bernard changed from when he was a boy?What is Bernard's job and what will he do in Washington DC?

Bernard's dynamic character is on display in his father's office for Willy to observe. Willy would hardly call Bernard "anemic" at this juncture.

Bernard has become self-confident through education and experience. Perhaps Bernard shudders with disgust when he recalls begging to carry Biff's football equipment into the locker room. Bernard's intellect and dedication have paid off; two character traits that Biff and Happy seem to be allergic to.

Bernard has always known that something "wasn't quite right" with Willy Loman, but he never questioned an adult's authority during his adolescence.  Now that he has reached maturity, he questions Willy regarding Biff's Boston trip, something the old Bernard would never have done.

why did Peter the Great want to have absolute power?

There must surely be a passage in your textbook that tells
you the answer that your teacher wants.  Otherwise, there would really be no way to know
for sure.  This is because people cannot ever really know what motivates other
people.

Peter the Great was an autocrat.  This means that
he wanted to be able to rule by himself, with no one to check his power.  This is in
keeping with the idea of the Divine Right of Kings.  This idea said that God had given
power to the royal families and that is why they deserved to rule.  This idea was still
common in much of Europe in Peter's time (and it persisted in Russia much longer than in
other parts of Europe).

So my answer would be that he
wanted it because he believed in the Divine Right of Kings.

What are two statements of conflict in The Devil's Arithmetic?

In the book The Devil's Arithmetic,
Hannah opens a door and finds herself suddenly sent back in time to a polish
village where the Nazis have arrived.  On the day of a cousin's wedding the soldiers
come and load them into trucks and take them to the trains and send them to
concentration camps.

The first conflict with the Nazis
occurred on page 65 when the rabbi was told that they would have to accompany the
soldiers.

"He
spoke gently.”They insist that we go with them in those
trucks."(65)

Another conflict
occurs when they are all ordered to undress for the showers.  Hannah knows about the
showers sometimes being gas showers instead of ones to wash in.  She becomes afraid when
they are told to take all of their clothing off.  She stars talking about the
showers.

"Now,
all of you undress. Schnell!"(90) a guards
words.

What are the criteria for "evaluating fiction" ?

My favorite method is quite simple.  I like to forget
about literary terms and look at a bigger picture: How does the work of
fiction connect?

1a.  How does this fiction
of fiction connect to its reader (in general)?  Who is its audience?  Is the audience
real or imaginary, alive or dead?  Male or female?  Young or
old?

1b.  How does the work of fiction connect to you
(specifically)?  Emotionally, ethically, stylistically, thematically, how do you respond
to this work?  Do you agree with its thesis or premise?

2.
 How does the work of fiction connect to other works of fiction?  By genre, theme, tone,
character, setting, organization, does it match up with other
books?

3.  How does the work of fiction connect to the
world?  What makes it relevant now?  What current issues, lifestyles, controversies,
problems does it reflect in our culture today?

What is Macbeth's tragic or fatal flaw?

Macbeth is too easily led by others into sin.  He listens to the witches and their prophecies and begins hoping that something will happen that will allow him to become king.  Rather than stop there, he tells his wife, Lady Macbeth, what has been foretold, setting her determination and ambition into motion.  And rather than telling her to knock it off, Macbeth allows himself to be pushed into killing King Duncan and claiming the throne for himself.

Prior to the killing of Duncan, Macbeth could have stopped and said, "No, I'm going to do what I know to be right.  If I am meant to be king, then it will happen on its own."  Instead, he caves into the pressure from his wife (and his own ambition - he's not guiltless in this regard at all) and takes matters into his own hands - a dagger, to be exact!

How does the feud in Romeo and Juliet contribute to the lovers' deaths?Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

The animosity between the Capulets and the Montagues
is only part of what contributes to Romeo and Juliet's becoming "star-crossed" lovers,
doomed from the beginning.  Even the light/dark imagery employed by Shakespeare in
Romeo and Juliet conveys this idea.  For, in the daytime, the
lovers are not safe together; only in the darkness can they love.  Thus, their secrecy,
forced by the conditions of the feud, leads to the complications that turn
to tragedy. 

Since Romeo cannot ask Lord Capulet for
permission to marry Juliet and secretly weds her instead, Paris unknowingly asks for the
hand of the young maiden. The complication of this marriage proposal to Juliet's life
cannot be resolved because Juliet dare not reveal to her mother that she has married one
of their enemies.  Thus, she panics and flees to Friar Laurence, who unwittingly sets in
motion the tragic events at her tomb.

When Tybalt, who has
become enraged by Romeo's presence at the party for Juliet, walks the streets of Verona,
his enmity causes him to engage in conflict with the loyal friend of Romeo, Mercutio,
who is fatally wounded during Romeo's well-meaning intervention. Without this enmity
between the two families, Romeo and Mercutio would not conflict with Tybalt,
and neither would be placed in danger.  Romeo's resulting banishment has resulted from
this conflict, a banishment that has caused him to remain ignorant of what transpires
with Juliet's supposed death.

Because of the feud and its
ramifications, Romeo is unable to defy the stars as he avows, in several circumstances. 
However, it is yet his impulsive behavior and rash judgment that leads to his tragic
end, not the feud itself.  Likewise, Juliet places herself in precarious situations
because of the secrecy she becomes involved in as a result of marrying a Montage; but,
again, she, too, dies from impetuosity, not hatred as she remains in the tomb instead of
accompanying Friar Laurence out of it.  There, she rashly decides to join Romeo in
death.

What are some insults in that the capulets and montagues use in the story ?Shakespeare insult : the montagues and the capulets carry on their feud...

Insults abound in Shakespeare's Romeo and
Juliet. I'll just list a few for you.

In Act
3.1.126 Tybalt calls Romeo a "wretched boy" just before they fight and Romeo kills
him.

In Act 3.1.56-57 Tybalt calls Romeo a "villain" a
little while before Tybalt kills Mercutio.

And in Act
1.5:73 Tybalt again calls Romeo a "villain":

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It fits when such a villain [Romeo] is a guest
[at Capulet's party]:...

This
is the party at which Romeo and Juliet see each other and instantly fall in love.  This
starts it all, of course, and leads to the two killings cited
above.   

In "To Kill a Mockingbird", what was the lesson learned when Scout and Jem were in the situation with the two mobs?

I'm not entirely such which two mobs you're talking about, but I know one of them is probably the mob in front of the jail when Atticus is protecting Tom Robinson.

There's a slight difference in the lessons that Jem and Scout learn and the lessons the audience should take away. I would argue that Scout walks away from that situation without realizing how much was going on. Jem, being the older brother, realizes the danger and learns how brave he can be when protecting those he loves. He refuses to go away even though Atticus orders him to do so. Jem stands up to his father and he (and by association, Scout) protect their father and Tom Robinson.

It would seem that Jem also walks away with the knowledge of what his father is willing to do and put on the line for this serious case.

The reader should learn some about mob behavior--how dangerous it can be and what terrible things can happen when people don't think for themselves (which is a theme throughout the whole novel.) The lesson of putting yourself in someone else's shoes is shown here when Scout, mentioning Mr. Cunningham's son, puts MR. Cunningham in Atticus' shoes--Mr. C has kids as well; would he want to kill/harm these children's father?

What does "Alas! Poor Yorick. I knew him well," mean?

Yorick, in the scene you ask about (Act 5.1) in
Shakespeare's Hamlet, was more than someone who was once nice to
Hamlet, he was the court jester.  He bore Hamlet on "his back a thousand times" and was
kissed by Hamlet "I know not how oft." 

A court jester was
a clown who provided entertainment for the king and the royal household, but he was also
often a friend and confidant.  The role was one that allowed him to say whatever he
wanted to or thought necessary to the king, without fear of reprisal.  Perhaps, the
jester was the only person in the kingdom who could do
so. 

In Hamlet, Yorick apparently spent much time with
Hamlet when Hamlet was young. 

Importantly, notice that the
past has meaning for Hamlet here.  He has changed since his opening soliloquy in which
he compared the world to an unweeded garden (Act 1.2.135) and showed strong evidence
that he was suffering from melancholy, or depression.  All is not useless, now.  The
memory of Yorick has meaning for Hamlet.  And Hamlet misses
Yorick:

Where
be your gibes now, your gambols, your songs, your flashes of merriment that were wont to
set the table on a roar?  Not one now to mock your own grinning?  (Act
5.1.165-170)

Of course, in
addition to Hamlet revealing that he misses Yorick, here, his line of thought also
contributes to his past contemplations of existence, and forward to the contemplations
to come:

Dost
thou think Alexander looked o' this fashion i' th' earth?...And smelt so?  Pah!  (Act
5.1.175-78)

This is what
human life comes to, for a jester or a great conqueror.  But although Hamlet has not
stopped thinking and contemplating, he is not made inactive by his thinking.  In a
minute or two, he will leap into action and leap into the grave with Ophelia, and
declare:

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...This is I,

Hamlet
the Dane.  (Act
5.1.233-34) 

Hamlet has
changed in more ways than one.  From now on, as he says in Act
4.5.66:

My
thoughts be bloody, or be nothing
worth! 

Who is Prospero's servant in The Tempest?

Prospero's servant is Ariel, a sprite who has endured a twelve-year sentence of punishment for refusing to obey the commands of the evil witch Sycorax.  Although Prospero technically releases Ariel when his time is served, he essentially keeps the sprite in servitude until he has accomplished his objectives in exacting revenge against his enemy Alonso.  It is Ariel who causes the tempest, and performs other acts of magic throughout the play.  Ariel is finally granted his true and complete freedom at the end of the story, when Prospero's purposes have been accomplished to his satisfaction.

"Simon became inarticulate in his effort to express mankind's essential illness" What does this mean? What is the "illness"?(Ch.5,p.89)

Man's "essential illness" as presented by Golding, is man's inherent evil nature. This illness (man's tendency towards evil) is represented by the boys decent into violence and depravity - ultimately the death of Simon himself. Simon was the most intuitive of the group and saw that this starting to become a problem in the group. He just was not able to articulate - or find the words to explain - this to the rest of the boys. Even if he could, most likely the group would not have understood or cared about what Simon was saying.

In "That Was Then, This Is Now" what is Charlie's last name?

Charlie Woods is the bar owner that Bryon and Mike look up to.  He is 22, has a tough attitude, and gives the boys good advice.  He loans Bryon his car for the school dance.  Charlie also saves the boys' lives when they hustle two Texans who attack them.  Charlie is killed in the fight. 

What are the elements of fiction that are most available/recurrent in this story ?"The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin

In Kate Chopin's masterful short story, "The Story of an
Hour," subtle foreshadowing and irony are certainly recurrent elements.  Environment as
a reflection is also employed by Chopin in parts of the
story.

Chopin's opening line, "Knowing that Mrs. Mallard
was afflicted with a heart trouble...." hints at a weakness of the heart that may cause
her problems when she learns of the death of her husband.  The irony here is subtly
hidden by Chopin's use of the article a.  For, as the reader later
learns, the heart trouble is not physical, but rather spiritual:  Mrs. Mallard's spirit
has been repressed for all the years of her marriage.

In
the second paragraph, again foreshadowing and irony pair together as Chopin
writes,

She
did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to
accept its significance.  She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her
sister's arms.  When the storm of grief had spent itself whe went away to her room
alone.  She would have no one follow
her.

The word
abandonment is ironic since the reader may infer that Mrs. Mallard
feels abandoned.  Later, of course, the reader realizes that Mrs. Mallard lets her
emotions free after so many years of repression.  Also, she wishes to be alone so that
she can digest the idea of her newly realized freedom, not that she wishes to mourn by
herself.

It is while she is alone in her room that the
environment acts as a reflection of Mrs. Mallard's inner moods.  That she can see the
"tops of trees" suggests that Mrs. Mallard can now look to the future.  And, the
internal changes taking place in her are mirrored by what she sees as she faces the open
window in her room:

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The delicious breath of rain was in the
air....The notes of a distant song ....patches of blue sky showing here and there...in
the west

The idea of being
free is "delicious" to her; the song and blue sky reflect her lightness of heart as she
looks to the west, a symbol of the rest of her life.

The
irony and foreshadowing of the original use of abandonment is
confirmed as, after Mrs. Mallard begins "to recognize this thing that was approaching to
possess her," Chopin writes,

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When she abandoned herslf a little whispered word
escaped her slightly parted lips...."free, free, free!"....Her pulses beat fast, and the
coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her
body.

Here, too, the reader
discerns that the "heart trouble" of Mrs. Mallard has not been physical at all.  Rather,
it has been a result of her stultifying marriage.

Again,
irony and foreshadowing recur as Mrs. Mallard
breathes

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

The front door is
opened with a latchkey by Brently Mallard, "travel-stained,...carrying his umbrella." 
Mrs. Mallard, caught under his rule again, as symbolized by the umbrella, dies of
repression, "heart disease--of joy that kills."  In these final words, the foreshadowing
of earlier paragraphs and the irony and the reflective environment find their
culmination.

What is the importance of Curley's wife in the novel Of Mice and Men?

Curleys wife is an important character in the novel for
many reasons.

Number one:  She is often
misjudged, the other characters describe her as a 'jail
bait'.

Number two: She represents the theme of
loneliness in the novel. She is a lonely character, who in some ways, uses her beauty:
'full roughed lips' to attraction on all male farm, where the men to a great extent are
deprived of sex. Although, many of the men pay little attention to her, and Curleys
'glove' which he keeps 'for his wife' is symbolic of how little she means to him. Later
in the novel, she gains the attention of one man, Lennie, who has a strong physical
figure, but a mind of a child, which links to the contrasting title of the novel, 'Of
Mice and Men'. Lennie, like Curleys Wife is lonely, and he has his own American Dream of
owning a ranch. Towards the end of the novel both of the characters die with what they
enjoy most, and have so longed for. Curleys wife dies knowing that someone has
eventually listened to her, and gave her the attention shes crys for so deeply; and
Lennie dies with the thought of his own American Dream in his
mind.

Curley's wife character on the other hand
is like her husband. Curley's wife uses her beauty to try to attract attention on the
ranch from the men; but she gets little of it. In some ways, her 'full rough lips' and
use of make-up show that she is concealing a hidden personality, and that
this make-up gives her all of the confidence she has. Similarly, Curley is described as
wearing boots to (dont know the quote) higher his status on the ranch. Both characters
are very similar here in how they use clothes and appearance to boost their status, and
actually get attention.

Many people beleive Curley is a
horrible character, but in many ways he is very misunderstood, and his horrid ways maybe
the only way to attract attention and respect on the land.

In The Crucible, why does Danforth hesitate to accept Mary Warren's statement that her prior testimony was pretense?

Simple. In that day and age, everyone is screaming "witch" at one another, convinced that if they drown out all the evil, only good will remain and all the bad things will stop. So if Mary Warren is right, and there are no witches, then their hopes for peace are shattered, and with something that ground-breaking for their already paranoid society, I would hesitate too.

Why do you think Faulkner emphasizes the way Miss Emily's hair turned gray- and what do you think is significant about the time it started to happen?

Gray hair, of course, is correlative with age.  Emily's hair plays a symbolic role throughout.  First, in Section II, the anonymous narrator notes:  "She was sick for a long time.  When we saw her again, her hair was cut short, making her look
like a girl, with a vague resemblance to those angels in colored church windows-sort of tragic and serene."  Angels are typically depicted as blonde and youthful-looking.  The new cut and color coincide with Emily's burgeoning romance with Homer. 

However, the next time her hair is mentioned, the narrator observes, "When we next saw Miss Emily, she had grown fat and her hair was turning gray."  The relationship has apparently gone sour with Homer, and her looks reflect her state of mind. Shortly thereafter, the narrator recalls, "Up to the day of her death at seventy-four it was still that vigorous iron-gray, like the hair of an active man."

Think about the symbolic parallels:  gray is the color of metal; metal equates with hardness and strength.  It is also interesting that the similie "like a man" is used, for Emily is not granted much femininity throughout the story.

The final description of her hair is repeated in the last line   On her pillow, "we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair."  Emily has died from a lack of love, from old age, from neglect.  Her hair tells the story throughout. 

What is the theme of the book Slam! by Walter Dean Myers?

In many ways the theme is individual vs. society and the
individual figuring out their place in society.  Greg is a star basketball player trying
to figure out how to balance basketball, school work, and a relationship with his
girlfriend.  The story revolves around him trying to figure out which one should be a
priority and deciding whether or not to switch schools knowing he likely wouldn't fit in
in the new school.  Of course the entire time he is also dealing with crime and other
dangers in his neighborhood.

What is the tone of "Everyday Use"?

That depends on the character you follow. Maggie is withdrawn, plain, uneducated, scarred from a previous housefire, and unsure of herself...especially in the presence of her sister.  Maggie has not been to school, but she knows how to make butter, how to sew and quilt, and how to do all the "everyday things" that Dee has never learned.

Dee is prettier, more confident, educated, and worldly.  Her attitude is one of arrogance and condescension, where Maggie's is one of quiet resolution.  She is used to giving in to her sister who always gets what she wants..."the world never says 'no' to Dee".

Momma is telling the story about Dee's visit home.  She has adopted African dress and an African name.  Dee has brought along a male companion.  Dee disdains her family and the home where she grew up in the rural south, but she wants their household items which she sees as valuable heirlooms.  Maggie has been promised the family quilts which Dee covets.  Dee argues that Maggie will "only put them to everyday use", and she is determined to have them for herself.  Maggie, as usual, gives in with much resentment and anger, slamming the door to show it. 

Momma surprises herself and finally defies Dee by standing up for Maggie to whom she has promised grandma's quilts.  They are Maggie's wedding gift, and Dee screams that they do not understand their heritage.  Maggie, more than Dee, is in touch with her heritage.

Compare and contrast Emily in "A Rose for Emily" and Matt in "Killings".no

The two characters contrast in regards to their life styles and reasons for their actions.  Miss Emily is a southern belle who has been put on a pedestal by her father.  No suitor was good enough for her.  In her youth she is a slim woman.  She lives in a wealthy home and seems to have it all.  After her father dies she has to come to terms with having no money and a large isolated home.

When a road crew comes to town she finds hope for love and a retreat from her loneliness in a man named Homer.  After it appears that he is going to leave her, she poisons him.  She grows old with his corpse in her home in her bed.

Matt is a father who has a wonderful son who falls in love with a woman.  The woman is separated from her husband and she has children.   Matt's son is young and preparing to go away to college.  Richard, the woman's husband, kills Matt's son.

Matt becomes obsessed with the need to avenge his son's death.  He is a middle class man who does not want to rely on a justice system that he feels will let his son's murder only serve a sentence for the son's murder.  The obsession gets worse until he and another man take Richard to a secret place.  He kills him, buries him, and returns to his normal life.  Once his vengeance has been served he shares the secret with his wife.  The deed is done.

In a way both characters are seeking revenge.  Miss Emily may have been jilted by Homer and murders him out of revenge, and Matt murders Richard out of revenge.  Both characters have a strong need and are determined to do what must be done.  Miss Emily goes to the druggist to buy arsenic and Matt buys a gun.  Both murders are premeditated.

Who were the Athenians?

The Athenians were residents of the ancient city-state of Greece, Athens, in around the 5th century BC.  In contrast. the Spartans of Sparta were a war-like peopls, the Athenians were dedicated to excellence, artistry, and knowledge.  These people valued individual freedom and established the first democracy.  They believed in balance between body and mind, and emphasized exercise just as much as they did learning.  It was in Athens that the first Olympic games were held.  Their architecture and art is considered the best of the time.  They built the Acropolis, the Parthenon, and the Theatre of Dionysia.  Some of their most famous citizens include Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, and Pythagoras.  They are credited not only with democracy, but also with early studies in philosophy, mathematics, biology, and other subjects.

In the case of Johnson v. transportation agency of santa clara county, what is the significance of this case?meaning its relationship with other...

The significance of this case was that in this case, the
Court said that affirmative action programs that gave preference to women were legal. 
The Court said that the programs were legal when they were meant to remedy past
discrimination against women.

The case fits in with other
cases that have allowed affirmative action on the basis of race.  They indicate that, at
that time, the Court was pretty liberal compared to what it is now.  As far as impact,
it is one of the cases that has worked to promote the rights of women in the United
States.

Please give me some details & information about the allusion of Prometheus in the novel Frankenstein.

In the old Greek myth, Prometheus took fire from the gods
and gave it to the people.  For this, he was severely punished.  His crime was to take
knowledge that was reserved for the gods and give it to the
people.

In Frankenstein, Victor
Frankenstein takes the power to create life away from the gods and gives it to himself. 
He is clearly taking knowledge that was never meant for people to have.  Because of
this, he is punished as well.

To me, this is the connection
between the two stories.

What is the theme and some of the literary devices used in Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem "Ozymandias"?

The might and majesty of a king do not last; only great art endures. The statue, symbolizing the power and glory of the pharaoh, is crumbling. Yet the arrogant sneer on the "shattered visage" remains intact as a testament to the ability of the sculptor to read and capture the passions of his ruler. Thus, it is the pharaoh's lowly servant, the sculptor, who delivers the more powerful message here. The king's message—"look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair"—is an ironic indictment of his pride.
.......Oddly, Shelley's theme—valid as a general statement—does not ultimately apply to Ozymandias, or Ramses II. For Ramses remains today perhaps the most famous of Egyptian pharaohs. After thousands of years, he continues to intrigue historians, archeologists, and other scholars.
.......In addition, many of the monuments erected during his rule still stand.

What are some migrane treatments besides topomax?Severe migrane headage and resistant to pain killers, like relert, etc.. taking topomax as a...

I just thought I would further elaborate for anyone who doesn't want to look it up themselves. If you have a migraine, then you might be looking for a quick answer ! 

Abortive: The goal of abortive therapy is to prevent a migraine attack or to stop it once it starts. The prescribed medications stop a headache during its prodrome stage or once it has begun and may be taken as needed. Some can be administered as a self-injection into the thigh; others, as a wafer that melts on the tongue. These forms of medication are especially useful for people who vomit during a migraine, and they work quickly.

Abortive treatment medications include the triptans, which specifically target serotonin. They are all very similar in their action and chemical structure. The triptans are used only to treat headache pain and do not relieve pain from back problems, arthritis, menstruation, or other conditions.

Preventive: This type of treatment is considered if a migraine has more than 1 migraine per week. The goal is to lessen the frequency and severity of the migraine attacks. Medication to prevent a migraine can be taken daily.

Avoiding bright light, napping in a dark room, placing a cold towel on the back of your neck, drinking tomato drink, taking b3, b6 or drinking orange juice are all things that you can do naturally to ease the symptoms of a migraine. 

In Pride and Prejudice, why/how did Wickham try to take revenge on Darcy and why did it become impossible for Wickham to elope with Georgiana?to...

Mr. Darcy explains that after both his and Mr. Wickham's fathers pass away, it is left to Mr. Darcy to uphold the late Mr. Darcy's will and promote Mr. Wickham in his profession; ie: helping Wickham to find a location where he could take up his living in the religious order. However, Wickham comes to Darcy and explains that he has no plans to be a clergyman, but instead plans to study the law. Wickham asks instead for the money that would otherwise have been granted to him - Darcy gives him three thousand pounds. Wickham quickly goes through this money and petitions Darcy for more money. When Darcy refuses, Wickham travels to find Georgiana, it seems with the express purpose of convincing the young girl to marry him, and therefore use her inheritance to finance his exploits.

Wickham does not elope with Georgiana because Darcy visits her just days before they are intending to elope and she reveals the whole situation to him. Darcy, of course, stops the marriage from taking place. Darcy has always thought ill of Wickham because of Wickham's behaviour and conduct, and based on this explanation this seems to be an apt judgement.

What is Ichabod Crane's job in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"?

Ichabod Crane is a schoolteacher in the town of Sleepy Hollow.  Here is the quote stating this:

• Ichabod Crane, who sojourned, or, as he expressed it, "tarried," in Sleepy Hollow, for the purpose of instructing the children of the vicinity.

He is not the most fair or proper schoolmaster, however.  He disciplines his children not based on their offenses, but based on their stature.  The same offense may be committed by a weak and a strong child, but the strong child will get the harshest punishment:

• on the contrary, he administered justice with discrimination rather than severity; taking the burden off the backs of the weak, and laying it on those of the strong. Your mere puny stripling, that winced at the least flourish of the rod, was passed by with indulgence; but the claims of justice were satisfied by inflicting a double portion on some little tough wrong-headed, broad-skirted Dutch urchin, who sulked and swelled and grew dogged and sullen beneath the birch.

He was fond of walking his young students home.  Not for their own safety, however, but in hopes of getting some good food from their mothers or in hopes of spending time with good-looking older sisters.

• and on holiday afternoons would convoy some of the smaller ones home, who happened to have pretty sisters, or good housewives for mothers

What words and phrases provide religous symbolism in the short story, "Araby"?

When speaking of her image and how it filled his mind, the narrator says this:  I imagined that I bore my chalice safely through a throng of foes. Her name sprang to my lips at moments in strange prayers and praises which I myself did not understand.  A chalice is a sacred vessel.  Therefore, he is considering her image to be sacred, and her name to evoke prayers.

In considering his chances of actually succeeding with her if he were to approach her, he says: I did not know whether I would ever speak to her or not or, if I spoke to her, how I could tell her of my confused adoration. But my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires.  Adoration is used in connection with religious worship, and the harp is traditionally an instrument used in religious ceremonies.

See the links below for more information on this topic.

What are examples of the theme of revenge in To Kill a Mockingbird?

The main act of revenge that is notable in the book is Bob
Ewell, who attacks Jem and Scout because he is mad at Atticus for exposing him as an
abusive, foolish, racist drunk.  Atticus, through his questioning of Bob and Mayella, is
able to pretty clearly show that Tom was innocent, and that Bob had framed Tom to cover
for his abuse of his daughter, and because he knew he could get away with it.  Bob had
wounded pride, and took it out on Atticus through the attack on his children.  That
didn't end well for him.  Mayella played a role in the revenge theme herself when she
turned on Tom and accused him of rape; she was insulted that he did not accept her
romantic advances.  She was hurt and felt betrayed, so turned on him, and the accusation
of rape was her revenge for being jilted.

In smaller ways,
revenge flows throughout the book with other characters too.  Take for instance Jem
destroying Mrs. Dubose's flowers.  He did that because of all of her nasty comments
about them and their family.  That act of revenge didn't go over too well, as Atticus
made him make up for it by reading to her until her death.  Atticus did not condone
revenge, and actively fought against it through this assignment given to Jem.  Scout
gets revenge on her cousin Francis when he starts teasing and taunting her about her
father, and beats him up.  She also gets in trouble from Atticus for that
act.

Revenge, in this book, is shown to be an unpleasant
and unrewarding endeavor.  It never is satisfying and always has a bad result.  I hope
that those thoughts helped; good luck!

Is Bitter-sweet an example of antithesis? If not what is an example of antithesis?

The word "bittersweet" is not an example of antithesis;
however, it is a great example of oxymoron.  An oxymoron is a figure of speech that
combines contrasting terms for effect.  So, because the separate terms "bitter" and
"sweet" contrast each other, their combination creates an
oxymoron. 

An example of antithesis is seen in the
following line from Mark Twain's essay "The Lowest Animal":  "The cat is innocent, Man
is not."  An antithesis is a rhetorical device in which parallel structure is used to
juxtapose two contrasting ideas.  The line from Twain's essay juxtaposes the innocence
of cats with the innocence of humans to suggest that the cat naturally has this
character trait, while man/woman does not.  Writers use antithesis to highlight claims
and statements through contrast.

Why does the narrator add so many digressions and quote so much knowledge about other subjects in Moby Dick, such as Archaeology, Art and Biology?

The simplest reason that Melville included such digressions is that they were common in period novels. To expand on that a bit more, in a society before television, radio, or other broadcast media, books and newspapers played multiple roles. Novels like Moby Dick gave descriptions of these topics to educate readers, and to entertain them, as a travelogue might.

 

They also build the narrator's authority. Rather than just being a whaler/sailor, who has a single profession, he's someone who can discourse on many topics. This lends weight to any of his observations about character in the novel.

Name the two feuding families in Act 1, Scene 1 of Romeo and Juliet.

The two feuding families are the Capulets and the Montagues.  They are both very affluent and wealthy in the city, and both are equally trying to put the other in its place.  The feud has been going on forever and no one can really remember what it's about...it is so fierce that even the servants of each family "feud" with one another. 

This poses a problem for Romeo and Juliet whom we meet later since they each belong to one of the families.  They are born each other's enemy, yet they are in love.  This is the crux of the entire play.

Juliet Capulet and Romeo Montague

What is the significance of the allusions in Chapter 1-6 of "To Kill a Mockingbird?"What does it have to do with the novel?

This novel is an example of regional fiction, in which the author spends develops the setting as a character in and of itself.  This is done to show the personality of a region and how it affects the people who live in it.  The allusions used in the early chapters of this book are done so in order to better illustrate the town of Maycomb.  For example, the references made to the Civil War heros and battles in Chapter 1 alert the reader to the importance of this historical event.  Although it is 70 years later, the people of this region place such importance on the Civil War that they use it as a guide for how acceptable a family is.  In other words, this is a region that believes in both status and tradition.  In Chapter 2, the allusion to the Dewey Decimal System lets readers know how change is coming to this area, and how unwelcome that change is.  Instead of embracing this new system, Jem both misunderstands and dismisses it - as the class mostly dismisses the "out of towner" Miss Caroline.  Again, tradition is emphasized. 

In The Outsiders, how is Dally Winston different from the other Greasers? Why does Johnny stand up to him?

Dally Winston is more "dangerous" and experienced than the other Greasers.  He has spent time in the tough neighborhoods of New York, has a long criminal record, and has just gotten released from jail when the story begins.  Dally, unlike the other Greasers, is "hardened beyond caring".  Johnny, with his innocent vulnerability, is the only person Dally really cares about.

Johnny stands up to Dally when he is harassing Cherry Valance at the theater for a couple of reasons.  Johnny has a sensitive and perceptive nature, and recognizes right away that Cherry is "a nice girl", the "cousinly type" whom even Dally would treat respectfully if he had stopped to consider that quality about her.  The Greasers have a kind of code of honor in the way they treat "nice" girls.  Ponyboy remembers that "when Steve's cousin from Kansas came down, (even) Dally was decent to her and watched his swearing".

The other reason I think Johnny stands up to Dally is because after he is brutalized by the Socs, he determines never to let such a thing happen again.  His terror as a result of the experience evokes a certain assertiveness in him, so even though Dally is his "hero" and someone whom no one dares confront, he is able to stand up to him when he sees him doing something he perceives as wrong (Chapter 2).

If the radius of a circle is doubled, what effect does this have on the area of the circle? On the circumference? Explain why your result makes...

Area of a circle is directly proportional to the square of
radius of the circle while the circumference is proportional to the radius of the
circle. This means that if the radius of a circle is increased x times, then its area
will be increased to x^2 times the original area, and the circumference will increase to
x times the original circumference.

Thus when the radius is
doubled, or in other words if radius mad 2 time the original radius, the area of circle
will become 2^2 = 4 time the original area. The circumference will become 2 times the
original circumference.

We can calculate exact area and
circumference of a circle from its radius using the following
equations:

Area of circle =
(pi/4)*r^2

Circumference of circle =
2*pi*r

Where r is the radius of the
circle.

In "So Long a Letter," what is the significance of the theme of betrayal on Ramatoulaye's behavior? What is the importance of betrayal in the novel?

Betrayal is seen throughout the story in the customs of the Sengalese people. Husbands are expected to take more than one wife, and it is a shame to the husband's family if he doesn't, as is the case with Aissatou, the woman to whom Ramatoulaye is writing. Aissatou's mother-in-law forced her son to take a second wife, and Aissatou saw this as a betrayal of her husband's love for her, so she divorced him. In her case, Aissatou is betrayed by both her husband and her mother-in-law. Ramatoulaye stays married to her husband after he takes a younger wife and abandons Ramatoulaye and her children. She doesn't allow her anger of her husband's betrayal to emerge until after his death. It is then that she shows the strength to be able to refuse marriage to her husband's brother and an old boyfriend who stilled loved her. She knew she could never inflict the pain on other women that she had felt when her husband took another wife. Throughout the story, Ramatoulaye is conflicted about the traditions of Islam and her society. Her religion comforts her in one aspect, but she recognizes how unjust polygamy is. Her behavior is based on this conflict until the end, when she's able to come to terms with how she feels.

What are the bases of the conflicts in the novel The Old Man And The Sea?

The basis of the conflict in the story The Old Man And The
Sea is man versus circumstances. Santiago has a series of diverse circumstances which
took away his opportunities.

First, Santiago had a conflict
with the sea: The sea was his fountain of sustenance, and his job- Yet, it was not
providing for it and, once it did give him the huge Marlin he so much wanted, it took it
back from him, leaving him only with a skeleton.

Second,
Santiago had a conflict with life: He was old, his energy was dwindling, and he was
suffering the aches of age. Had he been a more fortunate and younger person he could
have been able to extend his work day, or come up with other ways to obtain his fish.
Yet, there he was, alone in the middle of the
water.

However, the inspiration behind this man is our
American society: Shaken but not beaten. This is a man to whom life had not been so
kind, and yet, he is never beat down. In fact, he revels in the things he
loves: Baseball, Joe DiMaggio, and the American dream (which is represented in the giant
Marlin).

How is the tone significant in the poem? Does the sigh indicate regret, and if so, regret at what? That both alternatives could not be...

An interesting question, especially in light of this poem as it explores the universal motif of decision making. Remember, every one of us must make decisions. In this case there are two choices, metaphorically, the two roads. Interestingly enough, these two choices are nearly equal: "Then took the other,as just as fair." Even the walking on the paths seems equal, "Had worn them really about the same." Both roads look promising. Also interestingly enough, the poet doubts "...if I should ever come back" : Once a choice is made at a crossroad in life, it becomes impossible to return to that juncture and re-choose. However, the irony is the sigh, for, paradoxically, in making a choice (a decision), one must, necessarily give up one of the options, one of the roads. The sigh is the wondering, the big question, the What If. What if I had taken the other road or made that other decision? Yet, the poet is satisifed at the end with his road because "that has made all the difference." This is an amazing poem exploring choices that are difficult to make because the end results seem so close, yet, ultimately, our choices in the journey of life are responsible for our final destination!

How is the tone of the poem indicated in "She Walks in Beauty"?

Writers create and develop tone through the use of diction. When considering written expression, diction refers to a writer’s word choice. Tone itself refers to the writer’s attitude toward his subject. Accomplished poets such as Lord Byron carefully consider every single word they write: Is it appropriate for the context? Does it communicate the intended idea better than every other possible word? Will the intended audience understand the word in the way it is intended?

Diction is so important to a poet that we can actually answer this question by only looking at a single word. In Byron’s “She Walks in Beauty,” the tone is evident immediately. Look at the verb Byron decides to use in his title: “walks. ” He could have made other word choices, such as “lives” or “exists.” But the word “walks” carries a different shade of meaning. As a more active verb, it implies that she is more than just physically beautiful: she actually acts in a way that demonstrates beauty. The things she does, says, believes, values, and loves are all a part of that beauty.

Byron then goes on to use a series of words that accentuate the subject's beauty: cloudless, starry, mellowed, tender, grace, softly, serenely, sweet, dear, pure, soft, calm, eloquent, smiles, glow, goodness, peace, heart, love, innocent.

What location besides Africa and Georgia is mentioned in "The Color Purple"?

In letters 80-81, Nettie writes that she and Samuel were married in England. They had gone there to try to ask the Missionary Society for aid for the Olinka people, whose village had been razed to make way for a headquarters for the rubber plantation. The people are now living in a temporary shelter that they had to build themselves.

Name specific incidents that show Miss Emily's resistance to the intrusion of time and change. (Name at least five instances)

Even though Emily has no money and lives in poverty until her death, she refuses to give up Tobe, her black manservant. This would be a part of life in the "Old South" that Emily would not have considered giving up since she still saw herself as a lady.

When the city's leaders come to collect her taxes, Emily refers them to Colonel Sartoris, thinking that he's still alive. This shows how delusional Emily has become, not willing to let go of the past. She resents the men from the "New South" because they don't give her the proper respect she feels she deserves, the kind of respect shown her by Colonel Sartoris.

Emily doesn't allow the town to attach a mail box to her door or put numbers indicating her address on her door. That wasn't needed when Emily was younger, and this also indicates that she has become lost in the past of the "Old South".

For about six or seven years, Emily teaches china painting to the children of the town, thinking this activity would still be of interest to girls of the town.

How is Nick affected by his relationships with the principal characters of "The Great Gatsby"?

Another way in which Nick changes because of his relationship with the principal characters of The Great Gatsby is that he grows in wisdom and maturity.

His growth is seen primarily in his clearer evaluation of the motivations of such characters as the Buchanans and Jordan Baker. In particular, he gains the strength to see Jordan's selfishness for what it is, in spite of the strong intellectual and sexual attraction he feels for her. As he states in his last conversation with her, “I’m thirty,” I said. “I’m five years too old to lie to myself and call it honor” (Ch. 9).

However, Nick also gains the ability to step backwards from the particular social phenomena that he has been immersed in and take a broader view of what such creatures as Meyer Wolfsheim and the Buchanans say about America. In Gatsby's destruction, he sees the end of the American dream and the hope America once represented, dragged down by everything that had happened since:

He [Gatsby] had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him...

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And one fine morning——

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past. (Ch. 9)

What is ironic or symbolic about Oberon’s magic potion and the view of love as presented in the play, "A Midsummer Night's Dream"?

Oberon's magic potion is ironic because although the potion is a potion of love, he uses the potion to get revenge on his wife and to get his own way with the changeling boy.  Because he uses the potion in a selfish way, one can question whether he truly loves Titania or not.

He also uses the potion to help "fix" the situation between Helena and Demetrius.  His meddling in their affairs, however, results in chaos not love, and although the characters seem to all be happy in the end, the reader knows that Demetrius only loves Helena because of the potion in his eyes.  The reader is left questioning whether his love is real and whether or not a love that is forced is even love at all. 

How does the plot help to illuminate the differing cultural viewpoints of Mr. Kapasi and of Mr. and Mrs. Das? Which cultural viewpoint is presented...

While Mr. and Mrs. Das are of Indian descent, they come to their parents' homeland as tourists. To Mr. Kapasi, a traditional Indian man, they are just as foreign in their behavior and in their speech as "the elderly couple from Scotland" he had driven in his car the day before. The tour that the Das family takes with Mr. Kapasi allows Lahiri to juxtapose their two cultures in several different settings.

The Dases are the outsiders in India, but it is Mr. Kapasi who is the "fish out of water" in the story. He is surrounded by this American family as he drives them to different cultural attractions. They interpret what they see differently: Where Mr. Kapasi sees an emaciated man on the side of the road, Mr. Das sees an interesting "shot" for his camera. While Mr. Kapasi sees his job is a "sign of his failings," Mrs. Das sees it as "so romantic." The crucial scene where Mrs. Das confides in Mr. Kapasi that Bobby is not her husband's son makes their cultural differences insurmountable--Mr. Kapasi loses his brief infatuation with Mrs. Das and she in turn loses interest in him.

The title and the theme of "Bliss" seem to be in contradiction with each other. Explain this paradox.

The tension between the title and the theme of "Bliss" is more apparent than actual; the paradox comes from how Mansfield handles the complexity so gracefully. The bliss Bertha experiences is also quite literally ecstasy: ec-stasis. Bertha is lifted out of her norm, her place, and her habits by the feeling. This is what opens her to the possibility of new and potentially transformative desire for her husband. However, when one rises out of one's normal position, one sees and experiences new things, and that's what happens when she sees her husband with Pearl. To put it more simply, bliss destroys contentment.

At the end of "The Crucible," what effect might the events have on Hale's response to conflict he encounters in the future?thanks

Well, for one thing, Hale will not the be naive youth in the clergy that he was when he arrived...laden with books and his head in the clouds and everything the church said and did was the right thing.  We know that when the court accuses everyone who comes forward with logical rebuttals as attacking the court and Hale responds with, "Is every question an attack on the court?" that he is thinking for himself.  He has already begun to doubt the veracity of the girls and their testimonies because of Mary Warren's waffling.  Hale does come to believe that John Proctor and his wife, Elizabeth, are good people who are the victim of some horrible lies and play acting.  He begs Elizabeth to persuade John to confess so that he may save his life...Hale believes that God would want Proctor to live through this ordeal to remain a logical, trustworthy, honorable figurehead of the community. 

So, after all is said and done, I imagine Hale is quite disillusioned with the whole thing.  It is quite possible that he leaves the church altogether, but more likely, he will use his experiences here in Salem to be a more inquisitive counselor and advisor for the Lord.  I'm sure he will not take anything at face value or blindly from a book as he did when we first meet him in this play.  He will take each case and the individuals in the case as they come and listen carefully to what everyone has to say before passing judgement.

In "Fog," how does Sandburg's style affect the poem's meaning?

According to criticism, "Carl Sandburg developed a unique and controversial form of free verse and simple style". The Fog is written in verse form, and although short, is a simple expression of an ordinary phenomenon in weather, fog.

The poem compares the approach of fog with the entrance of a cat into the room.  When a cat walks into a room, it walks with such grace and presence.  I have a cat and he moves with strides that always make his entrance into a room seem important.

Fog, like the cat's entrance, and departure is unpredictable.  Often fog can simply dissipate without notice.  It is ghost-like in its appearance, one can walk through it, see through it.

Fog puts a temporary veil on the horizon, it can be quite beautiful, especially when it rolls in low above the ground, almost like creeping, just like a cat creeps silently into a room. 

Sandburg celebrates the simplicity of fog in this poem, an everyday occurrence, and draws us closer to nature and appreciating our environment.

And, noticing and appreciating the simple things in life, such as fog.

On what single issue did Atticus build his case? Why did Mayella resent Atticus?

I think if you have to sum his case up in one word, you
could say injury. Mayella's injuries were the focus of every testimony. Of Bob and Heck,
he asked about if anyone ever called a doctor. He wanted an answer to this question
because it could have provided another layer of evidence. It also would have shown a
seriously concerned father. His lack of regard for her injuries shows a disrespect for
his daughter. Her testimony focuses on where her bruises were and what was done to
her... in her words. Tom's testimony then demonstrates his inability to inflict these
injuries.

Mayella didn't like Atticus for pointing out the
truth. There was not any trickery, just cold hard factual evidence. She thought his
courtesy was rudeness. That just demonstrates how out of touch she was with
society.

What is Nestor's opinion of Odysseus in "The Odyssey"?

Telemachus visits Nestor in Book Three of The Odyssey on the first step of his journey to find news of his father.  Nestor considers himself and old friend of Odysseus wants to tell Telemachus about the old days with his friend during the Trojan War.  Nestor demonstrated his regard for Odysseus claiming that,

And as to stratagems, no man would claim Odysseus gift for those.  He had no rivals, you father, at the tricks of war. (Book Three, Lines 83-85)

He continues that he and Odysseus had never disagreed and later tells of Athena's regard for Odysseus which confirms for him the strength of Odysseus's character.  His actions also confirm his regard for Odysseus for he would not hear of it that the "only son of Odysseus" should ever make his bed on a ship and provides a lavish place for him to stay as a guest.  The next morning in deference to Odysseus's son, Nestor makes a sacrifice to Athena and spares no expense providing Telemachus with everything that he needs for his journey.  It is clear that Nestor has a very high regard for Odysseus

What is the history of the Americans with Disabilities Act?I've looked on the internet and could really find anything and i have more question I...

You can find all the information you could hope to find on the Americans with Disabilities act at the ADA's homepage, which is listed in the sources section. On the 17th anniversary of the act's being signed into law, President Bush said, "This legislation became one of the most successful and compassionate reforms in our Nation's history, helping to ensure that individuals with disabilities are better able to develop meaningful skills, engage in productive work, and participate fully in the life of our Nation." A link to the complete text of the bill is in the sources section as well.

A long list of the groups that worked to pass the ADA is at wikipedia (see the sources section). Justin W. Dart, who co-founded the American Association of People with Disabilities, was responsible for bringing these groups together to advocate for the rights of the disabled. Another influential supporter of the ADA was James S. Brady, former press secretary to Ronald Reagan who was injured and left disabled in the assassination attempt on the former president. 

Visit the links below for more information.