Who is Stradlater, what does he look like, and why does Holden refer to him as a "secret slob"?

Ward Stradlater is Holden's roommate at Pencey Prep. Stradlater is a lady's man, and jock, and boastful about his sexual prowess with the ladies. Stradlater is going on a date with Jane, who is a childhood friend of Holden's. He obviously has a strong emotional attachment to her, based on his reaction to Stradlater mentioning her name. Stradlater uses Holden for his jacket (which Holden is afraid Ward will stretch out with the broad shoulders) and to write his descriptive essay while he (Ward) is out with Jane.

Holden calls Stradlater a secret slob because, to the outside world, Stradlater looks great. However, Holden notices that he doesn't take great care of the small, personal items. Holden notices that Stradlater shaves with a dirty, gross razor. This is one of the first glimpses the audience gets of Holden's cynical, critical nature.

What six desperate things is Juliet prepared to do rather than marry Paris in Act IV, Scene 1 of Romeo and Juliet?Also what would these six things...

In lines 77 - 85, Juliet describes dramatically what she is prepared to do rather than marry Paris.  She says,

1. "...bid me leap...from off the battlements of any tower" (in present day, she would be willing to leap off a tall building)

2. "or walk in thievish ways" (she would walk on dangerous roads where thieves are known to accost passersby, like walking in a dangerous, crime-ridden neighborhood in the dark of night)

3. "Or bid me lurk where serpents are" (she would hang out where there are snakes)

4.  "Or chain me with roaring bears"

5. Or hide me nightly in a charnel house...with dead men's rattling bones" (a charnel house if a place where dead bodies and body parts are stored; in Shakespeare's time, there was a dearth of burial ground, so people were allowed to be buried in cemeteries for only a certain amount of time, after which their bones were unearthed and stored in charnel houses, so others could have a turn to be laid in the ground)

6. Or bid me go into a new made grave and hide me with a dead man in his tomb".

I'd say Juliet was pretty desperate not to marry Paris!

What are the themes and motifs of the book, The Phantom of the Opera?

A main theme of the play is the gap between appearance and reality.  This theme is represented in a physical sense by the opera house, a simple theater on the surface but a labyrinth of tunnels and exotic rooms underneath.  The nature of stage presentations in itself is a fabrication of reality, and the Phantom is a master of illusion, making people see things that are not real and appearing and disappearing without being detected.

Innocence is another theme that is explored at length in the story, through the character of Christine in particular.  Christine's childhood has been idyllic, and she has been raised by her father to believe that the world is a gentle and welcoming place.  Her relationship with Raoul is presented as equally unsullied, untouched by the harsh trials of reality.  The innocence of Christine's life is magnified in contrast to the tortured existence of the Phantom.

Motifs that occur throughout the story include the mask, music, and the element of horror.  The mask in particular develops the theme of false appearances, concealing the true nature of the Phantom.  Music also promotes the theme, with the Phantom presenting himself as the "Spirit of Music", and using this gift to make him seem angelic in Christine's eyes.  Elements of horror are also present as a recurring motif, creating an air of mystery and illusion

In "The Canterbury Tales," why do you think the nun is going on the pilgrimage?

Chaucer announces that the nun is the chaplain of the Prioress, but does not take time to describe this nun.  One can only assume that she is going on the pilgrimage because she has been asked to by her benefactor, the Prioress.  Madame Eglantine (the Prioress) is described as being sentimental and romantic.  It is possible that she felt she must have a religious posse with her in order to perform the pilgrimage correctly - somewhat like a superstition.

Do you agree or disagree with Huxley's warnings that these tendencies will ultimately lead to such a dystopia? why or why not?these are some...

Aldous Huxley was prophetic in Brave New
World, even more so than George Orwell in
1984.

• We are a consumer
  culture.  We buy bulk, spend more time waiting in lines on Black Friday than
  volunteering at the shelters and soup kitchens.


• It is a
  world state of sorts, a global media.  We are not born in tubes, but we are connected by
  them (TV and internet).


• We are hooked on soma.  There is
  no suffering any longer.  Every pain is alleviated, whether it be spiritual, physical,
  or emotional.  We are spoiled rotten.


• Joel Osteen's
  Lakewood Church, for example, has a 40,000 member congregation that contributes $1
  million in weekly collections, and a television audience mails in another $20 million
  annually. His positive-minded sermons and self-help books (Your Best Life
  Now) offer mantras and not apologies for wealth: "I believe God wants us to
  prosper" and "God wants winners, not whiners." Dude is sipping and selling
  soma.


• We are obsessed with sports and soma.  Soma can be
  anything that helps us escape our problems, but they've come to be the current
  pharmacology dependency that we've developed.  People pop more pills than they read
  pages of the book on a daily basis.


• With the portable
  Nintendo DS and cell phone craze, our kids are more connected to loud noises and shocks
  than they are books and nature.

After all, Neil
Postman says,

readability="11">

But in Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is
required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people
will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities
to think.

readability="12">

What Orwell feared were those who would ban
books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there
would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of
information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to
passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley
feared that truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would
become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied
with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal
bumblepuppy.

Do you agree or disagree with Huxley's warnings that these tendencies will ultimately lead to such a dystopia? why or why not?these are some...

Aldous Huxley was prophetic in Brave New World, even more so than George Orwell in 1984.

• We are a consumer culture.  We buy bulk, spend more time waiting in lines on Black Friday than volunteering at the shelters and soup kitchens.


• It is a world state of sorts, a global media.  We are not born in tubes, but we are connected by them (TV and internet).


• We are hooked on soma.  There is no suffering any longer.  Every pain is alleviated, whether it be spiritual, physical, or emotional.  We are spoiled rotten.


• Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church, for example, has a 40,000 member congregation that contributes $1 million in weekly collections, and a television audience mails in another $20 million annually. His positive-minded sermons and self-help books (Your Best Life Now) offer mantras and not apologies for wealth: "I believe God wants us to prosper" and "God wants winners, not whiners." Dude is sipping and selling soma.


• We are obsessed with sports and soma.  Soma can be anything that helps us escape our problems, but they've come to be the current pharmacology dependency that we've developed.  People pop more pills than they read pages of the book on a daily basis.


• With the portable Nintendo DS and cell phone craze, our kids are more connected to loud noises and shocks than they are books and nature.

After all, Neil Postman says,

But in Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.

What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared that truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy.

In "Everday Use", Dee is referred to as the child who has "made it." Explain. What does that mean, and what signs tell you that she has made it?

Walker tells the story about a southern, African-American family in the early 1970s.  At this time period, African-American families were still struggling against inequality and against history - against the economic and social discrimination that have plagued them since the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. 

In this family, though, Dee has escaped the circle of "survival" that the family has stuck to.  She is not just living in the family home and continuing the family position.  She has moved beyond.  She has received an education and is planning to live and work outside of the community the family has been stuck in.  That is how she has made it.

Her bright and fashionable clothing demonstrate that she has moved beyond her family, represented by Maggie and Mrs. Johnson.  Her announcement that "Dee" is dead because she has taken a new and more African name also shows that she has moved on.  She has taken control of her personal life and is challenging history.

Unfortunately, Dee is also forgetting history and in her focus on "making it" in the world she has forgotten the beauty of her own ancestors - which is what makes Mrs. Johnson refuse to pass over family quilt.