Beside the work on the windmill, what other hardships do the animals have to face in Chapter VII in Animal Farm?

Chapter 7 is really one of the low points for the animals
of Animal Farm.  As you mentioned, they have to work really hard trying to build the
windmill.  But there are other things going on as
well.

• The winter is a really hard one --
  terrible weather.


• They did not have enough food.  Their
  corn ration was cut back and the potatoes that were supposed to make up for that
  spoiled.


• The other thing that I see as a hardship is all
  the executions and the fact that Napoleon is forcing the hens to allow their eggs to be
  sold.

What makes Touchstone a character of importance in As You Like It?

Touchstone takes on importance in As You Like It because his role, as devised by Shakespeare, is to bring out the true nature, values and thoughts of each character he speaks with. An example of this is his parodic conversation (conversation that parodies the other speaker) with Corin, the shepherd, which can be contrasted to his equally parodic conversation with Jaques.

When speaking with Corin, Corin's true heart and values are revealed and the audience/reader learns of Corin's sincerity and genuine feelings. When speaking with Jacques, Jaques' more urbane sentiments are revealed and his opinions laid open to examination.

Shakespeare uses Touchstone in the same role in which he uses his other "fools" (urban characters who serve the lead characters and entertain with wit that tells the truth and reveals significant information about the protagonists and other important characters) but with a variation: Touchstone keeps the play grounded in reality, preventing it from being lost in an idyllic pastoral celebration in Arden Forest.

In "The Lord of the Flies," what trait do Jack, Roger, Johnny, Henry, and Maurice share?Beginning to chapter 5: is it distinguishable in degrees...

Up to Chapter 5, Jack, Roger, Johnny, Henry and Maurice all share a conditioning by society that is beginning to break down. Jack and Roger are, of course, the first to allow their evil side to show and to break away from the confines of civilization. Percival, Johnny, and Henry, are three littluns who suffer from fear of the beast at night but play happily during the day. At the beginning of Chapter 4, they are playing on the beach. Soon Roger and Maurice begin to harass the boys, kicking over their sand-castles and throwing stones near them. These events foreshadow the actual violence Roger and Maurice will use later in the novel to threaten Ralph and Piggy. All of these boys' conditioning by society will break down eventually as they turn more and more into little savages.

What happens to aggregate demand when the dollar depreciates?and what happens when households expect lower prices in the future?

When the dollar depreciates against foreign currencies,
exports should increase and imports should decrease.  This is because our products get
cheaper for foreigners and their products get to me more expensive for
us.

In such a case, there gets to be increased demand for
American products.  That means that aggregate demand goes
up.

If households expect lower prices (I assume for all
goods and services) in the future, AD goes down because people will wait to buy until
the prices actually do drop.  In other words, if you think the car that you can buy for
$25,000 is going to cost $20,000 in 6 months, you really ought to wait if you
can.

Consider the idea of social class as exemplified in "Richard Cory." In what ways does this poem appear to be an American poem?"Richard Cory" by...

This poem, "Richard Cory," was written by Edward Arlington Robinson after the 1893 Depression when the average person in America could not afford meat and had a diet consisting mainly of bread. Thus, during this period and during the period of the 1920's Great Depression, there was a very sharp divide between the "haves" and the "have nots." 

When the wealthy Richard Cory goes downtown, although the people admire him, they do not speak to him, for he is in a place apart from them, an enviable place because in the United States there was once  the "American Dream" that promised anyone he/she could rise out of poverty.  With the depression, this dream now seems unattainable and Richard Cory appears distantly "imperial" and a gentleman from "sole to crown" to the disenfranchised of the 1893 American depression who do not understand that one who has food and comfort can be desperate enough to commit suicide. 

What is the significance of the opening and ending scenes of "A Thousand Splendid Suns"?

The story begins with a description of the first time Mariam heard the word “harami”. She was five at the time and living with her mother in a small hut outside Herat. Her father would visit her once every week. This was because Mariam was a bastard child who would cause embarrassment to the rest of her father’s legitimate family, thus she was banished together with her mum to the outskirts of Herat. During one of her father’s visits, Mariam broke her mother’s Chinese sugar bowl, left to her by her own mother as inheritance. Mariam’s mother is very annoyed and calls her “harami” and even though she does not know what it means, she can tell it is an offensive word. This opening shows the position Mariam is in, with regards to the prevailing social structures, and the word signifies the myriad of problems that Mariam would encounter throughout her life, coupled with her inability to change her situation.

In the closing, Laila would have wished to know where the Taliban buried Mariam and, although, she does not have this information, she believes Mariam to be alive in the rebuilding process and in her heart. She considers her among the people who died in order to restore hope to the people of Afghanistan.

In the opening Mariam is condemned to her fate because of her background but in the end she is revered as a martyr and the source of hope for Laila’s family.

What is the theme of the entire story of "Astronomers Wife"?

This is the story of wife waking up one morning and realizing that she is unhappy.  It is about the true meaning of marriage, but it is also about the true meaning of life.  Although her husband is "there" for her physically, he is not emotionally supportive.   They do not have a real connection and do not understand one another.  In marriage, a partnership and a friendship should be the central focus - these two have neither.

But as she realizes this, and watches the plumber working "with" the world and not just in it, she realizes that she needs to have the same relationship with the world around her.  She needs to feel that she is really a part of something, contributing and receiving.  Both in her marriage and in her life as a whole.  It can't all be about intellectual experience - it has to be about physical experience and interaction as well.