Comment on the role of the masked visitor in "The Masque of the Red Death."

To understand the function of this uninvited and unwanted
guest at the masquerade ball you need to appreciate the way that symbolism operates
throughout this entire short story. Poe is a master of symbolism, and it is clear if you
study the text carefully, that this masked visitor represents death himself, as
suggested through the disease of the Red Death that eventually plagues Prospero's
hideout. Consider how the guest is presented:

readability="13">

The figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from
head to foot in the habiliments of the grave. The mask which concealed the visage was
made so nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiffened corpsoe that the closest
scrutiny must have had difficulty in detecting the cheat. And yet all this might have
been endured, if not approved, by the mad revelers around. But the mummer had gone so
far as to assume the type of the Red Death. His vesture was dabbled in blood--and his
broad brow, with all the features of the face, was besprinkled with teh scarlet
horror.

Not only does this
figure resemble the Red Death, he also symbolically turns to confront Propsero in the
seventh, black room, which also is the room on the extreme west. The rooms are coloured
symbolically, with this room, with its dark colour and the clock, symbolising death and
the setting of the sun and the mortality of man. Thus it is entirely fitting that the
Mummer reveals himself in this room and the Red Death descends on the guests. Death will
not be cheated and cannot be escaped--as Prospero learns the hard
way.

In what way is courage, in this case, something like a man with an empty gun?Atticus tells the children on the last page of Part 1 that he wants...

When Atticus shoots the mad dog, he is in complete control
of the situation. The dog has no chance against a marksman with a gun. Mrs. Dubose,
however, is like a person fighting her battle with an unloaded gun. She has no chance of
living a longer life, so she picks a slightly different battle that she can win:
overcoming her addiction to morphine before she dies. Atticus points out that real
courage is

readability="6">

"when you know you're licked before you begin but
you begin anyway and you see it through no matter
what."

In Atticus' view, it
took no courage to kill a defenseless dog. However, Mrs. Dubose showed real courage by
taking seeing through her battle to the end.

Determine the real solutions of inequality (x-4)(x+8)

First, we'll remove the brackets both sides. We'll apply
FOIL method to multiply the terms inside brackets:

x^2 + 8x
- 4x - 32 < x^2 + 4x - 8x - 32

We'll move all terms
to the left side:

x^2 + 8x - 4x - 32 - x^2 - 4x + 8x + 32
< 0

We'll combine like terms and we'll eliminate
like terms:

8x <
0

We'll divide by 8:

x
< 0

The solution for the inequality
is: x < 0 <=>(-infinite ;
0).

How can Kitty's character be described in Pride and Prejudice?

Kitty Bennet is the fourth of the five Bennet sisters in
the novel Pride and Prejudice. She is seventeen years old, and two
years older than the youngest Bennet, Lydia.  It is interesting that Kitty is older than
Lydia and yet Lydia seems to control Kitty almost entirely.  One of the ways in which
Lydia leads over Kitty is in her interest in boys, particularly men in uniform. Lydia is
by far the most loose of all the sisters. She is also the most aggressive in terms of
man hunting, and the “silliest” as Mr. Bennet would agree with himself. Therefore, Kitty
is Lydia’s most faithful followers.

Since Lydia seems to be
the sister with the boldest personality, she overshadows Kitty. Kitty lacks the courage
and vivacity of Lydia, so instead of competing with her like most sisters would she
became her cohort and, perhaps, even used her as a way to attract boys.  Kitty is also
an enabler to Lydia and the one who keeps her secrets. This is why Kitty kept it to
herself that Lydia was planning on eloping with Wickham, and kept the secret even
knowing that Lydia’s elopement could affect her own reputation and the reputation of her
sisters.

Therefore, we could describe Kitty as co-dependent
of Lydia, as a follower, as sheepish, and as a weak character of a woman. We cannot say
she did anything extraordinary anywhere in the story, or that she even stood up for
herself at any point. Even Mary, the plainest and least likeable of the sisters, at some
point showed a voice and a role within the family. Kitty, however, falls short from
being a solid character and is more like a shadow of Lydia than anything
else.

What is the similarity between " If " by Rudyard Kipling and " The Road Not Taken " by Robert Frost?highlight their poetic philosophy with...

Each poem speaks about choice and individuality.  There
are certainly differences in how each makes his point, but the philosophy is quite
similar.   

Kipling tells his reader to make the difficult
choice to:  

readability="5">

...keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs....
(1-2)

And
to:

...make
one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of
pitch-and-toss...(17-18)

Frost
says,

I took
the one less traveled by,
(19)

In each case, a less
popular choice is made.  

However, there are some huge
differences in how each poet gets his message across.  In "If," Kipling uses a direct
comparison between the person being addressed and other people, while Frost uses the
metaphor of two paths in a wood.  In the case of "If," the reader is directed to examine
his behavior in conjunction with the behavior of others, while Frost's choice takes
place as he stands alone.  Kipling's poem is more about being a leader, and Frost
focuses more on personal satisfaction.  Kipling addresses the reader in the second
person, talking directly to a particular "you," while Frost appears to be musing to
himself about the choice he made.  There are literary elements that are quite different,
too,  for example, with Kipling using quite direct language and Frost using
imagery. 

Given that both have a message about being true
to oneself, which do you think conveys the message more successfully?  Whose advice do
you find more compelling? 

Solve for x if log (x^2) - log 2x = 2.

To solve for x if log (x^2) - log 2x =
2.

Solution:

By property of
logarithms, log(a^m) = m * log a ,

 log a+ log b=
log ab  and

log a = log  b =
log (a/b).

So log x^2 - log2x = 2 = log 10^2, as log10^2 =
2log 10 = 2.

log (x^2 )/(2x) = log
10^2.

We take anti
logarithms:

x^2/(2x) =
100.

x^2 = 200x.

x^2-200x =
0.

x(x-200) = 0.

x = 0, or x=
200.

For x= 0, log(x) is undefined. So x= 200 is a valid
solution.

x =
200.

How is the party atmosphere Mencken finds in the town square of Dayton different from the revival meeting he has just witnessed?

From the tag on this question, I assume that you are
asking about H.L. Mencken's column "Among the Believers" that is included in many
anthologies of documents for history students.  In that column, Mencken is arguing that
the people of Dayton itself are not really all that religious.  The truly religious, he
says, are the people from back up in the hills.  The party atmosphere in town, then, is
different from the revival meeting because there is no true belief there -- it is more
like a circus than it is like the revival meeting.

Mencken
clearly thinks that the hillbillies at the revival meeting (and other true believers
like the woman who thought Coca-Cola was from the devil) are ignorant and backwards.  He
cites the example of the woman who thought that reading books was wrong.  But he does
not doubt that they truly believe.

By contrast, Mencken
says, the people in Dayton see the theology as a form of entertainment.  They listen for
a while, he says, and they go off to get a drink.  The "real religion," Mencken says, is
not present in Dayton -- it is only off in the hills.

In To Kill a Mockingbird, what things or items best symbolize Miss Maudie?I'm having trouble finding things that represent Miss Maudie, other than...

The cakes Miss Maudie bakes for the children certainly
reflect her character and symbolize her relationship with the children. Her usual habit
was to bake a big cake and three little ones, individual treats for Jem, Scout, and
Dill. One day after Tom Robinson's conviction, she called the children over for cake.
This time there was one big cake and two little ones. Scout thought at first Miss Maudie
had forgotten to make a cake for Dill. She soon understood, though, when Miss Maudie cut
a piece from the big cake and gave it to Jem.

With this
simple act, Miss Maudie recognized that Jem was growing up and communicated that to him.
Tom Robinson's conviction had hit Jem hard; this experience with adult reality had left
him angry, confused, and sad. Giving him a piece of the "grown-up" cake shows how
perceptive Miss Maudie is and how closely attuned she is to the children's feelings. It
also shows that she had put some thought and effort into making Jem feel better. Miss
Maudie is a sensitive, loving woman, an adult who actually understands children and
respects them.

In The Giver, what does Jonas learn from seeing the color red in the apple, the faces of the crowd, Fiona's hair and the sled?

The color red is significant in The
Giver.  The first time Jonas “sees beyond” is when he notices an apple change
color.  He also sees color in the faces of the crowd during the Ceremony of Twelve,
Fiona’s hair and the sled in the memory.  In The Giver, red is a
symbolic color.  It represents difference, and therefore emotion.  All of the objects
that are red or turn red are connected to deep emotions for
Jonas.

The apple is the first red Jonas sees, and he does
not recognize at first that he is seeing a color.  The apple changing color foreshadows
later change for Jonas, and foreshadows his later experience with the feeling of
love.

Jonas feels a connection with Fiona from the start. 
Her red hair compromises the community’s sameness.  When Jonas notices her hair, he
recognizes that she is different.  He also has strong feelings for her.  His sexual
feelings, represented by the dream with the bathtub, are at first repressed by the
Stirrings pills.  When he stops taking the pills, these feelings may potentially grow
into love.

Although at first we do not realize the
significance of the faces of the community changing color, we later learn that Jonas
feels love for the people of his community even though he deeply disagrees with much of
what they do.  He realizes that they do not know any better, and that he and The Giver
have a responsibility to care about them.  This is the reason Jonas leaves the
community, to save them from themselves.

Finally, the red
sled is a powerful memory.  The sled being red connects another emotion, pain, to the
feelings of love that are associated with the color red.  Love is a strong emotion that
can cause pain, although not the physical pain of the sled.  While the people in the
community do not see the color red, a strong emotion, or any other color, representative
of other emotions, Jonas does see and he does feel.  He realizes that to be human, one
must see and feel even if it is painful.

How have athletes fine-tuned the physics and biomechanics involved in their event? How have athlete's bodies been sculpted and specialized to...

If you were to take a specific event and a specific
athlete, you can get some idea of the things it takes to specialize a body to accomplish
one specific task.

Let's take Kenenisa Bekele and the 10k
as an example.  He will likely start with a long period of what they call "base"
building in which he goes on very long and relatively relaxed runs.  He might be running
anywhere from 80-130 or more miles per week in this phase without too many harder
efforts.  He might be doing it at altitude as well.  This is mostly to build up the
amount of red blood cells and the ability of the body to process the oxygen in them and
transport them to the muscles effectively.

Then he will
begin to add in faster efforts.  These will help him be able to withstand the incredible
stresses on the body during a fast 10k.  He will work on his body's ability to cyle
lactic acid and to handle the physical pounding of running sub 4:30 miles for a 6.2 mile
race.

Of course he will also be racing, probably worrying
about what he eats, making sure to get lots of sleep, getting massage to work out his
muscles and make sure he stays loose, perhaps adding in some weight training or
flexibility exercises, but almost everything is geared towards simply covering a lot of
ground very quickly.

Camus shows the absurdity of watching films in Ch. 2 and 4. Explain the contradiction.

In The Stranger, Camus gives us an
absurd hero in Meursault who loves life,
hates death, and scorns the gods. He also loves swimming, sex, sleeping,
eating, smoking, and going to the movies--all life affirming
activities.  As such, Camus would rather his hero laugh at a movie rather
than cry at a funeral.  Movies celebrate life; funerals celebrate only
death.

Merusault's mother dies Wednesday or Thursday.  The
vigil is Friday, and Meursault meets Marie Saturday for a swim, movies, and sex (she
spends the night).  Together, they see a comedy starring Fernandel, a French actor.
 Marie notices Meursault's black tie, and she realizes that he is supposed to be in
"mourning."  She thinks it's a bit odd that he would want to swim, go to a comedy, and
have sex so soon after his mother's death.  Later, in Chapter 4, Meursault and Emmanuel
go to see two movies together during the work week
nights.

Movies are places where people come together to
view something as part of a cultural ritual.  Movies are not Camus' targets.
 Movies are used to juxtapose the other ritualistic places where people
gather to celebrate death: funerals, vigils, churches, courtrooms, and public executions
(all of the people in these places will judge and condemn Meursault later).
Movies are harmless compared to these institutions.  These places are
the "gods" that Camus says his absurd heroes should
scorn.

Camus is using the act of going to a film to show
that Meursault is not affected by his mother's death.  He can go to a funeral one day
and then see a comedy the next.  He does not reject casual relationships the week after
the funeral.  Is that so wrong?  Camus thinks not.

To laugh
when one should cry may look like a contradiction of emotions, and it may look like
Meursault is a cold, apathetic person.  Meursault rejects social expectations that limit
a person's freedom and love of life.  Society expects him to wear black, look sad, and
refuse entertainment and casual dates.  In effect, society expects Meursault to act like
he is dying.

Camus rejects this culture of death.  Why
can't he go to the movies and see comedy?  Why can't he go swimming?  Why can't he have
sex that night?  Who makes these silly cultural rules about the mourning
process?

At the end of the novel, Merusault, just before he
is to be executed, will say that no one has a right to cry over his mother's death.  
Merusault loves life: the water, the sun, girls in bathing suits, funny movies,
sleeping, eating, drinking.  All these acts are celebrations of life.  Wearing a black
tie and locking oneself in an apartment all week only celebrates the culture of death
that Camus' absurdism wants us to escape.

Businesses often make use of conditioning techniques in their commercials. Think of 5 specific examples of such advertising. Describe how the...

One specific commercial that you can look at the use of
conditioning in is the intel commercial linked below.  This commercial doesn't even
advertise a specific product and is using conditioning specifically to link a feeling to
the brand name.  Two examples of conditioning are the inclusion of a diverse group of
workers all dressed in relatively hip clothes, suggesting an image of hip young people
working for Intel and the color themes of light blue and white creating an atmosphere of
modernity, again meant to connect that feeling with the Intel
brand.

Much Ado About Nothing: Is the book better, or movie? Why?

Much Ado about Nothing is meant to be
staged, not read or even seen as a movie.

Shakespeare wrote
his plays for the stage only.  He did not intend to collect the assigned roles and
publish them during his lifetime.  His actors did that
later.

Whereas the Kenneth Branagh movie is good, it is not
better than seeing a staged version of the play done by quality actors.  Shakespeare's
language is meant to be heard, and his actors give breadth and depth to the
words.

Not only this, but the movie version cuts up to 50%
of the original text.  So, a two-movie is about half the text of a two-hour play.  The
film substitutes image for word.  It focuses more on the Italian landscape than on the
words.  As such, it's distracting and too easy.

A play
keeps the verbal fireworks going better.  Benedick and Beatrice are funnier live than on
screen.  There's more audience participation, more
laugher.

Not only that, but the low comedy of dogberry and
his slapstick watchmen is funnier live too.  The visual schtick can only be appreciated
in the flesh.

So, the movie is not as good as reading it
because half of the lines are cut.  Better than both is the live version of the
full-length play.  The play's the thing.

How does Tennyson use imagery (examples) in the poem, "The Lady of Shalott" to present the story? Visual and auditory imagery?How does the audience...

The speaker of Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott" switches
back and forth between visual and auditory imagery to reveal the
story.

The poem opens with visual imagery of nature,
freedom, and movement (which is touch, actually, but the visual does dominate).  Around
Shalott, the willows are white (visual), the aspens quiver (touch), the waves in the
river run forever (sight and touch), by the island in the river (sight) (lines
10-18).

But in lines 28-36 auditory images predominate: 
the reapers "Hear a song that echoes cheerly (auditory).  This is how the lady is
known:  no one has seen her wave her hand, stand at the window, or knows her at
all.

Another switch from visual to auditory occurs in the
shift from lines 73-81 to lines 82-90.  In the first stanza Lancelot is described
visually:  he rides like a bow-shot, rides between the barley, his image dazzles into
her mirror, his armor shines like flames, as does his
shield.

In the next stanza, the imagery changes to
auditory:  the bridle bells ring merrily, his equipment belt holds a bugle, and even his
armor rings.

All this fascinates the Lady, but what
inspires her to actually break the curse and look out the casement or window, is
Lancelot's song:

readability="24">

He flashed into the crystal
mirror,

"Tirra lirra," by the
river

Sang Sir
Lancelot.

She left the web, she left the
loom,

She made three paces through the
room,

She saw the waterlily
bloom,

She saw the helmet and the
plume,

She looked down to Camelot. 
(106-113)

Imagery makes
abstract ideas more concrete.  With the visual and auditory imagery, Tennyson makes
concrete his ideas.  That helps the reader understand what he is revealing.  For one
example, the Lady first sees Lancelot blaze into her mirror, and then hears the ringing
of his bells and armor, followed by his song.  These images concretely reveal what makes
the Lady look out the window and break the curse.  The speaker could say that the Lady
sees Lancelot in her mirror, and hears him outside, and therefore goes to the window and
looks out.  But all that is abstract.  The images make it concrete. 
 

Discuss the representation of Hinduism in A Passage to India.

I think that this becomes one of the most challenging
elements in Forster's work.  Part of where the difficulty lies is in trying to figure
out whether or not Forster is depicting Hinduism in a true and valid light or whether he
is presenting it in a manner that reflects cultural biases of the time.  In this light,
Hinduism's depiction is only offered in so far that it serves as a foil to Western
Judeo-Christian values of the British.  I think that there can be a couple of elements
that can be parsed about the depiction of Hinduism in the novel.  The first would be
that Hinduism is a part of the culture clash that is at the heart of both the novel and
British rule in India.  The values espoused in Hinduism do form a level of
differentiation between both the British and the Indians who believe in Hinduism.  Of
particular note is the ambiguity within which Hinduism operates, starkly contrasted with
the supposed absolutes of British values and Christian identity.  Godbole becomes the
central representation of Hinduism.  His depiction is one where there are tenets of
Hinduism definitely presented in a manner that is consistent with the religion, such as
the participation in the Krishna rebirth ceremony as well as Godbole's belief about
reincarnation and consciousness.  However, given the fact that Godbole presents the only
real depiction of Hinduism in the novel, it becomes challenging to place all of the
nuances of the religion on his shoulders as a character.  The fact that Forster does not
really display another Hindu character in detail might suggest a limitation in the
depiction of Hinduism in the novel.

What is Gatsby's personality in chapter five of The Great Gatsby?

Concerning The Great Gatsby, chapter
five, and Gatsby's personality, I'll analyze him as he appears in the opening section of
the chapter for you.

Gatsby appears
anxious about making arrangements to meet Daisy at Nick's
house.  He may also feel a bit isolated or
lonely.  He approaches Nick the minute Nick arrives
(apparently he has been watching and waiting for him) and suggests going to Coney
Island.  When that doesn't work, he offers a swim in his pool.  He looks at Nick with
"suppressed eagerness."  In other words, he's trying not to show it, but he is eager to
talk to Nick about arranging for Daisy to come to Nick's for tea.  Gatsby is a bit like
a nervous adolescent with a crush on someone in this
scene. 

At the same time, Gatsby's terrible
social skills are exhibited here.  Gatsby is not very good with people. 
He is not comfortable with people.  He is somewhat inept with verbal communication.  He
asks Nick to go to Coney Island, etc., because he is afraid or unable to come straight
to the point.   

He is extremely unsure of
himself, but he is also extremely
courteous.  When Nick asks

readability="5">

"What day would suit
you?"

to have Daisy over,
Gatsby immediately replies

readability="5">

"What day would suit
you?"

He
is so courteous, in fact, that he seems much more comfortable doing a favor for someone
than having someone do a favor for him.  He, apparently, had decided ahead of time to
offer Nick a "little business" to help him out financially, and in fact does so. 
 

Finally, when Gatsby tells Nick that he wants to get the
grass cut before Daisy comes (and Nick suspects Gatsby means Nick's grass, which
apparently is correct), he reveals his perfectionism, at
least when it comes to making a good impression on Daisy.  Later he will send a tea set
and flowers over to Nick's before Daisy's arrival.   

In Of Mice and Men, how and why does Lennie kill Curley's wife?

There are many references to an incident in the town of
Weed. George does not really know what happened because he was some distance away when
the girl started screaming. Then he and Lennie had to run for their lives, so the only
report he got was from Lennie. And Lennie is always lying to George. Lennie claims he
only wanted to feel the fabric of the girl's dress. This was bad enough, but George
realizes later that Lennie is developing an interest in sex and that his strong interest
in petting soft little animals has only been a budding interest in sex which Lennie was
too simple-minded to understand. Then when he begins petting Curley's wife's hair in the
barn, he evidently becomes sexually aroused and would have gone as far as raping the
girl if she hadn't started screaming and struggling. It is very significant that George
says the following words when he sees the dead girl lying in the hay in the
barn:

"I
should of knew," George said hopelessly. "I guess maybe way back in my head I
did."

The reader, too, should
know that Lennie is going to keep molesting young girls and that he is potentially a
serial killer. George can't be with him all the time. George wasn't with him when he
frightened the girl in Weed, and George wasn't with him when he killed Curley's wife in
the barn. (George doesn't really know, as the reader knows, what happened in the barn.
It looks very much like an accidental killing in connection with an attempted rape--and
that is actually very close to being the truth.) Lennie may be mentally retarded, but he
has a normal male sex drive which he doesn't understand and can't control. His enormous
physical strength makes him especially dangerous.

I am doing a project in sociology on "a day in the life of a soldier" any ideas on a problem and a hypothesis?

My son is a soldier, but he is not currently stationed in
a war zone.

You would need to decide if you are going to do
a compare/contrast between a soldier who is in a war zone as compared to a soldier who
is working in the U.S. on a base.

Some things will be
basically the same.

• Wake up, shower, shave,
  dress etc.


• Report for
  duty

This is where things take a radical
change. What is the assignment? Will the soldier go to a desk job? or will the soldier
go out in a patrol and perhaps face hostile attack?  Will the soldier assist a family by
providing food and water? Will the soldier be assigned duty to help in fighting a forest
fire in the U.S?

• Return to base or go
  home


• Eat, Rest and
  relax


• Do it all
  again

Solve the equation: 2 sin 2x + 3*(sin x+cos x) = -2.

We'll solve this equation
algebraically.

We'll move all terms to one
side:

2sin2x + 3(sinx+cosx) + 2 =
0

We'll substitute sin 2x = 2sin x*cos
x

2*2sin x*cos x + 3(sinx+cosx) + 2 =
0

We'll note sin x + cos x =
y.

We'll raise to square and we'll
get:

(sin x + cos x)^2 =
y^2

(sin x)^2 + (cos x)^2 + 2sin x*cos x =
y^2

But (sin x)^2 + (cos x)^2 =
1:

1 + 2sin x*cos x = y^2

2sin
x*cos x = y^2 - 1

We'll re-write the given equation in
y:

2*(y^2 - 1) + 3(y) + 2 =
0

We'll remove the
brackets:

2y^2 - 2 + 3y + 2 =
0

We'll eliminate like
terms:

2y^2 + 3y = 0

We'll
factorize by y:

y(2y + 3) =
0

We'll put y = 0

But y = sin
x + cos x:

sin x + cos x =
0

We'll divide by cos x:

tan x
+ 1 = 0

tan x = -1

x = -pi/4 +
kpi

2y + 3 = 0

2y =
-3

y = -3/2

But the range of
values of y is [-2;2].

Maximum of the sum: sin x + cos x =
1 + 1 = 2

Minimumof the sum: sin x + cos x = -1-1 =
-2

We'll work with
substitution:

sin x =
2t/(1+t^2)

cos t =
(1-t^2)/(1+t^2)

2t/(1+t^2) + (1-t^2)/(1+t^2) =
-3/2

4t + 2 - 2t^2 = -3 -
3t^2

We'll move all terms to one
side:

t^2 + 4t + 5 = 0

t1 =
[-4+sqrt(16-20)]/2

Since delta is negative, the equation
has no real solutions.

The only solution of
the equation is: x = -pi/4 +
kpi.

How does George Orwell convey the horrors of living in a totalitarian society in 1984?Any suggestions?

1984 is a big set up.  Orwell writes
a comedy in the bleakest terms.  Comedy, as you know, focuses mainly on the flaws of the
society; a tragedy focuses on the individual.   Orwell wants to dispel any Romantic or
tragic notions that the individual has any chance of freedom or rebellion against the
modern totalitarian state.  In the end, the state will crush the individual through the
following:

torture: pain is
the last thing and individual will feel if it tries to rebel.  Pure, physical,
unadulterated pain.

police-state
surveillance: an individual's freedom is limited through profiling and
surveillance (both technological and
human)

propaganda: an
individual cannot rebel if an individual is uninformed, disorganized, and uneducated.
 The Ministry of Truth blurs the lines between truth and untruth, between persons and
unpersons, and between the past, present, and
future.

war: individual
rebellion is squashed because of state-wide war.  Nationalism is at its peak, and war
keeps the masses focused on the war effort instead of their own suffering and
poverty.

no core: individual
rebellion is hopeless when an individual has not core meaning in his life: family,
religion, or friendships.  The state keeps everyone alienated: physically, spiritually,
and emotionally.  There is no rebellion if there is no trust.

At one point Bob Ewell comments that the "nest [of black families] down yonder" is "dangerous to live around 'sides devaluin' my property."What is...

This quote from Bob Ewell takes place in Chapter 17 during
his testimony in the Tom Robinson trial. His comments refer to the location of Maycomb's
primary African-American neighborhood, The Quarters, which are situated in close
proximity to Ewell's own property. The irony of the statement is that the Ewell
property, adjacent to the town dump, is the trashiest (and possibly least valuable)
property in the town. The house's

readability="7">

... roof (was) shingled with tin cans hammered
flat... the cabin rested uneasily on four irregular lumps of limestone. Its windows were
merely open spaces in the walls... the plot of ground around the cabin look(ed) like the
playhouse of an insane
child.

The yard was covered
with discarded items mostly ravaged from the dump.

There is
probably nothing truthful about the statement. The peaceful people of The Quarters were
not dangerous, and the Ewell property was devalued more from the proximity to the dump
than the homes of The Quarters.

In Maniac Magee, why is Maniac upset when with himself when crossing the finish line backwards when racing with Mars Bar?

To really understand why Maniac is upset with himself for
crossing the finish line backwards, you really have to understand Mars Bar. Mars Bar is
the leader of his neighborhood gang and has been bullying Maniac for some time. He is a
big talker, always bragging about himself and putting others down. Mars Bar is notorious
in the neighborhood for picking on little kids and adults
alike.

On the day the race takes place, Mars Bar is talking
trash to Maniac and showing off his new athletic shoes. He challenges Maniac to a race.
The whole neighborhood gets into the race. Traffic is blocked on both ends of the
street. The audience is composed of mothers, fathers, little kids, and high school
students--everyone's there!

As the race begins, Maniac runs
slowly. Even though he wants to win, he knows there will be consequences if he does. But
as he nears the finish line and sees Mars Bar winning, Maniac's instincts take over and
he speeds up, passing Mars Bar and crossing the finish line running backwards. The crowd
goes wild; everyone's talking about how Maniac not only beat the neighborhood bully, but
beat him running backwards!

Naturally, Mars Bar gets angry.
He gets mean. He starts making excuses and blaming others for his loss and shoving
people around. Maniac realizes that winning the race was bad enough, but having
humiliated Mars Bar in front of the whole neighborhood is going to make things a lot
worse for himself.

In Shelley's Frankenstein, how are Henry’s & Victor’s travels through Britain different: how does Victor react to the places they visit?

In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein,
Victor and Henry travel through a great deal of Britain. They visit London, Oxford and
Matlock, taking great pleasure in seeing sights steeped in
history.

From
thence we proceeded to Oxford...It was here that Charles I had collected his forces.
This city had remained faithful to him, after the whole nation had forsaken his cause to
join the standard of parliament and liberty. The memory of that unfortunate king and his
companions...gave a peculiar interest to every part of the city, which they might be
supposed to have
inhabited.

Henry, who has not
been touched by the evil that has so affected Victor, finds great delight in all they
see, and wants to learn all he can.

readability="5">

Clerval desired the intercourse of the men of
genius and talent who flourished at this
time.

Victor takes some
pleasure in what he sees, and can recall the histories associated with the different
places, but his heart is heavy and the satisfaction and personal connection he might
have felt years before, is now blighted by his recent past and the future endeavor
awaiting him.

Henry wishes to travel at some point to
India, and assist in England's colonization of that land. He attempts to learn all he
can, and Victor reflects that his friend is much like Victor was before he created the
creature.

Victor, on the other hand, is there to learn from
philosophers, what he can to help him fulfill his promise to the creature, though each
step haunts him:

readability="7">

I now also began to collect the materials
necessary for my new creation, and this was to me like the torture of single drops of
water continually falling on the
head.

Victor is depressed by
the task before him, and often makes excuses so that he can be alone, separated from the
community of others.

So while these two friends travel to
the same places, Henry is excited by all he sees; Victor's joy is dampened by his
experience in creating the creature:

readability="5">

...but I am a blasted tree; the [lightning] bolt
has entered my soul...

Victor
proceeds in his own little world preparing to keep his promise to the creature to create
for him a mate.

The men react very differently to their
time in England.

What sort of person is Iago as he appears in Act I of Othello?

I think that Coleridge's description of "motiveless
malignancy" is quite appropriate in describing Iago in the first Act.  His entire
presence has been motivated by prior acts and the reader's introduction to Iago is one
where he is already intent on taking down Othello.  As opposed to conventional dramas
where Iago's descent into evil would be gradual and one where redemptive characteristics
would be present at the outset, the vision of Iago that is rendered is one where his
evil intent is already present.  The fact that Iago can be described as purely evil is
apparent in how he seeks to use Roderigo as a part of his plan to make all others pay
for Iago's own anger or hurt or whatever might be the root of his manipulation.  When
Iago says to Roderigo that "I am not what I am," it is a moment where the reader is
forced to recognize that the character of Iago is complex and intensely driven to ensure
that all others are pulled into his web of deceit and
manipulation.

What surprising thing does Tony D. do in chapter 25?

Tony D., alias The Blade, is the knife-carrying punk who
constantly poses a threat to Kevin and Max in Rodman Philbrick's teen novel,
Freak the Mighty. In one memorable scene, Kevin and Max escape from
Tony by running headlong into the murky pond on the Fourth of July. When Kevin and Max
turn around, they find Tony's head barely above water, stuck in the mud
beneath.

But in the final chapter, Tony D. shows a bit of
humanity when he tells Max

readability="10">

... that it was a shame what happened, and I
could see he really meant it, and I just blew up and told him if he ever felt sorry for
me again, I'd put him headfirst in the millpond and pound him down into the mud like a
fence post.

This did nothing
to improve their relationship, and Max seemed perfectly content that the two "are
enemies again."

How is revelation an allusion in "Fahrenheit 451"?

"Revelation" is to uncover, display, or bring into the
open.  In the book, "Fahrenheit 451", Bradbury displays what might happen to a society
that no longer reads and thinks.  Through the action of the characters, he shows how the
people of this futuristic society are being manipulated by their government.  When Capt.
Beatty tells Guy Montag, in the first section, how their society came to be, he explains
that people wanted to be entertained more than they wanted to be enlightened.  He says
that people didn't want to have to think and to analyze on their own - they wanted to
have any pertinent information given to them in a quick, concise manner.  He tells
Montag that the government took over more and more until finally, books were outlawed
altogether because they made people think.  In the second section, revelation takes
place as Montag realizes that something must be done to stop the madness of his current
society and he struggles to find a way to stop it.  Revelation also takes place in the
final section of the book when Montag joins the book people and he uncovers the hope of
a better future as he watches his city and his society become incinerated by an atomic
bomb.  Revelation isn't as much an allusion as it is an outright
statement.

In Catcher in the Rye, why does Holden flee from the Antolini apartment?

Holden goes to the Antolini's because he basically has
nowhere to go.  He has gone home to talk to Phoebe and left and lacks the money to
continue to stay at the hotel, etc.  Mr. Antolini was a favorite teacher of his so he
decides to look him up and takes a cab to his house.

Mr.
Antolini welcomes him excitedly and they discuss a number of things and Mr. Antolini
tries to convince him that he should get an education and that it is
important.

Once he sees that Holden is tired, he gets
things ready and puts him to bed and Holden falls asleep.  But when Holden wakes up and
Mr. Antolini has his hand on his head, he is terrified a this show of affection and
bolts.

He claims that he is acting in a perverted way and
comes up with all kinds of justifications but his fear of connection and affection are
what drive him away.

What is Kipling's purpose for beginning several lines in each stanza with the word "if", in the poem "If"? To create rhythm or repetition?

The developments of literary theory since the 1960s have
stressed the impossibility of knowing the authors' real purposes when they compose a
literary work. What we can say is that, whatever Kipling's purposes, the repetition of
the word IF at the beginning of a line (a figure of speech called "anaphora") creates
rhythm in the poem. In his Linguistic Guide to English Poetry
Geoffrey Leech links repetitions and verbal parallelism to music. It is also
useful to note that repetitions/verbal parallelisms are different from mere duplication.
In Kipling's lines there is an element of sameness ("If you can. . .") and an element of
variation (the other part of the line). In addition to the creation of rhtyhm, the
repetition of the word IF gives the poem a didactic tone which conveys to its readers
the meaning of true adulthood.

How would you start an essay titled "What do you want to be in in the future?"I want to be a doctor when I grow up... my teacher told me I just...

You should first give a brief introduction about yourself.
You could mention what kind of environment you grew up in, who influence you most in
your life or etc. Adding an anecdote on why you became to have a dream as doctor would
help. Then at the end, state what a doctor does that appeals to you the most. If you
link that with your personal life, then voila! You have your one paragraph. Remember,
it's more important to be honest than to be impressive; writing from your true feelings
will be more easier than creating a dramatic, unrealistic story.

What was the importance of Hiroshima in WWII?and you can comment your view on it..

The importance of Hiroshima is that Hiroshima is a city in
southern Japan.  It was the city on which the United States dropped the first atomic
bomb that was dropped on Japan during World War II.  This bomb was dropped on August 6,
1945 from an airplane called Enola Gay that was piloted by Col. Paul
Tibbets.

The use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima was meant
to convince the Japanese to surrender.  However, Japan did not surrender until after
another atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki three days
later.

In the movie The Pursuit Of Happyness and the lyrics Numb - Linkin Park, how do they link to Belonging and what techniques have the composers...

When I read the lyrics to "Numb," the scene in
The Pursuit of Happyness that immediately came to mind was the
scene with Gardner and his wife in the bathroom getting ready for work. In terms of
proximity, they are within that intimate space, but mentally they are distant. Their
relationship is strained because they are struggling financially. Chris has been
unsuccessful in selling bone density scanners and his wife is working double-shifts. In
the bathroom scene, Chris mentions that he is going to see about a stock broker
internship. His wife chastises him because she is fed up with their situation and thinks
Chris is being impractical. She makes some comment, which I can't quite remember. It is
something to the effect of, "Why don't you just apply to be an
astronaut?!"

Camera angles are important here. The
couple are looking in the mirror. Chris is attempting to better himself and his wife
mocks him. The use of the mirror is important in that they both are looking at
themselves and at each other, who they are as individuals and a couple and who they
might want to be. You could interpret it both ways. Chris is smothered by his wife or
she is smothered by his insistence on taking risks: density scanner and the seemingly
unlikelihood of Chris becoming a stock broker. Both Chris and his wife are numb, tired.
But the lyrics in the song do seem to be a bit more applicable to Chris since he is
mocked for doing what he thinks is best. "Every step that I take is another mistake to
you."

The composer of the song "Numb" expresses his
inability to belong. He could be speaking to a lover, his parents, a group or society in
general. You can use the perspective of Chris or his wife. Since Chris is the main
character, I'll use him. Chris experiences increasing difficulty belonging in his
relationship with his wife. He refuses to belong to the social class he is currently in.
His pursuit of happiness is the pursuit of the ability and opportunity to belong
somewhere else. This is the possible, yet illusive American Dream: that anyone can
achieve anything through hard work. The speaker in "Numb" wants to belong but feels
forced to be someone he's not. Chris realizes he no longer belongs with his wife and is
on a quest to belong somewhere else.

Why does Macbeth have second thoughts about killing Duncan?

An important scene, Scene 7 of Act I of Shakespeare's
Macbeth presents what is the tragic flaw in a man who has the
potential to be noble if he would but listen to his conscience.  For, in this scene,
Macbeth struggles with his conscience in an internal conflict between his "vaulting
ambition" and his blood ties and loyalty as a Scottish nobleman to his king, Duncan as
well as his fear of eternal damnation.

In his soliloquy
while preparations are being made in his castle for the honored dinner guest, King
Duncan,  Macbeth considers the argument against his murdering his
king:

First,
as I am his kinsman and his subject

....then, as his
host,

Who should against his murderer shut the
door,

Not bear the knife
myself.

Then, Macbeth
reflects that Duncan, besides being his relative and king, is a virtuous
man:

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...Besides, this
Duncan

Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath
been

So clear in his great office, that his
virtues

Will plead like
angels...

And, as such a
virtuous man, if Duncan is killed, surely the murderer risks
damnation:

The
deep damnation of his
taking-off....

Realizing that
he has no reason, no just motive for killing Duncan, Macbeth recognizes that it is only
his desire for power that overrides all the other
reasons: 

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Valuting ambition, which o'erleaps
itself

And falls on th' other
(1.7.13-28)

Thus, Macbeth's
concession to his cupidity over his conscience is his tragic mistake, for it effects his
later demise.

What opinions does George have about women, and why would American men wish to avoid women?Why do men seek the company of other men over that of...

In Of Mice and Men, men are depicted
as animals as part of Steinbeck's anthropomorphism, Social Darwinism, socialism, and
Pragmatism.  His biological view of mankind holds that men are uber-competetive in a
all-male capitalistic workplace with limited resources, as conditions were on ranches in
California during the Great Depression.  So, these males compete to be the Alpha male,
like Curley, and they hoard, pick fights with lower-class males, and flaunt their status
as part of some paranoid defense mechanism.  In short, they puff themselves up like some
little animal that wants to be seen as more threatening than it really
is.

The men in Of Mice and Men compete
over jobs but not women.  The two seem mutually exclusive.  George tells Lennie to stay
away from Curley's wife as soon as he sees her.  In terms of mythological and archetypal
criticism, women are all temptresses, like Sirens in The Odyssey.
 They are threats to a man's job.  As such, they are to be avoided.  George and Lennie
have already seen the affects of this: the woman in Weed cried rape, which sent George
and Lennie on the run, fired from their jobs, further from their American
dream.

George would rather go to a cathouse and get rid of
all his pent up emotions all at once rather than waste two words on a woman.  When jobs
and dreams are on the line in a patriarchal all-male society, a woman only prevents a
male from achievement.  Could George's fear of women be a backlash against the
pre-feminism movement?

In the end, the American Dream is as
much a temptress as a woman.  It is a red herring, an illusion, a false promise for the
little guys like George, Lennie, and Candy.  The Alpha males control is like their
women.  The only ones with any sense, who avoid both, are Crooks and Slim.  They are the
working class heroes who are tied to the land, their work, and the Marxist
dream.

In The House on Mango Street, what is the vignette entitled "The House on Mango Street" about?

It is interesting how this opening vignette actually
introduces some of the main themes of the novel as a whole. Let us consider how it does
this. Key to the novel is the experiences of an immigrant Latino family living in the
United States, coping with the variety of challenges that this presents. Note how
Esperanza, the narrator, tells us about the previous accommodation and how they had to
move:

We had
to leave the flat on Loomis quick. The water pipes broke and the landlord wouldn't fix
them because the house was too old. We had to leave fast. We were using the washroom
next door and carrying water over in empty milk
gallons.

Clearly the
conditions for an immigrant family with a number of children are not great. However,
note too how this vignette presents the idea of the American Dream and then the crushing
reality. Esperanza has a very fixed idea of what their house that they would own would
be like. Their vision is definitely influenced by images on the TV and pictures of nice
white houses with trees around it. And yet, the house they finally own is nothing like
"the way they told it." In spite of dreams of several bathrooms and bedrooms, there is
only one bathroom and everyone shares one bedroom. The house is in such a dilapidated
state that when a nun asks if it is the house where Esperanza lives, she can only
nod:

readability="9">

There. I had to look to
where she pointed--the third floor, the paint peeling, wooden bars Papa had nailed on
the windows so we wouldn't fall out. You live there? The way she
said it made me feel like nothing. There. I lived
there. I
nodded.

Note how the italics
convey the surprise and shock at the living conditions in which Esperanza lives, and
also indicates the way that a person is judged so much by the amount of money that they
have and their accommodation. The way Esperanza is made to feel like "nothing" indicates
her desire to find a "real" house and escape the community of Mango Street that will
form such an important part of her childhood.

What is the paradox in the story "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant?I am asked to compare the paradox of this story to another short story, but I...

I am afraid you seem to have confused your literary terms
somewhat. A paradox is defined as a statement or a situation that seems to be a
contradiction but reveals an inner truth. Consider referring to someone as a "wise
fool," as Viola does to Feste in Twelfth Night. This is a statement
that apparently makes no sense, yet when we think about it we can see the truth that
emerges from this paradox.

What I think you are talking
about is the situational irony that lies in the ending of this excellent short story.
Situational irony occurs when there is a contradiction between what we expect to happen
and what really takes place. We can see the massive situational irony at the end of this
grimly humorous short story when we find out, after Mathilde Loisel reduces herself to
an "old woman" because of the hard work she has been forced into, discovers that the
necklace was only fake after all and she has suffered
needlessly:

readability="9">

Mme. Forestier, quite overcome, clasped her by
the hands. "Oh my poor Mathilde. But mine was fake. Why, at most it was worth only five
hundred francs!"

This is the
massive situational irony that gives the story the great impact that it has, and we are
left questioning whether poor Mathilde deserved what she got for her constant
daydreaming or whether she has suffered unfairly. If you are after another short story
to compare this one with, "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry is another excellent
example of situational irony.

Evaluate the effectiveness of the U.S. government in dealing with the slavery issue from 1787-1857?This is including the Compromise of 1850 and the...

It's a very broad question with no single answer, of
course.  But the dates of your question give us some meaningful context, in that in
1787, the Constitutional Convention began, and in 1857, the Supreme Court ruled in
Dred Scott vs. Sandford that slaves were chattal
property.

So we can generalize that the policy of the US
government, as well as its intent, was to preserve the institution of slavery during
these years, or at least not to pursue abolition, and they were quite successful at
doing so.  The Constitutional Convention purposefully avoided the question of slavery,
for fear no unity between the states could be reached if a decision to abolish or keep
slavery permanently was pursued.  This is why the Constitution before the 13th amendment
says virtually nothing about slavery.  The other major motivation of the US government
in this time period was to keep the country from splitting apart over slavery and its
expansion, and they were somewhat effective in doing so by using political compromises
that allowed the expansion of slavery west, but with
limits.

The Supreme Court, throughout this entire period,
upheld the property rights of slaveholders and refused to recognize slaves as human
beings.

The Compromise of 1850 is where it started to
unravel, in that popular sovereignty in the Kansas Territory was a disaster, and led to
a bloody prelude to the Civil War.

What are the major characteristics of E. E. Cummings's poems?

There are two aspects of the poetry of E.E. Cummings that
make him significant:

1. He was on the "cutting
   edge" of the Modernist, experimental movement.  His poetry is new in its typography, its
   syntax (he uses nouns for verbs and vice versa), grammar, and punctuation, introducing
   audiences to the innovations of verse and prose in the early parat of the twentieth
   century.


2. Cummings was an effective satirist and
   intense lyric poet.  His targets for satire are often hypocrisy and the submergence of
   the individual in the military and in society  because of the "mass mind of the mass
   market."  His lyric poems celebrate love and the truth of the moment, herald
   individuality, exalt a child-like love for nature.  In an age that was reserved in its
   feeling, Cummings was personal and unapologetic about his lustful feelings and
   individual desires.

Possessing a highly
personal and idiosyncratic style, Cummings appeals much to youth in his giving of new
life to the ideas that have always been.  His poetry exists in the present,  in the
aliveness and pure essence of the state of being without regard to the flow of time. 
His poetry is existential and romantic both:

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Spring is like a perhaps
hand

(which comes
carefully

out of Nowhere)
arranging

a window, into which people look
(while

people stare

arranging
and changing placing

carefully there a
strange

thing an a known thing here)
and

changing everything
carefully....

In these lines
from the poem "Spring is like a perhaps hand," Cummings demonstrates the
existentialism--coming out of Nowhere--and romanticism--nature/Spring that is "like a
perhaps hand" that people watch appreciatively through a windo. The odd use of syntax in
"perhaps hand" is apparent as is "arranging and changing and placing
carefully." 

How do I solve the following equation : 4(2y+1)=2(12-y)I know the answer is y=2 but i do not know how to work it out

You have to solve the equation 4(2y+1) =
2(12-y).

First let's start with 4(2y+1) =
2(12-y)

open the
brackets

=> 4*2y + 4*1 = 2*12 -
2*y

=> 8y + 4 = 24 -
2y

now move the terms with y to one side, and the numeric
terms to the other side. Remember that when you move a term to the other side of the
equation, its sign changes

=> 8y + 2y = 24 -
4

=> 10y = 20

divide
both the sides by 10

=> y = 20/10 =
2.

That's how you get y = 2. Hope it's clear
now.

I don't understand why the psychological, the poetic, and the thematic make Macbeth great theatre.

Macbeth is the confluence of man's
worst fears, spoken with his most beautiful language, and arranged as a spectacle that
is "bloody, bold, and resolute."  It's a perfect recipe for
tragedy.

Language and
spectacle make the play great: words and
images.  What else is there?

Here are the
high points of
each:

• Language: He
  who controls language controls others, their fears, their
  fates...

•Language (argument) is used to attain
and maintain position and maintain power; Macbeth is won over by the words of women: the
equivocal language of the witches and the brute force simplicity of Lady
Macbeth

•Macbeth: thoughtful, poetic iambic
pentameter (elevates him above rest)

•Lady Macbeth: plain,
unimaginative iambic pentameter •Bleeding Captain: strong, harsh, war-like iambic
pentameter

Poetry (Rhyming Couplets): Witches: short,
choppy iambic tetrameter

Prose: •Porter (servant): dark,
bawdy common language, humor

• In terms of
  spectacle: Macbeth is visceral.  It's his bloodiest play.
   Blood imagery is key.

The witches are
psychological forces while on stage.  The audiences back then believed in their power to
control.

The swordfighting scenes are great; heads are cut
off; a soldier is gutted from belly to neck; horses eat each other; spells are cast;
people go crazy.  The blood flows early and often. It's a
horrorshow.

The dichotomy of beautiful words
and graphic imagery make for Shakespeare's most "wholly tragic"
play.

How did tensions increase between the USA and Soviet Union from 1917 to the start of the Truman Doctrine?I need to know which key events cause...

The first cause of the tension was the actual creation of
the Soviet Union and the civil war that Russia went through during that creation.  As
the Soviet Union was being created, the United States government opposed the
Bolsheviks.  They condemned the Revolution and they sent a few troops to try to help
defeat the communists.  This showed that the US really did not like the idea of a
communist government and it helped make the USSR suspicious of the US.  After that, the
US did not recognize the existence of the Soviet Union for over a
decade.

The other major cause of tensions was the issue of
how to split up Eastern Europe (and to some extent Asia) at the end of WWII.  This
caused tension because the US thought the Soviets were overly expansionist and the
Soviets thought the US was trying to encircle and destroy them.

What are some key words that capture the "strategies" that allowed some communities to survive and others not? I read the book Guns, Germs and...

The one key word that captures the major strategy that
allowed some communties to survive is "agriculture."  Really the major thrust of this
whole book is that the early development of agriculture (Diamond tends to call it "food
production") is what allows some societies to come to dominate
others.

A second possible key word is something that arises
in societies that have agriculture.  That is "writing."  Diamond argues that writing
allows knowledge to be passed down from generation to generation quite easily.  This
increases the amount of technology that can be developed as one generation can build on
others.

Finally, I think you could say that "competiton" is
another important strategy.  Communities that are forced to compete with other societies
(for example in Europe) tend to develop more technology and "better" systems than those
societies (like China) that are not forced to compete.

What is the definition of cognitive task?

Cognition--from which "cognitive
task" derives, is the scientific term that essentially means "the process of thought." 
Cognitive tasks therefore, are the actions which help define
cognitive thought process.

Usually the term "cognitive
task" is used in the context of "cognitive task analysis."  This is the process of
analyzing or testing what level of thought process a person has reached or is using to
solve a specific problem.  You might look at a toddler, for example, who touches a hot
iron and gets burned.  If this toddler learns not to touch the hot iron again, and
actually avoids it, he has demonstrated the cognitive task of understanding the iron
will hurt him and not to touch it.

In elementary education,
for example, it is common to measure cognitive tasks in subjects like mathematics. 
Addition and subtraction are learned and understood through a series of cognitive tasks
which build on one another.  A 1st grader might be able to handle physically counting 3
objects, adding one to the pile, and counting 4 as the result.  Gradually, the physical
object will also be represented by number symbols, and the understanding will shift from
the physical addition of one object to the pile, to the mental understanding that
3+1=4.  Each step in the process of learning 3+1=4 is a series of cognitive
tasks.

Many cognitive tasks are linked directly to short
and long term memory.  Others are developed physically (as though a process of motion). 
Humans learn and build understanding though hearing, speaking, and doing.  One theory
utilized in elementary education (and even higher) is the idea that blending these three
learning styles/techniques as much as possible allows students to experience and attempt
multiple cognitive tasks, providing the most opportunity to establish
understanding.

Can I please have a list of all the chararters in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and a brief summary of each?Mark Twain's The Adventures of...

Here is a list of the main characters (and a short
summary) in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn.

AUNT POLLY. 
Tom's guardian.
AUNT SALLY.  Tom's
aunt.
BOGGS.  A drunk from
Bricksville.
WIDOW DOUGLAS.  Huck's adopted
mother.
THE DUKE.  A con man who claims to be of
royal birth.
HUCK FINN.  The main character is an
independent spirit whose mother is dead and whose father is a drunken ne'er-do-well. His
journeys along the Mississippi River is the basis of the
story.
PAP FINN.  Huck's drunk of a father
kidnaps his own son and beats him before Huck escapes.
BUCK
GRANGERFORD.  The youngest boy of the Grangerford family, Buck is killed
during the feud with the Shepherdsons.
EMMELINE
GRANGERFORD.  She died young, leaving behind a number of poems and
drawings that intrigue Huck.
JIM.  Miss Watson's
runaway slave who joins Huck on his travels.
THE
KING.  The Duke's partner in crime and grifting, he is eventually tarred
and feathered.
JUDITH LOFTUS.  Huck meets her
while dressed as a girl, but he doesn't fool her.
REVEREND SILAS
PHELPS.  Tom's uncle.
TOM SAWYER. 
Huck's sidekick and partner in crime. Tom joins Huck for part of his
journey.
COLONEL SHERBURN.  A Southern gentleman
who kills Boggs in Bricksville.
JUDGE THATCHER. 
The father of Becky, he takes care of Huck's money for him and has Huck's best interests
at heart.
MISS WATSON.  Sister of the Widow
Douglas and Tom's owner.
THE WILKS SISTERS.  The
girls who become orphans when their guardian dies. The King and Duke pretend to be their
uncles. free in her will.

How do you think the world can avoid another Hitlerian experience?

To put it simply, if we could teach students to "not
believe the hype" and encourage the kind of open and honest debate that we've often
thought was part of our national discourse, it would be easier to avoid something like
that in the future.

One of the difficulties that will make
it easier for men like Hitler to grab power is the fact that we are pushing towards a
great deal of standardization in everything we do, particularly in schools.  We want to
train teachers the same way, we want to train kids the same way, we want to be able to
predict the way that people will react, something that will make it much easier for
someone to manipulate them.

When you look at the fact that
there are very few strongly dissenting groups of people, particularly groups that aren't
spouting some version of the main stream media's talking points, it is not hard to
believe that it will not be really difficult for someone to take advantage of that fact
and rise to power by pushing the right buttons.

Again, to
prevent that, we need to change the way we look at education and find ways to encourage
students to investigate things they are curious about instead of trying to craft a
standard curriculum that dictates what everyone will or should learn and when they ought
to learn it by.  Trusting people and in this case young students to make decisions for
themselves is not something that comes easily to us, but when you look at the
alternative and consider that it might end up being someone making the decisions for
them...  Perhaps it becomes more of an appealing option.

What is ironic, or dramatically unexpected, about the ending of All Quiet on the Western Front?

The irony of the ending of All Quiet on the
Western Front occurs when Paul dies literally days before the end of the war
is declared.  Paul has been in the war nearly from the beginning, and he has survived a
host of battles on the front line even while seeing many of his fellow soldiers die. 
Throughout the novel, Paul slowly loses his hope that he will ever get out of the war
alive, and he begins to think that even if he does survive, he will not fit back into
the normal routine of his community back home.  But Paul survives, and just days before
the war ends, he is killed.  The novel ends with his death, displaying
irony.

Evaluate the anti derivative of e^2x * cos 3x.

We have to find Int [e^2x * cos 3x
dx]

Here the best way to solve would be to use integration
by parts.

Int [u dv] = u*v – Int [v
du]

take u = e^2x, du = 2*e^2x
dx

dv = cos 3x dx, v = (1/3)* sin
3x

Int [e^2x * cos 3x
dx]

=> [e^2x*sin 3x]/3 – (2/3)*Int [e^2x * sin 3x
dx]

We have again landed up with an integral like the
original with Int [e^2x * sin 3x dx].

So using integration
by parts again, this time we take U = e^2x, dU = 2*e^2x
dx

dV = sin 3x dx, V = (-1/3) cos
3x

Int [e^2x * sin 3x dx] = (- e^2x * cos 3x)/3 + (2/3)*Int
[e^2x * cos 3x dx]

So we
have

Int [e^2x * cos 3x dx] = [e^2x*sin 3x]/3 – (2/3) [(-
e^2x * cos 3x)/3 + (2/3)*Int [e^2x * cos 3x dx]]

=>
Int [e^2x * cos 3x dx] = [e^2x*sin 3x]/3 + (2/3)*e^2x * cos 3x)/3 - (2/3)*(2/3)*Int
[e^2x * cos 3x dx]]

=> Int [e^2x * cos 3x dx] +
(2/3)*(2/3)*Int [e^2x * cos 3x dx] = [e^2x*sin 3x]/3 + (2/3)*(e^2x * cos
3x)/3

=> (13/9)* Int [e^2x * cos 3x dx] = [e^2x*sin
3x]/3 + (2/3)*(e^2x * cos 3x)/3

=> Int [e^2x * cos
3x dx] =3*[e^2x*sin 3x]/13 + 2*(e^2x * cos 3x)/13

=>
Int [e^2x * cos 3x dx] = [3*(e^2x*sin 3x) + 2*(e^2x * cos
3x)]/13

The required result
is

[3*(e^2x*sin 3x) + 2*e^2x*cos 3x]/13 +
C

What is the irony in "Nor Mars his sword, nor war's quick fire shall burn / The living record of your memory." Sonnet 55 by William Shakespeare?

The irony is that poetry, written on paper, is bound to
outlast stone and marble monuments. This sonnet is about a young man and there may be an
implication that a poem about an ‘everyman’ will outlast a monument to a ruler. War will
destroy these monuments, but the irony is that “war’s quick fires” cannot destroy the
eternal memory recorded in poetry. Obviously, paper burns more easily than stone. Poetry
has an eternal potential because the words on the page express an essential abstract
meaning, a poem can be passed on verbally in cultural memory; therefore, poetry is both
physical (on paper) and metaphysical and can escape the erosion of time. Shakespeare is
also making the point that both the subject and the author of the poem can achieve
immortality in this way. However, the secondary irony is that we have no idea who the
young man, the subject, of the poem is. But we all know Shakespeare. So, he was half
right.

How are Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant similar?

General Robert E. Lee and General Ulysses S. Grant had
many similarities and differences. The biggest similarity is that they were both great
civil war generals. They had a great deal of passion for what they were fighting for.
They both wanted to preserve the Union but it was inevitable that the North and South
would soon engage in war.

General Lee and General Grant
both fought in the Mexican War. They later questioned if it was right to invade and
because of the carnage they witnessed they were both opposed to war in 1861. Both also
participated in Scott's march from Vera Cruz to Mexico
City. 

In addition, they both went to school at West
Point.

What is probability that all the 4 balls drawn are blue in the following case There are 4 red balls and 7 blue balls in a box. 1 ball at random...

There are originally 4 red balls and 7 blue balls in the
box. When the first ball is drawn, the probability of drawing a blue ball is
7/11.

If the 1st ball is blue it is kept outside, there are
now 4 red balls and 6 blue balls in the box. The probability of drawing a blue ball the
2nd time is 6/10.

If the 2nd ball drawn is blue it is kept
out, there are now 4 red balls and 5 blue balls in the box. The probability of drawing a
blue ball the third time too is 5/9.

If the third ball is
blue it is kept out, there are now 4 red balls and 4 blue balls in the box. The
probability of drawing a blue ball the fourth time is
4/8.

Therefore the probability of drawing all four blue
balls is (7/11)*(6/10)*(5/9)*(4/8)

=> (7*6*5*4 /
11*10*9*8)

=> 7/66

It
is interesting to note here that we do not have to bother about the fact that if a red
ball is picked it is replaced, in our calculation. That would have relevant in several
other cases, but is not relevant in this.

The
required probability of drawing 4 blue balls is
7/66.

True or false? Bob Ewell pestered Judge Taylor and Helen Robinson.

It is true that Bob Ewell pestered Tom Robinson's widow,
Helen, on more than one occasion. When her boss, Link Deas, noticed that Helen was
coming from the wrong direction to work each day, he got to the bottom of the situation.
Bob had been following her, making lewd remarks and threats. Link finally threatened to
get Sheriff Tate involved, and Bob ceased his
actions.

Whether Bob actually pestered the judge is another
story. When Judge Taylor got up to investigate a noise outside his house, he saw the
shadow of a man leaving in a hurry. More than likely it was Bob, but the judge didn't
seem particularly rattled.

Is Victor Frankenstein an antihero?

The short answer to this is no, Victor in Shelley's
Frankenstein is not an
anti-hero.

Anti-heroes usually get the little things wrong,
but the big things right.  They may not be polite and fit into society and may not think
like society does (they are nonconformists), but they possess a higher sense of justice
than others.  When it matters and counts, anti-heroes do the right
thing. 

An anti-hero may also be a rogue, but will be a
charming rogue--at least to those he wants to
charm. 

Victor is good at the little things.  He is polite
and respectful and studious--he probably would have made a great husband (which doesn't
matter in this novel, because his wife is killed).  But he gets the big things wrong,
the things that really matter.  He fails to take responsibility for his creation.  He
fails to nurture his "son" as a father should.  He creates life then neglects
it.

The creation of life might serve as an instance of
"bucking" the system in his day, and make him an anti-hero, except that he doesn't take
care of what he's created and he causes tragedy.  An anti-hero is ethical when it
counts.  Victor is not. 

In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, what expectations does the monster have about the future of his relationship with the family?

In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, as
the creature has watched the DeLacey family throughout the winter and into the spring,
he has learned a great deal. They have, unknowingly, been his teachers. He has learned
not only about music and language, but he has also learned about the love of a family
for its members and the love between and man and a woman. He has come to understand the
depth of his own loneliness.

The creature hopes to be able
to find a way to make a connection with this family and become a part of their circle.
The creature has already been secretly doing things to ease their burden and make life
easier: gathering wood and clearing the snow, for example. They ironically credit a kind
spirit for these things, and while that is what the creature is (for he has told
Frankenstein that he was made for love), his appearance is something that these people
would not, will not, understand.

The creature believes that
he might approach them if he had a command of their language. And he has learned from
them, but knows he needs to learn more.

readability="14">

'I improved, however, sensibly in this science,
but not sufficiently to follow up any kind of conversation, although I applied my whole
mind to the endeavour: for I easily perceived that, although I eagerly longed to
discover myself to the cottagers, I ought not to make the attempt until I had first
become master of their language; which knowledge might enable me to make them overlook
the deformity of my
figure...

This will continue
to be uppermost in the creature's mind as he continues to work to master their language,
and he will ultimately approach the old man first because he is blind; he believes that
if Felix and Agatha's father could accept the creature for who he is rather than reject
him immediately because of his appearance, the creature might be able to find a way
through the old man, to be welcomed into their family circle.

If y=(1+x^2)^3 find dy/dx.

y = (1+x^2)^3.

We have to
find dy/dx

We  use d/dx {u(v(x))} =  (du/dv)
(dv/dx)

Let v(x) = 1+x^2

d/dx
{v(x)} = d/ dx {1+x^2} = d/dx(1)+ d/ dx(x^2) = =
0+2x

Therefore d/dx{1+x^2)^3 = 3(1+x^2^(3-1)*d/dx
(1+x^2)

d/dx(1+x^2)^3 =
3(1+x^2)^2*2x

Therefore dy/dx =
 d/dx(1+x^2)^3 = 6x(1+x^2)^2.

In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, is Romeo immature when it comes to love? Why?

In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet,
Romeo's experience with love so far has been his infatuation with Rosaline. Because she
does not return his love, he moons around, sad and depressed as if he life were over.
Even his words are sappy:

readability="11">

Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs; /
Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes; / Being vexed, a sea nourished with
lovers' tears; / What is it else? A madness most discreet, / A chocking gall, and a
preserving sweet.

Everyone
knows Romeo is despondent over his unrequited love and his friends encourage him to move
on.

Meeting Juliet, he does just that. When Friar Lawrence
asks if he has been with Rosaline, Romeo answers:

readability="7">

With Rosaline, my ghostly father? No. / I have
forgot that name, and that names'
woe.

Friar Lawrence is amazed
to hear of Romeo's new love, as Romeo had gone on for so long about his love for
Rosaline.

Perhaps we also see his immaturity in the speed
with which he forgets Rosaline to fall deeply in love with Juliet in just one meeting.
However, this is where he seems to turn the corner in terms of maturity, for he is
committed to life with Juliet or no life at all.

As he
prepares to marry Juliet, Romeo tells Friar Lawrence:

readability="9">

But come what sorrow can, / It cannot countervail
the exchange of joy / That one short minute gives me in her sight. Do though but close
our hands with holy words, / Then love-devouring death do what he dare. / It is enough I
may but call her
mine.

Romeo's final actions
prove his dedication to Juliet: he cannot be dissuaded from loving her; will not turn
his back on her after he is banished; and, he would rather die than live without her.
These things seem to indicate that he has turned his back on the childishness of
infatuation, such as with Rosaline, to fall deeply in love with
Juliet.

In Fahrenheit 451, Part 2, "The Sieve and the Sand," what is the importance of the dentifrice commercial?

Assuming that "importance" refers to literary
importance—or the importance of the scene to literary elements and development—rather
than referring to social criticism importance, then the literary
importance of the Denham's Dentifrice commercial is that it quite
intensely reveals the violent inner struggle Montag is going through. He is trying to
extricate himself from one false society and embed himself in a true society because he
has learned "of a time when books were legal and people did not live in fear" ( href="http://www.spaceagecity.com/bradbury/bio.htm">Jepsen and Johnston,
spaceagecity.com).

readability="15">

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" [His] was a plea, a
cry so terrible that Montag found himself on his feet, ... this man with the insane,
gorged face, the gibbering, dry mouth, the flapping book in his
fist.

Montag has been reading
his stolen books to Mildred, whose only response is, "Books aren't people. You read and
I look around, but there isn't anybody!" when an electronic dog comes sniffing at their
front door, exhaling "the smell of blue electricity blowing under the locked door."
Montag—the fireman—knows full well what the sniffing dog means. Beatty knows Montag has
stolen and expects the return of the book ("If I pick a substitute and Beatty does know
which book I stole, he'll guess we've an entire library here!") that very night. He is,
as he says himself, "numb" ("I'm numb, he thought") as he slams the house door and goes
to board the subway. He has decided to go to Faber and ask to have a duplicate of the
stolen book made so he can safely—safely for himself and Mildred and safely for the
book—return the stolen book to Beatty.

readability="8">

"There's only one thing to do," he said. "Some
time before tonight when I give the book to Beatty, I've got to have a duplicate
made."

Riding on the subway
amongst so many people, Montag is both scared of what he is doing and earnestly
determined to memorize a portion of the New Testament that he holds open (foolhardy
action) in his hands. The Denham's Dentifrice jingle has all the passengers tapping
their feet and quietly singing along with the jingly words. The jingle acts as a
literary counterpoint as it lauds "Denham's Dentifrice. Denham's. Spelled D-E-N-" while
Montag struggles to retain the sentence "Consider the lilies of the field. ... Consider
the lilies, the lilies, the lilies ...." The old, meaningless society fights against
Montag's mind, as detergent would against impurities, "Denham's dental detergent," until
he breaks down, shouting "Shut up, shut up, shut up!" to the "rhythm of Denham's
Dentifrice, Denham's Dandy Dental Detergent, Denham's Dentifrice Dentifrice Dentifrice,
one two, one two three,...."

Montag battles, against dire
consequences, for thought under the fear, strain, desperation and desire that compel him
forward to Knoll View (symbolic as a rise from which to gain a vantage place for seeing
the panorama). There he hopes to perpetuate the life of a book that will stand against
the totality of "'the family'" and the "White Clown" and keep alive the society that he
seeks to embrace, the free society where books were desired. Montag's struggle for one
society over the other is the literary importance of this
scene in "The Sieve and the Sand." Montag's efforts to memorize "Consider the lilies of
the field" are so much sand through a sieve: "the sand was boiling, the sieve was empty.
Seated there in the midst of July, without a sound, he felt the tears move down his
cheeks."

readability="10">

"'Denham's. Spelled : D-E-N-' 
They
toil not, neither do they...
A fierce whisper of hot sand through empty
sieve. 
'Denham's does it!'
Consider the lilies, the lilies, the
lilies...
'Denham's dental detergent.'" 
 

readability="16.218">Regarding social criticism, the social importance of the scene
is significant also. After all, Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451 as a
social dystopia novel because the new technology of television and the resultant
escalations in advertising were disconcerting to Bradbury and cause for his negative
prognostics of the future. As stated by Biography.com, Bradbury expressed his " href="http://www.biography.com/people/ray-bradbury-9223240#literary-works-and-honors">distaste
for television" when he explained Fahrenheit 451 as a
novel about "how television drives away interest in
reading."

Compare John Winthrop and Mary Rowlandson's writings with reference to the concept of the jeremiad.

In his famous study of Puritan rhetoric, The
American Jeremiad (1978), cultural critic Sacvan Bercovitch argues that the
jeremiad was the prevailing rhetoric mode of American literature from colonial times
down to the nineteenth century. According to Bercovitch, the jeremiad "helped sustain a
national dream through two hundred years of turbulence and change". It was a ritual
which aimed at joining "social criticism" and "spiritual renewal". Although different in
topic, both Winthrop and Rowlandson's writings described the American experience as part
of a providential design to counter moral decay. The Puritan minister and the female
captive share a providential interpretation of natural and historical occurrences whose
ultimate meaning is always religious. The foundation of the Massachussetts Bay Colony in
1630 and the eleven weeks Rowlandson spent as a prisoner of the Algonquian Indians share
the same redemptive end which is reached through the complete dependence on
God.

How was imperialism a positive or negative effect in Belgium

On the positive side, an empire helps a country to exploit
a colony's economy and to use its labor force. On the negative side, maintaining
colonies may not be profitable.

Imperialism can be either positive or
negative, each case is different. As a whole, though, imperialism doesn't pay back the
effort. Most empires held colonies simply for glory.

also
see link.

Why are sponges considered colonial organisms?

Sponges are simple animals in the Phylum Porifera. They
have two layers of cells with a jelly-like material sandwiched between. They do not have
highly specialized systems in the body. Rather, they rely on water flow throughout the
sponge transporting food, oxygen and wastes. When they reproduce, they can carry out
both sexual and asexual reproduction. During asexual reproduction, if a piece of a
sponge breaks off, it can reattach someplace else and form a new colony. When well-fed,
a sponge will asexually reproduce by forming identical buds. These may remain attached
to the colony, or break off and form new colonies. Sometimes, sponges send out gemmules,
or survival pods, when conditions are not quite perfect for their survival. Sometimes,
these may merge with cells of other sponges from the same species to form a new
colony.