What is the shedding of Harrison's handicaps symbolic of?

In the world of Harrison Bergeron, the government has made
every attempt to make every person equal.  Personal strengths and personal assets are
diminished through the use of the handicaps.  Because Harrison is a gifted athlete --
very strong and fast, as well as being very smart, he has many handicaps added to his
physical self so that he can't be smarter, stronger, or faster than anyone else.  When
he breaks through the buzzing in his ear that disturbs his thought processes he realizes
the ridiculousness of the handicapping system.  His shedding of the handicaps is
symbolic of his becoming true to himself and his abilities. The theme of story is that
while all men and can and should be treated equally, it is not
possible for all people to be perfectly equal.  Every person has
their strengths and weaknesses and that is what makes life interesting.  The diversity
of people's strengths and interests is what makes society function in its most
productive way.  While handicapping people may make some people feel better about
themselves (no one is prettier, no one is smarter etc.), it destroys the human potential
of each person.  Without potential, the human race will never progress and achieve new
advancements.  When Harrison sheds the handicaps he is attempting to reclaim his
humanity and his individuality -- the things that make him
unique! 

Any idea about how to implement national Technology Standards for teachers and students in the Elm/Midd school classroom?

The National Technology Standards for teachers and
students in general are more geared towards the integration of 21st century teaching
practices rather than in the knowledge of programs as it is. Why is this? Because,
according to the 21st century teaching paradigm, problem solving (across the
curriculum), socialization skills, and the ease to adapt to change are imperatives that
surpass the need to memorize the use of a program that is likely to be obsolete in less
than 2 years.

This being said, the best way to implement
the (ever changing) technology standards for teachers and students is to target
life/learning skills that are useful for many years to come. An example of these skills
include: Research skills, the maneuver of online dictionaries and thesauri,
investigative inquiry, inference skills, extended meaning skills, association skills,
and the building of schema.

Once these skills are mastered,
no matter what new program or software, or operating system comes to the market, the
students will be able to attempt them.

If, instead, we
insist on learning ONE current program and isolate its use from other skills we would
just be reducing ourselves to an utilitarian use of technology instead of a lifelong
experience with it.

Hence, keep on teaching the basic
skills of problem solving and integrate technology as a way to do so: Teach the kids how
to unfreeze computers, how to map printers, how to use other sources rather than the
usual Google/Yahoo/AOL to research, and you will see that their mentalities will expand
to bigger horizons than those provided by the technology marketing
industries.

What is the purpose of this illustration?Illistration:...

The purpose of the illustration that you linked to is to
sell books.  As you can see, the illustration is from the cover of a dime novel (cheap,
sensationalistic fiction as opposed to "real" literature).  A publishing company will
only put something on the cover of a book if they think the illustration will help to
attract people and make them want to buy the book.

So the
more important question here is why the publisher thought that that illustration would
help the book sell.  The answer there is that the illustration taps into the sort of
fears that people had back in those days.  In the present, we have TV shows and movies
with trailers and ads that play on our current fears (terrorism, crime, etc).  So it was
in those days.  There was a fear of Chinese immigrants and their supposedly lawless
ways.  Because of this, a book that featured Chinese criminals (and which showed them on
the cover) would be likely to sell, just as a show about someone fighting terrorism is
likely to do well today.

(Second Industrial Period) - What is stock and why do corporations sell stock?This was the time during the Second Industrial Period.

Stocks, also called shares, represent the right of
ownership in a joint stock company.  The joint stock companies are a form of business
organization in which the ownership of the company is separated from the function of
managing and conducting the business. The company is owned by people who buy shares or
stocks issued by the company representing part ownership in the company. In this way the
ownership of the company is divided in large number of shares. The number of shares
issued by a big company may can run into millions for big companies. For smaller
companies these may be as low as a few thousand shares.

The
people buying the shares of a company become part owners of the company in proportion of
the stocks held by them, and have a right to share the profits of the company in the
same proportion. The stockholders do not directly manage the company. They appoint
directors to manage the company. The they also take some major decision about management
of the company. The right of shareholders in deciding in these matters is also
proportional to their shareholding. These decisions are taken by the shareholders based
on majority. These decisions are taken in periodic meeting of the shareholders of a
company. In normal circumstances such meetings are held once a
year.

The shares held by a person or a company can be
traded on stock markets at ruling market price. In this way the ownership of the company
represented by the stocks also gets transferred with sale and purchase of stocks. The
price of the stocks is determined by the current and expected performance of the company
as well as by the interplay of demand and supply of their stocks in the
market.

Companies or corporation issue or sell stocks to
obtain finances for running a business. In this way the investors and shareholders can
invest money in a business without need to be involved in the day to day management of
the business. Also their liability for loss is limited to the money invested by them in
form of shares. Facility of selling and buying shares on the stock market gives the
shareholders greater liquidity of their funds invested. Because of all these advantages
the corporations can attract a large number of investors to invest in the company,
enabling them to obtain large sums of money for major business
ventures.

What are three characteristics of Arthur Dent from The Hitchhickers Guide to the Galaxy?

Arthur Dent is a strange mixture of action and passivity.
While content to go along with his Earthly routine in a passive and accommodating
manner, he is nonetheless capable of energetic and earnest activity on behalf of his
home and way of life. This is proven when he takes on the battle against the bulldozers
poised to strike just outside the garden gate of his quite village home in England. Yet
when his friend, Ford Prefect, tells him that the dolphins have spoken and that he needs
a bath towel and must travel with him, he falls into his characteristic passivity and
oddly enough is so awed and befuddled that he allows himself to be carried along. Added
to this, is his willingness to accept people at face value, so when he is given an
explanation for something, no matter how odd it seems, he always finally goes
along.

What is x if cos^2(x/2)-2cos^2x=(3/2)*square root2(1+cosx)+2sin^2x?

The first step is to move all terms to the left
side side:

(cos x/2)^2 - 2(cos x)^2 - (3/2)*square
root2(1+cosx) - 2(sin x)^2 = 0

We recognize the formula for
the half angle:

square root[(1+cosx)/2] =  (cos
x/2)

We'll re-group the
terms:

(cos x/2)^2 - 2[(sin x)^2 + (cos x)^2] -
[3*2(cos x/2)]/2= 0

We'll
write the fundamental formula of trigonometry;

[(sin x)^2 +
(cos x)^2] = 1

The equation will
become:

(cos x/2)^2 - 2- 3(cos x/2) =
0

We'll substitute cos x/2 =
t

t^2 - 3t - 2 = 0

We'll apply
quadratic formula:

t1 = [-3 + sqrt(9 +
8)]/2

t1 = (-3 + sqrt17)/2

t2
= (-3 - sqrt17)/2

But cos x/2 =
t

cos x/2 = t1

cos x/2 = (-3 +
sqrt17)/2

 x = +/-2arccos[(-3 + sqrt17)/2] +
2kpi

cos x/2 = t2

cos x/2 =
(-3 - sqrt17)/2, impossible since cos a > =
- 1.

The only solution of the equation is:
{+/-2arccos[(-3 + sqrt17)/2] + 2kpi}.

In Chapter 19, how well does Mr. Gilmer prove Tom's guilt in the eyes of the reader and the just, and can you suggest why these might be different?

(I believe you are discussing Horace Gilmer's
cross-examination of Tom Robinson in Chapter 19.)

I believe
Gilmer makes no impact upon the reader's decision about Tom's guilt during his
cross-examination. Atticus' prior questioning of Tom firmly establishes Tom's innocence
in the mind of most readers, and Gilmer does little to change that view. Gilmer's racist
remarks only make it clearer that Tom is a second-class citizen in the eyes of the court
(remember, Judge Taylor did nothing to stop Gilmer's use of the word "boy"). I believe
there is no differentiation between the reader's viewpoint and "the just" nature of the
testimony. Nearly all readers recognize that the Ewells are untruthful and that Tom is
telling the real version of events. Obviously, Tom's treatment and final verdict are
unjust.

How does Eliot use form and structure in his presentation of love in "The Wasteland"?My premise is that he presents love negatively in the poem. ...

In T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" love is not a benign
force. The poet alludes to its effect in ancient love stories rewritten by
renowned dramatists - to Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, to
Shakespeare's Cleopatra, and to the myth of Tereus and and Philomela - suggesting that
it is often, but not always,destructive. That these allusions respectively in the
first section of the poem, “The Burial of the Dead,” and in the second section, “A Game
of Chess,” suggest that in his landmark 1922 poem Eliot wanted to present this view of
love in a mythopoeic framework. The question is
'why'?

Eliot's poetry, especially "The Waste Land" is
marked by frequent recourse to allusion and quotation. A few critics have seen in this
extreme pedantry. But Eliot himself believed that the increasing complexity of modern
life necessarily demanded difficult poetry. More importantly, like the Matthaean master
of the house, Eliot brings from his treasure "things both old and new." The 'new and
old thing' the poet presents in "The Waste Land" is the sterility and necrotic state of
modern life. In the second stanza of "The Burial of the Dead", quoting the prophet
Ezekiel, the poet searches in vain among the dry stones, the dead trees and the "broken
images" for some sign of life. Then, suddenly, Eliot turns to Wagner's Tristan
und Isolde, where an operatic watchman tells the dying Tristan that the ship
of his love, Isolde, is nowhere to be seen on the horizon. In the second section the
reader encounters a woman sitting on a chair with the appearance of a "burnished
throne," an allusion to Shakespeare's Cleopatra. Nevertheless, even in the royal chamber
the lethalness of love, imaged in the painting that depicts Ovid's mythopoeic tale of
the rape of Philomela by King Tereus intrudes. This is followed immediately by verses
describing the grubby details of modern life - aimless, neurotic, and
childless.

Eliot's poetic calling, here presenting the
destruction and hopelessness endemic to love, was to plumb the depth of our modern
affiction in the works of bygone ages.

In The House on Mango Street, what is one stylistic device used in the chapter "Hairs"?

This incredible novel is full of small vignettes, or
fragments emerging from the impressions of the young narrator who reports about her life
on Mango Street from her perspective. Each vignette or chapter thus is incredibly vivid
as it communicates aspects of her existence told from her child-like perspective.
"Hairs" focuses on how she classifies different members of family by their different
hair. Most of all, she focuses on her mother's hair, which is described as
follows:

But
my mother's hair, my mother's hair, like little rosettes, like little candy circles all
curly and pretty because she pinned it in pincurls all day, sweet to put your nose into
when she is holding you, holding you and you feel safe, is the warm smell of bread
before you bake it...

Note
the number of stylistic devices in this one long sentence as the narrator is overwhelmed
by the memory of the smell of her mother's hair. It is compared to "rosettes" and
"little candy circles" using two similes. A metaphor is used to compare its smell to the
"warm smell of bread before you bake it." You might want to re-read this small vignette
and see how many other stylistic devices you can identify. Good
luck!

What are some quotes about Scrooge that show his personality and some quotes about his desires/ambitions.some quotes about his appearance and...

Of all the memorable characters created by Charles
Dickens, Scrooge is probably the best known.  In fact, his very name has become
synonymous with that of a cold-hearted miser.  In his novella, Dickens portrays Scrooge
with words that are equally as familiar as his name-- 
"Bah!...Humbug!" 

In Stave I, the
reader learns much about the personality of Scrooge, who does not even stop working when
his partner of many years, Marley, dies.  Nor does he bother to paint over Marley's
name; indifferent to his absence, Scrooge even answers to his name if a client should
call him "Marley."  Dickens describes him as

readability="23">

...a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone,
Scrooge!   A squeezing, wrenching, gasping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!  Hard and
sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret and
self-contained, and solitary as an oyster.  The cold within him froze his old features,
ripped his pointed nose, shriveled his cheek, stiffened his gait, made his eyes red, his
thin lips blue and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice.  A frosty rime was on his
head, and on he eyebrows, and his wiry chin.  He carried his own low temperature about
with him; he iced his office in the dogdays; and didn't thaw it one degree at
Christmas. 

In a small cell
the clerk of Scrooge's countinghouse works where Scrooge can keep his eyes upon him. 
Scrooge is so parsimonious that he

readability="6">

has a very small fire, but the clerk's fire was
so very much smaller that it looked like one
coal.

When his nephew enters
his business, heartily wishing him "A Merry Christmas, uncle!  God save you!" Scrooge
gruffly replies, "Bah!...Humbug!"  He tells his nephew to desist in his wishes or he
"will lose [his] situation," and he refuses his nephew's kind invitation to come to
Christmas dinner, as well, asking him why he has married and dismissing him by growling,
"Good afternoon!"

When two men enter, requesting charity
for the poor, Scrooge asks, "Are there no prisons?" and "no Union workhouse?" in which
the poor are confined.  One of the men tells him that some would rather die than go to
the workhouse; to this, Scrooge dismisses them,

readability="8">

"It is not my business....It's enough for a man
to understand his own business, and not interfere with other people's.  Mine occupies me
constantly.  Good afternoon,
gentlemen!"   

Finally, the
day draws to its close and Scrooge must release his clerk, Bob Cratchit, but not before
he grumpily says, "...you don't think me ill-used when I pay a day's wages for no work"
as he must allow the man a holiday on Christmas.  Ordering the man to "Be here all the
earlier" the next day, Scrooge reluctantly lets the man go
home.

Clearly, Ebenezer Scrooge is a misanthrope who shares
no warmth with any man.  As he dismisses his nephew, Scrooge
declares,

"If I could work my will,...every idiot
who goes about with 'Merry Christmas' on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding
and buried with a stake of holly through his heart.  He
should!"

In "The Rules of the Game," when did Waverly start playing chess?

We are told that Waverly's family receives the chess set
when they went to the annual Christmas party held at the First Chinese Baptist Church.
There was a Santa there with a sack of presents, and it is when Waverly goes to Santa to
receive her present that we find out how old she was. Note how the narration gives yet
one more example of the complex, hybrid world that Waverly inhabits, for she is not sure
how to answer the question:

readability="9">

When my turn came up, the Santa man asked me how
old I was. I thought it was a trick question; I was seven according to the American
formula and eight by the Chinese calendar. I said I was born on March 17, 1951. That
seemed to satisfy him.

This
clearly shows how confusing the position of someone like Waverly is when you belong to
two different worlds but aren't sure of how to position
yourself.

However, even though it is Waverly's older
brother Vincent who gets the chess set, it is when Waverly was seven (according to the
American formula) that she started to learn how to play chess.

Solve the following quadratic equation: x(x^2 - 1)(x+2) + 1 = 0

The key is to follow the proper
order.

x(x^2-1)(x+2)
+1=0

First multiply the x on the left times everything in
the first parantheses.

(x^3-x)
(x+2) +1=0

Next multiply the two parentheses. You have to
multiply the first number in the first parentheses (x^3) by everything in the second
parentheses, then multiply the second number in the first parentheses by everything in
the second parentheses.

(x^4+2x-x^2-2x)
+1=0

Simplify the parentheses by adding and
subtracting like terms (x^4 - x^2) and (2x-2x)

(x^2)
+1=0

Now get the variable alone on one side of the equal
sign.

(x^2)+1-1=0-1

(x^2)
=-1

To simplify to x we must find the square root. The
square root of (x^2) is x. What we do to one side we must do to the other, so we also
have to find the square root of -1. Square roots of negative numbers do not exist
so

x= 1i

How would a stock split benefit the existing share holders?

Stock splits may eventually benefit the existing
shareholders.

When a stock splits, each share holder gets
two shares to replace each share previously held.  But the new shares are at 1/2 the
price of the old, so the cumulative value of the shares does not change.  Therefore,
there is no immediate benefit to the share holder.

Many
investors perceive a stock split as a good sign because it indicates that the company is
healthy.  If enough people believe in the company and buy shares in the company after it
splits, the existing share holders will benefit from a higher stock
price.

Companies split stocks on the expectation of a
rising market price. Other than this, there is not really any way in which share holders
benefit from a stock split.

How can I describe why smoking is not fun for younger people but also for bit older people too?.

The first step to doing this is to figure out for yourself
what makes smoking "fun" for your audience.  Then you must try to figure out what sorts
of things you could say that could prove that those reasons do not make
sense.

For many people, smoking is seen as something that
makes them seem grown up, cool, and attractive to the opposite sex.  If this is the case
where you are, you might want to argue against that
idea.

Perhaps you could point out the bad smell that is
associated with smoking.  You could talk about how a smoker's car and clothes and room
and such all smell of stale smoke.  You can use the old line about how "kissing a smoker
is like licking an ashtray."

What is most important is that
you should think about what makes smoking attractive and then try to craft arguments
that counter that idea.

In "Ulysses", what does Ulysses think he and his mariners can do before they die, even though they are old?

This poem is famous for its spirit of unyielding adventure
in the face of old age and stability. It's narrator, Ulysses, is famous for his
journeyings back to his island kingdom of Ithaca, and now we are presented with a much
older Ulysses who grows tired of the stability and boredom of his life and has a
desperate, almost frantic desire to have one last adventure before he dies. He does not
want to dwindle or wither away living a life that is marked by its absence of excitement
and adventure. His determination to exact the most out of life is evident in a number of
places in the poem:

readability="5">

I cannot rest from travel; I will
drink

Life to the
lees.

His commitment to
adventure pushes him to take his faithful sailors and go on, seeking that one last big
adventure before death itself claims them for eternal rest. Note the words of Ulysses as
he calls his mariners to him:

readability="16">

'Tis not too late to seek a newer
world.

Push off, and sitting well in order
smite

The sounding furrows; for my purpose
holds

To sail beyond the sunset, and the
baths

Of all the western stars, until I
die.

In these famous words,
Ulysses calls for uncompromising action and asserts his determination to continue
pursuing adventure and the unknown in life until his very death.

What are some examples of Holden's internal and external conflicts in The Catcher in the Rye?

Holden's inability to deal with things, is his most
pressing conflict that he has. He lives in the past and therefore, can't move on with
his life. He is an angry young man. His external conflicts stem from this. He is angry
with life, and society. He thinks people are hypocrites and that they only care about
material things. He will start fights with people for no reason at all. He is very
selfish at this point in his life. It is quite apparent that he is suffering from some
sort of mental break, and this is causing him to create external conflict with everyone
he meets.

Holden's biggest internal conflict, is that he
can not deal with the death of his younger brother, Allie. This event has haunted him
since his death. Holden slept in the garage the night his brother died and broke all the
windows in the garage. He has harbored this anger and sadness inside himself for many
years, now. He is unprepared on how to deal with is
feelings.

readability="18">

"The thing was, I couldn't think of a room or a
house or anything to describe the way Stradater said he had to have. I'm not too crazy
about describing rooms and houses anyway. So what I did, I wrote about my brother
Allie's baseball mitt. It was a very descriptive subject. It really was. He was left
handed. The thing that was descriptive about it, though, was that he had poems written
all over the fingers and the pocket and everywhere. In green ink. He wrote them on it so
that he'd have something to read when he was in the field and nobody was at bat. He's
dead now. He got leukemia and died when we were up in Maine, on July 18, 1946. You'd
have liked him. He was two years younger than I was, but he was about fifty times as
intelligent. He was terrifically intelligent. His teachers were always writing letters
to my mother, telling her what a pleasure it was having a boy like Allie in their class.
And they weren't just shooting the crap. They really meant it. But it wasn't just that
he was the most intelligent member in the family. He was also the nicest, in lots of
ways. He never got mad at anybody...God he was a nice kid,
though."

As you can see,
Holden is not capable of letting go of the past. He lives constantly trying to tell
himself how wonderful things were, but in reality things were not great. Holden's
inability to face his future with confidence creates conflict where ever he
goes.

In Chapter 29, what things foreshadow Mr. Ewell's attack?To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

One very strong hint of Bob Ewell's vindictive act is in
his insulting actions and words in front of the post office:  "Mr. Ewell approached him,
cursed him, spat on him, and threatened to kill him "if it took the rest of his life." 
The reports of this incident occur at the end of Chapter 22 and the beginning of Chapter
23 of To Kill a Mockingbird.

Also,in
Chapter 17 Scout narrates that Robert E. Ewell, "a little bantam cock of a man"--which
indicates his attitude--takes the stand and regards Atticus with "haughty suspicion." 
And, while Bob Ewell in on the stand during the trial of Tom Robinson, he is asked to
write upon an envelope.  Unknowingly, he complies, but when he looks up, he discovers
the judge staring at him as though he were "some fragrant gardenia in full bloom on the
witness stand," and the jury watching him.  Sensing that Atticus Finch has somehow
acquired an advantage over him. Ewell becomes angry and declares that Atticus Finch is
taking advantage of him.  This anger of Ewell's and embarrassment in front of the
courtroom crowd is not to be forgotten by Ewell. He tells the judge that "tricking
lawyers like Atticus Finch took advantage of him all the time with their tricking
ways." Even Atticus later mentions that Bob Ewell will not forgive him for exposing his
ignorance.

On the night of the attack upon the children by
Bob Ewell, there are foreshadowing of the danger.  For instance, Scout notes
that

a
solitary mocker poured out his repertoire in blissful unawareness of whose tree he sat
in...[the whippoorwill sang] Poor will, Poor
Will.

Like the mockingbird,
Scout is unaware of what will soon happen; she trips on a root growing in the road as
her costume impedes her movements.  then, when she and Jem turn off the road and enter
the schoolyard is "pitch black."  Scout tells Jem, "You should have brought the
flashlight."  And, Cecil jumps out at them, and asks them if they are not "scared of Boo
Radley?"  During the performance, little Scout falls ill. As she and Jem leave the
auditorium, "it was still black dark," but they walk toward home even though Scout has
trouble in her cumbersome costume.  When Scout feels pressure on her neck, she thinks it
is Cecil teasing again as they hear a sound like leaves blowing in the wind "only there
wasn't any wind, and there weren't any trees beside the big oak behind them.  At this
point,they are attacked.

Later, in Chapter 29, Scout
remarks,

readability="8">

Somehow, I could think of nothing but Mr. Bob
Ewell saying he'd get Atticus if it took him the rest of his life.  Mr. Ewell almost got
him, and it was the last thing he
did.

Those remarks of Bob
Ewell's coupled with the dark, sinister night and the haunting sounds of the mockingbird
and the whippoorwill, certainly suggest that ill is going to befall the
Finches.

For my Romeo and Juliet essay, I wonder if impulsiveness is the same as acting quickly on decisions, or are they different?

Impulsiveness is acting quickly, particularly in
decision-making. If you are looking for another tragic flaw of Romeo, you may consider
long-suffering.

When deemed banished, Romeo spent forever
crying and pouting and rolling around like a baby in the Friar's cell. When the play
opened up, we were told about how he would spend tons of time on his own out by the
sycamore grove or in his room just being depressed. Finally, by the end he is banished
and has to spend seemingly endless amounts of time in Mantua. Although this idea is
connected to emotions, and a result of sometimes impulsive decisions, it is not the same
as either. You might also consider the fact that his suffering often comes from the feud
between the families. See if that works for you and read through the link below about
tragic heroes and maybe a different connection would surface to
you.

What is the sum of the cubes of the roots of equation x^2=7-5x?

By definition,  the roots of an equation, substituted in
the equation, cancel out the equation.

We'll move all terms
to one side:

x^2 + 5x - 7 =
0

We'll substitute x1 and x2 in the original
equation:

 x1^2 + 5x1 - 7 = 0
(1)

 x2^2 + 5x2 - 7 = 0
(2)

We'll add (1) and
(2):

(x1^2 +  x2^2) + 5(x1 + x2) - 14 =
0

We'll use Viete's relations to express the sum x1 +
x2:

x1 + x2 = -5

(x1^2
+  x2^2) + 5*(-5) - 14 = 0

(x1^2 +  x2^2) - 25 - 14 =
0

We'll combine like
roots:

(x1^2 +  x2^2) - 39 =
0

We'll add 39 both
sides:

(x1^2 +  x2^2) =
39

Now, we'll re-write the equations (1) and
(2):

 x1^2 + 5x1 - 7 = 0
(1)

 x2^2 + 5x2 - 7 = 0
(2)

We'll multiply (1) by x1 and (2) by
x2:

 x1^3 + 5x1^2 - 7x1 = 0
(3)

 x2^3 + 5x2^2 - 7x2 = 0
(4)

We'll add (3) and
(4):

(x1^3 +  x2^3) + 5(x1^2 +  x2^2) - 7(x1 +  x2) =
0

(x1^3 +  x2^3) = 7(x1 +  x2) - 5(x1^2
+  x2^2)

(x1^3 +  x2^3) = 7*(-5) -
5*(39)

(x1^3 +  x2^3) = -35 -
195

(x1^3 +  x2^3) =
230

The sum of the cubes of the roots of the
given equation is(x1^3 +  x2^3) = 230.

Please summarise Chapter Eleven of Things Fall Apart.

This chapter features the oral nature of the myths and
fables that are such a part of Ibo tribal life. It begins with Ekwefi telling Ezinma a
fable about the Tortoise. During an intense famine, the birds were given permission to
feed in the sky. Starving himself, Tortoise, who was famed for his skill with words,
managed to persuade the birds to take him with them. He tricks the birds, and receives
the best food because of his cleverness. However, the birds were very angry at how they
had been deceived, and left him in the sky. Tortoise asks Parrot to tell his wife to
surround his home with soft objects so he can jump down. However, Parrot tells his wife
the opposite. Tortoise jumps down from the sky and breaks his shell into many pieces. A
medicine man had to put it together again which is why he has a bumpy
shell.

Ekwefi and Ezinma hear the distinctive voice of
Chielo, the tribal priestess. She declares that Agbala, the god she serves, wants to
meet with Ezinma in the caves. Ezinma is carried by Chielo and Ekwefi follows. Both are
terrified in the dark. Finally, Chielo enters the cave and Ekwefi is left alone outside,
waiting. She sees Okonkwo and remembers how she came to marry Okonkwo. Having
experienced a very disturbing journey, she is now very pleased for his
presence.

In Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues," what are the images of light and darkness, especially effects of characters' dark skin on the white world?

There are so many images of darkness and lightness in
"Sonny's Blues." I think there are such images on every page in the story, and I will
provide a few.  As to the effect of the characters' dark skin on the white world, there
are not many explicit references to this in the story because, for the most part, the
setting gives us African-American characters who are interacting in an African-American
setting, Harlem.

In the very first paragraph of the story,
while the narrator is going home on the subway, he refers to the "swinging lights" of
the car and the faces of everyone "trapped in the darkness that roared outside"
(20.)

In the third paragraph, the narrator refers to
Sonny's face as "bright, and open, there was a lot of copper in
it...(20.)

Moving along to a later section of the story,
the scene the narrator describes in which he last saw his mother alive, he says, "the
night is creeping up outside...," and speaks of "darkness growing against the
windowpanes... (28).  He refers to "the darkness coming and the darkness in the
faces...(28.)  Then the description shifts.  He says,

readability="8">

"In a moment someone will get up and turn on the
light....And when light fills the room, the child is filled with darkness. He knows that
every time this happens he's moved just a little closer to that darkness outside
(28-29).

In this passage,
Baldwin is alluding to the darkness of the African-American world of that time and
place, when the darkness of being African-American was certainly a consequence of the
effect of the color of dark skin on the white
world.

Another example of the effect of the color of the
African-American on the white world, is the scene in which the narrator's mother
describes how the narrator's uncle was run down and killed by a group of drunken white
men, who surely would never have done this to a white
man.

If you go through the story slowly, you will see
references to lightness and darkness that may or may not be obvious to you because the
words "light" or "dark" are not being used.  For example, Baldwin uses the word "indigo"
(44), which is very deep, dark shade of blue.  Also notice what a nice touch this is, in
keeping with the title of the story, which is about two kinds of "blues," music and
sadness.

What are the main ideas in Stephen Fender's "The American Difference" (chapter one in Mick Gidley's Modern American Culture)?

Ever since its founding, America has tried to distinguish
itself from other nations. In his sermon "A Model of Christian Charity" (1630), John
Winthrop encouraged his fellow pilgrims on board of the Arbella that their experiment
would be a "city upon a hill". This was one of the first forms of the so-called American
exceptionalism, the effort to present the unique traits of the American experience and
society. As most of the contributions to the field of American Studies, Stephen Fender's
piece subjects this belief in the difference of America to critical scrutiny. The idea
of a coherent and uniform national character is challenged in favor of a conception of
America as a nation of people who like to think and
imagine themselves as different. Thus, Fender argues that the
American difference is not a real, tangible difference but "the idea of one" (page 7).
The American wish to be different has always been "mother and father to the fact" (page
20).

What was President Wilson's foreign policy from 1912 to 1916?

There were many aspects to Pres. Wilson's foreign policy
during his first term.  The best known of these was his policy towards WWI, which had,
of course, started in 1914.  With regard to this war, Wilson wanted to remain neutral. 
He even held to this policy of neutrality after the sinking of the
Lusitania.

On other fronts, Wilson tried to be idealistic. 
For example, he changed the laws on rates for using the Panama Canal (which we owned
back then), taking away an American advantage for the sake of free trade.  Similarly, he
supported a bill that made the Philippines a territory (rather than a colony) and
promised it eventual independence.

On the other hand,
Wilson was also willing to use force, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean. 
For example, he sent Marines in and took control fo Haiti and he meddled in Mexico's
civil war in order to support a contender that he thought would be better for the
US.

So Wilson had a lot on his plate during these years. 
His policies are usually said to have been idealistic, but not all of them actually
were.

What should be written in a formal outline?

Here is my "outline" of a formal
outline:

Thesis:

I. Topic
Category 1
A.  Topic Sentence 1
1. 
fact/support/example
2.  fact/support/example
B.  Topic Sentence
2
1.  fact/support/example
2. 
fact/support/example

II. Topic Category 2
A. 
Topic Sentence 3
1.  fact/support/example
2. 
fact/support/example
B.  Topic Sentence 4
1. 
fact/support/example
2. 
fact/support/example

III. Topic Category 3
A. 
Topic Sentence 5
1.  fact/support/example
2. 
fact/support/example
B.  Topic Sentence 6
1. 
fact/support/example
2. 
fact/support/example

Understand that in the above, A,B,C
etc., are complete sentences introducing the body paragraphs which support your thesis.
 Use as many as is necessary.  Also, 1, 2, 3, etc., is the concrete detail that proves
the topic sentence. When you translate the outline into your paper, you need to
synthesize the concrete detail with commentary or explanation of the relevance to the
thesis.

Find the average gradient between the points (t;f(t)) and (t+h;f(t+h)) on the curve f(x)=x^2.

We'll put x1 = t and x2 = t+h and we'll calculate y1 and
y2, since we know that f(x) = y and f(x) = x^2

So, y1 =
f(x1) = x1^2= t^2

y2 = f(x2) = x2^2= (t+h)^2 = t^2 + 2th +
h^2

The average gradient
is:

(y2 - y1)/(x2 - x1) = (t^2 + 2th + h^2 - t^2)/(t + h -
t)

We'll eliminate like terms inside
brackets:

(y2 - y1)/(x2 - x1) = (2th +
h^2)/h

We'll factorize by
h:

(y2 - y1)/(x2 - x1) = h(2t +
h)/h

We'll simplify and we'll
get:

(y2 - y1)/(x2 - x1) = (2t +
h)

The average gradient between the given
points, on the curve f(x) = x^2 is (2t + h).

Given the polynomial (1+x)^6 calculate the sum of even coefficients of polynomial.

We'll expand the binomial and we'll
get:

(1+x)^6 = a0 + a1*x + a2*x^2 + ... +
a6*x^6

a0,a1,a2,...,a6 are the coefficients of
polynomial.

The sum of even coefficients
is:

a0 + a2 + a4 + a6

We know
that if we want to determine the summof all coefficients of a polynomial, we'll have to
make the variable x = 1.

We'll put x = 1 and we'll
calculate:

(1 + 1)^6 = a0 + a1*1 + a2*1^2 + ... +
a6*1^6

a0  +a1 + ... + a6 = 2^6
(1)

Now, we'll put x = -1

(1 -
1)^6 = a0  -a1 + ... - a5 + a6

a0  -a1 + ... - a5 + a6 = 0
(2)

We'll add (1) + (2):

a0 
+a1 + ... + a6 + a0  -a1 + ... - a5 + a6 = 2^6

We'll
eliminate and combine like terms:

2(a0 + a2 + a4 + a6) =
2^6

a0 + a2 + a4 + a6 =
2^6/2

a0 + a2 + a4 + a6 =
2^5

The sum of even coefficientas of the
given polynomial is: a0 + a2 + a4 + a6 = 2^5

What is a speech community?

A speech community is a group that decides how language
will be used.

This community may be comprised of
professionals familiar with language (linguistics, etymologies, etc.) that have a
developed,
"professional jargon," but may also be made up of segments of
society that influence the use of language in songs, slang, etc. Examples would include
"high school students and "hip hop fans."

Microcosms of
speech communities can even be as small as a close group of friends or even a family,
where language evolves relative to those within that group. Words and phrases can be
used in a nontraditional way, or words can be created.

The
evolution of language can be seen with the advent of the Internet. We "surf" the web.
The computer-user community has created new words like
"blog."

In the television show NCIS, a
part of the humor that the character Ziva David brings to the program is that she
inaccurately uses the language, especially in terms of idioms.  Her character's
unintentional misuse of the language of the speech community she is now a part of
(coming from another country and speech community), provides humor when she is
corrected, and she processes the new information. For example, she might use the phrase
"drip on his shoulder," when it should be "chip on his
shoulder."

In terms of
literature:

readability="6">

Exactly how to define speech
community is debated in the literature. Definitions of speech community tend
to involve varying degrees of emphasis on the
following:

• Shared community
  membership


• Shared linguistic
  communication

This
"discussion" regarding literature centers around the concept that "members" of speech
communities adopt the same "linguistic norms." In other
words:

...they
share understanding, values and attitudes about language varieties present in their
community.

The
Webster-Merriam Online Dictionary defines href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/speech%20community">speech
communities, simply, as:

readability="7">

a group of people sharing characteristic patterns
of vocabulary, grammar, and
pronunciation

In literature,
it can be assumed that any group of people within a novel or play, will speak in
language patterns that are common to all, unless the piece is humorous and the breakdown
of communication is part of the humor.

The "speech
community" within a novel set in a Jewish community will use words common to that
culture/religion. In the same way, a novel written about cowboys and gunslingers will
use their own jargon, common to that "speech
community."

If a story is written in the science fiction or
fantasy genre, a new " href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/jargon">jargon" may be created
by the author for words that are specific to that book or series of books. Those who
read the series regularly will be aware and understand the jargon used, but those
reading for the first time may have to refer to the glossary of terms, often included in
these kinds of books. In this way, a new speech community is
created.

I need to know the audience and purpose of A Raisin in the Sun.

Whenever we think about questions such as the audience or
purpose of a work of literature, often we need to infer the answer from the themes
within the play. This play was not written for a specific audience, but rather it was
for a general audience, consisting of both blacks and whites. The way that it presents
the struggles of a black Chicago family and argues for racial tolerance seems to suggest
that it was intended for a white audience just as much as a black
audience.

Certainly, the presentation of the Younger family
and the various trials they suffer due to their race indicates that race and racism are
key elements of this excellent play. Race is shown to impact almost every single act
they perform and their lack of opportunities and the struggles they face daily are a
direct result of the colour of their skin. Their poverty is shown partly through the
apartment where they live, which is not cared for properly by the owner. Travis is shown
to chase a rat and Ruth fights battles to eradicate the cockroaches there--both features
of life that many whites would never dream of experiencing in their own
homes.

However, most important to this theme is the visit
of Lindner and his attempt to dissuade the Youngers from moving to his neighbourhood.
Being willing to pay off the Youngers for not moving into his neighbourhood, that he
wants to be all-white, is a subtle and pervasive form of racism, made all the more
dangerous because of its non-violent form.

In this play,
therefore, Lorraine Hansberry seems to be presenting the realities of black life to her
audience but also arguing for a more tolerant approach to race and racism. The intended
audience, from what we can infer, was meant to be made up of both whites and
blacks.

What are some of the poetic techniques in "Song of Myself," Number 10"?

You might want to think about the kind of imagery that
Whitman creates and uses in this intensely visual part of his poem. In number 10,
Whitman presents us with a series of different images, describing himself as riding in
the wilderness, sharing chowder with clam-diggers, witnessing a marriage of a trapper
into an Indian family and sheltering a runaway slave. Each of these episodes are
designed to convey Whitman's idea of a self that embraces and is in union with other
humans, nature, and the cosmos as a whole.

Certainly, out
of this selection, one of the images that clearly stands out is the marraige of the
trapper into the Indian family. Note how this is described and how Whitman creates this
image precisely so we can share in it:

readability="17">

On a bank lounged the trapper, he was drest
mostly in skins, his luxuriant beard and curls

protected
his neck, he held his bride by the hand,

She had long
eyelashes, her head was bare, her coarse straight locks descended upon
her

voluptuous limbs and reach'd to her
feet.

There is a very strong
visual element to this description, as we see the "luxuriant beard and curls" of the
trapper, and the way he protectively holds his wife's hand. Likewise we can see the
length of the hair of the bride and imagine how they cover her "voluptuous limbs."
Whitman therefore creates a memorable image that helps convey another scene that shows
how the ideal "self" is in union with everything and everyone.

Hamlet as a tragicomedy.I just need to know the introduction, and the tragicomedy element in Hamlet.

I noticed that this question or request has gone
unaddressed for one week now, and I would suggest that the reason for that is because
Hamlet isn't a tragicomedy.  There is really nothing very funny in
this play or about what is happening to any of the major or minor characters.  A king
has been murdered and supplanted by his brother; a ghost has come to Hamlet to tell him
of the murder to to demand revenge; Hamlet spends a good portion of the story coming up
with a plan to prove that the ghost's story is true.  Hamlet feels betrayed by his
uncle.  Hamlet feels betrayed by his mother for her overly quick remarriage to Claudius
-- a marriage that would have been considered incestuous.  Hamlet's girlfriend, Ophelia,
breaks up with him because her father told her to.  Hamlet's supposed friends,
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, have to come to Elisinore at the command of the King, not
to help Hamlet, but ultimately, to spy on him for the King.  Hamlet spends a good part
of the play thinking about his actions, but not doing very much to
accomplish his goals, and when he does act, he accidental kills Polonius.  This act puts
him in more immediate danger from Claudius who sends him to England in order to have him
killed.  When he arranges his return to Denmark, it is to discover that Ophelia has
committed suicide and that Laertes wants vengence for his father's death.  There is
NOTHING funny in any of this.  It isn't even a comedy of errors -- Hamlet
is the pure definition of tragedy.  The final result -- eight characters dead
by the end of the play -- is no laughing matter.  It seems wrong to even laugh at how
awful it is.  The few very slight comedic moments (Hamlet's toying with Polonius while
pretending to be mad; Hamlet's taunting the King after Polonius's death; Hamlet's bawdy
talk with Ophelia before the play) are not enough to bring this play to being an example
of tragicomedy.  Hope this helps!

What is Bigger's main fear in Native Son?He has multiple fears, however, yet explain his main one.

I think that there are many reasons that could be used to
explain his main fear, as the subtext of the question indicates.  I think that White
society does seem to be Bigger's predominant fear.  There is a fear of what White
society thinks of him when he cannot say anything to Mary's mother about him being in
the room.  His fleeing from White society's police and the relationship and perception
he has about White society all result in his fears of it.  His fears are certainly
justified and well grounded in what is the reality for someone in Bigger's condition. 
Yet, they are fears and Wright might be using this to explore how African- Americans,
particularly African- American males, perceive White society.  The odd element in this
configuration is that Bigger does believe in the American Dream.  The belief that Bigger
can actually find his own niche in the American Dream is one that inspires him to get
the job that enables him to be near Mary in the first place.  The fear of White society
is enhanced by his desire to be close or to be a part of it.  In this light, one can see
his fear as a twisted condition of reality within it.

What is the new average in the following case?A set of n numbers has an average value of the terms equal to 45. When two new terms are added to the...

Let there be n terms in the set. The average value is 45;
therefore the sum of the n terms is 45n.

The addition of
two terms a and b to the set, increases the total sum of the terms to 45n + a + b and
their average value becomes (45n + a + b)/ (n + 2) which is equal to 45 + 4 as
given.

So a + b = 49(n + 2) – 45n = 49n + 98 – 45n = 4n +
98

When the terms with the same value as those added are
removed from the set the total sum of the terms in the set is given by 45n – 4n – 98.
The average is (41n – 98)/ (n - 2).

The change in the
average is dependent on the number of terms in the set.

How does the final paragraph of the essay "A Modest Proposal" contribute to Swift's rhetorical purpose?

The final paragraph of Swift's "A Modest Proposal," first,
serves the usual purpose of a final paragraph in an essay by providing the conclusion. 
He summarizes the benefits of his proposal, for
instance:

• it's for the public
  good


• will advance
  trade


• will provide for
  infants


• will relieve the poor of their
  poverty


• will give some pleasure to the
  rich

Beyond that, the final paragraph
establishes that the speaker is not making this proposal so that he can profit
financially from it.  He has no children that are not already too old, and his wife is
past child-bearing age. 

In general, in addition to these
specifics, the paragraph contributes to the irony of the piece, as well as the humor. 
The speaker presents his proof that he is not trying to get rich off of his proposal as
if it is a serious proposal, continuing the irony used throughout the
piece.     

Provide an example in which Twain uses weather as a motive and a contributor to the mood in this novel.The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by...

In Mark Twain's American classic, The Adventures
of Huckleberry Finn, weather is certainly employed to
portend the danger in which Jim and Huck find themselves in the company of the King and
the Duke.  And, nefarious as they are, the King and the Duke use the weather as an
excuse for their own selfish motives, investigating the
raft:

Towards
night it begun to darken up and look like rain; the heat lightning was squirting around,
low down in the sky, and the leaves ws beginning to shiver--it was going to be pretty
ugly, it was easy to see that.  So the duke and the king went to overhauling our wigwam,
to see what the beds was
like.

The two men, who
represent life on the road (and sometimes a raft) in which innocents are taken advantage
of and just about anything can happen, also exploit Jim and Huck by sleeping in their
beds and telling them that they must keep watch on the raft. As they do so, Huck and Jim
are nearly killed by the storm by being struck by lightning or by being swept off the
raft.  Huck narrates,

readability="7">

The waves most washed me off the raft,
sometimes....the lightning was glaring and flittering around so
constant....

Did Napoleon show wisdom by invading Russia?

Given the way in which this invasion turned out, it is
almost impossible to argue that the decision to invade was a wise
one.

Napoleon invaded Russia largely because of his
excessive desire for power.  The basic reason for the invasion was that Russia was not
living up to its obligations under various treaties with France.  For example, it did
not help France in France's war with Austria.  This may not seem like a pressing reason
to start a war.

Add to this the fact of the huge size of
Russia.  It ought to have been clearer to Napoleon that it would be very difficult
indeed to invade and conquer a country of the size of Russia.  Committing his forces to
such an invasion proved to be very unwise.

Overall, then,
invading a huge country for a questionably compelling reason is not a convincing sign of
wisdom.

Are there any allusions in Octavia Butler's novel Kindered?

The Prologue of Kindred begins with
an allusion to events that occur within the interior of the novel, which commences in
the form of flashbacks continuing from the starting point of the Prologue. The novel's
opening lines depart from the frame of the Prologue and lead into the flashback
with:

The
trouble began long before June 9, 1976, when I became aware of it, but June 9 is that
day I remember. It was my twenty-sixth birthday. It was also the day I met
Rufus.

There is also an
allusion in the Epilogue to the Emancipation Proclamation written by Abraham Lincoln
during the Civil War, which led to the Fourteenth Amendment, written to protect the
civil rights of the newly freed slaves. While thinking about Hagar's fate, the narrator
relates, "Hagar, at least, lived long enough for the Fourteenth Amendment to free
her."

There are several allusions to the differences
between Southern slaves and Northern slaves as in the Chapter called "Fall": "In spite
of all ... the dangers of owning educated, Northern-born slaves, he wanted to buy me."
There is also an allusion to the animosity between whites and blacks in "The Fight" when
the narrator says, "And pass or no pass, I would hide from whites if I
could."

Butler's focus in writing is on recreating the
experience and environment of the South during the years preceding the Civil War, the
Emancipation Proclamation, and the Fourteenth Amendment. Butler finds little or no place
for allusions outside of that environment and experience. As a result, classical and
other standard literary allusions do not embellish the text.

How might Othello end without the handkerchief scene?or you can say that, what would happen if Desdemona was found innocent?This handkerchief was...

In the play Othello by William
Shakespeare, one symbol, the handkerchief, acts as the "ocular proof" that Othello
demands from Iago before condemning Desdemona.  Othello seeks to "see" a piece of
evidence that would demand he rebukes Desdemona for infidelity.  The handkerchief,
originally his mother's, also serves as the filial connection between mother and son,
thus metaphorically illustrating man's inability to trust women.  If the handkerchief
was never a factor in the play, Othello would never receive the visual proof he was
waiting for to act out his aggression towards Desdemona; however, his characterization,
both direct and indirect, demonstrate to the reader that he would have responded and
reacted in the same way.  His downfall began by listening to the lies that Iago was
creating.  A strong character would have the ability to make his own decisions and
determinations without the wrathful voice of another whispering shortcomings.  Othello,
instead of directly approaching his wife about his insecurities, chooses to wait for
something as small and insignificant as a handkerchief to condemn her to her death.
 While symbolically important because it connects the idea of woman's destruction by the
hands of man, it is relatively unimportant in that Othello would have found some other
way to chastise Desdemona.

Please solve the physics problem below.A 2.0 kg mass starts from rest at the top of an inclined plane 85 cm long and slides down to the bottom in...

Problem A) The net external force will be found by using
Newton's 2nd Law.  Net force is equal to mass times acceleration.  We know the mass is
2.0 kg, the acceleration must be found using kinematics equations.  You know the intial
velocity is zero, the distance is 0.85 m and the time is 0.5 s.  Use the equation x =
v_i * t + (1/2) a t^2

0.85 = (1/2) a
(0.5)^2

a = 1.7/0.25 = 6.8
m/s^2

B)  find the net force by adding the two
vectors.  The vectors are perpendicular so you can add them using the pythagorean
theorem.

(390)^2 + 180^2 = 429.5 N (net
force)

acceleration = net force/mass = 429.5/270 = 1.59
m/s^2

the direction is found using
trigonometry

The inverse tangent of (390/180) gives the
angle above east that the acceleration vector has, which is 65.2 degrees north of
east

In The Great Gatsby other than cheating at golf, are there any instances of Jordan being dishonest?

This is a great question because Nick calls her dishonest
not just once but twice. In the end of chapter three, he says of
her:

"She was
incurably dishonest. She wasn't able to endure being at a
disadvantage and, given this unwillingness, I suppose she had begun dealing in
subterfuges when she was very young... It made no difference to me.
Dishonesty in a woman is a thing you never blame
deeply."

Nick's discussion of
her suggests that lies are regular for her. How that is defined and how much of it we
actually see is up for debate.

By chapter 7, when Tom
figures out Gatsby and Daisy are having an affair, he accuses both Nick and Jordan of
keeping the information from him which demonstrates that type of lie that is just not
telling the whole truth.

Jordan is certainly careless with
driving and she acknowledges that to Nick a couple of times throughout the text. It
seems that she is the type of person who would not stop to check if she caused an
accident. This is certainly deceptive.

Other than that, her
dishonesty is kept out of the storyline. We do not discover all her lies, but we do see
Gatsby's. Perhaps this portion of the text is put in place just to get us thinking about
the fact that people lie.

What is the importance of the old woman in Candide?What is the importance of the role of the old woman, and how are various themes and ideas...

Of all the characters' suffering
in Candide, the suffering of the old woman would win the prize, if
there were one. When tales of woe are exchanged, the horrors of her life are beyond
imagining, including the loss of one buttock when she was cannibalized. Through her
character and the epic nature of her physical trials, much satire is achieved in regard
to Candide's search for truth; based on her history and the world as she has experienced
it, the philosophy of optimism becomes far more difficult to
defend.

The old woman had not been born to her sorry state.
She is the daughter of Pope Urban X (a significant satirical religious reference in the
novel) and a princess. Growing up in wealth as Princess Palestrina, she had been
extraordinarily beautiful. Through a series of fantastic, horrendous events, she had
become the deformed old woman Candide meets.

Despite her
tribulations, however, the old woman has not given up. Although she had once
contemplated suicide, she could not relinquish her life; she carries on, even though she
has no reason to expect a better future--and she does not get one for quite a while
after meeting Candide. More misery ensues until she is rescued by Candide to spend her
days on the farm where she finds life terribly
dull.

Through the old woman, life is presented as one
terrifying experience after another, punctuated by periods of drudgery and boredom--yet
human beings cling to it. Many pretend to be happy and optimistic to endure life; some,
like the old woman, just keep living. She is developed in the novel as a very memorable
satirical portrait of the human condition.

Why does Miss Havisham invite Pip to Satis House?

The correct answer why Miss Havisham wants Pip to visit
her at 'Satis House' is found in
Ch.7.

Mrs.Joe
Gargery, Pip's sister tells her husband Joe,

readability="6">

`She [Miss Havisham]
wants this boy [Pip] to go and play there [Satis House]. And of course he's going. And
he had better play there.'

When
Joe asks her how Miss Havisham came to know of Pip, she replies that Pumblechook who was
a tenant of Miss Havisham recommended Pip's name to Miss Havisham when she asked him if
he knew of some boy who could amuse her by coming to Satis House and play
there:

Isn't
it just barely possible that Uncle Pumblechook may be a tenant of hers, and that he may
sometimes -- we won't say quarterly or half-yearly, for that would be requiring too much
of you -- but sometimes -- go there to pay his rent? And
couldn't she then ask Uncle Pumblechook if he knew of a boy to go and play there?
And couldn't Uncle Pumblechook, being always considerate and
thoughtful for us -- though you may not think it, Joseph,' in a tone of the deepest
reproach, as if he were the most callous of nephews, `then mention this boy, standing
Prancing here' -- which I solemnly declare I was not doing -- `that I have for ever been
a willing slave to?'

How did Catherine the Great modernize Russia?

Catherine the Great ruled Russia from 1762 to 1796.  She
tried to modernize Russia in many different ways, ranging from economic reforms to
governmental and even social reforms.  Her reforms were not particularly effective,
however, and Russia continued to be less modern than other European
countries.

For example, Catherine tried to modernize the
Russian economy by breaking down state monopolies over various areas of the economy. 
She modernized government by setting up different levels of government (like provinces
and districts) so that the governing of the country could be more efficient.  She even
experimented with allowing greater freedom of
speech.

Catherine the Great tried to modernize Russia in
many ways, but did not really succeed.

What california law passed in 1943? How did it affect papa and other isseis?in farewell to manzanar

The law that was passed in California in 1943 (the one
that is relevant to this book) said that isseis (the Japanese who were actually born in
Japan and then came to America) could not hold commercial fishing
licenses.

This was hugely important because Papa and many
other isseis had owned fishing boats.  If they could not have a commercial fishing
license, they could obviously not be fishermen any more.  This led to Papa staying in
camp as long as he could since he no longer had anything to do once he got
out.

Find f'(x) if f(x) = (x-2)/(2x-3)

We have f(x) = ( x - 2)/ ( 2x -
3)

=> f(x) = (x - 2) * ( 2x -
3)^-1

We use the product rule which states that if h(x) =
f(x)*g(x)

=> h'(x) = f(x)*g'(x) +
f'(x)*g(x)

f(x) = (x - 2) * ( 2x -
3)^-1

=> f'(x) = [(x - 2)]' * ( 2x - 3)^-1 + (x - 2)
* [( 2x - 3)^-1]'

=> f'(x) = 1* ( 2x - 3)^-1 - (x -
2) * 2 * (2x - 3)^-2

=> f'(x) = [(2x - 3) - 2x + 4]/
(2x - 3)^2

=> f'(x) = 1/ (2x -
3)^2

Therefore for f(x) = (x - 2)/(2x - 3),
f'(x) = 1/ (2x - 3)^2

How does Fitzgerald demonstrate the ideas of the Modernist period in The Great Gatsby?

Fitzgerald's work represents Modernism in a variety of
ways.  The most profound of these is that there is a completely tragic ending. 
Modernism was animated with the spirit of depicting tragic conditions in all aspects of
life.  The fact that Gatsby dies at the end, his death goes unpunished, and that the
real criminals in the story continue and actually prosper are all Modernist tendencies. 
There is a stunning rebuke of the idea that justice and morality end up forming the
structure of consciousness.  At the same time, Modernism was concerned with exploring
the tragic and more bleak side of what was commonly associated with positive and
redeeming values.  In this instance, it is the ability to dream.  Gatsby is a character
that believes in the authenticity of his dreams, and of appropriating the world in
accordance to his own subjectivity.  His failure and death represents the crushing
weight of such dreams, and how consciousness is a desire for the garden resulting in the
painful and forced embrace of the desert.  While wealth and advances in being "modern"
were present, nothing could shield Gatsby from such a painful
end.

Why does Amir call his birthday gifts "blood money"?

I a sense there are two meanings behind his reference to
having the birthday gifts as blood money.    In the book
The Kite Runner,  Amir wants his fathers love and support.  He
knows that he is a disappointment to Baba.  He wries and reads his stories to his
father, but nothing he does demonstrates to him that his father accepts him for who he
is. 

The day of the kite tournament is a turning point in
the story.  Amir and Hassan attend the kite tournament in Kabul.  Amir for once
demonstrates aggression during the tournament and wins by cutting the other kite's
string.  As a result he wins the tournament. 

Baba finally
sees some hope that his son can stand up and be aggressive.  He showed he can be a
winner.  When he gives such magnificent presents to Amir, the boy knows that he got hem
because he had won.  He also recognizes that he is only appreciated by his father at
this moment in time because he did win.

The second reason
that it is blood money is because after the tournament Hassan had run for the kite.  He
ran into the alley and Assef and his friends accosted him.  Hassan would not give Assef
the kite which angered Assef.  As a result Assef raped Hassan while Amir hid behind a
wall evident of the events.  He was unable to stand up for Hassan.  As Hassan left he
still had the kite and gave it to Amir.  The blood from the rape that was shed by Hassan
was the other reason those gifts felt like blood
money.

Regarding Anton Chekov's "The Lady with the Pet Dog," when the story was published in 1899, how was it received?

Anton Chekov achieved literary acclaim based on two forms
of writing he used: the play and the short story. Because Chekov was ill, fighting
tuberculosis, he moved to the region of Yalta in hopes of improving his health.  (The
short story mentioned in this post opens in Yalta.)

It was
here, in 1899, that he wrote and published, "The Lady with the Pet Dog." It is a sad
tale of Dmitri and Anna, both unhappily married to someone else, who happen to meet at a
vacation spot and begin an affair. They go their separate ways, but over time, they meet
again: both admit they have been unable to forget the other. Dmitri realizes he has
finally fallen in love, but the couple is unsure how to proceed, and the story ends on
that unresolved note.

"The Lady with the Pet Dog" was first
published in the magazine,  Russkaya Mysl (Russian
Thought). It is a much anthologized story; only four years later the story
was first published in English.

readability="5">

[It] is considered one of Chekhov's best-known
stories.

And...

readability="13">

In Yalta, Chekhov wrote one of his most famous
stories, The Lady with the Dog (also called Lady with
Lapdog), which depicts what at first seems a casual liaison between a married
man and a married woman in Yalta. Neither expects anything lasting from the encounter,
but they find themselves drawn back to each other, risking the security of their family
lives.

Are Shakespearean female characters perceived as characters of minor significance in Hamlet and The Taming of the Shrew?Often the female characters...

In Hamlet, you could reach this conclusion, although it is
all because of Gertrude's marriage to Claudius that we have the play in the first
place.  Had she not married her brother-in-law so soon after her husband's death (murder
by poison in the ear during his daily nap), Hamlet would not have so strong a moral
dilemma to overcome.

I do not agree that the characters of
Kate an Bianca are minor characters in Taming, however.  They ARE the play.  If it
weren't for the focus on Bianca's marriage and the dilemma of Kate needing to be married
first, we would not have such a wonderful, lively, and in the end, moral comedy.  Kate
is one of my favorite characters for her anger, passion, intellect, clever tongue, and
independence.  She makes the play, and no one would have guessed that she alone was the
one woman in the play who is led by her heart and loyal to her man; unlike Bianca and
the widow who are the real shrews of the play.  No, the women are the main focus in this
play...they rule the world!

What is meant by: Who would there fardels bear, to grunt and sweat under a weary life, but that the dread of something after death.

This quote from Hamlet occurs in Act
3, scene 1, and is part of the most famous soliloquy ever written:  "To be, or not to
be."  In this soliloquy, Hamlet is questioning why we continue to live when dying would
put an end to our misery.  Your particular quote expresses this sentiment quite well. 
In the quote, "fardels" is another word for burdens.  Hamlet is asking why anyone would
bear the burdens of a long and weary life full of suffering and toil.  He continues to
answer his own question:  we do not commit suicide because we are afraid of the
afterlife, the unknown, the

readability="11">

undiscover'd country from whose
bourn

No taveller returns . .
.

And makes us rather bear those ills we
have

Than fly to others that we know not
of?

Throughout the soliloquy
Hamlet describes living as something to bear.  Hhe calls long life a "calamity" while
death is referred to much more positively as a "quietus" or a "consummation devoutly to
be wished."  The choice of "fardels" with its negative sounds supports the idea that
life is torturous and painful and poses a sharp contrast to the words he chooses to
describe death.  This diction lends credence to his argument that we bear the burdens of
life because we don't know what will happen after death. 

What are the figure of speeches in this short story?"The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" by Mark Twain

One of Mark Twain's earliest stories, "The Celebrated
Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" helped to establish Twain as a one of America's
greatest humorists.  This story illustrates Twain's satirical attitude toward 
storytelling and the cultural differences between the eastern and western regions of the
United States.  Satire is a form of writing that makes use of stereotypes by ridiculing
them through exaggeration, an exaggeration that prevails throughout the story, and is
termed

hyperbole  [obvious
exaggeration]

• Simon Wheeler tells
  his "interminable narrative" of two
  men:

readability="5">

[He] admired its two heroes as men of
transcendent genius in
finesse.

• Wheeler
  enumerates all the things that Jim Smiley would bet on anything, saying that
  he even bet on Parson Walker's wife who had fallen ill. 
  One day Smiley walked in and asked how Walker's wife was doing, and the Parson told him
  that she was doing better.  Nevertheless, Similey says
  "Well, I'll risk two-and-one-half" that she don't
  anyway."


Smiley
had a mare called a "fifteen-minute nag."
Smiley's frog would "nail a fly
every time as far as he could see him."

metaphor
[unstated comparison]

• He never
  changed his voice from the gentle-flowing key to which he turned the
  initial sentence


• At the door I met the
  sociable Wheeler returning and he button-holed
  me.

simile 
[Stated comparisons using like or
as]

• Jim Smiley had a dog
  that he would fight; when this dog fought,
  

readability="9">

his underjaw'd stick out like the forcastle of a
steamboat....his teeth would...shine savage like the
furnaces.

[Smiley had] a "Yellow one-eyed
cow (hyperbole)...with no tail and only jest a short stump like a
bannanner."

When
speaking of his frog, Smiley says that it is "as solid as a glob of
mud."  The frog

readability="11">

 scratches his head with his hind foot
as indifferent as if he hadn't no idea he'd been doing anymore 'n any frog
might do.

Dan'l Webster...hysted up his
shoulders so like
Frenchmen

The frog was whirling in the air
like a doughnut.....turned one summersault or may be a
couple or so and come down flat footed like a
cat.

How has Washington Irving influenced American Romanticism?

When we think of Washington Irving, what stands out most
of all is what he accomplished in his short stories. Above all what he did was help
America develop a distinctive and unique literary voice of its own by writing his
fiction. Romantic elements that we see are the way that Irving takes European based
legends and archetypes and re-writes them, planting them firmly in America, and thus
satirising and ridiculing various aspects of American History. A key aspect of Romantic
literature is the importance of myths and supernatural elements, and these can all be
seen in his most famous stories, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," "Rip van Winkle" and
"The Devil and Tom Walker." Although his fiction is the result of lots of borrowing from
European sources, Irving made his storytelling unique by incorporating his sardonic
voice to his work, making it distinctive and also transforming himself into a literary
celebrity.

Determine the common point of the lines 2x+y-5=0 and -3x+4y-9=0.

To determine the crossing point of the 2 lines, we have to
solve the system formed from their equations:

2x+y=5
(1)

-3x+4y=9 (2)

We'll
multiply the relation (1) by 3 and the relation (2), by 2, and after that, we'll add (1)
to (2). We'll obtain:

6x+3y-6x+8y = 15 +
18

After reducing similar terms, we'll
get:

11y = 33

y =
33/11

y=3

We'll
substitute y by 3, into the relation (1):

2x+3 =
5

2x = 5-3

2x =
2

x =
1

The crossing point is A
(1,3).

What do the terms "left-wing" and "right-wing" mean?

These terms are generally used to refer to the political
ideology that people or political organizations hold.  The term "left" or "left-wing" is
generally used to refer to more liberal ideologies while the term "right" or
"right-wing" is generally used to refer to more conservative points of
view.

These terms refer to a continuum of political points
of view.  Most people would place communists on the far left of this spectrum.  The most
common ideology to place on the far right would be fascism.  In between, there are
various political positions that are more or less conservative or
liberal.

These terms are used extensively in political
writings.  For example, you will hear the Tory Party in England referred to as a
"center-right" party, showing that they are seen as slightly more conservative than an
ideology in the exact middle would be.  This is as opposed to the National Front Party
in France that is seen as a far-right party.

Solve the inequality step by step. Explain, please, each step! -7-3x

First, we have to subtract 5x, both sides of the
inequality:

-7-3x-5x<5x-5x+29

-7-8x<29

Now,
we'll keep the unknown to the left side of the inequality and we'll multiply the
inequality, both sides, by -1. Because of the negative value, the sign of the inequality
will be changed, after
multiplying.

7+8x>-29

Now,
we'll subtract 7, both sides of the inequality, and we'll
get:

7-7+8x>-29-7

8x>-36

Now,
we'll divide the inequality by
8:

x>-36/8

x>-9/2

The
solution of the inequality consists in all x values from the interval (-9/2,
inf).

Discuss how Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and Don Juan reflect the Romantic characteristic that places emphasis on the value of the unique...

I can give you background on Byron's emphasis on the
individual, which you can apply to the homework (the reading of the two
works):

Both works focus on the Bryonic Hero, which is a
very close persona of Byron.  Here are his qualities:
notorious…condemned…defiant…brooding…melancholic…voracious…unusually handsome, or
inextricably attractive, often to both sexes...wounded or physically, disabled in some
way...moody, mysterious, and/or gloomy...passionate (both in terms of sexuality and deep
emotions generally)...remorse laden (for some unnamed sin, a hidden curse, or
crime)...unrepentant (despite remorse)...persecuted by fate...self-reliant (often
rejecting people on both physical and emotional
levels)

Here's the background: In 1815, a radical
aristocratic poet, Lord Byron, married, had his first child, and published
Hebrew Melodies, a commercial success which included "She walks in
beauty." Like Napoleon, Byron had become a national romantic hero and champion of the
working class [his first speech in the House of Lords was to grant pardon to English
weavers].  In fact, Byron even welcomed Napoleon's Hundred Days rule and said of his
defeat at Waterloo: "I'm damned sorry for it."  That same year also brought defeat for
Byron: the separation of his wife and rumors of "insanity, incest, and sodomy" by
English critics, politicians, and poets alike. In April 1816, Byron exiled himself from
England, later saying to those who opposed Napoleon and
revolution:

O
ye! who teach the ingenious youth of nations, Holland, France, England, Germany or
Spain, I pray ye flog them upon all occasions, It mends their morals, never mind the
pain (Don Juan, Cato
II).

This is
Byron's Weltanschauung,
or cultural view of the world: he sees a world
in which Byron himself was exiled and morose, alienated from wife, child, and
home.

Andrew Rutherford, in his book,
Byron: A Critical Study, indicts Byron for "artistic slight of
hand," saying that Child Harole is a flawed Byronic Hero, but he never admits to his own
faults in his soliloquies. In effect, Byron is "having it both ways": to avoid
criticism. Since he was an artist in exile, since some critics and certainly the public
were more concerned with tabloid than his works, Byron wrote exiled art forms of poetry
and drama that are intentionally ambiguous and equivocal, all without realistic moral
grounds, to spite critics.  So says Rutherford:

readability="14">

All his heroes in the early verse tales had
paradoxical virtues of good and evil, vice and virtue, but their more unpleasant crimes
were never fully presented in the poems, so that the reader--like the author--could
enjoy the romantic villainy without ever facing its real implications. Something of the
same kind happens in Manfred, for the hero's sinful past is emphasised to make him seem
more interesting and awe-inspiring, but the more objectionable qualities (like hypocrisy
or delight in others' pain) are excluded from the actual portrayal of his character, by
an artistic sleight of hand amounting to
dishonesty.

Is it possible to study the way that people act think and feel with scientific methods? Please explain your answers. Thank you. Psychologically...

As a researcher, you could make a prediction about how
people might act, think or feel in a given situation. You would be basing this on prior
knowledge and observation. You would state this question as a problem. You could then
formulate a hypothesis which is a possible solution or outcome to the stated problem.
You could then set up an experiment to test your hypothesis. It should contain a large
sample of people, to get more valid results. One group, the experimental group will be
given the variable you are testing. The other group, the control group will not get the
variable. You will collect your data and analyze it. You will come to a conclusion
regarding your hypothesis and then, you can share your findings with others. The
experiment must be able to be replicated several times, to prove its validity. An
example of how you can use this method to test how well people think and perform during
an exam. Your hypothesis could be that people who eat breakfast before an exam, will
perform better than people who don't. This could easily be tested and data could be
collected. This is one simple way to test how people think, using a scientific
approach.

What key words should I use in an "assess" question?

The answer to your question would really depend upon what
exactly you are going to assess.  Generally, when you assess something you are
considering its value or worth.  You may be considering how something relates to
something else.  In terms of the study of literature you may be asked to assess the
author's use of particular literary device and how it relates to the meaning of the
work, for example.  In this type of question, you should state examples of the device
and assess what the device does to enhance the experience of the work.  In this case,
assess means to explain.  I don't know that there is a list of words that you should use
when you explain something.  The most important thing to remember when you are analyzing
something to is continually ask yourself why you think something you have said is true,
and then writing the answer to that 'mental' question. 

The
first suggested defintion above was about considering the worth of something -- think
assessment.  In this case, you might be determining if a piece of literature is good, or
even better, what makes it good.  Again, the key to successfully writing this response
is about developing a higher order of reasoning for the points you are making.  You may
state that a story is good because ______________.  That makes it good because _____,
and that is important because _______.  It may look like a lot of becauses, and they
don't necessarily have to be actually in the statements, but good arguments extend the
analysis to prove the validity of the statements made. 

No
matter what you are assessing, focus on proving your point, not on what types of words
you think need to be in your response.  I hope this helps.

What are adjectives that can describe Ralph in Lord of the Flies?

I believe that Ralph changes drastically during his stay
on the island. He does not start out as mature--in fact, every time he becomes excited
about being alone on a "good island" without adult supervision, he can't even find the
words to express himself, so he stands on his head to express his enthusiasm, which is
quite immature.

He is
certainly not accepting and tolerant at the beginning,
either, as he appears to be quite prejudicial against the
fat boy with thick specs named "Piggy." He tries to sneak away from Piggy at first, but
then, realizing that Piggy will not be left behind, Ralph
grudgingly puts up with his company. After Piggy asks Ralph
not to tell the others of his humiliating nickname, Ralph goes right ahead and tells
them anyway (again displaying the immaturity he arrives with on the island).
Noble at this point is out of the
question.

Ralph tries to be
somewhat responsible up to a point, but he's not that
interested in responsibility--that is Piggy's forte. A list is supposed to be made of
all the kids on the island, but it does not come to fruition. Then there is the fire on
the mountain, and the boy with the mulberry birthmark is killed--and they can only
account for his death because of the noticeable birthmark. This is when Ralph takes a
more serious turn.

As the other kids lose their sense of
civilization, Ralph tries more and more to be responsible and
noble, even though he, too, at times, lapses, such as in the killing of
Simon.

The traitorous and violent turn that Jack takes
makes Ralph very fearful for the boys who are still on his
side and for himself, especially at the end when he is being hunted. As they are
rescued, this fear has its catharsis in the weeping that Ralph is finally able to give
in to.