Does Portia like the Prince of Morocco? Why?

While Portia does not seem to dislike the Prince of
Morocco as she does the foolish Arragon, she certainly did not want to marry him.  Her
comment after he chooses the incorrect casket demonstrates this.  She says in an
aside:

"A
gentle riddance! Draw the curtains, go. / Let all of his complexion choose me so"
(2.7.86-87).

Shakespeare's
use of the word "complexion" could be interrupted in several ways.  Many take it to mean
that Portia is prejudiced and that she does not want to marry someone of a different
race.  However, there is not any other evidence in the play to support this view of her,
and since Shakespeare presents Portia as an admirable character, it is difficult to
argue that he would paint her as a racist (since he often berates prejudice in his
plays).

A second interpretation of the word is that it
refers to Morocco's "type." The audience knows from his speech to Portia at the
beginning of Act 2 that Morocco has a high opinion of his effect upon women.  We also
know from Portia's conversation with Nerissa in Act 1 that Portia has a very specific
list of qualities that she does not like in men, and Morocco has some of those
characteristics (for example, he thinks highly of himself and his culture differs
greatly from hers, something that she criticizes in one of her other suitors because she
is afraid that they will have nothing to talk about).

Thus,
Portia seems to be rather ambiguous about Morocco.  She has already stated her
preference for Bassanio and most likely never thought of Morocco seriously as her future
husband. 

Does the Mayan calendar predict that the world will end in 2012?

There are a number of theories that claim that the world
will end in December of next year.  They have sprung up, generally speaking, because of
the calendar system used by the Maya.

The Maya's calendar
system was based on three different calendars.  There was a sacred calendar of 260
days.  There was a solar calendar that had 365 days.  Finally, there was a "Long
Count."  This was based on the idea of 52 year cycles because the other two calendars
combine to make a cycle that repeats every 52 years.  Included in this idea of the long
count was the idea that they were living in a period that had begun in roughly 3100 BC
and would go for about 5125 years.  That period runs out next
year.

Some people say that this meant that the Maya thought
the world would end when that period ran out.  Others (see National Geographic link
below) argue that this is not that much different than the changing from the 1990s to
the 2000s -- it's just the start of a new cycle.

People now
worry that the world will end next year because of this, but it seems kind of strange
because by this calendar, the world only began in 3100 BC.  So I don't really see why
people believe that the world will end by this Long Count when it clearly didn't begin
when the Long Count said it did.

I have to write a compare and contrast essay on living in a apartment versus living in a house.I need help with pre-writing (effects) and a...

Pre-writing: The best way to prepare for writing compare
and contrast essays is to create a pros and cons list for each of the main elements of
the essay.  In your case, you would create a list of pros and cons for living in an
apartment and the pros and cons of living in a house.  As you create lists, see if any
natural categories begin to emerge.  A few categories that come to
my mind with this topic are: financial
pros and cons, space pros and cons, and
social pros and cons.  Your brainstorming might lead to
others along these lines.

Reference list: An essay like
this is easiest when you have experience on both sides of your argument.  Your own
experience and observations are certainly valid if you are allowed to write this from a
personal standpoint.  If you do not have experience with personally
living in both a house and an apartment, you might seek references first in other people
who do (interviews).  I also imagine there are plenty of magazine articles written on
this exact subject (specifically targeted at college students and young professionals
who are just starting to live on their own) so a Google Scholar search might yield
results with a few topical keywords.  As far as financial data goes, I encourage you to
seek and compare prices of actual apartments and housing in your area.  In order to make
comparisons as equal as possible, choose apartments and houses in the same general
neighborhoods.  To make things easier, you might only focus on housing "for rent" rather
than for sale, as mortgage/interest rates would only make this more complicated.  Aim to
compare floor plans that boast of similar square footage or equal numbers of rooms and
bathrooms.  This will enhance your financial comparison.  Again, this information is
readily available using Google or other internet search
database.

What is the significance of the two houses in Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights?

The houses to which you refer are Wuthering Heights, home
of the Earnshaw family, and Thrushcross Grange, home of the Linton family.   Both houses
are family estates located in the Yorkshire moors of England.  This areas was an open,
marshy area with few people living close together.

These
houses serve as a contrast to each other and represent the way of life of the
inhabitants.  As the novel opens, the reader sees Wuthering Heights through the eyes of
Lockwook; it is a dark, creepy, angry and unhappy place.  This reflects the figuratively
dark natures of its inhabitants, Heathcliff, Catherine Linton and Hareton.  From the
death of Mr. Earnshaw, the Heights has been filled with death, revenge, and
anger.

Thrushcross Grange, however, is not filled with such
hate.  It represents happiness and beauty.  The lights are bright; the house is filled
with music, and the family entertains frequently.The Linton family is introduced as
mirthful and genuine.  In fact, Catherine is drawn to it because of this, which sparks
the animosities between the two families.

Compare the village before and after Rip's 20 years sleeping in "Rip Van Winkle."

This is an intelligent question to ask about this
intriguing short story that seems to offer some kind of reflection on the Americna
Revolution and the independence from Britain that was achieved. Obviously, this is one
of the central differences, and the fact that Rip Van Winkle went for his sleep before
the Revolution and then woke up afterwards suggests that Washington Irving is trying to
say something about it.

As Rip draws near towards his
village he is started to see that he doesn't know any of the people that he meets and
that they are dressed in a strange manner to his eyes. Superficially, the village itself
has grown larger:

readability="8">

The very village was altered; it was larger and
more populous. There were rows of houses which he had never seen before, and those which
had been his familiar haunts had disappeared. Strange names were over the doors--strange
faces at the windows--everything was
strange.

His own house has
gone to "decay" and the inn has changed as well, most importantly now bearing a picture
of George Washington instead of King George and having changed its name. The people in
the inn seem to have changed as well, as Rip Van Winkle notes in their
conversation:

readability="9">

The very character of the people seemed changed.
There was a busy, bustling, disputatious tone about it, instead of the accustomed phlegm
and drowsy tranquillity.

Rip
later finds out that some of his friends went off either fight in the war and some serve
now in the new government. So, plenty of changes in the village have occurred. The
question you need to ask is what Irving is suggesting through these
changes.

Why does a rock projected with a slingshot go faster if the rubber is stretched an extra distance?

The rubber band in a slingshot is an elastic band which
when pulled to extend it beyond its equilibrium length returns to the original length
when released.

The behavior of the rubber band can be
considered to be like that of a spring. When a spring is stretched or compressed from
its equilibrium length it requires a certain amount of work to do so. The force that has
to be applied is related to the distortion by the Hooke's Law as F = -kx. The work done
is stored in the spring as potential energy which is released when there is no force
acting on the spring.

In the case of the rubber band in the
slingshot, stretching it by an extra distance requires energy which is stored as
potential energy in the band. When the band is released, this energy is converted to
kinetic energy of the stone. The kinetic energy KE = (1/2)mv^2, as the mass of the stone
remains the same, any extra kinetic energy results in an increase in the velocity. If
the stone has a greater kinetic energy, it will go
faster.

This explains the stone going faster if the rubber
band in the slingshot is stretched an extra distance.

Why is marriage nowadays such a failure with so many people getting divorced?

There can be many answers for this.  Let me give you two
possibilities:

• There is more divorce now because
  women have more economic options than they once did.  In the old days, women did not
  typically have the means to make a good living for themselves.  Therefore, once married,
  they had to pretty much stay with their husbands no matter what since they had no way to
  support themselves.


• Second, you can argue that there has
  been a decrease in Americans' willingness to sacrifice.  You can argue that Americans
  used to be willing to forego complete happiness so as to keep their marriages together. 
  Now, they are more likely to think that, if their marriage is not perfect, they should
  get out of it and seek their own happiness no matter what the impact on their families
  might be.

Describe the impact of McCarthyism on American political life.Also, how did the anticommunist campaigns affect the media?

One of the largest impacts that McCarthy had was in the
very idea that the individual politician can seize on an issue and manipulate it in
order to substantiate their own political power.  McCarthy might have had splendid ideas
on the economy, or on ensuring that education was affordable and open to all, or could
have had excellent ideas about how to increase affordable automobile production.  Yet,
this is not where he made his presence felt.  Rather, the campaign against the
Communists is what he chose to which his name should be linked. He decided that this
would be "his" issue and through the politics of scapegoating and targeting individuals,
his own political power increased and his own sensibilities gained traction.  McCarthy
ended up proving that if properly timed, politicians can seize upon an issue with great
political results that benefit them.  Certainly, McCarthy was able to gin up the voting
public with politicizing their fears about Communists and the supposedly imminent threat
they posed to the democratic order of the United States.  He was also able to utilize
the media in spreading his message and his hearings to all.  Where McCarthy made his
mistake was that within his bluster and talk, he never realized that the media could
also portray him in a negative light.  Edward R. Murrow was able to utilize the media to
expose McCarthy for the self- serving fraud he was and through his reporting, McCarthy
lost effectiveness.  While he did fade, McCarthy ended up proving how politics and
control can be manipulated to self serving ends when public fears are exploited and
politicized.

What were factors that led to the Korean War?

Some factors leading to the Korean
War:

Kim Il Sung, totalitarian dictator of North Korea
(N.K.), originated the idea of invading South Korea (S.K.) and had some Russian military
advisors who were stationed in Pyongyang, draw up a plan. Kim believed that the U.S.
would not help the Rhee government in S.K. and that even if they did, he could win his
war before they arrived. He was also encouraged by the fact that there were some
communist guerrillas in S.K. who would rally to his aid when he
invaded.

In 1949, Mao of China told N.K. diplomats that he
supported N.K.’s plan for communist expansion but that he could not provide troops to
help before his Chinese communists had a secure hold of all of China. Only after N.K.
had lost its war and pleaded for help, did Mao send troops into Korea. At that, it was
more MacArthur’s strategy than pleading from Pyongyang and Moscow, that brought China
into the war. MacArthur had pushed his United Nations (U.N.) forces right up to the
Chinese border, though China had warned him not to. Chinese Manchuria bordered Korea and
was a vital industrial region of China. China was afraid that either U.N. forces would
invade Manchuria, or Russian forces would invade Manchuria in order to "protect" it from
the U.N. forces. Also, before Japan had annexed Korea, Korea had for a long time been a
loyal tributary state of China, so it would look bad if China did not come to the aid of
its fellow communist state of N.K. to repel the U.N. invaders from its
soil.

Only after a series of pleas from Kim Il Sung, did
Stalin of the U.S.S.R. give a hesitant approval for Kim’s invasion of S.K. Stalin gave
this approval after negotiating a mutual defense treaty with China in which negotiations
did not go as he had hoped. He had asked Mao for several concessions that would have
permitted some U.S.S.R. forces to remain at a few locations in China. Mao wanted China
to be completely independent of the U.S.S.R., so he refused. Stalin decided Mao was not
going to be as easy to get along with as he had hoped. Ever since the end of World War
II, N.K. had been a U.S.S.R. satellite state. Stalin now decided that a reunified Korea
under Russian influence might be a good counter-poise to China. Not only to China, but
also to the strong American presence in Japan. He figured that if Korea was reunited
under U.S.S.R. influence, the U.S. would transfer troops from Europe to Japan and he
thought this would be good for Russia (to get the U.S. troops away from U.S.S.R.’s
satellite states in Europe) and bad for China. Stalin was also optimistic because of
communist guerrillas in S.K. and because the Rhee government in S.K. had become
unpopular. The U.S.S.R. would appear weak in the eyes of the world if it did not aid its
satellite state, N.K.

The U.S. had committed itself to
helping S.K. become a nation-state. The largest number of U.S. civilian and military
advisors anywhere in the world was in S.K. U.S. policy-makers believed that a loss of
its client state of S.K., would mean a loss of U.S. prestige all around the
world.

Jo, Yunghwan. 1991. "The Soviet and Chinese Roles in
Initiating the Korean War, and Its Link to the Origins of the Sino-Soviet Dispute" in
Chullbaum Kim, ed., The Truth about the Korean War: Testimony 40 Years
Later. The Eulyoo Publishing Co., Seoul,
Korea.

Lee, Steven Hugh. 2001. The Korean
War. Longman, 33-34.

What does "Separation of Powers" mean?

The Articles of Confederation failed because they did not
give the central government enough power.  It had no power to tax, to raise troops for
an army, to control interstate commerce, and to stop states from printing money, among
many others.  So the framers of the Constitution knew that they had to create a strong
federal government, but at the same time make sure it did not become too powerful.  So
they incorporated the principles of Separation of Powers,
Checks and Balances, and
Federalism into the
Constitution.

The framers of the Constitution (those who
framed, or wrote, the Constitution) feared a powerful central, or national, government. 
In order to keep the national government from becoming too strong, they divided the
government into three branches, the legislative, the executive and the judicial.  The
framers then gave each branch separate, specific powers.  This is known as
separation of powers—that is, the
powers of the national government were divided among the three branches of
government.

The framers were also concerned about one
branch of government gaining too much power; therefore, they also established a system
of checks and balances.  Each branch
of government was given the ability to check the power of the other two branches of
government.

Finally, the framers of the Constitution were
concerned that a national government would dominate the state governments—that is, the
national government would have too much power and the state governments would have too
little power.  To keep this from happening, the framers established a government based
on federalism.  In this system, power
would be divided between the federal government (that is, the national government) and
the state governments.  Some powers would be given or delegated only to the federal
government, some powers would be reserved to the states, and some powers would be
shared—both the federal government and state governments would have that
power.

Is the following argument sound? All students are brilliant. She is brilliant. So she is a student.

In order for an argument to be sound, it must first be
valid.  So we must find out if this argument is valid.

An
argument is valid if and only if the conclusion must be
true if the premises are true.  Here, we have two
premises:

• All students are
  brilliant.


• She is
  brilliant.

We have one
conclusion:

• She is a
  student.

So we ask: can she be something other
than a student and still be brilliant?

The answer is yes --
nothing in the two premises says that only students can be
brilliant.  All students are brilliant, but that does not mean that other people cannot
be brilliant.

Therefore, this argument is not valid.  If an
argument is not valid, it cannot be sound either.

Do student who get good grades have a social handicap? If so why and what are some examples

It varies greatly from student to student, I have found. 
Where many times the Valedictorian of our graduating class has a 4.0, they are often
some of the most outgoing, involved students we have.  There are others that have to
work very hard for their grades.

A Vietnamese brother and
sister who were recent immigrants and in the 8th and 9th grade, had to work incredibly
hard each day to learn the language, master the subjects and get good grades.  They each
ended up going to MIT on scholarship, but they did have social issues in that there was
never much time to just hang out with friends, go to dances or
date.

For students who only work on academics, and stick to
such a rigid study schedule, yes, it could be a possibility, but I don't see many of
those students, especially now with Facebook and
MySpace.

Some of the social handicaps I've seen include
nervousness about starting conversations, or being exceptionally quiet in class, even
when called on.  Sometimes they have a sense of humor or behavior that is a few grades
below where they are at in school.

What are some elements of realism in The Awakening by Kate Chopin? Especially in Chapters 1-8. Thank you.

The Awakening is a novel of manners;
by that I mean it's a novel more about how things are done and what people are feeling
and thinking and the social construct (rules and behaviors) of the time.  That being
said, there are lots of realistic elements in the entire novel but particularly the
beginning, for it sets the external stage for all the internal conflict which is to
come.  The most realistic element in those chapters is the sensory imagery--the sights
and sounds and smells of the people and places.

The setting
is a beach community, so we have the sights and sounds and feel and taste of beach--sand
and sun and water.  In the heat of the day, people are fanning themselves, trying to
stay cool. We have "a number of bath-houses along the beach, of rough but solid
construction" as well as cottages.

readability="10">

The cottages were all dark. A single faint light
gleamed out from the hallway of the house. There was no sound abroad except the hooting
of an old owl in the top of a water-oak, and the everlasting voice of the sea, that was
not uplifted at that soft hour. It broke like a mournful lullaby upon the
night.

Then we have clothing
which sometimes rustles and the pipe smoke which has its own
scent.

She
wore a cool muslin that morning - white, with a waving vertical line of brown running
through it; also a white linen collar and the big straw hat which she had taken from the
peg outside the door. The hat rested any way on her yellow-brown hair, that waved a
little, was heavy, and clung close to her
head.

We feel somehow as if
we're there when we can experience the story through our senses.  It's these sensory
images which allow readers to feel as if they're participating in the
story. 

What is the effect of different schedules on intermittent reinforcement?

Intermittent reinforcement is used to maintain acquired
behaviors. There are several schedules for reinforcement, and they all have a different
affect on the behavior.

Fixed Ratio (FR) Reinforcement
reinforces the behavior after every X number of times. There is a high response rate
here, but the responses become irregular as involved individuals begin to recognize the
pattern as to when the reinforcement will come, and that is when they display the
appropriate behavior.

Fixed Interval (FI) Reinforcement
occurs after X amount of minutes. This works really well just prior to the
reinforcement, but it stops working after the reinforcement because the individuals know
that no reinforcement will be forthcoming.

Variable Ratio
(VR) Reinforcement occurs after X number of responses on an average. This has a high
level of response. The greater the ratio the greater the
response.

Variable Interval (VI) Reinforcement is given for
the first occurrence after every X minutes. This has a more consistent rate of
responding.

Both VR and VI are more resistant to extinction
as their pattern is more difficult to predict.

Are you suppose to inject sterile water intramuscular or subcutaneous?Me and my fellow classmates administered injections to each other in class...

Sterile water for injection is used to mix medications
that are given intravenously. IM or SQ routes are contraindicated. If a product is
needed for IM or SQ use that product should be NS(normal saline). However, NS is also
used as a diluent for IV medications also.

The pH of
sterile water is between 5.5-7.0, this is probably why it burned assuming you gave each
other SQ or IM shots. The pH of your blood is between 7.35-7.45, so the sterile water is
more acidic.

Nevertheless, the amount that you administered
to each other was hopefully very small, probably less than 1ml. You may have had a
local, self limiting reaction to the sterile water.

Was Caesar's death and act of justice or murder in Julius Caesar?No paragraph answer needed. Just bulleted list

One important thing to remember is that Shakespeare's play
Julius Caesar, while being a historical play that represents
some reality, it is not documented history.  So, to answer this question the readers
must confine their evidence to what occurs in the drama.  Here are some reasons that
Caesar may have been perceived as a tyrant who deserves to be
assassinated:

• Caesar defeats Pompey, a Roman
  general and triumvir, who is loved by many of the
  Romans


• He also defeats Pompey's
  sons


• Caesar kills Flavius and Marullus for "pulling
  scarves off Caesar's images"


• He acts eager to accept the
  crown when it is offered to him by Marc Antony and the crowd
  cheers.

Yet, while Brutus believes that he acts
nobly out of love for Rome, his decision to join the conspirators ends in causing Rome
to enter into a devastating civil war and be taken over by the second triumvirate of
Octavius, Lepidus, and Marc Antony, who is willing to foment the crowd of Rome after the
assasination.  Antony also is willing to sacrifice his own nephew in his designs for
power.

Is Caesar's death an act of justice or murder? 
Given the meager evidence of Caesar's tyranny in Shakespeare's play, and given the envy
of Cassius along with the naivete of Brutus, Caesar's death seems more like murder than
an act of justice.  Certainly, the play ends as a tragedy, so no good came of the act of
assasinating Caesar

Solve the equation log(2) [x(x-1)]=1

First, we'll impose the constraints of existence of
logarithm:

x(x-1)>0

The
range of admissible values for x is (1 ; +infinite).

We'll
solve the equation by taking anti-logarithm:

x(x-1) =
2^1

We'll remove the
brackets:

x^2 - x - 2 =
0

We'll apply quadratic
formula:

x1 = [1 + sqrt(1 +
8)]/2

x1 = (1+3)/2

x1 =
2

x2 = -1

Since the second
value of x doesn't belong to (-1; +infinite), we'll reject
it.

We'll accept as solution of equation x =
2.

In Frankenstein, why does Justine confess to a crime she did not commit?

Justine confesses because she is afraid of being damned to
hell as a murderess.  As a Catholic, it is important to be absolved of all sins before
dying, and in order to do this, she had to admit to the sin...even though she did not
commit it.  There was enough vagueness in her account of things to put the guilt on
her...obviously, she was fatigued from looking all night for William once she heard he
was missing; this was on top of the harrowing journey she had just taken from her own
mother's home.  She was incoherent (for many reasons as the reader knows), and this
fact, in addition to the presence of the locket in her pocket (placed there by the
creature), has cast a very dark shade of guilt on her in the eyes of the villagers. 
Therefore, with all this weighing upon her, she is seemingly hopeless and helpless that
anything but her death is in her near future.  She confesses to be able to face her
death without guilt.  She does not consider that the telling of this lie will weight all
the heavier upon her.

In Of Mice and Men, what does Lennie represent? How does he represent "the inarticulate and powerful yearning of all men"?

Lennie Small, because of his mental limitations, cannot
articulate his deepest needs and desires in language that expresses and explains them
specifically, but his deepest and most powerful yearnings are evident throughout the
novel. Lennie longs for the safety and security of a home that cannot be taken away from
him, a place where life can be fulfilling and free of anxiety. For him, this desire is
expressed as "living off the fat of the land" in a place where, finally, he
belongs.

As migrant workers, George and Lennie are members
of the dispossessed, men without homes who have no place in society and who do not
belong wherever they may be. They are poor and trapped in their poverty. Lennie's dream
of the farm, although he cannot discuss it except in the most elemental terms,
represents the universal human yearning for freedom, security, spiritual fulfillment,
and human dignity.

Evaluate the limit of sin x + cos x, if x->pi/3?

We'll evaluate the limit of the sum of the functions sine
and cosine in this way;

lim (sin x + cos x) = lim sin x +
lim cos x, x-> pi/3

We'll substitute x by the value
of pi/3 and we'll get:

lim sin x + lim cos x = lim sin pi/3
+ lim cos pi/3

sin pi/3 =
sqrt3/2

cos pi/3 = 1/2

lim sin
x + lim cos x = lim sqrt3/2 + lim 1/2

The limit of a
constant function is the value of the constant:

lim sin x +
lim cos x = sqrt3/2 + 1/2

lim (sin x + cos x)
= (sqrt3 + 1)/2

What are the advantages and disadvantages of self-reflexive and non-linear historical account or narration of Saleem Sinai in Midnight's Children?

I would say that one of the most unique elements to
Saleem's narration is that it is fragmented and not coherent.  This is similar to the
manner in which India was partitioned and what resulted after the British left.  The
advantages of Saleem's method of narration is that it does not provide a sense of
totality and a sense of completeness.  In creating a narration in this manner, Rushdie
is able to bring out some of his post- modern themes concerning identity in the modern
setting.  A natural disadvantage of this is that those who strive for unity and harmony
in the narrative will be disappointed.  Yet, within this lies Rushdie's pure strength. 
In attempting to bring out the idea that modernity brings with it a sense of incomplete
and a sense of fragmented, Saleem's narration, the voice of the modern India, is
developed in this manner.  This is only enhanced by the idea of the errors in the
narrative.  The mistakes that Saleem commits in his retelling of India is something that
reflects how history, in general, is filtered through individual bias and subjectivity. 
In this, the modern setting lies, where information is present, but truth in the
totalizing sense is not.

Four examples of irony in "The Lottery" and in your paragraph and for each example you must include at last two facts, reasons, incidents.

A major example of irony in "The Lottery" occurs when Bill
Hutchinson chooses the black spotted paper in the first round of picks.  Mr. Graves asks
for the number of people in the Hutchinson family, and Mr. Hutchinson does not include
his daughter Eva in the count.  On the first reading, one would assume that the least
number of people in the count will provide better odds for the family's winning the
prize.  However, Tessie boldly states that Eva and her husband should have to be
included in the count so that they can take their turn.  When Mr. Graves tells Tessie
that Eva draws with her husband's family, Tessie is angry.  When the reader learns at
the end of the story that the "prize" is death, this event is even more ironic--why
would a mother want her daughter to take her turn at possibly being killed?  Such irony
suggests that people may in fact resort to crude measures when they are fighting for
their own survival.

I'm having a hard time with metaphors and similes in Marvell's poem, "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love." Any suggestions?

In Andrew Marvell's poem, "The Passionate Shepherd to His
Love," I find metphors, not similes. (Similes compare dissimilar things using "like" or
"as.")

The metaphor compares dissimilar things that share
the same characteristics. The poem is comprised of figurative language, so I don't think
we need to take all of his descriptions literally.

For
instance, in the second stanza, the speaker refers to the birds singing "madrigals"
(songs about love) to the shallow rivers' falls. (This is metaphoric, figurative
language, as birds don't sing madrigals.) In the third stanza, the speaker refers to a
bed of roses. It may be literal, but we often speak of a bed of
roses as something desirable, while if we say "this is no bed of roses," we are saying
things aren't so great. He may simply be telling his sweetheart that life with him will
be wonderful: a metaphor.

Marvell goes on to say that they
will weave wool from their sheep and make her dresses from it (unlikely) and place
buckles on her shoes of purest gold. And he'll make a belt of straw and buds.
Metaphorically, I believe he is saying he will provide all she needs if she will come
and live with him. If they love, the gown and shoes will not
matter. He compares the things of the natural world to things of the real world: a bed,
clothes, etc. He may be comparing the real world to the imaginary world they would
create if they lived together surrounding by nature as the shepherds
do.

These are the metaphors I found. Hope this
helps.

what are a and b is a+3b=-3 and 2b=a-12.

Given the equations:

a + 3b =
-3 ..............(1)

2b = a
-12

==> -a+2b =
-12 ............(2)

We have a system of two equations and
two variables.

Then, we will use the elimination method to
find a and b.

==> We will add (1) +
(2).

==> 5b= -15

Now we
will divide by 5.

==> b = -15/5 =
-3

==> b= -3

Now we
will substitute into (1) to find a.

==> a + 3b =
-3

==> a + 3(-3) =
-3

==> a -9 =
-3

==> a = 9-3 =
6

==> a = 6

Then, the
answer is:

a = 6   and   b =
-3

What is the most significant thing Homer Hickam does in October Sky?

I would say that the Homer's pursuit of his dreams is
probably the most significant element in his narrative.  The fact that he never
sacrifices his dream despite his father's inertia and the state of being in Coalwood are
challenging enough elements. Yet, Homer does not acquiesce to these elements.  The most
significant thing Homer does is to pursue and continue the vision that exists in his
mind, and in the subjective experiences of the Rocket Boys.  The idea that the boys are
able to pursue their dreams in a setting that is not immediately appreciative of their
elements is vitally important.  It becomes incredibly important for Homer to act and to
continue to act on the advice of his mother in pursuing the designs and execution of his
foray into the realm of rocket technology.  This becomes his calling and his chosen
profession so it would be logical enough to presume that his mere continuation of this
through adverse conditions becomes the most significant element in his
narrative.

In "Two Kinds," by Amy Tan, what are the moments of crisis in the conflict of this story?I believe one is the piano recital; are there more?

In Amy Tan's short story, "Two Kinds," from her
collection, The Joy Luck Club, there are moments of crisis
surrounding the conflict in the story between Jing-Mei (June) and her
mother.

The conflict is man vs. man, and it plays out in
the story between a Chinese mother who wants her Chinese-American daughter to achieve
some kind of success. Her mother only wants what is best for her daughter, but her
daughter can only see her own resentment, sure her mother is trying to make her
something she is not.

The first crisis of the conflict in
the story is, as you mention, the piano recital. Jing-Mei has not practiced enough, and
yet she somehow believes that her "prodigy" side will step in and magically smooth out
the areas of the song Jing-Mei does not know. This, of course, does not happen. Jing-Mei
and her mother are devastated and embarrassed by her poor
performance.

There is a second moment of crisis, and it
still involves the piano. After the fiasco at the recital, Jing-Mei is sure her mother
will stop pushing her and that lessons will cease. However, this is not the case. At
four o'clock, as Jing-Mei sits watching TV, her mother tells her it is time to practice.
Jing-Mei, aware of the power she has to say "no," screams at her mother, refusing to
comply. They have a terrible fight, and Jing-Mei looks for something to push her mother
over the edge: she says...

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'Then I wish I wasn't your daughter. I wish you
weren't my mother...'

'Too late change this,' said my
mother shrilly...And that's when I remembered the babies she had lost in China, the ones
we never talked about. 'Then I wish I'd never been born!' I shouted. 'I wish I were
dead! Like them.'

It was like I had said the magic
words...and her face went blank, her mouth closed, her arms went slack, and she backed
out of the room,
stunned...

Jing-Mei's words
start out the way many angry adolescents react to authority and their inability to exert
enough power over their own lives. However, Jing-Mei is looking for a weapon, something
to push her mother over the brink, to make her really angry. So she mentions the twin
babies her mother had to leave behind in China, something that has haunted her mom all
her life. (See "A Pair of Tickets.")

This is the second
moment of crisis within their conflict: the conflict of mother and daughter, of her
mother's dreams vs. Jing-Mei's own wishes. Jing-Mei delivers an emotional sucker punch
that her mother is not expecting. However, instead of fighting back, Jing-Mei's mother
has been touched in such a terrible way, that she loses all her fight and simply backs
away. This incident hovers between them for many years.

What can a country do to overcome the macroeconomic problems it faces?

The answer to this depends on what problems the country is
facing.  In general, countries can face two types of problems.  They can have too much
inflation or too much unemployment.

If a country has too
much inflation, it needs to reduce its people's ability to spend.  This "slows down" the
economy and makes prices go down.  The country can do this by fiscal policy (raising
taxes, reducing government spending) and/or by monetary policy (raising interest rates,
selling government bonds).

If the country has too much
unemployment, it needs to increase its people's ability to spend.  Again, it can do this
through fiscal policy (lower taxes, spend more) and/or by monetary policy (lower
interest rates, buy government bonds).

That said, some
economists believe that what a country should do to improve its economy is to lower
taxes and decrease the amount of government regulation of the economy.  These "classical
economists" believe in laissez-faire.  They think the economy will always work itself
out of any problems if the government just stays out of
economics.

What is the point of Mrs. Dubose in To Kill a Mockingbird?

Mrs. Dubose serves as model of two concepts: courage and
discipline.

Mrs. Dubose's problem of addiction elicits her
effort to free herself. As an old woman who is taking morphine for some type of pain, we
know that she has reason to be cranky as readers. The children however, think she is
just mean. If she is in continual conflict with her body but trying to die free from
addiction she has to practice both courage and discipline. It takes bravery to to allow
her own body to endure the pain when she knows there is a quick fix for the pain if she
chooses to use it. Additionally it takes discipline, the kind of discipline that is the
practice of doing something right over and over, to be able to achieve longer and longer
lengths between her doses of morphine.

The practice of that
actually disciplines Jem as well because he has to read to her for longer and longer
each time. Jem deserved discipline as in a punishment for his crime of destroying her
flowers.

Teaching courage and discipline were both
necessary because of what Atticus and the children were about to endure from the town.
It helped teach the children a lesson about patience and keeping their cool when other
people say terrible things that just demonstrate heated
emotions.

In The Kite Runner, why does Baba insist that Amir receive religious training from the Mullah?

I think you are getting somewhat confused. When religious
training is mentioned in Chapter Three, it is not insisted upon by Baba, but a natural
part of Amir's education. In fact, as it becomes perfectly evident when Amir tells Baba
about what he is learning from the mullah, that Baba has little time for such teaching,
and counsels his son to be wary of what they say. He says, for example, when Amir brings
the topic up, that he has "confused what you're learning in school with actual
education" and then goes on to say that Amir will "never learn anything of value from
thos beared idiots." Lastly, having made his opinion perfectly clear about those
"self-righteous monkeys" he then says, ironically, "God help us all if Afghanistan ever
falls into their hands."

Thus we can see that Baba is
bitterly opposed to a God who has so little to worry about that all he can do is focus
on the way that Baba drinks and eats pork. He does his best to challenge the teaching
Amir receives and to give Amir a more realistic perspective on life, the world and
religion. I think Baba would have been happy if Amir did not have any religious training
at all, myself...

In Shakespeare's Hamlet, describe what happens to Polonius?

In Shakespeare's play, Hamlet, one of
the main characters is Polonius. Polonius is an advisor to the King who, ironically, has
wise advice that he never takes himself, and who talks too much, while saying very
little.

Polonius had served Old Hamlet, the former King of
Denmark, before Claudius, the dead King's brother, secretly murdered him in the orchard
or garden. When Claudius takes the throne, Polonius continues on in the same position he
had prior to Old Hamlet's death. Polonius is also father to Ophelia, Hamlet's
sweetheart.

To make himself indispensable, or because he
likes to hear himself talk (or both?), Polonius tries to make Hamlet's potential madness
about Ophelia, and therefore, about
him.

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OPHELIA:

...Pale
as his shirt, his knees knocking each other,

And with a
look so piteous in purport

As if he had been loosed out of
hell

To speak of horrors, he comes before
me.

POLONIUS:

Mad
for thy love?  
(95)

OPHELIA:

My
lord, I do not know,

But truly I do fear
it.

As soon as Polonius makes
up his mind that Hamlet's unstable behavior is directly related to his love of Ophelia,
Polonius takes the information to the King.

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POLONIUS:

That
hath made him mad…

Come, go we to the King.  
(130)

After Hamlet has
seemingly forced a visual admission of guilt in the murder of Old Hamlet, while at the
play, Mousetrap, Polonius goes to visit Gertrude in her
rooms.

Hamlet, finally sure that Claudius has, indeed,
murdered his father, finds the King praying. Hamlet is prepared to kill him there, but
knows that if he does so, while Claudius has just prayed and allegedly cleared his soul
of all his sins, the King will go directly to heaven, something Hamlet's father was
unable to do because he was murdered while he slept. Hamlet hesitates, and leaves.
(Ironically, Claudius is kneeling in prayer, but cannot
pray.)

Soon Hamlet finds himself at his mother's rooms.
Hearing his approach, Polonius, wanting to be at the center of the action and provide
what he hopes will appear to be essential assistance, decides to hide behind the arras
(a curtain or wall tapestry) to spy on what Hamlet has to say to
Gertrude.

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POLONIUS:

He
will come straight. Look you lay home to him...

I'll
silence me even here.

Pray you, be round with him.    
(5)

QUEEN:

I'll
warrant you;

Fear me not. Withdraw; I hear him
coming.

[Polonius hides behind the
arras.]

It is
important to understand that when Gertrude married her brother-in-law, the Elizabethans
considered this an incestuous marriage. When Hamlet enters the room, he makes a
threatening move toward Gertrude who shouts in fear. Polonius, behind the arras, also
shouts in fear.

Hamlet quickly ascertains that
someone is hiding behind the arras. Hamlet thinks it is Claudius,
come to share his wife's bed, thus placing the sin of incest once again on Claudius'
soul. With this in mind, Hamlet acts to avenge his father's death, stabbing through the
curtain, killing Polonius instead.

Polonius dies while
spying on Hamlet, and Old Hamlet's murder remains unavenged.

What is the poem "The Mother" about?

"The Mother" is Brooks' portrait of a poor woman who has
experienced the challenging conditions of material reality and psychological condition. 
In the poem, Brooks pays attention to the difficulty in living in poverty.  When
individuals understand the construct of poverty and economic challenge, it is magnified
when understanding how mothers and caregivers have to operate within such a paradigm. 
This external reality impacts the woman on a psychological level, for her economic
condition compelled her to have multiple abortions.   The exploration of the impact of
both spheres of existence helps to bring to light the difficulty of living in the modern
setting.  In depicting a character in this light, Brooks' poem brings to light how
economically challenged living conditions robs the humanity from those who live there. 
Brooks' subject is challenged by her psychological and sociological state, and this
exploration becomes the basis of the poem.

What is asked when told to elucidate the structure of any common phrase in English? Please explain with an example.

This question requires your understanding of the word
elucidate. Essentially, this means to make something clear, or to clarify what is said.
I would also imagine that you are being asked to pick a phrase that is not meant
literally but figuratively. Thus, you must identify the purpose of the phrase, thereby
making it clear.

For example, often English speakers will
say that "it is raining cats and dogs." When we do say this we do not literally mean
that cats and dogs are falling from the sky. We mean the rain is coming down so hard. We
exaggerate by substituting a small, sometimes easily provoked animal for the pelting
rain. Cats and dogs cannot fall from the sky in the form of rain. But we can often feel
that rain is nagging us and inconveniencing us like small animals can. This paragraph is
your elucidation. It makes clear how and why the phrase is
used.

You might consider looking up other idioms or
colloquialisms in the English language. You could uncover other phrases to use and
research.

What are the characteristics of the characters in the novel 'The Outsiders'?

All the Greasers in The Outsiders are extremely loyal.  If
someone starts a fight with one member then they all fight, they are true to one another
and have created a family for themselves.  Loyalty is a key characteristic of the
Greasers.  When Johnny killed Bob, Ponyboy ran away with him, because he knew he was the
reason Johnny did this and was loyal to his friend.  While they look tough on the
outside, on the inside they are loving and loyal to their “family”.  All members of the
gang love each other, but it is most evident between Ponyboy’s love for Sodapop, Dally’s
love for Johnny and of course between Ponyboy and Johnny.  While Darry doesn’t seem to
love Ponyboy throughout the boy, we discover that he does love him and the reason he
works so hard and is tough on Pony is to make sure that they get to stay together as a
family, again enforcing the importance of family.  The Greasers are tough and get into
many rumbles, but the rumbles are not what prove that they are courageous.  The fire is
the best example to prove that the Greaser are courageous, even the reluctant hero,
Dally, joins Johnny and Ponyboy in going back into the fire to save the kids.  Johnny
was brave enough to knowingly risk his life to save the kids and never regretted this
heroic act.  Loyalty, love, courage and bravery are some of the Greasers characteristics
in The Outsiders.  These characters are much deeper than they appear on the outside,
often in stories, the label of, ‘greaser’, ‘hood’ or  ‘outsider’ is as deep as these
tough guys goes, painting them as the rough and tough villain.  The Outsiders is
refreshing because it gives us the opportunity to see that ‘greasers’ are so much more
than slicked back hair and a leather jacket.

How does Salman Rushdie present histogriographic metafiction in Midnight's Children?

The style in which Rushdie presents his work helps to
bring out its thematic development.  I think that Rushdie's grasp of historiography is
driven by the expressions of the subjective.  Rushdie tells the history of the Indian
subcontinent before, during, and after Partition through the individual perception of
Saleem.  Through this narrative, Rushdie utilizes historiographical elements.  The
assembling of history is done so through an individual voice. Saleem is aware of his
meta-fictional and meta-historical condition for he understands his unique powers being
a child of Midnight and being a historian of this "tryst with destiny."   Yet, this
voice is fraught with errors.  Saleem makes many assertions that are contradicted with
the record of historical development.  This form of "errata" is exactly what Rushdie
seeks to create.  In the end, all historiography is flawed with what it includes and
what it excludes.  There can be no super- historical record, no overarching voice that
claims to have complete and totalizing authority.  This is where Rushdie's claims of
historiography are the most powerful.  Rushdie does not intend his work to become a
historical collection of data.  Yet, in the process, Rushdie brings out questions about
this collection of data in the first place.  In the final analysis, there is significant
question as to how history is collected and assessed, and just like Saleem, that has
errors in his retelling, yet knows this is the only retelling out there, we, as
individuals of historiography, must live with our own limitations, seeking to bring
other voices into the discourse to enlighten and enhance our own.  It is in this where
Rushdie's work becomes powerful and almost transcendent in a condition where contingency
is the limiting factor for all.

How would you describe the characters in The Devil's Arithmetic: Schmuel, Fayge, Yitzchak also Reb Boruch.

In the book The Devil's Arithmetic
Fayge is a young Jewish woman who is eagerly anticipating her wedding to Scmuel.  She
has on her beautiful dress and is brought to the synagogue by wagon to her fiancé.  As
they climb out of the wagon they are greeted by soldiers.  When they are told that they
can not enter the synagogue and have to get in the trucks she is very distressed.  She
calls out to Schmuel that their canopy is Gods, indicating that they are married in her
and God's eyes even if they had not been allowed.

Fayge
changes during her incarceration at the concentration camp.  She becomes depressed,
thin, distressed, and shuts down.  Eventually, she just gives up hope and everything. 
When Schumel wants to try and escape she won't take the risk.  She eve loses her feeling
for him because she has become numb from all of the emotional pain and physical
changes.

Schumel is a young and devout Jewish man.  He is
dark haired and energetic.  He looks forward to his wedding.  However, he finds himself
on the trucks with the Nazis.  He reacts with anger and disappointment.  Once in the
camp he comes to realize that the only hope that he has is if he tries to escape.  He
does this because he is courageous and makes the decision to leave even though Fayge
won't go with him.

How does Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream fit in with the context of pastoral literature?

Pastoral literature idealizes
life in nature, specifically the life of a shepherd out tending his sheep in the pastor.
Pastoral literature typically speaks of love, death, and various social issues. In the
sense that A Midsummer Night's Dream primarily deals with the topic
of love, we can say that it represents pastoral literature.
We can see the reference to the forest, in both the very beginning and the very end of
the play, as a happy, ideal state in nature, much like a pastor. We can also see
Oberon as symbolizing a
shepherd in the fact that he looks after the four Athenian
lovers and creates for them an ideal state of love. However, Shakespeare also portrays
the forest as a chaotic, even nightmarish place while the
city of Athens is the more rational, peaceful state of existence, and in this sense,
A Midsummer Night's Dream cannot be
referred to as pastoral literature.

In the beginning of the play,
Hermia and Lysander run into the woods to escape the harsh social injustices of the
city. Hermia is being forced by her father to marry Demetrius upon threat of punishment,
either through death or being sent to a convent, in accordance with the ancient law of
Athens, referred to as the "ancient privilege of Athens" (I.i.42). Since Duke Theseus is
upholding this law, and Duke Theseus represents the court, we can see that escaping into
the woods resembles pastoral literature. Escaping into the woods is like escaping into
the country and running away from the harsh laws of the
court.

However, Shakespeare makes a switch. Suddenly peaceful nature
becomes nightmarish when Puck mistakes Lysander for
Demetrius, making Lysander fall in love with Helena and out of love
with Hermia. The nightmare continues when Oberon attempts to fix Puck's mistake by
making Demetrius fall in love with Helena as well, which was Oberon's initial aim. This
state is a nightmare for Hermia because suddenly the love of her life now prefers
another woman over her. It is a nightmare for Helena because, even though two men now
love her when before neither man loved her, she believes they are mocking her and
believes her best friend is in on the plot, as we see in her line, "Lo, she is one of
this confederacy!" (III.ii.195). The fact that nature has become a nightmare rather than
an ideal state shows us that in this manner, the play does
not fit in with pastoral literature.

However, the ideal state is recreated in the woods once Puck and
Oberon finally unite the lovers as they should be. This ideal state continues when
Theseus decrees that both couples should be married. Nevertheless, the couples do not
return to the woods but rather return to the city, showing us that ultimately, contrary
to pastoral literature, Shakespeare is portraying the city as what can be the ultimate,
peaceful, rational state once the unjust laws are overruled.

Please comment on reality vs. imagination in "La Belle Dame sans Merci."

These are two very interesting opposites to consider when
thinking about this enchanting poem. I suppose one way of thinking about what happens in
this poem is that it could be viewed as an allegory of what surrendering yourself to
your imagination too much can actually do to you. It is clear from the very entrance of
the "lady" that she is described in almost supernatural terms, emphasising her beauty
and seductive nature:

readability="12">

I met a lady in the
meads,

Full beautiful--a faery's
child,

Her hair was long, her foot was
light

And her eyes were
wild.

The relationship that
develops between them is one where clearly the knight-at-arms devotes himself completely
to her and is oblivious to anything else. He is completely entranced and has fallen
under her spell. However, the dream during his sleep warns him of his danger of giving
himself so totality over to the power of the
woman.

Interestingly, the "death-pale" suitors make us
think of the paleness of the knight-at-arms that is indicated in the first stanza. This
indicates that in spite of this admonition, the knight-at-arms still surrenders himself
to the powers of imagination and ignores reality. This is why he is still "alone and
palely loitering." He has proved himself an advocate of the imagination, and his
inability to accept reality and the dangers of living our lives only for imagination is
what leads to his own withering and decline.

Which kind of relationship exists between mother and daughter in Mourning Becomes Electra by Eugene O'Neill?

This play is an "updated" version of the Greek Tragedy
Electra.  Both Sophocles and Euripides wrote plays about this
daughter of King Agamemnon, who was killed by his wife Clytemnestra upon returning from
the Trojan War, because Agamemnon had killed their daughter Iphigenia as a sacrifice to
the gods, providing the wind his ships needed to sail to
Troy.

So, Lavinia and Christine are patterned after the
characters Electra and Clytemnestra of these Greek Tragedies.  Their relationship is one
of complete lack of understanding, one for the other's situation, as was true for their
Ancient Greek counterparts.  Lavinia sees Christine's new love as a betrayal of her
mother's relationship with her father, and she, like Electra idolizes her military hero
dad.  She also harbors a deep desire for revenge upon her mother for killing her
father.

Between mother and daughter, there is also
competition for the love of Christine's son/Lavinia's brother, Orin.  This signifiesa
use of the psychology of Freud and and sense of incest in this modern play that did not
exist in the Ancient Greek texts, since this sort of psychological analysis of
characters was not invented until the early 20th century.  The terms, Oedipus Complex
and Electra Complex, however, are useful in examining the familial relationships in
Mourning Becomes Electra.

For more on
the mother/daughter relationship in this play, the Greek Tragedies
Electra and the Electra Complex, please follow the links
below.

What is the first open reaction of Claudius to Hamlet's madness in Hamlet?

The question of Hamlet's "antic disposition," whether it
is real or feigned and what other characters in the play think of Hamlet's bizarre
behaviour is a topic that has inspired much criticism. The first glimpse we gain as to
how Claudius interprets Hamlet's behaviour is in Act II scene 2, when Claudius entreats
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to help him in discovering what is the true reason behind
Hamlet's "madness" and whether it is anything else apart from his father's
death:

readability="16">

Something have you
heard

Of Hamlet's transformation: so I call
it,

Sith nor th'exterior nor the inward
man

Resembles that it was. What should it
be

More than his father's death, that thus hath put
him

So much from th'understanding of
himself,

I cannot deem
of...

Now, how we "read" this
speech will depend a lot on how you choose to "play" or "read" the character of Claudius
in the play at large. He can be shown here to be a genuinely concerned uncle, eager to
discover what is going on with his nephew and to try and bring him back to "himself."
However, you could also play him as a deceiver, who is manipulating Rosencrantz and
Guildernstern into manipulating Hamlet to find out if in some way Hamlet has suspected
that Claudius was responsible for King Hamlet's death. Certainly, he does his best to
appear as if he were a caring uncle in this speech. Note how he does not use
the pejorative term "madness," instead using the euphemistic "transformation" to
describe Hamlet's behaviour.

Assess "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" as a ballad.

A ballad in literature is a narrative poem that usually
tells a dramatic story. Early ballads in English and Irish literature that were handed
down orally are folk ballads; their authors are unknown. Ballads that are composed as
literary works by identified authors are literary ballads. "The Rime of the Ancient
Mariner" is a literary ballad by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, one that tells a very
enthralling story of supernatural events on a ship at
sea.

Traditionally, ballads are composed in four-line
stanzas. They follow a set pattern of
rhythm.

• The first and third lines are iambic
  tetrameter, meaning they follow a weak/strong pattern of rhythm; each line has four
  strong beats as the syllables of the words are
  pronounced.


• The second and fourth lines are iambic
  trimeter, meaning they follow the weak/strong pattern of rhythm, but each line has three
  strong beats.

Coleridge's poem follows this
ballad structure with few exceptions. Here is the poem's third stanza with the strong
beats underlined:

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(1) He holds him with his skinny
hand.

(2) "There was a ship," quoth
he.

(3) "Hold off! unhand me, graybeard
loon!"

(4) Eftsoons his hand dropped
he.

When you read the lines
aloud, it is easy to hear the rhythm in them, like beats on a drum: four beats in lines
1 and 3; 3 beats in lines 2 and 4.

Also, ballads have a
definite rhyme scheme with the second and fourth lines rhyming. In the stanza above, the
second and fourth lines both end in "he," but that counts! Other stanzas show perfect
rhymes in the second and fourth lines: three/me; kin/din; still/will,
for example, the pairs of rhymes from the first, second, and fourth stanzas
of the poem.

Coleridge's poem doesn't follow perfect ballad
structure. Some stanzas have six lines, but they do follow the same pattern of
alternating lines in the rhythm pattern. Overall, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is
an excellent example of a literary ballad: It tells a very dramatic story and closely
conforms to the patterns of rhyme and rhythm.

There is,
however, something unusual about it. It is an example of a lyrical ballad, a new
literary form created by Coleridge and English poet William Wordsworth. As a lyrical
ballad, the speaker (in this case the old mariner) expresses his feelings and shares his
thoughts as the story is told.

In Ethan Frome, based on Chapters 1-5, why is Zeena dissatisfied with Mattie?

Mattie is not a very good housekeeper, but she tries hard
to please Zeena--an impossible task. Zeena is so cold, critical, and self-centered that
no one would be able to please her. Zeena's dissatisfaction with Mattie, however, grows
as Zeena becomes aware of Ethan's interest in Mattie. Zeena watches everything and
little escapes her notice. She observes, for instance, that since Mattie's arrival Ethan
has begun to shave every day. It is also significant that the night Ethan walks Mattie
home from the dance, Zeena has locked them out, making sure she knows when they come
home. She is suspicious of their relationship and threatened by Mattie's presence in her
house. Zeena responds to Mattie's youth, beauty, and goodness by voicing continual
criticism of her and by treating her in a cruel manner.

How would Paul feel if his brother died?

Paul would feel relieved if his brother died; then, he
would feel guilty. All Erik has ever done is torment Paul and his friends. Erik is an
arrogant, sadistic boy whose parents never disciplined him. As the first born and a
talented kicker to boot, Erik has his dad believing that his son could become a college
stand out and possibly a pro. Dad doesn't see Erik beyond those hopes. Mom is more aware
of Erik's shortcomings, but she, too, does nothing about his behavior. Paul is afraid of
Erik, but he doesn't know why. He only knows that his vision suddenly went bad when he
was five. He has flashbacks that involve Erik having something to do with his poor
sight, but until the end of the book, he doesn't know what the connection is.  If Erik
were to die, then Paul would not be bullied again. But, he would feel that his should
mourn the loss of his brother, even if it were just for the sake of
family.

In Act I Scene 4 of Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio describes a character in great detail who never appears in the play. Who is it?

Queen Mab may not appear in the play as a character, but
she is certainly prevalent in the play.

Mercutio states
that lawyers will dream of lawyering, (paraphrase) butchers butchering, etc. "Dreamers
often lie," he says to Romeo, who responds, "In bed as they dream things true." Mercutio
is wrong, however, because Romeo's premonition of some occurence at the Capulet ball
(which will cost him his life) turns out to be
true.

Mercutio's humorous portrayal of Mab, and his
deflection of a serious concern of Romeo into a comedic situation, is synchronous with
his character. Mercutio often doesn't understand the full nature of a situation before
he becomes involved, just like his death scene.

How did Alexander Pushkin influence Russian art?

I think that Pushkin was important to Russian literature
by being a type of intellectual "bridge" to the West.  When we examine the growth and
emergence of Romanticism or Neoclassicism in the 17th and 18th Centuries, we find most
of the attention focused on England and Western Europe.  France, England, and Germany
seem to be the locations of dialogue during these movements.  We don't see a Russian
presence in this discussion until Pushkin.  His work is unique because it features
aspects of the division and tension between Romanticism and Neoclassicism.  For example,
his short drama, "Mozart and Salieri," reflects the dichotomy between both movements,
represented in both characters.  His association with both movements in many ways helps
to reflect the unique view of each movements that Russians held. In being relegated to
the outside, Russian thinkers were able to create their own opinions about these
movements and Pushkin was able to articulate this and express it in his
work.

What effect do the various genres have in Into the Wild?

Certainly one cannot help but be struck by the variety of
genres that are included in this fascinating non-fiction book. It seems to be such a mix
of different types of story: part survival, part journey, part coming of age, part man
vs. nature, part nature documentary, part philosophical reflections. This perhaps
indicates the way in which Chris McCandless was trying to live a cliche, drawn from a
variety of literary sources and never really quite succeeding. This is one sense we are
given as we read the colliding genres that bash against each other. Chris McCandless was
trying to live other lives and other adventures that had been set down before him in
literature. His life was never really quite his own. As we follow Chris on his
adventures and then witness the author's own similar adventures, we see a young man who,
like the author perhaps, couldn't "resist stealing up to the edge of doom and peering
over the brink." However, the tragic nature of the story of Chris McCandless also causes
us to view his efforts in a somewhat negative vein, as he merely attempts to repeat the
exploits of others before him.

How does M. Waldman react when he hears the names of Agrippa and Paracelsus?

M. Waldman is the kinder, gentler of Victor's professors.
Where Krempe is described as gruff and condescending, Waldman aims to guide Victor
towards modern chemistry by establishing the ancient authors as the foundation of study.
Victor remarks that Waldman "smiled" at the names of the ancient writers,
but "without the contempt" with which Krempe dismissed Victor's
interests. Waldman tells Victor:

readability="12">

These were men to whose indefatigable zeal
modern philosophers were indebted for most of the foundations of their knowledge. They
had left to us, as an easier task, to give new names and arrange in connected
classifications the facts which they in a great degree had been the instruments of
bringing to light. The labours of men of genius, however erroneously directed, scarcely
ever fail in ultimately turning to the solid advantage of
mankind.

This little speech
may have had a profound effect on Victor.
He often justifies his exploits in
creating his monster by touting the contributions he may make to science and life in
general. So, the idea that "erroneously directed" tasks may still influence the course
of knowledge seems to have impacted Victor's thinking.

In "Sonnet 90," how does Petrarch use the sestet to develop a more complicated view of love? please explain why you feel this way.

In Petrarch's Sonnet 90, the theme, as usual, is
unrequited love, which he inserts in the parentheses:

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(Seldom they shine so
now.)

The sestet presents not
as a solution but a meditation.  The speaker meditates on the nature of love after he
has lost his love and after she may have lost her beauty.  Whereas her looks are
temporal and fleeting, his love (or the wound where it used to be) is permanent (lives
on).

I know my first, real heartbreak has never fully
healed.  Has yours?

Whereas the octet presents his love as
mortal beauty, the octet presents her as "divine," godess-like,
"angelic":

She did not walk in any mortal
way,
But with angelic progress; when she
spoke,
Unearthly voices sang in unison.
She seemed
divine among the dreary
folk

And then, the last two
lines:

You say
she is not so today? Well, though the bow's unbent, the wound bleeds
on.

We have rhetorical
question which acknowledges that she may not be as beautiful as she once was.  Even so,
he says he still feels the wounds from Cupid's unbent bow of love.  The heart is still
open and bleeding long after it was first shot.

15^(2x-3)=3^x*5^(3x-6) x=?

We notice that we can write 15 =
3*5

We'll raise to 2x-3 both
sides:

15^(2x-3) =
3^(2x-3)*5^(2x-3)

We'll re-write the
equation:

3^(2x-3)*5^(2x-3) =
3^x*5^(3x-6)

We'll divide by 3^x and we'll
get:

3^(2x-3)*5^(2x-3)/3^x =
5^(3x-6)

We'll divide by
5^(2x-3):

3^(2x-3)/3^x =
5^(3x-6)/5^(2x-3)

We'll subtract the
exponents:

3^(2x - 3 - x) = 5^(3x - 6 - 2x +
3)

We'll combine like terms inside
brackets:

3^(x - 3) = 5^(x -
3)

We'll re-write the
equation:

3^x*3^-3 =
5^x*5^-3

3^x/3^3 =
5^x/5^3

We'll create matching bases. We'll divide by
5^x:

3^x/5^x*3^3 = 1/5^3

We'll
multiply by 3^3:

3^x/5^x =
3^3/5^3

(3/5)^x =
(3/5)^3

Since the bases are matching, we'll apply one to
one property:

x =
3

The solution of the equation is x =
3.

Critically comment on Collins' proposal to Elizabeth highlighting the humor.

Collins proposes to Elizabeth  on Wednesday  November
27th  at  her own house (Ch.19). Collins is a cousin of Mr.Bennet who will inherit
Mr.Bennet's estate after his death. This is why he is so arrogant and  confident that
Elizabeth will not reject his proposal. Collins takes Elizabeth for granted and
impresses upon her that he is  actually doing her a great favour by marrying her  and
tries to  exploit her financial distress to his advantage. He does not care to find out
leave alone respect  her  feelings with regard to marrying
him.

He is completely unromantic. His  arrogance prevents
him from praising her beauty or her intelligence or flattering her before seeking her
consent. Collins gives three general reasons why he wants to marry without specifying
why he wants to  marry Elizabeth in particular.

When he is
straightaway rejected by Elizabeth, he thinks that she is only acting coy. Collins
assumes wrongly that Elizabeth is only pretending that she does not like him and he
tells Elizabeth,

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"however your natural delicacy may lead you to
dissemble"

Its a classic
example of a situation of comical dramatic irony: the completely unromantic lout that
Collins is he thinks that Elizabeth is pretending to be coy and hard to
get!

A little later, after he has formally proposed to her
and has been firmly rejected by Elizabeth he replies to her arrogantly and complacently
in the following words:

readability="11.971223021583">

``I am not now to learn,''
repliedMr.Collins with a formal wave of the hand, ``that it is usual with young ladies
to reject the addresses of the man whom they secretly mean to accept, when he first
applies for their favour; and that sometimes the refusal is repeated a second or even a
third time. I am therefore by no means discouraged by what you have
just said, and shall hope to lead you to the altar ere
long.''

Once again, Collins
assumes that Elizabeth is really attracted to him and wants to get married to him but
that she is only playing hard to get and teasing him in the conventional manner of all
young women.

However, Elizabeth firmly rejects him saying
that she is not the conventional young lady who likes to be proposed to twice and that
her rejection of him is final:

readability="6.9750889679715">

``your hope is rather an
extraordinary one after my declaration. I do assure you that I am not
one of those young ladies (if such young ladies there are) who are so daring as to risk
their happiness on the chance of being asked a second time. I am
perfectly serious in my
refusal.

Even
then Collins doesn't give up and remarks that when he next proposes to her she will
accept him:

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``When I do myself the honour of speaking to you
next on this subject I shall hope to receive a more favourable answer than you have now
given me;

To which Elizabet
exasperatedly replies:

readability="6.8939393939394">

Do not
consider
me
now as an elegant female intending to plague you, but as a rational creature
speaking the truth from her
heart.''

Finally
the truth of the matter sinks into the thick headed Collins and he quits the place in
deep embarrassment.

Discuss the ironies implicit in the following lines of The Iliad: 9.409-419.

I take it you are referring to the section
where Achilles discusses the prophecy that his mother, Thetis, made about his life. In
this section we see the irony of the life of the famed warrior Achilles. He is renowned
for his strength and valour, but according to his mother, he has a choice to make. He
can either stay fighting against Troy, which will ensure his death. However, ironically,
this death will mean that his "glory will never die." The alternative is to return home,
leaving the battle, and have a long life but one that will be ultimately forgotten as
his "fame will die" instead of his body. It is ironic that Achilles can only choose
between eternal fame or a long life, and cannot have
both.

However, we can also detect another note of irony in
his counsel to his fellow soldiers to return home, because of his belief that Zeus will
prevent any successful attack:

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You’ll not attain your goal, 
steep
Ilion, because far-seeing Zeus 
shields that city with his
hand.

Of course, we know that
this is not the case and that Zeus will allow Troy to fall and give the Greeks victory.

What are some of the poetic techniques used in the poem "O me! O life!" ?

"O Me! O Life!" is part of Walt Whitman's collection of
poems Leaves of Grass.  In "O Me! O life!" Whitman raises an
existential question: "What good" can be found in life amid "the endless trains of the
faithless" and the "cities fill'd with the foolish"?

The
primary poetic technique that Whitman uses in this poem is
anaphora: the repetition of the same word or phrase at the
beginning of successive clauses or verses.   The bulk of the poem consists of phrases
that begin with the word "of":

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Of the endless trains of the faithless, of
cities fill'd with the foolish,
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who
more foolish than I,
    and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that
vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the
    struggle ever
renew'd,
Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I
see
    around me,
Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with
the rest me
intertwined

Another technique
Whitman uses is alliteration--the repetition of initial consonant
sounds.  In lines 2-4, for example, Whitman uses 7 words that start with the letter f:
faithless, fill'd, foolish, forever, for, foolish, faithless.  From line 7 to the end of
the poem, 4 words start with the letter p: poor, plodding, powerful, play.  It is
interesting to note that powerful and play are nearly the opposites of poor and
plodding. 

In Silas Marner, what is Godfrey’s great unfulfilled desire?

I assume you are referring to Godfrey in Book II of this
incredible novel rather than Book I. In Book II, of course, Godfrey has received his
"lucky escape" of being able to rid himself of his unfortunate choice of first wife
without people discovering the truth about him. He has since married Nancy, whom he has
desired for so long, and when Book II opens, sixteen years have passed between the end
of Book I. However, as Chapter Seventeen makes clear, the one element that prevents
perfect felicity in the marriage between Nancy and Godfrey is that Nancy is unable to
bear children. This has led Godfrey to suggest to Nancy that they adopt, and in
particular adopt Eppie, his legal daughter, but Nancy is reluctant to agree to this
proposal, and we see Nancy questioning whether she was right to reject this
idea:

Had she
done everything in her power to lighten Godfrey's privation? Ha she really been right in
the resistance which had cost her so much pain six years ago, and again for years
ago--the resistance to her husband's wish that they should adopt a
child?

Note how this quote
identifies the "privation" that Godfrey is suffering at having no heir, and also the
probable guilt that he feels when he sees his rightful daughter that he has disowned to
all intents and purposes. "Adopting" Eppie would allow him to appease his guilt whilst
also giving him a child to call his own and not revealing his shameful
secret.

What kinds of figurative language are used in the poem "Annabel Lee," by Edgar Allan Poe?

In Poe's "Annabel Lee," the author uses a great deal of
figurative language. Figurative language is often used in poetry. Figurative language,
by definition, is not to be taken literally.

There
are a great many examples of literary devices. For example, note
the use of repetition below, a device used many times in
Poe's poem:

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She was a child and I was a
child... (7)

Literary devices
dealing with sound are easily recognized when the poem is read aloud. Refer to the
stanza below:

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It was many and many a year ago,
In a
kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By
the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other
thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
(1-6)

End
rhyme is apparent in lines 2, 4 and 6 with the words "sea," "Lee" and
"me." Internal rhyme is found in the sixth stanza; note the
use of "beams" in the middle of the line that rhymes with "dreams" at the line's
end:

For the
moon never beams without bringing me
dreams...

It occurs two lines
later (using "rise" and "eyes") with:

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And the stars never rise but I see the bright
eyes

Assonance
is found in line 5 with the words "this," "lived" and "with." (The short "i" sound is
the same.) Alliteration (the repetition of a consonant
sound at the beginning of a group of words) is found with the repetition of the words
"many" (in line 1) and "loved" (in line 6).

In identifying
figurative language, the reader first recognizes the use of imagery, used to create a
picture in the reader's mind. Imagery is found, for example, in
hyperbole.

Hyperbole is
present in lines 11 and 12:

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With a love that the winged seraphs of
heaven
Coveted her and
me.

It can only be
an exaggeration of the depth of their love to note that the angels covet it, for there
is no way to know this for certain; however, the speaker is using hyperbole to show how
deep and wonderful is the love the two share.

The reader
sees it again in the lines:

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The angels, not half so happy in
heaven,
Went envying her and
me—

The lines above almost
seem paradoxical in their exaggeration. It is impossible, based upon our
definitions/perceptions of angels, to believe that angels would envy anything on earth
when compared to their heavenly existence. This is more evident in trying to
conceptualize that the angels would envy the love of humans—especially to the point that
they would send a chilling wind to kill the young woman—an evil
act.

First used in the late 16th Century, "Once upon a
time" has become a phrase generally associated with a fairytale. Often this kind of
story has mystical or magical elements (magic beans, a fairy godmother, etc.). After
using this introductory phrase, Poe continues establishing this mood with words such as
"kingdom" and "maiden," which are also associated with these kinds of tales. Poe may
well use this introduction to create a mood of something
supernatural, i.e., something beyond our natural world. However,
unlike most fairytales shared with youngsters before bedtime, this story goes beyond
magical and becomes haunting, with its sad ending at the loss of Annabel
Lee. 

If
“Annabel Lee” has become one of Poe’s most popular poems, its popularity is probably
attributable to its haunting rhythm, its lulling
repetition. 

The lilting
movement of the poem is yet another element of the poem that gives the reader the sense
of being in a fairytale. Except for the tragedy of the speaker's loss, this might well
serve as a bedtime story that would bring about easy sleep for the listener, as Poe
creates a haunting story, very much like a melody, using sound and imagery to capture
the reader's imagination.

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The sound of the poem, then, is quiet, rhythmic,
hypnotic. It is this haunting sound, not the story itself, that causes most readers to
remember “Annabel Lee.”

Of
the sounds and images employed, perhaps the use of hyperbole is figurative language that
most easily convinces the reader that poetic license has been used in this poem. The
presence of envious angels and chilling winds that can be directed by one's will allow
the reader to grasp that some elements of the tale may be magical or like a
fairytale—perhaps more so, giving us the feeling that the love between the speaker and
Annabel Lee was so amazing that the earth could not contain it, the angels could not
bear it and no one on earth (even those "older than we" or "far wiser than we") could
ever hope to experience anything like it.

How did Calpurnia's church differ from the white people's church? To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

In Harper Lee's To Kill a
Mockingbird, Chapter 12, one salient difference between the church of
Calpurnia and the Maycomb Methodist Episcopal Church South is that the black church
allows the children, Scout and Jem, to remain whereas the white churches are strictly
segregated.  Thus, the spirit of charity abounds in the poor, little church that has few
hymn books and no organ or piano. 

On the other hand, the
ladies of the Methodist Episcopal Church who practice charity abroad by
sending missionaries and charity to Africa, help no one at home who is outside their
perimeters.  Clearly, Chapter 12 points to the religious hypocrisy of the white
community.

That the congregation of Calpurnia's church
are poor and oppressed as well is evident when the hymns, which are sung jubilantly, end
"in a melancholy murmur."  

When the preacher gives his
sermon, the children notice that Reverend Sykes "used his pulpit more freely to express
his views on individual lapses from grace."  The Reverend scolds the more recalcitrant
of his congregation, even to the point of defining their sins.  Scout also notes that,
to their amazement, Reverend Sykes chastises the church
members:

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....Reverend Sykes emptied the can onto the table
and raked the coins into his hand.  He straightened up, and said, 'This is not enough,
we must have ten
dollars.'

But, then, he
explains that the money is for the family of Tom Robinson.