Thursday, September 29, 2011

Can someone paraphrase each line of "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer" by John Keats?MUCH have I travell'd in the realms of gold, And many...

First two lines: I've travelled around and seen many rich
kingdoms


Next two:  I've been around many of the islands of
Greece (held by poets who are faithful to Apollo).


Next
two: I'd heard alot about a place that Homer ruled as his
own.


Next two:  But I never understood about this until I
read Chapman's translation.


But when I did, I felt like
some astronomer who has discovered a new planet or like Cortez felt when he first
discovered the Pacific (it was Balboa, not
Cortez...)


Overall, he is saying that reading Chapman's
translation of Homer opened up whole new worlds to his mind.

Give evidence that shows Johnny Cade being cruel, timid and caring from Chapters 1 to 4.nope

In The Outsiders, Johny Cade is the
smallest and weakest member of the Greasers gang.  I would say that timid and caring are
his major character traits.


We can see that he is timid (or
at least nervous) in two places at least.  First, in Chapter 1, Pony describes him as
having nervous eyes.  Second, in Chapter 2, Pony and Johnny are talking to Cherry and
Marcia.  All Johnny can say is "hi," which he says shyly.  Then he gets nervous and
tries to just watch the movie.


You can see that he is
caring from this same episode.  That is where he stops Dally from harassing Cherry. 
This shows he cares about Cherry's feelings.

Can productivity be achieved by sacrificing quality?ty baf exam question

Productivity is defined as quantity produced per unit of
input. The input used for calculating productivity could be any factor of production
such as material, equipment, manpower or some combination of different types of factors
of production. But most often productivity refer so productivity of
manpower.


Whether productivity can be improved by
sacrificing will depend on two factors. One, to what extent production can be increased
by sacrificing quality. Also, to the extent reduction in quality will lead to acceptance
of the output produced.


In some cases, minor changes
concessions in quality requirement can result in substantial increase in rate of
production. In other cases this difference may not be much. For example, Take the case
of making packets containing 100 grams of groundnuts. If the the groundnuts have to be
weighed very accurately, the process could be slow. This process can be speeded up
considerably by designing a container of suitable size which will accommodate on average
100 grams of ground nuts. Using the system the rate of packing can be improved
considerably. However this process will involve higher variation in the weight of
groundnuts in each packet.


Coming to the second factor, the
acceptability of the reduced quality level, when increase in production by relaxing
quality is more than offset by reduction in value of out put due to poor quality,
production can be increased by sacrificing quality. Otherwise productivity may actually
decrease. For example, in case of the packets of groundnuts a variation of, say, 2% in
weight of individual packets is not going to reduce the value of packets. It will be
still possible to sell the packets at the designated price of 100 grams packets. But 2%
variation in dimension of precision product would mean production of too many components
that will be unusable and therefore will be rejected. IN a case like this perhaps trying
to increase productivity be relaxing quality will not be a very good
idea.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Could you please explain the conflicts in Chapters 9 - 12 of The Catcher in the Rye?

To me, there are a couple of conflicts going on in these
chapters and they are really just the same conflicts that dominate the book as a whole. 
I think there is an internal conflict within Holden and I think there is a conflict
between Holden and society.


All of the conflict that
appears to be between Holden and people in these chapters is really Holden vs. society
in my opinion.  When he tries to talk to Faith, the women from Seattle, and the taxi
driver, he is trying to act in ways that he finds interesting.  But the other people
don't really approve.


At the same time, it seems like
there's a conflict inside of Holden about whether he really rejects society or not. 
Otherwise, why would he keep looking for these "phony" interactions instead of just
calling Jane?

In "In the Shadow of War," how do the soldiers treat the woman when they find her?

It is clear that when the soldiers find the woman they
have called a "spy" that they are very violent and threatening. Remember this is
narrated using the third person limited point of view - everything is seen from Omovo's
vision, which heightens the shock of seeing a woman treated in this fashion with the
threat of impending violence. The soldiers call the woman a witch and one of them begins
to slap her to try and make her tell where the "others" are. Then a soldier rips the
woman's veil from her:


readability="7">

Her head was bald, and disfigured with a deep
corrugation. There was a livid gash along the side of her face. The bare-chested soldier
pushed her. She fell on her face and lay
still.



It is interesting that
at this point Omovo recognises that what he thought were dead animals on the river banks
were actually dead men - seeing this violence has opened his eyes to other acts of
violence that he had previously been blind to. The woman then gets up, and spits at the
soldier in the face. The soldier then shoots the woman in cold blood and Omovo
flees.


The shock of these events is heightened by the use
of the narrative style - these events are shared with us just as they are with Omovo -
we are silent observers of these atrocities and therefore share the same shock and
feelings of guilt and horror that Omovo feels.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

What happened in Chapter 17 of The Devil's Arithmetic?

Gitl tells Chaya that there is a plan to escape. Yitzchak
and Shmuel are a part of it, as will Chaya be, because she is their "only flesh and
blood." Gitl makes Chaya promise that if something happens to her and the others, she
will remember. Gitl will not give Chaya any more information at this time, for her own
safety. Gitl does confirm that Yitzchak is taking this risk because his children are
gone, and he has nothing left to lose. As for herself and Shmuel, Gitl says, "If not us,
who? If not now, when?" These words are part of the Seder ceremony celebrated by the
Jews on the Sabbath.


A few nights later, when Chaya least
expects it, Gitl tells her, "Chaya, it is now." Gitl hands her a pair of shoes and the
two creep silently through the women's barracks to the door. Chaya asks, "what about
Fayge," to which Gitl responds that despite her love for Shmuel, Fayge "has come to love
her next bowl of soup more." When Gitl and Chaya get outside, they hear a shout, some
shots, and the horrible screaming of a man. Realizing that the plan has been
unsuccessful, she quickly drags Chaya back into the barracks. When the blokova
sleepily asks what is going on, Gitl tells her she went to get her bowl to
relieve herself, but dropped it when she heard shots outside. The blokova
believes her story, and lets the matter drop after a short
reprimand.


Back on their sleeping shelf, Chaya can feel
Gitl sobbing. An awful thought comes to her - she has left the shoes Gitl had handed her
outside. When she tells Gitl, however, the older woman is unworried. The shoes belonged
to the blokova; when they are discovered, it is the
blokova who will be in trouble, not them (Chapter
17).

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Why did Tobe stay the whole time with Emily... but then left?for love

Presumably, in Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily," Tobe stays
with Emily until her death because he needs a job, or out of a mistaken sense of
loyalty.  But, really, that is just speculation.  We can only
guess.


Before Emily's death, the speaker really couldn't
elaborate on why Tobe stays without ruining the surprise ending.  And there's no reason
to explain his staying until the body upstairs is revealed.  There's nothing unusual
about his staying until we find out about Homer.


He leaves
in a hurry, of course, so he doesn't have to answer questions about the body or take
responsibility for what's been going on in the
house.


Once Emily dies, the only thing revealed is that
Tobe skips out the back door.  This, of course, heightens the suspense as the reader
wonders why he so urgently leaves.


As far as is revealed,
no, there is no love, at least not romantic love, between Emily and her
servant.

Briefly describe how we could find the focal length of a concave mirror.

To determine the focal length of concave
mirror.


We require a concave mirror preferably mounted on a
stand, a lighted candle and a white screen to catch the image after
reflection


Keep the mounted concave mirror on a plane
surface (say a long table). Keep in front of the reflecting surface a bright candle at
sufficient distance from the concave mirror  on the principal axis so that we can get a
clear image somewhere. Now adjust the screen ,candle and the mounted concave mirror so
that they are all on the principal axis. Move the screen back and forth and determine
the position for the brightest clearest  image.


Note down
for the clear image distance v and the corresponding object distance u from the pole of
the mirror along the principal axis. Then, if f is the the focal length of the mirror,
solve for f = uv/(u+v) which determines the focal length f on one single
trial.


You make the following table of observation for
repeated trials varying object distance u and the image distance
v:


Trial no:  Dist u of object from the pole . Distance v
of image from the pole. Focal legnth f = uv/((u+v)


After
doing different trials you can find the average focal length from the last
column.

Friday, September 23, 2011

What is Twain satirizing in the episode where Colonel Sherburn shoots Boggs?

In my opinion, Mark Twain is satirizing the pre Civil War
tendency of Southerners to be very concerned with their personal
honor.


The South had evolved a society where the highest
classes saw themselves as similar to the aristocrats of old Europe.  They felt that
their personal honor was so important that it was not at all uncommon for them to fight
duels when they felt they had been insulted.  This was part of the society that was
responsible for slavery as well.


Twain satirizes this by
having Colonel Sherburne be so jealous of his reputation that he shoots Boggs for being
disrespectful.

Why does Orwell think that language has degenerated so much?

George Orwell, in his 1946 essay, "Politics and the
English Language," says that


readability="5">

it is clear that the decline of a language must
ultimately have political and economic
causes:



Among the problems of
modern English are:


  1. The first is staleness of
    imagery ("Dying metaphors.")

  2. the
    other is lack of precision ("Pretentious diction." and
    problems picking out appropriate verbs and
    nouns

What causes these two problems?  From the
book 1984, I would
suggest:


  • censorship: by the state, church, or
    other institution

  • overuse of technical jargon and
    nomenclature

  • overuse of politically correct language
    (euphemism and litote)

  • general laziness in thought:
    thought corrupts language and language corrupts
    thought.

  • too much information, so the public cannot
    recognize misinformation and propaganda from good
    information

  • fear of surveillance, profiling, and
    violation of freedoms of speech by the
    government

  • technology and entertainment replacing
    books

Orwell's advice to correcting these
problems:


(i) Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure
of speech which you are used to seeing in print.


(ii) Never
us a long word where a short one will do.


(iii) If it is
possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.


(iv) Never
use the passive where you can use the active.


(v) Never use
a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday
English equivalent.


(vi) Break any of these rules sooner
than say anything outright barbarous.

What sport does Ponyboy excel in?

In this book, Ponyboy is a pretty good track athlete at
his high school.  I do not know that he is a star, but he is quite good at it.  He
mentions this a number of times in the book.


One place we
see this is in the part where the newspaper has an article about Pony and Johnny
rescuing the kids.  It talks about their home lives and, in Pony's case, it talks about
how he is a good student and a possible future track star.  Pony says at this point that
he is the youngest kid on the varsity track team.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Is it okay to use only a part of a poem when you are writing an essay about it?for example, if you were to write about John Donne's attitude...

If you are being asked to write about John Donne's
attitude toward love in the above referenced poem, that sounds like the prompt is asking
you to look at a theme. Theme, tone, voice, mood, and author's purpose are all related
to your task and generally do take shape throughout a
piece.


I agree that if citing lines or using examples from
the poem you should carefully watch how this changes over the course of the piece and
pick quotes from the beginning, middle, and end. Often, a lesson learned and displayed
through a work like that is presented in one light in the beginning, but changes by the
end.


If after reading the entire poem you find there is no
change in attitude and the best quotes or references come from the beginning, I would
use those.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Was the author successful getting the tone of the poem across to you, the reader? What are the metaphors and Symbols in this poem? Whats it about?...

In this poem by Longfellow, "the children's hour" is that
time:



Between
the dark and the daylight,
   When the night is beginning to
lower



When it is time for
children to go to bed. The children are getting ready for bed -- their father hears them
getting ready in the room above, and soon they are scrambling onto his lap for a bedtime
story.



Yet I
know by their merry eyes
They are plotting and planning together
  
To take me by surprise.



The
children are planning to coerce their father into telling them a bedtime story. The the
Bishop of Bingen is a character in a story that the father has no doubt told to the
children before. It is probably a tale of romance, of knights and princesses that need
to be rescued from high "turrets" and "fortresses". The castle imagery is a metaphor for
the fairy-tale stores the father has told and the children enjoy. "Blue eyed banditi" is
a metaphor for the children - bandits with blue eyes, that are forcing him to tell them
a story, but they are no match for him, because he loves them and wants to tell them a
story anyway.


He continues with the castle imagery to
describe his love for the children"


readability="8">

I have you fast in my fortress,
   And
will not let you depart,
But put you down into the dungeon
   In the
round-tower of my heart.



His
fortress is his armchair, or his study, and while they are there, he can love them, tell
them stories, and keep them in his heart.


Longfellow had
five children and was known to be a tender and loving father. I think this comes across
in the poem, and it is succesful, don't you agree?

In "The Raven" what specific words serve to establish mood? What lines and phrases occurring later in the poem sustain this mood?mood or atmosphere

In the beginning, I like the words midnight
dreary, weary, nearly napping, bleak December,
and dying ember.
For me, these words make me feel that late night quiet, cold outside but warm
inside atmosphere. They also make me feel that almost asleep place of
comfort.


In the third stanza,
the lines "And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain Thrilled me -
filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before" make me feel a mood of
terror or fright.


In the last
four stanzas, references to demons, the devil, evil, a fiend, and a shadow maintain that
terror or fear, because fear generally comes from
evil.


The comfort from the
beginning is referenced by his question, "Is there - is there balm
in Gilead?" This balm of Gilead is an allusion to substance noted in the bible that
comforts, soothes and restores. The raven tells the speaker no,
nevermore.

Monday, September 19, 2011

How does the Watergate, Iran-contra, and Clinton impeachment scandals compare?

Public vs. private is the major distinction of the three
political scandals. Only one of the scandals, the Iran-Contra affair, involved scandal
on an international scale. However, each scandal made an impact on U.S.
history.


Watergate has been
called the greatest political scandal of all time. It was a scandal of epic proportions,
even though it only involved Americans directly. Pres. Nixon, who held the most power
and influence in the U.S., directed and funded (using taxpayer money) a break-in. All of
the evidence pointed to Nixon, including wire taps he had installed in his own office.
After being found guilty of the actual and related crimes, Pres. Nixon was forced into a
humiliating, public resignation.


President
Clinton
faced impeachment and removal from office after it became obvious
that he used carefully-worded language to lie about an affair. During that time, many
people stated that Clinton's lies hurt no one but his family. The belief was that the
president's behavior was his own business. However, the affair did tarnish the world had
of the U.S; jokes about the president were
common.


Government officials normally refuse to negotiate
with individuals who hold captives however the Iran-Contra
affair was a case of indirect negotiation. The Iran-Contra affair had an impact on the
U.S. international standing. Not only was diversion of government funds and cover-up
exposed, but this affair was on an international scale. The situation began innocently
enough with an attempt to help Iran, but the effort fell through. No evidence of the
unethical act points directly to President Reagan.


Pres.
Nixon's offense is the most offensive because he willfully committed a crime and then
covered it up.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

What do you think C. S. Lewis wants the reader to learn from the change that Digory undergoes in The Magician's Nephew?

All of the books in the Narnia series have strong moral
lessons, and in this one the main character, Digory (the professors' nephew) grows from
a self-centered boy into a young man with principles. In the beginning of the novel,
Digory is a miserable, whiny kid that is feeling sorry for himself because he is in
London with his uncle and sickly mother. He likes to do risky things and does not think
about the consequences. As a result, he and his friend, Polly, get into a lot of
trouble.


However, as the novel progresses, Digory changes.
He starts to think more about his actions. He matures. He learns to put people ahead of
his own selfish wants. When his uncle Andrew comes under the spell of Jadis, the evil
witch, Digory is the one who decides to bring her into Narnia. In doing this, he
releases sin into that world (similar to the Adam and Eve story in the Bible). Luckily,
though, Narnia is ruled by Aslan, whom Jadis cannot defeat. Aslan gives Digory a chance
to redeem himself and sends him to retrieve a magic apple. Digory resists eating the
apple, even though he wants to eat it very much and take one for his mother as well. In
the past, he would not have hesitated to eat it. He now realizes that his mother would
not approve of him stealing something, even if it will heal
her.


In making the choice not to eat the apple, Digory
illustrates that he has learned one of life's most important lessons: sometimes doing
the right thing is hard and requires extreme sacrifice. Since Digory makes the right
decision, Aslan rewards him and gives him the apple. Digory's mother is cured, and
Digory plants the apple which grows into a tree, the wood of which he uses to build the
famous WARDROBE that begins the other stories.


Lewis'
message, I believe, reflects the Biblical truth that just because something is difficult
does not mean we should not do it, if it is the right thing to
do.

What is the difference between communicative language teaching approach and the traditional approach?

Great question!


As of the
advent of the 21st century teaching and learning paradigm, the word "traditional" is a
bit taboo. We are expected to break away from traditional teaching models and become
facilitators, rather than instructors. However, this has not quite been the case in EFL
OR FL language programs because the current research intends for regular classroom
teachers to have every resource available in the classroom for the purposes of
differentiation, and not enough focus has been placed on ESL learners. In fact, we have
a myriad of "quick fix its" that assure fast results per purchase. Unfortunately, not
enough qualitative research has been placed upon EFL/FL programs, and not enough
quantitative research is available to determine whether those countless and new "hip"
language programs are indeed effective in terms of accuracy, retention, and the very
important aspect of inferencing, which is prime when learning a second
language.


That being said, the two teaching methods that
your question addresses can basically be labeled as "the old and the not so
old."


In the past, we believed as educators that the way to
engage the senses in the process of language learning was to have the students "hear",
"see" and "repeat". This was evident in how many spelling and vocabulary words we would
assign students to memorize.  When Stephen Krashen (1987) provided us with his "natural
language" and "monitor language" hypotheses, he basically stated that we were wrong
because language is acquired in two different ways: Casually and formally. THAT is the
difference between the two methods you ask about.


The
cloze-filling, rote method was the traditional, old school way. As I explained, it
involved repetition and quick recall. It left out mannerisms, culture, intonation, and
inferencing.


The CLT method (Communicative Language
Teaching) filled in those gaps way back. It was one of the first methods that advocated
for open dialogue, and allowed mistakes to happen. It is a quasi real-life approach in
which the teacher basically talks to the student in the target language (a la immersion)
and has the student talk back using as much of the target language as possible. Special
emphasis is given to personal life experiences and situations that are relevant to the
student. It is way more effective than the cloze/rote method because the student is
actually engaged in the process, and the engagement causes the student to maintain
focus.


These days we know about extensive reading, blogs,
and technology as the best ways to casually learn a target language because in the
process of trying to understand a situation the student has to problem solve and infer.
THOSE are powerful cognitive tools that lead to acquiring and storing information in the
long term memory.


Hope this helps!

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

How does Rowlandson portray the Wompanoag in A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson?

I agree one hundred percent with the original answerer. 
The Wompanoag ARE portrayed as "devilish creatures," . . . for the most part.  I say
this because one of my very favorite research papers I did in my college years was on
this literary piece and how ironic it was that Rowlandson included so many incidences of
compassion from the Wompanoag.  Therefore, take this with a grain of salt, . . . or at
least for an opposition paragraph someday at the beginning of a
paper.


Let me give a few examples that might guild that
opposition paragraph, however.  First, one of them actually gives Mary Rowlandson a
Bible out of the kindness of his heart:


readability="17">

I cannot but take notice of the wonderful mercy
of God to me in those afflictions, in sending me a Bible.  One of the Indians that came
from Medfield fight, had brought some plunder, came to me, and asked me, if I would have
a Bible, he had got one in his basket.  I was glad of it, and asked him, whether he
thought they would let me read?  He answered,
yes.



Very appropriate, of
course, that she gives GOD the credit for giving her the Bible (considering the graphic
context of the story).  Yet another example of compassion is Rowlandson's "light" load
she was given compared to the other captives:


readability="8">

In this travel, because of my wound, I was
somewhat favored in my load; I carried only my knitting work and two quarts of parched
meal.



Other members of the
tribe give her good amounts of food at various times during the narrative (such as horse
liver, peas, cake, venison, nuts, broth, horse feet, beans, biscuits, and meal) just to
"comfort" her.  And, of course, there is the fact that her "master" of the Wampanoag
"showed me the way to my son," again, not necessary.


My
final conclusion was that, although the Wompanoag showed compassion, it was no different
than the compassion a white master showed to his African-American slaves on the
plantation.  Yet, the compassion still exists, . . . for what it's
worth.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Do you agree that Shakespeare is careful to balance the characters of Shylock and Antonio so that we do not feel more sympathy for one over the other?

Shakespeare gives Antonio a decidedly unsavory side to his
character while showing the persecution that Shylock justly feels a reaction to, so it
is possible, from one perspective, to read The Merchant of Venice
with very little sympathy for Antonio and much for Shylock. Granted, Shylock,
takes extreme measures in writing up his loan contract but Antonio displays extreme
arrogance in cavalierly agreeing to it even though Bassanio has the sense to protest
it.


Shylock accuses Antonio of unchristian and uncivil,
truly deplorable behavior, which Antonio not only doesn't deny, but claims he'll commit
again, and worse, if given the chance. In the opening scene Antonio tells his friends
that he is not gloomy about finances because he is not dependent on the success or
failure of his present shipping venture. Yet, a few moments later, he tells Bessanio
that he has nothing with which to provide him a loan, thus forcing the conflict of the
play caused by an appeal to Shylock for a loan. One reading of Antonio's words
recognizes that he lies to his friends about his finances and then is forced to confess
the truth to Bassanio.

What is the exposition of this story?i neeed help(: thanks.

In a piece of literature, the exposition serves to kind of
set the scene.  It is meant to give the reader the background to the story.  It gives
them information that they need to understand the rest of the story and it sets up the
conflict.


To me, the exposition of this story consists of
the first six paragraphs.  In this part of the story we learn that Jim and Della are
poor.  We learn that in some detail (how much he makes, how much she has left).  Then we
learn about the main conflict -- we learn that she wants to buy him a Christmas present
with that paltry amount of money.

Friday, September 9, 2011

What evidence is there for Macbeth to do what he wants to achieve the power he thinks he deserves?a quote would be helpful thankyou

In Shakespeare's Macbeth, the
evidence that Macbeth uses to convince himself that he deserves the power and authority
he obviously wants (to be king) comes in two parts. 


First,
the witches predict that he will be Thane of Cawdor and
king:



All
hail, Macbeth!  Hail to thee, Thane of
Cawdor!



and


readability="7">

All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter! 
(Act 1.3.49-51)



The idea of
being king may or may not be present in Macbeth's mind before these predictions, but it
is certainly in his mind after these predictions.  The witches predict that he will be
king, and he definitely is interested in being so.  This is step
one.


Step two comes when the first prediction, that he will
be Thane of Cawdor, comes true:


readability="17">

...for an earnest [a deposit] of a greater
honor,


He [the king] bade me, from him, call thee Thane of
Cawdor;


In which addition, hail, most worthy
thane,


For it is thine.  (Act
1.3.105-108)



Macbeth uses the
coming true of this first prediction, as evidence that the second prediction will also
come true.


Of course, the witches are equivocating (telling
him half-truths, or telling him truths that can be interpreted multiple
ways). 


Ironically, Baquo warns him just a few lines later
that sometimes "the instruments of darkness" tell us a little thing that comes true, in
order to make us believe something larger will come true, and thereby doom us, but
Macbeth completely ignores this, and interprets the evidence exactly as he wants
to. 

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

How does Cassius's diction allow him to persuade Brutus to his cause?

In many ways, Julius Caesar is a play
that is concerned with speech and how it is used to manipulate, coerce and flatter
people. Speech is a tool used by characters to get other characters to do what they
want, and there are many victims of speech used in this way, for example Caesar himself
and also Casca. One of the prime examples though, is this section of the play in Act I
scene 2 where Cassius "sounds out" Brutus and then persuades him to join the plot
against Caesar.


It is well worth examining Cassius'
strategy in how he does this. He starts of by commenting that he has noticed a change in
Brutus' regard towards him, recognising that there is something going on within Brutus.
Obviously, one of the aspects of Cassius is that he is a very good judge of character,
as Caesar goes on to recognise. He then goes on to flatter Brutus, assuring him of how
high he stands in favour with the people and the
Senate:



I
have heard


Where many of the best respect in
Rome


(Except immortal Caesar), speaking of
Brutus,


And groaning underneath this age's
yoke,


Have wished that noble Brutus had his
eyes.



Notice how subtly
Cassius introduces Caesar's name here, in parenthesis and with the sarcastic title
"immortal" to suggest an opposition. He then assures Brutus of his honesty and gives
testament to his upstanding character to encourage Brutus to believe his
words.


A key point in the discussion comes when they hear a
flourish and a shout (as said in the stage directions). Brutus, already goaded into
thought by Cassius, says:


readability="5">

I do fear the
people


Choose Caesar for their
king.



This word "fear" allows
Cassius to talk about Caesar's humanity and how now he is passing himself off as
divine:



Why,
man, he doth bestride the narrow world


Like a Colossus, and
we petty men


Walk under his huge legs and peep
about


To find ourselves dishonourable
graves.



Note here again the
irony in the description of "petty men" - the juxtaposition of Cassius' description of
Caesar as just another mortal man and then this description of the God-like Caesar
obviously undercuts Caesar's divinity and draws attention again to how one man has
seized power and put others (like Brutus) under him. Note how this speech progresses by
introducing an element of jealousy and unfairness into what has
happened:


readability="7">

Brutus and Caesar: what should be in that
"Caesar"?


Why should that name be sounded more than
yours?



Having introduced
(rather serpent-like) this temptation with logical reasoning, Cassius goes on to refer
to Brutus' ancestor (also called Brutus) who was involved in deposing the last tyrant of
Rome, obviously trying to goad Brutus into action by being true to his ancestors and
heritage.


Notice how when he has acheived his objective,
Cassius is self-deprecating about his talents:


readability="5">

I am glad


That my
weak words have struck but thus much show


Of fire from
Brutus.



Here we have an
example of a master in persuasion - Cassius' words are anything but "weak", and he
establishes himself in this scene as a key manipulator and user of
rhetoric.

What sounds and sights indicate the start of a new day in the play Our Town?

Thornton Wilder's Our Town uses an
abundance of weather and birth imagery to reveal the themes of ritual, eternity, and
cycle of life:


In Act I, examples
are:


  • "The time is just before
    dawn."

  • "The sky is beginning to show streaks of
    light..."

  • "The morning star gets wonderful
    bright..."

  • "Mrs. Webb's
    garden..."

  • "...a lot of
    sunflowers..."

  • "Polish mother's just had
    twins..."

  • "...there've been lights on for some time, what
    with milkin's and so on...

  • Joe Crowell delivering the
    Sentinel (morning paper)

  • Bessie's
    cow bell

These elements will be repeated in Act
III to show the cycle of life and give continuity to the play.  Wilder begins with life
(the twins) and ends with death (Emily's), but in the end, life goes on, and the people
of Grover's Corners continue the same morning routines.

Explain the importance of the idea of being the perfect hero in the poem Beowulf.

A hero is simply a behavioral model. To some, a basketball
player might be a hero, but to another that may seem silly. We all have our own heroes
for our own reasons. Thus a simple all-encompassing definition of a hero might simply be
as a behavioral model.


Here are the characteristics of
heroes in the Anglo-Saxon era:


  • warriors were
    loyal to the king and would fight to the death for him, surrender was cowardly. Honor
    and loyalty to the tribe and to the king were more important, in a way, than material
    goods, for being remembered well after death, where you could not take material objects,
    was very important

  • these were oral cultures (there was no
    writing or recorded history)

  • these cultures were
    non-Christian; they were “pagans”, worshipping many
    gods.

In the end Beowulf has hit many of the
categories needed to fulfill his role in literature as an EPIC
HERO:


1.) An epic hero of imposing stature and who is
meaningful as a legend or historical figure


Lines that
describe his stature: 238 - 256, 279 - 292 (Beowulf is rumored to have 30
men’s strength).


2.)  The hero’s actions take place on a
grand scale and are important nationally, internationally, or
worldwide.


Beowulf saves Hrothgar’s people and inspires a
lasting peace between nations.


3.)  The action consists of
a great deed( s) requiring superhuman courage & maybe
superhuman strength.


4.) Supernatural forces (gods, angels,
demons) are involved or interested in the action

Sunday, September 4, 2011

What were the social impacts of colonization on the African continent?

There is a great answer to a similar question pasted in
below.  One of the most powerful changes that is pointed out, has to do with the changes
in governmental structure that created legacies of ineptitude and even something called 
"kleptocracy," that became far too common on the African
continent.


The way that the imperialist powers came in and
superseded the natural progression of tribal cooperation and even at times tribal
conflicts, created a situation where everyone quickly found it more profitable to ally
themselves with the most powerful people in any situation, regardless of their
trustworthiness or their ability to produce positive effects for the society, etc.  This
has been a constant factor in much of the horrible governance and the constant coups and
other problems that have become a fixture in much of sub-saharan
Africa.

In this novel, what are the concepts with which the book deals?Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

One concept--an abstract or general idea inferred or
apprehended from specific instances--that comes from the novel, Great
Expectations is
the absolute value of love.  For, love transcends social
class, love transcends generations, love transcends all
else.


In the First Stage a young Pip recounts that he
"looked up to Joe in my heart."  However, he does not understand intellectually the
value of this love until he becomes a young gentleman and rejects Joe's love only to
discover that his false values are of no worth.  For, Estella and Miss Havisham, whom he
has held in high regard cause him agony. 


Finally, as in
the Bible, what Harold Bloom calls the greatest literary work of all time,
specifically St. Paul's letter to the Corinthians, Pip sees in "a mirror dimly" that he
has been selfish and cruel to those who love him:  Joe, Biddy, and Magwitch.  Pip gives
up his selfish, childish ways and sees clearly that above all else, love is the greatest
of values.  To paraphrase St. Paul, Pip now fully understands that faith, hope, and love
abide; but the greatest of these is love.  He tends lovingly to the poor, dying
Magwitch; he returns to Miss Havisham and forgives her, even saves her from the fire; he
forgives Estella; he embraces Joe, begging his and Biddy's forgiveness of his cruelty;
and he performs an act of great charity and love towards
Herbert.


Love is the concept, the ideal, that prevails
throughout Great Expectations; it is nobler
than any other concept--ambition, social class, etc.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

What is the literary purpose of the interlude about the letter to the editor in Of Mice and Men?

Reading the letter is an attempt to lighten the mood in
the bunk house, but it is ineffective. Ironically, it would probably be more comfortable
if they weren't trying so hard. The fact that they do try to provide a distraction,
though, shows compassion on a ranch where such things are
rare.


The fact that the men remember Bill Tanner is
interesting, too. Most men, it seems, come and go anonymously--disappearing from
existence. The fact that he has reached a kind of celebrity status because of his letter
speaks to how lonely and disconnected these men really are. It is another subtle
reminder of the plight everyone on the ranch is faced with. What will they leave behind?
Who will know that they existed?

Can (sec x - cosec x) / (tan x - cot x) be simplified further?

Given the expression ( sec x - csec x ) / (tan x - cot x) We need to simplify. We will use trigonometric identities ...