How did Macbeth turn from a loyal and heroic warrior to a blood thirsty madman?

In Macbeth, the protagonist's
(Macbeth's) character changes during the action of the play.  Unfortunately, I must say
that I disagree with the label that you assigned to him--"bloodthirsty
madman."

Now, that being said, to begin, yes--Macbeth
begins the play as a loyal and heroic warrior. Evidence of this is seen in the
conversation between Duncan and Macbeth:

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Only I have left to
say,

More is due than more all can pay. ( I, iv,
23-24)

Here readers can see
that Duncan sees Macbeth as a loyal and worthy warrior.  If he did not, he would not
offer up the praise and note of inability to "pay" Macbeth for all he has
done.

After the prophecy is given to Macbeth, he does begin
to change.  Given that the witches have told him that he is to be king, Macbeth loses
his loyalty and, rather, becomes concerned with gaining the
crown.

So, the question lies in the following: Is Macbeth a
bloodthirsty madman? Is Macbeth both bloodthirsty and a madman. I tend to fall on the
side of the later.

Macbeth is bloodthirsty.  The only way
for him to gain the crown is through murder. This murderous rampage is fueled by his
wife.  She does not wish to allow the crown to come to Macbeth naturally. Instead, she
believes that he must take it.  Macbeth can only do this through murder. Lady Macbeth
states her opinion, regarding Macbeth's ability to gain the crown proactively, in her
soliquoy in the beginning of Act I, Scene V:

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Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt
be

What thou art promised: yet do I fear thy
nature;

It is too full o'the milk of human
kindness

To catch the nearest
way.

Here, readers can see
that Lady Macbeth does not believe that Macbeth is "man enough" to gain the crown by any
means necessary.  Instead, she knows that she must put the pressure on him to do what
must be done: the taking of the crown. Therefore, Macbeth does murder, but the blood
thirst belongs to Lady Macbeth.

While Macbeth does become
mad during the action of the play, he does recognize the fact that the blood on his
hands is there to stay; it cannot be washed by even "Neptune's Ocean." Here is another
example of why Macbeth could not be considered
bloodthirsty:

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I'll go no more:

I
am afraid to think what I have done;

Look on 't again I
dare not. (II, ii, 51-53).

In
Act I, Scene I, Macbeth begins his downward mental spiral. He sees the image of a dagger
before him.  At the opening of Scene II, Macbeth recounts his murder of Duncan's
chamberlains.  Here is where Macbeth realizes that the murders will affect him. Macbeth
tells Lady Macbeth that he cannot say the word "Amen" and that he knows he will no
longer be able to sleep.  With the murder of the chamberlains, Macbeth "murdered" his
own ability to sleep.

Another place where readers can see
that Macbeth has lost his mind is the appearance of Banquo's ghost in Act III, Scene IV.
This apparition is a reminder of Macbeth's guilt--something that will cause many to go
mad. It is true that as the play progresses and more are murdered, his madness does seem
to make hi bloodthirsty.

What Act & Scene in Shakespeare's Macbeth did the character Macbeth have trouble sleeping?How about Lady Macbeth?

The motif of sleeplessness first occurs in Act 2, scene
2.  After Macbeth kills Duncan and returns to his chamber, we can see that he is already
in the grip of guilt and severe anxiety. He tells his wife, "There's one did laugh in's
sleep, and one cried, “Murder!" (30). He tells her that the servants were crying out in
their sleep with "God bless us" and "Amen", as if they had seen him
murder the king. Yet when Macbeth tries to pray he could not, a fact that distresses him
greatly.

When Lady Macbeth urges him not to dwell on the
matter ("consider it not so deeply"), he seems unable to hear her. He continues to
recount his experience: "Methought I heard a voice cry “Sleep no more! Macbeth doth
Murder sleep--” (35-36) and “Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor Shall
sleep no more. Macbeth shall sleep no more" (43).

Macbeth
next mentions sleeplessness in Act 3 scene 2, just after her orders the murder of Banquo
and his son Fleance. Although he has no idea that the plan will go awry, he tells Lady
Macbeth it is better to be dead, like the King, than to lie in bed tortured by doubts
and fears--a suggestion that he has been suffering in this way himself. Coincidentally,
his statement mirrors one that Lady Macbeth makes while alone on the stage (see Act 3
scene 3 ll 6-9).  Later in the act, after Macbeth has made a spectacle of himself
reacting to Banquo's "ghost", Lady Macbeth tells him that he lacks sleep, "the season of
all natures" (170).

Ironically, it is next Lady Macbeth who
next has trouble with sleeping--or at least with sleeping while not walking and talking
at the same time.  In Act 5, scene 1, the Doctor and Gentlewoman are bewildered to
witness her episodes of sleepwalking, which are accompanied by such morbid ramblings
about blood, guilt, and murder that the Doctor claims that her ailment can only be cured
by God: "More needs she the divine than the physician" (68).

In "A Rose for Emily," how is Colonel Sartoris's white lie an attempt to spare her any embarrassment?

One of the major conflicts that is alluded to in this
excellent short story by William Faulkner is the way in which the values of the old
South compare and contrast with the values of the new South. Both Colonel Sartoris and
Emily Grierson belong to the old South, and as such, when Miss Emily's father dies,
leaving her in penury, Colonel Sartoris feels obliged to chivalrously create a situation
which would allow Miss Emily to be supported without her knowledge by the community.
Thus it is that he creates the elaborate fiction to spare Miss Emily the embarrassment
of knowing that such a woman from such a high class needs to accept charity. Note what
the text tells us:

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Not that Miss Emily would have accepted charity.
Colonel Sartoris invented an involved tale to the effect that Miss Emily's father had
loaned money to the town, which the town, as a matter of business, preferred this way of
repaying. Only a man of Colonel Sartoris' generation and thought could have invented it,
and only a woman could have believed
it.

Notice how this quote
indicates this action was only possible for a man of Colonel Sartoris' "generation," and
it was only Miss Emily's naivety that allowed her to believe it. Thus the white lie is
created chivalrously to spare Miss Emily the knowledge that she is a charity
case.

Character sketch of Norman Gortsby in "Dusk."

Norman Gortsby is what Americans today would call a
yuppie. He is sitting on a park bench and appears to be a man of leisure, but since it
is already around six-thirty, he may have gotten off work in some office within the last
hour or so. He is fairly well dressed because he would have to be properly attired in
conservative clothes in his job. He is not an aristocrat, by any means. He is not an
Oxford or Cambridge man, but he has some education and he has an upwardly mobile job,
possibly in stocks and bonds. The type of work he does calls for dealing with people,
making judgments and decisions, and no doubt with denying many requests. He is not
affluent, but he has a better-than-average income and good expectations for the
future.

Money
troubles did not press on him; had he so wished he could have strolled into the
thoroughfares of light and noise, and taken his place among the jostling ranks of those
who enjoyed prosperity or struggled for
it.

Because he is fairly well
dressed and appears to enjoy lounging on park benches watching the passing parade, he
has been approached innumerable times by people with hard-luck stories. He has become a
bit cynical because he has been taken in by liars before. He is self-reliant; he is not
afraid to be sitting there alone in the gathering dusk. He feels confident he can take
care of himself in any situation.

When the young man comes
and sits beside him, Gortsby probably anticipates some sort of opening conversation and
then a request for money. It would seem from his manner and his dialogue that he is
willing to amuse himself by listening to the stranger's tale of woe but has no intention
of giving him a penny. He automatically assumes that anything the young man will tell
him will be untrue. Gortsby has become a connoisseur of hard-luck stories; he has heard
them all, both the male and female versions of
distress.

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Dusk, to his mind, was the hour of the defeated.
Men and women, who had fought and lost, who hid their fallen fortunes and dead hopes as
far as possible from the scrutiny of the curious, came forth in this hour of gloaming,
when their shabby clothes and bowed shoulders and unhappy eyes might pass unnoticed, or,
at any rate,
unrecognized.

Gortsby is well
aware that there are plenty of people in the visinity in financial distress, but he
is

. . . not
disinclined to take a certain cynical pleasure in observing and labelling his fellow
wanderers as they went their ways in the dark sretches between the
lamp-lights.

If he tried to
help out everybody who appealed to him for money, he would become one of the poor
himself. Like Saki himself, Gortsby is a Tory. He knows it is a cold, cruel world and a
Darwinian struggle of all against all. He shows his cynicism and his hardened attitude
when the young stranger beside him finally finishes his complicated story and prompts
him for some sort of response with the words

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"I'm glad, anyhow, that you don't think the
story outrageously impossible."

"Of course," said Gortsby
slowly, "the weak point in your story is that you can't produce the
soap."

This slow, thoughtful
reponse shows that Gortsby is intelligent, urbane, experienced, judgmental, and cynical.
The young stranger's angry reaction suggests that he is sorry to have wasted so much of
this valuable twilight time on such an adamant prospect. Gortsby has at least taught him
a good lesson. He will buy a cake of soap at the nearest chemist's
shop.

What are the examples of irony in Chronicle of a Death Foretold?

Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel A Chronicle of a
Death Foretold is filled with ironies.  One of first ironies that comes to
mind is the fact that Santiago's mother locks her son out of the house, causing his
death rather than preventing it.  The central irony of the novella, however,  is the
fact that everyone in the town knows that the twins Pedro and Pablo are planning to kill
Santiago, and yet they do nothing to prevent Santiago's death.  Even though they
committed the murders, and everyone knows that they knifed Santiago, they are judged
innocent "as a matter of honor."   Santiago took the virginity of many young girls in
the town, and at the beginning of the novel, he is seen molesting his cook's daughter,
he is ironically killed for taking the virginity of a girl with whom he most likely
never interacted.

After abandoning and humiliating Angela,
Bayardo returns to the town years later to renew his relationship with her. And Angela
after refusing to lie to Bayardo about being a virgin and being returned to her parents,
immediately becomes infatuated with Bayardo, the man she had detested, and writes
letters to him everyday.

What is the theme and the subject matter in a poem?

It is very common- and easy- to confuse a subject and
theme of a literary work, particularly poetry. However, these literary terms have
universal meanings across different genres and types of texts. Thus, it is easier to
begin with a basic understanding of both literary
terms. 

Subjects are the topics that are
being explored in a text. They serve as the foundation for the text, and are essentially
what themes are built upon. For example, an author can write about Love, as a subject,
and develop multiple themes about love within the text's message. A
theme, on the other hand, is the underlying message of the text. The
theme will typically display the author's opinion about the subject.
If you reference the example of love from before, an author could build a theme of "Love
conquers all hate". This theme involves the subject of love, gives the author's opinion
of love, and shares an underlying message for the
story. 

When reading poetry, it is best to analyze what
overall topic is being discussed throughout the poem. By finding the overall topic that
is discussed, the reader will have also found the subject of the poem. Sometimes, as
another poster stated, readers can find the subject by reading the title. Unfortunately,
this method is not universally applicable. Further, once the subject is understood,
readers can find the theme by simply analyzing the perspective, tone, and message or
moral given about the subject within the poem. Below, I use the poem, "Not My
Businless", by Niyi Osundare, to illustrate what I
stated.

The title implies that the poem's subject is
minding one's business. However, this is not the subject at all. The actual subject of
the poem is collective responsibility, and a protest to the unjust ways of the world
that the narrator knew. Throughout the poem, the narrator explains varying levels of
atrocities happening to his neighbors. Each time, the narrator's retort is the same, not
my business, so long as the yam is not removed from my hand. The subject is really shown
at the end of the poem when the narrator states,

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And then one evening As I sat down to eat my yam
A knock on the door froze my hungry
hand. 

The theme is inferred,
based on the harsh reality that the narrator finds at the end of the poem. A possible
theme could be "individuals must be their brother's keepers", or "silence does not
ensure safety".

Why is Hank Morgan happy that Merlin keeps working to cure the well in the Valley of Holiness?

It is Chapter Twenty-Two where you can find the answer to
this question. When the Abbot sees that Hank has arrived, he is overjoyed at having a
"magician" whose magic has already shown itself to be greater than Merlin's. He thus
entreats Hank's help to cure the well. However, Hank refuses to help whilst Merlin is
working on solving the problem, no matter how hard the Abbot tries to tempt him to help.
Note his reasoning:

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"It will not answer to mix methods, Father;
neither would it be professional courtesy. Two of a trade must not underbid each other.
We might as well cut rates and be done with it; it would arrive at that in the end.
Merlin has the contract; no other magician can touch it till he throws it
up."

Thus we can see the kind
of thinking that governs this response from Hank. From this perspective, if Merlin has
the job, it is only fair to let him try to do it and then to take it on only if he shows
himself unable to achieve success. Having two people trying to solve it with their own
approach and methods would just create a disaster. Thus Hank is happy to let Merlin
finish his attempt at curing the well, before he will step in and apply his "magic" to
the problem.

If "The Story of an Hour," in some sense, is a story about a symbolic journey. Where does Mrs. Mallard "travel"?

In "The Story of an Hour", Louise runs away to her room
after hearing from Richards that her (Louise's) husband had been killed in a train
wreck.  Being that she has poor health, defined in the story as "heart trouble", the
news is given to her as succinctly and yet as tenderly as
possible. 

At the most literal level, the symbolic journey
that she takes occurs in her mind, but it is also aided by the window in her room. This
window appears to have served as a type of oracle for Louise--one through which she
would visualize her freedom, and herself, as something other than a married woman and
housewife. 

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There stood, facing the open window, a
comfortable, roomy armchair. Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion
that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her
soul.

The story further
explains that the square that makes up the frame of the window served as an agent of
visualization, which (like a painting, a screen, or even a modern TV), would allow her
to see tree tops, nature, and all the wide open spaces from afar. These are the very
spaces that she wishes to occupy. Mrs. Mallard is more wild in spirit, much stronger,
and much more passionate about things than what her current status as a society lady
lets her show. It is no wonder that she felt relieved and liberated upon finding out
about the death of her husband. 

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There were patches of blue sky showing here and
there through the clouds that had met and piled one above the other in the west facing
her window.

As the window is
mentioned nearly 3 times in a row, we cannot deny its importance as the niche that
Louise may have preferred throughout her marriage to see the world outside of her home.
As a woman of her generation, she must have been asked to embody the crux imposed upon
all women of her time, to be the "angels" of the household. Hence, Louise Mallard lost
herself in the process of becoming "one with her husband". She obviously resents that,
and the liberation from her husband represents a chance to lead another type of
life. 

It also comes to no surprise that, upon her mental
return from the fields and "blue patches of sky" that constituted her future and
potential freedom, she literally drops dead at the sight of her (very much alive)
husband entering the home. It had been a misunderstanding; Brently was not dead. So
Louise had a heart attack which was ironically confused with "joy that
kills". 

What was the role of the SS in Hitler's Germany?

The role of the SS in Hitler's Germany was as the model of
racial purity, the social, military and political elite of the New Germany, and as
executors of the Final Solution Holocaust of the
Jews.

Entry requirements in the early SS were extremely
strict.  Applicants had to prove three centuries of pure German bloodline in their
family trees, undergo strenuous physical testing and training, and submit to rigid party
indoctrination.  Their training ended with a blood oath to the Fuhrer, Adolf
Hitler.

As wartime losses among the SS mounted, and the
scope and size of the Holocaust grew, they became less particular, admitting Ukranians,
Latvians, Lithuanians and Estonians.

What deductions are made about the note from Laura Lyons in The Hound of the Baskervilles?

The major deduction that Watson makes when Barrymore tells
him about this note is that Laura Lyons either killed Sir Charles or that she set him up
to be killed.

In the note, Laura Lyons asks Sir Charles to
meet her at the gate where he stood on the night that he was killed.  She furthermore
asks him to burn the letter after reading it.  That is all of the letter that remained
after he burned it.  From that, Watson deduces that it is very likely that Lyons lured
him out to the gate so that he could be killed.

As it turns
out, Lyons' note was written for this purpose, but she did not know this.  It was
dictated to her by Stapleton, with whom she was in love.

In Saki's "The Interlopers," Ulrich makes two offers to George Znaeym. What are these offers?

Becoming an interloper in Saki's short story, "The
Interlopers," Nature sends the branches of a large beech tree to pinion the two enemies
after their brief moment in which they have glared at one another with "the full play to
the passions of a lifetime." After their initial hostilities, Ulrich von Gradwitz and
Georg Znaeym undergo changes of heart as they realize the dilemma that they
share.

As they lie trapped, hoping their men will rescue
them, Ulrich von Gradwitz offers Georg Znaeym wine from his flask; in addition, he  has
a change of heart and offers to Georg Znaeym that even if his men arrive on the scene
first, Georg will be the first to be helped. Then, he asks Znaeym to end their quarrel
in amity,

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"Neighbour," he said presently, "do as you
please if your men come first.  It was a fair compact.  But as for me, I've changed my
mind.  If my men are the first to come you shall be the first to be helped, as though
you were my guest....Neighbour, if you will help me to bury the old quarrel I--I will
ask you to be my friend."

Of
course, their contract cannot be completed as both are victims of another natural
interloper--wolves.

Summarize "The Egg" by Sherwood Anderson? What impact do the changes in the characters have on the meaning of the story?

Basically the entire story is based around the changes in
the characters, particularly the father.  His decision that he really needs to be more
cheerful in order to be successful helps to highlight the real conundrum of the story
which is really the chicken or the egg question.  Because the story centers on the egg
itself, it is the changes of the characters and their actions around the egg that serve
to bring out its meaning.  For example the fact that the father, in the midst of his
rage, still cannot bring himself to destroy another egg brings up all kinds of ideas
about an egg being full of life or at least a symbol of it.

Discuss Hamlet's statement, "The time is out of joint. O cursed spite, that ever I was born to set it right.”

You have not included a question with this quote from
"Hamlet".  I will make a leap of judgement and guess that you want to know a little
about the quotation.  It is from Act 1, sc. 5 and it is at the end of the scene (and the
end of the act).  Hamlet spoke the lines to Horatio and Marcellus.  Hamlet has just
spoken to and heard from the ghost of his father who has asked Hamlet to swear to get
revenge for his death.  The ghost told Hamlet that he was killed by his brother, the
same brother, Claudius, who has married the former king's wife, Gertrude, and has now
assumed the ghost's throne.  The lines set the tone for the rest of the play and
Hamlet's reluctance and delay in getting that promised revenge.  Hamlet does not carry
out the wishes of his dead father until the last scene of the play, and then, it is
almost a spur of the moment, anger-driven act.  The lines indicate that Hamlet does not
want this burden of responsibility ("cursed spite"), but he realizes that it is his duty
as his father's son ("That I was ever born...") to get that revenge against his father's
murderer.

How can the theme of dystopian society in George Orwell's 1984 be explored in terms of the deification of authority?

The theme of dystopian society makes Orwell's novel one of
the most powerful in English Literature. It is particularly through Winston's torture at
the hands of the charismatic O'Brien that the reader is able to see a leadership so
convinced of its right to power that it believes it can alter the the most basic
premises of human logic and instincts. However, the Party knows that driving all
its repressive measures there needs to be a central figure of 'truth' and authority that
the people can be coaxed into adoring.

Big Brother
represents the deification of authority that the Party needs to maintain its iron grip
over its citizenry. Whether Big Brother actually exists is not made clear, but this
serves to reinforce the point that it is simply the credible perception of an all
powerful leader supposedly benevolently acting in the citizenry's best interests that
facilitates blind following. In the novel it enables the Party to dispense all-manner of
propaganda and rob the people of even their most intimate privacy and freedoms; all
under the guise of acting in the greater interests of the people as determined by the
diefied Big Brother. Winston, the intrepid protagonist who had dreamed of undermining
the state, eventually becomes the embodiment of the ultimate victim of a dystopian
society - a hapless, brainwashed shell of a human,

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"He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it
had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache....But
it was alright, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the
victory over himself. He loved Big Brother" (p.
311).

In what ways can Dubliners be defined as a modernist text? What characteristics of Modernism can be found in James Joyce's Dubliners?

James Joyce's Dubliners follows the
thematic concerns of Modernist literature as summarized by the sociologist Georg
Simmel:

The
deepest problems of modern life derive from the claim of the individual to preserve the
autonomy and individuality of his existence in the face of overwhelming social forces,
of historical heritage, of external culture, and of the technique of
life.

T. S. Eliot further
described Modernism in his discussion of Joyce's
Ulysses

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... It is simply a way of controlling, of
ordering, of giving a shape and a significance to the immense panorama of futility and
anarchy which is contemporary
history.

Certainly, in his
Dubliners, Joyce diagnoses the human misery of the Irish who live
in the capital city.  In addition, he identifies the source of much of this condition as
that Anglo-Irish Protestant Ascendency which served as the bulwark of British power in
the land.  With these social forces, Joyce portrays the tragic Irish paralysis which
prevents his characters from breaking their stultifying
conditions.

Providing the reader insights into the
individuals of his work, Joyce employs the distinctive Modernist technique of
stream-of-consciousness or internal monologues, at least.  The daily life of the
individual residents of Dublin is paramount to the vision of life and the spiritual
condition of the Irish as a whole.  As Terence Brown of Trinity College has
written,

It
was, Joyce believed, the artist's duty to expedite that uttering forth, that
manifestation, through his placing of such epiphanic moments in a context that allowed
the reader to discern their possible significance. ...some of
Dubliners' Dubliners achieve comedic fictional apotheosis and
occupy a text where variegated perspective and a mythic method would bring to full term
the embryonic Modernism of the precociously experimental and achieved
book.

Discuss the importance of fossils as a record of evolutionary change over time.In addition, please name an animal group that appears to have...

Fossils are remains of a plant or animal that long ago in
prehistoric time or even earlier.  Fossils are formed by leaves, shells, skeletons, or
other organic forms that were preserved death of a plant or animal.  Tracks or trails
left by moving animals also form fossils.

Fossils help
scientists discover forms of life that existed in the past and how they lived. In this
way scientist can study how life on earth has changed over
time.

Fossils can provide a great deal of information about
the appearance and ways of life of prehistoric organisms.  One way of studying fossils
of an animal or plant is by comparing them with living species. Study of Fossil that do
not have close living relatives are more difficult to understand.  One way to learn how
such plant and animals  lived is to compare their fossils to unrelated living species
with similar shaped structures. The conditions under which fossil creatures died and
were buried is also useful in determining how they lived. Fossils of tracks, trails, or
burrows help scientists to figure out the behaviour of prehistoric animals. The location
of fossils in the(layers of rocks helps to determine when a particular type of plant or
animal lived.

Study of fossils also helps to determine how
the earth's climate and landscape have changed over time.  For instance, presence of a
fossil of a particular type of plant in a specific place, and belonging to a specific
time period indicates the that the climate was suitable for existence of that type of
plant.

The nature of differences and similarities in
characteristics of plant and animal life in different parts of the world at different
times also helps to understand the nature of continental drifts that has taken place
over millions of years.

What is the meaning of this quote? What is Theodore Roosevelt asserting about a man with education versus a man without it?"A man who has never...

Theodore Roosevelt was the first of America's three
progressive presidents.  Because he was a progressive, he worried about the power of big
business and the elites who ran them.  This quote shows this
worry.

In this quote, Roosevelt is saying that people with
college educations (who were relatively rare in those days) were more dangerous to
society than those without.  He was saying that a person with a college education could
exploit others on a much larger scale.

If you have no
education, you can only steal by breaking into things, he is saying.  But if you are
educated, you can use that education to steal in big ways.  You can use it, for example,
like Bernie Madoff did and steal billions of dollars.  Or you can use it like a robber
baron to make a monopoly and use that to steal from the the population as a
whole.

So, what Roosevelt is saying here is very much in
line with the progressive idea that elites were a danger to society.  He is saying that
educated people can steal in bigger ways that are more dangerous for society (like
Madoff or the Enron people) while the poor can only steal a little at a
time.

Discuss the opposing states of the human soul in William Blake's "Songs of Innocence" and "Songs of Experience."

If you look at the Songs of Innocence and the Songs of
Experience, one of the most notable differences is the absence and presence of hope and
the power of God's love. In the songs of experience, William Blake uses moods of gloom
and despair. The contrast between the two

For example, in
"The Chimney Sweeper" there is a poem version for both the song of innocence and the
song of experience collections. The Chimney Sweeper in the Song of Innocence notes in
the fifth stanza:

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"Then naked and white, all their bags left
behind,
They rise upon clouds and sport in the wind;
And the angel
told Tom, if he'd be a good boy,
He'd have God for his father, and never want
joy" (Blake).

This quote,
after detailing the difficult life of a chimney sweep in the previous stanzas, notes
that even though the boy "weeps" as a bald-headed boy, he knows that God will reward the
small children in heaven after the little boys' deaths. There is hope for the small boys
here. In the complementary poem, The Chimney-Sweeper in the Song of Experience, William
Blake portrays those who employ the boys in a harsh job as being God-praisers. They go
off to church and "make heaven of our misery" illustrating that there is something
corrupt and gloomy about their faith. Belief in a caring God is what those who are
innocent believe, those who have experienced life know better than to believe in such
naive views.

In The Reader by Bernhard Schlink, what is Michael guilty of?

This is an excellent novel that explores so many issues
concerning Germany's relationship with its past and the Holocaust. Of course, the
central way in which these issues are explored is through the central character of
Michael, and in particular his relationship with his past. Having had an affair with
Hanna as a teenager, he refuses to visit her in prison, though the fact that he
continues to read to her still indicates that she is important to him. He seems to be a
character that cannot allow the past and the present to mix. In a sense, this is his
biggest failing, and, as Schlink seems to suggest, this is Germany's failing too, in
that the past cannot just be "dealt with" by being locked up or ignored. Hanna's suicide
can perhaps be seen as a silent protest against this view. However, at the end of the
tale, it is clear that Hanna is a character who will outlive her life in the impact that
she has on Michael. She will continue to shape who he is as a person in precisely the
same way that the Holocaust cannot be dismissed and will continue to form our
identities.

Turn the following fragments into complete sentences.“Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street (1984) a beautiful book. Consists of stories,...

One way to improve the clarity of one's writing is to use
subordinating and coordinating conjunctions, or relative pronouns in order to clarity
the interconnectedness of one's thoughts.  One must also make sure that each clause has
a subject and a verb.  SometimeTo improve the above ideas, you could do something like
this:

Cisnero's The House on Mango
Street (1984) is a beautiful book,
which consists of stories, sketches, and vignettes about
family, friends, houses, and neighborhood.  A young girl, Esperanza Cordero, is the
narrator who deals with Chicano (Mexican American) culture
in her Chicago neighborhood.  Although they are Americans,
many of the characters are like outsiders in
their own land.

What does Lopakhin's character reveal about himself and his rising mercantile class in "The Cherry Orchard"? What does Lopakhin reveal about...

Lopakhin's statement reflects change.  In the purest form,
his statement represents the idea that Russia is changing.  The traditional notion of
nobility, serfdom, and blind loyalty to both master and czar is being replaced by a more
egalitarian and materialist culture.  The son of serfs can now earn money and buy the
estate where his family had been chained to for generations.  His statement reveals
where the pulse of Russia is driving and the fact that change is on the move.  Yet, at
the same time, the quote also reveals the oblivious nature of the aristocracy.  The idea
that the growth of materialism and the class of people that go along with the
establishment of "new money" are fundamentally different is brought out in the last
fragment of the quote.  The lack of "honest, decent" people is reflective of the
changing atmosphere as well as the fact that this change is not going to be a very
smooth one for those who represent that which is fading.  Their exit from the stage will
not be graceful, dignified, or generous.  Rather, it will be abrupt, reflective of this
new group who intend on wielding this new form of power.  Lopakhin's quote reminds the
reader of both the presence of change and the force with which it can
disrupt.

What was the Free Soil Party?

The Free Soil Party was a political party that sprang up
in the 1840s in response to the national debate over slavery.  The party did not last
very long, but had a lasting impact because many of its leading men became the founders
of the Republican Party.

Before the Free Soil Party arose,
there were two parties, the Democrats and the Whigs.  Both parties had wings that were
pro-slavery and wings that were anti-slavery.  As tensions over slavery grew, some of
these Democrats and Whigs decided to split off and join a party that was
anti-slavery.

The Free Soil Party was, however, not an
abolitionist party.  It did not call for the abolition of slavery where it existed. 
Instead, it argued that slavery should not be extended into territories where it did not
already exist.

How does Poe use imagery to sustain tension in "The Black Cat"?

You might want to consider this question by thinking of
how the black cat itself is described throughout this excellent tale. Remember, of
course, that the story is told from the first person point of view, and so it is the
murderous and slightly insane narrator himself who reports what he sees and what
happens, and it is clear that his relationship with the black cat is what leads to his
act of murder and his ever-more tenuous grip on reality and
sanity.

Thus it is that tension is sustained throughout the
tale by descriptions of the black cat as follows:

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I started, hourly, from dreams of unutterable
fear, to find the hot breath of the thing upon my face, and its vast weight--an
incarnate Night-Mare that I had no power to shake off--incumbent eternally upon my
heart!

References made to the
black cat which describe it as a "thing" of demonic proportions, an "incarnate
Night-Mare," serve to heighten our interest and the tension of the tale as we wait to
see what will happen and how the curious relationship between the narrator and the cat
will resolve itself.

What did the Pentagon Papers reveal about the Vietnam War & how did the Supreme Court rule on Nixon’s attempt to block their publication?

President Johnson had stated that two American destroyers
(a type of warship), the U.S.S. Maddox and the U.S.S. C. Turner Joy, had been attacked
without provocation in international waters. He then asked the Congress for permission
to accelerate American involvement in Vietnam and to bomb certain sites within North
Vietnam. Congress gave him permission with the Gulf of Tonkin
Resolution.

The Pentagon Papers, a series of articles being
published in the New York Times, revealed this to be, at best, an exeration of the
truth. It suggested that the American destroyers might even have penetrated into North
Vietnamese territorial waters prior to the attack on them. This intrusion would have
justified, under international law and international precedent, a retaliation by North
Vietnam. This retaliation is what Johnson described at an unprovoked attack (an apparent
lie).

These papers were being published during the Nixon
administration which tried to stop their continued publication. The Supreme Court ruled
that this would amount to "prior restraint" and is not allowed. They were published in
their entirety.

In these passages, what is the literal meaning and how does it develop theme in Hamlet?1)I would have such a fellow whipped for o’erdoing...

In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the lines
you cite literally mean that Hamlet would have an actor whipped for overacting, because
overacting creates an overblown performance compared even to an overblown
tyrant.

Hamlet is offering acting suggestions or advice to
the 1 Player.  He tells the actor to not overplay emotionally powerful speeches.  He
mentions overblown hand gestures and impassioned words presented without restraint as
things to avoid.  He says not to concentrate on pleasing the groundlings (those patrons
in standing positions on the floor of the playhouse who appreciate only mime shows and
spectacle).  Impassioned speeches must appear natural, and not be overdone just to
impress the masses.

Termagant is thought to be a Mohammedan
deity, and is represented in medieval mystery plays as a violent and ranting personage,
according to the note on the text in the Norton Critical Edition of
the play.  And Herod, of course, is the cruel tyrant from the New Testament.  Hamlet
would, then, have an actor whipped for overdoing a violent and ranting Termagent,
because doing so would present a character even more cruel and violent and outlandish
than Herod's actual "performances."

Thematically, the scene
focuses on acting, playing roles, restraint, precision.  Hamlet acts with restraint in
the play concerning his revenge, firmly establishing Claudius's guilt instead of acting
rashly, as Laertes does, for instance, after his father's death.  And almost everyone
acts and plays different roles in the play:  Hamlet pretends to be mad; Ophelia acts
like she doesn't love Hamlet and returns his gifts to her while Polonius and Claudius
spy on the two of them in order to judge Hamlet's reaction; Ros. and Guil. pretend to be
acting only as Hamlet's friends, when they are really acting on behalf of the
king.

Hamlet, of course, readers assume, wouldn't really
have an actor whipped for overacting.  He is just making a
point. 

WalMart is the biggest retailer in the world. What uses of the internet have helped Wal-Mart become the biggest retailer in the world?

The most important thing that Wal-Mart has done with the
internet to become the world's largest retailer is to manage their supply chain via the
internet.  This has been much more important to Wal-Mart than actually selling products
over the internet.

Wal-Mart's major selling point is that
they are a low-cost retailer.  Wal-Mart is able to keep their costs low in part because
they work closely with their suppliers.  This has allowed Wal-Mart, for example, to keep
lower levels of inventory than other retailers.  They use the internet to coordinate
operations with their suppliers so as to always have enough inventory, but not an
excessive amount that will incur things like storage
costs.

By managing their supply chain via the internet,
Wal-Mart has helped itself become the world's leading retailer.

How can Marxist theory be applied to The Great Gatsby?

I think that Marxist theory can be applied quite easily to
Fitzgerald's work.  Marxist theory asserts that all art arises from its socio- economic
condition.  Fitzgerald would readily admit that, in that the work is a depiction of the
social and economic excesses of the 1920s.  Along these lines, Fitzgerald does
demonstrate some beliefs that are Marxist in nature.  The ownership of the means of
production consolidated in the hands of the wealthy and this representing a sense of
corruption is present in the novel.  The Buchanans and others like them that represent
the consolidation of wealth are those who abuse this condition is an idea that is
present.  The Buchanans and those like them act only for their own interest, and at the
cost of the Wilsons of the world.  At the same time, there is a commodity fetishism
where money and objects hold more importance than people do.  The search and coveting of
the "next party" or the "next piece of gossip" as well as Daisy's bizarre reaction to
the shirts in Chapter 5 are all representative of this.  Gatsby's belief that he can
spend money to "win" over Daisy is a capitalist idea that Marx would actually see as
endemic to the system.  The proliferation and possession of wealth causes individuals to
actually believe that they can "purchase" people for money.

In Chapters 13 and 14 of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, discuss Hester's role as a counselor of troubled women.

In Chapter XIII of The Scarlet Letter,
seven years have transpired since Hester's ignominy on the Puritan scaffold. 
In this time of alienation, Hester has endured her loneliness and turned it to
reflections.  Having developed her soul and inner strength, Hester's bosom with its
"badge of shame," becomes the pillow on which troubled heads rest.  Her nature shows
itself "warm and rich" for having suffered, and she offers comfort and an unjudgmental
ear that offers empathy to others. In fact, her letter now symbolizes "Able" because
Hester offers others a "woman's strength."

Ironically, "the
rulers, and the wise and learned men" of the community who condemned Hester for her
adultery, now are "acknowledging the influence of Hester's good qualities ...."  They
begin to view the scarlet letter now as a token of her good deeds.  When strangers talk
with them, they point to Hester:

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"It is our Hester,--the town's own Hester,--who
is so kind to the poor, so helpful to the sick, so comfortable to the
afflicted!"

Although the
Purtian hypocrites then relate the "black history" of Hester at the same time,
they confirm a sacredness to her scarlet letter, much like the cross on a nun's
bosom.

In To Kill a Mockingbird, what does Atticus think about the Ku Klux Klan?

As you might expect, Atticus is no fan of the Klan.
However, he also seems to be either surprisingly uninformed about the KKK (a very
un-Atticus-like characteristic, since he is historically, politically and socially savvy
on most subjects) or else he is deliberately trying to mislead Jem (also unlike Atticus)
on the subject in order to put him at ease. The subject of the Ku Klux Klan comes up in
Chapter 15, when a "gang" of people meet in Atticus' front yard. When Atticus explains
that it wasn't a "gang," Jem speculates about the Klan. Atticus tells him about one
appearance the KKK made many years before when they

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... paraded by Mr. Sam Levy's house one night,
but Sam (said) ... he'd sold 'em the very sheets on their backs. Sam made 'em so ashamed
of themselves they went
away."

Atticus probably
sensed that Jem and Scout were worried about him, so Atticus told
them

"Way back
about nineteen-twenty there was a Klan... The Ku Klux's gone... It'll never come
back."

How wrong Atticus
proved to be. It is obvious that there must have been little or no Klan activity in the
Maycomb area at the time, or Atticus would not have been so easily fooled. Again,
however, he may have only been trying to calm his children by hoodwinking them with a
white lie (no pun intended).

Why is the Missouri Compromise significant?

The Missouri Compromise was an attempt to head off the
slavery debate which was gradually heating up. The issue was not so much the existence
of slavery, as its extension into the West.  Stephen A. Douglas proposed the Compromise
as part of a plan to have the Eastern Terminus of the Transcontinental Railroad in
Chicago in his home state.

Missouri petitioned to come into
the Union as a slave holding state. This would have upset the balance of slave and free
states in the Union. The free states already had a majority in the House of
Representatives; but the Senate was evenly divided. Were the slave states to achieve a
majority; they might institutionalize slavery with a constitutional amendment. If the
free states were to gain a majority, they might attempt to eliminate slavery altogether,
again by Constitutional Amendment (both sides agreed that as onerous as slavery was, it
was constitutionally sanctioned.  The plan called for the admission of Missouri as a
slave state, and Maine as a free state; whereby the division in the Senate would be
preserved. It also provided that slavery would not exist above the parallel which
constituted the bottom of the Missouri state line.

The
compromise is important in that it delayed the slavery debate for a short time. It did
not end it. Later, the compromise was declared unconstitutional by Justice Roger Taney
in the Dred Scott decision, and the slavery debate heated up
anew.

Find the intersection point of the graph x^2 -3 and the line y= 2x.

At the points where the graphs y = x^2 - 3 and y = 2x
intersect, the x and y coordinates are the same.

Here we
substitute 2x for y in y = x^2 - 3

=> 2x = x^2 -
3

=> x^2 - 2x - 3 =
0

=> x^2 - 3x + x - 3 =
0

=> x(x - 3) + 1( x - 3) =
0

=> (x + 1)(x - 3) =
0

=> x = -1 and x = 3

y
= 2x = -2 and y = 6

The required points of
intersection are (-1, -2) and ( 3, 6)

What does the word "Ebony" (line 43) mean in "The Raven," ball, bright, good, or tall, or something else?

The word "ebony" in this poem serves to describe the raven
and principally relates to its chief feature: colour. Let us examine the line that you
are referring to:

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Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into
smiling...

A good thing to do
if you have a question with a number of possible answers is to go through a stage by
stage process of deduction helpfully remembered by the acronym POE: Process Of
Elimination. In this sentence, ball and tall do not make sense as possible definitions
for "ebony." Good would make no sense either given the general evil atmosphere that
surrounds the raven. So that leaves us with bright or none of these. A quick web search
will reveal that " href="http://www.tfd.com/ebony">ebony" actually means a dark, glossy black,
indicating that none of these is the correct answer.

Find solutions of the trigonometric equation sin 12x+cos 6x=0?

We'll change sin 12x, using the double angle identity,
into:

sin 12x = sin 2*(6x) = 2 sin 6x*cos
6x

We'll re-write the
equation:

2 sin 6x*cos 6x + cos 6x =
0

We'll factorize by cos
6x:

cos 6x(2 sin 6x + 1) =
0

We'll set each factor as
zero:

cos 6x = 0

6x =
+/-arccos 0 + 2kpi

6x = +/-(pi/2) +
2kpi

We'll divide by 6:

x =
+/-(pi/12) + kpi/3

2 sin 6x + 1 =
0

sin 6x = -1/2

6x =
(-1)^k*arcsin(-1/2) + kpi

x = (-1)^(k+1)*(pi/36) +
kpi/6

The solutions of trigonometric equation
are: {+/-(pi/12) + kpi/3 ; k integer}U{(-1)^(k+1)*(pi/36) + kpi/6 ; k
integer}.

What is the x intercepts of the curve y=-x^2 + 3x +18 ?.

At the x-intercepts of the curve y = -x^2 + 3x + 18, the
value of y = 0.

So we get 0 = -x^2 + 3x +
18

=> x^2 - 3x - 18 =
0

=> x^2 - 6x + 3x - 18 =
0

=> x(x - 6) + 3(x - 6) =
0

=> (x + 3)(x - 6) =
0

=> x = -3 and x =
6

The required intercepts of y = -x^2 + 3x +
18 with the x-axis are (-3 , 0) and (6, 0)

can anyone tell me history of symmetry? pls i am in serious need of it

Symmetry doesn't have a "history" - it has always been
present as a natural phenomenon. Symmetry is found as a basic property of some natural
objects (certain kinds of crystals, for instance - think of snowflakes), various types
of interactions (think of musical harmonies) and in many relationships. Symmetry has
been used in architecture for thousands of years by cultures around the
world.

In adding "math" as a tag to your question, I'm
guessing you are working with symmetry in mathematical processes - perhaps looking at
graphing symmetrical lines to answer equations. The process of identifying and
recognizing such situations varies with each type of problem, so you could trace the
history of the person who developed the particular type of math you are
considering.

What is the social struggle in Jacques Futrelle's "The Problem of Cell 13"?

The social problem represented in Jacques Futrelle's "The
Problem of Cell 13" can be thought of as two-fold. The first social problem is the
resentment and envy individuals with ordinary mental powers feel toward individuals with
extraordinary reasoning and deductive skills: "What sympathy Dr. Ransome had was
dissipated by the tone. It nettled him, ...." This problem is illustrated in the
challenge Ransome and Fielding set for Van Dusen, that of having him confined in Cell 13
of death row in Chisholm Prison (a most unkindly challenge
indeed):

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"Well, say prison walls," he replied. "No man can
think himself out of a cell. If he could, there would be no
prisoners."

The second social
problem is the classic one that other great deductive heroes of literature, like the
unequaled Sherlock Holmes, pose to society. That problem is the one of whether logic
alone can determine the best actions to take; is it indeed logic that determines the
correct action to be taken? For instance, in "The Problem," it is Van Dusen's logical
skills that enable him to choose the right actions to take in order to effect his
escape. It all depends upon his having noticed that field rats come and go through the
pipes entering the prison cells. From there, his logical prowess isolates the correct
actions to take. In this case, those actions depended upon first requesting a shoe
shine, some money, and tooth powder (from the days before tooth
paste):

"I
should like to make three small requests. You may grant them or not, as you wish. ... I
would like to have some tooth powder ... and I should like to have one five-dollar and
two ten-dollar bills. ... I should like to have my shoes
polished."

Futrelle presents
an interesting case in support of the supremacy of the power of logic in relation to
action.

What are some useful quotes from 1984 about Winston and Julia's secret meeting in the woods?

This is an exciting although very dangerous time for
Winston. Amidst the enormous frustration and angst in his life he appears to have made
contact with an attractive younger lady who may share his hatred of the regime that they
live under. In fact this turns out to be true. Julia later says to
him,

"It was something in your face...As soon as I saw you
I knew you were against them" (p.
128).

 Winston is willing to take the risk that Julia is
not leading him into a trap as a member of the Thought Police. He is also willing
to take the risk that he won't be caught by the Party's all pervasive surveillance. He
muses that even in the countryside it wasn't much safer than
London,

"There were no telescreens, of course, but there
was always the danger of concealed microphones...." (p.
123).

It is to Winston's relief that he later learns
that Julia has chosen the meeting place well; it is in a clearing with trees too small
to conceal microphones.

Winston's secret meeting with Julia
reveals several important aspects of their characters. One is that Winston is willing to
take risks in trusting others which could rapidly bring about his downfall. In Julia's
case we are introduced to a character who delights in her ability to deceive the Party
and create her own space for personal enjoyment. The lengths to which the Party goes to
monitor its citizens also yet again reminds the reader of the terribly repressive nature
of this society.

What stages of Kohlberg's Moral Development does Spielberg show in his film Schindler's List?

I think that, as a character, Schindler represents
different elements of Kohlberg's stages of moral development.  For example, I think that
the start of the film represents some of Schindler's demonstration of a pre-
conventional stage of behavior.  For Schindler, "behaving right" translates to making
money.  He struggled with this prior to his work in Poland during the Second World War,
hence his moral behavior code is governed by his embrace of how to make money and what
practices need to be done in order to profit.  Kohlberg's second stage of moral
development, addressing self interest, is seen when Schindler opts to use Jewish
laborers as opposed to Polish ones so that he can generate more money and amass more
personal wealth.  The conformist element in Schindler's behavior can be seen as he
befriends Nazi officials, such as Goeth, in his desire to make more money.  Yet, the
interesting element here is that Schindler acts in a socially conformist manner with the
Jewish population, as well.  He takes more Jewish people into his factory, gives them
more benefits, and shows them more benevolence, in general by permitting them to work
and allowing them to remain free from the clutches of the Nazis.  This is where
Schindler begins to advance in Kholberg's moral development, in that Schindler operates
in moral succession in parallel universes, it seems, until Schindler reaches a point
where he can no longer abide by what Nazi morality preaches, ascending to a moral state
of universality.  Schindler is able to do this, while still clings to the conformist
vision of the Nazis, and ascending to universalised conditions of morality at the same
time.

The describe the tones used in Scene Four in a "A Streetcar Named Desire"?

In Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire", the tone is very
important.

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Tone: the
writer's attitude toward the material and/or readers. Tone may be playful, formal,
intimate, angry, serious, ironic, outraged, baffled, tender, serene, depressed, etc.

In the play, there
remains one major tone that follows the actions of the play throughout. Depicted by the
lone blue piano, the tone of the play shows as one which mirrors that of the characters-
depressed, solitude, and violent.

Specifically, in Scene
Four, the tone is set as anxious. In the previous scene, Stanley has attacked Stella and
Stella left their flat. Blanche and Stella are talking about the night before and
Blanche cannot understand how Stella can stay with a husband who beats her. Readers,
depending on their own background, will either side with Stella or
Blanche.

To explain, only people who have lived under
certain circumstances can fully understand the decisions which go with them. Therefore,
women, or men, in abusive relationships may have the same emotional attachment as Stella
has to their abuser. As for Blanche, she cannot understand how Stella can stay given she
has never been in the situation.

This being said, the tone
of this scene can be different for each reader. One who has lived within an abusive
relationship may find understanding and hope in the words Stella speaks, whereas others,
who side with Blanche, may feel angered at the fact she chooses to stay. The tone from
Scene Four changes dramatically after the action of the previous
scene.

As for author intent, it could be rationalized that
Williams is simply stating the "facts" in a Naturalistic fashion. He is showing both
sides of how different characters would/could react to such a situation as described in
Scene Three.

How does Remarque use Paul's experiences in all All Quiet on the Western Front to emphasize the futility of war in chapters 6 and 7?

In Chapter 7 of All Quiet on the Western
Front, Paul narrates,

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We want to live at any price; so we cannot burden
ourselves with feelings which . . . would be out of place
here.

From their experiences
of the grotesqueness of the effects of mustard gas, the savage brutality and the madness
and despair of trench warfare, Paul and the other soldiers become benumbed and
dehumanized.Remarque writes in Chapter 6,

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After this affair the sticky, close atmosphere
works more than ever on our nerves.  We sit as if in our graves waiting only to be
closed in.

Night again.  We are deadened by the strain--a
deadly tension that scrapes along one's spine like a gapped knife.  Our legs refuse to
move, our hands tremble, our bodies are a thin skin stretched painfully over repressed
madness, over an almost irresistible, bursting roar.  We have neither flesh nor muscles
any longer, we dare not look at one aother for fear of some miscalculable thing.  So we
shut our teeth--it will end--it will end--perhaps we will come
through.

To further describe
the men's condition, Remarque writes in an impressionistic
style,

The
brown earth, the torn, blasted earth, with a greasy shine under the sun's rays, the
earth is the background of this reslesss, gloomy world of automatons, our gasping is the
scratching of a quill, our lips are dry, our heads are debauched with stupor--thus we
stagger forward, and into our pierced and shattered souls bores the torturing image of
the brown earth with the greasy sun and the convulsed and dead
soldiers.

It is this
"automaton" who returns home on leave in Chapter 7.  However, Paul finds that he is
irritated with questions about his being at the front.  When his father asks him to wear
his uniform, Paul refuses.  When his old schoolmaster and others talk with him at a
cafe, Paul is irritated by their talk of what they do not
know.

Paul's return home is not what he has imagined.  The
men have talked too much for him, he prefers to be alone, so that no one troubles him. 
Like a Hemingway character, Paul wants "just to sit quietly."  Others understand, but
they feel it only with words.

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They fell it, but always with only half of
themselves, the rest of their being is taken up with other things, they are so divided
in themselves that none feels it with his whole essence; I cannot even say myself
exactly what I mean.

Paul is
disillusioned with the nothingness of some people's lives.  He observes their
occupations and wonders how such a narrow activity fill their lives.  He goes to his
room where he looks at his drawings and postcards that have pleased him.  He looks at
his books.  Instead of the "quiet rapture" which he once felt with his books, Paul now
feels only emptiness.

What are some moods that happen in A Thousand Splendid Suns?Are there any special ones that affect the story?

Although Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid
Suns is generally a somber tale filled with brutal crimes against humanity
and the horrors of war, it is filled with virtually every mood known to man. There is
the anticipation and joy that Mariam feels as she awaits the arrival of her father early
in the story; and there is the disappointment that overwhelms her when she discovers
that Jalil has refused to see her when she pays a visit to his home. Mariam is filled
with uncertainty when she is eventually asked to stay at Jalil's, and it is turned to
anger when she discovers the true purpose of her invitation; and later, to revulsion
when she first meets her betrothed. Mariam and Laila share moods of friendly
introspection during Rasheed's absences, but they often endure the anxiety of his temper
and his wrathful brutalities toward them. The two enjoy brief moments of tense
excitement when they appear to be so close to escaping their unhappy home, but it is
followed by their near-death experiences when they return to Rasheed. There are all too
few moments of happiness, but Laila does experience the love of Tariq before he leaves
with his family and, later, when he returns to her. There, too, is the loving bond that
exists between the mother and her children, and the mature feelings that grow between
Laila and Tariq. Most of these moods are dwarfed, however, by the constant fear that
exists during the warring--be it from their fear of Rasheed or the bombs that constantly
fall. 

Why do we fear deflation more than inflation?

It may seem counter-intuitive but inflation or an increase
in prices, or a decrease in the value of the currency, is
something that is beneficial for the economy. Though one could not argue in favor of the
kind of inflation in Zimbabwe, a moderate inflation of 3-4% is what the aim of economic
policy should be.

There are several reasons why the
moderate level of inflation is required. One is them is that deflation means an
increase in the value of money. So people are less likely
to spend now; they keep the money with themselves as it would be possible to buy more
with the same money in the future. This decreases the present demand for
goods and in turn leads to further deflation. A low
demand implies that supply too has to be
reduced.

The second is deflation discourages people from
borrowing money. This follows from the fact that the
repayment for the funds that they borrow now would later be with money that has a higher
value than what they have borrowed.

A third is a
deflationary scenario increases unemployment as there is
not enough demand to warrant an increase in supply; owners of business are averse to
borrowing funds to increase capacity and employment opportunities; and the logically
sound decrease in wages which is expected to happen does not due to what is known as
href="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/mysteries-of-deflation-wonkish/">downward
nominal wage rigidity.

These are some of the
reasons why inflation should be allowed to remain at a moderate level for healthy
economic growth.

What are the characteristics of the character Antigone in terms of what she is committed to?I am writing a research paper on Antigone, and I wanted...

Antigone is a tragic hero who
makes at least two mistakes which contribute to her death: she takes an unbending course
of action which leads, ultimately, to self-martyrdom; she refuses to suffer her
punishment alone and commits suicide out of weakness or love of
death.

Antigone is a feminist,
as she is not defined by men.  She demands to be heard by Creon and the public.  Unlike
her submissive and fearful sister Ismene, Antigone is an outspoken vixen generations
ahead of her time.

Antigone upholds the gods' laws over
man's laws. In this way, Antigone is a religious hero.  She
knows that her brother's body must be buried according to the gods' decree, and she is
willing to enact civil disobedience in moral
defense.

Antigone is a romantic
idealist.  In short, she has a death wish.  She sees suicide as a noble
cause, and she makes decisions that lead her to this fate.  She wants to be remembered
as a martyr.

Which of the following least describes Twain as a teenager? Answer: daring, secure, imaginative, competitive.which one would you choose

I would say the word that least describes Mark Twain
(Samuel Clemens) is "secure." His life was far from secure - ever -- but especially when
he was a teenager. He became a printer's apprentice when he was only 15 years old, left
home at 18 and worked as a printer in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, among other
cities. He spent his evenings in public libraries and became an autodidact - that is, he
taught himself. He was daring, imaginative and most likely competitive as well. He later
trained himself well enough to become qualified as a river boat pilot (after his teen
years), and the amount of information required for that designation was very rigorous.
It took him more than two years to study everything he needed to know to become a river
boat pilot, so this tells us that he was driven.

These
qualities followed him into his adult life, not always with great success. He had
constant financial problems due to making bad investments in some rather crazy schemes
and inventions and his imagination led him to become involved in the paranormal. Even
though he earned a great deal of money from his writing, he never became rich because he
was overly daring in his investments.

What do YOU
think?

In "We Real Cool" where does the poet use alliteration?

Alliteration is the term given to repeated consonant
sounds at the beginning of words that are close together. This is a key technique that
is used by many poets to create word music and also make the phrases stand out. Consider
the use of alliteration in many headlines in newspapers. Alliteration gives those words
a greater impact.

Considering the poem, you can see that
there are many examples of alliteration, including "Lurk late," "Strike straight," "Sing
sin," and "Jazz June." All of these, combined with the short, sharp, snappy lines, give
this poem a real slick feel and help us to imagine the "coolness" of the speakers,
before, of course, the devastating ending really communicates their end by following
such a lifestyle. Thus the use of alliteration in this poem creates music, giving the
message and the theme much more emphasis as we read and hear the
poem.

How is the theme of assimilation treated in A Rasisin in the Sun?

Clearly the character that you want to focus on, who seems
to be the main vehicle for the author's exploration of assimilation, is Beneatha, and in
particular her relations with the two men who represent opposite extremes of the
assimilationist debate: Asagai and George. One of the most powerful symbols of
assimilation is the play is Beneatha's hair, and how, after some encouragement from
Asagai, Beneatha chooses to wear it naturally rather than straightening it so that it
looks like any "normal" hairstyle. Asagai uses harsh lanaguage to describe what she does
to her hair, saying that she "mutilates" it every week.

Of
course, George is the opposite extreme as he represents a black man that has embraced
the white world and the white way of doing things and has become successful as a result.
As his response to Beneatha's hair shows, he is an assimilationist as he wants to fit in
to white dominated society. Note how he talks about her African
past:

Let's
face it baby, your heritage is nothing but a bunch of raggedy-assed spirituals and some
grass huts!

Thus we see the
two different views of assimilation advanced by Asagai and George, with Asagai having
much more of an impact on Beneatha who remains interested and curious about her African
identity.

Would Langland's Piers the Plowman follow the Protestant or Catholic ideal, and what is supporting text?

William Langland published The Vision of
William, Concerning Piers the Plowman in 1362.
The Protestant Reformation was a movement ot the 16th century. Martin Luther, the father
of the Reformation, wrote his life changing 95 theses in
1517. It was only after this that Protestant theology came
into being and developed along lines in some regards antithetical to what we call
Catholic theology.

This shows that at the time of Langland's writing
and publication of Piers the Plowman, there was only one Western
Christian Church (Eastern Orthodoxy came into being earlier at the Great Schism of
1054) and it was the Church of Rome. It is called Catholic
because of its origins as the one "universal" Church of Christianity, which was then
called simply "the Holy Church."

readability="8">

What she were witterly that wis'sed me so faire.
 1.074
"Holi Chirche I am,' quod she, 'thow
oughtest me to knowe.  1.075
I underfeng thee first and the feith taughte.”
 1.076

Therefore, it must be
said that Piers the Plowman follows the Catholic ideal, ideology,
and theology. This is one reason Langland was so popular among the clergy and rising
middle class: his didactic (instructive) poem strengthened the population's religious
beliefs.

Scene 3 The symbol of the glass menagerie continues in this scene. Comment on its significance.Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie

Having broken down when she has taken a speed test,
thereby, proving herself too fragile and sensitive for the Rubiacam's Business
College, Laura retreats to the apartment and her glass menagerie through whose
transluscence illusions can yet be perceived.  Thus, the glass menagerie is a refuge for
Laura's dreams and illusionary hopes.  It is a place where she does not so gravely feel
her isolation because the little figures are like her, different, delicate and
habituated to the Wingfield apartment.

The glass menagerie
in Scene Three represents the transparent illusion of the imagination and its refuge,
not only for Laura, but also for Amanda, who engages upon a crusade of finding "a
gentleman caller" for Laura in hopes of ensuring their financial security. Amanda fears
that Tom, who goes to movies and reads D. H. Lawrence, entering into worlds outside
their own, may seek out those worlds portrayed in the films and Lawrence's literature
and abandon the family. 

Why is Tom's death considered "typical" in Maycomb in Chapter 25 of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee?

In Chapter 25 of To Kill a
Mockingbird, Scout notes that Maycomb is curious about Tom Robinson's death
for "about two days."  Tom's death is "typical" to the Maycomb residents because it
is

...typical
of a n--- to cut and run. Typical of a n---'s mentality to have no plan, no thought for
the future, just run blind first chance he saw.  Funny thing, Atticus Finch might've got
him off scot free, but wait---? Hell, no.  You know how they are.  Easy come, easy go.
...  the veneer's mighty thin. N--- always comes out in
'em.

This passage exhibits
the hypocrisy and the rationalization of the residents of Maycomb who attribute a
stereotypical manner to Tom's behavior in trying to escape, in a manner that relieves
their own consciences.

The reader need only recall Tom's
having run when Bob Ewell returned home and saw Mayella hug and kiss him.  After Tom
gives his testimony about this incident at the trial, Atticus asks
him,

"Then you
ran?'

"I sho' did, suh."

"Why
did you run?"

"I was scared,
suh."

"Why were you
scared?"

"Mr. Finch, if you was a n--- like me, you'd be
scared, too."

From these very
words of Tom Robinson, it is clear that he knows that it is certain death if he is
caught with a white woman hugging him, regardless of what he has actually done.  So,
rather than being "typical" in the Jim Crow South that would convict him summarily for a
crime that he has clearly not committed or for a beating to Mayella that he is
physically unable to have given, for Tom running is the only option outside of hanging. 
Tom obviously feels that an appeal on his case is futile; furthermore, he becomes
terrified of the mob that may come again to hang him.  So, he does what any normal
creature on this earth would do:  He tries to escape certain death.  And, because other
Negroes of the South have been in similar frightening circumstances, they, too, run
since they feel that there will be no justice dealt them
either.

That there is no justice for the Negroe is
inadvertently admitted by the Maycomb hypocrites when they say that Atticus may have won
Tom an acquittal, but would Tom wait: "but wait--?  Hell, no."  Upon rethinking this
statement, the townspeople return to Jim Crow in their "Hell, no."  No Negroe can be
allowed to get off from any accusation that he has been with a white woman.  To feel
better about themselves, then, these hypocrites rationalize Tom's escape attempts as the
innateand stereotypical stupidity of a Negroe and nothing more.

What are some possible reasons that John Proctor would forbid Mary Warren from going to Salem?

John Proctor initially sees the trials as nonsense and
wants nothing to do with the trial.  Additionally, he doesn’t want his family to have
anything to do with the trials and Mary Warren, being his house servant, is included as
part of his household. When Proctor finds out she has gone he is furious at her for
disobeying his wishes.

Proctor may be opposed of his
household getting involved with the trial because he doesn’t want his adulterous past to
be revisited. Abigail is at the heart of the trial, and he believes her intentions are
bad.

What is sin 2x if cos x=1/2, 0

We notice that the values of the angle x are located in
the 1st and the 2nd quadrants.

We'll apply the double angle
identity:

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

Since the value of cos x is positive the given
interval (0,pi) is stretching to (0,pi/2), because the cosine function is positive only
in the first quadrant, in the second quadrant being
negative.

The value for sin x is also positive in the 1st
quadrant and it could be found using Pythagorean
identity.

(sin x)^2 = 1-(cos
x)^2

(sin x)^2 = 1 - 1/4

sin x
= (sqrt 3)/2

sin 2x = 2sin x*cos
x

sin 2x=
2(sqrt3/2)(1/2)

The requested value of sin 2x
is: sin 2x= (sqrt3)/2.

At the end of Chapter 30, why does Heck Tate lie about what has happened?Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird

In addition to the idea of protecting "the mockingbird,"
Boo Radley, Heck Tate, sherriff in Harper Lee's To Kill a
Mockingbird, seems reluctant to subject frail and mentally delicate
Boo to the rigors of another court case that could easily end in travesty as did that of
Tom Robinson.  At any rate, Boo's trial could be, as Scout remarked of Tom's "a
carnival."

Like Tom Robinson's trial, the interrogation of
Boo--not to mention his father--would become an event that would bring out the curious
and the cruel.  As Mr. Tate himself tells Atticus,

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To my way of thinkin', Mr. Finch, taking the one
man who's done you and this town a great service an' draggin' him with his shy ways into
the limelight--to me, that's a sin.  It's a sin and I'm not about to have it on my
head.  If it was any other man, it'd be different.  But not this man, Mr.
Finch.

Here is Mr. Heck
Tate's statement is another motif of Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, "The
greater good is always the most important."

How did Martin Luther King Jr. use compromise to affect change in the Civil Rights Movement? Give examples.

This is an interesting question.  Dr. King used compromise
in a variety of ways in order to deliver real and meaningful change to people of color
during the Civil Rights Movement.  I think that it's important to make the distinction
that Dr. King did not see compromise as "selling out" or surrendering all aspects of
one's commitment.  Yet, he understood that there was a need to work within the system in
order to ensure that there would be lasting legislative and social change in American
society for people of color.  King's position of non-violent, yet active resistance to
injustice was a method of opening dialogue with opposing forces.  Dr. King was more
amenable to facilitating dialogue with those in the position of power in a much more
open way than other factions of the Civil Rights Movement which were more oppositional
to those in the position of power.  When Dr. King sits down with President Johnson over
Civil Rights Legislation in 1964, it is an example of how his position possessed a
greater degree of dialogue and constructive opening of productivity between both sides
than someone like Malcolm X or Stokely Carmichael.  King's entire premise was based on
being able to compromise with those who refused to acknowledge the voices of people of
color without compromising on the need for social and political change for people of
color.

In The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, identify three religious images.

In the previous scene of Williams's play, The
Glass Menagerie, when Tom informs his mother that he has found a "gentleman
caller," the stage directions read, "The annunciation is celebrated with
music." With this direction the suggestion of Laura as the Virgin Mary is
suggested since the Feast of the Annunciation is celebrated as the time that Mary was
told by the Angel Gabriel that she would bear a
child. 

1. In Scene 6, there are
   more religious words used in the stage directions.  For instance, as Laura stands in the
   middle of the parlor floor, her arms are lifted heavenward as her mother knees before
   her, adjusting the hem of a new dress, "devout and
   ritualistic."


2. As Laura and Jim
   sit on the sofa and converse, they reminisce about his role in The Pirates of
   Penzance, and Laura reveals to Jim that he attended the musical three times,
   the spiritual number of completion.  Further, as Laura relaxes with Jim, the stage
   directions again contain religious imagery:  "Jim ...smiles at
   Laura with a warmth and charm which lights her inwardly with
   altar
   candles."


3. Williams continues
   the images of altar and candles as Jim reveals that he has "strings on" him, he is
   engaged to a girl, like him, who is Irish Catholic.  As Laura struggles with the storm
   outside and within her, the stage directions this time read,
   "The holy candles in the altar of
   Laura's face have been snuffed out" as
   Laura's face has an air of "infinite desolation."  Then, symbolizes her further loss of
   Tom, Laura blows out the candles at the end of the play.  "She blows out the
   candles" just as the candles of the religious ceremony of the mass are
   extinguished when all is
   ended.

How does the protagonist see himself through the eyes of others?"The Open Boat" by Stephen Crane

In Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat," the correspondent is
the initiate, the only one of the four men who is not part of the crew of the damaged
ship.  Yet, the captain addresses him with the others as "boys" although at first the
cook and the correspondent have argued about the difference between a life-saving
station and a house of refuge.  But, as the correspondent shares the job of rowing with
others--"They sat together in the same seat"--he joins a certain brotherhood, a
brotherhood of those who struggles in the face of an indifferent
nature. 

It
would be difficult to describe the subtle brotherhood of men that was here established
on the seas. No one said that it was so.  No one mentioned it.  But it dwelt in the
boat, and each man felt it warm him....It was more than a mere recognition of what was
best for the common safety.  There was surely in it a quality that was personal and
heart-felt.  And after this devotion to the command of the boat, there was this
coradeship, that the correspondent, for instance, who had been taught to be cynical of
men, knew even at the time was the best experience of his life.
But no one said that it was so.  No one mentioned
it.

That he is more and more
part of this brotherhood as the narrative progresses is evinced in the description of
the captain's speaking to the men as though "soothing his children" and reassuring them
"we'll get ashore all right."  Ironically, the experiential stress of their situation is
what effects this fellowship and sympathy among them.

It is
in Section 6 of this story that Crane switches the narrator to a more omniscient one
that examines the introspections of the correspondent introspections upon the
"abominable injustice" of drowning a man who has strained so to reach safety.  This, the
correspondent feels, would be "a crime most unnatural"; his feelings, he also feels, are
shared by the others with him in the boat:

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The men in the dinghy had not discussed these
matters, but each had, no doubt, reflected upon them in silence and according to his
mind.

Thus it is that the
correspondent envisions himself the spokesman for the other men in the boat, especially
with his question that is repeated in other ways,

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"Why, in the name of the seven mad gods who rule
the sea, was I allowed to come this far and contemplate sand and
trees?"

Having shared in the
fellowship born of their dire condition, the correspondent and the other survivors feel
that after their rescue they "could then be interpreters" of their communal
experience.

In "The Soul selects her own Society," how does the soul shut out those she does not choose?

The condition of the soul that Dickinson reveals is one in
which the soul makes a commitment to something or someone and does not waver in this
commitment.  Dickinson's vision of the soul is a binding one, a realm in which choice is
adhered and there is absolute loyalty towards such action.  The soul is shown to be one
in which a privileged few is much more admired than a tepid majority.  It is here in
which one sees how the soul is able to "shut the door" to that which she does not
choose.  The soul remains "unmoved" as it remains committed to its choices and rejects
all others.  It finds a sense of comfort in its choice and through loyalty to such
choice, it is able to resist the lure of other elements.  As it chooses one "from an
ample nation," it is able to close off all other lures because it recognizes the choice
it made and the need to stand with such a decision.  As social orders seek to confuse
the issue and attempt to dilute the power of a decision made and choice secured,
Dickinson's construction of the soul is one impermeable to such temptation and one that
stands secure in the authenticity of choice.  It is here where one sees that soul is
able to shut out that which is not chosen.

Comment on the relationship between Padmini and Devadatta in Hayavadana.

Devadatta and Padmini share a relationship that appears to
be one way on the surface, but reveals subterranean elements.  The result is complexity,
and a statement about the nature of relationships, in general.  On face value, the love
between Devadatta and Padmini makes sense.  The wise and poetic Brahmin is married to
the stunningly beautiful and chaste Padmini.  Yet, herein lies the dilemma.  While the
Brahmin poet is wise, he is not physically appealing.  Padmini recognizes that her
sexual attraction to Kapila is something that cannot be dismissed.  In this light, the
play argues that relationships are predicated upon the understanding of "the other." 
The hope and belief would be that Devadatta and Padmini exist for one another and
consciousness rests only with them.  However, both recognize that there is "the other." 
Kapila, the athletic wrestler with a chiseled body, represents both what Devadatta is
not and what Padmini covets.  In this light, the gambit that Padmini wishes for in terms
of replacing the head of one on the body of another seems to be a perfect solution. 
Yet, Karnad might be pointing out another nuance in relationships.  The desire for
perfection usually results in a hollow pursuit.  Padmini's solution might be the answer
to her divided consciousness and her challenges in love.  However, it turns out to be a
disaster, as Devadatta both declines in his work and his physique.  In this light, what
was once thought to be perfection is actually destructive.  The end message, if there is
one, might be that love succeeds when one recognizes that a perfect relationship might
not be as effective as a workable or good one.  Practicality might be more worthwhile a
pursuit than perfection.