How has the refrigerator impacted society in a negative way?

The proliferation of electric refrigerators has had a negative impact on the environment for many reasons. Throughout the history of refrigeration, harmful coolants have been utilized. As an example chlorofluorocarbons were popular in refrigerators as a coolant for decades. Scientists realized that this gas was collecting in the upper part of our atmosphere and destroying the ozone that protects us from harmful rays from the sun. The early refrigerators utilized toxic chemicals like ammonia and sulfur dioxide that at times leaked and killed people.

Of the many appliances in the home, the refrigerator accounts for a larger amount of the electricity consumed. This means that refrigerators account for a large amount of the demand for electricity. Aside from the fiscal strain this places on families, power plants emit carbon and other greenhouse gasses that are responsible for global warming. In this way, refrigerators have had a negative effect on the environment and society.

Why is this quote important? Lula stopped, but she said, "You ain't got no business bringin' white chillun here—they got their church, we got...

In Chapter 12, Calpurnia takes Jem and Scout to First Purchase African M. E. Church for Sunday service. As they enter the church, Lula, one of the members of the congregation, approaches Calpurnia and asks her why she brought Jem and Scout to church. Lula mentions that Calpurnia has no business bringing white children into a black church. Calpurnia informs Lula that the children are her company and says, "It's the same God, ain't it?" (Lee 158) Jem feels awkward and tells Cal that she should take them home because they aren't "wanted" in her church. Zeebo, Calpurnia's son, walks up to the children to greet them and tells Jem not to worry about Lula. Zeebo says that Lula is just contentious because Reverend Sykes threatened to "church her." The rest of the congregation is happy to meet the children and treat Jem and Scout with kindness and hospitality.

Lula's negative comment to Cal about bringing white children to their African American church is important because it illustrates the resentment towards white community members in segregated Maycomb County. The setting of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in 1930's Alabama. During this period, Jim Crow laws were enforced throughout the South that segregated the white and black communities. White people worshipped at an exclusively white church, and black people had a separate church of their own. Lula is commenting that the white children should go to their "white-only church" because race segregates the community. This scene depicts the prejudiced tensions from certain individuals in the African American community. Throughout the novel, white people are portrayed as the only individuals who support segregation and contempt for the opposite race. Lula's character shows the audience that there are members of the black community who share prejudice against white people.

Who gets accused in the Salem witch trials at first?

The first person to be accused, albeit unofficially, is Tituba, Reverend Parris's Barbadian slave who conjured spirits with the girls in the woods at Mrs. Putnam's request on the night before the play begins.  When Abigail feels that Reverend Hale is cornering her, is suspicious of her, she immediately turns on the one person who she knows she can scapegoat: Tituba.  Abigail says, "She made me do it!  She made Betty do it!  [....] She makes me drink blood!"  This effectively turns the attention away from her and onto the slave.

The first "official" accusation, made by Tituba at the end of Act One, is Sarah Good and then, immediately following, Goody Osburn.  When Parris threatens to beat her and Putnam wants to hang her, Hale speaks to her gently and kindly, telling her that God has a special purpose for her.  He clearly wants a confession, and so she gives him one.  She accuses Good and Osburn, and Abigail immediately confirms that she too has seen them as well as Bridget Bishop with the Devil.  The girls, together, accuse eight more people by the time Act One ends. 

Was Lennie's death considered euthanasia, some form of death penalty, or murder?

This is a great question.  In some ways we can argue that George's act of taking Lennie's life was a form of euthanasia. Euthanasia comes from the Greek words, "good" and "death."

When George found out what Lennie had done, he knew immediately what would happen.  He knew that the men would come after him with full force.  We need to keep in mind that Curley was the boss's son.  So, all the resources of the ranch would come after Lennie.

To be more accurate, George knew that the men would catch Lennie.  When they did, they would not only kill him, but also cruelly kill him.  His death would be prolonged and painful.  Suffering would be multiplied.  In light of these certainties, George did what he thought was most merciful.  He took his friend's life in the most painless way.  He even gave his vision of the land that they would have together.  In other words, George did his best to ease his friend's death.  Literally, George gave Lennie a good death. 

What is a summary of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens?

Charles Dickens' book A Christmas Carol is about a man named Ebenezer Scrooge, who is very selfish and mean. Early in the book, two men come to see him to ask for a donation to help the poor, and Scrooge refuses. He asks if all the jailhouses and poorhouses are full because that is where he believes the poor belong. His nephew also visits him to invite Scrooge to a Christmas celebration, but Scrooge tells him no as well. Bob Cratchit, a young man with a large family, works for Scrooge, and Scrooge is so tight with money that Bob is forced to work in a room with virtually no heat. His wages are very low, and he is expected to work on Christmas Eve. One of Cratchit's children is Tiny Tim, a little crippled boy.

The book is divided into parts called "Staves." In each one, a spirit visits Scrooge. First, is his deceased former partner, Jacob Marley, who tells Scrooge he will receive three visitors in the next three nights, and that he (Jacob), because of his greed, is suffering horribly in the afterlife. Scrooge still has a chance to redeem himself, but first he will have to meet the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.

Each Ghost takes Scrooge on a journey. With the Ghost of Christmas Past he visits his childhood and young adulthood when he apprenticed for a happy go-lucky man named Fezziwig, and when he was engaged to the lovely Belle, who left him when she realized Scrooge was obsessed with money. 

Next, the Ghost of Christmas Present takes him to Bob Cratchit's home where he sees the family prepare for a tiny Christmas "feast," and even though they have so little, there is happiness. He especially notices Tiny Tim, who is both kind and brave.

Finally, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows Scrooge his own death, though he does not know he is the one who is dead until the end. Scrooge sees people talking about this horrible man with contempt and relief that he is gone. He pleads with the Ghost to tell him who this man is and is taken to a cemetery where he sees his own name on the gravestone. 

Scrooge promises to change, and when he wakes up the next morning, he is definitely a changed man. He celebrates Christmas by helping others, especially the Cratchits and becomes like a favorite uncle to Tiny Tim. 

Name five materials you use daily that are not chemically changed from their natural states.

1. Salt- For cooking, I use salt that comes from natural sources like seawater or from underground mines.

2. Wood- I live in a house built primarily of wood, and even the handle of my toothbrush is made of wood! Most wood used in commercial building is treated chemically to protect against bugs, but the wood itself is not changed in its chemical makeup.

3. Air- I breathe the air in my home and outdoors. It has not been distilled or filtered into pure oxygen.

4. Silver- I wear a piece of silver jewelry which has undergone a physical change to become the shape it is, but it has not been changed in its chemical makeup.

5. Honey- I use honey in coffee and tea. I prefer raw honey (which has not been filtered or cooked to kill bacteria) because it has lots of healthy enzymes and amino acids!

Who is the the protagonist in "Raymond's Run"?

The protagonist is Squeaky, whose real name is Hazel Elizabeth Deborah Parker.

The word "protagonist" means the main character of the story, or the person the story is mostly about.  It is the hero of the story.

This story's protagonist, Squeaky, is a very interesting character.  She is strong-willed, but empathetic.  Squeaky has two passions in life—running, and her older brother Raymond.  Squeaky is very protective of Raymond and looks out for him.  Raymond has mental handicaps.  He is big, but has a younger child’s mind.  This often leads people to tease him, and Squeaky stops them.

In addition to taking care of her brother, Squeaky’s hobby is running.  It is more than just a casual pastime for her.  She is a very good runner, and she practices constantly so that she can get even better.  All Squeaky thinks about is beating the other kids in the May Day race.

There is no track meet that I don’t win the first-place medal. I used to win the twenty-yard dash when I was a little kid in kindergarten. Nowadays, it’s the fiftyyard dash. And tomorrow I’m subject to run the quarter-meter relay all by myself and come in first, second, and third.

Squeaky’s nickname is Mercury because she is so fast.  She trains for running by running often and practicing special moves that make her mother embarrassed to be around her.  For Squeaky, running is easier than being around other girls.  She just doesn’t quite get along with the neighborhood children and isn't close to any of them.  She thinks the girls are disingenuous. 

The race turns out to be the key to getting Squeaky to realize that other girls can be her friend.  She admires Gretchen, previously a sworn enemy, for coming in second. 

“In second place— Miss Gretchen P. Lewis.” And I look over at Gretchen wondering what the “P” stands for. And I smile. Cause she’s good, no doubt about it. Maybe she’d like to help me coach Raymond; she obviously is serious about running, as any fool can see.

Squeaky realizes that people other than her like running, and running can be a good common ground for her.  Since she watched her brother run a race of his own parallel to her, she sees running as a way to get closer to him too.   She and her brother finally have something in common, and it is the same thing she has in common with Gretchen.

What is an example of a simile from Book XXIV of Homer's The Odyssey?

At the beginning of Book XXIV, Odysseus has already slaughtered all of Penelope's awful suitors (as well as the traitorous serving women), and Hermes now arrives to lead the suitors' spirits to the underworld.  He waves his golden wand, the caduceus, to catch their eyes, and they begin to follow him.  The narrator says that, as they follow him, they prattle and jabber, "As in a corner of a monstrous cave the bats fly gibbering, when one tumbles from the rock out of the cluster as they cling together; so gibbering, these moved together."  Therefore, via epic simile, Homer compares the shades of the suitors to bats which huddle and cling together in the darkness of some terrible cave.  A word choice such as gibber makes them seem utterly senseless and unintelligent, and the comparison is hardly a favorable one.  They seem like unthinking animals who move according to their instincts and not by their reason. 

How does protein help the muscular system?

The muscular system has a number of key functions to play in our bodies, including locomotion, force application, maintenance of posture, etc. We use our muscles to carry out regular operations such as walking, running, lifting weights, motion, etc. Our muscles are tissues which are fibrous in nature and are composed of proteins, namely actin and myosin. These proteins slide past each other thereby changing the shape and size of the muscle cell and enabling motion. 

Therefore, proteins are vital to the muscular system. In fact, the muscular system is made up of proteins and hence cannot function without it. You may have heard that many people drink protein shakes or eat protein bars after heavy exercises in order to support muscle growth. This is because proteins make up the muscles.

Hope this helps. 

Why did Miles's wife take the children and leave him?

That part of Miles's past is explained in chapter 7.  The Tuck family is explaining to Winnie how they came to know that they were immortal.  The Tuck family explained that they began noticing that they weren't getting hurt the way that they should be.  Angus Tuck was bitten by a snake and no problems.  Jesse fell out of a tree, landed on his head, and walked away.  Miles was even shot, but the bullet left almost no mark.  As time continued to pass though, the Tucks began noticing that the world around them was changing, but they were not changing.  

But it was the passage of time that worried them most. They had worked the farm, settled down, made friends. But after ten years, then twenty, they had to face the fact that there was something terribly wrong. None of them was getting any older.

Miles then gives Winnie details about his wife and kids.  

"I was more'n forty by then," said Miles sadly. "I was married. I had two children. But, from the look of me, I was still twenty-two. My wife, she finally made up her mind I'd sold my soul to the Devil. She left me. She went away and she took the children with her."

Miles's wife left him, because she was scared.  She doesn't know why he isn't aging, but she knows something is definitely wrong with her husband.  She blames it on Devil worship, but it really doesn't matter what the cause is.  He creeps her out.  It makes sense.  I've been married for eleven years.  If I looked the same now as I did when I was 23, my wife would be freaked out by me too.  If she wasn't scared, then for sure she would be angry with me for not looking any older.  

Miles's wife was not alone in her fear of the Tuck family though.  Their friends and neighbors began to be suspicious and scared too.  The Tuck family was forced to eventually flee.  

"It was the same with our friends," said Mae. "They come to pull back from us. There was talk about witchcraft. Black magic. Well, you can't hardly blame them, but finally we had to leave the farm.

Can I say "I have several homework"?

Ideas can be expressed in many different sentence forms in English, but your sentence choice is incorrect for two reasons: (1) homework is an uncountable noun and (2) several is a quantifier that cannot be used with an uncountable noun.

Uncountable nouns are those that refer to something as an indivisible group or quantity; they are also called mass nouns because they refer to large masses, quantities or amounts of something. For example, furniture, advice and luggage are uncountable mass nouns, which are used in the singular form because a plural form is unavailable for use, that refer to all of something thought of or to a single piece of something: 

• The air-carrier porters hauled the luggage, all 2,000 pieces of it, to the airplane.


• The airport porter told him to check his luggage, even though he had only one piece of it, at the check-in desk.

Uncountable mass nouns can be modified by a select few quantifying determiners. In contrast, countable nouns, those nouns that have plural forms (e.g., one horse, 500 horses, two horses) and are thus said to be countable, can be modified by a different selection of quantifying determiners. Some important kinds of noun quantifiers answer the questions: How many/much? How many/much more? How many/much fewer/less?

Uncountable nouns answer these questions with the quantifiers: much (How much?), much (How much more?), and less (How much less?).

In contrast, countable nouns, those that can be pluralized hence counted, answer these questions with different quantifiers: many (How many?), many or several (How many more?), and fewer (How many less?). 

Looking at this, we see that the quantifying modifier "several" belongs with a countable noun, like cats or pencils or cars (i.e., many or several cats, many or several pencils, many or several cars). Since "homework" is an uncountable mass noun, having no possibility of pluralization, "several" cannot be used to modify "homework": "several homework" in not grammatical because of (1) the uncountability of the noun and because of (2) the prescribed association of different modifying quantifiers with uncountable (mass) and countable (pluralizable) nouns. 

The simple change from the countable noun quantifier "several" to the correct uncountable noun quantifier "much" will make your sentence grammatical: not "I have several homework" but "I have much homework." This then answers "How much homework do you have?" You answer, "I have much homework." [You can also answer, among other things, "I have little homework" or "I have some homework."] 

In "The Sniper," why are the characters not identified with names?

A good question that digs at the central themes of this story; in war, we strip the humanity away from ourselves and our enemies, in order to make the jobs of survival and killing easier. The ironic ending, and the reveal that the sniper's enemy was his brother, throws this abnormal existence into stark relief.

The morality in this story is all about proximity to the person being acted upon; if we were to ask the sniper, or anyone, "how do you feel about killing your brother?" they would probably say that this is wrong. However, take away that relationship, reduce your brother not just to an anonymous person, but to a person trying to kill you, and the response would probably change. De-humanizing one's enemies makes difficult choices easier; if the sniper had hesitated when shooting the old woman, thinking instead about how she had a name, a family, and so forth, then he would have decidedly put himself at a disadvantage, because she was doing things that would lead to his death. 

The sniper is probably not named because we are meant to reflect upon him as he reflects upon himself; he can't afford to be whoever he was before the war began, and has simplified himself down to his role; sniper. It might also be the author's choice to do this in order to encourage us to see the sniper as no different from any other combatant, and his depersonalization makes his choices easier to understand.

What are Jem's rules for Scout at school? Chapter 2 To Kill a Mockingbird?

Jem's rules for school that he gives Scout in Chapter 2 are essentially that Scout does not have to learn much out of books. 

Miss Caroline is an adherent to the "Dewey Decimal System" according to Jem--he confuses this library cataloging system with John Dewey's educational philosophy of pragmatism. Nevertheless, Jem describes accurately this pragmatism of John Dewey:

"You don't have to learn much out of books that way--it's like if you wanta learn about cows, you go milk one, see?"

Scout elaborates on this system to which Jem has erroneously referred, but correctly described. After lunch she and the class are required to watch Miss Caroline's waving of "sight words" on cards. For instance, such words at the, cat, rat, man, and you are held up for the children to recognize.

This method of Miss Caroline's exemplifies what is also called progressive education, for which John Dewey is famous. Progressive education emphasizes the necessity of learning by doing (going out to milk the cow to learn about the cow, as Jem explains). This philosophy of Dewey that people learn through doing--a "hands-on approach--thus characterizes his philosophy of education as pragmatism. So, while Jem has the wrong name when he says "Dewey Decimal System," he does, indeed, understand the basic concepts of Dewey's philosophy of education.

Ironically, this "hands-on" approach is what Atticus has unconsciously used, although Miss Caroline tells Scout to have her father stop "teaching" her. Atticus has really not instructed Scout in reading; Scout has  only affectionately crawled onto her father's lap just to be close to him while he is perusing his issue of The Mobile Register. She has simply "learned by doing," by sitting on his lap and seeing the words in the same manner as they are presented on the cards held up by Miss Caroline.

Why did the narrator want Doodle to walk in "The Scarlet lbis"?

Once the narrator, Brother, learns that his physically deformed brother, Doodle, is not mentally disabled, he begins to challenge Doodle to walk and be “normal.”  Brother admits it is because of his pride that he pushes Doodle to walk.  He is not only embarrassed by Doodle’s disabilities, but he is also tired of hauling him around in a cart.  Brother also wants someone to play with on the farm and in Old Woman’s Swamp. 

Brother says, “When Doodle was five years old, I was embarrassed at having a brother at that age who couldn’t walk, so I set out to teach him.”  Once Brother accomplishes the task of teaching Doodle to walk, he cries when Doodle shows his parents.  He says, “They didn’t know that I did it for myself, that pride, whose slave I was . . . and Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother.”

It is Brother’s pride and embarrassment that Doodle is different than everyone else at school that leads him to teach Doodle not only to walk but also to climb ropes and run and jump.  As an adult looking back on his childhood when the story begins, Brother admits that it is his pride and cruelty that eventually led to Doodle’s death.

How is Lady Macbeth presented in Act 5, Scene 1 and as a whole in the play?

In this scene, Lady Macbeth is presented as overwrought and restless, so much so that she cannot sleep and has taken to somnambulism. She consistently walks in her sleep so much that it has alarmed one of her gentlewomen to such an extent that she has reported her lady's strange conduct to the doctor. At the beginning of the scene she informs him:

... I have seen
her rise from her bed, throw her night-gown upon
her, unlock her closet, take forth paper, fold it,
write upon't, read it, afterwards seal it, and again
return to bed; yet all this while in a most fast sleep

When the doctor asks her what Lady Macbeth had to say whilst she was in this state, the gentlewoman refuses to repeat what she had heard, stating that she cannot say it to anyone since she has no witness to confirm her report.

At this point, Lady Macbeth enters with a candle. The gentlewoman reports that Lady Macbeth had commanded that that there continuously be light next to her bed. It appears that she has grown afraid of the dark. The two witness her walking with the candle, open-eyed but with no sense of sight, since she is fast asleep. The Lady then starts rubbing her hands and the gentlewoman says about this:

It is an accustomed action with her, to seem thus
washing her hands: I have known her continue in
this a quarter of an hour.

Lady Macbeth then begins to speak, saying firstly, "Out damned spot." She perceives a mark on her hand and wishes to erase it. Witnessed by the doctor and gentlewoman, she furthermore utters:

Out, damned spot! out, I say!--One: two: why,
then, 'tis time to do't.--Hell is murky!--Fie, my
lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we
fear who knows it, when none can call our power to
account?--Yet who would have thought the old man
to have had so much blood in him.

She seems to be hallucinating and her speech is garbled. In her confusion she refers to her husband, asking him to flee, and then is suddenly critical of him. She then gives the assurance that they should not fear since none can call them to account. She then suddenly refers to Duncan's murder, stating that no one could have expected him to have so much blood.

Lady Macbeth then makes reference to Lady Macduff, who Macbeth has murdered. She then promptly refers to the supposed blight on her hands and refers to Macbeth again, stating that he spoils everything with his sudden shows of fear. The doctor is shocked by this and instructs the gentlewoman to leave since she has heard what she should not. Lady Macbeth continues in her somnambulistic state and remarks:

Here's the smell of the blood still: all the
perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little
hand. Oh, oh, oh!

She is clearly obsessed by the stain on her hand and its bloody smell. Her cry is a piteous wail, for she believes that the smell and the stain are impossible to remove. In her delirium, Lady Macbeth imagines that her husband is with her and instructs him to dress for bed and not look so afraid since Banquo's buried and obviously cannot return from the grave - a reference to Macbeth's fear when he saw Banquo's ghost. She then asks that Macbeth come to bed since there's "knocking at the gate," an obvious reference to the period just after they murdered the king. She beseeches the imagined Macbeth to come to bed since they cannot undo what they have done. The gentlewoman tells the doctor that she will now go directly to bed.  

It is clear that Lady Macbeth is overwhelmed by remorse. She is so stricken by guilt that it sits on her conscience constantly so that she cannot sleep. She and her husband's evil has enveloped her completely and she realizes that she cannot undo the harm that they have done. She is haunted by images of their malevolence and is a tortured, pitiful soul.

The Lady Macbeth we witness here is in direct contrast to the forthright and ruthless conspirator we have come to know earlier in the play. She then had no qualms in encouraging her husband to commit the most pernicious evil. At one point, when Macbeth expressed doubt about assassinating the king, she said the following:

... I have given suck, and know
How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me:
I would, while it was smiling in my face,
Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums,
And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you
Have done to this. 

This illustrates the degree of remorseless evil she was prepared to commit to. She had no reservations about doing whatever was necessary to achieve their ambition. When Macbeth fears that they could fail, she says:

... What cannot you and I perform upon
The unguarded Duncan? what not put upon
His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt
Of our great quell?

In this instance, she had already planned to intoxicate Duncan's guards by plying them with alcohol and adding a potion to their drink so that they would sleep like swine and not remember anything, whilst they committed their dastardly deed. She displayed such depth of savagery and ruthlessness that her husband commented:

Bring forth men-children only;
For thy undaunted mettle should compose
Nothing but males. 

Lady Macbeth has now lost this undaunted fervor and has become a miserable, overwrought, and paranoid version of her former self. She has been overwhelmed by the cruelty and overly sanguine nature of their malice and has lost her sanity--just punishment for their greed. Eventually, she is so overcome by guilt that she takes her own life.

Describe the character of Mary Maloney in "Lamb to the Slaughter."

Mary is a completely devoted wife. She adores Patrick and waits on him like a maid. She is doting, attentive, and effusive. This may be why Patrick decides to leave. We are never given a reason. He may have been having an affair as well. The author never makes this clear. As for Mary, she feels completely comfortable and satisfied with her life with Patrick. She is six months pregnant and it would appear that she has complete faith that their future family will be a happy one as well. She is so happy, dependent upon, and we might even say addicted to Patrick that when he informs her he is leaving, she cannot handle it. 

The author doesn't give a word-for-word dialogue of how Patrick tells Mary he is leaving her. But by the end of it, she knows the marriage is over and there is no hope of reconciliation. She is stunned and then reacts quickly. In her shock (or conscious reaction), she kills him. Immediately after this, she becomes a clear-thinking detective, determined not to be caught. She carries out her plan to perfection. When the detectives eat the evidence, she laughs in the other room. The seemingly perfect, devoted wife reveals a sinister side in this last line. She is a much more complicated and mysterious character than the opening paragraphs would suggest.

What would be the best characters in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird to compare and contrast in an essay?

The best characters to compare and contrast will be character foils. A foil is a character with traits that are the exact opposite of another character's traits, and the opposing traits emphasize each other. Typically, secondary characters are used as foils against primary characters. Multiple character foils can be found within Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Two examples are Uncle Jack, who is a foil to Atticus, and Jem, who is a foil to Scout.

Through Uncle Jack, we see several differences in parenting styles. Though not a parent himself, Uncle Jack has a significant influence on the Finch children whenever he is around for Christmas. In Chapter 9, one thing we see is that Atticus is a far more level-headed and patient parent than Uncle Jack. In fact, Scout teaches Uncle Jack a lesson in acting with reason and patience when she points out that he never stopped to listen to Scout's side the story concerning why she hit her cousin Francis. As Scout explains, "When Jem an' I fuss Atticus doesn't ever just listen to Jem's side of it, he hears mine too" (Ch. 9). When Uncle Jack finally does hear Scout explain what Francis said to provoke her, Uncle Jack becomes humbled and apologetic for having acted hastily in punishing Scout. Through this incident it's clear that author Lee uses Uncle Jack to show that, although Atticus is criticized for allowing his children to be too free spirited, Atticus's parenting methods truly are the best.

Similarly to Uncle Jack and Atticus, Scout and Jem also have opposing traits, yet they also swap traits as they grow older. In the beginning of the book, Scout has difficulty controlling her temper and readily lashes out physically anytime she feels someone is insulting Atticus such as by calling him a "nigger-lover." In contrast, Scout describes Jem as having a "naturally tranquil disposition and a slow fuse" (Ch. 11). However, Jem loses his temper the moment Mrs. Dubose calls Atticus "no better than the niggers and trash he works for!"; in revenge, Jem whacks off all of the camellia blossoms in Mrs. Dubose's garden (Ch. 11). Though Jem learns to take such insults calmly, after the trial, he develops an even worse temper than Scout. Both Scout and Jem are severely affected by the jury's guilty verdict. However, Scout is able to redirect her disappointment into lessons she internalizes about the treatment of others. For example, she reaches the conclusion that all people are the same and should be treated equally. Furthermore, when her third grade teacher, Miss Gates, speaks out against Hitler's treatment of the Jews, Scout recalls overhearing Miss Gates say to Miss Stephanie Crawford after the trial "it's time somebody taught 'em a lesson," which drives Scout to make note of Miss Gates's hypocrisy, hypocrisy that Scout very freely speaks out against. In contrast, Jem keeps his disturbed emotions bottled up inside, and when Scout brings up Miss Gates's hypocrisy, Jem flies off the handle, violently grabbing Scout's collar and shaking her. Hence, as we can see Scout becomes more level-headed as she matures, whereas Jem becomes so emotionally disturbed that he becomes violent. Lee uses this contrast between Jem and Scout to show the different ways in which the evil in the world can affect individuals.

Miss Maudie is a Baptist. However, as she tells Scout, there is a big difference between regular Baptists and foot-washers (Lee 59). What does it...

A "foot-washing Baptist" is a way of saying a very strict Baptist. Foot-washing Baptists and Baptists are both Christian denominations and really, they're both Baptists. But the foot-washing Baptists are so strict that they believe everything pleasurable is a sin. Miss Maudie adds that some foot-washers once told her that she and her flowers were going to hell. 

Yes ma’am. They’d burn right with me. They thought I spent too much time in God’s outdoors and not enough time inside the house reading the Bible. 

Foot-washers are also quite strict in focusing on reading the Bible. The practice of foot washing comes from the Gospel of John where Jesus teaches his followers to wash each other's feet. The idea is that we are all equal and serves as a practical metaphor (and actual practice) of the Golden Rule. However, Miss Maudie is trying to explain that extreme religious fanaticism, especially in the hands of a bad or unhinged man like Mr. Radley, is a bad thing. 

Miss Maudie is making the point that Mr. Radley is too strict and perhaps has punished Boo in unnecessary ways and for unnecessary reasons. She doesn't come right out and say it, but one could infer that she is suggesting that Mr. Radley's strict ways may be abusive and might have something to do with how Boo Radley turned out. Scout asks her if she thinks Boo Radley is crazy. Miss Maudie replies: 

If he’s not he should be by now. The things that happen to people we never really know. What happens in houses behind closed doors, what secrets - 

In "To Build a Fire," what would be analogies for the title?

"To Build a Fire" takes its title from the main character's goal during the second half of the story. The anonymous man, a fortune-seeker and woodsman, is hiking across the frozen Yukon wilderness when he falls through the ice covering a creek. He needs to build a fire as soon as possible to avoid dying or getting frostbite. Ultimately, the man fails to build a fire that will warm him, and dies. 

The title "To Build a Fire" is a shortened statement of the man's intent; he needs to build a fire to stay alive. What seems like a fairly simple task is in fact immensely difficult, and carries far more significance than it would outside the story's environment (most people, including London's readers, will never have their lives hinge on building a fire before they freeze to death).

Therefore, building a fire is equivalent to saving one's life, so analogous statements could include "To Save My Own Life" or "To Avoid Freezing To Death."