How were Jewish people's rights slowly taken away by the Nazi Party?

Before World War II began, the Jewish people of Germany slowly saw their rights being taken away by the Nazi Party. In 1935, a series of laws were passed called the Nuremberg Laws. These laws restricted what the Jewish people could do. For example, marriage between Germans and the Jewish people was forbidden. The Jewish people lost their citizenship meaning they couldn’t run for political office or vote. Eventually, the Jewish people were banned from working in certain professions including journalism, education, law, medicine, and government. The Jewish people couldn’t hire women under the age of 35 as servants. These laws eroded many of the rights the Jewish people had as citizens of Germany.

The situation worsened in 1938. An event called Kristallnacht occurred. This word means the night of the broken glass. On this night, there was a massive destruction of anything Jewish. Jewish homes, property, and synagogues were destroyed in Germany. Many Jewish people died and were injured. The secret police stood by and did nothing. Many Jewish people were arrested the next day.

Eventually, the Jewish people were rounded up and placed in concentration camps. Six million Jews were killed in these camps. This is known as the Holocaust. The Nazi Party tried to eliminate the Jewish people from lands they controlled.

What is your opinion on abortion?

Abortion is one of those topics where feelings and emotions of every kind surface.  I have very mixed feelings on abortion.  Those who callously use it as a form of birth control are way over the negative line for me.  Yet, I know several people for whom an abortion was the only choice. One woman's choice was because the twins were defective and would not live at all.  To preserve her ability to have another baby, the twins were aborted.  For another, the woman was mentally ill and could not deal even with the idea of pregnancy.  For her stability and ability to recover, the pregnancy was aborted.  I had a student whose father had gotten her pregnant, and it was her choice to abort.   I know that each agonized over the decision, and that is why I think the government should stay out of such a personal decision.  I don't like abortion at all but believe that the woman should have a choice.  I don't believe that most women make the choice lightly.

Where can the impact of the Great Depression be seen in To Kill a Mockingbird?

In Chapter 1, Scout (the first-person narrator), talks about what it was like to live in Maycomb when she was a child. Everyone seemed to move slowly; no one was in a hurry. There was "nowhere to go, nothing to buy, and no money to buy it with" (6). People were vaguely optimistic, though; they'd recently been told that they had "nothing to fear but fear itself," meaning Franklin Delano Roosevelt had just taken office, which would place the setting of this novel around 1933.

Another way we can see the effects of the Great Depression on Maycomb is how people pay Atticus and the doctor for their services. Most people don't have money, so they trade what they do have--chickens, eggs, sacks of flour and nuts--until the debt is considered paid. 

What was the most popular version of the play Romeo and Juliet?

There are several versions of the play Romeo and Juliet. The play has been set in different times and places. It is often taken from its Renaissance setting and placed in a different historical period. It's impossible to determine objectively which is the most popular. I can simply give you my opinion as I review three versions of the play which have been turned into movies. 

1. The first big screen version of Shakespeare's classic was done in 1936 starring Leslie Howard, Norma Shearer and John Barrymore. It is an excellent adaptation using actors who were well versed in delivering Shakespeare's lines. The fact that the actors are way too old is somewhat of a drawback. Barrymore is well into his 50's when he played Mercutio. Basil Rathbone, who often played the villain, is excellent as the "fiery" Tybalt. Overall, this version is very much worth watching even if it is quite dated.

2. Baz Luhrmann's 1996 filming of the play takes us away from Verona to Verona Beach, a futuristic setting which seems to be almost like a parallel universe. Instead of swords the actors use guns, which are named "Sword." Luckily, Luhrmann preserves Shakespeare's original dialogue in this fantastical interpretation which includes a Latina Nurse, a black Mercutio and ultra violent scenes involving explosions and gun fire. Leonardo Di Caprio and Claire Danes play the two young lovers and they do a nice job of reflecting the youthful love of the main characters. The ending is quite disconcerting as Juliet awakens just before Romeo dies and Romeo realizes he has made a terrible mistake. The modern settings are exotic and the acting, especially Pete Postlethwaite as Friar Lawrence, is engaging.

3. By far the best version is Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 classic which was nominated for Best Picture during that year's Academy Awards. It takes us to a luscious Verona with colorful costumes and excellent acting all around. John McEnery's Mercutio is one of the best acting interpretations of any Shakespearen character on film (maybe only Olivier's Hamlet is better). Olivia Hussey is a quite young Juliet (she was only 15) and radiates the immediacy of her first encounter with love. She is particularly brilliant in the balcony scene. The fight scenes are the best ever filmed. Act III, Scene 1 is an intense spectacle that takes us through the streets in a fast paced brawl which features lively sword play between Mercutio and Tybalt (Michael York) before it turns deadly and vicious after Mercutio dies and Romeo challenges Tybalt.

There is also a newer version (2014) which got very poor ratings, but I have not seen. One of the best alternate renditions of the play is the Broadway hit "West Side Story" which is set in New York City in the 1950's. It replaces Shakespeare's language with songs.  

Who was Herbert Hoover?

Herbert Hoover was President of the United States from 1929-1933. He won the election of 1928 by defeating Al Smith. Prior to becoming President, he was the Secretary of Commerce for the Republican presidencies of Harding and Coolidge.

Herbert Hoover believed in a laissez-faire economic philosophy. He believed the federal government should stay out of economic affairs and let events run their course. He believed businesses would do the right things to get the economy going again if the economy slowed down. President Hoover believed the economy goes through good cycles and bad cycles. Thus, when the Great Depression started, President Hoover believed things would work themselves out without government interference.

Unfortunately, this policy didn’t work as the depression worsened under President Hoover’s leadership. President Hoover reluctantly agreed to get the government more actively involved in ending the Great Depression. The National Credit Corporation formed to help troubled banks loan money. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation and the Emergency Relief and Construction Act tried to provide aid to businesses to create jobs. These actions weren’t enough to reverse the downward spiral, and President Hoover lost his reelection bid in 1932 to Franklin D. Roosevelt.

What does going into exile mean in "The White Man's Burden?"

If you Google “exile” you will find that part of its definition is “to bar someone from their native country, typically for … punitive reasons.”  In other words, a person who is exiled is forced to leave their country and cannot come back.  They are away because they are being punished.  This is not exactly how the term is used in Kipling’s poem “The White Man’s Burden.”  It does refer to people being forced to leave their country, and it is a bad thing, but they are not really being punished.  Instead, they are enduring punishing and negative conditions, but not because they are being punished for having broken the law.

In “The White Man’s Burden” Kipling emphasizes how hard it is for white people to go out and colonize other countries.  He says that they have to go and “wait in heavy harness” on their subjects.  He says that they have to work hard to help the natives.  They have to build roads and ports they cannot use.  They have to work hard while living and they have to “mark” the roads and ports “with your dead.”

They have to work hard to help the natives even though the natives will just ruin everything.  The natives’ “sloth and heathen folly” will wreck all the things they are trying to achieve just as they are about to reach those goals.  Moreover, the natives will resent them for all this.  They will resent the whites for trying to civilize them.

What all this means is that it is very unpleasant to go out and be a member of an imperial administration.  It is almost like being punished.  The people who do this are being sent away from their native country.  While abroad, they have to endure difficult conditions that are like what you would experience while being punished.  This is what exile means in the context of this poem.  It means being experiencing very unpleasant conditions while being away from your own home and country.

What are some literary devices and elements in chapters 24-26 of To Kill a Mockingbird?

In Chapters 24-26 of To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses several literary devices or elements, including irony and figurative language. Irony is a literary device or element in which an author uses language or events that are the opposite of what is expected to convey humor. In Chapter 24, for example, there are some wonderful examples of ironic humor when Aunt Alexandra, Mrs. Merriweather, and the other ladies of Maycomb gather for a tea party. They are discussing missionary activity, which they consider very benevolent, but which Scout, as a young child, does not understand. Here is the description of part of their party:

"Today Aunt Alexandra and her missionary circle were fighting the good fight all over the house. From the kitchen, I heard Mrs. Grace Merriweather giving a report in the livingroom on the squalid lives of the Mrunas, it sounded like to me. They put the women out in huts when their time came, whatever that was; they had no sense of family—I knew that’d distress Aunty—they subjected children to terrible ordeals when they were thirteen; they were crawling with yaws and earworms, they chewed up and spat out the bark of a tree into a communal pot and then got drunk on it.

Immediately thereafter, the ladies adjourned for refreshments" (page 232; page numbers vary by edition).

What is ironic about this passage, and what is also humorous about it, is that the ladies think their activities are very well intentioned. However, the way Scout overhears the conversation makes their activities seem ridiculous. Even the way she understand the name of the people the ladies are trying to help--the Mrunas--is a mistake that is funny. Again, instead of sounding very religious, these women sound silly.

Another literary device that Harper Lee uses in this chapter is figurative language, more specifically metaphors. Figurative language involves using figures of speech, including metaphors and similes (types of comparisons), to make language more vivid and descriptive. Here is an example:

"I was reminded of the ancient little organ in the chapel at Finch’s Landing. When I was very small, and if I had been very good during the day, Atticus would let me pump its bellows while he picked out a tune with one finger. The last note would linger as long as there was air to sustain it. Mrs. Merriweather had run out of air, I judged, and was replenishing her supply while Mrs. Farrow composed herself to speak" (page 236; page numbers vary by edition).

In this passage, Mrs. Merriweather is being compared through a metaphor to the old organ in the church, as she has just run out of air from talking too much (just as the organ ran out of air). In addition, there are also several uses of similes, which is a comparison that uses the words "like" or "as." An example is "the events of the summer hung over us like smoke in a closed room" (page 242). In this example, the events of the summer, including Tom Robinson's death, are compared to vapors that linger in a room without ventilation. This type of writing imparts vivid descriptions that help the reader understand the emotions behind the events in the novel. 

How does Steinbeck use language and objects to present Crooks?

Crooks' possessions tell us a lot about him. In Chapter 4, we see the inside of his room, which he has all to himself because he is a permanent fixture of the farm, as opposed to the rest, most of whom are itinerant workers. This is clear also because he has plenty of possessions since he doesn't have to carry everything he owns on his back, like those of the drifters who have to roam from town to town finding work. 

From the mending tools and broken harnesses by his window, we can see that he's good with his hands; he repairs various stable gear. 

He has "a range of medicine bottles, both for himself and for the horses," which tells us that he not only needs various medications, but can afford them, suggesting he makes decent money. Also, he appears to be the farm veterinarian to some extent. He has the cans of saddle soap, as well, meaning he maintains barn materials in addition to repairing them. The drippy can of tar is also for repairing things, like the roof. 

Unlike most of the others, he has several pairs of shoes, used for different tasks. He is something of a jack-of-all-trades, then. He has an alarm clock as well, which suggests that he keeps his own schedule and helps the stable hands keep theirs. He also has a single-barreled shotgun; despite being a black man, he is trusted with this weapon and probably uses it to shoot varmints. 

He also has glasses and books. Not just any books, either; he has a dictionary and a much-read copy of the California civil code for 1905. This is not an easy read, and probably not a particularly pleasurable one. Crooks, then, is an educated man.  

He is clean. Despite the various tools and objects around, he keeps the room clean and well-swept. 

Finally, he keeps his distance and expects--or even requires--that everyone else keep theirs. This is probably because he is a black man and knows most of the men would not accept him as one of them, so he responds by keeping his own company, rejecting them before they can reject him. This suggests that he is lonely, not by choice so much as necessity. 

How can I compare the political systems of two states? I have to use at least four dimensions of the political system and find correlations between...

Although it is slightly ambiguous, I will assume the question isn't specifically referring to the US. Hence, by "states," the question is not referring to US states (e.g. Ohio, California, etc.), but to nation-states (e.g. United States, South Africa, China, Brazil), or what is commonly called "countries” in the US.

One way to think about the dimensions of political systems between states is to bracket your investigation into solely "democratic regimes." Within the political system of democracy, there are multiple dimensions of variability including the make up of the executive branch (head of government or head of state), the legislative branch (unicameral or bicameral), the judiciary branch (concrete or abstract review), legislative-executive relations (parliamentary or presidential system), and electoral systems (multimember districts or proportional representation). In addition to democracies, other political systems include those such as personal dictatorships, military regimes, one-party regimes, theocracies, communist regimes, corporatism, clientism, and totalitarian regimes.

One way to think about political performance is to think about the intended functions of particular political structures. Many textbooks use the following dimensions as a classification/evaluative schema: 1) political socialization, 2) political recruitment, 3) political communication, 4) interest articulation, 5) interest aggregation 6) policymaking, 7) policy implementation and adjudication.

What is the speaker saying from 00:17-00:20 in the following video? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RIoXC_7Tuc

From 00:17-00:20, the speakers says that: "Some feel all progress is good." The larger context for this statement is that some people think that the progress which technology brings is beneficial, but other people think that technology can sometimes do more harm than good.

For example, the video mentions water purification and modern medicine. These technological innovations are being used to dramatically improve the quality of life for millions of people around the world. Technologies like these have raised life expectancy in developed nations by decades.

However, some technologies are not so beneficial. One glaring example is nuclear weaponry. Although nuclear weapons have only been detonated twice on civilian populations, they have resulted in countless deaths (both directly and indirectly, through radiation). Moreover, the world now sits under the constant threat of all-out nuclear war. The danger of this technology indicates that technology is not automatically beneficial to humanity.

What is the reason George and Lydia buy the house?

In the short story "The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury, the parents, Lydia and George Hadley, buy their children the a magic nursery, part of a futuristic "Happylife Home." This home has everything the family could ever want, including a nursery to entertain the children and to channel their energies. The nursery can read a child's mind and re-create what he or she is thinking. As Lydia says, "It's supposed to help them work off their neuroses in a healthful way." In other words, the nursery is intended to encourage the children's curiosity and to set them to roam free without their parents in a productive way.

The nursery is supposed to help parents and others understand the children. As David McLean, the psychologist in the story says, "One of the original uses of these nurseries was so that we could study the patterns left on the walls by the child's mind, study at our leisure, and help the child." In other words, psychologists created the nursery to help parents and professionals understand what is going on in children's minds. What the children imagine appears in the nursery, so that the parents and professionals can see the children's innermost thoughts, understand their desires and motivations, and channel the children's thoughts and desires in the right way. This is the goal the parents, Lydia and George, had in mind when they bought the nursery.

However, the nursery has not turned out as the Hadleys had hoped. As David McClean says, "In this case, however, the room has become a channel toward destructive thoughts, instead of a release away from them." In other words, the children, Wendy and Peter, have been allowed too much freedom, and their thoughts have turned to destruction, including the creation of man-eating lions. Rather than channeling and controlling the children's destructive thoughts, the nursery their parents bought them has only amplified these thoughts. 

Henderson says that Multivac is no better than the data fed into it. What does he mean?

Henderson tells Swift and Jablonsky that the data used to program the super computer Multivac, which supposedly provides the title of story, had increasingly become "unreliable" and "meaningless." The data used came from several different sources and was often impossible to consolidate. The data also went through the filters of the men who programmed the computer who "had their own skins to think of and competitors to stab." The data which came from the planet Titan was "delayed" and "would introduce an unexpected bias." Since Henderson could not rely on the data, he "corrected" it through "intuition." In other words, the data was based on Henderson's totally subjective ideas and not really based in science. Thus, the war that was presumably won by technology was actually successful because Henderson, Swift, and Jablonsky guessed correctly. Jablonsky even admits he didn't use educated guesses, but rather flipped a coin for most of the important decisions. 

What are the grotesque elements of "A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift?

In literature, the "grotesque" refers to that which invokes a feeling of uncomfortable bizarreness as well as sympathetic pity. It is used to describe anything that is strange, ugly, unpleasant, or disgusting. Swift's "A Modest Proposal" is full of the grotesque. 

He sets out to establish himself as a well-meaning, level-headed citizen interested in finding a solution to Ireland's poverty. In particular, he's about to suggest a way to deal with the children of the poor who tend to become beggars and thieves in the streets, in such a way that everyone would benefit. The way he sets himself up as a reasonable man only exaggerates the grotesqueness of what he actually suggests: 

I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee or a ragout.

What he is suggesting is, in itself, strange, unpleasant, and even disgusting. Another element of the grotesque present here is the apparent calm, matter-of-fact way he goes about making his case. He suggests roasting an entire infant for company or simply a hindquarter with a little salt and pepper for a family--as though he is a chef suggesting what dish people in a fine restaurant might order. This is entirely incongruous with the subject matter, which makes it grotesque. 

Further, he suggests flaying the carcass to produce ladies' gloves--as if ladies would wear such a thing. 

His apparent assumption, throughout, is that simple economics and the tables of the rich and cleaning up the streets are far more important than the lives of the poor. The thing is...this is absolutely true, which is the heart of his masterpiece, the soul of his wit. He's simply using grotesque exaggeration to point out this sad fact. 

What are some key moments in the early nineteenth century when federal authority clashed with state authority?

There were many clashes between federal and state authority in the early 1800s (if by that we mean the period before 1850). Here are a few examples:

• A debate over a federal appropriations bill in 1817 that would have set aside funds for internal improvements like roads and canals. The construction of these things was held by some to be a power reserved to the states, and many Republicans opposed it on these grounds. President James Madison vetoed it though he supported the idea of internal improvements. He thought that a Constitutional amendment needed to be passed to grant such a power to Congress, however.


• The issue of federal laws and state laws that emerged from interstate navigation. This was a longstanding issue that came to its conclusion in the Supreme Court's decision in Gibbons v. Ogden (1824). This case involved contradictory monopolies, or charters, granted by the state of New York and the federal government. The Supreme Court sided with the federal government, which alone has the power to regulate interstate commerce according to the Constitution.


• The Nullification Crisis of 1832. This crisis stemmed from several federal "protective" tariffs that benefited Northern manufacturers more than Southern planters. The state of South Carolina, with John C. Calhoun as its spokesman, claimed the right to "nullify" the tariff along with any other legislation that was damaging to its interests, and suggested that they could leave the Union if this right was not respected. A compromise was reached wherein tariffs would be lowered over the next decade, but the event was the most significant, and most dangerous clash of federal and state authority in the early nineteenth century. 

Of course, as time went on, the sectional tensions between North and South became more severe, and many more clashes between federal and state authority ensued. 

What choice is Jerry faced with that presents him with an internal conflict in the beginning of "Through the Tunnel"?

As the story opens, Jerry is faced with a dilemma. He wants something different on this vacation. Looking down at the 'wild and rocky bay,' Jerry sees promise and adventure. Although he is old enough to wonder at the possibilities the bay presents to his boyish eyes, he is still young enough to be ambivalent about leaving his mother's side.

Jerry's mother is a widow, conscious of her need to protect her son as well as her son's need to savor the kind of independence every boy his age longs for. On the first day of their vacation, Jerry decides to stay with his mother; his consideration of his mother's feelings is a 'sort of chivalry' on his part. However, the next day, the call of the mysterious bay beckons him, and his mother consents to let him explore the bay by himself. Although he is ecstatic at this opportunity, he finds it sad that his mother, who he has always accompanied, must walk back by herself.

However, he does not change his mind, and this fateful decision seals Jerry's fate and strengthens his resolve to swim the tunnel. By the end of the story, all his work and discipline bears fruit: Jerry manages to swim the tunnel just like the bigger boys did earlier. The sense of accomplishment is palpable.

What other devices, such as stanzas or punctuation, does Tennyson use in "The Eagle"?

"The Eagle" is a poem by Tennyson consisting of two three-line stanzas. The meter of the poem is iambic tetrameter. The rhyme scheme is AAA BBB. The punctuation follows the normal conventions of English grammar. The capitalization of the initial word of each line is also a standard convention in English verse.

The most obvious poetic device used in the poem is alliteration, or repetition of consonant sounds. The most dramatic instance of this occurs early, in the first two lines of the poem, with the repetition of the hard "c" sound in the sequence of words: "clasps ... crag ... crooked ... close." In the second line we encounter another example of alliteration in the words "lonely lands".

One interesting metrical feature of the poem is the initial trochaic substitutions in the second and third lines. The second line scans (stressed syllables in boldface):

Close to the sun in lonely lands

The third line of the first stanza also has an initial trochaic substitution:

Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.

In traditional English prosody, initial trochaic substitutions are often seen as adding surprise or drama to a line.

The poem as a whole personifies the eagle, describing, for example, his claws as "crooked hands." The final line uses a simile in the phrase "like a thunderbolt he falls."

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Miss Maudie says that Mr. Radley had been a ''foot-washing Baptist." What does she mean?

Both Miss Maudie and the members of the Radley family are Baptists. Some Baptists in the South, such as Primitive Baptists, practice ritual foot-washing. The rite of foot-washing is done because Jesus had washed the feet of his disciples. The was done as a sign of humility.

Scout finds the act of foot-washing to be strange. She asks Miss Maudie about it. She asks her neighbor if all Baptists practice the rite of foot-washing. Miss Maudie says they all wash their feet in the bathtub. Then Miss Maudie gives Scout more insight:

"Foot-washers believe anything that's pleasure is a sin" (To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 5).

Some Primitive Baptists in the area even think that Miss Maudie's beautiful flower garden is sinful. These Baptists "take the Bible literally" and "think women are a sin by definition." Mr. Radley had been a foot-washing, or Primitive, Baptist before his death. Scout wonders if this is why he stayed inside his house most of the time. Miss Maudie tells Scout that she does not know.

What are some reasons that Paul Revere was an important American patriot?

There are several reasons why Paul Revere was an important American patriot, most of which dated to the period before the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. He was a Boston metalsmith, and this was really his claim to fame during his life--his work was well-known in Boston and elsewhere. But like many artisans and businessmen in Boston during the 1760s, he was active in public life, and when the imperial crisis developed after the French and Indian War, he became an active leader in the resistance. He was an early member of the Sons of Liberty, formed to protest against British taxation and other policies, and used his talents as an engraver to produce anti-British propaganda in Boston newspapers and for leaflets and broadsides. For example, his engraving of the "Bloody Massacre," which grossly exaggerated the events at the Boston Massacre, became essentially the official Patriot account of the event. Obviously, he played a role in the "ride" that alerted the area militia that the British were marching on Lexington and Concord, and it is for this that we most remember him. He served briefly in the Continental Army, and would remain prominent after independence.