What is the difference between Gatsby's portrayal of himself, and how he is viewed by others?

Jay Gatsby created his own persona when he transformed himself from Jay Gatz. He worked hard to appear wealthy, well educated, sophisticated, successful, and trustworthy. However, others did not always see him that way.

Certainly his wealth could not be doubted: the huge mansion in West Egg boasted only the best material and design, as Nick describes in Chapter V as he and Daisy tour the house with Gatsby:

“And inside we wandered through Marie Antoinette music rooms and Restoration salons…through period bedrooms swathed in rose and lavender silk…through dressing rooms and poolrooms, and bathrooms with sunken baths…”

He claims to be an Oxford man, until he qualifies that statement when Tom directly confronts him; he dresses in the finest imported clothes, drives the latest model car specially ordered with yellow paint (rare at that time), and doesn’t admit he has earned his money through illegal activities. He deliberately tries to mislead Nick when the subject of Gatsby’s actual profession arises in Chapter V. Gatsby and Nick are waiting for Daisy in Nick’s yard, looking toward Gatsby’s incredible mansion. Gatsby says:

“It took me just three years to earn the money that bought it.”

“I thought you inherited your money.”

“I did, old sport,” he said automatically, but I lost most of it in the big panic…I’ve been in several things…I was in the drug business and the oil business. But I’m not in either one now.”

He also claims to be honest. At one point Chapter III, he says to Nick, “I tell you the God’s truth, I am the son of some wealthy people in the middle-west, all dead now.”

Not everyone sees Gatsby this way. Nick suspects he is a liar immediately after Gatsby tells him about his wealthy background:

“He looked at me sideways—and I knew why Jordan Baker had believed he was lying…And with this doubt his whole statement fell to pieces…”

Daisy doesn’t think the wild parties are sophisticated or even enjoyable: “The rest offended her…she was appalled by West Egg, this unprecedented ‘place’ that Broadway had begotten.” Tom scoffs at Gatsby’s false airs, like calling everyone ‘old sport:’ “All this ‘old sport’ business. Where’d you pick that up?” He also is suspicious of Gatsby’s business activities:

“I found out what your ‘drug stores’ were…I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him and I wasn’t far wrong.”

Despite his extreme efforts to appear as a successful, well-educated, reputable executive with sophisticated taste, Jay Gatsby was nothing more than an illusion created by Jimmy Gatz to appeal to the love of his life, Daisy.

In the Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, what were some quotes said by Darry that revealed what he was like?

Darry acts like a father to his two younger brothers, because their parents have died. He's a bit rough with them, saying things like, "You're both nuts," because he's still young himself, only 20 years old, but he uses parenting language when necessary: "Yeah, since it ain't a school night" (pg 13) is almost like something a parent would say, except that Darry uses slang, "ain't" instead of "isn't," showing that he's actually a young guy trying to be parental.

On page 44, Darry shows again that he really cares about his brothers:

I reckon it never occurred to you that your brothers might be worrying their heads off and afraid to call the police because something like that could get you two thrown in a boys' home so quick it'd make your head spin. And you were asleep in the lot? Ponyboy, what on earth is the matter with you? Can't you use your head? You haven't even got a coat on.

Although Darry's angry and shouting at Ponyboy, it's obvious that he cares deeply about his brother and feels responsible for him, by phrases like, "brothers...worrying their heads off," and "You haven’t even got a coat on." He cares enough about Ponyboy to notice things like whether he's dressed properly.

Darry works hard to look after his brothers, but he doesn't resent it and woudln't want them to be removed from his care ("thrown in a boys' home"). Ponyboy realizes this on page 84, when Darry says to him, "Oh, Pony, I thought we'd lost you... like we did Mom and Dad..." This was the first time Ponyboy saw Darry cry. He hadn't even cried at their parents' funeral. For the first half of the novel, Ponyboy is scared of Darry and thinks Darry hates him, but he discovers Darry really does care about him at this moment.

The course of events in the novel cause Ponyboy and Darry to become closer and closer. On page 142, Darry says, "Maybe you can be a little neater, huh, little buddy?" He has always called Sodapop 'little buddy,' but this is the first time he calls Ponyboy 'little buddy.' It shows that Darry feels closer to his youngest brother, Ponyboy, as they have a few close calls through the events of the novel.

Darry keeps his feelings for Ponyboy hidden most of the time, but near the end of the novel, Darry shows that he respects Ponyboy. He tells Ponyboy to stay in school because he is intelligent: "You're not going to drop out. Listen, with your brains and grades you could get a scholarship, and we could put you through college." (pg 148) Then again when he tells Ponyboy to catch Sodapop, knowing that even out of shape, Ponyboy is the fastest runner: "Circle around and cut him off." (pg 149) Finally, Darry shows that he's very insightful for his age, and has empathy for the other boys when he talks about Sodapop's failed relationship with Sandy: "He told me he loved her, but I guess she didn't love him like he thought she did..." (pg 148)

Darry is a pretty complex character. A young orphan raising his two little brothers, he seems at the beginning of the novel to be an angry, scary guy, but he shows by the end of the novel that he's empathetic and loves his little brothers deeply.

What are ways the meanings of words can hinder communication?

The meaning of words can hinder communication in several ways. First, if a communication partner does not know the meaning of a word used, they will be unable to understand the full meaning of the conversation. For example, if I said, "That child is rambunctious" and my partner does not know what "rambunctious" means, we are having a communication breakdown and the point of my sentence is completely lost. Another reason that word meaning can hinder communication would be if a word has multiple meanings. If I said, "I scaled the fish" and my partner does not know that this can mean to remove the scales of a fish, but instead thinks this means that I put the fish on a scale and weighed it, our conversation would take a very different turn and comprehension would be compromised. 

What view of humanity is presented by the comparison between humans and Yahoos?

With the comparison between human beings and the Yahoos, Swift shows that there is very little difference between humans and savage, brutal animals. Further, he implies that we are actually a great deal more savage and brutal than we believe ourselves to be. In describing the Yahoos' hair, bodies, and behaviors—especially their lustfulness and greed—he emphasizes the similarities between the Yahoos and ourselves. We have hair in all the same places that they do, and our nails likewise lack real usefulness; in short, our bodies are much the same and much less suited to protect us from the elements than any other animals'. We are greedy and acquisitive, even when there is more than enough to go around, because we would deny our fellows their share rather than have less ourselves. The implication seems to be that without society's laws, we would certainly behave as the Yahoos do. It is only our rules that protect us from our real, base natures.

What is the difference between Freak the Mighty the book and the movie?

Well, the first difference is the title: the book Freak the Mighty becomes the movie The Mighty. This shows that there are other changes as well. Much of the movie follows the book fairly well, until the ending.

At the ending of the book, Kevin has another seizure on his birthday. This is the seizure that puts Kevin in the hospital for the last time. Max visits Kevin and, during that visit, asks Max to write down their adventures. Kevin dies in the hospital after Max visits (and after Kevin has yet another seizure).

At the ending of the movie, it is the Christmas holiday that brings the boys together. Kevin actually gives Max a blank book in order for Max to write their stories. Instead of dying in the hospital, Kevin then dies in his sleep due to his heart issues. When Max learns that Kevin has died, Max chases the ambulance. This is how Max ends up at the hospital in the movie.

In conclusion, the movie and the book do end the same way: Max writes the adventures of “Freak the Mighty.”

In Julius Caesar, how does Calpurnia finally get him to agree to stay with her?

Calpurnia has repeatedly had dreams in which Caesar was murdered, and begs Caesar not to leave the house on the Ides of March out of fear that these dreams will come true. Caesar is determined not to allow these fears to influence him, and he resolves to leave. He is especially concerned that he will be viewed as a coward if he leaves. Even when his priests conduct an augury that suggests there may be something to Calpurnia's fears, Caesar says he is still determined to go about his business. Finally, she persuades him to stay at home by telling him to say that it was her fear and not his that kept him from leaving. She proposes that Marc Antony should go to the Senate and tell the senators that Caesar is not well. He temporarily agrees, saying that he will stay home for Calpurnia's "humor" and not out of fear, and orders Decius to tell them that he "will not" attend, not to falsely say he is sick. He is careful to stipulate that "cannot" is "false" and "dare not" is "falser."  But when Decius (who is involved in the plot against Caesar) tells him that Calpurnia's dreams have been misinterpreted, and he will receive a crown if he goes to the Senate, he resolves to go in spite of her fears. This is, of course, a fateful decision that results in his murder. He has, as Calpurnia fears, allowed "wisdom" to be "consumed by confidence" and permitted himself to be led astray by Decius, who cleverly manipulates his ego--indeed he does a better job of it than Calpurnia was able to do.

Where does Teddy live in the short story "Rikki Tikki Tavi" by Rudyard Kipling?

In Rudyard Kipling's short story "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" a young English boy named Teddy finds Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, the mongoose, after a storm. Rikki-Tikki goes to live with Teddy and his family in their house in India, where Rikki-Tikki protects them from a cobra couple. The scientific name for Indian cobras is Naja naja, which is similar to the names of the two cobras in the story, Nag and Nagaina.  Cobras are generally about four to seven feet in length and range from Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka to Malaysia and Southeast Asia. In this story, the Indian cobras, Nag and Nagaina are highly feared by the other animals except for Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. Mongooses are one of few animals who will stand up to cobras and can actually kill them, which is what Rikki-Tikki-Tavi does.

Why did the Americans buy the Philippines?

As we approached the end of the 1800s, the United States was looking to expand the concept of Manifest Destiny worldwide. We also wanted to become a world power. Since other countries already controlled most of the lands suitable for colonization, we most likely were going to gain this land by going to war.

When the Spanish were mistreating the Cubans, American newspapers over-exaggerated this event. Newspapers used a practice called yellow journalism to whip up anti-Spanish sentiment in our country. When the U.S.S. Maine exploded in Havana harbor, people blamed Spain. The pressure to declare war against Spain was very high. Eventually, we did go to war against Spain in what is known as the Spanish-American War.

The United States defeated Spain in the Spanish-American War. As a result of the peace treaty ending this war, the United States got control of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. We paid Spain $20 million specifically for the Philippines. Thus, the United States got control of the Philippines as a result of the treaty ending the ending the Spanish-American War.

What lesson does Thoreau use in describing the bug in the wood?

In Walden, Thoreau uses the image of an egg becoming a bug emerging from a 60-year-old table to show how change can occur, and that one’s true self can be resurrected and become renewed.  Like his isolation at Walden Pond changed and molded him into a person who lived his life “meanly”, so too can anyone learn to live the life they are meant to have.  For the small egg, it was destined to become a bug. Even though it took 60 years for it to happen, it did achieve its destiny or true being.  Thoreau’s pilgrimage to the shack in the woods shows the beginning of his transformation.  He, too, is like an egg waiting to discover himself.  And, even though he leaves Walden Pond for new adventures he says he is destined to find, he does “find himself” and matures and evolves into a different person through his experiences.  Like the egg that turned into a bug, Thoreau’s former self is altered by living alone in the woods of Walden Pond.

How does the text reveal the complexity of the idea of conflict in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe?

One of the first ways that Things Fall Apart presents the idea of conflict as being complex is in its depiction of the relationships between Unoka and Okonkwo and between the individual and his culture.

In Unoka we have an example of a person who lives according to his own nature, which puts him at odds with his culture. In a society that honors hard work and self-reliance, Unoka is “a loafer” who dies having “taken no title at all and he was heavily in debt.”

Yet he was happy, it would seem, and is the one character in the novel associated with the words “love” and “happiness.” Despite his positive traits, Unoka’s status was a source of shame for his son. Okonkwo’s persona is directly shaped directly by Unoka in ways that serve to determine Okonkwo’s successes and failures.

The fact that we can see Okonkwo’s traumatic decision to kill Ikemefuna as a result of Unoka’s laziness suggests that external conflicts and events can be ascribed to deeply felt, psychological artifacts of personal history. Such an explanation for conflict is both complex and compelling as we see how an individual’s internal conflicts lead to outward behaviors.

The conflicts between Okonkwo and Nwoye are attributable to this source as well and can be seen in light of the larger issues of cultural dissolution that are explored in the last sections of the novel.

Okonkwo’s loss of his son, as much as it is his own fault, represents a greater loss for Okonkwo and for the village.

“Okonkwo was deeply grieved. And it was not just a personal grief. He mourned for the clan, which he saw breaking up and falling apart, and he mourned for the warlike men of Umuofia, who has so unaccountably become soft like women.”

In this passage, the traits exhibited by Nwoye are associated with the mechanisms that destroy the Igbo ability to repel the invasion of an alien culture.

The conflict between the Igbo and the British is not a straightforward conflict between the interests of one culture and the interests of another. Instead, the conflict is more complex and is generated from an internal shift in the people of the nine villages that to some degree coincides with the British arrival.  

If the Igbo are a people divided between the values found in Unoka and those found in Okonkwo, this division is used to break down the whole society when the Christians come and, discovering the breech, take full advantage of the schism with a divide-and-conquer strategy.

Thus the intercultural conflict brought on by the British arrival is conducted in ways that are not entirely intercultural but can be seen as taking place within Igbo society itself.

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?

That is an interesting question.  Unfortunately there are too many variables involved to get a definitive answer.  

One variable is the size of the Tootsie Pop.  I'm sure the Tootsie Pop company has a set margin of error for what is and is not an acceptable sized sucker; however, there is always going to be some variation in exactly how much hard candy coating is covering the inner chocolate.  

Another variable is the size of the Tootsie in the middle.  A slightly larger Tootsie would result in a slightly thinner candy coating in order to have the same standard sized pop.  A thinner coat would require fewer licks.  

The duration and intensity of a lick are also variables that would have to be accounted for.  If a person left it in their mouth the entire time, does that count as one lick?  If a lick is defined as what the tongue touches while outside of the mouth, then tongue length would need to be standardized or accounted for.  A longer length tongue has the potential to get to the center with fewer licks, because it spends more time in contact with the candy coating.  Tongue pressure on candy is another variable.  The friction between the candy and tongue is going to be inversely proportional to the number of licks.  More friction, fewer licks. 

You could account for all of these variables by setting up a variety of controls and using a large sample pool of people.  Personally, I would rather just eat the candy and continue to wonder how many licks it really takes.  

If that's not good enough for you, Purdue and the University of Michigan have both done studies to answer your question.  Both studies used licking machines in order to reduce the number of variables, but both studies arrived at different answers.  I've linked them below. 

`y = x^2, y = 2 - x^2` Use the method of cylindrical shells to find the volume generated by rotating the region bounded by the given curves...

With the method of cylindrical shells we sum up the volumes of thin cylinders.

The volume of a cylinder is

`2pi*r*h*dr,`

where `h` is the height, `r` is the radius of a cylinder (the distance from the axis of rotation to the argument) and `dr` is the thickness.

`y=x^2` and `y=2-x^2` intersect at the points x=-1, y=1 and x=-1, y=1. Between x=-1 and x=1 `2-x^2gtx^2,` so the height `h` is equal to `2-x^2-x^2=2(1-x^2).`

Also `r=1-x.`

So the volume is (remove odd functions integrating from -1 to 1)

`2pi int_(-1)^1 (1-x)*2(1-x^2) dx=4pi int_(-1)^1 (1-x-x^2+x^3) dx =`

`=4pi int_(-1)^1 (1-x^2) dx=8pi int_0^1 (1-x^2) dx=`

`=8pi (x-1/(3)x^3)_0^1=8pi(1-1/3)=16/3 pi.`

What was the primary motive of American Indians making war with the colonists?

The history of the colonists and the Native American tribes was one marked by cooperation and conflict. The Native Americans were important in the early survival of the colonists as they taught them how to grow food and survive. Over time, however, the colonists continued to expand their reach and encroached on Indian territory. The native tribes attempted diplomacy and cooperation on many occasions, but in time, they could not survive colonial territorial expansion.

As colonists moved west, the Indians had no choice but warfare. If they attempted to migrate west themselves, they risked fighting with other tribes. By moving into the Indian territory, the colonists were exhausting the resources and food supply of the tribes. The Native Americans, if they hoped to endure, had to fight the settlers. Warfare with the colonists by the Indians was done for survival and to keep their homelands.

What passages in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird show characters to be empathetic characters?

In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the most critical passages that characterizes Atticus as an empathetic character is when he says to Scout, "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view-- ... --until you climb into his skin and walk around in it" (Ch. 3).

Atticus makes this statement when Scout is complaining about her disappointing first day of school. Atticus's full argument is that if Walter and Scout had seen Miss Caroline's offering of lunch money from her perspective, Walter would not have felt insulted by the offer, and Scout would not have offended Miss Caroline by explaining to her the ways of Maycomb she had yet to learn. Plus, Scout would not have become infuriated to the point that she felt the need to beat up Walter.

Atticus's lesson is one Scout takes very much to heart all throughout the book, giving us further passages that reflect characters as expressing, or attempting to express, empathy. For example, we see Scout attempting to put the lesson into practice when she tries to picture the fear Jem must have experienced while retrieving his lost trousers from the fence around the Radleys' house at 2 o'clock in the morning. Most importantly, we see her put it into practice at the very end of the book when she stands on Arthur Radley's porch and sees him for the fist time as the thoughtful, caring, albeit reclusive, man he truly is.

In addition, we see Atticus practice his own philosophy all throughout the book. For example, he sees things from Calpurnia's point of view when he treats her like an equal member of the family, despite objections from society. Plus, he puts it into practice when he shows respect to the vicious Mrs. Dubose and calls her the "bravest person [he] ever knew" (Ch. 11).

What exactly is sound energy?

Energy can be transformed from one form to another and sound is a form of energy in which the molecules in matter--solid, liquid or gas begins to vibrate. This occurs when a force is exerted onto an object that starts the object vibrating and transfers energy through sound waves. These waves are mechanical waves and sound is measured in units called Joules (J).

When someone is speaking, the vocal cords are vibrating, which in turn vibrates air molecules around them to create a sound. The vibrating molecules are a stimulus that in turn vibrates our eardrums, and eventually, fluid in the ear vibrates, then a nerve impulse is sent to the brain and we hear a sound.

Playing a drum is an example of sound due to vibration because a force is applied to the skin on the drum which in turn, vibrates and the air above it vibrates and eventually, the ear will sense these vibrations as sound.

Another is example is the sound of thunder. Lightning is due to a discharge of electrical energy and most of it is converted to heat energy and a small percent is converted to the sound we hear as a thunder clap, the rest is converted to light energy. Because there is a rapid temperature and pressure change in the air during a thunder storm, it expands violently and this rapid movement causes the boom we associate with thunder.

As long as there is an object to vibrate--in the form of solid, liquid or gas, sound waves can be produced. There are no sound waves in a vacuum however.

In "Everyday Use" how much truth is in Dee's accusation that her mother and sister don't understand their heritage?

There is some truth in Dee's accusation, but not as much as she believes. "Everyday Use" is an excellent study in family dynamics. Dee has gone to live in the 'big city' and is much more aware of what is going on in the outside world than her mother and sister are. Both Dee's mother and sister value their heritage, but their views are colored by the experiences that they have had, as opposed to the material value that an outsider would place on those items. 

The quilts are a perfect example of this. Dee has recently decided that she wants the quilts, items that she once rejected as being old fashioned. Dee wants them because of the value that society places upon them, that of a material sort. That's the type of "heritage" that Dee has become an expert on. Dee's sister, Maggie, wants the quilts because of the memories that she associates with them. She values her heritage in a much deeper way than Dee does because she connects emotionally and genuinely with her family and ancestry. 

Mama, the narrator throughout the story, realizes this and tips off the reader in subtle and not-quite-so-subtle ways throughout the text. Dee's consistently described as smug, an outsider, and abrasive. Quite frankly, she's really dislikable. These qualities serve as a way to highlight to the reader how little Dee really does value her heritage; it's simply another superficial thing to her, something that will change if it falls out of style. 

What does Mr. Wilson tell sherlock Holmes about the Red-Headed League? Why did he come to Holmes for help?

In "The Red-Headed League," Mr. Wilson comes to Mr. Holmes for help, as he feels he has lost out on a very good job due to mysterious circumstances.

Mr. Wilson tells Holmes and Watson that he had recently seen an advertisement in the paper for a vacant position with something called The Red-Headed League. The advertisement said that all men over the age of twenty one, with red hair and good health, should apply in person the following Monday at the League's office on Fleet Street. When Mr. Wilson arrived to apply, he saw hundreds of other men with red hair lined up outside. Upon entry to the office, the man conducting interviews praised him as most suited for the job, and offered it to him on the spot.

Mr. Wilson already held a job as a pawnbroker but mostly conducted business in the evenings, and decided to take the mysterious job with The Red-Headed League, which promised he would only need to work from 10AM to 2PM. For the next weeks, Mr. Wilson was paid four pounds a week (quite a lot of money back then) to copy out the Encyclopedia Britannica by hand for a few hours a day. 

Suddenly, on the 9th of October 1890, Mr. Wilson went to work and found a sign upon the office door reading, "The Red-Headed League is dissolved." Mr. Wilson checked with the landlord to ask about his employer, who said that the man had only rented the room and moved elsewhere in the city. When Wilson went to the new address, he found it to be a prosthetic knee manufacturer, and the people there had never heard of The Red-Headed League. 

Wilson was both upset at losing such an easy, well-paying job and confused by its sudden disappearance. He has come to Sherlock Holmes to hire him to figure out where The Red-Headed League and/or the men who employed Wilson had gone. Holmes asks a few additional questions about Wilson's assistant, who he describes as handy and stout, with an acid scar on his face. After that, Holmes and Watson set off to begin investigating.

Source: The Works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: Complete and Unabridged (1983)

In Night by Elie Wiesel, what eight words did the SS men keep repeating when the Jews arrived at Auschwitz?

When Night author Elie Wiesel and the rest of the Jewish people from Sighet arrived at Auschwitz, they were met by the Schutzstaffel, called SS for short. Schutzstaffel is German for "Protective Echelon" or "Protection Squadron." The SS spoke eight words over and over, and those words were, "Men to the left! Women to the right" (Wiesel 27). Elie was quickly separated from his mother and sisters, never to see his mother again. It all happened very fast. Elie and his father were sent in one direction, and the rest of his family in the other. Elie saw his mother and sisters moving away, and they did not even have a chance to say goodbye. Elie's last memory of his family all together would be this moment when he saw his mother holding hands with his little sister. This moment would often come back to haunt Elie Wiesel.

How does Squealer explain Napoleon's intention to build the windmill, after all?

In Chapter Five of Animal Farm, Napoleon makes the unexpected announcement that he will build the windmill. This is unexpected because Napoleon was opposed to the windmill from the very start, and expelled Snowball from the farm, three Sundays earlier, when he realised that Snowball was about to win the popular vote. 

Squealer explains Napoleon's decision by saying that he had never been opposed to the building of the windmill and that it was, in fact, Napoleon's idea from the very beginning. While this account is fictional, it has two functions in the text: firstly, it is used to blacken Snowball's character and reputation, and, secondly, to enhance Napoleon's prestige on the farm. This idea is supported by Squealer's further explanation to the animals; specifically, that Napoleon pretended to be opposed to the windmill because he sensed Snowball's "dangerous character" and "bad influence." In reality, Snowball poses no threat to the animals but vilifying him is an essential step on Napoleon's path to total control and domination of the farm. 

To make Squealer's propaganda technique even more effective, he tells the animals that this is a technique called "tactics." By making the animals feel included, he and Napoleon further gain their trust and confidence. Again, this is what enables Napoleon to assume complete control of the farm, later in the novel. 

In J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, why is Holden always negative?

Other than the fact that Holden must have depression and anxiety issues, he has a traumatic past. At age 13, Holden loses his 11 year-old brother Allie to leukemia. And this wasn't just a loss of a sibling, but he really loved and respected his little brother. Holden loves his deceased brother so much that he keeps his brother's baseball mitt with him at school. He also uses the poetry written on it as inspiration. How he describes his brother, though, shows a loving connection to him as well as a deep sense of loss that probably haven't been properly dealt with three years after the fact.

"He was two years younger than I was, but he was about fifty times as intelligent. . . But it wasn't just that he was the most intelligent member in the family. He was also the nicest, in lots of ways. He never got mad at anybody. People with red hair are supposed to get mad very easily, but Allie never did, and he had very red hair" (38).

Not only did he lose the nicest person in his family, but one might infer from this quote that maybe Holden doesn't think his parents are nice people. And since Holden seems to get kicked out of preparatory schools over and over again, he might be holding a grudge against his parents for sending him away from home. Feelings of rejection and loss of a loved one can certainly bring a person down and feeling negative. 

In The Crucible, what is Mary's motive in giving the poppet to Elizabeth?

The text directions inform us that Mary Warren, the Proctor's maidservant, hands Elizabeth the poppet as if to compensate for having gone to court to act as a witness in the witchcraft trials.

As though to compensate, Mary Warren goes to Elizabeth with a small rag doll.

Mary Warren: I made a gift for you today, Goody Proctor. I had to sit long hours in a chair, and passed the time with sewing.

Elizabeth, perplexed, looking at the doll: Why, thank you, it.’s a fair poppet.

John Proctor had specifically forbidden Mary to attend the trial, but she had ignored his command. When she returned, he scolded her saying that she had defied him and neglected her duties whilst Elizabeth was of poor health. Mary told John that she was not well and he then reneged on his desire to whip her when she started speaking about the proceedings in court.

This kindly and innocent act later becomes a damning indictment against Elizabeth and is a major turning point in the play.

Ezekiel Cheever, acting as sheriff of the court, and Marshall Herrick turn up at the Proctor home to arrest Elizabeth. When John demands to know who accused her, Cheever informs him that it had been Abigail. Proctor wishes to know on what evidence and Cheever then requests Proctor to bring forth any poppets Elizabeth might be keeping in the house. Elizabeth states that she had not been keeping any dolls since childhood. Cheever then notices the doll which Mary had given Elizabeth and asks her to hand it over.

Once Cheever has the poppet, John wants to know its significance. At this point, Cheever lifts the doll's dress and is astonished. He has noticed a needle stuck in its stomach. He cries out that the needle is damning evidence against Elizabeth. On Reverend Hale's inquiry, he informs him, wide eyed and trembling:

The girl, the Williams girl, Abigail Williams, sir. She sat to dinner in Reverend Parris’s house tonight, and without word nor warnin’ she falls to the floor. Like a struck beast, he says, and screamed a scream that a bull would weep to hear. And he goes to save her, and, stuck two inches in the flesh of her belly, he draw a needle out. And demandin’ of her how she come to be so stabbed, she - to Proctor now - testify it -were your wife’s familiar spirit pushed it in.

Even though Mary later confesses that Abigail had seen her making the doll and that she (Mary) had stuck the needle into it for safe-keeping, Cheever insists on executing the warrant. John tears up the warrant and Elizabeth beseeches him to allow her to go. She is taken into custody and John promises that he will bring her back. Reverend Hale is virtually speechless but later tells John that he should find a cause for Abigail's terrible accusation.

Mary informs John after everyone has left, that Abigail will charge him with lechery. He insists that she accompany him to court the next day to testify against Abigail. Mary is distraught and cries out that she cannot charge murder against her. She is terrified of vengeance from Abigail and the other girls. 

It is clear that Abigail has cunningly manipulated the situation so that she could avenge herself on Elizabeth for having dismissed her on discovering her adulterous affair with John. Furthermore, with Elizabeth out of the way, Abigail believes that John would turn to her and they would rekindle their relationship.

In Hamlet, to what standards does Claudius hold Hamlet? Cite at least two pieces of textual evidence to support the answer.

To answer this question the reader need look no further than the first interaction Shakespeare presents between the famous uncle and his even more famous nephew.  In Act one, scene two, Claudius declaims the following:

'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet, 290
To give these mourning duties to your father; 
But you must know, your father lost a father; 
That father lost, lost his, and the survivor bound 
In filial obligation for some term 
To do obsequious sorrow. But to persever 295
In obstinate condolement is a course 
Of impious stubbornness. 'Tis unmanly grief;

In a strange way what Claudius is recommending to his nephew is a kind of generic grief, without being so gauche as to descend into particulars.  He’s saying here that all sons have a duty to mourn their dead fathers, no matter how they felt about one another in life.  The son grieves publicly almost as a kind of duty tax for the passing of the man who gave him life.  Claudius approves heartily of this kind of mourning, but he doesn’t want to go anywhere near the specific, particular, and complex relationship his oh-so sensitive nephew had with his brother, the war-hero, who he has so recently murdered.  He knows that if Hamlet can make his grief an abstract thing, the sooner the young man might recover.  And the sooner Hamlet recovers from all this moody, sullen, black-wearing grief, the better for Claudius.  Even if he had not committed fratricide, Claudius would still be desperately trying to get on with the celebrations of his recent marriage, and his ascent to the throne, and find his footing, now that he’s finally been relieved of his big brother’s, Hamlet senior’s, shadow.  The very last thing Claudius feels he needs is some moody boy glooming around the court as a kind of perpetual reminder of how he got the girl (Gertrude) and the throne and all the perks that come with them.  He accuses his nephew of being unmanly in his grief, kind of girlish, and by sexist implication, kind of weak.

Later in this same speech Claudius says:

It shows a will most incorrect to heaven, 
A heart unfortified, a mind impatient, 
An understanding simple and unschool'd; 300
For what we know must be, and is as common 
As any the most vulgar thing to sense, 
Why should we in our peevish opposition 
Take it to heart? Fie! 'tis a fault to heaven, 
A fault against the dead, a fault to nature, 305
To reason most absurd, whose common theme 
Is death of fathers.

He is saying here that Hamlet is essentially being a silly child, a simpleton and sort of  suspiciously atheistic.  Claudius implies that if God has a plan for everyone and everything, then to object so strongly to his father’s passing is a backhanded way of spitting in the eye of God, and on His plan.  This is incredible hypocrisy coming from Claudius since, for him to actually believe that, would imply that it was God’s plan for him to sneak up on his sleeping brother, out in the garden, and pour a corrosive poison into his ear.  The subtext of both these passages is that Hamlet is making a big deal out of nothing since the death of fathers is nothing but a “common theme” to us all.  Essentially insisting, both in word and in tone, that since millions of sons have buried their father before Hamlet, and millions will bury theirs afterwards, that Hamlet’s just being a big old baby by acting as if he’s allowed to grieve his own father’s death in his own particular way.  Because Claudius is a liar, who lives behind a mask, he cannot imagine that his nephew’s deep pain could be sincere.  He has no empathy.

How are imperialist countries supposed to help native peoples according to the poem "The White Man's Burden?"

First, it should be noted that Kipling is writing specifically about the Philippines in this poem. The United States had recently acquired the Philippines in the treaty that ended the Spanish-American War just before the turn of the century(they had long been a Spanish colony). In general, Kipling exhorts the United States to take on the "burden" of an imperial power, but warns that the cost will be heavy. He suggests that the American imperialists will "help" the people of the Philippines, referred to as "new-caught, sullen peoples," by supplying the basics of modernity. The Americans would "fill full the mouth of Famine/And bid the sickness cease." They would also build "ports" and "roads" that they would never "enter" or "tread" upon. The United States did, despite significant opposition from many different sources, annex the Philippines. Annexation resulted in a lengthy and brutal war in which American troops quelled multiple rebellions from Filipino rebels who desired freedom. There were, in fact, numerous efforts to eradicate diseases like smallpox, and American governors oversaw the construction of infrastructure like roads in the Philippines. Most observers, however, especially after the Filipino-American War, would perhaps have suggested that the "burden" of empire rested not on the conquerors, as Kipling predicts, but on the people of the Philippines themselves.

How did Romeo and Juliet communicate with each other in Romeo and Juliet? Please provide quotes and citations.

Romeo and Juliet communicate primarily through Juliet's nurse when they are apart.  On the night when they first meet, after Romeo has scaled the walls into the garden beneath Juliet's balcony, they speak for a while, and Juliet eventually says that she will send someone to Romeo the next day, someone who will deliver a message to her: "If that thy bent of love be honorable, / Thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow, / By one that I'll procure to come to thee [...]" (2.2.150-152).  In other words, if Romeo wants to marry her, he should send a message about when and where the ceremony will be performed. 

Sure enough, the next day, after Romeo has spoken with Friar Lawrence, the nurse finds Romeo.  He advises her to tell Juliet to come up with some reason that she needs to go to confession that afternoon, and he will be waiting there to marry her (2.4.183-186). 

Later, when Romeo is hiding at the friar's cell after having killed Tybalt, Juliet sends her nurse to him again.  Speaking to Romeo, the nurse says, "My lord, I'll tell my lady you will come [....].  Here, sir, a ring she bid me give you, sir" (3.3.171-173).  Therefore, the nurse is really the main mode of communication by which the young lovers communicate.

What was the reaction of the man whose daughter was saved by the creature?

In the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the creature saves a young girl, but receives a hostile response.

While spending time out in nature, the creature relaxes and enjoys its beauty until he sees a young girl. The creature hides in the bushes, to avoid being seen, and watches the girl. The girl is running along the side of a river when suddenly her foot slips and she quickly falls into its current.

Although the creature does not know the girl, he instantly responds by trying to save her. He runs to her and, with much effort, saves the girl from drowning in the water. After pulling her out, he tried to “restore animation” to her “senseless” body.

Unfortunately, at this time, the man who was accompanying her appears. He snatches her from the creature. The creature follows him although he “hardly knew why." Subsequently, the man shoots the creature and the creature collapses to the ground.

Thus, despite the creature’s efforts and pure motivations in saving the girl, his physical appearance incites the man to think the worst about the creature. His thoughts quickly lead to action when he shoots and injures the creature, despite the creature's heroic actions. 

√5/4,√3/2,√7/4. Find the formula for this sequence. √ this symbol means square root

The question states that we need to determine the formula of the sequence. There are generally three types of sequences:

1. Arithmetic: Common Difference 


2. Geometric: Common Ratio


3. Quadratic: Second Difference

We need to determine the type of sequence before we can determine the formula of the aforementioned sequence.

The sequence was given as:  √(5/4), √(3/2), √(7/4). 

We need to change the sequence into decimal form as it is difficult to find the pattern in the fraction form. 

The sequence in decimal form: √1.25, √1.5, √1.75

If we ignore the root we have: 1.25, 1.5, 1.75

From above we can see a clear between and that there is a common difference of 0.25

Since there is a common difference we have identified the sequence to be arithmetic. 

The formula for an arithmetic sequence is as follows: 

Tn = a + d*(n-1)

where

Tn: Term value

a: first term

n: Term number

So the formula of the sequence is as follows

The first term is a = 1.25, d = 0.25 and do not forget the foot:

 Tn = √[1.25 + 0.25 (n-1)] 

Now we know the sequence of our pattern, let double check our formula

T1=√[1.25 + 0.25 (1-1)]= √1.25 = √(5/4)

T2 = √[1.25 +0.25(2-1)] = √1.5 =  √(3/2)

T3 = √[1.25 +0.25 (3-1)] = √1.75= √(7/4)

Which statement best explains the concept of "manifest destiny?"

I am assuming you left off a list of statements or choices. Thus, I will share with you what Manifest Destiny meant for our country.

The people of the United States began to believe we should expand from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. By 1803, we had expanded as war west as the Rocky Mountains. We expanded as far north as Canada. We controlled the lands in the South to the border with Spanish Florida. After the Louisiana Purchase, we had doubled the size of our country. People began to believe it was our duty to expand to the Pacific Ocean.

As we moved into the mid-1800s, we wanted to expand to the Pacific Ocean. We decided to annex Texas in 1845. We would have done so sooner, but there was concern about adding another slave state. We expanded into the Oregon Territory and got half of that land when we signed an agreement with Great Britain. Both the United States and Great Britain controlled the Oregon Territory. This agreement gave us the southern part of this area while Great Britain got the northern part of the area. Today, the area we got is known as the Pacific Northwest. We also wanted to get control over what is now the southwest part of our country. We went to war with Mexico over a boundary dispute regarding the Texas border. As a result of the war, we got control of the area that makes up the southwest part of the United States. We got California, Utah, Nevada, and parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. We also resolved the dispute over the border between Texas and Mexico. In 1853, we made the Gadsden Purchase with Mexico giving us a strip of land in southern New Mexico and southern Arizona. We paid $10 million for the purchase of this strip of land.

Thus, by 1853, we had completed the goal of Manifest Destiny. We had spread from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.

Describe the scene Wordsworth was fascinated by in his poem about the daffodils.

Wordsworth was overwhelmed by the beauty of some daffodils which he came upon as he was walking. They were spread out in glorious colour 'beside the lake beneath the trees.' The setting could not have been more aesthetic. The speaker's pleasure on this unexpected discovery of nature at its best is clearly emphasised in the word 'golden' which signifies something of great value. He has stumbled upon one of nature's great treasures and is treated to an extraordinary spectacle by these beautiful yellow flowers. 

The unusual use of the word 'host' as a collective noun suggests that the speaker felt like a special guest being provided with a truly marvellous service. The use of metaphor and personification to describe the movements of these exceptional flowers very clearly expresses the speaker's delight.

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

The image is one of a happy occasion, specifically to entertain and enthral the viewer.  

The speaker continues in this positive tone in stanza two. He compares the daffodils with a continuous line of stars shining and twinkling in the night sky. The hyperbole suggests that the daffodils stretched out along the edge of the bay for as far as the eye could see, making the view so much more impressive. The speaker claims that he saw 'ten thousand at a glance' suggesting that if he had looked closer, he would have seen even more. 'Ten thousand' is obviously just an estimate, but the speaker wishes to emphasise that there was a huge number of daffodils spread out next to the bay. Once again, the last line indicates, through personification, what a happy scene it was. The flowers were celebrating by 'tossing their heads in sprightly dance,' suggesting the gentle movement of the flowers, probably created by a breeze blowing through them. This animation makes the whole experience so much more enthralling and delightful.

In stanza three, the speaker continues to show the interconnectedness of nature. Just as the daffodils were similar to stars in stanza two, are they now equated with the waves, which also danced. The daffodils, however, were far superior and happily 'out-did the sparkling waves.' The descriptors remain positive and create a mood of conviviality and suggest a synergy between all things natural. A poet could not help but be happy in such joyful company. The last two lines suggest that the speaker was mesmerised by what he saw, to such an extent that he did not realise what great value he had actually gained from witnessing this tremendously exquisite panorama.   

The last stanza focuses on the remarkable impression that that glorious vista has had on him. He has retained the memory thereof for, whenever he is by himself, thinking or having nothing to do whilst lying on his couch, he thinks about what he had seen. Just the thought of the radiantly exquisite flowers makes him happy and his heart 'dances with the daffodils.' His heartbeat assumes a dancing rhythm which signifies the gratification he derives from such a pleasant memory.   

Why would it be wrong to corrupt Tom Robinson's innocence?

Yes, it would be wrong to corrupt Tom Robinson's innocence. One of the main themes throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, deals with the corruption of innocent people. Tom Robinson is an innocent black man who was wrongly accused of raping Mayella Ewell. Tom Robinson was only trying to help Mayella break down an old piece of furniture when she attempted to seduce him. Bob and Mayella Ewell falsify their testimonies and the racist Maycomb jury wrongly convicts Tom Robinson because he is a black man.

Mockingbirds symbolize innocent characters throughout the novel. Tom Robinson is a "mockingbird." In Chapter 10, when the children are shooting their air-rifles, Atticus tells them, "Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." (Lee 119) Miss Maudie elaborates on Atticus' statement and explains to the children that mockingbirds do nothing but sing their hearts out for people, which is why it is a sin to kill one. Tom Robinson was a caring, loving soul, who felt sympathy towards Mayella. Much like innocent mockingbirds, who do nothing to harm people or their property, Tom was only attempting to help Mayella. After Tom is shot escaping from jail, Mr. Underwood "likened Tom's death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds." (Lee 323)

In Beowulf, how do the three monsters (Grendel, Grendel's Mother, the Dragon) vary in their symbolism? Are they all symbolic of the same things?

Here is a quick explanation of the symbolism behind each monster. For a quick answer, I would say there is great deal of connection between Grendel and his mother, as they are both part of the classic story of hero versus evil. The dragon almost tells a different story entirely, the story of a great man meeting his unavoidable end.

Grendel

According the the writer and theorist, John Gardner, who wrote an alternative version of this story which focuses on Grendel, humans create monsters because of something dark and lurking we see in ourselves, something horrible yet seductive. Grendel is perhaps the perfect example of this idea. He is descended from Cain, one of the first humans in the Bible. Cain becomes the first murderer when he kills his own brother, Abel. This reinforces the notion that Grendel represents a darker side of our human nature. We see this by the explanation of his hatred for hearing sounds of joy in the hall. He is jealous of other's happiness, a common human weakness. He represents the same human greed, anger, and jealousy that we fear in ourselves.

Grendel's Mother

Joseph Campbell, an important scholar, explains that all heroes are essentially the same at the core. They all undergo the same structure of story; it is a tale that is part of our human nature. A crucial piece of this structure is what is often called "the belly of the whale." In this portion of the hero's journey, he or she goes to an extremely low point to face the greatest challenge. When the hero goes into the belly of the whale (sometimes the underworld, sometimes an actually whale's belly, sometimes death) he/she returns a true hero and his task is complete.

This story is somewhat unusual in that it continues after his success here, but after defeating Grendel's mother, it is unquestionable that he has now proven himself as the hero of the story. The battle with Grendel's mother represents the key moment where our hero goes to a dark place alone and emerges as the glorious victor. He wins glory, fame, and eventually even a kingdom. Grendel's mother represents the sinister challenge between victory and defeat.

The Dragon

It is a well understood symbol in both literature and religion that both serpents and dragons represent mortality and death. The perfect example of this comes in the garden of Eden, when it is the serpent that convinces Eve and Adam to eat the fruit and thereby end the immortality of humankind. By the time our hero encounters the Dragon he is an old man. Despite his amazing strength, he is still a mortal, and he still must face death. Even he cannot survive his encounter with the dragon. This shows that no amount of strength can help a person escape death. 

In "The Devil and Tom Walker," how would you describe the mood as the story opens? Which words from the first paragraphs help create it?

The mood at the beginning of "The Devil and Tom Walker" starts out as dark and sinful. 

The setting that is determined to be a few miles from Boston, Massachusetts has a dark and evil feel to it. Some words used in the description that best support this idea are "dark grove," "night," "the Devil presided," and "ill-gotten." The place is described as a place that is very secluded where secret happenings take place. 

The events added to the setting indicate that the place was a good location for people to secretly bring money, hide it, stay on the lookout, and come back for it at another time. Everything in this situation describes mischief and evilness. 

Lastly, the initial descriptions of two of the characters in the short story are provided. Tom Walker and his wife are described as miserable people who hide everything they could from each other. 

Everything within the first few paragraphs of "The Devil and Tom Walker" point to a depressing, dreary mood. 

Can someone please help me with a title for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer?

It sounds to me like you need to come up with a different title for Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.  That is an interesting problem, because I have always thought that the title to the book was a bit boring.  All of my teachers emphasized the importance of a catchy title to any papers that I wrote.  For example "Memphis Belle Research Paper" was not an acceptable title.  Of course, all of my science professors wanted the title to explicitly say what the paper was about, so the more boring the better.  Titles are hard.  

Twain's title works in the way that my science professors liked.  I think you are being asked to make it more "literature teacher-like."  I can't write out a title word for word for you, because it's important that your title is something that you feel passionate about.  I can steer you in the right direction and perhaps spark some thoughts.  I would focus on the character of Tom and base a title off of that.  He's mischievous, daring, brave, and caring all at the same time.  Tom is also constantly manipulating people.  He manipulates his friends, he manipulates the townspeople, etc.  You could base your title on that personality trait.  For example, if I made a movie about somebody that kills and terminates people, I would title it The Terminator. You could go along the same vein for somebody that manipulates people. 

In The Giver what is the setting?

The setting of The Giver is a dystopia in the future.

A dystopia is a place that is supposed to be perfect, but is actually repressive or abusive.  The name comes from the word “utopia,” which means a perfect world.  Jonas’s world may seem perfect at first, but it harbors dark secrets.

Setting is time and place, but it also involves customs and values.  The setting is so important in this book that it is practically its own character.  The events that happen here could never happen anywhere else.

We know that the story takes place in the future because they have technology we simply do not have.  They have somehow eliminated color and completely controlled the weather and the landscape.  It is our world though, because they use the same months and have some of the same basic structures.  We have families, they have family units.  Theirs are just artificial.

Jonas’s community is very restrictive.  Every single choice is made for the citizens, down to the smallest detail.  There is no color, for example, because the community prefers everything to be the same.  This is a concept known as Sameness.  Sameness extends to ensuring that everyone in the community follows strict rules of behavior, and has choices made for them.

When Jonas begins his training as Receiver of Memory, The Giver explains to him that the community gave up a lot in the name of Sameness.

"Climate Control. Snow made growing food difficult, limited the agricultural periods. And unpredictable weather made transportation almost impossible at times. It wasn't a practical thing, so it became obsolete when we went to Sameness. (Ch. 11)

The Giver also tells Jonas that the community got rid of hills, different skin tones, and a bunch of other things in the name of Sameness.

The community has strict requirements for behavior of all kinds.  No one does anything that is against the rules.  Rule-breaking has serious consequences.  The community has something called release, which means lethal injection.  It is used on more than just rule-breakers.

There were only two occasions of release which were not punishment. Release of the elderly, which was a time of celebration for a life well and fully lived; and release of a newchild, which always brought a sense of what-could-we- have-done. (Ch. 1)

Release is terrible, but it is not the only abuse of human rights used by the community.  All citizens have to take Stirrings pills from the onset of puberty.  These pills are designed to prevent attraction between the sexes, but they prevent any kind of adult feelings.

As a result, no one in the community actually has emotions.  The people are controlled through strict rules of language, rituals, and the Stirrings pills.  This is why they do not complain or revolt.  They do not realize what they are missing out on in life.  Everyone is perfectly obedient.

What are the months covered during Watership Down?

Watership Down is the epic tale of Hazel and his group of rabbits that have left their comfortable warren in search of a new place to call home. While it seems like a lifetime for the rabbits, the whole journey takes place from May to October. 

It is May when Hazel and his group decide to leave their home. The first line of paragraph two in chapter one reads: "The May sunset was red in clouds..." Hazel felt the urgency to leave due to his friend Fiver's premonition of death being brought to the warren.  

Hazel leads his band of rabbits through the countryside throughout the summer until they find their new home on Watership Down. However, their plight is not over when they settle into their new surroundings. They are a group of male rabbits and must add females in order for their warren to flourish. 

After pilfering females from a neighboring warren, which resulted in a grand battle on Watership Down, Hazel and his group are finally settled in the fall. The fist line of chapter 50 reads: "It was a fine, clear evening in mid-October..." They have recovered from their adventures and delivered their first round of litters. The epilogue takes the reader years down the line to learn that the Watership Down warren has grown and thrives. 

In Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, what details about the town, its history, and its inhabitants make the place feel real?

Harper Lee describes Maycomb and its intricacies in To Kill a Mockingbird.  She tells the story of Maycomb and the people who live there through the young narrator, Scout.  These details show Maycomb as a town like many other real places in the Southeastern United States in the 1930s.  Scout describes the town in the way she observes it:

Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it.  In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square.  Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summer's day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square.  Men's stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o'clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum. (Chapter 1)

The town of Maycomb predated the Civil War.  It was the county seat of the county it shared a name with.  Maycomb had a grassy square, a courthouse, shops, and restaurants.  It was home to many people who had lived there or nearby for generations.  There was also a newspaper, The Maycomb Tribune.

These descriptions of Maycomb could also be said of many small towns in Alabama.  There were many historic small towns with longtime citizens, muddy streets, and squares with stately old buildings in the 1930s.  Alabama is full of towns that were established before the Civil War.  In the summertime, a seemingly endless heat spreads over Alabama.  In the 1930s, there was no air conditioning, so people were not able to escape the heat as easily as they do in modern times.  The descriptions of men with wilting collars and women taking baths and naps in the heat show images of people dealing with heat.

What are the similarities of the state government and federal government?

There are similarities between the state government and the federal government. One of the similarities is in the structure of government at each level. Both the state government and the federal government have three branches. The legislative branch makes the laws. The executive branch carries out the laws. The judicial branch interprets the laws. There is a separation of powers that I mentioned above as well as a system of checks and balances at each level. For example, the executive branch can veto laws. The veto can be overridden by the legislative branch.

Another similarity is that both governments share certain powers. For example, both the state governments and the federal government can levy taxes, borrow money, build roads, and establish courts. For example, we pay state and federal taxes. Also, the interstate highway system is our federal highway system while the state governments establish state highways.

Both the state government and the federal government take actions that affect our lives. For example, at the state level, the state determines how many school days there will be, and how schools will be funded. The state determines what the state sales tax will be. At the federal level, the government has created programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Head Start to help people. The federal government has drafted soldiers who have fought in wars. There is a federal health insurance law that provides access to healthcare for the American people.

Both the state governments and the federal government play a significant role in our lives. Today, how big a role government should play is a heavily discussed topic at both the state and federal levels.

I need a little help with an essay about what I want to be when I grow up.

An essay like this depends very much on whether you have an idea of what you want to be or whether you are still thinking about what you want to be when you are grown up.  For example, I always knew that I wanted to be a teacher and it was the right choice for me.  My daughter, however, thought that she wanted to be a doctor, went to South America as an exchange student, and became a Spanish medical interpreter.  For you, the choices are wide open.

First of all, narrow your topic to either what you want to do or what you think sounds like a good idea for you.  I would suggest that you research jobs not often thought of such as a medical illustrator  or a CNC mechanic.  This is a chance to think about what you enjoy, what you are good at or what you think will fit you.

As for the essay, pick out what you will use and find three reasons why you want to be that person.  If you picked medical illustrator, perhaps three reasons might be that you love drawing, you like to help people, and you want to go to college and have an interesting career.  These would become your body paragraphs while your introductory paragraph would use these three ideas in your thesis statement.  Remember the conclusion paragraph refers back to the introductory paragraph and your thesis statement.

Good luck on your chance to think about your future.  Remember that it may or may not include college, but I would include some kind of training if possible.

In "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," what is the only thing that keeps God's arrow from "being made drunk" with humans' blood?

The only thing that keeps God's arrow from striking into the unfaithful and "being made drunk" with their blood is "nothing but the pleasure of God."

Throughout the fire and brimstone sermon of the Reverend Jonathan Edwards the trope of "the hand of God" is used throughout Edwards's oration. The "pleasure of God" is a variation of this trope, expressing even more that it is but a whim of God that he holds onto sinners and that there is even more of a chance that the sinner might plunge into the fires of hell.

At the point in his sermon when Reverend Edwards mentions the arrow of God, he cautions "all that were never born again" and made into new Christians that they are now in the hands of a righteous and angry Maker. No matter how justified they feel in their ways, no matter that they keep up a form of religion in their homes or feel unconvinced of his words, those in his congregation who are not saved will be found abominable in God's eyes and, therefore, be cast into the fires of hell.

What is a rain shadow desert and what causes it?

A rain shadow desert is exactly what it sounds like, a desert formed in the shadow of rain.  The problem is, the rain is going somewhere else, like the side of a mountain, while the desert side of the mountain gets little to none in terms of precipitation.  Thats where the formation of a desert occurs.  The reason one side of the mountain gets all the rain is the wind that is carrying the moisture is forced up as it climbs the mountain.  As the wind gets higher up the mountain, it becomes cooler and unable to hold all the moisture it is carrying.  The result is it dumps virtually all the moisture on that side of the mountain.  When it tops the mountain and starts down the other side, there is no moisture left, so that side of the mountain gets no rain.  Hence, desert conditions prevail.

What do we learn about Ozymandias' character in "Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley?

In "Ozymandias," a sonnet by Percy Bysshe Shelley, we learn that Ozymandias was a powerful king. Ozymandias, in reality, was Egyptian king Ramses II, called "Ozymandias" by the Greeks. He ruled for a very long time and was considered a tyrant. In the poem his face is described:

"Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read..." (Shelley ll.4-6)

This tells us that he was cold and calculating, and not a warm, benevolent king.

We also know that Ozymandias was arrogant and thought he was one of the most powerful kings ever, evidenced by the following lines:

"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" (Shelley ll. 10-11)

This is saying that not even the mightiest of kings was as great as Ozymandias and could never match the power he held. For all his power and arrogance, however, now all that is left of him is a broken statue, reminding those who read this sonnet that all of us, no matter how great we may be, eventually succumb.

How did the treatment of the indigenous (native) peoples differ from that of the European people in imperialistic societies?

In all the worst ways. Throughout history, indigenous people have been conquered, abused, enslaved, even murdered by foreign invaders. This is not a uniquely European behavior; most cultures throughout history have engaged in some form of imperialism against other cultures. However, European technological, economic, and above all military dominance starting around the 15th century led to a global rush to colonize and establish empires around the world, which shaped world geography as we know it. North and South America were thoroughly colonized by European powers, as was Africa and much of central and south Asia. The only major exceptions were in East Asia, where China and Japan had powerful civilizations of their own and largely avoided being colonized (and in some cases colonized other people).

Some countries did relatively well, eventually: The United States and Canada are both British colonies, and are quite prosperous today. Others did not: Ghana and Cote D'Ivoire were also colonized, and remain in abject poverty today. Even in relatively prosperous countries such as the US, indigenous populations suffered substantial violence and discrimination for centuries. Even today, indigenous people such as Navajo and Inuit are not always treated with equal respect by the European-descended majority; though at least in terms of law they formally have equal rights.

In addition, the transfer of foreign diseases frequently destroyed populations which had no evolved immunity; the smallpox pandemic in North America was completely catastrophic, worse even than the Black Death had been. This was actually the main cause of death of most indigenous populations, with imperialist violence being second.

How did people react to the story of Odysseus?

The story of Odysseus is one of the most popular and enduring in the history of western literature. Surprisingly from the point of view of modern readers, who often seem to enjoy the Odyssey more than the Iliad, in antiquity the Iliad was far more popular, as evidenced by archaeologists having found over three times more papyrus fragments of the Iliad than the Odyssey.

Both Homeric epics were extremely important to Greek culture, to the extent that Homer was often described as the "teacher of Greece." The overwhelming popularity of the Homeric epics is attested in both Plato and in Aristotle, among other sources. Plato and a few other philosophers (e.g. Xenophanes) were unusual in the classical period for the way they criticized the Homeric portrayal of the gods. In contrast, later Greek philosophers (especially neoplatonists such as Porphyry) tended to allegorize the Odyssey to fit their philosophical systems. The Romans also admired and studied the Homeric epics.

The Homeric epics were also central to the western European culture of the modern period, translated into English and all European languages multiple times. Among the landmark translations of the Odyssey were those of Anne Dacier into French and Chapman and Pope into English. Many poets have also explored themes from the Odyssey in their own work, including Tennyson, whose poems on this topic include "The Lotos-Eaters" and "Ulysses." Modern adaptation of the Odyssey include Joyce's Ulysses and Walcott's "Omeros."

In general, people have enjoyed the Odyssey as a story and seen in it not only a work of cultural importance but one which contains profound insights into human character.

Identify one similarity that "Naming of Parts" and the "The Names" share. Consider qualities of the speaker, conflicts, images, content, and/or...

“Naming of Parts” by Henry Reed and “The Names” by Billy Collins both make use of the methodical listing of things, linking these things with the surrounding environment. In the former poem the speaker is one of a group of soldiers being instructed on the names given to different parts of a rifle, alternately listening to the lecturer and allowing his mind to wander to the world around them. In the latter, the speaker is reflecting on the victims of 9/11 and their families; all of them, names from A to Z, a single representative for each letter. The names are seen and felt in everything the speaker encounters in his daily life.

In Reed’s poem the mechanical, blunt, and straightforward lecture is juxtaposed with descriptions of the natural world surrounding the soldiers, providing a stark contrast between the regimented quality of war and the peaceful, serene quality of nature. Vocabulary and jargon associated with the parts of a rifle are repeated within the context of the trees and flowers around them. For example, in the second verse, the instructor begins and the soldier ends,

….And this is the piling swivel,
Which in your case you have not got. The branches
Hold in the gardens their silent, eloquent gestures,
                Which in our case we have not got.

This repetition, rather than bringing these two worlds together, separates them, by ironically indicating that both of these worlds operate under the same rules of life and death, and yet one succeeds in maintaining harmony where the other utterly fails. The poem has a bit of a sarcastic tone, giving a sense of the elevation of the beauty of nature and the condemnation of the strict, unimaginative reality of war.

In “The Names,” we also see a juxtaposition of violence and nature; instead of using the instruments of war as a comparison, however, Collins uses the victims – the result of violence, as a comparative element for nature. The poem is reflective and sorrowful, and underlines just how pervasive an effect 9/11 had, not only on the lives of the survivors and the grief-stricken friends and family of those lost, but also on the millions of citizens whose lives were indirectly affected by such a wanton attack on their homeland. The names are “written in the air/And stitched into the cloth of the day.” The people, their memory, can be found in tattoos, in photographs, in monograms, “spelled out on storefront windows” and “rising in the updraft amid buildings...” 

Alphabet of names in a green field.
Names in the small tracks of birds.
Names lifted from a hat
Or balanced on the tip of the tongue.
Names wheeled into the dim warehouse of memory.
So many names, there is barely room on the walls of the heart.

The loss is overwhelming, the loss is senseless, the loss is everywhere, reflected upon everything, reflected in every name of every person that will exist. “Naming of Parts” separates the vehicles of violence from the surrounding world; “The Names” renders the surrounding world as suffering along with the victims.

So in both of these poems we have the characterizations of people and things defined by violence inscribed on nature; in “Naming of Parts,” this inscription shows a contrast between the normal business of the natural world and the normal business of a lecture on rifles – both routines coexist, and yet defy each other. In “The Names,” it shows a comparison, an indivisible relationship symbolizing the legacy of these people and the events surrounding their death – a legacy that will live on in everything, forever.

Why did George Willard leave?

George Willard is essentially the main character of Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio, as he is present in the majority of the stories in the book. On the surface level, George leaves in the last story to seek a career as a writer in the big city. However, upon further consideration, it becomes clear that George leaves Winesburg to escape the stagnation that has trapped many of the small town's inhabitants.

Anderson's collection is interesting in that it subverts the conception of small-town America as a bucolic and innocent paradise. Indeed, most of the inhabitants of Winesburg are "grotesque" in one fashion or another; plagued by fears, psychoses, anxieties, and general stir-craziness, the citizens of Winesburg seem more like isolated prisoners than happy and prosperous citizens. Within this context, George's decision to leave is an attempt to escape the stagnation crippling his neighbors. It is also a rejection of classical American values, as George leaves the traditionally idealized small town for the modern big city.

Why does Zeus disdain the offering and what does he have planned for Odysseus and his men in The Odyssey?

It was foretold both by Tiresias in the Kingdom of the Dead chapter (page 253), as well as by Circe in The Cattle of the Sun chapter (page 275) that if Odysseus' men were to eat the sun god, Helios', sheep or cattle, then Odysseus' crew and ship would be destroyed.

Odysseus tries to lead his men away from the island with the cattle of the sun god; however, his men persuade him that they can row no further, because they are exhausted from constant rowing and lack of sleep. Odysseus tells his crew of the warning he received twice from two different people, and his crew are relentless. Odysseus gives in, but warns his crew not to eat any of the sheep nor cattle.

Zeus causes powerful winds in the middle of the night, causing such terrible waves and weather that Odysseus and his men are stuck on the island for a month. By the end of the month, Odysseus and his crew have eaten all of their provisions, and even with fishing and foraging, the men are starving. While Odysseus is off praying to the gods on a mountain top, Odysseus' men decide to kill and eat some of the cattle. The crew does offer up the innards and bones of the cattle they killed (page 282); however, Lampetie (who was in charge of taking care of her father's cattle) told Zeus what happened to the cattle, including an ultimatum that basically said, you better help me get my revenge, or the sun will never rise again: "Unless they pay me back in blood for the butchery of my herds, down I go to the House of Death and blaze among the dead!" (283). Zeus' response was "Sun, you keep shinning...on the wine-dark sea I'll hit their racing ship with a white-hot bolt, I'll tear it into splinters" (283).

So essentially, it was already prophesied that Odysseus' crew was going to kill and eat some of the cattle of the sun god, and they would be destroyed. When the event came to be, Zeus' loyalty was not with the few mortals offering up part of the cattle to him, but to his fellow immortal who gave him an ultimatum.

What were the pros and cons of WWI airplanes?

The pros of using World War I aircraft were that they were very helpful in reconnaissance. They could fly over enemy lines and see the enemy's troop movements, and, after they were eventually armed with machine guns, they could provide an offensive advantage. 

The cons of using these planes were that they were very dangerous, and the average British pilot had a life expectancy of about 70 hours when flying above the Western Front (see Lawson and Lawson, cited below). The aircraft were too cramped to carry parachutes. In addition, it was very time consuming and difficult to construct planes during this era. A typical two-seat plane had more than 50,000 different parts and took 4,000 hours of labor to put together (see the Red Stone Rocket link below). Some planes of this era cost about $7,000 to build (at a time when the Model-T cost $400), so they were also very cost prohibitive.

Source:

Eric Lawson, Jane Lawson. The First Air Campaign: August 1914-November 1918 (Da Capo Press, 2002).

What passages in To Kill a Mockingbird show Scout's loss of innocence?

To lose one's innocence is to understand that the world is not really the good, wonderful place one has always imagined it to be. One who has lost one's innocence instead realizes that there is evil in the world as well as good. Loss of innocence is a central theme throughout Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, and Scout loses her own innocence in multiple ways.

Scout loses her innocence the more she learns about Tom Robinson's case. One thing she knows early in the story is that Robinson is on trial for rape, yet Scout doesn't know what rape is. When asked, Atticus gives her a mild definition: "[R]ape was carnal knowledge of a female by force and without consent" (Ch. 14). However, she learns more about rape as she observes the trial and through conversations after the trial. During Bob Ewell's testimony in Robinson's trial, Judge Taylor denies a request to clear the courtroom of women and children, and Scout refuses to leave upon Reverend Sykes's request. Jem also refuses to take her home, arguing that she doesn't understand what rape is because she's not yet nine. Even if Scout does not truly learn what rape is during the court case, she certainly learns a great deal about violence. Specifically, she learns that Mayella had been severely bruised and even strangled by some person; this knowledge is enough to help Scout begin to lose her sense of innocence.

As Scout and Jem sit with Reverend Sykes waiting for the jury to return and Jem continues to talk about the case, Scout continues to learn that rape is associated with violence. More specifically, when Reverend Sykes warns Jem not to be so sure the case has been one, Jem asserts they couldn't have possibly have lost the case since it wasn't truly even a rape case. He continues to state his own definition of rape:

[I]t wasn't rape if she let you, but she had to be eighteen--in Alabama, that is--and Mayella was nineteen. Apparently you had to kick and holler, you had to be overpowered and stomped on, preferably knocked stone cold. (Ch. 21)

This definition of rape alone is enough to show Scout that rape is associated with extreme violence, knowledge that helps lead to her loss of innocence.

What human institutions are being criticized in Fahrenheit 451?

The human institutions that are criticized in Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 are academic learning (education), marriage, and families (having children). The society in the novel is highly hedonistic because everyone is selfishly out to seek and to experience the next pleasurable thing. People get caught up in distracting activities such as watching TV all day, listening to music, going to Fun Parks, and driving their cars at high speeds without any consideration for people or animals that might get in the way. Because of these popular activities, the populace, over a period of many years, eventually disregarded the value of books because having fun was more important than learning. As a result, quality education declined and was viewed as a waste of time. In fact, Clarisse tells Montag in the first part of the book that her high school teaches only sports, TV, and film all day long.

Next, marriage and having children are criticized when Montag asks Mrs. Phelps about her husband, and when Mrs. Bowles discusses having children. For example, Mrs. Phelps says that she's not worried about her husband going off to war. Apparently, he's not worried about his wife, either, because they both agree not to be sad, hug, or cry when he leaves. Mrs. Phelps elaborates by saying:

"It's our third marriage each and we're independent. Be independent, we always said. He said, if I get killed off, you just go right ahead and don't cry, but get married again, and don't think of me" (95).

As shown above, marriages are tossed away and updated as needed or as desired. People enter into marriage, but each participant really is a separate entity. Even Montag and Mildred sleep on separate twin beds. Marriages don't necessarily mean families, either, because both Mildred and Mrs. Phelps never wanted nor had children. Mrs. Phelps says that "children are ruinous." In contrast, Mrs. Bowles says children are needed to repopulate and they might look like their parents. But she also says the following about having children:

"I plunk the children in school nine days out of ten. I put up with them when they come home three days a month; it's not bad at all. You heave them into the 'parlor' and turn the switch. It's like washing clothes: stuff laundry in and slam the lid" (96).

These women represent their society's way of thinking as a whole, so what they say helps to clarify their lifestyle. All they seem to care about is what is on TV rather than the state and progress of their families.

What are some teaching approaches?

Several approaches to teaching have been identified and briefly explained below.

Inquiry-Based Learning  

During inquiry-based learning, a question or problem or prompt is posed. Students use discovery and investigation in order to find the solution to prompt.

Constructivism Learning

This learning theory is based around the belief that individuals construct knowledge for themselves through life experiences. Thus, when constructivism is used, students learn through observation and scientific study.

Project Based Learning

Project-based learning (PBL) is similar to inquiry-based learning. During PBL, students learn by working on a project, question, or challenge that is posed to them.

Flipped Classroom

In a flipped classroom, students watch most of the lectures and do most of the learning online at home. Classroom time is saved for exploration and discussion.

Online Learning

Online learning is sometimes called eLearning. Online learning takes place online either synchronously or asynchronously. The instructor and student may or may not be at the same geographical location. There are many definitions and interpretations of online learning.

Blended Learning/Hybrid Learning

Blended learning, or hybrid learning, involves a combination of traditional classroom instruction and online learning.

In "A Mother in Mannville," why does Jerry lie about having a mother?

The reason that Jerry lies about having a mother is not directly stated in Marjorie Rawlings's short story "A Mother in Mannville." Readers must make inferences as to the reason. Here are some things to think about to help in making inferences: 

1. Jerry is twelve years old and living in an orphanage. He develops a friendship of sorts with the narrator, who is renting a cabin near the orphanage in order to do some writing. Jerry falls in love with the narrator's dog and spends time with him while the narrator is away. 

2. Jerry is often invited into the cabin as it gets colder. The narrator describes the chats she has with him, as well as the times he and her pointer dog Pat doze in front of the fire together while she writes. This must have felt like the closest thing to a family he'd ever known. 

3. When people have challenging circumstances in their lives, they often escape into imaginary realities in order to cope with their present difficulties.

What are the names of the processes used to separate sugar from a mixture of sugar and glass pieces?

I would use the processes of dissolving, filtration, and evaporation to separate a mixture that is composed of sugar and glass pieces.

First, the entire mixture can be placed in and stirred in a container of water. The sugar will dissolve in the water, but the glass will not

Next, a piece of filtration paper should be placed in a funnel. The filtration-lined funnel is then placed over a container, such as a beaker. The solution that contains the mixture of sugar and glass is then slowly poured into the lined funnel. The dissolved sugar particles will pass through the filter paper and into the container. Likewise, because the glass pieces are larger, they will be left behind in the filter paper.

The next step will be to separate the sugar from the water. This can be done via evaporation. Because water has a lower boiling point than sugar, it will evaporate first. Thus, the sugar will be left behind in the beaker.