How did the colonists win the American Revolution from 1775 to 1783?

There were several factors that helped the Americans win the Revolutionary War. One factor was the Americans were dedicated to the cause for which they were fighting. The Americans were fighting for their independence. There was something very tangible to be gained by winning the Revolutionary War. Some of the colonists were also fighting for their lives. If the colonists lost, some of the leaders could have been tried for treason and killed. Some of the British soldiers were hired soldiers. They didn’t have as much at stake in the outcome of the war.

George Washington was a brilliant leader, unlike some of the British generals. Washington helped to develop wise strategies and was able to adjust as needed. Washington knew the longer the war lasted, the less the people of Great Britain would support the war. Having the British chase the colonists around the countryside was a brilliant move as it allowed the war to last longer. The British generals, on the other hand, made many blunders. General Howe didn’t follow the plan for cutting New England off from the rest of the colonies. He went to Philadelphia instead. General Burgoyne moved so slowly because he carried so many luxury items that weren't needed for battle. Washington was able to adjust his plans to take advantage of opportunities. When he realized he could trap the British fleet at Yorktown, he adjusted his plans to take advantage of this opportunity.

The Americans were able to get help from France and Spain who were Britain’s rivals. The money, supplies, and training these countries provided to us were very helpful in leading us to victory.

There were many factors that help lead us to victory in the Revolutionary War.

What were several challenges that confronted George Washington during his years as president?

George Washington was the first president of the United States under the United States Constitution. He had to set a precedent for future presidents regarding what the role of the executive branch would be. It was his responsibility to not infringe on the lawmaking powers of Congress and at the same time, set the president and the executive branch as the director of foreign policy. This was a fragile balance, and how he handled this challenge would affect the future of American government.

After the French Revolution, a major war broke out between England and France. Washington, despite strong overtures from members of his cabinet to intervene, kept the United States neutral in this affair. On the domestic front, Washington had an even greater challenge. Private citizens, as well as the states, had fallen deeply in debt. The entire economic system was in disrepair. Washington, with his Secretary of the Treasury, needed to remedy the debt.

A major challenge to the federal government's ability to tax occurred in Western Pennsylvania. The young nation was watching to see how the president would respond to the Whiskey Rebellion. Washington, after attempting a peaceful resolution, was forced to send over 12,000 militia to squelch the rebellion and enforce federal policy.

Although the economic hardships were probably Washington's greatest challenge, the responsibility of being the first president was significant. The actions that he took would be used as a precedent for future presidents. Washington understood this challenge and acted very deliberately to protect the new Consitution. He did this while navigating the competing political interests that existed between federalists and anti-federalists.

In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, what kind of man is Mr. Covey? What does he do while his slaves are working that demonstrates...

Mr. Covey is a cruel man who beats and tortures his own slaves and the slaves whom he rents from other owners.  In Chapter 10, Douglass says, "Mr. Covey's forte consisted in his power to deceive" because Mr. Covey uses religion as a way to cover up his poor treatment of the slaves.  Mr. Covey would often take the slaves by surprise--staying indoors for most of the day and then suddenly showing up with his whip in hand.  He worked the men in all sorts of harsh weather and pushed them to the extreme in their work.  For example, one day Douglass was working the fan, and he became faint.  Mr. Covey pushed him to continue his work, but when Douglass could not take any more work, grew dizzy, and fell on the ground, Mr. Covey beat him.  So, Mr. Covey's cruelty is evidenced by the manner in which he treats the slaves.

Why do you think The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn begins with a reference to Twain’s previous novel (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer) and Mark...

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn begins with a reference to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in order to acknowledge that the character of Huck (as well as the characters of Aunty Polly, Mary, and Widow Douglas) may be one that the reader is already familiar with if he or she has read Mark Twain's previous work. This allows Twain to drop the reader in media res, or "in the middle of things." We are quickly able to ascertain Huck's backstory without chapters of exposition. This also establishes a sense of narrative timing for the reader; we are informed that Huck's story indeed chronologically follows the events of Tom Sawyer rather than, say, acting as a preface to those events. 

Huck's reference to Mark Twain as a mostly truthful author leaves us with a strong initial impression of Huck as a narrator. First, it is odd for a character in a novel to acknowledge himself as a fictional creation; this meta moment leaves us with the sense that Huck is clever, whip smart, and unusually self-aware for a young man. In asserting that Twain is only "mostly" truthful, it also suggests that Huck himself may prove to be an unreliable narrator whose credibility might be tainted by his interest in tall-tale telling! These moments leave the reader feeling that the novel itself may enter the territory of the unexpected. Will we ever know the complete truth with Huck at the helm of our narration? Who knows--but it certainly will be a wild ride!

What is the theme of the story "The Pedestrian"?

One of the major themes of “The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury is conformity and non-conformity.  This theme is represented by the citizens in this society who spend their lives watching television and Leonard Mead who prefers to walk the city instead of wasting time inside in front of the TV.  In this futuristic society set in 2053, people no longer read or do much of anything besides go to work and sit in front of their televisions each night.  Meade, however, was once a writer who rejects the lifestyle so many of the three million in the city in which he lives adhere to.  He prefers to wander the lonely streets getting fresh air and reflecting on the lives in the dark houses he passes.  He comments that his nightly walks are like walking through a graveyard; he is alone and doesn’t see anyone else outdoors.

Mead is a symbol of non-conformity, and he is arrested for acting “odd” by the robot police car that catches him on his nightly walk.  Mead tells the police car he doesn’t have a job since he used to be a writer, and that he doesn’t have a wife (which could explain why he takes his nightly walks).  It is so strange that Mead walks every night that the police car takes him to the Psychiatric Center for Research on Regressive Tendencies.  Because there are facilities like this research center, and one can get arrested for walking, it is implied by Bradbury that the government is happy with the people who conform in this society.

Are there any essay ideas for Voice In Time by Hugh MacLennan? Although specific themes are present, it's a complicated splurge of stories...

A good place to start for gathering ideas would be to look at some of the themes of the book itself and then determine which one of those most interests you. Then finding research to help you examine any of these themes will be easier and more engaging.

Here are two of the most significant themes in the book:

• 
  Abuse of power - you could also examine man's choice to use power for good or evil. We see this in both Conrad and Timothy's personal and professional choices.


• 
  The importance of recording our history and learning from it. We see this in the complete obliteration of most records in the book, so as the old man pieces together the past, he is not only piecing together HIS past, but that of humanity. Remember, too, that MacLennan got his Ph.D. in history, so his studies there have informed much of this storyline.

There are other themes in the book you may find interesting, however. It is important to remember that MacLennon's writing

"encompass[es] those universal themes that arise from local political, social and human interests" (Canadian Encyclopedia). 

What is the best description of the Ozymandias statue?

In this poem, a traveler tells the speaker about the statue. He says that all that is left of Ozymandias are two "trunkless legs" and a "shattered visage." There are two legs with no body (no "trunk"), and beside the legs lies a broken and eroded face. The statue has faded over time as a result of erosion and maybe even defacement or destruction by some enemy. 

The eroded face shows a frown, a "wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command." The king/pharaoh (Ozymandias, also known as Ramses II) had commissioned a sculptor to create this statue to serve as a monument to his (Ozymandias's) greatness. The sculptor did well to capture the arrogant ruler's condescending frown and his self-righteous sneer. Thus, the sculptor's hand "mocked" Ozymandias by presenting him as he really was: a condescending, proud, self-righteous ruler. The sculptor has mocked the ruler by sculpting a vain look on the face (visage). This is why Shelley writes that the sculptor read the ruler's passions well. 

This ruler (Ozymandias) is long gone. All that remains is the sneering, cold (lifeless) statue, broken in an empty desert. The barren landscape surrounding the "wreck" of the statue further underscores the idea that power and domination are temporary, but the art that mocked him has survived. This is also a nod to how poetry can survive the test of time. 

Is Nora acquainted with Dr.Rank?

In Ibsen's A Doll's House, Nora has only two visitors to her home--Mrs. Linde and Dr. Rank. Mrs. Linde is someone from Nora's past who comes to ask for help as she is newly widowed and has no one to turn to. Dr. Rank is Torvald's friend, and he comes to the house frequently to go in the sitting room and talk to Torvald. Sometimes, however, he visits with Nora. Although Dr. Rank is Torvald's friend, Nora feels oddly comfortable telling him things about herself she does not tell her husband. For example, she eats macaroons in front of Dr. Rank and tells him some of her real thoughts. Toward the end of the play, Dr. Rank reveals that he has feelings for Nora. She brushes him off, but the audience understands that this is what draws him to her--attraction. 

Please suggest for me some research areas in banking. I am an undergraduate in Finance.

I would suggest starting with the W's: who, what, where, when, why, and how?

For "who", you could research who is banking. Are homeowners taking out more or fewer loans? What about students? Who is using microfinance in the developing world? Similarly, you could focus on a particular bank or CEO.

For "what", topics are also easy to think of. What products are banks selling more or less of? What world events or trends affect banking (e.g. the fall in oil and commodities prices, the Federal Reserve's tightening of monetary policy while the ECB loosens it, or the effects of the sanctions lifted from Iran)?

For "where", just pick a place. Particularly interesting are the banking climates in China, Japan, Europe, the USA, Iran, and the Asia Development Bank.

"When" questions are a little more difficult, but you can still find several. When will the Federal Reserve raise interest rates? What times of the day/week/month/year see the most consumer or commercial banking activity?

"Why" and "how" are often connected. Why are Greece and Britain considering an exit from the Eurozone, and how would that effect banking in Europe? Why is inflation still low in so many places, and how does that affect the demand for loans and savings accounts?

The bottom line is that you should choose a topic that interests you. My suggestions indicate that I focus on international issues and monetary policy. Even if your interests differ, this should give you a means to choose a topic. Consider what you want to write about and start asking yourself these kinds of questions. A topic should emerge quickly.

Explain the key arguments and goals set forth in the Manifesto. To do so you will need to (1) understand Marx and Engels’ overall explanation of...

First, to begin with Marx and Engels' concept of historical progress, we have to understand that they viewed history and society as characterized by struggle between social classes determined by their relationship to what they called the "means of production." As they wrote in the Communist Manifesto:

Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either in a revolutionary re-constitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes.

As the passage says, each conflict ended in either a restructuring of society through revolution or in the collapse of that society as a whole and the rebirth of a new one. What was different about previous eras was that these conflicts tended to be very complex, involving "gradations" of social rank. Economic changes brought about social changes, like the development of manorial agriculture or guilds in the Middle Ages, that supplanted older means of production.

Marx and Engels argued that the most important development in human history had occurred along with the Industrial Revolution: the development of what he called the bourgeoisie. This was a class of business owners and merchants whose control over the means of production allowed them to profit from industrial development in ways unimaginable in previous centuries. Along with the bourgeoisie developed the proletariat, or working class:

It [modern bourgeois society] has but established new classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms of struggle in place of the old ones. Our epoch, the epoch of the bourgeoisie, possesses, however, this distinctive feature: it has simplified the class antagonisms. Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes, directly facing each other: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat.

These people labored to produce wealth in factories, but did not receive anything close to the value of their labor because the innovations of the Industrial Revolution allowed them to produce more goods, with more efficiency, than ever before. This development, called the "surplus value of labor" by Marx in later writings, meant that the working class would be "alienated" from the value of the things they labored to produce. The bourgeoisie would always be driven by competition and the profit motive to continually make production more efficient, so this process would only get more and more pronounced with the development of industry. Eventually, Marx and Engels thought, this alienation would become so complete, and the working class would be so large and discontented, that they would rise up to overthrow the bourgeoisie, establishing in its place a classless society. In this way, Marx said, the bourgeoisie had "forged the weapons which bring death to itself" and "called into existence the men who are to wield those weapons—the modern working class—the proletarians." These people, led by a vanguard of Communists that Marx and Engels believed were already seizing control of Europe in the revolutions of 1848, had "nothing to lose but their chains".  The authors saw revolution as not only just and desirable, but as inevitable.

What is a good title for Chapter 11 in Bud Not Buddy?

A good title for Chapter Eleven of Bud, Not Buddy could be "Lefty Lewis, the Vampire of Grand Rapids."

This title would humorously represent the contents of this chapter, in which Bud tries to drive off in the car of the stranger--later revealed to be Mr. "Lefty" Lewis--who has offered to give him a ride to Grand Rapids. Bud sees vials of blood in Lewis' car and thinks that the man must be a vampire; after his quick escape attempt fails, Mr. Lewis assures him,

Bud, if I was a vampire I wouldn't have to catch little boys, I'd just stick my fangs into one of those bottles and have my supper. Besides, where've you ever heard of a vampire that knew how to drive a car?

Bud learns that Mr. Lewis is delivering the blood to Hurley Hospital in Flint. He is not a vampire after all! Mr. Lewis kindly offers to drive Bud to Grand Rapids after Bud lies and claims that he ran away from his "home" and father, Herman E. Calloway. Mr. Lewis takes Bud to the city safely, and the two join Mr. Lewis' family for a large breakfast. 

The chemical reaction between N2H4 and H2O2 produces nitrogen gas, N2 and water, H2O. Which of these represents the equation? N2H4 + 2 H2O2 -->...

`N_2H_4` is hydrazine and `H_2O_2` is hydrogen peroxide. When these two substances react nitrogen gas and water are produced according to the following equation:

`N_2H_4 + 2 H_2O_2-> N_2 + 4 H_2O`

This reaction is highly exothermic, meaning that a large amount of heat is released. Due to the high temperature the water produced is in the gas phase. The rapid generation of the two gases from two liquids makes this reaction useful for propelling rockets. However, hydrazine is very unstable in the liquid form and must be handled with care. It's used as a foaming agent and as a precursor to other chemicals, particularly pharmaceuticals, in manufacturing.

Hydrogen peroxide is known as a strong oxidizer. Oxygen goes from the -1 oxidation state in hydrogen peroxide to the -2 in water. Nitrogen is oxidized from the -1 state to the zero state.

What would the United States be like if cotton gin wasn't invented?

This question is one that requires some speculation about a possible future event if something hadn't occurred earlier. The cotton gin was a machine that made it easier to separate the seeds from short staple cotton. Prior to the development of the cotton gin, long staple cotton was grown. This kind of cotton was grown along the coast. This limited the areas where cotton could be profitably grown. When the cotton gin was invented, it opened up much more of the South for the growing of cotton.

Since cotton could now be grown anywhere, it became a very important crop in the South. It also increased the need for slaves, since so much cotton was being grown and more money could be made.

While there is some thought that slavery might have disappeared if the cotton gin wasn't invented, it is unlikely that this would have happened. Many people in the South believed that the Europeans were superior to the Africans. It is unlikely that slavery would have disappeared even if the cotton gin weren’t developed. Even after slavery ended in the 1860s, the attitudes of many southerners didn’t change regarding race relations. Segregation existed and African-Americans were harassed.

It is also possible that some other invention might have been developed to enhance the growing and the harvesting of cotton. New inventions were occurring in the 1800s, and it is possible that one may have been invented, impacting the growing and the harvesting of cotton.

How does the way Atticus regards Walter differ from the way Scout does?

Walter Cunningham came to the first day of school without lunch.  His teacher, Miss Caroline, offered to give him a quarter for lunch.  He refused to take it.  Scout explained to her teacher that "the Cunninghams never took anything they can't pay back—no church baskets and no scrip stamps" (To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 2).  Miss Caroline thought that Scout was back talking, and she was punished.  Angry, Scout blamed Walter and started to beat him up.  Jem stopped her and invited Walter over for lunch.

At the Finch house, Atticus carried on a conversation with Walter over the lunch table.  He treated Walter with respect even though the boy's table manners left much to be desired.  Walter requested syrup, and proceeded to dump it on all the food on his plate.  Scout was appalled.  She pointed out how strange it was, and Calpurnia pulled her aside.  Scout told Calpurnia that she did not consider Walter to be company.  Calpurnia was not pleased and she scolded Scout:

"Hush your mouth!  Don't matter who they are, anybody sets foot in this house's yo' comp'ny, and don't you let me catch you remarkin' on their ways like you was so high and mighty!"  (Chapter 3)

Atticus treated Walter like an honored guest.  He treated the boy with respect.  Scout, on the contrary, pointed out Walter's faults and made it clear that she did not consider him to be company.

What did Anne Frank like to do in her free time?

Anne Frank did not have an abundance of free time in the years before moving into the annex.  She spent much of her time in school and studying.  When she was not doing school related things, Anne loved to spend time with her friends. In the wintertime, they enjoyed going ice skating.  She also liked dancing and riding her bike.  Anne had a fascination with the British royal family and Hollywood movie stars.  Despite being extroverted, Anne also found pleasure in more solitary activities, such as reading and writing.

When Anne Frank and her family were forced to move into the annex to save their lives, she had to stop attending school.  Anne lived in the hidden apartment with her parents, sister, another family, and a single older man.  She was no longer surrounded by friends.  School did not take up much of her time anymore.  Now she had an abundance of time, but was faced with loneliness.  Despite her sudden solitude, Anne continued to enjoy reading and writing.  She wrote almost daily in her diary, which she called Kitty.  Anne collected photos of Hollywood movie stars, which she hung up on the wall.  She listened to news on the radio to hear about the two royal princesses, Elizabeth and Margaret.  

In her diary, Anne wrote about longing to go outside and enjoy the things she used to.  It was difficult for her to stay inside all of the time.  It made her feel older than she actually was:

"I long to ride a bike, dance, whistle, look at the world, feel young and know that I'm free, and yet I can't let it show."

How can I start off an essay about me?

Personal essays are great because they generally offer the writer much more creative freedom than a traditional academic paper. Before you begin writing or even planning a personal essay, always keep in mind the saying "Show, don't tell." This means, for example, instead of writing "I love musical theatre," and leaving it at that, you would instead write about the summer you spent putting on a musical at your local theatre. That way, without ever saying how much you love it, the reader learns about your passion through an interesting story. Within the context of the topic you're assigned for your personal essay, try to first think of an experience you've had that makes the point you want to get across to your reader. Jump right into your story the way you might tell it to a friend, while being sure to use language appropriate to the assignment. 

How could Miss Havisham from Great Expectations be described?

Despite the movies’ depictions of Miss Havisham as an old woman, in the novel it is revealed that she is in her forties, perhaps even in her thirties, when Pip first meets her. Her hair is white and her body is shrunken, which accounts for the mistaken assumption that she is elderly. The wedding dress she wears is yellowing with age and is falling into rags. She wears only one slipper, since that is the state she was in when she learned of her fiance’s desertion of her, with the other one either in her hand or nearby on her dressing table. Her haunted expression blends with her cruelty as she maliciously encourages Estella to break Pip’s heart. She goes into only a few rooms in the upper floor of Satis House; everyone who visits (Pip, the Pocket family) must meet her up there.

Do you think that the speaker of Owen’s poem would agree with the sentiment expressed in the title of the poem (“It is sweet and right to die...

The speaker paints a harrowing picture of the ghastly conditions of war, so no, he would NOT agree with the idealistic notion that it is sweet and right to die for ones country.

From the outset the speaker paints a horrifically vivid picture of the soldiers' suffering at the front. The men are exhausted and stumbling through the thick mud, they are numb and unfeeling. Their senses have been blighted by their exhaustion. They are sloughing through the sludge, bent over 'like old beggars under sacks.' They walk as if they are carrying a burden, their knees knocking against each other and 'coughing like old hags.' 

The men are marching 'towards our distant rest' which could be a reference to a military camp or station in which they can have some welcome respite. they leave behind them, 'haunting flares', which is a reference to the flares being fired into the night sky to improve visibility. The word 'haunting' creates an other-worldly image, the men look like ghosts stepping out of a graveyard, which the battlefront has actually become.

The mixture of alliteration and assonance (the 'm' and 'o') emphasise the men's fatigue and the sombre mood. The speaker repeats 'all' indicating that no one is excluded. The suffering the men endure is universal. This emphasises the fact that the speaker is not speaking about one battle or one war only, but about all forms of physical conflict. Theses lines furthermore illustrate the determination of these men who continue their march, despite the fact that their feet are bloody and they are practically physically indisposed. The soldiers are literally dead on their feet, so overwhelmed by exhaustion that they hardly see or hear anything. They blindly press forward, deaf to the sounds of huge shells exploding around them.

In the next stanza, the speaker's tone becomes urgent and desperate. He conveys the desperate cries of his comrades:

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—

This cry is superseded by relating the desperate attempts of the men to protect themselves against the noxious gases released by the enemy. Most of them fumblingly put on their helmets just in time, but someone did not quite make it and was crying out in pain as the fumes overwhelmed him, burning and choking. The speaker conveys his horror:

Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,

As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

Through the lenses of his gas mask he witnesses his comrade's suffering. He is gasping for air like someone drowning. The air is thick with the green gas which has been released.

In the stand-alone couplet the speaker tells us how that ghastly scene has stayed with him. It is an unforgettable image, one that haunts him in all his dreams. He repeatedly witnesses this gruesome image of the soldier's suffering:

He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning

These lines inform us how these events have become even more personal. It has had a profound impact on him. This further illustrates that the horrors of war become deeply personal events which radically change the lives and perceptions of those individuals who are caught up in its ignominy.

In the next ten lines, the speaker addresses the reader directly, drawing us in and suggesting that we experience that which he had. He deliberately uses

terrifyingly hideous images to remind us of the terror that they, and ultimately he, had to face.

And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,

His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,

Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud

Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues

The descriptors are truly appalling and most aptly convey the horrendous reality of war. The speaker submits that if we, the readers, were the ones who had suffered the nightmares which he had experienced, we surely would not, with such enthusiastic clamour, tell children who were striving for glory or recognition, the old lie: that it is sweet and right to die for one's country.

The 'Lie' is capitalised and therefore emphasised, which informs us that that is what the speaker believes - there is no truth in such conviction.

What is the doctor's diagnosis of baby Helen in The Miracle Worker?

In the story, baby Helen has been diagnosed with 'acute congestion of the stomach and brain.' The doctor tells baby Helen's parents that they are very lucky their baby has survived the fever.

Today, some doctors suggest that Helen may have suffered from scarlet fever, meningitis, or even encephalitis. Meningitis is an infection of the meninges or the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. Encephalitis is an inflammation of the brain. Both diseases include a high fever as one of the debilitating symptoms sufferers endure.

The causes of both may be viral, bacterial, or fungal. Both baby Helen's parents are initially happy at the diagnosis, but their joy soon turns to horror when they discover that their baby can neither see nor hear them.

In the play The Merchant of Venice, how does mercy or charity relate to the central concerns?

Mercy, charity, and the Christian faith all play huge thematic roles in this play. In the start of the play, Antonio lends money to his friend Bassanio in an act of charitable friendship. He does this to help his young friend court Portia, the woman Basannio later marries. Antonio is a wealthy merchant. Since most of his wealth is invested in ships, however, he must take a loan from the moneylender Shylock in order to get the funds. Shylock gives him the money with the hopes of making a profit when Antonio's ships return. Bad lucks eventually leaves Antonio without the money he needs. This leaves Shylock in a position where he may extract a pound of flesh from Antonio, which would of course kill the merchant.

To save Antonio, Portia dresses up as a judge and gives a speech on the value of mercy. She argues that Shylock is wrong to take vengeance. She claims that "the quality of mercy is not strained," and argues that forgiveness is a higher value than justice. This aligns with the teaching of the Christian New Testament, in which Jesus also preaches forgiveness over justice. Modern scholars often find this solution disturbing, however, since Shylock, the jewish character, is not only deprived of his payment, but also forced to convert to Christianity. This does not appear especially merciful for a man of his faith. Many consider this an act of injustice rather than an act of true mercy.

What are the sound effects of repetition in the poem "The Raven?"

In this poem, there is a great deal of sound repetition, and this repetition has a number of interesting effects on the reader.

For example, there is the poem's perhaps most immediately recognizable sound device, end rhyme; lines 2, 4, and 5 of each stanza contain end rhyme (when the final word of each line rhymes with the other final words).  In the first stanza, then, the words "lore" (line 2), "door" (4), and "door (5) rhyme. 

Further, each stanza also contains internal rhyme, and this is when there are two or more rhyming words within the same line.  Internal rhyme occurs in line 3 of each stanza.  In the first stanza, then, on the third line, "napping" and "tapping" rhyme; in the second stanza, on the ninth line, "morrow" and "borrow" rhyme, and so on. 

But there's more!  In the first stanza, "napping" and "tapping" (3) also rhyme with "rapping" in the middle of the next line (4), and this pattern continues as well; in the second stanza, "morrow" and "borrow" (9) also rhyme with "sorrow" on line 10.  Pretty cool, right? 

The effect of all this rhyme is rather hypnotic.  Whenever a poet trains our ears to expect end rhyme (which Poe does here with its uniformity throughout the entire poem), a poem can take on a somewhat predictable quality, almost as though it lulls us into a sense of security because we can kind of know what sounds are going to come next.  Further, all of the internal rhymes in the third lines and rhymes of those words with a word on the fourth line of each stanza have a similar effect.  We can count on those words rhyming in this poem because they always do, and so we almost feel as though we are also being rocked to sleep by the repetition of these sounds.  Then, when the content and emotion of the poem begins to contrast with these feelings -- either by being completely mysterious (as when the narrator hears a phantom knock at his door) or completely strange (when he begins to suspect that the raven is a messenger from the devil), we are jarred all the more by the discrepancy between the predictability of the sounds with the unpredictability of the meaning.  After a while, because the sounds are predictable and consistent, and because the "plot" of the poem is so weird, they begin to sound kind of creepy, almost chant-like in their repetition. 

Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?

It is important to remember that the primary duty of a military pilot is to remain in control of the aircraft to the realization of his or her mission. While we generally think of the return flight and landing of the aircraft as an important part of that mission, the use of safety gear remains important even for a kamikaze pilot.

Planes attempting to strike ships were generally under a great deal of anti-aircraft fire as well as being engaged by enemy air forces. The use of helmets and goggles by these pilots served a function in the event that enemy fire resulted in damage to the glass canopy which covered the cockpit. In such an event, the protective gear was intended to assist the pilot in successfully guiding the plane to its target.

How did Brutus motivate all the conspirators?

Brutus was widely regarded as noble, honest, and patriotic. By joining in the conspiracy, he made the cause seem honorable and necessary. This gave the conspirators confidence that their assassination of Caesar would not bring reprisals against them. They would not only be able to get rid of Caesar, but they would be able to set up a government to their own liking with Brutus as an exemplary popular senior official. What was true of Brutus was not true of the other conspirators, but they needed him to give them the appearance of dignity and righteousness. As Mark Antony says of Brutus and the other conspirators at the very end of the play:

This was the noblest Roman of them all.
All the conspirators, save only he,
Did that they did in envy of great Caesar;
He only, in a general honest thought
And common good to all, made one of them.
His life was gentle, and the elements
So mix'd in him that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world, “This was a man!”

Brutus can be seen instructing and correcting the conspirators in Act 2, Scene 1. If he is going to be the leader, he expects all of them to adhere to his own high principles. For example, when Cassius suggests killing Mark Antony along with Caesar, Brutus shows his idealism:

Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius,
To cut the head off and then hack the limbs
Like wrath in death and envy afterwards;
For Antony is but a limb of Caesar.
Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius.
We all stand up against the spirit of Caesar,
And in the spirit of men there is no blood.
O, that we then could come by Caesar's spirit,
And not dismember Caesar! But, alas,
Caesar must bleed for it! And, gentle friends,
Let's kill him boldly, but not wrathfully;
Let's carve him as a dish fit for the gods,
Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds;
........................................................
This shall make
Our purpose necessary and not envious,
Which so appearing to the common eyes,
We shall be call'd purgers, not murderers.

Brutus is a poor judge of human character. He believes that Cassius and all the other conspirators are motivated by the same patriotic ideals as himself. This leads him to make many mistakes. Since they are all concerned about what will happen after the assassination, assuming it is successful, they know they need Brutus to represent them and dignify their motives. Cassius is selfish and greedy. He is only concerned about his own interests, but he is continually forced to go along with Brutus for fear that Brutus might have a change of heart at the last minute and refuse to participate in the assassination plot. If that were to happen, the conspirators couldn't be sure that Brutus might not go directly to his friend Julius Caesar and warn him about the plot, naming names and thereby assuring the speedy executions of Cassius and all the other conspirators.

So Brutus motivated the conspirators to act decisively and courageously because they believed his sterling reputation would be a bulwark in the aftermath. But at the same time, his bungling leadership led to Antony's marvelous funeral oration, which started a mutiny and forced the conspirators to flee from Rome. They wanted Brutus because he was such a good man, but his goodness, kindness, generosity, and all his other fine qualities led to ultimate disaster. "Nice guys finish last." Brutus must have had the wrong idea about why they all wanted him for their leader. He thought they valued his learning and wisdom, whereas they really wanted to use him as a figurehead to make their cause seem more worthy than it actually was.

How well does the lover know the princess in the short story "The Lady or the Tiger"?

The reader may assume that the lover knows the "semi-barbaric" princess quite well in Frank Stockton's short story "The Lady or the Tiger." After all, he is labeled as her lover. In fact, the man is tried in the king's arena precisely because he has become too close to the princess. The reader is informed that the relationship has been going on for many months and that the princess was "well satisfied with her lover" and "loved him with an ardor that had enough of barbarism in it to make it exceedingly warm and strong." 

The real evidence that the lover knows the princess well comes toward the end, when the man enters the arena to choose between the two doors. Behind one door was the tiger and the other, the lady. The lover knows instinctually that the princess has discovered the secret of the doors. Stockton writes:

"...he saw, by that power of quick perception which is given to those whose souls are one, that she knew behind which door crouched the tiger, and behind which stood the lady."

The reader is led to believe that these two are soulmates as Stockton continues:

"He understood her nature, and his soul was assured that she would never rest until she had made plain to herself this thing, hidden to all other lookers-on, even to the king."

The question, however, is whether the princess will let her lover fall into the hands of the lady, whom she despises, for she had grown jealous when seeing the two together on rare occasions. For his part, the lover totally trusts the princess. He must believe that he knows her well because he doesn't hesitate in going to the door that she points too. 

But, does he really know her? Stockton never says, and it has been the topic of debate since the story was written.

In the concave mirror, a ray incident parallel to the principal axis is reflected ___.

Concave mirrors are used to collect light from light sources and to make images of them. When a beam of parallel rays strikes a perfect concave mirror, they are reflected and all pass through the same point. If a beam is parallel to the principal axis of a mirror, this point is the focal point. So the words to fill the blank are "in such a way that it goes through the focal point of a mirror".

The perfect shape of a concave mirror is a paraboloid of revolution. For such a mirror, parallel rays are actually go through a point. Concave spherical mirrors, usually used for simple tasks, exhibit spherical aberration: reflected rays go close, but not through one point.

Mirrors have some advantages over lens. They are much lighter and do not introduce chromatic aberrations.

Did the US intervene in any events leading up to their involvement in WW2? (For example, in 1933 when Germany rearms, in 1935 when Italy attack...

The United States had very little involvement in dealing with the events leading to the start of World War II. The United States was dealing with the Great Depression. This depression was the worst economic crisis we had faced in our history. Dealing with the Great Depression was the main focus of our leaders and the American people.

The United States wanted to stay out of world affairs in the 1930s. People were upset about the findings of the Nye Committee that suggested that we entered World War I to help our businesses financially. People were concerned that only Finland repaid its debts to us from World War I. Congress passed several neutrality laws in the 1930s that prevented us from selling weapons to countries at war. One of these laws required a "cash and carry" policy if we sold non-military supplies to countries at war. These countries would have to pay cash for the supplies they bought and transport them on their own ships.

President Roosevelt was concerned about these aggressive actions and the formation of the Axis Power Alliance. When Japan invaded China in 1937, President Roosevelt gave a speech that warned the country about a growing danger if nothing was done about these aggressive actions. He believed these aggressor nations needed to be isolated. However, most Americans remained unconcerned about these events.

Thus, when Germany moved its military into the Rhineland and invaded Austria, nothing was done about these events. When Italy invaded Ethiopia, there was no action against Italy. When Japan invaded China, President Roosevelt gave a speech. There were no real actions taken by the United States to deal with these aggressive actions in Europe and Asia prior to the start of World War II.

Discuss the idea of love through the nightingale, the student, and the young girl in "The Nightingale and the Rose" by Oscar Wilde.

Wilde portrays the student and young girl's love as shallow and fleeting. It is solely based on the procurement of a red rose in return for an evening of dancing. Even when the student gets a rose, the young girl quickly loses interest in him, preferring the material possessions of another suitor:

"I am afraid it will not go with my dress," she answered; "and, besides, the Chamberlain's nephew has sent me some real jewels, and everybody knows that jewels cost far more than flowers."

The love expressed by the nightingale towards the student, in contrast, is genuine and has stood the test of time. The nightingale says of the student,

Night after night have I sung of him, though I knew him not: night after night have I told his story to the stars.

The nightingale is prepared to sacrifice her life for the student's red rose, which demonstrates the strength of her feeling. She admits to loving life ("Life is very dear to all"), but she believes it is a worthwhile sacrifice. In a tragic twist, however, the student never appreciates what she has done for him because he cannot understand her song. 

How does Plath show ambivalence in her poem "Daddy"?

Sometimes when reading a poet, especially an author who writes in a confessional or autobiographical style, it is helpful to know a bit about his or her biography. There are some benefits to reading these kinds of authors through the lens of their past. In the case of Sylvia Plath, she had an obsession with her father, Otto Plath, and his untimely death when she was eight years old. The poem "Daddy," echoes some of Plath's mixed feelings about her father, which sets a tone of ambivalence regarding her relationship with him.

The first stanza relays Sylvia's desire to rid herself of the weight of her father's memory, a weight that has held her captive her entire life. The prominent metaphor of a black shoe is likely a reference to her father's foot infection from untreated diabetes, which turned gangrenous and resulted in amputation. In the second stanza the lines, "Daddy, I have had to kill you./ You died before I had time--" along with the idea of amputation present in the first stanza, convey that she feels the need to separate herself abruptly from her father and his memory. Yet in the third stanza after a mention of Nauset (a fond reference to her childhood home near the sea), she claims "I used to pray to recover you," which shows that she has dubious feelings about completing the mental severance of their relationship.

Stanza twelve has a reference to her (nearly successful) suicide attempt when she was twenty, calling it an attempt to get back to her father, even if only his bones. The poem has increasingly desperate language that compares Otto to Adolf Hitler and Sylvia to a Jew, and articulates Sylvia's belief that she married Ted Hughes because Hughes reminded her of her father. The final stanza illustrates with vague pronoun usage that she may have really confounded her relationship with her husband with her relationship with her father.  In spite of having a passionate love for both of these men, she finishes the poem with "Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I'm through." Love and mixed feelings are not enough, and Sylvia Plath must sever ties with them both.

What conclusion does Holmes draw? On what basis?

Holmes does not reveal his conclusions until the end of the story. This is typical of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Watson observes Holmes in action and overhears most of what Holmes talks about with other characters, but Watson does not know what Holmes is thinking until Holmes is ready to tell him. Arthur Conan Doyle was very much influenced by the so-called tales of ratiocination of Edgar Allan Poe. Doyle observed that Poe typically explained his protagonist's thinking after the event. This technique can be seen in "The Purloined Letter," "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," and "The Gold Bug." Too much explanation at the beginning of a story or somewhere in the middle of the story can be boring. The reader wants to know what happened. Explanations tend to be monologues, and monologues tend to be tedious. Doyle's stories, such as "The Adventure of the Speckled Band," always contain the element of adventure. Readers are interested in action and in meeting unusual characters. They are less interested in a detective's thought processes. Dr. Roylott in "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" certainly is an unusual character.

In "The Adventure of the Speckled Band," Holmes explains his conclusion to Watson after Dr. Roylott is dead and the case is all wrapped up.

"My attention was speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be an advantage."

This is probably the first time the word "snake" is used in the story. The author used the words "speckled band" in the title and throughout the tale because the word "snake" would give the whole plot away. Julia refers to a "speckled band" when she is dying in Helen's arms. She probably actually saw the snake retreating up the bell-rope but was already delirious and talking incoherently. 

Once Holmes concluded that Dr. Roylott was trying to kill Julia with the same poisonous snake he had used to kill her sister, it was just a matter of waiting in the dark in Helen's room for the snake to appear. Holmes assumed that Dr. Roylott would proceed immediately with his plan to kill Helen, even in spite of the fact that Roylott knew she had consulted a detective--or perhaps even because she had consulted a detective. Roylott may believe that he had better dispose of her quickly because she was getting suspicious and might either move out of the house or get someone to protect her. Time is of the essence because Helen is getting married very soon. She might, in fact, decide to get married without any delay so that she could move out of Stoke Moran and have a husband to protect her. So Holmes expected Roylott to use his snake that very night, even though it would have been prudent for Roylott to wait for at least a few nights until Helen got over her fright. Roylott probably did not expect Holmes to get involved with the case because Helen had no money to pay the detective's fee. But Watson explains in this story, as he does in other stories, that Holmes took cases on a pro bono basis if they interested him.

...working as he did rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. 

How would you summarize the first four chapters of Hard Times by Charles Dickens?

The first four chapters of Charles Dickens’ Hard Times are used not only to establish the characters of the novel, but also to give readers a sense of the rigid Utilitarian philosophies that Dickens skewers throughout the remainder of the text. Indeed, the first chapter opens with a glimpse into an educational system that emphasizes staunch Utilitarian values and actively kills students’ imaginations:

“Now what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else” (5).

The second chapter continues with this motif when Sissy Jupe’s description of a horse is disregarded in favor of a scientific definition. Thomas Gradgrind reinforces his restrictive mindset to the students:

“You are to be in all things regulated and governed... by fact. We hope to have, before long, a board of fact, composed of commissioners of fact, who will force the people to be a people of fact, and of nothing but fact. You must discard the word Fancy altogether” (9).

Chapter three is important because it introduces the Gradgrind family and illustrates how the patriarch’s ideology is destructive to his children’s spirits. A key scene within this chapter is when Louisa and her brother are caught enjoying “Sleary’s Horse-riding” show in secret. They indulge in the world of Fancy, and this infuriates their father.

Finally, in chapter four, Dickens introduces the detestable figure of Mr. Josiah Bounderby, a loathsome caricature of a wealthy businessman who boasts about being self-made. He espouses Social Darwinism, and Dickens uses this character to critique this harmful ideology.

Thus, the first four chapters set up the characters and themes of the remainder of Hard Times.   

What is the significance of this quote from Fahrenheit 451: “And on either side of the river was there a tree of life, which bare twelve manner...

In the closing paragraphs of Fahrenheit 451, Montag suddenly recalls a passage from the Bible which he decides to save "for noon." This quote is taken from the Book of Revelation (22:2), one of the books that Montag has memorised, and is significant for a number of reasons.

First of all, the blossoming of fruit on the "tree of life" evokes a strong image of new beginnings which is particularly apt at this stage in the novel. This is because Montag and his friends have just witnessed the total destruction of the city and are now preparing to rebuild their society from scratch.

Furthermore, the allusion to the tree which bears fruit is a symbol of hope and optimism. It implies that Montag and his friends will be successful in their endeavours. This is further supported by the reference to the "healing of nations" which suggests that Montag's society will undergo a revitalization and a rebirth, washing away the censorship of the past and making way for a new, uncensored and liberated future. This is also supported by Granger's allusion to the Phoenix which appears just before this quote. This symbol evokes a potent image of a cleansing fire which will renew the spirits of those left behind and prepare them for the challenges ahead.

Did the idea of Manifest Destiny play a part in the US's decision to expand to other parts of the world?

The notion of Manifest Destiny indeed played a key role in the United States' expansionist efforts.

One of the key turning points in American foreign policy was the Spanish-American War. Important political figures such as Teddy Roosevelt encouraged intervention in an ongoing Cuban revolution. Roosevelt argued that a successful revolution would give Spain a significant military advantage over the United States with Cuba as a nearby ally. 

Roosevelt used American philosophical ideals as key motivators for this intervention. Manifest destiny and the need to protect and support democracy were both cited as rationale for intervention. A pro-Spanish Cuba was seen as a potential threat to the manifest destiny Americans exercised over the continent of North America. 

In addition, yellow journalists such as William Randolph Hearst played upon these same American philosophies. In the end, intervention was approved and ushered in a new era of American invention on the behalf of key territorial interests abroad. 

What are 12 agents of weathering?

Weathering is the process of breakdown of rocks and soil by a number of agents. Unlike erosion, weathering does not involve the motion of rocks. Various weathering agents are:

• Water: causes hydration of rocks and minerals.


• Gravity: an agent of physical weathering and causes abrasion.


• ice: in cold regions, ice formation and subsequent thawing, changes the gap size between rock fragments, loosens them and causes weathering.


• acids: acid attack is a common cause of weathering. carbonic acid and sulfuric acid are commonly implicated as agents of chemical weathering.


• salts: crystal formation of salts in the gaps and fissures also causes weathering of rocks.


• winds: can shape and move loose fragments, thus progressively weathering the rocks.


• plants: grow into crack and fissures. The expanding roots, uptake of chemicals and release of chemicals into rocks causes weathering.


• animals: burrow animals break down rocks, other animals use other means to cause weathering.


• temperature changes: heating and cooling enhances weathering.


• pressure changes


• gases: such as carbon dioxide, oxygen, sulfur oxide, etc. causes acidification or oxidation of rocks.


• microorganisms: break down, acidify and chemically attack soil and rocks and causes weathering.

Hope this helps. 

How can we write a paragraph about the theme in Macbeth (Act ll, scene 2)?

That depends on which theme you choose. Themes are the central topics the texts deal with (not limited, as many believe, to just one). In Macbeth, we can examine the theme of how absolute power leads to absolute corruption; how the drive for power can change a man from loyal and honorable to a snake in the grass; or even what it means to be a man. There may be more (I'm thinking of the effect of evil on mental health, here). So first, choose the theme you want to discuss. 

Next, go through the scene in question and find examples that comment on that theme. For example, if we go with the effect of evil/greed on mental health, we might pull out the fact that even the "tough" Lady Macbeth, who goes into Duncan's chamber first to prep the scene for her murdering husband, comes out and admits, "Had he not resembled / My father as he slept, I had done't."

From this example, you think about what it tells us about the theme. Lady Macbeth, who has said that she would dash her own babies' brains out before she'd renege on the promise her husband has made to kill Duncan before she'd back out (and she continues, even in this scene, to marvel at how much evil she can do and how little she feels about it, suggesting she's a bit of a sociopath), cannot cut Duncan's throat because he looks too much like her own dad. Even her evil plans have limits, it seems, but this doesn't stop her from pushing her thane husband to commit the deed.

Then Macbeth commits the deed and tells his wife. They're both immediately on edge, a bit freaked out: "Didst thou not hear a noise?" Lady Macbeth responds, "I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry. Did you not speak?" We can easily see that they're already cracking a bit. 

Go on through the scene, selecting examples of the theme you choose, then explain what those examples expand on the theme. 

What is significant about the lines from the book Dover Beach that Montag reads aloud to Mildred and her friends?

Montag has a discussion with his wife's friends, Mrs. Phelps and Mrs. Bowles, about their husbands and families. Both women show disinterest in their husbands' welfare, which also shows how their society views personal relationships and families. For example, Mrs. Phelps isn't worried her husband, Pete, was called up for a "quick" war in the army. She says she will just let him do the worrying. Then, Montag asks Mrs. Phelps about the children she doesn't have because she has had abortions. His motivation behind this question is to see if Mrs. Phelps has any remorse for them. She doesn't. Mrs. Bowles chimes in about her two children, but she doesn't have anything amorous to say about them. The two women clearly demonstrate the lack of feeling and emotion the society as a whole has for families. When Mrs. Phelps provokes Montag to read a poem, he willingly shares "Dover Beach."

The poem "Dover Beach" is significant because it addresses the topic of love, which these women—and the society in which they live—lack. The first line declares love should be loyal between the people who share it. Mrs. Phelps and Mrs. Bowles's statements about their families demonstrate they do not follow that line.

The rest of the poem is significant because it brings up the topic of war, which the characters are facing at the moment. The poem states that the world may seem beautiful, but it really doesn't have joy, love, or peace to offer humanity. Instead, the world offers "confused alarms of struggle and flight,/ Where ignorant armies clash by night" (100). The end of the poem reminds Mrs. Phelps about the war her husband has just been sent to. Mrs. Phelps's realization that she might never see her husband again is probably makes her cry. It takes a poem to remind her of what she should have been thinking about beforehand—her husband's welfare and how much she loves him.

What were some important political achievements of ancient Rome?

Rome’s prolonged success was largely due to their political innovation and their ability to effectuate it on such a large geographic scale. Both the governments of the Republic and the Empire enjoyed a massive array of political achievements—but their unparalleled defense system and their general knack for foreign diplomacy were important components to their overall success.

Rome’s political achievements were largely possible because of their unmatched military capacity. In their initial acquisition of land throughout the Italian peninsula during the early Republic, they secured military manpower by recruiting conquered peoples to join the Roman alliance army in exchange for protection and a share in the profits from victories. Allies naturally turned to Rome whenever their interests were threatened, so they complied with this arrangement long enough for Rome’s military to acquire the necessary momentum for eventually dominating huge territories around the Mediterranean. Because of its highly evolved sustainability, the Roman army can be described as a self-perpetuating war machine that was very effective with protecting its people.

Earlier in history, the Romans were perceived as destructive bullies—but their diplomatic tactics later evolved to become more sophisticated to accommodate for the vast amount of conquered lands and peoples. By the time of the Empire, Rome had established such productive incentives for submitting to their dominion, that many kings were more or less content to be their subordinates. For example, Roman foreign policy became more focused on preserving a degree of power for domestic kings over their own people, allowing them to maintain their traditional culture. Over time, the cultural influence of Rome slowly filtered throughout conquered territories, thereby avoiding instant widespread foreign resistance. Thus, the Romans learned how to create a pragmatic and organized foreign diplomatic system that was very innovative for its time and arguably one of their most valuable political achievements.

How does Fortunato interpret each hint Montresor gives about what is about to happen?

In The Cask of Amontillado, Montresor gives two hints about what is about to happen: the nitre affecting Fortunato's health and the trowel that he has beneath his cloak.

One of the things Montresor says when he is initially telling Fortunato about the Amontillado is that his vaults are lined with nitre (also known as saltpeter or potassium nitrate), which he says after mentioning Fortunato's "severe cold". Nitre can be harmful if inhaled, so it could potentially be fatal to someone with a severe cold - especially in Poe's time, when modern medicine was not as good as it is now. However, Fortunato brushes it off as unnecessary concern for his health, saying that the nitre matters not, nor does his cold, so they should go anyways.

The other hint Montresor gives is the trowel he pulls from beneath his roquelaire towards the end of their journey through the vaults. This trowel will be used to help Montresor stack the bricks and mortar that will wall Fortunato into the vault, but when Fortunato first sees it, he thinks it is a sign that Montresor is a mason (as in a member of the Freemasonry, not a stone worker).

In the end, Fortunato's dismissal of these two subtle hints has him walk straight into his own death.

How does "All Summer in a Day" begin?

The story begins with the children looking outside at the rain and discussing the sun coming out.

The story takes place on Venus.  It rains almost all the time.  In fact, the sun has not come out for seven years.  At the beginning of the story, a group of nine-year-old children is looking outside at the rain discussing the imminent presence of the sun.

"Ready ?"

"Ready."

"Now ?"

"Soon."

"Do the scientists really know? Will it happen today, will it?"

"Look, look; see for yourself!"

The children pressed to each other like so many roses, so many weeds, intermixed, peering out for a look at the hidden sun.

The children are excited because they were so young when the sun came out last that they barely remember it.  It is a really special occasion.  We are introduced to a girl, Margot, who is from Earth.  Unlike the other children, she has seen the sun recently and remembers it.  This makes her somewhat of an outcast.

Margot stood apart from them, from these children who could ever remember a time when there wasn’t rain and rain and rain. They were all nine years old, and if there had been a day, seven years ago, when the sun came out for an hour and showed its face to the stunned world, they could not recall.

The children think that the rain is starting to stop.  This is important because they always argue and fight with Margot.  They bully her, and she keeps herself separate and apart from them.  You would think, though, that this reappearance of the sun would bring the group together.  It won’t.  The children target Margot because she is different.

Bradbury starts the story with the brief lines of dialogue to create suspense.  We do not know what the children are so excited about at first.  The sun coming out for the first time in years is very important to the story, because it demonstrates the children’s cruelty when they don't let Margot see it.

In The Handmaid's Tale, why would the Baptists rebel against a fundamentalist regime?

While the text clearly indicates that the Baptists are rebelling against the Republic of Gilead, there are some very significant clues that the theology of the Republic is, in fact, based less on the Christian Gospels than on the Old Testament.  

First is Atwood's epigraph quoting Genesis. In the reference, she provides the justification for Handmaids. It is the text referencing Sarai's giving to Abram (not Sarah/Abraham yet, so the Hebrews were not yet extant) her handmaid Hagar to bear him an heir.  

Second, we read about Marthas, rather than any reference either to Mary the mother of Jesus or Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus.  The last, in particular, is significant.  Martha, who rushes around doing work rather than sitting at the feet of Jesus to listen to his teachings, is the woman who is chosen as the namesake of the serving class of women.

I would also caution you in equating Baptists with religious fundamentalism.

What types of characters does Shakespeare include in Romeo and Juliet?

There are basically two sets of opposite characters in literature. There are both round and flat characters as well as dynamic and static characters. Round characters are well developed. The audience has a good idea of that character's traits. A flat character is simply that. We know very little about them and they are often included only for plot reasons. On the other hand, a dynamic character is not only one with well defined attributes, but that character also changes over the course of the story. A static character may also be well developed but doesn't change.

There are several round characters in Romeo and Juliet including Romeo, Juliet, Mercutio, Benvolio, the Nurse, Lord Capulet, Tybalt and Friar Lawrence. Each of these characters are relatively well developed. For example, Romeo is portrayed as impetuous in nature as he falls in love easily and could be considered courageous, both in his willingness to rebel against the parameters of the feud and in standing up for his and Mercutio's honor against Tybalt. Mercutio is defined by his humor and his arrogance which are often on display up until his death in Act III, Scene 1. Benvolio is good natured and a peacemaker. The Nurse is loving but sometimes lacks loyalty. Lord Capulet is conflicted as he both loves his daughter but is also willing to violently berate her when she doesn't yield to his will. Tybalt may not be quite so round, yet the audience is aware of his quick temper and willingness to do anything to honor his family and the code of the feud. Friar Lawrence is also conflicted. On one hand, he loves and supports Romeo and Juliet, but on the other, he sees that they are moving too fast and should display more patience in their love. All of these characters, however, should be considered static. They do not change over the course of the plot. Romeo is impetuous to the end. Mercutio is joking to his death and Friar Lawrence is still conflicted in his final speech to the Prince.

In my opinion, the only truly round and dynamic character is Juliet. She goes from an immature girl who is totally under the will of her parents to a rebellious woman, willing to do anything to save her love for Romeo. It is doubtful the Juliet the audience meets in Act I is the same girl who is willing to fake her death with a potion which will render her lifeless just to see Romeo again. She not only matures but takes on her problems with courage and certitude. 

There are also several flat and static characters. I would include Lady Capulet, Lord Montague and Lady Montague among these. The audience knows little about them other than Lady Capulet is uncomfortable around her daughter and Lord Montague will build a statue for Juliet. Balthasar and Count Paris also take on flat and static characteristics. They seem to be simply a product of the plot as is the servingman with the party list in Act I. Certainly an argument could be made that the Prince is round and possibly even dynamic, but the audience just doesn't know enough about his character attributes. He is a ruler and is needed to drive the plot with his edicts about the death penalty and his banishment of Romeo. 

Was George a good friend to Lennie?

This is a debatable question, but in my view, George was a good friend to Lennie for two reasons. 

First, George stuck with Lennie.  This counts for something.  Lennie is mentally challenged. It is far easier to take care of yourself.  But George took the harder path by also taking care of another person.  In many ways, Lennie is like a child.  Even when they are on the ranch, George gave it his best effort to take care of Lennie. 

Second, when George found out that Lennie accidentally killed Curley's wife, he knew what he had to do.  He knew that they had to find him before the other men.  The other men would have certainly killed Lennie in a brutal way, as passions were high.  So, when George found Lennie, he gave him a quick death.   But even as he took his life, he left Lennie with their dream.  

We might not agree with what George did, but in George's eyes he did what he thought was best. He was being a good friend. 

In The Great Gatsby, what does the color white, which Daisy and Jordan always wear, represent throughout the novel?

In the novel, The Great Gatsby, different colors are used symbolically to represent characters and ideas, which relate to the events in the story. The color white is associated mostly with Daisy and its usage helps to give us an insight into her character's psyche.

When we first meet Daisy, she is dressed all in white and sitting, along with Jordan, on a white couch in her mostly white-furnished parlor. Before Daisy's marriage, her car was a white roadster and she is seen wearing white throughout the novel. She is described as having a "voice full of money" and of being the golden girl, "...high in a white palace, the king's daughter..." It is also notable that Nick describes the homes of East Egg as being white palaces, which happens to be where Daisy, now Mrs. Tom Buchanan, lives. When Daisy wistfully speaks to Nick about her childhood friend Jordan, she says

"Our white girlhood was passed together there. Our beautiful white..." (Chapter 1, p. 24)

This suggests that, for Daisy, the color white represents her innocent and happy childhood, for which she feels great nostalgia. Her married life has been tarnished and spoiled by Tom's infidelities. Her sadness at the loss of both purity and her innocent girlhood dreams is made vividly clear by the use of the color white, especially as Daisy is seen clinging to it throughout the novel.

In what two ways does Darzee's wife helps Rikki defeat Nagaina?

Rikki wants to find and destroy Nagaina's eggs because they are due to hatch within a day, and that would help fulfill Nagaina's plan to be queen of the garden. Darzee tells Rikki where to find the eggs, but refuses to lead Nagaina away by pretending his wing is broken. Darzee's wife steps in to help. She flutters in front of Nagaina while crying out about her broken wing. That gives Rikki time to find the eggs and destroy all but one of them. 

Unfortunately, as Darzee's wife was drawing Nagaina away from the rubbish heap, she was drawing her toward the house. During her play-acting with Nagaina, Darzee's wife hears the snake intends to kill Teddy. Now the bird has led the snake right up to the veranda, almost in striking distance of the boy. Darzee's wife calls out to Rikki and quickly explains where the snake is and that she intends to kill. 

As Nagaina flees with the egg in her mouth toward her hole, Darzee's wife "flew off her nest as Nagaina came along, and flapped her wings about Nagaina's head." This effort slows Nagaina down enough that Rikki can clamp his teeth on her tail. 

Darzee's wife helps Rikki defeat Nagaina by distracting her while he destroys most of the cobra eggs, by warning him that Nagaina is on the veranda, and by fluttering about Nagaina as she tries to escape from Rikki down the rat hole, which allows Rikki to catch up to the snake.