What is the symbolism of Starbuck and Moby Dick?

Often, readers of Melville's Moby Dick focus on the relationship between Ahab and Moby Dick, as the entire novel arguably revolves around this relationship. However, it's worth considering the significance of the relationship between Starbuck (one of my personal favorite characters) and the Whale. Though a lot can be said about these two characters, I believe Starbuck's relationship to the whale essentially symbolizes the relationship between order and chaos.

First of all, Starbuck is a devout Christian man who often serves as a contrast to Ahab's monomaniacal self-obsession. Starbuck believes in a higher power, in an ordered universe watched over and cared for by a benevolent deity. God has a plan for everyone and, because He is a benevolent God, this plan is pretty generally a good thing.

The Whale, however, is chaos. It is generally accepted that the Whale represents the unknowable immensity of the universe. The fact that this quality is personified through the brute power of a massive whale speaks to the chaotic quality of this meaninglessness.

It is clear, therefore, that Starbuck and the Whale represent opposite ends of the existential spectrum: Starbuck represents order and meaning, while the Whale represents chaos and meaninglessness. Understanding this relationship, the end of the book becomes more disturbing. Starbuck is, after all, killed by the Whale, along with the rest of his crew mates (except the lucky Ishmael). It would not be a stretch to posit that this event signifies the triumph of chaos over order.

Suggest a reason why the narrator spies on the neighbors in Cofer's "American History."

The narrator, Elena, is a ninth grade Puerto Rican girl who lives in a large, dull-gray apartment building. She goes out onto her fire escape, just outside her bedroom window, to read in the summertime. This is a peaceful place for her where she can read and think, but as she is suspended above the house next door, she notices that it is "the only house on the block with a yard and trees" (Line 70). The house represents having one's own space--a yard, trees, privacy, and possibly a piece of her American dream. Elena doesn't have those things, but she probably wishes that she could also sit under the tree to read. She probably dreams that she could enjoy the peace of having her own home rather than dealing with the loud neighbors in the apartment building and its "thin walls."

Elena sees that the property has many things that she cannot enjoy. It is natural from her height in the fire escape to wonder who would live in that house. She discovers an old Jewish couple at first, and falls in love with the kitchen activities which she can easily see. Their life is interesting to her because it is different from her culture. When Eugene's family moves in, she discovers a different type of family from Georgia. The mother is a nurse and the boy is her age. The cute boy next door gives Elena another reason to spy into the house. She sees an opportunity to have a friend, too, since the kids at her school don't seem to appreciate her and tease her.

The house next door presents mystery for Elena as she watches first the Jewish couple's routines unfold at the kitchen table and then Eugene, who sits and reads there. She is young and is learning about the world around her, and when a young girl sees someone different than her right next door, she's going to peek a few times to see what she can learn.  

The poet implies that love is the only guiding light that we have in this troublesome world. Do you agree?

No, I do not agree that love is the only light we have in this troublesome world. Nor do I agree that Shakespeare indicates this in the play Romeo and Juliet.

In fact, if anything, I would argue that the play indicates a view that is very much opposed to this idea: love is powerful, but it is dangerous.

Look at the situation at the start of the play. Both Romeo and Juliet are leading relatively normal lives. There are things about their lives that frustrate them, or that they would change, but the world is hardly troublesome. Both are part of extended clans. Both have people who care for them.

Then they meet, and their love (or at least, passionate desire) changes everything. It seems to make the world much, much better.

But then, because of the situation and how they pursue that love, at the end Romeo and Juliet are both dead. This is due, at least in part, to love, and definitely to the fact that they loved without caution or social support.

What is the theme in the novel Things Fall Apart?

Things Fall Apart has three primary themes. The first theme is the conflict between evolution and tradition. Many of the villagers are looking forward to new opportunities but are also afraid of the impact that these changes will have. Okonkwo does not want to lose his masculinity by joining the new political and religious movements even though it was what is becoming expected. He also is worried that he will lose some of his social standing because it is based on the usual standards of society. On the other hand, people who had been scorned by society and were viewed as outcasts were eager to accept change and to dismiss traditions because in this new religion they were accepted and had an improved social standing. Finally, Achebe brings to light that without sticking to traditions, their stories and language will be eradicated as English becomes the norm.

The second major theme in the book is the fluctuating view of masculinity. Okonkwo's view of masculinity is different than that which is shared by the majority of the group. He feels that masculinity is best displayed with force and aggression. He actually beats his wives as a way to show that men are superior to women. On the other hand, the rest of the group views women as general equals and they do not believe that by respecting women they appear any less masculine. During Okonkwo's exile, he had a chance to get in touch with his more feminine side since he was living with his mother's ancestors. Instead of coming to appreciate his maternal side, Okonkwo further rejects them because they are not violent or war-driven. He scoffs at the fact that they prefer negotiation over fighting.

The third theme of Things Fall Apart is that language represents cultural disparities. It is believed by many people that Achebe incorporated Igbo words throughout the text as a way to show that the African language is actually too complex to be transcribed in English, which is often considered to be the most important and sophisticated language. It is also worth noting that Achebe wrote the book in English and he clearly meant for it to be read by people other than Nigerians. He probably did this because he wanted to share his message with people all over the world and to broaden peoples' awareness of Nigeria and the complexity of their lives and language. Also, as mentioned previously, Okonkwo fears the loss of their language and identity as English becomes a preferred language. It is believed by some people in the clan that without their native language, their entire identity would be altered.

How was society structured under France's ancien régime?

Under the ancien regime (society before the French Revolution in 1789) French society was divided into what were called estates, or social orders. These were upheld both by tradition and law. There were three estates, which were structured as follows.

The First Estate encompassed the Catholic clergy. This included senior Church positions (bishops, abbots, etc.) and technically the poor parish priests who ministered to peasants in the French countryside. Higher Church officials, many of whom were also secular nobility, enjoyed considerable privileges. They were exempt from taxation and collected revenue from tithes and other fees. 

The Second Estate included the hereditary aristocracy. There were two types of nobility: those who descended from old nobility (nobility of the sword, or noblesse d'épée) and newer nobility (nobility of the robe, or noblesse de robe). The latter were mostly bureaucrats and officeholders who had purchased their positions from the king. The Second Estate was largely immune from taxation, including the taille, or head tax.

The Third Estate, in short, included everyone else in French society. The vast majority of the third estate were peasants, but this order also included urban workers (known as sans-culottes). But the Third Estate also included the bourgeoisie, a comfortable class of merchants, lawyers, and business owners whose wealth was growing throughout the eighteenth century. While many purchased their way into the nobility, as mentioned above, many others greatly resented the system of taxation that protected the nobility and especially the clergy. 

What was Martin Luther King's approach to the Civil Rights Movement?

Martin Luther King's approach, or strategy, for fighting for civil rights is best described as nonviolent direct action and civil disobedience. King, influenced especially by Indian protest leader Mohandas Gandhi, believed in building pressure for social change by leading marches through hostile segregated areas, violating segregation laws (civil disobedience) and otherwise directly challenging Jim Crow. He recognized that this strategy would place activists in considerable danger, both of arrest and physical abuse, but this was, in some ways, the point. The Civil Rights Movement emerged in the age of television, and King hoped to use nonviolence in the face of violence to win public support for his cause. This, in turn, would put pressure on the federal government to enforce existing laws and court decisions and pass new ones, like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

King and other leaders also used direct action to create a state of crisis for local governments, who lacked the resources to deal with the scale of many of the protests he organized. "Flood the jails!" was a rallying cry for many civil rights protesters who put pressure on governments lacking jail space to deal with them to give in to their demands. So while King advocated peaceful nonviolent protest as a means of creating a moral contrast between his cause and that of the segregationists, this approach should not be mistaken for passivity. Rather, King advocated attacking segregation at its heart.

With reference to Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild, was Chris McCandless intelligent?

In the preface to his book about the late Christopher McCandless, Into the Wild, author Jon Krakauer provides some pertinent background into his human subject’s life—information that illuminated the paradoxical nature of McCandless’s final months on this earth. Newspapers are daily filled with reports about the deaths of lower-income men, many quite young and African American. These reports have pretty much lost their ability to astonish or even to disappoint. We have come to expect that inner-city life for ethnic minorities who have endured generations of prejudice will invariably fall afoul of the law or die violently by the hands of others who fit the same demographic description. The story of the life and death of Chris McCandless, however, fascinates precisely because its protagonist’s background would logically lead to expectations of professional success and financial affluence. Was McCandless intelligent? Read the following passages from Krakauer’s “Author’s Note”:

“He’d grown up . . . in an affluent suburb of Washington, D.C., where he’d excelled academically and had been an elite athlete. Immediately after graduating, with honors, from Emory University in the summer of 1990, McCandless dropped out of sight. He changed his name, gave the entire balance of a twenty-four-thousand-dollar savings account to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet. And then he invented a new life for himself, taking up residence at the ragged margin of our society, wandering across North America in search of raw, transcendent experience. His family had no idea where he was or what had become of him until his remains turned up in Alaska.”

..

“He was an extremely intense young man and possessed a streak of stubborn idealism that did not mesh readily with modern existence. Long captivated by the writing of Leo Tolstoy, McCandless particularly admired how the great novelist had forsaken a life of wealth and privilege to wander among the destitute.”

Clearly, Chris McCandless was an intelligent individual.  In terms of academic achievements, he was highly intelligent. As anybody who has crossed back-and-forth between worlds knows, however, what one masters in school does not necessarily qualify one to succeed outside the classroom, and the arrogance that many intelligent, educated people possess can, as in the case of this young man, prove fatal. When I write ‘back-and-forth between worlds,’ I am not suggesting interstellar travel, or even time-travel within the same planetary history. Rather, I am referring to the skills and intelligence common to those who succeed in fields for which a Ph.D. is hardly needed and certainly not relevant. I, for example, am regularly humbled by relatives and friends who are possessed of far greater knowledge and skills applicable to everyday existence than I possess. I can quote Shakespeare and Tolstoy; I cannot repair a can opener, or exist in the wilds the way many here in northeastern Minnesota are capable of surviving. There are different kinds of intelligence and vastly disparate types of skills. McCandless, possessed of enormous knowledge was nevertheless very much in-over-his-head in his decision to survive alone in the wilds of Alaska.

There is an anecdote in Chapter Sixteen of Into the Wild that illustrates my point about intelligence and skill levels applicable to different scenarios. Discussing his subject’s decision to, against his beliefs regarding the sanctity of life, including animal life, shoot a moose for its meat, Krakauer describes McCandless’s fundamental error in thinking that he knew the proper way to preserve the meat so that it wouldn’t spoil:

“Alaskan hunters know that the easiest way to preserve meat in the bush is to slice it into thin strips and then air-dry it on a makeshift rack. But McCandless, in his naivete, relied on the advice of hunters he’d consulted in South Dakota, who advised him to smoke his meat, not an easy task under the circumstances.”

McCandless was sufficiently intelligent to seek out methods for preserving game, but he was not sufficiently knowledgeable to understand that distinctions based upon region or even upon typesof game might exist. As his moose meat proceeded to spoil and become infested with maggots, he gave up trying to preserve it any longer. In yet another example of academic enlightenment and its irrelevance to the situation at hand, Krakauer notes from McCandless’s diary that the young man had proceeded next to read his copy of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden or, Life in the Woods, specifically the chapter in which Thoreau discusses his moral quandaries regarding hunting and fishing, with the inevitable consequences for other other living things such activities entail. Was McCandless foolish for turning to a mid-19th century rumination on man’s relationship to nature for his own survival? One could conclude that the forbidding environment in which McCandless had submersed himself would necessitate the consumption of animal meat at some point. The Alaskan wilderness, after all, is considerably more hostile than was the atmosphere around Walden Pond.

Krakauer himself spends considerable time in his book questioning his subject’s wisdom, if not his underlying intelligence. Contrasting McCandless’s experiences with those of 19th century explorer Sir John Franklin, who led his expedition to its doom due in no small part to his arrogance, Krakauer notes that McCandless’s arrogance was of a different kind—a kind that was fatally naïve and born of a more innocent form of arrogance, but that he was sufficiently intelligent to survive in the wild longer than most of the rest of us probably could:

 “He tried to live entirely off the country—and he tried to do it without bothering to master beforehand the full repertoire of crucial skills. It probably misses the point, though, to castigate McCandless for being ill prepared. He was green, and he overestimated his resilience, but he was sufficiently skilled to last for sixteen weeks on little more than his wits and ten pounds of rice. And he was fully aware when he entered the bush that he had given himself a perilously slim margin for error. He knew precisely what was at stake.”

Chris McCandless was indeed highly intelligent, and his decision to cast-off the trappings of upper-class civilization in favor of the quintessential simple non-materialistic life could be viewed as highly-admirable. Intelligence, however, does not equal wisdom, and the road to Hell, as the saying goes, is paved with good intentions.

What was your overall opinion about the novel The Outsiders?

The novel is a wonderful tale of Ponyboy and the Greasers and Socs and it reflects a number of the attitudes and concerns of the time as well as timeless ones. The way that Ponyboy struggles to make sense of the world around him as he lost his parents and now has to depend on his older brother Darry. Particularly because of the way Darry treats him and the Greasers lower social status, Ponyboy often feels unwanted and works his way through these feelings in the novel.

Hinton wrote a very believable story, the interactions feel genuine and legitimate, the problems are ones that teenagers have always had and will continue to have, and the story is compelling from beginning to end. Her characters are interesting and dynamic, and the fact that she wrote the book mainly between the ages of 15 and 16 makes it all the more impressive.

And on a very basic level, I enjoyed reading the book. It was exciting and I didn't want to stop and I really enjoyed seeing the characters grow and change.

What is the context of the third stanza of "Feast" by Edna St. Vincent Millay?

The context of the third stanza of the poem "Feast" by poet Edna St. Vincent Millay is her talking about life and its anticipations. This is evident even in stanza one and two of this three stanza poem.

Consider that in the first stanza, the narrator in this poem (it may be Millay, and it may not be) talks of indulging in wine/the vine at every opportunity but that the actual experience of imbibing was not ever as satisfying as the “anticipation” of imbibing.

In addition, looking at the second stanza we see the narrator espousing that eating of every root and plant - earthly edible vegetation -  was something she also indulged in considerably. Again, she states that nothing she ate as pertains to fruit and such was ever as good as the “anticipation” of eating.

So, this all leads to the final stanza (three) where the narrator of the poem states that she wishes all grape/wine and fruit and vegetables (the bean as an example) should be given to those who grow these foods. She desires to be in want – to be thirsty and hungry and enjoy the joys of “anticipation”, which are more satisfying to her than attaining the goal of having a physical experience. Her joy is more spiritual in a sense, in the mind, where her thoughts and attitudes please her more than the physical.

When we anticipate something deemed to be desirous we often cloak the desired thing with great expectations that often it can never deliver. As a result, the thoughts leading up to the act can be more satisfying than the actual act and this is the context of the poem and stanza three – the close of this poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay.

ᗯᕼᗩT Iᔕ TᕼE EᗩᔕIEᔕT ᗯᗩY TO ᗪETEᖇᗰIᑎE TᕼE ᗪIᑭOᒪE ᗪIᑭOᒪE ᗷOᑎᗪ?

The dipole-dipole bond will be formed by atoms of two elements with widely differing electronegativities. Since it is a covalent bond, the two atoms will be non-metals. Electronegativity is just the tendency of an atom to hold or pull electrons onto itself

The easiest way to tell if it is a dipole-dipole bond is to look at Paulings table of electronegativities. If the electronegativity difference between the two atoms of the bond is between 0.5 and 1.6 then there is a dipole-dipole bond.

Another term for dipole-dipole bond is polar covalent bond.

In most cases though, you will not have Paulings table of electronegativities handy and you have to have a general idea of the periodic and group trends in electronegativity. Electronegativity decreases going down a group and it increases going from left to right across a period. So a bond between O and Br (O-Br) will be a dipole-dipole bond.

Describe the relationships between the Bennet sisters in Pride and Prejudice.

The most significant relationship among the five Bennet sisters is between Jane and Elizabeth, the oldest and next oldest, respectively. Jane's beauty and charms are somewhat affected by her shy and quiet demeanor; and the outspoken and confident Elizabeth is rather protective of her for this reason.  When Jane's courtship with Bingley is put on hold, and Elizabeth witnesses Jane's disappointment and sadness, Elizabeth defends her sister's shyness to Darcy, who is Bingley's close friend.

The middle sisters Mary and Katherine (Kitty) are not close enough to marrying age to be a focal point for the meddling Mrs. Bennet (who nevertheless wishes to see all of her daughters married as soon as possible), but their character flaws do affect their marriage prospects. Mary is bookish and has many talents, but, as Austen describes her, has "a pedantic air and a conceited manner." Kitty is rather naive and lacks the intelligence of her older sisters, and is prone to follow the lead of Lydia, the youngest. Lydia is somewhat precocious, being tall and attractive, and is prone to speaking and behaving recklessly. She is also flirtatious, and despite her youth, it is not terribly surprising when she runs off with Wickham. Lydia's older sisters are horrified by her behavior, as it damages not only Lydia's reputation but that of their entire family, and are annoyed when Lydia puts on airs about being a "married woman" so soon after her elopement with Wickham threatens to destroy the family's social standing.

It is Darcy who rescues the situation, and he does so out of respect for Jane and love for Elizabeth; he pays Wickham's debts and also pays for a legitimate wedding for the couple so that they are not living in disgrace. We learn that Darcy has great fondness for his own younger sister, and it is his role as her protector that leads him to show such kindness to the Bennet sisters, who are lacking a brotherly figure to lean upon.

Since Gilead is a fundamentalist Christian regime, why would the Baptists rebel against it?

There are several reasons why Baptists would rebel against the regime in Gilead. For one, the leadership in Gilead seems to have adopted a more Old Testament mentality, and the Baptists are much more New Testament, Jesus-centered. Gileadeans have based their society on the story about Rachel's inability to bear children for her husband, a story from the book of Genesis, the first part of the Old Testament. Further, the term "Handmaid" is likewise introduced in the Old Testament. Baptists, on the other hand, place a great deal of importance on accepting the love of Jesus and committing oneself to faith and good works. In addition, Baptists believe in the separation of church and state and the importance of church service. Note that, in Gilead, religious belief and legality are linked, and no one actually goes to church.

Moreover, Baptists believe that there should be no intermediary between the individual and God. They believe that the individual must go to God directly with their thoughts and prayers, and such a belief does not exist in Gilead. The Commander of each household reads only specific passages of the Bible to the other members of the household (and some of these passages are changed, verses are omitted, etc.), and prayers are not said by individuals but rather purchased, spoken by machines, and printed at Soul Scrolls.

Finally, Baptists believe in salvation by grace through faith.  For Baptists, there is nothing that an individual can do to deserve salvation; one need only accept God's grace by believing in it. In Gilead, however, there is really no discussion of salvation or grace at all; and, if there is any implication of it, it would likely be that salvation is achieved through properly performing one's designated societal role. 

Who does the poem "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" address? What is the speaker saying?

The poem is addressed to the speaker's father.  In the last stanza, the speaker says, "And you, my father, there on the sad height, / Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray" (lines 16-17).  The "you" in this line, then, is the narrator's father, a man who is, evidently, about to die; the narrator wants his father to fight against death and to remain alive as long as possible.

The "good night" in the poem is a symbol for death, and the speaker spends the majority of the poem detailing the ways and the reasons why all different kinds of men "Rage, rage against the dying of the light" (3).  Despite the fact that these men might understand death to be natural, in the end, none of them want or feel ready to go.  There is more they want to do, some past mistakes they want to rectify, etc., and so they "Do not go gentle into that good night" (1).  The speaker explains the way all these men refuse to go to death quietly in order to show his father that he should also resist death and fight to remain alive, that it is actually the natural and right thing to do.  In the final stanza, he implores his father to do this.

For what does General Zaroff live in "The Most Dangerous Game"?

General Zaroff lives for danger.

Hunting is very important to General Zaroff.  He above all else cannot stand to be bored.  He loves to hunt, and the more dangerous the prey, the better.  However, since he is a rich man and has all of the advantages of time and money to perfect his skills, he gets bored with the ordinary hunt.

When Zaroff explains that he has lost interest in hunting animals, since they no longer pose a challenge for him, he tells Rainsford that he imports his prey to make things more interesting.  Rainsford asks him if he is bringing in tigers, and the general thinks that is pretty funny.

The general smiled. "No," he said. "Hunting tigers ceased to interest me some years ago. I exhausted their possibilities, you see. No thrill left in tigers, no real danger. I live for danger, Mr. Rainsford."

It turns out that General Zaroff prefers to hunt human beings.  He imports men, by forcing their ships to become wrecked on the reef by the island.  Men are a far more dangerous game than animals, and a more interesting one, because unlike animals they are sentient.  They can think.

"No animal had a chance with me any more. That is no boast; it is a mathematical certainty. The animal had nothing but his legs and his instinct. Instinct is no match for reason. When I thought of this it was a tragic moment for me, I can tell you."

Zaroff explains that when he realizes that animals were boring him, he had to invent a new hunt.  That is why he chose to hunt people.  An animal does not think and reason as a person does.  People are more challenging prey, and much less boring.

Although Zaroff claims that he makes the contest fair for the men he hunts, it is an illusion.  The men have no choice in playing the game.   If they do not play they are beaten to death by Ivan.  They are also not outfitted with dogs or guns.  They are only given moccasins and a knife.  The contest is definitely in Zaroff’s favor.

Rainsford is a renowned hunter too, and has written books on the subject.  He is clearly very good.  However, he finds Zaroff’s plans distasteful.  Hunting men is murder, in his mind.  Since Zaroff will not let him go, he has to be Zaroff’s prey.  Rainsford is the most dangerous game Zaroff has hunted.  He turns against Zaroff after winning the game, killing him.

Could World War I have been avoided?

To determine if World War I could have been avoided, I will explain the causes of the war. From the explanation, you should be able to develop an answer to this question.

There were many causes of World War I. One cause was imperialism. Countries like Germany and Italy, which unified around 1870, were unable to secure colonies because most of the land available for colonies was already taken. There was a “have” and a “have not” system regarding colonies. Countries like Spain, Great Britain and France were the “have” countries while Germany and Italy were the “have not” countries. It would be difficult for the “have not” countries to get colonies without a major event occurring.

Another cause of World War I was nationalism. People in various countries became very proud of their way of life, culture, and government. These people believed there was no other country better than their own country. Thus, if a war did occur, people were very confident that they would win a war.

The third cause of World War I was militarism. Countries began to build up the army and/or navy. The building of these big powerful militaries was done for a reason. This was an ominous sign for maintaining a peaceful world.

A fourth cause was the issue of self-determination. People wanted to be ruled by their own ethnic group. Different ethnic groups were ruling many people. A group of Serbians wanted all Serbians to be ruled by Serbians. They weren’t happy that some Serbians were ruled by Austria-Hungary. When Austria-Hungary refused to give some land in their country where many Serbians lived to Serbia, a group of Serbian nationals launched a plan to force Austria-Hungary to give this land to Serbia. This plan involved the killing of Franz Ferdinand, the next king of Austria-Hungary, and it led to the start of the war.

Finally, the system of alliances contributed to the start of World War I. When one member of the Triple Alliance declared war on one member of the Triple Entente, it started a chain reaction where members of each alliance declared war on each other. Thus, the conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia quickly escalated into World War I.

Looking at these causes, do you think there was a way to avoid World War I? You should be able to build a case for your answer with the information provided.

Veronica’s velocity was measured as 4.3 m/s. She displaced 20 meters in 4.7 seconds. Which piece of information is missing for the correct...

Velocity of an object is a vector quantity, unlike speed (which is scalar) and is the ratio of displacement to time taken. In other words,

velocity = displacement of the body / time taken for the displacement

In comparison, speed is the ratio of distance traveled to time taken.

In this case, it is given that Veronica had a displacement of 20 m and the time taken for displacement was 4.7 seconds. Since the velocity is a vector quantity, we need the direction of the motion. Veronica may have moved in a straight line or moved in a circle or went 10 m and then came back. In all these cases, effective displacement would be different. 

Thus, without the direction of the motion, we cannot calculate Veronica's velocity.

Hope this helps. 

How does the polar nature of water molecules affect the ability of substances to dissolve in water?

Water is very polar. Polar substances are covalently bonded substances that contain partially positive and negative charges. The partial charges within a polar substance are the result of electronegativity differences between the atoms that share the bond. Electronegativity is the likelihood that an atom will attract a pair of bonded electrons. Amongst all of the elements on the periodic table, electronegativity ranges between approximately 0.7 to 4.0. Some periodic tables contain electronegativity values of each atom. The electronegativity difference between two atoms forming a bond can be used to determine the type of bond that will be formed between the two atoms, as identified below.

• Electronegativity differences of less than 0.5 = nonpolar covalent


• Electronegativity of 0.5 – 1.6 = polar covalent


• Electronegativity difference of 2.0 or more = ionic bond

Hydrogen has an electronegativity of 2.1 and oxygen has an electronegativity of 3.5. Therefore, the electronegativity difference is 1.4. Thus, water is very polar.

This means that water has partial positive and partial negative charges within each of its molecules. Because the oxygen is more electronegative than hydrogen, the oxygen atoms within water molecules obtain a partial negative charge and the hydrogen atoms obtain partial positive charges.

If another polar substance is placed in water, then the partial charges within that substance will attract the oppositely charged partial charges within water. As a result, water molecules will surround and dissociate the particles of the polar substance. As a result, the polar substance will dissolve in the water.

What is the difference between a confederation and a unitary government?

The difference between the three main types of systems, unitary, federal, and a confederation, is the amount of power each system gives to the central government.

In a unitary system, the central government is all-powerful, and has the last say in matters. A unitary system can still have regional and local governments, like Great Britain and France, but the central government oversees these regional and local governments, and their powers are given to them by the central government.

A federal system is a system in which the central government and regional and local governments share power. This is the type of government the United States has. The Constitution of the U.S. gives certain powers to the central (federal government), and gives other powers specifically to state governments. The states have a lot of power to govern themselves, particularly when it comes to laws regarding individual citizens. However, in other areas, the federal government holds the power (e.g., the power to make treaties and handle diplomatic relationships with other countries), and the states have no power in these areas. Other countries with federal systems are Brazil, Germany, Australia, and Malaysia. 

A confederation is a government where the states or regional governments have more power than the central government. Each state/regional government has all the powers of an individual country--they can raise a military force, print their own money, handle diplomatic relationships with other countries, tax their citizens, etc. The United States was a confederation under the Articles of Confederation. This governmental structure failed because the central government was too weak to effectively function, and the Constitution made the United States a federation. The former USSR, now known as the Commonwealth of Independent States, is structured as a confederation. 

What's a good analysis of the short story “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid? How could I create a good thesis statement for an essay based on this...

“Girl” is a short story written as one long sentence, a series of rules given from an authority figure – most likely a mother – to a girl at a transitional age about how to be a proper lady.  The girl interjects only twice, and is both times dismissed.  There are a couple themes you could work with here for your analysis – first and foremost, there is the seemingly interminable amount of expectations for young women – especially those from traditional families – to conform to a certain feminine ideal.  There is also the implication of a certain flaunted promiscuity among young generations (an attitude adopted from the beginning of time by older generations toward the youth of the day) and the negative attitudes toward female sexuality.

The first of these themes is symbolized most immediately by the form of the story itself.  By framing the narrative as a long list of instructions Kincaid is emphasizing how overwhelming these expectations can be for a young woman, and by not allowing the girl to get a word in edgewise we get a sense of how stifling these rules can be.  This is also an indication that girls are expected to uphold the traditional roles of women in everyday life, an idea which holds back many young women from advancing, from making their voices heard.  Many of the instructions given by the girl’s mother are practical – “this is how to sew on a button,” “this is how you grow okra,” “this is how you set a table for lunch” – but interspersed with this practical advice is advice on how to behave properly in society, which serves a wholly different function, and is more subjective.  The fact that the mother does not take notice of this subjectivity, and believes it all to be equally practical and necessary, is highlighted by the fact that there is no transition from one such type of advice to the other – it is all haphazard, with equal weight placed on separating the laundry and on managing finances and on homemade contraception. 

The second of the themes outlined above is best presented by the repetition of the mother’s harping on a false assumption that the girl “sings benna at Sunday School.”  Benna is a racy genre of Antiguan and Barbudan folk music used to convey scandals, often with sexual undertones.  Such prurience is not to be tolerated among young women on Sundays, and the mother stresses this throughout the story.  In addition the mother offhandedly attempts to shame the girl and repeats that she should act more like a lady, rather than “the slut you are bent on becoming.”  There is no evidence in the story that the girl is behaving in any way as a “slut,” and the use of the word seems unfair.  This is simply maternal candidness and hyperbole, used strategically as she attempts to have her daughter conform to the rules of modesty appropriate for a girl her age.  She instructs the girl on the proper ways to “love a man,” and has clear ideas on how a girl should behave – how short her dresses should be, how she should position herself when throwing marbles, “how to bully a man,” versus “how a man bullies you.”  Not only should the girl fill certain roles around the house and in society, but also with how she presents herself to men and how she distinguishes herself from a man. 

Finally, consider the end of the story, from the girls’ second interjection in her mother’s long monologue:  “but what if the baker won’t let me feel the bread?; you mean to say that after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won’t let near the bread?”  This is the girl questioning the applicability of the mother’s advice, an indication that her perspective on the world is not necessarily an exact replica of her mother’s wisdom.  And her mother responds with incredulity, challenging her daughter to become anything other than what she has instructed.  In this story Kincaid excellently illustrates the lack of control felt by the girl as she matures, and the pressure placed upon her by the previous generation to maintain their values and traditions.

I hope this helps clarify the story a bit more, and gives you a springboard to create and support your own thesis statement.

What does the line the "fearful passage of their death-mark'd love" mean in Romeo and Juliet?

This line means the play will tell us about Romeo and Juliet’s doomed love.

The quote "the fearful passage of their death-mark'd love" means the play is about Romeo and Juliet’s doomed story. Their love is doomed. We are told this ahead of time to make sure we appreciate the full arc of the story.

And the continuance of their parents' rage,

Which, but their children’s end, naught could remove,

Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage (Prologue).

Most people now know Romeo and Juliet's story. Although their families are feuding, the teenagers fell in love at first sight. They married in secret, deciding their love was more important than their parents' hate.

That's all fine and good, but like most teenagers, Romeo and Juliet failed to see the bigger picture. They went to Friar Laurence to marry them in secret, and he agreed because he thought it would help end the fighting between their families.

It didn't work. Romeo and Juliet might have loved each other, but hate was strong in their families. Juliet's cousin Tybalt picked a fight with Romeo. His friend Mercutio intervened, and Tybalt killed him. Romeo then killed Tybalt, his own new bride's cousin. He was banished.

From there, the story is history—or tragedy. Juliet is being forced to marry someone else, but can't because she is married to Romeo. She goes to Friar Laurence, who helps her fake her death. Romeo doesn't know, and he thinks Juliet is dead. He kills himself. Juliet wakes to find him dead, and kills herself. That is the tragedy the prologue foreshadows.

The prologue also tells us Romeo and Juliet did not die in vain. After their young children die, the Capulets and Montagues realize their feud was ill-advised. They decide to end it, so some good comes of the tragic loss of two young lives.

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, when does Atticus state, "Love her but leave her wild"?

Atticus never says this, but he does get accused of letting Scout run wild. 

This quote is sometimes misattributed to the character Atticus Finch because it was written by a poet who goes by the name "Atticus." However, though Atticus Finch never says this line, that does not mean it doesn't apply to Atticus Finch and Scout.

To Atticus, as long as his children grow up to respect and care about people, he is satisfied.  He does feel the burden of raising two children on his own.

But the only time I ever heard Atticus speak sharply to anyone was when I once heard him say, “Sister, I do the best I can with them!” It had something to do with my going around in overalls. (Ch. 9)

Atticus Finch’s child-rearing methods are a bit unusual.  For one thing, his children call him by his first name.  Also, he lets Scout run around in overalls instead of dresses.  This is one of the reasons that so many people say that he is letting his daughter run wild. 

A lovelier lady than our mother never lived, she said, and it was heartbreaking the way Atticus Finch let her children run wild. I did not remember our mother, but Jem did—he would tell me about her sometimes—and he went livid when Mrs. Dubose shot us this message. (Ch. 11) 

Despite the criticism from his sister and the town, Atticus believes that some things are more important than what Scout wears.  He doesn’t even object to her swearing, because he assumes it is a phrase.  He lets his children explore the neighborhood, mostly on their own, but doesn’t let them act out stories about the neighbors like Boo Radley.

Scout and Jem demonstrate throughout the book that despite Atticus's unique parenting style, he has done fairly well by Scout and Jem.  His children have turned out to be good people.  Scout may be wild, but she is a good person.  She grows up to be intelligent, insightful, and compassionate.  Atticus is a loving parent, and as we learn from the examples of Mayella Ewell, Boo Radley, and Dill, that is very important.

How does the community of Sighet view Eliezer's father in the novel Night by Elie Wiesel?

In Night by Elie Wiesel, Eliezer's father is treated with great respect by their community of Sighet. Wiesel writes, "The Jewish community of Sighet held him in highest esteem; his advice on public and even private matters was frequently sought" (Wiesel, 4). After the town is occupied by the Germans and edicts begin falling on the Jewish community, people still seek his advice. "Some prominent members of the community came to consult with my father, who had connections at the upper levels of the Hungarian police; they wanted to know what he thought of the situation" (11). After the ghettos were erected in Sighet, the Jews formed organizations to deal with the day to day happenings of the "new" community. These organizations included a police force and a special council. Eliezer's father was appointed to the council, a position of importance. A man who is obviously respected in his own community could not possibly have envisioned the way he was to be treated upon arrival at Auschwitz. Wiesel describes the admiration of others for his father in such detail in the opening pages of the book, which magnifies the stark contrast of his harsh treatment in the camps.

What sentences will help me find out the purpose of "Thank You, Ma'am?

To find the purpose of the short story “Thank You, Ma’am” by Langston Hughes look for sentences in which Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones lets the young man know that she is going to teach him something or shows him that she trusts him. For example, when she refuses to let him go after he runs into her and attempts to steal her purse she says,

But you put yourself in contact with me,” said the woman. “If you think that that contact is not going to last awhile, you got another thought coming. When I get through with you, sir, you are going to remember Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones.

At that point in the story, he is not sure what she is going to do with him, but she is not going to let him go.

When she takes him back to her room, she determines the reason he tried to steal her purse through a series of questions before instructing him to get washed up and get ready to have a good meal. She confides in him that she did things in the past in order to let him know she understands his situation. At no time did she try to embarrass or mistrust him and made unquestioning small talk with him while they ate.

After the shared dinner, she gives him the money to buy the shoes he wanted imploring him to behave.  

Now, here, take this ten dollars and buy yourself some blue suede shoes. And next time, do not make the mistake of latching onto my pocketbook nor nobody else’s—because shoes come by devilish like that will burn your feet. I got to get my rest now. But I wish you would behave yourself, son, from here on in.

Why aren't our bones grey when calcium is grey?

Our bones aren't made of pure calcium metal, they're made of compounds that contain calcium. Bones have a matrix made mostly of collagen, a protein. The matrix contains calcium carbonate and calcium phosphate, both of which are white compounds that give bones their white appearance. Bones also contain living cells that produce new bone tissue.

Compounds usually have different properties than the elements from which they form. For example rust, which is iron oxide, is a different color than the iron and oxygen from which it formed. Sodium chloride, which is table salt, is white while sodium metal is gray and chlorine gas is greenish-yellow.

The elements that make up the human body are mostly in the form of compounds or aqueous ions. Besides calcium the body contains carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phophorous, sulfur, sodium, magnesium, potassium, chlorine, and many other elements that are part of compounds. Most of these are too chemically reactive to remain as free elements.

What are two appealing features of Shelley's "Ozymandias?"

The use of multiple voices that Shelley uses to narrate the poem and the universal message that ends it become two of the most appealing features of "Ozymandias."  

There is a powerful story to Shelley's poem. It is enhanced in the way that it is narrated. The opening line where the speaker meets a "traveller from an antique land" is extremely appealing.  On one level, the speaker is narrating a story within a story.  The speaker is sharing the narrative as we listen, for he tells it as it was told to him.  This feature is reflective of the Romantic movement, of which Shelley was a part.  

Romantic thinkers believed that truth existed in all aspects of the world.  There is much to be learned from formal instruction as there is from random stories.  The poem's opening enhances this because life's truths are being communicated by a stranger, a random "traveller from an antique land."  The poem's opening helps to frame its meaning for the reader.

I think that the end message of the traveller's story is another appealing feature of the poem.  The power of time offsets Ozymandias's boastful declaration of power.   When we see the "colossal wreck" that is all that left of the statue, it is a reminder of how time withers everyone and everything. Shelley uses the poem to communicate the temporal nature of human beings.

Ozymandias was arrogant and boastful.  He truly believed that he inspired fear in people.  However, only decay and disrepair remains.  This message is a powerful one as it communicates the reality that underscores all of human hopes and dreams.  While Ozymandias saw himself as immortal, the reality is that "Nothing beside remains."  Time will continue, even when we do not.  This philosophical statement is one of the poem's most appealing aspects. 

How did the Greek civilization develop?

The Greeks civilization developed from geographic features that ensured its success. The two primary geographic factors were the access to the seas and the mountains. The mountainous landscape forced Greeks to develop independent city-states because groups of the population were separated. Because of the development of independent cities, the Greeks only had to support small populations of people early on. This allowed for slow and steady growth. As the population outpaced agricultural production, the Greeks looked throughout the Mediterranean Sea to establish colonies for trade. Because of the easy access to the Sea, the Greeks realized very early in its history the importance of navigating the seas. By traveling the Mediterranean and establishing colonies for trade, the Greeks not only spread their culture to other lands but benefited from cultural contact themselves.

While the earliest Greek cities were ruled by monarchs, this quickly evolved into systems of citizen control of the government, or popular sovereignty. When the citizens gained access to government, they had a stake in the city-state, which allowed for its continued success. This created a sense of civic pride and duty that is not possible under most monarchs.

What's a quote from the play The Crucible that shows how Abigail was selfish and how does it show it?

In Act One after Abigail has lied to her uncle Parris about what happened in the woods, she threatens Betty, Mercy, and Mary Warren after slapping Betty.

She says, “Now look you. All of you. We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam’s dead sisters. And that is all. And mark this. Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge or a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you. And you know I can do it; I saw Indians smash my dear parents’ heads on the pillow next to mine, and I have seen some reddish work done at night, and I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down!”

This is where we first begin to see Abigail’s true colors. Here she is threatening the other girls with violence if they do not keep silent. Abigail is not above lying, threatening, and possibly even murder to protect herself. At the end of Act Two after Cheever and Hale come to investigate allegations made against Elizabeth for Witchcraft and she is taken away to jail, Proctor and Mary Warren speak about Abigail.

Proctor: You will tell the court how that poppet come here and who stuck the needle in.

Mary Warren: she’ll kill me for sayin’ that! Proctor continues toward her. Abby’ll charge lechery on you, Mr. Proctor!

Proctor, halting: She’s told you! Mary Warren: I have known it sir. She’ll ruin you with it, I know she will.

This is proof that Abigail is so selfish that in order to appear blameless and get rid of Elizabeth, she has accused Elizabeth of witchcraft and had Mary plant the evidence. She has Mary Warren so scared for her life that she is willing to lie to plant evidence. Abigail knows that the penalty for witchcraft is death, so she is willing to get Elizabeth killed in hopes she can be with Proctor or for revenge because he does not love her. She is also willing to ruin Proctor’s reputation, which was very important to the Puritans. These are just two of many instances where Abigail is selfish.

What are two types of research design?

Let's begin by defining what research design is. Research design is defined as the overall strategy selected to integrate the various components of the study that effectively answers or addresses the research problem. 

The two examples of research design design being described is Action Research Study and Case Study Research Design.

1. Action Research Design

• Definition:

This type of research design is used to solve an immediate problem or used as a reflective process of problems being solved by a team  that are finding ways to find solution to their problems.

• Advantages:

> Excellent for the research used for work and community situations

> Focuses on solution-driven research and does not rely on tested theories

> This type of research has a higher change of being implemented and good way to implement change and solve problems.

• Disadvantages:

> It is more difficult than the general conventional research. This is because the research is responsible for both researching the topic and implementing the change. 

> Date obtained for this research is in the form of stories and observation, and less likely from experiments or from calculating. This can be challenging to obtain.

> If the researcher is over involved on a person level, then the outcome of the results will be biased.

2. Case Study Design Research

• Definition:

Case study research involves the narrowing down a broad research topic to a few examples and find a solution or solution pathway for that example or narrowed down topic within a broad topic. 

• Advantages

> Excellent for testing specific theories and models applied in the real world. 

> Provides an easy understanding for complex issues.

> There are many methodologies that can be used in a case study design.

> A researcher can build on on somebody else's research to obtain a better or different solution path.

> Provides in-depth details of specific and rare cases.

• Disadvantage:

> A narrow research topic at times lack data and does not always represent the broader topic.

>  If the researcher is over involved on a person level, then the outcome of the results will be biased.

> Important information or the lack of reliable information can make the case difficult to explain or interpret. Also, results obtained might also be inaccurate.

SUMMARY: 

The two types of research design being discussed are:

1. Action Research Study


2. Case Study Research Study

How can I differentiate between organic and inorganic compounds in the laboratory? By flame or solubility in water? What should I do first?

There is no 100% definition to differentiate between organic and inorganic compounds.  There are some general ways to tell the difference between them.  Organic compounds tend to be composed of the elements carbon and hydrogen.  Inorganic compounds are less carbon, more oxygen and hydrogen, and incorporate a lot of the metallic elements.  Another difference would be that organic compounds are the building blocks of living things, while inorganic compounds may or may not be involved with living organisms.

To answer your question directly, there is an old saying, "oil and water don't mix."  Oil is an organic compound, composed of the carbon and hydrogen atoms mentioned in the first paragraph.  Water, while it is necessary to life as we know it on earth, has an inorganic composition, H2O, and will not mix with organic compounds.  I would vote first for the solubility test, to see if the compound will mix with water.  If it will, it is probably inorganic; if not, it is organic.  For flammability, organic compounds will combine with oxygen as they burn, while inorganic compounds, depending on the chemical composition, may or may not burn. 

What is a line by line explanation of the following poem from J. R. R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring? All that is gold does not glitter,Not...

When we first encounter this poem in The Fellowship of the Ring, its meaning is unknown, but we later learn that it is about Aragorn and the re-forging of the shards of Narsil. At the Council of Elrond, Bilbo tells Frodo that he had written it when he first found out who Aragorn truly was (namely, the rightful King of Gondor).

"All that is gold does not glitter": This is a twist on the known saying "All that glitters is not gold." Whereas the latter means that not everything that looks good actually is good, the former means the opposite: not everything that looks bad actually is bad. This is a perfect description of Aragorn: as a Ranger of the North, he looks dirty and unkempt, but despite that, he is one of the most valiant, valuable members of the Fellowship, not to mention heir to the throne of Gondor.

“Not all those who wander are lost”: As previously stated, Aragorn was a Ranger of the North, which means that he traveled around Eriador, protecting and exploring its borders.

“The old that is strong does not wither”: This is an allusion to the fact that Aragorn is a Dunedain, aka an heir of Numenor, which meant that he had a much longer life than most men. At 87, he was in fact in the prime of his life.

“Deep roots are not reached by the frost”: Aragorn was strong, both physically and mentally, and that meant that he would maintain his character despite any outside influences. It is also foreshadowing because, when Frodo gives him the chance to take the One Ring, he is able to resist its evil call.

“From the ashes a fire shall be woken”: At this point, the poem now starts to talk about re-forging the shards of Narsil into Anduril. This particular line has a few potential meanings: the most straightforward is that the forge is being re-lit in order to make the sword. On a deeper level, the ashes refer to the shards of Narsil, and Anduril is also known as “The Flame of the West," therefore a fire rose from the ashes. However, it could also be referring to Aragorn, who is sort of like a phoenix, rising from the ashes Isildur left behind.

“A light from the shadows shall spring”: This has a couple of meanings as well. The less important one is that the fire of the forge will light up. The more important one is that Aragorn, bearing the light of “The Flame of the West," is now ready to fight the shadows that plague the land because of Sauron’s returning darkness.

“Renewed shall be blade that was broken”: This one is pretty straightforward. Narsil was the broken sword that Isildur used to cut the One Ring from Sauron’s hand the first time Sauron was in power. Anduril is the sword the elves made using the remaining shards of Narsil, and they give it to Aragorn to aid in his fight against the darkness.

“The crownless again shall be king”: Again, this one is pretty straightforward. Aragorn has spent his life hiding from the title of King—he is crownless—but the events in The Lord of the Rings lead him to become what he was born to be: the King of Gondor.

Who came to meet the waiting man?

The first person who comes to meet the man who is waiting in the doorway of the closed hardware store is Jimmy Wells. Neither the waiting man, "Silky" Bob, nor the reader, realizes that the police officer in regulation uniform is in fact Jimmy Wells because O. Henry very cleverly deceives both. The reader thinks this is a policeman who is approaching Bob because he looks a little bit suspicious standing in a darkened doorway on a nearly deserted block. In fact, Jimmy Wells is there to keep the appointment the two men made twenty years ago. Jimmy doesn't get a chance to introduce himself, as he intended to do, because "Silky" Bob, who is a smooth and profuse talker, doesn't give him a chance to do so.

"It's all right, officer,” he said, reassuringly. “I'm just waiting for a friend. It's an appointment made twenty years ago. Sounds a little funny to you, doesn't it? Well, I'll explain if you'd like to make certain it's all straight. About that long ago there used to be a restaurant where this store stands— ‘Big Joe’ Brady's restaurant.”

This not only explains what Bob is doing there, but it also explains why Bob should be waiting for Jimmy in the darkened doorway of a closed hardware store. Normally two old friends would meet at a restaurant or a saloon. Bob thought he would be meeting Jimmy at the same restaurant where they parted twenty years ago. O. Henry plotted his story in such a way that Bob would be standing in the dark. The street itself is dark. Bob can't see the cop well enough to recognize him, and Jimmy can't see Bob until he lights his cigar.

The man in the doorway struck a match and lit his cigar. The light showed a pale, square-jawed face with keen eyes, and a little white scar near his right eyebrow. His scarf pin was a large diamond, oddly set.

The reader does not realize until the end of the story that Jimmy recognizes Bob as the man wanted by the Chicago police when he lights his cigar. Evidently Bob is standing inside the doorway because he wants to get out of the wind and drizzle to light the cigar and smoke it. There are several things that give Bob away. The telegram the New York police received from Chicago could not transmit any kind of picture or sketch, but it would give a detailed description of "Silky" Bob, including the white scar near his right eyebrow and the "oddly set" diamond scarf pin. The telegram would describe the scarf pin much more precisely, since it is such a good identification mark. For example, the diamond might be surrounded by little rubies. It would be one of a kind.

There is a second person who comes to meet the waiting man. The unidentified uniformed cop says goodnight and leaves Bob standing there.

About twenty minutes he waited, and then a tall man in a long overcoat, with collar turned up to his ears, hurried across from the opposite side of the street. He went directly to the waiting man.

This is the plainclothes detective Jimmy Wells recruited to make the arrest. This man takes advantage of the wet and blustery weather to turn his overcoat collar up to his ears in order to hide much of his face. Both Bob and the reader are led to believe that this is Jimmy Wells, since the man greets Bob by name and seems to know a lot about him.

“It's Bob, sure as fate. I was certain I'd find you here if you were still in existence. Well, well, well!—twenty years is a long time. The old restaurant's gone, Bob; I wish it had lasted, so we could have had another dinner there. How has the West treated you, old man?”

Bob doesn't realize until they have walked up the block arm and arm that the stranger could not be his old friend Jimmy Wells. When they reach the front of a drugstore brightly illuminated with the newly invented electric lights, Bob balks. He realizes too late that he has been tricked. He is told that he is under arrest and given the note from Jimmy Wells. At this point both Bob and the reader realize that the uniformed cop Bob had initially been talking to was in fact his old friend Jimmy Wells.

What aspects of friendship are seen in The Epic of Gilgamesh and how do we see them reflected in Sumerian culture?

The friendship between Enkidu and Gilgamesh is central to the plot of the anonymous Sumerian poem The Epic of Gilgamesh. It does reveal many elements of Sumerian society.

The first characteristic of friendship in Gilgamesh is that it is homosocial. Men are friends with other men; their relationships with women are seen as primarily sexual. This exemplifies a society with strong gender role distinctions and clear demarcations between the occupations and social lives of men and women.

Next, Enkidu is provided as a friend for Gilgamesh by the gods to improve his moral nature. This suggests that friendship is seen as a moral and civilizing influence.

Another characteristic of friendship is that it has a great degree of emotional intensity. Gilgamesh's mourning for his friend is intense and public. This suggests that a level of emotional expressivity was common in ancient Sumer that would general not be accepted among modern American men.

How could readers react to the way family units are formed in Jonas's community?

Family units are specifically structured to ensure complete obedience to the rules and laws of the community. Since everyone takes pills to suppress the Stirrings, husbands and wives are not married to procreate, but to effectively teach their children how to be obedient and contributing future citizens. Couples are selected specifically for effectiveness; and when they want children, they must apply for them. Children are placed with couples within the year that they are born and only when they can sleep through the night and meet weight requirements. When children grow up and obtain their own dwellings, they never see their parents again. Jonas explains what will happen next for his parents:

"As long as they're still working and contributing to the community, they'll go and live with the other Childless Adults. And they won't be a part of my life anymore" (124).

Therefore, family units only exist as long as the children need adult supervision.There are no true feelings of love because of the fact that families are not created for that purpose. When Jonas receives a memory about grandparents, for instance, he discovers the loving bonds that can exist between family members. Jonas tries to explain the feeling that he felt with the memory of grandparents as follows:

"'The family in the memory seemed a little more--He faltered, not able to find the word he wanted.

'A little more complete,' The Giver suggested.

Jonas nodded. 'I liked the feeling of love'" (126).

Unfortunately, family units in Jonas's community are only formed for practical reasons, not for love. Family relationships do not continue after rearing children and then adults live as singles again. This does not seem like a satisfying lifestyle. Most people marry for love and have children because they want to create families formed from that love. Only in families can we experience love and respect for different generations, as seen between grandparents and grandchildren. But in Jonas's community, everyone misses out on this experience, which is sad. 

What does Candy say to them when Lennie and George first arrive at the ranch in Of Mice and Men?

George and Lennie are the two main characters of Steinbeck's novel. They are traveling through depression era California as migrant farm workers. Lennie is mentally challenged and George has been with him ever since Lennie's Aunt Clara died. When they come to the ranch to work, the first character they meet is the old swamper Candy. He's called a swamper because he's basically like a janitor. He "swamps" out the bunkhouse and takes care of small maintenance jobs on the ranch. When we first meet him he is with a very old dog.

In chapter two George, Lennie and Candy meet in the bunkhouse, and the first conversation between George and Candy is about the bedding. George thinks it might have some parasites because he finds a can of bug repellent on the shelf near his bunk. Candy assures him that it was just that the worker before was quite clean and used the powder just in case:

“Tell you what,” said the old swamper. “This here blacksmith—name of Whitey—was the kind of guy that would put that stuff around even if there wasn’t no bugs—just to make sure, see?"

Candy also tells the men about the various characters on the ranch, including the boss, Crooks, Curley, Curley's wife and Slim. He tells George that the boss was mad the men didn't arrive earlier, but he likes the boss and says,

“Well, he’s a pretty nice fella. Gets pretty mad sometimes, but he’s pretty nice. Tell ya what—know what he done Christmas? Brang a gallon of whisky right in here and says, ‘Drink hearty, boys. Christmas comes but once a year.’” 

Candy describes the stable buck Crooks, a crippled black man who cares for the horses and mules. Candy also likes Crooks and says,

“Yeah. Nice fella too. Got a crooked back where a horse kicked him. The boss gives him hell when he’s mad. But the stable buck don’t give a damn about that. He reads a lot. Got books in his room.”

Candy talks the most about Curley and his wife. Curley is the boss's son and is described as "pugnacious," meaning he's always ready to fight. He was a "Golden Gloves" boxer when he was younger. Candy tells George that Curley often likes to pick fights with bigger men. He explains,

“Never did seem right to me. S’pose Curley jumps a big guy an’ licks him. Ever’body says what a game guy Curley is. And s’pose he does the same thing and gets licked. Then ever’body says the big guy oughtta pick somebody his own size, and maybe they gang up on the big guy. Never did seem right to me. Seems like Curley ain’t givin’ nobody a chance.” 

Curley is often looking for his wife and the two never seem to be at the same place at the same time. Because of this Curley is quite nervous and he ends up fighting Lennie in chapter three.

The source of problems for Curley and later George and Lennie is Curley's wife. Candy describes her as a tramp and a tart. Candy explains that she is often flirting with the other men especially Slim, the jerkline skinner (meaning he drives the mule team). Candy says, 

“I seen her give Slim the eye. Slim’s a jerkline skinner. Hell of a nice fella. Slim don’t need to wear no high-heeled boots on a grain team. I seen her give Slim the eye. Curley never seen it. An’ I seen her give Carlson the eye.”

And a few lines later he says, “Well, you look her over, mister. You see if she ain’t a tart.”

Candy is the most sympathetic character in the book. The ending is not only sad because George has to kill Lennie, but also because the dream of the farm is lost and Candy is stuck in his life at the ranch. 

Who comes to see Johnny and Dally in the hospital?

In Chapter 6, Pony is sitting in the waiting room waiting to hear news about how Johnny and Dally are doing when Sodapop and Darry walk in the hospital. Pony is elated to see Soda and is indignant towards Darry until he notices that Darry is crying. Ponyboy finally realizes that Darry loves and cares about him for the first time in his life. Darry, Soda, and Pony sit in the waiting room anticipating news about Johnny and Dally's condition. Sodapop begins to joke around in front of the reporters until Darry finally convinces the doctor to tell them how the boys are doing. The doctor tells the boys that Dally's arm is badly burned, but he will have full use of it in a couple of weeks. The doctor then tells the boys that Johnny is in critical condition and suffers from a broken back.

`y = 4x - x^2, y = x` Use the method of cylindrical shells to find the volume generated by rotating the region bounded by the given curves...

The shell has the radius `x` , the cricumference is `2pi*x` and the height is `4x - x^2 - x` , hence, the volume can be evaluated, using the method of cylindrical shells, such that:

`V = 2pi*int_(x_1)^(x_2) x*(3x - x^2) dy`

You need to evaluate the endpoints `x_1` and `x_2` , such that:

`4x - x^2= x => 3x -x^2 = 0 => x(3 - x) = 0 => x = 0 and 3-x = 0 => x = 3`

`V = 2pi*int_0^3 x*(3x - x^2) dy`

`V = 2pi*(int_0^3 3x^2 dx - int_0^3 x^3dx)`

Using the formula `int x^n dx = (x^(n+1))/(n+1) ` yields:

`V = 2pi*(3x^3/3 - x^4/4)|_0^3`

`V = 2pi*(x^3 - x^4/4)|_0^3`

`V = 2pi*(3^3 - 3^4/4)`

`V = 2pi*(3^3)/4`

`V = (27pi)/2`

Hence, evaluating the volume, using the method of cylindrical shells, yields `V = (27pi)/2.`

What are the rising action, falling action, and resolution in Animal Farm by George Orwell?

In the opening chapters of Animal Farm, the animals rebel against the cruel leadership of the farmer and take over the farm themselves. The pigs establish themselves as the leaders, and one pig named Napoleon has a desire to be the most powerful, so he drives out his only competitor named Snowball. The rising action in the book is when Napoleon closes the meetings, forces other animals to sit out and holds meetings with only the other pigs. This group of pigs becomes the force that runs the entire farm. Another part of the rising action portrays how Napoleon becomes anxious and paranoid that another animal will try to take his place. The climax of the story occurs when Napoleon claims that Snowball is responsible for problems on the farm and accuses other animals of being in contact with him. He uses this as an excuse to force animals off the farm and uses dogs to attack them. The falling action is a time of great trials for the animals. They are all very unhappy and it is obvious that the doctrines of the farm have been altered and that the wellbeing of the animals is no longer the most important aspect. The resolution of the story does not seem like much of a resolution because it is not a happy ending. There is no equality between the animals, and the pigs begin to walk on their hind legs, resembling humans and acquiring many human characteristics. The animals can no longer distinguish between pigs and people.

Why didn't Donalbain return from Ireland in Macbeth?

Donalbain is Duncan's younger son and Malcolm's brother. When Duncan is murdered, Donalbain and Malcolm sense their lives are in danger and decide to flee. Donalbain notes:

 There's daggers in men's smiles: the near in blood,
 The nearer bloody.

This means he is certain that someone very close to them will aspire to kill them both because they are Duncan's immediate heirs. Malcolm flees to England, while Donalbain escapes to Ireland because the two of them being in different countries will makes it harder for their enemy (Macbeth) to find them and kill them.

Once they escape, Donalbain is no longer present in the plot directly. He never returns from Ireland. There is no direct answer as to why he does not return to Scotland, so we may only speculate.

When Caithness asks Lennox if Donalbain has joined his brother's army against Macbeth, Lennox informs him that Donalbain is not present:

 CAITHNESS

Who knows if Donalbain be with his brother?

 LENNOX

 For certain, sir, he is not: I have a file
 Of all the gentry...

Most likely, Donalbain does not return from Ireland to join Malcolm's army because he may want to ensure the continuity of his father's blood and the preservation of his family's lineage. He is Duncan's second immediate heir, so if Malcolm died, Donalbain would still be able to inherit the throne some day and restore order in Scotland.

Also, while we do not see him return to Scotland, there is some indication at the end of the play that he might return:

 What's more to do,
 Which would be planted newly with the time,
 As calling home our exiled friends abroad
 That fled the snares of watchful tyranny.

These words suggest that one of the "exiled friends abroad" might be Donalbain, but, of course, we do not know for sure. Historically speaking, it would be interesting to note, however, that Donalbain does return to Scotland and seizes the throne for a few years after his brother dies.

How do carnivorous plants obtain nutrients?

Plants obtain energy from the sun (photosynthesis) and nutrients from the ground through root uptake. However, some plants have developed an alternative method of obtaining nutrients - carnivory. This adaptation allows these plants to survive in very poor, nutrient-deficient soils. 

Carnivorous plants have developed mechanisms for luring and trapping insects. This usually involves secreting an attractive substance that lures the insect into a trap, such as a smelly nectar. The trap might be a sticky substance (flypaper trap), a chamber or pot that cannot be escaped, or leaves that actually move and pin the insect. 

The plant secretes digestive enzymes which breakdown the insect bodies into smaller components. Carnivorous plants then absorb some of these compounds. Amino acids and some ions are the most commonly absorbed substances. In this way, carnivorous plants obtain some of their nutrients by eating insects.

Copper has an atomic number of 29. How many protons and electrons does a copper ion with a charge of +2 have?

A copper ion with a charge of +2 has 29 protons and 27 electrons. 

The atomic number of an element is equal to the number of protons in the nucleus of each atom of that element. Since copper has an atomic number of 29, all atoms of copper will have 29 protons. This is what identifies an atom as copper. 

Electrons are found outside the nucleus of an atom. An atom can gain or lose electrons during chemical reactions to form ions, which are charged particles. A neutral atom has an equal number of protons, which are postiviely charged, and electrons which are negative. If an atom loses electrons it forms a positive ion and if it gains electrons it forms a negative ion.

If a copper ion has a charge of +2 it means that it lost two electrons and now has two more protons than electrons.

What does this quote said by Hale mean? "The devil is precise; the marks of his presence are definite as stone."

The statement that Hale gives in Arthur Miller's The Crucible makes the point that he tries to make throughout the play. He is searching for verifiable proof of the Devil; however, throughout the play, Abigail and the other girls are making false accusations against everyone. Nothing can be proven--it is all hearsay. Hale, on the other hand, states that the Devil is precise and that his marks are as definite as stone, which means that if someone is influenced by the Devil, it will be clear and provable. There will be definitive marks and the accusations the girls are making have nothing definitive about them. Hale does believe that the Devil might control people, but he just thinks that the Devil will make his presence known with distinctive signs or marks.

Why are the families to blame for the deaths in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, and what quotes prove it?

In William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, it is not entirely obvious who is to blame for the deaths of the young lovers. There are actually multiple reasons why they die. The Preface describes the main action of the plot as follows:

From forth the fatal loins of these two foes

A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;

In Shakespeare's period many people believed in astrology. The term "star-crossed" suggests that their inevitable fate was written in the stars, and thus not avoidable.

Next, the most obvious people to blame for the deaths are the young lovers themselves, who act rashly and choose to commit suicide. 

Another event that precipitates the suicide is the letter going astray, so that Romeo does not know that Juliet is not actually dead. 

Both Friar Lawrence and the parents feel guilt at the deaths of the young lovers as well. The parents realize that had they allowed them to marry, they would not have died. Friar Lawrence blames his own schemes for their death. The Prince clearly blames the feud for the lovers' deaths, as he states:

Capulet! Montague!

See, what a scourge is laid upon your hate,

That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love.

What diseases are due to hormonal imbalances?

Hormones are chemicals that direct the activities and functions of some cells or organs. These are released by the endocrine system, which consists of a number of glands (such as the pancreas, pituitary, adrenal, etc.) in our bodies. These hormones control key body functions related to our growth, reproduction, metabolism, etc. An excess or deficiency of these important chemicals can cause several diseases. Diabetes is caused by a deficiency of insulin, a hormone secreted by the pancreas. A lack or deficiency of insulin will cause glucose levels in our bloodstream to increase. Hypothyroidism is caused by a deficiency of thyroid hormones (secreted by a thyroid) and results in a very slow metabolism. Hyperthyroidism, on the other hand, is caused by excess thyroid production and causes rapid weight loss, heightened heart rate, etc. 

Hope this helps. 

What are examples of figurative language in chapter 25 of Great Expectations?

Pip the narrator describes the way Bentley Drummle would row his boat close behind those of Pip and Startop in the following phrase:

He would always creep in-shore like some uncomfortable amphibious creature, even when the tide would have sent him fast upon his way; 

Pip describes the attitude of Mr. and Mrs. Camilla and that of Georgiana towards Matthew Pocket with the following sentence.

Towards Mr. Pocket, as a grown-up infant with no notion of his own interests, they showed the complacent forbearance I had heard them express. 

One of Dickens' stylistic traits is that he frequently uses similes and metaphors in his descriptions. This is not a bad idea because these literary devices are intended to help the reader visualize something he has never seen by relating it in his mind to something with which he is familiar. There are several examples in Pip's description of Wemmick's home, including the following.

Nor was there any drawback on my little turret bedroom, beyond there being such a very thin ceiling between me and the flagstaff, that when I lay down on my back in bed, it seemed as if I had to balance that pole on my forehead all night.

Humor is another Dickens characteristic. He can describe even the most unattractive sights, persons, and events with a touch of humor. He started his literary career as a writer of humorous sketches about Mr. Pickwick, and these writings were so popular that he never gave up his humor--or perhaps it was such a strong part of his nature that he could not do so. His style was admired, envied, and imitated by writers throughout the English-speaking world. Editors would tell contributors: "Write about anything you choose, but make it like Dickens." Some of O. Henry's stories are good examples of stylistic imitations of Dickens, notably "The Cop and the Anthem" and "The Furnished Room."