Why would you recommend The Pearl for reading?

I would recommend that someone read The Pearl to gain historical understanding of the struggles that Native Americans of the Baja Peninsula faced during the years of Spanish occupation from the 1500s until the Mexican War of Independence in the early 1800s. Though fictional, The Pearl truly represents the years of exploitation and discrimination that Native Americans endured under the Spanish.

I would recommend that someone read The Pearl to understand how an author can create complexity and ambiguity from a simple folk story. The Pearl was inspired by a Mexican folktale. John Steinbeck took this short story, added depth to its characters, and transformed it into a short novella.

I would recommend that someone read The Pearl to prepare to read one of the twentieth century’s literary masterpieces, since The Pearl contains many themes and political calls to action that John Steinbeck further developed in his longest novel, The Grapes of Wrath. Like The Grapes of Wrath, The Pearl shows how the rich and powerful, instead of protecting their vulnerable neighbors, exploit them for further unnecessary riches. The Pearl shows class struggle at a micro-level, the level of one family, whereas The Grapes of Wrath expands the theme to show how economic injustice affects a broad range of society.

I would recommend that someone read The Pearl to introduce themselves to the concept of the “tragic hero.” Kino, a protagonist with many good qualities, often leads himself to his downfall by letting his lust for the pearl get the best of him. The reader sees this when Kino viciously attacks his beloved wife, Juana, after she tries to throw the pearl away. The reader also sees this when Kino stubbornly holds onto the pearl even though he knows it will turn the town against his family.

How is "Fahrenheit 451" related to "Allegory of the Cave"?

The Allegory of the Cave is found in Book VII of the Republic by Plato. We see that Plato's philosophy about true education, wisdom, and freedom is delineated through a conversation between Plato's brother, Glaucon, and his teacher, Socrates. I will attempt to show you that each stage of the conversation corresponds on some level to Ray Bradbury's allegory of a dystopian society in Fahrenheit 451.

Part One: Setting the Scene: The Cave and the Fire.

In this section, Socrates asks Glaucon to imagine a cave and its inhabitants. These cave-dwellers have been imprisoned since birth. They have no knowledge of anything beyond the walls of the cave, particularly the wall in front of them. These unfortunate citizens of the cave are not even allowed to turn around and to observe their surroundings. They are chained to the floor, their necks are shackled, and they have no ability to stand up.

People carrying puppets and objects pass behind these prisoners, their bodies hidden by a low wall. The puppets and objects cast shadows on the wall facing the prisoners; a fire behind the prisoners makes it possible to cast the eerie shadows that the prisoners see on the wall. The shadows are their reality.

In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury tells us about the wall to wall television screens in every home. In this dystopian world, every citizen is bombarded with mind-numbing daily programming, courtesy of a government bent on subjugating its citizens. The images these citizens see on the screens are their reality, just as the shadows constitute reality for the cave-dwellers. In the story, Montag, the protagonist, and his wife, Mildred, quarrel about putting in a fourth wall-sized screen. Montag objects to having the fourth screen because they are still making payments on the third wall-sized screen.

Mildred's petulant response is telling; she is utterly convinced that the extra screen is necessary to her happiness. However, all is not well with Mildred. She denies taking all of her sleeping pills the night before, despite Montag's argument that the bottle is empty. This brings us to Part 1 of the three stages of liberation.

Freedom Stage One.

In this stage, Socrates argues that the cave dweller would deny reality even if he was apprised of the truth of his situation. Therefore, any attempt to free the prisoner would be met with bewilderment, fear, and suspicion on the prisoner's part. He would have to endure both physical and psychological pain to acknowledge the truth of his situation. Socrates asserts that most prisoners would rather return to what they know than to endure this distressing state of affairs.

Likewise, you can see that Mildred is a prisoner in Fahrenheit 451. Her life is punctuated by a dysfunctional merry-go-round of obsessive television and radio programming. She is either seen with her TV scripts in hand, mechanically quoting her personalized lines, or sitting dutifully with her headphones.

...you had the impression that someone had turned on a washing-machine or sucked you up in a gigantic vacuum. You drowned in music and pure cacophony.

In the story, Montag finds himself frustrated at the meaningless conversations he has with his wife. The ubiquitous headphones do not inspire any emotional intimacy between friends or family members. However, Mildred is depressingly content with the status quo. Her constant reliance on sleeping pills is a metaphor for her mental and psychological incarceration.

She was an expert at lip-reading from ten years of apprenticeship at Seashell ear-thimbles.

Freedom Stage Two.

In this stage, Socrates argues that the mission to save a cave-dwelling prisoner would necessitate the use of violence. One would have to violently drag the hapless prisoner out of the cave and into the open air. Why? He would fight you every step of the way. Enlightenment is one of the most frightening experiences of one's life, especially if degrading subjugation has been the norm of one's entire existence. Socrates tells Glaucon that such a prisoner freed, would respond in pain and rage. The ultimate glare of enlightenment would initially blind (and overwhelm) the prisoner.

Likewise in Mildred's situation, Montag is desperately trying to awaken his wife from her mental stupor. However, she is resistant. Her whole demeanor is characterized by denial, detachment, and a pathological lack of empathy for her husband's distress and mental agony. She shows no remorse or any discernible emotion when Montag tells her how the firemen burned up an old woman and her books. When Montag names off the 'burned copies of Dante and Swift and Marcus Aurelius,' Mildred responds with a vapid 'Wasn't he an European?'

In the end, Mildred betrays her own husband when she informs on him to the firemen. When he realizes that his wife is forever lost to him, Montag faces the bitter necessity of continuing his quest for freedom without her. This brings us to the third stage of freedom, as characterized by Socrates.

Freedom Stage Three.

In this stage, Socrates argues that, once the prisoner allows himself the opportunity to become acclimatized to his new surroundings of freedom, the desire to revert to his previous state of subjugation becomes anathema to him.

In Fahrenheit 451, Montag realizes that he wants to be free. When he discovers that his wife has betrayed him, he is consumed with grief and devastation. Even as Captain Beatty taunts him, Montag switches on the flame-thrower and burns down everything in his home. It is a catharsis of sorts for him. Notice what Captain Beatty says about books before he dies:

Give a man a few lines of verse and he thinks he's the Lord of all Creation.

This is actually a rather simplistic way of characterizing intellect; Beatty's statement was meant to be contemptuous. He wanted to demoralize Montag. However, as Montag later discovers when he joins the book enthusiasts, reality is what our intellect interprets of our surroundings. Our surroundings alone do not constitute reality. This, essentially is Plato's message in The Allegory of the Cave.

Next, we will discuss the Prisoner's Return to the Cave.

What is your opinion of World War II?

This is an excellent question for a history student, because hidden in the question is the need to assess the veracity of secondary historical documentation. In other words, one’s “opinion” depends on the rhetoric imbedded in reports, journalistic coverage, personal views expressed by contemporaries, etc. For example, my “opinion” is based not on documentation but on being a child when Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese, when the Jewish prisoners were released from the concentration camps, when the atom bomb was dropped, when the Marshall Plan was instituted, etc. Consequently my “opinion” is not so much based on historical documentation as on personal experience.  My father drove an ambulance in London.  Your “opinion” will be based on what you have “heard” or read about the war. Were the Nazis purely evil? Was the Normandy Invasion worth the deaths? Was Paris burning? Did the American military/industrial complex want a war? Roosevelt said “I hate war. Eleanor hates war.” Where did you get your “opinion” of WWII? A reasonable source? Or an impassioned source? History books or primary sources?

How are children changed by the differences between today and the past? How are they different?

In my opinion, the largest difference the current generation of children has as compared to past generations is the influence of the internet.  No generation has ever before been bombarded with information and social pressures as they are today.  No generation of children has ever before carried phones in their pockets, constantly attached to the world at all times. 

In the past, children would come home from school and visit with friends, do homework, do chores, and then possibly spend the rest of the evening with their families.  Today, they might still be busy chatting with friends online until late hours, even robbing themselves of needed sleep.

In the past, children could be protected to some extent from the negative influences of the adult world.  Today, not only is porn and violence available on every phone, tablet, and pc, but it does not wait to be found by a child.  It is there, ready to be seen by any surfing eye.

In the past, it was enough of a challenge for kids to concentrate on school work.  Now, however, there are the constant distractions of text messages, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, entertainment updates, news headlines, and many other interruptions.  Children were not meant to multitask constantly.

Finally, with all of the TV, video games, and internet usage available to children, there is very little incentive to go outside and be active.  Because of this, today's youth are facing more obesity and internal health problems than ever before.  In the past, children became victims to external health threats such as viruses.  Today, kids tend to unknowingly cause their own health problems. 

Explain how Steinbeck uses language to describe the setting in Chapter Six of the novel, Of Mice and Men?

Steinbeck opens each of the six chapters of his novel, Of Mice and Men, with a description of the setting. Chapter Six is set near "the deep green pool of the Salinas River", which is also the setting of Chapter One. Lennie has returned to this spot on George's orders. For George and Lennie, this is a safe place, free of other people or the potential for Lennie to do "another bad thing". Lennie returns to the spot after accidentally killing Curley's wife, and it is where he will meet his end as George mercifully kills the big man at the close of the chapter.

In order to understand Of Mice and Men, the reader must understand literary naturalism. In novels which employ naturalism the characters are viewed from a totally objective and scientific stance. Often the harsh realities of life, as in nature, are the focus.

In the opening of the chapter, Steinbeck initially describes a tranquil scene:

The deep green pool of the Salinas River was still in the late afternoon. Already the sun had left the valley to go climbing up the slopes of the Gabilan Mountains, and the hilltops were rosy in the sun. But by the pool among the mottled sycamores, a pleasant shade had fallen.

Like the ranch, the river looks calm, but when examined closer it has an underpinning of violence as a heron, a bird common to this part of California, kills and eats a small snake. This matches the atmosphere at the ranch, which is idyllic on the surface, but which contains the belligerence of Curley and the discontent of Curley's wife, as well as alienation and racism.

These settings are a microcosm for the rest of the world which is a tough place to survive. In the final analysis Steinbeck's world is difficult and depressing where "the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray".

Why did Judge Taylor appoint Atticus to Tom's case?

During a conversation with Miss Maudie, Scout and Jem found out that Judge Taylor had appointed Atticus specifically to defend Tom Robinson. A young lawyer named Maxwell Green was the one who was usually appointed by the court for defense. He was new to the profession, so he served as the court-appointed defense attorney in Maycomb County. Atticus was a skilled defense attorney with many years of experience.

Historically, African Americans did not always have the most fair trials in Maycomb County. This was especially true when the jury was biased because an African American was accused of a crime against a white person. Miss Maudie saw the injustice in this, and she viewed Judge Taylor's decision as a step in the direction of progress. Miss Maudie hoped that Atticus would give Tom more of a chance:

Atticus Finch won't win, he can't win, but he's the only man in these parts who can keep a jury out so long in a case like that.  And I thought to myself, well, we're making a step—it's just a babystep, but it's a step (Chapter 22).

Where do cells come from?

Cells come from pre-existing cells. This is one of the basic tenets of the cell theory. Earlier it was believed that the cells can arise spontaneously, however, this was proven wrong and the view has been rejected. Now we know that the cells can only arise from already existing cells, through the process of cell division. In this process, a cell divides to form two daughter cells and this way, new cells are generated.

One may question, where the very first cell (or cells) came from, if every cell comes from a pre-existing cell. The origin of first cells is difficult to trace, since there are no fossils of single cells. However, this is clear that various macromolecules organized themselves and grouped together to form the original cells. 

Hope this helps.

Why does Shelley invoke the power of the West Wind?

Shelley sees the West Wind as sublime, powerful as it blows the autumn leaves from the trees, and powerful as a force for change. Shelley invokes this power because he wishes the West Wind would blow the "leaves" or pages of his verse over the earth with the same power that it scatters the "leaves" from the trees. These leaves are dead on autumn trees, but the wind seems to blow new life into them as they are scattered. So Shelley wishes the wind would breathe new life into what he calls his "dead" words: 

Drive my dead thoughts over the universe

Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth!

Of course, he doesn't literally want his writing blown about by the wind. The wind functions as a metaphor for a force equally as powerful to spread his thoughts and ideas throughout the world. (He probably would have loved the Internet.) He also, himself, would like to be a force of change like the West Wind. "Be thou, Spirit fierce, my Spirit!" he writes. "Be thou me..."

Why should Bob Ewell not get his kids taken away in To Kill A Mockingbird?

Despite being labeled as the "disgrace of Maycomb," Bob Ewell should not get his children taken away for several reasons. Everyone in Maycomb, Alabama during the 1930s is struggling to make ends meet because of the economic crisis that has spread throughout the nation. The Ewells are no exception. Despite Burris Ewell coming to school shoeless and wearing tattered clothes, he is not the exception in Scout's first-grade class. Other students such as Walter Cunningham Jr. attend school shoeless and in disarray. Bob Ewell is not the only parent in Maycomb who is struggling to keep his children fed and clothed. Atticus mentions that he is allowed to hunt all-year-round, which suggests Bob is a rather successful hunter and capable of feeding his children. Bob Ewell lives off welfare checks and is even employed for a short time. The fact that he is already receiving assistance from the state shows that he is willing to accept help from others. The Maycomb community can be described as traditional, and the neighbors often help one another. They understand Bob Ewell is a widower, which may be the reason they sympathize with him and allow him to keep his children. Also, his oldest daughter, Mayella, is predominately responsible for raising her siblings. The children seem to be in good hands with Mayella. Mayella tries her best to take care of her siblings and is always at home supervising them. Bob Ewell's children are fed, supervised, clothed, and have shelter. Despite being dirty and raised without morals, they do not suffer from neglect or abuse and are not in imminent danger. There is no reason that Bob's children should be taken away.

What were the major social, economic, and political changes that shaped American history from the Fifteenth Century until the end of the Civil War....

This question could take books to adequately answer. The four centuries between 1400 and 1865 saw tremendous changes in all areas of life on what is now called North America. Here is a quick overview of each part of the question.

Social 
With the voyages of Christopher Columbus, new cultural groups settled in the Americas. These cultural groups were very different from the native population. Ethnic groups that settled in the New World were English, West African, French, Spanish, and Dutch. The European groups brought new languages, class systems, religions, and customs. Africans were subjected to chattel slavery and had no rights. There was a vast exchange of agricultural goods and animals between the natives and Europeans.

Economic
The greatest change in terms of economics was the introduction of a cash system by the new settlers. Surplus agriculture replaced the hunting and gathering that was practiced by native populations. Mercantilism, a precursor to the American capitalist system, was established in the 1500's in the new colonies. By the late 1700's, the North had moved to an industrial economy that relied on manufacturing. The South operated a cash crop economy based on agriculture.

Political
The Europeans brought Enlightenment ideas with them to the Americas. Ideas like individual freedom and representative government were established in the colonial governments and became the cornerstones of American independence and constitutional government. A political party system had taken root in the United States soon after the establishment of a Constitution. The Native American populations were marginalized politically and culturally.

According to Atticus, what are three reasons why many Maycomb citizens don't want to serve on a jury in To Kill a Mockingbird?

In Chapter 23, Atticus discusses why people in Maycomb don’t want to serve on juries.  The first thing he says is that people aren’t interested.  Remember, this story takes place during the Depression--hard times for folks living in Maycomb.  They have their own lives and own jobs to tend to, and it is probably a common sentiment that they don’t care about legal proceedings if they are not involved. 

Another reason Atticus says is that serving on a jury “forces a man to make up his mind and declare himself about something.”  People don’t always want their opinions known by others.  For example, if someone in the jury empathized with Tom Robinson and the horrible treatment of blacks in the Maycomb community, he might want to keep that a secret so as to not be harassed much like Atticus was when he was called a nigger lover by Mrs. Dubose.

And finally, as a jurist, you have to face the public and community.  Atticus uses the example of Link Deas, a business owner, who if he has to make a decision between two customers, he will lose business, and therefore, doesn’t want to be put in the position to take sides.

Many residents make up excuses to avoid serving on a jury because of their concern for backlash from the community, because they are scared to take a stand, or because they just don’t care. 

How does Pahom change when he becomes a landowner in Leo Tolstoy's "How Much Land Does a Man Need?"

In Leo Tolstoy's "How Much Land Does a Man Need?", one way in which Pahom changes upon becoming a landowner is that his greed leads him to become blind to the needs and innocence of others.

At the start of the story, as a peasant who rents land from others, Pahom feels oppressed by the steward a lady landowner of the village has hired. The steward frequently accuses the peasants of trespassing on the lady's land and has them fined. Upon buying his own 40 acres from the lady, he at first overlooks peasant trespassers because he knows how burdensome the peasant life can be, as we see when the narrator explains, "He knew it was the peasants' want of land, and no evil intent on their part, that caused the trouble." Because he is understanding due to his own oppression, he turns the peasants off his land and forgives them each time. However, eventually, his greed for his own land overrides any feelings of compassion he has. He becomes so greedy to protect his land that he begins thinking to himself the following:

I cannot go on overlooking it, or they will destroy all I have. They must be taught a lesson. (Ch. 3)

After that point, he begins prosecuting the peasants in court and having them fined, just as he was fined by the oppressive steward.

Not only does he become as oppressive as the steward, his greed leads him to make a costly, blind mistake in judgement. When he sees that some unknown peasant has cut down a clump of lime trees to harvest their bark, he becomes so determined to find out who the guilty culprit is that he wrongly decides a peasant named Simon is the guilty one. He continues to believe in Simon's guilt even though Pahom can find no evidence of the deed around Simon's home. Regardless of lack of evidence, Pahom takes him to court. When Pahom loses the case, he becomes the laughingstock of the village, making his life miserable in the village. His misery is caused by his greed.

What are the wife's plans? What is Tom going to do?

There are only two characters in "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket," Tom Benecke and his wife Clare. She, however, is only a minor character. The author gets rid of her by sending her off to the movies so that he can focus on Tom's consciousness alone. Tom thinks about Clare when he is out on that ledge, but she does not reappear in the story. Instead, when he manages to break the window and get back into his apartment he goes off to Loew's Theater to try to find Clare in the audience. 

Clare was only planning to go to a movie which they both had wanted to see. Tom begs off because he wants to work on an important memo for work. This shows that he is a workaholic. He works at his office all day and then comes home and works by lamplight at night. His wife must feel lonely and neglected. Those were the days when women stayed home while their husbands went to their jobs. The author does not say that Clare is just a housewife, but that seems to be the case. She spends all day waiting for her husband to come home, and then, when he does come home, all he can think about is business. If he is so obsessed with his work when he is young, he won't suddenly change when he gets older. 

The work that keeps Tom at home on this particular night does not seem exciting except to him. When the memo blows out the window the sheet of paper becomes so precious that he is willing to risk his life to retrieve it. 

Of all the papers on his desk, why did it have to be this one in particular! On four long Saturday afternoons he had stood in supermarkets counting the people who passed certain displays, and the results were scribbled on that yellow sheet. From stacks of trade publications, gone over page by page in snatched half-hours at work and during evenings at home, he had copied facts, quotations, and figures onto that sheet. And he had carried it with him to the Public Library on Fifth Avenue, where he's spent a dozen lunch hours and early evenings adding more. All were needed to support and lend authority to his idea for a new grocery-store display method; without them his idea was a mere opinion.

This is good writing. It serves a dual purpose. It shows why the paper is so important to Tom, and it also characterizes him as a man so driven by ambition that he is sacrificing his evenings, his weekends, his lunch hours, and everything else in the hope of getting some recognition in the huge, competitive business world of New York. These were evidently the days when office workers who used to spend six days a week at work were now only working five-and-a-half days a week. They would go in on Saturday mornings but would have Saturday afternoons off. But Tom was spending those Saturday afternoons working harder than he did at the office. Poor Clare would have enjoyed getting out of their apartment on Saturday afternoons, but she had to sit home alone until Tom got home from those supermarkets and flopped down on the couch. His behavior has ominous portents for the future of their marriage. If he finishes this grocery-story-display project, that doesn't mean he will not dream up another project and another, and continue to neglect his wife. He could have come home some time in the future and found that she wasn't there and all the closets and dresser drawers had been stripped of her clothes. But it seemed as if the hand of fate had carried that yellow sheet out the window and left it stuck tantalizing close on that narrow ledge.

To what extent did the two administrations of George W. Bush both follow and depart from the Reagan legacy?

Certainly the Bush Administration sought to claim the legacy of Reagan as its own, and many of Bush's domestic policies shared an ideological affinity with those of Reagan. Like Reagan, Bush believed that the key to economic growth was through what have become known as "supply-side" economics, an approach rooted in cutting taxes. Like Reagan had, Bush sought fundamental reform for the nation's tax code, slashing more than one trillion dollars in income taxes in the first two years of his presidency. Reagan's tax cuts were primarily aimed at the nation's highest earners, who saw their tax rates tumble by almost half during his presidency. Like Reagan, Bush then faced significant budget deficits and an increase in the federal debt, and he declined to raise taxes in response (as Reagan had, mostly by closing "loopholes" in the tax code.) Bush was, perhaps even more than Reagan, a social conservative. He advocated limited privatization of Social Security, opposed abortion, and promoted federal funding for faith-based civic service. On the other hand, Bush oversaw a significant expansion of the federal government's role in education. His No Child Left Behind Act was one of the centerpieces of his agenda, and it involved the federal government in education, a power traditionally reserved to the states, in unprecedented ways. 

In terms of foreign policy, the challenges each President faced to a large extent dictated their actions. Reagan was an ardent Cold Warrior, and his presidency marked an escalation of this conflict, albeit also one that emphasized dialogue with the Soviet Union. Reagan authorized military and economic aid to anti-Communist fighters in Central America, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. He increased military spending to unprecedented levels. Above all, he sought to frame the Cold War as an ideological conflict. George W. Bush, of course, had to contend with the aftermath of the attacks on 9/11, and his "War on Terror" was in many ways undergirded by the same assumptions about the supremacy of western democratic ideals as those espoused by Reagan before. Many of Bush's advisers had first risen to prominence under Reagan, and it is impossible not to hear echoes of Reagan's "evil empire" speech referring to the Soviet Union in Bush's "axis of evil" reference to Saddam's Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. Bush and his advisers, like Reagan, fervently believed that the United States had a leadership role to play in what both viewed as the "free world." His invasion of Iraq to achieve regime change was further than Reagan ever went, but certainly both presidents believed in an activist, aggressive foreign policy based on an unwavering faith in American ideals. 

Ultimately, it is probably correct to say that Reagan didn't live up to the Reagan legacy, which has become more of a political discourse than an accurate reflection of his policies while president. Reagan was, for instance, fairly moderate on such issues as immigration (where Bush, too, took a centrist course) and gun control (which was becoming a major issue for the right at the end of Bush's presidency). Both men shared a vision of America that drew on the same themes of national honor, limited government, and American exceptionalism, though they, like all presidents, were forced to abandon or deviate from this ideology in response to the real-world challenges of the presidency.

After looking into the pouch given to him by Goodwife Peregrine, why was Crispin disappointed?

In the story, Goodwife Peregrine is Stromford's village hag and is known for her midwifery, magic, and healing skills. She tells Crispin that many are hunting him because the steward has offered twenty shillings to anyone who can kill him.

On the run, Crispin stops by Goodwife Peregrine's house and is given a leather pouch by the old crone. He puts his cross of lead into the bag, eats the bowl of porridge he has been given, and takes to the road. Meanwhile, Goodwife Peregrine chants over Crispin's leather pouch and gives him a bag of bread to take on his journey.

Because Goodwife Peregrine had promised Father Quinel that she would provide Crispin with protection for his journey, Crispin likely expected to find something magical or noteworthy in the pouch. So, he is disappointed to find that it only contains three seeds (one each of wheat, barley, and oat). In despair, he throws the seeds away, believing that the seeds will be powerless to protect him against the many dangers he will have to face on his journey.

Beowulf was written during the Anglo-Saxon period in England. What is the main difference between Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman?

Beowulf is considered a classic piece of Anglo-Saxon literature. Very few manuscripts have survived from the Anglo-Saxon period, which lasted from the fifth century to the eleventh century. Usually, when students read Beowulf, they also receive some information about the Anglo-Saxon culture that produced it.

The island we call England was probably called Britannia when it was invaded by the Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and Frisians after the Romans left in the early 400s. Since the Angles and the Saxons were the dominant groups, this period became known as the Anglo-Saxon era. Eventually, the island became known as England, a name that probably started out as “Angle-land.”

The Anglo-Saxon era lasted until the Norman Conquest by William the Conqueror in 1066. This battle changed the course of English history when it opened up the island to Norman (basically what we would call French) culture and influences. The people who came to England from Normandy eventually became known as Anglo-Normans, although it's doubtful that they referred to themselves that way.

We long ago stopped thinking of England as a combination of Germanic and French influences, but for many centuries that was the case.

To sum up briefly, think of the Anglo-Saxons as the Germanic invaders, and the Anglo-Normans as the French invaders.

How do the opening chapters of The Book Thief foreshadow the difficulties of children in war?

Death introduces himself first of all in Zusak's The Book Thief. If the narrator himself can be taken as a foreshadowing, then one could obviously predict that there will be many people dying in the story because that is who he is. Even the first few lines of the book state, "Here is a small fact: You are going to die" (3). This creates a mood of doom and gloom from the very beginning. The reader also learns that Death likes to notice the colors of the sky at the moment he picks up a soul. The first soul he discusses is a child, a little boy, who dies under a white sky.  It is Liesel's little brother who dies on the train that night during a snowstorm. Her mother must do something with her little boy's body and the train guards are besides themselves wondering what to do or how to help. 

Next, Death describes a black sky during the time he takes a twenty-four year old pilot from a downed plane. "When it crashed, three deep gashes were made in the earth. Its wings were now sawn-off arms. No more flapping. Not for this metalic little bird" (9). A crowd comes upon the plane and a boy gives the pilot a teddy bear, but then Death takes the pilot's soul right at that moment and notices that the sky is "charcoal" (10).

The final section of the book right before part one begins is called "The Flag". It actually shows Liesel after the bombing of Molching when everyone she loves dies--but the reader doesn't know that yet. For Death, though, the sky is red on this day:

"The last time I saw her was red. . . There were black crumbs, and pepper, streaked across the redness" (12).

Death then puts the colors from these deadly events together: red, white and black. These are the colors on the Nazi flag--a flag that carries with it all the death and horror of a generation. And in each scene described above, there is a child witnessing, suffering, or dying, which is critical to the foreshadowing of more to come in the story. Therefore, this is only the beginning of more children to come in the story as they live, starve, survive and die during World War II in Germany.

How does Shirley Jackson set the tone in her narrative, "Charles?"

Jackson wrote the story "Charles" in a light and humorous, yet somewhat reflective, tone. The very first paragraph includes phrases describing the mother of the story reflecting on the way that she watched her little boy, no longer a toddler, walk off to school without so much as a glance back to her. The tone is light, even in this slightly sad, reflective sentence. The author does not allow the main character to reflect about this incident in a sad way but only as a reflection of life passing by. The author allows the main character Laurie to bring out the humor in the story with short, funny phrasing in the voice of Laurie, jokes and childishly rude behaviors that the family does not take too seriously. This allows Laurie's actions to remain humorous and set the main story tone as a humorous one.

The story would not have been as effective as a humorous, reflective story if written in the third person because written as it is, the reader lives the story through the point of view of Laurie's mom. It is by having her voice be the narration of the story in first person, that we can experience the humorous side to Laurie's actions. His actions are funny because we see them as a parent would. Had the story been written in third person through the eyes of an anonymous narrator, then the story would lose some of the humor and would not draw the reader into the experience as much.

In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, what does Calpurnia look like other than "angles and bones?"

Calpurnia's physical description was mostly overlooked by the author.  There were very few descriptions about her character's appearance.  

Calpurnia often squinted her eyes because she was nearsighted.  Scout described the woman's hand as being "wide as a bed slat and twice as hard" (To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 1).  Scout did not like to be on the receiving end of a spanking from Calpurnia.  

She was a tall African American woman.  Scout found Calpurnia to be graceful in a way that appeared effortless.  An example of this was when Calpurnia put on a starched apron to serve chocolates on a tray to Aunt Alexandra and her missionary circle friends.  Calpurnia had served them all as if she were a proper maid.  Calpurnia was a smart dresser at church, as well.  This was evident in the attention to detail she gave the children's clothes.  Calpurnia preferred things to look proper.

How did the Dutch defeat the Spanish?

The Spanish Armada, which was a large fleet of over one hundred ships belonging to the country of Spain, was considered indestructible.  Queen Elizabeth I of England supported the "Dutch rebels in the Spanish Netherlands," which angered the Spanish king.  He decided to invade England with the help of his mighty Spanish Armada.  The plan was to "transport a Spanish army" across the English Channel from Flanders to invade England.  The Armada was delayed due to a storm, which gave the British and Dutch fleets time to prepare for battle.  The Dutch fought alongside the British during the battles.  Other factors led to disorganization of the Armada, and some ships were trapped by "small Dutch flyboats."  This led to the Spanish defeat.

The Dutch did not singlehandedly defeat the Spanish Armada, but they instead fought alongside the British.  The efforts of both countries led to the defeat of the Armada.

In Patrick Henry's speech, how does his style affect his argument?

In his speech in the Virginia Convention, Henry asks over twenty rhetorical questions.  Rhetorical questions are meant to engage listeners and focus them on a point--to produce active listeners who think about how they might answer. Moreover, Henry's questions are layered with appeals to logic, appeals to emotion, and allusions to both biblical chapters and verses and recent and current events with regard to how Britain is behaving.  Henry is not burying his audience in the rhetoric of a demagogue; he is appealing to his listeners as active participants in a revolution that he believes is inevitable but too slow in coming.  Henry points out that their Northern "brethren are already in the field!" and asks his audience "Why stand we here idle?"  This rhetorical question in particular puts the onus on his audience to step up and do their part to defend their fellow colonists or risk looking uncommitted and uncaring.

What is irony in the poem "Mending Wall"?

In Robert Frost's poem, "Mending Wall," the speaker considers the idea of the wall in his yard and wonders why it is necessary. He prefers that there is no wall between he and his neighbor so they can have access to each other. However, the neighbor feels otherwise and believes that "good fences make good neighbors." He believes that walls or fences set up healthy boundaries between neighbors and that keeping an element of privacy makes for better relationships.

The irony is that putting a wall up between yourself and someone else seems like it would do the opposite--it seems like it would create a barrier, distance. For some people, it would. The speaker, for instance, thinks no fences would make good neighbors. Yet, the neighbor prefers a barrier, regardless of how ironic it may seem. For him, that is what makes him comfortable and makes him feel more neighborly towards the speaker.

What do you think are the most important lessons Jonas learned from the Giver?

Jonas learns many lessons from the Giver, some small and some more significant. Let's look at two of the most significant lessons.

First, Jonas learns that the world is not what it seems. He learns this as early as the first receiving session in Ch. 11 when he learns about snow, hillsides, and color for the first time. The Giver explains that this is how the world used to be prior to the community going to Sameness, but the Giver also reveals that they have not "completely mastered Sameness" either, so color still exists in some things. The vast majority of the community, though, cannot see color. Jonas and the Giver both have that ability, and this is just one example of the world not being as it seems. Jonas comes to learn that there are "elsewheres" outside of the community, that "release" is actually group sanctioned lethal injection, and so on. All of these ideas challenge what he has always known about his community, which leads to the next most significant lesson.

Second, Jonas learns to question the world and people around him. This doesn't sound terribly significant to us as readers, being that we live in a world where we are taught to do this. However, in Jonas's community the citizens are taught from childhood to follow rules and authority very strictly, and this leaves little room for questioning the status quo. The Elders are seen as the ultimate decision makers and the wisest members of the community, so they are given the power to assign jobs, spouses, and futures for all members of the community. The citizens do not question their decisions or the rules that they craft. When Jonas begins to receive memories of a world before Sameness, he begins to question why anyone would have changed the world and gotten rid of certain things - like color. He wants to make his own choices, at least at first.

"If everything's the same, then there aren't any choices! I want to wake up in the morning and decide things! A blue tunic, or a red one?" (Ch.13)

As time goes on and he experiences more memories, feels emotions more deeply than those around him, and simply gains more experience, he cannot help but question the reasoning behind many of the actions the community takes. By questioning the world around him, Jonas begins to think critically - something else the citizens of the community gave up when they went to Sameness.

What are 5 negative effects of the Columbian Exchange?

The Columbian Exchange is the name given to a number of cultural and biological exchanges between the Old and New Worlds after Columbus' discovery in 1492. While this exchange brought many benefits to both sides; for example, through the greater variety of food, it also had many negative effects which can be summarised here:

1. Many plants brought to the New World damaged the environment. Plants like dandelion and couch grass, for example, disrupted the availability of sunlight to existing flora and aggravated the hooves and teeth of New World livestock. 


2. Similarly, the introduction of some animals upset the balance of life in the New World. Rats, for example, were accidentally brought to America and from Europe. Not only did they cause disease, rats also wiped out some smaller animals. 


3. The exchange brought diseases, like smallpox, measles and typhus, to the New World population.


4. The relationship between the natives and the settlers was fraught with tensions, particularly with regard to land. The Europeans often stole land from the natives to colonise and farm on.  


5. The natives became dependent on guns brought to America from Europe. They used these to hunt larger animals but the settlers, seeing this new reliance, overcharged the natives, therefore financially exploiting them. 

A bite in two places on the lower leg by what is now believed to be a spider occurred almost 5 months ago. Bites went from looking like a mosquito...

First, you should see your physician to follow-up on the condition of the area.

Depending on where you live in the world, you can consult a guide to find out what sorts of poisonous spiders are common to your area. Most spiders are poisonous but unable to bite humans, and those which can harm humans often leaves wounds which are slow to heal. The "beef jerky" look you're describing may be due to death of the surrounding tissue. Please see your physician for care of this injury, and be sure to tell them about any other symptoms you've had.

Some common spiders which bite humans are the Brown Recluse, Hobo Spider, and Wolf Spider. 

In A Separate Peace, what does Gene have taped above his bed?

In Chapter 11 of A Separate Peace, Gene has taped pictures which create the illusion of his having come from the gentry of the South: plantation mansions, old trees with Spanish moss hanging from them, and "lazy roads" that wind past cabins.

Gene is from "three states from Texas," and unaccustomed to the New England culture. Lest people think he is backward and without refinement, he hangs up the pictures that represent the genteel South, the show of aristocracy in the mansions and scenic grounds. It is a false identity that Gene creates with these pictures and he even speaks with an assumed accent that is from a different state than his own.

Throughout the narrative is becomes apparent that Gene has striven to compete with Phineas and to attain a certain superiority among the other boys. "As a last defense, I had always taken refuge in a scornful superiority, based on nothing," Gene remarks in Chapter 10. These pictures, then, are symbolic of this basis of "nothing." 

If asked to look at a firm’s accounting statements in order to assess the firm’s future performance and outlook, is this an effective...

In reality, a firm's accounting statements are just one of many other factors that are worthy of a full analysis in order to determine the performance of a firm. 

One of the most effective tools for analysis and prediction is the SWOT analysis. 

This tool looks for:

• S= Strengths


• W= Weaknesses


• O= Opportunities to grow


• T= Threats

The SWOT analysis was invented at the Stanford Research institute by management consultant Albert Humphrey, in the year 1960. The SWOT formula was designed with the premise that all companies, particularly those which are in the Fortune 500, need a specific way to reach financial goals in a reasonable time period. 

This can also apply to any business, or firm. The formula is universal enough to be replicated in  different business scenarios. 

In the case of the firm that you propose, the budget and accounting documents need to be analyzed as part of the process of categorizing them according to where they belong in a SWOT.

The analytical questions to be asked are:

a) Do the financial statements show organization and good documentation?  

b) Are all accounts in order?

c) Is the data matching the financial processes in place? 

Upon analyzing the accounting documents, which are also known in business jargon as "the books", there are four options as to what to do with the information you gather.

If the answer to all of the previous questions is "YES":

If the financial statements show organization and good documentation, the accounts are in order, and the data matches the financial processes already in place,  then the firm's accounting documents would be categorized as a "strength".

This means that the company can count on this process to continuously improve performance in the future. This is an easy predictor. 

If the answer is "NO":

If the books are disorganized, there is no documentation, accounts are in disarray, and the data makes no sense, then the firm's accounting statements would fall under "weakness". Immediately, the firm should consider a re-haul in financial personnel, complete with training and a new action plan. 

If the accounting books show signs of continuous improvement:

Finances are always challenging, especially when a firm is fairly new to the business. However, if the books show that a plan is in place and that there are steps being taken to make it succeed, then it would fall under " opportunities". This part of the SWOT refers to the chances that a firm or company has to improve and run the market at a given time.

The thing here is that, when all stockholders buy into a plan and work for it, the chances for success are extremely high. This is what the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) has called a "shared vision". 

Another way to demonstrate opportunity is showing how much better the books in this one firm fare, compared to those of other firms. Any chance to get ahead, is an opportunity. 

If the accounting books show that only a few people know how to truly operate "the books"...,

If the books are only ran by a few people who refuse to share or disclose essential information to stockholders, then the books may pose to be a threat to the firm that could ruin its reputation. This lack of organization would be considered a "threat" as well as a "weakness" that could ruin the enterprise due to its lack of transparency. This makes it hard to show validity and reliability as it is. 

As you can see, the financial statements of a firm can fall under any of the analytical categories addressed by the SWOT. Numbers alone do not tell the story of what is going on in a firm. The way that the firm reaches the numbers, and the correlations made between data, process, and productivity are much more important than to observe "the books" in isolation. 

What is the significant technique used in the story "The Sniper"?

The most noticeable technique in "The Sniper" is the surprise ending. This also goes by the name of the "O. Henry ending" since O. Henry was known to use surprise endings in his short fiction. In the story, the sniper is a Republican soldier fighting in the Irish Civil War. In the process of engaging with an enemy sniper, he kills a woman and another soldier in an armored car. The sniper tricks his enemy and is able to kill him. When he goes to the street to see his enemy's dead body, he looks "into his brother's face." This revelation is certainly a surprise, especially if it is taken literally. Even figuratively speaking, the sniper could feel like he had killed his brother since civil war is often called a battle of brother against brother. 

The other term that describes this revelation is anagnorisis. This is a Greek term that means "recognition." A famous example of this is in Oedipus Rex when the main character, Oedipus, realizes he's fulfilled a prophecy by killing his father and marrying his mother. The sniper has a dramatic moment of recognition when he realizes he's killed his brother. 

"Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to wish." How is this statement relevant to the...

Scout asks Atticus if they are going to win the case. Atticus responds honestly that he does not think they will win. Scout asks why he would even take the case. This is when Atticus says: 

Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win. 

Scout says this sounds like the thinking of Cousin Ike Finch who said he would fight for the Confederacy just the same even though they lost the war. This reference to the Civil War is significant to Atticus's previous statement. The novel takes place in the 1930s. One hundred years prior would have been the 1830s, about 30 years before the South was "licked" in the Civil War. 

The South fought to uphold slavery and it was a losing battle but something the South was going to fight anyway. Atticus notes that the case of Tom Robinson is different. Clearly, the cause is more righteous with Tom Robinson than trying to preserve slavery. Even though he knows he won't win the case, he still intends to do his best. There is the notion that it may be many more years (perhaps not 100) before a black man can get a fair trial in the South. But that is no reason not to try. Atticus explains why he must take the case: 

The main one is, if I didn’t I couldn’t hold up my head in town, I couldn’t represent this county in the legislature, I couldn’t even tell you or Jem not to do something again. 

This statement is relevant for Atticus because he tries to be consistent with his words and actions. He tries to be the same fair and reasonable man in his home as he is in the courtroom and on the street. So, he has to take the case because it's the right thing to do. This decision to take a controversial case will affect the children as well. They will be mocked at school and they will eventually face danger because of it. Even though Atticus loses the trial, Bob Ewell will continue to hold a grudge simply because Atticus defended Tom. So, the simple act of taking the case will affect all of the main characters and will culminate in the climax of the novel. 

How does Mustapha Mond define happiness?

In Huxley's "Brave New World," Mustapha Mond is an extremely powerful man—he is the Controller of the world. He is, like many such characters in dystopian novels, well aware of the inequity in what he does, but has long ago rejected any such worries in carrying out what he views as the greater good of society.

Freedom, individuality and human will are things that the state, under Mond, cannot abide. They are in conflict with what Mond views as happiness, which is stability, lack of conflict-causing emotions, and the management of any "glitches" in the system—people who upset the order. Mond sees this type of restraint—not allowing any individual personal freedom, only relative freedom, as defined by the state—as constituting the happiness of greater society.

The character of John, the powerful yet intelligent primitive, is the antithesis of what Mond wants in his world. John represents the unstoppable forces of human nature, which societies such as Mond's can never truly contain.

How can I write a thesis statement about how Romeo and Juliet are infatuated with each other and connect it to the monologue that begins: "O...

First, check out the link I included. There is a nice discussion on love vs. infatuation.

The irony of using this quote is that it is the only time that anyone shows something like love. Shortly after this, Juliet decides to trust Romeo, which shows she feels something beyond the situational excitement of infatuation.

However, you have said that you are trying to connect this monologue to infatuation, so you may want to focus on her references to physical beauty. Juliet refers to Romeo as having "a flowering face" and "sweet flesh." Her positive side of nearly each metaphor is about his looks or his being divine to some degree. Infatuation often focuses on physical attraction and engulfs both parties so much that it seems they worship each other, so the heavenly references and focus on beauty could point to infatuation. 

Here are a few arguments that might help you:

1. Juliet's quick dismissal of Romeo after Tybalt's death shows that she was focused on Romeo's external beauty and was not truly in love with him.

2. Juliet focuses on Romeo's physical features rather than expressing any dismay about his actions, so their attraction is more akin to infatuation than love. 

3. When Juliet hears that Romeo killed her cousin, Tybalt, she does not defend him; nor does she seem surprised by his actions. Rather, she immediately condemns Romeo and expresses remorse that his beauty is not matched by his heart.

4. Juliet reveals an infatuation with Romeo rather than love when she denounces Romeo rather than defending him, focusing her condemnation on his character not matching his physical beauty, a condemnation that shows how quickly she thinks the worst of her new husband and how little she thought of his character before marrying him.

In Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, when are Jim and Huck on the raft?

In Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Jim and Huck first begin their raft journey at the end of chapter 11 ("They're After Us!") and the beginning of chapter 12 ("Better Let Blame Well Alone"). They originally set out on the raft in order to avoid a search party trying to capture Jim and return him to slavery. 

Huck and Jim travel on the raft for most of the rest of the book, although their travel is not constant. Rather, the novel is divided between episodic adventures that often take place on shore away from the raft. At the end of each of these adventures, Huck and Jim return to their raft to continue their travels and explore new regions. The raft and the Mississippi River maintain a constant presence that functions as the backbone of Twain's novel. As such, the role of the river in the novel mirrors the role of the real Mississippi River, which runs down the length of the United States and has historically served as an important driver of culture and economy. 

In "Self-Reliance," Emerson lists several men who defied unjust laws and suffered the consequences. Who were they?

In the fourteenth paragraph of his essay “Self-Reliance,” Ralph Waldo Emerson writes:

Is it so bad then to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.

Pythagoras (570-495 B.C.) was an ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician. Socrates (470?-399 B.C.) was a Greek philosopher and teacher. Jesus (8-4 B.C.-29? A.D.) was a Jewish preacher who founded the religion of Christianity. Martin Luther (1483-1546) was a German theologian who led the Protestant Reformation in Germany and founded the Lutheran religion. Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) was a Polish astronomer who proved that the sun, not the earth, was at the center of our universe. Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) was an Italian astronomer, mathematician, and physicist. Isaac Newton (1642-1727) was an English mathematician, known for discovering the law of gravity. Emerson’s point is that these major discoverers, inventors, and philosophers were chastised during their lifetimes for thinking “outside of the box,” so to speak. But history has proven their theories to be correct, after all.

At the same time, Henry Thoreau has a similar list in the 16th paragraph of "Civil Disobedience."

Why does [the American government] not encourage its citizens to be on the alert to point out its faults, and do better than it would have them? Why does it always crucify Christ, and excommunicate Copernicus and Luther, and pronounce Washington and Franklin rebels?

It's interesting that he uses some of the same personalities as examples of people who protested against the norm or who rallied against widely-held belief systems. Thoreau's lecture and essay were written a few years after Emerson's "Self-Reliance."

What is the difference between Boxer and Clover? A Boxer is an independent thinker, while Clover accepts everything she it told without...

The correct answer is C: Boxer blindly follows the rules of Animal Farm, while Clover silently questions some of Napoleon's decisions. Both Boxer and Clover are strong and loyal to the Revolution and their comrades on Animal Farm. Boxer's loyalty--coupled with the fact that he is not capable of deep thinking--causes him to accept the statements of the pigs without question. He truly cares about Animal Farm, and he helps it the best he can by doing what he does best: hard work (His motto is "I will work harder"). 

Clover--though loyal--secretly questions some of Napoleon's decisions. She recognizes the hypocrisy of the pigs--such as when the pigs begin sleeping in beds despite previously passing a law which forbade animals to sleep in beds--but she does not have the vocabulary or rhetorical skills to organize a resistance to the pigs' rule All she can do is watch as the pigs resort to the ultimate example of cruelty: murdering their fellow animals in cold blood. As Orwell describes:

As Clover looked down the hillside her eyes filled with tears. If she could have spoken her thoughts, it would have been to say that this was not what they had aimed at when they had set themselves years ago to work for the overthrow of the human race. These scenes of terror and slaughter were not what they had looked forward to on that night when old Major first stirred them to rebellion. 

What are important events in Chapters 3 and 4 of The Great Gatsby?

Chapters three and four in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald are important because they provide detailed insights into the glamorous life of the mysterious Jay Gatsby.

In chapter three, an invitation to Gatsby's party is delivered to Nick Carraway and Nick attends the party. Nick witnesses the luxurious interior of Gatsby's mansion as well as all the glamorous decorations and food Gatsby has at his lively party. Most importantly, Nick has the great pleasure to meet the mysterious Jay Gatsby for the first time. Up until this point, both Nick and the reader have only observed Gatsby from a distance, so it is notable that he is finally introduced formally. 

In chapter four, Gatsby and Nick take a trip into the city and Gatsby reveals many aspects of his luxurious life. During their trip, Nick finds out from Jordan (one of Daisy's friends) that Gatsby is in love with Daisy Buchanan—so much so that he bought his giant mansion in order to be close to her. This is an important development in the story because Daisy and Gatsby's love is a driving source of conflict for the rest of the novel.

In Lyddie, Chapter 10, how does Lyddie's first day in the weaving room affect her?

Lyddie's first day takes Lyddie practically to the breaking point. She survives her first day, but she is completely spent and exhausted. The day is brutal. Lyddie wakes up before dawn, and her day at work is a full thirteen hours. People complain about long hours now, but it's nothing compared to what Lyddie endures in the factory. Lyddie, and the other girls, receive two short breaks, which are barely long enough to eat anything substantial. The air inside the factory could be described as abysmal. It's full of fibers from the looms, and the noise is deafening. By the end of the day, Lyddie's feet are swollen and she has a massive headache. The only thing that she wants to do is go to sleep.

What's the difference of who draws the slip of paper with the black spot in the two rounds of the lottery, in significance to the outcome of the...

This is an interesting and unusual question, assuming you mean, "What difference would the outcome of the story have if somebody other than Tessie Hutchinson ended up with the black spot?" Everyone participating in the lottery--something like three hundred people--stands a chance of getting stoned to death at the end. This would include children, even little Davie Hutchinson, who is only about two.

The author herself must have given a lot of thought to selecting the victim, since it was she and not the lottery that did the real selecting. Shirley Jackson must have decided that the victim should be a woman, since the story seems to allude to the incident recorded in the New Testament in which a woman was going to be stoned to death for adultery under the archaic law of Moses. The victim should be articulate and put up a lot of vocal resistance. Some victims--little Davie, for instance--might just stand there and get stoned to death by everyone, including Tessie and her husband, without a protest. His father Bill Hutchinson would undoubtedly be stoical and just let himself be bombarded until he fell to the ground. As your question seems to intimate, the outcome would not really be very different. Someone would die and the others would go on living for another year. This is what happens in real life anyway. Some people die and the others go on living.

It would be interesting to see how Old Man Warner would react if he drew the black spot. He is strongly in favor of preserving the good old traditional lottery, but he might have a sudden insight if he got the black spot. He might start telling the crowd it was time to abandon this old superstition and follow the example of some of the other more enlightened neighboring towns. In Old Man Warner's case, there would probably be only one round of drawings, because he probably lives alone and he and his household are one and the same. In fact, he might use that as a defense, saying everybody else got two chances and he got only one.

The outcome would be very important to the person who got the black spot, but it would have little significance for most of the other members of the community. 

In "The Gift of the Magi", Della stops at a sign that reads, "Mme. Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds. One flight up." Is this an example of...

In order to answer this question, we should start with definitions. Situational irony is when incongruity appears between exception and what actually happens. A surprise ending is just like it sounds, when there is a surprising twist at the end of the story. 

If we start with these definitions, then Della's visit to Mme. Sofronie is an example of surprise ending, on account of what takes place.  Mme. Sofronie buys hair, and Della has the most beautiful hair. So, Della sells her hair to Mme. Sofronie for twenty dollars. She uses this money to buy Jim, her love, a gift. She winds up buying a chain for his prized watch.  

When the time comes to exchange gifts, Jim realizes that Della cut her hair.  He is surprised and taken aback, because he bought her combs for her hair.  Moreover, he sold his watch to buy the combs. In short, they cannot use their gifts.  This is the surprise ending.  She has little hair and no use for the combs.  He has no watch and no use for the chain.  

What does the word "mejum" mean? ("I shall be mejum.")

In Chapter 38, Anne says, "As 'Josiah Allen's wife,' says, 'I shall be mejum'" in response to Mrs. Lynde's comment that Anne is "going to kill herself." Anne says that she is not going to overdo things and that she'll have plenty of free time in the evenings. "Mejum" means "in the middle, medium." Josiah Allen's wife was a pseudonym for Marietta Holley (1836-1926), a humorist from upstate New York who wrote in the style of country "cracker-barrel philosophers." Her well-known work was My Opinion and Betsy Bobbet's of 1873, which contained women's humor. The book includes stories about Samantha, Josiah Allen's wife, who was a fictional proponent of women's rights. Marietta Holley wrote many works on prohibition and women's rights and was friends with leading suffragettes of her time, including Susan B. Anthony. She was often referred to as the female Mark Twain. 

Explain the evolution of Hinduism from animism to henotheism.

Hinduism is comprised of many different belief systems spanning a large and diverse geographical region. Early Hinduism grew out of the animistic practices of specific clan-groups. Later, as feudalism and monarchy rose to replace the tight-knit clan based system, animistic views and practices were absorbed into a system of henotheism.

Henotheism is the worship, elevation, and reverence of one god as supreme among many. Henotheism is a distinct form of worship in which many gods are perceived to be real, but only one god is recognized as supreme. Vedic Hinduism elevated the god Indra as supreme among all other gods. In the Vedas, other gods (in particular: Vac, good of speech and Varuna, god of heavenly waters) were considered to be lesser gods under the authority and influence of Indra's powers.  

Please find 3 quotes in To Kill a Mockingbird for the symbol The Radley House. The theme is judging others is dangerous as it results in immoral...

The Radley house, as viewed by Scout at a very early age, seems to symbolize the haunted house of the neighborhood. And with any haunted house, there must be a ghost and mysterious on-goings within. Nothing is as it seems, though; and because of the stigma associated with the house, rumors, superstitions, and judgmental attitudes tend to add to unnecessary behavior by the community.

The first judgmental person who spreads rumors about the Radley house is Stephanie Crawford. She tells Jem facts about Boo's past life mixed with rumors. The biggest rumor she claims is true is told by Jem as follows:

"He goes out, all right, when it's pitch dark. Miss Stephanie Crawford said she woke up in the middle of the night one time and saw him looking straight through the window at her. . . said his head was like a skull looking at her" (12-13).

This gossiping by Jem not only passes unneeded judgment on Boo, but also incites Dill to do more scheming.

The second example of judging others, and thereby acting inappropriately, is when Jem and Dill try to get Boo to come out by poking and prodding him. They devise a way to send him a note by using a fishing pole! When Atticus comes along and catches them, he gives them the lecture of their life, as follows:

"What Mr. Radley did was his own business. If he wanted to come out, he would. If he wanted to stay inside his own house he had the right to stay inside free from the attentions of inquisitive children, which was a mild term for the likes of us. . . Furthermore, had it never occurred to us that the civil way to communicate with another being was by the front door instead of a side window? Lastly, we were to stay away from that house until we were invited there" (49).

It's a good thing that someone with a moral compass teaches the kids to respect humanity rather than to degrade it, make fun of it, or exploit it.

Finally, superstition is another way that people can get caught up into making immoral decisions. Because of the rumors, people blamed Boo Radley for their azaleas freezing or any mysterious crimes that may have occurred. The following is a perfect example of prejudice based on misinformation and superstition:

"Any stealthy small crimes committed in Maycomb were his work. Once the town was terrorized by a series of morbid nocturnal events: people's chickens and household pets were found mutilated; although the culprit was Crazy Addie, who eventually drowned himself in Barker's Eddy, people still looked at the Radley Place, unwilling to discard their initial suspicions. A Negro would not pass the Radley Place at night, he would cut across to the sidewalk opposite and whistle as he walked" (9).

Thus, the people of Maycomb pre-judge without following the American motto that someone is innocent until proven guilty. This behavior destroys humanity because it makes people reactive to unknown situations rather than investigative. It's always better to find out all of the facts before passing judgment on other people.

What are some of the new legal effects the World Wide Web had on businesses?

The web's biggest legal impact on businesses has been on intellectual property; stealing it has become a crime of convenience, and its effect on the music business has--in regards to its ability to collect fees on its disseminated product--been catastrophic. (The major labels may, in fact, be earning more money, but they are also unwillingly giving out a lot of freebies.) The film industry has likewise been impacted. We have more movies grossing a billion dollars than ever before, but we also have an unprecedented degree of video piracy happening.

Images captured from the internet have made copyright violation of photography cheaper and easier to commit; it has also made finding examples of this easier than ever. Artists and photographers can use Google Image Search to see if their products are being used by anyone who hasn't paid to use them, provided the pirated images are on a website.

Plagiarism, the dirty little secret of an alarming number of writers, is easier than ever to detect and has ended many high-profile careers among journalists and novelists. Particularly erudite paragraphs can be Googled and literary thievery can be detected with ease. A lot of academic papers, copied and pasted from Wikipedia or other sources, are getting their writers exposed and expelled. Professors have access to software specifically tasked for finding this.

And within the legal profession, updated law books and publications have been a critical industry for centuries, entrenching a high degree of literacy within the legal profession's practitioners. Now, any clerk can just consult Westlaw, a legal search engine. More information than ever is suddenly in the hands of many less-sharp legal minds. The repercussions of this are still playing out in courtrooms everywhere.

How does Beatty contribute to the story?

Beatty is a complicated figure. Depending upon one's interpretation and chosen focus, Beatty can be seen as fulfilling a variety of roles, some of them contradictory, but most of them are antagonistic. Beatty essentially acts as the representative of society, its most authoritative advocate, and the only "villain" that Montag can act directly against.

Some of Beatty's roles include:

• Guide: Beatty appears to be earnestly interested in acting as a sort of mentor figure for Montag, considering that he knows many of Montag's thoughts and plans ahead of time, and was once in Montag's position regarding curiosity about books. He confides a considerable amount of his own past and the nature of their society in an effort to bring Montag willingly into compliance.


• "Serpent": Beatty can also be seen as a character akin to the satanic serpent in the Garden of Eden story, tempting Montag to give in to something that his conscience speaks against.


• Fallen Hero/Antihero: While Beatty may have once been like Montag, he chose to conform to the expectations of society, and so represents a more potent force for Montag to overcome. Beatty has power and authority as a representative of social authority, but also as a reflection of Montag; he is a more potent nemesis because the two characters are separated by very little in terms of their choices.

Is there anyway that Akaky could have avoided death in "The Overcoat"? What might have happened if he never had his coat stolen? What if he never...

In "The Overcoat," Akaky Akayevitch's greatest downfall is his meekness, or inability to become something. Even after working so hard to earn his precious overcoat, he remains unable to truly enter in to the social world that his overcoat would permit him. In that line of thinking, it is plausible to think that even if Akaky had not had his coat stolen, he would have died, though it takes some details from the text to be sure.

In the world of "The Overcoat," status is important, and as Akaky is thought to "have been born as copying clerk...no respect at all was shown to him in the department." Akaky is fine to live with no respect ("he behaved as if there were no one there"), and clings to his impoverished life. The coat alone has no real power to help him improve his status and instead makes him more dependent on the thought of new fulfillment ("his whole existence had in a sense become fuller, as though he had married"). Consider how Akaky retreats into himself during the part after he has his new coat; had his coat not been stolen, it is likely that he would continue to live this way ("He simply did not know how to behave").

It is very likely that even if Akaky had not even bought the new coat he would still be left to live the same way:

He stopped very awkwardly in the middle of the room, looking about and truing this think what to do...as [his colleagues] all went at once into the entry and again took a look at his overcoat...Then of course they they all abandoned him and his coat, and turned their attention.

This inability in himself to form connections and feel secure in his identity is truly what kills Akaky in the end. Note the "spirit" in the end who seems to avenge Akaky's death could, in fact, be representative of all those who lived in obscurity the way Akaky does. While the coat brings to him a glimpse of the social life he could have, Akaky does not have it in himself to live like others, which, in the harsh Russian weather, naturally leads to death.

In The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare, how does Nat and Kit's relationship change from the beginning of the book through...

When Kit and Nat parted after her arrival in Wethersfield, there was a distance between them.  Nat was still upset with Kit for diving into the cold water near Saybrook.  During their last few days on the ship, Nat treated Kit with a mixture of indifference and anger.  

In Chapter 12, Kit helped Nat repair Hannah's roof.  He was surprised when she offered to assist him, but he welcomed the help.  As they worked, Nat spoke to Kit with kindness.  He asked her how her new life was.  They talked about books and the King.

When they met next in Chapter 14, Nat was upset with Kit.  She had not told him that William was courting her.  Nat confronted her about this, telling her how he found out:

"An interesting cargo we had this trip.  One item in particular.  Sixteen diamond-paned windows ordered from England by one William Ashby.  They say he's building a house for his bride. A hoity-toity young lady from Barbados, I hear, and the best is none too good for her.  No oiled paper in her windows, no indeed!"

Nat spoke rudely to her before they parted ways.  Judith questioned Kit about his rudeness.

In the short story, "The Most Dangerous Game" how was the main character Rainsford brave? And how was he smart?

Rainsford is a brave in two ways. First, he is a hunter.  In fact, he is a world renowned hunter.  We can deduce this from the fact that General Zaroff recognizes him and has even read his books. So, as a hunter, we can say that Rainsford is a brave man. 

Second, when he forced to play the "game" with General Zaroff, he tries his best.  At first he tries to hide, but then he realizes that he has to go on the offensive.  He does not allow the dogs, Ivan, or Zaroff who have the clear advantage get to his head.  Rainsford stays as calm as he could and even attacks them. In the end, he wins. 

As for Rainsford's intelligence, Rainsford uses his hunting skills.  For example, he makes a Malay man-catcher.  Zaroff even says that not many men know how to make this.  He also shows intelligence when he doubles back to Zaroff's house and attacks him there.  He know that Zaroff would not be expecting this move.

Does this story contain elements that you associate with Gothic traditions in horror or mystery stories? What makes "A Rose for Emily" an example...

"A Rose for Emily" is an example of Southern Gothic literature. Here are some of the characteristics of Southern Gothic that this story contains:

• An exploration of the behavior and social order of the South

In the exposition of the narrative, Emily is described as a "tradition" and "a duty" and a "sort of hereditary obligation upon the town." She grows up in the Old South, a patriarchal society in which her father has paid no taxes because Colonel Sartoris had invented a tale in which Mr. Grierson had donated money to the town years before. Emily believes this tale and after her father dies, she insists that she owes no taxes when the aldermen pay her a visit.

• Damaged and delusional characters who try to make sense of the world around them

Later, Miss Emily makes an exhibition of herself when she rides around the town with Homer Barron, a common laboring man from the North. Many of the townspeople are concerned about Miss Emily as she has lost "noblesse oblige." Her relatives from Alabama are called upon to visit Miss Emily in order to discuss her behavior, and to urge her to act more appropriately. Instead, she purchases arsenic, and she stops going out, leading the townspeople to think Emily will commit suicide. But Emily acts even more strangely.

• Death and madness/Grotesque themes

Emily insists that her father is not dead when he has been dead for three days. Then, when the ladies of town pay her a visit, Miss Emily greets them as follows.

. . . She met them at the door, dressed as usual and with no trace of grief on her face. She told them that her father was not dead. She did that for three days, with the ministers calling on her...trying to persuade her to let them dispose of the body. Just as they were about to resort to law and force, she broke down, and they buried her father quickly.

At the end of the narrative, after Miss Emily's funeral, it is discovered that she has slept with a cadaver for years. For, when Homer attempted to leave her, Emily poisoned him and kept him in a bedroom.

The townspeople know that "with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her, as people will." (Her father ran off beaus when Emily was a young woman.) 

When Homer Barron supposedly leaves town, it is Miss Emily who is shamed by his departure. She decides to keep him and purchases arsenic. So, it is not in marriage, but in death that she holds the Yankee in her home. In the most bizarre turn of the story, after Emily's death, Homer's skeleton is discovered on a bed where the other pillow has an indentation with one long strand of iron-grey hair.

How does Steinbeck show what the living conditions are like on the ranch?

First, Steinbeck offers a detailed description of the bunk house in which the ranch hands live: an unpainted floor, eight bunkbeds, apple boxes nailed to the walls to act as shelves for personal belonging, a wood stove to heat the house. We see that the living conditions are spartan. The men do not have private rooms or even private spaces and the bunk house contains no luxuries. 

We also learn about living condition through conversation and action: George learns that Whitey, a previous hand, said he left because of the food. George carefully examines his mattress for bedbugs and lice, because Whitey left behind a powder to kill bugs, including roaches. This would indicate that such infestations were not uncommon.

Finally, we witness the boss, Curley, as he enters the bunk house and speaks threateningly to George and Lennie, warning them not to try to put anything over on him.

Everything in this initial description of living conditions indicates that ranch hands live the harsh lives of people at the lower end of the economic scale.

How does Romeo change from Act I to Act II?

Romeo changes from being depressed over his unrequited love for Rosaline in Act I to being happily married to the girl of his dreams in Act II. When we first meet Romeo in Act I he is lovelorn. The woman he loves does not share his affection and is committed to avoiding love and remaining "chaste." Romeo says,

Well in that hit you miss. She’ll not be hit
With Cupid’s arrow. She hath Dian’s wit,
And, in strong proof of chastity well armed,
From love’s weak childish bow she lives uncharmed.
She will not stay the siege of loving terms,
Nor bide th’ encounter of assailing eyes,
Nor ope her lap to saint-seducing gold.
O, she is rich in beauty, only poor
That, when she dies, with beauty dies her store.

Romeo's cousin Benvolio tries to convince Romeo that Rosaline is not the only woman in Verona and he needs to "examine other beauties." When a servant asks Romeo to read the invitations to Capulet's party Romeo discovers Rosaline will be there, and Benvolio thinks it will be good for Romeo to see her in company with others. He says,

At this same ancient feast of Capulet’s
Sups the fair Rosaline whom thou so loves,
With all the admirèd beauties of Verona.
Go thither, and with unattainted eye
Compare her face with some that I shall show,
And I will make thee think thy swan a crow.

Benvolio, of course, is right. Once Romeo sees Juliet he totally forgets Rosaline. Even the feud between the families cannot dissuade Romeo from pursuing Juliet and within about an hour of first meeting the girl he proposes marriage. He convinces Friar Lawrence to perform the ceremony (the Friar believes the union will end the feud). Thus, Romeo goes from totally dispirited to being happy and fulfilled by his love for Juliet. 

In many ways, however, Romeo has not changed. He remains impetuous and often doesn't think through his actions. He ignores the Friar's advice about taking things slowly. The Friar says, 

These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which, as they kiss, consume. The sweetest honey
Is loathsome in his own deliciousness
And in the taste confounds the appetite.
Therefore love moderately. Long love doth so.
Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.

The Friar is prophetic. Romeo does not "love moderately." He rushes head long into the events which ultimately propel the two young lovers to their eventual double suicide.

I need to find a piece of art of an old man with a young woman. Any ideas?

Your question immediately brings to mind a series of paintings created by Lucas Cranach the Elder in the 16th century. The title of one his works is similar to the wording of your question, namely "Old Man and Young Woman". The pairing of an old person with a younger person of the opposite sex is a subject that recurs in several of Cranach's paintings. You can find a few of them listed in the Web Gallery of Art if you look at its page of Cranach's miscellaneous paintings. There you will see pairings of older men with younger females, as well as an old woman with a younger male. Cranach portrayed the older subjects in these photos as though they are in love with the younger subjects, and their German titles imply that the focus of these paintings is on the amorous feelings of the older person rather than on an equitable relationship. For example the title "Der verliebte Alte" (there are more than one of his paintings with this title) translates to "The old man in love", and "Die verliebte Alte" translates to "The old woman in love". In each of the paintings of this type, Cranach gives the older person a lustful expression and shows the younger person looking away with less-than-adoring expressions rather than making eye contact.

Another place to find a collection of images of Cranach's "ill-matched pairs" is online at the Cranach Digital Archive. You can filter by "Subject" and then the sub-category of "Genre", and then select "An Ill-matched Pair". There are nineteen of his old-and-young paintings there. You can hover your cursor over them to enlarge the image and also view each painting's date of creation and the name of the places in which each one is currently housed.

In the book Angels and Demons, what is the writing style? What passages demonstrate this style?

Angels and Demons by Dan Brown is a great book! It seems like you might be reading it in school, which is really cool.

The genre of the book is mystery-thriller. I would describe the writing style as popular. The book is meant to be easily accessible to most readers and fun! This isn't esoteric or allegoric. I've occasionally heard the book described in a derrogatory fashion as an "airplane novel." Essentially, that it's so easy to read you could pick it up in the airport and be done by the time you land. The term is considered a bad thing, and I don't necessarily agree with it. Just because something is written in a way that's easy for most readers to appreciate, doesn't make it bad!

As you probably have experienced from reading it, the book is a page turner. It's a mystery, as Langdon and Vittoria follow the clues through Rome to try to save the cardinals who are being mysteriously killed. It's also a thriller, throwing suprises at you left and right! Like its companion, the Da Vinci Code, it's also full of puzzles, riddles, and references to secret societies and cults. And of course, all of this takes place in a race against the clock, just to ramp up the drama! All of this makes it more fun.

If I were you, I would focus on any scene in which Langdon is confronted with a puzzle he needs to solve as part of his race around Rome on the Path of Illumination to save the cardinals. Perhaps the scene in the Santa Maria della Vittoria would be best, as it highlights many of the aspects of Brown's style I've mentioned.   

What role did religion play in the thirty years war?

The Thirty Years' War was an extremely violent conflict which took place in Europe between 1618 and 1648. Religion was instrumental in triggering the war: it began when the Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand II of Bohemia, tried the limit the religious freedoms of some of his subjects.

But, as the war progressed, religion became of less and less importance as political and dynastic factors came to the forefront. When France (a Catholic country) entered the war in 1635, for example, it did so as an ally of the Protestant countries of the Netherlands and Sweden, in the fight against Catholic Spain. At this time, the Spanish Habsburgs ruled much of Europe and so the war became a struggle for dominance between this ruling dynasty and the French. The war thus became a competition over who would be the dominant force in Europe.  

If the universe keeps expanding, what is it expanding into? Will it turn to another big bang?

The Big Bang Theory basically states all the solid material in the universe was assimilated together at one point (a singularity), and then, under extreme conditions of pressure and temperature, a huge explosion resulted.  This explosion did what explosions generally do, ignite and expand outward, in a starburst-like expression. 

It is the general opinion of all astronomers to date our universe is indeed expanding, as if pieces fleeing in an outward progression from an internal blast. 

There are three theoretical predictions as to the outcome of this expanding universe.  In an open universe, with time being infinite, the outward expansion would continue, though slowed somewhat through gravitational force.  In a flat universe, the expansion would continue but would slow to zero after an infinite time while retaining a flat plane-like shape.  In a closed universe, the expansion would stop, then start contracting and recollapse back on itself again, possibly forming another singularity that could reenergize another big bang. 

The governing factor in the slowing in all three scenarios is gravity.  So yes, if the universe is closed, the reemergence of another big bang could be a possible future for the presently expanding universe.

In to Kill a Mockingbird, why does Miss Maudie say Scout is being morbid?

Scout starts hanging out with Miss Maudie without Jem and Dill when the two started plotting in the treehouse and generally acting like they didn't want her around (calling her a "gi-irl"). Scout asks her one day if she thinks Boo Radley is still alive. Miss Maudie says, "His name's Arthur and he's still alive." Scout asks her how she knows, which is when Miss Maudie said, "What a morbid question" (48). 

Morbid means "having an unhealthy interest in disturbing and unpleasant subjects, especially death and disease." It's a morbid question because Arthur "Boo" Radley hasn't been seen outside of his house in more than fifteen years, and there are multiple neighborhood ideas of what became of him. They have made him into a "malevolent phantom," in their minds, anyway. It's a bit morbid to imagine that Arthur is in the house but long dead, which is what makes this a morbid question. 

Explain the status of the United States after WWII as a superpower, including its leading economic role and its Cold War competition with Russia.

After the Second World War, the United States emerged, along with the Soviet Union, as one of the world's superpowers. With Germany and Japan in ruins, and Great Britain having expended all of its resources to fight the war against Germany, the United States, removed from the carnage and destruction directly, gained great geopolitical as well as economic clout. Politically, the United States and the Soviet Union clashed over the future of Eastern Europe. The Soviets under Stalin wished to create a buffer zone of communist states between its borders and Western Europe. But after receiving false promises from Stalin that democratic elections would be allowed in Poland, the United States interpreted the expansion of communism into Eastern Europe as aggression that had to be met with firmness. So by the late 1940s, Europe was divided between a communist bloc of states under Soviet influence and the West, which was heavily influenced by the United States. 

The economic role of the United States was itself shaped by this situation. The United States economy boomed during the war, as it expanded to meet the needs of its own people and armed forces as well as that of the Allies. American bankers as well as the federal government extended massive loans to American allies, and shortly after the war's end, the US government poured billions of aid into Western Europe in the form of the Marshall Plan. American manufactured goods duly poured into Western Europe as well as Japan (especially with the onset of the Korean War) and the American economy, far from experiencing a postwar depression predicted by many observers, actually expanded dramatically during the 1950s. 

The United States exercised its powers through the institutions designed to establish a new global postwar order--the United Nations, NATO (established in the late 1940s) and the International Monetary Fund. The United States had been expanding throughout the twentieth century, but World War II was the pivotal event in establishing the nation as a global superpower whose influence was rivaled only by its Cold War adversary the Soviet Union. The isolationism of the prewar era was a thing of the past, and the United States was inextricably entwined with events around the world.

What was the Peloponnesian War about?

The Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC) was the culmination of the natural rivalry that existed between the two most powerful city-states of Greece. Sparta and Athens were allies in the fight against Persia. Both parties benefited from victory over the Persians, but the Athenians grew to be more powerful. This caused tensions with the traditional military power of Sparta. Sparta grew weary of the increasing power and prestige of Athens over the other Greek city-states.

Athens, on the other hand, did not respect the Spartans, viewing them as backwards and tyrannical. The end result of this rivalry was a thirty-year conflict that left both states exhausted and bankrupt. The economic and political vacuum created because of the war allowed all of the city-states to fall at the hands of Philip of Macedonia.

What does Jonas learn about color? When was color lost?

In Ch. 12, Jonas learns that color exists. He can actually see color, as can the Giver. That is one way in which Jonas is able to "see beyond." Jonas doesn't even know the word "color" when he sees the apple's color for the first time. Later, he sees Fiona's hair, which is red, and also does not know how to describe it. It is not until the Giver explains it to him that he, and we the readers, understand that they live in a world mostly without color.

"Once, back in the time of the memories, everything had a shape and size, the way things still do, but they also had a quality called color. There were a lot of colors, and one of them was called red. That's the one you are starting to see."

The community lost color when it went to Sameness. Although, we come to understand that they "never completely mastered" it, according to the Giver. Hence, Fiona has red hair when she shouldn't, and the apple probably should not have any color either. 

What three words do you think best describe Vera from "The Open Window"? Give reasons.

Vera is creative. After she learns that Mr. Nuttel does not know anything about her aunt, Vera knows she can say anything and he will not be the wiser. She quickly comes up with her elaborate story about the tragedy of Mrs. Sappleton's husband, two brothers, and their dog. She tells the story compellingly and with acute acting skills: 

Here the child's voice lost its self-possessed note and became falteringly human. "Poor aunt always thinks that they will come back someday, they and the little brown spaniel that was lost with them, and walk in at that window just as they used to do. That is why the window is kept open every evening till it is quite dusk." 

Vera is also quick to create a story about why Mr. Nuttel ran away upon seeing the men return. 

Vera is bored. This is an assumption, but she is fifteen years old, stuck in a house in the middle of the country. She has her aunt and uncles, but there is no mention of a friend her age or a companion nearby. Boredom is one possible cause for her habit of making up stories. If you add boredom and creativity together, she has two reasons to make things up. 

Vera proves herself to be manipulative or simply put, a liar. Again, she may be making these things up out of boredom and as a way of exploring her creativity. But lying about something so tragic is inappropriate to say the least. She seems to enjoy the creating aspect of lying but the stories she comes up with are morbid. So, either she is exploring morbid things in the act of being creative or she is actually being quite malicious. 

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, reflect on the discussion between Atticus and Scout regarding school attendance and the Ewells. What point is...

In Chapter 3, Scout has a rough first day of school and discusses the day's misfortunes with her father. Scout tells her father that she doesn't want to go to school anymore, and Atticus teaches her a lesson in perspective. Atticus tells her that if she considered things from another person's point of view, and "climb into his skin and walk around in it" she would get along with people better. (Lee 39) Scout continues to argue with Atticus about attending school. She mentions that Burris Ewell doesn't have to go to school for the rest of year because the truant officer "reckons she's carried out the law when she gets his name on the roll---." (Lee 40) Atticus tells her that sometimes it's better to bend the law in special cases. He explains to Scout that the Ewells are a despicable family, and the Maycomb community is forced to allow certain concessions that other members of society don't get to share. Atticus says the Ewells "were people, but they lived like animals." (Lee 40) Bob Ewell is an alcoholic who spends his relief check on whisky, and if he weren't allowed to hunt out of season, the Ewell children would starve. Scout learns that in some special cases, like that of the Ewells, rules can be bent to accommodate certain people.

In To Kill a Mockingbird, how does Scout develop in her perspective of her Aunt Alexandra?

Scout does not appreciate her Aunt Alexandra at all at first--except for maybe her good cooking. Scout is forced to go to Finch's Landing every Christmas where the family gets together with Uncle Jack and Aunt Alexandra's family. Scout views her Aunt like "Mount Everest." This seems to suggest that her aunt is an insurmountable obstacle that must either be conquered or left alone. From a little girl's perspective, Aunt Alexandra is probably something to be left alone. Specifically, Scout describes her aunt as follows:

". . . when Jem told me about changelings and siblings, I decided that she had been swapped at birth, that my grandparents had perhaps received a Crawford instead of a Finch. Had I ever harbored the mystical notions about mountains that seem to obsess lawyers and judges, Aunt Alexandra would have been analogous to Mount Everest: throughout my life, she was cold and there" (77).

 Later, Aunt Alexandra comes to live in Scout's home with the family, partly because she feels the children need more of a motherly-type woman in the house to teach them manners. She feels that Scout should wear dresses and be taught how to become a lady. She even feels that Scout should choose better friends and Scout rebels as best as she can. But after the stress and strain of going through the vicissitudes of life in the prejudiced South, Scout matures and views her Aunt with more careful eyes in the end.

"Aunt Alexandra looked across the room at me and smiled. She looked at a tray of cookies on the table and nodded at them. I carefully picked up the tray and watched myself walk to Mrs. Merriweather. With my best company manners, I asked her if she would have some.

After all, if Aunty could be a lady at a time like this, so could I" (237).

Even though Scout and Aunt Alexandra don't see eye-to-eye on many things, Scout warms up to the good qualities that she does see. Aunt Alexandra is strong. A woman like that is someone to notice, although not always one to agree with. Scout, in fact, does learn to be a lady, too, which she wouldn't have learned without her aunt's example.