How does this poem express Anne Bradstreet's values?

Anne Bradstreet's poem expresses her values as it acknowledges the Puritan belief that woman was created to be man's helpmate, subordinate, and to be in harmony with her husband.

The very title, "To My Dear and Loving Husband", establishes the relationship that Bradstreet has with her husband: they both love each other. Yet, there is the sense that she is somewhat subordinate in that she feels that she cannot repay the love that she receives. She says, "Thy love is such I can no way repay."

Bradstreet's use of parallelism also connotes the harmony of their marriage and the relationship of wife and husband:

If ever two were one, then surely we. 
If ever man were loved by wife, then thee; 
If ever wife was happy in a man, 

That they both feel the same way about each other is reaffirmed at the poem's end:

Then while we live, in love let's so persever[e]
That when we live no more, we may live ever.

With its repetition of the sounds of the 'w's and the 'l's in these last two lines, there is a certain harmony. In fact, throughout the entire poem there is a balance that appropriately parallels the feelings of Mr. and Mrs. Bradstreet. Certainly, this symmetry is suitable to a poem that celebrates a happy and satisfying marriage.

What does Carle realize on the second night in "And of Clay We Are Created?"

During the second night Rolf Carlé spends with Azucena in Isabel Allende’s “And of Clay We Are Created,” he realizes through her suffering he cannot escape his tormented past.

As he stays with the child,who is burning in clay from the volcanic eruption, the demons of his childhood in Europe come to haunt him and he must confront them. In some ways, her plight is parallel to his. As a child, he was abused by his father and locked in an armoire for hours at a time for deeds he did not commit. This made him feel as though he was buried alive. He also sheltered his sister, who had Down’s Syndrome, from their father who found her to be a disappointment. Together, they hid under a dining room table that was draped with a large tablecloth. He witnessed evidence that his mother was abused, and he was forced to bury the dead in concentration camps.

During that second night, he realized he lived his whole adult life taking extraordinary chances to compensate for the trials he lived through during his youth. He is spent from these revelations and deteriorates into tears.

What is the significance of the title Joe Turner's Come and Gone?

Quite simply, the significance of the title is in the title of a blues song with the same name:  "Joe Turner's Come and Gone."  Even though Joe Turner is not a character in this play, he is important in understanding these African-Americans in their quest for identity after slavery in that Joe Turner was the master who enslaved Herald Loomis.

We are introduced to the song (and the connection to the title of the play) "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" in the middle of the play when Bynum and Seth sit playing dominoes.  It is Herald Loomis who comes in and gets angry at the singing of the song.  Bynum pipes up and says that he knows Herald Loomis used to be one of Joe Turner's slaves and should remember the song.  This sparks a reverie by Herald Loomis about his enslavement to Joe Turner for seven long years.  After Loomis is released, Loomis has lost everything he holds dear:  his wife has left and his daughter has, too. 

In conclusion, the reader must understand that this song (and Loomis' experiece) is important both literally and metaphorically.  Loomis' story is important in itself in that Loomis is an important character; however, the story is also a metaphor for the entire slavery experience and the general African-American search for identity after the Civil War ended.  This, of course, continued into the 1900s which is when this piece of literature is set.

Calculate how the past famine and war may have contributed to the community’s structure.

The Giver explained to Jonas that centuries before, there was a famine:

"The population had gotten so big that hunger was everywhere.  Excruciating hunger and starvation.  It was followed by warfare."

The reader can assume that this grim situation described by The Giver led to the strict rules of the Community.  In the Community, everything is closely regulated.  One of the things that is regulated is the Community's population.  Centuries before, the population had become so large that there was not enough food.  In the Community, birthmothers are the only people who can have babies.  These children are then assigned to parents.  The population cannot grow unintentionally because of this system.  Because of this, there is always enough food.  Also, because of sameness there is no war.  All of the other neighboring communities also have similar rules for sameness.

What are five songs that can be used to represent Tom Buchanan in The Great Gatsby and how do the songs relate to him?

Early in F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway, one of the story's main protagonists as well as the novel's narrator, describes his evening at the estate of Tom and Daisy Buchanan. During this socially awkward encounter, during which Nick observes the Buchanans closely, Daisy makes an off-handed comment that physically and emotionally describes her husband:

That’s what I get for marrying a brute of a man, a great big hulking physical specimen of a——‘

‘I hate that word hulking,’ objected Tom crossly, ‘even in kidding.’

‘Hulking,’ insisted Daisy

Tom is also, it is revealed, a thoroughly racist as well as elitist individual, evident in the following passages, in which the socially elitist Tom questions his guest, Nick, about the latter's occupation, only to derisively dismiss Nick's answer with yet another example of arrogance and elitism:

‘What you doing, Nick?’

‘I’m a bond man.’

‘Who with?’

I told him.

‘Never heard of them,’ he remarked decisively.

This annoyed me.

‘You will,’ I answered shortly. ‘You will if you stay in the East.’

‘Oh, I’ll stay in the East, don’t you worry,’ he said, glancing at Daisy and then back at me, as if he were alert for something more. ‘I’d be a God Damned fool to live anywhere else.’

So, songs that suggest a figure of hulking physical stature, class-conscious elitist, racist, and, as will also be revealed in Nick's narrative, an adulterer could include the following selections:

The theme of adultery has been pervasive throughout the history of rock, pop, and other musical genres. A passage from The Eagles' classic "Lyin' Eyes," however, seems particularly appropriate in describing Tom Buchanan:

Late at night a big old house gets lonely
I guess every form of refuge has its price
And it breaks her heart to think her love is only
Given to a man with hands as cold as ice

Tom is a philander while Daisy occupies their enormous, palatial estate. Their "big old house" is old, as it's in the "old money" community of East Egg, which is contrasted in Fitzgerald's novel with the "new money" atmosphere of West Egg. Tom is also, as noted, a racist, spouting theories of white superiority at the dinner table ( ". . .if we don’t look out the white race will be—will be utterly submerged. It’s all scientific stuff; it’s been proved."). Given the context in which Tom expresses these virulently racist sentiments, the lyrics from They Might Be Giants' "Your Racist Friend" could, conceivably, be applied:

It was the loveliest party that I've ever attended
If anything was broken I'm sure it could be mended
My head can't tolerate this bobbing and pretending
Listen to some bullet-head and the madness that he's saying

Another song that could be applied to the character of Tom Buchanan in light of his racist beliefs is "Deutschland erwache," which translates as "Germany Awake," and which includes the following refrain:

Germany awake from your nightmare!
Give foreign Jews no place in your Reich!

Tom's sympathies, as expressed during the dinner party at which Nick was the guest, clearly evoke sentiments consistent with those of the National Socialist (Nazi) Party of 1930s-1940s Germany.

Tom is, as noted, "old money." He has inherited his wealth, and lives, along with Daisy, a stultifying existence, bored and rich. The Forgotten Rebels' song "Bored and Rich," then, is applicable to Fitzgerald's character:

Daddy got me a job in a factory. 
He bought me a pin-up girl straight from a magazine. 
He even bought me tickets straight for the New York scene. 
Look at me, baby, look at me. 
I am pure f......g bored and rich.

Tom is a little more refined -- not much, but a little more -- than the lyrics to this song suggest, but The Forgotten Rebels did capture his essence with this profane passage. Finally, the Pet Shop Boys' "Being Boring" similarly captures, to a lesser degree, the ennui that characterizes Tom and Daisy Buchanan's life together. They are the bored rich:

I came across a cache of old photos
And invitations to teenage parties
"Dress in white" one said, with quotations
From someone's wife, a famous writer
In the nineteen-twenties

These, then, are five songs that describe the character of Tom Buchanan in The Great Gatsby.

The narrator of "The Pit and the Pendulum" is often uncertain about how much time has elapsed and about the physical details of the prison. What...

At the beginning of the story, this unfortunately does not indicate much about the state of the narrator's mind because he is stuck in absolute darkness in his cell, and thus it is impossible for him to see anything or know anything for sure about the physical details of his prison. However, despite how difficult it was, he attempted to measure out his prison, trying to determine the size and shape of the cell in which he was being held. Unfortunately, he passes out in the middle of his measuring, and when he wakes up, his "confusion of mind" has him measuring the entire cell again and thinking it was only the other half rather than a redoubling of his previous measurements. Of course, he is also drugged by his food at a couple of points, so this does not help his state of mind either.

As for the passage of time, without any windows to the outside world to allow him to see the sun, even if he was in the best state of mind, he would have had to count the seconds to know exactly how much time had passed. In absolute darkness, one can only guess at how much time has passed, and that gets harder as the time gets longer, especially when bouts of unconsciousness are thrown in to the mix.

The narrator's uncertainty can suggest that he is a bit confused, but that is most likely from the absolute darkness that he finds himself trapped in.

Who was Squanto?

Squanto was a Native American man, part of the Wampanoag Confederation, who helped the Pilgrims when they arrived in Plymouth. The Pilgrims faced many obstacles when they arrived in North America. One obstacle was dealing with unfriendly Native American tribes. Because of previous negative experiences the Native Americans had with the Europeans, the Pilgrims weren’t welcomed when they arrived. Squanto helped the Pilgrims negotiate a peace agreement with the Native Americans. This allowed the Pilgrims to settle in this area with less fear of attack.

Squanto, however, did more things to help the Pilgrims. The Pilgrims didn’t know the land or climate very well. Squanto helped them adjust to the new land. He taught the Pilgrims how to plant crops that would survive in the climate. He also helped them with fishing. Finally, he helped establish trade relations between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans. With the assistance from Squanto, the Pilgrims were able to survive and grow their settlement.

Who is the Porter and what is his speech?

The Porter in Macbeth appears in Act 2, scene 3. His speech is below:

PORTER

Here’s a knocking indeed! If a man were porter of hell-gate, he should have old turning the key. Knock, knock, knock! Who’s there, i' th' name of Beelzebub? Here’s a farmer that hanged himself on the expectation of plenty. Come in time, have napkins enough about you, here you’ll sweat for ’t. Knock, knock! Who’s there, in th' other devil’s name? Faith, here’s an equivocator that could swear in both the scales against either scale, who committed treason enough for God’s sake, yet could not equivocate to heaven. O, come in, equivocator. Knock, knock, knock! Who’s there? Faith, here’s an English tailor come hither for stealing out of a French hose. Come in, tailor. Here you may roast your goose. Knock, knock! Never at quiet. What are you? But this place is too cold for hell. I’ll devil-porter it no further. I had thought to have let in some of all professions that go the primrose way to the everlasting bonfire. Anon, anon! I pray you, remember the porter. (II.iii.1-20)

The Porter permanently exits the stage shortly after Macbeth arrives later in the scene and so this monologue is what he is most remembered for in the play. In the monologue, the porter makes many sexual euphemisms, which signals that his character is bawdy. "Roast your goose," for instance, is in reference to a prostitute, as "goose" was slang for prostitute. A "French hose" can also be read as a sexual euphemism. More prominent than anything, however, is the Porter's drunkenness. The Porter is exceptionally drunk, and this becomes clear during his interactions with Macduff and Lennox. In regards to tone, the Porter is also a desired break from the tragedy that bookends this scene, as Duncan's murder is announced after this scene. 

What is a good symbol to represent The Giver (the full book) as a whole?

There are probably many symbols that could be used to answer this question, but if I had to choose one it would be the bookshelves full of books in the Giver's room.

The books in his room represent the world's knowledge, but because they are locked up in his room and he is the only one who has access to them, they are practically worthless and at the same time they are invaluable. They represent ALL of the knowledge that the community does not have. They represent all of the knowledge that only the Giver has access to. They represent forbidden knowledge, and in Jonas's society, anything that the Elders did not give to the citizens IS forbidden knowledge.

"Jonas stared at them. He couldn't imagine what the thousands of pages contained. Could there be rules beyond the rules that governed the community?" (Ch. 10).

Jonas was literally completely dumbfounded that these existed, let alone that there could be knowledge out there that he did not have access to. I think the books represent everything the community is missing—access to knowledge.

How did the Founders strike a balance between reserving individual rights and forming a strong and long-lasting government using the Declaration of...

Thomas Jefferson, as an anti-federalist at heart, was very concerned about individual liberties. When writing the Declaration of Independence, he stressed these virtues in filing his grievances with England. This is evident in the first line of the document when he says all humans are granted the God-given rights of life, liberty, and property. The document outlines many violations of individual rights that the king has pursued, including quartering soldiers in private homes and denying colonists a fair trial. In reading the Declaration of Independence, it is clear the framers of the constitution are concerned about individual liberties.

In pursuing a new system of government, the authors of the United States Constitution debated how civil liberties could be protected while providing for an adequate federal presence. There were a number of states that did not want a strong federal government in fear of trampling individual rights. A compromise was realized when it was agreed that a Bill of Rights would be added to the document as Amendments. The Bill of Rights protects individual citizens on a number of levels. Examples include the right to a speedy trial, right to bear arms, and the freedoms of religion, speech, and press. These rights, in addition to the powers granted to the three branches of the federal government, struck a strong balance between individual rights and an adequate federal presence.

In Brave New World, what connection do locations like Obstacle Golf and the College of Emotional Engineering have to our world? What is Aldous...

Many of the locations for Huxley's A Brave New World center in and around the city of London. As with today, businesses, corporations, and government offices are housed in the center of the city. Obstacle Golf is located at the Stoke Poges Club House which is ten minutes away by helicopter, not by car (75). The College of Emotional Engineering is "housed in a single sixty-story building in Fleet Street" (78). At the bottom of this huge building are the newspapers, radio station, and the TV, Movie, and Music propaganda offices. One can infer from the placement of the CEE compared to the Obstacle Golf course that the setting is much like today's world. Businesses are in the city and golf courses are on the outside of the city where there is more room to play outside. 

However, the different social classes in the novel are physically separated from each other so that Gammas don't mix with Alphas unless in service-centered activities. For example, Gammas and Epsilons work on the Great West Road near the Hounslow Feely Studio and the Television Corporation's factory. These lower classes also take public transit systems to and from work every day, but the Alphas and Betas fly around in planes and helicopters. Also, the lower classes can't play Obstacle Golf because it is probably too far for them to get to without public transportation. The Club House might also represent today's recreational clubs for rich people--the memberships are so outrageously priced that only the wealthy can pay to play. 

Furthermore, the College of Emotional Engineering is located in the top 18 floors of the huge building on Fleet Street. It is completely separated from the lower-class people and their jobs. The positioning of the CEE and the Obstacle Golf shows that only the elite classes have access to these more privileged institutions. Even though society today claims that tolerance and equality are valued, people still separate themselves in business and in recreation by choosing to work and play away from others of different social classes. Money and social status still play a role in who is able to afford such luxuries as vacations or education today. Huxley demonstrates this concept by the way he sets up his world. He may be saying that human nature will never change; in fact, it might get worse if it is not checked.

What are the problems that contributed to violence in the story?

In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat," the narrator attributes his violent behavior to alcoholism. He states that the first black cat, Pluto, was an especially beloved pet, but over the course of a few years, the "Fiend Intemperance" caused the narrator to become more violent and irritable day by day. Under the effects of alcoholism, the narrator becomes verbally and physically abusive toward his wife. He abuses "rabbits, the monkey, or even the dog." One night when he comes home drunk, he mistreats Pluto, who bites him. In a fit of "fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured," the narrator cuts out Pluto's eye with a pen-knife. Even the realization of what drinking has led him to do does not keep him from going back to liquor. After hanging Pluto, the narrator takes on another cat  when he is "half-stupefied" from alcohol. 

While the narrator's "disease," alcoholism, sets his violent behavior in motion, once the second black cat comes to live with him, the narrator doesn't speak much of liquor as the cause of his temper and violence. Instead, it seems that the cat reminds him of his previous crimes, and those pangs of conscience lead him to give way to "the darkest and most evil of thoughts." He continues to abuse his wife. One day they go into the cellar, and there the cat "exasperated me to madness." With "a rage more than demoniacal," he buries the axe in his wife's head. In prison, awaiting death by hanging, he considers the "hideous beast whose craft had seduced me into murder." Now he is blaming his violence not on alcoholism, but on some supernatural ability of the cat to inspire his actions.

Ironically the narrator wants to blame alcohol, a disease, or the cat for his actions, but each step of the way the man chose to follow his lower instincts, even when he recognized the evil in himself, rather than take responsibility for his faults and seek to correct them. So the narrator's unwillingness to accept responsibility for his actions is what causes the downward spiral into violence and murder.

Let the `phi` operation be defined for all x and y by the equation `x phi y = (2y)/(3x)` Then `4 phi (2 phi 3) = ?`

Hello!

The first operation to be performed is that in parentheses, i.e. `2 phi 3.` By the conditions,

`2 phi 3` = (2*second operand)/(3*first operand) = (2*3)/(3*2) = 1.

Now, perform `4 phi 1:`

`4 phi 1`= (2*second operand)/(3*first operand) =(2*1)/(3*4)=1/6.

This is the answer. Note that `(4 phi 2) phi 3 = (4/12) phi 3 = (1/3) phi 3 = 6/1 = 6,` i.e. this operation isn't associative.

What is CPH4?

I assume you are referring to the drug accidentally ingested by the main protagonist (Scarlett Johansson) in Luc Besson's movie Lucy. The drug was shown to increase her brain usage to 100%.

CPH4 is actually real and its chemical name is 6-carboxy-5,6,7,8-tetrahydropterin. It is formed by an enzyme catalyzed chemical reaction, shown below:

7,8-dihydroneopterin 3'-triphosphate + H2O -> 6-carboxy-5,6,7,8-tetrahydropterin + acetaldehyde + triphosphate

Escherichia coli (or E.coli) QueD catalyzes this reaction. CPH4 is produced in the body and is needed for formation of tetrahydrobiopterin, which is a cofactor of aromatic amino acid hydroxylase. 

However, the chemical does not have the effect that was shown in the movie. It does not have any neurological effects, let alone an ability to enhance our brain powers. Thus, we still have to treat the movie as science fiction and not have any hopes of raising our brain power exponentially. At least not yet.

Hope this helps. 

Why was the German defeat at Stalingrad a turning point in the war

In World War II, Hitler split his forces in order to invade Russia.  The decision was a costly one and in essence, cost him the war.  To invade Russia meant fewer forces elsewhere, made Stalin and Russia an enemy, and put his soldiers' lives and equipment at risk.  With the invasion, supply lines grew very long, the soldiers were spread very thin, and Hitler did not anticipate the difficulties of fighting another front to the war.  The Soviet army and the people of the country dug in.  Winter, with its brutal cold, descended on the Germans. Tanks would no longer start and were useless with no fuel and the rough terrain, the Germans ran out of food and ammunition because of the long supply lines in the freezing cold, and many of Hitler's soldiers froze to death. The Russian invasion was a complete defeat for Hitler. 

Hitler's army never really recovered from the defeat at Stalingrad.  The aura of invincibility surrounding Hitler was now gone.  He could be defeated and the rest of the world now knew that they could win.

What are the similarities between hydrogen and IV-A group elements?

The positioning of hydrogen in periodic table, as an element of Group I (Alkali metals) is somewhat contentious. This is because, hydrogen shares some similarities with elements of Group I, IV-A and VII-A. It also exhibits different behavior than elements of all these groups. 

Group IV-A (also known as Group 14) consists of carbon, silicon, germanium, tin, lead, etc. These elements share certain characteristics with hydrogen. Like hydrogen, all these elements have half filled valence shells. Hydrogen has an atomic number of 1 and its electronic configuration is `1s^1` . Similarly, carbon has an atomic number of 6 and an electronic configuration of `1s^2, 2s^2, 2p^2` . When comparing the electronegativity, hydrogen and members of group IV A have similar values. The electronegativity of hydrogen is 2.2 and carbon is 2.55, etc. The electron affinity of hydrogen and carbon are also comparable. The ionization potential of hydrogen is 13.6, while that of carbon is 11.3. 

Thus, hydrogen and members of group IV-A of the periodic table share some common characteristics. 

Hope this helps. 

After one week on the ship, what does Mother have Há's older brother do for the children on board?

Há's brother works on helping the children learn to speak English.

About a third of the way into the story, in the section titled "Routine," we learn that Há and her family have been on the ship for a week. It's a tough situation: there's just barely enough food and water to keep them all alive, and it's incredibly boring.

Há explains that her mom doesn't "allow idle children, hers or anyone else's." She means that Mother hates to see kids wasting their time doing nothing, even if it's not even her own kids.

So: 

"Brother Quang begins English lessons."

The narrator doesn't tell us straightforwardly, but we can assume that it's Mother who is having Quang give the English lessons to all the kids on board. (Why else would she tell us first that Mother hates to see children being idle?)

The lessons are probably useful for the kids, who will have to assimilate quickly into the English-speaking world, not to mention they are probably also a welcome distraction. Há, however, is quickly bored by these lessons. She wishes she could just learn the easy stuff, like how to say "How are you?" or "This is a pen." Instead, Brother Quang insists on reminding the children that entering a new country without knowledge of the language is shameful.

What is the physical appearance of Demetrius in A Midsummer Night's Dream?

Demetrius is the “worthy gentleman” that Hermia’s father Egeus wants her to marry instead of Lysander, the boy she loves.

Lysander explains that Demetrius is not right for Hermia because he is in love with someone else—Helena.

Demetrius, I'll avouch it to his head,
Made love to Nedar's daughter, Helena,
And won her soul; and she, sweet lady, dotes,
Devoutly dotes, dotes in idolatry,
Upon this spotted and inconstant man. (Act 1, Scene 1)

Demetrius is an Athenian, and he seems to be very good-looking. Helena is certainly obsessed with him. There is no specific physical description of him (other than that he is Athenian), but there are plenty of descriptions of his character.

Demetrius gets involved in the mishap in the woods where Puck mixes up the lovers. Previously, Demetrius was completely in love with Helena and had no eyes for Hermia.  Puck made him think that he was in love with Hermia instead. When they wake up and leave the woods, a puzzled Demetrius explains to Egeus that he is not in love with Hermia.

But, my good lord, I wot not by what power,--
But by some power it is,--my love to Hermia,
Melted as the snow, seems to me now
As the remembrance of an idle gaud
Which in my childhood I did dote upon … (Act 4, Scene 1)

He appears to be an honest and upstanding man, matching the other descriptions of his character. He does not try to marry Hermia just because her father wants him to and it would enrich him. He is in love with Helena and he is loyal to her instead.

Demetrius may seem to be "inconstant" as Lysander said, but he is really in an impossible situation. He seems to be quite a catch, and Hermia's father really wants him to marry his daughter. Helena really wants him too, though. He must be very good-looking!

What is the name of the doctor who was imprisoned for 18 years in A Tale of Two Cities?

The doctor’s name is Alexandre Manette.

Alexandre Manette was falsely imprisoned for political reasons.  He served 18 years in prison in France.  The reason Dr. Manette was sent to the Bastille was because he saw a woman in his capacity as a doctor who turned out to be the Marquis St. Evremonde’s victim.  To keep him silent, they sent him to prison.  That time was a time of great abuses for the aristocracy in France.

"Buried how long?"

The answer was always the same: "Almost eighteen years."

"You had abandoned all hope of being dug out?"

"Long ago."

"You know that you are recalled to life?"

"They tell me so."

"I hope you care to live?"

"I can't say." (Book 1, Chapter 3)

By the time Dr. Manette was released, he was practically a ghost.  He barely knew his own name and spent most of his time making shoes.  He was hardly aware of his surroundings.  Slowly, with the help of his daughter Lucie Manette and his friend Jarvis Lorry, Manette regained most of his sanity.

That sanity was called into question when his daugther’s fiancé, who went by the name of Charles Darnay in England, told Dr. Manette his real name and family connection.  It turned out that he was a nephew of the very man who sent Dr. Manette to prison, and heir to the title of the Marquis St. Evremonde.

The news devastated Dr. Manette.  He relapsed completely, suffering from a severe case of post-traumatic stress disorder.  He returned to his cobbler’s bench and forgot who and where he was.  In his mind, he was back in prison again and not safe in England.  However, by the time Lucie and her new husband returned from prison, Jarvis Lorry had removed the cobbler’s bench and Dr. Manette was back to normal.

Dickens uses the case of Dr. Manette to put a face to the horrors and abuses of the French aristocracy pre-revolution. Dr. Manette was an innocent victim and poster child for all that was wrong about pre-revolutionary France.  The peasants rose up and took their country back, but ironically Dr. Manette’s family was caught in the middle.  His son-in-law was lured to France and arrested, and if not for Sydney Carton’s brave intervention, he would have been executed on the guillotine.

How does Macbeth's determination make him a bad person?

It is difficult to say that it is Macbeth's determination that makes him a bad person. He is more characterized by ambition, and an excessive faith in the witches, which drive him to carry out some very evil deeds. Macbeth does not really show determination to kill Duncan--indeed he is chastised by his wife in Act I, Scene 7 when he briefly decides to put off the murder. Early in the play, it is Lady Macbeth who shows determination, pushing Macbeth to murder the king and later encouraging him to put his qualms about murdering Banquo aside. Later in the play, though, Macbeth is completely determined to do whatever is necessary to maintain his power, including the murder of Macduff's family, but one might say that he had little choice by that point but to stick it out to the bitter end at that point. Having gained the crown by murder, there was no way to keep it except through further violence and murder. Yet even in the final scene, when it is revealed that he has been fooled by the witches' prophecy, he briefly refuses to fight Macduff, only doing so when he realizes that his only other option is humiliation and death. 

Elizabeth and Darcy meet several times. Which are their most important meetings?

Certainly, one of the most important meetings between Elizabeth and Darcy is their first one because it inaugurates her prejudice toward him, a prejudice that will remain in place for much of the novel.  Within her hearing, Bingley encourages Darcy to dance with Elizabeth, and Darcy replies, 

"She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me; and I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men.  You had better return to your partner and enjoy her smiles, for you are wasting your time with me."

His rudeness is atrocious, and the fact that he caught her eye just prior to insulting her seems to confirm that he doesn't care if she hears him.  When she later related the story at home, she did so "with much bitterness of spirit and some exaggeration [of] the shocking rudeness of Mr. Darcy."  From this meeting onward, Elizabeth only finds fodder for her dislike of the man.  He can do no right.

That is, until he proposes to her.  This interaction, and the letter Darcy writes to Elizabeth immediately after, is another key one.  His proposal only confirms her belief in his terrible pride, for though he "spoke of apprehension and anxiety, [...] his countenance expressed real security."  Despite his insults to her family and references to her "inferiority," he seems assured of his success, and this infuriates her.  In her rejection, she accuses him of both separating Bingley from Jane and of behaving dishonorably to Wickham.  In his letter, delivered to her the following day, he addresses both charges, and -- as angry as she is -- Elizabeth is forced to acknowledge that Darcy actually behaved honorably in both situations, especially given his lack of familiarity with Jane's character.  This causes her to reevaluate herself, and especially her own vanity in thinking she is such a good judge of character.  She says, 

"Pleased with the preference of one, and offended by the neglect of the other, on the very beginning of our acquaintance, I have courted prepossession and ignorance, and driven reason away, where either were concerned.  Till this moment, I never knew myself."

Realizing that her prejudice against Mr. Darcy, formed at their first meeting, has clouded her judgment ever since, Elizabeth resolves change going forward, for "In her own past behaviour, there was a constant source of vexation and regret [...]."

The last crucial meeting occurs at his home, Pemberley.  She visits the house with her aunt and uncle, believing the family to be away.  However, she bumps into Darcy, and their mutual embarrassment seems to betray that there has been no alteration in his feelings for her and a great alteration in her feelings for him.  She thought, 

That he should even speak to her was amazing! -- but to speak with such civility, to enquire after her family!  Never in her life had she seen his manners so little dignified, never had he spoken with such gentleness as on this unexpected meeting.

Later, when Darcy visits Elizabeth in Lambton, introducing her to his sister, the Gardiners appear to be in little doubt as to her feelings and no doubt as to his.  After this meeting, it does not take long for Elizabeth to realize that "he was exactly the man, who, in disposition and talents, would most suit her."

The book is called Pride and Prejudice, after all, so the meeting that initiates Elizabeth's prejudice against Darcy as a result of his pride, the letter that removes her prejudice, and the subsequent meeting that shows him without pride, seem to be the most important to our understanding of their relationship.

What is the function of Tiny Tim in the Christmas Carol?

Tiny Tim performs a very important function in the short story, A Christmas Carol.  He is the one who shows Scrooge in Present time (through which Scrooge is ushered by the Ghost of Christmas Present) the effect of Scrooge's stinginess on those around him. 

Scrooge can see the effect on Bob and his family of the poor wages he pays Bob Crachit.  Ill, weak, feeble and walking with a crutch, he will soon die.  Scrooge asks if there is any help for such a boy and his own earlier words are turned against him by the Spirit of Christmas Present: 

"What then? If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."
   Scrooge hung his head to hear his own words quoted by the Spirit, and was overcome with penitence and grief.

Scrooge now understands what the effects are on the whole family when he pays his help, Bob Cratchit, so poorly.  Tiny Tim illustrates for the reader what the difference is between greediness and kindness. The story is timeless, and it is so partly because this question is still relevant today.

What techniques did the Nazis use to appeal to the public?

The use of propaganda and silencing dissent were two techniques that the Nazis used to appeal to the public.

"Propaganda" is biased or skewed information intended to advance a particular political cause.  In Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler, leader of the Nazis, wrote about the power of propaganda.   He wrote that "Propaganda tries to force a doctrine on the whole people... Propaganda works on the general public from the standpoint of an idea and makes them ripe for the victory of this idea." Hitler understood that being able to "work on the general public" to embrace his ideas had to be an essential part of Nazism's appeal.  

With the help of Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's Minister of Propaganda, Hitler was able to spread a variety of messages that the German public found appealing. Films, posters, and speeches were all aimed at the public's dissatisfaction with the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I, and the presence of "outsiders" in Germany.  The message was that these "outsiders" wanted to see Germany fail.  It appealed to national identity, a vision of the past, and the belief that German future could be better if the public mobilized behind the strength of Nazism.  These were essential components of the public's attraction to the Nazi propaganda message.

Another way that the Nazis appealed to the public was through their display of strength in silencing dissenting voices.  For example, in the early 1930s, Hitler and the Nazis used tactics such as physical intimidation and violence to silence Communists.  Later on in the decade, Hitler and the Nazis focused their attempts to marginalize the Jewish population.  For example, in 1935, Hitler issued a decree to forbid the selling of Jewish newspapers in public. A year later, Jewish people were not allowed to vote in parliamentary elections. In 1938, the Nazis orchestrated the Kristallnacht demonstrations to attack Jewish businesses and homes.  These techniques sought to silence Jewish voices that would have disagreed with the Nazis.  As a result, many members of the German public believed in the strength and authority of the Nazis because they were not able or allowed to hear alternative points of view.  In this way, the silencing of dissenting voices helped to increase the appeal of the Nazis to the public.

Do you believe that the women had the worst experience during the Civil War? Why or Why not?

Both men and women experienced hardship and suffering during the Civil War.  Many men served in both the Union and Confederate armies.  While serving in the military, the men experienced the horrors of war.  Bloody battles and devastating diseases were commonplace.

Most women stayed at home while their fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons went off to battle.  At home, women faced their own hardships.  They experienced loneliness as they missed their family members who were away or who had died in battle.  Women's workloads increased because so many men were off fighting.  Food was scarce in many parts of the South.  Sometimes their backyards became battlefields.  Sherman burned cities and towns throughout the South, and many women and children had to flee.  There were also major battles in the North, such as Gettysburg.  

Some women served as volunteer nurses.  They had to work long hours and assist in medical care and surgeries with limited supplies.  A small amount of women even served as spies.

Women faced different kinds of hardships than men in many ways.  Based on the evidence, do you think women had a worse experience?  Were their hardships more difficult to endure?

In what ways was the contest between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon the first modern presidential election, and in what ways did the contest...

Scholars argue that the 1960 presidential race between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon was the very first modern presidential election due to the sudden importance of television. By 1960, the number of Americans who owned television sets in their homes had increased to 90% (Monica Davey, "1960: The First Mass Media Election," The New York Times Upfront). As are result of the growing importance of television, the presidential debates between Kennedy and Nixon were the first ever to be televised, and the results of the debate proved just how much television had changed society. Television made image the primary voter concern rather than stance on the issues. Fascinatingly, those who heard the debate on the radio felt that Nixon had won the debate due to his ability to answer questions with poise. However, those who viewed the debate on television, the vast majority of Americans, felt that Kennedy had won due to the candidates' differences in appearance, their differences in image.

Nixon's college drama coach, Albert W. Upton, was once quoted as saying to The New York Times that, during the debate, Nixon literally "looked sick, but also a little unsure" (as cited in Davey). Nixon literally looked sick because he was getting over the flu, refused to wear makeup, and was wearing a light gray suit that accented his pallor and blended in with the background of the studio. He also had a dark five o'clock shadow that made him look even more pale. In contrast, Kennedy was tanned, handsome, and wore a dark blue suit that made him stand out. Although in the debates that followed Nixon had learned his lesson and began wearing makeup and darker suits, his image as the less appealing, less confident candidate had already been solidified, showing us just how important image became to the presidential race due to popularity of television.

Television continued to evolve the election process as both Nixon and Kennedy made appearances on the early version of The Tonight Show, called The Jack Paar Show. Earlier, in 1952, while Dwight D. Eisenhower had become the first to use campaign ads in a presidential election, both Nixon and Kennedy made extensive use of them, even developing the first ads to attack their opponents, just as you see in modern elections. As Historian Theodore White once explained, television so heavily influenced politics that it became "the political process; [television is] the playing field of politics. Today, the action is in the studios, not in the backrooms" (as cited in Vivé Griffith, "The Influence of Media in Presidential Politics," The University of Texas at Austin).

Today, television, along with other forms of mass media, has become so important to elections that presidential candidates are expected to develop their image just like celebrities develop their image. Michael Silverstein, the Charles F. Grey Distinguished Service Professor in Anthropology, Linguistics and Psychology at the University of Chicago, calls the development of a presidential candidate's image "a form of branding" (as cited in William Harms, "For Presidential Candidates, Image May Trump Debate Issues," UChicago News). Silverstein further explains a presidential candidate's image is a complex projection of "personal style and language and the visual images they use to communicate their approachability with the electorate" (as cited in Harms). Scholar Dr. Roderick Hart explains that since television most commonly displays the "close up of the human face," television has made it important for a presidential candidate to portray himself/herself as human, to "be a lot warmer," to "be someone you can imagine having as a neighbor" (as cited in Griffith).

The Internet has continued to change presidential campaigns because the Internet offers a means for candidates to speak directly to the voters through Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, which helps candidates further develop their personable image (Pew Research Center, "How the Presidential Candidates Use the Web and Social Media"). Hence, as we can see, the presidential election of 1960 significantly changed modern elections by making them be primarily about image.

How does distance affect the gravity of an object on another object?

The gravitational force of attraction between two objects decreases as the distance between the objects increases, by a squared factor. For example, if the distance between two objects doubles the force of attraction will be 1/4 of what it  was previously, decreasing by a factor of 2 squared.

Here's the equation for finding the gravitational force of attraction between two objects:

`F = G (m_1m_2)/d^2`

G is the universal gravitational constant, which has a value of

`6.67 x 10^-11 (N m^2)/(kg)^2`

The force of gravity between two objects also depends on the mass of the two objects, which are represented by m1 and m2 in the equation. Each of the two objects exerts this same force on the other object, even if their masses are unequal.

How did civilians' help lead to total war?

Well, first of all, I'm not sure it did, actually. While the phrase "total war" only emerged as a term in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, seeing wide use for the first time in WW1, the killing of civilians in wartime has been a constant occurrence throughout human history.

Honestly I think this term has more to do with illusions that people in the early 20th century had about the "honor" or "chivalry" of Medieval warfare (cultivated by Medieval leaders and historians, of course), giving them the sense that in those "good old days" soldiers used to fight with honor and only killed other soldiers. The facts are nothing of the sort; rates of civilian collateral damage have been constant or falling throughout history. WW1 was unique in terms of its total number of deaths in a single conflict (a record then broken by WW2); but in terms of total homicide deaths per million population per year, even the World Wars do not contradict the trend of overall declining human violence.

It could also, counter-intuitively, have to do with the advances in moral development made during this period; while civilians had always been killed, it was not until the 20th century that people began to be upset that civilians were killed. This is a general pattern: As the world gets better, people keep saying it's getting worse, because our moral standards rise faster than our actual behavior---but our actual behavior does in fact improve.

That said, there was a strategic reason why total war was used as a strategy in the 20th century despite widespread moral opposition. The World Wars were the first wars that were more dependent upon industrial technology and materiel production than they were on sheer size of army. For most of history, the side with the most soldiers usually won, except if the other side had particularly brilliant commanders (e.g. Alexander of Macedon, Napoleon). But in the World Wars, the number of soldiers was almost irrelevant; a single bomber with half a dozen men inside could destroy an entire infantry division of several hundred. What mattered instead was industrial capacity.

And industrial capacity, of course, is a civilian activity. It was civilian workers who built and operated the factories that made tanks and bombers. Indeed, in the US in WW2, it was primarily women, and our unique willingness to employ women in our factories was part of our overwhelming industrial advantage in the war. Japan could not have matched us industrially even if they had employed women, but their refusal to do so put them even further behind than they would have been, effectively cutting their labor force in half.

Because industrial capacity was so important in the World Wars, many commanders---on both sides---employed tactics such as "strategic bombing" (carpet bombing of cities) designed to disrupt industrial production and infrastructure, regardless of the enormous civilian casualties that resulted. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were particularly dramatic examples, but more people actually died in conventional "strategic bombing" of cities such as Tokyo and Dresden.

We could imagine that maybe if civilian industry hadn't been so important for the war effort, these tactics might not have been employed... but honestly, I'm not so sure. Like I said, soldiers have been killing civilians for thousands of years.

How did popular views of property rights prevent slaves from enjoying all the freedom of the social contract?

Before the end of the Civil War and the establishment of the 13th-15th Amendments to the Constitution, African-Americans were viewed as property. For this reason, they were not afforded the civil liberties that all Americans enjoyed under the Bill of Rights. Since they were not considered citizens, or persons for that matter, slaves did not have legal rights. This is especially true of slaves in the late 17th and 18th Centuries when slave codes were more firmly established.

When you speak of a social contract, you are essentially discussing how you give permission to take away certain freedoms so that the government may protect important natural rights. In other words, while you forfeit your freedom to harm another person, or take his property, in return you are granted safety and security for the government. No such protections existed for slaves in the United States. Slaves could not own guns for protection and could not sue their masters in court for damages. Slaves were not even granted the freedom to move from place to place or legally marry. Because slaves were viewed as property, like a horse or mule, they were not participants in the social contract.

What is the similarities between the Democratic and Republicans?

Listing to the discord between the Democrats and Republicans, it would appear that it would be very difficult to find any similarities between the two parties. However, there are similarities between the two parties even though how they would go about achieving the goals differs.

Both parties want the United States to be viewed as a strong country in world affairs. They want countries to know our word means something. Both political parties want peace to exist throughout the world. They want the United States to have good relations with other countries, but not unconditionally. For example, both parties want peace in the Middle East. This peace must be reasonable for all parties involved. While they differ on how that should be achieved, they do want peace to exist.

Both parties want our economy to be strong and to grow. They want low unemployment rates, they want businesses to invest in the economy, and they want fair trade policies. While there are major differences in how to achieve these goals, the goals are similar for both parties.

Both the Republicans and the Democrats want the United States to be a great country, one that can be trusted, one that is growing in economic terms, and one that is respected around the world. Both parties express a love for our country and want to see the country and its people prosper.

How does Steinbeck show the good and bad in Curley's wife in Of Mice and Men?

This is a good question.  It is always important to look at two sides of a person. For Curley's wife's good qualities, we can say that she had dreams.  This is an important point to bear in mind, because in Steinbeck's world, very few people have dreams.  They do not have the courage to have dreams, because dreams are shattered.  In a conversation with Lennie, she says:

“Well, I ain’t told this to nobody before. Maybe I oughten to. I don’ like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella.” And because she had confided in him, she moved closer to Lennie and sat beside him. “Coulda been in the movies, an’ had nice clothes—all them nice clothes like they wear.

This dream makes her more human.  The reader is drawn in and feels compassion for her. 

When it comes to her bad qualities, there are a few.  First, she knows that she is attractive.  She uses it to flirt with the other men.  This is a bad thing to do, because she is married to the boss's son.  This means that she can get the men in trouble, but she does not care.  Second, in a telling episode, she puts Crooks down.  She even threatens him with death. She says:

“Well, you keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung upon a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.”

In short, she knows how to use her power to manipulate men.  

Curley's wife is a complex combination of good and bad.

Why do the phenotypes of many animal species change with the seasons?

To survive better, of course! Particularly in climates that have a wide range of temperatures (such as Alaska, where the record low is -80 F and the record high is 100 F), animals need to be able to change their bodies to suit the surrounding climate conditions. Most mammals grow more hair during the fall to trap more heat for the winter, then shed it during the spring to allow them to cool off better in the summer. (This is why cats and dogs cover the sofa with fur every spring.)

Many animals have seasonal breeding cycles, so that young are only born during warm times of year, when they are more likely to survive. Some insects have a life cycle of metamorphosis that is aligned with the seasons.

Some animals, such as the arctic fox, even have skin or coats that change color from brownish in the summer to white in the winter, to better camouflage in their most likely surroundings.

In all these cases, these changes are evolutionary adaptations to help the animals survive and reproduce better in their environment.

I think it's worth talking about how this comes about, and how it shows the vital distinction between genotype and phenotype. No animal changes genotype on a seasonal basis; that's simply not possible. The genes of an arctic fox remain exactly the same whether it is summer or winter. So how does the change in phenotype come about?

There had to have been a mutation that changed gene expression---turning some genes on and others off---based on some signal that's correlated with the seasons. Perhaps the gene responds to sunlight, or temperature. Then individuals with that new mutation survived a little better than their counterparts without it, and so more of their genes were found in the next generation, and then even more in the next, and so on. Some of these changes are so complex that they must have involved many different genes, probably evolving for a totally different reason and then being co-opted thousands or even millions of years later to perform the seasonal change.

How does Ralph react to the first hunt in which he participates in Lord of the Flies?

While Ralph has placed the idea of hunting beneath the importance of building shelters and maintaining the fire, he becomes very excited during the hunt.

In Chapter Seven the boys climb the mountain in search of the beast. On the way, Roger detects the droppings of a pig; Jack then tells Ralph that they need meat and should pursue the pig. When a pig comes crashing through the brush, "Ralph found he was able to measure the distance coldly and take aim." When the pig nears him, Ralph hurls the "foolish wooden stick" that he has been carrying; it hits the large snout of the boar, causing it to squeal and veer into the covert off the trail. The other boys see it and begin to shout. 

Ralph was full of fright and apprehension and pride....
"I hit him all right. The spear stuck in. I wounded him!"
He sunned himself in their new respect and felt that hunting was good after all.

Clearly, Ralph has been affected by the atavistic part of his nature that loves to kill and inflict pain. This savage instinct is obviously inherent in him since he has previously demonstrated no cruelty or meanness as have Roger and Jack. This demonstration of Ralph's excitement in the hunt presages much of what is to come in Golding's narrative.

After reading the attached document, analyze the following points about the German argument against the Treaty of Versailles. How will...

The Treaty of Versailles was the agreement that was signed at the end of World War I. It placed blame on the war squarely on the shoulders of Germany and exacted great punishments that harmed the country and its people. The Germans, almost immediately, protested the potential damage outlined in the treaty.

According to these complaints, the Treaty had the effect of making Germany a debtor slave to the other powers of Europe. In referencing the attached document, (Comments of the German Delegation to the Paris Peace Conference on the Conditions of Peace,) this argument is clearly focused with the following points:  (#1)

• Germany will be administered like a bankruptcy case by the victorious nations of France and England.


• Germany must pay a penalty, or reparation, the amount of which is arbitrary and capricious in nature


• The control of Germany's rivers, and construction of infrastructure by outside powers will hamper Germany's economic development


• The property of German citizens abroad will be annexed and they will not be permitted to conduct trade with the civilized world.

While outlining the economic difficulty that Germany will endure under the treaty, the Germans point to how Wilson's vision for peace was compromised. The following points were made about that contradiction.  (#2)

• Wilson did not place blame on a single country for starting the war, but rather the institutions and alliances that existed prior. The treaty places blame on Germany.


• Wilson's vision for peace was that the countries of Europe would be treated equally and have common participation in economic benefits to ensure peace. The treaty does not allow Germany this equality and participation.


• Wilson's vision for peace included a League of Nations that will meet to guarantee that differences are settled amicably. Germany protested that they would not be invited to that assembly.


• Wilson's vision of self-determination does not seem to apply to Germany.

Near the beginning of the document, an appeal is made that the fundamental law of rights should be applied. The writer makes the case that because there are innate rights that individuals possess, these fundamental rights should be applied to states. These rights include the right of self-preservation and self-determination. (#3)

The issue of whether Germany was being treated fairly is obviously an opinion question. It is also a question that is easier to answer in hindsight. All of the countries of Europe were devastated by the events of World War I. Their economies were severely damaged, infrastructure and property were in disrepair, millions were dead, and debt was acquired. It was in the best interests of the victors to recoup some of this damage from Germany. It was also in their best interests at the time for them to put Germany in proverbial shackles while they sought to recover. This was a very shortsighted vision, however, as it did not take into consideration the long-range consequences of such action.

Germany really was not being treated fairly. President Woodrow Wilson was the architect of a plan for peace in Europe that could have led to different outcomes. The European powers ignored most of the points made by Wilson and chose revenge instead. They looked out for their own interests. Germany was disarmed, unable to protect itself. Germany lost territory, which allowed hundreds of thousands of Germans to be ruled by foreign powers. While Britain and France were allowed to recover from the war, the treaty made it nearly impossible for Germany to heal politically or economically.

One should not dismiss the psychological impact of the treaty on Germany either. Germans were made to feel ashamed and inferior to the other powers of Europe because of the Guilt Clause. All of these things, when taken together, led to political and social unrest in Germany that led to the establishment of a fascist regime in the 1930's. (#4)

How did Holmes and Watson solve the mystery of the "speckled band?"

When Miss Helen Stoner brought her case to Mr. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson, Holmes had some suspicions about what might be happening to her. Miss Stoner fears that someone is trying to kill her. She has recently become engaged and while sleeping in her sister's room she hears strange sounds in the night. Miss Stoner is afraid that whatever killed her sister while she was engaged to be married is coming to kill her as well.

When Miss Stoner leaves and her stepfather angrily bursts into the apartment, threatening Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson, Holmes naturally wonders why Dr. Roylott would have been so angry about Helen's visit. Holmes and Watson then visit the estate where Miss Stoner and Dr. Roylott live and inspect the premises. They agree to spend the night in Miss Stoner's room to try and hear the same strange sounds that have her so worried. They do hear animals romping outside--Miss Stoner explained that her stepfather kept many exotic pets-- before a whistling and clanging disturbs them. Discerning that the sound is coming from a grate in the wall, Holmes whacks at it with his cane.

On the other side, Dr. Roylott is bitten by the now-angry swamp adder he was trying to send through the wall. When Holmes and Watson emerge from Helen's room, they find Dr. Roylott dead and wearing a spotted yellow bandanna around his forehead-- the speckled band. 

Holmes often solves his cases quite early in investigation, but still must prove himself to be right by allowing events to play out to some extent. This was just one such case where Holmes had put together the suspect, motive, and means long before the moment when Dr. Roylott planned to strike, but needed to catch him in the act. When Holmes and Watson finally see Dr. Roylott dead in his room, the case has officially been solved and remedied. 

What do we learn about Rolf's past?

In the short story “And of Clay We Are Created” by Isabel Allende the reader experiences foreshadowing of Rolf Carlé’s past at the end of the first paragraph.

And every time we saw her on the screen, right behind her was Rolf Carlé,who had gone there on assignment, never suspecting that he would find a fragment of his past, lost thirty years before

Rolf grew up in Europe where he was exposed to the atrocities of war. He saw evidence of his mother being abused and was forced to bury the dead in concentration camps. Ultimately, his mother sent him away, abandoning his sister.

The parallel to Azencia’s plight occurred when he was a young child. His father was an abusive man who used his belt as punishment on the young Rolf, and who locked him in a dark armoire for hours for deeds he did not commit. Those hours spent in the darkness with his eyes closed and his ears covered, so that he could escape the sound of his heartbeat, were torture. In addition, he had a sister, Katharina, who was born with Down’s Syndrome. She was a disappointment to her father but Rolf sheltered and protected her to escape their father’s outrage. Only when Azucena, who was buried in clay, released her fear of death was he able come to terms with his darkest days. Her plight allowed him to release the pain of his youth.

How does Charles Dickens represent the importance of Christmas throughout the book A Christmas Carol?

Christmas is one of the most important themes of A Christmas Carol.  Charles Dickens used Scrooge's nephew, Fred, to show the importance of Christmas throughout the story.  He also used other characters to do this.  At the beginning of the story, Fred visited his uncle to wish him a merry Christmas.  Scrooge made it clear that he did not care for Christmas.  Fred told his uncle about the joys of Christmas.  He told him that it was a time for kindness and giving.  He explained that though he was poor, he believed Christmas to be wonderful.

Later Scrooge was visited by the first spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Past.  This spirit showed him Christmases in his past, such as when he went home to live with his family and the Fezziwig party.

Scrooge was then visited by the Ghost of Christmas Present.  He saw that though the Cratchit family and his nephew Fred were poor, they still enjoyed the simple joys of Christmas.  They still valued that special time.

After Scrooge was visited by the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come, he begged for redemption.  He promised to "honour Christmas" and change his life.  When he was given a second chance, he became a man who loved and valued Christmas.  He become generous and kind.  From then on, Scrooge "[kept] Christmas well."

What two reasons does Dally give to try to convince Johnny not to turn himself in? (two quotes)

1. Dally says Greasers get it worse than anyone else.


2. Johnny will become "hardened" in prison like Dally.

In Chapter 6, Dally comes to visit Ponyboy and Johnny at the abandoned church. When Dally arrives, he takes the boys to eat at Dairy Queen. Seemingly out of nowhere, Johnny says, "We're goin' back and turn ourselves in." (Hinton 87) Dally is shocked at Johnny's statement. Johnny explains that he thinks he has a good chance of getting off easy if Cherry and Ponyboy testify that he acted in self-defense. Dally becomes upset and explains to Johnny that he is a Greaser and that Greasers "get it worse than anyone." Johnny tells Dally that it isn't fair to Ponyboy and his family that they remain in hiding. Dally continues to explain that if Johnny were to turn himself in, he would be taken to prison where he would become "hardened." Dally fears that Johnny would become callous and violent like himself if he were to go to jail. Before Johnny gets a chance to turn himself in, they see the abandoned church on fire and attempt to save the children trapped inside.

What are some properties of phospholipids?

Phospholipids are made of two fatty acid chains that are attached to a glycerol "head." The glycerol of a phospholipid is attached to a phosphate group, hence the name phospholipid. Fatty acid chains are chains of hydrocarbons.

Phospholipids display both hydrophobic and hydrophilic properties. In other words, phospholipids are amphipathic. The glycerol molecule and phosphate group are hydrophilic, which means they are attracted to water. The fatty acid chains are hydrophobic.

For this reason, when put in a solution, phospholipids tend to arrange themselves into two layers. The hydrophilic phosphate heads tend to arrange themselves outwards toward the solvent. The hydrophobic fatty acid tails tend to arrange themselves inwards as a means of getting away from the water. This is how the phospholipid bilayers of cell membranes are formed.

Discuss the characters of Boxer and the sheep with regard to their use of language, both as listeners and speakers, in the novel, Animal Farm.

It is both tragic and sad that Boxer and the sheep become mere pawns in the hands of the tyrannical Napoleon and his fawning acolytes because of their poor intelligence. 

It is evident from the outset that Boxer and the sheep struggle to learn, let alone have insight into, the underlying principles of Animalism. At best, they display only a shallow appreciation thereof. Their lack of intelligence does not allow them to question and attempts to teach them are largely unsuccessful, as illustrated in the following extracts:

Their most faithful disciples were the two cart-horses, Boxer and Clover. These two had great difficulty in thinking anything out for themselves, but having once accepted the pigs as their teachers, they absorbed everything that they were told, and passed it on to the other animals by simple arguments.

Boxer could not get beyond the letter D. He would trace out A, B, C, D, in the dust with his great hoof, and then would stand staring at the letters with his ears back, sometimes shaking his forelock, trying with all his might to remember what came next and never succeeding. On several occasions, indeed, he did learn E, F, G, H, but by the time he knew them, it was always discovered that he had forgotten A, B, C, and D. Finally he decided to be content with the first four letters, and used to write them out once or twice every day to refresh his memory.

It was also found that the stupider animals, such as the sheep, hens, and ducks, were unable to learn the Seven Commandments by heart.

It is clear that Boxer was a good listener and could understand the bare basics. It is for this reason that he adopted, through the course of the novel, two maxims which he lived by, 'I will work harder' and 'Napoleon is always right.' This approach was obviously very satisfying to the pigs for it meant that Boxer would not pose any threat at all. His loyalty was unquestionable.

As for the sheep, they were used by Squealer to inanely repeat 'Four legs good, two legs bad' and later, 'Four legs good, two legs better. 'The first expression was mostly used during meetings whenever a difficult issue was raised or when Snowball wanted to make an important point. They were therefore essentially used as tools by the pigs to drown out any resistance. They were quite good at repeating the phrase on a signal from Squealer. The second phrase was repeated once the pigs started walking on their hind legs and the commandment was adjusted to suit them. The sheep's constant bleating was used to remind the other animals of the pigs' superiority.

There are few occasions in which Boxer can be said to have uttered some resistance. One was when Squealer branded Snowball a traitor and mentioned that he had been in cahoots with Jones fronm the start. Boxer responded: 

‘I do not believe that Snowball was a traitor at the beginning,’ he said finally. ‘What he has done since is different. But I believe that at the Battle of the Cowshed he was a good comrade.’
‘Our Leader, Comrade Napoleon,’ announced Squealer, speaking very slowly and firmly, ‘has stated categorically — categorically, comrade — that Snowball was Jones’s agent from the very beginning — yes, and from long before the Rebellion was ever thought of.’
‘Ah, that is different!’ said Boxer. ‘If Comrade Napoleon says it, it must be right.’ 

Another instance was after the Battle of the Windmill. Once their hard work had been destroyed by Frederick and his men and Squealer spoke about the animals' victory, Boxer asked:

‘What victory?’ said Boxer. His knees were bleeding, he had lost a shoe and split his hoof, and a dozen pellets had lodged themselves in his hind leg.
‘What victory, comrade? Have we not driven the enemy off our soil — the sacred soil of Animal Farm?’
‘But they have destroyed the windmill. And we had worked on it for two years!’

Tragically, it was statements such as these which turned suspicion on Boxer for, at one point, he was attacked by Napoleon's dogs but he fought them off, but when he fell ill, the reward for all his hard work and dedication was to be sold to the knackers, the proceeds used by the ruthless pigs to buy a case of whisky.

The sheep never offered any resistance except when some of them confessed during Napoleon's brutal purge:

Then a sheep confessed to having urinated in the drinking pool — urged to do this, so she said, by Snowball — and two other sheep confessed to having murdered an old ram, an especially devoted follower of Napoleon, by chasing him round and round a bonfire when he was suffering from a cough. They were all slain on the spot.

They were, on the whole, used to benefit the unscrupulous and greedy pigs. 

How were CFCs discovered as the cause of the ozone depletion?

In the 1970's, scientist Mario Molina set out to discover exactly what happened to the copious amounts of chloroflourocarbons (CFCs) that had been released into the atmosphere since their invention in the 1930's and especially after World War II where the popularity of CFC use skyrocketed. In 1973, a colleague of Molina's, F. Sherwood Rowland, suggested that Molina theorize what would happen if the chemicals had dispersed into the atmosphere. Molina hypothesized that if the CFCs were to get into the atmosphere, it would take so long for them to decompose that UV light from the sun would break them down with one of the byproducts, chlorine, reacting with ozone to cause ozone depletion.

 Upon gathering data from the atmosphere, not only did Molina and Rowland find CFCs that had not broken down yet, but they found confirmation that after breaking down, the byproducts did react with ozone and had been contributing to the depletion of the ozone layer. After this discovery, other scientist were able to verify the accuracy of Molina's and Rowland's work as well as perform further research on CFCs and their role in causing ozone depletion. While it was confirmed in 1987 that chlorine was directly responsible for the deterioration of the ozone, it was not until 1996 that CFCs were officially named as a major contributor of the chlorine in the atmosphere. 

Can you please suggest a good thesis statement for my project? My project is about the effects of terrorism on the education sector in Pakistan.

A good thesis statement will summarize the argument of your paper. Think of it this way: your thesis should guide the reader throughout the body of your essay, and help them contextualize the information you provide.

That being said, your thesis statement should reflect the specific argument you will be making in regards to terrorism and the education sector in Pakistan. Will you be arguing that terrorism has a negative effect? If so, a good thesis statement might be: "Terrorism has had a negative impact on the education sector in Pakistan." You don't have to provide a great deal of information here; remember, you are just laying the groundwork for the rest of your paper, where you will support your claims with evidence. However, it is always a good idea to follow up your thesis statement with a brief outline of the points you will make. For example: "Specifically, terrorism contributes to poverty, and therefore the inability of families to pay for school tuition. Also, the anti-education attitudes of terrorists, combined with their penchant for violence, causes many to forgo education out of fear."

Last, you may want to narrow your topic down to a specific terrorist group or ideology. "Terrorism" is, after all, an extremely broad topic. A more specific thesis statement could be: "Taliban terrorism has had a negative impact on the education sector in Pakistan."

Hope this helps!

When Charlie comes to visit, how does Lyddie react?

In chapter 4, when Lyddie is working at the tavern, Charlie surprises her by showing up for a visit. The two meet in the kitchen, and the cook and Willie are there as well; Mistress Cutler might be coming in and out at any moment, too. Because there is no privacy, the conversation is particularly awkward. Lyddie says kind things to Charlie that aren't true, such as that he looks like he's grown. She notices that he has a better hair cut than he used to receive from her, and that bothers her. Charlie hasn't been home, nor has he heard from their mother, but he has seen their neighbor Luke, who has been checking on the house for them. Lyddie doesn't like to hear of anyone having climbed into their cabin through the window, even if it was Luke and he was doing it to help them. Lyddie is distressed that Charlie looks so thin and that he hasn't grown much. She wants to discuss their personal situations with him, but she can't really talk about anything that matters. After Charlie leaves, Lyddie thinks of many things she wishes she had talked to him about. His visit leaves her feeling lonelier than ever.

A solution of barium hydroxide contains 5.2 x 10^25 hydroxide ions, how many grams of barium hydroxide were originally dissolved?

Barium hydroxide has a chemical formula of `Ba(OH)_2` . This means that each mole of barium hydroxide contains 1 mole of barium and 2 moles of hydroxide ions. Also, one mole of any substance contains an Avogadro's number of atoms (or sub-units), that is, 6.023 x 10^23 atoms.

Here, the solution contains 5.2 x 10^25 hydroxide ions.

Using unitary method, 6.023 x 10^23 atoms are in 1 mole, then 5.2 x 10^25 atoms would be in:

number of moles = `(5.2 xx 10^25)/(6.023 xx 10^23) = 86.34`

Thus, there are (about) 86.34 moles of hydroxide ions in the solution. This means, there are only (about) 43.2 moles (= 86.34/2) of barium in the solution and only 43.2 moles of barium hydroxide was dissolved initially.

Molecular weight of barium hydroxide is 171.34 gm/mole (= 137.34 + 2 x 16 + 2 x 1).

Thus the mass of barium hydroxide, initially dissolved  = 43.2 x 171.34 

= 7,401.9 grams.

Hence about 7,402 grams of barium hydroxide were dissolved originally.

Hope this helps. 

Can anyone please tell me what I would need to say or include in a letter from The Chorus in Oedipus Rex, to Tiresias? What would be the mood, and...

To a certain degree, this depends on at what point in the play they are writing the letter. If you assume that they are writing at the beginning of the play, they might want to cover the following points:

• Opening: Since they will be asking Teiresias for help, they should probably begin by flattering him. They should praise his wisdom and the way he is close to the gods and has the gods' favor. They should also remind him that he has always been a good friend to Thebes.


• Next, they should describe the situation of the plague afflicting Thebes, emphasizing how it is harming the city and evoking pity by description of innocent victims and their desperation. 


• Next, they should make a request that Teiresias visit their city and help them find the cause of the plague. They should flatter him by saying that he is the only person wise enough to do this. They should also mention that his being favored by the god Apollo makes him likely to succeed in this, as Apollo is associated with healing.


• They should conclude by promising him hospitality and aid with his journey. 

Did the ghost really murder his wife? If yes, then why?

The Canterville ghost did really kill his wife. When the sweet Virginia asks him about it, he says:

 'Well, I quite admit it,' said the ghost, 'but my wife was not very nice, you know, and she knew nothing about cookery. However, it is all over now, and I don't think it was very nice of her brothers to starve me to death.'

This, on the surface, is a light hearted story with Wilde's characteristic comic touch. The ghost killed his wife because she didn't know how to cook. At first, we might laugh. 

However, Wilde really doesn't make light of this murder. We learn right away that the ghost had to pay a price: her brothers starved him to death. But then he pays a steeper price, for he must wander forever as a ghost, not alive, but not dead, somewhere between human and inhuman, unless someone innocent and pure redeems him. He can never get rid of his guilt, never be at peace, until he can die. We know that he is guilty--that killing his wife is not a joke--because of his desperate desire to be at rest. 

What are some quotes that demonstrate Romeo's impulsive personality?

Romeo's behavior throughout Romeo and Juliet is marked by impulsivity. At the beginning of the play, he is besotted with Rosaline, an unseen character, but quickly falls out of love with her after he glimpses Juliet. Their love affair and marriage are hasty, and Romeo continues to act impulsively.

At the end of the play, he has been exiled from Verona for killing Tybalt. In Act V, Balthasar brings him the (false) news that Juliet is dead, and Romeo immediately sets into motion plans to return to Verona. Balthasar does not know what Romeo's plans are, but he notices that Romeo is acting in an irrational way and says to him, "I do beseech you, sir, have patience./Your looks are pale and wild and do import/Some misadventure" (V.1.28-30). In other words, Balthasar sees that Romeo is becoming unhinged, and Balthasar begs (or "beseeches") him to be patient because Romeo seems to be heading towards trouble. Romeo answers, "Tush, thou art deceived. Leave me, and do the thing I bid thee do" (V.1.31-32). Romeo does not heed Balthasar and ignores any advice to slow down.

Romeo then goes to an apothecary, or druggist, to buy poison. The apothecary does not want to sell Romeo the poison he asks for and says, "Such mortal drugs I have, but Mantua’s law/Is death to any he that utters them" (V.1.70-71). Romeo answers him, "The world is not thy friend, nor the world’s law./The world affords no law to make thee rich./Then be not poor, but break it, and take this" (V.1.76-78). Romeo knows the apothecary is poor and plays on his poverty to convince him to sell Romeo the drugs that will kill him.

Had Romeo been less impulsive, he might have still been alive when Juliet woke up from the drug that she had taken. It is in part his heedless impulsivity that drives the action towards tragedy.

Water flows through a cylinder pipe of radius 0.74 cm. It fills a 12 litre bucket in 4 minutes. Calculate the speed of water through the pipe in...

We are given the volumetric flow rate to be: 

`(12L)/(4 minutes) = 3 L/min`

Also since our final answer has to be in centimeters, we have to convert the volumetric flowrate obtained above into square centimeters: 

`3L = 3000cm^3`

Therefore the volumetric flowrate is:

`3000 (cm^3)/min`

In order to determine the speed of the water, we have to first know that the volume of the cylinder is: 

`V = pi * r^2 * h`

`pi = 3.14`

`r = 0.74cm` ( r = raduis)

`V = 3000 (cm^3 )/min`  Note in this equation V is volumetric flowrate, not volume.

Now we need to determine, h - the height: 

`h = (3000/ (pi *(0.74)^2 ))`

`h = 1744.69 (cm)/min`

We can round off the above answer to as the following: 

`h = 1745 (cm)/min`

The speed of the water going through the pipe is 1745 cm/min

How does the princess feel about the young man in the short story "The Lady or the Tiger"?

The princess, in Frank Stockton's short story "The Lady or the Tiger," faces a dilemma as her lover is tried in her father's arena of justice. The young man has been accused of loving the princess. According to the princess's father, a "semi-barbaric" king, the arena is the perfect form of justice. The accused chooses between one of two doors. Behind one door is a tiger which kills him, proving his guilt. From behind the other door comes a lady who promptly marries him, thus guaranteeing his innocence.

The princess is so much in love with the young man that she uses her "power, influence, and force of character" to determine which door holds the tiger and  which the lady. She also knows who the lady is and is quite jealous, and, because of her "savage blood," intensely dislikes the woman. The end of the story hinges on whether the reader believes the princess would let the man she loves choose the tiger and be torn to bits, or the lady, and have to witness a wedding.

The reader has to decide the princess's true nature. Would she show pity for her beloved or simply let the man die a brutal death to keep him from marrying someone else?  

How can the story of Henrietta Lacks influence the way we think about global health and health promotion/disease prevention?

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot as well as telling the story of the HeLa cell line also reflects on how cultural assumptions and circumstances affect the quality of medical care. 

In Skloot's book, the medical establishment is portrayed as well-educated and belonging to a generally white upper-middle class. The poor, rural black Lacks family is shown as receiving sub-par medical care due to not only poverty but lack of cultural capital and education. Henrietta's tumor was far advanced by the time when she received treatment, meaning that she was killed by a cancer that has a very high 5-year survival rate among wealthier and better educated women. 

As wealthier countries attempt to fund or provide health care for developing countries, especially the global south, we can apply the lessons we find in Skloot's book. First, we can understand that cultural differences and low educational levels can be obstacles to treatment, both in terms of willingness of patients to access treatment and also to their compliance with care plans. Next, Lack's example shows that poverty makes access to health care logistically difficult especially for people in rural communities. This suggests on a global level that putting a sophisticated medical center in a large city may not actually help rural residents who lack access to transportation and communication. Finally, the combination of difficulty of access and lack of understanding, causing unwillingness to seek treatment, may allow epidemic diseases to spread in rural arras for long periods before they are identified and treated.

Thus the lesson for developed countries is that when helping developing nations it is necessary to create systems of community-based health care and focus as much on education and building trust in smaller communities as simply providing shiny new health care technology in major urban areas. 

What is the relationship between Kit and and William in The Witch of Blackbird Pond? How do they feel about each other?

When William first sees Kit at Meeting, he is impressed and entranced by Kit. Kit is different from any of the girls in Wethersfield, and he is especially impressed by her manner of dress, as she is dressed in beautiful, opulent, and colorful clothes, unlike any of the modestly dressed townsfolk in Wethersfield. Upon seeing her and falling instantly "in love," William asks permission to call on Kit. 

However, when William calls on Saturday evenings Kit finds him boring and has trouble making conversation. William is content to sit quietly and look at her, but Kit is bored and annoyed that he is there most evenings. The only time that Kit shows any admiration for William is when he stands up to Matthew.

William, who is wealthy and of high social standing, takes it for granted that Kit will want to marry him and begins building a large house for them.

When Kit is accused of being a witch, she hopes that William will come to her rescue; however, he doesn't want any association with her that might damage his social status.

Once Kit is acquitted, William returns to call on Kit, but she no longer wants anything to do with him, knowing that she can't depend on him. 

How does Emily react to her father's death in "A Rose for Emily"?

Emily's reaction to the death of her father is one of denial and clinging to unrealistic expectations; it is also very telling of her state of mind and serves as a foreshadowing of what is to come with Homer. 

The first thing we find out is that the only thing Emily is left with, upon the death of her father, is just the house. The family, whose members considered themselves to be "mightier" than the rest of the townsfolk, was apparently all about appearances. The finances must have failed, for Emily was left, essentially, destitute. 

At last they could pity Miss Emily. Being left alone, and a pauper, she had become humanized. Now she too would know the old thrill and the old despair of a penny more or less.

That fact aside, notice what happens to Emily upon the death of her father. 

Miss Emily met [the ladies offering condolences] at the door, dressed as usual and with no trace of grief on her face. She told them that her father was not dead.

Miss Emily lived with the body of her father inside her home for a number of days before she is forced to give it up for proper burial. At this point, she is in complete denial of his death. She is not dressed in mourning, she is not upset, and she even expresses these outlandish beliefs to others. 

She did that for three days, with the ministers calling on her, and the doctors, 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.

The use of the word "quickly" is one subject to interpretation. Why so fast? Was it because the body was already decomposing? If so, imagine the situation, years later, when it is Homer Barron's dead body that is left in the house to decompose for years until it turns almost into dust. 

Is it because they feared that Emily would steal the body? If so, what kind of neighbors are the people of Jefferson to fear this sort of thing and not call a mental institution to go and get Emily?

Is it to hide the fact and let the people forget about it quicker? Probably so. Or it may have been mere practicality so that, once she calmed down again, the fight over the body might not be resumed. This incident reveals the small-town mentality that Faulkner embodies in the townsfolk narrator of this story. 

Therefore, Emily's reaction is that she denies the death, keeps the body, and expects to continue living as usual until she is forced to snap out of her mindset and finally accept what has happened. This is indicative of Emily's extremely codependent personality, of her morbid inability to let go, and of her psychological inability to change and move forward. 

Why weren't T.J. and his little brother Claude let in on the bus prank in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry?

Stacey does not tell Claude about the prank with the school bus because he thinks that T.J. talks too much and if he told Claude he would have to tell T.J. too.

In the beginning of the story, the children get their clothes dirty when the white school’s bus gets too close to them.  The white children have a bus, but the African American children do not.

“’Cause they like to see us run and it ain’t our bus,” Stacey said, balling his fists and jamming them tightly into his pockets. (Ch. 1)

The children decide to pull a prank on the bus to get back at it.  Cassie asks Stacey if he is going to tell T.J. and Claude about the plan, and he explains why he will not.

Stacey shook his head. “T.J.’s my best friend, but he’s got no stomach for this kinda thing. He talks too much, and we couldn’t include Claude without T.J.” (Ch. 3)

Stacey’s plan is for the kids to sneak out on their lunch break and dig holes in the road.  It is raining, and they expect the bus to hit one of the holes.  The bus does indeed hit the new pothole and breaks down.  The white children will have no bus until it is fixed.

When their mother finds out, she says she is glad it happened.  However, that night they learn that there are some white men out for revenge.  The children become worried that their prank may have some serious consequences.

Cassie wants to tell her mother.  While she is churning butter, her mother asks her if she is sick, but she just can’t bring herself to tell her what happened.  She does not want to break the promise she made to her brother.  Later T.J. tells them that Sam Tatum was tarred and feathered by the white men.  A man named Mr. Morrison comes to stay with them to help out, but he is really there for protection.

Why is Rikki-tikki so determined to undertake the mission of destroying Nag and Nagaina in "Rikki-tikki-tavi"?

Rikki is determined to destroy Nag and Nagaina because it is his instinct, and because they are threatening his people.

We are told that mongooses all want to be a house mongoose.  I am sure it is a cushy job.  A mongoose’s instinct and will in life is to kill snakes.  It is part of protecting the house, and it also protects the mongoose.

When Nag and Nagaina see Rikki, they know they are in trouble.  The cobra pair were doing pretty well before Rikki arrived.  They laid a bunch of eggs and were seemingly safe, except for if the people saw them.  Rikki’s arrival changed all of that.  Rikki was an immediate and serious threat.

Nag was thinking to himself, and watching the least little movement in the grass behind Rikki-tikki. He knew that mongooses in the garden meant death sooner or later for him and his family, but he wanted to get Rikki-tikki off his guard.

Of course, Nag and Nagaina are not completely innocent.  They eat birds’ eggs, and that is the same as murder to Darzee, his wife, and Rikki.  Rikki eats eggs too, as Nag points out.  It is the nature of the animal kingdom that everything eats everything smaller than it.

The snakes and mongoose pit themselves against one another, and the next thing you know it is a fight to the death.  Nag and Nagaina threaten Rikki’s people, and he can’t tolerate that.  His job is to protect the people.

They sat stone-still, and their faces were white. Nagaina was coiled up on the matting by Teddy's chair, within easy striking-distance of Teddy's bare leg, and she was swaying to and fro singing a song of triumph.

Rikki kills Nag, and then has to deal with Nagaina.  She is dangerous, because she is wary of Rikki and has to defend her eggs.  Rikki uses them to trick her.  He hopes that she will be so overcome with grief when he destroys them that she will not be able to think straight.

Nagaina takes her last egg and flees into her hole, and Rikki has no choice but to follow.  This shows real determination and courage, because she knows the hole much better than he does and it is dangerous to fight in a confined space. None of the animals expect him to win, but he emerges and Nagaina is dead.

What role does the Fool play in Act 1 of King Lear?

The Fool shows up late in Act I, after Lear has made his mistake and given his kingdom and his power to his two ungrateful daughters. He has also disowned the third daughter, Cordelia, who actually loves him. By the time the Fool appears on the scene, Goneril has already turned on Lear, and Lear is making plans to leave her court.

The Fool's role is to function as a truth teller, as Cordelia did earlier. He tells Lear what the audience already knows, that he should never have given away his power. He tells Lear that he is a fool, and tells him not to believe everything he hears. When Lear asks, are you calling me a fool, the Fool says: "All thy other titles thou hast given away that thou wast born with."

He also warns Lear that he will get no better reception with his daughter Regan than with Goneril, another bit of truth. 

Should the reader feel empathy towards Jonathan Small?

In Chapter Eleven of "The Sign of Four," the reader meets Jonathan Small for the first time. While Holmes had made it clear that Small has played a pivotal role in the murders, one cannot help but feel sympathy for him. On capture, for instance, Holmes says to Small that he is sorry for what has happened, to which Small replies:

"And so am I, Sir," he answered, frankly. "I don't believe that I can swing over the job. I give you my word on the book that I never raised hand against Mr Sholto...I had no part in it, sir. I was as grieved as if it had been my blood-relation...It was done, and I could not undo it again."

Here, the reader sees a softer side to Small. He is saddened by Sholto's death, repentant of the past, and makes a religious reference to the Bible, i.e. "the book," which suggests that he is a man of morals.

But the reader's sympathy for Small does not last long. In the final chapter, for instance, Small's true colours are revealed when he throws the jewels in the river so that Miss Morstan, the rightful owner, cannot take them from him. As Small says:

It is my treasure; and if I can't have the loot I'll take darned good care that no one else does.

This selfish and materialistic attitude contrasts sharply with Small's earlier portrayal. But Small has had a difficult life, as he later relates, which may prompt the reader to feel some small sympathy towards him. His time in India, for example, was one of great stress and uncertainty as he was caught up in the Great Mutiny. It cannot detract, however, from his criminal activities, which resulted in the deaths of two people, even if he did not directly end their lives.

`cos(x + pi/4) - cos(x - pi/4) = 1` Find all solutions of the equation in the interval [0, 2pi).

`cos(x+pi/4)-cos(x-pi/4)=1 , 0<=x<=2pi`

We will use the following identity,

`cos(A+B)=cosAcosB-sinAsinB`

`cos(x+pi/4)-cos(x-pi/4)=1`

`rArr (cos(pi/4)cos(x)-sin(pi/4)sin(x))-(cos(pi/4)cos(x)+sin(pi/4)sin(x))=1`

`rArr(cos(x)-sin(x))/sqrt(2)-(cos(x)+sin(x))/sqrt(2)=1`

`rArr(cos(x)-sin(x)-cos(x)-sin(x))/sqrt(2)=1`

`rArr(-2sin(x))/sqrt(2)=1`

`rArrsin(x)=-1/sqrt(2)`

General solutions are ,

`x=(5pi)/4+2pin , x=(7pi)/4+2pin`

solutions for the range `0<=x<=2pi`  are,

`x=(5pi)/4 , x=(7pi)/4`

What are the symbols in Anthem?

There are several symbols in the novel, Anthem, by Ayn Rand.  Here is a list of some of the dominant ones:

Light: Light symbolizes knowledge, and it’s no accident that Equality discovers electricity and the light bulb in the sewers of the Unmentionable Times.  He takes the light to the Home of the Scholars to share his discovery, and he is thrown in jail.  The candles the society uses for light symbolizes ignorance while the light bulb symbolizes knowledge.

Liberty:  Equality first sees Liberty when he is sweeping the streets, and she is planting seeds in a nearby field.  Later, Liberty takes the name Gaea, the Greek god of Mother Earth.  She also becomes pregnant with Equality’s baby; and therefore, she is the first “Eve” of the new society they will form together. 

The Uncharted Forest:  The Uncharted Forest where Equality and Liberty go to escape the dystopian society represents the unknown and the future that lies ahead for them.  They were told their entire lives that the Uncharted Forest was a place of danger where no one who entered it ever escaped.  It is in the forest that they find their true selves and start their new society.  This “finding oneself in nature” is also a philosophy of the Transcendentalists of the early 1800’s. 

Prometheus:  Equality renames himself Prometheus after learning that Prometheus, a Greek god, brought fire to humans.  Just like the light that Equality found, Prometheus also brought the knowledge of light to man.

Is stuttering a metal disorder?

The simple answer is yes. It is classified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders V (DSM-V). Stuttering can be a diagnosed mental disorder generally progressing from childhood. This is termed “childhood-onset fluency disorder”. However, stuttering can also be a symptom of another mental disorder and would not be considered a separate disorder.

It is important to note that although it is classified as a mental disorder for purposes of treatment and medical billing, it is not indicative of diminished mental capacity. People who stutter are linked to increased instances of other mental health diagnoses. This suggests stuttering is a symptom of underlying mental issues such as an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). It does not mean everyone who stutters could be properly labeled as autistic. Differential diagnosis by a trained professional is needed to determine the appropriate mental designation.

The exact causes of stuttering are not known. It does run in families, suggesting a genetic link. However, it can also be brought on by other medical conditions such as a stroke or brain injury. In such an instance, it is not a mental disorder, but a symptom of a physical condition. Emotional trauma may also cause stuttering. Once again, the stuttering is treated as a symptom of the mental disorder.

Classifying stuttering as a mental disorder is a controversial topic.  There is a movement to change the classification in order to remove some of the stigma from stuttering.  Due to the nature of the problem, people who stutter often suffer from social harassment and may feel the label of mental disorder causes more harm than good.