What significant ghost does Odysseus speak with in the land of the dead?

The most significant figure Odysseus encounters in the underworld (Book 11 of the Odyssey) is Achilles, the central character from Homer's Iliad. Achilles, a demigod, was the greatest Greek warrior. He killed Hector, Troy's most prominent warrior, as revenge for the death of Achilles' friend Patroclus. As was prophesied, Achilles later dies and becomes prince of Hades. Unfortunately, Achilles--cavalier toward death while alive--now wishes he could return to the land of the living. As he tells Odysseus:

“I’d rather be another’s hired hand,……than to rule over all whom death has crushed.”

Another significant ghost Odysseus encounters is that of Agamemnon, the former king of Argos. After winning the Trojan War, Agamemnon had returned home, where his wife--Clytaemnestra--and her lover--Aegisthus--murdered him (The Greek playwright Aeschylus narrates this event in Agamemnon, the first play in the Oresteia trilogy). Due to his fate, Agamemnon cautions Odysseus against placing too much trust in his wife, Penelope, when he finally returns home to Ithaca.

In Alice Munro's story, "Boys and Girls," what is learned from the first paragraph that clearly indicates the direction of the story?

In Munro's story, "Boys and Girls," the first paragraph focuses on the father's work as a fox farmer. The father skins and sells the pelts. They are given calendars of heroes and adventurers to hang in their kitchen. In this paragraph, the action of skinning foxes is emphasized. It is men's work. Thus, the gender roles are quickly set up at the start of the story. As the story progresses, the reader will see that the father works outside--with the foxes and horses--and the mother works inside--cooking and cleaning.

A central conflict in the story is the narrator, a young girl, who wants to be outside with the men and resists her traditional gender role as a female.The first paragraph of the story nicely sets up the contrast of how men and women act. The other thing the first paragraph does is give the symbol of a skinned fox, suggesting an outer layer (the way one looks) with an inner layer (the way one feels), both of which connect to the conflict the narrator is having with regards to her gender. 

What is meant by 'Laws of Nature' 'self-evident truths' and unalienable rights' in paragraphs 1-2 in 'The Declaration of Independence'? Are the...

When Jefferson says that the things you refer to in this question are “self-evident” he means that they are completely obvious.  They do not need to be explained or proven.  This is convenient, because there is no way to prove that there is such a thing as the “laws of nature” or that people have “unalienable rights.”

The idea that there are laws of nature, or natural law, came to Jefferson through thinkers of the Enlightenment.  So did the idea that natural law says that human beings have certain rights by the very fact that they are human.  In the thinking of men like John Locke, it was clear that the laws made by human beings (at that time, this mainly meant laws made by monarchs) were not necessarily just.  Locke and others felt that there was a higher law that superseded laws made by people. 

Locke then went on to set out what these natural laws said.  He argued that the laws of nature said that people had certain rights that belonged to them by nature and not because government gave people those rights.  He believed that the three most important rights were the rights to your life (not to be killed), to your liberty (not to be enslaved or controlled by others), and to your property (not to have your things stolen from you).  Without government, the only way to protect these rights was to be strong enough to force others to respect them. Because people wanted to protect their natural rights, they created governments.  This means that the government did not give them their rights and therefore had no authority to take away their rights.  In other words, the rights are “unalienable,” meaning that they cannot be taken (or given) away.  The “laws of nature” are laws that come from God or from our humanity (depending on your religious beliefs) and not from human beings.  They are unalienable because no Earthly power has the right to take them away from us.

Jefferson had to say that these things are self-evident because there is no way to prove them.  We cannot prove the existence of God (or the gods).  We cannot prove that people inherently have the right to their life, liberty, and property.  We can only assert that this is so.  Since Jefferson could not prove that we have these rights, he had to, in essence, say that it was obvious that we have them.

It is well-known that the authors of the Declaration and the Founders in general were not always consistent about these ideals.  The obvious evidence of this is the fact that they almost all supported the system of slavery, in which they systematically deprived a race of people of their liberty, property, and (at times), lives.

`225^@ = 300^@ - 45^@` Find the exact values of the sine, cosine, and tangent of the angle.

`sin(u-v)=sin(u)cos(v)-cos(u)sin(v)`

`sin(300-45)=sin(300)cos(45)-cos(300)sin(45)`

`sin(300-45)=(-sqrt3/2)(sqrt2/2)-(1/2)(sqrt2/2)=-sqrt2/4(sqrt3+1)`

`cos(u-v)=cos(u)cos(v)+sin(u)sin(v)`

`cos(300-45)=cos(300)cos(45)+sin(300)sin(45)`

`cos(300-45)=(1/2)(sqrt2/2)+(-sqrt3/2)(sqrt2/2)=sqrt2/4(1-sqrt3)`

`tan(u-v)=(tan(u)-tan(v))/(1-tan(u)tan(v))`

`tan(300-45)=(tan(300)-tan(45))/(1-tan(300)tan(45))=(-sqrt3-1)/(1-sqrt3(1))=(-sqrt3-1)/(1-sqrt3)`

The rationalized answer is `sqrt3+2.`

In "Indian Camp," why did the Indian man kill himself?

The only reason given in the text for the Indian man to kill himself in Hemingway's short story "Indian Camp" is because, as the doctor puts it, the man "couldn't stand things." Because of a leg injury he is bedridden while his wife lies below him in labor, ready to have a baby. The labor is troubled and that's why Dr. Adams is there. Hemingway often left important details out of his stories, so the reader is not sure why the doctor has showed up at the Indian shanty without his medical bag. This is important because the woman is in tremendous pain and has been screaming for quite awhile. Several of the men from the camp have retreated out of range of the woman's screams. Unfortunately, the Indian father is apparently not able to join them because of his injury. Adams has no way to stop the screaming because he has no anesthetic and even comments that the screams are unimportant to his work. They do, however, seem to be important to the Indian man as the screams apparently cause him to slit his throat.

Because of Hemingway's theory of omission, critics have not been satisfied with this simple explanation. Hemingway once wrote:

You could omit anything if you knew that you omitted and the omitted part would strengthen the story and make people feel more than they understood.

Two interesting theories as to why the Indian killed himself have arisen in light of Hemingway's confession that he often left the reader ignorant of important details. In a careful reading of the text, some critics have deduced that Uncle George, who appears to be an unimportant character in the story, may have actually been the father of the woman's baby. Knowing this may have caused the Indian man to kill himself just as the son is brought into the world. Two clues hint at this. First, the woman bites Uncle George as he attempts to hold her down. He replies by saying, "Damn squaw bitch." Later, Uncle George is nowhere to be found when Dr. Adams and Nick are about to leave. Some have suggested that he may be off raping another Indian woman at the camp. These small details have created quite an interesting alternate plot which Hemingway never overtly alludes to in the story. This interpretation seems a bit stretched. It begs the question as to why the Indian would have killed himself instead of going after Uncle George and killing him.

Another theory is posited by Jeffrey Meyers in his essay, "Hemingway's Primitivism and 'Indian Camp.'" Meyers argues that Hemingway was a student of Native American culture (Hemingway had several books on the subject) and that the death is a cultural response as the Indian believes he has lost dignity in having an outside entity interfere with the sacredness of the Indian birth. Meyers writes,

The husband cannot bear this defilement of his wife's purity, which is far worse than her screams.

While this theory seems quite plausible, it seems to ignore Hemingway's intent in the story, which is not to dwell on Native American traditions, but rather to tell a simple coming-of-age story in which the young Nick Adams witnesses both life and death in the short trip to the Indian camp with his father.

The Robert Frost poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay" plays a pivotal role in The Outsiders. How is this poem connected to the theme of the story?

Robert Frost's poem, "Nothing Gold Can Stay," connects to the theme of the novel The Outsiders because it conveys the ephemeral lives of certain Greasers and their childhood innocence. The poem's theme depicts the impermanence of nature. Frost describes flowers changing color and their leaves falling as time passes to represent the transience of life. Johnny, one of the main characters throughout the novel, loses his life at a very young age. Johnny was a sympathetic, kind individual who had a bright future. One can say, Johnny was "gold." Similar to how nature was depicted in Frost's poem, Johnny's life last only a short time before he passes away. Johnny's last words to Ponyboy are, "Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold...." Johnny is referencing Frost's poem and is essentially telling Ponyboy to stay young and innocent. Ponyboy watches Johnny pass, and then witnesses Dally lose his life in a vacant lot. These traumatic experiences make Ponyboy callous for a time until he is able to express his emotions via writing. Writing is therapeutic for Ponyboy and helps him symbolically regain his "golden hue."

How was the curse lifted in Holes?

The curse was blamed on Stanley's "no-good-dirty-rotten pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather." It has made it impossible for the Yelnats family to ever truly succeed at anything they try and their lives are rather difficult. Stanley feels the weight of this and when he is falsely accused of stealing a famous ball-player's sneakers, he assumes that it is his burden because of the curse.

The reason the curse is lifted is that Stanley is so selfless in helping Zero. The reason why this lifts the curse is because it is Zero's great-great-grandmother who put the hex on Stanley's great-great-grandfather after he refused to carry her up to the mountain as the price for her advice. So the debt is paid when Stanley carries Zero down from the mountain.