Why did Paul Revere alert the colonists when the British were coming?

Paul Revere stopped at houses along the way between Boston and Lexington in order to wake the Minutemen, who were private citizens that had formed a militia.  Paul Revere left Boston because he had been warned by his good friend, Dr. Warren, that the British soldiers were going to Lexington to arrest John Hancock and Samuel Adams.  Lantern signals were hung in the church bell tower of Christ Church to warn whether the British troops were traveling "by land or by sea."  Paul Revere "rowed across the Charles River to Charlestown" and then rode a horse across the countryside in the dead of night.  He stopped at every house along the way in order to alert the Minutemen and get them to gather together just in case of trouble.  They were prepared to fight the British troops if necessary.  He eventually reached Lexington to warn his friends.

Explain why Mrs. Putnam was so concerned about the condition of her daughter in The Crucible.

Mrs Putnam has a history of problems regarding childbirth and the rearing of her young, as she herself emphatically declares:

Reverend Parris, I have laid seven babies un-baptized in the earth. Believe me, sir, you never saw more hearty babies born, And yet, each would wither in my arms the very night of their birth. I have spoke nothin', but my heart has clamored intimations. And now, this year, my Ruth, my only - I see her turning strange. A secret child she has become this year, and shrivels like a sucking mouth were pullin' on her life too.  And so I thought to send her to your Tituba - 

Her reference to 'intimations' suggests that she believed that there was a wicked force afoot which denied her the privilege of raising children in these instances since they were either stillborn or died during childbirth. It is also apparent that she was deeply concerned about Ruth's condition, for she was 'turning strange.' Ruth was the only child who had survived past childbirth and in her desperation, she turned to Reverend Parris's slave from Barbados, Tituba, to seek help. 

Her later statements emphasize the fact that she believed demonic forces had killed her children.

They were murdered, Mr. Parris! And mark this proof! Mark it! Last night my Ruth were ever so close to their little spirits; I know it, sir. For how else is she struck dumb now except some power of darkness would stop her mouth? It is a marvelous sign, Mr. Parris!

Mrs. Putnam's assertions clearly indicate her ignorance. She could not fathom that there may have been something wrong with her and grasped at whatever she thought was an explanation for her failures. It is patently ironic that she did not seek further divine guidance and help or consulted the doctor, but that she approached Tituba for assistance. The irony lies in the fact that she and her husband later become most vocal in accusing others of witchcraft, whilst she was the one who had sought supernatural assistance from Tituba, who was believed to possess the ability to conjure spirits. 

Since Mrs. Putnam refused to accept responsibility for her children's deaths, it became easy for her to blame others, thus turning attention away from her own guilt in seeking alternative remedies for her problem - an extremely un-Christianlike approach. She insists on blaming sinister forces for her children's deaths even after Rebecca Nurse suggests that she go to God for answers and that she should look to herself for blame.

But I must! You think it God's work you should never lose a child, nor grand-child either, and I bury all but one? There are wheels within wheels in this village, and fires within fires! 

Furthermore, she was indignant about the fact that others were more successful at giving birth and raising children than she had been. She turns against Rebecca Nurse who had successfully given birth to and raised, a number of children. Mrs. Putnam could not understand why her family's greatest opponent and enemy, could be so successful whilst she had been an abject failure. The two families had been involved in a long-standing feud about political power and property and she and her husband despised the Nurses for their success.

Added to that was also the fact that, despite the Putnams and Reverend Parris, the Nurses had no known enemies in the village and were highly respected by all and sundry. This increased the Putnam's animosity to the family and they were, therefore, out to get them and purposefully went about to destroy them. To this purpose, they later accused Rebecca Nurse of witchcraft and of sending out her spirit to prevent the birth of their babies or to stifle them soon after.  

It is therefore not surprising that later, the Putnams use their daughter who had been involved in illicit goings-on with other girls and Tituba in the woods, to point fingers at whoever they wanted to punish or get rid of, such as the unfortunate George Jacobs, who happened to be in dispute with them about land. They had found a method to get rid of their opposition and maliciously used it, claiming many innocent lives and destroying families in the process. 

Who, in the Declaration of Independence, did the colonies say they wanted to be independent from?

The colonists were declaring independence from Great Britain in the Declaration of Independence. All of the colonies had been part of the British Empire before the Revolutionary War, and in fact there was considerable debate among the members of the Second Continental Congress (and society as a whole) over whether they should declare independence, even though the colonies had been at war with the British for more than a year. In the Declaration, the colonists argued that the British government had violated their rights, both as British subjects and as human beings, and that they therefore had the right to sever their political ties with the mother country. The document was issued in the midst of the Revolutionary War, and American independence was not a reality until the Treaty of Paris of 1783. 

In Lord of the Flies, why were rules so important to Ralph?

Rules are significant to Ralph because he is the group's leader. In order for Ralph to maintain control of the boys and ensure their survival, Ralph must create and enforce rules. The first rule Ralph makes concerns taking turns speaking during assemblies. Ralph says that individuals who wish to speak during the assemblies must hold the conch. This rule is important because it ensures that each boy will be given a chance to express his feelings without interruption. Ralph also creates several rules regarding maintaining the signal fire, building huts, where to relieve oneself, and keeping a fresh supply of water. Despite Ralph's affinity for rules and hopes of creating a structured, civil society, he fails to enforce them. With no consequences to their actions, Jack and his hunters continually neglect Ralph's rules and start a tribe of their own.

What are examples of literary devices in chapters 6 - 11 of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, such as hyperbole, metaphor, personification, and...

A hyperbole is a type of figurative language in which an author uses an exaggeration to express a point. Dr. Wheeler gives us the following example of hyperbole: "His thundering shout could split rocks" ("Tropes," Carson-Newman University).

In To Kill a Mockingbird, author Harper Lee uses hyperbole to help capture the voice of her narrator Scout, as a young child. Since children rarely see the world literally, using exaggeration helps capture the thoughts and voice of a young child. One example of hyperbole can be seen in Chapter 11 in Scout's description of the two children waiting for Atticus to come home after Jem had blown his top and whacked off all of Mrs. Dubose's camellia flowers. Since it felt like such a long wait due to the fact that the children knew they would be in trouble and did not go and greet him by Mrs. Dubose's house as they usually did, Scout uses the following hyperbole to describe the wait time and Atticus's eventual arrival:

Two geological ages later, we heard the soles of Atticus's shows scrape the front steps. (Ch. 11)

A metaphor is a common type of figurative language in which a writer makes a descriptive point by comparing something to something else. Dr. Wheeler gives us the following example of a metaphor: "Carthage was a beehive of buzzing workers" ("Tropes").

One example of a metaphor in To Kill a Mockingbird can be found in Chapter 7, soon after Scout, Jem, and Dill sneak over to the Radleys' house at night to try to peer in to the window, earlier in Chapter 6. During the adventure, Jem had gotten his pants caught in the bared-wire fence and had to abandon them. At two in the morning, Jem went back to retrieve them and found them lying folded up on the fence, having been mended but mended by someone without any skill, like a man, like Boo Radley. At the start of Chapter 7, not knowing in what state Jem had found his pants, Scout notes that Jem had been moody all week immediately after returning to the Radleys' at 2 in the morning. Scout attributes his moodiness to fear and uses the following two metaphors to explain what her own fears would have been like in the same situation:

As Atticus had once advised me to do, I tried to climb into Jem's skin and walk around in it: if I had gone alone to the Radley Place at two in the morning, my funeral would have been held the next afternoon. (Ch. 7)

Since Scout does not literally "climb into Jem's skin," we know this is a perfect example of figurative language. In addition, we know that Harper Lee is using the image of "climbing into Jem's skin" as a comparison to describe Scout's attempt to understand what was going on inside of Jem's head. Since Lee is creating greater understanding by drawing a comparison between "climbing into Jem's skin" and literally understanding someone, we see that this is a perfect example of a metaphor. In addition, Scout would not have literally died had she gone to the Radleys' at 2 am; therefore, Lee is also drawing a comparison between Scout's fear and death to better capture Scout's fear, thereby creating a second metaphor.

I need this quotes explained: Taking into account the above statements, explicate the following passages from Macbeth: “My way of life has...

It looks like you are looking for help with the passages which include the above three quotes. If so, let's discuss them below. Bolded words are mine.

Seyton!—I am sick at heart,

When I behold—Seyton, I say!—This push (battle offensive or war)

Will cheer me ever, or disseat me now (either I will reign or lose my power).

I have lived long enough. My way of life

Is fall'n into the sere, the yellow leaf, (fallen into the realm of old age; 'sere'- withered and aging; 'the yellow leaf' refers to the autumn of one's years, when one is approaching death (winter)

And that which should accompany old age,

As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends, (Macbeth says that he cannot hope to have all the desired things which should accompany his old age: honor, love, obedience (from subordinates), and a faithful group of friends).

I must not look to have, but, in their stead,

Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honor, breath

Which the poor heart would fain deny and dare not. (Instead, Macbeth can only hope to have the surety of soft curses, honor from those who don't really mean it ('mouth-honor'), and a miserable life which lingers (he compares such an existence to a heart which despairs of life but is afraid to die. In other words, the heart is personified as a sentient element; here, Macbeth connects this personification to his own dread of the coming struggle. Interestingly, this speech foreshadows Macbeth's eventual defeat and his prophecy here proves prescient/prophetic as the play concludes).

Seyton!

Cure her of that.

Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased, (Macbeth wants to know why the doctor can't cure his wife's diseased mind or what appears to be a psychological ailment).

Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow,

Raze out the written troubles of the brain(Macbeth thinks that all the doctor has to do is to pluck the offending trouble from his wife's memory, to 'raze' or to take out whatever worry is oppressing her).

And with some sweet oblivious antidote (Here, Macbeth thinks there's some drug which can accomplish the above purpose).

Cleanse the stuffed bosom of that perilous stuff

Which weighs upon the heart? (Macbeth thinks that his wife's spirit is merely burdened with negative emotions or 'perilous stuff,' whereas Lady Macbeth is actually inflamed with a powerful, ambitious spirit which her husband has failed to account for. Here, remember that in Shakespeare's time, the health of one's body was predicated on the balance of the four humors- blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. So, that 'perilous stuff' Lady Macbeth is burdened with is none other than the preeminence of yellow bile in her body, which lends her a choleric temperament. 

In Act 1 Scene 5, in the famous Lady Macbeth soliloquy, Lady Macbeth has chosen to invoke the spirits 'That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/Of direst cruelty.' In other words, she has chosen to burden herself with a spirit which will give full vent to her choleric cruelty. In imbuing her husband with this same spirit, she also condemns her husband to share her fate. His mind later becomes as deranged as hers. Consider the dagger hallucination soliloquy, and Macbeth's last words as he prepares to fight Macduff. He thinks he can't be harmed by a man born of woman and that he leads a 'charmed life').

She should have died hereafter. (She would have died eventually).

There would have been a time for such a word. (Such news as this would have been announced in due time).

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day

To the last syllable of recorded time,(Each tomorrow creeps along slowly until the end of time).

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! (Every past day has only served to light the path of fools to their deaths).

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing. (Basically, Macbeth laments that life is often a waste of time, full of 'sound and fury' which eventually fades away, 'signifying nothing.' Here, in Act 5, Scene 5, Macbeth's words foreshadow the manner of his own death. He fights Macduff to the bitter end, in a clash of violent fury, but his efforts are futile and lead only to his death. He is beheaded by Macduff, and his violent ambition has turned to nothing).

Hope this helps. Good luck for your midterms!

How important is suspense in the The Most Dangerous Game?

The whole story is rooted in suspense. So, if you take away suspense, you change what is central to the story.  We can see this in several ways.

First, in the beginning of the story, the island that they pass is mysterious. In fact, Rainsford’s friend, Whitney, says that the place is called Ship-Trap Island.  He also says that the sailors have a curious dread of the place. For the reader, the places is mysterious. We can say that curiosity fills the reader's mind as well. 

Second, when Rainsford finds himself on the island, he meets general Zaroff and Ivan, two men who are also shrouded in suspense.  Who are they?  What are they doing here?

Third, during the hunt, when Rainsford is hunted, there is great suspense. Will he die? Will he win? What will happen?  As you can see the whole story is filled with suspense.  It is what drives the plot and action of the story.