Why is the circus used as a location for the story in "The Leap?"

The circus is one of the settings in "The Leap." In this story, the narrator says that she owes her life to her mother three times. The first time her mother has given her daughter life (or made her daughter's life possible) occurs before the narrator is born. Prior to the narrator's/daughter's birth, her mother was part of a two-person trapeze act called The Flying Avalons. This act traveled with a circus. At the time, her mother (Anna) was married to Harry Avalon, the other member of the trapeze act. Anna was pregnant with another child (not the narrator) at this time. 

A freak accident occurs when lightning strikes the main circus tent pole. The tent buckles and Harry and Anna fall to the ground. Rather than trying to save Harry or reach out to him, Anna thinks of her unborn child and tries to save herself. She succeeds but Harry is killed and the baby is born "without life." Anna survives, meets another man, and from that marriage, the daughter/narrator is born. 

Why do Sam and Bill need money in "The Ransom of Red Chief"?

Sam and Bill are con artists. They are thieves and kidnappers as well, as this story will show. They have six hundred dollars with them at the beginning of the story. They figure that they need two thousand more in order to pull off another scam in which they will defraud people of more money: 

Bill and me had a joint capital of about six hundred dollars, and we needed just two thousand dollars more to pull off a fraudulent town-lot scheme in Western Illinois with. 

Sam never tells us (the reader) what the town-lot scheme is. However, given that these guys are con artists, thieves, and essentially professional criminals, it would probably have something to do with selling lots that do not belong to them. It may be a case where a new town is in development and a financier or the government (state or federal) is selling the plots in what will be the new town. Knowing where and when this would happen (Western Illinois, for example), Sam and Bill could go there before the real administrators get there. They could pose as the sellers, sell plots of land to people intending to move there, and then leave with the money before the real sellers get there. This is an example of a "town-lot scheme" and is a possible scenario of what Sam is talking about.

Why does Lady Macbeth's character change?

It seems that Lady Macbeth's character undergoes a change when her guilty conscience becomes too much for her to bear.  In Act 5, Scene 1, the sleepwalking scene, she is clearly reliving the night of Duncan's murder, except now she imagines that her hands are still stained with his blood.  At the time, she'd said, "a little water clears us of this deed" (2.2.86); now, however, she says that "All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand" (5.1.52-55). 

Further, it was Macbeth who initially feared that he would not be able to sleep anymore because he murdered Duncan while he was sleeping; now, it is Lady Macbeth who cannot sleep due to guilt. She remembers chastising Macbeth for what she perceived as weakness and cowardice, and she repeats many of these phrases, but they are peppered with references to Duncan's blood, Macduff's family, and her inability to wash the blood from her hands. In Macbeth, she's created a monster who will do anything to hold on to the power that he is taken by force, including things she never planned on, like when he orders the murders of Macduff's wife and small children.  While she sleepwalks, she says, "The Thane of Fife had a wife. Where is she now?" (5.1.44-45).  It seems that she she bears some of the guilt for these deaths as well, because it was she who coerced Macbeth to commit the first murder.

Also notable is the fact that Lady Macbeth no longer speaks in verse, as she has always done in the past.  Shakespeare typically reserves verse for nobility, but he also sometimes has characters speak in prose to indicate some kind of mental break. (For example, Ophelia, in Hamlet, speaks in prose after she's gone mad, and Hamlet speaks in prose when he wants others to believe that he's gone mad.) Now, Lady Macbeth speaks in prose, and this gives us some clue as to just how guilty she feels, so guilty that it has driven her insane. 

What are three characteristics found in prokaryotic cells?

1. Prokaryotic cells lack a nucleus. In eukaryotes, the nucleus is the organelle that contains the cell's DNA. In prokaryotes, the DNA is loose in the cell. The area that contains prokaryotic DNA is called the nucleoid. The nucleoid is not enclosed by a membrane. Try not to be confused by the nucleoid - it is not a structure, it is simply the location occupied by prokaryotic DNA within the cell.

2. Prokaryotes do not have other organelles. Organelles are the membrane enclosed inner compartments of cells. Eukaryotes have many organelles, such as mitochondria, the endoplasmic reticulum, and the golgi. Organelles have very specific functions. 

3. Prokaryotes also have a circular DNA sequence. Eukaryotes, on the other hand, have linear DNA. Prokaryotes typically have much smaller genomes than eukaryotes as well. 

In regard to the U.S. criminal and civil systems, discuss whether or not a person should be entitled to have a trial in our systems. For example,...

The right to a speedy and public trial is outlined in the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and, therefore, is one of our most basic and clearly defined freedoms. In cases where an especially upsetting crime has taken place, it can be hard to understand why the perpetrators of such a horrific crime should be allowed to exercise these “civilized” rights. In these instances, it is crucial to remember that the right to a public trial is an essential component of any just and democratic society.

Trials, as a part of an impartial justice system, allow us to separate the innocent from the guilty and justify the government’s authority to punish those who commit crimes. Our government’s legitimacy largely depends on citizenry’s faith that it won’t abuse its power. Public trials serve to bring the justice system into the open, ensuring government transparency and preventing authorities from unjustly or unlawfully targeting innocent individuals. Though the murder of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters was undoubtedly a grave injustice, it is also a terrible injustice to wrongfully convict and punish an innocent person.

While trials are, of course, an imperfect way to determine absolute guilt or innocence, they are the greatest protection our society can offer those who are wrongfully accused of a crime. It is also worth noting that our right to a speedy and public trial is not perfectly applied in practice. Approximately 95-97% of people accused of a crime waive their right to a jury trial and choose to accept a plea deal. While this is a long-standing practice, many scholars and legal professionals point to the negative consequences of such a trend, among which are increases in wrongful incarceration. Ultimately, our right to trial must be protected to ensure fair outcomes for all who encounter our justice system as well as to safeguard our government’s legitimacy as the ultimate arbiter of the law.

What words or images contibute to the feelings of sadness and longing in the story, "The Scarlet Ibis?"

James Hurst uses words and images throughout his short story “The Scarlet Ibis” to contribute the feelings of sadness and longing. In his opening line, “It was in the clove of seasons, summer was dead but autumn had not yet been born, that the ibis lit in the bleeding tree,” he sets the tone for impending doom by describing the death of summer and the bleeding tree. The color red is used throughout the story to signify passion, and death.The tree where the rare Scarlet Ibis alights is called the bleeding tree.

The birth of a child is usually a joyous time but sadness surrounds Doodle’s birth. Due to his condition, he is described as being red and born in a caul. No one in the family, except his aunt, gives him much chance to survive and they do not even name the baby. Many feel that it is bad luck when a child is born surrounded by a caul.

In an early scene, Hurst describes how the father has a coffin made for the baby, and later Brother makes Doodle touch the coffin that was meant for him. The boys spend time in Old Mother Swamp which is a place that Doodle finds so beautiful that it brings him to tears. The death of the rare Scarlet Ibis in the bleeding tree after a hurricane causes more sadness and is a foreshadowing of what is to come. Brother pushing Doodle to his physical limits shows how he longs to have a “normal” brother. This longing leads to the ultimate sadness of Doodle’s death under the bleeding tree.

How does Dickens build suspense in Great Expectations?

Dickens’s descriptions of settings create suspense in many places throughout the novel. In the first chapter, his description of the marshes where Pip is first introduced in the graveyard where his parents and siblings are buried provides an atmosphere of  bleakness and emptiness, which makes the sudden appearance of the convict Magwitch so startling. The continued threats to Pip, which Pip takes seriously whether Magwitch meant them seriously or not, build a tense mood as Pip responds to the threats, in danger from the discovery by his sister and then by the soldiers who are searching for the escaped prisoners. Even though Magwitch is eventually captured and imprisoned, Magwitch’s promise that he won’t forget what Pip has done, is taken as forboding by Pip, though Magwitch means it as positive. The continued existence of Pip lies in the background through the middle part of the novel, with his sudden reappearance in the latter section. It is the fear of the discovery of Magwitch, who faces death for returning to England, and Pip and Herbert’s efforts to help him escape, help to drag the suspense out. The death of Magwitch on the surface might seem like a release from the suspense. However, it is a sad occurrence for Pip, how has grown fond of his benefactor, despite his past.