Can anyone explain this alliteration from Ethan Frome? : "There was in him a slumbering spark of sociability..." It is refering to Ethan."There was...

With this alliteration, the author Edith Wharton is telling the reader something about Ethan's character.  On the surface he appears to be "grave and inarticulate", especially in the isolated circumstances of his living and marital relations. Ethan was at one time a student of engineering, but was forced by family situations to assume life on a small farm.  He is married to Zenobia, but she is bitter and a hypochondriac, and provides little positive interaction for him.

Despite all this, in the alliteration

"There was in him a slumbering spark of sociability",

the author is telling the reader that deep within Ethan's nature there is the inclination to seek "sociability", the give-and-take of true interaction with others.  It is true that this inclination is almost undetectable; due to a long period of suppression, it is not vibrant, but is "slumbering".  Like a fire that has been long deprived of oxygen, it is almost completely snuffed out - only a "spark" remains.  Nonetheless, it is there, dormant, only waiting for a breath of fresh air to bring it to life again, a breath that is provided in the character of Mattie.

By using the sybilant sound of "s" repeatedly in this alliteration, the writer conveys the sense of quiet dormancy.  The "slumbering spark of sociability" lies hidden beneath the surface, silent, but definitely present.

How does Duncan's use of 'star' imagery contrast with Macbeth's? (see 1.4.39-53)

Well spotted! Duncan, having given out his rewards and prizes, annouces that he will official make Malcolm the heir to his throne:

We will establish our estate upon
Our eldest, Malcolm, whom we name hereafter
The Prince of Cumberland; which honor must
Not unaccompanied invest him only,
But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine
On all deservers.

The nobility and the desert of the awarded nobleman shall "shine" out like stars. Good qualities send light out into the heavens: visible to all.

Macbeth, in his aside at the end of the scene, has an entirely different thought about the stars:

Stars, hide your fires;
Let not light see my black and deep desires.

Just as Duncan wants the nobility of his kinsmen to shine like stars, Macbeth wants the stars to hide their light, to make things less visible. Macbeth wants his black and deep desire to be unseen - to remain in the dark.

Hope it helps!

In Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, which character is the most significant in chapters 19-24?

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Arthur Dimmesdale becomes the most important character in the last portion of the book. It is here that he and Hester (with Pearl) find each other walking in the forest. We already know about Hester’s sin and how she has reacted to her punishment of wearing the scarlet letter daily. We already know that Chillingworth has devoted his life and sacrificed his own happiness seeking revenge against Dimmesdale. What’s left for the reader is Dimmesdale—will he finally admit his guilt and confess his sin, and will his confession soothe his tortured soul?

In these chapters it appears at first that Dimmesdale will find happiness after all in his plan to escape Boston with Hester and Pearl. When Pearl exhorts him to sail away with her, he thinks to himself, “But now—since I am irrevocably doomed—wherefore should I not snatch the solace allowed to the condemned culprit before his execution?” In other words, why shouldn’t he allow himself a chance at happiness somewhere else, since I he has no chance of finding it here.

But it becomes evident to him that he cannot do so when he walks back into town in a near fit of blasphemous behavior and thoughts: “At every step he was incited to do some strange, wild, wicked thing or other . . .” In deciding to leave Boston and his guilt behind, he has somehow separated himself from his faith. In the end, he cannot live with this result.

So, instead of leaving with Hester, he writes the most moving and impassioned sermon of his career. This sermon is Dimmesdale’s last moment of glory as a clergyman:

The eloquent voice, on which the sounds of the listening audience had been borne aloft as on the swelling waves of the sea, at length came to a pause . . . Then ensued a murmur and half-hushed tumult, as if the auditors [listeners], released from the high spell that had transported them into the region of another’s mind, were returning into themselves, with all their awe and wonder still heavy on them.

From here, Dimmesdale joins Hester and Pearl beside the scaffold, where the story began, and at last confesses his sin to the townspeople. His confession is immediately followed by his death, which leaves Chillingworth with nothing to live for (since avenging himself upon Dimmesdale was his sole reason for living). Chillingworth bequeaths his riches to Pearl. This enables Hester and Pearl to leave Boston and live abroad for a number of years, until Hester finally decides to return to Boston, without Pearl, whose ultimate fate is hinted at but ultimately unknown.

Everything in the final six chapters of the book revolves around and depends upon Dimmesdale’s development and eventual confession. Without it, Hester and Pearl would have continued to live in a kind of guilty limbo, unable to exist apart from the stigma of Hester’s sin of adultery as a young woman.

Can you suggest some text passages the describe the setting within The Great Gatsby?I have to read some text passages which describe the setting...

Because they are the least requested of the five places, I will begin with the Midwest and New York City.  In regards to the Midwest, Nick (the narrator) first describes his home as what he would later describe as “the warm center of the world” (3).  This is the place where Nick’s father said, “Whenever you feel like criticizing any one . . . just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had” (1).  However, when Nick returns from World War I, “instead of being the warm center of the world, the Middle West now seemed like the ragged edge of the universe—so I decided to go East and learn the bond business” (3).  Ironically, after seeing the corruption of the East, Nick hightails it back home at the end of the novel.

In regards to New York City, it is the one aspect of setting that always serves as an escape.  Tom and Myrtle frolic as an adulterous couple in the city and “slid out from the mass of the station into the glowing sunshine” (27).  Jordan thinks of it in the same, sensual way:  “I love New York on summer afternoons when everyone’s away.  There’s something very sensuous about it—overripe, as if all sorts of funny fruits were going to fall into your hands” (125).  Daisy, Tom, and even Gatsby use it to try and escape the tension in their love triangle.  “’Come on!’ [Tom’s] temper cracked a little. ‘What’s the matter, anyhow?  If we’re going to town, let’s start.’  His hand was trembling with his effort at self-control.”  Still, I’m afraid these first two places (the Midwest and New York) are nowhere near as important as the final three.

The absolute best place to find information about East Egg and West Egg is in the first chapter of The Great Gatsby, where the narrator (Nick Carraway) describes both places in great detail.  First, Nick gives the geographic location of East Egg and West Egg which are both located on Long Island, New York.  "It was on that slender riotous island which extends itself due east of New York—and where there are, among other natural curiosities, two unusual formations of land" (4).  Next, Nick speaks of the East Egg and West Egg in regards to their similarities and differences:

Twenty miles from the city a pair of enormous eggs, identical in contour and separated only by a courtesy bay, jut out onto the most domesticate body of salt water in the Western hemisphere, the great wet barnyard of Long Island Sound.  They are not perfect ovals--like the egg in the Columbus story, they are both crushed and flat at the contact end--but their physical resemblance must be a source of perpetual confusion to the gulls that fly overhead.  To the wingless  a more arresting phenomenon is their dissimilarity in every particular except shape and size (5).

Nick then describes, in detail, the specific differences between the two.  Nick deals with West Egg first because that is where he lives.  "I lived at West Egg, the--well, the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them" (5).  Then he deals with the area that perplexes him the most:  East Egg.  "Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water, and the history of the summer really begins on the evening I drove over there to have dinner with the Tom Buchanans" (5).

In other words, the filthy rich live in the two Eggs.  However, there is a big difference between them:  East Egg holds the "old rich" who have always known money while West Egg holds the "new rich" who have only recently acquired wealth.  East Egg and West Egg are nicely foiled by the Valley of the Ashes, which is described succinctly in the second chapter.

In regards to the Valley of the Ashes, the best place to look for that description is in the Chapter 2 (which serves as a nice foil to Chapter 1).  The Valley of the Ashes is in direct contrast with the Eggs, and is described as such:

About half way between West Egg and New York the motor road hastily joins the railroad and runs beside it for a quarter of a mile, so as to shrink away from a certain desolate area of land.  This is a valley of ashes--a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air.

Further, the setting highlights the morality of the place and is followed up nicely by the description of a sort of morbid "god" that is Doctor T. J. Eckleburg who watches over the immorality with disgust.  All together, however, these five places that compose the setting of The Great Gastby are as rich as the people of the roaring twenties.

What is the name and the length of the shortest protein in the human body?

Human protein Q6YH21, a collagen-like molecule associated with acetylcholinesterase in skeletal muscle, has a variant gene NM_080542, which encodes for the shortest protein in the human body.  See more detailed information, including the gene sequence, at the link:

What is the significance of the book’s final image, Wiesel’s face, reflected in a mirror?He writes that a corpse gazed back at him, with a look...

Look at your question's clarification : "He writes that a corpse gazed back at him, with a look that has never left him."  Please note that the final sentence never says that Elie sees himself--nor does he see a corpse.  In the last line, the corpse is the subject of the sentence, the corpse controls all vision, the corpse's eyes contain "the look"; the corpse's eyes "gazed." 

So the ending suggests that Elie does not and never will see himself.  Also, the ending presents no evidence that any "aspects were born in their place." 

And "not one thought of revenge" but only bread--undercuts the "liberated" idea--man is not free, and moral reflection is meaningless; man's moral worth is based on his existence, so existence is the only moral concern.  Then read on to the last line--Night offers no hope. 

What was the political and judicial structure of Ancient Rome?

Rome began as a monarchy, however in 509 B.C.E. The Roman Republic was born. The political structure of the Republic (at its fully developed stage) was not a democracy however,the 'res-republic' when translated meant 'property of the people'. The political and judicial structure within the republic was separated between The Magistrates (officials) and The Senate and The People (SPQR) Senatus-Popalusque-Romanus... 'The Senate and People of Rome'. The specific titles are included below:

The Magistrates

1. Consuls- commander and chief, 1 year term, two

2.Dictator- appointed only in times of crisis

3.Censors- in charge of the census, supervised public morals

4.Praetor-in charge of the courts

5.Quaestor-the 'go-for' in charge of treasury and public records

6.Tribunes-protect the common people (pleblieans) from abuse of patrician power

7.Aediles-maintained public roads,bridges,buildings,and games

The Senate-100 men of patrician class, voting power- job was for life, duties included passing laws,setting requirements regarding judicial matters, advisement, budget, and taxes.

The Cursus Honorum-the well born Roman who climbs the ladder of success

The Priests-represent the state religion, 'The Rex Sacrorum- 'King of Sacred Rites', 'The Pontifics'-college of priets, 'The Pontifex Maximus'-chief priest that oversaw the Vestal Virgins

What is the moral of "The Piece of String"?

One theme that emerges from this story that could be considered a moral lesson is not to be ashamed of who you are and what your values are.  Hauchecome hides the fact that he picked up the piece of string because he is embarrassed to admit that he saves little things like this. 

Another theme that emerges from the story that definitely teaches the reader a lesson is to not judge someone too harshly.  Hauchecome is judged to be a thief, and a liar by the village because he is wrongly accused of stealing a purse containing 500 francs.  

The fact that M. Hauchecome deliberately behaves in an overstated manner when he stops to pick up the piece of string does not help his case for innocence when accused.  By behaving in this way, he draws suspicion from others, particularly, Malandain, his arch enemy.  

Hauchecome, once accused, cannot shake the perception of the town that he is a thief, even in the face of proof.  The purse is returned, people still believe that he was the culprit.

The author illustrates the inherent distrust that people have for each other in this story.  The stereotyping of the lower classes as thieves and liars.  Hauchecome is so stricken by the wrongful accusation that it makes him sick.  He dies uttering "it was only a piece of string."     

What is the theme of the story "The Sandbox" by Edward Albee?

Edward Albee was a particularly cynical observer of American society and the unrequited pursuit of the mythical “American Dream,” a theme he would explore more directly and at greater length ("The Sandbox" is a very short one-act play) in his 1961 script titled, appropriately enough, The American Dream.  Albee’s plays invariably adopt a harsh tone towards the cliché of a better life and the hypocrisies that permeate much of humanity.  "The Sandbox," as noted, is a one-act play, intended to last about 15 minutes.  It has five characters: Mommy, a tyrannical, sadistic middle-aged woman; Daddy, her put-upon emotionally weaker husband; Grandma, an “86-year-old woman with bright eyes” who presents to her caretakers, Mommy and Daddy, the persona of the childish, feeble elder but who conceals (and reveals only to the audience) an astute active mind; the “Young Man, 25, a good-looking, well-built boy in a bathing suit”; and The Musician, whose musical accompaniment is used for satirical purposes.  Mommy and Daddy have brought Grandma to the beach for the day and dutifully deposit her in a sandbox where she will presumably be safe and contained.  It becomes rapidly apparent that they have little regard for Grandma and are simply and nonchalantly awaiting the old woman’s imminent death.  Grandma, however, is fully cognizant of her family’s disregard for her continued well-being, so it is with no small amount of irony – irony grounded in the aforementioned hypocrisy that is at the center of much of the playwright’s work – that Mommy and Daddy feign genuine concern for Grandma when they think she is finally about to expire:

Mommy (barely able to talk): It means the time has come for poor Grandma … and I can’t bear it!

Daddy:  I…I suppose you’ve got to be brave.

Grandma, however, is not quite ready to go into that good night.  She continues to act the rambunctious child while communicating directly to the audience her awareness that she knows exactly what she’s doing and will go when she’s damn well ready.  She does, of course, finally succumb, and it is now that the handsome, muscular young man exercising continuously nearby reveals himself as “the Angel of Death,” come for Grandma. 

Albee’s portrait of an uncaring, hypocritical middle-aged couple presages the characters of George and Martha in the playwright’s landmark work Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, which would be published soon after "The Sandbox" and The American Dream, and would form a sort of trilogy of despondency regarding that elusive dream.  As we get older, Albee seems to be saying, we become increasingly irrelevant and increasingly more jaded regarding our lives and those of others.  At the end of the day, we all just die and go away.

What is a realistic novel? Explain it with reference to Jane Austen and the development of the Realistic Novel.

Literary realism is a branch of literature which set out to reflect society as it was, to get as close to the bone of real life as it could. It often depicts more humble or banal events than Romantic writers.  So most of Jane Austen's novels are realist because they are fairly mundane; they depict fairly ordinary people, usually woman, doing fairly ordinary things.  There are few locked room mysteries, no strange and mysterious happenings, or insane wives. The women do ordinary things like get married and the men are fairly ordinary men.  

If you compare Pride and Prejudice to a novel like Jane Eyre, the differences become clear: no secret insane wives imprisoned in the home, no misplaced identities and no Byronic heroes.  

In a way it could be described as less 'exciting' than Romantic novels but it is a truer reflection of society because it relies less on stylization and more on holding a mirror up to society.  

Why did Joe decide to commit suicide (relate to Kate's words at the end of the play:"Forget now! Live")?

Joe's decision to commit suicide comes from the revelations in Anne's letter from Larry.  When Joe finds out that his son, Larry actually killed himself because he could not bear to live with the crime that his father committed, Joe feels an overwhelming sense of guilt.  He is consumed with a deep pain, a shame that he cannot face.  

Everything that Joe Keller has worked for, stood for, wanted to be in that moment becomes a lie.  He feels like a fraud, naked in front of his family, his wife, his son, Chris who can't bear to look at his father.  Kate, secretly knew that Joe was guilty, but she did not know about Larry's suicide until Anne showed them the letter.

Joe realizes that he killed Larry, he precious son.  He also killed the sons of other people, those men who were in the planes that crashed because of the faulty parts that Joe provided. 

At the end of the play, Kate, sickened by Joe's suicide and by how she has been unable to feel alive since Larry went missing, tells Chris to live, to embrace life, to not run away from life.  Kate comes full circle through tragedy, pain and grief to appreciate life.

To what extent is chance an important factor in the events of "Romeo and Juliet"?

Hugely so. If you closely analyse why the play is a tragedy, it stands alone among Shakespeare's plays. Why do they actually end up dead? Is it because of the Capulet and Montague feud? No. It's because a letter doesn't get delivered, and Romeo arrives at the tomb all of five minutes before his wife wakes up. It's not like Macbeth, who kills the king. It's not like Lear who takes a decision to split up his kingdom. It's not like Othello who listens to Iago.

These two people just fall in love. By chance, at a party. They fall in love. Then, Mercutio is killed - and in fury, Romeo kills Tybalt. Is Tybalt looking for a fight with Mercutio? No. That he happens to be there, and that, in the fumble when Romeo tries to pull the two apart, he receives a mortal wound is chance. It all hinges on chance.

Or, if you like, on fate. The first prologue describes the lovers as "death-mark'd": that the two lovers, before they have even met, are picked out in the stars to end up dead. Of course, that doesn't mean, necessarily that their deaths will be early ones, as many critics sometimes assume. And "death", to the Elizabethans, also meant "orgasm", so death-marked might have had a totally different connotation.

Romeo says something similar in Act 1, Scene 4:

... my mind misgives
Some consequence, yet hanging in the stars,
Shall bitterly begin his fearful date
With this night's revels and expire the term
Of a despised life, clos'd in my breast,
By some vile forfeit of untimely death.

Something hangs in the stars, Romeo thinks, waiting to go wrong, waiting to begin his downward course of action with that same night's party. It will end in the expiration of the life shut up in his breast: with his death. And why? Is it because the Capulet and Montagues don't get on? No. It's because a letter isn't delivered. It's chance. Now that is a modern idea of tragedy. Accidents happen...

Judging from the events in Act I of Julius Caesar, what is the political mood and behavior of the Romans?

As the play opens, the citizens of Rome have taken to the streets to celebrate Caesar's triumphant return to Rome after defeating Pompey's sons in Spain. (Pompey had previously ruled in Rome.) Their mood is one of festivity and rejoicing as they enjoy a holiday from work. As the scene develops, Shakespeare presents these common people as being fickle in their loyalty to their leaders and easily swayed politically. Marullus, a Roman tribune, feels disgusted by their behavior and castigates them for their disloyalty, reminding them how they had once cheered for Pompey:

Many a time and oft 

Have you climbed up to walls and battlements,

To towers and windows, yea, to chimney tops,

Your infants in your arms, and there have sat

The livelong day with patient expectation

To see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome

Marullus tries to drive them from the streets, telling them a plague would surely descend on them for their great ingratitude. This theme, that the common people are politically disloyal and easily influenced, is emphasized in Act III when Antony turns the crowd against the conspirators by manipulating the crowd with his emotional oration. 

The fact that Marullus, as well as Flavius (another tribune), feels such anger at the crowd's behavior indicates that not everyone in Rome is pleased with Caesar's rise to power. Brutus' conversation with Cassius, which follows quickly in the plot sequence, makes clear the political division in Rome.

Why did Shakespeare make the four young lovers similar in "A Midsummer Night's Dream"?I just thought that like maybe even though they're similiar...

The four young lovers are actually quite different.  There are some similarities between them, such as the fact that they belong to the same social class; however, they have different personalities.  Helena, for example, is a passionate, manipulative, sneaky, conniving young woman who is rather obsessive.  Hermia is demure, well mannered, naive, and proper.  Demetrius is extremely charming, manipulative, calculated, and impulsive.  Finally, Lysander is determined, resolute, and kind.

They are all friends, so their personalities balance each other out well.  The differences in their personalities make the reader realize that love is a common bond between ALL people, no matter how different or similar they are.  Love is something all human beings share.

In A Separate Peace, Gene believes he has found an escape from his past. Explain why this is an example of situational irony.

In Chapter VII, Gene learns that Brinker intends to enlist in the military the next day, leaving Devon for World War II. Gene's immediate reaction is to feel "a thrill":

To enlist. To slam the door impulsively on the past, to shed everything down to my last bit of clothing, to break the pattern of my life--that complex design I had been weaving since birth with all its dark threads . . . .

While walking across the campus, Gene considers the possibility; by the time he reaches his dorm, he has made up his mind. He will enlist. With this decision, a weight seems lifted from him as he "bounced zestfully up the dormitory stairs."

The irony in this situation is inescapable. Gene's personal misery is so great that the idea of fighting in World War II gives him a sense of relief. To escape one war, he gladly would join another. It is also ironic that Gene thinks he can escape himself and his past by distancing himself from Devon. He comes to understand the futility of this belief when he returns to school fifteen years after leaving it behind, still struggling to make peace with his actions all those years before. While at Devon, Gene thinks he can escape his past by running away from it. In fact, he frees himself from the past only by returning to Devon and standing still in the rain to revisit the tree. 

In "Lord of the Flies" why does Golding end with the rescue of the boys? Does this ending change the realistic nature of the novel?

The ending rescue scene is all-important for the author to make the final profound point that barbarism and violence are not only possible in times of war or in evil people, but that it is contained within each of us, if we give it free reign.  He sets the rescue during the most intense part of the novel, where Jack and his boys are hunting Ralph down, deliberately trying to kill him.  Before this, the murders of Simon and Piggy were either accidental, or rash actions gone bad.  But now, Jack and his clan have let their more animalistic, violent nature completely take over, and the hunt is on.  As the soldier runs into Ralph on the beach, his questions reflect most of society's attitude about children, that they are only capable of play.  He asks, "What have you been doing?  Having a war or something?"  His question is unintentionally glib; kids play war, cops and robbers, armies and soldiers all of the time, and his question is referring to that, and it is a gross understatement of the real war that was going on.  This emphasizes Golding's point that we are all capable of evil, even small children, if left without guidance, rules, civility, morals, and enforcement of all of them.

The ending is the most important part of the book, and doesn't make it seem less realistic; it intensifies the theme, makes the reader think even harder about what has occurred, and really hits home as the contrast between civility and barbarism are brought right up against each other to view.

What is the significance of the jungle in Lord of the Flies? Include references to the book.

In "Lord of the Flies" the jungle is the antithesis of the beach with regard to the fire.  While the fire runs rampant in the jungle and destorys everything in its path, Ralph urges the boys to keep the fire burning on the beach where the huts are built so that they be rescued; he also suggests that the littl'uns use a part of the beach as a latrine so that the waves can cleanse the island of this waste.  In other words, the beach represents a fresher, more civilized area while the jungle signifies the savagery of the boys who defecate at will like wild animals and the hunters walk around this as they seek the feral pigs. 

It is into the forest that Simon, turning his "back on the others, walked with an air of purpose" (Chapter 3), and it is in in the jungle that the "beast" resides, whether it be in the form of the parachutist or the pigs-head, dripping blood and covered with devilish flies. As Simon sits in the screen of leaves that the jungle affords him,

Darkness poured out, sumerging the ways between the trees till they were dim and strange as the bottom of the sea..Their scent spille out into the air and took possession the island" (Chapter 3).

Just as the the fragrance from the jungle overtakes the island, so, too, does the evil inherent in it. In the jungle, Jack and the others liberate themselves "from shame and self-consciousness" behind masks. 

The thicket on the mountain is referred to as the "unfriendly side of the mountain. where "Passions beat about Simon on the mountain-top with awful wings."  It is on this "awful mountain-top that Simon and Piggy are murdered.  And, it is in the "darkness of this island" that Ralph must hide in an effort to save himself from Roger "who carried death in his hands" (Chapter 12).

Discuss gender as a social construction of identity in Medea.

In Medea, gender works as a social construction of power in Corinthian society.  Jason has only been able to complete his trials with Medea's help, and she has given up her family and left her home behind for him.  Jason, however, is more compelled by status and power than he is by love and loyalty, so he immediately marries the king's daughter upon arriving in Corinth.  Medea, however, can do nothing about this.  She tells Jason that she does not accept his leaving her to enter into a new marriage, but she cannot stop his actions.  Medea cannot protest to anyone because as a woman she does not have this right.  Medea realizes the constraints placed on her by the social construction of gender in society, and this realization is one of the major reasons why she decides to kill her sons.  Her actions are not simply an act of revenge against Jason--they are an act of agency to speak against the dismantling of her immediate family.  Medea must find alternate ways to exercise her power because society does not allow such rights to women.

“Kill the pig, cut her throat….". I think this is more than a sentence. Can you explain me the deeper meaning of this quote?

The main point of this quote, which is a chant uttered by the boys as they participate in a somewhat frenzied and primitive dance around the fire after eating pig killed by Jack, is that it is savage in nature.  It shows how the boys are devolving; they are becoming less civilized, returning to a time of savagery. When Jack killed the pig, he cut its throat.  This method of killing is up close and personal, thus even more brutal.  The boys are championing this brutality in the chant. One of the reasons Golding wrote the book was because he was appalled at what mankind could do to one another after having seen what happens in war. He wants the reader to get the feeling of savage nature and the boys' chant and dance around the fire displays that. The rest of the chant is "Spill  her blood."  This is what people do to one another in war - spill blood.  Golding believed that everyone has an inner beast only kept in check by one's desire to keep it in check and by society's rules.  He uses this chant to show that the boys are letting out their inner beasts, some more quickly than others, but all are beginning to participate in this unleashing.

In "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" what lessons does the Grangerford/Shepherdson feud teach Huck and us?What is ironic about their attending...

In this novel, Huck is usually a pretty laid-back kid who is great and going with the flow and rolling with the punches(to use a couple of cliches).  He gets upset about things every once in a while, but gets over them quickly and moves on with his life.  However, the feud between the two families really leaves him upset.  He gets caught in a huge battle, a battle that he feels responsible for because of his role in the love affair between Miss Sophia and Harney.  Usually quite verbose and talkative, Huck states this of the battle:  "I don't want to talk much about the next day.  I reckon I'll cut it pretty short."  Later he says,

"I ain't a-going to tell all that happened-it would make me sick again if I was to do that.  I wished I hadn't ever come ashore that night to see such things.  I ain't ever going to get shut of them-lots of times I dream about them."

Huck learns a great lesson about the reality of violence.  In the beginning of the book we see him and Tom Sawyer's "gang" planning all sorts of heists and murders, like it is a barrel of giggle and kicks.  They discuss murder like it's a game.  In this chapter, Huck is thrown right into the middle of the real thing, and learns quickly just how serious it is.  Twain, usually humorous and sardonic in his writing, takes a break for a bit to let Huck be really disturbed by the fighting that is going on.  The feud itself reflects a real-life Hatfield/McCoy feud that was highly publicized and glorified during Twain's time; this chapter could be his way of saying that people's lives are not something to glorify or morbidly dwell on, as the public was in his time.  We too can learn a lesson from it, that reading about violence or watching it in movies, or even playing at it in games, is nothing like the real thing, and we should not take death so lightly.

In "A Rose for Emily," how are women represented and marginalized?

Miss Emily's life is dominated by a controlling father.  It is because of him that she finds herself alone after his death.  Because he prevented her from marrying, he did not believe that any of her suitors were worthy of her, she is depicted as a lonely spinster.  This is not her fault.  

When Emily meets Homer Barron, he too tries to dismiss her, to marginalize her needs, clearly he should not have gone on carriage rides with her if he was never interested in her in a romantic way.  He makes a fool of her in front of the whole town, first because she has put aside the fact that he is a Yankee and allowed herself to associate with him.  Then, when everyone thinks that they are going to get married, he disappears.

Once again, Miss Emily is left alone by a controlling man, or so it seems to the town.  

Miss Emily does manage to escape the prejudice of the men in this story.  She sidesteps paying her taxes, she takes up with a Yankee, something that would have horrified her father, and she kills Homer Barron, for thinking that he had a right to leave her. 

What is the myth that begins chapter 8?

Chapter 8 begins with the myth that the changing of the seasons is caused by children who mess around and cause trouble.  "When children disobeyed their parents, smoked cigarettes and made war on each other" seasons would change, according to Mr. Avery.  This shows that even the adults have their own superstitions.

Near the end of the chapter, Scout is told by Atticus and Jem that Boo had placed a blanket around her shoulders when she was shivering outside watching the men get Maudie's stuff out of her house.  The children have had this superstition about Boo all along.  However, Jem realizes that Boo is a good person.  He just doesn't live like everyone else.  So his superstitions have altered or he's outgrown that one in particular.  Scout, however, still gets upset by the thought of Boo.  When Jem creeps towards her with the blanket, her "stomach turned to water and [she] nearly threw up." This chapter is about the superstitions of both young and old.

Lincoln "scholars?"Several years ago I came across a small envelope signed A.Lincoln , 4/14/1865. As you must think this can not be real. I am no...

Dear Steinman1,

I believe you are asking if there are any true historians left. Yes, there are many true historians left. You sound like one yourself. I have a question for you. What are you hoping to accomplish? If you want to donate your finding to a museum for all to see and appreciate, then give the envelope to Mr. John Lupton. He has already validated the document. Perhaps you could have it displayed with his project along with your name listed as the person who discovered it and made the donation.

You may also try to contact Jill Blessman, the Acquisitions Librarian at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum Treasures Gallery, 217-785-7943.

If it is money you seek, then maybe try going to The Antiques Roadshow. You can view the schedule here:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/ontheroad.html

The experts on the show appear to be sincere and you may get the notoriety you seek and deserve.

I hope this helps,
Jan

How does Lysander's comment about Demetrius's previous love affair with Helena complicate things? Why do they tell Helena about their plan?

1)

LYSANDER
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.

THESEUS
I must confess that I have heard so much,
And with Demetrius thought to have spoke thereof;
But, being over-full of self-affairs,
My mind did lose it.

It's not so much the fact that Demetrius has slept with Helena that is the problem, but the fact that it is being openly talked about by everyone - even Theseus has heard about it. It makes Demetrius seem rather less than gentlemanly, and it makes everyone think differently of him - marrying Hermia off to him would be much easier if he was thought to be whiter than white.

The Elizabethans also had a kind of belief in virginity before marriage, though, in fact, this seems to have been more stringently applied to women than to men.

2) Why do they tell Helena? Well, notably, it isn't Lysander who tells her, but Hermia. And why does Hermia do it? Because Helena is so upset about Demetrius' being in love with Hermia and not with her - she decides to try and comfort her:

Take comfort: he no more shall see my face;
Lysander and myself will fly this place.
Before the time I did Lysander see,
Seem'd Athens as a paradise to me.

Hope it helps!

In To Kill a Mockingbird, who is Simon Finch's only son?

Simon Finch was the first Finch to step foot on American soil.  He made a great deal of money but was not happy so he got married.  He had 8 daughters and one son.  The son's name was "Welcome Finch."  This is a clever little twist that Ms. Lee puts in the story.  After 8 daughters a son was truely welcome in the Finch household, so they simply named him Welcome Finch.  This part of the story can be found in chapter 9 on page 88, of "To Kill A Mockingbird."

In "By the Waters of Babylon," after John's journey, what key insight does he have about the gods?

On the journey itself, near the end, he comes across a man, sitting in a chair in one of the buildings.  From this, and all of the other clues that he picks up on his journey, John learns that the gods "were men -- they went a dark road, but they were men".  He realizes how advanced they were, but also how they destroyed each other.  This is significant information, considering who they have been revering for so long were just men, like them.

The true key insight arrives when he gets back from his journey.  His dad asks him to tell him everything,and once he does, his father states, "Truth is a hard deer to hunt. If you eat too much truth at once, you may die of the truth."  He is basically saying that the people have been living a certain way, and believe certain things, and the information that John holds would change everything for them.  So, his dad recommends that the "the truth should come little by little"  to their people so that it doesn't crash their entire world around them.  John agrees, stating that "Perhaps, in the old days, they ate knowledge too fast", which is what helped cause their downfall.  This insight is probably the most profoudn of the story, and John realizes that the great knowledge that he possesses must be given in small doses, as the people are ready for it, and can show they can use it wisely.

Ray makes an array that has 4 rows of 4 counters. He wants to make two more arrays using the same number of counters.He wants more than one counter...

First, figure out how many counters Ray has. 4 rows of 4 equals 16 counters. You can then either decide ways of making new arrays that use that total, or you could take Ray's starting array and rearrange it.

If you want to start with the number 16, you would be using factoring to figure out what arrays you can make. 16=2x2x2x2. Ray's first array was (2x2) by (2x2). Regroup, and you can make 2 by (2x2x2), or 2x8. You can also make (2x2x2)x2, or 8x2.

If you use actual counters, put them in an array of 4 by 4, and then split the array in half, either by height or width, and move the counters. This is a good way to teach basic multiplication, distributive property, and factoring.

At the end of the film The Crucible, what function does Rebecca Nurse serve as an individual and in response to Proctor's confession?

At the end of the play, and the movie, Rebecca Nurse is a martyr, she is executed for witchcraft.  She was accused by Anne Putnam and did not confess, would not confess, therefore, she is hung. 

Rebecca Nurse's death at the end of the play inspires John Proctor to maintain his dignity, integrity and withdraw his oral confession and refuse to sign a written confession that was to be used as a tool to prove that there were witches in Salem.

John Proctor is inspired by Rebecca Nurse's sacrifice, she would rather die an innocent woman than confess to being a witch to save her life.  She refuses to surrender her soul to the evil that has gripped Salem.  Rebecca Nurse's death is a true tragedy, a woman who is considered to be an example of a truly devoted Puritan, a model Christian.

John Proctor dies with peace in his heart knowing that he did not cooperate with evil, the court, and that he saved his name for his family.  He protected them from the scandal that would have ensued if he had gone through with the confession. The only way that he can save his family from this shame is to follow Rebecca Nurse's lead and die a martyr's death. 

What is Pip and Miss Havisham's relationship like in Great Expectations?

Pip and Miss Havisham have a complicated relationship.  She relies on him because she needs someone for Estella to practice on.  Although she hates all men, and presumably boys, she does seem to take a subtle interest in his life.  He continues to keep in touch with her as he gets older, and she allows him to and even continues to push Estella his way.  She tempts and teases him, but she never tells him the truth.  She allows him to assume that she is his benefactor.

Pip is irritated by Miss Havisham, and even confronts her after he realizes that Magwitch is his benefactor.  Even then, he realizes that his life is as bad as she could have hoped.

“What I had to say to Estella, Miss Havisham, I will say before you, presently—in a few moments. It will not surprise you, it will not displease you. I am as unhappy as you can ever have meant me to be.” (ch 44, p. 242)

Miss Havisham asks him why he is surprised by her unkindness, and she has a point.  She has been nothing but manipulative throughout his life, and he was always aware of it.  He put up with it first because he thought he had no choice, and second because he thought he was going to get Estella. 

Pip does care for Miss Havisham, because in a twisted way she is family.  He feels sorry for her, at the end, and jumps into the fire to rescue her.

Who are the main characters in "Freedom Writers" (the movie)?

The main characters in the movie are the same as in the book--the students who eventually become known as the "Freedom Writers" and their teacher, Erin Gruwell.  "Mrs. G.", as they call her, is played by Hilary Swank.  Other character roles include:  Scott Glenn as Steve Gruwell, Imelda Staunton as Margaret Campbell, April Lee Hernandez as Eva Benitez, Mario as Andre Bryant, Kristin Herrera as Gloria Munez, Jaclyn Ngan as Sindy Ngor, Sergio Montalvo as Alejandro Santiago, Jason Finn as Marcus, Deance Wyatt as Jamal Hill, Vanetta Smith as Brandy Ross, Gabriel Chavarria as Tito, Hunter Parrish as Ben Daniels, Antonio Garcia as Miguel, and Giovannie Samuels as Victoria.

Check out the official website of the Freedom Writers ( http://www.freedomwriters.com/ ) for more information.  I've also included a link to books by Erin Gruwell and the Freedom Writers. 

Why does Curley attack Lennie at the end of chapter 3? What happened to Curley?

There are at least two answers to the question of why Curley started a fight with Lennie. Curley has a big inferiority complex because of his small size. Steinbeck does not explain this but has Candy explain it to George, since most of the exposition in this novella is in the form of dialogue, which will make it easy for Steinbeck to convert his book to a stage play. Curley takes an immediate dislike to Lennie because Lennie is so much bigger than he is. He attacks Lennie to show how tough he is and what a good boxer. 

The other answer has to do with Steinbeck's reason for inserting this fight at all. Steinbeck wanted to establish that Lennie had extraordinary strength, partly to explain how easily he could kill Curley's wife by accident. However, the author could not show Lennie working in the fields because he deliberately avoided having any outdoor scenes in which the men and teams of horses would be shown harvesting grain. He confined his story mainly to the bunkhouse and the barn. This was because he intended to convert his book into a stage play almost immediately, and there would be no way of showing Lennie tossing four-hundred-pound bales of barley onto wagons, as George claims he can do when they are being interviewed by the boss.

The fight between Lennie and Curley is intentionally restricted to a small area because two actors could not be moving all over a stage cluttered with bunk beds and crowded with men watching the fight. Therefore, Steinbeck has Lennie grab Curley's hand and crush it while both men remain in approximately the same spot.

The author's purpose in inserting this fight was mainly to show how strong Lennie really was. It is one thing to say that a character has tremendous strength, but it is far more effective to demonstrate it. After the injured Curley has been taken off to Soledad for medical attention, Slim  voices Steinbeck's implicit message.

In a moment Slim came back into the bunkhouse. He looked at Lennie, still crouched fearfully against the wall. "Le's see your hands," he asked.

Lennie stuck out his hands.

"Christ awmighty, I hate to have you mad at me," Slim said.

After it is discovered that Lennie has killed Curley's wife in the barn, George realizes that Lennie has become a menace he can no longer control. He realizes that Lennie's interest in soft little animals such as mice, rabbits, and puppies has evolved into a sexual attraction to human females. George remembers the incident in Weed with a new understanding of Lennie's motivation.

"I should of knew," George said hopelessly. "I guess maybe way back in my head I did."

George is the only person who knows where Lennie will be hiding. It is at this point that he makes the decision to kill his friend as an act of mercy. He canot help him escape the angry mob as he helped him after the incident in Weed. The Weed incident was relatively trivial, but if George helped Lennie escape this time he would be an accessory to an apparent murder. 

The fight with Curley, which left him with a mangled hand, will also serve to explain Curley's intense hatred of Lennie and his desire to have him killed in the most slow and painful way. This in turn will enhance George's motivation to kill his friend mercifully in order to save him from a horrific lynching.

In "Lord of the Flies", what is the connection between Ralph, the conch, and the glasses?

I think the main connection is about the idea of democracy and fairness they represent.

Ralph, as chief, represents an idea of democracy and fairness. It's significant, I think, that in the first chapter, when Ralph is elected chief, it is a democratic election and the conch, as a symbol of togetherness, influences the boys' vote: they vote for Ralph because...

...most obscurely, yet most powerfully, there was the conch. The being that had blown that, had sat waiting for them on the platform with the delicate thing balanced on his knees, was set apart.
“Him with the shell.”
“Ralph! Ralph!”
“Let him be chief with the trumpet-thing.”

And then, in the second chapter, it's the conch that becomes the symbol of who can speak, of everyone listening to a single speaker. The conch initially summoned all the boys together: and it now represents keeping them together, a sign of "order, authority, dialogue, democracy":

“Conch?”
"That’s what this shell’s called. I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking.”

Ralph as chief is chiefly bothered about the fire. It's important, he realises, to have the fire as a signal so that they might be rescued. And this fire needs Piggy's glasses to be lit. The glasses, then are literally and metaphorically associated with clear-sightedness - like Ralph's insistence on the fire.

So you see the link. Ralph, the conch, and the glasses are all tied into Ralph's ideas as chief - the opposite to Jack, hunting, and sharpened sticks!