Are the three main characters of "Hunters in the Snow" consistent in their actions?

They are consistent in their actions because their actions are all based in self-absorbed ego. At the beginning, Kenny pretends to be driving at Tub because he thinks it is funny; Frank goes along with the "joke" because he doesn't want Kenny to see him standing up for Tub. Tub doesn't "get" the joke, and so later when Kenny seems about to shoot him, he doesn't see that as a joke either; Kenny's killing the dog removes the humor in the joke and turns it into a scary possibility:

They all looked at the dog lying there.

"What did he ever do to you?" Tub asked. "He was just barking."

Kenny turned to Tub. "I hate you."

Tub shot from the waist. Kenny jerked backward against the fence and buckled to his knees.
(Wolff, "Hunters in the Snow," classicshorts.com)

For his part, Frank remains the second-banana, now taking orders from Tub instead of Kenny. As they connect on the basis of their mutual faults, they begin to ignore Kenny's suffering, showing that they both resented him far more than they let on. Tub and Frank's callous attitude towards Kenny shows that their believe their own problems to be all-important, even when compared to Kenny's bullet wound.

Why is it important that Macbeth begins with the witches?

Dramatically, the play's opening with the witches is important for at least two reasons. The first is a practical one: Shakespeare has to get the attention of the groundlings, those attending the performance who are standing in the pit around the stage. These people paid the cheapest price for their tickets, so they stood for the entire performance. Before the play begins, people are milling about, talking, and some are selling food. The playwright must grab their attention to quiet this group so that everyone in the theater can hear the actors. The Elizabethans believed in the existence of witches; these in this play are particularly ugly witches so their appearance on the stage would definitely grab the audience's attention.

Secondly, the witches' comment, "Fair is foul, and foul is fair," sets up one of the most important themes of the play: appearances can be deceptive. The witches, furthermore, are evil; they would appear via the trap door in the floor of the stage, indicating their origin in the Underworld and their collaboration with the devil. King James had written a book about witches, too, so there was intense interest in them. The appearance of the three witches would be riveting to the audience, and their remarks in the opening scene prepare the audience for the deception that will appear throughout the play.

With the theme of the play as one of escape, how did all the members of the Wingfield family wish to escape? Why?

The theme of escape is tied in with the other themes, disillusionment and disappointment.  Tom is the master at escaping, going to the movies every night to free himself from both the confines of the apartment and his Mother's constant correcting and instructing.  He longs to shed the responsibility of taking care of his mother and sister, dreaming of adventure.  He hates his job at the warehouse, he resents having to work in a shoe factory, he wants to be a writer. 

Tom is the character who is on the edge or closest to escaping.  Even when he is at home in the apartment, he is allowed a temporary escape, he goes outside on the fire escape to smoke or distance himself from his mother.

Amanda needs to escape from the gloom and hopelessness of her everyday life.  She has no future to look forward to, she has nothing going on in her life except her absolute need to improve the future for her children.  She wants Tom to avoid becoming like his father.  She is desperate to see Laura settled, now focusing on marriage rather than a job.

So to ease her discomfort with her present situation, she escapes into her memories of her youth.  She talks about her life in Blue Mountain when she was a popular girl who had 17 gentleman callers one Sunday.  Whether Amanda's memories are true or not we don't know for certain, they probably are, maybe just exaggerated.

Laura has the simplest life and the simplest escape.  Content in the apartment, Laura escapes from her mother's criticism and constant planning of her life by playing the old records on the phonograph and by polishing her glass menagerie.  She finds great comfort in her pieces of glass.  Laura is actually the least unhappy person in the play.  

Normal rain has a pH of 6 while acid rain has pH of 5. Why is it so harmful in terms of acidity?

The pH scale is actually a logarithmic scale. What this means is pH is the negative of the logarithm of the concentration of hydrogen ions in a substance. Essentially, the more hydrogen ions there are, the smaller the number (and more acidic) a substance becomes. The formula is

pH = -log [H+]

So, to answer your question, while a range of 0 to 14 sounds small, the difference between a 5 and a 6 on the pH scale is by a factor of 10.

5 is stronger than a 6 by a factor of 10!

How does Hamlet escape from the ship?

As Hamlet is on his voyage by ship to England, his ship is attacked by a pirate ship.  In the commotion of the ensuing impromptu battle, Hamlet ends up boarding the pirate ship.  Once the battle has culminated, the pirates decide they will drop Hamlet off back in Denmark.  Hamlet communicates all this to Horatio in a letter.

In "Romeo and Juliet", to which two characters is Prince Escalus related?

In Act 3, scene 1, after the brawl in which Tybalt is killed, the Prince arrives on the scene, and upon witnessing the carnage, makes his relationship to one of the morbidly injured characters clear. He says:

I have an interest in your hate's proceeding,
My blood for your rude brawls doth lie a-bleeding;

In this instance we are not exactly sure who he is referring to. Tybalt or Mercutio? We only discover who it is in a later reference. The reference is made in the Prince's speech at the end of the play:

And I for winking at your discords too
Have lost a brace of kinsmen: all are punish'd.

This is said after the discovery of Romeo, Juliet and Paris' bodies in the Capulet's crypt. We can only conclude that the "brace" (two) the Prince refers to, are Paris and Mercutio, since Romeo is not related in blood to either Mercutio, Paris, Juliet or Tybalt.

Although Juliet is related to Tybalt who had also been killed, we can correctly assume that the Prince is not referring to her, since he would have used an alternative means to refer to her, rather than include her in his reference to 'kinsmen". Also, there are no references in the play as to her being related to the prince or that she is of royal blood. We do, however, know that Paris is royalty, since there are numerous references to him being a count or 'county'. So the reference can only be to him in this instance and Mercutio in the former. 

The Prince's two kinsmen are therefore Mercutio and Paris.

What are the properties of light?

The debate about the properties of light date back to the time of Isaac Newton (1642-1727) who first undertook to comprehend its properties through experimentation.  His belief was that light was composed of particles, and, being Newton, his view was accepted unquestionably by most of the scientific community. However, his contemporary, Francesco Grimaldi (1618-1663) performed an experiment where he noted for the first time the phenomena of diffraction, or the light bending around an obstacle, which would suggest light was a propagating wave.  Eventually, the wave theory became widely accepted, but with the advent of quantum mechanics, light again appeared to have particle properties.  Scaling down our analogies to subatomic scale to understand the phenomena discovered in that realm doesn't always work -- although difficult for us to comprehend at our human-sized scale of existence, light is considered to be both wave and particle, electromagnetic energy moving at an unvarying speed.

Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, I. Asimov, pg. 100, 1964.

How might "The Open Window" be different if Framton were the narrator?

In "The Open Window" young Vera controls the story, and as such spins a tall tale, a ghostly tale, that she conveys very convincingly to the susceptible Framton Nuttel.  He is easily convinced that the open window is a memorial to the hunting party that went missing in the Bog and, is expected back at any moment by her grief stricken Aunt who cannot accept the deaths of her husband and brother.

If Framton Nuttel were the narrator, he would tell us that he is visiting people he does not know in the country, and with that in mind, he would be a little more skeptical of Vera's story.  He would have to consider if the open window was a memorial to the missing men or if it was just an open window.  He would measure everything that Vera said with a more rational perspective. 

He would also not judge Mrs. Sappleton to be an eccentric nut before having a chance to speak to her.  If Nuttel were the narrator, he might consider that the hunting party actually went missing, or he could just ask Mrs. Sappleton outright if her husband and brother were out hunting today.

If Framton was the narrator, his behavior would be viewed as more rational and reasonable.  Especially if he was unsure whether Mrs. Sappleton was waiting for the ghosts of her husband and brother or for the live version.  He could easily place the responsibility of looking silly on Vera instead of on him. 

At the end of the story, Mrs. Sappleton thinks that he is both crazy and rude.  He rushes out of the house as if he were on fire, not stopping to look at what he thinks are ghosts. 

He would also have the last word in the story, and it would not be Vera's excuse that he was afraid of the dog.

He could portray himself as a victim of a practical joke, a cruel practical joke played by a rude little girl.    

Please comment on the relationships between men and women in in 'Birthday Party'.

Man-woman relationship in Pinter is a complex issue that hovers in between affection, lust and the inner violence of the micro-political world of a family. Pinter often merges the archetypes of the Mother and the Whore in his feminine portraits e.g. Ruth in The Homecoming.

In Birthday Party, the most significant man-woman relationships are between Meg and Petey, the husband and the wife and between Meg and Stanley, their tenant. There is Lulu, a young prostitute, who has sexual flirtations with Stanley and even Goldberg later on.

Meg and Petey share a very normal kind of a husband-wife bond with Meg as the domestic 'caretaker' and Petey as the rather reticent work-loving husband. Meg is an old woman who desperately wants to be loved, in a youthful way, almost. Her relation with Stanley is crucial to the play as it merges the mother-daughter relation with a latent erotic encounter, in an Oedipal manner. Stanley's use of the word 'succulent' and Meg's horrific response to it is a witness to this. It is a typical love-hate relation, they share and in their menacing exchanges, the power-rhetoric keeps shifting.

Lulu plays the role of a young vibrant girl, who seems to go after Stanley in the beginning but he is hardly interested. Later on, in the party, Stanley supposedly rapes her, though this seems to be an allegation put against him by the tormenting duo of Goldberg and Maccan. Lulu's sexual intimacy with Goldberg is another case in point. Is she just a stooge? Her crying exit leaves a lot of unanswered questions.

Pinter, overall, portrays deceptively smooth going and internally disturbed relation of the sexes in Birthday Party and tends towards a Lacanian vision of sexual non-rapport as it were.

How much blood does a person's body contain?

it depends on the size of the body - bigger people have more blood.  So the only answer can be proportionate - i.e. X% of the human body is blood. I found a source which says about 7%.

We know that humans are about 70% water, but that fluid is not just blood - every cell is a little liquid pouch.  The amount of fluid in the vascular system is probably around what the prior responders state.

But, for example, a pregnant woman's blood volume increases by a third toward the end of the pregnancy - that's not counting the blood that the fetus itself made.

So the answer is a confident "it depends", but AFAIK, loss of more than three pints is life threatening.

What is the Climax, rising action and falling action of the short story "A White Heron" ?

Rising action is considered to be the events that lead up to the climax. In "The White Heron" the climax occurs when Sylvia successfully climbs the old pine and realizes the beauty of nature. At that point, she is maturing and realizes she cannot betray the nesting place of the white heron. So all of the action leading to that point, meeting the hunter, wanting to please him, climbing the tree are all examples of rising action. The falling action occurs after the climax. In this case, Sylvia goes back to her house and says says nothing. That is the falling action of the story. The denouement, or resolutions is that she has realized her love for nature is stronger than her need for money or the approval of the young hunter. That is t

In the list of guests from Chapter 4 of The Great Gatsby, what further indication is there that old money is in East Egg and new money is in West Egg?

As the answer to your new and exciting question about The Great Gastby, I would have to say that the people from East Egg are described mostly by famous family name while the people from West Egg are described mostly by occupation.  In Nick's list from Chapter 4, the East Eggers are listed as "the Hornbeams" and "the Willie Voltaires" and "the Ismays" and "the Chrysties" and "a whole clan named Blackbuck."  The East Egg list, then, is a list of family names carried through history: all famous because of their wealth.  (Actually, I got a kick out of the mention of the Ismays, wondering if it was referring to the family of Bruce Ismay who bolted from the Titanic in disgrace.)  In regards to West Egg, people are mentioned by first and last name instead of by family.  Also tickling my funny bone is the fact that Nick often specifically mentions the West Eggers who are involved in the performing arts such as:

Arthur McCarty, all connected with the movies in one way or another. (62) 

Nick even describes many others as "theatrical people."  What a subtle difference that makes such a valid point about the differences between the two places!  It is just glorious when a question such as this truly makes an English teacher have to "think."  : )

In "Hamlet" Act 1, Scene 1, pinpoint the references to a military/war background. Make references to at least three different speeches.

Firstly, Horatio refers to the ghost of Old Hamlet as being in "fair and warlike" form, and, moreover, uses "march" as a verb, perhaps implying some sort of military marching:

What art thou that usurp'st this time of night,
Together with that fair and warlike form
In which the majesty of buried Denmark
Did sometimes march?

Horatio later recognises Old Hamlet in the ghost by his armour, and remembers his military deeds:

Such was the very armour he had on
When he the ambitious Norway combated.
So frown'd he once when, in an angry parle,
He smote the sledded Polacks on the ice.

Then, after the ghost has gone, with his "martial stalk", Marcellus asks his companions

...tell me, he that knows,
Why this same strict and most observant watch
So nightly toils the subject of the land,
And why such daily cast of brazen cannon,
And foreign mart for implements of war.

Marcellus has noticed that the military preparations are being stepped up, and, as a watchman, notices that there are far more watchmen set on. He knows that Denmark is preparing for a war.

How do you give artificial age to wool and cotton fibers? What causes the wool to oxidize?

Not sure if this is precisely what you mean, but in some theatre productions I've worked on, I've seen a couple of very good ways to age and weather cloth - though I'm not sure how it specifically works to wool and cotton fibres.

One way to age fabric is to rub soap up against it (no water) which gives a sort of greasy, worn-out look. Obviously it washes straight off.

The other way - and this is quite obvious - is with a cheese-grater. Cheese-graters are great to make clothes look worn out and worn through and lightly taking it over the surfaces will make something look bobbly and used. Rubbing harder you can even wear realistic looking grazes and holes in fabric.

Hope that helps!

Assess the function of Mercutio in the play. Why is he so important to the play and to the development of its themes?I'm trying to think about...

A great question. Ostensibly, Mercutio is a side character in a tragicomic play about two lovers who are the protagonists, so at first glance, he may seem only like a sideliner and not that important. But in literature, great literature especially, every character counts. So if you want to move beyond a "C" in your literary analysis, treat everything in works by greats such as Shakespeare as seriously symbolic.

So, let's examine Mercutio carefully in terms of function and personality. You're already doing a good job of characterizing his personality. "Light-hearted" is a characteristic you can easily prove. Search acts one through three for instances of his joking around, particularly his bawdy ones, and you'll have plenty of evidence of his ability to get a crowd laughing.

You say he is a "good friend." This is an evaluative judgment (any time you put "good" or a criterion-based adjective, you're evaluating), so you need to back this up. What makes a good friend? Make a list of good qualities in a friend, and then see if Mercutio measures up. Is a good friend loyal? Thoughtful? Compassionate? (Rate Mercutio in each of these areas in how he treats Romeo.). I will challenge you to think about the kind of friend he is and come up with a more specific adjective than "good," because "good" is a bit too general for a complicated guy such as Mercutio. Some would argue that his kind of "good" does Romeo no good! But there are many ways to argue this.

You say "a man of many words." True, he is that, but what kind of words? Do you mean talkative only, or a man who says a lot of a certain kind of statement? Take a moment to examine the Queen Mab speech (act one, scene four), and really study the images that Mercutio raises. Are they pleasant, interesting, exciting, gruesome images -- what kind? I would use that speech to characterize the kind of talking Mercutio does.

Now on to function. This is using the same strategies we've just been using, but asking you to think more globally about Mercutio's role in the play. Find two to three key decisions that he makes (hint: act one, scene four, he gives advice to Romeo in the line, "Nay, gentle Romeo...," and that qualifies as a decision. Then, in act three, scene one, he makes a life-changing decision.

Now ask yourself: how do Mercutio's key decisions affect the course of the entire play?

Finally, think of the concept of friendship as a concept that weaves through the whole play. Benvolio, Mercutio, the Nurse, and the Friar can all be counted as friends to the main characters, Romeo and Juliet. In terms of being "good friends," who do you find to be the best, and why?

Therefore, when you answer a question such as the one you posed, you can answer it by characterizing Mercutio (listing his most important qualities in terms of quality or goodness), by listing his key decisions that affect the plot, and by evaluating him in light of his role as friend (when friendship is a concept that is dealt with again and again).

Note the distinction between concept and theme: a concept is an idea, a topic, such as "friendship," "love," or "loyalty." To write a thesis statement about a theme, you need to make a claim, as in, "Mercutio is a ____ type of friend and in this play compares to other friends in the following way..." You want to make an overall statement about how an idea -- a theme -- gets played out via characters' choices and roles.

Good luck!

How did Queen Gertrude's marriage affect her son Hamlet? Why was he so hurt?

Act I sc2.  "O, that this too too solid flesh would melt...But break, my heart; for I must hold my tongue."

This soliloquy is spoken by Hamlet after he sees his mother whom Claudius has married, completely reconciled to her new state.  She does not mourn the death of her husband  (Hamlet's father)  and seems happily married to Claudius. Hamlet is shocked at the change in his mother's attitude and this soliloquy expresses his disgust towards all women in the now famous line: "fraility thy name is woman!"  In fact, he is so disgusted that he wishes that he could die and that he is even prepared to commit suicide. It is this soliloquy which has led many psychoanalytical critics to conclude that Hamlet suffers from an 'Oedipus Complex.

When Hamlet returns to Denmark he is traumatised to discover that his mother has willingly and hastily married his uncle Claudius:

"within a month:
Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears
Had left the flushing in her galled eyes,
She married. O, most wicked speed, to post
With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!"

He is filled with disgust and revulsion and becomes emotionally scarred and even thinks of committing  suicide. His mother's haste in marrying Claudius transforms him into a misogynist which in turn affects his relationship with Ophelia leading her to commit suicide.

What does Leo Tolstoy mean by "God sees the truth but waits"?full analizing about this title

Before beginning to start there is something needs to be mentioned is that this story contains two truths; the truth of being innocent, and the truth of being good person with a tough relationship between both of them.

It, I think, means that God sees the truth that Asikonov in his deepest inside is a good man and one of his faithful people who will dedicate his soul to him but he waited and gave him a slight punishment which was make him spend 26 years experience in prison to figure it out by himself because as we come to know at the early beginning of the story that he is not such a good man:

"Aksionov was a handsome, fair-haired, curly-headed fellow, full of fun, and very fond of singing. When quite a young man he had been given to drink, and was riotous when he had had too much; but after he married he gave up drinking, except now and then."

In the other hand, if the first truth had come out early that he is innocent, that time he wouldn't find the second truth (finding the reality about himself), so with the appearance of second truth, the first one came along but it took very long time, and as they say "after sadness comes happiness" so he will get rewarding in heaven I think.

Write a note on the contribution of the Bronte sisters to the english novel.

The three sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne had written compulsively from early childhood. In 1846 they published their poems as poets under the psuedonyms Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. The book attracted little attention, selling only two copies. The sisters returned to prose, producing a novel each in the following year. Charlotte's Jane Eyre, Eily's Wuthering Heights and Anne's Agnes Grey were published in 1847 after their long search to secure publishers.m

The novels attracted great critical attention and steadily became best-sellers, but the sisters' careers were shortened by ill-health. Emily died the following year before she could complete another novel, and Anne published her second novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, in 1848, a year before her death. Upon publication Jane Eyre received the most critical and commercial success of all the Brontë works, continuing to this day. Charlotte's Shirley appeared in 1849 and was followed by Vilette in 1853. Her first novel, The Professor was published posthumously in 1857; her uncompleted fragment, Emma, was published in 1860; and some of her juvenile writings remained unpublished until the late twentieth century.

They altered the way women were viewed, showing new social and psychological possibilities for women.

Who is the mockingbird in Chapter 15 of "To Kill a Mockingbird? Why?

The mockingbird in Chapter 15 of TKAM is Scout. Jem and Scout receive air rifles for Christmas in Part I chapter 9. In Chapter 10 Atticus tells them they can shoot anyting they want except for a mockingbird. "Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." When Scout asks Miss Maudie about the only thing Atticus has ever said was a sin she responds: "Mockingbirds don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." Since this question is addressing Chapter 15 only and at this point the reader would not have knowledge of what happens later in the novel, the evidence lies in Scout's speech given to the mob. She is an eight year old little girl, a tomboy, who reminds Mr. Cunningham he has children too. Like a mockingbird she is "singing her heart out" trying to find a subject with which to engage Mr. Cunningham, the only familiar face in the angry mob, in conversation. She does this innocently, like a mockingbird. And like a mockingbird with an air rifle pointed at it, Scout does not realize she is in danger.

In The Hobbit, what name does Bilbo give his sword and why?

Ok Orcs have nothing to do with why Bilbo named it Sting, and while it is of Elven make it's not made of Mithril as only the Dwarves worked with Mithril. Sting is named wholly because of Bilbo's encounter with the spiders

"Somehow the killing of the giant spider, all alone by himself in the dark without the help of the wizard or the dwarves or of anyone else, made a great difference to Mr. Baggins. He felt a different person, and much fiercer and bolder in spite of an empty stomach, as he wiped his sword on the grass and put it back into its sheath."
"I will give you a name," he said to it, "and I shall call you Sting."

In "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," how do literary allusions help explain Prufrock’s problem to the reader?

By alluding to other texts and stories, Eliot is able to bring in the entire theme, mood, feeling and plot of those other stories, with just one word or phrase.  It is almost like providing an internet link right in the middle of a story; you "click" on it, and it brings you to an entire other page of information and applications.  The "links" in this poem are several, and add a lot of dimension to Prufrock's plight.

One of the allusions is to Hamlet. He has spent the entire poem wondering if he should "disturb the universe" by asking "some overwhelming question" to a woman; he goes back and forth, being wishy-washy and fearful.  He wonders if it "would have been worth it, after all," to have asked the question just to have her respond, "That is not what I meant at all.  That is not it, at all."  Well, he finally decides, no, it would not be worth it. Here he states, "I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be," meaning, he was not a royal, brave, conniving, eloquent, profound man (as Hamlet was).  Instead, he says that he was "deferential, cautious, a bit obtuse; at time, indeed, almost ridiculous-almost, at times, the Fool."  Alluding to Hamlet helps us to understand that he feels enormous pressure; Hamlet is a famous tale of a man sent on an enormous task of revenge-he gives fancy and profound speeches, he greatly impacts everyone around him.  Prufrock is perhaps feeling that what he has to say is the same, but unlike Hamlet, he's not up to the task of doing it well.

One last allusion I'll mention is the mermaids that Prufrock hears "singing, each to each," but feels that he does not "think that they will sing" to him.  Mermaids are mythical, beautiful creatures that often, in stories, lured seamen to their deaths.  Prufrock can hear the alluring tune of the beautiful women in his life, of the potential of being with creatures he considers unattainable as mermaids, because they won't sing to him.  He feels unworthy, plain, out of their league, and rejected by the beautiful creatures around him.

Those are just a couple of the allusions in the play, and I hope that helps a bit!  Good luck!

According to Thoreau, what is the flaw in majority rule?

In his essay Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau was ambivalent regarding the attributes of majority rule, recognizing in an unregulated political environment that it was no guarantor of justice.  Hardly original in these concerns – the Framers of the U.S. Constitution fully understood the moral and practical necessities of ensuring minority (in a political if not ethnic sense) rights were respected – he was nevertheless an articulate advocate against over-reliance on the will of absolute majorities in determining public policy.  As he wrote in this seminal essay:

“After all, the practical reason why, when the power is once in the hands of the people, a majority are permitted, and for a long period continue, to rule is not because they are most likely to be in the right, nor because this seems fairest to the minority, but because they are physically the strongest. But a government in which the majority rule in all cases cannot be based on justice, even as far as men understand it.”

Majority rule is an essential characteristic of democratic government, but is not in and of itself a guarantor of democratic tradition.  Thoreau recognized this when he asked rhetorically,

“Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once?”

With the expression of such sentiments, Thoreau place himself squarely within the democratic tradition envisioned by James Madison and others who feared tyranny of a majority.

In Julius Caesar, why does Caesar say "Even you, Brutus?" before his death?

He doesn't, actually. He says "and you, Brutus?", sometimes read as meaning "even you, Brutus?", or perhaps "and you, as well, Brutus?". And he says it in Latin. The one moment in this Roman play where Shakespeare has someone speak in Latin. It's as if this colossal moment in the play: the central thirty seconds of action which define a whole world and the whole evening's entertainment - take on a wider historical significance by becoming "real". The Romans really do speak in Latin, for one line only.

Why does Caesar say "and you, Brutus?" though? Well, Thomas North, whose translation of Plutarch Shakespeare took the play from (largely) might help us here:

Men reporte also, that Caesar did still defende him selfe against the rest, running everie waye with his bodie: but when he sawe Brutus with his sworde drawen in his hande, then he pulled his gowne over his heade, and made no more resistaunce...

Caesar gives up when Brutus strikes (after "et tu...", in Shakespeare, he says "then fall Caesar"). Why does he give up the struggle, and accept his death? That is the question.

Is it because he knows he is already dying? Is he disgusted with Brutus? Does he believe that, if Brutus (noblest of the noblest, we are told) is involved, he deserves to be murdered? Is he heartbroken (as Antony later argues) that Brutus, "Caesar's angel", has conspired against him?

It could be all of them or any of them. That one's up to how you interpret the play.

In The Great Gatsby, in what ways does Tom Buchanan lie, deceive or tell only half truths to other characters in the novel and to the...

There are two major examples of Tom outright lying or deceiving people in "The Great Gatsby".  The first is in the beginning of the novel when Tom is having an affair with Myrtle.  While Daisy may suspect or have been told about it by others, Tom has not come out and been truthful with Daisy about his affair or perhaps the reason behind the affair.

Tom also lies out right to George Wilson, saying it was Jay Gatsby who was driving the car that killed Myrtle, and not Daisy.  Though his protection for Daisy, and perhaps Daisy herself, prompted Tom to lie in this way, the lie resulted in Gatsby's death (which may or may not have been Tom's intention in the first place). 

In "Pride and Prejudice" what is the significance of the following comment by Charlotte Lucas?"One cannot wonder that so very fine a young man with...

Charlotte is discussing Darcy's rude comment about Elizabeth at the first dance in the novel.  He had passed Elizabeth by, and at Bingley's suggestion that he dance with her, Darcy stated rudely, "She is tolerable, but not handsome enought to tempt me; I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men."  Later as Jane, Charlotte and Elizabeth discuss this comment, and Darcy's tendency to be "eat up with pride", Charlotte comes in with the above comment.  What she is saying here is that if anyone has the right to feel pride, it should be Darcy, who has a fine family, fortune, and "everything in his favour".

This comment could be significant because first of all, Elizabeth agrees.  She states, "That is very true...and I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine."  After her pride is wounded, she becomes the one too prideful to move past her prejudices of him.  Even though she does not come from a "fine family" or substantial means, she herself becomes guilty of pride, after mocking and hating his.  And, the kind of "pride" that Darcy has is less due to his circumstances, and more to a social awkwardness that he later confesses to.  Elizabeth's is born only from her heart.  It is also significant because of Austen's theme of pride, class distinctions, and romance in relation to all of it.

Is Robinson Crusoe a picaresque novel?

Very interesting question. The earliest novels were called picaresque in that they involved a roguish main character who travelled widely, survived by means of their wits alone, and preyed on those less clever than themselves. These novels contrast the idea of chivalry with the idea of pursuing adventure for its own sake. They were also episodic, which meant that they were based around a series of single episodes which had no relation to the rest of the action in the book (kind of like when you miss an episode of Friends it doesn't really matter to the overall plot of the show). Lazarillo de Tormes and Don Quixote are examples of picaresque novels.

Based on this definition, therefore, Robinson Crusoe doesn't really seem to have all the elements of a picaresque novel. It does focus on one man's experience, but we can hardly describe him as a rogue, and though he does survive by his wits and skill, he does not take advantage of Man Friday in any devious fashion. Also, it is not episodic - there is a clear plot that runs throughout the story. It therefore can be said to represent the development of the novel from picaresque into something more interesting.

How do the themes of sex and maturity relate to Death of a Salesman?

Consider the way in which Happy "ruins" the fiances of the bosses for whom he works.  Because he's jealous of their success and his lack of relative stature within the company, he uses his skill for luring women into his bed to get even with them.  This alone is enough to demonstrate a clear theme of sexual immaturity, as he uses intimacy and physical love as a means of revenge, rather than showing true care and affection.

Secondly, Willy is also an example of this theme.  When he has an affair with the Woman in Boston, he is using sex as a means for feeling important.  Willy has never been an overly successful salesman, the readers are safe to assume.  However, it is correct to assume that he did have some sort of charisma, as he attracted a woman who was willing to have an extramarital affair with him.  However, such quotes as "bottoms up" and the like show that for him, it's a power struggle, similar to Happy's use of women, in that he wishes to perpetuate a stereotype of being a womanizer and a socialite. 

In "Fahrenheit 451", why is Clarisse introduced before Mildred?

Our first introduction to Mildred is her attempted suicide.  This is a very powerful and dramatic way to introduce one of the key players in the novel; it is a great way for the reader to realize, almost immediately, that something is wrong in their society, and in Montag's marriage.  So why introduce Clarisse first?  She provides the perfect contrast to Mildred.  If we had immediately been introduced to Mildred, her suicide is awful, yes, but without the contrast of the fresh, youthful, very much alive Clarisse first, it's not as powerful of an impact.

Compare the descriptions to the two women, and how contrasting they are.  Clarisse:  "eyes so dark and shining and alive that he felt he had seaid something quite wonderful," and "her face...as fragile milk crystal with a soft and constant light in it," and "her eyes were tow miraculous bits of violet amber that might capture and hold him intact." Then, Mildred:  "a body displayed on the lid of a tomb, her eyes fixed to the ceiling...immovable," and "her face...felt no rain...felt no shadow...her eyes all glass...not caring whether [breath] came or went, went or came."

If you compare these descriptions, the difference is stark, startling even, but even more so because Clarisse's came first.  She is so alive and dynamic, and Mildred is like a corpse.  It's an effective way to show society's impact on people; Mildred is the result of their society, Clarisse the potential without it.

What is a thesis statement for an essay of feminist criticism comparing treatment of women in "Desiree's Baby" and "The Yellow Wallpaper"?

I suggest a thesis that focuses on the oppression and destruction of the female characters that originates in the male characters' faulty perceptions of the female characters physical, mental, and/or social make up.  You may also consider tying in the irony in both of these stories.

Maybe something like:

The oppression and destruction of the protagonists in "Desiree's Baby" and "The Yellow Wallpaper" originate in the male characters' inaccurate perceptions of the protagonists. The men in these stories eventually ruin the protagonists based on faulty assumptions related to the protagonists' physical, mental, and/or social stature.

Or, to tie in the irony:

It is ironic that the protagonists who are oppressed and destroyed in two short stories, "Desiree's Baby" and "The Yellow Wallpaper", are really not the ones who are flawed or otherwise abnormal.

What questions is the author trying to answer and how does he want readers to react in Fast Food Nation?

Primarily the author may be trying to inform some readers, and warn others. Additionally, the author is providing an illustration of how life has changed during this world-wide acceptance of fast food, fast eating, wanting not only meals, but "things" quickly.

Nevertheless, the authors arguement is simply stating the need for speed, and how American's, at least most, especially those within various age groups, have traded out health for speed, with the mindset of "I want it now".

Many themes are represented: Economics, Health, and family relationships just to name a few. Perhaps considering the author has presented the facts, and has given the reader the opportunity to determine the outcomes of what trading out such things will bring or not bring forth in their own life.