In Macbeth, who shows the best leadership qualities and who shows the worst?

If you define "best" as most effective, then Lady Macbeth demonstrated some strong leadership skills, at least in the beginning of the play. She was very effective is overcoming Macbeth's reservations about killing Duncan and spurring him on. She figured out the details of the murder, drugged the drinks of Duncan's attendants, and laid out the murder instruments. She instructed Macbeth as to how he must behave, before and after Duncan's murder. Duncan's death was accomplished according to her plan and Macbeth soon claimed the crown.

Macbeth's leadership skills were horrendous. After gaining power, he had no workable plan for disarming his critics and gaining the support of his people. Instead of leading Scotland, he punished his countrymen, murdering those who threatened his position. He succeeded only in making himself a despised tyrant rather than a leader. At the conclusion of his life, the only Scots who fought for Macbeth were those who had no choice.

Duncan's legitimate heir, Malcom, does demonstrate the potential to be a good leader. He recognizes reality, assesses danger, and acts quickly, leading him and his brother to flee Scotland when Duncan is murdered, thus saving their lives. In Malcom's conversation with Macduff, Malcom shows that he is astute and understands the dynamics of the political situation in his country. He does not jump to conclusions or make snap judgments. These traits will serve him well as Scotland's true king.

What is the theme of the poem "somewhere i have never travelled" by e.e. cummings?

I absolutely love this poem by e.e. cummings.  At heart, it is a love poem.  It has themes of love, faith, and nature, and he melds them all to relay the message of how he feels completely exposed, vulnerable, and in her power whenever he is with her.  Though that may not seem like a good thing, he uses such beautiful images to describe it, and matches it up with his profound feelings for her, that it all works together to be a beautiful and deep testament of his love.  This message of vulnerability and being in her power is exemplified as he compares his life to flower petals:

"your slightest look easily will unclose me though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully, mysteriously) her first rose"

He feels that his life is a flower that is being opened and exposed by something as simple as her look. Along the same lines, he is completely within her power:

"or if your wish be to close me, i and my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;"

Both of these stanzas emphasize the vulnerability he feels in her presence, but it's okay, because it is a beautiful and amazing thing to him. He is deeply moved by her; he feels that she "renders death and forever with each breathing", and he finishes off with the great last lines, stating,

"the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands"

It's a very unique and thought-provoking love poem with the message of turning your entire life over to your loved one, for them to do with it-close or unclose-as they like, and how that is a beautiful and moving act of faith and love, all described using beautiful images from nature.

How does Chris see Joe in the play?

In the beginning of the play, Chris believes that his father is innocent.  He trusts that his father was exonerated because he was not guilty of the crime and Steve Deever was guilty.  Chris believes in the system, he is idealistic in his view of life, he trusts that people, especially his father, would not lie. 

That is why when Chris finds out about his father's guilt, his deception, he is stricken, sick, he runs off.  He can't bear the thought that his father is dishonest, he equates his father's mistake in judgement with a lack of integrity, saying if Joe has no integrity, then he has no integrity.  He feels dirty by Joe's behavior, he feels betrayed at the deepest level.

Chris is still in shock, absorbing the fact of Joe's guilt; he is so affected by this news that he feels that he must leave the house, go into a self-imposed isolation away from the neighborhood, away from Ann.  He feels so changed by the news that when he hears that his brother killed himself over the discovery of Joe's behavior, Chris understands, this is expressed through his own intentions. 

Like Larry's fated decision to end his life, Chris will end the life he knows in reparation for the deaths his father caused.  At the end of the play everything happens so fast.  Before Chris has a chance to truly react to the news, Joe Keller shoots himself. 

In Toni Cade Bambara's short story "Raymond's Run," what was one of Hazel's epiphanies in the story, and what changes did it make in her?

In this wonderful story, the major epiphany is a central theme of the story.  Hazel (also known as "Squeaky" because of her voice) knows what is important in the world: being yourself, and running.  Hazel has only one job: to watch over her brother Raymond who, as she puts it, is "not quite right."

Hazel spends her time going everywhere with Raymond.  She avoids walking when she can trot instead because she loves to run.  (She notes that the only one who can beat her is her father, but that's a secret.)  She stands up for her brother with the other kids and makes sure he doesn't get into any trouble.  And while she trots along, Raymond lopes along beside her, sometimes pretending to be driving a string of horses.

On this particular day, Hazel and her brother are going to the May Day ceremonies.  Included will be the 50-yard dash in which she will participate, and which she always wins.

However, on this day, as she runs, feeling like a bird soaring through the air, Hazel notices Raymond running on the other side of the fence, keeping up with her.  She notices that although Raymond does not run with the usual runner's grace, he has his own style and that he is very quick.  When the race is over, she notices how beautifully he climbs the fence.  Like Raymond himself, who does not fit the mold of a "normal" person--neither does his running--Hazel sees a wondrous beauty in his movements, and even more so, in him.

We witness Hazel's epiphany as, with celebration (which she is sure others believe is caused by her win), she delights in the realization that her brother is a really fine runner, able to carry on the "family tradition."  Instead of planning on her own future as a track star, she turns her attention to coaching her brother to be a great runner.  After all, she reflects, Hazel has plenty of medals, but what does Raymond have "to call his own?"

Hazel has left a world that revolves around her, to enter a new place where Raymond is the center of her attention. Now she will help him experience the joy of running, to find something that he can "call his own."

In MacBeth who is the villain and who is the hero, MacBeth, Macduff, or Banquo? How are all 3 alike, how are they different?

To start, Macbeth is a true hero, distinguishing himself on the battlefield to protect King and country.  He is truly courageous, brave and is rewarded by the king for his efforts. He does not sustain his hero status for very long, in fact, he becomes a villain, a murderer very shortly after this event. 

Murdering the king makes Macbeth a villain, he becomes truly evil, consumed with ambition and desire to protect his position once he is crowned king.  As king, Macbeth is still a villain, a tyrant who threatens the survival of Scotland, even nature rejects Macbeth as king.

Macduff emerges as a hero, a defender of Scotland, who is responsible for slaying the dragon, King Macbeth.  Macduff makes a great sacrifice to save Scotland.  He leaves his family unguarded as he journeys to England to meet with Malcolm and the King of England.  While he is away his entire family, his household is murdered. 

Macduff rises above his grief, his pain, his deep sorrow at losing his entire family to Macbeth's killers.  He is inspired to pursue the dreaded Macbeth for revenge and to restore order in Scotland.

Banquo is not a villian, not really a hero either, more of a victim.  He is murdered to soothe Macbeth's rising paranoia.  He was Macbeth's friend, who shared his experience of the witches prophecy, but does not survive very long after his friend is crowned king. 

He is killed by Macbeth's thugs in order to prevent him from being father to kings as the prophecy stated.  However, his son Fleance escapes, and survives.  In this regard, saving Fleance, he is definitely a hero, but otherwise, Banquo distinguishes himself by diaplying a sense of morality regarding the prophecies, never acting on them, something  that Macbeth lacks.  

The three men are different in how they allow their ambition to lead them.  Macduff is honest, noble and passionate about correcting what is wrong with Scotland.  Banquo is also honest and moral, never acting on the prophecy he was given. Macbeth starts out as having similar qualities to both Banquo and Macduff, but turns away from good, inspired by evil and becomes a villain.   

What are the relationships between Richard II, Aumerle and Bolingbroke in "Richard II"?

Richard, Aumerle, and Bolingbroke are all cousins. Have you seen the movie "Braveheart"? Do you remember the wimpy prince whose father was a mean and brutal king? That wimpy prince would end up being the grandfather of these three men. And that caused a problem. The mean old king in "Braveheart" had only one son, and he in turn had only one son. But that son, Edward III, had 8 sons, and most of them had sons of their own.

Richard II was son of Edward, called the Black Prince. Because he was the firstborn son, he would inherit the crown; however, he died when Richard was just a small boy. But that didn't keep Richard from becoming king. It did cause jealousy and resentment among the other males in the family.

Bolingbroke's father was the 4th son, John of Gaunt, who was also Duke of Lancaster. He thought Richard was a weak and ineffectual king and that he would be a better king himself.

Aumerle was the son of Edmund, Duke of York, the 5th son of this family. Aumerle and Bolingbroke will start the famous Wars of the Roses, so-called because the Lancasters were represented by the red rose and the Yorks by the white rose.

Whew! Wasn't it Richard II who said in this play, "Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown"? There's always someone else who thinks it would look better on his head.

See the links below for more information.

In the story The Westing Game, who killed Sam Westing?

The answer is: no one!  Sam Westing died of old age, although he lived the last years of his life under a pseudonym (and in disguise, for part of the time, as Sandy McSouthers the doorman.)  Turtle Wexler is the one who discovers that Sam Westing is not really dead, and has been among the "heirs" all this time masquerading as Sandy.  After the "game" is ended, Turtle, who becomes a business tycoon, befriends the aging Mr. Westing.  He actually had lived under four different names

The heir who wins the windfall will be the one who finds the fourth.  It was so simple once you knew what you were looking for.  Sam Westing, Barney Northrup, Sandy McSouthers (west, north, south).  Now she was on her way to meet the fourth identity of Windy Windkloppel.  She could probaby have figured out the address, too, instead of looking it up in the Westingtown phone book -- there it was, number four Sunrise Lane. (174-5)

Turtle never tells anyone that Sam Westing is alive, but she visits him weekly until he dies peacefully of old age.  The corpse she had found in the beginning of the book was a wax copy, and Sam Westing's personal doctor had been in on the conspiracy to make people believe that Sam was actually dead.  The whole ruse was created by Sam to bring his "heirs" together and right some past wrongs.  The game actually helped all of the heirs realize their true potentials, and take the proper direction in their lives.

Source: Raskin, Ellen.  The Westing Game.  New York: Avon Books, 1978.

In The Kite Runner, is Baba a hero or a hypocrite?Please provide a couple of examples to support your answer.

Like most people Baba is a mixture of several layers. He is a decisive and generous man who tries to help his people.   He has heroic moments, one is when he stands up for the man and his wife as they are fleeing Kabul.  The soldiers are harassing and going to harm a female passenger and Baba stands up and prevents this from happening at the risk of his own life. The fact that he is willing to take his son and flee Kabul, begin again in America and raise his son with the opportunity for a college education is also in some ways heroic. 

Yet, like all human beings Baba is also a hypocrite.  He is a hypocrite because he denies a birthright to his other son, Hassan, his birthright because he is the result of an adulterous affair with a servant.  Baba is never honest with Amir or with Hassan, yet he demands honesty from them.  Baba can't relate to Amir because he doesn't see Amir as a "courageous boy" yet Baba demonstrates a lack of courage in his relationship with his son and Hassan by not being honest.

In A Separate Peace do you believe that Finny's theory of the war has an element of truth in it? Use contemporary or historical events to explain.

Finny, in reaction to the fact that he can't get into the war because of his leg, concocts a fictional scenario about how the war wasn't real, but just some fat old men conspiring in a room together, in order to get all of the good food and supplies, getting fatter and richer off of the profits.  The rationing that occurs during the war as seen as suspicious, and a way for the rich men to get all the good stuff for themselves and leave the rest of the world without.  Finny states,

"There isn't any real food shortage, for instance. The men have all the best steaks delivered to their clubs now."

So, is there any truth to this conclusion about war?  In every war, there are certainly people that profit; in fact, people have been made millionaires by wars, either through the legal market, or the black market.  Think of tire manufacturers, clothing factories, railways and other resources that wars throughout history have relied heavily upon in order to function.  Soldiers need uniforms--clothing companies get rich off of the contracts. They need weapons--artillery companies get rich.  On the black market, people who can get their hands on rationed goods make a killing.  So, in that sense, there are definitely people profiting from wartime.

As for the deeper root of the conspiracy, that it was just a bunch of political figures that invented the war, if you look at it as them being the ones responsible for declaring and manuevering wars, there is some truth to that.  Hitler certainly aimed to create wars and dominate, and manipulated circumstances to have that happen.  Often, wars haven't been initiated by the people, but by their leaders in conjuction with the leaders' ambitions.  I hardly think that they made the wars up, however.  They were real, unfortunately.

I hope that those thoughts helped a bit; good luck!

In Act 1, Scene 5 of Romeo and Juliet, what are 3 things to which Romeo compares Juliet. What does his language tell us about his feelings?

Being a true romantic lover, Romeo uses fine figurative language to compare Juliet to a jewel, a dove, and even a shrine.  First, Romeo uses simile when he says, "It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night / Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear."  Juliet, then, is therefore beautiful as well as high-class.  Second, Romeo uses simile again when he says, "So shows a snowy dove tropping with crows / As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows."  I suppose that Paris is the main crow here, which makes me laugh.  Juliet, of course, is the dove:  beautiful, pure, white, and heavenly.  Finally, it isn't until Romeo actually speaks to Juliet that he approaches metaphor:  "If I profane with my unworthiest hand  / This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this: / My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand / To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss."  Now Romeo approaches the spiritual using metaphor in calling Juliet an actual "shrine."  Juliet, then, is more than just heavenly, now she is holy.  It is this last comparison that approaches the answer to your second question in that Romeo's actual first conversation with Juliet is largely a metaphor of religious pilgrims going to a holy shrine to pay homage:  so does Romeo pay homage to Juliet.  Romeo reveals, then, that his feelings are not merely physical, but spiritual as well.

Does the potion cause Demetrius to feel real love for Helena, which he had earlier supressed, or is the potion creating an illusion of love?

Great question. It's one of the things that you can either see as Shakespeare being a bit lazy, or as one of the things that really complicates the play.

Firstly, Demetrius does not love Helena at the start of the play. Shakespeare has Lysander tell us that he's slept with her, but then decided to marry Hermia:

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.

Demetrius then pursues Hermia to the forest. And when Puck eventually gets the potion on his eyes, he sees Helena, and responds with very, very, very passionate language. It doesn't sound like an illusory love:

O Helen, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine!
To what, my love, shall I compare thine eyne?
Crystal is muddy...

But then again, he never felt it before. And when he wakes up again at the end (still under the potion's spell) he tells Theseus

...the object and the pleasure of mine eye,
Is only Helena. To her, my lord,
Was I betroth'd ere I saw Hermia.
But, like a sickness, did I loathe this food;
But, as in health, come to my natural taste...

Is it "health" - is it his "natural taste"? Or is it just the potion talking? The answer is, there's no way to tell, and it's up to you to come up with your interpretation. For me, I've always found Demetrius' magical-love at the end of the play really quite disturbing! I want to know what he really feels!

After Scout begs Atticus not to make her return to school, what advice does he give her for getting along with people?

Scout doesn't want to go to school because she and the teacher cannot get along.  Scout is proud that Atticus has taught her to read, but Miss Caroline Fisher is not impressed and tells Scout, "Your father doesn't know how to teach" (22).  Ms. Fisher continues to show her ignorance of the southern town, Maycomb by insulting both Walter Cunningham and Burris Ewell.  When Scout tries to explain to the her the situation with Walter, Scout is called to the front of the class, and Ms. Fisher slaps her hand. 

In Chapter 3, not Chapter 1, Scout begs Atticus not to send her back to school.  Atticus uses this moment to introduce one of the motifs of the novel.  He tells Scout, "You never really understand a person until you walk around in their skin," indicating to Scout to consider things from the other person's point of view.  He also tells her that sometimes it is necessary to bend the law, but she must obey the law.  He then instructs her that it is sometimes better to ignore things.  He uses the example of Jem in the tree house.  He tells Scout that if she would just ignore Jem, he would come out.

At the end of the Chapter 3, Atticus and Scout reach the compromise that if she will go to school, they will continue to read at night.  He also instructs her not to tell the teacher, reinforcing two of the lessons of this chapter:  sometimes you need to bend the rules, and sometimes you need to ignore things.

What symbols are used in "Araby" by James Joyce?

Any physical item can serve as a symbol in a great literary work, since great authors choose those details that reflect and resonate with the whole of the work. So keep in mind the global question of why Joyce is even telling us this story, why it matters, and that focus will allow the symbols rise to the surface. Why does this story of a boy and his desire matter to readers today?

A question that is good to ask is, How much is it a symbol versus a functional object? We can get carried away by seeing too much meaning in tiny details. But those that get mentioned often or that are rendered with powerful description -- those objects we should spend our time on analyzing. Objects can be functional. For example, the florin in the boy's pocket is a means to get him into Araby, the bazaar. On a symbolic level, what does money really mean in this boy's life? How much wealth does this boy have to begin with? Answer that, and then the florin takes on a new significance: it represents an idea of povery, wealth, or aspirations.

The florin is functional in another way, by enabling him to get inside Araby and buy...what? (Now remember Mangan's sister and what the protagonist thinks of her.) What is his goal once he's inside Araby? Here is a second, symbolic significance to the florin: the emotion and desire it represents. You will need to search earlier paragraphs where the boy is practically trembling with emotion, if you need to pull evidence for his feelings, and then attach it to the mission he's on while at Araby.

The home where the boy lives has symbolic potential as well. Note who once lived and died there. What are the first things you think of when you think of a priest? Explore those connotations. An example: the first thing I think of when I see the color red is love, hearts, Valentine's, blood, etc. So, if you think of the priesthood, what words come to mind? Brainstorm a long list of associations, then circle the ones that might have some relation to a boy who is lovesick for a girl he barely knows. There's your significance, or symbolism: the themes that the image of priesthood raises. Remember that Joyce did not have to give the history of this house, that it was once occupied by a priest, nor mention it a second time. This setting is symbolic in a number of ways, but homing in on the home's prior occupant will lead you down a thematic path with some rewards.

Araby itself, the place the boy hopes to visit to achieve his mission, has symbolic potential. What will going to this place achieve for the boy? Why might it be called Araby? (Note that the uncle asks his nephew if he knows the poem, "The Arab's Farwell to His Steed," a ballad about an Arab who sells his favorite horse and then in a fit of regret, tosses away the money he gets for the horse and takes the horse back.) What does Arab culture represent to these Irishmen? To this Irish boy in particular? And how, like the priesthood, might you connect Arab culture (or the Irish stereotype of it) to this boy's infatuation with Mangan's sister?

Money, house, and bazaar: this object and two elements of setting can help you in probing the symbols of the story. Remember, symbols are vehicles of the story's larger idea.

What is the overall plot of this story, "In the Penal Colony"?

The plot of the story is fairly straight-forward. What is potentially confusing about the narrative is its resistance to predictability. From beginning to end, the story seems to move in ways that are unexpected though the events are far from "fantastic" and remain rather banal. 

The story follows a foreign intellectual who is visiting a penal colony island on his travels. This character is known as "the traveler" in the story. He is invited to watch an execution that is to be carried out by "the officer" and a soldier. The man to be killed is known as the "condemned man" (he is a guard at the penal colony but lapsed in his duties and so is to be put to death). 

There is a machine that is to be used in the execution. This machine, the officer explains to the traveler, is designed to "write" a message on the body of the condemned man by essentially etching it into his body over a period of twelve hours. When the process is finished the man dies and is slid into a pit. 

After explaining the machine, the officer places the condemned man onto the machine. He then talks with the traveler about why the traveler has been invited to witness the execution. There is a discussion here about changes that are to be made on the penal colony regarding this mode of execution. The traveler tells the officer that he is against this form of punishment, for several reasons. 

The officer then removes the condemned man from the machine, recalibrates the device, and puts himself in.

The officer, having failed to procure an ally, abruptly releases the prisoner and takes his place on the bed after readjusting the machine to inscribe the sentence "BE JUST" on his body. 

The machine is turned on and the officer is killed by the device. 

The traveler then goes to town, visits the grave of the officers former mentor - the former commandant of the penal colony - and then boards a ferry that will take him to his boat, which will bear him away from the island the next day.

Why are the deltas educated to hate flowers?

Lower classed citizens of the BNW are conditioned to hate books and flowers because a love of nature does not consume resoures, does nothing to increase the economy, and is a pastime that does not contribute to social stability or the good of the BNW. Books are also a part of the conditioning because through books one can gain knowledge, get more intelligent, and become unhappy with one's station or caste in the BNW. An appreciation of nature and beauty is not essential to the economy, survival, or each of the castes.

How does Ibsen convey through the play the position of females at his time?

Your question is a key one that lies at the very heart of this interesting play, which challenged the notions of gender roles in its time. In A Doll's House, the position of females in Ibsen's time is examined and he presents his hope for feminism and equality through the character of Nora and her realisation of her situation and her choice to embark on a search for her own identity.

At the beginning of the play, the relationship of Nora and Torvald is examined. It is clear that their relationship has more in common with a father and daughter relationship than with a husband and wife, and we discover that Nora relates to her husband and is treated exactly the same way that she related and was treated by her father. In response to her husband's insulting comments and patronising remarks, Nora cajoles, begs and acts like a child (or even a "doll"). Torvald even says: "Has my little sweet tooth been indulging herself in town today by any chance?" Nora responds using childish phrases: "Oh. Pooh!" It is clear that Torvald possesses Nora and regards her as nothing more than a belonging to make him look good.

Nora, too, at the beginning of the play, is caught up in this "Doll's House", as we can see in her definition of freedom which she gives to Mrs. Linde: "Free. To free, absolutely free. To spend time playing with the children. To have a clean, beautiful house, the way Torvald likes it." She is unable to perceive her situation as being caged inside her "Doll's House" and plays a part of the perfect wife according to her husband's wishes.

Of course, the action of the play, and in particular the realisation of Torvald that Nora has deceived him and his response, triggers the epiphany that Nora needs to realise the truth of her situation and give her the desire to escape this "Doll's House". In his response to this realisation, Torvald shows himself to Nora for who he really is: a self-centred, petty man who is concerned only about keeping up the facade of marriage: "From now on, forget happiness. Now it is just about saving the remains, the wreckage, the appearance." It is this unmasking that gives Nora self-understanding of her situation. She says to Torvald, "I've been performing tricks for you Torvald. That's how I've survived. You wanted it like that. You and Papa have done me a great wrong. It's because of you I've made nothing of my life." By the end of the play then, she becomes a stronger, tougher more independent individual, determined to make her own life free from the constricting gender roles that have been imposed upon her.

In A Separate Peace, when Gene puts on Finny clothes, he sees himself as Finny "to the life" and this comforts him. Why?

There are a couple of reasons why the clothing comforts Gene. First, he is far more humble and quiet than Finny is, and wishes he sometimes exuded the confidence and waggish ways of Finny himself. By assuming the clothing, Gene feels that he more easily possesses those traits he finds admirable in Finny.

Also, it is comforting to Gene to wear the clothing of Finny since he still feels responsible for the accident on the tree branch. It seems a bit like a way of honoring him, and that is why he finds contentment in the clothing choice.

In "Fahrenheit 451" what role do jets and war play in the book?

The war, which mostly occurs in the background of the story, is meant to show two things; that this society has not solved all of its problems, and that its people don't seem to care.

Much of the exposition we are given, such as that from Beatty, suggests that we are meant to envision this society as a reasonable, if irrational, evolution of our own. This society is primarily concerned with feelings; if people feel good, they are content, and if they feel bad they are discontent. Since discontent leads to problems, it is better for people to feel good, at all costs. However, the fact that this society has participated in wars (Montag even specifies that they started two of them) suggests either that this society is obscenely delusional or has simply insulated itself against its own hypocrisies. 

The jets are an immediate and physical reminder of the war, which might otherwise be argued away as a voice on the radio or a picture on a screen. The jets embody the swift, deadly and impersonal side of this society, all the elements that are the result of focusing too much on conformity and efficiency. The jets exist as if to dare observers to ignore them. Montag points this out rhetorically asking "how did they get up there every hour of the day without us noticing?" and indeed, Mildred doesn't seem to notice or care.  

What does "taboos including incest and miscegenation" mean in relation to To Kill a Mockingbird?

Taboos are practices that people engage in that are not socially acceptable.  During the time and in the place that To Kill A Mockingbird is set, neither incest nor miscegenation would be acceptable practices.

Incest refers to intimate (sexual) relations between near relatives (father:daughter; mother:son, etc.) and during the Depression era, many smaller southern societies and communities even frowned on intimate relations between further distanced relatives (cousin:cousin).  In our society incest between near relatives is still illegal and definitely taboo.

Miscegenation refers to intimate relations(sexual intercourse, co-habitation, marriage) between people of different races.  In the setting of To Kill A Mockingbird miscegenation is not tolerated and can lead to mob justice and legal action being taken.  In society today, miscegenation is not really taboo in larger, metropolitan cities, but some smaller southern societies and communities outside of mainstream America would still consider miscegenation taboo.

Explain two poems from William Blakes' Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. How does he connect the two poems?

As a romantic poet, William Blake distrusted the government and its institutions.  He believed in the basic goodness of man.  Preferring nature to the civilized world, he senses a restorative property in the natural world.

Songs of Innocence was published five years before Songs of Experience.  Eventually, Blake combined the two works emphasizing parallel poems in each book. 

Songs of Innocence celebrates the hope and innocence of a child.  In these poems, Blake writes about a world where fear can be conquered and life can be instinctive without complete the domination of the soul.

Songs of Experience portrays a lonelier world.  He examines what happens to a child when the complications of life and society take over.   

The parallel poems of “The Chimney Sweeper” illustrates the differences between the two approaches of innocence versus experience.

Songs of Innocence---"The Chimney Sweeper" The poem is narrated by a boy whose mother dies and is sold by his father to become a chimney sweeper. He was so young that he could barely talk or cry. 

He tells about his friend Tom Dacre who is also a sweep. The topic issed from the poem is the abuse that the sweeps suffer.

The boys get up before sunrise and begin to work in the chimneys.  There is no love, sympathy, or parenting for these boys.

Tom cries when his white hair is shaved.  The nameless narrator tris to point out the positive about it: the soot will not spoil his white hair. 

Tom has a dream that night about the sweeps going to heaven. All of the sweeps were locked in their coffins working.  An angle opened the coffins and set the boys free.

The boys begin to run and play.  They are able to go to a river and wash all of the soot away.  The boy’s naked and clean rise on the clouds to heaven.  The angel tells Tom that if he is good, God will be his father and he will be happy the rest of his life. 

When the boys awaken in the morning, despite all of the hardships which are the same as before, Tom appears happy.  His courage and strength have been renewed. The narrator is inspired by Tom and his new outlook. 

The Songs of Experience—“The Chimney Sweeper”

It is winter and the little sweeper covered with soot cries out:

Where are my father & mother? Say? They are both gone up to the church to pray…

This poem attacks the abusive parents who have left their child to work while they go to church to pray.  What hypocrites!  The child is left outside in the wintry weather trying to find work.  His parents are inside the warm church praying.  There is not hope or pleasant dream in this poem.

The reader will feel sympathy for the child and disdain for his parents who go to talk to God.  What do they feel when their child is begging for work? His parents are described as seeing their boy happy and playful.  They dress him in black clothes for cleaning and then they taught him to sing sad songs to get the attention of the adults as they pass by the boy.

In the third stanza, the boy indicates his unhappiness with his parents.  He tells them that just because he acts happy and plays outside they believe that he is not being hurt by this abuse.  They go to pray and praise God who rules over the world of the sweeper’s misery.

In The Great Gatsby, why does Nick call Gatsby "great" and "honest" when Gatsby is a bootlegger with criminal ties?I've been lost on this subject...

The answer to this contradiction can be found in Nick's opening remarks in the novel as he remembers Gatsby and the events of that summer in 1922. Nick does not excuse Gatsby for his illegal activities. Nick says that Gatsby "represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn." Nick's scorn, his condemnation, of Gatsby's criminal ties is "unaffected," meaning sincere or deeply felt.

In spite of his scorn, however, Nick explains what there was about Gatsby that earned his respect. It was Gatsby's romanticism, his idealism in how he approached his life. Gatsby was honest in that he identified his life's dreams and never abandoned them. When Daisy became his dream, he never betrayed Daisy or waivered in his love for her. He was faithful to the end. Nick says in the novel's coda that at the end of Gatsby's life, "his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him . . . ."

Gatsby was "great," Nick believed, because his dreams were so huge. In reference to Daisy, Gatsby's dream was to wipe out the reality of time--five years--so that he and Daisy could go back to the beginning of their romance and start over, to repeat the past. Nick was awed by the complete romanticism of this idea, what he called Gatsby's "colossal" dream. According to Nick, Gatsby's methods of making money were corrupt, but his romantic heart was pure.

How can you recognize the loss of Ralph’s authority?And why does he lose his authority?

Ralph begins to lose his authority over the boys in chapter 2 when, despite his attempt to create order and establish rules, by the end of the chapter, one of the littluns has been lost.  Ralph tries to lead by appealing to reason.  He fails to realize that he is dealing with children who do not necessarily respond to reason; they respond to more concrete leadership. Jack's style of leadership, which is to command the boys to act, is what the boys respond to (see Jack's meeting in chapter 10).  By the end of chapter 9, with the death of Simon, Ralph has lost complete control, Jack's tribe is fully savage, and Jack is the leader.  Ralph continued, even as his authority continued to disintegrate throughout the novel, to appeal to reason to get the boys to obey him and follow his lead.  That was Ralph's downfall as a leader and what made him ineffectual.

What is the punishment for the sodomites in Cantos 15-16 of Inferno?

Dante puts the sodomites at the bottom of the seventh circle of hell. That's bad. Within the seventh circle, there are three rings. In ring number 1, Dante puts people who killed for their own material gain: so you have empire-builders, gluttons, and robbing travellers on the highway. People tend to get appropraite punishment, depending on the severity of their sins. So Alexander, a mass murderer, is in the boiling blood up to his eyebrows; highway robbers are only up to their ankles.

In ring number 2, we have people who killed themselves. They are worth than people who kill others, as they broke Nature's rule of self-preservation. Yet in ring number 3 - so even further down and deeper in hell - are the sodomites. Sodomy is even worse as an offence to nature than killing yourself, or killing other people. It's a pretty extreme judgement.

How does he punish them? They have to run, together, forever, in a group, across sands which burn alight:

For hark! on yonder plain what clamours swell!
And see! in tempests roll’d, the burning sand,
Mingled with smoke, ascends the glowing sky!

The burning sand on which they run is supposed to represent their sterility: their inability to have children. It's not gay-friendly stuff.

Where is the Plaza Hotel, and what does it symbolize?

The Plaza Hotel in New York City is located at the prestigious address of Central Park and Park Avenue. It has symbolized the ultimate in luxurous living since in opening in 1907. It was recently renovated and has renewed and restored the original opulance.

It is the setting for the Eloise children's books and has been designated a national literary landmark.

How are both Things fall Apart and Death and the King's Horseman examples of tragedy?

The Renaissance Shakespearean definition of a tragedy revolves around a good and moral hero who is much to be admired but who has an iner flaw in his character traits or who makes an unintended error in judgement. The definition is a drama in which the hero's fatal inner flaw or fatal error in judgement leads to circumstances so terrible that the only possible outcome is the hero's death. [Greek tragedy does not require the hero's death in the end.]

In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo has an inner flaw in his character traits. He has only a mediocre chi, the "god force" within him and the resulting weakness make him imbalanced between both female qualities of kindness and male qualities of assertiveness. As a result he thends to choose violence as a means of controling his family and this choice for ciolence accidentally displays itself through accidents in the village, like when his gun explodes and kills Ezeudu’s son. In the end, the troubles Okonkwo causes because of his inner fatal flaw must and do result in his death.

In Death and the King's Horseman, the hero Elesin makes a fatal error in judgement that delays his ritual preparations for his ritual death that will allow him to accompany his dead King in the King's burial and journey through death. As a result of Elesin's distraction and delay, the colonizing British officials here of the impending ritual death and determine that, since ritual suicide violates British law and would therefore cause trouble while the English Prince is visiting, they will stop the ritual. Elesin is duly arrested and prevented from carrying out his duty and imprisoned. A great tribal wrong is thus committed because great consequences rest on the fulfillment of the ritual.

To rectify the wrong Elesin's son acts as substitute and slays himself in his father's place at which Elesin finds a way to slay himself in his prison cell in order to join son and King. In the end, Elesin's fatal error in judgement leads to his death after first causing the death of his son.

What was used as bait in The Old Man and the Sea?

The old man uses a large hook which is inserted into a bait fish.  The bait fish is fairly large; on the day he goes after the big fish, he has four lines, two baited with fresh small tunas that the boy has secured for him, one with a big blue runner, and the last with a yellow jack.  Both the blue runner and the yellow jack had been used before, "but they were in good condition still", and so could be used again.  The bait fish hangs head down from the shank of the hook, and the parts of the hook which protrude outside of the bait are covered with fresh sardines.  Each sardine is "hooked thorugh both eyes so that they (make) a half-garland on the projecting steel".  No part of the hook is left exposed; to the great fish, the entire device would be "sweet smelling and good tasting".

The baited hooks are attached securely each to a line "as thick around as a big pencil".  These lines are looped onto green-sapped sticks so that any touch on the bait would make the stick dip obviously.  Each line has two forty-fathom coils which could be made fast to the other spare coils.  In this way, if it were necessary, "a fish could take out over three hundred fathoms of line".

What is the atomsphere of the ranch and bunk house in Of Mice and Men?

The atmosphere of the ranch and bunkhouse is lively. Many of different characters are present and everyone has a story to tell.

Physically:

• The bunk house is long and rectangular with bunks on the sides. It is low lit.

In terms of dynamic:

• Slim is the leader.


• The boss and his son Curely are seen as the authority figures.


• Curley's wife is the only female character who represents forbidden fruit.


• Candy is the old swamper who is useless.


• Crooks is the stable buck who everyone picks on.

In A Raisin in the Sun, why does George say "Good night Prometheus?"

In addition to that stated above, George is criticizing Walter for always thinking that he has the best plan of action.  Walter wants to talk business with George; however, Walter really has no idea what a "business talk" would entail.  Similarly, Prometheus believes that he is clever and that he can trick the gods.  For a while he gets away with his theft, but eventually he is caught and punished.  Walter is also punished for trying to be "clever" and disobey all the good sense that is around him.  Mama opposes the liquor store, but Walter believes that his dream and plans are more important than Mama's reservations about this deal.  So in the end, Walter suffers.