Thursday, October 31, 2013

In Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, how does Darcy act towards Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner when first introduced?

When Darcy asks Elizabeth to introduce him to her aunt and uncle who are with her touring Pemberley, Elizabeth is aware that he has already assumed that they are people in the genteel class. Elizabeth correctly guessed that Darcy would be surprised to learn that they are her working-class relations from Cheapside in London. He certainly does show surprise when she introduces them, but he quickly recovers, starts walking the grounds with them and converses with Mr. Gardiner. Darcy behaves very gentlemanly towards them and even invites Mr. Gardiner to fish on the estate, offers fishing tackle and points out the best places to fish. Later, when Darcy brings his sister to meet Elizabeth, he even invites Elizabeth and the Gardiners to dine at Pemberley. Darcy's behavior is so changed from what she first saw, so lacking in judgement and conceit that she is absolutely shocked.

What were James' and Victoria's talents in Twilight?In the fourth book (Breaking Dawn) at page 756 you can read about the Vampire Index. I...

James is a skilled and lethal tracker. No one had ever escaped James once he was set on hunting someone, and he would never get tired or bored and stop. He would continue tracking until he found his prey. Victoria's talent is more subtle. She was very intelligent and could escape pursuit. She is very hard to hunt down, and she can get herself out of situations that are dangerous for her.

As for some of the others, Aro can know everything in a person's mind if he touches them. Marcus can tell what the relationship is between two people, and he feels the intensity and deep love when he meets Bella and Edward. Jane can torture people just by sending them pyschological pain, even though she physically does not harm them. Alec can make a person blind or deaf, rendering them senseless (literally, without their senses). This confuses people in battle.
There are more vampires as well, but those are the major supporting characters and their talents.

In "To Kill a Mockingbird", what does Jem do to make Scout angry?

This is a fairly broad question, as older brothers in general tend to do a lot to make their younger siblings upset. I can give you a few examples, so I hope that helps. 

1. As Jem gets older, he starts acting more superior than Scout, treating her in the same way that Atticus, her father, treats her by trying to tell her what to do.

2. Makes fun of her, calling her "Angel May" when she is hesitant about going up to the Radley's house.

3. After Jem is angered by Mrs. Dubose, not only does he destroy Mrs. Dubose's bushes, but he also breaks Scouts brand - new baton.

I read somewhere that Bella gets pregnant with Edwards baby, but somehow it's killing her. Can anyone give me anymore details about this? How and...

Yes Bella gets pregnant with Edward's child during their honey moon on Isle Esme. Her pregnancy is killing her because the child is half human, half vampire, and it's diet is very much like it's father's. I needs blood to survive, not baby food or human food. The baby is killing Bella because it's feeding on Bella's blood, sucking her dry, killing her more day by day. Eventually, Jacob comes up with an idea that seems repulsive, but smart in a way. He convinced the Cullens to let Bella drink blood from a cup and a straw. Bella actually liked the blood and got stronger, but when she got stronger, her baby became stronger. Now that the baby was strong and rapidly growing, it would kick her so hard, breaking her ribs, cracking her spine, and when it was time for it's birth, it had eaten out of her womb. Bella lost to much blood and naturally, she was on the brink of death. Jacob was there trying to save her but Edward knew what he had to do then and there to save her, and that was change her. He bit her in her heart, her neck, and a few other places. Jacob got pissed off that he was doing this to her, and he had gotten kicked out of the room by Rosalie. Bella felt the burning and all the pain that came with becoming a vampire, and after a day or two, or three, she was changed. New heightened senses and all......I hoped this help to answer your question. You should read Breaking Dawn if you haven't already. It's a wonderful book. It'll take you through a roller coaster of emotions as you read all 700 plus pages.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

What was the movie "Stand And Deliver" about?A summary about the movie including positive and negative of teaching characteristics would be helpful.

I'm a High School World Language teacher in Connecticut, and I have done this job for 35 years. The conditions shown on this film, the teacher attitudes of blaming the student's socio-economic background for their failures, the funding going to well to do schools while denying aid to needy communities, the touchy-feelie self-esteeem fiends, those who maintain that minority kids can not learn, the blaming of the parents, etc., all these situations still exist not only in California where the film took place but right here in my town in Connecticut and in many places around the country. Now you have to add NCLB, administrators teching techers how to teach, the warm embrace of educationalese theories by the state educational agencies, bandwaggonism of tired ideas of teaching and learning and the bad ecomomy, to exacerbate these conditions. The school authorities who must have watched this film, learned absolutely nothing from it. Some things never change. Escalante had to leave due to many reasons, specially pressure by school administrators just like in my school system where Teachers of the Year, costumarily leave after just one year of being chosen T.O.T.Y.

What is the theme in "Eveline"?

The main themes in Eveline are Paralysis, Epiphany, Stream of Consciousness and Irish Social Conditions and Emigration.



Paralysis This sense of stagnation or paralysis is emphasized with the very words Joyce uses. The story “Eveline” presents an excellent example. The protagonist barely moves throughout the tale. The verbs which describe her are often verbs of inaction, for example “sat” in the first paragraph. Verbs are also deliberately presented in the passive form: “Her head was leaned.” This stress on inaction or paralysis culminates with the visual description of Eveline frozen, “passive, like a helpless animal.”



Epiphany The first epiphany, most certainly secular, occurs when Eveline is jolted to action at the remembrance of her mother repeating the nonsensical phrase, “Derevaun Seraun.” As Eveline prepares to depart, she experiences another epiphany. “A bell clanged upon her heart.” The vision is of drowning.



Stream of Consciousness Joyce’s “Eveline” presents an early, less-experimental use of a stream of consciousness–while not an actual stream of consciousness, the description of Eveline’s thoughts and emotions dominate the text; most of the “action” (there is virtually none) takes place within Eveline. The prose conveys her thoughts, emotions and memories rather than describing a temporal series of events.



Irish Social Conditions and Emigration Ireland has endured waves of emigration, particularly after the Potato Famine of 1848. Many left their native land to seek a better life elsewhere. The Irish were second-class citizens within their own nation; Ireland was a British colony and the Northern Protestants controlled the economy of the country. Catholic families often faced hardship. Alcoholism and abuse, as portrayed in “Eveline” were rampant. As a result, many of the Irish sought to escape.

In "Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone," why does Harry Potter have a scar?no

To best answer this question, you will need to go all the way back to "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," book one in the series. There, we are told by Rowling that Harry received his forehead scar when Voldemort (he who shall not be named)attempted to kill Harry as a baby, but failed because Harry was protected by a cosmic force.

When Voldemort is near, Harry's scar agitates him by aching or hurting. Through this, Harry always knows when his nemesis is close by. In book one, during the final confrontation scene between Voldemort and Harry, the scar begins to bother him when the villain is within close proximity.

What are scales in math?

Scales as related to ratio? Or scales as related to maps?


If you are looking at a way to understand scales, they are a way to take something "really, really" big and represent in a way you can "see" it. For instance, if an inch on the map equals 100 miles, then you would measure the distance on the map and set up the ratio of 1 inch is to 100 miles and the distance you measure is to X miles. Then cross multiply and divide to get the "actual" miles. Artists use the golden ratio and proportions to get their art to scale with the real deal. If you have done model cars, they are on scale, so that if you blow up the actual model car 250 times, it will be the size of the real car it represents.


I have included some links below that might help you better understand scale. I am not sure of your level in school, so some may be too elementary for your needs. If you replace the word "scale" with "ratio" or "proportion" and do an Internet search for interactive activities it might help. You may also want to watch "Donald in Mathmagic Land," an old Disney movie that has a good visual explanation of scale.

Please explain the connections between the major themes and characters in "The Scarlet Letter". which theme is represented by each character? For...

It is rare that an author tells his audience the theme of his novel, However, in the last chapter, Hawthorne writes that one moral of this story is,"Be true! Be true! Be true! Show freely to the world, if not your worst, yet some trait whereby the worst may be inferred." In other words, don't try to hide your sins from others. Both Hester and Dimmesdale exemplify this theme. By hiding his sin, Dimmesdale deteriorates because of his shame and eventually dies while trying to confess his wrongdoing. Hester, whose sin is out in the open, changes and becomes stronger. In the end, even the meaning of the scarlet letter changes to 'angel". Chillingworth, too, is an example of this because he hides his need for revenge. Once, Dimmesdale is dead, Chillingworth shrivels up because he has no more reason to live. Another theme closely connected to the first is the results of hypocrisy. Dimmesdale is the best example of this because he wants everyone to believe his is a saint yet he is hiding a terrible sin. However, Chillingworth is also a hypocrite because he pretends to be a caring doctor when all the time his motive is revenge against Dimmesdale. The novel has other themes. For those see the link below.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

After Paul is injured, how is he treated cruelly by the surgeon in "All Quiet On the Western Front"?

As a result of long days and nights of working on countless mutilated bodies under insufferable conditions, the surgeon has become callous to both the humanity and pain of the wounded soldiers that come his way.  Because it is a known fact "that the surgeons in the dressing stations amputate on the slightest provocation...(it) is much simpler than complicated patching", Paul's greatest fear is that he might lose his leg.  So that he can prevent this from happening, Paul refuses to go under anesthesia, preferring to bear the terrible pain of treatment rather than to go through life as a cripple.  The surgeon, annoyed at Paul's obstinancy, roughly "pokes around in the wound", then gruffly reprimands Paul for "carrying on" when "a blackness comes before (his) eyes" because of the pain.  When Paul, in excruciating suffering, breaks loose from the orderlies holding him down, the surgeon "roars madly...'Chloroform the scoundrel!'"  Paul gains control of himself, and humbly apologizing, promises to keep still under his own volition, at which point the surgeon begins "to (torment him)...raking about in the wound and look(ing) up surreptitiously at (him) over his glasses" to gauge his reaction.  The surgeon, impressed by Paul's "self-control", finally extracts a piece of shell, sets his leg carefully, and tells him, "To-morrow you'll be off home" (Chapter 10).

Why did Charles Dickens want to tell the story of Great Expectations?

Great Expectations is one of two intentionally semiautobiographical works for Charles Dickens.  The first, David Copperfield, was written when Dickens was young and optimistic.  It has a mostly optimistic ending, where the young man eventually finds happiness and love.  Great Expectations, on the other hand, explores the same themes but it is a much bitterer book.  In the end, the guy does not get the girl and unlike David Copperfield the book ends with Pip going off into quiet obscurity.


Dickens wrote this book as a warning that money does not buy happiness.  The main theme is that love is painful, and we are often unable to see the people that really love until it is too late.  Pip leaves his home, where he has people that do care about him such as Joe and Biddy.  He goes to the city, where everything is false and he too becomes false in his attempt to become a gentleman.  Money does not save Pip, it corrupts him.


Dickens himself was wildly successful.  He had all the money he needed, but was generally unhappy in love.  He fell out of love with his wife Catherine, and felt that she could not care for him or understand him.  He later had a mistress, Ellen Ternan, but that relationship was rife with controversy.


Great Expectations is a revision of the world view expressed in David Copperfield.  It is a bitter book with a bitter ending, full of betrayal and false friends.  It clearly shows how unhappy Dickens was near the end of his life, despite his best efforts to be otherwise.

I have dark brown eyes. My father and a sister have green eyes. My brother, mother, and other sister have blue eyes. Explain how I have brown eyes.

There is a long-standing popular belief that the differences in eye color are explainable by a single locus difference, where brown eyes are coded by a dominant allele and blue eyes by a recessive allele. This does not explain the gradations represented by green and hazel, for example, and does not conform with examples as the one given in the question.


While the physiological details still have to be worked out fully, a scientific consensus has been reached for many years, that pigmentation in general and eye color in particular are expressed as a polygenic trait, that is, as a result of the action of several genes.


Let us say, applied to the posed question, that two pairs of genes encode eye color: A/a and B/b. A and B enhance pigmentation, a and b reduce it, such that one obtains the following scale:


Blue means either aabb or aaBb;


Green means either Aabb or aaBB;


Hazel means AAbb;


Dark brown means A-B- (that is, AA or Aa and BB or Bb)


Now let us suppose that your parents are:


Aabb x aaBb (father green eyes x mother blue eyes)


By straightforward Mendelian analysis this produces a progeny composed of 1/4 AaBb (dark brown) 1/4 Aabb (green) and 2/4 aaBb or aabb (blue). Incidentally, this 1:1:2 distribution is exactly the one described for this family, but of course a progeny of four could be anything, due to chance.


What does the model tell us?


  1. That there is a redundancy of genotypes for each phenotype class except hazel, which is commonplace with polygenic characters

  2. That A and B complement each other, such that all genotypes A-B- are lumped into the same phenotype class (dark brown)

  3. That A without B has an additive action (compare aabb through AAbb) that is stronger than B without A (aaBb still "looks" blue, aaBB is green while AAbb is hazel).

Of 9 possible genotypes, 4 are for dark brown. Then, why so many human populations have a majority of people with light colored eyes? The answer to this, is the frequency of each allele. In this model, the Hardy-Weinberg distribution (without gametic disequilibrium) predicts a mere 13% dark brown eyes if the allele frequencies for A and B are both 20%, for example (the same example predicts 61% with blue eyes).


Is this fiction? Surely so, it is just a model, an abstraction that is devised to provide a plausible explanation. Most probably it is too simple to work for some or most of other families. But one can argue that it is not too far from reality, and illustrates the polygenic concept pretty well. As said above, the physiological details still have to be worked out: how many genes are really involved, whether they are the same (or analogous) among populations, or how they interact among them to produce the known eye color phenotypes.


Furthermore, at least part of the genes coding for eye color participate in the basal skin pigmentation and hair color as well. But it is believed that this is only a partial overlap, hence green eyed people with black hair and brown-eyed people with blonde hair, etc..

What were four qualifications Jonas had to have to be the next Receiver of Memory in The Giver?

The Chief Elder outines the four qualifications that Jonas has to have in order to be the next Receiver of Memory when she announces his selection at the Ceremony.  The four qualifications are:


Intelligence - Jonas has proved that he has this quality by being "a top student throughout his school days".


Integrity - Jonas, like any other citizen of the community, has "committed minor transgressions".  He has shown his integrity, however, by always "presenting himself promptly for chastisement" whenever he has realized that he has done wrong.


Courage - Jonas has never had to deal with real pain, and cannot truly be prepared for the pain of a magnitude beyond the ordinary citizen's comprehension that he will have to endure as Receiver of Memory.  The Chief Elder, however, in conjunction with the current Receiver, "feel certain that (Jonas is) brave".


Wisdom - This "fourth essential attribute" is also something that Jonas will acquire only through his training, but again, in conjunction with the current Receiver, the Chief Elder feels that "Jonas has the ability to acquire wisdom".


There is a fifth quality that the next Receiver of Memory must have, a quality that can be named but not described.  This is the "Capacity to See Beyond", and it is something that is not really understood by the members of the community at large.  The Receiver, however, recognizes that "Jonas already has this quality";  It is evident in his fleeting capability to perceive colors (Chapter 8).

In "Lord of the Flies", Ralph recalls "something Simon had said." What is it that he recalled, and its significance?

In chapter 7 while Ralph is standing on the rocks looking down at the vast ocean and the waves crashing against the reef, he is clutching a rock hard with both hands.  Simon tells Ralph, "You'll get back to where you came from."   "It's so big." Ralph replies.   "All the same.  You'll get back all right.  I think so anyway."

In chapter 11 Piggy is determined to confront Jack and his hunters.  Ralph really doesn't want to go.  Sam says that if Jack "gets waxy, (angry) we've had it."  It is at this point that Ralph "dimly remembrs something that Simon had said to him once."

By recalling that Simon had told him Ralph would get back to where he came from, Ralph pushes down his fear of what Jack might do and once again becomes the "leader" and tells Piggy that he would take him to Jack and confront him.

In book 7 of Homer's "The Odyssey," what is unusual about the relationship of Alcinous and Arete?

It is not actually unusual that Alcinous and Arete are closely related by blood. What is actually strange is the feeling of joy and comfort in Book 7, as opposed to the ill-fated feeling of the rest of the Odyssey. Alcinous and Arete, the rulers of the Phaeacians, are happily married. They respect and honor one another. In them, and in their daughter Nausicaa, Odysseus sees the happiness that is just out of reach for him. It is at this point that he faces his most difficult trial. The relationships he witnesses here tests his resolve to get home to Ithaca. In every other ordeal, his determination to get home to his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus overpowers everything else. He gathers strength from this desire. However, in Alcinous and Arete's land, he is tempted to stay. They give him all the comforts that he could possibly need. He is absolutely charmed by their kingdom. To top it all off, their beautiful young daughter Nausicaa falls in love with Odysseus. Thus, this section of the narrative presents Odysseus's greatest challenge. It is unusual in that it is not monsters or gods that he faces--but the choice of another life. 

What are the advantages and the disadvantages for using methanol fuel for cars?

A major advantage of methanol is that methane, its raw material form, can be mined and is already produced by the U.S. cattle farming industry. Methane, a greenhouse gas, is dangerous in the atmosphere and contributes to global warming. Harnessing methane contributes to solving the energy problem as well as puts a dent in our pollution levels.

Unlike hybrid cars, methanol could be a completely domestic industry, and not cost the environment in international transportation between manufacturing plants in the way hybrid vehicles do.

The disadvantages of methanol are similar to the ones found in ethanol production, namely that it requires the sacrifice of food resources in order to have an effective harvest. Cows bred for high methane output have inferior meat and milk, and since meat and milk is really the only realistic way to make a mass of cows profitable, farmers would be taking a massive risk in breeding cows for higher methane output, and therefore the cost of beef and milk would rise, harming lower and middle class families.

Also, because methanol is less volatile than gasoline, it would be more difficult to start a car in cold weather, which would inconvenience people that live in areas with snowy winter climates.

Methanol is a viable alternative because it can be cheap and efficient to recover and convert, but it can also be incredibly expensive if we run out of methane fields from which to harvest the crystalline form.

Monday, October 28, 2013

What is unique about the Annex in the book The Giver?

In many ways, the Annex is the embodiment of what was before the time of Sameness.

It offers privacy to the Receiver of Memory is several ways:  it has a lock, a buzzer on the door, and there is an on/off switch on the speaker. 

It also has information.  Unlike the highly restricted reading elsewhere in the community, there are books, books and more books in the Annex on tons of subjects. 

The furnishings in the Annex are more comfortable and luxurious.

Of course, what happens in the Annex is unique, as the Giver passes on memories of all that has been removed to the new Receiver of Memory, in this case Jonas.  Accordingly, the Annex has joy, pain, color and many other experiences.

What is the symbolism of the color red in The Scarlet Letter? (Quotes with page numbers would be especially helpful)

Hawthorne makes much use of the the Red Letter A within his novel; at various times, it stands for "Adulteress," "Able," "Angel," and at one point he invites the reader to determine its meaning for him or her self.  There's also references to Pearl's red dress, and the red rosebush; at one point the governor refers to Hester as a scarlet woman. These are just a few examples; red may mean passion, embarrassment, or blood, to name a few.

What does the moon represent in "The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams?

The moon also represents mystery and promise. It takes on a symbolic meaning that transforms it into a magical wishing star.  When Amanda and Tom have their playful discussion in Scene V.


The fact that Amanda and Tom discuss the moon in this scene, and that it is done in a very light, casual way, it allows for a pleasant moment between Amanda and her son.  The reader also sees Amanda's superstitious side when she asks her son:



"Have you made a wish on it yet?" (Williams)



Amanda asks her son what he wished for and he tells her that it is a secret. Then Amanda tells him that she won't reveal her wish either, that she can be mysterious too.  But she does reveal her wish:



"No I don't have secrets.  I'll tell you what I wished for on the moon.  Success and happiness for my precious children.  I wish for that whenever there's a moon and when there isn't a moon, I wish for it." (Williams)



The exchange between Amanda and Tom in the beginning of this scene sets up the revelation that Tom has found a gentleman caller to invite over for dinner, just as his mother asked him. 


In my view, I think that Tom is a bit sarcastic and uncaring with regard to his mother in this scene.  He acts very cavalier about the whole gentleman caller thing when he knows that his mother is very serious about finding Laura a husband.





In A Christmas Carol, how does the knocker change?

Scrooge was coming home at night. As he looked at the door knocker, he suddenly saw the face of Marley, his long-deceased business partner. This happened without any "intermediate process of change." Suddenly Marley's face just appeared. The face was not angry, but looked to Scrooge exactly as he had in real life, with his glasses upon his forehead. The hair moved as though there were some sort of a breeze, and the open eyes did not move at all. There was something about the knocker that Scrooge found to be scary, although that was just a feeling and not a result of the face actually looking scary. As he stood looking at the face, suddenly it became a knocker again.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

In Act II, Scene 8 of The Merchant of Venice, why does Salanio offer more evidence of Antonio's love for Bassanio?


Act II, Scene 8
SALANIO


I think he only loves the world for him.
I pray thee, let us go and find him out
And quicken his embraced heaviness
With some delight or other.


Act I, Scene 1
ANTONIO


In sooth, I know not why I am so sad:
It wearies me; you say it wearies you;
But how I caught it, found it, or came by it,
What stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born,
I am to learn;
And such a want-wit sadness makes of me,
That I have much ado to know myself


ANTONIO


I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano;
A stage where every man must play a part,
And mine a sad one.



The conversation between Salarino and Salanio in Act II, Scene 1 of The Merchant of Venice in which Salanio offers more confirmation of Antonio's love for Bassanio reflects back to Antonio's play-opening speech in Act I, Scene 1. Here, Antonio starts the play out by saying, "I know not why I am sad." In the subsequent conversation between Antonio, Salarino and Salanio, Antonio denies that his sadness is related to business or to love sickness. The only clue we have as to Antonio's sadness, which Salanio refers back to in his remark "I think he only loves the world for him," is Antonio's declaration that the world is "A stage where every man must play a part."


What all this indicates is that in Act III, Scene 8, Salanio gives more evidence of Antonio's love for Bassanio in order to give us another clue to Antonio's psychology. After all, in Act I, Scene 3, we have just watched Antonio behave in a shocking and hateful manner toward Shylock after being so very loving, patient and kind to Bassanio. It might be suggested that Salanio's statement of Antonio's great love is meant to lead us to the conclusion that Antonio's sadness is the part he plays of denunciator (condemner) of Shylock the Jew, moneylender.

In The Odyssey, how does Penelope test Odysseus to be sure that he is truly her husband? Explain in detail.

The reunion between Penelope and Odysseus finally takes place in the second to last book of the Odyssey, Book 23.  The old nurse, Eurycleia, has found out the traveler's identity, and she tells Penelope.  Penelope, who is cautious as well as wise, refuses to believe it immediately.  Penelope is hopeful that it is Odysseus, but she must perform a test to make certain.  She goes to see Odysseus in the hall, and he believes that she doesn't recognize him because of his dirty traveling clothes.  He bathes and returns, and when the husband and wife speak Penelope suggests that he might like his old bed brought to him and arranged outside.  He is shocked, for their marriage bed had been built around a live olive tree growing out of the ground in their bedroom.  He says, distressed, that he hopes that no one has cut down that olive tree and destroyed their bed, and then Penelope knows for certain that this can be none other than Odysseus.

Source:  Homer, The Odyssey. W.H.D. Rous, trans. Mentor Books: New York, 1950.

What is the meaning of Shylock's defense of his Jewish humanity in "The Merchant of Venice"?

Actually, Shylock's "defense of his Jewish humanity" is not humane at all. It justifies - wrongly justifies, most commentators would argue - his revenge.

Why does he want Antonio's flesh, he is asked. He responds 

To bait fish withal: if it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge.

Shylock then lists several ways in which Antonio has wronged him, simply because he is Jewish: 

He hath disgraced me ... and what's his reason? I am a Jew.

Shylock then moves through the famous part of the passage. Jews have eyes, hands, passions, eat the same food as Christians do. This bit is all perfectly humane, and a reasonable anti-racism sentiment. But what follows it?  

If you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villany you teach me I will execute; and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.

So, following all this humane rhetoric is a justification of revenge - an argument that Shylock is right to cut a pound of flesh from Antonio's body. It does defend what Shylock perceives as his Jewish humanity: but it also viciously promotes his vengefulness. 

Where on the transparency does cloning occur?

Again, not being able to see the transparency you are referring to, I can only assume what you are asking.  I know that when we discuss cell division, like binary fission, it is often compared to cloning.  For instance, when bacteria divide after exchanging genetic information (transformation) it is like cloning, because now you have two identically genetic organisms.  When we discuss the lysogenic cycle of virus replication, you could compare cloning to the division of the infected host cell during the inactive phase of the cycle.  Also, any type of asexual reproduction (binary fission, vegetative propogation, budding..etc) could technically be considered cloning.  Usually the term "cloning" is used to refer to the human manipulation of an organism to create a clone, as in the situation of Carbon Copy "CC" the cat or Dolly the sheep. 

Saturday, October 26, 2013

In the book "Of Mice and Men", besides the dog and Curley's wife what else died that day in the barn?

Of course, it is true that the death of Curley's wife led to Lennie's death.


However, I think the intent of this question is that the dream that George, Lennie and Candy had cherished and seemed so close to realizing also died.


George and Lennie had long dreamt of owning a 10-acre farm where they could "live on the fatta the lan'," raise rabbits for Lennie to tend, settle comfortably and have control over their own lives. Candy had recently become a part of this vision and provided the money that would make it possible. His desire was mainly to have a dignified and kind way to live out his years once he was unable to work.


In the barn on that fateful Sunday, when Candy shows George the body of Curley's wife, he says:



'You an' me can get that little place, can't we, George? You an' me can go there an' live nice, can't we, George? Can't we?'


Before George answered, Candy dropped his head and looked down at the hay. He knew.




George said softly, 'I think I knowed from the very first. I think I knowed we'd never do her. He usta like to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would.'


'Then -- it's all off?' Candy asked sulkily.


George didn't answer his question. George said, 'I'll work my month an' I'll take my fifty bucks an' I'll stay all night in some lousy cat house. Or I'll set in some poolroom till ever'body goes home. An' then I'll come back an' work another month an' I'll have fifty bucks more.


What is the rhythm of the poem "Because I could not stop for Death"?

The poem's written in ballad meter, alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter, rhyming ABAB. I'll show you what I mean.


An iamb is a weak beat followed by a strong beat (de DUM). So all you have to do is count the iambs:



de DUM de DUM de  DUM  de  DUM    (4)
Because I could not stop for Death,
de DUMde DUM    de DUM                 (3)
He kindly stopped for me;
de  DUM de  DUM de  DUM de DUM     (4)
The carriage held but just ourselves
de DUMdeDUMdeDUM                        (3)
And Immortality.



A line with four iambs is an iambic tetrameter. A line with three is an iambic trimeter. And this form is commonly thought of as "ballad meter". Hope it helps!

In "The Tell-Tale Heart", how is imagery used to create tension? What images are used repeatedly, creating striking descriptions that affect the...

There are a couple great images-and sounds-that increase the tension of the text.  The first is the descriptions of the old man's eye, which is the catlyst for the murder:  "He had the eye of a vulture—a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold." and then later, "all a dull blue, with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very marrow in my bones."  It is a great description; the reader can certainly feel the creepiness of the eye, and the accompanying horror in the blood.  Then, in the first half, you have repeated descriptions of the narrator's cautious, steady, silent stalking and waiting.  That alone is tense; we keep waiting for him to slip, to make a noise, to be discovered.  The most effective repeated imagery (5 senses, not just sight) is that of the heartbeat, which starts off as "a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton," increases to a "hellish tattoo", and keeps getting "louder, louder!".  The sound of the heartbeat increases the tension just as a movie soundtrack would, and leads to the murder and confession.

Poe uses images and imagery to help the reader feel like they are actually there, experiencing the situations and emotions, and it makes for a really great story.

Why did the author of "The Lady or the Tyger?" consider the King's system of justice perfectly fair?

"The Lady, or the Tiger?" is, at its core, an ironic tale.  There is a world which doesn't really exist, a kingdom which existed long, long ago, and a semi-barbaric king.  He thinks it's perfectly reasonable to determine guilt or innocence by standing in front of two doors behind which is the most eligible lady in the land or a hungry tiger.  He sits "blandly" in the stands and watches his particular form of justice unfold, without showing too much emotion for either outcome.  He is satisfied that justice has been done.  This is the kind of understatement typical of irony--a contrast between what is said and what is meant.  It's similar in tone to Swift's "A Modest Proposal," in which he puts forth the "perfectly reasonable" idea that since there are too many mothers having too many babies we should sell them and eat them.  (They are most delicious in a fricassee, he has heard.)  The very reasonableness of his tone contrasts with the outrageousness of his suggestion.  Likewise, the very reasonableness of this form of justice is in direct contrast with the barbarism of the practice. 

How did the Elizabethan's veiw Midsummer Night's Dream, magic and fairies? How did it affect Shakespeare and the play?Would it have affected...

Fairies in Elizabethan times were thought of to be bad spirits who played tricks on people and were responsibile for disease, illness and misfortune. We see this attitude mirrored in the character of Puck and his delight in relating the various tricks he has played to Titania's fairy in Act II Scene 1. However, Shakespeare was responsible for creating the idea of the fairies we think of today - small, elfy-type creatures with gossamer wings, modelled in the fairies of Titania who wait upon Bottom. Magic was definitely something that was believed in during Elizabethan times, when 'rational' explanations were not always available in the same way as today due to scientific advances.


Midsummer Night is the longest day of the year, and traditionally a time associated with madness, love and doing things out of the ordinary (due to the sunstroke from all the sun humans were exposed to). This makes the title particularly fitting to the central theme of the play: that of love. From what we know, Shakespeare wrote this play to be performed at a wedding of nobility, and the play examines the theme of love through looking at a number of different character couplings and with the final 'resolution' or happy ending of marriage.

What is the setting of Lyddie?

Lyddie is set in the middle of the nineteenth century in both a one-room cabin in the country (Vermont) and a textile factory in the city (Lowell, Massachusetts).  The setting, then, is designed to compare and contrast rural life and industrial life during the industrial revolution.  The rural aspect of the setting reveals the depression surrounding complete isolation.  Lyddie, of course, longs to escape.  Ironically, both country life and city life end up being a prison for Lyddie.  For example, when she gets to Lowell and begins working in the textile factory, Lyddie realizes how horribly the workers are treated.  Breathing in the textile fibers and listening to the thunderous roar of the machines ruin their health, not to mention the horrors of greed and lust coming from the bosses.  Social reform, then, is long in coming when workers are repressed in this way.

Discuss the differences between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois.They had different philosophies regarding education, work, and politics...

DuBois was a student of Booker T. Washington's, but past that they shared little in terms of philosophy and viewpoint.  Washington was pragmatic, one could argue.  He believed, as a former slave himself, that there was no way in the near term that white government would grant full equality to African-Americans, and therefore he should try to achieve what equality he could.  His Atlanta Compromise speech accepting segregation on behalf of all blacks in exchange for slightly better educational opportunities was seen by DuBois as the ultimate sellout.


DuBois believed that, as a human and a citizen, he and all blacks already deserved equality.  He also was a socialist who thought that, if blacks could achieve something like economic parity with whites, then social and political equality would follow.  This is essentially what happened in the 1950s and 60s and what made eventual boycotts so successful, but DuBois was way ahead of his time in that regard.

Who is Scout's first grade teacher? Describe the appearance and behavior of Scout's first grade teacher in "To Kill a Mockingbird".

Scout has a hard time on her first day of school. She was so excited about starting school, but when she has her first day, she decides that she doesn't want to go back. Scout and her teacher clash right away. Miss. Caroline Fisher was the new first grade teacher. She had her own ideas on how to teach. She tells Scout that Atticus can't teach her anymore and that it is her job to teach her. Scout describes her in the following way:



"Miss. Caroline was no more than twenty-one. She had bright auburn hair, pink cheeks, and wore crimson fingernail polish. She also wore high-heeled pumps and a red-and-white striped dress. She looked and smelled like a peppermint drop."



Miss. Caroline was from North Alabama in Winston County. She was new to Maybomb and didn't realize the way thins worked in a small town like this one. Scout tries to help her out by telling her the way things were in town, but Scout gets in trouble for doing so. The fact of the matter is that Miss. Caroline was really naive about things in Maycomb. She was a very young teacher and this was probably her first year teaching. She is thrown into a classroom full of rambunctious first graders. Scout was really trying to help Miss. Caroline out, but Miss. Caroline Fisher was going to have to learn some things on her own.

Friday, October 25, 2013

Predict the ones digit for the standard form of a number.how do you do it like 7 to the 100

1^100 = 1.Trevially the digit in unit place is 1


2^100= (2^4)^25 = (26)^26 digit in ones place is  like  that in6^25 in ones digit=6 in units or ones place.


3^100 = (3^4)25=(81)^25 = ends in ones place like 1^25 = 1, has 1 in its unit place


4^100=(4^2)50= 16^50= ends inunit place like 6^50 . Ending in 6 in ones place .


5^100 : Any positive integral power obviously inthis number has 5 in its ones digit.


6^100: has obviously 6 in its ones digit.


7^100= (7^4)^25=(2401)^25 behaves like 1^25 for its ones digit.Therefore has 1 in its ones digit.


8^10=(8^4)^25=(4096)^6. This number shall have its ones digit as in 6^25, which has 6 in units place.


9^100=(81)^50. This number has ones digit like 1^25. Therefore it has 1   in unit digit


10^100, has  obviously has 0 in ones digit.


Therefore, 1^100, 3^100,7^100 and 9^100 - These odd numbers or any odd number like this in units place to the power of 100 have 1 in  ones digit.


2^100, 4^100, 6^100 qnd 8^100 ---These even numers or any even number like this in unit place  to the power of 100 has 6 in ones digit.


10^100-This even number or any even number with zero in ones digit to the power of 100 has 0 in its ones place.


5^100; This number or any integer with 5 in its ones place to the power of 100 has 5 in  ones digit.


Hope this helps.

In "Wuthering Heights", what is Lockwood's relationship to Heathcliff?

Lockwood is no more than a tenant to Heathcliff renting Thrushcross Grange for the summer time.  In the first chapter of Wuthering Heights Lockwood talks about going and making the owner, Heathcliff, his acquaintance since he will be staying there.



‘Mr. Lockwood, your new tenant, sir. I do myself the honour of calling as soon as possible after my arrival, to express the hope that I have not inconvenienced you by my perseverance in soliciting the occupation of Thrushcross Grange: I heard yesterday you had had some thoughts—’ Chapter 1



The only reason Lockwood begins to learn things about Heathcliff is because he complained to Nelly and Nelly tells him about how Heathcliff became what he is today.

In A Christmas Carol, what happens to Scrooge's belongings in Christmas Future? What does he learn from this?

Ebenezer witnesses his servants and other mistreated unfortunates stealing what they can from his home--ripping down his bed curtains, scooping up piles of clothing--in the hopes that they will be worth something.  He watches as they collect at the local junk dealer's place of business to discuss what they have and how much he will pay them for it. 

In addition, no one really mourns the death of Scrooge.  They are only there to see what they can get from what is left behind. 

To Ebenezer Scrooge, this is a sad testament to the way he has lived his life.  He wants that to change so that when he does die, people will come to the funeral to show how much he the person meant to them...not to snatch a curtain to sell later for some personal gain.

In short, he has learned that people are worth more than things, and he needs to change his greedy, miserly, miserable, and unloving ways.

This is why, upon his return from the Christmases Future experience, he is joyous to find he still has time.  He pays the young boy to get the turkey and sends it to the Cratchit home. He buys toys for area children, he attends Christmas dinner at his nephew's, and he gives Cratchit a raise.  We see from his behavior that his future will be different than that the ghosts have shown him.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

To Sir, with Love highlights the issue of racial prejudice. Comment on this statement and show how far it is true.Address how he interacts with...

The book To Sir, With Love clearly highlights the issue of racial prejudice through the experiences of the central character, Rick Braithwaite.  Braithwaite, who had not had problems related to the color of his skin while he was serving in the RAF, had been led to believe that he would have no trouble finding employment as a civilian after his demobilization.  To his chagrin, however, potential employers one after another find reasons not to hire Braithwaite, and he soon realizes that the bottom line to all the rejections is the same - he is too black.  Feeling rightfully angry and betrayed, Braithwaite comes to the realization that racism in Britain is all the more hurtful because it is "perpetrated with the greatest of charm and courtesy".  Britons do not admit to "anti-Negro prejudice...it is even generally believed that no such thing exists" there, but, as evidenced by Braithwaite's inability to find employment, it is quite clear that discrimination is deeply embedded in English social structure.


Braithwaite encounters racial prejudice in almost all aspects of his life.  In the teachers' coffee room, he must deal with Weston's snide innuendoes targeting his race, and in his relationship with Miss Blanchard, who is white, he must be prepared to face the censure of society at large.  Women on the train are uncomfortable with the sight of him as a black teacher chaperoning white students on a fieldtrip, and his students themselves are unwilling to take flowers to a black students' home after that student's mother has died, because they know that people will gossip disparagingly about them for doing so.


Although racial prejudice is a central theme of the novel, it is by no means the only type of discrimination that is addressed.  The idea that prejudice is a problem in far more areas of life than just as it concerns race is brought home to Braithwaite when he speaks to Mr. Florian about the students' refusal to take flowers to their black classmate's home.  Mr. Florian stresses to the frustrated teacher that



"This is a community with many strong racial and religious tensions and prejudices, most of them long standing" (Chapter 20).



Braithwaite realizes that, just as he would like society to accept him for whom he is without regard to the color of his skin, he must also learn to accept his students for whom they are without holding them to his own preconceived notions of what he thinks they should be.

In "A Rose for Emily", how is Faulkner critical of slavery?

Slavery as a separate issue is not really mentioned in "A Rose for Emily". There is only one Black character and that is the housekeeper/butler that Miss Emily has. Since the story takes place after the Civil War, he is not a slave but a servant. The only inference we can make is that he knew what was going on in Emily's house with the body of Homer Baron, and said nothing. That is why he leaves immediately after the people come to her house after her death. He knows what they will find and he doesn't want to answer any questions. He might be afraid of being accused of being complicit in Homer's murder or charged with hiding the murder. As far as being a comment on slavery, the servants actions may be a comment that he was afraid of losing his job by betraying Miss Emily's secret and/or being accused of some kind of crime he did not commit. This could be one method Faulkner had of condemning the treatment of African Americans because of the fear of economic loss or fear of being innocently accused.

How did Arthur Radley escape going to the industrial school in To Kill a Mockingbird?

When young Arthur got into trouble with the friends he had fallen in with, the matter ended up in court. The judge sent the other boys to the state's industrial school. Arthur, however, was sent home. His father told the judge that if Arthur could come home, he would never cause any trouble again. Arthur's father gave his word and kept it by keeping Arthur in the house effectively for the rest of his life until he was drawn out by Jem and Scout.


The means he used to keep Arthur confined are never precisely known, but they were severe enough that Arthur attacked his father one day with a pair of scissors. The children learn some details about Arthur's history from Miss Maudie, who tells them that the Radley house is "a sad house." She also comments that if Arthur wasn't crazy, "he should be by now. The things that happen to people we never really know."


By sending Arthur home, the judge did him no favor. The boys who went to the industrial school, however, received the best education they could have found in Alabama.

Can anyone explain the correlation between center of pressure and center of gravity with reguard to velocity in spin stabalized symmetric...

Not a ballistics expert, but I think I've got your answer!!  Or at least I can provide you with a few formulas that relate linear velocity of rotation to the velocity of advance, and account for caliber and rifling, and get you going. The formulas are bit complex, my calculus isn't great, and the word processor I'm writing on can't handle math and scientific notation, so I'm not going to even attempt to display them with all the greek and subscripts, but you can find the formulas here:

Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed., vol. 14  pg. 133  sec 51.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Does anyone happen to know any of the important quotes from Cold Sassy Tree?

"Well, good gosh a'mighty! She's dead as she'll ever be, ain't she? Well, ain't she?" (Rucker Blakeslee says this to his daughters in an attempt to legitimize his second marriage.)

"I'm sayin' I love you, dang it! I'm sayin' I want you to be my wife! I'm sayin' I been a-waitin' to hold you in my arms ever since the day we got married. No, way longer than thet, Lord hep me. Miss Love—Love, I been a-waitin' for this minute ever since the day I laid eyes on you!" (Here Rucker shows his true, honest affections for Miss Love.)

"I'm saying that after I missed the love boat, I wasn't going to settle for a raft-meaning somebody like Son Black. But I'm glad to settle for a man I can respect, and a family I'm proud to be part of. I think Mr. Blakeslee is probably the only completely honest man I've ever known..." (Miss Love is explaining here to Will why she married Mr. Blakeslee.)

I need to know a few reasons why Daniel thinks Thacia is for him and a few for why he thinks she's against him in Bronze Bow.

When Daniel first goes to their house in Caparnum, Thacia is cool to him, speaking shortly and "turn(ing) on her embroidered sandal and walk(ing) away".  Joel is annoyed at his sister's attitude, and tells Daniel she is just "putting on city airs" (Chapter 5).


Later, she tells Daniel directly why she disapproves of him, saying, "If you cared anything about Joel, you would leave him alone.  He can be a famous rabbi someday...he's not going to risk his whole future for a band of outlaws".  Thacia is afraid that Daniel will lure Joel into following Rosh with him, and if that happens, Joel will lose a future that is lucrative and secure (Chapter 6).


David is totally devoted to Rosh, but Thacia is very much against him, and she tells her brother and Daniel in no uncertain terms, "this Rosh is an outlaw...surely God would not choose a man like that to bring in His kingdom!" (Chapter 7).


Daniel is puzzled as to whether Thacia is for or against him because despite her negativity at times, she is completely supportive of him at others.  When Daniel is injured and returns to their house because he has nowhere else to go, she cares for him tenderly and efficiently, bathing his wound and bringing him food and drink until he is well.  When he tells her and Joel what happened to his parents, she listens sympathetically and "her eyes (glisten) with tears", and when Daniel and Joel vow to fight to free the country from the Romans, she passionately asks to be included.  Once she has made her decision, Thacia clearly demonstrates that she is indeed on Daniel's side.  It is she who creates the wording of their vow, citing "the watchword of the Maccabees...for God's Victory", and correctly interpreting the passage in the Song of David from which they draw their identifying signal, the "bow of bronze" (Chapter 7).

What does Lennie's fight with Curley show the ranch hands? What does the description of this fight suggest about the nature of violence?

Lennie's fight with Curley is very important to the theme of violence in this novel. The fight demonstrates to the ranch hands that Curley is not actually as tough as he appears.  Although Lennie does even fight back when Curley initially attack him, once he finally responds, he easily overpowers Curley.  Curley has harassed and bullied so many of the ranch hands over the years, and they have all come to fear him because of this.  But when Lennie stands up to Curley, it gives a sense of empowerment to the others who quickly realize Curley is not to be feared, at least from a physical standpoint.  The other ranch hands also lose the little respect they have for Curley because of the fact that he harrasses and picks a fight with Lennie.

In regard to the description of the fight and it's relationship to the nature of violence in the novel, it is important to note the uncontrollable rage which Lennie exhibits.   Although Lennie is not, by nature, a violent person, it becomes brutally obvious that once he loses control of himself, he can be unintentionally violent.  Later in the novel, we actually see him become deadly.

What can be said about imperialism in King Solomon's Mines?

Whilst the actual novel does not directly address the fact of imperialism, this is only because it is an assumed reality of the world that is presented to the reader in this novel. Nonetheless Quatermain's narrative challenges the assumption that the British, because of their supposedly greater skill, intellilgence and moral virtue, are beholden to bring the light of civilisation to "darker" areas of the world, such as Africa.



[A]m I a gentleman? What is a gentleman? I don't quite know, and yet I have had to do with niggers—no, I will scratch out that word "niggers," for I do not like it. I've known natives who are, and so you will say, Harry, my boy, before you have done with this tale, and I have known mean whites with lots of money and fresh out from [England], too, who are not.



Yet the novel does illustrate the complexity of imperialist ideologies and understandings, even in someone who challenges imperialism. For instance, the way in which Quatermain talks to the various non-white characters gives evidence of this belief of European superiority that was at the heart of British imperialism. Note how this supremacy is expressed in the following response of Umbopa to Quartermain's reprimand that he remember his station:



"How dost thou know that I am not the equal of the Inkosi I serve?" he said. "He is of a royal house, no doubt; one can see it in his size and in his eye; so, mayhap, am I. At least I am as great a man."



Such a comment draws the reader's attention to the notion of in/equalitity in the novel, which was at the heart of British imperialism.


Note, too, how Ignosi's isolationist policy when he gains the throne is designed to try and curtail the spread of the more negative impacts of imperialism: violence, greed and drunkenness. While Haggard clearly shows he recognises the dark and ugly side of imperialism, the way in which Quatermain treats various non-white characters also shows that the basic myth of white supremacy is a complexity that was not at that time in history amply sorted out in the minds of Westerners.

Monday, October 21, 2013

What is Toby like in "The Egypt Game"?

Toby Alvillar is one of the most popular boys in the sixth grade.  Socially, he and his friend Ken Kamata are "two of the biggest wheels in class, and if you (are) really hopeless they simply (don't) notice you - it (is) as if you (don't) exist".  When Toby starts to teasingly call April "February", Melanie knows that April, who is new in school, has been accepted, because although "it (is) teasing...(it is) not the kind you use on outsiders" (Chapter 6). 

Toby and Ken are the kind of boys whom "everybody always vote(s) for...and want(s) to be on their team".  Toby is also influential with adults; he is sort of a class clown and has "a special talent for getting people off the hook (in the classroom) by making the teacher laugh" (Chapter 10). 

Toby is a leader, and is fun and creative.  When he discovers the Egypt Game, he is interested in it, and unafraid to ask to be included, even though it may not be the "cool" thing to do.  Ken, who at first thinks the game is a dumb idea, has little choice but to follow Toby's lead.  Ken ends up being the one to "(carry) most of the stuff" when Toby, "overflowing with ideas" to make the Game more interesting, comes up with plans to build an altar and devise a system of hieroglyphics (Chapter 14).

What is the ratio of 24 inches to 5 inches?this is a math question.please help me answer this question.

With the numbers you gave, it is simply 24:5

If it was 25 inches to 5 inches, then you would be simplifying.  The ratio of 25:5 is the same as 5:1.  However, since 5 doesn't go into 24 evenly you can't simplify if the problem is 24 inches to 5 inches.

Also, check to be sure the problem isn't inches and feet instead of both inches. 

Could we define Bolt's play A Man for All Seasons as a tragedy in the traditional sense of the word or merely as a chronicle play? The distinction...

All of Arthur Miller's "Elements of Tragedy" are in place in Bolt's A Man for All Seasons, with only the concept of the tragic hero giving us some trouble.  You could argue that More is not a tragic hero because he lacks a tragic flaw, but you can counter that in two ways.  First, you could say that More's flaw is his faith in earthly law.  He truly believes that, because he has not broken any laws, he is safe.  He fails to anticipate that the King, through Cromwell, will merely bend the law to the state's purpose; of course, this is somewhat academic, as Sir Thomas wasn't going to change his mind anyway - even though his life hung in the balance.  Still, in the strictest sense, we can say, as Norfolk did, that More held his life in his own hands throughout, and, because he could've saved himself at any time, he did, in fact, make a decision leading to his own demise.  Or, we might well concede that More simply had no choice - which doesn't negate a reading of the play as a tragedy.  A tragic hero, given a choice, tends to make the choice that leads to his own demise, but we may still call a story a tragedy when the hero is placed in a no-win situation.  In such a story, as in Bolt's play, Miller's "tragic feeling" is aroused in the audience as we watch one of history's best men give up his life rather than his beliefs.  We, the audience, are left with "the sad sense of what might have been" as we observe More facing his inevitible death with integrity, dignity, and truth.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

What is an allusion in "Fahrenheit 451"?

There are many allusions in the novel "Fahrenheit 451". The allusion in the title is a reference to the temperature at which paper burns. Paper burns when it reaches a temperature of 451 degrees Fahrenheit. This is a reference to the job of the firemen in the novel. Ironically, they burn books full of paper instead of putting out fires.

Compare and contrast Emily Grierson from the story "A Rose for Emily" with the madman from the story "The Tell-Tale Heart".I need to make a 4 page...

Each of the characters is compelled by a desperate emotion, misguided and informed by a twisted perception of reality.  For Emily, killing Homer Barron and keeping his rotting corpse, sleeping beside his dead body.  


The narrator in The Tell-Tale Heart stalks his victim in his bedroom, observing him nightly until he decides to kill him. 


Emily is driven to kill Homer Barron to stop him from leaving her, so that she won't be alone.  The narrator must kill the old man because of his sick eye.  He decides that the old man has an evil eye capable of putting a curse on him.


Each character's motivation comes from an unstable mind, both characters are mentally unstable.  They are both delusional and have a distorted perception of reality. 


Both victims are innocent, they, in no way, instigate their own deaths.  Neither victim deserved to die, they are sacrificed to satisfy a demented need that cannot be fulfilled in any other way, because both the narrator and Miss Emily are isolated from society and exist in a fantasy world of their own making, where they are compelled to commit murder. 

In chapter 23 how does Phoebe cover for Holden when their parents come home?

The reason Holden came home was so that he could say goodbye to his sister.  Luckily, his parents weren't home, and he is able to sneak in.  Phoebe is thrilled to see Holden, but then realizes why he is there.  He had flunked out again. 

This is a very important scene for the novel because it presents both sides of Holden to the reader, and the title is made clear as well.  He explains to his sister that he can't see himself being any kind of scientist or lawyer.  The only thing he can see for his future is being a catcher in the rye--someone who watches over and protects young kids from any type of danger from the edge of a field of rye.  This is both admitting that he is a failure and proving that he is sensitive to those who don't fit into society because they're either outcasts or powerless.

Phoebe understands this and begins to celebrate with him.  They dance to about four songs on the radio, and then are surprised that her mother comes to her door.  She saw Phoebe's light was on.  Phoebe covers for him by telling her mother that she couldn't sleep, and the smoke she smells is from her smoking--but she only took one puff.  Her mother is convinced and she leaves.  This gets Holden off the hook, and he is able to sneak back out.

Discuss how the ever-changing politics of Afghanistan affect each of the characters in the novel.

AMIR.  Amir has to follow his father, Baba, to California when they are forced to leave Afghanistan after the Russian occupation. For Amir, it is a mixed blessing: He gets to start a new life, get a good education, get married, and try to forget his past sins in his homeland. When he returns to find Sohrab, Kabul is a changed city, ruled not by the Russians but by the even more ruthless Talban.


ALI.  As an ethnic Hazara, Ali will never rise above the lower levels of Afghanistan's social realm. Life is not good under Russian rule, but the Taliban routinely practice ethnic cleansing against his people.


ASSEF.  The son of a German mother and Pashtun father, the blond Assef worships Hitler and believes in the superiority of his father's people. When the Taliban rise to power, Assef moves up the ranks.


BABA.  Not a religious man, Baba thrives during the years before the Russian takeover. Unwilling to live as a pauper (or risk death) under Russian control, he heads to California. He is unable to rebuild the fortune he amassed in Afghanistan, but his business instinct and work ethic keeps him afloat. He continues to associate with Afghani ex-patriots in California, where his reputation among them is revered; however, the once wealthy man becomes a lower-middle class member of American society


SANAUBAR.  A Hazara women who moves from man to man, Hassan's mother's reputation is as low as her class standing in Afghanistan--scorned for her race as well as her promiscuity.


HASSAN.  As a Hazara, Hassan--like his father, Ali--will never rise up the social ladder in Afghanistan. Following the Russians' departure, he becomes even more of an outcast during the Taliban rule.


GENERAL TAHERI.  Like Baba, Taheri was a powerful man in Afghanistan who was forced to flee during the Russian takeover. He still hopes to return to power someday and awaits a shift in Afghani politics that will allow him to return to his old status. He is a far stricter man than Baba, however, and he has repressed his daughter, Soraya, for her past indiscretions after her arrival (and short, rebellious behavior) in America.

Why did the Whites feel rather 'upset'?In Jacob's short story "The Monkey's Paw."

The first thing that upset the Whites was the loss of their son.  When Mr. White made the first wish, he never believed that it would be the cost of losing his only son.  Mrs. White was so distraught that after a couple weeks, she wanted Mr. White to use his second wish to bring Herbert back from the dead.  The condition of Mrs. White's mentality at this point is deteriorating.  "Upset" is putting it mildly.  She demands that he make the second wish to bring back her son.

"Even his wife's face seemed changed as he entered the room.  It was white and expectant, and to his fears seemed to have an unnatural look upon it.  He was afraid of her. 'Wish!' she cried in a strong voice."

He follows her orders to make the second wish, and after a while, they head to bed.  The next upsetting moment for them was the beginning of knocking on their front door.  It started as one quiet almost inaudible knock.  Then in became louder and more consistent.  Mrs. White thinks that Herbert has come back to them, but Mr. White knows that whatever is pounding on their door is no longer the Herbert they knew and loved.  The last upsetting moment for Mrs. White was when Mr. White made his final wish.  "The knocking ceased suddenly," and Mrs. White cried out in disappointment.

Who is the D.H.C in Brave New World by Aldous Huxley?

He's The Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning.   He's a highly regarded Alpha male who enjoys taking people on tours of the hatchery.  However, he has a shadow self; he once had a relationship with Linda. This relationship ended with him leaving her, pregnant, on the reservation.  This makes him John's father.  When John arrives in London and addresses him as such, he is horrified (not to mention humiliated) and his useful life is over.


He is also included to show that not all conditioning is perfect --- which is interesting because he is the D.H.C. and you would think he would be perfectly "done."

Saturday, October 19, 2013

In the poem "She Walks in Beauty," identify some poetry devices, such as alliteration, hyperbole, rhyme, rhythm, and imagery.

The poem has an alternate ABAB rhyme scheme. This gives the poem a flow and helps to emphasize the beauty of the persona being described in the poem.



Alliteration can be seen in the second stanza line 5, "..serenely sweet.." and in fact there is a repetition of 's' sounds throughout this stanza which is the use of sibilance. This again serves to give the poem a sense of flow and rhythm conveying a strong sense of meaning throughout the poem.



Finally throughout this poem the idea of the contrast between light, dark and brightness is an image that is repeated.


"And all that's best of dark and bright,"


"Thus mellowed to that tender light,"


"Or softly lightens over her face,"


"The smiles that win, the tints that glow."


All of these references serve to reiterate the beauty and innocence of the woman being described.

In "The Call of the Wild", how does Buck adapt to his environment and ultimately dominate it?

In the beginning of Jack London’s “Call of The Wild,’ Buck is a soft dog that "lived the life of a sated aristocrat."   He is dog-napped and sold by the gardener at the estate where he is “ruler” and learns a lesson about man that he will never forget.  He learns that in this new environment “a man with a club was a law-giver, a master to be obeyed, though not necessarily conciliated."   Buck becomes a harder, stronger, and more cunning dog.  He regresses to the basic nature of a dog and feels “the decay or going to pieces of his moral nature, a vain thing and a handicap in the ruthless struggle for existence."  He learns to steal food and fight as well as kill for his survival.  “The domesticated generations fell from him," and "instincts long dead became alive again."  While living with Thornton he shares a bond with the man, but feels a calling into the wild.  He leaves camp for days at a time but torn between being with the human he has grown to love and the “wolf brother” he also desires t be with creates an inner conflict in Buck.  On returning from one of his hunting trips he returns to Thornton’s camp and realizes that there is the smell of death in the air.  He attacks and kills many of the natives that have killed his beloved John Thornton and then goes off to be with his wolf brothers.

How does Fred hope his Christmas invitation to Scrooge will turn out?

Fred is hoping that his uncle will finally accept his invitation to join him at his home with his wife and friends for Christmas dinner.  Fred does not give up on his uncle, as is evidenced by the fact that he is a grown man and still trying to have a relationship with him.


Mr. Scrooge resists Fred's invitation and his desire to be his family because he resents him.  Fred is the son of his only sister Fan, who died giving birth to her son.  Scrooge's father resented him in the same way, because his mother died giving him life. 


Mr. Scrooge does not want to accept Fred's invitation also because he believes that his nephew married the wrong woman.  He believes that Fred married for the wrong reason, love, instead of bettering his social position.  So Scrooge does not approve of Fred's wife. 


However, when he does decide to go to Fred's house, at the end of the story, Fred and his wife welcome him with both open arms and a heart full of forgiveness for his past judgements of them.


Mr. Scrooge, no doubt, will enjoy the company of Fred and his wife, and their friends, in just the same way that he did when he visited their home with the Ghost of Christmas Present.     

In The Last Good Country, what is the significance of Nick and Littless going off together?There is great detail of what has taken place causing...

In the story "The Last Good Country" Nick has gotten himself in trouble with the law and has to hide from the law.  He has the support of the community that seems to believe he was in he right.  Even his mother supports his actions and is contrary to the wardens. 


Nick's sister, Littless, is in love with her brother.  She wants to marry him.  She does not relate to the others in the family and wants to be with Nick.  When he defies authority and runs away his sister has to be with him.  They are young and experiencing an awakening, but Nick is more certain that brother and sister are not meant to be man and wife. 


The ending is surprising but like many of Hemingway's stories, he leaves it open for the reader to speculate on his won verses him giving the full details.  If we look deeper into the content of the story and the title, one can relate the government in the story to that of a communist government. 

Friday, October 18, 2013

Please explain this quote from "Blood Relations: "Brothers and sisters have I none, but that man's father is my father's son."Who is that man?

We can solve this problem algebraically with the following:


Assume you are generation 5, and 'that man' is generation 'x'.


We have: 'that man's father is my father's son'


When we have a father, we go down one generation, and when we have a son, we go up one.


Therefore,        X-1           =     5-1+1


X-1           =     5


X              =     6


Since we are generation 5, and that man is generation 6, that man is one generation later, and is therefore my son.



Or, if you're not into math:


That man's father is (my father's son)


That man's father is (me)


Therefore, that man must be my son.

"Lenore" and "nevermore" rhyme in "The Raven". By the end of the poem, what meaning connects the two words?

During the poem, the speaker is mourning the loss of his love, Lenore. Lenore has died and the speaker is trying to find "surcease for his sorrow" or a temporary end to his sorrow. When the bird flies in and sits on the bust of Pallas, the ancient Greek goddess of wisdom, the speaker begins to suspect that the bird is a messenger from the dead who can tell him about Lenore. At the end of the poem, the speaker asks the bird if he will ever seen Lenore or hold her again? The bird answers, as it has answered every question of the speaker, with the word "Nevermore". Thus, the poor speaker thinks that he is never again going to see his beloved Lenore again, even in heaven ( "that distant Aidenn"). The speaker replies that his spirit shall be lifted "Nevermore". In other words, he will never be happy again because he is eternally separated from his love.

In "Julius Caesar", how important are ideas of being "honourable" and "noble" in the play?

Very. Part of the society that Shakespeare depicts is one in which men are obsessed with being thought of as honourable and noble - sometimes more so than being honourable and noble.


Cassius is the prime manipulator of this flaw - and, you guessed it, it's part of Brutus' arrogance that he's set on his own ideas of how he is noble and honorable. So Cassius says to him



Age, thou art shamed!
Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods!



History is shamed, because Rome no longer comes up with honourable people. And, as Cassius says to himself at the end of the scene, Brutus' idea of honour is precisely the way to attack him: 



Well, Brutus, thou art noble; yet, I see,
Thy honourable mettle may be wrought
From that it is disposed...



Cassius presents the conspiracy, continually, as honourable and noble - a worthy cause:



I have moved already
Some certain of the noblest-minded Romans
To undergo with me an enterprise
Of honourable-dangerous consequence...



These are my italics. But you get my point. And later in the play, Antony uses ideas of honour to turn the tide against the conspiracy:



For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men—



And at the end, Antony's partially ironic (fully ironic? Who knows) eulogy over Brutus complements him based on the ideals of honour:



This was the noblest Roman of them all.



You could analyse all this much further and in more detail. But it is very, very important to the play.

In "The Seafarer", how were his living conditions different from his living conditions in the past?

In "The Seafarer," there are three parts.  The major portion describes life on the sea; a small section reflects life on land; and, the third part is much like a prayer which speaks to the habits of mankind and its beliefs about death, and the part God plays in rewarding the worthy.


In answer to the question, the author goes on in great detail about the trials and tribulations of being a sailor: the loneliness and the physical discomfort.  He speaks to the endless work and the cold; he describes the empty comfort of the animals of the sea and sky.


For a very brief time, the author speaks of life on land, and the sea's siren call--irresistibly drawing him back again and again, even in light of the suffering he endures.



The passion of cities, swelled proud with wine


And no taste of misfortune, how often,


how wearily I put myself back on the paths of the sea.



He recounts the passion of the cities, the influence of wine, and the inability of the society of men to deal with hardship.  But he recalls that in light of this, he still returns to the harsh, often unforgiving sea.  Perhaps life would be easier in the city, but perhaps, too, he feels closer to heaven with the hard and honest work of sea life.


It is here that his attention turns to God and the rewards of a life well-lived. He notes that what a man may earn materialistically will not follow him to heaven.  He states that the praise of men means nothing to one who is dead--but living for the rewards of heaven is what matters most in life: to find oneself in the company of God and the angels is what has true value.


The seafarer may simply be imparting his own form of wisdom: life on the land was empty and meaningless for him.  Life on the sea was almost unbearable at times, but his life as a seafaring man has brought him closer to God and his heavenly reward.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Why is the interior of the earth very hot?

Why we do not know the exact reason as to why the interior of the Earth is hot, there are several leading factors:

 We do know that the Earth is cooling, which can lead us to believe the Earth's initial heat came from when it originally formed. 

 The second factor for the interior heat of the earth is the decay of radioactive elements.  (This is happening in both the mantle and core)  Even though these elements are contributing to the Earht's interior heat, the Earth is cooling faster than the decay of these elements can increase the heat.

In "A Separate Peace" what, according to Gene, had Phineas alone escaped, and who, in the end, confronted Phineas with this?

Gene states in the end of the book that everyone, sometime in their life, is confronted with a force, trial or issue that is so large, overwhelming and difficult that it breaks them, and changes them forever.  He says that for most people around him, it was the war, that



"when they began to feel that there was this overwhelmingly hostile thing i the world with them, then the simplicity and unity of their characters broke and they were not the same again."



But, "Phineas alone had escaped this" because of his



"extra vigor, a heightened confidence in himself, a serene capacity for affection which saved him."



Gene, from the beginning of the book, had sensed this and was jealous, because he himself was not like this.  He was not confident, serene, vigorous, or capable of the innocent and true affection that Finny was.  So, Gene says, when nothing else in the world "had broken [Finny's] harmonious and natural unity," Gene stepped in and did the job:  "So at last I had."  Through the breaking of Finny's leg at the tree, Finny was eventually broken.  It set off a series of events that deeply disturbed Finny, eventually leading to his death.  It is Gene that confronts Finny and the fact that he "never was afraid...never hated anyone," and broke that unity of character that he possessed.


Gene states in the end of the book that everyone, sometime in their life, is confronted with a force, trial or issue that is so large, overwhelming and difficult that it breaks them, and changes them forever.  He says that for most people around him, it was the war, that



"when they began to feel that there was this overwhelmingly hostile thing i the world with them, then the simplicity and unity of their characters broke and they were not the same again."



But, "Phineas alone had escaped this" because of his



"extra vigor, a heightened confidence in himself, a serene capacity for affection which saved him."



Gene, from the beginning of the book, had sensed this and was jealous, because he himself was not like this.  He was not confident, serene, vigorous, or capable of the innocent and true affection that Finny was.  So, Gene says, when nothing else in the world "had broken [Finny's] harmonious and natural unity," Gene stepped in and did the job:  "So at last I had."  Through the breaking of Finny's leg at the tree, Finny was eventually broken.  It set off a series of events that deeply disturbed Finny, eventually leading to his death.  It is Gene that confronts Finny and the fact that he "never was afraid...never hated anyone," and broke that unity of character that he possessed.

What are some themes and symbols in "Song of Myself", with specific details?I need help with the details on the themes and symbols in this poem....

There are several major themes in "Song of Myself".  1.  Celebrating yourself in all of your glory and faults.  2.  Reveling in the beauty of nature, and feeling a connection to it.  3.  The connectedness and unity of life and all living beings.

For an example of #1, look at the very first line in section 1:  "I celebrate myself and sing myself".  This is a major theme throughout all of the sections.  For #2, look at section 6 where Whitman talks about all of the things that grass could be, ending with it being himself after he has died (his body feeding the grass).  For #3, section 16 is a great example of Whitman feeling connected to all human beings.

These are just a few examples; the entire poem is packed with examples of these themes.  If you give it a read-through with those themes in mind, examples will jump out more clearly.  Good luck!

Compare the impact of death in "Mid-Term Break" and "Do not go gentle..."

These two poems by Heaney and Thomas both treat death and its impact in a very different way.


Thomas' famous poem, written about the death of his father, captures the determination to fight against the power of death whilst also expressing the fierce refusal of those left behind to accept the death of their loved one. This poem has a very precise and exact structure, using the Villanelle, a notoriously difficult form to master. However, we can see that this form allows Thomas to "cage in" his feelings and emotions and express them in an incredibly powerful way.


The two lines that are repeated throughout the poem express Thomas' attitudes to death: "Do not go gentle into that good night" and "Rage, rage against the dying of the light". In each of these lines, words are contrasted with each other. "Gentle" is contrasted with "rage", "good" with "dying" and "night" with "light". There is also a comparison in tone between the two lines, with the first being subdued and toned down, and the second expressing in full force the anger felt by Thomas at death, enacted by the repetition of the word "rage". The repetition of these lines enforce this treatment of death and likewise these lines are addressed first to the reader and lastly to Thomas' father.


"Mid-Term Break" in comparison is a far more subdued poem, almost conversational in its tone and style. We only realise the theme of death in the poem part way through with the title equally referring to a break from school in the middle of the term as well as the literal "break" (meaning death) of Heaney's brother in his youth. We see how others react to the death of his brother and the speaker of the poem does not talk about his own emotions, rather presenting the reactions of his elders to the death, with his mother who "coughed out angry tearless sighs". The full force of the poem is left to the last line, which expresses the speaker's pain of grief and anger at what has happened to his brother: "A four foot box, a foot for every year." 

Does Macbeth's death agree with the witches' final predictions?

What you have to remember about the witches is that they are "juggling fiends", that "palter with us in a double sense" - that is, that what they say is elliptical and difficult to decipher. So that what it seems like they mean is not always what they mean. (Shakespeare's language in "Macbeth" often also fits this description.) 

Macbeth's death does, of course, follow the witches predictions. He is killed by Macduff, as per prediction 1: "Beware Macduff; Beware the Thane of Fife".

Macduff also reveals shortly before killing Macbeth that he was born by Caesarean section, "ripp'd" from his mother's womb rather than being "born", bringing true the witches' second prediction: "for none of woman born
Shall harm Macbeth".

 And lastly, Malcolm's troops tear down branches to screen them as they approach his castle, which certainly gives the impression of prophecy number 3 coming true.

Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until
Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill
Shall come against him.

Their original prediction - that Banquo's sons would become kings - is actually something of a meta-theatrical one. James I, on the throne when "Macbeth" was written, was thought to be a descendant of Banquo's. So the play doesn't explain how - but if you were in the original audience, you'd know that that prediction was also an accurate one.

What's foreshadowed in The Grey King?

The poem in the beginning of the book forshadows the entire plot of the novel:



On the day of the dead, when the year too dies
Must the youngest open the oldest hills
Through the door of the birds, where the breeze breaks.
There fire shall fly from the raven boy,
And the silver eyes that see the wind,
And the light shall have have the harp of gold


By the pleasant lake the Sleepers lie
On Cadfan's Way where the kestrels call;
Though grim from the Grey King's shadows fall,
Yet singing the golden harp shall guide
To break their sleep and bid them ride


When the light from the lost land shall return
Six Sleepers shall ride, six Signs shall burn
And where the midsummer tree grows tall
By Pendragon's sword the dark shall fall.




Will Stanton, who is the youngest of the Old Ones, returns from the "lost land" to his ancestral home of Wales.  There he meets Bran, the "raven boy", and his dog Cafall with the silver eyes.  The dog "sees the wind" and prevents a serious accident.  Will is predestined to become part of the epic fight against the powers of evil -- both his friend Bran and the dog Cafall help him significantly in this fight.  Their goal is the harp of gold, which Will finds. 


The Grey King is the name of the fog that hangs around a mountain near where Will is staying with his relatives, but it is also the name of the supernatural being which Will has to fight.  The Sleepers are servants of the Light, which Will must awaken to help in the fight. 


Will and Bran do not understand the poem when the book starts, but as events unfold the plan -- and their place in it -- becomes clearer. 

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

With what creatures of fantsy is Pearl continually compared to in "The Scarlet Letter"?

In "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Pearl appears to be so happy out in the woods, she is referred to several times as either an "imp", a "sprite", or an "elf child". This comparison is in stark contrast to the weight the child is on those around her. While Pearl is the physical representation of Hester's sin, she is also light and free spirited. This tension is important in questioning the essence of sin in the novel.

Is "Breaking Dawn" the last book in the "Twilight" series?...I REALLY hope not..but I haven't read the last one yet.

"Breaking Dawn" is the last published book in this series so far.  Midnight Sun is her next project. She has not yet finished writing it (and there is no timeline set up, so we all need to put a lot of effort into being patient for a while longer).



“The more I wrote, the more I became convinced that Edward deserved to have his story told. At first I was planning to post it all here on my website, but I changed my mind for two reasons, the most important being that Edward's version is much longer than Bella's—Edward over-thinks everything. I'm not even half way done, and the page count is near three hundred. The second reason that I changed my mind is a little bit silly—I just would really love to have a pretty, matching, bound version of Midnight Sun to put beside Twilight on top of my desk. So I'm going to try to have it published as a complementary novel to Twilight. It will take a while, because I can only work on it between editing stints, but I hope that someday I'll be able to see Midnight Sun on the bookstore shelves next to Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and etc.”


Ms. Meyer's direct quote.


Tuesday, October 15, 2013

What do Gregor's alarm clock, window, food items, and couch symbolize?

This is tricky because objects can be very different kinds of symbols to different people, but I will try to get you started with some ideas that come to my mind.


A clock is a good symbol of time passing, isn't it? That might be one kind of symbol.  Another idea is that an alarm clock symbolizes the control that others have over our lives. For example, the alarm clock forces us to get up to go to school, go to work, etc.


The window is a very powerful symbol. It can represent freedom or imprisonment.  If you are looking out, but are trapped inside, it really represents both, doesn't it?


Food is a very emotional symbol for many people.  Have you ever heard the expression "comfort food"?  Food represents our parents feeding us, and it also represents life because we cannot have life without it.


The couch is probably the most difficult symbol for me. Could it be a symbol of laziness for you?


I hope this helps you to get started writing your sentences.  Good luck!

How does hate become a prime motivation for both Victor Frankenstein and his monster?I can find obvious answers by describing the events in the...

Some critics see the creature as Victor's "shadow" self ... that part of each of us that we are not always consciously aware of that contains things that may be hidden from ourselves:

"It is everything in us that is unconscious, repressed, undeveloped and denied. These are dark rejected aspects of our being as well as light, so there is positive undeveloped potential in the Shadow that we don’t know about because anything that is unconscious, we don’t know about." (from Web site below)

Of course, when Victor first sees what he has done, he commits his major mistake:  he fails to love what he has given "birth" to.

It's clearer for the creature:  he is born loving, without the "nurture" that might affect most of us --- he is looking for love and it is not returned.  So he strikes out in response; not all that unnatural or surprising. 

You might want to do some further reading about Jung's "Shadow Self"; there are many sources on the Internet.

Who approaches Dimmesdale as he invites Pearl and Hester to join him near the scaffold? Does this person want him to go on the scaffold?

Chillingworth approaches Dimmesdale as moves towards the scaffold.  Dimmesdale is moving to confess, but Chillingworth tries to stop him.  Chillingworth knows that if Dimmesdale confesses, then his revenge will be over.  Chillingworth has based his whole life since he discovered Hester's adultery, on finding and torturing Hester's adulterous partner.  Now that Dimmesdale is going to confess, Chillingworth will no longer be able to torture him.  Chillingworth will have no reason to live any longer.

Monday, October 14, 2013

What is the tragedy in "Macbeth"?

Macbeth is a tragedy because a relatively good man who has the qualities to become a great man is derailed by his greed and lust for power.The prophecies of the witches begin his journey down the path of destruction. He could have ignored them, as Banquo did, and allowed fate take its course. Instead, with the encouragement of his wife, he takes matters into his own hands, murders his king and from then on his ambition overtakes him. He lets nothing or no one get in the way of his success.He has chances to reverse his course, but his ambition is too strong. By the time the play is over, his wife has gone mad and killed herself, Macbeth has had Banquo killed, along with his wife and young son, and Scotland is in disarray. Believing his will not be killed by "a man born of a woman" he is killed nevertheless by a man born by Caesarian section. He has lost everything, including his kingdom and his reputation.

Sunday, October 13, 2013

How does Dracula portray sexual repression?

Dracula was published during the Victorian Age when sexual repression was at its height. This was also an age which saw a tremendous rise in prostitution and pornography. The novel shows the this paradox and the consequences of sexual repression. Gentlewomen were supposed to be ladylike and were thought inferior to men. Lucy writes,"My dear Mina,why are men so noble when we women are so little worthy of them?" But then she is upset that she has to choose between three men. She adds, "Why can't they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her, and save all this trouble? But this is heresy, and I must not say it."

On the outside, men were supposed to respect women and never to see them undressed. But this perception is broken in "Dracula".
"The most frequently mentioned psychological aspect is the madonna/whore schism within Victorian perceptions of women, seen most clearly in Lucy's transformation from aristocratic female to vampire." This transformation is what fascinated Victorian readers, who could not read about sex, but could read about a vampire and his attack on women.

How do the characters die in "And Then There Were None"?

They die in accordance with the song. The play was originally called "Ten Little Niggers", but, for obvious reasons, was then renamed "Ten Little Indians". When that too became politically unacceptable the play was renamed "And Then There Were None".


Here's the first bit of the song (full link below):



Ten little Indian boys went out to dine
One choked his little self and then there were nine
Nine little Indian boys sat up very late
One overslept himself and then there were eight
Eight little Indian boys traveling in Devon
One said he'd stay there and then there were seven...



Here's the deaths:


Anthony Marston is poisoned with cyanide in his drink ("one choked his little self")
Mrs. Rogers never wakes up rom her sleep ("one overselpt himself")
General MacArthur dies from a blow to the back of the head, after he said he'd never leave ("one said he'd stay there)
Thomas Rogers is struck with an axe in the woodshed ("one chopped himself in halves")
Emily Brent dies from a lethal injection ("a bumblebee stung one")
Judge Wargrave dies from a shot in the head ("one got into Chancery" - and then finally kills himself)
Blore dies by being crushed by a clock ("a big bear hugged one")
Armstrong is drowned in the sea ("a red herring stung one")
Lombard is shot with his own revolver by Vera ("out in the sun" or "one shot the other")
Vera then hangs herself ("one hanged himself").


Hope it helps!

In "Fahrenheit 451", how has Montag changed over this novel and how did his beliefs and actions change by the end?

Montag goes from being a good citizen of their society wholoved his job.  He states that "it was a pleasure to burn"; he wanted to "shove a marshmallow on a stick" in front of the burning house, and went to bed with a "fiery smile still gripped by his face muscles."  He took the exact pleasure in his job that his society hoped he would.

He starts to change when he meets Clarisse.  For the first time in his life, questions whether he is happy.  His safe world had "melted down and sprung up in a new and colorless form."  From here on out, he starts questioning things.  He starts asking questions about the people whose houses he burns.  And, the next house he burns, instead of wanting to callously toast marshmallows, he is highly disturbed.  He goes home and can't sleep, then stays home "sick"; he suffers a crisis of sorts.  He confronts the Barbie-esque Mildred and her friends.  He seeks out Faber, and they make plans for rebellion.  He starts openly reading books, defiantly insisting on taking them in.

At the end of the novel, his entire world has changed; "he would not be Montag anymore...and one day he would look back upon the fool and know the fool.  Even now he could feel the start of the long journey, the leave-taking, the going away from the self he had been."  He finds the courage to run away, and with others, try to rebuild things in a better way.

What motives are suggested for Iago's behavior and why are we to question the statements that reveal those possible motives?

There are a number of reasons given for Iago's motives in the play and a number that the audience may infer from the play. Iago tells us that he feels aggrieved that Othello chose Cassio to be his Lieutenant instead of him, despite the fact that Iago had served Othello faithfully for many years. There is the petty rivalry between Iago and Cassio as a "Florentine" from Florence rather than a true Venetian; and between the experienced Iago and the "bookish" Cassio "that never set a squadron in the field". It is a conflict between the new and old world, experience and theory, the feudal and modern worlds.

In addition to this, Iago's language is overtly racist about Othello and crude about his relations with Desdemona ("an old black ram is topping your white ewe") that we may infer that his animosity is motivated by either racism or sexual jealousy.

Finally, his hatred may also be unmotivated and undirected, merely just a part of his character that lights on any pretext to cause trouble and difficulty for others.

Clarisse causes Montag to recall a childhood memory in which a wish was involved. What is the significance of the memory and the wish?

Montag had been talking to Clarisse.  He noticed that the saw himself in her eyes, "suspended in two shining drops of bright water."  This makes him remember a candle.  "One time, as a child, in a power failure, his mother had found and lit a last candle and there had been a brief hour of rediscovery, of such illumination that space lost its vast dimensions and drew comfortably around them, and they, mother and son, alone, transformed, hoping that the power might not come on again too soon..." (pg 111)  The candle is important because it casts a warm light of closeness that Montag hasn't felt in a long time.  He has lived a life of alienation and Clarisse's attentions make him begin to question his situation and his loneliness.  Even though he says he is "happy" in reality he has not been happy for a very long time.  The candle is enlightenment.

In "The Scarlet Letter," Chapter 16, where does Hester plan to meet Dimmesdale? Why?

Hawthorne also suggests that Hester wouldn't want to meet Dimmesdale in his study, which would be the most appropriate place for his parishioner to meet him, because she fears that Chillingworth may be about, and wants to convey her secret knowledge of Chillingworth to him.

"...she dreaded the secret or undisguised interference of old Roger Chillingworth..."  and since her discussion is to be about how Roger is harming him, (...make known to him the true character of his intimacy...") prudence would suggest she do it in secret.

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Mayella Ewell takes offense to Atticus's politeness toward her. What might this indicate about Mayella?

Mayella Ewell has a completely opposite upbringing than Scout does. Even though Aunt Alexandra worries about how Scout will turn out, Mayella is certainly worse. Of course it's not Mayella's fault for the way she is, but she's so uneducated and sheltered from good society that she doesn't even know what it means to be polite or to have someone be polite to her. When Atticus refers to her as "Miss Mayella," she takes offense because she's never been in polite enough company to hear someone refer to her that way. Since Mayella is surrounded by ignorance, mistreatment, and impoliteness, she sees these things as normal. Anything different, then, she would see as disrespectful. Judge Taylor doesn't even understand why Mayella can't tell the difference between courtesy and disrespect by saying the following:



"'Mr. Finch is not making fun of you. What's the matter with you?'


Mayella looked from under lowered eyelids at Atticus, but she said to the judge: 'Long's he keeps on callin' me ma'am an sayin' Miss Mayella. I don't hafta take his sass, I ain't called upon to take it'" (182).



Then Scout's reaction to this interchange brings her to feeling compassion for Mayella:



"I wondered if anybody had ever called her 'ma'am' or 'Miss Mayella' in her life; probably not, as she took offense to routine courtesy. What on earth was her life like? I soon found out" (182).



Scout then hears how horrible Mayella's life is by the life she soon describes for the court. Her father spends their welfare checks on alcohol, the kids search for food in the dump next to their house, and life was on a fend for yourself basis. There was no loving mother or father around to take care of the children, so anything that resembles kindness is completely foreign to Mayella. Therefore, when Atticus shows common courtesy to her, Mayella perceives it as cruel and unusual.

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Why are people so compliant when clearly this world in "1984" is so miserable?

It is very simple, actually. Not only are the people scared, but they are 3 other things as well: 1) They are apathetic. We see this even today, the mentality of "What can I do to change anything? I'm just one person. It is hopeless to even try, because then, I'll die.' 2) They are kept in ignorance. Big Brother has altered the past so much, the people think that this is better than anything else. "After all, look at how much we win in these battles. Look at the numbers of shoes we produce. We are superior to other countries." They have no idea how much better off they'd be if they overthrew Big Brother. 3) The ones who know are in positions of power or dead. Power and Death are good persuasion tactics to keep a person's mouth shut.

What is the main function of the fool in "King Lear"? What is the secondly function?

The fool as a character is confusing, but part of this is the difference between the 1600s and today, as well as the difference in place. If...