In Lord of the Flies, how can you tell Ralph's life has not always been easy?

It's only a subtle mention that comes as one of Ralph's extended thought monologues. We know already that Ralph's father is in the navy: and that information plays out in the passage.

Once, following his father from Chatham to Devonport, they had lived in a cottage on the edge of the moors. In the succession of houses that Ralph had known, this one stood out with particular clarity because after that house he had been sent away to school. Mummy had still been with them and Daddy had come home every day. Wild ponies came to the stone wall at the bottom of the garden, and it had snowed.

Daddy clearly does not come home every day now - there's a war on, and he's fighting in the navy. But Mummy is no longer with them. Has she left? Is she dead? We don't know. But it is the one time that the word 'Mummy' appears in Golding's novel. So there clearly is some issue here. But the passage goes on to make the point, not that Ralph's life was difficult, but, actually, that 'everything was all right':

And the books—they stood on the shelf by the bed, leaning together with always two or three laid flat on top because he had not bothered to put them back properly. They were dog-eared and scratched. There was the bright, shining one about Topsy and Mopsy that he never read because it was about two girls; there was the one about the magician which you read with a kind of tied-down terror, skipping page twenty-seven with the awful picture of the spider; there was a book about people who had dug things up, Egyptian things; there was The Boy’s Book of Trains, The Boy’s Book of Ships. Vividly they came before him; he could have reached up and touched them, could feel the weight and slow slide with which The Mammoth Book for Boys would come out and slither down... Everything was all right; everything was good-humored and friendly.

What are the themes in Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh?

There are many themes in Mrs. Frisby.  For example...

1.  Courage, especially in those who are small, can overcome great obstacles.

2.  Loyalty to family and friends is important and valued.

3.  Teamwork is valued and successful.

4.  Surviving on one's own hard work is better than relying on others (such as stealing from humans).

5.  Everyone is an important part of a team, no matter how small or seemingly unimportant.

6.  Technology has its place in our world and should be used carefully.

7.  Perseverance brings reward or relief.

8.  Life is uncertain.

What is the theme of the novel The Thorn Birds? the thorn birds,themes,imagery,plot,point of view

The theme in The Thornbirds is complex.  The novel spans across three generations of a family, and deals primarily with the restrictions placed upon women in society.  The emphasis is women who have little freedom and are dependent on man.  In essence, women during the time period of the novel, 1915-1969, had little options without men.

In addition, the novel deals with forbidden love, as third generation Maggie falls in love and has an illegitimate child with a priest, Ralph de Bricassart.  It explores ambition, lies, and imperfection in a world of religious morality.  Maggie unhappily marries while still desiring Ralph, as Ralph does her.  But because of Ralph's ambition to further his career and the position he holds, they are torn apart left only with the burning desire of love for each other. 

So to summarize, the themes deal with forbidden love and the sacrifices made in the name of love, ambition and power, and the oppression of women to choose and be what they want.

In "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," Prufrock is a character caught between desire and decision. Elaborate with suitable references.

His desire is strong, but always overpowered by his fear of rejection, by his fear of seeming absurd in his intensity.  Throughout the poem, there are many quotes that refer to his desire, and its intensity.  He calls his question "overwhelming" for one thing, one that is so important or big that it will "disturb the universe."  He really desires to speak to her, so much that he wonders, "Should I, after tea and cakes and ices,/Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?"  Key words:  "force" and "crisis" indicate the extent of his desire; he is dramatic when describing it.  This continues with "To have squeezed the universe into a ball/To roll it toward some overwhelming question/To say: 'I am Lazarus, come from the dead,/Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all'—".  Comparing himself to a man revived from death, to squeeze the entire universe into a ball; very powerful desire.  He feels such a drive to voice himself; if he didn't, he wouldn't come back to it over and over again in the poem.

That desire is overwhelmed by his fear though.  He justifies not speaking by saying, "would it be worth it, after all"?  He answers that near the end, saying, "No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be" referring to the fact that he is no great orator or mover of destinies, but "a bit obtuse...ridiculous...at time, the Fool".  He decides to not give play to his desires in the real world; his insecurities and fear win out in the end.

Who represents who in "The Crucible", and why?

Arthur Miller wrote this play as a commentary on the Red Scare that happened in the United States where people engaged in a "witch hunt" of communists.  Many people were brought before the government and questioned about being a communist.  They were brought in if anyone even suspected they were a communist; they were ratted out by fellow workers, friends, and brought in for any tiny communist-esque slants in their work.  So, in "The Crucible" the courts and the judges would represent Senator McCarthy (who led the red scare in the senate) and the others in government who questioned people and blacklisted them from working, just like Danforth and others jailed "witches".  Proctor would represent any rebellion movement against the red scare, and the voice of reason and logic against mass hysteria that often gets squelched in the craziness that accompanies any type of witch hunt.  Miller used Proctor and others like him to symbolize the ulterior motives that many people had for labelling people as witches, or as communists; for example, Abby was jealous of Elizabeth and so labelled her a witch.  Most of the accused in "The Crucible" can be tied back to greed, hatred, insecurities, grudges and hatred-not to actual witchcraft.  Miller also felt that many of the accusations of communism were motivated by politics, fear, and personal vendettas that were given a "just" playing ground.

Those are just a couple ideas; I hope they helped.

Please solve -4-5v

But when you multiply both sides of an inequality by a negative number, you reverse the inequality.  So the answer is v>5

Note this example, if answer were v < 5 :

suppose v=1;

then -4 -(5x1)<-29

-4 - 5 < -29

-9 < -29--which is not true.

But suppose v is a number greater than 5, like 6:

-4 - (5x6) < -29

-4 - (30) < -29

-34 < -29.

and just to be sure, let's make sure v cannot equal 5:

-4 - (5-5) < -29

-4 - (0) < -29

-4 < -29--not true, so that's settled.

To recap then, solve -4 - 5v < -29 like this:

-4 - (5v) < -29

-5v < -29 +4

-5v < -25

(-1/5)5v < -25(-1/5)

when multiplying both sides of an inequality by a negative number, you need to flip the inequality

v > 5

In "The Crucible", what two pieces of evidence regarding his Christian nature are presented against Proctor?

In Act Two of “The Crucible”, Rev. Hale comes to the Proctor’s house to question them since Elizabeth Proctor’s name had been mentioned in court and she may be the next to be accused.  Hale questions a few different things about the “Christian character” of John Proctor.  One of the aspects that Hale questions is the fact that only two of their three children have been baptized.  John Proctor’s response to this is that he does not want Rev. Parris to touch his children because he “does not see the light of God in the man.”  A second aspect that Hale questions is the amount of times that John Proctor has gone to church in the past six months – apparently he has not been there enough.  Also questioned is the Proctor’s knowledge of the Ten Commandments and the fact that Proctor plows his fields on Sundays which is looked down upon in the Puritan community.