What is Langston Hughes' main theme in his poems "Harlem" and "Dream Variations"?

Both the poems "Harlem" and "Dream Variations" deal with the struggle of African - Americans prior to and during the Civil Rights movement. "Dream Variations" depicts the dream Langston Hughes, and other African - Americans may have. The following lines speak to Hughes' desire for more than just the equality of the races. He wants his black brothers and sisters to grab their rightful place in the sun:

"Till the white day is done....While night comes on gently. Dark like me - That is my dream. "

The metaphor of the night overcoming the day is a clear statement of Hughes' desire for the future of African - Americans.

If "Dream Variations" is a depiction of Hughes' celebration of blackness and the hope for himself and other African - Americans, then "Harlem" is the answer to the question addressed in the first line: "What happens to a dream deferred?" Essentially, what will happen if African - Americans are constantly denied their god - given rights? For some, they will experience resignation and defeat, giving up the dream entirely so that it either "[festers like] a sore" or "sags like a heavy load." For some, Hughes offers an even more rebellious resolution. For these people, they will become so fed up with the injustice that their dream will simply "explode," leaving the reader with the impression that Hughes does not intend to, to steal a line from Dylan Thomas, "go gently into that good night."

In Act II, Scene 8 of The Merchant of Venice, why does Shakespeare choose Solanio and Salarino to tell us information that they witnessed?

Salarino and Salanio are given the task of presenting information to the audience in Act II, Scene 8, because they can give candid reports about other characters and because they serve the important function of establishing foreshadowing. It is not until after the Romantic period that unreliable characters are introduced in literature, so it is a forgone conclusion that, while friendships and roles may bias the delivery of information, the information is trustworthy.

Renaissance drama is built upon Greek drama in which the Chorus is routinely used to tell the audience important information about characters, character motives, actions, and events that aren't acted out by the principles on stage. Shakespeare kept the function of using non-principle characters to convey needed additional information but he substituted the Chorus with three other kinds of characters. The first is the Fool, an urban character who is a favorite at court and jests with and about the primary characters letting us know more about the deeper thoughts, traits, and motives of the principles.

The second is the Clown who is similar to the Fool except that the Clown is country bred and uneducated and leads the audience to a deeper understanding of the primary characters by blundering along without knowing what he is really doing. The third kind is that of which Salanio and Salarino are representative: minor characters who fill the place left by the elimination of the Chorus and who reveal important information to the audience about the primary characters and events because they have privileged positions and know things that others don't.

In this capacity, Salanio and Salarino tell about Shylock's reaction to the devastation of his daughter's betrayal, elopement, and early access to her inheritance (some of which is Shylock's present working capital) and they tell about Lorenzo's and Jessica's flight from Venice and they tell about Antonio's private conversation with, feelings for, and instructions to Bassanio. They also tell that a ship has been lost in the English channel and that they suspect it might Antonio's, which foreshadows his loss and his upcoming trouble with Shylock: "Let good Antonio look he keep his day [on which to repay his loan], / Or he shall pay for this [through Shylock's demands]."

Describe how, from the French point of view, the American Revolution was a great success?

During the years 1775-1783 when France supported America with soldiers and its navy, there was much contact among leaders of the Revolution and thinkers in France. Thomas Paine's "The Rights of Man," or as it was known and read by the French, "Les Droits de l'Homme" was very popular.  Many of Paine's ideas as well as those of Benjamin Franklin, who was welcomed in France, were similar to those of the French philosopher and writer, Voltaire, who believed in the equality and freedom of the individual. 

Under the influence of the ideologies of the colonists who successfully overthrew an oppressive monarch, the French people gained the courage to stage their own rebellion in 1785.  The flag of France was changed to the red, white, and blue blocks of color in imitation of the new American flag. For, the French honored the same ideals:  Liberte, Equalite, et Fraternite (Liberty, Equality, and Brotherhood).  So, while the American Revolution had been costly to the coffers of France, the members of the Third Estate viewed the creation of the United States as a successful model to follow.  Afterall, if the colonists could defeat the British who had so many years dominated France, they felt that they certainly could break the reign of oppression within their own country.

What can you say about Stumpy in "The Luck of Roaring Camp"?

Stumpy is the good-hearted surrogate father of "The Luck of Roaring Camp." Stumpy is hiding out in Roaring Camp and because he is a bigamist, it is decided that he has more experience dealing with women. So he assists in the childbirth of the baby that is born to Cherokee Sal. Stumpy takes up a collection from the men following Sal's death, and the child soon becomes the adopted son of everyone in the camp. It is Stumpy who spends the most time with the boy, who is eventually christened Thomas Luck. Stumpy even cleans up his cabin to make it fit for The Luck, but Stumpy eventually drowns when his cabin is washed away by a flood, which also claims The Luck of Roaring Camp.

In "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" why is everyone so eager to believe the king and the duke are the Wilks brothers?

There are several reasons.  First of all, they are grieving the passing of their friend, father, and neighbor.  In this state of grief and confusion, two guys show up to relieve their suffering.  They show up and are benevolent, kind, giving, and charming.  It relieves their grieving a bit, and provides relief; it reminds them of their dear departed, and what a nice guy he was, and how lucky he was to have relatives that care so much.  It's an easy lie to believe in the state of grief that they were in.  Plus, the duke and king were acting as protectors, offering the girls a new life; without that, the girls are just alone in the world, fending for themselves.  It was an easy lie to believe, since the alternative was frightening to them.

Secondly, what evidence do they have that they aren't the Wilks brothers?  No one has ever met them; they come from England, and they seem to know all of the details of their lives, so why not believe them?  How would they disprove it?  And, the brothers are so kind that they wouldn't even be suspicious.  They give the money back, offer to take the girls to England, and seem genuinely concerned for the family, even if they are a bit unorthodox.  Because no one has any way of disproving them, they don't even try.

Thirdly, what the duke and king is so far out of the realm of expectations that I doubt most of the people there even thought to question them about their identities.  Who would ever expect imposters to come in claiming such a huge lie?  No one expects that;  no one even wonders (besides the rather inquisitive Joanna who drills Huck about his origins, and Dr. Robinson; they are both quickly hushed though and that is the end of that).

Those are just a few reasons; I hope that helps!

Can someone explain to me this text passage? What does it mean?"One time as a child, in a power-failure, his mother had found and lit a last...

Yes, this is the story of a boy and his mother, alone in a power outage, with only candles to offer light.  It is an important passage in the novel because it shows us that all is not lost for Montag.  He once had the power of imagination and could enjoy a sense of wonder.  Years of being a firemen and years of not really thinking have robbed him of some of this.  Of course, it is Clarisse that re-awakens this power of imagination and sense of wonder in Montag.

It is also serves to foreshadow the novel's ending.  The city is destroyed while Montag and the other book men are sheltered in the woods.  The 'power' both literally (electricity) and figuratively (the government and entertainment) will be shut off.

In To Kill a Mockingbird, what does “Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town” (p11) mean?

In describing Maycomb in this manner, Harper Lee captures the novel's historical era as well as its setting in the deep South. Maycomb, like the rest of the country, is mired in the Great Depression of the 1930s. There is no economic growth or development in Maycomb; there is no money to maintain or improve conditions in the stagnant little town:

In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square.

Daily life in Maycomb was slow, partly as a result of the oppressive Alabama heat; as Lee writes, "Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summer's day . . . ." The slow pace, however, also resulted from the nature of the town--and the times--in general:

People moved slowly then. They ambled across the square, shuffled in and out of the stores around it, took their time about everything. A day was twenty-four hours long but seemed longer. There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County.

Maycomb just seems worn down and worn out at this time in its history, hanging on until better times arrived.