How does the relationship between Juliet and her nurse change throughout Romeo and Juliet?

Juliet's nurse transforms from guardian to friend in the course of Romeo and Juliet.  At the beginning of the play, the nurse acts as guardian of Juliet.  She hopes for Juliet to wed Paris, telling Juliet, "Go,girl, seek happy nights to happy days" (1.3.110).  Looking closely, the reader will see that it is the nurse who informs both Juliet and Romeo of their respective families in order to discourage their love.  First, without being at all rude, the nurse responds to Romeo's request as to the identity of Juliet's mother.  In regards to Juliet, the nurse tries to name all the other gentlemen going out the door in order to avoid the truth about the man she fears Juliet loves.  However, as the nurse learns the true nature of Juliet's feelings, the nurse's heart weeps for her sweet Juliet.  She willingly goes to seek out the information requested, even by going into the midst of teenage boys and saying, "If you be he, sir, I desire some confidence with you" (2.4.124).  Upon returning to Juliet, and seeing how Juliet hangs on her every word, hoping to hear about her future marriage to Romeo, the nurse does what any good friend would do:  she teases Juliet.

I am aweary, give me leave awhile. / Fie, how my bones ache!  What a jaunce have I had! / . . . / Lord, how my head aches!  What a head have I!  It beats as it would fall in twenty pieces. (2.5.28-29,49-50)

Juliet is beside herself, longing for the news.  Juliet tries to get her friend, her "sweet nurse" to talk more plainly by asking her to be more specific only to be met with, "Where is your mother?" (2.5.58).  Only when Juliet is at her wits end does the nurse say:

Then hie you hence to Friar Laurence' cell; / There stays a husband to make you a wife.  (2.5.70-71)

From this moment on, the nurse does nothing but help the two be together.  Even in the very next line she vows to get a ladder so that Romeo can come to Juliet's room that night and consummate the marriage.  What a friend!

Why is the story called "The Gift of the Magi"?

The Magi were the three wise men who brought gifts to the baby Jesus. They had travelled many miles and gave unselfishly to a child. This act of love is mirrored in the story "The Gift of the Magi". Both Delia and Jim sell their most precious possession in order to give the other person a gift. The irony is that by selling their most prized possession, both Delia and Jim make each other's gift worthless. However, as the narrator reveals, this young couple's love and sacrifice is the greatest gift anyone could possess. The narrator even compares their gifts to those of the magi by saying,"''let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest ... They are the magi."

In "Fahrenheit 451" contrast Montag's attitude towards burning Mrs Blake's house with his initial attitude towards burning. I need 3 reasons for...

If you look at the opening words, it says, "It was a pleasure to burn."  Bradbury goes on to describe the sheer delight Montag gets from burning:  "Montag grinned the fierce grin of all men singed and driven back by flame."  He derives great pleasure from burning, and even in  his sleep "the fiery smile still gripped...his face muscles."  Later however, he quakes to burn Mrs. Blake's house.  Montag feels the woman's "quietness a condemnation" instead of mocking it as he might have done before.  Montag is so afffected by this that he stays home "sick" the next day, and in essence, is never really the same again.

Reasons for this change?  1.  Clarisse McClellan asking, "Are you happy?".  He realizes he is NOT happy, not even close, so sets about figuring out why.  2.  Mildred's suicide only emphasizes his unhappiness because he realizes that no one is happy at all; he wonders how many more times she will try to kill herself, and why she is so disturbed.  3.  Clarisse and the dandelion trick about being in love. He tries defending it, "I am, very much in love!" but goes home and realizes the empty shell his relationship with Mildred has become.  These events get him thinking about what went wrong.  Mrs. Blake's house is one of the final things that pushes him over the edge, to Faber, to reading books, to rebellion and redemption.

In "Fahrenheit 451", what are some adjectives that describe Montag, Beatty, Faber, Mildred, Clarisse and the model society?

It is significant that Ray Bradbury's exposition juxtaposes the character of Montag with Clarisse because the marked contrast alerts the reader to the conditions of the society of Farenheit 451. In this contrast and the awakening of Montag as a result of his encounter with Clarisse, the opening line becomes quite ironic: "It was a pleasure to burn." 

After Montag completes his day of burning, he yet wears "the fierce grin of all men singed and driven back by flame" as he walks home whistling, "thinking little at all about nothing in particular." However, after he happens upon Clarisse, his "inner mind" is awakened. For, in the dark eyes of Clarisse, Montag perceives himself, "dark and tiny, in fine detail, the lines about his mouth...." He later wonders at how rarely people's faces "throw back to you your own expression, your own innermost trembling thought?" Most of all, Clarisse awakens Montag to the fact that he is unhappy, disastified with his life.

Indeed, it is this disastifaction with his life that causes Montag to perceive the shallowness and lack of true humanity in Mildred and her friends. Hoping to escape this void, Montag recalls an encounter in the past with a professor; he contacts this man, steals some books from a fire, and renews his humanity.

*Adjectives to describe him: unhappy, unfulfilled, disastified, alert, revolutionary, courageous, and later re-humanized.

Clarisse is young, slender with a "milk-white" face that possesses a "gentle hunger that touched over everything with tireless curiosity." Whiteness predominates in her person: her face is white, her clothing is white. There is an intellectually hungry appearance to her face, as well, with her eyes "so dark and shining and alive."

*Adjectives to describe her: pure, innocent, eager, curious, human, introspective, pensive.

Although he is intelligent and knowledgeable of much literature, Captain Beatty is an expedient man who uses his knowledge to his personal advantage as he quotes from works in order to refute Montag's defense of literature.

*Adjectives to describe Beatty:  expedient, unconscionable, self-serving, treacherous, unfeeling, dangerous 

Completely indoctrinated by her society, Mildred is but a mannequin of a wife. She is unaware of that she has lost her true humanity, filling her empty life with shows from the giant screen in the living room and conversing hollowly with her equally-idiotic friends. After having nearly killed herself, Mildred denies any awareness of what has happened; furthermore, when Montag tries to awaken her anesthetized mind by reading to her, she becomes angry and later turns her husband in to the authorities.

*Adjectives to describe Mildred:  shallow, empty, devoid of true humanity, tragic, traitorous

Professor Faber is an anachronism in the society of Fahrenheit 451, but he is admittedly too cowardly to act against the censorship of thought. However, he does aid Montag by communicating with him with a two-way radio, and he fosters Montag's interest in books and what they can inspire. After he and Montag escape the Mechanical Hounds and they go to live in the secret retreat of book-lovers, Faber finally feels alive again.

*Adjectives to describe Faber: defeated, intelligent, learned, solicitous, re-awakened to a life of meaning

• The model society

Certainly, the society of Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopia as people are either discontent or dehumanized. It is totalitarian society that dictates people's lives.

*Adjectives to describe the society: dystopian, totalitarian, dangerous, dehumanizing, void, joyless

What is the climax of the story in My Side of the Mountain?I always thought climax was the ending however the school teaches climax as being...

The climax of the novel comes when Sam is faced with a decision at the end of the novel. He must choose either to heed his father's call and join his family or run off and continue to live in isolation in the wild. 

Many exciting episodes have occurred prior to this point in the novel from Sam's stressful survival conflicts (claiming Frightful; gathering wood for winter; the first big snow storm, etc.) to his social conflicts (Sam's encounters with Bando, with the young reporter and with professional journalists). 

It is the social conflict, however, which is thematically central to the novel and to Sam's character.

The book develops the theme of independence versus the need for relationships...

Sam initially goes into the woods to be alone, having lived in a very crowded house with his family in New York City. As he spends more time in the woods, Sam is surprised to find his strong desire to be alone fading. This desire is actually replaced by a conflicted sense that he may actually be happier around people. 

His new sense is put directly to the test when his father calls out to him near the end of the novel. 

One day Sam’s father arrives at his camp with the whole family, including Sam’s mother and eight siblings.

Sam's internal conflict regarding his preferred mode of living comes to its breaking point. He must decide to continue living alone or to greet his family. 

This decision is dramatized in the narrative as Sam's thoughts on the matter are directly related to the reader. Sam even begins to run away, thinking that he is capable of living indefinitely in the woods using the skills he has attained in the past year. 

In the end, Sam realizes that he does desire companionship and he turns around, running to meet his entire family as they make their way up the mountain.

What does the storm at the end of "The Fall of the House of Usher" symbolize?

There are a few critical explanations that shed light on what the storm may symbolize in "The Fall of the House of Usher." The storm begins when Roderick becomes agitated over the noises he hears after interring his sister, Madeline, and becomes worse as the story develops.  Roderick and the narrator soon realize Madeline may not be dead, indicating that the storm may symbolize the growing tension that eventually kills both Roderick and Madeline and drives the narrator from the house. Storms are often used in Gothic texts to evoke feelings of fear, but more importantly, also suggest that something important is happening in the story.  Poe was particularly keen on evoking both emotion, especially melancholy, and helping readers quickly come to the end of the story after a climax had been reached--what he respectively calls the sublime and denoument. Important to note also is that the storm helps the reader realize the end of the House of Usher. Just as storms can often be devastating in nature, the lightening from the storm destroys the house, representing the end of the incestuous and perverse family Usher. Poe also participated in the "gothic explique" which is a technique used in Gothic texts to explain the supernatural.  Given that the lightening occurs when Madeline begins making noises, could rationally explain why she comes back to life.  Poe would certainly have been aware of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1831) which uses the same technique.

In Lord of the Flies, what logic does Jack use to assure the others that there are no large beasts on the island?

In chapter 2 Jack listens to the littlun who is scared.  What he tells Jack, Jack then repeats aloud to the group.  When the littlun says that there's a beastie on the island, Ralph denies it 5 times.  "But there isn't a beastie" is his phrase each time.

Jack, however, uses a different type of logic.  He says, "Ralph's right of course.  there isn't a snake-thing.  But if there was a snake we'd hunt it and kill it."  Jack uses hunting and violence to show that they are in control and will protect the group of boys.  Ralph gets frustrated because he's the only one denying the beast at all.  Jack keeps saying that they will look for it when they're hunting to make sure.  That makes the littluns feel better knowing that Jack and the boys will fight back and kill it.