In Chapters 7-9 o Lord of the Flies, what is the significance of the attack on Simon? (In Ch. 7-9)Please use specific quotes in your answer...thanks!

The killing of Simon represents the final blow to Good in the battle of Good vs. Evil.  Simon is a Christ symbol.  He represents both clarity and truth.  He wants to tell them that there is no beast.  That was a man on the hill, not the beast. 

As he climbs down to the beach, the kids are chanting, “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” (ch 9)They chant this over and over again, and eventually Ralph and Piggy join in. The two of them would rather be a part of a group than to be outside of the circle.

"They were glad to touch the brown backs of the fence that hemmed in the terror and made it governable." (ch 9)

Then as they destroyed Simon, "There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws."
The beast had finally come alive, but it was within the boys.  It was not anything else on the island.  Once they killed Simon, all that was good and full of truth was dead.

What is the allegory of the story "A&P" by John Updike? What is the tone and atmosphere?

I'm not sure that this story is a true allegory. Although it contains allegorical elements like symbolism, the message at the end of the story is not posed as a message we should learn from, but a lesson Sammy learns and we are free to agree or disagree with his actions. Sammy quits his job, and, symbolically rings up "No Sale". He is not buying the manager's argument that he think about his actions and go along with the manager's chastisement of the girls for breaking the social dress codes of the day. However, Sammy expects some recognition from the girls for his actions, and he is simply ignored. The question becomes, "Did Sammy do the right thing?" Many people will answer this question differently. Allegories are usually more straightforward in their lessons. However, allegories generally depend upon symbolism to teach their lessons and "A and P" does employ the use of symbolism. The HiHo crackers symbolize Sammy's mood when he first sees the girls. The other shoppers are compared to sheep; the girls are bees who buzz around the store and they are lead by a queen. The falling shoulder straps are an obvious symbol for sexual freedom. As in most stories, the tone and atmosphere change during the course of the story. The atmosphere is one of distraction as the girls walk into the store and gets more intense as the story progresses. The tone follows Sammy's various reactions to the girls from surprise to frustration and to finally anger and acceptance of his actions

In "The Crucible", John Proctor seems to be the only voice of reason in the confusing end Act II. what are some examples to support this idea?

John Proctor has been a voice of reason thus far in the play, because he knows that the girls are faking.  Abigail told him,  when Betty was sick, that the girls were only "sporting" in the woods, having fun, that no witchcraft was involved.  Proctor believes that the whole thing will blow over and that nothing will come of it.

He continues to believe that it will work itself out,  even after people begin getting arrested.  He believes that the court will come to its senses and that the innocent will be freed.  He believes in justice, in the legitimacy of the court and respects the law. 

At the end of Act II, Proctor, the only one who knows the truth from Abigail's own lips, is defiant against the authority that comes to arrest his wife. He tears up the arrest warrant, refusing to accept that the whole town has gone insane.  He thought that if he kept his distance from the witchcraft hysteria that his family would be safe.

Now that his wife is accused, by Abigail, and he knows why, he gets very angry.  He fights, demanding that his wife not be chained. He is determined to shine the light of truth on the court the next day, he will bring Mary Warren in to testify that the girls are only pretending and that she made the poppet, and stuck the needle in the belly, for safekeeping.  There is no witchcraft, he is sure they will listen and that Elizabeth will go free.    

How does the eventual absence of Victor's father cause him to finish growing up too quickly?

The story of "This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona" says that when Victor and Thomas Builds-the-Fire were seven-years-old, Thomas told the story about Victor's father watching TV all night until it vanished into white noise, like the way he'd like to vanish and never be found because he had a "weak heart" and was afraid of his family and of Victor. Then the story says that when Victor and Thomas were ten they shared a bike and rode it to the Fourth of July Fireworks display where Thomas remarked that he doesn't know why they celebrate the Fourth "it ain't like it was our independence everybody was fighting for." At the end of the evening, after Thomas tells a story of how the two became very brave warriors, the boys go their own ways home, "both laughing all the way."

The next flashback in the story tells that when they were fifteen-years old and, for a long time, no longer friends, Victor got very drunk and for no reason seriously beat Thomas, who was rescued by powerful Norma Many Horses. This is the night that Thomas's stories stopped so that at the time of the story, the event of Victor's father's death, Thomas only told the same old stories over and over. When Norma rescued him from the beating being given him for no apparent reason by his former best friend, Thomas closed his eyes but "no stories came to him, no words or music."

This is all the evidence that is provided in the story about Victor's father's departure. He was there when they were seven. Thomas told a story saying Victor's father wanted to (not was presently going to) leave on a motorcycle and never be found. When they were ten, they laughed and shared a bike and a story about becoming warriors and being called very brave. They both went home laughing, which indicates that Victor's family was intact and he was content and happy. When they were fifteen, Victor, no longer friends with Thomas, turned on him and beat him up, and Thomas lost his stories in grief.

The most logical analytical conclusion is that Victor's father left during the time between Victor's tenth and fifteenth years. The probability falls toward his departure being closer to age fifteen than ten because if they had been ten or eleven, Victor would most likely still have been innocent enough to still believe in Thomas's stories and to turn to Thomas for comfort. If, on the other hand, Victor were thirteen of fourteen, he would have been more likely to react in anger at the memory of Thomas's story and hold Thomas responsible for what he might have thought of as a prophesy, thus blaming Thomas. Victor's father's departure would therefore force him to grow up too soon in one way by robbing him of his belief and his peace of mind and driving him into a feeling of enmity with the world as represented by Thomas Builds-the-Fire.

Why do men live a life of "quiet desperation" as stated in "Walden" by Henry David Thoreau?

Thoreau believes that many people have their priorities in the wrong places; he feels that our lives are cluttered with too many things, "frittered away be details" and that we should "simplify, simplify, simplify!"  Along these lines, because many people's priorities are out of whack, they are unhappy, but in such a way that they aren't even really sure why or how.  So, they are quietly surviving each day, desparately searching for happiness, but not finding it.  The unhappiness is subtle and non-obvious (hence, quiet), and their searching for happiness comes in a desparate search for something to fulfill their lives.  Think of how many people you know that move from one thing to the next, constantly staying busy, constantly filling their lives with new things; perhaps, Thoreau is saying, that is because they are quietly desparate for a fulfillment that is missing in their lives.  Thoreau's solutions are pretty extreme; he feels that stripping our lives of all unecessary activity, comfort and privelege is the way to be fulfilled.  He feels it is the only way to "live deep and suck the marrow out of life," and that it will help us to not be so quietly desparate about our situations.

Those are just a few thoughts; I hope that they help.  I provided links below that lead to some great discussions of "Walden" and the themes contained therein.

Is "Romeo and Juliet" a tragedy of fate?What is a tragedy of fate?

What is tragedy? is itself a huge, impossible question: so let me make this disclaimer before I even start that academics have always argued about the definition of tragedy, and there is very, very little agreement.

If we assume - in the simplest terms - that a tragedy is a story which ends unhappily and which contains suffering, then a tragedy of fate is such a story, but one in which there is no rational explanation for the events that occur other than fate, God, gods, evil forces... etc.

Is Romeo and Juliet such a tragedy? Well, the usual academic view is that the tragedy has something to do with the feud of the Capulets and the Montagues. But I don't agree.

Why do Romeo and Juliet end up dead? Romeo, mistakenly thinking Juliet is dead, kills himself: on awakening, she then kills herself. Why does Romeo think she is dead? Because Friar John's letter doesn't get delievered to him in Mantua. Why is he in Mantua? Because he revenges Mercutio by killing Tybalt. How does Mercutio die? By accident, in an accidental underarm thrust from Tybalt, when Romeo tries to split up the fight.

The two key events of the plot that drive the tragedy - the letter, and Mercutio's death - come about through bad luck, accident, fate. I think then, that you really can make a convincing argument that, even before it has begun, Romeo and Juliet's love is "death-marked": picked out in the stars for an unhappy end.

Who invented the hair dryer? What was it made of and what is its history?Can you help me figure out what the blow dryer is all about?

Alexandre Godefoy  was the inventor of the electric hair dryer, which was invented in 1890. Well, at the beginning they used a vacuum since air went in the vacuum and hot air cam out. And it is important to history because it has made a change into women drying their hair faster and since the use of a vacuum was large and heavy, they created the hair dryer, and since it was the first time a hair dryer came to history it is more important.