How does Fitzgerald demonstrate the ideas of the modernist period in "Babylon Revisited"? Who is the protagonist and what is the conflict?

Fitzgerald wrote Babylon Revisited in 1930, a time in between  the two World Wars and the Great Depression, but just after a period of economic prosperity and decadence known as the Roaring Twenties, a period that profited Charlie Wales, the protagonist and his wife Helen.  

Charlie's internal conflict is defined by his grief and guilt over the loss of his wife, who died as a result of getting a terrible chill from walking to her sister's apartment when Charlie locked her out because he was angry at her.  He feels responsible for Helen's death which is attributed to a failed heart.  He is also battling his own disease, alcoholism. 

His external conflicts are with Marion Peters his sister-in-law, who has legal custody of Honoria, his daughter, and his old friends in Paris, like Lorraine Quarreles.

Charlie has returned to Paris to get his daughter back from Marion, but she is not easily convinced that he is in the right circumstances either physically, emotionally or financially to take care of Honoria. Charlie tries to convince Marion that he is ready.

".... I  worked hard for ten years, you know—until I got lucky in the market, like so many people. Terribly lucky. It didn't seem any use working any more, so I quit. It won't happen again." In Marion's mind, Charlie's responsibility for Helen's death is inseparable from his financial success: he should feel guilt for both.

In "Macbeth," what literary device is used when Lady Macduff tells her son that his father is dead? Alliteration, assonance, an aside, or...

None of the above, really: it's an ironic metaphor, and the language it is stated in is colloquial, staccato, plain, and almost entirely monosyllabic.

Sirrah, your father's dead.(35)
And what will you do now? How will you live?

What Lady Macduff is doing is ironically suggesting that her husband's absence makes him, as we might say, "as good as dead" to her and her family.

She also uses it to hypothetically ask her son - again, more irony - how he will live now that his father is no longer here to support them. This emphasis on Macduff's absence focusses the danger Lady Macduff and her children are in, shortly before they are slaughtered by the murderers.

What aspects of human nature are exaggerated in "The Reeve's Tale" from The Canterbury Tales?

Because the Reeve has written another fabliau all about revenge on the Miller in the company, all of the exaggerated aspects of human nature are negative:  lust, dishonesty, violence, vulgarity, & pride.  Dealing with the least important first, a reader must understand the exaggeration of the lust found within this fabliau.  It is the only negative quality exaggerated apart from the Miller in the story.  The two students, John and Alan, both rashly take advantage of both the Miller’s virgin daughter and the Miller’s wife.  John and Alan “went deep and thrust away like mad. / It was a jolly life for either lad” (133).  Most of the negative qualities, though, are meant to describe the Miller in the story, of course.  It is most important for the reader to realize the exaggeration of the Miller’s dishonesty.  “He was a thief as well of corn and meal, / And sly at that; his habit was to steal. / Simpkin the Swagger he was called in scorn” (125).  The Reeve also wants the reader to recognize the Miller in the story (and among the travelers) as incredibly dangerous, carrying many weapons on his person at any time.  “At his belt he carried a long blade, / . . . And in his pouch a jolly little knife.  / No one dared touch him, peril o f his life. / He had a Sheffield dagger in his hose” (125).  Even apart from all of these, the very worst aspects of human nature, the vulgarity of the Miller is also exaggerated (even including the Miller’s family this time).  After eating and drinking far too much “he snorted like a cart-horse in his sleep / And vented other noises, loud and deep. / His wife joined in the chorus hot and strong” (131).  Finally, even though the Miller is described so hideously, he still “proud as any peacock and as gay” (125).  Sufficed to say that the Miller could give the seven deadly sins a run for their money, for if you tweak a few of these exaggerated qualities of human nature you find none other than lust, greed, wrath, gluttony, and pride.

Did President Roosevelt consider American public opinion when deciding how to respond to the conflict in Europe?

FDR had to take public opinion into account, because the majority of Americans wanted nothing to do with another war in Europe.  At the same time William Stephensen, a Canadian businessman and head of British Security Coordination acted as a go-between for communications between Churchill (not yet Prime Minister of Britain) and Roosevelt.  These three and William Donovan (who later headed the Office of Strategic Services) covertly set up offices in New York and training areas in Canada to keep an eye on Nazi agents and prepare for eventual war.  This began well before the war actually started in Europe.

The intelligence cooperation between these men and others (such as J. Edgar Hoover and intelligence agencies in other countries) laid the groundwork for the succes of the secret armies built up in Europe from the late 1930s on.  German business conglomerates had deals with hundreds of corporations around the world and owned dozens of subsidiaries globally, all of which were used by German intelligence.  The business contacts of Stephensen and the others enabled BSC to use companies such as International Telephone and Telegraph as intelligence agencies, also.  This cooperation enabled the Western powers to collect contacts, agents and all that was necessary to build up resistance operations in Europe once war began.

The problem for FDR was that all this had to be done secretly, or public opinion would turn against the Allies, or against FDR and a new president less concerned with the looming world war take office.  He had to gradually change opinion in America, and mollify many political opponents of his plans.  The FBI also had to be given credit for successes against espionage networks in America, so the public would not become aware of the British intelligence agency on American soil.  As the war went on the behavior of the Nazi diplomatic corps and occupation troops began to turn public opinion toward a grudging acknowledgement that our country would probably be drawn in.

One casualty was the early civil rights movement, championed by Eleanor Roosevelt.  FDR was forced to shy away from any federal pressure on states with discriminatory laws, lest he lose political support necessary to remain in office and continue the secret war.

Was Martin Luther King, Jr., a President?I am not from here and I would like to know if USA had a black president in the past.

No, the United States has never had an African-American president before.  I honestly did not know if I might see it in my lifetime, and I am only 38 years old.  Martin Luther King, Jr., was a very important civil rights activist and preacher who forever changed the civil rights world for the better.  His contributions are endless and timeless. 

We very well may have our first president who is half African-American (his father was African) and half-Caucasian (his mother was white).  Many people refer to Barack Obama as African-American; however, he is half-African American and half-Caucasian.  Mr. Obama is very proud of his mixed heritage. 

One of the things that makes me very excited that he may become president is that so many older African-Americans who never thought they would see an African-American be president  will finally have that chance (hopefully).   It has been amazing to be a witness to the historic nature of Obama's rise to prominence.  Incredible!

In 1984, what are the four ways an elite group falls from power?

In George Orwell's "1984" Winston and Julia have finally met with O'Brien and he has gotten them a copy of "The Book."  Winston begins to read out loud to Julia about the different classes and different levels.  Winston reads that there are four ways the ruling group can fall out of power.  One way is that they are beaten by another country or from without.  A second way they can lose power is that their ability to rule is inefficient and there is a revolt within the group itself.  A third way a group in power falls is that they let a strong Middle group develop and encroach on their power.  The fourth and final way to lose power is to lose their self-confidence or they lose the desire to rule. This is paraphrased from page 208 in my edition of "1984"

What does Lily want her assignment to be in The Giver?

Lily says that she hopes that she will be assigned to be a Birthmother, because she thinks the Newchildren are so cute.

Lily is only a Seven, and she does not yet really understand what the different assignments involve.  She will have to be an Eight before she even begins her volunteer hours, giving her an opportunity to experience something about the different possibilities first-hand.  When Lily expresses the desire to become a Birthmother, her Mother is appalled.  Mother sharply tells Lily, "Don't say that...there's very little honor in the assignment".

Lily has heard from a friend who volunteers at the Birthing Center that "Birthmothers get wonderful food, and they have very gentle exercise periods, and most of the time they just play games and amuse themselves while they're waiting" to give birth.  To a Seven, this kind of life sounds kind of appealing.  What Lily does not realize is that Birthmothers are allowed only three births, which take place within three years.  After that, they spend the rest of their adult lives as Laborers, doing nothing but hard, physical work until they are old.

Birthmothers are essentially treated like animals, used for their reproductive capabilities for awhile, then for manual labor.  Those who are chosen for this assignment generally have strong bodies but are not very intelligent.  Mother most certainly does not want being a Birthmother to be her child's aspiration, and tells her why in no uncertain terms (Chapter 3).