What was Europe's attitude toward Wilson's 14 points?

Wilson's 14 Points, which called for the liberation of peoples held in bondage by Russia, Austria-Hungary, Germany and Turkey, were enthusiastically accepted by the populace of those countries.  They were translated and dropped into the heart of enemy territory, which encouraged Slavic people in Germany and Austria-Hungary to boycott war production, and inspired them to depose the monarchy of both countries.

However, when the fighting concluded and negotiations began, the leaders of the various combatants, who did not necessarily represent the interests of the ethnic groups found within their countries' borders, were dominated politically by the "Big Four" (Wilson, USA George, Britain, Clemenceau, France Orlando, Italy) who did not see eye to eye on most issues.  Wilson pushed the most important point, the establishment of the League of Nations, eventually winning over opposition, but in doing so had to make concessions that weakened the intent of the 14 Point Plan, among them the right of "self-determination" for ethnic groups.

Tragically, Wilson believed that as long as the League got established, discussion could continue; any faults in the treaty could be corrected later. However, even Wilson's league was gutted after the US refused to join, since France insisted on immediate aid by the US should she again be attacked by Germany. European powers thus fell back to “traditional diplomacy” between themselves, which helped set the stage for the Second World War.

What is a definition and example of three types of religious writing in the Colonial period?

Colonial literature features these three types of religious writing: spiritual autobiographies, poetry, and sermons.

Puritans believed that God granted some people grace by changing their sinful human feelings into the ability to love purely. This belief inspired many Puritans to keep diaries to record signs that they were moving closer to a state of grace. Those who felt they had achieved grace often wrote of their experiences in spiritual autobiographies. One spiritual autobiography is John Bunyan's Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (1666).

Religious poetry was also a part of Colonial literature. Edward Taylor and Anne Bradstreet wrote religious poetry. Bradstreet was the first woman poet in America who wrote of everyday experiences in terms of her deep belief in a loving God. One of her most famous poems is "Upon the Burning of Our House."

Finally, sermons were important in Colonial religious literature. "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" by Cotton Mather is an example of a famous Colonial sermon.

What is the significance of the title "Good Country People"?

The significance of the title "Good Country runs throughout the story. The title appears all through the story.  Yet, each character has faults that demonstrate they are not “good country people.”  They are simply people with the same sins and faults as all other people. Mrs. Hopewell is a simple woman. “Her name suggests that she prefers to think the best of people and situations, but this is undermined by her pride in being “good country people” and not “trash.” However, she can’t even tell between good and bad, as is indicated by her warm acceptance of Manley Pointer when he says he is “just a country boy” and greets her with “hope all is well.’”  Mrs. Freeman is a woman who is not free.  She works for Mrs. Hopewell and they often spend their time gossiping .  Mrs. Freeman is described by Hopewell as “not trash” but “good country people.”   Her daughters also “the finest girls on earth” are described as one being pretty with a lot of admirers and the younger one being 15 and pregnant.  Hulga is angry, rude and self absorbed.  She considers herself to be better than the “good country people,” but in the end realizes that she isn’t as smart as she thinks she is. The main idea of the title is best expressed by St. Thomas Aquinas and other theologians believed “that evil has no being, and that evil always appears as a good to the one who commits it, even if they are “good country people.”

Who are the top 3 central characters in "The Open Window"?

In "The Open Window," the character who generates the effect is the niece, who oddly is not named. The second character is the one on whom the guest waits:  the aunt, Mrs. Stappleton.  Mrs. Stappleton is essential to creating the effect on Framton intended by the niece's "Romance at short notice."  Thirdly the focal point of the irony and the victim of the ploy of the niece is Framton Nuttel, the guest.

It is interesting to note that while Framton's tone remains polite throughout the narrative, the tone of the niece as well as the tone of Mrs. Stappleton is somewhat mockingly patronizing: 

'A most extraordinary man, a Mr. Nuttel,' said Mrs. Stappleton, 'could only talk about his illnesses, and dashed off without a word of goodbye or apology when you arrived...'

Then, when the niece fabricates another "explanation," the reader must wonder if Mrs. Stappleton is not really aware of the niece's penchant for "Romance at short notice."

(Perhaps Framton is not the first guest on whom such a trick has been played.  If so, he is, then, the least important character although the reader tends to find him of greater importance on a first read.)

I would like to have a good unique introduction for my answers. Please help me with an introduction to Riders to the Sea by J.M.Synge.

J.M.Synge's Riders to the Sea is unique as a re-construction of the Classical tragedy in the form of a one act play. In so far as the play dramatises the uneven battle between the inimical sea & a virtually isolated community on the distant Aran Islands, it breathes an atmosphere of tragic premonition & foreboding. But Synge has chosen the brevity & precision of a one-acter in which the real time & the dramatic time are closely matched with each other.

The play, set in old Maurya's cottage-kitchen on one of the Aran Islands, deals with the destiny of a mother & her children going through a terrible ordeal of suffering, alienation & death. Living away from modern civilisation at the mercy of an all-devouring sea, a tyrant-god exacting a heavy toll of human lives, the Aran fisher-woman watches passively a long series of death by water in her family, as her husband, father-in-law, and as many as six sturdy sons get drowned in the sea. The sea functions as dark fatality, and riding to the sea means riding to death.

Synge's long stay on the Aran Islands & his familiarity with the life of the Aran fisher-folk & peasantry lends a rich local colour to the play. The topographical details & landmarks, religious rituals & superstitions as observed by the islanders, their legends & beliefs and, above all, their language as fashioned by Synge--all contribute to the play's inimitable poetic realism.

As the play begins, we see the old mother, Maurya, waiting restlessly for the body of her fifth son, Michael, to be washed ashore so that she can give him a clean burial. Still, her last surviving son, Bartley, decides to ride on his red mare followed by Michael's grey pony, to the sea, to go to the Galway fair to sell the horses at a good price. Bartley dies, his horse being pushed into the sea by Michael's. The long-suffering mother senses a paradoxical victory over the sea, for the sea can do no more harm to her. The flesh and blood Aran mother transforms herself into a mythical embodiment, accepting the fact of death as unavoidable.

What does the narrator hope to learn from Simon Wheeler in "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"?

“The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calavaras County” is the perfect story to showTwain’s style of writing a humorous story. The story starts out with a narrator in search of someone or something, and the story takes a 90-degree turn and ends up in an unexpected place.  We see this in “Jumping Frog” when the narrator inquires about a man named Leonidas W. Smiley and goes to see Simon Wheeler for the information. Simon Wheeler begins his ramblings, and ends up telling a story about Jim Smiley and his famous frog. The narrator never learns anything about Leonidas W. Smiley at the conclusion of the story, but he leaves with a great tall tale about a contest and its famous winner, Dan’l Webster, the frog.

Twain also uses this technique in famous stories like “The Story of Grandfather’s Old Ram” and even in his novels like, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn through Tom Sawyer’s imagination and ability to “spin a yarn” (tell a story).

Twain writes in “How to Tell a Story”,

“The humorous story may be spun out to great length, and may wander around as much as it pleases, and arrive nowhere in particular; but the comic and witty stories must be brief and end with a point. The humorous story bubbles gently along, the others burst.”

Although Twain seems to “prank” his reader by never getting to the original purpose of the narrator’s, the wanderings of his short stories are filled with funny, satisfying tales of unusual characters.

In "The Tell-Tale Heart" how does the use of repetition relate to the conflict?

Repetition serves to intensify the drama, heighten the conflict, make everyone anxious and stressed, and overall make for a more suspenseful telling of the tale.  In this story, it is in the description of the heart getting louder that there is a lot of repetition.  Poe could have written once, "The beating heart grew louder" and then moved on, but that is not very intense at all.  Compare that to "It grew louder—louder—louder!...and now—again!—hark! louder! louder! louder! louder!"  Saying it over and over like that makes the situation seem much more dire, anxious, and helps the reader to feel the narrator's distress.  Think of it as standing at the edge of a cliff; someone tells you to jump, then walks away.  But if they are standing behind you insisting over and over, "Jump!  Jump!  Jump now!" it transforms the situation into a much more conflicted one; you must battle not only your decision, but the insistent tone of the demands.  You can't ignore the demands, and they take over all else.  Poe does this in the story; we can't ignore the beating heart at the end, because Poe puts it front and center with his repetition; in that moment, we are like the narrator, to whom the beating heart has become everything.  Repetition is a great way to intensify the conflict, make it more real to the reader, and prioritize the storyline how the author wants it to be.