What are three significant things we learn about the Cratchits in A Christmas Carol?

While the poor of Charles Dickens London were thought to be worthless and dull, the Crachits prove themselves spirited, caring, and fun-loving tightly -knit family despite their penury. For, as the Spirit of Christmas Present hovers over the home of the Crachits, Scrooge witnesses a happy, although pitiable, family.

As Bob Crachit heads home from his chair at the office of Ebenezer Scrooge, his daughter Martha returns at a late hour. Her mother kisses her repeatedly, urging her to warm herself by the fire; however her young siblings want Martha to hide in order to tease Bob Crachit. After she does so, tricking her father, Martha is troubled to have caused him anxiety, so she makes herself known. And, as the others surround him in glee, Mrs. Crachit asks him how well Tiny Tim has fared this day. Bob Crachit replies that Tim has done well because in his unselfish, caring nature, Tim has hoped that the people in the church will see him so that they will

...remember upon Christmas Day who made lame beggars walk and blind men see."

After their meal, Mr. Crachit offers a toast to Scrooge, "the Founder of the Feast," a toast which raises the ire of Mrs. Crachit. Still, she toasts him out of consideration for her husband.

In "Of Mice and Men," how does George feel about Lennie and the mouse?Does George hate Lennie petting the mice?Does George like Lennie being happy...

George takes the dead mouse away from Lennie and says, "You ain't petting no mice while you walk with me." At first, then, we think that George disapproves of Lennie's petting mice. After Lennie retrieves the mouse, however, and George throws it away again, Lennie breaks down and cries. George explains, "I ain't takin' it away jus' for meanness. That mouse ain't fresh...and you've broke it pettin' it. You get another mouse that's fresh and I'll let you kept it a little while."

George understands that Lennie likes to touch soft things, which are a comfort somehow to Lennie; however, because Lennie doesn't know his own strength, he typically kills small animals. That the mouse is dead is what disturbs George, I think, because it could carry disease and make Lennie sick. George is willing for Lennie to have another mouse so he doesn't disapprove of Lennie's having mice.

Why does Ralph not blow the conch in "Lord of the Flies"?

"Ralph took the conch from where it lay on the polished seat and held it to his lips; but then he hesitated and did not blow.  He held the shell up instead and showed it to them and they understood."

This meeting occurs immediately after Samneric see the beast on the mountain.  Samneric inform Ralph that they saw a living beast on the mountain, so Ralph's assumption is that something on this island is dangerous.  He takes this into consideration before blowing the conch.  If he were to sound the trumpet, the beast would know where to find the boys.  His holding up the conch instead is a method of caution to avoid the beast.

This can be be further traced to the last meeting at the beginning of chapter five.  The boys were just milling around the meeting area waiting for Ralph to sound the conch so their meeting can being.  It's obvious that the conch itself isn't calling meetings anymore, so the significance of the sound is gone.  Silently holding up the conch is still effective because the conch is still a symbol of power on the lsland although it's in this chapter that Jack starts to pull himself and other boys away from Ralph and the conch.

In "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" what was Tom hiding about Jim"s freedom and how do Jim's and Huck's reactions fit with their personalities?

The entire time that Tom and Huck were devising all sorts of ridiculous "escape" plans to help Jim get out of the shed that he was being held prisoner in, Tom was keeping a secret about Jim:

"Old Miss Watson died two months ago, and she was ashamed she ever was going to sell him down the river, and said so; and she set him free in her will."

So, Jim never even needed to be held prisoner; Tom could've gone to his aunt and uncle and told them that Jim was a free man.  But, in order to fulfill his fantasies of adventure that he got from the books he read, Tom makes Jim his own personal prisoner.  He says he did it for "the adventure of it."

Jim's reaction comes after Tom gave him forty bucks for his trouble.  He is super pleased and happy, and ties his good luck back to superstitions, to the signs that he had seen that he was going to be rich someday.  This fits Jim's personality because throughout the entire book he didn't ever really hold grudges, even when Huck played some pretty nasty pranks on him.  And, Jim is probably the most superstitious character in the book, tying everything that happened back to some sign of good or bad luck.  Huck, true to his tendency to want to know the hows and whys of things, questions Tom in detail about why in the world he had done what he did when Jim was free.  He wanted answers; he wanted something to go ponder over, so that he could draw his own conclusions about it, just like he had done about many things in the story-prayer, slavery, Jim's friendship, and his eternal salvation.  So Huck just asks the logical questions, which is what he tends to do throughout the entire book.

What does Faber say to Montag about the night's event?

I assume you are asking about when Montag kills Beatty and then goes on the run. Faber tells Montag that he may have been foolish in his actions, particularly killing Beatty, but at least Montag was foolish about the right thing.  He also tells Montag where to go and how to get there.  Faber knows there are book people out there and while he doesn't tell Montag to head to them by name, he tells him to go to the river and what to do afterward.  Finally he tells Montag that he is willing to stay and suffer the consequences of actions of having helped Montag, but also he is willing to suffer the consequences of his actions of having done nothing to stop the society from becoming what it has become.  Faber indicated earlier to Montag, that he saw the signs, he saw the way things were headed and he did nothing.  He calls himself a coward for having simply sat back and let it all happen while silently hating it. Before Montag leaves, Faber says, "I deserve everything.  Run, for God's sake."  Faber's purpose in the story becomes clear at this point.  He is representative of those people who see bad things happening, who can detect the bad or negative trends, and do nothing to stop them.

How did the colonists' relationship with the Native Americans compare to their relationship with the African-Americans during the colonial period?

American colonists from European cultures viewed both Africans and Native Americans as substantially different in many ways.  Culturally, of course, both "Indians" and Africans were viewed as from totally different backgrounds and had totally different views of the world.  How the two non-Eurocentric groups were viewed was quite different, and varied by region.

Native Americans were viewed as human beings with a differing cultural perspective from the first in the Southern colonies.  Virginian William Byrd (1674-1744) wrote that "the best ambassador is a sprightly lover," as one of the justifications of intermarriage as a means of understanding and keeping the peace.  In New England, on the other hand, at first there was a debate as to whether or not the natives were human.  The Massachusetts colonials decided in the end that they were not, and had no souls.  Interesting, when one considers that neither colony would have survived without aid from the native peoples.

Africans were a different matter.  Europeans had had contact with Africans since Roman times, even black Africans from the interior.  Archaeology has discovered that there were great cities in the interior of Africa (not simply Carthage, Ethiopia or Egypt) long before Rome, but those cultures had disappeared long before contact of any sort with Europeans.  Black African cultures were mostly quite primitive outside of Ethiopia and Eritrea, and consequently were often viewed as inferior.  Blacks were first brought to the colonies by the Dutch to Virginia and traded to the colonists, but were treated as indentured servants and set free with pay and/or land after (usually) seven years.  The concept of slaves as chattel property in America, ie the equivalent of furniture or cattle, began in Massachusetts in 1644.  To justify this, a doctrine of black inferiority was developed, again in the Northern colonies rather than the South originally.  These concepts (chattel slavery and racial inferiority) spread throughout the colonies.

African-Americans played an important role during the Revolution, not only as soldiers but as spies.  Throughout the war George Washington personally ran one of the most successful spy rings in military history, largely consisting of blacks who worked as personal servants of British officers, including the generals commanding the British forces (Howe, etc.).

There were many free blacks in America during later colonial times (and in the South all the way to and through the Civil War).  Crispus Attucks, killed in the Boston Massacre, is perhaps the most famous.  There were also non-African slaves in the colonies, including Carribean "Indians" and some whites, largely from Scotland, kidnapped and sold in the aftermath of the Jacobite rebellions of 1715 and 1745.

What is the difference between renewable and non-renewable energy sources?

Basically, humans use lots of energy for heating, lighting, movement, machines, etc etc. That energy has to come from an energy source.  Some sources are renewable, some sources are non-renenwable.

Generally speaking, Non-renewable sources are fossil fuels. These come from underground and are Coal, Oil and Gas. There is a fixed amouint of coal oil and gas in the world and when we have used it all, there is no more. We cannot 're-new' them.

Renewable sources are energy sources that will not run out. They can be used 'forever'. They include Solar Energy; Wind Energy; Wave Energy; Geothermal energy.

Fossil Fuel cause lots of pollution. Renewable energy sources don't cause pollution.