Why does Putnam want the people to be convicted of witchcraft?

He wants them convicted so he can purchase their land.  According to the law if you are convicted of witch craft, not only will you be hanged but you will also forfeit your right to your property.  The property will then be sold.  Putnam is the riches man in Salem and can buy whatever land he wishes once it has been taken from its rightful owners.

Recall that Giles Corey presents a statement that alledges that Putnam has his daugther accuse people who have prime land.  Giles tells Danforth, after Putnam's daughter has accused George Jacobs of witchcraft, "If Jacobs hangs for a witch he forfeits up his property - that's law!  And there is none but Putnam with the coin to buy so great a piece.  This man is killing his neighbor's for their land!"

Discuss the color symbolism in "Winter Dreams."

In "Winter Dreams," color motifs play an important role in communicating Fitzgerald's themes. White is associated with wealth. When Dexter first meets Judy, she appears on the golf course with a "white linen nurse" who carries Judy's clubs in a "white canvas bag." Judy lives on Sherry Island in her father's huge white mansion. Fitzgerald describes it as a "great white bulk" of a house and emphasizes its whiteness by further describing it as "somnolent, gorgeous, drenched with the splendor of the damp moonlight."

Judy herself is most closely associated with gold and pink. When Dexter meets Judy again on the golf course, years after their first meeting when she was a child, Judy's face is flushed with a "feverish warmth." When Dexter meets her again on the lake, she wears pink rompers. At various times, her pink or crimson lips are noted. When Dexter meets her months later at a dance, Judy is "a slender enameled doll in cloth of gold." She also wears a gold headband and wears gold slippers. Her face glows.

At the story's conclusion, as Dexter loses even the memory of Judy, he stands at a window and watches the sun sink "in dull lovely shades of pink and gold." For him, Judy no longer exists in the world in any way. Judy's memory is replaced by reality: "[T]he sun was gone down, and there was no beauty but the gray beauty of steel . . . ." For Dexter, who has lived in his winter dreams from childhood, reality is gray: hard, cold, and colorless.

What does George's conversation with Slim reveal about George's past treatment of Lennie in Of Mice and Men?

In this conversation, George reveals that he hasn't always treated Lennie well, but that one near-tragic incident taught him a valuable lesson. Early in their friendship, George explains, he used to take advantage of Lennie and play jokes on him because Lennie was "too dumb even to know he had a joked played on him." Because he trusted George, Lennie would do whatever George told him to do. George found these jokes fun: "Made me seem God damn smart alongside of him."

George continues, however, to tell Slim how and why the joking came to a stop. On one occasion, George told Lennie, in front of a group of other men, to jump in the river. Lennie did so immediately, and almost drowned. George and some others had to pull him out. George finishes his story with this poignant detail:

An' he was so damn nice to me for pullin' him out. Clean forgot I told him to jump in. 

After that near-tragedy, George never tricked Lennie again; instead, realizing how much power he had over Lennie,  George took care to never again take advantage of him and his trust.

Please explain the conflict and the turning point/climax of "The Ransom of Redchief." How is the conflict resolved?.

In "The Ransom of Red Chief," the humor arises out of the conflict: instead of the kidnapped child being afraid, he terrorizes Sam and, especially Bill, who is threatened with scalping and ridden like a horse all one morning.  Compromising on the ranson money so that they can assuredly be rid of the red-haired freckled terror that they have taken, the men write a ransom note which Sam surreptitiously mails in town.

The turning point/climax of the action occurs soon afterwards as the men await the depositing of the ransom money into the appointed spot.  A "half-grown boy" on a bicycle deposits something into the box Sam has set up.  After waiting an hour, Sam climbs down from his post and discovers, not money, but a letter in "a crabbed hand."  The father of the boy, Ebenezer Dorset, contends that Sam and Bill's demands are "a little high."  Instead, he offers to take the boy off their hands if they will pay him two hundred and fifty dollars.  To this Sam utters an exclamation, but when he looks at Bill he sees "the most appealing look in his eyes I ever saw on the face of a dumb or talking brute."

So, in the resolution of the conflict, there is the typical O. Henry unexpected ending as Sam and Bill return "Red Chief" to his father, pay the two hundred and fifty dollars, and run when the father says he can only hold the boy for ten minutes. 

What is the difference between Rule utilitarianism and Act utilitarianism?

Utilitarianism tries to overcome the problems of using egoism as a moral guide by making the basis for decision making what will produce the greatest amount of pleasure for the greatest amount of people. This is obviously in contrast to egoism, which would take the basis for decision making as that which would serve one's own interest and provide for one's pleasure.

The differences between rule and act utilitarianism are as follows: the act utilitarian only considers the results or consequences of a single action whereas the rule utilitarian considers the consequences that result of following a rule of conduct.

Let's take a simple example to make this clearer. You are sitting in an exam, and you realise that you have revised the wrong questions. HELP! But, then you realise that you have left your revision notes in your pocket, so you have the choice of sneaking them out and cheating in your exam.

If you ascribed to Act Utilitarianism, you would look at the consequences of that single action. You would say that cheating would produce the most happiness for you and for your family, as you would get a good grade which would allow you to go to a good college and get a good job etc. By calculating the outcome of this single action, you would think it was worthwhile. So you would cheat!

If you ascribed to Rule Utilitarianism, you would need to consider what the long term consequences would be if everyone cheated in their exams. You would think that if everyone cheated, you would have doctors, lawyers, teachers who weren't able to do their jobs properly, resulting in chaos and a break down in trust in society, as people wouldn't trust that their doctors knew how to heal them. So by calculating the eventual outcome, you would decide that there would be far more harm in cheating in the long run, and you would fail your exam.

What is the central message of the poem "To a Skylark"?Poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Shelley's ode "To a Skylark" was witten in 1820 when he was in Leghorn in Italy. Shelley compares the skylark to various objects in order to make  the readers understand as much as is possible the mysterious and beautiful bird, and its divine  music.

The following lines capture the essence of the bird and reveal the central message of the poem: "Like a poet hidden/In the light of thought/Singing hymns unbidden/Till the world is wrought/To sympathy with hopes and fears it heeded not."

Shelley in his essay "Defense of Poetry" (written 1821 published 1840) remarks that poets are "the unacknowledged legislators of the world." That is, although the poets are never in the limelight they guide the destinies of a nation by voluntarily pronouncing profound truths which serve as moral guideposts to the common people. Similarly, the skylark also is rarely seen but its soulful melodious music serves to remind the people of the mysitcal beauties of Nature.

In "To Kill a Mockingbird" what 3 character traits have you noticed about Scout that are likely to make her life hard?

1.  Stubbornness.  How many times in the story did Jem insist that she stay put and she absolutely refused?  This got her into trouble over and over again, and made her life harder.  However, hopefully as she matures, she will be stubborn about the right things, like Atticus is, and it will end up being to her credit.

2.  Tomboyishness.  She will eventually, as she admits at the missionary circle, have to "soon enter this world", meaning the world of a lady.  She fights it though, and as a result earns people's scorn and judgment, including many townfolk and Aunt Alexandra.  Later this could be hard for her as she tries to fit in with girls her age, as Jem eventually moves out of her sphere of friendship.  It will be a rough transition for her, but hopefully she can make it with few hiccups.

3.  Always speaking what is on her mind, with no regard for social tact.  We see Scout do this many times throughout the book, blurt out questions, judgments, perspectives and attitudes without even thinking beforehand whether it's the right time or place.  This gets her into awkward and troublesome sitiuations, and could potentially earn her enemies in the future, when people can't pass it off because she is young.  However, it is what gives her much of her charm in the book, and I find her forthrightness refreshing.  :)