What is the role of free will and fate in Slaughterhouse-Five?

It is the slightly bizarre introduction of the alien presence of the Tralfamadorians that allows Vonnegut to discuss the central question of free will that operates in this novel. Tralfamadoreans have a curious way of looking at the world that incorporates the fourth dimension, allowing them to see all moments of time, both past, present and future, occupying simultaneously. This means that for them, free will does not exist, and they accept their fate, believing that since they can already see their future they are unable to change it. It is only on Earth that humans speak of the myth of free will, they argue, because humans mistakenly see time as a linear progression. Note what the Tralfamadorean says to Billy Pilgrim about the myth of free will at the end of Chapter 4:

I am a Tralfamadorean, seeing all time as you might see a stretch of the Rocky Mountains. All time is all time. It does not change. It does not lend itself to warnings or explanations. It simply is. Take it moment by moment, and you will find that we are all, as I've said before, bugs in amber.

However, even though Billy Pilgrim does seem to find his free will is curtailed throughout the novel, there is an interesting tension between free will and fate. Even whilst Vonnegut in Chapter 1 admits that all humans will die, supporting the forces of fate, at the same time he acknowledges that he has forbidden his sons to become involved in making weapons. However, overall, the fact that Billy Pilgrim, who is so badly trained and ill-equipped, survives the war when so many others better prepared for war, such as Ronald Weary, die, suggests that fate is the stronger force in the novel.

What is the narrative point of view of "Julius Caesar"?

Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" is a play, so it does not have a narrative point of view. The story unfolds in front of the audience, with each character speaking his or her own part. There is no chorus acting as narrator to help move the action along or explain details of the text.

Usually when we speak of point of view, we're talking about fiction or poetry, about the person who is telling the story. Although the play is about Julius Caesar, Caesar is not telling the story; nor does any other character in the play. In a sense you could say that every audience member is like a narrator who takes in all the action and pieces it together into a story for themselves.

Visit the sites below for more information about point of view and narrative.

In The Outsiders, why do Johnny and Ponyboy go to Jay Mountain?

On the night of the beach movie, Ponyboy and Johnny wander in the park after Ponyboy and Darry get into an argument, and because Johnny's parents don't care about him in the least. While they are there, they are jumped by Bob and Randy, Cherry and Marcia's boyfriends, because they tried to 'pick up' on their women. Bob begins to drown Pony in a fountain, and, panicking, Johnny uses his switchblade and stabs Bob, immediately killing him. When Ponyboy comes to, they go to Buck Merril's where Dally is sleeping for his help. He gives them a gun and 50 bucks, and tells them to take a freight train in Windrixville to Jay Mountain, so they can hide out and not be caught and convicted for the murder of Bob Sheldon.

Why is "Murder in the Cathedral" called a poetic play?

Because it's written in verse. You might hear it called a poetic play, or indeed, a "verse drama": all that means is that the dialogue is patterned into a verse form. If you looked at a script of - say - General Hospital, you'd find that you couldn't put the dialogue into a rhythm most of the time. The lines would be as long - or short - or contain as many syllables - as they liked, as fitted the moment.

Verse drama means that the lines all fit onto a metrical grid: all follow a verse pattern. Shakespeare's plays, for example, are partly written in iambic pentameter (de DUM de DUM de DUM de DUM de DUM) - and a proportion of the lines fit to that rhythmic grid. Eliot's verse line is more unusual, a longer, less regular line - but the plays are still written in verse. Hence why they are "poetic drama". Eliot had hoped to revive verse drama (largely unpopular in theatre since the Elizabethan age) - but it didn't catch on. Plays these days really aren't written in verse.

There's an excellent website linked below with more information about Eliot, and his ambitions to write drama in verse.

Hope it helps!

What trait in Romeo does Friar Lawrence find fault with? What reason does Friar Lawrence give for helping Romeo and Juliet?

Friar Laurence is baffled that Romeo, who only a few days ago claimed he was madly and sadly in love with Rosaline, is now in love with somebody else altogether. Friar Laurence teases Romeo, about how quickly he has changed his mind:

ROM:
Thou chid'st me oft for loving Rosaline.

FRIAR:
For doting, not for loving, pupil mine.

ROM:
And bad'st me bury love.

FRIAR:
                                    Not in a grave
To lay one in, another out to have.

ROM:
I pray thee chide not. She whom I love now
Doth grace for grace and love for love allow.
The other did not so.

FRIAR:
O, she knew well
Thy love did read by rote, and could not spell.

Friar Laurence's real message is in the last line: Romeo's love read by rote (i.e. read by memory) rather than knowing the letters. Romeo, in other words, ain't old enough to understand love yet.

But Friar Laurence, all the same, will agree to marry the two young lovers:

But come, young waverer, come go with me.
In one respect I'll thy assistant be;
For this alliance may so happy prove
To turn your households’ rancour to pure love.

Friar Laurence agrees to marry the two because he believes their "alliance" (their marriage) might heal the "rancour" (anger) of the two households, Montague and Capulet. He thinks the marraige will make the households friends: and he's probably right.

Only, we never get to find out, because, before it is made public, Romeo has murderer Tybalt, and the Capulet-Montague relationship has become somewhat more complex.

Hope it helps!

What is the summary for Chapter 12 of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone?

Chapter Twelve:  The Mirror of Erised

Taunts from both Malfoy and Snape cause Harry and Ron to agree upon hatred of Slytherin.  Christmas is approaching, so Hermione thinks the three should spend the time researching Nicholas Flamel in the library and trying to find out what Snape was attempting to steal.  Unfortunately, their efforts remain unsuccessful. 

The Christmas holidays arrive and the classmates left at Hogwarts have lots of fun together.  Ron and Harry share a wonderful Christmas morning together where Harry gets some of the first Christmas presents of his life.  The most exciting thing is an anonymous present of an invisibility cloak that belonged to Harry’s father.  After a spectacular Christmas dinner, Harry uses the night to try out his invisibility cloak alone.  Harry travels to the restricted section of the library, but is again unsuccessful in finding anything about Flamel and in his escape from Filch and Snape (who almost discover Harry), Harry finds a huge mirror in an unused classroom.  When Harry looks in the mirror he sees his own parents staring back at him and smiling.  Harry stays for a long time and promises to return with Ron the next night. 

Because of the mirror, Harry forgets about everything from eating to researching Flamel.  When Harry shows Ron the mirror, the vision is different.  Ron sees himself as head boy holding the Quidditch cup.  The third night Harry returns to find Dumbledore who explains that the mirror shows “nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts.”  Dumbledore tells Harry that the mirror will be moved to a new home, but to be prepared if Harry ever meets it again.  When Harry asks Dumbledore what he sees in the mirror, Dumbledore answers humorously that he sees “a pair of thick, woolen socks.”

What literary devices does Jane Austin use in the first chapter of Pride and Prejudice?

In the first chapter of this novel of manners, "Pride and Prejudice," Jane Austen employs satire and irony. In fact, the opening line is ironic:

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife

This verbal irony is carried out through the character of Mr. Bennett who banters with his wife as she excitedly informs her husband that a "single man of large fortune is to move into town by the end of next week":

"What a fine thing for our girls!" she exclaims.

Mr. Bennett wrily asks, "How so? how can it affect them?"  and Mrs. Bennett feels she must patronize him:

"My dear Mr. Bennet...how can you be so tiresome!  You must know that I am thinking of his marrying one of them."

Mr. Bennet teases his wife, telling her to go with the girls on a visit to Mr. Bingley as he "might like you the best at the party."  And, in his best lines of the chapter, Bennet replies most ironically to his wife's accusations about his "delight" in vexing her:

You mistake me, my dear.  I have a high respect for your nerves.  They are my old friends.  I have heard you mention them with consideration these twenty years at least.

In this first chapter, Austen satirizes the character of Mrs. Bennet, the shallow, silly mother who would design the marriages of her daughters to prosperous men as was customary in the late 18th and early 19th century.  It is not her character, as Austen states, for her to understand a man such as Mr. Bennet. (Later this woman will try to marry her daughter Lizzy to Mr. Collins, a relative who will inherit the family's estate as he is the only male.  The fact that he is a buffoon matters not.)