Why does Montresor vow revenge on Fortunato in "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe?

Edgar Allan Poe's chilling short story "The Cask of Amontillado" is a tale of retribution. In the outset, the first person narrator Montresor vows revenge against his supposed friend Fortunato over some "insult." The affront, which must have been significant, is never revealed. It is, however, egregious enough for Montresor to devise a devious and horrible plan to lure Fortunato into the catacombs below his estate with the pretense that he wishes to have Fortunato's opinion about a bottle of rare wine. While in the underground chamber, Montresor chains Fortunato to the catacomb and proceeds to wall him in with brick and mortar. There are two important elements to Montresor's plan. First, it must be well known to Fortunato that Montresor is the one bringing about his demise. Second, Montresor sets up his plan so he will never be apprehended for the crime. Fortunato simply disappears. Some critics believe Montresor is telling his story to a priest at the end of his life, revealing a certain amount of remorse on Montresor's part. Whatever the reality, the reader is never made aware of the exact motive which prompted Montresor to kill Fortunato in such a ghastly way.     

How would you describe the opening of "Buffalo Bill’s" be E.E. Cummings?

The poem is unusual in that rather than beginning with a title, it simply opens with the short line "Buffalo Bill ’s." The line itself is a reference to a historical person.

"Buffalo Bill" was a nickname for William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846 – January 10, 1917), a historical figure who has become a part of United States folklore. He was born to a poor family in Le Claire, Iowa and at the age of fourteen got a job as a rider for the "pony express," a part of the postal service. He served on the Union side of the Civil War from 1863 to 1865. He got his nickname by slaughtering buffalo (properly termed American bison) to feed workers on the Kansas Pacific Railroad, and thus contributed to the near extinction of an important native mammal. He also ran  Buffalo Bill's Wild West, a touring show that made an important contribution to the myth of the cowboy and the "wild west."

The lack of title, use of Cody's nickname, and use of a contraction ("Bill's" rather than "Bill is") suggest an informal, conversational tone and signal the rejection of many of the common poetic conventions that will be seen in subsequent lines. The first line also suggests that the poem is situating itself in the Whitmanesque tradition of celebrating American popular culture and folk imagination. 

In Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, how does Bottom conduct himself when he is with Titania? Does his behavior confirm Puck's opinion of...

In Act 4, Scene 1 in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, the audience is treated to the hilarious spectacle of Bottom (still with his donkey's head) living large with Titania and her attendant fairies. In general, Bottom conducts himself with a great deal of pomposity and self-importance, ordering the fairies to serve him (which, among other things, involves mandating that Cobweb must scratch his head) and generally enjoying the devoted attention of both Titania and her helpers. The joke is, of course, on him, as he has an absurd donkey's head and is hardly attractive, but the dim-witted Bottom is completely unaware of the reality of his situation and insists on acting like a king. It would seem, therefore, that Bottom does confirm Puck's assertion that the bumbling "mechanical" is "the shallowest thickskin," as all of Bottom's actions suggest he is incapable of thinking critically about himself. Instead, Bottom chooses to shallowly bask in his absurd vanity, which at least makes for good comedy.

In The Help by Kathryn Stockett, what are examples of characters showing problem-solving skills, understanding something complex, or being...

One of the examples of complex problem-solving skills in The Help is Skeeter writing her book. To tell the stories of the maids she knows in Jackson, Mississippi, and give their life stories a wider audience, she writes the book anonymously, and puts some embarrassing information about Hilly, a white woman who could potentially reveal who the book's author is, into the book. If Hilly tells people the book is about Jackson, this potentially damaging information (that Hilly once ate a cake with feces in it) will also be revealed. The idea of putting embarrassing information about the cake into the book comes from Minny, an African-American maid. This is a clever way to keep Hilly quiet and tell the maids' stories, as they are not allowed to speak openly about their experiences.

Another example of clever problem-solving is Minny's finding a job working for Celia Foote. Minny thinks she will have a hard time finding a job because Hilly falsely tells everyone that Minny steals. By finding Celia, Minny finds a white woman who needs a lot of help because she can't cook and is unconnected to the other women in town. Celia doesn't know the rumors that Minny is a thief. Celia also pays and treats Minny decently, unlike her previous employers. Minny is a strong, smart woman who finds clever solutions to her problems. 

Why does Nora resolutely leave home in A Doll's House?

Nora leaves her family and home with absolute resolve because she realizes that she has no individual identity there. 

At the end of Act III, Nora tells her husband Torvald

NORA: Our home has been nothing but a playroom. I have been your doll-wife, just as at home I was papa's doll-child.

In evaluating Nora's actions, it is paramount to understand that Ibsen meant to shock his audience into an awareness of the repression of women at the time this drama was written. Therefore, in this context Nora has no choice but to leave her husband and family if she wishes to possess any autonomy. She can only find her self-identity outside of this environment:

NORA: I have other duties just as sacred. . . duties to myself. I believe that before all else I am a reasonable human being . . . or, at all events, that I must try and become one.

Ibsen's play illustrates the tragedy of womanhood and motherhood in his time; that is, many women were tragically bound to domestic roles and had few outlets of individual expression. (Nora's surreptitious eating of the macaroons symbolizes her attempts at individual expression.) Even when Nora has acted out of love as an individual in procuring the money so that her husband could go to Italy in order to restore his health, Torvald scorns her loving action because she broke a law in saving his life. 

Of course, this revilement by her husband becomes a defining moment in the play because Nora then makes her decision to no longer be but a "doll" who is manipulated by others. With resolution, she departs alone, for she must be solitary if she is to find any self-expression and autonomy.

What is the diction of William Blake's poem, "Little Boy Found"?

Diction refers to the specific words we choose to express our ideas. Two words can have the same dictionary meaning, but have different connotations, or shades of meaning.

For instance, a believer might speak either of "God" or "the Lord." Both words indicate the same referent, but the meanings are different. "Lord" implies a rather distant, potentially authoritarian, master-servant relationship. "God" does not.

William Blake could have chosen to refer to God as "the Lord" in this poem, but he did not. His diction contributes to a more immediate and intimate picture of God—someone who is "ever nigh" (close) and who appears like the boy's own father.

What can we say about the diction of the entire poem? Some of the word choices—like that "nigh"—might seem literary or even unfamiliar to the modern reader, but those words were normal words to Blake's contemporary audience. Overall, these are simple, common words, the sort of words that a child from that time period would recognize.

This fits in with Blake's purpose: He is trying to write something reminiscent of a nursery rhyme. He published this in a volume called Songs of Innocence.

May a state be composed of several nations? If so, can you please give an example?

A state is a relatively well-defined unit, based upon the largest unified government that maintains strong de facto power over a region. States are generally characterized also by some degree of recognition in the international community, and reasonably well-defined borders. A region could fail to be a state either because it is part of some other state, or because it is so chaotic that no institution holds de facto power over the region. Most of what we think of as "countries" are unambiguously states--somewhat ironically, the United States is very much one single state at this point.

A nation is a much more fraught concept; one person's "nation" is another's "ethnic group." The idea is that people of a nation share some sense of cultural unity; they speak the same language, they consider their heritage shared, they have cultural features in common that are distinct from others. Yet in practice, these boundaries are often extremely fuzzy---is Germany a nation, or just Bavaria? Is Canada a nation, or specifically Quebec? Could Californians be considered a different nation from Texans? What about Southerners versus Yankees (there was a civil war over that, after all)?

Still, it does seem to be the case that a single state can encompass multiple nations. The United Kingdom is the classic example; Scotland and Wales really do seem to be distinct nations from England, but all are part of the same state, the United Kingdom. When the British Empire was stronger, it was even sensible to say that Canada, Australia, and India were part of the same UK state, but India especially was clearly not the same nation.

Perhaps the best definition of a nation is the maximum unit of strong solidarity (as opposed to de facto power). Your nation is the people you think of as "like you", as "on your team." But precisely because people vary in their concepts of solidarity, this definition doesn't result in clearly-defined national boundaries.

This is a feature, not a bug; it shows that our definition is capturing the real ambiguity. In the real world, the ambiguous and fraught defining lines between nations have been a source of much conflict. People who think of themselves as separate nations often seek to form separate states, while people who do not think of those people as part of a separate nation will often try to maintain unity against that separation. And as national identities change, the desired boundaries change as well--often violently.

Why do most people like Jean Passepartout in Around the World in Eighty Days?

Jean Passepartout is a very versatile and fun character. When he introduces himself to Phileas Fogg, he says, "I have a natural aptness for going out of one business into another" (page 5). Passepartout has been a singer, a circus performer, a gymnastics teacher, and a firefighter, among other professions. Passepartout is described as "an honest fellow...soft-mannered and serviceable, with a good, round head, such as one likes to see on the shoulders of a friend" (page 6). He is honorable and friendly, and even though he wants to retire to a quiet life with Fogg, when Fogg asks him to pack his bags en route to a voyage around the world, Passepartout gamely agrees. In the end, it is Passepartout who reminds Fogg that he, Fogg, forgot about the time difference so that Fogg has won the bet and has completed his voyage in time. Passepartout is unfailingly loyal and devoted to Fogg; these are winning qualities that cause the reader to like him. 

Write the solution of the initial value problem and use it to find the population when `t=20` ? `(dP)/(dt)=0.1P(1-P/2000) ` `P(0)=100` When does...

This is a separable differential equation. This means we can completely separate dependent and independent variables into two expressions. General form if such equation is

`dy/dx=f(x)g(y)`

and the solution is obtained by solving the following integrals

`int dy/g(y)=int f(x)dx+C`

Let us now return to the problem at hand.

`dy/dt=0.1P(1-P/2000)`

Now we need to put everything containing `P` on the left and everything containing `t` to the right side.

`(dP)/(0.1P-P^2/20000)=dt`

Let us first simplify the expression on the left.

`(dP)/((2000P-P^2)/20000)=dt`

`(20000dP)/(P(2000-P))=dt`

We shall write the term on the left using partial fractions to make integration easier.

`(20000dP)/(P(2000-P))=A/P+B/(2000-P)`

`2000A=20000` 

`B-A=0`

`A=B=10`

`(2000dP)/P(2000-P)=10/P+10/(2000-P)`

We can now integrate the equation.

`int 10/P dP+int 10/(2000-P)dP=int dt`

`10ln P-10ln(2000-P)+10ln C=t`

` `

In the line above we have written the constant term as `10ln C` in stead of just `C.` This is often used to make the expression easier to manipulate.

`ln P-ln(2000-P)+ln C=t/10`

Use formulae for logarithm of product and quotient:

`log_a (xy)=log_a x+log_a y`

`log_a(x/y)=log_a x-log_a y`

`ln((CP)/(2000-P))=t/10`

Take antilogarithm.

`(CP)/(2000-P)=e^(t/10)`

`CP=2000e^(t/10)-e^(t/10)P`

`P(C+e^(t/10))=2000e^(t/10)`

`P=(2000e^(t/10))/(C+e^(t/10))`

We can now calculate `C` by using the initial value.

`P(0)=100`

`(2000e^(0/10))/(C+e^(0/10))=100`

Since `e^0=1,` we have

`2000/(C+1)=100`

`C+1=2000/100`

`C=20-1`

`C=19`

The solution to the initial value problem is

`P(t)=(2000e^(t/10))/(19+e^(t/10))`   

We can now calculate population when `t=20.`

`P(20)=(2000e^2)/(19+e^2)approx560`

Population is approximately `560` at time `t=20.`

To find when the population reaches 1200, we need to solve the following equation

`(2000e^(t/10))/(19+e^(t/10))=1200`

Multiply by the denominator.

`2000e^(t/10)=22800+1200e^(t/10)`

`800e^(t/10)=22800`

`e^(t/10)=28.5` 

Take logarithm.

`t/10=ln28.5`

`t=10ln28.5approx33.499`  

The population will reach 1200 at time `t=33.499.` 

What are the aspects of contemporary society that captured the attention of James Joyce in "Eveline"?

For such a short story, James Joyce's "Eveline" grapples with many vital aspects of contemporary society. In this post, I'll focus on the societal aspect that I find to be most prevalent in the story: the status of women in Irish society. 

The major focus of "Eveline" is the oppressed status of the protagonist, Eveline. After the death of her mother, Eveline has been forced to take on a dead-end job in a shop, care for her younger siblings, and endure the tyrannical authority of her father. She is unable to escape and make a life of her own, although she does get the opportunity to leave with a man, a sailor named Frank. In describing Eveline's life, Joyce is also describing the role of women in the contemporary Irish society of his day. Based on Eveline's oppressive existence, it's plain that women in Irish society were worked hard and had few personal rights. Indeed, it seems that women had little independence apart from the men in their lives, as Eveline's only means of escaping her family involves relying on Frank. While Joyce's portrait was a response to Irish society in the early twentieth century, his description of the oppression of woman is still very relevant, as women in contemporary society are still struggling for equal rights and freedom.

What are the supernatural elements in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"?

"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is, among other things, the tale of a town obsessed with superstitious accounts of the supernatural, and much of Washington Irving's narrative focuses on descriptions of the rich folklore that's so popular in the region. Take, for instance, the following passage in the third paragraph of the story (which can be read in full by using ' delightful online library of texts):

The whole neighborhood abounds with local tales, haunted spots, and twilight superstitions; stars shoot and meteors glare oftener across the valley than in any other part of the country, and the nightmare, with her whole ninefold, seems to make it the favorite scene of her gambols.

By Irving's description, we can assume that many legends of the supernatural haunt the region, and that the inhabitants of Sleepy Hollow love telling tales of all manner of ghosts and ghouls. 

The supernatural elements of the story stop with these folk tales, however. While the story is full of accounts of the supernatural, there are never actually direct experiences with the supernatural. Indeed, the only encounter we get with the Headless Horseman occurs when the specter supposedly chases the terrified Ichabod Crane through the woods on horseback. Later on, Irving strongly suggests that this horseman was simply Brom Bones trying to run Crane out of town, and so it seems as though the main supernatural element of the story, the Headless Horseman, does not even exist. As such, the supernatural elements of "Sleepy Hollow" abound in accounts of local legends and folklore, but they do not actually exist in real life. 

What is a brief summary of Chapter 21 of The Story of My Life by Helen Keller?

In this chapter, Helen Keller discusses how she began to read. She first started reading stories in Braille again and again, as she became interested in the words and improving her vocabulary. At times, her teacher, Anne Sullivan, also signed stories into her hand. When Keller visited the Perkins Institute in Boston, she began to read more assiduously. She loved the book Little Lord Fauntleroy so much that she became an even more avid reader.

She mentions all the difficult types of books she has read, including works from ancient Greece such as the Iliad and Aeneid. She particularly enjoyed reading the Bible and says, "For years I have read it with an ever-broadening sense of joy and inspiration; and I love it as I love no other book." In addition, in college, she read works in German and French, and she has read Shakespeare, poetry, and works of history. At the end of this chapter, she says, "In a word, literature is my Utopia." Literature opened worlds to her that were not accessible in other ways. 

What can be gleaned from Shakespeare's drama about one of its protagonists, Cleopatra?

Cleopatra was a strong woman who was in an extremely difficult position and tried to use the tools available to her to maintain her precarious grasp on power as long as she could. 

The thing you have to remember is that while Cleopatra was extremely important to the people of Egypt as the Pharaoh sitting in Alexandria, she was in a precarious position constantly.  Her position of power was limited or threatened from within and without.  Julius Caesar had put Cleopatra on the throne, and then she had a son with him, Caesarean, that allowed her to keep it.  

As far as the Romans were concerned, Egypt belonged to them.  When the triumvirate divided up the Roman holdings, Antony ended up with Egypt.  He happened to be quite the womanizer, so it was a bad combination.  Cleopatra might have used Caesar to come to power, and but used Antony to try to stay in it. 

At this time, the Roman world was divided between Antony, Octavius Caesar, and Lepidus.  Shakespeare describes, through Enobarbus, how Cleopatra seduced Antony.  Enobarbus describes Cleopatra’s elaborate barge to Agrippa and Macaeanas, Octavius Caesar’s henchmen. 

DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS

I will tell you.
The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne,
Burn'd on the water: the poop was beaten gold;
Purple the sails, and so perfumed that
The winds were love-sick with them; the oars were silver,
Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made
The water which they beat to follow faster,
As amorous of their strokes. (Act 2, Scene 2)

Cleopatra’s vivid personality extended beyond the fancy barge she used to hook Antony.  Her scenes with Antony often involve arguments, and if she is not arguing with him she is worrying about him.  Cleopatra’s messengers are a perfect example.  She sends them to find out about Octavia, Antony’s new wife, and has an emotional reaction to their answers. 

Cleopatra needs Antony, but she realizes that she is losing him.  Octavius Caesar tried to gain control of him by marrying him to Octavia, his sister.  Cleopatra was aware of that.  After Antony cuts ties with Octavius, it gets even worse.  His military might is slipping and Cleopatra knows it.  She feels that Antony is losing his perspective.

Cleopatra knows that the end is coming.  She realizes that she will likely have to kill herself, and she makes preparations.  She tries to protect her children from Octavius, especially Caesarion.  These actions demonstrate Cleopatra's strength and presence of mind.  She even encourages Antony to commit suicide, which the Romans consider a noble act, by tricking him into thinking she is dead.

Her own suicide results in Shakespeare's version from a conversation with Octavius.  You could also say that Cleopatra waited to see what she could accomplish with Octavius.  She could not seduce him the way she did Julius Caesar.

CLEOPATRA

My master, and my lord!

OCTAVIUS CAESAR

Not so. Adieu.

Flourish. Exeunt OCTAVIUS CAESAR and his train

CLEOPATRA

He words me, girls, he words me, that I should not
Be noble to myself: but, hark thee, Charmian. (Act 5, Scene 2)

In the end, Cleopatra refused to be paraded through Rome as a trophy of Octavius Caesar, but that is what would happen to her children.  She was a strong, confident woman.  She ended life on her own terms.

''A Rose for Emily'' is set during the late 1800s and early 1900s. I need help writing an essay in which I present an argument for its relevance...

There are several possible strategies you could use to approach this assignment. The first might be to deconstruct the notion of "relevance". This literary technique involves looking at unstated assumptions, arguing that they are just as important as what is said.

First, you might argue that the point of reading is to broaden your horizons and sympathies by learning about people different than yourself. Thus a story distant in time and culture by its nature helps you achieve that purpose. The very notion of "relevance" suggests that one should live in a bubble, only learning things familiar to you. Making this assumption explicit is a way to deconstruct it.

Next, one could argue that Emily herself shows an interesting evolution of female power from the passive entitlement of the aristocrat to an active role taking charge of her own destiny. As she loses her conventional female beauty she increasingly takes charge of her own life, facing down anyone who wishes to interfere with her and even poisoning the lover who takes advantage of and tries to jilt her. The issue of the relationship of female beauty to power is one not tied to any particular era, despite its specific configuration in the story being localized in the old south. 

In Hamlet, how had Laertes found out about Polonius' death?

It appears from the text that Laertes was in France when he heard about Polonius's death, presumably from a friend, acquaintance, or court gossip. Shakespeare doesn't show this scene; it's part of the action that happens offstage.

Our first confirmation that Laertes knows about his father's death comes in Act IV, Scene 5, when Claudius is speaking to Gertrude about Ophelia's psychologically disturbed behavior:

Her brother is in secret come from France;
Feeds on his wonder, keeps himself in clouds,
And wants not buzzers to infect his ear
With pestilent speeches of his father's death;
Wherein necessity, of matter beggar'd,
Will nothing stick our person to arraign
In ear and ear.

The secret nature of Laertes's return from France is consistent with the idea that he learned about the death while he was there, and came back secretly so he could take Claudius—the presumed killer—by surprise.

Note that "wants not buzzers" means Laertes has no shortage of gossip regarding the circumstances of his father's death. He's hearing all sorts of bad things ("pestilent speeches") about it, and Claudius assumes Laertes believes Claudius is responsible.

Later, in Act IV, Scene 5, Laertes rushes into the palace to confront Claudius:

How came he dead? I’ll not be juggled with.

To hell, allegiance! Vows, to the blackest devil!

So Claudius was right—Laertes does assume Claudius is complicit in some way. Gertrude tries to assure Laertes that Claudius is guiltless, as does Claudius. The king asks Laertes to come with him—and find some of Laertes's friends—to hear corroboration.

Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will,

And they shall hear and judge ’twixt you and me.

Later in the play, Laertes reappears, apprised of the fact that Hamlet, not Claudius, killed Polonius.

What does the cay look like?

In the novel, the cay is a flat island surrounded by coral banks. On the east, the coral reefs extend several hundred yards. Upon approach, Timothy tells Phillip that he sees sea-grape bushes behind the beach and also twenty to thirty palm trees on a hill. The island is about one mile long and half a mile wide; it is shaped like a melon or a turtle. Timothy later tells Phillip that the hill will make a nice look-out for them, as it is forty feet from the sea.

When Timothy and Phillip make land, they discover that the beach is made up of fine grains of sand. Accordingly, the beach is about forty miles wide in most places, and it stretches all around the island. Timothy tells Phillip that there is plenty of pompano fish and langosta at the cay. Langosta are the native Caribbean lobsters which have no claws. Later, Timothy and Phillip are also able to feast on mussels and the eggs of sea urchins.

How would you compare and contrast the two poems "America" by Claude McKay and "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus? What are these poems’ views of...

Emma Lazarus's "The New Colossus" and Claude McKay's "America" both speak about the promise of America, but McKay has a cynical view of what America can offer him, while Lazarus is idealistic about America's promise. 

Lazarus's poem, which she wrote in 1883 to raise funds to construct the Statue of Liberty, uses the symbol of Lady Liberty to stand for American values of freedom. She contrasts the Statue of Liberty with the Colossus at Rhodes, an ancient statue that stood for conquest. Unlike the Colossus, the Statue of Liberty stands at our "sunset gates," a reference to the Western world, as the "Mother of Exiles." Lazarus also personifies Liberty, stating,

From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

Liberty is not merely a statue but a powerful force who sends out messages of welcome across the world and commands the harbor between Brooklyn and Manhattan (which were then "twin cities"). In the second stanza, Lady Liberty calls for the world to send her "Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." Liberty, a symbol of American freedom, in contrast to the Old World (what Lazarus refers to as "ancient lands"), welcomes the poor and oppressed of the world with open arms.

McKay's poem, like Lazarus's poem, personifies the United States as a woman; however, his America, unlike Lazarus's, is the type of cruel person who "feeds me bread of bitterness." She, unlike the fair and welcoming Lady Liberty of Lazarus's poem, has a "tiger's tooth" and takes away "my breath of life." Although he describes the United States as "hell," McKay says he loves the United States, just like Lazarus. McKay praises the country's energy in a series of similes, such as "her vigor flows like tides into my blood" and "her bigness sweeps my being like a flood." In these similes, he compares American energy to tides and her size to a flood. He then compares himself, in a simile, to a rebel who stands before a king without any trace of ill will. Then, in an extended metaphor (and a simile in the last line), McKay compares the United States's greatness to marble statues who sink into the sands of time. While he acknowledges the United States's greatness, McKay ends his poem on a troubling note, as he questions what America's future will hold. Lazarus, on the other hand, presents a view that is hopeful about the future of the United States. 

What is the plot and the significance of the main characters in the book The Alienist by Caleb Carr?

Caleb Carr's 1994 crime novel The Alienist follows John Moore, a New York Times crime reporter, as he and his friend Laszlo Kreizler (a famed psychiatrist) recount the grisly 1896 murder spree of a serial killer in Manhattan and their attempts to uncover his identity. 

Their journey begins on March 3, 1986, when Kreizler has Moore brought to the horrific crime scene, where a 13-year-old boy named Georgio "Gloria" Santorelli has been disfigured and killed: his eyes gouged out, right hand cut off, buttocks sheared off, throat slit, cut across his body, and genitals cut off and stuffed into his mouth. Santorelli was a sex worker who dressed as a girl in order to pick up johns. Despite this kind of case normally being ignored, Moore and Kreisler decide to investigate, and Kreizler realizes that there seems to be a connection to another murder case in which two children had had their eyes gouged out. 

Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt (yes, that Theodore Roosevelt... the future president!) understands that this is actually the third murder in this pattern, but to avoid controversy due to Kriezler's reputation, he decides to stay away from the case and allow Kriezler to work on it behind the scenes.

The pair are joined by detective brothers Lucius and Marcus Isaacson, as well as one of the first female employees of the NYPD, Sara Howard. Together, the team develops a profile of the serial killer in hopes of predicting his next attempted murder. They contact various mental institutions to see if anyone matching this profile had once been cared for in such an establishment.

After visiting Washington, DC, the team discovers another similar murder--this time, one that has taken place in rural New York. A visit to the site of this murder and a talk with the surviving brother of the killer reveals to them the killer's name: John Beecham (born Japheth Dury). The team discovers that Japheth had been unwanted by his parents and sexually abused by George Beecham, which was the cause of his vengeful behavior. Ultimately, John/Japheth is killed by a gang of thugs before Kreizler can interview him, and although he manages to conduct an autopsy of the body, only the knowledge of the killer's childhood of abuse can offer insight into his deranged actions. 

How was everyone equal in the year 2081 in Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron"?

In Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron," everyone is equal because the United States government has instituted several amendments to the Constitution that prohibits anyone from being better than anyone else. It has created a lowest common denominator that those who have greater abilities must bring themselves to in order to participate in society.

Equality in this society is characterized by Hazel Bergeron, the title character's mother. She is not required to wear any handicaps—devices that prevent a person from thinking, showing his or her athletic ability, or masking his or her beauty—because she is already perfectly average. Meanwhile, her husband, George, is required to wear both mental and physical handicaps. George, whose "his intelligence was way above normal," has to wear a mental handicap that "would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains."

Another example is the beautiful ballerina who read the news that Harrison escaped had to wear a "hideous" mask and then had to change her "warm, luminous, timeless" voice to make is "absolutely uncompetitive." In addition, the narrator says, "It was easy to see that she was the strongest and most graceful of all the dancers, for her handicap bags were as big as those worn by two-hundred pound men."

George, Hazel and the ballerina are the best examples for how equality works in this society. Harrison, meanwhile, never really succumbs to these restrictions placed on him by the government.

Shaw rejected romanticism and embraced realism. How realistic is Arms and the Man? How much of it is "unrealistic"?

This dichotomy really oversimplifies and misrepresents Shaw. Shaw was first and foremost a satirist whose plays tend to debunk popular misperceptions using humor and irony. Thus Arms and the Man is anti-Romantic in terms of its views of war, love, and a certain tradition of war literature, but it achieves its effects through elements of hyperbole, stereotyping, and coincidences, albeit often with surprising twists. 

For example, Shaw debunks the notion of the "war hero" in his portrait of Sergius, but the plot twist of the incorrect ammunition is highly improbable. Similarly, an "anti-Romantic" point is argued with Raina's choice of a middle aged Swiss mercenary over the glamorous, handsome young Serb; I am not sure that a real teenage girl would make that choice (at least before discovering the wealth of the Swiss soldier). 

Shaw himself admits that he uses much of the scaffolding of the pièce bien faite in creating plots, rather than using a realistic plot structure. The plot of the play is that of a romance in which the two pairs of lovers first are attracted to the wrong people and eventually marry the right people, a structure that is quite conventional and not realistic. 

In A Man of the People by Chinua Achebe, is Chief Nanga a corrupt man?

Chief Nanga was initially a teacher before he became a politician. As a political figure, he is very corrupt and greedy. He has a wife, but he still sleeps with Odili’s girlfriend when Odili brings her over to his house. Nanga takes money meant for community development to build a commercial four-story building for his personal gain. He bribes Max in efforts to slow down the new party. However, Max directs the funds to support the party’s activities and Odili’s campaigns. Nanga retaliates by having Max killed. Chief Nanga tries to bribe Odili to stop him from contesting for the political position against him. Nanga employs unscrupulous tactics and violence to win elections. He stuffs ballot boxes during elections in order to maintain his position as a leader. Chief Nanga does everything in his power to protect his status among the people. However, his ill deeds eventually work against him.

What does Langston Hughes mean by his first sentence in "Thank You M'am?" The sentence is: "She was a large woman with a large purse that had...

Langston Hughes creates the image of a strong, no-nonsense woman, who is ready for anything with the first sentence of his short story “Thank You, M’am.” He says, "She was a large woman with a large purse that had everything in it but hammer and nails."

In this story, the woman is mugged as she walks home from work late one evening. Her perpetrator is a young man who grew up on the streets of Harlem. He sees an opportunity to steal money when he notices a woman with a large purse walking alone at night. Little does he know, the purse is heavy enough to drag him to the ground, and she is a formidable opponent. When he grabs the purse, he is taken by surprise when it breaks free and its heaviness drags him to the ground. He falls at the woman’s feet. She is a woman who is familiar with life on the city streets, and she is prepared to address any problems head-on, as she does with the boy.

What genre is the book The Cay? Please provide 3 examples from the book to support it.

I would say that the main genre for Theodore Taylor's book The Cay is children's literature.  Evidence for this is the fact that the book is fairly short.  The paperback version is only 156 pages long.  That's not definitive proof of the book being children's literature, but the short length makes the book much more accessible to young readers.  

The language of the book itself is accessible to young readers.  The sentence structure is not overly complex, and the vocabulary is not beyond what middle school students can handle.  Let's look at the opening of the story for an example.

Like silent, hungry sharks that swim in the darkness of the sea, the German submarines arrived in the middle of the night. 

Notice how the simile is easily visualized by young readers.  Sharks and darkness are things that kids know about at an early age, and both of those things would cause a young reader to be immediately tense.  

The fact that Phillip is eleven years old is also evidence that supports the book being children's literature.  Most authors try to create a protagonist that is similar in age to their intended readers.  Children's books tend to be about children.  Phillip isn't even a teenager yet.  

Further support for the book being a children's or young adult book is the fact that it has won awards that are specifically awarded to children's books.  For example, The Cay received the The Jane Addams Children's Book Award in 1970.  

If I had to pick a sub-genre for the book, I would say that the book is in the survival genre.  The reason for that is because the bulk of the book is about Timothy and Phillip trying to survive on a very small, deserted island during World War II.  The author does a great job of alerting readers to the very many dangers that would be in that kind of environment.  

Wondering what had caused the birds to attack me, I felt around in the sand. Soon, my hand touched a warm shell. I couldn't blame the birds very much. I'd accidentally walked into their new nesting ground.

They were fighting for survival, after the storm, just as I was. 

This sequence of the book is great because I never would have thought birds could be that much of a threat.  But those birds are trying to scratch out a meager existence in the same way that Phillip is.  

Do you think Buck from Jack London's The Call of the Wild would be able to rejoin man at some point in his future?

I would say Buck would be unlikely to rejoin man, but that doesn’t mean he never could. Buck’s early experiences with humans were good. He was the judge’s dog, and he was the king of the house. He had a very good life. Buck then had some terrible experiences; he was abused and neglected by the sled drivers. Finally, Buck had a good life with John Thornton, the first sled driver to show him love. Buck went into the wild after Thornton’s death, and the ending of the book seems to indicate he stayed there.

The years were not many when the Yeehats noted a change in the breed of timber wolves   . . . But more remarkable than this, the Yeehats tell of a Ghost Dog that runs at the head of the pack. They are afraid of this Ghost Dog, for it has cunning greater than they, stealing from their camps in fierce winters, robbing their traps, slaying their dogs, and defying their bravest hunters (Chapter 7).

Buck would not feel kindly toward the Yeehats because of John Thornton, whom he loved. Buck would, however, also feel at home with the wolves. He was the head of the pack and created his own hybrid wolf-dog tribe.

This does not mean that a scenario could not come into play where Buck would not return to humans. In White Fang, there is a severe drought that drives the wolves and narrators to distraction. The titular White Fang is a hybrid, and his story is the opposite of Buck’s in some ways. White Fang starts off wild and becomes domesticated. 

Circumstances change. Buck's experiences certainly seem to indicate that. It is possible to imagine a circumstance where Buck would lose his tribe and be vulnerable enough where he would need people again, even though as the book ends he seems to be in a strong position.

How does priming prompt consumers to think about a particular product and help affirm biases about a product? How do marketers use the priming...

Priming in psychology is the effect that exposing someone to an earlier stimulus has on their response to a stimulus that is introduced later. For example, experiments have found that respondents who are exposed to rude words before an interview are more likely to interrupt the interviewer. Priming in marketing can be used in different ways. For example, a 1999 experiment conducted by North et al. found that grocery shoppers who were exposed to German music in the store bought more German wine, while those exposed to French music in the store bought more French wine. The shoppers were unaware the auditory priming affected their buying behavior. 

Some examples of priming include those that use smiles in their campaigns. Using a smile has been shown to increase the amount of liquid people drink. For example, in 2015, Coke used a "Laughter Mob" video in Belgium as part of its #ChooseHappiness campaign. This video featured a man laughing on a train and others laughing as a result. The priming effect was using laughter to influence people to buy and drink Coke. Laughter can also be used to promote other types of buying behavior, not just those related to drinking. For example, it could be used to influence people to visit a restaurant or resort.

According to an article in Health Psychology, food has been found to have an effect on eating behaviors (see the link below). Many ads show food, such as the Chips Ahoy! S'mores TV Ad, "Camping Trip," which shows the chocolate center of the cookie. In this case, just seeing food is intended to influence someone to buy it. This priming effect of showing food could also be used to get someone to buy healthy food. 

Music also has a priming effect. For example, a Volkswagen ad uses the lyrical Allison Krauss and Union Station song "When You Say Nothing At All" to prompt people to buy a Volkswagen. The priming effect is using music to make people feel lyrical and loving so they will associate that feeling with Volkswagen and want to buy one of the company's cars. This priming effect could also be used to promote other buying behaviors, such as purchasing a loving greeting card. 

In Boyle's "Greasy Lake," do you think the boys found what they were looking for on the third night? What were they looking for?

The young men were looking for excitement and a way to demonstrate their masculine ability to be "bad." Essentially, they were bored with their safe and effectively "boring" middle-class lifestyles; as fashionable young men, they defined the idea of being "bad" as the epitome of being relevant, empowered, and macho at the same time.

So, the young men looked for excitement and danger the first two nights; however they found the "rich scent of possibility" positively elusive. To the young men, being "bad" meant being able to smoke pot, drink beer, sniff glue/ether/cocaine, watch a girl skinny-dip without her knowledge, and "manage a Ford with lousy shocks over a rutted and gutted blacktop road at eighty-five while rolling a joint as compact as a Tootsie Roll Pop stick." Their perception of danger was extravagantly colored by elements of popular fiction, reconstructions of historical reality, and the make-believe world of Hollywood movies.

So, they were shocked by their encounter with true danger on the third night. This particular night had begun with the usual rowdy behavior; after the young men had exhausted their repertoire of "dangerous" behavior, however, they had taken off for Greasy Lake. There, they had come across a metallic blue Chevy, which they imagined belonged to a friend, Tony Lovett.

They had decided to play a practical joke on Tony, but soon found themselves attacked by a "greasy" stranger who emerged from the car. Before the night was over, one of them had managed to club the "greasy" stranger over the head with a tire iron, all of them had almost raped the "greasy" stranger's girl, and one of them had come across a dead body floating in the swamp. Somehow, "films and TV and childhood visits to the funeral home" hadn't prepared the young men for the very real troubles they found themselves in on the third night. So, the young men did not find the sort of the excitement they were looking for on the third night.

Lithium has the highest specific heat of any pure metal. The temperature of a 25.00 g sample of lithium will increase by 7.69 K when 684.4 J of...

The specific heat is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of a gram of a substance by 1 degree Celsius (or Kelvin). The heat energy required to raise the temperature of a substance is given as:

heat energy = mass of substance x specific heat of the substance x change in temperature

Here, mass of substance = 25 g

change in temperature = 7.69 K

heat energy needed = 684.4 J

Substituting these values in the equation, we get:

684.4 J = 25 g x specific heat of lithium x 7.69 K

or specific heat of Lithium = 684.4 J / (25 g x 7.69 K) = 3.56 J/g/K

We can also specify the specific heat of lithium as 3560 J/kg/K.

In comparison, the specific heat of water is 4.186 J/g/K or 4186 J/kg/K.

Hope this helps. 

Why should sex education be taught in school?

In the same way that schools teach students mathematics, literature, and science to enable them to make informed decisions (and develop interests) in life, schools can empower young people by providing them with accurate, comprehensive information about sex.

Many people worry that if young people are taught about sex in school, it may be a distraction or encourage them to engage in sexual activity. While being informed may not lower rates of premarital or underage sexual activity, it significantly decreases the risk of negative consequences of sex like unintended or unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, and injury or discomfort caused by sexual activity.

Comprehensive sex education covers not only reproductive biology and the mechanics of reproductive sex but also describes various methods of contraception, symptoms and effects of sexually transmitted infections, and what constitutes a healthy relationship where sexual activity might be appropriate. 

In most cases, a sex-education professional is more informed than a young person's friends or parents, who are primary sources of information regarding sex and reproduction. Many parents are uncomfortable discussing sex with their child, especially if the young person is not heterosexual or is gender non-conforming. Schools have the opportunity to provide their students with the most accurate, most comprehensive information about reproductive biology and sexuality so that they may make healthier decisions for themselves in life. 

Unfortunately, abstinence-only education or telling young people "just don't do it--"much less, scare tactics like only discussing sexually transmitted infections-- do not encourage young people to develop a healthy sexuality and make good decisions. A sex education program may be part of other courses on biology and health so that students easily make connections between human biology and development and the subjects of sex and sexuality. 

Discuss two elements which reinforce to the audience that The Lion and the Jewel is an African play.

Lakunle's conflict with traditional society throughout the play reinforces the audience that The Lion and the Jewel is an African play. Lakunle is continually criticizing traditional African customs such as Sidi carrying water on her head, revering the Bale, and most notably paying the bride-price. These customs are specific to the Yoruba culture which developed in West Africa.

Soyinka's characters also mention a significant Yoruba god throughout the play. When Sidi beings to criticize Baroka, Sadiku says, "May Sango restore your wits" (Soyinka 23). Sadiku again mentions the Yoruba god Sango when she dances for joy that Baroka is impotent. Sadiku comments, "Oh Sango my lord, who of us possessed your lighting and ran like fire through that lion's tail..." (Soyinka 33). Later on, Lakunle witnesses Sidi run into the village and throw herself to the ground. Lakunle says, "This trial is my own. Let Sango and his lighting keep out of this" (Soyinka 60). Sango is the god of thunder according to traditional Yoruba culture which is another element that reinforces to the audience that the play is African.

What would be required of police to search a car after a traffic stop?

There are generally three conditions under which a police officer can search a car after a traffic stop.

The first of these conditions is the consent of the driver.  The police may search anything they wish (house, car, backpack, etc) if the person who is control of that thing has given them permission.  Police will often ask permission to search a car.  If permission is granted, they may conduct a search after a traffic stop.

The second condition is if the officer has probable cause to believe that they will find evidence of some crime in the car.  Probable cause, of course, is somewhat hard to define.  The police have to have a good reason to think they will find something, but they do not have to be 100% certain.  For example, they cannot search a car because its occupants look suspicious, but they can search it if the occupants fit the general description of suspects in a crime recently committed in the vicinity of the place where the traffic stop occurs.

Finally, the police have the authority to search a car if they have reasonable cause to believe that someone in the car might pose a danger to them.  For example, if the police have reasonable cause to believe that someone in the car might have a gun, they can search the car without a warrant.

These are the general rules about when the police can search a car without a warrant after a traffic stop.  The exact details of the situation will determine whether the search is actually legal, but these are the general outlines of the situations in which it is legal to conduct such a search. 

Who was Gulliver's worst enemy in Lilliput?

For reasons unclear, Skyris Bolgolam (the High Admiral) becomes Gulliver's "mortal Enemy" almost as soon as Gulliver arrives in Lilliput.  Bolgolam's hatred of Gulliver increases after Gulliver's success against Blefuscu because it made Bolgolam look bad -- Gulliver was able to defeat the Blefuscudian fleet when Bolgolam could not.  Therefore, Bolgolam -- working with Flimnap, the High Treasurer -- accuses Gulliver of treason against the emperor of Lilliput and has prepared several articles for impeachment against him (according to a friendly informant who alerts Gulliver to the danger he is in).  Further, Bolgolam insists that Gulliver is a Big-Endian at heart, and the current administration is Little-Endian.  Bolgolam insists that Gulliver "be put to the most painful and ignominious Death," and wants to set fire to Gulliver's house at night, with an army outside, waiting to shoot him with poisoned arrows in case he should escape the conflagration.  The emperor will not allow Gulliver to be killed in such a manner, though he decides to starve the man-mountain instead.  Thus, Skyris Bolgolam is Gulliver's worst enemy, as he convinces the emperor that Gulliver is no friend to the state and deserves to die.

In Act III, Scene 1, what does Shylock mean when he says, "The villainy you teach me, I will execute — and it shall go hard but I will better...

At the end of his Act III, Scene 1 speech in which he argues a Jew feels things just as a Christian does, Shylock tells Salarino he will treat the Christians by the example set for him. In fact, Shylock says he may even outdo the "Christian example" he has been taught.

Shylock, in anticipation of the execution of his revenge against Antonio, hopes to "better the example" of what he calls Christian retaliation. For, earlier in his speech to Salarino, he has said sarcastically,

If a Jew offends a Christian, what’s the Christian’s kind and gentle reaction? Revenge.

Therefore, if Antonio's merchant ships are truly lost, Shylock fully intends to outdo the Christians' examples of revenge. He will demand the pound of flesh from Antonio, who has lost him many ducats in interest that Shylock could have acquired from loaning money if Antonio had not intervened repeatedly. Since Antonio lends money without charging interest as "a Christian courtesy," those in need approach him for loans instead of going to Shylock.

What testimony has been given in court by the old man who lives in the same building as the suspect in Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose?

After the jurors cloister themselves in the jury room and they take a vote, Juror No. 8 is the only one who votes "Not Guilty." When Juror No. 12 suggests that they convince him, No. 3, a very opinionated and intolerant man, goes over the facts. First, he refers to the neighbor's testimony.

The old man, who lives on the second floor under the room where the murder occurred, has testified that he heard noises that were quite loud coming from the upstairs apartment. To him, there seemed to be an argument going on; then, he heard the boy say to his father, "I'm gonna kill you." Right after this, he heard someone falling; so, he ran to his door to look out, and he saw the suspect running down the stairs and out of the house. After witnessing the boy's running away, the old man phoned the police. When the police arrived, the father was found with a knife in his chest.

This testimony seems rather damning, but it is the perseverance of Juror No. 8 in examining and re-examining the testimony and other facts of the case which lead them to feel that there is reasonable doubt about the son's being the one who stabbed his father. 

What would be a method for finding a thesis statement about JFK's assassination?

The first step might be to determine where your interests lie – in the motive?  In the political fallout? In the missed presidential opportunity? etc.  Then examine your bias or attitude or opinion about that area of inquiry – was there a conspiracy?  Did Johnson do a good job?  etc.  Then word that area and attitude in a question that has two sides to research and argue – What is the evidence for a Cuban conspiracy?  Who would benefit by Kennedy’s death?  What might have been accomplished by his presidency? etc.  This approach to a thesis statement gives you plenty of room to explore the subject and solidify your ideas as you research and write.  Leave room for discoveries during the process. Avoid being too specific at the outset of wording your thesis statement, but be exact and specific in the final draft.  Your final draft thesis statement should not be in question form, of course, but instead an arguable point of view, with researched evidence as support.  The questioning in an early draft is a way to make your final statement convincing. This project deserves your creative abilities as well as your organizational skills.

Could you give an explanation for the title of the story "Lamb to the Slaughter" by Roald Dahl?

The more times that I am forced to consider the title of this story, the more I think it is the perfect title.  

First, Mary is initially presented to the reader as a lamb.  A lamb is typically docile, meek, and mild.  Mary is waiting in the front room for Patrick to come home.  Once Patrick is home, she attends to his every need and then quietly sits near him.  She is perfectly content to bask in his glorious manliness.  

She loved to luxuriate in the presence of this man, and to feel – almost as a sunbather feels the sun – that warm male glow that came out of him to her when they were alone together. 

She is the lamb and Patrick is the protector.  That is until Patrick decides to metaphorically slaughter Mary.  He tells her that he is leaving her, and she is left completely devastated and broken. She is a slaughtered lamb.  

Mary goes to get dinner started in a daze.  She's practically a walking zombie.  Then Patrick announces that he is going out to dinner.  That's when the title of the story shifts meanings.  Mary is now the lamb coming to do the slaughtering. She is not the lamb to be slaughtered anymore.  She is the lamb to the slaughter of Patrick.  What's even better is that she brings an actual lamb to the slaughter.  Her murder weapon of choice is a leg of lamb.  

At that point, Mary Maloney simply walked up behind him and without any pause she swung the big frozen leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his head.

What does Anne mean when she writes in her diary, "Paper has more patience than people"?

Anne’s point is that people can sometimes be impatient with her, but she can write whatever she wants in her diary and complain all she wants to, making her diary seem understanding and compassionate.  Anne describes a saying that “paper has more patience” when she considers that she has never written in a diary, but that writing in a diary allows her to write her innermost thoughts.

Yes, paper does have more patience, and since I'm not planning to let anyone else read this stiff-backed notebook grandly referred to as a "diary," unless I should ever find a real friend, it probably won't make a bit of difference. (Saturday, June 20, 1942) 

Since Anne and her family are in hiding from the Nazis, there is often a lot of conflict. Too many people are in close quarters there.  Even before hiding, Anne and her mother often did not see eye to eye.  Anne felt that her mother was too critical, and her mother felt that Anne was immature or rude.  

The diary was an outlet for Anne.  She could write in it when something upset her, and write about her hopes and dreams.  That is why she named it Kitty, and said it was her only true friend.

What are the factors that encourage land pollution?

Land pollution is the long term damage, degradation or destruction of the soil and the surface of the earth by the direct or indirect activities of human beings.

Several factors encourage the activities resulting in land pollution. Waste generation is an inevitable end product of several human activities. An unwanted consequence of urbanization is the generation of huge amounts of garbage and industrial waste from factories, offices, homes, schools and hospitals. In spite of the utilization of sophisticated waste processing plants, unrecyclable items still end up in landfills, increasing the degree of land pollution.

An increase in demand for food and shelter to meet the needs of a growing population leads to the generation of more waste. Over-intensive agriculture through the use of agricultural pesticides and fertilizers lead to soil contamination and poisoning.

Mining activities and crude oil extraction for economic gains lead to oil spillage and contamination of arable land by toxic chemicals causing land pollution. Nuclear waste produced by energy generating nuclear plants are buried beneath the earth, but the harmful effects of radioactive material to the soil and other living things above it cannot be entirely eliminated.

I want help with an A level essay for the following assignment: Subject: "Pride and everything that goes along with it: Do they really bring...

You might want to start your essay by using a quotation from the King James Version of the Bible: 

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. (Proverbs 16:18)

This quotation is a warning against the dangers of excessive pride and emphasizes the importance of humility in the traditions of the Abrahamic religions. Your introductory paragraph should then mention that while excessive pride is condemned in many cultural traditions, many traditions also accept that some degree of pride can act as a positive motivation. Your final sentence in your introduction should point your reader forward to what you will cover in your body paragraphs.

For your body paragraphs, you might look at heroic epic for positive examples of pride. Achilles, for example, has a proud disposition, leading him to be a powerful warrior, but the clash between Agamemnon and Achilles, due to excessive pride, almost causes them to lose the war against Troy. Beowulf also is a hero who is motivated by pride in both himself and his family, something that spurs him to do great deeds; in the scene in which he fights Grendel's mother, pride helps him push through pain to triumph.

Excessive pride and ambition lead to the downfall of many characters. Satan in Paradise Lost and Macbeth are both characters whose excessive pride and ambition proves their undoing. 

In Okay for Now, how do the main characters change throughout the book?

From the beginning to the end of Okay for Now, the main character Doug and most of his family have changed significantly. Doug begins the story as a rather shy young man who feels stifled by his abusive father and brother. As the story progresses, Doug takes on more responsibility and makes more social connections, bringing him out of his shell. Mr. Powell helps Doug learn to express himself through drawing, while Miss Cowper and Mr. Ferris help him learn to read. Through this process, Doug's communication skills improve both literally and figuratively as he finds his voice through reading. By the end of the story, Doug has become a confident teenager who, as the principal says, can "go wherever he wants to go."

Doug's brothers, Christopher and Lucas, change significantly throughout the story as well. Lucas begins the story as an abusive young man who leaves his family to go to war. After being maimed in action, Lucas returns home broken, bitter and disillusioned. Through Doug's intervention and a friendship with the school's gym teacher, Lucas finds his way in the world and realizes the potential he thought was lost after his injuries.

Christopher also undergoes a significant change as the story evolves. While he was often cold and sometimes cruel to his younger brother at the beginning of the story, being accused of theft humbles Christopher. He realizes that Doug is there for him when no one else is and slowly but surely becomes a brother who can be relied upon for support.

Each one of the Swieteck brothers changes throughout Okay For Now in his own way. Although Doug's transformation is the most dramatic, it has ripple effects on the lives of his family members and everyone around him. By the end of the story, the reader is left with the sense that all of the main characters really will be okay.

In "The Most Dangerous Game" what are General Zaroff's accomplishments?

General Zaroff is a Cossack who grew up in a wealthy, landed family somewhere in the Crimea, an area which has gone back and forth between Russia and the Ukraine (it is currently part of Russia). As landed gentry it was expected that Zaroff would become an officer in the Russian military. He notes that for a time he commanded a division of cavalry and, as part of the upper class, fought against the Bolsheviks during the civil war which followed the 1917 revolution. He fails to mention any specific accomplishment as a soldier, but he does go into detail about his outstanding ability as a hunter. He tells Rainsford that he killed his first bear when he was only ten years old. Afterward, hunting became Zaroff's main passion in life. He talks of hunting in every region of he world and that he was able to fund his adventures investing in "American securities" after those loyal to the czar were defeated in the civil war:

"Naturally, I continued to hunt—grizzlies in your Rockies, crocodiles in the Ganges, rhinoceroses in East Africa. It was in Africa that the Cape buffalo hit me and laid me up for six months. As soon as I recovered I started for the Amazon to hunt jaguars, for I had heard they were unusually cunning."

In fact, Zaroff becomes such an accomplished hunter that he eventually grows bored with the sport because every time he hunts he knows he will win. This is why he purchases the island where he adopts a new form of hunting involving the pursuit of men who are shipwrecked on his remote island. In the end, despite all his skill, he is unable to defeat Rainsford and when the two meet at the end of the story, Zaroff is killed by the American, who describes himself as a "beast at bay."

How can I write a three to five page analysis on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit?

This question is a little difficult to answer, as you can write an analysis about many different aspects of a work of literature. However, what I can do is give you some advice on how to approach analytical writing, and then give you some ideas about prominent themes in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit to analyze. 

Writing an analysis paper is like forming an argument. There are a couple of general steps you should follow when you're working on this kind of assignment. First, read the work of literature you have to analyze. Then, think about your particular opinion of the book. Usually, this opinion shouldn't be general (don't just say it's a "good" or "bad" book), but should deal with an important theme, idea, scene, or stylistic aspect in the book. Then, you'll come up with a thesis. This might sound complicated, but a thesis is just your particular opinion about a specific point in a work of literature. In other words, your thesis is your main argument/what you think about the point you're analyzing. Once you come up with a thesis, you'll need to back it up by picking examples from the book that support your ideas, and then explaining what these examples mean and how they prove your thesis.

Here's an example: you could analyze The Hobbit by reading it as an example of the Hero's Journey (a specific sequence of events, themes, and motifs that occurs again and again in literature and is absolutely present in The Hobbit). A sample thesis statement, depending on what you actually think about the topic, could read as follows: "I believe that The Hobbit is an example of the Hero's Journey because it includes perfect examples of each stage of this cycle, including the Departure, the Initiation, and the Return." Then, the rest of your essay would involve presenting examples from the book that support this idea. For example, you could argue that Bilbo's unexpected party is the Hero's Journey's Call to Adventure, or that his heroism in Mirkwood is part of the Initiation stage. All of these could be great examples, as long as you thoroughly and logically explain how they support your thesis. 

Don't worry if you don't want to write about the Hero's Journey in The Hobbit; that was just an example. There are many other things you could write about, such as the parallels between Tolkien's novel and the poem Beowulf, the importance of Bilbo's merciful refusal to kill Gollum, and more. If you're still having trouble writing your analysis paper, I'd recommend looking at ' essay resources. They're excellent and could give you some more specific support. 

How did Hancock help Johnny in Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes?

John Hancock ordered a silver sugar basin as a birthday gift for his Aunt Lydia.  The sugar basin was to match the creamer pitcher he already owned.  The original sugar basin, which Mr. Lapham had made many years before, had been melted recently by a maid.  When John Hancock left the shop, he gave Johnny Tremain and the two other apprentices each a coin.

Johnny Tremain was confident that he could recreate the original sugar basin.  A terrible accident occurred while Johnny was making the silver basin.  His hand was badly burned, and he was no longer able to work as a silversmith's apprentice.  His entire life changed.  Desperate, Johnny went to John Hancock for help.  He begged Mr. Hancock to give him a job as a cabin boy, but the man refused.  Johnny left, but Mr. Hancock's slave followed him.  He gave Johnny a purse full of coins from Mr. Hancock:

Johnny took the purse.  It was heavy.  That much copper would provide him with food for days.  He opened it.  It was not copper, but silver.  John Hancock had not been able to look at the crippled hand--nor could he help but make this handsome present (Johnny Tremain, page 65).

Why would Shakespeare include the theme of corruption and decay in Hamlet?

Corruption and decay are a constant theme in Hamlet. From Horatio's assertion early in the play that something is "rotten in the state of Denmark," to Hamlet's disturbing joke that "politic worms" are eating the corpse of the recently dead Polonius, to his reflections on viewing Yorick's skull in the graveyard, the characters seem obsessed with the subject. One reason why Shakespeare may have included this theme is that he wished to underscore the foulness of the crime Claudius had committed. By murdering his brother and marrying his former sister-in-law, the king has eaten away at the moral center of Denmark. Something is rotten indeed in Denmark, and Hamlet is alone (with only Horatio as a confidant) in his knowledge of exactly what the source of the corruption really is. The theme of corruption and disease also serves to emphasize Hamlet's apparent madness, a major manifestation of which is his obsession with death and mortality. This, of course, is the focus of his speech at Yorick's grave. Thus corruption and decay can be found at the heart of Denmark and in Hamlet's own psyche. Shakespeare drives home the ubiquity of this theme through evoking it in one scene after another.

Kidder points out that Farmer is dissatisfied with the current distribution of money and medicine in the world. What is your opinion of the...

Dr. Paul Farmer, physician and anthropologist, is the co-founder of Partners In Health, a non-profit organization that states that it has two major goals: 

... to bring the benefits of modern medical science to those most in need of them and to serve as an antidote to despair ...

The essential argument of Farmer is that we have a moral obligation to alleviate suffering and thus that poverty should be no obstacle to medical care. 

I agree that income inequality and the ensuing level of inequality in medical care are morally problematic. Adequate food, shelter, safety, and medical care seem to me fundamental human rights, especially in a world that has more than sufficient wealth to distribute these universally.

In the case of infectious diseases, given the level of global travel and migration, it also seems in the self-interest of wealthier countries to aid poorer ones, as diseases know no borders. It is only by global programs of vaccination and care that we can eradicate diseases rather than leaving reservoirs permitting the diseases to recur. 

In "The Postmaster" by Tagore, what is the relationship between the postmaster and Ratan?

The relationship between the postmaster and Ratan is an emotionally imbalanced one.

The postmaster’s needs are met in his relationship with Ratan.  He finds a companion even though he is isolated from others. He finds someone who helps him pass the time in Ulapur.  When he is with Ratan, the postmaster is able to relive the joys of his family and his past life in Calcutta. At the same time, the postmaster benefits from Ratan’s loyalty towards him.  She waits on him with extreme devotion, taking care of him when he falls ill and never leaving the front of his home.  It is clear that the postmaster's needs are sufficiently met in this relationship.  Ratan selflessly gave the postmaster whatever she could.

When the postmaster tells Ratan he is leaving, it is the only time she insists on reciprocity.  She asks to be a part of his life in Calcutta. The dismissiveness in his response reflects how her needs were a distant second to his in their relationship. He received what he needed at the time, and now he no longer requires her because he is going “home.”   Tagore illustrates a relationship where two desperate people who met in one particular moment needed one another at that instant. In this relationship, one person’s needs were met, while the other's remained unfulfilled despite giving so much. Contrasting the postmaster’s content ending with Ratan’s pathetic state of “wandering about the post office in a flood of tears” shows the relationship’s emotional imbalance.

Where is there a synecdoche in Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights?

A synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part is used to stand for a whole (or sometimes, a whole is used to stand for a part). The following sentence from Wuthering Heights contains a synecdoche: "Mr. Heathcliff may have entirely dissimilar reasons for keeping his hand out of the way when he meets a would-be acquaintance, to those which actuate me." Mr. Lockwood, Heathcliff's tenant, says this about Heathcliff in Chapter 1 in reference to Mr. Lockwood's own tendency to be shy and retiring. In this example, "hand" is a synecdoche because it is a part that stands for the whole. Heathcliff does not only keep his hand out of the way when he meets people, but instead keeps his whole body out of the way. "Hand" is used to represent his entire self. 

What happens in an aqueous solution as the concentration of H3O+ decreases? ...

Each water molecule can form four hydrogen bonds with other water molecules due to its polar nature.

Therefore, a hydrogen atom taking part in a hydrogen bond between two water molecules can shift from one water molecule to the other. When this occurs, it leaves its electron behind. Therefore, the hydrogen ion will be a proton written as H+. The molecule that has lost its proton is called a hydroxide ion with the symbol OH-. The molecule that has accepted the extra proton is now called H30+ and is known as a hydronium ion. It is sometimes written as simply H+.

The process described above is dissociation of water molecules. However, these molecules can re-form water exists in a state of equilibrium with a neutral pH of 7.

Anytime a substance increases the H+ ion concentration in solution, it is called an acid. A base reduces the H+ ion concentration of a solution. Water is technically both an acid and a base. A shift in the number of H+ ions where they outnumbered the OH- ions would result in a lowered pH and the solution would be acidic. A shift in the number of H+ ions where they were less than the OH- ions would result in an increase in pH.

In a water- based solution at 25 degrees C, the product of H+ ions and OH- ions = 10 -14. Basically, in a neutral solution, there is an equal number of H+ and OH- ions.

The pH of a solution = -log (H+) therefore, in neutral water, the H ion concentration is 10-7 and if one uses the formula above, pH= - (-7)= 7. 

The pH scale is written from 1 to 14. Neutral water has a pH of 7 and values below 7 are increasingly stronger acids. Values above 7 and continuing to 14 are increasingly stronger bases.

In a solution, if the number of H30+ ions (also written as H+ ions) decreases, the pH of the solution will increase. There will be a shift toward more OH- negative ions as the H3O + ions decrease. 

In the poem "Dream Variations" by Langston Hughes, why does the idea of whirling and dancing have power? What does it symbolize to Hughes?

In Hughes's poem, he speaks about stretching his arms wide during the day. He writes, "To whirl and to dance / Till the white day is done. / Then rest at cool evening." This is a poem about dreams, and whirling and dancing are powerful ideas in this poem because they express his desire to be free and express himself fully. However, because Hughes is a black man, he does not have the ability to express himself fully during the day or expand his arms wide, literally and figuratively. His days are likely spent working, and he lives in a society that does not always allow him to whirl and dance. When he cries, "Dance! Whirl! Whirl!," he is expressing his dreams rather than reality. These actions symbolize what he feels a black man can't do in America--that is, to act with freedom, creativity, and abandon. 

What is your impression of Bruno in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas?

Bruno is a heroic figure in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.

The way Bruno views people leaves an impression.  Bruno treats people as ends in of themselves, and not as a means to an end.  In this regard, Bruno is authentic. While he might make mistakes, such as thinking that Pavel could not be a doctor or letting Shmuel take abuse from Kotler, Bruno makes amends.  He does not mistreat people deliberately.  This makes him different from others in the novel.  Bruno's father looks at Auschwitz as enhancing his career, while Gretel sees the embrace of Nazism as a vehicle for popularity.  Bruno's mother fails to speak out when she knows better, while Kotler is the prototypical Nazi when it comes to abusing people. Bruno is heroic in the honorable way he treats people, something rare in the Holocaust time period.

Bruno is heroic in how he stands by his word to Shmuel. Once again, it was rare for people to be this decent during the Holocaust.  When Bruno promises Shmuel that they will go on an "adventure," he sees to it that they do. Eve though Bruno is scared about what he finds on the other side of the fence, he does not back away from his promise of being there for his friend.  Finally, as he and Shmuel walk into the gas chamber, into terrifying reality, he affirms their friendship.  Bruno's heroism can be seen in his loyalty towards Shmuel.

Finally, I would say that Bruno is heroic because he is an example of how people should behave even in the worst of situations.  During the Holocaust, there was so much cruelty that not taking action or being apathetic could be seen as a virtue.  Given how badly people behaved, not doing anything was better than perpetrating evil. However, Bruno is a reminder that in the worst of times, human beings must act in the best of their nature. Relativism does not apply to human decency.  Bruno embodies the very best during the very worst, and this impression makes him heroic.

What is the difference between a servant and a slave, and how does this relate to Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson?

Peter Wood, a professor of history at Duke University, was asked this very same question.  His answer has always surprised me because I always assumed that the difference between a servant and a slave was that a servant could legally choose to quit, while a slave could not do that.  Wood's description of the difference between slaves and servants is quite interesting.  

A servant could be a white person or black person.  Skin color doesn't make a difference.  The defining feature of a servant is that he or she is under contract to work for a certain number of years.  When the contract time runs out, that person is free to leave and seek out another contract if desired.  What I find interesting about Wood's response is that he says owners occasionally treated their servants worse than their slaves because the owner knew that he/she had the servant for a limited time.  In essence, the servant was the equivalent of a rental, while the slave was actual property and needed to be taken care of.  

In Isabel's situation though, Isabel was treated much more poorly as a slave than Becky was treated as a servant. 

In Coriolanus by Shakespeare, is Coriolanus's death an assertion of his role as a heroic Roman warrior, or is it a death of a traitorous villain?

There is no straightforward answer to this intriguing question. Like many of Shakespeare’s heroes, Coriolanus is both a victim and a villain. He is the definition of a tragic hero whose flaws bring about his destruction. He certainly does not die in battle, the usual death of a heroic Roman warrior. Instead, a group of conspirators stab him to death. The crowd cries, “Tear him to pieces,” and the conspirators chant, “Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill him!” Even Coriolanus directs, “Cut me to pieces, Volsces; men and lads, / Stain all your edges on me.”

It is possible that Coriolanus dies in a blaze of glory, fighting his way through the conspirators until they slay him. Another interpretation is that he simply gives up or is taken by surprise. There is not enough evidence in the text to know exactly how he dies. The Volsces murder Coriolanus because he has helped and hurt both them and the Romans. It is interesting that the Romans do not kill him for betraying them. Instead, the Volsces stab him because he not only failed to take Rome, but he needs to pay for his past violence against them when he was loyal to Rome.

Ultimately, Coriolanus dies as a traitor to both Rome and the Volsces, and as a hero to both sides. Aufidius commemorates him as a destructive but honorable warrior:

Though in this city he
Hath widow'd and unchilded many a one,
Which to this hour bewail the injury,
Yet he shall have a noble memory.

Coriolanus threatened Rome, but eventually saved it from himself. He also advanced the Volsces, but did not deliver them Rome. Coriolanus dies as both traitor and hero.

What are some examples of the impact of the internment camp on the family in the book Farewell to Manzanar?

The internment camp was hurriedly put up, and minimal efforts were directed towards health and sanitation. People suffered from diarrhea and other sanitation related diseases. Jeanne suffered from exposure to the filthy conditions and the situation affected the family.

Group living in the internment camp forced the people, including the Wakatsuki family, to share all the available amenities. In addition, the rooms were small, and the situation affected individual privacy. For instance, the young couples in the Wakatsuki family were forced to share the small space with their parents.

The internment camp also affected the family psychologically. Years after the camps were closed, the Japanese people carried the shame associated with living in the camps, and Jeanne was among those affected by the experience.

The Wakatsuki family was also split by the relocation. Mr. Wakatsuki was arrested and separated from his family. His son was forced to take charge of the family when they settled in Manzanar.

What historical circumstances resulted in the Louisiana Purchase?

After the French-Indian War in 1763, France lost all of its North American holdings but maintained control of the island of Haiti.  After this war, Spain owned the land that would be known as the Louisiana Purchase.  During the Napoleonic War, France regained the territory and Napoleon intended on using the land as a granary to feed his army and the island of Haiti to provide sugar for trade.  In 1803, the slaves of Haiti overthrew their French masters and declared an independent nation.  Napoleon now saw the North American land as a hindrance, as it would be something else to defend against the British.  When Jefferson sent ambassadors to Napoleon to ask to use the port of New Orleans, Napoleon surprised them by offering to sell the entire territory, encompassing millions of acres.  Jefferson instructed his envoys to create a deal with the French, and the treaty was sent to Congress.  Congress, while upset that they were not consulted and that this massive land purchase was supposed to be outside the presidential realm of power, signed off on the popular land purchase, thus overnight more than doubling the size of the United States.  

Why did Ratan feel so crushed at the end of "The Postmaster" by Rabindranath Tagore?

In the story, Ratan felt abandoned by her employer. His nonchalant rejection of her, based on his decision to return to Calcutta alone, essentially crushed her spirits.

Ratan had always been a faithful servant girl, and in her naivety, assumed that the postmaster would value and welcome her presence in his new life. As an unmarried man, Ratan's employer probably felt uncomfortable with the prospect of returning to Calcutta with a little girl in tow. The damage to his reputation might have been devastating; his chances for future material advancement and marriage prospects might have suffered. Essentially, the postmaster wasn't courageous enough to take any chances.

Because he neglected to consider matters from Ratan's point of view, the postmaster acted insensitively towards his young servant. Essentially, her faithfulness and solicitude were rewarded by abandonment and rejection. Ratan is crushed because she was loyal to and trusted the postmaster implicitly but is betrayed.

What are some examples that economics was a strong force in the colonization of the New World?

There are some examples that show that economics was a factor in the colonization of the New World. When Spain sponsored Christopher Columbus and his voyages, one factor that influenced their decision to sponsor him was that they hoped he would find minerals. If he found minerals, this would help strengthen the Spanish treasury.

The British also hoped to discover minerals in the New World. Some of the early settlements, such as Jamestown, were based on the hope of finding gold and silver. The British also had an interest in North America because they needed resources for their factories when the Industrial Revolution began. They knew it would be cheaper to get resources from their colonies instead of buying them from other countries. They also knew the colonies would serve as a guaranteed market for their goods that were manufactured in the factories in Great Britain. This would benefit the British economy.

The French were very protective of the lands they controlled in the North America. The French made a great deal of money from the lucrative fur trade. They didn’t want other countries, mainly Great Britain, infringing on this trade. It was a factor that led to the start of the French and Indian War.

Economics was definitely a factor in the colonization and development of the New World.

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne, how many children live in the hut with Shmuel?

In Chapter 12, Shmuel tells Bruno about his experience leaving his home in Poland. Shmuel explains to Bruno that the first hut his family was forced to stay in was only one room. He goes on to tell Bruno that he lived there with his mother, father, brother, as well as another family that had "sons." Shmuel then tells Bruno that one of the sons was named Luka, and he used to beat him up. Bruno shakes his head to contradict Shmuel because he doesn't believe that two families could live in one hut, but Shmuel insists that he is being honest. Shmuel then says that there were eleven people living in the hut together. Using this information one can figure out that Shmuel was living with six other children in one hut before they were sent away to live in Auschwitz. Shmuel does not give any information regarding how many children he lives with in Auschwitz, but the reader does learn that Shmuel's mother was taken away from them. Shmuel currently lives with his brother, Josef, and his Papa in a hut at Auschwitz.

What is the World State's response to overpopulation in Brave New World by Aldous Huxley?

The World State's response to overpopulation is to regulate the type and number of the population on a global scale.

According to Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, the World State is the entity responsible for keeping the population at an optimum number for each succeeding generation. By its calculation, a population of under two billion is the ideal population number to support global welfare. To ensure the realization of its population goals, the World State relies on eugenics and dysgenics.

Eugenics basically refers to the breeding of superior human beings for the welfare of global societies. Conversely, in Brave New World, dysgenics refers to the breeding of inferior human beings for the purposes of supporting the higher-skilled populations of the earth.

In his novel, Huxley introduces the idea the population of the earth must not only be maintained at a certain number, but also that the number of that optimum population must be carefully apportioned among the genetically superior and the genetically inferior. This ensures the majority of the population is composed of genetically superior humans.

In the novel, biologically superior ova and sperm are fertilized and decanted as superior species of Alphas, Betas, and Alpha Pluses. To ensure a class of almost sub-human beings are able to support the genetically superior beings, inferior ova is combined with inferior sperm to produce Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons. As an additional step, the Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons are exposed to what is called Bokanovsky's Process. The novel describes the process:

One egg, one embryo, one adult-normality. But a bokanovskified egg will bud, will proliferate, will divide. From eight to ninety-six buds, and every bud will grow into a perfectly formed embryo, and every embryo into a full-sized adult. Making ninety-six human beings grow where only one grew before. Progress.

In the novel, Bokanovsky's Process is combined with Podsnap's Technique, which speeds up the maturation of unfertilized eggs to produce a vast number of these genetically inferior beings. The Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons are used to perform unskilled, menial labor; the World State keeps this group content in its servile condition by providing the members of this subhuman group easy and plentiful access to gratuitous entertainment, sexual fulfillment, and daily doses of soma (a pleasure drug). Since drugs like cocaine and heroin aren't legally available in the dystopian world of the novel, soma is the only available means by which the World State can protect itself from rebellion within its borders; it's an insurance policy against uprisings and societal unrest.

To prevent over-producing humans of either genetically superior or inferior stock, the World State only allows 30% of female embryos to develop normally. The others develop into what are called freemartins: sterile women developed from female embryos that were periodically injected with male sex hormones.

Since the World State makes all decisions for citizens, they also decide when human beings die. Those who are too sick and old are not allowed to burden society with their infirmities. Death conditioning begins at the age of eighteen months; every toddler spends at least two mornings a week at the Hospital for the Dying.

So, to recap, the World State's response to overpopulation is to control the number and type of citizenry as well as to utilize euthanasia to dispose of what the state considers useless citizens.

Why would a country have a low GDP per person? Why is Madagascar so poor?

That's the trillion-dollar question, isn't it? If we knew precisely what determined the GDP of a country, development economics would be a solved problem.

But I can tell you some things that most economists believe are important to the development (or lack thereof) of a country's GDP.

The first is institutions. In order to achieve and maintain prosperity, a country must have institutions that support economic development, which generally means some form of democracy and free market economy. The precise form can vary (Switzerland is more democratic than the United Kingdom, while the United States has more free markets than France, yet all are about equally prosperous), and there are some exceptions, especially in the short run (Saudi Arabia has horrible totalitarian institutions, but will remain wealthy as long as the oil continues to flow). But in general, you need to have a free government and a free market if you really want to achieve a high level of economic development.

Does Madagascar have these things? Not really. Madagascar has a moderately free government with a high level of corruption, and in the 1970s implemented a number of socialist economic policies that undermined investment and stunted economic growth. Starting in the 1980s many of these policies were reformed, and Madagascar transitioned to a more liberal export-oriented economy. But with corruption high, investments intended to support growth have been skimmed off to line the pockets of individual government officials.

Which brings me to the next two key features: infrastructure and education. Successful economies always have a large infrastructure base of roads, rails, electric power, and clean running water; most regions of Madagascar have none of these things. Prosperous countries have educated populations where almost everyone is literate and a large fraction go to college; Madagascar has hardly anyone with college degrees and a large fraction of the population who are outright illiterate.

Trade is another important source of wealth, which Madagascar has had trouble maintaining due to their geographic isolation. Their large sea coast could help with trade (it is certainly better than being landlocked), but they are very far from most of the major trade hubs like Tokyo, New York, London or Singapore.

Notice what I haven't mentioned: Land or natural resources. Madagascar does have many natural resources, but these actually turn out not to be all that relevant to economic development. They don't hurt necessarily (at one time economists actually thought they did hurt, an idea called the "Resource Curse", but it turns out that the problem isn't the natural resources per se but the extractive institutions that tend to build up around them if they are the only source of wealth. The US and Norway are quite rich in natural resources, and they do just fine because they have sound institutions.)

To make matters worse, Madagascar has a long history of colonialism and extractive institutions, starting centuries ago with French colonization. Even after independence they were never fully able to shed these institutions, and still have an economic system that works better at enriching a small few than it does at achieving overall prosperity.

Reforming Madagascar to achieve economic growth will be no small task, but we must not give up hope. Other countries such as Korea and Japan have lifted themselves out of similar levels of poverty in the past. Once we figure out exactly how, perhaps we can achieve it elsewhere as well.

What are operating system functions?

When most end-users encounter computers, they are working on what are sometimes referred to as "virtual machines." In other words, when you interact with a computer or smart phone, there are many layers of software between you and the device you are using. Computers are actually very simple devices, that can store binary data (bits that can have the value of 0 or 1) and perform a very limited set of operations on those bits. What enables computers to perform such operations as accepting input from keyboards and mice and displaying output on monitors is a combination of software and firmware (firmware is basically software hardwired into a system). 

The operating system of a computer is a type of managerial software that handles many of the computer's administrative functions, such as switching between tasks. The key function of an operating system is actually to execute a wait loop, a sequence of code in which it looks for interrupts or signals from various devices (keyboard, mouse, internal clock, etc.) to see if anything needs to be done. Then, if the operating system sees that it has received one or more such signals, it responds by transferring control to an appropriate piece of software (either an operating system module or an application) to deal with the interrupt. Operating systems also provide standard interfaces for application software and handle issues such as memory management, allocating resources among various tasks, resolving conflicts among tasks, and handling interfaces with external devices, so that people writing application software such as word processors or spread sheets can focus on application functionality, and simply use standard commands to write something in a specific font to the screen, for example, rather than dealing with the mechanics of displaying every single pixel in each letter a user will see. 

On which page does the quote, "...drank it up anyways... Sometimes went off in the swamp for days, and come home sick...." appear in To Kill...

This quote is pulled from the middle of Chapter 18 of To Kill a Mockingbird. (In the paperback edition published by Warner Books, it is on page 185).

In this chapter, Mayella Ewell is on the witness stand, supposedly recounting what happened on the day that she was purportedly raped. She is a fairly hostile witness as she complains after Atticus calls her "ma'am":

"I don't hafta take his sass. I ain't called upon to take it."

Judge Taylor explains that Mr. Finch is merely being polite. So Atticus continues and asks Mayella a number of questions. From this interrogation it becomes apparent that Bob Ewell is an irresponsible, dissolute, and neglectful parent. Their relief check is not only insufficient to provide for everyone, but Ewell often takes it and spends it on liquor. He stays away from the house and drinks until there is nothing left. The children fend for themselves, and as the oldest, Mayella must care for the younger ones. 

When Atticus asks her, "Does he ever go after you?" Mayella becomes quiet. Judge Taylor orders her to answer. Then, she declares, "My paw's never touched a hair o' my head in my life." Clearly, she fears retaliation.

The speed of light in a transparent plastic object is the same as that in water. Explain whether or not you can see this object when it is...

Hello!

Theoretically, the answer is no, you cannot see such an object in water.

It would be no refraction of light between such plastic and water. Refraction occurs when an inclined ray approaches a boundary between two media, in which the speed of light is different.

Refraction occurs because while one side of the ray moves through the external medium, the second side of the ray already hits the internal medium and moves with the different speed. Therefore the front of the ray rotates and the ray itself changes its direction.

If speeds of light are the same, this change of direction is zero (no change of a direction). In other words, all light rays will go through the object the same way as through water, an we couldn't discover it with the help of light. This means we cannot see the object.

In Hoot, how are Beatrice's and Roy's families similar? Different?

Beatrice and Roy have slightly similar families, but in most ways their families are different. Both Beatrice and Roy are their biological parents' only children. Both Beatrice's and Roy's fathers have been high achievers in their professions. Leon Leep was a professional basketball player, and Roy's father has received multiple promotions within the Department of Justice. Of course, both families live fairly near each other in Coconut Cove, Florida, and their children attend the same school.

Beyond those few similarities, however, the families stand in stark contrast to each other. Roy's parents are nurturing and loving. They commend him when he does something good, they discipline or reprimand him when he does something wrong, and they help him think through tough issues. His mother and father seem to agree about most things and don't quarrel much. Roy's father works outside the home, while his mother doesn't. They go on family outings, eat dinner, and spend Sundays together. His parents don't hover over him, though. They allow him enough freedom to solve his problems and grow in the process. In short, they represent a functional family.

Beatrice's family is dysfunctional. Her parents quarrel and even become physically violent with each other. They are a blended family; Lonna is Beatrice's stepmother. Beatrice has never bonded with Lonna, and Lonna doesn't want her son around. Leon seems depressed and may be an alcoholic. He doesn't work and seems to have no practical life skills or healthy interests. Lonna works in the evenings. The family doesn't seem to do things together or enjoy each other's company. Beatrice makes supper for her father each night because she doesn't think he's capable of doing it for himself. 

Beatrice's family represents the inadequate parenting that many of the teens in Coconut Cove seem to have, while Ray's family represents parents who are healthy and engaged enough to provide a positive environment for their child.

How does Marlowe's Doctor Faustus relate to Dante and Everyman?

Marlowe's Doctor Faustus does relate to the concept of Everyman as seen in Dante's Divine Comedy because, at least in part, both have strong central thematic elements foregrounding God's salvation—even for ordinary humans in a sinful condition—attained through repentance and calling upon God's name, a dominant theme in Everyman (The Summoning of Everyman, 15th century), the play most connected with the Everyman character type. Both plays also examine the idea of the heroic nature of the ordinary, undistinguished Everyman.

Everyman characters are ordinary individuals with no distinguishing talents or abilities who find themselves in situations that require something heroic of them. Dante emerges from the nine celestial spheres into the light of Beatrice's love, his metaphoric salvation. Faustus fails to find a way to ask for salvation, even though signs and opportunities appear before him, and he is overcome by demons.

One presentation of the theme of salvation from sin is represented by Dante, who is saved, and its opposite is represented by Faustus, who is not saved. One representation of Dante's Everyman character is that his journey quest caused heroic traits to ultimately triumph, for himself and for Beatrice. The oppositional representation of a heroic Everyman character is Faustus, who scorns the ordinary, the commonplace, the undistinguished in his pursuit of privileged, elitist knowledge: Faustus feels himself removed from the realm of the uninspired, ordinary Everyman who rises above his circumstances in heroic ways.