Why did Theodore Taylor dedicate The Cay to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.?

While a central conflict of The Cay is a man vs. nature struggle for survival, the book also has an emphasis on racial conflicts.  Phillip has been raised to believe that his white skin makes him superior to people of different colors.  Throughout the book, Phillip learns that his parents are wrong.  He learns that Timothy is absolutely not an inferior human being.  Phillip learns that Timothy is an equal.  Phillip's blindness is most definitely a literal plot device, but it is also a metaphorical device too.  Phillip becomes blind to Timothy's skin color.  It simply doesn't matter, and the two characters are able to sit down with each other in mutual respect.  

Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech displays the same kind of vision for race relations.  

"I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood."

The Cay, through the characters of Phillip and Timothy, echoes Dr. King's speech.  That is why I think Taylor dedicated it to Dr. King.  

How did Greece’s geography affect recent world events?

The question asks how Greece’s geography has affected recent world events. The term “recent world events” is rather broad, so let’s narrow it to the issue of refugees from the conflict in Syria. The fundamental elements of Greece’s geography relevant to this issue are:

1. Control over numerous small islands in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

2. A relatively rugged, mountainous border region with both Turkey to the east and the rest of the Balkans to the north.

3. Membership in the European Union.

These three factors have conspired to make Greece the primary route through which refugees from the Syrian conflict have attempted to escape into Western Europe and seek asylum (and ultimately permanent residence) there. Many Greek islands are close enough to Syria and Turkey to make it tempting for refugees to attempt to navigate to them in various small craft. The rugged border with Turkey makes infiltration possible through that route. Finally, EU membership makes doing so attractive, because the free travel allowed among EU member states has made control of refugees problematic. Additionally, standards of living in these states are among the highest in the world, so there is a belief among refugees that “if they can just get there,” economic opportunity and freedom will be waiting. If Greece were not part of the union, this latter impetus might well not be present, as Greece itself is struggling economically and does not have a large economy which could absorb substantial numbers of refugees.

Describe the major elements in the Compromise of 1850.

There were four main components to the Compromise of 1850. California wanted to join the Union as a free state and would be allowed to do so. Secondly, the Utah and the New Mexico territories were created. The people living in these territories would determine if there would or wouldn’t be slavery in them.

There were two other parts to the Compromise of 1850. The trading of slaves in Washington, DC would end. Finally, the Fugitive Slave Law was passed. This law required northerners to help capture runaway slaves and return them to the South. This meant that a runaway slave could no longer be confident that escaping to the North would mean he or she would be free. The Compromise of 1850 gave both the North and the South some things that they wanted. However, each side didn’t get everything that it wanted.

Why are Shakespeare's plays/ works still relevant today?

One reason Shakespeare remains relevant is because he created characters anyone can relate to. He developed such a wide variety of characters that it is almost impossible not to find one who appeals to a reader. He wrote about teenagers in love and old men nearing the end of their lives. He depicted love and grief in a very real, human way.

Another reason Shakespeare remains relevant is because of his stories themselves. We still read fairy tales and remember their characters and morals because they teach lessons. Just as with fairy tales, we remember the lessons Shakespeare teaches in his stories. In Romeo and Juliet, for example, we learn the pitfalls of "fast love" and unbridled passion/ violence.  

The themes in Shakespeare's work reflect the present day, too. Today, racism and sexism exist. Shakespeare explores these themes in plays like The Merchant of Venice. We can look at these themes in Shakespeare and apply them to our own lives.

What lessons does Holling learn that are directly related to Shakespeare and the stories he reads in Gary Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars?

Throughout Gary Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars, Holling applies multiple lessons found in Shakespeare's plays to his own life. Two of those lessons concern better understanding his father and betrayal.

One of the first plays he reads with Mrs. Baker is The Merchant of Venice. After reading the play, Holling decides that Shylock "isn't really a villain"; he is instead a person trapped by his circumstances ("October"). Holling decides that Shylock had wanted to be a different person but could not because others in society around him "wouldn't let him. They decided he had to be a certain way, and he was trapped" ("October"). Later, Holling applies the lesson to his own father. Though Mr. Hoodhood acts like a villain by ignoring his children's needs and placing his business above all else, Holling begins to see that his father may not really be a villain after all. After his father gets the contract to design the new junior high school, Holling observes that his father gleefully thinks of how Kowalski and Associates will surely go out of business, which will place him in a good position to be given the Chamber of Commerce Businessman award next year too. He sees his father greedily rubbing his hands together, like Shylock, and stops to think if he is this way simply because it's what others expect of him:

I suddenly wondered if my father was really like Shylock. Not because he loved ducats, but because maybe he had become the person that everyone expected him to become. I wondered if he had ever had a choice, or if he had ever felt trapped. Or if he had ever imagined a different life. ("February")

Later, Holling challenges his father by saying that becoming a man has to do with becoming whom you choose to be.

Similarly, studying Romeo and Juliet helps Holling better understand human nature. Soon, Holling feels betrayed by Meryl Lee because her father presented to the school board the design Holling had shown her, the design his own father was working on. At first, Holling decides Shakespeare is trying to show through Romeo and Juliet that it is a part of human nature not to be trustworthy. However, he comes to realize that Meryl Lee had innocently shown her father Holling's drawing because she was proud of it, and her own father had betrayed her. This realization also helps Holling understand that Shakespeare's real message in the play is to show how much human beings struggle when they find themselves "car[ing] about two things at the same time" due to human nature being so very fragile ("February"). Human nature is so fragile that we struggle to figure out where to place our loyalties and trust, and incorrect choices concerning loyalty and trust can lead to tragic consequences. 

How does Nick Carraway describe Myrtle Wilson in The Great Gatsby?

Nick's description of Myrtle Wilson when he first meets her at Wilson's garage, sharply contrasts his characterizations of Daisy Buchanan, who is young, girlish, languid, and has a "low, thrilling voice," dressed in white when he meets her in the novel's beginning (13). Myrtle is in her thirties and is "faintly stout" (29). She wears a dark blue dress. He says her face contains no beauty, but she has "an immediately perceptible vitality" (30). She carries "her surplus flesh sensuously" (29). She has a "soft, coarse voice" (30). When Tom and Nick meet her later, she has changed clothes, but she is still in a dark dress, brown, and it "stretched tight over her rather wide hips" (31). It is difficult to imagine anyone more different from Daisy Buchanan than Myrtle Wilson, the former in her setting at an East Egg mansion on the shore and the latter living above the garage on the edge of an ash heap. 

How can I get started writing an ethnographic field study paper?

When writing a paper of any sort, it's best to focus on a subject that interests you, but I would argue it is even more important when writing an ethnography. Ask yourself: what am I interested in? Throughout history, ethnography was largely limited to comparing, contrasting, and describing the unique histories and life-ways of distinct ethnic groups. With shifting attitudes and frameworks in Anthropology, you could really write an ethnography-style paper on any portion of a society in the world. Throughout my own work in anthropology, I have encountered students who focused on sports culture or gender roles in a specific context. Even if your professor hasn't introduced you to any ethnic or cultural material that interests you, perhaps you could write on a group that is not necessarily defined by ethnicity. Please check with your professor as to whether this would be permissible. 

Don't feel pressured to know which one, single group you want to write about straight off the bat! Try making a short list of up to five groups you might be interested in studying. Consider the following to brainstorm some possibilities:

• What do you already know about the group?


• What do you want to know about this group?


• How do you relate to this group?


• Why are you interested in this group?

I would wager that whichever possible group gets you writing the most in trying to answer these questions would be the one you should choose for your assignment. However, I also recommend that you do some very basic research on your possible choices. This is why it's important to keep your list of possibilities small; you do not want to overwhelm yourself in this basic research. 

Most works of ethnography include information about worldviews, religions, or belief systems, as well as subsistence practices, gender roles, history, language, and art. If you do not choose a distinct ethnic group, you may not need to include some of this information. If you choose a group considered to be a sub-set or portion of society, try to include some particular information about what makes them distinctive. For example, if you were to write about English football hooligans as a distinct group, it would probably not be necessary to talk about their religious views. On the other hand, it would be very important to discuss the roles of football, class, music, and gender in their lives. 

If you have the opportunity to observe your chosen group in-person, try to keep this portion of your project simple. Just sit back, watch, and take notes as appropriate. Try to digest the experience through careful observation and draw connections later. If you try too hard to "look for" something during your observation period, you might miss other information.

I will include some links below that I hope you will find useful in your research. Several of these databases include primary source material from fieldwork around the globe. 

What various things does Martin Luther King Jr. invoke to enhance the ethos of his “I Have a Dream Speech?"

Like many black leaders and revolutionaries before him, Dr. King mainly invoked Christian ethics and the revolutionary rhetoric embraced by patriots to show that the cause of Civil Rights is a cause that is quintessentially American. To ignore the plight of black Americans was, in King's view, a failure to live up to the nation's promises and potential.

He begins by invoking Lincoln's signature of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 -- one hundred years before the March on Washington, at which King delivered his speech. However, contrary to Lincoln's promise, black people remained in a state of bondage. The "manacles" of slavery were replaced with those of segregation and poverty. Though black people were no longer deemed three-fifths of a person, according to King, "the Negro...finds himself an exile in his own land," still unable to claim full citizenship.

He interestingly invokes both capitalism and revolutionary rhetoric in the second part of the speech:

In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

King addresses the United States as a nation not only in possession of a wealth of financial capital -- which ought to be duly shared with the descendants of those who facilitated such immense wealth -- but also as a nation whose abundant freedoms and opportunities must also be shared.

He characterizes segregation as a "dark and desolate valley," echoing Psalm 23:4: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil...". He goes on to assert that justice belongs to "all of God's children." Here, Scripture is used to show racist white Christians that their racism is incompatible with their avowal of faith.

Toward the end of the speech, he uses "My Country 'Tis of Thee," a song that many people sang and continue to sing without contemplating its meaning, to show that, until inequality is dismantled, the words of this song will never ring true. Though the United States is a land in which the "fathers" of both black and white children have died, it is not for both a land of "sweet liberty."

Finally, he indirectly circles back to the Emancipation Proclamation with lines from a black spiritual, lines which have become the most memorable from the speech: "Free at last, free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!" With these lines, he suggests that the United States will only be free from hypocrisy when it allows black people to be free and full participants in citizenship. 

In what town was Macduff from Shakespeare's Macbeth born?

Shakespeare never specifies exactly where Macduff was born, but, since he's identified as the Thane of Fife, we can assume that he was accordingly born in Fife. While the location of his birth is never discussed at length, it's worth noting that Macduff's birth is of vital importance to the plot of Macbeth. The Weird Sisters predict Macbeth cannot be killed by one born of woman, which initially seems to be a pretty solid indication of Macbeth's safety. During his final battle with Macbeth, however, Macduff reveals he was not technically "born of woman," but was actually delivered through a cesarean operation, meaning he was cut out of his mother's womb. Thus, Macduff is not actually "born of woman," meaning he can defeat the tyrannical Macbeth on the battlefield. 

What are the uses of neutralization reactions?

Neutralization reactions are ones in which one chemical reagent is added to another chemical reagent to remove its chemical potency or activity.  This is most commonly seen in acid and base chemistry.  Acids are defined as chemicals that donate protons and bases are defined as chemicals that accept (or react with) protons.  A proton is a hydrogen cation (H+).  So an acid can be neutralized with a base and a base can be neutralized with an acid.  This can be very useful and effective since acid/base chemistry is usually very fast and the byproducts are usually inert or harmless (often forming simply water and a soluble salt).  A common example of a neutralization reaction is a person taking an antacid for an upset stomach.  The antacid is basically calcium carbonate (a mild base) that can neutralize (or react with) excess stomach acid to form carbon dioxide and water.

Why is Meimei annoyed by her mom at the end of her second tournament in "The Rules of the Game"?

Waverly is annoyed because her mother associates success with how many pieces she loses, regardless of whether she wins or not.

When the family got a used chess set for Christmas, Waverly had no idea that chess would become so important to her.  She learned how to play chess, and it turned out she had a knack for it.  Waverly was surprised when her mother let her participate in a tournament, but her mother was focusing on how many pieces she lost.  She tried to explain to her mother that it wasn’t about pieces.

At the next tournament, I won again, but it was my mother who wore the triumphant grin. "Lost eight piece this time. Last time was eleven. What I tell you? Better off lose less!" I was annoyed, but I couldn't say anything.

Waverly is frustrated because no matter how successful she is, her mother wants more.  She can win, even in a tournament, and it is not enough for her mother.  Her mother wants her to win by losing fewer pieces.  Waverly also feels as if she knows more about chess than her mother, because she is the one who is playing, but her mother still insists on micromanaging.

Waverly feels the pressure of her success.  The neighborhood celebrates her and she is on magazine covers.  She feels that her mother is too focused on her winning.

But I found it difficult to concentrate at home. My mother had a habit of standing over me while I plotted out my games. I think she thought of herself as my protective ally. Her lips would be sealed tight, and after each move I made, a soft "Hmmmmph" would escape from her nose.

This is what leads to the fight between Waverly and her mother, when she yells at her mother in the street for showing her off.  Waverly loves chess.  She is very good at it.  However, the game is tainted by her mother’s controlling nature, and she doesn’t know how to tell her.

In The Pearl, Chapter 3, What specifically will make Coyotito and the family free?

Kino hopes that the Pearl of the World will open new parts of his world for his family and free them from their poverty and ignorance.

The music of the pearl had merged with the music of the family so that one beautified the other. (Ch. 3)

Kino imagines that he and Juana will be married in the church; he will own a harpoon to replace one he lost a year ago, and even buy a rifle. Further, he envisions Coyotito in the future, sitting at a little desk in a school, writing on a large piece of paper. Someday, too, the boy will be able to read books. And, if anyone is ill, the doctor will come. 
The Pearl of the World creates a music of promise and delight, a guarantee for comfort and safety in the future. Its luminescence will ensure his family against illness and protect them from sickness. They will be free from the worries and the threats of poverty.

Do you think the poet should have stopped near the woods and enjoyed the beauty of nature in the poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"? Give...

Because this is a "what do you think" question, there is not a 100% correct answer.  Different readers will have different opinions.  You can safely state your opinion, but do be sure to clearly explain why you think what you think.  

I'd like to play the Devil's advocate for my answer.  Most people would probably answer "yes, it's fine that the man stopped by the woods because nature is beautiful, and he's not hurting anybody;" however, I would like to provide an answer that goes the other direction.    

No, I do not think that the man should have stopped by the woods to enjoy nature.  The poem states that it is a dark and cold night.  

The darkest evening of the year.

Snow is beginning to fall too. Enough snow to begin filling the woods.

To watch his woods fill up with snow. 

For the speaker's safety and the safety of his horse, he should not be out wasting time.  He needs to minimize his exposure to the elements and get to shelter sooner rather than later.  This is especially true since the end of the poem says that he has many more miles to go before his destination.  I read "To Build a Fire."  That guy died from exposure to the cold.  I also read "The Outcasts of Poker Flat.  Most of those characters froze to death in a winter storm because they didn't hurry to their destination.  The man in the poem is perfectly welcome to admire the beauty of nature, but he should do so through a window on the inside of a nice, warm house. Additionally, the poem ends with the speaker admitting that he has promises to keep. He needs to stop procrastinating, get to his destination, and honor his commitments.   

How does Malamud memorably portray suffering in "The Prison"?

In the story, Malamud memorably portrays suffering by highlighting the many instances Tommy Castelli is thwarted and defeated in his efforts to improve his life. The author focuses on Tommy's unhappy marriage, unfulfilling career, and crippling sense of helplessness.

In the story, Malamud portrays Tommy as an emasculated, hen-pecked husband who can't seem to achieve a measurable level of happiness in his life. Every business enterprise Tommy tries to engage in seems to fall flat: either his wife, Rosa, finds out about it and berates him for it, or the business schemes fall apart anyway.

For instance, Tommy once earned fifty-five dollars from secretly taking in some lottery punch-boards a syndicate was distributing in the neighborhood. Tommy manages to hide the money from Rosa (who detests the idea of gambling); however, the syndicate is written up in the newspaper (perhaps for business irregularities), and the punch-boards disappear. In another instance, Tommy manages to get a lottery machine into his store. When Rosa discovers it, she "wouldn't let up screaming."

To make matters worse, Tommy's father-in-law later comes in and smashes the machine apart with a "plumber's hammer." Both Rosa and her father berate Tommy for his entrepreneurial spirit. Tommy tries to placate Rosa by explaining that the earnings from the machine will allow him to buy a television so that he can watch the fights without going to a bar. He also tries to explain that, since everyone gets a roll of mints for every nickle played, it can't conceivably be called gambling. However, his explanations fall on deaf ears; to make matters worse, the police begin raiding stores for lottery machines and giving out summonses for them not long after his own machine is destroyed.

Tommy's store is the only one without a lottery machine at the time of the raid, but he still grieves for the loss of his own machine. All he knows is that he has very little personal agency in his own life; the candy store has been financed by his father-in-law, and he must placate both his wife and his father-in-law in all matters pertaining to the business. This dismal situation encapsulates why Tommy feels like he's living in a prison. Even his name has been changed from Tony to Tommy by Rosa. He's a man who can't even hold on to his name, let alone order his own life as he sees fit.

Tommy later tries to save a young girl (who's caught shoplifting in his store) from a life of crime, but he sees his efforts thwarted by Rosa and the girl's mother. Accordingly, Rosa, in her anger, assaults the young thief. Distressed beyond belief at his wife's abusive behavior, Tommy turns on Rosa. He slaps her across her mouth to stop her from carrying on, but the hit is harder than he intends. When the young thief's mother comes in and is apprised of her daughter's actions, she proceeds to slug her daughter across the mouth and to drag her home. Despite Tommy's good-faith effort in standing up for the young thief, she shows no gratitude and instead, sticks her tongue out at him before she leaves the store. This depressing state of affairs sums up Malamud's portrayal of Tommy's life. It's a life filled with missed opportunities, untold misery, and countless disappointments.

You never really got what you wanted. No matter how hard you tried you made mistakes and couldn’t get past them. You could never see the sky outside or the ocean because you were in a prison, except nobody called it a prison, and if you did they didn’t know what you were talking about, or they said they didn’t.

How would you describe the nightingale's selfishness in "The Frog and the Nightingale" by Vikram Seth?

In Seth's "The Frog and the Nightingale," the nightingale's selfishness can be seen in the approach she takes to her gift of song.

The nightingale displays selfishness in how she loves to be adored. For example, she is flattered the frog would tutor her. She sees it as a sign of respect. This is seen in how she calls him "Mozart" and looks at the entire situation as a dream come true. The frog appeals to the nightingale's vanity, an extension of her self-indulgence: "You'll remain a mere beginner/ But with me you'll be a winner." To be a "winner" is what moves the nightingale to accept the frog's tuition. Her desire to be a "winner" shows a type of selfishness. She is not content with singing as its own good; she wants more applause and audience acceptance, qualities reflecting her vanity and selfishness. The nightingale's selfish approach can also be seen in how she refers to "her" song: "I don't think the song's divine./ But—oh, well—at least it's mine." She emphasizes her own condition above all else, even the divine, in the way she sings "her song."

The nightingale loves appreciation from others. She is entranced when others shower her with praise. She is "quite unused to such applause" when she first sings her song. Her selfish desire for more praise leads to her destruction:

. . . she grew more morose—
For her ears were now addicted
To applause quite unrestricted,
And to sing into the night
All alone gave no delight.

The nightingale does not view her gift as something she can do "all alone." She needs an audience and the praise they provide. The only "delight" she has is when she is able to be the center of others' attention. This selfishness causes her to be reckless with her voice and not realize she is a victim of the frog's manipulation. As a result, the nightingale's selfishness is a negative trait that defines her predicament.

Where is the narrator writing about the events in Poe's "The Black Cat"?

The narrator of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Black Cat" is writing the story from his prison cell.  

The man is writing everything down, and thus confessing everything, because he will not live past tomorrow.  He is in prison for murdering his wife, and since he is going to be hanged in the morning for his crime, he doesn't see a problem with writing out his story.  

The narrator actually might have gotten away with the murder of his wife, but he became overconfident with the investigating police. Just as the police officers were about to give up searching the cellar for the buried body, the narrator began bragging about its rugged construction. He tapped the wall exactly where his wife was buried, which caused the still alive cat to make a noise behind the wall. The men tore down the wall to rescue the cat and found the wife's dead body. They promptly arrested the narrator and took him to be hanged. 

The corpse, already greatly decayed and clotted with gore, stood erect before the eyes of the spectators. Upon its head, with red extended mouth and solitary eye of fire, sat the hideous beast whose craft had seduced me into murder, and whose informing voice had consigned me to the hangman. I had walled the monster up within the tomb.

What is it about Ponyboy that Cherry likes?

Your best bet for info on this question is chapter 2.  That's when Ponyboy and Cherry first meet.  Her initial impression of Ponyboy is not good, because Ponyboy is with Dally.  Dally starts talking to Cherry and her friend in a rude and vulgar manner, and Cherry assumes that Ponyboy is there to do the same thing.  

The girl looked at me. I was half-scared of her. I'm half-scared of all nice girls, especially Socs. "Are you going to start in on us?"

Her opinion of Ponyboy quickly softens as she realizes that Ponyboy is not a threat to her.  She finds him remotely attractive too despite his young age.  

"Man, your brother is one doll. I might have guessed you were brothers--- you look alike."

But I think the main reason that Cherry likes Ponyboy is because she recognizes the fact that Ponyboy is intelligent and has the potential to be a deep thinker.  She sees that he is not like all of the other Greasers that she presently knows.  

Cherry was looking at me. "What's a nice, smart kid like you running around with trash like that for?"

I believe it is for that reason that Cherry opens up to Ponyboy and has some fairly deep conversations with him.  Cherry realizes that Ponyboy has the capacity to be more than the stereotypical Greaser, and I think that is why she develops a bond with him.  

What does "He's full of the Old Scratch, but laws-a-me!" mean in the first chapter of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain?

The phrase characterizes the prevalent Southern dialect during the time in which the story was set.

So, "Old Scratch" is a reference to the Devil; translated, Aunt Polly is basically saying that Tom Sawyer is full of the Devil. Since Tom always gets the better of Aunt Polly, she imagines that he is as mischievous as the Devil.

The other phrase "laws-a-me" just means "Lord-save-me!" Aunt Polly's exclamation demonstrates her frustration as well as her resignation regarding her current predicament. After all, she says that Tom is her dead sister's son, and she can't bring herself to lash him all the time. Sometimes, when she does let Tom off, she feels guilty that she's neglecting his moral training; at other times, when she does lash him, she feels heartbroken for hurting him.

At the same time, Aunt Polly manages to see the humor in her interactions with her naughty nephew. She maintains that Tom knows just how far he can "torment" her before she gets upset, and he also knows that, if he can make his Aunt Polly laugh, a spanking will be less likely. So, Aunt Polly is frustrated but also amused at her quandary; it's no wonder that she exclaims aloud for God's help to raise her lovable, rascally nephew.

How is the theme of relationships portrayed in S. E. Hinton's novel The Outsiders?

The theme of relationships is significant to the novel The Outsiders. Throughout the novel, characters develop relationships with one another which affect their perspectives on life and emotional well-being. Relationships are formed among different social groups, as is the case with Ponyboy and Cherry, and unlikely bonds develop between individuals with drastically different personalities, such as the friendship between Dally and Johnny. As the novel progresses, relationships between characters are tested during adverse situations. Hinton gives interesting dynamics to these relationships by introducing conflict which the characters must respond to. Some relationships flourish, like Ponyboy and Johnny's friendship, while others are destroyed, like Sodapop and Sandy's romance. Hinton portrays friendships as uplifting, supportive, and positive, yet fragile. Johnny has a unique relationship with each Greaser member and provides much-needed sympathy to each one of his friends. After Johnny dies, all of the Greasers mourn and Dally loses his mind. Despite experiencing tragedy, Ponyboy is able to repair his controversial relationship with his oldest brother Darry and develop new friendships with Cherry and Randy throughout the novel. Caring relationships and mutual friendships provide support for each character to survive and thrive during tragic events in a broken society throughout the novel.

Who is Helen Keller's father in The Story of My Life?

Helen Keller wrote her autobiography, The Story of My Life, when she was in her twenties.  In it, she wrote about her family.  Her father was Captain Arthur Keller.  He had fought for the Confederate Army as a captain during the Civil War.  He was a newspaper editor who enjoyed hunting, playing with his dogs, and gardening.  He grew different kinds of fruits in his garden, and he had a special appreciation for nature.  He passed this love of nature down to Helen.  Helen described her father as being "most loving and indulgent, devoted to his home, seldom leaving [them], except in the hunting season" (Chapter II).

He was married to his first wife, with whom he had two sons.  His second wife was Kate Adams.  Together, they had Helen.  They later had two more children.  When Helen was a toddler, she became very ill.  The illness left her deaf and blind.

Captain Keller was determined to help his daughter.  He contacted many experts until he was able to find help for Helen.  It was through his determination that Miss Sullivan came to teach Helen.

When Helen was sixteen, her father passed away after an illness.  She described his death as her "first great sorrow-[her] first personal experience with death" (Chapter II).

Hamlet was instructed to take revenge for his father's death at the beginning of the play. How did this idea of obligation and duty to do what he...

Hamlet is negatively affected by his obligation to avenge his father's murder in a few ways.  He becomes so fixated on his revenge that it becomes the only thing he can think about.  We can speculate that Hamlet also gives up Ophelia, his former lover, so as to protect her as well.  We can see his terrible grief for her during the scene in which she is laid to rest.  He says, "I loved Ophelia.  Forty thousand brothers / Could not with all their quantity of love / Make up my sum" (5.1.285-287).  Perhaps he deliberately pushes her away and so gives up a potential life with her in order to fulfill his obligation to avenge his father's death.

Further, Hamlet also begins to doubt his own self-worth, his own value and faithfulness as a son.  When he sees an actor play the role of Pyrrhus, Achilles's son, mourning so faithfully and exacting swift revenge on Priam, his father's killer, he is taken aback by how this actor displays more passion in his role than Hamlet seems to have displayed in his real life.  He asks, "Am I a coward?" (2.2.598).  He feels that he must be a coward or else he "should have fatted all the region kites / With this slave's offal" (2.2.606-607).  Hamlet thinks that he would already have killed Claudius and fed his body to the birds if he weren't "pigeon-livered" himself.  He constantly doubts his own fidelity as a son as a result of his obligation and difficulty in fulfilling it.

Hamlet's obligation also makes him behave in rash ways, ways that lead to the deaths of others who are innocent of wrongdoing.  He murders Polonius, thinking the old man is Claudius, and he arranges for the murders of his former friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who seem to some extent ignorant of the entirety of the role they play in Claudius's schemes.  Hamlet's responsibility for these deaths makes it impossible for him to escape punishment, and Laertes exacts revenge on Hamlet for Polonius's death, just as Hamlet seeks revenge on Claudius for old King Hamlet's death.  This certainly negatively affects Hamlet because it leads to his own death.

In Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, how are Holden and his learning style exploited by the schools, and how is he a product of their actions?

Overall, Holden reflects a rejection of the industrial view of education. His learning style fails in this system, but he is still subject to its judgments. This fact adds to Holden's larger worldview that the world is phony. He rejects the education system the same way he rejects the consumer-driven lifestyle of adults later in the novel.

With his expulsion from Pencey Prep, Holden has failed out of every preparatory school he has attended. However, it's obvious from his conversation with Mr. Spencer in Chapter 2 that he is an intelligent boy and his teacher is suffering from guilt after failing Holden. But the question remains, why are schools failing Holden?

Holden is clearly a creative person, as evidenced by a) Stradlater's willingness to let Holden write a paper for him, and b) Holden's decision to write a descriptive paper about Allie's baseball mitt. This type of lateral thinking, as opposed to linear thinking, makes Holden an extremely empathetic character. He makes connections that aren't readily present to most. However, this type of lateral thinking is discouraged by teachers. He explains an experience he had in his Oral Expression class to his old English teacher, Mr. Antolini. This is how Holden explains the class:

"It's this course where each boy in class has to get up in class and make a speech. Spontaneous and all. And if the boy digresses at all, you're supposed to yell 'Digression!' at him as fast as you can. It just about drove me crazy. I got an F in it."

Holden goes on to explain that he thinks it's "nice" when someone moves away from a topic to explain something personal. He says that the topics taught in school aren't interesting. Instead, schools should "leave somebody alone if he's at least being interesting and he's getting all excited about something." Then he goes on to explain how this Oral Expression teacher wanted everyone "to unify and simplify all the time," but "you can't hardly ever simplify and unify something just because somebody wants you to."

To look at Holden as a failing student is only partially accurate. He's a failing student in an industrial system that is failing him.

How does the following quote by Edward Said apply to Brave New World? "Exile is strangely compelling to think about, but terrible to experience....

This quote by Edward Said can be applied, in particular, to two characters: Linda and her son John, the "Savage." Linda, the perfectly conditioned Beta, finds herself trapped on the Savage Reservation. While her memories of her former world are the stuff of comedy and satire, a pathos runs through her inability to adjust to the Reservation and in her deep longing to return home, shallow and inadequate as her consumerist society might appear to us. For home is home:

“... of course there wasn’t anything like an Abortion Centre here. Is it still down in Chelsea, by the way?” she asked. Lenina nodded. “And still floodlighted on Tuesdays and Fridays?” Lenina nodded again. “That lovely pink glass tower!” Poor Linda lifted her face and with closed eyes ecstatically contemplated the bright remembered image. “And the river at night,” she whispered. Great tears oozed slowly out from behind her tight-shut eyelids. “And flying back in the evening from Stoke Poges. And then a hot bath and vibro-vacuum massage.”

Beneath the satire, Linda's pathos lies in her sadness at being severed from her known world, which she has no training to understand and which can only be cured by staying in a haze of mesquite or soma.

Though an outsider on the Savage Reservation, John is even more of an outsider when he travels to his mother's world. He longs for the  Reservation and, perhaps even more, for the world he learned of in Shakespeare: a world in which people feel their pain, suffer, and create art, a world in which he feels people are fully human, not narcotized, conditioned and controlled. He puts it as follows:

“But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.”

Mond's "brave new world" has eliminated all that and so John feels "an essential sadness that can never be surmounted."

Metaphors-Would you say the speaker has a positive, negative, or neutral attitude toward her pregnancy? Which metaphors give you this impression?

I would say that the speaker of this poem has a negative attitude toward her pregnancy.  Typically, a woman who calls herself, or is called, an "elephant" or is said to be as big as a "house" is not receiving a compliment.  Further, and perhaps more tellingly, the speaker says that "Money's new-minted in this fat purse."  In this metaphor, the baby is the thing of value, the money, and she is simply the "fat purse" that contains the valuable item.  Again, "fat" is also not a word that has a positive connotation: in this situation, used to describe a full purse,  "fat" takes on a bit of positivity, but only in relation to the fact that the purse is fat because it contains so much of something so valuable.  It is the money that it important, not the purse.

Also, we might describe something as "a means to an end," and the end is the important thing.  However, here, the speaker is simply the "means," and we can assume that the baby is the end.  The baby is, thus, the important thing; the mother, less so.  Finally, the inevitability of the final metaphor which compares pregnancy to a train which one cannot get off makes it seem as though, if the speaker had a choice, she would choose to get off that train.  All this appears to confirm the speaker's negative attitude toward her pregnancy.

Comment on title of the story "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings."

The title of Gabriel García Márquez’ short story “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings: A Tale for Children” immediately gives the reader an idea of the story’s genre. Magical realism is a genre which Gabriel García Márquez and other Latin American authors are known for. This type of story weaves realism with elements of magical fantasy. From the title, the reader immediately questions the existence of a human possessing very large appendages that make him a winged creature. In addition, the reader wonders how the story is designed to be a “tale for children,” and is alerted to read the story with “childlike” inquisitiveness. The title of the story creates more questions than the story provides answers for. Who is the winged man described in the title, and why is the story for children? Reading this story may leave you wondering and fantasizing.

Which of the colonies had the most diverse settler population?

According to Radford University, the Middle Colonies were the most diverse in Colonial America. New York, for example, was home to a wide variety of immigrant groups, including Dutch, Belgian, English, Finns and Swedes. (See the first reference link.) In fact, the population of New York was so diverse that one English settler made the following complaint in 1686:

"Our chiefest unhappyness here is too great a mixture of Nations, & English the least part.” (See the second reference link.)

Similarly, in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, we see evidence of diversity through the number of religions practiced there. From Presbyterians and Quakers to Mennonites and Jews, these colonies were populated by those who escaped religious persecution in Europe. (See the second reference link.)

To further add to this melting pot, the Middle Colonies were also home to high numbers of African slaves and Native American tribes, including the Algonkian and the Iroquois. (See the third reference link.)

What are the three periods of development of federalism, the influential leaders of the time, and the future of federalism?

There have been more than three periods of federalism, so there are different ways to answer this question. However, there are some important milestones and divisions in the practice of federalism in the U.S.

• During the period called "dual federalism" (1836-1933), states and the federal government vied for power. There was tension between the power of the states and power of the federal government, which came to a head in the Civil War of 1861-1865. However, Lincoln led the federal government to have more power through his role in using the government to expand the country economically; for example, he funded the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad.


• During the period of "cooperative federalism" (1933-1961), the states and the federal government worked together cooperatively. The federal government developed the authority to regulate the states and other government agencies. An example is the New Deal agencies established by Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression. Many of these agencies worked through the states to provide relief and jobs to people.


• There have been different periods of federalism since 1961. One period was "New regulatory federalism" (1981-1989) under Ronald Reagan, in which the role of the federal government was cut back. 

The future of federalism might continue along the current track, in which states are given some latitude to implement federal programs. While Obama has pushed certain initiatives, states have continued to have some degree of latitude in implementing policies. Especially because many states have been financially ailing, the federal government has at times used the "carrot and stick" approach to try to get states to do what they want by offering funding in return. For example, the states were tasked with implementing Obama's new healthcare law. 

What is the social content of Orwell's Animal Farm?

Like any good satire or allegory, and almost all of George Orwell's work, Animal Farm is full of social commentary. Though he dismissed the book as a "fairy story," Orwell wanted to show how even those popular movements that started with good intentions could become corrupted once they gained power. The pigs launch a revolution in the name of Animalism, an ideology that promotes equality to all animals and the end to exploitation by Man. We see at the beginning of the book that this set of ideas, based on a speech given by Old Major in Chapter One, is sincere and motivated by an honest desire to make a better world (or farm.) But once Jones is driven from the farm, the pigs assume leadership, and begin to use their power to enrich themselves and, most importantly, to pursue more power. The idealism of the early days of Animal Farm, exemplified by the singing of the revolutionary song "Beasts of England" and the Seven Commandments on the barn, quickly becomes corrupted as Napoleon consolidates his power through propaganda and violence. By the end of the book, the pigs are indistinguishable from the humans they overthrew, and the lives of the rest of the animals are, if anything, worse than they were before. Throughout the book, we see serious social commentary. The ability of the state to manipulate information is symbolized by Squealer. The ease with which "the masses" can be swayed by jingoism is represented by the sheep, who drown out dissent by bleating "four legs good, two legs bad" at public meetings. There are countless other examples--every character in the book is intended to say something about society.

Overall, the social message of this book can be interpreted in a number of different ways. You could argue that Orwell was simply denouncing all popular movements, which were doomed to fail because people (symbolized by animals in the book) are inherently corrupt. But Orwell was a democratic socialist for most of his adult life, including when he wrote Animal Farm. It can also be read as a fairly straightforward allegory for the emergence of brutal Stalinism from the communist revolution in Russia. There is no doubt that Orwell had the Soviet Union and the rise of Stalin in mind, and that Animal Farm is a critique of totalitarianism. But, especially when read in tandem with 1984, his other great dystopian novel, Animal Farm has an even more sobering warning: Unless we are vigilant in keeping human rights and liberties at the forefront of our politics, all of our political systems are subject to sliding into totalitarianism. 

In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, what contributes to things falling apart in Umuofia?

In Chinua Achebe's classic novel Things Fall Apart, there are two major factors that contribute to everything in Okonkwo's life and his home of Umuofia "falling apart." First, Umuofia changes drastically with the arrival of white Christian missionaries. These colonial representatives bring with them not only a strange, alien faith, but also European models of governance. This pervasive colonial influence is one of the major factors that cause everything in Okonkwo's life to fall apart. Toward the end of the novel, the narrator acknowledges how the white settlers have changed the region:

"There were many men and women in Umuofia who did not feel as strongly as Okonkwo about the new dispensation. The white man had indeed brought a lunatic religion.... And even in the matter of religion, there was a growing feeling that there might be something in it after all, something vaguely akin to method in the overwhelming madness" (178).

Next, Okonkwo's own rigid, staunch, brutally masculine values that are steeped in Umuofian tradition prevent him from successfully adjusting to the alterations that white settlers bring to the region. Indeed, things start falling apart for Okonkwo because his pride and stubborn nature do not allow him to adapt to the significant changes in Umuofia after he returns from his exile:

"Okonkwo was deeply grieved. And it was not just a personal grief. He mourned for the clan, which he saw breaking up and falling apart, and he mourned for the warlike men of Umuofia, who had so unaccountably become soft like women" (183).

Here, Okonkwo is incapable of accepting the changes that stem from colonialism, and he considers his clan a lost cause because they no longer share his rigid values.

For me, these are the two major factors that contribute to the tragic events that unfold throughout the novel.

Why did the police captain insist that Officer Delinko patrol the construction site until the groundbreaking ceremony in Hoot by Carl Hiaasen?

The people building the new pancake house, called Mother Paula's All-American Pancake House, in Hoot have connections with local politicians. One of the big shots in the pancake franchise phoned Councilman Grady because the site where they are building has been vandalized. The stakes were pulled out of the ground, meaning the bulldozer can't begin its work. Additionally, the construction trucks' tires were slashed. After the person from the pancake house company called the councilman, the councilman yelled at the police chief, who spoke with the captain. Then the captain summoned the sergeant, who summoned Officer Delinko to tell him he needed to have a cruiser go by the pancake house construction site every hour (Hiaasen 35). Officer Delinko thinks professionals vandalized the construction site because they put alligators into the portable toilets, but the police captain doesn't really care who vandalized the site as long as the police don't receive any more calls from the councilman. 

What is the tone of "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell?

There is a menacing tone to "The Most Dangerous Game."

Connell's use of dark foreshadowing with the exotic setting, the strange occurrences, and bizarre characters introduced in the exposition quickly puts readers "on edge," as they fear what will happen next. This element of danger is immediately introduced as Rainsford and Whitney travel to hunt jaguar; then, when Rainsford falls overboard and must swim for a long time before finding any shoreline, there is clearly a forbidding tone. Later, Rainsford's frightening encounter with the massive Ivan, whose tongue has been cut out is, indeed, disconcerting. The greatest menace is presented in the form of the owner of the chateau, "a lofty structure with pointed towers plunging upward into the gloom." This man is the Russian General Zaroff, whose "dead black eyes" do not change as he calmly speaks of his bizarre penchant for hunting "the most dangerous game."

After Rainsford becomes Zaroff's prey, there is great tension and the dark, forbidding tone of the narrative heightens. Certainly, the story's exploration of fear and death generates a menacing tone to the fast-paced action of this work.

How can I write an analytical essay on "Big Black Good Man" by Richard Wright?

A successful literary analysis begins with careful close readings of the literary work, in this case, the short story "Big Black Good Man" by Richard Wright (1908-1960), published posthumously in the collection Eight Men (1961). A successful analysis will examine and discuss background information (e.g., historic, social, author biography) and the opinions of critics and scholars. The nugget of a literary analysis essay expresses your own textual analysis and your critical argument expressing your own idea about the story. Your idea must be developed and supported directly from the words of the text, and this text must be clearly presented and soundly explicated.

An example of an idea about the text that might be expanded into a literary analysis is the question of what psychological reaction changed the attitude of the big black good man at the very end of the short story; it is his attitude change that drives the dramatic twist and surprise ending. Understanding and presenting the literary analysis of the man's original attitude and change in attitude will call for examining the text to substantiate the sincerity of his earlier attitude and of his apparent surprise at the fear he had lodged in Olaf's mind. This analysis will also call for examining the character development given to the big black good man to determine what his emotional and cognitive responses, unstated but implied in the text, might have been.

   "Thanks!" Olaf cried after him.
   The black giant paused, turned his vast black head, and flashed a grin.
   "Daddy-O, drop dead," he said and was gone.

Following this type of examination of the text to analyze and understand characterization development, motivation for actions, psychological reactions and any other relevant textual elements, such as setting, tone, mood, etc., will provide the framework for a literary analysis essay examining any question you may develop for "Big Black Good Man."

What three Shakespeare plays can be more relevant to 9th graders?

Based on this question being in the Hamlet category, I believe the question is asking, "What three Shakespeare plays might be more relevant than Hamlet is to ninth graders?"

That's a good question.  It's one that curriculum review committees wrestle with too.  

I believe that Romeo and Juliet is more accessible and relevant to ninth graders.  One reason is that the story is already known by most people.  A general understanding of the events of the play is likely common knowledge to most high school students.  Another reason for its greater accessibility to young people is the fact that Romeo and Juliet are teenagers themselves.  Young readers like to read about characters that are the same age as the readers.  Just look at most young adult literature.  The characters are almost always under the age of eighteen.  The Hunger Games is about teens killing teens.  Unwind is about teens trying not to be killed for body parts.  Twilight is about immortal teens.  Divergent is about teens.  The Maze Runner is about teens.  Romeo and Juliet is about teens which makes it more accessible and relatable to teen readers.  On the whole, Romeo and Juliet is relevant to high school students because they are learning about love and heartache for the first time, and Romeo and Juliet is a play about those very same things.  

I think Much Ado About Nothing is a good choice too.  My reasons on this one are not complex.  First, the play is a comedy.  My problem with Romeo and Juliet has always been the fact that it is a tragedy.  I don't like tragedies, and my students don't tend to like them either.  Why?  Because they are sad.  Much Ado About Nothing reads like a romantic comedy.  It's happy and upbeat through most of the play and loaded with dirty jokes, insults, and bickering.  It's relevant to ninth graders for exactly those reasons.  That's how they act a lot of the time. It's a fun, and funny play to read; therefore, students are more likely to want to read it because they are having fun with it.  Thematically the play shows what can happen to a relationship when there is communication breakdowns.  That fits with high school students too that are learning to communicate with their teachers, their friends, and their significant others.  

For my third suggestion, I recommend The Tempest.  It's a nice mixture of comedy and tragedy, but it most definitely isn't as dark as Hamlet.  The Tempest is definitely on the more exciting side of the spectrum of Shakespeare plays, which ninth graders should appreciate.  It's loaded with action, fighting, and magic for the boys, and the play contains a love plot as well for the girls.  There's tons of Shakespeare style swearing in it too.  Obviously high school students are not dealing with shipwrecks and mystical creatures, so the play is not relevant in that regard.  The play is relevant because its overall plot mirrors the same plot structure and character type that students are already familiar with.  Additionally, it's loaded with love, loss, betrayal, violence, and humor.  These are all things that modern audiences can relate to. 

If I was really forced to do it, I could probably say that any of Shakespeare's plays are still relevant to modern day audiences.  Alan Craven, a modern day literary scholar, would also agree.  He writes the following about Shakespeare's plays and their continued relevance.  

Humans still experience love, loss, betrayal, war, humor and tragedy, which gives Shakespeare a foothold in modern times.    

What are some examples of fossil fuels?

Fossil fuels have their name because they are the remains of organisms that used to be alive.  The main three fossil fuels are oil, natural gas, and coal. These are the only three fossil fuels that are used on a large-scale, worldwide basis.  Peat can also be classified as a fossil fuel, but it is not available in many parts of the world.  Most of the energy produced in the world today is made through the use of fossil fuels. 

Fossil fuels are the fuels that come from the remains of ancient organisms.  For the most part, this means that fossil fuels are made up of the remains of ancient vegetation. Fossil fuels come from a period in Earth’s history when most land in the world was swampy.  Trees and other vegetation would die and sink to the bottoms of swamps.  Over the years (this period lasted over 100 million years), a very thick layer would have been deposited. Between that time and now, the remains of the ancient vegetation was compressed as sediments were deposited over it. The compression eventually turned the ancient plant material into fuels.   Because the fuels come from the remains of ancient plants, they are called fossil fuels.

In Hamlet, what image does Shakespeare present of women? In literature, how is image different from characterization?

In Hamlet, the image of women is one of dependence upon male chivalry and solicitude.

Through characterization, we can learn about a character directly or indirectly. Direct characterization allows the author or narrator to tell us about a character's personality or nature. On the other hand, in indirect characterization, we learn about characters by observing their speech, speech patterns, behavior, idiosyncrasies, habits, and thoughts before forming our opinions about them.

In literature, imagery is textual description that appeals to the five senses; a writer uses imagery to paint a particular image of a character or the main theme. In Hamlet, the image of women is one of subservience and docility. Shakespeare also portrays women as pawns in a masculine universe. Even as queen, Gertrude herself has no personal agency and no autonomy in matters of the state. After her husband's death, she finds herself in a precarious situation.

If she rejects Claudius' suit, both she and Hamlet will find themselves without a home. There can only be one queen, and Gertrude must make sure that she's the one sitting next to Claudius on his throne. A younger queen will likely bear Claudius a new heir, which will leave Hamlet politically and materially disadvantaged. So, by every indication, Gertrude marries Claudius as a matter of convenience as well as survival. Yet, Hamlet, grieved beyond measure by the death of his father, thinks differently about his mother's actions. He thinks that she's actuated by lust, a very unfair judgment on his part.

Here, the image of femininity is one of disloyalty and fickleness. Women are portrayed as having very little devotion; yet, without true personal autonomy, a woman in Shakespeare's time had very little recourse to justice or consideration. She was at the mercy of masculine inclinations and laws.

In the play, Claudius is the chief power player after his brother's death. He orders Gertrude to spy on Hamlet and uses Ophelia to discover what the young prince is thinking. In Act 3, Scene 1, it is clear that both Gertrude and Ophelia have allowed themselves to be used as pawns in Claudius and Polonius' schemes. Gertrude tells Ophelia that she hopes the young girl is the real source of Hamlet's angst, and Ophelia agrees.

When Ophelia tries to return to the young prince what she claims are gifts and love letters from him, Hamlet denounces her. He ends up accusing her of being a whore and castigating her for being a deceptive beauty:

Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny...I have heard of your paintings too, well enough. God has given you one face and you make yourselves another. You jig and amble, and you lisp, you nickname God’s creatures and make your wantonness your ignorance. (Act 3, Scene 1)

Basically, Ophelia is used crudely and mercilessly by the men in her life. On the one hand, her father (Polonius) and Claudius use her as bait to entrap Hamlet. On the other hand, she is denigrated and verbally abused by Hamlet for doing Polonius and King Claudius' bidding. In the play, Ophelia actually harbors romantic feelings towards Hamlet, but she's not even allowed a word in edgewise due to Hamlet's hostility. So, in the play, women are portrayed as persecuted, passive, and docile creatures; their image is one of utter dependence upon the whims of men.

Are Eevee evolutions random in Pokemon Go?

Apparently not! The original anime Eevee Brothers were named Rainer, Pyro, and Sparky. Rainer owned a Vaporeon, Pyro owned a Flareon, and Sparky owned a Jolteon. People have discovered that naming your Eevee either Rainer, Pyro, or Sparky will result in the respective evolution (i.e. name your Eevee Pyro to get a Flareon). Some people have reported that it didn't work consecutively, while others have done multiple evolutions in a row successfully.

Is there any use in calculating IRR if a project wasn't funded by getting a loan?

The question asks if there is any use in calculating IRR if a project wasn't funded by getting a loan. The short answer is yes, this metric can be helpful regardless of the source of funding for the project. 

IRR (Internal Rate of Return) is roughly defined as the discount rate which makes the present value of the project’s cash inflows equal to the present value of the project’s outflows. A simplistic conceptualization looks at a single outflow (investment) followed by a series of inflows (returns); see the attached Investopedia reference for the series-notated formula used. 

IRR calculates the effective rate of return on a set of cashflows, and as such is independent of the cost of capital. It can be used to compare the relative attractiveness of several projects. It can also be compared to the cost of capital, to determine if the project constitutes a good use of that capital. It is here where the role of debt financing versus equity financing enters the decision process, as the balance between the two will be important in determining the firm’s cost of capital.  The Harvard Business Review article referenced below is a nice, simple discussion of some of the nuances to be addressed in actually using IRR in a business setting.

What is the function of a computer?

While the uses and applications of computers and computer-based technology are nearly endless, the core functions of computers can be placed into four main categories. All of the categories revolve around some aspect of data.

1. Input—A computer receives and accepts data that is input by a user. More often than not, that is done with a keyboard and mouse, but it could also be done with webcams, other computers, and various data storage devices.  


2. Storage—A computer can store vast amounts of data in multiple formats.


3. Processing—This is probably one of the most important functions of a computer. Computers can take input data and process it to give a user the desired information or organization of that information.  


4. Output—This is the computer's ability to display processed information to a user. A computer can output information through its monitor, speakers, and/ or printer.  

How does blindness operate in Shakespeare's King Lear?

Blindness is a pervasive theme and device in Shakespeare's King Lear. Both Lear and Gloucester, for instance, are blind to the truth when it comes to their children (Gloucester wrongly believes the treacherous Edmund loves him, while Lear also wrongly believes the scheming Regan and Goneril love him more than Cordelia does). As such, both Lear and Gloucester are blind to the truth of things and fail to see reality as it actually is, a mistake that ultimately leads to both figures' downfalls. In Gloucester's case, metaphorical blindness leads to real, physical blindness, as his inability to recognize Edmund's scheming leads to his eyes being gouged out by Cornwall. Ironically, it is only when Gloucester is physically blind that he is able to understand the truth and recognize Edgar as his loyal child. This irony is one of the most important aspects of the play, as it highlights the ways in which trauma or misfortune can lead to sudden insights and epiphanies.

What is a good quote from Moneyball by Michael Lewis?

A good quote from Moneyball would describe how Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane approached the task of fielding a competitive team.

Beane's emphasis on sabermetric data is a significant reason why he was a successful general manager in Moneyball.  However, I think that his success is also due in part to his approach to organizational management. One quote that shows this is reflected in his view towards trading for athletes:  

No matter how successful you are, change is always good. There can never be a status quo. When you have no money you can’t afford long-term solutions, only short-term ones. You have to always be upgrading.

Beane sought to challenge the existing attitude many held in the baseball community.  One of those beliefs is that changing the makeup of a team should be undertaken with caution.  Beane challenged this idea because he believed that, as a small-market team, he had to continually look for ways to improve.  He knew that he would not be able to purchase the contract of a very high-priced free agent.  Beane understood that the only way his team would be more competitive is through abandoning a fear of change.  His quote shows how he looked for ways to develop a distinctive edge that could distinguish his organizations from anyone else.  His approach to management embraced change.  Working in his organization forced everyone else to accept it, as well.