Why does Hughes set up "A Dream Deferred" as a question? What point does this make?

One of the purposes of poetry is to open up possibilities in the reader's mind, to get the person to think about something. This would be very important in Langston Hughes' context, being an African American writer at a time when racism was seriously overt. He was writing at the time of Jim Crow laws and even restrictions of African Americans in northern cities. 

A Dream Deferred covers the difficult realities of so many African American people. Much like today, many had little hope for their lives, certainly not the hopes of the wealthy (mostly whites) who can go to college and choose to focus on something they like. Young people with ambition were and are regularly forced to abandon such dreams.

When African Americans read the poem, they may find that it speaks to their lives and conditions. Hughes' white readers might off-handedly reject the poem because its realities are bitter. By asking questions, Hughes makes a bitter pill a little easier to swallow. 

At the same time, the questions communicate something truly significant. Why have there been protests and riots that began some time after Hughes was writing and continue today with Black Lives Matter? Hughes' answer is that this is what happens when dreams are deferred. The next question readers have to ask themselves is, how can I be part of a solution rather than being part of the problem? How can we help people to realize their dreams?

What does Laertes question about his father’s death?

The main thing Laertes wants to know is who killed his father. The matter has been kept a mystery from the entire populace because Claudius, for Gertrude's sake, did not want it known that Hamlet is mad and that he committed the murder. This explains why the funeral of Polonius was conducted with great celerity and simplicity. There are other things Laertes wants to know about. When Claudius offers to give him a full explanation in the presences of Laertes' wisest friends, he tells Claudius:

Let this be so.
His means of death, his obscure burial—
No trophy, sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones,
No noble rite nor formal ostentation,
Cry to be heard, as 'twere from heaven to earth,
That I must call't in question.

By "hatchment" Laertes means a tablet bearing his father's coat of arms to be fastened to the front of his home and on his tomb after the funeral. It is evident that Laertes is largely angered by the neglect of the formalities and ostentation of mourning he feels his father deserves. The same will be true when his sister Ophelia is given a perfunctory burial ceremony because, as the Priest explains to Laertes the reason for what Hamlet calls "such maimed rites":

Her obsequies have been as far enlarged
As we have warranty. Her death was doubtful;
And, but that great command o'ersways the order,
She should in ground unsanctified have lodged
Till the last trumpet. For charitable prayers,
Shards, flints, and pebbles should be thrown on her.
Yet here she is allow'd her virgin crants,
Her maiden strewments and the bringing home
Of bell and burial.

By "great command o'ersways the order," the Priest means that the King has given order to give Ophelia the best funeral possible. The Priest believes that Ophelia committed suicide, which was a mortal sin.

Laertes' fury is intensified by what he regards as the outrageous treatment of both his dead father and his dead sister. The playwright's apparent purpose is to justify Laertes' consent to kill Hamlet in a treacherous manner when they have their fencing match. Laertes is a noble young man who would hardly consent to such an ignoble action under any other circumstances. The fact that the King himself suggests this treachery helps to persuade Laertes to go along with the scheme. Laertes is young and naive. He has no idea what a sinister and guilt-infested schemer he is dealing with in King Claudius.

What kind of sources does Charles Mann use in 1491?

Charles Mann's 1491 uses a wealth of anthropological and archaeological work done in North and South America to prove that the indigenous people of the area had a history long before the first Europeans came and "discovered" America.  Mann cites events such as the discovery of Kennewick Man, a skull found in the Pacific Northwest which is older than the old theory of the Bering Land Bridge.  He points to fields in the Amazon which could not have been created by accident, but rather by natives acting on their environment in order to make it better suited for their survival.  Mann uses burial sites as evidence that strong trade networks existed in the Americas before Columbus--one example is a feather of a tropical bird being located as far north as Cahokia.  Mann's work in this field is part of a growing field of history that focuses on native history.  

Who is Gulliver in Gulliver's Travels?

In Gulliver's Travels, by Jonathon Swift, we hear about the adventures of Lemuel Gulliver. Lemuel is an average middle-class man who is very curious and very good at languages. He is also very brave and this courage carries him through the great risks and hazards of all his journeys. Lemuel Gulliver is also very resourceful, and this attribute helps him to survive where others would likely give up. He thinks up a way to communicate to the little people that he is hungry and thirsty, getting them to feed him by devising some basic sign language. Lemuel does have some character flaws. For example, he thinks he is always right and does not see any character deficiencies in his own personality. The author of the novel makes fun of this flaw in the story, and Swift has the little people called the Lilliputians make fun of Lemuel's pretensions. It is likely that he would have had a very fancy uniform and would have expected to be treated as a superior. Despite his comparatively enormous size, the tiny creatures are able to bind him, boss him about and tell him what to do. Lemuel Gulliver's main profession is surgery and this expertise would have been greatly in demand in Swift's time and a doctor would have been used to respect rather than insults.

He is also a sea captain by trade, yet he manages to get himself shipwrecked and then has to fend for himself instead of bossing his many shipmates about. As a sea captain he would have been waited upon at table and would have had his own personal assistant. Finding himself stranded alone, however, he does not panic but takes his time to consider his position and how best to extricate himself from it. At first he thinks he should wait from dawn until nightfall to hatch an escape plan, which shows extraordinary patience on a hot day. As it turns out, the little people do not give him the luxury of time and set about conveying him elsewhere straight away. Lemuel is very observant and watches the little people very closely, managing to deduce the likely course of events. At the end of the story we see him as a recluse or loner because he can hardly bear to be with humankind ever again. He even goes to stay in the stables due to his dislike of people. It seems the horselike Yahoos he saw on one of his voyages were enough to put him off his own kind for life.

How would you summarize Arthur Clough's poem "Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth"?

Arthur Clough's poem "Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth" was first published under the title "The Struggle" in an American art journal, The Crayon, in 1855. Many critics assume that it refers to the failure of liberal reforms in France and Italy in the late 1840s.

The poem consists of 16 lines organized into four open quatrains, each rhymed ABAB. The poem's meter is iambic tetrameter, with frequent metrical variations and several feminine rhymes. 

The themes and some of the phrasing of the poem are taken from the Bible, specifically:

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. (Galatians 6:9)

The theme of the Biblical passage in the poem is that one must persist in a struggle for what one knows is right even if the end goal seems distant or one endures various setbacks. It compares human struggles to a tide that recedes but advances again and suggests that even if one sees no immediate results from one's actions, they still may have effects one cannot immediately perceive. 

What were some ancient ways of taking measurements?

Ancient methods of taking measurements often used objects that were handy to people. For example, to measure length, people used their thumbs (which are about an inch), their feet (giving rise to the measurement known as a foot), or a yard (which could be a yard in front or behind someone's house or the length of two cubits, the measurement of a forearm). The measurement of a mile comes from the Roman term for "a thousand paces." To determine more exact measurements, civilizations such as those in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia began to use rods of precise lengths. To measure weight, many ancient people used the human body. They also used grains for lighter objects and then began to develop metals of standard weights. To measure volume, ancient people could use baskets or other types of jars or containers. The passage of time was often measured through the movement of the sun and through devices such as the sundial. 

How did westward migration after the Civil War affect the U.S.?

Westward expansion affected the United States in many important ways.  Let us look at some of the most important of these effects.

• Westward expansion/migration helped to industrialize the US.  A major part of this expansion was the creation of transcontinental railroads.  These railroads helped industrialize America by creating more demand for steel to make rails and rolling stock.  Expansion also helped cause industrialization by opening up new sources of raw materials that the country could use.


• Westward expansion helped enrich America.  This is partly because it helped cause industrialization.  It is also because it opened up vast new areas of land that became America’s “breadbasket.” 


• Westward expansion brought tremendous harm to Native Americans.  As white settlers expanded to the west, they pushed Native Americans off their lands.  The Indians were pushed onto reservations on very marginal lands.  Their way of life was completely destroyed.  By pushing them onto reservations, the US government helped bring about problems for the Native Americans that continue to be felt today.


• Westward expansion helped to create America’s self-image.  Americans see their country as a country of rugged individuals who can face life without any help from the government or, usually, from anyone else.  This is at least partly because of the way we view the pioneers who came west and the cowboys who tended cattle in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and other such places.  We see them as heroes of individualism and we think that they typify what our country is all about.


• Westward expansion helped to bring about the populist movement towards the end of the 19th century.  Many of the people who migrated west were small farmers.  They soon came to feel that large companies, particularly banks and railroads, were taking away their ability to make a living.  This led to the creation of the populist movement among farmers in the South and the West.

In all of these ways and more, westward migration influenced the United States.

What elements of Modernism do you see in the opening chapters of the John Steinbeck novel Of Mice and Men?

The modernist movement comprises many different elements. Some of these are stylistic, such as the manipulation of time or narrative techniques. Perhaps the most famous of these techniques is the stream-of-consciousness narrative style of James Joyce. Some modernist writers produce works that are almost unintelligibly absurd, like Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot.

Not all modernist works employ unusual techniques, though. John Steinbeck is a straightforward narrator who usually tells his story in a simple, unadorned way. What makes him a modernist is his approach to his subject. Steinbeck often sees his characters as actors in a society that is going through some sort of decline or momentous change. His masterwork, The Grapes of Wrath, describes an America that is disintegrating due to the depression and the effects of the Dust Bowl.

Of Mice and Men is a modernist work in a similar way. George and Lennie are migrant workers who don't really fit in anywhere in American society. They drift from ranch to ranch, never able to capture what we call the “American Dream.” The death of this dream is a common modernist theme for American writers.

In the first chapter, George and Lennie have arrived near the ranch at which they are about to start working. Look at the way Steinbeck describes the countryside in which they find themselves:

A few miles south of Soledad, the Salinas River drops in close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green. The water is warm too, for it has slipped twinkling over the yellow sands in the sunlight before reaching the narrow pool.

The rural area is peaceful, beautiful, and inviting. The problem is that life, for George and Lennie, is not. This gives us the impression that the universe, while it might be beautiful, is not necessarily caring. Man is but one piece of nature, and nature does not help man along, as we will see in the rest of the story. When George and Lennie encounter this area again, it will result in one of the most heartbreakingly famous death scenes in all of literature.

In chapter two, the men arrive at the ranch, where trouble starts almost immediately. The boss is suspicious of them, and the boss's son Curley looks like trouble.

Lennie is immediately frightened and says,

I don't want no trouble . . . Don't let him sock me, George.

This scene foreshadows problems that will occur later. This is also part of the modernist theme of “disillusionment.” George and Lennie are trying to survive in a world that is indifferent to them. In a non-modernist, work George and Lennie would find the world a friendlier place, and circumstances would not always align against them.

In Of Mice and Men, George and Lennie will not realize their dream of owning their own farm; they won't even find a better place to work. Ultimately, the only solution to their problems will be death. Modernists don't tie up their stories in a nice little bundle for their readers. The reader must endure what the characters endure. 

In what ways might RFID technology be used to serve customers better? What problems might arise? Do you think the technology might be valuable when...

With current storage technology, a very small tag could contain an enormous amount of data and transmit it rapidly. Megabytes or even gigabytes would easily be feasible, even though we normally don't use RFID for that much data.

Used on products, we could include all sorts of information about the product, things that wouldn't fit on the label, including safety records, labor standards, environmental impact, and information about the supply chain. This would dramatically increase transparency and make it much easier for consumers who care about being socially responsible to make informed decisions. Businesses have little incentive to provide this information on their own, but they could be required to do so by regulation or incentivized by tax and subsidy systems.

In the opposite direction, RFID tags could provide businesses with even more detailed information about consumer purchasing patterns, enabling businesses to use computer algorithms to project future purchasing and target advertising. Because businesses have a powerful incentive to do this, this process is already underway. It likely increases economic efficiency, but it also raises serious privacy concerns, because a person's purchasing habits can tell a great deal about them, and could reveal potentially embarrassing or damaging information.

RFID implants are already used to great effect in animals: pets can be implanted with RFID chips to ensure they can always be identified in case they are lost. This dramatically improves the odds of a lost pet finding its way home.

As for humans, I think there will be a lot more resistance on ethical grounds, but if security and privacy concerns are properly addressed it could catch on. Instead of carrying a wallet full of cash and cards, you might only need an RFID implant to verify your identity and make purchases directly from your chosen accounts. The main concern I have is security; currently, RFID has a very poor track record of encryption (I've linked a famous case where fare cards in the Netherlands were hacked), and unless this improves people should not trust such implants. If encryption improved, this could actually be more secure than cash and cards, as an implant is impossible to steal without physically injuring the person who is implanted.

What details in "The Devil and Tom Walker" reveal that Irving was specifically critical of the values held by the Puritans of Boston?

When Tom initially meets the devil, Old Scratch tells him to get off of his grounds. Tom responds by saying that the grounds belong to Deacon Peabody. The devil then comments,

"As I flatter myself he will be, if he does not look more to his own sins and less to his neighbor's. Look yonder, and see how Deacon Peabody is faring" (Irving 4).

Tom then turns his head and notices that the tree looks "fair and flourishing" on the outside, but is rotten to the core. Irving is addressing and critiquing how Puritans value external appearances more than a person's internal substance and integrity. Interestingly, Irving criticizes an ordained minister for being superficial.

Later on in the story, Irving critiques Puritan values by addressing how the church members react to Tom's zealous attitude towards religion. He writes,

Indeed, one might always tell when he had sinned most during the week, by the clamor of his Sunday devotion. The quiet Christians who had been modestly and steadfastly traveling Zionward, were struck with self-reproach at seeing themselves so suddenly outstripped in their career by this new-made convert (Irving 11).

Irving is critical of how a person's private sins are public in a Puritan community. Essentially, Irving is critical of the Puritan's obsession with external appearances and portrays them as a superficial group of people throughout his short story.

Does our constitutional republic promote or restrict economic freedom?

Compared to what?

Compared to some idealized perfect system of maximal economic freedom, obviously any real-world government is not going to match up. There are taxes, of course, but also a huge quantity of regulations, many of which are clearly overcomplicated or unnecessary. Particularly damaging in my opinion are immigration restrictions and tariffs, as these restrict the flow of people and goods across borders which is the fundamental basis of trade. Many taxes and subsidies are also misaligned with the true externalities they are supposed to reflect (agricultural subsidies are too high, while renewable energy subsidies are too low), and while some degree of labor and environmental regulations are necessary they are often too strict or not structured well.

However, if you compare them to dictatorship, constitutional republics do spectacularly well at promoting economic freedom (as well as other forms of liberty). Instead of micromanaging everyone's lives, they give people freedom to live and work as they choose. Compare the US to North Korea (or even South Korea to North Korea!) and the difference could hardly be starker: In North Korea, almost everything you do is controlled by the government, and you have basically no liberty, economic or otherwise. In the US, there are certain rules you have to follow and you've got to pay your taxes, but mostly you get left alone.

What about the other end of the spectrum? Is a constitutional republic more free than anarchy? In a real sense, yes---because anarchy is unstable. In the absence of a strong government, a power vacuum emerges where individuals, corporations, or other special interests can use force and fraud to take advantage of others. We saw this happen in Somalia when their government collapsed; this didn't usher in an era of freedom, but rather allowed warlords to emerge and form new de facto governments every bit as violent and oppressive as the formal government that preceded them.

Indeed, as a matter of real empirical data, constitutional republics such as the US and France, along with constitutional monarchies such as the UK and Norway, are always at the very top of the rankings in terms of economic freedom. No country is perfect, but some are much better than others, and the better ones are almost always constitutional republics or constitutional monarchies.

What type of music was used in Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll's House?

The only music Henrik Ibsen wrote into his play A Doll's House is the music to the tarantella, which Nora practices dancing to in preparation for the costume party she and Torvald attend on Christmas Eve. However, when the play is performed, different directors may add other music to further develop the play and their interpretation of the play as they choose.

The tarantella is an Italian folk dance that symbolizes a person being bitten by the poisonous wolf spider of the region. The poisonous bite causes hysteria in its victims. The dance became a means of trying to exorcise the poison and its symptoms. The dance also evolved into a courtship dance, danced by couples; however, since Nora is dancing a solo, she is most likely dancing the original dance representing hysteria.

The scene, found in Act 2, is an extremely emotional one. In order to distract Torvald from discovering the letter Krogstad has put in his letter box, Nora asks Torvald to direct her while she rehearses her dance in the presence of Dr. Rank. As Helmer plays, Nora dances faster and faster until Torvald begs her not to dance "so violently." Dr. Rank then takes over playing the piano so Torvald can coach her, but Nora only continues to dance "more and more wildly." Nora's wild dancing, as well as the dance itself, symbolize Nora's emotional torment. The poisonous wolf spider symbolizes Torvald and the rest of society, two aspects of Nora's life that are preventing her from fully living her life as a complete individual, thereby poisoning her existence.

Other than the inclusion of the tarantella, director Carrie Cracknell included an entire musical score to emphasize her own interpretation of Ibsen's play. Cracknell's performance is the most recent production of the play, first performed in 2012 in the Young Vic, a theater near South Bank in London. In America, the play premiered at the Harvey Theater of the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2014. The play's script was was written by playwright Simon Stephens; the music was composed by Stuart Earl, and reflected director Cracknell's much more deeply psychological interpretation of the play.

Cracknell's version focuses on presenting Nora, performed by Hattie Morahan, as having a psychological awakening about the extent to which she can be a deceitful, even duplicitous person, an awakening that causes severe inner turmoil. Cracknell's interpretation of the play is rather reminiscent of an Alfred Hitchcock psychological horror film. As such, composer Stuart Earl's music is also very reminiscent of music found in Hitchcock's films. The New York Times play critic Ben Brantley states, "Stuart Earl’s music exudes an anxious air of festivity spiraling out of control" ("A Caged Wife, Desperately Spinning Her Wheel"). Music such as the overture and song played during the scene that takes place on Christmas Eve, titled "Christmas Night," sounds festive while also containing suspenseful motifs reminiscent of motifs found in the soundtracks of such Hitchcock films as Psycho. A more specific example might be motifs found in "Flight," composed by Bernard Hermann.

England underwent a period of instability and crises both at home and in the colonies during the 1700's. What might have happened in England and...

The Glorious Revolution was a vital turning point in the history of the UK, which greatly expanded the power of Parliament and reduced the power of the monarchy, and set the UK on the course toward becoming what it is today, which is technically a constitutional monarchy but de facto a representative democracy. Today the Queen has some real power, but Parliament is far more important; this might not have been the case were it not for the Glorious Revolution.

Indeed, the effects of the revolution were even broader than that, as they set a global precedent for the expansion of power to broader classes of people. This was a trend that had been going on for centuries (and continues today), but the Glorious Revolution was a turning point, where relatively suddenly elected officials took on more control of a global superpower than the hereditary monarch.

Without that turning point, the American Revolution might never have gained steam, for fear that it couldn't possibly succeed; or, on the other hand, it might have occurred even earlier, as it would be even easier to gather outrage against unrepresentative government when that government is led by a king instead of by a parliament. Perhaps even Canada would have launched a revolution under those circumstances. I can therefore imagine either the United States and Canada remaining under the British crown, or neither of them, depending on whether the stronger monarchy was able to hold control or triggered an even fiercer backlash toward democracy. This would also depend in part on how well the British monarchy held itself together against the various political and economic forces that led to the Glorious Revolution in the first place.

Still, the winds of change were blowing, and even if there hadn't been the specific incidents (particularly involving Dutch involvement) that led to the Glorious Revolution, I think it is quite likely that Britain's monarchy would have weakened and transitioned toward democracy at some point anyway. This also happened in many other countries in Europe, such as Norway and Sweden, and while each transition had its own unique historical circumstances, they all fit a larger pattern of broadening political power to the people. It could be that without the Glorious Revolution, some other revolution would have simply come along later to take its place.

How old are the family members in The Swiss Family Robinson?

The protagonists of The Swiss Family Robinson are, of course, the members of that family. There is a couple, and they have three sons with them.  The sons are Fritz, Ernest, Jack, and Francis.

Fritz is the oldest of the children in the family.  We know that he is 14 years old at the time of the shipwreck.  The next son is Ernest.  He is 12 years old when the book begins.  The third son is Jack.  He is 10 years old at the start of the book.  Finally, there is Franz, the baby of the family.  He is 5 years old when the family is shipwrecked on the island. 

We can get all of this information from the first chapter of the book.  There, the narrator (who is the father) describes the people who are in the improvised boat that will get the family from the wrecked ship to land.  He says that, next to his wife,

was Franz, a sweet-tempered, affectionate little boy, nearly six years old. Then came Fritz, a handsome, spirited young fellow of fourteen; the two centre tubs contained the valuable cargo; then came our bold, thoughtless Jack, ten years old; next him twelve-year-old Ernest, my second son…

This gives you the ages of all of the children of the family.  The parents’ ages are not given in the book, though we would expect that Mrs. Robinson would be in her late 30s since her oldest son is 14.  It is likely that the father is somewhat older, as men in those days often married younger women.  However, that is just speculation.  We only actually know the ages of the children.

What does Juliet mean when she says, "I have no joy of this contract tonight./It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden;/Too like the lightning,...

These lines are spoken in Act II, Scene 2 of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The scene is usually referred to as the balcony scene as Romeo has gone into the Capulet orchard to catch another glimpse of Juliet, and the scene plays out with Romeo standing below the balcony speaking with Juliet. He just met Juliet at the party in Act I and has already fallen head over heels in love with the girl. Likewise, Juliet has fallen instantly in love with Romeo, but here she expresses her misgivings over the speed of their courtship. Because she is a Capulet and Romeo a Montague there are problems because their families are mortal enemies.

At the end of the party in Act I, Scene 1, the two have discovered each other's identities, but this does not stop Romeo from pursuing his emotions and his encounter with Juliet at the balcony confirms his suspicions that Juliet shares his feelings. Unlike Romeo, Juliet is reticent to engage in something that would be forbidden by her parents and family. The relationship is "too sudden" and she realizes that it may lead to trouble. The audience is already well aware of the enmity between the two families as the play opens with a street brawl instigated by the servants of Juliet's family and her cousin Tybalt. When Romeo appears below her balcony, she is instantly aware that his presence could mean his death because of the hatred her relatives have for the Montagues. Ultimately, however, she cannot hide her feelings and she pledges her love for Romeo, despite her reservations about the hasty nature of their love.

Ruben wants to determine if listening to different types of music will have an effect on a person’s pulse. His hypothesis states that if people...

In any scientific experiment, the independent variable is the one the experimenter changes. The dependent variable is the one measured in order to see if the hypothesis is supported or not. All other conditions (the controlled variables) should remain as identical as possible to make sure the independent variable is the only thing being tested.

1. In Ruben's experiment, his independent variable is the type of music being played, and his dependent variable is the subjects' heart rate.

2. Although it would appear at first glance that Ruben's hypothesis is supported, he did not adequately control his experiment.

• He tested only one kind of music on each subject. In order to test his hypothesis, he should test all three types of music on all three subjects, and use the same piece of music for each genre.


• His subjects are of different ages, and presumably genders; this could add another variable to Ruben's experiment that needs to be controlled.


• Ruben did not note whether his subjects are doing anything else besides listening to music. If one subject is jogging while another is sitting still, he has not tested under identical circumstances.


• Ruben's time frame may be too long — any initial increase in pulse could go down either a little or a lot over 30 minutes.


• Finally, Ruben's sample size is too small. for his experiment to have any meaning, he will have to repeat his experiment — with the controls noted above— with more people.

Changing these aspects of Ruben's experimental procedure will make Ruben's experiment more valid, as he has then instituted better controlled variables, making it more likely that he is only seeing a result as a result of his independent variable — music type.

What does Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird persuade its reader to think, feel, or do?

Throughout the novel, Harper Lee portrays the importance of following one's conscience and standing up for what is right. The novel persuades the reader to follow Atticus' morally upright character by challenging prejudiced views and arguing for equality. Lee also persuades the audience to exercise tolerance towards individuals with opposing views and show compassion for innocent people. Throughout the novel, Atticus encourages Scout to maintain her composure in the face of adversity and to be respectful to everyone, regardless of race, gender, religion, or class. Lee persuades the reader to follow the Golden Rule by treating others the same way you would want to be treated. Characters like Atticus, Miss Maudie, Judge Taylor, and Heck Tate understand the importance of treating individuals equally, as well as looking out for innocent members of society like Tom Robinson and Boo Radley. The novel encourages its audience to adopt Atticus' mindset in dealing with racism and prejudice, by challenging immorality throughout society, while simultaneously respecting others and displaying tolerance.

How can you write an internal monologue of Mr. Cunningham when he is at the jail with the lynch mob? What is he thinking about when Scout is...

When you write an internal monologue, you have to put yourself inside the mind of a character.  This is similar to the advice Atticus Finch gives his children.  He sometimes tells them to walk or stand in another person's shoes.  

An internal monologue is the inner voice of a character.  The internal monologue can also be thought of as the thoughts going through their head.  Consider the scene itself:

Tom Robinson is transferred to the jailhouse in Maycomb.  Atticus sits outside the jail to keep watch.  Scout sneaks out with Dill and Jem to see what their father is doing.  They find him outside the jail and approach.  An angry mob of men also approach the jail.  Scout searches the crowd for a face she knows.  She spots Mr. Cunningham, the father of a boy she goes to school with.

Scout speaks to Mr. Cunningham.  She reminds him of who she is and that she goes to school with his son, Walter.  She tells him what a good boy Walter was.  She also refers to Mr. Cunningham's legal entailment.  After awhile, "Mr. Cunningham was moved to a faint nod" of recognition (To Kill a Mockingbird, chapter 15).  Mr. Cunningham softens.  He lets go of his anger long enough to bend down to Scout's level and speak to her.  He promises to tell Walter she said "hey."  He then stands up and tells the mob to disperse.

Mr. Cunningham saw Scout as a person who cared about his son.  He saw her as the daughter of Atticus.  He saw her as a human being.  His heart softened and he ordered the mob to leave.  When writing an internal monologue, you would focus on the change Mr. Cunningham experienced.  He let go of his anger toward Tom Robinson.  He realized that he did not want to hurt Scout or anyone in her family.  An internal monologue would show his inner voice changing.

How can I analyze the character of Gurov in "The Lady with the Pet Dog"? What should I include?

The author Anton Chekhov gives you most of what you need to write a character analysis of Gurov in the second and third paragraphs of the story. If I were you I would focus on what Chekhov tells you about Gurov in the opening and add a few deductions or extrapolations. These are the pertinent paragraphs.

He was under forty, but he had a daughter already twelve years old, and two sons at school. He had been married young, when he was a student in his second year, and by now his wife seemed half as old again as he. She was a tall, erect woman with dark eyebrows, staid and dignified, and, as she said of herself, intellectual....He was afraid of her, and did not like to be at home. He had begun being unfaithful to her long ago -- had been unfaithful to her often, and, probably on that account, almost always spoke ill of women, and when they were talked about in his presence, used to call them "the lower race."

It seemed to him that he had been so schooled by bitter experience that he might call them what he liked, and yet he could not get on for two days together without "the lower race." In the society of men he was bored and not himself, with them he was cold and uncommunicative; but when he was in the company of women he felt free, and knew what to say to them and how to behave; and he was at ease with them even when he was silent. In his appearance, in his character, in his whole nature, there was something attractive and elusive which allured women and disposed them in his favour; he knew that, and some force seemed to draw him, too, to them.

Although "The Lady with the Pet Dog" is a long story, Chekhov does not continue to characterize Gurov throughout. However, as a result of his affair with Anna at Yalta, Gurov changes. He falls in love, perhaps for the first time in his life. This change of character is probably the most important thing in the story. He was just having another of his customary amorous interludes with women, but this time something entirely unexpected happens because of the influence of the woman. So you would naturally want to write about how his character at the end of the story was different from what it had been in the beginning. In other words, you would probably draw your character sketch from the information in the two paragraphs quoted above, and then explain how he had changed at the end as a result of his liaison with Anna Sergeyevna, both at Yalta and then later when they met clandestinely on rare occasions.

These two people who met by accident have had strong effects on each other. Anna has become unfaithful and deceptive. She has fallen in love with Gurov. She must like his sophistication and his daring, among other things. She must see something in him that he doesn't see in himself. This is alluded to in the second paragraph quoted above:

In his appearance, in his character, in his whole nature, there was something attractive and elusive which allured women and disposed them in his favour....

The story is told from Gurov's point of view. It is Gurov's story. Ironically, he changes from a superficial womanizer into a better, more sincere man as a result of engaging in an adulterous affair with a stranger. 

I think you only need to focus on the character traits that have an influence on his relationship with Anna Sergeyevna. A character in a work of fiction is not a real human being but just an illusion of a human being. You don't need to delve too deeply into his biography or his psychology. He is just a rather ordinary middle-class man who cheats on his wife and has little respect for women until he happens to get involved with one woman who brings out feelings he had never experienced before--including, especially, the feeling of genuine love.

The story ends without any solution. Gurov has to pay for his many sins by falling in love too late in life. He is married and has children. She is married and has children. Divorce in those times was virtually impossible. They live many hundreds of miles apart. There is no solution to their mutual problem. They can't possibly be together but can only see each other on rare occasions. This unresolved ending is typical of Chekhov's stories, and he has influenced many contemporary writers, including Raymond Carver and Ann Beattie.

"I know I am thane of Glamis. But how of Cawdor? The thane of Cawdor lives." What does Macbeth mean?

This is a case where the audience knows something that Macbeth does not know. In Act I, Scene 2, King Duncan tells Ross:

No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive
Our bosom interest. Go pronounce his present death
And with his former title greet Macbeth.

Duncan revokes the present Thane of Cawdor's title even while the traitor is still alive. It takes Ross some little time to reach Macbeth with the King's pronouncements. In Act I, Scene 3, Ross encounters Macbeth on the heath and confirms what the three Witches have already told him. The Witches must have had supernatural powers to be able to make that prediction. This seems to make their third prediction, that Macbeth would become king, more plausible.

In Act I, Scene 3. when the weird sisters greet Macbeth as Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and king hereafter, Macbeth tries to stop them from leaving. He says:

Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more.
By Sinel's death I know I am Thane of Glamis;
But how of Cawdor? The Thane of Cawdor lives,
A prosperous gentleman; and to be King
Stands not within the prospect of belief,
No more than to be Cawdor. 

A bit later in the same scene, Macbeth will encounter Ross and Angus, and Ross will deliver the King's message that Macbeth is pronounced Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth protests:

The Thane of Cawdor lives. Why do you dress me,
In borrowed robes.

And Angus will confirm what Ross has just told him:

Who was the thane lives yet, 
But under heavy judgment bears that life
Which he deserves to lose.

Shakespeare has two men deliver the King's message so that there will be no doubt that Macbeth has immediately become the Thane of Cawdor. What really surprises Macbeth is that these three weird sisters could know about it so far in advance. And if they had some supernatural knowledge, then their prediction that he will "be king hereafter" is the most astonishing and disturbing thing of all. Macbeth says to himself:

[Aside.] This supernatural soliciting
Cannot be ill, cannot be good. If ill,
Why hath it given me earnest of success,
Commencing in a truth? I am Thane of Cawdor.
If good, why do I yield to that suggestion
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,
Against the use of nature?  

While it was not necessary for Macbeth to become Thane of Cawdor in order to advance to the throne, the fact that the weird sisters know about it while the present Thane of Cawdor is still alive is persuasive evidence that their other prophecy will also come true. In Act I, Scene 5, Lady Macbeth will receive a letter from her husband which she will read aloud. Part of the letter reads:

Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it, came
missives from the King, who all-hailed me ‘Thane of
Cawdor’; by which title, before, these weird sisters saluted
me, and referred me to the coming on of time with ‘Hail,
King that shalt be!’ 

What are three major areas of cost associated with white-collar crime? How would these costs apply to healthcare fraud and computer crime?

White-collar crime is estimated to cost the country $300 billion each year, according to the FBI. The term "white-collar crime" was first coined in the 1930s, and, according to the FBI, "these crimes are characterized by deceit, concealment, or violation of trust and are not dependent on the application or threat of physical force or violence" (see the link to the FBI website below). According to the FBI, the three major areas of cost associated with these crimes are that they can destroy people's personal savings, destroy companies, and cost investors money. These crimes can also cost taxpayers money to investigate and punish, and they can add to the costs of running governmental programs. 

One type of healthcare fraud is to steal patients' identifying information and to use it to get fraudulently reimbursed by the government or health insurance companies for providing services to these patients. The costs associated with this type of fraud are the damage to private companies, comprising personal health information, and costing taxpayers money by charging governmental programs for services that were not delivered. In addition, there have been examples (reported on the FBI's website) of doctors submitting millions of dollars in Medicare claims for surgeries or procedures that they did not commit. In this case, insurance companies are damaged, as are taxpayers who have to foot the bill for these governmental programs.

An example of a computer crime (reported on the FBI website) is advertising inexpensive pharmaceuticals that customers can order via the internet without a prescription. These drugs often turn out to be fakes or unapproved substances. The costs associated with this crime are to the customer, and the customer's health can also be affected by taking harmful or ineffective medication. Criminals can also hack into companies' websites, stealing their information. The cost associated with this crime is its destruction to the company. 

What is the significance of the title of the poem ''Kubla Khan''?

Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "Kubla Kahn" is named after a real Mongolian general who conquered China and lived on an elegant estate. This reference is highly significant for a couple of reasons. First, by naming his poem after a real Mongolian conqueror, Coleridge signifies that the topic of the poem (Xanadu, the pleasure dome) is meant to evoke images of China and the Far East. For English readers during Coleridge's day, this location would have been very exotic, and so Xanadu would have accordingly seemed to inhabit a fairy-tale realm. Additionally, by naming his poem of artistic creation after a highly successful conqueror and ruler, Coleridge also comments on the nature of creativity and imagination. If the real Kubla Kahn unified and ordered a vast realm, then the Kubla Kahn of the poem and his creation of Xanadu should be seen in a similar fashion. In other words, Coleridge's Kubla Kahn is not merely creating a pleasure dome; rather, he's ordering space and creating an organized system where there was formerly chaos. Thus, by basing his poem on a real Mongolian leader, Coleridge signifies that his Kubla Kahn not only occupies an exotic, otherworldly realm, but that his artistic creation is an essential ordering force that can unify and control many disparate components.

How are twins born?

Twins are two offspring created by the same pregnancy. There are two types of twins, identical or monozygotic and non-identical or fraternal.

In monozygotic twins, one egg is fertilized by one sperm cell and the zygote formed as a result splits to form two embryos. Monogyzotic twins share the same genetic information. They also share the placenta that provides a link to their mother's body.

Fraternal twins on the other hand are born when two different eggs created by the mother are fertilized by two different sperm cells at the same time. Each fraternal twin has a unique placenta. Fraternal twins are like two siblings born at the same time. They do not share any genetic components and like siblings may or may not resemble each other.

The birth of twins is similar to that of singletons. Once the babies have developed completely, the mother has contractions which pushes them out of the womb.

How can I analyze the poem "The Forsaken Wife" by Elizabeth Thomas?

The first stanza of "The Forsaken Wife" sets the overall mood of the poem and critiques her husband for being inhumane. When Elizabeth Thomas writes, "one pitying look, one parting word" in line two, it's clear that the poem is a lament, or a poem of loss. Based on the title, we know that the husband has deserted the wife without a single look of pity or even a goodbye. A tone of sadness and pain is established. The next two lines say, "Humanity claims this as due, but what's humanity to you?" meaning that to have pity on the wife and to at least say goodbye is humane, moral, and right. However, the husband leaves without either of these things, and the wife claims that he therefore has no humanity, and furthermore that humanity does not matter to him.

The second stanza finalizes the somber tone and sheds light on the wife's situation. "Cruel man!...your infidelity I find," the stanza begins (lines 5-6). Though the husband has cheated, it is the wife who is ruined emotionally and even socially with a broken heart and a cheating husband. Not only that, but evidently the husband now hates her (line 9). At the end of the second stanza, in lines 10-12, the wife vows "to be forever the same," meaning that she will adhere to her marriage vows and still be true to her husband. She will not sink to his hateful and adulterous level, instead remaining a virtuous though broken-hearted woman.

In the final stanza, the wife bitterly prides herself on her strength despite her situation. She begins, "Show me a man that dare be true, that dares to suffer what I do," claiming that no man she knows can suffer as deeply as she already has (lines 13-14). A critique on societal standards for men at the time, the woman claims that no men can remain truly remain faithful or strong, while women are expected to suffer their infidelities in silence while remaining true. The final lines of the poem say that until society can conjure up a faithful man, the wife will say goodbye to all men, and remain alone and yet superior in her virtues and values. 

How does the idea that ''Power is not fixed, it is fluid'' relate to Saki's "The Lumber Room"?

Power is, indeed, "fluid" in Saki's "The Lumber Room," as Nicholas skillfully manipulates the flow of power from his aunt to himself.

Nicholas initiates this flow when he tricks his aunt into adamantly insisting that no frog can be in his bowl of bread and milk. She reacts to the humiliating truth in an impulsive and retaliatory manner by forbidding Nicholas to accompany his younger brother and two cousins to Jagborough sands. While she believes she has gained the upper hand, Nicholas knows the children will have no fun at the beach because his cousin Bobby's boots are too tight. He gains a little power over his aunt when she asks, "Why didn't he tell me they were hurting?" and he informs her,

He told you twice, but you weren't listening. You often don't listen when we tell you important things.

The aunt asserts her power again, as she orders him "not to go into the gooseberry garden" because he is now "in disgrace."

This is her final victory, however, because Nicholas pretends he wants to enter this garden by feigning a look of "considerable obstinacy" that causes the aunt to feel she must assiduously guard the garden after the other children depart.

Although she has other matters to attend to, the aunt spends an hour or two puttering in this garden in order to keep a watch on the two doors of this "forbidden paradise." In the meantime, Nicholas, who has no interest whatsoever in the gooseberry garden, steals away to the lumber room. Having discovered where the key is, Nicholas opens the door and enters an oasis for his imagination. This room contains all sorts of intricate and interesting things, the "unimagined treasures" that stir the imagination and delight the aesthetic senses. One large item that catches the eyes and imagination of Nicholas is a large tapestry that depicts a hunter and the stag he shot with an arrow. The hunter's spotted dogs gather around this prey; however, in the background there are more than a few wolves entering the scene. A delighted Nicholas sits for "many golden minutes revolving the possibilities of the scene."

Soon, Nicholas is drawn to other objects that delight him: carved wooden boxes, ornate candlesticks, small brass figures, a book depicting beautiful birds—all sorts of beautiful things that he believes only someone like his aunt would lock away. After some time, he hears his aunt's voice shrilly calling out his name and ordering him to the gooseberry garden. The empowered Nicholas takes his time closing the book of birds, locking the door of the lumber room, and replacing the key.

As he leisurely strolls into the front garden, Nicholas's aunt calls his name again. He feigns ignorance of who he hears, asking, "Who's calling?" His aunt says she slipped into the rain-water tank. While the tank is empty, the slides are too slippery for her to get out. "Fetch the little ladder from under the cherry tree," she orders Nicholas.

In another triumph over his "self-asserted aunt," Nicholas informs her he has been ordered not to enter this garden. Then, as the exasperated aunt gives her permission now, the empowered Nicholas answers, 

Your voice doesn't sound like aunt's. . . you may be the Evil One tempting me to be disobedient. Aunt often tells me that the Evil One tempts me and that I always yield. This time I'm not going to yield.

Frustrated, the aunt tells Nicholas he is being ridiculous and insists he come to her aid. Nicholas decides to trick her when he asks if there will be strawberry jam at tea time.

"Certainly there will be," said the aunt, privately resolving that Nicholas should have none of it.

Again, Nicholas defeats her as he declares she must certainly be the "Evil One" because his aunt told him earlier that there was no strawberry jam. He walks away, leaving her in the water tank until a kitchen maid comes to the garden to pull up parsley and discovers the frustrated aunt.

More victory comes to Nicholas when the other children return from a miserable day at the beach because the tide was too high for them to play in the sand. Bobby's feet have also been in pain from his tight boots. When it is teatime,

[T]he aunt maintained the frozen muteness of one who has suffered undignified and unmerited detention in a rain-water tank for thirty-five minutes.

On the other hand, Nicholas revels in the enjoyment of strawberry jam, and his quiet victory of opening the lumber room where he experienced flights of fancy from the tapestry. Most of all, he delights in the power he exerted over his disgruntled aunt by turning all her authoritarian edicts into his own personal victories. 

How we can build self-confidence?

Self-confidence rests upon accomplishment.  And self-confidence can be best built upon accomplishment that follows failure, in my opinion.  When we fail, we learn from our failures.  I believe it was Thomas Edison who said he learned 99 ways to not make a light bulb in order to make one that worked.  And in fact, when things come too easily, it creates a kind of false self-confidence. We gain the strongest confidence when we have to grapple with something, not when the road to success is smooth.  You will gain confidence by challenging yourself, no matter how hard the work and no matter what the length of time. We all have some areas of endeavor that come easily to us and others that are quite difficult.  What happens to us is that we are naturally drawn to the areas that are easy, and we tend to avoid the more difficult ones.  The consequence of this for those who never challenge themselves is that sooner or later, they encounter something they cannot do, and they lack the tools necessary to learn how to do it.  This is what I think of as false self-confidence. These are people who do not know how to persevere.  If I had had my way, I would have taken nothing but English courses, in high school and in college.  But no! Someone made me take chemistry and biology and so on, and I had to take courses in many different disciplines in college.  Going outside of my comfort zone gave me true self-confidence, struggling with the table of elements in chemistry and the big "B's" and little "b's" in biology, among other things. It is perseverance and hard work that bestow the most confidence, and challenging oneself, through failure and beyond.  It is Miss Frizzle from the Magic School Bus who perhaps sums this up best, as "Take chances! Get messy! Make mistakes!" I have included a link to an article on self-confidence, too, for some more general advice on the matter. 

What are some examples of how every lesson that Helen was taught by her teacher was set amidst the beauty and magnificence of nature in Chapter 7...

Before Anne Sullivan arrived, Helen Keller was trapped in a world of darkness.  Unable to see and hear since she was a baby, little Helen struggled to make others understand her.  A regular school was impossible with her condition, and she lived too far from the school for the blind. 

Her parents did not want to send her away, so they hired a tutor.  Since a tutor has some flexibility, because it is not a school setting, she took Helen outside.  Helen had always enjoyed nature, because she could experience it more fully since it engages the other senses.  Helen said the lessons “seemed more like play than work” because she enjoyed learning language and loved being outdoors. 

We read and studied out of doors, preferring the sunlit woods to the house. All my early lessons have in them the breath of the woods–the fine, resinous odour of pine needles, blended with the perfume of wild grapes. Seated in the gracious shade of a wild tulip tree, I learned to think that everything has a lesson and a suggestion. (Ch. 7)

Helen said that Anne Sullivan had a “peculiar sensitivity” to her desires.  She wanted to make up for all that Helen had lost, and that involved making the lessons as sensory as possible. Helen was intelligent and eager, and she was an extremely fast learner.  Anne Sullivan personalized the lessons to Helen’s personality and interests, and she learned even faster.

Our favourite walk was to Keller's Landing, an old tumble-down lumber-wharf on the Tennessee River, used during the Civil War to land soldiers. There we spent many happy hours and played at learning geography. I built dams of pebbles, made islands and lakes, and dug river-beds, all for fun, and never dreamed that I was learning a lesson. (Ch. 7)

The creativity that Anne Sullivan uses, and the thirst with which Helen learns, result in her being able to engage in regular conversation soon.  Anne Sullivan teaches her the regular subjects, but also language and personal interaction.  She is teaching Helen how to live in the speaking world.

What metals form ions with a charge of +3, and why?

Iron is the most well-known example, but in fact almost any transition metal, from scandium to gold, is capable of forming 3+ ions.

This is because transition metals, by definition, have d electron shells, which aren't technically considered valence electrons, but nonetheless do participate in chemical bonding, often in quite unusual ways (at least compared to the more typical s and p orbital bonds of alkali metals and nonmetals). If you look at a diagram of the shape of a d shell ("shape" in terms of the region where the quantum wavefunction is strongest), you can see why; they have really weird, complex shapes due to their higher spherical harmonics. The simple models of electron configuration tend to break down in the transition metals for this reason; bonds happen that you wouldn't necessarily expect to happen just from counting valence electrons and looking at electronegativity.

How did the European settlers have a negative impact on the Native Americans?

European settlement in the Americas had a devastating effect on the Native Americans. When the Europeans came to the Americas, the Europeans brought diseases with them to which the Native Americans had no immunity. As a result, many Native Americans died from these diseases such as cholera and chicken pox.

The Europeans also exploited the land on which the Native Americans lived. The Europeans took minerals from the land in order to help their economy and financial situation. The Europeans had no hesitation in harming the Native American culture when taking these minerals.

The Europeans also began to expand once they settled in the Americas. In North America, the expansion of the Europeans led to conflict with the Native Americas. After the Americans won their independence from Great Britain, they began to move westward. There were many battles with the Native Americas. As the Native Americans were defeated, they had to give up land. The government also had policies that were harmful to the Native Americas. The Indian Removal Act forced the Native Americas to relocate to lands that were west of the Mississippi River. As the Americans expanded west of the Mississippi River, the Native Americans were then forced onto reservations. This forced relocation disrupted and destroyed the way of life of the Native Americans.

European colonization had a very harmful impact on the Native Americans.

What is the significance of Othello's race in Othello by William Shakespeare?

Othello's status as a black man in a white man's world is of vital importance to the plot of Shakespeare's Othello. In defiance of stereotypical and racist assumptions about the black community during Shakespeare's day, Othello is a dignified, honorable man who enjoys considerable power and influence. Moreover, Othello proves himself to be an eloquent and gifted speaker, as he consistently employs sophisticated rhetoric when communicating with his peers. Clearly, Othello deconstructs the racist stereotypes that characterize black individuals as dangerous or uncivilized beings. The fact that he does so invokes the hatred of those white individuals unwilling to accept a black man with intelligence, power, nobility, and dignity. For example, though Iago seeks revenge because he wants the promotion Othello gives to Cassio, we can assume there's a racist subtext underlying this primary motive. Indeed, it's possible to see Iago's plot as the racist effort to oppress a black man who has attained power in a white society. As such, we can see that Othello's race is vitally significant to the play's plot. 

What are enacted to limit the amount of goods allowed into a country?

Sanctions, quotas and tariffs all seek to restrict the movement of goods into a country.  Free trade agreements encourage the import and export of goods between member countries.

Sanctions are penalties imposed upon one country by either a single country (unilateral) or multiple countries (multilateral).  The sanction is a formal notice to a country that imports and/or exports will be tightly controlled until the penalized country meets a specific demand such as ending genocide.

Quotas are restrictions on the quantity of items or the value of items accepted for import.  They may be part of a formal sanction or a standard restriction to trade.  The goal of quotas is to protect the domestic industry from a flood of foreign product.  Quotas can also control prices by keeping supply low during high demand periods.

Tariffs are a tax imposed upon import goods.  Importers must either absorb the tax, reducing profit, or pass it along to consumers, increasing the market price of the good.  The increased cost may make it less desirable to the public, thereby limiting market share.  Tariffs are designed to control domestic prices and employment by making the market hostile to foreign entries. 

Free Trade Agreements (FTA) reduce the restrictions on importing goods to a foreign market.  FTAs allow for a more global market place and access to a greater number of products by allowing exporters a low-cost method of placing goods in a variety of regional markets.  Detractors argue FTAs also reduce employment and encourage counterfeit goods.

How is "people and politics" explored in To Kill a Mockingbird?

Much of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird explores the complex intersection of "people and politics." More specifically, much of the novel focuses on taking larger political issues (racism, sexism, class inequality) and distilling these issues down to a more personal, individual level. For example, the first part of the novel serves to describe the childhood world of Scout, Jem, and Dill. This world is populated by kind, caring, and personable neighbors. After constructing this seemingly idyllic world, Lee spends the latter half of the novel exploring the hidden prejudices that these neighbors harbor. She does so most prominently in the Tom Robinson case, at which point Scout and Jem's "kindly" neighbors condemn an innocent black man simply because he is black.

In Mockingbird, Lee shows how larger political issues - especially political issues involving racism and prejudice - manifest themselves in a more personal setting. In other words, Lee illustrates how it takes "people" to keep political prejudice alive. Most of the time, Lees shows, these people are not a group of far away bigots who are purely evil; rather, they're our neighbors and our friends, individuals that we care about. By illustrating how political prejudice works on this personal level, Lee delves deeply into the complex nature of being human and living in a community with other, deeply flawed, humans. 

In The Story of My Life, Helen Keller claims that it is more difficult for hearing impaired children to learn to converse with others. Do you think...

Helen Keller explains that her teacher Anne Sullivan tried to talk to her with common conversational methods, but the problem was that a non-hearing child cannot really have a conversation the same way as a hearing child can.  This is especially true when the child is also blind.  A non-hearing child can’t pick up tone of voice, and a non-seeing child can’t pick up body language.

The deaf and the blind find it very difficult to acquire the amenities of conversation. … They cannot distinguish the tone of the voice or, without assistance, go up and down the gamut of tones that give significance to words; nor can they watch the expression of the speaker's face …. (Ch. 6)

This makes perfect sense.  While Anne Sullivan did her best to teach Helen Keller how to communicate, and young Helen was very intelligent and able to learn many words, conversing with her would still be impossible for most people.  To converse with Helen, you would need to know the signs to spell into her hand.  Most people do not know them.  Helen’s parents learned them, of course.

Helen Keller explains that even after she started college, communicating with others was difficult.  She had teachers who had never had a blind or deaf student before.  

Of course my instructors had had no experience in teaching any but normal pupils, and my only means of conversing with them was reading their lips. (Ch. 18)

Helen Keller read lips with her fingers.  It was a method of communicating, but I imagine it was not an easy one and I can see how it would be awkward.  Yes, I think it would be difficult for hearing impaired children to converse with others, especially if the others were not trying to make accommodations.  It just demonstrates how much Helen Keller had to overcome.

How do the three friends pack for their trip in Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome?

The narrator, J., describes the packing challenges in Chapter IV. The three men and Montmorency get together for these preparations on Friday night, the night before they are set to leave on the trip. J. tells us that he had intended merely to supervise the other two men. Instead, he begins the process by example and by packing all of their clothing and personal items in a Gladstone bag. The dictionary defines this as “a suitcase with flexible sides on a rigid frame that opens flat into two equal compartments.” But J. forgets a few items and has to open the Gladstone again. Then he can’t remember if he even packed his own toothbrush. Eventually he finds it in a boot.

Harris suggests that he and George should pack the food and cooking utensils in the two hampers, since J. seemed to have problems with the task. But they don’t fare much better. Right away, they break a cup. They make a mess with the butter. And at every turn, Montmorency interferes either by putting his nose or paws into things, or by being an obstacle that must be stepped over and around. The job is not finished until after midnight. This ordeal provides a preview of the action and antics to come, after the boat is finally launched with the four of them upon it.

Does Sammy quit his job to defend the girls or take a tougher road to success?

You could pick either answer, because both answers can be adequately defended.  Most of the analyses that I have been through over the years regarding this story all like the "Sammy is rebelling against the system" interpretation.  Even my professors in college pushed that interpretation.  I understand that, but I disagree with it too.  

Sammy is definitely part of the "A & P" culture.  He is expected to behave a certain way at work and enforce the rules of the corporation and adult world that he is working in; however, Sammy doesn't see himself as a full part of that world.  That's why he doesn't think highly of Lengel and Stokesie.  When Queenie and her entourage walk into the store, they are in direct defiance of the corporate structure.  They aren't in the proper dress code, they don't walk in the correct aisle direction, etc.  Lengel even calls into question their decency, and Queenie replies that they are decently dressed.  

 "We want you decently dressed when you come in here."

"We are decent," Queenie says suddenly, her lower lip pushing, getting sore now that she remembers her place, a place from which the crowd that runs the A & P must look pretty crummy.  

Sammy envies the way that the girls buck conformity, so his act of quitting is probably partially because he wants to rebel against what the A & P corporate structure symbolizes.  That will definitely give him a tougher road to success.  

I disagree with that theory though, because I just don't believe that Sammy was thinking about all of those things the moment that he quit.  The thoughts may have been there, but I don't think that they reached his conscious brain until after he quit.  I think that Sammy consciously quit in order to impress the girls.  He's 19 years old, and the sight of three girls in bikinis fills his entire brain.  He can't even think straight anymore, which is why he makes a mistake at the register.    

She was a chunky kid, with a good tan and a sweet broad soft-looking can with those two crescents of white just under it, where the sun never seems to hit, at the top of the backs of her legs. I stood there with my hand on a box of HiHo crackers trying to remember if I rang it up or not. I ring it up again and the customer starts giving me hell.

I think that Sammy believed that if he publicly defended the girls, they would be impressed with him.  At the moment of quitting, Sammy probably had more thoughts about a future cute girlfriend than defying corporate structure.       

According to Justice Harlan, what did the railroad claim was its motivation for the decision to separate passengers?

Justice Harlan wrote the dissenting opinion in the 1896 Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson. This case stated that it was constitutional for states to have "separate but equal" public facilities, including schools, until it was overturned (related to schools) in the 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Borad of Education. 

In Plessy v. Ferguson, the court ruled that Louisiana could have separate railroad cars for black people and white people. In Harlan's dissent, he dismissed the idea that the railroad did not discriminate against either race but used the same rules to apply to both races, as they had claimed. Harlan wrote:

"The thing to accomplish was, under the guise of giving equal accommodations for whites and blacks, to compel the latter to keep to themselves while travelling in railroad passenger coaches. No one would be so wanting in candor as to assert the contrary."

In other words, Harlan said that under the pretense of giving separate accommodations to whites and blacks, the railroad's real motivation was to keep black people in their own coaches. The railroad intended to discriminate against blacks. Harlan wrote, "But in the view of the Constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens." That is, he said that under the Constitution, no race is superior and that all citizens have equal rights under the law. 

In Warriors Don't Cry by Beals, how is Melba able to survive her year at Central High School?

Melba is able to survive her year at Central High School, when she was one of the Little Rock Nine desegregating the school, by remembering what Danny, a soldier from the 101st Airborne Division who was sent to the school to protect the African-American students for a while, told her. He said to her, "Warriors survive" (page 163), and she faced the segregationists as a warrior would face his or her opponents. Even when the 101st Airborne was sent back to Kentucky and the segregationists thought they could force the African-American students to leave Central High School, Melba says, "the warrior growing inside me squared my shoulders and put my mind on alert to do whatever was necessary to survive" (page 182). She dealt with everything that happened to her like a solider would. When her locker and its contents were sprayed with ink, she quickly asked for a new locker and books without brooding about it. When she was kicked in the shins, she did everything she could to stay mobile. It was not a mode that was necessarily comfortable for her, but it allowed her to survive in a very hostile climate for the school year. 

When Athena departs from Telemachus and Nestor, how does she reveal that she is a goddess?

After Nestor, the King of Pylos, invites Telemachus to stay in his palace in Book Three, Athena, disguised as Mentor, tells Nestor and Telemachus that she will go back to the ship. Then, "With that the bright-eyed goddess winged away/in an eagle's form and flight" (lines 415-416; Fagles translation). In other words, she turns into an eagle and flies away in front of Nestor and Telemachus. Nestor seizes Telemachus's hand and tells him that he, Telemachus, will never be a coward or "defenseless" because he is protected by the gods. Nestor immediately knows that Mentor was really Athena, and he makes a sacrifice to her right away, as mortals are supposed to do. The next day, Nestor orders the slaughter of a heifer, and he summons a goldsmith to coat the heifer's horns in gold. He then makes a sacrifice to Athena, who attends the ritual.