What are some characteristics of a state government?

In our system of government, we have different levels of government. We have a federal government, state governments, and various forms of local government.

There are several parts to the state government. Each state government has three branches. The legislative branch makes the laws. For example, in Wisconsin, the State Assembly and State Senate make laws. The executive branch enforces the laws. The governor is the head of the executive branch. The judicial branch interprets the laws. There are various levels of state courts, with the State Supreme Court being the highest level of a court in a state.

There are certain powers reserved for state governments. For example, the state government can make decisions regarding education, trade, and punishment for crimes within a state. No state law or action can contradict a federal law or action, though.

What was the social role of the Catholic Church in the Medieval period?

The Church was one of the most important institutions in Medieval society. Its sphere of influence was not just religious; the Church also played a key role in society as a whole. First, the Church was at the heart of the Medieval community through its dominance of the social calendar. We see this through the popular observance of religious festivals, like Easter and Christmas, as well as more personal events, like marriages and burials.

The Church also played a role in determining the social status of individuals. For example, if somebody did not accept the official teachings of the Church and was declared a heretic, this person was not only expelled from the Church but also shunned by the community.

Finally, pilgrimages were also events of considerable social significance. Though intensely religious in origin, the pilgrimage brought sections of society together, most famously brought to life by Geoffrey Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales.

Describe why the discovery of America was one of the most important events in history , according to Adam smith .

In Wealth of Nations, economist Adam Smith foretells of the coming of globalization.  In the book, he describes how Western Europe has benefited from receiving the raw materials of North America, such as its precious metals, agricultural commodities, and timber.  However, to Smith, this is not enough to change the world.  He then goes on to describe how the discovery of America has changed the economies in Poland and Hungary, two central European nations that did not have a direct colonization role in the New World.  Smith describes how trade networks connect Western Europe with Central and Eastern Europe and how it seems that people everywhere covet goods that were in some way produced in America, such as chocolate.  In order to receive these goods, people in Eastern and Central Europe have to improve their own industrial capacities in order to fully participate in the global trade.  With the discovery of America, everyone who trades with the colonizers prosper.  This expanding of markets was indeed world-changing.  

Did Senator Pittman favor President Wilson's entry into World War I?

According to Nothing Less Than War: A New History of America's Entry Into World War I by Justus D. Doenecke, Senator Key Pittman, a Democrat from Nevada, supported Wilson's entry into World War I. Wilson addressed the Senate in January of 1917, stating that, with American involvement, the end of World War I would be a "peace without victory." Doenecke writes that Wilson received a great deal of domestic support for his statements. In addition to receiving praise in the liberal press, such as from The Nation, Democrats and progressive Republicans praised Wilson's idea of "a peace between equals." Senator Pittman praised the idea as equal to the "enunciation of Monroe" (page 244), which is a reference to the Monroe Doctrine. Later, Pittman served as the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee under Franklin D. Roosevelt. 

What literary devices are used in "Death be not Proud" by John Donne?

The most notable literary device Donne uses in this poem is personification. Personification is when an author attributes human characteristics to non-human things. He carries personification of death throughout the poem by saying that death should not be proud because, contrary to what most people think, death does not have the ability to kill. Instead, it delivers eternal life to those it touches. At the end of the poem when he says, “Death, thou shalt die,” Donne implies death has the ability to die like people do, though we know death cannot literally die.

In this case, death is non-human, but Donne uses the literary device apostrophe to address death as if death is a person to whom Donne is writing. When he addresses death with “thou,” it is as if he is addressing death as a person (“thou” being the equivalent of “you” today).

Another literary device in this poem is a rhetorical question. In lines 11-12, Donne explains that “poppy and charms” can induce the same kind of sleep that death can, so he questions, “why swell’st thou then?” In other words, he asks death why it swells with pride at its ability to put people to sleep when other more trivial things can do the job just as well. This rhetorical question is another way for Donne to make his point that death does not have the right to be proud and that people who believe in eternal life have no reason to fear death.

When resistors are connected in series does total resistance decrease or increase?

Hello!

The answer is increases. Now let's figure out why.

Ohm's law states that the current through a conductor is directly proportional to the voltage, or, in other words, that the voltage drop between endpoints of a conductor is directly proportional to the current, `Delta U = I R.` The constant `R` is called the resistance of the conductor.

When some `n` resistors of the resistances `R_i` are connected in series, the same electrical current `I` flows successively through each of them. And each resistor causes the voltage drop proportional to its resistance `R_i:`  `Delta U_i = R_i I.` Together, all resistors cause the voltage drop of `(R_1 + R_2 + ... + R_n) I,` which, in turn, means that the total resistance of a chain is `R_1 + R_2 + ... + R_n.`

Note that a resistance is always positive, so a sum is always greater than any summand.

Which two characters are vividly described through their physical appearances in Geoffrey Chaucer's "The General Prologue"?

In many ways, Chaucer was a master of description, and he brought many of his characters to life in "The General Prologue." Chaucer described two characters who deserve special attention: the Wife of Bath and the Miller.

The Wife of Bath is one of Chaucer's most memorable characters, if only because the prologue to her tale delves into a remarkable feminist discourse, but we also get a picture of her early on in "The General Prologue." Chaucer describes her in vivid fashion, noting she is "gap-toothed" (20), full-figured (24), and that her face is "bold," "fair, and red of hue (10). All in all, Chaucer describes a physical appearance that matches the Wife's vivacious, unapologetic personality, and it's easy to envision her based on his description. 

The Miller is a similarly memorable character, and his tale is one of the bawdiest in The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer describes the Miller as "a chunky fellow, broad of build" (5) with a red beard (8) and a hairy wart on his nose (10-12). Based on this description, readers picture a coarse, tough fellow with something of a rude streak.

In considering these descriptions, it's important to recognize Chaucer is describing his characters in strikingly realistic tones. Rather than idealizing his characters, he makes them look and act like real, normal people. This sense of realism is one of the reasons Chaucer's work has remained influential for hundreds of years.

What do Isabel and America have in common in the book Chains?

Readers can see several parallels that exist between Isabel and America. 

First, Isabel is a slave. She has masters that are ruling over her. When the book begins, America is also being ruled over by a master. That master is Britain and its king. The book begins in May of 1776, and the United States didn't declare independence until July of 1776.

Second, Isabel is trying to gain her freedom throughout the book. She attempts to get her freedom in a variety of ways, and she succeeds by taking matters into her own hands. America did the same thing. The colonies attempted to gain independence through all kinds of legal channels, but only succeeded in gaining independence by taking the initiative and forcing it to happen.

Third, Isabel is a young character. America is a newly formed (young) country.  

Fourth, Isabel is abused by her master. America is abused by Britain. For example, "taxation without representation" was a major sticking point for the founding fathers.

Fifth, Isabel receives help from Curzon in her efforts to attain freedom. America eventually gets help from the French in order to secure independence.

In Huxley's Brave New World, in what ways does Bernard Marx abuse power?

Bernard Marx abuses power by hurting others as he selfishly seeks popularity. He is an Alpha, which means that he is at the top of the caste system and is highly intelligent. As a result, he treats those in the lower castes as if they were slaves. For example, he yells at Gammas and Epsilons while disregarding their lives as servants. He is rude and does not value their lives. Marx also abuses his power when he ruins his boss's life and jeopardizes his friendships with John the Savage and Helmholtz Watson.

First, Marx ruins the Director's life when he brings back Linda and John from the reservation. Because Marx learns that his boss fathered a child years earlier--and left the pregnant woman at the Indian reservation--he has the power to bring them back to humiliate the Director. Marx does this because his boss threatened to send him to Iceland before he went to the reservation on holiday with Lenina. As a result, Marx abuses power when he exploits Linda and John in order to destroy his boss's life. 

Next, Marx gains prestige and popularity for introducing John into civilized society. Because John is vulnerable to the culture of this "brave new world," Marx retains a certain amount of power over and responsibility for the Savage. However, rather than help John assimilate into London society, Marx uses him as bait to get girls to sleep with him. Not only does he take John for granted, but he also uses women's interest in the Savage to exploit them. The text describes Marx's abuse of power in friendships as follows:

"Bernard continued perversely to nourish, along with his quite genuine affection, a secret grievance against the Savage, to meditate a campaign of small revenges to be wreaked upon him . . . As a victim, the Savage possessed, for Bernard, this enormous superiority over the others: that he was accessible" (179).

Finally, Marx's newfound power makes him feel as though he can toss his friend Helmholtz Watson aside for a new life. Watson is also considered "Bernard's other victim-friend" (179). When Marx's popularity falls apart, he goes back to Watson to ask for their friendship to be reinstated. Since Watson isn't vindictive, he takes Marx back as his friend.

In the end, Mustapha Mond doesn't let Marx get away with his "little revenges" on anyone--least of all in society. Marx is sent to an island where he will feel equal to others like him. This will help him not to feel so superior and powerful over friends or those in lower castes.

In 1984, why does Winston Smith hesitate to write in his diary?

In the opening chapter of 1984, Winston is very hesitant to write in his diary for two reasons. Firstly, while it is not illegal to own a diary in Oceania, Winston risks a significant punishment if it is ever discovered by the Party. It is "reasonably certain" that he might be killed, for instance, or that he would spend at least 25 years in a "forced labour camp." His fear of being detected by the Party is, therefore, a strong factor in his hesitation to write. 

Secondly, Winston hesitates because he does not know what to write. While he has prepared for this moment for some time, he is seized at the last minute with a kind of stage fright:

For some time he sat gazing stupidly at the paper.

In Winston's world, self-expression is discouraged and actively rooted out by the Thought Police. For Winston, then, having the opportunity to express himself on paper is so unusual that it causes him to hesitate.  

What impact did industrialization have on the lives of Americans in the late 1800s and early 1900s?

In the time period that you ask about, industrialization affected different Americans in different ways.  Industrialization made life difficult for some Americans, particularly the working class people who staffed the factories.  On the other hand, industrialization helped many Americans by making more products available to them.

When we think about the impacts of industrialization, we generally think about people working in factories in very poor conditions.  We think about poor immigrants like those portrayed in The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair.  These people did suffer because of industrialization.  They worked long hours in factories that were often dangerous.  They did not get paid well and received few benefits.  Because the pool of labor was so large, these workers had little leverage and therefore led rather difficult lives.  Industrialization did give them jobs, but it affected them by ensuring that those jobs were unpleasant and often dangerous.

While industrialization hurt these people, it also brought benefits for many Americans.  Before industrialization, there were fewer consumer goods available and not as many Americans could afford them.  As the country became more industrialized, factory-made consumer goods got cheaper and cheaper.  People could afford to buy more things and could even get them delivered (as when they would buy from Sears Roebuck) using the extensive train system that industrialization made possible.  Without industrialization, these people would have been living as they did in the 1840s or 1850s, with very few consumer goods and a generally lower standard of living.

In these ways, industrialization in this time (like globalization today) affected different people in different ways.

What was Yali's question in Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond?

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond was intended to answer a question asked to Diamond by his friend Yali, a native of Papua New Guinea. Yali asked:

Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own?

In the Prologue, Diamond examines this question. He says that in his years working as an anthropologist he has met people from many different cultures who are intelligent and hardworking and thus was, like Yali, puzzled as to why some cultures developed great wealth and advanced technology and others did not.

After rejecting racist answers and cultural stereotyping, Diamond seeks answers in the natural environment, arguing that certain geographic areas contained more of the necessary preconditions for the development of wealthy, technologically advanced civilizations. Among these preconditions were the ability to support plants and animals that could be easily domesticated and similar natural resources as well as accessible east-west travel routes. 

What are some good topics for an essay on James Joyce's story "Araby"?

James Joyce's poignant story about a youth's romantic infatuation and delusions is almost a prototype for the other tales in The Dubliners. Certainly, it is a prime example of Joyce's employment of "epiphany" in his stories. It is also perceived by critics as an important step between the first two stories and subsequent ones in The Dubliners.

Here, then, are some ideas for topics with regard to "Araby":

• Epiphany as a literary technique


• Themes (see the link below)


• "Araby" as a bridge between the first two stories and the ones after it


• The interplay of point of view in "Araby." While the point of view is first person narrator, there are what have been called "multiple distances": first, there is the boy's perspective, then the older, maturing boy, and thirdly, there is the author's. 1) the child is unrealistic and emotional in his perspective; 2) the adult voice depicts the boy in a manner the boy would not comprehend; and 3) the author is able to insert subtly the issues of class, religion, romance, and emotions that extend beyond the first-person narrator. [This use of the authorial voice expands upon themes and sympathy for the boy.]


• The role of religious imagery


• Symbolism and literary illusions and their roles in the narrative

For more ideas, see the links below. There are numerous critical essays available. Good luck!

What are some negative consequences Tom, Daisy, or the guests of Gatsby's parties face as a result of their carelessness or recklessness?

In answering this question, I'd like to focus on the consequences (or lack thereof) Daisy faces as a result of her recklessness. In doing so, I'm not saying that Tom or Gatsby's guests aren't reckless or don't face consequences. Rather, I merely find Daisy's experience to be the most interesting and important to the overall plot of the book (but that opinion is affected by my own personal context, and other readers might find other details of the story to be more important). Overall, Daisy's recklessness leads to Gatsby's death, so her story is particularly remarkable. 

After a distressing confrontation with Tom (at which point Daisy is basically bullied into staying with her overbearing husband), Daisy drives home with Gatsby and, because she's driving recklessly, she hits and kills Myrtle Wilson. This action leads George Wilson, Myrtle's husband, to shoot and kill Gatsby at the end of the novel. As a result, Daisy's recklessness leads indirectly to Gatsby's death.

There are two ways to interpret the consequences for this action; on one hand, it's possible to argue Daisy faces no negative consequences. Gatsby takes responsibility for hitting Myrtle, and he is the one subsequently murdered. We can guess Daisy experiences a certain level of guilt and emotional distress on hearing of Gatsby's death, but we're never directly told exactly how guilty she feels. Instead, we witness Gatsby paying the ultimate price because he took the blame for Daisy's recklessness, which makes his death even more tragic. On the other hand, it's also possible to argue the consequence Daisy faces is that she is locked into a presumably unhappy marriage with Tom. Whether that consequence is more negative than Gatsby' death is up for debate. 

F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is filled with reckless actions performed by careless people. Gatsby, Tom, Daisy, and even Nick are all reckless in some way during the course of the narrative. As such, searching the book for examples of this recklessness is of vital importance, and identifying who pays the price for this recklessness is even more important.

How should I go about writing an essay on the problem of recycling in my community?

In writing this essay, one of the key factors you should keep in mind is that your grade depends on clearly following the prompt. The assignment has in boldface that the problem you need to address must be one that affects you personally. The problem with the subject you have chosen is that while you can choose to recycle or not, a generic essay about recycling would not actually fulfill the requirements of the assignment. While recycling may help mitigate global climate change or improve the quality of the environment over the long term, that isn't really the point of this assignment; your instructor wants you to focus on something with an immediate impact on your own personal life. 

If you wanted to show how recycling could impact your life, you would need to research waste collection in your community. If a landfill is close to capacity, you might be able to argue that recycling might reduce the need for a new landfill and thus reduce taxes. You could also investigate whether increasing recycling, and including a composting program, could have economic benefits for your community. Another possibility would be looking at the effect of electronics recycling on groundwater quality.

Overall, though, recycling is probably not the best choice of topic in response to this prompt. What your instructor is looking for is probably more an issue such as needing a skateboard park to give teens something to do after school while reducing damage to public structures not designed for skateboarding. 

Vanity leads to disappointments and despair. How is this demonstrated in "Mirror" by Sylvia Plath?

There are at least two ways of looking at the poem 'Mirror' by Sylvia Plath, as there is a possibility that vanity is not the only interpretation. It is true that many readers will think that a woman who cares only for her appearance is truly vain and shallow. However, the value of self-esteem is now widely held by professionals to be of the greatest importance in influencing the wellbeing of the person. Low self-esteem and a lack of emotional support can lead to serious consequences such as depression, mental health conditions, and even acute self-harm, as in the case of the author herself, who later took her own life. In the poem we see a woman who is only just beginning to fear the honesty of her mirror. The mirror is personified and tells us how objective it is; the later part of the poem describes how the woman responds to that. She turns to other, kinder reflectors, such as the moon, a candle, and a lake, but still she feels very low. the lake cannot understand why she has become even more unhappy. It is because she sees that her younger, prettier self no longer exists. It is as if her young self has drowned in the lake.

It is true that we see disappointment and despair, and the references to drowning and tears underline the mood of loss. We also see it in the 'spectre' of an old woman in the lake, representing the shocking truth. The speaker's response is not one of acceptance and confidence in a future with other rewards. Her utter despair and disappointment at what she feels she is becoming is represented by the scary vision of an ugly old fish, and readers may feel that there is more than just simple vanity going on here. It is a body blow to her whole raison d'etre as she fears she may never reach her potential; time is running out. The message seems to be more about loss of self-esteem and control over her own life than feelings of vanity over looks alone.

How can I analyze the poem "The Sea Is All Male" by Helen Segal?

Helen Segal is a modern poet from Johannesburg who first published in 1965. Her works have been categorized as "Southern African poetry," but in many of her poems, as in this one, she speaks about personal feelings and experiences. Her poetry has been praised for its technical skill and wit but has also been criticized (in this article) for a lack of clarity in themes and images owing to the introspective nature of the poem's writing.

According to this doctoral thesis, "The Sea is All Male" is primarily a reference to a fellow female poet's suicide by drowning in the ocean. The poem chiefly describes the experience of "some women" in the sea (which appears to be a metaphor for romance or for being dominated by men), why these women feel drawn to it, and how they are consumed by it.

In the poem's first stanza, the speaker asserts that the ocean is masculine, which is why it's both enticing and fatal for women. The ocean is chaotic, and it rejects anything imaginative. The second stanza could be interpreted in many ways due to multiple meanings of the word "consummation," but it's possible that the speaker here is asserting that women seek a kind of union or ultimate experience through romance (or in the sea, in the literal words of the poem). The third stanza emphasizes the link between the actual ocean and its representation as a powerful and forceful lover while describing women's physically intense struggle to swim beneath the waves of the sea. In the final, brief fifth and sixth stanzas, the women stop fighting the sea and float on its surface, tired and peaceful, their hair mixed with seaweed.

Overall, one interpretation of the poem may be that love (or male dominance) is too powerful a force to allow some women the space to find their own "ecstasy" or "heroic consummation." This view may be supported by the poem's many implications that the sea is a representation of maleness, love, and dominance. However, as I mentioned, Segal's poems have been recognized as suffering from blurry themes. We'd have to find an interview with Segal herself to be certain of what her intended meaning was in "The Sea is All Male."

Stylistically, the poem pleases the ear with several instances of alliteration ("secret depths salt-song," "brains and bones blood and brawn," "land-locked lover," "breaking brittle bonds") and pleases the mind's eye with a great deal of imagery ("the heavy waters," "jet to surface," "weedy hair"). Lines in the poem appear in free verse with no regularity or rhyme, suggesting the "reckless order of the sea" which is the poem's subject.

Finally, the poem invites comparisons to other works of literature, such as The Awakening by Kate Chopin (in which a woman also drowned herself in the sea due to her inability to cope with being controlled by men) as well as "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T. S. Eliot, which also deals with the failure to find meaning in romance and which also evokes images of the floor of the sea and of seaweed on "combing waves." However, whether Segal intended to allude to works like these is indeterminate; her choices of images and theme may simply be original and universal.

In "The Most Dangerous Game," what is meant by "He lived a year in a minute"?

The reader is expected to understand that a man who is under great emotional stress is likely to have a different subjective sense of time than what is "normal." Ambrose Bierce demonstrated this phenomenon in his story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." Everything that seems to happen to Peyton Farquhar from the time he falls from the bridge until he almost succeeds to grasping his wife in his arms at their plantation actually occurs in a matter of two or three seconds. The story is built on the strong contrast between real time and subjective time under an extremely stressful situation. Both stories, "The Most Dangerous Game" and "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" raise the question "What is time?" One physicist has said that time is what keeps everything from happening at once.

In John Le Carre's excellent novel Smiley's People, the last in the "Karla trilogy," the author plays with the subjectivity of time. In Chapter 2, Villem is picking up a yellow package of photographs aboard a steamer in Hamburg. He imagines that all the other passengers suspect him of being a terrorist. He keeps glancing at his wristwatch and finding that the seconds hand hardly seems to be moving.

The timing hand on his watch flickered past the six. The next time it reaches six, you move....When he got excited--he knew--he lost all sense of time completely. He was afraid the seconds hand would race through a double circuit before he had realised, turning one minute into two....He looked at his watch. The seconds hand was standing at ten. It's stopped! Fifteen seconds since I last looked--that simply is not possible!

The fact that time is not reliable for Sanger Rainsford is just one indication of the stress and anxiety he is experiencing as a result of being placed in a nightmare situation. He is trying his best to keep control of his nerves. Yet his own mind is working against him, making his predicament even worse. General Zaroff understands the mental anguish and disassociation his prey must be experiencing, which makes the "game" more enjoyable for the sadistic manhunter. 

What does Florence mean by the word "Seedfolks"? Why do you think Fleischman chose this title for the book?

Florence tells the story of how her great-grandparents walked all the way from Louisana to Colorado in 1859. They were both freed slaves who settled alongside the Gunnison River. She comments that her ancestors became the first black family in the entire county. Her father called them "seedfolks" because they were the first black family to settle in that location. Florence then calls the community gardeners on Gibb Street "seedfolks" because they were the first to plant their seeds in the run-down lot.

Throughout the novel, Paul Fleischman tells stories about various people who immigrated to Cleveland and began planting their seeds in the garden on Gibb Street. Many of the characters throughout the novel were the first members of their families to immigrate to America, similar to how Florence's family was the first to inhabit that particular area of Colorado. Seedfolks are people in their families to move from their ancestral home and start their lives in a new place. Each character who was the first in their family to immigrate to the community in Cleveland would be considered a "seedfolk," which is why he chose that title of the novel. 

In the poem "The Listeners," why has Walter de la Mere set the action in the poem during a moonlit night and not in the day?

The poem has an overall eerie feel to it, and placing the poem at night only increases the eerie and creepy feeling of the poem.  

It's not uncommon for people to be afraid of the dark. My own kids refuse to sleep without a nightlight. Friends of mine like to watch scary movies in the dark because they say it makes them scarier. Scary parts of movies often happen at night because the lack of natural light disturbs people. By placing this poem at night, Walter de la Mare enhances the disturbing and ominous feel of his poem. Additionally, placing the poem at night reinforces the logical concept that somebody should be at the house where the traveler is knocking. If the poem happened during the day, it makes sense the occupants of the house might not be home. At night, the occupants should be there. If they are not there, why aren't they there? If they are there, why are they not opening the door to the man who promised to be there?

‘Tell them I came, and no one answered,   

   That I kept my word,’ he said. 

Are they not answering because they are in a deep sleep? Are they dead? There are so many questions that a reader begins asking because the poem is taking place at night. For the mood of the poem, it simply works better at night. 

How might Emily Dickinson's poem "I felt a funeral in my brain" represent women's quest for knowledge?

In her poem "I Felt a Funeral in my Brain," Dickinson describes the movements of a funeral disturbing the narrator's mind. Mourners are moving back and forth inside her head, and the service is beating "till I thought/My mind was going numb." The mourners lift a heavy box with their lead-like boots, and the heavens are ringing in her ears. Towards the end of the poem, a "plank in Reason" breaks, and she falls through this plank. She then "finishes knowing," meaning that she can no longer relate what is happening to her. 

This poem implies that reason is what keeps the mind together. It is represented by the symbol of a plank that underlies the entire mind. When this plank breaks and when reason fails, the author is left plunging without awareness of where she is heading. Therefore, this poem can be seen as her quest for knowledge and reason to keep her mind and faculties intact and to protect them against falling into chaos. Women need to have knowledge and reason to keep their minds together. 

Why is Islam hated?

To the degree that Islam is hated, it is hated, I would say, by people who fear it because they know nothing about it.  We are fearful of the unknown and tend to hate that which we don't understand. 

There are people who will say that Islam is hated because of its history, the Islam conquest of part of Europe, for example, but there is really no religion immune from some history of conquest--for example, the Crusades, so that does not satisfy me as an explanation. 

There are people who will say that Islam is hated because of ISIS and the other radical movements by a few people who claim to be acting on behalf of Islam.  But these movements are about power, not religion.  Israel, under continuing existential threat from people who happen to be of the Islamic faith, does not hate the Islamic faith.

What has happened is that Islam has come to the attention of the western world again because of various radical terrorist groups, and now that it has come to our attention, we have chosen to demonize an entire religion about which we know little, and that which we do know focuses on superficial differences.  The fact is that in the Western world, as far as I can tell, there is little if any effort to help people understand anything about the Islam faith, so our ignorance, fear, and hatred persist. This seems to me to be a vicious cycle. The more we hate, the easier it is to radicalize people, and then people feel justified in hating even more.  The cycle can only be interrupted with knowledge and understanding. 

What do you understand by the term "stream of consciousness"? Explain with reference to A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

Simply put, stream of consciousness is a style of narration that seeks to mirror the messy, random, often illogical form of human thought. Thus, stream of consciousness often defies conventional rules of grammar, and is often quite difficult to read. Some authors often associated with stream of consciousness include James Joyce, William Faulkner, and Virginia Woolf. The way in which authors use stream of consciousness is often recognizably different (Joyce's version of the technique is not the same as Woolf's, for instance), but any author's use of stream of consciousness generally aims to represent the messy (and sometimes confusing) workings of the human mind as realistically as possible.

Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is one of the most famous examples of stream of consciousness narration. In this novel, Joyce's writing style mirrors the evolution and growth of his protagonist, Stephen Dedalus. As such, the beginning of the novel is written in a way that mimics a very young child's simplistic consciousness, while the latter chapters grow progressively sophisticated in order to parallel Stephen's maturation. 

As an example of this technique, take a look at the first five paragraphs of the novel: 

Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo…

His father told him that story: his father looked at him through a glass: he had a hairy face.

He was baby tuckoo. The moocow came down the road where Betty Byrne lived: she sold lemon platt.

He sang that song. That was his song.

When you wet the bed, first it is warm then it gets cold. His mother put on the oilsheet. That had the queer smell.

Notice how the narration is stilted and simplistic, and also how it jumps from topic to topic with little notice or logic. While this style might flout the traditional rules of narrative, it also very skillfully mirrors the thought processes of a small child. As such, in this passage Joyce uses a stream of consciousness narrative to represent the thoughts of his young protagonist. Later on, the narrative style grows progressively more mature as Stephen himself matures.  

What is the constitutional reasoning behind the decision in Citizens United?

Simply put, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission is a First Amendment case. The First Amendment rights at issue are freedom of speech and freedom of the press. The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BRCA), passed in 2002, prevented an "electioneering communication," advertising or a broadcast about political candidates sixty days before a general election or thirty days before a primary, and prohibited organizations such as corporations and unions from using their money for such broadcasts.  The court upheld the sections of BRCA that required disclosure of sponsorship but did strike down the other aspects, the prohibition against such expenditures and the timing constraints.  Michael Moore's movie, Fahrenheit 9/11 had been the subject of a complaint to the Federal Election Commission by Citizens United, a non-profit conservative group, but investigation concluded that his film was commercial activity.  Moore is in the business of making movies. Citizens United decided they were now in the film business, too, and the film at issue in the case was one that was designed to discourage people from voting for Hillary Clinton, entitled Hillary, the Movie, which sounds fairly neutral on its face.  The District Court below held that BRCA precluded advertising the film or showing it at all within the time constraints of the statute.  

The Supreme Court ruled that since corporations and other associations had freedom of speech and freedom of the press under the First Amendment, those portions of BRCA that interfered with these rights  were unconstitutional, and they were struck down.  To stop corporations and unions from spending money to present their political points of view results in the repression of speech, as does this blanket constraint of time, place, and manner, according to the court.  Similarly, the court argued, since the freedom of the press is for associations, not just for individuals, and since broadcast media are part of "the press," the BRCA could not pass constitutional muster, either.  There is no question that political speech is the most "sacred" in the First Amendment cases, and the idea was that any statute that allowed government to limit, repress, or suppress political speech should be struck down.

All of this sounds quite logical and reasonable, the Supreme Court protecting us from big, bad government, but this case and many others have created a landscape in which corporations are afforded far more political power than everyday people by virtue of their coffers, and this is a grave concern in a country that purports to be "of the people."   

In the story "Lamb To The Slaughter" by Roald Dahl, is Mary Maloney more of a hero or a villain?

This is a solid question, and one that I like to ask my students about.  I would like to point out that it is an opinion question, and either answer is correct.  The important part of the response will be to defend your opinion about Mary Maloney.  

I don't like thinking of Mary as a hero or a villain.  She is probably better described as a victim of circumstance.  I can defend the notion of her being a hero because she does protect her unborn child.  That's what heroes do.  They protect innocent people, and nothing is more innocent than an unborn child.  I also can think of Mary as a hero if I compare her to Patrick.  He's a character that is easy to think of as a villain.  He completely blindsides Mary with the news that he is leaving her, and it devastates Mary because he is the central force around which her life revolves.  If Patrick is the villain, and Mary fights against Patrick, then she is the hero.  

On the other hand, I can see Mary as a villain, too.  She kills an unsuspecting, unarmed human being and then lies to law enforcement in order to get away with it.  Additionally, she has the investigating detectives eat the murder weapon while she laughs about it.  In my head I keep picturing an evil genius doing his/her sinister laugh right before the credits roll.  That's what villains do.

“Personally, I think it’s right here on the premises.”

“Probably right under our very noses. What you think, Jack?”

And in the other room, Mary Maloney began to giggle.

At room temperature common salt sodium chloride, NaCl, is a solid and methane, CH4, is a gas explain, in terms of the bonds present in each...

Q: 

At room temperature, common table salt (sodium chloride, or NaCl) is a solid. At the same temperature, however, methane (` `) is a gas. Explain, in terms of the bonds present in each compound, why their physical states are so different.

A: 

The chemicals that make up table salt and methane form different intermolecular bonds. These are the bonds between molecules in a substance. Let's look at the intermolecular bonds formed by each compound.

NaCl's intermolecular forces are ionic. These are very strong intermolecular forces, and they occur due to the big difference in their charge. They are opposite in charge (sodium is positive, chlorine is negative) and so they pull together strongly. 

Methane, by contrast, is subject to only very weak London dispersion forces between its molecules. Carbon and hydrogen, the two elements that make up methane, are very close in electronegativity. That is, they are not at all opposite in charge. London dispersion forces are a weak intermolecular bond that every compound is subject to.

Ionic bonds take much more energy to break. This also means that substances made up of chemicals with ionic bonds have a higher melting point and boiling point than substances with ionic bonds. That is, the temperature at which they melt (turn from solid to liquid) and boil (turn from liquid to gas) is higher. This means that at room temperature, table salt is a solid, but methane is a gas because its boiling point is much lower. 

The setting of "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" is 1960s America. Do you think the story still speaks to women today?

Although the answer to this question will be an opinion, not a fact, the reality is that this story is often anthologized, assigned, and discussed even today, which lends credence to the idea that, yes, it still speaks to women.

(Readers should note that Oates's story, as well as the discussion below, touches on themes that are controversial and violent. This content is inappropriate for children.)

Consider a few of the themes of the story and why they're still highly relevant right now:

1. Popular culture, especially movies and songs, commands young women to expect certain things when it comes to romance, relationships, and sex. Look no further than Facebook or Reddit right now to confirm that this problem remains rampant. Popular articles shared daily among women have titles like "Thirty Lies Disney Told Me about Love." Like Connie in the story, women today still struggle to sort out romantic and sexual realities from the expectations ingrained in us through popular culture.

2. There's a fine line between flirtation and dominance, and both involve a power play that can become frightening. Seduction, or attempts at seduction, can lead to violence and murder. This theme is familiar to modern women, and so the story has value in the warning it offers. The staggering popularity of songs that glorify sexual violence, like Katy Perry's "E. T. (featuring Kanye West)" or Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines," as well as novels that do likewise, such as Fifty Shades of Grey, causes general concern that even today, as a society, we're too willing to accept (or even be enthralled by) the idea that men should seduce, dominate, and own women. Right now, you can pull up a news site like CNN.com or any popular blog and find evidence of our ongoing struggle against "rape culture." And it's not just the United States experiencing this struggle: look to Aziz Ansari's new book Modern Romance for a detailed discussion of how Brazilian women today deal with their culture's acceptance of, even celebration of, the kind of physical expressions of flirtation that people in other countries call sexual harassment and even sexual assault.

3. Evil takes different forms and is present in any society at any time. Consider Arnold Friend from the story, the would-be rapist, and note how he's basically the devil in a poorly disguised human form. This aspect of the story reminds women today that for all the advancements society has made in human rights and in women's rights, we can't lapse into complacency if we want to maintain our morals and our safety or keep moving forward toward gender equality. Look to Malala Yousafzai's I Am Malala, for example, for a discussion of how some people today still struggle to keep women uneducated and isolated "for their own protection"--a current, real, poorly disguised evil intention.

So, yes: For people around the world who share Malala's vision of education and equality for women, and for women who care about combating rape culture in the popular media, Oates's story still speaks to us.

Can you explain why child psychology is an important subject for preschool teachers?

Child psychology is a sub-field of psychology which focuses on the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of children and the underlying mental processes that result in these outward manifestations. It's important for a preschool teacher to study child psychology so that they can appropriately teach to and socialize with their students. Preschool teachers may work with children between the ages of one and six years, and this period of early childhood involves many significant changes in the brain. Not only are these the peak years of language acquisition, children are also beginning to develop their social skills during this time. 

It is important for early childhood educators to have a thorough understanding of the development of the young brain. Some mental capabilities, like the understanding of object permanence, develop in early childhood. Trying to teach content that is based upon object permanence to a child who is not yet capable of understanding the concept will not go well. Teachers who understand the developmental changes occurring in early childhood are better able to tailor appropriate lessons for their students. Children can also be quite sensitive to new information because everything is relatively quite new to them. Preschool teachers can make sure that their experiences with the world are not as shocking or damaging as they might otherwise be. Children need to hear things in words that they can understand, and often this differs from the way we might explain something to an adult.

I suppose that it isn't really necessary for a preschool teacher to have training in developmental psychology, but if they want to be a good teacher, it would behoove them to study it.

How does the adaptation of producing a huge number of plants help in the survival of a certain plant?

Living things have the ability to produce more offspring than can possibly survive. This was noted by Charles Darwin in his theory of Natural Selection.

Organisms are subject to outside pressures that affect their ability to survive, including competition for space, mates, and resources, as well as the risk of becoming prey.

If a certain plant has a potential to produce a large amount of offspring, there is a greater chance or probability that more of them will survive to adulthood and reproduce themselves. When an organism successfully survives and reproduces, it is deemed to be "fit". Thus, if a plant can release many seeds, which are actually tiny embryos with a food supply, there will be a greater chance some will survive and thrive, creating the next generation.

Seeds are contained within fruits. Fruits are ripened ovaries that provide a certain amount of protection for the seeds they contain. When seeds are released from fruits, they have the ability to sprout into new plants. Animals which eat fruits can help spread seeds in their feces. These can then grow into the next generation. There are other adaptations for seed dispersal, including seeds dispersed by wind.

It is important to note that, since fruits and seeds can both be consumed as food for many animals, a plant producing a greater amount of fruits and seeds will lead to a higher probability some will survive to form mature offspring.

What does darkness suggest in the poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost?

Before answering this question, it helps to check out the final stanza in Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening":

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep. (13-16)

Many scholars, critics, and readers have proposed that this seemingly simple poem is actually a depiction of an individual contemplating death and/or suicide. One of the factors that points to such an interpretation is this final stanza, especially the first line: "The woods are lovely, dark and deep." The darkness Frost references, especially when combined with the reference to sleep, seems to symbolize a kind of death. Moreover, the idea that the speaker of the poem eschews such darkness based on the fact he has "promises to keep" suggests that he has some control in choosing whether or not to give into the referenced darkness. This fact could be seen as a suggestion of suicide and, once that idea comes into one's head, it becomes difficult to read the poem and its suggestion of darkness as anything else but a contemplation of death.

That's not to say that this is the only way to read the poem. The meaning of darkness remains fairly ambiguous and, while it certainly could refer to death, it could just as easily refer to something else entirely. Some readers, for instance, point out that the speaker could be talking about rest in general, and so one might not need to wrestle with death at all. In short, there are many readings of this poem, and many interpretations of its "darkness." That said, the idea that darkness suggests death or suicide has proven to be one of the poem's most long-lasting interpretations. 

What are differences between the Salem witch trials and McCarthyism?

In the Salem Witch Trials, the stakes were far greater than in the McCarthy-era trials, as people could receive the death penalty in the Salem Trials.  Twenty people were executed in these trials, the majority of them by hanging.  These people were predominantly female, and, while there were other events similar to it in other Northeastern towns and in Europe, the Salem Witchcraft Trials happened in Salem.  The McCarthy trials did not actually kill anyone, but ruined the careers of many prominent politicians and entertainers.  The victims were predominantly men, as men made up the majority of America's political leadership of the time. Also, McCarthy focused his attention on Washington D.C., but he claimed that the entire nation was infested with Communism and it was his job to stamp it out.  

In "The Possibility of Evil" by Shirley Jackson, is Miss Strangeworth's name ironic?

I don't think Miss Strangeworth's name is intended to be ironic. Rather, it seems intended to characterize her as a strange woman who has a lot of dignity and high moral standards. I can't help feeling that the author's choice of the name was a mistake. For one thing, it doesn't sound like anybody's real name, does it? Besides that, it forewarns the reader that this old lady is a little bit crazy, doesn't it? The reader shouldn't be forewarned but surprised when the nice little old lady sits down and begins writing her poison-pen letters. In my humble opinion, a simple name would have been better because it would not have made Miss Strangeworth stand out among the other townspeople.

William Faulkner chose the fairly simple name of Emily Grierson for the main character in his short story "A Rose for Emily" because he didn't want to dilute the shock that comes at the end when the reader, along with the townspeople, learns that this apparently normal and conservative old woman has been doing something really insane.

Your basketball team has been playing twice a week since late October. It is now the winter holidays and you have some time off. Instead of...

The Americans taking up winter quarters at Valley Forge is similar in the sense that they were drilled in European-style tactics by the Prussian Frederic von Steuben and emerged a better army in the spring of 1778. The time before Valley Forge was bleak, as the Americans had lost Philadelphia to the British and many in Congress wanted Washington fired. At Valley Forge, the men waited in huts and were at the mercy of a government unable to supply the men with adequate food or clothes.  

The analogy of your situation as a basketball player and the men at Valley Forge falls short. While you may get better during your break and may even receive extra coaching, hopefully you are not starving. The metaphor of Valley Forge has long been used by sports teams who are going through a tough time, but it is important to remember that right before the colonists went into winter quarters, the situation for America did indeed look hopeless.  

In Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist, what does Santiago learn about following his dreams and personal legend?

I think that Santiago learns a variety of lessons during his journey to find his personal legend. 

One lesson that I think Santiago learns is that following your dreams is never an easy thing.  It's a long and difficult process that can, and does, have setback after setback.  Santiago is hit with multiple setbacks during the story, and some of them even leave him contemplating giving up completely.  

In conjunction with learning that following your dreams isn't easy, Santiago learns that in order to achieve his goals, he can't give up.  Despite the fact that he often feels like doing so, Santiago doesn't give up.  He continues to struggle forward, and he eventually succeeds.  Santiago is another version of the train from The Little Engine that Could.  I could also apply the "Never Give Up" lyrics from the band Common Sense to Santiago as well.  

Never give up.
Things are gonna get rough.
I've got to keep on movin.
Never give up.

Santiago learns that achieving dreams is hard, but he has to keep on working hard at it to achieve them.  

A third thing that I think Santiago learns during the story is the importance of finding and accepting the help of other people.  Santiago benefits from the help of other characters in the book, and I don't believe Santiago achieves his personal legend without their help.  One of the people who helps Santiago is Melchizedek.  He starts Santiago off on the journey.  Probably the most important helper is the Alchemist.  He assists Santiago during the final part of his journey.

Do you consider the Anarchist in "The Stolen Bacillus" by H. G. Wells to be the victim of a prank?

In "The Stolen Bacillus," the Anarchist is not the victim of a deliberate prank, in the traditional sense. In fact, the Bacteriologist has no idea that his visitor is an anarchist who intends to steal the bacillus for the purposes of poisoning the water supply. Instead, he thinks that the Anarchist is simply a curious visitor to his laboratory and the Bacteriologist has no knowledge of the man's real intentions. It is for this reason that he shows him the bacillus and, as a means of impressing him, he claims to have live cholera in his possession. This attempt at showing off quickly backfires, however, when the Anarchist takes the bacillus and disappears from the laboratory. The Bacteriologist then gives chase but only because creating the bacillus is a troublesome process, not because the Anarchist has taken live cholera. This is demonstrated by his comment at the end of the story:

But the bother is, I shall have all the trouble and expense of preparing some more.

In essence, then, the Anarchist is the victim of a misunderstanding as opposed to a deliberate prank.

The Things They Carried is a story about war. Do you think it is an antiwar story? Why or why not?

Before answering this question, it's important to understand that it's quite difficult to say anything definitive about Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried. Indeed, the book's confusing structure defies efforts to define its meaning at every turn. That said, I think one could say that it is, in fact, an antiwar story, at least for the most part.

Consider, first of all, the book's chaotic structure. This structure has several effects. First, it mirrors the chaotic state of warfare in which the characters are embroiled. Jumping back and forth in time, revisiting certain events more than once, and generally lacking any kind of linear structure, the "plot" (if there is one) of The Things They Carried mirrors the confusing, chaotic, illogical nature of the Vietnam War. Moreover, it mirrors the psychological states of most of the work's characters. Faced with war and death, the soldiers in O'Brien's work experience the deterioration of their own mental landscapes. Norman Bowker, for instance, carries the thumb of a dead Viet Cong child and then, after returning from the war, commits suicide. Additionally, Rat Kiley, unable to deal with the death of one of the platoon's members, brutally tortures a water buffalo. Clearly, the characters in O'Brien's fiction are suffering and psychologically traumatized, and the fragmented, confusing nature of the author's prose reflects this notion.

With these points in mind, I think it's possible to say The Things They Carried is an antiwar story. By focusing on the chaos and the trauma, and by mirroring these realities in a fragmented, chaotic narrative, O'Brien skillfully illustrates the calamity of war and death.

What is the irony in the line from Macbeth, "hail, most worthy thane"?

Ross has been sent by King Duncan to tell Macbeth, the current Thane of Glamis, that he has been awarded the title Thane of Cawdor as well, for his tremendously loyal and brave services to the crown and country of Scotland.  When Ross acquaints him with this news, he says to Macbeth, in part, "hail, most worthy thane."  This line is ironic because, as we find out soon enough, Macbeth is not worthy or loyal, ultimately.  Poor Duncan has already been deceived by the former Thane of Cawdor, a traitor, and now he believes that he is giving that man's title to another man with a completely different character.  Alas, he's deceived there, too, because Macbeth is even more treacherous than his predecessor.  While the old Thane of Cawdor turns traitor on the battlefield for all to see, Macbeth plots his treason privately, killing his king -- a king who's also his friend and kinsman and guest -- while he sleeps.  Everyone is deceived, at this stage in the play, thinking Macbeth is "worthy" when he is not at all.