Why does cellular respiration involve so many molecules and steps based on how life obeys and exploits the Laws of Thermodynamics?

The laws of thermodynamics are as follows.

The first law is that the increase in energy in a system is the sum of energy added to the system. This means that a system will not change energy unless some is introduced from outside the system. This applies to the body when you have to eat to gain weight, for example. You expend energy naturally through your metabolism, moving, breathing, and even digesting. You intake energy by eating. 

Even cells obey the first law. Cells use various pumps to gain the nutrients they need from the bloodstream. They use pumps to push out things they no longer need or can use. Cells cannot take in an infinite amount of energy, and without constant feeding, will die.

The second law states that if two bodies in equilibrium with themselves, but not with each other, are introduced, then they will attain a new equilibrium together. Basically, the energy will try to spread itself evenly. If you go outside on a cold night, you will get cold. Unless your body burns energy to keep you warm, you will freeze. The second law also states that the entropy of the universe is always increasing.

The third law governs what happens to entropy as temperature approaches absolute zero. I don't think we need to worry about a life form with zero entropy and zero heat.

The zeroth law of thermodynamics states that if two systems are in equilibrium with a third, they are in equilibrium with each other. This is important in relating things like cells to the bloodstream.

Now with that out of the way we can discuss cellular respiration. I will use the Krebs cycle, although these principles apply to fermentation and anaerobic respiration as well.

To start, the Krebs occurs in the mitochondria. This organelle has a starting energy and concentration of nutrients, and the cell surrounding it has a different concentration. Therefore, the mitochondria outer wall is semi permeable, allowing small molecules to pass in and out freely, such as water and sugar, and uses active transport to move larger molecules, like proteins. This is a perfect example of the first and second laws of thermodynamics, as the organelle uses active transport to move the proteins, but is in equilibrium with the rest of the cell with water and sugar.

When reactions occur during the Krebs cycle, such as the oxidation of pyruvate, energy is released into the cell in the form of heat. This heat can be used to start other reactions, or move things around the cell. Either way, the energy released in the reaction is added to the total heat of the cell, and when a reaction absorbs this energy, the total heat in the cell will decrease.

You will notice the use of catalysts in the metabolism of a cell. This lowers the activation energy of a reaction, and allows the cell to work at much lower temperatures than the reactions would normally need to take place.

What is the significance of the grandmother calling the Misfit her own son and merging her real son with the Misfit in "A Good Man Is Hard to Find?"

Throughout the story, the grandmother has been uncharitable towards her family and other people. Only at the last moment, when she embraces the Misfit as her own son, does she show true charity and love.

Until the end of the story, the grandmother is more concerned with external displays of her class status than with acting in a truly charitable way. For example, she pins a sachet to her neckline so "in case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady." However, unlike someone with true ladylike behaviors, she displays prejudice and intolerance. When she passes an African-American child by the side of the road who has no pants on, she remarks, "Wouldn't that make a picture, now?" She is not concerned for the child's welfare but only for the artistic possibilities that the child represents. She also tries to convince her son, Bailey, to take her to  Tennessee, despite the fact that the rest of the family wants to go to Florida.

The Grandmother ultimately leads the family to the Misfit and his accomplices when she directs them down a dirt road in Georgia, realizing too late that the old plantation she wants to see is actually in Tennessee. Until the very last moment, she is only concerned with saving herself. Even when she hears her family members being shot, she pesters the Misfit to save her if she gives him a bribe. After her son is killed, she looks at the Misfit at the last moment and says, "Why you're one of my babies. You're one of my own children!" When faced her with own mortality, she drops the veneer of uncharitable and false religiosity that she has been displaying throughout the story and becomes truly charitable. By accepting the Misfit, who is cast aside by society, as one of her own children, she shows that she is truly a lover of humanity. The significance is that at the last moment, she has a conversion to true love of her fellow man after a lifetime of practicing a hypocritical form of religion.

From Romeo and Juliet, what enduring truths does Tybalt show relating to our modern day life?

I would like to say that people no longer fight for no reason or let their tempers get the best of them, or are ruled by affiliation and association loyalties more than logic, but this is not the case.  Tybalt believed that it was more important to be tough and to make sure everyone else knew he was tough, and he paid the price.

Tybalt was a bully.  There always have been and always will be bullies.  Tybalt showed he was a bully when he got upset at the Capulet ball by Romeo’s mere presence there.  His uncle was not amused.

TYBALT

It fits, when such a villain is a guest:
I'll not endure him.

CAPULET

He shall be endured:
What, goodman boy! I say, he shall: go to;
Am I the master here, or you? go to.
You'll not endure him! God shall mend my soul! (Act 1, Scene 5)

Capulet called him a “saucy boy” and told him to leave off.  He was not allowed to fight Romeo there, but he did not give up.  He refused to give up.  This goes beyond holding a grudge.  This is someone who is taking advantage of a family feud to use a violent personality.  Tybalt did not need to force Romeo to fight him, and if he hadn't, neither Mercutio nor Tybalt would have been dead (to say nothing of Romeo and Juliet's suicides later, which were directly related to Romeo's banishment).

We live in a violent world.  Family feuds are not that common today.  It is gang wars and border disputes.  The motivation is the same though.  Tybalt had no personal dispute with Romeo.  He did not know him personally.  He hated him because of his family name and where he was from.  Hate is not something we left behind in Elizabethan England.

Would Emerson's ideas about education be supported in elementary schools today? Why or why not? He believed children should be given the choice of...

While Emerson would be pleased at elementary education's advancement, he would say there is more to do to create a system of formal elementary instruction that maximizes student choice.

Emerson was passionate about students having choices in their studies. Emerson saw the educational setting based on rote instruction as failing to ignite student passion: "It is ominous, a presumption of crime, that this word Education has so cold, so hopeless a sound. A treatise on education, a convention for education, a lecture, a system, affects us with slight paralysis and a certain yawning of the jaws." Emerson believed that the "certain yawning of the jaws" was because those in positions of power did not construct education with the student voice in mind. Emerson believed education "should be as broad as man" and should enhance "elements in him." He believed education should be geared towards individual passion:

The imagination must be addressed. Why always coast on the surface and never open the interior of nature, not by science, which is surface still, but by poetry? Is not the Vast an element of the mind? Yet what teaching, what book of this day appeals to the Vast?

Emerson felt the student experience was the most important element in education. He felt this was lacking in the educational system he saw around him.

In today's education system, there are more choices for students. In many elementary schools, delivering science and engineering instruction to as many students as possible is prioritized. There are more arts, physical education, and music classes offered to students than in Emerson's time. These opportunities broaden students' choices of future paths. With the increase of responses to intervention, elementary schools do a better job of tailor-making educational plans to fit the needs of every student. Teachers at the elementary level embrace learning centers, inquiry-based learning techniques, and self-selected writing and reading. They also do more in terms of encouraging student voice in the process of education. Elementary education embraces a deeper understanding of how facts fit together in constructing knowledge. This moves away from how Emerson saw education "coast on the surface." Additionally, Emerson would be happy with how there is more access to education than ever before. More young people are being educated than in Emerson's time.

I do think there are elements in current elementary education Emerson would find disturbing. The reliance on data-driven analysis in the form of standardized testing would concern him. He yearned for education to encourage a "vast" element of the mind, and as a result would recoil at the emphasis placed on standardized testing. When children in first or second grade have to experience the pressures of a high-stakes standardized assessment, instruction loses its appeal to the "vast." Rather, it gears itself toward success on the test. Emerson would repudiate elementary schools cutting back on "non-essential" courses like art, music, and physical education in favor of more instruction on testing content. Schools that do this embrace Emerson's belief of the "hopeless" condition of education. When standardized testing is given importance over all else in elementary education, student choice and voice diminish. Emerson would criticize this limitation. This is not to say he would reject modern elementary education, but he would say the steps taken to enhance a child's imagination should continue and the movement towards over-reliance on testing data should recede.

What is the difference between conflict theory and functionalism when used to explain deviance?

Deviance is a sociological term used to describe those who act against the norms of society.  Conflict theorists believe those with money and power set the behavioral standards in a group.  They create a community in which their predetermined norms are accepted by everyone else.  Therefore, if someone acts outside of these norms, they are considered deviant.  Conflict theorists believe those in power use the idea of deviance to keep control of the masses.  Crime and deviant behaviors are attributed to the class system by conflict theorists.  Karl Marx was a major theorist associated with these beliefs. 

Functionalism, on the other hand, challenges the idea of deviance being a result of inequalities in money and power.  The functionalism perspective takes into account the lack of cohesion and social bonds developed between community members.  From this viewpoint, individuals commit crimes or display deviant behavior because they do not feel a connection with others in society. 

Although both viewpoints are still supported, recent research suggests the conflict theory of deviance should be revisited. 

How does one interpret Sidi's decision to marry Baroka at the end of the play The Lion and the Jewel by Wole Soyinka?

Sidi's decision to marry Baroka can be interpreted in several different ways. Throughout the play, Baroka is viewed as a supporter of traditional Yoruba culture and opposes Western influence. Baroka's opposition to modernity is evident when he thwarts a Public Works project by bribing the railway surveyor. Even though Baroka is known for his masculinity, he is also regarded for his wisdom throughout the play. Baroka cleverly feigns impotence, then woos Sidi by telling her that her image will adorn every stamp leaving Ilujinle. Sidi's decision to marry Baroka in the play reflects Wole Soyinka's opinion that Baroka was a better man than Lakunle. Soyinka suggests that Baroka's values, morals, and culture are more worthy than Lakunle's Western ideals. Sidi's decision to marry Baroka also reflects her affinity for traditional Yoruba culture over Western civilization. Sidi's choice to marry the Bale also represents a victory for old age and wisdom over youth and superficial values.

a

We are given a+b+c=395, b+c+d=1001 and a<b<c<d and we are asked to find the value of d:

As stated, d can take on a range of values.

Subtract the two equations:

   b+c+d=1001
a+b+c   =395
----------------
-a      +d=606   or

d=606+a

This isn't the whole story as we also know that a<b<c<d.

Assuming that a,b,c,d are integers there is a clear upper bound on a: a<130. (If a=131, then b+c=264 ==> b=c=132 but b<c.)

There is also a lower bound on a. (Unless a,b,c,d are natural numbers, in which case the lower bound is a>0.) If a<-271 then d becomes too small. e.g. if a=-272, then b+c=667 and the smallest that c can be is 334, but d=334 which contradicts c<d.

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Assuming a,b,c,d are integers then the value of d depends on a ; d=606+a where -272<a<130 (so that 334<d<736).

If a,b,c,d are natural numbers then d=606+a where 0<a<130 and 606<d<736.

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In The Story of My Life, how does Helen turn into an isolated and tormented child?

Helen was tormented because she could not communicate with others due to the fact that her illness took her sight and hearing.

Helen became blind and deaf from an illness when she was a toddler.  Her parents thought she would die at first.  It was a very bad illness, which the doctors called “acute congestion of the stomach and brain.”  Although she lost her sight and hearing, she otherwise fully recovered.

Gradually I got used to the silence and darkness that surrounded me and forgot that it had ever been different, until she came–my teacher–who was to set my spirit free. (Ch. 1)

Helen was frustrated because when she became ill she was still a baby. She had only just begun to walk and barely knew how to talk. Therefore, she did not have the opportunity to learn words and could only communicate with the people around her with primitive, invented signs.  She was intelligent enough to know that other people used their mouths to talk and the fact that she didn’t really know words bothered her to no end.

I had noticed that my mother and my friends did not use signs as I did when they wanted anything done, but talked with their mouths. ... I could not understand, and was vexed. … This made me so angry at times that I kicked and screamed until I was exhausted. (Ch. 2)

Finally, Helen’s parents were introduced to Anne Sullivan through the Perkins Institute, and she showed Helen Keller the beauty of language.  Learning signs didn't take Helen very long, because she was so smart.  Her teacher showed her how to communicate by connecting words with meaning and making sign letters into her hand.  Her first word was water, and from then there was a whole new world opened to Helen and she could finally communicate with others.

If you were Aurangzeb’s chief advisor, what advice would you give him to prevent the decline of the Mughal Empire and restore its former glory...

One of the reasons that Aurangzeb's reign (1658-1707) led to the eventual decline of the Mughals was that he discontinued the policy of pluralism, which refers to permitting different religious faiths to practice freely. Akhbar, a leader of the Mughal Empire from 1556-1605 and one of Aurangzeb's predecessors, was one of the greatest leaders of the empire and established a policy of tolerance that extended to non-Muslims. For example, he abolished a tax on non-Muslims and allowed them to assume military and civilian positions, earning their trust.

However, Aurangzeb did not follow the tolerant policies of the emperors before him. If I were his chief advisor, I would recommend that he continue the more tolerant policy of his predecessors and not insist on the precedence of sharia, or Muslim religious law, over secular law. I would also urge him to practice more tolerance towards the Hindus in his realm, as he ordered their temples and schools destroyed. In addition, I would urge him to become less dictatorial and less punitive of his opponents, as he executed many political and religious opponents (including his own brother, who he thought was sympathetic to Hinduism). As there were many rebellions during his reign, his policies clearly resulted in increasing internal opposition. A more tolerant and multicultural platform might have allowed him to restore the grandeur and stability of the Mughal Empire. 

What are the five most significant events in 1776 by David McCollough, not focusing only on the military engagements?

It is, of course, difficult to point to exclusively non-military events in a book that focuses so much on the Revolutionary War. So there are some events in this answer that are basically military. Still, some are more political in nature. 

The first event actually occurs in October of 1775. After a speech by King George and a lengthy debate in Parliament, with significant dissenting voices, both houses of Parliament voted to approve Lord North's plan to send a large military and naval force to the colonies, then in a state of all-out rebellion. This marked, in many ways, a point of no return in the conflict and was thus a major event. Another occurred in March of 1776, when Washington's capture and fortification of Dorchester Heights forced the British army to abandon the city of Boston. McCullough describes this event as the "first thrilling news of the war" for the rebels (108). 

Another event, of course, was the decision of the Second Continental Congress to declare independence from Great Britain. This decision, reached on July 2, meant that the war would be an "all-out war for an independent America" and was a major turning point described in the book (137). But this occurred even as another crucial event was taking place--the massive invasion of New York by the British army and navy. Finally, the book closes with a speech by King George in 1777. Echoing the debates in Parliament at the beginning of the book, the speech announced that, despite the previous year's events, the Americans had not "recovered from their delusion" (292). 

How does Poe's "The Raven" reflect the era in which it was written?

“The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe was published in January of 1845 during the era of Romanticism, which occurred from the late 1700s into the mid-1800s. Romanticism does not focus solely on love; it also delves into the human condition, mystery, and the unnatural. “The Raven” does have undertones of romantic love. The speaker is suffering the loss his young love, Lenore. He is aware she will never come back to be with him in his now-lonely room. The poem also includes the unnatural existence of the talking raven, who provides mystery.

The raven, who repeats only one word, is an unnatural or exotic element in the poem. Poe uses the raven to exploit the condition of the man’s mind, which leads the reader to feel empathy for him. The speaker delves deeper and deeper with his questions as he seems to lose his mind with sadness, but the raven continues to answer with the word “nevermore.” All of these characteristics point to the warped realism common in the era of Romanticism.

What was the slave trade?

The slave trade was a system created for transporting native Africans to North and South America to be used as free labor.  Most slaves came from the western part of Africa.  Once in the New World, slaves were sold at auctions and used to plant and harvest crops and as domestic servants.  

The Portuguese began transporting slaves from Africa to the New World in the 1400s.  Other European nations soon joined the slave trade.  Sometimes slaves were sold by fellow Africans to slave traders.  Other times they were captured by the European slave traders themselves.  The slave trade was a profitable business, which was the main reason why it continued.

Conditions on slave ships on the journey across the Atlantic Ocean were usually miserable for slaves being transported.  Many captured Africans were packed into small areas on slave ships.  They were treated more like cargo than humans.  

The Middle Passage was the name of the most common route for slave trade.  This route formed a sort of triangular shape from Africa to Europe and the Americas.  

In the late 1700s, a movement to end the slave trade grew in popularity.  Many people who opposed it were motivated by their Christian beliefs, such as William Wilberforce and Quaker groups.  By the early to mid 1800s, most countries had banned the slave trade.  Some smugglers continued to trade slaves across the Atlantic, but they could be punished if caught.

Who is the most important character in "The Canterville Ghost" and why?

This is an opinion question, so feel free to state any character from the story.  The important part is adequately defending your answer.  The explanation for your choice should be more in depth than a single reason.  

For example, I could claim that the most important character is Lord Canterville. He is the most important character because he sold the haunted house to the Otis family.  If he didn't sell the house, there wouldn't be a story.  That's the only reason I can come up with though, so Lord Canterville is probably not a good choice.  

I would go with Virginia or Sir Simon for the most important character.  If I was forced to choose between the two, I would go with Sir Simon.  He gets more page time, so he is an easier choice to defend because there's more information to use.  Additionally, he is a deeper and more dynamic character than Virginia.  Virginia is super important because without her Sir Simon is still forever doomed to haunt the mansion, but Virginia doesn't quite shape events of the story as powerfully as the ghost.  If Sir Simon wasn't in the story, Virginia's help wouldn't be necessary anyway.  Sir Simon propels the story forward as he tries to antagonize just about everybody in the house, and he fails every single time.  We see him go through a range of emotions during that time too.  We see him angry, scared, and sad.  Readers really get to know Sir Simon, his motivations, and his emotions.  Virginia, on the other hand, stays a mystery.  Even her own husband can't get her to explain how she helped the ghost.  Sir Simon is definitely the character that I feel is most important to the story. 

What can be held responsible for the hysteria in Salem in The Crucible?

While there is a list of people in The Crucible responsible for the hysteria that grips Salem, a more interesting culprit might be the town's culture.

Abigail, the girls, Hathorne and Danforth, Reverend Parris, and the Putnams all help to cause the hysteria in Salem. We could even make a case that Hale played a role in encouraging the Salem hysteria.  However, Miller makes a point that Salem's culture was predisposed to the hysteria that is the basis for The Crucible.

Much of the analysis about Salem's culture comes from the Act I stage directions.  Miller's details help us gain insight into Salem.   Miller talks about the town's intense seriousness towards daily life.  They had "no novelists- and would not have permitted anyone to read a novel if one were handy."  There was no theatre or anything "resembling 'vain enjoyment."  Dancing and celebration were seen as work of "jokers" and not encouraged.  The town's extreme seriousness showed a lack of perspective. It is why panic grips the adults when they find out that the girls were in the woods.  For example, Parris is aghast when he asks Abigail if the girls were dancing.  When Rebecca Nurse dismisses what happened in the woods as childish immaturity, she is dismissed.  Her common sense approach is no match for the intense seriousness that is a part of Salem life.

People who broke the seriousness to which Salem committed itself were dealt with severely.  Miller talks about the town's "practice of appointing a two-man patrol whose duty was to 'walk forth in the time of God’s worship to take notice of such as either lye about the meeting house, without attending to the word and ordinances, or that lye at home or in the fields with-out giving good account thereof, and to take the names of such  persons, and to present them to the magistrates, whereby they may be accordingly proceeded against.”   Reporting on people's behaviors and "naming names" were embedded in Salem culture.  Miller includes this detail because he sees it as a major contributing factor to the hysteria surrounding the witch trials.  Salem people were not able to simply let people live their own lives.  Rather, there was a constant intrusiveness that defined Salem culture: "This predilection for minding other people’s business was time-honored among the people of Salem, and it undoubtedly created many of the suspicions which were to feed the coming madness."  The need to constantly report on other people who were "breaking the rules" was a cultural spark that flared into a wildfire.

Finally, Miller feels Salem people had a fear of "the other" that contributed to the hysteria.  Miller argues that Salem did not deal well with anything seen as different.  For example, they saw the forest as "the last place on earth that was not paying homage to God." Darkness and anything that was not fully understood was seen as bad. What they did not understand was demonized as the work of "the Devil."  Miller points out that their fear of "the other" was based on insecurity about their town's purity. They "found it necessary to deny any other sect its freedom; lest their New Jerusalem be deviled and corrupted by wrong ways and deceitful ideas."  The result was "an air of innate resistance" where persecution became a part of their cultural residue: "They believed, in short, that they held in their steady hands the candle that would light the world."  This candle lit the fires of hysteria.

Several characters in The Crucible play an active role in spreading hysteria. However, there is much to be said about how the culture of Salem might have had a role in encouraging its emotional contagion and madness.

What is the significance of the chapter title "Beast from Water" in Lord of the Flies?

In the novel, a number of young boys are trying to survive on a deserted island, but suspect there is a 'beast' on the island that is dangerous and poses a threat. Each of the primary characters is an example of a part of the human mind; Piggy is the rational mind, Simon is the religious mind, Jack is the reactionary mind, and so forth. The kids meet to discus the possibility of a beast on the island. Simon and Piggy believe it is either another boy from the group or imagined fear, but Jack tries to rile the kids up with possibilities, one of which is that it is a beast from the water.

The significance of this is that Jack has brought up a possibility that is not only difficult to believe, but is not even based in fact. Either way, it does not matter; Jack is able to stir a fear of the unknown in the kids, and is able to control them without providing any real evidence at all.

Describe one strength of one of the three branches of government.

In this answer, I will provide one strength for each of the branches of the United States government.  Those three branches are the legislative branch (Congress), the executive branch (headed by the president), and the judicial branch (headed by the Supreme Court).

The major strength of Congress is its ability to make laws.  No law can be proposed, let alone passed, without the consent of Congress.  This means that Congress has the sole authority, for example, to impose taxes and to allocate money for spending.  Presidents may have big plans and important proposals, but only Congress has the power to make these plans into actual laws.

A major power of the president (and, therefore, of the executive branch) is what Theodore Roosevelt called the “bully pulpit.”  The president is the most famous political figure in the nation. He (or someday she) can command the attention of the public.  The public does not really pay much attention when, for example, Paul Ryan gives a speech about proposed policies, but it does pay more attention when the president speaks.  This gives the president more power to persuade the people than anyone else in our system.

The major power of the Supreme Court is the power of judicial review.  This means that the judicial branch gets to decide what laws are and are not constitutional.  For example, the Supreme Court changed the way our political campaigns are financed when it struck down campaign finance laws in the Citizens United case that was decided in 2010.  The Court also has done things like making segregated schools illegal (Brown, 1954) and declaring that states cannot ban all abortions (Roe, 1973).  The ability to say what the Constitution means gives the judicial branch a great deal of power.

In Life of Pi, how was Richard Parker a factor in Pi's survival at sea?

In part the answer to this question depends on whether you see Richard Parker as a real tiger or as a figment of Pi's imagination, but let's start with Richard Parker the tiger. Richard Parker helped Pi to survive by, essentially, giving him both a reason to and the will to live. Neither one of them could survive at sea without the other. Not only did Richard Parker help Pi stay alive (for example, by killing the Frenchman), but taking care of Richard Parker (by helping him eat) meant that Pi had a reason to wake up in the morning that meant more than going through the motions of surviving by himself.

On the other hand, Richard Parker remained a carnivorous animal through and through. In other words, Pi was always in danger from him. Every time he had to fight off Richard Parker or escape to avoid being eaten, it reminded him that he wanted to live. That gave him the strength and willpower to live through his ordeal.

Taking Richard Parker as an allegory (in Pi's "real story," where Richard Parker is a metaphor for himself and the other animals are the other passengers on the raft), he can be seen to represent the war of faith that Pi goes through. He prays to the Christian, Islamic, and Hindu gods to help keep him alive, relying on them for support, but he also has serious doubts about religion and sometimes clashes against it like he's fighting the tiger. In this version of the narrative, Richard Parker also becomes an allegory for the power of story itself; by making up a companion, even an adverserial one, Pi keeps himself going. Either way, Richard Parker becomes the main thing that keeps his heart and mind going.

How does Gulliver feel when he reaches the land of Laputa?

When Gulliver reaches the land of Laputa, he feels such disquietude and anxiety that it overwhelms his exhaustion and keeps him awake at night.  He begins to feel despair, wondering how he will keep himself alive in this desolate place; he sees no one.  The next day, he walks on the beach, and he is astonished to see a floating island above the land and begins to feel a bit more hopeful that he might survive this adventure.  Once Gulliver is brought up to the floating island and sees the Laputians there, he is confused and surprised by many aspects of their society, such as their need for Flappers, servants who gently strike them on the mouths when they need to be reminded to speak and on the ears when they need to be reminded to listen. 

How do people make magnesium?

Well, we don't exactly "make" it because it's an element which can only be created in the cores of stars. (Maybe we could create a very small amount in particle accelerators, but it would be far too expensive to be practical.) Rather, we extract it from natural sources.

Magnesium can be extracted from a variety of minerals, most commonly magnesite, dolomite, brucite, bishoviete, carnallite, and olivine. It is generally extracted either by thermal reduction, which involves heating the mineral to extremely high temperatures until its chemical bonds separate and magnesium vapor is released (which can then be condensed into usable magnesium), or electrolysis, which uses electrical current to break the chemical bonds directly and separate the mineral into its constituent elements. Electrolysis is much more efficient, but it is also much more expensive due to the need for more capital investment and higher technology. As a result, rich countries like the US generally use electrolysis, while poor countries like China generally use thermal reduction.

What is a quick summary of Chapter VI of The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene du Bois?

Chapter VI of The Twenty-One Balloons (Dubois), is entitled "The Gourmet Government."  In this chapter, Professor Sherman wakes up in comfort in a canopied bed in a beautifully furnished room in the home of the F family. As he and Mr. F. leave the house to go to breakfast, he notices that everything in the house inside and outside is French.  He observes other homes with national "themes," for example, one American, one British, one Chinese, and one Dutch.  Mr F. and Professor Sherman enter the British house, where Mr. F. introduces him to the dozens of people who are also there for breakfast.  Professor Sherman is greeted and applauded, and while breakfast proceeds, Mr. F. tells the story of how all of these people came to be on a volcanic island filled with diamonds. 

Eight years previously, a shipwrecked sailor, now known as Mr. M., landed on Krakatoa, and trying to stay away from the mountainous area, once he realized it held an active volcano, stumbled into the jungle and serendipitously came upon the diamond mines.  He thought carefully about how he could best capitalize on this find, built himself a raft, and managed to get himself to San Francisco with some diamonds, which he sold, carefully, so that there would be not too much interest in him and so that he would not destroy the value of the diamonds by flooding the market. He then selected twenty families, each with one young son and one young daughter, people who had exhibited creativity in their lives in areas such as the arts or the sciences. He persuaded them to join him on Krakatoa, with the lure of wealth and an island paradise they could create together.  Arriving at Krakatoa, there was a fairly steep learning curve for the families, who were overwhelmed by the diamonds and not exactly ready to live happily and cooperatively together in a Utopia.  Ultimately, though, all of the new residents came to understand that cooperation would be better than competition.  This eventually led to what they called "A Restaurant Government" (Dubois 87).

Each family chose a nationality-themed restaurant, and along with the restaurant, each family's home and identity was nationality-based.  The family names became the first initial of the nationality, so that the A family was American, the B family was British, and so on. This explained why the F family's home was all French.  Each family prepared meals for all the other families for a day, rotating through all of the families and then beginning anew. This led to a revised calendar of twenty days for each month, and eighteen months in the Krakatoan year.  In order to raise money to purchase the materials and supplies needed for all the families on the island, the Krakatoans scoop up a few diamonds from time to time, take them to another place, sell them, fill up a freighter with what is needed and bring it all back to the island.

Professor Sherman is unsure of his status in this situation, not being part of a family, not having a house, not having any stake in the diamond mines.  Mr. F. explains that he can be a "perpetual guest" (91), who is welcome to stay with the F. family or move around. He will simply join in on the meals each day, wherever they may be.  Mr. F. also makes a joke about Professor Sherman not wanting the next letter of the alphabet for a new name, since it is "U."  If people called for him, no one would ever know if they meant "U" or "you."  

What is the meaning of the following quote from To Kill a Mockingbird? He could read two books to my one, but he preferred the magic of his own...

This passage is from Chapter 14 of To Kill a Mockingbird. Dill Harris has run away from home to be with his friends, Scout and Jem. In this passage, Dill is revealed as a highly intelligent boy, a creative genius, a sensitive soul, but he is lonely boy, perhaps not unlike Scout's strange neighbor. 

Dill is so unhappy alone at home that he takes a train from Meridian, Mississippi, to Maycomb Junction, fourteen miles away, and covers the rest of the way by walking and then riding on the back of a cotton wagon. 
When Dill gets in bed with Scout, she asks him why he has run away. Dill explains that his parents are often gone, and if they are home, they sequester themselves in a room and close him out. He says that his parents are not mean, and they buy him toys and tell him they love him. However, they rarely do anything with him, and the sensitive boy needs nurturing.

As they talk, Scout analyzes Dill in the passage cited above: He is bright, highly skilled in reading and arithmetic, but he prefers the dreamy, romantic--"twilight world"--of his own making, a world in which his creative soul that is sadly neglected at home finds refuge. He dreams of "a world where babies slept, waiting to be gathered like morning lilies." This world is one in which Dill, too, would he hugged and coddled and loved with deep emotion and laughter and exhilaration--much as the little world he shares with the Finch children.
Little Scout feels herself falling asleep, too, until the image of another sad house emerges in her mind: "a gray house with sad brown doors." She then asks Dill, 

"Why do you reckon Boo Radley's never run off?"
Dill sighed a long sigh and turned away from me.
"Maybe he doesn't have anywhere to run off to...." (Ch.14)

Intuitively, Scout has hit upon the emptiness of Dill's home as being similar to that of Boo Radley. Dill runs to the Finches where there is warmth and love, but Boo has no refuge from his loneliness. Indeed, the sensitive Dill's last words before falling asleep are very significant.

In Lord of the Flies, what are some good examples of figurative language that show themes such as Fear and Good vs Evil?

Golding uses simile, pathetic fallacy, symbolism, and allusion to depict fear and evil among the boys on the island. Near the beginning of the story, the boys inadvertently set fire to a large swath of island when their bonfire gets out of control. As the boys come to the realization that at least one littlun was killed in the fire, Piggy goes into an asthmatic panic attack, and "the crowd was as silent as death."

This simile is followed by a pathetic fallacy and symbolism:

"Tall swathes of creepers rose for a moment into view, agonized, and went down again. The little boys screamed at them. "Snakes! Snakes! Look at the snakes!"

Giving the creepers emotion such as agony is a pathetic fallacy that voices the fear the boys have of the consuming fire. The allusion to snakes recalls the account of the Garden of Eden when the devil appeared in the form of a snake or serpent. This symbol foreshadows that the island is not a paradise; the boys are already beginning to turn it into a hell because of their innate evil.

When the evening meeting after the missed rescue from the passing ship deteriorates into talk of ghosts, Golding uses pathetic fallacy again: "Two grey trunks rubbed each other with an evil squeaking that no one had noticed by day." The fear the boys have is reflected in Golding's description of the sound of the trees. 

The most prominent symbol of evil in the book is the pig's head on a stick, which becomes the Lord of the Flies during Simon's vision. When Simon first sees it, "the half-shut eyes were dim with the infinite cynicism of adult life. They assured Simon that everything was a bad business." The head's mocking tone and threatening manner personify evil.

Another symbol of fear and evil is the dead parachutist. Although, as Simon discovers, "the beast was harmless and horrible," it is the embodiment of the boys' fear and at the same time a representation of man's inhumanity to man, as the parachutist was shot down as part of the war that is engulfing the outside world. Golding has the rotting parachutist, freed from its bondage by Simon, float out to sea over the dead body of the recently murdered Christ-figure, combining allusion and symbolism. What could be more evil than killing an innocent man with their bare hands--a man who was only trying to share the good news? 

Golding uses figurative language--including simile, pathetic fallacy, symbolism, and allusion--to portray fear and evil on the island.

What is the history behind the blood-stain in "The Canterville Ghost" by Oscar Wilde?

In "The Canterville Ghost," the blood-stain in the library has a long history. According to the housekeeper, Mrs Umney, the blood-stain has existed since 1575 when the then-Lord Canterville, Sir Simon, murdered his wife, Lady Eleanore, on that exact spot in the library. In Chapter Five, during a conversation with Virginia Otis, he reveals his reasons for committing this heinous crime:

My wife was very plain, never had my ruffs properly starched, and knew nothing about cookery.

Moreover, it is one of Sir Simon's numerous responsibilities as a ghost to ensure that the blood-stain is always present. When the Otis family move in, this becomes problematic because they are constantly trying to remove it. Washington Otis removes it on several occasions, for example, using Pinkerton's Stain Remover. This forces Sir Simon to steal Virginia's paints so that he can touch up the stain every night. It is only with his death, at the end of Chapter Five, that the stain disappears forever, along with all traces of the Canterville ghost. 

In "All the Years of Her Life" by Morley Callaghan, how does Alfred's behavior reveal that he is immature and irresponsible?

In the story, Alfred has been caught stealing by his employer. Despite his well-developed body, Alfred's behavior reveals that he's still an immature and irresponsible young man.

First, when his employer confronts him, Alfred tries to bluster his way out of admitting his guilt. However, his indignant bravado falls flat when Mr. Carr refuses to back down. In the end, Alfred has to reach into his pocket to produce the items he has stolen: a blue compact, two tubes of toothpaste, and a lipstick. To cover his tracks, Alfred lies to Mr. Carr by telling him that this is the first time he has stolen anything from the store. Of course, Mr. Carr doesn't humor Alfred; he's observed Alfred stealing from him before, and he's furious.

When Alfred's mother gets to the store, she tries to reason with Mr. Carr. Alfred is surprised that his mother is so composed and dignified in her address. In fact, her articulate words manage to convince Mr. Carr to refrain from calling the police; Mr. Carr agrees to just fire Alfred from his job at the store. On the way home, Alfred's immaturity manifests itself; because he had expected his mother to become emotional about the theft, Alfred doesn't realize the significance of his mother's calm discourse with Mr. Carr. Essentially, her respectful and rational manner to Mr. Carr had won Alfred a reprieve from a prison sentence.

However, Alfred, in all his "excitement and relief" at having received no punishment for his crime (that he can see), fails to understand the suffering his irresponsible behavior has caused his mother. It is only later, when he observes her secretly in the kitchen, that he comes to understand how much his behavior has grieved her. So, his indignant attitude when he is confronted by Mr. Carr and, later, his thoughtless disregard for his mother's suffering reveal Alfred's immature and irresponsible behavior.

How would "Through the Tunnel" by Doris Lessing be different if Jerry's mother was the narrator?

The story would actually have to be completely different if it were narrated by Jerry's mother because she has no idea what Jerry is doing when he goes to the wild bay on his own.  Instead of being a story about Jerry's coming of age, it would be a story about his mother's anxiety over what he wants, if she's doing anything right, and how much freedom to give him.  She sits on the safe beach, presumably worrying over him, while he goes away and works to be able to swim through the tunnel like the older boys.  Without a narrator who knows Jerry's thoughts and feelings and what he does when he's alone, there would be no older boys, no tunnel, and no evidence of Jerry's major accomplishment in the story.  It couldn't even be called "Through the Tunnel" because the audience would never know about the tunnel.  It would have to be called "The Safe Beach" or "A Mother's Anxiety" or something that focuses on her perspective.

Which of these sentences from The Lady or the Tiger? by Stockton shows a cause and effect relationship?

In order to find the sentence which shows a cause and effect relationship, we must first understand what a cause-and-effect sentence is. A cause-and-effect sentences tells us about an action that occurred and what resulted because of that action. Therefore, in these sentences we are looking first for an action that makes something else happen (the cause) and the result of that action (the effect). Think of it as what happens when you accidentally knock a cup filled with water off a table. The cause is the action of your arm or hand hitting the cup and the effect, or the result of you hitting the cup, is that the cup falls to the ground and spills water onto the floor.

In the examples from your question above, we can go through each sentence one by one and decide if there are any cause-and-effect relationships in them. The first three sentences are explanatory or descriptive sentences that simply describe a situation or explain the abilities and surroundings of a person. In those sentences, there are no actions that take place, just descriptions. There are also no "sentence connectors" which are words such as "because" "since" "if" and "then" that show cause and effect. Those are words to look for when trying to find a cause-and-effect sentence. We cannot ask the question "what happens if ____?" because there is no action to ask that question about. Therefore, there is no cause and effect in any of these sentences.

If we look at the last sentence on your paper, we can immediately see one of those connector words ("if"), so this could very well be our cause-and-effect sentence, but let's read it through and find the cause and effect to confirm that this is the right answer. The cause in this sentence would be the action that makes something happen. The action is the person opening a door. What happens if they open the door? Out would come a hungry tiger that would spring on him and tear him to pieces as a punishment for his guilt. That is the effect. Therefore, this is our cause-and-effect sentence, which details an action and what happens as a result of that action.

What is something that used to be considered socially deviant but is now viewed as a social norm? What do you think accounts for its change in...

In the United States, at least, things that were once deviant but are now norms are not behaviors so much as they are attitudes. That is, I cannot think of anything we used to frown on people for doing but now actually expect them to do. For example, many in the United States used to frown on interracial marriage, but, while most Americans are accepting of interracial couples, they do not expect people to marry exclusively outside their race today. We previously disapproved strongly of homosexuality, but we do not expect all people to be homosexual today. Instead, what has changed is our attitudes about these things.

In the past, it was considered deviant to tolerate and accept various kinds of behaviors. Among these behaviors were such things as

• Racial integration and mixing


• Sex/ childbearing outside of wedlock


• Homosexuality


• Divorce

In the past, people were expected to disapprove strongly of these things. It would have seemed very odd for a person to express their support for any of these ideas in the 1850s.  Today, by contrast, many Americans disapprove of people who do not tolerate these behaviors. This is not to say that we wholeheartedly approve of all of them; many people think it is better for families to stay intact and for people to procreate only while married. It would seem deviant today, however, to shun someone for being divorced or because they had a child without getting married. Thus, tolerance for all of these things was once deviant but is now a norm.

I think that this has come about because our country is much richer than it was in the past. Most people do not have to worry about staving off starvation and homelessness, so they want things higher up Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. They want their lives to be happy and fulfilled. They want to be able to do whatever they want. They want to be accepted as they are. In addition, because the United States is (for the most part/ comparatively) so rich, Americans do not need one another as much anymore. Americans can generally get by on their own without needing as much help from society. In addition, Americans have come more and more to live in places where they do not even know, let alone rely on, their neighbors. Because of these and other factors, many Americans have developed the attitude that their rights are the most important thing. Now that Americans believe their own rights are paramount, they think people are deviant if they disapprove of the choices someone makes or who that person is.

When is sarcasm used in Chapter I of The Scarlet Pimpernel?

Sarcasm is employed in the narration of Chapter I with the discussion of the attempted escape from France by the aristocrats. [Examples are italicized.]

The author, Baronness Emmuska Orczy, an aristocrat herself, describes with sarcasm the macabre enjoyment of the people who watch as the aristocrats, who  have been labeled as "traitors to the people" after the Revolution, attempt to flee the country and escape the guillotine. This treatment of the sadistic enjoyment of the peasants is certainly ironic (sarcastic) and intended by Orczy to mock the formerly oppressed peasants, who now themselves become the oppressors.

The "fun" begins when Sergeant Bibot, who has a "wonderful nose for scenting an aristo in the most perfect disguise," does not immediately arrest the aristocrats, but instead toys with them as a cat often plays with a mouse before killing and eating it. This "keen sense of humor" amuses the crowd who stand near the barricades and watch as Bibot often lets his "prey" past the gates in order to make them think they have made their escape. Soon, however, the aristocrat is marched back. To the people this is "extremely funny" because, often as not, the prisoner is a woman, "some proud marchioness, who looked terribly comical" as she has been stripped of her disguise and realizes that she will receive but a summary trial and after this, she will feel "the fond embrace of Madame la Guillotine."

Every day Bibot has the distinct "satisfaction" of apprehending royalists and returning them to the Committee of Public Safety that is presided over by "that good patriot" Citoyen [Citizen] Foucquier-Tinville. But, there is one man who somehow slips past the watchful eyes of the guards. He is an Englishman, the "accursed Scarlet Pimpernel" who cleverly escapes by disguising himself in the most unsuspected personas. Boasting that he would never be so foolish as to let this Englishman go past him, Bibot tells the crowd of one daring escape which cost a guard the punishment of the guillotine. It seems there was a daring escape in which the Scarlet Pimpernel was dressed as a guard and the aristocrats as soldiers while a harmless cart passed out of the city. Hearing this, the crowd becomes silent.

The story savored of the supernatural, and though the Republic had abolished God, it had not quite succeeded in killing the fear of the supernatural in the hearts of the people.

But, further sarcasm comes at the expense of Bibot, who has previously ridiculed the guard deceived by the Scarlet Pimpernel. For, it seems that Bibot has let pass a cart driven by "an old hag" who has told him that her son has had the plague so that he would not wish to be near her or the cart. Ironically, this cart has been allowed by Bibot to pass through with aristocrats hidden in it. And, the "old hag" has been none other than the "accursed Englishman" himself.

How do the banker's views on capital punishment differ from the views of most of his guests in "The Bet" by Chekhov?

In Anton Chekhov's "The Bet," the banker contends that capital punishment is more humane than life imprisonment. But, most of the guests at his party disagree.

Among the banker's guests are journalists and intellectuals; they disapprove of the death penalty, finding it immoral and against Christian purposes. Some feel that the death penalty should be done away with altogether. But, the banker disagrees, contending that the death penalty is actually more humane than life imprisonment. The banker asks his guests:

"Capital punishment kills a man at once, but life imprisonment kills him slowly. Which executioner is the more humane, he who kills you in a few minutes or he who drags the life out of you in the course of many years?"

Among the guests is a young lawyer, who is about twenty-five years of age. When he argues that life on any terms is better than death, the banker bangs the table with his fist, and impulsively bets the lawyer two million rubles that he cannot stay in solitary confinement for five years. Equally reckless, the lawyer insists that he can stay confined for not just five, but fifteen years. The banker takes the bet, and the lawyer says,

"Agreed! You stake your millions and I stake my freedom!"

Ironically, at the end of the fifteen years, the lawyer has suffered from isolation. He has had no direction to his learning because reading and writing about the potential of the human mind and soul is incomplete without sharing these ideas with others of his own ilk. Without companionship, he has despaired of life, writing in a letter to those who come after him:

I despise freedom and life and health and all that in your books is called the good things of the world.

The lawyer decides to leave before the appointed time, thus forfeiting the prize. But, he lays down his head and falls asleep. The banker, who has been watching to see if it is the end of the bet, discovers a

...skeleton with the skin drawn tight over his bones with long curls like a woman's, and a shaggy beard...his cheeks were hollow, his back long and narrow, and the hand...was so thin and delicate that it was dreadful to look at it.

The lawyer appears as though the life has, indeed, been dragged out of him, just as the banker has predicted.

What are the similarities and differences between a monarchy and a dictatorship?

Both the monarchy and the dictatorship are systems of government with one person as ruler, but they differ in some important particularities.

Historically, a monarch was the single most powerful individual in a state, and generally whatever they said was law. This has changed much in the modern period, and most present-day states which have a monarch actually govern through a parliament or similar body. In a dictatorship, all of the power in the state is definitely concentrated in the hands of the dictator.

Under a constitutional monarchy (as in the United Kingdom) the monarch is limited in their power by a written constitution. Typically, a parliament is also in place to govern the state without putting too much power in one person. The constitutional monarchy helps to protect the people from being taken advantage of by the monarch. In contrast, a dictatorship has no constitutional limitations, and even if there is a constitution in place, the dictator may be free to make changes to it at any time. 

In the 1970s, there was a wider diversity of movements that followed some of the victories from the 1960s. In your initial post, identify and...

The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s was largely aimed at exposing the injustices African-Americans faced in society, while the social justice movements of the 1970s concentrated on agitating for political and economic rights for African-Americans. In the 1960s, sit-ins and other forms of non-violent protests largely held sway within the Civil Rights Movement.

In the 1970s, the Black Power Movement fought against discriminatory actions in the housing, employment, and academic industries. Groups connected to the Black Power Movement joined in lawsuits with other oppressed groups to effect changes in employment practices. These groups managed to bring about the introduction of ethnic studies programs or African-American Studies programs on college campuses as well as affirmative action programs to protect the rights of minority applicants in employment, military service, and the college admissions process.

The Congressional Black Caucus was created by Shirley Chisholm in 1969 to galvanize the voices of new African-American legislators on behalf of their minority constituents. It continued to grow in scope and power in the 1970s.

Now, although the demonstrations of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s were largely peaceful, the 1970s ushered in a new, radical approach towards the civil rights struggle. Groups associated with the Black Power Movement such as the Black Panthers agitated for violence to end racism as they saw it. Members of the Black Power Movement strongly felt that the traditional Civil Rights Movement produced minimal results and at too slow a pace.

They wanted to see immediate changes, namely full employment, free health-care, and adequate educational opportunities for African-Americans as well as an end to what they termed police brutality in their communities. To that end, members of the Black Panthers formed neighborhood patrols to monitor police activity in their neighborhoods and to fight back against what they saw as police encroachment into their territories. The Black Power Movement favored the use of violence, while the traditional Civil Rights Movement favored non-violent means to secure the rights of African-Americans.

Even though the Black Power Movement agitated for and won many rights for African-Americans, it faced many challenges. Irrespective of new laws, every industry that employed African-Americans organically developed its own variant of occupational segregation; frustrated that their concerns were largely ignored in the process of integration, white Americans fought back indirectly by ostracizing or ignoring African-American colleagues. In the schools, black children were largely underserved and their potential for achievement disregarded. This led to many entering the working world unprepared to navigate a newly automated and industrialized workplace.

For the Black Panthers themselves, internal divisions and external attacks eventually led to its demise as a worthy political force. For more information, please refer to the links below.

Thanks for the question!

In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, what is Mr P described as?

In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Junior's first description of Mr. P is vastly different than the one that follows.

When Junior first sees Mr P, the geometry teacher is described as a "weird-looking dude."  The cartoon Junior renders shows Mr. P in visual details that would match such a description.  Mr. P stands about four feet tall, and is "bald" but with "dandruff."  The food stains on his clothing are only matched in awkwardness by Junior's descriptions of him as sometimes wearing pajamas.  Junior describes him as a "weird old coot."  Finally, Junior makes it clear that he sees Mr. P as a "lonely old man who used to be a lonely young man."  

After Junior's display of anger towards Mr. P, there is greater complexity as to what Mr. P is described as.   In the course of their conversation, Junior begins to see Mr. P as a source of inspiration.  Mr. P reminds Junior of his talents.  He recalls the talent of Junior's sister.  Then, he brings out Junior's own past in terms of fighting through seizures and physical challenges.  Mr. P is able to inspire Junior to think about leaving "the rez:"  "Son,... You're going to find more and more hope the farther and farther you walk away from this sad, sad, sad reservation."  Prior to this moment, Junior never envisioned life beyond the reservation.  However, Mr. P teaches Junior the power of hope and the value of believing that people deserve more. Mr. P reminds Junior that he is a "bright and shining star." This triggers a change in Junior.

While initially described as a "weird-looking dude," Junior ends up describing Mr. P as a transformative force of change.  Mr. P is instrumental in altering the way Junior views himself, his world, and his place in it.

What is an example of irony in the story "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant?

"The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant is an ironic story in the sense that Mathilde Loisel was ultimately brought down by what she wanted most in life — expensive things. Mathilde was a pretty girl who was raised in a modest family, but she always wanted to be rich. Even when she married a clerk, she still desired riches out of her reach. One day, Mathilde's husband brought her an invitation to a lavish party, but Mathilde did not want to go because she did not think she owned anything enough to wear to the party. Her husband encouraged her to wear her best ball gown, but she did not think it was good enough. She went to Madame Forrestier and borrowed one of her best necklaces for the party. Mathilde loved the necklace and the attention it brought her at the party; she finally had the fame she always coveted. It was not until after the party that Mathilde realized she lost the necklace. In a panic, Mathilde and her husband went to a jeweler to attempt to replace the necklace. An exact replica would cost 36000 francs, far more than the humble clerk's salary. The couple borrowed money at usurious rates. Mathilde worked as a maid to help pay off the loans. The couple did this for ten years. After ten years, Mathilde ran into Madame Forrestier again. Madame Forrestier commented that Mathilde looked terrible, and Mathilde explained she lost Madame Forrestier's necklace and bought her another one to replace it. At that point, Madame Forrestier told Mathilde the necklace was a piece of costume jewelry made of paste that cost less than 400 francs. This is the irony of the situation. Mathilde coveted fame and riches her entire life, but was miserable when she got it. The jewelry she borrowed thinking it was worth so much was something she could have easily bought in a novelty shop.  

What would George do if he didn't have Lennie in Of Mice and Men?

If George no longer were in the company of Lennie, he would be like so many other Depression Era itinerant workers who travel alone from seasonal job to job, friendless and alone, with nothing to anticipate in the future.

In Chapter One, while George and Lennie camp out in the clearing, George describes what it is like to be a "bindle stiff":

"Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place. They come to a ranch an' work up a stake and then they go inta town and blow their stake, and the first thing you know they're pound-in' their tail on some other ranch. They ain't got nothing to look ahead to." 

George also mentions here and in other situations that having a friend to travel with gives a man a sense of meaning and some worth, but if a man is alone, he has no one to look after him or care about him. With another man, George affirms that a man has someone by whom to "measure himself," as Crooks mentions. With Lennie, George always has someone to validate him, someone who listens to him, laughs with him, mourns with him--someone who keeps alive a dream of having a place of their own.

Without Lennie, George, at times, would have no one with whom to talk, no one with whom to laugh or cry, or simply to be with. Certainly, without a friend, there would be no one with whom to "measure things" and perceive whether experiences are beneficial or not. For George, a man's life has more meaning if he shares his thoughts and experiences. 

Without Lennie, George would not have as much to worry about (or to complain about), but he would sense the separateness that others do, and he would be without hope and the strength and meaning of fraternity.

What two methods does Ernest J. Gaines utilize to write a story many people believe really occurred in A Lesson Before Dying?

Gaines uses the methods of believing in both the capacity of human beings to change and the way we make peace with death as ways in which A Lesson Before Dying could be seen as having really happened.

One method Gaines uses to make people believe his story rests in his exploration of the capacity for human change. Gaines goes to one of the most foundational questions that triggers wonderment: Can human beings change? One critical element in A Lesson Before Dying is Jefferson's transformation. His ability to change is one of the major elements that underscores why so many would believe the story is factual. In the end, we want to believe human beings can change. This is part of the reason why the story strikes us as so realistic. The redemption within the human narrative hits at one of our most basic and cherished hopes. It is difficult to go through life believing human beings cannot change. One reason Gaines's story is so believable is because, in seeing Jefferson's change, we recognize our own sense of hope.  

Jefferson's change in the face of death is another reason people could see Gaines's story as believable. Jefferson is sentenced to be executed, a finality that triggers fear within many people. How we will be judged and what is the value of our lives are naturally confronted questions. Given how Jefferson was found guilty of a crime and faced the harshest sentence society can offer, there is a logical question of how he will bring meaning to his life in the face of such a defined end. The humanization that results appeals to the "better angels of our nature." Gaines presents a portrait that makes us believe there is a way for us to meet a final end with dignity and pride. This is another reason why people would believe that the story really occurred. Just as we want to believe people can change, we also want to believe people can die with dignity, as Jefferson did. Gaines's methods  employ faith in both hopes, triggering the reader's desire to believe the story is real.

What is an example of a metaphor from The Pigman?

One striking metaphor in The Pigman is in the following passage:

"And when I came up to the cage to see these ugly blood-sucking creatures, I had to look right into this little kid’s face that had a smirk on it. He made me feel as though I was a bat in a cage and he was on the outside looking in at me. It all made me very nervous" (page 62).

In this passage, in which Lorraine is looking at caged bats in the zoo, she uses a simile (a comparison that uses "like" or "as") to compare herself to a caged bat, but the comparison of herself to a caged animal runs through this passage and is a metaphor. She is like a caged animal because she lives with her mother in a very unloving and restricted environment in which her mother monitors nearly her every movement. 

Another metaphor is "The Pigman, John, and me--three little monkeys" (page 101). Lorraine compares John, the Pigman, and herself to three little monkeys while they are roller skating. They are similar to the three little monkeys that they see in Beekman's pet store hugging each other in desperation. The monkeys cling to each other for support, just as John, the Pigman, and Lorraine cling to each other because they don't receive much love from anyone else. 

In The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom, for how long was Peter jailed?

In May of 1942, Peter has assumed the position of the organist at a small church in Velsen. On Sunday, May 10th, the ten Booms go to a service at the church to hear him play. After the conclusion of the service, Peter begins to sing the national anthem, which inspires the rest of the congregation to rise up and join him in singing. The German police, who have occupied the Netherlands, arrive three days later to haul Peter away to a federal prison in Amsterdam.

Peter has remained in prison for two weeks when Mrs. Kleermaker, a Jewish woman, comes to the ten Boons seeking refuge. The ten Boons end up becoming part of the underground movement to shelter Jews from the Gestapo. After a total of two months in prison, Peter is eventually released and begins his own form of resistance work once again.

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, is the "knothole tree" the same tree that Jem and Scout struggle with Bob Ewell under?

Yes. In Chapter 4, Scout mentions that, as she ran past the Radley's home, she noticed something shiny coming from one of the two live oak trees at the end of the Radley yard. She specifically mentions that the roots of the trees were large and made the side-road bumpy. Scout then approaches one of the trees and finds two pieces of chewing gum in the knothole. Later in the novel, Boo Radley continues to give the children gifts through the same knothole in the tree until his brother fills it with cement. In Chapter 28, as the children are walking home from Maycomb's Halloween festival, Jem tells Scout they are approaching the big oak. Scout then says she feels the sand go cold and could also feel the bumpy roots of the tree. After Bob Ewell attacks them, Boo Radley comes to their aid by fighting him. In Chapter 29, Scout recounts her story to Sheriff Tate and tells him she knew they were under the big oak tree because the ground was cold. Scout also mentions that she could hear someone being thrown against the trunk of the tree. Since there are two big oak trees in the Radley yard which stand side by side, one can surmise that Boo Radley struggled with Bob Ewell underneath the same tree where he placed gifts in the knothole.

Can you analyze Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" using psychological criticism or a structuralism approach?

Robert Frost's “The Road Not Taken” presents a speaker who is forced to make a decision that he cannot really make—at least not with confidence.

Psychological criticism looks at literature by attempting to analyze it in terms of how the mind works. Often this is done with respect to the psychological theories of Sigmund Freud or Carl Jung. One of the most important aspects of Freud's theory was the importance of the subconscious and its effects on the behavior and development of the individual.

In “The Road Not Taken,” Frost uses the symbol (symbols are another key element of psychological analysis and development) of two diverging roads to look at the speaker's subconscious.

As the speaker looks at the roads, trying to decide which to take, he says,

. . . long I stood

and looked down one as far as I could

to where it bent in the undergrowth.

Difficult choices are common, and by themselves they are not always the subject of intense psychological study. At this point in the poem, the speaker is weighing his options and trying to decide, but there is not any intense psychological activity evident, at least not much below the surface.

This begins to change with the next stanza. The narrator examines one road, and we would expect to hear him say he then examined the other, but instead he just takes the other road. Why? Well, a clue might be found in the first road's description. It “bent into the undergrowth,” probably meaning it became difficult to see where it led. Fear of the unknown is a common psychological phenomenon, and there is good reason for it. The speaker's motives may be something else. Here is how he explains his choice to take the second road:

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same.

At first, the narrator is saying he chose the second road because it appeared to be less traveled, which seems an odd reason since he has already demonstrated potential fear over the first road's uncertainty. He then begins to reveal confusion over the whole matter when he reverses himself and says the roads are actually about the same.

The implication in all of this is that the speaker does not understand his own motivations and desires. It is hard for him to decide, and when he does, it is hard to justify the decision he makes. He seems to have made an impetuous decision, one he is apparently powerless to change, suggesting a strong degree of subconscious activity in this decision-making process.

In the final stanza, we see the speaker immediately regrets his decision:

I shall be telling this with a sigh,

somewhere ages and ages hence.

The “sigh” indicates he is already agonizing over his decision and projecting that unhappiness to a point later in life, suggesting (but not proving) a possibly neurotic difficulty in taking decisive action and being satisfied with it.

Frost is looking at the psychological difficulty experienced by the speaker in the face of a life-altering decision. Some of us have more trouble with these types of decisions than other people do. The role of the subconscious and the effect of neurotic conditions can make them even more problematic. This doesn't mean that just because you have a hard time making a decision, or just because you regret a decision, that you have a psychological problem—these issues are common to all human beings to some extent.

Describe some of the challenges Linda Brent faced while she lived under Flint in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.

The challenges that Linda Brent experienced in the Flint household are rooted in slavery's cruelty.

As early as the second chapter, Linda Brent gives glimpses of these challenges.  She talks about the "scanty wardrobe" that Mrs. Flint gives to her.  Additionally, Brent was "frequently threatened with punishment" even though she was so very young.  While she "could catch a bit of food," she was not given full meals.  These challenging realities remind the reader how slavery was predicated upon cruelty to even the smallest of children.

In Chapter 4, Brent details the challenge of living with the jealous Mrs. Flint. Her vengeful nature can be seen when she orders Linda to not wear her shoes because of the sound they make on the creaking floorboards. However, this was not the last in her display of power:

She then sent me a long distance, on an errand. As I went through the snow, my bare feet tingled. That night I was very hoarse; and I went to bed thinking the next day would find me sick, perhaps dead.

Mrs. Flint's cruel wrath proves to be a challenge for Linda while living in the Flint household.

However, the greatest challenge for Linda was the master of the house, Dr. Flint.  In chapter 5, Linda turns fifteen, representing "a sad epoch in the life of a slave girl."  She lives under constant sexual exploitation from Dr. Flint. This challenge took on different forms.  Some of it involved inappropriate speech, as Dr. Flint would "whisper foul words" to Linda.  It continued with his repeated reminders that she was "his property" and that she must "be subject to his will in all things."  Linda describes how such a challenge escalated over time:

She [The slave girl] listens to violent outbreaks of jealous passion, and cannot help understanding what is the cause. She will become prematurely knowing in evil things. Soon she will learn to tremble when she hears her master's footfall. She will be compelled to realize that she is no longer a child. If God has bestowed beauty upon her, it will prove her greatest curse.

Any time she voiced objection, Dr. Flint "swore" he would kill Linda if she "was not as silent as the grave."  The challenge of sexual exploitation is another dimension to slavery's cruelty.  It represents one of the most difficult challenges that Linda had to face while living under Flint.

What are the qualities of the three main characters in "The Nightingale and the Rose" by Oscar Wilde?

The three main characters represent different degrees of feeling and sentiment. 

• The Student

The student is in love with being in love. He speaks of love much like the courtly lovers of old:

"Ah, on what little things does happiness depend! I have read all that the wise men have written, and all the secrets of philosophy are mine, yet for want of a red rose is my life made wretched"

He imagines how he will hold his love if he brings her a red rose as a symbol of his devotion to her: "She will lean her head....and hold my hand." But, if he does not have the rose, he fears that she will "pass me by."

When this romantic young man brings the beautiful red rose for which the nightingale has sacrificed its life to the pretty young daughter of the Professor, she rejects it because it will not harmonize with her dress and a wealthy young man has given her jewels.

But, it is his reaction more than hers which is the most telling. He has no more appreciation for the beauty of this perfect rose than does the selfish girl to whom he has tried to give it. He has only desired it and said all that he has in the hope that she will adorn his arm. For, as he leaves he says, "What a silly thing Love is," indicating further the superficiality that belies his words, words which the lovely nightingale, sadly, has believed to be heartfelt. Furthermore, he tosses the rose away because he has only wanted it to win over the girl, not for its beauty as the nightingale had thought.

Nor does he appreciate the nightingale. He callously writes in his notebook:

In fact, she is like most artists; she is all style, without any sincerity. She would not sacrifice herself for others.

• The Professor's Daughter

When the Student brings the girl the beautiful red rose, he asks her to wear it, with the intention of then telling her he loves her. But she dismisses anything romantic, saying,

"I am afraid it will not go with my dress," she answered; "and, besides, the Chamberlain's nephew has sent me some real jewels, and everybody knows that jewels cost far more than flowers."

She proves herself shallow and materialistic.

• The Nightingale

This little bird embodies all that the others lack because she is willing to die for love. She tells the rose tree,

"Yet Love is better than Life, and what is the heart of a bird compared to the heart of a man?"

Unfortunately, her sacrifice is wasted because she has been an idealist who has allowed herself to be deceived by the superficial sentiments of the Student, who merely mimics romantic phrases he has probably read.

In Zusak's The Book Thief, what mistake allows Death to be severely disappointed in himself?

Mistakes, mistakes, it's all I seem capable of at times (23).

Death makes this observation about himself in the section entitled "Arrival on Himmel Street." He tells the reader about what happened after Liesel's brother, Werner, died. First, Liesel wakes up and catches Death at the exact moment that he extracts Werner's soul from his body. This is part of the reason Liesel captures Death's attention. Death also tells the reader that he sometimes becomes distracted because he never gets a vacation. As a result, distractions tend to be a way for him to take brief vacations from time to time. In this case, however, Death becomes more invested in Liesel's life than he should have permitted himself to be. For example, two days after discovering Liesel, Death says the following:

Several times, I warned myself that I should keep a good distance from the burial of Liesel Meminger's brother. I did not heed my advice (23).

Distracted and curious at the same time, Death visits Liesel on the day her brother is buried in an icy, shallow grave. He is caught up in the plight of this little girl, which captures his interest in Liesel's continued story. He becomes invested in watching her life play out because he marvels at her strength and fortitude. Not only that, but he witnesses her steal her first book before she is dragged away from her brother's grave and he wants to know what a little girl will do with a book called The Grave Digger's Handbook. 

The fact that Death allows himself to become consciously invested in Liesel's life is his mistake. Death's job is to be objective and unattached. Even though he doesn't play favorites by allowing Liesel to live longer than her allotted time, he shouldn't care about anyone in particular because it makes his job more difficult. It also leads him to the following discomfort: "I am haunted by humans" (550).