In Chekhov's "The Bet," what is the meaning of "The thought that you have the right to step out in liberty at any moment will poison your whole...

The above words are spoken by a banker in the story. One evening at a party, while discussing the pros and cons of the death penalty and life imprisonment, a young lawyer exclaims that, if he were a criminal, he would choose life imprisonment over death. Hearing this, a banker makes a challenge to the young lawyer. He bets the young lawyer two million dollars that he could never stay in solitary confinement for five years. The young lawyer responds by saying that he'll do better than five years: he'll stay for fifteen years.

Meanwhile, the banker is tremendously pleased; he's willing to bet what he considers a trifling sum of two million against the lawyer. Later, however, he tries to warn the young lawyer against making a big mistake. While the sum of two million is insignificant to him, he fears that the young lawyer will be giving up some of the best years of his life. Additionally, the banker doesn't think that the lawyer will be able to tolerate more than three or four years in close confinement. Thus, he advises him to consider his ill-advised bargain, stating that "voluntary confinement is a great deal harder to bear than compulsory."

Now, we come to the quote you are interested in. The banker tells the lawyer: "The thought that you have the right to step out in liberty at any moment will poison your whole existence in prison." The banker means that the lawyer will never have the discipline or courage to see the bet through: the idea that he can leave at any time will make his voluntary confinement so difficult to bear that he will come to hate his life in prison.

Also, it will be cold comfort to know that the only thing keeping him in his prison is his pride and professional reputation: when loneliness and the feeling of extreme deprivation dawns on him, the young lawyer will beg to be released. This hypothesis is based, of course, on the banker's presuppositions about the young lawyer.

A medical solution used in a hospital has `0.9%` NaCl by mass. How many grams of NaCl are present in `100 g` of solution?

By the definition, one percent of some quantity is a one hundredth of it. Hence `0.9%` of some quantity `Q` is  `0.9/100 Q = 9/1000 Q.`

In the given problem `Q = 100 g,` therefore `0.9%` of it is equal to

`9/1000*100 g = 9/10 g = 0.9 g.` This is the answer.

By the way, this concentration of  `NaCl`  is used in hospitals because it is close to human blood and tears by the osmotic pressure.

In chronological order, what are the major events that take place in Chapter 7 of The Outsiders?

We have a The Outsiders tutor online right now to help you!

To chat with a tutor, please set up a tutoring profile by creating an account and setting up a payment method. If you initiate a chat, please note you will be charged $0.50 a minute for tutoring time.

What are the main topics of the book Planet of Slums by Mike Davis? Please include page numbers.

The main theme of this book is that the urban population of the world for the first time is more plentiful than that of rural areas (page 1). Cities will also account for most of the future global population growth (page 2), and the growth of the new cities in the developing countries will outpace that of Victorian England (page 3). 

Housing in these new cities is problematic. What the author calls the "formal home market" does not provide enough housing to meet the need, and the government in many countries provides very little housing aid (page 67). In part, this is because the middle class and rich evade taxes, so there is a minimal tax base to support building public housing. In addition, the IMF and World Bank do not advocate the taxing of wealth, "conspicuous consumption," or real estate (page 68) to pay for public housing, thereby perpetuating inequality. In addition, the author writes that the Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) of the World Bank and IMF force developing countries to spend money on servicing their debt rather than on providing services to the poor. 

In response to the need for massive new housing, what the author calls "megaslums" have developed in the developing world to house millions of people. These slums are a response the inability of the poor to find housing that is near their jobs, safe, and affordable. For example, some people prefer to live near a train station or produce market to get to work, even if they don't have a roof over their heads (page 27). The author states that this type of "rational-choice" model applies to the slums in most cities (page 29). For example, in Cairo, families can choose to rent an apartment, if they can find one; to squat in an illegal dwelling such as a rooftop from which they might be evicted; to squat on public land; or to buy a plot in a space without legal building permits.

The author also writes that the new poor constitute an "informal working class" of about one billion people (page 178). Jobs in the informal sector of the economy are growing more quickly than jobs in the formal sector. As he writes, the new poor are as "homeless in the contemporary international economy" (page 178) as they are homeless in their cities. There aren't enough formal jobs, which come with greater rights and bargaining power, to lift slum dwellers out of poverty. Instead, they are forced into positions such as prostitution and selling their organs to survive. At this rate, the author predicts the future of urban slums will be dire. 

Based on the documentary Crude, what role could a an expert in exposure science play in the Ecuadorean Amazon situation?What task related to...

The role of an exposure scientist is that of relating "populations, communities, and ecosystems" to exposure to chemical, biological, and other "stressors," such as crude oil production toxic waste, for the purpose of measuring and modeling the "complex inter-relationship" between the two groups.

According to the National Research Council, 'exposure science links human and ecological behavior to environmental processes in such a way that the information generated can be used to mitigate or prevent future adverse exposures' (International Society of Exposure Science).

In the Ecuadorean Amazon crude oil contamination situation exposed in Crude, the role of an expert in exposure science could be to measure and model the inter-relationship between the human populations, the rainforest jungle ecosystems, and the wildlife affected by the Texaco/ Chevron oil production waste pits, oil spills, and leaks.

The task undertaken by an exposure scientist would relate to examining the exposure areas through one or more fields of specialization, such as environmental, physical, and biological, using exposure science "methods, measurements, models" to ascertain the effect of the exposure stressors on the environments in contact with them. These methods would generate information that might be used to "mitigate or prevent future adverse exposures."

What suggests the family in Vladimir Nabokov's "Signs and Symbols" is Jewish?

Although Nabokov does not explicitly state the couple in this short story is Jewish, he does hint to their Jewish ancestry. He suggests several times in the story that the couple is not originally from New York. The husband is described as being from “the old country.” It is also mentioned that they left Europe when the boy was ten. At one time, the couple lived in Minsk, an area heavily populated with people of Jewish descent. Furthermore, when looking back at her pictures, the mother mentions two Jewish surnames, Borisovna and Soloveichiks. Aunt Rosa is also mentioned as a person “put to death by the Germans,” suggesting she was a Jew during the Holocaust.

The story is set on a Friday evening. In Judaism, Sabbath begins on Friday evenings and Jews celebrate with a Shabbat dinner. The mother stops at the store to get fish for their supper, a traditional Shabbat meal. 

Vladimir Nabokov gives several details in the story to suggest the family may be of Jewish descent. 

Provide one theme from Animal Farm and three supporting quotes.

A major theme in Animal Farm is the idea that power acts as a corrupting influence on certain individuals. Orwell demonstrates this most clearly through the pigs who begin as well-meaning leaders of the Revolution but quickly create a divide between themselves and the other animals. You can support this idea with the following quote from Chapter Three when it emerges that the pigs are getting better rations than the others, specifically in the form of milk and apples:

"We pigs are brainworkers. The whole management and organization of this farm depend on us. Day and night we are watching over your welfare. It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples."

As the plot develops, Napoleon emerges as the clear leader of the pigs but only after running his rival, Snowball, off the farm in Chapter Five, following a violent display of his power. The following quote, spoken by Boxer in Chapter Five, demonstrates Napoleon's increasing power on the farm:

"Napoleon is always right."

By the final chapter of the book, the pigs' ascent to absolute power is complete. They dress differently to the others by wearing human clothes, drink alcohol and carry whips, a potent symbol of oppression. Their transformation is, perhaps, best summarised by the following quote:

"All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others."

How do events help mold the personality of the protagonist in The Miracle Worker?

Anne Sullivan (the protagonist) was shaped by her childhood. Born in poverty to an Irish Catholic family, she was sent to a mental hospital and was raised among the mentally ill. With her brother Jimmy, Anne survived the horrible conditions until her brother’s died from tuberculosis. After she became legally blind, Anne was sent to a school for the blind to complete her education. Upon graduation, she accepted a position as a teacher for Helen Keller in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Anne explains her background to Helen’s step-brother, Jimmy, in an effort to make him understand why she will not give up.

Anne’s strength of character guided her in facing the conflict from the Keller family as a Northerner and Irish (the Irish were discriminated against during this time in American history). She persevered in spite of Captain Keller’s antagonism, Mrs. Keller’s interference, and Helen’s animosity. Determined to reach Helen in the same way she herself was reached and rescued, Anne managed to lead Helen out of the darkness of ignorance.

Why did Modernists use the omniscient narrator less often than their predecessors in world literature?

Narrative style changed significantly after World War I, which is considered the peak of Modernism, particularly in literature.

Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century literature is very often characterized by the presence of a third-person omniscient narrator who knows the characters' thoughts and motivations, not unlike God hovering over the narrative. When characters spoke for themselves, the print would be italicized to mark the shift from the third-person to first-person perspective. This motif tells us that, before the postwar period, readers were, perhaps, not attuned to sudden shifts in perspective when reading prose. The italicized print let them know that a character was sharing his or her thoughts.

Due to the pervasive influence of psychoanalysis after the First World War, stream of consciousness became a common narrative tool. The works of Virginia Woolf, James Joyce (particularly Ulysses), and William Faulkner are marked by stream of consciousness. This narrative device allows the author to shift suddenly from a third-person voice (if that is what the author has employed) to a first-person voice, to slip from dialogue to inner monologue, or to shift from the mind of one character into that of another. 

Free-indirect discourse, another narrative device which emerged during the Modernist period, was influenced by stream of consciousness. Free-indirect discourse is a literary device which occurs in prose narratives written in the third-person omniscient voice. In the narrative, there is a sudden merging between the narrator’s voice, which is otherwise distant and observant, and that of the character who is speaking or having a thought. The narrator suddenly takes on the voice of the person or persons speaking, instituting their dialects or speech patterns. This technique may cause a bit of confusion for an inattentive reader, for the change can occur as soon as the next paragraph while, in the following paragraph, the narrator will restore the traditional third-person voice. Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God employs free-indirect discourse so that the narrator's voice can merge with that of Janie, the novel's protagonist.

Modernist literature is very much concerned with interiority -- that is, the private lives and thoughts of characters in novels. If the Victorian era was defined by determinism, the Modernist era was defined by subjectivity. The First World War shattered previously held truths, leaving much of the world in a state of existential crisis, which was reflected in literature and art. What mattered then were not the stories people had been told which described existence, but instead, the stories each of us could tell, as we experienced them.

Individual perspectives and perceptions overruled conventions. Suddenly, people's minds were revealed, even when those minds revealed thoughts that were vulgar, ignorant, or erotic. The pace of the narrative moved at the pace of life. The narrative mimicked the rapid fire of people's thoughts, which were often disjointed. Novelists became less concerned with continuity than with portraying events, ideas, and feelings as they actually occurred.

Is The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald a love story that embraces American ideals, or a satire that comments on/critiques American ideals?

Based on the two choices you have, it would be most accurate to say that F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is a satire critiquing American ideals. On the one hand, F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby has many elements of a love story, as most of the plot focuses on the love affair between Gatsby and Daisy, but to say that the story embraces American ideals would be a mistake.

A large portion of Fitzgerald's message is aimed at critiquing the myth of the American Dream (the belief that American citizens can get whatever they want, improve themselves, and achieve happiness simply by working as hard as possible), and Gatsby's tragic downfall can be seen as symbolic of this critique. Consider, for instance, that Gatsby is a materialistic man who's spent his whole life working to acquire possessions. In that case, one could argue his death is a repudiation of these values and evidence that Fitzgerald is critiquing them. As such, I think it would be most accurate to say that the novel is a satire critiquing American ideals. 

How are nationalism and imperialism related?

Nationalism and imperialism are often related. Nationalism refers to pride in one’s country. Imperialism is the desire to gain land beyond one’s borders.

 When countries become imperialistic, one factor that often is involved is the desire to spread their way of life. Imperialistic countries believe the way they do things is superior to the way other countries or the people in other countries do things. Thus, the imperialistic country feels it is its duty to help the less fortunate people and the less fortunate countries in the world by showing them the ways to do various things. This includes how to set up a government and an economic system and how to live their life.

The British and French established colonies for many reasons. One reason why they expanded into Africa, Asia, and the Americas was to show the people who lived in these areas how to improve their life by following British and French ways of doing things. The Germans believed they were superior to the people in any other country. Thus, they felt they could do what they wanted to do when it came to controlling and conquering other places. Imperialism and nationalism often go together.

What is the twist in the story "The Last Leaf"?

The twist, or surprise, in O. Henry's story "The Last Leaf" comes at the very end. Johnsy has been expecting to die when the last ivy leaf fall off the vine attached to the brick wall of a neighboring building. It seems likely that she actually will die when this happens because she believes in it so firmly. Johnsy is described as small and frail. 

A mite of a little woman with blood thinned by California zephyrs was hardly fair game for the red-fisted, short-breathed old duffer.

If Mr. Pneumonia can kill much stronger people by the hundreds, why should he be expected to spare little Johnsy? The reader is practically convinced that the last leaf will fall any moment and that Johnsy will really pass away when that happens. 

But somehow the brave leaf clings tenaciously to its place on the denuded vine. If we believe that Johnsy can will herself to die when the leaf falls, then we can believe that she will decide to recover, and will recover, when the leaf doesn't fall. The actual "twist" in the story does not come when the leaf doesn't fall, but when Sue reveals that it couldn't fall because it had been painted on the wall in the middle of the night.

“Mr. Behrman died of pneumonia to-day in the hospital. He was ill only two days. The janitor found him on the morning of the first day in his room downstairs helpless with pain. His shoes and clothing were wet through and icy cold....Didn't you wonder why it never fluttered or moved when the wind blew? Ah, darling, it's Behrman's masterpiece—he painted it there the night that the last leaf fell.”

It should be noted that O. Henry takes considerable pains to keep the reader from suspecting that Old Mr. Behrman might get the idea of painting a fake ivy leaf on the brick wall in order to keep Johnsy alive and inspire her to recover. The author makes Behrman an old man. He is a heavy drinker. He has given up painting and only models for other artists. And he expresses extreme skepticism about the idea of anybody dying when a leaf falls off a vine.

“Vass!” he cried. “Is dere people in de world mit der foolishness to die because leafs dey drop off from a confounded vine? I haf not heard of such a thing." 

What are the five basic properties of language?

There is much disagreement over what specifically defines language. Some scholars define it by six properties: productivity, arbitrariness, duality, discreetness, displacement, and cultural transmission. (I have found some lists of five, but these often combine two of the various six into a single characteristic.)

Productivity means language has some purpose beyond making sounds, gestures, or markings. Language helps us accomplish tasks and share information.

Arbitrariness acknowledges that the words we speak, gestures we make, and markings we use in writing do not really represent what we are talking about. For example, the word "apple" is not really an apple, just a word we have assigned for discussing the fruit. There is an exception to this in speaking, though: onomatopoeic sounds—like crash, bang, and plop—directly mimick an actual sound.

Duality is the property of language that is at work when we create words or gestures which have meaning out of sounds which are otherwise meaningless. An easily recognized instance of duality is the use of prefixes and suffixes. For example, the sound re- on its own does not have any meaning, but when it is added to the beginning of a word in English, it means to do something again, as in revisit, retry, and review. 

Discreetness of language is somewhat connected to duality. The many sounds and symbols we use in language (like the sound re-) are understood to be separate entities from one another. We use the letter A when we mean to convey a certain sound, and we don't use other letters in place of it. Different languages may have different sets of sounds or symbols to work with, but it is this set of symbols and sounds which acts like a palette of distinct colors to make words from.

Displacement is at work when we talk about people, things, or ideas which are not presently happening around us. This flexibility is highly distinctive of human language. Most other animals are only capable of creating call sounds in response to present stimuli—food, danger, or a desire to mate, for instance. As humans, we can say things like, "I wonder what I'll have for dinner later," even if we are not presently hungry.

Finally, cultural transmission is a vital part of human language. While other animals are born with an understanding of their bodily and vocal languages, humans learn language through the process of enculturation. This aspect of learning language is of interest to many psychologists, and studying people who have not been exposed to language can provide deeper understanding of human development and the role language plays in our lives.

What are some points against the statement "Lord Ullin's daughter was right in her decision to defy her father"?

In the ballad “Lord Ullin’s Daughter” by Thomas Campbell, the daughter defies her father by eloping with the man she loves. Was she right to do this? Considering it leads to her and her lover's death, she probably made the wrong decision. When this poem is analyzed, it is often argued she should have been allowed to marry for love. Unfortunately, dueling Scottish clans were the norm at the time, and Lord Ullin’s daughter was cognizant of that.

She was aware her father and her lover were heads of separate Scottish clans, and knew her father would never approve of their relationship. When she leaves with “the chief of Ulva's isle,” she knows her father’s men will follow them, and they will kill her lover on the spot if the two are caught. Therefore, she puts her lover's life in jeopardy by defying her father’s wishes. One could interpret this as selfishness on her part.

Two lives could have been spared if Lord Ullin's daughter chose to obey her father, but would she and her lover have found happiness without each other?

How do I go about writing a paper on how different management practices might be applied in the workforce and how bureaucratic management might...

There are many different management practices, including both operations management (OM) and human resource management (HRM) practices. OM practices include the use of information and communications technology (ICT), the use of an inventory strategy called just-in-time (JIT), the use of an approach to improve product quality called Total Quality Management (TQM), and the use of a method for eliminating waste called lean production. HRM practices include methods for "training, development, empowerment and teamwork" (Siebers et al., "Enhancing Productivity"). HRM practices are even guided by management theories and leadership theories. Therefore, the first thing you want to do in order to approach writing your paper is explore these practices and theories, if you haven't done so already, and pick an area of interest to focus on. Then, you want to review some current studies and literature reviews on your area of interest to see what other researchers are already saying about the effectiveness of management practices being employed in the workforce.

One literature review written by Peer-Olaf Siebers et al. (2008) shows that results on studies of the relationship between HRM practices and productivity are varied and inconclusive. For example, while P. Capelli and D. Neumark conclude in their 2001 study that "empowering work practices" are the most important for achieving the greatest productivity, their results also show that the practices increase the costs of labor per employee; therefore, the overall benefit of such practices to a company is inconclusive (as cited in Siebers et al.). Other studies find no direct relationship between productivity and HRM practices, especially since such practices increase costs. However, a study conducted by J. Michie and M. Sheehan in 2005 found "positive relationships between HR policies and practices" and performance, so long as such practices were balanced with business strategies such as cost leadership, innovation-focused strategic leadership, and quality-focused strategic leadership. Overall, Siebers' literature review raises doubts as to whether or not any OM or HRM practices truly do increase productivity, either used jointly or independently. However, Siebers et al. do cite a study conducted by K. Birdi et al. in 2006. The study examined 308 companies over a span of 22 years and concluded that the HRM practice of empowerment has a universal positive effect on productivity. Empowerment is a leadership practice in which managers yield decision-making authority to employees.

Bureaucratic management was posited as a theory by German sociologist Max Weber early in the 20th century. He asserted that an organization must have a well-structured hierarchy and clearly established rules in order to be productive. Today, many scholars are beginning to question the effectiveness of bureaucratic management. Studies show that bureaucratic work environments lead to increased levels of stress. As stress levels rise, absenteeism also rises, and production diminishes. Many scholars, such as Henry Hornstei et al., find that the problem with bureaucracies is that they are organized based on a "redundancy of parts" ("Bureaucratic Organizations Are Bad For Our Health," Ivey Business Journal). In other words, more people are employed in this system than are really needed to do the work, leading to a loss of feeling responsible. When people are controlled by superiors and are uncertain of responsibilities, they feel "frustration, shame, humiliation, anger and contempt" (Hornstein et al.). Instead, scholars are beginning to promote a system that creates a "redundancy of function" because it does not have a system of hierarchy. Instead, all "[e]mployees are paid for the skills they hold, not the position they fill" and treated as peers with equal shares in responsibilities and in the decision-making process (Hornstein et al.).

How does money influence notions of gentility in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens?

This really has to do with the issues of class structure in Britain. In earlier centuries, there was presumed to be a fixed social hierarchy with the monarch at the summit, followed by the nobility, then the gentry, and finally commoners. Wealth was expected in most cases to follow this social hierarchy, with those on top being wealthier than those on bottom. Rich merchants or craftspeople could gradually become assimilated into the gentry by means of marriage. An alternative but quite rare way mode of moving up in class for the exceptionally talented was through education, followed by a well-regarded career (usually in the Church). As these modes of class mobility were gradual and relatively limited before the Industrial Revolution, families which rose in class had time to assimilate themselves to the manners and beliefs of upper-class culture.

With increased opportunities for great wealth to be obtained in the colonies and in manufacturing in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries came a decoupling of the relationships among birth, manners, and money. Magwitch is an example of one of the new rich; Mrs. Pocket and Miss Havisham, of an older social tradition of gentility. Pip is caught between these worlds and value systems. 

How is The Merchant Of Venice a tragic comedy?

In one sense, Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice is certainly a comedy. Good largely triumphs over evil, and all of the main "good guys" end up with a happy ending: Bassanio and Portia live happily ever after, and Antonio finds out that his lost fortune is not so lost after all. That said, a persistent tragic streak runs through the play. For instance, the Jewish Shylock is forced to give up his fortune and convert to Christianity. While the moneylender certainly commits some acts of villainy in the play, he's also an oppressed Jew, and his Christian tormenters effectively succeed in beating him into submission. Shylock hardly gets a happy ending, and this fact has lead several readers to suggest that Shylock is something of a tragic figure.

Since Merchant employs this complex blend of comedy and tragedy, it's often known as one of Shakespeare's "problem plays." It might end with an ending typical of Shakespeare's comedies, but it deals with some pretty serious themes (such as anti-Semitism and racism) and leaves some plot threads (most notably Shylock's life after the trial) unresolved. As such, it's hard to classify Merchant, and its complex themes continue to beguile audiences and readers alike. 

In his soliloquy after Banquo leaves, what does Macbeth tell the audience he sees, and how does he explain the sight?

Macbeth's soliloquy after his conversation with Banquo in Act II, Scene 1 is intended to show Macbeth is subject to hallucinations. He thinks he sees a bloody dagger floating in the air in front of him, evidently leading him towards Duncan's chamber.

Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going,
And such an instrument I was to use.

Macbeth finally decides the dagger is only an hallucination created in his mind by his emotional turmoil.

There's no such thing:
It is the bloody business which informs
Thus to mine eyes. 

Shakespeare wanted his audience to retain some small amount of sympathy for Macbeth because the play was supposedly a tragedy and the audience should feel pity and understanding when the protagonist meets his fate. The "air-drawn dagger" is a way of suggesting Macbeth is really innocent, just a prey of all kinds of supernatural forces and his own mental problems.

Shakespeare tries in many ways to preserve sympathy for his tragic hero. For one thing, he makes it clear Macbeth doesn't really want to murder Duncan. Lady Macbeth plays a vitally important part in forcing Macbeth to commit the crime. She understands her husband. She says he is "too full of the milk of human kindness." She pinpoints his dilemma in her soliloquy in Act I, Scene 5, where she says,

Thou wouldst be great;
Art not without ambition, but without
The illness should attend it. What thou wouldst highly,
That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false,
And yet wouldst wrongly win. 

In addition to ameliorating Macbeth's wickedness through his hallucinations and his domineering wife, Shakespeare also passes some of the blame for his misdeeds to the three Weird Sisters. There is also the fact that Macbeth bitterly regrets killing Duncan immediately after he has done so and continues to feel guilty until the very end of the play. He is plagued with guilt and afflicted with insomnia and nightmares. All this, too, is intended to create pity and sympathy for the tragic hero in spite of his murders and tyrannical rule. The playwright even has King Duncan himself suggest to the audience that Macbeth actually deserves to have his kingdom. 

Would thou hadst less deserved,
That the proportion both of thanks and payment
Might have been mine! Only I have left to say,
More is thy due than more than all can pay (Act I, Scene 4).

What is the main target of Charles Dickens's social criticism in the novel Oliver Twist?

Charles Dickens was a social commentator who often brought attention to the deprivation of the poor. Specifically, in Oliver Twist, Dickens rails against the treatment of the poor in workhouses and the Poor Law of 1834.

While the concept of providing food and work for the poor is idealistically positive, the reality of these workhouses and orphanages differed, and Dickens felt that the misuse of funding, the living conditions, and the treatment of the individuals in these institutions were inhumane and cruel.

In the early chapters, Dickens satirizes Victorian social institutions. Once he is born, Oliver Twist is marked for his position in society:

But now that he was enveloped in the old calico robes which had grown yellow...he was badged and ticketed, and fell into his place at once...to be cuffed and buffeted through the world--despised by all, and pitied by none.

When no woman can be found to care for poor Oliver--"the workhouse authorities replied with humility"--he is "dispatched to a branch-workhouse where" the "offenders against the poor laws" were sent. There the woman in charge "appropriated the greater part of the weekly stipend to her own use."

Of course, Dickens also draws a sociological link between crime and poverty, as further on in the novel, Oliver is taken into the world of crime with one of literature's depraved villains, Fagin. Sadly, Oliver is exploited time and time again, yet his innate goodness prevails. Like Tiny Tim, Oliver is another example that underscores Dickens's contention that class rank does not have any correlation with integrity or virtue.

How does religion affects one's career choice?

For the most part, this is a question whose answer depends on the attitudes and beliefs of the individual who is choosing a particular career.  There are a very few careers that people only choose because of their religion.  However, for the most part, religion plays a different role in affect different people’s career choices, even if they choose to enter the same careers.

There are a few careers that people only pursue because of religion.  Presumably no one (or very few people) enter the ministry for reasons other than religion.  In these cases, you can almost certainly say that religion caused those people to select those careers.

In almost all other career choices, religion may or may not play a role.  Think about people who choose to become teachers.  Religion may or may not affect their career choice.  One person might become a teacher because she enjoys working with teens and likes her subject matter.  Another might become a teacher because he thinks that God has called him to help people by educating them.  The same can be said of practically any profession.  In these professions, religion affects or does not affect people’s career choices based on what those people’s religious beliefs are.

Thus, we really cannot say that there is one answer to this question that fits all people.  People can be motivated to choose most careers either by religious factors or by factors that have nothing to do with religion.  The effect that religion has on career choice, then, depends almost entirely on the attitudes of the person choosing the career.

What would cause the temporal artery to dilate, cause mild headaches, especially when handled, and make for strong pulsating? Temporal Arteritis...

The most likely answer here would be nitroglycerin. It is absorbed via many routes, including transdermal, though it is most often taken under the tongue (sublingual). It has vasodilatory properties because it increases the amount of nitrous oxide in vascular endothelium, which causes a biochemical cascade leading to vasodilation. This effect is commonly taken advantage of in patients with stable angina, where nitroglycerin is used to decrease the workload of the heart, which is having difficulty providing blood to itself. It would dilate the temporal artery, as well, as it would many other arteries. Finally, the side effect of headaches is well-documented. In fact, many patients who use nitroglycerin use the headache as confirmation that their medication is working effectively!

What kind of relationship do Romeo and Juliet have with their parents?

The family dynamics of Romeo and Juliet can seem pretty strange to us in the modern day. At this time in Europe, lifespans were much shorter, so people were considered full adults around the time they became teenagers. This meant that they were expected to take on new responsibilities, including marriage and raising a family. Romeo and Juliet's families do want their children to do well in life, but they are more concerned about these two young people fulfilling social expectations than their true happiness.

One thing which may seem especially unusual to us but was quite common in Shakespeare's time is the character of Nurse. Throughout history, wealthy families of Europe would often employ a nurse (also called wet-nurse or nanny) to care for their children. These women would care for the children as if they were their own, breastfeeding infants and serving as confidante in the older years. As we can tell in Act I, Nurse has a lot of affection for Juliet and fulfills the roles her mother does not. Lady Capulet is really more of an administrator for Juliet's appearance in society, hence her desire for Juliet to marry! 

On the other side, Romeo is offered a little more independence than Juliet because he is a boy. He is free to spend time with his male cousins and even wander among the trees by himself while he daydreams. Romeo's parents find his introversion a little odd, but nonetheless want him to do well.

The family roles of the Tudor and Renaissance period did not really allow for the kind of emotional connection most parents and children share today. Only in the most serious of cases would a noble parent step in to discipline their child, and they spent even less time "getting to know" their children. To us, this may seem cold or cruel, but it was the reality of life for wealthy Tudor and Renaissance people.

A cat chases a mouse across a 1.1 m high table. The mouse steps out of the way, and the cat slides off the table and strikes the floor 1.6 m from...

Hello!

Denote the initial speed of the cat as `V_0.` The direction of the initial velocity is horizontal (assuming the table is horizontal). Denote the height of the table as `H_0` and the given distance (horizontal) as `D_0.`  

After sliding, the cat participates in two movements which we can consider separately. The first is the horizontal one with the constant speed `V_0` (there is no force to change this speed). The second is the vertical one (downwards) under the gravity force.

So the horizontal distance from the table is `D(t) = V_0 t,` the height is `H(t) = H_0 - (g t^2)/2.` From the first equation we can find the time `t_1 = D_0/V_0.`  The cat hits the floor at this moment, so `H(t_1)` must be zero. This gives the equation `H_0-(g t_1^2)/2=0,` or `H_0=g/2 (D_0/V_0)^2.`

Solve this equation for `V_0:`  `D_0/V_0 = sqrt((2 H_0)/g),` or `V_0 = D_0/sqrt((2 H_0)/g).`  In numbers it is about 3.38 (m/s). This is the answer.

Note: if the given distance of `1.6 m` is not a horizontal one but is the distance between the edge points of a cat's trajectory, then `D_0=sqrt(1.6^2-1.1^2) approx 1.16(m)` by the Pythagorean Theorem.

Why is it important for us to understand the geography of our country?

Geography has an impact on many events affecting a country including cultural, economical, and historical events. By understanding the geography of our country, you will be better able to understand some of the events that have affected our country.

One example that can be given deals with historical events. Many Americans were shocked when World War I began. Geography has helped us tremendously when it came to war. Prior to modern forms of travel and technology, the United States was isolated from many countries by the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. The oceans served as a barrier helping to protect us from attack and invasion. It was easier for the United States to remain neutral and to want to stay out of world affairs because of our geographical location. We didn’t have to deal on a daily basis with too many countries surrounding our country. This wasn’t the case in Europe. It also was easier for President Wilson to want to have a peace treaty that wasn't so harsh on the Central Powers. The leaders of the other Allied countries, whose countries were much closer to Germany and who feared Germany becoming strong again, wanted to punish Germany severely.

Another example is the location and the development of cities. Prior to modern forms of transportation, many cities developed along major rivers, and especially where two or more rivers merged. Factories had to be located near water prior to the development of the steam engine, and being located near a river made it easier to ship products.

A third example is the development of culture. The Native Americans were relocated to the Great Plains because that area was considered a great wasteland. For a period of time, the Native Americans were able to develop their culture and tribal practices in relative isolation because people thought this land was undesirable. Of course, once minerals were found in these areas and Americans began to move into these regions, all of that changed. The Native Americans were forced onto reservations, and their way of life was destroyed once again.

Understanding the geography of any country will allow a person to have a better understanding of many of the cultural, economical, and historical events that have occurred in that country.

What does the reader learn from the stranger about his best friend Jimmy and what is his attitude towards this man in After Twenty Years?

When the policeman, who checks doorways on his beat finds a stranger standing in a store's door that used to belong to "Big Joe' Brady's restaurant, the man claims he is standing there as he waits to meet an old friend, who was a great friend, although somewhat of a "plodder."

This waiting man assures the policeman that everything is all right; he is just waiting for his old friend named Jimmy, with whom he dined twenty years ago. After this meal the friends parted, but they agreed to come back to their favorite restaurant in two decades after they had settled into their adult lives. While Jimmy was the truest of friends and they corresponded for a while, they had lost track of one another. The waiting man says that Jimmy was kind of a "plodder," but he has sought his fortune in the West, and because he was "hustling," and moving so much, he had lost track of Jimmy.

"But I know Jimmy will meet me here if he's alive, for he always was the truest, stanchest old chap in the world. He'll never forget. I came a thousand miles to stand in this door tonight, and it's worth it if my old partner turns up."

Clearly this man holds Jimmy in high regard, having traveled so far to reunite with his old friend. Even after he reads Jimmy's note, the man knows that Jimmy is still a true friend. For, he has not the heart to arrest 'Silky Bob' himself, although he knows that he must do his duty, too.

What are three motifs and one theme in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men?

One theme that prevails in Of Mice and Men is that, during the Great Depression, the American Dream failed in its idealism in an unfeeling, materialistic society.

With the setting of the 1930s, George and Lennie find themselves among the thousands of disenfranchised, itinerant men who went to California for jobs on ranches and farms. In their hearts, they entertain a hope of owning a little farm of their own where they can raise some animals and crops and "live off the land." According to Steinbeck, this dream is constantly threatened by capitalism and its class system. For instance, Curley is pugnacious and arrogant because, as the boss's son, he is confident enough to antagonize any of the men. In Scene 2, Curley approaches Lennie and goes into the slight crouch of a boxer and asks, "You the new guys the old man was waitin' for?" When George answers for Lennie, Curley "lashed his body around" and says,

"By Christ, he's gotta talk when he's spoke to. What the hell are you getting' into it for?"

"We travel together," said George coldly.

"Oh, so it's that way." 

George was tense and motionless. "Yeah, it's that way."

Similarly, the mechanic Carlson bullies others because he is more confident in his position than the field hands who can be easily replaced. He shows little consideration for others' feelings. When he comes into the bunkhouse in Scene 3, he exclaims,

God, awmighty, that dog stinks. Get him outa here, Candy. I don't know nothin' that stinks as bad as an old dog. You gotta get him out.

With no regard for Candy's feelings, Carlson insists he be allowed to shoot the dog, and does so with Slim's approval.

George and Lennie try to "get a stake," but it is hard for them to save money. When Candy asks to join in on the ranch and offers to put up $300 he has in the bank, George begins to believe it might be a possibility to have a little place of their own. Lennie, the character Steinbeck created to represent the frustration and helplessness of men in a capitalistic society, inadvertently affects the failure of this dream.

Three motifs in Of Mice and Men are fraternity, loneliness/ insecurity, and women as temptresses.

—Fraternity

George, Lennie, Candy, and Crooks's talk of working together toward having a place of their own almost becomes a reality. Whenever George recites their dream, they point with pride to their friendship:

Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place. . . With us it ain't like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us (Scene 1).

Crooks, who is marginalized and made to stay in the barn, talks with Lennie. He speaks of his loneliness and explains the importance of fraternity:

A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you (Scene 4).

Crooks adds that a man needs someone else by whom to "measure" himself or tell him what he has seen.

—Loneliness/ Insecurity

The many bindle stiffs and dispossessed men of the Depression travel across the country from job to job. They have no stable home, and few even have friends. When George and Lennie arrive at the ranch, George looks cautiously around the bunkhouse. Candy, the old swamper, shows them their bunks. He is careful about what he says, but tells them Curley does not give anyone a chance.

Crooks is very lonely because he is forced to stay in the barn. While he is cruel to Lenny when he first enters the barn and starts into Crooks's room, Crooks soon talks with Lennie, and he even welcomes Candy, who has never entered his room. Crooks says he has only had two visitors the entire time he's lived in the barn.

Guys don't come into a colored man's room very much. Nobody been here but Slim. Slim an' the boss (Scene 4).

Curley's wife, the only woman on the ranch, is very lonely. When she enters the barn in Scene 4, Candy tries to get her to leave, as does Crooks, who tells her "We don't want no trouble." Curley's wife tells the men she, too, is lonely.

Well, I ain't giving you no trouble. Think I don't like to talk to somebody ever' once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house alla time? (Scene 4)

—Women as Temptresses

George warns Lennie against women since they have had to flee the trouble in Weed. After Curley's wife stands in the doorway of the bunkhouse, George again warns Lennie, telling her to stay away from Curley's wife, who he describes as a "piece of jail bait." Indeed, Curley's wife is portrayed as a temptress:

She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward. . . She smiled archly and twitched her body (Scene 2).

While Curley runs back and forth trying to locate his wife, George comments,

You give me a good whore house every time. . . A guy can go in an' get drunk and get ever'thing outa his system all at once, an' no messes. . . These here jail baits is just set on the trigger of the hoosegow (Scene 4).

When Curley's wife talks to Lennie in the barn, she laughs at his childishness. Thinking he is someone to toy with, she then asks him if he would like to touch her hair, which she claims is very soft.

This suggestion causes Lennie to stroke her hair with his powerful hands. When she becomes frightened by his strength and struggles, Lennie panics and tries to restrain her from crying out, accidentally breaking her neck. 

Certainly, Lennie and George are unfortunate men in an unfortunate and cruel time in America.

How would you analyze Ishmael Reed's The C above C above High C?

The C above C above High C is a nuanced play that takes place in 1957 in the United States Capitol. The central character, Louis Armstrong, is an African American butler in the White House. Armstrong gets an audience with President Eisenhower, which he uses to discuss civil rights issues in Little Rock, Arkansas. The play's central act discusses Eisenhower's controversial refusal to act when white nationalist mobs prevented young black schoolchildren from attending class in newly desegregated schools.

The play's central themes are courage, racism, and the nature of hatred. Although Armstrong's character is often criticized as being an Uncle Tom, he uses his position in the White House to reason with the President. The situation in Little Rock is contrasted with World War II, and Armstrong explains to the President that although Hitler's physical body was killed, his hatred lives on on the bigoted men fighting against the desegregation of the Arkansas school district. By standing up to this new wave of bigotry, Eisenhower can take his place in history as a President who stood up to hatred.

The play gets its title from a line delivered by Armstrong, who tells the president that he can achieve the full potential of his office, hitting "the C above C above high C," if he defends the young students in Arkansas and stands up to bigotry.

In addition to bigotry and the responsibility of power, The C above C above High C also features themes of discontented marriage, infidelity, and drug addiction. Ishmael Reed uses dry wit to convey a sense of humor that contrasts with the serious themes of the play.

How can the characters of Bluntschli and Sergius be compared?

Major Sergius Saranoff is an officer in the Bulgarian army. Bulgaria at this period was on the margins of Europe, and generally considered somewhat primitive and unsophisticated by Europeans. Sergius is handsome and dashing, and appears to believe in and enact an idealized romantic vision of war and love, although, as we discover later in the play, he himself feels constricted by the role in which the Petkoffs and Bulgarian society have placed him. He belongs by birth to the Bulgarian aristocracy.

Captain Bluntschli is a Swiss mercenary from a bourgeois family rather than an aristocratic one. He is older than Sergius and has a pragmatic view of war as a profession rather than as a patriotic calling. He has no particular commitment to Serbia or Bulgaria and is involved in the war as a job, and thus more concerned with his personal survival than with anything else. He is less handsome than Sergius. He is cosmopolitan where Sergius is provincial. At heart, though, Captain Bluntschli is a romantic in matters of the heart and falls in love with Raina.

What is a characteristic that best describes Phillip Enright in The Cay by Theodore Taylor?

At the beginning of the book, Phillip is spoiled and naive. For example, after German submarines have blown up tankers in the neighboring island of Aruba, he asks his father, "Why can't we go out and fight them?" (page 16). He treats the war as if it were a lark until the boat he is on is sunk by a German submarine.

After Phillip is rescued by Timothy, a black man, Phillip treats Timothy with a great deal of disrespect. When Phillip keeps asking for water, though there is only a limited supply, Timothy does not allow him to have any. Phillip thinks, "It was then that I began to learn what a stubborn old man he could be. I began to dislike Timothy" (page 36). Part of what Phillip dislikes is that Timothy does not give him what he wants, and Phillip is too naive to understand that Timothy is rationing water for their own mutual good. In addition, Phillip is spoiled and racist, and he does not like that a black man is not giving into his demands. He recalls that his mother said that black people were "different" than he was, and he seems to agree at this point in the book. Phillip maintains that a schooner will find him, though Timothy is not sure, because Phillip believes that he is more important than others and that his family is more powerful than the German subs. Over time, Phillip will change to become more respectful of others, less spoiled, and less naive. 

How much will Sam make after 8 years if she earns 12% compound annuity and invests $200 at the beginning of every year?

FVA Continuous Compounding = Cash Flow * [(ert -1)/ (er -1)]

FVA = Future Value of Annuity

r = rate per period

t = time in months

OR

FVAD = C *[{(1+r)t -1}/r] * (1+r)

FVAD = Future Value of Annuities Due

C = Cash flows

r = rate per period

t = time equivalent to the number of payment periods

Applying this to your question,

Cash Flow = $200

r = 12% annual rate

t = 8 years, equivalent to 8 periods

$200 * [((1.12)(8) -1)/0.12]*(1+0.12) = $2755.13

The future value of annuities due is a slight modification of the future value of ordinary annuities because of the nature of cash flows. For the future value of annuities due, 1 is added to the rate and multiplied by the future value of ordinary annuities equation to compensate for the cash flow timings. Thus, the future value of ordinary annuities does not include the last part of the FVAD equation (* 1+r).

What factors contributed to the decline of the powerful self-reliant Iroquois Indians?

The Iroquois established a unique federation of nations on the American continent that saw great peace and prosperity.  The arrival of English colonists caused the decline of this once prosperous people for a number of reasons. The English brought with them a myriad of diseases for which Native Americans did not have an immunity.  Smallpox, measles, and influenza were particularly devastating to the population of the Iroquois during the Seventeenth Century. In addition to the diseases brought by the English, political and economic uncertainty and turmoil would follow.  The competition for furs between European countries plunged the Iroquois into a number of conflicts that cost the tribes lives on the battlefield.  Death from warfare and disease coupled with unfair treaties with the new American government ultimately led to the demise of the Iroquois.  

How does Lady Macbeth manage to stiffen Macbeth's courage and determination? What arguments does she use to force Macbeth to kill Duncan?

Lady Macbeth strengthens Macbeth's resolve to kill Duncan in Act 1, scene 7, when he's told her that "We will proceed no further in this business" (1.7.34).  She does so by insulting his masculinity and implying that he will not be a real man if he does not go forward with the murder.  She asks him, "Was the hope drunk / Wherein you dressed yourself?  Hath it slept since? / And wakes it now, to look so green and pale / At what it did so freely?  From this time / Such I account thy love" (1.7.39-43).  She asks if Macbeth's earlier hope was simply drunk and how it can wake now and seem too be afraid of what it would have dared before.  She says that, from now on, she'll think the same way about his love: that both he and it lack commitment and resolve.  Further, she implies that he'll have to think of himself as a "coward" forever if he will not pursue the crown now (1.7.47).  Lady Macbeth says that when he dared to do it, "then [he was] a man," and that he would be "more the man" now if he will (1.7.56, 1.7.58).  She even claims that she would rather kill her own baby, had she promised him she would do so, than to go back on her word to him.  She wounds his pride over and over, tearing down his manhood and even insisting that she is stronger and more committed than he.

Further, Lady Macbeth argues that no one will be able to suspect them when "[they] shall make [their] griefs and clamor roar / Upon his death" (1.7.90-91).  She plans to get Duncan's grooms so drunk that they won't be able to remember anything about the night before, so she and Macbeth can basically do whatever they want to the sleeping king.  Then, the couple will seem to grieve and mourn so much that no one will think they had anything to do with the murder.  After insisting that Macbeth will not be a man unless he takes the throne by force, she assures him that he is safe to do so because no one will suspect them.

How did Fogg travel to Allahabad?

Allahabad was between Bombay and Calcutta. Fogg was to take a Great Indian Peninsula Railway train from Bombay to Calcutta; the journey was to take three days by train.

...Leaving Bombay, it passes through Salcette, crossing to the continent opposite Tannah, goes over the chain of the Western Ghauts, runs thence north-east as far as Burhampoor, skirts the nearly independent territory of Bundelcund, ascends to Allahabad, turns thence eastwardly, meeting the Ganges at Benares, then departs from the river a little, and, descending south-eastward by Burdivan and the French town of Chandernagor, has its terminus at Calcutta.

However, Fogg soon discovered himself stranded at the hamlet of Kholby due to there being no tracks for the train to travel on to Calcutta. The hamlet of Kholby was said to be at least fifty miles from Allahabad, where the tracks supposedly picked up again. So, Fogg had to secure passage from Kholby to Allahabad by himself. Meanwhile, Passepartout informed him that he had found an elephant to take them to their destination.

After much haggling, Fogg paid two thousand pounds for the elephant and managed to secure a young Parsee guide for the trip to Allahabad. So, essentially, Fogg traveled from the hamlet of Kholby to Allahabad on the elephant.

What are the themes of Langston Hughes' short story "Berry"?

The theme of appearances and reality is one of the strongest themes in "Berry." There is a phoniness to Dr. Renfield's home that "troubles" Berry. He sees it in "Mrs. Osborn's grand manner to everybody but the doctor." Berry remarks, "Funny how the food ain't nearly so good 'cept when some ma or pa or some chile is visitin' here- then when they gone, it drops right back down again."  Berry suggests that the entire hospital is "jest Doc Renfield's own private gyp game."  There is a difference between appearance and reality that dominates this setting.  It can be seen in the nurses complaining about the children behind their backs or in how Doctor Renfield is more concerned at the end of the story about the potential for lawsuits as opposed to the welfare of the child that fell. Berry is the only one who can perceive this difference between appearances and reality.  As an outsider, a person of color, Hughes suggests that he might be more perceptive than most in discerning this gap between what is and what is shown.  It is interesting to note that the only people who are authentic with Berry are the children, who Berry feels are "there like himself because they couldn't help it."  

Another theme in the story is economic challenge. Hughes brings this out in Berry's character.  Hughes mentions the hunger that Berry experiences. While the job is far too much work for so little in way of compensation, Berry "needed work and food" and "had been hungry too long." He has to keep a substandard job because of his financial condition.  Berry's paltry salary highlights his economic challenge.  Hughes shows that people of color during the time endured this reality quite often.  At the end of the story, when Dr. Renfield reprimands Berry with a deduction of ten dollars for the broken chair, he has to be corrected that Berry makes only eight dollars.  When Berry leaves to Jersey city without his last week's wages, it is a reminder of the defining role economic challenge plays in his life. This condition impacted many African-Americans.

Hughes plays with the theme of double consciousness quite a bit in "Berry." In this case, "double consciousness" refers to living a life different than everyone else. It is a term that can be found in W.E.B. Du Bois's The Souls of Black Folk.  It refers to how African-Americans lived a life that forced them to be different in the company of white people than with other African-Americans.  Being a man of color in a setting where there are nothing but white people, Berry lives this existence as "the other" or the outsider.   Hughes writes that Berry was only spoken to when "they had some job for him to do, or when they were kidding him about being dark." Being "the other," Berry experiences the reality of being a person of color. He is seen as foreign or different. Hughes is able to illuminate how African-Americans experience a much different form of consciousness than white people.

In what way does Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron" contradict the idea of human equality as the basis of democracy in the United States?

Seemingly, in "Harrison Bergeron," Vonnegut is critical of the idea of equality by showing what would happen if all people in a society were handicapped such that no one's capabilities could rise above those of another.  The consequences, of course, are ludicrous.  Intelligence, physical prowess, and beauty are not permitted. This is meant to be the opposite of Lake Woebegone, "where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average" (Keillor).  Such a society is easy to rule, since no one's intelligence or strength can question or oppose a dictator.  

However, while it is easy to poke fun at this form of equality, the fact is that this is not the kind of equality that is meant to exist in the democracy of the United States.  Equality of opportunity and equal treatment under the law are the forms of equality that are meant to be valued in our democracy.  Some people are more intelligent than others. Some people are stronger than others. Some people are more attractive than others. We anticipate that the outcomes for people will be different, and aspire to nurture the possibilities that lie in those differences.  What we intend to provide is a setting in which any child can hope to succeed with education and hard work and in which every citizen can expect to be treated equally by the government. 

The problem is that Vonnegut is half correct in his satire because we actually do hobble entire groups of people in the United States.  For example, there really is not any difference between subjecting a child to a homeless and hungry infancy and making someone carry an extra fifty pounds while someone yells in his or her ear all the time.  We choose to decline to hire people of a particular race or ethnic group.  We incarcerate people who have the metaphorical equivalent of a sack of bird shot around their necks.  We call it race.

So, for me, Vonnegut's little story is half a failure and half a success.  Equality is not the same as equal opportunity, and it is important that a reader understands this important distinction. But there is no doubt that in the United States and other democracies, too, I'm sure, we really do subject a significant part of our citizenry to crippling forces, and this provides a permanent underclass that we can then "rule."  

What was the most difficult part to read in “The Cold Equations” by Tom Godwin? How did you get through this part?

This is a matter of opinion, but personally, the most difficult part for me (assuming you mean emotionally difficult rather than challenging to read) was when the girl says goodbye to her brother. In their conversation, she tells her brother,

Maybe I’ll come to you in your dreams with my hair in braids and crying because the kitten in my arms is dead; maybe I’ll be the touch of a breeze that whispers to you as it goes by; maybe I’ll be one of those gold-winged larks you told me about, singing my silly head off to you; maybe, at times, I’ll be nothing you can see, but you will know I’m there beside you.

She wants her brother and her parents to remember her as she was in her life rather than “the other way,” which refers to the way her body will be affected when it is out in space. Though the entire story is quite sad, this part is the most filled with emotion and, for me, the most difficult part to get through.

What helps me get through that part is to remind myself that here on Earth, we have options. This type of situation in which only one option exists does not typically arise in real life. The setting of the story—a space ship on a mission to deliver medicine—is unrealistic if not impossible today. Though there are real life situations in which a person’s life has to be sacrificed for the greater good (such as war), there probably cannot be, and will never be, a situation where a young girl has to die in such a cold and calculated manner. On Earth, we have learned to come up with creative solutions to problems so that if a situation like this were to occur, we would find a way out of it. I like to believe that, as humans, we do everything we can to spare the lives of the innocent at any costs. 

You place 4 charges of equal magnitude Q at the corners of a square of side length L, such that two of the charges are negative and two are...

Hello!

The electric potential of a point charge `q` at some another point is equal to  `1/(4pi epsilon_0) q/r,` where `r` is the distance from the point to the charge and `epsilon_0` is an absolute constant (the permittivity of vacuum). Note that `q` is a signed value.

Also, it is known that the electric potential of point charges is additive, i.e. the potential of a system of charges is equal to the sum of the point's potentials. So we need to compute `4` potentials and sum them.

The distance `r` is the same for all four charges, and it is `L/sqrt(2).` The magnitudes of the charges are also the same, `Q.` Thus the sum is

`1/(4pi epsilon_0) Q/r (1 + 1 - 1 - 1).`

`+1` is for positive charges, `-1` is for negative.

We see that the result is zero, and it doesn't depend even on the rearrangement of the charges.

In "A Modest Proposal," where does Swift use the rhetorical device of irony?

"A Modest Proposal" is one of Jonathan Swift's most brilliant satirical works, and the essay deftly uses irony in hilarious (and shocking) ways. As a reminder, irony is a reversal of our expectations, and it often involves the occurrence of something that was not expected. Swift uses irony brilliantly in the ninth paragraph of "Proposal," as found in the eText on : 

I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricasie, or a ragoust.

This statement comes out of nowhere and is completely unexpected. Prior to this statement, Swift began his essay by soberly discussing the many problems faced by Ireland, especially the impoverished status of much of the island's population. The tone is academic and intelligent, and so we get the sense that the solution that Swift will offer will be logical, well-informed, and completely reasonable. What we get instead is an increasingly insane discourse on the benefits of eating children and the suggestion that doing so will provide an enhanced food supply and economic relief (as there will be fewer mouths to feed). This turn of events is ironic because it runs completely contrary to our expectations. The above paragraph provides one of the essay's best examples of irony. It's one of the earliest moments that Swift proposes to eat Ireland's children, and so it is his most surprising use of irony.  

What are the similarities between the poem "The Road Not Taken" and other works by Robert Frost?

Some of Robert Frost's most popular poems have certain aspects in common, and these similarities contribute to the poems' staying power. Let's look at three of Frost's most widely read poems: "The Road Not Taken," "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," and "After Apple Picking."

In all three of these poems, the setting places the reader in the midst of nature, and the poem's speaker describes this natural setting in detail. Each of these poems also functions as a metaphor; that is, the central idea or situation can be taken at face value, but is also symbolic of a larger or deeper truth. In "The Road Not Taken", the road in the title refers not only to a physical path in the woods, but also to the speaker's path in life. The speaker takes the "road less travelled by" and "that has made all the difference."

In "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," the journey through the woods can also be seen as the life journey or life path, and the line "but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep" refers to the many things yet to be accomplished before death.

"After Apple Picking," a slightly less well known poem, has a description of picking and gathering apples in orchard; but many analysts have discussed the symbolic meaning of this poem, and it is widely believed that apple picking is a metaphor for the activity of writing poetry, and is a meditation on Frost's own thoughts about his career, which was still in the somewhat early stages when he wrote this poem.

All three of these poems use a natural setting and activities and situations found in nature to explore larger truths about life, death and work. It is clear that Robert Frost approaches poetry as a way to explore these larger ideas.

What structure is used in the poem "Sweetest love I do not go"?

This poem "Song: Sweetest love, I do not go," by John Donne, is written in 5 stanzas each with a rhyme scheme of ababcddc. Each stanza has 8 lines.  It is a lyric poem which means that it is a poem that expresses emotion and is inspired by music or song.  The metric  and rhythmic structure is mostly steady following a somewhat consistent pattern of unaccented and accented syllables and line lengths.  Each stanza begins with a trochaic tetrameter line followed by an iambic trimeter line.  The fifth line in every stanza is a short iambic line comprised of 4 syllables (dimeter).  The other lines that comprise each stanza vary between trimeter and tetrameter and iambic and trochaic rhythms.  

In terms of content, the structure can be described in this way.  The speaker introduces a problem in the first stanza--he must temporarily leave his beloved--and a clever analogy--this leaving is a "feigned death." It is a way of practicing for the inevitable separation that death causes for us all.  In the second stanza, the speaker compares himself to the sun, and shows that he like the sun will return, but unlike the sun, he will return quickly since he has 

More wings and spurs than he.

In other words, the speaker has more incentive to return to his lover than the sun has to orbit the earth (yes, the sun does not really orbit the earth, but the speaker is making a point here).  The next stanza moves from a discussion of the sun's journey to a discussion of time--when good times come, time seems to go by very fast, but when bad times come, time goes by so slowly.  He remarks that man is incapable of controlling time.  

The fifth stanza is the climatic moment in the poem.  Here, the speaker shows his beloved how their love transcends time and separation.  They are spiritually united: 

When thou sigh'st, thou sigh's not wind,

But sigh's my soul away

Because the two lovers are connected, her sadness makes him sad and therefore takes his life away.  The last stanza returns to the comparison made in the first stanza--leaving is a kind of death.  But here the problem is completely resolved.  Those that are truly in love cannot be separated in life or in death because 

They who one another keep 

Alive, ne'er parted be.  

Their faith, happiness, and love in each other will keep them both alive and together, if not physically, then spiritually.  

How has Aibileen's character changed throughout Kathryn Stockett's The Help?

At the beginning of the novel, Aibileen is a bitter woman. Her only son has died in a workplace accident at a lumber mill. (In the movie version of this story, his accident has a more clearly-defined race-related element.) She acquiesces enough to the cultural divide in Jackson to get a job as a maid for the Leefolt household. She maintains a respectable distance when dealing with her white employers however, even though she would love to tell Elizabeth what she thinks of her parenting skills – and lack of them. She’s very fond of baby Mae Mobley, and she’s very devoted to her church. Aibileen writes her prayers every night in her journal.

When Skeeter needs help writing the Miss Myrna column for the local newspaper, she asks Aibileen for advice to answer the housekeeping questions. They begin to meet – first at the Leefolt house, and then at Aibileen’s house. She had never had a white person in her home before. She eventually begins to get comfortable confiding in Skeeter, as they expand their meetings to include working on a book about the black maids of Jackson. Aibileen is very pleased with the results of the book that they compile and get published. By the last chapter in the book, Aibileen feels confident enough to tell off Hilly Holbrook to her face. She vows to keep on writing, even though she has now lost her job because of Hilly’s undue influence on Elizabeth. Aibileen has grown in terms of respect, confidence, and feelings of self-worth.

After liquids, which expands most?

Matter expands in response to temperature due to an increase in kinetic energy—vibration—of molecules/ atoms. Gases expand the most, followed by liquids, then solids.

Expansion, more specifically thermal expansion, is the tendency of objects to expand—change in shape, area, and/ or volume, in response to a change in temperature. 

An increase in temperature results in an increase in kinetic energy in a system, and this increase in kinetic energy of molecules translates to an observable expansion of an object. Expansion can be seen as an increase in separation between atoms. This occurs because of an increase in vibration in them, caused by the increase in kinetic energy when the temperature was raised.

All matter, to some extent, undergoes thermal expansion—some more prominently than others. In general, the following gives the three phases of matter in order of increasing potential to expand:

solid < liquid < gas.

That is, gases expand more, followed by liquids, and then solids. 

Gases have molecules that are already energetic. They move around and occupy every available space in a container/ vessel. Consider a balloon filled with helium. Increasing the temperature would cause the gas molecules to move faster, hitting the walls of the ballon harder, and ultimately expanding it. You can also see the reverse happening when you put a balloon into a freezer—you lower temperature, which lowers kinetic energy, and the volume decreases.

The same applies to both liquids and solids, although to a lesser extent. In both cases, atoms and molecules are closer to each other and have stronger interactions than in gases. The interaction is stronger in solids, making expansion less prominent. Expansion still happens, though. Train tracks have gaps in them (of a few centimeters) to allow for thermal expansion.

How did Aram justify Mourad's act of stealing the white horse in "The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse"?

In William Saroyan’s short story “The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse,” Aram justifies his cousin’s acquisition of the horse using his personal reasoning process. By examining the text for evidence, the reader can follow Aram’s thought process.

Aram and Mourad come from a poor but proud, honest, self-sufficient Armenian family. Stealing is unheard of in their clan. When Mourad arrives with the horse in the middle of night, Aram is forced to justify how the animal came to be in his possession. After thinking about it, Aram decides his cousin did not steal the horse because he was not going to sell it for money. The boys were only going to ride it, which he reasoned did not constitute stealing. If they decided to sell it, which would never enter their minds, then the line would be crossed, and the animal would be considered stolen goods.

What line of reasoning is followed by the Prince of Arragon in making his choice of caskets?

Prince Aragon is a somewhat conceited character who thinks he is Portia's most suitable match for a husband. He does not choose the gold casket because he thinks there is some sort of trick behind the outward appearances, and it seems to him that gold must be the most obvious choice. He thinks gold is pleasing to "the multitude" who only choose things for show. He immediately dismisses the lead casket, because he is not willing to give or hazard anything.

The silver casket says that the one who chooses it will get what they deserve. Since he believes he is the most deserving of Portia's suitors, because he thinks he has so many fine qualities, he feels certain this is the right one. But the casket contains only a portrait of a blinking idiot. He learns that he is getting what he deserves and that he deserves this lesson in humility for thinking he deserved Portia's hand without first wooing her or being worthy of her. "Let none presume to wear an undeserved dignity" he says, but obviously his dignity is indeed undeserved.