What are some wicked deeds of the Canterville ghost?

I hope that this is okay, but the most wicked deed of Sir Simon occurs before he ever became a ghost.  Three hundred years prior to the Otis family taking over the Canterville Chase, Sir Simon murdered his wife.  I would say that is quite wicked.  As punishment, his brothers-in-law starved Sir Simon to death.  Sir Simon has been haunting the Canterville Chase ever since. The story focuses a great deal on the deeds of the Otis family toward Sir Simon, but readers are told that Sir Simon's haunting has driven other owners out of the house.  Sir Simon has been able to do this because he can take on different scary forms.  For example, he has scared people as a black dog, a skeleton, and even a vampire monk. Intentionally driving people from their own home is fairly wicked too in my opinion.  

Is it true that to borrow books by H.L. Mencken from the library, Richard Wright pretends that he is borrowing them for his master, a white man?

There is some truth to this.  In the thirteenth chapter of Black Boy, Richard Wright's autobiography, he describes his experience going to the library.  Segregation laws prevented African Americans from checking out books at the public library.  Richard Wright borrows the library card of a white coworker.  Wright then forges a note from his coworker, giving himself permission to use the card to check out books. 

At the library, the staff treats Wright rudely.  Eventually they allow Wright to check out the books by H.L. Mencken.  Wright reads the books, which change his life.  Mencken's writings also inspire Wright to become a writer himself.

While the situation described in your question is true, one of the circumstances is not.  Richard Wright was born in 1908, over forty years after the end of slavery in the United States.  Wright lived under Jim Crowe segregation, but he was never a slave.  This means that he did not have a white master.

Why was Lady Macbeth killed?

Most scholars believe that Lady Macbeth kills herself, as Malcolm's closing speech in Act 5, Scene 8 suggests this fact: "...his fiend-like queen, / Who, as 'tis thought, by self and violent hands / Took off her life" (69-71). Using this speech as their guide, most scholars hypothesize that Lady Macbeth was not killed by a person, but committed suicide. This idea logically follows from Lady Macbeth's increasingly maddened actions: as the play goes on, Shakespeare shows us a queen driven mad by her vile crimes. As such, it's possible to assume that, crazy with grief and guilt, Lady Macbeth commits suicide in the final scenes of the play. 

That said, Shakespeare loves to employ ambiguity in his dramatic work, and so it's fitting that a great deal of ambiguity surrounds the death of Lady Macbeth. She dies offstage, and so we don't know for sure exactly how she dies. Malcolm merely reports a very plausible rumor concerning her death, but he does not know the truth for sure. As such, it's theoretically possible (although not overtly supported within the text itself) that Lady Macbeth was killed, potentially by a member of the court who resented the queen's evil actions. Though it's much more likely that Malcolm's theory is correct, the ambiguous nature of Lady Macbeth's death allows for the possibility of foul play.  

What simile does Romeo use to convey Juliet's beauty in Romeo and Juliet?

A simile is a type of figurative language used to make a comparison. A simile is “a figure of speech in which two things, essentially different but thought to be alike in one or more respects,” are compared, usually using the words “like” or “as” to make the comparison ('s Guide to Literary Terms). It is an indirect comparison. You are saying that something is like something, not that it is something, as in a metaphor. 

From the moment Romeo first sees Juliet, he is very attracted to her. He is captivated by her beauty. One of the ways he describes her beauty is with a simile. When Romeo first sees Juliet at the ball, he compares her to a beautiful jewel. 

O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear;
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear! (Act I, Scene 5) 

An Ehtiope is someone from Ethiopia, who therefore has dark skin. Romeo contrasts the jewel's brightness with the skin's darkness, with night being the skin and Juliet being the jewel. In other words, Romeo thinks Juliet is very eye-catching.

Romeo and Juliet meet, and they share a conversation that is basically one long metaphor. Later, Romeo sneaks into the Capulet orchard and again praises Juliet's beauty with plenty of metaphors and other types of figurative language.

Why do we live with people and what are the benefits?

Humans are social creatures! While some people have lived in very isolated contexts, a life without human contact is not mentally healthy. Socialization and living with others is really essential to human survival. 

As infants and children, we rely on our parents and family to take care of us. Because human babies are born so altricial (under-developed), it takes many years of active care and teaching before we can perform basic tasks for ourselves. Much of our social and cultural learning also takes place in the context of a family unit. Living with our families as children enables this vital learning process.

Our dependency on social human contact doesn't go away once we reach maturity, though. Socialization and relationships are an integral part of human life. In fact, we have evolved in such a way that pleasure hormones are released during positive social interaction. In this way, socialization is positively reinforced by our own biology. Beyond the physiological benefits, sharing a living space can help decrease some of the stresses of life. Sharing the costs of rent, utilities, and food eases the financial burden placed on just one person and fosters a sense of security and community. It also gives people the opportunity to spend free time with those closest to them.

Just as in childhood, in old age some of our physical and mental capacities become limited. Households and communities can fulfill the vital task of caring for the elderly and reap the benefits of their experiences through socialization. 

What are Percy Jackson's character traits?

I think we could certainly describe Percy as loyal and brave.  He is courageous in his willingness to undertake a dangerous quest that includes a cross-country trip (without much money or any adult assistance), encountering numerous deadly monsters and one or two angry gods, and traveling to the underworld to meet with an unpredictable and vengeful god, all to prove his innocence and to right the wrongs committed by others.  He is fiercely loyal to his mother and his friends, willing to risk his own safety for the well-being of others. 

Likewise, Percy has a well-developed sense of justice.  He recognizes the unjust way his mother is treated by Gabe, his step-father, as well as the way his birth and life were handled by his own father.  And yet he is also capable of forgiveness, as he does forgive his own absentee and rule-breaking father, Poseidon. 

How is language being used in a figurative manner in the poem "They Flee from Me" by Sir Thomas Wyatt?

The most obvious metaphor that governs the poem "They Flee from Me" by Thomas Wyatt is the comparison of women (or lovers) to animals, and perhaps more specifically to deer.  In this unrequited love poem, the speaker--obviously a male--describes how women who formerly slept with him willingly now run away from him, much like deer who venture close to a human bearing food and later flee.  Here taking bread becomes a euphemism for sex.  Words such as "gentle," "tame," "meek", "wild," "range," apply both to women and to deer.  

The first stanza speaks of women (or deer) in the plural, but the second clarifies  the fact that this poem is really about one specific lover.  Here we have sultry imagery describing the woman who initiates the relationship with the speaker.  

When her loose gown from her shoulders did fall,

And she caught in her arms long and small . . .

She asks the speaker "Dear heart, how like you this?" The words "dear" and  "heart" are particularly effective here because they serve as puns.  "Dear" and "heart" are homophones for "deer" and "hart," respectively.  These puns reinforce the deer metaphor and tie the woman's seduction of the speaker to the first stanza by giving a specific example of how he was "stalk[ed]." Somewhat ironically, it is the woman who is the aggressor, the stalker, while the man is her willing victim.

In the last stanza, specific word choices indicate the woman's rejection of the speaker and his resulting bitterness.  His "gentleness" is now unappreciated.  She has moved on to "newfangledness," quite possibly suggesting new lovers. The word "kindly" is ironic in referring to how he feels she has treated him, and the speaker closes with wondering what she now deserves.  

In the story "Thank You, M'am" by Langston Hughes, what was the boy's opportunity to escape?

Roger had a chance to run away when Mrs. Jones told him to wash his face.

Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones was walking home at night when Roger tried to steal her purse.  He didn’t succeed because he really wasn’t the purse-snatching type, and she saw that right away.  Feeling sorry for the scrawny Roger, she took him home.

When Mrs. Jones had Roger home, she gave him an opportunity to choose to stay or to run.  She told him to wash his hands, and he chose to do so.

“Then, Roger, you go to that sink and wash your face,” said the woman, whereupon she turned him loose—at last. Roger looked at the door—looked at the woman—looked at the door—and went to the sink. 

Even though Roger didn’t run, he asked if she was going to take him to jail.  She told him that she wouldn’t take him anywhere unless he had washed his face.  She also told him that they would eat after he finished. 

The situation is usual.  Although Roger chose not to run, he still was not sure what to do after that.  She was sitting across the room, and he realized he could run.  However, she was talking to him, and she was sympathetic. 

The door was open. He could make a dash for it down the hall. He could run, run, run, run, run!  

The woman was sitting on the day-bed. After a while she said, “I were young once and I wanted things I could not get.” 

At home, Roger had no one.  He certainly did not have a lot of sympathetic motherly figures to talk to.  That is why he didn’t run.  He wanted to stay because he was curious, and because he was drawn to her.  Mrs. Jones showed him some tough love.  She also told him that if he wanted money, he should have just asked.

How do people react to other individuals being different in The Giver?

It was considered impolite to call attention to individual differences of those within the community.  Sameness was the ideal within the community.  Anything else was a negative thing, and it "was considered rude to call attention to things that were unsettling or different about individuals" (The Giver, Chapter 3).  To mention differences could "have fallen under that uncomfortable category of 'being different'" (Chapter 5).

For example, Jonas had pale eyes, while almost everyone else in the community had darker eyes.  The only others that Jonas knew with pale eyes were a younger girl and baby Gabriel, the newchild.  Yet no one mentioned this difference to him, so as not to be rude.

Later, Jonas noticed that Asher took a daily pill.  Jonas did not know why his friend took it.  He was curious, but he wanted to avoid being rude.  His desire to be polite led him to not say anything.

When Jonas became the Receiver of Memories, he became different.  His job was different than anyone else in the community.  People began distancing themselves from Jonas.

Did people support Hitler because they believed in him or out of fear?

Perhaps the most important issue here is the generic term "people." Some Germans strongly supported Hitler, some were opposed to him, and many were indifferent, simply focused on their own personal lives and not involved in politics at all. Each person had his or her own reasons for their particular positions; one can never generalize about all people.

Of the people who did support Hitler, there were as many different motivations as there were individuals. The punitive nature of the Treaty of Versailles at the end of World War I had the effect of fostering German resentment against the Allied powers and contributing to the rise of nationalism and the Nazi party. Hyperinflation and economic frustration also inflamed the anger that led to the rise of the Nazis. 

While some Germans actively agreed with all elements of Hitler's ideology, others simply supported him out of desire for a "strong" leader, nationalism, or economic and personal frustration. Once the Nazis began to gain power, fear of them would have caused some people to pretend to support Hitler to ensure their own personal safety. 

What are some themes shared in common between Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and Edgar Allan Poe's works, like "The Black Cat," "William...

Many themes in Edgar Allen Poe's works concern mankind's internal battle between good and evil. Similarly, in To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows us that human beings have both good and evil natures. Therefore, one might conclude the theme shared in common between Lee's work and Poe's works is that all of mankind faces an internal battle between good and evil.

The short story "William Wilson" is one of Poe's many works that depicts the internal battle between good and evil. In the story, the protagonist, going by the pseudonym William Wilson, meets a boy in school who looks exactly like him, shares the same birthday, and shares the same school enrollment date, as well as many other similarities. The only difference is that the narrator is prone towards immoral behavior, whereas his nemesis behaves very morally. As the narrator progresses through life, each time he is about to commit one of his worst acts, his nemesis appears out of nowhere to thwart him. The actions in the story represent the protagonist's battle with his inner conscience, symbolized by his nemesis. Similarly, in the short story "The Black Cat," the narrator's alcoholism transforms him from a gentle, tender-hearted person into a lunatic responsible for abusing and eventually savagely murdering his beloved pet cat and wife. The narrator is relaying his story from his cell, his execution date soon approaching, with a dual purpose. First, in typical Poe fashion, the narrator wants to relay what he feels is a real-life horror story.
Second, he wants to make a confession, which we see when he says such things as, "I blush to confess it." The fact that he is bearing his soul in confession shows us he has a conscience, a conscience that lost a battle against his alcoholism. Hence, even in "The Black Cat," Poe shows us that mankind is engaged in a battle between good and evil, albeit to Poe it is a losing battle.
 
In To Kill Mockingbird, the scene containing the lynch mob led by Walter Cunningham Sr. is one clear moment author Lee uses to portray the internal battle between good and evil human natures. Scout is shocked that Mr. Cunningham would lead a lynch mob and threaten Atticus's safety, because she has been led to believe he is a good person, as she expresses when she asks Atticus the next day, "I thought Mr. Cunningham was a friend of ours. You told me a long time ago he was." Atticus's reply shows us his belief that all people have their good and bad sides, a belief that serves to develop Lee's theme concerning the internal battle between good and bad human natures:

Mr. Cunningham's basically a good man ... he just has his bind spots along with the rest of us. (Ch. 16)

In other words, according to Atticus, Mr. Cunningham battled with his bad nature, which manifested in his violent racial hatred, even though he is "basically a good [person]," just as William Wilson and the narrator in "The Black Cat" battled against their consciences.

Describe three (3) organizational approaches toward managing stress, providing one (1) original example of each. Describe three (3) individual...

Describe three (3) organizational approaches toward managing stress, providing one (1) original example of each.

Job stress can be caused by a variety of factors, but tertiary prevention, secondary prevention and primary prevention are three examples of organizational stress management approaches that have been proven to be effective across groups. Tertiary prevention strategies are reactive in nature, minimizing stress that has already occurred. Secondary prevention works by monitoring the stress an individual is feeling in real time. Primary prevention aims to prevent stress and stressful situations before they can occur within the organization.

Employee assistance programs are a good example of effective tertiary prevention stress management strategies. These programs may include employee counseling and therapy, debriefing after a particularly stressful event or season within the organization, and medical resources extended to employees.

Team building exercises are a good example of secondary stress management approaches. These exercises are geared towards providing employees within the organization with a solid social support network and empowering them with stress management techniques they can use on a daily basis.

One of the most effective approaches to stress management through primary prevention is a steady workload. By establishing a predictable workflow that is designed to minimize employee stress, organizations can prevent stress before it becomes a problem in the workplace.

Meditation, biofeedback and hypnosis are three stress management approaches individuals can use to maintain a stable emotional state throughout stressful situations. Deep relaxation for 15 to 20 minutes each day has been proven to reduce the signs of stress, such as increased heart rate, blood pressure and emotional distress.

An example of a simple meditation used in individual stress management is to find a quiet and comfortable area in which the individual can relax and focus on his or her breathing for a period of 10 minutes or more. This simple exercise is highly effective when it comes to reducing stress and improving mental clarity.

One example of the biofeedback approach to stress management is for the individual to attend to his or her physical indicators of stress. This can include monitoring the heart beat, noting how the breathing changes with stress and paying attention to any negative physical feelings that accompany a stressor. By controlling the breathing and actively acknowledging how the body changes as a reaction to stress, the mood itself can be regulated.

An example of hypnosis as an approach to stress management is to listen to a guided hypnosis recording or attend a hypnosis therapy session to get an idea of the procedure. Once comfortable with hypnotic induction, the individual can use it on a daily basis to create a sense of relaxation and address the subconscious effects of stress.

What is the difference between disability and difficulty?

The difference between difficulty and disability is hard to determine. In a broad sense, a difficulty causes a task to take longer or require more effort to complete, but it remains possible to perform the task. A disability prevents the performance of the task.

Examining specific cases is easier to analyze the difference between disabilities and difficulties. A learning difficulty is classified and includes diagnoses such as Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and dyslexia. Sufferers can still learn, but often require coping mechanisms. People with learning disabilities have a mental impairment which affects their learning. 

Outside the world of education, the distinction becomes more difficult to discern and much more emotional. The difference is more technical and any label should be carefully reviewed. A person with a missing leg is technically disabled because that person cannot walk without an artificial aid. Still, that person might not call themselves disabled because he or she can achieve the task with mechanical coping mechanisms. 

The inability to complete a task does not imply a disability. The inability must be caused by some defect which prohibits completion under any circumstance. An overweight individual may not be able to complete a marathon, but that does not create a disability for him or her because it is still theoretically possible to train to complete the task.

The coordinates of a triangle are A(6,0), B(0,6), C(6,6). Find the orthocenter using {q(y2-y1), -q(x2-x1)} where q= (x1x2+y1y1)/(x1y2-x2y1)``

Hello!

This triangle is a right one: the side BC is horizontal and the side AC is vertical, therefore the angle C is right.

For a right triangle, both legs are also its altitudes. Their intersection is the vertex of a right triangle, therefore it is the orthocenter.

So the answer is O(6,6). It is possible that the expressions involving q have some relation to the orthocenter, but for this case they are excess.

What feelings of nationalism led to the American Revolution?

Under British control prior to 1763, the colonists enjoyed limited self-rule.  They were free to tax themselves.  Britain had tax laws, but seldom applied them--the colonists often bribed the underpaid and understaffed British officials.  The colonists also took up a large share of their own defense against the French and their Indian allies in the Seven Years' War.  After the war ended in 1763, all of this changed.  The British started to send more officials to the colonies to collect taxes and to ensure that navigation acts were followed.  Parliament insisted that the local assemblies that the colonists had depended on for local governance could be dissolved at any time.  Through boycott, Americans learned how to be more self-sufficient--this was the first "buy American" movement and helped to fuel the idea that the colonists were more "American" than "British."  Bad management by the British, such as trying colonial tax dodgers without juries and quartering redocats in meeting houses also led to the concept that the Americans were different than the British.  

What is the effect of reduction in per unit tax on market supply of a good?

The question asks about the effect of a reduction in per unit tax on the market supply of a good. We will assume that this refers to a tax placed on the item at point of sale and assessed by the retailer. The effect of such a tax is to increase the price seen by consumers by the amount of the tax at every point along the supply curve. Therefore a reduction in the tax will in essence shift the market supply curve downward by the amount of the reduction. Given a normal (downward sloping) demand curve, a new equilibrium price and quantity will be established at a higher quantity demanded and a lower price. Note that, assuming competitive markets and an upward sloping (but not vertical) supply curve, the new equilibrium price will not fall by the full amount of the reduction. This is because the increase in quantity demanded will provide suppliers the opportunity to raise prices slightly relative to the previous price minus the reduction. That is, the new equilibrium price will be somewhere between the old price on the one hand and the old price minus the amount by which the tax was reduced on the other. Where it ends up between those two points depends on the relative elasticities of demand and supply at the original equilibrium point. There are longer term effects as well. Namely, the increase in quantity demanded will encourage investment on the supply side in additional productive capacity. This will change the market supply curve in the long run, moving it downward and in the direction of greater quantity supplied at any given price.

How could Gulliver’s character be briefly described based on his experience with the Lilliputians and Blefuscudians?

Gulliver has a mild and fair disposition, which he exhibits when he is with the Lilliputians. When they have tied him up, he thinks that he can easily free himself from their chains, as they are so small. However, he doesn't attempt to flee, in part because they pierce him with small and relatively painless arrows and in part because he is thankful to them for their hospitality. When a colonel of the Lilliputians rounds up the ringleaders of the crowd that is shooting arrows at Gulliver, the colonel hands these small men to Gulliver. Though he could easily eat them alive, Gulliver instead lets them go free. Later, he also saves part of the palace from fire (which he does by putting his urine on it). In addition, he learns their language and offers the monarch to protect him against the Lilliputians' mortal enemies, the Blefuscudians.

However, Gulliver refuses to violate his ideas about fairness when the Lilliputians ask him to do so. When the monarch of Lilliput wants to enslave the Blefuscudians, Gulliver refuses to support him, saying, "I would never be an instrument of bringing a free and brave people into slavery" (page 33). Eventually, he is accused of treason and must leave Lilliput, but his behavior while he's there shows him to be fair-minded and of a gentle temperament.

In King Lear, why did Cordelia leave the kingdom?

In King Lear, Cordelia leaves the kingdom because her father, King Lear, banishes her.

In the play's opening scene, King Lear approaches his three daughters and asks them to display their love towards him.  The first two daughters, Regan and Goneril, make dramatic and elaborate scenes of their affections. When it is Cordelia's turn, she breaks from her sisters and refuses to participate in such a public display. With statements such as "Love, and be silent" and “Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave / My heart into my mouth. I love your majesty / According to my bond; no more nor less,” Lear feels offended by Cordelia. He refuses to acknowledge his daughter and denies her inheritance. His anger toward her is strong:

By all the operation of the orbs
From whom we do exist and cease to be;
Here I disclaim all my paternal care,
Propinquity and property of blood,
And as a stranger to my heart and me
Hold thee from this for ever.

The intensity of Lear's language reflects how deeply Cordelia affected him. When he "disclaims" his paternal responsibilities toward her and deems her as a "stranger to my heart," it is clear Lear feels the bond between them cannot be restored. As a result, Cordelia does not really leave the kingdom. Rather, she is exiled, sent out by her father.

How could you argue that Agamemnon deserves Achilles' armor in The Iliad?

The story of what happens to Achilles' armor after his death is not actually told in the Iliad but appears in a lost epic called the "Little Iliad". Sophocles's Ajax is based on the dispute between Odysseus and Ajax over who should be awarded the armor. The two kings, Agamemnon and Menelaus, judge the dispute, but were never actually in the running for the armor, which was to be awarded to the greatest remaining warrior. Neither of the two kings were outstanding warriors.

Ajax is a warrior of the traditional heroic mold, physically strong and brave, proud, stubborn, and quick to anger. Odysseus, although lacking in Ajax's strength or heroic flair, is far cleverer and more effective. He is known for his cunning and his intelligence enables him to be more effective than the physically more impressive Ajax. Thus the kings with the collusion of Athena (the patron goddess of Odysseus) award the armor to Odysseus, at which point Ajax goes mad.

There would really be no point awarding the best available armor to Agamemnon who is not one of the stronger fighters in the army and does not really belong on the front lines. 

What are some values from Holes by Louis Sachar?

One value reflected in the book Holes is the importance of friendship. In the book, there is a tremendous value placed on friendship. Stanley actually becomes quite happy with his situation (despite it still being dangerous) once his friendship with Zero is solidified.  

Another value present in the book is justice. That might seem odd at first because the book starts with Stanley being punished for a crime that he didn't commit. There doesn't seem to be any working legal justice. As the story continues, though, readers see a strong sense of moral justice among many of the boys at Camp Green Lake. They know they are being unfairly treated, and there is a sense of moral outrage at the severity of the punishments based on the minor crimes they committed. They know justice is not being properly served.  

Perhaps I can take the justice value further. By the end of the book, everything is set right. Good people are rewarded and evil people are punished. It's as if the universe itself willed justice to be done. Call it fate or cosmic justice, but it still happened.

What does Ralph's father do for a living? Why does this provide hope for Ralph and the boys on the island?

In Chapter 1, Ralph tells Piggy that his father taught him to swim when he was five and that his father is a commander in the Navy. In Chapter 2, Ralph holds an assembly and offers the boys hope by telling them that they will be rescued because his father is searching for them. He also tells the group of boys that his father has access to a collection of maps with all the islands in the world on it. Ralph then says that sooner or later his father's ship will pass the island, and the boys will be rescued. The possibility of Ralph's father searching for the stranded group of boys provides every boy on the island with a sense of hope. The boys are relieved to hear Ralph's encouraging words and believe that they will be rescued by his father.

In Winter Dreams, what do you think Judy wants and gets from Dexter?

Interesting question! In the story, Dexter is infatuated with Judy, a woman who treats him with "interest, with encouragement, with malice, with indifference, with contempt." Because Judy is a great beauty and is used to being fawned over by men, she doesn't think twice about dismissing a suitor once she becomes bored. As a seductress, she is able to inspire both "ecstatic happiness" as well as an "intolerable agony of spirit" in any man. It looks like Judy is the sort of temptress who prefers to have the upper hand in any relationship. She certainly does revel in the 'gratification of desires' and seems impervious to masculine attempts to usher her to the wedding altar.

Judy only pays attention to Dexter because he is independently wealthy; after callously rejecting a man because he is as "poor as a church-mouse," she becomes sexually involved with Dexter. However, to his humiliation, Dexter finds himself only one of many suitors Judy is juggling in her life. We get the idea that Judy wants a man who is sexually attractive, wealthy, and supremely confident. He would be nothing at all like the men who constantly vie for her attention, for the purposes of securing her interest. Judy becomes easily bored with men who are emotionally reliant on her, as we can see from the way she treats the son of the president of a New York trust company. She basically leaves this rumored beau dangling while she cavorts with another love interest.

By all indications, Judy is not averse to marriage. After all, she does get married, but to a man who is by all indications a deplorable husband. He drinks and "runs around" on her, and she is certainly not the center of his world. But it is rumored that she "stays at home with her kids" despite this. One thing is clear: Judy's husband does not appear to be emotionally reliant on her.

As described above, what Judy wants from Dexter, he cannot give her, and he is wise enough to recognize this.

...when he had seen that it was no use, that he did not possess in himself the power to move fundamentally or to hold Judy Jones, did he bear any malice toward her. He loved her, and he would love her until the day he was too old for loving--but he could not have her. So he tasted the deep pain that is reserved only for the strong, just as he had tasted for a little while the deep happiness.

All Judy gets from Dexter is his ceaseless infatuation with his idea of the woman she is. Even as he remembers "her mouth damp to his kisses and her eyes plaintive with melancholy and her freshness like new fine linen in the morning," Dexter comes to the conclusion that everything he has ever felt about his relationship with Judy is a mirage. He becomes greatly disillusioned, knowing that he can never retrieve all that he thinks he has lost.

Is it true that your genetics (nature) make you who you are, or is it your life experiences (nurture)?

We cannot say that nature entirely makes us who we are or that nurture entirely does so. It is incorrect to say either of these two influences is the only thing that makes us who we are. Instead, it is a combination of nature and nurture that makes us who we are.

We cannot dispute that some of who we are comes from our genes. Some of us are born with the potential to be taller and more athletic. Those people might be more likely to be good at sports where height is often an advantage. Some of us are born with more musical or artistic talent. Some of us are born with different character traits, like our levels of patience and the quickness of our tempers. Some of us seem to be born with a higher susceptibility to alcoholism or drug addiction.

We cannot say nature is the only thing that makes us who we are. Clearly, our environment and life experiences also affect us. If we have the genetic potential to become tall, but we are underfed in our youth, we will probably not reach our potential height. If we are born with musical talent but are never given the chance to play an instrument, we will not realize we have this talent. If we are prone to alcoholism but live in a subculture that is strongly against alcohol and drugs, we might not have the occasion to drink or take drugs enough to become addicted.

There are very few traits that are completely controlled by nature or our environment. What we are is determined by a mixture of these two factors.

How are family dynamics/interactions integral to the plot of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens?

In his highly structured A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens employs the motif of pairings and counterparts throughout his narrative. Certainly, the interactions among the families of the Manettes and the Evrémondes and the family of Madame deFarge are central pairings in the novel. 

The intricate workings of the family interaction begin with the voyage to Calais, France by Lucie Manette and the venerable Mr. Lorry of Tellson and Company, who acts as her adviser and chaperone. In Paris, Lucie meets her father for the first time since he has been hidden away as a prisoner in the Bastille for eighteen years, having been abducted and placed there because of the dastardly Evrémonde twins. He is "recalled to life," as it were, and is cared for by Ernest Defarge, who was Manette's servant long ago. After Lucie Manette arrives in St. Antoine at the Defarges' wine shop and meets her father, she takes him back to England with her so that he can recuperate from the nearly two decades of deprivation that he has suffered.

Manette's tragic past is also connected to the vengeful and cruel Evrémondes, aristocrats whose pasts are additionally tied to the family of Madame Defarge, a family who were peasants on their estates, and who died because of the cruelty of these Evrémonde twins. For, it was Madame Defarge's sister who was ravaged and killed by these arrogant and cruel men, and her brother who died trying to defend this sister. Shortly thereafter, the father died from grief.

Ironically, the history of the Evrémondes is also resurrected after Lucie meets Charles Darnay during her passage back to England, as well as in the court at the Old Bailey after Darnay is accused of treason. From this meeting of Charles Darnay and Lucie Manette there develops a love relationship. When Darnay comes to Dr. Manette to ask for the hand of Lucie in marriage, he tells the old physician that he has a secret to reveal about himself. But, Manette refuses to listen to his revelation until after he and his daughter are married. Therefore, on the wedding day, Charles Darnay reveals what Dr. Manette has feared. That is, Darnay's real name is Evrémonde; he is the son of the twin who has died. Also, Charles informs the doctor that he has renounced his family name because of his father and uncle's nefarious actions.

If the Manettes and the Darnays were all to have remained in England, the past may have faded somewhat from their memories and lives. But, Charles is summoned back to France after he receives a letter from his overseer, who has been arrested by the revolutionaries and implores Darnay's testimony that he no longer taxes the peasants on his land. Unrealistically, too, Darnay hopes to influence the radicals to more reasonable actions. Of course, once the revolutionaries learn that he is Charles Evrémonde, they arrest him. When Dr. Manette, revered by the new government as the Bastille prisoner, tries to save Charles from the guillotine, an earlier document that was written while he was a prisoner in the Bastille surfaces. In this, Manette condemned the Evrémondes, declaring that the entire family should be "exterminated." So, Dr. Manette unfortunately harms, rather than helps, Charles, who is then taken to prison.

When he learns of Darnay's fate, Monsieur Defarge implores his wife to have some sympathy for this innocent son of the cruel Marquis d' Evrémonde, who has renounced his name and his family, but she wrathfully tells her husband, "Tell the Wind and the Fire where to stop; not me!" (Bk. 3, Ch. 12).
 
Later, it is this misfortune of Charles Darnay that allows the dissipated Sidney Carton to intervene and keep his promise to the woman he adores, Lucie Manette. Having promised Lucie that he would "do anything" for her and her loved ones, Carton, who resembles Darnay, manipulates one of the spies at the prison and switches places with Darnay by drugging him and having him carried out. The Manettes then leave France and return to England as Madame DeFarge, too, fails in her attempt to kill Lucie and avenge herself.

Clearly, the interweavings of family interactions are intrinsic to the plot and essential to the development of themes in A Tale of Two Cities.

In Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, when Montag burns books, how does he feel?

At the beginning of the novel, Bradbury describes Montag's experience burning books. Bradbury writes, "It was a pleasure to burn" (1). Montag enjoys his work as a fireman and takes pleasure in burning books. He firmly believes that he is helping humanity by burning books and is essentially institutionalized. Bradbury writes that Montag is calm as he flicks the igniter and watches as the flames engulf the books. Montag thinks of a relatively enjoyable experience by wishing that he could roast marshmallows over the flames. Bradbury also mentions Montag's "fierce grin." When Montag returns to the firehouse and looks in the mirror, he winks at himself. While Montag lays in his bed at night, his fiery smile does not go away. Bradbury is suggesting that although Montag is unsympathetic about his occupation and appears happy, his feelings are artificial.

After Montag becomes friends with Clarisse and realizes that he is living a meaningless life, Montag feels differently the next time he burns books. When Montag responds to a call suggesting that a woman has a library in her attic, Montag feels guilty about destroying the books. He is not unattached while he sets the novels on fire and even reads a line from one of the pages. He thinks about what he has read the entire time and even steals one of the books. Montag's feelings of guilt reflect his change in perspective. 

Why is Clarisse's uncle arrested in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury?

Clarisse's uncle is arrested for driving too slowly on the highway. He was once caught driving at forty miles an hour; as a result, he was jailed for two days.

Clarisse tells Montag no one really notices the details in life, as no one is allowed to slow down long enough to observe anything. Basically, Clarisse and Montag live in a totalitarian world, where citizens aren't allowed individual, autonomous thoughts that aren't sanctioned by the government. To keep its citizens docile and subservient, the government creates draconian and arbitrary laws that permeate every aspect of life. Failure to comply is met with stringent punishment.

Clarisse maintains that people have to drive so fast that they can't make out what they're seeing. They must imagine a green blur stands in for grass, a pink blur stands in for a rose-garden, a white blur stands in for a house, and a brown blur designates a cow.

How do you use the simple present, simple progressive, and simple past tenses?

The tenses of verbs are the forms that indicate the time of action or existence.

• THE SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE

This tense has three uses. (1)The present tense can indicate an action that happens or a condition that exists now (in present time), (2) or an action that occurs on a regular basis. (3) It can also be used to express a general truth.

Here are examples of each of these three uses of the present tense:

1. I wonder why that student continues to sit there even though the class is over. [an action happening now]


2. The bus arrives at 7:30 a.m. each morning. [a repeated action]


3. Gold is always valuable. [expression of a general truth]

There is also another use of the present tense, which is called the historical present tense. It is sometimes used in historical writing in order to express past events and more frequently in poetry, fiction, and writing about literature. In journalism, especially in sports writing, the present is used to convey a sense of being there for the reader.

• THE PROGRESSIVE FORM

(There is no simple progressive)
Each of the six tenses has a progressive form that is used to express continuing action [action "in progress"].
To create the progressive forms, one must use the appropriate tense of the verb to be with the present participle of the verb. So, the time of the action is indicated with the auxiliary, or helping verb. 

In order to form the other progressive tenses, the helping verb to be is changed to the appropriate tense, but the participle remains the same.

Here are examples of the six tenses in the progressive form:

PRESENT Mary is sitting in the library. Peter and Joe are sitting in the gym.
PAST       Mary was sitting
FUTURE   Mary will be sitting

PRESENT PERFECT  Mary has been sitting. The girls have been sitting.
PAST PERFECT        Mary had been sitting.
FUTURE PERFECT    Mary will have been sitting.

• THE SIMPLE PAST

The simple past is formed with the past form of the verb. This past tense is used in order to express an action or condition that was begun and completed in the past.
The regular verbs form their past by adding -ed to the present form. Irregular verbs have a separate word, and the verb to be changes to was in the singular and were in the plural form.

Here are examples of the simple past (there is only one verb used):

The baby wanted his pacifier.
The meeting went well. 
The swimmers all won medals. 

Note: The verb to be has two forms in its simple past: was [singular] and were [plural]. For example:

The insurance agent was here yesterday. The repairmen were not here.

A certain full year course has 20 online quizzes spread through the course. The quizzes are optional in the sense that if a student does any of the...

(a) For each question, Tony knows the answer 25% of the time and is forced to guess 75% of the time. His probability of guessing correctly is 20% (1 in 5.)

So the probability that Tony gets a particular question correct on any given quiz is .25(1)+.75(.2)=0.4  (We multiply the probability of having seen the problem by the probability of getting it right; 1/4 of the time he has seen the problem and is guaranteed to get it right and 3/4 of the time he will not have seen the problem and must guess.)

(b) For a given quiz, consisting of 5 questions, we can determine the probability that Tony gets at least 3 questions correct. This is the sum of the probabilities that he gets 3 correct, 4 correct, and 5 correct.

Each of these is a binomial probability, where the probability of a success (getting an answer correct) is 0.4 and the total number of trials is 5:

P(3 correct)=`_5C_3 (.4)^3(.6)^2=.2304 `
P(4 correct)=`_5C_4 (.4)^4(.6)=.0768 `
P(5 correct)=`_5C_5 (.4)^5=.01024 `

So the probability of getting at least 3 correct is
.2304+.0768+.01024=.31744

(c) To find the probability that Tony passes at least 8 of the quizzes we recognize that this is also a binomial probability. The probability of success (passing the quiz) is .31744 and the number of trials is 20. The answer is the sum of P(8)+P(9)+...+P(20).

Computationally easier is to find the complement and subtract from 1: 1-[P(0)+P(1)+...+P(7)]

So we have:

`1-(0.68256^20+20(.31744)(.68256)^19+_20C_2(.31744)^2(.68256)^18+... `

`...+_20C_7(.31744)^7(.68256)^13)~~.2836161405 `

So the probability that Tony passes at least 8 of the quizzes is about 0.2836

(Of course the easiest way to compute this is using technology if allowed. On a TI-83/84 graphing calculator we take 1- binomcdf(20,.31744,7) .)

What is a good material for great traction but low friction?

There's nothing that will provide both high traction and low friction under all circumstances, as the definition of traction incorporates friction and depends on it in order to function. We also can't discuss a single material in terms of its friction or traction properties because both of these depend upon the interaction between two materials, so we'd have to identify a pairing of whatever it is we're trying to move, and whatever it is it's moving on, such as rubber on concrete or iron on iron. 

Friction is the force between two objects that resists their motion perpendicular to each other. Traction is the amount of force that can be generated in the perpendicular direction before the objects overcome their friction force and start to slip. Before this point, friction is determined by "dry friction." After this point, it's determined by kinetic friction.

These are the equations:

Dry friction force (traction) `<=` (coefficient of static friction) x (normal force) 

Kinetic friction force = (coefficient of kinetic friction) x (normal force)

Basically, in the absence of friction, your traction would equal whatever force you applied in the forward direction. Add friction, and suddenly your traction force is reduced. You basically have zero traction until you can overcome the static friction holding you back in the first place. The moment you start moving, you've identified your traction force. After that point, any additional force you spend is used to add to your speed by overcoming the resistance from kinetic friction, since you've already overcome the static friction.

You can't change the normal force (the weight of the moving object), but you can change the coefficients of friction between static and kinetic, depending on the intermolecular and intramolecular forces acting on them.

The only way you might be able to get something that has high traction but low friction is if you're talking about low kinetic friction. Most metal-on-metal pairings will have higher static and lower kinetic friction, as you can visualize with a train struggling to get moving but also struggling to stop due to low kinetic friction. Under these circumstances, we can't really say the train has high traction.

please give a summary of chapter 7 for to sir with love

After having endured the noise of the lunchroom the previous day, Braithwaite decides to eat his lunch in the staff-room. When he sits down, he feels exhausted from the tension of his classroom. As he begins to eat, Miss Blanchard enters and joins him. Soon, they are talking about things that they both enjoy: books, music, theater, and movies. Braithwaite expresses his surprise that the students at the assembly listened to the classical music, and Miss Blanchard agrees.

Then, Miss Blanchard asks him how his day is going. When he tells her, she remarks, "Good Lord. Maybe Weston was right, after all." Braithwaite replies that he has decided to take the advice of Miss Clintridge and maintain order and discipline. When the other teachers enter the room, they also ask Braithwaite how his morning has gone. Weston says that his students do what he tells them, but one of the teacher remarks, "And that's about all you'll get, Big Boy." Soon, comments circulate the room; Weston suggests,"Maybe Braithwaite will try a little black magic on them?" 
"What kind of magic do you try, Weston? Mrs. Drew's voice grew cold. 

Braithwaite leaves the staff-room knowing that almost everyone wants him to do well. As the afternoon session begins, Mr. Braitwaite decides to instruct his class on the measurement system. While he does so, he notices that the students have become surly and watchful.
On the way home, Braithwaite stops into a tobacco shop where he sees rental listings. Once he hears that Braithwaite is a teacher, the shopkeeper tells him that none of the listings are good enough for a teacher, but if he comes back, there may be one for him. Braithwaite is surprised at his remarks.

He smiled and turned back into his shop, and I walked on in wonderment at the amazing unexpectedness of human kindness.

That evening Braithwaite discusses with the Belmonts the situation in the classroom, and all three agree that Braithwaite must gain the students' respect and confidence before their resentment turns into something else.

How is Abigail's attraction to John Proctor evident in The Crucible?

Abigail's attraction to John Proctor can be seen when she admits it and attempts to cling to him in Act 1.  

In Act 1, John and Abigail find themselves alone together. John is definitely uncomfortable with the situation, but Abigail is wonderfully excited to be alone with John again. John attempts to leave, but Abigail rushes to block his path. She then begs for John to say a "soft" word to her.  

He takes a step to go, and she springs into his path.

Abigail: Give me a word, John. A soft word. Her concentrated desire destroys his smile.

Essentially, Abigail is hinting that she wants John to "whisper sweet nothings" to her, as John likely has before. Stronger evidence in support of her attraction to John is in the stage direction about "her concentrated desire." Abigail wants more than mere small talk with John. She is attracted to John, and she's not afraid to remind John of the passionate times they have shared, saying,

I know how you clutched my back behind your house and sweated like a stallion whenever I come near!

Abigail is also not afraid to say she wants those illicit rendezvous again.  

Abigail, grasping his hand before he can release her: John — I am waitin' for you every night.

Why was the police response criticized in the Columbine High School shootings in Colorado? Was the IMS used also criticized?

The killings at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, seemed to usher in a new era in American life. Since then, we have experienced many shootings in schools, gathering places, and workplaces. While Columbine may always be remembered as the tragedy that started it all, it also taught a lesson to police departments and changed the way they respond to these kinds of horrific events.

Tragically, most of the Columbine killings occurred after the police had arrived and engaged the killers in gunfire. Police training at that time dictated that the officers secure the scene and wait for the arrival of the SWAT team instead of following the killers back into the building and putting an end to their killing. It took the SWAT team 45 minutes to arrive; by then nine more students had been killed, and a teacher bled to death before he was found.

Now, police are trained to make stopping the shooter the priority. Instead of waiting for the experts (the SWAT team), police form their own “contact team” and seek out the shooter, hoping to stop him before he has a chance to kill anyone else.

Regarding the Incident Management System (IMS), Columbine also showed local agencies that they needed to learn to coordinate their responses better. Communication was a particular problem, as agencies used different radios on different frequencies and had not trained together. In such a fluid situation, information must be gathered and disseminated quickly—that didn't happen at Columbine.

In what way are Portia's romanticism and leadership qualities in Act III, Scene 2 contemporary to Jessica's in The Merchant of Venice?

In the first half of the Act III, Scene 2, Bassanio shows up to choose one of the three caskets. The only way to marry Portia is to choose the correct casket between the options of gold, silver, and lead. Bassanio chooses the lead casket, which turns out to be the correct one.

In this first part of the scene, we see Portia's romanticism. It is obvious she and Bassanio are very much in love. Portia even urges him to delay choosing for a month or two so she can enjoy his company in case he chooses incorrectly. Bassanio is in great suspense ("on the rack") until he knows whether he can marry Portia, so he insists on selecting a casket shortly after his arrival. 

In lines 10 -19, Portia is talking to Bassanio, but really thinking out loud, about her dilemma. She could give him a hint about which casket to choose, but then she would be "forsworn" (breaking her word). She refuses to do that, but she fears that, if Bassanio chooses wrong, she will "wish a sin — / That I had been forsworn." She is torn between keeping her word and winning the man she loves.

Jessica is not quite as scrupulous as Portia. She is willing to betray her father, even taking some of his money, so she can run away with Lorenzo. Jessica never explicitly gave her father a promise that she would not run off and marry a Christian. Her "betrayal" is more a betrayal of Shylock's unreasonable expectations of her than it is of any real duty. Shylock is a harsh and repressive father who makes some form of rebellion a necessary part of growing up. Portia's father (who stipulated the casket test in his will) was a loving father who, though his methods might have been strange, had his daughter's best interests at heart. 

Jessica certainly loves Lorenzo, but she expresses herself in a less ardent and more lighthearted way than Portia does toward Bassanio (see Act V, Scene 1).

In the second half of Act III, Scene 2, the tone changes dramatically. Lorenzo, Jessica, and Salerio show up, with a letter from Antonio saying all his ships have been wrecked, he has no way to pay his debts, and he is about to die because Shylock is demanding his pound of flesh. Jessica is able to confirm this.  

Now there is a crisis, and Portia's leadership ability comes to the fore.

Portia notices Bassanio blanch as he reads the letter and realizes something is very wrong. Once she understands the situation, she urges Bassanio to go at once, taking her money worth several times Antonio's debt to Shylock, and gets Bassanio's friend out of trouble. She recognizes the urgency of the situation and will not let him stay even one night after they marry, saying,

First go with me to church and call me wife,

And then away to Venice to your friend. . . 

My maid Nerissa and myself meantime

Will live as maids and widows. Come away!

Of course, the reader knows, though Bassanio does not, that Portia has a contingency plan in mind in case Shylock does not accept money as payment of his debt. Her quick action, in this scene and in later scenes, saves Antonio's life.

Jessica is never put in a position comparable to this one, but she is certainly willing to take quick and decisive action (disguising herself and running away with Lorenzo) to be with her love and get herself out of a bad situation.

What are the purpose and objectives of self-managed teams in the workplace?

Self-managed teams work together to define and accomplish their own goals. They produce their own objectives and control their own work process to achieve these goals. They are different than self-directed teams, which work together to achieve goals determined by outside management. 

The purpose of having these types of teams is that they may have greater motivation than other teams, as they determine their own goals and how to achieve them. When people have ownership over their work, they are more motivated. Data show that a sense of ownership is the most powerful way to motivate people at work. Organizations also use self-managed teams to increase productivity because these teams determine schedules and assign tasks. They combine managerial tasks with work-related tasks, thereby eliminating a layer of management and lowering costs. According to research, companies with self-managed teams have increased profits and productivity and decreased turnover (for more information, see "Are We Ready for Self-Management?" in the Harvard Business Journal).

What is a brief summary of Chapter 10 of The Story of My Life by Helen Keller?

Helen Keller was excited to visit the ocean for the first time, but it frightened her when she first went in it.

When she was eight years old in the summer of 1888, Helen Keller visited the ocean for the first time during her vacation at Brewster, on Cape Cod, with a family friend named Mrs. Hopkins.  Anne Sullivan, Helen's teacher, came too, of course.

I had always lived far inland, and had never had so much as a whiff of salt air; but I had read in a big book called "Our World" a description of the ocean which filled me with wonder and an intense longing to touch the mighty sea and feel it roar. (Ch. 10)

Even though Helen Keller was blind and deaf, she enjoyed the ocean because she could feel the sand and hear the waves.  Unfortunately, when you can’t see and hear, the world can also be a scary place.  When she actually got into the water, she became very frightened of losing control.

Suddenly my ecstasy gave place to terror; for my foot struck against a rock and the next instant there was a rush of water over my head. I thrust out my hands to grab some support, I clutched at the water and at the seaweed which the waves tossed in my face. But all my frantic efforts were in vain. (Ch. 10)

Like most scary experiences, little Helen got over this one.  She was back out in the water soon. She loved the beach, including the crab that Anne Sullivan showed her.  She tried to trap him, but he got away.  Little Helen then realized that the crab was a wild creature and had a right to go wherever he wanted.  She enjoyed picturing him out in the sea enjoying himself.

In Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli, what is the one thing about Stargirl that makes her different?

If I was forced to pick a single character trait about Stargirl that somehow manages to encompass how amazing she is and explains why she is different from other students, I would go with the character trait of self-confidence. 

Self-confidence is a feeling of trust in your own abilities, qualities, and judgment.  Stargirl has a lot of self-confidence.  She likes who she is, and she doesn't feel the need to transform herself into something else for the approval of others.  She wears the clothes that she wants to wear regardless of fashion trends, she sings "Happy Birthday" to people that are complete strangers, and she cheers for both athletic teams with equal fervor.  Other people find Stargirl's attitude and behavior odd and even off-putting, but Stargirl simply does not care what they think.  She is confident in herself and all of her idiosyncrasies.  

What are the poet's first thoughts when he sees the solitary reaper in William Wordsworth's "The Solitary Reaper"?

Wordsworth's thought process has two main phases in his poem "The Solitary Reaper." His first thoughts tend to be upbeat, as he initially imagines the song "Among Arabian sands" (12) and "Breaking the silence of the seas / Among the farthest Hebrides" (15-16). In short, Wordsworth's first thoughts are that the reaper's song has a freeing power, as the musicality of the young woman's singing initially inspires his imagination to explore distant and exciting locations. This first exciting thought is then tempered by one that is more wary, as Wordsworth imagines the song refers to "unhappy, far-off things" (19), and the poet appears to at least partially take back his initial assessment. With this difference between Wordsworth's first and second thoughts in mind, an interesting duality emerges in the solitary reaper's song, as it appears to be simultaneously exciting, awe-inspiring, and melancholy. That said, the lively imagination that was inspired in Wordsworth's first thoughts runs throughout the poem, effectively fusing the two disparate modes of thought represented in the piece. 

What is population policy?

Population policy is any kind of government policy that is designed to somehow regulate or control the rate of population growth. It includes attempts to control birth rates, death rates, and immigration rates---the three major factors that affect population growth. It can also include policies designed to regulate the demographics of population, such as the age distribution or the proportion of different ethnic groups. Many countries have such a policy, but its precise form varies substantially.

First of all, some countries are trying to decrease population growth, while others are trying to increase it. This is because it is generally believed that a rate of population growth between about 0% and 2% is most desirable, while less than 0% or greater than 2% is harmful. Many European countries are trying to increase their population growth, while many Asian and African countries are trying to reduce it.

But more importantly, population policy varies dramatically in its strength, from very mild, benign policies like subsidized sex education and public healthcare to severe, draconian policies like mass deportation or mandated abortion. China's "One Child" policy is an example of the more strict end of the scale, while at the more benign end, Jordan's population policy is mainly focused around improving healthcare to reduce infant and maternal mortality.

At the most extreme, even genocide could be considered a radical and violent form of population policy, as despite its horrific means, its goal is the same as much population policy: to remove certain demographics from the national population.

The term "population policy" refers only to the goal---regulating population growth---rather than the methods by which that goal is achieved.

What are the themes in "River of Names" by Dorothy Allison?

Perhaps the most important theme in Allison's River of Names is the theme of survival through great hardship. The narrator in the novel experiences a difficult childhood, to say the least. Yet through it all, she must find a way to survive. The narrator's deep desire for survival is evident in everything that she does, in every choice that she makes. For example, she doesn't fight back when she is abused. She lies to her girlfriend Jesse to keep their relationship light-hearted and to avoid having to dredge up the pain that relating her abuse to Jesse would cause. She even steals, of which she says that “Stealing was a way to pass the time. Things we needed, things we didn't, for the nerve of it, the anger, the need" (Soho Press, 231). This quote speaks to how poverty forces someone to make decisions that they wouldn't normally make, to act out of desperation and, eventually, out of boredom and despair for their situation. In the end, however, the narrator decides to become a caring person to counteract the anger and depression that she grew up surrounded by, while many of her cousins turned to suicide, drink, and babies to try to take the pain away.

The theme of survival ties in with the theme of domestic and sexual abuse in poverty-stricken Southern families. Starting when she is five years old and ending when she is eleven, she is raped repeatedly by her step-father; her other family members are raped as well, by various cousins and uncles. This seems to be a direct result of the crippling poverty that they experience in the backwoods of South Carolina. In the book, the narrator confesses that, "almost always we were raped, my cousins and I. That was some kind of joke, too" (Soho Press, 227). This demonstrates how the lifestyle and struggles of families living in poverty breeds an attitude of acceptance and flippancy which is conducive to the continuation of incest and abuse. Everyone knows that it is happening, but nobody does anything to stop it; in fact, because it is so common, it becomes like a joke over time.

What are the roles of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Sarojini Naidu, and Rajendra Prasad in Indian society?

B. R. Ambedkar, Sarojini Naidu, and Rajendra Prasad played a vital role in Indian society because of their contributions to Indian independence.

B.R. Ambedkar's role in Indian society can be felt today as he was an important voice in crafting India's constitution. B.R. Ambedekar was vocal in suggesting that a free India had to embrace equality in as many forms as possible. He was a fierce opponent of "untouchability," the idea that society should be stratified into higher and lower castes. He argued that an independent India should be free of caste discrimination, going as far as embedding this idea in the new nation's constitution.

Sarojini Naidu was called "the nightingale of India."   Her writing and public oration reflected her passion towards Indian freedom from British control. Naidu used her renown as an artist to become a force of political change. She was active in the Indian National Congress movement. In the 1940s, she participated in the "Quit India" movement.  Despite being jailed, she did not reject her insistence on a free and independent India.  When India achieved Independence in 1947, "the nightingale" became a part of political history as she became governor of the state of Uttar Pradesh.  She was the first woman to serve in such a capacity.

Rajendra Prasad was the first president of India.  Prasad was an important force in the movement for Indian independence.  He worked with Mahatma Gandhi as an agent of non-violent civil disobedience and took part in Gandhi's Salt March.  Like Gandhi, he was imprisoned for his political actions. However, with independence, he became India's first president. 

Indian society views Ambedkar, Naidu, and Prasad as important forces. Indian independence is due, in large part, to their contributions.  Even after achieving freedom, their commitment to the country was underscored by their public service to the fledgling republic.  In Ambedkar's insistence on banishing caste discrimination, the promises and possibilities of the world's largest democracy can be realized.  Naidu's example proved that the new nation could welcome women and men as political brokers of power. Finally, President Prasad demonstrated how civic duty is the ultimate reflection of love of country.  Each of them saw a vision for the new India, a reality that Indian society appreciates and still pursues today.

What is unique about the Annex in The Giver?

There are significant differences in the conditions of the Annex room from what exists in other dwellings in the society. The Giver dwells there alone, the door locks, the speaker has an off-button, and the furniture is varied and more comfortable than in the other dwellings; in addition, there is a conspicuous variety of books.

When Jonas first reports to the Annex after receiving his assignment, he is surprised that he cannot turn the handle of the door; then, he notices a buzzer on this door and pushes it. After he identifies himself to the voice on the intercom, a click indicates that the lock has been released. Once inside, Jonas finds himself in a small lobby; there, an attendant surprisingly stands up from her desk as an acknowledgement of his presence. This female attendant says, "Welcome, Receiver of Memory," and she pushes a button so that he can enter the Annex room. Since she notices Jonas's discomfiture with this odd arrangement of doors, the attendant explains,

"The locks are simply to insure the Receiver's privacy because he needs concentration....It would be difficult if citizens wandered in thinking it was the Department of Bicycle Repair...." [She says this jokingly because this department is relocated so often that few ever know where it is.] (Ch. 10)

After entering a spacious room, Jonas notices that the living conditions are not unlike those in his own family's living unit; however, the furniture is more luxurious than is customary as the cushions seem more padded. Moreover, there is a touch of luxury to the fabrics on the upholstered chairs and to the designs of the table, whose legs are curved with "a small carved decoration at the foot." Further, in an alcove there is a bed with a luxurious curtain hanging over it.

Suddenly, Jonas's eye is drawn to the variety and number of books. "He had never known that other books existed" besides the dictionary, the community volume that describes the offices, factories, buildings, and committees, and the Book of Rules. But, here bookcases reaching to the ceiling cover the walls. These contain hundreds and hundreds of books, whose titles are embossed in shiny letters.

Suddenly, Jonas notices the Giver. Introductions and explanations are made, and then the Giver begins with Jonas as the Receiver of Memory. Jonas watches as the Giver moves to the speaker on the wall. Unlike those in all the other dwellings, this one has a switch, which the Giver deftly flips to OFF.

Jonas almost gasped aloud. To have the power to turn the speaker off! It was an astonishing thing. (Ch. 10)

With this action, Jonas realizes that the Giver holds a powerful position; for, he is not required to answer to the rules of the community as everyone else must. Now, Jonas knows also that someday he will be in this same position of authority and power.

How would you compare and contrast the poems "America" by Claude Mckay and "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus?

Let’s start with a quick overview of the two poets in question.

Emma Lazarus (1849–1887) was born into a wealthy Jewish family in New York City. As a young poet, she became aware of anti-Semitic prejudice through reading (rather than through personal experience), and in the 1880s she became one of the most prominent writers decrying the persecution of Russian Jews. She also wrote about the plight of poor Jews in the US and other countries, and became one of the earliest Zionists. In 1883, Lazarus wrote “The New Colossus” to help raise funds to build a pedestal for the Statue of Liberty.

Claude McKay (1889-1948) was a prolific writer of poetry, novels, and short stories, all exploring issues related to racism in his native Jamaica, the US, and elsewhere. He was concerned with its political and social aspects, but also with the internal emotional and intellectual processes by which a human being can defend his or her human dignity in the face of discrimination. One of the earliest influences on McKay’s thinking was the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer believed life was inevitably painful. He argued the best human beings can do is develop their spiritual and emotional lives by creating art and preserving their sense of justice and morality.

We can see Lazarus and McKay had several characteristics in common. Both belonged to groups that suffered widespread discrimination. While both were deeply concerned with racism and prejudice, they also both had the advantage of childhoods free of persecution and violence, allowing them a chance to use their intelligence and become highly educated.

Both “America" and "The New Colossus" are sonnets exploring the experience of refugees and minorities in the United States. Each is built around a duality—that is, a pair of contrasting ideas that generate tension. In "The New Colossus,” this duality is expressed through the structure of the verse itself. This is an Italian sonnet: fourteen lines divided into an octave (the first 8 lines) followed by a sestet (the final 6 lines). The rhyme scheme looks like this:

ABBCACCB (the octave)
DEDEDE (the sestet.)

Like most Italian sonnets, “America” examines two ideas or perspectives: the first in the octave, and the second in the sestet. (This is the duality mentioned above.) Lazarus begins by describing the “new Colossus,” Lady Liberty, who is to replace the warlike Colossus of antiquity. Instead of a conquering masculine force, she will be a nurturing feminine one: the “Mother of Exiles”. The octave is hopeful and idealistic, employing gentle imagery like “sea-washed, sunset gates” and the lady’s “world-wide welcome,” “her mild eyes” commanding the harbor.

At the end of the eighth line comes the turning-point (sometimes called the volta, Italian for “turn”) into the new perspective of the sestet. Here, Lazarus has Lady Liberty herself describe the plight of poor immigrants to the US:

                              . . . your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

In the final two lines, Lazarus confirms her conviction that these refugees will be welcomed and cared for in their new country:

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

McKay’s “America,” by contrast, is a Shakespearean sonnet. (As a child, McKay loved Shakespeare and the English Romantic poets, and his earliest writings were attempts to emulate them.) Here, too, we see a duality: the tension between love for his adopted country and rage against it. Unlike “The New Colossus,” “America” expresses those conflicting emotions not through poetic structure, but through the language itself. (If he were writing a traditional Shakespearean sonnet, one idea would dominate the first twelve lines, and the second one would appear in the final two lines.) McKay shifts perspective over and over, sometimes within a single line (e.g., “Giving me strength erect against her hate . . .”)

We see this in the first quatrain:

Although she feeds me bread of bitterness,
And sinks into my throat her tiger’s tooth,
Stealing my breath of life, I will confess
I love this cultured hell that tests my youth.

Although America feeds him bitterness, pierces his throat like a predator, and tries to kill him, McKay says he loves the “cultured hell” that brings out his own greatest strengths as he fights to defend himself against it.

Because “America” is written in the first person, we feel McKay’s struggle with US culture is more intimate and personal than Lazarus’s in “The New Colossus.” McKay is not talking about immigrants in the abstract, but about his own experience as a black newcomer.

McKay’s feelings about the US remain conflicted to the end of the poem; unlike Lazarus, he gives us no clear conclusion in his final couplet. These last two ambiguous lines remind us again of his love for Shakespeare, whose own sonnets frequently mention Time and decay:

Beneath the touch of Time’s unerring hand,
Like priceless treasures sinking in the sand.

Summarize the expansion of the Tang Empire

The Tang dynasty grew in much the same way that the Han dynasty had expanded 800 years before. Under the leadership of their powerful emperor Tai-Tsung. The first emperor of the Tang dynasty, Kao-tsu, established a monetary system using copper coins and silk ribbons and a set of laws that lasted for more than a century.

Tai-Tsung was one of Kao-tsu's sons who took control after ruthlessly eliminating many of their rivals for power. He actually forced his father to hand over control of the empire to him. 

He consolidated power by shrinking the size of government and being sure to provide for the common people by stockpiling food for times of famine and creating a system of insurance for flooding or other disasters that prevented farmers from losing everything. The empire was further strengthened by trying to promote effective governors at all levels of the government and continually trying to maintain efficiency rather than expanding civil service and burdening the populace with heavy taxation.

Do pheromones only trigger positive responses among organisms of the same species? Are there negative responses across different species?

Pheromones by definition are chemical molecules released by a living organism to trigger a response or to elicit specific behavioural expressions in organisms of the same species. They are signalling molecules which may be contained in body fluids.

The term pheromone comes from the Greek words pheran which means to transfer and horman which means to excite. Pheromones essentially trigger response in organisms of the same species.

Examples of this abound among insects. Ants and honey bees release alarm pheromones to warn other insects of their own species of impending danger in a particular location. Some species of insects, usually the female, release pheromones to attract mates of opposite sex. 

Studies however reveal that a certain species of spider, mastophora cornigera, mimics the sex pheromone of the moth by releasing a mixture of volatile compounds with which it attracts male moths upon which it preys. So, even though pheromones trigger responses among organisms of the same species, it may be used deceptively across other species.

What is the point of view in "Thank You, M'am" by Langston Hughes?

The point of view of the story is that of a third person omniscient narrator, mostly from Roger’s perspective.  A third person omniscient narrator does not focus on only one character.  It also does not let you inside a character’s head as if that character were telling the story, such as a character saying “I was” instead of “he was.”

The very beginning of the story describes Roger trying to steal Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones’s purse, which is very heavy.

She was a large woman with a large purse that had everything in it but hammer and nails. It had a long strap, and she carried it slung across her shoulder. It was about eleven o’clock at night, and she was walking alone, when a boy ran up behind her and tried to snatch her purse. 

This part is from Mrs. Jones’s point of view, because it describes how a boy runs up to her.  You can tell it is third person because of the use of “she” and “her” instead of “I” and “my.”  The story then shifts to his perspective, which is one of the ways that you can tell that it is third person omniscient and not third person limited. 

The strap broke with the single tug the boy gave it from behind. But the boy’s weight and the weight of the purse combined caused him to lose his balance so, instead of taking off full blast as he had hoped, the boy fell on his back on the sidewalk, and his legs flew up. 

We went from Mrs. Jones' perspective of her walking to Roger’s perspective of trying to steal the purse and then falling.  This jumble of perspectives is third person omniscient.  In some ways it is more impersonal, but in some ways it adds interest because we know at least a bit of what each character is thinking and feeling.

What is an example of the law of increasing opportunity cost?

The question asks for an example which illustrates the law of increasing opportunity cost. The definition of this law (see citation below) is:

 “The economic reality of the increasing costs of production caused by the inefficiency of re-allocating specialized resources for the production of additional goods for which they are not well suited.”

In free markets, this situation should only occur when the most appropriate resources for some production process are fully utilized. At that point, if demand is sufficient, then the price for a good can be raised to the point that it becomes profitable to use less efficient resources to produce it. An example would be the diversion of scarce water resources from the Colorado River to irrigate poor quality desert land so as to make it sustain grass for golf courses in Las Vegas. Water is not efficiently used on desert land to grow grass, but because a sufficient price can be charged for golfing in Las Vegas, substantial water resources are diverted to support it. This also illustrates another aspect of opportunity cost, namely that, because many markets are geographically bounded, opportunity costs can be very local in nature. Another point to consider is that all cost structures are time-bound as well. That is, relative efficiency on the one hand and resource availability on the other, will both change over time.

Why does Claudia plan on returning home in From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg?

Claudia is not running away from home for good.  The whole purpose of running away from home is to show her parents how important she is.  Claudia is the oldest, and she is feeling unappreciated.  Her life is boring, and she always has to do the chores while her brothers don’t.  This is why she saves up her money to run away.  It will accomplish both purposes.  Her parents will realize how valuable she is, and she will get some excitement.

Since she intended to return home after everyone had learned a lesson in Claudia appreciation, she had to save money for her return trip, too, which was like full fare one way. (Ch. 1)

Claudia wants her parents to know what happened, so she mails her parents a letter, telling them she ran away and not to contact the FBI. She doesn't seem to think they will panic.  That is still probably more practical than sending the letter with the Corn Flakes box tops to get twenty-five cents.  Yes, she may need the money, but how does she expect to get it?  Jamie points this out.

Claudia chose Jamie to accompany her in running away mostly because he had money.  Even though he was nine, he earned money cheating at cards, and he also saved his money.  Claudia had been saving for three weeks and still did not have as much money as he did.  He wasn't thrilled with her idea to run away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City at first, but she was older.