What is significant about time switching back and fourth in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao?

Within works of fiction, flash backs (analepses) and flash forwards (or prolepses) are literary devices that an author uses to interrupt the current time in the novel and take the narrative backward or forward in time. Often, these inset stories within the larger narrative arc serve a bigger literary purpose. Introducing character and plot details at intentional moments within the larger story has bearing on how characters and themes develop.

In The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz's narrative moves frequently not only from one time to another, but from one narrator to another as well. Like the Dominican culture around which the story revolves, the narrative texture is varied and colorful. In addition to mirroring the Dominican spirit, Diaz's narrative choices also serve a higher literary goal. Throughout Oscar Wao, Diaz describes the juxtaposing aspects of the Dominican-American experience. A few of the overarching themes include colonization vs. belonging, superstition vs. science, and masculinity vs. female power. 

By continually switching time periods throughout the novel, Diaz continues his examination of opposites, applying that same scrutiny on time: present vs. past. In my opinion, Diaz is using that juxtaposition to make the reader ask How different are these two things actually? Throughout the novel, we see parallels and similarities between each of Diaz's juxtaposed pairs, including present and past. Prolepsis and analepsis are just two devices Diaz uses to bring the reader's attention to the novel's central themes.

How did learning to read save Frederick Douglass?

According to Frederick Douglass, slaveowners denied their slaves the ability to read and write because they feared that literacy would provide slaves with knowledge and self-sufficiency that would threaten slaveowners' abilities to control their slaves. Additionally, keeping slaves illiterate ensured it would be nearly impossible for slaves to control the national perception of slavery because they would be unable to contribute their own narratives. Douglass believes his education was crucial to freeing himself for these reasons. Additionally, the texts he used to become literate provided him with intellectual defenses against slavery that he used throughout his career as an abolitionist. Specifically, Douglass references a speech about Catholic emancipation in The Columbian Orator that inspired much of his anti-slavery writing throughout his life.

How does September 1, 1939 present the manipulation of political power and the nature of humanity?

September 1, 1939 was the day Hitler invaded Poland and the date on which World War II officially began. In 1934, Hitler signed a non-aggression pact with Poland. Many Germans wanted Germany to regain the land Germany lost to Poland after World War I in the Treaty of Versailles, including West Prussia and Upper Silesia. Hitler signed the nonaggression pact so Poland would not form an alliance with France, but his promises of nonaggression were manipulative, as he did not intend to keep them.

During the years following the nonaggression pact, Hitler began to remilitarize his country. In 1936, Germany occupied the Rhineland. Even after Hitler annexed Austria with the Anschluss in 1938 and took over parts of Czechoslovakia called the Sudetenland in 1938, the European powers practiced a policy of appeasement in the Munich Conference. They believed that, if they officially granted Hitler what he had already conquered, he would stop his rampage. Human nature led European powers to want to believe Hitler would end his aggression, but that was not the case. After the Munich Conference, Hitler violated what he had promised and took apart the Czech state. Again, he manipulated political power and went against what he promised. 

On September 1, 1939, Hitler invaded Poland with over 2,000 tanks and more than 1,000 planes, crushing the Polish military. The Poles capitulated on September 27. The Russians, with whom Hitler had signed a nonaggression pact in 1939, attacked Poland from the east. Later, Hitler went against his nonaggression pact and attacked the Soviet Union in 1941. 

Where is the following quote from Homer's The Odyssey located?"I am Laertes' son Odysseus. Men hold me formidable for guile in peace and war:...

This quote is taken from Book IX, lines 7-9; Odysseus acknowledges that he is widely known by mortals and gods both, and he is admired and respected for his intelligence and many skills.

At this point Odysseus is the only remaining member of the contingency that he took to Troy. He has spent eighteen days at sea after parting from Calypso and heads toward Scheria, the island of the Phaeacians. But, Poseidon, who hates Odysseus because of what he has done to his son the Cyclops, has been angered at the help the other gods have given Odysseus. So, he creates a maelstrom that nearly drags Odysseus under the sea. Fortunately, he is rescued again by the goddess Ino.  Odysseus continues until he finds a river where he can swim into its waters. He walks onto the shore and rests in a covered area.

The next day, the Phaeacian Princess Nausica discovers Odysseus while she and her handmaidens wait for their clothes to dry. She provides him clothes and has Odysseus walk alone to the palace and instructs him on what to say when he arrives.

Book IX, then, relates the time that Odysseus is a guest of the Phaeacian king and queen, Alcinous and Arete. Alcinous calls an assembly that votes to provide their foreign guest with a ship so that he can return home.

Later, there is a feast and games in honor of the guest, but when Odysseus hears a bard sing of the "quarrel" between Odysseus and Achilles at Troy, he is overcome with sorrow, and he weeps. Nevertheless, at dinner Odysseus asks the bard to sing his song again about Odysseus at Troy, and once again, he cries. So, King Alcinous has the music stopped. Further, after the celebratory games, he asks Odysseus to reveal his identity. Odysseus does, and then he is asked to reveal where he is from and where he wants to go. He begins,

 "I am Laertes's son Odysseus. Men hold me formidable for guile in peace and war: this fame has gone abroad to the sky's rim."

How do the characters in Golding's Lord of the Flies use the idea of the beast differently?

Upon hearing about the existence of a "beastie," Ralph immediately tries to dismiss the thought in order to maintain control of the group. Ralph understands that fear can make the boys act irrationally and distract them from accomplishing the necessary tasks on the island to survive and possibly be rescued. Ralph attempts to convince the littluns that there is no "beast" so that they will be able to sleep peacefully and not live in fear. However, the littluns continue to fear the "beast" despite the other older boys' insistence that it does not exist. Piggy attempts to solve the issue about the beast pragmatically and states that the only thing to fear is people. Jack initially dismisses the existence of the "beast," but after he usurps Ralph's position as leader, he manipulates the boys' fear of the "beast" to his advantage. He begins to propagate the idea that the "beast" does exist by telling his hunters to leave a severed pig's head as a sacrifice. Jack also tells his boys that he will protect them from the "beast," which only increases his power over the boys. After the boys kill Simon, who they mistake as the "beast," Jack tells them that the "beast" can shape shift so that he can continue to manipulate their fears. Only Simon understands the true nature of the "beast." Simon fails at his attempt to explain that the "beast" is the inherent evil present in each individual. After Simon sees the corpse of the paratrooper, he immediately runs to tell the boys. Simon simply wishes to share the truth with the boys and does not try to manipulate their fears like Jack.

Factorise by splitting the middle term x²+3√7x+14

Hello!

We'll split the middle term, `3sqrt(7)x,` as `sqrt(7)x+2sqrt(7)x.` Then

`x^2+3sqrt(7)x+14 = x^2+sqrt(7)x+2sqrt(7)x+14 =`

`= x(x+sqrt(7))+2sqrt(7)(x+sqrt(7)) = (x+2sqrt(7))(x+sqrt(7)).`

This is the answer. We used the fact that `14=2sqrt(7)*sqrt(7).`

Why does Wordsworth use daffodils as a key word in "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud"?

The poem is based on an experience Wordsworth had when he saw a full field of daffodils while walking with his sister Dorothy. In essence, then, this is a factual poem, although Wordsworth transforms the view into a personal revelation not shared with anyone else. Daffodils are among the showiest and most noticeable flowers of spring. Their yellow hues pop out from the surrounding green grass and leaves of the season. The narrator enjoys the way they sway and dance whenever the wind blows across the field. They seem to say that winter is over, and that color and life have returned to the landscape. Seeing the daffodils improves Wordsworth's mood, both in the moment and then later, when he pictures the scene again. The daffodils represent life and some of the best parts of it.