How does Lina and Doon finding the instructions advance the plot in Jeanne DuPrau's The City of Ember?

In Jeanne DuPrau's The City of Ember, Lina finding what's left of the piece of paper and deciphering some of its meaning advances the plot by leading towards the climax of the story. Likewise, Doon agreeing with her that the instructions look important and joining with her in the search for the clues in the Pipeworks that the paper points to further leads to the story's climax, the climax being Linan and Doon finding the way out of Ember the Builders had intended, in order to save the rest of Ember's people. All of their actions in finding the paper and working towards deciphering it count as rising action.

In chapter 7, Lina glues together what piece of the paper she has and begins studying it in her spare time. Once she recognizes the message speaks of a "river, a door, and the Pipeworks," she decides to show the paper to Doon since Doon is taking the problems of the city so seriously, and, so far, no one has taken what Lina has found seriously. When Doon examines the fascinating box and the paper, he very quickly agrees that the paper looks important. He is puzzled about the door, though, since he recently found a mysterious locked door, but it wasn't near the river. Together, they begin exploring, which counts as more rising action.

Together, they go to look at the locked door Doon found in the Pipeworks. Later, another moment of rising action occurs when Doon returns to find the key in the door and opens it to discover the mayor is hording supplies for himself in the room. At that point, Doon starts feeling discouraged and begins thinking the instructions aren't useful after all. However, when Lina learns from her friend Clary that the full title of the paper is "Instructions for Egress," Doon's excitement returns, and in chapter 13, he returns with Lina to her home to work out some more of the puzzle, leading the story closer to its climax. Together, they decipher that somewhere in the Pipeworks, they'll find a "stone marked with E" and further "down the river bank," they'll find a ledge where the door is near, the door they presume leads out of the city (Ch. 13).

Why does George not want Lennie to talk to their boss when they report for work in the morning?

George does not want Lennie to talk when they meet the boss because Lennie may say something that may cause them not to get the job.

While they are in the clearing the night before they go to the ranch and their new job, George instructs Lennie to keep quiet when they meet the boss. He tells Lennie that he will give the boss their work tickets, "but you ain't gonna say a word."
George instructs Lennie to just stand there and not say anything when they meet the new boss. "If he finds out what a crazy bastard you are, we won't get no job." However, if they do get on the job, and the boss sees how strong Lennie is and how hard he works before he hears Lennie talk, George feels that they will be "set." That is, the boss will not care that Lennie is slow mentally because he is a virtual work horse.

George has Lennie repeat over and over, "I ain't gonna say nothin'" Also, he has Lennie repeat, "An' you ain't gonna do no bad things like you done in Weed, neither."
"Lennie looked puzzled. 'Like I done in Weed?'"
George cannot believe that Lennie has forgotten. He says that he will not remind him for fear that Lennie will do it again.

Lennie understands and tells George that they were run out of Wood, but George counters, saying they ran on their own: "They was lookin' for us but they didn't catch us." Lennie chuckles and says that he has not forgotten that.

This conversation between Lennie and George hints at what will follow. For, the reader understands that Lennie somehow gets himself into predicaments that cause both men problems.

What is the ancestral curse in "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe?

The Ushers' ancestral curse is madness. 

It is not entirely clear what has caused the Usher family's ancestral curse. Obviously, both the brother and sister suffer from something the doctor cannot identify, and it seems to be both physical and mental. It has to be genetic, and usually, when a genetic disease is passed down through a family to this extent, there is some inbreeding involved. In those days, families often tried to keep their lines “pure” by intermarrying, but the resulting lack of genetic diversity doomed them. 

Roderick seems to have suffered under the knowledge and fear of his family’s ancestral curse for some time. Seeing his sister deteriorate eats away at him, and his mind can’t really take it. He asks his friend, the narrator, to visit him. The narrator becomes a witness to Roderick’s decline into madness. 

Having seen his family's curse, Roderick fears his future.

I dread the events of the future, not in themselves, but in their results. I shudder at the thought of any, even the most trivial, incident, which may operate upon this intolerable agitation of soul. I have, indeed, no abhorrence of danger, except in its absolute effect—in terror. 

When the doctor says Madeline is dead, Roderick loses it.  He has her entombed in the cellar, and tells the narrator she is not really dead. He fears her, though. When she comes back to life, he is losing his wits. Her reappearance scares him to death—literally. 

For a moment she remained trembling and reeling to and fro upon the threshold—then, with a low moaning cry, fell heavily inward upon the person of her brother, and in her violent and now final death-agonies, bore him to the floor a corpse, and a victim to the terrors he had anticipated. 

The narrator has had it. With that, he flees from the house and its crazy undead inhabitants and their ancestral curse. He can't fully describe how horrible that house was or what he saw in it.

What does Bud mean when he says "Here we go again" at the beginning and end of Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis?

At the beginning of the novel, Bud says, "Here we go again" just as he is being told that he has been accepted into a new foster home (Curtis 1). Bud's exasperated comment reflects his negative reaction to being sent to another foster home. Bud mentions that he has already lived in two previous foster homes and is not excited about being sent to a third.

At the end of the novel, Bud is looking at a picture of his mother and thinking about his journey. Despite all of his struggles, Bud has finally found happiness living with The Dusky Devastators of the Depression and looks forward to his future. Bud then says, "Here we go again, Momma, only this time I can't wait!" (Curtis 236). The second time Bud makes the comment he says it in a positive way. Bud is optimistic about his future and has hope that he will enjoy his new life with the band. Instead of being upset about going to a new home as he was at the beginning of the novel, But is excited and looks forward to the future at the end of the story.

In which of the following species is the central atom an exception to the octet rule?`NH_4^+` `I_2` `NH_3` `SF_6`

The octet rule is a heuristic, or "rule of thumb," about how electron configurations usually work in chemical bonds. It says that elements tend to gain or lose electrons until they have an octet, eight electrons, in their valence, or outermost, electron shell. Like any heuristic, it is usually, but not always, true. It has some important exceptions.

`NH_4^+` is a positive ion of one nitrogen atom and four hydrogen atoms. Nitrogen has five electrons in its valence shell, so we would expect it to take on three electrons to fill the octet. Hydrogen has only one valence electron, but the first shell only allows two electrons, so we expect it to accept or give one electron. Yet if each hydrogen atom gives one electron to the nitrogen atom, the nitrogen atom would now have nine electrons, not eight. However, since this is a positive ion, one of the electrons is actually missing, so the central nitrogen atom must actually only have eight electrons, which means it is not an exception to the octet rule.

`I_2` is a molecule formed between two iodine atoms. Iodine has 7 valence electrons, so we would expect each to take on one electron—but that can't happen. So this is an exception to the octet rule. (In fact what happens is the two atoms share two electrons in a covalent bond.)

`NH_3` is a molecule of one nitrogen atom and three hydrogen atoms. By similar reasoning with NH_4^+ we see that the three hydrogen atoms each give one electron to the nitrogen atom, totaling eight. Therefore this is not an exception to the octet rule.

Finally, `SF_6 ` is a molecule of one sulfur atom and six fluorine atoms. Sulfur has 6 valence electrons, while fluorine has 7. Fluorine is more electronegative, so we expect the fluorine atoms to each take one of the 6 electrons from the sulfur atom. This obeys the octet rule.

Therefore, the answer is (B) `I_2`. All the other molecules obey the octet rule, while this one does not because it is a covalent molecule.

In the play The Merchant of Venice, how does Shakespeare create suspense in Act 3, Scene 4?

In Act 3, Scene 4, Portia tells Lorenzo that he is in charge of her household until her husband returns. Portia then tells Lorenzo that she and Nerissa will be praying and contemplating alone in a monastery. When Lorenzo leaves, Portia immediately tells Balthazar to deliver an urgent letter to Doctor Bellario without stopping on his way. Portia then explains to Nerissa that their husbands will see them before they think, but will not recognize them. Portia goes on to comment that she will act like a gentlemen and tell numerous lies to make her audience believe that she has just left school. Just before the scene ends, Portia tells Nerissa that she will explain her entire plan during the coach ride and mentions that they must travel twenty miles in one day.

Shakespeare creates suspense by making the audience aware that significant events are immediately taking place, while not revealing Portia's entire plan. The audience knows from Portia's insistence that Balthazar urgently deliver her letter that its contents are important to the plot. However, Shakespeare creates suspense by not revealing what was in the letter. Shakespeare also does not reveal Portia's plan, which leaves the audience wondering what will happen next.

How is the theme of morality present in A Tale of Two Cities?

In A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens presents three very distinct groups of characters: the good, the bad, and the comic. Each is a caricature, rather than real-life characters. As far as the first two groups, the good are almost impossibly good, while the bad are almost impossibly bad.

The bad, such as Madame Defarge, have no evident redeeming qualities. Her heart is black with hate and revenge, due to the murder of her family. She has given herself completely to the destruction of the nobility, personified by Charles Darnay and his family, since it was Charles’s father and uncle who caused her family members’ death. She shows no mercy to anyone. She joins in the killing spree after the Revolution begins. The notions of “freedom, equality, and fraternity” have no real meaning for her. Her only motto is hate and kill. She has become a caricature of the immoral being. She remains in this static character throughout the story.

Doctor Manette and Lucie, as well as Charles, are seemingly without major flaws. They love each other and do not seem to be able to have the kind of hate that Madame Defarge has. While Doctor Manette had felt this hate while confined in the Bastille, he has renounced it. He lives only to love Lucie and Charles. This group represents the moral individual, who return hate with love.

It is Sydney Carton that is the most realistic character, showing a moral battle in his heart throughout the novel. At the beginning, he is lazy and dissipated, of very little worth to anyone. He is not evil, however, just deeply flawed. Once he falls in love with Lucie, even if it is unrequited, he begins to turn his life around to a limited extent. He promises to do anything to save her or anyone she loves. He chooses in the end to sacrifice himself, which can be described as the highest moral good that anyone can do. It is through Sydney Carton that the theme of morality comes forth as a living struggle.