Why does Aunt Alexandra think that Scout should change her behavior?

Aunt Alexandra is very traditional and her view of gender roles is also. Scout does not behave like a typical girl, and this is alarming to Aunt Alexandra because she is worried that she will be ill-prepared as she grows up and has to take on the duties and roles that women do. 

Scout is far more interested in playing with her brother, Jem, and her best friend, Dill. She is a tomboy through and through.  

"I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches; when I said I could do nothing in a dress, she said I wasn't supposed to be doing things that required pants. Aunt Alexandra's vision of my deportment involved playing with small stoves, tea sets, and wearing the Add-A-Pearl necklace she gave me when I was born" (Ch.9)

Note the type of behavior Alexandra is hoping for relates to female domesticity. 

"During the years in which Lee grew up and set her novel, America advocated the home as a woman’s domain" (Scouting for a Tomboy: Gender-Bending Behaviors in Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird).

Aunt Alexandra feels that the lack of a mother figure in the Finch home has caused Scout to be more masculine than feminine and she is trying to help "right the ship," so to speak, before it is too late and Scout grows up set in her ways. She is, in her own way, trying to exert a positive, feminine influence on Scout.

In "Thank you, M'am," what are the similarities between Roger and Mrs. Luella Bates Washington?

Both Roger and Mrs. Bates come from the same racial and economic backgrounds.  Both are African-American and poor.  This commonality creates a bond between them in the story when Mrs. Bates tells Roger about her own troubled youth when she, too, did some things she wasn’t proud of doing.  She relates her life story to Roger after carrying him by the scruff of his neck back to her modest apartment when he tries to steal her purse.  Roger is a little unsure and scared of Mrs. Bates, at first, but he realizes that she has something to teach him about life (plus she’s cooking him a meal!).  Mrs. Bates explains how she overcame her digressions in the past to be employed and independent.  She hopes that Roger will follow in her footsteps when she gives him $10.00 to buy the blue suede shoes he desperately wanted and stooped to a petty crime to obtain.  At the end of the story, Roger thanks Mrs. Bates not only for the $10.00 but for the efforts she makes to convince him to take the right path in life. 

What are the pros and cons of offering a free college education to American students?

I don't think anyone would disagree that one of the best ways to build up our country is to build up the education level of our citizens.  People with higher levels of education are better able to earn a living, are better prepared to take active part in leadership of the country (i.e., politics and government), are less likely to become involved in criminal activity, and are less of a drain on social services (welfare, unemployment, social services, etc.). 

With this in mind, many people, including President Obama and a few of the current Presidential candidates, have expressed the opinion that we should find a way to offer a free college education for anybody who wants it.  This would most likely be through the community college system that we have in place. 

On the positive side, this would achieve all the goals I mentioned in my first paragraph.  However, a college tuition is not free, so the cost would have to come from somewhere -- most likely through increased taxes.  There is also a concern that by opening up the doors of higher education to all people, the quality of that college education is likely to get "watered down."  In short, if everyone starts getting a college degree, then the value of that degree will decline, and employers will start looking for more.

When my grandfather graduated from high school, that was a big accomplishment.  When my father graduated from college a generation later, THAT was a big accomplishment.  Now, many professions require not just a bachelor's degree but also a master's degree, for even an entry level position.  This problem would only become more enhanced if more and more people are earning degrees.

The concept is a good one.  But we need to be careful that it is executed properly.

What does Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., predict for the future of American society?

In this speech King shares his dream for America; he says that he hopes and has faith that this dream will come true, so it is also a prediction. The dream or prediction has the following elements:

• the equality spoken of in the Declaration of Independence is a reality for all citizens.


• the descendants of former slaves and the descendants of former slave owners treat each other like brothers.


• no one is judged by external qualities like skin color; people are only judged by their inward character.


• children of all races play together without sensing any differences among themselves because of their skin color.


• true freedom is experienced by all people in every region of the country.

Speaking in 1963, over 50 years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr., made these predictions for how life would look in America in the future. Less than a year after this speech, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law, with Martin Luther King, Jr., in attendance. The law made it illegal to discriminate against someone on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The next year, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 became law, which outlawed practices designed to make it harder for blacks to vote. Within two years of King's speech, the country had taken great strides towards making King's predictions for the future a reality.

What is the saddest word in James R. Lowell's poem "Serenade"?

In line 20 the poet identifies the saddest word that the ear of man has ever heard. That word is "alone." Indeed, line 19 says it is a "bitter and dreary word." "Bitter" implies not only that it is not sweet, but also that it leaves one hurt or resentful because of the way one has been treated. It is a dreary word because it is depressing and dull; when one is alone, life is boring and it is hard to have hope for the future.

The entire poem builds up the sadness of the word "alone" even before it reaches line 20. The end of each stanza is the doleful refrain, "Alone, alone, ah woe! alone!" The repetition of the word within the line and the repetition of the line at the end of each stanza reinforces the ongoing, relentless sadness of the state of loneliness. The poet uses assonance, repetition of vowel sounds in adjacent words, to further emphasize the sadness of the word. The long /o/ sound in the words "alone" and "woe" is the sound of someone wailing or moaning, a sound of sadness, hopelessness, and sorrow. The word "woe" means great sorrow or distress; its repetition and placement next to the word "alone" enhances the sadness of the word. The poem doesn't just state that "alone" is the saddest word; it allows the reader to experience that feeling through the poetic devices it employs. 

What things does Phoenix have difficulty seeing in "A Worn Path" by Eudora Welty?

Although readers do not know Phoenix's specific age, it is clear she is very old and frail. She has difficulty seeing and faces many obstacles as she walks along the worn path into town. One of the things Phoenix has trouble seeing is the scarecrow, which she initially thinks is a ghost. Later, Phoenix doesn't notice a black dog approaching her as she is sitting down, meditating. When Phoenix finally receives the medicine for her grandson, she must hold the bottle close to her eyes to see it. 

It is interesting to note, however, that Phoenix has other skills beyond sight that help her navigate the world. One example of this is when she walks across the log with her eyes closed. Relying upon her balance rather than her sight, she is able to walk across the log without stumbling. When the shiny nickel falls out of the hunter's pocket, she sees a flash of light and knows money has fallen to the ground. While Phoenix's eyes are getting weaker as she gets older, she still manages to reach her goal of getting her grandson's medicine. 

What are the environmental conditions and the living conditions of the deep ocean?

This would seem to be a simple question to answer, but in some ways we know more about the surface of the moon than we do about the deepest parts of the world's oceans. The water pressure is extreme--as much as 1,100 atmospheres--in the lowest parts of the ocean, which makes it very difficult to collect samples, or even to make observations. Living organisms at that depth not only have had to evolve tissues that survive at that depth, but to utilize alternate methods of obtaining energy. Sunlight can only penetrate to a depth of about 200 meters, meaning that photosynthesis is not possible for the great majority of the oceans' volume. Some organisms are able to utilize energy from thermal vents at the bottom of the oceans; these are known as chemotrophic organisms. Except in the area of the vents, the water temperature is quite cold--about the freezing point of fresh water (0 degrees C.). The water has a lower freezing point, however, because it is salt water. The low temperature also allows for dissolved oxygen sufficient for animal life, which does exist at great depths. The ocean floor is in general covered in sediment or mud. For much more information see the attached link.

In Chains, what was the money that had been in Madam Lockton's linen chest for?

The money that was hidden away in Madam Lockton's linen chest was money that was going to be used to bribe members of the Patriot army. 

The reader learns this fact in chapter nine.  Isabel has been asked to wait upon Mr. Lockton and the three men that he is meeting with.  At one point, Lockton orders Isabel to bring more bread and apricot jam.  Just before returning with the food, Isabel hears the following quote:

"Compliments of His Majesty, gentleman.  There's enough money here to bribe half of the rebel army."  

Isabel knows that she has heard something that is not meant for her ears, so she peeks through the door crack in order to learn more.  At that moment, Isabel sees Lockton open the linen chest, rummage underneath the clothing, and pull out two handfuls of paper currency.  The plan is to give a certain amount of money and land to every man that switches over to fight for the British.  

"Every man willing to switch sides is to be paid five guineas and two hundred acres of land.  If he have a wife, an additional hundred acres.  Each child of his blood garners another fifty." 

In "The Minister's Black Veil" what is the minister's reaction to seeing his own reflection?

Mr. Hooper's reaction to seeing his own reflection is much the same as everyone else's reaction to seeing him wear the veil.  

[...] his own antipathy to the veil was known to be so great, that he never willingly passed before a mirror, nor stooped to drink at a still fountain, lest, in its peaceful bosom, he should be affrighted by himself.

Mr. Hooper fears to see the veil, just as the members of his congregation do, and though Hawthorne never directly tells us why, we can make some assumptions based on, among other places, the end of the story.

By the story's close, Mr. Hooper is on his deathbed, tended by the Reverend Mr. Clark, who wishes to remove Hooper's black veil now that he is about to pass to the next life.  Mr. Clark says, "'Suffer us to be gladdened by your triumphant aspect as you go to your reward.  Before the veil of eternity be lifted, let me cast aside this black veil from your face!'"  But Mr. Hooper adamantly refuses, and so Mr. Clark desires to know what great sin goes with Mr. Hooper to the hereafter.  Mr. Hooper's final words are the most illuminating:

"Tremble [...] at each other!  Have men avoided me, and women shown no pity, and children screamed and fled, only for my black veil?  What, but the mystery which it obscurely typifies, has made this piece of crape so awful?  When the friend shows his inmost heart to his friend; the lover to his best beloved; when man does not vainly shrink from the eye of his Creator, loathsomely treasuring up the secret of his sin; then deem me a monster, for the symbol beneath which I have lived, and die!  I look around me, and, lo! on every visage a Black Veil!"

In other words, Mr. Hooper has only ever worn a physical symbol of humankind's spiritual state.  Just as the black veil has ever separated him from his fellows, so does the veil each of us holds up between ourselves and everyone else when we do not share our secret sins with each other.  This is why Mr. Hooper tells his community to tremble at each other, not him; they are all sinful in nature -- it is not only he alone who carries the weight of secret sin.  We each try to act as though we are sinless -- though we are all sinners (a popular Hawthorne theme) -- and in that pretending, we lie to one another, preventing ourselves from truly being known by or truly knowing anyone else.  This lack of knowledge leads to a lack of understanding, and so we each perpetuate the myth of our sinlessness, and so others believe that they must do so as well.  No one wants to feel as though they, alone, are a terrible sinner.  And so we deny this part of ourselves, isolating ourselves from our fellows as long as we live.

Therefore, whenever Mr. Hooper would catch his own reflection, he would be reminded of this terrible state of humankind, reminded of his own sinful nature and the sinful natures of all those around him who insist on living a lie.  The sight of the black veil over his own face would only be a reminder that even he was not brave enough to cast aside the figurative veil with which he has, as we all have, separated himself from everyone else.  Thus, the veil is a reminder that he is not only sinful but also, in his own eyes, deceptive and cowardly.

`2, 10, 50, 250...` Determine whether the sequence is geometric. If so, find the common ratio.

You need to verify if the sequence is a geometric sequence, hence, you need to use the following property, such that:

`a_n = sqrt(a_(n-1)*a_(n+1))`

Replacing 10 for `a_n, 2` for `a_(n-1)` and 50 for `a_(n+1)` yields:

`10 = sqrt(2*50) => 10 = sqrt(100) => 10=10`

Since the given sequence is geometric, you may find the ratio such that:

`q = (a_n)/(a_(n-1)) => q = 10/2 => q = 5`

Hence, the given sequence is geometric and its ratio is q = 5.

Do you have chapter summaries for Eat the Rich? I need summaries of key points for these chapters: 1. Chapter 3 2. Chapter 6 3. Chapter 9 4....

Chapter 3 of P. J. O’Rourke's Eat the Rich focuses on Albania. He examines Albania in accord with one thesis point of the book, that being that Albania had a unique past and near-present history. He examines the unique geographic characteristics of Albania and the unique national character of Albania. He examines the economic collapse in Albania following the end of communism and the collapse of the national pyramid schemes. He summarizes by restating his thesis that different histories create different national economies.

O’Rourke begins by describing the geographical situation of Albanian villages on hilltops and contrasts these hilltop villages against other mid-European villages clustered on hillsides. The reason for hilltop villages is defense: hilltops are easy to defend, suggesting a historical onslaught of enemy attacks.

The most dramatic and salient feature of the Albanian national character, which O’Rourke paints as easy-going and undisciplined (illustrated by their car driving traits), is the open proliferation of weapons among its citizenry (accelerated by the collapse of the communist regime in Albania). He tells a story of seeing a man walking with his small son, holding him by the hand while in his other hand he openly carried an AK-47. O’Rourke says in his personable (and humorous) writing style:

I saw a middle-aged man in civilian clothes walking along what used to be Boulevard Stalin, holding his five-year-old son by one hand and an AK-47 in the other.

O’Rourke discusses the economic collapse that resulted from the withdrawal of the communist regime in 1992. He explains that "the nation was broke and was kept from starving only by foreign aid" and charitable contributions from expatriated Albanians living in other countries. The reaction of Albanians was in accord with the "philosophy of nihilism," with total social, cultural, governmental and economic collapse all round.

Then came the advent of pyramid schemes, intended to be a recourse to the total collapse of Albania. The first pyramid scheme--an investment strategy that usually has no collateral backing it, no legitimate investment underlying it, and that generates income from the money invested in the scheme itself--was designed to restore economic prosperity. It eventually collapsed but was followed by the entrepreneurial system wherein many, many, many individual business people created their own collateral-investment-in-the-sky pyramid schemes in which just about every Albanian put their money. In 1997 (the year O’Rourke visited Albania), all the pyramids came tumbling down. The exploding pyramid schemes left Albania in a renewed economic disaster.

O’Rourke summarizes his investigation of Albania in 1997 by attempting to say to "the wire-service reporter and a couple of other stateside hacks" that "'Albanians are just like anybody else.' ... 'They're crazy,' said the wire-service reporter." O’Rourke retorted with his thesis, saying that "'They just have a different history, different traditions, a different set of political and economic circumstances.'" He ended his argument abruptly in silence as he watched a "handsome" Albanian family, with a "cute four-year-old girl," while the father "offered a fresh [Marlboro] cigarette to the little girl, and gave her a light." O’Rourke falters in asserting normality based on "different circumstances" to the collapse of the Albanian economy.

The chemical formula for calcium chloride is?

The chemical formula of calcium chloride is `CaCl_2` .

Calcium is a metal and has an atomic number of 20. Its electronic configuration is 1s2, 2s2, 2p6, 3s2, 3p6, 4s2. It has 2 valence electrons, which it donates to achieve fully filled electronic state or noble gas configuration. In comparison, chlorine (a non-metal) has an atomic number of 17 and has an electronic configuration of 1s2, 2s2, 2p6, 3s2, 3p5. Chlorine has 7 valence electrons and accepts 1 electron to achieve noble gas configuration. Now, chlorine is much more electronegative as compared to calcium and hence will accept electrons donated by calcium. Since, calcium donates 2 electrons and chlorine can accept only 1 electron, 2 chlorine atoms form an ionic bond with 1 atom of calcium to yield calcium chloride, CaCl2.

Hope this helps. 

I combined different materials. The first combination was a mixture of salt, pepper, and water. The second was of water and an Alka-Seltzer tablet....

The observation in each case depends on the properties of the materials.

Mixture 1: Salt and Pepper in Water

Salt is soluble in water, while pepper is not. In fact, pepper is lighter than water and hence floats over it. Thus, when we mix the three components together, salt will dissolve in water and will disappear, while the pepper will float over the water surface.

These components can be separated by filtering pepper out and then evaporating water to obtain salt.

Mixture 2: Water and a tablet of Alka-Seltzer

Alka-Seltzer contains sodium bicarbonate, aspirin and citric acid. When dissolved in water, sodium bicarbonate and citric acid react with each other and produce carbon dioxide. This generation of carbon dioxide is evident as a white foam coming out of the container (which may actually overflow as well) in which you have mixed water and Alka-Seltzer tablet.  

Hope this helps.

How was your understanding of the cultural and contextual dimensions of the text developed through the dialogue?

In the novel, much of the dialogue and text focuses on food. In Vietnamese and other eastern cultures, food is often an expression of acceptance, benevolence, or love. Alternatively, it can also be an expression of indifference and disrespect.

Consider the significance of duckweed noodles in Aunt Tam's conversation with Que regarding her path to wealth. She describes how, during the era of the "Rectification of Errors," she had ground duckweed into flour and made pancakes of dough from them. From the dough, she had cut out strips of long, fine vermicelli, which cooked into delicate, delicious clear noodles. Aunt Tam describes how she sold those noodles and with the profits, bought more duckweed to produce more noodles. Eventually, she made enough profit to purchase machines to crank out her popular noodles. She tells her sister-in-law, Que, that her goal is to become as wealthy as possible.

The narrator tells us that Aunt Tam's goal is to live a life of vengeance; essentially, Aunt Tam's narration is a statement of contempt towards Que; on the surface, she discusses how the duckweed noodles paved the way to her hard-earned wealth, but her narrative is a flaunting of her rebellion and her non-conformity towards communist ideals, ideals still espoused by Chinh, Que's brother.

To Aunt Tam, Chinh had been culpable for her own brother's death. It was Chinh, a member of the Communist party, who had preached against wealth and privilege. He was also a direct participant in the land reforms that destroyed the livelihoods of many Vietnamese. So, through her life of wealth, Aunt Tam is signifying to Que that she will never absolve Que and Chinh for their part in Ton's death. This may be what precipitates the latent animosity between both women and acts as a catalyst for Que's eventual indifference to her own daughter, Hang.

Later, Aunt Tam also uses the proceeds from her wealth to provide for Hang, Que's daughter. In the novel, the dialogue between Aunt Tam and Hang highlights how the former uses both lavish food gifts and money to cause the latter to be beholden to her. Aunt Tam means to make Hang the beneficiary of the Tran family legacy, whether Hang desires it or not.

"I really can't. Dearest Aunt, I'm too young to spend this money. Keep it please."

"No. I told you to take it. You must obey. Don't fuss with me. What is this money compared to your life? As long as I'm alive, as long as these hands are capable of working..."

"As long as these hands can work, there will always be money...with one of my mandarin orange harvests, I made enough to buy you a gold necklace. I've already ordered it. The pendant is heart-shaped and it weighs a gram and a half, and the chain the same. When you turn sixteen, you'll wear it."

The tone of the conversation is emblematic of every conversation between Aunt Tam and Hang. The elder is to be obeyed without question. Aunt Tam's self-sacrifice proves her devotion, and so, Hang must comply with the older woman's wishes. The dialogue in much of the book guides us in understanding the cultural and the contextual dimensions of the text. Because of Aunt Tam's devotion, Hang is to exemplify all the necessary traits a submissive young woman should have, and she is to carry on the traditions of ancestor worship on behalf of the Tran family after Aunt Tam's demise.

Additionally, the dialogue between Que, Hang, and Aunt Tam often illuminates the underlying tension between the three women and their struggle for relevance in a culture which values conformity above personal agency.

`3u*v` Use the vectors `u = `, and `v = `, and `w = lt3, -1gt` to find the indicated quantity. State whether the result is a vector or a scalar.

`(3u)*v,` which is the same as `3*(u*v),` is a dot product of two vectors. It is a scalar.

For vectors `ltx_1,y_1gt` and `ltx_2,y_2gt` its dot product is `x_1*x_2+y_1*y_2.`

In our case it is

`(3*lt3,3gt)*lt-4,2gt = lt9,9gt*lt-4,2gt = 9*(-4)+9*2=9*(-2)=-18.`

This is the answer.

When the blood pH rises above 7.8 what will happen?

Living things require specific conditions of pH to survive. An acid is a substance that adds Hydrogen ions (H+) to solution while a base reduces the H+ ion concentration. 

The pH scale is the negative logarithm of the hydrogen ion concentration which is 10-7 M in a neutral solution while the OH- ions of a base in a neutral solution are also 10-7 M. These balance each other in a neutral solution of pH 7. 

Any value below 7 is the increasing range for acid on the pH scale and any value above 7 is the represents increasing alkalinity.  A small change in pH makes a large difference in concentration of H+ ions and OH- ions in solution. If the pH decreases from 6 to 5, the solution will be 10 times more acidic, because each unit represents a 10 fold change in the H+ ion and OH- ion concentrations.

Most body fluids have a specific pH range of between 6-8--slightly acidic, to neutral to slightly alkaline.

Blood pH is usually about 7.4 and if it drops below this or above this for more than a few minutes,  the results can be devastating. A pH of 7.8 can result in a person's death if it doesn't drop back down to its normal range. 

Buffers are special chemicals in the blood which can accept hydrogen ions from solution when the pH is too low and can donate hydrogen ions when the pH is too high. The buffer consists of a weak acid and its associated base. The equilibrium between the buffer carbonic acid and its base bicarbonate in solution help to maintain pH. Carbonic acid forms in the blood when carbon dioxide in the blood reacts with water from the liquid part of blood called plasma.

In the blood, the buffer carbonic acid (H2CO3)  dissociates to form bicarbonate ion (HCO3-) and a hydrogen ion (H+). This is a reversible reaction that can proceed in either direction depending on the amount of H ions in solution.

Various chemical reactions of metabolism can add to or remove H+ ions from solution and the body needs to constantly adjust to these changes. The equilibrium of the carbonic acid and bicarbonate ion reaction can shift to the left or to the right to help remove or add H+ions to keep blood pH in the optimal range.

In your example, if the pH is too high, the dissociation of carbonic acid will add H+ions to solution when the reaction shifts to the right and this will help lower the pH to an acceptable range.

What effect does the sound of the clock have in "The Birds"?

In "The Birds," the chime of the kitchen clock interrupts the "scratching and tearing" of the birds' attack. That the narrator describes the chime as "homely" suggests that it is a welcome distraction which reminds Nat that his fight against the birds is almost over and that his family remains safe and well amid the violence and chaos outside.

The sound of the clock also acts as a distraction by reminding Nat that the tide will turn soon. This imbues Nat with a sense of purpose and hope: he instructs his wife, for example, to make some tea and cocoa, to prevent the family from sitting around and dwelling on the attack. It allows him, then, to escape the harsh realities of the events outside by focusing on his home and family. 

How does the time period shape both the storyline and protagonist in Gary Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars?

Gary Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars is set in 1967 against the backdrop of the Vietnam War. American involvement in the Vietnam War started in 1955, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent military aid to South Vietnam to fend off attacks from North Vietnam. In 1963, President Kennedy spoke of pulling out, but after Kennedy's assassination, President Lyndon B. Johnson began escalating the war in 1964, upon taking over the Oval Office ("Vietnam," John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum). The war is one of the bloodiest in history and the first war the United States lost. The setting of the destructiveness of the war and of people's need to prevail despite such destruction parallels a conflict Holling faces with his father.

Mr. Hoodhood parallels American sentiments toward the war in the 1960s in several ways. America had entered the war with a history of being undefeated, arrogantly believing the war would be a very speedy victory for the Americans. They had entered with the purpose of defeating the newly established communist North Vietnamese government, encroaching upon the developing democratic South Vietnamese government, with the hope of containing the spread of communism. Since America in the 1960s saw itself as a technological superpower and saw the Vietnamese, who lived in grass huts, as a backwards society, the Americans couldn't believe the war would be anything less than a swift victory. They were astonished to see how resourceful the Viet Cong of South Vietnam truly was. As the war continued, it escalated until Lyndon B. Johnson was conducting massive bombings that led to 1,000 civilian casualties per week (O'Malley, M., "The Vietnam War and the Tragedy of Containment," George Mason University). The war led the the deaths of a total of 58,156 American troops, or as Heather states in the story: "Two hundred soldiers die every week" ("January"). While the war first seemed like a perfect tactic to the arrogant Americans, the reality is that the war was a devastating defeat.

Mr. Hoodhood displays similar arrogance in his own life. He believes himself to be perfect, having the "Perfect House," the perfect successful job, and the perfect reputation. Due to his success and reputation, he is elected the Chamber of Commerce Businessman of 1967 and is obsessed with maintaining his status. In his obsession with his reputation and job, he ignores his children's needs by breaking promises to Holling and denying Heather a college education. As a result, his children and wife grow to dislike and distance themselves from him, showing readers that, though Mr. Hoodhood arrogantly believes his life is perfect, his belief is actually destroying his home life, just as the arrogant behavior of the Americans during the Vietnam War destroyed many lives.

Against this backdrop of the war and of his father behaving in an arrogant and self-serving manner, Holling learns to stand up to his father.

What obstacles did Helen Keller have to overcome to pursue her passion of empowering the deaf, blind, and dumb with an education?

Helen Keller first had to overcome her obstacles of learning and obtaining an education herself.  Helen developed a passion for helping others because her teacher, Ms. Sullivan, first helped her.  Ms. Sullivan taught Helen to communicate using the manual alphabet.  She spelled individual letters into Helen's palm to create each word.  Helen received assistance when she was in college using this method.  In addition, Helen learned to speak with special instruction and to write using a special typewriter.  She was able to do more and reach more people through her writing.

Later in life, Helen did fundraising for AFB, the American Foundation for the Blind.  Helen helped to raise money so that organization could assist blind individuals.  Helen also advocated for the United States government to do more to assist the visually impaired.  In part because of Helen's advocacy, blindness became a disability recognized by the government.  This allowed blind people to receive government assistance.  

Helen was also an advocate for Braille.  During Helen's lifetime, there were several different "system[s] of reading and writing for people with vision loss."  Due to Helen's work, Braille became the standard system in 1932.

In the novel Bud, not Buddy, what does Bud learn about friendship, himself, and other people?

Bud gains perspective throughout the novel and learns many important lessons about friendship and self-identity. Bud learns that friends are instrumental throughout life, and their support can assist and encourage a person during difficult times. Bud's best friend, Bugs, journeys with him to the Hooverville and provides moral support, Lefty Lewis graciously offers Bud a ride to Grand Rapids, and Steady Eddie makes Bud comfortable around the band and Herman Calloway. Bud learns that friendship is essential in order to have a happy, fulfilled life.

Bud also learns that he is ultimately in control of his own fate, and that he has the ability to carry his mother's memory with him wherever he goes. He learns that things work out for the better for those who remain determined and keep a positive attitude. Bud also learns that he is actually Herman's grandson.

Throughout the novel, Bud lives by various "Rules," which are actually false generalizations about most people. He learns that each person is uniquely different and that he cannot make accurate generalizations about those around him without personally knowing them. Bud also learns that the majority of people are caring individuals who offer help selflessly.

What happens in chapters 9 and 10 in the book The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss?

In Chapter 9, the father and Fritz make a journey to the wreck of the ship, which is still stuck out on the reef.  They want to bring back the animals that they had left there.  

First, the family eats breakfast.  The father makes a flagpole "with a piece of sail-cloth for a flag."  The mother and younger sons are to let the flag fly as long as things are going well.  They are to take it down if they need to signal the father and Fritz to return from the ship.  

The two arrive at the ship safely, feed the animals, and add a sail to their boat.  They signal to the family that they will be spending the night on the wreck of the ship, and then begin loading their little boat with supplies from the ship which they were unable to carry when they first fled from it.  When night comes, they signal to their family on land that all is well, then go to sleep in their "tubs" (components of the smaller boat), which they feel is a safer place to sleep than on the ship itself.

Chapter 10 narrates the second day of Fritz and his father's errand to the ship.  They wake, check that the family flag is still up, and eat breakfast.  Then they spend two hours making a "swimming apparatus" for the livestock by tying empty barrels on either side of each animal.  They put a leash on each animal, the ends of which they fasten to the back of their little boat.  Then they set out for shore, "drawing our train after us."

On the way back to the island, they are nearly attacked by a shark, which Fritz shoots with his gun.  After this they arrive safely at the island.

They are greeted joyfully by the other family members.  Jack shows off the belt he made for himself using the skin of the jackal that Fritz had killed.  Jack has also made spiked collars for the dogs by driving nails through strips of the jackal's skin.  

The family then have supper, which consists of a ham that was just brought from the ship, and an omelet made of turtle's eggs. 

Why is acetic acid a weak acid?

When acid molecules are dissolved in water, they ionize. This means that the acid molecules break up into positive and negative ions. The extent to which an acid breaks up into ions when dissolved in water determines the strength of the acid. 

Strong Acids 

Strong acids ionize completely in water. In other words, ALL of the acid molecules break up into positive and negative ions when a strong acid is dissolved in water.

Example: Hydrochloric acid (HCl) is a strong acid because all of the HCl       molecules break up into `~H^+` and `~Cl^-` ions when dissolved in water.

    `~HCl_(aq) -gt~H^+_(aq) + ~Cl^-_(aq)` 

Weak Acids

Weak acids partially ionize in water. This means that only SOME of the acid molecules break up into positive and negative ions when a weak acid is dissolved in water. 

Example: Acetic acid (`~HC_2H_3O_2` ) is a weak acid because only some of the `~HC_2H_3O_2` molecules break up into `~H^+` and `~C_2H_3O_2^-` ions when dissolved in water.

   ` `

Notice that the disassociation of a weak acid into its ions is reversible. This means that the disassociated ions are able to reform the original molecule. ` `

` `

` `

How is chemistry used in everyday life?

There are numerous examples of the everyday use of chemistry in our lives. Here are some:

• Washing hands with soap: When we use antibacterial soap to wash our hands, the molecules that constitute soap kill some of the microbes present on our hands and disinfect them. Some soaps also provide fragrance, which is again an action of some chemical substances. Similar is the story of the use of disinfectants in our household cleaners.


• Food and beverages: All food and beverages are molecules and have a chemistry behind their synthesis. When we cook food, we change the chemical composition of (at least) some of the ingredients, thereby obtaining tasty and digestible food and beverages (remember this morning's tea/coffee).


• Medicine: Almost all medicine is obtained by using chemistry. Medicines, on entering our body, carry out chemical reactions to help cure us.

One can think of a number of other examples such as metabolism, growth, the spoiling of food, etc.

Hope this helps. 

How does Arthur Miller use the symbol of fire through the play The Crucible?

The play's title is a reference to fire, in that a "crucible" is a vessel made to withstand extremely high temperatures. The symbol of fire is a potent one for this play because burning was a prominent method of execution of accused witches during the European witch trials (witches in North America were hanged). In the opening scene of Nicholas Hytner's film version, the girls dance around a fire in a cauldron; this scene is adapted from the play's descriptions of the "dancing in the woods" led by Tituba, after which Betty Parris fell ill and catalyzed the rumors of witchcraft.

Reverend Parris tells Abigail he saw Tituba waving her arms over the fire when he discovered them in the woods. The play suggests early on that Tituba may end up being blamed for the witchcraft, but in an emotional scene she accepts God and renounces her earlier temptation by the devil. In this way, suspicion falls on the girls who were there, and they conspire to ruin the elders of the town.

Some characters mention fire in connection to the fires of hell; in fact, hell is mentioned numerous times throughout the play. The imagery of hell and that of eternal damnation is often portrayed as a fiery pit, constantly burning. Fire is the punishment that might befall either those accused of witchcraft, or those who engage in false accusations, as when Giles Corey says:

"I mentioned my wife's name once and I'll burn in hell long enough for that."

How is socialism expressed in 1984?

The oppressive, totalitarian government of 1984 is governed by a set of principles known as "Ingsoc," which means English socialism in the constructed language of the Party, Newspeak. The principles and origin of socialism are intentionally obscured by the Party, but it is common knowledge in Eurasia that a schism within the ideology was the basis of Big Brother's rise to power and Emmanuel Goldstein's exile. The Ingsoc that developed after Goldstein's exile primarily focuses on how reality is constructed by the Party, as well as the necessity of submission to the Party. On the other hand, Goldstein's book, The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism, is a socialist text that warns against authoritarianism. The likely real-life inspiration for this character was Russian socialist Leon Trotsky, whose opposition to Stalin's brutal, totalitarian interpretation of communism resulted in his exile from the USSR. Trotsky and Stalin are both considered socialists, although their methods and ideologies for a communist world differed drastically. Similarly, the Party and Goldstein are both proponents of Ingsoc, but Goldstein's ideology has nothing to do with the totalitarianism of the Party.

Goldstein, in his book, argues that the Party "rejects and villifies every principle for which the Socialist movement originally stood, and it does so in the name of Socialism." Orwell's intention in calling the politics of the party "socialism" was likely in response to the supposed communism of the USSR, a state characterized by violent repression, in stark contrast to the non-hierarchical collectivist worker's state proposed by pre-revolutionary Russian socialists.

How do I write something about the title of the poem "One Art" by Elizabeth Bishop?

To write something about the title of the poem "One Art" by Elizabeth Bishop, it is best to first study the entire poem itself. In so doing, you will gain an understanding of what issue or issues the poet is addressing, and then you can see how her title fits the topics she talks about.

In “One Art," Elizabeth Bishop talks about the “art” of losing. The grand theme of this poem is loss. She states that loss and losing is something that “…isn’t hard to master.” 

In essence, she is saying that experiencing loss is something that happens with regularity in life and loss should come as no surprise to us. She is saying that we cannot always hold on to everything we have in life. This includes people, places, and possessions.

Bishop states that we can lose trivial, unimportant things, as well as very precious things, such as loved ones. The issue here in this poem is that we can learn to deal with the “art” of losing. The reader can now go back to the poem’s title to understand it better and then write about it.

The title “One Art” refers to properly dealing with situations and events involving loss in life. It is the individual who must be “artful” in dealing with loss. This artfulness is gained through multiple episodes of experiencing loss. Elizabeth Bishop says that one should “Then practice losing farther, losing faster.”

The goal here is for a person to confront loss head-on; to not be afraid of loss. Loss will come to all in various faces and configurations, and the more practice or experience we have with loss, the less disastrous loss will be each time. This is, however, a somewhat pie-in-the-sky observation by the poet because, no matter how experienced someone is at loss, the next loss still hurts and no one is really immune to the pain of loss.

So, as you write about the title of this poem, look at the particular phrases within the poem that relate to the title. Think of all the losses the poet has written about and how she says, “It’s evident / the art of losing’s not too hard to master.”

This is precisely the “One Art” she talks about and which made her use these particular words for the title of her poem. This is the “One Art” in life that we all can learn to deal with better – loss.

What is the difference between a protectorate and a sphere of influence?

A "sphere of influence" is an area in which a foreign power claims to have exclusive privileges (but does not play a formal role in the nation's internal affairs). These privileges may be economic, political, or cultural, and they do not necessarily require the approval of the "influenced" nation. For example, the United States declared a "sphere of influence" over the Western hemisphere when they passed the Monroe Doctrine in 1823. They threatened to view further European colonization of the Western hemisphere as acts of aggression.

In a "protectorate," the foreign power exerts formal control over the protected nation. The protected nation still retains its own internal government, but the foreign power exercises plays an active role in some aspect of its government (foreign policy, for example). The degree of control may vary. A foreign nation may simply guarantee to protect another nation from invasion, or the protected nation may function as little more than a puppet government ruled by the foreign one.

Determine potential energy for a 6 volt battery that has 3000C of charge Q stored.

The potential energy for a 6 volt battery that has a stored charge in it of 3000 Coulombs would be 18,000 Joules.  Potential energy is the ability to do work and represents the capacity the battery has to achieve a certain level of work.  The formula for calculating potential energy for a battery may be represented like this:

Electrical Potential (Volts)  =  Work or Potential Energy/Charge (Coulombs)

In this question, we have the electrical potential already, 6 Volts.  We also have the stored charge, 3000 Coulombs.  We can calculate the missing potential energy amount by multiplying both sides by the 3000 Coulombs:

(6 Volts)(3000 Coulombs)  =  (PE)(3000 Coulombs)/3000 Coulombs

18,000 Joules  =  PE, potential energy

Remember that one Volt is equal to one Joule/Coulomb, so when you multiply the left side by 3000 Coulombs, the Coulomb units will cancel out, leaving Joules as the correct energy unit designation.

What is Virginia Woolf's purpose in "A Room of One's Own"?

Simply put, in "A Room of One's Own" Virginia Woolf seeks to explore the experiences of female writers. More specifically, she grapples with the specific challenges and experiences faced by writers who are women, and tries to understand why fewer women than men write (or, to put it another way, why fewer female writers are remembered in the traditional literary canon).

The resulting essay (or, depending on how you look at it, series of essays) is a remarkable achievement. Shifting back and forth between literary criticism, personal memoir, historical inquiry, and witty and imaginative anecdotes, Woolf brilliantly blends multiple genres to craft a masterful feminist critique of art, literature, and the social position of women in general. Woolf explores female oppression through the ages and concludes that a female version of Shakespeare has not surfaced because the historical subjugation of women has prevented such an occurrence from happening. Most famously, Woolf describes the conditions necessary for a woman artist to unleash her full potential: privacy (a "room of one's own"), and money (self-sufficiency). Woolf argues that, if women are to explore their artistic potential, they must be allowed to pursue these basic necessities. All in all, the essay is an imaginative and hard-hitting work, and still one of the most important pieces written in the twentieth century. 

Why does the narrator get in touch with Simon Wheeler?

Mark Twain sets up "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" as a frame story or frame narrative: a story within a story where the outside story sets the stage for the inner, or main, story.  In the case of "The Celebrated Jumping Frog," the narrator learns the inner story of Jim Smiley and his jumping frog from Simon Wheeler, described as "fat and bald-headed, and [with] an expression of winning gentleness and simplicity upon his tranquil countenance."  The narrator is visiting the mining camp of Angel's in the Western United States, and before visiting, he is told by a friend that he should seek out this Simon Wheeler and ask about the Reverend Leonidas W. Smiley.  When the narrator asks Simon Wheeler about this reverend, Wheeler instead tells the narrator the story of Jim Smiley and his jumping frog.  The narrator says about Wheeler:

he backed me into a corner and blockaded me there with his chair -- and then sat me down and reeled off the monotonous narrative which follows this paragraph. He never smiled, he never frowned, he never changed his voice from the gentle-flowing key to which he tuned the initial sentence, he never betrayed the slightest suspicion of enthusiasm -- but all through the interminable narrative there ran a vein of impressive earnestness and sincerity, which showed me plainly that, so far from his imagining that there was any thing ridiculous or funny about his story, he regarded it as a really important matter, and admired its two heroes as men of transcendent genius in finesse.

Basically, the narrator is trapped into hearing this story for its duration.  The only way he escapes is when Wheeler is distracted at the end by someone calling his name.  The narrator then knows that he has been tricked by his friend back East into listening to this story, perhaps the same story that his friend had to sit through when he originally encountered Wheeler.  This frame sets up the humor that is found in the inner story of the jumping frog and all the other curious animals that Jim Smiley bets on.

Who is Mrs. Krause in "The Silver Sword"? What did she do that was important in the story?

We meet Mrs. Krause in the early chapters of the novel. She is the mother of a student who once attended Joseph's school; before his capture, Joseph had served as the principal at the school.

After he escaped from the prison camp in the mountains of South Poland, Joseph found out from Mrs. Krause that his Swiss wife, Margrit, had been captured by the Nazis and had most likely been sent to Germany. Mrs. Krause also informed Joseph that the night Margrit was taken away in a Nazi vehicle, someone in the house had shot at the car. The author corroborates Mrs. Krause's story in Chapter Four. It was Edek who had tried to shoot at the soldiers manhandling his mother. Although he also shot at the car, Edek had not been successful in preventing the soldiers from getting away.

In Warsaw, it was Mrs. Krause and her husband who provided food and lodging for Joseph after his escape. In fact, based on Mrs. Krause's advice, Joseph decided to look for his wife in Switzerland, as that was the agreed-upon destination should the family become separated. Mrs. Krause also shared her suspicions with Joseph that the children might have died in the bomb blast at their former home.

So, in the story, Mrs. Krause (and her husband) provided food, lodging, and emotional support to Joseph until he decided upon a solid plan of action to reunite with his family. Mrs. Krause was also responsible for alerting Joseph to his wife's capture and the bomb blast at their home. The only thing she could not confirm was the fate or location of Joseph's children.

What are some pros and cons of why Lyddie should sign the petition?

Signing the petition carries almost zero immediate pros.  The petition is for general improved working conditions for the girls in the mills.  The days are long, the air is painful to breathe, it's super noisy, the machines are quite dangerous, and the workers are given minimal breaks.  The petition seeks to change all of that, but unless the petition actually works, all that it does for Lyddie is show the other girls that Lyddie is united with their feelings and willing to speak up about it.  

The big con for Lyddie is that by signing the petition, she risks getting blacklisted from all of the factories.  That means no work.  No work means no paycheck, and earning money is important to Lyddie.  She wants to be out from under the burden of debt that her family has put her under, and she wants the independence that financial success can bring her.  If Lyddie is blacklisted, she has almost no means to attain her goals.  

What were the advantages of the New Jersey plan?

The "advantages" of the New Jersey Plan would be in the eye of the beholder. It is often called the "small state" plan because it afforded equal representation for each state in Congress (as opposed to the Virginia Plan, which called for two houses, with a state's representation in each based on their population). Basically, this would have preserved a significant amount of political power for the states, powers which many of the Framers thought needed to be delegated to a national government. James Madison, the architect of the Virginia Plan, was especially opposed to it, as was Alexander Hamilton, who pointed out that it was essentially the same thing as the old Articles of Confederation. Indeed, those who would have seen the advantages of the New Jersey Plan would have been those who wanted to keep the basic setup of the Articles of Confederation while making some significant changes (like adding an independent judiciary and executive and allowing the power to tax). The New Jersey Plan was thus beneficial to small states, in a way, and to those who wanted the powers of whatever national government that came out of the Philadelphia Convention to be limited.

How did Lenin influence the seizure of power of the Russian tsar?

Vladimir Lenin was instrumental in the demise of the tsar and his family. Because of the poor economic conditions that existed in Russia in the early 20th Century, many Russian peasants were very unsatisfied.  Lenin, an avowed Marxist, believed that the workers should rise up and take control of the government.  Since 1889, Lenin was one of the greatest proponents of Marxism in Russia.  Lenin was a very intellectual and talented man having earned his law degree in 1892.  His writings were thoughtful and influential and moved the labor movement to action.  His work motivated a passionate group of workers to lead a revolt against the Tsar in February of 1917.  When the tsar was replaced by the Provisional Government, Lenin was unsatisfied.  Lenin returned to St. Petersburg from exile in October and toppled the provisional government.  A bloody civil war ensued during which Lenin's troops assassinated the royal family.  Lenin was able to gain a Bolshevik victory in the civil war and was the first leader of communist Russia.  

To The Doctor Who Treated The Raped Baby And Who Felt Such Despair Analysis

Finuala Dowling's poem, "To the Doctor who Treated the Raped Baby and Who Felt Such Despair," features contrasting settings.  The one, constant setting is an African hospital emergency room where a doctor struggles physically and emotionally with saving an infant who was raped.  This setting represents the grim reality that some people in the world are the epitome of evil and victimize the most innocent of all humanity.  

The other setting rotates from various locations, but they are all safe and peaceful places where babies and children are being raised surrounded by love and protection.  For example, "when the bleeding baby was admitted to your care faraway a Karoo shepherd crooned a ramkietjie lullaby in the veld" shows the reader that far away from the operating room, another baby was being cared for and sung to.  As the baby is being "stitched," in a safe bed in a safe home, another baby is being read "another chapter of a favourite story."

The effect of these contrasting settings is to support the overall idea that humanity is generally kind and compassionate and that one horrible crime against a child is not indicative of the whole world.  To the doctor, people seem evil at this point, but hopefully he will later realize that most people are good.

What is one way the British punished Massachusetts after the Boston Tea Party?

While only one colonist (Francis Akeley) was arrested for the Boston Tea Party (the rest fled Boston in hiding), the actions angered and shocked people back in England.  In response to the Boston Tea Party, Parliament passed a number of laws designed to keep stricter order in the colonies.  These acts were known as the Intolerable Acts. The Intolerable Acts actually made the colonists angrier. The Boston Port Bill closed the Boston Harbor until compensation was made for the lost tea.  This obviously hurt commerce and trade and cost the colonists a great deal of profit.  Other legislation included limiting the power of colonial government, allowing colonists to be tried for crimes in Britain, and limiting westward expansion by colonists.  One part of the Intolerable Acts that really angered the colonists was the Quartering Act. This legislation allowed the royal governor to house British soldiers in the homes or shops of the colonists. 

Translate Hamlet's sentiment in the following line, "The time is out of joint: O cursed spite. That ever I was born to set it right."

Hamlet speaks these lines at the conclusion of Act 1, Scene 5. To understand exactly what he means, one has to take note of what has gone on before.

Prior to Hamlet saying this, he had been visited by his father's ghost, which had been haunting the area just below the battlements for some time. Horatio informed hamlet of the visitations. Hamlet then visited the battlements where he eventually encountered the spirit. After identifying itself, the ghost commanded:

Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.

Hamlet is shocked at this revelation and promises to immediately rush to his revenge:

Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift
As meditation or the thoughts of love,
May sweep to my revenge.

Hamlet is devastated when he hears that it was his uncle, Claudius, now his new father and king of Denmark, who had so maliciously killed his father by pouring poison into his ear whilst he was sleeping in the orchard. What makes the crime even more malevolent is the fact that Claudius had seduced the virtuous Gertrude, Hamlet's mother, and married her after he had killed his own brother, a most unnatural act. Furthermore, king Hamlet was not even granted the opportunity to seek divine redemption, for he was murdered in his sleep. Because of this, he was damned to everlasting perdition. All of these should urge Hamlet to a speedy vengeance, which he has promised. As dawn approaches, the ghost disappears.

Hamlet later speaks to Horatio and Marcellus and swears them to secrecy about what they had witnessed. It is then that he speaks the lines quoted in the question. By saying that 'The time is out of joint', Hamlet means that everything has turned topsy-turvy, the natural order of things has been turned upside down, nothing is normal or as it should be. These references stem from what he has just learnt from the ghost and also the current situation in Denmark, which is preparing itself for an invasion by a rebel Norwegian force led by Prince Fortinbras.

In saying 'O cursed spite', Hamlet is suggesting that the forces of destiny have been spiteful and have cursed him. Why? 'That ever I was born to set it right.' He feels cursed about his birth, not about the fact that he has to correct the wrongs in Denmark. The unnatural order has to be restored. Hamlet does not question this fact, but he does question why he was born to do it.

Hamlet has promised to adopt an antic disposition - feign madness - to enact his revenge, but we learn later that he procrastinates to such an extent that many others die as well. This is probably because he was not really that willing to do his duty, in spite of the solemn pledge he had made to his father's ghost.

Who is the first boy to die? Who announced it?

The first person to die is the boy with the mulberry-colored birthmark on his face, who first spoke of the Beast during the assembly. 

The boy's death is not narrated, nor is his body found; he is simply never seen again, leaving everyone to assume that he died. His death is partially representative of the loss of innocence on the island, due to the fact that he introduced the Beast, but died from the boy's negligence. 

Following the assembly, the boys decide to build a fire on top of the mountain to facilitate their rescue. Being rushed and careless about it, they allow the fire to grow too large, and some of the sparks it throws off ignite the dry wood on a part of the mountain where some of the littluns had gotten distracted and began looking for fruit instead of helping with the fire. Suddenly the place where the littluns were is on fire, and Piggy is attempting to argue some sense back into everyone by trying to account for all the boys, and stating that he doesn't see the birthmarked boy. This seems to wake the others up, as they all realize this boy is unaccounted for, and is probably dead.

Do you think it was unfair of Grandaddy Cain to expose the film in "Blues Ain't No Mockingbird"? Why or why not?

Since such a question as this is subjective, the student should express his/her own feelings based upon the student's character analysis of Granddaddy and Granny, as well as on an interpretation of the events of the plot.

Of course, one opinion is that Granddaddy is justified in his actions because the camera man and "smilin' man," who work for some department of the government, have been previously told by Granny that she does not want them filming anything on her property:

"Mind if we shoot a bit around here?"
"I do indeed," said Granny with no smile.....
"Suppose you just shut that machine off, said Granny through her teeth.

After Granddaddy arrives with the bloody hawk on his shoulder, "Smilin' and Camera" go behind him recording what he is doing. Then, Granny calls to her husband to "Get them persons out of my flower bed," an expression which may mean more than it seems. Still, Granddaddy continues what he is doing until he hears Granny making a "low groanin music." Responding to this sign of his wife's outrage, he turns and holds out his huge hand. Smilin' whispers to the camera man that Granddaddy wants him to hand him the camera. 

For whatever reason, perhaps because of his formidable presence, the camera man does give Granddaddy the camera, and then the huge hands take the camera apart, exposing the film. When asked why he has done this, Granddaddy replies, 

"You standin in the misses' flower bed....This is our own place."

Since the men are (1) trespassing, and (2) the camera man has willingly handed the camera to Granddaddy after disregarding denied permission, an argument can be made that he is justified in exposing the film as these men have invaded the privacy of personal property owners and filmed them without their permission.

How does Auden describe the unknown citizen? Does he have any freedom to live?

In his poem, "The Unknown Citizen," Auden set forth an inscription upon a monument dedicated to this unknown man, much as we dedicate a monument to an unknown soldier.  The poem describes the man as one who is utterly conforming, someone who has lived his life checking off the right boxes. He worked, he paid his union dues, he was never a disruptive force in school, he had "the proper opinions" (Auden line 23), he had the consumer goods he was expected to have, and the requisite number of children for his generation.  In short, he did everything the state and society expected him to do.

It is at the end of the poem that Auden asks,

Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:  

Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard (lines 28-29).

Auden is saying that freedom and happiness are absurdities for a man in this state and society.  These are not of concern. Conformity is all that matters, and this society chooses to erect marble monuments to that conformity.  So, certainly, the man was not free, and neither was he happy.  He did all the right things, though, and that is all that counts.

If you were able to design the EDSs in Tom Godwin's "The Cold Equation," would you make any changes to the way the ships functioned? Why or why not?

In Tom Godwin's short story "The Cold Equation," the purpose of the Emergency Dispatch Ships (EDS) is to deliver emergency supplies and other emergency assistance to colonies that are so distant that it is expensive for the hyperspace cruisers to reach them by making unscheduled stops. In order to ensure that the EDSs reach their very distant destinations at a useful time and speed, the EDSs must be very small and lightweight. Since they must be small, their only possible source of fuel is rocket fuel. But, since they must remain lightweight, they can only carry a very limited supply of rocket fuel. Though the engineering poses unexpected problems, such as the possibility of having to execute innocent stowaways, the reality is that if the design was any different, the EDSs would not reach their destinations in the short amount of time needed to be able to save lives.

The only way in which one might imagine designing the EDSs in such a way as to prevent a situation like Marilyn's is if we imagine that a newer, lighter weight fuel source might be discovered in outer space. Otherwise, sadly, according to the laws of physics, the design of the EDSs would have to remain the same.

Where is Boo Radley's description located in To Kill a Mockingbird?

It is difficult to pinpoint specific page numbers for passages since so many different editions of this famous novel are now in print.  However, I can give you some chapters in which some descriptions of Boo Radley occur.  For example, Jem gives this very imaginative description in Chapter 1:

Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that's why his hands were bloodstained—if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time.

Of course, none of these descriptions turn out to be true.  These are primarily the fantasies of children and local tall tales.  As Jem, Scout, and Dill grow and mature, their perceptions of Boo Radley change and mature as well.  In Chapter 5, they decide to invite Boo out of the house by sending him a note on a fishing pole.  They are becoming empathetic to the "malevolent phantom" of the neighborhood, wondering what it must be like to be so secluded for so long.  After Tom Robinson's trial, Jem takes another step toward maturity and toward understanding Boo Radley when he says that perhaps Boo has not stayed inside all these years by force, but instead by choice.  Finally, in Chapter 29, the reader is treated to a description of the actual Arthur Radley:

His face was a white as his hands, but for a shadow in his jutting chin.  His cheeks were thin to hollowness; his mouth was wide; there were shallow, almost delicate indentations at his temples, and his gray eyes were so colorless I thought he was blind.  His hair was dead and thin, almost feathery on top of his head.

This description is so far removed from the one given in the first chapter that it is easy to see how much the children have grown in their ability to truly see others for who they are, not what the Maycomb gossips proclaim them to be.

Which detail helps describe the primary setting of the story?

There is not any one detail that adequately describes the setting. The story is set in and around a small home in the rural south during the 1930s and we know this over the course of reading the story. 

If we had to choose a passage full of detail that adequately captures some of the setting, we might begin with the first paragraph. In it we are introduced to the kitchen which will appear many other times in the story, and which is the centerpiece of many of the main characters' interactions. 

"Imagine a morning in late November. A coming of winter morning more than twenty years ago. Consider the kitchen of a spreading old house in a country town. A great black stove is its main feature; but there is also big round table and a fireplace with two rocking chairs placed in front of it. Just today the fireplace commenced its seasonal roar" (Capote).

This sets up a cozy, welcoming, and rustic setting. The details in this paragraph that tell us this are the large round table (think big family gathering spot), the large roaring fireplace (warm and cozy) and the two rocking chairs (they can spend time sitting in front of the fire!). The setting is familial and warm.

Describe the relationship between Tom and Daisy Buchanan from the novel The Great Gatsby.

Tom and Daisy Buchanan have a marriage of convenience.  Tom likes the idea of a beautiful and socially savvy wife; while Daisy enjoys having a wealthy and well-connected husband.  Their relationship is toxic and unhealthy, yet they seem to have no intention of working to make it better.

Tom is publicly unfaithful and has been so since their honeymoon.  He had a fling with a maid in a Santa Barbara hotel where he and Daisy were guests that ended up in the newspaper after the two had a car accident in which the maid broke her arm (a little foreshadowing, perhaps?).  Later, we find out that Tom even carouses publicly, not caring who knows about his promiscuity:

The fact that he had one [mistress] was insisted upon wherever he was known. His acquaintances resented the fact that he turned up in popular restaurants with her and, leaving her at a table, sauntered about, chatting with whomever he knew.

Apparently, Tom is also abusive to Daisy:

We all looked – the knuckle was black and blue. 

"You did it, Tom," she said accusingly. "I know you didn't mean to, but you did do it."

But Daisy can not be counted completely innocent.  On the night before her wedding to Tom, she knew that she was in love with Gatsby, but she also knew that at the time, he had little money.  So in the bright light of the next morning, she got up, put on the string of pearls that Tom had bought her, and married him anyway.  Perhaps, then, Daisy is guilty at the least of emotional infidelity.

This couple is just a mess.  They trample on each other and on all those around them, and they find myriad excuses for their behavior.  Tom sums it up when he explains why his cheating is really meaningless:

"And what's more, I love Daisy too. Once in a while I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time."

How does the speaker characterize the bird's singing in "Ode to a Nightingale"?

The nightgale's song is best thought of as a kind of ethereal, other-worldly music of great beauty that can never be fully understood or embraced by man. There is also the sense that man, bound by earthly cares, can appreciate the beauty of the nightingale's music, but can never capture that beauty in poetry. In this sense, the nightingale's song is a reminder of man's mortality.

Here's a quick reading of the poem: 

Keats contrasts the beautiful sound of the bird's song with the his own sad mood. The nightingale sings, it seems to the poet, of summertime. This makes the poet think longingly of summer: the famous line, "O for a beakerful of the warm south!" (l. 15) introduces a secondary theme of the poem, which is how the gaiety of the nightingale's song just makes the poet wish to leave his cares behind ("That I might drink, and leave the world unseen, And with thee fade away into the forest dim" l. 20). The nightingale does not know of the troubles of men; the speaker says that he will escape his cares by using poetry to join with the nightingale and his song ("Away! away! for I will fly to thee, / Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards, / But on the viewless wings of Poesy" ll. 31-33), or, in other words, to leave this life behind:

Now more than ever seems it rich to die, 
To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad In such an ecstasy!
Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain—
To thy high requiem become a sod. (ll. 55-59)

This means that it seems good the speaker to die, because it would ease his pain, but thinks of how his death would be irrelevant to the nightingale, which would sing on after his death. He realizes that the nightingale has a kind of immortal nature -- the song he hears is the same song "heard in ancient days by emperor and clown." (l 64) This thought brings him out of his day dream, and the song of the nightingale fades away, leaving the speaker to wonder, "Fled is that music -- do I wake or sleep?" (l. 80)

Identify a major advantage and a major disadvantage of using renewable energy resources to produce electricity.

Renewable energy resources are those energy resources that are going to last forever because they are replenished quickly. Some examples of such resources are solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy, biofuels, wave energy, tidal energy, etc. One of the biggest advantages of such resources is that they are (practically) unlimited in quantity and more importantly, do not generate carbon dioxide (except for biofuels) which cause the greenhouse effect and global warming. Fossil fuels' shortage of supply and their contribution to global climate change are big worries and renewable energy sources have provided a good alternative. One of the biggest disadvantages of renewable energy sources is that many of them (such as solar and wind energy) are location-specific and the existing infrastructure is not designed for them, thus necessitating modifications in the infrastructure. Many of these sources generate energy intermittently (say during windy hours or sunshine hours, etc.) and require batteries for energy storage. The fact that their efficiency is low is another disadvantage. 

Hope this helps.

I'm writing an essay on how the three branches affect our government. What do I put for the executive branch?

There are many things that you can say for how the executive branch affects government.  It is the source of most of our leadership and ideas.  It is also the main force in foreign affairs.  Finally, it implements all the laws that Congress passes.  All of this makes it rather important.

In our system as it stands today, most leadership comes from the president.  The president is much better-known than anyone in Congress.  People expect the president to be the one to come up with major ideas and proposals.  Big changes in our government rarely come about because someone in Congress suggests them.  This is a major role that the executive branch plays in our system.

Our system also gives the executive branch the greatest power in foreign affairs.  Presidents do have to get Congress’s consent if they want to declare war and the consent of the Senate if they want to make a treaty, but there is much that they can do without this consent.  For example, President Obama’s deal with Iran is not a formal treaty and therefore does not need to be ratified by the Senate.  As another example, President Obama has essentially complete control over what our military does with respect to Syria. 

Finally, the executive branch carries out the laws once they are passed.  This is a much less visible power, but it is still important.  When Congress passes laws, someone has to be in charge of carrying them out.  This gives the executive branch power because that branch gets to decide exactly how the laws will be carried out.  It also makes the executive branch a vital part of our system because without it our laws could not be carried out.

In all of these ways, the executive branch affects our system. 

How are Macbeth and Macduff similar? How are they different?

At the start of the play, both Macduff and Macbeth are similar in that they display great courage and skill on the battlefield. They also share a similar loyalty to king Duncan and their beloved Scotland, since they are prepared to sacrifice their lives in defence against the traitor's Macdonwald, the thane of Cawdor and the Norwegian forces led by Sweno. We hear glowing reports of their skill in fighting off and ultimately vanquishing the enemy. The two men are both held in high esteem by the king and his subjects alike.

The primary difference between the two is that Macbeth is driven by selfish ambition and he wishes to obtain the ultimate rank, by fair means or foul. He formulates an evil plot to get rid of not only his king but also his cousins, Malcolm and Donalbain, since he is closest in relation to the king after them. With them out of the way, the crown would become his. Macduff, on the other hand, is loyal to his country and does not have any selfish, over-riding ambition. Even when Malcolm tests him to see whether he would be loyal to his king, no matter how corrupt he may be, Macduff says that he would rather go into exile than serve such a tyrant. Clearly, his country means more to him than any man, even himself.

This is a sentiment absent in Macbeth. Macbeth becomes a ruthless tyrant. He murders all and sundry whom he deems a threat to his position. He has no qualms in assassinating even his closest allies such as Banquo. He shows scant remorse when he has Macduff's entire family, servants and all, cruelly murdered. He does not even seek redemption from Macduff. He has become so paranoid and filled with blood lust that he shows no exception in who he has executed. He is cruel and unforgiving. Even when Lady Macbeth dies, he is more matter of fact in his response than compassionate.

Macduff, though, is completely overwhelmed and distraught on hearing reports about his family's murder. He is then even more determined to confront the perpetrator, Macbeth and slay him for committing such a horrendous evil. Furthermore, it is evident that Macduff cares about his family, even though he had abandoned them to seek help in England to redress the anarchy in Scotland.

Macbeth has only his wife and has to endure the thought of leaving behind a barren crown. Where Macduff's relationship with his family seems of a more loving and caring nature, Macbeth's relationship with his wife seems more practical and is guided and sustained solely by their common greed. There are hardly any scenes in the play where the two express great love for one another - however, they are inseparable partners in crime.

When Macbeth and Macduff confront each other in the final scenes of the play, it is clear that both men are unrelenting and would fight to the very end, a sign of their determination and resolve. There is a difference though, Macbeth is driven by the witches' predictions. He has been encouraged by the fact that 'none of woman born shall harm Macbeth.' He emphatically believes that he has the upper hand in his confrontation with Macduff, who shatters this idea by telling him that he had been 'from his mother's womb untimely ripp'd'. At this, Macbeth realises that he had been deceived by the witches' predictions and he then damns them. Macduff kills and then beheads him.

In this also, it is clear that the two men are different. Macbeth had placed his destiny almost entirely in the hands of the witches and believed everything they told him. He was gullible and foolish in this regard. Macduff, on the other hand, fled Scotland and took charge of his own destiny. He went to England to seek assistance so that he may free his beloved Scotland from the ravages imposed on it by the tyrant Macbeth. Unlike Macduff, it is also clear that Macbeth had lost love for his country and was guided solely by greed and self-interest.

 Ultimately then, Macduff's noble actions deserve our respect and admiration whislt Macbeth's ruthless and vile nature deserves our contempt.

Describe the relationship between cells, chromosomes, genes, and DNA.

Cells

Cells are the basic units of living organisms. Cells perform several important tasks including:

• providing structure


• extracting nutrients 


• producing energy


• reproducing genetic material

Cells in different parts of an organism may be specialized and perform unique functions. Cells also contain many specialized parts called organelles, which perform a variety of functions that help the cell accomplish its tasks.

Cells include a special structure called the nucleus. The nucleus of a cell contains chromosomes.

Chromosomes

Most human cells contain twenty-three pairs of chromosomes (forty-six total chromosomes). One chromosome in each pair is inherited from each parent. 

Chromosomes are composed of protein and long strands of DNA.

DNA

DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid. DNA contains all of the instructions for creating an organism. These instructions are "coded" into the DNA molecule using four different nucleotide bases. Nucleotide bases are the basic structural units of DNA molecules. The four nucleotide bases are: adenine (A), cytosine (C), thymine (T), and guanine (G). 

Specific sequences of DNA nucleotide bases are called genes.

Genes

Genes are the basic units of heredity. The nucleotide sequence of a gene codes for the production of a specific protein. Proteins are composed of amino acids. Every three nucleotides along a gene sequence codes for a particular amino acid. Proteins are produced as amino acids are assembled in the order indicated by the nucleotide sequence of the gene. 

Why does the Community wait until December to name their children in The Giver?

Children are not given a name for the first year of life, until they have met all of the requirements to join a family.

All children in the community are given a number when they are born. The number is, logically, based on their birth order.  Children are not born randomly in the community.  Fifty births a year are planned, and the babies are born to birthmothers and then whisked away to the Nurturing center, where they are cared for by a suitably distant staff until December.

Jonas's father's title was Nurturer. He and the other Nurturers were responsible for all the physical and emotional needs of every newchild during its earliest life. It was a very important job, Jonas knew, but it wasn't one that interested him much. (Ch. 1)

All children born in a year are officially the same age.  They may be physically different in age by a few months depending on when in the year they are born, but they are all still newchildren until December.  They are carefully tracked to make sure they are meeting the milestones for their age, and then assigned to a family unit. At that point, they are given a name.

When one of the newchildren does not develop as fast as he is supposed to, Jonas’s father looks up what his name will be.

I looked up number Thirty-six--that's the little guy I've been concerned about--because it occurred to me that it might enhance his nurturing if I could call him by a name. (Ch. 2)

Jonas’s father is actually breaking a rule.  No one calls the babies anything but their numbers for the first year of life.  They are nurtured, but dispassionately.  They are not loved.  Love does not exist.

This may seem strange to us.  After all, in our society we understand the crucial need to bond with an infant.  Those early months are very important to a child’s development, and they are also the months when babies get close to their parents.  This is a concept known as attachment.

In Jonas’s community, the desire for Sameness takes precedence over attachment.  Attachment is forbidden.  By taking the babies away from their mothers and having them raised in an institutional setting, the community pretty much guarantees that the babies will form less of an attachment when they do get assigned to a family.

Babies who do not meet the milestones by December, or who are deemed inappropriate for some other reason, are quietly released.

Release of newchildren was always sad, because they hadn't had a chance to enjoy life within the community yet. And they hadn't done anything wrong. (Ch. 1)

The population is tightly controlled and Sameness enforced by this procedure.  If no babies have been released, fifty will be given to families.  If a baby is released, it never has a family at all.

Having all of the children born in a year officially the same age, regardless of their actual age, and assigning them a name only when they turn “One” officially at the Ceremony of One in December ensures Sameness.  Everyone gets a baby the same way. Family units, which are created for the sole purpose of raising the children, only get two infants assigned to them (at different times).  Everything always happens in lockstep, to keep the community perfect.

An arrow is fired straight upwards at a speed of 50.0m/s from the top of a building 100m above the ground. How long does it take to strike the...

Hello!

Using Newton's Second Law, one can obtain the known formulas for such a movement:

`V(t)=V_0-g t,`  `H(t)=H_0+V_0t-g t^2/2,`

where `t` is the time from the start, `V_0` is the initial speed, `H_0` is the initial height and `g approx 10m/s^2` is the gravity acceleration. `V` is the speed of an arrow as a function of time, `H` is its height.

The time `t_1` until an arrow strikes the ground must be positive and satisfy the equation `H(t_1)=0`  (ground level is assumed zero). This is a quadratic equation. In numbers it is:

`100+50t-5t^2=0,` or `t^2-10t-20=0.`

So `t_1=5+sqrt(25+20) approx 11.7(s).` I used the quadratic formula here. The solution before the root is negative.

Next, the maximum height is when an arrow finishes its rise and will begin to fall, i.e. when `V(t)=0.` This is  `t=V_0/(g)=5(s).` The height above the ground is `H(5)=100+250-125=225(m).`

And the final speed is the speed at `t_1,`  `V(t_1)=50-10*11.7=-67(m/s).`  This means  `67m/s`  downwards.

So the answers are: an arrow strikes the ground after about 11.7 s, its speed before that moment will be about 67 m/s downwards, and the maximum height above the ground will be about 225 m.

What is an example of onomatopoeia used in the story ''The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty''?

James Thurber uses many made-up words in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," but only two or three seem to qualify as examples of onomatopoeia, which is the creation of words that imitate natural sounds. The word "pocketa," which is always repeated at least three times with hyphens between each, is used in several of the fantasy episodes of the story. The first time is when Mitty is driving his wife to town on a shopping trip.

The pounding of the cylinders increased: ta-pocketa-pocketa-pocketa-pocketa-pocketa.

The pocketa-pocketa-pocketa sound increases because Mitty is unconsciously pressing harder on the accelerator. He is imagining that he is piloting a "huge, hurtling eight-engined Navy hydroplane" through an approaching storm, until his wife intrudes with the shrill voice of reality.

"Not so fast! You're driving too fast!" said Mrs. Mitty. "What are you driving so fast for?"

Then when Mitty is the famous surgeon in the operating-room episode:

A huge, complicated machine, connected to the operating table, with many tubes and wires, began at this moment to go pocketa-pocketa-pocketa.

The situation becomes more critical when the machine starts going:

pocketa-pocketa-queep-pocketa-queep

"queep" would be another onomatopoetic word.

When Mitty is fantasizing about being a World War I flying ace:

The pounding of the cannon increased; there was the rat-tat-tatting of machine guns, and from somewhere came the menacing pocketa-pocketa-pocketa of the new flame-throwers. 

There's that "pocketa-pocketa-pocketa" again! And the "rat-tat-tatting" is a third example of onomatopoeia.

Thurber loved to make up words which are not technically onomatopoeia. In the operating room scene Mitty is told that the patient has "Obstreosis of the ductal tract. Tertiary." And moments later he is told that "Coreopsis has set in." This is all nonsense, but the kind of nonsense that Thurber admirers love. 

What is the plot diagram for chapter 4 in To Kill a Mockingbird?

A plot diagram is a graphic organizer that looks like the top of a triangle or a peak of a mountain. On the bottom left there is the exposition, setting, and characters. Climbing up the hill is the escalation of events that move the plot forward towards the climax, which is at the very top. Then, down the right-hand side, after the climax, is the resolution. Fill in the information according to what happens in the story, or in this case, chapter 4 of To Kill a Mockingbird.

Chapter 4 mostly deals with Jem, Scout, and Dill (characters) trying to fill up their days of summer vacation with something interesting to do. They generally play in the Finch's yard (setting) and are very interested in the myths and legend surrounding the mysterious Boo Radley (exposition). The children's goal, then, is always to be doing something interesting or fun; but when it has to do with Boo Radley, or the Radley home, things get intense (plot).

The first event that surprises the children is Jem pushes Scout so aggressively in the tire that she rolls down the street and right up to the Radley front porch. Legend says that the Radley place means death, so Jem yells at Scout to get out of there quickly, but also to bring back the tire with her. She runs, but leaves the tire and tells Jem to go get it. 

"'Go on, it ain't far inside the gate. Why, you even touched the house once, remember?'

Jem looked at me furiously, could not decline, ran down the sidewalk, treaded water to the gate, then dashed in and retrieved the tire.

'See there?' Jem was scowling triumphantly. 'Nothin' to it. I swear, Scout, sometimes you act so much like a girl it's mortifying'" (38).

Tensions are high between brother and sister because of their relationship, but also having to face the Radley house. In an effort to further show how brave he is, Jem declares that they will play out the life of Boo Radley in their yard--like a game. They end up playing out the story of when Boo supposedly stabbed his father in the leg with scissors, which the whole neighborhood knows about. Scout is afraid that Boo will see them playing out his life's story and haunt them during the night (the plot thickens). 

The story that the kids play out gets more dramatic as the summer goes on. Jem always runs into the house and gets the real scissors in order to play the part where Boo stabs his father. One day, Atticus comes home and asks why they are playing with scissors (climax). He asks Jem if they have something to do with the Radleys and Jem lies. Atticus says, "I hope it doesn't" and goes in the house (40). The kids aren't sure after being caught by their dad if they should continue playing the Radley story. Scout doesn't want to, though, because the day that she rolled into their yard, she heard Boo Radley in the house laughing (resolution). Scout knows that Boo watches them play and she doesn't want to offend him and make him want to haunt her during the night.

What are some quotes from Into the Wild that support the idea of McCandless being ignorant?

Whether or not Chris McCandless was completely ignorant and very lucky most of the time is up to each reader to decide.  There are going to be readers that find McCandless inspiring, brave, and highly intelligent; however, I do believe that Krakauer provides solid evidence near the end of the novel that supports the idea that McCandless was ignorant of how seriously dangerous his sojourn into Alaska could be.  Krakauer includes some letters that he received from readers of his earlier articles about McCandless.  One of those letters includes the following quote.  

His ignorance, which could have been cured by a USGS quadrant and a Boy Scout manual, is what killed him.

While that is a brutally honest and somewhat harsh comment, I am inclined to agree with parts of it.  I believe that McCandless made an ignorant mistake by not taking a detailed topographic map with him into Alaska.  

If he’d known about it, crossing the Teklanika to safety would have been a trivial matter. Because he had no topographic map, however, he had no way of conceiving that salvation was so close at hand. . . Thinking that his escape route had been cut off, he returned to the bus — a reasonable course of action, given his topographical ignorance.

When Krakauer went to examine the bus where McCandless died, he brought some experienced woodsmen with him.  Upon examining the remains of a dead animal, those two men concluded that McCandless was ignorant about much more than just the local topography.  McCandless couldn't even tell the difference between a caribou and a moose. 

When I’d questioned Gordon Samel and Ken Thompson shortly after they’d discovered McCandless’s body, both men insisted — adamantly and unequivocally — that the big skeleton was the remains of a caribou, and they derided the greenhorns ignorance in mistaking the animal he killed for a moose. “Wolves had scattered the bones some,” Thompson had told me, “but it was obvious that the animal was a caribou. The kid didn’t know what the hell he was doing up here.”

What is the comparison between Corinthians 2:6-12 and Isaiah 64:4?

When comparing and contrasting different verses in the Bible it is important to remember that everyone interprets them differently and there is not necessarily a wrong or right interpretation. This is called hermeneutics, the branch of knowledge that focuses on the interpretation of the Bible (or other important literary texts). It is a bit difficult to compare Corinthians 2:6-12 and Isaiah 64:4 because Corinthians is from the New Testament and Isaiah 64:4 is from the Old Testament. When I read these two passages I feel they are alike in that they both tell us that God is here in Spirit, even though we cannot hear Him or see Him. Once we accept God into our hearts is when we can actually feel the true love He has for us. We must have faith in God and this faith will bring us eternal salvation. Again, this is purely interpretation and could mean many different things to others. 

Here are the verses from the King James Bible Online:

Isaiah 64:4

(4)For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.

Corinthians 2:6-12

(6) Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: (7) But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: (8) Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (9) But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. (10) But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. (11) For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. (12) Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

In chapter 6 of The Great Gatsby how did Nick learn the truth about Gatsby?

Nick learns the truth about Gatsby because Gatsby told him so himself (although much later).  Nick says that he didn't actually learn all of this information about Gatsby at this time, chronologically, immediately after the tea that reunited Gatsby with Daisy Buchanan.  Nick says, "He told me all this very much later, but I've put it down here with the idea of exploding those first wild rumors about his antecedents, which weren't even faintly true."  In other words, it seems like a sort of natural break in the telling of this story to pause and give us this information now, especially since Nick doesn't see much of Gatsby for a few weeks, presumably because Gatsby is so busy with Daisy and Nick is so busy with Jordan Baker.  Nick also says that he wants to establish the truth of Gatsby's past rather than continue to allow us to believe that any of the strange and terrible things people said about him at parties were true.

In the entry dated Friday, 2 April, 1943, Anne Frank says, "It is hard to speak the truth, and yet it is the truth." What does she mean?

From Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne speaks about what she feels is the truth about her relationship with her mother in the entry dated Friday, 2 April, 1943. Anne starts the entry by saying that she has acquired another "black mark" against her. When it was time for bed, Anne's mother goes to tuck her daughter in and asks, ". . . shall I say your prayers with you tonight?" (77). When Anne refuses her, her mother reveals that Anne's behavior towards her really hurts. Frustrated, Anne writes in her diary the following:

"It is hard to speak the truth, and yet it is the truth; she herself has pushed me away, her tactless remarks and her crude jokes, which I don't find at all funny, have now made me insensitive to any love from her side" (77).

When taken in its full context, Anne's truth is that she feels as though she does not love her mother. The truth is that Anne doesn't want anything to do with her mother as far as affection or bonding are concerned. When her father asks how she could hurt her mother in such a way, Anne reflects in her diary that she knows her parents want an apology, but she can't apologize for the way she feels about her mother. It is clear that Anne is not afraid to refuse her mother's love because she also refuses to pretend to return this love simply for her mother's sake.  

Why does Roger lose his balance when he tries to steal Mrs. Jones's purse in "Thank You, M'am"?

Author Langston Hughes introduced many symbolic elements into the story "Thank You M'am" and the purse is one of those elements. In short, simple terms, Roger loses his balance because the purse strap breaks as he tries to snatch it off Mrs. Jones' shoulder and he ends up falling backwards onto the sidewalk. As described by the author, the purse is heavy because it has so many things in it. In addition, Mrs. Jones is described as a stout woman who would not have budged as the purse was yanked from her shoulder. The strap gave way sending the combined weight of the purse and the boy tumbling backward onto the sidewalk together. Symbolically, this event and the fact that her purse was so heavy that it caused Roger to fail in his theft attempt, has been connected to the character of Mrs. Jones who knows right from wrong and despite her circumstances, not only lives by a moral code but attempts to share that moral code with Roger. One could also say then that Roger lost his balance and fell due to an author's symbolic gesture, the fall, which kept Roger from succeeding so that he could enter Mrs. Jones' world and be influenced by her as part of the story.

Who is Old Major in Animal Farm ?

Old Major is the oldest pig, a "prize Middle White boar" on Manor Farm. He is described as  

...twelve years old and had lately grown rather stout, but he was still a majestic looking pig, with a wise and benevolent appearance in spite of the fact that his tushes had never been cut (4). 

Most important, Old Major is the ideological inspiration for the animals' revolution and the formation of Animal Farm. His speech to an assembly of all the animals in Chapter One makes the animals understand that they are exploited on the farm, that Jones views them only as commodities to be used up and discarded. "The whole of our labor," he tells the animals, "is stolen from us by human beings" (7). Men were the enemy, he told them, and only by overthrowing Man could the animals ever be free. He went on to teach the animals a song, "Beasts of England" that would become the anthem of Animal Farm, at least until the pigs banned it. Old Major died soon after his speech, but it would become a founding moment on the road to overthrowing the humans and establishing what they hoped would be an ideal society of animals. 

It is important to understand that Animal Farm is meant to be an allegory of the Russian Revolution and the establishment of the Soviet Union. In this context, Old Major should recall the revolutionary writings of Karl Marx, whose writings, particularly the Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital, are echoed in animal form in Old Major's speech. Like Old Major, Marx was long dead when the Russian Revolution broke out, and the course of events in the Soviet Union was far from what he had envisioned.