I have to write an argumentative essay on whether or not zoos are valuable to society. I have to consider economic, ethical, and scientific issues...

This is an interesting paper and one that lends itself to a three point thesis statement.

A three-point thesis requires you to provide the three points you will be addressing and those often work as a mini-outline for your body paragraphs.. For example, "Zoos are ethically, economically, and scientifically valuable to society." This uses the wording of the assignment, provides three points for your body paragraphs, and also defines your position. 

You said that you feel zoos "serve a useful purpose," so you might add that wording. "Zoos are ethically, economically, and scientifically useful to society."

Remember each paragraph of your paper will provide evidence that shows why zoos are useful in each of those arenas, and you should also indicate who they are useful for. For example, when talking about how they are scientifically useful, who will benefit from the studies, research, etc... that occurs at zoos? When talking about the economic usefulness of a zoo, who benefits from the money earned by or spent on zoos? By reminding your reader who benefits, you more easily explain why the zoo can be viewed as "useful."

Who were the Puritans?

The Puritans were a group of people who wanted to reform the Church of England. They believed that the Church of England, known as the Anglican Church, didn’t go far enough in making changes. They believed the Anglican Church retained too many practices from the Roman Catholic Church. They believed the worship and ritual were not changed sufficiently. They felt more changes needed to be done.

In England, laws existed that dealt with the practice of religion. Since they opposed the practices of the Anglican Church, there wasn’t much hope of being able to freely practice their religion the way they saw fit to practice it. Thus, some people moved to Holland and then eventually to New England. The Puritans were able to freely practice their religion in the places. In what became an interesting twist, the Puritans didn’t allow for religious freedom in New England. People who had different religious views from the Puritans had to go elsewhere in the New World to freely practice their religion.

Did women play a significant role in the struggle against apartheid? Why?

Women played a vital role in fighting against apartheid, even though they were not in the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC) and other groups. Their resistance activities in South Africa went back to their roles organizing trade unions in industries such as laundry, clothing, and furniture in the 1920s. They were opposed to Afrikaner nationalism and fought against apartheid, or racial segregation, in unions. In addition, they wanted to end the classification of jobs by race. 

Once the National Party came to power in 1948, starting the era of rigid, legalized apartheid, women continued to fight against apartheid in unions, which the National party had instituted. To show their opposition, women in labor unions led strikes, which were then illegal. Women also formed the Federation of South African Women (FSAW) in 1954; many of their members came from the women's league of the ANC. They fought not only for the end of apartheid but also for greater rights for women of all races. Women were particularly upset about the pass laws that required Black South Africans to carry passes that restricted their movements. They organized demonstrations, including one in Pretoria in which they asked to see the Prime Minister (but were not allowed to do so).

In the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre, in which 67 Black South Africans were killed by the police, 40 women and 8 children were among the victims. After the massacre, the government turned to increased brutality, and women's organizations help set up day care centers and feed children. Women continued to fight against apartheid during its entire existence until 1994. While men held leadership positions, women were critical in helping to organize grassroots campaigns against apartheid. 

What is the role of spirituality in "Design" by Robert Frost?

"Design" is a sonnet by Robert Frost that like many of Frost's works reflects on simple, natural phenomena in a way that illuminates profound philosophical and human issues. The surface level of the poem is deceptively simple. It describes a spider sitting on a flower consuming a moth. The spiritual questions stem from the poet wondering not what is happening in the scene but why, as set forth in the lines:

What brought the kindred spider to that height,

Then steered the white moth thither in the night?

What complicates this image is the question of "design". The spider's life depends on the death of the moth. In a Darwinian universe, the "design" of the poem is the way nature operates to ensure the survival of the fittest, with the strong preying on the weak in a constant struggle for survival.

From a religious or moral point of view, this might appear unfair or even evil. The white moth set against the white flower appears innocent and does not in any way merit a slow painful death, trapped in a web and then eaten by a spider. Thus the poem makes us reflect on how the design of divine providence appears to care little for the individual.

The spider itself though raises another question in the minds of educated readers. Among the most famous sermons (and one growing out of New England, the region in which Frost lived and in which his poems are set) is "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" by Jonathan Edwards which compares humans to disgusting spiders dangled over a burning pit by a thin thread. This parallel suggests that all life is precarious and that the design which leads to the death of the moth at the hands of a spider will spare neither spiders nor humans in the end.

Finally, the speculation "If design govern in a thing so small" plays on the statement in Matthew 10:29 that "Yet not a single sparrow falls to the ground without your Father's [God's] knowledge" which suggests that God's design does, in fact, govern the smallest of creatures and thus that we must look at the moth and spider as part of that design rather than as a random event. 

Why is The Woman in White considered to be the first detective novel?

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins may not be the first detective novel ever written, chronologically, but it is certainly one of the earliest. The earliest Western mystery novel is probably E. T. A. Hoffmann's Mademoiselle de Scudieri, which concerns a series of mysterious jewel thefts during the reign of King Louis XIV of France. In the story, the King convenes a special tribunal to investigate the thefts, and the mystery is ultimately solved by Mademoiselle Scudieri. This story probably helped provide some inspiration to Edgar Allen Poe for The Murders in the Rue Morgue in the 1840s, and later to Wilkie Collins for The Woman in White, published in 1860. Notably, Wilkie Collins followed this novel with another mystery, The Moonstone, published in 1868, which is without question Collins' masterpiece.

As to why mystery novels had not appeared earlier: between the 17th and 19th centuries, much of Western Europe underwent a great deal of population growth and concentration in large urban centers. The last plague in London ended in 1750, the population began to rise, and the industrial revolution was approaching its zenith. The common man could now make a living in centers of industry, rather than in agrarian settings, tied to the land. Cities such as London therefore experienced exponential growth--and a corresponding rise in crime.

Large groups of city dwellers required a more formal system of policing to maintain order. Up until this point, formal or informal watchmen were sufficient to keep order in urban centers. In 1797, however, the waterfront watchmen on the London docks were organized for the first time into a paid, dedicated constabulary.

By the early 19th century, maintaining law and order in Britain had become a national concern. In 1812, 1818, and 1821, Parliamentary committees were organized to address the question of law and order, and by the mid-1820s, Robert Peel, the British Home Secretary, had drafted a plan for a system of modern policing that would later become the Metropolitan Police Force.

The Metropolitan Police Force officially went into business in 1829, but even still, it wasn't until ten years later that the various groups of local watchmen still present in London were absorbed into the Force, and a unified system of policing came into being.

Because detectives didn't really exist, up to this point in history (in a formal sense, at least), it makes sense that modern detective fiction wasn't really written until around this time. By the late 19th century, of course, the Police were a professional and highly experienced British institution, and at the same time, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle began writing the brilliant Sherlock Holmes stories.

For more information about the history of policing and of detective work, please see the website of the London Metropolitan Police.

Why did Nixon think that improving relations with China would make the Soviet Union more cooperative?

President Nixon believed that improving relations with China would also lead to improved relations with the Soviet Union. President Nixon knew that Communist China and the Soviet Union were rivals in the communist world. He believed that if we played one against the other, we would get better relations with both countries since each country would want to have a better relationship with us than the other country would have with us.

In February 1972, President Nixon became the first President to visit Communist China. As a result of his visit, we resumed trading with China. He also indicated the United States wanted to recognize Communist China as the official government of China.

Three months later, in May 1972, President Nixon went to the Soviet Union for a summit meeting. One result of this meeting was the signing of the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty. This agreement limited the number of antiballistic weapons each country would have.

As predicted, improving relations with China led to improved relations with the Soviet Union.

In To Kill A Mockingbird, how does the motif of Boo Radley contribute to Scout's coming of age?

Part of Boo Radley's function in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is to demonstrate that outsiders can never truly judge the heart of another person. As shown in the Tom Robinson trial, as shown in Boo's reputation, and as shown on Scout's first day of school when she unknowingly embarrasses her teacher and her father has to remind her that you don't understand a person until "you climb into his skin and walk around in it," Scout is having to learn empathy. She's leaving the childhood world of black and white. It is gray and there are other people who see it differently.

Boo is this other world embodied, a "mockingbird." He appears creepy and scary to children, but in reality he is a kind soul. In the end, he is their protector as well. That's when Scout is able to forever leave the one-dimensional view of childhood. She's able to look at the whole story from another perspective, just as Atticus had been trying to teach her from the beginning. Finally, she can grasp it. She's grown up.

What are some examples of situational irony in Part 1 of To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee?

Situational irony occurs when a result or outcome is much different than what was expected. 

In Chapter 6, Scout, Jem, and Dill go to the Radley house at night. When Mr. Radley comes outside and fires his gun, the children run away. Jem's pants get caught on the fence and he has to leave them. He retrieves his pants and in the following chapter he reveals that they had been sewn and left folded across the fence. The children must have thought that if Jem was able to retrieve his pants, he would find them torn and stuck on the fence, but someone had fixed them. This was unexpected.

At the beginning of Chapter 10, Scout discusses how she and Jem think that Atticus is old and feeble: 

Atticus was feeble: he was nearly fifty. When Jem and I asked him why he was so old, he said he got started late, which we felt reflected upon his abilities and manliness. 

Jem always wants Atticus to play tackle football, but Atticus says he is too old for that. Scout and Jem do not view Atticus as a man of action. They don't feel that he is as manly or as active as other fathers of children their age. However, in this chapter there is a rabid dog on the loose. Heck Tate is poised to shoot the dog, but he asks Atticus to take the shot. Atticus reluctantly agrees and takes the shot. Scout and Jem are mesmerized. They would never have expected that Atticus was capable of such a thing. They would never have imagined that, as Miss Maudie says, "Forgot to tell you the other day that besides playing the Jew’s Harp, Atticus Finch was the deadest shot in Maycomb County in his time."

Can any character in The Great Gatsby be considered materialistic or possessive?

In a sense, every character in The Great Gatsby can be considered materialistic. As the novel depicts the decline of the "American Dream," each character continues to cling to the era's decadence.

The title character, Jay Gatsby, comes from an impoverished childhood in North Dakota. His life goal is to become rich and "great," though some of his ambitions are for his love of Daisy.

Daisy is a southern debutante who embodies "old money" and aristocracy. Though is she is capable of caring, her love of money and luxury outweigh any loyalty to anything but her own comfort.

Though Nick sees Daisy as a careless brat who hides behind her money, he himself succumbs to the luxuries of materialism and loses his way, blinded by Gatsby's affluence.

Tom Buchanan, Daisy's rich husband, represents materialism without knowing what he's become. He is sexist, racist, and has no morals in regard to anything.

What F. Scott Fitzgerald delivers in The Great Gatsby is a cautionary tale of the results of a world of hedonism and materialism. The excesses of wealth and the impulses of power bring only disaster to the characters involved, as well as innocents who become collateral damage.

Why does Calpurnia's way of speaking change when she is around other black people? Does this change make her honest or hypocritical?

The Finch's housekeeper, Calpurnia, lives in two different worlds. During the day, she exists in a white world and as such she presents herself in a very formal, proper way. As Calpurnia is a major authority figure in their lives, Jem and Scout are accustomed to seeing her behave in this way, which is why they are surprised when they accompany her to her church and see her behave in a very different way around other black people.

When considering Cal's dramatic shift in behavior or personality, it's important to remember the era in which the story takes place. Prior to racial integration, it was very common for whites and blacks to occupy different worlds. When these worlds did overlap, as in the case of Calpurnia working for a white family, black people often had to present themselves in a formal and deferential way or risk losing their jobs or worse. For that reason, Jem and Scout have never seen the side of Cal's identity and personality that comes out during her argument at church, where she is free to express herself without fear of losing her job or angering white people.

Additionally, Cal's job puts her in a difficult social position. She is very loyal to Atticus and the children, which some people could have perceived as a kind of betrayal of the black community.

In terms of whether she is being honest or hypocritical, the reader can interpret her change in behavior as being a more authentic representation of her identity and a demonstration of the conflict she feels as a result of being in two worlds. Throughout the story, she is a strong person who has no difficulty asserting herself. The only difference is the cultural limitations that are imposed upon her, which determine the ways in which she is able to assert herself. 

In A Tale of Two Cities, how does Lucie show compassion for Sydney Carton?

Lucie shows compassion for Sydney Carton by allowing him to come by her house and be a family friend even though he is pining for her.

The love story of Sydney Carton and Lucie Manette is a love story for the ages. It was also completely one-sided. Carton knew that Lucie did not and could not love him. In fact, he also knew that she loved another—Charles “Darnay” St. Evremonde. Lucie was compassionate and had a good heart. She saw through Sydney Carton’s façade of drunken irreverence to see a man in pain.

Carton was no doubt in a great deal of pain even before he met Lucie. Feeling his life was being wasted, he drank it away and put very little effort into it. He accompanied Stryver and allowed the other lawyer to take credit for his brilliance. Sydney Carton did not care about credit.

During Darnay’s trial, Carton used a legal trick to create reasonable doubt in the jury. Darnay was acquitted. From that point on, Carton became somewhat of a fixture in the Manette household, even as Lucie was falling in love with Charles. Carton was aware of this, and content to pine at a distance. Despite both his drunkenness and his brilliance, it seems Carton was shy—at least when it came to Lucie.

Carton finally got up the nerve to approach Lucie, and he was honest with her. In a very romantic but egotistical way, he told her that he loved her, but that he knew he couldn't have her. He didn't want to. All he wanted was to be in her life, and be of some service to her. He told her that she had saved his life. He lived for her now.

"Since it is my misfortune, Mr. Carton, to have made you more unhappy than you were before you knew me—"

"Don't say that, Miss Manette, for you would have reclaimed me, if anything could. You will not be the cause of my becoming worse." (Book 2, Chapter 13)

Lucie treated Carton with great respect during this conversation. She was sweet to him, and almost reverent, as she realized that he was willing to sacrifice everything for her. All he asked was to be in her life in this small way. His remarks were prophetic.

"For you, and for any dear to you, I would do anything. If my career were of that better kind that there was any opportunity or capacity of sacrifice in it, I would embrace any sacrifice for you and for those dear to you. Try to hold me in your mind, at some quiet times, as ardent and sincere in this one thing." (Book 2, Chapter 13) 

In the end, Carton made good on his promise. He was allowed to accompany the Manettes to Paris, and there he did what he could. He traded places with Charles, and died at the guillotine so that Lucie could be happy. It was his last romantic gesture.

In "This is What it Means to say Phoenix, Arizona," how does Sherman Alexie break the rules of the traditional plot structure?

(Because this is a question about plot, I'm going to do a lot of summary and no quotes.)

Sherman Alexie's "This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona" is told in real narrative time and flashbacks. While the story progresses in a traditional plot structure (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution), it is paired with non-chronological flashbacks that look at the boys' childhood and their relationship.

We can break this story into Story A, which follows along Victor's need to make it to Phoenix, Arizona to pick up his dead father's truck and the money he left in his savings account, and Story B, which is the real meat to the story in that it chronicles Victor's anger, both with his father and with Thomas, who represents Native American culture.

Story B is interesting because it does not follow chronology, instead it gives the positives and negatives of the boys' relationship. It starts with the boys at ten years old when they were friends on the Fourth of July, then jumps to the boys at fifteen, when Victor gets drunk and beats up Thomas. Then it goes back to the boys at twelve, when Victor steps in a wasp nest and Thomas helps save him, and then jumps to when Thomas jumps off a building and flies for a few seconds, causing the other boys to become a bit jealous. Finally, Story B ends with Thomas alone at school because no one wanted to be around him and his stories.

Coupling Story A with Story B allows Alexie to delve deeply into Victor's psyche and the pain his father caused him by leaving. It also demonstrates how Victor has rejected his culture and how the trip to Phoenix is one in which he can begin to re-learn what he has forgotten.

What does Rainsford say about the hunters and the hunted in the short story "The Most Dangerous Game"?

Richard Connell's short story "The Most Dangerous Game" is about a twisted hunting contest between two men. Sanger Rainsford, a famous big game hunter, is shipwrecked on a remote island where he meets the diabolical owner of the island, General Zaroff. Zaroff has grown bored with hunting animals, so he now hunts men on his island.

In the beginning of the story, Rainsford and his companion, Whitney, are on their way to the Amazon jungle to hunt jaguars. Just before Rainsford accidentally falls overboard, the two men have a discussion about hunting. Whitney believes that animals have feelings and that they actually know fear and suffering. Rainsford dismisses Whitney's ideas. He believes the hunted were put on the earth for the hunter and it doesn't matter how the animal feels. Rainsford says,

"This hot weather is making you soft, Whitney. Be a realist. The world is made up of two classes—the hunters and the huntees. Luckily, you and I are hunters." 

His words are ironic, as later in the story Rainsford becomes the "huntee" for the hunter Zaroff. He is a "beast at bay," and the reader may come to the conclusion that by the end of the story Rainsford will have a different appreciation of what the hunted animal goes through. It is doubtful Rainsford will ever hunt again after his experience.

Why was the 14 point plan by Woodrow Wilson passed in the first place?

Actually, only parts of Wilson's Fourteen Points were adopted.  The nation of Poland was established and Belgium was reestablished after a four-year hiatus during the war.  Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France.  However, the victorious powers wanted to gain from this war.  France wanted to see Germany punished so that she would never make war again.  Britain would not adopt the "freedom of the seas" clause in the Fourteen Points, as naval blockade was one of the key weapons used against Germany during the war.  During peace negotiations, Germany still faced a naval blockade that was killing many of her people due to starvation.  Wilson compromised on so much of his Fourteen Points in order to see the League of Nations passed, which was his fourteenth and final point.  While Wilson was popular and hailed as a hero in France as the one who ended the war and could promise peace, his Fourteen Points were mainly laughed at as being too ideological.  Senate Republicans killed the League of Nations here in America since they were not invited to go to the peace conference and they used European bickering over land as a way to convince the American people that the war was never for democracy, but about territorial squabble. The Fourteen Points in their entirety were never passed.  

`int_1^oo (x)/(2x^2-2c) Find a unique real number "c" which will allow the integral to converge. How would you do this problem?

Hello!

Let's transform the expression under the integral sign:

`x/(2x^2-2c)-c/(x+1)=(x^2+x-2cx^2+2c^2)/((2x^2-2c)(x+1))=(x^2(1-2c)+x+2c^2)/((2x^2-2c)(x+1))=`

`=(x^2(1-2c))/((2x^2-2c)(x+1))+(x+2c^2)/((2x^2-2c)(x+1)).`

The second fraction behaves as `1/x^2` at infinity and therefore the integral of it converges at infinity, even absolutely. Consider the first fraction, it must converge also for the sum to converge.

For `1-2c!=0,` i.e. for `c!=1/2,` this fraction behaves like `1/x` at infinity. More precisely, for `1-2cgt0,` i.e. `clt1/2,`

`(x^2(1-2c))/((2x^2-c)(x+1))gt=(1-2c)*(x^2)/(3x^2*2x)=(1-2c)/6*1/x` for sufficiently large `x.` So this integral diverges at infinity. The similar estimate works for `cgt1/2.`

So the only candidate is `c=1/2,`  for this `c` only the integral converges at infinity. But we have to check also the other possible critical points at `[1, oo).` They are the points where the denominator equals zero.

One of them is where `x+1=0,` i.e. `x_1=-1.` It is outside `[1,oo).` The next is where `2x^2-2c=2x^2-1=0.` They are `x_2=1/sqrt(2)` and `x_3=-1/sqrt(2),`  also outside the realm of integration. Good, no more critical points!

The answer: the only such `c` is 1/2.

Why has Egeus brought his daughter and her two suitors to Theseus in A Midsummer Night's Dream?

Egeus wants Theseus to force his daughter to marry Demetrius, the man of his choice.

Egeus has a problem.  His daughter does not want to marry the man he chose for her to marry.  Instead, she fell in love with someone else.  He goes to the king of Athens, Theseus, and asks him to intercede.

Full of vexation come I, with complaint
Against my child, my daughter Hermia.
Stand forth, Demetrius. My noble lord,
This man hath my consent to marry her.
Stand forth, Lysander: and my gracious duke,
This man hath bewitch'd the bosom of my child… (Act 1, Scene 1)

In Athens, a girl is basically the property of her father.  He will choose her husband, and she does not have a choice in the matter.  In this case, both Lysander and Demetrius are in love with Hermia but only one has his blessing.

Egeus tells Hermia that her father “should be as a god” to her, and his will is all that matters.  He gives her no good choices.  She can marry Demetrius, she can become a nun, or she can die.  As long as her father wants her to marry Demetrius, this is the situation.

Hermia reacts as most young girls would.  She insists that Lysander is “worthy” and begs for Theseus to pardon her.  Despite the dire consequences, she is stubborn.

So will I grow, so live, so die, my lord,
Ere I will my virgin patent up
Unto his lordship, whose unwished yoke
My soul consents not to give sovereignty. (Act 1, Scene 1)

Theseus urges her to take some time to think it over.  What she does do is try to elope with Lysander.  Things get extra complicated when she tells her friend Helena what is going on.  You see, Helena is in love with Demetrius!

As the pairs of lovers head into the forest, mayhem and hilarity ensue.  There are fairies and actors, and plenty of young hormones at work.  This is one of those instances where Egeus would have been better off just listening to his daughter.  In the end, he relents, and she is able to marry her love.  He would rather have his daughter with her choice than not have her at all.

In "A Sound of Thunder," when the time travelers return to the world of 2055, how was that setting changed? What details reveal the changes?

"A Sound of Thunder" describes the misadventure of a rich big-game hunter, Eckels, who has paid for a "time safari" - a trip to the distant past using a time machine, in order to hunt animals that are extinct, in this case dinosaurs. A considerable amount of the story is devoted to exposition and argument from the safari guides to the somewhat hapless Eckels, repeatedly emphasizing how delicate an affair time travel is, and the potential for any errors to be disastrous not just for themselves but for the reality they expect to return to when they get back in the time machine. 

When faced with the tyrannosaur he has arranged to kill, Eckels turns unexpectedly cowardly and falls off the safari's designated path; this was one of the things he was explicitly instructed not to do. At the time he is unaware that he has accidentally killed a butterfly. 

When the group returns to 2055, it is not immediately apparent that things have changed;

The room was there as they had left it. But not the same as they had left it. The same man sat behind the same desk. But the same man did not quite sit behind the same desk.

Two additional, specific details are provided; the wording on the Time Safari sign has changed to resemble a phonetic or illiterate form of English, and a different president has been elected. A general change in the setting is an unspecified, faint chemical smell in the air, perhaps included by the author to signify that the changes are both obvious and subtle, and that we don't always necessarily acknowledge all of the elements that compose the settings we are most familiar with.  

The overt message seems to be that this new version of 2055 is worse, specifically because its political and intellectual values have changed or diminished in quality, compared to what the characters expected.

Where do fireworks originate from, and how were they used?

Like many great inventions, the discovery of gunpowder was an accident. Around 2,000 years ago in Han China, the Chinese would throw hollow bamboo tubes onto a fire to produce a loud popping noise. Around a thousand years later, Chinese alchemists mixed together saltpeter, charcoal, sulfur and other ingredients which when heated, produced a loud bang. By packing the gunpowder into bamboo sticks, the first firecrackers were fashioned. The Chinese used firecrackers for religious rituals as it was believed that the loud bang would scare off evil spirits. Firecrackers were also used in festivities like weddings, festivities and many other celebrations. It did not take very long for the Chinese to develop gunpowder for military uses.

The Europeans were introduced to gunpowder when Marco Polo visited China. The material was brought back to England by the Crusaders.

Movie theaters charge differing prices to adults, children, and students, additionally, most theatres charge lower prices for afternoon showings....

The pricing strategy that you describe here is called price discrimination.  Price discrimination of this sort can help maximize profits for the movie theater by adjusting prices based on the different price elasticity of demand displayed by different segments of the market.

Let us imagine that students and children have a higher price elasticity of demand.  They have less disposable income and so any increase in the price of the movie makes them much less likely to attend.  Conversely, if the theater reduces the price of the movie, many more students and children are likely to attend.  Therefore, it makes a lot of sense for the theater to reduce prices for these two groups.  When the theater reduces prices, it attracts people who would not have come to watch the movie at the higher price. 

Of course, the theater could just lower the prices for everyone, but this would not maximize its revenue.  We assume that adults have a lower price elasticity of demand for movies.  They do not really care if the movie costs $1 or $1.50 more or less.  Lowering the price for adults will not bring more adults in.  Instead, it will simply cause the theater to lose money because they are selling tickets to the adults for less than the adults would be willing to pay.  By charging different prices, the theater gets more of the younger patrons without losing money on the adult viewers.

A similar dynamic occurs with matinee showings.  If not very many people would come to these showings (because of the less convenient time), it makes sense to reduce the price.  It is better to have more people coming at a slightly lower price than fewer people coming at a slightly higher price.  This, too, is a way of increasing and maximizing revenue.

Who alerts the firemen to the old woman's library at 11 North Elm Street? How does the woman react when the firemen arrive? What effect does this...

When the firemen arrive at 11 North Elm Street, they discover that the police have not arrested the homeowner prior to their arrival. Normally, the offender is handcuffed, with mouth duct-taped, and carted away before the firemen arrive to burn the books and house. This night is different because the old woman does not run away when they crash through her door. She does not even try to escape. In fact, she starts quoting something that Beatty later reveals as a man named Latimer speaking to a Nicholas Ridley as they were burned alive in 1555 for heresy.

"Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out" (36).

Beatty slaps her for saying this and asks where the books are. She tells them they should know by the alarm card they have. She sees the alarm card and complaint, which is signed "E.B." She surmises that the neighbor who reported her is named Mrs. Blake. Apparently, anyone can report someone for having books without providing a bit of evidence.

Once all of the books are piled into one spot in the house, they are about to light everything on fire when the woman won't leave. Not only will she not be moved, she strikes the match that burns herself along with her house. Montag is shocked and can't believe that anyone would burn themselves on purpose over books.

Montag's reaction grows exponentially after seeing the woman burn herself with her books. This is a pivotal moment in the story because this is the beginning of the end—the end of his fireman job and life as he knows it. Montag already had a stash of a few books at his house, so he had the book bug when he went to the old woman's home that night. He even stole one of her books before she killed herself. Once she dies, though, Montag is never the same. He questions his world, his job, and his marriage. He wonders what books have that would be worth dying for. He's got the itch and he must read. Bradbury describes this transitioning time for Montag as follows:

"So it was the hand that started it all. . . His hands had been infected, and soon it would be his arms. He could feel the poison working up his wrists and into his elbows and his shoulders, and then the jump-over from shoulder blade to shoulder blade like a spark leaping a gap. His hands were ravenous. And his eyes were beginning to feel hunger, as if they must look at something, anything, everything" (41).

The above passage shows that Montag seems to feel the "poison," or desire to discover books, as if it starts with the hand that stole the book and is now traveling through his whole body to a point of no return. This is exactly the case. After the old woman burns herself, Montag is deeply moved to find out why books are worth living and/or dying for. He's never the same after this event.

In 1984, what does the Chestnut Tree symbolize? Why did Orwell choose that specific tree as a name for the cafe?

The chestnut tree is often understood as a symbol of justice and honesty. We also hear the phrase "an old chestnut" to describe a story that has been repeated many times.

More specifically, Orwell connects The Chestnut Tree cafe to a song Winston hears twice on the telescreen during the course of the novel:

Under the spreading chestnut tree/I sold you and you sold me/There lie they and here lie we/Under the spreading chestnut tree.

Winston hears it the first time when he happens into The Chestnut Tree cafe before his arrest, when:

He [Syme] said things that would have been better unsaid, he had read too many books, he frequented the Chestnut Tree Cafe, haunt of painters and musicians. There was no law, not even an unwritten law, against frequenting the Chestnut Tree Cafe, yet the place was somehow ill-omened.

Winston hears the song again when The Chestnut Tree has become his home away from home after his arrest and release from prison, but this time only the first two lines: "under the spreading chestnut tree/I sold you and you sold me." These lyrics bring tears to his eyes.

Clearly, the song and the cafe represent Winston's betrayal of Julia and hers of him, and through it, everything they loved: "I sold you and you sold me."

Further, Orwell uses the line "They lie there and here we lie" to pun on the meaning of lie: in the song, it means lying down, but in the world of Oceania it means telling lies. 

If Orwell is thinking of "old chestnut" as a story repeated many times, then we have to believe that what Julia and Winston have undergone is an old story: they are not the first nor the last to be broken by the regime. The name also evokes the "old England" Winston longs for, but ironically the cafe represents the new world of the regime.

My sense of the novel is that Orwell was specifically referring to the song in naming the cafe, and not looking to the deeper symbolism of the tree as representing truth and justice, but certainly that deeper symbolism lurks ironically in the background, for in Oceania, the chestnut tree, once the symbol of truth and justice, is twisted into the symbol of lies and injustice. 

In "The Leap" by Louise Erdrich,the narrator speaks of the three ways that she owes her existence to her mother. Identify the three ways and a...

The narrator tells the reader that she owes her existence to her mother three times.  The first time was during a circus act in which her mother, Anna of the Flying Avalons, lost her husband in a tragic trapeze accident.  While on the trapeze, blindfolded, their circus tent was struck by lightning.  Anna’s husband fell to his death.  She could have

“….grasped his ankle, the toe-end of his tights, and gone down clutching him.” (pg 2)

In which case, she would have died also.  Instead she grabbed a heavy wire and was lowered to the ground.  She was seven months pregnant at the time.  The narrator, for we never do know her name, says she thought she must have hemorrhaged because they kept her in bed for a month and half before the baby was born dead.

The second time is when she met her husband in the hospital.  We are all products of our mother and father.  If that mother or father should change, a different person would be created.  So, by the fact that her mother married her father and bore her, she owes her existence to her.

The third time was when the fire occurred in their home.  The narrator was trapped in her upstairs room.  There was no way that the firefighters could get to her.  Her mother, using her trapeze skills, swung herself up to the window, grabbed her daughter, and jumped to the trampoline below held by the firefighters. 

Foreshadowing is used in this piece.  The reader knows that the girl is going to survive the fire because in the third paragraph, she says,

                “I owe her my existence three times.” (pg 1)

There is symbolism in the lamb figurine on top of her sister’s grave.  The lamb represents a young one who had died.

As each event unfolds in the story, they become more personal to the narrator, increasing the tension.  The death of her mother’s first husband is separate from her life.  Her parents’ meeting was the cause of her life, and the fire was a survival story of her life.  Each one involved the narrator more and more. 

Why is Ponyboy kind throughout the novel The Outsiders?

Throughout the novel, Ponyboy is a kind, empathetic individual who cares about others and tries his best to help them out. Although Hinton does not give extensive details about Ponyboy's life before his parents passed away, there are several pieces of evidence which suggests that Ponyboy inherited his kind personality from his parents. In Chapter 3, Ponyboy daydreams about life in the country and begins to think about his parents. In Pony's dream, his father is a happy man who encourages Darry, and Pony's mother is a sweet woman with an uncanny ability to communicate with others. Pony mentions that Dally would always say that he had "quite a mom" and comment on how "she knows the score." Pony goes on to say that his mother was "golden and beautiful" and was one of the few people who was able to settle Dally down. Taking into consideration the personalities of Ponyboy's parents, it is my opinion that his kind behavior is a result of how he was raised. Pony's maturation and developing perspective also contribute to his empathy for others and kind personality. 

Why did the basement suit Max?

Max uses Grim’s and Gram’s basement, what Max adequately calls his “down under,” as a safe escape from a world that does not understand him. We see an example of this at the very beginning of the book when Max first helps Kevin. Max retrieves Kevin’s toy from the tree and takes Kevin down to see his coveted “down under” area of the basement. Kevin’s mom, Gwen, doesn’t really know Max, is a bit afraid of him, and tries to protect her son. The way Gwen tries to protect Kevin is by removing him from Max’s “down under.” After this incident (and before Gwen calls to apologize), Max tells the reader a lot about what he thinks about the basement. The “down under” of the basement was “cool and empty. You don’t have to think about anything. You’re not even there.” This is the best evidence of Max using the basement as an escape. It is “cool and empty” as opposed to being hot and full of people who will judge him. It is also a place where Max does not have to “think about anything” as opposed to having to tax his brain like he does at school. It is a place where Max feels like he is “not even there” as opposed to being who he really is. Max will eventually learn, with Kevin’s help, to be proud of his character. As Max gains more self-confidence, he spends less and less time in the “down under” of the basement.

I am currently studying the sonnet "Go From Me" written by Browning, but there are a few things I do not understand. Here is the poem : "Go...

Browning here is speaking of transcending the physical distance between her and her lover. He may be taken from her physically, but she nonetheless experiences his presence as real and comforting.

The specific lines you ask about put this sentiment in sensual terms, contrasting the apparent separation and potential for loneliness with the emotional reality of being in communion with one's lover.

For the details, I will translate her poetry into explicit and mundane prose. The original is indented and in quotations. I reset the lines so you can better see the poet's complete thought. My translations follow each quote.

"Nevermore alone upon the threshold of my door of individual life,"

Nevermore when I make my way alone in the world…

" I shall command the uses of my soul, nor lift my hand serenely in the sunshine as before, without the sense of that which I forbore-- Thy touch upon the palm."

…shall I commit acts either of elevated, spiritual meaning ("command the uses of my soul") or simple sensual enjoyment ("lift my hand serenely in the sunshine") without remembering and feeling your physical and emotional presence ("Thy touch upon the palm [of my hand]").

The last part of the excerpt you ask about ("The widest..") needs to be understood in the context of the words that immediately follow.

"The widest land Doom takes to part us, leaves thy heart in mine with pulses beat double."

Here she is saying that even though "Doom" is trying to separate the lovers by putting a great gulf between them, she has, in her mind, his heart as well as hers. They aren't truly cut off by physical distance, because she feels his presence and love in her heart.

`A = 110^@, a = 125, b = 100` Use the law of sines to solve (if possible) the triangle. If two solutions exist, find both. Round your answer...

Given: `A=110^@, a=125, b=100`

The Law of Sines:  `a/sin(A)=b/sin(B)=c/sin(C)`

`125/sin(110)=100/sin(B)=c/sin(C)`

`125/sin(110)=100/sin(B)`

`sin(B)=[100sin(110)]/125`

`sin(B)=.7518`

`B=arcsin(.7518)`

`B=48.74^@`

`C=180-110-48.74`

` C=21.26^@`

`125/sin(110)=c/sin(21.26)`

`c=[125sin(21.26)]/sin(110)`

`c=48.23`

When Amir reminds a fellow gardener that she once called him a "dirty foreigner," she replies, "Back then, I didn't know it was you..." What does...

In the book, Amir tells of the time an old Italian woman had complained about receiving the wrong change at his store. Because of her prejudice against foreigners, the woman likely believed that Amir meant to cheat her. This is why she called him a "dirty foreigner."

The old Italian woman later meets Amir at the community harvest festival, but it is obvious that she does not remember him from before. During the festival, everyone trades vegetables and enjoys wonderful conversations about the harvests. The woman even confesses to Amir that she has admired his eggplants from afar for weeks, and she tells him how happy she is to finally get a chance to meet him. They discuss eggplants and the different ways to cook them; when the old Italian woman asks about Amir's family, Amir realizes that there is something bothering him.

Soon, he remembers what it is, and he tells the woman what's on his mind. The woman is visibly embarrassed and apologizes profusely. She tells him that "Back then, I didn't know it was you." This means that, previously, the old woman had let her preconceived notions about Indians cloud her judgment about Amir's character. Essentially, she misjudged him because of her prejudice. Her current statement alludes to the fact that, at the time, Amir was just another nondescript, untrustworthy foreigner to her. Now that the community garden has humanized Amir in her eyes, she regrets her past faulty judgment about him.

How does a first class lever make work easier?

First class lever is one of the 3 classes of levers and is the simplest lever. It consists of a fulcrum (the pivot) placed between the effort arm and load (or resistance) arm. It allows us to convert a downward force into an upward force, in other words, a push force into a lift force (think of children's see-saw). We can use first class levers to lift heavy weights by application of smaller effort. That is, small manual force can be used to do the job that requires a large amount of force. Examples of first class levers are hand cart, dolly, scissors, etc. Depending on the location of fulcrum, with respect to load and effort end, the manual effort can be either amplified or reduced. If the fulcrum is farther away from the effort end, the effort gets amplified, allowing us to lift heavier objects. This saves labor and speeds up the work.

Hope this helps.

In Fahrenheit 451, why did Montag think that Beatty wanted to die?

Beatty wanted to die because he felt that life was not worth living.  In Montag’s world, people committed suicide constantly.  Beatty was more intelligent and more aware than most.  He knew that the world was pointless.  He had read the books. He taunted Montag with them.  He knew what was happening, and did not try to stop it.  When Mildred called an alarm in on Montag, Beatty took a kind of sadistic glee in it.  He did not try to evade Montag when he turned on Beatty.

Although Montag was broken up about turning his flamethrower on Beatty and killing him, he realized that Beatty had wanted to die, just like everyone else.  This is why he did not try to stop Montag.

Beatty had wanted to die. He had just stood there, not really trying to save himself, just stood there, joking, needling … How strange, strange, to want to die so much that you let a man walk around armed and then instead of shutting up and staying alive, you go on yelling at people and making fun of them until you get them mad, and then .... (Part III) 

Knowing that Beatty had wanted to die and had goaded him does not make Montag feel much better.  He never wanted to kill a man.  Montag feels that there is more to life.  He reacts differently to the emptiness than the people who commit suicide.  He decides to seek out the book people and find out what more the world has to offer. (He has to outrun the Mechanical Hound first.)  He makes it just in time, because just after he gets out his city is bombed.

What were the 3 main reasons European explorers had to make ocean voyages in the late 1400s and early 1500s?

One reason for exploring was to find an alternative trade route to Asia.  Europeans frequently traded with merchants from China and other Asian countries, but travel to that region with difficult and time-consuming.  Some of the routes were also "controlled by other countries that blocked direct trade between European and Asian nations."  Christopher Columbus was one of the explorers whose goal it was to find a sea route to Asia.

Another reason for exploring and making the voyage across the ocean was to conquer and claim land.  Once European rulers knew that there was a vast amount of land that was somewhat uninhabited and unclaimed by other nations, they sought to claim it for their own.  Cortés and de Soto were two famous Spanish conquistadors who claimed land for their country.  One reason that they claimed the land was to gain riches from it.

A third reason for exploration was to spread the message of Christianity.  Some explorers believed that their journeys were the will of God.  They believed it to be their duty to convert the native people to Christianity.

What was Douglas MacArthur's role in ending the Japanese occupation of the Philippines?

Douglas MacArthur had served as the commander of a combined Filipino-American force in the Philippines when the Japanese attacked in December of 1941. The Japanese defeated his force, and MacArthur was ordered to leave the islands (abandoning the men under his command in the process) in 1942. He famously promised "I shall return" shortly after he left, and he kept this promise. In October of 1944, he returned with a large expeditionary force, landing at the island of Leyte. His invasion, which was part of the broader strategy to drive the Japanese from their conquests in the Pacific, was made possible by naval victories that cleared the way for the invasion force. This invasion, and the heavy fighting that followed, ended Japanese occupation of the Philippines. The Japanese forces were mostly destroyed by the spring of 1945. So MacArthur was driven from the islands when the Japanese occupation began, and commanded the forces that ended Japanese occupation. 

What are the relationships between these pairs of characters: Ralph and Jack, Ralph and Piggy, Ralph and Simon, Simon and Jack, and Jack and Piggy?

As the British schoolboys attempt to form their society on the island, they form different relationships with each other based on their personalities and roles. Here are the basic ways each boy relates to the other in these pairs.

Ralph and Jack, though they begin as friends, soon become competitors. Jack is jealous of Ralph from the beginning because he feels he should have been chief. Ralph wants to associate with Jack because he is the other boy who is most respected. However, when Jack begins to lose sight of the goal of being rescued, placing more emphasis on hunting, Ralph becomes more antagonistic toward him. Piggy and Simon have to inform Ralph that Jack hates him. Ralph seems unwilling to see the worst in Jack; even at the very end, he believes Jack will listen to reason and will negotiate with him. Jack will not be satisfied while Ralph exists as a challenge to his power; at the end, he hunts Ralph.

Ralph and Piggy have a one-sided friendship at first, but Ralph eventually begins to appreciate Piggy as an indispensable ally. First Ralph teases Piggy for being overweight and violates Piggy's request to not tell the other boys his nickname. Piggy remains loyal to Ralph despite Ralph spurning him at times. Eventually Ralph realizes that Piggy has the greatest intelligence of anyone on the island, but that Piggy cannot lead. Piggy is therefore the "brains behind the throne," so to speak. Piggy helps Ralph see things he is missing, and he helps keep Ralph focused when he starts forgetting about the signal fire. Ralph does stand up for Piggy, telling Jack it was a "dirty trick" to break his glasses, and eventually going to Castle Rock to try to get Piggy's glasses back. Ralph and Piggy are inseparable teammates from the time Jack leaves the camp.

Although Simon looks up to Ralph and wants to support him and be his friend, Ralph never really appreciates Simon's abilities. Ralph chooses Simon as one of the three explorers of the island, and he takes the advice of Simon and Piggy to continue being chief. However, he doesn't give credibility to Simon when he speaks up at the meetings; he mocks and belittles Simon's contributions and insights as much as the other boys do. He tells Simon to shut up and tells him he's batty. Ultimately, Ralph fails Simon during the feast and unwittingly takes part in his murder. He is plagued by guilt after that, although he and Piggy manage to rationalize away their part in the execution in order to be able to live with themselves.

Simon and Jack do not appreciate each other. Even when they are on the initial exploratory tour of the island together, Jack ignores Simon or belittles him. When Simon calls attention to the candle-bud bush, Jack overrules him by saying it can't be used for anything. When Jack states that the conch isn't needed anymore, an example he uses is that Simon's speeches haven't done any good. For Simon's part, he realizes that Jack would be dangerous as a ruler, so he encourages Ralph to go on being chief. Simon meets his death at the hands of all the boys, but during the dance that Jack has instigated.

Jack and Piggy hate each other. Jack is jealous of Piggy's relationship with Ralph, and he makes fun of Piggy for wearing glasses, being heavy, and having asthma. Jack punches Piggy in the stomach, breaks one lens of his glasses, and later steals his glasses. Eventually, under Jack's regime at Castle Rock, Piggy is murdered. Piggy is afraid of Jack. When Ralph suggests that he, Ralph, should no longer be chief, Piggy tells him that he must go on because Jack hates Piggy and also Ralph, implying that Jack's rule would be dangerous for all of them.

The relationships between the characters are realistic. Because no pair has a flawless relationship, the interpersonal conflicts add to the tension within the novel as the plot unfolds.

Genes are found on ___?

Genes are located on chromosomes.

Genes direct the production of proteins that are needed by the body for life activities. Proteins can act as structural parts, enzymes, hormones, signaling molecules and more.

What is a gene exactly? DNA is a very long molecule and it makes up our chromosomes. We get our DNA from both of our parents. Located along a chromosome can be hundreds or thousands of genes which are distinct units of heredity. The genes direct the synthesis of messenger RNA which carries this message to a ribosome which acts like a protein factory. The RNA is used to direct the correct assembly of amino acids to form a functional protein according to the genetic code.

A way to think about genes along a chromosome is to envision a strand of beads which represents the entire chromosome and each bead located on that necklace would represent a gene. Although this is somewhat simplistic, it is a good analogy.

What passages in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird show that peoples' racist attitudes changed?

For the most part, it can be argued that peoples' racist attitudes in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird do not change. Those who are more liberal-minded, like Atticus and his children, remain liberal-minded. Those who have racist beliefs, like the Ewells and some of the ladies of Aunt Alexandra's missionary circle, maintain their racist beliefs. The one exception seems to be Aunt Alexandra.

In the beginning of the book, Aunt Alexandra clearly has very racist attitudes. She disapproves of Calpurnia helping to raise the Finch children and especially disapproves when Calpurnia takes the children to her church. In Aunt Alexandra's mind, racial tensions boil down to African Americans talking among themselves about how discontented they are and stirring up rebellions. She fails to see Atticus's perspective that racial tensions are caused by the white's unfair treatment of the African Americans.

However, by Chapter 24 Aunt Alexandra begins showing disapproval of anyone speaking out against Atticus's decision to defend Tom Robinson. For example, during the meeting of her missionary circle, when Mrs. Farrow indirectly implies that Atticus's actions, though well-intended, only led to further discontentment, Aunt Alexandra shows gratitude when Miss Maudie speaks up for Atticus, forcing Mrs. Farrow to be silent. While Aunt Alexandra may still believe that blacks and whites have their separate places in society, her actions show that she at least respects her brother's attempt at creating unity.

Furthermore, when Atticus explains what happened to lead to Tom Robinson being shot, Aunt Alexandra's response is to say, "This is the last straw, Atticus," meaning that Robinson's unjustifiable death is the last injustice that there society can possibly bear. Aunt Alexandra's response to Robinson's death shows she is beginning to see the ways in which African Americans are mistreated in her society.

The “Corrupt Bargain” during the Election of 1824 indicates that the following was most central to the presidency at that time: A. The central...

John Quincy Adams won the election of 1824 because some people believed a “corrupt bargain” had been made. In the election of 1824, there were four candidates who were running for President. They were John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, William Crawford, and Henry Clay. In the Electoral College, no candidate got a majority of the votes. Andrew Jackson had the most votes, but not a majority. As a result, according to the Constitution, the House of Representatives would choose from the candidates who finished in the top three in the voting in the Electoral College. This eliminated Henry Clay who finished fourth.

In the House of Representatives, they voted to make John Quincy Adams the President. After Adams took over, he named Henry Clay to be his Secretary of State. People assumed a deal was made between Adams and Clay. Many people called this deal the “Corrupt Bargain.” This deal showed the importance of the position of Secretary of State. Many presidents held this position before they became president. Thus, Henry Clay may have sensed making this deal would enhance his chances at becoming President in the future.

In To Kill a Mockingbird, why does Harper Lee include the scene where Atticus shoots the dog?

There are both practical and symbolic purposes for including the incident where Atticus shoots the rabid dog.  First, the incident shows that the town of Maycomb looks to Atticus to do what most people can’t.  Second, it shows that Atticus is able to surprise his children.  The mad dog incident is also symbolic. Atticus defends the town for the first time in this chapter.  At this point, it is Atticus versus rabies.  During the Tom Robinson trial, it is Atticus versus racism.  Maycomb relies on Atticus to do its dirty work.

Scout is surprised to learn that her father has hidden talents.  She describes him as “feeble” and sees him as old.  Atticus isn’t interested in guns.  He doesn’t even teach his children to shoot their air-rifles.  That task falls to Uncle Jack.  Atticus also warns his kids to be careful with the guns.

Atticus said to Jem one day, “I’d rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” (Ch. 10)

Imagine their surprise when they find out that their gun-avoiding father is actually One-Shot Finch!  When a rabid dog threatens the neighborhood, Atticus is called to deal with it.  The Sherriff, Heck Tate, doesn’t believe that he can shoot the dog as efficiently as Atticus.

“For God’s sake, Mr. Finch, look where he is! Miss and you’ll go straight into the Radley house! I can’t shoot that well and you know it!”

“I haven’t shot a gun in thirty years—”

Mr. Tate almost threw the rifle at Atticus. “I’d feel mighty comfortable if you did now,” he said. (Ch. 10)

Atticus is able to do what no one else, even the sheriff, is able to do.  He shoots the mad dog and saves the town from the potential danger.  A rabid dog can be very destructive.  Rabies can kill a person as well as a dog. 

Lee includes this incident to show how essential Atticus Finch is to the town of Maycomb, but it is also foreshadowing of the role that he is playing with Tom Robinson’s trial.  Just as with the mad dog, Atticus will face down the threat—racism—when no one else can or will.  In that case, he will not so openly and easily defeat it.  However, he does make progress, and helps Maycomb understand that change will be necessary.

According to Jem, what four kinds of folks are there in To Kill a Mockingbird?

Jem says there are ordinary folks, people like the Cunninghams and Ewells and Negroes.

Part of growing up is learning how the world works.  After the trial, Jem decides that he was worked out the class system in Maycomb that defines the level of power each person has.

There’s four kinds of folks in the world. There’s the ordinary kind like us and the neighbors, there’s the kind like the Cunninghams out in the woods, the kind like the Ewells down at the dump, and the Negroes.” (Ch. 23)

By “ordinary” he means people of the middle and upper class of Maycomb who have enough money to live comfortably and avoid the contempt of the rest of society.  The Finches are part of this group, an old family.  The Cunninghams are also white, but they are poor yet respectable farmers.  This leaves the Ewells on the lowest ladder of the white people.

They were people, but they lived like animals. “They can go to school any time they want to, when they show the faintest symptom of wanting an education,” said Atticus. “There are ways of keeping them in school by force, but it’s silly to force people like the Ewells into a new environment-” (Ch. 3)

The Ewells are the cause of the problem with the trial.  They consider themselves superior to African Americans like Tom Robinson, even though they are the lowest rung on Maycomb’s ladder.  Just being white makes them superior to even the most dignified African American.

Scout comments that the Cunninghams are superior to the Ewells, because Walter is "not trash."  This is an understanding of the difference between working for a living like the farmer Cunninghams and living off of welfare and hunting like the Ewells.  The Cunninghams make an attempt to be a part of society, but the Ewells don't.

Does being cold make your fat levels increase?

Some people do experience increased fat levels during cold seasons. However, this is due to more emotional and psychological reasons rather than metabolic reasons. Some people experience seasonal affect disorder (SAD). SAD sets in when the days become shorter and the temperatures drop, such as is the case during the winter. Symptoms of SAD include depression, a decrease in energy levels, increased amount of sleep, and food cravings. Additionally, people may stay inside more during cold seasons. Thus, they are not as active. Accumulatively, such lifestyle changes may result in weight gain and, therefore, increased fat levels.

As previously mentioned, the increased fat levels that some people experience during colder seasons are not due to metabolic reasons. In fact, cold temperatures have shown to cause people to experience shivering thermogenesis, which increases metabolic rate.

Describe the setting of the novel Uglies. How is it different from our society today?

The novel Uglies is a dystopian novel, which means that it is set in a future where society has undergone significant changes from the society we know today. The story is supposed to take place 300 years from now, after some unnamed disaster has destroyed our civilization.

Setting a novel in the future like the author does here allows him to comment on issues we face today in a more extreme, urgent way. The focus of the novel is an obsession with superficial beauty and people's willingness to sacrifice intelligence and free will for that beauty and the acceptance and admiration it brings. Though a preoccupation and dissatisfaction with how we look is certainly a problem today, Westerfield blows that problem up in the world of Uglies, where the normal people and those who have been artificially made Pretty are physically, mentally, and emotionally separated. Therefore, the most important difference is how he took one aspect of our society and made it a much more critical focus of the setting of the story.

There are plenty of other differences too, which make Tally's life completely different from our own. Tally is taken care of by technology, rather than parents. She brushes her teeth with a pill and applies sunscreen with a patch. Instead of going to college, young adults all get plastic surgery and go party in the city, 24/7. 

Why does the boy prefer staying with Sam and Bill to going home in "The Ransom of Red Chief"?

In O. Henry's story "The Ransom of Red Chief," the kidnapped boy is having the time of his life. He has never camped out before, so he enjoys the hideout that Sam and Bill have up on the mountain. When Sam asks him whether he wants to go home, he says, "What for?" He explains that he doesn't like going to school and that he doesn't have any fun at home. While he is being held for ransom, however, Bill is his constant playmate. Despite how rough he is with Bill, Bill must keep him quiet and happy until they can arrange for the ransom. Red Chief proclaims that he has never had so much fun in all his life.

At one point, Bill boxes his ears, but the boy gets back at him by hitting him in the head with a rock. Bill then has to serve as Red Chief's "hoss" for the day while Red Chief becomes the Black Scout. Bill can't take it anymore and sends the boy home, but he comes back to their camp. When they finally take him back to his father's home, the boy clings to Bill's leg and doesn't want to return. One can speculate that even though the boy seems to be strong-willed, he probably doesn't get away with quite as much mischief at home. He has taken advantage of the two men to get his own way for the entire time they have had him in their custody. For a "rowdy" boy like Red Chief, getting his own way seems to be his favorite way to live.

Of course, one could also speculate that the boy was wise enough to realize that the more obnoxious he made himself, the sooner he would return to his own home, which may indeed have been his motive the whole time. Since the story is told from Sam's point of view, we only know what Sam has told us. It's possible the boy and his father had a very happy reunion after the two petty criminals sprinted away.

How can setting influence or shape the theme of a story or poem?

Setting, which is time and place, is a powerful means of creating or influencing a theme in literature. Let's look at one short story, one novel, and one poem to see how setting contributes to each. 

First, in "The Lottery," we are shown a charming village on a beautiful summer day, but not in a specific time or place, really "Anywhere, USA."  This is meant to lull us into believing it is going to be a pleasant story that could happen in any village.  The charm of the village as we begin creates a sharp contrast to the evil of the village at the end of the story.  This bucolic beginning sets the stage for our shock later on and also creates a kind of universality to the theme, which is that the nicest of people anywhere can commit the most dreadful of acts, all in the name of a quaint "tradition." If the story were more firmly bound to a particular time and place, or if it began with too much of a hint of evil, it would lose a great deal of its effectiveness. 

Next, in The Great Gatsby, the setting is New York and Long Island in the Roaring Twenties. Gatsby, Nick, and the Buchanans live in wealth in Long Island, while George and Myrtle Wilson live next to the Valley of Ashes, symbolic of their poor, grey lives. The backdrop of the novel is Prohibition, the rise of organized crime, and the great partying, drinking, carelessness, and amorality of the wealthy.  All of this reflects and reinforces the themes of the novel, which is about money, morality, or the lack thereof, and the American Dream.  The twenties were a time of great inequality, far more, I would guess, than even today, since capitalism was much less regulated and the federal income tax had been instated only a few years prior.  It is difficult to imagine this novel in any other time and place, with its setting so perfectly in sync with its themes.

The poem "The Listeners" is set deep in the countryside, and there is kind of "hush" to this poem it could never have had the narrator walked up to a door to an apartment in Manhattan.  There is nothing quite as dark and quiet as the country at night, and the entire mood of the poem, mysterious and haunting, telling of some tragedy that has happened because someone was too late, is dependent on its setting for its effect. 

I'm fairly certain there must be some story or poem in which setting is not important, but as I sit here, I cannot think of a one! Authors have good reasons for the settings they choose, and as you read stories and poems, you will be able to see what a difference the settings make. Try to imagine a story happening in some other time and place, and that will help you to see how important the setting really is. 

Is loss a theme in "The Tempest?"

“All lost!” cry the sailors in the shipwreck that opens “The Tempest” and indeed loss pervades the play. Prospero has lost everything but his books and his daughter Miranda: his title, his lands, and all other possessions were seized by his brother. Ferdinand has lost his father and all his shipmates (he thinks), Alonso has lost his son (he thinks), Caliban and Ariel have lost their freedom. The loss of his dukedom obsesses and enrages Prospero and his plot to exact revenge is central to the action; loss is in many ways the engine that drives the play. Loss resolves the play too: though the final scene involves many discoveries and reunions, it also involves Prospero losing his control over Ariel, Caliban and the island in order to take up his dukedom again, and most powerfully, renouncing his magic powers and returning to ordinary life. Loss is a constant in the play, sometimes tragic, sometimes necessary, and always present.

What is a thesis and theory?

Believe it or not, there are not a great many rules in essay writing. The rules that there are are meant to keep you organized while you write and to keep the reader organized as he or she reads.

Every essay needs to have a first paragraph that is an introduction. That should include a little overview of what you are going to discuss, a way to get the reader's attention, sometimes called "a hook," and a thesis statement. So, for example, if I were writing an essay about education, I would make a few general statements about education and perhaps say something about how everyone has strong opinions about it. 

A thesis statement, which should be the last sentence in your introduction, should state what the main idea in your essay is and list the ways you are going to support that idea. For example, you might be writing an argumentative essay on capital punishment. Your main idea might be that you think there should be capital punishment. Or your main idea might be that there should not be capital punishment. Either way, the thesis statement needs to let the reader know what your thought is on this issue. The other part of the thesis statement needs to let the reader know what the points are you are going to make to support your idea on this subject. In other words, you need to say "There should be capital punishment because of A, B, and C" or you need to say "There should not be capital punishment because of A, B, and C."  That is the form that a thesis statement can take, stating your main idea and the reasons for that idea.

What happens next is that you need to write a paragraph for each of those reasons.  These paragraphs should be in the order in which you list the reasons in the thesis statement.  Reason A would be your first body paragraph, Reason B would be your second body paragraph, and Reason C would be your third body paragraph.

Each body paragraph needs to begin with a topic sentence that lets the reader know which point is going to be discussed in that paragraph. The rest of the paragraph needs to have evidence to support that point. You might have statistics or some opinions from experts or support your point with logic.  To keep each body paragraph organized, you must use evidence that is about the point of the paragraph, not about the point of some other paragraph.  Each should be focused on just that one point.

Finally, you need a paragraph that is a conclusion to the essay.  In the conclusion, you remind the reader what your main idea is, not in the same words as the thesis statement, though, using another way to express that idea.  You also need to review for the reader the points you have made, so the reader has a reminder of all you have had to say.

Whether you are writing a literary analysis, a persuasive essay, an argumentative essay, a problem/solution essay, a cause and effect essay, or a compare and contrast essay, these are the basic rules for writing. You can see that most of these rules are a way to get you and keep you organized as you write and that when you follow these rules, you make it easier for the reader to stay organized, too, which helps the reader to understand and follow along very easily.

In the story "A Christmas Carol," which spirit taught the most important lesson to Scrooge?

Each of the spirits teach Scrooge valuable and important lessons. Personally, I think that the first spirit and the last spirit teach him the most important lessons. But, if I had to choose between the two of them, the last spirit probably has the most impact on Scrooge and his behavior going forward.

It is worth noting that Scrooge begins to immediately see some of the error of his ways with the first spirit because after seeing how Fezziwig treats his employees, including himself, he says he wishes he could say a word to his own clerk. That demonstrates that he realizes he is a bad employer as he looks on at the good employer he once worked for. That is the first of many valuable lessons he learns.

However, his most important lessons come in Stave Four when the Ghost of Christmas Future shows Scrooge his own death. Scrooge panics and asks the spirit if this is certain or only possible:

“Men’s courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead,” said Scrooge. “But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change. Say it is thus with what you show me!”

Scrooge wants to know whether, if he changes his ways and if he learns from his mistakes, his future will change.  The spirit does not answer him and when Scrooge awakes, in fact he DOES change. It appears that this final spirit had the most impact on Scrooge and his life choices, making his lessons the most important of all.

What is the model of the solar system called in which earth and the outer planets revolve around the sun?

The heliocentric model of the solar system is the model in which the sun is at the center of the solar system and the planets revolve around it. This model was first proposed by Nikolai Copernicus in the 16th century, and is also called the Copernican model. Galileo provided evidence for the heliocentric model in the 17th century. He made observations of the motion of the planets using a telescope, which was invented after Copernicus' death. Galileo observed moons orbiting Jupiter which showed that everything didn't orbit the earth. People of Galileo's time weren't convinced by his evidence because it opposed their religious beliefs. Galileo was sentenced to house arrest for the last few years of his life because of his scientific work. 

Prior to acceptance of the heliocentric model most people had believed since ancient times that the celestial bodies orbited the earth. It seemed this way from their perspective. The geocentric theory is the idea that the entire universe revolves around the earth. This idea was first proposed by Aristotle and furthered by Ptolemy in 140 AD.

What does the speaker of the poem "Family" by Grace Paley imply about being American?

The narrator of "Family" by Grace Paley uses several adjectives to describe various family members, and says some of the adjectives stuck to her, while others, "finding me American and smooth slipped away."

This final line suggests that Americans are 'smooth,' and that adjectives, or ideas about people, can 'slip' off them. This seems to mean that Americans are not able to see past the obvious; don't look deeper into an idea.

If you look at the form of the poem, you will notice that in each of the first four lines, there is a space separating the first adjective from the other three adjectives. The same space occurs between "some of them stuck to me" and "others finding me American and smooth slipped away." This seems to indicate that the first adjective in each list was the one that stuck, and the following three slipped away. Thus, the narrator saw her father as "brilliant" but was not aware that he was also "embarrassed funny handsome." Perhaps this indicates that Americans do not allow themselves to get 'too close' to others.

In the second stanza, the narrator also refers to the adjectives as "opportunity." This seems to indicate that the narrator feels that if Americans would get to know each other better, opportunities would open. Opportunities for what? Perhaps to know oneself? To experience love? To share one's life?

Ultimately, "Family" by Grace Paley implies that Americans are cold, hard individuals who don't let anyone into their hearts, not even family members, and lose opportunities because of it.

Why do the Tucks live in such a hard place to reach?

The Tucks live in an isolated area so that people will not notice that they don't age.

Being immortal brings with it a host of interesting problems.  One problem is that people will notice that you never get any older.  Your friends will age, but you will not.  As a result, the Tucks decide to not make friends.  The consequences are just too great.  The closer you get to people, the more questions they ask.

"They come to pull back from us. There was talk about witchcraft. Black magic. Well, you can't hardly blame them, but finally we had to leave the farm. We didn't know where to go. …” (Ch. 7)

As a result, the Tucks live a pretty lonely existence.  Ma and Pa Tuck have each other, of course.  They have their children, Jesse and Miles.  However, neither of the boys can have a family.  Miles’s family left him when they found out, and his wife and children aged without him.  Jesse never risked getting married because he knew what would happen.

Jesse and Miles travel the world, never staying in any place long but exploring and seeing new things.  Their parents live a quieter and simpler life at home in their cabin.  Since they have lived there so long it is a little chaotic, but homey.

Mae and Angus are comfortable in their house, but they know they will not be able stay there forever.  They have to keep moving in order to avoid suspicion.  Mae explains to Winnie that Angus is very attached to their house.

Then, too, it's off by itself, plenty of fish in the pond, not too far from the towns around. When we need things, we go sometimes to one, sometimes the next, so people don't come to notice us much. And we sell where we can. But I guess we'll be moving on, one of these days. It's just about time." (Ch. 10)

Sadly, the Tucks do not get a chance to make a quiet move.  The man in the yellow hat finds them, and in the altercation Mae accidentally kills him.  She is going to be tried and possibly hanged, something that they really can’t let happen.  If May were to be hanged, she wouldn’t die, and the secret would be out.

The Tuck's house is symbolic of their existence.  It is removed from other people, but it is full of nature.  It is comfortable and focused on what matters to them.  The Tucks get by, and live a harmonious life, but they live it by themselves.

 

What is annexation?

Webster’s Dictionary defines “annexation” as “The act of annexing; process of attaching, adding, or appending; the act of connecting; union; as, the annexation of Texas to the United States, or of chattels to the freehold.” 

(The language is a bit outdated in this particular definition with the use of “chattels” and “freehold” - terms and subjects with which students today may not be familiar - so focus on the example of Texas being annexed to the United States in 1845 following war with Mexico.) 

Since the definition uses the word “annexing”, it is also necessary to look up its base verb, “annex”, which is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary in this way: “To add (an area or region) to a country, state, etc. : to take control of (a territory or place).” 

The answer to the question, therefore, should be something similar to the following:

“Annexation is the act of annexing, or adding, an area or region to the territory of an existing national or political unit. A good example would be when Texas, a region of Mexico, was annexed to the United States, a different national unit, in 1845."

Is Ghana a sovereign state?

Ghana is definitely a sovereign state as much as any state is completely sovereign in this age of globalization.  No outside entity has the legal right to intervene in Ghana’s domestic affairs unless Ghana signs a treaty that gives it the right to do so.  This is the major way to define a sovereign state.

Of course, no state in the world today is completely independent.  All states, even the United States, have to pay some attention to world opinion when making decisions in domestic politics.  Even the USA is party to treaties that limit what it can do.  Ghana is like other countries in this way.  It does not have complete freedom to do as it wishes within its own borders.

However, Ghana is still sovereign because no other country has a legal right to unilaterally tell Ghana what to do in its internal affairs.  Within its own borders, Ghana’s government has complete freedom of action limited only by what it feels is wise to do and by the terms of any treaties it has voluntarily signed. 

Who is the main character in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird?

Jean Louise "Scout" Finch is both the narrator and protagonist of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. She tells the story, in retrospect, of the events that led to how her brother, Jem, broke his elbow when he was nearly thirteen years old. Scout is six years old when the novel begins, which makes the story entertaining and humorous because it is told from a child's point of view. Scout recounts important events, characters, and lessons that help her develop into a morally conscious individual. Scout looks up to her morally upright father, Atticus, for advice and instruction throughout the novel. She witnesses Atticus defend Tom Robinson in front of a prejudiced jury and community, where she observes racial injustice first-hand. Scout also learns the true identity of her reclusive neighbor, Boo Radley. As Scout matures, she learns that Boo Radley is not the "malevolent phantom" she and Jem imagined, but is simply a shy, innocent person who has suffered at the hands of an abusive father.

Describe Gulliver's ordeals after he was set adrift in the ocean by the pirates.

At the beginning of Part III, Gulliver's ship is boarded by pirates who determine to set him adrift in a small sailboat with a few days' worth of food and water.  He could see a group of islands in the distance, and so he set off in that direction.  There, he found food and made a fire, sleeping for a night under a rock ledge.  The next day, he sailed to another of the islands in the cluster and so on for several days after that (he claims he does not want to bore us with a detailed account of those days), and on the fifth day he landed on the final island in the group.  It was very rocky, as the others had been, and he began to lose hope of survival until he spotted an island floating, about two miles above the surface of the earth, and he could see (with his pocket telescope) people moving around on it.  He succeeded in getting their attention, and they sent down a seat for him on which he could be brought up with pulleys.  Thus, he arrives on Laputa.

What were Dr. King's political motivations behind delivering his "I Have A Dream" speech?

One of Dr. King's strongest political motivations in delivering his "I Have a Dream" speech was to generate public support for Civil Rights in America.

The moral and ethical dimensions of Dr. King's speech are well understood. However, there was a distinct political reality into which he inserted the speech's words.  Dr. King's speech was a part of the "The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom."  The entire weekend was dedicated to generating public awareness about the need for African- Americans to be seen as a part of American society.  Their demands were economic and social. Organizers of the event insisted on more economic opportunity for African- Americans.  They sought greater job opportunities and a higher minimum wage.  Both of these fed into the political context of the time.  While the Civil Rights Act had not yet been passed, President Kennedy had introduced anti- discrimination legislation.  Leaders in the Civil Rights Movement understood that they had an opening that had to be seized.  The public was slowly gaining awareness that the way African- Americans were being treated in America had to be reexamined.

Civil Rights leaders like Dr. King understood that the March on Washington could be an opportunity for the public to see the Civil Rights issue in both political and human terms.  They wanted the American public to see African- Americans as human beings, people who were simply trying to act upon their own vision of the American Dream.  It is for this reason that Dr. King's speech referenced "the promissory note" from the Founding Fathers, words from scripture, and the idea that "the dream" is within every human being who wants a better life for themselves and their children.  This "humanizing" effect was politically driven.  Dr. King recognized that once Americans began to see African- Americans as no different than anyone else, the political goals of greater social and economic freedom could be realized.