What is the summary of the Oz Principle Chapter 6?

This chapter discussed the Scarecrow Principle, which means obtaining the necessary wisdom to solve problems within a business.

First discussed is Toyota. Although described as one of the most efficient companies in the world already, Toyota continues to reorganize, placing future efficiency before current profit. Similarly, Ann Taylor, the clothing company, has been exponentially increasing profit by making cuts to designs and fabrics used, thanks to executive Joseph Brooks and designer Frame Kasaks.

Robert Frey, president of a company called Cin-Made, realized he needed to change the hearts of his workers to make his company successful. He increased personal accountability for improving production and efficiency in each sector for all employees.

Michael Eagle, president of IVAC, was behind on production of a medical instrument shipment. He asked his employees to help him brainstorm the best way to get things done on time. They completed production ahead of schedule but then could not if the products to the hospital in time because of the holiday rush. When a worker made a joke about renting a Learjet, the president agreed and did just that. When they were loading the jet, they discovered that the product would not fit and immediately had the workers re package each of these shipments. The shipment arrived at the hospital on time, but the employees who were to train the new users at the hospital had become stuck in a snowstorm and had to drive all night to make it there in time. In the end, everything worked out for the best because the president knew how to deal with crises. 

People tend to be discouraged by crises and not try to figure out how to solve these problems. Michael Gilbert, the store operations vice president for a department store, discovered that changing attitudes is a start but not enough. Managers needed to stay above the line consistently to solve problems. 

Other examples include recent textbook companies having to make changes to online and computer sources, rather than printed material.

A final example is General Electric's exploding coffee makers. After the company suffered from continual issues with their fuses, they had unwittingly started many house fires which destroyed the homes of their customers. General Electric sold their coffee maker brand to Black and Decker, which simply added a fuse and solved the problems. 

The book describes the skills used to react to a crisis:

1. stay engaged 

2. be persistent 

3. use a new paradigm 

4. create new linkages 

5. take the initiative 

6. stay conscious. 

The benefits to the Scarecrow Principle are that businesses can stay above the line to solve problems using wisdom that they already have.

In Thomas Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia, how did he argue slavery impacted both the master and slaves?

In his section on "Manners," (XVIII) Jefferson harshly criticizes the effects of slavery on both masters and slaves. He condemns slavery in scathing language. 

He notes first that slavery turns the slaveowners into harsh despots and forces the slaves to behave in a degraded and abject way. As Jefferson puts it: 

The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submissions on the other.

Worse, the children of slaveowners become "tyrants" at a young age as they watch and imitate their parents' cruel treatment of the slaves, learning immoral lessons from earliest youth. Most become depraved:

The man must be a prodigy who can retain his manners and morals undepraved by such circumstances.

Jefferson goes so far as to say slavery "destroys" morals in the slaveowners. 

Jefferson also states that slavery makes slaveowners lazy (their "industry [is] destroyed"), for who, especially in a warm climate, will work if they have somebody else to labor for them? Slavery, on the other side, renders the slaves angry and resentful, and breeds in them a wish to be anywhere else in the world rather than under the thumb of the slaveowner. Jefferson also argues that slavery damages the principles of liberty on which the young United States has been founded, for it undermines 

a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God.

As far as Jefferson is concerned, slavery is an unequivocally evil institution that ruins morality and does grave damage to everyone involved with it, slave and master alike. As he writes:

Indeed I tremble for my country when reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever ...

Jefferson has been, for his entire life, part of this cruel system and has seen up close the terrible damage it inflicts.

Why didn't Holden want to have sex with Sunny?

The scene with Sunny is one of the best in the whole novel. It is both sad and funny. Holden is trying to act "suave," to use his term, but he doesn't feel it. He tells the reader:

If you want to know the truth, I'm a virgin. I really am.

Most readers will not be surprised. Holden doesn't want to have sex with this tough, street-smart, tarnished girl because he doesn't feel sexually aroused. He knows he would be unable to perform. It would be a dismal experience, and it would be his first experience. He feels nervous, He is afraid. He has a mixture of chilly feelings--but none of his feelings have to do with being aroused. He keeps stalling Sunny, hoping that some slight tingle of sexual desire will make itself felt.

His biggest problem is that he equates sex with love, and he can't evoke any feeling of love for this wretched girl. What he feels is pity more than anything else. She is being exploited by Maurice and by every man who uses her body for five bucks a throw, or fifteen till noon. She has become totally desensitized to sex. Her life is ruined although she is still very young. She is like many girls who get caught up in the so-called "oldest profession," which goes on all over the world and destroys countless young lives.

Holden shows how he feels about Sunny when he says:

I took her dress over to the closet and hung it up for her. It was funny. It made me feel sort of sad when I hung it up. I thought of her going in a store and buying it, and nobody knowing she was a prostitute and all. The salesman probably just thought she was a regular girl when she bought it. It made me feel sad as hell--I don't know why exactly.

Holden doesn't know "why exactly" he has a lot of the thoughts and feelings he has. He is a gentleman, a nice guy, a sensitive young man in an insensitive world. He is ashamed of not being able to perform a filthy, vulgar action with a complete stranger in a cheap transient hotel room, when he should feel justified in having such self-respect as well concern for a fellow human being, degraded as she is.

When Sunny and Maurice come back to try to coerce another five dollars out of Holden, the little prostitute shows that she has not been entirely oblivious of his sympathy and consideration. 

"Leave him alone, hey," Sunny said. "C'mon, hey. We got the dough he owes us. Let's go. C'mon, hey."

Where is there alliteration in the short story "Lamb to the Slaughter"?

Finding the alliteration in Dahl's short story "Lamb to the Slaughter" is a bit tough. The story has it, but it is not obvious alliteration. Alliteration is a repetition of a consonant sound. It's usually seen in poetry, and more often than not, the alliteration occurs within a single line of poetry with no other words in between the alliterative words. For example: "Bob was a big, bad, batter."  

In "Lamb to the Slaughter," the alliteration of the opening lines of text is much more subtle than my example.   

The room was warm, the curtains were closed, the two table lamps were lit.

There is a repetition of the "w" sound with the words "was," "warm," and the two "were" words. The "c" sound is also alliterative and in fairly close proximity as seen in "curtains were closed." Lastly is the "l" sound which can be found in the words "lamps" and "lit."  

In Theodore Taylor's The Cay, why do Phillip and the people of Curaçao fear for their own safety with respect to major events of World War II...

The people on the island of Curaçao feared for their safety because, in February 1942, German U-boats torpedoed a large oil refinery on the island of Aruba, just next to Curaçao, as explained in the opening chapter of Theodore Taylor's The Cay. Germans targeted the Caribbean islands because the islands produced the largest oil refineries in the world, such as the Royal Dutch Shell on Curacao, which Phillip's father works for. Many important parts of the world relied on the oil refineries for oil, including Great Britain, the US, and Africa. If the Germans were able to successfully cut off oil supply, then allied forces would be significantly impeded.

Though only Aruba is hit in the opening chapter of the story, as events progress, people on Curaçao grow more concerned. As Phillip's father informs him, the island of Curaçao has no weapons to fend off the Germans. Immediately after the bombing, ships in the harbor came to a standstill because they are too afraid to move. Ships are relied upon for fresh drinking water, fruits, and vegetables. When supplies begin running low, the people of Curaçao begin panicking even more, especially Phillip's mother, who wants to return to America. They are most struck with fear when a tanker is torpedoed just off the coast of Curacao; the tanker had been headed for Curaçao's capital city, Willemstad.

How is Macbeth presented as being heroic during the Shakespeare play Macbeth?

For most of the play, Macbeth exhibits the behaviors of a tyrant and/or a fascist. His descent from loyal subject to murderous tyrant begins at the end of Act One, but he doesn't make the full transition until Act Two. 

Prior to Macbeth's meeting with the witches, he had been a loyal subject to the king and a worthy and successful soldier. In fact, in Act One, Scene Two, the Sergeant informs Duncan of Macbeth's brave fighting in battle: 

For brave Macbeth--well he deserves that name--

Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel, 

Which smoked with bloody execution, 

Like valor's minion, carved out his passage, (I.ii.18-21) 

Duncan responds, "Oh valiant cousin!" Duncan is so proud of Macbeth's brave exhibition that he grants him an addition title, the Thane of Cawdor. Shakespeare shows how a brave, loyal Thane (Baron) could succumb to greed and ambition at any costs. His heroism dies with his rise to power and eventual downfall. Macbeth was heroic in battle. This is noted in the first act. But with a little push from the witches and some manipulative encouragement from his wife, he abandons that heroism and loyalty. 

Most readers assume that the main character of Death of a Salesman is Willy Loman. However, there are some who argue that it is not really Willy...

One could say that Biff is the main character in Death of a Salesman because, of all the characters, he drives the action, past and present, and he alone changes as a result of the events of the story.

What kicks off the action of the play is that Biff has come home after a long absence. Biff knows the relationship with his father has many loose ends, and it bothers him. In flashbacks, we see that the relationship with Willy and Biff has been the hardest thing in both of their lives. Biff is the only one besides Willy who knows the details of Willy's affair, but he reacts in passive-aggressive style, blowing his chance to go to college and becoming a failure at every career he tries. Biff puts himself into a situation where he is going to make decisions about his life just to please his father, and he steals a pen.

This creates an epiphany for him. He asks himself, "Why am I trying to become what I don't want to be...when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am!" He then confronts his father, telling him that both of them are nobodies. But he can also acknowledge, "There's no spite in it anymore." With this, he has reached a place of emotional healing and is able to stop blaming his father for his own failures. Biff's revelation does not prevent Willy from taking his life, but it allows Biff to pursue a different dream for himself. In the Requiem, Biff is able to state to Happy, "I know who I am, kid." Biff is the one who leads Linda off the stage at the end of the play. 

Because the action of the play, both in the present and in flashback, revolves around Biff, and because Biff is the only character who has an epiphany and changes in the play, one could easily make a case for Biff, not Willy, being the main character of Death of a Salesman.

When Snowball and Napoleon begin to disagree, how does Napoleon act in Animal Farm?

Fairly early on in the novel, Snowball and Napoleon start disagreeing about what they want to do on the farm.  Snowball is busy creating committees and setting up life on the farm.  Napoleon does not see eye to eye.  He thinks that these committees are worthless.  He thinks what is important is starting over with the young.  So, he takes the puppies of Bluebell and Jessie.  Later he makes them into his guard dogs.  In short, they are his muscle. Here is what the text says:

Napoleon took no interest in Snowball’s committees. He said that the education of the young was more important than anything that could be done for those who were already grown up.

After this Napoleon seeks to undermine Snowball, and when the dogs are full-grown, he lets them loose on Snowball.  Moreover, he makes up a story that Snowball was a traitor the whole time.  The animals are perplexed, but they believe in him. 

In conclusion, when Napoleon and Snowball start to disagree, Napoleon remains patient until he has his muscle to drive him out. 

Did the American public support World War I? Did it support the Spanish-American War more?

American public support was stronger for the Spanish-American War than for World War I because during the Spanish-American War, the U.S. was in support of imperialism, while by World War I, there was a strong current of progressivism and pacifism in the country. In addition, while the Spanish-American War was fought against Spain (and fought in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines), World War I was fought against Germany (and many Americans were of German descent).

The Spanish-American War was fought largely for reasons of imperialism. The United States saw European nations colonizing territories around the world, and America wanted to be an empire as well. In addition, the United States wanted raw materials, such as sugar, from Cuba and Puerto Rico, and the U.S. wanted the Philippines as a naval station. For these reasons, the U.S. became involved in fighting against Spain, which controlled these territories. Once the U.S. gained them, we took them over rather than granting them full independence, leading to resistance, particularly in the Philippines. Many Americans supported the war because they wanted the U.S. to become a major imperial power, though some thought that taking over these countries would lead to an influx of immigrants who would challenge native-born Americans for jobs. In addition, the press, including the "yellow press" put out by William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, whipped up public opinion in favor of the war. These newspaper magnates published stories about the horrific treatment of the Cubans by the Spanish, and their sensationalist reporting also led to public support of the war.

World War I had far less American support. The European part of the conflict started in 1914, and Woodrow Wilson ran for re-election as President in 1916 on a policy of neutrality in the war. His slogan was "he kept us out of war." He had conducted his first term in office as a progressive president and passed a great deal of reforms, including anti-trust legislation. A tide of progressivism swept over the country. Influenced by progressivism, many Americans did not support joining the war, which they thought was motivated by greed. Wilson convinced them to join only when he argued that U.S. involvement in the war was necessary to keep the world safe for democracy.  In addition, many Americans were of German descent, so they did not support a war in which our country would be fighting against Germany. Many Americans were also of Irish descent, and they did not support fighting with England. 

Opposition to World War I was strong. In 1917, the U.S. government passed the Espionage Act (which declared interfering with the war or helping enemies of the country illegal), followed by the Sedition Act in 1918. This act increased the number of behaviors that could be targeted by the Espionage Act and included a prohibition against saying or printing anything against the government or the war. Several hundred people were convicted using this law in 1919 and 1920.

A Midsummer Night's Dream is sometimes referred to as a comedy of errors. To what extent do the events that unfold in Act II help to perpetuate...

Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream can be thought of as one of the quintessential comedies of error, as it involves hilarious love quarrels brought on by both mistaken identities and pure rotten luck.

In many ways, Act II can be viewed as the epicenter of this reputation, for it is in this part of the play that Oberon and his mischievous servant, Puck, make use of a love potion with disastrous results. Oberon orders Puck to use the potion, which causes a sleeping recipient to fall in love with the first person he or she sees upon waking, on Demetrius, who was last seen fleeing from an enamored Helena. Puck, however, mistakes Lysander for Demetrius, and this mistake causes Lysander to fall in love with Helena, an occurrence that understandably enrages Hermia, Lysander's real true love. Meanwhile, Oberon administers the same love potion to Titania, who later wakes up to fall in love with the ridiculous (and donkey-headed) Bottom. 

In short, Act II sets up the comedic activities for the rest of the play. Furthermore, all of this hilarity is based on errors, mistakes, and blunders enacted by truly buffoonish characters. For this reason, it is easy to see why the play is not only considered a comedy of errors, but also one of Shakespeare's most hilarious pieces. 

What inference can you make about the reason Gregor is so worried?

In the story "Metamorphosis," Gregor is transformed into a bug. However, he soon becomes greatly worried (not about this physical change), but about going to work and providing for his family.

Although Gregor should be concerned about his physical change, he is greatly worried about his job. For example, he is worried that his boss will be upset with him and wishes that he could quit. Gregor has become so focused on his work that he seems to miss the vital components transpiring in his life. For example, we see in Gregor's thoughts that:

"If I didn’t hold back for my parents’ sake, I would’ve quit ages ago. I would’ve gone to the boss and told him just what I think from the bottom of my heart. He would’ve fallen right off his desk!"

These thoughts occur after his transformation. Despite his metamorphosis, he is greatly worried about the stress of his occupation.

Furthermore, these thoughts and stress reveal that he is also greatly worried about providing for his family. Despite the family's eventual ability to provide for themselves, Gregor feels as though he must lift his family's entire financial burden. As a result, Gregor works himself to the point of exhaustion and spends most of his time consumed with work (prior to his transformation).

Thus, Gregor's worries bring some insight into what truly matters to Gregor. Because he is so worried, we can see that he feels as though he must work to provide for his family. This demand seems so heavy and pressing that he ignores the other more vital components in his life.  

Neap tides occur during which two moon phases?

A neap tide is when there is the least variation between high and low tides. This happens twice in a lunar cycle, when the moon is a first quarter moon and when it is a third quarter moon.

Tides are affected by both solar and lunar gravitational pulls. When the sun and moon are aligned with the earth (a new moon) or when the sun and moon are on opposite sides of the earth (a full moon), the tidal forces are accentuated resulting in a large variance between high and low tide. This is called a spring tide. In between these times, especially during the first and third quarter moon, the lunar gravitational pull cancels out some of the effects of the solar gravitational force and the tides are less pronounced. This is the neap tide. 

What happens to a magnet if you cut it in half?

When we cut a magnet in half, we obtain 2 magnets, each with its own set of north and south poles. We can keep on cutting the resultant magnets in halves and each time, we will obtain 2 new magnets, each working independently as a magnet (with its own north and south poles and its own magnetic field and lines). 

One can think of a magnet as a loaf of bread. Each time we cut the bread, we end up with a slice of bread, which is smaller in size, but is still bread. Similarly, magnets can be cut into a large number of smaller magnets, each of which will act like an independent magnet, with its own magnetic field. One can also think of a magnet as made up of a large number of smaller magnets. 

Hope this helps. 

`A = 102.4^@, C = 16.7^@, a = 21.6` Use the law of sines to solve the triangle. (Find missing sides/angles) Round answers to 2 decimal places.

Given `A=102.4^@, C=16.7^@, a=21.6`

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

``

`B=180-102.4-16.7=60.9^@`

``

`21.6/sin(102.4)=b/sin(60.9)=c/sin(16.7)`

`21.6/sin(102.4)=b/sin(60.9)`

`b=[21.6sin(60.9)]/sin(102.4)`

` ` `b=19.32`

``

`21.6/sin(102.4)=c/sin(16.7)`

`c=[21.6sin(16.7)]/sin(102.4)`

`c=6.36`

How would you describe the role of the playwrights as heroic in their staging of The Trial of Dedan Kimathi?

Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Micere Githae Mugo’s influential Kenyan play The Trial of Dedan Kimathi was an exceptionally daring stage production for the two to produce, especially when one considers the subject matter and the time period in which the play was produced. The Trial of Dedan Kimathi examines the trials and hardships of a key figure in the Mau Mau Uprising, an attempt from a number of Kenyans to challenge the colonial rule of the time. Kimathi was, at this point, a polarizing figure; to base an entire play on this man, and then to equate his story in with the Kenyan population as a whole, was a daring, heroic role for the playwrights to take on. In the preface to the play, Thiong’o and Mugo acknowledge that this was their ultimate aim for the play:

“We agreed that the most important thing was for us to reconstruct imaginatively our history, envisioning the world of the Mau Mau and Kimathi in terms of the peasants’ and workers’ struggle before and after constitutional independence.”

They offer a vivid portrayal that considers Kimathi as both a man and a myth. By examining Kimathi, Thiong’o and Mugo heroically challenge the norms and values inherent with British imperialism, and give a compassionate story to a figure that has been maligned in the West.

What are the differences and similarities between a plant's transport system and a human's digestive system?

A plant’s transport system and the human digestive system can be compared and contrasted. Similarities and differences of each system are identified below.

Similarities between a plant’s transport system and the human digestive system:

• Both systems transport nutrients and wastes throughout the body.


• Transportation is done within tube-like structures in both systems.

Differences between a plant’s transport system and the human digestive system:

• A human’s digestive system is made of organs. The organs of a human’s digestive system include the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small and large intestines, liver, pancreas, colon, and anus. The transport system of a plant is made of tissues. Xylem and phloem are the tissues of a plant’s transport system.


• The function of a human’s digestive system is to break down food that has been ingested. The function of a plant’s transport system is to deliver substances throughout the plant.

Did Washington, Adams, and Jefferson face problems internationally?

The short answer to this question is yes, and broadly speaking, the main challenges they faced stemmed from the nearly forty-year European war precipitated by the French Revolution. Let us look at the challenges faced by these presidents individually.

The French Revolution broke out very early in George Washington's presidency, and after the French revolutionaries found themselves at war with the monarchies of Europe, especially Great Britain, Washington issued a proclamation asserting that the United States would remain neutral in the conflict. Washington faced pressure from some factions in the United States to side with France, and his position was tested when a French officer and diplomat named Edmund Genet attempted to recruit Americans to serve in the French revolutionary army. Also, British ships seized American merchant vessels bound for France, impressing, or forcing into service, some of their crews. Under Washington, John Jay, a special emissary, concluded a treaty with Great Britain that essentially guaranteed that the United States would not go to war with that nation. This very unpopular treaty provoked French ire, which the next President, John Adams, had to contend with.

The French navy responded to Jay Treaty by doing more or less the same thing the British had been doing--seizing American ships on the high seas. Adams, the new president, sent three representatives to France in 1797 to try to negotiate an end to the depredations, and when the French demanded a bribe in return for peace talks, Adams responded by committing more funds to building up the American navy. This "XYZ Affair" led to a "Quasi-War" on the high seas, as French ships (and some British ships too) attacked American ships. 

Thomas Jefferson attempted to deal with a blockade of European ports by Great Britain, and a corresponding edict from France that all ships trading with the British would be captured, by levying an embargo on all trade. This was a disastrous measure, though it did avert war with Great Britain for a time. Jefferson was more successful in other foreign policy ventures, using the navy to stop the depredations of the Barbary Coast pirates on American shipping, and, more important, presiding over the purchase of the Louisiana Territory in 1803. 

James Madison's presidency was punctuated by outright war with Great Britain, the so-called War of 1812. It was fought in no small part due to continued impressment of American sailors by the British navy, and also as a result of the perception that British agents were arming Native Americans to attack the American frontier. The war ended as essentially a draw, and was a crucial step toward ensuring America's survival as a nation. 

It should be noted that these brief synopses do not include Indian relations. Dealings with Native peoples, including the Ohio Valley Indians and the powerful Creeks, were also key aspects of American foreign policy. 

In Silas Marner, explore Eliot’s presentation of Dolly Winthrop. What is her function in the novel?

The description of Mrs. Winthrop shows that the role of her character is that of being "supple." She provides Silas with everything that he lacks, from a listening ear to nourishment to advice. She is the perfect complement for Silas because his overly straight and "cut and dry" way of living life led him to miss out on the important aspects of humanity, such as trusting people, loving altruistically, and believing in something greater than himself.

Mrs. Winthrop was [...] a woman of scrupulous conscience. [...] She was a very mild, patient woman, whose nature it was to seek out all the sadder and more serious elements of life, and pasture her mind upon them.

Therefore, this excerpt shows that Dolly epitomizes the true "Christian" by conducting herself in a way that makes her a true, good Samaritan. She is pious and scrupulous, friendly, calm, and collected. She is matronly, motherly, and caring. Moreover, she is a beacon of light that guides many people, including Silas, toward leading a better life. She was a go-to source for personal and collective support, which shows that people trusted her strength and sense of judgement.

She was the person always first thought of in Raveloe when there was illness or death in a family, [...] She was a "comfortable woman" [...]

We could argue that Eliot's presentation reflects the provincial and bucolic environment. The author infuses the primary aspects of rural life into one character that displays them all without fail: the parochial penchant to worry about other people's lives, the initiative to help "thy neighbor," the altruistic tendency to bring food and nourishment to people, and the personal idealization that she is an anchor of support to others because she knows the community that much from within. She is a leader of the people, without expecting accolades or prizes. She is the embodiment of Raveloe.

How does Elena encounter prejudice in Judith Ortiz Cofer's short story "American History"?

Elena, a Puerto Rican American, endures a lot of prejudice because she attends a predominantly African American school, lives in a poorly-looking apartment block, and simply is not white. First, Elena is teased by the girls in her ninth-grade class by being called "Skinny Bones" and because she isn't as good of a rope jumper as the others.

"Gail, the biggest of the black girls who had the other end of the rope yelled, 'Didn't you eat your rice and beans and pork chops for breakfast today?'" (Lines 45-46).

The allusion Gail makes to Elena's traditional menu is then used against her as the other girls chant "pork chop" over and over again.

Another type of prejudice that Elena encounters is the stigma with living in El Building, which is a large, gray block of apartments that houses many unemployed people. The lack of privacy is one thing to have to deal with, let alone the fact that she describes it as follows:

". . . El Building. . . looked particularly ugly, like a gray prison, with its many dirty windows and rusty fire escapes" (Lines 386-387).

Living in El Building would not be a big deal if it weren't for the fact that her best friend's mother judges her by it and by her culture. The ultimate portrayal of prejudice is exactly at the moment she meets Eugene's mother and is turned away for being living in El Building and not being white. Eugene's mother doesn't say it explicitly, but her rude attitude towards Elena clearly proves that she does not want her white son from Georgia handing out with any minority whatsoever.

"'You live there?' She pointed to El Building. . . she looked intently at me for a couple of heartbeats, then said as if to herself, 'I don't know how you people do it.' Then directly to me: 'Listen. Honey. Eugene doesn't want to study with you. . . No need for him to get close to people--it'll just make it harder for him later. Run back home now'" (Lines 385, 394-396).

When Eugene's mother says to herself "I don't know how you people do it," she seems to be referring to how they live in that building the way they do. This is showing prejudice against the poor quality of the building as well as for its culture inside. Then when she dismisses Elena, she proves her prejudice against Elena as a minority.

The Twelve Tables was the law of what land?

The Twelve Tables refers to the laws that existed in Ancient Rome. They were posted in the Roman Forum for all citizens to see. It is the earliest attempt to codify law in Ancient Rome. The Twelve Tables were written in the Fifth Century B.C. in an attempt to ease tensions between the elite patrician class and the common plebian class. Most of the details in the Twelve Tables were probably practiced in custom for many years before being written into law. The laws were to be enforced by two consuls.

The first two tablets establish procedures for trials. Other tables discuss paternal rights, debt, land rights, property rights, and sacred laws.

The Roman system of law was considered one of the great achievements of their culture and was an influence on future western civilizations.

What does the judge tell Mayella to stop doing in Chapter 18 of To Kill a Mockingbird?

When Mayella Ewell is called to the witness stand, she is scared and confused. At one point as Mr. Gilmer, the prosecutor, is patiently questioning her about what happened, Mayella begins sobbing, covering her face with her hands. Judge Taylor asks her to stop: ‘Judge Taylor let her cry for a while and then he said, “That’s enough now. Don’t be ‘fraid of anybody here, as long as you tell the truth.” ‘

When Mayella says she is afraid of Atticus, the judge reassures her that Atticus has no intention of deliberately scaring her, and it is his job as judge to see that Atticus doesn’t scare her.

The judge speaks to Mayella as if she is much younger than nineteen: “Now you’re a big girl, so you just sit up straight and tell the—tell us what happened to you. You can do that, can’t you?”

Scout, watching from the balcony, thinks the scene is odd. She asks Jem if Mayella has ‘good sense,’ wondering if Mayella might have some kind of learning disability. Jem replies, “Can’t tell yet…She’s got enough sense to make the judge feel sorry for her, but she might be just—oh, I don’t know.”

This leads the reader to wonder about the causes of Mayella’s tears. Is it to get sympathy from the judge and other people in the court? Or is she genuinely afraid of Atticus because she saw him prove her father was a liar and he may prove the same thing about her?

Judge Taylor’s leniency with her tears, her accusations, and her later refusal to answer any more questions shows the partiality she was given in court because she was a young white woman.  Poor or not, she was given preferential treatment.

What was the conflict in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas?

The conflict in the book, The Boy with the Striped Pajamas, is that the boy's father, the Nazi officer, has placed his family in a position that caused his actions to ruin his entire family and actually gets his own son killed, along with the prisoners of war that he was in charge of.

The irony of this is inescapable. The father was punished severely for his actions towards the prisoners of war, in that his own child ended up getting executed.

His child had done nothing to deserve being executed, just as the prisoners and their children in the death camp had done nothing to deserve being executed.

The father, and the entire rest of the family, had to suffer the loss of their precious child because of the father's actions.

Why was Thomas Jefferson an important figure in the American Revolution?

Jefferson is sometimes viewed as one of the ideological fathers of the American Revolution, chiefly due to his authorship of "A Summary View of the Rights of British America" in 1774, and of course the Declaration of Independence in 1776. The former was one of the clearest and more strident statements of the colonial position after the passage of the Intolerable Acts, and of course the latter is, more than any other document, associated with the ideals of the American Revolution. Beyond this, Jefferson served in the Second Continental Congress for three years, and as Virginia governor for two years. As governor, he was nearly captured when British troops invaded, and his flight from the troops was used against him by his political enemies later. In short, Jefferson was among the most important of the revolutionary leaders, though more for his articulation of the ideals of the Revolution than for his contributions to administering the government.

If the world goes around the sun like scientists say, why do we always face the Sun at 12 o'clock? The earth is floating in space, and it takes the...

This question reveals one of the more complex and difficult conceptual problems with this, or any, scientific field: combining facts with human interpretations. Consider which of the elements of this question are facts regardless of the way we describe them - Earth goes around the sun, and also rotates around its own internal axis, and exists in a four-dimensional reality that includes time. However, getting more precise than this requires a system of measurement, which is completely arbitrary. We could choose to describe the Earth's orbit in banana-lengths if we wanted to, and it would still be valid.

The problem identified here is one of the cases where an arbitrary human choice seems to conflict with the data that we can't easily observe from our position on the surface of Earth. It's easier if we imagine ourselves in space, looking at Earth from "above." 

The problem is that what we consider to be "a day" is not the time it takes Earth to rotate once on its own axis. If this was the way we defined a day, then it's true that you'd experience different times of day at different points of the year, such as noon being nighttime in the winter. 

Earth rotates around its axis in the same direction that it orbits the sun. This means that every time Earth completes one rotation (called a sidereal day), it must rotate slightly more in order to face the sun again. This time period (one rotation plus a little extra) is what we commonly call a day (or more formally, a solar day). Thus, if we were being purely scientific, the confusing thing is not the way in which Earth rotates, but the way in which humans choose to acknowledge and record it. 

Why did the drawbacks of the Industrial Revolution require both political and economic changes?

The Industrial Revolution enormously increased the level of economic output and therefore wealth, and raised the standard of living for millions of people.

But it did not raise everyone's standard of living equally, and it created considerable turmoil in the existing system. People who depended upon old methods of production by hand were rapidly made obsolete, losing their jobs and therefore their livelihoods. Many refused to take this lying down.

Perhaps the most famous example is the Luddites, an often misunderstood group of protesters, mostly former textile workers who lost their jobs to new industrial machinery. They were more nuanced than the use of the word "Luddite" today would reflect; they were not opposed to labor-saving technology in general, but rather the use of labor-saving technology to kick out skilled artisans and replace them with unskilled machine operators. Above all they cared about maintaining high wages and strong labor standards, and they saw that industrial machinery was being used to undermine those efforts.

The Industrial Revolution changed so much about the way that wealth was produced and societies were organized that it forced people to make other changes in the political and economic system in order to adapt. Family farms were no longer profitable compared to industrialized agribusinesses. Individual artisans could no longer compete with mass-production factories. People who had worked their whole lives at a single craft were suddenly forced to find new jobs.

The harsh working conditions of early factories required governments to create labor regulations. The high rates of harmful pollution forced governments to establish environmental regulations. To this day we see an ongoing conflict between industrialized businesses that want to escape regulations versus the society as a whole that realizes we need to protect workers and the environment from exploitation.

Even the social welfare state was largely a response to industrialization, in two ways: The rising wealth inequality drove people to find some way to redistribute wealth to the needy, and the rising overall wealth allowed that redistribution to take place without dramatically harming the standard of living of those at the top.

Consider two circles, centered at the origin, of radii 1 and 2, respectively. In each circle, begin on thepositive x-axis and rotate...

An arc length represents a portion of the entire circumference of a circle with 360˚.

The circumference of a circle is defined by the formula: `C = 2pir`

A circle with a radius of 1 has a circumference of:

`C = 2pi*1 = 2pi`

Therefore the arc length would be:  

`210/360* 2pi = (7pi)/6` or  3.67 units

A circle with a radius of 2 has a circumference of:

`C=2pi*2 = 4pi`

Therefore the arc length would be:

`210/360* 4pi = (7pi)/3` or 7.33 units

The radian measures are given respectively as:

`(7pi)/6` and `(7pi)/3` as previously found when calculating units.

` `

``

In The Giver, who created the rules?

The rules are created by committees of elders.

Tradition is very important in Jonas’s community.  There are a lot of rules, and most of them have been in place for a long time.  Rules are designed to keep the community running extremely smoothly.  They regulate behavior very carefully.

Breaking the rules is serious.  If a person breaks a major rule, such as the pilot who accidentally flew over the community, he or she is immediately released.  “Release” is a euphemism for “killed.”  However, a person can also be released for braking three rules.

The rules say that if there's a third transgression, he simply has to be released." Jonas shivered. He knew it happened. There was even a boy in his group of Elevens whose father had been released years before. No one ever mentioned it; the disgrace was unspeakable. (Ch. 1)

There are many rules in the community.  For example, rules govern the use of language, the telling of feelings and things like riding bicycles.  The rules dictate who can do what and when.  They also govern the ways families are created and when people are born and die.

The rules come from committees of the community’s leaders, known as elders.  It is very hard to get a rule changed.  Rules go to a committee to be studied. 

Rules were very hard to change. Sometimes, if it was a very important rule--unlike the one governing the age for bicycles—it would have to go, eventually, to The Receiver for a decision. The Receiver was the most important Elder. (Ch. 2)

The Receiver of Memory advises on the rules because he or she has access to the memories.  Since no one else in the community knows anything about the community’s past, the Receiver is expected to have more knowledge and wisdom and has the ability to determine if a rule should be changed.

Why did Harriet Tubman want to help slaves run away?

Harriet Tubman was an abolitionist. She was born into slave and knew firsthand of its harsh effects that it had on her people. She escaped to freedom in 1849 leaving behind her family. She then set out to make it her life’s work to help other slaves escape to freedom, just like she had done.

Harriet Tubman was a very famous conductor on what was known as the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad was a system of hiding places and escape routes that conductors used to help slaves escape to freedom in the North. The hiding places were called stations. It was here that the slaves stayed and slept during the day. At night, they followed the escape routes led by the conductors. This process was repeated until they reached freedom in the North. Harriet Tubman was determined to help her people escape from slavery. She made many trips into the South and successfully conducted every escape she led. This included bringing her family out of slavery and into freedom. Harriet Tubman was an influential abolitionist who helped many slaves get their freedom.

In The Giver, what are the top government rules?

The main rule is that you never do anything to make anyone uncomfortable.

The community has many rules.  There is a rule governing almost all aspects of behavior.  All of the major rules have to do with making people conform.  This is known as Sameness.  Jonas describes the administration  of rules when his mother talks about her job in the Department of Justice.

Today a repeat offender had been brought before her, someone who had broken the rules before. Someone who she hoped had been adequately and fairly punished, and who had been restored to his place: to his job, his home, his family unit. (Ch. 1)

While it does not say what rules the man broke, he is in danger of being released if he breaks a third.  That means death by lethal injection.  Jonas and his mother do not know this, because no one in the community knows what release really means.

The community also has strict rules about how many children a family can have.  They can only have one boy and one girl.  The children are given to them by the community.  Teens are not allowed to go through puberty.  All teens and adults take pills for Stirrings, or hormones.

Stirrings. He had heard the word before. He remembered that there was a reference to the Stirrings in the Book of Rules, though he didn't remember what it said. And now and then the Speaker mentioned it. (Ch. 5)

The Stirrings pills rule is probably one of the most important ones in the community, because it prevents people from developing strong feelings.  The pills keep everyone under control.  They help keep the community free of emotions. 

The community's goal with Sameness is to make sure that everyone is completely calm.  Anything that might upset someone, whether language or actions, is not allowed.  This is why they kill one of the twins when identical twins are born.  Sameness is preferred, but identical is confusing and uncomfortable.

How many kinds of tissues are in the skeletal system?

The skeletal system helps give structure, movement and protection to the bodies of animals with endoskeletons. It also functions in red blood cell production, storage of energy and storage of minerals. The tissue types of the skeletal system can vary from phylum to phylum; for example, there are "cartilaginous" fish such as sharks that do not have bone tissue. As most students ask about mammals, I will answer specifically about them.

Vertebrates such as mammals have skeletal systems made of a group of tissues called connective tissue. These are bone, cartilage, ligaments, and tendons. These tissues work together in the system, and work closely with other types of components such as blood and blood vessels, joints, nervous tissue, fat (adipose) tissue and muscle. Depending on what criteria you use to determine what to include in your list, your question about "how many kinds of tissues" will have different numerical answers. The types that are generally included are bone, cartilage, tendons and ligaments. See the attached links for information that might help in determining which other tissues you want to include in your list.

What is the theme of "Minority Report" by Philip K. Dick?

One of the themes of "The Minority Report" is that people really don't have free will, or the ability to choose their own fate. John Anderton, the head of Precrime (an organization that stops crimes before they occur through information provided by people who have knowledge about what will happen in the future), hears that he will murder someone who is a stranger to him. While Anderton at first tries to escape, he eventually decides to murder the person who Precrime said he would kill, Leopold Kaplan, as Kaplan plans to destroy Precrime. After trying to escape the fate that Precrime has decreed and even after discovering that one of the three members of Precrime does not at first think he will murder Kaplan (this third person is the source of the so-called "minority report"), Anderton fulfills their prediction to save Precrime. Therefore, his fate is what the Precrime unit has decreed for him, and all his efforts lead only to what they have predicted is his destiny. It is impossible for him to exercise free will in ultimately changing his fate.

What is the relationship between the plot and subplot of King Lear?

Shakespeare's King Lear is not the story of a single man who is betrayed by his daughters but a story about the universal tragedy of old age--how one generation is inexorably replaced by the generation it created through love or lust and nourished until adulthood. That is why there are two plots. Lear has daughters, Gloucester has sons. Both men find themselves out in the cold, stripped of everything they used to own, including their titles. But this is a universal theme. It has been going on among us Homo sapiens for something like seven thousand generations. Shakespeare shows this happening to aristocrats because that was the tradition in drama--but it happens to everybody. Parents typically love their children, but children do not necessarily care about their parents after they themselves are grown up and have developed adult interests in survival and procreation. In Measure for Measure, the Duke disguised as a friar tells the condemned prisoner Claudio:

Friend hast thou none;
For thine own bowels, which do call thee sire,
The mere effusion of thy proper loins,
Do curse the gout, serpigo, and the rheum,
For ending thee no sooner.      III.1

At least that was Shakespeare's view. Your own children can hardly wait to get rid of you and to get their hands on your property. This was certainly the attitude of Goneril and Regan with regard to their father Lear and the attitude of Edmund towards Gloucester. 

Old age is also a time of regrets. This is symbolized by Lear's bitter regret that he disowned the one daughter who loved him in favor of the two who cared nothing about him. When he meets Cordelia again near Dover he tells her in a stunning metaphor:

You do me wrong to take me out o' the grave:
Thou art a soul in bliss; but I am bound
Upon a wheel of fire, that mine own tears
Do scald like molten lead.      IV.7

This is a good description of the sufferings that go with old age.

What makes old age hard to bear is not the failing of one’s faculties, mental and physical, but the burden of one’s memories.
--Somerset Maugham

Gloucester feels exactly the same way about Edgar as Lear feels about Cordelia.

O dear son Edgar,
The food of thy abused father's wrath!
Might I but live to see thee in my touch,
I'ld say I had eyes again!     IV,1      

Both men's bitter regrets actually symbolize the regrets that all old people feel in old age. Gloucester disowned Edgar, the son who truly loves him, in favor of Edmund, the bastard son who cares nothing about him but only wants his lands and title. 

The two old men are accidentally brought together in a pathetic scene in Act IV, Scene 6. They are hungry and dirty. They have been stripped of everything and are living on weeds and mice. Gloucester has even lost his sight. This great scene symbolizes the fate of every generation when it is no longer wanted and is only in the way. In giving Lear daughters and Gloucester sons, Shakespeare intended to represent the whole human race, each generation treading on the heels of the generation that came before it. The characters who love these old men--Cordelia, Edgar, and Kent--exist primarily to serve as contrasts to the ones who care nothing about them. 

The subplot was probably also needed because the conflict between Lear and his two daughters had become static, a standoff. He is living in the wilds, and they had taken possession of everything he formerly owned. He refuses to go back to them under their terms, and they couldn't care less. Shakespeare may not have known where to go with that plot. Lear rages against his daughters, but he is helpless. His extreme rage is intended to explain why he doesn't just go back and live with them without his hundred knights. They would be glad to provide first-class shelter, since it must be an embarrassment to have their father wandering around in a condition worse than a beggar's. The introduction of the subplot renews dramatic interest, along with suggesting the universality of the theme.

"I looked around. They were standing. All around us and in the balcony on the opposite wall, the Negroes were getting to their feet. Reverend...

This scene is one of the most touching in the novel.  The black community is segregated to the upper balcony of the courthouse during Tom Robinson’s trial.  Because there isn’t any more room downstairs, Scout, Jem, and Dill sit with Reverend Sykes in the black section.  Throughout the trial, Atticus continuously proves Tom’s innocence when he cross-examines the various witnesses.  He proves, for example, that Tom could not have blackened Mayella Ewell’s black eye because of his useless injured left arm.  Only a man like Bob Ewell who is left-handed could have abused her.  Atticus’ closing statements are also an emotional plea for the jury to do the right thing by pointing out that the court system should be the one place in America where everyone is entitled to justice. 

Atticus’ unwavering dedication to insure Tom Robinson gets equal representation is something the black members of the community have never seen before.  Blacks were usually unable to get a fair trial and were usually thought guilty of any crime, especially one against a white woman. 

Because Atticus tried so hard to prove Tom’s innocence, the black community stood as a sign of respect as he passed underneath the balcony and out of the courtroom. After the trial, members of the black community also brought the Finches food as payment for not only Atticus’ services but also to show their deep respect and thanks.

What is the setting of chapter one of "The Hobbit"?

The Hobbit starts out at Bag End, which is the Hobbit hole at the end of Bagshot Row in Hobbiton, which is located in the center of the Shire, which is in the northwest area of Middle Earth. Bag End is the home of Bilbo Baggins, passed down to him from his parents upon their deaths. After describing the typical Hobbit hole (a small, comfortable series of tunnels typically underground), we see Bilbo for the first time, smoking a pipe outside of his front door. Gandalf finds him there and says that he is looking for someone to go on an adventure with him. Later in the chapter, we move to the inside of Bilbo's home, where he reluctantly entertains Thorin and his company of Dwarves. The rest of the chapter is spent inside Bag End as Bilbo learns about Thorin's plan to reclaim Erebor from the dragon Smaug.

What does the gun symbolize in Of Mice and Men?

The gun (used to kill Candy’s dog and also Lennie) is symbolic of the power used by those who decide that individuals are not of any value, whether it is the government or any kind of authority. Candy’s dog has become old and useless, therefore of no value. In the pragmatic world, it is only those who are useful and not a drain on society at large that are allowed to live and flourish. Lennie, who is “weak-minded” and unpredictable, as well as violent, also cannot be allowed to run free. George has been his protector, trying (and failing) to keep Lennie out of trouble. When Lennie kills Curley’s wife (who is also not worth being identified by a name), he also becomes a menace to society, even for George. As in the case with Candy’s dog, it is considered a good thing, even a kindness, to kill it. When George kills Lennie, it is also presented as the best thing for Lennie. He will always get in trouble. He will always be a danger to himself and others. He will always be a burden to someone. Best to just get rid of him.

In "The Gift of the Magi," there are three times in the story when the narrator speaks directly to the reader. How would you describe the...

This is a good question and a sharp observation. The narrator seems to be a worldly wise, kindly, philosophic, perceptive man who likes people. This man seems to be very much like O. Henry himself, and O. Henry probably intended the reader to understand that he was the narrator. One other characteristic of O. Henry was that he was a heavy drinker. He was said to consume two quarts of whiskey a day, and he did a lot of his writing in taverns with a lead pencil. "The Gift of the Magi" was probably intended for the Christmas issue of a New York newspaper. Just as Della was under pressure to buy her husband a Christmas present, so O. Henry was under pressure to meet a deadline.

The story is touching, and it is famous. But there are indications that it was padded in order to meet a certain word-quota. Some of the narrator's interjections sound as if they are put there to stretch out the story. For example:

She got out her curling irons and lighted the gas and went to work repairing the ravages made by generosity added to love. Which is always a tremendous task, dear friends—a mammoth task.

The narrator also repeats himself, especially about the fact that Della only has $1.87 save up and tomorrow will be Christmas.

Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.

Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87 with which to buy Jim a present.

Only $1.87 to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim. 

O. Henry could make a story out of nothing. This is genius. However, in this case it sounds as if he didn't bother to read his story over after he had finished the first draft. Or else he didn't have time. Or else he had drunk too much whiskey.

All the business about the magi at the end is questionable. O. Henry wanted to give some point to his story and he had to make something up. The magi of the Bible were kings. They didn't sacrifice anything, and they didn't give presents to each other. Many readers have asked for explanations of the equation of Della and Jim with the Three Wise Men or the Three Kings of the New Testament. There seems to be a possibility that O. Henry started off with the intention of writing a story that would parallel the story of Jesus, who was born in a stable on Christmas Eve to Mary and Joseph, who were both poor, like Della and Jim. Here is the hint that O. Henry intended to write about the birth of a baby:

The door opened and Jim stepped in and closed it. He looked thin and very serious. Poor fellow, he was only twenty-two—and to be burdened with a family! He needed a new overcoat and he was without gloves.

Della does not think he is burdened with a wife but that he is to be burdened with a family. It sounds as if she is pregnant but hasn't told Jim yet. But O. Henry must have changed his mind. His readers might get the wrong idea. They might consider his story sacrilegious. Some might think he was equating Della's baby with the promised second coming of Christ! So he came up with a different ending.

The whole story seems inspired by whiskey, time pressure, the spirit of Christmas, and O. Henry's genius. He himself must be the narrator, and he must have been a real character, a real newspaper man of his times. with a reporter's eye and a reporter's understanding of the seamy side of his New York.

In the first chapter of The Hobbit, when Gandalf is talking to Bilbo, has Bilbo asked to go on an adventure?

Bilbo gets excited about Gandalf’s previous adventures, and Gandalf interprets that as Bilbo asking to take him on an adventure.

Respectable hobbits do not go on adventures. The Shire frowns upon anything exciting, and doesn’t approve of Gandalf because he has taken a few especially adventurous hobbits out adventuring. The Baggins family does not go on adventures, but the Took side has. Gandalf is relying on the Took side of Bilbo to get him going.

In this exchange, Gandalf is being playful and creative in order to get Bilbo to go on the adventure with the dwarves.  He twists his words so that Bilbo gets very confused and frustrated. Basically, Gandalf takes advantage of the fact that Bilbo is trying very hard to be polite. He gets him all muddled.

“ …Indeed for your old grandfather Took's sake, and for the sake of poor Belladonna, I will give you what you asked for."

"I beg your pardon, I haven't asked for anything!"

"Yes, you have! Twice now. My pardon. I give it you. In fact I will go so far as to send you on this adventure.” (Ch. 1) 

When Gandalf says that Bilbo asked to go an adventure, he is taking a few liberties with the conversation. Bilbo did get a little excited to hear Gandalf’s name, because he has heard stories of some fun adventures. He starts to say that life used to be interesting. 

"Not the Gandalf who was responsible for so many quiet lads and lasses going off into the Blue for mad adventures. Anything from climbing trees to visiting Elves or sailing in ships, sailing to other shores! Bless me, life used to be quite inter- …” (Ch. 1)

Gandalf turns his words back on him, and tells him that he will give him what he asked for—an adventure. Bilbo never asked for it outright, but Gandalf thinks from his reaction to the wizard’s name that he will be ready for one. Gandalf won’t take no for an answer. He will figure out how to get Bilbo there one way or another.

Why do we need streams?

Streams are bodies of flowing water carrying water to larger water bodies, commonly rivers or oceans. In fact, rivers receive most of their water from different streams. Streams are needed for the flow of water from the point of origin to the rivers or (in some cases) from rivers to other areas. Streams are also necessary for providing water to a much larger area than rivers can cover. Streams often feed through villages or small towns and are used as sources of water supply and irrigation. In many parts of the world, streams are main sources of drinking and irrigation water. Streams can also be used for navigation. Streams also help keep water aerated as they move and naturally aeration occurs. Keeping a steady oxygen saturation level of the water is important for the organisms that inhabit it.

In many regions of the world, streams also carry the pollution load from one area to a main river or ocean. 

Hope this helps.

What are some lessons that The Witch of Blackbird Pond might teach?

The Witch of Blackbird Pond is a historical fiction novel told through the lens of prejudiced Colonial Puritan settlements in New England during the late 1600s. External conflict in the novel includes the origins of the Revolutionary War as colonists struggle against British rule. A lesson to be learned from this element of the novel is that people will struggle, fight and even die to gain or protect freedoms.

Another ongoing conflict in the story provides additional lessons regarding human interactions and beliefs. The Puritan religious beliefs led to many accusations of witchcraft. In the novel, a group mentality of accusations involving witchcraft takes hold of a community. A lesson involving mass hysteria or peer pressure could be learned while analyzing the way the group turns on one of the characters, accusing her of witchcraft.

The main character also struggles with resolving an inner conflict between her identity and her duty to family, religion and community. Another lesson to learn from the novel is that of finding balance within one's self in performing duties as a member of a community or family while maintaining one's identity.

What are the first two dangers the narrator faces in "The Pit and the Pendulum"?

The first two dangers faced by the narrator of this story would be the pit and the pendulum, so the story is aptly named.

When he first wakes up in his pitch black cell, he starts trying to measure its size by trailing his hands along the wall and measuring by pace. This in and of itself is not the dangerous part; it is when the narrator paces more into the center of the room, trying to figure things out, that he comes close to losing his life. He trips and falls, and he realizes that his head is not touching anything, meaning that he tripped close enough to the pit that his head dangled over the edge.

The next danger is after he is drugged by his food and he wakes up tied down to the floor, and he can see the pendulum slowly descending as it swings back and forth. Luckily, he is clever, and he spreads what is left of his food onto the ropes holding him down, which baits the rats into chewing through the ropes and setting him free just before the pendulum reaches him.

How are Sylvia and the stranger similar? How are they different? Why did Sylvia not tell the stranger about the heron?

Sylvia and the stranger are similar in that they both have (or claim to have) a real appreciation for the beauty of nature.  Just as Sylvia has a special appreciation for the birds, so does he.  He tells her grandmother, "'I am making a collection of birds myself.  I have been at it ever since I was a boy.'"  Further, he says that he cannot think of anything he'd like better than to find the white heron.

However, Sylvia and the stranger differ greatly in how they express their appreciation of nature.  For Sylvy, who is often compared to a flower, a move to the country from the city was a permanent once because

Everybody said that it was a good change for a little maid who had tried to grow for eight years in a crowded manufacturing town, but, as for Sylvia herself, it seemed as if she never had been alive at all before she came to live at the farm.

Living in the country has enabled Sylvia to grow and thrive when she could not in the city.  For the hunter, on the other hand, his time in the country is only a "vacation" that he uses to hunt.  While Sylvia's heart "beat fast with pleasure" when she heard the birds singing in the bushes, the hunter intends to "stuff and preserve" them.  The both appreciate nature, to be sure, but the child expresses her appreciation by observing these animals, alive, in nature and the stranger expresses his by shooting them and taking them back to the city.

In the end, Sylvia does not tell the stranger about the heron because

The murmur of the pine's green branches is in her ears, she remembers how the white heron came flying through the golden air and how they watched the sea and the morning together, and Sylvia cannot speak; she cannot tell the heron's secret and give its life away.

Although the hunter offered her $10 to help him to find the bird -- an awesome sum to her mind -- on some level, this child recognizes that the value of the "pine's green branches" and the "golden air" and the beating heart of the heron who shared her beautiful sunrise are of far greater value than money.

What does the title "Rules of the Game" mean?

This is a great question.  The title, "Rules of the Game," can be taken in a few different ways. 

First, on one level it deals with the game of chess. Waverly had to learn the rules of the game in order to play.  She learned the rules from her brothers. Then she learned more from Lau Po, who was a more advanced player.  After she learned these rules, she excelled. 

Second, the title can also refer to Waverly's relationship with her mother.  Waverly is growing older, and she wants more independence.  Her mother does not want this. So, conflict ensues.  Within this context, Waverly is learning how far she can push her mother and her mother is also probably feeling things out. 

Third, the idea of rules also applies to the immigrant experience. Mrs. Jong make this point very clear.  She, along with her children, need to learn the rules of American society well enough to survive and thrive.

"This American rules," she concluded at last. "Every time people come out from foreign country, must know rules. You not know, judge say, Too bad, go back. They not telling you why so you can use their way go forward.

Finally, the idea of rules applies to the art of invisible strength, which is defined as a way of winning an argument and respect.  In other words, you have to learn well to have power in society and get ahead.  

In To Kill A Mockingbird, how does Harper Lee show that Atticus is wise?

Atticus Finch is one of the best-known father figures in the literary world.  He is known for his patience, humility, and wisdom.  Harper Lee shows Atticus’ wisdom through these personality traits and the lessons he teaches Scout and Jem throughout the novel.  Atticus’ calm demeanor and respect for all people places him in the position to teach us all life lessons.  Teaching Scout about learning to “walk around in another person’s skin” is one of his most profound lessons as Scout learns this in the novel.  She learns to empathize with Walter Cunningham’s poverty, Boo Radley’s reclusiveness, and Mayella Ewell’s sad existence through this simple lesson.  Atticus also teaches Scout and Jem about the sin to kill a mockingbird.  The mockingbird is a harmless bird whose sole purpose is to give pleasure through its beautiful song.  In the novel, many characters represent the mockingbird and include Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and even Mayella Ewell. 

Atticus also shows his wisdom when he defends Tom Robinson for the rape of Mayella Ewell.  Instead of giving up because he knows a black man will always be convicted in Maycomb’s racist environment, Atticus puts together a solid case that shows Tom’s innocence.  Although Tom is later convicted of the crime, Atticus earns the respect of the black community and puts doubt in the jury’s mind about the verdict.  He is almost single-handedly helping to eradicate racism and prejudice in this small town. 

Atticus’ ability to know and understand the lives and situations of people in Maycomb make him one of the wisest characters in literature.  The lessons he teaches his children will only keep his legacy going as they grow up and face their own hard decisions.

In Night by Elie Wisel, what optimism does the Kahn family show?

In the opening chapter of his memoir Night Elie Wiesel describes life in his small village of Sighet in Transylvania, Hungary during World War II. Although rumors of the Nazi cruelty to the Jews repeatedly surfaces in the town, most people remain optimistic. Reports that the Germans are losing the war and that Hungary will go untouched bolster the confidence of the villagers. This attitude wanes in the spring of 1944 with reports from Budapest that Fascists have taken over the government and allowed German troops on Hungarian soil. Anti-semitic attacks plague the capital and when German troops arrive in Sighet "anguish" rules the day. 

At first the Germans are relatively benign and are even housed with Jewish families. They are undemanding and sometimes smile at the women. The Kahns are such a family and it is revealed that the German commander staying with them is "charming," "calm" and "likable." He even brings Mrs. Kahn a box of chocolates. Despite impending doom, the Jews are optimistic. Soon, the evacuations begin and the Jews of the town are dispersed to the concentration camps of Poland and Germany. 

How was Malcolm X positive to the world?

Near the end of his life, in 1964, Malcolm X took a hajj or pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudia Arabia that transformed him. For the first time, he was treated as an equal, not a second class citizen. As he would later note, he saw "all colors, from blue-eyed blonds to black-skinned Africans" getting along in harmony and equality. He began to see that racial reconciliation between whites and blacks was possible and that not all whites were devils.

He wrote that “the Holy City of Mecca had been the first time I had ever stood before the Creator of All and felt like a complete human being.”

Not only did he rethink his hatred of whites, he revised his ideas of black separatism. Brotherhood, he realized, was possible, for he had experienced it.

Malcolm X's courage in openly changing his views was an inspiration to many. If he had previously made a contribution to black pride by encouraging blacks to embrace their identity and independence, he now showed that it was possible to embrace a wider vision that included all of humanity.  

What do the eighteen hundred brothers represent in A Christmas Carol?

In stave three of A Christmas Carol, Scrooge meets the Ghost of Christmas Present and learns that he has more than eighteen hundred brothers. On one level, this refers to the number of Christmases which have passed since the birth of Jesus. But, delving deeper, this comment signifies more than just numbers. Scrooge admits to the ghost that he has never walked with one of the spirit's brothers before:

"Have never walked forth with the younger members of my family; meaning (for I am very young) my elder brothers born in these later years?'' pursued the Phantom.

"I don't think I have,'' said Scrooge.

This implies that Scrooge has never truly appreciated the meaning of Christmas. We know that Dickens held Christmas in particularly high regard. For him, it was an opportunity to remember family members who have died and to be grateful for those still around. He made this sentiment very clear in his essay, What Christmas Is As We Grow Older, which he published in his magazine, Household Words. So, from this perspective, the eighteen hundred brothers represent all the years that Scrooge wasted by not being with his family and all the opportunities for meaningful interactions which he squandered. It is this sentiment which drives the story and contributes to Scrooge's reformation and redemption. 

In To Kill a Mockingbird, when does the judge say Tom is guilty?

In a trial by jury, it is actually never the judge who gives the verdict. Instead, the jury determines the verdict via vote and passes their decision on to the judge to be announced. The same process takes place in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird.

In Chapter 21, after the endless waiting, the jury returns to the jury box and hands their votes on a piece of paper to Sheriff Heck Tate, who hands the paper to Judge Taylor. Then, Judge Taylor reads off each guilty verdict. Scout notes in her narrative that, with each guilty verdict read, Jem jerks from the shock:

Judge Taylor was polling the jury: "Guilty ... guilty ... guilty ..." I peeked at Jem: his hands were white from gripping the balcony rail and his shoulders jerked as if each "guilty" was a separate stab between them. (Ch. 21)

Later, in Chapter 23, when Atticus is discussing the case with his children, he explains that Robinson has a good chance of appealing the trial, being retried, and acquitted. It's also at this point that we learn the jury sentenced Robinson to be executed. Jem protests, saying that "the jury didn't have to give him death--if they wanted to they could've gave him twenty years" (Ch. 23).

Hence, from the passages above, we learn that it is the jury who gave the guilty verdict and sentenced Robinson to death, not Judge Taylor, which is the standard process in jury trails.

In Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, what two major points did Atticus score in his favor during Heck Tate's testimony?

Atticus gets Sheriff Tate to admit that no one called a doctor for Mayella and that the injuries were on the right side of her face.

Heck Tate is the first witness the Finch children see testify in the Tom Robinson case.  He is the sheriff of Maycomb county.  He testifies because he was called to the scene when Mayella Ewell was reported raped.  Mr. Gilmer, the prosecutor, has him review the scene.  He was called by Bob Ewell, and found Mayella Ewella injured in the middle of the floor of her house. 

Atticus, Tom Robinson’s defense attorney, cross-examines Heck Tate to ask him about Mayella’s injuries.  The first question he asks him is about the doctor.  If a girl is raped, you would expect a doctor to be called.  None has been mentioned, so Atticus asks.

Didn’t call a doctor?”

“No sir,” repeated Mr. Tate.

“Why not?” There was an edge to Atticus’s voice.

“Well I can tell you why I didn’t. It wasn’t necessary, Mr. Finch. She was mighty banged up. Something sho‘ happened, it was obvious.” (Ch. 17)

Judge Taylor intervenes, telling Atticus to stop asking the question because Sheriff Tate has answered it three times.  No one called for a doctor.  It is pretty strange.  Atticus made sure the jury realized it.  If Mayella was really raped, a doctor should have been called for her.

Atticus also makes a big deal about the side of her face on which Mayella’s injuries are located.

“Wait a minute, Sheriff,” said Atticus. “Was it her left facing you or her left looking the same way you were?”

Mr. Tate said, “Oh yes, that’d make it her right. It was her right eye, Mr. Finch. I remember now, she was bunged up on that side of her face…” (Ch. 17)

Tom Robinson reacts to Atticus harping on the side of Mayella’s face where the injuries are located.  This will be important later, because Atticus will try to use it to prove that Tom Robinson did not hit Mayella, because his left arm is useless, and that no rape occurred, because no one went for a doctor.

How does Scrooge feel about the fact that people avoid him on the street? How does he feel about Christmas and marriage? Why?

We are told that nobody ever stopped Scrooge in the street to inquire after his health, no beggars ever asked him for money, no children approached him for the time, and none ever solicited directions from him.  

But what did Scrooge care?  It was the very thing he liked.  [He preferred to] edge his way along the crowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy to keep its distance [...].

In other words, this is just the way Scrooge wants it to be.  He doesn't want to interact with others any more than necessary.  He doesn't want friends; instead, he desires solitude.

To his nephew, Scrooge complains that Christmas is 

"a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, and not an hour richer; a time for balancing your books and having every item in 'em through a round dozen of months presented dead against you?"

Scrooge is most characterized by his greed and lack of charity for others.  He has no compassion and no empathy for the plight of the poor (or anyone else, for that matter).  So, to him, Christmas seems wasteful.  It is a time when those who cannot afford it spend money frivolously, a time when we look back on the year and most of us find that we haven't profited at all (and, for Scrooge, financial profit is really the only kind that matters).  

Likewise, Scrooge scoffs at the institution of marriage or the possibility of love.  He asks his nephew (whose name we don't learn until later on, but it's Fred) why he got married.  Fred replies that he fell in love.  

"Because you fell in love!" growled Scrooge, as if that were the only thing in the world more ridiculous than a merry Christmas.  "Good afternoon!"

So, as low as Scrooge's opinion is of Christmas, he ranks love even lower.  Scrooge finds his nephew -- and the importance his nephew places on everything Scrooge judges to be ridiculous -- so repellent that he dismisses him immediately.  It is as though Scrooge simply cannot stand to hear any more.

Scrooge is most characterized by his greed.  He is

Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster.

He prefers to be alone and finds any and all company irksome at best.  However, it is his lack of compassion for his fellows that is especially damning.  When two men approach him requesting a donation to help the poor at this cold and difficult time of year, they tell him that many of the poor would rather die than go to the workhouse.  His response?

"If they would rather die [...], they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."

In short, Scrooge cares for his money and little else.  Perhaps one reason for this is that he has learned that it can be difficult to rely on other people, but money will never abandon him.  In Stave 2, the Ghost of Christmas past shows Scrooge his childhood, and in the first scene it seems as though the school is empty of children.  However,

"The school is not quite deserted," said the Ghost.  "A solitary child, neglected by his friends, is left there still."

This child is Scrooge.  He spent a great deal of time alone, sent away to school by his parents, "with too much getting up by candle-light, and not too much to eat."  He knows how it feels to be poor and hungry, and this knowledge likely fuels his need to accumulate.  

As Scrooge grows older, he falls in love with a woman named Belle, but he postpones their marriage so that he can earn more money.  She confronts him, saying that he has grown to love money more than he loves her and that she has "seen [his] nobler aspirations fall off one by one, until the master-passion, Gain, engrosses [him]."  Belle's leaving seems to be the last straw.  Finding himself once more abandoned and alone, Scrooge's character hardens to the point where he is nearly beyond all redemption.  

Having been sent away by his parents, neglected by his friends, and abandoned by the woman he loves, Scrooge has learned that people leave and money doesn't.  People let us down, but money is reliable.  It certainly isn't justification for his callous treatment of others, especially the poor, but Scrooge's history does help to explain how he ended up the way he did.

What makes the community in The Giver a Dystopia?

While Utopian fiction is a peek into a future in which society is working very well, dystopian literature is that which gives us a look at a future that is not working out at all.  A dystopian work shows us a future that is dysfunctional, usually because mankind has made some dreadful mistake or miscalculation.  While on the surface, the society in The Giver seems quite successful, it is clear by the end of the book that it is profoundly dysfunctional in ways that only the Giver and Jonas are privy to because they are the only fully human people in the story.

The mistake that the community has made is to have given up what makes its people human in exchange for security and stability. They must conform to the rules of Sameness, which takes away most of their choices. They have given up the sense of color and music.  They have given up emotions such as happiness and love.  They have given up memories of anything that happened before their lives began.  They have no choice in mates, child-bearing, or in work.  In exchange, they have a sterile, climate-controlled existence, which seems to keep them free of disease and food or housing insecurity. They are safe, but while they have traded away unhappiness, they are not capable of happiness, either. 

While there may be some who do not see this as dystopia, I think most people understand that this is a bad bargain, that giving up choices and differences, giving up color and music, giving up all the best of human emotions, is a choice that leads to a community of essentially robots, who follow the leaders unquestioningly.  The Giver and Jonas understand the cost that the community has paid, even though the people themselves do not see it. 

In Island of the Blue Dolphins, what did they make weapons out of?

In Ch. 9, we see that Karana begins to make weapons because Ramo has been killed and she needs to be able to defend herself from the wild dogs on the island. She gathers enough wood on the beach to be able to construct a bow and arrows, along with a small spear. The spear is missing an arrowhead at the tip, though, because she is unable to find one. She simply sharpens the tip of the wood to a point.

Later, in Ch. 12, she makes an even stronger bow and arrows. She also makes a stronger spear, but she needs the tooth of a sea elephant for the tip. Normally, the men acquire these by trapping the sea elephants in a net, so her trying get one on her own is daunting. She injures her leg trying to do so, and it is not until Ch. 14 that she finds a dead sea elephant on shore and manages to get a tooth out of it for the tip of her spear.

So, her weapons are made of wood, bones, and teeth that she manages to cull from the island.

Why do we breathe air and why do we drink water.

Water is a major need for all human being. It is a must for them to survive. Man need water to various actions inside the body. Usually a man need to drink about 2.4 liters of water everyday.

• Drinking water will be useful in following things in our body.


• Water cushions and lubricates joints


• nourishes and protects the brain, spinal cord and other tissues


• keeps the body's temperature normal


• Helps remove waste through perspiration, bowel movements and urination

However drinking lack of water of too much water not good for health.

Breathing air is also very much important to survive for human being. Not as drinking water breathing happens automatically. We even don't notice that we are breathing. By breathing air we take oxygen to our body.

When you inhale, a large muscle called the diaphragm flexes downward to help draw air into your lungs. Your lungs are one of the largest organs in your body. They work together with the rest of your respiratory system to keep your body's cells supplied with necessary oxygen.

 Your cells need oxygen to convert the nutrients you eat into energy for your body. In the process of making that energy, some waste products are produced. One of the main waste products is a gas called carbon dioxide.

Your body needs to get rid of carbon dioxide, so what does it do? It breathes it out!

So without breathing you won't be able to read this answer. It is that important. 

What is the dominant emotional mood in the poem "To a Waterfowl"?

“To a Waterfowl” is a spiritual poem by William Cullen Bryant, first published in 1818.  In the poem Bryant, on a solitary walk himself, espies a flying waterfowl overhead and draws a parallel between its journey, guided by a “Power whose care/ Teaches thy way along that pathless coast – / The desert and illimitable air –/ Lone wandering, but not lost,” and his own.  This same power, Bryant avows in the final line of  the poem, “will lead my steps aright.”  Faith is therefore a central theme of this piece – faith in a higher power who will guide the poet in his own journey just as he is guiding the waterfowl, keeping it safe from hunters’ eyes through the seasons and through its changing environment.  In faith, as well, there is hope and serenity, comfort in the safety granted by God.  He makes mention of the fowl’s “sheltered nest” among his brethren.

This poem is an early example of the Romantic movement in American poetry, making extensive use of natural imagery and man’s communion with God and the spiritual realm. 

I'm supposed to write a short essay comparing excerpts of Book of the Dead and the Epic of Gilgamesh. I'm also supposed to write about whether any...

A good strategy for your essay would be to focus on the idea of the relationship between power and justice and responsibility. 

In Gilgamesh, we see a king with absolute power. In addition to being a ruler, he is immensely strong and intelligent. Before the creation of Enkidu, he abused this power, mistreating his servants and the people of Uruk. The gods and his friend Enkidu gradually persuade him that becoming a good king is not just a matter of winning wars and erecting great monuments, but about charity and justice. In ancient Mesopotamian society, Gilgamesh and subsequent kings were believed to hold powers as almost stewards of the gods, responsible for carrying out divine charity and justice in the kingdoms they held at the gods' will. It was this ethical element that conferred legitimacy on kings. Your reading states:

The father of the gods has given you kingship,  ... He has given you unexampled supremacy over the people, victory in battle ... But do not abuse this power, deal justly with your servants in the palace, ...

Similarly, in the Book of the Dead, the deceased are judged on the basis of honesty, charity, and lawfulness, especially in the way they treat their inferiors, For example, one must attest to the goddess after death:

I have not defrauded the poor man of his goods.... I have caused no man to suffer. I have allowed no man to go hungry.

For your conclusion, you might discuss what sort of mechanisms ensure that the wealthy and powerful behave justly in modern society.

How did the actions taken by the federal government during times of war illustrate the value of the Declaration of Independence?

The actions that our government has sometimes taken during times of war show how important the Declaration of Independence is to us. During times of war, the government has taken steps to reduce our freedom. For example, during World War I, the government passed the Sedition Act that made public opposition to the war illegal. It was illegal to criticize the government or the President. The Espionage Act made antiwar activities illegal. Most people accepted these restrictions because winning the war was important. Most people understood that public opposition to the war would send the wrong message to the leaders of the countries that we were fighting.

The Declaration of Independence states that all people have certain inalienable rights that can’t be taken away from us. These include the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The document goes on to say that when the government doesn’t protect our rights, the people must change the government. If the government can reduce our rights during times of war, the government could also reduce our rights during times of peace. The Declaration of Independence makes it clear what the people need to do when the government doesn’t protect our rights. While people may accept some restrictions while we are fighting a war, they can’t let the government reduce our rights under normal circumstances. The Declaration of Independence clearly makes that point.