In Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 why/how would a person be silenced for controversial beliefs?

Within Bradbury's dystopian society, the greatest crime is to read books that have substantial ideas in them. The people can look at picture books, but those do not give people complex ideas. The government wants to control people from having debatable ideas so everyone can live a free, distracted, and fun-filled life. Most people obey this law to the point that friends, neighbors, and even family can call the authorities on anyone who has books and report them. Once an alarm has been sent out to the police and the firemen, the police show up first to arrest the person and the firemen burn the offender's home along with all of the books. The process is explained further as follows:

"The police went first and adhesive-taped the victim's mouth and bandaged him off into their glittering beetle cars, so when you arrived (firemen) you found an empty house. You weren't hurting anyone, you were hurting only things! And since things really couldn't be hurt, since things felt nothing, and things don't scream or whimper, . . . you were simply cleaning up. Janitorial work, essentially. . . Quick with the kerosene! Who's got a match!" (36-37).

Now, if the offender runs from the police rather than being arrested, the firemen have a Mechanical Hound that is given the person's biological and chemical scent. The technology of the hound cannot be surpassed. It can find anyone from any point in the city. Once it snags the person, the following happens:

". . . a four-inch hollow steel needle plunge[s] down from the proboscis of the Hound to inject massive jolts of morphine or procaine" (25).

Hence, offenders can either be arrested without incident as their home is being destroyed by fire (along with the books), or run and have the Mechanical Hound sent after them and suffer death by injection.

What is the conflict in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird?

Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird actually has two central plot lines and, therefore, has two central conflicts. The first plot line concerns the children's coming-of-age-story; the second concerns Atticus's decision to defend Tom Robinson in court, a decision that significantly influences the manner in which his children mature as they grow older.

The children's coming-of-age story involves many minor conflicts as the children encounter people and situations that influence their thinking. Many of these minor conflicts are character vs. character conflicts that reflect the children's fears. For example, the children enter into conflicts with Arthur (Boo) Radley and Mrs. Dubose, characters the children are afraid of. However, the central conflict in the children's coming-of-age story is best identified as character vs. self.

Scout is in conflict with herself because, being a tomboy, she wants to act like a boy; yet, because she is a girl, she also has feminine instincts. Her feminine instincts particularly surface when Jem and Dill begin playing the "Boo Radley" game. Scout hesitates to participate because she fears for their safety if they antagonize their neighbor Arthur Radley, whom they call Boo. Scout expresses her fears when she says in reply to Dill's question if she is scared, "He can get out at night when we're all asleep ..." (Ch. 4). As a result of her feminine instincts, that summer, she has to let the boys go off on their own and enact their boyishly foolhardy schemes while she spends most of her time with Miss Maudie. As the book progresses, Scout resolves her internal conflict by accepting the amount of courage it takes to be a lady, as demonstrated by her Aunt Alexandra and Miss Maudie.

Similarly, as Jem matures, he faces the internal conflict of being foolhardy vs. being a brave gentleman. He soon comes to learn that being brave isn't necessarily doing anything rash, like trespassing on the Radleys' property when he could get shot, but rather doing what he knows is right despite the odds of being able to complete his goal. Jem learns this lesson from his father's actions in defending Tom Robinson and from Mrs. Dubose, who fought against her morphine addiction despite the fact that she was on her deathbed. Jem learns what true bravery is from Mrs. Dubose when Atticus explains he wanted Jem to get to know Mrs. Dubose because he wanted Jem to see that courage is not "a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what" (Ch. 11).

In contrast to Jem and Scout's internal character vs. self conflicts in their coming-of-age story, the conflict in the plot line concerning Atticus's decision to defend Robinson can be seen as an external conflict. In defending Robinson, Atticus is acting contrary to the rest of the members of society, who automatically judges Robinson to be guilty due to their racial prejudices. As a result, Atticus and his children suffer a great deal of ridicule. Therefore, this conflict can be considered a character vs. society conflict. The children grow a great deal as a result of experiencing the conflict.

Analyze how the spread of nationalism and imperialism shaped state behavior in China, Russia, and Japan and to what extent did each state adapt to...

The spread of imperialism provoked nationalist responses in China and Japan, while imperialist impulses by the Russian tsar provoked an internal response. Imperialist European countries and the U.S. had long tried to trade with China and Japan. In 1853, the American Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in Japan, which was then isolationist, and the Japanese eventually had to give in to American trading demands. The U.S., Russia, Britain, and other countries forced Japan to sign unequal treaties that granted them the right to have their citizens live in Japan and not to charge high tariffs on their exports. During the Meiji Restoration that followed, the Japanese emperor was restored to the throne, and Japan embarked on a period of rapid industrialization. Japan also became very militaristic, and they became an imperial power in themselves. They gained control over Taiwan in the First Sino-Japanese War of 1895 and defeated the Russians in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, fought over control over Korea and Manchuria. Hence, imperialism by western powers in Japan led to their own nationalist response and the development of Japanese imperialism over time.

China was also subject to imperialism. After the First Opium War (1839-1842) and the Second Opium War (1856-1860), European powers gained unequal trading rights in China, which had attempted to remain isolationist. Eventually, the Qing Dynasty became so weak that they were toppled in 1911, leading to the establishment of the short-lived Chinese Republic under the Nationalists. The terms of the Treaty of Versailles at the end of World War I, in which China gave territory to Japan, led to the May Fourth Movement in 1919, an expression of Chinese nationalism against the Japanese. This nationalist sentiment would grow as Japan took over parts of China, such as Manchuria, during the 1930s. Rival factions in China, including the Nationalists and the Communists under Mao, worked together to expel the Japanese during the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945. In 1949, the Communists took over China and expelled all foreigners, an expression of nationalism. Hence, Japan and China adapted to imperialism by developing their own nationalist movements over time.

Russia is a different story. After their loss in the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, a war that was motivated by Russian imperialism, there were revolutions against the tsar, Nicholas II. Russia fought in World War I, but the troops were so badly armed that the effort led to widespread revolt, culminating in the Russian Revolution of 1917. In addition, there were widespread food shortages and poverty. The Russian Revolution was nationalist at its core. It sought to restore Russia to greatness in a Communist system. Eventually, after defeating its internal opposition, the Russian Communists established the Soviet Union in 1922. The Soviet Union would go on to become a powerful empire in its own right during the 20th century, so the Russian Revolution led to a new form of nationalism. 

What were the core principles of the Enlightenment? Where did these concepts come from, how were they diffused, and in what ways did they lay the...

The essential idea of the Enlightenment was the belief in reason and the ability of reason to guide the way people were governed and the way people thought about the world around them. The ideas of the Enlightenment were far reaching and touched the fields of philosophy, government, science, art, medicine, and religion.

Many factors led to the Enlightenment and gave rise to its central belief in reason. Perhaps foremost among them was the scientific discoveries that Kepler, Galileo, and others made in the world of astronomy, and the formulation of the scientific method by Bacon. The scientific method relied on the idea that observations, rather than superstition or religion, helped guide the way scientific theories were made. In other words, people could not rely on superstition anymore and had to rely on their powers of observation and reason to make hypotheses about the natural world. In addition, the age of discovery exposed people to new worlds and ideas, making them question old precepts. 

Enlightenment thinkers such as Locke, Montesquieu, and Voltaire dedicated themselves to understanding how reason governed the way people were ruled. Locke believed in the social contract, the idea that the governed had inalienable rights, rights that could not be taken away by their rulers. These ideas were diffused mainly through writing. For example, the Enlightenment figure Diderot wrote an encyclopedia in which he hoped to capture all knowledge. His multi-volume work helped disseminate knowledge.

The ideas of the Enlightenment inspired revolutionary change, and the ideology of the Enlightenment was one of the factors behind the French and the American Revolutions. The idea that people had certain rights that could not be taken away and that they had to be governed by reason rather than merely by tradition meant that people were no longer tolerant of monarchs who they felt had violated their inalienable rights. The idea of the divine right of kings--that monarchs had a God-given right to rule--was over. The Enlightenment inspired people to question the way they were ruled. 

In the movie, Amadeus, what is Antonio Salieri's main conflict with himself?

Until he encounters Mozart, Salieri believes that his musical talent is a reward from God that he has earned in exchange for living as an upstanding, pious Christian. When he meets Mozart, however, Salieri's understanding of the world and of himself is torn apart. Mozart is impious, rude, obnoxious, immature, self-centered, undisciplined: in Salieri's opinion, a terrible example of a human being. Yet Mozart is also undeniably a musician of astonishing talent, a talent that Salieri can only understand as a "miraculous" gift from God. Salieri's conflict, what tears him apart, is his new belief that God is laughing at or mocking him with Mozart. He, Salieri, has been the best of men: why then would God put the most extraordinary musical talent of the generation not into his hands, but into the hands of a miserable person like Mozart? Salieri becomes so eaten with anger and jealously at this, to him, unfair twist of the knife on God's part that he plots to murder Mozart and take credit for his final work.

How is a polypeptide chain related to DNA?

DNA holds the instructions for the type and order of amino acids within a polypeptide.

Transcription and translation are the two phases of protein synthesis.

During transcription, the two strands of DNA unwind. One of the strands serves as a template for make an mRNA strand. Each set of three nucleotides on an mRNA is called a codon. These codons will be important in the second phase of protein synthesis called translation.

After the mRNA that is created during transcription, it migrates to the cytoplasm via a nuclear pore of the nucleus.   

During translation, mRNA, ribosomes, rRNA, tRAN, and amino acids work together to make the protein strand.

Once in the cytoplasm, the mRNA and ribosomes attach. The ribosomes serve as scaffolds that match the codons on mRNA’s to the anticodons on the tRNA’s. Anticodons are sets of three nucleotides on the base of a tRNA that are complementary to mRNA codons. On the top of tRNA are amino acids.

As the ribosome moves down the mRNA during translation, additional tRNA anticodons are matched with their complementary mRNA codons. In this way, amino acids that form a protein are arranged in the correct order.  When two amino acids are adjacent to one another, a peptide bond forms. The polypeptide chain continues to grow until a stop codon is reached on the mRNA strand.

Design some good open-ended questions about Seedfolks.

An open-ended question is one that asks for a full answer, not just a word or two.  It uses the person’s own knowledge of the subject, maybe an opinion, or maybe some feelings concerning the topic.  You will find this type of question in many careers, and you may even experience it in an interview.  Some open-ended questions from Seedfolks may be:

1. Could a garden such as the one developed in the book exist in your city or town? Why or why not?


2. If your grandparents moved to a foreign country, would they have the same difficulties adjusting to living in a new country as Tio Juan?   Why or why not?


3. Nora says, “To our left was a lot in which a few bold pioneers had planted gardens.” (pg 60)  Do you consider these people “pioneers”?  Why or why not?


4. Nora called the garden, “….. a soap opera growing out of the ground”. What did she mean by that?  Do you agree with her?  Why or why not?


5. Amir says, “The object in America is to avoid contact, to treat all as foes unless they’re known to be friends.” (pg 73)  Do you agree with Amir?  Why or why not?


6. Amir says, “But the garden’s greatest benefit, I feel, was not relief to the eyes, but to make the eyes see our neighbors.” (pg 74)  What does he mean by that?

What does the phrase "in the dark" mean and what are some examples?

“In the dark” is an idiom that means you are unaware of something, usually because someone deliberately kept it from you.

An idiom is a commonly used figure of speech.  It is a simile or metaphor, but it is used so often that most people have heard it and know what it means.  This phrase is an idiom.  Other idioms include “it’s raining cats and dogs” and “beat around the bush.”  A similar idiom is "out of the loop."  It also means someone did not tell you something.

The phrase “in the dark” is usually used when a person does not know something that he or she should know.  Sometimes it means that people deliberately did not tell the person what he wanted to know or should have known.  It’s a metaphor because if you are literally in the dark, you can’t see.

Here is an example about the phrase.

When Jenny broke up with her boyfriend she kept her friends in the dark about it because she was embarrassed.

In this case, Jenny deliberately did not tell her friends that she broke up with her boyfriend, so her friends were in the dark.  Jenny kept a secret from them.  You can use this phrase about any kind of lack of knowledge though.

I was in the dark about the band schedule.

This person did not know what the band schedule was, so he is in the dark.  Maybe he forgot to check, or maybe he just forgot.  Either way, he did not know what was going on.

How has Katniss rebelled against the Capitol and why?

In the first book of the Hunger Games trilogy, it was not Katniss' intent to rebel against the Capitol. Neither she nor any of her friends in District 12 had any love for the government. The Capitol had kept very tight control over all the Districts since an uprising in District 13, including forcing all remaining twelve Districts to send two teenagers each to the Hunger Games each year--a fight to the death for all except one champion. Katniss, at 16, was the breadwinner for her mother, her younger sister Prim and herself; her hunting and trading are what fed them. She had no time for active rebellion. When Prim was selected as District 12's female "tribute", Katniss volunteered instead in order to save Prim. Once in the Games, she simply tried to keep herself alive. When the possibility that both Katniss and Peeta could survive when the rules changed, she worked for that. The Capitol again changed the rules once Katniss and Peeta were the two remaining tributes. Katniss' strategy of threatening no winners, by both eating the poison berries, worked--but made enemies of the Capitol. President Snow saw it as a deliberate ploy to disgrace the Capitol and himself, and saw Katniss as a rebel that had to be destroyed.

In the story "The Leap," what are the similarities between the two leaps?

Both leaps Anna makes are daring, last-ditch efforts to save her child.

The first leap Anna makes is to save her life during a terrible accident. Anna is part of a trapeze act. One day, she is performing her act while seven months pregnant. While she is performing, there is a storm. Lightning strikes the circus tent’s main pole, and Anna takes a calculated risk. She jumps.

Her body twisted toward a heavy wire and she managed to hang on to the braided metal, still hot from the lightning strike. Her palms were burned so terribly that once healed they bore no lines, only the blank scar tissue of a quieter future.

Three people die that day, but other than the burns, Anna survives. Unfortunately, Anna’s husband dies, and although she is put on bed rest, her baby is stillborn. The leap saved Anna’s life, but it did not save the baby.

Anna meets the narrator’s father while recuperating in the hospital. They marry, and then move to a decrepit farmhouse. One day, there is a fire. The narrator is trapped upstairs. Anna’s husband is helpless and not sure what to do. Once again, Anna solves the problem with a leap.

I didn't see her leap through air, only heard the sudden thump and looked out my window. She was hanging by the backs of her heels from the new gutter we had put in that year, and she was smiling. I was not surprised to see her, she was so matter-of-fact. 

Like the first leap, this one was dangerous and next to impossible. Also like the first leap, this one is intended to save her child's life. The narrator considers both leaps times that her mother saved her life. The first time, Anna saved her future daughter’s life by saving her own life. This time, she directly saves her by acting when no one else can. She uses her old skills and somehow manages this incredible feat.

What is revealed by studying the scene where Bathsheba hives the bees in Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy?

Chapter 27, “Hiving the Bees,” further establishes the beginnings of a relationship between Bathsheba and Sergeant Frank Troy by hinting at their romantic attraction for one another. This idea is made clear by the behavior of the characters and described similarities between them and the bees. 

The chapter begins by describing why the bees are difficult to capture: though “sometimes throughout a whole season all the swarms would alight on the lowest attainable bough” they sometimes would “make straight off to the upper-most member of some tall, gaunt costard, or quarrenden, and there defy all invaders who did not come armed with ladders and staves to take them. This was the case at present.” Since the bees are staying only at the highest branches of the apple trees, which require more effort from anyone attempting to capture them, they are harder to get. If we compare this behavior to Bathsheba, we can see similarities in her description: when she decides to retrieve the bees, she “made herself impregnable with armour of leather gloves, straw hat, and large gauze veil -- once green but now faded to snuff colour -- and ascended a dozen rungs of the ladder.” Bathsheba dons “armor” and climbs high on the ladder, which makes it difficult for anyone to help her. Just as the bees fight against “invaders,” Bathsheba is also “armored.” The similar descriptions of both the bees and Bathsheba show they are about to battle each other, but such descriptions also imply that anyone interested in capturing either the bees or her will have to put forth a lot of effort, something which Troy is prepared to do as a solider and because of his romantic interest in Bathsheba.  

As Troy begins assisting Bathsheba with capturing the bees, she takes careful precautions regarding her outfit and presentation; however, it is clear that these are for Troy’s benefit and not for protection from the bees. When he first arrives, Bathsheba drops the hive and “pulled the skirt of her dress tightly round her ankles in a tremendous flurry …” Her action mimics that of a bee swarm, behaving in a “tremendous flurry,” not because she is being stung but instead because she is aware that Troy sees her. Later in the passage, Troy is above her knocking bees toward the ground while “she made use of an unobserved minute whilst his attention was absorbed in the operation to arrange her plumes a little.” If she needed to rearrange her clothes because she was being stung, it seems likely that she would do so immediately and not wait for “an unobserved moment.” Thus, it is more likely that she wants to look good for Troy when he finishes with the bees and he focuses his attention on her.

Upon capturing the bees, Troy says that “‘holding up this hive makes one’s arm ache worse than a week of sword-exercise.’” This dialogue continues the battle language from earlier in the chapter to suggest that Troy has been victorious in his conquering of the bees. Since we know from the reading that Bathsheba behaves similar to the bees, Troy’s description suggests that he will also have luck conquering her heart -- especially since this creates the opportunity for the romantic scene in the next chapter.

What are the qualities a person needs in order to be a caretaker of the Old in The Giver?

In order to be a Caretaker of the Old, a person needs to be calm, patient, and interested in helping the elderly and assisting with release.

In Lois Lowry's The Giver, Fiona is assigned this position as she is a responsible person; she is also sensitive, kind, friendly, and gentle. When, for instance, Jonas volunteers at the House of the Old in Chapter 4, he sees Fiona there. She helps an old man from the tub and gently pats his body with a towel; then she helps him put on his robe. However, there are some things about which she is unaware, such as release, so she just believes that she cares for the elderly. 

Later, when Jonas has been assigned to be the Receiver and goes for instruction by the Giver, he learns about release, and he asks about the Old: "Do they kill the Old, too?" The Giver says, "Yes, it's true." Shocked, Jonas asks about Fiona, who loves the Old and is in training to care for them. "Does she know yet?" he inquires. The Giver responds that Fiona has been trained in "the fine art of release...." He also tells Jonas that since feelings are not part of the life she has learned, she is capable of releasing people.

What type of narrative conflict does the story Speak have?

The seven types of narrative conflict are Man vs. Man, Man vs. Nature, Man vs. Self, Man vs. Society, Man vs. Machine, and Man vs. Fate.

In the book Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, the "man" refers to protagonist Melinda Sordino. Supporting evidence shows that the conflict could be either Man vs. Self or Man vs. Society.

Melinda's struggle in the book stems from the fact that she has lost all of her friends and seems to be alone in the world. This occurred because she called the cops on a party over the summer. Those who are angry at her over this situation do not know the context of the situation, which is that she was raped and unsure what to do, so she called 911. Throughout the book, Melinda is rejected by her peers, and this situation does not change until the end of the book, when finally everyone else realizes that Andy is a rapist and that she is not at fault. This shows Melinda against the society—the social structure of the school system (and society as a whole) that prevents her from coming forward initially.

However, it could also be supported that the narrative conflict in the story is Man vs. Self. Melinda continues to struggle with her self identity throughout the novel. She refuses to speak up about what really happened the night of the party, and this contributes to her own isolation. When Melinda begins to first express her feelings through art, and then to open up to a select few friends and to one teacher, the conflict begins to be resolved. This shows Melinda vs. Self as the narrative conflict of the book.

What reasons does Atticus provide the children with in order to leave Boo alone and stop playing the Boo Radley game in To Kill a Mockingbird?

Atticus tells the children to stop "tormenting that man." Further, he advises them that what Boo Radley does in his house is his own business. That is, Boo can come outside if he so desires, or he can remain inside. So, they should be respectful of the Radleys' choices to be reclusive and not socialize with neighbors. In other words, they should not enter the Radley yard unless invited.

In Chapter 5, as he tries to slip a note to Boo Radley on the window sill of his house, Jem is stopped by Dill's ringing of a bell which signals the approach of Atticus. Tipping his hat back on his head, his father asks, "Jem, what were you doing?" Jem tries to say that he was not doing anything, but Atticus knows better. So, Jem tells his father the truth:

"...we were just tryin' to give somethin' to Mr. Radley....Just a letter." 

Atticus scolds the children for violating Mr. Radley's privacy and he instructs them to "stop tormenting the man." To underscore the lesson of respecting other people's privacy, he asks his children how they would like it if he barged in on them in their rooms at night without knocking.

Concluding that what they do to Boo Radley is tantamount to barging into someone's bedroom, Atticus urges the children to stay away from the Radley house unless they are invited there. He tries to impress upon the children that Mr. Radley is a real person, not a fictional character from one of their stories.

I need a summary of what the poem "Help Lord" by Francis Bacon.

The poem "Help Lord" by Francis Bacon contains, at least in one defensible interpretation, the author's call for God to intervene in the world where increasing numbers of humans routinely lie and deceive in their own self-interest.

The writer is calling for the Lord's help, and the writer also comments on the Lord's actions going forward. These few lines are case in point:

Now for the bitter sighing of the poor,
The lord hath said, I will no more forbear,
The wicked's kingdom to invade and scour,
And set at large the men restrain'd in fear.

Those lines seem to suggest that the Lord is no longer going to prevent the wretched poor from taking what they need from the wealth (the kingdom) of those who are indifferent and wicked.

One interpretation could then be that the Lord is responding, or will soon be responding, to people's cries for help.

In the next stanza Bacon also refers to "the righteous man" whom hopefully will be protected despite and against the "force and wiles" (wiles meaning the trickery) of the wicked. In the same stanza, Bacon also reiterates that it is time that the Lord "didst draw nigh" -- that is, come near and help -- because the "wicked daily do enlarge their bands," meaning the wicked are growing in numbers and wickedness in gaining strength. Again, the author is entreating or imploring the Lord to help combat this deception and self-aggrandizing perfidy on earth.

Here's a URL with the text of the poem:

http://hellopoetry.com/poem/66611/help-lord/

In the book The Sign of the Beaver, why did Matt mistake Attean for a stranger?

Matt mistook Attean for a stranger the day he came to invite Matt to the feast at the village. Previously, Matt and Attean had been out hunting when Matt killed a rabbit. As they walked through the wilderness with the rabbit, a bear charged them. Matt tossed the rabbit at the bear distracting him and Attean killed it. This bear became the reason for the feast as well as "the stranger's" visit.

The next day, Matt sat in the doorway of his cabin, wishing his father was back. Suddenly, a figure emerged from the woods across from the cabin. Matt was not expecting Attean. The stranger's painted face startled Matt and he did not recognize him as Attean at first glance. Once Matt recognized the stranger, he asked about the paint. Attean told him it was to help celebrate the feast which was in honor of the bear they killed. 

Why is Crooks rude to Lennie?

Crooks is ostracized by the other men because of his race. He has to live by himself in a little room off the barn. It isn't even his room but a place where they store equipment for the horses. It smells bad because of the manure inside and outside. Although he is in constant pain from his injured back, he has to sleep in a long box filled with straw. Crooks is bitterly resentful, but he pretends to be indifferent. He is a proud man. Since nobody comes to visit him anyway, he pretends that he doesn't want any visitors. Lennie doesn't understand prejudice and discrimination. He is just looking for company when he intrudes on Crooks, who tells him:

"You ain't go no right to come in my room. This here's my room. Nobody got any right in here but me."

Crooks is rude and even cruel to Lennie because Crooks needs to take his anger and hurt feelings out on someone, and poor Lennie has been the target of much abuse over the years because of his mental impairment. Even George subjects Lennie to verbal abuse from time to time, as he did at the riverside campsite in the opening chapter. But Crooks goes too far when he starts suggesting that George may have abandoned Lennie when he went into Soledad and might have no intention of coming back. Lennie does not understand that Crooks is only speaking hypothetically, and Crooks has to backtrack because Lennie is becoming dangerously suspicious and potentially violent. 

Crooks saw the danger as it approached him. He edged back on his bunk to get out of the way. "I was just supposin'," he said. "George ain't hurt. He's all right. He'll be back all right."

This is only one of the many conflicts that lend drama to each chapter in Of Mice and Men. The chapter in which Crooks is rude to Lennie also contains conflicts with other characters--Candy, Curley's wife, and finally George-- who intrude because Lennie seems to have opened up Crooks' room to visitors. Crooks is relieved to get rid of them all and go back to his peaceful, solitary existence.

Does Jonas from the book The Giver appear in this book Gathering Blue, which is a sequel to The Giver?

The answer is both yes and no. Gathering Blue is set in a village that is very dissimilar to the community which Jonas leaves at the end of The Giver. Kira, the main character in Gathering Blue, never leaves the village in the course of the narrative, and there seems to be no connection between the two books at all. 

However, at the end of Gathering Blue, Kira's friend Matt sets out in search of the blue, that is, a plant or some other substance from which blue dye can be made. When he comes back, having accomplished his goal, he tells Kira that he has met a boy whom he thinks Kira would like. One of the reasons he thinks that is because that boy has blue eyes. This gives readers a clue that Matt has met Jonas, whose blue eyes are an important detail in The Giver, even though they are described there not as blue, but "pale." So while Jonas is never mentioned by name, one could say that he does appear, however fleetingly, in Gathering Blue.

The fact that Jonas has survived the journey from his community is confirmed in the book The Messenger, and in the final book of the quartet, The Son, Kira and Jonas are a married couple.

How can space be a limiting factor for a population?

All organisms need resources for survival, growth and reproduction; in other words, basic functioning of life. These resources include, food, water, protection from predators, light (or darkness, depending on the species), oxygen (for most of the species), shelter, etc. Most of these are space dependent. For example, even if we, as human beings, need only (say) 1 square feet to stand on, does not mean that's all the space we need. Think about the land required for our food to grow on, whether it is grown in agricultural fields or in shelters (animals, which again depend on agricultural fields for food). How about all the fuel that we use and the land it comes from? Think about the space birds or rats need to live in, to protect themselves (and their offsprings) from environment and predators.

A competition for space, causes a competition for resources and thus limits the population of a species. An example is the shifting of animals such as monkeys towards cities (especially in developed countries, such as India), once the forests they live in, are destroyed.  

Hope this helps. 

Who is Odysseus relating his adventures to in book 9 of The Odyssey?

In book 9 of the Odyssey, protagonist Odysseus relates his past adventures to the Phaeacians; this flashback explains how Odysseus ended up on Calypso's island. Specifically--following several other adventures--Odysseus incurred Poseidon's wrath by blinding the sea-god's son, Polyphemus the cyclops. Poseidon exacted revenge by shipwrecking Odysseus on the island of Calypso, the goddess who kept him prisoner for seven years. The Phaeacians ultimately provide Odysseus with transportation home to Ithaca. This action angered Poseidon, who still harbored anger toward Odysseus; thus, he raged against the Phaeacians as well.

Historians are undecided about whether Phaeacia was a real or mythical city. This article from the Harvard University Center for Hellenic Studies sheds more light on this issue if you are interested in learning more.

For an essay about the loss of Scout's innocence from To Kill A Mockingbird, please provide some quotes, with page numbers, along with the analysis.

Jean Louise is the narrator of To Kill a Mockingbird; so, the reader is able to read the story from the eyes of an adult looking back as she experiences these events from her young self. In the beginning of the book, Scout is 6 and going into the 1st grade. By the end of the novel, Scout is in third grade and around 8 years old. These years should be innocent times for a little girl, but she is faced with extraordinary experiences that range from bigotry and racism to understanding adult themes such as sexual assault, or rape. Little girls at this age should be worried about which doll to play with, or which picture book to read, but Scout is anything but a normal little girl. She's a very intellectual, literate and rambunctious little tomboy who lives with her brilliant, yet kind and wise father--and when her father is asked to take on the case of his lifetime, her life changes, too, and she cannot escape without losing a little bit of her childhood.

Scout's "loss of innocence" means that she is introduced to adult topics before her time. In chapter 12, Scout visits Calpurnia's church and discovers that people won't hire Tom Robinson's wife Helen because of the rape charges against her husband. This event teaches Scout that people are prejudiced and discriminatory not only to alleged criminals who haven't been proven guilty, but towards their family as well. This is the first time that Scout asks about what rape is, and she asks Calpurnia rather than her father, as in the following passage:

"Calpurnia sighed. 'Old Mr. Bob Ewell accused him of rapin' his girl an' had him arrested an' put in hail--'

'Mr. Ewell?. . . Why, Atticus said they were absolute trash--I never heard Atticus talk about folks the way he talked about the Ewells. . . Well if everybody in Maycomb knows what kind of folks the Ewells are they'd be glad to hire Helen. . . what's rape, Cal?'" (124).

Calpurnia stepped in it first with Scout. Before this moment, Scout heard children like her cousin Francis call Atticus a "ni***r lover;" (83) and Cecil Jacobs said he defended "ni***rs" (75) but those times did not refer to the issue of rape. Calpurnia, on the other hand, does not give the definition to Scout and refers her to her father.

Scout asks her father about rape in chapter 14. Atticus's answer is as follows:

"He sighed, and said rape was carnal knowledge of a female by force and without consent.

'Well if that's all it is why did Calpurnia dry me up when I asked her what it was?" (135).

Clearly, Scout does not understand the issue completely and the conversation steers completely away from learning about what rape is to the fact that Cal took the kids to her church as Aunt Alexandra has a fit about it.

When Bob Ewell takes the stand in chapter 17, he testifies that he saw Tom Robinson "ruttin' on my Mayella!" (173). Reverend Sykes pleads with Jem to get Scout and Dill out of the courtroom in an effort to preserve their innocence, but Jem, not wanting to leave, tells the Reverend that Scout doesn't understand anything that's going on.

While waiting for the verdict, Jem discusses rape in front of Scout again with Reverend Sykes. Scout gets another definition of it as follows:

". . . it wasn't rape if she let you, but she had to be eighteen--in Alabama, that is--and Mayella was nineteen. Apparently you had to kick and holler, you had to be overpowered and stomped on, preferably knocked stone cold. If you were under eighteen, you didn't have to go through all this" (209).

All of the above passages show how rape becomes more and more defined for Scout as the story progresses. Reverend Sykes tries to quiet Jem about the topic a second time, but he claims again that Scout doesn't understand. Scout assures him that she does. Scout may not understand the intimate details, but she can pick up on the stress and importance of the situation as she experiences life before, during and after the trial. She also experiences how horribly people act, speak, and treat each other because of this trial. She learns that her world isn't as rose-colored as many children are led to believe so early on in their lives.  

Can low air pressure cause dizziness and headaches?

Low atmospheric pressure can cause headaches and dizziness, especially for someone not used to being in an environment with low atmospheric pressure. The lower atmospheric pressure means that the air that is being breathed in is less dense and there is less oxygen in a given amount of air. Because lungs cannot expand more than usual to compensate, the result is that there is less oxygen in the lungs during a breath which means less oxygen in the person's bloodstream. The low oxygen levels are what causes the headaches and dizziness. 

While even weather changes can bring about these symptoms, they are most often seen at high altitudes. Bodies do adjust for the difference in oxygen levels and adapt to use oxygen more efficiently in these environments. Athletes, for example, are advised to be in the high altitude or low atmospheric pressure environments days in advance before strenuous activity so that their body has time to adjust before being put under stress. Some athletes train in high altitudes so that their body has the added oxygen use efficiency even when doing activities at a higher atmospheric pressure.

What Progressive political reforms changed the political influence of immigrants?

There were two significant factors in Progressive politics and ideology that led to a decline in immigration and a decline in the influence of immigrants.

The first of the two is one likely to be repugnant to many people of the twenty-first century. Due to their interest in science and the potential of science and technology to improve the world, many of the Progressives embraced eugenics, arguing that just as we can breed horses to improve racing performance or cattle to improve meat production, so selective breeding can improve the human race. This effort had two prongs. The first was attempts, especially on the state level, to sterilize people deemed unfit to breed, especially the mentally disabled. The second was an effort to restrict immigration, especially by people from "inferior" races. This attitude that certain races were by nature inferior led to negative attitudes towards immigrants, restrictions on immigration, and reduction of immigrant influence. 

The second anti-immigration aspect of the Progressive movement resulted from its strong connections with labor movements and unions. Many unions were opposed to immigration because they believed that an influx of unskilled Asians willing to work for extremely low wages would depress salaries and reduce the negotiating power of unions to improve working conditions. The unions allied politically with Prohibitionists who thought that immigrants from certain countries brought with them a culture of drinking that contributed to immorality. Religious prejudices of a Protestant majority against Jews and Catholics played into this anti-immigrant sentiment. One resulting policy was that of Americanization, in which the public school system was used to instill American values and fluency in English into the children of immigrants. This policy of assimilation reduced the influence of immigrants by causing younger generations to assimilate and to consider themselves primarily as "Americans" rather than as members of an immigrant community.

What is the main conflict in the book Dracula?

In Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula, Jonathan Harker, his resourceful fiancee Mina Murray, the highly learned Dr. van Helsing and a few others team up to fight the vampire, Count Dracula. After many years living in a remote castle in Transylvania, Dracula has decided to reenter civilization to feed and create more of the undead (vampires) to command. He must be stopped. Dracula's quest for power versus the group that wants to stop him is the book's main conflict.

Dracula, with his ability to shapeshift into such animals as bats or wolves, his command of unpleasant animals such as rats, his cunning intelligence and his ability to blend into the culture at large, including exploiting the widespread disbelief in the existence of creatures such as him, is a formidable opponent. HIs desire to spread vampirism and create a legion of the undead is a frightening prospect. The small band opposing him is not without its own resources however: Harker has been to Dracula's castle and can confirm that Dracula  is only up at night and that his image doesn't reflect in a mirror. The brilliant Dr. van Helsing has researched vampires, has an impressively rational and analytical mind and is also cutting edge in his understanding of technology: for example, he can do blood transfusions (never mind blood types!), and Mina is a courageous, determined woman. What transpires is a good versus evil tale as a small group of good people attempt to defeat Count Dracula.

In the Robert Frost poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," how does the rhyming help contribute to a theme of suicide?

A common interpretation of Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is that the poem is in contemplation of death, or at least the finality of death. Some critics who subscribe to this view take it a step further and claim that the poem is contemplative of not death in general, but suicide in particular. Frost denied this interpretation on several occasions; however, the interpretation persists, and many readers believe that a theme of suicide is woven into the poem.

In addition to the dark imagery found in the poem, such as the lines, “The darkest evening of the year,” and, “The woods are lovely, dark and deep,” some critics point to the rhyme words in the poem as creating a lonely and melancholy feel. Some critics claim that part of what contributes to the melancholy feel of the poem is that the ‘o’ rhymes in the first stanza create a sense of loneliness. Another contributing factor may be that at least one rhyme word in each of the stanzas is negative or indicative of cold in some way. These words are “snow,” “queer,” “mistake,” and “deep,” as well as maybe the repetition of “sleep” in the final two lines. This melancholy coupled with the pejorative and/or cold words may lead some readers to conclude that the speaker is depressed and contemplating the final sleep of death, which is deep and cold, as a solution to the speaker’s depression.

In addition to the above, the rhyme most cited as pertaining to the idea that the poem is about death in general or suicide in particular is the repetition of ‘sleep’ as the end rhyme in the final two lines. This repetition is seen as Frost using "sleep" to mean more than just sleep. The repetition, it is thought, plays on the euphemism of referring to death as a final sleep. Some critics even point to the fact that each stanza has at least one line with a final word with a long ‘e’ sound as an indication that Frost wanted the reader to focus on words with a long ‘e’, especially “deep” and the repetition of “sleep” in the final stanza. Given the emphasis on the word “sleep”, the interpretation is that it must mean more than just actual sleep. And when this idea of sleep as death is joined with the imagery and tone of the rest of the poem, it shows that the speaker is thinking about suicide but decides that he has things to do (i.e. “miles to go”) that keep him from employing this final solution.

There are likely other analyses of the rhyme scheme in “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” that could contribute to the idea that suicide is a theme or the main theme of the poem. However, one thing to keep in mind with this poem, as with any poem, is that the poet’s job is to evoke an emotional response from the reader. The poet may intend a certain response, but readers may have different responses based on what the words and imagery in a poem mean within their own experiences and understanding of the world. In other words, attempts to analyze the rhyme scheme as supporting the idea that suicide is the theme of “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” may only be meaningful in the context of a particular person's interpretation, not in the construction of the poem itself.

Why are Rip's political views suddenly so unfavorable?

When Rip falls asleep, the colonies are firmly under British control, the situation seems unlikely to change, life is slow-moving, and Rip enjoys visiting the Inn, where he can hang out on a bench under a portrait of George III and chit-chat about nothing in particular. By the time Rip wakes up again twenty years later, the Americans have fought a revolution and wrested control of the country from England. 

When Rip gets back home, he finds everything has changed. He tries to return to his old haunt, the Inn, but discovers it is now the Union Hotel and filled with political activity. When a man asks him why he showed up at the "election" with "a gun on his shoulder," Rip is bewildered. He declares he is a loyal subject of the king. This makes the crowd turn on him in fury, denouncing him as a Tory and a spy. They are angry at him because they are now part of a Republic and don't serve the king. It is only when they understand that he is the long lost Rip Van Winkle that they start to understand that he is out of sync with the times. 

In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, why does Holden believe that the world is against him?

Holden Caulfield is grieving the loss of his brother. Back in the 1940s and 1950s, people didn't talk about their feelings or traumatic events in public, and there was a bad stigma toward anyone who sought help from a psychiatrist. Understanding the time period helps us also understand that Holden did not receive the mental health counseling he may have needed after his little brother Allie died of leukemia. Holden was about thirteen when Allie died at age eleven. Here's how Holden dealt with his grief:

"I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it. I even tried to break all the windows on the station wagon we had that summer, but my hand was already broken and everything by that time, and I couldn't do it. It was a very stupid thing to do, I'll admit, but I hardly didn't even know I was doing it, and you didn't know Allie" (39).

His parents were probably grieving for their younger son, so Holden didn't have anyone to talk to about his own grief. He was shipped off to prep school and forgotten. Holden really loved and admired Allie. It can be argued that the reason Holden thinks the world is against him is that he lost his brother at a very young age, was left alone to grieve, and never found a safe place to land after that. His trust in the world and life died when his brother did. After that, Holden could only see phonies in his life. If he is able to point out a phony, then he can stay away from that person and not feel loss again. It is probably good that Holden ends up in a hospital in California, because he really needs help dealing with his brother's loss and moving forward in a world that he can trust again.

Is salt water a pure substance or a mixture?

Salt water is a mixture and not a pure substance. We define pure substances as those that contain atoms or molecules of the same type. Examples of pure substances are elements (such as iron, silver, gold, etc.), compounds (such as water, sodium chloride, etc.), etc. A pure substance has a uniform composition. In comparison, a mixture does not have a uniform composition of its constituents and can be divided into them by simple physical means. Salt water does not have a uniform composition and we can divide salt and water by simple physical process of evaporation (by boiling the salt water). Thus, salt water is a mixture, with salt as the solute and water as the solvent. In fact, salt water is a homogeneous mixture and can be termed as a solution. 

Hope this helps. 

What are the farmhands' names?

There are no farmhands in L. Frank Baum's book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The farmhands only appear in the motion picture version, The Wizard of Oz, produced in 1939 and starring Judy Garland as Dorothy. The filmmakers wanted to give the story a somewhat more realistic spin, probably because it was a family picture and had to appeal to parents as well as children. So the writers showed at the end that Dorothy's whole adventure in the Land of Oz had been only a dream. She had made three farmhands into the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion in her dream. This segment, in which Judy Garland sings "Over the Rainbow," appears just before the tornado picks up the farmhouse and carries Dorothy off to Oz.

The three farmhands are "Hunk," played by Ray Bolger, who becomes the Scarecrow in Oz; "Zeke," played by Bert Lahr, who memorably becomes the Cowardly Lion; and "Hickory," played by Jack Haley, who becomes the Tin Woodman in Dorothy's dream. In the book her aunt and uncle are too poor to be able to hire three farmhands. When Dorothy wakes up, she recognizes the familiar and affectionate farmhands as the characters in her dream. She also recognizes the traveling fortune teller, and con man, Professor Marvel, played by Frank Morgan, as the Wizard of Oz himself. 

In the movie version, Dorothy never gets carried away by the tornado but is knocked unconscious by a window sash in her own bedroom. Everything that happens to her in Oz is a dream. 

How does Shakespeare create conflict and opposition in the Prologue and Act 1, Scene 1 of Romeo and Juliet?

In the prologue of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare outlines a narrative structure filled with conflict and opposition. The houses of the Capulets and Montagues are similar - alike in dignity - but they are caught in a terrible feud that has entwined the entire city. Shakespeare outlines the full extent of this conflict which allows him to create dramatic irony. This irony is created because the audience knows the events of the play but the characters do not, which creates an exciting dynamic for both the audience members and readers.

In Act 1, Scene 1 of Romeo and Juliet, the conflict described in Shakespeare's prologue is dramaticized. A feud quickly breaks out between the smaller side characters in the houses of the Montagues and Capulets. This feud is calmed down by the Prince, but the audience quickly realizes this feud is real and quickly escalating. The combination of these opposing factors (the Montagues and the Capulets) and the creation of dramatic irony is what creates the conflict and opposition in the prologue and first scene.

What is the theme of Chapter 19 in The Story of My Life?

I believe the theme of this chapter in Helen Keller’s memoir is “Triumph over many challenges.” Here she tells the story of how difficult it was for her to complete her college preparatory work. She began these studies at the Cambridge School for Young Ladies in October 1896, under the leadership of principal Arthur Gilman. Through the use of special embossed textbooks, a Braille typewriter, and Anne Sullivan’s signing fingers, Helen was able to do well. When her second year started in the fall of 1897, however, more obstacles arose. No embossed textbooks were ready on time. The classes were too large for personal instruction to be given to Helen. Most of the subject matter was a form of mathematics, which was something she struggled with. And then Mr. Gilman announced that he thought she was overworked and should stay on there for a few more years. In defiance, Helen’s mother withdrew her and her sister Mildred from the school. Helen instead began independent study under Merton S. Keith of Cambridge. Through him she finished learning algebra, geometry, Greek, and Latin. In June 1899, she was scheduled to take her exams to get into Radcliffe College. Anne Sullivan was not allowed to help her, but Mr. Vining from the Perkins Institute did instead. Unfortunately, he used the American Braille system and Helen had used the English version, so she quickly had to be schooled in the differences in order to take the examinations. Nevertheless, she overcame all of these obstacles and passed the tests. Hers is an amazing story.

As announced in the first five lines of Paradise Lost, what is Milton's subject? What is his purpose?

As written in the first five lines of Paradise Lost, poet John Milton's subject is the Fall of Man and then Man’s redemption through Jesus Christ. Milton immediately informs the reader that the subject of Paradise Lost is Man’s rejection of what God wants human beings to do - and become. Milton states in the opening line of this epic work: 

“Of Man’s first disobedience, and the fruit”

He is talking of the first human beings, Adam and Eve, disobeying God, choosing rather to go their own way and deciding for themselves what is right and wrong. In essence, they did not trust God or have faith in His promises.

Therefore, they chose to disobey and reject God’s guidance. Because they were free moral agents, and not pre-programmed robots, God let them choose, but then, Adam and Eve had to reap the consequences of their decision.

So, John Milton’s subject, as announced in the first five lines, is the Fall, the “loss of Eden” by Adam and Eve.  

As written in the first five lines of Paradise Lost, poet John Milton's purpose is to set forth the story of Man’s Fall and also Satan’s part in this universal battle between good and evil. Milton alludes to how all human beings can be restored to a right and proper relationship with God through the atoning sacrifice of his Son, Jesus Christ, the coming Messiah. This is Man’s ultimate redemption. Milton states:

“With loss of Eden, till one greater Man

Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,”

The poet here talks of Someone greater, the Word, becoming Man (Jesus Christ) and dying for human beings to pay the price for their sins so they can be reconciled to God. Upon true repentance and faith in Christ’s atoning sacrifice, human beings can be forgiven and restored to the purpose God originally created human beings for – to be part of the Eternal God Family in the Kingdom of God. Hence, Milton’s phrase “till one greater Man restore us.”

In chapter 11 of Lyddie, what are some of the reasons that Lyddie should or shouldn't attend the mass meeting?

Even though Diana is going on vacation during the month of July, she still recommends to Lyddie that she attend the mass meeting of the ten-hour movement. Diana is a representative of the Female Labor Reform Association, which has been gathering signatures on a petition that would require the textile factories to reduce their workdays from thirteen to ten hours per day. The reasons for Lyddie to attend the meeting are to please her friend Diana, who has been so helpful to her; to hear famous people, like Sarah Bagley, speak on women's and worker's rights; to lend her support to the movement for better working conditions for the factory girls; and to have fun. Diana explains that the mass meeting will include a picnic and Independence Day festivities. She also assures Lyddie that no one will make her sign the petition. 

Lyddie tells Diana she will be too busy to go. That is partially true, but partially an excuse. Lyddie keeps herself very busy during the month of July teaching herself to read more fluently. She purchases her own copy of Oliver Twist and spends almost every free moment reading the book she loves so much. But Lyddie avoids the meeting because she is not in favor of reducing the work hours at the factory. She knows if that should happen, she wouldn't be able to make as much money as she could make working thirteen hours per day, and that would mean it would take longer to save enough money to reunite her family on their farm. Additionally, she doesn't want to be known as a sympathizer with the labor movement because she fears losing her job at Concord Corporation and being blacklisted as her roommates have warned her could happen.

So while there are many good reasons to attend the meeting, Lyddie decides not to go.

What mood does the narrator use to set the stage in A Christmas Memory? What elements of the setting create the mood?

The mood of the story is controlled completely by the words of the narrator (Capote himself, since this is a memoir) who sets the scene for every action. The kitchen is where much of the action takes place, so he begins there, describing a huge black stove, and a fireplace that has "commenced its seasonal roar." He then describes an elderly woman standing in the kitchen with "shorn white hair" wearing a "shapeless grey sweater over a summery calico dress."

He describes this woman (whom he refers to as his cousin and his friend) in loving terms, but also in a way that helps readers imagine what she'd look like if they were to peek in on the scene. She has a craggy face "like Lincoln" that is weathered by wind and sun, and her body shows the effects of a childhood illness. But it is her enthusiastic tone he notices more than anything else, as she announces they have "thirty cakes to bake."

It's always the same: a morning arrives in November, and my friend, as though officially inaugurating the Christmas time of year that exhilarates her imagination and fuels the blaze of her heart, announces: "It's fruitcake weather! Fetch our buggy. Help me find my hat."

This passage makes it clear that the experience he has started to describe is one he has lived through many times, and he will soon add more details to allow the reader to live through it. The emotions she feels seem to echo his own: exhilaration, and a feeling that "fuels the blaze of her heart" (the blaze paralleling the first seasonal fire in the hearth described earlier), which must mean joy and excitement such as many people feel as Christmas approaches. In describing her request for the buggy and hat, we feel the same excitement embarking upon the story's central action as the narrator does in embarking on the day's journeys, to gather pecans, and later to purchase ingredients, with which they will bake fruitcakes for many friends and neighbors.

How did the Wade-Davis plan differ from the Ten Percent Plan?

The Wade-Davis Bill was a Congressional response to Lincoln's fairly lenient Ten Percent Plan. By December of 1863, the Civil War was still raging, but Union troops had already occupied virtually the entirety of Louisiana, and controlled large expanses of territory along the Mississippi. Lincoln needed to come up with a plan for readmitting conquered states, and hoped that announcing a lenient plan for readmission to the Union might sap the morale of the South. His Ten Percent Plan offered a pardon to all except Confederate military and political leaders who would take an oath of allegiance to the Union. If ten percent of people within a state were willing to do this then the state could assemble a new government and petition for admission to the Union. The only condition was that they had to accept the end of slavery. 

The Wade-Davis Bill was offered by House Republicans in the winter of 1864 as a more punitive and strict alternative to the Ten Percent Plan. Its authors, Benjamin Wade and Henry Davis, demanded that fifty percent of the eligible voters from 1860 (i.e. white men) in a former Confederate state had to swear the so-called "ironclad oath" that they had never supported the Confederacy. Not only did the new state governments formed under the Wade-Davis Bill have to recognize emancipation, but they had to grant the right to vote to all black men, a very controversial proposition even in the North. These, then, were the major differences between the Wade-Davis Bill and the Ten Percent Plan. Lincoln "pocket" vetoed the Wade-Davis Bill, and the nation entered the final year of the war with no coherent plan for Reconstruction. 

Does the wall between the neighbors' farms serve a practical purpose? What evidence in the poem supports your view.

In Robert Frost's poem "The Mending Wall" the speaker describes a stone wall that exists between his property and his neighbor's. We learn that the two of them annually walk along its length in the spring to repair gaps where stones have fallen out. The speaker tells us that he has in the past tried to point out that the wall is not really necessary; for instance, it is not as though his apple trees are going to reach across and "eat the cones under his pines" (line 26). But to that his neighbor responds with the phrase, "Good fences make good neighbours" (27).

The speaker ponders the practical need for walls in general, wondering if he might be able to get his neighbor to think about the matter. He knows that walls are useful if someone owns cows, but neither of the neighbors has cows to contain. The speaker also thinks that people who have walls must either be trying to wall something in or wall something else out (33). When he says that a person building a wall ought to want to know "to whom I was like to give offence" (34) by building one, he suggests that insisting on having a wall when there is no practical need for one might even cause hurt feelings.

If by "practical" you mean a property-related use such as containing animals or other goods, there is no such need mentioned. In fact, the speaker seems to feel that no wall truly needs to exist there. He is the second "something there is that doesn't love a wall" (35). He wishes that his neighbor would realize the pointlessness of having walls between them.

But practical matters aside, the neighbor does see a need for the wall. He needs it psychologically. The phrase he says twice, "Good fences make good neighbours", reveals a need for isolation. It means that a fence can prevent interaction, and thus it can help people maintain a better relationship than they might have if they risked the entanglement that freer access to one another might result in. The speaker remarks that his neighbor "moves in darkness" (41) that is "not of woods only and the shade of trees" (42), which seems to mean that the neighbor is secretive. In light of his earlier remark about wanting to know what one might be "walling in or walling out" (33), we get the idea that the neighbor is a person who avoids sharing too much of himself with others. The wall is a not only a physical representation of that wish for isolation but is a necessary tool for maintaining it. In saying that a good fence makes a good neighbor, the neighbor is actually telling our speaker, "I like it best when people give me space and do not touch things that belong to me". There seems to be no containment sort of reason that their two properties need to be divided, so the only logical conclusion we can draw here is that it makes the neighbor feel better about their relationship if there is a solid boundary in the middle of it.

Explain how the Industrial Revolution changed the way Americans lived and worked.

The Industrial Revolution in the United States transformed the American culture in many ways. The United States became an urban civilization as farmers and immigrants moved to cities to secure work in the factories. Women left the home or their work as domestic servants to work in the textile factories. Children were also employed in factories in large numbers. Industrialism resulted in lower cost and greater variety of consumer goods available for purchase.

With the increase in goods that was caused by industrialism, transportation systems were developed to easily move product. At first, it was the river and canal systems, but later the railroads that were utilized to move goods. The result of the improved transportation system is that it made the country seem smaller and created greater cultural cohesion between different regions of the United States. In addition to transportation, communication systems were improved with the telegraph and later the telephone.

The Industrial Revolution also changed the social class system of the United States. It created a great wealth gap between the workers and the industrialists. Despite this income gap, it did create opportunities for social mobility as a new middle class slowly emerged. This occurred as demand for bankers, managers, and teachers increased because of the factory system.

How do the citizens of the kingdom feel about the king's way of justice?

The king's justice in Frank Stockton's short story "The Lady or the Tiger" involves an arena and pure luck. An accused man is led into an amphitheater where he has the choice of two doors. Behind one door is a tiger which promptly kills him, or from behind the other door is a lady who promptly marries him. If he's lucky, he chooses the lady and, in the king's mind, proves his innocence. The opposite choice proves his guilt.

Stockton tells the reader the institution was widely popular and well attended. He writes,

The institution was a very popular one. When the people gathered together on one of the great trial days, they never knew whether they were to witness a bloody slaughter or a hilarious wedding. This element of uncertainty lent an interest to the occasion which it could not otherwise have attained. Thus, the masses were entertained and pleased, and the thinking part of the community could bring no charge of unfairness against this plan, for did not the accused person have the whole matter in his own hands?

Of course, if you were part of the family of a man who found himself face to face with a hungry tiger you might not think much of the king's justice. Also, if you were a woman who was married to an accused man after he chose the door with a lady, you might not care for it either.

The crowds are particularly interested in the trial of princess's lover. He has been accused of simply being in love with royalty. More than ever, the arena was packed with interested subjects. Stockton writes,

From far and near the people gathered, and thronged the great galleries of the arena, and crowds, unable to gain admittance, massed themselves against its outside walls.

What is the importance and significance of "Mrs. Warren's Profession"?

Perhaps the single most important and significant feature of George Bernard Shaw's play, Mrs. Warren's Profession, is its frank and unsentimental treatment of the business of prostitution. 

In this play, Vivie is a typical "new woman," intelligent, well educated, and independent. As part of a new generation of women, and building upon a financial foundation that enabled her to attend university, Vivie is one of the first of a generation of British women to have the freedom to create careers for themselves in the male world of business. As various men propose to her, she begins to realize that marriage in her society is not greatly different from prostitution. 

Mrs. Warren represents an earlier generation and class. Brought up in poverty in a society in which one of the few professions open to women was prostitution, she has become the successful owner of a group of brothels. In a sense, both women represent the spirit of entrepreneurial drive, channeled into the paths available to their class and generations. 

The play addresses many of the double standards of British society of the period. The respectable rector, the Reverend Samuel Gardner, whose current wife refuses to even talk to Mrs. Warren, and was one of Mrs. Warren's former clients and the father of Vivie, is socially accepted, as is Crofts who is Mrs. Warren's business partner. 

Perhaps the most radical part of the play is the suggestion that work, whether in the form of Vivie's business or Mrs. Warren's brothels, is essential to women's character and happiness, and that the real problem with the double standard is the way it injures women's characters by trivializing them. Vivie states:

I know very well that fashionable morality is all a pretence, and that if I took your money and devoted the rest of my life to spending it fashionably, I might be as worthless and vicious as the silliest woman could possibly be without having a word said to me about it. But I don't want to be worthless. I shouldn't enjoy trotting about the park to advertize my dressmaker and carriage builder, or being bored at the opera to shew off a shopwindowful of diamonds.

What is the lesson in Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince?

The greatest lesson in Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince is taught by the fox to the title character:

And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. (Ch. 21)

The fox's lesson serves to develop Saint-Exupery's two central themes: the importance of reconnecting with one's child self and the importance of finding or maintaining love. According to the fox, love cannot be maintained without this knowledge, knowledge that "[m]en have forgotten." Only children intuitively have the knowledge; therefore, only the child self, the one who is able to see what's invisible, truly has the ability to love.

Based on the narrator's "Drawing Number One" of the "boa constrictor digesting an elephant ... from the outside," we know Saint-Exupery wants to show that children are able to see things adults cannot see: they are able to use faith to see with their imaginations things that are not visible to the eye. This faith gets crushed in the adult world by things that are considered to be of more importance, like math and science. Yet, Saint-Exupery wants to show us that this faith is essential for a fulfilling life, and love cannot be found nor maintained without it. In finding one's faith, one is reconnecting with one's child self. In the story, the little prince reconnected with his child self by realizing how much he loved his rose and coming to understand how responsible he is for her. Likewise, the narrator reconnected with his own child self by returning to do things that were important for him, such as drawing, and through his love for the little prince.

What passages in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird deal with racism? What are the page numbers?

In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, aside from all of the various places in which the Finch children are insulted by individuals who call Atticus a "nigger-lover"--such as by Cecil Jacobs in Chapter 9, by the Finches' cousin Francis in Chapter 9, and by Mrs. Dubose in Chapter 11--some of the most noteworthy racist remarks can be found in Chapter 24, during the meeting of Aunt Alexandra's missionary circle in the Finches' home.

During the meeting, the women had been discussing an African tribe that very few missionaries had attended to. Mrs. Merriweather calls the area of Africa a land of "nothing but sin and squalor." While we don't hear Gertrude's comment in reply, we can assume Gertrude noted that Maycomb is full of just as much "sin and squalor," since African Americans like Tom Robinson commit such heinous crimes and corrupt the rest of the African-American society. We can assume what Gertrude's remark was based on Mrs. Merriweathers very racist reply:

Oh that. Well, I always say forgive and forget, forgive and forget. Thing that church ought to do is help her lead a Christian life for those children from here on out. (Ch. 24)

The remark is racist because it assumes Tom Robinson's wife, Helen, has done something that requires being forgiven and forgotten. In other words, it assumes that just because Mr. Robinson was found guilty by a jury, despite all evidence pointing to the opposite, Mrs. Robinson must be equally guilty of sinful behavior due to Mr. Robinson's influence. Hence, Mrs. Merriweather is assuming Mrs. Robinson isn't truly a Christian, despite the Robinson's devoted attendance of church. Mrs. Merriweather makes this assumption based on the racist belief that all African Americans are evil by nature.

The above racist belief is revealed by Mrs. Farrow, who responds to Mrs. Merriweather:

... looks like we're fighting a losing battle, a losing battle. ... We can educate 'em till we're blue in the face, we can try till we drop to make Christians out of 'em, but there's no lady safe in her bed these nights. (Ch. 24)

As we can see, Mrs. Farrow's racist remark assumes that African Americans cannot be educated and cannot be taught Christianity, all because they are evil by nature even though, ironically, Maycomb's African-American citizens are far more humble Christians than those in Aunt Alexandra's missionary circle.

Page numbers will vary per version of the book; however, the passages in question are located in the middle of Chapter 24, approximately 5 to 6 pages from the beginning of the chapter.

How did our country become united after the Civil War ended?

After the Civil War ended, it was necessary to bring the southern states that had seceded back into the country again so it could be united. This was accomplished through a process called Reconstruction.

There were many plans of Reconstruction proposed. The plan that was used was the one developed by the Radical Republicans in Congress. The Radical Republicans gave more power to the Freedmen’s Bureau. This allowed the Freedmen’s Bureau to prosecute people who violated the rights of African-Americans. They passed the Civil Rights Bill of 1866 that gave citizenship to African-Americans. The Radical Republicans required the states that had seceded to write new constitutions that ratified the 13th amendment, which ended slavery, and the 14th amendment, which said that people who were born in the United States were citizens of this country.

There were other parts to the Radical Republican reconstruction plan. The Reconstruction Act of 1867 divided the South into five military districts. Here, the military was in charge of the process of rebuilding the South. African-American males voted in state elections. The 15th amendment was ratified that prevented the denial of voting rights based on race or on being a former slave. New industries were developed in the South.

While many white southerners resented the Radical Republican reconstruction plan, this plan did help to unite the country and helped it move forward after the Civil War ended.

What are the characteristics of an empire?

Depending on which book you are using for your class, the list of characteristics will vary. However, there are several characteristics which are necessary for a government to qualify as an empire.

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  Centralized Leadership. Imperial rulers maintain control over large swaths of territory by constructing large bureaucracies based in the empire's capital. Imperial governments tend to resemble either a monarchy (rule by a king or queen) or an oligarchy (authoritarian rule by a small group of elites).


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  Standardized Currency. Empires maintain a unified economy by making sure their subjects all use the same currency.
  
  


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  Ethnic Diversity. Most empires have subjects from multiple civilizations and cultures.


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  Expansionism. Empires seek to expand their power into new territories, either through military conquest or colonization. This expansionism allows them to increase the geographic size of their empires and acquire new subjects and natural resources.

Explain two theories as to why the ancient cities of the Indus Valley vanished.

It is somewhat of a mystery what caused the decline of the great cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro on the Indus River. In the past, it was thought that the arrival of the Aryans to the region caused the decline. Archaeological evidence has refuted this claim. The archaeological data suggests the decline occurred hundreds of years before the Aryans migrated to the river valley.

While the decline of the cities is still not entirely clear, one theory suggests a tributary of the Indus River, the Saraswati, dried up, which affected the vital farming industry. It is likely that floods also occurred as a result. Flooding was a common concern in the river valley as the Indus River was very unpredictable. To continually have to rebuild these advanced urban areas would have taken an immense toll on the resources of the civilization. The floods would also have disrupted farming. The reduced food surpluses affected trade and food supply, leading to famine and disease.

Another theory suggests that the collapse of the cities was caused by climate change. The climate change theory suggests the monsoons migrated eastward. This shift would have reduced the water supply, which had the same effect on farming as the previous scenario.