How can I write a good thesis statement about friendship and loneliness in Of Mice and Men? How is it relevant today in modern society?

There are two possible thesis statements below that focus on the loneliness and friendship themes in Of Mice and Men.

 

In Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck, the writer shares the loneliness that ranchers faced in the time of The Great Depression by expressing the fact that George, who is a cranky, cynical old man, decides to befriend a mentally challenged Lennie and accepts the burden of protecting Lennie from harm, even to the point of George having to kill his best friend to protect Lennie from Curly's torture. 

While loneliness is definitely a theme in Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck creates a central idea relating to the friendship between George and Lennie that is so real and unique until the reader is convinced that George loves Lennie more than himself, for at the end of the novel, George has to shoot and kill Lennie to protect him from Curly's torture, ultimately knowing he himself--George--will suffer from the loneliness of not having Lennie with him to keep his dream of owning a ranch alive.  

The writer uses dialogue below as George expresses his loneliness and his friendship with Lennie in their conversation as they sit by the water. This is an excellent quote in support of the thesis statements above.

"Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place. . . . With us it ain't like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. We don't have to sit in no bar room blowin' in our jack jus' because we got no place else to go. If them other guys gets in jail they can rot for all anybody gives a damn. But not us" (15).

 

What literary elements are included in Oedipus Rex?

Oedipus Rex by Sophocles has often been held up as the paradigmatic example of the Greek tragedy, possessing many of the literary elements that ancient critics considered essential to the genre.

The first literary element one finds is the use of verse. Unlike contemporary dramas, which are written in prose, Oedipus Rex is written entirely in verse. 

As is typical of Greek tragedies, Oedipus Rex is performed by three actors and a chorus. The actors engaged in spoken verse dialogue, while the choral odes were normally sung; the chorus would dance as they sang and certain choral meters were often accompanied by traditional dance movements associated with those metrical patterns.

Oedipus Rex alternates episodes, in which the actors engage in dialogue, frequently in the meter of iambic hexameter, with choral odes in varied meters, performed by the chorus. The choral odes were normally organized into a strophe, in which the chorus moved in one direction, followed by an antistrophe in the identical meter in which the chorus moved back in the opposite direction to its original position, and an epode, performed standing still. 

The plot structure of the play begins with an exposition that informs the audience of a problem, the plague in the city of Thebes. The middle of the play develops mystery and conflict, and consists of what is sometimes termed "rising action". The climax of the play occurs when we discover that Oedipus has indeed killed his father and married his mother. The resolution of the play occurs when Oedipus blinds himself and leaves the city. Thus the play has the narrative literary elements of plot structure and conflict. 

What effect does the mother's broken English and occasional Chinese expression create in the dialogue of "Two Kinds"?

The mother in Amy Tan's short story "Two Kinds" was born in China, and she speaks English the way an adult who immigrated from China to California would likely speak. For example, while she is watching Shirley Temple and urging her daughter to become an acting prodigy like Shirley Temple, the mother says, "'Ni kan,' my mother said, as Shirley's eyes flooded with tears. 'You already know how. Don't need talent for crying!'" ("Ni kan" means "you look" in Chinese.)

The mother's way of speaking has several effects in the story. First, it creates a realistic portrait of her in the reader's mind, so that the reader knows what her English is like. In addition, it shows that she doesn't always totally understand American culture and the new world where she finds herself after having left China. In addition, it shows the gaps between her and her daughter, who was born in the United States and who speaks English like a native. The mother's way of speaking is occasionally very funny, too, as she has a direct way of saying what's on her mind, even if her way of expressing herself is awkward at times. Even if she hasn't totally mastered the English language, the mother speaks anyway, showing that she is a person determined to get ahead in America.

What does Eckels do in the past that has far-reaching consequences?

When Eckels is sent into the past he inadvertently disobeys one of the rules of Time Safari, Inc., the company running the time travel tours. The time travelers are told never to step off of the floating walkway that the company uses so that nothing in the past is affected. The fear is that even a very minor change in the distant past could have ripple effects in the present. Great care is taken to not change anything in the past, now that time travel has become a possibility. Eckels' group travels sixty million years into the past in order to hunt a dinosaur that Time Safari had determined was about to die anyway, thus not really changing anything. The anti-gravity walkway should keep their feet off any wildlife, but Eckels panics at the sight and sound of the Tyrannosaur. He steps off the path. When the group returns to the future, things have changed in various ways and only the returning group realizes it. On the sole of Eckels' shoe is a dead butterfly; the death of the one butterfly has changed human history, sixty million years later.

True or False: Dramatic transformations (changes in the characters) are not always caused by external (outside) forces, but gradual (slow)...

This is quite a deep question, and the answer is one word:  true. We can see this through the character of Max. His transformation is one of lack of self-confidence to self-confidence. Although Kevin helps him discover this, the actual transformation comes from within Max himself.

We can see that Max has a lack of self-confidence at the beginning of the book through the very first sentence:

I never had a brain until Freak came along and let me borrow his for a while, and that’s the truth, the whole truth.

This continues with Max describing his young self as the “Kicker” who would not allow other children to touch him without retaliating with a kick. Max believes he has no intelligence or ability to help others.

The irony is that Max proves himself wrong. Max begins his transformation with the decision to help Kevin get a toy out of a tree. Max continues his transformation by allowing Kevin into this world “down under” in the basement. Max empowers Kevin by putting Kevin on his back, allowing Kevin to get around quicker, and by creating the dual character of “Freak the Mighty.” Most importantly, Max’s transformation is complete by the end of the book, when Max decides to use his writing ability to write down the adventures of Max and Kevin as the book Freak the Mighty.

What is the difference between covalent substances and molecular substances?

The terms covalent and molecular are often used interchangeably to describe the same type of substance. However, there is a distinction between the two. The term covalent refers to a type of bonding in which pairs of valence electrons are shared by two atoms. Covalent compounds are those that exhibit covalent bonding. 

Molecular compounds are a type of covalent compound. Molecular compounds exist as individual molecules. They have tend to have low melting and boiling points because phase changes involve overcoming intermolecular attractions but not breaking covalent bonds.

Here are some examples:

Methane, `CH_4` , is a gas consisting of individual molecules at room temperature.

Ethanol, `C_2H_5OH` , is a liquid consisting of individual molecules at room temperature. When heated the molecules move farther apart and eventually enter the gas phase, but the covalent bonds remain intact.

Paraffin, a wax with the formula `C_31H_64` , is a molecular compound with a melting point of 37ºC. It's a solid at room temperature due to intermolecular forces. When heated the molecules enter the liquid phase but bonds within the molecules aren't broken.

Most covalently bonded substances are molecular.

Covalent network solids are a second type of covalent compound. They're not truly molecular because they exist as a crystal lattice held together by covalent bonds. Their structure is similar to that of an ionic solid in that there are repeating formula units rather than separate molecules of a specific formula. Covalent network solids have very high melting points because melting involves breaking covalent bonds. Examples are quartz and diamond.

In summary, all molecular substances are covalently bonded but not all covalently bonded substances are molecular. 

What was the impact of King Phillip’s War on colonial territory?

The result of King Philip's War was a resounding and bloody victory for the English settlers. Its main impact was that it paved the way for further colonial expansion into the frontier. While it by no means ended fighting between the colonists and Indians in the Northeast, it basically meant that the Wampanoags the Narragansetts, and the Nipmucks, the most historically powerful tribes surrounding Massachusetts, had to accept English rule. In some ways, it just accelerated what was already happening to Indian peoples in New England--their poverty and shrinking lands were a major cause of the war, which was a "last stand" of sorts for the Wampanoags in particular. The victory for the colonists was complete, but it came at an awful price, with thousands dead in a series of raids on the frontier that destroyed several settlements. In addition, many Indians were sold into slavery, most of whom wound up on the hellish West Indian plantations. The overall effect of King Philip's War on colonial territory, then, was to open the New England backcountry to settlement.

What is Eveline's home life like in Joyce's "Eveline"?

Eveline is one of "the tragic Irish." Caught in a repressive environment to which she eventually surrenders pitiably, Eveline feels trapped.

Looming over Eveline is the yellowing photograph of the priest--suggestive of moral corruption--and the colored print of Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque, to whom Eveline has promised to care for her younger brother. Burdened with this obligation, Eveline also must endure the violence of her father. When she was younger, he went after her brothers, but now that they are gone, he has begun to threaten her. Further, on Saturdays Eveline is forced to hand over to her father the money she earns from working under the oppressive Miss Gavan at the Stores. Then, later, when her father comes home from the pub, he finally gives her money so she is forced to rush to the market before it closes.
In addition to her working hard at her job, there is much for Eveline to do at home: She must cook and clean, along with caring for two young children left to her charge. 

It was hard work--a hard life--but now that she was about to leave it she did not find it a wholly undesirable life.

She is tempted to go with a young man with whom she is in love, but her oppressive father has forbidden her to see him. Having seen her man secretly, Eveline contemplates escape from her oppressive life with her sailor. At the same time, however, Eveline remembers the promise to her mother to "keep the home together as long as she could" and to Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque  to take care of her young brother; consequently, because of the stormy, violent home life she has, she is torn between running away from this home-life and staying to struggle with it. 

Where did Jesse, Miles and Mae Tuck take Winnie in Tuck Everlasting?

The Tucks take Winnie to their house so that they can explain everything to her.

Technically, the Tucks kidnap Winnie.  When Jesse finds her in the woods near her house, she sees him drink from the special spring.  Jesse knows that he can’t let Winnie drink, because she would become immortal just like they are. 

At first, Winnie and Jesse just talk.  She asks him where he is from.

The boy grinned. "No, I don't live nearby, and no, I don't come here often. Just passing through. And thanks, I'm glad it's all right with you." (Ch. 5)

Winnie is pretty insistent about drinking from the spring, saying she is thirsty.  Jesse does not know what to do, but Mae and Miles arrive.  The Tucks kidnap Winnie, telling her not to be afraid because they would never hurt her.

The Tucks leave the woods, and explain to Winnie how they became immortal from drinking the spring.  It is the strangest story she has ever heard, but she listens to them.  Mae tells Winnie that they have to take her home with them, and Pa (Angus) Tuck will know what to do.

The Tucks live in an out of the way place.  They have to, in order to avoid suspicion.  Living around too many people would lead to questions.

It was amazing, then, to climb a long hill, to see ahead another hill, and beyond that the deep green of a scattered pine forest, and as you climbed, to feel the air ease and soften. (Ch. 9)

The Tuck family house is in a “wide stand of dark pines,” which protects it from onlookers.  The Tucks live in “a plain, homely little house, barn-red” next to a lake.  They have lived there for a while, and tell Winnie that they will have to leave soon.  The Tucks can’t stay in one place for long.

Winnie had been thinking that her life was boring, and she wanted to run away from home.  She certainly got that chance.  The Tucks are anything but boring.  To Winnie, their story sounds like a fairy tale.  They are genuinely nice people, and Winnie is not afraid of them once she gets to know them.

What does the following quote from Macbeth, "look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under't" mean?

This quote is from Act 1, scene 5 and is spoken by Lady Macbeth after her husband's arrival. He had previously notified her by letter of his encounter with the witches and that they had predicted that he would be thane of Cawdor and "king hereafter." He also stated that their prediction had come true and that he had been awarded the treasonous Cawdor's title since he would be assassinated for his betrayal.

Lady Macbeth was overjoyed on receiving such good tidings and was ambitious that her husband should become king. She was afraid, however, that he did not have the nerve to claim the crown by foul means. She awaits his arrival so that she can encourage him to do a most horrible deed—murder the king. On his entry, she immediately gets to work. She tells Macbeth that she feels "the future in the instant." In other words, she can sense their glorious future at that exact moment. It is obvious that she has already decided that they should murder Duncan so that Macbeth can ascend to the throne in the shortest time possible.

When Macbeth tells her that Duncan is to spend the night at their castle and that he was to leave the next day as he planned, Lady Macbeth comments:

O, never
Shall sun that morrow see!

This is an explicit indication of her intent—Duncan shall never see the sun the next day, for he would be dead. She then informs her husband that his countenance is too easily read and others may read strange messages in his expression. She urges him to put on a show of friendship and conviviality; he must "look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't." She means that Macbeth must appear benign, kind and friendly, but that this must only be an act, for he must deceive the others so that they do not suspect him of any malice. This innocent and harmless appearance must camouflage his true nature and their purpose, which is to assassinate the king.

It is evident from this that Lady Macbeth is insidious and sly. She has no qualms about achieving her ambition by whatever means possible. She states that:

He that's coming
Must be provided for: and you shall put
This night's great business into my dispatch;
Which shall to all our nights and days to come
Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.

She is referring to the fact that Duncan has to be taken care of, not in the normal sense, but that preparations should be made for his murder. She is so wicked that she even asks that the task of setting up the king's assassination should be left to her. This will ensure that they rule the kingdom alone.

True to her promise, Lady Macbeth acts the perfect hostess when King Duncan and his party arrive. Everyone is easily deceived by her kindness and her florid and flattering language. Macbeth follows his wife's lead and the two later manage to successfully execute their plan without an accusatory finger being pointed at them.

The king's sons, Malcolm and Donalbain, flee in fear for their own safety, which makes it easy to assume that they were complicit in their father's untimely death. Furthermore, Macbeth has slain the king's two unfortunate guards, who had been driven to sleep by a potion that Lady Macbeth added to their drinks, claiming that he had been overwhelmed by rage and love for his liege when it was discovered that they were responsible for his death.

Thus begins Macbeth's tyranny, Lady Macbeth's descent into madness, and her husband's eventual doom.

What are elements of prose?

The basic elements of prose are: character, setting, plot, point of view, and mood. Character refers to: biographical information; personality traits; social roles, and psychological factors such as aspirations, fears, and personal values. Setting includes: physical environment, social situation, time period, and location. Plot is what happens: characters' actions and important events. Plot progresses through the three stages of rising action, climax, and resolution. Point of view is a technical term that identifies the narrator's position relative to the story being told. Mood means the dominant feelings and emotions evoked.

Prose uses of everyday, descriptive speech. It is written in sentences and paragraphs. Prose generally does not make use of structural poetic elements such as meter or rhyme scheme. However, literary prose does sometimes make use of more flexible poetic elements such as metaphor, simile, and rhythm. 

What are the most important differences between a democracy and a republic?

Although these terms are often used interchangeably and sound similar, they don't quite mean the same thing. In a democracy, each member has a single vote that they contribute to decide the outcome of a question or event. For example, if you and six friends were trying to decide between pizza or Chinese food, you could each cast a vote and whichever got the most votes would be what you are eating for dinner.

In a republic, people use their votes to elect representatives who will make decisions on their behalf. In this case, you and your six friends might vote to elect two representatives who will decide whether you're going to eat pizza or Chinese food. Theoretically, those representatives would listen to what you have to say and what you want, then they would sit down together to make a decision. You still have a vote, but rather than use it to decide the outcome, you're using it to elect someone else who will decide the outcome based on what you want.

In the context of political systems, a democracy counts each vote from the participating members, whereas a republic counts the votes from the elected representatives. Most often, these two concepts are blended to produce what's referred to as a democratic republic. In the United States, for example, the people have a considerable amount of power because they elect the representatives who will act on their behalf. Those representatives then get together to run the government, wherein their vote is supposed to reflect the desires of the people they represent.

What is Aunt Alexandra's major theory concerning human behavior?

Aunt Alexandra believes that the longer a family has been living on a piece of land, the finer it was. Scout thinks that Aunt Alexandra may be onto something with her theory, and gives a short explanation of how Maycomb was founded. Since Maycomb's primary reason for existence was government, the majority of the population were professionals. Maycomb was located inland, and the town remained small for hundreds of years. The same families who first travelled to Maycomb stayed and married within the town, creating a "quiet stream" of family resemblance. (Lee 175)

Aunt Alexandra also believes that each family has a "streak," which is another name for a noticeable character trait passed down through heredity. Aunt Alexandra understood the caste system of Maycomb perfectly, and could identify a person through their predictable family behaviors. Scout says that Aunt Alexandra has an obsession with heredity and is disappointed because Atticus has neglected to teach his children about the Finch family history.

Why does Gilgamesh want to find Utnapishtim?

The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem written in ancient Mesopotamia. It tells the story of the hero Gilgamesh. In the poem, Utnapishtim is an immortal character. He is told by the god Enki to build a boat and gather his family, neighbors and animals onto the boat to protect them from a flood that covers the whole world. He does so and he and his wife are rewarded with immortality.

When Gilgamesh’s best friend Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh is overcome with grief. He refuses to allow his friend to be buried and mourns over the body. He also becomes afraid of death. So he goes on a journey to find Utnapishtim so he can learn how to become immortal. Utnapishtim advises him not to seek immortality but tells him about a plant that can make Gilgamesh young again. Gilgamesh finds the plant but it is stolen from him by a snake. Gilgamesh gives up the idea of immortality and returns to his home.

What was the one thing Mark liked about Hardy Elementary School in Andrew Clements' A Week in the Woods?

In general, Mark starts off absolutely hating Hardy Elementary School in Andrew Clements' A Week in the Woods. Since he has been educated in expensive top private schools all his life, he already knows far more than the rest of the kids in his class at the new elementary school; therefore, the work is easy, and he has to fight off boredom. After the year is over, he will be attending Runyon Academy, "one of the most exclusive prep schools in America"; therefore, he has already written off his days at Hardy Elementary as unimportant and has become withdrawn (p. 27). He notes that the one thing he liked about the school is "that there were so many kids in every class" (p. 25).

After having been attending the school for ten days, one day, while sitting his math class, he watches his teacher put fraction problems on the board that he learned "ages ago" and tries to fight off boredom. While fighting off boredom, he tries to keep himself from falling asleep and thinks about how much he likes the class size in comparison to his other schools. At his other schools, his classes had "no more than twelve, sometimes as few as five" students (p. 25). Fewer students meant "no escape, no chance to slack off. Never" (p. 25). But, at Hardy Elementary School, he was in classrooms with 24 other students, which meant to him "zero pressure"--he could feel free to slack off all he wanted and write the entire school year off as unimportant.

Ionic bonds form between ions that have ________.

Ionic bonds occur between ions that have opposite charges. An ionic bond is the electrostatic force that holds ionic compounds together. When a metal reacts with a non-metal, electrons are transferred from the metal which forms a postive ion to the nonmetal which forms a negative ion. The positive and negatve ions are then attracted to each other. 

An example is the reaction between sodium and chlorine. Sodium is a very reactive metal and chlorine is a very reactive nonmetal. Each sodium atom loses an electron to form Na+ and each chlorine atom gains an electron to form Cl-. The resulting sodium and choride ions form a crystal lattice (three-dimenional structure) with a ratio of one Na+ to one Cl-. The formula of an ionic compound always represents the lowest whole-number ratio of ions, but the substance isn't in the form of individual molecules.

The ratio of ions in a formula is related to the charges of the ions. For example, Magnesium chloride has the formula MgCl2. Magnesium loses two electrons to form a +2 ion, so there must be two Cl- ions for every Mg(2+) ion to have a neutral compound.

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, why does Calpurnia take the children to the church? What do they learn about the Tom Robinson case?

In Chapter 12, Atticus leaves for Birmingham because the state legislature was called into an emergency session. Calpurnia decides to take the children to her church, First Purchase African M.E., rather than let Scout and Jem go to their regular church without Atticus. Calpurnia remembers the shenanigans the children engaged in the last time they went to church without Atticus and were missing their Sunday school teacher. Calpurnia tells the children that Atticus didn't mention whether or not their teacher would be there, and decides to take them to her church.

While the children are in church, Calpurnia tells them about the crime Tom Robinson is accused of committing. Scout tells Calpurnia that she is aware that Tom Robinson is in jail for doing something awful, but doesn't understand why Helen can't find work. Calpurnia tells Scout that nobody wants to be associated with the Robinsons because Bob Ewell accused Tom of raping his daughter, Mayella. Scout knows that the Ewells have a terrible reputation and doesn't understand why the community won't hire Helen. Scout then asks Calpurnia what rape is, and Calpurnia tells her to ask Atticus.

In Prejudice Across America by James Waller, what is the path to racial reconciliation?

James Waller includes a good number of comments on how to arrive at the path to racial reconciliation in the United States. Some common steps on the path to reconciliation include freedom to express pent up anger and bitterness over victimization; taking action to initiate changes; and diverting anger to the higher calling of reconciliation, unity and equality. More steps on the path to reconciliation include altering the political fabric undergirding racism; living according to understanding and empathy while rejecting fear; being vigilant, being part of the dream, listening with commitment; and taking action: "'[action] may be through a smile, a conversation, or a gift to someone who's been wronged in the past'" (Michael Sorrell, Lawyer, Advisory Board on Race Initiative, as quoted by Waller).

A common thread is the idea that the anger and resentment over injustice, inequality, distrust, and life and property loss needs to be expressed as part of the conversation leading to reconciliation. One man interviewed by Waller's group expressed the pent up rage that inhibits him from believing in racial reconciliation: "Don't reconcile with me! Just compensate me for all that you have taken! Just give me what you owe me!"

Another common thread is the idea that action is an integral part of reconciliation. As Reverend Sharp expressed it to Waller's group, whites may talk about reconciliation but "do not take any steps to implement these changes. ... whites are the only ones with power." Martin Luther King, Jr.'s experiences during the Civil Rights movement provoked his own anger and bitterness but, instead of basing his actions on those emotions, he sought a way to "subvert [his anger and bitterness] to a higher calling" (Waller), then led the multitude in a march for freedom. That freedom march began the path to racial reconciliation.

Where are the braziers, and how do they add to the atmosphere in "The Masque of the Red Death"?

The braziers are in front of the window in each of Prospero's seven special rooms, add an eerie effect to each of the rooms.

The décor in Prince Prospero’s secluded abbey is designed for effect.  He carefully crafted each room to represent a stage of life, from birth to death.  The rooms are illuminated by windows and fire.

But in the corridors that followed the suite, there stood, opposite to each window, a heavy tripod, bearing a brazier of fire that protected its rays through the tinted glass and so glaringly illumined the room. And thus were produced a multitude of gaudy and fantastic appearances. 

Using a brazier, which is basically a metal bowl for holding the fire, helps create a sense of eerie debauchery.  As entertaining as the palace is, there is definitely a macabre quality to it.  Lighting the rooms with fire adds to the ambiance, and the further you go down the halls, the spookier the rooms get.

But in the western or black chamber the effect of the fire-light that streamed upon the dark hangings through the blood-tinted panes, was ghastly in the extreme …

Basically, that last room creeps everyone out.  It has an ebony clock that seems to transfix them every time it strikes the hour, and the red color also reminds them of death.  They have come to Prospero’s castle to forget their mortality, but here in this room they are staring it in the face.

Prospero seems to have a very twisted sense of humor.  First he secrets away a thousand of his closest friends for a six-month party and ignores the dying in his kingdom, and then he creates these rooms that are designed to remind people that they are going to die.  There is just nothing sane about this guy.  Of course, Prospero cannot escape death.  Even when he doesn't invite Death to the party, he invites himself.

What two guiding principles held by the Framers most affected the structure and functions of the US Constitution?

The first guiding principle shared by most of the framers was the need for a powerful central government. James Madison in particular had come to believe that the states, if left to their own devices on such matters as fiscal policy, would ruin the nation. So most (but not all) of the Framers agreed with Edmund Randolph's proposal early in the Constitutional Convention that the delegates adopt a new plan for government in which the national government, not the states, would be supreme. Some delegates went even further, recommending such institutions as a federal veto on state legislation (Madison) and a unitary executive with a lifetime term (Hamilton). The powerful federal government that emerged from the Convention was a product of this more or less shared belief. Yet they also established a system known as federalism which maintained some of the state powers.

At the same time, most of the delegates shared a belief that the powers of government ought to be divided rather than unified in a single entity. Most were students of the British constitution, which divided power between a monarch, the Lords, and the Commons, and most had read Montesquieu's The Spirit of the Laws, which claimed that a divided form of government was the best suited to avoid tyranny. So the Framers established a government that vested legislative powers in Congress, executive powers in the presidency, and judicial powers in a judicial branch to be fleshed out later by legislation. They also granted each branch certain powers over the other--the veto power of the President, and the impeachment power of Congress, for example--to establish a system of checks and balances to provide a mechanism by which powers could be limited in practice. 

These two principles, centralized government and divided government, were very important to the Framers.

Prove that the following is not an identity: `sec^2x + csc^2x = 1`

Identity is a statement that is true for any value of x. So, to prove that the given statement is not an identity, we can show that it is not true for at least one value of x. In fact, the given statement cannot possibly be true for any value of x.

First, let's rewrite the left side using reciprocal identities:

`secx = 1/cosx` and `cscx = 1/sinx` .

The left side becomes

`1/(cos^2x) + 1/(sin^2x)` .

Finding the common denominator and adding two fractions results in

`(sin^2x + cos^2x)/(cos^2x*sin^2x) = 1/(cos^2x*sin^2x)`  (Pythagorean identity, `cos^2x + sin^2x = 1`

is applied here.)

Finally, the denominator can be written as a single trigonometric function using the double-angle identity `sin(2x) = 2sinxcosx` :

`1/(cos^2x*sin^2x) = 1/((cosx*sinx)^2) =1/((sin(2x)/2)^2) = 4/(sin^2(2x))`

According to the given statement, this would have to be equal to 1:

`4/(sin^2(2x)) = 1` , which would mean that `sin^2(2x) = 4` , or that

`sin(2x) = +-2`

However, this cannot possibly be true because sine function, by definition, has to be always no more than 1 and no less than negative 1: `-1<=sinx<=1` .

There is no value of x for which sin(2x) = 2 or sin(2x) = -2.

So, not only `sec^2x + csc^2x = 1` is not an identity, it can never be true.

Compare and contrast Atticus and Uncle Jack's attitudes towards the children in To Kill a Mockingbird.

Atticus takes a more hands-off approach to child-rearing than Jack.

Uncle Jack has no children, and Atticus is raising his two children on his own.  Atticus is a somewhat absent parent.  He depends on Calpurnia, his housekeeper, to take care of his children and provide life lessons.  Although he threatens to spank his children often, he never actually does.

Jack takes a more direct approach. At Christmastime, he takes offense at Scout’s constant swearing.  Atticus ignores it, believing that it is a stage all children go through.  Scout wants to convince Atticus that she picked up bad language at school.  Calpurnia apparently also ignores it.

Jack tells Scout he will punish her if he catches her swearing or fighting.

“Well I don’t,” said Uncle Jack, “not unless there’s extreme provocation connected with ‘em. I’ll be here a week, and I don’t want to hear any words like that while I’m here. Scout, you’ll get in trouble if you go around saying things like that. You want to grow up to be a lady, don’t you?” (Ch. 9)

When Jack hears Scout and Francis fighting, Francis tells him that Scout called him a “whore-lady” and jumped on him.  Jack spanks her, and she runs to Atticus.  Atticus tells her that she had it coming.  Later Jack tries to talk to Scout, and tells her that she had it coming and he is surprised she would hold it against him.

Scout tells him he does not understand children much, and then proceeds to educate him.

“Well, in the first place you never stopped to gimme a chance to tell you my side of it—you just lit right into me. When Jem an‘ I fuss Atticus doesn’t ever just listen to Jem’s side of it, he hears mine too, an’ in the second place you told me never to use words like that except in ex-extreme provocation, and Francis provocated me enough to knock his block off—” (Ch. 9)

She also asks him what a whore-lady is, and he gives her an evasive answer.  Later, Atticus tells him it is best to tell children the truth and be direct, because they can spot an evasion easier than an adult and evasive answers just confuse them.  Atticus gives Scout an evasive answer later when she asks him about rape, but he does have a tendency to use elaborate adult language and not dumb it down for his children.

The main thing Jack learns from the incident is that raising children is harder than he thought.  Atticus's indirect ways seem to get results, because his children have been raised to solve their own problems.  In fighting, Scout was doing that.  Jack told her not to fight or swear unless provoked, and she was provoked when Francis insulted her father.

What are Ralph and Jack worried about in Chapters 3 and 4?

Throughout Chapter 3 and 4, Ralph and Jack are both concerned about different things. In Chapter 3, Ralph's main concern involves building the shelters. Ralph laments that only him and Simon have been laboring on the huts, and they have turned out unstable and shaky. When Ralph confronts Jack about not helping build the shelters, Jack says that his sole focus has been on getting meat. Jack is only worried about providing meat and spends most his time on the island hunting pigs. Simon comments the boys need to build shelters because the littluns scream at night and are terrified of the "beast." Ralph says, "As if it wasn't a good island." (Golding 52) Jack also brings up the feeling that he is being hunted by something when he is out in the forest. The boys are clearly worried about the "beast" on the island in Chapter 3. Ralph allows Jack to hunt as long as his group of hunters maintain the signal fire. Another one of Ralph's main concerns is that the signal fire stays lit. In Chapter 4, Ralph spots a ship passing the island, but when he looks at the mountaintop, the signal fire has gone out. Jack's band of hunters were too concerned with killings pigs to maintain the fire. Ralph worries that the boys will never be rescued. Jack seems unconcerned because he was able to kill a pig. The boys' different concerns illuminate the difference in priorities between the two. 

Based on Obierika's daughter's uri, what role do women play in this society? Defend your reasoning.

The celebration surrounding Obierika’s daughter and her uri— or a betrothal ceremony—initially appears to be centered on the bride. Indeed, the women seem to be very important to the ceremony, and this suggests that they have some power over the proceedings:  

“It was the day on which her suitor (having already paid the greater part of her bride-price) would bring palm-wine not only to her parents and immediate relatives but to the wide and extensive group of kinsmen called umunna. Everybody had been invited-- men, women, and children. But it was really a woman's ceremony and the central figures were the bride and her mother” (110).

However, upon closer examination, the celebration is a ceremony based on the suitor paying over half of the “bride-price.” The fact that there are dowries attached to marriages indicates women’s status as commodities within the tribe.The women of Umuofia are relegated to a marginalized position within the society, viewed more as extensions of men’s wealth than as individuals with agency. Certainly, the more wives a man has, the greater status he obtains within the community. Moreover, ruling over women is another sign of a successful man in Umuofia. At one point, Okonkwo reflects on Nwoye's development as a man:  

“He wanted him to be a prosperous man, having enough in his barn to feed the ancestors with regular sacrifices. And so he was always happy when he heard him grumbling about women. That showed that in time he would be able to control his women-folk. No matter how prosperous a man was, if he was unable to rule his women and his children (and especially his women) he was not really a man” (53).

This marginalization is found throughout the novel, and is subtly present in Obierika’s daughter’s uri.

Why does Golding create two contrasting characters in Lord of the Flies who struggle over the leadership of the island?

Golding creates two contrasting potential leaders in Lord of the Flies to highlight the key thematic elements of the novel. The novel presents savagery and chaos in competition with reason, logic, and adherence to formerly acceptable societal norms. Jack represents the human desire for turbulence and leadership exerted  by strength, while Ralph continues to try to lead through logic, reason, and the rules of the society they left behind.

In addition to creating the main themes of the novel, the two contrasting characters also provide a platform for the plot of the novel to progress. The conflict between Ralph and Jack is a microcosm of the conflicts overtaking the whole island and all of the boys. Jack's takeover of leadership ignites the descent into madness that the boys embark on, while Ralph's presence constantly sheds light on the failures of the new society.

The conflict for leadership in Lord of the Flies is one of the central components of Golding's book. It creates the themes that permeate the entire story, and sets up the main characters that drive the plot development of the book. The conflict between leaders is one of the most important parts of Lord of the Flies.

A reader should always bring knowledge of history and contemporary events to bear on the reading of any story. Do you agree with this statement?

While there are certainly many pieces of literature that are best informed and understood by knowing history (for example, appreciation of The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco benefits from a knowledge of 14th century monastery life); and while many literary works are created from or are reflective of contemporary events (for example, The Camp of the Saints, by Jean Raspail, reflective of the European immigration problem), it is not an essential element of all literature by any means. A literary work dealing with, for example, philosophical expression, such as Bartleby the Scrivener by Hermann Melville, can be enjoyed and understood with virtually no historical knowledge. The words “should always” and “any story” might be revised to something like “knowledge of history and contemporary events is very often helpful in getting full benefit from most literature.”  The basic sense of the inquiry is sound; I only cavil with the insistence on inclusiveness.

Why does iodine have a higher boiling point than CCl4? Iodine boils at 114 degrees celsius and carbon tetrachloride boils at -23 degrees Celsius.

Iodine, which is the diatomic molecule I2, has a higher boiling point than carbon tetrachloride, CCl4, because it has stronger intermolecular attractions. Intermolecular attractions are the forces of attraction between molecules. In order for a solid to melt or a liquid to vaporize enough energy must be absorbed to overcome these forces. 

There are four types of intermolecular forces:

Dipole-dipole interactions - these forces are the result of attractions between positive and negative ends of polar molecules.

Ion-dipole interactions - these forces result from the attractions between ions and the oppositley charged regions of polar molecules. 

Hydrogen bonds - these are very strong dipole-dipole interactions that occur between very polar molecules that have a hydrogen atom bonded to a fluorine, oxygen or nitrogen.

London dispersion forces - these interactions occur between all molecules regardless of polarity. They're caused by attractions between temporarily polar regions of molecules that arise when electrons are unevenly distributed. A temporary dipole on one molecule can induce one on another by attracting or repelling its electrons.

I2 and CCl4, being symmetrical and non-polar, have only London dispersion forces.  The LDFs in I2 must be stronger than those in CCl4 in order for it to have a higher boiling point. This is the case because I2 has a very large electron cloud compared to CCl4 and is therefore more polarizable.

Name three foreign policy crises of the years 1790-1811, and explain why each was so controversial.

There were several foreign policies crises that we faced between 1790-1811. One crisis dealt with Spain and Great Britain. Both countries were interfering with our trade in the 1790s. Both countries were encouraging Native Americans to attack us. There were some people who wanted us to go to war against these countries. However, President Washington felt going to war would be a mistake and instead negotiated treaties with these countries to try to resolve the issues that existed.

Another crisis also dealt with our trade during the presidency of John Adams. France believed we were becoming more friendly and more supportive with Great Britain in their conflict with France. France began to seize our ships. When we sent representatives to France to discuss this issue, they refused to meet with us. When they eventually said they would meet with us, they wanted us to pay them a bribe to talk with them. Americans were outraged and were willing to prepare for war if necessary. President Adams resolved this crisis through negotiations, which didn’t sit well with some Americans.

A third crisis occurred in the 1800s. Both France and Great Britain were again interfering with our trade because they were at war with each other. We decided to stop all trading with countries to protect our ships. This failed miserably because we needed to trade. When we decided to resume trading with other countries except France and Great Britain that also failed because we did so much trade with Great Britain and France. Ultimately, these trade issues led to the War of 1812 against Great Britain.

We also had issues with the Native Americans. The Native Americans were attacking us in the Ohio Valley. We attacked them in the Battle of Fallen Timbers. The Native Americans lost and were required to give up land and move west as a result of the Treaty of Greenville.

We faced several crises in foreign policy between 1790-1811. Most of them dealt with our right to trade.

How does the story of Romeo and Juliet view the ideas of “Love at First Sight” and “True Love Never Dies”?

Shakespeare makes it pretty clear through Romeo and Juliet that love at first sight is not true love. First of all, Romeo is hopelessly in love with Rosaline at the beginning of the story, but the moment he sees Juliet, he forgets Rosaline and falls in love with Juliet before even hearing her speak. Romeo remarks on Juliet's beauty: "O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!" meaning she is brighter than the torches that light up the room. Romeo claims to love her for this intense beauty: "Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight! / For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night." He loves her because she is more beautiful than any girl he has ever seen before.

After a short conversation and a kiss, Juliet also loves Romeo. She says to her Nurse, "My only love sprung from my only hate! / Too early seen unknown, and known too late!" This line means that the only boy Juliet could ever love is the son of her family's enemy. She fell in love with him before she knew who he was, and she found out who he was when it was already too late to change her feelings. This happens at the Capulet party over the course of a few minutes. But what is it about Romeo that Juliet 'loves'?

Juliet also seems to be drawn to Romeo for his physical attractiveness. In the balcony scene, Juliet talks to herself, expressing a wish that Romeo were not named Romeo Montague, because it is his name and not any other part of him that is her enemy. She mentions several physical parts of a man: "What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot, / Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man." But she doesn't mention any non-physical attributes that attract her to Romeo.

Friar Lawrence later affirms this idea that 'love at first sight' is purely physical: "...young men's love then lies / Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes." This means that young men love beauty, without real emotion.

Because the lovers only knew each other for three days before they were both dead, we certainly can't conclude that 'true love never dies' from this story. In fact, Friar Lawrence indicates that Romeo and Juliet's love is but a passing infatuation: "...like fire and powder, / Which as they kiss consume" compares Romeo and Juliet to fire and gun powder. When fire is introduced to gun powder, a fantastic explosion takes place that 'consumes' or uses up the gun powder, leaving no fuel for the fire, which then extinguishes. Like a quick explosion that eats up all the fuel for the fire, Romeo and Juliet's love would be brilliant but not last long.

There is a lot of talk of flowers in Romeo and Juliet, and Juliet even compares their love affair to a flower: "This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath, / May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet." Like young love, a flower is certainly a beautiful thing, but it does not last for very long.

So we can see that one could argue Romeo and Juliet is not a love story, and does not support the notions of 'love at first sight' or 'true love never dies.' If anything, it is a warning against rushing into love: "Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast." (Friar Lawrence)

What is the nurse saying to Romeo Act II, scene iv, lines 157-163?

In this scene, the Nurse and Romeo meet for the first time. Mercutio is with Romeo, and he makes bawdy jokes at the Nurse's expense. She gets angry as Mercutio leaves and turns to Romeo to ask what Mercutio thinks he's doing. Romeo says that Mercutio just likes to hear himself talk and is spouting nonsense. As line 157 begins, the Nurse is still annoyed and, in fact, getting more steamed, and says angrily that if Mercutio says anything to defame her character (An 'a speak anything against me") she will take him down a peg, even if he "were lustier than he is," by which she means stronger but with a pun on "lustier" as bawdier or more sexual. She goes on to say she will take on twenty "Jacks" (young men) like him if need be. In other words, she's stating she's not afraid of him. She elaborates and says that even if she can't take him on by herself, she'll find somebody who can ("if I cannot, I'll find those who shall.") She calls Mercutio a "scurvy knave," meaning he is not a gentleman (he's a "knave") and "scurvy" meaning he's diseased (diseased scum might be a good translation). She says she's not a flirt girl or prostitute (flirt-gill) he can talk to this way, then says she's not a "skain mate," which the Bevington edition of Shakespeare defines as a prostitute-gangster. Finally, she turns on Peter, her attendant, and scolds him for not defending her, saying, what, are you going to just stand there and let any low-class guy do whatever he wants to me? 

We can see from this passage that the Nurse has a temper and doesn't like to be insulted, even in "good fun."

How might Chekhov's background and beliefs have influenced his short story "The Bet"?

Chekhov was employed as a physician, but he was also a writer. He was most prolific as a writer when he was in his twenties. It was at this time that he was in medical school and trying to help support his family, so he wrote a ton of stuff--from captions for cartoons in newspapers to short stories and plays. 

"The Bet" was published in 1889 when Chekhov was starting to get popular. Critics were getting kind of irritated with him because most of his writing had no real political stance. The truth of the matter was that Chekhov was really just irritated with philosophy and politics and sought refuge on a remote island called Sakhalin. He journeyed to Sakhalin to avoid urban life (sounds like what the lawyer in "The Bet" ends up doing, right?) in 1890. 

It's safe to say that Chekhov's feelings at the time that "The Bet" was published are a lot like the feelings that the lawyer presents in the short story. Both Chekhov and the lawyer find value in experience and think that the aspects of modern life (including making money) are pretty banal. 

What are three direct quotes from To Kill A Mockingbird that can demonstrate how Boo Radley is a "mockingbird" in the story?

In addition to leaving them gifts in the tree, Boo was helpful to Jem and Scout several times.

According to Miss Maudie, mockingbirds never bring harm to anyone.  They are innocent, and just bring joy to the people around them rather than being parasitic.  Miss Maudie’s praise of mockingbirds results from Atticus’s admonition to his children that they can shoot at other birds, but never a mockingbird.

Boo Radley is the mockingbird of the story because he is the target of gossip and ridicule, but he never does anything to harm anyone.  He is just a shy, reclusive man who made some bad choices when he was younger and paid the price the rest of his life.  The children learn that Boo is not a scary monster.  He is actually a good friend.

The first instance of Boo being a good friend is the incident with Jem’s pants.  Dill was convinced that if Boo Radley just came out and sat on the porch to eat some ice cream, he would feel better.  He and Jem tried to get Boo to come out, wanting to leave a note for him.  Jem lost his pants during the incident, getting them caught on the fence.  When he went to return to them that night, he discovered that someone had not only extricated them from the fence, but also made a crude attempt at sewing them up.

They’d been sewed up. Not like a lady sewed ‘em, like somethin’ I’d try to do.

All crooked. It’s almost like—”

“—somebody knew you were comin‘ back for ’em.” (Ch. 7)

Jem is somewhat baffled by this development, and it enhances his understanding of Arthur “Boo” Radley.  Boo did not want Jem to get into trouble for losing the pants or ripping them.  Far from being the neighborhood monster Jem made him out to be, Boo was actually acting like a friend.

When the entire town of Maycomb turned out to help Miss Maudie with her fire, Boo was too shy to help put out the fire or save furniture.  But what he did do was incredibly sweet.  After the fire, the family noticed a blanket draped across Scout’s shoulders.  She had no recollection of it being put there, so enraptured by the fire was she.  Boo snuck up behind her to give her the blanket, a friendly gesture that she didn’t even know about until later.

“…Someday, maybe, Scout can thank him for covering her up.”

“Thank who?” I asked.

“Boo Radley. You were so busy looking at the fire you didn’t know it when he put the blanket around you.” (Ch. 8)

Jem was immediately concerned that Atticus would return the blanket and get Boo in trouble.  He tried to explain to Atticus everything at once, to help him understand that Boo was their secret friend.  Atticus was able to appreciate the delicacy of the situation and understand that the childlike Boo’s brother would not be pleased to learn he had been at the fire.

A final instance of Boo’s helping the children was the most important.  After the trial, Bob Ewell blamed Atticus for making a fool of him and airing out all of his family business.  He targeted Scout and Jem, attempting to attack them at night on Halloween.  Boo rescued them, killing Bob in the process.

The sheriff Heck Tate and Atticus decided not to tell anyone what Boo had done.  When Atticus asked Scout if she understood, she made a connection between Boo and Atticus’s earlier advice.

“Yes sir, I understand,” I reassured him. “Mr. Tate was right.”

Atticus disengaged himself and looked at me. “What do you mean?”

“Well, it’d be sort of like shootin‘ a mockingbird, wouldn’t it?” (Ch. 30)

Scout understood that the notoriety that Boo would get from having saved the children would be too much for him.  He was shy and sensitive, and just wanted to lurk in the shadows and the background of their lives.  Scout made sure he understood that she was grateful for what he had done.

Why were invalids liberated in chapter 5 of Night?

There were rumors flying around Buna that the Russians were headed there to liberate the camp, but Elie had heard such rumors before and was not convinced. Shockingly, it was confirmed that the Red Army was on its way; Buna would be evacuated the following night, block by block. Only the sick in the infirmary would remain.

Those in the infirmary, including Elie who was recovering from a surgical procedure on his foot to remove pus, were wary about staying. Surely the Germans would blow up the camp as they left or simply send them all to the crematorium before the evacuation.

Elie wanted to be with his father and they discussed if they should evacuate or stay. Elie's doctor promised that his father could stay in the infirmary as either a patient or a medic. They had to decide to risk traveling to a new camp or staying put. Ultimately, his father decided that if Elie could walk, they would leave.

Elie found out that two days after that day the Russians did come and all those who stayed behind in the infirmary were liberated.  It is likely that at this point in the war, the Germans were so weakened that they lacked the time and manpower to deal with the prisoners left in the infirmary, so they simply left them behind.

Why did the US Senate refuse to ratify the Treaty of Versailles?

While the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles by the United States Senate was a very drawn out and complicated process, the failure of ratification can be reduced to two simple concepts. First, the discussion of the treaty can be reduced to the traditional haggling of bipartisan politics of the United States. Woodrow Wilson, a democrat, had a vision for peace that was called the Fourteen Points. He was the man responsible for negotiating the Treaty of Versailles on behalf of the United States. The trouble is, while he was the one sent to France, Constitutionally, he does not have the authority to ratify treaties. The right is given to the Senate. The Senate was led by the other party, the Republicans. In fact, Henry Cabot Lodge was a very powerful voice in the Senate and he was Woodrow Wilson's primary political enemy. It would be hard to imagine that Lodge and Wilson would agree on much, let alone a major peace agreement that would affect the future of the United States on the world stage.

A second reason that the Treaty did not get passed was because of the creation of the League of Nations. The League of Nations was the predecessor to the United Nations as a world organization for peace. It was established by the Treaty of Versailles and was one of Wilson's Fourteen Points. Lodge and other members of the Senate felt that the United States would lose its authority to declare war unilaterally if it entered the League of Nations. They also were responding to the popular sentiment of isolationism amongst the American people after the war. Inclusion in the League of Nations had the potential of entangling the United States in the affairs of Europe. The creation of the League of Nations was the primary sticking point for the treaty being ratified. As a result, the United States would sign a separate peace agreement with Germany in 1921.

How did the dog, Montmorency, make a fool of himself?

I believe you are referring to the dog Montmorency in Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog).

In the story, the author describes Montmorency as a cat-hating dog. Furthermore, he explains that it is in the nature of fox terriers such as Montmorency to provoke fights and to rejoice in the execution of relative pandemonium whenever the opportunity presents itself. The author emphasizes the supposedly blood-thirsty nature of fox terriers by recalling a story about how a lone fox-terrier starts a fight in the lobby of the Haymarket stores one day.

Presumably, a lovely young lady chains her fox-terrier in the lobby, among all the other dogs who are waiting for their owners. It isn't long before the little dog bites and attacks the other bigger dogs. Before long, a vicious fight commences among the dogs, with the bigger dogs fighting among themselves and the little dogs engaging in their own bruising operation.

Thus, the author uses this little story to highlight the unpredictable and combative nature of fox-terriers. He then relates how Montmorency apparently makes a fool of himself one morning when he spies a great, big Tom cat crossing the street. On immediate recognition of a cat nemesis, Montmorency lets out the 'cry of a stern warrior' and immediately charges at the cat 'at the rate of twenty miles an hour.'

However, the cat reacts unpredictably himself: he displays no fear at what he sees and exhibits nonchalance at Montmorency's fierce charge. This stance renders Montmorency so discomposed that he finds himself at a loss; to him, this is entirely a strange state of affairs when an enemy refuses to engage in a battle for supremacy. In the end, Montmorency slinks back home, ashamed of his own foolish behavior. The author states that, from then on, Montmorency always exhibits a piteous look whenever the subject of cats is brought up.

Question about F1 and F2 phenotypes

Your question concerns pea plants. In peas, the gene for "tall" (T) is dominant, and the gene for "dwarf", or short (t) is recessive. When a plant that is homozygous dominant for "tall" is crossed with one that is homozygous recessive for "short", each parent can only give one type of gene. The tall parent is referred to as having a genotype of TT, and can only give "T" alleles; the short parent is of the tt genotype, and can only give "t" alleles. Each offspring in the F1 generation is of genotype Tt; their phenotype (appearance) is that they are all tall because the gene for tall is dominant. This is your answer for part a of your question.

When the F1 plants (all Tt) are crossed with each other, however, each parent has an equal chance of passing on either the gene for tall (T), or the gene for short (t). If this information is used in a Punnett square, the F2 generation will have 25% of the plants TT (phenotype tall) 50% Tt (also tall, due to the dominant tall gene), and 25% tt (phenotype short), as only the plants with two recessive genes will show the trait for being short. Therefore, 75% of the F2 generation will be tall and 25% short; the ratio is 3:1. This is your answer for part b.

For part c of your question: the F2 generation is different from the F1 because the parent plants of each are different. The original parent generation could only give one type of gene each; the F1 generation, when they are crossed, could each give either type.

Who in the play, Romeo and Juliet, says "I should have acted more distant"?

Although you initially asked about a line, "I should have acted more distant," the exact line (spoken by Juliet in line 102 of Act 2, Scene 2) is actually, "I should have acted more strange."  The meaning of "strange" in Shakespeare's time was closer to our modern definition of "distant"; hence the potential confusion.

As she utters the line, Juliet is wishing she had been a bit more distant or that she had been a bit standoffish.  Romeo has just caught her on her balcony, confessing her love for Romeo aloud.  She was doing so with no expectation that anyone could hear her; she was merely voicing internal thoughts out loud.

When she is, indeed, overheard, Romeo hears of her feelings about their earlier meeting.  She is embarrassed that he has heard so much. In the end, Romeo doesn't seem to mind, and her honest confession of feelings prompts him to make a similar disclosure to her.  In the beginning, however, all she can do is wish that she had been a bit more "distant."

How is the story "A Rose for Emily" a conflict between North and South?

William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily” contains several different conflicts. One of those is the tension between the North and South in the post-reconstruction era United States. This conflict is primarily realized in the story through the character of Homer Barron, Emily Grierson’s love interest.

In the story, we can see Emily’s father as representing the Old South and its traditions. His daughter, when we first meet her, seems to embody those same characteristics. However, once her father dies, she begins what is at least an infatuation, and what may be a love affair, with a man from the North.

Homer Barron, Emily's love interest, is a northerner who has come to town as foreman of a sidewalk paving project. Thus, Homer is not only a carpetbagger – a term used for northerners who came to the South to make money during and after reconstruction – he also represents forces trying to change the town. He embodies the unwanted changes that the South saw as being imposed on it by the North.

Emily’s relationship with Homer is surprising to the townspeople, and many disapprove to the point of seeking help from her relatives to force Emily to end the relationship. The narrator emphasis the difference between Emil and Homer, and in those differences we can see the tensions between the traditions of the Old South and the modern practices of the North that were being brought to the South during and after reconstruction.

How do I start an essay that discusses the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the American Revolution?

What make this easy is that there is a historical relationship between all three of these subjects. A little more than a year after the Americans began the Revolutionary War, they drafted the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and in 1789, the Constitution was ratified by all the original colonies.  Thus there is a direct line from the war to the Declaration to the Constitution.

To begin your essay, give your reader this background information. That is what every good introduction should provide for the reader. Then, while I do not know exactly what your essay is going to say, you will need a thesis statement that tells the reader what your main idea is, perhaps how important these documents were to American freedom or how important they have continued to be since the Revolutionary War. If your main idea is to teach your readers some American history, that would be fine, too, perhaps a statement about how the war and these documents are the beginnings of the United States. 

As you get your essay organized, I think it would probably be best to tell your story in chronological order, first the beginning of the war, then the Declaration, and then the Constitution.  That way, your reader will be able to follow along so much better.  A body paragraph or a complete section on each of these topics would be great. And then all you need is a conclusion, to remind your reader what your main idea was and to give your reader a little review of what you had to say in your body paragraphs. 

Do you think the ending of the story is appropriate? Why should Allen choose a remedial Spanish grammar for Kugelmass's hell rather than, say, a...

I find the ending of "The Kugelmass Episode" very appropriate.

Throughout the narrative, Kugelmass sees literature as a form of escape. He is looking for a way out of his banal world. �His therapist is honest in saying that he is "not a magician," reflecting that Kugelmass's desire for release borders on the magical and is not realistic. �Kugelmass's escapism is a critical part of his characterization. He does not see any depth to the characters of Flaubert's�Madame Bovary�and Roth's�Portnoy Complaint. �Kugelmass does not acknowledge the emptiness of these literary characters or their own flaws. Instead, he simply sees them as forms of escape, viewing them as a means to an end. �

Kugelmass's illusions are stripped when he is left alone with the remedial Spanish textbook. �Escape from this literature is impossible. �His dreams and hopes of what might be are replaced with the terror in the irregular verb "tener." �The "large and hairy" verb chases Kugelmass. �His romantic escapism has become supplanted by a real form of escape. �His dreams of a better world are replaced with a barren, rocky�� reality. �Had Kugelmass been placed in a world of purgatory, he would still see literature as a form of escapism. If Kugelmass had been placed in a cosmic realm of the underworld, it would have been a more exciting universe than the one he inhabits. However, in placing him in a world where remedial Spanish chases after him, Kugelmass has learned the ultimate lesson about literature. �He has learned that there is a danger to romanticizing it, a peril in using it as a means to an end. �

It is very important to note that Kugelmass is chased by the Spanish verb, "tener" which means "to have." �Kugelmass had spent his entire life trying "to have" something that he could not and failing to �appreciate what he did possess. In his ending of being chased by the maniacal and irregular "tener," he learns that he will never have what he wishes. �Perhaps, a life where he made peace with what he did "have" would have been better than this world. There might have been happiness in just being "regular." � As a result, I find the short story's ending very appropriate.

How does the poem "She Walks in Beauty" connect to the movie "Dead Poets Society"?

It is important to recognize the historical context of "She Walks in Beauty" by Lord Byron before relating it to "Dead Poets Society." "She Walks in Beauty" was written during the Romantic period of literature, during which poems asked questions about man's relationship to nature, about man's purpose, and about imagination. Romantic poetry did not conform to the ideas of the Enlightenment; since Romantic poetry dealt with the imagination and individuality of man, it could not conform to the scientific methods and reason that the Enlightenment presented.

In "Dead Poets Society," Welton Academy is a strict, all-boys' school, where individuality and imagination are not tolerated. John Keating, their enthusiastic and unorthodox English teacher, encourages his students to use their own imaginations to write and see the world differently. The boys sneak out of school into nature for the sole purpose of reading and sharing poetry. Keating also encourages the boys to break out of the sterile and emotionless structure imposed by the school. "She Walks in Beauty" is a poem full of emotion, a poem that builds in excitement through use of punctuation, ending with an enthusiastic exclamation point. Keating's views are in line with the views of the Romantic time period, which is a key similarity between "She Walks in Beauty" and "Dead Poets Society."

Before electrification, what did people do for free time and entertainment?

While people did not always have electricity, they did have light, in the form of candles and fireplaces, and they did not just sit glumly in the dark! People gathered together to sing, to play musical instruments, to tell or read stories, or to play cards, or to dance.  Women would gather together to do sewing or needlepoint, or to shuck corn, entertaining each other while they got work done.  People also played chess, checkers, backgammon and a few other board games, although many board games did not become popular until after most people had electricity. Reading was a solitary pleasure, too, as was playing a musical instrument.  Children played with jacks and jump ropes, and they played hopscotch, a long time before there was electricity.  In fact, there is a famous painting called "Games," by Breugel, painted in 1560, which will give you some idea how many games children played without the benefit of computers and game systems!  I have included a link to the painting, and it is so interesting to see how people entertained themselves that long ago. 

What is Hazel's cancer miracle story in The Fault in Our Stars?

We learn the details of Hazel's "cancer miracle story" in Chapter 2, when she relates it to Augustus, her new friend and love interest.

When she was thirteen, Hazel was diagnosed with "Stage IV thyroid cancer." ("Stage IV" means the cancer has already advanced significantly within the body, so it's a very serious diagnosis.) Her doctors use surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy to try to keep her cancer in check, but Hazel comes down with a serious case of pneumonia and feels like she's drowning from the fluid in her lungs. She is very close to death, even holding her parents' hands and saying her goodbyes to them, when, incredibly, her doctor is able to remove the fluid from her lungs and she survives. At that point, she's given an experimental drug, which are notorious for not working very well, but it works for her and keeps her tumors at bay.

For the year and a half before Hazel has this conversation with Augustus, she has been taking that "miracle" drug, receiving help for her lungs from an oxygen machine, and surviving. She considers her story to be somewhat miraculous, although Hazel's sarcasm may be at play here; she may be indicating that her story is actually pretty common. And she also moderates the heartwarming aspect of the story by thinking about how her time is still limited, that the drug could stop working at any point.

Because this question asks about a main character's backstory, we know to look for the answer near the beginning of the book. But we won't always find a character's backstory in the prologue or the first chapter of a novel. Why? It's more interesting for an author to begin the story with action, with something exciting happening, rather than with all the potentially tedious details of what the character has experienced up until the real beginning of the story. So, one way that authors can include background information in an interesting way is by allowing one character to reveal that information to another character whom she's recently met. For that reason, it's a good idea to look for important conversations between characters who have just met if you need to find their backstories.

If the speedometer of your car reads a constant speed of 40km/hr can you say 100% for sure that the car has a constant velocity? explain your...

Velocity is speed in a given direction. Because it requires that direction be included it's a vector quantity. Speed is distance covered divided by time elapsed, and isn't a vector quantity.

The first factor to consider is if the car is maintaining a speed of 40 km/hr. For any time interval that this speed is maintained, the speed is constant. 

The second factor to consider is if there's a change in direction. If the car maintains a constant speed but changes direction during that time interval then velocity is not constant. Acceleration, which is change in velocity, can be a result of a change in speed over a time interval, a change in direction over a time interval, or both. A car going in a circle at constant speed is accelerting. 

You can only say for certain that the velocity of the car is constant if the speed and direction are both constant. 

Who won the lawsuit in "The Interlopers" by Saki?

In "The Interlopers," Ulrich von Gradwitz's grandfather won the lawsuit over a contested piece of land. Prior to the von Gradwitz's victory, Georg Znaeym's family had control over the land. This land is not considered to have particularly good game or hunting prospects, but Ulrich guards it more closely than any other part of his property. The Znaeyms never accepted the result of the lawsuit, and continue to use the land. Both families consider the land to be rightfully theirs, and these feelings have led to a feud that has continued for generations. As a result of this feud, Georg Znaeym and Ulrich von Gradwitz despise each other, too. This hatred is why both men are on the disputed land the night the story takes place.

Where did most of the slaves flee to?

The question of the destination for escaped slaves depends on the time period. During the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, the British offered freedom to the slaves if they fought for the British.  The British recruited escaped slaves and sometimes freed them from the plantations in an effort to hurt the morale of the Americans and to disrupt the economy.  For the most part, however, slaves escaped to the northern free states while many escaped into Canada. This was made possible by an elaborate system of safe houses and routes that became known as the Underground Railroad.  Slaves would travel along established paths, usually along waterways at night.  They would stay at safe houses and sleep during the day.  The safe houses usually had secret basements or rooms to house the fugitive slaves.  The entire process of escape was very dangerous for the slave and those that were aiding the slaves.

Why does Holling Hoodhood enjoy The Tempest in Gary Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars?

In Gary Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars, one reason why Holling loves The Tempest so much, which he reads during the month of November, is because of the elements of the plot. As Holling explains, The Tempest contains "a storm, attempted murders, witches, wizards, invisible spirits," drunkenness, and even a monster by the name of Caliban. Because of these plot elements, Holling thinks the play is even better than his favorite book, Treasure Island. But, what Holling likes best about the play is the "list of colorful curses" said by Caliban.

Holling likes those curses so much that he sets about memorizing them and even tells his sister, "A southwest blow on ye and blister you all o'er." Throughout the rest of the book, any time something goes terribly wrong for Holling or he experiences a severe disappointment, Holling recites his very favorite curse from the play: "Toads, beetles, bats, light on you!"

However, Holling takes away much more from the play than what he likes about it at surface level. For example, in a discussion about Caliban's unhappy ending in the play, one thing Mrs. Baker explains is Shakespeare's message that defeat is necessary for growth. Holling at first disagrees with this statement, saying, "Defeat doesn't help you grow. ... It's just defeat." But, as the book progresses, Holling comes to understand his belief about defeat is incorrect. Holling is defeated many times throughout the book such as the time when Mr. Kowalski steals Hoodhood and Associate's design for the new junior high school after he innocently shows off his father's design to Meryl Lee Kowalski while on their Valentine's Day date. Yet, Holling also overcomes these defeats by facing them bravely and maintaining his integrity.

Who said "We'll hunt and I'm going to be chief" in Lord of the Flies?

In chapter eight, the real split occurs between the two groups of boys and the two leaders. The twins have reported the presence of the beastie atop the mountain (actually the dead pilot caught in his parachute rigging) and Ralph worries that they cannot maintain a signal fire. Jack decides that he's had enough of meetings and fires and shelters and says that he is going to go off on his own and anyone who wants to hunt can join him.

He goes off down the beach and a large group of the choir join him. At this point he says "We'll hunt. I'm going to be chief." It is on page 191 in my text.

After this split, the hunters go off and and kill a pig for a feast and Roger's savagery really begins to emerge. They also decide at this point to go and steal Piggy's glasses so they can have fire.

How can we convert ethane to ethanoic acid?

Ethane can be converted to ethanoic acid or acetic acid by catalytic oxidation. There are a number of ways, depending upon the catalyst, to achieve this conversion. The commonly used catalysts for this conversion include, protonated pentasil-type zeolite (or, H-ZSM-5), Fe/ZSM-5, `MoV_(0.25)Nb_(0.12)Pd_(0.0005)O_x` , etc. 

These catalysts require a high temperature and high pressure for achieving the acetic acid formation. For example, H-ZSM-5 works at a temperature of 393 K and a pressure of 3 MPa. Another key to successfully converting ethane to acetic acid, is the application of an oxidizer. Hydrogen peroxide is a commonly used oxidizer. Each catalyst selectively converts a fraction of ethane to ethanoic acid or acetic acid. For example, Fe/ZSM-5 has a conversion rate of about 56%, with a selectivity of 70% towards acetic acid.

Hope this helps. 

What is the writer's purpose and the writer's message in the story "A Child Called It"?

A Child Called It is a memoir recounting Dave Pelzer's experience with unfathomable child abuse at the hands of his own mother. His case was one of the worst cases of child abuse ever documented in the state of California.

The author's overall message in the novel is to demonstrate that the torture he experienced didn't end up defining him. His mother's abuse didn't destroy his will to survive or his spirit. He managed to put the past behind him and become a successful adult with strong family ties and faith.

In the epilogue of the novel, Pelzer stands by the Russian River with his own young son, Stephen. Pelzer hugs Stephen and tells him he loves him. Stephen returns the sentiment and tells his father that this is his favorite place. This exchange shows that the cycle of abuse has been broken. Pelzer is filled with gratitude and and joy as he takes in the scene and reflects on the past.

What three suggestions does Brutus reject in Julius Caesar and why did he reject them?

Brutus disagrees with Cassius about swearing an oath, including Cicero, and killing Antony. 

Relative to Cassius and the other men who start the conspiracy, Brutus is a relative latecomer.  Cassius convinces Brutus to join by arguing Caesar must be stopped because he is a tyrant who will abuse his power.  Cassius tells Brutus that his name will lend legitimacy to their enterprise.  Brutus is not content to be a figurehead, however; he actually wants to lead. 

Nobility is very important to Brutus.  He wants to make sure the conspirators are seen as tyrant-killers and loved by the people.  For this reason, he wants to do everything in the proper way.  Cassius tries to advise Brutus, but time and time again Brutus does not take the Cassius’s advice.  He does things his own way. 

The fact that Brutus will not follow Cassius and has his own noble and idealized ideas about things is evident from the very beginning.  All of the conspirators meet at Brutus’s house in the middle of the night.  Cassius wants the conspirators to swear an oath to their cause, but Brutus countermands him immediately. 

CASSIUS

And let us swear our resolution.

BRUTUS

No, not an oath: if not the face of men,
The sufferance of our souls, the time's abuse—
If these be motives weak, break off betimes,
And every man hence to his idle bed;
So let high-sighted tyranny range on,
Till each man drop by lottery (Act II, Scene 1). 

As far as Brutus is concerned, the men should be loyal to the cause, not an oath.  Brutus wants to believe everyone's motivations are for the same noble reasons as his, which is actually quite naïve on his part.  The men have a variety of motives for wanting Caesar dead.  Some are patriots, but some are just greedy.

The next objection involves Cicero, the renowned orator.  Cicero was known to oppose Caesar, but he was also very famous.  Cassius suggests involving him, but Casca, Cimber, and Cinna immediately naysay the idea.  Brutus sides with them. 

BRUTUS

O, name him not: let us not break with him;
For he will never follow any thing
That other men begin.

CASSIUS

Then leave him out (Act II, Scene 1).

When Decius suggests they might want to kill other men, too, Cassius jumps on the suggestion.  He wants to kill Antony because he is Caesar’s right hand man and might be dangerous.  Once again, Brutus is completely against the idea.  He wants the killing of Caesar to be a noble act.

Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius,
To cut the head off and then hack the limbs,
Like wrath in death and envy afterwards;
For Antony is but a limb of Caesar:
Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius.
We all stand up against the spirit of Caesar;
And in the spirit of men there is no blood (Act II, Scene 1).

Once again, Brutus is concerned with image.  He is more worried about the way the public will perceive their actions than the logistics of the actual assassination.  Rather than listen to Cassius’s counsel, he goes his own way.  In the end, Brutus's insistence on doing things his way will haunt him, as Antony is indeed dangerous.

What motivates various characters in the novel Fahrenheit 451?

Various characters are motivated by different factors throughout the novel Fahrenheit 451. Montag, the novel's protagonist, is motivated to find meaning in his life. He is fed-up with his mundane, superficial existence and searches to find meaning and happiness in his life. He quits his job and seeks intellectualism throughout the novel. Mildred, Montag's wife, is content with her emotionless, detached lifestyle. When her husband admits he's stolen books and attempts to persuade her in his search for meaning, she calls the fire department on him. Mildred is motivated to go back to living her normal lifestyle. Captain Beatty is motivated to uphold the government's censorship laws by continuing to burn books. He attempts to persuade Montag into believing that books are useless and controversial. Faber, the retired English teacher, is motivated to begin an intellectual revolution by moving to St. Louis to print copies of books. He is also motivated to help Montag understand various texts and escape the government forces throughout the novel. Granger and his band of intellectuals are motivated to preserve ideas, books, and knowledge. They hope that the knowledge they preserve will be the catalyst for a new intellectual movement when society is being rebuil

What are some aphorisms in "The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail"?

An aphorism is a wise saying or a maxim. Such quotes often include a bit of wordplay, and they always make us think. Thoreau is one of the most quoted American authors, and his writing is peppered with aphorisms. The authors of “The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail” included quite a few of them in his character’s dialogue here. They include:

I’m myself, Mother. If I’m not, who will be?

Let every sheep keep his own skin.

If I ever met a man who was completely awake, how could I look him in the face?

A man’s conviction is stronger than a flame or a bullet or a rock.

Being a teacher is like being in jail: once it’s on your record, you can never get rid of it.

The only people who ever get anyplace interesting are the people who get lost.

What’s the use of a house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?

Thank God men haven’t learned to fly: they’d lay waste the sky as well as the earth …

And these are just examples from the first half of Act One.

Describe the path a nerve impulse travels throughout your body from stimulus to response.

The job of the nervous system in an organism such as a human being is intricate and complex.  It is designed to receive incoming stimuli from the environment and deliver a calculated and learned response.  A stimulus is picked up by sensory nerve cells in the skin and fed along a series of sensory neurons through the network of nerves that is known as the peripheral nervous system (PNS).  These are the nerves that radiate out of the spinal cord through the extremities of the body, through the arms and legs.  The stimulus then enters the spinal cord, which is housed in the backbone, and is conducted to the brain, where it is interpreted by the brain.  This part of the nervous system is known as the central nervous system, or CNS.  A response is sent from the brain, the process is reversed, and the response is fed along another set of motor neurons to the set of muscles or organs.  Upon receiving the response, the muscles or organs execute the desired response.  This all happens very quickly, with no time lost, as some of the responses are designed to preserve the body from harm.  Sometimes, the brain is bypassed completely, in a nervous response known as a reflex action.  An example of a reflex action would be touching a hot pan on a stove and releasing it quickly so as not to butn your hand.

What is Krebs's relationship with his sister like in "Soldier's Home"? How does he respond differently to her than to the other girls or women in...

After returning from World War I, where he served in the Marines during some of the most decisive battles of the conflict, Harold Krebs comments that he just wanted his life to run smooth without "consequences." He had already seen enough consequences of people's actions in the war. His relationship with his young sister Helen is without consequences so it fits well into his plans. With his father and mother and with any potential girlfriends, things would be more complicated. Harold is suffering from what we might now term post-traumatic stress disorder but was then simply called shell shock. For most returning World War I troops it went undiagnosed and untreated. His parents want him to get on with his life, to work and marry, and carry on a normal existence. Instead, he falls into a life of lethargy, sleeping late, playing pool or reading books about the war. 

Helen is safe and innocent. She obviously very much looks up to Harold and in one scene asks him if he would be her "beau." Since there are no consequences involved in this relationship, he is perfectly willing to go along with her. Hemingway even suggests that she may be the only person Harold really loves:

Krebs looked at her. He liked her. She was his best sister.

Helen invites Harold to her indoor baseball game and says that he doesn't love her if he doesn't show up. She says,

"Aw Hare, you don't love me. If you loved me, you'd want to come over and watch me play indoor."

In the final lines of the story, after telling his mother he doesn't love her, shunning prayer, and totally avoiding his father, Harold thinks that he will go and see Helen play baseball:

He would not go down to his father's office. He would miss that one. He wanted his life to go smoothly. It had just gotten going that way. Well, that was all over now, anyway. He would go over to the schoolyard and watch Helen play indoor baseball. 

It is for Harold a first step back into society and the realization of consequences. By loving Helen he reenters a world of complications. He could not love his mother or father, but Helen is innocent and she may provide him with the inspiration to begin living his life again.   

In "Shooting an Elephant" by George Orwell, how does Orwell reconcile social construction and individual freedom?

In "Shooting an Elephant," Orwell doesn't reconcile social construction and individual freedom: in the imperial world of Burma in which his narrator operates, the two are at odds. We learn from the start that the narrator feels deep personal alienation from his socially constructed role as an agent of empire. He "bitterly" hates his job enforcing the laws of the British Empire, but says he has to work out his "problems in the utter silence that is imposed on every Englishman in the East." In other words, he is expected to keep a stiff upper lip and completely subordinate his personal feelings to the role he is expected to play. However, complicating his hatred of imperialism and his hatred of the abuses of empire, which he sees up close and personal, are his feelings of "rage" at how the colonial people of Burma make it almost impossible for him to do his job. For him "the greatest joy in the world would be to drive a bayonet in a Buddhist priest's gut." These violent emotions he calls "the normal by-products of imperialism." He understands that imperialism produces a passive aggression and hostility in colonized people that mirrors the open aggression and hostility of the conquerors. It creates a bitter enmity.

All of this comes to a head when the narrator must shoot an elephant that has rampaged and killed a native Burmese man. As a person, as a free individual, the narrator knows there is no reason to kill the elephant: the rampage is over, the elephant is no longer a threat and because elephants are hard to kill, its death will be slow torture. Yet the narrator kills the elephant anyway, because it is what his socially constructed role demands. If anything, the incident only makes clear to the narrator the huge disjunction between how he would behave if he were free to follow his conscience and the role he is forced to play by his society. As he says at the end, the only reason he shoots the elephant is so that he won't look like a "fool" in the eyes of the Burmese. His socially constructed role, in other words, trumps his individual freedom. Appearances (roles) are more important than reality. 

How does the language and choice of verse in Macbeth shape reader response?

Shakespeare's choice of verse and meter for the Weird Sisters certainly shapes our response to them right away.  In Act 1, Scene 1, we meet them, and they are speaking in verse, with end rhyme.  The rhyme makes their words sound very chant-like, almost as though they are casting a spell (which is appropriate!).  Further, they speak in trochaic tetrameter, a very aggressive-sounding meter compared to the unrhymed iambic pentameter (or blank verse) that Macbeth and the other nobles use to speak.  Tetrameter means that there are four "feet" per line of speech, and trochaic means that each foot has two syllables, an accented syllable followed by an unaccented syllable.  In other words, most of their lines begin on an accented syllable and this adds to our feeling that they are quite menacing and even malicious.  When other characters speak, their lines begin with unaccented syllables making them seem a great deal less strange and ominous than the sisters.

Moreover, the fact that the sisters speak in paradoxes and with alliteration of the "f" sound also helps us to understand that they are mystical and should be interpreted by us as evil.  To say that "Fair is foul, and foul is fair" really doesn't make much sense: how can something be both fair and foul at the same time?  Once we understand that fair or good things may seem bad, and bad or foul things may seem good, we can understand the paradox; however, we really don't gain this understanding -- that appearances can be so deceiving -- until sometime later.  For the time being, then, these sisters are very mysterious and dark, and we feel as though we do not understand what motivates them or their menace.  Likewise, the repetition of the "f" sound in the words fair, foul, fog, and filthy (in lines 12-13) sounds similar to a hissing snake and also sounds sort of dirty and base.  This choice helps to impress us with their foulness as well. 

Interestingly, after Macbeth has finally (re)committed to the plan to kill Duncan, his speech mimics this repetition, as if to show that the Weird Sisters' manipulation of him is complete and he has turned to the dark side.  He says, "mock the time with fairest show. / False face must hide what the false heart doth know" (1.7.81-82).  The fact that he now speaks with alliteration of the "f" sound helps us to understand that he possesses a great capacity for darkness as well.

What is the main theme of Little Women?

Certainly, the novel conveys the idea that "into each life, some rain must fall."  In other words, no life or relationship is going to be perfect.  Meg and John have no money, but take a great deal of joy in their children.  Jo and Bhaer don't have much money, but feel very rich in their ability to take in boys to educate and make a family of those boys and their own son.  Amy and Laurie are very wealthy, and very much in love, but their daughter is often ill and may not live into adulthood.  No life can be free from all sorrow, and nothing can protect us from it: not love, not money.

The novel also makes claims about the kind of qualities on which a marriage should be founded.  We see through Marmee and Mr. March's relationship, as well as the failed romance between Jo and Laurie (and Jo's later successful romance with Bhaer) that a proper marriage is founded on mutual love and respect as well as the ability of each partner to help the other to become the best possible version of themselves.  Mr. March, for example, helps Marmee with her temper.  Bhaer helps to cool Jo's temper as well; however, Laurie only seemed to egg her on and escalate her heated feelings, and this was one clue that their relationship would not make them both happy in the long run.

Further, the novel also conveys the idea that work and play are both necessary for a fulfilling and productive life.  When Marmee allows the girls to try their "experiment," and not work for an entire week, she knows it will not be as fun as they expect.  She very much believes that work is necessary in order to be happy, and she is right (as they learn during the week).

How did the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen reflect Enlightenment ideas?

The Declaration of the Rights of Man asserts certain rights that are universal and inherent to being human. It describes them as "unalienable," as does the American Declaration of Independence, but it further calls them the "natural and imprescriptible rights of man, and specifies that they are "liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression." While not all Enlightenment thinkers would have agreed that universal rights were part of the human condition, they certainly were asserted by many, including Voltaire and Diderot.

The Declaration also claims that the only proper and legitimate government is founded on a contract between the people, and that its limits are therefore defined by those people. It asserts the right of revolution (unsurprisingly, since it was the product of a revolution) against governments that persistently abuse the liberties of the people. These ideas are often associated with the political writings of John Locke, who was enormously influential on Enlightenment philosophes. Statements like "law is the expression of the general will" in the Declaration of the Rights of Man are strongly influenced by the radical Enlightenment thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and many fundamental concepts such as religious freedom, due process, and separation of government powers were also supported by Enlightenment thinkers.

You have recently decided to invest in a CD. Your CD is paying 2.5% for the next two years. You are investing $2,000 in your CD. How much...

Given Principal(P)=$2000, Time period (t)=2 years, Annual Interest Rate=2.5%

Now the amount at the end of two years will depend on, whether the interest is paid as simple interest or compound interest and the compounding periods. This is not stated in the question.

a) Amount on the basis of simple interest

`A=P(1+rt)`

`A=2000(1+2.5/100*2)`

`A=2000(1+0.05)`

`A=2100`

CD will be worth $2100, if simple interest is considered.

b) Assuming compound interest on annual basis

`A=P(1+r)^t`

`A=2000(1+2.5/100)^2`

`A=2000(1.025)^2`

`A=2101.25`

CD will yield $2101.25, if compound interest is considered on annual basis.

c) If interest is compounded quarterly

`A=P(1+2.5/(4*100))^(4*2)`

`A=2000(1+0.00625)^8`

`A=2000(1.00625)^8`

`A=2102.215`

CD will yield `~~` $2102.22, if interest is compounded quarterly.

How did Obama oppose racism in Dreams From my Father? Provide textual evidence of this.

In Dreams from My Father, Obama opposes racism by stressing common links that emphasize our humanity.

Obama writes from the perspective of one who lives at the hyphen of racial identity.  Born to an African father and a white mother, he is in search of a racial identity as a young person.   Through his experiences, he is able to understand that race does not have to be the singular element that defines identity.  This is emphasized at different points in the narrative.  When he writes that "we share more than what divides us," it is a succinct opposition to a world of racism and prejudice.  

Obama also opposes racism when he talks the approach he took to defining his own place in the world.  He writes, “My identity might begin with the fact of my race, but it didn't, couldn't end there.  At least that's what I would choose to believe.” The ability to choose is one distinct way that Obama challenges racism.  He does not acquiesce to being "Black" or "white." Rather, he stresses that individuals can choose their own identity. If people can choose their own identity, they can also reject racist constructions of the world. This element of choice and empowerment represents how Obama opposes racism in Dreams from My Father.