Can popular music change culture?

Popular music can most certainly be a force of change in culture! While music reflects the thoughts, feelings, and values of the person or people who created it and therefore comes from culture, music can also instigate change on a greater scale than one person's more intimate actions alone. Consider the effects one person's ideas have on their own compared to the influence ideas have when made widely accessible through music. For example, hip-hop artist Macklemore has used his music to draw attention to issues such as LGBTQ+ rights and racial injustice. Some genres of popular music have developed as an agent of cultural change seeking to bring counterculture to the forefront. Punk rock developed in the 1970s as a way for working-class youth to voice their discontent with working-class society and big-name rock and roll counterculture.

Music can also be an agent of change in cultural tastes. Many artists like to use regional instruments or musical styles when creating and performing popular music. When a popular artist incorporates elements of music that aren't currently part of the dominant music scene, they can help introduce people to new musical styles and in turn make them popular. Hip-hop artist M.I.A., who regularly uses her music to discuss social issues like gender inequality, often incorporates instruments and rhythms typical of India and Sri Lanka, places where she lived as a child. 

Music can help bring counterculture to the forefront in society and inspire cultural change in a way that is more palatable than speech alone.

In Night Moishe the Beadle is deported because he was a foreign Jew. What affect did this have on Elie and the non-foreign Jews of Sighet?

Your question refers to Elie Wiesel's Night, in which Moishe the Beadle is a minor character that Eliezer describes when reflecting on his childhood. Moishe the Beadle had been Eliezer's teacher as Eliezer was studying the Kaballah and its mysteries. Eliezer had grown to believe that Moishe would help him "enter eternity" through their discussions of the material. But on page 6 of the narrative, suddenly Eliezer tells us, "AND THEN, one day all foreign Jews were expelled from Sighet. And Moishe the Beadle was a foreigner."

The arrest and deportation of foreign Jews meant that Eliezer was separated from Moishe the Beadle. Sighet's remaining Jews may have cried while their foreign Jewish friends were being taken away by the Hungarian police, but they soon forgot about those who were taken, according to Eliezer. Nobody knew what fate might be in store for the deported Jews, but they were rumored to have been taken to nearby Galicia and put to work. Eliezer did not learn the horrible truth until Moishe showed up again one day in the Sighet synagogue and relayed the story of how he escaped being murdered by the Gestapo in a Galician forest. Moishe's escape and return to Sighet was an opportunity for the non-foreign Jews of Sighet to realize what was probably in store for all of them in the near future, but tragically, they did not heed his warnings.

What visuals or clips could you use to illustrate the poem "Lifeguard" by Claudia Emerson?

This is a great poem for visuals. Excellent. Besides the obvious images of a female lifeguard (preferably dressed as described in the poem) another great visual would include a middle aged woman in a pool all alone. Maybe another of the same woman swimming the strokes described in the poem, as well. But one of the best visuals in my mind is when the swimmer realizes the lifeguard isn't really paying attention to her anymore. A neat one would be a close up of the lifeguard staring at the ends of her hair as she says "So she abandons me to study split-ends, hangnail, wristwatch..." (Emerson). Imagine her eyes staring at split ends.

And then the end, when it says "I've never felt so safe in my life, making flawless, practiced turns, pushing, invisible to reenter my own wake, reverse it" (Emerson) you could use an image of the woman alone in the water, looking free. Try to capture the fact that she feels free when she isn't being watched in the pool.

Compare and contrast the developments in 17th-century England with those in 17th-century France. Explain the reasons for English stability and the...

English and French cultures were sufficiently similar, due to the Norman Conquest of 1066, that they shared in common many elements of language, artistic and cultural traditions, and even bloodlines, meaning that whenever they were not at war, they traded extensively with each other and were popular tourist destinations for each others citizens, with the English Grand Tour beginning in France, both due to tradition and the proximity of Diver to Calais. Despite this, several factors caused the political and religious environments of the two nations to diverge by the seventeenth century.

The signing of the Magna Carta in 1215 reduced the power of the kings with respect to the nobles and enshrined the private property rights of all classes in England. The acts of Praemunire, Provisions, and Provisors restricted the powers of the Church and especially of the Pope in England. Finally, while the alliance of throne and altar, with the Pope and supporting Christian monarchs and Christian monarchs making Roman Catholicism a state religion, was active in France, Henry VIII's embrace of Protestantism, although creating a state church, nonetheless created a more malleable religious environment.

These two tendencies, restricting the power of the King and creating limited possibilities for religious freedom, happened only in England. While France entered the seventeenth century as a medieval-style absolutist monarchy, England had a greater tradition of civil liberties and a (limited) amount of distributed power, in which Parliament limited the power of the king. This meant that when Charles I attempted to impose personal rule in the style of the French kings, the English revolted, leading to the English Civil War of 1642 to 1651. From roughly 1649 to 1660, England was ruled either as a Commonwealth or by Cromwell directly as Lord Protector. When the monarchy was restored, the power of Parliament, especially of Commons was greater and that of the monarch less than before. Next, the Glorious Revolution of 1688, established a Bill of Rights limiting the monarch's power and also increased the power of Parliament. The reaction against James' Catholicism indirectly led to increasing tolerance for dissent. 

The political and religious freedoms that the English gained and the rise of the commons encouraged the growth of the middle classes. Rather than the hereditary prerogatives of the nobility being enforced, wealthy merchants and gentry tended to intermarry, defusing class tensions.

In France, on the other hand, the war against the Huguenots of Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIII solidified the need for a strong monarch in alliance with the Roman Catholic Church to create political stability. Both Louis XIII and XIV used military success and personal power to reduce the powers of the Courts and Parlement de Paris.

What school does Mullet Fingers go to?

This is one of the mysteries about the running boy that Roy wants to find out. While all the other kids are getting on the bus and going to school, the running boy is running across yards dressed in dirty shorts and wearing no shoes. Roy probes Garrett about what other schools are in the area. Roy doesn't think the boy looks old enough to go to high school, and besides, the high school is already in session when the middle schoolers are on the bus. There is a private Catholic school in the area, but the running boy definitely isn't wearing the required uniform of a parochial school. 

When Beatrice enlists Roy's help in getting medical supplies for Mullet Fingers, Roy learns that he doesn't go to school at all. His mother, Lonna, had sent him away to boarding school after he had brought a baby raccoon into their home that had relieved itself in Leon Leep's slipper. Mullet Fingers had run away from all the boarding schools his mother had enrolled him in, and after his last escape, Lonna hadn't bothered to try to find him. 

When Miss Hennepin summons Roy to her office after the emergency room incident, she asks Roy where the boy who used his name goes to school. Roy says he travels a lot, and Miss Hennepin asks, "Then he's home-schooled?" Roy sort of agrees to that. However, that's not the case. Mullet Fingers feels he has no need to go to school, but that he may go back sometime in the future. He feels his survival skills are sufficient: "For now I'm 'bout as smart as I need to be." 

Mullet Fingers does not attend school. For a boy his age, that is against the law; it's called truancy. 

Calculate the amount of heat (in kJ) required to raise the temperature of 186 grams of water from 29◦C to 69◦C. (The specific heat of water is...

Specific heat is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one gram of a substance one degree celsius. The equation for calculating the amount of heat required for a given temperature change in a given mass of substance is:

q = mc `Delta` T  where:

q = heat 

m = mass = 186g

c = specific heat = 4.186 Joules/gram-ºC

 `Delta` T = change in temperaturge = 69ºC-29ºC = 4ºC

q = (186 g)(4.186 J/g-ºC)(40ºC) = 31,099 J = 31,000 J rounded to 2 significant digits.

To change this value to kilojoules, multiply by the conversion factor 1kJ/1000 J:

(31,000 J)(1 kJ/1000 J) = 31 kJ

Another method of calculating the answer is kJ is to change the specific heat of water to kJ/g-ºC:

(4.186 J/g-ºC)(1 kJ/1000 J) = .004186 kJ/g-ºC

In Chapter 19 of Bud, Not Buddy, what gift does the band give to Bud, and what does it symbolize?

In Chapter 19, the Dusky Devastators of the Depression walk into Grand Calloway Station and tell Bud that they have something for him. Steady Eddie slides a busted up cardboard suitcase in front of Bud, and Bud struggles to open it. Inside the suitcase is a used, baby-size alto saxophone that resembles Steady Eddie's. The Dusky Devastators had put their money together and bought Bud his own alto saxophone. Steady Eddie tells Bud that it still has a good tone despite the dent at the bottom. Eddie also mentions that he had it repadded, refelted, and resprung. Bud is extremely excited and is anxious to start learning how to play his new horn. Steady Eddie even offers to give Bud lessons and tells him that they will get started around seven o'clock. The gift symbolizes Bud's new friendship and his new life traveling with the Dusky Devastators of the Depression. The baby-size saxophone is a bit rough looking because it has been through a lot, but with some tender care and adjuments, the sax will sound beautiful. Bud is similar to his instrument because, like the saxophone, Bud has also been through tough times and needs some compassion. Bud cherishes his gift and looks forward to becoming a member of Herman Calloway's band.

In the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, how does Christopher deal with his behavioral problems on his way to London?

He really follows a lot of routine as best he can, and he concentrates on very practical steps he can take to avoid having behavioral problems. He is aware of how he tends to react, so he tried to be proactive to avoid those issue when possible.

For example, in Ch. 191 he becomes overwhelmed with the number of signs around him. Where this might normally cause him to shut down and start screaming or covering his ears and eyes, in this instance he focuses on something very practical:

"I pictured in my head a big red line across the floor which started at my feet and went through the tunnel and I started walking along the red line, saying 'left, right, left, right, left, right,' because sometimes when I am frightened or angry it helps to do something that has a rhythm to it like music or drumming, which is something Siobhan taught me to do" (Haddon).

Later, in Ch.197, he recognizes he is beginning to get very uncomfortable with the number of people on the train. In the past, he might have jumped out of the train, like he mentions he tried once to jump out of a moving car. However, he recognizes he is upset, and instead he "stood very still in the train carriage and didn't move" (Haddon).

Although he is not able to avoid ALL behavioral issues on the way to London, he does a pretty good job of avoiding several of them simply because he is very self-aware and proactive about preventing them.

In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, how does Jack make Ralph lose hope?

At the onset of the story, once the boys realize that they are marooned on the island, they maintain their civility and try to stay organized and work toward common goals.  However, Jack challenges Ralph's leadership and seeks to have his own band of followers - the hunters.

What starts innocently enough, with the killing of a wild pig, soon turns into full-out war between the two groups.  Murder, theft, and wanton rebellion are a few of the ingredients that cause Ralph to question the intentions of Jack.

It is not until Ralph is being hunted, and in true fear for his life, that his hope of being rescued starts to flag.  He never lost his sense of self and reality, but his comrades had theirs seriously compromised. 

Were it not for their rescuers, Ralph would have lost all hope and possibly his life.

What are the questions in the speaker's mind?

Basically, the entire poem is a stream of the speaker's thoughts.  He starts the poem with the rhetorical question, "Something there is that doesn't love a wall," the ambiguous "something" revealing that he does not quite understand why the wall continues to crumble season after season.  

When he and his neighbor are repairing the fence in the spring, he thinks the pivotal question of the poem: "Why do they [fences] make good neighbors?" (l. 30).  The speaker does not understand why there is a need for a fence when there are no animals to keep in or out (ll. 30-31); there are only pine trees on the neighbor's side and apple trees on the speaker's (ll. 24-26).  The speaker then circles back to his original question about the "Something" that keeps knocking down the wall, that wants to break the barrier between the speaker and his neighbor.  While he jokes that it is elves (l. 36), he really wants to push against the norm, the old saying that his neighbor repeats from "his father's saying, / And he likes having thought of it so well" (ll. 43-44).  The neighbor, however, will not buck the system, so he and the speaker will continue to rebuild the wall, season after season.

What metaphors are used throughout the poem "somewhere I have never travelled, gladly beyond," and what are they comparing? Are the images...

There are several clusters of implicit metaphor in this poem. First, the lover’s body as a journey of discovery; "Somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond any experience";

Second, the poet as a natural plant, blossoming and growing (as Spring does to flowers) in the lover’s presence, a rose, a flower, going through the same stages as a flowering plant.

Thirdly, the lover’s presence as a power to open the poet, to make the poet rediscover his powers of observation and comparison. The last line, the most famous of all the lines of the poem, is the strongest metaphor – loving you is a natural phenomenon, like Spring rain.

Actually, despite Cummings’ unique treatment of these metaphors, he takes advantage of the universal images present in love poems since the beginning of literature: rose, snow, rain, Spring, etc., as well as the time-honored practice of praising the physical features of the lover – small hands, fragility, deep eyes, etc.

Julius Caesar: what was Mark Antony's aim at Caesar's funeral oration?

Antony's aim is to start a mutiny which will drive the conspirators out of Rome and enable him and Octavius to seize power in the city. He had that intention at the time he humbly asked Brutus for permission to speak in Caesar's funeral. Antony does not, however, think this will settle everything. He foresees a long period of civil wars because he expect Brutus and Cassius to raise armies to try to regain power in Rome. This is forecast in Antony's soliloquy spoken over the body of Caesar in Act 3, Scene 1. The most pertinent part of that soliloquy is the following:

Over thy wounds now do I prophesy
Which like dumb mouths do ope their ruby lips
To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue,
A curse shall light upon the limbs of men;
Domestic fury and fierce civil strife
Shall cumber all the parts of Italy;

Where he says that Caesar's wounds "beg the voice and utterance of my tongue," he shows that he intends to be the one who will cause all the troubles he foretells in the soliloquy. Antony is telling what really happened in history as if it is yet to happen and he is describing it in a "prophesy."

In Act 3, Scene 2, when Antony has succeeded in stirring up the Roman citizens to the point where they go off to various quarters to recruit more rioters, to burn the houses of the conspirators, and to create widespread destruction, he says to himself:

Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot,
Take thou what course thou wilt.

Antony has gotten what he wanted. He does not know what the final result will be, but he wanted to create rioting and chaos in the city, which was exactly what Brutus in particular did not want. Brutus and Cassius are forced to flee the city and relinquish this vital power base to Antony, Octavius and Lepidus. Order is not finally restored until Brutus and Cassius are defeated at the battle of Philippi and both have committed suicide.

The poem "To the doctor who treated the raped baby and felt such despair" seems to move between contrasting settings. How can you tell? What...

There are two major contrasting settings throughout the poem. One setting remains constant while the other refers to a diverse number of settings similar to each other. The fixed setting is that of a surgery in a hospital in which the surgeon (or doctor) who is named in the title is performing life-saving surgery on an infant who has been raped. The speaker constantly refers to what the doctor is doing in the surgery and then contrasts it with a situation elsewhere, in the homes of those who are not victims or who have not been exposed to the atrocity which has been committed. Dowling says, for example, 

...when the bleeding baby was admitted to your care
faraway a Karoo shepherd crooned a ramkietjie lullaby in the veld
and while you staunched
there was space on a mother-warmed sheet
for a night walker
and when you administered an infant-sized opiate
there were luxuriant dark nipples
for fist-clenching babes

These three contrasts compare the desperate actions of the surgeon in dealing with this trauma to situations in which the mood and atmosphere is restful and calm. While the horrifically injured baby was being attended to, a farmer elsewhere on a sheep farm was crooning an Afrikaans lullaby to put another baby to sleep. As the doctor was trying to stop the loss of the traumatized baby's blood, somewhere else, in another home, a mother was keeping a bed warm for a sleepwalking child. While the doctor was administering a drug to calm the infant in his care, there were mothers, elsewhere, who were calming their babies by breastfeeding them.

The stark juxtaposition between the settings emphasizes the horror of this most atrocious of crimes. On one hand, you have an innocent, harmless infant who has been severely violated, and on the other, you have little ones who are fed and taken care of by their loved ones. In the one situation you have desperation and urgency, while in the other you have peace and quiet. The speaker illustrates, furthermore, that while for some life continues normally and as it should, others are maliciously maligned and brutally abused. The horrendous nature of what has been done to the infant is encapsulated in the doctor's question: "Where is God?" The doctor expresses doubt that such an evil could have been enacted during God's watch.

In the end, the speaker expresses a universal trust in the kindness and skill of the doctor who is attending to the infant --an innate trust that we all share for those caregivers who give their all to ensure our well-being. The gratitude for what this particular practitioner is doing and has done is profoundly expressed, and one feels that dedicating the poem to such a one is not only right but also deserving.      

In Gathering Blue, how does the main character Kira change throughout the story?

At the beginning of the story, Kira is unsure of herself and is focused on day-to-day survival. She also thinks a lot about the past, especially her recently-deceased mother and her father who she never knew. After she moves into the Council Edifice and her basic needs are provided for, she begins thinking more deeply about life and other people. She takes a special interest in Matt. With Thomas's help, she prevents him from taking part in the hunt, which she feels he is too young to join. When he disappears, she journeys to the Fen to find out whether he needs help. Similarly, she befriends Jo, the little singer who is miserably held captive in the Council Edifice. All these actions show she is becoming more assertive as she focuses on others more than herself.

Kira thinks about the days before the Ruin, and she tries to figure out what Annabella meant by saying, "There be no beasts." She also becomes more aware of her skills as an artist and her intuition. As she matures, all these thoughts and feelings come together to form a conviction of her destiny that she never had before. She starts to realize that as an artist, she may have it in her power to make the future different. Ultimately, she chooses to stay in the community rather than return with her father to his community because she feels committed to use her creativity as an artist to "create the future," a better future not just for herself, but for others and her society.

As the novel unfolds, Kira matures by becoming more focused on others, understanding her artistic talent, and embracing the unique role she can play in improving her society.

What did the contents of the envelope reveal in To Kill a Mockingbird?

The only envelope I'm aware of in the novel is the one Calpurnia interrupts court proceedings to deliver to Atticus. She comes up the middle aisle, waits for Judge Taylor to acknowledge her, then reassures him that she needs to pass the envelope to Atticus and "it hasn't got anything to do with--with the trial." It is a message from Aunt Alexandra that says Atticus's children "are missing, haven't turned up since noon." 

Atticus is about to ask the judge for a recess when Mr. Underwood, the owner and editor of the Tribune, says, "I know where they are, Atticus. They're right up yonder in the colored balcony--been there since precisely one-eighteen P.M." 

This is a big deal, not just because they'd not told Calpurnia or Aunt Alexandra where they were going (of course, because neither of the ladies would have let them go), but because they were sitting in the colored balcony. The horror!

In below passage, who is the audience? Who is the subject? Pay close attention to the phrases “you usually take us for granted and think you know...

This excerpt is from 12 Million Black Voices: A Folk History of the Negro in the United States, a collaboration between Richard Wright and Edwin Rosskam to produce an volume combining Wright's commentary with photographs from the Farm Security Administration archives of historical photographs of African-American people, many of which had been taken by Rosskam and his wife Louise. The volume was published in 1941 as the United States was just beginning to recover from the Great Depression and entering into World War II. At this point, racial segregation still was enshrined in law and many older blacks had still been alive during the Civil War; Wright's own grandparents had been slaves.

The passage is narrated in the first person plural, with the words "we" and "us" used to refer collectively to black people, including Wright himself. The passage addresses the reader in the second person as "you" and seems to presume that most readers of the book are white people. The subject of the book is black people, especially the rural poor.

The passage emphasizes that white people really don't understand the lives of black people, think that when they see blacks walking down the street that they know blacks and share common humanity and history with them, without understanding the particularity of the black experience. Wright is particularly eloquent in the way he gives a sense of how a history of racial oppression has made blacks live a hidden life, beneath the surface of white society. 

In The Great Gatsby, is Owl Eyes at Gatsby's funeral to judge the kind of person he was?

In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby, Owl Eyes is one of three people to show up to Gatsby's funeral, the other two being Nick Carraway, the narrator, and Gatsby's estranged father. 

Nick is surprised but pleased to see Owl Eyes, particularly given the fact that Owl Eyes' relationship with Gatsby was like Gatsby's relationship with so many others who in fact had chosen to not come to the funeral: Owl Eyes knew Gatsby almost solely by reputation and rumor, in part through attending the lavish parties that Gatsby would throw. 

Owl Eyes, when speaking to Nick at the funeral, does not judge Gatsby's lifestyle or choices; rather, he pities him and the fact that all of the people who took advantage of him in life have abandoned him in death. 

What is an example of how Shakespeare uses dramatic irony in Act III of Romeo and Juliet?

Dramatic irony, of course, is created when the audience (or readers) know something that the characters onstage do not. One example of dramatic irony in Act III of Romeo and Juliet occurs when Tybalt and Romeo fight in the streets of Verona. The fight occurs when Mercutio challenges Tybalt, whose challenge to a duel has been declined by Romeo. Mercutio views this as "vile submission," and enters the fight on behalf of his friend. What neither of them realizes, as Romeo tells them, is that he has a good reason not to accept Tybalt's challenge: He has by then become Tybalt's kinsman through his marriage to Juliet. When Romeo says that Tybalt (and Mercutio) does not "know the reason of my love" for him, the audience does know. This is an example of dramatic irony, as the audience knows the death of Tybalt (which violates the Prince's edict against fighting from the beginning of the play) will have disastrous consequences for the newly-married Romeo and Juliet.

What did Jim Gallien think about Chris?

Jim Gallien is an electrician who picked up the hitchhiking Chris McCandless and gave him a ride to the Stampede Trail, where McCandless walked into the wilderness. Gallien's experience with McCandless is in Chapter One of Into The Wild. Gallien comes off as a caring person, who nevertheless had his suspicions about McCandless. For one thing, Gallien noted, McCandless did not have enough food or equipment to live in the bush for a long period. The gear he did have, like his boots and rifle, were inadequate. When McCandless showed him on a map where he intended to go, Gallien tried to talk him out of it, to no avail. Then he offered to drive Chris to Anchorage to get proper gear, and then drive him back to the trailhead, but McCandless refused that offer too. At first, Gallien thought that he had "picked up one of those crackpots" who come to Alaska for a "Jack London fantasy" (p. 4), but McCandless's intelligence and honest enthusiasm and self confidence seemed to win him over. "He was determined. Real gung ho. The word that comes to mind is excited. He couldn't wait to head out there and get started." (p. 6) Gallien gave McCandless his sack lunch and a pair of boots when he finally droped him off, and McCandless gave him his watch and all of his money (about eighty cents). On the way back to Anchorage, he thought about stopping and telling the police about McCandless, but decided that McCandless will probably just walk out of the bush on his own when he becomes hungry. Gallien is one of a number of men McCandless encountered who seem taken by his youthful determination and try to take care of him in one way or another.

Considering the religious, economic, social and political factors before the Reformation, would you say the Reformation was an accident of history?

Thinking counterfactually about history is always more an exercise in science fiction or fantasy than something realistic, mainly because the variables aren't independent. For example, you can't really adjust an economy independent of social and political structures as they are all interdependent.

That being said,  I think that the Reformation was not entirely an accident, but that the factors that led to the Reformation could equally well have led directly to the Counter-Reformation or other forms of reform. The factors leading to the Reformation were not simply accidents but rather resulted from many underlying causes. 

The most important political and economic factors, especially in the English Reformation, were the tensions between the role of the papacy in reinforcing the authority and legitimacy of rulers and the desires of rulers to control the vast wealth of the Church within their lands. The growth of nationalism added to this a stance that the papacy was a foreign power, controlling the Papal States and allied to various different national powers, and thus shifting alliances within Europe tended to make some rulers wish for a church not subjected to the control of a potentially hostile foreign power.

On a religious level, there had been many late medieval movements which rebelled against the clericalism of the church and which saw Roman Catholicism as corrupt and worldly. Movements such as the  Lollards and the Albigensians (or Cathars) were agitating for a more pure church before Luther.

Finally, the rise of the middle classes created a strong alternative to the alliance of the aristocracy with the church and a desire for a religion less mediated by clerical authority. As the educated middle classes began to read the Bible for themselves, they became less willing to subject themselves to a church hierarchy they saw as exclusionary and authoritarian. 

In Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, what are the differences between Charlotte and Elizabeth?

In Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, the primary difference between the characters Charlotte and Elizabeth is that Charlotte is a pragmatist whereas Elizabeth is a romantic.

Charlotte's pragmatism is expressed in many of her views of marriage. Charlotte is not the sort to believe that marriage will be happy forever due to love. Instead, she believes that all marriages have their tribulations and all women, at some point, are likely to be unhappy with their husbands. We see Charlotte express this perspective when, at a dinner party held at Lucas Lodge, Charlotte warns Elizabeth that Jane is too reserved in nature and, if Jane truly is interested in Bingley, she needs to begin showing "more affection than she feels" towards Bingley if she is going to "secure" him for herself as a desirable, rich husband (Ch. 6). When Elizabeth protests against Jane attempting to "secure" Bingley before she knows enough about his character, Charlotte gives the following reply that reveals a great deal about her personal philosophies:

Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance. If the dispositions of the parties are ever so well known to each other or even so similar before-hand, it does not advance their felicity in the least. They always contrive to grow sufficiently unlike afterwards to have their share of vexation; and it is better to know as little as possible of the defects of the person with whom you are to pass your life. (Ch. 6)

Charlotte further reveals her pragmatism in accepting Mr. Collins's proposal. Though he may not be the most intelligent or humble man, to the annoyances of Elizabeth, Charlotte feels his character is good enough for her to have accepted him. More importantly, due to the living he has from Lady Catherine de Bourgh on the Rosings estate and the fact that he is the heir of Longbourn, Charlotte knows he will be able to provide for her with the only thing she asks for, "a comfortable home" (Ch. 22). Charlotte's comfort is particularly essential because, being the eldest daughter of parents with many children and newly acquired wealth, Charlotte knows she will not inherit any fortune from her father and will not have comfortable provisions unless she marries a wealthy man. Furthermore, she is plain, 27 years old, and very unlikely to ever receive another proposal.

In contrast, Elizabeth lets her feelings rule her judgements, showing us she is far more romantic than Charlotte. The fact that Elizabeth lets her feelings rule her judgements is not only seen in her reactions to what Charlotte says and does but also in her rejections of both Mr. Collins's and Mr. Darcy's proposals. As mentioned earlier, Elizabeth is very shocked when Charlotte advises that Jane should "secure" Mr. Bingley before she is fully certain she is in love with him, seeing as how love has plenty of time to develop after marriage. Elizabeth is even more shocked by Charlotte's acceptance of Mr. Collins though Elizabeth does later come to see that Charlotte's marriage to Mr. Collins truly does provide Charlotte with the best situation for Charlotte and that Charlotte is happy. In addition, contrary to Charlotte, Elizabeth makes her decision to reject Mr. Collins based purely on her feelings. Elizabeth, as well as the entire Bennet family, could benefit greatly from one of the Bennet daughters marrying Mr. Collins since doing so would ensure Longbourn remains in the Bennet family and ensures security for the other Bennet sisters should any of them be unable to find husbands. Yet, unlike Charlotte, Elizabeth put her feelings above financial comfort, as we see when she replies, "I thank you again and again for the honour you have done me in your proposals, but to accept them is absolutely impossible. My feelings in every respect forbid it" (Ch. 19). We see Elizabeth make the exact same decision with respect to Mr. Darcy's first proposal. Though Elizabeth would benefit financially a great deal from the marriage, she refuses based on her feelings at the moment.

Which statement is true of active transport in plants? (a) It depends on the availability of energy. (B) It eventually achieves equilibrium. (C) It...

Active transport in cells depends on the availability of energy to enable molecules and ions to move through the cell membrane. On the other hand, passive transport depends on kinetic energy.

Proteins, which are situated in the cell’s lipid bilayer, are responsible for much of the energy needed. Once the proteins set themselves up across the membrane, the molecules and ions can move in and out of the cell. One portion of the protein is inside the membrane while the other portion is outside the membrane.  The many proteins are very specific as to what they move. If a protein moves calcium it does not move other substances such as glucose or magnesium across the membrane. Active transport generally moves the molecules and ions from an area of low concentration to an area of high concentration meaning it is crossing the concentration gradient. This is where the energy is needed because the substances meet with resistance as the move through the barrier.

How does President Kennedy want his audience to respond to this difference in his inaugural speech?

President Kennedy was an excellent public speaker. In his inauguration address, President Kennedy was trying to inspire the nation, especially younger Americans, to become more involved in helping others either at home or abroad.

President Kennedy wanted to inform people that times were changing. A new generation was in charge, and new ideas were being presented. He wanted Americans to start to consider how they could serve the government instead of wondering what the government would do for them. He wanted people to go to underdeveloped countries to help people become more educated, to provide medical care for those in need, and to help improve their nutrition and diet. The Peace Corps was created to help achieve these goals.

President Kennedy also wanted people to work to improve conditions in the United States. He wanted people to advocate for civil rights for all people. He wanted people to help those who were less fortunate in our society. He wanted people to become more active to cure the problems that existed in our society.

With his positive message and his positive speech, President Kennedy tried to inspire all Americans, and especially the younger generations, to reach new heights and to do more for those who needed help in our society.

What are some of the causes of World War II?

There were several causes of World War II. One cause was the German anger with the harsh Versailles Treaty. Germany believed the Versailles Treaty treated them unfairly. This treaty required Germany to pay the Allies $33 billion in reparations. It also required Germany to accept the responsibility for World War I. Germany felt this was unfair because Austria-Hungary started the war by declaring war on Serbia.

Two additional causes of World War II were the Allies ignoring the violations of the Versailles Treaty by Germany and the aggressive actions of the Axis Powers prior to the start of the war. Germany began to violate the Versailles Treaty by building up its military. It also moved its military into the Rhineland. Both actions weren’t allowed in the Versailles Treaty. The Axis Powers became aggressive in the 1930s. Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 and China in 1937. Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935. Germany annexed Austria in 1938. Very little was done when these actions occurred. Then, the leaders of Great Britain and France appeased Germany by allowing Germany to take the Sudetenland in 1938 with an agreement called the Munich Pact. When Germany broke their promise to take no more land by taking the rest of Czechoslovakia in 1939, the stage for World War II was set. Italy also invaded Albania in 1939.

Other factors led to the start of World War II. Intense feelings of nationalism emerged in Germany, Japan, and Italy. These countries believed they were superior to other countries and could do almost anything they wanted to do. They also build up their military and had plans to use it. Along with the desire to gain more land, these factors were very significant in leading to the events that were involved in the start of World War II.

There were many factors involved in the start of World War II.

How did the Mexican War and the idea of Manifest Destiny become divisive political issues?

Manifest Destiny was of course a key motivating factor for the Mexican War in that it claimed the right of the United States to claim territories that belonged to Mexico. But it was the war itself that was truly divisive. From its outset, many Northern Whigs charged that it was being fought on behalf of a "slave power" conspiracy that sought to expand slavery into the lands claimed as a result of the war. Once it came to an end, a fierce political debate commenced over this very issue--would slavery be permitted in the new American Southwest and California? Southern politicians argued that it must be allowed, and Northern Whigs argued otherwise. The Compromise of 1850, which attempted to solve this issue, only sowed the seeds for more conflict by including a more robust Fugitive Slave Act that outraged even those Northerners who had not felt particularly strongly about slavery in the past. It is a bit too simplistic to say that Manifest Destiny was the cause of all this--many of its supporters, including John O'Sullivan, who coined the phrase in the first place, thought the territorial expansion of the United States would ultimately allow slavery to be abolished. But in the end the Mexican War was the result of Manifest Destiny, and fierce and ultimately divisive political conflict over slavery's future was the result of the Mexican War.

How did the setting foreshadow the events in chapter 4 of The Outsiders?

The setting in the early chapters of The Outsiders foreshadow the events of chapter 4 in many ways. In chapter 4, Johnny kills Bob, a Soc, who along with four other Socs, attempts to jump Ponyboy and Johnny while they are at the park. Earlier, we see foreshadowing that this event will occur when we look at the setting at the beginning of chapter 2.

At the start of chapter 2, the reader learns that the Greasers hang out in tough areas when Ponyboy describes the drive-in that the Greasers frequent known as "The Dingo". Ponyboy goes on to say "The Dingo is a pretty rough hangout; there's always a fight going on there and once a girl got shot." (Hinton p19). He later goes on to say "We knew about everybody there." (Hinton p20), showing the greasers familiarity with the violent atmosphere. Almost immediately after entering this scene a fight breaks out which leads to both fighters using switchblades, again showing that the risk of violence and death is always present in the greasers environment. The violent atmosphere at the theatre foreshadows the incident at the park, where Johnny is forced to use his switchblade to stab Bob in order to save Ponyboy, and defend himself from being jumped by Bob and the other Socs.

Later in chapter 2, following the walk home from the drive-in, and the run in with the group of Socs in the blue mustang, Ponyboy has a dream about how life would be better in the country, while he and Johnny lay in the lot. The dream about this setting foreshadows Johnny and Ponyboy going to hide out on Jay Mountain later in chapter 4 after the stabbing occurs. 

Both of these settings, the rough and violent atmosphere of The Dingo drive-in, and, ironically, the peace and calm Ponyboy dreams of in the country, foreshadow what is going to happen, and where Johnny and Ponyboy are going to end up, at the conclusion of chapter 4. 

Hope this helps!

In "The Lady or the Tiger?" by Frank R. Stockton, if the princess had married her lover, what would this be an example of?

When a man or woman of royal blood falls in love with and marries a commoner, this is known as a morganatic alliance or marriage.

The term "morganatic" refers to the German "morgengabe," which is the gift bequeathed to the bride by her royal groom, the morning after the consummation of the marriage. Historically, in Germany, the commoner spouse and any resulting children from the union could not inherit the titles nor the privileges that came with the royal husband's position.

In ancient times (as in the story), morganatic alliances (whether they resulted in marriage or not) were frowned upon. The consensus was that royalty were expected to behave according to prescribed social norms. Therefore, for the purposes of preserving the royal bloodlines to the throne, only marriage or sexual unions with other royals was considered acceptable.

What do you think of the way Atticus treats Walter? Does Scout learn anything from Walter's visit? What do you think this is?

Atticus treats Walter Cunningham like he does everyone he meets, and that is with respect and dignity.  When Jem invites Walter over for lunch after Walter fights with Scout in the school yard because Scout tells the teacher Walter didn’t have any lunch, Atticus joins them at the dining room table and precedes to ask Walter questions about farming and crops.  These are subjects that Walter knows about since his father is a farmer.  Mr. Cunningham, Walter’s father, is also a client of Atticus’ and pays his legal fees with food and crops.  Atticus immediately puts Walter at ease with the conversation.  Attics treats Walter respectfully and engages Walter in conversation to show his desire to include Walter in the family meal.  Unfortunately, Scout makes fun of Walter when he pours syrup all over his lunch.  Walter is so poor that he probably doesn’t have something sugary like syrup at home.  After Walter leaves, Atticus teaches Scout the important lesson about trying to understand people by “walking around in their skin” to get to know about their experiences and lives.   

It is one of the first lessons Scout learns in the book, and we see her apply this knowledge during the trial when she empathizes with Mayella Ewell and her life. 

Who makes all the major decisions in the family?

The role of decision-maker is all-important in A Raisin in the Sun. Typically, in a traditional family, the head of the household is the man. The reader knows at the beginning of the play that Mama's husband, Big Walter, has recently died.  Traditionally, he would have been the head of the household, which also includes brother and sister, Walter Lee and Beneatha, respectively.  Because Walter Lee is the next oldest male, he should have been the decision maker, but therein lies the conflict of the play.

Decisions in the household are actually made by Mama throughout most of the play.  The question of how to spend the $10,000 life insurance check is the key conflict because the major characters want to spend the money in different ways: Beneatha wants to pay for her medical school, Walter Lee wants to invest in a liquor store business with his friends, Mama wants a house, and Ruth just wants her family to be whole again.  

When the family discovers that Ruth is expecting another child, that plot twist pushes Mama to make the decision to put a down payment on a house, thinking that a house will solve all the issues in the family. However, by taking that decision out of Walter Lee's hands, who should have been the head of household, she has taken away his power. When Mama decides in Act II to give that power back to Walter Lee, giving him the rest of the money to do with it what he wishes, he shows that he is not capable of making decisions for the family--instead of giving some money for Beneatha's schooling and keeping some for his liquor store, he instead gives all the money to his friend Willy, who disappears with it instead of investing it.  

At this point in the play, Mama could have taken the role of decision-maker away from Walter Lee.  However, she gives him another chance. When Walter Lee wants to recant the down payment on the house in order to salvage some of the life insurance money, when he wants to give in to the white pressure of the Neighborhood Association, Mama forces him to confront his son, Travis, and look him in the eye.  It is this pivotal moment where Walter Lee earns the right to be the head of the household.  Instead of giving into the demands of the discrimination facing him and his family, Walter Lee stands tall and declares that the family will indeed move into their new house.  That house is a symbol of the family coming together again as a unit, and they get behind Walter Lee in his decision.

What is the message of Shaw's Pygmalion?

Shaw's Pygmalion is a comedy. To a certain degree, Shaw's purpose in writing it was to entertain people. Shaw, however, even at his most entertaining, does have a polemical streak and tends to return to certain central ideas and themes across all his plays. Shaw's ideas are clearly expressed in the Prefaces to his plays, which are well worth reading carefully. 

First, Shaw was very concerned about reforming and simplifying English spelling. As you read the play, you will note several idiosyncratic elements in spelling and word usage; these are not accidental but part of Shaw's theory of language. The sheer importance of language as a tool of reasoning is also a consistent theme of the play. Shaw argues that if you cannot express yourself adequately, you cannot think rationally. That reforming the study of language and the way it was intertwined with the English class system, was the main point of the play is stated at the beginning of the Preface:

The English have no respect for their language, and will not teach their children to speak it. They spell it so abominably that no man can teach himself what it sounds like. It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him.

Next, as is discussed in the afterword, Shaw argues for his own rather peculiar form of feminism in his portrayal of the character of Eliza and his insistence that, irrespective of gender, strong people seek weaker mates and that strong women, rather than wishing to be dominated, choose weak husbands.

What are some comparisons between "The Yellow Wallpaper" and "Trifles"?

Both Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" and Susan Glaspell's Trifles share the themes of the dangerous nature of repression, the treatment of women, and alienation.

• Repression and treatment of women

Both the narrator of Gilman's story and Mrs. Wright, formerly Minnie Foster, suffer deeply from repressive acts upon their artistic spirits. For instance, the unnamed narrator has the keen sight of an artist who loves symmetry, and flowers and nature, while Minnie loves music, quilting, and songbirds. But, both women are forced to live under the starkest of conditions that deprive them of human companionship and conversation and all but mere necessities. For instance, the unnamed narrator notes, 

I think sometimes that if I were only well enough to write a little it would relieve the press of ideas and rest me.

In Trifles, in a similar fashion, out of her deprivation of human communication, Minnie purchases a canary who sings to her, as she once did herself when she was young and happy.

The repetition of repressive acts against Gilman's narrator and Mrs. Wright clearly break down their spirits and endanger their minds.  In "The Yellow Wallpaper," the narrator feels so repressed and virtually trapped in the room with the "hideous" walls covered with an asymmetrical pattern that she becomes delusional, imagining a woman behinds the "bars" of the wallpaper's lines who struggles to free herself. Eventually, her husband finds her insanely crawling along the floor; she tells him,

"I've got out at last...in spite of you...and I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!"

Also damaged mentally by her loneliness and repression by the hard, cold, and cruel Mr. Wright who silences the songs of the pet canary, Mrs. Wright (Minnie) has a mental breakdown and retaliates against her husband in a deadly similar fashion as his killing of the pet bird.

• Alienation

Having been deprived of human companionship for a prolonged period, especially the company of understanding and friendly women, the two female characters have become isolated from those with whom they could communicate and share in experiences. For them, therefore, life has become haunted; they feel alone and bereft of the significance of friendship, music, and art--those things that nurture the soul.
Starved for the meaning that sharing with another living creature brings, the two women of the narratives under discussion, lose their holds upon reality as a consequence. In Trifles, Mrs. Hale reflects upon this existential condition of alienation:

MRS. HALE: I might have known she needed help! I know how things can be--for women....We all go through the same things--it's all just a different kind of the same thing.

In "The Yellow Wallpaper," the isolated narrator begins to hallucinate, imagining that it is she who, having freed herself, creeps off

away...in the open country,...as fast as a cloud shadow in a high wind.

Clearly, both "The Yellow Wallpaper" and Trifles deal thematically with the great psychological antagonists of repression and alienation along with the feminine reaction to these enemies of the imaginative and sensitive soul, a reaction that is, at the same time, defensive and destructive.

what are characteristics of shylock in merchant of venice

Shylock's character in Merchant of Venice is very complicated, especially in today's post-holocaust age. First, during the beginning of the play, Shylock's personality traits include very negative things such as greed and vindictiveness, which go along with the point of view of Antonio, Bessanio, Portia, and Gratiano, as well as Shylock's daughter who flees the Jewish community for love. Shakespeare used the source play The Jew of Malta, however, he portrays a must more three-dimensional character in Shylock than is portrayed in Malta. During the trial of Antonio and the whole "pound of flesh" bit, the audience doesn't see much other than the vindictiveness in Shylock's character, which is chocked up to an overweening focus on justice. Shylock's focus on "justice" as he sees it neglects the need for mercy. Of course, Portia's great "The quality of mercy" speech (Act 4, Scene 1) is an answer to this focus on justice alone. 

However, you have to remember that Shylock is not just a mustache-twirling-villainous picture of antisemitism. Shylock's character is actually a lot deeper than that. One of Shylock's greatest speeches is the "Hath not a Jew eyes" speech (Act 3, Scene 1), which calls the audience and the other characters to a remembrance of their common humanity. At the end of it all, Portia's mercy speech wins out in Antonio's favor, but not in Shylock's. The forcing of Shylock's "conversion" to Christianity, actually ostracizes him from both the Jewish community he belongs to and the Christian community, since he's not a true convert and is from a Jewish background. At the end of it all, Shakespeare has to abandon Shylock in Act 4 to maintain the comedy as a comedy. So, as far as Shylock's characteristics, Shakespeare shows a range of traits from vindictiveness, justice-loving, greed (as evidenced in his usury), all the way to his love for his daughter and need for a community that he is ultimately deprived of. 

If you're interested in an interesting look at Shylock's character, I would suggest the newer movie rendition of Merchant, which came out in 2004. It gives Shylock depth which his counterpart character in The Jew of Malta would never have. 

Evaluate Shylock against racial discrimination in Act 3, Scene 1 in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.

When referring to discrimination against Jewish people, it is actually called anti-semitism. This refers to the Semitic language traditionally spoken by Jews and associated with their lineage. That being said, Shylock endures a lot of discrimination while living in Europe, and most of it comes from Antonio. Shylock seeks revenge because he is pushed past his breaking point when dealing with Christians. He is treated like a second-class citizen when he works, trades, and contributes to the economy of Venice just as well, if not more than, anyone else. Shylock details the nature of his suffering at the hand of Antonio as follows:

"He hath disgraced me, and hindered me half a million; laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my  nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies, and what's his reason?-- I am a Jew" (III.i.46-49).

It's a wonder that Shylock would even consider doing business with Antonio after all he's suffered under the man's bigotry. No wonder Shylock sees an opportunity to teach Antonio a lesson when Bassanio comes to him for money on Antonio's credit. One would think that he would deny him for pride's sake, but Shylock thus seeks revenge and makes the contract require a pound of flesh which Antonio can't repay. Shylock cannot socially retaliate against Antonio in a Christian-dominated society, so he binds him through the law, which he supposes is equitable and reliable. 

Evaluate Shylock against discrimination? Why, his reactions prove his character--revenge.

"If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction" (III.i.57-61).

What makes a melody particularly memorable?

There are a few things which render a melody particularly memorable:

1)The mood it evokes.

Many of us enjoy good movies, and extraordinary movies often feature memorable music. During crucial scenes, it is often the accompanying music that inspires the audience with the necessary emotions to become further invested in the plot. Very often, major characters in a movie are endowed with their own music theme when they appear in scenes. Thus, the audience comes to associate a certain melodic progression in a song with the character in question. In other words, the melody becomes part of our sensory experience while we follow the story. The melody moves us to feel.

Take for example, the character of Jason Bourne in the Bourne series. He's a spy framed for a crime he didn't commit. His theme song is frenetic in rhythm and punctuated with urgent, staccato beats. Very often, this song is played when he is being chased by unknown assassins who are out for his blood. Thus, the intense, energetic melody in Jason Bourne's theme is memorable because it embodies the nature of his struggle for redemption and vindication.

Hear the Piano Guys take on Jason Bourne's theme here.

2)The motif becomes the prominent feature of the melody.

The motif of a melody is usually made up of a few, repeated notes. In other words, this motif is a little musical 'idea' that comes up repeatedly in a piece of music.

It is also combined with shorter and longer melodic phrases that add to the character of the piece. One of the most famous classical symphonies, Beethoven's Fifth, is readily recognizable the world over because of its iconic melody. The four note motif (G-G-G-E flat), played in three successive, short bursts and ending in a long, ominous tone, has become so popular that it is used in movies, advertisements, and plays.

Interestingly, the story follows that, during World War II, this four note motif was associated with the Morse code for victory. Read NPR's article about Beethoven's famous four notes.

3)Memorable melodies use specific chord progressions.

Many strong chord progressions involve the fourth and fifth chords. Here are some memorable chord progressions from movies.

Hope this helps!

What is the most dangerous flaw in characters in The Odyssey?

It seems that pride is really the most dangerous flaw in The Odyssey because his pride is, many times, what prevents Odysseus from getting home.  

Odysseus's pride almost gets him and his crew killed when he insists on taunting Polyphemus, the Cyclops who they have just blinded, and telling the monster his real name.  Polyphemus cannot see the ship sailing away, but when Odysseus shouts to him, he begins to hurl giant rocks in their direction, forcing their ships back to shore.  Odysseus shouts, 

"Cyclops, if any mortal man ever asks you who it was that inflicted upon your eye this shameful blinding, tell him that you were blinded by Odysseus, sacker of cities. Laertes is his father, and he makes his home on Ithaka" (9.500-505).

He tells Polyphemus his real name because he wants the monster to know, to be able to tell others, who has bested him: clearly, this is a proud moment for Odysseus.  Yet it almost leads to his own and his men's deaths as a result.  Ironically, the flaw Odysseus points out is the cyclops's own pride, pride which resulted in his being blinded by Odysseus.  To this end, he shouts,

"Cyclops, in the end it was no weak man’s companions you were to eat by violence and force in your hollow cave, and your evil deeds were to catch up with you, and be too strong for you, hard one, who dared to eat your own guests in your own house, so Zeus and the rest of the gods have punished you" (9.475-479).

Thus, it is Polyphemus's own pride that gets him in trouble.  However, it is also Odysseus's act of rubbing it in and telling Polyphemus his name, that allows the monster to tell his father, Poseidon, who it was that injured him.  Therefore, Odysseus's pride ends up getting him in trouble with the god who controls the sea which is his only means of getting home.  Odysseus's pride, then, extends his absence from home because he has angered Poseidon who now seeks to prevent his return.

We can also trace the debacle with the bag of winds given to Odysseus by Aeolus back to his pride as well.  Rather than tell his men what is in the sack, he hides it from them, thinking that -- as their leader -- he doesn't need to tell them this information.  They, then, assume the bag is filled with treasure and, when Odysseus falls asleep just as they can see their home shores, they open it, releasing all the winds and blowing their ship far away from home again.  If Odysseus would have simply been honest with them and not felt too proud to share his knowledge with them, they would not have betrayed him.

"The Interlopers" How does the natural setting, particularly the fallen tree, affect Ulrich and Georg?

The setting plays a key role in this story. The feud between the two families is over a narrow piece of land. So, part of the setting itself is the subject of the feud. This is a piece of land that Georg's and Ulrich's families have fought over for generations.

It is cold (winter) and the land is located in the Carpathian Mountains. This harsh outdoor setting suggests that nature is unforgiving and/or indifferent to man/men and their concerns. This is a symbolic foreshadowing because the conflict will shift from "man vs. man" to "men vs. nature." 

When lightning strikes and the tree falls, pinning the men, it would seem that nature has fortuitously intervened and prevented one man from killing the other. However, this is just a random act of nature. There is no suggestion that this was divine intervention nor is there any hint that nature is acting in some benevolent way to transform this feud into a reconciliation. 

In the cold, gloomy forest, with the wind tearing in fitful gusts through the naked branches and whistling round the tree trunks, they lay and waited for the help that would now bring release and succor to both parties. 

Now that the men have become friends, the narrator once again focuses on how potentially dangerous nature is. In the end, the men are once again subject to the dangers of nature when they are spotted by the wolves. Prior to this reconciliation, the men mostly had to fear one another. Following their truce, nature becomes their primary enemy and concern. 

Does the acceleration vector always point in the direction in which an object is moving? If not, describe a situation as an example.

No, acceleration does not always point in the direction in which the object is moving.

The vector that indicates the direction of motion is the velocity vector. The velocity vector is always tangent to the trajectory (path) of the object, and it indicates the direction in which the object moves at a given moment.

The acceleration, by definition, is the change of the velocity vector in a small amount of time. So if the velocity is changing, it indicates the direction in which the velocity is changing.

For example, consider a train that is slowing down. The velocity vector of the train points in the same direction, but its magnitude becomes smaller. This means the change of the velocity vector, `Delta vecv` , is pointing opposite the velocity vector, and thus opposite the direction of the motion of the train. The acceleration vector points in the same direction as `Delta vecv` , opposite to the motion of the train.

Another example is seen with circular motion. Consider a child on a merry-go-round moving in a circle with constant speed. The acceleration of the child points towards the center of the circle, normal (perpendicular) to the child's trajectory. The velocity of the child is tangent to the circle. Here, the acceleration of the child is perpendicular to the direction of his motion, indicated by the velocity vector.

In The Hunger Games, in what ways is Katniss prepared to be a contestant in the Hunger Games?

Katniss is prepared for the games because she knows how to use a bow and arrow and she has good survival instincts.

Even before the Hunger Games, Katniss is tough.  She is probably the one person from her district who had a chance of winning.  Her skill with a bow and arrow is very useful, but more importantly she is independent, strong-willed, and a fighter.

Katniss desires to survive.  She has never had much, so surviving is what she has done all her life.  She would illegally hunt in the forests outside of her village to feed her family.  Her skill with a bow and arrow ensured that she could catch food, but it also gave her an edge in the games.

Independence is an important trait for survival in the games.  Katniss does not need to rely on anyone but herself.  She is quick-witted and learns fast.  This helps her evade or defeat her enemies and understand how the games work.

Katniss’s empathy also helps her, ironically.  She may not love Peeta, but she cares about him and wants him to survive.  She plays along with his star-crossed lovers act in order to win sponsorship and support, and it gives Haymitch something to use to get them valuable supplies.

How does this affect the betting odds? Will we lose sponsors? Do we even have sponsors? Yes, I feel certain we do, or did. (Ch. 12)

If Katniss had not been daring enough to risk the double suicide with the berries, either she or Peeta would have died.  This act prevented her from having to fight to the death, but it also marked her as a revolutionary.  By surviving as an underdog and defying the Capital, Katniss made herself a symbol of hope to everyone in Panem, whether she meant to do it or not.

In "The Chimney Sweeper's Complaint," what do the words wretched, helpless, and doomed convey about the speaker's condition?

A chimney sweeper is a person who is employed to clean a chimney, which is a flute leading from an open hearth. He removes soot and ash from the chimney. Creosote also builds up on the chimney's insides and may catch fire or restrict the flow of air, thus hampering a fire from burning efficiently.

During the Industrial era, chimney sweepers became an essential part of life. They were sought after since many people moved to the cities, which meant more houses and, therefore, more chimneys. Obviously, the factories also had chimneys. Adult chimney sweepers used boys as apprentices to enter the chimneys and clean them. The job was extremely risky and boys (and some girls) even as young as four were used to go up the chimneys and clean them.

The risks to chimney sweepers' apprentices were enormous. Many died when they got stuck in the chimneys, mostly of suffocation. They also developed a variety of illnesses and diseases such as asthma and cancer of the scrotum. Many children were abused by their masters, and they lived in torrid conditions. They hardly ever washed and slept in the clothes they wore. These unhygienic conditions obviously contributed to early deaths.

The chimney sweeper in Mary Alcock's poem is, in terms of what is stated above, not a chimney sweeper per se, but rather his assistant. Considering the type of work that he/she has to do, the word 'wretched' signifies that the sweeper is desperately unhappy, lives in terrible conditions, and is terribly poor and unlucky. The life of a chimney sweep's assistant, furthermore, is one of exploitation and abuse. For this reason then, one can only have sympathy for one exposed to such atrocious circumstances.

The narrator's cry is one for help, emphasised by the word 'helpless.' The word does not convey the idea that the sweep cannot be helped but that he/she is not able to help him/herself. In other words, he/she is a powerless victim who is exposed to the whims of his/her master. The sweeper has no control over his/her destiny since the master controls every aspect of the sweeper's life. The sweeper wants to be rescued from this torrid life and, thus, gives this desperate cry.

The word 'doom' ties in with helplessness and conveys the idea that the sweeper's assistant feels that there is no escape. He or she is trapped in these miserable conditions. There is, literally and figuratively, no light at the end of the tunnel. So desperate is the sweeper's desire to escape this life of anguish that he/she would rather embrace death than continue living such a desperate, unfulfilled and hopeless life, as is poignantly suggested in the last two lines of the poem:

Oh, could I hide me underground,
How thankful should I be!

What is the importance of the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves in "Things Fall Apart"?

In Umuofia, the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves is also revered for her clairvoyance or supernatural insight into the future. She is a kind of prophet, foretelling what Umuofia's future will hold.

In the novel, Chielo is the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves; she is also the priestess of Agbala. In ordinary life, she is a widow with two children, extremely friendly with Ekwefi (Okonkwo's second wife), and immensely fond of Ezinma (Ekwefi's only daughter). It is said that when the spirit of Agbala descends upon Chielo, she becomes a formidable prophet.

As Umuofia's revered prophet, Chielo plays an important role in guiding the tribe and deciding the fate of villagers. When the spirit of Agbala falls upon her one night, she demands the right to take Ezinma to the sacred shrine of Agbala in the caves. Ezinma's parents, however, are disturbed by Chielo's demands. Ezinma herself is reported to be dying, and Chielo's sudden, imperious order unsettles them. Yet, despite Okonkwo and Ekwefi's discomfort, Chielo is not to be denied; acting independently under the sole authority of Agbala, she retrieves Ezinma from her mother's hut. With Ezinma on her back, Chielo makes the rounds of the nine villages before coming to the caves. On the way to the caves, Chielo proclaims a special blessing upon Ezinma: "Life to you, my daughter."

In the sacred caves, Chielo greets her god in a variety of names: "the owner of the future, the messenger of earth, the god who cut a man down when his life was sweetest to him." Here, it can be seen that, as the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves, Chielo is the intermediary between the people of Umuofia and the gods. There is a strong suggestion that she takes Ezinma into temporary custody to heal her. Within the informal ecclesiastical construct of Umuofian religion, Chielo is the sole earthly authority. Even Okonkwo has to obey her.

In the story, Chielo's prophetic abilities are definitely central to Umuofian life. When a band of fugitives from Abame flee to Umuofia and their Oracle prophecies the eventual dissolution of the Abame tribe, Chielo concurs. Like the Abame Oracle, Chielo sees how the white missionaries will fracture existing socio-religious ties among the tribes. So, she characterizes the new converts of the white man's religion as "the excrement of the clan" and the new faith as a "mad dog that had come to eat it up." As the prophet of Umuofia, Chielo sees the threat of colonialism long before the other villagers do.

So, the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves serves as the religious authority of Umuofia; her word must be obeyed because she is the representative of the gods. Additionally, she is the prophet and healer the people depend on.

What was social life like in the Middle Colonies?

Social activities in the Middle Colonies were often separate for women and men.  Men enjoyed hunting, cock fighting, cards, and fishing.  These activities were typically done with other men.  Women enjoyed frolics, where they would gather with other women to perform a task.  Frolics might be for making quilts, canning, cooking, or other things.  During a frolic, women would gather together to talk or even gossip.  They would catch up on news from around town.

Sometimes men and women would gather together for social activities.  In more rural areas, people might gather together to do a barn raising.  Many people worked together to build a structure in a relatively short amount of time.  In the Autumn, corn husking parties were held.  People would work together to husk corn while socializing.  Dances were popular in both rural and urban areas.  Men and women would dance together to popular tunes of the time.  Food was almost always present at social gatherings.

At Christmastime, many people gathered together to celebrate the season.  Churches also held social activities for congregants.

In Frindle, why did Mrs. Chatham feel Nick had been disrespectful to Mrs. Granger?

Nick Allen had been causing quite a stir at school. He had decided to start calling pens "frindles." His idea caught on, and soon many kids at his elementary school were also using his newly invented word. Mrs. Granger was not pleased with this. She was Nick's teacher, and she was a proper lady. She believed in doing things a certain way. She did not like what the children in her class were doing.

Mrs. Chatham, the school's principal, decided to pay a visit to Nick's parents. She explained the situation to them, as well as Nick's role in it. She thought using this new word despite Mrs. Granger's wishes was showing a "lack of respect for authority" (Chapter 9). She told Nick's parents that the children should stop using the word "frindle" because it was not a real word, and therefore was not acceptable to Mrs. Granger.

Who wrote each essay of the Federalist Papers?

After the Constitutional Convention was held, the states would have to decide if they would ratify the Constitution. There was a strong debate regarding the Constitution. The Anti-Federalists were opposed to it because they believed it gave the federal government too much power. They also were concerned that there was no Bill of Rights in the Constitution that would protect the people from having their rights abused, violated, or taken away. They remembered what the British King had done to them in the years leading to the Revolutionary War.

The people who supported the Constitution were called the Federalists. These people believed that the government created by the Articles of Confederation was too weak. Our country had many issues because the federal government didn’t have the power to adequately deal with them. These problems included financial issues, relations with other countries, and having a place where states could resolve disputes. The Federalists believed there would be chaos and disorder without a new plan of government.

There was a significant concern that the Constitution might not get ratified. Thus, three leaders wrote a series of 85 essays explaining why the Constitution should be ratified. These leaders were Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. They wrote under an assumed name that was published as “Publius.” These essays, along with the promise to add a Bill of Rights to the Constitution, helped to convince people that the ratification of the Constitution would be a good thing for our country.

Why is Framton Nuttel spending his time in the countryside visiting the Sappletons in "The Open Window"?

In "The Open Window," Framton Nuttel has apparently had some type of nervous breakdown, and has been prescribed a rest in the country. He therefore comes with letters of introduction from his sister, who knows the Sappletons.

Within the time setting of Saki's narrative, rests in quiet places were prescribed by physicians for patients who had "nervous conditions." Thus, by eliminating the environmental conditions which supposedly have induced the nervous breakdown of Nuttel, his doctor expects that his patient will heal.

"The doctors agree in ordering me complete rest, an absence of mental excitement, and avoidance of anything in the nature of violent physical exercise," announced Framton.

Ironically, however, in Saki's social satire, Nuttel is jettisoned by this revelation into a situation which proves at least as detrimental as the one from which he has come, if not more so. For, his listener, Mrs. Sappleton's niece Vera, is mischievous and clever. When she recognizes Nuttel's gullibility, Vera weaves a clever, macabre tale around the true facts of the French doors being opened for the return of Mr. Sappleton and his son. She intimates that Mrs. Sappleton is delusional and expects her "dead" family members to yet return. When the men do come through the doors, the shock to the fragile mind of Nuttel sends him fleeing out in "a headlong retreat."

What is the theme of "Ode on a Grecian Urn" by John Keats?

One major theme of "Ode on a Grecian Urn" is that a beautiful work of art brings comfort and joy to the viewer. In this poem, the narrator gazes at the picture on an ancient Greek urn. It shows a pagan springtime festival, with musicians and young lovers ready to kiss. As the narrator contemplates this scene, he becomes more and more ecstatic. How "happy" the scene is and always will be! It will always be springtime, the leaves will always be on the trees, the lovers will always be young and in love, the musicians will be always playing their tunes. The narrator, as his enthusiasm rises to a crescendo in the third stanza, repeats the word happy six times:

Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed

         Your leaves ...

And, happy melodist, unwearied,

         For ever piping songs for ever new;

More happy love! more happy, happy love!

         For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd,

                For ever panting, and for ever young ...

To the narrator, the scene of the vase captures immortality and eternal youth, two deep desires of the heart. Isn't this better to be a work of art, he thinks, than to face "breathing human passion" that can leave us sorrowful and unfulfilled?

Yet the narrator also wonders about the problems freezing time could bring: what about the town that has been emptied of its people for the festival? Won't it be forever "desolate?" Isn't the flip side of freezing the moment the danger of being caught in the wrong moment?

But the narrator quickly moves back to his ecstatic contemplation of the urn, praising it in the next stanza with exclamation points: "O Attic [Greek] shape! Fair attitude!" He ends by saying that when his own generation is old and gone, the urn will still remain and bring comfort and joy to future generations.  

When did the War of 1812 occur?

The War of 1812, as its name suggests, began in 1812.  A peace treaty was signed in December of 1814, but with the slow communications of that time, British forces in the United States did not learn of the treaty until much later.  This meant that there was one major battle fought in the US in 1815.  So, you could say that the war lasted from 1812 until either 1814 or 1815.

The War of 1812 came about because the Americans were unhappy about things that the British were doing.  They were unhappy about British forts on American soil.  They were particularly unhappy about the British practice of stopping American ships and impressing sailors from those ships.  In general, they felt that the British did not respect American sovereignty and independence.  For this reason, the US declared war on Britain in June of 1812.

The war was not a terribly bloody war and neither side really defeated the other.  The most famous incidents in the war came when the British attacked Washington, D.C. and burned the US Capitol and when the US, led by Andrew Jackson, defeated the British at the Battle of New Orleans in early 1815.

How did Rab and Grandsire Silsbee symbolize all that was admirable about the American character?

In the book Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes, Rab and Grandsire Silsbee represent admirable American characters during this time period.

Beginning with Rab, this character demonstrates several different positive American attributes. For example, Rab is a patriot who is willing to sacrifice his life for his country. Furthermore, he works diligently and demonstrates compassion for others, such as Johnny. All of these characteristics express admirable traits of American individuals during this time. As the text reveals:

“And some of us would die––so other men can stand up on their feet like men. A great many are going to die for that. They have in the past. They will a hundred years from now––two hundred. God grant there will always be men good enough. Men like Rab.”

Furthermore, Grandsire Silsbee also portrays commendable American characteristics. Although Grandsire Silsbee’s character is not as noted as Rab’s character, Grandsire illustrates positive traits as well. For example, he exemplifies patriotism through his dedication to his country and his soldiers. Regardless of his personal sufferings, Grandsire continues serving his country. As the text demonstrates:

“But he knew the old Major [Grandsire] wouldn’t stop. He had to get his men on to Cambridge and the siege of Boston.”

Consequently, both of these characters are utilized throughout the story. Although Grandsire is not as noted, both of these characters represent admirable American individuals.

How does covalent bonding differ from ionic bonding?

In a covalent bond electrons are shared between two atoms. In an ionic bond electrons are transferred from one atom to another, forming a postive and a negative ion. The ions are held together by the electrostatic attraction between the opposiste charges. 

An ionic bond forms between a metal and a non-metal, because metals lose electrons and non-metals gain electrons. Each metal atom tends to lose the number of electrons that leaves it with a complete octet, or eight electrons in its outer level. The group one elements such as lithium and sodium have one valence or outer electron so by losing this electron they have a complete octet in the next lower energy level. This makes them very reactive. The group 2 elements have two valence electrons, both of which they lose easily. The non-metals achieve a complete octet by gaining electrons. For example, the group 7A elements such as fluorine and chlorine have 7 valence electrons so they react easily to gain one. 

Atoms that form covalent bonds also achieve a complete octet. For example, oxygen exists as the molecule O2 with a double covalent bond because each oxygen atom has six valence electrons. When two pairs of electrons are shared between them they have a complete octet. The shared electrons are considered valence electrons for both atoms. 

Covalent bonds in which the electrons are shared unevenly are called polar covalent bonds. In water, oxygen forms polar covalent bonds to the two hydrogen atoms. The electrons are more attracted to oxygen than hydrogen because oxygen is more electronegative.

What literary devices are used in the poem?

Edward Arlington Robinson’s celebrated poem Richard Cory uses literary devices to help communicate ideas and feelings which cannot be stated directly. As is the case with all works of art—songs, paintings, story—the overall effect created by the poem offers a greater picture than can be portrayed without artistic effect. In this case, this effect is created by the use of literary devices.

The principal literary devices used in Richard Cory are irony, metaphor, and the poetic devices of rhyme, meter, and assonance.

Metaphor is the use of an image to represent something else in order to provide a deeper description of it. A common use of metaphor is “We had to make it through a maze of regulations to complete the form.” There is no actual maze on the form, but the experience of completing the form might have been similar to the frustrations, the backtracking, and the concentration experienced going through a maze. In a simple sense, Richard Cory uses metaphor to create images of what the main character is like. The poem states “…and he glittered when he walked.” Of course he was not covered in glitter, but he had an effect on the townspeople he passed that was in some way similar to the effect glitter has on our eyes. He was finely dressed, he was special, and somehow different than they.

In a larger sense, the poem itself creates a metaphor for one aspect of the human experience. Richard is idolized by the viewers. He is wealthy, he is kind. And yet this man who appears to have everything they do not commit suicides. The picture this helps create serves as a metaphor for things like the difficulty and mystery of modern life and the things which actually bring us contentment.

Irony is central to the poem. In its basic sense, irony is defined as using words to mean something different than what they appear to mean, almost always with the reader’s understanding. However in the case of Richard Cory, the overall effect of the poem creates an ironic picture. Not only are the events ironic—the man who should be the happiest in town shoots himself in the head—but the way they are narrated is also ironic. The poems rhythm, repetition and rhyme seem better fitted to a lighter subject—they are almost like a children’s song. The shock this helps create when we learn Richard “Went home and put a bullet through his head” makes this news all the more stinging and powerful, and the irony of this effect contributes to the larger metaphor the poem creates.

Finally, Richard Cory makes use of many common poetic literary devices that make it musical and artistic, adding to its power and its larger effect. It rhymes, like a song. It uses meter to create a rhythm that makes its distinct—in this case, the common poetic meter of iambic pentameter, created by using ten syllables divided into five pairs in each line. It also makes use of anaphora for its musicality. Anaphora is the intentional repetition of the opening words of a sentence in a poem to create effect. In the case of Richard Cory, this can be seen in the use of “And” and “And we was” at the beginning of many of the lines.

Though terms like meter and anaphora may seem alien, you can encounter them and their artistic effect in many of the poetry of things like pop songs and nursery rhymes we hear every day.

In Stave Two of A Christmas Carol, how is the Ghost of Christmas Past dressed and does it symbolise anything?

In A Christmas Carol, the Ghost of Christmas Past is the first spirit to visit Scrooge. Dickens describes the ghost as wearing " a tunic of the purest white and round its waist was bound a lustrous belt, the sheen of which was beautiful. It held a branch of fresh green holly in its hand; and, in singular contradiction of that wintry emblem, had its dress trimmed with summer flowers."

This description is symbolic of the experiences of Scrooge's past. First of all, the "summer flowers" represent the happier times that Scrooge enjoyed as a boy. There are not many happy experiences in this stave but Scrooge's return to school is certainly one of them. In this scene, he is escorted home from boarding school by his now-deceased and much-loved sister, Fan. His father, who is generally angry, has had a change of heart and wants the family to be reunited for the holidays.  In another example, Scrooge is returned by the ghost to a party that he once enjoyed. It was hosted on Christmas Eve by Mr Fezziwig, the man who had apprenticed him in his youth, and Scrooge fondly watches the dances and the merriment. 

Secondly, the Ghost of Christmas Past's clothes also have another symbolic meaning. His pure, white tunic reminds us of innocence, a strong theme in this chapter. On two occasions, Scrooge asks the ghost to take him home because his past experiences are so upsetting that he cannot bear to watch them. This is particularly true of the scene where Scrooge breaks off the engagement with Belle, the beautiful woman he once loved. The ghost replies that he cannot: "These are the shadows of things that have been. That they are what they are, do not blame me!" In other words, the ghost is innocent of creating these traumatic events. By facing these experiences head on, Scrooge can no longer blame others for his misanthropy. He must accept responsibility for his actions in order to learn from the past and start afresh. 

The correct formula for a covalent bond that obeys the octet rule is: HCI, PCI2, NCI CCI2, NaCI. Why?

A covalent bond is one in which atoms share electrons (instead of donating or accepting them, as is the case with ionic bonds) in such a way, that octet configuration is achieved. That is, the outer shell is filled with 8 electrons. Lets examine each compound one by one.

HCl is a covalent compound, with hydrogen and chlorine sharing an electron each. This way, hydrogen achieves a fully filled 1s orbital and chlorine also achieves the octet. Hence HCl is a covalent compound that fulfills the octet rule.

PCl2 is a covalent compound, but does not obey the octet rule. Phosphorus has a valency of +3 and shares two electrons, one each with a chlorine atom. However, there is still a positive charge leftover (although the two chlorine atoms achieve octet). In fact, `PCl_2^-` is the correct chemical formula.

NCl is a covalent compound. However, Nitrogen has a valency of +3 and requires 2 more chlorine atoms to achieve an octet configuration. In this case, one chlorine atom achieves the octet.

CCl2 is a covalent compound, yet carbon has 2 leftover electrons and does not have a fully filled configuration in this compound. The two chlorine atoms achieve octet configuration, but two more are required for a covalent compound (CCl4).

 NaCl or sodium chloride is an ionic compound, where sodium donates an electron, which is accepted by chlorine (to complete its octet).

Thus, among the given options, only HCl  is a covalent compound which satisfies the octet rule. In all other cases, except for NaCl, chlorine atoms achieve the octet configuration through covalent bonding.

Hope this helps. 

Is the flame coloration a test for the positive ion or for the negative ion?

Flame coloration test is used to identify metals, that is, it is a test for positive ions. Each element has a certain electronic configuration and this gives us an idea of the number of valence electrons, the particular element has. When heated, these electrons gain energy and jump to higher orbitals. Energized or excited electrons, in unstable, higher orbitals, fall back to previous states by releasing some energy. This released energy is a function of initial and final states and is characteristic of each metal. For example, lithium produces a red colored flame, while sodium generates a strong and persistent orange colored flame. It is to be noted that electron may not directly fall back to its ground state (from the excited state) and this transition may take place in multiple steps.

Hope this helps. 

What particularly American characteristics can you identify in the story? How would this story be different if it were not set in the United...

This story is often anthologized in collections of American stories, for very good reason: it illustrates quite a lot about traditions and values in the US, especially the south.

Overall, the story paints a vivid and funny picture of the important roles that storytelling, friendliness with strangers, and preserving local myths play in southern heritage.

In fact, if this story were set outside of the United States, it would lose its dialect, humor, and context, and it probably wouldn't be nearly as famous and beloved as it is today.

Let's take a close look at the particularly American characteristics on display in the story:

1. The hilarious image of the earnest, detailed, deadpan storyteller who has no idea that he's utterly boring you. This man has the narrator cornered and is dead-set on delivering an extremely long account of an endless series of ridiculous anecdotes about a guy who likes animals and betting. It's very American! (Having grown up in the south, I know at least three folks who are just like this. They see you and say hello, then launch into their story.) 

2. Certain qualities of oral storytelling: repetition (reminding your listeners of what you just said a moment ago), a faithful reporting of what everybody says even if it's obvious or repeated, a tendency to let one story's ending be the impetus for another closely related story's beginning, and, most hilariously, a focus on getting all of the details about what happened and when just right, even though the listener definitely doesn't care.

3. Southern American dialect, grammar, vocabulary, and imagery. A fellow is a "feller;" instead of "He caught a frog," it's "He ketched a frog;" a water bug is known as a "straddle-bug;" and a dog's jaw sticks out "like the fo'castle of a steamboat."

What point of view or message is Edwards conveying in this sermon?

Like the Puritans of his time, Jonathan Edwards believed that all sinners were destined to damnation and that the only way toward salvation was a true conversion to the church. The title, "Sinners in the hands of an angry God," refers to the belief that the only thing keeping members of the audience (all sinners) from falling into “the pit of hell,” is God’s will, or his hand, holding them up

Edwards warns his congregation against feeling a false sense of security. Just because they have their lives and their health, and believe they are doing good works, does not mean they are immune from the possibility of going to hell. “God’s bow is bent,” he says, and at any time, God could decide to strike them with his “arrow” for their sins. 

Just when it seems Edwards’s message is completely hopeless, his tone shifts to one of hope (relatively). He says that the members of his congregation have an “extraordinary opportunity” to experience a change of heart and come to God. Throughout his speech, Edwards strikes fear into his audience members, making them see the consequences of their sin and hopefully, through his words, experience the desire to change.

In "The Leap," why is the father attracted to the narrator's mother?

In "The Leap," the narrator's father is a doctor who attends her mother, Anna Avalon, after a near-death experience on her trapeze. According to the narrator, the doctor is attracted to Anna because she spent her youth touring Europe and visiting many of the cities that he, an "armchair traveler," wanted to see, like Venice and Rome. Moreover, he enjoyed listening to the many adventures she experienced in these places as she performed with the Avalon family.

The narrator's father is also attracted to Anna because they share a mutual love of books and reading. In fact, it was the doctor who taught Anna to read (she was illiterate when they met) and bought her her first book. After that point, the narrator says, Anna was "never without a book" and, clearly, this was a point of attraction for both the narrator's father and mother.

How does the character of Macbeth change throughout the play?

Macbeth's transformation throughout the play is remarkable. At the beginning of the play, we learn Macbeth is a noble, valiant warrior, respected by his kinsman the King, who he loyally serves by putting down Macdonwald's rebellion. When he and Banquo encounter the witches, who hail him as a future king, he is quickly seized with ambition, which he describes as "dark desires." Even as late as the end of Act I, Macbeth experiences deep misgivings about the murder of the King, though his wife talks him into going through with the plot. After Duncan is dead and Macbeth is king, he begins to turn on the men around him, who he views as threats to his power. His hired assassins murder Banquo, an act for which he obviously feels remorse (as evidenced by his vision of the murdered man's ghost at the banquet table later.) Macbeth's descent into evil is complete with this act. He kills Macduff's family even though he knows Macduff fled to England, and his reign is described as brutal and bloody by many of Scotland's thanes. By the end of the play, he is without feeling at all, and responds to his wife's death with an air of resignation and almost total indifference. He meets his death recognizing that he has been fooled by the witches. 

How does The Book Thief present German history and why does it do it in this way?

In an interview with Random House that can be found on YouTube, Markus Zusak says that both his mother and father lived in Germany during World War II. He grew up hearing stories from his mother about seeing a boy give an elderly Jew some bread and having been beaten for his efforts by a Nazi soldier. His father told him stories about people not wanting to fly the Nazi flag from their windows and doors, and how he also did not want to go to the Hitler youth camps. So, many anecdotes in The Book Thief are taken from historical events and stories told to Zusack by his parents and grandparents, who actually lived in Germany during that time. One can see this when Hans Hubermann gives bread to one of the Jews who are being marched through town. Hans is eventually caught and beaten for it in front of Liesel.

In Part Seven, in the section entitled "The Long Walk to Dachau," Liesel and Rudy are playing soccer when they think they hear cattle walking through the streets. This is exactly how Zusak's mother, who was six at the time, described the sound of Jews walking through town at the ends of Nazi guns.

"Papa reached into his paint cart and pulled something out. He made his way through the people, onto the road.

The Jew stood before him, expecting another handful of derision, but he watched with everyone else as Hans Hubermann held his hand out and presented a piece of bread, like magic.

When it changed hands, the Jew slid down. He fell to his knees and held Papa's shins. He buried his face between them and thanked him" (394).

The above passage is exactly as Zusak says his mother describes what she saw in Germany at the age of six. The parts where Rudy Steiner enrolls in the Hitler youth activities might be from stories that his father told him. So, The Book Thief incorporates first-hand experiences that give insight into German history.

What is the style of the poem Harlem by Langston Hughes?

In the poem Harlem, Langston Hughes utilizes free verse with an irregular meter.  This means that he stresses different syllables in each line and the length of the lines vary considerably.  The use of six questions is done with the intention of providing uncertainty.  All of these things, when taken together, make the reader feel uneasy, uncomfortable and nervous.  The feelings that are elicited reinforce the poem's theme which is the frustration felt by African-Americans.  Langston Hughes poems are, by his own admission, written like the musical styles of jazz, ragtime, and the blues.  These types of music are marked by sudden changes and sharp interjections.  The style of free verse with irregular meter lends itself to connections with these music styles. 

What does Victor consider when he says,"I was tempted to plunge into the silent lake, that the waters might close over me and my calamities...

In Volume II, Chapter I, Victor has been mourning both the loss of his brother, William, as well as the execution of his family's friend, Justine, who was convicted of murdering William.  He says that he was often "tempted to plunge into the silent lake, that the waters might close over [him] and [his] calamities for ever."  His guilt and sorrow have thus prompted him to consider taking his own life by drowning himself in the lake.  

It is only when he considers "the heroic and suffering Elizabeth" that he resolves to continue living because he does love her and because they are meant to marry.  Further, he thought of his "father, and his surviving brother" who he would also leave behind if he died now, and "There was always scope for fear, so long as any thing I loved remained behind."  Victor knows that his loved ones are in danger because of his murderous, on-the-loose creature, and this helps to convince him to remain alive so that he can try to protect them.