What are Creon's views on women and femininity?

Creon's view of women were very much grounded in the society in which Sophocles was raised. Ancient Athens was what is sometimes described as a strongly "homosocial" culture, one in which men primarily associated with other men and women with women. In general, men delayed marriage until they were economically established and had completed military serrvice, usually when they were in their thirties. Due to high infant mortality rates, women were married when they became fertile, at the ages of 12 or 13, leading to a large inequality of age in marriage. Women tended to be raised in isolation from men, and most were educated only in household management. What that meant was that few Greek men had any experience of associating with women of their own age other than prostitutes, and generally had a low opinion of the intellects and abilities of women.

Creon was typical in considering women as having a purely subordinate role in the family and the city. He thought them lacking in intelligence, swayed by emotion, and incapable of making independent judgments. Creon, and the original audience of the play, would have considered Ismene the ideal woman, as she has a mild and pliant nature, and Antigone unnatural for her defiance of an older male relative. Creon believes that men should simply give orders to women rather than listen to them and criticizes his own son Haemon for being too easily swayed by Antigone. 

In A Christmas Carol, which ghost motivated Scrooge to change the most?

The answer to this question is not definitive because it is a matter of opinion. This is because Dickens does not state which spirit had the most impact on Scrooge.  Each Spirit changes Scrooge's heart, even if it is just a little.  The Ghost of Christmas Past shows Scrooge the mistakes he made in the past.  The Ghost of Christmas Present shows Scrooge how his decisions have effected his current life.  Finally, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows Scrooge what will happen if he does not change.  It can be argued that the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come motivates Scrooge to change the most significantly.  This Spirit shows Scrooge that he will die alone, with no one to care but those in debt to him or those who want to divide up his possessions.  He sees that Tiny Tim will die without his intervention.  Scrooge finally realizes that he needs to alter the direction of his life.

Was Booker T. Washington's philosophy of "accommodation and self-help" accepted and followed by educated as well as non-educated African-Americans...

Washington's "accommodation and self-help" philosophy developed from a speech he delivered at the 1895 Atlanta Cotton States and International Exposition that became known as the "Atlanta Compromise." For the next twenty years, Washington was the representative for African-Americans in this country. His influence extended all the way to the White House; he had input in political appointments and legal actions throughout the presidencies of Roosevelt and Taft.

Washington's philosophy was accepted by African-Americans both educated and non-educated. However, the education he advocated was more vocational in nature. He believed in being "accommodating" toward discrimination and segregation while establishing economic stability. His opposition, namely W.E.B. DuBois, was often comprised of college-educated men. DuBois was a Harvard graduate who advocated social protest and advancement through traditional educational routes. Those African-Americans who were contemporaries of both these great men tended to gravitate toward the one whose educational background reflected their own: The ones who were vocationally educated tended to gravitate toward Washington.  

What literary device is being used in the phrase, "Life is a roller coaster"?

"Life is a roller coaster" is a metaphor, which is a way of equating one person, place, or thing, or idea with another person, place, or thing, or idea to show that some attribute or attributes of one is or are similar to some attribute or attributes of the other.  What is of most importance is for the listener or reader to be able to identify what attribute or attributes are being equated.  Language is filled with metaphors because they are such an important way of communicating meaning.  In order for us to understand something, we need to have a concrete, sensory image in our minds, and the metaphor is what provides this. 

Let's consider "Life is a roller coaster." The person who says this does not mean to say that we are all strapped into little boxes at a carnival. What attribute is meant to be equated? It is that life has many ups and downs, as a roller coaster takes us through many ups and downs. In the movie Parenthood, the grandmother says that some people are on a roller coaster, while other people are on a merry-go-round throughout their lives. Her meaning there is that some people are more adventuresome, taking a chance on the ups and downs, while others are risk-averse, and simply go around and around on the same track.

Interestingly enough, the idea that life has many ups and downs is a metaphor, too.  As in the roller coaster metaphor, the idea of ups and downs is not literal as we apply it to our lives. When something goes wrong, we have not decreased our elevation, and when something goes well, we have not literally increased our elevation. We use the very same metaphor to explain our emotional states.  When we are happy, we say we are "up." When we are unhappy, we say we are "down." There is actually a logical explanation for this, the reason that we use ups and downs as a metaphor for good times and bad. If you look at any person who is unhappy, he or she is likely to be slumped over, while someone who is happy seems to stand straight and tall.

According to linguists, all languages use metaphor. It seems to be a human need, to communicate our ideas concretely.  Once you become aware of what a metaphor is, you will see that the world is filled with them.  When we speak of education, we speak of building a "foundation" for learning. A foundation is what a building is built upon, so that is a metaphor. In business, we discuss "growing" a business as though it were a garden. They are a staple of poetry and songs, as Donne says, "No man is an island" or Simon and Garfunkel sing, "I am a rock." In literature, they are everywhere, and one of my favorites is from The Great Gatsby, "And so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past" (Fitzgerald 189). I hope this opens your eyes at least a little to the amazing and wonderful world of metaphor.   

How did Alexander the great help to spread Greek culture?

Alexander waged perhaps the most astonishing military campaign in history. From his ascension to the throne of Macedon in 336 BC to his death in 323, Alexander conquered most of the known world. As he conquered Asia, he brought the Greek language and culture with him; this process was known as "Hellenization." He also founded as many as 70 cities, each of which was settled by Greek-speaking colonists. Moreover, Alexander instituted a single system of coinage in his empire; this helped to unify the eastern and western portions of his kingdom.

Alexander's empire fell apart shortly after his death, but the influence of Greek culture remained. Thus, when the Romans eventually wrangled control of its ruins, they retained Greek as an international language of diplomacy (much as French was throughout most of modern European history and English is today). In these ways, Alexander helped spread Greek culture across the world.

What is a summary of the advice the speaker gives in lines 9-28 of "To an Athlete Dying Young"?

 Housman, addressing a dead young athlete, tells him that it is better to die at the height of his power and achievement than to fade slowly away through aging and death. He speaks directly to the dead youth saying, "smart lad ... to slip away" from "fields where glory does not stay." Housman uses these lines to illustrate how rapidly the window in which one can be an athletic champion closes. He says, for example, that the laurel wreath given to the winner to wear on his head fades more quickly than roses. Physical abilities decline quickly; in another year or two, someone younger, stronger and faster will win the races this athlete has just won. It's better, essentially, to quit (or die) while you are still ahead, the cheers of the crowd still echoing in your ears as you slip away.

Housman goes on to comment that death provides an oblivion that will spare the athlete the pain of watching his "record cut," in other words, the pain of somebody else outdoing him. This athlete, who is used to hearing people cheer for him, won't have to listen to the "silence" that accompanies a has-been. He won't have to tolerate the indignity of becoming a runner whose "name died before the man," in other words, someone the world has forgotten.

Housman also says to the athlete that, in contrast, in death his glory will not fade. The "strengthless dead," the poet says, will "flock" to see this athlete wearing the laurel crown that, in death, will remain "unwithered."

Why do the conspirators want Brutus to join them?

When the play opens, it is only Cassius who shows how much he wants Brutus to become a part of the conspiracy he is trying to organize. Without Cassius there might never have been a conspiracy. He knows how to do such things, and Brutus doesn't. Cassius needs Brutus because he knows that he is not popular with either the common people or the patricians. He is not liked because of his character and personality. He is a miser. He is selfish and greedy. He has a violent temper and uses it to intimidate people and to get his way. He is privately thinking that he can be the real power in the conspiracy and use the mild-mannered, scholarly Brutus as a figurehead. But it doesn't work out that way. Once Brutus decides to become involved, he takes command and hardly listens to Cassius' advice.

Cassius thinks they should kill Mark Antony along with Caesar, but Brutus is too noble and too trusting to agree. Then Cassius is horrified when Brutus permits Antony to speak at Caesar's funeral, but Brutus overrules him. Before the Battle at Philippi, Cassius and Brutus have a violent argument in which Cassius threatens to kill Brutus. But Brutus is immune to the kind of scare tactics Cassius uses successfully on other people. After the quarrel ends, Brutus has obviously asserted his dominance, and Cassius just has to go along with him.

The other members of the conspiracy show their respect for Brutus, but they are not instrumental in recruiting him to their cause. It must have been Cassius who recruited them by telling them that Brutus had agreed to lend his name to their cause. They are all glad to have Brutus as their leader because of his distinguished reputation as well as because he is a descendant of the Brutus who drove the Tarquins out of Rome and established the republic. They are all apprehensive about how the masses will react after they assassinate Caesar, because Caesar has made himself so popular with the lower classes. They fear that what could happen is exactly what does happen after Antony delivers his powerful funeral oration. There is mass rioting. Brutus and Cassius have to flee from Rome, along with the conspirators who are still alive.

Brutus is partially persuaded to join the conspiracy because he thinks there are many Romans beseeching him to do so. Actually, the cunning Cassius tricks him. After the two men separate at the end of Act I, Scene 2, Cassius says to himself:

I will this night,
In several hands, in at his windows throw,
As if they came from several citizens,
Writings, all tending to the great opinion
That Rome holds of his name, wherein obscurely
Caesar's ambition shall be glanced at.
And after this let Caesar seat him sure;
For we will shake him, or worse days endure.

Brutus is made to believe that there are many important citizens who want him to lead a conspiracy to assassinate Julius Caesar. Actually, most of them are elated after the fact. Cassius is a "user." He manipulates Brutus into joining his purely theoretical conspiracy by making Brutus think it is much bigger than it is, and then he recruits others into the conspiracy by showing them that Brutus is the leader. If Cassius is not a villain, he comes very close to meriting that title.

What happens at the Murmur-of-Replacement Ceremony in The Giver?

We learn about this ceremony in Ch. 6. The Murmur-of-Replacement Ceremony is performed when someone has died and a new child is given to a family and that new child has the same name as the person who died - hence, there is a "replacement.

In the ceremony, which happens once a year with the others, the entire crowd slowly and quietly begins to murmur the new child's name. Then, they get progressively louder and quicker as they say the name. It seems that this somehow imprints the name on the child, while it also reminds the community that this name is incorporated into the community again. It breathes life back into the name, so to speak.

Because this ceremony is only performed once in the book, it is unclear if this ceremony is done for every person who dies and whose name is used again, or if it is only done when a family loses a child and then receive another child with the same name. This second scenario is what we see in Ch. 6 with the "replacement Caleb."

In the story "The Open Window," why is Framton scared of dogs?

Framton Nuttel is not scared of dogs--at least not of little brown spaniels. Vera makes up a story involving dogs in order to explain why their guest suddenly panicked and went running out of the house just as the three hunters were returning toward the open window with their family dog. When she told Framton the totally concocted story about these same three hunters and their dog being killed three years earlier when they were all sucked into a bog while hunting on the moor, she had provided several identifying details by which Framton would recognize them as the same men and the dog who were supposed to have been killed.

"Poor aunt always thinks that they will come back someday, they and the little brown spaniel that was lost with them, and walk in at that window just as they used to do. That is why the window is kept open every evening till it is quite dusk. Poor dear aunt, she has often told me how they went out, her husband with his white waterproof coat over his arm, and Ronnie, her youngest brother, singing 'Bertie, why do you bound?' as he always did to tease her, because she said it got on her nerves." 

Vera knows that when the men return they will have the little brown spaniel with them, her uncle will be carrying his white waterproof coat over his arm, and her aunt's youngest brother will start singing, "Bertie, why do you bound?" When Framton sees and hears these three telltale things he will be sure the approaching men have been dead for three years and are just now returning from the bog.

Mrs. Sappleton reinforces this impression:

"Here they are at last!" she cried. "Just in time for tea, and don't they look as if they were muddy up to the eyes!"

And when Framton turns to look at Vera, 

The child was staring out through the open window with a dazed horror in her eyes. 

It is only when the three men enter the room that the reader is let in on the practical joke. Mr. Sappleton shows he is an ordinary mortal with the following dialogue:

"Here we are, my dear," said the bearer of the white mackintosh, coming in through the window, "fairly muddy, but most of it's dry. Who was that who bolted out as we came up?"

Mrs. Sappleton hasn't a clue, but Vera thinks it wise to make up an explanation in order to forestall any inquiries Mr. or Mrs. Sappleton might make to Framton's sister, who wrote the letter of introduction, or to the vicar who must have introduced her to the Sappletons several years ago. So Vera makes up another story.

"I expect it was the spaniel," said the niece calmly; "he told me he had a horror of dogs. He was once hunted into a cemetery somewhere on the banks of the Ganges by a pack of pariah dogs, and had to spend the night in a newly dug grave with the creatures snarling and grinning and foaming just above him. Enough to make anyone lose their nerve."

Even a girl as imaginative as Vera could not have invented such a bizarre story out of whole cloth on the spur of the moment. Her story helps to characterize her further as a bored teenage girl who is confined to this big country house all day and has nothing to do but read books. We can imagine that Mr. Sappleton, who is so fond of the outdoors and of hunting, would have a lot of books about travel and adventure in his library, and that his precocious young niece had read an anecdote about some traveler hunted by a pack of feral dogs in one of his collection of such books. Her uncle is probably not much brighter than her aunt and is therefore unlikely to remember reading about such an incident in one of his own books, if he ever did.

What are some similarities between the ribosome, endoplasmic reticulum, and golgi appartatus?

Ribosomes, the endoplasmic reticulum, and the Golgi apparatus are all organelles. They are also all involved in the making, packaging, and shipping of proteins.

Ribosomes help in the production of proteins during translation. During translation, mRNA slides through ribosomes. Ribosomes help anticodons on tRNA and codons on mRNA match so peptide bonds can be formed between the amino acids located on top of adjacent tRNA.

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) may be either rough or smooth. Ribosomes are found attached to rough ER but not on smooth ER. Rough ER are commonly found adjacent to the nuclear envelope, while smooth ER are often located throughout the cytoplasm.

Either type of ER is composed of a series of membranes that are found throughout the cell. The double membranes that make ER form sacs called cisternae. Proteins are collected inside the hollow space of the cisternae called the lumen. When the lumen become full of proteins, they pinch off and form a transition vesicle that is then sent to the Golgi apparatus.

The Golgi apparatus “absorbs” transition vesicles sent by the ER. Here, the proteins are processed. Then, the Golgi apparatus forms a secretory vesicle around the proteins. The secretory vesicle is sent into the cytoplasm, moves toward the cell membrane, and releases the proteins out of the cell so they can be used where needed.

What problem relating to osmosis would you expect a fresh water organism like Paramecium to have?How does Paramecium compensate for this problem

Freshwater single-celled organisms have a big problem in terms of the osmotic gradient. The inside of the cell has a certain osmolarity that is higher than the surrounding water, which causes free water to be drawn into the cell. If this continues and isn't compensated for, the cell will swell and burst! So, the organism needs to have a mechanism to expel free water with a minimal amount of solutes to keep the internal osmotic pressure. That mechanism is the contractile vacuole. 

We don't have a great understanding of the full mechanics of how these vacuoles work, but they appear to pump ions into themselves to create another osmotic gradient between themselves and the cytoplasm. This allows free water to diffuse into the vacuole from the cytoplasm. The vacuole then contracts to expel water from the cell.

Can melted ionic compounds conduct electricity?

Ionic compounds are those where ions interacted with each other, through electron exchange, and bonded together. In other words, ionic compounds have ionic bonds. These compounds are conductors of electricity, when their ions are free to move. Thus, they do not conduct electricity when they are solid. However, when they are dissolved in water or a solution, they break down into ions and conduct electricity. Similarly, in the molten state, the ions are free to move and hence can conduct electricity. A good example is common salt, sodium chloride (NaCl). In its powdered form, it does not conduct electricity. However, when we dissolve it in water, sodium and chloride ions are dissociated and conduct electricity easily.

Thus, ionic compounds are capable of conducting electricity in molten form. Note that these compounds have very high melting and boiling points.

Hope this helps. 

In Chapter One of The Lord of the Rings, what is Gandalf's reputation?

In Chapter 1 of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, we are given Gandalf's reputation from the point of view of the hobbits. As we see throughout the first chapters, the hobbits are so insular that their view of the world, and their understanding of their place in it, is naïve and childlike. The reputation of Gandalf among them is similar in that it focuses on just the aspect of him that they know.

To the hobbits, Gandalf is a curiosity. They have a vague sense that he is more than a mere man, and they know that the stories of him go far beyond the memory of any living hobbit. However, as the narrator reveals to us, the hobbits have no idea of his labors in the wider world.

Thus, the hobbits lack the awe of Gandalf we see later in the books. In the same vein, they also do not see him as a harbinger of trouble the way other societies do. Rather, they see him as a purveyor of amusements. They are excited to see his fireworks, which are legendary among the hobbits, although they have not been seen in living memory. They do not worry that his presence may foretell darker happenings. At that point, only Bilbo knows that the seemingly kindly and harmless old man is far more than a simple conjuror.

What are the leadership styles of Ralph and Jack in Lord of the Flies?

Jack is an authoritarian leader while Ralph is more of an egalitarian. Even in the first chapter, Jack is shown as a strict leader who demands obedience as his choir members follow him across the beach. He has made them march in line in their hot uniforms, and Simon ends up passing out because of the heat. Jack immediately puts himself forward as a potential chief, claiming he is "chapter chorister and head boy." Later, in one of the meetings, he tries to stifle the free speech of the others, saying that they should "leave deciding things to the rest of us." When he starts his own tribe, he has two boys say, "The chief has spoken," and he sits like an idol at his feast. He beats Wilfred for no apparent reason.

Ralph doesn't seek out being chief, but once he is voted in, he tries to include others in his decisions. He immediately allows Jack to choose an area to be the head of, and Jack chooses hunting. During meetings he enforces the rule of the conch, allowing everyone to speak in turn. He allows a discussion of the boys' fears, although that ends up working against him. He feels bad when Jack deserts the group, even though Piggy is pleased. He listens to advice from Simon and Piggy, and in chapter 11, he listens to Samneric and Piggy as they plan their visit to Castle Rock. 

Although Jack rules as a dictator, Ralph demonstrates a more democratic style of leadership.

Why did Harper Lee name the book To Kill a Mockingbird?

The title comes from the idea that some people are targeted unfairly by society because they are different.

When Scout and Jem get guns for Christmas, Atticus tells them not to shoot at mockingbirds.  Unlike some of the other birds he names, he considers Mockingbirds worthy of protection. 

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

Scout asks Miss Maudie to explain.  She has never heard her father say it’s a sin to do anything before, so he obviously feels very strongly about the mockingbirds.  Miss Maudie tells her that mockingbirds never hurt anyone, and just make music for people to enjoy.

There are two mockingbirds mentioned in the book.  Tom Robinson’s death is compared to “the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children” by Mr. Underwood in an editorial (Ch. 25).  Boo Radley is the second mockingbird.  When he kills Bob Ewell to protect the children, Atticus and Heck Tate decide not to tell anyone because the notoriety would be a disaster for the shy, reclusive Boo.  Atticus asks Scout if she understands why they are keeping Boo’s involvement a secret.

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

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

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

Boo Radley and Tom Robinson both helped people rather than hurting them, but both were misunderstood.  People were against Tom because he was black and when he was accused of raping a white woman, everyone assumed he was guilty even though all he was doing was helping her.  Boo Radley was a neighborhood recluse who made some bad choices in his youth, and for that the town vilified him. 

How can we distinguish between a concave and convex lenses without touching the lenses?

Concave and convex lenses can be distinguished just by looking at them. A concave lens bends inwards and is thinner in the middle. A convex lens bends outwards and is thicker in the middle.  

Concave and convex lenses can be distinguished further by looking at the images that are produced when an object is looked at through the lenses.

Rays of light that pass through a convex lens converge. This means that the rays of light are brought closer together. The rays of light that pass through a convex lens all come together at one location. This location is called the principal focus. Images produced by convex lenses are magnified.

Rays of light that pass through a concave lens diverge This means that the rays of light spread outwards and apart from one another. As a result, images produced by concave lenses are diminished. This means that the images produced by concave lenses appear smaller than they really are.

Find all solutions to the equation cos(3z+π)=0.

Hello!

As you probably know, there are many solutions of the equation `cos(w)=0.`

The general solution is  `w=+-pi/2+2 k pi,`

where `k` is any integer. Without `+-` it may be written as two sequences,

`w_1=pi/2+2k pi` and `w_2=-pi/2+2k pi.`

In our problem `w=3z+pi,` so

`3z+pi=pi/2+2k pi` or `3z+pi=-pi/2+2k pi.`

These equations are linear for `z` and may be solved easily:

`z_1=-pi/6+(2k pi)/3` and `z_2=-pi/2+(2k pi)/3.`

This is the answer (remember that `k` is any integer).

How did the formation of alliances help cause World War II?

The creation of alliances was a factor in the outbreak of World War II, just like it was a factor in the outbreak of World War I. In World War II, there were two major alliances. The Axis Powers consisted of Germany, Japan, and Italy. The Allied Powers consisted of the main countries of France and Great Britain. Later, the United States and the Soviet Union were members of the Allies.

The creation of alliances allowed member nations to rely on each other for support, for aid, and for resources. This was very important to the Axis Powers since they were intent on taking aggressive actions against other countries. Without support from the other alliance members, they may have been less willing to take these actions on their own. This could have left them to have to fight alone if a war broke out with other countries. For example, Germany knew it had the support of Italy and eventually Japan as Germany began to break the Versailles Treaty, build up its military, and annex other nations or lands.

The Allied alliance was important also since it allowed Great Britain and France to work together to deal with the aggression of Germany, Japan, and Italy. When the war broke out, the Allies were also able to try to coordinate their efforts to stop the Axis Powers.

Alliances were a factor in the outbreak of World War II and also during World War II.

How is Gatsby a dynamic character?

A dynamic character is a character who changes, grows, or learns through the events of the story. Although Gatsby has changed a lot, most of his changes occurred before the story began, so it's difficult to consider Gatsby a dynamic character.

Throughout the novel, he holds on to the idealistic dream of getting Daisy. Through the course of Nick's narration, we learn that Gatsby fell for Daisy five years before the beginning of the novel, and spent those years amassing a great fortune to impress Daisy. At the end of Gatsby's story, when he is in his pool just before George shoots him, Gatsby is still holding onto the hope that Daisy will call.

One small change we can see in Gatsby's character is that he becomes more confident around Daisy. When Gatsby and Daisy are first reunited, in Nick's small house, Gatsby is very nervous and even thinks he has made a mistake in reintroducing himself to Daisy. Nick has to tell him to stop acting like a little boy and go talk to Daisy. Later, in chapter seven when Gatsby, Nick, Tom, Daisy, and Jordan go to the Plaza Hotel, Gatsby boldly tells Tom that Daisy loves him and has never loved Tom. By this scene, he is more confident in claiming ownership of Daisy.

Another minor change that can be seen in Gatsby's character also occurs in the Plaza Hotel scene. Gatsby has been very secretive about his past throughout the story, but in the Plaza Hotel when Tom confronts him about Oxford, Gatsby suddenly reveals the truth: that he attended Oxford for five months in an army program. Gatsby has created his mysterious, glamourous persona so that he can win Daisy. Perhaps in this scene he believes that he has achieved his goal, and can begin to be more truthful about his past.

So Gatsby can be thought of as a slightly dynamic character through these two minor shifts in his character: he becomes more confident with Daisy, and he becomes more honest about his past. However, Gatsby dies still erroneously holding on to the dream that he can relive the past with Daisy, so he doesn't learn much through the course of the story.

What do you learn about "The Secret" in chapters 3-4 of Hatchet?

It is at the beginning of chapter four that Brian reflects on "the secret" and the reader learns what it is about. As he crashes into the water at the end of chapter three, darkness falls and the reader is brought immediately to an account of that day he learned "the secret."

He'd been riding bikes with his friend Terry and he remembered everything perfectly. The clock at the bank read 3:31, the temperature was 82 degrees and he couldn't forget the date. He saw his mother in the car and just before he waved hi he noticed that there was a man in the car with her.

The memory is an incredibly painful one for him. He recalls it with a white hot rage that hasn't really diminished. He also notes later in the chapter that it had something to do with his bad luck. If he had good luck, his parents wouldn't have divorced, he wouldn't know the secret, and he wouldn't have crashed the plane into the lake.

How relevant is Nene's letter to the success of the story "Marriage Is a Private Affair"?

One of the themes of Chinua Achebe's "Marriage Is a Private Affair" is that people living in the modern world should be able to overcome old cultural differences. In this case, it is the cultural taboo of intermarriage between people from different ethnic groups in the African nation of Nigeria. Because Nnaemeka decides to reject his father's wishes that he marry within the tribe, his marriage to Nene, an Ibibio girl from outside the group, is shunned by not only his father but others from the Ibo ethnic group. After being married eight years and having two sons, Nene writes a letter to Okeke, Nnaemeka's father, telling him that his grandsons have insisted "on being taken to him." She argues that she finds it difficult to reveal to them that he will not see them and that he has disowned his son and renounced the marriage.

At the end of the story, Achebe suggests that the letter will eventually bring the family back together. After reading the letter, rain and lightning hit the village where Okeke lives, symbolic of the storm in his heart. While he attempts to put his grandsons out of his mind, he knows he is "fighting a losing battle." In the final lines, Okeke is afraid that he will never make it up to his son. Even though the conflict is not overtly resolved, the ending is a hopeful indication that the old prejudices can be forgotten and that family is stronger than cultural prohibitions.

Why was the talk in the restaurant considered as the worst experience in Parvez's life in the story My Son the Fanatic?

According to the text, Parvez endures the worst experience of his life during a shared meal with his son, Ali, at a restaurant.

The main reason Parvez characterizes his experience so poorly is because Ali's insolent and judgmental attitude made him feel disrespected as an elder and ineffectual as a father. During the meal, Ali questions his father's indulgence in alcohol. Meanwhile, Parvez tries to quell his rising anger but is unsuccessful.

Parvez knew he was getting drunk, but he couldn't stop himself. Ali had a horrible look on his face, full of disgust and censure. It was as if he hated his father. 

He had explained patiently to Ali that for years he had worked more than ten hours a day, that he had few enjoyments or hobbies and never went on holiday. Surely it wasn't a crime to have a drink when he wanted one?

As the conversation continues, Ali condemns Parvez's other lifestyle choices. He accuses his father of enjoying pork pies and crispy bacon sandwiches and of not being a good Muslim. Frustrated at losing control of the conversation, Parvez drinks more alcohol. Meanwhile, Ali lectures his father about the excesses of the West and proclaims that he is too entrenched in the western lifestyle. Parvez is grieved that his relationship with his son has seemingly deteriorated beyond his ability to heal; he feels helpless and angry.

Parvez called for the bill and ushered his boy out of the restaurant as soon as he was able. He couldn't take any more. Ali sounded as if he'd swallowed someone else's voice.

As they leave, Parvez thinks that this is the worst experience of his life: at this point in life, he has been rendered both impotent and inconsequential by influential forces in his son's life that are beyond his control.

'What has made you like this?' Parvez asked him, afraid that somehow he was to blame for all this. 'Is there a particular event which has influenced you? 'Living in this country.'

'But I love England,' Parvez said, watching his boy in the mirror. 'They let you do almost anything here.' 'That is the problem,' he replied.

How and why do people fart?

Intestinal gas is known as flatus. Thousands of different species of bacteria inhabit the human gut. Archaea, single-celled organisms that used to be classified with bacteria but are now in their own domain, also contribute to the production of intestinal gas.

Some of the residents of the gut help to break down organic compounds by fermentation. This is because some undigested organic matter from food makes it to the large intestine. When these substances are metabolized, it results in the formation of fatty acids, carbon dioxide and hydrogen gas. This occurs mainly in the colon. 

Many bacteria can cause hydrogen to combine with sulfate found in the intestine to form hydrogen sulfide, a gas associated with a bad odor. Others can reduce carbon dioxide to form acetate. Archaea known as methanogens can convert hydrogen gas to methane which is essentially natural gas.

Therefore, when someone passes gas, breaks wind, or farts, it is due to the bi-products produced by the symbiotic organisms which reside in the human gut metabolizing undigested foods and releasing gas.

Crooks, Lennie, Candy, Curley's wife, how is society unfair to them?

During the Great Depression, conditions were very harsh for Americans. Because there were few jobs, many men became dispossessed as they were forced to leave their homes and ride the rails in search of work. They were also disenfranchised because with so many men out of work, these migrants were compelled to take whatever jobs they could.

Some, like Crooks, are further marginalized because of race, and Lennie is not included in some activities because he is mentally challenged. Curley's wife is representative of those women who dream of leaving their small community and becoming an actress or some position from which they gain attention, but who go nowhere, just trading one kind of misery for another. Nearly all feel alienated and lonely.

• George and Lennie

Like so many others, George and Lennie have little; they carry bindles which hold all that they own in the world. They have come to the Salinas Valley where it is harvest time in order to procure positions as laborers. Although Lennie is mentally slow, he has brute strength and can do the work of nearly two men. However, other bindle stiffs ridicule Lennie, and women toy with him without realizing the potential danger involved because Lennie does not know his own strength. Consequently, the flirtatious women end as victims of Lennie's strength, and George and Lennie must go on the run, abandoning their work. But, they are more fortunate in that they have each other, whereas most men are alone.

Crooks expresses this terrible alienation from other men when the ingenuous Lennie talks with him and stands in Crooks's room: "Guys don't come in a colored man's room much." But, Lennie continues, anyway, so Crooks tolerates him; then, he asks Lennie how he would like to have to stay out there as he does all by himself. He declares,

"A guy needs somebody--to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody."

The old swamper, who has lost a hand in an accident on the ranch, worries that he will become too old and be sent away or left to die like his old dog who outlived his usefulness and who Candy had one of the other men shoot. Candy is without hope until he hears George mention that he and Lennie are saving to buy some land. Then, he asks to join in on their venture, offering the money he was given for his accident. For the first time, George contemplates their "dream" as a real possibility. 

• Curley's wife

With the entry of Curley's wife into the barn in Chapter 4--alienated herself as the sole female on the ranch--the men become ill at ease because Curley is irrationally jealous. She becomes an Eve, a temptress, who disturbs the fraternity of the men bonded in the dream of owning a place together. Further, with her accidental death at the hands of Lennie, Curley's wife destroys all hopes and Lennie loses his life, leaving George alone and the dream of a farm dead for him and old Candy.

_____________________________________

The losses of family and friends are probably the greatest ills, the greatest unfairness, to have come out of the society in which the characters of Of Mice and Men find themselves. Forced to live in confined areas among strangers, the men in the bunkhouse and Crooks, who is further isolated, feel edgy and deprived of any privacy. When Curley's wife comes into scenes, she, too, is lonely; however, her loneliness works against herself and the men because she is "jail bait" and possible trouble with the son of the boss, her husband. 

Certainly, the conditions of society during the setting of Steinbeck's novella are anything but conducive to fairness, harmony, fellowship, friendship, and hope. It is a time in society throughout the country during which "the best laid schemes o'mice an' men" fade into despair and the social miasma called the Great Depression.

How can I evaluate the roles and methods of the archaeologists who have worked at Pompeii?

Karl Weber and Francesco La Vega: The first stage of excavation began in 1748, and required relatively simple methods as the first layers of debris were the lightest and least compact. The excavation was primarily directed toward the uncovering of valuable artifacts for private collections (such as that of King Charles III) and museums in Naples. Despite critiques of the irreparable destruction created by stripping wall paintings, this period also saw the uncovering of the Quartiere dei Teatri with the Tempio d'Iside, and the Via delle Tombe with the Villa de Diomede.

French control of Naples (1806 -): In the next phase, a new, more organized methodology was deployed, whereby the buried town was systematically excavated from west to east. These excavations resulted in the uncovering of most of the western part of town, including the Foro, the Terme, the Casa di Pansa, the Casa di Sallustio, and the Casa del Chirurgo.

Guiseppe Fiorelli (1863 -): The next phase is demarcated both by the archaeologist and the new set of methods, whereby in order to uncover houses from the ground up one would now begin uncovering the house from the top down instead of beginning with the streets. This technique allowed for better preservation upon discovery and made restorations of ancient buildings possible. Fiorelli's contributions culminated with a plaster reconstruction of human bodies and plants. His followers - Michele Ruggiero, Giulio De Petra, Ettore Pais, and Antonia Sogliano - continued using his methods to restore the roofs of homes with wood and tiles.

August Mau (1882 -): The next phase, although overlapping temporarily with the followers of Fiorelli, can be characterized by the introduction of new methods. Mau's focus on Pompeian paintings led him to develop a system for categorizing decorative styles that is still used today.

Vittorio Spinazzola (1910 -): The next stage concerned the reconstruction of the facades of houses. Spinazzola carried out his excavation techniques with particular attention to both how the houses had been buried and how they were originally structured. This period saw the uncovering of the Casa di Loreio Tiburtino, the Casa dell'Efebo, the Casa di Trebio Valente, and Via dell'Abbondanza. 

Amedeo Maiuri (1924- ): The next set of methods and the archaeologists who deployed them has received the greatest notoriety to date. Although excavating the Via di Nocera (Regio I and II), his methodology was considered so inaccurate, his instruments so inadequate, his project so underfunded, that the houses could not be well enough restored - and thus were effectively abandoned. He is also uncovered the Casa del Mendandro and Villa dei Mister. 

Alfonso De Franciscis (1964-): With the new director of excavations, the role of the archaeologists shifted from excavating new sites to restoring already uncovered ones. The only new excavation during this period was the Casa di Polibio.

Fausto Zavi and Guiseppina Cerulli Irelli played an important role in addressing the new problems that were created by the 1980 earthquake.

Baldassare Conticello (1984- ): Conticello is known for his systematic restoration of the Regio I and II, which had already been excavated by Maiuri, as well as excavating the Complesso dei Casti Amanti from scratch.

Pietro Giovanni Guzzo (1994): Guzzo was the director of excavation until 2010. In this period there were management and financial obstacles that stymied continued excavation and restoration.

Why does Gatsby say he is telling Nick about his life?

In chapter four, Gatsby drives Nick to Manhattan for lunch as a friendly gesture, but his underlying motive is to attempt to shape the way that Nick thinks about him.  Gatsby understands that there are many rumors perpetuated by the people who come to his parties and others in West Egg.  He tells Nick, "I don't want you to get a wrong idea of me from all these stories you hear." Gatsby knows that Nick is Daisy Fay Buchanan's cousin, and it is important to Gatsby to find a close ally to help him in his quest to win back Daisy's love.  He invents details about himself to win Nick's trust and sympathy--and because he wants Nick to believe that he is worthy of a woman of her caliber.  Some of his claims are outlandish--like hunting big game in all the capitals of Europe--but some will prove to have elements of truth: his WWI exploits, his Midwest upbringing, and his time at Oxford. Gatsby is poignantly honest when he tells Nick "I didn't want you to think I was just some nobody."

Fitzgerald, F. Scott.  The Great Gatsby.  Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925.

What is the symbolism of the Ceremony of Eleven in The Giver?

While Jonas feels that the Ceremony of Eleven is "not one of the more interesting ones"(46), it does seem to mark the end of prepubescence and the beginning of adolescence as well as an educational advancement.  

Elevens are given new clothing. The females get "different undergarments" (46), and the males get "longer trousers" (46). This reflects the changes that come in adolescence for females and males. It should also be noted that this seems to be the general period when the children begin to experience Stirrings, their first hint of sexual desire. In the story, Asher is already on medication for his Stirrings, and Jonas, almost twelve, has just experienced his own first Stirrings.  So, the Ceremony of Eleven does symbolize the beginnings of adolescence, even though the community has not been able to impose Sameness on the date on which this happens. 

The Elevens' clothing also comes with a special pocket to hold a calculator, which is presented during the ceremony. I think this symbolizes a kind of intellectual "coming of age" for the children, too. In many schools, children are not permitted to use calculators until they have mastered the basic operations of math, and being given a calculator suggests this mastery has been achieved and it is time to move on to higher math. 

Jonas' attitude toward the Ceremony of Eleven, that it was not particularly important, is largely based on his perspective as he approaches the Ceremony of Twelve, at which he and all the other children will receive their assignments for their life's work.  Nevertheless, the ceremony is important, representing a physiological and educational coming of age.

What does it mean to say that Utilitarianism places everything on the same "scale of value"? And why might this be objectionable?

When we say that utilitarianism places everything on the same scale of value, we are saying that everything that brings people happiness or pleasure is equally valuable. There are no kinds of happiness that are superior or inferior to other kinds of happiness.  Some people might object to this because they feel that some kinds of activities and pleasures are more valuable than others.

The idea that some activities are more valuable than others is pervasive in our society.  People might talk about how it is better to read books than to watch movies. They might say that it is better to do things like working in your garden or doing yoga than it is to play video games or watch football on TV.  Many people would say that reading Shakespeare would be better than looking at cat pictures on the internet.  To these people, it is wrong to put everything on the same scale of value. If I derive x amount of pleasure looking at cat videos, it should not count as much as the x amount of value (even though x = x) that you derive from watching a performance of Hamlet. Because of this, these people would object to putting everything on the same scale of value.

When placed on the same scale, all of these amusements are equal in their potential value.  The pleasure I derive from watching football (or a reality show) is no less valuable than the pleasure you derive from a “better” pursuit like writing poetry or playing the violin.  This is what we mean when we say that utilitarianism places everything on the same scale of value. People can object to this because it denies the idea that some kinds of activities are inherently better than others and that some pleasures are superior to others.

What is the tone in Act 2 of Hamlet?

First, a summary of Act Two of Hamlet:

The act starts out with Polonius talking about his son, Laertes, who has returned to France. He discusses how he wants to know more about how his son is behaving and sends a spy. Ophelia then enters telling how Hamlet is wild. Next, Claudius seeks out the reason behind Hamlet's strange behavior. Polonius claims to understand Hamlet's behavior and states it is due to his love for Ophelia. Polonius and Claudius decide to spy on Hamlet. Hamlet enters and has many discussions about love, the coming play, and then he delivers some of his greatest lines, musing on his father's ghost and deciding to stage a play that is about the murder of his father. He believes this will show if the king is guilty of the murder.

This act is essentially devoted to the "madness" of Hamlet. While subplots are discussed, most of the characters are curious about the source of Hamlet's strange behavior. Hamlet is also concerned with his feelings, but we are not able to see Hamlet's behavior until we have heard about it from all the other characters. This allows insight into the other characters, as well as the overall mood around Hamlet.

Compared to the rest of the play, the tone of this act is somewhat light. There is a lot of talking about Hamlet's madness, but there are no significant deaths or active events. Everyone is thinking about Hamlet, and there is a lot of confusion, but this act is largely setting up the actions that will occur later in the play.

How is space and light used in the Oath of Horatii painting by Jacques-Louis David?

The "Oath of the Horatii"is a painting painted in 1784 and done in the Neoclassical style.  It depicts a scene from Roman legend where three men, brothers, salute toward three swords held up by their father as women behind them grieve.  

The space, like many works done in this style, is rigorously organized by the artist.  The arches and pillars in the background keep the viewer's attention fixed on the action in the foreground.  The arches also serve to cut off the extension of space into the background, pushing the action of the scene forward in a manner similar to Roman relief sculptures.  Jacques-Louis David is clearly utilizing space to connect his painting to the Roman traditions of the past. 

Another way in which space is used is the father's clasped hands are placed over a vanishing point of the perspective scheme, which places strong emphasis on the hard lines and edges of the architectural setting. 

To discus the "light" element of this painting, some more context on the legend it is depicting is in order.  In the legend, the Roman Horatius family had been picked for a duel against three members of the Curiatii family, a duel from which only one of the three brothers survives.  This is where the light element in the painting becomes most prominent.  The brother who is depicted in the most direct light and is closest to the viewer is the sole survivor of the duel. His brothers, on the other hand, are depicted in low light and put in an obstructed view.  This deliberate decision is often viewed as a symbolic depiction of the other two brothers' deaths.

Another point you could note is how the darkness of the background serves to put the foreground figures into stronger contrast, thus serving as another way to draw the viewer's eye to the foreground.    

What is the blending of fantasy and reality in "Eveline" by James Joyce?

The fusion of reality and fantasy in "Eveline" reflects the protagonist's inner dilemma -- should she succumb to her oppressive daily routine or should she summon her courage, embrace a sense of adventure and leave Ireland?

Eveline is torn between two options -- staying as a dutiful daughter at her home where she has to take care of her overwhelming obligations and household tasks daily or trusting her lover, Frank, who promises to take her to Argentina for a better life. The new world, that is, the fantasy world, is embodied by Eveline's lover, Frank, who presents her with an opportunity to escape from her stifling everyday life to Argentina, where she can start over and find the security and love she needs. The real world is the world mainly represented through Eveline's relationship with her father, her present duties, and her memories of the past. The past memories, such as when she recalls that she promised her mother that she would keep the family together, remind Eveline of her responsibilities, and this seems to deter her from summoning enough courage to escape from Ireland.

Eveline's responsibilities prove to be too much to handle, and she eventually stays in Ireland, unable to break away from the duties imposed upon her.

`f(x) = (2x)/(1 + x^2)^2, [0, 2]` Find the average value of the function on the given interval.

Given `f(x)=(2x)/(1+x^2)^2, [0, 2]`

Average Value Formula=`1/(b-a)int_a^bf(x)dx`

`f_(ave)=1/(2-0)int_0^2(2x)/(1+x^2)^2dx`

`=(1/2)*2int_0^2x/(1+x^2)^2dx`

`=int_0^2x/(1+x^2)^2dx`

Integrate using the u-subsitution method.

Let `u=1+x^2`

`(du)/dx=2x`

`dx=(du)/(2x)`

`=int_0^2x/u^2*(du)/(2x)`

`=(1/2)int_0^2(1/u^2)du`

`=(1/2)int_0^2(u^-2)du`

`=(1/2)(u^-1)/(-1)|_0^2`

`=(-1/2)[1/u]_0^2`

`=(-1/2)[1/(1+x^2)]_0^2`

`=(-1/2)[1/(1+(2)^2)-1/(1-0^2)]`

`=(-1/2)[1/5-1]`

`=(-1/2)(-4/5)`

`=2/5`

The average value is 2/5.

Who did Maniac Magee meet in the East End?

Maniac met many people in the East End. For a few months, Maniac lived in the East End with the Beale family. Maniac was white, and the residents of the East End were black. Even though Maniac was of a different race, almost everyone in the East End welcomed him.

Amanda Beale became Maniac's best friend in the East End. She was a girl who loved books and reading. Maniac also loved to read, and they often shared books.

Hester and Lester Beale were Amanda's younger sister and brother. They loved Maniac. They were usually messy children, but Maniac taught them to pick up after themselves. After he came, they stopped "crayoning everything in sight." Hester and Lester used to drive Amanda crazy, but she realized how much she loved them after Maniac Magee moved in.

Mr. and Mrs. Beale were Amanda's parents. Mr. Beale worked at the tire factory and Mrs. Beale was a homemaker. She was an excellent cook. They welcomed Maniac Magee as if he were their own son.

Mars Bar Thompson was a tough kid who lived in the East End. He liked to eat Mars Bar candy bars. He wore a pair of "beloved sneakers." He did not like Maniac Magee.

What is the theme of the conflict in Act 2 of The Crucible?

In Act Two of The Crucible, the audience members and readers of the play find themselves in the household of the Proctors. While the first act was an overview of the community and a foreshadowing of the coming tragedy, the second act focuses in on the domestic issues between the Proctors. Miller's tightening of the scope of the play from the community to the Proctors secures the Proctors as central characters in the play. 

In the opening of the act, we understand that Proctor has had an affair with Abigail and there is more suspicion when he is caught in another lie. These lies and suspicions are central to the themes of the act, which include paranoia, jealousy and family.

There is frequent paranoia and jealousy in the second act. Characters covet the things that other characters possess, and they create paranoia in their attempt to possess other characters' belongings. The Putnams want land, Abigail wants Proctor, and Mary Warren might want attention. Furthermore, all of these issues circulate around family structures. 

How does the setting help establish the main conflict in the story "All Summer in a Day"?

The incident could not have happened anywhere other than Venus because the children bullied Margot for having seen the sun.

The setting of the story is Venus.  It rains all of the time on Venus, and the sun has not come out in seven years.  Margot is from Earth, so she has seen the sun.  No one else in her class has seen it since the age of two.

It had been raining for seven years; thousands upon thousands of days compounded and filled from one end to the other with rain, with the drum and gush of water, with the sweet crystal fall of showers and the concussion of storms so heavy they were tidal waves come over the islands.

The conflict is the children’s distrust and bullying of Margot.  They put her in a closet when the sun was about to come out.  It was a silly prank, and they really did not mean anything by it.  They felt awful when they were done and Margot felt terrible because she missed the sun, and it would be years before it came out again.

A story’s setting affects the conflict because conflicts result from the setting and characters.  In this case, the characters are nine-year-old kids.  They live on Venus, and it rains on Venus constantly.  This is part of the setting because the absence of the sun is the status quo.  If the story had taken place on Earth, the children might have bullied Margot, but for other reasons. 

They edged away from her, they would not look at her. She felt them go away. And this was because she would play no games with them in the echoing tunnels of the underground city. If they tagged her and ran, she stood blinking after them and did not follow.

She did not fit in.  However, the reason for her not fitting in might have been different if the story had taken place on Earth.  In that case, the story still would have been different because there would be another reason for Margot’s alienation.

Describe the Pigeoncotes in The Seven Cream Jugs by Saki..

Following Saki's signature style, even the singularly ridiculous name of the Pigeoncotes hints at their similarly peculiar personalities.

A parody of the shallow English upper classes, the Pigeoncotes are a male-female married couple celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. This lets us infer that they are middle-aged, or entering their middle-adulthood. Based on the fact that the husband, Peter Pigeoncote has a relative who inherited the family baronetcy, we can also infer that the family has pedigree, name, and historical relevance.

This family member who inherited the baronetcy, Wilfrid, has also inherited a lot of money. Therefore, this means that the Pigeoncotes are also rich. Evidence of this is given in the number of gifts the married couple receives on their anniversary. It is also evident in the fact that the couple has an estate big enough for family to feel comfortable staying at while passing through from the country to the city.

One indirect characterization of the Pigeoncotes is that they are judgmental. Their fixation with one of their relatives, a kleptomaniac cousin named Wilfrid, led them to confuse him with the Wilfrid who inherited the baronetcy and who also came to visit them, even bringing with him a gift for their anniversary. This early judgment led them to assume that the visiting Wilfrid had stolen from them, only to find out  that they were wrong.

A last indication of the shallow nature of the Pigeoncotes is that they are unwilling to admit to a mistake. Rather than "explain everything", like Mrs. Peter Pigeoncote tells her husband that she did, what she actually did do is tell Wilfrid, in secret, that Peter is a kleptomaniac, and that he (Peter) took Wilfrid's cream jug while the latter was asleep. This would have excused the fact that the Pigeoncotes went into Wilfrid's room to see if Wilfrid had taken one of the silver jugs that Peter claimed to be missing.

The jug was not missing; they just miscalculated how many they had. When they saw the one Wilfrid had purchased for them inside his bag, they assumed it was their missing jug and that Wilfrid had stolen it. They removed the jug from Wilfrid's bag and took it out at breakfast. When Wilfrid saw it, he assumed that the help of the house (servants) were thieves and took it from him. To save face, Mrs. Pigeoncote came up with the lie that Peter was a kleptomaniac, meaning that their judgmental nature came back to bite them.

Therefore, it is safe to describe the Pigeoncotes as shallow, judgmental, very rich, and very concerned about tainting their reputation as a "family name."

What do Macbeth and Banquo have to fight against?

At the beginning of the play, Macbeth and Banquo are fighting against the forces of the rebel, Macdonwald, who has betrayed king and country to mount an attack on Scotland.  The captain who tells Duncan and Malcolm this paints a pretty frightening picture of Macbeth as he fought.

For brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name),
Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel,
Which smoked with bloody execution,
Like Valor's minion, carved out his passage
Till he faced the slave;
Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,
Till he unseamed him from the nave to the chops,
And fixed his head upon our battlements.  (1.2.18-25)

Macbeth fought valiantly, caring nothing for his own safety, used his sword -- still steaming from the hot blood on its blade -- and cut a path through the fighting men until he reached Macdonwald, the traitor.  Macbeth proceeded to split him from his belly to his chin and then place his head on a spike as a warning to any other would-be rebels.  Both Banquo and Macbeth then pursued the rebel army, "as sparrows eagles or the hare the lion," as the captain says (1.2.39).  So despite their force's relative weakness, Banquo and Macbeth continued to put their lives in danger to be assured of a victory for Scotland and King Duncan.

Who were Homer's friends and contemporaries?

I'm assuming you're asking about the epic poet Homer, author of The Odyssey and The Iliad. Both epics come from an oral tradition, and are long, narrative poems that describe journeying and war. Since some scholars believe it's unclear whether Homer was a single author or a collection of voices, it's difficult to tell who Homer's "friends" would have been (with later authors, it is often interesting to research a writer's milieu, or circle of friends). However, scholars call the group of poets roughly contemporary with Homer "Cyclic Poets" (definition at Merriam-Webster) and this group can include Theogonies, Cosmogonies, and Titanomachies (for a more complete list, see this page from the Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities).

However, perhaps you're talking about Homer Simpson, from the television show "The Simpsons." Homer has a group of friends he hangs out with regularly. These include Lenny, Moe the bartender, Lou the policeman, and Apu, the convenience store clerk.

Good luck, whether you're learning about cyclic poetry or TV!

What is structural racism?

Structural racism is a form of structural or systematic violence which occurs when the structures of a society contribute to or encourage the oppression of a particular group of people. Most often when we talk about structural racism in the United States, we are referring to the elements of society like healthcare, education, and governmental powers which put people of color (PoC) at a disadvantage. 

Structural racism in the United States, and elsewhere, manifests in a number of ways. Some of the most evident forms are the high rate of arrests and convictions of people of color (especially young, black men) in situations that would likely not result in arrest or conviction for a white person. Education is an area where students suffer from the history of systemic racism and are trapped in reproducing it. For example, if a young student of color comes from a low-socioeconomic status, their parents may have to work several jobs to earn enough money to care for their family. Stress in the household contributes to stress for the child and makes it more difficult for them to learn. Additionally, they may not receive support in their education at home or be discouraged from extracurricular activities. It is a sad truth that the education of young people of color is still valued as less than and even discouraged when compared to the education of young white people. It is systems of oppression (whether explicit or implicit) like devaluation of the education of people of color that contributes to structural racism.

An emerging topic of study in the field of public health focuses on the was in which people embody their socioeconomic class, which is often tied to racial or ethnic identity. The embodiment of race, class, and ethnicity refers to the way the circumstances of our lives shape our physical bodies and health. Many people of low-socioeconomic status suffer from poor nutrition due to lack of access to food and/or lack of education regarding health. A lifetime of poor nutrition increases risk of heart disease, diabetes, and chronic illness. It also makes an individual less likely to perform well in school or at work, perpetuating the cycle of poverty and poor health.

What problems would have occurred in Rome if the city that large did not have an adequate sewage system?

Sewage systems have become a vital part in city planning to promote the health of the public and maintenance of public spaces.

The biggest benefit Roman society reaped from having an extensive sewage system was disease prevention. Humans invariably produce bodily waste throughout their lifetime, and this can be managed in a number of ways. Historically, latrines may have been dug on the outskirts of a settlement, or large pits were used as all-purpose waste disposal, including poo. In a large city like Rome, it became more difficult to manage human waste due to crowding. With lots of people living together in the same space, it is necessary to have a means of transporting human waste away from the living areas. Otherwise, waste would build up in fetid puddles and breed disease- not to mention the smell! Without a sewage removal system, Rome might have been quickly buried under all of the food scraps and bodily waste produced by the massive population. 

Contamination has been a big problem throughout the towns and cities of history, largely due to situations where people did not have dedicated means of removing human waste from their living spaces. Contamination of water and food re-introduced bacteria to the body and could easily spread disease like typhus.

Not only were the sewer systems beneficial for removing human waste and wastewater, they helped to drain out fallen rainwater and prevent flooding of the city spaces. 

What quotes in the play Macbeth portray internal conflict in Lady Macbeth and what techniques are used in the quotations?

Lady Macbeth shows internal conflict when she compares Duncan to her father and when she imagines blood on her hands.  These techniques are foreshadowing and metaphor.

When Lady Macbeth finds out that her husband heard witches tell him that he was going to be king, she jumps on the opportunity.  She does not feel that her husband has it in him, but she pushes him until he finally kills the king.

Lady Macbeth is the one who devises the plan and forces Macbeth to follow it, but she does not kill Duncan herself.  In fact, she notes that he looked so peaceful that she was unable to kill him.

Alack, I am afraid they have awaked,
And 'tis not done. The attempt and not the deed
Confounds us. Hark! I laid their daggers ready;
He could not miss 'em. Had he not resembled
My father as he slept, I had done't. (Act 2, Scene 2)

The internal conflict here is that Lady Macbeth is beginning to doubt the plan to kill Duncan.  This is also foreshadowing for her later mental breakdown.  She saw Duncan, and he looked like her father, and something inside her began to unravel.

Macbeth is going downhill too.  At a banquet, he thinks he sees the ghost of Banquo and freaks out.  Lady Macbeth begins to doubt what they have done again.  She makes excuses for Macbeth, saying nothing is wrong with him and he often gets such fits.  In reality, things are falling apart for her.

Everything comes to a head when the battle is imminent.  Lady Macbeth has to face what they have done, and something inside her finally snaps. 

Out, damned spot! out, I say!--One: two: why,
then, 'tis time to do't.--Hell is murky!--Fie, my
lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we
fear who knows it, when none can call our power to
account?--Yet who would have thought the old man
to have had so much blood in him. (Act 5, Scene 1)

It is not long after this that Lady Macbeth kills herself.  Here she imagines blood on her hands.  It is too much for her.  She feels like she is seeing King Duncan’s blood and can’t wash it off.  The blood is a metaphor for her part in Duncan’s death. 

Shakespeare uses these two techniques, foreshadowing and metaphor, related to Lady Macbeth’s internal conflict.  Macbeth also suffers from what they have done, but his reaction is to continue killing to try to stay in power.  Lady Macbeth kills herself from guilt.

What is the physical description of Calpurnia in To Kill a Mockingbird?

Scout describes Calpurnia as being "all angles and bones" (To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 1).  She is a tall, slender, older African American woman.  Her youthful appearance makes her look much younger than she actually is.  Calpurnia is nearsighted, and because of this she has to squint to see things far away.  She has large hands.  Scout thinks that Calpurnia's hands are "wide as a bed slat and twice as hard."  She often wears dresses, and at church she also wears a hat.  She wears an apron over her dress when she works for the Finch family each day.  On the day of the ladies' missionary circle social, Calpurnia wears a very starched apron to look the part for a fancy party.  Calpurnia usually shows her emotions in her face.  When she is annoyed with Scout, the little girl can tell just by looking at Calpurnia's facial expression.

In "The Canterville Ghost" by Oscar Wilde, how does the ghost try to frighten the Otis family?

The ghost employs a number of tactics to scare the Otis family when they move into Canterville Chase.

First of all, he uses the blood stain in the library to evoke a sense of mystery and fear. As the housekeeper informs the family, the stain is the blood of Lady Eleanore de Canterville, the ghost's former wife, whom he murdered on that spot in 1575. The family, however, are not frightened by the daily reappearance of the stain: they simply erase it with Pinkerton's Stain Remover and Paragon Detergent. 

Secondly, the ghost uses traditional haunting techniques to scare the family, like rattling his ghostly chains, groaning and traversing the corridor all night long. Again, these techniques prove futile: the Otises are more annoyed by his antics than frightened. This is best shown in Chapter Two when Mr Otis offers the ghost some Tammany Lubricator to oil his chains and keep the noise down. 

The ghost also uses a number of disguises to try and scare the family. Disguises, like that of "Reckless Rupert, the Headless Earl," proved very successful in frightening former residents of the house, as the reader learns in Chapter Four. The Otises, however, are not as suggestible as the likes of Lady Barbara Modish and the ghost, once again, fails in his attempt to scare the family. In fact, this disguise fails so badly that the ghost "gave up all of hope" of ever frightening them. This leads directly to his encounter with Virginia in Chapter Five and his desire to leave the mortal world in favour of the Garden of Death. 

When and where does Crispin: Cross of Lead by Avi take place?

Crispin: Cross of Lead, written by Avi, is set in England during the year 1377. One might refer to this as the Medieval Period or Middle Ages, which was characterized by the prevalence of the feudal system and a break in the traditions and innovation of Latin scholarship. The feudal system plays a big part in the setting for Crispin, as the protagonist grows up in a peasant village which serves a manor house. When Crispin (also called "Asta's Son") is falsely accused of theft by the steward of the manor house, he flees the village to seek safety from the penalty of death. As a work of historical fiction, Crispin is richly woven into the time period and place in which it is set. Crispin's experiences do not merely take place against the backdrop of Medieval England, they take place because of the societal structure that was common at that time.

Questions for "The Speckled Band" from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: 1. What does the opening scene tell us about...

It's the norm to post only one question per Q&A post. But I'll answer these this time as the answers are short. But for future, post one (maybe two) per post.

1. The opening scene reveals that Dr. Grimesby-Roylott has trouble with anger, as he has beaten a servant to death in a fit of rage. He is quite a loner and isolates himself in his home except for when he engages in arguments and fights with people in the village. People fear him.

2. Some work is being done on the house, which has involved breaking part of Helen's bedroom wall. Because of this, she sleeps in her dead sister's room. 

3. In the middle of the night, Helen hears the very same whistling sound she heard the night her sister died. She is so shaken by this sound (which she hasn't heard since the death of her sister) that she immediately prepares to leave for London.

4. Dr. Grimesby-Roylott is not Helen's birth father. He met and married Helen's mother, a widow, in India. Shortly after the family returned to England, Helen's mother died in a railway accident.

5. Helen's sister Julia died two years before the story takes place. Julia was recently engaged to be married when she died mysteriously. Helen, too, is recently engaged to be married. It is also strange that before her death, Julia heard the whistling sound several nights in a row.

6. A pet cheetah and baboon run wild on the property at night, so it is not safe for anyone to go out of doors. 

7. Helen's stepfather, Dr. Grimesby-Roylott follows Helen to 221B Bakery Street and visits Holmes after Helen has left. He threatens that if Holmes and Watson "meddle" by investigating the Doctor, they will have to face his danger. He even makes a show of strength by bending a fire poker in half.

8. Julia's old room is described as small, with a low ceiling, and a large fireplace. It was not well taken care of, as the walls were paneled in worm-eaten oak. There are a few pieces of furniture like the bed, a chest of drawers, and some wicker chairs.

9. Dr. Grimesby-Roylott's room is larger than Helen or Julia's and has very basic furniture- including a camp bed, a bookcase, and a safe. The family keeps a cheetah and a baboon, so they leave out a saucer of milk for them. It is later revealed that the milk is a sort of treat used to train a snake to return to its owner.

10. The story does not say what Sherlock Holmes thinks about Helen and Julia's greying hair, but Helen does allude to nervous shocks. Stress can cause premature greying of the hair.

How does discovery in Shakespeare's The Tempest afford individuals a greater understanding of society and themselves?

I can think of two ways in which discovery gives characters greater knowledge of society and themselves in Shakespeare's The Tempest. Miranda's discoveries of the existence of other humans leads her to develop both a knowledge of her place in romantic relationships and a more earnest love for human society, while Caliban's discovery of human language leads him to more fully comprehend the bitter realities of hierarchy.

To begin with, it's important to understand that Miranda grew up on the island and only has relationships with her father, Prospero, and their wretched servant, Caliban. As such, she has no knowledge of what it's like to be in a romantic relationship. Meeting Ferdinand (the only "marriageable" male she's ever met) leads her to quickly develop an understanding of love and commitment. Further on, toward the end of the play in Act 5, Scene 1, Miranda meets even more humans, leading her to speak the now famous lines: "O brave new world that has such people in't!" (183-4). Here, we can clearly see that Miranda has developed a new excitement for the mere process of being human, now that she has discovered what it's like to live in a human society full of diverse individuals.

In contrast, Caliban's discovery is less positive. Caliban was the powerful son of the witch Sycorax before Prospero overthrew her and took over the island. When the play begins, we see him as a conquered native with little freedom. While Prospero taught Caliban language, this discovery only enables him to more fully understand his serf-like position in human society. He says, "You taught me language, and my profit on't/ Is, I know how to curse" (363-4). Through this statement, we can see that, through his discovery of human language, Caliban "discovers" his weak position within the hierarchy of human society, and curses it. 

What scientific principles are involved in biogas production?

Biogas is a clean burning fuel which pollutes far less than many other fuels, including coal.

Usually, biogas is a mixture of gases produced by the action of anaerobic bacteria when they break down organic matter by the process of digestion.

Biomass is needed so that it can be converted to biogas. Biomass includes materials such as plant matter, which has undigested fibers that can be digested by bacteria to yield the biogas. Examples of biomass are wood chips, animal wastes, and crop wastes which all contain stored chemical energy, which was initially solar energy captured by plants via photosynthesis. This biomass can be used to produce biogas.

Biogas contains mainly methane and other gases in a mixture. The biomass is digested by anaerobic bacteria and the gas is collected, stored and transported to where it is needed. 

In places like India, family-sized biogas digesters can break down organic household wastes to produce biogas the family can use for cooking, heating and other purposes. Inside these digesters, once the gas has been produced, the remains can be repurposed as fertilizer.

One scientific principle behind the production of biogas is the process of hydrolysis. In this reaction, water molecules interact with the large organic compounds in biomass to cause it to break down in the presence of enzymes supplied by anaerobic bacteria. They form smaller molecules including sugar. Eventually, the sugar is fermented and yields the lactic acid which becomes further reduced by bacterial action to produce hydrogen sulfide gas. Later, due to more bacterial action, methane gas is produced which is the main gas found in biogas. The steps described above are: hydrolysis, acidogenesis, acetogenesis and finally methanogenesis.

The main idea behind biogas production is that if anaerobic bacteria are supplied with large organic macromolecules (like those found in plant and animal wastes), through a series of enzyme-controlled steps, biogas can be one of the end products of this anaerobic chemical reaction. 

The story is mostly about how two kidnappers did what?

"The Ransom of Red Chief" is an early example of what in Hollywood is called a "Busted Caper" story. A criminal, or two partners, or a whole group of criminals plan to commit a crime and something goes wrong which results to their downfall. In O. Henry's story, the kidnappers, Sam and Bill, are making the mistake of moving into a type of crime with which they have no previous experience. They are obviously con artists. They want the ransom money in order to perpetrate another of the kind of swindles with which they are familiar. But in order to get the money to work the "fraudulent town-lot scheme," they have to execute another crime successfully. They may think their biggest problem as kidnappers will be in dealing with the boy's father, but it turns out that the real problem is dealing with the boy himself.

The story is treated comically. Red Chief turns out to be more than they can handle. He loves being kidnapped and loves playing Indian, sleeping on the ground, cooking over an open fire, and never having to go to school. There are several reasons why Sam and Bill can't handle their victim, even though he is only ten years old. One reason is simply that they have had no experience in dealing with children, especially with rambunctious small boys. Another reason is that they can't use physical force. If they were violent with Red Chief they would make him a dangerous enemy. Once they returned him to his father he would be able to identify his kidnappers and tell a lot about them. In many cases of kidnapping children, the victim is murdered to prevent the child from giving information about the criminals and also to prevent the child from testifying against them when they get caught. Sam and Bill obviously are not killers. But if they returned the boy to his father with bruises and abrasions they would make dangerous enemies of both Red Chief and his father. Furthermore, once they become kidnappers they lose any moral authority they might possess as adults--and Red Chief knows it! How can they ask him to behave when they are misbehaving so flagrantly themselves? 

'You know, Sam,' says Bill, 'I've stood by you without batting an eye in earthquakes, fire and flood--in poker games, dynamite outrages, police raids, train robberies and cyclones. I never lost my nerve yet till we kidnapped that two-legged skyrocket of a kid. He's got me going. You won't leave me long with him, will you, Sam?'

In a busted-caper story things go from bad to worse, and the criminals can't just walk away from the mess they have made. What seems like a simple crime turns into a very complicated one. An excellent example of a busted-caper movie is Fargo (1996), starring William H. Macy as Jerry Lundegaard, who hires two freakish characters to kidnap his wife. In the end the wife is dead, her father, who was supposed to pay a million dollars ransom, has been shot dead, one of the kidnappers has murdered the other, an innocent park-lot attendant has been killed, and Jerry Lundegaard is captured and will undoubtedly get a death sentence. Like Sam and Bill in the O. Henry story, the problem is inexperience and incompetence.

Sam and Bill use a lot of big words and malapropisms in their dialogue, but they are really ignorant men and not overly bright. If they were intelligent they wouldn't be down to their last six hundred dollars at their time of life. They find it is easy to kidnap Red Chief and easy to keep him a hostage, but it is hard to get rid of him. The father refuses to pay the fifteen-hundred dollars they demand and offers to take the hellcat off their hands if they pay him two hundred and fifty dollars. They have to trick the kid in order to get him to go home.

How does Ray Bradbury use hyperbole in his novel Fahrenheit 451?

Hyperbole is the use of extreme exaggeration for the purpose of creating a desired effect. The author fully intends that his readers recognize a hyperbolic statement as a figure of speech, and as readers we willingly go along for the ride in order to experience the effect, whether it be amusement, shock, disdain, wonder, admiration, you name it. Ray Bradbury does a very entertaining job with hyperbole in Fahrenheit 451, usually for the purpose of highlighting his themes.

In section one, “The Hearth and the Salamander,” Bradbury gives us an overwhelming taste of Montag’s home life as he gets bombarded by the T.V. walls Millie is watching in the parlor. Bradbury's description almost lets us experience it with Montag here:

A great thunderstorm of sound gushed from the walls. Music bombarded him at such an immense volume that his bones were almost shaken from his tendons; he felt his jaw vibrate, his eyes wobble in his  head. He was a victim of concussion...whirled in a centrifuge, and spat out over a waterfall that fell and fell into an emptiness…

Clearly an exaggeration, right? But as readers, instead of sarcastically saying, “Yeah, right,” like we might when a friend hypes up a story, we enjoy the exaggerated description. We may even relate to it, imagining that concert where we could feel the bass vibrating in our entire body. And we get what Bradbury is showing us: Montag is a victim of his own house. These T.V. walls have taken over his living room, and his wife loves them—more than she loves him. Through this hyperbole we experience the themes of the broken relationship and the artificiality resulting from materialism.

Montag’s resulting feelings towards his wife are evident in the next hyperbole, when he is lying sick in bed and Millie is unsympathetically standing over him, only wanting him to go to work and make more money for a fourth T.V. wall.

He...saw her without opening his eyes, her hair burnt by chemicals to a brittle straw, her eyes with a kind of cataract unseen but suspect far behind the pupils...the body as thin as a praying mantis from dieting, and her flesh like white bacon.

By overstating the effects of an artificial life on a 30-something woman, Bradbury nudges us towards his deeper message that a materialistic life isolates us from our own humanity. The use of hyperbole allows him to present these ideas without sounding preachy, while entertaining us in the process.

What revolution in Europe was influenced by the American Revolution?

The revolution in Europe that was most explicitly influenced by the American Revolution was the French Revolution, at least its early stages. In its beginnings, the French Revolution was based on many of the same liberal ideas about natural rights and representative government that the Americans had articulated in such documents as the Declaration of Independence. For example, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, issued in 1789 by the revolutionary National Assembly, asserted such "natural and imprescriptable rights of man" as "liberty, property," and that "all men are born and remain free and equal in rights." Moreover, many French revolutionaries, especially the reform-minded nobility, had actually served as officers in the American colonies during the Revolution. The most famous of these men, the Marquis de Lafayette, actually consulted with Thomas Jefferson, in person while Jefferson was in France, and by letters after he returned home, throughout the early days of the Revolution. The Revolution in France was influenced by the American Revolution in another way, this one unintended: one of its causes was a fiscal crisis that was precipitated by the inability to service debts incurred while fighting on the side of the Americans during the Revolutionary War. 

What is the poem "Time is Running Out" by Oodgeroo Noonuccal about, and what is the author challenging in Australian dominant ideology?

This poem is about the mindless destruction of natural landscapes for the resources hidden within them – oil, ore, minerals – all in the greedy name of profit and with no concern for the damage inflicted upon the land, nor upon those living things, humans included, dependent on the land.  The first two stanzas speak of a miner, who “rapes/The heart of earth/With his violent spade.”  At the beginning of the second verse, the speaker states that, “In his greedy lust for power/He destroys old nature’s will.”  Man – specifically the European-Australians – seeks to exert his dominance over the land for his own lusty gain, and impoverishes his own habitat “for the sake of the filthy dollar.”  This era of wanton destruction will soon come to an end, however; the speaker asserts that “the Dreamtime folk are massing/To defend their timeless land.”

The Dreamtime folk are the Australian Aborigines, who live in peace with the land and understand the sanctity and importance of all life.  Wealth and trade are less important to them than preserving nature as it is, for each living being contributes to the balance of an ecosystem.  In the final verse, the speaker appeals to the Aborigines:

Come gentle black man
Show your strength;
Time to take a stand.
Make the violent miner feel
Your violent
Love of land.

The speaker exhorts the Aborigines to rise up and take violent action against these injustices of the white Australians, their thoughtless destruction of the lands which rightfully belong to the Aborigines.  The speaker urges them to protest the evils of big industry and the wasting of natural resources.  Blinded by greed, the only way the white miners will be able to see the folly of their ways and the desolate fruit of their industrial ventures is through a violent protest.

What lesson did Scrooge learn from the first spirit?

The first spirit to visit Scrooge after the ghost of Jacob Marley has visited him is the Ghost of Christmas Past. When Scrooge asks the first spirit why he came to visit, the spirit informs Scrooge he is there to improve his welfare. The spirit then takes Scrooge back in time to see his former self at times in his life when he was a different, more hopeful, and less greedy person. The spirit also reveals that at one point, Scrooge was a lonely boy living in less than ideal conditions. However, at later points in his life, the Spirit of Christmas Past reminds Scrooge of the choices he made, often guided by greed, that have led Scrooge to the lonely life he has now. The lesson the Spirit of Christmas Past brings to Scrooge reminds him that there were once things in his life more important than money, but his choices have left him lonely and alone. The memories the spirit brings to Scrooge distress him to the point that he begs to be released from them.

“Spirit!” said Scrooge in a broken voice, “remove me from this place.”

“I told you these were shadows of the things that have been,” said the Ghost. “That they are what they are, do not blame me!”

What causes Stanley to be angry in scene 8?

In scene 8 of A Streetcar Named Desire, all of Stanley's annoyances about Blanche and her attitude towards him, as well as, all of the insecurities this seems to bring up, comes to a head. He's found out the truth about Blanche's circumstances and the scandalous things she's done. So when Stella criticizes him for eating dinner with his hands and tells him to clear the table and clean himself up, he explodes with all those other feelings and frustrations. He shouts,

"That’s how I’ll clear the table! [He seizes her arm.] Don’t ever talk that way to me! "Pig – Polack – disgusting – vulgar – greasy!" – them kind of words have been on your tongue and your sister’s too much around here! What do you think you two are? A pair of queens? Remember what Huey Long said – "Every Man is a King!" And I am the King around here, so don’t forget it!"

While Stanley has been judgmental and annoyed by Blanche's excessive haughtiness and disdain, it's clear in this scene that her classist attitudes have gotten to him more than he's shown. He particularly hates that Stella seems to be falling into the same pattern of criticizing him that Blanche has. Remember, as a guest in their house, Blanche has been a pretty terrible one. Aside from her constant criticism, she keeps telling Stella to leave him. So when he sees Stella start to look down on him too, he shows the ferocity of a man who is being threatened.

What economic factors influenced Americans to stay neutral during World War I?

The simple answer to this question is that World War I was very profitable for the United States.  The economy, which was sluggish at best before the war, received a major bump through trading with the Allied Powers.  The countries of the Allied Powers needed goods to successfully execute the war since their economies were disrupted by the conflict.  Trade with England and France had almost quadrupled to over $3 billion between 1914 and 1916.  By almost every economic measure, the United States benefited from neutrality.  Gross National Product, Stock Market Prices, employment, and new industry all grew during the early period of the war.  While entering the war would also be good for many industries in the U.S., neutrality was much more profitable.  The United States also loaned billions of dollars to the Allies to purchase more goods.  Unfortunately, this gave the United States a large stake in the outcome of the war.

Explain the quotation "be innocent to the knowledge, dearest chuck" from Shakespeare's Macbeth.

Macbeth says this line to his wife, Lady Macbeth, in Act III scene ii. Macbeth has just ordered the murders of Banquo and Fleance (Banquo's son). He has made arrangements with the three hitmen and has returned to his chambers to speak to his wife. Macbeth expresses anxiety about Banquo and Fleance to his wife. His fear goes back to Act I when the witches told Macbeth and Banquo that Banquo would be father to kings. In an attempt to protect his own position as King, Macbeth feels he must eliminate both Banquo and his son.

Another element of the quote that is noteworthy is the term "dearest chuck." This is a term of endearment that shows that Macbeth has affection for his wife despite that fact that he is gradually becoming less human and more evil and power-hungry. It is implied here that Macbeth does not want to tell Lady Macbeth about his plans because he wants to protect her. It is possible, however, that he is afraid she would try to stop him if she were to find out what he is planning. 

This scene is important to Macbeth's character development because it is starkly different from the way the murder of Duncan was planned. In Act I, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth plan the murder together and Macbeth commits the crime, but Lady Macbeth is very persuasive; it could even be argued that she is the mastermind of the original murder plan. At this point in Act III, Macbeth takes complete control of his own destiny and can no  longer be influenced by any of his former confidants. 

In "The Red-headed League," when Dr. Watson meets Mr. Holmes later in the evening he is introduced to two other men who will be accompanying them...

The two men are a police officer and the bank director and Holmes wants them to witness the bank robbery attempt.

When Holmes is visited by a client who claims that he was employed by a strange organization that suddenly vanished, it seems like an interesting case. Holmes realizes that the mystery is not about the “Red-headed League,” which does not exist.  The League is a cover-up for something much more sinister—a bank robbery.

Mr. Wilson is a shopkeeper.  His assistant is the one who suggested he apply for the League position.  Holmes visited the shop and talked to the assistant, and realized that the man was spending a lot of time in the basement and the League was invented to get Mr. Wilson out of the shop so that he could have access to the bank next door.

Holmes does not stop them.  Instead, he wants to catch them in the act.  

On entering his room, I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, one of whom I recognized as Peter Jones, the official police agent; while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock coat.

The second man is the bank director, Merryweather.  They all hide in the basement of the City and Suburban Bank and wait for John Clay to rob it that night.  They are not disappointed.

Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. 

The criminals were caught in the act, and the mystery of The Red-headed League was solved.  John Clay got himself a job as the assistant to Mr. Wilson to rob the bank.  Holmes recognized him by the description and knew that he was a very intelligent, ruthless, and creative criminal.  He was sure he had some big plans for getting Mr. Wilson out of the shop.

In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, why is Tituba an easy target?

There are a number of reasons why Tituba becomes an easy target for accusations of witchcraft against her,

Firstly, Tituba is Reverend Parris' slave, which means that she has practically no rights and has to be obedient. She has to bow to her master's authority and has to do as she is told. If not, she can be whipped and punished in any number of ways her owner deems fit. This obviously makes her extremely vulnerable and fearful of whatever sanction her owner may wish to impose, and so it is. When she is called by Reverend Hale to explain her actions in the forest, she at first repeatedly denies that she 'trucks' with the devil, but once Reverend Parris threatens her with a whipping and Mr Putnam demands that she be hanged, her resolve dissipates in an instant. In an attempt to save herself, she starts 'confessing.'

Secondly, since she is from Barbados, she is used to voodoo rituals which are customary religious practice on the islands. These rituals involve animal sacrifice and incantations - actions which are deemed Satanist in puritan society. She and the girls had been performing just such a ritual in the forest when they were discovered by Reverend Parris.

Obviously, since Tituba was of a different race and from a different place where they exercised different customs, she was an outsider. As such, she was deemed less worthy than other Salemites and was therefore not offered the same respect as was extended to other inhabitants of the village. Added to this was also her position as a slave. It is for this reason that it was relatively easy for Abigail to point a finger at her and for her accusers to be aggressive and demanding.

A further aspect which can be considered is also the fact that Tituba would have difficulty in communicating her thoughts clearly and would have used the simplest of expressions to explain herself. This may have led to her being ambiguous and certainly would have given others the opportunity to use her poor articulation as a further incentive to use her as a scapegoat, something both the Reverend Parris, Abigail and the other girls were keen to do, since it drew attention away from them.

Tituba thus became the prime suspect and principal accused for charges of witchcraft. It was she, in seeking redemption, who started naming a number of villagers who she had supposedly 'seen' with the devil. Her accusations opened the floodgates for the girls and others to start pointing fingers at many innocents, either to absolve themselves from blame or to profit from the misfortune of those so accused or to exact their revenge against those they deemed their enemies.. 

In chapter 27 of To Kill a Mockingbird, what is the point of the Halloween pageant?

The Halloween event at the school was created to keep local children out of trouble. The previous year, some mischievous children snuck into the house of two deaf sisters and played an elaborate prank on them. The children hid all of their downstairs furniture in their cellar. The sisters woke up to find their furniture missing.

The Halloween event was held inside the auditorium of the high school in Maycomb. This event was for both parents and children to attend. Parents were able to keep a close eye on their children in the auditorium, and therefore keep them out of trouble on Halloween night.  

There was also a pageant in the auditorium. The pageant was created to keep the adults entertained. Scout explained what the pageant was about:

Mrs. Grace Merriweather had composed an original pageant entitled Maycomb County: Ad Astra Per Aspera, and I was to be a ham. She thought it would be adorable if some of the children were costumed to represent the county's agricultural products: Cecil Jacobs would be dressed up to look like a cow; Agnes Boone would make a lovely butterbean, another child would be a peanut, and on down the line until Mrs. Merriweather's imagination and the supply of children were exhausted (Chapter 27).

Scout was not keen to play the role of a ham. She also did not have much of an interest in the agricultural industry in Maycomb.