How do I explain Mrs. Elton's character in Jane Austen's Emma in terms of irony that amuses rather than disgusts?

The reason Mrs. Elton amuses rather than disgusts or
irritates, for that matter, is precisely because of Jane Austen's ironical approach to
drawing her character in Emma. This is well illustrated in Chapter
32 where we first get a good look at Mrs Elton. Austen writes Mrs. Elton's dialogue with
great gusto--words fly at a rapid pace through long phrases; Mrs. Elton will not suffer
to be read in a slow manner as she fills in extraneous details and flits from one
subject to another, all with the purest (misguided) sense of charm and appeal
imaginable, never entertaining the wild thought that only she could possibly be
interested in her brother and sister's modes of
transport:

My
brother and sister have promised us a visit in the spring, or summer at farthest ... and
that will be our time for exploring. While they are with us, we shall explore a great
deal, I dare say. They will have their barouche-landau, of course, which holds four
perfectly; and therefore, without saying any thing of our carriage, we should be able to
explore the different beauties extremely well. They would hardly come in their chaise, I
think, at that season of the year. Indeed, when the time draws on, I shall decidedly
recommend their bringing the
barouche-landau;

Another good
example of how irony keeps Mrs.Elton from disgusting us is her scene with Mr. Knightly
in Chapter 42 in which she boarders on offending the reader but is quickly brought back
from the precipice of disgust by Austen's mastery of craftsmanship and skill; by witty
irony; and by Austen's exquisitely precise characterization. Knightly has just proposed
the famous strawberry picking excursion and Mrs. Elton has just informed him that it is
she who will invite the guest for the excursion to his home--a suggestion that rightly
does not sit well with Knightly. Mrs. Elton's pushy approach is interrupted with
Austen's ironical tone first by Mrs. Elton's mortification at the thought that Knightly
would allow any other woman to orchestrate his guest list ("Mrs. Weston, I suppose,"
interrupted Mrs. Elton, rather mortified."). She is saved a second time from disgusting
by Austen's next ironical rescue in which Mrs. Elton acquiesces to Knightly, then
resumes her silliness by giving him commands on minutia to orchestrate how the day will
go:

… but as
you like. It is to be a morning scheme, you know, Knightley; quite a simple thing. I
shall wear a large bonnet, and bring one of my little baskets hanging on my arm. Here,
-- probably this basket with pink ribbon. Nothing can be more simple, you see. And Jane
will have such another. There is to be no form or parade -- a sort of gipsy party. We
are to walk about your gardens, and gather the strawberries ourselves, and sit under
trees; ....

So, Austen saves
Mrs.Elton from being disgusting by (1) employing an ironical tone; (2) characterizing
Mrs. Elton as innocently vain instead of arrogantly vain; (3) making her a very silly
person who has a doubtable grasp on logical order of thought; (4) giving her a quick and
lively personality, albeit a silly one; and by (5) giving her some redeeming qualities,
like her devotion to her husband and to Jane Fairfax: “I shall bring Jane with me --
Jane and her aunt.”

"I draw on a pot that represents that death of my grandmother." Why is it the personification of loss?

I would say that your drawing is actually a symbol of your
grandmother, not that the act is personification of loss. To personify loss, you would
have to give loss human characteristics, like the ability to cry or scream. If you were
writing about loss, you could easily do this.

This is a
symbol of your grandmother or the idea of the loss of your grandmother because symbol is
the term we use when an object represents something else. The drawing may be a picture
or image of your grandmother or it could be graphics that represent who she was. Either
way, that depiction is functioning as a symbol, a
representation.

I guess if you have to use "personification
of loss" then you could argue that you are not at work, but the Loss that is in you has
been given the human ability to draw. That would be personification of
loss.

Could you help me understand the difference between a thematic topic and a thematic statement?I am reading "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson.

I agree with the above, and would add, that a thematic
topic can be turned into a thematic statement
by following a fairly simple step-by-step
process.

Typically,
when writing an essay about a theme of a story, you begin with a
basic thematic topic.  Think of this as a subject of the short
story.  If you were to use the example above (societal traditions), the procedure of
turning a thematic topic into a thematic statement is as
follows:

1. Ask: What are the
   causes of societal traditions or what
   are the effects of societal traditions in the
   story?


2. Brainstorm a list of answers to the questions
   above.


3. Use the list of plot details to then answer:
   Through events in the story, what is the author trying to say about societal
   traditions?


4. You will find that you might have
   to make this question more specific as you look at your brainstormed list.  In this
   case, the author is clearly talking about a negative (or evil) societal tradition, so
   you could re-write the question to say "What is the author trying to say about
   evil societal traditions?"


5. Do not
   use any of your examples in the one sentence answer to #4, but instead, write a
   general answer that will be backed up (or proven) by examples. 
   Notice how the example from above does exactly this (and could be proven with examples
   from the text which you would have already generated in step #2):
   

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Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery"
depicts the evil [side of] overused traditions of any
society.

At this point, I
always encourage students to think about revising the original statement to make it even
stronger.  I might tweak the above thematic statement to make it more
argumentative:

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Shirley Jackson's short story, "The Lottery,"
shows that unquestioned tradition combined with ignorance results in people turning a
blind eye to habits which are inherently
evil.

What is the exposition of "The Interlopers"?

"The Interlopers" by H.H. Munro (whose pseudonym is Saki)
is a relatively short, short story.  The exposition is essentially the first three
paragraphs of the selection, and it tells everything we need to know for the rest of the
piece.  The first paragraph sets the mood for the story.  We know the incident takes
place in the Carpathian woods, we know at least one of the characters, we know there is
going to be hunting involved, and we know the prey:

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Ulrich von Gradwitz patrolled the dark forest in
quest of a human
enemy.

Paragraph two further
sets the tone of mystery and suspense by describing two things:  a long-standing feud
and an unusually stormy night.  The feud between these two families, and Georg and
Ulrich specifically, has been bitter and intense.  The issue is land, something
traditionally valued above most other things; so we're not surprised that they're
willing to fight and kill to control it.  The storm is such that even the nocturnal
animals, such as the roebuck, are running for shelter.  Clearly this is the setting for
a showdown in the woods.

The third paragraph begins with
the first real action of the story:

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He [Ulrich] strayed away by himself from the
watchers whom he had placed in ambush on the crest of the
hill....

We know there is
likely to be a confrontation, and in this paragraph the suspense builds.  The last line
of the paragraph is actually the inciting action:

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And as he stepped round the trunk of a huge beech
he came face to face with the man he
sought.

It doesn't take a
long exposition for Munro to create a scene, a mood, and an action which prepare us--at
least in part--for what's ahead in the story.

Does Martin Luther King have any credible support of factual evidence or proof to support his remarks in "I Have a Dream?"

The tradition of public eloquence can be observed in
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s stirring, perceptive and incantatory “I Have a Dream” speech.
Seldom has the plea that America might fulfill its promise of freedom and equality for
all its citizens been stated with such majesty. Aware of his need to reach many
different constituencies with this one speech, King draws together references from the
Bible and the Emancipation Proclamation, along with ideas of nonviolent protest, in a
series of stirring metaphors that allude to ideas held sacred by all. King recognizes
that there are different groups of people in his audience, not only blacks but whites as
well. In talking of the fight for equality, he employs a range of appeals directed at
different groups.

In "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket", what are three examples of irony?

By far the biggest piece of irony in this whole tale comes
at the very end. Remember, work-obsessed Tom Benecke has gone out onto the ledge to
retrieve a very important piece of paper that he needs for his work. To focus on his
work he has let his beautiful wife go out by herself to the cinema. It is clear that
things have changed for Tom during his outdoor escapade and his near-death experience,
as is shown by the end paragraph:

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There he got out his topcoat and hat and,
without waiting to put them on, opened the front door and stepped out, to go find his
wife. he turned to pull the door closed and warm air from the hall rushed through the
narrow opening again. As he saw the yellow paper, the pencil flying, scooped off the
desk and, unimpeded by the glassless window, sail out into the night and out of his
life, Tom Benecke burst into laughter and then closed the door behind
him.

This is a very clever
piece of situational irony, as the note that Tom has gone through so much to rescue and
has risked his life for is now lost again, through the same window, but this time Tom
laughs, completely welcoming its departure from his life, and walks out of the door to
join his wife. He has clearly learnt where his priorities should be - and they should
not be with work alone.

Why do the solutions to the equation cos²x-3/4 lie in all four quadrants? Please explain why.

I am assuming that you mean cos^2 x - 3/4 because 3.4 is
not valid.

==> cos^2 x - 3/4 =
0

Let us solve the
equation.

First add 3/4 to both
sides.

==> cos^2 x =
3/4

Now we will take the root of both
sides.

==> cos(x) =
+-sqrt3/2

==> Then, we have two possible values for
cosx.

Case(1): cosx =+ sqrt3/2 ==> x > 0.
Then, x is in the first and fourth
quadrants.

==> x1= pi/6  ( first
quadrant)

==> x2= 2pi -
pi/6 = 11pi/6 ( fourth quadrant).

Case(2):
cosx = - sqrt3/2 ==> x < 0. Then, x is in the second and third
quadrants.

==> x3= pi- pi/6 = 5pi/6 (
2nd quadrant).

==> x4=
pi + pi/6 = 7pi/6 ( 3rd
quadrant).

Then, the solutions
of cos^2 x - 3/4 are in all four quadrants.

Explain the context "everywhere we went I had trouble of making which was I,the one walking at my side,the one walking in my pants"

This line is taken from White's essay "Once More to the
Lake."  In this essay, he is talking about how he, as an adult, feels when he brings his
son to a lake where he had really enjoyed going on vacation.  This had been his favorite
place when he was a kid.

As he brings his son around the
various places, White has a hard time separating himself from his son -- he keeps seeing
thing through the eyes of his son.  He can feel the emotions that he himself had as a
kid.  When he does that, he feels like he is part of his
son.

This is the context for the line you cite -- White is
walking along, thinking about the way things had been when he was a child, and he has a
hard time remembering which person is really him -- is he the adult walking along or is
he the child?

In The Merchant of Venice, what does Shylock think of Launcelot Gobbo as an employee?

When we are first introduced to Launcelot in Act II scene
2, he is still the servant of Shylock, but in his soliloquy he resolves to leave his
master and look for better employment, and therefore becomes the servant of Bassanio
later on in the play. This soliloquy is revealing because in it Launcelot discusses the
pros and cons of leaving his master's employment. In spite of his conscience, which
tells him to stay with the Jew, he considers that his employer, Shylock, is "the very
devil incarnation" which prompts him to ignore his conscience and leave his master's
employment.

Interestingly though we have little direct
evidence from the text that Shylock mistreated Launcelot badly. Launcelot does protest
that he was mistreated under Shylock:

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I am famished in his service; you may tell every
finger I have with my
ribs.

And yet, it appears
that Launcelot is a character prone to exaggeration. In Act II scene 5, we can say that
Shylock is rude to Launcelot, but not insulting, and certainly we can explain his
asperity with Launcelot by the fact that Launcelot has just left his
employment.

Thus, depending on how the director plays
Launcelot, you can portray Shylock as a tyrannical master who starves his servant, or as
a "normal" master whom Launcelot abandons because of his anti-semitism, which would make
Shylock a figure of sympathy for the audience.

How is the history of genocide important or relevant to philosophy?

There are two main ways in which genocide is important to
the study of philosophy.

First, there is what is called the
"problem of evil."  This is the question of whether the existence of evil calls into
question the existence of God -- if evil exists can an all powerful and good God also
exist?  Genocide is perhaps the ultimate evil that people do and therefore impacts on
this issue.

Second, there is the problem of what philosophy
can or cannot do to end genocide.  There have been philosophical approaches that have
tried to combat genocide, but there have also been philosophical schools of thought
whose teachings have helped lead to genocide.  Therefore, it is important to philosophy
to ask what, if anything, philosophy as a discipline can do to end
genocide.

Why does the character of Macbeth change throughout the play? (use quotes)anybody in a good mood and want to write a paragraph or twelve for my...

At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is a good and
valiant soldier who is happy to serve his king.  In Act 1, sc. 2, ll. 17-25, the Captain
tells Duncan of Macbeth's valor in battle.  We see Macbeth start to change as early as
Act 1, sc. 3 after Angus delivers the news about Macbeth's new title as Thane of
Cawdor.  Since this confirmed the witches' second prophecy, Macbeth lets his thoughts go
to the possibility of becoming king (ll. 148-163).  He quickly, at the end of that
aside, decides that he will let fate run its course rather than help it along though. 
When Macbeth's wife gets the news about the prophecies and Macbeth's new title, she
decides he must become king and fulfill the prophecies.  When Macbeth decides he will
not kill the king as Lady Macbeth wants, she gets angry with him and insults his
masculinity.  This, then, convinces him that, to appease his wife and his own ambition,
he will go through with the deed (Act 1, sc. 7, ll. 92-95), even though he is obviously
still reluctant.  His reluctance is also shown in Act 2, sc. 1, when he delivers his
soliloquy.  He knows that the dagger he sees in front of him is a product of his
imagination stemming from the guilt he feels over his impending deed (ll. 45-51). 
Macbeth still has a conscience that is telling him killing Duncan is wrong.  By the
time, we get to Act 3, sc. 1, Macbeth's conscience, if not gone, is on its way out.  He
tells the murderers here to kill his friend, Banquo, and tells them that Banquo is their
enemy (ll. 125-126).  In Act 4, sc. 1, after the witches' apparitions have appeared,
Macbeth has become cold-blooded.  He plans to kill off Macduff's family (ll. 173-177). 
Macbeth has now become extremely paranoid also.  The paranoia shows itself in Act 5 when
Macbeth keeps grasping on to the apparitions' prophecies (Act 5, sc. 3, ll. 4-9 and Act
5, sc. 7, ll. 2-4). By the end of the play, Macbeth has become resolved to his fate,
which is death at the hands of Macduff (Act 5, sc. 8, ll.
35-39).

How is the ending of Of Mice and Men is more of a tragedy for George?

The ending of Of Mice and Men is more
of a tragedy for George because, even though Lennie was who ended up getting killed (by
George), we know that it must have been a terrorizing moment for George when he realized
the intensity and the problematic nature of what Lennie had done, and the consequences
that will await him. The difference was that Lennie ended up dead, and George would have
the horrible fate of being alive to suck up every single consequence that will come as a
result of both what Lennie did and what he did to
Lennie.

Lennie accidentally killed Curly's wife. This was
not only a human being he killed, but the wife of a man who already hated Lennie, and
who was also their boss. There was no getting away from this
one.

George had protected and supported Lennie for years,
and has basically endured all the problems that come when you deal with someone who is
mentally challenged and physically overpowering. Hence, George was always (we could say)
sweating bullets whenever Lennie did or say
something.

Finally, when the final straw hit and Lennie
accidentally twisted Curly's wife's neck, there was George again trying to figure out
how to solve this problem. He was in such a bad place that he knew that what was coming
next was Lennie being lynched by Curly's mob. He could have been guilty by association.
Either way, their future was completely lost.

When George
decided to kill Lennie, he did not do it to save himself, but to save Lennie from a much
less merciful and more humiliating death. This meant that George would still be alive to
witness all that will happen as a result of the death of Curly's wife, and as a result
of the death of Lennie. 

It was now George who had to carry
the burden for the both of them, again, the burden of being alive and the burden of
being dead. Hence, George now is stuck with the rest of his life, which is not a
promising one at all.

Find x if the numbers x, 6, x-5 are the terms of a geometric series.

The terms x,6,x-5 are the consecutive terms of a geometric
progression (series) if and only if the middle term is the geometric mean of the
neighbor terms:

6 =
sqrt[x*(x-5)]

We'll raise to square both
sides:

36 = x(x-5)

We'll use
the symmetric property and we'll remove the brackets:

x^2 -
5x = 36

We'll subtract 36:

x^2
- 5x - 36 = 0

We'll apply the quadratic
formula:

x1 = [5 + sqrt(25 +
144)]/2

x1 =
(5+13)/2

x1 =
9

x2 =
(5-13)/2

x2 =
-4

We'll check the
solution:

For x =
-4:

-4 , 6 , -9

6/-4 =
-3/2

-9/6 = -3/2

So, the
common ratio of the g.p. whose terms are -4 , 6 , -9, is r =
-3/2.

For x = 9

9 , 6 ,
4

6/9 = 2/3

4/6 =
2/3

So, the common ratio of the g.p. whose terms are 9 , 6
, 4 is r = 2/3.

In the book Night, in Chapter 3, what were the prisoners' rations at each meal?

Chapter 3 narrates the horrific events that occur when
Elie and his father arrive at Auschwitz and begin to learn the true reality of what is
happening to them and how they are to be treated. Certainly the shock of how they are
degraded and treated like animals is matched by the joy of survival as they realise that
they are alive, at least for the present. As the description of their activities
continues, Elie answers your question for you in a way that highlights the menotony of
their routine:

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Days went by. In the mornings: black coffee. At
midday; soup. By the third day, I was eagerly eating any kind of soup... At six o'clock
in the afternoon: roll call. Followed by bread with something. At nine o'clock:
bedtime.

Note how the brief
nature of the sentences reinforces the sense of how this routine came to dominate Elie
and the prisoners' lives - this short routine becomes their entire life as their life's
purpose shrinks to the importance of getting through each day and
surviving.

Please provide a character analysis of Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet.

Tybalt is Juliet's cousin, and, from the first scene of
the play, shown to be someone who intends on keeping the feud going, at all costs.  When
he enters Act I, scene i to find Benvolio attempting to part the Capulet and Montague
servants, he decides that this is a perfect instigation to take this brawl to the next
level.  He says:

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What, art thou drawn among these hearless
hinds?

Turn thee, Benvolio, look upon thy
death.

. . .What, drawn, and talk of peace?  I hat the
word,

As I hate hell, all Montagues, and
thee.

And it is, in fact,
Tybalt who is the only male character in the play without some sense of desire for at
least periodically ignoring the feud.  Tybalt is, no matter the occasion, always
attempting to defeat the Montagues.

• He
  recognizes Romeo at his Uncle Capulet's feast and, even when Capulet demands that he let
  the boy alone, determines that he wil be avenged on Romeo for his mocking of his
  family's festivities.


• He challenges Romeo when he meets
  him in the streets, but is just as happy to duel the innocent Mercutio to the
  death.

So, Tybalt is a pretty two dimensional
character.  He exists in the play to drive the complications that are crucial to the
plot of the tragedy.  If he had not decided, in Act I, scene v, that he must be avenged
on Romeo, then the crucial events of Act III -- the murders of Mercutio and Tybalt that
lead to the banishment of Romeo -- would not take
place.

Interestingly, Tybalt, as he speaks aside to the
audience just before he exits Act I, scene v, shows all the dramatic markings of a
villain:

I
will withdraw; but this intrusion shall

Now seeming sweet,
convert to bitt'rest
gall.

And, just like an evil
character who prophesies doom upon the events to come, Tybalt predicts and promises that
there will be "bitter gall" to follow this superficially happy moment at his uncle's
feast.  And, like a perfect villain, he follows through to make sure that just this fate
befalls the characters of the play.

For more on Tybalt,
please follow the links below.

In Chapter 16, why does Miss Maudie refuse to go to the trial?What does she mean when she makes the reference to a Roman carnival?

Unlike the rest of the town, Miss Maudie is not
interested in the "spectacle" of the trial.  People are coming out in huge
crowds and groups to watch (in Miss Maudie's accurate prediction) "a poor devil on trial
for his life."

Her reference to the Roman carnival here is
not likely a gladiator-type reference, as many students have observed.  The Roman
carnival is described a celebration for the sake of celebrating, and it was
chaotic.  Miss Maudie here does not want to sink to the level of
the rest of the town (and surrounding areas) and show a sudden interest in judicial
matters simply with the expectation of chaos and entertainment, all at the expense of an
actual person's life.

As we know, some consider Anne Bradstreet as an early feminist. Are there any feministic elements in her works?

The main element of feminism in Anne Bradstreet's poetry
is the fact that she dared to write it at all! In her time, a time influenced by deep
and profound Puritan beliefs and limitations, a woman's place was very much in the home
as a housewife, mother to her children and support to her husband,taking her
intellectual lead and angle from him. Men were seen to think and to write, but women
were expected to keep their intellectual thoughts inside the privacy of their own
kitchen. It is a great wonder and credit that her male friends thought well enough of
her to get her book home and published. She has fine and reasoned ideas, but is careful
to couch them in domestic/relationship settings--yet look beyond the happy kitchen
scenes and you will see the strong themes of conscience,dissent and conflict running
through.

What life Don Quixote could have if he wasn't chasing dreams and obsessed with chivalry?

Don Quixote was a gentleman with a decent estate, which
would have been better kept if he had not spent his money on Romantic books of chivalry.
His thirst for Romance would have to be satiated in some way or another, whether it was
endagering his life or others as a knight or not.

In Ch. 6,
the licentiate (academic) is searching through the titles of his library before they
burn them, keeping a few valuables. When books of poetry are left, he suggest keeping
those there, for they are not in the harmful addictive topic of chivalry. The niece and
he then decide that it best not leave those either, for he may decide, if not
knighthood, then to observe pastoral life as a poet, which may be
worse.

So, DQ would find his outlet somewhere to fulfill
his passionate, Romantic soul.

Blocking is used in Much Ado About Nothing. Why has the director blocked the play in the way he/she has?

This is a difficult question to answer, since your
question implies that you are asking about one director in particular, yet you don't
make reference to any particular production.  Each director of any play will make very
specific choices about sets, costumes, and even the characters actions and behaviours
(blocking) based upon their interpretation of a
play.

Plays, by the very nature of the sort of work of
literature that they are, are inherently incomplete, and must be staged in order to
become the "complete" story.  Blocking, or the staging of the actor's movements and
placing on the stage, is a key aspect of what is missing in the script that is added in
rehearsals for a particular production by a director.  Yet, it is not possible to answer
you question completely without reference either to specific scenes that are of interest
to you, or mention of a particular production about which you would like a general
critique of the direction.

An example in Much
Ado of a scene that varies in terms of potential blocking choices made by the
director is actually a scene that is not in the script at all -- the deception of
Claudio and Don Pedro at Hero's window.  Don John tells these two in Act III, scene ii
that if they will come with him, he will show them proof, by their own eyes, that Hero
is unfaithful.  Don John is planning to have his henchman Borachio lure Hero's waiting
woman, Margaret onto the balcony and woo her under the name of Hero, while the other
three observe from below.

This scene is not included in the
play that Shakespeare wrote, but is often staged by directors so that the audience might
see, along with Claudio, the ruse that Don John has cooked up.  Directors will use the
staging of this invented scene to either make Claudio more or less gullible when it
comes to his accusations, based upon how believable the wooing of Margaret (as Hero)
appears to be.

This is one example of where a director's
blocking makes a statement about the how the audience is intended to experience the
behaviour of the characters, but certainly there are others, as there are in any
play.

Do all cells undergo cell division? Explain.

Cell division is also known as mitosis. It occurs in cells
with a nucleus, known as Eukaryotic cells. It is a process by which cells produce new,
genetically identical cells that are smaller than the parent cell due to the division of
the cytoplasm. However, this process is necessary to replace old, worn out cells. It is
also necessary during the process of growth. When an organism grows, for example a
human, the bone cells divide forming new bones cells and once the skeleton has grown,
the muscles and skin cells also divide, eventually adding height to the organism. Cell
division is also important in organisms like bacteria, which are Prokaryotic cells
because they lack a nucleus. In this case, cell division is known as binary fission and
is a method of asexual reproduction. One cell gives rise to two daughter cells. This is
a way of producing more individuals. Neurons also known as nerve cells stop being able
to reproduce shortly after birth. However, before that time, neurons are produced by
mitosis.

Write about some of the ways Fitzgerald tells the story in Chapter 3 of The Great Gatsby.Narrative voice, language, setting and structure.

You might like to focus on the following points in
response to this question. Clearly this chapter tells us a lot about Gatsby's lifestyle
and how it is an obvious example of "conspicuous consumption." Consider his cars, and
the very showiness of his vehicles, which were of course designed to impress Daisy, but
ironically play a crucial part in his downfall as they are easily recognised and thus
allow Gatsby to be tracked down.

Another key thing to
realise is that it is strongly implied that Gatsby's wealth is derived from the illicit
sale of alcohol. Note how the owl-eyed man appreciates the library, but he sees it
through a drunken haze. This has occurred in spite of Prohibition and the restrictions
on sale and consumption of alcohol.

The theme of pretension
and reality is highlighted by the "majestic hand" with which Gatsby signs his
invitations, showing that in the artificial world of his parties, Gatsby imagines
himself to be like a medieval Monarch. Yet his guests conduct themselves "according to
the rules of behaviour associated with an amusement park." These people form a social
elite, yet their behaviour is characterised in terms of
vulgarity.

Also key to think of is how Gatsby is both a
part of and yet separate to this group. As Mr. Tolstoff's composition is played to the
assembled crowd, Nick looks over and sees him:

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...just as it began my eyes fell on Gatsby,
standing alone on the marble steps and looking from one group to another with approving
eyes... When the "Jazz History of the World" was over, girls were putting their heads on
men's shoulders in a puppyish, convivial way, girls were swooning backward playfully
into men's arms, even into groups, knowing that some one would arrest their falls - but
no one swooned backward on Gatsby, and no French bob touched Gatsby's shoulder, and no
singing quartets were formed for Gatsby's head for one
link.

This sets up an
essential paradox - Gatsby is shown to be a fundamental part of the "Jazz Age" world
depicted in this book, and yet he is seen to be essentially separate from it as well,
indicating some central conflict or ambiguity in his character that the rest of the
novel will unfold.

How were African Americans treated during World War II?More specifically, how were African American soldiers treated in the army? I know they...

At that time, the US Army, like America itself, was still
segregated.  African-Americans fought in the Army, Navy and Army Air Force, and fought
well on the battlefield.  The Tuskegee Airmen unit became especially famous for their
performance under fire, and units like the 761st Tank Battalion in the Army did just as
well, but were not as well known.  That particular unit was the first all-black tank
unit ever sent into combat.

Most African-Americans who
served, however, were assigned to support roles, such as running the supply truck
convoys in Europe known as the "Red Ball Express".  African-Americans made up 75% of
that particular unit.  They were as essential to winning the war against Hitler as any
units in combat.

Many African-American veterans of that
war, while very proud of their service, had a difficult time coming home to a country
that felt, while they were certainly equal enough to fight and die for the nation, also
felt that they weren't equal in almost every other way.  It was impossible to reconcile
those two views, and some say this contributed to the Civil Rights movement in the early
1950s.

What is the sniper's perspective on the situation? Is he cautious, give the circumstances?Question on Point of View

In the story, "The Sniper," the point of view is third
person, limited.

The main character in the story is a
sniper. He is on a rooftop where he can see a portion of the city laid out in front of
him.

The narrator tells us he has a fanatical look in his
eye—he is extremely keyed up; he has provisions to last for the
evening.

The sniper is not cautious at
first. Without thinking too clearly, he thoughtlessly lights a cigarette, and in doing
so, gives away his position on the roof, is spotted by another sniper on another roof,
and is shot at.

Then an armored tank drives into the Four
Courts area he is "guarding." He kills the men driving an tank, and a traitorous old
woman who had tried to tell the tank's driver where he was on the roof.  However, when
he raises himself up to shoot the woman, the other sniper spots him, shoots and wounds
him.

Though the injury is not life-threatening, it will be
nearly impossible now for him to shoot his rifle.  He dresses his wound and goes about
trying to find a way to pick off his enemy, who remains
hidden.

By now, the sniper is extremely
cautious. He carefully makes his way around his rooftop, stooping down and
staying out of sight. To lure his enemy into exposing himself, he places his hat on the
top of his rifle and raises it up. The other sniper takes the bait and
shoots.

The first sniper pretends to be hit, dropping his
rifle and allowing his arm to hang over the side of the parapet—making it seem as if he
is dead.  However, in an extremely calculating way, as the "dead" sniper has seen the
flash of the other man's rifle, he now knows where he is hidden and he waits patiently
for the other sniper to expose himself now that he believes his adversary (the first
sniper) is dead.

When the enemy sniper rises up to take
stock of his victory, the first sniper, using his revolver, shoots the other man with
his revolver—an excellent shot—and his enemy, dropping his weapon, somersaults over the
ledge onto the ground below.  He is dead.

Immediately after
the deed is done, the first sniper becomes enraged: angry with the war and a need for
killing, and careless once again, he throws the revolver on the
ground—it goes off, and nearly takes the sniper's head with it. The sniper takes a
moment to calm himself, and then climbs down to the street to see who his "worthy
adversary" was.

Describe the elephant from his escape until its death in George Orwell's essay, "Shooting an elephant".

In "Shooting an elephant", the master essayist of the
twentieth century, George Orwell, maintains that a minor incident of shooting an
elephant in colonial Burma symbolizes the evil and futility of British imperial
rule. This truth comes clear to him one morning near the beginning of the rainy season
when the narrator, a colonial police officer, learns that a domesticated elephant,
maddened by estrus, has broken free of its mahout or master and is
terrorizing the neighborhood. At the time the incident is reported to the policeman, the
elephant has destroyed a hut, upended a garbage van, killed a cow, and satisfied its
hunger in the fruit stalls of the local bazaar. Without weapons to protect themselves -
a direct result of the disarmament policy of the British administration - the Burmese
are powerless to prevent the elephant from roaming at will. The narrator arrives at the
site of the last report of the rampaging elephant to find a commotion around a hut.
There he finds the body of a Dravidian coolie, his body horribly mangled by the
elephant. Armed with a true elephant gun, the narrator approaches the elephant now
grazing peacefully in a nearby paddy field. Pressured by the unspoken expectation of a
vast crowd of native onlookers, he fires his powerful weapon at what he surmised was the
elephant's brain. Although he fires a total of three rounds into the beast, the offiicer
is shocked to see that it still lives. That condition of a slow, agonizing death
persists even after the officer exhausts all his ammunition. At last he leaves in
disgust, later learning that it takes a half hour for the animal to
die.

How can companies cultivate strong customer relationships?

If you take a close look at the companies that
consistently have the highest approval ratings, they seem to have a few key things in
common when it comes to customer relations: value, quality, and
service.

Value: Customers are
initially attracted to what a company is selling based on low prices for what they
want.  Large companies filling orders wholesale or individual consumers buying clothing
will often compare prices from several sources before deciding to purchase, and sale
advertisements are based on the concept of value for the money spent.  Wal Mart's entire
business model rests on this type of relationship with the
customer.

Quality:  The
quality of the good or service a company provides is what keeps consumers coming back
for repeat business in the future, and what causes them to give positive references
through word-of-mouth recommendations to friends, relatives and associates.  Costco is
one company that prides itself on quality products, and has a strict quality control
system for what it sells.  This has built them a reputation such that customers
associate their name with
quality.

Service: Money back
guarantees, service after the sale, no questions asked refund policies, etc. give the
customer confidence that the company believes in and will back the product or service
being sold.  It removes lingering doubts they may have as it is essentially an insurance
policy for the consumer.

Points (6, -2) and (a, 6) are on the line with a slope of 4/3. What is the value of a ?

We'll write the equation of the line in the standard
form:

y = mx + n, where m is the slope and n is y
intercept.

We know, from enunciation, that the line has the
slope m= 4/3. We'll substitute the value of the slope in the equation of the
line.

y = 4x/3 + n

The point
(6, -2) is located on the line so it's coordinates verify the equation of the
line:

-2 = 4*6/3 + n

-2 = 8 +
n

We'll subtract 8 both
sides:

n = -2 - 8

n =
-10

The equation of the line
is:

y = 4x/3 - 10

The
point  (a, 6) belongs to the same line also. So, it's coordinates belong to the
line.

6 = 4a/3 - 10

We'll add
10 both sides:

4a/3 = 16

4a =
3*16

We'll divide by 4 both
sides:

a = 3*4

a
= 12

For an essay on how Oedipus Rex exemplifies or refutes Aristotle's definition of Tragic Hero, how can I find scholarly sources while on...

I take it you mean you are deployed on active service in
the military. What is the nature of the course you are taking? Is it an Internet
distance learning course? Or is it a military course offered through your branch of the
service?

If it is a long distance course, such courses
usually have academic research programs purchased that the student can access online.
There are several and each gives you access to a good number of online databases through
your course login. For example, you might login to the various databases with your
University student number and password. One example of such databases is JSTOR online
research database. I can't say with authority, but I would guess a military sponsored
educational program would have the same sort of thing. You would contact your course
representative for details.

In lieu of this option, an
alternative is to do a Google search--although Bing is often better for academic search
results--for the topic and/or authors' or critics' names you may have come across in
your readings. I've presonally found much good information on esoteric linguistic topics
in this fashion, so I would guess Oedipus Rex would also have much
information available. Google Scholar is devoted to scholarly sources, but the results
generally are to sources that require a course sponsored login as discussed
above.

Here are a few I found on Bing for you by using the
whole search term phrase Oedipus Rex Aristotle tragic hero+edu
(+edu filters for only academic
sources):
1.
Outline of Aristotle's Theory of Tragedy in the
POETICS
http://www2.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/poetics.html
2.
Oedipus
as the Ideal Tragic
Hero
http://www.classics.upenn.edu/myth/php/tragedy/index.php?page=oedhero
3.
Critics
names from a Wikipedia reference list
Bremer, J.M.; Dawe, R D.; Hyde, Isabel;
Moles, J. L.; Stinton, T. C. W.; Golden,
Leon,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamartia
4.
Aristotle
on Greek Tragedy; by Dr. Larry A. Brown, Professor of
Theater
http://larryavisbrown.homestead.com/Aristotle_Tragedy.html
5.
This
is a DOC: a Word Document:
On
Misunderstanding
www.nyu.edu/classes/reichert/cf/c1/Dodds_​Oedipus.txt.doc ·
Cached page · DOC file
6.
List of relevant ebooks and articles

http://lib.gccaz.edu/lmc/help/guides/litcriticism/OedipusRex.html
7.
Oedipus
the Cliché: Aristotle on Tragic Form and Content
Christopher S. Morrissey,
Department of Humanities, Simon Fraser
University
http://www.anthropoetics.ucla.edu/ap0901/oedipus.htm
8.
Oedipus:
The Definition of a Tragic Hero.
Krantz
http://faculty.weber.edu/dkrantz/en2500/Sample%20Essay%20Drama%202500.html
9.
Oedipus
the Wreck; Professor Eric Hibbison, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community
College
http://vccslitonline.vccs.edu/OedipustheWreck/research.htm

How do the purpose of tentacles and arms of a squid differ?

Squids have four pairs of arms and a pair of tentacles.
The tentacles are longer than the arms. The tentacles perform the function of grabbing
prey and holding on to it. There are hooks on the arms as well as the tentacles of
squids but the ones on the tentacles can swivel while those on the arm cannot. These
help squids hold on to their prey better while the prey tries to escpe. Suckers are
present on both the arms as well as the tentacles of squids, though the ones on the arms
are bigger.

Wouldn't it have made more sense to name William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Julius Caeser, The Tragedy of Marcus Brutus instead?

The title of the play as The Tragedy of Marcus
Brutus would make sense if one reads the play outside its historical
context.  Critics, scholars, and readers often debate the question of who the
protagonist of the play actually is.  Even though the play is named after Julius Caesar,
the development of the story and its characterization do not suggest that Caesar is the
play's protagonist.  Brutus goes through major internal conflicts throughout the play,
and thus seems more suitable to be named the protagonist of the
play.

But the play is a re-vision of the actual conspiracy
against Julius Caesar and an allusion to England's own fear at the time about the
successor to the throne.  So the play has to keep the title The Tragedy of
Julius Caesar to maintain the parameters of the
allusion.

Given the sum x + 1/x = 4 what is x^2 + 1/x^2, x^3 + 1/x^3 ?

To calculate the first
sum:

x^2 + 1/x^2

we'll have to
raise to square the given sum:

x + 1/x =
4

We'll raise to square both
sides:

(x + 1/x)^2 = 4^2

We'll
apply the formula of the binomial raised to square:

(a+b)^2
= a^2 + 2ab + b^2

x^2 + 2*x*(1/x) + (1/x)^2 =
16

We'll hold to the left side only the sum of the
squares:

x^2 + (1/x)^2 = 16 -
2*x*(1/x)

We'll simplify and we'll
get:

x^2 + (1/x)^2 = 16 -
2

x^2 + (1/x)^2 =
14

To calculate the sum of the cubes, we'll
apply the formula:

a^3 + b^3 = (a+b)(a^2 - ab +
b^2)

x^3 + 1/x^3 = (x + 1/x)(x^2 - x*1/x +
1/x^2)

We'll simplify and we'll substitute x^2 + 1/x^2 by
the result 14:

x^3 + 1/x^3 = 4*(14 -
1)

x^3 + 1/x^3 =
4*13

x^3 + 1/x^3 =
52

According to the General Prolugue, who leads a better life -- the Friar or the Monk?

I do not think that Chaucer thinks either of these men
leads a particularly good life.  They are both part of the clergy -- a group that
(Chaucer thinks) mostly lives off cheating the people.  He does not think either of them
is much of a man of God.

However, if you have to choose
one, I think you should say that the Friar is living the better life.  I think that he,
at least, does some good to some people.  The Friar makes his living by hearing
confessions and taking payments for doing so.  He's supposed to give the money away, but
he doesn't.  That's bad, but at least he is helping the people whose confessions he
hears.  At the very least, he is making them feel
better.

By contrast, the Monk does not really do any kind
of good for anyone except himself (and maybe for the Prioress whose estate he manages). 
All he does is make sure the estate is running well so he can go and hunt and do other
fun stuff.

So both of them are in now way holy men.  But at
least the Friar makes some people feel good by hearing their confessions.  The Monk does
not even do that much.

How does imagery help to understand a poem?

Poetry acquaints students with the types of images—visual,
auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, kinetic, and kinesthetic—all of which partially
account for the appeal and validity of poetry. Real images in a poem lend reality to the
poem’s assertions. The logic of understanding imagery is this: Readers have seen many of
the same things that poets describe (sun, moon, stars, ocean), and have also perceived
many similar things (roses, boats, fish, sweethearts, boats, singers, songs, jewels,
hair, and so on). Therefore, references to these things create a bond of perception
authenticating the presuppositions, responses, attitudes, thoughts, and ideas of
poetry.

What is an example of stream of consciousness narration?Give a direct quote from a work of literature.

Even the novels by authors who are most closely associated
with stream-of-consciousness -- such as James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and WIlliam
Faulkner -- often only show stream-of-consciousness in sectons of the novels. Reading an
entire novel written in stream-of-consciousness is possible, of course, but it would
probably also be painful.

Different writers use
stream-of-consciousness differently, but the tendency is to seek to disrupt the
traditional structure of narrative. Some writers do without standard punctuation and
sentence structure, for example. Other writers seek to place images and sensations
side-by-side, so that they're experienced immediately rather than filtered through the
unifying voice of a narrator. Here's an example of the latter from the opening to James
Joyce's novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young
Man:

readability="10">

Once upon a time and a very good time it was
there was a moocow coming
down along the road and this moocow that was coming
down along the road
met a nicens little boy named baby
tuckoo...

His father told him that story: his father looked at him
through a
glass: he had a hairy face.

He was baby tuckoo.
The moocow came down the road where Betty Byrne
lived: she sold lemon
platt.

How does Nwoye's charcter compare/contrast to Okonkwo's character throughout the story

From the very beginning of his life, Nwoye was not at all
the manly type of son that Okonkwo wished he would be.  He was not as interested in
wrestling, or as good at it.  He does not want to grow up to get titles and be the type
of man that Okonkwo wishes he would be.  In some ways he reminds Okonkwo of his father,
which is terribly disappointing.

As Ikemefuna and Nwoye get
closer as time goes on, Nwoye actually tries to get more into the things that Okonkwo
wants him to because he is so fond of Ikemefuna.

After
Ikemefuna's death, Nwoye is angrier and angrier with his father and starts to push
farther and farther away, eventually joining the Christians and basically putting an end
to the relationship with his father.

In "A Good Man is Hard to Find," what are the conflicts of the story?

There are certainly plenty that you can look for in this
somewhat disturbing short story, but I will talk about the one that is introduced in the
opening of the tale and refers to the conflict between the grandmother and her son,
Bailey:

The
grandmother didn't want to go to Florida. She wanted to visit some of her connections in
east Tennessee and she was seizing every chance to change Bailey's mind. Bailey was the
son she lived with, her only
boy.

As we read on in the
story it becomes evident that the grandmother is an incredibly annoying character who is
determined to get her own way, using manipulation, deceit and trickery to do it without
any shame. Thus she takes her cat secretly in the car with her, even though it results
in an accident. She manages to get Bailey to go off the main road on a spurious trip to
visit an old house. Of course, although in this conflict the grandmother always wins, it
is ironic that each "triumph" she gains leads them ever closer to their deaths. For
example, note that in the first paragraph, she uses the presence of the Misfit as an
argument why they should not go to Florida, even though when she is successful and they
go to Tennessee they go straight into his path.

So,
certainly one of the major conflicts you will want to discuss in this short story is the
external conflict between the grandmother and her son, Bailey. In being determined to
get her own way she causes him significant annoyance and trouble, and also leads them
all to their deaths.

Is John Brown a freedom fighter or a terrorist? Explain.

The answer to this is "yes."  In other words, John Brown
is both.  Because he was on the side of the North and because the North won, we see him
in a positive light today.  However, the things he did would have been seen as terrorism
if the North had not won or if he had done them in the cause of the South (like, say,
John Wilkes Booth did).

The things that John Brown did in
Kansas and what he tried to do in his raid on Harper's Ferry were very much like
terrorism.  For example, in Kansas, he killed men in front of their wives and children. 
We would certainly look on such acts as terroristic.  In Harper's Ferry, he wanted to
arm slaves who would then kill white people, not all of whom would have "deserved"
it.

Yet, at the same time, it is hard (impossible?) to
argue that he was not fighting for a worthy cause.  Slavery was an evil institution that
deserved to be destroyed.

So which is Brown?  To be honest,
you have to agree that he can be seen in both ways.

Would you consider "Theme for English B" by Langston Hughes a bildungsroman?

A bildungsroman is a novel that concentrates on the
development or education of a central character.  Since "Theme for English B" is a poem,
not a novel, it would not be considered a
bildungsroman.

Still, the poem is similar in some ways to a
bildungsroman because it traces the education and personal development of its
narrator.

  The poem tells us that the narrator was born in
Winston-Salem, where he also "went to school."  He also attended school in Durham, and
is now a student in the "college on the hill above Harlem" (probably a reference to
Columbia University in New York City).   

The narrator is
the only "colored" (African-American) student in his class, and he lives in a branch of
the YMCA, hardly a luxurious lodging.   The Harlem neighborhood seems to have a great
effect on the narrator:

readability="11">

But I guess I'm what
I feel and see
and hear, Harlem, I hear you:
hear you, hear me--we two--you, me, talk on this
page.

Although he realizes
that what he writes "will not be white," the narrator also sees himself as having much
in common with all Americans, regardless of race:

readability="6">

You are white--
yet a part of me, as I
am a part of you.
That's
American.

In summary, this
poem is similar to a bildungsroman in that it traces a character's
education and primary influences.

How do you calculate using Dimensional Analysis?

Actually, dimensional analysis isn't a tool for
calculating; rather, it helps you show if a formula you're using won't work.  What it
shows is whether one expression uses the same units of measurement (called dimensions)
as another expression.

For example: suppose we're asked to
calculate how long it takes to fill a tank of water, given the rate at which water
enters the tank and the volume of the tank, which starts out
empty.

We want to find the time,
t, measured in seconds.  We're
given the volume of water coming into the tank in gallons per second, or
gal/sec.

Here's the
dimensional analysis: we want to find t, the number of
seconds, and we're given the flow rate in
gallons/sec.  These are the units of measurement which are
called "dimensions".

We can do algebra with these
dimensions just as we can with numeric values.  We write the beginning of a
formula:

seconds = gallons/second *
-- what do we write next to make both sides
equivalent?

We have to rewrite our trial
formula:

seconds (time to fill
the tank) =

seconds/gallon (reciprocal of flow rate) *
gallons (tank volume)

Look at the units of
measurement (dimensions) in the formula and ignore for the moment what's being measured.
 We have

seconds = seconds/gallon *
gallons

Rearranging,

seconds
= seconds * (gallons /
gallons)

Algebraically, the gallons cancel
out, leaving us with

seconds =
seconds

which at least shows us our formula
is self-consistent.

So we have, finally, t =
tank volume / flow rate

Now, here's an
example of how this analysis can detect an inconsistency.  Suppose we had been given
tank volume in cubic meters
(m^3).

Now our units of
measurement are:

t (seconds) = tank volume
(m^3) / flow rate
(gallons/sec)

Dimensionally,

seconds
= m^3 * (seconds / gallon)

Clearly, the
units don't match.  We either have to convert volume in m^3 to volume in gallons, or
vice versa.  Then we might have

seconds = m^3
* (seconds / m^3)

Now we use algebra to show
that this formula is
self-consistent.

--> Note
that you have to consider units of measurement rather than
name of the quantity being measured.  If we just used the
quantity names we would have

time = volume *
(time / volume)

which would appear correct
but would be wrong if volume was measured in m^3 and flow rate was measured in
gallons/second.

For a more technical discussion of units of
measurement, see the reference below, in the section "Units".

What are some significant lines in chapters 7 through 11 in the novel The Grapes Of Wrath?

As you look for significant quotations from The
Grapes of Wrath, think about the book's important themes and look for moments
when the language of the novel expresses some aspect of those themes. There are many,
many such quotations to choose from. Following are just a few
examples.

Social Contract/Class
Conflict: "Good Used Cars. Bargains. Clean, runs good" (71). In this
quotation from chapter 7, a used car salesman claims his cars are good, when in fact
they are not. His cutthroat business behavior shows a breakdown in the social contract,
particularly where rich and middle class people, like the car salesman, interact with
the poor migrant workers. The poor characters find that they have to work hard to
rebuild social safety nets for themselves and each
other.

Connectedness to the Land:
"I could shut my eyes and walk right there" (71). Tom Joad explains to
Jim Casy that, in the area where he was born, he knows the land so well he does not have
to think about where he is going. Later in the novel, John Steinbeck repeatedly
emphasizes how such connectedness to the land is lost as mechanization and factory farms
replace farmers like the Joads, who have worked the land with their hands for
generations.

Connectedness to the Land/The
All-Inclusive Soul: "There was the hills, an' there was me, an' we wasn't
separate no more. We was one thing. An' that one thing was holy." On Jim Casy's first
morning with the Joad family, he says a strange prayer. His words show his connectedness
to the land, and more importantly, they begin to articulate the theme of a larger soul
that encompasses a multitude of people, rather than a single soul for each
individual.

Connectedness to the Land:
"How can we live without our lives? How will we know it's us without our
past?" (96). In the inserted chapter about selling off possessions and leaving the land
behind, migrants speak as though they are leaving themselves
behind.

Hope and Doubt: "I'm
scared of stuff so nice. I ain't got faith. I'm scared somepin ain't so nice about it"
(97). In this quotation, Ma Joad expresses her doubt about the future in California. She
does not think California can really be the paradise people claim it to
be.

The Social Contract: "I
never heerd tell of no Joads or no Hazletts, neither, ever refusin' food an' shelter or
a lift on the road to anybody that asked. They's been mean Joads, but never that mean"
(111). Ma Joad grows indignant when the men of the family consider denying a place to
Jim Casy, who wants to join them on their journey. Throughout the novel, Ma consistently
insists that her family take care of
others.

Connectedness to the Land:
"When the corrugated iron doors are shut, he goes home, and his home is
not the land" (126). In the inserted chapter about the houses decaying after the
migrants leave, John Steinbeck describes a tractor driver who is hired to plow the land.
Unlike the former farmers who worked the land with their hands, this tractor driver
lives a disconnected life.

What are the main characteristics of Abel Magwitch?Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

The reader's introduction to Abel Magwitch finds
him

a fearful
man, all in coarse gray with a great iron on his leg...who limped and shivered, and
glared and growled, and whose teeth chattered in his head as he seized [Pip]by the
chin.

For little Pip, he
seems a terrifying man who threatens to eat his liver and heart if he does not bring
"wittles" and a file.  However, after he is captured, Magwitch confesses to the stealth
of the food and apologizes to Joe: "Then I'm sorry to say I've eat your pie." Thus,
there is an indication in the convict that his basic nature is not
mean.

Like his nomenclature, Abel Magwitch is victimized in
his youth.  When he visits Pip as "Provis" in Stage II of the novel, he reveals his
history as a gamin of the streets of London in which he stole to live and
eat.

readability="13">

"Tramping, begging, thieving, working sometimes
when I could--though that warn't as often as you may think...a bit of a poacher, a bit
of a laborer, a bit of a wagoner...and lead to trouble, I got to be a
man."

Magwitch/Provis met
with Compeyson, the second convict, who exploited
him:

"All
sorts of traps as Compeyson could set with his head, and let another man in for, was
Compeson's
business...."

Compeyson was
involved in the plot of Miss Havisham's fiance, Arthur.  After they are charged with a
felony, Compeyson appeared in court as a gentleman and poor Magwitch was in his rags.
When Compeyson received a lighter sentence, Magwitch vowed to smash his
face.

As Provis relates his past, he looks fondly upon Pip,
proud that he is his benefactor and has helped a poor boy, an orphan like himself, have
a better way in life than he.  In a way, he feels redeemed from his life of misery. 
However, Pip feels that Magwitch "is abhorrent" although he does pity him.  Finally,
after Pip tries to help Magwitch escape London and the old convict is injured and lies
suffering, Pip grows to love Magwitch for he realizes that he has a good heart. 
Performing his duty to Magwitch, Pip tends the man in his final hour, consoling him with
the revelation that Magwitch's daughter yet lives and is beautiful, a woman whom he
loves.  Magwitch raises Pip's hand to his lips and kisses it before he
dies.

The character of Abel Magwitch represents the poor of
London who are victimized by their social misfortune.  Locked in the prison that Dickens
felt was the English society, Magwitch has no chance to better himself and turns to
crime to survive.  Then, he is unjustly punished; because he is poor he is condemned to
a miserable life. 

Who is Anne Hutchinson?

Anne Hutchinson was a real person who lived in the 15 and
1600s.  She is most famous for what happened to her when she lived in the Massachusetts
Bay Colony.  Basically, Anne Hutchinson was expelled from that colony for having
improper religious beliefs and for talking about and promoting those beliefs.  She was
seen as a threat to the established Puritan order in the
colony.

Anne Hutchinson's major problem was that she
preached a doctrine that would have undermined Puritan authority.  She taught that she
knew what God wanted her to do and that there was no need to submit to what the Puritan
leadership told her to do.

Will legal documents prepared abroad be an advantage in an American court or not?My question is related to outsourcing work overseas.

From a business perspective, legal documents prepared
abroad will be an advantage assuming, of course, that they are (a) cheaper than those
produced here (which is the whole point of outsourcing them) and (b) that they are of a
comparable quality to those produced here.

Legally, there
should be no difference between documents that are prepared in the United States as
opposed to those produced abroad (again, assuming that the foreign lawyers are competent
in US law).  There is no need for the court to ever even know where the documents were
produced.

So, from a legal point of view, these documents
will not give any advantage or disadvantage.  The only advantage that will come of them
is financial because they will presumably cost less.

Differentiate the following w.r.t.x. (x+1)/(x+2)^2 (3x+4)/(4x+5)

We'll differentiate the first ratio, with respect to x,
applying the quotient rule:

(f/g)' = (f'*g -
f*g')/g^2

(x+1)/(x+2)^2 =
f(x)/g(x)

We can write the differentiating process in 2
ways:

d/dx[(x+1)/(x+2)^2] = [(x+2)^2d/dx(x+1) -
(x+1)d/dx)/(x+2)^2]/)/[(x+2)^2]^2

or

[(x+1)/(x+2)^2]'
= {(x+1)'*(x+2)^2 -
(x+1)*[(x+2)^2]'}/[(x+2)^2]^2

[(x+1)/(x+2)^2]' = [1*(x+2)^2
- 2(x+1)(x+2)*(x+2)']/(x+2)^4

[(x+1)/(x+2)^2]' = [(x+2)^2 -
2(x+1)(x+2)]/(x+2)^4

We'll factorize the numerator by
(x+2):

[(x+1)/(x+2)^2]' =
(x+2)*(x+2-2x-2)/(x+2)^4

We'll combine like terms and we'll
simplify:

[(x+1)/(x+2)^2]' =
-x/(x+2)^3

d/dx[(x+1)/(x+2)^2] =
-x/(x+2)^3

Now, we'll
differentiate the ratio (3x+4)/(4x+5) using again the quotient
rule:

d/dx[(3x+4)/(4x+5)] =
[(3x+4)'*(4x+5)-(3x+4)*(4x+5)']/(4x+5)^2

d/dx[(3x+4)/(4x+5)]
= [3(4x+5) - 4(3x+4)]/(4x+5)^2

We'll remove the
brackets:

d/dx[(3x+4)/(4x+5)]
=(12x+15-12x-16)/(4x+5)^2

We'll eliminate like
terms:

d/dx[(3x+4)/(4x+5)] =
-1/(4x+5)^2

What are the ways in which O'Brien develops the characters in In the Lake of the Woods?

O'Brien uses an interesting technique that moves through
time, giving us clues about the characters, but never enough information to know exactly
who did what at any one time in the novel ... including the ending.  He introduces us to
characters in much the same way we find out about the people we live with.  We never sit
down with someone and query their life story.  We find out bits and pieces about people,
often the most trivial with the really significant information evolving only through
time.  O'Brien wanders through time, offering possible interpretations (which can be
confusing since we often forget that much of what happens in those chapters is
conjecture and not "fact.")  For instance, we know that John and Kathy's lives are a
disaster, but we don't know why.  We find out that he lost an election that he was
leading, but we have no idea why.  Bits and pieces of evidence from different time
periods surface during the evidence chapters, not only from John's life span, but from
prior periods in history.  The reader gets a sense of putting the characters' lives
together as the pieces are presented ... the author provides the information, but we
assemble the "pieces."  I don't know if this would work for other novels, but I think
O'Brien did an interesting job with it in this novel.

Please can you explain "The Raven" to me.

I will help you by giving you a few "hooks" on which to
base your understanding of this excellent poem. Hopefully, after reading my response you
will be able to revisit the poem and understand a lot more. To start off with, let us
look at a summary of the poem.

As the poem begins, we are
presented with the speaker of this narrative poem, who is a weary student. He is
studying at midnight and also mourning his dead love, Lenore. He hears a faint knock,
and opening the shutter, he finds a mysterious raven. The talking bird amuses the
speaker at first, but its refrain of "Nevermore" in answer to the speaker's pleading
questions about meeting Lenore after death, drives him to despair and madness. As the
poem closes, the bird settles in to stay, a brooding symbol and symptom of the speaker's
desperate state of mind.

What is key to what this poem is
about is the major theme of the poem. Poe himself said this poem explored one aspect of
the dark side of human nature - to quote Poe, "that species of despair which delights in
self-torture". We are presented with the figure of a troubled individual who is
desperately mourning his lost love, Lenore. When the Raven enters he asks questions of
it about Lenore, and is pushed into ever greater despair by the single word response,
"Nevermore", which is placed in direct conflict with "Lenore", both in rhyme and in
position. Of course, in the jargon of psychology, the narrator projects or puts onto the
bird whatever his own wild imagination dredges up and thus tortures himself in his
depressed state.

This is to say that the Raven of course is
just a raven rather than a messenger from hell, but the raven suits the speaker's
mournful tone and his tormented projections, and thus becomes a symbol of death, loss,
or despair.

Hope this helps! Now go back and read the poem
and enjoy.

What are some events about the Hawaiian sugar industry.

Here are what I would say are the most important events
that have to do with the Hawaiian sugar industry.

First of
all, there was the beginning of the industry.  Sugar was first planted on an industrial
scale in Koloa (Kauai) in the 1830s.  This was done by Ladd &
Company.

I would say that the American Civil War was
another big event.  This caused the exports of sugar from Hawaii to the United States to
skyrocket.  Of course, they also fell when the war ended, so it was not a permanent
thing.

I don't know if you would count this as having to do
with the sugar industry, but the importation of workers to work in the plantations had a
huge impact on Hawaii as a whole.  The huge Asian population of the islands (as well as
the Pidgin that so many locals speak) comes from all the importation of labor from
Japan, China, the Philippines and other places.

Perhaps the
most important event was the 1876 Reciprocity Treaty with the US.  This let Hawaiian
sugar into the US untaxed and led to a huge boom in trade.  You could argue that this
led pretty directly to the US annexation of the islands in the 1890s (I would say the
annexation was connected to the sugar industry too).

How does Orwell feel about the Burmans in "Shooting and Elephant"?

From his introduction, George Orwell seems to have
ambivalent feelings about the Burmese.   On the one hand, he states that he is
theoretically and secretly "all for the Burmese and all against their oppressors, the
British and he feels an "intolerable sense of guilt" for the "wretched prisoners."   On
the other hand, he writes that he feels rage toward the "evil-spirited little beasts who
tried to make his job impossible:

readability="8">

With one part of my mind I though of the British
Raj as an unbreakable tyranny, as something clamped down...upon the will of prostrate
peoples; with another part I thought that the greatest joy in the world would be to
drive a bayonet into a Buddhist priest's
guts.

It is ironic
that Orwell is exploited by those who are themselves exploited by the British. Because
of the conduct expected of a British official, Orwell cannot allow the elephant to live,
as he knows that he should.  As he contemplates whether to allow the elephant to live or
to shoot it in order to display his lack of fear, Orwell thinks that if anything goes
wrong,

those
two thousand Burmans would see me pursued, caught, trampled on, and reduced to a
grinning corpse like that Indian up the hill.  And if that happened it was quite
probable that some of them would laugh.  That would never
do.

And, so Orwell shoots the
elephant "solely to avoid looking like a fool."  And, like the Burmans who hate their
British oppressors, Orwell hates his oppressors in this situation, the Burmans, whom he
blames for his comprising of his principles:  "They were going to have their bit of fun,
after all," Orwell writes bitterly.

What is the area of the circle whose equation is x^2 + y^2 - 2x + 4y = 32

Given the equation of the circle
is:

x^2 + y^2 -2x + 4y = 32

We
need to find the area of the circle.

To find the area, we
need to determine the radius of the circle (r).

We can
determine r by rewriting the circle equation into the standard
form.

 (x-a)^2 + (y-b)^2 = r^2 where r is the
radius.

Let us rewrite by completing the
square.

==> x^2 + y^2 - 2x + 4y =
32

==> x^2 - 2x + y^2 + 4y =
32

==> x^2 - 2x + 1 -1 + y^2 + 4y + 4 - 4 =
32

==> (x-1)^2 -1 + ( y+2)^2 - 4 =
32

==> (x-1)^2 + (y+2)^2 = 32 +
5

==> (x-1)^2 + (y+2)^2 =
37

Then, we conclude that r^2 =
37.

==> r=
sqrt(37).

Now we will determine the
area.

==> The area (a )= r^2 * pi =
37*pi = 116.24 square units (approx.)

Why does Jem not want anything to do with Scout at school in To Kill a Mockingbird?

Jem and Scout have the typical older brother-younger
sister relationship. Jem is a little more serious about things than Scout is. Scout is
quick tempered and quick to speak whatever is on her mind. Jem on the other hand is more
reserved. Jem doesn't want to have anything to do with Scout at school because he sees
her as the aggravating little sister. Jem thinks of himself as the big man at the school
because he is four years older than Scout.

Jem is a little
embarrassed by the way Scout reacts to people. Scout will fight anyone at anytime. Jem
doesn't think she should act this way. We can see that Jem has a lot of Atticus in him.
Jem and Scout are certainly close, though. During the summers, the two of them, plus
Dill, have the best times together. They look out for each other. They are each other's
confidants. Jem and Scout have no idea just how strong their bond is. They can't even
imagine what is waiting for them, and that they are going to have to rely on each other
to make it through.

I love how Harper Lee made the
relationship of Jem and Scout so real. She gets us invested in their lives and we want
only good things for them. We can relate to how Jem feels, having a younger sibling who
drives us crazy, yet we would do anything in the world for them.
  

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

This is a very interesting question, because, as with some
great poems, it is very difficult to highlight one particular theme with any great
authority. In this ode, the speaker addresses an antique Greek vase on which two painted
scenes appear. In the first scene, gods or men pursue maidens in a forest setting while
musicians play. In the second scene, a crowd of people and a priest lead a young cow
toward an altar for a ritual sacrifice. The mood here is solemn and mournful in contrast
with the feverish excitement of the first scene. In the final stanza, the speaker's aim
is ambiguous: He may be celebrating the urn as a symbol of eternal art and idealised
beauty, but he may be commenting on the limitations of art and the need to find
fulfillment in living life.

In this poem, bit by bit, a
miniature world of human passions comes alive, only to remind us that it is as dead as
the clay on which it is represented. Keats has shown us that in the midst of change, art
seems to provide the only truth. Yet this is a truth that depends not on sensory
experience, but on the human imagination:

readability="18">

When old age shall this generation
waste,

Thou shall remain, in midst of other
woe

than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou
say'st,

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty," - that is
all

Ye know on earth, and all
ye need to know.

Thus this Ode acts as a pageant of Art and
its truth-giving properties against the death and destruction that destroys all other
forms of "Truth" in our society.

Isn't poetry essentially song lyrics? Particularly the song "Gravity" by Sara Bareilles.

It's true that lyrics are essentially poems.  In fact,
the early recorded poetry we have in English literature was actually sung by traveling
poets called scops.  They would move from place to place, staying
for a short period of time, entertaining at banquets and feasts around the country to
earn their keep.  You may have heard of Beowulf, which was sung for
over a century before it was finally written down by monks in the Middle
Ages.

Lyrics do often share some common characteristics
with poetry, elements such as rhyme, meter, figurative language, repetition, and
chorus/refrain.  Often lyrics, because they are set to music, do have anomalies, such as
elongated lines or staccato phrases to match the music.  Generally, though, looking at a
lyric is just like looking at a poem.

I'm not familiar with
"Gravity," but a look at one of the stanzas will demonstrate what I
mean:

You
hold me without touch.

You keep me without
chains.

I never wanted anything so
much

Than to drown in your love and not feel your
rain.

There is a clear rhyme
scheme (ABAB), parallel structure (first two lines), and figurative language (clearly
the drowning here is not literal, and no person can produce rain).  Notice, too, the
length of the last line; a poem would generally not break the meter with such a long
line, though it obviously fits the music for this song.

In
short, a poem and a lyric are clearly more similar than
different.

"There is a certain satisfaction in coming down to the lowest ground of politics, for we get rid of cant and hypocrisy."What are your views on this...

This quotation is taken from one of Ralph Waldo Emerson's
much lesser known works -- an essay that he wrote about Napoleon.  Here is some more of
the passage -- it can help us understand and discuss what is being said
here:

readability="14">

Bonaparte was the idol of common men because he
had in transcendent degree the qualities and powers of common men. There is a certain
satisfaction in coming down to the lowest ground of politics, for we get rid of cant and
hypocrisy. Bonaparte wrought, in common with that great class he represented, for power
and wealth,- but Bonaparte, specially, without any scruple as to the
means.

So what Emerson is
claiming here is that a politician like Napoleon is refreshing because he does not
pretend to be high-minded.  He is like a common person in that he does not try to
disguise what he wants -- he is openly trying to get power and
wealth.

I suppose that in our own day, we could compare
this to people's feelings about someone like Sarah Palin.  The idea here is that she,
unlike so many politicians, is not really trying to hide what she wants.  She is coming
out and saying what she wants in a straightforward way.

I
would argue that this is something that we should want in our politicians.  It would be
satisfying if they came out and said what they meant rather than trying to sound like
they agreed with everyone.  I do not know if anyone could get elected that way, but it
might get us started towards having more respect for politicians if they seemed
honest.

Please note that the word "cant" here does not mean
"cannot."  Instead, cant is something like a cliche or a canned saying that people use
without really meaning it.  That is why cant and hypocrisy go
together.

How does the title Of Mice and Men affect our view of the dream and our expectations of what will happen later in the novel?

To understand the title's connection to dreams, a reader
must read poet Robert Burns' "To a Mouse," from which Steinbeck got the idea for the
title. A line from the poem that is often paraphrased is the origin of the phrase "of
mice and men." It reads,

readability="6">

"The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, / [often
go awry]" (38-39).

In the
poem, a farmer unintentionally destroys a mouse's home and then ponders how humans and
animals make plans and have dreams that are often left unfulfilled or destroyed (like
the mouse's home).  Steinbeck uses this idea to foreshadow and demonstrate why George
and Lennie's dream of owning their own farm with rabbits one day will never come true.
Thus, if a reader knows the background of Burns' poem as he or she begins reading
Of Mice and Men, it is simple to catch Steinbeck's foreshadowing of
unattainable dreams, whether those dreams be George and Lennie's farm dream, Crooks'
dream of companionship, or Curley's Wife's dream to be famous and
idolized.

Recently, the Federal Government offered home buyers a sizable tax credit. How has this has affected the housing market and the economy overall?

It should be noted that economists believe that the last
sectors to reflect any change in current economic conditions would be the job and
housing sectors.  These markets traditionally are the last ones to feel any change in
terms of reflection of an overall economic improvement.  That said, when the federal
government seeks to encourage the purchase of property, there is some initial allure to
the prospective buyers.  Yet, the overall condition of the market plays more of a role
in this.  If a prospective buyer can only buy a property, even with the tax credit,
after selling their own property, this might play a larger role than anything else.  In
a current period of economic contraction and a lack of vitality in the marketplace, the
prospect of trying to wait out a sale might be more discouraging than anything else.  In
the end, I think that this might be affecting the housing market more than the tax
credit.  Certainly, people would be encouraged to purchase properties with the tax
credit.  Yet, I believe that the individuals are confronted with the reality that
little, if anything, is moving to sell in the marketplace and with such a slow growth
rate in the housing market, the notion of waiting it out for a sale in order to purchase
could be more of a factor than anything else.

What is the crisis, in the poem "The Fish" by Elizabeth Bishop?crisis as it relates to American crisis poems. Examples: Whitman's "As I Ebb'd with...

That is an interesting question.  You will find extensive
analysis of "The Fish" online, including an excellent e-notes analysis (see link below),
but these sites do not directly answer your question.  In the poem, the speaker
experiences an epiphany when there is "joy" in the boat and releases the fish at the end
of the poem.  Prior to this the speaker sees and exults in the life of the fish--seeing
something in the fish's life and liveliness that she (the speaker) can relate to.  The
crisis, therefore, could be seen as what to do with the fish, perhaps especially at the
moment where the indifferent fish refuses to return the speaker's gaze.  Once the
speaker sees even more beauty and life in the fish--the five hooks, for example, as
evidence of the fish's earlier struggles--she is no longer in doubt and releases the
fish in joy.

What is the most important aspect of the Opium Wars?

To me, the most important aspect of the Opium Wars is that
they were wars that were conducted so that Britain could force China to allow the
British to bring opium into China to sell.  The British needed to sell opium to China. 
When China banned the trade, Britain went to war.

Britain
needed tea from China.  They had to pay for it with silver and had nothing to sell the
Chinese.  This meant Britain's silver reserves were leaking away to China.  So when the
British found they could sell opium to Chinese, it was great for them.  Now they had a
way to get their silver back from the Chinese.

As I say,
China banned the trade and Britain went to war to force them to resume that
trade.

So, to me, the most important thing about these wars
is that they were fairly immoral from our point of view -- they were fought to force
China to allow Britain to sell drugs to the Chinese.

You
could also argue that the most important aspect is that the wars ended with unequal
treaties that gave the British all sorts of rights to China -- rights that essentially
made parts of China subject to British law and not Chinese law.

simplify the ratio: 14/25:7:10show all your working out and explain how you got the answer.

The given ratio is 
14/15:7:10.

The given ratio is  ordered triple number or in
simple language 3 numbers (terms) in an order.

A ratio does
not change in value by multiplying (or dividing) each its terms by equal number (but
never by zero).

A ratio is in simplest form when all the
terms are in the minimum posinble intgers.

In the given
ratio 14/25 can be 14 in the ratio if we multiply each of the 3 terms by
14:

(14/25)*25 : 7*25 :
10*25

14 : 175 : 250

Now the
three terms  i 14 : 175 : 25 together do not have any common (in fact HCF) factor other
than 1. 

Therefore,  14 : 175 : 250 is the simple form of
the given ratio.