Can someone provide me with a Marxist approach to a literary text?I would like a text or a poem analysed with a marxist approach.

The Marxist theory is an extrinsic approach to literature
that allows us to be aware of Historical contexts. I took the example of Araby, a short
story written by James Joyceto illustrate a possible Marxist approach of his
work.

The first thing to consider in a Marxist analysis is
to distinguish between the powerful and the powerless characters. In Araby, the young
lady and the two gentlemen are characters who seem to maintain power because they are
English. We know that at the time, England was an oppressive state par rapport to
Ireland.

A Marxist analysis also presupposes the existence
of class struggle in literary texts. However, in Araby there is no evidence of conflict
among people from different social classes, except for the characters at the bazaar, the
story only involves Irish characters.

Alienation is also an
important term in this kind of analysis. Alienation refers to any form of escapism
that camouflages  harsh realities. In Araby, we may say that the Catholic Church, being
a superstructure, exerts its power over people in Ireland. Otherwise, the Bazaar clearly
contributes to another form of escapism.

We can
also detect which social class the narrator belongs by examining  the setting. In this
case, the imagery in the opening paragraph makes us to envisage a low middle class
neighborhood.

Now, for the bazaar we see that the
narrator’s attitude towards the bazaar changes from euphoria to disappointment.  We may
risk and say that this change of mood implies the author’s negative critic of the
British Imperialism.

Next we shall consider some
more generalized questions. For example, we may try to find out  the values of the
author’s time and place. Likewise, we may analyse the socioeconomic conditions of the
writer's time. Finally, we may consider James Joyce's  biographical in order to
identify his ideology.

find the exact value: sin[arccos(3^(1/2) / 4]

We'll use the formula
that:

sin(arccos x) = sqrt(1 - x^2)
(1)

We'll put x =
sqrt3/4

We'll raise to square both
sides:

x^2 = 3/16

We'll
substitute x in the expression (1):

sin(arccos sqrt3/4) =
sqrt(1 - 3/16)

sin(arccos sqrt3/4) =
sqrt[(16-3)/16]

sin(arccos sqrt3/4) =
(sqrt13)/4

sin(arccos sqrt3/4)
= 0.9013

I would like to know how is race gender social class treated in Our Mutual Friend and Vanity Fair?

This question must be answered in portions, since there
are several prongs involved in the response for each novel. Therefore, this response
begins with Our Mutual Friend. In Our Mutual Friend, Dickens illustrates the
senselessness of racism through the relationship between Fledgeby and his humble servant
and employee, Mr. Riah. Mr. Riah is Jewish and Fledgeby continually and unjustly
torments him without apology. Often, his cruel remarks include references to Mr. Riah’s
race. His ridiculous and unreasonable treatment of an elderly and honest man makes him
appear detestable.

The issue of gender is addressed in a
manner that suggests the folly of subordinating women to second class citizenship. John
Harmon can only inherit his father’s riches if he marries Bella Wilfer, a woman he has
never seen. Moreover, if he fails to marry her, he will be completely disinherited. Both
John Harmon and Bella Wilfer are aware of these conditions. Bella resents the fact that
she is treated like mere chattel. Likewise, the chaste and guileless Georgiana Podsnap
is the target of a conspiracy. Her dearest friend, Sophronia Lammle conspires with
Fledgeby and Alfred Lammle to trap her in a loveless marriage so that her fortune will
be at her husband’s disposal.

Finally, The demarcation
between social classes was rigid, as illustrated in the relationship between Lizzie
Hexam and Eugene Wrayburn, the unprincipled attorney. Wrayburn is immediately drawn to
Lizzie because she is beautiful. However, as his friend, Mortimer Lightwood, often
remarks, his interest in her is fleeting. His intentions are dishonorable and he will,
if given the chance, ruin her. He would never marry her because she is beneath him and
he would be shunned by others in his social class. It is only because Lizzie is poor
that she can be victimized by a man such as Wrayburn. Even her own brother, Charley,
forgets her acts of loving—kindness and unfairly berates her for sullying the family’s
reputation.

Please comment on my literature research essay on Shakespeare's women. The ladies I want to use are Lady Macbeth and Juliet.Thesis: Women are...

This is an interesting concept, to look at two realms of
life in several works; and political and social realms do seem to be a useful pairing,
as well.  When I look at your two female examples, though, I have to wonder what issues
you'll use.  Lady Macbeth in Macbeth is certainly more a part of
the politics of the play than Juliet in Romeo and Juliet
is.

Lady Macbeth is an equal partner with her
husband; she convinces him to do what he is at least somewhat hesitant to do (murder
Duncan) in an attempt to claim the crown.  She greets Duncan graciously (despite her
intention to ensure he does not leave her house alive); she tries to appease all the
lords at the banquet when Macbeth is seeing Banquo's ghost and is acting crazy (so their
murderous ways are not discovered).  Even in her social duties, Lady Macbeth is still
aware of the political ramifications.  In short, Lady Macbeth is not particularly
relegated to a mere social presence nor is she excluded from the political realm in
deference to her husband.

Juliet, on the other hand, has
little experience in either realm. She has agreed to "look" at the young man her father
has chosen, presumably a good match for the family; later she agrees to marry him
(though she has much different intentions); she seems relatively uninvolved in the
politics of the feud, though she is most certainly aware of it.  In the social realm,
she attends her father's yearly party and she is a participant in the social rite of
marriage.  In short, Juliet is not overtly a part of the politics of the family
feud, but she is involved in several social moments in the
play.

Perhaps what makes this more difficult is that Juliet
is so young and Lady Macbeth is so, well, experienced.  I'm not sure which Shakespearean
characters you're familiar with, but maybe Gertrude in Hamlet, a
relatively familiar play, might be more comparable to Lady Macbeth simply because she
has lived and experienced a little more life.  I still wonder if you'll find that there
is a dichotomy (a division) between the political and social roles in Shakespeare, but
with these two at least you'd have a similar comparison.  Best of
luck!

How does Lee use humor (and what is the effect) when Atticus talks to Scout about saying "N-Word" in To Kill a Mockingbird?Chapter 11

The humor of this Atticus Finch Lesson
is just like the humor in most of Atticus' lessons.  Instead of avoiding the
situation, glossing over it, or simply ignoring it (as many parents do), Atticus tackles
Scout's question in his own very straightforward and matter-of-fact
way.

First, he tells Scout that "n*gger-lover" is basically
a silly made up word used by ignorant people.  In Scout's words (which Atticus accepts
as a viable example) it is much the same as "snot-nose."  Scout clarifies by asking,
"You aren't really a n*gger-lover then, are you?"  Atticus' response is probably key to
the humor of this situation.

Atticus says, "I most
certainly am.  I do my best to love everybody..."

Instead
of allowing the term to be the insult it was intended to be, Atticus takes the word at
face value and agrees with it.  The effect, therefore, is Atticus once again
rising above the immaturity of the town, rather than living at the
same level.  By raising himself above the insult, he is able not only to diffuse its
sting, but to teach his children, by example, how to deal with petty
insults.

What other reasons would Texas lawmakers have for not wanting to reform the legislature from a part-time to a full-time legislative body?

When you post a question asking what
other reasons there are, please tell us what reasons you
already have.  Otherwise, we won't know which ones are "other"
reasons.

I have attached a link to a newspaper article
(from Pittsburgh, PA of all places) that gives Gov. Rick Perry's reasons for not wanting
a full-time legislature.  Basically, he has two very closely connected
reasons:

• There is too much government already. 
  He says that if the legislature were full-time, the legislators would feel the need to
  pass even more laws.  That would make for a more intrusive
  government.


• It would cost too much.  Perry says that all
  of these new laws would end up forcing the government to set up all kinds of new
  programs and hire all kinds of new people and that would be too
  expensive.

Can you identify humourous elements in the story "The Cask of Amontillado" and what does the humor add to the story?

Any humor in Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" is dark
humor, indeed.  I can only tell you what I have found amusing when I read this story. 
I'm always a little amused when Montressor says he told his servants he wouldn't be home
until the next day but expected them to be there to do their jobs--knowing full well
they'd all take off for Carnival.  I also enjoy the picture Poe draws of Fortunato in
his crazy "parti-colored" jester-like outfit.  It's slightly amusing to see Fortunato
get lured into the catacombs, though it's not funny to think of what happens to him
there.  Finally, I always like the picture of Fortunato giving secret Masonic signals to
a very confused Montressor.  These are not, as I said, wildly comical; instead, they are
amusing incidents in a very dark work.  If the humorous elements were truly outrageously
funny, it would clash dramatically with the somber and melancholy tone found in the rest
of the work.  These moments are a perfect accompaniment and contrast to that darkness, I
think, and each of them serves to advance some dramatic element of plot in the
story. 

What are some special features of the Amoretti sonnets by Edmund Spenser?

One of the most intriguing aspects of Edmund Spenser’s
sonnet sequence known as Amoretti is that the male lover is
actually successful in winning the affection of the female beloved. In many other
sonnets of the Renaissance, self-absorbed males try to win the affections of reluctant
females and are usually unsuccessful. The women seem to sense that the men are selfishly
motivated, desiring the women mainly as sexual objects. In other words, the women seem
to intuit that the men do not truly love them but instead feel mere lust for them. The
men treat the women as simple objects of self-centered desire. It is not surprising,
then, that the males usually do not win the women.

In
Spenser’s sonnet sequence, however, true love – in the deepest senses of that term –
actually does win out. By the final third of the sequence, the male lover has come to
love the truly valuable aspects of his beloved: her character, her mind, her spirit, her
soul. In other words, he comes to love her in a deeply Christian sense of the word
“love.” This change is especially obvious in sonnet 68, in which the speaker reveals
that he has his priorities right (at least from a Renaissance Christian perspective):
first asks for God’s love; then he expresses love of God; then he suggests that all
humans should love another as God has taught them to love; and then, finally, he
expresses love for his own beloved. In other words, the poem suggests that we should
first love God, then love others in a godly way, and then love one particular person as
God would want us to love that person.

Precisely because
the female beloved realizes that the male is now offering her true, genuine love, she
gives him such love in return. In fact, because he values her fully as a beautiful human
being (not merely as a woman with a beautiful body), the female beloved in this series
of poems is actually allowed to speak, as we see, for example, in sonnet 75. Women
rarely get to speak for themselves in other Renaissance sonnets. We also see her
spiritual beauty – especially her humility – in that same poem. Meanwhile, in sonnet 79,
the male speaker shows that he understands that the truly beautiful aspect of his
beloved is her mind, her reason, her soul (the qualities that link her most intimately
with God). For once, a male speaker in Renaissance sonnets seems to express genuine
love, not mere lust. No wonder, then, that he is successful in winning the woman he has
been pursuing.

Find the integral of f(x) such that f(x) = x*sinx

f(x) = x*sinx

We need to
determine the indefinite integral of f(x)

we note that the
function is aproduct of two terms.

==> intg f(x) =
intg x*sinx dx

Then we will apply the
rule:

Let f(x) = u*dv    such
that:

u= x    ==>    du =
dx

dv= sinx dx  ==>  v = intg sinx dx =
-cosx

==> we know
that:

intg f(x) = u*v - intg
v*du

             = x*(-cosx) - intg (-cosx)
dx

               = -xcosx +
sinx

==> intg f(x) = -xcosx +
sinx

What are some examples of defamiliarization in "The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury?

There are many examples of defamiliarization in Ray
Bradbury's short story "The Veldt." Some of them are as
follows.

a) "His wife paused...and watched the stove busy
humming to itself, making supper for
four."

The stove
here is some kind of high-tech gadget that cooks automatically; but isn't every stove a
gadget that "makes supper" for you? And don't even regular stoves hum to themselves?
Bradbury has forced us to look at stoves in a new
way.

b) "The
house lights followed her like a flock of
fireflies."

On
the face of it, Bradbury is comparing the house's automatic lighting system to a flock
of fireflies that surrounds and follows a person. On a deeper level, he is allowing us
to think about a flock of fireflies in a new way: that they are like an automatic
lighting system that follows you wherever you
go.

c) My
personal favorite: George says to David the psychologist: "I want facts, not feelings."
David
answers:

"My dear
George, a psychologist never saw a fact in his
life."

A great
new way of looking at psychologists: people who are not interested in facts, and who
take a hefty fee for their lack of interest!

　

d)
"The lions were finished with their red
feast."

This line
can be seen as being similar to example b. By comparing the lions' slobbering and
gnawing to a "feast," the author is making us think about what a human feast really is:
a bunch of people slobbering and gnawing at chunks of meat and other foods, just like
lions.

How are the heroes Sir Gawain (in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight) and Beowulf (in Beowulf) similar and different?

In his own way, each hero represents the values of his
culture.  Beowulf represents the warrior colde of the Anglo Saxons:  bravery, loyalty,
physical strength.  Gawain represents the chivalric code of the medieval period which
also involves courage, loyalty, and physical prowess.  However, the two heroes differ in
the way that they demonstrate these virtues.  Beowulf meets evil monsters which
represent the antithesis of the warrior code:  Grendel, Grendel's mother, and the fire
dragon.  Sir Gawain's test is not one against evil; it is one that tests his own
integrity.  Sir Gawain's opponents, in other words, are not evil antagonists.  They
provide instead an opportunity for Sir Gawain to prove his character.  Beowulf can
defeat the evil monsters, but Sir Gawain is unable to demonstrate that he is perfect. 
Gawain comes close to perfection, but fails by taking the green sash offered to him by
the lady of the castle. 

At the end of the story, even
though Gawain has performed bravely and done more than any other knight was willing to
do, he felt himself a failure.  Gawain's adventure demonstrates the medieval idea that
man should strive for perfection even if he falls short.  Beowulf, however, is
victorious.  He is able to defeat the monster and save his people, even if at the end he
loses his life.  In the Anglo-Saxon epic, the threat comes mainly from without.  In the
medieval romance, the threat is actually a test, not truly a threat at
all. 

Calculate the modulus of z = [( 2 + ( 2)^1/2)^1/2 + i*( 2 - ( 2)^1/2)^1/2]^6?

To find modulus of z =  [( 2 + ( 2)^1/2)^1/2 + i*( 2 - (
2)^1/2)^1/2]^6?.

We know cospi/4 = 2cos^2 (pi/8)
-1.

So 2cos^2(pi/8) = cospi/4+1 =
(1/2^(1/2))+1

2cos^2(pi/8) = {1+(2^(1/2)}/2^(1/2) =
{2+2^(1/2)}/2

cos^2(pi/8) =
{(2+2^(1/2)}/4.

cos(pi/8) =
(1/2)[2+2(1/2)]^(1/2)....(1)

Therefore
sin(pi /8) = {1-(1/4)[2+2^(1/2)]}^(1/2)

sinpi/8 = (1/2) {
4-2 -2^(1/2)}^(1/2)

sin(pi/8) = (1/2)
[2-2^(1/2)]^(1/2).....(2).

Therefore z =
{(2+2^(1/2)^1/2) +i (2-2^(1/2))^(1/2))^(1/2)}^6.

We know 
sqrt[(2+2^(1/2) + (2-2(1/2)] = sqrt4 =2.

Therefore z =
2^6*{[(2+2^(1/2))^(1/2)]/2 +i [(2+2^(1/2))^(1/2)]/2}^6.

z =
2^6 { cos (pi/8) +isin(pi)]^6.

z = 2^6 { cos (6pi/8) +i sin
(6pi/8) } , by De'Moivre's therem.

z = 2^6 {cos 3pi/4 +i
sin 3pi/4}

Threfore modulus of z = |z| = |
2^6{cos(3pi/4)+isin(3pi/4)|

|z| = 2^6 *{(cos(3pi/4))^2
+(sin (3pi/4))^2}

|z| =
2^6.

Therefore modulus of z is 2^6.

How can you explain the rhythm and rhyme in the Sir Philip Sidney's "My True Love Hath My Heart"

Sir Philip Sidney's poem "My True Love Hath My Heart" is
written in iambic pentameter. (This is the rhythm.) This means that there are ten
syllables per line, and that the stress rests on every other
syllable.

This poetic form was popular in Shakespeare's
time; this form of poem is, in fact, known as a Shakespearean or Elizabethan
sonnet.

A sonnet is a poetic form of fourteen lines, with a
prescribed rhyme scheme. A rhyme scheme is a pattern of rhyme: a rhyme is created with
the last word of each line. Each sound is given a letter that represents one sound. When
a new sound is presented, a new letter is assigned to
it.

The rhyme scheme in this sonnet is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.
This means that the last word in line one rhymes with the last word in line three. Line
two has a different end rhyme, so a new letter (B) is assigned to that sound. This
process of rhyme is repeated until the writer reaches the thirteenth and fourteenth
lines: these lines rhyme with each other; this is called a rhyming
couplet.

Lines five and seven (ending with "one" and "own")
present what is called "near rhyme." The last words of each line sound somewhat alike,
but this is not an example of "pure rhyme" (which is found in lines two and four,
"giv'n" and "driv'n").

Other sonnet forms are Petrarchan,
or Italian, and Spenserian. All sonnets are fourteen lines with a specific rhyme
scheme.

In "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning", clarify the metaphor in Stanza 3.

To understand the meaning of Stanza Three in this amazing
poem you need to understand what has already been established in Stanzas One and Two. In
these first two stanzas, the speaker is encouraging his wife to not mourn his death
loudly and urges her to part from him quietly, because it would spoil the sacredness of
their love to display their feelings publicly:

readability="7">

'Twere profanation of our
joys

To tell the laity our
love.

To somehow reveal in a
very overt fashion the deep feelings they have for one another in front of other people
would lessen or cheapen the love that they had, and thus it is far better to part
quietly and not to mourn openly.

Thus in Stanza Three the
poet continues to offer proof for what he wants his wife to
do:

Moving of
th'earth brings harms and fears,

Men reckon what it did and
meant,

But trepidation of the
spheres,

Though greater far, is
innocent.

When an earthquake
occurs, men constantly ask what does it mean or what does it point towards. However,
irregularities in the movements of remote heavenly bodies is a far greater natural
disruption yet it is unobserved and harmless compared with
earthquakes.

Thus the author is encouraging his wife to be
like the heavenly bodies - his death, he knows will be incredibly significant and hard
for her to handle, yet by allowing her grief to go unobserved and not mourning she will
ensure that this tragic event will be of far greater significance than an "earthquake"
which is not as seismic an event as irregularities in the movements of planets and
stars.

How would I start an introduction to a paper?I'm having trouble on starting an introduction on an essay where I have to compare and contrast Tom...

I think that the best starting point for such an essay is
to simply discuss both characters.  From the most broad points of view in your
introduction, you have a great topic with which to "hook" the reader.  Gatsby and Tom
are linked to the same woman, but represent the different extremes to which men, and all
people in fact, can go.  Tom is a boor, truly devious and self serving.  Gatsby is a
decent man who loves his dreams and their pursuit.  While the former might be
"legitimate" in his business interests and the latter is probably not, the reality is
that the first is incapable of any real love or affection while the second has nothing
but.  I think that being able to suggest in the introduction that these two characters
are the dominant male figures in the novel and between them, Nick, and the reader, have
to assess both could make for a powerful opening to a compare and contrast
essay.

In what ways is Sir Philip Sidney a "Petrarchan" poet? Please use the following poems from Astrophil and Stella as examples: I, II, XV, XXVII,...

Since your question about Sir Philip Sidney's
Astrophil and Stella sonnets as Petrarchan poems is highly
specific, I will try to address, in the limited space available, some of the issues you
raise by discussing some of the poems you
mention.

• Rhyme
  scheme: Petrarch’s sonnets are divided into units of eight lines (the
  octave) and six lines (the sestet).  The octave rhymes as follows: abbaabba.  The sestet
  can rhyme in various ways, such as cdecde. Sidney follows the Petrarchan rhyme scheme in
  the octave, but his sestets tend to end with couplets. Sonnet II is an
  example.


• Themes and content:
  like the sonnets in Petrarch’s Rime sparse, Sidney’s poems deal
  with a self-pitying male who is obsessed with winning the affection of a woman who seems
  uninterested in reciprocating his desires (see sonnet XLV, for
  example).


• Traits that made Sidney’s poems
  distinctive: certainly humor is one of the traits that make Astrophil a
  distinctive sonnet lover; Sidney often has much fun mocking Astrophil’s obsessiveness,
  as in the following lines from sonnet I, in which Astrophil describes his frustration at
  his inability to express exactly what he feels about
  Stella:

readability="16">

Thus great with child to speak, and helpless in
my throes,

Biting my trewand [that is, truant] pen, beating
myself for spite,

“Fool,” said my Muse to me, “Look in thy
heart and write.”
(12-14)

• Petrarchan
  conceits: “new-born sighs” (XV.8); seeming “most alone in greatest
  company” – a typical Petrarchan paradox (XXVII.2); the idea of love as “disease” (with a
  pun on “dis-ease”; XXXIV.5); Stella’s “heavenly face” as the source of “beams” of light
  (XLV.14); etc.


• The process of
  self-fashioning: the way Sidney presents a version of himself by
  describing Astrophil in XLI:

readability="14">

Having this day my horse, my hand, my
lance

Guided so well that I obtained the
prize,

Both by the judgment of the English
eyes

And of some sent from that sweet enemy France . . .
(1-4)

In general, by mocking
Astrophil, Sidney presents himself implicitly as a man more serious, more virtuous, more
responsible, more intelligent, and more mature than his fictional alter ego. He also
shows that he has a splendid sense of humor.

How does Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck have the kind of ending Weldon describes in the quote below? -Identify the "spiritual reassessment...

Ah, AP Lit!  This is a free-response AP Literature prompt,
circa 1996.

The Grapes of
Wrath--perhaps the most unusual ending of any great novel.  First, there's a
series of endings in the novel.  There's Tom's ending, Rose of Sharon's ending,
and--even broader--the family's ending.

Regarding Tom's
ending: Tom Joad decides to become a kind of Christ-figure by taking up the mantle of
Jim Casey (initials "J.C." for "Jesus Christ").  Instead of physically sacrificing
himself for the cause, the way Christ and Jim Casey did, Tom instead decides to become a
spiritual hero (like the Holy Spirit):

readability="15">

I'll be all around in the dark. I'll be
everywhere. Wherever you can look, wherever there's a fight, so hungry people can eat,
I'll be there. Wherever there's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there. I'll be in the
way guys yell when they're mad. I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and
they know supper's ready, and when the people are eatin' the stuff they raise and livin'
in the houses they build, I'll be there,
too.

Tom's spiritual
reassessment is to be a kind of secular working-class hero--in spirit form.  Before
this, Tom was reluctant to get involved in labor disputes, but after Casey's death and
his family's exodus, Tom has learned to put others and a higher cause before his own
needs.

Regarding the Rose-a-Sharon ending, Rose likewise
learns to be a mother of the down-trodden.  After her baby is born stillborn, she uses
her milk to feed the starving old man.  As reprehensible and, well, creepy, this might
have been to the earlier, married Rose, the newly spiritual Rose feeds him with her
milk, a symbolic baptism of unconditional love.

Regarding
the family, Ma's spiritual journey is based on survival.  In her "We're the people"
monologue, she echoes the Biblical plight of the Israelites as they fled from
Egypt:

Rich
fellas come up an' they die, an' their kids ain't no good an' they die out. But we keep
a'comin'. We're the people that live. They can't wipe us out; they can't lick us. We'll
go on forever, Pa, 'cause we're the
people.

More, Ma's spiritual
duty is based on humility and suffering; she must suffer all the hardships with a kind
of spiritual adaptability, much like a Darwinian animal.  This spiritual "survival of
the fittest" is her key to keeping the family together.

Explain the main differences and similarities of the three spirits in A Christmas Carol.

You have asked quite a big question here, and the best way
to answer it is to compare and contrast the way that the text introduces and describes
the three ghosts. You are right in being aware of the general symbolism of each ghost
and the time that they represent, but it is important to realize how each ghost operates
to taunt Scrooge with the kind of man that he is now and with regret and remorse over
his past, present and future actions.

The Ghost of
Christmas Past is described as being:

readability="10">

...like a child: yet not so like a child as like
an old man, viewed through some supernatural medium, which gave him the appearance of
having receded from the view, and being diminished to a child's
proportions.

It is perhaps
fitting then that the ghost that examines the past and the actions and choices that have
led Scrooge to become the man that he is today appears in such a way that its very
appearance depicts looking back on our past lives and
decisions.

The Ghost of Christmas Present is described in
such a fashion as to emphasize the season of plenty and the festival that he
represents:

readability="12">

...there sat a jolly Giant, glorious to see; who
bore a glowing torch, in shape not unlike Plenty's horn, and held it up, high up, to
shed its light on Scrooge, as he came peeping round the
door.

Perhaps this
description is fitting for the Ghost that shows so many people enjoying the season and
all of the luxuries and warmth and festivities that come along with
it.

Lastly, the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come is described
in such a way as to emphasize its darkness and associations with
death:

It was
shrouded in a deep black garment, which concealed its head, its face, its form, and left
nothing of it visible save one outstretched hand. But for this it would have been
difficult to detach its figure from the night, and separate it from the darkness by
which it was
surrounded.

Again, the point
of this Ghost is to show how Scrooge is remembered after his death, and to shock him
with how little respect and regard he had even from those he considered his "friends"
and "business associates." Thus the darkness and the "solemn dread" that this Ghost
inspires in Scrooge is perhaps fitting.

Key to
understanding these Ghosts is considering the way they are described and the scenes that
they show Scrooge. I hope I have given brief indications of how each of the Ghosts
operate. Good luck!

How do I come up with a thesis statement for "Desiree's Baby," referring to racial undertones?Racial undertones includes the irony of Armand's...

In writing about the racial undertones that dictate
concerns on the part of Desiree's parents as well as on the part of her husband, Armand,
you may wish to compose a thesis that sets up a comparison/contrast.  For, the reaction
that Madame Valmonde has to the prospect of Desiree not being white is certainly not the
same as the reaction of Desiree's husband, Armaud.

Thus,
there is a statement about the nature of love.  Madame Valmonde does not waiver in her
maternal love for Desiree, the baby that she believed "a beneficent Providence had sent
her.  For, when Desiree writes to her, she does not confirm or deny anything; she simply
tells Desiree to come home.  On the other hand, Armaud who "fell in love as if struck by
a pistol shot," rejects both his wife and baby.  He coldly tells Desiree he wants her to
go.  Without proof of anything, he rejects her:

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...he no longer loved her, because of the
unconscious injury she had brought upon his home and his
name.

Ironically, it is only
after Desiree has gone that Armaud learns the truth.

Who are the other people?

I do not think that the other people are anyone in
specific.  They are simply stand-ins for all the people who have existed in the history
of the world.

I do think it is important, though, that the
one person who is identified individually is a preacher.  I think that is because Hardy
is trying to tell us that the ideas of Christianity sure have not done much good in the
world.

But, in general, the other skeletons are no one in
particular.  All of humanity is at fault for the mistakes that the speaker (and God) is
talking about.  So there is no reason to single out any particular people to speak in
the poem.

How did the Enlightenment lead to revolutions both in Europe and its new world colonies?

The teachings and precepts of the Enlightenment helped to
foster revolutions in Europe and its colonies in a couple of ways.  The most elemental
way was the Enlightenment's praising of individual freedom.  The stress on rationality
and the idea that individual freedom is the location and source of all greatness helped
to construct a situation where people began to question authority structures and their
place within it.  The assertion of human freedom and the ability to define freedom in
terms of political autonomy caused many to demand change in their structures of
governance.  At the same time, the Enlightenment thinkers constructed government as an
agreement, a contract, between those in the position of political power and those for
whom government was meant to serve.  As rational beings, individuals had a right to
break this contract if government was not following the consent of the governed.  This
helped to foster revolutionary sentiments amongst individuals when such Enlightenment
lessons were absorbed.

In To Kill A Mockingbird, to what extent is Mayella Ewell like/not like her father and what is meant by "has she got good sense"?Harper Lee's To...

Mayella Ewell is a significant character in Harper Lee's
To Kill a Mockingbird because she, in fact, is the catalyst for
most of the action of the second half of the novel.  In addition, she represents most of
the attitudes of those who have Maycomb's "usual disease."  Mayella is definitely a
Ewell.  She lives in a sordid environment that is characterized by filth and garbage. 
However, she brings one spot of beauty to the hovel where the Ewell family lives:  along
a crumbling wall are six, chipped slop jars from which bloom bright red geraniums.  This
detail suggests that there is something of value in Mayella, something that if it were
nurtured could help her develop as a decent person unlike her father who is a degenerate
man.  He is cruel and sexually perverse and shiftless, refusing to work or parent his
children.  All the work in the household is left to Mayella while he sometimes kills
some animals for food.  With no parental guidance--abuse is all she receives from her
father--Mayella must raise herself and care for her younger siblings, as well.  It is no
wonder that she does not know how to react to the politeness of Atticus Finch in the
classroom, nor does she understand all that goes on in the courtroom.  When she first
comes to the stand, she talks behind her hands and cries before Judge Taylor.  When the
judge tries to reassure her that she has nothing to fear, Mayella says that she does not
want Atticus to "do me like he done Papa, tryin' to make him out left-handed...."  In
response, Judge Taylor tells Mayella to sit up straight and tell the court what
happened.  Because she acts so childishly, Scout whispers to Jem, "Has she got good
sense?"  Her brother replies that Mayella has enough sense to get the judge to feel
sorry for her, but she might just be acting.

Thus, it seems
that Mayella has some of the deviousness of her father; she should still know not to
repay Tom Robinson's kindness with the contempt that she displays in the courtroom. 
Certainly, her accusing lies and behavior which cost Tom his life are as reprehensible
as any act, including his attack upon the children, that her father
commits.

Determine if i/(1+i) + i/ (1-i) is real or imaginary.

We have to determine the result of the sum of 2 ratios and
we'll have to decide if the result is a complex or real
number.

To calculate the sum of 2 ratios that do not have a
common denominator we'll have to calculate the LCD(least common denominator) of the 2
ratios.

We notice that LCD =
(1+i)(1-i)

We notice also that the product (1+i)(1-i) is
like:

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

We'll write instead of product the difference of
squares, where a = 1 and b = i.

LCD =
(1+i)(1-i)

LCD = 1^2 -
i^2

We'll write instead of i^2 =
-1

LCD = 1 - (-1)

LCD =
2

Now, we'll multiply the first ratio by (1-i) and the
second ratio by (1+i):

 i(1-i)/2 + i(1+i)/
2

We'll remove the
brackets:

(i - i^2 + i +
i^2)/2

We'll eliminate like
terms:

2i/2

We'll
simplify:

 i(1-i)/2 + i(1+i)/ 2 =
i

The result is a complex
number, whose real part is 0 and imaginary part is
1.

what is the narrative technique and imagery `and characters used in shadow lines by amitav ghoshnothing

Amitav Ghosh is one of the most important Indian English
writer of present time.He mainly deals in the epic themes of travel and diaspora.His
novels relates history ,political struggle,communal violence,love,loss of values etc.He
deliberately crosses the boundary between anthropology and artistic work.His narratives
are catagorically transnational in sweep.His stories move restlessly across
countries,continents and even oceans.His narratives always reflect the wisdom of an
Oxford scholar.His views and opinions are meticulously researched and learned.In every
book an epic scale of scholarship is directly
discernable.

The Shadow lines (1988) reminds the reader of
Salman Rushdie in terms of its formal experimentations with geography and History.But
unlike Rushdie ,Amitav presents the story in an understated,condensed prose that closely
rsembles to poetry.The story moves between India and England,Calcutta(KolKata)and
London,the world war11 and Present day Calcutta society.The author has drawn inspiration
from various East and West texts ,from Proust to Tagore,Ford Madox Ford to Satyajit
Roy.The title of Ghosh's 2nd novel is certainly an allusion to Conrad's novella,The
Shadow Line.Structurally the narrative is co-herent and
balanced.

Characters are realistic portrayals from life
itself.Most of the characters are round .The characters are clearly presented through
various live imageries.---(to be coninued)

What does the following quote mean?"The color of slaves--that is all--the misery of poverty, alike everywhere, only a person can be beaten with...

The excerpt has many different layers to it.  Chesnut's
diary really strives to bring many layers of complexity to the challenges and situations
brought out by the Civil War conflict.  In this particular section, Chesnut had read
writings that predicted a "glorious rise of Southern Confederacy," and is contrasting it
with the horrors of the Civil War.   When she writes, "the reality is hideous and an
agony," it is a statement contrasting the Southern hopes with the realistic conditions
that confront them.  At the same time, she mentions another work preceding the quote
about poverty in England.  It is from this that we get the quote.  The meaning of it is
to broaden the struggle for being heard to all people.  When she writes that "the color
of slaves" is akin to "the misery of poverty everywhere," it helps to bring out the idea
that there is a universality of struggle in the conflict that Chesnut recognizes.  We
understand that she has broadened the struggle as the acknowledgement of voices of
suffering when she writes after the quote, "Whenever there is a cry of pain, I on the
side of the one who cries."  In this light, the quote seeks to make the struggle of the
Civil War as one of people who wished to be heard and cried in order to have their voice
acknowledged.  In her diary, Chesnut recognizes this.

Find dy/dx from first principle if y=2x^2+3x

We'll apply delta method to determine the instantaneous
rate of change of y with respect to x.

dy/dx = lim [f(x +
delta x) - f(x)]/delta x, delta x->0

We also can
write:

dy/dx = lim [f(x + h) - f(x)]/h,
h->0

We'll calculate f(x+h) = 2(x+h)^2 +
3(x+h)

We'll raise to square x +
h:

f(x+h) = 2x^2 + 4xh + 2h^2 + 3x +
3h

dy/dx = lim (2x^2 + 4xh + 2h^2 + 3x + 3h - 2x^2 -
3x)/h

We'll eliminate like
terms:

dy/dx = lim (4xh + 2h^2 +
3h)/h

lim (4xh + 2h^2 + 3h)/h = lim (4x + 2h +
3)

We'll substitute h by
0:

lim (4x + 2h + 3) = 4x +
3

dy/dx = 4x +
3

Substituting x by any value, we can
compute the slope of the tangent to the graph of the function, in the chosen value for
x.

In "A Modest Proposal," a clear difference exists between Swift and the persona who makes this proposal. How can the proposer be characterized?

Swift modeled A Modest
Proposal (1729) on the many such proposals, written by writers often
called projectors, designed to reform political, social, and
economic problems in Great Britain, but most especially in Ireland, at that time
probably the most economically exploited part of the country.  Swift, Irish himself, had
a long history attempting to convince the British that the economic exploitation of
Ireland was against their interests and a gross violation of human rights.  A
Modest Proposal is still considered the best example of irony in English
literature.  Unfortunately, as good as it is, the irony was lost on the
English.

For such a proposal to be credible, even though
the proposal is horrific, inhumane, outlandish and any other negative adjective one can
use, the proposer must appear to be realistic, unsentimental, economically sound, and
eminently logical.  He must, in essence, want to solve a problem in the most reasonable
and beneficial manner possible.  Swift goes to great lengths to establish the
objectivity and good will of the proposer:

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 It is a melancholly Object to those, who walk
through this great Town, or travel in the Country, when they see
the Streets, the Roads,
and Cabbin-Doors, crowded with Beggars of the
female Sex, followed by three, four, or six Children, all in Rags,
and importuning every Passenger for an
Alms.

Swift's
proposer-persona is a man who is horrified by the sad sight of destitute mothers and
children, and the reader is lulled into the belief that what follows will be a
considered, humane solution to this sad problem.  In the first few lines, then, Swift
has created a person who is sympathetic and reasonable and, more important, may have a
solution to these tragic scenes.

The proposer's logic and
economic expertise are further established in the next few
lines:

It is
true a Child, just dropt from it's Dam, may be supported by her
Milk, for a Solar year with little other Nourishment, at most not above the Value of two
Shillings, which the Mother may certainly get, or the Value
in Scraps, by her lawful Occupation of begging, and it is exactly
at one year Old that I propose to provide for
them.

Among other things,
this proposer can be characterized as a thorough and careful economist who has performed
objective, not sentimental, analyses that lead him to create a model for solving this
economic and human tragedy. At this point, even a careful reader has no clue where this
proposal is heading, but reader senses that this proposer is intelligent and
reasonable.

Not only has the proposer done his economic
homework, but he has covered the religious and political implications of the
problem:

it
would greatly lessen the Number of Papists, with whom we are Yearly
over-run, being the principal Breeders of the Nation, as well as our most dangerous
Enemies, and who stay at home on purpose with a design to deliver the Kingdom
to the
Pretender.

If the
economic and humane aspects of the proposal fail to convince the reader, this proposer
understands that his readers can be persuaded on the basis of the plan's ability to get
rid of Britain's enemies.  Because England is a Protestant country that is faced with an
Ireland overrun with Catholics who may try to assist a Catholic king (in exile in
France) to take over England, the proposal has the important additional benefit of
ridding Great Britain of Catholics, who are the natural political enemies of the
English.

In sum, then, the proposer is not only
characterized by his humanity, objectivity, and economic expertise but also by his
patriotism and awareness of the political dangers that threaten the continuation of
English life.  If one ignores the fact that children are being eaten, this proposal has
a lot of merits.

What is a good thesis for a paper analyzing the character of Sister in "Why live at the P.O."?

A thesis should have an opinion along with a few
controlling ideas to make your writing easier to follow and understand. A great thesis
is your plan, your organization for how you want the paper to be. With a very
straightforward thesis, you should be able to write an essay in a very short time,
allowing time for proofreading and editing. An example thesis statement could be: The
comic aspects of Sister’s language, her paranoia and jealousy towards Stella-Rondo and
her constant questioning of  the veracity of her family members, leads to her final,
comic alienation from them, and her transition from home to her new abode, the post
office. You can easily find statements to back up the controlling ideas, and your paper
should be extremely well written.

Provide a brief description of the poem "Lament" paying particular attention to the author's creation of the mood."Lament" by Gillian Clarke

"Lament," by Gillian Clarke, is an anti-war poem. When
written it was directed at the Gulf War in 1991. This poem was inspired by pictures
taken by the media that showed the death and devastation caused by the war raging
originally between Kuwait and Afghanistan.

The language
Clarke uses impactful language that creates disturbing imagery. As the poem deals with
war and death, as suspected, the mood would be somber and sorrowful. In fact, "lament"
is what a person or people do to mourn or grieve.

In
Clarke's poem, her lament is for all of the elements of the regions of the world that
were being damaged or destroyed. Clarke herself describes her use of the word "for" at
the start of all the lines that show who or what her lament is
for.

Some of the imagery is hard to
forget.

For
the ocean's lap with its mortal
stain...

This line refers to
the blood ("mortal stain") floating in the ocean's
waters.

For
the soldier in his uniform of
fire...

This describes the
picture of a soldier who was burned when his tank was
bombed.

The...

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shadow on the sea...[and] ...in his funeral
silk

...refer to the oil: it
floats on the water, and the cormorant "in his funeral silk" references the damage the
oil is doing to the wildlife after the bombing of oil
wells.

For the burnt
earth

...refers to land
destroyed by bombing, and

the
sun put out

...describes the
smoke that seems to completely block out the sun.

Clarke's
selection of words and phrases for the poem's images are very effective for supporting
the poem's mood:  funeral silk, uniform of fire, the sun put out, nest of
sickness.

This poem draws the mind's eye to the landscape
that surrounds soldiers and the warring countries' occupants
everyday.

The haunting words of the verses created by
Gillian Clarke make it difficult for people to be complacent about things that cannot be
seen but are very real—things that should be very important to
everyone.

In "The Devil and Tom Walker," in what ways is this story a satire?

It is important to realise that in this story, Irving is
updating the traditional archetype concerning a man who makes a deal with the devil only
to lose his soul in the end for the new America that he is a part of. A satire is a
story that mocks some human folly, and as we read it becomes clear that Irving is
mocking greed, stinginess, religious intolerance, spiritual hypocrisy and the inhumane
treatment of others. He criticises the Puritans for their persecution of Quakers and
Anabaptists, the Salem witch trials, and their practice of usury through the action in
the novel. By far the clearest indication of this element of satire is the way that
Irving makes it clear that the devil has been inextricably intertwined with these
activities as is seen when the devil introduces himself to
Tom:

"Since
the red men have been exterminated by you white savages, I amuse myself by presiding at
the persecutions of Quakers and Anabaptists; I am the great patron and prompter of slave
dealers, and the grand master of the Salem
witches."

Note how the devil
places himself at the centre of all of this despicable activities, and thus Irving makes
it clear how he feels about them.

If you want to see how
stinginess and greed are satirised you only need to look at how Tom and his wife are
described in incredibly amusing terms that exaggerates their
greed:

He had
a wife as miserly as himself: They were so miserly that they even conspired to cheat
each other. Whatever the woman could lay hands on, she hid away; a hen could not cackle
but she was on the alert to secure the new-laid egg. Her husband was continually prying
about to detect her secret hoards, and many and fierce were the conflicts that took
place about what ought to have been common
property.

We are presented
with stereotypes representing an embodiment of greed - Tom and his wife's avaricious
nature even leads to conflict between them as each tries to squirrel away money and
possessions from the other.

Clearly, then, Irving uses this
tale as a harsh comment on what he sees as the failings of America in his time, in
particular criticising the hypocrisy and cruelty perpetrated by the Puritans against
other groups and their sense of greed and miserliness.

In 1984, what are some internal and external conflicts?

Most of the internal conflicts arise from Winston's
unhappiness with his life, and his suspicions that it is the Party that is the cause. 
At the beginning of the novel he is absolutely miserable, and that misery is mostly
caused because he hates the Party and feels like he is the only one. He cannot be happy
with it--it is an interna, Man vs. Self issue (even though his unhappiness is caused by
the Party, Winston is conflicted with his angst about it).  He struggles each day to
even have motivation to get up in the mornings.  He wishes so badly to know more--more
people who feel the same, more about the history of the Party, and more about what
causes true happiness.

So, internal conflict comes from
Winston himself.  After he meets Julia, he is conflicted constantly about his paranoia
of being caught.  It is always there, like a haze over his happiness.  He is also
internally conflicted about whether or not to make himself known to O'Brien; his fear of
being caught battles with his desire to be part of a larger group of
rebels.

The external conflict comes from the fear and
repression that the party puts on its members.  They are constantly watched by Big
Brother, which leaves them living in continual fear of punishment for rebellion.  They
are even afraid to sleep, as their subconscious minds have betrayed them as they were
sleeping.  The party maintains that external fear through contstant examples of
punishment, encouraging others to turn neighbors in, and
propaganda.

Other external conflicts come at the end with
Winston's torture and the slow deterioration of his body, and accordingly, his mind. 
The torture techniques appplied are external conflicts, that stem off of his internal
fears of losing his mind, losing his love for Julia, and giving in to his worst
fears.

I hope that those thoughts help to get you started;
good luck!

Why are there no thoughts of revenge after the liberation in Night?

Remembering that Elie Wiesel is actually a Holocaust
survivor, and that the story is his own, he is writing from his own experiences and
beliefs.  Desire for revenge was not one of the emotions he felt, or at least not
immediately.

Consider all of the energy and emotion Eliezer
had expended simply to survive, just to get to that point at the end where liberation
was even possible.  It may well be that he simply wasn't capable of rage or revenge at
that point.  Furthermore, consider all that had been lost by him in the Holocaust and
the camps by early 1945 when the story ends: most of his family, his confidence, his
identity, his health, his psyche.  So much was lost by him, and every other survivor of
the Holocaust, Jews and non-Jews alike, that they had to be in severe psychological,
emotional and physical shock by the end of it.

Somewhere,
in wading through the complex maze of emotions associated with such a horrible,
sustained trauma, I'm sure there was a desire for revenge.  But that stage of his
mourning just hadn't had the chance to develop yet, at least, by the end of the
book.

In Judith Minty's "Conjoined", what does the onion mean?

In the figures of the onion, the twins, and
the calves, the three were intended to be separate, but instead they are freaks of
nature, accidents that allowed them to live but to live abnormally. The speaker suggests
that this situation is like marriage. In lines 12–13, the speaker indicates that freedom
(divorce, separation) might kill one partner, as it sometimes kills a Siamese twin. Note
that the one who might not survive is not specified. The metaphor thus represents
recognition of reality and both a reluctant concession and a decision to adjust. An
increasing number of men now “slice onions,” but men, more often in charge of power and
money, usually lay out the grounds of a relationship. Hence it is often asserted that
women must be alert to hidden dynamics (body language, looks) to protect themselves
emotionally, while men may be more direct and less subtle.

According to Rorty, why do traditional ethicists find pragmatism disturbingThis is a discussion question for class

The manner in which Rorty defines traditional pragmatism
without a set of established, totalizing principles might be one reason why traditional
ethicists could find it disturbing.  For Rorty, pragmatism rejects the typical hierarchy
of philosophical establishment because it seeks to establish human beings on a continuum
where only their freedom becomes absolute.  While traditional ethicists search for a
code or set of established rules to guide their actions, the pragmatist has already
"been there," and for Rorty, completely understands this absence.  The idea of the stage
drama might be a good metaphor here.  The traditional ethicist believes in the script
and storyline that an established ethical philosophy provides.  Yet, the Pragmatist
understands that human beings are "walk ons," without a script or a director and are
forced "to act" as the curtain is up and the footlights burn bright into the dark
unknown and into our eyes.  In the end, this is a disturbing vision for traditional
ethicists who can only see despair in such a condition.  Yet, it is one of liberation
for the pragmatist, who draws on literary and cinematic tradition as much as philosophy
to require "different tools for different jobs" in constructing
consciousness.

What are 3 quotations from the book To Kill a Mockingbird that show that Atticus Finch is a well-educated man?One of the topics of a 5-paragraph...

Here are a few that I have found that demonstrate he
received education, then began a business that required significant education. Getting
an education does not always make someone smart, but when we are talking about passing
the bar exam, intelligence can be assumed.

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"...the tradition of living on the land remained
unbroken until well into the twentieth century, when my father, Atticus Finch, went to
Montgomery to read law, and his younger brother went to Boston to study medicine."
(4)

"When my father was admitted to the bar, he returned to
Maycomb and began his practice."
(4)

Another evidence of
intellect is one who spends money wisely:

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"During his first five years in Maycomb, Atticus
practiced economy more than anything; for several years thereafter he invested his
earnings in his brother’s education. John Hale Finch was ten years younger than my
father, and chose to study medicine at a time when cotton was not worth growing; but
after getting Uncle Jack started, Atticus derived a reasonable income from the
law."

These are all in
chapter one, but demonstrate different stereotypes of intellect. They are each examples
of education although you might break them down when writing your essay so your quotes
aren't too long for your paper.

In 4 or 5 lines, please 'describe' the eukaryotic cell cycle?

The cycle is divided into two phases: Interphase and
Mitosis (M-phase). Cytokinesis is the last stage, so some say the cycle is three phases:
Interphase, (Mitosis or Meiosis) and
Cytokinesis.

Interphase - the cell gets energy and
nutrients from its environment and duplicates its chromosomes. Three substages of
Interphase are G1, S and G2. G1 (first gap) occurs before chromosome duplication. G1 is
the phase where the cell gets nutrients and decides (checkpoint or restriction
point) whether it is ready to divide. During S-phase, duplicates are made. G-2, cell
prepares for Mitosis.

Mitosis - the now duplicated
chromosomes are separated to form two nuclei. Mitosis is divided
into:

1. Prophase (chromatin condenses and duplicated.
Centrioles move to poles and chromosomes move to the center. The spindle fibers begin
forming.

2. Metaphase (chromosomes line up on the metaphase
plate and the mitotic spindles and centromeres of the chromosomes
form.

3. Anaphase (spindle fibers pull apart the
centromeres of eacah chromatids toward the opposite poles, resulting in twice as many
chromosomes.

4. Telophase (nuclei in both sister cells
begins to form and the two new cells, although still connected begin the cycle again
(Interphase).

 Cytokenisis finishes the division of the
cell.

(Meiosis is the reproduction of sex cells, gametes.
Meiosis results in four haploid daughter cells (Mitosis results in two diploid cells).
Meiosis involves a cell division which is what Mitosis is, but then it divides again
resulting in the four cells. Since meiosis is "one-way," it is not considered part of a
cell "cycle." Meiosis is the process of sexual reproduction and unlike Mitosis, there is
chromsomal crossover.)

What makes the scene of Caesar’s assassination highly dramatic in Julius Caesar?

I love this question.  You are really investigating the
action of the play that accompanies the text
-- an investigation that is crucial to fully appreciating a work written to be performed
by actors rather than simply read.

This scene, which
happens in Act III, scene i, is dramatic on a couple of levels.  First, I would say that
much of the drama comes from the violent act happening onstage.  Shakespeare's audience
loved blood and gore just as much as the audiences of today do (or from any time), and
Shakespeare was all about creating entertaining spectacle for his audiences.  And not
only is it a murder enacted onstage, but it is a murder in which no less than seven men
attack and stab Caesar.  Gruesome!

The scene is also very
dramatic because Shakespeare really limits the lines that are spoken, leaving the actors
(and director) to create a scene of physical interaction that keeps the focus on what
the actors are doing, not what they are saying.  The only lines that are directly
related to the murder are the one that begins it and the one that ends
it:

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Casca

Speak,
hands, for me!

[Casca first, then the other
Conspirators, ending with Marcus Brutus, stab
Caesar]

Caesar

Et
tu, Brute?  Then fall,
Caesar.

When I go into
classrooms to share some of the theatrical aspects of working with Shakespeare with
English students, I often have them stage this scene.  What's most interesting is having
them slow down and take the time to really think about what specifically happens, and in
what order.  It also provides them an opportunity to consider how suspense is created
onstage.

Some of the questions a reader might ask himself
about this scene are:

• Does one of the
  Conspirators wait to act until a certain other one (say Brutus or Cassius) does?
  


• Does one of the Conspirators try to chicken out and
  leave?


• How many times does each Conspirator stab Caesar
  (He is reported to have been stabbed 23 times by 7 men.)?
  


• Do any of the Conspirators have to be pulled off of
  Caesar because they have given way to a murdering frenzy?
  

These sorts of questions don't have one right
or wrong answer, but give someone who is simply reading the play a real sense of how
much of the action (even the action of a crucial event like the murder of Caesar) is
determined by those who will perform it.  The action of this scene is rendered,
potentially, even more dramatic than some, because Shakespeare really limits the words
that are spoken, allowing the actors and the audience to focus on what the characters
are doing.

What are some quotes in the book that show Dimmsdale's and Chillingworth's declining physical condition in The Scarlet Letter?

Chapter 12 and Chapter
13

Hester

Dimmesdale

Chillingworth

Even
the attractiveness of her person had undergone a similar change. It might be partly
owing to the studied austerity of her dress, and partly to the lack of demonstration in
her manners. It was a sad transformation, too, that her rich and luxuriant hair had
either been cut off, or was so completely hidden by a cap, that not a shining lock of it
ever once gushed into the sunshine
(148)

as if the universe were gazing
at a scarlet token on his naked breast, right over his heart. On that spot, in very
truth, there was, and there had long been, the gnawing and poisonous tooth of bodily
pain. Without any effort of his will, or power to restrain himself, he shrieked aloud;
an outcry that went pealing through the night, and was beaten back from one house to
another,(135)

Roger Chillingworth
have passed with them for the arch-fiend, standing there, with a smile and scowl, to
claim his own. So vivid was the expression, or so intense the minister’s perception of
it (142)

Much of the marble coldness
of Hester’s impression was to be attributed to the circumstance that her life had turned
(148)

the minister discovered, by the
faintness which came over him, that the last few moments had been a crisis of terrible
anxiety; although his mind had made an involuntary effort to relieve itself by a kind of
lurid playfulness.
(137)

.
It was due in part to all these causes, but still more to something else, that there
seemed to be no longer any thing in Hester’s face for Love to dwell upon; nothing in
Hester’s form, though majestic and statue-like, that Passion would ever dream of
clasping in its embrace; nothing in Hester’s bosom, to make it ever again the pillow of
Affection. (148)

He felt his limbs
growing stiff with the unaccustomed chilliness of the night, and doubted whether he
should be able to descend the steps of the scaffold. Morning would break, and find him
there.(137)

And
there stood the minister, with his hand over his heart; and Hester Prynne, with the
embroidered letter glimmering on her bosom
(140)

Whom, but the Reverend Arthur
Dimmesdale, half frozen to death, overwhelmed with shame, and standing where Hester
Prynne had stood!
(138)

His
nerve seemed absolutely destroyed. His moral force was abased into more than childish
weakness. It grovelled helpless on the ground, even while his intellectual faculties
retained their pristine strength, or had perhaps acquired a morbid energy, which disease
only could have given
them.(144)

The
minister felt for the child’s other hand, and took it. The moment that he did so, there
came what seemed a tumultuous rush of new life, other life than his own, pouring like a
torrent into his heart, and hurrying through all his veins, as if the mother and the
child were communicating their vital warmth to his half-torpid
system.(139)

How does the setting reveal acting in the character?

There are several ways by which the reader can obtain
information about the characters.

One is by what they say;
another is how characters interact with other characters.

A
third way is to watch how a character acts because what is said and
what is done are not always the same thing. For example, in "The
Tell-tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe, the narrator insists that he is
not insane, but his behavior tells the reader
otherwise.

Another way to learn about a character is to
study the setting of the story and how the character relates to or acts because of the
setting. Setting includes not only the location, but the era in which the story is set.
As Jennifer Jordan-Henley of Roane State Community College
writes:

readability="6.7231638418079">

href="http://www.roanestate.edu/owl/elementslit.html">Setting
- The place or location of the action, the setting provides the historical and cultural
context for characters. It often can symbolize the emotional state of
characters.

As an example, in
To Kill a Mockingbird, to truly understand the hatred of Bob Ewell
and his ability to get away with lying about his daughter's rape at the hands of Tom
Robinson (a black man), it is important to note that the story is set in the South
where, at the time, Civil Rights violations were an everyday occurrence. It is also
important to remember that the Civil War may have been over for many years, but the
memories and scars are still much fresher in Alabama than they are in the
North.

The setting is not just
something that the author chooses randomly. He or she uses the setting to prepare the
reader's state of mind from the very beginning (also seen with stories by Poe). The
setting will help to move the plot along. And with a truly talented writer, the setting
will also give deep insights into the true nature of the characters: they will respond
the way they do not just because of their interactions with others, but because of who
they are based upon their connection to the setting.

Who or what is the antagonist of The Giver?

HI!

You can safely argue that
the antagonist of the Giver is basically the concept of "Sameness", that is, that
collective feeling of limbo that the dystopian (at first seemingly Utopian) society
presented in the story chose to adopt in order to not suffer emotional
conflicts.

When Jonah became the new Receiver, he
discovered all the things to be learned from what society was like before Sameness took
place He realized that there is a lot to be learned from conflict and complexity, and
that there is a place for pain in one's life. Therefore, Sameness and all that it
represents, is the main antagonist which directly contradicts the role of Jonah in the
story.

What is it about Hercules that would have inspired the Greeks? Visit the following site to answer the question:...

The dominant quality of Hercules' strength had to have
played a role in the inspiration to the Greeks.  Even from the youngest of ages, the
article makes mention of Hercules' strength as a toddler.  The Greeks would have revered
his strength for many reasons.  Strength was identified as an aspect of masculinity,
with the more strength, the greater the man.  Hercules would have been vaulted into a
position of reverence for this, alone.  One does not see the Greeks paying much homage
to characters who are not strong.  Another reason why the Greeks were inspired by
Hercules would be the 12 labors themselves.  The idea that Hercules had to endure trial
after trial, without any or much objection would have appealed to the Greeks because it
helped to solidify the idea that arete, glory, could only be accomplished when
significant obstacles are meant to be overcome.

If Dally didn't have Soda and Ponyboy, why would he be a Soc in The Outsiders?

Dally tells his brothers this, and there is some substance
to his argument. Firstly, Dally was intelligent enough to stay on at school unlike the
lovable but empty-headed Soda. We also discover that Dally gave up a football
scholarship to get a job to support his family. Dally had taken on the role of head of
the household as their parents had been killed in a car
accident.

Dally also has a little more in common with the
Socs in that he has his hair neat and is clean-shaven. This could be interpreted as part
of the sacrifice that he has to accept in order to keep his job, or it could be him
keeping some of his identity beyond that of a gang member.

Explain the difference between a price floor and a price ceiling. Provide a situation in which a price ceiling may be used

In a free market, the price charged for goods and services
depends on the demand and supply of the good or service. A price floor or price ceiling
is something imposed by the government as an attempt to regulate the price. It has been
found that if the price floor is set above the free market price it leads to an increase
in the supply and a decrease in the demand. This causes a surplus in the market. On the
other hand, a price ceiling set below the free market price increases demand and
decreases supply, which leads to a shortage in the
market.

An example of a situation where a price ceiling may
be used could be the case where the government finds that due to a lack of competitors,
gasoline is being sold at a very high rate by a few firms. It could impose a price
ceiling, with firms required to sell gasoline below the price ceiling that has been set.
This would increase the consumption of gasoline as consumers can now buy gasoline for a
price that is lesser than what it was earlier. The firms selling gasoline would try to
decrease their loss by reducing the amount of gasoline they sell. Thereby a shortage of
gasoline would be created in the market.

What does the reader learn about Brutus’s character from Act 2 Scene 1 of Julius Caesar?

From Act 2 Scene 1, the reader learns that Brutus values
freedom and honor.  When the men approach him to ask that he commit to conspiracy
against Caesar, Brutus thinks that he will go ahead with the men, not because he has a
personal problem with Caesar, but because the state of Rome would be better if it were
not led by Caesar.  The men suggest that Mark Antony also be killed with Caesar to
prevent him from taking rule, but Brutus says that Antony will have no power without
Caesar and that therefore, his death would be unnecessary.  Brutus thinks that blood
spilled without cause is unjust.  Later in the scene, Brutus's wife Portia demands that
Brutus tell her what is on his mind, and in order to persuade him, Portia tells him that
she is a good wife to him.  Brutus is swayed by Portia, and he values her role as his
partner, so he promises to give her the details of his mind after the men leave.  Here,
Brutus shows that he is an honorable character.

In A Tale of Two Cities, how does the author demonstrate that conflict causes a cycle of oppression?A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Opening his great novel, A Tale of Two
Cities, with the paradox "It was the best of times, it was the worst of
times" Dickens himself answers the question of how conflict can cause oppression.  In
England, whose intractable laws were also in the superlative degree, the oppression of
the ruling classes wrought conflict with the poor who suffered from poverty and were
often sentenced to death for very slight offences.  While there were yet some who
continued petty crimes in order to survive, the oppressive rule of the upper class of
England generated a retaliatory breed of highway robbers and murderers whose lawlessness
wrought, in turn, the oppression of the ruling
class.  

Similarly, in France, with the callous subjugation
of the peasantry to the most dire of existences, the struggle of the poor against the
aristocracy--"the best of times, the worst of times"--, figuratively portrayed with the
incident of the Marquis d'Evremonde's tossing of the coin to the father of the child run
over by his recklessly driven carriage, a vicious conflict arises.  And, as a result,
this conflict generates the bloody French Revolution with the symbolic personage of the
Vengeance and the figurative Jacques depicting the punitive revenge and deadly
exploitation that the peasants, now in control of France, take against the once
oppressive aristocracy.

In The Stranger, what does Meusault mean when he says that normal people somtimes wish their loved ones dead?This was in Part II of the novel.

In Part II of The Stranger, Meursault
is being very candid with his lawyer.  Meursault up until his trial and execution had
lived in denial of death.  He narrates:

readability="36">

He went on to ask if I had felt grief on that
“sad occasion.” The question struck me as an odd one; I’d have been much embarrassed if
I’d had to ask anyone a thing like that.

I
answered that, of recent years, I’d rather lost the habit of noting my
feelings, and hardly knew what to answer. I could truthfully say I’d been
quite fond of Mother—but really that didn’t mean much. All normal people,
I added as on afterthought, had more or less desired the death of those they loved, at
some time or another.

Here the lawyer
interrupted me, looking greatly perturbed.

“You must
promise me not to say anything of that sort at the trial, or to the examining
magistrate.”

I promised, to satisfy him, but
I explained that my physical condition at any given moment often
influenced my feelings. For instance, on the day I attended Mother’s
funeral, I was fagged out and only half awake. So, really, I hardly took stock of what
was happening. Anyhow, I could assure him of one thing: that I’d rather Mother hadn’t
died.

So, Meursault is
explaining his stoicism and general apathy toward death and a society that glorifies it.
 He has lost touch with his own feelings, I believe, because of society's denial of
freedom for the individual.

Throughout the novel, Meursault
has been determined by a culture that limits his freedom.  Because of a boss that says
he must love work, a funeral director that says he should view his mother's body, a
group of old people who believe he should stay awake during a vigil, a chaplain and
magistrate who assert that he must believe in God and an afterlife, and a lawyer here
who believes he must not wish death upon a family member, Meursault has been rendered an
outsider, an alien, and a stranger to his culture, his people, and the institutions
therein.

Meursault is unaware of and in denial of the way
the culture takes away the individual's freedom to choose life instead of conformity and
death.  Certainly, he is in denial of his mother's death because he, in fact, loved her
so much.  He would rather imagine her alive than see her dead.  Instead of feeling guilt
, Meursault wishes death for his loved ones as a means of last resort to escape an
illegitimate and hypocritical society.  Later, Meursault will say that no one had the
right to cry over his mother because she was ready to live her life all over
again.

He wishes his loved ones (mother) dead because we
all see death as absurd: it is beyond the control of the living.  Death is an
abstraction, not a reality, so why not try to imagine our loved ones dead?  How would we
react?  It is inevitable that we try to imagine the unimaginable.  We have, although no
one but Meursault would admit, wished death upon ourselves.  Why?  It is because the
death is often chosen for us by society.  The culture sentences us to lives of
meaninglessness.

The truth is, Meursault wants his mother
to enjoy the life she had again.  In fact, he wants her to cheat death and live a second
life on earth.  This is the dream of the absurd hero, one who--like Sisyphus--hates
death, loves life, and scorns the gods.  Just as Sisyphus escaped Hades and enjoyed a
second life on earth with his wife, so too does Meursault wish that he and his mother
could live life without regret and in denial of death.

What is the plot and some of the symbols "The Last Leaf"?

The story is about two young women artists, Sue and
Johnsy, who live together in Greenwich Village in NYC. Johnsy is sick with
pneumonia. She believes that as soon as all the leaves die that she can see outside of
her window, then she will die as well. She counts the leaves every day as they fall, but
one remains, even after all the others die off. Johnsy keeps watching that "last leaf"
but it never falls off the tree. She finally becomes convinced that she has been selfish
and morose waiting for her own death, and decides to suck it up and get better. If that
little leaf could hold on for so long, so could she.

The
irony of the story is that the last leaf was painted on the window by Mr. Behrman, an
old artist and a friend of the girls. Mr. Behrman climbed up on a ladder and painted the
leaf in the cold and rain and caught pneumonia himself and
died.

The leaf is a symbol of despair that turns into a
symbol of hope. Johnsy thinks the ivy leaf stands for her life, slowly falling away.
When the leaf remains, however, it becomes a symbol of hope for her. If the ivy leaf can
hang on, so can she. There are some other symbols - Mr. Behrman, for examples smells
like "juniper berries". This is what gin is made from so he is most likely an alcoholic.
The window shade could be a symbol...........I'll let you figure that one out. What do
you think it stands for? Johnsy is always asking Sue to open it up, so she can see the
leaves. Sue does not want to do so because she fears that all the leaves will be
gone..................what do you think?

The product of two numbers is 1296. What is the maximum sum of the numbers ?

Let the numbers be x and
y.

Given that the product of the of the numbers is
1296.

x*y = 1296

==> y=
1296/ x

Let the sum of the numbers be f(x) = x+
y.

We will wrtie f(x) as a function of
x.

==> f(x) = x + (
1296/x)

==> f(x) = (x^2 +
1296)/x

Now we need to find the extreme value for
f(x).

Let us find the first
derivative.

==> f'(x) = ( 2x*x - x^2+
1296))/(x^2)

                 = ( 2x^2 - x^2 + 1296) /
x^2

                  = ( x^2 -
1296)/x^2

==> f'(x) = (x^2 -
1296)/x^2

==> (x^2 - 1296 =
0

==> x^2 =
1296

==> x= 36

Then the
function has extreme value at x= 36.

==> y=
36.

Then, the maximum sum of the two numbers
is 36+ 36 = 72.

A triangle has vertices at A(-3, 2), B(-5, -6), and C(5, 0). Determine the equation of the median from vertex A how do you find...

The  vertices of the triangle are A(-3, 2), B(-5, -6), and
C(5, 0).

To find the median from A, to the other side BC,
we have to find the mid point M of BC and then find the equation of the line through A
and M.

M(x , y) = ( (xB+xC)/2 ,
(yB+yC)/2)

xM = (-5+5)/2 =
0

xM = (-6 +0)/2 = -3.

M(x ,y)
=(0,-3)

Now we find the equation of the median AM, with
A(-3,2) and M(0,-3).

We know that the line joining the
points (x1 , y1) and (x2,y2) is:

y-y1 =
{(y2-y1(/(x2-x1)}(x-x1).

Therefore the equation of AM
is:-

y- -2) = {(-3-2)/(0 - 3)}(x-
-3)

y+2 =( 5/3 )(x+3)

3(y+2) =
5(x+2)

3y+6 =5x+10

5x-3y+10-6
=0

5x-3y+4 = 0

Therefore the
equation of the median is 5x-3y+4 = 0 is the equation of the median through the vertex A
of the triangle.

What is Koro's failure in "Whale Rider" and why?

Koro fails to recognise his grand-daughter, Paikea, as the
next leader of the Whangara tribe.  Koro Apirana is a Maori chief of a small community
in coastal New Zealand (the Maori are the indigenous people of New
Zealand.)

Koto's  people once shared an identity strongly
rooted in their cultural heritage and proud of their traditions.  Now they are
dispirited soft-drug users, dependent on welfare, lacking a sense of past, purpose or
direction.

Koro Apirana traces his ancestry back to the
myth of Paikea, who rode a whale from Hawaiki to establish the Whangara community in New
Zealand.  The first-bon son inherits the
chieftanship.

Koro, is initially disappointed in his
first-born son, Porourangi, who is more interested in pursuing his artistic career
internationally, than in becoming the next chief.  This could be considered Koro's first
failure: that he fails to acknowledge his son's aspirations talent and  right to
determine his own future.

Similarly, he fails to
acknowledge the potential of his second son because he is so driven by his vision of a
patri-lineal leadership restoring the integrity of his
people.

However, his biggest failure is his blindness, in
the face of all evidence, that his grand-daughter, actually possesses all of the
leadership qualities for the future of the tribe that he is seeking - because a female
leader is unthinkable.  Paikea's twin brother  (and her mother) died when she was born,
and so Koro is fixated on the presumption that the dead twin was the legitimate
chief.

Eventually, Koro has to affirm, not merely the
exceptional abilities of his grand-daughter, but that, for his people to retrieve pride
and security in their cultural identity, they may need, in Paikea's words, "lots of
leaders", so that "everyone will be strong, not just the ones that have been
chosen."

Find the distance between the point R( 2a+3, 8) and the point P(2a, 4).

Given the points R(2a+3, 8) and the point P(2a,
4).

We need to determine the distance between the point P
and the point R. Or we need to find the length of the segment
RP.

We will use the distance formula to find the
length.

We know that:

Distance
= sqrt[ ( xA- xB)^2 + ( yA-yB)^2]

Let us
substitute.

==> D (RP) = sqrt[( 2a+3 - 2a)^2 + (
8-4)^2]

Reduce similar
terms.

==> D ( RP ) = sqrt( 3^2) + 4^2)
]

                    = sqrt( 9 +
16)

                   = sqrt( 25) =
5

Then, the distance between the point R(
2a+3, 8) and the point P(2a, 4) is 5 units.