How is the cardinal utility theory relevant to consumers' behaviours?

The idea of cardinal utility is useful in explaining
things like why consumers make the choices they do.  This is so even though the theory
is a pretty shaky one -- there is no way to actually measure cardinal utility.  We have
no way of technically determining how much utility a person derives from a particular
choice.

However, the idea of cardinal utility is useful to
economists because it allows them to talk about why consumers buy, for example, more of
one particular kind of good than another.  It allows economists to have an explanation
for consumer behavior by saying that these choices have more utility for the
consumer.

I need to find an illustrated timeline of the events from The Crucible.

I am very interested if you can “find” this timeline.  You might
have to create this yourself.  I sense two fundamental challenges in the task.  The first would
be to narrow yourself to what you consider to be “important” elements in the story.  If there is
a fixed number that has to be followed, what that number would be and how you would progress from
here would be essential.  There are some absolutes that have to be included in such a
configuration.  The girls’ dancing in the woods, Abigail telling the girls in the first scene
that they are going to stick to the story of witchcraft, Proctor and Abigail sharing their moment
where she confesses that everything is fabricated, as well as Elizabeth’s arrest, and the trial
itself, along with Proctor’s confession and then recanting it would seem to me elements of the
plot that have to be included.  By no way would this be the end, but I think that it’s a starting
point.  The second point that needs to be addressed is how you will represent the timeline.  What
form will it take that might be able to convey some type of knowledge about the work?  For
example, how can the shape or design of the timeline have relevance to the drama?  I think that
this might be a part of the calculation needed to make this project work to the highest level
that it can.

The Outsiders deals with issues commonly faced by adolescents. What are some of these issues?

I think that two of the most evident issues seen in
Hinton's work lies in the domain of belonging to a group and how to deal with a reality
where unfairness is present.  Both topics seem to occupy a great deal of importance in
the perception frame of the adolescent, and Hinton hits on both in strong fashion.  The
Greasers and Socs strive for social dominance.  Yet, the former will always be seen as
second class, for they lack the material wealth and status of the first group.  This
causes them to look to one another for belonging and for identity because they are not
experiencing much of this from the social setting in general, and from their own
settings.  This is a strong adolescent theme because there is a belief in adolescence
that one's peer group has a better understanding of the individual than anyone else. 
One identifies with their peer group for this reason.  Another issue present is how
Hinton has her characters deal with the condition of what is and what should be.  When
writing the book, Hinton asked of previous literature about adolescent life, "Where is
the cruel social setting?"  She brought it out in her novel.  Her work is one where
there is class conflict, discrimination based on one's condition in life and a lack of
understanding about the nature of individuals.  Having her young characters seek to find
their way through this jungle is what makes her work so powerful to adolescent
literature, often striving to make right what is wrong or seeking to bring attention to
how what is might actually be wrong.

What kind of story is it?

Hawthorne's story is a great example of an allegory.  In
an allegory, most of the items, characters and events carry real significance as well as
symbolic significance.  Another way to answer the question is to point out the story is
written in the period of American Romanticism.  This literary movement frequently
explored the idea of the power of the human imagination; the inherent goodness of man,
the power of nature; the nature of good and evil. The list could go on, but those themes
are clearly present in this story.  In "Young Goodman Brown" you can see the connection
between the two topics above.  The good vs. evil is presented though the symbolism of
the woods, through Faith's pink ribbon, through the trees on fire at the witch's
meeting, and the characters of Goodman Brown, Faith, and the old man (devil).  For each
theme, there will be symbolic elements that illumate Hawthorne's
meaning.

Why was Robert Frost established as a nature poet?

While some have tried to compare Robert Frost to the Romantics
such as William Wordsworth, a major difference between Frost's treatment of nature and that of
the Romantics emerges. Unlike the poems of the Romantics who extolled nature, for Frost the image
of the spirit immanent in man and nature does not merge to reveal a truth. Instead, for Frost,
the voice of man always speaks. Nature, then, for Frost is a metaphor for the speaker, or it is a
symbol of the strictly human spirit that rises about physical nature. For instance, in Frost's
poem, "The Woodpile," the woodpile itself is insignificant. Its purpose is to assist in a
revelation of human truths.

readability="15">

....I thought that
only

Someone who lived in turning to fresh
tasks

Could so forget his handiwork on
which

He spent himself, the labor of his
ax,

And leave it there from from a useful
fireplace

To warm the frozen swamp as best it
could

The man who has cut the firewood
can forget its practical use and value because Man is concerned with "fresh tasks" of creativity,
acts which go beyond the practical level. Here the woodpile is a metaphor for the useful as
opposed to the acts of creativity that are transcendent.

Amy Lowell,
the imagist poet, describes Robert Frost as a poet who captures landscapes and characters. She
states that he uses nature simply because it is what he sees. Says
Lowell,

...He is
confined by the limit of experience....and bent all one way like the limbs of windblown trees of
New England hillsides.

But, for Frost,
always the speaker emerges from this landscape. In his "Stopping by a Woods on a Snowy Evening,"
Frost's narrator comes forth to utter the last lines,

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But I have promises to
keep

And miles to go before i sleep

And
miles to go before I sleep

Again in
the poem, "The Road Not Taken," the speaker comes forth at the
end,

I shall be
telling this with a sigh

....Two rads diverged in a wood, and
I--

I took the one less traveled
by,

And that has made all the
difference.

In "The Devil and Tom Walker" what kind of people do you think Tom Walker and his wife are ?Explain

Washington Irving made sure that his protagonist in this
tale was a miserable specimen of humanity. Usually in literature the protagonist is
characterized as "the good guy," but this story is a shining example ofr how that isn't
always the case.

Tom Walker and his wife are characterized
as stingy, miserly, quarrelsome, and generally unlikeable. Mrs. Walker is bossy and
crafty, hiding money from her husband while making sure she knows exactly what he does
with his money. Tom Walker isn't any more pleasant. He allows his house and property to
fall apart rather than spend money to maintain it, and even his animals would rather be
somewhere else.

Their relationship was so dysfunctional
that Tom refused the devils original offer because it might please Mrs. Walker. She, on
the other hand, determined to cash in on the treasure no matter the
cost.

Neither could be said to be a good neighbor, and in
the end, they got what they deserved.

What is a good comparison/contrast of Lady MacBeth with Lady MacDuff in Macbeth?

Lady Macbeth and Lady Macduff are similar in the sense
that the death of each is caused by the actions of their respective husbands. Lady
Macbeth commits suicide because Macbeth has gone too far in his pursuit of power and she
can no longer deal with the guilt she feels over her role in his transformation from a
hero to a murdering despot. Lady Macduff has been left behind by her husband, who has
fled to England to find help in his rebellion against Macbeth. Macbeth takes advantage
of his absence and sends men to murder Macduff’s servants, wife, and
children.

Their differences, however, are more striking.
Lady Macduff did nothing to deserve her fate, while Lady Macbeth goaded and manipulated
her husband into killing King Duncan. From that point forward, Macbeth was consumed with
the need to protect his power and position.

It is ironic to
note that Lady Macbeth’s suicidal guilt was in large part caused by Macbeth’s murder of
Lady Macduff. In Act V, Scene I, as she sleepwalks and tries to clean imaginary blood
from her hands, she says:

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The thane of Fife had a wife: where is she
now?

This is a reference to
Lady Macduff. It is not clear whether or not Lady Macbeth knows that Lady Macduff was
killed by Macbeth, or whether she truly does not know what has happened to
her.