How does the concept of belonging arise in Salman Rushdie's context of controversy and persecution?

This is really a challenging question.  I think that the answer could constitute a dissertation or a considerably longer response than can be provided within the confines of this answer.  I would suggest that the primary method of answering this question lies in its second part.  Rushdie's context of controversy and persecution brought on by the fatwa does much to assess what it means to "belong."  Rushdie's experience can be seen as an affirmation of belonging, as he was provided a certain level of sanctuary and respite from the unending hell of over a half decade in forced hiding.  In this respect, he resembles, to a certain extent, Saladin as he represented the hideous creature, who had to rely on the kindness of individuals with whom he might not have associated prior to his transformation.  Rushdie did find a small level of "belonging" in this time period.  However, I cannot but help to feel that he really experienced more estrangement and separation than belonging.  This must have left a profound sense of betrayal within him.  The chronology indicates this as such.  India, his native country, is the first one to ban the novel and begin the process of using his literature as a political battle cry.  A nation of his own faith, Iran, issues the fatwa, causing his hiding.  The land where he grew up, Britain, does little to assist him, citing diplomatic sensitivity in the process.  Essentially,  Rushdie's book of essays entitled "Imaginary Homelands," might be an appropriate way to envision his sense of identity and belonging in this time period.  Saladin's plight is much the same in the book.  Doing everything that was expected of him and "playing by the rules," he is arrested and completely abandoned by Gibreel.  Despite the fact that he strives to be a "good British" citizen, he is looked at as a foreigner first and treated as such.  Through his experience, Saladin understands the complexity of his identity and what it means to "belong" is far from simple, in much the same way Rushdie, himself, understood the concept of belonging through his own experience of isolation and persecution.

How can you comment on character in a critical analysis of "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place"?

class-of-2008,

Hemingway's widely anthologized short story is a celebrated story about contrasts: between youth and age, belief and doubt, light and darkness. To the younger waiter, the café is only a job; to the older waiter, it is a charitable institution for which he feels personal responsibility. Of course, he himself has need of it: it is his refuge from the night, from solitude, from a sense that the universe is empty and meaningless, expressed in his revised versions of the Hail Mary and the Lord’s Prayer. The older waiter feels kinship for the old man, not only because the waiter, too, is alone and growing old, but because both men are apparently atheists. Willing to commit suicide, the old man (unlike his pious daughter) evidently doesn’t think he has any immortal soul to fear for.

At the heart of the story is the symbol of the café, an island of light and order surrounded by night and nothingness and the meaning and purpose it has for each of the three charcaters. Contrasting images of light and darkness begin in the opening paragraph: the old man, not entirely committed either to death or to life, likes to sit in the shadow of the leaves.

The story has been much admired for Hemingway’s handling of point of view. The narrator is a nonparticipant who writes in the third person. He is allknowing at the beginning of the story: in the opening paragraph we are told how the old man feels, then what the waiters know about him. From then on, until the waiters say “Good night,” the narrator remains almost perfectly objective, merely reporting visible details and dialogue. (He editorializes for a moment, though, in observing that the younger waiter employs the syntax of “stupid people.”) After the waiters part company, for the rest of the story the narrator limits himself to the thoughts and perceptions of the older waiter, who, we now see, is the central character.

It is clear all along, as we overhear the conversation of the two waiters, that Hemingway sides with the elder’s view of the old man. The older waiter reveals himself as wiser and more compassionate. We resent the younger man’s abuse of the old man, who cannot hear his “stupid” syntax, his equation of money with happiness. But the older waiter and Hemingway do not see things identically—a point briefly discussed in the text in a comment on the story’s irony.

How does Steinbeck's description of the life under the sea differ from that of life on land in The Pearl?Chapter 2 Questions

According to Steinbeck's description, the sea is the source of life.  It is "rich with crawling and swimming and growing things".  The people on the land depend on the sea for their survival; if a man has a boat with which to navigate the sea, he can "guarantee a woman that she will eat something.  For those on the land, a boat provides access to the sea, and acts as "a bulwark against starvation".  Steinbeck indicates that life on the land is old, having gone back "for generations", but the sea, the natural world, is older still.  The sea exists in harmony with nature, and has the potential to support those who live on the land, but those on the land upset the natural balance.

The people on the land know that they depend on the sea.  They make songs "to the fishes, to the sea in anger and to the sea in calm...the beat of the song (is their) pounding heart as it (eats) the oxygen from (their) held breath, and the melody of the song (is) the gray-green water and the little scuttling animals and the clouds of fish that (flit) by and (are) gone".  Yet the people do not understand clearly their relationship to the sea.  The sea willingly provides all they need, yet they want more, their desires colored by greed.  Thus, the poultice Juana makes for the wound on Coyotito's shoulder actually cures him, making "the swelling...(go) out of the baby's shoulder, the poison...(recede) from his body".  The baby, having been cured by the poultice of seaweed, the gift of the sea, does not need the doctor, but Juana does not fully appreciate the power of the sea, and hopes for a pearl so that they can pay the doctor to treat him.  To satisfy their misguided understanding of what is best for their child and for their family, Kino violently cuts into the flesh of the oyster, making its "lip-like flesh...(writhe) and...subside)", and takes the pearl, in his ignorance and greed destroying the natural order between the land and the sea (Chapter 2).

Why does Tolstoy give this story a rural setting and choose a paesant for the protagonist?

To understand the story it is important to know a bit more about the setting - historically and culturally. The story is set in a time just after feudalism was abandoned. Feudalism was a way of ordering society which mean that peasants were nothing more than slaves to their landlords. Peasants could be traded and were not allowed to buy property. Tolstoy wrote this story 25 years after the emancipation of the peasants. Tolstoy was a reformer who aggressively campaigned for the amelioration of conditions for peasants, and so obviously he did not wish a return into the state of bondage for the peasants. However, this parable allows him to explore the question of the peasants' progress and whether the peasants truly were better off for their freedom and the ability to buy land. A key quote in the story that can be viewed as relating to this theme is "Loss and gain are brothers twain". Any change can bring both good and bad to a group, Tolstoy seems to be suggesting, and with a rather black humour he establishes this in the case of the peasants.

Is John really more free than the World State members in Brave New World? How is he conditioned in his own way?

The people outside the reservation have been conditioned from a young age by science, which has taken the place of conventional parenting.  However, someone who does have a parent can certainly be conditioned.  Ask yourself, "How does Linda's influence (her words, actions, life) form John's thoughts about the world?  How do Linda and her life have a hand in forming his fears, hopes, likes, and dislikes?  You can also ask yourself about others on the reservation.  How do Pope and Mitsima "condition" John to perceive the world?  What about his treatment at the hands of those on the reservation?  How does his conditioning within the reservation actually lead to a lack of freedom/decision when he leaves the reservation?

What steps should India take to become a prosperous and secure nation in next 5 years?

There are many things that all countries can do that may help a lot, but here are a few that may help India in particular. However, before I list a few of them, let me just state that India has prospered greatly in the past decade.

1. I think India needs to develop is equities market a little more. I know that foreign investors are bit worried about the stability. For example, Jim Rogers stated a few months back that he would not invest in their stock market.

2. India can also develop its infrastructure more - building a bullet train from major city to major city might be helpful. Things like this would definitely help in the economy in the short and long run.

What is the central idea behind Edward Taylor's poem "Upon a Wasp Chilled with Cold"? as well as the conceit?Please, please help.

A conceit is an extended metaphor. A metaphor is a comparison of two dissimilar things without using like or as. Bearing this in mind, Edward Taylor is using the image of a wasp chilled and unmoving from the cold to talk about the condition of the human soul when it is without God's grace, light, and love. The wasp warms itself in the sun until it can fly home, just as humans bask in God's love until they are ready to return home to their Creator. Taylor goes on to ask for the ability to clear his soul so that he too, like the wasp, might warm himself in the light of God until he is able to praise and take flight to his maker.

How can the central character, Jimmy Porter, be defined in Look Back in Anger, and is he the narrator?

Look Back in Anger is the first play by playwright John Osborne, which means, of course, that as a play (also called drama) there is no narrator. Therefore the characters' dialogue in combination with the set and costuming and action tell and show all that the narrator in a narrative story (novel or short story) would tell. Jimmy Porter is the central character and is defined by where he is, how he looks, what his actions are (like ripping the newspaper from Cliff's hands), what he says (like demanding another pot of tea be made for him and all his insults).

The play opens in a room where three people, Jimmy, Cliff, and Alison, are passing the time. Jimmy and Cliff are reading newspapers. Alison is ironing. Jimmy is hidden by the newspaper he is reading, as is Cliff. Alison is the picture of impoverished, tarnished, past elegance and wealth. Jimmy's first action is to throw his paper down to reveal a thin man in a worn tweed jacket and flannel slacks, indicating financial limitations.

Jimmy's first words in the play reveal his discontent in life:

"Why do I do this every Sunday? Even the book reviews are the same as last week's. Different books--same reviews."

He goes on to insult first Cliff and then Alison, saying Cliff is ignorant and stupid and that Alison hasn't had a thought in years. Oddly, both cliff and Alison humor his ill-treatment of them.

Playwright John Osborne describes Jimmy in the directorial notes preceding the play as "a disconcerting mixture" of many antithetical qualities, few of them pleasant: "of sincerity and ... malice, of tenderness and ... cruelty," and restless, importunate (persistent) pride that is alienating and "blistering."

What are the differences between traditional and modern short stories?

It is very important not to generalize here, but very difficult not to in some ways. This is because some old-time short story writers had a lot of trouble getting recognition and appreciation for their work because they tried to break out of the traditional mould, to be pioneering with new styles and new ways of expressing themselves. This is particularly true of those writers on the cusp of the 20th century - such as James Joyce or even F. Scott Fitzgerald.

There was a tradition to have the short story like a little mini-novel with lots of scene-setting at the beginning, traditional rising action and then a flourish at the end, often with a little pathos or a moral. The story was descriptive ,had a plot and was easy to follow.Nowadays, many short story or flash fiction writers make their stories unintelligible, like puzzles ,with shock endings! Look at Anne Enright (The Portable Virgin)for a less extreme version of this.

Are there examples of metaphor, imagery &/or connotation in the poem "That Country"?

Yes there are examples of all three elements in this poem.

To review, a metaphor is comparing two unlike things wherein one thing is said to be the other. Examples of metaphor in this poem include:

the victors got drunk
they came & came
the words were never
the same again

An edgy
feeling. A coin
on its
side
speaking up

Imagery is the use of language to create strong visual connections about which the author is writing in the readers mind. Examples of imagery include:

My penmanship
sharpens up. I go to
       school.
Slowly the words appear
on a line.

Personification is to give human characteristics to non-human things. The following is an example of this:

The second l in really
staggered into a y
the letters got
drunk.

The connotation (what is implied here) is that there are so many things of common nature between the two lands, the two cultures, the two citizens that it seems ridiculous that there is so much enmity in the mind of the speaker (who probably speaks for a lot of citizens)

Who is Holden Caulfield?

He's a younger born twin of his author, J. D. Salinger:

Salinger vs. Holden

• both born and raised in NYC


• both attend schools and fail to graduate (Holden-prep school; Salinger-college)


• both have parents of different religious faiths


• both have well-to-do parents


• both underwent treatment (Holden-psychiatric; Salinger-post war stress)


• both isolate themselves from others (Holden runs away; Salinger is a recluse in N.H.)

As a literary character, he is a 16 year-old unreliable narrator who is very conservative, anti-social, immature (though he stands over six feet and has grey hair), and obsessed with child-like things (checkers, his dead brother, the ducks in Central Park) and sex.  He is hopelessly stuck in the past: he has never gotten over his brother's death, and he dreads conforming to the post WWII materialistic and "phony" culture.

How did Sam make his fireplace and bed in My Side of the Mountain?

Sam's bed is made "of ash slats and covered with deerskin".  His fireplace, which is "about knee high", is made of clay and stones, and has "a chimney that leads the smoke out through a knothole".

Sam binds strong branches together to make his bed frame, and weaves a platform that will serve to hold his mattress out of ash slats.  The ash slats "work very well, and are quite springy and comfortable".  At first, Sam piles hemlock boughs on the ash slats to make a soft sleeping surface, but hopes to eventually have a deer hide to take their place.  Sam's bed fits neatly into a space on the right-hand side of his hollowed-out tree.

Making a fireplace is a much more difficult undertaking for Sam; it takes him three days to get it right "so that it (doesn't) smoke (him) out of the tree like a bee".  He makes the chimney out of clay, but finds that it sags because it is "too heavy to hold itself up".  Sam works some dry grasses into the clay to strengthen it to the point to where it will hold its own weight.  He then whittles a hole through one of the tree's knotholes to allow smoke from the fireplace to escape, and builds the chimney down from this, but finds that when the clay dries, it shrinks and pulls away from the tree, allowing the smoke to pour back into the tree's interior.  Sam seals the leak with pine pitch, which works for awhile, but then he finds that the funnel over the fire bed cracks, and must find a way to fix that.  After trying a number of methods to no avail, Sam finally discovers a large, flat stone to hold up the funnel, and the fireplace is at last usable. 

In a scary turn of events, Sam notices that his pet bird Frightful becomes lethargic before the cozy warmth of the fireplace, and realizes that the fire is consuming all the oxygen in the tree.  Understanding that he must provide more ventilation for their safety, he cuts several more holes in the tree, and eventually finds that the air circulates enough for them to use the fireplace safely.

Why did "the Sniper" feel bad about killing people in the story of the same name?I think he did that because no one loved him when he was a child.

First, we would have to have evidence that "the Sniper" did feel bad about killing people. I don't think that the evidence in the story supports this idea.  "The head fell heavily on the turret wall. The woman darted toward the side street. The sniper fired again. The woman whirled round and fell with a shriek into the gutter."  Here, "the Sniper" shoots the old woman as she runs across the street.  Granted, she was an informant and had given his position away, but she is also an old woman and a non-combatant.  Either way, "the Sniper" shows no hesitation or remorse as shooting either the man in the armored car or the woman.

Nor does he feel bad about having to kill the sniper on the other roof.  He considers his opponent very coolly and in a very calculated fashion. "He must kill that enemy and he could not use his rifle. He had only a revolver to do it. Then he thought of a plan." He shows no hesitation here, either.

The one section of the story that supports his disgust with killing is this: "The lust of battle died in him. He became bitten by remorse. The sweat stood out in beads on his forehead. Weakened by his wound and the long summer day of fasting and watching on the roof, he revolted from the sight of the shattered mass of his dead enemy. His teeth chattered, he began to gibber to himself, cursing the war, cursing himself, cursing everybody.  He looked at the smoking revolver in his hand, and with an oath he hurled it to the roof at his feet."

Now, this does imply that he feels bad about having to kill so many people. He is "revolted" by the sight of his dead enemy.  He takes the opportunity to curse the war, himself, and everybody else.  He seems to make an oath to "give it all up" when he throws his gun down.

Clearly, for this instant, he is fed up with killing.  But I don't see it as a clearly expressed interior condition.  Look what happens next: "The revolver went off with a concussion and the bullet whizzed past the sniper's head. He was frightened back to his senses by the shock. His nerves steadied. The cloud of fear scattered from his mind and he laughed. "  He regains control of his emotions and chuckles to himself.  He is once again under control.  The lapse in his resolve was more likely caused by lack of food, water, and the fact that he is leaking blood.

I am not sure what you mean by "no one loved him when he was a child..." where are you getting that idea from?  There doesn't seem to be much mention of "the Sniper's" background in the story.

Anyhow, best of luck to you!

In "A Sort of Song," Carlos Williams writes,"No ideas but in things." How might this relate to"The Red Wheelbarrow"? What does that poem...

While caring for a sick child at the child's home Williams, a paedtrician by profession, looked outside the window and saw the wet red wheelbarrow. He wrote this poem quickly in less than five minutes just like an impressionist painter  would paint quickly in order to capture the precise quality of light of a particular moment: "glazed with rain/water" - if he had delayed writing the poem the wetness would have dried up and the glaze would have disappeared.

"The Red Wheelbarrow" (1923) is one of Willaims' early poems and is influenced by 'Precisionism' an artistic movement in America which peaked during the interwar period. 'Precision' artists shunned European influences, and as the term itself suggests their paintings were very objective and clearly defined almost like the 'photorealists' of the next generation. Just before Williams wrote this poem Williams had met Charles Sheeler the photographer journalist and a self-proclaimed 'precisionist.'

The poem expresses in the starkest and simplest manner possible the practical usefulness of a wheelbarrow on a farm. There is a sharp ironic contrast-almost haiku like- between the sick room 'inside' and the daily routine of the practical affairs of the farmhouse 'outside.'

What are two example of situational irony in Fences?

The ending of the play can be seen as an instance of situational irony.  At Troy's funeral, where all have come to pay their respects, it would be expected that Gabriel would finally be able to sound his horn.  Yet, rather than hearing Gabriel blow his horn in recognition of Troy, the mouthpiece is broken and we see his dance and howl at the reality of what is.  This scene can be seen as situational irony because it represents a combination of expected and real results, the essence of situational irony.  Another instance where there is a collision between what is expected and real results would be where Troy demands to build a fence to keep out death and, in a sense, keep out life.  Yet, the addition of Raynell to the family comes about as a result of death, and, in the process, proves the futility of the desire to want to contain life and stop its progression, regardless of its painful predicament.

In "Just Lather, That's All," what effect does Captain Torres' remark have on the reader at the end of the story?

Shaving with a long  open razor blade is a highly skilled job  requiring intense concentration: "taking pains to see that no single pore emitted a drop of blood." After lathering  his customer's beard with soap, the barber  begins to shave the beard with the sharpened razor. As the soap lather and the shaven hair collect on the long razor blade the barber will often pause and remove the lather  by stroking the razor on his own bare forearm and will continue shaving. If he pauses every now and then to wash the razor he will take a longer time and more importantly he will lose his concentration.

Although, the narrator-barber is "secretly a rebel, he was also a conscientious barber, proud of the preciseness of his profession."  So, the dilemma he faces now is whether to slit Captain Torres' throat or to give him a clean shave without nicking his skin. After quite a struggle within his mind he decides :"I don't want blood on my hands. Just lather that's all."

He puns on the word "blood" to ironically emphasise the fact that "he is a good barber. The best in town." Blood could either mean the blood when he nicks Torres's skin and collects it alongwith the lather on his forearm in which case he would not be regarded as an expert barber or the blood if he murders Torres by slitting his neck, in which case he would be branded a murderer.

The narrator is keen to be known only as an expert barber-only lather on his hands.

The reader is impressed and deeply moved by the magnanimity and the sense of honor displayed by the narrator

What do you think of the book Native Son?

"Native Son," a book written by Richard Wright is an excellent tragedy about a young man who is destined for failure.  It is the story of a young black man, Bigger Thomas, whose mother helps him to get a job.  The family is poor and lives in the Ghetto.  Bigger plans a robbery with his friends but gets scared.  He takes the job for the white people, Mr. Dalton and his wife. He is confused by their daughter who tries to treat and speak to Bigger as a peer and friend.  She does not realize the harm that can come from such communication for him.  He has distrust of white people and with reason.

In the story he kills the girl after she comes home drunk He is trying to quiet her after having carried her into her room and accidentally suffocates her.  He is doomed.  He can not tell the truth about what happened because he is a black man that was in a white girl’s bedroom and killed her.  He knows there will be no justice for him.

The novel demonstrates that by measure of where Bigger was from, his background, his skin color, and racism, Bigger was doomed from the beginning.  It was an excellent novel when it was written because it made people take notice of the strained relationships between black and white and how circumstances were older because of racism and distrust.  I liked the novel but found it to be quite tragic.

Chapter 18 - How does society trick the Savage in Brave New World?Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World"

In Chapter 17 of "Brave New World," the Savage defiantly tells Mustapha Mond,

'But I don't want comfort.  I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness.  I want sin.'

However, in Chapter 18, John the Savage has been forced to "eat civilization" as he tells Helmholtz.  In this chapter, then, John comes into direct conflict with the New World which has forced itself upon him:  He has been taken to the "feelies," he has been forced to watch his beloved mother die from overdoses of soma, he has been subjected to the sexual advances of Lenina.  He is foiled in his attempt to reject this New World as he has been tricked from within and from without.

Outside his power is any return to the Reservation; John is trapped in this New World.  Mustapha Mond has made clear the power of the World State to resist an unstabilizing force; John is sent away in this chapter.  But, John is also tricked from within as his own destructive tendencies toward violence and self-loathing conquer him.  His death is the result of his lack of understanding of things as well as the inhuman forces of the brave new world.

Only after John arrives at the lighthouse does he realize that this location is still too much a part of what he has tried to separate himself from.  In an effort to change his environment, he plants a garden, but when he realizes that he has forgotten about his mother, his destructive tendency of self-loathing returns and he punishes himself.  Later on, he has lustful images of Linda, so he again punishes himself.

When Darwin Bonaparte, a reporter, surreptitiously photographs him and returns with his report, crowds come to view him.  Soma and sex chewing gum are thrown down to him, and in his confusion and weakness, John's penitence is conquered by human desire after the young woman steps from a helicopter  The next day, John wakes as a victim of the New World in which Mustapha Mond has orchestrated several ploys to conquer John.  After John's desperate act of suicide as the only escape, Mond has an example to prove that his control is better.  Through the exploitation of John the Savage, an individual has been destroyed.  And, not only one individual, but all individuals as anyone who disagrees with Mond's world [monde=world in French] is exiled (Bernard, Helmholtz) or destroyed.  Identity can only come from the community:  "Community, Identity, Stabiltiy"--the shield hanging over the Hatchery confirms this idea.

What role does fatalism play in the plot ?

There is very little fatalism or "classical" fate or determinism in Macbeth.  The role of "time" determines the plot, not "fate."  "Murder" determines the plot, not "fate."  "Evil" determines the plot, not "fate."  The Macbeths determine the plot, not "fate."  Whereas Oedipus was dealt a heavy does of fate, Macbeth chooses to murder, to be evil, to defy time.  He is an agent of free will, not a victim of prophecy.

The witches may seem to be instruments of fate or fatalism, but they are preachers to his choir: they tell him what he wants to hear.  They are like the chorus--in the play, but not in the play.  The witches simply supply Macbeth with the nouns (Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, King Hereafter).  They are not like the Oracle at Delphi, which supplies the verbs (you will "kill") and the direct objects (your "father").  Lady Macbeth supplies Macbeth with the verb of "murder" and the direct object "Duncan."  No one claims that she is an instrument of fate, so why then the witches?

And, other than the "hereafter" adverb, the Witches do not specify a time frame.  Macbeth might have waited until he was an old man to become king.  Macbeth actively speeds up time in the play: his "vaulting ambition," his "deep desires," his id cause time to spin out-of-control, against him.  Driver says there are three kinds of time in the play:

(1) time measured by clock, calendar, and the movement of sun, moon, and stars, which for the sake of convenience we may call "chronological time;" (2) an order of time which overarches the action of the entire play and which may be called "providential time;" and (3) a time scheme, or an understanding of time, belonging to Macbeth, which maybe called "Macbeth's time." (Driver 143-44)

If the tragic hero has his own time, how can he be a victim of fate?  Time and fate only appear to be linked.  Macbeth tries to control or defy time, but he cannot.  He stopped Duncan's tomorrows, and he tries to stop his own.  Inevitably, tomorrow catches up to him.  "Tomorrow" is the key word in Macbeth that refutes fatalism.  Macbeth's famous soliloquy is prime example, but there are others in Acts I and II of equal importance; so says Driver:

In one instance, it appears that Macbeth escapes his prison of destiny. When questioned by his wife about the time of Duncan’s departure, Macbeth replies, “Tomorrow, as he purposes” (1.5.60). Lady Macbeth, now obsessed with her disgusting plan, insists that “never shall that morrow see” (1.5.61). They succeed in making sure that Duncan never sees another light of day, but their disturbance of nature does not change fate in their favor. Instead, they have caused chaos in Scottland, and what should be light and good is now dark and evil.

Key phrase: "they have caused chaos"  Notice, it is not "chaos has caused them."

Why did Ivan stop screaming?

Ivan's course to death is a long and tedious one. In his last three days he screams day and night. It began as the words "I won't!" and became fixed on the "O." In Chapter 11, Ivan realizes that all he lived for was "falseness and deception." With this realization came a new "grinding and suffocating" pain, which is what precipitated his screaming.

Then, "some force struck him in the chest and side" and he fell through the black bag he had been struggling against and saw a light. Simultaneously with this, and in some ways (perhaps in all ways) precipitating this, Ivan was flailing his arms; his small son came; caught one of Ivan's flailing hands and kissed it and began to weep. At this moment Ivan see the light and realizes that his life, which looked like it was right and good, was in fact not the right thing.

This realization, coming at the moment his son kissed his hand and wept, made him ask "What is the right thing?" It is this question, a response to his epiphany of revelation, to which he listened for an answer that caused him to stop screaming and be quiet. Ivan felt the boy's kiss and tears; he saw that he had not lived rightly; he knew it could still be remedied; he listened to hear the answer to what the right thing is; and he, while listening for the way to proceed, quit screaming.

Comment on the effectiveness of Thin-layer Chromatography (TLC) as a technique to separate mixtures of biological molecules.Also, report on...

Thin layer chromatography (TLC) is an excellent method for separating  bio-chemicals, especially when only a small amount is available. TLC, as other types of chromatography, separates biochemicals based on different criteria; TLC uses the polarity of the biochemicals in your sample. As with other types, a known standard is applied in one column. This allows visualization of the various components in your sample (when the dry plate is placed in, say, an iodine chamber). The samples can then be marked, and scraped off the glass plate.  When I used this technique 25 years ago, it was to see if we had successfully isolated a certain (radioactively-labled) enzyme from cardiac tissue. For more info, see the below site.

Find magnitude of gravitational force a61.8kg person experience while standing on surface of Earth with mass of 5.98x10^24kg and a radius...

For all of these questions, you need to use the following equation, which will tell you the force of gravity in those situations:

Fg = (Gm1m2)/r^2

where G is the universal gravitational constant, m1 and m2 are the masses of the objects, and r is the distance that separates their centers.

So then you just plug in the numbers you have provided.  I will note that the proper radius of the Earth is 6.37 x 10^6.

Force on Earth: 6.08 x 10^3 Joules

Force on Mars: 2.22 x 10^2 Joules

Force on Pluto: 4.12 x 10^1 Joules

What are the main themes in The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy?

The most important theme in The Mayor of Casterbridge is that of blind Fate.  For Hardy, Fate is blind, arbitrary and merciless and always brings misery, pain, sorrow and suffering. There is no fate that is a good fate. Fate is delivered through coincidences and circumstances that cannot be foreseen. Once an opening allows for the working of fate's designs, there is little or nothing that can be done to stop its inexorable flow to a catastrophic end.

In The Mayor of Casterbridge, coincidences and unforeseen circumstances work in concert with Micheal Henchard's tragic character flaws, and fate is loosed upon him and will push him to his miserable end regardless of what he does or does not do. Once Michael yields to the choice to sell Susan and the baby despite all the protestations and efforts to bring him to his reason, his fateful end is sealed. This leads to the twin theme of how personal choice interacts with Fate.

Hardy explores how, and whether, fate can altered, forestalled, or avoided by personal choices. He explores how personal choice may or may not influence the outcome of a person's life. He answers the questions: May a person have a happy end instead of a miserable end if by some means Fate can be contained or avoided? And if so, by what means?

Henchard illustrates how a person may unleash the forces of fate through immoral, rash, unethical, cruel choices. He shows how fate is loosed in all its final fury by choices that are unreasoned, unsound, and unseeing: no foresight is employed to calculate future effects of present choices. Farfrae illustrates the opposite. He shows how calm well-ordered thought and choices can lead to a smooth course in life by forestalling any opportunity for Fate to unleash calamity that dooms life to a miserable end.

Hardy's answer to his own questions is that a person may by some means avoid the misery of Fate and that means is cool, calm, reserved, careful, deliberate well-reasoned thought that foresees the future consequences of present choices.

Why the poem by Thomas Hardy "By the Century's Deathbed" was changed to "The Darkling Thrush"?

Although the poem was written in 1900, literally at the very end of the 19th century and therefore at the century's deathbed, Hardy probably thought better of such a depressing and relatively unpoetic title.

For though the poem starts out with a bleak and depressing tone:

I leant upon a coppice gate

When Frost was spectre-grey,

And Winter's dregs made desolate

The weakening eye of day.

The tangled bine-stems scored the sky

Like strings of broken lyres,

And all mankind that haunted nigh

Had sought their household fires.

and then continues on equally dark and gloomy, by the third stanza the sound of the thrush is heard that rescues the day (and maybe the century).

Hardy probably thought better of the name of his poem, because, although it doesn't start that way, it ends with hope for better things, at least better than a whole century on its deathbed.

Coincidentally, Robert Frost expressed a very similar idea in his poem "Dust of Snow":

The way a crow

Shook down on me

The dust of snow

From a hemlock tree

Has given my heart

A change of mood

And saved some part

Of a day I had rued.

In both poems, a bird redeems all. Wow.

In Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 3, what are Macbeth's regrets?Regrets must be for past events.

In Act 5 Scene 3, Macbeth starts out by regretting the way his life has turned out in a genericbut vivid manner. In Line 24:

                                   "My way of life

Is fall'n into the sere, the yellow leaf,.." 

The choice of the word 'fall'n" definitely signifies regret or some kind of failure. The metaphorical use of 'the yellow leaf ' indicates a downward turn of events that can only usher in death literal or figurative as in the fallen yellow leaves of the autumn season.

Macbeth also regrets that at this point, he cannot and will not age gracefully. He knows what  the  most important qualities of a happy, health old age are per Line 27:

' As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends,'

  Per line 28, he knows that these that these qualities will not be available to him.  He knows with with deep almost embittered regret what is in store for him as in Line 29:

'Curses not loud but deep, mouth-honor breath,'               

His choice of words as he describe the 'Curses...' is quite significant. In 'not loud but deep, mouth-honor, breath,..", the description of the 'Curses' is so vivid that the audience can almost feel their impact which is definitely regrettable. The regrets climaxes and comes out with cutting clarity in Line 30:   

'Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not.'

Use of term 'poor heart' signifies  pure regret of past events and 'fain deny' his desire to deny the regrettable events. He still has enough presence of mind, however, to admit that much as he would like to, he cannot deny the past any more than he can erase it

What is the main idea in "Papa's Parrot"?

Cynthia Rylant's story "Papa's Parrot" is one of a collection of short stories in her book Every Living Thing. All of the stories in the collection depict how animals influence human relationships. In "Papa's Parrot," a boy named Harry has been neglecting his father, who he once spent a lot of time with and enjoyed his company. In recent years, Harry has been embarrassed by his father and stops to visit him at work. However, when Harry's dad has a heart attack, Harry begins running the store, and learns from his dad's parrot that his father often thought about Harry and talked about him often to the parrot (judging from the parrot's mimicked phrases). The main idea is that Harry learns an important lesson from listening to the bird: he should not be embarrassed of those who love him, and he should cherish the time he has with his father. Harry comes to this realization and rushes off to be with his father in the hospital. It is assumed that Harry will spend more time with his father in the shop now when his father returns to work. If it were not for the parrot, Harry wouldn't have realized that his father so often talked about his son. 

How is the work related to the themes and issues of its historical period?All literature is a product of its environment. Nothing is created in a...

Lord of the Flies was written because of Goldin's experience with World War II. The book also takes place during the war and we see traces of the world at war outside of the island. We do not know exactly what happened to the boys, but it is likely their plane was shot down by another aircraft involved in the war. We also see other signs such as the dead parachutist as well as the arrival of the Royal Navy at the end.

Golding explores the nature of evil in his novel. He seeks to explain, in one form, what it is that would cause people to start a war and where the desire to hurt other human beings comes from. Through his novel we see Golding's belief that this evil is innate and civilization attempts to control it. However, it all goes sour when even civilization cannot stop the desire to kill and the world breaking out into war.

By using children, Golding is able to explore where this evil can come from. Children are products of the society in which they are brought up. Near the beginning we see the "littlun" that recites his name and address as a reminder that within these boys there still exists a clear imprint of their society and civilization. Little by little the boys start to forget and the imprint goes fuzzy as they begin to give in to that innate savagery.

In Frost's "The Road not Taken," what are some poetic devices in each stanza?Emphasis on alliteration, assonance, consonance, or the scansion method.

In regards to the poem's structure, look first at its rhyme scheme and meter (scansion).  The rhyme scheme reflects an ABAAB, CDCCD, EFEEF, GHGGH pattern.  While the rhyme is very structured, the meter is not so strict.  It is mostly iambic tetrameter, meaning that it has four feet per line (tetrameter), and mainly an unstressed/stressed beat (iambic).  It varies slightly from this meter, but if a reader listens to someone read the poem aloud, he/she will hear the stress on the syllables.

In regards to specific devices in the stanzas, here are several examples.

Stanza One: While this stanza does not contain any significant sound devices such as you mentioned, it does rely strongly on inversion (unusual word order).  Notice lines 2 and 3.

Stanza Two: Assonance does play a key part in this stanza.  Frost uses many short As in words such as grassy, passing, as, having, and had. Similarly, "wanted wear" in line 8 is alliteration.

Stanza Three: The rhyme of stanza three also represents "A" assonance with an alternation between long and short As.

Stanza Four: There is "ll" and "g" consonance in this stanza.  See shall, telling, and all, and repetition of ages along with diverged.

Since your question focuses on sound devices, a good argument can be made that Frost chose his sounds, words, structure, and rhyme to represent a more conversational tone.  His poem certainly appeals to the common man, someone who has to make an important decision at some point in his life.

In "Hamlet" discuss the irony in Hamlet's "How all occasions do inform against me" (IV.iv.32) speech. It's for a 5 paragraph essay.

Hamlet," in my opinion, is a language play; or, in other words, there are a lot of examples in this play where there are plays on the English language: Polonius' oratorial treatise on contemporary drama is a good, hilarious example. As to why Shakespeare indulges in so many puns, so many twists in word meanings in the play is a very, very interesting question. But I won't go into that. For now, let's concentrate on irony.

A definition of irony would be: words which seem to convey a certain meaning, but when you read them back carefully you realize that sometimes they actually mean the opposite of what is expressed; or, at least they run in some way contrary to the context in which the words are expressed or written. Got it?

Now, in the light of this definition, let us look at some of the text above.

How all occasions do inform against me.

And spur my dull revenge!

What is a man, If his chief good and market of his time

Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.

These lines, self-critically spoken by Hamlet, is, nevertheless, ironical because of what we know of Hamlet's character: he constantly weighs two sides of everything. In these lines he berates himself. Circumstances spur his "dull revenge," implying that the very ethics of revenge may be questioned. The following lines introduce the irony: is man nothing but a consumer? An eating, sleeping man is also the avenging man.

From these observations on man, Hamlet then contemplates God's purpose:...he that made us with such large discourse./ Looking before and after, gave us not / That capability and god like reason to fust in us unus'd. now, This is Hamlet's plea for mankind, ironically put: for God's sake, use the intelligence He has given us. Rather than indiscriminately buying into a culture of revenge, however honorable and fiduciary it seems, use your own mind, and decide.

Traditional criticism has it that Hamlet's tragic flaw was his incapacity to decide. Contemporary critics, however, disagree. They say that the traditional critics would have been right except for Hamlet’s ironic vision. It seems Hamlet indulged in so much irony because he could not trust anything in Denmark, beginning with the apparition of the king, his father, down to his mother, Ophelia, Claudius and Polonius. Words coming from each of these people’s mouths were fraught with dissimulation: Ophelia was a prisoner of the male system; his father was a ghost; Polonius used words dishonestly; Claudius was a murderer and Gertrude, his adulterous wife and accomplice. In this essentially corrupt environment, one that Hamlet could not trust, he was expected to carry out the noble and honorable act of revenging his father’s death, something he didn’t quite believe in. Hence, irony.

Your answer on Hamlet’s irony would not be complete if you didn’t comment on two other characters – Horatio and Laertes. Ironically, once again, the only straight forward, honest, if blunt, character in this play was Laertes, Hamlet’s enemy. Horatio, Hamlet’s best friend, understands his plight  but is unable to have a positive impact on the play. Thus Hamlet’s ironic vision does not solve his problem. But it does give the audience and the readers of the play, a complex and fascinating account of human frailty.

What's the difference between metaphor and analogy?

Metaphors and analogies are similar in that each is rooted in comparing one thing to another, just as similes are comparisons. The difference between metaphor and analogy is found in their purpose and structure.

The purpose of a metaphor is description and connotation: one entity is described by calling it another. In A Separate Peace, for example, John Knowles describes the tree that plays a central role in the novel by writing that it was a "steely black spike." This is a direct metaphor, saying one thing is another. This metaphor captures the appearance of the tree, but it also creates a forboding tone. Some metaphors are indirect; the comparison is implied.

The purpose of an analogy, however, is not to describe but to explain one idea or entity by comparing it to another and finding corresponding similarities. An analogy is not a simple statement of comparison; it is a comparison that is developed point by point. Analogies are frequently used in instruction. That which is not understood is explained in terms of that which is understood. For example, drawing an analogy (developed comparison) between the human brain and a computer would make the processes of the brain more understandable.

How's cognitive theory related to the serial killer John Allen Muhammad?Be specific

The idea of cognitive theory as being driven by a goal oriented and systematic approach is where I would begin with the John Allen Muhammed's predicament.  While the therapy model in cognitive theory emphasizes this goal driven and systematic approach, I think the methodology of precision and intense accuracy can be seen in the life and practices of Muhammad.  I would make it clear that the idea of cognitive behavioral therapy is much different than that cognitive theory aspects that I would point out here.  Rather, the notion of a systematic, incremental, and precise approach would be where the focus might be placed.  For example, Muhammed's time in the Army was spent as marksman and an expert shooter.  The fact that the Army is part of his background, and critical in how he and Malvo approached their time together is reflective of the cognitive theory approach of each step being methodically designed and arranged, which is also echoed in militaristic approaches.  Additionally, the idea of "goals" were applied to the killings themselves, where the precision of shooting and execution were the direct goals.  Each action was seen as a result of accurate planning and careful deliberation, reflective of the cognitive theory embrace of one element followed by the next.

Though Reverend Hale is trying to get Tituba to name her accomplices, who is the first person to actually mention names?

The first person to start the accusations is Abigail, Betty Parris's cousin, who, ironically enough, had already stated that she would kill anyone who breathed a word of what had happened in the forest with Tituba.  Abigail, pleasant young lady that she is, has been engaging in the funky spells as well as drinking chicken blood to try to kill Elizabeth Procter, the wife of the man with whom she once had an affair.  After Abigail accuses Tituba of being a witch, the frightened Tituba professes her faith in God and then accuses the Goodwives Good and Osburn of witchcraft.  Then Betty wakes up from her stupor, and she and Abigail proceed to provide a list of persons they claim to have seen with the Devil. 

Who does Hamlet have a false friendship with other than Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.?

Hamlet does not have false friendships with anyone. Lots of people are false with him, but he is never false with them.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Hamlet's school friends. King Claudius has sent for them so that they can spy on Hamlet and Hamlet knows it. In Act 3, scene 2, he says to them:

HAMLET:

Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of me! You would play upon me; you would seem to know my stops; you would pluck out the heart of my mystery; you would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass; and there is much music, excellent voice, in this little organ, yet cannot you make it speak. 'Sblood, do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, you cannot play upon me.

They are the ones who are false, not Hamlet; they are the ones feigning friendship, not Hamlet.

Falsehood is not one of Hamlet's traits. Indeed, he is, in his own words, "too much in the sun." If anything he is too honest. In Act 2, scene 2, he laments to Polonius:

HAMLET:

Ay, sir. To be honest, as this world goes, is to be one man picked out of ten thousand.

He sees himself as an honest man, a rare being in the world he inhabits. He is surrounded by spies and liars. He has trouble trusting anyone. In Act 3, scene 1, when he chastises Ophelia for being untrue and for being used by others, he says of himself:

..I am myself indifferent honest, but yet I could accuse me of such things that it were better my mother had not borne me...

Yes, honesty is a highly respected quality for Hamlet, and he does not deal falsely with others. Quite the contrary.

How many wives did Shakespeare have?

William Shakespeare only had one wife.  Her name was Anne Hathaway.

We know very little about Shakespeare's personal life, but we do know a little bit about this aspect.

Anne Hathaway was eight years older than Shakespeare.  She was from a little village not far away from Stratford, where Shakespeare was from.

They married when she was 26 and he was 18.  She was pregnant at the time of their marriage and gave birth to a daughter 6 months later.  They would later have twins, making a total of three children that they had together.

She died in 1623, at age 67.  Shakespeare had died seven years previously, when he was 52.

What metaphors and similes are in "The Interlopers" and what is Ulrich's wish when he leaves his crew?

In "The Interlopers" as Ulrich von Gradwitz hunts for the "game" he has long sought, he comes face-to-face with his enemy, Georg Znaeym, "the inheritor of the quarrel and tireless game-snatcher and raider of the disputed border-forest."  For generations there has been a dispute over the borders of property; despite the issue's having been settled in a legal court, Znaeym's family never "acquiesced in the judgment."  This refusal of judgment is the reason von Gradwitz hunts his enemy, the "game" he seeks and wishes to encounter.  Here the word game is a metaphor for Znaeym, his prey on this winter night.

However, the greatest metaphor in Saki's story is the title:  "The Interlopers," the forces of Nature that interfere with the settlement of the men's feud.  For, when the two enemies encounter each other suddenly, vis-a-vis, their civilized natures do not allow them to react immediately.  In this brief window of time, "a deed of Nature's own violence overwhelmed them both."  A mass of falling beech tree descends upon them, pinning them. 

As they are held prisoner by the massive branches, von Gradwitz looks across "with something like a throb of pity to where his enemy lay...."  This simile is the beginning of the change of heart for the land owner who feels his old fierce hatred...dying down." He tells Georg Znaeym,

Neighbor, if you will help me to bury the old quarrel I--I will ask you to be my friend.

On considering this, Znaeym remarks that such an arrangement would bring peace to their people.  He imagines how their friendship will be expressed in dinners and hunts.  Both men reflect upon the "wonderful changes that this dramatic reconciliation" will effect.  But, as each waits, hoping his own men will arrive first so that he may be "the first to show honorable attention to the enemy that had become a friend," the interloper of Nature again intrudes: wolves have answered their calls for help.

IN MY TEXTBOOK IT SAYS SCARCITY FORCES US TO MAKE CHOICES, LIKE SHOULD I PAY OF MY CAR LOAN OR GO TO HAWAII.THAT MEANS THERE IS SCARCITY OF...

In economics, when we talk of scarcity in economics, it refers to scarcity of resources. And resources refers to inputs we use to produce useful goods and services we would like to have. In economics, these resources are also called factors of production, which are typically classified as labor, land and capital. Capital refers to durable goods used in production of other goods. Labor refers to all type of work performed b people. Land refers to not just the land used for agriculture or other purposes but all the natural resources taken from above or below the soil. Thus all raw material used in production are classified as land because in ultimate analysis these are derived from nature. Money is neither a factor of production, nor a finished product that is used by people to obtain some satisfaction. Money is only a means of facilitating exchange of goods and services, including factors of production between people.

It appears to us that we lack money so we cannot buy things. So we think money is scarce. But in economics this money available with us only represents our share of all the goods produced and available in economy. And how we choose to spend our money impacts the way society allocates its scarce factors of production to producing different goods. For example, how much of wheat the farmers produce in their farms is determined by the market price of wheat, which itself is determined by amount of money all the people in an economy are willing to spend on wheat and other products made of wheat.

It is worthwhile noting that factors of production or goods that are abundant rather than scarce are available free. Take for instance the air we breathe. It is the most essential thing in our life, We cannot live without breathing air even for five minutes. Still air is available to us absolutely free. This is because air available in abundance. The total quantity of air available to a society is much more than the total air it needs to use.

What are some links between "A Doll's House" and Antigone that would suggest topics for a comparative essay?

A comparative essay over these two works could examine the two female protagonists, Nora Helmer and Antigone. Both women live in societies that grant them no power, yet both are stronger than those around them and ultimately exercise great power through personal courage and sacrifice.

Another topic for comparison would be the role of men in each work, as well as the development of the major male characters. Some very interesting parallels can be drawn between Torvald and Creon.

What does Ellen want to be when she grows up in Number the Stars?

When Ellen grows up, she would like to be an actress.

Ellen is "a talented performer; she often play(s) the leading roles in school dramatics".  She has a vivid imagination and the ability to make games of make-believe fun.  When Mrs. Johansen had told Annemarie and Ellen "the entire story of Gone With the Wind in the better days before the Nazis began their oppression in Denmark, the girls were enthralled by the "interesting and romantic" tale, and enjoyed acting out the parts in it for fun.  While Annemarie without question likes to playact for fun, it is Ellen who has a real gift for dramatics; Annemarie herself tends to be more athletic, while Ellen's first love is the stage (Chapter 4).

Mr. Rosen wants Ellen to be a teacher when she grows up.  He himself is one, and Ellen complains that "he wants everyone to be a teacher, like him".  Ellen herself would like to go to acting school, and hopes to be able to convince her father to allow her to pursue her dreams when the time comes.  Annemarie, recognizing Ellen's dramatic talents, encourages her to pursue her interests, telling her, "You were great as the Dark Queen in the school play last year...you should be an actress when you grow up" (Chapter 5).

What are the definitions of redox reactions if we consider electropositive or electronegative character of elements?

Since redox reactions concern the loss (oxidation) and gain (reduction) of electrons, the elements involved exhibit either electronegativity or electropositivity. Electronegativity measures an element's ability to gain electrons and electropositivity measures an element's ability to lose electrons.

In the equation:

Cu2+   +   Mg ®   Cu   +   Mg2+  

Mg loses electrons (exhibiting electropositivity) and Cu gains electrons (exhibiting electronegativity).

The wording can get tricky. Cu is the oxidant (oxidizer) oxidizes the other element. Cu gains electrons. Mg is the reducer. Mg reduces Cu (gives it 2 e-) and so Mg loses 2e-, becoming Mg2+.

This site helps: http://www.chemguide.co.uk/inorganic/redox/equations.html#top

In To Kill a Mockingbird, how has Mrs. Dubose changed by the last week Scout and Jem go to her house? What does Jem do to the camellia bushes?

Mrs. Dubose has fully recovered from her morphine addiction. While at first Scout and Jem's visits were regulated by the alarm clock, by the last week "the alarm clock had ceased sounding, but Mrs. Dubose would release us with, 'That'll do,' so late in the afternoon." Even though this episode is incredibly difficult for the children due to Mrs. Dubose abuse and racist remarks, it is important for their education and maturation. In order to grow, Atticus knows they must witness true courage, which is what Mrs. Dubose represents. Even though she is, for all intents and purposes, a hateful old woman, her example is still one to follow.

Jem and Scout's visits were prompted by Jem's destruction of Mrs. Dubose's camellia bushes. After a particularly vitriolic tirade, in which she claims "Your father's no better than the niggers and trash he works for!", Jem has a bit of a meltdown. On the way back from town, he notices she is absent from her porch. Taking that as his cue, he grabs Scout's baton & cuts the flowers off every bush. It is the one time we see Jem lose his temper in a manner we might expect from Scout. Yet it leads to a very significant moment in the childrens' lives.

There seems to be an immediate understanding between Scout and Boo. Why do you think this is so?

1. They are both childlike.  While Scout matures greatly throughout the novel, she still maintains an inquisitive nature, just likes Boo's childish curiosity (only he practices his from the shelter of his house).

2. They already "know" each other before they meet in person. Boo has observed the children and is most likely amused by their antics.  He communicated with them through the knothole in the tree, and Scout knew from that point on that Boo was not evil or scary.

3. At the novel's end, Scout has learned to be tolerant and to recognize people for who they really are.  When she meets Boo, she is ready to begin practicing her dad's admonition to "climb into someone else's skin and walk around in it."

Comment upon the sea imagery in Chapters 17 - 24 of A Tale of Two Cities.

Chapter 21, entitled "Echoing Footsteps", charts the beginning of the French Revolution and the storming of the Bastille. The sea imagery is used to describe the hundreds of discontented Parisiennes who form the group that overthrows the Bastille and wreaks vengeance on the upper class. When Defarge announces that the patriots are ready, Dickens describes the reaction in the following manner:

With a roar that sounded as if all the breath in France had been shaped into the detested word, the living sea rose, wave on wave, depth on depth, and overflowed the city to that point. Alarm-bells ringing, drums beating, the sea raging and thundering on its new beach, the attack began.

Thus the sea is used as a metaphor to picture the fury, the anger, and above all the violence of the patriots as they begin their Revolution. This imagery is continued throughout the rest of the Chapter with the description of the fall of the Bastille and the unyielding violence of the Patriots:

A white flag from within the fortress, and a partly - this dimly perceptible through the raging storm, nothing audible in it - suddenly the sea rose immeasurably wider and higher, and swept Defarge of the wine-shop over the lowered drawbridge , past the massive stone outer walls, in among the eight great towers surrendered!

So resistless was the force of the ocean bearing him on, that even to draw his breath or turn his head was as impracticable as if he had been struggling in the surf of the South Sea...

This description also reveals something key about the revolutionary force that has been unleashed. Although Defarge has been key in heading it up and leading it, now that it has been unleashed, he has no control over it whatsoever - the hunger for revenge and violence and blood is so all-consuming that he has lost all control. Note how the title of Chapter 22 continues this sea imagery: "The Sea Still Rises."

In chapter 7 of "The Great Gatsby," why does Gatsby fire his domestic staff? Who does he use instead?

First, let's answer the question about why Gatsby let all of his servants go with a couple of quotes from chapter 7:

“I hear you fired all your servants.” (Nick says,)

“I wanted somebody who wouldn’t gossip. Daisy comes over quite often—in the afternoons.”

"My Finn informed me that Gatsby had dismissed every servant in his house a week ago and replaced them with half a dozen others, who never went into West Egg Village to be bribed by the tradesmen, but ordered moderate supplies over the telephone."

So there you have it.  Gatsby ditched his faithful servants because he was afraid that they would gossip about his clandestine meetings with Daisy at the house.

Now, for the second part of your question, "who did he replace them with?"  Again, a couple of quotes illustrate this nicely:

"The grocery boy reported that the kitchen looked like a pigsty, and the general opinion in the village was that the new people weren’t servants at all."

“They’re some people Wolfsheim wanted to do something for. They’re all brothers and sisters. They used to run a small hotel.”

And there you go, answer number two.  He replaces his servants with some shifty characters that Wolfsheim owes a favor to.  They used to run a hotel, but don't anymore (probably because, according to the previous quote, they were lousy at keeping things clean and had bad manners.)  These "replacements" know how to keep their mouths shut, and they are not locals, so they have no one to gossip with.  Thus, they are of much better use to keep Gatsby's secret love-nest a secret.

Which one of the relationships in Wuthering Heights either in marriage or love could be called as "good"? Why?Please exclude Cathy's and...

The novel Wuthering Heights presents such as tragic view of love that this is an excellent question.  Catherine Linton initially showed repulsion and anger at Hareton Earnshaw.  Hareton is very much life Mr. Heathcliff when he was younger.  He can not read, until Catherine teaches him.  He is uncouth and moody.  As time progress and Catherine has been banished away from Mr. Heathcliff's sight to the kitchen, the two become close.

The intimacy thus commenced grew rapidly; though it encountered temporary interruptions. Earnshaw was not to be civilized with a wish, and my young lady was no philosopher, and no paragon of patience; but both their minds tending to the same point - one loving and desiring to esteem, and the other loving and desiring to be esteemed - they contrived in the end to reach it.

Hareton protects Catherine from Heathcliff when he vows to harm her for getting Hareton to side with her.  This took great courage on Hareton's behalf.  Heathcliff is the only one who protected him from his father, but at the same time kept him in a state much like Heathcliff had been kept by Hareton's father.

As time progressed the Catherine and Hareton changed for the better.

His honest, warm, and intelligent nature shook off rapidly the clouds of ignorance and degradation in which it had been bred; and Catherine's sincere commendations acted as a spur to his industry.

Through the relationship of Catherine's daughter and her cousin Haretonwe are able to see an innocent and beautiful love that gives us an inclination that despite their class differences they will have a good marriage.  Hareton is kind and good and mourns his master's passing.  He may have been raised by Heathcliff, but he also has kindness in him.  Catherine has her mother's spunk and spirit and is also kind.  There love represents the love that Heathcliff and Cathy did not get to fulfill.

Critically comment on 'poetry and unreality' by Plato.

Plato defines his ideal republic through an exclusion of poets in general in his great philosophical work The Republic. Plato's idea of poetry is quite an enigmatic one. Though he appears to be rather anti-poetic in certain ways, to be fair to him, there is in all of Plato, a passive acknowledgement of the power of poetry, even when it went beyond his understanding. Apart from the moralist's objection, Plato's exclusion of poets from his republic is primarily due to his problem with poetic representation of reality.

The real in the Platonic sense belongs to the world of the idea or the nuomenal world and not the world of appearance/phenomenon. Poets have no access to the real world e.g. the idea of the bed; what they have access to is the phenomenon e.g. an actual bed. So, they can only represent the phenomenon which is already at one remove from the real. As a result of this, poetry or any art as representation is located twice away from reality. This is Plato's idea of poetry--as something that is restricted to the unreality of the phenomenal world and something that makes a double fault by distanciating it further.

Explain how Ethan's plight in life, the setting of the story, and his relationship with his wife, make him a tragic hero.I really need help with...

In the novel "Ethan Frome," the man Ethan Frome has never had a life that was his own.  He was responsible for his sick mother when she was alive.  Zeena came to stay with the family to help care for his mother.  He felt obligated to marry Zeena as she had cared for his mother and was a spinster.  In the era of their life women without husbands had very poor lives.  Zeena made sure that Ethan knew she would not have anything as she had given her youth to the care of his mother.  Ethan marries Zeena.

Zeena is also sickly and is demanding as well.  Ethan is once again subject to having a sick person to care for.  He is trapped in the same environment.

When Mattie Silver comes to live with Ethan and his wife he finds love and beauty for the first time.  He sees something other than a dark shadowy existence in a New England town.  He feels joy.  Mattie becomes his love and focus.  Zeena finds out and orders her to leave.  Ethan can not let Matti stay and so he goes to take her away, but he decides to have one last sleigh ride with her.

Ethan and Matti had experienced another sleigh ride during happier times.  Ethan and Mattie are thinking back on that ride as they begin to head down the slopes.  Ethan is aware that when Mattie leaves she will have a terrible life.  She has no where to go.  It is not directly stated but the sleigh ride is meant to end both of the lover’s lives so that neither will have to live their lives in tragedy.  Instead the sled has to be steered a bit away from the tree to avoid hurting some children in its path.  The sled hits the tree but not with full force.

Mattie is left and invalid and experiences terrible pain.  Ethan's body is broken up and malformed.  He too, will experience physical pain the rest of his life.  The irony is that once again he has someone sickly to care for, but now there are two women, his wife and Mattie.  They both live in his home.  There is no joy once again, only sadness and obligation as well as a constant reminder of Ethan's sin.  In turn Ethan isolates himself from the community and takes his punishment.

He is a tragic hero.  He never had a chance for love and when he finally finds it, it is denied him.  Yet, he is a good man and because he is a good man he has to live his life in torment.

In The Great Gatsby, why does Daisy scorn the fact that she is sophisticated?

While most would see being sophisticated as a positive trait, Daisy diminishes the word's connotation.  When Daisy scorns her own sophistication, she really means that she hates that she must live up to an image of sophistication. If she were not Old Money (or "sophisticated"), she would have been able to be with Gatsby when he returned from the war.  If she were not sophisticated, she would not have to stay with Tom and endure the embarrassment of his countless affairs and injuries.  If she were not sophisticated, she would have run off with Gatsby and the extravagant, New Money life he offered her. And finally, if she were not sophisticated, she would not run away from her problems and cover them up with her sophisticated Old Money.

Which battle proved the most significant in the Union's eventual victory and why. Bull Run (1st Manassas) July 21,...

This is pretty much of an opinion question as there can't be any objectively provable answer.

It seems to me that you could argue for many of these:

• The Union victory at Vicksburg returned full use of the Mississippi to the Union and denied it to the Confederacy.  This greatly affected the abilities of the two sides to move freely North-South.


• The victory at Gettysburg would mark the last time that the South was really on the offensive.  You can argue that an army fighting solely on the defensive is doomed and, therefore, you can argue that this doomed the Confederacy.


• The victory at Chattanooga opened up the way to the Deep South and allowed Sherman to take Atlanta and then march to the sea.  It also allowed Grant to be taken from the West and moved to fight directly against Lee.

If I had to pick, I'd probably pick Chattanooga because the Sherman's action and the presence of Grant to fight against Lee were so important.

What were some Maidu traditions?

Here are three traditions from traditional Maidu culture:

1. Girls' adolescence ceremony.  This consisted of various rituals being performed on the girl who was being honored.  In addition it included five nights of singing, sometimes including dancing.


2. The "Mourning Anniversary."  Something like a Memorial Day-type observance in which the dead were honored.  This took place every year in the early Fall.


3. First salmon celebration.  This marked the beginning of the fishing season but consisted only of the first salmon caught being cooked by a shaman and its flesh distributed among the people.

How accurate is Ray Bradbury's vision of the future compared to our time?

"Accurate in spirit" might be a good way to put it.  Obviously, we don't have the technology to create "the nursery" as it is in the story.  But in a lot of ways, don't we have something similar in our televisions?  The idea of "the Veldt" is that the room becomes kind of an electronic babysitter/companion for the kids.  The implication is that this frees up the adults from having to interact/deal with the children: "this house which clothed and fed and rocked them to sleep and played and sang and was good to them."

Think about how some parents use television today as a way to keep their kids occupied (as well as the adults!):  "they startled you, gave you a twinge, but most of the time what fun for everyone, not only your own son and daughter, but for yourself when you felt like a quick jaunt to a foreign land, a quick change of scenery. Well, here it was!"

The technology in "The Veldt" is used for similar reasons to how we use technology today, it's just the intricacy that is different.  Think of how far technology has come in the last 50 years...we went from the 8 inch black and white TV to the monster HD TVs that we have today.  What will come tomorrow?  Have you noticed how many more Imax and 3D movies are coming out lately?  People push for more realism and a more realistic viewing experiences.  The idea that we could have our own "nurseries" some day is not that far fetched.

Some of the technology we even have today: "Their approach sensitized a switch somewhere and the nursery light flicked on when they came within ten feet of it. Similarly, behind them, in the halls, lights went on and off as they left them behind, with a soft automaticity." This is something that we have today, it's just expensive.

"Wendy and Peter were at a special plastic carnival across town and bad televised home to say they'd be late, to go ahead eating." Here is another example that we would call "video phone" or "video conferencing." Though not in every house, with the use of computers a lot of people are already doing this.

Now, some things are just out of the question.  I doubt we will ever have some of the things mentioned in the story: automatic shoe tiers, tooth brushers, hair combers, and bathers (though I think some kind of improved shower, akin to a car wash, might be doable!)  And a table that makes your food for you and serves it right there is a bit out of reach, but the concept of inventing new machines to lighten our load is an ongoing human tradition.

So, to sum things up, Bradbury's vision of the future has not been realized, but it's not for a lack of trying.  More convincing are his humans of the future: they have problems with their kids just like people nowadays do, and they seem equally clueless.

Describe the opening sequence when John Nash sees the others in A Beautiful Mind.

One of the ways people say the intelligence works is through the ability to see patterns out of chaos. So, when John Nash is able to see patterns,  this show that he is somehow different. In short, he is a genius. The patterns, he sees are in numbers, people, animals, etc. However, there is a fine line between genius and insanity. And there may even be a blurring of the two. The movie, in my opinion, does a superb job exploring this tension. In the end, John Nash is both - an insane genius whose genius controls the former.

How is Paul’s experience different from those of the others?It is on the story " Calling Home " by TIm O'brien .

In the short story "Calling Home" Paul is awaiting his turn to make a phone call using the new technology of the MARS system.  He is stationed in Chu Lai during the war and is on a week-stand down.  He and his friends are given the chance to use the telephone system to talk with their families.  Eddie goes first and gets to have a conversation with his mother, father and brother.  He tells Paul about his conversations with each of his family members.  He is very excited about the success of the technology.

When Paul's turn comes, he begins to remember what his home looks like and the things that family members would be doing at the present time.  The phone is connected and begins ringing.  Paul continues to recall his family and the details of his family member’s activities.  He never gets connected with them because no one is home.

The difference between Paul and the other soldiers is:

1- Despite the excitement over technology, he uses his imagination to take him home instead of the phone call.

2- Paul is unable to reach his family on the phone because no one answers his call. 

3- Paul’s memories for home have him so entranced that he feels satisfied as if he had actually had the phone call.  His memories took him home in a more vivid and comforting manner than the other boys who had talked with their families had felt.

4- Paul identifies the ringing of the phone as his connection into the family’s home.  He does not need to hear their voices.  Just to know the phone is ringing in his home is his way of going there.

"A freeze in Brazil's coffee growing region will lower the price of coffee." Is this statement true or false, and why?

This statement is false.

If Brazil's coffee growing region experiences freezing temperatures (I'm assuming this hurts coffee plants just like any other plants), then there will be less coffee produced.  This, of course, leads to a reduction in supply.

A reduction in supply is represented on a graph by the movement of the supply curve to the left.  Assuming the demand curve remains constant, a reduction in supply leads to an increase in the equilibrium price of the good or service in question.

So, all other things being equal, a freeze in the coffee-growing region leads to an increase in the price of coffee.

Who found the conch in Lord of the Flies?

In chapter one of The Lord of the Flies, Ralph and Piggy are exploring the lagoon together. The two boys are working well together, which is the first sign that this is going to be a key point later in the novel. The two boys are talking about their lives and getting to know one another when Piggy spots something in the water.

"What's that?"

Ralph had stopped smiling and was pointing into the lagoon. Something creamy lay among the ferny weeds.

"A stone."

"No. A shell."

Ralph and Piggy work together again to get the shell free of the weeds. Ralph gets the shell out of the water and Piggy takes it and tells Ralph about blowing into the shell and making a sound. This conch shell becomes an important piece of power in the book. Whoever has the shell is supposed to be able to talk uninterrupted. Anyone who has read the book knows how well that works. 

In To Kill a Mockingbird, what are three life lessons Scout learns before Chapter 15?

    Thanks in part to her father, Atticus, and his frank and open-minded parenting skills, Scout is wise beyond her years in the Harper Lee novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. She learns about the perils of modern education from her overzealous and underskilled first grade teacher, Miss Caroline, who claims that Atticus has no business teaching his daughter to read.

"... Now, you tell your father not to teach you anymore. It's best to begin reading with a fresh mind. You tell him I'll take over from here and try to undo the damage--"
    "Ma'am?"
    "Your father does not know how to teach. You can take a seat now."

Scout discovers that a part of the Finch family does not approve of Atticus's parenting skills or his taste in clients.

... the only time I ever heard Atticus speak sharply to anyone was when I once heard him say, "Sister, I do the best I can with them!" It had something with my going around in overalls.

Her cousin, Francis, who "gave me the sensation of settling slowly to the bottom of the ocean," also broke the news to Scout about his family's opinion of Atticus's love of humanity.

"... Grandma says it's bad enough he lets you all run wild, but now he's turned out a nigger-lover we'll never be able to walk the streets of Maycomb agin. He's ruinin' the family, that's what he's doin'."

Scout also learns that things are not always as they appear when her opinion changes about the neighborhood oddity, Boo Radley. First, she and Jem discover mysterious gifts in a knothole on the Radley property. Then, Jem tells her that his pants have been mysteriously mended after leaving them on the Radley barbed-wire fence. Finally, she is warmed during the cold night of the fire by none other than

    "Boo Radley. You were so busy looking at the fire that you didn't know it when he put the blanket around you."
    My stomach turned to water and I nearly threw up...

As what type of king or leader is Macbeth presented?

First, Macbeth's willingness to kill innocents paints him as a tyrant, wielding almost absolute power and capable of immense cruelty. At least he has a reason to kill Banquo and Fleance—it isn't totally motivated by malice—but he has no reason to order the murders of Macduff's wife and children except for pure, unadulterated viciousness. 

Second, Macduff's description of Scotland under Macbeth's rule presents him as a ruler that has driven his country into the dust with his own selfishness and greed. Macduff says, "Each new morn / New widows howl, new orphans cry, new sorrows / Strike heaven on the face, that it resounds / As if it felt with Scotland and yelled out / Like syllable of dolor" (4.3.4-8). Scotland is, apparently, in such bad shape that men can be killed out of nowhere (presumably, by Macbeth's orders or because men must rob one another to support their families and themselves—a situation indicated by Macbeth's earlier conversation with the men he's hired to murder Banquo), that heaven itself feels so terribly for the country that it cries with it. 

Further, Macduff says, "Bleed, bleed, poor country! / Great tyranny, lay thou thy basis sure, / For goodness dare not check thee" (4.3.32-34). He names Macbeth as a tyrant and insists that Scotland will continue to suffer under his rule because even good men are afraid to stand up to him. It is ironic that Macbeth is basically ruining the very country he wanted so badly to rule; perhaps it was really only the king's position that he craved and not the responsibilities that go with it. In any case, he is presented as the worst kind of ruler who puts himself ahead of his country and his people's needs.

Can someone explain this quote from "Fahrenheit 451" for me?“There was a silly damn bird called a phoenix back before Christ, every few hundred...

In this quote, Granger, an "outsider" that Montag meets on the tracks, is explaining a legendary story about a bird called the Phoenix.  And, the story is as Granger tells it--there is a bird, who represents society, who builds up a pyre of wood and sets himself on fire.  This symbolizes Montag's society, and how they make mistake after mistake after mistake.  Pretty soon, there is a huge pile of mistakes, just like there is a huge pile of wood in the analogy.  Then, the bird goes too far, and ends up burning itself to death.  This represents Montag's society and how they got to the tipping point, and finally, all of their wars ended up wiping everyone out.  Most of their society is destroyed.  Granger then tells the story of the Phoenix, and how in that tale, the Phoenix just kept making the same mistakes, and so it ended up burning itself over and over again.

Granger doesn't want to end up like the Phoenix.  He doesn't want his world to just repeat its own destruction over and over again.  Instead, he wants to rebuild his society, but not make the same mistakes.  He wants to build his society in such a way that they don't end up destroying themselves again.  He wants to learn from the mistakes of the past so that they don't repeat them again.  It's a good idea, one that is hard to implement in the world--it would be ideal if it was though.  Montag, Granger and the others decide to go back and rebuild again, but to remember what they have learned, and to not make the mistakes that got them destroyed.  I hope that helped; good luck!

Why are supercomputers uncommon?

Supercomputers are computers with very high computing capacity. A typical supercomputer has computing speed that is many thousand times faster than the typical personal computers used by individuals in their homes and offices. These super computers are very expensive, costing millions of dollars, because they need to be designed specially and manufactured individually. Personal Computers these days are quite economical because their high volume manufacture results in considerable economy of scale. These economy of scale are not available for manufacture of super computers.

Also super computers are very big in size requiring large facilities for their installation. They use lot of electricity and generate lot of heat. The Super computers installations need special arrangements to disperse this heat. Also super computers need specialized expertise for their operation and control.

All these features make use of super computers very expensive to use as compared to smaller computers, particularly the personal computers. Therefore, use of super computers is justified only for applications where the the combination of complexity of calculation, volume of computing to be done, and speed requirement cannot be handled by smaller computers. There are only limited such applications - for example, space programs, complex geological studies, weather studies and forecasting, and other complex scientific applications.

In summary we can say that super computers are uncommon because they are very expensive and difficult to operate. This extra cost and trouble of using them is justified for only limited applications requiring very high computing capacities and speed.

Why does Booker T. Washington represent voice, spirit, and hope of America?

Booker T. Washington was a former slave, who became an author, orator, educator, and political activist.  Following the Civil War he identified the need for former slaves to find a means to be able to earn an income and to find their own way to grab onto part of the success of the white man in America.  He did not do this through retaliation but by using manners and political activity.  He engaged in befriending leaders in the white world who could help him to create jobs and a job market for African Americans.  He knew that in order for the former slaves to become a part of America that they would have to provide needed services for white people.  He was well received by the president of the United States.  He was non-threatening and did not pursue career development for black people that would take away white jobs. Instead he used the skills that they already had, created services and schools to teach black people new skills, and found jobs and employment for them in the community.

Washington not only spoke of the American dream but demonstrated to the former slaves that success could be attained.  He did not try to contain success for himself, but rather tried to help others to achieve success.  He recognized a need for African American’s to be able to fit in to American society.  However, he was not without critics.  W.E.B. Dubois spoke out against Washington and expressed that Washington’s approach to labor merely kept the black man and woman restricted to thankless jobs such as house keepers and brick layers and did little to move them forward in educational endeavors or social status.  To the freed slaves and their off spring Washington offered a chance of hope and guidance towards a better future representing the Spirit of America.

What are some Maidu games and entertainments? What do they eat?

According to the Maidu website, their main game was a sort of a guessing game usings sets of marked and unmarked bones.  Players had to guess what combination of bones would come up.

As far as other entertainment goes, they had wooden flutes, musical bows and various kinds of rattles for use in making music to accompany dances.

For food, they ate pretty much anything except for a few things like dogs, coyotes, and buzzards that were forbidden.  They ate most other kinds of animal life.  They did not practice agriculture, but did make extensive use of acorns.

From Into the Wild, why does Krakauer refer to Chris as "at peace, serene as a monk gone to God?"

this may be too late, but you should know anyway if you dont already.

In this passage, krakauer is refering to the last photo that chris took of himself.  he had a camera with him and when his body was discovered, there were a few rolls of undeveloped film inside the bus.

"One of his last acts was to take a photograph of himself, standing near the bus under the high Alaskan sky, one hand holding his final note toward the camera lens, the other raised in a brave, beatific farewell. He is smiling in the photo, and there is no mistaking the look in his eyes: Chris McCandless was at peace, serene as a monk gone to God."

google his name and you should be able to easily find the photo.  you can tell by the expression on his face.  he knew the end was coming for him, but he seemed to be ok with it. he had accopmlished his mission.

he even says in the note, "i have had a happy life and thank the lord, goodbye and may god bless all".

What are the differences and similarities between "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe?

Both of these stories have narrators that murder someone and bury them in a part of their house.  Both of the narrators are caught by the police.  Both have supernatural events occur to them (or, at least, a hallucination of their senses)--in "The Black Cat" the man thinks he sees the cat everywhere, and in "The Tell-Tale Heart" he thinks he hears the dead man's heartbeat.  Both narrators have been put into confinement--one in jail, about to be executed ("The Black Cat"), and the other one is some other indeterminate form of confinement, from which he is eager to prove he is not insane.  Both are written in the first-person point of view.

Differences between the two are in the narrator's intent in the murders--in "The Tell-Tale Heart" he planned his murder for a long time, stealthily waiting for the right moment, whereas the narrator in "The Black Cat" killed his moment with no forethought, but in a moment of blind rage.  The narrators were found out in different ways too; in "The Tell-Tale Heart" the narrator confessed openly, when he was afraid of being found out, but in "The Black Cat," the police found out not through a confession, but through discovering the body themselves.  The narrator in "The Black Cat" was an alcoholic, which led to his temper and problems, but the narrator in the other was not--he just claimed to have a "heightened sense of hearing" from a "disease."  Granted, that disease could have been alcoholism, but it isn't specified.  The supernatural thing that drives these men crazy in the stories is different--in one it's a cat, in the other it's a heartbeat.  And, the purpose in telling their tales also differs.  In "The Black Cat" the narrator says it is just his way of unburdening his soul before he dies; for "The Tell-Tale Heart" the narrator tells his story in a desperate attempt to prove that he isn't insane.

I hope that those thoughts helped a bit; good luck!

In "The Count of Monte Cristo" what elements in the characterization of Edmund Dantes have not followed the typical pattern of a hero or villain?I...

Having possessed a naivete and a Romantic nature blinded to the treachery of others, Edmund Dantes becomes disillusioned with life and embroiled in bitterness after he is thrown into prison in the Chateau d'If.  As a prisoner, Dantes learns from the abbe and dwells on revenge.  However, after he escapes and finds the treasure willed to him by the beloved teacher, Dantes yet retains his inherent goodness.  For, he makes two promises:  one to the abbe that he will donate part of the fortune to help others, and another to use this fortune to avenge the injustices done him as a youth. Before beginning his dastardly plans, Dantes assures that a little red purse arrives at the home of the desperate M. Morrel, who has lost his last merchant ship.  This purse contains a gem that saves Morrel from financial ruin.  So, Dantes plays the good angel as well as the dark angel. 

For the most part, Edmund Dantes becomes the Bryonic hero, the anti-hero, since his goals are antithetical to the ones of the traditional hero.  For instance, he saves the son of Mme de Villefort so that she will be impressed by the vials of herbs and medicines that the Count of Monte Cristo possesses.  Yet, in his design to have de Villefort destroyed, Monte Cristo cannot allow the innocent Valentine, whom the son of his old employer loves, to be destroyed also.  So, like the deus ex machina of ancient Greek plays, Monte Cristo intervenes with fate, and in saving Valentine he designs a plan to also save the despairing Maximillian Morrel.

As he completes his plan to destroy his last enemy, Ferdinand, Comte de Morcerf, Monte Cristo has the "glove thrown" by Albert de Morcerf, who challenges the Count because he has insulted his father's character.  Set to sacrifice the son for revenge against the father, Edmund Dantes sees the tears of the mother of Albert, Mercedes, and he spares the life of the son of the woman whom he has continued to love.

Having accomplished his acts of revenge against his enemies, the Count of Monte Cristo/Edmund Dantes experiences a resurrection of the soul of his youth and is able to love Haydee.  He tells her,

'God has sustained me against my enemies and I see now He does not wish me to end my triumph with repentance.  I intended punishing myself, but God has pardoned me! Love me, Haydee!  Who knows?  perhaps your love will help me to forget all I do not wish to remember!'

At the end of the novel, the anti-hero Edmund Dantes/aka/"The Count of Monte Cristo" admonishes Maxmillian,

Live and be happy, beloved children of my heart, and never forget that, until the day comes when God will deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is contained in these words:  Wait and hope!

How does gender influence the direction of the conversation in "Hills like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway?

It is interesting that Hemingway does not mention the name of the man and that he also refers to Jig mostly as merely the "girl."  While there is an impersonalization to both characters, nevertheless, the American's sang-froid in discussing the disposal of what is his baby as well as hers certainly affects the reader's perception of him.  Added to this, of course, is the natural tendency of the reader--especially female readers--to sympathize with the girl who must bear the burden of pregnancy and, if she aborts, all of the emotional trauma to her body as well as much of the psychological and spiritual ramifications.

As the previous post has so cogently remarked, the reader's involvement with the narrative makes it difficult to objectively determine the direction of the conversation.  But, it does seem substantiated that the girl bears the burden of their pregnant act (excuse the pun).  For, she, better than the American, foresees the consequences of the "perfectly simple" operation:  "Then what will we do afterward?"  Also, in her desire to keep the man that she loves, she tries to agree with him:

"And if I do it you'll be happy and things will be like they were and you'll love me?..But if I do it, then it will be nice again if I say things are like white elephants, and you'll like it?"

But, the girl's practical sense overcomes her emotional wish, and she realizes that if she has the abortion, things will not be the same:

"No, it isn't.  And once they take it away, you never get it back."

In his minimalist method, Hemingway does not mention what the "it" is.  However, the reader understands that the girl means that they can never return to their more innocent state.

How does Waverly use the rules to win at chess in Rules of the Game?

Waverly is told not to question the rules just figure it out on her own. Waverly uses the rules to make her own chess strategy.On a superficial level Waverly learns the rules of chess; however she really learns the secret to a happy life. Waverly & her mom struggle for control; and Waverly learns self-control.

How did the king of Brobdingnag receive Gulliver?

When Gulliver meets the King of Brobdingnag in Book 2 of "Gulliver's Travels", the king at first thinks that Gulliver is a small animal (splacknuck) or is a clockwork toy.  When the king realizes that Gulliver is neither of those, he is astonished and fascinated.  The king then has scholars study Gulliver to determine what Gulliver was.  After the scholars studied Gulliver and still has to simply label him a "freak of nature", the king treats Gulliver kindly by ordeing that good care be taken of Gulliver.  Gulliver began to learn more about the king as well and he wanted to be in his good graces.  Gulliver noted that the king and the entire kingdom lacked some grandeur and, in fact, the king was contemptible of excessive human behaviors.  In an attempt to impress the king with how advanced and civilized Gulliver's home land was, Gulliver told the king much about England, its people, and its government.  The king was contemptuous of the Englsih snobbery, English government, and the English people in general.  The king was one of the most sympathetic people Gulliver encountered in Brobdingnag; he was big in heart as well as stature just as the Emperor of Lilliput was small in all ways.  The king tries to understand Gulliver and his people, but he sees them as mean, narrow-minded people with warped values.  Despite his opinion, however, he never mistreats Gulliver.

Johnny, Ponyboy and Dallas are heroes for rescuing the children. Why is it ironic when Jerry Wood says they were sent from heaven?

Johnny, Ponyboy and Dallas, the main characters of Susan Hinton's novel, The Outsiders, have never been mistaken for angels. They are greasers, one of the lowest of the social classes in 1960s Tulsa, Oklahoma. Johnny and Ponyboy are on the run after killing a rival Soc nearly a week before. Dallas has a rap sheet in both Tulsa and New York City. The boys have accidentally set fire to the church, causing the situation which has endangered the young children picnicking there. Yet, when the boys come to the rescue and save the kids from burning, all their faults seem tiny in comparison to their heroic deed. Jerry is right. The greaser outsiders were like angels sent from heaven--or else "just professional heroes or something."

How does General Zaroff lure people to play his game in "The Most Dangerous Game?"

There's no real evidence how many men General Zaroff has hunted down in the Richard Connell short story "The Most Dangerous Game." We do know that Sanger Rainsford is not Zaroff's first intended victim since Rainsford heard gunshots before falling off his yacht (although the shots may not have been intended for a human victim), and later he heard screaming and more gunfire as he swam toward the island. Rainsford discovers the terrible truth following dinner when Zaroff tells him

"We'll visit my training school," smiled the general. "It's in the cellar. I have about a dozen pupils down there now. They're from the Spanish bark San Lucar that had the bad luck to go on the rocks out there. A very inferior lot, I regret to say. Poor specimens and more accustomed to the deck than to the jungle."

Zaroff's lure is his home, Ship-Trap Island, which has apparently claimed many ships over the years. No one volunteers for service, but Zaroff is always awaiting shipwreck survivors to swim ashore and provide him his unusual entertainment.

What sensation does Farquhar experience "with terrible suddenness" before he has been hanged in "An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge"?Please explain...

The passage to which you are referring is

Then all at once, with terrible suddenness, the light about him shot upward with the noise of a loud plash; a frightful roaring was in his ears, and all was cold and dark.

These lines describe what Farquhar feels in the instant after he is actually hanged.  The paragraph describes him falling "straight downward through the bridge," and as he perceives himself hanging, swinging like "a vast pendulum," he is seized, "with terrible suddenness" with the sensation of the light shooting upward, and "a loud plash."  Conceivably, the rope has somehow broken, and Farquhar feels himself falling and landing in the water.  The story goes on to describe his desperate escape, as he tries to elude the gunshots of the men who shoot at him as he attempts to get away in the water, only to return, at the very end, to the image of Peyton Farquhar hanging dead, at the end of the hanging rope, his body swinging "gently from side to side."

The story at this point might be a bit confusing because it focuses on what goes on in Farquhar's imagination in the few seconds between when he is hanged and when he dies.  Farquhar imagines, "with terrible suddenness," that the rope has broken and that he has been given a second chance, but in reality, it has not broken at all.  A tremendous amount takes place in his mind in those few seconds, but in the end, the result is the same.  The author fools the reader into believing, as does Farquhar momentarily, that the victim has escaped his planned demise, but in the end, despite the vivid activity in Farquar's mind, the reader realizes that the hanging has indeed been successful, and Farquhar is dead, hanging at the end of the rope.