What are the principles of acupuncture and which are diseases that respond to this?

 

Oriental medicine, under which acupuncture is classified, has a long standing history of trial and error.  However, unlike western medicine, oriental medicine evolves around the Taoist theory of harmony and life being in balance and looks to more tranquil and homeopathic means of treatment.  Oriental medicine evolves around a system of assessment, diagnosis, prescription and treatment which relate to a person’s Ying and Yang. Ying and Yang is the concept of the division of all things in the universe. A person’s Ying and Yang must be in harmony.  The principles behind oriental medicine coincides with the principles of acupuncture.  The principles include the five essential elements in nature; metal, water, wood, fire, and earth.  The QI and blood are also part of the principles that speculate that a person has pathways that circulate throughout the body and when one pathway is disrupted the body no longer works well and organs or other parts are affected.  In keeping with this theory, acupuncture is based on the person’s pathways and the insertion of thing needles into the body at different pathway locations throughout the body depending on the person’s pain or illness.

Acupuncture in the orient is often use in combination with nutritional treatment and natural herbs.  It is more clinical when used in western countries. 

Acupuncture works by blocking pain impulses to the spinal chord which relays messages to the brain.  The insertion of needles into certain pathways is believed to activate the endorphins in the brain which serve as the brains response to pain.  In addition, the movement of the needles causes a distraction from the central point of a person’s discomfort.  The specific placing of needles in the skin causes blood vessels to swell and release chemicals that repair tissue.

Diseases that have been known to respond to acupuncture include but are not limited to: arthritis, anxiety and depression, common colds, disk disorders, migraines, hypertension, cardiac palpitations, asthma, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, and obesity.  In addition, it has been used to treat alcoholism, Neurogenic bladder dysfunction, Cervicobrachial syndrome, and Gastro intestinal disorders such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome.  The rate of success of treatment depends on the severity of the person’s symptoms and may also include the person’s belief in the success of the treatment.  The Western world is still learning more about acupuncture and now credits it as a viable treatment for many diseases and medical problems.

Is Baba, of The Kite Runner, an admirable character? How?

When I first read about Baba in the book "The Kite Runner,"  I did not like him nor think he was an admirable person.  However, as the story goes on and the relationship changes between he and his son, Amir, I began to see things differently.   Baba is a man caught in the culture he lives in and the racism that existed.  Even as a child, Ali, the boy who grew up with him, close as they were, had the stigma of being a Hazara to Baba. 

Baba is man trapped in his own need to be what is expected of him in his community and the actions he has done.  He has two sons.  One son he can call his own aloud and the other is born of his sexual encounter with a Hazara woman.  He keeps his illegitimate son close to him and treats him well.  However, the boy does not get to have his name or his protection.  The other son, Amir, never seems to live up to Baba's expectations.

After Baba and Amir go to America, their relationship seems to change for the better.  Baba still does not tell Amir about his affair and that Hassan is his son and Amir's brother.  He is too ashamed that he did the things he had done.

However, it is through his friend's, Rahim, letter that the reader begins to realize there was a deeper troubled man inside.  Rahim tells Amir about the good of his father and how his father had started an orphanage, fed the poor in the streets, and helped his friends with money when they needed help.  Rahim identified those things as Baba's redemption.  

One of the things that showed me that Baba really loved his son was that he took almost all of his savings to throw a wedding festival for Amir.  He also helped Amir ask for his wife's hand in marriage.  I believe he tried to give his son what he could.

The times were very different for Baba than they were for Amir.  Amir had the opportunity to be educated in America.  I believe that helped Amir prepare for the child of Hassan to come into his life.  It also enabled him to accept that being a Hazara did not make him bad or beneath him. 

Baba's experiences were as ingrained in him as his culture.  He was a man shaped by his surroundings.  I believe that he was a good man and an admirable character.  He saved his son from the disasters that could have befallen him.  It is a shame that he could never gain his own repentence for his son Hassan. 

Exerts from Rahim’s letter regarding Baba:

"He was a man torn between two halves."(301)

"Your father, like you, was a tormented soul."(301)

"I loved him because he was my friend, and a good man, maybe even a great man." (302)

Who does Odysseus encounter in the Land Of The Dead in Homer's Odyssey?

In Book XI of the Odyssey, Odysseus (also Ulysses) journeys to the Land of the Dead to seek the advice of the great seer Tiresias on how to return home. He performs a sacrifice, whose blood attracts the dead, with whom he can speak after they drink. These souls include:

- His 'comrade Elpenor,' whom they left for dead earlier in their voyage home,

- His mother Anticlea, who relates the goings on back home and how she committed suicide,

- The seer Tiresias himself, who explains how Odysseus may return home, as well as events going on in Odysseus' absence, and assures him of a peaceful ending,

- Various 'wives and daughters of the most famous men,' sent by Persephone, Queen of the Dead: Tyro, Antiope, Alcmena, Epicaste, Chloris, Leda, Iphimedeia, Phaedra, Procris, Ariadne, Maera, Clymene, Eriphyle,

- Odysseus' comrades from the Trojan war: Agamemnon, who recounts his tragic return and murder by his wife, Patroclus, Antilochus, Ajax, Achilles, who regrets his desire for glory that killed him, but is cheered by his son's success in the War. Also Odysseus sees the Telamonian Ajax, who even in death 'holds aloof' over a bitter dispute with Odysseus that ended in Ajax's death,

Odysseus meets others with whom he does not speak, but knows from their fame:

- Minos, the great Judge of the dead with 'his golden scepter in his hand,'

- 'The great hunter Orion, 'driving the animals he had killed,'

- Men who were doomed to eternal punishment by the gods: Tityus, Tantalus, and Sisyphus,

- And finally Odysseus sees the 'phantom ghost' of Heracles, who as a god is feasting on Olympus

The source for this answer was 'The Odyssey,' translated by Samuel Butler.

What impact does his father's absence have on Obama's life? How does he cope with this, or fail to?

From reading Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama, it's clear that the absence of his father left a vacuum in his life with all the unresolved attachment/separation issues that that usually entails. Every one of us can identify with that - if it is not a father we have lost then we have experienced some sort of loss, perhaps a separation, a bereavement whether of culture, identity or family member. Of course, to lose something so central as a father figure at such a young age has a profound impact. Obama seems to feel that he derived some recompense and satisfaction from the rewarding mission of bonding together with others and helping them. Identifying with black culture appeared to help him 'fill in some of the gaps' in his identity and he seems grateful for that, wanting to give something back to the people whose color and heritage he shared.

Answer each question given that Victor has five straws with lengths of 3 cm, 4 cm, 5 cm, 6 cm, and 12 cm1. How many different triangles can Victor...

Total Number of Triangles:

In a triangle, the length any one sides must be less than the sum of lengths of the other two sides.

We find that this condition cannot be fulfilled at all when straw with length 12 cm is taken as one of the side.

Also, this condition is met when any three of the other 4 straws are selected.

To make different triangles out of these four straws measuring 3 cm, 4 cm, 5 cm, and 6 cm, we need to select three straws. Or, put in another way we have to remove 1 straw from a total of 4. This can be done in 4 different ways.

Therefore, Victor can make 4 different triangles from the given straws.

Triangles with Perimeter Divisible by 3:

Perimeter of a triangle made out of any 3 of the 4 straws will be divisible by 3 only when both the straws of length 4 cm and 4 cm are used for making the triangle. Please note that it is not possible to make a triangle without both of these, and if only one of these is selected in combination of the other two with lengths of 3 cm and 6 cm, the perimeter will not be divisible by 3.

Thus a triangle with perimeter divisible by 3 can be made by removing either of the straw with length of 3 cm or 6 cm. This can be done in 3 ways.

Therefore, Victor can make 2 triangles wit perimeter divisible by 3.

Probability of Choosing 3 Straws Making a Triangle:

Victor will be able to make a triangle when either of the two straws left out is 12 cm straw.

The probability of this is given by: 1- (0.2 + 0.8*0.25) = 0.6

Thus probability is 0.6 that victor will be able to make a triangle.

What are the themes in Les Miserables by Victor Hugo?

A contemporary of Victor Hugo's, Charles Dickens felt that society was a prison.  Certainly this perception is applicable to Les Miserables.  For, Hugo's grand novel is a plea for social justice. The main character, Jean Valjean suffers in the prison of society as he first starves and acts out of desperation, actions for which he is unjustly punished.   After his release, Valjean steals a coin out of desperation, and is, then, obsessively pursued by police inspector who becomes obsessed with his capture; Valjean is never able escape his past despite his business success and all his charitable deeds. Hugo's description of the Paris rebellion in 1832 is a metaphor for this class struggle for human rights which Valjean undergoes. 

So, themes in Les Miserables are Social Justice/Human Rights, Class Conflicts that result from this struggle, the existential theme of the Meaning of Life, and Justice/Injustice.

• Human rights - In the beginning of the novel, Jean Valjean and his sister's family are starving and struggling to live.  When Jean Valjean is arrested for stealing bread to feed the children, he is given four years in prison.  After he tries to escape, his sentence is increased to fourteen years.  When he is finally released, he can find no work because he must carry a card identifying him as a convict.  His human rights are violated as are those of Fantine who is abandoned by the man she loves.  In desperation to feed her daughter, she turns to prostitution, sacrificing everything.  When she is assaulted by a bourgeois gentleman, the police arrest her.  She later dies, and Valjean takes her daughter, Cosette, another victim. Later in the novel, Eponine Thenardier becomes another victim in the struggle for human rights as she dies trying to prevent Marius's being shot during the Parisian street riots.  She represents the degradation of human life when subjected to poverty:

What it came to was that in the heart of our society...two unhappy mortals had been turned into monsters at once depraved and innocent, drab creatures without name or age or sex, no longer capable of good or evil, deprived of all virtue, freedom, and responsibility; souls born yesterday and shriveled today like flowers dropped in the street which lie fading in the mud until a cartwhee comes to crush them. [Here the reader is reminded of Oliver Twist's poor little friend left behind at the Workhouse; a pathetic creature at the mercy of cruel fate, he dies shivering.]

• Class Conflict - The conflict of the Police inspector and Valjean is not just one of Justice vs. Injustice, but also one of class.  Had Valjean not been one of the impoverished, he might have been able to regain respect from Javert after he owned his own successful business.  Instead, Javert pursues him relentlessly, allowing Valjean no redemption.  [This conflict reminds the reader of the injustice shown the convict Magwitch because he, too, is of lowly origin.]  Marius and his grandfather come into conflict when Marius joins the rebellious students for civil liberty; the grandfather is a staunch aristocrat and opposed to the giving of rights to plebians.


• The Meaning of Life - The narrative of Hugo's novel raises the question of Valjean's search for meaning, a search that resolves itself in love.  With the love of the innocent child, Cosette, Valjean finds purpose in his life.  He even risks his own life to save Marius, whom Cosette loves.  He tells Marius and Cosette, "Love one another....There is nothing else that matters."


• Justice/Injustice - Again like a theme of Dickens which he presents in A Tale of Two Cities as people are sentenced to death for minor crimes, the question arises if the system of justice in Paris really is equitable.  Indeed, the punishment of Valjean and pursuance by Javert seems grossly unfair. Valjean questions "whether human society had the right to... grind a poor man between the milestones of need and excess--need of work and excess of punishment.  Concluding that his punishment is excessive, Valjean develops a hatred for the government and society.  Fantine suffers an inequitable fate, also, when she seeks redress through the law.  There is a justice for the rich and another justice for the poor.  It is this unjust system that causes Javert's suicide as he realizes that he has pursued the man who has saved his life.  All that he has lived for has been a parody of an ideal that has never really existed.

Many people in the story influence Scout's values beliefs. What do each of the following teach her? a.) Jem b.) Maudie ...

The above answer gives some good points, but since To Kill a Mockingbird is a big book, there is much more to say. 

Jem teaches Scout that it is ok to grow up. One of the characters that changes the most is Jem. He becomes a young man at the end of the novel. By his transformation, Scout is also able to grow up. Hence, we can say that Jem's influence is indirect. His change leads to her change. 

Atticus teaches her more than we can imagine. So, let me limit myself to one central point. He teaches her courage. In one conversation Scout asks if Atticus is going to win the trial. He says "no." Scout is perplexed. Atticus, then,  explains that it is important to stand for what is right even if you will lose. Atticus also reinforces his teaching by defending Tom Robinson to the best of his ability. 

Miss Maudie teaches Scout many things as well. However, she teaches the children that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. Even though Atticus says this first, Miss Maudie drives it home, and in some ways Scout knows this lesson better than Atticus at the end of the story. 

Mr. Cunningham teaches Scout that even good men can do "evil" things. I'm referring to mob scene where Mr. Cunningham seems to be leader who wants to hurt Tom Robinson. Moreover, she learn that people can change through him, as he goes away when he comes to his senses. 

Does Steinbeck intend for Curley's Wife in Of Mice and Men to be largely unsympathetic?

Another example (pg. 25)...

[[(Candy speaks) "Wait'll you see Curley's wife."

George cut the cards again and put out a solitaire lay, slowly and deliberrately. "Purty?" he asked casually.

"Yeah. Purty ...but---"

George studied his cards. "But what?"

"Well--she got the eye."

"Yeah?" Married two weeks and got teh eye? Maybe that's why Curley's pants is full of ants."

"I seen her give Slim the eye. Slim's a jerkline skinner. Hell fo a nice fella. Slim don't need to wear no high-heeled boots on a grain tream. I seen ehr give Slim the eye. Curley never seen it. An' I seen her give Carlson the eye."

George pretended a lack of interest. "Looks like we was gonna have fun."

The swamper (Candy) stood up from his box. "Know whatI think?" George did not answer. "Well, I think Curley's married ... a tart."

"He aint the first," said George. "There's plenty done that."]]

...(p. 26)

[[Both men (George and Lennie) glanced up, for the rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off. A girl was standing there looking in. She had full, rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages. She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers. "I'm lookin' for Curley," she said. Her voice had a nasal, brittle quality.

George looked away from her and then back. "He was in here a minute ago, but he went."

"Oh!" She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward. "You're the new fellas that just come, ain't ya?"

"Yeah."

Lennie's eyes moved down over her body, and though she did not seem to be looking at Lennie she bridled a little. She looked at her fingernails. "Sometimes Curley's in here," she explained.

George said bursquely, "Well he ain't now."

"If he ain't, I guess I better looks someplace else," she said playfully.

Lennie watched her, fascinated. George said, "If I see him, I'll pass the word you was looking for him."

She smiled archly and twitched her body. "Nobody can't blame a person for lookin', she said. There were footsteps behind her, going by. She turned her head. "Hi, Slim," she said.

Slim's voice came through the door. "Hi, Good-lookin'."

"I'm tryin' to find Curley, Slim."

"Well, you ain't tryin' very hard. I seen him goin' in your house."

She was suddenly apprehensive. "'Bye, boys," she called into the bunkhouse, and she hurried away.

...

"She's purty," said Lennie defensively.

"Yeah, and she's sure hidin' it. Curley got his work ahead of him. Bet she'd clear out for twenty bucks."

Lennie still stared at teh doorway where she had been. "Gosh, she was purty." He smiled admiringly. George looked quickly down at him and then he took him by an ear and shook him.

"Listento me, you crazy bastard," he siad fiercely. "Don't you even take a look at that bitch. I don't care what she says and what she does. I seen 'em poison before, but I never seen no piece of jail bait worse that her. You leave her be."

Lennie tried to disengage his ear. "I never done nothing, George."

"No, you never. But when she was standin' in the doorway showin' her legs, you wasn't lookin the other way, neither."]]

What is causing itching, excepting allergies?

Pruritus, or itching skin, is an unpleasant sensation on the skin that cause intense desire of scratching. Pruritus may originate in the peripheral nervous system - due to external stimuli, or central nervous system - is only perceived as originating in the skin. In severe cases, itching causes sleeping problems, anxiety and depression, and scratching causes permanent skin damages.

Pruritus is often a warning for many skin diseases or systemic diseases, such as chronic renal damages, cirrhosis and some cancers. According to estimates, 8 to 10% of the entire population suffers from chronic itching, and itching were most common symptom met by dermatologists.

Source  of itching is an issue that has tormented mankind way before, when it was suspected that itching may have origins that are not related with skin. With about 10 years ago, the itching was considered to be very similar with the pain. In part, itching is activated and processed in the same brain regions as well as pain, plus amygdala, the emotional center. It also found that, like yawning, scratching can be contagious.

The causes of itching skin

Causes of localized pruritus:

- Scalp: seborrheic dermatitis, Pediculosis.

- Backup: dorsal pain, Grover's disease.

-Hands: dermatitis.

- Groin: itching vulva, Candida vulvo, vulvar and vaginal problems.

- Anus: Anal itching.

- Feet: foot of athlete.

Systemic diseases that may have itching as a symptom:

- Kidney disease: chronic renal failure.

- Diseases of liver: biliary obstruction intra hepatic and extra hepatic impairment (pruritus cholecystitis).

- Endocrine / metabolic: diabetes mellitus, hyper thyroid.

- Blood Diseases: Iron deficiency - anemia, lymphatic leukemia, Hodgkin's disease.

- Neurological: itching neuropathy, schizophrenia.

Studies developped, shown that itches which do not respond to antihistamines could respond to drugs which would aim the neurons that produce the protein Mrgpr, mainly  MrgprA3. 

What were the three threatening things that happened in Maycomb by the middle of October in To Kill a Mockingbird?How do the methods...

Although "things did settle down, after a fashion, as Atticus said they would," October soon became even more tumultuous for some of the citizens of Maycomb.

BOB EWELL'S JOB.  Bob actually gets a job, but then loses it--"the only man I ever heard of who was fired from the WPA for laziness." Of course, Bob blames Atticus for "getting his job."

JUDGE TAYLOR'S PROWLER.  One night while his wife was at church, Judge Taylor hears a noise on his porch. He finds his screen door open and sees a "shadow on the corner of the house." He spends the rest of the evening with "a shotgun across his lap."

BOB STALKS HELEN ROBINSON.  Tom Robinson's wife, Helen, gets a new job working for Link Deas, but every time she tries to walk past the Ewell house on the way home, Ewell "chunked at her." Deas warns Bob, so he stops the chunking, but starts stalking--following behind Helen "crooning foul words." This time Deas threatens to have Bob arrested, and the trouble with Helen stops.

JEM AND SCOUT ARE ATTACKED.  Of course, the most brutal occurrence of violence comes when Bob Ewell attacks Jem and Scout on their way home from the Halloween pageant, only to be intercepted by Boo Radley. Although Jem suffers a badly broken arm, Ewell is knifed to death, and Maycomb becomes a much safer place to live.

Atticus decides not to attend the pageant because he is "all in"--too tired--after a week in Montgomery. Because Alexandra has been decorating the stage all afternoon, she is "too worn out" to attend. The resulting events will forever make them regret their decisions.

As for Bob, his multiple threats against Atticus--after he spits on him outside the post office and remarks that his firing is Finch's fault--it seems logical to assume that he is also the prowler at Judge Taylor's house. In Bob's mind, Judge Taylor allows Atticus to insult and degrade him, and Bob probably wants revenge against the judge as well. Until Bob actually makes his fateful attack against Jem and Scout, it is never certain that he will harm anyone; alcohol seems to propel Bob's emotions, and up until this time, he has not hurt anyone (although we know he was capable of it because of his treatment of Mayella). But revenge apparently haunts Bob, and he is bound and determined to make someone pay.

Apply your theoretical knowledge

What an open ended question.  Here is a perspective that might help. One of the most honest things a person can do when interpreting texts is to set forth what theories or presuppositions he or she employs. The reason for this is simple; theories and presuppositions will invariably influence all interpretations. However, there are difficulties. People are either unaware of what they carry when interpreting texts, or they are unwilling to admit their biases. Therefore, a good first step is to acknowledge the difficulties of divulging presuppositions and start a process of self-reflection. As a person matures in this area, he or she will be able to spell out with greater awareness (not full awareness) what theories he or she uses to interpret texts (and by implication life). The beauty of such an approach is that it is not only honest, but also humble in that it allows others to critique more meaningfully a person’s interpretations. If a person claims to be without a theory or theories, then a default theory will be employed, namely, a person’s common sense, which is the socially constructed theory of a person’s immediate social context.

I know that Governor Bellingham is a minor character, but what impact does he have on the plot of the book?"The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne

With a pair of gloves, fringed and embroidered to order, Hester and Pearl approach the mansion of Governor Bellingham.  This mansion is impressive:

...there was the freshness of the passing year on its exterior, and the cheerfulness, gleaming forth from the sunny windows, of a human habitation, into which death had never entered.  It had, indeed, a very cheery aspect; the walls being overspread with a kind of stucco, in which fragments of broken glass were plentifully intermixed; so that, when the sunshine fell a slant-wise over the front of the edifice, it glittered and sparkled as if diamonds had been flung against it by the double handful.  The brilliancy might have befitted Aladdin's palace, rather than the mansion of a grave old Puritan ruler.

As they approach the door, Hester and Pearl encounter the "serving-man," an indentured servant of the governor's.  This enslaved man and the opulence of the governor's mansion belie the Puritan simplicity.  Then, on the "Elizabethan age" elaborately carved table rests a tankard,

at the bottom of which had Hester or Pearl peeped into it,...have seen the frothy remnant of a recent draught of ale.

A "bright panoply of armor, an ancestral relic, is suspended at the center of the oaken panels.  When Governor Bellingham sees Pearl, he declares that he has not seen "the like" since his "days of vanity" in court in England when he was admitted to a masque.  This admission, along with the evidence of a draught of ale, indicate that the governor is hardly the ascetic Puritan.  Added to his Puritanical failings, his sister is a witch who invites Pearl to the black mass later on.

Again in contrast to the grey Puritan existence, in Chapter XXI the Governor reappears in elaborate garb for the New England Holiday.  His presence is a reminder that the residents "had not been born to an inheritance of Puritan gloom." Only a

dim reflection of a remembered splendor, a colorless and manifold diluted repetition of what they had beheld in proud old London...might be traced in the customs ....

Governor Bellingham's dress and mansion are reminders of what the Puritans gave up as well as serving notice of the hypocrisy of their austere religion that holds such as he--elaborateness and ale included--in high regard.  His involvement in the decision of whether Hester should keep her child serves to underscore the fact that for Puritans religion and the law are nearly identical.

Draw and and prove it. The Medians drawn to the congruent sides of an isosceles triangle are congruent

Medians drawn to the equal sides of the isosceles triangle are equal in length. Yes. We shall prove it.

Let ABC be an isosceles triangle with AB=AC, the given condition.

Let D and E be the mid points of AB and AC.

Join BE and CD. Then BE and CD are the medians of this isosceles triangle.

To prove that BE=CE.

Proof:

Consider the 2 triangles ABE and ACD:

AB=AC, given that in triangle ABC , AB =  AC.

AD=AE, as D and E are mid points of AB and AC, the equal sides of triangle ABC.

A is the common angle to both triangles ABE and ACD.

Thererefore, side, inclided angle, side of one triangle is respectively equal to those of the other triangle.Hence the triangles considered are congruent to each other. So, the side AE of ABE is equal to side CD of the triangle ACD. That completes our proof.

What happened at the Maycomb County jail the night before Tom Robinson's trial began?I know that men come well Atticus is keeping watch, but im ...

You are referring to the events of chapter 15.

In Chapter 15, Atticus leaves the house early in the evening, as you said, to keep watch over Tom Robinson while he is in the Maycomb Jail. The trial starts the next day, and Mr. Heck Tate and others have warned Atticus that there may be trouble.

Jem is curious about what his father is up to, and he sneaks out of the house--Scout, of course, follows along. They stop and get Dill as well.

They find their father outside the jail and see several cars pull up and several men get out and approach Atticus. Atticus tells them to leave. The men basically refuse.  Suddenly, Scout, Jem and Dill arrive on scene just as tension is flaring between Atticus and the men.

Scout recognizes Mr. Walter Cunningham, Senior...remember Walter Cunningham from earlier in the book? Scout beat him up and then Jem invited him to their home for lunch.  It's his dad that's one of the men trying to get Atticus to let the "mob" have Tom Robinson.

It's clear the men want to kill/seriously injure Tom. They would rather see him dead than to allow him to have a fair trial.

But Scout unintentionally derails the entire conversation by addressing Walter Cunningham, Sr. In this scene, her naivitiy is shown--she has no idea that she's in danger, and she has no idea that what she's talking about is embarrassing to all parties!

Finally, Mr. Cunningham realizes his behavior is wrong, and he and the men get in the car and leave. No one is injured.

How does Melinda compare herself to Alice in Wonderland in the novel Speak?

There is a definite allusion (direct or indirect reference to another piece of literature) to Alice in Wonderland at the very beginning of "Fourth Marking Period" in Speak. Melinda feels pushed out of her "shrinking" house, . . . I'm sure she's feeling the need to speak to Rachel about the evils of Andy.  Melinda puts it this way:

My house is shrinking, and I feel like Alice in Wonderland.  Afraid my head might burst through the roof, I head to the mall. (144)

Melinda eventually enters the food court and muses upon the author's choice of the small "cake" used to make Alice grow larger and smaller, . . . Melinda would have much preferred a large order of fries.

If Alice in Wonderlandwere written today, I bet she'd have a supersized order of fries that said "Eat me," instead of a small cake.  On the other hand, we're rushing toward summer, which means shorts and T-shirts and maybe even a bathing suit now and then.  I walk past the deep-fat fryers. (144)

After fully examining this allusion, the reader's imagination begins to run wild, . . . making the numerous comparisons of Melinda to Alice.  In my opinion, this allusion is included precicely because of Alice's inability to "speak" clearly to the obnoxious caterpillar.  Alice greatly desires to indicate exactly who she is, but is unable to do so.  This echoes Melinda's predicament exactly throughout the entire novel.

Fate and destiny quotes in Romeo and Juliet?

Although I joy in thee,

I have no joy of this contract tonight,

It is too rash, too unadvis’d, too sudden,

Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be

Ere one can say “it lightens”.

(Juliet, act 2 scene 2)

A plague a’ both houses!

(Mercutio, act 3 scene 1)

A great power than we can contradict

Hath thwarted our intents.

(Friar Lawrence, act 5 scene 3)

Romeo and Mercutio both predict their own deaths through their statements in Act I, scene iv, and Act III, scene i, respectively

“This day’s black fate on moe days doth depend,

This but begins the woe others must end.”

(Romeo, act 3 scene 1)

Is Dorian Gray an antihero?

Dorian Grey is most certainly an anti hero.  Dictionary.com defines an anti hero as "a protagonist who lacks the attributes that make a heroic figure, as nobility of mind and spirit, a life or attitude marked by action or purpose, and the like."

Dorian is most certainly an antihero by these standards.  He is not noble because he finds that he can act in a manner that society does not respect and that his portrait will bear the physical burden.  He embraces his ability to secretly misbehave, whereas a true hero would know that those actions were wrong and stay on the right track.  Another consideration is that he has no true purpose at all.  He drifts through life being a hedonist, hoping to help no one and, lease of all, himself.

Dorian Grey is an excellent example of an antihero.

What are the socio-cultural values depicted from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing directed by Kenneth Branagh?Please if you have any ideas what...

Branagh is a Romantic, a director who amps up the volume in all of his movies.  Shortly after making this one, he made Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, perhaps the quintessential Romantic novel of all-time.  Branagh was married to Emma Thompson at this time, so the film is a commentary on their relationship as well.

So, Branagh wants to heighten emotions in Much Ado.  Remember the slow-motion musical montage at the beginning: the men riding their horses, while the naked women bathe?  Slow-motion is something you can do in film that can't do on the stage.  A musical score is another.  Nudity is yet another.  All of these, packaged together, comment on our socio-cultural values of love: they suggest that it is highly personal, emotional, sexy, and melodramatic--less a matter of economics, as it had been at the time of the play's staging.

Also, Don John the Bastard is white and Don Pedro the Prince is black.  How's that for a 180 degree shift in black/white relations?  Much Ado was staged around 1600, the beginning of the slave trade.  Blacks were thought as bestial in their passions, subhuman.  No blacks were allowed on stage; neither were women, for that matter.  So to have an American black actor as the highest ranking member in the film shows how far the English-speaking world has made up for its sins.

Also, I do believe that Keanu Reeves is the worst Shakespearean actor to grace the stage or big screen.  His lip-lazy slurrings are an affront to everyone's socio-cultural values.

What generates an interest in history?

The reason I am interested in history is because it has to do with figuring out WHY the world has come to be the way it is.  It is like having a great mystery or a great puzzle that one is trying to solve.

I am also interested in thinking about how people in the past experienced their lives.  Not necessarily in what conditions they faced (did they have running water, were they being bombed, etc) but in how those things made them feel.

When I teach history, students are most often interested by those lessons which ask them to think about why things happened, or how people would have responded to the way their lives were.

For example, a lesson that is always successful is one in which we discuss what slavery was like.  Everyone starts with the assumption that slavery was completely horrible but they have never really thought this through.  They've never really thought about the slaves as individuals with differences in personality and attitude.

In addition, they've never really thought about how much of a mystery this is.  They've never thought about how we can say we KNOW how slaves felt.  This is where history is a puzzle.

So history intrigues me (and I think that when my students are intrigued -- which is not always -- it is for much the same reasons) because it poses interesting intellectual challenges.  It challenges us to use our logical abilities to try to figure out why things have happened the way they have.  It also challenges us to use our ability to feel and to empathize with other human beings.  It challenges us to use this ability to understand how people have dealt with their particular circumstances throughout history.

What are similarities between Hamlet and King Hamlet?

King Hamlet and Prince Hamlet are foils, so there are more differences than similarities.  Many interpret King Hamlet to be the vengeful God "Yahweh" from the Old Testament and Prince Hamlet as the meek Jesus character from the New.

Prince Hamlet is unsure the Ghost was indeed his father or a demon.  So, he stages a reenactment of murder, the Mousetrap, to test Claudius' guilt and the Ghost's story.  Only after he sees Claudius' reaction does Hamlet believe the Ghost.

King Hamlet killed Fortinbras Sr., which shows his cruelty.  He also plunders after battle.  This shows he is a faulty leader, as faulty as Claudius, whereas Hamlet and even Fortinbras Jr. are more contemplative philosopher-kings.

As for a similarities, it may be said that both father and son loved Gertrude, a kind of Oedipal love triangle.  Although, the Prince thinks she is complicit in King Hamlet's murder.  He is cruel to his mother, and King Hamlet's Ghost appears when Hamlet is about to go too far.  The Ghost reminds Hamlet to "leave her to heaven."

Both are loyal: King Hamlet to his wife, even though she married his brother; Prince Hamlet to his father, even though he commands him to kill the king.

Both the Ghost and Hamlet enjoy theatricality: the Ghost's monologues are the best in the play, and Hamlet is a captive audience.  Later, Hamlet stages a play for Claudius, reenacting the Ghost's words.  So, Prince Hamlet directs the script given him by King Hamlet's Ghost.

Both King Hamlet and Prince Hamlet are caught in Purgatory.  The Ghost literally is caught there, and Hamlet is placed there by the Ghost's demand for revenge, which goes against the Prince's nature.

What other critics say:

Kenneth Gross claims that the Ghost "is, like Hamlet, a figure at once subjected by and giving utterance to slander and rumor.” (60)  Both the King and Prince act on supernatural slander and rumor, as there is never really proof the Claudius murdered his brother.

What prompted Johnny to confide in Rab? How did Rab and Mr. Hancock help Johnny? What prompted Johnny's decision to visit Merchant Lyte?This is...

The book, Johnny Tremain, is delightful piece of historical fiction!  It superbly portrays life in the 1700's and gives a vivid description of the events leading up to the Revolutionary War through the eyes of 16-year-old Johnny Tremain of Boston.

At the beginning of the story, Johnny Tremain is a silversmith's apprentice.  Money is tight and they need more silver orders.  Johnny, in an effort to help his employer, agrees to fill an order for a Mr. Jonathan Lyte, a Boston merchant.  It is the Sabbath and it's against the law to work on that day.  He is almost done, when the constable is heard making his rounds.  Johnny tries to finish up quickly and spills the liquid silver.  He accidentally puts his hand in it, burning it severely, and rendering himself handicapped and unable to work.  At the urging of his wife, his employer has to let Johnny go and he leaves, homeless and jobless.

He meets Rab, who works for John Hancock, a printer, and Rab takes him in to work for them.  Rab and Mr. Hancock belong to a secret society called "The Sons of Liberty", an organization that's bitterly opposed to the king's taxes and tyranny.  Johnny gains their confidence, is invited to their meetings, and starts delivering messages and papers to their members.  Eventually, he participates in the Boston Tea Party, and wishes to join in the fighting of the Revolutionary War.  But, his hand prevents him from using a gun and he's pursuaded that he can help the war effort better by staying home and helping The Sons of Liberty.

Johnny's full name is Jonathan Lyte Tremain, and his dying mother left him a silver vase which she told him was given to her by her father.  Because she married beneath her station when she married Johnny's father, she was driven out and denied her inheritance.  But she told him on her deathbed that Mr. Jonathan Lyte was his uncle and if he ever got into a situation that he needed help, he was to go to his uncle and show him the vase.  That's why he went to visit Mr. Lyte.

Much more happens in this book than can be told here, and it behooves anyone reading this post to obtain the book and read it for themselves!  It'll be time well spent!

What purpose does the extended description of Paul's time in the Catholic Hospital serve in All Quiet on the Western Front?What purpose does the...

The extended description of Paul's time in the Catholic hospital serve in developing several thematic elements in the novel.  One of the most central is expressed when Paul observes,

"A hospital alone shows what war is".

Although the hospital is clean and offers amenities Paul has not seen since the beginning of his enlistment, its business is solely devoted to fixing what the war has destroyed - human bodies.  Despite the availability of the best of medical care, men die in droves, their bodies ruined and riddled with disease brought on by the war.  Paul says that

"a man cannot realize that above such shattered bodies there are still human faces in which life goes its daily round".

Humanity is forgotten in the carnage that is war, and Paul can do little else than wonder at the senselessness of it all.

Another theme that is developed is the irreversible damage done to Paul's entire generation.  Even as they are being transported to the hospital, Paul is filled with self-loathing at his own filthiness, convinced that he is unworthy of the pristine sheets offered by the sisters.  Once at the hospital, he finds that he essentially has forgotten how to communicate in a civilized manner with nurses who are so "wonderful and sweet".  The men have also lost their faith, and their ability to appreciate nourishment for the spirit; when they are awakened by the sisters' morning prayers, Paul, like the others, is annoyed to have been roused from his fitful sleep, and savagely demands that the door be closed so that they may have peace and quiet, throwing a bottle violently against the wall when his request is initially denied.  The war has rendered the young men of Paul's generation incapable of interacting decently with others and fitting into normal society.  Paul says,

"Through the years our business has been killing; - it was our first calling in life.  Our knowledge of life is limited to death.  What will happen afterwards?  And what shall come out of us? (Chapter 10).

What was it about O'brien and the girl caused Smith to noticed them?winston realizes that he felt necessity to begin writing the diary because of...

Speaking of Julia, Winston narrates:

He disliked nearly all women, and especially the young and pretty ones. It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies and nosers-out of unorthodoxy. But this particular girl gave himthe impression of being more dangerous than most. Once when they passed in the corridor she gave him a quick sidelong glance which seemed to pierce right into him and for a moment had filled him with black terror.

And of O'Brien, he says:

Winston had seen O’Brien perhaps a dozen times in almost as many years. He felt deeply drawn to him, and not solely because he was intrigued by the contrast between O’Brien’s urbane manner and his prize-fighter’s physique. Much more it was because of a secretly held belief — or perhaps not even a belief, merely a hope — that O’Brien’s political orthodoxy was not perfect.

Later, during the Two Minutes Hate, Winston notices Julia; she throws a copy of the Newspeak Dictionary at the screen, at Goldstein.  Then, regarding O'Brien, Winston says this:

Momentarily he caught O’Brien’s eye. O’Brien had stood up. He had taken off his spectacles and was in the act of resettling them on his nose with his characteristic gesture. But there was a fraction of a second when their eyes met, and for as long as it took to happen Winston knew — yes, he knew! —that O’Brien was thinking the same thing as himself. An unmistakable message had passed. It was as though their two minds had opened and the thoughts were flowing from one into the other through their eyes. ’I am with you,’ O’Brien seemed to be saying to him. ’I know precisely what you are feeling. I know all about your contempt, your hatred, your disgust. But don’t worry, I am on your side!’ And then the flash of intelligence was gone, and O’Brien’s face was asinscrutable as everybody else’s.

So, Winston is attracted to their eyes: at Julia's "sideways glance" and at O'Brien's "spectacles" and "eyes."  As you know, eyes are symbols of knowledge, gateways to the soul. 

But, if you've read Oedipus, the eyes can blind oneself to spiritual self-knowledge.  This is the case with Winston.  He mistakenly thinks Julia is a double agent and that O'Brien is not.  Since the members of the Party are unable to speak or write to each other, they must conjecture (through physical appearances only) about one's allegiances.  Throughout the novel, Winston will place more importance on love of O'Brien than of Julia: that O'Brien's abilility to see truth is more important than Julia's ability to give and receive love.  He will mistakenly follow the Father(land) instead of the mother.

Whats the difference between just and justice in Cry, the Beloved Country and why was Jarvis "sick at heart" as he read some of his sons papers?

It is the Judge's job to uphold the law, and when he does, justice has been served.  It is not up to him to determine whether the law itself is just or fair; the law is made by the society, and if some feel it is unjust, then the law and society must be changed, but it is not up to the Judge to do it.  As the administrator of justice, the Judge

"...cannot, must not, dare not allow the existing defects of society to influence him to do anything but administer the law".

Thus, even though Absalom is the victim of a corrupt society, he has broken the law.  Whether or not the law or the circumstances related to it are just is immaterial; the Judge has no choice but to find Absalom guilty (Chapter 28).

Jarvis is sick at heart as he reads his son's papers for a number of reasons.  First of all, his son had been writing when he heard the burglars downstairs, and as Jarvis reads the last unfinished paragraph, he can clearly picture the young man writing, then stopping, getting up, and going downstairs to his death.  In reading his final works, Jarvis relives his son's last moments (Chapter 21).

The content of his son's papers also makes Jarvis very sad.  At one point, the young man writes that, despite all that his parents had done for him in his life, they had not taught him about the reality of South Africa.  When he reads this repudiation, Jarvis is momentarily "shocked and hurt".  Beyond this, though, it is the sad irony of his son's death that is hurtful, especially as it is revealed in his writings.  Young Arthur Jarvis had thought long and hard about what was going on in his "beloved country", and had devoted himself to working unequivocably for a society in which all men, black and white, are treated fairly.  Sadly, it was the product of his country's corruption, Absalom Kumalo, who caused his death, the death of a man who was dedicated to making things better for him and others in his situation (Chapter 24).

What theory is suitable for a thesis dealing with the courage of white man (Atticus Finch) against prejudice to blacks in To Kill a Mockingbird?

If by "theory" you mean "literary theory" -- and I suspect that you do -- I think it won't be too easy to find one that matches your focus on the courage of one individual in the face of widespread prejudice.

The focus on individuals fully aware of their motivations and in full control of their actions runs against the grain of most literary theories (e.g. marxism and structuralism focus on the larger social structures, psychoanalysis focuses in part on our behaviors and thoughts that are outside our control, etc.). Similarly, the focus on doing the right thing runs against the grain of most literary theories. I would characterize your intial statement as leaning toward a humanistic, pre-critical approach to Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird.

There are ways to modify your thesis and approach, of course. For example, you might apply a New Critical approach, focusing strictly on the world created within the novel and the language used to create that world (e.g. no references to Harper Lee's "intent" or "purpose" is allowed!). You could explore how Atticus seems to be the one person in position to fight the madness that afflicts nearly every other white person in the town and county. You may want to look at other posts on Lee's novel at that discuss the parallels in the novel between racism and rabies. New Criticism usually works best with short poems, but it can be applied to novels. One strategy to consider using is to identify particularly rich passages and to perform close readings on them, almost as if they were themselves poems.

You may also consider applying a structuralist or archetypal approach that looks at how good and evil are represented in the novel. The novel is often praised for not conflating goodness with white skin, for example, but the novel does (I believe) trade in another equally problematic stereotype when it portrays the poor whites (e.g. the Old Sarum men) and the white "trash" (Atticus' and just about everyone elses' term in the novel, not mine, for the Ewells!) as the most racist and the most capable of inhumanity. The point of a structuralist or archetypal approach might be to point out the belief systems that are absent and the ones that are present in the novel.

The approach that I can most strongly recommend without knowing your interests in New Historicism. You may enjoy exploring how the novel may be read as a response to famous rape trials and/or lynchings in the 1930s and the 1950s.

If I haven't answered this question well enough, please feel free to message me. I'll definitely help as much as I can.

Poverty and underdevelopment are the cause for Marxism or is it politics that fan them?

Marxism refers to the thinking and ideas of Karl Max, These are predominantly concerned with the nature of economic systems and ways of managing and governing economies and countries. Any spread or contraction in extent of application of Marxism in the government methods and policies, by definition, has to be a political action. One may ascribe spread of Marxism to politicians fanning it. But that would be as meaningless as saying that politicians fan democracy, or politicians fan desire for freedom.

Poverty is definitely a condition that makes the promise of Marxism very attractive to people. But It should be noted that Marxism is more concerned with disparities in wealth and income between different classes of people in the society, rather than the absolute levels of poverty. Marxism is more concerned with equitable distribution of income between all the people in a society rather than with increasing the total combined income of the society as a whole.

In "By the Waters of Babylon" what appliances does John find in the dead house?

This question can be answered with a close reading of the text itself.  Granted, John is describing these appliances with eyes that have no idea what they are; but, if you read closely and piece together the information based on appliances that you know, it is pretty easy to guess what they were.  One appliance that he runs across he describes as this:

"There was a cooking-place but no wood, and though there was a machine to cook food, there was no place to put fire in it."

This, if you think about it, was probably an oven.  Ovens cook food, but there is no "fire" as John and his people had to use, in order to cook.  He also runs across electric lamps, and says that they looked like lamps but "had neither oil nor wick."  He also runs across a bathtub, and describes how there was a knob that said "hot" and a knob that said "cold," but how there was no water there.  He concludes that the gods must have "washed in air." The kitchen sink has the same concept, and baffles him a bit.

Through his journeys, John runs across many remnants of ancient civilization, appliances being just one of them.  He runs across ruined subways, old boxed and canned foods, and the survivors of abandoned house pets.  If you read closely and piece together the clues, you can figure out what these things are.  I hope that helped; good luck.

What is a simile in Edgar Allan Poe's poem, Annabel Lee?

A simile is a figure of speech, a literary device which adds emphasis, gives visual clarity and makes a comparison between things that would not normally or literally be compared. It is distinct from metaphor which also makes a comparison because a simile uses the word "like" in its description or it may use " as...as."

In Edgar Allan Poe's poem Annabel Lee, Poe gives his poem a lyrical, but at the same time eerie quality. At the beginning, the reader may be encouraged to settle down and listen to a story about the idyllic life of Annabel Lee who has "no other thought / Than to love and be loved by me," the narrator. However, it soon becomes clear that this first person narrator is quite apparently obsessed with her to the point that he imagines that even "the winged seraphs of heaven / Coveted her and me" which means that they were jealous of the extent of his and Annabel's love for each other, an example of hyperbole which is gross over-exaggeration. 

As the poem progresses, the narrator makes use of alliteration and we see it in the repeated h-sound in the fourth verse when he suggests that, "The angels, [are] not half so happy in heaven" as he and Annabel Lee have been on earth. Alliteration is often used with similes (for example, as busy as a bee) and the above statement is the closest to a simile as possible with the narrator saying that the angels are not as happy as he and Annabel Lee are. Angels' happiness could not normally be compared to earthly happiness and angels are not comparable to humans. "As happy as a lark"  or "as happy as Larry" are common similes and "Larry's" origin is mostly unknown and only presumed. 

What is the mood of a story?

If the question is regarding how to find or discover the mood in the story, there are some steps that can be taken to effectively determine this.  One way to "read" this is to examine the level of narration and how the story unfolds.  Oftentimes, the author will be deliberate in attempting to convey a mood to the reader through word choice, descriptive language, and also the manner in which the story is explained.  For example, the narration schematic of Holden Caulfield, in Catcher in the Rye helps to illuminate how he sees the world and the mood of his narration.   At the same time, the mood of a story can be conveyed through setting elements.  For example, Shakespeare's MacBeth uses a great deal of the theory of correspondence, where natural weather conditions helps to bring a great deal of light on the thematic elements of the story.  Sometimes, the mood can be expressed through characters themselves, especially in their physical description.  In Rushdie's Midnight's Children, Saleem Sinai is described in extreme detail, especially his nose and the powers of smell (and nasal drainage) he possesses.  This helps to illuminate the idea of Saleem's magical powers as a child of midnight and also helps to bring out the mood of the pain in Partition, where the Indian subcontinent was divided as eyes (Bangladesh and Pakistan), nose (India), and nasal release (Sri Lanka).  Sometimes, authors will convey the mood of the story in these types of manners.  If trying to determine the mood, pay special attention to the "hints" the author gives.

Who is Godot in the play 'Waiting for Godot'?

Though it might not have been the intent of the question, this precise issue marks the purpose of not only the play but of all existence.  The character of Godot marks the driving force of the Vladimir and Estragon because it is for whom they are waiting.  Essentially, the purpose of both characters, the reason why they are there, is to eagerly await the arrival or mere presence of Godot.  Beckett denies that Godot is "God."  Of the many contradictions and complexities that Beckett represented, it would be too simple to presume that the character of Godot would be the higher force.  However, one can make the argument that Godot represents anything for which we are waiting.  Any external force that we believe will answer our queries, stop the pain of modern insecurity, and provide the Sartrean "bad faith" answer of totality can be seen as "Godot."  Both characters believe that Godot will provide the answers, and that this faith in absolutism can be what the character is meant to represent.  It can be a religious force, a material object, a state of being in the world, or anything that is perceived to alleviate the difficulty of living in the modern setting.

How does the narrator realize how the doll danced in Chapter 21 of The Invisible Man?

The narrator experiments with the offensive doll, trying to figure out what makes it move. He notices that it is nothing more than "a construction of tissue, cardboard and glue," and that its faces, drawn on both sides of a disk of cardboard, are grinning. He holds the doll by its feet and stretches its neck, but it only crumples and falls forward. He tries a second time, this time turning its other face around, but once again it only falls in a heap.

Finally, the narrator turns the doll around and around in his hands, and this time notices that there is a fine black thread attached to it. There is a loop tied in the end of the thread, and when the narrator slips this loop over his finger and stands stretching it taut, the doll dances. Out on the street, it had been Clifton who had been manipulating the string to make the doll dance. The thin black thread had been invisible to the eyes of the crowd (Chapter 21).

The doll is a caricature, a ludicrous "Sambo" which is totally offensive to the black race. For reasons which the narrator does not understand, his friend Clifton had been exploiting the offensive toys in hopes of selling them to the laughing people in the crowd. The narrator is aghast and ashamed that his friend would repudiate everything the Brotherhood had been trying to achieve concerning the building up of pride of black brothers and sisters in their race. By profitting from the sale of the demeaning toys after his friends had tried so hard to "make (them)selves known, and (to) avoid being empty Sambo dolls" in the eyes of the world, Clifton has in effect negated everything for which they had been fighting (Chapter 20).

Clifton is not the only one who has failed, however. The narrator berates himself for having "blown up and acted personally," expressing his rage at his friend, instead of having taken the opportunity to educate the crowd and denounce "the significance of the dolls (and) the obscene idea" (Chapter 21).

How does Aldous Huxley criticize the values of the brave new world society by using promiscuity and sex?

One of Huxley's major critiques of the brave new world is that its society has left no room for human relationships.  It has tried to squeeze all the emotion out of human life.  You can see this, for example, in its attempts to take the grief out of death.

You can also see Huxley criticizing this by his use of promiscuity and sex.  In the brave new world, sex is only about fun.  There is no romance or love involved.  By promoting sex without emotion, the society is trying once again to get rid of the most human emotions we have (in this case romantic love).

So, the promiscuity in the book is part of Huxley's critique of the society's attempt to eradicate human feelings.

How would you react to the veil as a member of Mr. Hooper's congregation or as a Puritan clergyman?

In Puritan times, sin was a constant topic of conversation; in fact, Calvinists of the Puritan era believed that people were predestined by God either to be saved from sin or damned.  With this constant awareness of sin and its threat, not only to one's soul, but also to one's position in the community, the Puritans were often ill at ease around other members of the congregation and their minister in Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil."

Given this environment of suspicion, when Mr. Hooper, the minister himself, dons a veil, the Puritans react in a customary fashion, feeling threatened and deeply disturbed by this gesture. Some suspect that Mr. Hooper has "changed himself into something awful."  Their puzzlement over his action is twofold:  Mr. Hooper may himself be guilty of a specific sin that weighs upon his conscience or that is revealed in his face as a disfigurement, or he wishes to expose the inherent sinfulness of the congregation. The ambiguity of his action would surely cause almost anyone to wonder.  And, it is certainly an inclination of anyone in the Puritan community who has a "secret sin," as Hawthorne calls it, to worry that his/her secret has been discovered.

Whatever the reasons for Mr. Hooper's wearing of the veil, he, too, is also affected since his view of the world is now shaded grey, thus darkening his perspective.  As he becomes alienated from the congregation and his fiancee by his adamant refusal to remove his veil giving rise to even more suspicion of sin on his part, Mr. Hooper's point of view finds only a single focus:  sin.  Added to this Puritan focus, the community's tendency to look outside themselves--to evil forces or beings--instead of acknowledging the potential  for evil within themselves alienates him even further.  For instance, at the funeral for a young lady, people suspect that Mr. Hooper may have had a relationship with the "young maiden," and this is the reason that he hides his face.  Also, "a superstitious old woman" witnesses Mr. Hooper's bending over the corpse; when the veil tips so that his eyes are revealed to the corpse, he hastily catches the veil and returns it, but not before the "corpse had slightly shuddered." 

It is this atmosphere of superstition and fear of condemnation for any sins one has that eventually effects the separation of Mr. Hooper from the community.  Hawthorne's parable exposes these grievous flaws of Puritanism, a religion that in its terrible suspicion of sin and its consequent superstitions generates an evil itself.

What happens in perfect competition in the long run?what happens?

Here is another perspective and a few other outcomes that may take place.

1. When there is perfect competition, the products in view will get better and better. Consider PC and Apple computers. The competition is fierce and both are coming out with better products.

2. The consumer gets more for his or her money. When there is competition, companies need to keep prices attractive, or else they will lose people. Hence, the consumer benefits.

3. There will be no monopolies, which is a good thing.

In "The Crucible" what did Mary make for Elizabeth? Explain how this action becomes ironic.

Mary, in an attempt at kindness and placation towards her employer, Elizabeth Proctor, sews her a little poppet, or doll, during court one day.  Elizabeth and John were disapproving of Mary's trips to town, and of her participation in the courts, and had even forbidden that she go.  So, to ease the strained relationships, Mary sews Elizabeth a little doll, trying to show her kindness, and to try to appease Elizabeth's anger about her having disobeyed orders to go to court.  Elizabeth is a bit baffled by the gift of the poppet, but accepts it.

Later, unfortunately, the poppet plays an integral role in Elizabeth's arrests as a witch.  Abby saw Mary stick a needle in the doll's belly "for safekeeping," as Mary said, and takes the opportunity to devise a scheme to get Elizabeth arrested.  At dinner that night, Abby falls down to the ground screaming and pulls a bloody needle out of her belly.  She claims that Elizabeth's "familiar spirit" shoved it in, in some sort of voodoo doll curse.  That "evidence" is what leads to Elizabeth's arrest, as the doll is found, at her house, with the needle in the belly.  Despite Mary claiming the doll was hers and that Abby saw her put the needle there, they arrest Elizabeth and take her away.

The irony, which is an occurrence that is the opposite of what you might expect, lies in the fact that the very doll that Mary gave Elizabeth in an act of kindness, is the doll that ends up getting Elizabeth arrested.  The poppet, a peace offereing from Mary, turns out to be the harbringer of horrible news, and the tearing apart of Elizabeth's family.  I hope that helps; good luck!

Explain what the auther means by,"Shoeless joe became a symbol of the tyranny of the powerful over the powerless."

Kinsella's assertion of Shoeless Joe being a symbol of the oppressive nature of power can come from how his professional life evolved.  On the field, Shoeless Joe was a marvel at both his craft from offensive and defensive ends.  A talent beyond measure, he was used by the owners to advance both the game and their own material greed.  This would represent a type of legitimate power structure that exercised their power over the powerless.  Jackson could certainly be seen as powerless for he had little leverage in negotiating his own contracts and was compensated very little in comparison to the amount of money he generated for the owners.  At the time, baseball profit margins were skewed heavily towards the owners.  Leading to the 1919 World Series, Joe became used by the gamblers in their attempt to generate more money for their own devices.  While Joe took the money, his play indicated that he was far from being "on the take."  He hit multiple home runs and batted over .350.  In this manner, Joe was at the mercy of the gamblers by taking their money, proving again the notion of being at the mercy of the powerful.  Kenesaw Landis, Commissioner of Baseball, sought to make a statement and banished Shoeless Joe from the game.  Despite the fact that no one could really prove that Jackson "threw" the Series, he was used as a symbol by the Commissioner, the symbol of power.  Finally, Joe's treatment as an exile from baseball reflected the tyranny of the powerful over the powerless in that he was never allowed to play the game again and was not allowed near it, deemed of poor character.  In being ostracized from the game that he popularized, Joe is again the symbol of the powerful exerting control over the powerless.

what does it mean when Susanna states shes in a "parallel universe", is there any similarities she endures between everyday life and madness?

First, the "parallel universe."  "Madness" was defined differently in the 1950s than it is in 2011.  Perhaps Susanna says she feels like she's in a parallel universe because she looks at the world differently than everyone else around her.  She disassociates with her parents and friends because of her borderline personality disorder, so she sometimes feels like an outsider looking in on her own life.  It runs parallel to her reality.  Sometimes she feels connected, and other times she can't feel anything.

Second, arguably, most of what Susanna feels is "normal," if there is such a thing.  She questions what she should do with her life, how she should respond to both female friends and boyfriends, how much of herself she should modify in order to fit in to society's expectations.  Most teenagers feel exactly the same way, but in the 1950's it wasn't socially acceptable to buck the system.  Girls were supposed to be happy to simply marry someone, buy a house, and have babies.  It was not okay to be promiscuous, question authority, or entertain morbid thoughts. 

Yes, Susanna crosses the line occassionally (like when she tries to see if there are bones in her hand), but the fact that she is locked up in a sanitarium with legitimately sick people must have taken a toll on her psychologically.  If a person is surrounded by craziness all day long, and then told they are crazy, they might begin to act out in irrational ways. 

Your question begs a second question, which is this:  "if a person can see their behavior and identify with it logically, doesn't that make them sane?"  Perhaps "insanity" is the inability to see one's delusions, which would mean Susanna was quite normal indeed.

What is a quote (not necessarily dialogue) from "The Most Dangerous Game" that suggests the theme of the story?

"The best sport in the world," agreed Rainsford.

"For the hunter," amended Whitney. "Not for the jaguar."

"Don't talk rot, Whitney," said Rainsford. "You're a big-game hunter, not a philosopher. Who cares how a jaguar feels?"

"Perhaps the jaguar does," observed Whitney.

"Bah! They've no understanding."

"Even so, I rather think they understand one thing--fear. The fear of pain and the fear of death."

"Nonsense," laughed Rainsford. "This hot weather is making you soft, Whitney. Be a realist. The world is made up of two classes--the hunters and the huntees. Luckily, you and I are hunters. Do you think we've passed that island yet?"

The previous scene I have provided comes from the beginning of the story.  Rainsford is discussing hunting with his friend, Whitney, prior to falling off the ship and landing on the island.  It emphasizes Rainsford's feelings about hunting.  The theme of the story is understanding the definition of cruelty.  At the beginning of the story, Rainsford doesn't feel that there is much cruelty in the hunting of animals, but when he learns the secret of Zaroff's hunts his feelings change.  Once he becomes the hunted, Rainsford's feelings change and he is better able to relate to the animals he himself hunts.  Rainsford now understands the fear of pain and death.  The end then leaves us wondering if Rainsford will change his ways or ultimately take Zaroff's place as this experiance may have changed for the worse.

Full text of the story can be found at the provided site below:

What is the main symbol in "He-y come on ou-t" story?

The hole symbolizes a so-called easy solution for a big problem. The hole initially brings prosperity and wealth to those who use it to dispose of unwanted materials and use it to make money by charging others to dump their waste into it. It seems to clean up the city and create a place where they are not worried about all of the dangerous waste they create because they have a place to put it where it just disappears. However, the hole is not the solution that the people believe it to be, because it ends up literally just dumping the problem back on the people's heads. The hole symbolizes the people's ignorance as well, just as the hole is this big dark gaping space that goes on seemingly forever, the people are also in the dark and cannot see what their destruction of the earth will eventually do to them. They cannot see to the end of the hole, and they do not fully understand it, yet they try to use it for their own gain anyway. The hole is not a solution, it just is. It is almost like a mobius strip of sorts, cycling around again. It teaches the reader that every action has a consequence, and everything comes around again in some way. 

What is the significance of the title of O'Henry's story "The Gift of the Magi"?

"The Gift of the Magi" uses the symbolism of the three wise men who visit the Christ child bearing gifts.  In the same thought the representation in the title indicates to the reader that the Magi (wise men) visited Christ who Christians knew would one day be the ultimate sacrifice for mankind.

In the short story by O'Henry each person demonstrates their love for one another by sacraficing his own greatest posession.  For Della, her beautifl hair, is sacraficed to buy her husband, Jim, a gift that will show him how much she loves him.  Jim has one possession of value, a watch. He sacrifices the watch so that he can buy Della the gifts of the combs that she saw and had expressed a desire to have. 

The concept of Christianity once again emerges in the final section of the story.  It is the great act of love that has resulted in their sacrifices.  The gift of the Magi, love.

How long would it take for an electrical wire stretching all around the Earth to transmit an electrical signal (for example, a lightswitch turning...

The current travels through any conductor at a speed which is same that of speed of light light.This common speed of light and current is 299,792 km/s.

Therefore we can calculate the the time taken by current to travel any distance and light the lights as:

Time taken = (Distance travelled by current)/(Speed of Current)

The diameter of the earth is about 41000 kilometers. Therefor when the wire goes round the earth the current will have to travel this distance before the lights are lighted. thus time taken to light up when wire goes round the earth:

= 41000/299,792 = 0.1368 seconds.

Time to light up when wire goes to sun and back is:

= [Distance of sun from earth) x 2]/speed of current

= 150,000,000/299792 = 500 seconds (approximately)

Distance of Pluto from earth is about 39.3 time distance of sun from earth. There the time taken to light up when the wire goes round the Pluto is:

(39.3*150,000,000*2)/299792 = 19663 seconds

Please note that, as per astronomy, our sun may be considered to be a star. If we do that sun becomes the nearest star. The other nearest star is Proxima Centurai which is about 40 million million kilometers away. The time for lighting up when the wire goes round Proxima Centurai is:

(4*10^13)*2/299792 = 26.69178*10^7 seconds

This is equal to about 8.5 years.

This way we can calculate time taken for lighting up when the wires go around nearest galaxy. The distance of galaxies is in any case measured in term of time taken for light to travel that distance. The galaxy nearest to earth is Large Magellanic Cloud, which is situated 160,000 light years away. There fore the time for lighting up will be twice this number in years, that is 320,000 years.

How does Mrs. Conlan feel about John's drinking and smoking?

Mrs. Conlan unfortunately doesn't do much about letting her opinion on John's drinking and smoking be known. She does things like interrupt every argument with a trivial offer of a pleasantry or with cleaning or with vacating the locale. Most attribute Mrs. Conlan's behavior to insensitivity and perfectionism that prevents her from noticing or caring about John's harmful habits. However, it may be that, after a long marriage to a man that is a trial and a sorrow, and after seeing some of the same traits arise in her beloved son, Mrs. Conlan may be using these avenues to escape the heartbreak she feels and the heartbreak she envisions coming.

If the first scenario of insensitivity and perfectionism is true, then Mrs. Conlan's attitude toward John's smoking and drinking would most logically be callous unconcern or blind disregard. If the second scenario of escapism from overwhelming unhappiness and dread is true, then her attitude toward John's behavior would most logically be frightened disapproval and paralyzed worry.

Who are the characters in Cat in the Rain and characterizations?

The main characters in this Hemingway story are an American couple--George and his unnamed wife--an Italian padrone (hotelkeeper), and a hotel maid. The couple is on vacation in Italy, and they are stuck in their hotel room on a rainy day. George is depicted as indifferent to his wife's needs and desires; she wants to rescue a cat she sees out in the rain, but he makes no move to help her. Instead, he remains lying on the bed as he reads a book. Virtually the only time he pays much attention to her comes when she expresses a desire to grow her hair long so she can wear it in a knot; he prefers that she keep her hair short "like a boy's." The wife is restless and bored. She doesn't want to read; she wants to rescue the cat, which she seems to resemble, because she even says, "It's no fun being a poor kitty out in the rain" after she has made an attempt to retrieve the cat with the assistance of the hotelkeeper who has directed the maid to hold an umbrella to shield the wife from the rain.

The couple is unhappy, particularly the wife, who expresses a yearning for things feminine (brushing her hair, her own silver, candles, tablecloth) but mostly she wants the cat. It seems she wants something to hold that will respond to her affection because her husband is unresponsive and unattentive. Her litany of desires may even signal a desire for a baby that would also love her, but the possibility of conceiving a child seems remote because George's most direct comments are "Shut up and get something to read" and "I think you think look pretty darn good" in response to her wish to grow out her hair. He is more interested in his book than he is in her. The wife, on the other hand, appreciates the way the hotelkeeper makes her feel important and special. Outside their hotel room, their view includes a war monument, which may represent the subtle battle being waged in their room.

Hemingway's style is terse and to the point. Easy to read, his writing is often misinterpreted as simple or even simplistic. This writer, however, ascribed to what he called his "iceberg theory" in which he declared seven-eighths of what he meant to convey was beneath the surface, just as the same percentage of an iceberg is submerged. Read the story carefully for clues to the characters.

What would be a good thesis statement to do with the psychological aspects and the state of mind of the narrator of the story 'The Tell-Tale Heart'?

It is important that your thesis refers to the fact that as the story is a first-person account of events, the audience has only information from a clearly deranges source. The narrator’s words, action and diction all conspire to present him as an irrational, and therefore untrustworthy, narrator.

An exploration of the bizarre movements of the narrator would help to indicate his heightened consciousness and awareness, and may be called upon to support a claim that he is so precise in his actions and observations that his account is intensely precise. A possible question for debate and analysis could be the following:

‘The story of “The Tell Tale Heart" requires the audience to trust the account of an unreliable narrator.’ How far do you believe this to be the case?’

Is the line "The more things remain the same, the more they change after all," similar to "The Child is the Father of the Man"?"The Child is the...

The two lines share the quality of being apparent contradictions.  In literary terms, they are paradoxes, statements that appear self-contradictory, but that reveal a kind of truth.  Many writers like to use paradox because it allows them to express the complexity of life by demonstrating how opposing ideas can be both contradictory and true.

My heart leaps up when I behold

A rainbow in the sky:

So was it when my life began

So is it now I am a man;

So be it when I shall grow old,

Or let me die!

The Child is father of the Man;

And I could wish my days to be

Bound each to each by natural piety.

In this poem, Wordsworth uses his paradox to denote that  the childish wonder can give birth to this same wonder in the man.  As he looks at the sky, the poet retains his childish wonder and awe of Nature's beauty and "piety."

What is the elasticity of supply?

In economics, elasticity of supply, or more appropriately price elasticity of supply refers to the change in quantity of a good a supplier or all the suppliers are willing to supply in relation to change in price of the good. Thus:

Price elasticity of supply = (Percentage change in quantity supplied)/Percentage change in price)

The elasticity of supply depends on the marginal cost of production of the goods. When prices are increased the suppliers will be willing to increase the supply to a point where there total revenue less is maximized. Similarly when prices are reduced, they would like to reduce their supplies to a level where their total revenue minus is total cost is maximized.

What is the effect, and what are some examples, of flower imagery in "The Great Gatsby"?

Flower imagery is commonly associated with motifs of growth and death, as a flower is destined to both bloom and then to wither.  In a story, flowers can symbolize the growth/death of a person, a relationship, or some other larger idea.

In this book, the best example of this type of imagery is in the name of Gatsby's love interest, Daisy.  As a flower herself, she blossoms under the gaze of Gatsby.  The power of the love he shines upon her is parallel to the power of a sun upon a flower.  She literally "blossomed for him like a flower" when he kisses her.  However, the bloom will fade, and it does so under the dark gaze of Tom.  It is then that Gatsby's "Daisy" withers, and he loses her.

This theme of blossoming and withering does not just apply to Daisy, however.  Gatsby blossoms in the hope of achieving his flower, and withers when that hope is removed.  Nick blossoms in his new life, then withers when he realizes the insincerity of that life.  Gatsby describes a woman at his party as a "human orchid", and later must eventually face the truth that a rose (perhaps Daisy, perhaps life) is a "grotesque thing."  These repeated images underscore the motif of blossoming or coming of age that drives both Gatsby's narrative and Nick's narrative.  The two narratives overlap, and are held together by a golden center (Daisy), but they are separate stories - or, in the flower language, separate petals.

What is the classical surgical approach to treating lung cancer?

Decision of lung tumor resection is not based solely on pathologoanatomic type of cancer or its degree of expansion, but also the overall health of the patient. Lung cancer is a neoplasia that occurs on land predisposing more than 80 - 90% of patients who have such a cancer are older smokers. Smokers' body is already suffering, and many have other chronic health problems: circulatory disorders, cardiovascular disease, obstructive pulmonary disease (pulmonary obstructive), which are conditions that influence greatly the risk of anesthesia in each patient and significantly reduce the chances of success of surgery.

It should be noted that if in the past, the cancer spread to lymph nodes located between the two lungs, was thought to be surpassed, in terms of surgery, some experts now consider it operable, resection being followed by chemotherapy treatment to strengthen the results obtained by surgery. Sometimes it can be can add short course of radiotherapy to improve even more the overall health and to extend patient survival. But the adjuvant therapies depend on cancer individual patient specifics, but also the personal experience of the doctor who treats the patient.

When possible, it is recommended that therapeutic option chosen to be the surgery. Resection remains the main option in cancer therapy of stage I and II than in the case of non-microcellular carcinoma, so in patients who have no signs and suggestive symptoms  of mediastinal invasion or invasion of neighboring organs. The role of surgery in stage III remains quite controversial, and patients in stage IV are almost never candidates for such a therapy.

Classic surgical approach consists in removing lobe where the tumor is found, this procedure keeping the functionality of the remaining lung. If the tumor is  hilarious located , surgical procedure may be extended, with a greater risk to the patient. Resection of a segment of lung is an option in patients with reduced pulmonary reserve. Studies which have set out to demonstrate the superiority of one procedure have concluded that the survival rate is similar for both.

A therapeutic procedure,minimally invasive, is video assisted Thorax-scopy, it can be used both for therapeutic purposes, and in curative intent. Its associated morbidity is low and the period of hospitalization of patient and discomfort associated are also lower.  Such a procedure is preferred in elderly patients.

Treatment involves surgical removal of the tumor  itself ,also a part of the surrounding parenchyma, to reach the healthy tissue (this resection must take into account the oncological safety margin), and regional lymph node stations. After surgery, the patient will be kept under medical supervision and will receive specific treatment against pain.

In Chapter 16 of The Scarlet Letter what symbolic significance does the brook have?

The symbol of the brook is mentioned a total of 11 times in chapter 16 of The Scarlet Letter. The constant mentioning of it nearly equates this symbol to a motif, as there is more that just one reason why this small body of water is so influential to the chapter. 

Picture the scenery where Hester and Dimmesdale decided to meet and speak secretly. It is deep in the forest, with huge stones and tall trees surrounding their hiding place. They sat in the middle of all this, in the depths of the growing and mysterious vegetation of the forest. The forest is already considered a fantastic (supernatural) place due to the mysterious life forms that live in it. However, Hawthorne extends this enigmatic feature by personifying the very natural elements surrounding the couple: 

All these giant trees and boulders of granite seemed intent on making a mystery of the course of this small brook; fearing, perhaps, that, with its never-ceasing loquacity, it should whisper tales out of the heart of the old forest whence it flowed, or mirror its revelations on the smooth surface of a pool.

While brooks are candidly known as "babbling brooks" due to the speech-like sounds that their waters make when they splash against the rocks and the wind, who else -other than the brook- needs to do some serious talking to Dimmesdale? Hester.

While we are not told whether Hester was ever demanding of Dimmesdale when she first found out that she was pregnant with his child, we can definitely conclude that she is not one to hold things back. Therefore, could it be possible that her "never-ceasing loquacity" may have already told Dimmesdale too much about her emotions for him, or "whispered tales out of the heart of the old forest whence it flowed"? 

The answer to that will be found toward the end of the novel, when we will see the product of the conversation manifest. 

Meanwhile- back to the brook. Hester nervously awaits Dimmesdale, and encourages Pearl to play by the brook. Pearl cries out a very condescending phrase, presumably aimed at it: 

"O brook!O foolish and tiresome little brook!" cried Pearl, after listening awhile to its talk. "Why art thou so sad? Pluck up a spirit, and do not be all the time sighing and murmuring!"

While Pearl is both passive and aggressive, this phrase could very well be a combination of the two: a button-pushing way to warn her mother to quit looking for what she won't find in Dimmesdale. 

The metaphor extends, explaining that "the brook" had been through so many changes and issues that it has not stopped "talking about it".  Moreover, Hawthorne states that the brook resembles Pearl (another hint) but that, when Pearl sees herself in it reflection she appears cheerful, and happier than the brook itself.  This is yet another similarity to the situation of mother and daughter. 

Continuing with the symbolic connection, Hester sends off Pearl to go somewhere where she "cannot hear the brook speak" as she has to talk to Dimmesdale. However, Pearl goes away singing  and teasing her mother. To this, the narrator adds: 

the little stream would not be comforted, and still kept telling its unintelligible secret of some very mournful mystery that had happened--or making a prophetic lamentation about something that was yet to happen--within the verge of the dismal forest

Again, this is no different than from would unfold towards the end of the novel. 

Now, since the conversation between Dimmesdale and Hester does not take place in chapter 16, we cannot jump into an analysis and comparison between what we see on chapter 16 versus the actual dialogue.

For this reason we can safely conclude that the brook is a representation of the emotional state of Hester--a woman who yearns desperately the freedom to manifest and express herself and her love.

Sadly, she continues to be repressed by the "things in the forest" that keep looking down and witnessing her sad, never-ending search for a response from Dimmesdale. 

How does the character of Mumbi symbolize Africa's struggle for identity in A Grain of Wheat?

Mumbi is symbolic of Africa in A Grain of Wheat largely because she is an innocent bystander in all of the transgressions.

As Kihika's sister, one would think she would hold a place of high regard within her village and within the Kenyan struggle for independence. However, she becomes a mere pawn and victim in the local power struggle. While her husband, Ginkoyo, is imprisoned in the British concentration camp, she is raped by Karanja, a British collaborator, and the individual rumored to be the traitor who revealed her brother's identity leading directly to his hanging.

Mumbi is left almost without an identity through these struggles, although none of it is her fault or even the result of her actions. Much like Africa itself, she is left ravaged and forced to carve her own identity in a new and confusion world.

What are tha main points of Francis Bacon's " Of studies"?

As a capacious and pragmatic mind of the Renaissance, Bacon dwells on the subject of studying books and their uses in his essay, 'Of Studies'. Its main points may be summarised as stated hereunder:

a) 'Studies' have a three-fold purpose: 'delight', 'ornament' & 'ability'. Books may be read for attaining delight, for being ornamental in discourses, and for achieving ability.

b) 'Studies' must be ratified by experience, just as experiences are trimmed by studies.

c) Clever people do not like studies, for things learnt from books may be inimical to their interests. Simple men look upon reading books as a very admirable venture, for they themselves do not find a chance to read books. But only the wise men can make good use of their knowledge.

d) Books are generally of three types; some are to be 'tasted' i.e. to be read in parts; some are to be 'swallowed' i.e. to be somehow read through''; some books deserve to be read in full with enough sincerity and attention.

e) Just as ailments of the body can be cured by physical exercises, ailments/shortcomongs of the mind may be cured by appropriate studies.

What is the summary of The Blizzard by Alexander Pushkin?

The summary to The blizzard by Alexander Pushkin is that two young lovers are separated by fortune, fate and at last a blizzard, but it is the irony that the blizzard is the ultimate unifier of lovers. Marya loves Vladimir Nikolayevitch, but Vladimir is only a subaltern (commissioned officer with a rank lower than Captain) and isn't wealthy enough to marry and support a wife. Marya's parents have forbidden them to see each other.

However, young love finds a way to have secret visits but when winter comes, they devise a plot to elope and then abjectly beg for mercy and forgiveness from her parents. Amidst fears and deep forebodings, Marya awaits the hour at which she will be taken by Vladimir's coachman to secretly marry Vladimir.

She starts out for the church in a distant village where Vladimir has arranged for a priest to marry them. As Nikolai starts on his journey to the church, a terrible blizzard starts. He is thrown off the road many times but survives. He finally sees a village and learns that he has gone right past the village where the wedding is to take place. He hurries back to the right village and the church, but the church is closed and locked and he is told what transpired...although the reader is not told.

Years later, Marya, now the wealthy sole heiress of her deceased father's estate, has gone with her mother to buy and live on another estate in another part of the country because the sad memories were to sorely felt at her father's estate. The war has ended and the officers and soldiers are returning home. A neighboring estate welcomes the return of its wounded owner, the young Hussar, Colonel Burmin. Marya finally learns to love someone besides Nikolai after she becomes acquainted with Burmin and awaits his proposal.

Finally, he confides in her saying that although he is devoted to her, he is not free to marry because he is already married. He proceeds to narrate the story of a blizzard that led him to a village where he was ushered into a darkened church and wed to a beautiful but anonymous woman. He ran when she fainted at the realization that the husband at her side was not Nikolai. Marya cries, "So it was you? Do you not recognize me?" Burmin and Marya were brought together in the blizzard that separated her from Vladimir who went to war and was fatally shot at Borodino.

What is the imagery in the short story "The Scarlet Ibis"?

One of the most powerful images in The Scarlet Ibis short story is the first, largest and most obvious one - the ibis itself, or rather, it's colour. Red is the colour of blood and as such has become associated with death. It is also the color of danger, which in the case of this story could be seen as a warning of things to come - look out for clues the author gives the reader about further developments in the story.

The color red has been popular in many stories and plays to denote negative things such as death or murder - remember the red in Macbeth. The plight of the disability is also a theme, and red is often used as an image of anger. Creatures that are red such as chestnut horses - or even red-haired people are often said to be fiery-tempered.

I want to know about geothermal energy: 1. How it works 2. How much supply exists 3. Problems with geothermal energy

How it works

Geothermal energy  is a particular category of heat energy, contained in the earth's crust. The more descending deeper inside the earth, temperature rise and geothermal energy theory can be used more efficiently.

It is interesting to note that 99% of Earth's interior has a temperature above 1000 ° C, and the remaining 1% is found at a temperature above 100 ° C. These elements suggest that within the Earth's is a renewable source of energy that deserves full attention and to be exploited as much as possible.

Geothermal energy is used on a commercial scale, starting around the 1920s, when it began to be used, in particular the heat from geothermal water, or from the geysers to heat homes or commercial spaces.In terms of potential heat, geothermal energy may be high or low potential heat.

High potential geothermal energy  is characterized by availability at high temperatures  and it can be turned directly into electricity or heat.
Nowadays electricity is get  from geothermal energy in electric plants with power  with 20 ... 50mW, which are installed in countries such as: Philippines, Kenya, Rica, Iceland, USA, Russia.

Low potential geothermal energy  is characterized by availability at low temperatures and it can be used only for heating, being impossible conversion into electricity. Such geothermal energy is available even to the earth surface and is much easier to exploit than high potential geothermal energy , which is an advantage.

How much supply
Capturing the heat and transform it for use in heating of interior spaces is possible through a thermodynamic generator:  Heat Pumps.

This equipment presents interesting performances during the winter because 1KWh of electricity consumed, heat pump return between 3 and 5 kWh of heat inside the house. A good part of the heating energy is provided as a free energy, renewable and clean, taken from land adjacent to the house.Summer, because of reversibility of cycle operation, the same equipment will extract heat from the inside and will inject into the soil. 

Capture of geothermal heat is made using different methods, existing two categories of sensors: horizontal and vertical (geothermal drills). As with Heat Pumps, 1kW power consumed for powering the compressor is multiplied and harnessed in the form of 3 to 5 kW of useful rendered heat in the house,  by heating installation.
Horizontal Picks of heating system (mounted in the ground adjacent to the house) require a minimum area needed, catchment area being in proportional relationship with heating inner surface .Picks once installed, plug digging and capture circuit becomes invisible. Land area over sensor must remain free of construction, permeable to rain water, snow, sun and wind for natural regeneration of soil heat (will not pave with slab of cement or asphalt).

Captured loops , once buried, have a durability for decades, with absolutely no further involvement. Minimum area of land adjacent to the building to capture geothermal heat is between 100-180% of the interior surface heating, depending on thermal power required for heating.

Concluding discussions about geothermal energy:
MINIMUM COST IN SERVICE! Heating costs will be drastically reduced, with up to 70% compared to traditional gas systems. Gas prices will grow in the future! For every 1 KW of electricity consumed, geothermal heat pumps have an exceptional performance and unmatched by any other traditional system.

What lesson did the parable "Feathers of a Thousand Li Away" in The Joy Luck Club teach us?

The parable "Feathers from a Thousand Li Away" is intended to teach the reader about the power of hope.  In the parable,  the mother carries a swan feather overseas with her, hoping that one day she can give her daughter the feather and tell her about all the struggles that the family endured trying to make a better life for themselves.  However, the cultural divide between the mother and daughter is wide, and the mother feels like the daughter has grown up without an understanding of the family's past.  In spite of this, there is still the hope that the two can come together and bridge the distance between them.  This parable paves the way for the story to come which is about mothers and daughters reconciling their cultural differences to gain an understanding of each other.

I need to describe "Willy’s relationship with his two sons and decide whether or not he is a good father." Anybody have an idea for a thesis?

akannan's comments are very good. I want to add that, if I were assigning or grading this essay, I would want to see what is usually called a stipulative or operational defnition. By this, I mean that I would want to see you -- at some point in the essay, probably near the beginning -- define or characterize the term "good father." You might even want to go so far as to incorporate one or more formal definitions. such as Donald Winnicott's concept of the "good enough parent." You may want to argue, for example, that Willy Loman is not only not a good father but also not even a "good enough" father.

Addition: You may want to structure your essay as a syllogism, a three-part argument. Here's an example:

1. A good father is a father who takes an active but not overly controlling interest in his children's development as individuals.


2. Willy does not take an active but not overly controlling interest in his children's development as individuals. (Think of the instances in the play in which he only hears what he wants to hear, forces his sons to do things that only benefit him by sustaining his fantasy world, etc.)


3. Therefore, Willy is not a good father.

You can boil all this content down into one ssntence, of coure. Here's an example, although it's a little clumsily phrased: "Willy Loman is not a good father because he does not take an active but not overly controlling interest in his children's development as individuals."

akannan is right, too, to enourage you to anchor your argument in textual evidence. Show specific instances in the play in which the father does (or does not) embody good parenting skills.