solve 2x-7(x-5)=0

To solve 2x-7(x-5)=0

This is an equation in one variable x with degree one(and so it is a linear equation). The principle of solving this type of equation is by collecting all the unknowns or vaiables, or x's here, on the left and all the knowns or the numbers on the right side of the equation, by simle operations. The simple operations are  adding equals, removing equals, multiplying or dividing by equals (but not dividing zero- mind it!) on both sides which does not imbalance the equation.

On the left side there are two terms, 2x, connected by a minus connector to 7(x-5). Since, -7 is distributive over the two terms inside the brackets by multiplication operation, you can write -7(x-5) like -7*x -7*(-5) = -7x+35 and replace the term -7(x-5) in the expression 2x-7(x-5). This enables us to rewrite the left of the equation as below:

2x-7x+35=0.

2x and -7x are like terms and so 2x-7x is -5x.Therefore,

-5x+35=0

Subtract 35 from both sides of the equation.

-5x+35-35=0-35

Simplify.

-5x=-35.

Divide both sides by -5:

-5x/5=-35/(-5) and simplify to get the solution

x=7

What is the moral behind the story in Romeo and Juliet?

The moral of Romeo and Juliet is one of letting old family wounds go, and not letting your emotions rule your life. The Montague and the Capulets have let an old family rivalry take over their lives. They refuse to have anything to with each other. They are both a very powerful and influential, but they have such hatred for the other. 

If the two families had let the rift between them go, then they may have been able to save the lives of their two children. If they had allowed Romeo and Juliet to be able to have an open relationship and not make them feel like they have to hide their relationship, then the two families could have come together and had a great life together. If Romeo and Juliet had been a little more patient with their relationship, and given their parents time to maybe come to an understanding, then they wouldn't have lost their lives. The whole moral is to let go of the things in the past, and to keep control over your emotions. The opening lines of the play tells how the hatred between the two families led to the death of their beloved children.

"Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona, where we lay our scene. From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, where civil blood marks civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes, a pair of star-crossed lovers take their life. Whose misadventures piteous overthrows. Do with their deaths bury their parent's strife. The fearful of their death-marked love. And the continuance of their parent's rage, which, but their children end, nought could remove, is now the two hours traffic of our story. The which if you with patient ears attend, what here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend."

If the parents had put aside their hatred and let Romeo and Juliet be together, then the whole family could have come together and shown the world how strong family could be.

Who is the leader of Animal Farm? Please identify the character and the biography, so I have a better understanding.

Of course Napoleon is the leader of the farm, because of his grip on power through the use of dogs and squealer and every other method he can get his hands on, but you have a number of other leaders as well.

Boxer is in some ways a leader of the animals, he isn't considered very intelligent but he is always looked to as an example of really hard work and willingness to get the job done regardless of how he feels about it.

Snowball was another leader, a really thoughtful and intellectual one who had great plans for ways to improve life for the animals, but he was driven out by Napoleon who was threatened by his intellect.

You could also consider Old Major as a leader, though he dies and obviously loses the leadership role soon after the story opens.

In the camps, Wiesel must struggle to stay alive and to remain human. How well does he succeed with his struggles?

Eli Wiesel is a keen observer of human nature.  He uses his skills to make certain assumptions about what his captors are expecting from "Jew Behavior."  When his hands are badly blistered and cracking and in so much pain he determines that to go to his captors begging for help would only serve to set them thinking that he was groveling.  It has also been his observation that the Jews who did this were shot or beaten and did not get the needed treatment.  Instead he goes to the Nazi's and shows them his hands and lets the man know that he just wants some of the skin cut off so that his hands will allow him to go back to work.  The Nazi's are thrown off by his behavior.  Uncertain how to respond to him, they show him some degree of respect and treat his hands.

Wiesel was very smart at determining the behavior patterns of the Nazi's.  His skills in behavior psychology helped him to continue to save his humanity and life.

How does Othello's position in a mostly white society mean his fall from grace is more tragic in Othello?

The white European world (of Shakespeare's England and Othello's Venice) was victim of two great fears: Christianity being overrun by Islam; black men seducing their white women.  Both are front and center in Othello, man and play.

Othello is a stranger in a white world.  He is black.  He is a former Muslim who converted to Christianity.  He is a former slave who is converting to white civilization.  He is a military man trying to convert to civilian life.  He is an old bachelor who is trying to finally marry.  He is Brabantio's age, marrying a white woman half his age.  Needless to say, he is a threat to the establish white society (represented by Brabantio and Iago).

What's more, Othello buys in to the white "color code."  He wants to be white, like Cassio.  That's why he's so jealous of him.  He wants a white woman; she's a trophy wife, a status symbol that shows he's made it in white society.

Remember, the play was staged in 1600, the beginning of the slave trade.  It is the first play to have a "bedroom scene."  That the consummation of the scene is theros (death) instead of eros (love) foreshadows the tragedy of black slaves for the next four hundred years.

Why do the people of the black neighbourhood eat squirrel, possum, and rabbit?please help me answer this question

Harper Lee's novel, "To Kill A Mockingbird" was set during the depression era in the South.  During the Depression people had a difficult time getting money and taking care of their families.  The Black communities especially had a hard time because they didn't have jobs.  For the most part they were share-croppers and labored for daily payment of whatever they could get.  These people couldn't afford to go to "Krogers" and buy whatever they wanted.  For the main part of their diets they grew the vegtables and fruits that fed them. For meat they trapped and hunted.  This is the reason most Black families ate squirrel, possum, and rabbit.  They also ate a great deal of deer meat and fish.  Any type of meat they could trap, catch, or shoot was what went on their tables to feed their families.

"Yet the oppressive society in the South often prevented blacks from taking advantage of this government assistance. Racist groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the Black Shirts terrorized blacks out of their jobs The vigilante practice of lynching was still common in the South in the early 1930s. Only North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Alabama had laws specifically outlawing lynching as an illegal activity. (Surprisingly, only two northern states had similar laws.)"

What is the overall conflict in The Alchemist by Coelho?

The Alchemist is a journey of self discovery on which Santiago goes from Spain to Africa and back to Spain to find the fulfillment of the legends of his life. In Africa, Santiago trusts explicitly and has all his money and possessions stolen from him; shares a vision and finds himself mortally threatened; works and struggles only to find himself imprisoned and beaten to within a breath of life before he finds the clue that takes him back to beginning place. In a far more complex version of the Wizard of Oz mantra, "There's no place like home. There's no place like home," Santiago finds his quest for gold fulfilled, if not right in his back yard, at least in his own neighborhood and country. The Alchemist weaves together the triplet themes of discovering your true identity; believing in yourself with all your heart; and following your dreams against all obstacles.

What does Msimangu believe is the only hope for South Africa in Cry, the Beloved Country? To whom was he referring?

Msimangu believes that the only hope for South Africa lies in the power of love.  He says,

"...there is only one thing that has power completely, and that is love.  Because when a man loves, he seeks no power, and therefore he has power.  I see only one hope for our country, and that is when white men and black men, desiring neither power nor money, but desiring only the good of their country, come together to work for it".

Msimangu is telling Kumalo about the social reality in South Africa as the battle against apartheid rages.  He speaks specifically about activists like Kumalo's brother John, who are working to improve the lot of the black population, but who are themselves being corrupted by the very power they seek.  Although the principles behind these brave men's fight are honorable and true, human nature dictates that when they make progress, the power they achieve goes to their heads.  Msimangu explains,

"Because the white man has power, we too want power...but when a black man gets power, when he gets money, he is a great man if he is not corrupted...he seeks power and money to put right what is wrong, and when he gets them, why, he enjoys the power and the money".

Because of this, Msimangu stresses that the only hope for South Africa is love, a love which transcends self-interest and greed.  He is pessimistic, though, that this will ever come to pass; Msimangu fears that "one day when they are (finally) turned to loving, they will find we (the people) are turned to hating" (Chapter 7).

In To Kill a Mockingbird, what does justice and courage show about society in Maycomb?I'm writing an essay and my thesis statement is: "Justice...

Why do you not reword your thesis statement to something like this;

Throughout the narrative of Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird," the courage, integrity, and sense of fairness of several characters demonstrates the decency in certain citizens of Maycomb. (Certainly,not every citizen is of sterling quality.) 

Always the thesis statement should be generalized.  The details of which person does what is part of the support that composes the body of your essay.  For instance, if you use courage in the topic sentence of the first sentence of the body, you can write--Courage is manifested in such characters as Mrs. Dubose, Miss Maudie, and Atticus Finch.  Then, you give reasons that prove the courage of these characters. (supporting details from the novel)  Be sure to actually quote some lines/passages as back-up for your sentences that explain the courage of a particular character.  By the way, do not forget the courage of Boo Radley, a courage generated by his love for the children.

Integrity is exhibited mostly by Atticus Finch who does not shy from his obligations, but even Mr. Cunningham has this attribute because he refuses welfare, and he later is ashamed that he is part of the mob; after Scout says hello to him, he tells the others to go home and the mob breaks up.  Miss Maudie also has integrity.

Before you write your essay, plan it out by locating the necessary support.  Be very specific with this support and use lines/passages from the novel to back up this support.  The more specific support that you have, the more convincing your essay will be.  Be sure to use transitional words such as for example, for instance, etc.

See the sites listed below for more help.

What is Ralph's attitude towards Piggy in the first chapter?

Ralph's attitude is one of shaky friendship mixed with condescension. He seems callous and unaware of Piggy at first: when Piggy asks his name, he does not ask Piggy in return. He replies "Sucks to your auntie" and "Sucks to your ass-mar" to Piggy's attempts at casual conversation. Yet he allows Piggy to advise him on what to do in the role of leader, & after finding the conch. Piggy sticks close to Ralph, perhaps as a result of a natural aversion to the aggressive nature of Jack, and Ralph allows this, perhaps understanding the need for Piggy's intelligence.

However, Piggy feels betrayed when Ralph reveals his nickname to the group, after he specifically asked him not to. Yet Ralph makes a marginal apology ("Better Piggy than Fatty") and assigns Piggy some minor responsibility to make it up to him. One senses that at this point, Ralph identifies more with Jack than Piggy, but Piggy will prove to be a true friend, while Jack harbors ability for evil within.

What does Atticus require Jem to do?

Although Atticus gave his children more independence than most kids their age, he did put his foot down on occasion. After Jem lost his temper and cut down Mrs. Dubose's camellia's with Scout's baton, Atticus demanded that he immediately return to her home and apologize to her.

"I strongly advise you to go down and have a talk with Mrs. Dubose," said Atticus. "Come straight home afterward."
    Jem did not move.
    "Go on, I said."

Jem cleaned up the mess and promised to work each Saturday to repair the damage, but the old lady had an additional request: to report to her home each day after school and on Saturdays to read to her.

"Atticus, do I have to?"
    "Certainly."
    "But she wants me to do it for a month."
    "Then you'll do it for a month."

The reasoning for the punishment was a mystery to Jem, but he would discover later his important part in ridding Mrs. Dubose of the morphine addiction that had plagued her for so many years. 

Question below on "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne: "Madman, hold! What is your purpose?... Wave back that woman! Cast off this child!...

In Chapter XXIII of "The Scarlet Letter," the climax of the novel occurs as Dimmesdale, spent from his inspiring sermon, "with the foreboding look of untimely death upon him," rejects the proferred arm of the Reverend Mr. Wilson. Even though the minister is, at this moment,

on the very proudest eminence of superiority, to which the gifts of intellect, rich lore, prevailing eloquence, and a reputation of whitest sanctity, could exalt a clergy man in New England's earliest days, when the professional character was of itself as a lofty pedestal...

Dimmesdale walks over to Hester "with the scarlet letter still burning on her breast" and Pearl, who are standing by the scaffold; the minister stretches forth his arms:

It was a ghastly look with which he regarded them; but there was somehting at once tender and strangely triumphant in it.  The child,...flew to him, and clasped her arms about his knees.  Hester Prynne...likewise drew near, but paused before she reached him.

  It is at this point that Roger Chillingworth intervenes with an "dark, disturbed, and evil" look.  He

rose up out of some nether region,--to snatch back his victim from what he sought to do!

Then, the passage cited above in the question is spoken by Chillingworth, for he realizes that Dimmesdale will escape him on the only place that he can:  the scaffold.  (This is why the minister has the triumphant look upon his face.)  Like Jesus, who rebukes Satan when he offers Jesus all below him as a kingdom, Dimmesdale rejects the old physician,

'Ha tempter! Methinks thou art too late!....With God's help, I shall escape thee now!'

Asking Hester to join him on the scaffold, he confesses his sin, tearing open his vestment to reveal triumphantly something on his chest.  Then, he sinks upon the scaffold, and Chillingworth kneels beside him, exclaiming, "Thou hast escaped me!"

The third and final scaffold scene brings all the main characters together to the place of punishment and atonement where each character is revealed as what he or she is.  Pearl becomes a real character, who kisses her father.  Hester, returning to her original place of humiliation; Dimmesdale finally stands as her partner in adultery and confesses his hypocrisy.  This truth does, indeed, set him free, for it frees him from the most evil of all, Chillingworth, whose sin is the blackest of all as he would violate "the sanctity of the human heart" by torturing Arthur Dimmesdale.  Finally, all characters are "true."  This is Hawthorne's exhortation in the conclusion of his narrative:  "Be true! Be true!"

What do Rolf and Azucena give to each other in "And of Clay Are We Created"?

In this amazing story it is clear that what Azucena receives from Rolf is very little compared to what she is able to give to Rolf. From the story, we can see that Rolf gives Azucena support and companionship in her plight. Together, through their companionship, we are told, they learn "to accept death." However, far more emphasis is placed on what Azucena was able to give to Rolf:

The girl had touched a part of him that he himself had not access to, a part he had never shared with me. Rolf had wanted to console here, but it was Azucena who had given him consolation.

Through his relationship with Azucena, painful, unmentionable and repressed parts of Rolf's past are opened up and he is forced to confront unimaginably terrible episodes from his former life:

That night, imperceptibly, the unyielding floodgates that had contained Rolf Carle's past for so many years began to open, and the torrent of all that had lain hidden in the deepest and most secret layers of memory poured out, leveling before it the obstacles that had blocked his consciousness for so long.

Through this friendship he comes to identify with Azucena: "He was Azucena; he was buried in the clayey mud..." It is this identification that allows Rolf to confront what he had repressed, and through this to become a fuller, self-aware individual.

How does Coleridge create atmosphere in The Rime of Ancient Mariner?

Poets and authors establish atmosphere in the opening lines or paragraphs of a piece, though atmosphere can fluctuate and vary throughout a piece as the immediate objective varies within the larger, consistent, aim. Atmosphere, which is also called mood, is determined by the writer's choice of diction, description and setting. The purpose is to establish the emotional effect of the piece on the reader. On the other hand, the tone of a piece, is established through vocabulary alone. Tone contrasts with atmosphere (mood) because tone is the narrator's emotional feeling, the feeling with which the narrator talks about the topic or situation. A tone may be bitter while the atmosphere is haunting; or a tone may be sweet while an atmosphere is suspenseful, etc.

Diction is defined as the vocabulary choices a writer makes. For instance a crowd of people can be called a mob, a gathering, a congregation, a crowd, a gang, an assembly and so on. Diction is the way a writer chooses to express a thought that has many alternative options for expression.

Poets often use sounds in words, not just meanings of words, as a part of diction to create atmosphere (mood). In The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the diction Samuel Taylor Coleridge employs ends each of the early atmosphere-setting lines with a prolonged vowel sound, such as in three, eye, me, wide, kin, hand, loon, child, etc. The diction choice produces an eerie atmosphere with one elongated sound following another, like a ghostly wail. The elongations of sound are capitalized upon by being preceded by plosives and fricatives like d p t th f st g, so there is a hurry-up staccato sound that freezes on the prolonged vowel sounds. What are some diction choices Coleridge makes that are related to meaning?

Description, another requirement of atmosphere (mood), is defined as careful sensory detail about a person, place, etc. Sensory pertains to the senses of taste, sight, sound, touch, smell (or others in SciFi...). In the first three lines, Coleridge establishes sensory detail of visual description with the words ancient, long beard and glittering eye. Waht other sensory words are noticable in the opening stanzas?

Setting is defined as location, historical time period and social circumstances of the poem, story or novel. It can be revealed through deliberate description [see above paragraph] or through narration or dialogue. Coleridge immediately establishes through narration the historical time period as being one earlier than his own by using archaic language as in the first stanza: stoppeth, thy, thou, stopp'st. The social circumstances are established in the second stanza in which the narrator tells us that he told the Mariner of a bridegroom, a feast and being next of kin. From this we know that the speaker is on his way to a wedding and has been waylaid by the ancient Mariner before the open doors of the feast hall.

It is through the incorporation of these elements that Coleridge creates the atmosphere (mood) of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. While atmosphere (mood) is established early on in the text, the choices of diction, description and setting carry on beyond the first few lines, so there are other examples that you may be able to pinpoint on your own. Bear in mind that atmosphere may change, as it does in The Ancient Mariner, to create new transient atmosphere effects as the writer desires for impact and/or variation.

What did George tell Slim about Lennie's strength?

Slim is the only person on the ranch in whom George confides.  He tells Slim that Lennie is incredibly strong but also unusually slow-witted.  George explains that he knew Lennie's aunt, and that when she died, Lennie simply began following George around.  To illustrate Lennie's strength, George tell Slim the story of what happened in the town of Weed that caused the pair to have to leave.  Lennie saw a girl in the town wearing a dress.  Since the reader already knows that Lennie loves soft things--to the point that he tries to keep a dead mouse in his pocket so he can "pet" it--it should come as no surprise that Lennie wants to touch the dress.  When he does, the shocked girl begins to scream, which causes Lennie to panic and only hold on tighter.  George says he had to hit Lennie in the head with a two-by-four to get himm to let go.  The girl claimed Lennie tried to rape her, so a posse was quickly assembled to go after him. 

This illustration serves the dual purpose of showing George's need for adult companionship outside of his relationship with Lennie of foreshadowing the events that come later in the novel involving first Curley, and then his wife.  While Lennie's super-human strength is an asset for securing work, it is the pair's biggest detriment in keeping it.

What does Poe mean by "his heart is a suspended lute; which resonates as soon as touched" from "Fall of the House of Usher"?

The quote is actually a translation of the French poem that appears as an epigraph at the beginning of Poe's story.  As the narrator approaches the Usher house, a dark and eerie pall surrounds it; so while the poem could certainly apply to Roderick Usher's strange malady of being overly sensitive to the slightest sensory stimulation, it most likely refers to the house itself.  The house already possesses a fissure literally and figuratively and is ready to fall at any time.  The phrase "resonates as soon as touched" implies that the most minuscule disturbance will topple the house and line of the Usher family. 

What is the Peripeteia and Catharsis in the play Macbeth and how is it demonstrated?

"Perepetia" is when a Greek hero realizes everything he believed in is wrong. "Catharsis" is  defined as

1. A purifying or figurative cleansing of the emotions, especially pity and fear, described by Aristotle as an effect of tragic drama on its audience.


2. A release of emotional tension, as after an overwhelming experience, that restores or refreshes the spirit.

In Macbeth there are two key points where he experiences Perepetia. The first occurs just after the killing of Duncan and before Macbeth arranges the murderers to kill Fleance and Banquo. Macbeth says he is "I am in blood / Stepp'd in so far, that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er" (3.4). Macbeth was undecided about killing Duncan at first, remember, and it was his wife who pressured him into doing the deed.

The second instance of perepetia is MacBeth`s infamous

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing." (5.5.17-28)

Here Macbeth is at his absolute lowest, realizing that his play is over and his actions have amounted to little more than the rantings and strutting of himself, the poor player.

Catharsis is experienced at the end of the play when the audience sees justice done and balance restored when Macduff beheads the traitorous King and mounts his head upon a pike for all to see.

What is the theme of the poem "Request to a Year?" http://www.poemhunter.com/best-poems/judith-wright/request-to-a-year/In paragraph form and in...

In order for you to determine the theme, you have to take a look at what the poem is trying to say to you.  First, what is this poem about?

If the year is meditating a suitable gift, 
I should like it to be the attitude 
of my great- great- grandmother, 
legendary devotee of the arts,

The writer of the poem wishes she had the attitude of her great-great-grandmother, an attitude she will discuss in the poem.

who having eight children 
and little opportunity for painting pictures, 
sat one day on a high rock 
beside a river in Switzerland

Grandma had a lot of kids and not much time for practicing her artistic skills.  One day she is sitting on a big rock next to a river in Switzerland.

and from a difficult distance viewed 
her second son, balanced on a small ice flow,drift down the current toward a waterfall 
that struck rock bottom eighty feet below,

From far away she sees on of her boys on a big chunk of ice floating down the river.  At the end of the river is a nasty waterfall and the boy will be killed should he go over it.

while her second daughter, impeded, 
no doubt, by the petticoats of the day, 
stretched out a last-hope alpenstock 
(which luckily later caught him on his way).

One of her daughters, with a little trouble because of her heavy dress, is trying to hold out a pole to her brother so he can grab it (which he does, saving his life.)

Nothing, it was evident, could be done; 
And with the artist's isolating eye 
My great-great-grandmother hastily sketched the scene. 
The sketch survives to prove the story by.

The mother could do nothing to help, and could only watch.  She choose to sketch the scene.

Year, if you have no Mother's day present planned, 
Reach back and bring me the firmness of her hand.

The author once again wishes for "time" to give her the gift of her great-great-grandmother's "firm hand."

So when looking for the theme you have to ask yourself, "what is the author trying to say?"  It might have something to do with keeping a firm head under pressure (the grandmother does not panic or scream at the sight of her child in danger), or about how an artist must be detached from his/her subject (she keeps on sketching even though the outcome of what she is watching is very important to her.)  It could be about the importance of art, or a statement of fate (when something is going to happen it is going to happen, so why freak out about it.)  There are other themes in there, too, just waiting for you to discover, so have at it!

What are Ponyboy's feeling toward Darry?How do Ponyboy's feelings toward Darry change?

Because Sodapop, the younger of Ponyboy's two older brothers, expresses his affection for Ponyboy rather freely, Ponyboy recognizes it for what it is.  Ponyboy also refers to the similarities between Soda and their deceased mother; this awareness aids Ponyboy in understanding Soda's love for him.  While Ponyboy appreciates the fact that Darry quit school in order to provide a home for his two little brothers, Ponyboy struggles to recognize Darry's love for him. 

Darry has been placed in a difficult position.  He has no choice, at least in his own eyes, but to accept and attempt to fulfill the role of parent to Ponyboy.  Because he has been made very aware of the suddenness with which loss can occur, whether of life or dreams, he is especially fearful that Ponyboy will lose something that truly matters; under his tough exterior, Darry is terrified that Ponyboy will come to harm, whether physically or otherwise.  Darry does not know how to express his concern and love for Ponyboy other than to push him to succeed and be safe.  Unfortunately, Ponyboy misinterprets Darry's actions until he realizes that Darry is on the verge of tears after arriving at the hospital waiting room.

Can u give me conflicts about internal external person vs self person vs person vs nature person vs society and quotes in each of this and page #?

In the book "The Outsiders" by Hinton the story is about three brothers who live in a lower income community. Pony Boy is the primary character and it is through him that the reader observes many of the conflicts common to adolescent males.

In looking at the concept of man versus nature the scene when Johnny reacts after seeing Pony Boy being dunked under water is a good example. It is man's nature to be protective of himself and those he cares about. Nature took over and caused the innate reaction of Johnny stabbing the Soc Bob, who was the leader of the boys dunking Pony Boy. He did not do it with intent but with a natural impulse.

"Johnny had a blank, tough look on his face-you'd have had to know him to see the panic in his eyes."(55)

In consideration of person versus society I look at the environment where the boys who were Greasers lived. It was an environment of low income and limited opportunities. The boys were considered to be outside of society. They were the kids on the other side of the railroad tracks who were expected to be juvenile delinquents. This expectation is evident when the newspaper runs a story following Johnnie and Pony Boy's rescue of the children from the church fire.

"JUVENNILE DELINQUENTS TURN HERO."(107)

The internal person versus the external person is the conflict that Pony Boy feels when he begins to realize that he has choices to make. He can continue on to behave in violent ways or he can change. Johnny leaves him a letter telling him that it is not to late. Pony Boy has been given an assignment by the English teacher and he debates whether to complete it or not. Once he reads the letter his internal self that is an A student and very different from the Greasers, his external self, takes over and he picks up the pen to share his story and the story of the boys in his community.

"You still have a lot of time to make yourself be what you want." (179)

"I sat down and picked up my pen and thought for a minute. Remembering."(179)

Who invented the electric trolley car?

There is some conflicting information as to the true inventor of the trolley car.  Some say that that the trolley was invented by Steven Dudley Field in 1874.

"The first electric streetcar. Invented by Stockbridge, Mass.-born engineer Stephen Dudley Field, 28, it is the first car anywhere to be run successfully with current generated by a stationary dynamo: one wheel picks up current carried by one of the rails. Conveyed to the car's motor, it flows back to the other rail via a second wheel, insulated from the first, and is returned to the dynamo, but the system is hazardous and presents no immediate threat to the horsecar."

Others say the electric trolley car was invented by Frank J. Sprague in 1887.  Sprague was born in Connecticut in 1857 and worked with early electric motors.  Sprague attended the United States Naval Academy.  While he was there Edison invented the telephone and Sprague got interested in mechanics and electricity.  In 1885 he became a professional electrical engineer.  He worked with Edison for a short time before going out on his own.  In 1887 he accepted a contract from Richmond, VA to construct a street railway system.  He never looked back.  Within a very short period of time he had orders from cities all over the country.

"The South Side Elevated Railway employs the first "multiple-unit" system, invented by Richmond trolley-car pioneer Frank J. Sprague to control trains whose cars each have their own motors and do not have to be pulled by a locomotive; this not only eliminates slipping of locomotive driving wheels when trains start up but also assures rapid acceleration and permits long trains to operate at high speeds. "

Who is your most interesting character in the novel and explain why?

Boo Radley.  Here's why:

In my GT language arts class, everyone, including my teacher, always thought that Scout's character represented Harper Lee.  But, at the very end of the book, Boo Radley, after saving Jem and Scout, and killing REL Ewell, goes into his home and never comes out.  Harper Lee, unfortunately never wrote another book after she wrote TKAM, which expressed such a deep and 'saving' message.  Boo, as a character just thinks differently than me and you.  He wants to communicate with the children so much, leaving them gifts like twine and soap-dolls in the nook of the tree, yet he never comes out of his house again as if his work is done.  And, why does the book say "...Boo's Children...?"

Would anyone give as much information as possible can regarding The Crisis and The Declaration of Independence?Anything regarding the cultural...

The Crisis number one written by Thomas Paine while witnessing the defeat at Fort Lee, New Jersey would become the first entry in The American Crisis.  Paine's use of persuasive language energized the Contential Army.  Paine's infamous line 'these are the times that try men's souls'... are forever emblazened upon the American mind.  Following The Crisis, Thomas Paine's Common Sense arguing in defense of independence set colonial America on fire.  After reading or hearing that argument, the patriots increased their power base.

The Declaration of Independence took political ideology and transformed it into political reality.  No where had the political philosophies of Locke, Rosseau, and Montequieu ever impacted a society the way they impacted the United States of America.

Classicism is rooted in the idea that man is good.  Although there proves to be inconsistencies, both Paine and Jefferson hold to the classic interpretations and are willing to gamble on man's goodness. In that sense both men offer an opitmistic view of the human experience well versed in classical history.

How do yams contribute to the meaning of Things Fall Apart?

In the Ibo society, yams mean everything.  The amount of yams that a man can produce determines his worth.  Their entire year revolves around the planting, caring for, and harvesting of this most important crop.  The planting season starts with the "week of peace," which is to pay homage to the earth goddess Ani in order that she may bless them with fertile ground and agreeable weather.  Once the tireless work of the harvest has been completed, there is large festival to celebrate the blessings of their hard work and to, again, thank the goddess of the earth.

Everyone needs to eat.  Yams are the staple food of the Ibo diet and without them, they would surely all parish.  That's why a bad harvest is compared to a "sad funeral."

The Ibo are, initially, an isolated people that are completely self sufficient.  They produce everything that they need to live within their system of villages.  This includes yams, which are the most important thing because they sustain their very ability to live and, more importantly, defend themselves.

Therefore, yams become the currency in this society.  The more yams a man can produce, the more he is worth to the village.  Similarly, the more yams a VILLAGE can produce determines their place in the intertribal pecking order.  Clearly, Umuofia is a very successful tribe in the beginning if the novel with the ability to produce yams AND warriors.

This brings us to status.  In Ibo society, in order to advance up the tribal class system, it is necessary to throw lavish feasts for the entire village.  In order to be able to so this, a man has to have proven himself as a great farmer that can produce the amount of yams necessary to be able to put on such a festival.  This shows us that in order to sustain themselves as a people, they need leaders that are able to produce the food that they need to survive.  So, such men are honored.

Okonkwo, the protagonist of the story, comes from a lazy father that never earned any status and was a careless farmer.  However, through hard work and determination, he rose to a high status in the society.  He is able to support three wives and still advance in rank.  The reason that he is successful is because of the HUGE importance of yam farming.

What is the viability of reading Jane Eyre as a biographical text?Criticisms on Jane Eyre as biographical novel

You have asked an interesting question, but it isn't exactly clear. Whilst there are certainly many references to the life of Charlotte Bronte in the novel, it is clear that, whilst Bronte echoes some of her experiences and uses Jane Eyre as a mouthpiece for her own frustrations as a women in Victorian English society, it is certainly not a direct autobiography of her life.

You might find it interesting to read Mrs. Gaskell's autobiography of Jane Eyre, which is highly insightful and allows the discerning reader to see how some events in the novel are based on Charlotte Bronte's own life. Lowood School, for example is pretty much a direct copy of the school that Jane and her sisters were sent to, and where her two eldest sisters died because of bad conditions. Likewise, the character of Helen Burns is based on Bronte's eldest sister, Elizabeth, who died.

Likewise certain key quotes clearly suggest that Jane Eyre is a figure used by Bronte to express her own desires and struggles, such as the famous "stiller doom" passage where Jane Eyre talks of her own desire for "action" and rages against the position that society has fashioned for women.

However, on reason for being aware of the limitations of reading this text as a biography comes from the text itself. At the beginning of Chapter 10, just as the Lowood episode comes to an end, Jane Eyre herself points to the dangers of treating this as a biography:

Hitherto I have recored in detail the events of my insignificant existence: to the frist ten years of my life, I have given almost as many chapters. But this is not to be a regular autobiograpy: I am only bound to invoke memory where I know her responses will possess some degree of interest; therefore I now pass a space of eight years almost in silence: a few lines only are necessary to keep up the links of connection.

Above all, this excerpt reminds us that we read a carefully chosen selection of events that are selected by the author for a deliberate purpose. The structure of the novel, with its easily identifiable 5 stage breakdown of Gateshead, Lowood, Thornfield, Moor House and Ferndean also point towards artifice - much to neat to be representative of a "real life" biography.

So whilst reading the text as a biography has its uses, overwhelmingly it is a work of literature, that does indeed use and develop incidents from the novelists own life, but is a work of fiction, with an arguably fairy tale ending where a woman is able to get everything she wants in a society where almost everything is set against her.

What elements mark Marlowe's Doctor Faustus as a typical Renaissance tragedy?

Some of the characteristics that mark Christopher Marlowe's Dr. Faustus as a Renaissance tragedy are the questions addressed, comedic relief and the death of the hero. Christopher Marlowe lived from 1564, the same year of birth as William Shakespeare, until his mysterious death in 1593.

In the tradition of dramatic tragedy, the questions that are addressed in the play are the grand and large questions of life, such as: What is the meaning of life? Why are humans here? What does life mean if it only always ends in death? Is there god(s)? How is the will of a god to be known? In Dr. Faustus, these large questions are addressed in the form of Faustus's unquenchable thirst for knowledge, a thirst that leads him to barter his life with the Devil; Faustus's doubts and regrets about his choices; Faustus's final demise, which was a terrifying end and death.

In Greek tragedy, narrative elements were presented by the Chorus who moved the plot along and gave explanations. In Renaissance tragedy the Chorus is replaced by clowns and fools: Clowns are rural simpletons who give information that moves the story along and who utter unintentional plays on words: their language is witty and amusing but it is accidental, coming about through ignorance of the English language. On the other hand, fools are urban city dwellers who fill the same story/plot function but who are witty and amusing by intention because they have the intelligence and education to play with words by design. In Dr. Faustus, Marlowe combines these two traditions by having Choruses and clowns, Rafe and Robin, who give story information to move the plot and who are witty and amusing (it is possible that they should be considered fools instead of clowns, but they are generally referred to as clowns).

In Greek tragedy, the hero does not have to die. Renaissance tragedy changes this and requires that the hero of a tragedy must die as justice for his wrong doing, well known examples are King Lear and Hamlet. Marlowe constructs Dr. Faustus according to the Renaissance model and has his tragic hero, Dr, Faustus, die horribly in the end.

This change in the form of Renaissance tragedies demonstrates a change in the idea of "catharsis." For Aristotle, a tragedy had catharsis because the internal action of the play was worked out to a satisfactory resolution giving the audience a happy ending in one way or another, such as exile instead of death. In Renaissance tragedy, catharsis came to mean the audience could feel that they had experienced the tragedy with the hero and were relieved of those wrong urges and feelings in themselves. In other words, the focus of catharsis shifted from the play, for Aristotelian Greek tragedies, to the audience, for Renaissance tragedies.

For more information on Aristotelian ideas of Greek tragedy, see Professor Larry Brown's explanations.

Many people complain about the minimum wage, but what would workers do if the bosses, without a minimum wage, gave 1 penny?A boss could give a...

Yes, it is quite possible that, in absence of any legal restriction on minimum wages, some employees will pay very low wages to their employees. But I don't believe that employees will ever be able to reduce the wages to as low as 1 penny per hour. There are several reasons why the wages cannot fall to such low levels.

Most important, the employees will not be able to get any workers willing to work below a certain minimum wage determined by market forces. Also, when the wages are very low the quality of workers they get will be low.

Also, enlightened employers and managers realize that it is more profitable for them to pay their employees well as it enables then to motivate workers to give higher productivity, that more than compensates for higher wages.

Even if there is no legal provision for minimum wages, collective bargaining through trade unions enable employers to negotiate for better wages.

In spite of all these things, it is quite certain that in absence of legal provisions for minimum wages some people will find their earnings reduced significantly.

In chapter seven, why does Elizabeth blame herself for the murder of William?

Elizabeth, in chapter 7 of Frankenstein, blames herself for the murder of William because she feels that she provided the murderer with the motive to kill the boy:   Earlier that day William had been bugging her to let him wear a little locket with a tiny picture of his grandmother in it. The locket was valuable, and because of the mark on the boy's neck (and the fact that the locket was missing) Elizabeth believes that the murderer killed him in order to steal it. Thus, by allowing the boy to wear the valuable locket in the first place, Elizabeth feels she contributed to the death of the child.

"She told me that that same evening William had teased her to let him wear a very valuable miniature that she possessed of your mother. This picture is gone, and was doubtless the temptation which urged the murderer to the deed."

"She weeps continually, and accuses herself unjustly as the cause of his death..."

What is the climax of "The Emperor's New Clothes"?

That depends exactly what you mean. If you mean what is the climactic point of the story (in a more strictly literary sense of 'climax') then that's might vary depending on how you interpret the story. It can also mean 'finishing point' or 'end'.

Here's climax defined:

• the decisive moment in a novel or play; "the deathbed scene is the climax of the play"


• culminate: end, especially to reach a final or climactic stage; "The meeting culminated in a tearful embrace"

So, to turn to this story, you can roughly break the story down into the following blocks.

1. Background on the Emperor and his greed.

2. Swindlers offer cloth to the Emperor and he orders it.

3. Old Minister goes to the swindlers and pretends to see the cloth.

4. Emperor dresses in suit when it is ready.

5. Emperor parades naked.

The climax of the story - the point to which the story as a whole builds up is undoubtedly number five, the parade when the Emperor walks down the street absolutely naked thinking he is wearing beautiful clothes. This too is more generally the 'climax' - the finishing point - as this is where Andersen stops telling the story. It is in both senses the climax of the tale.

Hope it helps!

Why should short term goals and long term goals in an organisation go hand in hand?

Achievement of any goals, whether short-term or long-term, is dependent on our actions in the present. Whatever we did yesterday cannot be changed. And, as they say "tomorrow never comes".

If we have some long-terms goals, we have to start moving towards that goal immediately. We cannot wait for the long-term to become short-term before we start working towards achievement of long-term and in the meantime work on things unrelated to the long term goals.

Actually we need have long-term goals because many goal require preparation and efforts over a long period towards achievement of the goals. And all the action that we need to take over a long term period can be taken more efficiently when the route to achievement of long term goal is well charted out and translated into short-term plans for the action to be taken, or route to be covered, in immediately following short term period. Thus I will that short-term plan and goals have to, not only go hand in hand with long-term plans and goals, but actually must be based on them.

Who is to blame for Simons death and why? how does Piggy respond and who does he blame?

I would argue that all the boys on the island are responsible for Simon's death. If we want to assign levels of guilt, Jack and Roger would probably be at the top. They demand respect as hunters, they withhold food to drive the others to the point when they cannot say no, & they incite the mob that eventually gets Simon killed. They want everyone chanting and dancing, because that inspires chaos, & chaos works perfectly for them. But all the other boys have a hand in it too, including Piggy and Ralph. The description of Simon's death mentions "the crowd", meaning they were all working as a mob.

The sticks fell and the mouth of the new circle crunched and screamed. The beast was on its knees in the center, its arms folded over its face. It was crying out against the abominable noise something about a body on the hill. The beast struggled forward, broke the ring and fell over the steep edge of the rock to the sand by the water. At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws.

Thus, everyone present had a hand in attacking Simon, & preventing his escape. But Piggy doesn't want to hear this. He denies their crime, & blames everything and everyone but Ralph and himself.

"It was dark. There was that--that bloody dance. There was lightning and thunder and rain. We was scared!"
"I wasn't scared," said Ralph slowly, "I was--I don't know what I was."
"We was scared!" said Piggy excitedly. "Anything might have happened. It wasn't--what you said."

So Piggy insists that it was the darkness and the storm that caused Simon's death. He blames their actions on their fear, trying to rationalize their crime through their emotions. He ends his argument by claiming it was an accident.

"It was an accident," said Piggy suddenly, "that's what it was. An accident." His voice shrilled again. "Coming in the dark--he hadn't no business crawling like that out of the dark. He was batty. He asked for it." He gesticulated widely again. "It was an accident."

Indeed it was an accident, but most of those boys probably knew on some level that they were attacking a living, breathing human, & not the beast. They knew, but they couldn't stop themselves.

1. decide on the most appropraite definition of the term crucible in relation to the play. 2. discuss the definition in the introduction of your...

Well, let's start with a good definition of the word crucible.
Here's Merriam Webster's definition, which comports very well with all others:

Etymology: Middle English corusible, from Medieval Latin crucibulum earthen pot for melting metals
Date: 15th century
1 : a vessel of a very refractory material (as porcelain) used for melting and calcining a substance that requires a high degree of heat
2 : a severe test
3 : a place or situation in which concentrated forces interact to cause or influence change or development <conditioned by having grown up within the crucible of Chinatown — Tom Wolfe>

The only word above that you might not be familiar with is "calcining." Calcinig is a high temperature treatment of metals or ores performed in order to bring about decomposition and to remove impurities.

In the context of Miller's play, then, what is a crucible? It's a trial by drastic, extreme and wrenching scrutiny, the purpose of which is to remove all the impurities of guile, subterfuge and nonsense in order to arrive at the purity of truth.

Now, in your essay, all you have to do is to decide who the truth seekers are and who the the impure individuals are who need to have their layers of lies burned away.

What is the foreshadowing in "A Worn Path" by Eudora Welty?

In Eudora Welty's "A Worn path" the foreshadowing that is most obvious is inthe first paragraph. See below:

"It was December—a bright frozen day in the early morning. Far out in the country there was an old Negro woman with her head tied red rag, coming along a path through the pinewoods. Her name was Phoenix Jackson. She was very old and small and she walked slowly in the dark pine shadows, moving a little from side to side in her steps, with the balanced heaviness and lightness of a pendulum in a grand-father clock. She carried a thin, small cane made from an umbrella, and with this she kept tapping the frozen earth in front of her. This made a grave and persistent noise in the still air, that seemed meditative like the chirping of a solitary little bird."

Notice how Welty describes her as moving a little from side to side like a pendulum. This part symbolizes time. It foreshadows death. The next sentence "This made a grave...that seemed meditative.." This is also foreshadowing of death.

This story is so beautiful and has many illusions to time and how time is spent and death. We, as the readers, don't know about her dying grandson until later in the story.

Later in the story, Welty writes:

"Ghost," she said sharply, "who be you the ghost of? For I have heard of nary death close by."

This is a direct foreshadowing of death close by.

What are adaptations of carnivorous plants? I would need details on this topic.

In areas where soil is poor with few nutrients, carnivorous plants have the ability to trap insects, digest them and absorb the nutrients contained within the prey.These plants still carry out photosynthesis to obtain energy however, but, their leaves are modified into traps to obtain their prey. The nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus which they gain by capturing prey allow them to be more efficient at photosynthesis when the soil is nutrient--poor.  Pitcher plants and fly traps are two types of carnivorous plants. Many grow in areas such as bogs. Carnivory will supplement the nutrients available to the plant, however, doesn't replace photosynthesis as a way to obtain energy.

What is the meaning of Lines 3 through 5 in "What lips my lips have kissed" by Millay?

In my opinion, this poem is about loss, specifically, the loss of possiblities that occurs in all people as we age.  It talks of the memories of times and people and feelings past that can never come again.  I believe the lines you cite speak to this idea.

In these lines, the ghosts of these past things are in the rain.  They are tapping at her window, asking her to remember them, waiting for a reply.

But she can not completely reply to them because they are part of the past and that "summer" that they were part of sings in her no more.

So, your three lines are specifically referring to the ghosts and memories of past feelings and people and events.  They are asking to be with her again, but she can not be with them because the part of her that knew them is gone forever.

How has the theme of deception played an important part in the play Much Ado About Nothing?

Deception is an integral component of this play as are many of Shakespeare's comedies.  Some of the deceptions that occur in the play are:  Don Pedro says he will woo Hero for Claudio in Act 1, Benedick talks to Beatrice while pretending to be someone else in Act 2, Don John talks to Claudio pretending to act like he believes he is talking to Benedick in Act 2, Don John tries to make Claudio believe that Don Pedro is wooing Hero for himself in Act 2, Don Pedro, Claudio, Leonato and others conspire to trick Benedick into believing that Beatrice loves him at the end of Act 2,  Hero and Ursula conspire to trick Beatrice into believing that Benedick loves her at the start of Act 3, Don John plots to make Claudio and Don Pedro think they are seeing Hero with Borachio (it's really Margaret) in Act 3, Leonato and others pretend that Hero died of a broken heart when Claudio spurned her at their wedding in Act 4, Claudio thinks he is marrying a cousin of Hero's in Act 5 when it is really Hero.  There are other examples of deception, but with so many examples, it's easy to see why deception is so important to the play.  The entire masked ball is a deception in that everyone hides his/her identity behind the mask being worn.  Beatrice and Benedick secretly care for one another from the beginning but each one hides her/his true feelings from the other behind a mask of indifference and even, sometimes, hostility.  Don John pretends to be a loyal, caring brother to Don Pedro but he secretly wants to bring down his half-brother because he is jealous of him.  Again, lots of deceptions.

What are three personality traits of Ponyboy Curtis?

Ponyboy Curtis is incredibly intelligent, which runs really counter to the standard Greaser stereotype.  Ponyboy gets good grades in school, and his teachers recognize his natural talents in writing.  It's why Mr. Smye encourages Pony to write.  He recognizes Ponyboy's talent, and he understands that writing might be a form of catharsis for Pony as well.  

Anything you think is important enough to write about. And this isn't a reference theme; I want your own ideas and your own experiences."

Ponyboy is also a selfless individual.  He cares for other people.  He for sure cares for the other members of the Greaser gang, but he also shows a large concern for people that he doesn't even know.  Ponyboy knows that the church fire likely started because of his actions, and instead of running away to hide, Ponyboy rushes back into the church to save children he doesn't even know.  The act also shows a lot of bravery. 

"I'll get them, don't worry!" I started at a dead run for the church, and the man caught my arm. "I'll get them. You kids stay out!"

Ponyboy is also an empathetic character.  He is able to relate to a wide variety of emotions from a lot of different people.  The best example that I can think of regarding this personality trait is Pony's interactions with Cherry.  Pony is a Greaser and she is a Soc. Ponyboy really shouldn't give her the time of day let alone spend entire evenings conversing with her.  Yet, he does.  In addition to that, he is able to listen to what Cherry has to say and not toss it aside and play it off useless drivel from a Soc.  He understands that her problems are every bit as real and painful as his problems.  

"Things are rough all over."

"I believe you," I said. "We'd better get back out there with the popcorn or TwoBit'll think I ran off with his money."

And then later in the story, Pony's empathy even extends to Randy.  

"Thanks, grease," he said, trying to grin. Then he stopped. "I didn't mean that. I meant, thanks, kid."

"My name's Ponyboy," I said. "Nice talkin' to you, Randy."

I walked over to Two-Bit, and Randy honked for his friends to come and get into the car.

"What'd he want?" Two-Bit asked. "What'd Mr. Super-Soc have to say?"

"He ain't a Soc," I said, "he's just a guy. He just wanted to talk."

What made Bartleby change from such a hard worker to a unmotivated, lazy waste of space in Bartleby the Scrivener?What causes this sudden change in...

It may well be that the narrator of this tale, a rather successful Wall Street business man, had hired Bartleby at the very end of Bartleby's ability to cope. Indeed, Bartleby did, at first, work quite well. There was, however, something a bit disconcerting about Bartleby's manner:

At first Bartleby did an extraordinary quantity of writing. As if long famishing for something to copy, he seemed to gorge himself on my documents. There was no pause for digestion. He ran a day and night line, copying by sun-light and by candle-light. I should have been quite delighted with his application, had be been cheerfully industrious. But he wrote on silently, palely, mechanically.

In the science of cardiology, hearts that are about to stop beating, relinquish their dance-like rhythms and become alarmingly regular and mechanical. Perhaps this is the state that Bartleby had finally, after years at work elsewhere, devolved into. This is not laziness; it is a breakdown.

This, and maybe the offhand and impersonal way that the narrator gave Bartleby his his latest and final assigment, did the man in:

In my haste and natural expectancy of instant compliance, I sat with my head bent over the original on my desk, and my right hand sideways, and somewhat nervously extended with the copy, so that immediately upon emerging from his retreat, Bartleby might snatch it and proceed to business without the least delay.

In this very attitude did I sit when I called to him, rapidly stating what it was I wanted him to do—namely, to examine a small paper with me. Imagine my surprise, nay, my consternation, when without moving from his privacy, Bartleby in a singularly mild, firm voice, replied, “I would prefer not to.”

Bartleby, a man who had become all but a machine himself, was treated like the automaton he had become, and that was the end. He had reached the breaking point, and he broke down, like a dying heart or a seized engine. Done, finished, kaput.

In book 3 of "The Odyssey," what does Athena do as she departs?

This is actually kind of a strange part of the story.  Athena starts by sort of making up a story about why she has to leave:

"I am the only older person among them; the rest are all young men of Telemachus' own age, who have taken this voyage out of friendship; so I must return to the ship and sleep there."

This is a perfectly plausible excuse for ditching early on the party.  She goes a little further to explain why they won't be seeing her for a while:

"to-morrow I must go to the Cauconians where I have a large sum of money long owing to me."

This gives her a great excuse to disappear back to her own godly business for a while.  She even gets a bit pushy before departing:

"As for Telemachus, now that he is your guest, send him to Lacedaemon in a chariot, and let one of your sons go with him. Be pleased to also provide him with your best and fleetest horses.”

So she has really set herself up to depart...she says why she is leaving, why she won't be around for a while, and what the King can do to set up Telemachus for his trip.

But then she does something amazing, which seemingly ruins all that prep-work:

"When she had thus spoken, she flew away in the form of an eagle, and all marveled as they beheld it. Nestor was astonished, and took Telemachus by the hand. “My friend,” said he, “I see that you are going to be a great hero some day, since the gods wait upon you thus while you are still so young."

That, I think, really answers the question you are asking.  She reveals herself to be a goddess by turning into an eagle and flying away.  Why she bothered with all that subterfuge before, I don't know, if she was just going to give herself away.  But hey, she's a goddess...I guess she can do what she wants.

How did Ralph Ellison deploy music (jazz) in his novel Invisible Man?

“Ellison’s invisible man has been influenced by many jazz musicians. The writer works blues and jazz-specifically that of Louis Armstrong-into the novel to complement the narrator’s quest to define himself. Ellison not only wrote about the jazz aesthetic but also incorporated jazz techniques into his novel. Invisible Man has often been analysed for its use of jazz and blues and rhythms and motifs in the development of thr leading character, speech intonations and narrative riffs”.

Invisible Man is an outstanding novel written by the African American Ralph Ellison in which he tackles the eternal theme of racism and identity search. The novel relates the story of a black nameless character referred to as “Invisible Man”. Besides its political dimensions, the novel can be considered for its aesthetic aspects as highly influenced by jazz music. Given that Ralph Ellison studied composition and played the trumpet, the novel contains many references to jazz music. The novel was a creation which shows the writer’s ambivalence about the “opportunities” and “penalties” of being black in a white dominated society. Thus, through the use of Armstrong’s song Ellison tries to epitomize the Invisible Man’s suffering for being black skinned. This is evident in the song lyrics, for instance “What did I do to be so black and blue”. ”My only sin is in my skin”. Invisibility here is because of the “sin” of blackness in a white world. Through this song Ellison expresses the character’s depression and non-satisfaction of identity. Questions as “Who the hell am I?” creates feelings of puzzled identity in the narrator’s mind. Jazz continues to dominate till the ends of the novel to enable the narrator realize what true identity is for him. At many levels in the novel the he listens to blues to show his actual state of mind and feelings. In addition to that, many of the characters are singers of blues such as Peter Weatstraw and True blood.

In "The Necklace" can you describe Madame Loisel's reaction upon reading the invitation?

Madame Loisel was a woman who desired to go to parties, to have a lot of fancy dresses, and to move in rich social circles.  She expressed this desire to her husband often, and was discontented and unsatisfied with her current life that was devoid of any luxuries and fine social events.  So, when her husband brings home an invitation to a super fancy dinner party and dance, one would expect her reaction to be one of happiness and joy.  Instead, ironically, she is upset.  The text states,

"Instead of being delighted, as her husband had hoped, she threw the invitation on the table crossly, muttering:  'What do you wish me to do with that?'"

Her husband is astonished--he can't believe that she isn't excited about this invitation to an event like she has craved for years.  She goes on to explain that she has no dress to wear to such an event--is she supposed to go dressed like a pauper?  And, she has no jewels or pretty things to adorn herself with.  So, the invitation just upsets her, because it is useless without the propoer party gear to wear.  She refuses to show up in any of her dresses.  It's not a very grateful reaction, but, gratefulness is not Madam Loisel's strongpoint.

Her husband sacrifices money to get a dress, and she borrows a necklace from a friend, and it is only after these things occur that she is finally happy and excited about the invite.  But her initial reaction was one of dismay and unhappiness.  I hope that those thoughts helped; good luck!

Describe the suspected effects of hormones being added to our foods. Is there a link between early puberty and the added hormones?

Added hormones, to varying extent, are used (or have been used) extensively in food production.  Hormones have been used in animals in order to make them grow faster, which increases profitability (the faster the animals grow large the faster they can be butchered.)  In addition, hormones have been used in milk production to increase the output of the cows.  The question you are asking is whether these added hormones have an effect on our health, specifically whether the added hormones are having an effect on the age at which puberty starts.  Let's take a look:

It is important to remember that whether or not "extra" hormones are added to animals, there are already hormones in them (in the same way that people have hormones in their blood.)  What the debate is concerned with is the addition of extra hormones.  The biggest concern people have with hormones being added to animals (cattle or cow,) aside from the distasteful nature of messing with nature, is that the hormones will cause an increase in the risk of cancer for those people who consume them.

There are six different kids of hormones that are approved for use in cattle and sheep, and one hormone that is approved for use in dairy cows.  The problem is that not a lot of good research has been done about the effect of these hormones on humans (when it comes to causing cancer or early puberty.)  Partially the problem is that the hormones are already naturally occurring within the animals in quantities that vary between animals...therefore, it becomes difficult to determine (looking at the milk or meat) how much of the hormone found there is natural and how much of it was a result of the application of the hormone artificially.

There are links between steroid hormones and breast cancer, as well as early puberty and breast cancer, but the amount of steroid hormone that might be transmitted by beef is tiny compared to the amount the body is naturally producing.  According to Cornell University: "The breast cancer risk of women who eat meat from hormone-treated animals has not been compared with the risk of women who eat meat from untreated animals." This further complicates things.

The situation is similar to the hormones introduced to dairy cows to increase milk production.  Though largely eliminated in the US due to public pressure (and banned in a lot of other places in the world) "growth hormones" in dairy cows "is effective in promoting growth in cows, but does not work in humans. Scientists know that rbGH is not recognized as a hormone by human cells." It would seem that the cow hormone does not have an influence on human beings, but that "evidence does not exist to answer this question. Use of rbGH for dairy cattle has been in practice in US for only six to seven years. Breast cancer can take many years to develop. It is too early to study the breast cancer risk of women who drink milk and eat milk products from hormone-treated animals."

So there you have it. People worry about hormones being added to their food and causing cancer or early puberty, but there aren't any good studies proving these theories.   That doesn't mean the links don't exist, but they have not been proven so far.  The opinion of a lot of people, though, is "why take the chance?"

In Jack London's "To Build a Fire," what evidence does the story present that the dog by instinct knows the folly of the journey?

The evidence is everywhere. And evidence is not just of the dog's knowledge of the folly of the journey, it is the animal's instinctual fear of the danger of such an endeavor.

In this story, there are three elements: the man, the dog, and nature. The man is on a journey "bound for the old claim on the left fork of Henderson Creek;" the dog, nameless, accompanies him; and nature in this story is a vast, deadly cold wilderness.

"To Build a Fire" is built around the interaction of these three elements and each one is vitally important to the point: The man is a newcomer to these territories. Such newcomers even have a name; they are called "chechaquos." And worse for him, it is the dead of winter. Not only does he not know the lay of the land, he doesn't know the dire danger of the cold. The dog, however, knows the cold instinctually. It is the interplay between the supposedly intelligent man and the instinct of the beast that the story derives its meaning.

In the space remaining, I will highlight the some of the passages that deal with the dog's deeper knowledge of the imminent danger and not just the folly of the journey:

1)

At the man's heels trotted a dog, a big native husky, the proper wolf dog, gray-coated and without any visible or temperamental difference from its brother, the wild wolf. The animal was depressed by the tremendous cold. It knew that it was no time for travelling. Its instinct told it a truer tale than was told to the man by the man's judgement.

2)

The dog did not know anything about thermometers. Possibly in its brain there was no sharp consciousness of a condition of very cold such as was in the man's brain. But the brute had its instinct. It experienced a vague but menacing apprehension that subdued it and made it slink along at the man's heels, and that made it question eagerly every unwonted movement of the man as if expecting him to go into camp or to seek shelter somewhere and build a fire.

3)

The dog dropped in again at his heels, with a tail drooping discouragement, as the man sung along the creek bed.

4)

Once again, however, he had a close call; and once, suspecting danger, he compelled the dog to go on in front. The dog did not want to go. It hung back until the man shoved it forward, and then it went quickly across the white, unbroken surface.

5)

The dog was disappointed and yearned back toward the fire. The man did not know cold. Possibly all the generations of his ancestry had been ignorant of cold, of real cold, of cold one hundred and seven degrees below freezing point. But the dog knew; all its ancestry knew, and it had inherited the knowledge. And it knew that it was not good to walk abroad in such fearful cold. It was the time to lie snug in a hole in the snow and wait for a curtain of cloud to be drawn across the face of outer space whence this cold came.

6)

And all the while the dog sat and watched him, a certain yearning wistfulness in its eyes, for it looked upon him as the fire provider, and the fire was slow in coming.

7)

It flattened its ears down at the sound of the man's voice, and its restless, hunching movements and liftings and shiftings of its forefeet became more pronounced; but it would not come to the man. He got on his hands and knees and crawled toward the dog. This unusual posture again excited suspicion, and the animal sidled mincingly away.

The evidence is manifest, for it is embedded in the meaning of this harrowing tale.

When conc. nitric acid is allowed to react with copper,what is the color change of the resulting solution and the ion responsible for this change?

Nitric acid is called also hard water.

Nitric acid is found in tiny amounts in the atmosphere and water rain, due to lightning, but it does not remain as such, combining with ammonia in the atmosphere, giving ammonium nitrate. Of the nitrates, the most important are: sodium nitrate (saltpeter of Chile), potassium (saltpeter from India) and calcium (saltpetre of Norway).

In laboratory, nitric acid is prepared from salts (natural nitrate) by treatment with hot concentrated sulphuric acid. The reaction takes place intwo stages:

I) NANO + H SO -> HNO + NaHSO

II) NANO + NaHSO -> HNO + Na SO

2NANO+ H SO -> 2HNO + Na SO

In pure state is colorless, pungent-smelling, with density 1.52. It dissolves in water, in any proportions, providing various concentrations of nitric acid. Nitric acid with a concentration of 96-98%, smokes in the air because it's vapors absorb moisture and give birth to a fog consisting of fine drops of liquid.

Concentrated nitric acid is colored yellow because dioxide carbon that is formed after partial decomposition in air, in presence of light and which remains dissolved in it:

4 HNO -> 4 NO + H 2 O + O ^

Therefore it should be stored in dark bottles and in darkness.Concentrated nitric acid, rich in NO, is called fuming nitric acid.

In aqueous solution ionizes as reversible reaction:

HNO + H O = [H O] + NO

This acid is one of the strongest, with a high degree of ionization.

With Nitric acid, copper reacts violently, forming copper nitrate, Cu (NO3) 2,  nitrogen monoxide which oxidizes instantaneously into nitrogen dioxide and  water. In the tube appears a suffocating gas, irritating, light reddish brown, due to nitrogen dioxide formed from the oxidation of nitrogen monoxide.

8HNO3 + 3Cu → 3Cu (NO3) 2 + 2NO + 4HNO3

2NO + O2 → 2NO2

What would be a possible thesis for the short story "A & P" by John Updike?

There are many possible angles to take in writing about John Updike's story "A & P." It all just depends on your opinion of the story and whether any particular aspect of it stands out in your assessment as being worthy of note. A couple of ideas that one might explore in a thesis have to do with Sammy's reaction to the girls; Sammy's moral predicament; Sammy's choices in his moral predicament; the theme of individuality; or Updike's authorial style choices.

One could take a position in relation to Sammy's reaction to the girls' attire as being representative of Marxist literary theory with Sammy standing for the exploiting capitalist class and the girls standing for the exploited worker class. One could discuss Sammy's moral predicament while listening to the manager scold the girls in terms of a rigid archaic Victorian social moral code that not only constrains but also ostracizes. One could discuss Sammy's choice to quit his job in terms of the irrationality and shortsightedness of youth that acts as self-sabotage and causes endless difficulties.

One could discuss the self-imposed constraints of an individuality that doesn't leave room for social realities, or, on the other hand, that would enlighten society if a demonstration of individuality could initiate a successful rebellion against status quo. One could discuss Updike's choices in vocabulary, discussing his use of adjectives and adverbs or his choice of prepositional relationship words.

How did William Shakespeare impact historical and modern culture?please nothing about english literature :S because i already got impact on...

Shakespeare may be the greatest unacknowledged philosopher of all-time.  His art reflects nearly every major documented philosophical movement.  Examine Hamlet's famous "To be or not to be" soliloquy and you can foresee the upcoming schism between the continental and the analytic philosophers.

Colin McGinn's new book, Shakespeare's Philosophy, examines the impact of just six plays on the study of thought.  So says the Amazon review:

The book examines Shakespeare in relation to Hume, Wittgenstein and such major philosophical questions as nothingness, language, causation and the nature of knowledge. McGinn makes a credible case that the essays of Montaigne as well as skepticism and naturalism had a clear influence on Shakespeare's writings, bringing unexpected freshness to topics that are well-worn in high school curriculums. Most interesting is McGinn's earnest delight in rediscovering Shakespeare's characters, such as the tragic Cordelia and the indecisive Hamlet. McGinn's gift, aside from his clear and beautiful prose, is in recognizing Shakespeare's genius in creating true and recognizable people, who ring as true to modern audiences as they did to his contemporaries. "He told us how the world looks from the perspective of itself. And the world never looked the same again." This conclusion implies that just as Shakespeare the playwright still moves his audiences, so, too, can Shakespeare the philosopher.

Shakespeare has stood the test of time because he connects to so many other texts, to so many other disciplines, and, most importantly, to so many of our hearts and heads.

I have to find 2 objects in Romeo and Juliet and draw a picture and write a paragraph for each picture.I really need help so please I have to know...

You would be more likely to get really good help if you tell us what kinds of objects you need -- what the point of the assignment is...

I'm going to guess that you are supposed to draw and write about objects that have meaning for the story as a whole.  If I'm right, good.  If I'm wrong, sorry...

I would pick first a mask.  It would be the mask that Romeo wore to go to the ball at the Capulets.  The mask is important because it allowed him to meet Juliet.

I would pick second a vial of poison.  It would be the poison that Romeo took to kill himself when he thought that Juliet was dead.

Between them, those two objects would help tell much of the story.

I hope that's what you meant...

Consider Harrison Bergeron in terms of both his physical qualities and personality traits.

Physically, Harrison Bergeron represents everything that is desirable in a young man in a normal society.  He has exceptional looks, intelligence, and strength. Vonnegut lets the readers know this through the handicaps that Harrison is forced to wear, such as a red-ball nose, immense weights, and earphones instead of a tiny government earpiece to interrupt his brain activity.

Mentally and emotionally, Harrison is also exceptional.  His rebellion on government TV demonstrates that every attempt to "normalize" him has not worked and that his mental capacity cannot be reigned in.  Likewise, his romantic emotional nature is portrayed through his choosing the ballerina, dancing with her, and sharing a poignant kiss with her.

Vonnegut uses Harrison to illustrate the need for individuality in society.

In the beginning of "The Gift of the Magi" what are some pronouns you may find?Begining with the paragraph "Della finished her cry."

Pronouns are where you replace proper nouns with more generalized terms such as he, she, we, they, us, them, etc.  For example, instead of saying "Susan, Jeffrey and Sam went to the movies last night," you would replace the proper nouns (the official names) with a suitable and grammatically correct pronoun.  In that sentence, the pronoun you need is "they."  So, the sentence would read, "They went to the movies last night."  Pronouns help to simplify speech a bit, and not make it so repetitive; it would get tedious and difficult to repeatedly say, over and over again, "Susan, Jeffrey and Sam," if you were going to keep talking about all of the things that they did after the movies.  It's much easier to say "they," and the audience knows who "they" is referring to, because you've already named them.

In "The Gift of the Magi," there are really only two main characters--Jim and Della.  To keep saying their names over and over again is redundant.  So, O. Henry replaces their names with "he" and "she."  If you look at the paragraph that begins with "Della finished her cry," you see the pronoun "she" and "her" all over the place.  Those two pronouns, she and her, are referring to Della.  One other pronoun you see is "him."  That refers to Jim, who Della is contemplating in that part of the story.

I hope that those thoughts help to clarify what pronouns are for you, and to find a couple in the story; good luck!

What is Othello's tragic flaw that causes his downfall?

Othello's suffering results mostly from his poor judgment.  He trusts the wrong people and mistrusts those who are most loyal to him (Desdemona and Cassio).  In Act 3, he sets aside his sensible, military side and falls prey to Iago's manipulation.

It must be noted in Othello's case, though, that while he might share Brutus's tragic flaw (from Julius Caesar), Othello deserves more sympathy from the audience.  In a sense, he is a victim of his time period.  While Brutus exercised poor judgment throughout Julius Caesar, he was used to commanding respect because of his family and character and did not have to fight against prejudice.  In contrast, Othello's poor judgment largely results from his self-doubt regarding his true acceptance into European society.  He has been conditioned to think that he is not good enough for Desdemona or the inner sanction of white society.

While some argue that Othello's tragic flaw is jealousy, he really does not suffer from that until Iago plants seeds of doubt in his heart regarding Desdemona. Normally, Shakespeare's tragic characters establish a pattern connected to their tragic flaws, and there really is no pattern to justify jealousy as a flaw with which Othello has constantly struggled.

Here is a video about the characters of Othello:

What might be a "thesis statement" combainig: "A Doll's House", "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "A Long Day's Journey into Night"?

You might approach the three titles A Doll's House, A Street Car Named Desire and Long Days' Journey into Night from a thematic framework. For instance, O'Neill's work, Long Day's Journey into Night, delves into the search for self as a theme. Principally represented in Edmund's character, Edmund must choose a path to self-realization or follow the other characters into regret, escapism or spiritual oblivion.

In Willaims' A Street Car Named Desire, Blanche battles against the expectations of self-identity and the realities of self-expression. Her dilemma is related to Edmund's in that both have chaos and order to choose from on the quest for their path to self-realization.

In Ibsen's A Doll's House, Nora has established a path of self-realization for herself based on carefully chosen and guarded chaos and order. When Torvald discoveres her secret, his understanding of her identity is shattered and Nora is left to make a new choice regarding self-realization. This parallels the events following Mitch's discovery of Blanche's past.

In "The Crucible" Danforth believes it is a "sharp time" where good and evil are not "mixed" in people, but are easily distinguishable. Do you agree?

I disagree.  Danforth's assertion is one that he sticks to, because it emphasizes his skills as a judge, and what he has been doing there.  And, he states it right after Proctor, Giles and Francis have come in and tried to assign ulterior motives to many of the townsfolk for their accusations.  If those men were right, that would mean that his judgment of witchcraft were wrong.  So, he is trying to reassert his authority and power there.

He is basically saying that we live in a time where people aren't really evil--but when they are, they are SUPER evil and do things like become witches.  And when they do that, it's easy to discern, easy to root out.  Well, if you look at the evidence from the play, that is not true at all.  Jealousy, greed, bitterness, attraction, desire--these are all emotions that all of experience, regularly.  They are negative, often destructive feelings, but the average person feels them quire regularly.  They aren't SUPER evil, they are human.  And they exist in all sorts of subtle, complicated ways that sometimes we don't even realize ourselves.  We don't even know what we are feeling half the time, we just know we're in a bad mood that day.  So, evil is not clear-cut, it's not dramatically huge, and it doesn't only occur in rare cases of witchcraft.  In the case of Salem, the accusations of witchcraft occurred NOT because these ladies and men were witches, but because the accusers all held complicated labyrinths of normal, negative human emotions in their hearts.  They were jealous, afraid, bitter, and greedy.  They weren't witches, they were human, and that happens all of the time, and it's complicated and tricky to figure it all out, not easy.

Those are just my thoughts on the matter, but I hope that they helped to spark your own.  Good luck!

Please paraphrase the character sketch of 'The Wife of Bath' in Chaucer's 'Prologue' to "The Canterbury Tales."

The General Prologue introduction of the Wife of Bath in the Canterbury Tales describes her in detail telling her location, most pronounced physical characteristic, occupation, skill, religious behavior, wealth and style, facial features, her standing in the community, her worldly experiences, her teeth (symbolic of sexuality), her horsemanship, her head wear, her physique, her psychological traits (spur the horse), her sociability, her dabblings in magical and herbal remedies.

A prose paraphrase of Geoffrey Chaucer's description in poetry of the Wife of Bath might run something like this:

In the company was a wife from Bath or its environs who was a little bit hard of hearing. She wove cloth and was more skilled at it than the famous weavers of Belgium in Ypres and Ghent. She was religious and in her perish gave liberal church offerings. In fact, she was angry if any wife gave more than she did and would lose all charitable feelings and kindness toward any for doing so.

Her clothes displayed her wealthy position. Her headgear was of the best material and weave and so elaborate that they weighed at least ten pounds. Her stockings were a scarlet red,  the best and most expensive, and she kept them firmly up so they didn't sag and bunch around her ankles. Her shoes were of the best leather, soft, well cared for and new. Her face was attractive and red in color; her expression bold and not timid.

She was a respectable wife. She had had church weddings to five husbands. But that doesn't count other flings she had in her youth, which aren't worth mentioning anymore. She had traveled three time to Jerusalem and could give travelogues of all the places in between. She'd seen Rome, Boulogne, Spain at Santiago and Cologne.

She had a gap between her front teeth and was a good horsewoman. Her headdress was copious with many folds under her chin and the hat she wore over it was as broad as a shield of armor. Her skirt was tucked under her so as not to drag. She had big hips. On her new, soft shoes, she wore spurs and wasn't afraid to use them on the horse. In company, she could comfortably laugh and converse. Lastly, she knew the remedies of love such as love potions; after five husbands, she knew the ancient ways of love.

In Lord of the Flies, what are Ralph, Piggy, Simon, Jack and Roger's attitudes towards being on the island?

Ralph and Piggy both begin their stay on the island with the attitude that it will be temporary.  Ralph has no doubt initially that they will be rescued, perhaps by his pilot-father.  Both take the attitude that they should make the most of their time and create a civilization to mirror the one from whence they came, complete with leaders and rules.

Jack and Roger, on the other hand, view their time as an opportunity to be free of adulot supervision, and they begrudge Ralph's and Piggy's efforts at maintaining civility.  They take a sort of survival-of-the-fittest attitude and neglect the care of the younger boys altogether.  They do not see an end to their time on the island; as a result, they are unconcerned with the signal fire.  Instead, they worry about hunting and gradually digress to a primitive state.

Simon is, perhaps, the hardest of the boys to figure out.  He sees his role on the island as one of caregiver to the younger boys, but he does not take an active role in maintaining order.  He retreats to his hiding place in the forest in times when conflict brews.  He knows subconsciously that his ultimate purpose is one of sacrifice, and that the others will not realize what they are becoming until his sacrifice is complete.

Using chapters 8 and 9 of "The Great Gatsby," describe the young James Gatz.

Not only does Jay Gatsby create his personage as an Oxford man of great wealth, but he recreates his childhood by not acknowledging his parents, poor farmers, as his own.  In fact, he changes his name from Gatz to Gatsby.

While Jay Gatz attends a Lutheran college in southern Minnesota where he must work as a janitor to put himself through school, he mets Dan Cody, who invites him onto his yacht, introducing him to the life of the wealthy.  Jay lives with Dan Cody until the man dies.  With some wealth of his own and his dreams, Jay, then, enters the army.

Near his army town, Jay meets his femme fatale, Daisy:  "She was the first 'nice' girl he had ever known.  Knowing that the "invisible cloak of his uniform might slip from his shoulders," he takes advantage of what he can get, including Daisy, whom he deludes into believing that he is of the same socio-economic class as she; he assures her he can support her.  As Nick puts it, Gatsby "had committed himself to the following of a grail."  Gatsby becomes aware of the power of riches.  As a dreamer, Gatsby's obsession becomes what he lives for, his "American Dream."

After completing his tour of duty in the Army, Gatsby attends Oxford and, later, returns to the U.S. where he becomes involved in a drug ring, acquiring great wealth in his criminal activity.  After learning that Daisy lives on Long Island, in order to be near her, he purchases a mansion on the other side of the bay.  When he discovers that his neighbor Nick is a cousin of Daisy's, he asks Nick to take him to the mansion of Daisy.  From this point the present action of the plot takes place.

Help me in writing a speech on the topic of 'necessity is the mother of invention'.

Throughout history, man has invented things as his need for them arose, and according to his understanding at the time.  As a general rule, most men and women go along in life quite content with the way things are around them, until a situation comes along that provides a stumbling block (so to speak) to their forward progress.  For example, a large rock rolls down the mountain and onto the road, blocking the highway and making everyone have to detour around it.  The masses come and go until, invariably, someone eventually comes along who looks at the rock in his way, wants to remove it, figures out how to do it with tools and dynamite, blasts it away, then restores the road to its original condition and goes merrily on his way.  Such is and always has been man's great ability to adapt, invent, and improve.  This, I think, is the message behind the saying, "Necessity is the Mother of invention."

In A Thousand Splendid Suns, why does Mariam refuse to see visitors and have witnesses at her trial?

Mariam does not want to see visitors because she has made her choice to be martyred, or in other words, to take all the blame for her and Laila's husband's death upon her, sparing Laila.  If she sees those whom she loves and who are the only people who loved her during her painful life, she is afraid that she will be tempted to tell the truth and that she might not go through with what she feels is her duty.

In regards to witnesses, she cannot have anyone testify because she does not want anyone to know what really happened to Rasheeds, and witnesses might deconstruct her carefully planned story.  She is willingly going to her death so that Laila might be spared.

How does Arthur Miller create tension in Act 3 of The Crucible?How would I write a good introduction with this question?

Miller masterfully builds suspense and tension in Act 3 through the following elements.

1.  The judges and "afflicted" girls for once in the play have a worthy opponent in John Proctor.  He comes to court armed with Mary Warren (who can but doesn't testify that the girls are faking), a petition of sorts testifying of the goodness of his wife and Martha Corey and Rebecca Nurse and signed by many of the townspeople, and a willingness to confess his adulterous relationship with Abigail.  It seems that the tide might change in the trials if John is successful.

2. The tension between Abigail and John is at is most elevated level in Act 3.  Abigail knows that John might tell the court that she confessed that the dancing and conjuring in the forest was just for "sportin."  She is aware that he has the power to end all the attention that she has been receiving.  Likewise, John knows that he must make a choice at this point between keeping his pride and reputation and his wife and others' well-being.  Only Abigail stands in the way of his wife being released from jail.

3. In Act 3, the tension also mounts between Rev. Hale and the judges.  Rev. Hale, who was originally on the judges' side, has come to see the truth of the situation in Salem and enters into a conflict with the judges and Rev. Parris.

As the playwright draws Act 3 to a close, the audience is left wondering what actions/words will resolve all of the conflict and tension.

In answer to your question about an introduction, I am not sure if you are going to turn the question into a thesis statement, but if you do so, then you should begin your introduction with a broader discussion of conflict/tension in general or perhaps even several sentences about how the quest for power leads to tension in a community.  Good luck!

What are some examples of how the narrator (Doodle's brother) was mean or cruel to poor Doodle?

The narrator, known only as "Brother," is cruel to Doodle in various ways. He wheels Doodle around much too fast and Doodle falls out of the little cart. He takes Doodle up to see the coffin that was meant to be his. He also pushes Doodle beyond Doodle's limits purely out of pride. The narrator cannot bear the thought of having a brother who is "different" when he starts school.

In the play The Crucible, what do proctor and putman argue about? and what does this show?this is in act one of the play

In Act I, Putnam and Proctor argue about quite a few things when they are all in Parris' house.  Most of these arguments include Parris.  But the one argument that is pretty much just between the two of them is the argument over the wood that Proctor says he's going to drag home.

They are arguing over whether the forest the wood comes from belongs to Proctor or to Putnam.

To me, this shows that Putnam is motivated largely by greed.  Later on, we'll see that a lot of people who get accused of witchcraft are people who have economic disputes with Putnam.  I think this is meant to show how grasping he is -- how he wants to get rich even if it means taking stuff from others.

In chapter 21 what does Jem expect the verdict to be? Does Atticus think the same?

Jem is idealistic: his idea of justice is based on what should be, not the reality of the community in which they live. When he sees Atticus, he asks, "We've won, haven't we?" Reverent Sykes takes a more prudent point of view, saying “Now don’t you be so confident, Mr. Jem, I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man.” He attempts to soften the blow before Jem's optimism is destroyed by the racism of the town.

Atticus knows the true nature of the men sitting on the jury. He tells Jem that the jury most likely won't be out long, & when Jem asks if that's because they'll acquit Tom quickly, "Atticus opened his mouth to answer, but shut it and left [them]." Atticus knows he will lose, but he also knows that he has done the right thing in defending Tom, & not only that, but he's done his best as well. He didn't just take the case & go through the motions; he fought as well as he could, using his moral strength to guide him. Even though he doesn't want to disappoint Jem, and ruin his idealism, he knows it's important for his children to truly understand. So he allows them to watch the verdict being read. Even though it may be painful (and indeed, Jem cries with anger), Atticus sees this moment as essential in his childrens' maturation.

How would I go about writing my own introduction to my own declaration of independence? Any ideas...

I agree with the previous poster. I would add that it may be helpful for you to review the structure and argument of the Declaration of Independence. Consider how you might echo some of the original document even as you adapt the text to serve your own ends.

For example:

"When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people [you could change this to "one person" or "a young man/woman"] to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another [you could change this to "his/her parents"] and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind [you could change this to "common sense"] requires that they should declare the causes which impel them [you could change this to "drive me" or "leave me"] to the separation."

Make as many changes as you can in order to really make the new text fit your particular writing situation. Also, if you want, you could go on to list your grievances and your resolutions.

This strategy really isn't plagiarism; it'd be more accurately called adaptaton or appropriation. You wouldn't be the first to do it, either. See the second and thrid links below for examples of adaptations from the Vietnam war era. If you doubt that the readers of your document will recognize your piece as an adaptation or appropriation, though, you may very well want to err on the side of caution and add a note at the bottom of your document that reads something like: "Inspired by and adapted from 'The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America.'"