What is the theme of "Ralph the Duck" by Frederick Busch ?I found it hard to come up with a sentence that can convey all of the aspects in the...

One of the central themes in the story is coping with loss. All of the dysfunctional expressions in the story--especially the alienation that the unnamed narrator experiences on multiple levels--point back to the death of his daughter. Or, rather, the damaging affects of losing a loved one is a closer description of the story's theme. The alienation and sense of misunderstanding that the narrator experiences between the student he meets (who interprets his affection for sexual harassment), his professor (who is condescending towards him), and with his wife, who is struggling with the same debilitating pain, all correlates to the brokenness brought on by the death of his daughter. His role as a security guard and his understanding of "Rhetoric and Persuasion" is seen through the lens of his painful past.  

What is Hardy's idea of tragedy that can be formed from the story of Tess in Tess of the d'Urbervilles?

Tess of the d'Urbervilles was a highly controversial novel, so controversial, in fact, that after the public reaction (to Tess and to Jude the Obscure), Hardy gave up prose fiction altogether and wrote exclusively poetry for the remainder of his career. Tess does truly have a tragic end based on her Aristotelian tragic flaw. Tess's tragedy is precipitated by other circumstances beside her own inner flaw. From a brief examination of these narrative elements, we can infer something of Hardy's idea of tragedy.

Based upon what may be inferred through Tess's story, for Hardy tragedy required first an Aristotelian good, intellectually and morally elevated heroine who was governed by one flaw in thinking, perceiving, or behaving that led to her downfall, perhaps, for Hardy, downfall many times over. Tess's flaw is that she is naive and gullible. These combine to make her easily influenceable thus easily manipulated.

Circumstances that affect the precipitation of tragedy center mainly around three other characters: Angel Clare, Vicar Clare, Alec Stokes-d'Urberville. Their significance is described briefly below.

• Angel Clare: Arrogance of superior intellect though softened under a kind and generous spirit. Given to extreme emotional reactions to adversity (e.g., his "eight-and-forty hours" of "dissipation" upon being disappointing about his future education). Influences Tess to higher intellectual thoughts. Influences Tess to betray her own wisdom through relentless pursuit. Reacts emotionally in the extreme and in accord with his childhood teachings when he rejects Tess after her confession (which she had learned not to to dread because of his own confession).

• Vicar Clare, toward Angel: Staunchly adamant in old fashioned practices and narrow perspectives on good and right. Denies Angel a university education at Cambridge because Angel declines to be a clergyman. Angel becomes somewhat hardened in his own heart and somewhat bitter, both of which affect his behavior toward Tess.

• Alec Stokes-d'Urberville: Cold, arrogant, demanding, unfeeling, unintellectual; no compunction about forcing his desires on Tess. He represents the standard of male mentality and behavior in the traditional England Hardy is criticizing.

[Tess] "And you had used your cruel persuasion upon me … you did not stop using it—no—you did not stop! ... And at last I believed you and gave way!"

Hardy's idea of tragedy starts in accord with the Aristotelian model of heroic qualities and ends in accord with the Shakespearean Renaissance variation demanding consequences so severe that they must end in the death of the principle character. Note that Hardy's idea of tragedy incorporates women's lives as principal tragic heroines as freely as Shakespeare holds to principal tragic heroes (Macbeth, Hamlet, etc). Some points that can be inferred about Hardy's idea of tragedy are:

1. good but flawed heroine.
2. external influences beleaguering heroine.
3. fate, coincidence, accident confounding heroine's best efforts and intentions.
4. inability to separate moral necessity from human necessity; distrusting common sense thus acting wrongly; common sense represented by the "Fool" in Tess, Tess's mother.
5. final abandonment of personal belief when influenced, in the extreme adversity, by oppositional immoral, inhumane forces (i.e., Alec).  
6. circumstance, fate, accident, coincidence breaking down heroine's reason and moral judgement as conflict between moral necessity and human necessity creates insupportable grief and despair.
7. fatal ending of just desserts brought about by tragic unforeseeable circumstances mixing with tragic flaw.

Explain how the qualities of Mr. Lorry in "A Tale of Two Cities" are significant.

Mr. Lorry, the "man in brown" is a quiet, gentleman, meticulous in his dress as he sits at the inn, displaying his "brown stockings fitted sleek and close" much in contrast to the loud Mr. Stryver, who "shoulders his way through life."  Unobtrusive, he is the consummate banker, who holds information in confidence and only deals with the facts, as he tells Lucie Manette when he meets her.  As one of the "pair characters" of Dickens's novels, Mr. Lorry, like Dr. Manette, is a respectable, professional, older man.  He and Dr. Manette are also significant as they advance the theme of Resurrection and Imprisonment/Death in the novel.

Mr. Lorry is significant in his protective role in Dickens's novel.  He takes Lucie as an infant in England, rescues her father from France, and helps with the escape of his friends from Revolutionary France at the end of the novel.  Although he is a bachelor, Mr. Lorry displays much affection for the Darnays, and acts often as an adviser to the family as in Chapter 19 he talks with Dr. Manette about his malady as though about another person so as not to disturb Manette. Humbly he asks the doctor,

'I am a mere man of business, and unfit to cope with such intricate and difficult matters....I do not possessthe kind of information necessary...I want guiding.  There is no man in this world on whom I could so rely for right guidance, as on you.  Tell me, how does this relapse come about?....Pray, discuss it with me; pray enable me to see it a little more clearly, and teachme how to be a little more useful.

Thus, in his quiet manner, Mr. Lorry aids Dr. Manette to break from his obsessive behavior of shoemaking in the night.  In addition, he encourages Lucie to be brave when Charles is imprisoned.  About this imprisonment he has some knowledge, since he has submitted himself for years to the dungeon-like environment of Tellson's Bank.  Mr. Lorry, like Dr. Manette, has endures. 

WOULD YOU ANSWER THESE THREE QUESTIONS BASED ON THE POEM OF "METAPHORS" BY SYLVIA PLATH?1. WHAT IS THE THEME? 2. HOW DOES THE FORM OF THE POEM...

Here's the poem:

I'm a riddle in nine syllables,

An elephant, a ponderous house,

A melon strolling on two tendrils.

O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!

This loaf's big with its yeasty rising.

Money's new-minted in this fat purse.

I'm a means, a stage, a cow in calf.

I've eaten a bag of green apples,

Boarded the train there's no getting off.

THEME: The expecting mother feels like a means to an end; she has become a devalued host.  She's suffering from a kind of pre-partum depression.  She describes herself in bloated imagery compared to the more valuable baby inside her.  She is an elephant that hunters might want to kill for its tusks (the baby).  She is the purse that one might want to steal for the money.  She is the ponderous house one might want to raze for its fine timber.

FORM: It's a 9 by 9 poem: 9 syllable; 9 lines.  9 for the 9 months of pregnancy, of course.  It's titled "Metaphors" because she's bombarding her reader with them.  The poem has two sets of metaphors.  Each "mother" metaphor matches up with a "baby" one.

(MOTHER)  vs.  (BABY)

• Riddle vs. nine syllables


• Elephant vs. ivory


• House vs. fine timber


• Melon vs. red fruit


• Loaf vs. yeast


• Fat purse vs. money


• Means/stage vs. (implied)--"end"


• Cow vs. calf


• Bag vs. green apple(s)


• Train vs. (implied)--"passenger"

TONE: The poem is a sort of complaint, not aimed at the baby, of course.  It's aimed at others who see through her, those who are interested in her baby and her pregnancy more than her.  You know the people who ask the same old questions: "When are you due?"  "Are you hoping for a boy or a girl?"  Maybe it's a complaint toward motherhood.  Maybe toward her mother or the mothering types.  Maybe toward her body.  It can be read playfully (as resignation), and it can be read darkly (as anxiety).  Regardless, she's going to have the baby (i.e., she's "boarded the train; there's not getting off").

Based on the following factors, what do developing countries have in common?The following factors are population, median age, growth rate, birth...

The common features of developing countries in term of listed factors are discussed below

Population: there need not be any commonality between developing countries in term of population the two countries with the largest population  - that is China and India are developing countries. At the same time small countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are also developing countries.

Median age, birth rate, death rate, infant mortality, life expectancy, and fertility rate: All these factors have direct bearing on the population growth rate. And the population growth rate including birth rate and death rate are known to be related to the stage of economic development stage of a country. Thus developing countries are more likely to have a combination of low death rate with falling birth rate. This would mean high but declining population growth rate.

Growth rate and GDP: These factors really define the countries as developed, developing or under developed. Developing countries have low to medium GDP which is growing at medium to high rate.

Migration rate: Economic development is always marked by shift from agriculture based economy to industry based economy. This in turn involves migration of people from rural  to urban areas. Therefore developing countries are likely to experience high migration rate.

Literacy rate: Economic development, among other things results in higher literacy. Therefore developing countries are likely to have low to medium literacy rates, which is increasing at medium to high rates.

Was Shakespeare gay?

The answer would be - we simply do not know anything for certain about Shakespeare's sexual preferences.

From surviving records we can be fairly certain that in 1582 William Shakespeare, age 18, was married to Anne Hathaway, age 26, his neighbor in Stratford. To further tease our uncertainty, the happy couple's names differ from one record to another.  The church register tells us that one 'Willelmum Shaxpere' applied for a license to marry 'Annam Whatley de Temple Grafton.' The next day in the bond for marriage document, the bride was listed as 'Anne Hathwey.' This bond of forty pounds was required to attest to the teenaged groom's financial stability and legal responsibilities to the union and probably provided some assurance to the Hathaway family. There may have been some reason to worry. On May 26, six months after the marriage of William and Anne, Susanna Shakespeare was christened.  Two years later, on February 2, 1585, Judith and Hamnet, twin boy and girl, were born. So, despite the inconsistencies of spelling, the greatest dramatist of his age was a husband and a father. Speculation that Shakespeare might have been gay, aside from the cross-dressing antics of his Comedies,  arises from the frank homo-erotic nature of the Sonnets. It appears that at least several of these much-quoted hymns to love are dedicated to a young man, the "master-mistress of my passion." On the other hand, the poem's purposeful ambiguity keeps the poet's true intent safely cloaked in his own imagination.  The magnitude of Shakespeare's genius is such that we wish to put a human face to the poet despite how little we truly know about his life. Sadly, we shall never know who Shakespeare loved, or if he ever loved at all. We might, however, assume that Shakespeare loved the idea of love from the striking evidence of his deep humanity. Without question, William Shakepeare filled the stage with his many unforgettable, star-crossed lovers and left his audiences applauding the eternal mysteries of the hunan heart.

According to The Prologue, what ends the rage between two families of Verona?

According to the Prologue of William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" the feud between the two families will only end with the deaths (or actually the suicides) of the children of the two families who "with their death bury their parents' strife."

At the beginning of the story, the Montagues and the Capulets are sworn enemies.  But Romeo, son of the Montagues, and Juliet, daughter of the Capulets, will soon fall in love.

However, due largely to their families's disapproval of their love, the two end up killing themselves.  It is only with their deaths that the two families promise to end their fighting.

What do the the twofold balls in the king's hand indicate?

In the show of eight kings in 'Macbeth', act4 sc.1, the witches give Macbeth a pre-view of the long line of kingship that Banquo's successors would enjoy. It is here in Macbeth's confused response to the show that he refers to some 'that two-fold balls and treble sceptres carry'. The 'two-fold balls' in the hand of the king may be a reference to the union of the crowns of England and Scotland under king James I, or it may also be the two coronations of James VI in Scotland and of him again as James I. The first explanation seems to me more meaningful and more appropriate.

Would you explain the poem of "Song of Powers" by David Mason stanza by stanza?

Mason's poem divided into four parts is principally about the ironies of power. It teaches a very simple moral lesson--however powerful may one be, the real power is a power of unity. All the powerful entities would have to remain united to exercise their power or make something out of it. On the other hand, if they use their power against each other, they will only end up crushing each other, neutralizing their powers and all of them would have die all alone.

The stone, the first declares his power by saying that he is capable of crushing the scissors. He controls time over others. He is more powerful than the vanity of human wishes.

The paper is the second to announce its power of words which can crush a stone with anything that words are able to create. This is the subjective power as opposed to that of the objective, the stone. The stone may shape time but the paper shapes the mind.

The knife is the third announcer. His is a power of violence cutting across a paper, wounding it with all its energy, like tattering the vanity of human desires.

The final stanza tells the story of their mutual neutralization and thus comes the instruction at the end not to wage a war among them. One has to renounce the excesses of desire and destination, cutting them down not to die all alone.

Analyse the poem 'They' by Siegfried Sassoon.Please include themes, symbols, style, poetic technique (biography not necessary unless it is relevant...

Before writing an essay on the analysis of the poem 'They' by First World War English poet Siegfried Sassoon, it's a good idea to make some notes, going through the poem line by line (and never forgetting a poem's title - it can sometimes tell us a lot!)

Ideas to get you started:

Title - Who are the 'They?'

Where is Sassoon when he is listening/reading the Bishop's words?

Is the tone respectful or satirical/mocking?

Mention when the themes of war/religion/nationalism creep in - use quotes.

Who or what do the Germans symbolise?

Is the style formal,joky,free, structured, consider verses,stanzas.

Look at and quote the places where the poem rhymes. Comment on what effect this has on the reader.

The dialog changes in style and tone - where? And why? What does this represent? Compare it to the bishop's words and comment on the contrast.

Finish by mentioning the exclamation mark at the end!

In "Lord of the Flies," at what point in this book is the reader informed of where evil originates?"Lord of the Flies" by William Golding

Do you want to see something really amazing? Look here, in Chapter 5:

A flurry of wind made the palms talk and the noise seemed very loud now that darkness and silence made it so noticeable. Two grey trunks rubbed each other with an evil speaking that no one had noticed by day.

Did you see it? The word "evil." Well, guess what: that is the only time that word is used in the entire novel. How smart of Golding, how shrewd.

What we all think we are looking at in this story of stranded boys is how things fall into chaos, power grabbing, destruction, selfishness, egotism, violence and murder... all things we associate with evil. But, as much as evil may (or may not) be implied, it is never spelled out as such. For, the novel may be suggesting: Who's to say? Who's to judge?

Simon sees the rotting pig's head, the indifferent buzzing flies, and it speaks to him of manunkind's baser instincts. Is it speaking of evil? Would Jack have heard the same thing from the head of the pig he and his band had just impaled? Would he have cared?

And what if no naval officer ever came to the island, and the group of painted hunters were the only ones to survive and flourish? Would they see themselves as evil? And outside of the island in the big world, after the war was over, would the winning side see itself as the aggressor and as the evil empire?

How telling that Golding avoided the question of pure good and real evil, for he knew that history and the truth are written by those who survive and who gain and retain power. People act as they will; evil is a judgment of others that is made by the weak, the innocent, and the vanquished... or by the powerful in order to gain more power.

Explain "... vengeance is walking in Salem!"

"Vengeance is walking in Salem!" means that people are using the witchcraft accusations to get revenge on those who they believe have hurt them, or those against whom they feel jealous, or angry, or just negative in general. 

It is important to know how Puritan societies behaved during this time. In general, people were supposed to be worshipping or reading the Bible if they were not working. Any behavior outside of that was considered to be a "vain enjoyment", which was definitely frowned upon. Keep in mind that many people considered it their duty to judge the behaviors of others, and it was considered patriotic and holy to point out the wrongdoings of others, and especially to accuse them of consorting with the devil. 

Take that mood of the time, judging others, and add the fact that you can get back at anyone by accusing them of being a witch, and you are using those accusations as vengeance. 

What are some direct quotes of hypocrisy by Aunt Alexandra in To Kill A Mockingbird?Please give direct quotes from the book!!!!!

    Atticus's sister Alexandra finds fault with many things in Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, but she is hardly a perfectionist in any sense of the word.
    Aunt Alexandra believed that heredity is all-important in determining the character of an individual. As the Finch family is one of Maycomb's oldest, she thinks highly of herself and all family members, including her cousin, the writer, Joshua St. Clair. However, when Scout points out that Joshua "was locked up for so long... he tried to shoot the president," Alexandra stood "stiff as a stork. "That's all," she said. "We'll see about this."
    Aunt Alexandra believes that Atticus is a poor father, and that Jem and Scout need a stricter upbringing. But her own child, Henry, has done an abysmal job with his son, Francis. "Uncle Atticus is a nigger-lover," he declared to Scout. And then to deliberately antagonize Scout, he 

... crooned softly, "Nigger lover..." 
    This time I split my knuckle to the bone on his front teeth.

    In Chapter 23, Alexandra refuses to allow Walter Cunningham Jr. in the house, declaring that the Cunninghams may be good folks, but "they're not our kind of folks... he--is--trash..." 
    Later in the chapter, Alexandra's missionary circle meets to discuss the fate of the poor African tribe, the Mrunas. The women declare sympathy for the Mrunas, but Mrs. Merriweather and Mrs. Farrow soon begin to denounce the black citizens of Maycomb. When Miss Maudie fires back, Alexandra "gave Miss Maudie a look of pure gratitude." Although Alexandra herself did not join in on the anti-Negro talk, she continues to ingratiate herself and be hospitable to the women who had just spoken in such an un-Christian-like manner.   

What feast does Piggy supply for Ralph and the fire builders?

Piggy provides a "feast" of fruit for the boys. This comes late in the novel, when many of the "bigguns" have already moved to Jack's camp, where they are presumably feasting on slaughtered pig. Due to their unusual circumstances, the boys in this group cannot hunt, but they have thought of building a fire right near their own shelters, & they feel the need to celebrate. Piggy and Samneric sneak away while Ralph drifts in his own thoughts, then return with a surprise:

He came to himself with a jolt. Piggy and the other two were by him. They were laden with fruit.
“I thought perhaps,” said Piggy, “we ought to have a feast, kind of.”
The three boys sat down. They had a great mass of the fruit with them and all of it properly ripe. They grinned at Ralph as he took some and began to eat.
“Thanks,” he said. Then with an accent of pleased surprise—“Thanks!”

Although it may seem like a poor feast in comparison to what the hunters are eating, it means the boys can celebrate their companionship, & their last few moments of peace before all hell breaks loose on the island.

What impact does Dunstan's mother make, in her role as a woman, in Dunstan's life as he searches for meaning?The big question I'm trying to answer...

I guess I think of Dunstan's mother as a primarily negative influence on his "search for meaning."  Mrs. Ramsay was so competent at everything, and so dominant in her family's life (and the people around her -- witness her influence on Mrs. Dempster) that Dunstan identified a close relationship with any (sane or living) woman as threatening.  After Dunstan had his epic fight with his mother as a teenager he never saw her the same way again, -- he had always felt dominated and belittled by her, if in a beneficent way -- but that incident cemented his feelings of fear of her and the desire to avoid her, and, by extension, feel the same way about all women.

The polar opposite of Mrs. Ramsay was Mrs. Dempster, and it was on she, after his mother's death and his failed engagement to Diana, that Dunstan lavished all his attention.  She was his "saint", or so he believed because he thought he had witnessed three miracles performed by her, but she had the unique quality of being utterly incapable of dominating or controlling Dunstan in any way.  Certainly Dunstan took such tender care of Mrs Dempster partly out of guilt, and perhaps disinterested pity, and a very personal gratitude for saving his brother's life, but also a relationship with her was extremely safe for Dunstan.  It was safe because Mrs. Dempster was mad, friendless, and without any family (except for the absent Paul,) and she became increasingly helpless.  There was nothing that Mrs. Dempster could do to control Dunstan, except in the help he gave her willingly.

This was, essentially, Dunstan's relationship with all women until he became close to Leisl.  Even though Dunstan was free of his mother after the war, because she had died in the 1918 flu epidemic, her influence followed him for most of his life.  Though she had been a well-meaning person and mother, she had awakened in Dunstan a deep-seated fear and loathing of women.

This, I believe, led him to search for "meaning", at least partially, in the pursuit of hagiography.  While an erudite and interesting subject, it also afforded Dunstan access to people's lives (the stories of the lives of saints), especially women's lives, without any risk of being dominated himself.  So rather than performing a search for meaning through his own personal relationships Dunstan was able to dabble in the essence of humanity and divinity without any chance of being dominated or hurt himself.  He was very good at hagiography, primarily because he was able to devote to it the energy and time he would have spent on other relationships (during his most productive years of writing he taught bachelor-style while living in a boys' school, carried on perfunctory sexual relationships with women he didn't love, and his only real friends were the Stauntons, to whom he felt himself to be infinitely superior).  Father Blazon somewhat pulled Dunstan out of himself, and, ultimately, Leisl would complete the job, but Dunstan's mother's primary influence was to drive Dunstan away from female companionship and close personal relationships of every kind.

Is "The Most Dangerous Game" escape literature or an interpretive literature? Please support your answer.

"The Most Dangerous Game" is escapist literature since it is mainly plot-driven, formulaic, and thin on metaphorical language.  Most high school freshman literature books begin with this story because it is high interest and easy to analyze in terms of story elements and a plot diagram.  Though a great story, it is essentially a warm-up to more sophisticated texts.

Interpretive literature certainly has more character insight, as told by a narrator or through third person omniscient point of view.  "The Most Dangerous Game" uses third person limited.  Even though there are some irony and themes addressed, Connell presents Rainsford as an archetypal "action hero."

What separates the two types of literature is use of metaphor, and the story is thin on symbolism and figurative language.  "The Most Dangerous Game" also cannot be read on many levels of literary criticism (feminist, Marxist, etc...) other than archetypal. 

From a moral standpoint, I don't believe Connell wrote the story in order to convince people it is moral or immoral to hunt animals, let alone humans.  The story is certainly not a polemic against hunting. 

How does John Boyner create sympathy and portray innocence in The Boy in The Striped Pajamas?

In the book The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Bruno is a young boy who is moved to the countryside with his father due to his father's new duty.  His father is an important man to the Nazi military but Bruno just sees him as his father.  Once he even argues with his father about the move being stupid.  His innocence does not allow him to see how important a figure his father is at the place.

Bruno also sees the people in the work camp.  He asks about them being in their pajamas and is told that is what they are wearing.  He believes that they are getting to hang out all day.   As a child, he can not imagine that his father would be involved n anything cruel nor can he fathom the idea of a concentration camp and especially a death chamber.

When Bruno is told by Schmuel that he has been separated from his mother and siblings but lives in a dorm with his father, Bruno can not understand why that would make the boy sad. 

The father is a man torn between his mother's disregard for his career, his wife's horror at the position he is employed in, and his family's inability to adjust to the changes.  In the end the real tragedy comes when Bruno sneaks into the camp to help his friend and ends up in the chamber being killed. 

Bruno remains a true innocent even as he is being put to death.  He has been trying to find his friends father.  They get shoved into a dark room where they hold hands until the end.

The whole story makes us sympathize with the child in the camp, Bruno's innocence and life uselessly lost. His father and mother's pain at the loss of the child.  The reader's own pain as both children prepare to die as innocents.

The story has been written so that the reader continues to feel sad long after the book is closed.

Thomas Mann - joseph and his brothers (give summary) Comment on the relationship between potiphers wife and josephwhat was the authors intention

To be honest, I'm not a fan of speculating about what the author may or may not have intended. How can we know what somebody else intended to write when what we have is what they have actually written? And, if we can know the author's intention, what does it matter? We still have what they have written in front of us, and as readers, our task is to make sense of the actual text, not some imagined or ideal text based on intentions rather than actual achievements.

Having said that, though, I think that you can see something of Thomas Mann's personal explorations of topics in his tetralogy Joseph und seine Brueder (Joseph and His Brothers). His exploration of the relationship between Joseph and Potipher's wife in the third novel, Joseph in Aegypten (Joseph in Egypt) allows him to write fairly extensively about the male character's beauty. Thomas Mann did marry and have a number of children, but he was probably (mostly?) homosexual and explored topics related to male homosexuality in many of his works.

At least two works listed in the bibliography of one of the study guides on Mann (see the first link below) includes two works that address Mann's homosexuality:

Cullander, Cecil C. H. “Why Thomas Mann Wrote.” The Virginia Quarterly Review 75 (Winter, 1999): 31-48. Examines Mann’s statements about his creativity, his fiction, and his journals and diaries; argues that his diaries helped him come to terms with his homosexuality and to know himself.

Kurzke, Hermann. Thomas Mann: Life as a Work of Art, a Biography. Translated by Leslie Willson. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2002. A celebrated work in Germany that provides a balanced approach to Mann’s life and work. Addresses his homosexuality and relationship to Judaism. The translation, however, is not good. Index.

What were the causes of the failure of the Roman republic?

This is an important and great question. Perhaps, it is best to start this post by stating that it might be helpful to ask a different question. Why did the Republic last for so long? Even during the turbulent times of the Republic, the elite class tried to follow Republican forms. This is Erich Gruen’s basic point in his magisterial book, The Last Generation of the Roman Republic. With that said, one has to come to terms with that fact that things did change. At one point the Republic was a distant memory and the Empire and emperor were realities. What happened? With such a huge question, there were many variables. This can be likened to a twenty-inning baseball game. A hit there, a double play here, or timely slide could have changed the outcome. However, if I were pressed to give an answer, I would say that the Roman magistrates got more and more powerful. Also they developed special relationships with the army. This inevitably led to civil conflict. This changed everything, in my opinion. Civil war, especially multiple civil wars, have the ability to change society, even in radical ways. The outcome was that people were shattered by these wars, land dispossessions, and other evils. What they wanted more than a Republic was peace. When Octavian came into the picture with incredible political skill and a promise of peace, things changed forever.

In "The Crucible" what advice do the doctors send back to Reverend Parris about Betty?

This answer can be found rather quickly in the first part of the play itself.  Read the opening scene of Act One; in this scene, Betty is lying "sick" in bed, and her father, Reverend Parris, is alarmed and concerned at her behavior.  Miller writes that she "cannot move herself" and is lying there inert, not responding to anything or anyone.  Parris is suspicious of this behavior, considering he discovered her and other girls of the village "dancing like heathen in the forest."  Dancing, in Salem, is forbidden, and he saw other things there too--Tituba chanting, a pot of boiling stew, a frog in the pot, and possibly, one of the girls running around naked.    So, he was already alarmed at all of that behavior, and then, Betty starts acting strange.  He sends for the doctor, hoping that he will be able to determine what is wrong.  However, the doctor "cannot discover no medicine for it in his books."  In other words, he has no idea what is wrong with Betty, or how to help her.  The doctor then advises that Parris "look to unnatural things" as the source  of her illness.  This means that the doctor is recommending that Parris turn to the possibility of spells, witchcraft, or some other non-medical-related cause.  Parris doesn't want to; having witchcraft labelled in his house would ruin his reputation as a preacher and cause unrest in the congregation.

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

What are the barriers to delegation of authority from subordinate side?

Barriers to delegation of authority from subordinate side would mean, the difficulties or problems faced by subordinate in accepting and using the authority delegated. These barriers include the following.

• Authority delegated in theory, but means of exercising the authority not made available. For example, a subordinate may be delegated the authority to buy computer required in his department, but the purchase department drags feet on actually buying the computer. The worst case of this type may happen when, for example, a project manager is given considerable authority for executing a project, but the project itself is not sanctioned.


• The subordinate may not have authority over some of the people who must contribute to implementation of decisions made.


• Required information for making decision may not be available. Many a times other supporting facilities like staff and office space may also be inadequate.


• The subordinate may be already overburdened with work.


• When a subordinate id delegated authority which elevates his position above those equal or senior to him this may be resented by them.


• Subordinate may lack the skill and knowledge for effective decision making.


• Limits of authority delegated not defined clearly. Generally delegation of authority with supposedly no limits is not very effective.


• The subordinate has no motivation for accepting the additional responsibility that goes with the authority.


• Authority delegated without matching responsibilities. This can make delegation directionless for the subordinate.

Provide TKAM quotes that show pride in ancestry and tradition; and conformity/distrust of different races and social classes.Quotes from To Kill...

    Here are a few quotes from To Kill a Mockingbird that fit your themes:

ANCESTRY.  "Being Southerners, it was a source of shame to som members of the family that we had no recorded ancestors on either side of the Battle of Hastings."

TRADITION.  "Jem and I viewed Christmas with mixed feelings. The good side was the tree and Uncle Jack Finch. Every Christmas Eve day we met Uncle Jack at Maycomb Junction, and he would spend a week with us. A flip of the coin revealed the uncompromising lineaments of Aunt Alexandra and Francis... No amount of sighing could induce Atticus to let us spend Christms day at home."

CONFORMITY.  "It was customary for every circle hostess to invite her neighbors in for refreshments, be they Baptists or Presbyterians, which accounted for the presence of Miss Rachel, Miss Maudie and Miss Stephanie Crawford.

DISTRUST.  Concerning her teacher, Miss Gates, Scout declared: "Jem, how can you hate Hitler so bad an' then turn around and be ugly about folks right at home." 

AWARENESS OF SOCIAL CLASSES.  Scout's discussion with Calpurnia:  "Cal, why do you talk nigger-talk to the--to your folks when you know it's not right?" "Well, in the first place, I'm black... Now, what if I talked white-folks' talk at church and with my neighbors? They'd think I was puttin' on airs to beat Moses."

LACK OF INTEREST OUTSIDE OF MAYCOMB.  "Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town... There was no hurry, for there was no where to go, nothing to buy, and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County."

How is the death on the island of Lord of the Flies different from the others, and what power and desire have become liberated in the...

This is the first death on the island that results from intentional actions. Essentially, it's murder, not an accident. Other deaths, such as the boy's with the mulberry birthmark and Simon's, were either purely unintentional, or a result of a savage frenzy, rather than a pre-planned act. Yet Piggy's death is clearly calculated, motivated by evil and sadism:

The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist. Piggy, saying nothing, with no time for even a grunt, traveled through the air sideways from the rock, turning over as he went. The rock bounded twice and was lost in the forest. Piggy fell forty feet on his back across that square red rock in the sea. His head opened and stuff came out and turned red. Piggy’s arms and legs twitched a bit, like a pig’s after it has been killed. Then the sea breathed again in a long, slow sigh, the water boiled white and pink over the rock; and when it went, sucking back again, the body of Piggy was gone.

As violent and shocking as Piggy's death is, Roger is described as having acted with "a delirious sense of abandonment". He is the evil incarnate, the one who takes pleasure in the pain and torture of others. His advancing on the twins, Samneric, at the end of the chapter represents that evil awakening on the island.

This is that "nameless authority", the power and desire that have, as you put it "become liberated in the children." The purposeful death of one has released the entire group from the bonds of society. They are now free to do whatever they please, whenever they please. After all, if one isn't punished for murder, what could possibly bring down punishment? Of course, with Jack in charge, anyone suspected of "treason" would be punished, to the delight of Roger.

This chapter encompasses events that mark the point of no return for the boys. Nothing will bring them back from their savagery until their rescue, and perhaps not even then.

What are the main conflicts in Macbeth act 4 scenes 1-3?

Macbeth (unnatural) vs. the Witches (supernatural, fate, time): Macbeth wants to know the worst news from the worst sources.  He certainly in abusing their prophecies and subverting nature and time in an attempt to retain power.

Macbeth vs. Macduff: the witches prophecies tell him to "Beware Macduff."  Later, after Macduff hears of his family's death, vows revenge.  This foreshadows the duel in Act V.

Macbeth vs. the Macduffs: Macbeth attempts to kill Macduff and his entire family.  Macbeth has now killed innocent women and children.

Lady Macduff vs. Macduff/son: she calls her husband a coward for abandoning them.  Macduff, not present, has fled to aid Malcolm in England.  Later, after Malcolm tells him he was just testing him, they will have the first (*and only*) honest conversation in the entire play.

Malcolm vs. Macduff: Pretending to be as cruel as Macbeth, Malcolm questions Macduff as to his loyalty to Scotland.

Why are Sociological Foundations essential in education?Please explain in detail.

In your message to me you said that "sociological foundations" refers to the idea that education is meant not just for the individual's benefit but for that of society.  It means that education should include instruction on how to get along as members of society.  I will answer based on this:

I would say that sociological foundations are essential because modern society and modern jobs are much more interactive than they once were.  Businesses, in the US, at least, often emphasize that they need students who will be able to work well in teams, often with people of different backgrounds than themselves.

In addition, many modern societies are becoming more diverse in terms of ethnic, religious and other sorts of demographic factors.  Because of this it is important for schools to help children learn to deal with this new reality.  It is hard for parents to do this because they are not as able to expose their children to others who are quite different from themselves.  This is much more possible in school.

Finally, sociological foundations are important for societies that wish to be democratic.  When students are expected to grow up to be participating members of a democratic society, it is important for them to learn democratic ideas and habits as they grow.

In these ways, it is essential for education to prepare students to be members of society rather than just teaching them information for their own personal edification.

Does Hamlet change by the end of the play?I'm writing an essay on the character of Hamlet and need details about him.

The title character in Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a complex character. Consider the situation he is faced with: his father has very recently passed away, and his mother, Queen Gertrude, has married his uncle, Claudius, and Fortinbras is threatening invasion. Quite a lot for a young man to deal with.  At the beginning of the play, we see a conflicted Hamlet- he is unsure of how to handle the idea that his uncle killed his father.  Hamlet spends the majority of the play searching for proof of his uncle’s guilt and also deciding what the best course of action is. In his famous soliloquy, Hamlet asks,

“Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles

And by opposing end them.” (III.i)

By the end of the play he has made a decision. He exacts justice, killing his uncle. However does he do this because he has changed? Or because his uncle orchestrated a duel between Hamlet and Laertes, and accidently causes the death of Gertrude? Whatever the cause, by the end of the play Hamlet lets go of his previous indecision and acts on his desire for vengeance- and that is most definitely a change.

Where is Rainy Mountain? Why does Momaday return there?

A close reading of the narrative answers these questions. Here's the passage:

A single knoll rises out of the plain in Oklahoma, north and west of the Wichita Range. For my people, the Kiowas, it is an old landmark, and they gave it the name Rainy Mountain.

The Wichita Range is a mountain range located in southwestern Oklahoma.  Momaday also explains why he returned:

I returned to Rainy Mountain in July. My grandmother had died in the spring, and I wanted to be at her grave.

Momaday's journey is a personal journey. He goes home out of love and respect for his grandmother. He wants to visit her grave, grieve her loss, and honor her memory. Also, by going home he returns to his own cultural roots and embraces his heritage.

Explain Anzaldua's quote, "There is a rebel in me-Shadow-Beast...from outside authorities."what the Shadow-Beast mean? how it relate to"otherness"...

Gloria Anzaldua says that the shadow-beast is that part of women that scares men and makes them want to "control and devalue" women and their culture.

In a sense, then, the shadow-beast is the other.  The other is that which is opposite of ourselves.  As such, it is something that must always be controlled and devalued.  Because it is our opposite, it is necessarily opposed to us.

Within our own selves, we try to suppress the parts of us that are (we think) opposite of what we want ourselves to be.  In society, we do the same.  We tend to see things that are unfamiliar and fear and suppress them rather than trying to broaden our horizons by understanding them.

In Death of a Salesman, when he's with Charley, Willy frequently insults him. Why would he do this to the man who is considered his best friend?

Willy's arrogance is an important element of his character. Pride is a part of the explanation for Willy's ultimate demise as he either will not or cannot recognize his moderate successes as anything but failures that fall short of his dreams of becoming a "great man". 

Willy's criticisms and insults aimed at Charley are an expression of this pride. Being competitive in his pride, Willy cannot concede that Charley is his equal (though he painfully accepts the idea that Charley is his superior at times). Pride and resentment are twin character traits in Willy, as they are in many actual people. 

Wishing he was better than he is, Willy strikes out at the man who reminds him of how far short he has fallen from the mark of his proud ambitions, for himself and for Biff. Charley has succeeded where Willy has failed, not through talent and not through "personal greatness", but through honest and hard work. Even Charley's generosity is a goad to Willy and a reminder of how poor Willy's decisions have been.

Charley exclaims, "You been jealous of me all your life, you damned fool!"

Willy insults Charley out of a childish need to hurt as he has been hurt, to diminish Charley as he feels he has been diminished. Resentment, jealousy and injured pride press Willy to this end. 

Why is there separation of church and state in the United States?

The "separation of church and state" is derived from two statements in the First Amendment of the US Constitution: the "establishment clause" and the "free exercise clause" that immediately follows, which are: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."

Thomas Jefferson's opinion on this matter was influenced by the English philosopher John Locke, who argued that the government lacked the authority in the realm of individual conscience. Jefferson wrote that religion is between a man and his God, and was among the first to describe the First Amendment as a "wall of separation" between Church and State. However, this did not mean that Jefferson believed that the State should be entirely divorced from religion; as President, Jefferson (for example) used Federal funds to support Catholic ministries among the Indians. James Madison wrote that he would have preferred that the First Amendment read "no religious doctrine shall be established by law" and stated that his interpretation of the First Amendment was that Congress should not establish a religion and enforce the legal observation of it by law. Both Jefferson and Madison supported the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which states that no man can be compelled to participate in any religious activities.

In the subsequent two centuries, the US Supreme Court has referenced the separation of Church and State on many occasions. The Court has ruled that certain rules of society cannot be violated under this clause; for instance, the Mormon practice of polygamy was ruled illegal and not a right under religious freedom. Cases involving the use of otherwise-illegal hallucinogenic drugs as part of religious ceremony have gone both ways. Justice Scalia has commented that the separation of Church and State has been used as a "bulldozer" to remove all references to religion from public life. This has not deterred Presidents from making open reference to their religious faith while in office. It is generally acknowledged that in the US people have more freedom to worship as they please (or not) than in most other parts of the world.

Who are the Laestrygonians in The Odyssey?

The Laestrygonians, mythologically speaking, are a race of giant cannibals. In the Odyssey, they live in the city of Telepylus on an island that appears to be roughly shaped like a horseshoe (or at least one part of it is.)  Their ruler is Antiphates.

All the other ships with Odysseus sail into the harbor (the open part of the horseshoe which is surrounded by cliffs) where the water is calmer.  Odysseus keeps his ship outside of the harbor moored to a rock.

Odysseus sends a couple of his men to check out the island (he can't see much from way outside the harbor) and his men come across a woman who says she is the daughter of the king.  The woman invites them home.  Upon arriving, they see the woman's mother, a giant, who yells for her husband.  The husband, the king Antiphates, appears, grabs one of the crew, and starts chomping on him.

The others manage to make a run for it, but Antiphates whoops it up to his fellow cannibals and the ships in the harbor are all ambushed.  The giants chuck rocks down at them and spear the sailors like shish-kabob.  Only Odysseus, who has kept his ship out of the harbor, manages to survive with his crew.

How did Greek drama and religion influence each other?

The Ancient Greeks used drama to advance their culture, and in doing so, they promoted the morals of their gods/goddesses system. For example, in Sophocles' Antigone, the playwright uses a clash between brothers, a quest for power, and the idea of inescapable fate to advance the moral that humans must obey the gods and their traditions even if it means physical death.

Practically speaking, if Greek audiences watched these dramas, they were supposed to take away the moral and apply it to their lives.  If an invading city or culture tried to force something upon the Greeks that they were against, then the Greeks were expected to fight to the death in defense of their beliefs or traditions.

In the end of chapter 2, why does Holden think saying "Good luck" is a terrible thing to say?

Holden says:

After I shut the door and started back to the living room, he yelled something at me, but I couldn't exactly hear him. I'm pretty sure he yelled "Good luck!" at me. I hope not. I hope to hell not. I'd never yell "Good luck!" at anybody. It sounds terrible, when you think about it.

It's a phony thing to say.  It's so empty, so overused that it means nothing.  It's like his mom sending his ice skates as a gift.  It's like the glad-handing head of the school greeting all the parents.  It's like having someone else write a composition about your room for you.  It's superficial.  There's no thought behind it.

It is also sarcastic.  Holden, though quite sarcastic himself, hates people who are insincere.  Remember, he yells something similarly sarcastic when he leaves Pency at the end of chapter 7: "Sleep tight, ya morons!"  So, "good luck" forshadows his departure from the school, which Holden would agree, is an omen of upcoming "bad luck" episodes.

As a funny side note, there's song by The Contingency Plan called "I am Holden Caufield" which borrows from Albert Kings's "Born Under a Bad Sign" lyrics:

A girl might build me up
But then I'd take a fall
Cause if it weren't for bad luck
I'd have no luck at all
Pretend I'm what I'm not
Packing heat to make me tough
Will I ever get a shot
To do what I love

I am studying the film Don't look Now by N.Roeg and the object as a motif: what are the main themes apart from the supernatural and the danger?

The whole film is an elaborate association of motifs.  Don't Look Now is such a fascinating film to study, I think, since so much thought went into its construction.

One of the main themes is separation.   In the film lots of things that are whole separate into parts.  The mosaic for instance that John is restoring is a whole constructed out of parts, and there is a preoccupation with breaking glass.  The Baxters lose their daughter, and become separated by events in Venice, and even during the scene in which we see John and Laura make love, the film keeps cutting to them getting dressed separately.  So we see them together, and then apart and back and forth - it reinforces the feeling that even though they are together there is separation between them. Separation isn't just a theme of Don't Look Now, it occurs in all of Nicolas Roeg films, perhaps the most prominent examples being Walkabout and The Man Who Fell to Earth.

Another theme that is central is misinterpretation.  At one point John says to Laura "Seeing is believing...I believe you".  It's such a fantastic line in the context of the film.  We put so much stock in observable evidence - science is built on the principle of deriving theory to explain observable evidence.  Don't Look Now takes the stance that interpretation informs observation, so it's just as fallible as all other beliefs.  John has a vision of Laura on the barge but mistakenly believes she is presently in Venice, and sets in motion the chain of events that ultimately cost him his life.  He does it again near the end when he mistakes the red-hooded figure for a child.  This happened to Daphne du Maurier in real life; she mistook a dwarf for a child and it caused her considerable embarrassment.  But it gave her the premise for the story.  Misidentification is extended thematically in the film.  When John is describing what the two sisters look like to the detective, he looks out of the window and sees them but doesn't make the connection between what he is looking and what is being described.  Later on when the detective meets Laura he tells her she doesn't look much like her photo.

An important thematic motif is the association of danger with falling.  Christine drowns by falling into the lake, and Laura is hospitalised after her fall in the restaurant.  She later returns to England after their son has a fall at school.  John of course nearly dies in a fall later in the film, and shortly afterwards the bishop confides in him that his father died in a fall.

Water is constantly associated with death throughout the film, starting with Christine's drowing through to the murder victims being fished out of the canals, to the very idea of Venice itself being submerged, a city in the process of drowning.

Perhaps the most famous motif is the foetal shape of Christine's body as John pulls her out of the water.  When the water spills on the photograph of the church it leaves a foetal mark on it.  There is a foetal shape in the mosaic John is restoring, and one of the sisters has a foetal shaped brooch on her coat lapel.  This shape is tied to the image of their deceased daughter at the start of the film, and is a recurring image that is a subliminal constant reminder of the dead child.  It is clever techniques like this that give the film its pervading sense of loss.

I hope you find some of my suggestions useful.

Describe single-replacement and double-replacement reactions.

When a single replacement reaction takes place, the element that is separate to the compound would combine with the opposite element of the compound that its getting added to. 

AX + Y = AY +X

On the reactant side, y is the opposite of x. Let's suppose that the equation is 

2Ag + CuSO4 = Ag2SO4 +CU

Ag has a positive charge because it is a metal

SO4 is a negative ion, it's sulfate. They combine because they are opposite and combine to make a compound. Cu becomes separate. 

Double Replacement:

Double replacement based on the same concept. Except that the reactant has two compounds instead of one. The same concept applies, the positive element combines with the negative element on the seocnd compound. And the negative compound combines with the positive of the second.

For example: 

2NaI + CaCL2 = 2NaCl + CaI 

Na (positive) would combine with cl (the negative element in CaCL2)

I (negative) would combine with Ca (positive) 

In Treasure Island, what does Captain Billy Bones mean when he says, "If it comes to swinging, swing all, say I"?

In Treasure Island, Captain Billy Bones' exclamation "comes to swinging, swing all, say I" is an abbreviation of what was then a very common idiom normally in the form "to swing for something," which is an idiom describing the punishment of criminals by hanging, or swinging, from the gallows. The idiom may also take a nautical twist in the form "to swing from the yardarm," since according to pirate wisdom, the yardarm was a favorite place to hang enemies or prisoners.

In light of this information about the idiom "to swing for something," the meaning of Billy Bones' remark becomes more clear. While we can only guess at what was said between Billy Bones and Bad Dog (sine Jim Hawks couldn't hear, we too are left in the dark), it would seem that Bad Dog was by some means trying to threaten Billy into revealing what Bad Dog wanted and that the threat included some reference to being turned over to the constabulary authorities (police) who would surely punish his crimes by death by hanging; picture Bad Dog saying something like "You'll swing fer it, Billy, you will. You'll swing fer it."

Since Billy Bones was not alone in the piracy that was his livelihood, because pirates all work as a group and share the bounty, Billy's response to Bad Dog is to remind him of the collective nature of piracy, which in Billy's mind deserves a collective punishment by death. This is what prompts him to say and what he means by saying, "If it comes to swinging, swing all, I say!"

With all this information at hand now, it is more clear that a paraphrase of Billy's words would be: "If it comes to being hung from the gallows for crimes, we all will hang together, I say." Undoubtedly, if Bad Dog had tried to turn Billy in, Billy would have produced evidence or testimony by which to convict the others including Bad Dog, so that not just Billy would swing from the gallows, but all the pirates would swing.

What is the conceit(s) in Hamlet's first soliloquy in Act I, Scene 2?

In poetry, a conceit is an extended metaphor. Certainly in Hamlet's first soliloquy, there are some metaphors, but, as a whole, the speech does not have a single, continuous extended metaphor.

If this helps, here are the metaphors:

First Hamlet compares himself to water or ice:

O, that this too too sullied flesh would melt,

Thaw and resolve itself into a dew

Then he compares the world to a neglected garden:

How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable

Seem to me all the uses of this world!

Fie on't! ah, fie! 'tis an unweeded garden

That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature

Possess it merely.

The rest of the soliloquy is a rant against his mother, Queen Gertrude.

So, although there are metaphors, comparisons, there is no single, controlling metaphor or conceit.

What are the structural features for each of the following cell parts?Cell membrane, endoplasmic reticulum, chromosomes, golgi apparatus,...

Cell membrane is a semi-permeable phospholipid bi-layer. The exposed heads of the layers are hydrophilic and the tails inside are hydrophobic.

Endoplasmic reticulum is a series of membranes (part of the cell's endomembrane system, which transfers protein). The outside of the membrane is covered with ribosomes, where the messenger RNA attaches, and the inside is called the lumen, where the RNA is translated into protein.

Chromosomes are single coils of DNA. Chromatin is the complex of DNA and protein of the chromosome. The two coiled chromosomes that make the 'X' are joined at the centromere. The DNA can be round or straight, long or short, depending on the cell.

Golgi Apparatus, the shipping yard, is a series of flattened membrane sacs which use chemical receptors and enzymes to repackage materials (i.e., polysacharrides, insulin) in vesicles before shipping them out to other parts of the cell.

Mitochondrion is a double membrane organelle that synthesizes ATP. The outside is smooth but the inside, called cristae, is so convoluted that it increases the surface area inside. This is where sugar and O2 make ATP.

Chloroplasts are found in cells that perform photosynthesis. They have two phospholipid membranes. Inside is an aqueous fluid called stroma. In the stroma are thykaloids (stacks of which are called grana). Stacks are linked by lamella; and inside each thykaloid is the lumen. Photosynthesis takes place on the thykaloid membrane.

Lysosome is a membrane-bound, spherical organelle containing hydrolytic enzymes: responsible for intracellular digestion. These often fuse with vacuoles in digestion.

Ribosomes are packets of RNA and protein, usually located on the endoplasmic reticulum or suspended in cytoplasm. They have two subunits which work together to translate mRNA into protein. Ribosomes have no membrane.

Vacuole is a membrane bound sac, similar to a lysosome, which is active in cell digestion and release of cellular waste products. In plant cells, it also patches cell wall/membranes and sustains cell rigidity by retaining water.

In "The Lady of Shalott," how did the curse fall upon her? What did she do once she was under its spell?

I am glad you asked this question because I really like this poem.  The reality is that the reader is never given an explanation as to why the woman is under the curse.  It simply states:

She knows not what the curse may be,

That's part of the beauty of this particular poem.  We don't know why she is cursed, and really, she doesn't know what will happen if she breaks the curse.  It only comes about when she sees Lancelot and decides to stare out the windows toward Camelot:

Out flew the web and floated wide-The mirror crack'd from side to side;"The curse is come upon me," cried The Lady of Shalott.

The "spell of the curse" seems to either cause her to weave, or causes her to not want do do anything except things she finds safe, like weaving. It's not really clear.  What is clear is that when she stops weaving and starts longing toward Camelot she has somehow "tiggered" the curse, the end result of which is that she dies while trying to float there in her boat.

Here is a link to a wonderful picture of the scene:TheLadyOfShallot

What are some quotes in 'The Devil and Tom Walker' that deal with romanticism?

The story seems to me in many ways to be anti-Romantic: the solitary man does not find solace or comfort when alone in nature, for example, and there is little interest in the character of the wife. Still, the story does have at least one aspect that is very much in keeping with Romanticism; the story (much like Irving's other stories, including "Rip Van Winkle") is essentially a transplantation of the European (or German) fairy tale onto American soil. Romanticism is the period of nation-building, particulary in younger and only recently unified or independent countries, such as Germany and the United States.

I haven't given you any quotations, I know -- and I apologize for that -- but I hope that these comments may be helpful to you nonetheless.

Describe the minister's wicked impulses as he returns to town in The Scarlet Letter.This is in chapters 20-22.

Ah yes, with the focus on Chapter 20, the "wicked impulses" you mention in your question are some of my favorite passages to teach from Hawthorne's novel!  Most importantly, you should realize that there are precisely three temptations:  blasphemy, lies (in regards to the mortality of the soul), and impure thoughts.  Dimmesdale resists these temptations, effectively making him a graphic Christ Figure in The Scarlet Letter. 

Just as Christ turned from the three temptations by the devil in the desert, Dimmesdale turns from the three temptations the devil provides for him.  First, Dimmesdale meets an aging deacon of the church:

It was only by the most careful self-control that the former could refrain from uttering certain blasphemous suggestions that rose into his mind, respecting the communion supper. (205).

Blasphemy against the reverence of the communion supper!  Can you think of a worse thing for a Puritan to think!?!  Here is a holy act that Jesus himself instituted via the Bible, . . . and Dimmesdale can think of nothing but slandering the Lord.  Secondly, Dimmesdale meets an aging woman of the congregation who loves nothing more than to hear the truths of scripture from her pastor.  However, Dimmesdale can think of naught but lies:

As the great enemy of souls would have it, could recall no text of Scripture, nor aught else, except a brief, pithy,and, as it then appeared to him, unanswerable argument against the immortality of the human soul. (206)

Belief that the soul is mortal would nix the entire Puritan religion!  Oh how sorely disturbed Dimmesdale must be by this point!  Then comes the last temptation, the temptation of a young virgin:

As she drew nigh, the archfiend whispered him to condense into small compass and drop into her tender bosom a germ of evil that would  be sure to blossom darkly soon, and bear black fruit betimes. (207)

Luckily, Dimmesdale draws his cloak over his face and celebrates his "victory over this last temptation."  Why does Hawthorne call it the "last temptation" when there are obviously two more things that happen on the way to town?  Because these first three are the only ones that come directly from the devil, thus making Dimmesdale a Christ Figure.

Poor Dimmesdale then has an intense desire to shake the hand of a drunken sailor, . . . and runs into the local witch (Mistress Hibbins) who smiles at him with great wisdom.  I suppose I could think of some kind of descriptive term at this point, but there can be no better words than of Hawthorne himself:  "The wretched minister!"

What is the relationship between societies according to Jean- Jacques Rousseau?The view of rousseau on what is the relationship between individual...

I wish I had read this question sooner, for it is excellent!

In the field of psychology and education, Jean Jacques Rousseau has an amazing similarity with Sigmund Freud in their views of the individual and society: They both basically state a believe in the "basic Id"- However, while Freud believed that we are all born inherently bad and society has the chance to turn us into fitting citizens, JJ Rousseau thought the opposite:That we have an inherently good nature and society corrupts us.

In not so many words: Society makes us bad because of the plentitude of exposure we get to potentially damaging influences.

(its funny that Rousseau would take a stand in behaviorism, especially coming from a person who put his kids in an orphanage, was a bad teacher, and had immense flaws, yet-  his philosophy transformed our field and continues doing so)

Do you think the lives of the elderly were better or worse than they are in our society today? Give a good reason for your opinion.

I think the lives of the elderly were better years ago then today. this is mostly because now days, individualism is favored, living by yourself, making your own money, and the elderly are just put into homes. being a volunteer at several nursing home facilities, i can tell you that those people in there really want to be with their sons and daughters. Thats all they talk about, and i have a feeling back when there were no nursing homes, elderly people would have been much happier living with their loved ones all around them. 

In at least four sentences, compare and contrast the literary elements in the autobiographies of Frederick Douglass and Benjamin Franklin.

There are some points of convergence as well as some distinct moments of divergence in both narratives.  Both works deal with attempting to display how identity was formed throughout their lives.  Franklin is seeking to compose a book of memoirs about his life, while Douglass is attempting to articulate his own bildungsroman from enslavement to a life after slavery.  Both narratives feature protagonists who were not born into the lap of luxury.  Essentially, both protagonists are on the fringes of society.  It is at this point where divergence is seen as Franklin is able to work his way through the stratified system of class and prestige in order to become part of this circle of power brokers.  Only bringing more attention to the horrors of slavery, Douglass' predicament is rooted in the idea of the inability to rise through obstacles and conditions if one is born a slave.  Finally, the tone of each is rather different.  Franklin's autobiography extols the virtues of what it means to be in America as it was the birthplace of opportunity and advancement, while Douglass condemns it as it is the origin of the enslavement of millions.  The duality of the American experience is revealed in this divergence of tone.

What is the rising action in the story "By the Waters of Babylon" ? Please include the narrative hook.

When studying literature, the rising action of a story or work is said to be a series of complications caused that threaten to prevent the main character or characters from solving their particular problem or achieving their quest. Clearly, in this story, it is quickly established that John's quest is to go to the City of the Gods in search of knowledge. The rising action then can be said to be the difficulties he encounters on the way in his journey that threaten to prevent him achieving his goal: he has to go through the Dead Places, avoid the Forest People and then, the biggest challenge, cross the big river that he is very scared of. Once he reaches the city, he needs to avoid the gang of dogs to reach his goal. These challenges lead to the climax of the story where John has his vision and realises the truth about the "gods" and what has happened.

Briefly describe the impact the invention of the microscope has had on biology.

In a family of Holland, microscope was created in 1590. Zaccharias  Janssen and his father Hans, have found that if they put two such lenses in a cylinder, they could see very small things that would increase even more than 10 times. Compared to the magnifying glass before, which used a single lens, they were using now two or more lenses, which essentially were creating a compound microscope.

Meanwhile, on the same principle,spyglass  was created, based on two lenses placed in a cylinder. But the spyglass could look away. Spyglass was very useful at sea, in search of land, or on the battlefield, to spy on enemy movements remotely. This news about spyglass invention came in the summer of 1609 to the ears of Galileo Galilei, who was on holiday, in Venice. In one night, Galileo Galilei was able to build his own telescope, which was increasing the image about 30 times. He perfected it in a few weeks and the increasing developed to 300 times.

Robert Hooke was the first man who used increasing new tools, to look in detail  to the small universe. Hooke focused on living organisms, whom details were too small to be seen with the naked eye. Hooke looked carefully insects, worms, plants and so on.

And as always when a new scientific tool appears which allows the study of something that had never studied, the surprises of nature appear as discoveries. These discoveries have been presented in his book Micrographia, which he published in 1665,  with detailed description of his comments, book that is the first book in the world to popularize science, speaking to ordinary people without scientific training.There was no need to be a scientist to enjoy those files, that mankind first saw them.

The most important finding is the existence of cells in living organisms . Robert Hooke made the discover about living cells and gave the name of cell, because cells reminded him of the cells in a convent or prison.

Second, the microscope has allowed the first study in detail of the difference between living shells and fossilized shells, and between wood and petrified wood. This allowed Hooke to be the first man to deliver the assumption (which proved correct) about the process of fossilization, the replacement of living tissue with minerals, but also keeping the shape of the alive original.

After the invention of the microscope , the knowledge of biology had become extensive. Inside biology began to form many branches with well-defined areas of study. Some of these branches are of mainly theoretical character as botany, zoology, taxonomy and other have predominantly a practical nature, such as agriculture and horticulture.

What Shakespeare plays use supernatural references?

Shakespeare has made a  plenty use of supernatural elements, be it the sea-storm in the Tempest, the diety of Diana in Perciles, Prince Of Tyre, the ghost of King Hamlet in Hamlet,  the King of fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream , the three witches In Macbeth, ghosts of Posthumus's parents In Cymbeline and so forth.

The supernatural elements as one can discern, drive the plot ahead or bring in a major twist in the story. The most interesting thing to observe is the tact of Shakespeare in using such elements with an authenticity which compells us to beleive them as real or existing.

What did Candy from Of Mice and Men represent?

Candy represents the situation that many of the men who were labourers during the Depression found themselves in: that their futures are as bleak as their past and their present.

 You seen what they done to my dog tonight? They says he wasn't no good to himself nor nobody else. When they can me here I wisht somebody'd shoot me. But they won't do nothing like that. I won't have no place to go, an' I can't get no more jobs.

Also, Candy’s love for his dog, and his fierce defence of it is reflected in George’s loyalty to Lennie. The shooting of Candy’s dog by Carlson foreshadows George’s shooting of Lennie, and in fact Candy’s response after the shooting of the dog may well have influenced George’s decision to kill Lennie himself rather than let the lynch mob have him or him be locked away.

I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn't ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog.

What are three reason why the French and Indian War led to the Revolutionary War?

The French and Indian war (1754-1763) is widely seen as the real cause of the American Revolution.  Before it, there was little desire for independence from Britain, but after it there was a lot more.  Three major reasons for this are:

1) Before the war, there was no feeling among the American colonists that they were Americans, rather than Britons.  There was nothing to make someone from New York, for example, feel connected to someone from Massachusetts.  During the war, though, people from the various colonies met one another in the army and came to feel that they were similar.

2) A second reason is that the French were driven out of North America by this war.  Now the colonists did not have to fear the French.  If the French had still owned Canada when the US became independent, the French could well have invaded and taken over the new country.  With the French out of Canada, an independent US would have no real enemy to fear.

3) This is the most important reason: after this war (which was only part of a much larger war between Britain and France) Britain really needed money.  The war had cost a lot.  So they had to start taxing the Americans and, in general, paying a lot more attention to how the colonies were run.  The Americans had been used to being left alone and were not happy about this change.

For those three reasons, the French and Indian War helped make American colonists feel like they could and should rebel against Britain.

What is the setting of this story?

The novel is set during a future nuclear war, although for contemporary audiences it would probably feel more like a past nuclear war, since it is based on WWII. During this war, a group of boys is evacuated from England to Australia. Their plane crashes somewhere along the way. The fact that all adults on board have been killed, in addition to the war that has driven the boys from their homeland, creates a setting in which the children have no to rely upon but themselves.

The island on which they crash is tropical. There are continual references to "the jungle", and the plants are described as "vines and creepers". A basic description is:

roughly boat-shaped: humped near this end with behind them the jumbled descent to the shore. On either side rocks, cliffs, treetops and a steep slope: forward there, the length of the boat, a tamer descent, tree-clad, with hints of pink: then the jungly flat of the island, dense green, but drawn at the end to a pink tail. There, where the island petered out in water, was another island; a rock, almost detached, standing like a fort, facing them across the green with one bold, pink bastion.

Wild pigs live there as well, and they constitute a major portion of the boys' diet later in the book. The island remains unnamed, but there is a question as to whether it has been previously discovered and charted or not. Ralph claims it has, but his father is in the Royal Navy, & he may just speaking from pride. The ship that rescues them is drawn by their smoke, not any other knowledge of the island, so there is a suggestion that they could have remained unfound.

Inthe novel, "To Kill A Mockingbird," what tense situation occurs at the county jail? How does Scout help her father in this scene?

The scene at the county jail is tense because Tom  Robinson, who has been accused of raping Mayella Ewell, is being held there. Atticus anticipates trouble with some townspeople and decides to sit on the porch outside the jailhouse.

As he expected, a mob of white men arrives to take the law into its own hands. They clearly intend to take Tom Robinson, by force if necessary, and administer their own justice. Against their father's orders, however, Jem and Scout go to the jailhouse where they encounter the angry mob. Scout, too young to understand what is happening, recognizes Mr. Cunningham, the father of one of her classmates, and strikes up a conversation with him.

This small act humanizes Mr. Cunningham; he becomes ashamed of his behavior and convinces the other men to leave peacefully.

How to treat human bites?

Bites treatment varies depending on the seriousness of the lesion, location and mode of production of the lesion, because treatment of occlusive lesions bites  is different from the treatment of lesions arising from assaults with fists closed. Treatment can range from a simple application of ice compresses to the affected area until the wound toilet and surgical care. Measures are taken considering the seriousness of each case.

Home treatment

First aid in case of such bites is very important because by setting the correct and prompt appropriate antiseptic measures can prevent future complications of infectious nature.

First aid measures include:

- Local wound toilet (using appropriate disinfectants)

- Then careful application of ice compresses to the affected area ,with analgesic effect

- In general, these wounds do not bleed excessively, but, if the bleeding is present, experts recommend applying digital pressure (finger kept pressed) on the area, about 10 minutes (or longer if necessary)

- Another very useful and practical method is raising the bleeding area (if possible, of course) over the heart level. Thus facilitating the venous return and  drainage of interstitial fluid, and swelling intensity that accompanies usually such wounds will decreases.

Treatment of wounds and deep lesions, one of the first steps in this situation is the tetanus vaccine made mandatory. Then, the doctor will perform local anesthesia (with lidocaine) and under the effect ,he will explore further damages and will clean thoroughly. Effective washing area with hydrogen peroxide which is inserted directly in the wound.

Sometimes, before final rinsing, it can be used a local antiseptic solution. The surrounding skin is cleaned ,also. If serious injuries, when there is a certain amount of tissue devitalized, the doctor will make an excision of this fragment to lower the risk of generating an infection. Tissue excision can sometimes go deeper into healthy tissue.

Sutures: sutures of the wounds resulted after human bites depends on many factors. Currently, doctors avoid deep wounds sutured, because of them, there is a greater danger of occurrence of infection. However, there are areas such as face, which indicate sutures of wound after cleaning, evolution and healing inthe best way and infections occur less frequently, if surgical lesion are closing.

I want to know about Shakespeare`s life and work with reference to Macbeth.

Shakespeare wrote the Scottish play to honor the Scottish James I, who published a treatise on witchcraft and was fascinated with the occult.  Below are from "Real Macbeth and His Times":

It seems to me impossible to come to any decision. Shakespeare's Macbeth is a piéce d'occasion, written for the accession of James, who had hitherto been King of Scotland. The plot was ready-made....

The accession of James I was like a demonstration of the curse of unfruitfulness and the blessings of continuous generation. And the action of Shakespeare's Macbeth is based on this same contrast.

Macbeth is based upon actual events, but only very loosely.  The real Macbeth ruled as king of Scotland from 1040-1057.  He did overthrow Duncan, but Duncan was a poor king to the point of being a tyrant and a military failure.  After his death, Macbeth was elected as king of Scotland.  The Elizabethan English could not comprehend a ruler whose power was not hereditary, so they saw Macbeth as a tyrant.  Lady Macbeth, whose real name was Gruach, was a granddaughter of another king, Kenneth III.  In fact, Kenneth had been murdered by Duncan's grandfather.  Malcom and Donald Ban (Donalbain) were sons of Duncan and Malcom did become king after the death of Macbeth.  The character of Macduff is not based on any historical person.  Though Banquo is said to be the ancestor of James I, he is first introduced in the 16th century.  The Earl Siward was a real person whose son died in a battle against Macbeth.

The primary source Shakespeare used was Holinshed's Chronicles.  You must find this source:

Shakespeare got his story from Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles.  Holinshed spends a lot of time on the incident in which Malcolm (who became a popular king) tests Macduff by pretending to be mean when he is really nice.

Holinshed talks about the murder of King Duff by Donwald in the century before Macbeth.

According to Holinshed, Donwald was nagged by his wife until he did the evil deed. Shakespeare adapted this for Macbeth.

In 1020, Findlaech was killed and succeeded by his nephew Gillacomgain. In 1032, Gillacomgain and fifty other people were burned to death in retribution for the murder of Findlaech, probably by Macbeth and allies.

The historical Mrs. Macbeth was not named “Lady”, but “Gruoch” (GROO-och).  She was the daughter of a man named Biote (Beoedhe), who was in turn the son of King Kenneth III “the Grim” who Malcolm II had killed to become king. (Some say that Biote was the son of Kenneth II instead.) She was originally married to Gillacomgain. Their son was Lulach the Simple (i.e., stupid; no, Lady Macbeth didn’t brain him.) After Macbeth killed Gillacomgain, he took his widow Gruoch for his own wife, and raised Lulach as their stepson. What a guy!

Please analyse the poem "Tears" by Edward Thomas.

"Tears" by Edward Thomas is a moving poem on life and death and the philosophy of them, in general, but specifically speaking, it is quite an Owenesque poem about the sad, solitary but often unspoken, unexpressed and definitely unsung mental condition of the soldier.

A poet who fought as a soldier himself, Thomas is often seen as a war-poet in line with Owen, Sassoon and even Ted Hughes, as against the imperialist myth-makers of war e.g. Rupert Brooke.

The poem talks about a state of emotional void beyond tears and the last two instances of crying encapsulate the sad farewell of soldiers and their journey towards death which remains overlooked in a public spectacle of celebration of heroism.

The Dragon faced in the meadows is a symbol of war in all its horrors. The display of honour by a procession of marching soldiers is the second occasion of tear-fall as the poet is able to grasp the untold story of their tears that lies within the apparent glory of it all. These occasions take the emotional self to a state beyond tears and even their ghosts into a condition of absolute solitude and silence.

How are idealism, realism, and rationalism reflected in Sophocles' play, Antigone?

Idealism is the pursuit of high or noble principles, purposes, or goals.  In Sophocles' play Antingone, the character Antigone exemplified idealism when she decided to disobey Creon’s orders and bury her brother Polynices.  According to the laws of Zeus, when a person dies, the women in the person’s immediate family are responsible for carrying out the burial rituals.  Without the burial rights, a person’s soul cannot be released from the body to join the other’s who are dead and rest in peace.  If the body is dishonored then the soul remains dishonored.  In choosing to obey Zeus’s law above Creon’s, Antigone has acted idealistically by choosing what she believes to be the nobler pursuit.  Antigone believes that the gods’ laws stand higher than the kings and it is not within the king’s rights to disobey the laws of the gods.

Realism is the tendency to view or represent things as they really are.  Ismene’s actions are a very good example of realism.  Ismene is completely against Antigone’s decision to bury their brother.  Ismene sees in her life that she has lost nearly her entire family—first she lost her mother and father, now she has lost both her brothers.  Ismene sees clearly the reality of the situation that if Antigone goes against Creon’s command, Antigone will be killed and Ismene will have lost her entire family.  For Ismene, preventing the certain death of what little remains of her family and not living life completely alone is a stronger motive than any idealistic reasoning about the importance of Zeus’s law over Creon’s.  All Ismene sees is the reality that if Antigone disobeys Creon, she will die, and Ismene doesn’t want that to happen.

Rationalism is the principle or habit of accepting reason as the supreme authority in matters of opinion, belief, or conduct.  New King Creon very clearly exemplifies rationalism.  After King Oedipus’s death, Eteocles inherited the throne.  Eteocles and Polynices were engaged in battle because Polynices challenged his brother’s rule.  When both brothers were killed, the throne was left to Creon, Antigone’s uncle.  Creon considered Polynices’ attack on Eteocles’ rule as high treason.  For that reason, he decreed that no one should give Polynices proper burial and that his body should be left to rot as a warning to other rebels.  Creon acted thusly solely out of interest of protecting his kingdom.  Creon gave no further thought to laws already decreed by the gods, but considered himself the sole authority.  Thus Creon acted solely out of rationalism.

What is ironic about the phrase "the mutability of the past"?after mentioning the constant surveillance under which the people live, winston says...

First of all, the one thing that is your own is the "the few cubic centimetres inside your skull."

As far as the first answer goes, I agree that you are probably expected to say that the quote is ironic because the past is immutable.  However, I disagree with the idea that the past truly is immutable.

We do not really know anything about the past except what we are told.  Therefore, when what we are told changes the past, in essence, changes.  The study of history is NOT a study of facts and figures.  It is the study of WHY things happened in the past and what that can tell us about today.

The stories about why things happen change over time.  Many things in textbooks today are very different from what used to be in textbooks.  So I'd argue the past is mutable.

But that's not to say the previous answer is wrong.  It's just to say that I disagree with the question.

Describe the significance of children in The Catcher in the Rye. What role do they play in the novel?

Just after writing Catcher, J.D. Salinger told Time magazine: “Some of my best friends are children...In fact, all of my best friends are children.”  Both author and narrator are, dare I say, obsessed if not with children (creepy?), then certainly with childhood.

Salinger, through Holden's narration, introduces one of the great youthful voices in American literature, rivaled only by Twain's Huck.  It's a youthful, teenage voice with an adult voice behind it: conversational style, simple language, colloquial (slang), lots of repetition, cussing, many digressions.

The entire novel is a confession by a young adult male who wants to return to his childhood.  Some say he's talking to Allie, his brother who died in childhood.  Holden has been in denial of Allie's death and seem stuck there ever since.

The first sentence says,

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me.

So, the novel is anti-Freudian (don’t psycho-analyze Holden’s lousy childhood).

Holden has a laundry list of childhood obsessions:

1. Jane keeping her kings in the back row (checkers)
2. “Catcher in the Rye”: rescue kids from falling
3. “F#@K”: tries to erase it
4. Elmer Fudd-like hunting hat; red like Allie’s bright red hair
5. Allie’s glove with the poems written all over
6. “Little Shirley Beans” – record he buys Phoebe
7. Carrousel – Holden watches it go round and round (never progresses)
8. Ducks in the lagoon: wants someone to rescue them
9. Kisses Jane all over face, but NOT on the lips
10. Homophobia: calls them “flits”
11. Gender stereotyping of girls, older women obsession

Holden hates phonies: glad-handing adults, oversexed teens, materialists.  Notice: all kids are non-phonies.  The two biggest non-phonies are Allie and Pheobe.  Allie will always be a child, always a non-phony.  Holden, then, tries to protect Phoebe from being a phony.  He wants to be her "Catcher in the Rye."  That's why he wants to keep her in museums on the carousel.

Key quotes, at the end, come from Mr. Antolini, who Salinger sets up as a red-herring savior (no Deus ex Machina).  He says, Holden is “in for a terrible fall.”  His advice seems to be Salinger's:

The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.

The ending is anticlimactic: does Holden ever grow up?  He says,

Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody"

It's a downer of an ending, and Holden certainly shows regret.  The reader then can make the case that such an admission is either the regret of an immature man who wants to die nobly or the regret of a mature man who is casting off his Romantic illusions of childhood and will live humbly.

I tend to think it's the latter, that the confession itself (the book) is Holden's noble cause.  Art, then, is the "Catcher in the Rye."

In "The Pit and the Pendulum" how does the narrator determine the size of his prison? What error does he make?

Because he is in total darkness, the narrator must use other means to determine the nature of his prison.  It must have been terrifying to not know where he was, or how big the prison was, or anything about it; such disorientation would be completely horrifying.  However, he gathers strength, and decides to explore.  He does so first of all through feel--he steps forward, arms outstretched, until he hits a wall.  He realizes that if he follows the wall, he could go in a complete circle and not realize where he had begun.  So, he tears part of the robe that he was put in, and makes a sort of rope that he puts on the ground; that way, he will step on it after he makes one round of the prison, and know that he has come full circle.  He walks around the edges, counting his footsteps, concluding "the dungeon to be fifty yards in circuit."  So, that is how he figures out the size of his prison.  However, the entire time that he did this, he was along the edges of the walls; this didn't factor in the great pit looming ominously at the center.  He starts to walk across the prison, and fortunately for him, trips on his robe before he gets to the pit.  He falls, and notices

"my chin rested upon the floor of the prison, but my lips and the upper portion of my head, although seemingly at a less elevation than the chin, touched nothing."

This is how he discovers the pit, and he was very lucky to not have plunged right in; tripping saved him from the mistake of confidently striding across a prison in the dark.  His tormentors, thwarted in their original plan to have him fall, then had to come up with a different plan of torture.

I hope that those thoughts helped; good luck!

If you were to write an essay about Frankenstein, what would be your first topic sentence?

Do you need a topic sentence or a thesis?  The topic sentence introduces the topic of that body paragraph.  Your thesis is, simply put, your topic + your opinion.  The thesis states what you are going to prove in the rest of your essay.  Your thesis would change depending on what you chose to write about.  You would write about the role or creator and creation, the creator's responsibility to his creation, man's alienation from society, man's desperate search for approval, revenge, Gothicism in the novel.  Those are just some possible topics.  Your thesis could incorporate one of these topics and your opinion of how the topic fits into the novel.

To easily create a topic sentence, take part of your thesis and restate it for the thesis.  For example, your thesis states, "Frankenstein intimately explores the role of creator and creation and the responsibility of the creator to that creation."  Then, your topic sentence could say, "Mary Shelley depicts the different positions the creator and creation can take."

Hope that helps!

Why is the disguise of a Bedlam beggar the safest one for Edgar in King Lear, Act 2, Scene 3.

In Act 2 Scene 3 of King Lear, Edgar portrays himself as "poor Tom," a Bedlam beggar. Covering his face with filth, turning his hair into knots, and hiding his nakedness behind a blanket, Edgar thus assumes a safe disguise. Edgar was being hunted by his unlawful brother, Edmund, and the disguise of a Bedlamite would have given him a chance to escape the law as well as the conspiratorial Edmund. The Bethelhem Hospital was a notorious mad-house whose inmates were called the Bedlams, and these beggars used to roam about in Shakespeare's London. Dressed as a mad man begging and speaking nonsense, Edgar thought that he would be able to protect hiself from Edmund and the law conpiratorially invoked by Edmund.

What is an effective inference-based question and two theme-based questions for "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson?

Inference-based question: Why does the town in "The Lottery" continue the lottery from year to year?  Jackson never explicitly answers this question, but she certainly expects her readers to be able to answer it at her story's end.

Theme-based questions:

1. How does Jackson portray the roles of women in "The Lottery" and how do those roles connect to her theme of customs and tradition?

2. How does "The Lottery" portray violence, and what seems to be Jackson's tone toward violence and "victims"?

(6-x)/(x^4+2x^3-13x^2-14x+24)+1/(x^3-2x^2-5x+6)+1/(x^2+x-2)-1/(x^2-4x+3)

In order to sum the expression above, we'll try to find out the same denominator of all 4 ratios.

First of all, we'll try to find out the roots of the each denominator, in order to re-write them as products of linear factors.

We'll start with the simple denominator, meaning the second grade equations:

x^2-4x+3=0

x1={-(-4)+ sqrt[(-4)^2)-4*(1)(3)]}/2

x1=6/2=3

x2={-(-4)- sqrt[(-4)^2)-4*(1)(3)]}/2

x2=2/2=1

So, we could write the denominator using it's roots:

E(x)=(x-1)(x-3)

x^2+x-2=0

x1=[-1+sqrt(1+8)]/2

x1=2/2=1

x2=[-1-sqrt(1+8)]/2

x2=-4/2=-2

So, we could write the denominator using it's roots:

E(x)=(x-1)(x+2)

After that, we'll try the found roots in the first denominator, and if by substituting the root in denominator, the last one is equal to zero, then the value substituted is a root for this denominator, too.

Let's try with the value x1=1

The denominator is :E(x)=x^4+2x^3-13x^2-14x+24

After substitution the expression will become:

1^4+2*(1^3)-13*(1^2)-14*1+24=0

0=0, that means that x=1 is a root for the expression.

We'll do the same thing with the value x2=3

3^4+2*(3^3)-13*(3^2)-14*3+24=0

0=0

We'll write the expression using it's roots:

E(x)=x^4+2x^3-13x^2-14x+24 will become

E(x)=(x-1)(x-3)(x+2)(x+4)

We'll repeat the substitution in the next denominator:

E(x)=x^3-2x^2-5x+6

E(x)=1^3-2*(1^2)-5*1+6=0

E(x)=3^3-2*(3^2)-5*3+6=0

E(x)=(x-1)(x-3)(x+2)

Finally, we can write again the sum, in this way:

(6-x)/(x-1)(x-3)(x+2)(x+4)+1/(x-1)(x-3)(x+2)+1/(x-1)(x+2)-1/(x-1)(x-3)

It is obvious that we have to have the same denominator, in order to find out the resulat of the sum. The same denominator is (x-1)(x-3)(x+2)(x+4). We'll amplify each fraction with the missing paranthesis, so, the second fraction is amplified with (x+4), the third fraction with (x-3)(x+4) and the last fraction with (x+2)(x+4).

The result will appear in this way:

[(6-x)+(x+4)+(x-3)(x+4) -(x+2)(x+4)]/ (x-1)(x-3)(x+2)(x+4)=

[(6-x)+(x+4)(1+x-3-x-2)]/(x-1)(x-3)(x+2)(x+4)=

(6-x-4x-16)/(x-1)(x-3)(x+2)(x+4)=

(-10-5x)/(x-1)(x-3)(x+2)(x+4)=

-5(x+2)/(x-1)(x-3)(x+2)(x+4)=

-5/(x-1)(x-3)(x+4)

Who or what is the Great Socialist in The White Tiger?

In The White Tiger, the "Great Socialist" is not an actual person, but an amalgamation of corrupt politicians in India who claim to embrace the tenets of socialism.  As Balram continues to gain knowledge of the inner workings of business and politics in India, he understands that rich politicians are more than willing to make their fortune off the back of the lower classes in the country.  The progress that is sweeping the country is only for the benefit of the higher classes, while many are left living in poverty.  Balram calls the leading politician the "Great Socialist" as a mockery of the corrupted politics of the time.  So, the "Great Socialist" serves as a symbol and metaphor in the novel, and not necessarily an allusion to someone specific.

Compare and contrast the view of nature presented in "Hawk Roosting" by Ted Hughes, with the view in "The Windhover" by Gerard Manley Hopkins.

Hopkin's "The Windhover" and Hughes's "The Hawk Roosting" can be read as companion poems. In fact the latter can be seen as a subversive rewriting of the former. Hopkins's poem is like a "parent poem" (in Harold Bloom's vocabulary) to Hughes, which he deconstructs in "The Hawk Roosting."

Both poems are about power, supremacy and mastery of the world. In both poems, the focus is on a bird of prey who has the world under control. Hopkins's poem and this is crucial, is written from the perspective of an appreciative onlooker of the bird while in Hughes's poem, the persona is shamanistically metamorphosed, as it were, into the bird.

I think, what Hughes does is to question the positive/transcendental and epiphanic value that Hopkins seems to associate with the fire of the falcon in its wind-hover-state. His vision relocates the dictatorial power in an alternative frame of indeterminacy. In fact, the Hughesian stress falls on the violence, the destructive acts of killing and the resistance to change that echoes so insistently in the maxim of the hawk. I think, the crucial difference between the two poems in terms of the image of nature is that Hopkins's nature is epiphanic, pantheistic, almost Spinozian in its immanence while Hughes's nature is thronged with The Fall and the resultant arbitrariness, sinfulness and cruelty of a potentially hostile universe.