Why does Loretta help Max escape in Freak the Mighty?

Loretta, despite her alcoholism and subservience to Iggy, a gang boss, is sympathetic towards Max because of his low station in life. At first, she is only concerned with keeping herself safe first from Iggy's anger and then from Kenny Kane, Max's father, who is violent and bad-tempered. When Loretta discovers that Kenny is keeping Max tied up, she tries to help him escape:

"Keeping your own kid tied up, it ain't right. He ain't the man I thought I remembered, that's for sure."
(Philbrick, Freak the Mighty, Google Books)

Loretta thought that she remembered Kenny being a better man, but is shocked out of her obedience by this cruel act. She still has some humanity, despite the abuse she suffers from Iggy and Kenny, and so she tries to redeem herself in a small way by helping Max. Her actions are selfless and she almost dies for standing up to Kenny.

"Literature could be said to be a sort of disciplined technique for arousing certain emotions." Could you elaborate on the "disciplined technique"?

This idea that one needs "disciplined techniques" to arouse emotions seems to be to be a curious combination of the Neo-Classical and the Romantic ideology. While the Romantic idea of the emotive purpose of literature is kept intact, the stipulation of orderly methods adds to a Neo-Classical prescriptiveness. But, in the 20th century, with the Russian formalists, we have seen further insistence on technique, form and form--the dynamics of the devising of a literary text and it seems to continue even in Postmodernist literature.

The stress is on precision, order, synchronization. As Aristotle implied in Poetics, there is indeed, a relation between order and beauty. Order and discipline always evoke beauty. The Romantics and the Sur-realists who believe in automatic writing might think otherwise. To them, the imposition of an order on the chaotic flow of human experience is problematic and escapist.

SHOULD EVERYTHING BE ALLOWED IN THE NAME OF SCIENCE? FOR EXAMPLE EXPERIMENTS WITH ANIMALS.....And answer the following questions of this text,...

To allow everything in name of science or in name of anything else will be to allow everything without any examination or logic. This is clearly against the methods and principles of science. Scientific progress is based on questioning and defying existing beliefs and conclusions, including the theories and views of imminent scientists of past. By refusing to question the and validity of existing scientific knowledge and beliefs, and with that the need for specific actions and programs to promote progress of science, we will be converting science in to something very much like a religious cult, that accepts blindly, without questioning, anything claimed to be a scientific fact and in the interest of scientific progress.

Also, there is no justification in treating science an end in it self. Science and scientific progress needs to be justified in terms of the benefits it gives to people - including protection of the environment and the natural resources available to people.

List the reasons why Africans enslaved each other.

First, consider the fact that Africa is, even today, tribal in nature, and that many of these tribes were enemies or at least rivals.

African slavery, though markedly less brutal than its European counterpart, occurred for a variety of reasons.  Status within the tribe in terms of wealth and power, profit in terms of dealing with Spanish and Portuguese slave traders, and then as an informal type of warfare, kidnapping your enemies as slaves was considered the equivalent of "counting coup" in Native American culture.

See the diary of Olaudah Equiano for some descriptions of his experience in African slavery, and later on the Middle Passage.

Identify an example of dramatic irony in the conversation between the duke and brabantio in ACT 1 Scene. III?

Speaking of his daughter, Brabantio tells the Duke:

She is abused, stol'n from me, and corrupted
By spells and medicines

We know that Iago, through Roderigo, has put Brabantio up to this line of prosecution against Othello.  We know that Iago is a villain from the start, that he thinks Othello has slept with his own wife, that Othello passed over Iago to appoint Cassio his lieutenant, that Iago wants revenge.

We also know, through Iago's jibes, that Brabantio is a racist.  He believes that Othello has used spells and medicines against his daughter.  We know that Brabantio has had nightmares that Othello has stolen her.  We know that Brabantio worries that his grandchildren will be beasts, instead of humans.  Such were the European fears of miscegenation.

We know all this before Brabantio states his case.  But the Duke does not.  The Duke doesn't know that Brabantio has been baited by Iago through Roderigo.  The Duke doesn't know that Brabantio is such a racist, although he should suspect it in scene iii.  The Duke doesn't know that Desdemona has eloped of her own volition, knowing full well that her racist father would not condone such a marriage.

After rainsford has jumped into the sea, Zaroff concludes that Rainsford "hadn't played the game." Do you agree?How can I explain this using three...

I disagree with General Zaroff's opinion that Rainsford "hadn't played the game."  Rainsford had no choice but to play the game according to General Zaroff's rules, or so Zaroff thought.  Because the General did not get he wanted, which was Sanger Rainsford's corpse or surrender, when he wanted it, he chose to make an excuse for himself, which was that Rainsford had not played the game; this sort of response to the situation would seem typical of the type of person Zaroff seemed to be (bully, self-centered, egocentric, etc.).  However, Rainsford had clearly played the game and continued to do so until Zaroff's implied demise; Zaroff had formerly set the rules and did not count on his intended quarry's reversal of roles (the hunted became the hunter).  It was apparent throughout the story that Rainsford "played the game," since he had no option to do otherwise.

In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne makes frequent mention of the colors gray, and black (sable). What does this emphasis suggest?

Despite it's being a novel, Hawthorne is employing a technique almost akin to describing a cinematic scene, in that he is using color to create a specific mood and set of symbols. The colors gray, black and brown are somber, serious, and devoid of life. They are also the traditional colors worn by the common people during this historical period. By emphasizing these colors, Hawthorne creates a symbolic contrast (described in visual terms) between the red letter worn by Hester Prynne and the clothing of the other villagers. Red is traditionally associated with sexuality, passion, and the devil. But it is also the color of blood, and of life. The red letter stands out and broadcasts the sins she is accused of; but without the dark background of these colors, the red would not be as noticeable. This suggests Hester, despite her mistakes, possesses more life and compassion than her accusers.