Notes

Social justice is a concept that has to do with equality and fairness in society. This could include ideas such as the fact that all members of society deserve to be treated fairly under the law, have access to making a living, access to adequate housing, clean water, food, health care, etc. In Victorian England, the setting of Oliver Twist and of all of Dickens' novels, there was a great deal of inequality in society, mainly because of the division of wealth and labor. Dickens sought to illustrate the problems with this system in his stories, and his novel  Oliver Twist is a particularly strong example because it depicts one of the worst expressions of inequality in that culture: the treatment of orphaned children. Dickens was able to raise awareness about the plight of orphans in the workhouses, and the general living conditions of the poor. He did this by depicting the lives of the poor via well-drawn characters like Oliver Twist himself, a spirited boy who responds to his cru...

The American and his girlfriend Jig have come to a train station in Spain near the Ebro River (rivers often run through Hemingway's stories). At first, they seem like a happy-go-lucky couple who are just enjoying a vacation. In the first part of the story, the reader understands that the man is in full control of the situation. He speaks Spanish, the language of the country where they are traveling, while the woman does not. He is seemingly an expert on the drinks they order. He is in charge of the luggage they are carrying, and presumably the itinerary of their travels. She appears passive and not really able to make up her own mind. At first, she says the hills look like white elephants (a veiled reference to the baby she is carrying), but later retracts that statement when it doesn't seem to suit the American. All the while, the American is attempting to convince her to have an abortion. In this matter he also takes on the role of the expert in women's reproductive issue...

There were several instances when the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union almost became "hot."  But most historians agree that the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was perhaps the most dangerous moment in the conflict, when both sides came the closest to nuclear war.  The crisis, which lasted nearly two weeks, occurred when the Soviet Union under Nikita Khrushchev secretly sent nuclear missiles to the island of Cuba. These missiles gave the Soviets what was known as "first-strike" capability, because they could reach most of the east coast of the United States within five minutes, making a full nuclear response impossible. When American spy planes revealed the existence of the missiles to military leaders, President John F. Kennedy demanded that they be removed, and imposed a naval blockade, known as a "quarantine" for diplomatic reasons, on the island. Kennedy opted not to attack the island, which we know now would almost certainly...

At the end of Act Four, John Proctor is deciding between confessing a lie to save his life and refusing to lie but losing his life as a result.  He believes that he's already ruined his soul by cheating on his wife, and so he thinks that it would be wrong for him to go to his death, acting "like a saint," as though he had a soul worth saving.  Eventually John decides to confess the lie that he is a witch so that he can keep his life.  Elizabeth cries " in terror [...]: I cannot judge you, John, I cannot!"  She feels that she cannot judge John for his decision, though she would not likely make the same decision herself (as he's already pointed out); however, the fact that she weeps "in terror" makes it seem as though she is frightened by his choice.  Elizabeth does not speak again until the very end, after John has torn up his confession and refused to lie; this means that he will die.  When Mr. Hale encourages Elizabeth to plead with John and make...

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Atoms are the smallest fragments of matter that retain their chemical identity. Atoms contain a number of particles, including protons, neutrons and electrons. Among these, protons are positively charged, while electrons are negatively charged and neutrons are neutrally charged. The protons and neutrons exist within the nucleus, while electrons are located outside it.  Each element is characterized by two terms: atomic number and mass number. The atomic number is the same as the number of protons in the nucleus. Mass number, on the other hand, is the sum total of protons and neutrons of an atom. To determine the number of protons and neutrons in the atoms of a given element, we need to know the atomic number and mass number of the element. Using that information, we can find the number of protons and neutrons as: number of protons = atomic number number of neutrons = mass number - number of protons Hope this helps.

Although many factors contribute to Macbeth's imminent downfall, the play suggests that Macbeth alone is to blame for his own demise. He admits that his own ambition is the very reason he cannot prevent himself from committing evil deeds: Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires... I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself And falls on the other. We know that Macbeth is encouraged by his wife and the witches' prophecy to pursue his ambition. He needs to murder king Duncan if he wants to ascend the throne. Nevertheless, his inability to stifle his unrestrained ambition causes him to transform himself from a loyal and valiant warrior to an evil tyrant. Once Macbeth kills the benevolent king Duncan, he does not stop until he gets rid of anyone who he feels threatened by (Banquo, Macduff's family, etc.). By embracing evil, Macbeth deprives himself of peace and happiness. In Act V, he realize...

A lot happens in this final act of Hamlet , so narrowing everything down to those five remaining boxes is challenging. If I were you, I would start with a list of all the major things that happen from Claudius arranging the duel until the end of the play.  Hamlet has a philosophical chat with the gravedigger. Ophelia's funeral comes by and Laertes is mourning very loudly and publicly, even jumping into her grave. Hamlet jumps in too and starts fighting with Laertes about who loved Ophelia more. Hamlet challenges Laertes to a duel. [etc. until the end of the play] After you have your list done, you can pick out the most critical parts. For example, for this first part, I can cut out Hamlet's conversation with the grave-digger entirely, because it isn't important to Claudius' murder plot. Then I would condense the other three bullet points so they fit into just one box: "Hamlet and Laertes fight in Ophelia's grave and Hamlet challenges Laertes to a duel." Fo...

Humans are comprised of four main tissue types. These tissue types include nervous tissue, epithelial tissue, connective tissue, and muscular tissue. Epithelial tissue covers the surface of the body and forms the lining of most internal cavities. Functions of epithelial tissue include protection, secretions, absorption, and filtration. Our skin is the largest organ in our bodies and is made up of epithelial tissue. Skin protects our body from dirt, bacteria, and other microbes that may be harmful to us. Epithelial cells come in different shapes and sizes depending upon where they are found in the body. These cells can be thin, flat, cube shaped, or elongated. There are three types of muscular tissue. The types of muscular tissue include: skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and smooth muscle tissue. Skeletal muscle is voluntary and its function is to move our bodies. A signal is sent from the brain for the muscle to contract. Cardiac muscle is found in the heart and it is involuntary. Invo...

The Civil Rights Act of 1964, signed by President Lyndon Baines Johnson, is legislation that ruled out any discrimination based upon race, sex, religion, or national origin. This act amended the Civil Rights Act of 1957. In a sense, the Civil Rights Act was the fulfillment of the "promissory note" to which Dr. Martin Luther King alluded in his "I Have a Dream" speech in which he invoked the words of the American Constitution and the implications of the Fourteenth Amendment that had not been fulfilled for people of color. After the signing of this bill, there were a number of changes effected in hiring minorities and women, along with admissions to college, among other things. Section 703 of this bill made it unlawful for an employer to ...fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions or privileges or employment, because of such individual's race, colo...

Dexter's family is solidly middle class as his father owns the "second best" grocery store in their town of Black Bear, Minnesota. Because his father has a lucrative business, Dexter caddies at the Sherry Island Golf Club merely for pocket money, unlike the other caddies who are so poor that they live in one-room houses. At the country club, Dexter Green is able to associate with the wealthy. There he delights in the "admiring crowd" of men such as Mr. Mortimer Jones, a prosperous member and owner of a coveted Pierce-Arrow automobile, who watches with amazement when Dexter gives exhibitions of his skillful and showy dives off the springboard of the club raft. Later on, Dexter's father prospers enough that he is able to pay his son's way to the state university, but Dexter wants more. Whereas his father may have "association with glittering things," Dexter desires the "glittering things" themselves. That is, he aspires to the upper cla...

After Robert E. Lee's troops were cut off from supplies and surrounded by the Union forces, surrender was inevitable. Lee's role in the surrender from this difficult position was to ask Ulysses S. Grant what the terms of surrender would be. For his part, Ulysses S. Grant wanted to begin the process of healing the nation at Appomattox. While a natural reaction would be to approach the surrender by gloating and punishing the South, Grant offered fairly lenient terms for the Army of Northern Virginia. He granted a full pardon to all of the soldiers and officers and even printed pardons for them to take back home with them. He allowed the officers to keep their sidearms, but all weapons of war were to be surrendered by the soldiers. The Union also fed the starving Confederate troops before sending them home to begin the process of rebuilding.

Maniac Magee rarely felt at home.  His parents both perished in a tragic trolley car accident when he was three years old.  He was sent to live with his aunt and uncle, who had a strained marital relationship.  They did not speak to one another.  They did not share anything in their house.  After years of dealing with their behavior toward one another, Maniac snapped.  He could not stand it anymore, and he ran away.  He wound up in Two Mills, which was across the river from the home he had lived in with his parents. In Two Mills, Maniac did not have a home at first.  He slept in "the deer shed at the Elmwood Park Zoo" until the Beale family invited him to stay with them.  It was at their house that Maniac first showed how much he valued having an address.  On the first night in their house, Maniac walked outside and "looked at the three cast-iron digits nailed to the door frame: seven two eight."  Maniac smiled happily because he "finally had an address." ...

Realism is the theory of international relations under which nations are rational agents that each act in their own self-interest. Realists consider the internal structure of a national government to be largely irrelevant, and model international politics as essentially a competition between different self-interested individuals who are fighting over territory and resources. Liberalism is the theory of international relations that nations are structured around values , and their internal structure does matter; liberal theorists typically argue that democratic countries are more peaceful than authoritarian countries, for example. Liberals believe that international cooperation can be established and maintained, and is more likely to work when different nations share the same values and system of government. We can actually think of these as two ends of a continuum: At the extreme realist end of the continuum, international politics is just a Hobbesian war of all against all where every...

There are at least two ways we can approach this question: by asking how the GMOs themselves affect the environment, and evaluating how their use affects human practices that impact the environment. One of the most common targets for criticism and application of GMOs is the agriculture industry. Companies are successfully engineering new types of crops, sold in seed form, that offer a variety of benefits, such as resistance to pesticides or higher crop yields. One of the downsides of this, from the consumer perspective, is that farmers are sometimes not allowed to keep seeds from one year's harvest to plant in the next; the seeds and their genetic content are technically the property of the company that creates them. Further, it's entirely possible the seeds and crops could be intentionally or accidentally transported beyond the areas they are intended to be planted in, displacing native species due to superior traits. This would be another form of human-caused invasive species...

Arguments that center on cultural identity and power still retain their compelling nature even if they are placed in contexts that might be perceived as trivial. Discussions about cultural rights and identity are rooted in power.  These discussions focus on how culture is defined, where individual and social voice lies, and in how the homogenization of culture has been historically embedded. Such profound implications make these arguments quite compelling.   Some context is needed regarding the food examples. There has been a re-ignition of interest in "microaggressions."   According to Derald Wing Sue, PhD, microaggressions are "everyday insults, indignities and demeaning messages sent to people of color by well-intentioned white people who are unaware of the hidden messages being sent to them."  There has been renewed interest in discovering where these messages exist and their potential meaning.  Food-based cultural appropriation can be seen as an example of a mi...

For the most part, states in the South reacted with anger to Lincoln's victory in the election of 1860. The major issue of the 1860 presidential election was slavery.  For Southerners, expanding slavery was the critical issue.  Slavery was so pressing that the Democratic party put forth two candidates.  One of them represented the Northern Democrats and the other candidate was for the interests of the Southern Democrats.  Southerners knew that Lincoln and the newly formed Republican party were not going to be friendly to the expansion of slavery in the nation. The high voter turnout reflected the voting public's passionate intensity regarding slavery.  Lincoln did not win any electoral votes in the South, but carried the electoral votes in the Northern states.  This helped to enhance the sectionalist feel to the election. Sectionalist feelings became more pronounced with Lincoln's election. Southerners openly embraced secession, or separating from the nation.  South Carolin...

After Macbeth has performed the murder of Duncan, Shakespeare shows Lady Macbeth as the calmer, more rational of the two.  When Macbeth superstitiously panics because he could not utter the word Amen , she says, "These deeds must not be thought / After these ways. So, it will make us mad" (2.2.33-34).  In other words, she tells him not to dwell on what they have done or it will drive them insane.  Further, she realizes that Macbeth has brought the murder weapons out of the room with him, and she chastises him for being so thoughtless.  However, he is too emotional and refuses to return to the room with Duncan's body.  Disappointed in his cowardice, she says, "Infirm of purpose! / Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead / Are but as pictures" (2.2.52-54).  She returns the daggers to the room, smearing the chamberlains with blood, and when she returns, she calmly washes her hands, saying, "A little water clears us of this deed. / How easy is it, then!...

In Chapter 11, Phillip starts to wonder whether Timothy is perhaps going a bit crazy, out of his mind from the stress, when the old man suddenly claims that their pet and companion, Stew Cat, might be the cause of their bad luck . Timothy seems to sneak around with a knife, causing Phillip to be horribly worried. The boy tries to make sure Timothy doesn't harm Stew Cat, and it's a tense chapter as the animal remains missing. Finally, as the chapter comes to a close, Phillip realizes that Timothy has been carving an image of a cat out of wood and has placed nails in that image, trying to symbolically kill the bad luck that has plagued them. Even odder, Timothy has temporarily placed Stew Cat on their raft in the water while he did this task, so that the cat would be physically removed from the island while Timothy's work dispelled the "jumbi" (bad luck) caused by the feline. "Maybe all that had happened was beginning to work on the old man's mind. Maybe I...

The early Middle Ages in India (around the time of the fall of Rome in Europe) are sometimes known as the Gupta Age due to the fact that India was ruled at the time by the Gupta Empire. After the Gupta Empire collapsed, it was followed by the Pallava Dynasty which lasted well into the Middle Ages. During both the Gupta Age and the Pallava Dynasty, India colonized a large area in Southeast Asia, sometimes referred to as "Greater India" (though many scholars consider this term inaccurate). India was more technologically and economically advanced than most of its neighbors at the time, and as a result many local cultures were quick to adapt to India's customs in the hopes of sharing their prosperity. The spread of missionaries, scholars, and merchants to these colonies led to the spread of a number of aspects of Indian culture, including styles of food, styles of clothing, several Indian languages and writing systems (particularly Pallava Script), India's system of law a...

Cherry and Marcia are with Socs named Bob and Randy.  It is Cherry’s boyfriend, Bob, that Johnny kills.  Pony and Johnny meet two nice Soc girls at the movies.  At first they do not understand why the girls are being nice.  Socs never socialize with greasers.  Cherry is grateful to them for interfering when Dally was messing with them, and Marcia seems flattered by the attention.  Cherry doesn’t take the drink Dally offers, but Marcia does.  Oh, yeah, we found out why they were without a car. They'd come with their boyfriends, but walked out on them when they found out the boys had brought some booze along. The boys had gotten angry and left. (Ch. 2)  Cherry and Marcia left their boyfriends because they were drinking too much.  They decided to hang out with Johnny and Pony, but trouble ensued when they were leaving the theater and saw Bob’s car.  Bob and his friends would not be happy to see their girls with greasers.  Marcia was shifting nervously. "What are we going to do?...

If I was Juliet, I would have acted exactly as Juliet did act upon receiving the news that Capulet has schedule her wedding to Paris: with great grief and desperation. That being said, I probably wouldn't have been wise enough to escape the situation like she does. When Juliet learns from her mother that she is to marry Paris "early next Thursday morn," Juliet begs her to tell Lord Capulet that she will not marry him.  Lady Capulet tells Juliet to tell her father herself; Capulet enters and reacts with tremendous anger when he learns of his daughter's disobedience. He threatens Juliet and gives her an ultimatum: I tell thee what: get thee to church o' Thursday, Or never after look me in the face... ... I'll give you to my friend; And you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets, For, by my soul, I'll ne'er acknowledge thee... Juliet, however, responds to these threats with a more level-headed approach than I could ever manage. She calmly asks her ...

Christianity and Judaism are two of the world's three largest monotheistic faiths (with Islam being the third). They have strong historical connections, as Christianity first emerged as a sect (or more accurately several sects) from Judaism in the first century A.D. Generally speaking, the most important theological difference between the two is that adherents of Judaism do not acknowledge Jesus to be the Messiah (a man sent by God to unify and deliver the people of Israel) or the son of God. They also do not believe in the resurrection of Jesus, which forms the foundation of Christian theology. But Christians and Jews otherwise believe many of the same things. In particular, they hold the Hebrew Old Testament as sacred, containing the word of God and many of the foundations of the relationship between God and man, including the covenant and the Ten Commandments. They believe, in short, in the same God, and share the same history until the life of Jesus. While Christians emerged fr...

Napoleon and the pigs achieve power through their leadership of the revolution that overthrows Jones, the human owner of Manor Farm (renamed Animal Farm under the pigs' leadership). The pigs are the smartest of the animals, and it becomes clear fairly early in the aftermath of the uprising that they will occupy positions of power and privilege on Animal Farm. For example, the pigs claim they need apples in their mash, a privilege not extended to other animals, because their minds are so essential to the organization of Animal Farm. Over time, Napoleon, with Squealer as his obsequious propagandist, purges his rival Snowball and begins to solidify his power with a combination of brutality and deception. They claim that Snowball is constantly conspiring to destroy the farm and that Napoleon, not Snowball, was the architect of the windmill. Using the dogs, Napoleon has dozens of the animals killed in front of the rest for allegedly committing treason. By the end of the book, the pigs a...

There are two well-defined sides to the argument over deriving morality from religion. Though there are many examples supporting the idea that one can gain morality from faith, this answer will argue solely against this notion. One way to understand how it is impossible to gain morality from religion is to examine the nature of morality and religion. Morality is a fluid concept throughout history, while religion is resistant to change. For example, Martin Luther argued against the morality of Catholic indulgences in his Ninety-Five Theses. At the time, Luther was not attempting to break away from Catholicism, but change it. Yet when the Catholic church did not listen to his ideas, Luther used his own morality to start the Protestant Reformation. Another way to argue against a connection between morality and religion is using historical examples of times when religion was used to justify immoral acts. For example, in the antebellum American South, passages from the Old Testament were co...

Actually, there are several ways you can look at this:  one question could be "According to the documents, who would you blame for the Cold War--the West or the Soviet Union?"  Another question could be, "How did each side justify its actions in the beginning of the Cold War?"  Still another question could be, "How did America and the Soviet Union see its responsibilities in maintaining a new world order after WWII?"  Yet another fine question could be "Given the rhetoric in Britain, the Soviet Union and America, do you think the Cold War could have been avoided?" although this question might require more external knowledge than you get from the primary source documents.   The Cold War is a fascinating study as historians over the years have come out as saying that it was primarily caused by the Soviet Union, primarily by the West, and primarily by the developing world who played one side against the other in return for maximum gains for their ow...

Jay Gatsby and George Wilson are both striving for the American Dream: the idea that any American, through hard work and perseverance, can attain prosperity.  Neither one is successful in achieving the dream, however, and this fact helps to explain how the dream is a fictitious, even corrupt, one in this novel.   Jay Gatsby has long desired to be rich, to run in the same circles as Daisy and Tom Buchanan.  However, unable to acquire this status honestly, through scrupulous hard work and legal means, he has resorted to illegal activities to earn his money.  Gatsby is a "bootlegger": someone who profits from the illegal production, distribution, and sale of alcoholic beverages during the era of American Prohibition.  He has made his money illegally, and this tarnishes it, producing only a corrupt version of the American Dream at best.  Gatsby has not achieved the dream; he only seems to have done so. George Wilson, on the other hand, seems desperately poor regardless of how har...

New Historicism, a term most associated with Shakespeare scholar Stephen Greenblatt, puts literary texts and history in dialogue with one another, both by placing literary texts into their specific historical (and, being cross-disciplinary, economic, sociological, philosophical, etc.) context(s) and by erasing boundaries between "historical" texts and "literary" texts. In other words, New Historians ask not only what we can learn about a literary text by embedding it as fully as possible in its historical moment, but what we can glean about a historical moment from a literary text. More than one critic has applied a New Historical lens to  Paradise Lost.  For example, in  Milton's Imperial Epic: Paradise Lost and the Discourse of Colonialism,  Martin Evans interpreted  Paradise Lost as a commentary on colonialism, in full swing at that time, arguing that England represented Paradise and the new colonies in America both "hell-America" (the place occupi...

John Steinbeck's depression-era novel Of Mice and Men is about two traveling ranch-hands named Lennie and George. Concerning the theme of social justice, Steinbeck's most important work would probably be the much longer novel The Grapes of Wrath . Whereas The Grapes of Wrath is concerned with the fate of a large group of workers and promotes social reform (some say even socialism), Of Mice and Men takes a more indirect approach. Lenny and George are itinerant workers, they move from ranch to ranch in search of work. To an extent, they have chosen their own fate, unlike the waves of sharecroppers who have been thrown off “their” land in The Grapes of Wrath. The social justice that George and Lennie need is of a more personal nature. Lennie is mentally disabled and would not be able to survive on his own without someone like George to watch over him. Unfortunately, Lennie's mental deficiencies land him (and George) in constant trouble: people are just not able or willing t...

In Chapter 16, Thacia, Joel, and Daniel are discussing how Thacia will disguise herself as Joel in order for them to fulfill Rosh's assignment. Thacia mentions that she would feel ashamed to meet Jesus while she is disguised as Joel because she doesn't "want to face Jesus with a lie." Daniel responds by saying that in war, a lie is considered a weapon. Thacia disagrees, then asks Daniel and Joel what makes them so sure Jesus wants war. They assume that when Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, he is referring to an upcoming war. Thacia challenges their beliefs by mentioning that Jesus might mean that the kingdom of heaven will come some other way without fighting. Thacia goes on to say that Jesus has helped her see that they don't need to wait for God to care for them because he already does. Thacia tells them, " Jesus says that God sees into our hearts and loves us. If everyone understood that---every man and woman--- " (Speare 178). The b...

In Act 2, Scene 3, just prior to Romeo's arrival at his cell, Friar Lawrence is working with his plants.  He says that within one "weak flower / Poison hath residence and medicine power" (2.3.23-24).  In other words, one plant has the ability to help or harm, depending on the dosage.  This seems to foreshadow the plan that the Friar will later make, where he will provide Juliet with a medicinal potion that will make her seem dead.  The plan is to use this distillation to allow Juliet to fake her own death and run away with Romeo. However, the Friar also says that the flower is also like a person because "Two such opposed kings encamp them still / In man as well as herbs -- grace and rude will; / And where the worser is predominant, / Full soon the canker death eats up that plant" (2.3.28-31).  He draws attention to humankind's ability to be both loving and hateful, and where hatred rules, there can only be destruction.  This seems to foreshadow that, althoug...

Italy in the 15th century was unique in comparison to other European nations like France or Great Britain, which were united under one monarch and divided into strict class systems.  Under these class systems it was virtually impossible to increase your wealth or social status, since the classes had strictly assigned roles.  Italy, however, was instead divided into independent, self-governing “city-states.”  The Renaissance began in one such city-state, the independent republic of Florence, where the merchants and traders were wealthy and powerful. This was much different than other European nations where the noble classes ruled and subjugated the lower classes. Florentines had much more freedom, due to the republican form of government (as opposed to a monarchy) and because the absence of a feudal system allowed more upward mobility in terms of wealth and social status.  The wealthiest Florentines would flaunt their money and power through “patronage,” meaning that they provided suppo...

Renewable energy is the energy obtained from sources which are practically limitless in amount and regenerate very quickly. Some examples of renewable energy are solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy, tidal energy, etc. This form of energy is much cleaner and much more environmentally friendly as compared to nonrenewable energy. Yet, there are many obstacles to overcome in order to replace nonrenewable energy and enact a large-scale adoption of renewable energy.  Renewable energy is a localized form of energy and is also time bound. For example, one cannot expect same amount of solar radiation at every location and 24 hours a day. So, solar energy can only be used in places that have more sunshine. Wind energy is similarly localized to windy areas. The energy has to be stored in batteries during non-production hours (night for solar energy and non-windy for wind energy, etc.). The efficiency of energy conversion of renewable energy sources is very low. A good solar panel will ha...

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The religious climate of the Salem Witch Trial period was one of Puritanism. Puritans were called such for two reasons: They sought to purify new Protestant practices from any vestiges of the Catholic Church. In the eyes of new-world Protestants, no branch of Protestantism had yet gone far enough in throwing off all remnants of Catholic thought and ritual. Puritans were also given their name due to their puritanical way of life, which sought to rid all bodies and communities of sin, with a particular focus on lust/sexual sin, which is an evident theme in The Crucible . Women were branded witches for many reasons in Puritan society, but most often -- as in Miller's play -- women were punished for inspiring lust and for performing any acts perceived as ritualistic, as ritual is a strong component of the Catholic faith. It's also important to note that the time of The Crucible 's writing was reflective of the Salem Witch Trials' period, at least culturally. Arthur Miller u...

Georg Simmel (1858-1918), a German sociologist, published his thoughts on value as it relates to currency in "The Philosophy of Money" (1900).  Simmel's main theme in the work is the impersonal nature of money among people in society.  He argues economic exchange is a social interaction and money is the medium of the exchange.  Money is merely the token upon which both parties agree represents the exchange item, tangible or otherwise.  The impersonal nature of monetary exchange allows for growth of personal freedom, but can hinder personal growth due to social comparison.  Simmel claims the impersonal nature of transactions limits the social interaction to the matter at hand; an exchange of goods or services.  The monetary system helps to overcome social isolation by creating a universal method of communication and understanding.  However, the dark side of value is the disparity which arises when one person feels socially outcast due to society deeming their contribution...

Relationships between organisms are an important part of ecological systems. If a relationship is  symbiotic,  this means that two organisms live in close quarters and may interact with one another. There are several types of symbiotic relationships, including parasitism, commensalism, and mutualism. Parasitism is a specific kind of relationship where one organism lives off of another. Insects like fleas are parasites and engage in parasitic relationships where they drink the blood of a host organism. Commensalism is kind of the opposite of parasitism-- two organisms may share a living space and one benefits while doing no harm to the other. For example, clown fish live inside of anemones. The anemone can cause stinging, but because the clown fish coats itself in a protective slime, it does not get stung. In this way, the clown fish is protected by the anemone, which may sting other organisms, and the anemone is not at all harmed. Mutualism describes a mutually beneficial symbiotic rel...

Louis Riel was a Canadian activist who helped found Manitoba. In 1869, he led the Metis (Canadian people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry) in their fight against the encroachment of Anglo-Protestant immigrants into their territory when the Hudson Bay Company wanted to sell Rupert’s Land (about 1/3 of Canada’s land mass in the Northwest) to the Dominion of Canada. The Red River Colony (founded in 1812 in Rupert's Land) resisted the sale for fear they would loose their social, cultural, and political status to the Canadian Confederation. Under Riel’s leadership, the newly formed Metis National Committee was able to thwart progress toward the sale, and by December 1869, produced a provisional government for all of Rupert’s Land. In their "Declaration of the People of Rupert's Land and the North-West," the people rejected Canada’s right to govern the territory and proposed a negotiated settlement between the provisional government and the Confederation government...

Limiting reagent is the chemical which dictates the chemical reaction in terms of whether the reaction takes place or not and how much reactants are consumed and products are formed. The simplest way to determine the limiting reagent in a chemical reaction is to write the well-balanced chemical equation of the reaction and determine the molar ratio in which reactants combine and products are formed. Then using the molar mass of each species, figure out the number of moles of each chemical and, using stoichiometry, find out the limiting reagent.  For example, for cellular respiration, which takes place as per the following well-balanced chemical equation: `C_6H_12O_6 + 6O_2 -> 6CO_2 + 6H_2O + ATP` 1 mole of glucose reacts with six moles of oxygen to form 6 moles of carbon dioxide and 6 moles of water and ATP molecules. The molar mass of glucose is 180 g, while that of oxygen is 32 g. If we are given 180 g of glucose, but only 96 g of oxygen, 1 mole of glucose will not be consumed. Th...

Perhaps the most significant theme in Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 is that of the government's control over freedom of thought. In the novel, members of society are not allowed to read books because it promotes freethinking and original thought. Anyone who is found hiding books is taken into custody, and their books and home burned to the ground. It is not without irony that one of the story's strongest rebels against this process is found in Guy Montag. At the beginning, he is a fireman who burns books and houses. He muses, "It was a pleasure to burn." However, he receives guidance in the form of Clarisse McClellan's challenging questions, as well as witnessing the woman at 11 N. Elm Street who is willing to die rather than live in a world without her books. In response, Montag's once-unquestioned perceptions (based on the government's dumbing-down propaganda) begin to change. Beatty provides a glimpse not only of what the fireman's job is, but also...

In Dessa Rose , Dessa is interviewed by Adam Nehemiah in the first section of the book. As the story unfolds, we discover that Dessa is in prison for her part in a slave revolt that resulted in the deaths of five white men and the maiming of a slave trader, Wilson. In addition, thirty one slaves had been killed or executed in the process, nineteen had been flogged for their part in the revolt, and almost thirty eight thousand dollars of damage had been incurred as a result of the rebellion. In order to keep Dessa speaking to him, Nehemiah has to keep his disdain and contempt for her under wraps. Ultimately, however, he introduces two instances of revisionist bias into his interactions with Dessa. The first is when he questions Dessa about a supposed file that had been used to free the rebel participants from their chains. There had been, of course, no indication that a file had been procured by any of the slaves to free their fellow rebel participants from their chains. Dessa's res...

"Chapter 1: Arrival on Himmel Street" can be found within the larger “Part One: The Gravedigger’s Handbook.” Because the narrator of our story is the character Death, the entire narration is spoken by him. Even quotations spoken by another character are told to us by Death. The first quote about death in “Chapter 1: Arrival on Himmel Street” is spoken as a part of Death’s narration: A six-year-old boy died in the third carriage. This refers to Liesel’s brother’s death. This moment is one that will haunt Liesel for a long time. Death relates that Liesel is the one holding her brother when he dies and that he died after a “spurt” of coughing. The two children are on their way to live with their foster parents, but Werner “didn’t make it.” The next quotation talks about the finality of this death: Her brother was dead. Liesel Meminger is the titular character. Her brother is Werner Meminger. Death always gives details in an unemotional way, and this quote is no exception. Liesel...

Igneous rocks are one of the three types of rocks, the other two being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rocks are formed when magma cools down and solidifies. The interior of Earth is very hot and temperatures are high enough to melt rocks. These molten rocks (known as magma) rise upwards and cool down either above the surface of Earth or below the surface. When the magma cools down below the surface of Earth, it has plenty of time to do so and hence the cooling process is very slow. This allows sufficient time for crystal growth and hence these rocks have large crystal sizes. These igneous rocks are known as intrusive rocks or plutonic rocks. An example of an intrusive rock is granite. When the magma cools down above the surface of Earth, it has to do so rapidly. This means less time for cooling and hence less time for crystal growth. Thus, the crystals of these rocks would be small in size. Such igneous rocks are known as extrusive rocks. Basalt is an example of an extrusive rock...

Temperature and pressure of a gas are directly proportional to each other. This can be also be written as: `P alpha T` This also means that `P/T = constant` or, `P_1/T_1 = P_2/T_2` where P1 and P2 are pressures at temperatures T1 and T2, respectively. This is true if the volume is held constant. One way to think about the pressure-temperature relationship is to consider what happens when the temperature changes. If we increase the temperature of a gas, its molecules will have more kinetic energy and they will have more collisions with each other and the container they are held in (as long as the container volume is fixed). This will cause an increase in the pressure in the container. On the other hand, if we decrease the gas temperature, the molecules will have lesser kinetic energy and this will result in a reduced number of collisions with the container and hence lower pressure. The above equation is also known as Gay-Lussac's Law and can be derived from the ideal gas law. Hope t...

Longfellow and Alcott were both New England writers; Longfellow was born in Maine and Alcott lived in Concord, Massachusetts. Their lives overlapped somewhat; Longfellow was 26 years older than Alcott but they died about six years apart. They were both important 19th century American authors. Along with their biographical similarities, they share similarities in their writing.  Alcott's best known book is Little Women, which remains a classic in children's literature. It is the fictionalized, idealized story of Alcott and her three sisters as they grew up. Alcott's actual childhood had been difficult, since her father had a hard time keeping a teaching job due to his radical ideas of education. In fact, Alcott wrote Little Women as a way to help the family's finances.  As a romanticized portrayal of childhood, Little Women shares characteristics with Longfellow's poetry, particularly his poetry about children. Here is the opening of Longfellow's The Children...

Although Cassius sensed that he was bringing Brutus around to joining his proposed conspiracy, he decided to follow up by sending him counterfeit letters purportedly from various important Roman citizens urging him to act against the tyrant Julius Caesar. Shakespeare got this, as he did so much of the information used in his play, from Plutarch. The playwright has Cassius say to himself at the end of Act I, Scene 2: I will this night, In several hands, in at his windows throw, As if they came from several citizens, Writings, all tending to the great opinion That Rome holds of his name, wherein obscurely Caesar's ambition shall be glanced at. And after this let Caesar seat him sure; For we will shake him, or worse days endure. In Act II, Scene 1, we see how Cassius's ploy has an effect on Brutus when he reads one of the phony letters. He opens the letter and reads. "Brutus, thou sleep'st. Awake, and see thyself. Shall Rome, et cetera? Speak, strike, redress." And t...

In Book IX, Odysseus briefly describes the time he spent with Calypso, who kept him prisoner, and Circe, "full of craft" who kept him in her palace.  However, he describes, at much greater length, the problems he faced in Ismarus, the land of the Lotus-eaters, and the land of the Cyclops.  Ismarus was the first place his crew stopped after their victory at Troy, and after they'd pillaged the town, Odysseus advised them all to return to the ship and go, but they decided to get drunk and fall asleep.  They are then attacked at night by those who survived the earlier violence, and six men from each ship are killed.  In the land of the Lotus-eaters, he sends only three men ashore, but after they taste the lotus fruit, they have no more desire to return home.  Odysseus must physically drag or carry each of them back to the ship. At the island on which Polyphemus, the Cyclops, lives, Odysseus's men try to convince him to take food and return to the ship, but he refuses.  Th...

According to John Rawls, the original position is not a place but rather a point of view. It is a point of view that is neutral and which takes into account the needs of all people, not just ourselves. The point of entering into the original position is so that we can create a set of just rules for our society. In his book A Theory of Justice , Rawls tried to set out a way in which people could have a just society. He wanted both legal justice and economic justice. In order to accomplish this, he used the idea of the original position. The most important part of the original position is the “veil of ignorance.” Rawls said that people needed to mentally put themselves behind this veil of ignorance when they tried to critique their society’s laws. The word “ignorance” in this phrase refers to ignorance about one’s own personal characteristics and one’s own place in society. In other words, when we go to critique our society’s laws, we need to try to pretend that we do not know who we are...

It is generally accepted that Shakespeare wrote 10 plays that are classified as tragedies, but which of them are true tragedies is often at the center of ongoing academic debate. Some scholars argue that a couple of Shakespeare’s plays are actually tragi-comedies and therefore cannot be categorically declared tragedies, while other scholars claim that because those same plays meet a complex set of criteria for defining tragic plays, they must be tragedies. The same argument swirls around his history plays. In addition, the plays were written across three periods of Shakespeare’s career, but what most scholars do agree on is that Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies were written during the second and third periods. These plays include Romeo and Juliet , Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra. There is rarely disagreement that Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra are tragedies. Although they are based on historical figures, the stories are both for...

The primary difference between the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Declaration of Independence is that the latter is a declaration of war by the North American British colonies against the crown of England, while the former is a philosophical document drafted at a United Nations (UN) summit in Paris in 1948. Though the UN hoped to codify a definition of human rights among its member nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights does not provide a plan of action for governments or citizens to ensure such rights. The UN calls the document "a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations" (para 1). Conversely, the Declaration of Independence lays out specific grievances, and makes plain the colonies' plan of action for severing ties with England. 

Romeo says that love "pricks like thorn"; in other words, he feels injured by love.  Mercutio, however, tells him to "be rough with love / Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down."  Prick means to poke, and this is the way Romeo uses the word, but Mercutio's response relies on the other meaning of prick, creating the pun.  A prick is also a slang term for a penis.  Therefore, Mercutio's pun implies that Romeo should have his way with love rather than allow it to hurt him. While Romeo's friends are attempting to goad him into going to the Capulets' party, Romeo says that he is done.  Mercutio responds, "Tut, dun’s the mouse, the constable’s own word. / If thou art dun, we’ll draw thee from the mire [...]."  The pun is on the word dun .  First, Romeo says that he is done, meaning finished, and then Mercutio uses a popular expression that essentially means "Be still," and then says that if Romeo is dun/done, then they will p...

The properties and characteristics of acids and bases are as follows: Acids Conduct electricity Taste sour React with and neutralize bases React with active metals to produce hydrogen gas pH is less than 7 Bases Conduct electricity Taste bitter React with and neutralize acids Feel slippery  pH is greater than 7 Therefore, we would expect household cleaners and soaps to be bases . Litmus Paper Litmus is a colored organic dye. Litmus has a pH range of about 4.5 to 8.3. Litmus paper can be either blue or red. When red litmus paper is placed in an acid, it will remain red . When red litmus paper is placed in a base, it will turn blue . When blue litmus paper is placed in an acid, it will turn red . When blue litmus paper is placed in a base, it will remain blue . Therefore, we would predict that cleaning products and soaps would turn red litmus paper blue . The answer is b .

There is really no date for the end of the Cold War--some would put its end as 1989, when the communist governments of Eastern Europe collapsed, while others would choose 1991, when the Soviet Union ceased to exist. Whatever the date, the Cold War came to an end with the collapse of communism. This process occurred for a number of reasons. One was that the Soviet Union faced major economic hardships as it struggled to maintain its military power. The Soviet economy, it is often said, struggled to provide its people with both "guns and butter." Mikhail Gorbachev, the reform-minded Soviet leader who took power in 1985, sought to institute structural economic changes that were impossible to implement while spending so much money on the military. So he sought more normalized relations with the United States. He also encouraged a new policy of openness, "glasnost", in the USSR. When the countries of Eastern Europe, beginning with Poland, began to pursue similar reforms, ...

The most current data that I could find regarding that question was a 2013 survey.  The findings were published in the Journal of Sociology and the results were presented at a conference of the British Sociological Association.  The total number of people surveyed was over 160,000 people, which gives a very large sample pool.  The survey identified a total of seven different social classes within United Kingdom society.  Unfortunately, the percentage of people that were identified as elite upper class does not match any of the percentages that are listed in the question.  The percentage that I was able to find, at least in 2013, was that 6% of the population is classified as elite.  I will attach the full article, so that you may look over the data tables yourself.  

In the first paragraph, we are offered the point-of-view of a seemingly omniscient but, in fact, limited omniscient narrator. If point-of-view can be visualized as the perspective of someone holding a movie camera and shooting a scene, this shows a shot of two men walking through the countryside as if the camera were behind them, seeing what they see as they walk: the windmills of a village, meadows, willows, telegraph poles, a train in the distance. It appears omniscient because we get what seem to be the thoughts of the characters, which, if this were a movie, we might imagine as a voice-over: they are both tired of walking and at the same time find the countryside grand and beautiful. They are not differentiated at this point: they have the same thoughts and reactions, which might lead us to believe that, after all, the narrator is limited omniscient, and does not know everything: is he summarizing the conversation he is overhearing? Is he guessing at what they are thinking? This s...

A soliloquy is a long speech in which a character expresses his or her thoughts out loud while alone on stage. In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet , there are three important soliloquies, including Friar Lawrence's discussion of the nature of plants and herbs in Act II, Scene 3 and Romeo's final statement of his love for Juliet inside Capulet's tomb in Act V, Scene 3. The best soliloquy of the tragedy, however, is probably Juliet's expression of her fears about taking the friar's potion in Act IV, Scene 3. Shakespeare's soliloquies often portray a character who is poised on the edge of action and is deliberating the pros and cons of that action. At first, Juliet debates whether she should call the Nurse in for comfort. Rejecting that idea, she becomes fearful that the potion will not work and that she will have to marry Count Paris, but she is carrying a dagger which she claims she would use on herself rather than be married a second time. Next, she fears the ...

In Act II, Scene 4, we hear the conversation between Ross and an Old Man. This scene takes place in the morning after King Duncan's murder. The two men are talking about some unusual and dangerous occurrences in nature. Ross is surprised that, although the morning has arrived, it is still very dark outside: By the clock, 'tis day, And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp: Is't night's predominance, or the day's shame. The Old Man then notes that a mighty falcon was killed by an owl, which is abnormal. Ross mentions Duncan's exquisite horses turned wild and ate one another, which is symbolic of Scotland's aristocracy turning against each other. And Duncan's horses—a thing most strange and certain— Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race, Turn'd wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out, Contending 'gainst obedience. . .  'Tis said they eat each other. All these bizarre occurrences seem to suggest the natural order of things,...

The Day of the Triffids abounds with many themes: catastrophe, natural selection and evolution, the human need for survival, the threat of invasion and human extinction, the collapse of moral values in a dystopian society, the importance of hope, etc. However, I would like to focus on the two of the most important themes: the survival and reestablishment of the human race and the importance of science. This novel presents us with a dystopian world, in which we are faced with a pessimistic view of humanity. When our protagonist, Bill Masen, awaits the doctors to take off the bandages which covered his eyes, he soon realizes that the world has gone blind as a result of an unexpected green meteor shower which people enjoyed looking at the day before. All of a sudden, the world is thrown into chaos; humans are no longer the most powerful species on the planet because their ability to see has been taken away from them. They cannot cope without being able to see, unlike a triffid, a type of ...