Notes

The witches and Lady Macbeth are major instigators throughout the play. They push, encourage, or trick Macbeth into committing horrific acts and sealing his own fate, as redemption becomes more and more unlikely. In Act I, the witches appear and provide Macbeth with a first temptation: they tell him that he will be king, among other things. This awakens in Macbeth an underlying or hidden ambition - that is, to kill Duncan, and claim the throne. When Lady Macbeth reads her husband's letter, and is thus informed of the prophecy, she immediately leaps into action. She persuades Macbeth to kill Duncan. She does this, mainly, by questioning his manly strength, and feeding his desire for power. She also tries to comfort him after the act. Thus, we can say that Lady Macbeth builds upon what had already been planted by the witches in Act I. In Act IV, they reappear, but in a much different light. Now, they taunt Macbeth; they show him a procession of eight kings, all of which are descended...

There are many effects of terrorism. One effect is to cause fear in a group of people. Terrorists hope that their actions will frighten people. They hope this fear will lead the people to pressure their government to make changes in government policies and actions that will be favorable to the terrorists. Terrorism also disrupts our daily routines. Flying has become more complicated with the screening and the searching of passengers and of suitcases. Entrance into some public buildings now requires people to go through metal detectors. When people go to sporting events, they must remove their keys and phones and go through metal detectors before entering the arena or stadium. The government has spent much money trying to fight terrorism. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan cost huge sums of money. The hiring of security personnel is also expensive. Developing new technologies and weapons to combat terrorism is also very costly. Many people have died because of acts of terrorism or while f...

The 1990s brought a number of floods to northwestern Australia. In 1998, the town of Katherine was destroyed by one of these floods. The Katherine flood was caused by Tropical Cyclone "Les." As Les made landfall and lost the energy provided by the warm gulf waters, it devolved from a cyclone into a rain depression. This process often leads to huge rainfalls, and this case was no different. Les dropped as much as 500 meters of water on the Katherine region during a three-day period; this caused the Katherine River to rise 20 meters (the river's largest rise in history). To make matters worse, the ground was already saturated since the area had experienced heavy rain shortly before Les hit. The resulting flooding caused more than 2,000 people to abandon their homes and resulted in millions of dollars of damage.

The main discussion in Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma of so-called "fast food" occurs in Chapter 7, which is titled "The Meal: Fast Food." It is in this chapter, unsurprisingly, where Pollan enlightens the reader regarding the ingredients that are contained within many of their favorite foods. With a special emphasis on McDonald's, Pollan describes a family trip to one of this particular chain's franchises with his wife and 11-year-old son, the latter of whom orders the chain's popular Chicken McNuggets. It is Pollan's intention, and he supports his thesis with facts, such as the details that go into the manufacture of processed "fast foods" like McNuggets, to alarm his readers about what precisely they are putting into their bodies. If the information Pollan provides causes one to reflect upon their dietary habits, then he has succeeded in his mission. Pollan devotes, as noted, considerable time to describing the contents ...

This novel is famous for three elements: irony, satire and psychological realism. The first line of the novel, that a man with a fortune must be in want of a wife, is a textbook example of irony, or saying the opposite of what is meant: in fact, it is the people with marriagable daughters who are in want of rich husbands for them.  The novel is a satire, poking fun at the marriage market, and especially at the need for a woman to nab a husband who can support her. Characters like Mrs. Bennet, with her single-minded pursuit of any husband for her daughters, no matter how odious, as long as he has sufficient income, is an example of this kind of satire.  Yet Mrs. Bennet, though a type, is also undergirded with psychological realism, for if her husband dies, she and her daughters do lose home and income, pointing to the kind of real pressures women faced. We see perhaps the best example of realism, however, in Elizabeth Bennet, a charming but flawed character who makes decisions out of pr...

Anne Frank described herself as "a bundle of contradictions." In her last diary entry from Tuesday, August 1, 1944, she states that she rejects other people's opinions of her and that she often feels like she knows best and must have the last word in a conversation or fight; she recognizes that these are antagonistic and unpleasant characteristics. That being said, Anne also recognizes that she has many good qualities, including a sense of cheerfulness, the ability to find joy in the world around her, and an appreciation for humor and lightness. Anne sees these contradictions as rivaling components of herself and is fearful that she will be rejected or labeled as "ridiculous and sentimental" if she shows the world her vulnerability and sensitivity. Anne has a reputation of "being boy-crazy as well as a flirt, a smart aleck and a reader of romances," who "laughs, gives a flippant reply, shrugs her shoulders and pretends she doesn't give a darn....

The day after the trial, in Chapter 22 of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird , Miss Maudie gives Jem and the other two children of information that helps him see the trial and its outcome a bit more optimistically . The day after the trial, Miss Maudie invites the children over for cake with the hopes of raising their spirits. One thing she explains to Jem is that Atticus is one of those men in this world "who were born to do our unpleasant jobs for us," meaning to be the ones who take a stand and challenge society when no one else will. Jem's placid response of "Oh,  ... well" shows us that one reason why he feels gloomy the day after the trial is because he feels humiliated by his father's defeat, especially because he knows his father and Tom Robinson justly deserved to win. When Jem expresses his other reason for feeling gloomy, which is that witnessing the people's prejudices during the trial has awakened him to realizing Maycomb is not real...

William Shakespeare's plays may be centuries old, but their popularity has never waned. There are a number of reasons for this. First, according to Professor Craven of the University of Texas, Shakespeare's plays deal with themes like "love, treachery, honor and bravery," which are still relevant today and, therefore, resonate with modern audiences. (See the first reference link.) In addition, Shakespeare was an innovator when it came to language. He invented many words and phrases which are still in use today, like "new-fangled" and "scuffle." As such, Shakespeare's creativity makes for enjoyable reading, which is another reason why he remains so popular. Finally, many of Shakespeare's plays have been adapted and turned into new plays and films. One example is the film  10 Things I Hate About You , which is based on Shakespeare's play The Taming of the Shrew . This movie introduced his comedy to a new generation of readers, further ens...

Anna’s second husband taught her to read and write while she was in the hospital.   Anna was injured because of a storm when she was performing her circus act.  It was there that she met the narrator’s father, who inspected the set of her broken arm.  Growing up in the circus, Anna did not really have a chance to be educated.  It was in the hospital that she finally learned to read and write, as a way of overcoming the boredom and depression of those weeks, and it was my father who insisted on teaching her. In return for stories of' her adventures, he graded her first exercises.  The narrator mentions that her mother was never without a book in her hand after she learned to read.  After her mother went blind and her father died, the narrator returned to her mother to read to her.  Reading aloud to her mother made her feel better. I wonder if my father calculated the exchange offered: one form of flying for another. For after that, and for as long as I can remember, my mother has ne...

In order to answer this question, we must first examine the term "social justice" and establish its meaning. "Social Justice," although a concrete definition is never really given when its used in conversation, can be described as complete economic equality for all individuals who are members of that society. Through Communism, this is essentially achieved when money is collected and evenly distributed to everyone by the government. Marx believed that the right to own private property did not exist, because property and money was generated by work that everyone did; Thus, the rich few should not be able to profit off of the work of others, while still paying them the minimum wage acceptable for them to exist. Under communism, individuals would be free from long working hours due to increased automation. Then, they would be free to pursue their creative passions. In addition, it would eliminate the division between workers and owners, and make the means of production...

Harold Krebs has returned to his small Oklahoma town after serving as a Marine in some of the most important battles of World War I. After facing the horrors of the war, Krebs claims he simply wants to avoid "consequences" and for his life to go "smoothly." He's unable to effectively communicate his experience and one way of coping is to spend time reading books about the engagements he participated in. Other than that, he spends his time sleeping late, playing pool and generally doing nothing. This behavior clashes with the middle class and protestant ethics of his parents. The conflict between Harold and his parents comes to a head one day as his religiously devout mother challenges him to break out of his idleness and get on with his life. One definite conflict is that his mother continues to treat him as a child rather than a man who has fought for his country. She cannot even bring herself to pay attention when he tries to describe his experiences in the wa...

In Amy Tan’s story “Two Kinds” Jing-Mei changes her mind about being prodigy. A prodigy is a person, most often a child, who has abnormally high ability in a specific area such as music or mathematics. This talent is usually considered to be an innate ability that is perfected by practice. Jing-Mei’s mother, Suyuan Woo, believes in America you can be anything including a prodigy. At first Jing-Mei agrees with her mother, and the two spend hours examining magazines and watching television shows to determine her area of expertise. Finally, after seeing another child on the Ed Sullivan show, the mother decides that Jing-Mei should be a prodigy on the piano.  Suyuan Woo acquires a used piano and an inept teacher, and plans a practice schedule for her daughter. Unfortunately, Jing-Mei is not a prodigy on the piano and she is not interested in practicing, therefore, she barely becomes proficient. Jing-Mei is aware that she is not prodigy material. Jing-Mei just wants to be herself, and after...

Cassius, as Julius Caesar describes him, has a “lean and hungry look,” indicating he is eager to cause trouble and manipulate others to do what he might not be brave enough to do. Cassius warns Brutus that Caesar is becoming very popular in the eyes of the Romans. What the army and the Senate fear most is that the Republic will be replaced with a monarchy, which the Romans had ended in about 509 BCE, almost five hundred years before the events in this play occur (55 BCE). Cassius feeds on this fear to overthrow the popular general Julius Caesar. He manipulates Brutus and others into forming a conspiracy to murder Caesar. They are successful in this act, but misjudge how much the Roman people fear returning to monarchy. He thought he knew the heart of the Romans more than he actually did. Cassius remains involved in the conspiracy, but allows Brutus to take the brunt of the anger. His character remains the same throughout the play, but his confidence of his place in the new Rome he crea...

In the 1950s and early 1960s, Dallas was a hotbed of conservatism and anti-Communist fear. The city became the regional headquarters of the John Birch Society, which espoused the idea that Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Truman, and Eisenhower were pawns of the Communist Party. The founder of the John Birch Society, Robert Welch, believed that Communists controlled the Civil Rights movement and John F. Kennedy. Right-wing extremists popularized the idea in Dallas that Kennedy had sold out to traitors, and, though these leaders represented a fringe group, they swayed public opinion against Kennedy. Other leaders, such as H.L. Hunt, the Republican Texas oil tycoon, also helped sway public opinion against Kennedy. Hunt was anti-Catholic and had been active in circulating anti-Catholic literature during Kennedy's campaign. Hunt and other Texas oilmen were afraid that Kennedy would repeal the oil depletion allowance that represented a large tax break for them, and they were very oppos...

The most important event from this chapter is Cassie’s altercation with Lillian Jean, the white girl who behaves in a racist manner toward her.   Even as an African-American child, Cassie doesn’t have many experiences with the harsh realities of racism.  The incidents with the hand-me-down schoolbooks and the white bus’s harassment of them are minor compared to what she goes through with Lillian Jean.  Big Ma had always refused to let Cassie and the other younger children accompany her on shopping trips, so when she allowed Cassie to come it was a big deal.  T.J.s father had asked Big Ma to bring him into town with her, so she brought Cassie and Stacey along so T.J. would talk to them instead of her.  Racism rears its ugly head during the entire trip.  Cassie is completely confused when her grandmother chooses her spot for selling her eggs and milk.  It is very far from the entrance and nowhere near where the other wagons are setting up.  Her grandmother tells her that the other wagons...

Both the narratives of "Ligeia" and "The Masque of the Red Death" dramatize the human desire to conquer death through the power of the will. In "Ligeia," death is conquered by means of the determination of the will. The narrator feels that there is a connection between part of the character of his beloved Ligeia, who possessed "a stern passion," and the beliefs in the supernatural of Joseph Glanvill, an English moralist who contended: Man doth not yield himself to the angels, nor unto death utterly, save only through the weakness of his feeble will. After her death, the narrator reflects upon Ligeia's energy, her knowledge, and her confidence. When she became ill, she fiercely resisted death: Yet not until the last instance, amid the most convulsive writhings of her fierce spirit, was the external placidity of her demeanor shaken. Nevertheless, despite her "eager vehemence of desire for life," Ligeia died, her body exhausted. Howeve...

Fellow scientists ridiculed Alfred Wegener's theory of continental drift because he did not have a mechanism to explain how such a thing could happen, and because it went against currently accepted theories. In 1911 Wegener, a German scientist, came across a paper that referred to fossils of animals and of plants that were identical to each other. The fact that these fossils were on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean made him search out and find more examples. The accepted theory at the time was that land bridges had once connected the continents, and that that was how these fossils could be found thousands of miles apart, with an ocean in between. Wegener also found similar land features, such as mountain ranges, that fit together when corresponding areas of the continents were matched up in a way similar to a jigsaw puzzle. The idea Wegener proposed for how the continents moved turned out to be incorrect--he thought the continents traveled through the Earth's crust. Plate t...

Chris McCandless met all kinds of people during his months wandering the country.  There are simply too many to list, but I can help list and briefly explain some of the more prominent figures that Krakauer mentions.   Jim Gallien.  Jim is interesting, because of how Krakauer chose to introduce him to the reader.  Jim is the first person that McCandless meets in the story, but Jim is also the last person to see McCandless alive.  Krakauer begins the story only a few months before McCandless is found dead, and then Krakauer flashes back.  Jim Gallien picked McCandless up in his truck and drove him to the start of the Stampede Trail.   Ronald Franz.  Franz was an old man living out near the Salton Sea in southeast California.  He took McCandless under his wing for a few weeks and tried to convince McCandless to do something with his life.  The two men grew quite close and McCandless encouraged Franz to give up his sedentary life.   Wayne Westerburg.  Westerburg owned a grain elevator in ...

Despite Nixon's legal troubles with Watergate that ultimately tarnished his legacy, he was actually a very accomplished president.  He extricated American troops from Vietnam through Vietnamization, which meant that America would supply aid to South Vietnam, but South Vietnam would have to supply most of the troops to fight the North.  While this ultimately failed, Nixon ended American military involvement in a very unpopular war.  Nixon is also known for his environmentalism by lowering speed limits on highways to 55 miles per hour and he instituted the first Earth Day.  Nixon also expanded funding to the National Endowment for the Arts, increased federal funding for cancer research, and created OSHA to protect workers.  Nixon opened up trade talks with Communist China--actually there is a famous photo of Nixon standing on the Great Wall of China surrounded by Chinese dignitaries.  Nixon took advantage of a rift between China and the Soviet Union and while China would not be calle...