Notes

Some critics have written that Morrison's characters are too depressing and that they tend to play the role of victims, making them overdetermined. In other words, they think Morrison's characters are determined by race and gender rather than living, breathing people. On the other hand, critics have praised Morrison's lyrical writing, even if it is at times vulgar. In 1993, she won the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the committee praised her as follows: "She delves into the language itself, a language she wants to liberate from the fetters of race. And she addresses us with the luster of poetry." The committee was referring to the innovative way in which Morrison uses language and organizes her narrative in works such as Beloved . One of Morrison's ideas is that language itself is constrained by race and that she has to break through the traditional ways of using language to fully express the way her characters experience life in a racist society. Hence, even...

Prior to the Civil War (the time period of Rifles for Watie ), there was frequent conflict between Kansas (where Jeff is from) and Missouri. In 1821, Missouri was admitted to the United States as a state where slavery was legal. However, according to the Missouri Compromise, no future state north of the latitude that marked Missouri’s southern border could be a slave state. In 1854, the Missouri Compromise was repealed, opening Kansas to those who wanted the territory to become a future slave state. Many people from the North moved to Kansas in order to make it free. The struggle between these two groups continued throughout the Civil War. The Bushwackers from Missouri often crossed the border to attack towns where abolitionists held sway, such as Lawrence. People from Kansas, called Jayhawkers, entered Missouri to attack slave-holding families. This conflict led to Kansas becoming known as “Bleeding Kansas.” After the Civil War started in 1861, Kansas became a free state, and Missouri...

There were differences between the colonies of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. One difference was in the economic activities of these colonies. In Massachusetts, there was a great deal of manufacturing. Due to the rocky soil, subsistence farming was the kind of farming done in Massachusetts. Shipping, manufacturing, and fishing were the main economic activities. In Pennsylvania, the soil was more fertile. Farmers grew grain and sold it throughout the colonies. Unlike Massachusetts, Pennsylvania had a cash crop, which was grain. Some manufacturing was also done in Pennsylvania. Another difference was in the area of religion. In Pennsylvania, there was a great deal of religious tolerance and religious freedom. People of many different backgrounds and religions settled in Pennsylvania. In Massachusetts, the Puritan religion was the main religion. There was no religious tolerance or religious freedom in Massachusetts. Pennsylvania and Massachusetts were different kinds of colonies. Pennsyl...

The narrator has a symbolic "baptism" in the greasy lake. In this story, he is looking back on his life and particularly at a significant night during his naive youth. He and his friends act the part of rebels but they get a real taste of the dark side of life on this night he is describing. After the brawl and their sexual assault of the girl, the narrator retreats to the lake. This is not the purifying baptism noted in religious doctrine. It is an immersion in a greasy lake, during which he bumps into a corpse. He has been baptized by the dark side of life and this illustrates his own immoral actions as well as the immorality that exists in the world.  After they assault the girl from the car, they flee the scene. As he's leaving, the narrator hears the girl's screaming and sobbing and he notes the allusions to the Sabine women and Anne Frank. The Sabine women were an Italian tribe abducted and raped by the Romans. Anne Frank and her family were abducted by the Na...

The puppies were secretly trained to be guard dogs. Like the milk and apples, the puppies also secretly disappear on the farm. They are part of Napoleon's plan to acquire and keep power for himself. He can’t adequately do that without a way to enforce his will. Since he is not bigger and stronger than the other animals, he needs someone who is, and who has teeth. Napoleon is pretty quiet about what is actually happening with the puppies. They are mostly there one day and gone the next. He doesn’t tell anyone he is training them to be guard dogs, instead claiming he is educating them. It happened that Jessie and Bluebell had both whelped soon after the hay harvest, giving birth between them to nine sturdy puppies. As soon as they were weaned, Napoleon took them away from their mothers, saying that he would make himself responsible for their education (Chapter 3). It is around this time that the milk and apples also disappear, although the pigs claim it has nothing to do with privile...

In the short story "A Sound of Thunder," Ray Bradbury uses Eckels' careless personality and actions, as well as the narratives internal and external conflicts, to emphasize the theme that all actions--no matter how seemingly inconsequential--have an enormous impact across time. The story follows a hunter named Eckels, living in the year 2055, who pays $10,000 in order to travel back to the Jurassic era to hunt a Tyrannosaurus rex. Despite the fact that Eckels is clearing warned by his guide that he must take care not to disturb too much of "history" in order to avoid setting off a cataclysmic chain of alterations, Eckels does not abide this advice. Terrified by the dinosaur, Eckels stumbles off the path and, in doing so, inadvertently makes a terrible mistake: he steps on a butterfly, killing it. When Eckels returns to modern times, huge changes have occurred as a result of the butterfly's death. The results of an important election have altered, and the Eng...

By the end of the book, the revolution that established Animal Farm has taken exactly this course. The pigs, who emerged as leaders of the uprising and in implementing Animalism on the farm, quickly become corrupted with their newfound power. Even before Snowball is purged from the farm, the pigs are allowing themselves extra privileges, like milk and apples in their mash. Over time, Napoleon continues to abuse the considerable power he has amassed. He trains fierce attack dogs that are used to kill those whom he views as disloyal. He and the other pigs begin to drink alcohol, sleep in the farmhouse, and even wear human clothes. They engage in shady deals with humans outside the farm, some of which go very badly. Squealer justifies their behavior to the other animals, and the pigs gradually alter the Seven Commandments to read that some animals are more equal than others. In the end, the animals are more miserable than they were under Jones, even loyal Boxer has been sent to the knacke...

Ethos is argument from the character of the speaker. It can be of two types, intrinsic, meaning created within the context of the speech itself, and extrinsic, or existing independent of or prior to the speech. For extrinsic ethos, Henry was a well educated lawyer who had served in House of Burgesses and had a solid track record of pushing back against British rule. His intrinsic ethos appears at the start of the speech, where he affirms his patriotism and argues that his actions are motivated precisely by loyalty rather than disloyalty. Argument from logos implies reference to logic rather than simple citation of facts. It is a method of emphasizing the abstract principles of reasoning such as the rules of inference. A typical example of this is: ... in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate ... This is an argument from analogy, following what in ancient rhetoric was termed the topos of greater and lesser, which is considered by Aristotle to ...

A secondary character who serves to contrast the traits of a major character, often the protagonist, is called a foil.  Rosaline, for example, serves as a foil to Juliet.  Rosaline is, apparently (for she never appears on stage), emotionally distant and does not return Romeo's affections; in fact, she has sworn to remain chaste and never indulge in fleshly pleasures.  Juliet, on the other hand, is very passionate and romantic, and she marries Romeo within twenty four hours of meeting him for the first time. Tybalt, Juliet's cousin, also serves as a foil for Benvolio, Romeo's cousin.  Benvolio, as the root of his name suggests, is good and peace-loving.  He is constantly trying to break up fights between the Capulets and Montagues, and he encourages others to use good sense in their dealings.  Tybalt, on the other hand, hates peace and seems to thrive on violence.  He often instigates fights himself or adds fuel to the disagreements begun by others.  Their contrast makes Tyb...

In this story, a Pakistani taxi driver who has moved to England wonders why his son is acting strangely. The taxi driver, Parvez, learns his son, Ali, has rejected Western culture to embrace radical Islam. The father, who has bad memories of Pakistan, fully accepts Western culture, eating pork, drinking alcohol, befriending a prostitute and working so that his son can attend college and become financially successful. For Parvez, the material world is all important. Ali treats his  father with contempt, despising him for his drinking and weakness, and for not understanding that, in Ali's opinion, Pakistanis will never be accepted in English culture as equals. They engage in generational and religious culture clash. They can't understand each other because their values are so seemingly far apart. In the end, angry that Ali has insulted his friend Bettina, a prostitute, Parvez beats his son, prompting Ali to ask who's the fanatic?

During the transatlantic slave trade, more than 90% of enslaved Africans were brought to be sold, live, and work in Brazil and the Caribbean. The Caribbean and South American colonies had massive sugar plantations with high labor demands, so there was a large market for the purchase of captured Africans in these regions.  Only about 6% of enslaved Africans were brought to North America and the British colonies, and those who were primarily lived in the Southern Colonies working on cotton, tobacco, sugar, or indigo plantations. The Southern Colonies of Virginia, Georgia, and South Carolina held the most slaves. By far, Virginia held the largest number of enslaved Africans during the period before Emancipation- almost 500,000 in the year 1860! Jamestown, Virginia was where the Colonial slave trade began and remained a common port for the sale of captured Africans into slavery. 

In Shakespeare’s classic tragedy King Lear, the theme of nature is developed in several different and complex ways. In the early scenes, though the word “nature” is not used, Cordelia essentially claims that she loves Lear as she should—according to their bond, which is a natural one. Knowing the proper role of nature is mark of Cordelia’s goodness. If you can accurately read the  natural order, that’s a good thing. When Edmund starts planning his actions against his father and brother, he says, “Thou, nature, art my goddess…” (Act I, Scene 2). Here he is saying he’ll follow nature, rather than law or custom, which serves him because it opposes the social stigma of bastardy (and justifies his actions). This misreading of nature marks him as a bad character. Later, once Regan and Goneril start mistreating Lear, he finds their actions unnatural.  They are not acting as daughters, or as women in some cases, and that lack of nature defines their actions as evil. Finally, throughout Lear’s...

Methyl orange is an acid-base indicator and changes color depending on the pH of the solution. If it is added to an alkaline or neutral solution, it will turn the solution yellow. If it is added to an acidic solution, it will turn the solution red. However, the color change is not drastic, rather it is gradual. Methyl orange has a pH range of 3.1-4.5. Below a solution pH of 3.1, its color is red. If we keep on adding an alkali to the solution, the solution pH will increase and slowly the color will change. It will transition from red to orange and then to yellow as the pH continually increases. Methyl orange is commonly used to measure the acidity or alkalinity of a given water sample.  Hope this helps. 

Assuming no heat loss to the surroundings, the amount of heat lost by one material should be equal to the amount of heat gained by the other material. In this case, iron piece had an initial temperature of 99.3 degrees Celsius and a final temperature of 30.8 degrees Celsius. Thus, iron piece lost heat and an equivalent amount of heat is (ideally) gained by water. The amount of heat lost or gained can be calculated as the product of mass of material, its specific heat capacity and the change in temperature. The specific heat capacity of iron is 0.45 J/g/degree C and that of water is 4.186 J/g/degree C.  The amount of heat lost by iron = mass of iron piece x specific heat capacity of iron x change in temperature  = 0.115 kg x 1000 g/kg x 0.45 J/g/degree C x (99.3 - 30.8) degrees C = 3544.875 J The same amount of heat is gained by water. Assuming the initial temperature of water to be T degrees Celsius, 0.12 kg x 1000 g/kg x 4.186 J/g/degrees C x (30.8 - T) degrees C = 3544.875 J Solving ...

The prisoner tells Elie to lie and say that he is eighteen, instead of giving his true age of fifteen, so that Elie will be counted as an adult and will be able to stay with his father. This exchange takes place about a third of the way into the novel. Recall that Night doesn't have chapter divisions exactly, but rather sections; this conversion occurs in the section that begins with the phrase "The beloved objects." Although the narration doesn't say so explicitly, it's clear that the prisoner with the "weary and warm" voice is anxious to help Elie and his father. He has already seen how the SS officer is asking for everyone's age, then directing adults to the left and children to the right, separating the children forever from their parents and, as it's strongly implied, sentencing the children to an immediate death. Although it's only a few years' difference, an eighteen-year-old is considered an adult while a fifteen-year-old is cons...

The challenge with a topic like "racism," is that it is so big, it is hard to write a short speech about. Oddly enough, if you narrow your topic, you will find a lot to say about your topic, to the point that you will be concerned about your speech being too long. One way to narrow your topic would be to investigate attempts in history to deal with racism, from the Underground Railroad and Abolitionism, through the Civil Rights movement and school desegregation, to #blacklivesmatter today. Use some internet sources to look at each one of these historical movements and explain to your audience how these were attempts to end racism. Provide your audience with information and examples and, if you are allowed, create a Power Point with pictures to back up your words (don't read from your Power Point). Each movement reflects some progress in the area, but the existence of #blacklivesmatter demonstrates that we still have a long way to go before people stop being judged based o...

In the novel Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck, the two main characters (George and Lennie) set out to meet their appointment at a new ranch they want to work on, but they are late. They were supposed to arrive in the morning but don't get there until the afternoon, so already Steinbeck has set a little ripple of tension running through the narrative. He then tells us about the man that shows them into the bunkhouse. The first thing we find out is that the man is tall. We are then told that he stoops from the shoulders, suggesting advanced age and a man tired from a lifetime of hard physical work. This conclusion is further confirmed when we are told that he carries a yard broom in his hand, and we can guess most of the rest before he begins to talk. Readers have already surmised that the man is an employee. The man must be left handed—this is the hand he uses to carry the push broom. Then his dialogue begins, and, as expected by now, he uses simple language that is casual and inf...

Basically, the skylark's songs are happier than ours. The speaker opens the poem by calling the skylark a "blithe Spirit," and spends a great deal of the poem describing the pure happiness that the bird's songs express. The thirteenth and fourteenth stanzas specifically compare the bird's songs to our human songs, emphasizing how ours aren't as happy: Teach us, Sprite or Bird, What sweet thoughts are thine: I have never heard Praise of love or wine That panted forth a flood of rapture so divine. Chorus Hymeneal, Or triumphal chant, Match'd with thine would be all But an empty vaunt, A thing wherein we feel there is some hidden want. Above, in the thirteenth stanza, the speaker is asking the bird what it is he thinks about that makes him sing so happily. Although we humans might sing pretty happily about love or about wine, the speaker explains, we still don't end up with songs that are so full of "rapture" (meaning intense delight or enthusia...

The narrator's internal conflict grows more and more tense as he begins to believe that the police officers who have arrived at his door and sit, unknowingly, atop the body of the murdered old man are actually somehow aware of his crime.  He thinks he hears the sound of the old man's heart beating beneath the floorboards and that they can hear it, too; however, it is really only his own heart he hears.  Nonetheless, the narrator grows more and more anxious, and more upset -- his voice "heighten[s]," and he speaks "more vehemently."  He imagines that he rises and speaks in a "high key and with violent gesticulations."  He believes, all the while, that the old man's heart beat gets louder and louder and that the officers are only pretending not to hear.  He says, "I foamed -- I raved -- I swore!  I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting," and all this time, "the men chatted pleasantly."  It seems then, that the narrator...

The play begins with a bit of exposition and the incentive moment: Thebes is beset by plagues, and Oedipus vows to find out the cause and to do something about it.  Almost everything that follows is a carefully ordered chain of cause and effect (except for the arrival of the messenger from Corinth): this is the rising action.  The plagues have already caused Oedipus to send his brother-in-law, Creon, to the oracle for guidance.  When Creon returns, he reports that they must find the murderer of Laius, the former king of Thebes, and Oedipus's father (though he doesn't realize this yet).  This causes Oedipus to put a curse on Laius's murderer and to call the blind prophet, Teiresias, for advice.  When he arrives, Teiresias accuses Oedipus of being the murderer, and this angers Oedipus greatly, causing him to suspect a conspiracy between Teiresias and Creon, who he assumes must have committed the murder himself.  Oedipus and Creon argue.  When Jocasta tells the story of Laius...

The respiratory and circulatory systems work together to deliver oxygen to the tissues and to remove the carbon dioxide byproduct of metabolism from the body. Respiration that occurs within cells and breaks down energy sources such as glucose to make ATP use oxygen and produce carbon dioxide. Oxygen must continuously be delivered to these cells in our tissues in order to keep respiration going and carbon dioxide must be removed to avoid issues like acidosis.   At the systemic tissues carbon dioxide is at a relatively high partial pressure because it is being produced and oxygen is at a relatively low partial pressure because it is being used by the cells. When freshly oxygenated blood arrives from the left side of the heart to the capillaries surrounding the tissues, it has a relatively high partial pressure of oxygen and low partial pressure of carbon dioxide. Because of this and because gases diffuse from high partial pressure to low partial pressure, oxygen will diffuse from the cap...

Using the shell method we can find the volume of the solid generated by the given curves, `y = e^(-x^2/2)/sqrt(2pi), y = 0 , x = 0 , x = 1` Using the shell method the volume is given as `V= 2*pi int _a^b p(x) h(x) dx` where p(x) is the function of the average radius  `=x` and h(x) is the function of height =  `e^(-x^2/2)/sqrt(2pi)` and the range of x is given as 0 to 1 So the volume is  `= 2*pi int _a^b p(x) h(x) dx` `= 2*pi int _0^1 (x) (e^(-x^2/2)/sqrt(2pi)) dx` `=(2*pi)/(sqrt(2pi)) int _0^1 (x*e^(-x^2/2)) dx` `=(2*pi)/(sqrt(2pi)) int _0^1 (x*e^(-x^2/2)) dx` let us first solve `int (x*e^(-x^2/2)) dx` let `u = x^2/2` `du = 2x/2 dx = xdx` so , `int (x*e^(-x^2/2)) dx` `= int  (e^(-u)) du` `= -e^(-u) = -e^(-x^2/2)` So,  `V=(2*pi)/(sqrt(2pi)) int _0^1 (x*e^(-x^2/2)) dx`  `=(2*pi)/(sqrt(2pi)) [-e^(-x^2/2)]_0^1` =`(2*pi)/(sqrt(2pi)) [[-e^(-(1)^2/2)]-[-e^(-0^2/2)]]` =`(2*pi)/(sqrt(2pi)) [[-e^(-1/2)]-[-e^(0)]]` =`(sqrt(2pi)) [1-[e^(-1/2)]] ` =` 0.986` is the volume

In humans, the respiratory system facilitates the intake of oxygen and removal of carbon dioxide in the body. The lungs, heart, blood vessels, and blood cells are all important figures in respiration. When we inhale, oxygen-rich air fills our lungs and the hundreds of thousands of tiny pockets called alveoli. Each alveolus is surrounded by a membrane full of capillaries. Oxygen moves across this membrane and into our blood, where it attaches to red blood cells. These red blood cells are circulated out of the lungs and around the body, where it nourishes all of our bodily tissues  by "dropping off" some of that oxygen. In place of the oxygen, gaseous bodily waste like carbon dioxide can attach and return to the lungs. When these red blood cells return to the lungs, they drop off the carbon dioxide and pick up some fresh oxygen to carry throughout the body! All of this occurs in a continuous cycle.

The school holds an autumn pageant.  They have a Halloween costume contest with a cash prize (a quarter).  Jem accompanies Scout, who is dressed up as a ham hock.  On the way home, they cut through the woods to head home.  Jem is the first one to hear a sound as they walk.  They assume it is Cecil, trying to sneak up on them.  The sounds continue as they walk home.  Scout and Jem stop, and hear that "he [is] running, running toward [them] with no child’s steps" ( To Kill a Mockingbird , Chapter 28).  They know that it is not Cecil who has been following them.  The stalker is Bob Ewell and he attacks them with a knife.  Boo Radley comes from out of nowhere to fight off Bob.  Jem is injured, and Boo scoops him up into his arms to take him home.  Scout escapes from her ham costume and follows.

There are several significant quotes that portray Scout's "awakening" or coming-of-age. Following the Tom Robinson trial, Scout begins to notice and recognize the hypocritical nature of Maycomb's citizens. In Chapter 26, Scout's third-grade teacher Miss Gates shows sympathy for the Jews in Europe and comments that there is no prejudice in America. Scout realizes that her teacher is being hypocritical , and says to Jem, " I heard her say it’s time somebody taught ’em a lesson, they were gettin’ way above themselves, an’ the next thing they think they can do is marry us. Jem, how can you hate Hitler so bad an’ then turn around and be ugly about folks right at home— " (Lee 152). Following Bob Ewell's vicious attack, Arthur "Boo" Radley carries Jem home, then Dr. Reynolds and Sheriff Tate arrive at the Finch residence. After Scout is introduced to Boo for the first time, Sheriff Tate indirectly informs Atticus that Boo stabbed and killed Bob ...

Dramatic irony occurs when there is a contradiction between what a character thinks and what the audience knows to be true. Dramatic irony has been used in literature for ages. The Greek dramatists used it extensively in plays such as Antigone.  Shakespeare employed dramatic irony in virtually all of his plays, especially his tragedies like  Romeo and Juliet . While dramatic irony is present throughout Romeo and Juliet , it may be most evident in Act III. In Act III, Scene 1, Romeo is challenged by Tybalt in the streets of Verona. Unknown to Tybalt or Mercutio, Romeo has just married Juliet, Tybalt's cousin. When Tybalt labels Romeo as a "villain" Romeo backs down and tells Tybalt that he actually loves him: Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee Doth much excuse the appertaining rage To such a greeting. Villain am I none. Therefore farewell. I see thou knowest me not. Indeed, Tybalt does not know that Romeo is now his in-law. Had Tybalt known this information, the s...

Several factors led to the declaration of World War I. The immediate cause was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip on June 28, 1914. Therefore, nationalism, or a feeling of patriotism about one's own country or ethnic group, was one of the factors that led to the declaration of war. Serbian nationalist groups wanted to unite all Slavs in one country, an effort supported by Russia (a country that also had a number of Slavic people) and opposed by Austria-Hungary. In addition, strong feelings of nationalism among the major European powers--Italy, Austria-Hungary, Germany, Britain, France, and Russia, led these powers to develop their militaries and to be very willing to use them to promote their national strength. Therefore, militarism was another factor that led to the war. Connected to the concepts of nationalism and militarism, imperialism was also a factor in the war, as the European countries had...

Lois Lowry's The Giver can be considered a bildungsroman, or a coming-of-age story. Jonas's journey from childhood to adulthood is chronicled in detail, but for him and his friends as part of the community, it is shown each year during the two days of celebrations that are held. Each year in a child's life represents a new success as well as a new opportunity. The community celebrates each year by adding more responsibility, independence, and freedom to a child's life. For example, Jonas's sister Lily will turn eight years-old at the next celebration. At that time, her comfort object will be recycled (as stated in Chapter Two) and she will start her service hours (as stated in Chapter Three). In Chapter Six, Jonas reminds Lily about turning seven and when she received her first front-buttoned jacket. "Fours, Fives, and Sixes all wore jackets that fastened down the back so they would have to help each other dress and would learn interdependence" (40). In C...

Gross domestic product, or GDP, is an economic term referring to the sum total monetary value of all goods produced in a particular country, as well as the value of any services performed there. Essentially, this is a way of measuring economic activity within a period of time to track growth or decline. The value of the gross domestic product is not only dependent upon the consumption of finished goods, but also investment, the value of exported goods, and government spending.  The value of a gross domestic product is often used in reference to a nation's development and growth, as well as the quality of life for people in that nation. Some people disapprove of the gross domestic product as an indicator of economic activity because it does not account for any unofficial, or "black market," goods and services produced by a nation.

It's safe to say that Borges was obsessed with literal and metaphorical labyrinths. The story begins in the first person point of view. The narrator calls himself Asterion and with the introductory line, it seems to indicate that he is a prince who is not allowed to leave his castle. The narrator goes on to defend himself. He claims that he is not a prisoner even though he never leaves his house. He says that claims about his madness and misanthropy (hating mankind) are just the result of the public's contempt for him. The footnote adds that fourteen actually means infinite and therefore, there are an infinite number of doors. This is according to Asterion. He, Asterion, also says, "The house is the same size as the world; or rather it is the world." Having never left his house, it would be "the world" to him. We get this unique perspective from the narrator, a being who lives a hermetic life in a seemingly endless labyrinth of a home. Is his perspective bas...

Before Constantine issued the Edict of Milan in 313 CE, making Christianity an accepted religion in the Roman Empire, the religion spread in part because its message of salvation appealed greatly to people who lived disenfranchised lives, particularly on the borders of the Roman Empire. Women, children, and slaves were particularly drawn to Christianity, as it promised equality that was not present in the social hierarchy of the Roman Empire. For example, women could serve as deaconesses in the early Christian church. In addition, apostles such as Paul journeyed across the Roman Empire, preaching to poor people in cities such as Ephesus and Athens, where the poor were particularly receptive to his message. Paul hastened the spread of Christianity by preaching not only to Jews, but also to non-Jews, broadening the base of potential converts. In addition, Christianity relaxed many of the Jewish laws regarding diet and other religious practices, making it more appealing to converts. Uphea...

I would say that Mary is misjudged in a few ways.  First, the reader and Patrick believe and accept Mary as a completely mild-mannered and docile individual.  She is portrayed as the perfect doting wife who loves merely to sit in the presence of her husband and see to his every need.  Patrick assumes that he can tell her that he is leaving her for good, and Mary will do nothing about it other than politely accept her lot in life.  Patrick misjudges her capability to become angry enough to kill him.   The reader misjudges her inner strength and resolve.  At no point in the first half of the story would I have guessed that Mary was capable of not only killing her husband, but also establishing an alibi.  Furthermore, I didn't think she had it in her to get rid of the murder weapon by feeding it to people.   Lastly, I know the investigating officers misjudge Mary.  I know that she killed Patrick, and I know that she is lying.  The officers do not know those details, and Mary's ...

Most of this great poem is a dramatic monologue, in which the narrator delivers an extended reflection on a topic. At some points, though, it slips into stream of consciousness. In stream of consciousness writing, writers try to portray the way thoughts move through a person's mind. These thoughts tumble one after another, and the mind sometimes jumps from topic to topic in ways that are normal within the mind but uncommon in daily conversation. In "Prufrock," you can see several examples of stream of consciousness. Consider this brief stanza: "In the room the women come and go Talking of Michelangelo." The first time it occurs in the poem, it is possible the narrator actually saw women walking in and out, and that's what they were talking about. However, when the same lines recur later, it is more likely they are bits of memory that drift in, as the narrator is reminded of something. After the second time that couplet occurs, you'll find these lines: ...

Lady Macbeth shares that she feels she is more ambitious than her husband. After hearing the witches’ prophecies, Macbeth writes a letter to Lady Macbeth.  Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it, came missives from the king, who all-hailed me 'Thane of Cawdor;' by which title, before, these weird sisters saluted me, and referred me to the coming on of time, with 'Hail, king that shalt be!' … (Act 1, Scene 5) The witches have told Macbeth that he will be Thane of Cawdor, and then king.  She is thrilled with the idea of her husband’s prophecies coming true.  However, she fears that Macbeth will not be ambitious enough to make this come to reality. Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be What thou art promised: yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o' the milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great; Art not without ambition, but without The illness should attend it … (Act 1, Scene 5) Basically, Lady Macbeth thinks her husband doesn’t ha...

The Mystery in the Twin Cities is the 42nd book in Carole Marsh’s series for young readers Real Kids, Real Places . The series follows four main characters—Mimi, Papa, Christina, and Grant— as they fly The Mystery Girl airplane to various locations across the United States. In this book, the family flies to the freezing temperatures of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota for the St. Paul Winter Carnival. The family sees the Winter Carnival Ice Palace and learns the legend of the Vulcan Krewe and King Boreas’s court. There, the mystery-solving family soon finds out that the Winter Carnival Medallion is gone, presumably stolen. Christina and Grant meet a pair of twins, Jim and Julie, who they team up with to solve the mystery and find the missing medallion. They also meet Mr. and Mrs. Calhoun, a couple who hopes to adopt the twins. The team of kids begins to follow clues that lead them in and around the Twin Cities area. Their winter adventures include visiting the Mall of America, tryi...

There are a few ways that Idgie Threadgoode can be viewed as a hero.  Overall, Idgie is a good and decent human being; she takes care of those who are far less powerful than she is, like Smokey Phillips and Big George and Sipsey, even when they have nothing to offer her.  The person she loves the most, however, is Ruth.  When she finds out that Ruth is in an abusive relationship with her husband, Idgie very bravely goes out to the house and helps Ruth escape.  Later, when Ruth's husband, Frank Bennett, comes back looking for Ruth and their baby and is murdered by Sipsey, Idgie puts her own life on the line by helping cover up for Sipsey.  Overall, Idgie is a woman who loves with all of her heart, a woman who has intense loyalty, even in a dangerous situation. Through these examples, the reader and the other characters, mostly Evelyn Couch, begin to admire Idgie's bravery and heroism. 

Sanger Rainsford is Richard Connell's protagonist in "The Most Dangerous Game." The reader first discovers Rainsford is a fit man at the beginning of the story after he falls off the yacht and swims through ocean currents toward Ship-Trap Island. The text says the following about this swim for safety: Doggedly he swam in that direction, swimming with slow, deliberate strokes, conserving his strength. For seemingly endless time he fought the sea. He began to count his strokes; he could do possibly a hundred more. From this passage, the reader learns that not only does Rainsford know how to swim with intention, but the swim isn't easy because he has to fight through the ocean. Rainsford then proves he is at the top of his game physically when he is hunted for three days in a jungle. For instance, Rainsford runs through the forest, climbs trees, digs pits, and makes elaborate traps during this three-day traumatic activity. Not only that, but he does it with very little s...

Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress" is famous for its proposition that one must find love during the brief extent of youth, as humans are finite creatures and are not blessed with infinite amounts of time. The first section, however, does not promote this theme. Rather, the first section of the poem discusses an idealistic form of love free from the confines of time and the restrictions of mortality. For example, the speaker says "My vegetable love should grow / Vaster than empires, and more slow" (11-12), and this quote suggests that, in an ideal world, love would not be restricted by time. Indeed, the speaker imagines a paradise in which lovers would be forever young and able to spend ages getting to know one another. As such, the ideal love discussed in the first stanza posits a setting that would allow couples eternal youth free from mortality. Marvell uses this idealistic setting in order to set up the poem's later contrast with reality and the unfor...

Napoleon Bonaparte defined history as "a fable retold." Interestingly, the word for both history and story in his language (French) are the same word: histoire . Another wording of this definition is that history is the record of events that suits the powers in control.  Bonaparte's and the other definition notwithstanding, part of history is usually objective and accurate; that is, the record of significant events from the past. Here is one definition that is certainly workable: History is a narration of the events which have happened among mankind, including an account of the rise and fall of nations, as well as of other great changes which have affected the political and social condition of the human race. That history changes according to who is in power, or what ideology is prevalent does have some substantiation as educators can attest. For, those who have been teaching History courses for some decades know how textbooks from even as little as a decade ago demonst...

Tenure comes from the Latin word tenere, which means to hold or to keep. Tenure looks different in every state at the K-12 level. I will give you a brief history of tenure, an explanation of what it consists of at the university level, an overview of the controversy surrounding it, and my own experience with tenure as a K-12 teacher in Kansas.  Tenure had its beginnings in this country when ten thousand teachers came together in Chicago for the first meeting of the National Education Association, the largest labor union in the United States. New Jersey was the first state to pass "fair dismissal rights" in 1909. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, teachers could be fired for any reason, including unpopular political views. Women were often fired for becoming pregnant, or even for wearing pants. By the late 1950's, eighty percent of all K-12 teachers in the United States were tenured.  At the university level, tenure is a permanent teaching contract. Professor...

In chapter 9 of Andrew Clements' Frindle, Mrs. Chatham, the school principal, visits the Allens' home to have a conference with Nick Allen and his parents. Just as he usually does, Nick tries to distract the adults around him and redirect the conversation by asking what he thinks is a "first-class thought-grenade." However, Mrs. Chatham is not fooled and very easily redirects the conversation to the topic of disrespecting authority. Mrs. Chatham visits the Allen family because, in her mind, as well as in Mrs. Granger's mind, the children are disrespecting authority by refusing to stop calling a pen a frindle. As Mrs. Chatham explains, Mrs. Granger forbidding the children from using the word is just like forbidding them to use the word ain't : "There have to be standards" (p. 48). Since Mrs. Granger thinks there should be language standards, she is keeping kids who use the word frindle in detention and treating the usage of the word as an act of re...

Arc length (L) of the function y=f(x) on the interval [a,b] is given by the formula, `L=int_a^bsqrt(1+(dy/dx)^2)dx`  , if y=f(x) and a `<=`  x `<=`  b , `y=3/2x^(2/3)+4` Now let's differentiate the function with respect to x, `dy/dx=3/2(2/3)x^(2/3-1)` `dy/dx=1/x^(1/3)` Plug in the above derivative in the arc length formula, `L=int_1^27sqrt(1+(1/x^(1/3))^2)dx` `L=int_1^27sqrt(1+1/x^(2/3))dx` `L=int_1^27sqrt((x^(2/3)+1)/x^(2/3))dx`  `L=int_1^27sqrt(x^(2/3)+1)/x^(1/3)dx` Now let's first evaluate the definite integral by using integral substitution, Let `u=x^(2/3)+1` `(du)/dx=2/3x^(2/3-1)` `(du)/dx=2/(3x^(1/3))` `intsqrt(x^(2/3)+1)/x^(1/3)dx=intsqrt(u)3/2du` `=3/2intsqrt(u)du` `=3/2((u)^(1/2+1)/(1/2+1))` `=3/2(u^(3/2)/(3/2))` `=u^(3/2)` Substitute back `u=x^(2/3)+1`  and add a constant C to the solution, `=(x^(2/3)+1)^(3/2)+C` `L=[(x^(2/3)+1)^(3/2)]_1^27` `L=[(27^(2/3)+1)^(3/2)]-[(1^(2/3)+1)^(3/2)]` `L=[(9+1)^(3/2)]-[2^(3/2)]` `L=[10^(3/2)]-[2^(3/2)]`  `L=31.6227766-2.8284271...

Harrison Bergeron, the fourteen-year-old son of George and Hazel Bergeron, had been arrested in April 2081 and put in jail. He was suspected of trying to overthrow the government , although how he would have done so or what he actually tried to do is not overtly described in the story. As George and Hazel are watching TV, they hear an emergency announcement stating that Harrison has escaped from jail , and his picture is flashed on the screen. Soon Harrison himself appears live on TV. He has torn a door off its hinges and proclaims himself Emperor. He then begins to remove all his handicaps--scrap-iron, headphones, wavy-lensed spectacles, and red rubber ball nose. He then chooses a ballerina for his Empress and commands the orchestra to play beautiful dance music. As he dances with his Empress, allowing people to "watch what [he] can become," Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General, appears in the studio and executes him and the ballerina on live TV. The government is lo...

I think one reason for describing only the Republican sniper in great detail is because he is the story's protagonist.  Authors generally spend more time describing their main character because readers will spend the most time with that character.  Greater detail allows readers to feel more familiar with the character.   Additionally, by not describing the other characters in detail, readers essentially feel about them the same way that the protagonist feels about them.  They are targets .  It doesn't matter what they look like, who they are, or what they feel.  They are enemy combatants, and they need to die.  By not describing them in detail, readers are able to have a cold detachment from them.  That's the attitude that the protagonist has about them.  We feel and sympathize with the sniper because we feel we know him better than the other characters.  

Lady Macbeth, the main female character in the play, self-consciously understands herself in terms of her sex. Losing her "feminine" virtues becomes psychologically critical to her ability to ruthlessly pursue her ambitions for her husband. From her speeches, we as an audience understand Lady Macbeth perceives femininity as behaving in kind, compassionate, and merciful ways. Lady Macbeth wants to shed these perceived "weaknesses" so she can push Macbeth to murder.  She asks the spirits to "unsex" her and fill her with cruelty and to turn the milk in her breasts, a symbol of nurture and compassion, into gall, a bitter fluid: ... unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood. Stop up the access and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between The effect and it! Come to my woman’s breasts, And take my milk for gall ... Later, Lady Macbeth will ...

Salutary neglect, which was the British policy towards the American colonists in the early to mid-1700's.  It was a system of loose imperial control over the colonies and a lax enforcement of trade laws.  The Navigation Acts made it impossible for colonists to trade with nations other than England.  This led to smuggling of goods from the colonies.  England turned a blind eye towards the abuses of the colonists during this period.  The result of the period of salutary neglect was that the colonists learned to govern themselves and manage their own economies.  An elite class emerged in the colonies that benefited from the autonomy.  After England's prolonged war with France that included the French and Indian War in North America, the crown was desperate for increased revenues.  They looked to the colonies for this bump in revenue.  When England decided to enforce the tax and trade laws that were already on the books, the American colonists ultimately rebelled and the American R...

The survival period for someone in a drought is really dependent upon their access to drinking water and, to some extent, food. Drought is the word we use to describe periods of abnormally low rainfall, as opposed to places which receive little rainfall as a normal part of weather patterns. Currently, several parts of the world are experiencing drought. The state of California, in the United States, is experiencing a drought, but because this is a developed area with the ability to drill for water and import drinking water from other locations, the people here are not in as immediate danger as they might be otherwise. The major downside to the California drought is that there is a deficit in the amount of water available for agriculture-- in other words, food production in California is at risk.  As long as a person in a drought area has access to drinking water, they can survive indefinitely regardless of the drought. Without access to drinking water, a person will begin to experience...

There are certainly some notable similarities as well as differences between the two stories. Similarities: 1) Setting : Both stories are set in New Orleans. This is significant, as the placage system of biracial common-law marriages became chiefly associated with New Orleans during the 19th century. 2) Plot : Both stories raise similar themes . The fate of the quadroon woman and her difficult assimilation into polite society remain the chief concerns in both works. It's important to note that the placage system only received superficial acceptance during the 19th century. While Southerners largely tried to ignore what they considered a necessary evil, Northerners viewed placage as sexual slavery. In both stories, the female protagonists are viewed as figures of curiosity and suspicion. From here, we can discuss the tragic quadroon figure in Southern literature. 3) The tragic quadroon : In the exposition to Tite Poulette , Madame John is characterized as a former concubine who has...

In "Moon and Sixpence," loosely based on the life of Paul Gaugin, Maugham presents a study of the tension between the "civilized" life of 19th century Europe, and the lead character's desire to throw off the shackles of bourgeois life. Charles Strickland is a middle-aged English stockbroker with a wife and family. By abandoning his domestic life, Strickland commits what many in European society would consider a gross betrayal of one of the foundations of that society. His decision to embark on a somewhat Bohemian life amidst the artistic scene in Paris is equally scandalous, another betrayal of the expected "life plan" of the majority of Europeans of the day. Strickland further cuts ties with European culture when he travels from Paris to Polynesia, an area that had been colonized by European merchants and settlers only a century before. It is in Polynesia that the painter hopes to find a return to a more natural way of life, one unsullied by the corru...

Old Man Warner's comments suggest that the Lottery ritual may have started as a human sacrifice to the gods of the harvest and fertility. He seems to tie the labor of farming and cultivated crops with the better lifestyle the community has enjoyed since they stopped, as he puts it, living in caves. But he insinuates that giving up the Lottery could thrust the community back into poverty and starvation, into the days of eating "stewed chickweed and acorns." Such a diet would signify a hunter-gatherer type of society rather than an agrarian-based culture. When other people mention that some neighboring villages have discontinued the Lottery, or are contemplating discontinuing it, Old Man Warner insists that is "foolishness" and "nothing but trouble." He seems more tightly connected to the superstition that keeps the Lottery in place than some of the younger townspeople. That superstition is that bountiful harvests depend on the sacrifice of one randomly ...

There is no doubt that people are often the products of their age, and poets such as those mentioned certainly exhibit characteristics of the literary movement in which they lived or about which they have read. For this reason, there is a difference among the poets cited in their subject matter. Romantic poets delighted in nature's beauty and its solace and communion with man. While poetry is often an occupation in which one engages alone, it is not always lonely. Poets rarely compose their verse in isolation from the influence of other poets of their time or their predecessors whom they have read and loved. For instance, when William Cullen Bryant was young, he read a book of poems entitled Lyrical Ballads  by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, two of his favorite British contemporaries. This volume of poems reflects the philosophy of the Romantic era, and it inspired poets who wished to replace the conventional poetic diction with common speech. Bryant felt himself a...

Duke Orsino's speech at the opening of Twelfth Night expresses the lovesick feeling that follows the characters of the play, and establishes his character as melancholy and melodramatic. One example of this characterization is in lines 1-3, in which Orsino uses metaphor and personification to express his heartbreak. If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die. The desire for his appetite to "sicken and... die" is personification because it gives his appetite the attributes of health and life. Additionally, describing music as the "food of love" is metaphorical, because it compares music to nourishment. He also utilizes personification to lament to love itself, stating: O spirit of love! how quick and fresh art thou This is an example of personification because he speaks directly to the "spirit of love," describing it as "quick and fresh."

Hello! This question actually is a mathematical one. We given a relatively simple formula and have to substitute the known values into it. The only value which is not given directly is the slope. We cannot use 45 (degrees) for the slope, but have to compute it. If we imagine a right triangle with one acute angle of 45 degrees, then the second acute angle is also 45 degrees. Therefore a triangle is an isosceles one, its legs are equal to some x. So the tangent of 45 degrees is x/x=1, and this tangent is the same as the slope of 45-degrees inclined line. Thus a=1 and we can now substitute: Un = 6% - 1*(10% - 8%) = 6% - 2% = 4%,  and the answer is a. 4%.

Taylor series is an example of infinite series derived from the expansion of `f(x)` about a single point. It is represented by infinite sum of `f^n(x)` centered at `x=c` . The general formula for Taylor series is: `f(x) = sum_(n=0)^oo (f^n(c))/(n!) (x-c)^n` or `f(x) =f(c)+f'(c)(x-c) +(f^2(c))/(2!)(x-c)^2 +(f^3(c))/(3!)(x-c)^3 +(f^4(c))/(4!)(x-c)^4 +...` To apply the definition of Taylor series for the given function `f(x) = cos(x)` centered at `x=pi/4` , we list `f^n(x)` using  the derivative formula for trigonometric functions: `d/(dx) sin(x) = cos(x)`  and `d/(dx) cos(x)= -sin(x)` . `f(x) =cos(x)` `f'(x) = d/(dx) cos(x)`             `= -sin(x)` `f^2(x) = d/(dx) -sin(x)`             `=-1*d/(dx) sin(x)`             `= -1 * cos(x)`             `= -cos(x)` `f^3(x) = d/(dx) -cos(x)`             `=-1*d/(dx) cos(x)`             `= -1 * (-sin(x))`             `= sin(x)` `f^4(x) = d/(dx) sin(x)`             `= cos(x)` Plug-in `x=pi/4`  on each `f^n(x)` , we get: `f(pi/4)= cos(pi/4) ...

Plato's ideal society is built on the ideal of justice. Just as he believed the soul was composed of three hierarchical parts—appetitive, rational, and spiritual—he believed a just society should be composed of three corresponding classes: the guardians (philosophers charged with governing the republic), the auxiliaries (soldiers who defend the republic), and the producers (farmers/craftsmen, etc.). This class structure should be kept in harmony through strict, totalitarian laws and robust censorship (poets, for instance, were banished from the republic). Moreover, Plato eliminated virtually every distinction between public and private life, as this distinction could serve to corrupt the harmony of the republic. Consequently, Plato's society abolished the traditional family; both wives and children would be communal. Further, private property was abolished insofar as was possible. This emphasis on public rather than private life was meant to cause the citizens to put the republ...