Notes

Fossil fuels refer to natural fuels derived from the remains of dead plants and animals. This includes coal, natural gas, and oil. These natural fuel sources are produced by the anaerobic decomposition of dead plants and animals from millions of years ago.  Ancient earth is a lot different from what we know today. The climate was different, and the species that lived were different. The environment was different too. It was full of swamps, and various plants. As the plants die, they fall into swamps, and get buried under water. Since there is not much oxygen at the bottom of bodies of water, the decay is either really slow, or incomplete, and the remains decompose through a process called anaerobic decomposition. This process begins with bacterial hydrolysis that break down organic polymers into its derivatives. Other bacteria convert these into smaller compounds like amino acids, and sugars sugars, and further into carbon dioxide, acetic acid, and ammonia among others. Methanogens, th...

Moses is a tame raven who lives on Manor Farm before the animals take over. Mr. Jones treats him like a pet and feeds him bread crusts, but most of the animals hate him because he does no useful work and produces nothing of value. He is known for being a spy and telling tales: He claimed to know of the existence of a mysterious country called Sugarcandy Mountain, to which all animals went when they died. It was situated somewhere up in the sky, a little distance beyond the clouds, Moses said. In Sugarcandy Mountain it was Sunday seven days a week, clover was in season all the year round, and lump sugar and linseed cake grew on the hedges... Although most of the animals resent him, some believe his stories about Sugarcandy Mountain. The pigs consider Sugarcandy Mountain to be a myth that is antithetical to the teachings of Animalism, and with some difficulty they manage to convince the other animals of this. When the animals revolt, Moses flees with Mrs. Jones, and he is not seen again ...

In Saki's story "Sredni Vashtar," a small boy's disquieting behavior is oddly justified. The reader finds himself taken in by Saki's portrayal of the beleaguered spirit of Conradin. Conradin suffers from a loneliness anyone can understand. He is harassed by the nagging of his overbearing cousin and lives primarily in the halls of his imagination. "One of these days Conradin supposed he would succumb to the mastering pressure of wearisome necessary things--such as illnesses and coddling restrictions and drawn-out dullness. Without his imagination, which was rampant under the spur of loneliness, he would have succumbed long ago." Saki skillfully guides the reader into Conradin's perspective. He is not just a small boy aimlessly entertaining himself in a tool-shed; he is a noble personage fighting banality and tedium. Without Saki's masterful writing, we might not see this household as a battleground. But we see a battleground as plain as day when w...

"The Bet" illustrates those two concepts through the characters of the lawyer and the banker. When the story begins, the banker is wealthy beyond imagination. That is why he can place such an enormous bet with little worry about paying out if he loses. By the end of the story, though, the banker has lost everything. Despite all of the money he had, the banker was unable to achieve happiness through having money and owning things. I could argue the banker was sad and depressed because he was about to lose everything else he had. The lawyer was about to win the bet, and the idea of losing the rest of his fortune made the banker consider murder. The lawyer loses the bet on purpose, though, and the banker gets to keep his money; however, he wasn't happy because of it. He realized what a horrible person he became in the pursuit of keeping his money and material possessions.   At no other time, even when he had lost heavily on the Stock Exchange, had he felt so great a contempt...

Annie Dillard is known for her deft use of rich and exquisite language in her work, and An American Childhood is no exception. Nearly every paragraph of the novel contains literary devices in the form of figurative language that enrich the reader’s experience. In the section in question, pp. 77-109, there are many examples of several types of literary devices. Let’s look at a few of each. Probably the best-known type of figurative language is the simile, which compares one thing with another, usually with the prepositions ‘like’ or ‘as.’ Dillard (1987) uses a simile when she describes the way they jumped onto their bikes ‘in one skilled gesture like cowboys mounting horses’ (p. 79). She uses another when she compares time and her consciousness to rivers coming together: ‘I felt time in full stream, and I felt consciousness in full stream joining it, like the rivers’ (p. 81). There is an allusion in this example, as well, when she mentions ‘the rivers.’ In the Prologue she tells us ‘[t]...

The first thing you need to do in order to complete this assignment successfully is to think about the major ideas of Aristophanes's  Lysistrata . Although some modern critics think about the play in terms of female empowerment, that is probably anachronistic. For Aristophanes, the idea of females acting in unison to affect affairs of state was inherently comic, rather like the idea of a man flying to Olympus on a dung beetle or birds and humans allying together against the gods. Much of Aristophanes's literary technique involves portraying the fantastic or absurd for comic effect while nevertheless making an important political or social point. The central point of the play, as of many other plays by Aristophanes, was to oppose the Peloponnesian wars. An important aspect of this opposition, and again something consistent across several works by Aristophanes, was that war tended to harm ordinary citizens, especially farmers and people who were not members of the political elite...

In the essay "In Search of Our Mother's Gardens," Alice Walker describes not only what her mother, Minnie Lou Grant Walker, did for a living, which was sharecropping, but how she found ways to be creative even in her oppressive and impoverished circumstances. Walker is the daughter of Georgia sharecroppers. Sharecropping was a system of agrarian, or farm, labor that existed after slavery was abolished. Sharecropping remained common throughout the South from the 1860s to the 1940s. Arguably, after the Great Migration in the late-teens and early-1920s, there were fewer blacks to work as sharecroppers on plantations due to their movement to northern and mid-western cities. Sharecropping was a system in which farm laborers, usually black, lived and worked on a plantation. In exchange for their labor, they would be given living quarters, a sum of money (usually doled out at the end of the harvest season), and a small plot of land near their living quarters, on which they could...

No, lying does not prompt Romeo to kill the Count Paris.  Paris's own loyalty to Juliet and stubbornness is what prompts Romeo to kill him.  When Romeo arrives at Juliet's tomb, he finds Paris there, mourning her.  Paris recognizes Romeo as the "banished Montague" who killed Tybalt, and he assumes that Romeo has come to do some harm to the bodies of the recently deceased Capulets.  He also still believes that Juliet died in excess of grief over her cousin's death (which was Romeo's fault).  Paris says, "Condemnèd villain, I do apprehend thee. / Obey and go with me, for thou must die" (5.3.63-64).  He intends to fight Romeo and kill him in order to prevent him from exacting whatever further vengeance Paris believes he intends against the Capulets.  Romeo expresses his earnest desire not to harm Paris, and he explains that he's actually come armed against himself.  Romeo urges Paris to leave; however, Paris refuses and attempts to apprehend Romeo. ...

Although it is written in a first person point of view, the speaker of the poem is not necessarily William Wordsworth. The speaker seems to be a traveller who is about to walk up a hill when they hear the reaper's song. The woman reaping in the fields is singing "a melancholy strain" in another language, but the speaker says it makes them feel welcome. The speaker stops to listen more closely to the reaper's song, as he cannot determine what she is singing about. The speaker wonders if it is about the past, issues in modern times, or a more timeless feeling, like sorrow, pain, or loss. Regardless of what the reaper's seemingly never-ending song is about, it makes the speaker feel connected to the reaper and they are moved by her song. The speaker is acknowledging how much music can unite people, even if they are from very different backgrounds and do not speak the same language. The speaker holds the music in his or her heart "long after it was heard no more....

Outside of the Ben E. King song at the end of  Stand by   Me ,   there are a handful of songs directly related to the film's emphasis on friendship. One song that captures the essence Chris and Gordy's friendship would be Jeff Silbar's and Larry Henley's "Wind Beneath My Wings." On first glance, a Bette Midler song from  Beaches  might not immediately relate to  Stand by Me, but the song's lyrics capture the sacrifice in Chris and Gordy's friendship. The song's suggestion that "You were content to let me shine, that's your way/ You always walked a step behind" relates to Chris's sacrifices for Gordy. Chris knows Gordy is withdrawn because of his brother's death and the effect it had on his parents and the town of Castle Rock. To compensate, Chris wants Gordy to shine in his storytelling and writing abilities. He tells Gordy he has a gift, something he will not let him lose. Chris "walked a step behind" when Gordy tol...

The event most commonly referred to as the American Revolution is the War of Independence. From 1775 to 1783, the American Colonies fought a war against the government of King George III of Great Britain. The Second American revolution that comes to mind is the American Civil War, which was fought from 1861-1865 during which the southern States declared their independence from the Federal Government and fought a War of Rebellion in order to establish their own autonomy as the Confederate States of America. The Revolutionary War and the Civil War were both characterized by armed rebellions against the established centralized government. Both resulted in protracted campaigns that inflicted heavy casualties on the combatants and heavy tolls on the populace. They also both resulted in significant course shifts for the direction of the Nation, and left a lasting imprint on the minds of the people of the United States.

In "The Lottery," author Shirley Jackson uses descriptions of mundane details to make the village seem "normal." The entire first paragraph could be plucked out of this story and used to describe many small towns throughout the world. Re-read the beginning of the paragraph, without the bias of the story's plot, and relate it to somewhere you are familiar with. "The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green. The people of the village began to gather in the square, between the post office and the bank, around ten o'clock....." By pointing out simple, relatable aspects like the weather and common buildings, Jackson gives her readers an air of comfort which makes the impending moral issues even more shocking. In her nonchalant style of relating the horrifying reality of the lottery, Jackson also points out how easy it can be to blindly accep...

Unless you socialize primarily with mathematicians, physicists, or any other profession for which the routine application of mathematical principles is an integral component, it is difficult to imagine one being socially ostracized for being deficient in math. After all, many learned professionals struggle with math, yet do not find themselves socially-isolated or looked-down-upon by their peers at cocktail parties or at formal events. One of the websites to which a link is provided below, in fact, lists six prominent scientific figures from modern history who struggled with math, including Charles Darwin, Alexander Graham Bell, and Thomas Edison. Nobody would suggest that such figures were unwelcome at social events or were bad at socializing on account of their inability to perform advanced calculus. In short, it was and remains socially-acceptable to bad at math. The question, then, is whether those who are not well-read or speak poorly are more or less likely to be deficient in soc...

Given the curves `y=9-x^2,` `y=0` we have to find the volume using the shell method. so , the volume of vertical rotation is given as `V=2*pi int_a^b p(x)h(x) dx` where p(x) is a function of  average radius and h(x) is a function of height so as the solid is rotating with respect to y=0 ie x axis so`p(x) =x` and height `h(x) = 9-x^2` now let us find the range of x on the x axis by the intersection of the curves  `y=9-x^2` and `y=0` => `0=9-x^2` =>` x= +-3` now the volume is =`2*pi int_a^b p(x)h(x) dx` = `2pi int_-3^3 (x)(9-x^2) dx` =`4pi int_0^3 (9x-x^3) dx` =`4*pi *[(9x^2)/2-x^4/4]_0 ^3` = `4*pi *[[(9(3)^2)/2-(3)^4/4]-[0]]` =`4*pi*81/4` = `81pi` is the volume

I'm not really clear on the context in which this question is being asked, since it is listed under "Business," which presupposes a capitalistic system of some sort, I would think. If consumers do not own private property, they are far less likely to want to consume many goods and services, and they have no assets upon which they can draw if need be. If I own a house, I am more likely to buy carpeting and paint to fix it up and buy a few trees and perennials to plant. If I rent, I have no stake in the place I live, and I am not going to acquire a significant number of goods and services to improve the property. If I own a house, I build equity in it, upon which I can borrow, to remodel, to send a child to college, or to finance my senior years. It is difficult to conceptualize an economy in which there are businesses and no one is permitted to own private property.

The 3-card monte hustle is significant because it reinforces the concepts of chance/ risk and the volatility of life. The card game is central to the story; it highlights how Booth and Lincoln choose to live their lives. Both gamble on more than a superficial level; they also pit their wits against each other in the game of life. The card game reinforces the concept of life as a game, where one must "hustle" in order to get ahead. In the play, risk-taking behavior is seen to be a multi-generational practice. Years ago, Booth and Lincoln's mother had a risky, adulterous relationship with the "Thursday" man and gambled that she would never be discovered. When Booth caught her in flagrante delicto (or in the midst of a tryst with the "Thursday" man), she paid him off with five hundred dollars. At least, this is how Booth sees it; he suggests that his inheritance from his mother is actually "hush" money. Not to be bested, Lincoln proclaims that ...

One thing that caused both WWI and WWII would be intense nationalistic feelings.  WWI was started when a Serbian nationalist shot the Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand in Sarajevo. Nicholas II of Russia felt as though he was the protector of all Slavs in Europe--this is why he backed Serbia in its war with Austria-Hungary.  Germany felt as though it should have had more status in Europe so it built up its military which led to tension between Germany, Britain, and France.   WWII would not have been possible without WWI.  Germany felt cheated by the Versailles Treaty and Hitler promised to restore the nation to past glory.  He stated that the German people were ideal and that they should own Slavic land in the East.  Italy felt as though their contributions for the Allied Powers in WWI were not appreciated enough so it backed Germany in WWII.  Mussolini wanted to recreate the Roman Empire and soon began to claim land along the Mediterranean for Italy.  Japan sought to drive out the Eu...

This is a somewhat difficult question to answer, because in classic Roald Dahl fashion, the novel leaves this up to the reader's imagination.  One conversation between Sophie and the BFG addresses this question.  After the BFG takes Sophie from her bedroom, she finds herself in a giant cave.  At first, she is convinced that he has brought her there to kill her, and she is very frightened.  However, once he has convinced her fully that she is not in danger of being gobbled up (at least not by him), they begin to share stories and get to know each other.   Sophie soon comes to realize that the BFG has a peculiar way of speaking, and that his sentences often seem to get mixed up.  When he is describing the revolting vegetable that he eats, the snozzcumber, he exclaims, "I squoggle it! I mispie it! I dispunge it!  But because I is refusing to gobble up human beans like the other giants, I must spend my life guzzling up icky-poo snozzcumbers instead.  If I don't, I will be noth...

Loyalists played a prominent role in a number of military campaigns during the course of the Revolutionary War, especially in the early years, when resistance to rebellion against the British Crown remained strong. As a category of colonialist sympathetic to the British Crown, and determined to remain united with England, Loyalists were present in virtually every region where the Patriots, the revolutionaries, sought to capture territory. No where was this more prevalent than in the territories around Quebec, Canada, where "the Battle of Quebec" at the end of 1775 involved large numbers of volunteers loyal to Britain. Loyalist resistance was instrumental, in fact, in Canada remaining Canada rather than becoming part of the United States. If one wanted to focus on one particular battle in which Loyalists played a major role, albeit, an ultimately unsuccessful, one should examine the failed effort of British General John Burgoyne to defeat the Patriots in New York. The Battles ...

These words are spoken by Shylock in reply to a question by Salarino at the beginning of Act 3. Salarino and Salanio, associates—but not friends—of Antonio had been discussing a rumor that Antonio had lost a ship laden with precious cargo when they encounter Shylock. Shylock had lent Bassanio, Antonio's closest friend, three thousand ducats and Antonio had signed a bond as a guarantee that the amount would be repaid within three months. If Antonio should forfeit, Shylock could cut out a pound of his flesh as compensation.  When Salarino tells Shylock about Antonio's unfortunate mishap, the Jew insists that Antonio had made a promise and that he should see to it that the bond is settled. Salarino then asks Shylock, Why, I am sure, if he forfeit, thou wilt not take his flesh: what's that good for? This is a logical and common-sense inquiry, since there is nothing that Shylock can really do with a pound of human flesh. Shylock, however, replies, To bait fish withal: if it will...

When the safari participants return, many things have changed in the year 2055, due to an act of carelessness on Eckels's part. In Ray Bradbury's short story "A Sound of Thunder," Eckels, the main character, pays for a time travel safari to the Cretaceous period to hunt a tyrannosaurus rex. The safari guide, Travis, warns the participants not to leave the metal, anti-gravity path that has been laid by Time Safari, Inc., to ensure that nothing is touched in the past. When Eckels asks why Travis explains the chain reaction of events in great detail:  "Eventually, it all boils down to this: Fifty nine million years later, a cave man, one of a dozen in the entire world, goes hunting wild boar or saber toothed tiger for food. But you, friend, have stepped  on all the saber toothed tigers in that region. By stepping on  one single mouse. So the cave man starves. And the cave man, please note, is not just any expendable man, no! He is an entire future nation.  From his...

We can use equations of motion to solve this equation. The initial and final velocity are related as: v = u + at where u is the initial velocity, v is the final velocity, a is the acceleration and t is the time taken. In this case, when the ball is thrown upwards, u = 19.6 m/s and a = -g = -9.8 m/s^2. Since the ball's upward motion is resisted by gravity, it will come to a stop. That is, v = 0 m/s. Hence, 0 = 19.6 + (-9.8)t solving the equation, we get: t = 2 sec. Thus, the body will rise up for 2 seconds before coming to rest. It will then start falling down again and take 2 seconds for the downward journey.  The total time spent in the air = time for upward journey + time for downward journey = 2 s + 2 s =   4 s . One can also use the other equations of motion: s = ut + 1/2 at^2 and v^2 = u^2 + 2as to solve for the distance traveled and time taken for the downward journey to verify that the same time is taken to rise up and come down. Hope this helps.

From the beginning of the book   until the end, Skeeter's attitudes completely change. Having grown up in a southern family of means, the way of life she had always known was that every family had black maids. This was a way of life for her and also almost everyone she knew in Jackson, Mississippi. As the book goes on, and Skeeter hears more and more of the maids' stories of what they've experienced working in white homes, her eyes become opened to the injustices that the maids were subjected to. Her eyes also become opened to the mistreatment of the maids by people who have been her friends for her entire life.  Her own immediate family had driven away Constantine, the maid who had practically raised her. By the time her interviews of the maids are finished, and her book containing the interviews is published, Skeeter has totally changed her thinking and attitudes towards black people from what she had known throughout her entire childhood.

The carpetbaggers were people from the North who moved to the South during Reconstruction. They came to the South to help with the rebuilding of the South. They were negatively portrayed by some southerners as greedy northerners who tried to profit from Reconstruction. The word carpetbagger describes a person who came to a new region with a scraggly suitcase that had few possessions in it. The carpetbaggers supported the Thirteenth Amendment. This amendment abolished slavery. Since the carpetbaggers were from the North, and since the North was fighting to end slavery, they would have been very supportive of an amendment to end slavery. They wanted to go to the South to help rebuild the area. They hoped to economically redevelop the South. They also hoped to bring about reforms or changes to the South. Many carpetbaggers were professionals from the middle class that wanted to make a difference in rebuilding the South.

The subject of Pagden's Peoples and Empires is the way European empires developed throughout history, starting in ancient Greece with Alexander the Great. Pagden defines empires as "government over vast territories" (page xxii). The themes of his book are the ways in which European empires conquered lands and people who were incredibly diverse. As Pagden writes of European empires, "It was in their sheer variety as much as their size that both their identity and their glory were to be found" (page xxiii). Pagden states that because of their diversity, most empires developed into cosmopolitan societies, as imperial powers had to become more tolerant to rule over vast territories. Another theme is the dynamic way empires changed both the conqueror and conquered. Conquest and imperial control changed the conqueror, and conquest also changed the lands under control. Empires had diverse effects on conquered people, providing some with greater freedom and restricting...

In The Journey to the West , Chapter 20 begins with the Tang priest encountering trouble on the Yellow Wind Ridge. Sanzang has been traveling with his followers for half a day when they reach the mountain. A whirlwind forms and Monkey remarks that it smells like a "tiger" or "monster wind." A striped tiger soon attacks the group and Pig confronts the beast. The tiger sheds its skin and transforms into a hurricane, carrying Sanzang off while he is reciting his meditations. Chapter 21 begins as the wind monster takes a captured Sanzang to the Yellow Wind Cave in the Yellow Ridge. Sanzang is bound and offered up to the monster's leader as a meal. Monkey soon learns where Sanzang is being held and challenges the Yellow Wind Monster to a fight. After dozens of rounds of intense fighting, the Great Sage and the monster find themselves evenly matched. Monkey plucks out a hair, chews it into many smaller pieces, and transforms each piece into a clone of himself. Multipl...

In "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," the horse in the poem thinks it's strange that the narrator is stopping in an unusual place to look at the snowfall. The horse is impatient to get on, but the narrator lingers where he can watch the snow fall in the woods. This episode relates to the way in which human beings often live without really looking around. The owner of the farmhouse is not there to see the lovely woods during the snowfall, and the horse, unaccustomed to stopping, is eager to get moving. Similarly, people like to remain on their usual paths and do not often take time or stop their routines to smell the figurative roses. As a result, people often miss out on seeing beautiful and inspiring sights or experiencing something new and transcendent.

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Hello! Denote the radius of the original circle as R and the base radius of the cone as r. Then the length of the original circle is `2piR` , and the given sector is a one quarter of the entire circle, hence the length of its curved part is `(piR)/2.` And this length becomes the length of the entire base of the cone. This means `(piR)/2 = 2pir,` thus `r = R/4 = 2` cm. This is the answer for [i]. The height of the cone, denote it h, forms a right triangle with a base radius of the cone and its slanted height. The slanted height is obviously R, and `h^2 + r^2 = R^2,` so `h = sqrt(R^2-r^2) = sqrt(60) = 2sqrt(15)` (cm). This is the answer for [ii].

An ecological perspective involves how individuals adapt and react to their social and cultural environments. Several constructs explain how the individual interacts successfully (or unsuccessfully) with their environments: 1) Adaptation: This explains an individual's capacity to adapt to changes such as occupational stresses, relationship difficulties, and other types of personal tragedies. In the book, Chris discusses his time working for David Landrum at his Hood County ranch; Chris worked after-school shifts and summers for Landrum. Here, Chris experienced firsthand the challenges inherent in the ranching business; by all indications, Chris's later ability to adapt to difficult surroundings as a SEAL was honed from his early training as a ranch hand. At the ranch, he roomed in a six-by-twelve bunkhouse, and he braved the cold of winter with only a gas stove and electric heater. At the same time, he battled raccoons and armadillos in his quarters. Chris learned patience (a g...

One of the central themes in Rilke's seventh letter is the intrinsically intertwined nature of love and solitude. First, Rilke tells his young poet friend that while it's normal to want to struggle against solitude and to not feel alone or lonely anymore, one should hang on to one's solitude and listen closely to what it can teach us about ourselves. Rilke writes, "it is good to be solitary, for solitude is difficult; that something is difficult must be a reason the more for us to do it."  Second, Rilke says that while love and solitude may seem to be opposites, they actually are not. Even though it might seem like being in love with someone is the opposite of solitude, the act of loving someone requires a lot of solitude. This is because loving someone is difficult and requires a lot of growth. Rilke writes, "learning-time is always a long, secluded time, and so loving, for a long while ahead and far on into life, is--solitude, intensified and deepened lonen...

Brian did not have enough wood to keep the signal fire going constantly. Also, he needed to be able to go out and search for food, which he couldn't do if he was constantly babysitting the signal fire and gathering wood for it. He decided to have it ready to go, but only light it if he heard a plane coming. Unfortunately, when a plane does come, Brian happens to be far away from his campsite. By the time the runs back and gets the signal fire lit, the plane has already passed. This heartbreaking disappointment marks a turning point for Brian. Instead of expecting to be rescued soon, he gives up on the idea of rescue. He figures he will have to survive on his own in the wilderness, perhaps forever. His excitement at seeing the plane, and his disappointment, are so intense, and the mental shift he must go through is so great, that he thinks of himself as having become a different person after this incident.

On the day of Tom Robinson's trial in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird , Scout is one of the child characters who succeeds the least in being able to put herself in someone else's shoes ; however, by the end of the novel, her perspective and understanding have changed significantly. On the day of the trial, Scout gets separated from Dill and Jem as they make their way into the courthouse. She finds herself in the middle of what Maycomb calls the "Idlers' Club," which is a group of elderly men "who had spent their lives doing nothing and passed their twilight days doing same on pine benches" around the town square (Ch. 16). Since they are frequenters of the town square, they are also aware of every trial that takes place in Maycomb and frequent spectators of the courtroom. On the day of the trial, Scout overhears members of the Idlers' Club making comments about her father that she uses to try to better understand why her father subjected hi...

One can say there are many things the city of Ember does not have in Jeanne DuPrau's story. One of the most essential elements the city does not have is a natural source of light ; a second is enough knowledge to be able to produce their own goods and make their own major repairs. Without a natural source of light, the people of Ember will be left in total darkness should their power source fail completely, darkness that is impossible to move around in and, thus, impossible to survive in. In addition, the city is not self-sustainable because the people do not have enough knowledge to produce their own goods or fix the generator; therefore, once they've completely lost their power source or all their stored goods run out, the people will perish. Ember was built as an underground city of refuge to preserve the human population in the case of an apocalyptic event. Since the city is underground, the city is surrounded in complete darkness. The only source of light in the city i...

Imperialism, put simply, is a policy whereby a country extends its power and influence either by diplomatic means, military intervention or some other stratagem. Things Fall Apart acts as a counter narrative to imperialism in that it exposes the flaws inherent in such a policy. In the novel, we are introduced to the cultural, religious, legal and economic traditions of the Ibo people. These traditions had become entrenched and were a way of life for them. Members of the tribe unquestionably accepted authority and and everyone knew his place and enjoyed the freedoms and privileges offered by such an existence. In effect, members were happy with what they had and their lives were, although not idyllic, satisfying. The arrival of the British imperialists gradually eroded the cohesion within Ibo society. They introduced a new religion, new laws and a new government. Once the Ibo were exposed to these new conditions, conflict ensued. The imperialists, through their new laws, dealt out harsh...

Macbeth says this to Banquo early in the play. On the surface the day is "fair" or good because Macbeth, Banquo and their armies have won a victory against their enemies, who are traitors to the king. It is "foul" because many lives have been lost on the battlefield, and more directly, because the witches have brought thunder and high winds with them to greet Macbeth and Banquo. On a deeper level, this particular day will prove to be both fair and foul to Macbeth because it is the day on which the witches prophesy that he will become Thane of Cawdor and King of Scotland. He will become Thane of Cawdor, a piece of good or fair news for an ambitious and victorious soldier, but the prophecy that he will become king, will prove to be a tragic or foul one for Macbeth. Macbeth's offhand statement is full of meaning but Macbeth will not know until later the true import of his words on this fateful day.

Miss Strangeworth is a complex character. She believes it is her civic duty as the town's oldest resident and descendant of the town's founders to act as a sort of guardian of public morality. The truth seems to be that her real motivations are envy and jealousy. It is significant that all the people whose lives she has affected with her anonymous letters were made to feel threatened about their relationship with someone close to them. For example, both Don and Helen Crane are worried about the development of their infant daughter, and Miss Strangeworth intensifies their worries with a number of letters. Her latest one reads: Didn’t you ever see an idiot child before? Some people just shouldn’t have children, should they? Miss Strangeworth has never had a baby. She has never been married. She may never have had a boyfriend, or even a date. She is really a pathetic creature, a lonely old woman pretending to be an important member of the community. The recipients of the three let...

Macbeth worries about getting caught, feels Duncan has not done anything to deserve being killed, and believes a host should not kill a guest. The first problem Macbeth has is that killing a king is very serious. He tries to talk himself out of it in his soliloquy. He begins by saying that, if he does kill Duncan, then he needs to do it quickly. Killing the king is dangerous. Macbeth is worried about the effects it will have on the kingdom. Will one murder create a domino effect of murders? There are additional problems because the king is Macbeth's kinsman and his guest. He's here in double trust; First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, Strong both against the deed; then, as his host, Who should against his murderer shut the door, Not bear the knife myself (Act I, Scene 7).  Basically, Macbeth would be violating every rule of gracious hosting by killing Duncan while he is staying at his home. You are supposed to protect your guests, not kill them. This is even worse when ...

In the beginning of the book  Kidnapped, readers are introduced to David Balfour.  He is seventeen and has been recently orphaned.  Soon after, the minister gives David a letter that David's deceased father had written.  The letter tells David to go to the house of Shaws.   The middle of the book is filled with devious plotting, fights, and shipwrecks. For example, Ebenezer knows that David is the rightful heir to the fortune, so he plots to have David kidnapped and taken away.   The basic gist from that point is that David is trying to get back to Mr. Rankeillor in order to establish his rights to the entire estate and fortune of the house of Shaws.   The ending of the book is great.  David successfully tricks his uncle into admitting that he had David kidnapped.  Mr. Rankeillor hears the entire conversation and uses it to blackmail Ebenezer.  Ebenezer can keep himself out of prison by giving up his fortune to David.  The books ends with David becoming a rich man. 

Evaluate ` sum_(n=1)^(oo)(1-3/n)^n ` : We are asked to use the ratio test to test for convergence. If the limit of the ratio of the (n+1)st term to the nth term is less than 1 in absolute value, the series converges. If greater than 1, the series diverges. (If the limit equals 1, we cannot draw any conclusion.) `lim_(n->oo)(1-3/(n+1))^(n+1)/(1-3/n)^n ` `=lim_(n->oo)((n+1)ln(1-3/(n+1)))/(nln(1-3/n)) `    Using L'Hopital's rule for the indeterminant form `=lim_(n->oo)(n+1)/n * lim_(n->oo) ((3/(n+1)^2)/(1-3/(n+1)))/((3/n^2 /(1-3/n)) )` `=lim_(n->oo)(3/(n+1)^2)/(1-3/(n+1))*(1-3/n)/(3/n^2) ` `=lim_(n->oo)(3/(n+1))/(n-2)*(n^2-3n)/3 ` `=lim_(n->oo)(n(n-3))/((n+1)(n-2)) ` `=lim_(n->oo)(1-3/n)/(1-1/n-2/n^2)=1 ` Thus the ratio test is indeterminate. (Using the limit test we can show that the series diverges.)

Each physical body has its own rest frame, the one at which this body is at rest. The rest frames of an astronaut and a spaceship are almost the same (an astronaut cannot move very fast inside a ship). So there is no reason to distinguish between an astronaut and a spaceship. Also, we must assume that Earth and a star have a negligible speed relative to each other, so their rest frames are almost non-moving relative to each other. In such a case, an observer on Earth is almost at rest relative to a star, and the distance between Earth and a star, as measured from Earth, is the largest among all frames of reference (a so-called proper length). For a moving observer--an astronaut, for example--this distance is shorter by Lorentz factor `sqrt(1-v^2/c^2).` So "according to the astronaut," which is the same as "at the rest frame of an astronaut," the distance will be less and the duration of the flight for him will be less. So your friend's calculation is correct  ...

The theme of these chapters is that life is precious and it is more important to live it than to fight. These chapters center around Johnny dying in the hospital and the rumble between the Socs and the greasers.  The two situations are juxtaposed for a reason.  Life is precious.  Johnny is wishing that he had lived a longer life, and the conflict between the greasers and the Socs robbed him of it.  It is pointless bloodshed. Johnny’s death is a result of the fire at the church, where he was injured trying to save the children.  However, it was really caused by the Soc-greaser war.  If the two gangs were not constantly at odds, Johnny and Pony would never have been hiding in the church in the first place.  The fighting, and in this case killing, over territory and identity is pointless and needs to stop. In the hospital, Johnny tells Pony that he was too young to die. "I don't want to die now. It ain't long enough. Sixteen years ain't long enough. I wouldn't mind it...

Marge Piercey's poem "Barbie Doll" is an indictment of the socially constructed values of beauty which are forced upon women from the time that they are young. In the first stanza of the poem, we are introduced to the female character, the "girlchild," who is provided with stereotypically "feminine" toys which imply her inherited responsibilities as a future mother ("dolls that did pee-pee"), homemaker ("miniature GE stoves and irons"), and debutante presented for the visual consumption of others ("wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy"). While the girl is able to survive this childhood and live into puberty, she is soon cut down by the cruelty of a classmate, who comments on her changing body: "You have a great big nose and fat legs." This is a deeply ironic moment; although the girl has been pushed toward womanhood for the entirety of her life, she is greeted with objectification and disgust the very moment s...

There are 3 common mechanisms of heat transfer: conduction, convection and radiation. In conduction, heat is transferred from one part of an object to the other or between objects in direct contact with each other. An example of conduction is the heating of a tea cup when hot tea is poured into it. Convection is a form of heat transfer in which the heat is transferred by the bulk movement of fluids (liquid and gases). The heating of water on a stove or heating a room by using an electric heater are examples of convective heat transfer. In the case of convection, the objects are not in direct contact with each other, but there is a medium connecting them. Radiation is the transfer of heat by electromagnetic radiation and it does not even require a medium, let alone contact. All bodies radiate heat. The solar radiation that heats up the Earth is an excellent example of radiative heat transfer.  Thus, radiation is the mechanism of heat transfer which does not require any contact (either ...

Snowball is more interested in having all animals collectively maintain the farm and benefit from it, while Napoleon just wants power.   From the beginning, Napoleon is scheming and Snowball seems clueless about it.  Snowball seems to have bought in to Old Major’s vision of the farm, and is trying to make it happen.  Napoleon, on the other hand, does nothing but create division and try to benefit himself.  Snowball also busied himself with organising the other animals into what he called Animal Committees. ... On the whole, these projects were a failure. The attempt to tame the wild creatures, for instance, broke down almost immediately. (Ch. 3)  Snowball wanted to get all of the animals educated. He succeeded in getting the pigs to read, and some of the other animals learned to read or learned the alphabet.  The animals become divided on whether they agree with Snowball’s plans to build the windmill or Napoleon’s idea that it is a waste of time and effort.  Snowball and Napoleon becom...

In short, Vera (Mrs. Sappleton's niece) causes Framton Nuttel additional distress by telling a story that causes "mental excitement." This is exactly the stress poor Framton Nuttel is trying to avoid. He has moved to the country in order to calm his "nervous condition" and is trying to introduce himself to the neighbors without much incident. Unfortunately for Framton Nuttel, Mrs. Sappleton's neice is the first person he comes in contact with in the neighboring household. Vera is a mischievous liar with a full imagination. As soon as she meets Framton Nuttel and is asked to "entertain" him for a bit, Vera makes up a story about the open window in the house.   The tall tale concerns Mrs. Sappleton being a "widow" who lost her husband and his brothers in a hunting accident. According to Vera's story, the window stays eternally open in case the men come back someday. The story is a lie. Mr. Sappleton is on a hunting trip at that very mom...

Behrman's last painting becomes a true masterpiece because it is painted as an act of faith and because his art, in this most perfect form, is itself an act of love. Twentieth-century author Truman Capote wrote, Any work of art, provided it springs from a sincere motivation to further understanding between people, is an act of faith and, therefore, an act of love. Working with Capote's definition of art, Behrman's creative gesture of painting the leaf onto the window so Johnsy will not despair and die is truly an act of unselfish love. Moreover, his heroic gesture of placing himself in health-threatening conditions by climbing a ladder and subjecting himself to the brutal cold and wet winter weather demonstrates his deep love for the young woman. This demonstration of unselfish love, this work of art — a solitary, stalwart leaf of yellow and green that clings to its stem against the building — is, indeed, the masterpiece Behrman has waited to paint for twenty-five years.  W...

The most important piece of information revealed in Act 1 is Abigail Williams's confession to John Proctor that Betty Parris, her cousin, is not suffering as a result of some witchcraft they performed.  She says, "We were dancin' in the woods last night, and my uncle leaped in on us.  She took fright, is all."  This is terribly important information because it helps the audience to understand that later, when Abigail begins to accuse people in the town of witchcraft, it is all a lie; there is simply no truth to it.  She's admitted it herself.  Therefore, when Abigail later claims to see strange specters of witches who have sent out their spirits to hurt her, we know that she is concealing the truth and telling these fictions instead. Further, it is this piece of information that compels Elizabeth Proctor to try to convince her husband to speak with the magistrates about Abigail's motives and dishonesty in Act 2.  This discussion between the two of them reignit...

In Avi's  Crispin and the Cross of Lead,  a young boy must flee the only village he's ever known to save his life. After Crispin's mother dies, the corrupt Steward of the Manor, John Aycliffe, accuses Crispin of thievery and declares that anyone may kill him on sight. Crispin runs away and on his journey meets a man called Bear. Bear takes Crispin under his wing and teaches him some of the arts of being a bard, and together they travel to the town of Great Wexley. Even though there is a festival going on, Crispin and Bear take great efforts not to be noticed. When Crispin visits the cathedral, he sees none other than John Aycliffe praying there. He runs away and has to fight off several of Aycliffe's men before he is able to return safely to the tavern. 

In Chapter 6, Samneric run down from the mountain and tell the boys that they have just witnessed the beast. Ralph calls an assembly and Jack immediately comments that it will be a great hunt. Ralph thinks that Jack is being ridiculous about hunting an unknown beast with a group of boys armed with sticks, but Jack is determined to kill it. The boys eventually decide to explore the rocky, opposite end of the island first, then climb the mountain if they do not find the beast. Jack and biguns' decision to hunt the unknown beast portrays humanity's insatiable curiosity and courage. Since the beginning of time, humans have been taking great risks to explore and discover the unknown. Their decision to hunt and kill the beast also demonstrates their primitive instincts. They immediately decide to hunt the beast because they feel threatened. The boys also enjoy hunting which is associated with bloodlust and savagery throughout the novel. Golding is suggesting that humans are inherentl...

In Greek, the word "pathos" means suffering or emotion. Usually when we use the term pathos to describe a technique used by writers of literary works, we mean that something in the work evokes the emotional response of the audience; typically, the audience feels sad, emotional, regretful, or sympathetic as a result of something depicted on stage. In  Oedipus Rex , even though the tragic hero Oedipus has committed some heinous crimes (killing his own father, bearing children with his own mother) and is a flawed character (he is arrogant, short-sighted, and has a temper), he is also seen as a good leader of his city and has committed most of his crimes without full knowledge of what he was doing. Most of the pathos in Oedipus Rex is seen in Part II as Oedipus begins to realize that he is the one responsible for the plague on Thebes and must follow his own order and be exiled. The scene when Oedipus returns to the stage after blinding himself is truly pathetic. The audience can...

On his second voyage to the New World, having already visited Hispaniola and the south of Cuba on his first, Columbus sought to continue his exploration in the Caribbean. He brought with him a number of slaves, farmers, soldiers, and priests who would help colonize the lands he claimed for Spain. On this journey, he visited the Canary Islands, the Lesser Antilles, the Greater Antilles, and Puerto Rico. He is also credited with having sighted the Virgin Islands and naming a number of islands, including Guadelupe, Saint Croix, and Antigua. He captured a number of natives during this time and brought with himself and his crew a number of diseases which the native populations had no immunity to. His people also built several forts to maintain the Spanish presence in the New World. Upon returning to Europe, he brought with him exotic animals, spices, gold, and the belief that he had discovered a Biblical paradise. Columbus' greatest accomplishments perhaps total to being the first Europ...

Charlie initially sees Miss Kinnian as someone who is much more intelligent that he is. After learning about punctuation from her (initially misusing it as we see in the following quote,) we see him wishing in his journal that he could emulate her intelligence. She"s a gen'ius! I wish? I could be smart – like – her; Punctuation, is? fun! After Charlie's intellectual development starts progressing rapidly, Miss Kinnian tells Charlie she thinks he will soon surpass her in areas of intelligence. She believes this because Charlie already reads much faster than she does and completely retains the information he reads. He responds, I don't feel intelligent. There are so many things I don't understand. Charlie's newfound intelligence brings up a lot of feelings for him, including joy, confusion, and sadness. When Charlie is fired from his job because his intelligence frightens the people who used to work with him, he feels rejected and shamed. In this next quote, we c...

In England, there is no single and clear reason to explain why some people regard the number 13 as being unlucky. For some people, it is an unlucky number because of its Biblical link to Judas, the thirteenth person to sit down at Jesus's table for the Last Supper and the man who later betrayed him. Conversely, there is a theory relating exclusively to the city of London. This dates back to 1307 when the French King, Philip VI, ordered the arrest of every member of the Knights Templar, a Christian organisation, on Friday 13 October. Though this act of persecution took place in France, it did not take long for the English king, Edward II, to take similar action, thereby forever linking the decline of the Knights Templar to that fateful date. (See the reference link provided.)

The society that exists in Lois Lowry's  The Giver  does its best to keep everything equal for everyone. For example, everyone receives the same types of dwellings, family units, and rules to follow without exception. This is possible because no one is any different from anyone else and each person feels as though his or her needs are met. As a result, conformity is easy to manage because there are no individual needs outside of food, water, shelter, education, and jobs.  Still, the community cannot stop people's personalities from being diverse, and this is where individuality tends to conflict with the rules of conformity. For example, in chapter six, Lily is getting ready for the annual ceremonies and her mother wants to tie her hair ribbons for her. Lily has independent tendencies which prompt her to want to tie her ribbons herself, which she expresses as follows: "I can tie them myself . . . I always have . . . I don't like hair ribbons. I'm glad I only have t...