How does Elie Wiesel's relationship with God change throughout the memoir?

In Elie Wiesel's Night, he struggles with his faith in God as his situation worsens.
 
Towards the beginning of the memoir, Wiesel's relationship with God is strong. He talks about how he studied the Talmud during the day, attended the synagogue at night, and even wanted his father to find him a master who could help him study Kabbalah. All of this, though, describes his life before he and his family are taken to Auschwitz.
 
After spending his first night in the concentration camp and seeing so much evil, such as babies being killed, Wiesel's faith is shaken to say the least. In his own words, he says, "Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes" (Wiesel, 34). 
 
Soon, Wiesel's faith begins to decline rapidly. While other Jews talk about the "mysterious ways" of God and the sins of their people, Wiesel simply stops praying. He says, "I was not denying His existence, but I doubted His absolute justice" (Wiesel, 45). Then, Wiesel witnesses the hanging of three prisoners, one of whom is a child, and questions why God lets these things happen to people.
 
By page 68, Wiesel seems almost sure that God has abandoned them. While he still prays with the other prisoners, his heart is no longer in it. Regarding this, he says, "My eyes had opened and I was alone, terribly alone in a world without God, without man" (Wiesel, 68). Though he never outright denies God's existence, his doubts begin to overwhelm him. 
 
Still, though, he continues to reference, and pray to, God. After Rabbi Eliahu's son purposely leaves him behind during a march, Wiesel prays, "'Oh God, Master of the Universe, give me the strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahu's son has done'" (Wiesel, 91). That said, though he's struggling with his faith, it's evident that some part of him still believes. 
 
By the end of the memoir, Wiesel and his father are transferred to Buchenwald. His father gets sick and dies, yet he cannot even cry. Not too long after, the American military shows up and frees them all. 
 
In his Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech, given in 1986, Wiesel gives thanks to God, which proves that, somehow, he was able to retain his faith after the horrifying years he spent in Auschwitz and Buchenwald. He opens his speech saying, "Words of gratitude. First to our common Creator" (Wiesel, 117). He then goes on to recount his experience.
 
Eventually, Wiesel brings up the conflict between Israel and Palestine and urges the people of the world to make the violence stop. He says, "Should Israel lose but one war, it would mean her end and ours as well. But I have faith. Faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and even in His creation. Without it no action would be possible" (Wiesel, 120).
 

What does "The Tyger," written by William Blake in 1794, suggest to you about the ways in which individuals take responsibility for themselves and...

This is an interesting question, as I have to say I never thought about the poem in terms of individual responsibility. However, the following question runs throughout the poem:

What immortal hand or eye, 

Could frame thy fearful symmetry? 

This question asks a monotheistic God how he could create a creature as fearful and dangerous as a tiger, with its predatory ability to devour the innocent. In other words, what was he thinking, what personal...

This is an interesting question, as I have to say I never thought about the poem in terms of individual responsibility. However, the following question runs throughout the poem:

What immortal hand or eye, 

Could frame thy fearful symmetry? 

This question asks a monotheistic God how he could create a creature as fearful and dangerous as a tiger, with its predatory ability to devour the innocent. In other words, what was he thinking, what personal responsibility was he taking, when he made this predator?

Since humans are made in the image of God, and one of our distinctive features is the ability to create, the poem implicitly also asks us if we are taking personal responsibility for what we create. We can create objects that are beautiful and powerful, but we can also "twist the sinews of [the tiger's predatory] heart" and make the tiger's "dread hand and . . . dread feet."

There are many ways to read this poem, but one is to liken the creation of the tyger to that of the factory. In other words, the tyger is a metaphor for the factory. We know industrialism was making England a very wealthy nation in this period and that more and more factories were popping up in once rural environments. We know, too, that like most Romantic poets, Blake preferred nature and the rural to the industrialized and the urban.

This poem contrasts with the rural and bucolic setting of "The Lamb," its companion piece in Songs of Innocence. Industrial images that conjure the factory surround the "tyger. He is forged by "chain," by "furnace" and "burning brightly" into the night, as factories would, with their long shifts—and some went 24 hours a day. 

The poem thus asks, implicitly, what personal responsibility the creators of these factories, on the one hand powerful and burning brightly, on the other hand grasping and predatory, had towards those workers devoured by their "tygers?"

Of all the mutations, which one would MOST LIKELY contribute to a rapid rate of extinction?

Let's first consider the major types of mutations possible in terms of the DNA sequence and the resulting amino acid sequence.

1. Missense mutation: change in 1 base pair of DNA results in change of 1 amino acid to another.

2. Nonsense mutation: change in 1 base pair of DNA results in change of 1 amino acid to a stop codon. This leads to an early termination of the original peptide sequence.

3. Insertion: addition...

Let's first consider the major types of mutations possible in terms of the DNA sequence and the resulting amino acid sequence.

1. Missense mutation: change in 1 base pair of DNA results in change of 1 amino acid to another.

2. Nonsense mutation: change in 1 base pair of DNA results in change of 1 amino acid to a stop codon. This leads to an early termination of the original peptide sequence.

3. Insertion: addition of base pairs of DNA (in groups of three) leads to the addition of amino acids to the peptide sequence.

4. Deletion: the deletion of base pairs of DNA (in groups of three) leads to deletions of amino acids from the peptide sequence.

5. Frameshift mutations: addition or deletion of base pairs of DNA (not in groups of 3) leads to shifting of coding frame. This leads to all the amino acids downstream from the mutation to be changed.

For all of the mutations listed above, there is potential for the resulting protein to no longer function like it should. This could have several potentially important implications. For example, this may make the protein perform its function better, leading to better survival/reproduction capabilities of the organism. These gain-of-function mutations may be beneficial to the fitness of the organism and this is the basis for evolution and natural selection. However, if the resulting mutant protein can no longer perform some important function in the organism (eg. the organism is no longer able to metabolize key nutrients), this will decrease the overall fitness and may contribute to the extinction of the species.

Of the mutations listed, frameshift mutations and nonsense mutations are most likely to have large effects and contribute to an extinction. This is because they have the biggest effects on the resulting peptide sequence, especially if the mutation occurs at the beginning of the coding sequence. Changing or losing all of the downstream coding sequence is likely to produce a protein that does not fold normally, or no longer has the necessary active site to catalyze its reaction.

Describe the political, economic, and social changes that occurred during Reconstruction.

Reconstruction brought about many changes in our country. These included political, social, and economic changes. The political changes were significant. The Radical Republicans were in charge of Reconstruction. As part of their actions and as part of the events during Reconstruction, there were three constitutional amendments made. The 13th amendment ended slavery. The 14th amendment said that anybody born in the United States would be a citizen of the United States. These people would have...

Reconstruction brought about many changes in our country. These included political, social, and economic changes. The political changes were significant. The Radical Republicans were in charge of Reconstruction. As part of their actions and as part of the events during Reconstruction, there were three constitutional amendments made. The 13th amendment ended slavery. The 14th amendment said that anybody born in the United States would be a citizen of the United States. These people would have the rights that citizens had, and these rights couldn’t be taken away without the due process of law. The 15th amendment prevented denying a person the right to vote based on race, color, or having been a slave.

There were social changes that also occurred. Reconstruction gave freedom to the former slaves. The former slaves now were considered to be equal to whites, at least in theory. Many southerners had a difficult time accepting the idea of racial equality. Schools were also set up for African-Americans.

There were also economic changes as a result of Reconstruction. Prior to the Civil War, the South was mainly an agricultural area. Most people farmed. After the Civil War ended, the South began to diversify its economy. While farming was still important, new industries were developed. Also, the railroads expanded into the South. The South was no longer a region that was only dependent on farming.

Reconstruction brought about many changes in our country.

What topic can be formed for a term paper that can justify Wittgenstein's philosophy of language?

Wittgenstein wrote his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus earlier in his career and his other work, Philosophical Investigations, differs from and is critical of some of the views he expressed in the former work. 

In the Tractatus, he argues a proposition that makes logical sense must have a logical form to it. We must think of this logical form as a "picture." But when he says "picture" he really means structure, form, or formula. Wittgenstein means...

Wittgenstein wrote his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus earlier in his career and his other work, Philosophical Investigations, differs from and is critical of some of the views he expressed in the former work. 

In the Tractatus, he argues a proposition that makes logical sense must have a logical form to it. We must think of this logical form as a "picture." But when he says "picture" he really means structure, form, or formula. Wittgenstein means that the structure of a sensible proposition ("I am alive") will obey logical laws in the same way that a ball thrown up into the air will obey the logical laws of physics. "Socrates is wise" follows a formula, ARB, and its logic depends on the logical sense of the elements placed within that formula. 

Wittgenstein's logical analysis of language is mathematical in this way. Consider the "p and the not-p" formula. "It is raining or it is not raining." This follows a formula, but it is nonsense; it gives no useful information. It is a tautology. Consider "It is raining and it is not raining." This is absurd and a contradiction. It also makes no sense. In these ways, Wittgenstein is trying to show that language can not express anything that contradicts logic. 

His general idea is that which can be expressed in language must be logical. Things that can not be expressed by language must be illogical and we should simply ignore such things. A way to justify this thinking is to say, "if a statement provides no useful information or if it is illogical, then it expresses nothing and should be ignored." 

Consider analogies to justify Wittgenstein's thinking. If you hear a chord made up the notes C, E, and G, then it must be logically represented on the staff. If it is not logically and spatially (in this case) represented on the staff, it will not make sense. Each note must be in a different spot on the staff to make any sense. Just as any expressible thing about the world can be expressed in some logical proposition, any combination of notes can be expressed in a logical form of notes on a staff. In both cases, that which is expressible is only expressible in a logical structure or form. 

(We can't really say how the logical form of C, E, and G on the staff says anything about itself; it only says something about the sound of the chord. Likewise, we can't say how "Socrates is wise" says anything about itself as a formula; it only says something about the fact or idea that Socrates is wise.) 

In Philosophical Investigations, Wittgenstein writes that language is more like an ongoing game, a part of life in which we all play. He doesn't try to boil language down into mathematical formulas of logic. Rather, he discusses how different terms change in different contexts, thus giving a more fluid assessment of language. The commonality between this work and the Tractatus is that Wittgenstein seeks to identify and resolve confusion and contradictions in language. 

What in your opinion represented the greatest political or social achievements of Progressive-era reform? Identify at least one that you believe...

I would have to say that I believe that votes for women was the greatest achievement of the Progressive Era. This is not something that impacts my life on a day-to-day basis, but it is probably the most important thing that happened in that era.

I would identify this as the most important thing that the Progressives accomplished because it is the one that did the most to right an injustice.  When our country was...

I would have to say that I believe that votes for women was the greatest achievement of the Progressive Era. This is not something that impacts my life on a day-to-day basis, but it is probably the most important thing that happened in that era.

I would identify this as the most important thing that the Progressives accomplished because it is the one that did the most to right an injustice.  When our country was founded, suffrage was very limited.  Only white men could vote, and even among white men, only those with some amount of property were allowed to vote in most states.  One important trend that has occurred over the course of US history has been the extension of rights to more and more people. This is what makes the ratification of the 19th Amendment such a great achievement.  It made our system much fairer and more just.

Of course, this achievement does not really affect my life all that much.  I’m male, so it doesn’t affect me directly at all.  However, it did help to create a society in which men and women are on a much more equal basis. This has affected me by affecting the way I interact with women in my life. 

In A Dance of the Forests, what is Soyinka trying to help his audience understand through the parallels between characters, actions, and attitudes...

In my opinion, the concept that the author is trying to help the audience understand in A Dance of the Forests can be summed up in the words of Dead Woman:

The world is big but the dead are bigger. We’ve been dying since the beginning.

When you talk about the “parallels between characters” in A Dance of the Forests, you are speaking about a large amalgamation of living and dead as well as...

In my opinion, the concept that the author is trying to help the audience understand in A Dance of the Forests can be summed up in the words of Dead Woman:

The world is big but the dead are bigger. We’ve been dying since the beginning.

When you talk about the “parallels between characters” in A Dance of the Forests, you are speaking about a large amalgamation of living and dead as well as mortals and gods. What is important to understand is that Soyinka presents Yoruba culture for a Nigerian audience, so for an American reader, explanation is needed. As a short explanation, we should remember that Forest Head has disguised himself as a mortal human named Obaneji. He has invited four other mortals into the forest to welcome Dead Woman and Dead Man. The god Aroni has already taken the two under his wing due to their lack of acceptance by the living. The Forest Dance begins (and contains a kind of trial of the two living beings), but is interrupted by Eshuoro. The dance ends with the rebirth of Demoke through music and movement.

It is through Dead Woman’s observations that we learn the most about connections between the living and the dead. We learn that the past is extremely important in that it is “bigger” than the present. In fact, the past can directly affect what is happening now. The author, Soyinka, believes that the past is actually found within the people living in the present but that there is still a large divide between the two that causes tension and discord. The only way this divide can be traversed is through rituals such as the Forest Dance. These ceremonies, according to Soyinka, are vastly important for unification.

How is Caliban portrayed when he says "then I love thee" in The Tempest?

Caliban is portrayed sympathetically when complaining to Prospero.

When Prospero landed on the island, he enslaved Caliban through magic.  Although Prospero treats Caliban with nothing but derision, when we first meet Caliban we are more likely to feel sympathetic for him than for Prospero, the vengeful wizard.

Caliban makes it sound as if Prospero tricked him, being nice to him at first so that he would think the wizard was a nice person and then...

Caliban is portrayed sympathetically when complaining to Prospero.

When Prospero landed on the island, he enslaved Caliban through magic.  Although Prospero treats Caliban with nothing but derision, when we first meet Caliban we are more likely to feel sympathetic for him than for Prospero, the vengeful wizard.

Caliban makes it sound as if Prospero tricked him, being nice to him at first so that he would think the wizard was a nice person and then turning on him.  Caliban gives examples of the nice things that Prospero did for him when they first met. 

When thou camest first,
Thou strokedst me and madest much of me, wouldst give me
Water with berries in't, and teach me how
To name the bigger light, and how the less,
That burn by day and night … (Act 1, Scene 2) 

Caliban says that he loved Prospero, and showed him “all the qualities o' the isle,” such as where to get fresh water and food.  He continues by saying that if he hadn’t, he would have been the king of the island, not Prospero.  Prospero doesn’t buy it.  

Thou most lying slave,
Whom stripes may move, not kindness! I have used thee,
Filth as thou art, with human care, and lodged thee
In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate
The honour of my child. (Act 1, Scene 2) 

He accuses Caliban of trying to rape Miranda, and says that he deserves nothing more than harshness.  It is better to whip him than be nice to him.  From this point on, we might feel more sympathetic to Prospero and no longer for Caliban.  The comment about Miranda makes Prospero’s harsh treatment of Caliban seem appropriate and justified.

There are two sides to any story.  It seems that at first Prospero and Miranda were nice to Caliban.  He showed them around the island, and they taught him about the world.  Caliban says that they taught him language. Then, at some point, Caliban might have made a move on Miranda.  That was the end of the kindness, and Prospero treated him with scorn and punishment thereafter.

Why do families have a long lasting effect on our values?

Family values shape who members of a family are, how they are perceived in the community, and how others in the community perceive the family. Family values determine how a family spends their free time, how a family spends their money, how a family relates to one another, and even what a family wears and eats. Many groups try to tie family values to religious values.  However, they are not one in the same. Religious...

Family values shape who members of a family are, how they are perceived in the community, and how others in the community perceive the family. Family values determine how a family spends their free time, how a family spends their money, how a family relates to one another, and even what a family wears and eats. Many groups try to tie family values to religious values.  However, they are not one in the same. Religious values are not always the same as family values, and a family may have certain family values and as a subset religious values.

Each family has a different set of values they believe are important. For example, one family may believe that working hard and studying for school are very important. Another family may believe that family members should relax and enjoy life and that studying hard is not necessary. Family values are based on each family member's perceptions, prejudices and past experiences. Generally, the parents or adults in the family guide family values. When children try to guide the family and establish the family values or rules, chaos may ensue. Children may not have had enough life experience or understanding about consequences of their decisions in order to chart the course for an entire family.

Family values are important in shaping individuals as they become adults and productive members of society. Adapting to social norms most often start with values at home. 

In "Winter Dreams," during the winter, how does Dexter reflect upon his summer activities?

In “Winter Dreams” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dexter spends the winters of his youth musing over the lives of the wealthy members of the country club where he is a mere caddie. He sees himself playing matches with and against the club members, winning the club championship, and driving an expensive car. He longs not only to be like these men, he longs for the things they have. In his dreams, he is a man of prestige and accomplishment.

But do not get the impression, because his winter dreams happened to be concerned at first with musings on the rich, that there was anything merely snobbish in the boy. He wanted not association with glittering things and glittering people—he wanted the glittering things themselves.

Judy Jones enters his life when he is only fourteen years old, but she steers the course of his life into his thirties. His winter dreams focus on his obsession with this beautiful but fickle young lady. When he is with her, his dreams are fulfilled.

She simply made men conscious to the highest degree of her physical loveliness. Dexter had no desire to change her. Her deficiencies were knit up with a passionate energy that transcended and justified them.

Unfortunately for him, Judy moves from one man to the next without a thought for their feelings. As the seasons change, he begins to realize that he cannot have her and he tries to move on, even becoming engaged to another. “When autumn had come and gone again it occurred to him that he could not have Judy Jones.” But again, Judy appears and his stability is torn away once more. In spite of his success as a businessman who fulfilled his original winter dreams, Dexter is unable to let the dream of Judy die.

War intervenes, and upon his return, he builds his business in New York. During a business meeting, he learns of Judy's marriage. According to an acquaintance, she is in a difficult marriage, and her looks have dwindled. Only after hearing this does Dexter realize that although he attained his youthful “winter dreams,” he sold his soul for Judy Jones.

Even the grief he could have borne was left behind in the country of illusion, of youth, of the richness of life, where his winter dreams had flourished.

"Long ago," he said, "long ago, there was something in me, but now that thing is gone. Now that thing is gone, that thing is gone. I cannot cry. I cannot care. That thing will come back no more."

Was the U.S justified in limiting the civil liberties of its citizens during World War I?

This question refers to the Espionage and Sedition Acts that were passed during America's involvement in World War I. The Espionage Act of 1917 was not very controversial. It called for the prosecution of any citizen that acted in a way that would harm America's war effort. This law, however, caused a lot of confusion and actually saw a rise in vigilantes because it was vague in its definition of espionage. The law was enhanced...

This question refers to the Espionage and Sedition Acts that were passed during America's involvement in World War I. The Espionage Act of 1917 was not very controversial. It called for the prosecution of any citizen that acted in a way that would harm America's war effort. This law, however, caused a lot of confusion and actually saw a rise in vigilantes because it was vague in its definition of espionage. The law was enhanced with a series of measures that are commonly called the Sedition Acts. These addendums were a serious threat to free speech and the free press as it outlawed the dissemination of any material that spoke out against the government, military, or the war effort.

The question of suspending civil liberties during times of crisis seems to surface at least once every generation. From the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 to the Japanese Internment Camps of World War II to the Patriot Acts after 2001, civil liberties have been abridged by the federal government in response to some perceived threat. Since most of these crises dealt with fighting tyranny in other lands, I think it is a stretch to say that civil liberties should be curtailed at home to aid the fight against tyranny abroad.

When the United States Constitution was being debated, there was a significant contingency of anti-federalists that felt the document gave too much power to the federal government. They fought tirelessly for a document to guarantee civil liberties and freedoms. In fact, they threatened to undermine ratification if individual liberties were not protected. Their efforts resulted in ten amendments to the Constitution called the Bill of Rights. The framers of this document did not provide for these liberties to be compressed in times of crisis. In fact, it could be stated that the Bill of Rights was written during a time of stress as Americans were attempting to fix an economy that was wrecked with debt and social unrest. Having said all of this, it is hard for me to support the government's assertion that its citizens should have to give away basic rights like speech, opinion, and political discourse during times of war or economic duress.

How would I separate a mixture of salt and sand using hexane?

Actually, what you are asking for is simply not possible.  Both salt (sodium chloride) and sand are powdery solids.  As a result, they cannot be mechanically separated by simply picking the individual grains apart.  So you must perform some kind of physical change to one of them that makes the two able to be separated.  Normally, that would be to freeze, dissolve, boil, melt, or a similar physical change process one of the two chemicals...

Actually, what you are asking for is simply not possible.  Both salt (sodium chloride) and sand are powdery solids.  As a result, they cannot be mechanically separated by simply picking the individual grains apart.  So you must perform some kind of physical change to one of them that makes the two able to be separated.  Normally, that would be to freeze, dissolve, boil, melt, or a similar physical change process one of the two chemicals in the mixture without changing the other one.  Sand is basically a mineral and therefore cannot be melted or changed without incredibly extreme conditions.  That means that the salt is the chemical that must be changed.  Normally that would mean to dissolve the salt in water to separate the two.  Hexane is an organic solvent and is incredibly non-polar.  A polar solvent like water is required to dissolve a salt.  If you put salt in hexane, even hot hexane, non of the salt will dissolve, nor or course will the sand.  So adding hexane to the mixture will do absolutely nothing and will not allow you to separate the two components.

How does Marshall portray Da-Duh as a dying character before she actually dies?

Marshall establishes a series of opposites in the story to show the difference between the past and present, the old and the new, and the young and the old.  Through the granddaughter, Marshall is showing that the world Da-duh has always known has moved on.  The granddaughter lives in the modern world of New York City, and it is much different than the world of Barbados in which Da-duh lives.  Da-duh realizes this when her...

Marshall establishes a series of opposites in the story to show the difference between the past and present, the old and the new, and the young and the old.  Through the granddaughter, Marshall is showing that the world Da-duh has always known has moved on.  The granddaughter lives in the modern world of New York City, and it is much different than the world of Barbados in which Da-duh lives.  Da-duh realizes this when her granddaughter is able to argue for the beauty and importance of her world as well.  Da-duh slowly realizes that the world has changed; there are skyscrapers and airplanes in contrast to her sugar cane fields and palm trees.  Da-duh understands that she is no longer a part of the modern world, and she slowly gives up. It is time for her to move on and leave the world to the young instead of living in the past.

Da-duh begins to die when she starts taking naps on the couch and staring out the window at the sugar cane fields in her world. She slowly begins to give up for she knows that she is probably the last of her family to embrace the Barbados culture.  However, at the end of the story, we see Da-duh’s influence through the murals of Barbados painted on her granddaughter’s apartment walls.  Perhaps Da-duh gave up to soon, for it seems as if her granddaughter is ready to carry on her legacy. 

Why was Montresor so intent on seeking revenge against Fortunato in "The Cask of Amontillado"?

Montresor wants revenge against Fortunato for some imaginary insult.

It is important to remember that Montresor does not have a real reason for killing Fortunato.  Montresor is a madman, and the reasons he wants to kill Fortunato are all imaginary.  Poe makes sure that we realize this with his very first sentence.

The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that gave utterance to a threat. At length I would be avenged …

The hyperbole is our first clue.  A thousand injuries?  Really?  Isn’t that a little extreme?  You can’t really do a thousand terrible things to a person, especially without him noticing.  Montresor probably imagines these, or turns minor slights and insults into crimes worthy of prosecution.

Montresor wants to not get caught.  He explains that he has to get away with the murder, or he will not really be avenged.  Since the telling of the story is fifty years after the event, he must have succeeded.

Another reason that we know that Fortunato did not really do something terrible enough to Montresor to justify being killed is that he agrees to go with Montresor into the catacombs.  If you had wronged a person in some terrible way, you would not go underground with him at night without witnesses.

Montresor is able to easily convince Fortunato to go into the catacombs with him by telling him he has a cask of valuable Amontillado wine that he needs his opinion of.  When he offers to show it to Luchesi instead, Fortunato protests.

“Come, let us go."

"Whither?"

"To your vaults."

"My friend, no; I will not impose upon your good nature. I perceive you have an engagement. Luchresi--"

"I have no engagement; --come."

Montresor makes other arguments that he should not go, such as the fact that it will not be good for his cold, but Fortunato insists.  He willingly goes underground with Montresor because he does not know that the man is his enemy.

If Fortunato had really done something to Montresor, it would be a very different story.  This one is the tale of a crazy guy killing another guy for no reason.  He is a psychopath, because he believes that he is right.  Montresor really thinks that Fortunato deserves to die and has no problem with killing him as long as he gets away with it.

What is the situation with Betsy's brother in Lyddie?

Betsy is putting her brother Charlie through college.

Betsy is a kind but outspoken factory worker who is Lyddie’s roommate.  Like Lyddie, she has a brother.  Her brother is in Harvard College, with Betsy paying his way.  She hopes to pay for her own college after he finishes. 

Betsy is a reader.  She is ambitious.  She teaches Lyddie to read, beginning with reading Oliver Twistto her.  Lyddie is very grateful since she never really...

Betsy is putting her brother Charlie through college.

Betsy is a kind but outspoken factory worker who is Lyddie’s roommate.  Like Lyddie, she has a brother.  Her brother is in Harvard College, with Betsy paying his way.  She hopes to pay for her own college after he finishes. 

Betsy is a reader.  She is ambitious.  She teaches Lyddie to read, beginning with reading Oliver Twist to her.  Lyddie is very grateful since she never really had a chance to go to school.  Like Betsy, she values education.

She fought sleep, ravenous for every word. She had not had any appetite for the bountiful meal downstairs, but now she was feeling a hunger she knew nothing about. She had to know what would happen to little Oliver. (Ch. 10)

When Betsy gets sick, she has to leave the factory.  Her dreams of going to college leave with her.  Before she leaves, she signs the petition for the ten-hour workday.  She knows this will get her dismissed and blacklisted, but since she does not have a chance to come back anyway, she doesn’t care.  She doesn’t seem to think her brother cares about her.

"The golden lad finishes Harvard this spring. His fees are paid up, and I've got nearly the money I need now.  My Latin is done. So as soon as I complete my botany course, I'll be ready to leave this insane asylum." (Ch. 13)

If Betsy’s brother cares about her sacrifice and realizes that she wants to go to college, he doesn’t seem to show it.  Betsy has to go off and work for her uncle rather than going to college, because she has spent all of her money on her brother’s education.

Betsy’s brother shows the readers a couple of things.  First, his relationship with Betsy contrasts with Lyddie’s relationship with Charlie.  Lyddie loves her brother and worries about him, but Betsy feels taken advantage of by hers.  Second, we learn that college was rare for women, but that some women did aspire to go.

Why is Scout surprised that her teacher hates Hitler? How is Miss Gates similar in this regard to the ladies in the missionary circle from Chapter...

The question refers to the "missionary circle" of ladies in Ch. 24 of To Kill a Mockingbird, while the incident with Scout considering her teacher's hatred of Adolf Hitler comes in Ch. 26.  Both of these come after the celebrated trial of Tom Robinson and the guilty verdict handed down by the jury.

In the trial, Scout's father Atticus Finch presents a strong defense of Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white...

The question refers to the "missionary circle" of ladies in Ch. 24 of To Kill a Mockingbird, while the incident with Scout considering her teacher's hatred of Adolf Hitler comes in Ch. 26.  Both of these come after the celebrated trial of Tom Robinson and the guilty verdict handed down by the jury.

In the trial, Scout's father Atticus Finch presents a strong defense of Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white girl.  Although the evidence all seems to point to Tom's innocence, the racial stereotypes and distrust are still so strong that the jury issues a guilty verdict.

In Ch. 24, the ladies' missionary circle gets together, and Scout is there to witness their discussion.  She sees them talk about being "good Christians" and talk about how they want to support missionary activities, and yet their actual speech betrays hatred and bigotry.  They tell Scout she is lucky to "live in a Christian home with Christian folks in a Christian town."  But then they refer to Tom Robinson as a "darky," and they cannot understand why the other blacks in town were "dissatisfied" and "grumbled" after the verdict.  The whole conversation lumps the black residents of Maycomb into one group and stereotypes them all.

Jumping ahead to Ch. 26, Scout learns from her teacher that Hitler's actions in Europe were evil.  Her confusion, though, is summed up in something she says at the end of the chapter: 

Well, coming out of the courthouse that night Miss Gates was -- she was goin' down the steps in front of us, you musta not seen her -- she was talking with Miss Stephanie Crawford.  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 --

Scout is confused because she sees individual people as individuals, not as stereotyped members of racial groups.  And she does not understand Miss Gates hypocrisy, speaking one way about blacks after the trial, but then another way about Hitler.  Miss Gates' comment that "it's time somebody taught 'em a lesson" sounds very much like the stereotypes of the ladies in the missionary circle.

What type of sentence structure does Flannery O'Connor use to affect the pacing of "A Good Man Is Hard To Find?"

In this short story, Flannery O'Connor uses the simple or compound sentence with subject-verb-object construction almost exclusively. (Compound sentences join two simple sentences together with a conjunction such as "and" or "but.") Many of her sentences start with the word "he" or "she." This gives the story a trudging pace that feels like one is soldiering on with each sentence. Very little lyrical quality adorns the sentence structure. Most sentences are short and to the...

In this short story, Flannery O'Connor uses the simple or compound sentence with subject-verb-object construction almost exclusively. (Compound sentences join two simple sentences together with a conjunction such as "and" or "but.") Many of her sentences start with the word "he" or "she." This gives the story a trudging pace that feels like one is soldiering on with each sentence. Very little lyrical quality adorns the sentence structure. Most sentences are short and to the point. They do not meander, weave, or explore the intricacies of ideas. Rather, they state actions, thoughts, and ideas in a straightforward, businesslike fashion. Since the story is written primarily from the grandmother's point of view, the pacing reinforces the type of woman she is. She is one who does not overthink things; indeed, she acts on impulse and seems to think about consequences later, and even then she is reluctant to admit a mistake. So the pace of the sentence structure that keeps forging ahead without slowing down reflects the grandmother's personality that unfortunately keeps propelling herself and her family to its inevitable doom.

What can we learn from social science today?

The social sciences can help us gain insight into the lives of others and encourage us to examine our own lives. Depending on the particular field of study, the means of assessing society may be qualitative or quantitative, micro or macro, or even comparative.

Sociologists are interested in the ways humans organize themselves in society. They may focus on aspects of society like socioeconomic class, inequality, mobility, crime rates, and change over time. Sociology is...

The social sciences can help us gain insight into the lives of others and encourage us to examine our own lives. Depending on the particular field of study, the means of assessing society may be qualitative or quantitative, micro or macro, or even comparative.

Sociologists are interested in the ways humans organize themselves in society. They may focus on aspects of society like socioeconomic class, inequality, mobility, crime rates, and change over time. Sociology is primarily a quantitative science which looks at macro-level manifestations of human social behavior. From sociology, we can learn the effects of different patterns of organization in a society. One thing sociologists in the have found is that crime rates are proportional to poverty- when people are at a systemic disadvantage in life, they may be more likely to break social contract or engage in risky behavior to fulfill their needs.

Whereas sociology is quantitative, anthropology tends to be more qualitative. Anthropologists are interested in human culture, its diversity, its transmission, and its function as an adaptation to our environment. An anthropologist may study change in cultural patterns over time or compare different adaptations to similar events. For example, some anthropologists study how subsistence-farming societies around the world are adapting to climate change. Anthropology has many sub-fields of study, and linguistic anthropologists and archaeologists have helped to translate ancient scripts like Maya and cuneiform. Primatologists like Jane Goodall study apes and monkeys to better understand the evolutionary lineage of the human species.

Psychologists study the working of the brain and how this translates into emotions and behaviors. A psychologist may be interested in development throughout childhood or adolescence, how the brain adapts to trauma, or how language is acquired, among other things. Psychology is constantly advancing to help us better understand human thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Over the past several decades, significant improvements have been made in the diagnosis and treatment of disorders like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. A century ago, this condition was called "shell shock" and referred to the anxious or detached behaviors of soldiers who were returning from war. Today, we know that PTSD can occur in anyone who suffers trauma, and that the anxious patterns of behavior are adaptations to try and prevent further traumas. 

If you're considering studying a social science, you're in luck! There's lots to learn, and nearly anything you might be interested in can be studied. 

How might you account for the prevalence of the misconception that research has to occur step by step?

I blame the way we teach it. Whenever we teach "The Scientific Method" (in all caps like that), we treat it as though it's some holy ritual that must be performed in the same precise way in order to properly appease the gods of science.

For example, here are a bunch of articles showing The Scientific Method as a specific series of steps to follow:

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_scientific_method.shtml

http://chemistry.about.com/od/lecturl3/a/sciencemethod.htm

http://www.livescience.com/20896-science-scientific-method.html

http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/scientific_method.html

http://teacher.nsrl.rochester.edu/phy_labs/AppendixE/AppendixE.html

Here's one that at least explains that the scientific method can be approached in a few different ways, but still gives it as a series of steps:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/scientific-experiments/scientific-method6.htm

But when you start to get into actual research in the real world as I have, you find that things are a lot messier than that. Often you don't have any particular hypothesis and are just trying to explore. In many (even most) cases you can't actually conduct a controlled experiment, so you need to figure out how to use correlational studies to achieve similar results. Often the first few approaches you try fail to yield anything useful and you need to try something else. The same project can involve multiple layers of exploration, hypothesis testing, and developing new approaches. But all of these things are definitely still a part of good science. One of my favorite t-shirts says, "If we knew what we were doing, we wouldn't call it 'research.'"

Then of course there are the parts of real research that can hinder good science: competition for funding, the pressure for exciting results in order to get published, school politics and fights over prestige, the temptation of p-hacking and confirmation bias.

What we really should be teaching is why we do science this way. We should teach why it's important that we control experiments if we can and control for confounding variables if we can't and how confirmation bias can mislead us all; maybe we should even teach the messiest parts of science, so that we can have a serious public policy discussion about how we might reform our systems of funding and publication in order to remove these perverse incentives for bad science. 

In "Mother Tongue," Amy Tan explains that she uses multiple "Englishes" in her daily life. What is your response to Amy Tan's point about the value...

Your answer to this question will depend on your own perception of language and whether language should be changed according to audience. Amy Tan, according to her essay, believes that language can be altered based on context. When she is speaking in front of a large audience, for example, her language is characterized by "forms of standard English that (she) had learned in school and through books." The kind of English she uses with her...

Your answer to this question will depend on your own perception of language and whether language should be changed according to audience. Amy Tan, according to her essay, believes that language can be altered based on context. When she is speaking in front of a large audience, for example, her language is characterized by "forms of standard English that (she) had learned in school and through books." The kind of English she uses with her mother, however, is much different and more like the kind of English her own mother speaks, which she describes as "'broken'" or "'fractured.'" She argues that this does not make her mother's language inferior. In fact, Tan values it as "the language that helped shape the way (she) saw things, expressed things, made sense of the world." Tan feels that, though her mother's language might seem confusing or inferior to those who may not be familiar with it, it connects Tan to her past and isn't a true indicator of her mother's ability to understand English.

Tan's argument centers around the idea that different audiences will be more receptive to different kinds of language, so as a speaker she alters her language to cater to that audience. Some might disagree with this argument, saying that a person shouldn't have to alter his or her language to cater to an audience- that the audience is responsible for making the effort to understand the speaker. Others might say that a person should always use "correct" English and never revert back to his or her "mother tongue" because it isn't accepted by society. Again, your answer to this question will depend on your personal opinion about language.

Which of the following is an example of a diseconomy of scale? A hotel increasing in size from 100 to 105 rooms and needing to hire more staff to...

Of these options, we can imagine that two of them could potentially be examples of diseconomies of scale.  However, without more information, we cannot be completely sure as to which answer your instructor would like to see. 

Your second and fourth options are clearly not right. If your supplier gives you a discount because you increase the size of your order, that is a classic example of an economy of scale.  You get a better...

Of these options, we can imagine that two of them could potentially be examples of diseconomies of scale.  However, without more information, we cannot be completely sure as to which answer your instructor would like to see. 

Your second and fourth options are clearly not right. If your supplier gives you a discount because you increase the size of your order, that is a classic example of an economy of scale.  You get a better price when you grow large enough to order more things from your supplier. Inflation is not connected to diseconomies of scale.  Firms experience inflation regardless of their size.  Inflation will not necessarily hurt a large firm more than it hurts a small one.   For these reasons, these two options are clearly incorrect.

Either of the other two options could or could not be correct, however, depending on how you think about them.  Advertising during the Super Bowl could be seen as a diseconomy of scale. You could argue that a firm only has to advertise during the Super Bowl if it is a big, important company. Because it has to advertise during the Super Bowl, it has to pay a higher price per minute of advertisement than a small firm that advertises at some other time.  On the other hand, you could say that large firms do not have to advertise during the Super Bowl.  Many large firms do not advertise then.  Some small firms do.  This means that advertising during the Super Bowl is not really a diseconomy of scale.

When the motel has to hire more staff, it might be experiencing a diseconomy of scale.  Higher labor costs are one source of diseconomies of scale.  However, the motel’s actual labor costs per output do not necessarily increase just because they hire more people.  Imagine that the hotel has 50 staff to clean 100 rooms.  They expand to 105 rooms and hire only two more staff. Now they have 52 staff cleaning 105 rooms, which is actually a better staff-to-room ratio than before. So this will only be an example of a diseconomy of scale if they have to hire too many new workers and their average costs go up.

So, none of these is a clear example of a diseconomy of scale. Two of them definitely are not examples, while the other two might or might not be.  You will need to decide how you are going to interpret each option in order to decide which answer is right.

What places Elie in the infirmary in Night by Elie Wiesel?

While at the Buna work camp just after New Year's, 1945, Elie is stricken with a swollen foot caused by the cold of the bitter winter weather. When he goes to the infirmary, the kindly Jewish doctor tells him he needs an operation. The operation is successful but the doctor informs him he will need two weeks to recover. During this time he is in a bed next to an extremely emaciated man with dysentery...

While at the Buna work camp just after New Year's, 1945, Elie is stricken with a swollen foot caused by the cold of the bitter winter weather. When he goes to the infirmary, the kindly Jewish doctor tells him he needs an operation. The operation is successful but the doctor informs him he will need two weeks to recover. During this time he is in a bed next to an extremely emaciated man with dysentery who preaches doom and gloom. He keeps telling Elie that the selection is worse in the hospital and the Germans don't want any invalid Jews.

While Elie is resting in the hospital, news that the Russian army is closing in goes around the camp. Guns are heard nearby. The camp is ordered to be evacuated, but those in the infirmary are told they will stay behind. The man with dysentery tells Elie that they will all soon be shot and another man believes the camp will be mined. Elie has a difficult decision. He and his father can stay behind or be evacuated. The father leaves it up to Elie and he decides to leave. It is a fateful decision. Later, Elie discovers the infirmary was liberated by the Russians only a few days later. At Buchenwald, where they eventually end up, Elie's father dies.

In Chapter 7 of Lyddie, what does Lyddie think of the other passengers in the stage coach and why?

Lyddie thinks the other passengers are judgmental and ignorant.

When Lyddie is fired from her job at Cutler’s Tavern, she decides to take a job at the factory.  She tries walking but can’t make it.  She finally takes a temporary job at a local inn to get money for a stagecoach ride to the factory.  In the first stagecoach, her fellow passengers are a married couple.  Lyddie feels that the woman is critical of her and considers...

Lyddie thinks the other passengers are judgmental and ignorant.

When Lyddie is fired from her job at Cutler’s Tavern, she decides to take a job at the factory.  She tries walking but can’t make it.  She finally takes a temporary job at a local inn to get money for a stagecoach ride to the factory.  In the first stagecoach, her fellow passengers are a married couple.  Lyddie feels that the woman is critical of her and considers the couple “disagreeable.”

The woman gave Lyddie's dress and shawl and strange boots a critical going over with her eyes, then settled again toher knitting, which the bumping of the coach made difficult. (Ch. 7)

Lyddie has almost nothing.  She has homespun dresses and boots that don’t fit, and the money she borrowed from Triphena.  She still does not appreciate them staring.

In the next stagecoach leg, the coach is crowded with six passengers.  Lyddie does not like these passengers either, especially the one who lights a cigar.  She also begins to get frustrated with the way everyone looks at her.

And still, when the others weren't concentrating on keeping their seatsin the swaying coach, they were looking at her‐at her clothes especially. At first she was mortified, but the longer they rode, the angrier she became. How rude they were, these so‐called gentry. (Ch. 7)

Lyddie considers the stagecoach passengers ignorant and arrogant.  When the coach gets stuck, she is the only one who is able to do anything about it.  She just wants to get moving.  None of the other passengers are grateful or even thank her.  The coachman laughs, and Lyddie tells him the passengers are “silly fools.”

The trip to Lowell is difficult and eventful for Lyddie.  She does not appreciate the way the wealthy people treat her, and she feels judged.  Lyddie also demonstrates her ingenuity and stubbornness in how she deals with the coach getting stuck.  These traits will help Lyddie as she moves into factory life.

Who is the narrator in the Night-Sea Journey?

The Night-Sea Journey by John Barth is narrated by a spermatozoonduring its journey towards an ovum. From the perspective of the narrator, the swim to an unknown destination serves at the life-long backdrop for thought on various subjects including the nature of life, existence and "the Maker". The author draws parallels between human lives moving towards an unknowable end and the journey of all the spermatozoa swimming in the hopes of joining with an...

The Night-Sea Journey by John Barth is narrated by a spermatozoon during its journey towards an ovum. From the perspective of the narrator, the swim to an unknown destination serves at the life-long backdrop for thought on various subjects including the nature of life, existence and "the Maker". The author draws parallels between human lives moving towards an unknowable end and the journey of all the spermatozoa swimming in the hopes of joining with an unknown entity in the hope of fulfillment. The Night-Sea Journey ends with the narrator merging with the ovum, ending his life in the beginning of a new existence that begins the cycle again. 

While a work of fiction, The Night-Sea Journey is more often viewed as a philosophical work due to the nature of the thoughts of the spermatozoon despite the fact that it takes place in a fictional context. 

Who are Morissot and Sauvage in "Les Deux Amis" [The Two Friends]?

Monsieur Morissot is a Parisian jeweler, and he is an avid fisherman. Monsieur Sauvage is a maker of drapes on the Rue Notre Dame de Lorette (Our Lady of Lorette Street). He, too, is a passionate fisherman. These two men have become friends because of their love of fishing.

Because of the War of 1870, however, the fishing companions have not enjoyed their favorite pleasure and have become somewhat estranged. So, when they encounter one another quite by chance, the two friends greet one another with intense feeling, sorry that they must meet under such changed circumstances. 

The men talk of the halcyon days of fishing, and they go into a bar where they drink absinthe, and then they walk a ways and enter a second bar and have another absinthe. Once outside again, the effect of the alcohol on their empty stomachs leads them to decide to go fishing together on this day. After they obtain the necessary passes for the outposts, the two friends make their way to the river. Strangely, the countryside seems deserted. Nevertheless, they hesitate to show themselves in such open country, so they make their way through a vineyard, crouched under the cover of the vines.

When the friends reach the water, they conceal themselves among the dry weeds. But after ascertaining that they are safe and alone, the men begin to fish and they catch several gudgeon. In their renewed joy of fishing with one another, they ignore the world. Suddenly, though, there is a terrible rumbling sound, and the two men know that the battles have resumed. Nevertheless, the two friends still feel safe because the deserted Ile Marante hides them from the other shore. They, then, placidly discuss the bellicose nature of man while 

...Mont-Valerien thundered ceaselessly, demolishing the houses of the French with its cannon balls, grinding lives of men to powder, destroying many a dream, many a cherished hope, many a prospective happiness...

Unexpectedly, the fishermen hear the sound of boots stepping behind them. When they turn around, they see four bearded Prussian soldiers, who point rifles at them. The frightened men are seized, bound, and shoved into a boat. When they are taken before the commanding officer, he tells Morissot and Sauvage that he considers them spies:

Naturally, I capture you and I shoot you. You pretended to be fishing, the better to disguise your real errand. You have fallen into my hands, and must take the consequences. Such is war.

However, he tells them, if they will divulge the password that they were given in order to pass through the outpost, they can go free. "They stood motionless, and did not open their lips." Then, the officer pulls each man aside privately and whispers that if he divulges the password, he will go free and nothing will be said to the other. Still, they do not answer; they only say good-bye to each other. A firing squad fires their guns, and the two friends fall, one upon the other.

The Germans bind them and hurl their bodies into the river. The German officer makes a grim joke, saying that it is the "fishes' turn now!" As he looks down, he catches sight of the fish that the Frenchmen have caught. With the same cold-blooded tone in which he has ordered the men shot, he tells the cook named Wilhelm,

"Have these fish fried for me at once, while they are still alive; they'll make a tasty dish."

Afterwards, he calmly resumes smoking his pipe.

What is the size of the village in "The Lottery"?

The village has about three hundred people.

All of the villages in the region seem to have a lottery like the one described in this story.  We are told that in some villages the lottery takes more than one day.  The narrator comments that the village is smaller than other villages, so the lottery is completed faster.

[In] this village, where there were only about three hundred people, the whole lottery took less than two...

The village has about three hundred people.

All of the villages in the region seem to have a lottery like the one described in this story.  We are told that in some villages the lottery takes more than one day.  The narrator comments that the village is smaller than other villages, so the lottery is completed faster.

[In] this village, where there were only about three hundred people, the whole lottery took less than two hours, so it could begin at ten o'clock in the morning and still be through in time to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner.

The fact that here are only three hundred people indicates that the village is very small, and everyone would know everyone else.  It is likely that the small nature of the village contributes to the reliance on tradition.  There are fewer people, so conformity is even more important.

As we know, no one complains about the lottery.  Things just go on as they always have, even though the lottery is a barbaric practice.  The villagers will not even make a new box or change the broken stool.  Everything is about tradition.

The original paraphernalia for the lottery had been lost long ago …. Mr. Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box.

The villagers all gather together, and they draw one person’s name to be killed.  It is a completely random kill, because no one knows who will be killed before the lottery.  Anyone in the crowd could die.  That is the tragedy of the lottery.  However, only the victim complains, and only once her name is drawn.  Everyone else, down to the children, just assists with the kill as if it were nothing.

What is semiology? |

Semiology, known more commonly as semiotics, is an academic field that studies how meaning is made and communicated via signs and symbols.

Semiotics studies the relationship between a signifier and the signified, or the relationship between a symbol and the thing the symbol stands for. In our culture, we use symbols all the time. Numbers and letters are common examples of symbols that can make meaning. 

For example, the word "apple" is a string...

Semiology, known more commonly as semiotics, is an academic field that studies how meaning is made and communicated via signs and symbols.

Semiotics studies the relationship between a signifier and the signified, or the relationship between a symbol and the thing the symbol stands for. In our culture, we use symbols all the time. Numbers and letters are common examples of symbols that can make meaning. 

For example, the word "apple" is a string of the symbols a, p, p, l, and e. Semiologists study how it is that we as humans have allowed that particular string of symbols to represent a real, physical apple. The word "apple" is not actually an apple; it is just a symbol that we use to communicate about actual apples.

Applying academic language to our example above, the word "apple" is the signifier, and the actual apple is the signified. 

Semiology as an academic field is unique because it straddles the line between quantitative and qualitative science. Semiologists study the connection between objective, empirically-observable symbols and subjective psychological meaning.

What is the deep meaning of Emerson's quote, "Rainbows to follow the clouds"?

You are probably referring to the following recommendation, which is widely quoted online and attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson:

This is my wish for you: Comfort on difficult days, smiles when sadness intrudes, rainbows to follow the clouds, laughter to kiss your lips, sunsets to warm your heart, hugs when spirits sag, beauty for your eyes to see, friendships to brighten your being, faith so that you can believe, confidence for when you doubt, courage...

You are probably referring to the following recommendation, which is widely quoted online and attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson:

This is my wish for you: Comfort on difficult days, smiles when sadness intrudes, rainbows to follow the clouds, laughter to kiss your lips, sunsets to warm your heart, hugs when spirits sag, beauty for your eyes to see, friendships to brighten your being, faith so that you can believe, confidence for when you doubt, courage to know yourself, patience to accept the truth, Love to complete your life.

This is wonderful, uplifting advice. It offers us positive spins on troubling or challenging times. “Rainbows to follow the clouds” is the most metaphoric of the phrases used here. Rainbows traditionally occur after rainstorms pass through an area, and the sun comes out again to shine upon the land. So wishing for rainbows after clouds is a way of wishing for good things to come after bad. All of the phrases in this quote are styled in this fashion.

The trouble is: this passage was probably not written by Emerson. It doesn’t mirror his style. And none of the posts and posters that you see online include any credits for the essay, book, or letter that these words may have come from. While it’s a good quote that continues to inspire people, it’s not one that should be associated with Ralph Waldo Emerson. Someone should do some digging to find out who the real author is.

How is the title of "The Prison" by Bernard Malamud relevant to the story?

The title “The Prison” is appropriate on a myriad of levels, for Tommy is trapped in a series of mental and sociological prisons, one nesting snugly within the next.

First, he feels trapped in his life -- in the boring, daily grind of working in the candy store, of living a routine life with no variation. “Time rotted in him,” Malamud writes; Tommy cannot escape the tight, ever-present pull of banal responsibility. It’s an inescapable cycle, forced upon him to a certain extent by himself -- he quit his vocational school at sixteen and took up with unsavory types, types that happened to be prolific in his underprivileged neighborhood.  And, as he asserts near the end of the story, when contemplating the multigenerational consequences of this sort of a cycle,

“You never really got what you wanted. No matter how hard you tried you made mistakes and couldn’t get past them. You could never see the sky outside or the ocean because you were in a prison, except nobody called it a prison, and if you did they didn’t know what you were talking about, or they said they didn’t.” 

The candy store itself it a type of physical prison, but what it represents is also a prison: the economic constraints of a working-class existence, those invisible barriers that prevent a person from pursuing higher goals or validating him- or herself on a personal level.

Which brings us to another type of prison -- that of an unequal society. Tommy, as a boy, had had dreams of “getting out of this tenement-crowded, kid-squawking neighborhood, with its lousy poverty,” but at the time the story takes place he is still in that very same neighborhood, running a candy store with a woman his father arranged for him to marry, staying out of trouble because he doesn’t have the time or the energy to repeat the antics of his younger years. He never had the opportunity to escape the life of poverty and need that had circumscribed his childhood. “Everything had fouled up against him before he could.” This is an inherent flaw in our current society -- those who have little and need much are crowded into housing projects and forced into poorer areas, where opportunities for vertical mobility are slim and the temptation to fall into illegal habits compounds with the desperation to make ends meet and the resulting high availability of said unsavory jobs and habits. This forces individuals into a steady cycle of poor opportunity, desperate choices, and poverty. This is the cycle Tommy has fallen into -- he is to a certain extent a product of his environment, and only by the luck of having the right connections is he not in jail and instead running a candy store, even if it is “for profits counted in pennies.”

It is this cycle Tommy sees the little girl falling into when he discovers her stealing candy, and he feels a strong compulsion to talk to her, to prevent her from messing up her own life as he messed up his. And yet he cannot bring himself to speak to her because he doesn’t want his lesson to be misconstrued, which demonstrates yet another prison in which he finds himself -- he is paralyzed with anxiety and indecision, scared to be perpetuating the cycle himself through an inability to not get through to the little girl, such that his inaction ultimately leads to a messy and nonconstructive confrontation.

So, while Tommy may be free, or at least not be in jail like his old friend Dom, he is stuck in a multitude of prisons nonetheless -- the prison that is poverty and miscreant behavior, the prison that is indecision, the prison that is routine. And all these prisons feed off each other, and all these prisons are perpetuated over generations. And what’s worse is that all these prisons are willfully ignored by both the individuals who suffer in them and the individuals in power who could take steps to deconstruct them, thus contributing to their perpetuity.

Give 5 quotes of Simon being a Christ-like figure.

When trying to determine whether a literary character is a "Christ-figure," it is not necessary to find a complete parallel between that character and the person of Jesus Christ. An author may try to portray a character as a realistic person, yet that person will have certain qualities, perform certain actions, or be treated in certain ways that will be reminiscent of the life of Christ. Simon in Lord of the Flies meets the qualification for a Christ-figure in the following ways:

1. Other characters misunderstand him and consider him odd. Repeatedly in the story characters call Simon "batty" either to his face or behind his back. In chapter 3, when Simon is missing, Ralph says to Jack, "He's queer. He's funny." 

2. The character is sensitive or sympathetic to the underprivileged. Simon is the only one who helps Ralph build the third shelter; as Ralph says to Jack, "Simon. He helps. ... He's always about." Speaking of the littluns, Golding says,

"Simon found for them the fruit they could not reach, pulled off the choicest from up in the foliage, passed them back down to the endless, outstretched hands."

3. He often sees a truth no one else understands. When the boys are discussing the beast, Simon says, "maybe it's only us," which causes the boys to scorn him. 

4. The character has a conversation with a tempter, a devil, that tries to dissuade him from his mission. Simon has the vision and conversation with the Lord of the Flies, who taunts him. The "Beast" says to him,

"I'm warning you. I'm going to get angry. D'you see? You're not wanted. Understand? We are going to have fun on this island. Understand?"

5. Finally, and probably most importantly, the character dies unjustly. Simon is murdered by a crazed mob who shout, "Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!" just like the angry mob shouted, "Crucify him!" in Jesus' case. Golding also brings in imagery related to the crucifixion when he writes that "Simon was crying out something about a dead man on a hill" and describes the "first of the stains that seeped from the broken body." 

The handout available at the link below gives more suggestions for identifying Christ-figures, many of which also apply to Simon.

Who was Dr. Roylott in "The Adventure of the Speckled Band"?

Dr. Roylott is Helen and Julia Stoner’s stepfather and Julia’s murderer.

Helen Stoner hires Sherlock Holmes to find out what happened to her dead twin sister.  She says that her sister said something about a speckled band when she died, and that she remembers hearing a whistle.  Holmes finds the whole thing meaningful enough to take the case.

Helen tells Holmes all about her evil stepfather, Dr. Roylott.  He is a quarrelsome and violent man....

Dr. Roylott is Helen and Julia Stoner’s stepfather and Julia’s murderer.

Helen Stoner hires Sherlock Holmes to find out what happened to her dead twin sister.  She says that her sister said something about a speckled band when she died, and that she remembers hearing a whistle.  Holmes finds the whole thing meaningful enough to take the case.

Helen tells Holmes all about her evil stepfather, Dr. Roylott.  He is a quarrelsome and violent man. She claims he has gotten worse.  He was not able to establish a medical practice.  Now he is the scourge of the neighborhood.

Violence of temper approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village …

Holmes suspects Dr. Roylott immediately.  The man shows up as soon as Helen leaves and tries to threaten him, seeking to impress Holmes by bending a fireplace poker.  Holmes bends it back easily, and does not consider the show of strength anything more than information to enlighten him about the man’s character.

Dr. Roylott’s home is full of odd creatures.  He keeps wild animals, like a cheetah and a baboon.  Of course, the most exotic and dangerous of these is the murder weapon, his swamp adder.  Holmes comments that a doctor is the worst sort of criminal.

“Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. …”

Doctors are supposed to help people, not use their knowledge to kill.  Dr. Roylott definitely failed to live up to his oath.  He killed one of his stepdaughters and tries to kill the other just to steal their inheritance.  Unfortunately for him, his murder snake turned on him.

How long would it take for Tom to reproduce the work on the yellow paper that blows away in "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket"?

When Tom loses his yellow sheet, he contemplates that he can duplicate the work, but it will take him two months to do so. 

When the yellow sheet leaves his desk for the dangerous ledge eleven stories high, Tom incredulously attempts to comprehend that he is going to have to abandon his money-making plan for a new grocery display. Through his mind runs the dozen lunch hours, evenings, and trips to the Public Library on...

When Tom loses his yellow sheet, he contemplates that he can duplicate the work, but it will take him two months to do so. 

When the yellow sheet leaves his desk for the dangerous ledge eleven stories high, Tom incredulously attempts to comprehend that he is going to have to abandon his money-making plan for a new grocery display. Through his mind runs the dozen lunch hours, evenings, and trips to the Public Library on Fifth Avenue that he has accrued in his efforts to finish before the Spring displays are made.

This overriding recall of his many hours of work and the potential loss of his success over others and a promotion, causes Tom to pause. 

...he couldn't escape the thought, this and other independent projects...would gradually mark him out from the score of other young men in his company....And he knew he was going out there in the darkness, after the yellow sheet....

Therefore, in his cupidity Tom abandons good sense and risks his life in order to retrieve the yellow sheet. However, once out on the dangerous high-rise ledge, Tom realizes the folly of his reckless efforts. He contemplates what puzzlement his death would bring if he should fall and all they would find in his pocket would be a meaningless yellow sheet.

in "The Bet" by Anton Chekhov, what is the lawyer's attitude at the end?

By the end of the story, the banker's attitude has changed significantly. He is no longer motivated by the two million rubles, for example, because money holds no value nor interest for him:

"I renounce the two million of which I once dreamed as of paradise and which now I despise."

In addition, the banker no longer values books and learning. During his fifteen-year confinement, for instance, the banker read voraciously, taking up everything from...

By the end of the story, the banker's attitude has changed significantly. He is no longer motivated by the two million rubles, for example, because money holds no value nor interest for him:

"I renounce the two million of which I once dreamed as of paradise and which now I despise."

In addition, the banker no longer values books and learning. During his fifteen-year confinement, for instance, the banker read voraciously, taking up everything from the Classics to light-hearted and "sensational" novels. By the end of his confinement, however, the lawyer realizes that this knowledge is worthless because it does not create happiness nor hold any real meaning:

"And I despise your books, I despise wisdom and the blessings of this world. It is all worthless, fleeting, illusory, and deceptive, like a mirage."

Finally, the lawyer's attitude also suggests that he no longer believes solitary confinement to be a better alternative to the death penalty. As we see in his letter, death's ability to destroy everything renders life, and all of its earthly pleasures, totally meaningless:

"Death will wipe you off the face of the earth as though you were no more than mice burrowing under the floor."

What elements led the growth of suburbia?

I would say that the end of World War II, with the benefits afforded to returning GIs, the post-war baby boom, the investment in interstate highways, a housing shortage, and the resumption of production of the automobile were major factors in the development of suburbia. 

When World War II was over, thousands upon thousands of soldiers returned home, and when they did so, they were afforded benefits such as college education and easy to obtain,...

I would say that the end of World War II, with the benefits afforded to returning GIs, the post-war baby boom, the investment in interstate highways, a housing shortage, and the resumption of production of the automobile were major factors in the development of suburbia. 

When World War II was over, thousands upon thousands of soldiers returned home, and when they did so, they were afforded benefits such as college education and easy to obtain, low-interest housing loans.  Because many of these GIs had delayed marriage and/or having children because of the war, when they returned home, they began reproducing to the point where their offspring became the largest generation in American history, the baby boomers.  As they began to marry, have children, and acquire educations, they had available government or government-guaranteed housing loans, with very little money needed for down payment and very favorable interest rates. Since there was very little residential construction during the war, a housing shortage had built up, and so, most GIs were in need of new houses. (My own parents lived in a one-room apartment when they married right after the war because of the housing shortage.) Moving out just a bit from the cities, the land was cheaper, and there were plenty of companies breaking ground in new developments. Levittown is often cited as the perfect example of this phenomenon, a new suburb built to deal with the pent-up demand of returning GIs, with their brides, their children, and their wherewithal to get mortgages. 

Simultaneously, automobiles, which had not been manufactured at all during the war because all manufacturing was directed toward the war effort, began to be produced once again.  Returning GIs, with their better jobs, thanks to their education, and their families, were more than ready to buy them now.  And the interstate highway system, begun in the interests of national defense, really began to take off.  This meant that people now had cars to drive and good roads to drive them on, beyond the streets and avenues of the cities or the two-lane country roads.  Commuting from a suburb became something that was manageable with new cars and better roads.

All of these elements combined into a situation that was ideal for the explosion of suburbia post-World War II.  This trend, which I would guess peaked some time in the 70s or 80s, is now being reversed, with movement in two different directions, those who are moving more to the cities and those who are running off to live a rural life. The pendulum is always swinging!  

Who's death was more tragic in 'Of Mice and Men'? Lennie or Curley's Wife? Please provide relevant quotes or events.

While anyone's early death is tragic, the reader may have particular sympathy for Lennie, especially since he and George and Candy were on the verge of realizing the dream of owning their own farm.

Curley's wife is referred to throughout the novel as a tart, a tramp and a floozy. She seemed to be forever trying to tempt the men on the ranch. Because of her flirtations her husband is jealous and often flies into...

While anyone's early death is tragic, the reader may have particular sympathy for Lennie, especially since he and George and Candy were on the verge of realizing the dream of owning their own farm.

Curley's wife is referred to throughout the novel as a tart, a tramp and a floozy. She seemed to be forever trying to tempt the men on the ranch. Because of her flirtations her husband is jealous and often flies into a rage over not being able to find his wife. Even on a ranch with working men, Curley's wife dresses as the seductress. In chapter two, when George and Lennie first meet her she is described:

She had full, rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages. She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers.

Lennie is child-like and obsessively drawn to soft and brightly colored things. We find out in chapter three that he and George had to run away from a previous job when Lennie grabbed a girl's red dress. The episode foreshadows the scene in the barn when Lennie begins stroking Curley's wife's hair. Although she has invited Lennie to touch her she suddenly recoils and screams. Lennie becomes confused and, because he doesn't know his own strength, accidentally breaks her neck. While it is tragic, the reader may also assume that Curley's wife played with fire by interacting with Lennie. In her defense, however, she is terribly lonely and Lennie is the only man on the farm who will pay attention to her.

Lennie, on the other hand, doesn't deserve to die. Even though he is simple minded and often does "bad things" Lennie is described as being basically a good person. In chapter three Slim says,

“He’s a nice fella,” said Slim. “Guy don’t need no sense to be a nice fella. Seems to me sometimes it jus’ works the other way around. Take a real smart guy and he ain’t hardly ever a nice fella.” 

Lennie's death is symbolic of Steinbeck's theme that nothing will ever work out for George and Lennie, hence the title of the book. Just as it looks like the dream will materialize with the money which Candy will contribute, everything falls apart. In chapter five, after finding Curley's wife, George says,

“—I think I knowed from the very first. I think I know’d we’d never do her. He usta like to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would.”

Thus, Lennie's death is also tragic for George and Candy who will never go off to the perceived paradise of the farm. Candy is destined to spend the rest of his life swamping out the bunkhouse and George will travel from place to place, drinking whiskey and sitting all night in a poolroom. 

What is the most important scene or setting in the book Unwind?

This is a tough question.  First, it is asking about two very different things.  A setting will be where something is taking place, and a scene is likely a particular plot event.  Second, the question is made difficult because the book has a lot of pivotal moments that occur in a lot of different places.  Third, this question is ultimately an opinion question.  The answer that I provide might not be the answer that every...

This is a tough question.  First, it is asking about two very different things.  A setting will be where something is taking place, and a scene is likely a particular plot event.  Second, the question is made difficult because the book has a lot of pivotal moments that occur in a lot of different places.  Third, this question is ultimately an opinion question.  The answer that I provide might not be the answer that every reader will provide. 

I think that I can tie together a location and a scene that I believe are pivotal to the story.  The setting location is the Graveyard.  The Graveyard is where all of the AWOL Unwinds are hiding until they are 18.  At that point, they can't legally be unwound anymore. I choose this location as the most important location because it is where Connor finally begins to see himself as the leader that other people see him as.  At the Graveyard, Connor becomes the go to guy when something breaks and needs fixing.  Other Unwinds naturally gravitate toward his strong presence, reliability, and relatability.  At first, Connor isn't excited about this development; however, he eventually embraces it with a single action.  For me, one of the most important parts of the novel is when he traps Roland in the crate.  It's this moment that Connor fully commits to standing up to Roland.  Through this single act, Connor chooses to become the leader that all of the other Unwinds see in him. 

What is a metaphor from the poem "Paul Revere's Ride" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow?

A metaphor is a type of figurative language that compares one thing to another without using the words "like" or "as." Usually, one thing is simply stated to be the other thing. Two notable metaphors in "Paul Revere's Ride" are explained below.

In the sixth stanza, the cemetery is compared to a military encampmentwith these words: "Beneath, in the churchyard, lay the dead, / In their night-encampment on the hill." Since this is a poem...

A metaphor is a type of figurative language that compares one thing to another without using the words "like" or "as." Usually, one thing is simply stated to be the other thing. Two notable metaphors in "Paul Revere's Ride" are explained below.

In the sixth stanza, the cemetery is compared to a military encampment with these words: "Beneath, in the churchyard, lay the dead, / In their night-encampment on the hill." Since this is a poem about the British military and a conflict that is about to occur, this metaphor is particularly apt. It makes one think about all the rows of graves as if they were the rows of tents in which soldiers would sleep. Like sleeping soldiers, the dead people in the graves were silent and still. Longfellow extends the metaphor by describing the wind as a "sentinel" that walks about among the tents, or graves.

In stanza 8 the flying hooves of Revere's horse are likened to a spark that ignites a raging fire: "And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight, / Kindled the land into flame with its heat." Just as a single spark can cause a devastating forest fire, so the message that Paul Revere spread, and the battle that happened in response, began the Revolutionary War, an event that roused and involved the entire land occupied by the thirteen British colonies. 

Each of these metaphors helps create the solemn and portentous mood that Longfellow imparts in this poem. 

Why did Julius Caesar go to Britain? What was his legacy there?

People in antiquity had long known of Britain, which was connected to the Mediterranean, principally through the tin trade. This trade was significant to the various Celts in Gaul whom Caesar had been fighting in the Gallic wars and the ongoing conflict had disrupted trade from the island. Caesar wrote that because of the close cultural and economic connection Gallic Celts had to those in Britain they called on them for aid.  This brought the...

People in antiquity had long known of Britain, which was connected to the Mediterranean, principally through the tin trade. This trade was significant to the various Celts in Gaul whom Caesar had been fighting in the Gallic wars and the ongoing conflict had disrupted trade from the island. Caesar wrote that because of the close cultural and economic connection Gallic Celts had to those in Britain they called on them for aid.  This brought the Celtic Britains into Caesar's view and led to his two expeditions to the island. While Caesar won some victories there and affected local politics, siding with Mandubracius and ensuring his succession for instance, this did not leave much of a legacy on the island. His time in Britain was brief and his army never strayed far from the coast.  Perhaps the most important legacy was the information he brought back to Rome from the 'edge of the world' that was 1st century BCE Britain. His geographical, ethnographic and other observations, while based on very limited experience, were interesting to Roman audiences and perhaps planted the seeds for Roman conquest during the following century.

On page 173 of Lyddie, what happens after Lyddie visits Brigid to explain her dismissal and "plan?"

Brigid’s crying annoys Lyddie, and she does not stay long.

After Lyddie is dismissed, she goes to Brigid’s house and explains to her that she wrote a letter to Mr. Mardsen threating to tell him that she saw him try to assault Brigid.  The letter should prevent Brigid from also being dismissed.  She gives Brigid a letter and has her promise to mail it if there are ever any problems with him.

Lyddie does not want to stay long in Brigid's shack.  She stays only long enough to catch her breath, and give Brigid the letter and her gift.

"I'll be going, Brigid. Oh, yes. I nearly forgot." She handed the girl the parcel containing Brigid's old primer and Oliver Twist. "So you won't forget me altogether, ey?" she said, and fled so she wouldn't have to listen to Brigid's sobs. (Ch. 22)

Lyddie has grown attached to Brigid.  When she first came, Lyddie was annoyed at having to train her.  However, she came to like the girl and see her almost like another sister.  Leaving Brigid was hard for Lyddie.  That’s why she didn’t stay to listen to Brigid cry.  She is not the sentimental sort, but listening to Brigid annoys and upsets her.

Lyddie knows that Brigid can’t read yet, but she hopes that with the primer and a copy of the book, Brigid will learn how to read the way Lyddie did.  The book holds a special significance for Lyddie, and she wants Brigid to have it.

Lyddie is not judgmental about the squalid conditions that Brigid lives in.  She has often had to suffer in her life.  She is more concerned that Brigid not lose her job. She worries about Brigid.  She even tells Diana to write to Brigid.

"You must write to Brigid and tell her you are fine, ey?" Lyddie said as they parted the next morning. "She can read now, and she worries." (Ch. 22)

Lyddie lost her job protecting Brigid.  Her family was scattered, and she had very few choices.  Without her factory job, she would not be able to be independent and make her own money.  However, Lyddie made sure to protect Brigid, even after what it cost her.

Chlorine is contained in a 4 liter vessel at 3 atm and 30 degrees C. How many chlorine molecules are in the vessel? (Remember that chlorine is...

There are two steps to solving this problem:

Step 1. Use the ideal gas equation PV=nRT to find the number of moles of chlorine gas:

PV=nRT

n=PV/RT

V=4 L, P=3 atm, T=30 degrees C = 303 K, R=0.0821 L-atm/mol-K

n = (3 atm)(4 L)/(0.0821 L-atm/mol-K)(303 K) = 0.482 moles

Step 2. Use Avogadro's Number, 6.02x10^23, to convert moles to molecules:

(0.482 mol)(6.02x10^23 molecules/mol) = 2.90 x10^23 molecules of Cl2

A couple of notes:

• Temperature was...

There are two steps to solving this problem:

Step 1. Use the ideal gas equation PV=nRT to find the number of moles of chlorine gas:

PV=nRT

n=PV/RT

V=4 L, P=3 atm, T=30 degrees C = 303 K, R=0.0821 L-atm/mol-K

n = (3 atm)(4 L)/(0.0821 L-atm/mol-K)(303 K) = 0.482 moles

Step 2. Use Avogadro's Number, 6.02x10^23, to convert moles to molecules:

(0.482 mol)(6.02x10^23 molecules/mol) = 2.90 x10^23 molecules of Cl2

A couple of notes:

• Temperature was converted in Step 1 because it must be expressed in Kelvins for calculations using the ideal gas law.


• Chlorine gas being diatomic isn't a factor since we're finding the number of gas particles and the particles in this case are molecules. If you needed to calculate the number of chlorine atoms present you would multiply the number of molecules by 2.

Analyze and give reasons why the poet wants us to dream, and yet, not make dreams our master.

The poem "If" is all about becoming a model human being by inculcating the virtues in life.

The second stanza of the poem begins with the following line:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

Dreams, here, may refer to one’s aspirations, goals and wishes. Our dreams do propel us to strive to accomplish them; they mobilize our efforts to make them real.  The idea that it’s good, and important as well,  to...

The poem "If" is all about becoming a model human being by inculcating the virtues in life.

The second stanza of the poem begins with the following line:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

Dreams, here, may refer to one’s aspirations, goals and wishes. Our dreams do propel us to strive to accomplish them; they mobilize our efforts to make them real.  The idea that it’s good, and important as well,  to have dreams is implied here. But, dreaming in itself is not an end.

So, when the poet says, “not make dreams your master,” he cautions us against getting overindulged in our dreams. Dreaming is an enjoyable activity. It gives us great pleasure imagining ourselves basking in the glory of our achievement or success. It must not be forgotten that dreams are, after all, illusory and imaginary.

So, just by dreaming you don’t achieve anything, except an illusion of the real delight. What the poet is trying to say is - one has to put in a lot of hard work, invest time and effort, and be prepared to face obstructions if one's serious about turning one's dream into reality.

It can also be interpreted in another way.

Despite are constant efforts, we may face repeated failures on the way. If we are weak-minded, failures could negatively affect us. We might be driven to adopt wrong means, illegal or immoral, to find them. Not only this, excessive obsession with our dreams and repeated failures may throw us into the depths of despair.

So, when the poet says one must know to master one's dreams, he implies we should know to control and restrict them. Neither should the pleasure of dreaming prevent us from undergoing the pains to achieve them, nor should our obsession with them lead us astray or despair us.