Explain how energy in ATP molecules is transferred there from its original source.

Cells require an energy source to perform work including transport, mechanical work and chemical reactions necessary for life to continue. Sugars like glucose can be used by cells during respiration as a fuel which can provide energy for cellular processes. Glucose contains potential energy stored in its chemical bonds. Once respiration occurs, the energy in glucose becomes available to perform cellular work and the waste products carbon dioxide and water are formed.

Respiration is a catabolic pathway because the more complex molecule glucose is broken down to simpler compounds. Catabolic pathways release energy.

The Principle of Conservation of Energy explains that energy can be transferred and transformed from one form to another but cannot be created or destroyed. The chemical energy in glucose originated as light energy that was captured by the chlorophyll of green plants in order to produce the glucose (chemical energy). Some heat was also released. As the glucose is consumed and cellular respiration takes place, ATP is formed.

ATP contains the sugar ribose, the base adenine and three phosphate groups.  ATP is an immediate source of energy for cellular work. It has a high amount of energy which is stored in the phosphate tail. Once the last phosphate group is removed from the ATP molecule by hydrolysis, it will form ADP plus inorganic phosphate. ADP is a lower energy molecule. The release of energy during hydrolysis of ATP can be harnessed by the cell to do work. 

Living things continuously use ATP but it is renewable and can be recycled. As other catabolic reactions occur in a living cell, the release of energy can be used to regenerate more ATP from ADP and inorganic phosphate. 

To summarize, the energy in the ATP molecule comes from energy that is released by catabolic reactions like cellular respiration which occurs in the mitochondria. The energy was originally in the glucose molecule. This energy can be used to join ADP plus inorganic phosphate to form the high energy ATP molecule.

What are the children doing at the beginning of Games at Twilight? What does their behavior tell you about the relationships among them?

Some readers would say that the children are doing nothing at the beginning of the story.  Those readers do not have children of their own or they have never tried to keep kids inside on a rainy day.  What the kids are actually doing is going stir crazy and driving the adults crazy.  

. . . the children strained to get out. Their faces were red and bloated with the effort . . . 

The kids have been cooped up indoors for a long time, because the weather outside is too warm to play.  

It was still too hot to play outdoors.

The text tells the reader that the mom is doing her best to keep the kids occupied while inside the house.  They had tea, took baths, and did basic grooming of themselves.  

They had had their tea, they had been washed and had their hair brushed. . . 

But there is only so much a strained parent can do.  The mother can't handle the whining children anymore.  She lets the kids out to play in the heat as much to relieve their tension as to lower her own stress level too.  

"No—we won’t, we won’t,'' they wailed so horrendously that she actually let down the bolt of the front door so that they burst out like seeds from a crackling, overripe pod into the veranda, with such wild, maniacal yells that she retreated to her bath and the shower of talcum powder and the fresh sari that were to help her face the summer evening.

The story doesn't explicitly say what the relationship is between all of these children, but with so many in one house with a single named mother, I'm guessing that the children are all related somehow.  I do not think that all of them are brother and sister though.  My guess is there are some siblings, and the rest of the kids are cousins.  It's like that in my own home.  I have three young kids.  My brother-in-law and sister-in-law have three young kids, and they live a mile away.  Our kids are always together in one of the two houses.  And yes, 6 kids under the age of 8 will drive you crazy enough to let them in the backyard to do whatever regardless of the weather.   

In To Kill a Mockingbird, what are some coming of age experiences for Scout?

Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird covers about three years of Scout's young life starting at age 6. Coming-of-age stories (a bildungsroman) chronicle how a character journeys from innocence to maturity through specific experiences. First, Scout needs to learn not to fight everyone who provokes her. Next, she needs to become more of a lady by wearing dresses more often and behaving properly while in one. Finally, Scout loses a little bit of her innocence as she becomes more aware of adult situations such as rape and racism. By accomplishing these tasks, or by going through difficult situations, Scout successfully matures and comes-of-age.

On the first day of school, Scout is easily prone to pick fights or to defend herself verbally and physically. She gets into altercations with Walter Cunningham, Cecil Jacobs, and her cousin Francis. Atticus gives her advice to help her overcome her knee-jerk reactions to what people say or do:

"First of all, . . . if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view--until you climb into his skin and walk around in it" (30).

This advice seems to help, but Scout still needs time to conform to it through daily practice. It's not easy for a little girl to hear that her dad is a "n****r lover" by kids who don't know what those words even mean. So not only must she learn not to react, but she learns that people can be racist and rude without provocation. The turning point for Scout's fighting days is after she fights with Francis at Christmas and Uncle Jack spanks her. She overhears her father say to Jack that he knows she's trying to do better and just to be more patient.

Then, the other issue to confront is the tomboy one. Scout runs around in overalls much of the summer and her Aunt thinks she should be more of a lady by wearing dresses. At one point, Scout tells Aunt Alexandra that she can't do anything in a dress; but, her aunt tells her that she shouldn't be doing anything that needs wearing pants. It isn't until after the Tom Robinson trial that Scout wears a dress to one of Aunt Alexandra's tea parties--something she never would have done earlier on.

"Aunt Alexandra looked across the room at me and smiled. . . I carefully picked up the tray and watched myself walk to Mrs. Merriweather. With my best company manners, I asked her if she would have some. After all, if Aunty could be a lady at a time like this, so could I" (237).

This passage above shows Scout conforming to parts of life that require dresses, but she continues to wear pants to play outside. She realizes that there's a time and place for everything.

Finally, the Tom Robinson case affected the whole Finch family, as well as the town, that there was no way for Scout to escape hearing the word rape. She first asks Calpurnia what it means, but Cal refers her to her father with that question. However, once she does ask, Atticus gives her a legal definition full of jargon that Scout won't understand. It isn't really until Scout hears the testimonies at the trial that she comes up with her own definition of rape:

". . . it wasn't rape if she let you, but she had to be eighteen--in Alabama, that is-- and Mayella was nineteen. Apparently you had to kick and holler, you had to be overpowered and stomped on, preferably knocked stone cold. If you were under eighteen, you didn't have to go through all this" (209).

This definition is based on what Scout hears at the trial and isn't explicit enough for her to really understand. Through it all, though, so many racist and discriminatory things are said and done that she sees her brother Jem lose faith in humanity. Scout is still a little too young to understand it all, but she knows that rape is bad enough to send a black man to jail for it, whether he did it or not.

There are several deaths in the novella. Which is most revealing and why? What death (including the mouse's) shows us about life back in the 1930's?

In Of Mice and Men, I think that the death of Candy's dog illustrates a great deal about the 1930s. 

The struggle to find work is significant to the time period in which Of Mice and Men takes place. The time period was filled with people who needed work and would move from place to place, searching for it.  People had to be "of use" in order to find such work.  If individuals were not of...

In Of Mice and Men, I think that the death of Candy's dog illustrates a great deal about the 1930s. 

The struggle to find work is significant to the time period in which Of Mice and Men takes place. The time period was filled with people who needed work and would move from place to place, searching for it.  People had to be "of use" in order to find such work.  If individuals were not of use, they were simply discarded.  The economic hardship that defined the time period rooted out those who were not useful, relegating them off to the margins to be forgotten.

Candy's dog used to be productive.  Candy describes him as the "best damn sheep dog."  There was a time when the dog used to contribute in an active and productive manner.  However, age has taken its toll on the dog and he now is a shell of what he once used to be.  Carlson is the most active in pointing out the uselessness of the dog.  He says the dog "don't enjoy nothin'" and how "He ain’t no good to you, Candy. An’ he ain’t no good to himself."  Even Slim says that Candy's dog lacks a utilitarian purpose:  "Carl’s right, Candy. That dog ain’t no good to himself. I wisht somebody’d shoot me if I get old an’ a cripple.”  In the world of the 1930s, when one loses their productivity and ability to work, they are of no use to anyone.

Candy's dog is taken outside and shot. His death is away from everyone else. Candy is the only one who remembers him.  Steinbeck writes of "the silence" that everyone in the bunkhouse experiences, but that only Candy feels. When Candy's dog is shot, it reminds us that the 1930s defined a person's ability to work as the most important reason for being in the world.  As seen with Candy's dog, when they lose this ability, they become expendable.   

What are examples of prejudice that Atticus Finch shows in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird? What other values does Atticus show?

In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus is generally characterized as the one who represents the antithesis of a prejudiced society by being unprejudiced himself. One of his most famous lines addressed to Scout demonstrates the amount of empathy he has for his fellow humanity and his ability to see things from others' views, without allowing his opinions to be clouded by bias or prejudice:

You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view-- ... --until you climb into his skin and walk around in it. (Ch. 3)

Yet, Harper Lee also made Atticus a very human character. Like all humans, there are at least a couple of places in which he does permit his own thinking to be clouded with prejudice.

The term prejudice can be defined as "any preconceived opinion or feeling, either favorable or unfavorable" (Random House Dictionary). This tells us that not all prejudiced beliefs are bad beliefs about others; some are good beliefs about others. What makes a judgement prejudiced is that it is not based on sound judgement and facts; it's based on the opinions one holds prior to facts being established.

Knowing that prejudice can refer to a favorable opinion, we can consider one of Atticus's views about Bob Ewell as being prejudiced. The morning after the trial, Bob Ewell spits in Atticus's face and promises to revenge himself on Atticus "if it took the rest of [Ewell's] life" (Ch. 22). Atticus is the only character who doesn't take Ewell's threat seriously. Aunt Alexandra and the Finch children all begin to fear Ewell will cause Atticus some harm. Yet, Atticus insists they "don't have anything to fear from Bob Ewell" and questions "what on earth" Ewell could possibly do (Ch. 23). Atticus thinks this way because he is prone to seeing the good side in people, which prevents him from being able to see the seriousness of their negative traits. When Ewell threatens Atticus's children's lives, Atticus soon learns the error in his thinking. Hence, Atticus erroneously judges Ewell to be harmless, because Atticus is able to see the good in everyone, which shows that Atticus allowed his judgement of Ewell to be clouded by prejudice.

Atticus displays prejudice a second time when responding to Jem's comments and questions about the jury system. After Jem concludes that the jury system is unfair and should be done away with, Jem next asks Atticus, "[W]hy don't people like us and Miss Maudie ever sit on juries? You never see anybody from Maycomb on a jury--they all come from out in the woods" (Ch. 23). In one portion of his reply, Atticus states that women can't serve on juries. He further gives the following speculative reasons as to why women aren't permitted to serve on juries:

I guess it's to protect our frail ladies from sordid cases like Tom's. Besides ... I doubt if we'd ever get a complete case tried--the ladies'd be interrupting to ask questions. (Ch. 23)

Atticus's comments about women's frailty and inability to conduct themselves appropriately reflects that he has allowed his views of women to be clouded by society's prejudiced views of women, which shows that Atticus is equally prejudiced against women. In reality, if Miss Maudie had served on Robinson's jury, the jury would have been hung, and a mistrial would have resulted. If a mistrial had been declared, the case might have been tried again, or the prosecutor might have decided it was impossible to convince a jury and drop the charges.

How are The Road by Cormac McCarthy and Swerve by Phillip Gwynne intertextually related as journeys that are also rites of passage?

The road is a central symbol in both Swerve by Phillip Gwynne and The Road by Cormac McCarthy. In McCarthy’s story, a father and son take a journey on the road in a post-apocalyptic world in order to survive the harsh winter. In Gwynne’s story, Hugh and his grandfather Poppy set out on a road trip of a different kind. In both of the stories, the characters face risks and must overcome obstacles.  

In ...

The road is a central symbol in both Swerve by Phillip Gwynne and The Road by Cormac McCarthy. In McCarthy’s story, a father and son take a journey on the road in a post-apocalyptic world in order to survive the harsh winter. In Gwynne’s story, Hugh and his grandfather Poppy set out on a road trip of a different kind. In both of the stories, the characters face risks and must overcome obstacles.  

In The Road, the young boy is conflicted over whether he is one of the good guys or not. By the end of the story, after his father has died, the boy isn’t sure of what to do. When he meets a man who has been tracking them, he takes him with him and assures him he is indeed one of the good guys. Thus the boy has reassurance at the end. In Swerve, Hugh learns things about his family and himself as he goes on his journey. He comes to appreciate his parents’ support of him and understands it is not control. He also appreciates the landscape and sees all of the beautiful things in the world. By the end of the story, Hugh has grown. In both of these stories, characters grow and change by the end of their journeys, signifying a similar rite of passage.

Was Theodore Roosevelt a good or a bad president?

In examining the legacy of a former President, often people will determine the relative merit of that presidency based upon their own political party affiliations. But some presidents' achievements transcend the attitudes of this bipartisan tendency, and Theodore Roosevelt could be said to be one of them. Roosevelt took office in 1901, becoming in effect the first president of the 20th century to serve a full term. Despite becoming president as a result of the...

In examining the legacy of a former President, often people will determine the relative merit of that presidency based upon their own political party affiliations. But some presidents' achievements transcend the attitudes of this bipartisan tendency, and Theodore Roosevelt could be said to be one of them. Roosevelt took office in 1901, becoming in effect the first president of the 20th century to serve a full term. Despite becoming president as a result of the assassination of President William McKinley, for whom he served as vice president, and despite being, at age 42, the youngest president in history, Roosevelt quickly distinguished himself as a reformer and a passionate advocate for the common good. He passed several initiatives for regulation, including regulation of the railroads, and passed the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act, all of which had lasting impact upon public health and safety.

The most enduring, and perhaps ultimately the most important, aspect of his legacy as president, however, was Roosevelt's determination to preserve natural resources. He enacted laws limiting the exploitation of minerals, water and other wilderness-based elements, and deemed that many forests and other areas should have national park status. He also established fifty-one wildlife refuges. In later years, when commerce and consumption drove many corporations to try and utilize the resources of protected federal lands, Roosevelt's visionary actions have served as a potent reminder that these resources belong to the American people and should be preserved for the enjoyment, education and well-being of future generations. President Bill Clinton's Lands Legacy initiative was the largest single act of legislation preserving natural spaces since Roosevelt's administration, and Clinton cited Roosevelt's work as an inspiration to continue to protect American wilderness and open space.

What were two of the factors that helped the industries of the United States

Two of the main factors that facilitated the growth of American industry, especially from the middle of the 19th century to the early years of the 20th century, were the industrial revolution and the country's wealth in natural resources.

Citing the industrial revolution as a factor in the growth of industry may seem tautological. The reason it is listed here, though, is because industries, like logging and mining, were not reliant on the development of...

Two of the main factors that facilitated the growth of American industry, especially from the middle of the 19th century to the early years of the 20th century, were the industrial revolution and the country's wealth in natural resources.

Citing the industrial revolution as a factor in the growth of industry may seem tautological. The reason it is listed here, though, is because industries, like logging and mining, were not reliant on the development of new technologies and means of production. The industrial revolution, therefore, is not necessarily synonymous with the growth of American industry. It was, however, the development of certain means of production like Eli Whitney's cotton gin, which was developed late in the 18th century, that enabled the development of the kinds of industry that were both inherently dependent upon technology and that enabled the spectacular growth of additional types of industry. The American South survived as a major producer of textiles, for example, right up until the latter part of the 20th century due to the innovations that characterized the industrial revolution. Similarly, up north, in Michigan, the automotive industry grew exponentially due to the machinery and assembly-line methodology exploited by Henry Ford to churn out automobiles to feed the nation's growing hunger for mechanized means of transportation.

A second major factor in the growth of industry was the North American continent’s rich abundance of the raw materials and other natural resources, such as oil and coal, that were needed for the development of industry. The country’s wealth in iron ore and other metals vital to the production of many goods for both domestic consumption and export was key to the development and growth of many kinds of industry, with the oil and coal industries integral to the ability of other industries, such as agriculture and textiles, to get those goods to markets across the continent’s great expanse as well as across the oceans to markets overseas. In fact, so important to the growth of industry was the country’s abundance of natural resources that the decline in production of such resources has been felt in the weakening of many industries over the past 30 years. Look to China today for an idea of the importance of indigenous sources of raw materials for the development of a nation’s industrial base. China is lacking in many natural resources (with the notable exception of what are known as “rare earth minerals,” specific, difficult to find raw materials essential to modern industries like computing and telecommunications), so it expends considerable energy on developing economic relationships with countries rich in natural resources like in Africa to ensure a steady supply of raw materials to support Chinese factories.

One could also add to the list of major factors in the growth of industry the industriousness of the American labor force, innovativeness of American management, and the institutionalization of a political system that provided for considerable economic freedom. While the costs of that economic freedom are felt today in the environmental degradation that resulted from the industrial revolution, there is no question that a society built and sustained upon the notion of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” was instrumental in the industrialization of the United States.

In Of Mice and Men, was George right or wrong to shoot Lennie?

In John Steinbeck's novella Of Mice and Men George is forced to kill his friend Lennie after Curley's wife is discovered dead in the barn on the ranch where George and Lennie have come to work. Even though Lennie doesn't realize the gravity of his actions, George knows that his friend has committed murder and that Curley, the other men on the ranch and the law will not treat Lennie kindly. All Lennie knows is...

In John Steinbeck's novella Of Mice and Men George is forced to kill his friend Lennie after Curley's wife is discovered dead in the barn on the ranch where George and Lennie have come to work. Even though Lennie doesn't realize the gravity of his actions, George knows that his friend has committed murder and that Curley, the other men on the ranch and the law will not treat Lennie kindly. All Lennie knows is that he's "done another bad thing." George meets Lennie in the prearranged spot next to the Salinas River. While he is again describing the dream of the farm, he shoots Lennie in the back of the head. His actions are justified by the circumstances surrounding the incident.

The episode is foreshadowed earlier in the book when Candy's old dog is put out of its misery by Carlson. Candy regrets his decision to not kill the dog himself. He tells George in chapter three:

“I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn’t ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog.”

George must have been thinking about this when Curley's wife is found with her neck broken in chapter five. Curley is enraged and makes belligerent threats toward Lennie:

Curley came suddenly to life. “I know who done it,” he cried. “That big son- of-a-bitch done it. I know he done it. Why—ever’body else was out there playin’ horseshoes.” He worked himself into a fury. “I’m gonna get him. I’m going for my shotgun. I’ll kill the big son-of-a-bitch myself. I’ll shoot ‘im in the guts. Come on, you guys.” 

Remembering Candy's words, George takes Carlson's Luger, the same gun that was used on the dog. His decision to kill Lennie is reinforced by Slim who understands the relationship between George and Lennie. Slim also knows that Lennie would never understand what was happening to him if he was captured by Curley or if he was taken to jail. Slim says,

"But Curley’s gonna want to shoot ‘im. Curley’s still mad about his hand. An’ s’pose they lock him up an’ strap him down and put him in a cage. That ain’t no good, George.”

George, then, is merciful in killing Lennie at the end of the book. Before the shot, he tells Lennie to look across the river and imagine the farm. He also reassures the big man of the importance of their friendship and George expresses his notions of how he wished things could be. He says,

“You . . . . an’ me. Ever’body gonna be nice to you. Ain’t gonna be no more trouble. Nobody gonna hurt nobody nor steal from ‘em.”

Only Slim understands George's actions toward Lennie. Slim is ever the realist and he knows Lennie needed to be put down. He tells George in the final lines of the novella:

“You hadda, George. I swear you hadda. Come on with me.” He led George into the entrance of the trail and up toward the highway.

In the short story, Through the Tunnel, what descriptive are given about the tunnel?

On the first occasion that Jerry finds the tunnel, the narrator describes it as "an irregular, dark gap" into which Jerry really could not see.  When he tried to push himself into the tunnel, he found that he had to turn to the side in order to fit his shoulders in, and he got "inside as far as his waist.  He could see nothing ahead."  Just then, something "soft and clammy touched his mouth" and...

On the first occasion that Jerry finds the tunnel, the narrator describes it as "an irregular, dark gap" into which Jerry really could not see.  When he tried to push himself into the tunnel, he found that he had to turn to the side in order to fit his shoulders in, and he got "inside as far as his waist.  He could see nothing ahead."  Just then, something "soft and clammy touched his mouth" and he panicked, thinking about octopuses and weeds that might entangle him.  Jerry backed out of the tunnel then and saw "a harmless tentacle of seaweed drifting in the mouth of the tunnel."  At this point, he called it a day.

When Jerry eventually does swim through the tunnel, it is described as a "small rock-bound hole filled with yellowish-grey water."  The water pushed his body up to the roof of the tunnel, and the roof was "sharp and pained his back."  As he swims along, the roof begins to feel "slimy as well as sharp."  He continued, and the tunnel seemed to widen, and the water became a "clear jewel-green" due to a crack in the rock above him.  It became dark again and then there was "an explosion of green light" as he reached the tunnel's end.

What does the gun symbolize in Of Mice and Men?

The gun (used to kill Candy’s dog and also Lennie) is symbolic of the power used by those who decide that individuals are not of any value, whether it is the government or any kind of authority. Candy’s dog has become old and useless, therefore of no value. In the pragmatic world, it is only those who are useful and not a drain on society at large that are allowed to live and flourish. Lennie,...

The gun (used to kill Candy’s dog and also Lennie) is symbolic of the power used by those who decide that individuals are not of any value, whether it is the government or any kind of authority. Candy’s dog has become old and useless, therefore of no value. In the pragmatic world, it is only those who are useful and not a drain on society at large that are allowed to live and flourish. Lennie, who is “weak-minded” and unpredictable, as well as violent, also cannot be allowed to run free. George has been his protector, trying (and failing) to keep Lennie out of trouble. When Lennie kills Curley’s wife (who is also not worth being identified by a name), he also becomes a menace to society, even for George. As in the case with Candy’s dog, it is considered a good thing, even a kindness, to kill it. When George kills Lennie, it is also presented as the best thing for Lennie. He will always get in trouble. He will always be a danger to himself and others. He will always be a burden to someone. Best to just get rid of him.

1. Jo weighs 500N and is wearing stiletto heels ​which together have an area of 0.0001m​2​. ​What pressure does she exert? 2. Dumbo the...

The weight of an object is the force it exerts due to gravity. Pressure is force per unit area, or force divided by area over which the pressure is exerted.

1. For Jo:

force = 500 N

area = 0.0001 m^2

pressure = F/A = 500N/0.0001m^2 = 5,000,000 N/m^2 or 5000 kPa exerted by Jo's feet.

2. For Dumbo:

force = 50,000 N

area = 0.8m^2

pressure = 50,000N/0.8m^2 = 62,500 N/m^2 or 62.5 kPa...

The weight of an object is the force it exerts due to gravity. Pressure is force per unit area, or force divided by area over which the pressure is exerted.

1. For Jo:

force = 500 N

area = 0.0001 m^2

pressure = F/A = 500N/0.0001m^2 = 5,000,000 N/m^2 or 5000 kPa exerted by Jo's feet.

2. For Dumbo:

force = 50,000 N

area = 0.8m^2

pressure = 50,000N/0.8m^2 = 62,500 N/m^2 or 62.5 kPa exerted by Dumbo's feet. 

3a. Dumbo the elephant exerts the larger force. His weight is 100 times that of Jo.

3b. Jo exerts more pressure, 5,000,000 N/m^2 compared to 62,500 N/m^2 for Dumbo the elephant. The reason Jo can weigh much less yet exert more pressure is because her weight is acting on a much smaller area than Dumbo's.

4. Jo will sink further into the ground because she exerts more pressure on the ground.

A note on pressure unit conversions: One Newton per meter squared is called a Pascal. One kiloPascal, or kPa, is equal to 1000 Pascals.

In The Giver, are people in the community allowed to read or have access to books?

The only books most members of the community have are rule books or instruction books.

Jonas has schoolbooks and every dwelling has rule books.  However, no one has access to regular books except The Giver.

The community’s main book is called the Book of Rules.  It seems to contain all of the rules required of citizens in the community.  There are many rules, as there is a rule for just about everything.  Violating the rules results in punishment, and breaking three rules results in release (death).

When Jonas first begins his training as Receiver of Memory, he notices right away that there are books in The Receiver’s house—there are a lot of books.

But the most conspicuous difference was the books. In his own dwelling, there were the necessary reference volumes that each household contained: a dictionary, and the thick community volume which contained descriptions of every office, factory, building, and committee. And the Book of Rules, of course. (Ch. 10)

The community has no memory beyond one generation, so books would be a problem in enforcing Sameness.  They do not want people to know what happened before.  If there were books, past events and knowledge would be recorded.  The community wants to control access to information.

When Jonas first sees the books, he can’t imagine what all of these books could contain.

Jonas stared at them. He couldn't imagine what the thousands of pages contained. Could there be rules beyond the rules that governed the community? Could there be more descriptions of offices and factories and committees? (Ch. 10)

Jonas learns later that the books contain the community’s history.  They are also multicolored, which would not mean anything to anyone other than the people who can See Beyond.  The Giver explains that books are forbidden to citizens.  This is one of the reasons that the Receiver of Memory lives alone, apart from the rest of the community.  The books, Jonas learns, contain “the knowledge of centuries.”

When Jonas asks about release, The Giver explains again that he has access to everything the community has hidden.

"Jonas, when you and I have finished our time together, you will be the new Receiver. You can read the books; you'll have the memories. You have access to everything. It's part of your training. If you want to watch a release, you have simply to ask." (Ch. 19)

The books are symbolic of the distinction between Jonas and the other members of the community.  As long as Jonas is the Receiver, he is separate and apart.  He has access to memories and information that the rest of the community members do not have.  He learns the truth about the community.

In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, how is Tybalt responsible for Romeo and Juliet's deaths?

Tybalt is responsible for Romeo and Juliet’s deaths because his insistence on fighting Romeo is what got Romeo banished and led to his suicide.

Tybalt was so caught up in his family feud that he did not think about the consequences. He tried to fight Romeo originally at the party, and then caught up with him again later on the street.  Romeo was not interested in fighting. He also considered Tybalt family.

TYBALT

Romeo, the...

Tybalt is responsible for Romeo and Juliet’s deaths because his insistence on fighting Romeo is what got Romeo banished and led to his suicide.

Tybalt was so caught up in his family feud that he did not think about the consequences. He tried to fight Romeo originally at the party, and then caught up with him again later on the street.  Romeo was not interested in fighting. He also considered Tybalt family.

TYBALT

Romeo, the hate I bear thee can afford
No better term than this,--thou art a villain.

ROMEO

Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee
Doth much excuse the appertaining rage
To such a greeting: villain am I none;
Therefore farewell; I see thou know'st me not. (Act 3, Scene 1)

Mercutio tried to protect Romeo, and Tybalt ended up fighting him.  He could have just forgotten the whole thing when it was clear that Romeo would not fight.  Mercutio was at the party too.  The idea was to eliminate the Montagues or punish the Montagues.  Tybalt paid with his life for his insistence on maintaining the feud.

Unfortunately, after Tybalt killed Mercutio, Romeo had to step in.  He killed Tybalt, and found himself banished.  It was this banishment that led Juliet to fake her death, and this fake death is that which caused Romeo to commit suicide.  He returned from banishment to find Juliet supposedly lying dead.  Unable to accept that, he killed himself.  Juliet then awoke and killed herself.  Thus, Tybalt was directly or indirectly responsible for his own death and the deaths of Mercutio, Romeo, and Juliet.

What is the significance of dreams in Of Mice and Men?

Dreams are the driving force behind the lives of many of the characters in Of Mice and Men. In the case of some of these characters, dreams are really all they have left to keep their hopes alive.

The dream that we are made aware of right away, is the dream of George and Lennie.

O.K. Someday—we're gonna get the jack together and we're gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an' a cow and some pigs and—" "An' live off the fatta the lan'," Lennie shouted. "An' have rabbits.

The dream is so clear in the minds of both men that they can even recite it. Sadly for them, this dream has been alive for too long. The more they get in trouble, mainly because of Lennie, the more distant the dream becomes. 

In fact, shortly before George kills Lennie, out of mercy and in order to avoid a lynch mob from Curley's people, he asks Lennie to visualize the dream one more time, right before shooting him. This is symbolic of the end of the dream altogether. It is now officially over, not just for them, but for all of the other sad men who ended up believing in it, too. Hopes are dead as well. 

Still, George and Lennie's dream inspired other people. In chapter 3, as George and Lennie discuss their dream again, they are overheard by Candy. Candy not only is touched by the dream, but wants a part of it as well. He even offers his saved money to make it happen.

It is interesting, however, to note how George and Lennie react when they learn that Candy has heard about the dream.

At first, they jump, as if they had been caught doing something wrong. This shows the extent to which the two men really, deep inside, know that the dream is one of great magnitude. They are fully aware of how huge it is. However, they find comfort and peace in visualizing it. This is why they feel, when Candy "finds them out," as if they have been caught doing something inappropriate. 

In chapter 4, it is Crooks who buys into the dream of George and Lennie. After insulting it first, laughing at it, and trying his best to bring the men's hopes down, he suddenly changes his mind

[Crooks] hesitated. "… If you … guys would want a hand to work for nothing—just his keep, why I'd come an' lend a hand. I ain't so crippled I can't work like a son-of-a-bitch if I want to..

The dream, in Crooks's case, shows that even the more torn-apart men, and even the most broken of them all, can still be put back together again with a tiny speck of hope. 

Curley's wife is another character whose dream helps her stay "put together" even in the dire environment of the farm. Her dream of making it in show business was the motivating factor that kept looking pretty and presentable, rather than living her life as a frumpy farm wife. Sadly for her as well, her dream is too far from her. She is now married to Curley, dissatisfied with her life, and very bored. Her dream is the only motivation she has to tolerate life there. She even talks about her dream on her very last day of life, as she is talking about it with Lennie, and right before he accidentally kills her. 

In all, dreams and hopes are almost interchangeable in the novella. The characters renew their hopes for a better life thanks to the dreams that they hold dearest to their hearts. Sadly, none of them gets to realize their dreams. Still, they do not stop bringing them up and thinking about them. 

Why does the Union scout pretend to be a Confederate soldier? Why does he try to get the planter to sabotage the bridge?

It was probably common practice for both the North and South armies to send scouts into enemy territory to look and listen. They would come back with whatever useful information they could obtain. Naturally their superiors would want to know anything they could learn about troop movements, troop encampments, artillery emplacements, supply depots, and other such information. The scouts would probably talk to civilians as much as they could, because this would be a better...

It was probably common practice for both the North and South armies to send scouts into enemy territory to look and listen. They would come back with whatever useful information they could obtain. Naturally their superiors would want to know anything they could learn about troop movements, troop encampments, artillery emplacements, supply depots, and other such information. The scouts would probably talk to civilians as much as they could, because this would be a better way of gathering information than through their own limited personal observation. The scouts would have to be disguised. They were risking execution if they were caught in the enemy's uniform, but the risk did not seem great as long as they steered clear of the enemy army itself. Communication was very limited in Civil War times. No doubt the Union scout who talks to Peyton Farquhar had some false papers and a memorized story to tell anyone who might have the authority to stop and question him.

The Union scout is not riding around in enemy territory trying to incite civilians to commit sabotage or any other hostile action against the invading Union army. He never once suggests to Farquhar that he should sabotage the Owl Creek Bridge. As a matter of fact, the scout never even states that he is with the Confederate army. He lets Farquhar ask the questions and make his own decision. Here is some of the significant conversation in Part II.

"The Yanks are repairing the railroads," said the man, "and are getting ready for another advance. They have reached the Owl Creek bridge, put it in order and built a stockade on the north bank. The commandant has issued an order, which is posted everywhere, declaring that any civilian caught interfering with the railroad, its bridges, tunnels, or trains will be summarily hanged. I saw the order."

"Suppose a man--a civilian and student of hanging--should elude the picket post and perhaps get the better of the sentinel," said Farquhar, smiling, "what could he accomplish?"

The soldier reflected. "I was there a month ago," he replied. "I observed that the flood of last winter had lodged a great quantity of driftwood against the wooden pier at this end of the bridge. It is now dry and would burn like tinder."

Right at that point Mrs. Farquhar returns with the water and there is no further discussion of the bridge. The Union scout has apparently told Farquhar nothing but the strict truth. The scout will report to his superior officers that a man may try to set fire to the bridge that night. This will be only one piece of all the information he will bring back from his scouting expedition. The scout might not even want Farquhar to attempt to sabotage the bridge, but he has already warned him of what could happen if he got caught, and he has no particular motive to warn him again. He has to maintain his disguise as a Confederate soldier. The scouts were looking for information. It would be a waste of their time and energies to have them going around trying to get civilians into trouble. It was not even honorable military procedure. The Union army would try to maintain good relations with the civilians in the South, just as occupying armies always seem to do in most wars.

Ambrose Bierce wrote many tales about the Civil War, in which he served in the Union Army and fought in major battles such as Shiloh. "Parker Adderson, Philosopher" (1891) is about a captured Union spy who was caught while wearing a Confederate uniform and is scheduled to be hanged in the morning.

What happens when the children trespass on the Radley property in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird?

In Chapter 6 of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the most important events that occurs during the children's escapade of trespassing on the Radleys' property is that they are heard and pursued by Mr. Nathan Radley.

When they first make it inside of the grounds, they try peering through a window on the side of the house with a broken shutter. Jem and Scout give Dill a boost up to the window sill so he can take a peek inside, but all he can report seeing are curtains and a "little teeny light way off somewhere." Dill then gets the notion to try one of the back windows that they must mount the back porch to see into, and, unfortunately, the steps of the back porch squeak. Jem makes it all the way onto the porch when Scout sees a "shadow of a man with a hat on," moving toward Jem across the porch. The shadow retreats around the side of the house, and the three children make a run for it through the garden to the back of the Radley lot where they came in. Scout narrates that "halfway through the collards [she] tripped; as [she] tripped the roar of a shotgun shattered the neighborhood."

They make it to the fence separating the Radley lot from the schoolyard, and Scout and Dill make it safely under the fence. However, Jem gets his pants caught on the fence and must kick them off to escape the fence. The children then make it safely back into the Finches' back yard, but Jem has no pants. When they walk into the front yard, they see that all of their neighbors are gathered in front of the Radleys' gate, and Jem argues it will look suspicious if they don't join the neighbors to see what the commotion is all about. When Jem is discovered pantless by Miss Stephanie Crawford, the children must think of an excuse. They believe they have gotten away with their excuse of playing strip poker.

Later that night, Jem decides he must go back to try and retrieve his pants to keep Atticus from discovering the truth of what they had been doing. Later, in Chapter 7, we learn that Jem had discovered his pants laying neatly folded on the fence, and the rips had been mended. The tidy condition of Jem's pants gives us our first clue into the true benevolent nature of their neighbor, Arthur Radley, whom the children call Boo Radley.

What happened in "The Signal-Man" after the appearance of the ghost?

In "The Signal-Man," the ghost appears on three separate occasions, two of which are followed by terrible accidents on the line. After this, the story begins: the narrator meets the signalman and follows him down to his signal box. After some confusion over his identity, the signalman confesses to the narrator that he has lately experienced some strange events and the pair agree to meet the next night so that the signalman might relate his tale.

The next night is, therefore, filled with anticipation. The pair sit around the fire and the signalman tells the narrator about the ghostly appearances. Initially, the narrator is very sceptical and dwells on practical explanations of these supernatural occurrences, like a disorder of the eye:

I showed him how that this figure must be a deception of his sense of sight; and how that figures, originating in disease of the delicate nerves that minister to the functions of the eye, were known to have often troubled patients.

But the signalman's distress is so evident that the narrator begins to realise that he is telling the truth:

His pain of mind was most pitiable to see. It was the mental torture of a conscientious man, oppressed beyond endurance by an unintelligible responsibility involving life.

This meeting closes with the narrator's resolution to prove the signalman's state of mind by involving a highly-respected doctor. The pair then bid each other goodnight, on the agreement that they will meet again the next day.

When the narrator makes his way to the signal box, the next evening, he is surprised to find a group of men assembled down below. He is gripped by the "irresistible sense" that something is wrong and begins to question the men to find out what has happened. In a tragic twist of events, the narrator is horrified to learn that the signalman has been killed and this prompts the realisation that the ghostly apparitions were, in fact, a premonition of the signalman's own demise. He also learns that the only witness to the event had uttered the very same words that the narrator had once said to the signalman:

"Below there! Look out! Look out! For God’s sake, clear the way!”

Do you think the breakup of Pangea led to the extinction of some dinosaurs? What makes you think that?

Generally speaking, the extinction of the dinosaurs was catastrophically finalized by the Chicxulub impact and the subsequent worldwide ecological changes. However, some data suggests that certain dinosaur populations were decreasing in diversity prior to the impact. We should also be conscious of the fact that our data does not necessarily represent a true cross-section of life during the Mesozoic, due to a variety of factors skewing the fossil record and our access to it. Nevertheless,...

Generally speaking, the extinction of the dinosaurs was catastrophically finalized by the Chicxulub impact and the subsequent worldwide ecological changes. However, some data suggests that certain dinosaur populations were decreasing in diversity prior to the impact. We should also be conscious of the fact that our data does not necessarily represent a true cross-section of life during the Mesozoic, due to a variety of factors skewing the fossil record and our access to it. Nevertheless, it would be fair to say that events related to continental rifting may have influenced extinctions; not necessarily because dinosaurs were falling into volcanoes, but because of ecological changes tied to the rifting process.

The breakup of Pangea was a long-term and complicated process that was not particularly different from the rifting we see today in places like East Africa. There are at least two significant effects that rifting produces; climate change as a result of previously connected land masses becoming geographically distinct, and climate change as a result of volcanic events tied to the movement of the plates.

One way in which changing the size and shape of land masses influences climate has to do with rainfall; large land masses tend to have arid interiors simply due to rain developing over the ocean and not being able to sustain itself over hundreds of miles of land. There were almost certainly changes in ocean and air currents as well, leading to different weather patterns in different regions depending upon the interaction of these factors.

In terms of tectonic events, volcanism can release a lot of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, which can alter the local as well as global temperatures, and all related ecological factors. This and other gases can also blanket certain areas, rendering the air unbreathable, let alone covering them with lava. The Deccan Traps are an example of this. 

Thus, the breakup of Pangea could have contributed to dinosaur extinctions by:

• generally reducing the amount of land available to an animal


• changing the local and global climate


• rendering certain regions uninhabitable due to volcanic events

What did Peter Wilks leave for his brothers after he passed away? Where do Harvey and William Wilks live?

In Chapter 25, the duke and king deceive Mary Jane, her sisters, and the townspeople by pretending to be Peter Wilks' brothers who are visiting from their home in England. The king pretends to be the English preacher, Harvey Wilks, and the duke pretends to be Peter and Harvey's other brother, William Wilks.After Peter's funeral, Mary Jane gives the king and duke a letter from Peter Wilks that he had written before he...

In Chapter 25, the duke and king deceive Mary Jane, her sisters, and the townspeople by pretending to be Peter Wilks' brothers who are visiting from their home in England. The king pretends to be the English preacher, Harvey Wilks, and the duke pretends to be Peter and Harvey's other brother, William Wilks. After Peter's funeral, Mary Jane gives the king and duke a letter from Peter Wilks that he had written before he died. In the letter, Peter bestowed three thousand dollars, his tanyard, horses, and land to his daughters, and also gave three thousand dollars to his brothers, Harvey and William. The duke and king head to the cellar to retrieve the money, but decide to count it first. When they count it, there is four hundred and fifteen dollars missing. They decide to "make up the deffisit" by using the money from their previous con "The Royal Nonesuch." The duke then suggests that they give all the money to the girls to avoid suspicion. After they give the money to Peter's daughters, Dr. Robinson openly calls the king and duke frauds after hearing their unconvincing English accents. However, Mary Jane believes that the king and duke are actually Harvey and William Wilks and gives them the entire six thousand dollars to invest.

What were some events leading to World War II?

There were several events leading to the start of World War II. One event was the aggressive actions of Germany, Japan, and Italy in the 1930s. A second event was the response of the Allies to these invasions.  In the 1930s, Japan invaded Manchuria and China. Very little was done about these invasions. In 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia. There was no significant Allied response. Germany moved its military into the Rhineland in 1936 after rebuilding its military, which was in violation of the Versailles Treaty. There was no response from the Allies. In 1938, Germany took Austria. Again, there was silence from the Allied nations. When Hitler announced he wanted to annex the Sudetenland, a region in Czechoslovakia where many Germans lived, the leaders of Great Britain and France met with Hitler. They agreed to give him this land in return for a promise to take no more land.

Eventually, the Allies responded to other aggressive actions. Hitler broke the agreement, known as the Munich Pact, by taking the rest of Czechoslovakia in March 1939. After this occurred, the Allies told Germany if they took any more land, it would lead to war. When Hitler invaded Poland in September 1939, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany, starting World War II.

Other factors were involved that led to the start of World War II. The people of Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, wanted revenge for the harsh terms of the Versailles Treaty. This treaty really punished Germany. Hitler played upon German nationalism, saying nobody should treat the German people badly, and he vowed revenge for the harsh terms of the treaty. Italy did the same thing. They felt they should have received more land from the Versailles Treaty. Benito Mussolini vowed to restore Italian pride, similar to the pride that existed during the days of the Roman Empire. Germany, Italy, and Japan also desired more land and resources. This was also a factor that led to the start of the war.

The Great Depression was also a factor in the start of World War II. Because of the terrible economic conditions in Germany in the 1920s, the people eventual turned to a totalitarian form of government to try to help them improve their conditions. When the Great Depression struck France, Great Britain, and the United States, the leaders of these governments had to concentrate on dealing with ending the Great Depression. They didn’t have much time to worry about what Germany, Japan, and Italy were doing. The average person in these countries was interested in surviving. They also weren’t very interested in what Germany, Japan, and Italy were doing in other areas of the world. These leaders of these countries weren’t in a position to do much about the actions of Germany, Japan, and Italy.

There were many factors that led to the start of World War II.

Why did the banker and the lawyer make the bet?

The banker and lawyer make the bet for the same reason that most people make a bet.  They each believe that their opinion is right and best, and they are willing to risk something to prove it.  

The story starts with the narrator telling the reader that the banker had a friendly little social gathering.  As with any social gathering, people get to talking about topics that can be argued about.  Capital punishment comes up and a lively discussion ensues.  Some people believe that it is a good thing, while other party attenders think it should never be done.  Most of the opponents believed that the death penalty was immoral.  

The majority of the guests, among whom were many journalists and intellectual men, disapproved of the death penalty. They considered that form of punishment out of date, immoral, and unsuitable for Christian States.

The banker flat out disagrees.  He feels that the death penalty is more humane because it ends a man's life quickly instead of drawing out the process over many years.  

". . . the death penalty is more moral and more humane than imprisonment for life. Capital punishment kills a man at once, but lifelong imprisonment kills him slowly."

The lawyer, on the hand, feels that both are immoral forms of punishment, but he does feel that life in prison is the better of the two choices.  He feels this way because he feels that any life is better than no life at all.  

"The death sentence and the life sentence are equally immoral, but if I had to choose between the death penalty and imprisonment for life, I would certainly choose the second. To live anyhow is better than not at all."

From that point, it doesn't take the banker long to tell the lawyer to put his money where his mouth is.  

"I'll bet you two millions you wouldn't stay in solitary confinement for five years."

The next part I have never understood.  Instead of just agreeing to the bet, the lawyer ups the ante.  He agrees to stay in prison for 15 years with no extra money!  He triples his incarceration time with no increase of potential reward.  It makes no sense.  But both men believe they are correct, and they are each willing to make a bet to prove it. 

What are the pros and cons of a manned mission to Mars? Would you go on the Mars One mission?

There are both advantages and disadvantages of a manned mission to Mars. On the positive side, such a mission will enable the scientists to study life in extreme conditions. We can also expect to see a number of technological advances from this mission (past missions have resulted in the development of automated health monitors, pacemakers, cordless tools, etc.). A successful manned mission will allow us to explore space further by using Mars as the base....

There are both advantages and disadvantages of a manned mission to Mars. On the positive side, such a mission will enable the scientists to study life in extreme conditions. We can also expect to see a number of technological advances from this mission (past missions have resulted in the development of automated health monitors, pacemakers, cordless tools, etc.). A successful manned mission will allow us to explore space further by using Mars as the base. And we may also be able to use the resources of planet Mars for furthering our goals. 

However, such a mission is very costly and challenging, and justifying the cost to simply satisfy humanity's curiosity, when problems such as poverty, climate change, etc. are threatening our existence is tough. It is a one-way mission and has slim chances of success. 

Given a chance, I would love to go on this mission. Despite the risks involved, I believe this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to explore space and help figure out how life can be established on Mars and how this can benefit the entire human race. 

Hope this helps. 

How does Curley's wife manipulate Lennie when they are alone together in the barn?

Curley's wife manipulates Lennie in the barn as she tries different ways to engage him in conversation. When these methods fail, she hears Lennie sadly mutter, "Jus' my pup" and she consoles him, moving closer to him and speaking in a soothing, motherly manner. When she discovers that Lennie likes to touch soft things like velvet, she entices him into stroking her hair.

Wearing make up and with her curls all in place, Curley's wife...

Curley's wife manipulates Lennie in the barn as she tries different ways to engage him in conversation. When these methods fail, she hears Lennie sadly mutter, "Jus' my pup" and she consoles him, moving closer to him and speaking in a soothing, motherly manner. When she discovers that Lennie likes to touch soft things like velvet, she entices him into stroking her hair.

Wearing make up and with her curls all in place, Curley's wife enters the barn in her red dress and mules. Knowing the men are outside the barn playing and betting on horseshoes, she enters to see if anyone besides Crooks is inside. When she discovers Lennie in one of the stalls, she tries to engage him for lack of anyone else. Still, she seems impressed with his physical prowess as she remarks that Lennie can just break his other hand if Curley "gets tough" about her talking to him. But Lennie resists any engagement with her because he has been strictly told by George to stay away from her. However, when he bemoans the loss of his puppy, Curley's wife finds an opportunity to exercise maternal comfort to the child-like Lennie:

"Dont' you worry none. He was jus' a mutt. You can get another one easy. The whole country is fulla mutts."

In a while Lennie repeats that George will give him "hell" if he sees Lennie talking with her, and Curley's wife is angered, telling him she sees nothing wrong with her wanting to talk to someone, and she bemoans the fact that no one cares how she lives, anyway. So, she continues to talk, telling her history while the child-like Lennie strokes the dead puppy and tells her about their dream of owning rabbits and a place. As they both speak on separate subjects, Curley's wife suddenly decides to confide in Lennie something she has told no one: "I don' like Curley. He ain't a nice fella." �Further, she tells Lennie, "I think you're nuts," but she enjoys the fact that he, like her, loves to touch soft things, such as velvet. Then, drawing her attention to her soft hair, Curley's wife invites him to stroke her hair. While this action would be a seductive one to most men, they would still have control of themselves. But, Lennie cannot control his feelings or his strength. Consequently, he becomes so excited that he hurts Curley's wife. When she struggles and screams, Lennie tries to quiet her, but he goes too far and mortally harms her, just as he did the girl in Leeds.�

What are some examples of onomatopoeia, rhetorical questions, and idioms in The Perks of Being a Wallflower?

On page 163 of the book, Patrick and Charlie are driving after Brad and Patrick get into a fight. Patrick throws a bottle of wine out of the car and it lands with a crash. In this case, "crash" is an example of a sound word, an onomatopoeia, because that is the sound that glass makes when it breaks. 

A good example of a rhetorical question from the book would be a question that Charlie...

On page 163 of the book, Patrick and Charlie are driving after Brad and Patrick get into a fight. Patrick throws a bottle of wine out of the car and it lands with a crash. In this case, "crash" is an example of a sound word, an onomatopoeia, because that is the sound that glass makes when it breaks. 

A good example of a rhetorical question from the book would be a question that Charlie receives from Sam after he royally messes up by kissing her in front of Mary Elizabeth at her boyfriend's house. It is probably the most important rhetorical question in the book, because it encompasses Charlie's insecurities. She turns to him before she runs after Mary Elizabeth and asks, "What the fuck is wrong with you?" (136). Her anger in this case tells us that she doesn't really want an answer. 

An example of an idiom in Perks of Being a Wallflower would be on page 107 when Sam tells Charlie that he should "go with the flow" while reading Naked Lunch, because the author was on heroin when he wrote it. "Go with the flow" is a common expression that we use in the United States, but is not found anywhere else, so it is considered an idiom. 

How does Dickinson powerfully convey ideas about death in her poem "Because I could not stop for Death"?

Emily Dickinson's poem "Because I could not stop for Death" uses a series of poetic devices that emphasize the themes and content of the piece. For each, I'll display an example, define the device, and analyze its presence: 

1. 
   Personification: "Because I could not stop for Death- / He kindly stopped for me-"the practice of giving human qualities and characteristics to non-human beings or objectsIn Dickinson's poem, death is not a fearsome, alien idea,...

Emily Dickinson's poem "Because I could not stop for Death" uses a series of poetic devices that emphasize the themes and content of the piece. For each, I'll display an example, define the device, and analyze its presence: 

1. 
   Personification: "Because I could not stop for Death- / He kindly stopped for me-"
   the practice of giving human qualities and characteristics to non-human beings or objects
   In Dickinson's poem, death is not a fearsome, alien idea, but a polite gentleman who has "civility" and knows "no haste". As a result, Dickinson transforms a concept that many people fear and actively avoid into a familiar and personable figure who is not to be feared but to be interacted with. 


2. 
   Metaphor: "We paused before a House that seemed / A Swelling of the Ground- / The Roof was scarcely visible- / the Cornice- in the Ground-"
   a comparison between two unlike things
   Rather than refer to the place where death stops and stays as a tomb or a grave, Dickinson calls it a house, passingly describing it in a manner that implies it is non-descript rather than haunting. By doing so, she normalizes death, comparing the final resting place of a corpse to the commonplace resting place of a living person. Again, she works to normalize death and remove the fear with which it is normally associated. 

In the movie A Beautiful Mind how could Nash tell the difference between real or imagined people?

In the movie "A Beautiful Mind," John Nash suffered from schizophrenia. Throughout the beginning of the movie, various odd occurrences took place, and the viewer was not aware that Nash suffered from schizophrenia. He believed he was followed by the police and repeatedly had invisible friends. He realized the man and the little girl were not real when he noticed they were not aging. Despite his schizophrenia, Nash continued on to be a brilliant mathematician at Princeton University.

Schizophrenia is an often misunderstood disease, and an illness people like to portray in colloquialism. Schizophrenia is marked by a combination of several factors, all of which must be present to have some qualify as a schizophrenic. First, the person may suffer from delusions, which may include someone thinking they are being harassed. However, this should not be confused with a normal person believing they are being harassed when they actually are. In this society, that does occur. In Nash's case, he thought he was being harassed for secret information he contained in his arm. That is not a thought process an average person would believe. Believing one is being harassed does not make that person schizophrenic.

Second, the schizophrenic suffers from hallucinations.  That is, they see things that are not there. In the case of Nash, he hallucinated friends and acquaintances. That is not the same as if in reality someone says they know someone who someone else says they don't. That is not a hallucination. The person is stating they know a real person, and others disagree with them. This can be either proven or disproven. Nonetheless, the individual does exist and some sort of relationship may exist between the two individuals. In the case of Nash, the man and the little girl did not.

Disorganized thinking and speech is another characteristic. This is not the same as someone who may ramble in sentences or say things out of the blue. Their thinking simply does follow. For example, they may say something like, "orange yellow blue sky has black olives." Or, perhaps, the person will be giving a talk and the sentences in no way link together. 

Schizophrenics also have abnormal motor behavior. This is ongoing and not simply someone acting agitated. For example, an individual may have agitated behavior in their home, walking fast because they are upset, or in a hurry. Someone may swing their foot out of habit while watching television. However, this is not abnormal motor behavior. Hypearctivity is severe. Individuals would be unable to sit still and concentrate. 

A person with schizophrenia also speaks without appropriate inflection, with monotone, and might not display emotions such as anger or even happiness. The person may not be able to carry out normal social activities. The schizophrenic may not be able to talk to others and may not take care of personal hygiene for days on end. 

In order for someone to be considered schizophrenic, these behaviors would be exaggerated in nature and not simply mild personal idiosyncracies. For example, someone stating another is harassing them, is not schizophrenic...when in fact the person or group of people may be harassing them.

Why do elements in the same column have same chemical properties?

Representative elements that are found in the same column of the periodic table have the samenumber of valence electrons. Valence electrons are the electrons that are located in the outermost energy level of an atom.

When chemical bonds are formed, the valence electrons in atoms are gained, lost, or shared. The chemical properties of an atom are determined by the number and behavior of its valence electrons.

Most atoms are the most stable when...

Representative elements that are found in the same column of the periodic table have the same number of valence electrons. Valence electrons are the electrons that are located in the outermost energy level of an atom.

When chemical bonds are formed, the valence electrons in atoms are gained, lost, or shared. The chemical properties of an atom are determined by the number and behavior of its valence electrons.

Most atoms are the most stable when they have a full outer shell of electrons. For many atoms, this means having eight valence electrons. Elements bond with one in order to become more stable. Most of the elements in Group 18 of the periodic table already have eight valence electrons. Because of this, they are not usually involved in chemical reactions.

Discuss the positive and negative aspects of conformity.

There are several advantages of conformity, or following the rules of a society. Conformists allow for the orderly flow of society, as rule breakers often interrupt the order of the society. Conformists also tend to get more work done, as they follow rules, and they enforce the laws of the society.

However, conformity can at times lead to unjust societies if the laws in the society are unfair or dictatorial. In addition, conformity does not allow people to develop new ideas that help the processes of the society, including legal, business, and educational processes, work more effectively. If society is unjust or unfair, non-conformists are vital in changing society to be more just by breaking the rules. In addition, a society filled with conformists can be too placid and dull, and non-conformists can add to the vitality and energy of a society. Non-conformists can develop new ways of looking at problems and at life, adding to the richness of people's experiences. 

Characterize the narrator in the story "The Lesson"?

In Toni Cade Bambara’s short story “The Lesson” the narrator and protagonist is a young African-American girl named Sylvia. In order to characterize her we look at her thoughts, speech, and actions. Sylvia’s brashness is apparent as she tells the story from her first person point of view using the colloquial language of her environment. She is surly, feisty, and even a bit defiant. As the story begins, she is indifferent and resistant to Miss...

In Toni Cade Bambara’s short story “The Lesson” the narrator and protagonist is a young African-American girl named Sylvia. In order to characterize her we look at her thoughts, speech, and actions. Sylvia’s brashness is apparent as she tells the story from her first person point of view using the colloquial language of her environment. She is surly, feisty, and even a bit defiant. As the story begins, she is indifferent and resistant to Miss Moore’s teachings, which is exposed in her thoughts.

And school suppose to let up in summer I heard, but she don't never let up. And the starch in my pinafore scratching the shit outta me and I'm really hating this nappy-head bitch and her goddamn college degree.

When Sylvia deals with the others, she is tough and physical often stepping on toes and pushing. When her best friend, Sugar, is responding to a question from Miss Moore, Sylvia is standing on her foot in an attempt to keep her friend quiet.

Then Sugar surprises me by sayin, "You know, Miss Moore, I don't think all of us here put together eat in a year what that sailboat costs." And Miss Moore lights up like somebody goosed her. "And?" she say, urging Sugar on. Only I'm standin on her foot so she don't continue.

The tough, sassy Sylvia experiences an uneasy metamorphosis after the group visits F. A. O. Schwartz in Manhattan, and her friend Sugar talks about democracy and the unequal division of wealth. In the end, she becomes introspective, deciding to go off by herself to think.

I'm going to the West End and then over to the Drive to think this day through. She can run if she want to and even run faster. But ain't nobody gonna beat me at nuthin.

Why do you think Odysseus wants Polyphemus to know who blinded him?

Odysseus wants Polyphemus to know who blinded him because of his immense pride.  Polyphemus has ignored the religious imperative to offer hospitality to strangers, instead choosing to eat several of Odysseus's crew because he believes himself to be more powerful than the gods.  It is actually Polyphemus's pride that renders him so abhorrent to Odysseus.  As his ship sails away, Odysseus shouts back to shore,

"Cyclops, in the end it was no weak man’s companions...

Odysseus wants Polyphemus to know who blinded him because of his immense pride.  Polyphemus has ignored the religious imperative to offer hospitality to strangers, instead choosing to eat several of Odysseus's crew because he believes himself to be more powerful than the gods.  It is actually Polyphemus's pride that renders him so abhorrent to Odysseus.  As his ship sails away, Odysseus shouts back to shore,

"Cyclops, in the end it was no weak man’s companions you were to eat by violence and force in your hollow cave, and your evil deeds were to catch up with you, and be too strong for you, hard one, who dared to eat your own guests in your own house, so Zeus and the rest of the gods have punished you." (9.475-479)

Odysseus really wants to rub it in that Polyphemus is not as strong as he thinks and that Zeus and the gods have permitted him to wound the Cyclops as punishment for his terrible pride.  But the quality that prompts Odysseus to name himself as "no weak [man]" is his own pride.  And despite the danger the monster still posed to them (via his own strength and because Poseidon is his father), Odysseus continues, "'Cyclops, if any mortal man ever asks you who it was that inflicted upon your eye this shameful blinding, tell him that you were blinded by Odysseus, sacker of cities."  Odysseus very much wants the monster to know the name of the man who bested him.  This can only be the result of his own pride which is so immense that it overcomes any concern for his or his crew's well-being. 

What was the weather like after Easter?

After Easter Sunday, when Leslie went to church with Jesse and his family, the rains start up again, which makes the ground very muddy:

"On Easter Monday the rain began again in earnest. It was as though the elements were conspiring to ruin their short week of freedom. Jess and Leslie sat cross-legged on the porch at the Burkes', watching the wheels of a passing truck shoot huge sprays of muddy water to its rear."

...

After Easter Sunday, when Leslie went to church with Jesse and his family, the rains start up again, which makes the ground very muddy:

"On Easter Monday the rain began again in earnest. It was as though the elements were conspiring to ruin their short week of freedom. Jess and Leslie sat cross-legged on the porch at the Burkes', watching the wheels of a passing truck shoot huge sprays of muddy water to its rear."

This is important to note because the rains affect whether or not Jesse and Leslie can play safely in Terabithia. And in fact, it was raining a lot before Easter, it was just cloudy on Easter Sunday, and now it's raining again. But the kids are determined to go out and play in their special spot, and this is what they see: 

"When they got to the bank of the creek, they stopped. It was an awesome sight. Like in The Ten Commandments on TV when the water came rushing into the dry path Moses had made and swept all the Egyptians away, the long dry bed of the creek was a roaring eight-foot-wide sea, sweeping before it great branches of trees, logs, and trash, swirling them about..."

At this point, readers should notice that it's very dangerous to play around a creek that's this active due to the rains, and it's also very dangerous to swing across the creek on the rope. The author is laying down some foreshadowing here, giving us a glimpse of what might happen if someone wasn't careful while playing around the creek. As the chapter continues, we learn that the rains keep on for at least two more days, and that the creek continues to rise. Yet the kids keep on pushing the boundaries, swinging across the creek on the rope and going to their preferred spot to play. It's extremely dangerous, and all that tension and description of the bad weather are preparing us for what happens to Leslie when she goes to Terabithia alone.

What literary period would Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird fall under?

Harper Lee published To Kill a Mockingbird in 1960. At that time, people were writing in all sorts of styles and following different movements. The literary movement that best fits Lee's novel, however, is the Southern Gothic movement.

While the Gothic movement covers novels written in the 18th and 19th centuries, which often took place in the late-medieval or Gothic period and were written mostly by Europeans, the movement crossed the Atlantic and found a...

Harper Lee published To Kill a Mockingbird in 1960. At that time, people were writing in all sorts of styles and following different movements. The literary movement that best fits Lee's novel, however, is the Southern Gothic movement.

While the Gothic movement covers novels written in the 18th and 19th centuries, which often took place in the late-medieval or Gothic period and were written mostly by Europeans, the movement crossed the Atlantic and found a new home in the American South. To the post-Civil War writers, the world of the antebellum South was full of antiquated beliefs and dilapidated ruins and captured the imaginations of writers in the same way the Gothic period had for their predecessors. Gothic themes of the decay and ruin of a glorious history are joined in Southern Gothic literature by studies of race and gender issues.

To Kill a Mockingbird does include Southern Gothic themes and motifs. Like traditional Gothic stories, TKAM includes the markers of a good horror story. Boo Radley's house is haunted and creepy, Bob Ewell provides an example of total evil, and there are even mysterious moments of terror, like Bob Ewell's attack on the Radley house.

One aspect of the novel that sets it apart from the Southern Gothic tradition, however, is the humor in it. Stories like "A Rose for Emily" or "Child of God" are not exactly known for their laugh-out-loud humor. TKAM, on the other hand, made me laugh until I cried when Scout is called out in her giant ham costume. The "coming of age" aspect of the story lends itself to humorous looks at Scout's antics and observations, which provide some relief to the Southern Gothic seriousness. 

What were some short term and long term impacts of the Industrial Revolution?

One of the short term impacts of the Industrial Revolution was that jobs that were formerly done by skilled craftsmen and women working at least somewhat autonomously were increasingly done by less-skilled workers, using machines, in a far more disciplined factory setting. Weaving, for example, was a craft that carried considerable prestige in England until the early nineteenth century, when new inventions made it possible to mechanize the process. This led to the outbreak of...

One of the short term impacts of the Industrial Revolution was that jobs that were formerly done by skilled craftsmen and women working at least somewhat autonomously were increasingly done by less-skilled workers, using machines, in a far more disciplined factory setting. Weaving, for example, was a craft that carried considerable prestige in England until the early nineteenth century, when new inventions made it possible to mechanize the process. This led to the outbreak of a series of violent protests led by disaffected weavers known popularly as "Luddites." Over time, industry after industry witnessed a process known as "proletarianization," as formerly autonomous workers and small farmers were drawn into factories by economic forces largely beyond their control. This process happened quite quickly, and was not, as the Luddite example suggests, uncontested by workers. 

One long term effect of the Industrial Revolution is still with us today. The Industrial Revolution was founded on carbon-based energy--first coal, then petroleum products. The effect of burning these fossil fuels is only now becoming evident to us. The consensus of climate scientists is that human activity that began with the Industrial Revolution has led to climate change--"global warming." We are only beginning to understand the impacts of this development that is a direct consequence of the Industrial Revolution.

What would be included in a thank you letter to Boo Radley if Jem, as an adult, were to write one in the future?

If Jem, as an adult, were to write Boo Radley a thank you letter, he would thank him for leaving the gifts in the tree, for mending his pants, and for saving his life on the night Bob Ewell attacked him. 

In chapter 4, Scout finds gum in the knothole of the Radley tree. A little while later, Scout and Jem find two "Indian-head" pennies: one dated 1906 and the other 1900. The kids consider...

If Jem, as an adult, were to write Boo Radley a thank you letter, he would thank him for leaving the gifts in the tree, for mending his pants, and for saving his life on the night Bob Ewell attacked him. 

In chapter 4, Scout finds gum in the knothole of the Radley tree. A little while later, Scout and Jem find two "Indian-head" pennies: one dated 1906 and the other 1900. The kids consider these good omens and can't wait for what they'll find next. A few months later, and in chapter 7, they find the following:

". . . two small images carved in soap. One was the figure of a boy, the other wore a crude dress . . . Our biggest prize appeared four days later. It was a pocket watch that wouldn't run, on a chain with an aluminum knife" (59, 60).

After this big haul, Jem thinks about writing a thank you note, but Mr. Nathan Radley discovers what's happening and fills up the knothole with cement.

Between finding things in the tree, Jem finds himself in a predicament on the last night of summer vacation. In chapter 6, Jem, Dill and Scout go to the Radley house at night to get a glimpse of Boo through a window with a broken shutter. While escaping Nathan Radley's gunshots, Jem's pants get caught and torn in the fence. When he goes back for them, he finds the pants crudely mended and folded, waiting for him to come get them. This saves Jem from getting in trouble with Atticus, so he would thank Boo Radley for helping him that night as well. 

Finally, and probably most importantly, Jem would take the time to thank Boo Radley for saving his life on the night of the Halloween festival at the school. In chapter 28, as he and Scout are walking home that night, Bob Ewell jumps the kids with a large kitchen knife in hand. Jem's arm is broken in the scuffle, but it is Boo Radley who defends the children and carries Jem home. If Boo had not jumped in to help the children, they probably would have died.

If Jem, as an adult, wrote a thank you letter to Boo Radley, he would include all of the above events in his letter. He also would not call him "Boo." Out of respect, he would start his letter with "Dear Mr. Arthur Radley" and then mention all of the above items as listed.

Describe Mary Maloney at the beginning of Lamb to the Slaughter. What kind of wife does she appear to be at this point?

In the beginning of Roald Dahl's "Lamb to the Slaughter," Mary Maloney is described as a stereotypical housewife. She is happily pregnant and is happy when it is approaching time for her husband to come home. All of her actions are that of a woman who is blissfully content with her station in life as a dutiful and loving wife. 

There are, however, a few descriptors that serve as forewarning that Mary may not be...

In the beginning of Roald Dahl's "Lamb to the Slaughter," Mary Maloney is described as a stereotypical housewife. She is happily pregnant and is happy when it is approaching time for her husband to come home. All of her actions are that of a woman who is blissfully content with her station in life as a dutiful and loving wife. 

There are, however, a few descriptors that serve as forewarning that Mary may not be as stable, calm and loving as she seems. Roald Dahl uses expressions like "curiously tranquil" and noted that her eyes seem "larger, darker than before." It almost suggests that she was in a dreamlike state in the beginning of the story. Whether it was due to the pregnancy or not is impossible to say. If she was in a dreamlike state instead of actually tranquil and steady, it would explain why the shock of her husband's intent to divorce her caused her to act the way she did. It would also explain why now, suddenly awake, she is able to transform from a loving wife into a woman cleverly covering her tracks when the murder itself seemed sudden and accidental. 

What is the motto of the mongoose family? List three things that Rikki does to live up to the motto.

The motto of the entire mongoose family is "Run and find out." Although Rikki is just a young mongoose, he naturally follows his curiosity and then uses his skill in killing snakes to keep the human family safe. The first way he lives up to his family motto is by exploring the house, a task that he believes would keep his whole family busy all their lives. Second, he explores the gardenand meets...

The motto of the entire mongoose family is "Run and find out." Although Rikki is just a young mongoose, he naturally follows his curiosity and then uses his skill in killing snakes to keep the human family safe. The first way he lives up to his family motto is by exploring the house, a task that he believes would keep his whole family busy all their lives. Second, he explores the garden and meets the residents there. This puts him in the middle of a big conflict with Nag and Nagaina, the two cobras who want to kill the humans. During the night he leaves Teddy's bed and checks out the house again. This time he runs into the muskrat, who is not a threat, but as he is speaking to him, he hears the "faintest scratch-scratch in the world." He realizes it is Nag or Nagaina; he runs and finds out it is Nag. When the cobra has fallen asleep, he attacks it, causing the man to wake up and shoot the cobra with a gun. The final way that his willingness to "run and find out" helps the humans and the garden animals is when he figures out where Nagaina's eggs are. With a hint from Darzee, he explores the melon-patch and, although the eggs are "very cunningly hidden," he finds them and destroys all but one. He uses the one remaining egg to lure Nagaina away from Teddy, at whom she is poised to strike. By following his curiosity and by using his innate snake-fighting skills, Rikki is able to save the humans' lives three times and to rid the garden and home from snakes permanently.

What is Beatrice's character like in Act IV, scene i of Much Ado About Nothing?

Beatrice's characterization in Much Ado's Act IV scene i is quite conflicted. Her cousin Hero is about to marry Claudio when instead of marrying her, Claudio accuses Hero of sleeping with another man the night before. On this happy occasion, Beatrice's cousin is slandered at a time when a woman's reputation of purity before marriage meant everything, and if she was thought impure or unchaste, no honorable man would want her, which is why Hero...

Beatrice's characterization in Much Ado's Act IV scene i is quite conflicted. Her cousin Hero is about to marry Claudio when instead of marrying her, Claudio accuses Hero of sleeping with another man the night before. On this happy occasion, Beatrice's cousin is slandered at a time when a woman's reputation of purity before marriage meant everything, and if she was thought impure or unchaste, no honorable man would want her, which is why Hero faints upon being accused and then is rushed away to safety.

It is here that Beatrice switches from joy to anguish. Only recently have she and Benedick admitted they love one another, but Benedick is one of Claudio's men while Beatrice is kin to the ruined Hero. Though on the opposite side of the scandal, Benedick admits that he sides with Hero. "Surely I do believe your fair cousin is wronged" (IV.i.1913). Because of this, Beatrice asks Benedick to prove his love to her by killing Claudio, the man who falsely accused Hero. At first Benedick refuses. "Ha! Not for the world" (IV.i.1942). At which point she says, "You kill me to deny it. Farwell" (IV.i.1943). 

She loves Benedick, and he loves her, but she loves her cousin more. She feels a stronger loyalty to her cousin and either clearing Hero's name or avenging her ruin. Eventually, because Benedick's loyalty winds up lying with Beatrice, he agrees. "By this hand,/ Claudio shall render me a dear account" (IV.i.1977-78). 

Beatrice asks Benedick to prove his love by avenging her cousin, claiming that if he doesn't take action against Claudio, he can't truly love her. 

To sum it all up, Beatrice is quite conflicted in this scene between her love for her cousin and her love for Benedick, but her true loyalty lies with her family. 

If the supply of a good decreases and it causes total revenue to increase, this shows that the good has an a) inelastic demand b) inelastic supply...

We are shifting the supply curve, which means we're moving along the demand curve--so the elasticity we're interested in is the elasticity of demand, which narrows it down to (a), (d), or (e).By decreasing supply, we increase revenue. This means that as quantity sold Q goes down, the price P rises so much that the revenue P*Q goes up.In terms of math, this means that the rate of change in [P*Q]...

We are shifting the supply curve, which means we're moving along the demand curve--so the elasticity we're interested in is the elasticity of demand, which narrows it down to (a), (d), or (e).

By decreasing supply, we increase revenue. This means that as quantity sold Q goes down, the price P rises so much that the revenue P*Q goes up.

In terms of math, this means that the rate of change in [P*Q] with respect to Q is negative:

d[PQ]/dQ < 0

Using the Chain Rule we can separate this into two parts:

P + dP/dQ * Q < 0

With some simple algebra, we can turn this into an expression of the inverse elasticity:

dP/dQ * Q < - P

dP/dQ * Q/P < -1

The elasticity is just the inverse of this, and yes, indeed, dP/dQ = 1/(dQ/dP), though this is actually a calculus theorem and not nearly as obvious as it looks at first.

Also, don't forget to reverse the inequality when you take the reciprocal of both sides:

dQ/dP * P/Q > -1

That is, demand is inelastic, because an elasticity greater than -1 means an elasticity closer to 0. Therefore the answer is (a), inelastic demand.

In words, what we're saying is that we only have to decrease the quantity sold a little bit to get the price to rise a lot, and that means quantity is falling slower than price is rising, so demand must be inelastic.

In Banana Bottom by Claude McKay, what are the characters' races and what colors are used to describe their skin? How do race and skin color...

The Jordan Plant family, living in the "hill-and-valley" "mountainous village" of their native Banana Bottom, were descendants of slaves, so the coloring of Jordan and Naomi Plant and their daughter Bita Plant was classified as black or dark brown. Bita's anti-hero, the music obsessed Crazy Bow Adair, was of the Scottish-and-slave line, the line of the Scotchman who liberated his slaves, then took the "blackest" woman of them as his wife. Their descendants are "a...

The Jordan Plant family, living in the "hill-and-valley" "mountainous village" of their native Banana Bottom, were descendants of slaves, so the coloring of Jordan and Naomi Plant and their daughter Bita Plant was classified as black or dark brown. Bita's anti-hero, the music obsessed Crazy Bow Adair, was of the Scottish-and-slave line, the line of the Scotchman who liberated his slaves, then took the "blackest" woman of them as his wife. Their descendants are "a variegated multitude," with skin color ranging from "coffee-brown to cafe-au-lait." Most of Crazy Bows' relatives are classified as dark brown, but Crazy Bow himself was fairer in coloring, resembling the "colour of a ripe banana." 

Belle Black, the first soprano of the Coloured Choristers, being coloured, is a descendant of a European and white family line and classified as "coloured or brown." In Banana Bottom and Jubilee, there were also some thousands of East Indians, Chinese and some who are fair and "of pure European descent," like the "Reverends Malcolm and Priscilla Craig," who took Bita in "like a child of their own."

McKay makes it a point to specify that skin color and descent demarcations were not cut along clearly pronounced lines; there was cross-over of "East Indian and Chinese blood ... mingled in the dark-brown group and ... thousands drawn in from European stock." 

The demarcations were not as real as they seemed .... One could easily pick out individuals by texture of hair, contour of face, shape of nose. But a strong transfusion of black African blood had determined their pigmentation and group. In the coloured groups were many of a light complexion distinguished by Sudanese features and hair, while others of original coulored stock had approximated to and turned white.

What are the pros and cons of providing a free college education to American students?

The opportunity to obtain a college education is considered to be a valuable opportunity which gives people a chance to get a better job, make more money, and have a better life.  However, for many people the opportunity to obtain a college education may be out of reach due to the significant financial expenditure that is necessary.  College tuition today is extremely high, causing some people to miss out on the chance to receive a...

The opportunity to obtain a college education is considered to be a valuable opportunity which gives people a chance to get a better job, make more money, and have a better life.  However, for many people the opportunity to obtain a college education may be out of reach due to the significant financial expenditure that is necessary.  College tuition today is extremely high, causing some people to miss out on the chance to receive a college education.

The pros of providing a free college education include:  giving students of less financial means an opportunity to attend college, helping to increase the level of education of the nation, and reducing student debt.  A free college education would give every student that makes certain grades the opportunity to go to college no matter how much money the student's parents have.  This would help to encourage students from low income backgrounds to do well in school.  In addition, the overall educational level of the country could increase, making the nation better.  Furthermore, a free college education would reduce the number of students leaving college with tremendous debt that can take years to pay off.

The cons of providing a free college education include:  higher taxes, less incentives for parents to work hard, and less incentives for students to do well in college.  Taxes would be increased because the free college education would have to be paid for with tax dollars. Furthermore, many students may not be as motivated to do well in college if neither the students nor their parents have to pay for their education.