What are the sins and punishments in canto 28?

Canto 28 of Dante Alighieri's Inferno describes people who have sinned through scandal and creating discord. The punishment here is to walk endlessly around a chasm towards the center of hell, with wounds which heal but are re-opened by the Devil and his sword at the center. The wounds described reflect the sin committed during that person's lifetime. 

For example, Dante meets the soul of Curio, who encouraged Caesar to cross the Rubicon. For his sin (giving advice which started a war,) Curio's tongue has been cut out. Dante also meets the soul of the Prophet Muhammad or Mahomet, who has been disembowled and effectively split in two. This is punishment for his perceived sin on Earth, as Dante believed that Muhammad's founding of Islam split the community of people who believed in the Abrahamic God, turning them against each other. 

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, why does Calpurnia take the children to the church? What do they learn about the Tom Robinson case?

In Chapter 12, Atticus leaves for Birmingham because the state legislature was called into an emergency session. Calpurnia decides to take the children to her church, First Purchase African M.E., rather than let Scout and Jem go to their regular church without Atticus. Calpurnia remembers the shenanigans the children engaged in the last time they went to church without Atticus and were missing their Sunday school teacher.Calpurnia tells the children that Atticus didn't mention...

In Chapter 12, Atticus leaves for Birmingham because the state legislature was called into an emergency session. Calpurnia decides to take the children to her church, First Purchase African M.E., rather than let Scout and Jem go to their regular church without Atticus. Calpurnia remembers the shenanigans the children engaged in the last time they went to church without Atticus and were missing their Sunday school teacher. Calpurnia tells the children that Atticus didn't mention whether or not their teacher would be there, and decides to take them to her church.

While the children are in church, Calpurnia tells them about the crime Tom Robinson is accused of committing. Scout tells Calpurnia that she is aware that Tom Robinson is in jail for doing something awful, but doesn't understand why Helen can't find work. Calpurnia tells Scout that nobody wants to be associated with the Robinsons because Bob Ewell accused Tom of raping his daughter, Mayella. Scout knows that the Ewells have a terrible reputation and doesn't understand why the community won't hire Helen. Scout then asks Calpurnia what rape is, and Calpurnia tells her to ask Atticus.

W.E.B. Du Bois' and Booker T. Washington were both important civil rights advocates but were extremely different in their approaches. What made...

Du Bois's method of agitation is rooted in the belief in a college education for as many people as possible. 

While both Washington and Du Bois were committed to improving the lives of African- Americans, they differed on the role of a college education. Washington favored an educational approach that was more industrial and vocational.  He believed that if people could find a niche in the post- slavery world, change would come about gradually.  He...

Du Bois's method of agitation is rooted in the belief in a college education for as many people as possible. 

While both Washington and Du Bois were committed to improving the lives of African- Americans, they differed on the role of a college education. Washington favored an educational approach that was more industrial and vocational.  He believed that if people could find a niche in the post- slavery world, change would come about gradually.  He did not openly advocate that African- Americans aspire to college education.

Du Bois's method of agitation differed in that he viewed college education as essential to transforming the lives of African- Americans.  In his essay, "The Talented Tenth," Du Bois argued that any hope for change has to rest with a college education:

The best and most capable of their youth must be schooled in the colleges and universities of the land....A university is a human invention for the transmission of knowledge and culture from generation to generation, through the training of quick minds and pure hearts, and for this work no other human invention will suffice, not even trade and industrial schools.

Du Bois believed that a college education was essential for the "training of quick minds and pure hearts" who could lead African- Americans into a new world.  The ending criticism of "trade and industrial schools" was a challenge to Washington's approach.   Du Bois saw that change could only be possible through the "exceptional men" of "the talented tenth."  College education ensured this.  Du Bois believed that the college educated person was a "group leader," and one who "sets the ideals of the community where he lives, directs its thoughts and heads its social movements."  For Du Bois, a college education sets all of these aspirations in motion.

I think that Du Bois's approach was more successful than Booker T. Washington's.  The insistence on college education is a means to ensure equality and fairness.  Washington's emphasis on vocational training has utility.  However, its application to everyone can result in political and economic inequality.  Du Bois was insistent that when people possess a college education, large scale change can be created. I think that this belief is still true today.  

In Chapters 4 and 5 of The Namesake, where does the point of view shift from one character to another?

In Chapter 4, the narration focuses on the teenage Gogol, from the family party to the scene in which he receives his father's precious book, to the long trip overseas, and on into Gogol's high school courses and to a college party he attends. Chapter 5 begins with an unusual paragraph in which the narrator gives us a detached commentary on famous people who have changed their names; it is here that you might say that the narration is truly different than anywhere else in Chapters 4 or 5, where it's focused on something more than a faithful report of what the characters are doing. The chapter then focuses again on Gogol as he completes the process of changing his first name. We stay with him as he attends college at Yale, developing a sense of independence and trying to become the different person that he feels should be "Nikhil" instead of "Gogol." The narrator describes Gogol's brief but intense relationship with Ruth, then ends the chapter with Gogol's heart-to-heart conversation with his father as he learns about the train accident in the past. Even though Ashoke is a key figure in this scene, the narration keeps a spotlight on Gogol, highlighting his feelings and reactions to the revelation.

Throughout the novel, the narrator is a particularly interesting voice; she follows individual characters for a while, then flits to others as the story heads in a different direction. Chapter 1 follows Ashima, then Ashoke; Chapter 2 follows them both but focuses more on Ashima and her growing relationship with the infant Gogol; Chapter 3 focuses on the little family as a unit, then veers off to follow Gogol on his school field trip. Like I described above, Chapters 4 and 5 are really all about Gogol, but further chapters veer off to follow other characters. The narrator even spends time on Moushumi alone when she's having her affair, toward the end of the novel, and later on Ashima again, middle aged and alone.

Throughout these transitions, the narrator's voice is smooth and factual, describing objects and characters and movements with minute precision, offering subtle cultural insights along the way. And while it's startling at times for readers to be given information by the narrator that none of the characters has access to--like whether or not something will ever happen again in a character's future--perhaps an even more fascinating thing that the narrator does is continue to call Gogol by his pet name ("Gogol") long after he changes it to his good name, Nikhil. It's as if the narrator has sided with Gogol's sister Sonia, insisting that government paperwork means nothing and that Gogol cannot ever change his name because it's who he is.

I mention all of this because we should consider the narrator's tendency to switch the focus from one character to another as one interesting and enduring aspect of The Namesake's narration, rather than a fluke or an error in the storytelling.

How does Washington Irving depict life in New York?

Two of Washington Irving's most famous short stories, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle," take place in rural New York near the Hudson River.  "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" takes place in Sleepy Hollow, New York, next to Tarrytown. Both towns are located along the Hudson River.  The two small towns are still in existence today.  "Rip Van Winkle" takes place in an unnamed village at the foot of the Catskill Mountains,...

Two of Washington Irving's most famous short stories, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle," take place in rural New York near the Hudson River.  "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" takes place in Sleepy Hollow, New York, next to Tarrytown. Both towns are located along the Hudson River.  The two small towns are still in existence today.  "Rip Van Winkle" takes place in an unnamed village at the foot of the Catskill Mountains, which are part of the Appalachian Mountain range.

Irving depicts rural New York as being quiet and peaceful with a sense of mystery and the supernatural.  The villages in his stories are full of friendly people who enjoy tradition.  Many of these people are Dutch or of Dutch ancestry.  

The natural landscapes in Irving's stories are idyllic, whether they are the looming Catskill Mountains or the winding Hudson River.  In "Rip Van Winkle," Irving describes the village near the mountains:

At the foot of these fairy mountains, the voyager may have descried the light smoke curling up from a village, whose shingle-roofs gleam among the trees, just where the blue tints of the upland melt away into the fresh green of the nearer landscape.

Rip's village is depicted as being tranquil with a green landscape and the mountains in the distance.  Tranquility is also depicted in the description of the setting in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow:" 

Not far from this village, perhaps about two miles, there is a little valley or rather lap of land among high hills, which is one of the quietest places in the whole world.  A small brook glides through it, with just murmur enough to lull one to repose; and the occasional whistle of a quail or tapping of a woodpecker is almost the only sound that ever breaks in upon the uniform tranquillity.

Irving describes Sleepy Hollow as being a quiet place, nestled between hills.  The only sounds are those of the a murmuring brook and an occasional bird.

A touch of the supernatural and mystery is evident in both locations.  In the Catskill Mountains, Rip comes across the mysterious ghostly figures of men in old Dutch costume.  Sleepy Hollow is a place where people love ghost stories.  There is a special interest in the legend of the Headless Horseman.

What are examples of literary devices in the chapter "June" of Gary Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars?

Parallelism is one literary device frequently used by author Gary Schmidt in the chapter titled "June" of The Wednesday Wars, and Schmidt uses a couple of different forms of parallelism.

Parallelism is created when a writer deliberately builds patterns in grammar and syntax; parallelism can be used to create emphasis and drama. There are many different varieties of parallelism. One variety is referred to as anapodoton; anapodoton is created when a writer deliberately constructs sentence fragments, especially a pattern of sentence fragments. We find anapodoton within the first few pages of the chapter "June" when Holling relays what the news reported about Lieutenant Baker's disappearance and rescue:

It was in all the papers. Even Walter Cronkite talked about it on the 6:30 news. How Lieutenant Baker's helicopter was shot down. How he jumped out before the helicopter hit the ground and shattered. How his leg was caught by one of the broken blades. ("June")

In this passage, each sentence beginning with the word how is actually a subordinate clause and, therefore, a sentence fragment that serves as an excellent example of anapodoton. Author Schmidt carries his anapodoton through to the end of the entire paragraph in order to emphasize the dramatic and miraculous story of Lieutenant Baker's survival and rescue.

A second form of parallelism is called anaphora, which is created when a writer deliberately repeats words and phrases at the start of sentences. The exact same passage above also contains anaphora because each sentence fragment begins with the word how. Looking further into the paragraph, we see anaphora being created with the phrase "How he":

... How he followed a river until he couldn't go any further. How he was found by a woman who already had two sons killed and didn't want anyone else to die, so she took him back to her house. ("June")

The anaphora continues until the second-to-last sentence of the paragraph and is again used to dramatize Lieutenant Baker's miraculous story.

In Tuck Everlasting, what does Winnie do with the spring water that Jesse gave to her?

Jesse Tuck gives Winnie Foster the bottle of spring water in chapter fourteen. Jesse stumbles over his words in an effort to explain why he is giving her the spring water, but he eventually makes it clear that he would like Winnie to drink the water when she is seventeen like him.  

". . . how'd it be if you was to wait till you're seventeen, same age as me—heck, that's only six years...

Jesse Tuck gives Winnie Foster the bottle of spring water in chapter fourteen. Jesse stumbles over his words in an effort to explain why he is giving her the spring water, but he eventually makes it clear that he would like Winnie to drink the water when she is seventeen like him.  

". . . how'd it be if you was to wait till you're seventeen, same age as me—heck, that's only six years off—and then you could go and drink some, and then you could go away with me! We could get married, even. That'd be pretty good, wouldn't it! We could have a grand old time, go all around the world, see everything."

For awhile, Winnie seriously considers Jesse's quasi-proposal, but she never ends up drinking the spring water. Instead, she uses the spring water to give eternal life to the book's reappearing toad. What prompts her to do this is the fact that in chapter 25 the toad is being pestered by a fairly aggressive dog. Winnie pours the spring water over the toad so it never has to worry about being attacked by that dog, or any dog, ever again.  

Winnie pulled out the cork from the mouth of the bottle, and kneeling, she poured the precious water, very slowly and carefully, over the toad. . . Then she stooped and put her hand through the fence and set the toad free. "There!" she said. "You're safe. Forever."