In "To the doctor who treated the raped baby and felt despair:" Question 1: The word "and" is repeated in the beginning of the poem and in seven...

The word "and" introduces the lines that describe the doctor treating the raped baby and his feelings afterwards. But while on the most basic level, the word "and" works to identify these lines about the raped baby, more importantly, it connects those lines to ordinary acts of compassion towards babies and children. Alone we have this (this is a sample):

and when the bleeding baby was admitted to your care...and while you staunched...

The word "and" introduces the lines that describe the doctor treating the raped baby and his feelings afterwards. But while on the most basic level, the word "and" works to identify these lines about the raped baby, more importantly, it connects those lines to ordinary acts of compassion towards babies and children. Alone we have this (this is a sample):

and when the bleeding baby was admitted to your care
...
and while you staunched
...
and when you administered an infant-sized opiate

and when you called for more blood ...

The "ands," however, call attention to the fact that this is more than just a story about a raped baby. The rape is horrible, but it happened in the context of ordinary people acting compassionately toward their children:

and while you stitched
there was another chapter of a favourite story 
and while you cleaned 
a grandpa’s thin legs walked up and down for a colicky crier

This context is extremely important: horror exists in the world but not alone: it is surrounded by all sorts of loving acts that we can forget if all we focus on is the horror. There is the horror, and there is the "and" that is not the horror.

As noted above, the poet is trying to reassure the doctor who is in despair that there's more to life than what he has just witnessed. While not thanking the doctor directly, the poem sends appreciation to the doctor for what he does:

And for the rest of us, we all slept in trust 
that you would do what you did,
that you could do what you did. 
We slept in trust that you lived.

This "and" above tells the doctor that he is not alone, but a part of a larger community that cares about what he did and that sleeps more easily because he is alive. Despite the way evil can overwhelm us, the poem suggests that good prevails. The doctor's act had meaning not just to the baby but to the larger community. 

Why there is current in a neutral conductor, but no voltage?

Well, actually, when we say that the voltage at a point X is equal to a certain value, what we're really doing is measuring the voltage difference between this point X and an implicit point. In our case, this implicit point is called the ground - in the electrical grid, neutral is the ground by our choice, with voltage equal to 0.Now, ignoring our arbitrary choices and assuming that our neutral wire is a...

Well, actually, when we say that the voltage at a point X is equal to a certain value, what we're really doing is measuring the voltage difference between this point X and an implicit point. In our case, this implicit point is called the ground - in the electrical grid, neutral is the ground by our choice, with voltage equal to 0.

Now, ignoring our arbitrary choices and assuming that our neutral wire is a normal conductor, then if you measure the voltage between two different points in this neutral conductor, which has some current flowing in it, then you will in fact find a small difference!

In most cases, this voltage difference is so small that it can be ignored for most practical uses. If this voltage happens to be big, then your neutral conductor is not doing its job.

An interesting fact is that this is true only because our neutral conductor is assumed to be a normal conductor and not a superconductor. If that were the case, then you could have current flowing in it, but no voltage difference between any two points in it! In other worlds, current can keep on existing when you have no resistances in your conductor, even when the voltage difference is 0 anywhere on it! Voltage would be necessary to keep the current flowing only when you have an internal resistance.

I am trying to write a thesis for an essay on free will in Macbeth. What could be three main ideas for the body paragraphs? These are the ideas I...

The question of whether Macbeth's tragic downfall is a result of his own actions or a result of fate or the prophecies given to him by the witches is definitely a matter of debate among readers and viewers. If you want to argue that Macbeth's fall is a result of his own actions, as it seems you do, you should be able to find plenty of evidence in the play to support your three main ideas.

You specifically asked about how to support the first main idea: Macbeth consciously chooses to listen to Lady Macbeth and allow her to influence his actions. In Act I, the letter that Macbeth sends to his wife when he is on his way home to Inverness after the battle is a useful starting point. From this letter, we can tell that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are more like equal partners than what we might expect of an aristocratic couple at this time. Macbeth confides in his wife, revealing his encounter with the witches and their prophecy that he would be king. He must trust his wife to share this information with her. Further, he sends this information right away instead of waiting until he gets home, which may further indicate how important it is for her to know this and suggests that he may want his wife's help or advice. We might infer from Lady Macbeth's ability to persuade Macbeth to go through with murdering Duncan that Macbeth is used to consulting his wife and trusting in her opinion. Ultimately, he does look to her for guidance both before and after the murder. Remember that it is Lady Macbeth who has to go back and plant the daggers on the guards because Macbeth cannot bear to look on the crime scene again. He allows his wife to not only become involved but also to take the lead. It is important to contrast this, however, with the later murders. When Macbeth has Banquo and the Macduff family killed, he does not consult his wife, does not involve her or expect her to help him, and does not even want to tell her exactly what he is planning (though he does hint to her that he's planning something without her before the murder of Banquo). At this point, Macbeth is completely in control of his own actions and is no longer relying on the persuasion of his wife.

Regarding your final idea, it's important to remember that the witches' prophecies are vague. Even though they reveal that Macbeth will be king "hereafter," they never say that he must become king immediately or that he must murder the current king to gain the throne. Macbeth does choose to act quickly on the information given, and beyond the push given to him by his wife in Act I, Macbeth does seem to consciously choose to do whatever he thinks it takes to take the crown immediately. He will not wait for "chance to crown" him, as he says in Act I, scene iii.

What is the vow that Daniel, Joel, and Malthace make?

In Chapter 7, Joel and Malthace care for Daniel, who has recently suffered an injury to his side. Joel reads a short passage from the Book of Enoch, and Daniel tells Joel that he thinks Rosh is Israel's deliverer. Daniel voices his displeasure with the Romans and proceeds to explain to Joel and Malthace why he hates the Romans so much. He tells them that his uncle was taken prisoner for not paying taxes when...

In Chapter 7, Joel and Malthace care for Daniel, who has recently suffered an injury to his side. Joel reads a short passage from the Book of Enoch, and Daniel tells Joel that he thinks Rosh is Israel's deliverer. Daniel voices his displeasure with the Romans and proceeds to explain to Joel and Malthace why he hates the Romans so much. He tells them that his uncle was taken prisoner for not paying taxes when he was eight-years-old. Daniel says that his uncle tried to escape, but the Romans kept him detained. Daniel's father, along with four other men, attempted to free his uncle when the Romans transported him to the city. They were unsuccessful, and the Romans crucified all six men. Daniel's mother also died of an illness she contracted after standing outside in the cold, watching her husband hang on the cross. Joel and Malthace are both moved by the story, and all three individuals make a new vow to fight for Israel. Thacia suggests they swear using the Maccabees' watchword. They put their hands together on the Book of Enoch and swear to stand together "For God's Victory" (Speare 85).

In Finuala Dowling's poem "To the Doctor Who Treated the Raped Baby and Who Felt Such Despair," the word 'and' is repeated on many lines. What is...

Finuala Dowling utilizes the repetition of the word 'and' at the beginning of many lines in her poem "To the Doctor Who Treated the Raped Baby and Who Felt Such Despair." The name for overusing a conjunction like 'and' is polysyndeton, and the effect is to increase the pace of the poem and to create emphasis.  Beginning lines with the same word multiple times is known as anaphora and is also used for emphasis and juxtaposing ideas.

As we examine the poem, we see that this particular repetition is used to juxtapose the horrific injuries the doctor must attempt to correct with a more tranquil episode the speaker claims is occurring elsewhere.  

This technique is effective for two reasons.  First, the increased pace mimics the movements of the operating room team as they race to save the baby. The reader feels the intensity as he, himself, does not experience pauses in the reading.  Second, the reader sees the connections between the two ideas the word 'and' links.  The first is a the soul-crushing plight of the doctor, as in "and when the bleeding baby was admitted to your care," while the next is a reassurance that the whole world is not vile, as in "faraway a Karoo shepherd crooned a ramkietjie lullaby in the veld."

With each action the doctor takes, he realizes the despicable nature of the world.  The word 'and' links his experience with another example pointing to a positive side of humanity.

Give a critical analysis of the poem "Phenomenal Woman" by Maya Angelou.

To critically examine Angelou's poem "Phenomenal Woman," let us first look at the structure. The poem is written in free verse, with an irregular rhyme scheme. It does have a clear rhythmic ebb and flow to it when read aloud. This rhythm, paired with the way the lines of the poem look on the page, is suggestive of the curves of the female form, thus allowing the structure of the poem to emphasize the theme of natural feminine allure. 

Angelou uses repetition throughout the poem to bind it together poetically, as well as to emphasize her main point. The rhythm created by the repetitions in lines like:

"The reach of my arms,
The span of my hips,
The stride of my steps,
The curl of my lips" (lines 6-9)

serve the purpose of listing the narrator's feminine attributes in a predictable way throughout the poem, but also create the rhythm and sway that evokes a curvy woman swinging her hips as she strolls down a street. 

Angelou also uses repetition in the final four lines of each stanza:

"I'm a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman,
That's me."

This chorus acts a repetition of her thesis for the poem: that her power, beauty and grace come from her inherent femininity, rather than an external trait granted by society.

Examining Angelou's word choice, one cannot escape her decision to use the word "phenomenal." According to dictionary.com, the word can have several meanings. The first and most obvious is "highly extraordinary; exceptional" and this fits right in with what Angelou is saying in the poem. Her narrator is an exceptional woman, who intrigues both men and women, but is also exceptional because she is a woman, embodying the Platonic ideal of what being a woman means and is. 

However, phenomenal directly relates to phenomenon, which means "a fact, occurrence, or circumstance observed or observable." This definition injects some irony into the poem. The narrator tries time and again to demonstrate her innate womanliness and its power, by indicating things like the "arch of [her] back" or "sun of [her] smile" (lines 38-9). To her, female beauty and power are a clear phenomenon, observable by the senses. But the men "say they still can't see" (line 36). To them, this beauty and power is a mysterious force, unknowable even when they are directly shown it. 

Most readings of the poem correctly identify the themes of confidence in oneself and inner beauty that Angelou emphasizes in the poem. However, a deeper look, as shown above, will also reveal the celebration and reverence of the feminine that Angelou gives to her narrator. 

Where does the primary action take place in "Everyday Use"?

The primary action of this story takes place at the house where Mama and Maggie live. Because Mama describes having saved up enough money many years ago to send her other daughter, Dee (now Wangero), to "Augusta to school," I assume that Mama and Maggie live in a more rural area, outside the city, in Georgia.

This is not, however, the house where Maggie and Dee spent most of their childhood because that house burned...

The primary action of this story takes place at the house where Mama and Maggie live. Because Mama describes having saved up enough money many years ago to send her other daughter, Dee (now Wangero), to "Augusta to school," I assume that Mama and Maggie live in a more rural area, outside the city, in Georgia.

This is not, however, the house where Maggie and Dee spent most of their childhood because that house burned down years ago (under somewhat suspicious circumstances—it is possible that Dee actually burnt it down). This house is similar to that house, though. 

We know that the action is taking place here in part because it is Dee who comes to them. Mama describes the way Dee "lines up picture after picture of me sitting there in front of the house with Maggie cowering behind [her]. She never takes a shot without making sure the house is included."  Although Dee hated the home she grew up in, and this house is quite similar, she is suddenly so interested in documenting it that she takes pictures of it before she even hugs her mother or sister hello.