What is the poem "How Sleep the Brave" by William Collins about?

The surface meaning of the poem is to honor those who have given “the ultimate sacrifice” to their nation.  The imagery in the poem reflects this notion of death and sacrifice and the honor paid to such individuals: “dewy fingers cold,”  the fairies with whose hands “their knell is rung,” and “their dirge” being sung by “forms unseen.”  The relationship between both those who have given the ultimate sacrifice and those who honor them is seen throughout the poem.  The poem ends with on an elegiac note: “To dwell, a weeping hermit there.”  The 2 stanza poem, consisting of six lines each, has an alternating line rhyme scheme.  “Rest” goes with “blest” and this pattern is continued throughout the poem.  The symbolic meaning lies in the honoring of those who have perished giving their lives for a nation and its freedom.  The tone of the poem is quite mournful, paying homage and respect to those that have past and understanding that there is a certain amount of stoicism involved in such a reality.  The mood or overall feeling of the poem is somber, only enhanced by images of remembrance through items associated with funerals (“knell,” “dirge”, “sweeter sod,” and “turf that wraps their clay.”)  The overall appreciation of the poem is contingent on how individuals perceive military deaths.  It seems that the poem enhances the idea that any soldier who pays this “ultimate sacrifice” is worthy of honoring and remembrance.

I am currently preparing for a test on Act 1, scenes 3, 5, 7, and Act 2, scene 2. What should I concentrate on when studying?

These scenes are key to the play because they chart the beginning of the plan to kill Duncan and seize the crown right through to the accomplishment of this crime and then the feelings of guilt afterwards.

Act I scene iii presents us with the witches as they give their prophecies to Banquo and Macbeth. You will want to consider in particular how both of these characters respond to their prophecies and the witches. Also, a key speech is Macbeth's soliloquy when he considers his own feelings to the prophecies after finding out that Duncan has made him Thane of Cawdor - what does this speech reveal about Macbeth's state of mind, and in particular his own ambitions?

Act I scene v features Lady Macbeth reading a letter from Macbeth filling her in on what has happened. You will want to think about what kind of person is Lady Macbeth as depicted in this scene? Especially focus on her speech where she appeals to the "Spirits" to "unsex" her. Also, what does she say about Macbeth and his character? How does she view her husband and his failings? Lastly, how does Macbeth appear when he enters at last? What do we make of his final speech "We will speak further." Is this doubt or hesitation?

Act I scene vii features the famous bullying scene where Lady Macbeth literally cajoles her husband into committing the murder. You will want to think about Macbeth's soliloquy at the start of this scene. What doubts does he express? Why is he worried? What does he say about ambition? Then you will want to consider how Lady Macbeth persuades her husband. What strategies does she use to talk him into it?

Lastly Act II scene ii is straight after the event. You will want to consider how the layout of speech reflects the feelings of both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. How are both presented in this scene? What do we make of Lady Macbeth's assertion that she would have committed the crime if Duncan hadn't resembled her father? How does Macbeth feel after committing the crime? How does Lady Macbeth respond to Macbeth? Who do you feel is more responsible for the crime?

Just some ideas to help you along. Try to answer each question and that will help you in your test. Good luck!

What is a good thesis statement in support of sex education in public schools?

A thesis statement in a thesis is generally a proposition or statement, which is examined in detail in the thesis, and the truth or otherwise of the statement is ascertained. Therefore, although a thesis statement may support sex education in public school, the conclusion of the completed thesis may not. Here it should be noted that the thseis involves some amount of investigation and research, and the thesis statement is finalized before start of the investigation and research. Thesis statement intended to give a direction to the research rather than indicate results of the research. Therfore the validiy or otherwise of thesis statement cannot be confirmed at the time of formulating it.

Coming to suggesting a specific thesis statement, i suggest the following:

"Sex education in public schools will lead to healthier sex behavior among the students in their later lives."

An alternative thesis statement could be:

"Sex education in public school leads to greater incidence of pre-marital sex."

While writing an essay, rather than a thesis, it will be more appropriate to talk of the subject of the essay. one suggestion on what this could be is:

"Benefits of Sex Education in Public Schools"

Victor warns Robert that acquiring knowledge can lead to destruction and infallible misery.What serious consequences might the acquisition of...

Victor stands as proof of the consequences inherent in knowledge acquisition. He relentlessly pursued information regarding death and the human body, and eventually discovered how to bring life to inanimate matter. While one might think he was seeking immorality, he claims his motives were pure; his stated intention was to help the human race and better society. Yet he created something which he, and everyone else which which it came into contact, loathed and feared, eventually driving it to kill out of frustration, anger, and loneliness. So, in Victor's case, knowledge led to the death of his entire family and closest friend, and ruin of his professional life. This is, of course, an extreme situation, but the general principle holds true in many cases.

You've probably heard the saying "ignorance is bliss." Indeed, sometimes we are much happier knowing nothing, rather than learning devastating news. Imagine the life altering news for children who are raised in cultures that talk of Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy. It's a shock to the system to learn the actual truth. Or consider another scientific example: the physicists working on the construction of the nuclear weapon, and simultaneously the destruction of the human race. Finally, to use yet another cliche "the more you know, the more you don't know." One might spend his/her entire life building up knowledge, studying every subject possible, and still remain woefully ignorant. Some believe that there are mysteries man was not meant to know, phenomena that cannot be explained. These people believe that to attempt to do so willl only cause heartache and catastrophe.

In The Maltese Falcon, is the falcon a symbol? What does it symbolize? Does the falcon have a different meaning for different characters?

In Chapter 13 Gutman explains the history of the Maltese Falcon in great detail. Emperor Charles V gave the Knights of Rhodes Malta, Gozo, and Tripoli on condition that they pay him the annual tribute of one falcon "In the acknowledgment that Malta was still under Spain." The Knights decided to give the Emperor "a glorious golden falcon encrusted from head to foot with the finest jewels in their coffers." The Maltese Falcon originated as a symbol of loyalty, and loyalty is a principal theme throughout Hammett's novel. Wilmer Cook is loyal to Gutman. Floyd Thursby was loyal to Brigid O'Shaughnessy. In Chapter 19, Gutman tells Spade that he (Thursby) "was quite determinedly loyal to Miss O'Shaughnessy"). Captain Jacobi was also loyal to Brigid. Effie Perrine is exceedingly loyal to Sam Spade. Joel Cairo is loyal to General Kemidov, although the Russian, who knows the falcon is a fake, has sent him on a wild goose chase. (Kemidov himself is probably living in exile because he was loyal to the Czar.) Even Rhea Gutman is loyal to her father. (Loyalty was an important matter to Dashiell Hammett. In The Glass Key, one man takes a terrible beating out of loyalty to a friend.) Sam Spade is loyal to his partner in a sense, although he is disloyal in carrying on an affair with Archer's wife. Spade is loyal in his determination to avenge his partner's murder. ("When a man's partner is killed he's supposed to do something about it.") Brigid expects Spade to be loyal to her, but he deliberately tricks her into confessing that she killed Archer. Brigid herself is loyal to no one. Spade is self-reliant. He trusts nobody but himself. He is loyal to no one but himself. He has a low opinion of human nature, based on his experience as a police detective--and perhaps on his own assessment of himself.

Discuss the presence of Fortinbras in Act IV scene 4 of Hamlet. What does he seem to represent to Hamlet?

Act IV scene 4 is crucial in building up a picture of Hamlet as he is forced to leave to go to England having killed Plonius and offended Claudius. As he leaves, he meets the Norwegian army that is going to fight over some "scrap" of Polish territory. Hamlet compares the willingness of soldiers in this army to go and die for something that must mean so little to them and to act on an issue that has so little personal connection to them. Fortinbras, who is fighting over this land, is an example of somebody who is willing to act and respond when he has reason. This of course is the direct opposite of Hamlet, who has significant reason for action but who has failed to act because of his procrastination. Note what Hamlet says in his soliloquy at the end of this scene about this comparison:

How stand I then,

That have a father killed, a mother stained,

Excitements of my reason and my blood,

And let all sleep—while, to my shame, I see

The imminent death of twenty thousand men,

That for a fantasy and trick of fame

Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot

Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,

Which is not tomb enough and continent

To hide the slain?

Fortinbras and the presence of his soldiers therefore stand as a sharp rebuke to Hamlet about his inaction and how he has failed to do anything about something that is so intimately connected with his identity and his family. The soldiers, and Fortinbras, are willing to risk their lives for "a fantasy and trick of fame," whereas Hamlet is not even willing to risk his life for the significant things he has suffered. Fortinbras becomes a symbol of action and responsibility whereas Hamlet sees himself as a symbol of inaction and lack of responsibility. His final words represent an effort to try and goad himself into action, as he asks that his thoughts may only be "bloody" from this point onward.

In Ender's Game, the title of chapter 11 is "Veni Vidi Vici", which means "I came, I saw, I conquered." Why is this the chapter title?

In this chapter, Ender and his crew are given a series of very difficult, complicated, unfair battles to fight.  There is little respite; it is battle after battle after battle.  Ender and his team are exhausted, stretched to their limits, and asked to perform at top-notch quality despite their weariness.  Major Anderson, at the beginning of the chapter, protests such an intense schedule:

"You can't be serious about this schedule of battles...we want to teach him, not give him a nervous breakdown...this is a little extreme."

However, despite his Major Anderson's protests, Ender is in fact given that horribly taxing schedule.  Ender comes to the battles, he sees what he is up against, and he conquers, every single time.  So, the "Veni, Vidi, Vici" title refers to the fact that Ender and his team rise to the challenge.  They show up for each battle, they size up the situation, and go in with new strategies, winning every time.  They come out victorious in the end, even though they suspect that "they want to break us down."  It is a chapter that shows just how versatile and talented Ender and his team is, and how far they can go to conquer and be successful.

I hope that those thoughts helped a bit; good luck!

What are some common themes and poetic techniques in the poems "Preludes" and "Rhapsody on a Windy Night"?

T. S. Eliot was a modernist poet who often employed the technique of "stream-of-consciousness" writing in his poetry.  To explain, modernist writers tended to be disillusioned and upset with the world, focused on the industrial nature of life (meaning, city life) and how dreary and unfulfilling that was, and on people and characters who have difficulty connecting with each other or feeling like they belong.  They also liked to experiment with the form of their writing--so, their stories didn't follow chronological order, didn't have happy endings, and toyed with alternative styles of writing like stream-of-consciousness.  Stream-of-consciousness writing is very random; it's like you are just writing down whatever comes into your head, no matter if it fits or makes sense.  If often revolves around a theme, like the city streets at night, but then jumps around quite a bit, just like our brains do when we think.  You can see this style in Eliot's poems, because he lists a bunch of images, memories, and emotions, all thrown together in seeming discorded chaos.  It's just like he opened his brain and poured the contents onto the paper.  So, there are some thoughts about his style and technique.

He uses many poetic techniques.  Imagery is one of them--using the 5 senses to capture an emotion or scene.  Take a look at these lines from "Preludes III":

"Sitting along the bed's edge, where
You curled the papers from your hair,
Or clasped the yellow soles of feet
In the palms of both soiled hands."

Here, he uses imagery to convey the weary, run-down sight of this woman preparing for the day. Or, from section II,

"The morning comes to consciousness
Of faint stale smells of beer
From the sawdust-trampled street
With all its muddy feet that press."

Here he describes the smells, sights and textures of the city streets.  Look in his poems for any descriptions using the 5 senses, and that is imagery.  He also uses personification quite a bit, where he gives inanimate objects and ideas human-like traits.  For example, from "Rhapsody on a Windy Night," he states, "The memory throws up high and dry."  Memories cannot throw; that is giving memories human-like traits.  In Preludes, there is the "winter evening settles," the shower "wraps" and "beats,".  He also uses similes (comparing something using like or as)--

"The worlds revolve like ancient women/Gathering fuel in vacant lots."

For lack of space, I'll stop there, but I hope that those thoughts get you started on techniques and style.  For themes, he has the theme of run-down, depressing life in the city, of the meaningless life of city existence and trying to find meaning there, and how hard that is.  Themes of how real, fulfilled life that has beautiful sights and smells is always lingering, taunting on the edges, just out of reach.  How he feels life should be much more, but isn't.  Good luck!

What battle strategies did each side employ in the First World War 1? how effective were these strategies?U.S. history

The main military strategies at the beginning of the war were quite different from what happened as the war went on.  No one intended for the war to last very long, and so the strategies at the beginning were short sighted in many respects.  Later, strategy and tactics both became direct and wasteful.

The German strategy was the Schlieffen Plan, which called for a wide enveloping move with massed troops (including reserves) to overwhelm the French forces by descending upon their rear and threatening Paris.  The drawback of this plan was that by violating the neutrality of Belgium, Britain would be drawn in as an antagonist.

The French strategy was Plan 17.  It called for a direct offensive into the Ruhr Valley, a task beyond the capability of the French army given the tactics and equipment of the German forces.  This also opened up the French to the crushing mass of German troops which the Schlieffen Plan called for.  The saving grace for France was that the Belgians resisted the German invasion and the British filled in the gap on the north side of the French lines.  The British army was massively outnumbered, but by a hasty retreat followed by a daring push forward into the gap between the German 6th and 7th Armies the British induced the Germans to retreat at the critical moment of the First Battle of the Marne.

The real problem on the Western Front began then.  No plan had worked, therefore the war was not decided by a short series of battles.  No one knew what to do next, so both sides engaged in flanking attacks and blocking them, until the lines reached from the Swiss border to the English Channel.  At that point both strategy and tactics became pointless.  Periodically one army or another would mount an offensive, which meant heavy artillery bombardment followed by masses of infantry (and later infantry and tank attacks).  These offensives produced incredible casualty rates, but no progress toward a military solution.

There were of course also plans made before the war by the other major powers, but they were all equally out of touch with the reality of modern war and economics.  No one had believed the economic power of European nations could sustain a major war for long, because of the interdependance of modern economies.  Unfortunately, they were wrong.  Battle plans became nothing more than plans for wasting hundreds of thousands of lives.  Even the amphibious landings on Gallipoli simply did not take effective account of modern weaponry.

The Ludendorff offensives, which the Germans hung all their hopes on in 1918, showed promise with infiltration tactics by storm troops, but the effect of initial breakthroughs on commanders was always to push on, even after resistance hardened.  The only strategies which worked were political.  The most important was that the British managed to keep the United States from opposing their blockade of both war materials and materiel bound for Germany, even if on neutral ships and bound initially for neutral harbors.  Since the two countries went to war in 1812 over the same principle, this was a major coup.

The British blockade starved Germany and Austria-Hungary, and this was followed by diplomatic pressures which eventually brought the US into the war.  Their manpower and manufacturing ability was simply too much for the Germans to continue to fight against.

In The Kite Runner,what is the meaning or significance of Hassan's scar?

Hassan's scar from having his cleft lip surgically corrected is significant for a couple of reasons.

1. A "cleft" is a division, and Hassan's cleft lip is no different in that it represents the divisions that existed in Afghanistan while he was growing up and that still exist today. Because of his Hazara ethnicity, Hassan will never be equal to or truly unifiied with other Afghans (mainly the Pashtuns like Amir). When Baba pays to have Hassan's cleft lip corrected, Hassan still has a slight scar which illustrates that even if Afghanistan seems to have "corrected" itself on the surface, there will always be scars or reminders of its divisions.

2. Near the novel's end after his encounter with Assef, Amir recovers in the hospital with many injuries, but one that is significant is the scar that he now has on his upper lip from Assef hitting him.  The scar represents not only the literal brotherhood between Amir and Hassan, but it like Hassan's scar will always be a reminder to Amir of what his redemption cost him and what that redemption was for--his betrayal of the physically and emotionally scarred Hassan.

What are 3 physical and 3 personality traits of Dick and Perry?

Perry, 3 physical traits:

1.  Perry has small, deformed legs and a muscular upper body as a result of a motorcycle accident.

2.  He is bi-racial, half Irish and half Cherokee Indian.

3.  He has weak kidneys from improper nutrition as a child, which consequently caused him to wet the bed, and caused him much embarrassment and punishment as a child.

Perry, 3 personality traits

1.  Perry seems more child-like that Dick.  He worries constantly about whether they will get caught and prefers root beer to alcohol or coffee.

2.  Perry has trouble letting go of his past.  He brings to large boxes full of letters, pictures and other memorabilia with him wherever he goes.

3.  Perry's terribly upbringing, including being abandoned by his mother, following his father around to various parts of the country, having no formal education, and the suicide deaths of two sibling, may have led to his current state as an outlaw and feeling of not belonging in society.

Dick, 3 physical traits

1.  Dick is considered the normal looking one between him and Perry.  He is white and from a middle-class family.

2.  Dick has a tall, lean build.  He played sports throughout his high school career, mainly football.

3.  Dick is more relaxed than Perry.  He consistently believes that everything will be fine, and has an easier time eating and sleeping than Perry.  Dick has also been married before and has children with his ex-wife, Carol.

Dick, 3 personality traits

1.  Dick is charismatic, allowing that, rather than his intelligence, to steer most of his life.

2.  Dick did poorly in school and resents the people who were able to go to college.

3.  Dick is attracted to young girl and his openly homophobic, though he calls Perry "honey" and "baby" throughout most of the book.  Dick seems more the "natural born killer", as it is his plan to "score" at the Clutter house.

How do I solve for a variable when it is on both sides like: 5y + 3 = 4y -1?

This is an equation in one unknown or variable y.We solve  the equation  in one unknown  by making the variable  to one side and the known or the number to the other side. We do this by simple operartions like adding the equals to both sides, or subtracting the equals to both sides , or multiplying by the equals both sides , or dividing by the equals(but not by zero) both sides of the equation:

5y+3=4y-1. Here 5y  on the left and 4y on the right are  the unknowns. 3 on left and -1 on the right are the numbers and they are known. To make the unknowns on the left and the knowns on the right with a purpose of making the unknown to be determined through the knowns, we do the following operations , one by one:

Subtract 4y from both sides:

5y+3-4y= 4y-1-4y.

Simplify by collecting the like terms together:

5y-4y+3=4y-4y-1

y+3=-1

Subtract 3 from both sides:

y+3-3=-1-3

Simplify.

y= -4.

Verification:

Substitute  the obtained solution, y=-4 in the original equation and see whether you get the same value on both sides:

Left:5(-4)+3=-20+3=-17

Righr:4(-4)-1=-16-1=-17

Hope this helps.

How were the black codes and the Fourteenth Amendment related?

The Black Codes were laws that Southern States passed in the wake of the Civil War and within Reconstruction to limit the freedoms of newly liberated African Americans in a post- Slavery South.  The codes themselves were a form of control that, while not truly slavery, sought to keep the power structure intact that prevented a great deal of mobility on the part of African Americans in a world where the social institution of slavery was noticeably absent.  Some of these codes addressed civil rights, voting rights, freedom of speech, marriage laws, as well as freedom of mobility as well as occupational opportunities.  There were a form of control that sought to prevent African- Americans from enjoying a sense of enfranchisement that the dissolution of slavery would have allowed.  Along with the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, which were known as the "Reconstruction Amendments" because of their ratification in the wake of the Civil War, the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees the rights of citizenship to all people of color.  Essentially nullifying the Dred Scott Supreme Court Case that argued that slaves were not citizens, the Fourteenth Amendment argues that the rights of citizens can be conferred on people of color, and in particular, African- Americans.  With the guaranteeing of citizenship, all the rights associated with such a status would follow, thereby nullifying state laws such as the Black Codes.  Of particular note in the Fourteenth Amendment is its Due Process clause which guarantees a sense of institutional fairness on both substantive (intrinsically legal) as well as procedural levels (the ways the laws are executed.)  With this clause, the Fourteenth Amendment was seen as bringing the full force of the Bill of Rights and the enumerated rights within the Constitution to all localities and states.  The Fourteenth Amendment was seen as a critical component of America being able to deliver on a promise to a large segment of the population who had seen for such a long period of time their hopes and dreams deferred in the worst of ways.

In The Bean Trees, does Taylor Greer leave Kentucky "to avoid pregnancy and to get away"?

In The Bean Trees, Marietta (Missy) has succeeded in graduating high school by avoiding getting pregnant and dropping out of school as a teen. She has successfully applied for a laboratory assistant position at the local hospital and has worked there for five and half years conducting tests on patient samples.

Missy has always held a dream of leaving Kentucky independent of her determination to avoid teen pregnancy and graduated from high school--both being goals that she accomplished. Once she has saved enough money, from working for five and a half years, to travel and buy an antiquated Volkswagen car, she then leaves Kentucky and gets as far as Oklahoma before her trip is called for car repairs. This information is all in Chapter 1.

What might a writer use to symbolize courage?

Often writers use symbols from the animal kingdom to symbolize courage, and this is something mankind has done for many years. For example, lions might be used as such symbols, or various birds of prey, such as the falcon or the hawk. 

Various cultures and religions have their own symbols of courage, which could easily be used by writers. In Roman mythology, Mars was the God of war, and so I suppose the planet Mars could be used as in a poem or novel as a symbol of courage and aggression. In the Hindu religion, courage is represented by Hanuman, a monkey and a general in Indian mythology.  In some African cultures, the leopard is a symbol of courage, and in astrology, Aries is a symbol of courage, too.

There are various parts of nature that might be used symbolically to indicate courage either metaphorically or literally.  One example might be a mountain that requires courage to climb.  Another might be a raging river that someone must navigate.  Generally,  the conquering of nature is a sign of courage, endurance, and strength.

I do not play any video games, but it would be interesting to know what kinds of symbols of courage appear in these.  My guess is that many such symbols are based in mythology.  What kinds of symbols of courage have you seen in movies or on television.  I don't think the symbols of courage in various media are likely to vary all that much. 

An excellent book on signs and symbols is The Illustrated Book of Signs & Symbols, by Miranda Bruce-Mitford, published in 1996 by DK Publishing Company.  It is fascinating to see what signs and symbols have been used by different groups over thousands of years. 

What do we mean by the term "environment?" Explain briefly.Short description on environment

The term "environment" refers to the natural setting in which we live.  For example, a "home environment" refers to where we live, our homes.  A "work environment" our workplace.  I would sense that your use of it might be referring to our shared ecology on the planet.  Currently, the term, "environment" refers to an ecological awareness that concerns itself with rectifying and sustaining the planet during its current challenges. Some of these involve global warming, punctures in the ozone layer, and/ or burning of fossil fuels, just to name a few.  The "environment" is the catch all term that applies to a heightened sense of ecological awareness.

The "environment" movement consists of individuals who are committed to this end.  This can take the form of two types of environmental ethical approaches:  "Shallow environmental ethic" and "deep environmental ethic."  Shallow ethic involves small scale initiatives that can be done locally and quite naturally to assist in the enhancement of the environment, and to prevent further degradation on a micro level:  Recycling products that can be reused, switching off lights when leaving a room, inflating car tires to decrease gas fill ups over time, using rain barrels to water lawns, chaging to environmental friendly light bulbs, etc.  These are small scale environmental approaches, hence "shallow ethic."  "Deep environmetal ethic" is larger in scope and attempts to achieve ecological change on structural levels.  For example, targetting companies with fines and punishment who degrade the environment, such as dumping toxic chemicals in water or polluting air, or demanding that auto makers create one energy efficient car for one "traditional" car.  "Deep ethic" believers argue that the best way to help to environment is create the foundation for long lasting change and feels that "shallow ethic" is good, but can only go so far.  Until there is a structural change in how companies and governments operate, the environment is in dire straits.

What is significant about Hamlet calling himself "Hamlet the Dane" (5.1.242)?

What's most important to note here is the capital "D" in Dane. Hamlet is not merely referring to himself as a citizen of Denmark, but as The Citizen of Denmark--i.e., the rightful king. We have heard Hamlet mull his future, his past, his place in the world, and his thoughts on the afterlife. Just moments prior to this rash declaration, he philosophized on the fleetingness of life and worldly status as he mentions that even Alexander the Great (or what is left of him) could now be part of a cork stopping a barrel. But, despite all that we've heard Hamlet's thoughts on to this point, we haven't really heard anything about whether or not he wants to be King...except for his wry comment to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in 3.2 when he states he "lacks advancement." This is an oblique commentary on his royal status (or lack of). But here, in 5.1, he recklessly jumps forward, filled with rage at Laertes, and declares himself the rightful King.

Why does he choose to do so now? Perhaps his rage alone propels him to admit this deeply held thought. Perhaps, since he is so bent on showing Laertes that he loved Ophelia more, he feels he can "one-up" Laertes even more by identifying himself as royalty. He then follows up this bold, public statement by mentioning to Horatio in 5.2 how Claudius "popped in between th' election and my hopes," indicating that he was, indeed, hoping to be elected as King.

This begs the larger question: WAS Hamlet solely motivated to kill Claudius just to avenge his father's death? Or did he have some selfish motives as well (knowing that he would be the shoo-in for King if Claudius weren't around anymore...)?

What is the significance of the title "Book the Third," and in what earlier scene does Dickens refer to an approaching storm?I need this question...

With the religious theme of redemption and with Carton as a Christ-like figure, the number 3 plays a recurring role in Dickens's "A Tale of Two Cities."  In Book the First, Sydney Carton is introduced to his dual, Charles Darnay, and by contrast to him, Sydney becomes more aware of his sin of dissipation (of drinking and of living to his potential). Then, in Book the Second, Carton awakens feelings in himself that he has believed suppressed; he pledges his love to Lucie and his friendship to Darnay.  Now, in Book the Third, in the storm of French Revolution and its blood lust, Carton fulfills his promises to the Darnay family and becomes the sacrificial lamb, who in his sacrifice, redeems himself.

The events of the third book are foreshadowed by the chapter "Hundreds of People" when Carton remarks to Lucie,

There is a great crowd coming one day into our lives, if that be so...The footsteps destined to come to all of us, Miss Manette, or are we to divide them among us?

Later, in Chapter 21 "Echoing Footsteps," this approaching storm is again foreshadowed in Book the Second:

Among the echoes, then, there would arise the sound of footsteps at her own [Lucie's] early grave; and thoughts of the husband who would be left so desolate, and who would mourn so much for her so much, swelled to her eyes  and broke like waves.

Chapters 22 and 23 further this motif as in "The Sea Still Rises" the Vengeance emerges with men who "were terrible, in the bloody-minded anger with which they looked from windows."  The crowd captures Foulon, an aristocrat who has suggested that the peasants eat grass, and they hang the man as "the blood and hurry had not changed."

In the next chapter, "Fire Rises," "lay a ruined country, yielding nothing but desolation..."  The chateau of the Marquis d'Evremonde is set fire; other fires follow and

The altitude of the gallows that would turn to water and quench it, no functionary, by any stretch of mathematics, was able to calculate successfully.

Thus, the storm of vengeance against the aristocrats in the French Revolution is sensed by Carton and Lucie, and it is later begun with single incidences that culminate in the fomented masses who guillotine aristocrats in the French Revolution, the "storm" of Book the Third.

Why did the Nazis refer to the prisoners as numbers? What other tactics did they use to dehumanize their victims?Wiesel (and other victims of...

These have all been excellent answers.  The purpose behind National Socialism was threefold, one militarist, the second corporate and state identification, and the third (and most important) was racist. The whole idea was to empty acquired territory of "undesirables," ie all who were not sufficiently Germanic in type, according to the pseudo-scientific standards of the Party.  Children "worthy of raising as Germans" were to be adopted by the state, the rest killed with their families.  Young women of sufficiently Germanic type would be bred with SS soldiers.  The land would then be populated  by a "Aryan" people, displacing all else.

The dehumanization began with propaganda against the Jews and others such as fellow traditional social scapegoats the Gypsies, and fringe semi-Protestant groups such as Jehovah's Witnesses.  In the end, dissident Germans, Catholic priests who refused to toe the political line, homosexuals, possible political opponents of Nazism and their relatives ended up in the camps, culminating in families of the old nobility in the aftermath of the von Stauffenburg Plot.  The yellow badges and the ghettos and the concentration camps came early on, then the Death Camps.  These were places like Buchenwald, where there were no great factories for the slave laborers to work, they were simply places where masses of people were shipped and killed.  At Buchenwald, the hospital had no medicines for prisoners, and no treatment was available.  A US Army engineering report by the first allied unit to enter the camp states, "The hospital was a place where moribund prisoners were sent to die."

People had to sleep crowded into bunks which were shelves where as many inmates as possible crowded in with less than a foot and a half space between the tiers.  The prisoners did not receive enough calories per day to survive on a long-term basis.  They were worked mercilessly, and of course many died every day and were sent to the furnaces.  There in most camps the gold teeth, if any, were extracted, the hair, if any, collected for the cushioning inside slippers.  The boneash was sold as fertilizer.  In Buchenwald, the number of prisoners who died in a day was preferably the same as the limits of the furnaces.  If not enough died of starvation, illness and labor the difference was made up by murder, the proper number of prisoners simply hung on meathooks and beaten with bats.

It was Emma Koch, wife of the Commandant of Buchenwald, who began the fad of using the tattooed skin of prisoners as book covers, wall hangings and lampshades.  The dehumanization of the victims of the Nazis began with propaganda and ended in the most dehumanizing and methodical murder factories in all history.  Approximately eleven million died in the camps, about 6 million being Jewish.

Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan Question For Discussion Answer Sheet !If someone could please help to answer this question. I am a principal for a...

I think you want to examine the different bird images present and think about how these bird images are related to birds that are trapped and birds that are freed. These images change over the course of the book. Think about how these images are shown in the beginning of the book where there is much in Koly's life where her "flight" is limited, where her wings are trying to be "clipped" and how these images change in the middle and end of the book. How do these images in the middle and end reflect her flight, and her sense of being able to soar without boundaries. I think this might be a good start in connecting the bird images in the book to Koly's life. The homeless bird is one where identity cannot be found and direction unknown.  This would represent Koly at the start of the novel, as she has an unknown lacks a "home" in both physical and psychological dimensions as a daughter to be married off, a wife to a dying man, and a daughter in law in a traditional setting where many women can relate to "homeless" and forlorn creatures.  Yet, as the bird invariably finds her home and is no longer homeless,  Koly's life after being abandoned in Vrindavan saw her establish her own sense of "home" in both physical and psychological senses in the establishment of her sense of independent action, identity and voice.

Which issue can most reflect the past and current South Africa based on Master Harold...and the Boys? I want to make a visual representation that...

I think that this is a wonderful idea.  One image on your poster can be people dancing, because the dance metaphor is fairly powerful.  Perhaps, you can have individuals doing different types of dances, never bumping into one another, and fulfilling Sam's belief that the dancefloor is where all is right in the world.  Another image could be the jukebox, which plays Sarah Vaughn at the end, signifying that there will always be beauty in the next day.  I think that you could have images of apartheid and racism in one aspect of the poster, along with forced labor- indicating both the social and economic issues of control in the play.  I might also toss in a picture of a kite and the heights in the clouds to which it flies, signifying better times for Sam and Hally.  One last thing:  Perhaps some dance steps, feet movement in rhythmic numbers, could be good because learning how to dance, and how not to bump into one another, takes practice and experience.

What roles do minor characters such as Charlotte Lucas and Lady Catherine play in the plot and themes of the novel?Quotes and/or references to the...

Charlotte Lucas is the intimate friend of the heroine Elizabeth (Ch.6). Jane Austen uses Charlotte to express one important aspect of the central theme of the novel, namely marriage.

Many women get married merely for the sake of getting married. This is a completely unromantic attitude to one of the most important decisions in one's life. In Ch. 6 Charlotte tells Elizabeth, "happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance."  Charlotte gets married to Collins to escape poverty. In Ch.22 we read that her brothers "were relieved from their apprehension of Charlotte's dying an old maid" and that marriage for many women like Charlotte was "the pleasantest  preservative from want." Towards the end of the chapter she tells Elizabeth, "I am not romantic, you know. I never was. I ask only a comfortable home."

Lady Catherine is the aunt of Darcy and the patroness of Collins. Throughout the novel Jane Austen attacks the snobbery of the aristocratic class through her. This can be seen especially when Elizabeth visits her at Rosings Park in Ch.29, "her ladyship with great condescension arose to receive them."

She serves as a foil to Elizabeth's character. Elizabeth's confrontations with Lady Catherine serve to highlight her independence, boldness and assertivenes, for instance in the same chapter Jane Austen tells us that whereas all the others were completely overawed by Lady Catherine and her stately home Elizabeth remains completely unfazed: "the mere stateliness of money and rank, she thought she could witness without trepidation."

Most significantly Lady Catherine serves as a catalyst to speed up Darcy's second proposal to Elizabeth. In Ch 58 Darcy tells Elizabeth that if she did not want to marry him she would have told Lady Catherine herself when she visited her at Longbourn in Ch 56. It is then that Elizabeth boldly tells her "you may ask questions which I shall not choose to answer" and hints to her that she will accept him if he proposes the second time,"and if I am that choice, why may not I accept him?" And when Lady Catherine asks her to promise not to get married to him, Elizabeth remarks,"I will make no  promise of the kind."

What is the difference between a "dominant impression" and the "thesis"?Are they the same? Do we always have to have a thesis?

There is a stated difference between "dominant impression" and "thesis statement."  While they are related, I can see where the distinction, and eventual confusion, would lie.  In descriptive writing pieces, a dominant impression is the perception that you are trying to convey to the reader.  The thesis statement is the one or two sentenced clear belief that communicates the sum total of your impressions to the reader. For example, if you are describing a visit to the hospital and you are striving to impart a feeling of gloom to the reader, the dominant impression would be all the details that contributed to this experience while the thesis statement would be your precise statement that clearly articulates your impression of your visit to the hospital.  Dominant impressions are helpful because they create the atmosphere which will give birth to the thesis statement.  The dominant impression is the garden and the surroundings that allow the flower of the thesis statement to bloom... or something like that.

All good writing must have a thesis, a central point that will be substantiated with the paper.  A clear, specific and appropriate thesis statement renders a clear vision of the paper's purpose, into which all the dominant impressions will be channeled and filtered. The qualities of a thesis statement are that it is clearly worded, defined in a context that can be substantiated and supported with detail throughout the paper, and defines the boundaries of the work.  Essentially, the thesis statement is the one sentence that permeates the entire paper; every single word, every phrase, every sentence resonates and is clearly related to that thesis statement.  Clear language, strong focus, and words that make sense to both the reader and the writer help to make a great thesis statement, through which all the dominant impressions are channeled for meaning and purpose.

What happens in Chapter 5 of The Egypt Game?

In Chapter 5, April, Marshall, and Melanie return to "Egypt" for a second time.  They clean up the yard, then begin work on the lean-to which they will use as a Temple.  When the yard looks "clean and bare and ready", and they have completed some work on the Temple, April and Melanie stop and rest for awhile, and notice "the only real door" to the storage yard which is Egypt.  The door is padlocked from the outside, and the girls conclude that it leads to the rest of the notorious Professor's backyard.  Melanie wonders what the Professor would do if he were to see them playing there, but April feels that he wouldn't care.  There is a window in the building by the padlocked door, and the girls check it out, but it appears to be covered by something that looks like a heavy curtain.  The window is very dirty, and the girls are relieved because they believe that the Professor would not be able to see out of it.

April and Melanie make plans about what they will do in Egypt.  They suggest making Marshall a pharaoh, and themselves high priestesses, and they discuss for a minute the possibility of offering the pharoah up as a human sacrifice.  Marshall is having none of that, however, and the girls assure him that it is just a game, and tell him he will just be a very important king instead.  This is the way all of the Egypt Game evolves; "nobody ever plan(s) it ahead, at least, not very far...ideas (begin) and (grow) and afterwards it (is) hard to remember just how".

After they have played for a little while, Melanie and April stop the game, having decided that they need more equipment.  They go into the alley to find what they want, and make quite a racket bringing it all back into the yard through the broken board which is their entryway.  They are so busy that they do not notice when the curtain on the Professor's window is moved aside, but "someone with very sharp eyes", presumably Marshall, does (Chapter 5).

How do you answer questions in short (MLA) format?I have summer work that I am doing and that is how my teacher wants us to answer the questions.

There is not such a thing "short format" in the MLA guidelines for style.  Your teacher might be referring to the way you punctuate titles of short fiction, or perhaps he or she is instructing you that the short answers you provide must be formatted using MLA rules.  I am not able to determine based on the information you gave, but I will give you the basics of MLA formatting and some links that should be helpful.

When submitting any paper in MLA format, your information should be typed, double-spaced, using 12 pt. Times New Roman or similar font, and using 1 inch margins on all sides.  In the upper left hand corner of the first page, be sure to have your name, your instructor's name, the name of the course and the date.  Again, be sure to double-space.  Double space again after this and put a title, centered.  Double space again and begin your work.

On every page, there should be a header in the upper right hand corner, justified to the right margin, and 1/2 inch from the top of the paper.  The header should be your last name and the page number, in that order.

Be sure to use proper punctuation for all titles referred to in your paper.  If it is a book, movie title, etc., then you should use either underlining or italics - be consistent with whichever one you choose.  If it is a song, poem, chapter in a book, etc., then you should use quotations mark.

Use parenthetical citations for any information obtained from another source, and be sure to include a works cited page.

The links below give you much more detail about the process.  Use them to guide you.

Neville Chamberlain "On Hitler's Invasion of Poland"-- Why does Chamberlain believe a declaration of war against Germany is necessary ?

The fundamental premise of Chamberlain's address to the House of Commons in speaking "On Hitler's Invasion of Poland" is that war between the United Kingdom and Germany was to be avoided.  Chamberlain makes the painstaking case that he pursued open and back door diplomatic channels through Germany to ensure that Poland will be left untouched.  The policy of appeasement, to which there is mild reference, was vociferously pursued by the European leaders, especially Chamberlain.  This policy stated that if Hitler and the Nazis were given lands in Eastern Europe, they would promise through written agreement to leave Poland alone.  Unknown to Chamberlain in his address is that Hitler and Russia's leader, Stalin, had agreed to carve up Poland between them, and Russia would be left alone.  This guaranteed that Hitler would not have had to deal with Russian threats, and would move close to his goal of complete control over Europe.  It is evident in this speech that Chamberlain had no idea that this agreement was reached.  We hear consistently of the idea of "this white piece of paper," referring to the original agreement Hitler signed indicating he would not attack Poland.  When Chamberlain makes his case for war, he does so with a noticeably heavy heart indicating that "Everything that I have worked for, everything that I have hoped for, everything that I believed in during my public life, has crashed into ruins."  He is resigned to the fact that war is needed, and his speech makes clear that he wants to expand the military draft for British men, expand the ability to use the armed forces for defense and enter into the conflict.  His declaration of war against Germany is necessary because he feels that Germany's motives are clearly aggressive and confrontational and that the German nation, motivated by "Hiterlism," is not going to honor any diplomatic agreements.  Chamberlain's original belief of "peace in our lifetime," is permanently dashed when Germany invades Poland.  In the process, Chamberlain also realizes that his politics of appeasement, something that he convinced the British public to adopt, is forever repudiated and rejected.  It would only be a matter of time before he would be repudiated and rejected and Winston Churchill, complete with his Bowler Hat and Cigar, would assume control.

Describe how Dimmesdale has changed since Hester's public punishment.This question is asked concerning Chapter 8, but try as I might, I cannot come...

Arthur Dimmesdale stands by wordlessly and watches Hester bear the shame and humiliation of pubic punishment for the sin for which he was as responsible as she. His guilt for having violated the laws of his church is deepened by his guilt for remaining silent. From that moment, his physical and spiritual deterioration begins.

In Chapter 8, Dimmesdale interacts with Hester for the first time since she had stood on the scaffold. When it appears Hester might lose possession of Pearl, she communicates in an unspoken way that Dimmesdale must help her. He does. He dares to speak up, making a strong case for Hester keeping her child, explaining his reasoning in regard to the spiritual benefits that would result from Hester and Pearl's staying together. The strength of Dimmesdale's vehement appeal is not lost on Roger Chillingworth as he observes the scene.

Finally, Dimmesdale's previous isolation from Hester and Pearl is broken again when the child--his child--takes his hands into her own and lays her cheek against them. Dimmesdale's response is significant:

The minister,—for, save the long-sought regards of woman, nothing is sweeter than these marks of childish preference, accorded spontaneously by a spiritual instinct, and therefore seeming to imply in us something truly worthy to be loved,—the minister looked round, laid his hand on the child's head, hesitated an instant, and then kissed her brow.

There is a tenderness in him toward Pearl that has not been demonstrated previously. These feelings surely would have made his guilt and isolation even more difficult to bear.

What is the "scar" that is repeatedly mentioned in Lord of the Flies?

The scar referred to several times in passing while Golding describes the island is the path that the crashing plane tore through the jungle. The first paragraphs mention the scar, but don't go into detail. The reader can imagine how large and devastating the path must look, but Golding understates it. Piggy explains that the plane went down in flames, causing tree trunks to fall as it crashed. Observing the damage to the landscape, Piggy says, "this is what the cabin done." The cabin of the downed plane was washed out to sea in the storm.

The scar is a subtle reminder of the trauma the boys have experienced, a topic which Golding leaves largely unexplored. Although the younger boys are plagued by nightmares and some of the older boys wistfully discuss their missing parents and caregivers, little time is spent describing the horror of the evacuation, crash landing, or possible loss of some friends or acquaintances in the crash. It seems likely that some boys died in the crash or drowned when the cabin was washed out to sea.

This scar on the landscape mirrors a scar in each of the boys' hearts. They have each suffered trauma, and they also have each been damaged by their associations with the outside world and by their contact with "mankind's essential illness." Just as the island is marred by the results of human conflict and violence (the nuclear war taking place in the outside world), so the boys are tainted with humanity, a depravity that they cannot escape because it is a permanent part of them.

Which door did the lover of the princess open in "The Lady, or the Tiger"?

Nobody knows for sure, and we will never know! Isn't that maddening? The surprise, unresolved ending of the story has engendered many conversations about what the young man found behind the door. Did the princess love him enough to save his life by giving him up to another woman, or was she jealous and completely selfish? Would she rather see him dead than married to a beautiful woman whom she despised? The young man's fate depends on how the reader views the princess, in particular, and human nature, in general.

In Chapter 2 of Great Expectations, how does Dickens arouse our sympathies for certain characters?In Chapter 1, what is surprising about the...

In Chapter 2, Dickens arouses the reader's sympathies for Pip and Joe Gargery at the expense of Mrs. Joe.  Mrs. Joe is rough and domineering, while the two males are passive and gentle, "fellow-sufferers" under Mrs. Joe's tyrannical hand.  Mrs. Joe is described as "not a good-looking woman...(who) must have made Joe Gargery marry her by hand".  She wears "a coarse apron" all the time, blaming the fact that she has to wear it on Pip and Joe, because of all the work they cause her.  The apron has a "square impregnable bib in front", symbolic of the suppression of her womanhood and all womanly qualities.  Pip, as established in the previous chapter, is small and insignificant, and Joe is described as "a mild, good-natured, sweet-tempered, easy-going, foolish, dear fellow - a sort of Hercules in strength, and also in weakness".  Before the tempestuous nature of Mrs. Joe, the two try to get by as best they can together (Chapter 2).

In Chapter 1, the narrative point of view adopted by Dickens is throught Pip's eyes.  This is a little surprising, because Dickens goes out of his way to present Pip as an insignificant character.  Pip is an orphan who "never saw (his) father or (his) mother, and never saw any likeness of either of them".  Five of his infant siblings are dead, and he himself is portrayed as a "small bundle of shivers growing afraid of it all and beginning to cry".  Pip is "undersized, for (his) years", and completely "helpless" and terror-stricken in the hands of the convict.  It is a bit surprising that such a weak, completely vulnerable character would be given the important job of providing the narrative point of view of the novel (Chapter 1).

How and why did things fall apart?Identify what you interpret to be major theme(s) and /or messages of Things Fall Apart. grrrrrr, i thought...

The title can be seen as a direct effect of European colonization/ Imperialism in Africa.  Certainly, this holds credence.  The presence of European powers in Africa disrupted much and caused a breakdown of the social structure in Africa.  The Europeans entered the worlds of Africa, Asia, and South America with the belief that they were "bringing" civilization to "the darker regions of the world."  Okonkwo's dismay at the results of Imperialism on his once proud village causes him to respond in the manner he does. 

The fact that the European presence, as depicted in the novel, fails to recognize that an established sense of order, tradition, and honor had already existed prior to their arrival goes to show that the collision of the two cultures resulted in things falling apart for the indigenous people of the region.  However, we can see the protagonist as an individual for whom things had already fallen apart in his own setting.  Poised as separate from generations (seeking to be completely different from a father he deems as lazy and a son he deems to be "not enough man"), Okonkwo is poised in a predicament where things are either close to falling apart or have fallen apart.  The internal drive and demons that drive him to work as hard as he does and accomplish what he does cannot placate the feeling that he is not at peace. 

This might be the underlying cause of his actions that cause him to be banished from the village.  While there is a social level where "things fall apart" when European imperialism comes to Igbo, there is also a personal and psychological dimension to Okonkwo that demonstrates "things fall apart" in his own mind.  The desire to uphold a self imposed view of being a man, the inability to make peace with his own sense of self, and the lack of understanding to make situations work while maintaining his own voice could also constitute the setting where "things fall apart/ the center cannot hold."

I have not been able to identify the tone, mood, and antagonist in "The Lottery".

The tone of the Shirley Jackson short story, "The Lottery" is one of objectivity. The events that transpired are relayed to the reader as if the narrator is a casual observer of the events. The mood is one of festivity with undertones of mysteriousness. The children are laughing and playing, the men are gathered and joking, but no one is laughing. There is a sense of tenseness that seems out of place for the "town picnic" like atmosphere.

The lottery itself is the antagonist as it represents the villagers reluctance to let go of outdated traditions, and it turns friends against each other such as when Mrs. Delacroix tells her friend Mrs. Hutchinson, "Be a good sport; We all took the same chance."

What is Neo Classical Poery? What are the main features of the poetry of this age?long answer

Neoclassical poetry comes from 18th and 19th century American colonial contributors with conservative values.  It is made up of heroic couplets - two lines of iambic pentameter that rhyme, and each of these couplets is thought to express complete thought and rhyme.  Some features of neoclassical poetry are that man is rational, that man's purpose is to teach and to entertain, and that literature is a craft to be appreciated for its correctness.  This poetry focuses on humans and human qualities.

Why does Pip "embroider" his account of his visit to Satis House? Charles Dickens's "Great Expectations"

Ironically, Pip believes that if he truly relates what occurred at Satis House, he sister will think it too fantastic a tale to be given credibility.  So, he edits the appearance of the inhabitants and the house and the actions that have occurred.  In addition to feeling that no one will understand Miss Havisham, Pip also feels that there is something "coarse and treacherous" about his revealing the truth of her character and appearance.  Interestingly, in this sentiment there is also irony as Pip reveals that he is of a noble character although he perceives Estella and Miss Havisham as superior to him.

Added to the convictions of Pip regarding his report of his visit to Satis House is his repulsion of the preposter, Uncle Pumblechook who hurries to Joe's house to learn the news.

And the mere sight of the torment with his fishy eyes and mouth open, his sandy hair inquisitively on end, and his waistcoast heaving with arithmetic, made me vicious in my reticence.

While Pip fabricates an elaborate story about what he has seen and done, he does tell the truth about the house being lit with only candles, for he realizes that Pumblechook is aware of this fact although he knows nothing of the inside of the house since he must wait outside whenever he does business there.

Later, however, Pip confesses to Joe that he has lied and that he feels very miserable because Estella has made him feel common. In fatherly fashion, Joe instructs Pip that "lies is lies."  But, he tells Pip, lying is no way to get out of being common; besides, Pip is "uncommon in some things," he lovingly comforts Pip.

Discuss the idea of Sophie's Choice and The Reader showing us that the holocaust was not black and white but rather one million shades of grey.

Both works evoke a great deal of complexity within the Holocaust through the narratives of the protagonists.  On first glance, Hanna's story seems straight forward:  A Nazi guard who was responsible for the death of innocents.  Yet, when analyzing her story, the nuances represent complexity and intricacy.  For example, she only takes the promotion as a guard within the Nazi apparatus to conceal her illiteracy.  Additionally, she does not voice or actively advocate Nazi ideology, contributing to the understanding that she lacks a sense of power.  Her story is not one of deliberate cruelty, but rather ignorance.  Finally, she gains literacy through her imprisonment and then gains the moral evolution to understand her role and complicity, and the private sense of guilt that accompanies her function.  In the final analysis, Hanna is not a simple character for whom moral clarity and judgment is an absolute.  Rather, her situation is one where delicacy and qualification replace a sense of dogmatism.

On first glance, Sophie's story is one of straight victimization, another of millions of tales of people who endured immense loss and tragic conditions through the Holocaust. Yet, scrutiny of her situation reveals more nuances.  She is not Jewish, but rather Polish.   This is essential to her character for she does voice anti- Semitic thoughts and hails from an anti- Semitic background from her father and husband.  Additionally, she acts in accordance to the idea of survival, as opposed to direct solidarity.  Sophie is not one who accepts her role as a victim of the Holocaust, thinking that she can conspire to save both herself and her children.  Her desire to see her boy participate in the Lebensborn program is one that perpetuates the thinking which gave rise to the Holocaust.  She is tormented by her feelings of being both victim and perpetrator, self pity and self hate.  Such a rendering is not the traditionalist notion of Holocaust victimization.

Perhaps, the ultimate message arising from both narratives is that the complexity and analysis required to judge individuals is critical in preventing the dogma and absolutism that allowed the Holocaust to develop.

What perspectives do Lady Macduff and her son provide that have not as yet found their way into this play about political intrigue and ambition?

The tender scene between Lady Macduff and her son occurs shortly before they are murdered and ends in their final moments as they both die. This introduces new elements into the play in terms of the human toll exacted by Macbeth's savage tyranny. Here for the first time, we see a mother interacting with her young son; the love between them is obvious as they banter back and forth. Beneath Lady Macduff's teasing, however, her anxiety is obvious. Her husband and their protector has left them to join forces against Macbeth, answering a call to duty so strong that it draws him away from his family during a time of great political unrest in Scotland. Lady Macduff's fear and the sacrifice thrust upon her no doubt mirrors those of other wives and mothers in Scotland. Because we come to know Lady Macduff and her little boy personally, even for a few moments, their murders are then even more abominable.

In "Birches", what does the speaker mean when he comments that he hopes that fate will not "half grant" what he wishes?

In the poem "Birches", Robert Frost describes a pastime he used to enjoy as a young boy.  He liked to climb high up in the birch trees, then, at just the right point, swing himself over so that the tree would bend, bringing him back safely to the ground.  It required a certain amount of skill to do that just right; he would have to climb "carefully with the same pains you use to fill a cup up to the brim, and even above the brim".  Timing and balance was everything; he would climb as high as he could, then swing over at just the right time so that the tree would bring him gently back down to earth, bending, but not breaking.

The poet remembers the feeling of exhilaration he used to feel, "conquer(ing)" the tree, climbing high to the top to escape the binds of the earth for a moment before returning.  Now that he is older, he longs to have that same feeling of escape when times are tough, when "one eye is weeping from a twig's having lashed across it open".  During these times he'd "like to get away from earth awhile...then come back to it and begin over".  He makes it clear however, that he wants the respite to be only temporary; he does not want "fate (to) willfully misunderstand (him) and half grant what (he) wishes and snatch (him) away, not to return".  Frost has no death wish.  He does not want fate to grant only part of his wish, the part about escaping the hardships of life, without making sure that it will grant the second part as well, the part about allowing him to come back down to earth.  He wants his whole wish, to be able to "climb...toward heaven", but not to stay there yet; he wants to make sure that the tree "dip(s) its top and set(s) (him) down again" when he is done.  The poet believes that despite the fact that it sometimes gets tiresome, "earth's the right place for love:  (he doesn't) know where it's likely to go better", and though at times he wants a break, in the final analysis, he wants to be sure he gets to stay on earth awhile longer.

What is leadership?

Leadership refers to the influence that certain individuals have on other people’s actions in an organizational context. The leader is the person who, because of his formal and / or informal status (power, prestige, influence), mobilizes, influences, organizes and leads groups and activities towards setting and achieving results.

As it can be noticed from the above definition, besides prestige and influence, power has an important role, as it has five sources:

ü      The power to offer rewards (the leader is entitled to reward individuals who achieve certain results);

ü      coercive power, which is the opposite of the first source (it is based on individuals’ fear to receive negative sanctions);

ü      legitimacy (the power exercised by a leader due to his status);

ü      referential power (it is based on the leader’s charisma);

ü      Professional power (defines the leader’s skills in certain areas, being recognized by others.

It should be noted that the definition of the situation has an important role because these sources of power are based on the perception of others, on the way in which the others perceive the leader. If people don’t believe in his power, then he has no power.

There are 10 principles that can increase the honor and power of a leader: the power of persuasion, patience, kindness, availability to learn, tolerance, kindness, sincerity, comprehension, consistency, integrity.

Describe how the Salem tragedy is seen as a paradox.

There are several layers of paradox that are offered through Miller's work.  The most glaring paradox is that the Salem power structure sought to reveal truth through the construction of forced confessions, innuendo, and lies.  An authority that was supposedly committed to exposing the truth exposed more deception.  Another paradox can be seen in Abigail Williams, herself.  She parlays her perception of innocent victim as the critical vehicle for perpetrating acts of complete malevolence and cruelty.  She knows very well how to manipulate people into believing what they would construe as truth and does so through deception.  The paradox is that the victim is actually the perpetrator.  Another paradox is the social setting of fear and paranoia that convinces good people to commit bad acts.  Elizabeth Proctor, by all accounts, is a good person.  Yet, she is forced to lie about her knowledge of her husband's affair.  The paradox is that someone who represents virtue must engage in vice.  John Proctor, himself, is an ordinary man who must assume extraordinary status in a setting where morality and courage are destitute. These paradoxes comprise the play and the development of its themes.

"No word, no expression could body forth the kind of relation in which she stood to me--my more than sister, sine till death she was to be mine...

We also see foreshadowing with this quote. Victor is incredibly possessive of Elizabeth, and in the original manuscript, Shelley intended for them to be cousins. She separated the relationship a bit more in the published version, but there is still an unsettling amount of obsession on Victor's part. this also sets up Victor's devotion to Elizabeth, which comes into play later when he frantically rushes home to escape his monster. Even his decision to create & then destroy the female counterpart to his own monster is driven by thoughts of protecting his love at all costs.

The future hint is seen at the last line "till death she was to be mine only." We know that Victor intends to marry Elizabeth, so we must ask ourselves: What could possibly separate the two by death? Whose death? Who will be responsible? The foreshadowing lets us know death will be imminent, but leaves us in suspense.

What does the liver do?

I really want to say everything, but that would not be correct. After going through the transplant evaluation process for my husband, I was amazed at what I learned.

The liver removes toxic substances from the blood, regulates glycogen storage and secretes bile which is an enzyme used in digestion. The liver is able to remove ammonia from the blood which is a waste product from protein digestion as well as many other amazing processes. The liver regulates blood platelet production. The liver is also part of the thermostat of the body as many persons who are dealing with liver failure complain of being cold all of the time.

The liver affects the processes of many other organs. If the liver is failing, then the kidneys will also begin to fail. In fact there is no way to replicate the processes the liver does, so if a person is in liver failure, the only possible help for that person is a liver transplant. There is no "liver machine" as there is a kidney machine. The liver can rejuvenate and restore itself. It is the only organ that can do this. However, once beyond a particular stage in liver disease, the liver can no longer heal itself. This is called decompensated cirrhoses. Liver disease can be caused by heredity (hemochromatosis), toxin exposure, acetomeniphen (tylenol) overdose, alcoholism, hepatitis and a variety of other factors.

The liver is one organ which weighs about 2-3 lbs. It consists of 2 lobes and lies just under the diaphragm under the lungs.  Directly behind the liver is the gallbladder which takes up unused bile.

What is your first impression of Henry Fleming in Red Badge of Courage? What challenging or stressful situations does Henry face?

The first impression the author gives us of Henry Fleming is that of a youth who is totally untried.  As the soldiers around him give their various opinions about when they will see battle, Henry is silent, listening with "eager ears...to the varied comments of his comrades".  He leaves the company of the others to lie for awhile on his bunk, so that he can ruminate in private "some new thoughts that had lately come to him".  He is in "a little trance of astonishment" at the thought that "on the morrow, perhaps, there would be a battle, and he would be in it".

Henry has no idea about what war is really like.  He has an idealistic view of battle; he

"had burned several times to enlist...Tales of great movements shook the land...there seemed to be much glory in them.  He had read of marches, sieges, conflicts, and he had longed to see it all.  His busy mind had drawn for him large pictures extravagant in color, lurid with breathless deeds".

In a flashback to Henry's homelife before he became a soldier, the author shows that Henry's romantic view of war had been tempered by his mother's practicality.  She countered his fantastic yearnings with "many hundreds of reasons why he was of vastly more importance on the farm than on the field of battle".  The influence that Henry's mother had on him is further proof of his extreme youth.  He was young and inexperienced enough so that her discouragement had a great effect on him; he still believed "that her ethical motive in the argument was impregnable".

Finally, though, Henry made "firm rebellion" against his mother's dissent.  In an "ecstasy of excitement", he announced to her that he was going to enlist, and he followed through on his resolve.  Having met the challenge of making his own decision and acting on it, Henry was disappointed in his mother's reaction.  Instead of the "beautiful scene" he had imagined would take place when he set off for the fields of battle, his mother had responded in a completely practical manner, attending to the details of seeing that he had proper provisions for his journey, and giving him sage reminders about how to behave.

Although his mother bade him leave almost dispassionately, she was in actuality deeply hurt and saddened by his decision.  Henry must deal with feelings of guilt upon leaving, as he looks back to see his mother carrying on with the interminable work on the farm alone, while "her brown face, upraised, (is) stained with tears...her spare form...quivering" (Part 1).

Compare and contrast the poems "Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd" by Sir Walter Raleigh and "The Passionate Shepherd To His Love" by Marlowe.

While these two poems are related (specifically, one is the "answer" to the other) and share many things, they are fundamentally two different types of poetry.  Let us first look at the superficial differences and similarities, and move to the deeper ones.

The meter (that is, the number of syllables and beats per line, and the placement of the stressed syllables) is very similar -- although not exactly so -- in these two poems.  Specifically Ralegh (his name, like Marlowe's, can be spelled several different ways -- Elizabethan spelling is not an exact science!) is copying, with slight changes, Marlowe's "Come (or to or then) live with me and be my love" line (lines 1, 20, and 24 of Marlowe, lines 4, 20, and 24 of Ralegh) for which Marlowe's poem became famous, so the meter would have to match in order to fit this line into a poem with any sort of regularity.  The meter of both poems is a very regular iambic tetrameter (4 beats to the line), with the vast majority of the lines containing exactly 8 syllables (each poem varies only 5 lines out of 24.) The rhyme scheme for both is aabbcc, etc, with first stanza rhymes (aa in Marlowe's case, bb in Ralegh's) repeating in later stanzas.  These are doubtless very similar poems, and each with a pastoral (meaning an imaginary world of rural lovers) setting and speaker.

But beyond these similarities of poetic form and subject, what is different about these poems?  The answer is tone.  Marlowe's poem, written first, is (as far as can be determined) an entirely sincere poem written in the very old and hallowed pastoral style of the entirely imaginary educated Shepherd wooing his beloved (a nymph, or perhaps a maiden) with gifts and promises of an enchanted rural life.  This is poetic form rather than a reflection of reality, for very few real shepherds in Marlowe's day could have provided "coral clasps and amber studs", or any other of the gifts described.  Marlowe's poem, written in an old and codified form, nevertheless expresses a real emotion.  You could compare it to rap music, in which certain slang words and tropes are used that are familiar and repeated in other songs, but can still express a true emotion of the singer. 

By contrast, Ralegh's poem is a satire of Marlowe's.  Ralegh takes Marlowe's sincere poem, and turns it into a realistic rebuttal of the silliness of pastoral love poetry's promises and images (and it is perhaps a satire on the very idea of codified forms of poetry itself -- both ideas would probably have amused Marlowe just as much as Ralegh).  Ralegh takes all of Marlowe's images and, in the voice of the previously silent "nymph" explodes the myth of pastoral love.  It begins "If all the world and love were young" (Ralegh line 1)  -- which the world and love certainly are not -- and she commences to show how all of the Shepherd's promises are either impossible or impractical.  For this, one has to assume that Marlowe thought of his original Shepherd as a real person, and not a poetic expression (which he almost certainly did not) -- it is a bit like addressing political questions to a Sesame Street character.  It is inherently funny, and Ralegh continues this theme, and even gets a little dark at the end of the poem.  Not only, Ralegh says, are formal poetry and buccolic love impossible, but "Had joys no date nor age no heed", bringing up the spectre of death. 

Please discuss the contributions of Chaucer as the architect of Modern English.

After the Norman Conquest of 1066 in which William the Conqueror of Normandy (part of France) and his Norman noblemen eradicated Harold of Hastings and the Saxon nobles, French became the official language in England.  All written works were put in French including literature.  (For instance, the Arthurian Legends are in French). 

Then, Geoffrey Chaucer, whose last name is the French form of the word shoemaker, came along in the second half of the thirteenth century (1343-1400).  Chaucer, who was bilingual, as were many in his time, was greatly influenced with the matter and style of French poetry.  However, when he realized how people of his time delighted in stories, he gave these to them.  Thus, the Canterbury Tales began.  Perhaps because this work is about the pilgrims whom Chaucer had observed so often in England, he put the tale in their language of usage.  Also, there was a bias toward French and an English work could be easily more popular.

According to luminarian.org, Chaucer's influence on the English language is overrated as it was a natural progression for the written language to become English.  Nevertheless, the tremendous popularity of "Canterbury Tales" certainly contributed to this progression.  His assigning of full value to every syllable in the lines in Canterbury Tales had to have had an effect upon the development of Modern English.  Certainly, too, the vocabulary and meanings of words that have originated from French are present in his works; many of these words remain in Modern English (60% of the words in Modern English originate from French).

Chaucer is also known for metric innovation.  It is he who initiated the use of iambic pentameter into popular works.  He also employed rhyming couplets.  His poetry is credited with helping to standardize the London dialect of Middle English, although some linguistics think that the influence of the court was a more powerful influence on the changes made.  The Oxford English Dictionary credits Chaucer, with his ear for common speech, as employing many current English words into his works, thus furthering the development of Modern English by way of Middle English.  Of course, the fact that "The Canterbury Tales" was one of the first books to be published and widely read has contributed to the powerful influence of Chaucer upon the English language.

What do chapters 27 and 28 of "Great Expectations" show about Pip’s snobbery?

In "Great Expectations" Pip receives a letter from Biddy that Joe is going to visit Pip in London.  Pip reacts,

Not with pleasure, though I was bound to him by so many ties; no, with considerable disturbance and some mortification.  If I could have kept him away by paying money, I certainly would have paid money.

While Pip is not so worried about Joe's meeting Herbert, he does not want Joe to meet his enemy Drummle who would use Joe's low stature against Pip. (Pip is here so concerned about his social status.)  At this point, Dickens has his narrator Pip voice one of the many observations on human nature:

So throughout life, our worst weaknessess and meannness are usually committed for the sake of the people whom we most despise. 

When he hears Joe arriving, Pip speaks of hearing his clumsy manner of climbing stairs and the cluncking of his boots that are "always too large" for him.  Uncomfortable in his new clothes and foreign situation, Joe also senses Pip's anxiety over his visit.  He apologies to Pip as they part, telling the new gentleman that he will not visit London again, "I'm wrong out of the forge."

As Joe leaves, Pip realizes his snobbery and regrets that he has treated his once beloved friend in this manner:

As soon as I could recover myself sufficiently, I hurried out after him and looked for him in the neighboring streets; but he was gone.

How does the setting of To Kill a Mockingbird affect the novel?Consider how the setting (time, place, AND cultural attitudes and norms) contributes...

The setting of the story, the deep south during the Great Depression, is very important to the story.  Race relations hadn't changed a great deal from the 1930's to the late 1950's when Harper Lee wrote the novel, so she could write about a past time from a view into her current time.  Blacks in the south were segregated as many southerners, like many people, did things the way their parents and grandparents did them and thought the way their parents and grandparents thought.  In the 1930's, the Civil War was 70 years old, but the grandparents of adults during 1930's would have probably had a clear memory of it.  People didn't travel much in the 1930's due to lack of money and lack of opportunity.  People were much more provincial then than they are now because, in part, we have mass media and easy access to travel.  That provincialism helped maintain the views of southerners from the Civil War through the 1930's and beyond.  All of that information makes it easier to understand why some of the characters in the story acted the way they did, particularly the uneducated ones.  The jury in the Tom Robinson trial was made up mostly of farmers who would have had a very limited education, so their prejudices ran deep.  That doesn't excuse what they did, but it does help explain it.  If the story had been set in a more modern time after the Civil Rights movement, there would have been less chance of a guilty verdict, no matter where the story was set.  Also important to the story's setting is the fact that the story does take place in the rural south.  These people were greatly and negatively affected by the Great Depression.  Many of the small farmers, like the Cunninghams, couldn't make ends meet with what was grown on their farms.  They were angry and bitter and sometimes that anger came out at any convenient source such as when the group of farmers planned to lynch Tom at the jail.  The setting was essential to the story so that the reader could see how ignorance bred prejudice and enlightenment banished it.

In "The Cay", how did Phillip help Timothy and what did Timothy want Phillip to do?In chapters 9 through 12.

Timothy helps Phillip in a great many ways. Indeed, without Timothy's help, Phillip would not have survived the attack on the ship, made it to the cay, or managed for himself on the island. In chapters 9-12, Timothy weaves a rope from vines for Phillip to use to guide himself around the island (since he is blind). Timothy also makes a cane for Phillip.

What Timothy wants Phillip to do is to become more independent. He foresees, perhaps, a time when he will not be able to help Phillip, and wants his friend to have the skills necessary to survive on his own. To that end, he insists that Phillip weave palm fibers into sleeping mats for their hut. He also encourages Phillip to climb into the palm tree to get coconuts. Phillip does these things, although at first he is angry at Timothy for pushing him.

In the end, it does become important for Phillip to have the skills and confidence to survive independently. These are some of the greatest gifts that Timothy of Charlotte Amalie bequeaths to his friend.

How can managers use the concepts of the bureaucratic viewpoint to increase the efficiency of their operation?

Bureaucratic viewpoint refers to the model of management developed by Max Weber (1864-1920). Weber developed a system of management he called bureaucracy, which literally means management by departments. Bureaucracy, as proposed by Weber relies on methods such as:

• Division of labour: Dividing the total work of an organization in clearly defined positions.


• Hierarchy:arranging the various position an organization having a clear hierarchical structure.,


• Formalized rules: Developing formal rules and procedures for all work to be performed and decision to be taken. It was envisaged that these rules will identify and prescribe the best way of doing every job in the organization.


• Impersonality: subjective discretion to be eliminated totally. Irrespective of the person occupying a position, the work will be performed in the same way as it will be dictated by the formal rules and procedures rather than subjective judgements. Further the authority of person should be based entirely on the position occupied rather than on personal charisma.


• Selection and promotion base on ability:It is supposed that there is one best person for every job, and the management mus try to find such best person for every job.

The bureaucratic model of management is found to be very effective for managing simple and repetitive activities under stable environment. However this style of management also tends to promote rigidity, and therefore is not very suitable for organization operating in changing or uncertain environment. Also it is not suitable for businesses requiring high degree of innovation.

What contributes to the feeling of Thornfield Hall having a very Gothic atmosphere?

Several components contribute to Thornfield Hall having a very Gothic quality.  As each is listed, pay attention to the text to see how Bronte substantiates such a description.  The hall itself, is very large, and gives way to mystery.  Jane is initially struck by its larger than life form and its very enigmatic nature.  Jane's descriptions of it lends it to be seen as supernatural of another world.  This initial description would enhance its' Gothic feel.  The circumstances surrounding Rochester and his insane wife also add to this feel of Gothic caricature.  The idea of a "locked wing," or a section of the house that lies unknown to the curious and thoughtful Jane also adds the particular feeling of something that lies beyond explanation of cannot be explained.  The reverberations of the laughter in the hall's echoes also cause a great deal of Gothic feel.  Finally, Bertha's burning of the hall gives the Gothic feel of curse and condemnation.

I need some quotes from act 1 in The Crucible.

The following quotes come from Act I of The Crucible, they are spoken by Abigail Williams, the first one concerns her relationship with John Proctor, which we learn about from this comment that she makes.

"I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart! I never knew what pretense Salem was, I never knew the lying lessons I was taught by all these Christian women and their covenanted men! And now you bid me tear the light out of my eyes? I will not, I cannot! You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet!" (Miller)

Abigail, in conversation with John Proctor, makes it clear that she was in an adulterous relationship with him and that she is still very much in love with him.  She reminds him that he participated in this relationship with her, fully and that she knows that he loved her, and that if what they did was sin, then so be it, but she defies him to admit that he no longer loves her.  Proctor won't admit that to her, but he tells her that he won't continue to have a relationship with her because he is devoted to his wife.  He won't turn from his wife again, even if he loved Abigail, it does not matter, he is committed to making his marriage work.

This really angers Abigail, who feels compelled to find another way to get Proctor back, so she becomes involved in the witchcraft hysteria, actually leading the other girls to testify, falsely, against people, who are convicted and later executed.

Abigail throws herself into the whole witchcraft hysteria for two reasons, first to get out of trouble, because her Uncle saw her in the woods dancing with the other girls and Tituba, and to access the power that turning to the devil and then being saved back to God holds.  In the following passage, Abigail makes a startling confession to get attention at the end of Act I.

"I want to open myself! . . . I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced for the Devil; I saw him, I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss His hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!" (Miller)

With this confession, Abigail sets in motion the first accusations against the fringe elements of society, Sarah Good, Goody Osburn, Bridget Bishop, will all be executed as witches because of Abigail's testimony.

Explain the relationship between Hally and his parents, and Sam's role and his influence in Hally's life in "Master Harold"... and the Boys?

Based on the conversations that Hally has with his mother over the telephone regarding is father's condition, the audience gathers that Hally has a strained, distant relationship with his parents.  It is apparent that Hally's father has a drinking problem, one likely brought on by his inability to properly cope with his physical disability.  Hally's mother does not stand up to his father, and instead she tries to appease Hally's father and to make him comfortable.  Hally appears to be ashamed of his father's lifestyle, and he is angry at his mother for "allowing" this to continue.  Sam recalls times when he took Hally out to play because the father was unable to do these things with Hally.  Sam serves as a father-figure in many ways for Hally--he tries to teach him the life lessons that his father is unable to teach him.  Near the end of the play, Sam reminds Hally of all these times and he makes Hally aware of the realities that he never noticed because he was too small (i.e. Sam not being able to sit on the bench with Hally because it was a "whites only" bench).  Sam wants to teach Hally to be a better man and to resist the injustices of their society.

I need help with a line by line analysis of the poem, "Love Poem for My Country" by Sandile Dikeni. Can you help me understand this poem?I need...

The refrain, "My Country," at the beginning of each stanza emphasizes the national ethos of the poem. These are substantiated by attributes of love, peace, joy, health and wealth, and, finally unity.

Thus far, summarized like this, there is hardly anything remarkable about the poem.

But when you notice HOW these characteristics are described, that's where the poetic merits come in. Love is associated with the valleys and ancient rivers flowing the full circle of life; peace is spoken for by the SILENT and open grassland (veld). The juxtaposition of "spoken" and "silent" itself is intriguing. Nature is praised, even the traditionally ugly reptiles "carress" the surface, "glittering" with elegant motion."Health is equated with the sea, life giver to myriads of animals; and fish are described as "jewels. Finally, unity; probably the most important aspect of this patriotic poem. Whereas love, peace and joy are expressed by the plant and animal world of South Africa, unity is expressed by "millions in their passion...hands joined together, hope in their eyes."

Poetry, like the rest of literature, is essentially self-referential; i.e., while it has a message, like this poem is a clarion call for hope, peace and unity for South Africa, IT IS THE WAY IT EXPRESSES THESE FEELINGS which are most important for us the readers. Think about it: many people can and do love their country. But can they express their love in a way that draws our attention to it? If they can -- as this poet obviously does -- they are poets. The rest of are just patriots.

The main figure of speech in this poem is metaphors: because it makes valleys SPEAK love; velds declare peace SILENTLY; fish are jewels deep under the earth. Notice also that jewel fish are cleverly juxtaposed by the GOLDEN voice of the miners -- another metaphor.

Why do poets use metaphors? The easy answer is to make the poem attractive to others, to say it in such a way that is unique. A more complex answer lies in the way languages work in human thought formation. Metaphors, a famous linguist recently said, is of the flesh. Our ability to join disparate things together to create metaphors -- valleys speaking, silently declaring, the mountains talking, golden voices -- all lie latent in our desire to be effective when we speak. It is the human ego. When we speak with other people we use metaphors: Dikeni's poem goes OVER MY HEAD would be a good example. But when we write, especially when we are a Dikeni, we employ these types of poetic technique consciously, strategically so that people read our poetry and appreciate it.

What is Yeats's poem, "An Acre of Grass" about?

"An Acre of Grass" is from Yeats' "Last Poems" (1939). The poem graphically describes the plight of the old and aged W.B.Yeats. He realises that he has come to the end of his life and reveals to us the loneliness and joylessness of his sad situation "at life's end."

He first bemoans his weakened and restricted physical state. He is confined to "an acre of grass" which serves as an exercise ground. He has only a few books and pictures to look at. He has no human companions. His only companion is the mouse which keeps him company during his insomnia.

But worse, Yeats feels saddened  that the intellectual frenzy and fire has been completely extinguished and pleads that somehow he become like King Lear, Timon of Athens, William Blake or Michael Angelo who even in their old age asserted their individuality and were creative and productive:

"Grant me an old man’s frenzy,
Myself must I remake
Till I am Timon and Lear
Or that William Blake
Who beat upon the wall
Till Truth obeyed his call."

The single common characteristic of all these great men was their misanthropy. In their old age all of them realised their foolishness in trusting their friends or family members who abandoned them in their old age.

In "Lord of the Flies", what does the description of Simon's body being carried out to sea represent about him?I need a short and sweet answer.

Golding's use of light imagery in this scene leads to a tone of gentleness. He describes how the water "dressed Simon's coarse hair with brightness" and the "moving patch of light" made by the phosphorescent creatures. Then Simon's body essentially becomes art:

The line of his cheeks silvered and the turn of his shoulder became sculptured marble. The strange attendant creatures, with their fiery eyes and trailing vapors, busied themselves round his head. The body lifted a fraction of an inch from the sand and a bubble of air escaped from the mouth with a wet plop. Then it turned gently in the water.

Some have suggested that this is Christ imagery as well. whether or not you agree with that, there's definitely a sense of Simon becoming more than a dead body. He is lit up by the "strangely attendant" creatures, implying that they recognize he should be taken care of in some way. Also, the movement in the water may suggest a transcendence of death.

What is Karren Hesse's style and technique in writing Out of the Dust?What writing style does Karen Hesse use in her book Out of the Dust?

Out of the Dust is a first person narrative, meaning the protagonist  (main character) tells the story in his or her own words.

What sets this narrative apart from others is that Hesse's protagonist, Billie Joe, doesn't specifically tell the story, but rather reveals it as her journal entries. Most diaries are private tings, but Billie Jo's journal is intended to be reach, so she is careful to add descriptions and explanations of things. However, her perspective in her telling of the story is her own view of the things that happened, so they may or may not be completely accurate. This makes Billie Jo an unreliable narrator.

The other things that sets this novel apart from others is that the chapters aren't necessarily connected thematically. Billie Jo tells about events in her life, but she doesn't really put the together with a beginning, middle, and an end. It's almost like glimpses into her head from time to time. As you read all of them, you get a good sense of the storyline without it being told to you word for word.

What does the dead parachutist symbolize? Does he symbolize something other than what the beast and the lord of the flies symbolize?

The beast and the lord of the flies are both symbols of man's savage instincts and evil itself. The dead parachutist does not seem to suggest these dark connotations, but perhaps the distinction is not as defined as it seems.

On one level, the parachutist might symbolize the civilization from which the boys have been cut off. He comes from the world outside, the world wherein they used to live before becoming isolated on the island. He might be interpreted as a symbol of the world as a place of sophisticated technology and progress far removed from the primitive conditions of the island. The parachutist is an adult, perhaps symbolizing order, mastery, and authority in contrast to the boys' immaturity. He may be seen, therefore, as symbolizing all the boys have lost. Simon seems to view the parachutist in these terms as he attends to his body with gentleness and respect.

On a deeper level, perhaps the parachutist symbolizes the essence of the beast and the lord of the flies, savagery and evil in action. His remains are the result of battle; his body is a product of warfare. The war raging in the outside world is rooted in the same primal instincts that have created war on the island. Civilization exists nowhere, and no one is safe from what lies within.

Please explain Shakespeare as a sonneteer.

Shakespeare was such an amazing sonneteer that there is actually a type of sonnet today that we refer to as a "Shakespearean Sonnet"!  Even though Shakespeare isn't the inventor of the Shakespearean sonnet, he was certainly the master of this kind of poem.  Quite simply, a Shakespearean sonnet contains fourteen lines of iambic pentameter.  It has three quatrains (four lines each) and a final rhyming couplet (of two lines).  Therefore, the rhyme scheme is always abab cdcd efef gg.  Most often a problem is presented in the first 12 lines or so with a solution following by the end of the poem.

During the Elizabethan period, writing groups of sonnets with similar themes (called a "sonnet sequence") became very popular.  Shakespeare wrote the best of these sonnet sequences, in my opinion.  His contained a full 154 sonnets.  They focus on a handsome young man, a rival poet, and sometimes even a "dark lady."  These subjects often cause scholars to disagree upon the truth behind Shakespeare's life and sexuality. 

In "To Kill a Mockingbird," what qualities makes Atticus an outstanding lawyer?Any references from the book are welcomed. Please provide your...

A worthy lawyer must be observant, objective, unbiased, and evaluate a case solely upon the evidence.  In addition, "To Kill a Mockingbird," Atticus Finch practicing these precepts of his profession in his personal life; he literally "practices what he preaches."  For instance, in Chapter 2, an objective Atticus explains to Scout that the Cunninghams and the Ewells are different from one another and, as such, must be examined with their values in mind, not solely by Finch values.  Also, he explains to Scout that she should not generalize in judging people such as the Ewells. For example when Scout says that Mr. Ewell should not drink away their relief checks, Atticus replies,

Of course he shoudn't, but he'll never change his ways.  Are you going to take out your disapproval on the children?

This principle Atticus consistently applies to others, such as the Radleys.  For, he scolds the children for pestering Boo Radley because the father has made him a recluse:

What Mr. Radley did was his own business....What Mr. Radley did might seem peculiar to us, but it did not seem peculiar  to him.

With his respect for the individual, Atticus questions Jem about putting Boo's life on display "for the edification of the neighborhood," implying that the children must respect others.  That Atticus is a clever lawyer is also evident in this episode as he has returned from work for a file "he had forgotten to take...that morning."  Jem realizes "he had been done in by the oldest lawyer's trick on record (pretending to forget something so that he can catch the children "in the act").

As he does with the families mentioned, Atticus applies his close powers of observation and objectivity to others in the town.  He chides the children for disliking the irascible Mrs. Dubose as they do not understand her illness and addiction.  For punishment he assigns Jem the task of reading to Mrs. Dubose after school so that Jem himself can observe and learn who Mrs. Dubose really is.  This method of allowing someone else to observe on his/her own is effective as a parent as well as a lawyer who allows his jury to observe without previous opinions being suggested to them. 

When he is assigned the case for Tom Robinson, he is unbiased in his treatment of both Tom and the despicable Ewells.  When an angry mob comes to the jail for Tom, Atticus places his life in danger to do his job as defender, and he does not back down. Later, at the trial, his close powers of observation assist him in this case, also, as Atticus points out that Tom could not have committed an action since it would have required him to use his wasted arm.

Charitable, Atticus finds redeeming qualities in nearly everyone.  To his own sister, Alexandra, he loyally defends Calpurnia for her loving ways with the children, telling his sister,

She's a faithful member of this family and you'll simply have to accept things the way they are...We still need Cal as much as we ever did.

  Atticus is able to balance his emotions against his rational side, and for this ability and his other sterling qualities such as integrity and loyalty, he is an excellent lawyer.