In the play Julius Caesar, how did Cassius persuade Brutus to join the conspiracy?

Cassius attempts to convince Brutus to join the conspriacy in a couple of ways, though the more effective way is through deception.

First, during the feast of Luprical in the first act, Claudius points out that Caesar is no more worthy of being crowned emporer than Brutus. He points out Caesars many physical weaknesses, such as his girlishness when he is sick or his inability to swim for distances. These weaknesses, however, are not enough to convince Brutus.

Casius knows that Brutus' first concern is for the people of Rome, so to convince him to kill Caesar, Casuis must first convince him that Caesar is bad for Rome. He plants the idea that Caesar is too powerful and that power causes people to be corrupt. He then convinces Brutus that the people themselves fear Caesar and his control.

To do this, Casius forges several letters from anonymous Roman citizens and has them placed around Brutus' home where he is sure to find them. These faked letters convince Brutus that the people would be better served if the threat of an all-powerful Caesar were removed.

For more information about the characters and themes in Julius Caesar, see the links below. I've also included a link to the soliloquy where Brutus decides that he must stop Caesar and why.

He would be crown'd:
How that might change his nature, there's the question.
It is the bright day that brings forth the adder
And that craves wary walking. Crown him? that;
And then, I grant, we put a sting in him
That at his will he may do danger with.

Brutus is saying that though Caesar may be a good man now, too much power may change his nature, and turn him into something dangerous.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of catalysts?

Catalysts are substances that help to speed up the process of chemical reactions without taking part in the reaction. This process of of speeding up the speed of chemical reaction without taking part in the reaction is called catalysis.

Catalysts are useful for speeding up processes in many chemical industries. This enables the industries to manufacture their products faster and thereby reduce manufacturing costs. Catalysts such as enzymes help in chemical processes in animals and plants.

But catalysts can have negative consequences also when these take place naturally. For example, Nitric Oxide acts as a catalyst to aid in decomposition of Ozone in the ozone layer.

What percentage of the human body contains water?

Water is the single biggest ingredient of human body. The weight of water in the body of an individual as a percentage of total body weight can vary from 45% to 75%. On average adult male body contains about 60% water by weight. This figure is 55% for females.

Percentage of water in some of the parts of the body are as follows:

Lean muscle tissues : 75%

Blood                       : 95%

Fat                          : 14%

Bones                     :22%

The total body water can be divided in two categories:

• Intracellular Fluid: This constitutes about two thirds of total body water.


• Extracellular Fluid: This constitutes about one third of total body water.

In "Fahrenheit 451" disscuss the transformation that Guy Montag undergoes as the story moves forward.

Guy Montag goes from a character who is complacent and who thinks that he is happy; in fact, he loves his job and is supremely confident in what he does.  He is a man who feels, as the first line of the novel states, "It was a pleasure to burn," who, for his entire life, had lived and gone along with everything, and felt happy about it. In fact, "for as long as he remembered" he had had a smile on his face.

He starts to change upon his first meeting with Clarisse.  She asks him if he was happy, and he asserts defensively, "Happy!  Of all nonsense!" not ever having asked himself that question before.  But she was truly happy, a peaceful happy that lent her an inward glow, so, when he steps into his cold house and discovers his wife's suicide attempt, he wonders if he really IS happy.  He can't help but compare Clarisse's inner light to Mildred's inner misery.  He wonders what has made both of them the way that they are.

His continued visits with Clarisse impact him even more; he wonders if books, being forbidden, are at the center of what is wrong with his society.  The real changing point for him comes after he torches Mrs. Blake's house, and she chooses to go down with her books and home.  This affirms for him that there is something vitally important in books, and something seriously wrong in his society.  He is so disturbed he becomes sick, and after Beatty's visit decides to hunt answers in books.  However, he has a hard time, so, enter Faber.  Faber teaches him why books are important, and Montag is so fired up about it that he is willing to undermine the entire system to give books a chance.

At this point, he has changed from an accepting civilian to a questioning independent thinker.  He is disillusioned with his world; he is unhappy and seeking answers; he is willing to fight to get answers and to enact changes in his society.  He challenges Mildred's mindless friends, and in the end, gains so much confidence in the trail that he is seeking that he has the strength to torch Beatty and go on the run.

At the end of the novel, he is a man on the run, wanted, hunted down, who has rejected the entire premise of his society.  No longer is his happiness dictated by his society; he goes off on his own to find what real happiness is.  With Granger, he is willing to rebuild society, to undertake the task of "remembering" what real happiness is.

I hope that these thoughts help; I provided some links below that you might find useful also.

In Julius Caesar, what is Caesar's opinion of Antony and Cassius?This question is for Act 1, Scene ii.

Caesar's interaction with Antony in this scene is limited, but it is revealing. Caesar views Antony as a friend whom he trusts. Caesar feels free to speak to Antony, for instance, in regard to Cassius. He confides in Antony that he has strong reservations about Cassius:

Let me have men about me that are fat,

Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights.

Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look.

He thinks too much, such men are dangerous.

For Caesar to share these feelings with Antony shows that Caesar is not afraid to speak honestly with him. He does not fear what Antony might think of him for feeling unease in relation to Cassius and he does not fear that Antony might repeat his misgivings.

Antony reassures Caesar that Cassius is not dangerous, that he is a "noble Roman." Antony was well meaning, but he was wrong. Caesar was much more correct in his assessment of Cassius' character. He was dangerous indeed, the primary force behind the developing conspiracy to murder Caesar. Caesar tells Antony that he isn't afraid of Cassius, for Caesar is not given to fear, but if he were, there was no man he would avoid more than Cassius.

What symbols are in the poem "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night"?

Symbols are normally things that can be detected by any of our five senses. What they symbolize is almost always an abstract idea that is relevant to the story or poem. Consider these:

night

light

forked lightning

green bay

the sun

grave (more than one meaning here!)

meteors

fierce tears

In this poem, in which Thomas is willing his father not to die (even though he knows he is dying), what idea or concept does each of the above represent, do you think?

Modern British Fiction has certain aspects that make it 'modern.' Explain these aspects in 1500 words, and take Mrs. Dalloway as example. When...

Modernist literature, particularly the texts of British writers, exhibit certain characteristics that make them "modern."  One of the most important of these is the use of innovative forms of narrative.  Writers who made great use of this are James Joyce and Virginia Woolf.    Some of these innovations include stream-of-consciousness and the use of internal monologue, as well as the exploration of certain themes such as alienation and paralysis.  Much of what modern writers wanted to do was to challenge the status quo.  They experimented with different narrative forms and they often made direct comments on the society of their day.  The two world wars, and the disillusionment it bred among the literary community, often come to the fore in modernist writing.

In Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf's protagonist Mrs. Clarissa Dalloway finds herself questioning the nature of love, particularly the love between her daugher and her daughter's husband.  Upon meeting Peter again, she begins to question her own decisions regarding her marriage.  She marries Richard Dalloway out of a need to feel secure, both socially and financially.  Her uneasiness is certainly connected with larger modernist concerns, specifically the nature of social norms.  The society of Mrs. Dalloway, and one could argue the 1920s in Britain as a whole, was predicated on social standing and the holding of wealth, both of which often usurped love and relationships.  Mrs. Dalloway's questioning of social norms mirrors Woolf's calling British social norms in question.

The character of Septimus Warren Smith, a veteran of the Great War, commits suicide on the night of Mrs. Dalloway's party, clearly as a result of the trauma he suffered during the war.  In this example, Mrs. Dalloway, in its negative presentation of the war, seeks to make a comment about the senselessness and waste of the war.  It is a waste of human life.  Though the war has not literally taken Smith's life, it has still robbed him of any chance of life after the end of the war.  This negative depiction of the Great War runs throughout modernist literature.  Perhaps the most famous example of this is Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front (1929).

The whole novel spans the spectrum of modernist social concerns.  At its very core, modernism sought to make comment about the nature of society - its antiquated views on social class and love and the senselessness of war and the society that goes along with it.

In The Merchant of Venice, what was Shylock's intent and how does he find himself defeated?

In The Merchant of Venice, before the play opens Antonio has a long history of speaking out against Shylock in public meetings and denouncing his practices. He also has a long history of carrying on a personal vendetta against Shylock by subjecting him to habitual insults and slurs. In Act 1 of the play, Antonio gives just a sampling of his habitual behavior in the encounter between himself and Shylock while Bassanio is attempting to strike a deal for the loan of three thousand ducats.

While Antonio is being insulting and demeaning of Shylock at the same time that he is asking to borrow money (not wise behavior, don't try it at your bank..), Shylock is being more and more offended. He finally agrees to loan the money but Antonio has driven him to seek revenge by asking for an absurd guarantee of the loan: If the loan isn't paid back in full in three months time, then as a forfeiture fee, Antonio will be delivered of one pound of flesh by Shylock.

Shylock's intention is revenge. In his soliloquy, Shylock declares that when offended, a Christian's first reaction is revenge. He then uses rather weak reasoning to say that if what the Christians give is revenge, then what the Christian will receive from him will be revenge (that is sort of like if your enemy jumps off a cliff, you jump off a cliff...).

Shylock probably didn't expect his intention for revenge to come to fulfillment; everyone in Venice expected Antonio's ships to make it safely to harbor. Shylock finds himself defeated in his intention because the Duke is horrified at the terms of the contract, which has to be confirmed in the court of law (just like broken contracts have to legally upheld today) and because a Venetian law prohibits threatening or endangering the life of a citizen.

Please summarise and explain Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind."

Shelley composed  the "Ode to the West Wind" while in Florence, Italy in the year 1819. It was published in the year 1820. Scholars affirm that the poem was directly inspired by the Peterloo Massacre of August 1819 at Manchester when a gathering of people who were fighting for parliamentary reform were brutally attacked by the military killing and injuring many. The gist of the poem is that Shelley considers himself as a poet prophet campaigning for reform and revolution using the "wild west wind" to destroy everything that is old and defunct and plant new and progressive, liberal and democratic ideals in its stead. The poem describes a storm arising in the autumn season in the Mediterranean Sea and being driven towards the land by 'the west wind.'

In Canto 1, Shelley addresses the west wind directly and the sight of it driving away all the fallen leaves is  compared to a magician or an enchanter driving  away all the evil spirits. At the same time it carries with it the fallen seeds to deposit them in a different place where they will blossom in the spring season after being safely preserved during the cold winter season. The west wind is thus both 'destroyer' and 'preserver.'

In Canto 2 Shelley vividly describes the meteorological process of the gathering storm in the distant horizon of the Mediterranean Sea.

In the first stanza Shelley compares the storm clouds which are being formed at the horizon ("tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean") and being driven inland by the west wind to decaying leaves shed by the trees during autumn.

In the next two stanzas, the storm clouds are compared to  "angels" which carry the rain inland. They announce their arrival by fiery flashes of dazzling lightning which reach up into the sky from the ocean at the horizon. The flashes of lightning are compared to the bright hair of the maenad (the maenad is a frenzied  spirit which attends on the Greek God Dionysus).

The mournful sound of the autumnal west wind compels Shelley to regard it as the funeral song of the dying year.The section concludes with comparing this night in  which this funeral song will be heard to a huge funeral vat which contains within it the compressed might and awesome power of the storm which is about to break out in all its fury.

In Canto 3 Shelley  describes the action of the west wind on the Mediterranean Sea and on the Atlantic Ocean. The west wind announces to the Mediterranean Sea that summer is over and autumn has arrived. The clear view on a bright summer day of the under water palaces and towers in Baiae's Bay off the coast of Naples near the island made up of volcanic rock is disturbed by the west wind which blows across it. Similarly the west wind creates deep valleys as it blows across the level Atlantic Ocean and reminds  the underwater vegetation deep below  that it is autumn and that they too must disintegrate like the vegetation on the earth above.

Canto 4 is an earnest plea by Shelley to the west wind to infuse him with its raw power and liberate him from the bout of depression which has temporarily overwhelmed him - most probably caused by the death of his son William in 1819. Shelley tells the west wind that when he was a boy he was also as "uncontrollable" as the west wind is now, and he would have easily matched the west wind in its speed. But now, he is depressed and weighed down by the cares and anxieties of life and prays to the west wind to liberate him. He pleads with the west wind that just like how it lifts up the leaves on the earth and the clouds on the sky and the waves on the sea it should free him also from the "thorns of life" on which he has fallen.

In Canto 5, Shelley the poet directly and explicitly asks the west wind to make him an instrument and tool of political and moral change: "make me thy lyre" and "drive my dead thoughts over the universe." The poem ends optimistically with Shelley echoing the popular saying "if Winter comes can Spring be far behind?"

What is the difference between management and administration?

There are differences between management and administration, but sometimes we refer to "manager" and "administrators" interchangeably.  Strictly speaking, management involves the making of decisions to promote the goals of an entity, while administration involves seeing to it that the management decisions are carried out.  Here are a few example to demonstrate the difference:

A manager decides to impose a sales quota on the company's sales force.  The administrator is responsible for seeing to it that the quota is met through the maintenance of records.

A manager decides that there will be a "no tolerance" policy for tardiness.  It will be up to the administrator to monitor the compliance of the policy through observation or through the review of records.

So, the general idea is that an administrator is not a primary policy or decision-maker, while a manager is.  An administrator might make some decisions to implement the manager's policy's and decisions, but his or her authority is limited. 

In "Trifles", what are the different types of figurative language used?

Like most plays, Trifles depends on its dialogue and that does not always leave a lot of room for figurative language.  Most examples of figurative language show up in the the descriptions by the characters as similes- using things descriptions with like and as.  "Minnie Foster was like a bird" is one simile that is used.  One example of metaphor that is stated is the statement that John Wright "killed" Minnie Foster's (Mrs. Wright's) singing.  Also Mrs. Peters is asked if she ever thought of herself as being "married to the law'--this also would be a metaphor.

In Our Town, in Act I, what does Rebecca's quotation of the address on Jane Crofut's letter from the minister mean?REBECCA: I never told you about...

In Act I of Our Town by Thornton Wilder, George and Rebecca, brother and sister, are introduced. George is a prominent character who marries Emily, Mr. Webb's daughter. George and Emily want a marriage that epitomizes "happily ever after," and in a way they succeed.

In Act I, Wilder introduces an ingenious literary device that works as foreshadowing and as the adhesive that thematically holds a seemingly random series of events together. Rebecca and George are in conversation, however the audience only hears a small, seemingly meaningless, snippet of it. Rebecca says,

"I never told you about that letter Jane Crofut got from her minister when she was sick…on the envelope the address was like this: Jane Crofut; The Crofut Farm; Grover’s Corners; Sutton County; New Hampshire; United States of America....Continent of North America; Western Hemisphere; the Earth; the Solar System; the Universe; the Mind of God—that’s what it said on the envelope…And the postman brought it just the same."

George replies: "What do you know!...What do you know!" Act I ends. Act II opens with the Stage Manager introducing the morning of George's marriage to Emily.

In Act III, George throws himself down in tears on Emily's grave and here we finally learn the reason for and the meaning of Rebecca's seemingly nonsensical contribution in Act I. The address on the letter is two things. It is the foreshadowing of the early death of Emily in the reference to the "Mind of God." It is also the vehicle for one of Wilder's themes: the transcendence of the soul of humankind over the trivialities  and mundane activities of daily life on Earth.

So, what it means literally is that working from the smallest unit--Jane Crofut--outward to the greatest unit--the Mind of God--the individual person is a component of something very big and very important, making the individual important and big, too. What it means as a literary device is that there will be within the play a merging of at least one character--and one related to George, the hearer of the lines--with the Mind of God, which occurs through death for the character. What it means thematically is that which has already been said, each individual transcends the mundane and trivial because each is part of a greater whole that has similarly great and significant parts--the Mind of God.

Why is Margaret Fullers' piece "Fourth of July" so important to American literature?what makes this piece special to american identity?

Part of what makes Fuller's piece on the Fourth of July so powerful is that it speaks the vision and dream of what America should be, and not merely be content with what is.  Being a leading Transcendentalist as well as one of the first Feminists, she spoke to the notion of "reform" in the largest of sense.  She continually called for the idea of change in all of its forms.  She called for political change, abolition of slavery, and a change in the way America educates its young.  Her words speak quite loud in this respect for she articulates the "insatiable love of wealth and power" that has proven to be corrosive to the hopes of what America can be.  Her voice is essential to American identity because Fuller is living proof of the Constitution's notion of "forming a more perfect union."  Fuller, ahead of the curve, understood that the greatness in a democracy such as America's is the idea that there is no complacency in its calls for change.  This demand to "get things better" in "forming a more perfect union" speaks to change in as many domains as possible.  Fuller in her essay on the 4th, speaks to glory of not what America is, but what it can and should be.

What actions or speeches are used to bring out the character traits of Mathilde in "The Necklace"?Guy de Mauppassant's "The Necklace"

In "The Necklace," Maupassant uses both direct and indirect characterization:

DIRECT

• The author makes direct comments on the character of Mathilde in the exposition: "She was one of those pretty and charming girls, born, as if by an accident of fate, into a family of clerks....as unhappy as a woman who has come down in the world; for women have no family rank or social class."


• When Mathilde is disastified with the appearance of her home, the author comments, "All these things, which another woman of her class would not even have noticed,..."

INDIRECT

• In her thoughts, Mathilde is discontent in her social setting:

She grieved incessantly, feeling that she had been born for the little niceties and luxureis of living.  She grieved over the shabbiness of her apartment, the dinginess of the little walls, the worn-out appearance of the chairs, the ugliness of the draperies....She would dream of great reception halls....

• In her speech, Mathilde expresses her discontent with her position in life.  When her husband brings home an invitation to an evening reception, she is not delighted.  Instead, she says scornfully, "What good is that to me?  When he offers her the money he has saved for a rifle for a new dress, she does not even thank him.  Yet, when Mme Forestier lends her a necklace, she "threw her arms arund her friend, kissed her warmly, and fled with her treasure."  This kiss was obviously not for the friend, but a joyous reaction to being in the possession of such a beautiful material object.


• In her actions, Mathilde indicates her selfishness as she ignores her husband at the reception, reveling instead in the attentions of the other men as her tired husband waits patiently for her in an armchair. After the necklace is lost, Mme. Loisel "plays her part with sudden heroism," Maupassant writes.  Again this is an indication that Mathilde values the loss of the necklace as more momentous than the relationship with her husband, for she does not so any gratitude toward him as he shares in the deprivation that they must endure for years as they repay the debt.  Also, it is noteworthy that she does not contact Mme. Forestier and report the loss.  Her false sense of pride will not allow her to do this.  That she continues to have a false sense of values is indicated in the denouement of the story when Mme. Loisel encounters Mme. Forestier in the park year later and boasts of having bought a necklace so much alike that Mme. Forestier has not noticed:

'Do you remember that diamond necklace you loaned me to wear...?  we've been paying for it for ten years now...'

Mme Forestier stopped short. 'You mean to say you bought a diamond necklace to replace mine?'

And she {Mathilde] smiled with proud and simple joy

To the end, Mme. Loisel values only what is false as indicated in her thoughts, speech, and actions.

Proof of s.s.s. similarity.triangles

Proof of S S S similarity:

Two triangles are similar if  for each angle of one triangle , there is an equal angle in another triangle. And they are the corresponding angles .

The side opposite to the corresponding angles are called corresponding sides in the  two triangles.

The  corresponding sides of two similar triangles bear the same ratio.

Proof: Let ABC and A'B'C' be two similar triangles. Since they are similar, we can assume that angles A=A', B = B' and C=C'.Let us assume again without loss of generality that ABC is the bigger triangle.

Construction: With compass take A'B' as radius  and A as centre mark B1 on AB where AB1 = A'B' . Simalilarly mark C1  on AC such that AC1 = A'C'

Now the triangles AB1C1 and A'B'C'  are congruent as

AB1=A'B' and AC1 =A'C'  by construction. Angle A=A' being equal angles of similar triangles. So,  SAS postulate holds good for congruency.

Therefore, the angles AB1C1 =  B' = B  and angle AC1B1 =C' = C

This confirms that the line  B1C1  is  parallel  to  the line or side BC.

The line B1C1 is parallel to BC, B1 being on AB and C1 beeing AC , the ratio, AB1/ AB = AC1/AC  = B1C1/BC  by Thales intercept theorem.

The converse is also true. That is, if the corresponding sides of two triangles are in the same ratio, then  the triangles are similar or the corresponding angle are equal. The proof involves, identifying the smaller triangle A'B'C' and AB1C1 and applying the Thales intercept theorem and prove that B1C1 is parallel as AB1/AC= AC1/AC. Thus the Parallel property of B1C1 with BC gives us the corresponding angles AB1C1 = B =B'and AC1B1 = C=C'. Consequently the remaining angle A has to be equal to A'.

Is this proof helpful?

How might you explain Emily's gift for comedy?Tillie Olsen's "I Stand Here Ironing"

That's a pretty intersting question, one the story really doesn't explain. I imagine that Emily has develped this "deadly clowning" as a means of coping with the many difficulties she has faced during her lifetime.

Often humor is dark, and I tend to believe such is the case with Emily's humor. Near the end of the story, she decides to skip her finals and flippantly remarks to her mother, "in a couple of years when we'll all be atom-dead they won't matter a bit." The mother sadly thinks that Emily truly believes this comment. Maybe Emily feels that humor is the best way to combat the negative world around her.

Often people will say they laugh to keep from crying; this may be the case with Emily. She uses humor to add levity to a heavy existance. She's been poor, practically abandoned by both parents at various times in her life, chronically ill, and never bonded with her family because of these things. Likely she is very lonely, and humor helps her gain friends and acceptance.

Humor is also her way of feeling normal. She has noted from childhood that people enjoyed her jokes, even when they thought they were her sister's, so using humor and develping her style is her way of gaining acceptance, too, a way of getting the love she probably craved as a "child seldom smiled at."

For a description of Emily and other characters, see the link below. The second link is to a discussion of themes, one of which is a search for identity. These may be helpful in answering your question.

Compare Alfred Doolittle's views on the middle class with Eliza's.

Alfred Doolittle is very content in the lower class. He gives his speech on "middle class morality" and how he enjoys being in the lower class. He doesn't want to take too much money from Higgins, because with a certain amount of money comes responsibility. He wants the money and not the responsibility. After he inherits money, he is upset because now he has to be respectable and marry Eliza's mother.

Eliza, on the other hand, knows that in order to get a respectable job she needs to be able to speak better and interact with others more sociably. She wants to raise her station, to have nice things, and to be able to take control of her life more. She is tired of having to rely on the charity of others and wants to establish herself has a lady. For this reason, she turns to Higgins to learn to speak better, with the goal of getting a job in a flower shop and raising her station in society.

What is a thesis I can come up with for an essay on No Country for Old Men?

Perhaps choice and consequences would make a good thesis.  Moss makes the choice to take the money, the choice to keep it, the choice not to surrender even if it means his wife could die. These are moral choices we all make, and we all must suffer the consequences of these choices. Chigurh gives people a choice:  heads or tales.  These choices revolve more around fate or luck. These choices, unfortunately, also can have consequences.   But even Chigurh has choices: to let live or kill.  I think McCormack deals quite a bit with the choices we make and the repercussions we face as a result. He is very much about moral responsibility, making the right choices in an world where past responses are no guide and evil is overwhelming.  Do we succumb to those evil forces, become a part of them, or do we do our best to maintain our own sense of integrity even if we lose everything?  This type of moral navigation is at the heart of most of his novels, and No Country for Old Men is no exception.

What role did the Screaming Eagles have in Warriors Don't Cry?

The Screaming Eagles were an elite group of soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division in 1957.  Having distinguished themselves during the Korean War, they were sent by President Eisenhower to Little Rock, Arkansas, to make sure that the integration of Central High School could be achieved.

Despite the 1954 Supreme Court ruling that having separate schools for whites and blacks was illegal, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus decided to defy the law.  The school board had already limited the move towards integration by postponing it for two years, and when it appeared that the change was going to be forced upon Little Rock, Faubus used the Arkansas National Guard to prevent the pioneering group of students chosen to be the first Negroes to attend all-white Central High School from achieving their objective.  For two days the Negro students were unable to make it through the day because of the virulent, life-threatening treatment they received both within the school and from the angry hordes surrounding the school.  President Eisenhower, refusing to allow mob rule to prevail, challenged Faubus' defiance and sent in the Screaming Eagles to Little Rock to see that justice was done (Chapter 1). 

The Screaming Eagles arrived in fifty-two planeloads, and numbered twelve-thousand men.  They included famous heroes and combat specialists; they were armed with rifles and bayonets, and were supported by helicopters and jeeps.  They escorted the nine students from a predetermined meeting place to the school in a jeep convoy, and formed a human protective cocoon for them so that they could proceed through the front entrance to Central High.  Inside the building, soldiers stood guard at regular intervals down the halls, and the students were each assigned a soldier who was responsible to "keep (him or her) alive".  The soldiers were instructed to make the students got safely from class to class, but they were not allowed "to get into verbal or physical battles with...(white) students".  The individual guards were not allowed into the classroom with their charges, but waited outside to be near at hand should they be needed.

The Screaming Eagles maintained a presence at Central High for over two months.  When they were withdrawn at Thanksgiving, the National Guard took over the task of providing for the safety and security of the students (Chapter 13-14).

Compare the characters of Walter Cunningham and Burris Ewell. What similarities and differences exist between the two?

Similarities:

Both boys come from the poorest class in Maycomb.  Their fathers seem to be unemployed.  The reader knows that Bob Ewell does not have a job, and because of the financial straits that the Cunninghams find themselves in (having to pay Atticus in a non-monetary manner), it is safe to assume that Walter's dad is also without a steady job.  Both boys are proud and naturally do not want their poverty brought to light.  When Miss Caroline singles out Burris and Walter at different times in front of the class, both are embarrassed. Both characters also seem to be motherless; the author states that Burris's mother is dead, and Walter's mom goes unmentioned in the novel.  Thus, their father's play an influential role in their lives.

Differences:

While both boys come from the same social class, there is a marked difference between them and the manner in which they are raised.  Burris's father makes a living off the town's welfare and goodness and does not stress education. Walter's dad deplores being indebted to any man and sees that his children attend school regularly. Burris's father teaches him to be disrespectful and bullish, while Walter's dad can be reasoned with and is willing to admit when he's wrong--the same can be said of Walter.

The author uses the two boys and their families to show that even in the midst of a depression and extreme poverty, one can hold onto his dignity (Walter and his family) instead of regressing to everyman for himself (the Ewell family).

Discuss how slavery denied people their basic human rights and ways abolitionists fought against slavery.

The stain of slavery proved to be a contradictory moment in the history of the United States.  In a nation predicated upon "justice for all," "inalienable rights such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," and a nation whose primary function was to "secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves," slavery presented much in the way of opposition.  The slave trade was inhumane, as individuals were taken from homes in Africa, bought for commodities such as sugar and tobacco, and used for inhumane labor, kept and resold for personal gain.  Slaves were packed into vessels and conditions such as the Middle Passage, which attempted to cram in as many slaves as possible in the smallest of spaces for the transatlantic journey.  With the advent of the cotton gin and the increase in cotton production, more slaves were needed to pick cotton in greater quantities, generating more profit and more need for slaves.  The entire Southern United States economy was predicated upon the forced servitude and the enslavement of other human beings.

Abolitionists saw this moral outrage and developed many ways to arouse the nation's conscience to such an overt violation of American principles.  William Lloyd Garrison, an abolitionist from Massachusetts, published a newspaper called "The Liberator" and sought to create a venue where abolitionists could use their voice in speaking out against the atrocities of slavery.  Frederick Douglass was an escaped slave who committed himself to the abolitionist movement through speeches and writings, in particular his own Autobiography with vivid examples of slavery's cruelty.  Harriet Beecher Stowe used literature as her medium of abolition when she published her landmark against slavery, "Uncle Tom's Cabin."  The novel highlighted the brutality of the slave culture and aroused much in the way of anger towards those who owned slaves. Other abolitionists were conductors on the Underground Railroad, a secret movement that sought to take slaves away from plantations and lead them to freedom.  Harriet Tubman was seen as a Moses figure as she led thousands of slaves to freedom via the Underground Railroad.  Levi Coffin was an Indiana Quaker who also served as a conductor and built a safe house for the Underground Railroad.  In a more defiant manner, John Brown was an abolitionist who killed pro- slavery followers when both sides clashed in the Kansas- Nebraska territory.  Brown and his sons also led a contingent of slaves and other followers to the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry in Virginia.  His hopes were to arm the slaves in Virginia so that they would rebel from their masters.  Brown caused a great deal fear in Southeners in his belief that violence against slavey was justified, as evil must be destroyed with force at every possible turn.

What year does the story "Everyday Use" take place?"Everyday Use" by Alice Walker

Alice Walker's "Everyday Use" first appeared in a collection of stories entitled, In Love and Trouble:  Stories of Black Women in 1973.  Because of the attire of Dee, the reader can fairly safely assume that the story takes place in the late 60s or early 70s, for she is dressed in bright clothing and lots of gold jewelry; her boyfriend has an afro hair-do.  Dee has changed her named to an African one following a trend of the 1960s fostered by such men as Stokely Carmichael and the Black Nationalists in which African-Americans began to show a pride in their heritage as a way of bolstering their esteem or forming an identity. They rejected "slave names" and ignited interest in their own culture.  It is this interest in the African-American culture that brings Dee home to claim the quaint butter-churn and other items which her father has built.  Likewise, because the quilt has been sewn by hand, Dee wishes to put it on display, rather than appreciating the love and history that has gone into the fashioning of this quilt.

What is the theme of "Because I could not stop for Death"?

One of the strongest themes to arise out of Dickinson's poem is the embrace of the end force that is inevitably felt by all living creatures.  Dickinson creates a portrait of death which is not fearful or brutal, but rather one of calm comfort that is to visit everyone as their inevitable end is marked.  The opening lines confirm this:  "He kindly stopped for me."  The notion of characterizing death as "kindly" and gracious is a powerful reconceptualization as opposed to the standard gloomy notion.  At the same time, the vision offered through the poem is one of reflection and nostalgia, where death and the speaker visit school yards at recess, open fields, and engage in the process of thoughtful rumination on the nature of existence.  This is a vision of death that is not fearful, but rather receptive to what is awaiting all life.  In the process, a theme that arises is that one should not live their life in fear of death, but rather examine a life where there is some notion of happiness when the inevitability of the carriage "kindly" stops for all of us.

Which Shakespearean sonnet would fit the relationship of Helena and Demetrius from A Midsummer Night's Dream?

One Shakespearean sonnet that would fit the relationship between Helena, the unnoticed, and Demetrius, the betrothed (yet unwanted), is Sonnet 80. It is part of what is referred to as the rival poet sonnets that extend from 79 through 86. With some fancy substitution of a pronoun here and there, the sonnet gives a fairly good picture of Helena's feelings regarding her situation with Demitrius.

Helena is Hermia's dear friend. Helena loves Demetrius. Hermia loves Lysander. No problem there. However, Hermia's fatehr has insisted on a betrothal between Hermia and Demetrius--yes, Demetrius. To further complicate things, Demetrius is glad because he loves Hermia. This means of course that since he loves Hermia he can't possibly love Helena--and--Helena loves Demetrius.

The speaker in Sonnet 80 laments in a conceit calling forth weakness, which transitions to an ocean and drowning conceit, that the beloved one is praising the virtues of someone else. There is a comparison of the physical qualities of each followed by the possibility of an ocean wreck in which the speaker will be cast away, with love the decay.

If I may be allowed to take liberties with Shakespeare's beautiful sonnet, Sonnet 80 may be amended for Helena as the speaker as follows:

O! how I faint when I of you do write,
Knowing a better spirit doth use your name,
And in her praise thereof spends all your might,
To make me tongue-tied speaking of her fame.
But since your worth, wide as the ocean is,
The humble as the proudest sail doth bear,
My saucy bark, inferior far to hers,
On your broad main doth wilfully appear.
Your shallowest help will hold me up afloat,
Whilst she upon your soundless deep doth ride;
Or, being wrack'd, I am a worthless boat,
She of tall building, and of goodly pride:
Then if she thrive and I be cast away,
The worst was this, my love was my decay.

Here is Shakespeare's original, untampered with, Sonnet 80:

O! how I faint when I of you do write,
Knowing a better spirit doth use your name,
And in the praise thereof spends all his might,
To make me tongue-tied speaking of your fame.
But since your worth, wide as the ocean is,
The humble as the proudest sail doth bear,
My saucy bark, inferior far to his,
On your broad main doth wilfully appear.
Your shallowest help will hold me up afloat,
Whilst he upon your soundless deep doth ride;
Or, being wrack'd, I am a worthless boat,
He of tall building, and of goodly pride:
Then if he thrive and I be cast away,
The worst was this, my love was my decay.

Consider Gregor as a person. What was life like for him before his metamorphsis, both at home and on the job?What is life like for Gregor, the...

Gregor wasn't terribly traumatized by his transformation, which is an indication that he is rather ambivalent about everything: life, work, and family. Rather than panic about his new proportions (as a large insect), he fretted about the stress of work and whether he should call in sick.

It's understandable why Gregor is ambivalent when you consider his situation. He is an adult man who has no friends, no social life, and no hobbies. He is the only wage earner in his family, and works, no only to meet their needs, but to pay off his father's debts. Even though other family members are able to work (as they begin to do as the story progresses), they refuse to do so.

Gregor does not like his job nor the people he works with and for; he looks forward to a day in some distant future when he will have worked and saved enough to pay off his father's debt and move out on his own.

Gregor's own likes and dislikes are not really known to the reader, possibly because Gregor himself can't identify them. He allows himself to be manipulated by others until his own identity is blurred. It's no wonder he is ambivalent about his metamorphosis.

Wiesel occasionally allowed himself to think about his mother and wonder about her fate. He and his father speak optimistically about her and the...

The struggle for survival is a thematic element that is evident in every moment of Eliezer's predicament in Night.  Both he and his father endure a great deal in order to survive on a daily, and in some cases, hourly basis.  There was a great deal of realism in both, and a very real embracing of the reality that confronted both of them.  It is here where a unique paradox seems to emerge.  While the individuals who are enduring these abhorrent circumstances are stepped in realism and honest assessments of the situation, in thinking of their loved ones who are separated, but still immersed in similar conditions, there is a tendency to think in non-realistic terms about their own state.  The realism and honesty that permeate Eliezer and his father about their state in the camps does not apply to Eliezer's mother, for whom they are confident that all is well and that she will be fine.  They don't speak of her, and don't engage in the same honest discourse that they have undergone in examining their own predicament.  Perhaps, the reason for this is a psychological one.  We can endure the challenging times in our own settings, filled with all of the terror within them.  Yet, when, for even a moment, we think of our loved ones having to endure even a fraction of what we endure  We lose heart in our own struggle because while we suffer and endure pain, it is of greater agony to see someone we love experience the same fate.  For Eliezer and his father to even contemplate their their mother and wife is seeing, experiencing, absorbing, and breathing the same development of a life so close to hell is inconceivably hurtful and one riddled with agony.  In "pretending," Eliezer and his father exhibit the survival technique of denial and the ability to persevere.

Was Anne right in thinking that they were all to blame for wars?

Anne Frank was not right in thinking that the Jews were to blame for the war. She was a victim of Hitler's insanity. The notion that a pure race of "supermen" would be bred from pure "Ayrian" people of Germanic race is what led to the rounding up of Jewish people and others to be either killed outright or to be worked to death in slave labor camps.

Anne's thinking is something that sometimes happens to victims in that they come to believe that their aggressor is correct and that they deserve the punishment that is inflicted upon them. The victim is cut off from all outside communication and therefore only subject to the thinking of the agressor. Because of their hiding and living conditions, a kind of "camp mentality" developed in the Frank's household group.

Anne's family and many other Jewish families had done nothing but live quiet lives and work for a living just like their non-Jewish neighbors for many years. Then the Nazis took over, and Germany became intolerable.

What does "arms and the man" mean?

The title is an allusion to the first line of Vergil's Aeneid. In English, the line translates as "I sing of arms and the man." In Vergil, "the man" is, of course, Aeneas, and "arms" refers to the Trojan War & Aeneas' journey from Greece.

Because Shaw's play is a satire, the title should be looked at ironically. Rather than praising "arms" & the men who use them, Shaw is dissecting the reality of war, showing the futile nature of taking up arms. The characters in Shaw's play, especially Major Sergius Saranoff, serve to underscore the traditional heroism in war of the epic. Saranoff becomes a caricature, desperately clinging to his romanticized ideal of a hero. He struggles to be defined as one himself, but Shaw uses the character to instead suggest that no man could compare to a mythological hero in reality.

What are Hamlet's steps his revange against his uncle's (Claudis)?

The plot of Hamlet shows him moving through various stages or steps in his attempts to take revenge--the play, the stabbing, etc. These are the outward manifestations of his promise to his father.

But it's worth looking at his state of mind as the source of his actions.  Hamlet doesn't appear to plan his revenge.  He delays, prevaricates, philosophises, questions.  There has been much debate as to the reasons for his delay--he has been presented on stage as indecisive, and his comment 'conscience doth make cowards of us all' has been interpreted as fear of the act of killing.  But conscience in Shakespeare's time also meant 'consciousness', implying his endless self-awareness and inner debates preclude action.  Yet, he is impulsive and kills Polonius without guilt ('lug the guts' into the other room) and arranges the death of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern ('they are not near my conscience').

It is likely that, while Hamlet is in a state of melancholy or depression, he can't do anything--he suffers a sort of paralysis.  When he returns from England he has changed, is the energetic, active prince who is able finally to take action.

Was Tess raped or seduced by Alec D'Urberville?

Tess was not raped. In the following chapter she said, "If I had gone for love o' you, if I had ever sincerely loved you, if I loved you still, I should not so loathe and hate myself for my weakness as I do now!... My eyes were dazed by you for a little, and that was all." She stayed with him for a few weeks afterwards and was "dazed" by him. She was not raped because she didn't try to stop him. Thomas Hardy suggests by that statement it may have happened more than once.