Does anyone know the biography of Anton Chekhov?

Chekhov was born on January 29, 1860, he grew up working in his father's store, and worked hard as a child, being obedient and to his family.  He started writing at age 17, was an excellent student who graduated from high school and went on to study medicine at the University of Moscow.

He published his first story in 1880 in a Moscow magazine, becoming one of the most beloved short story writers in Russia.

"His audience demanded laughter above all things, and, with his deep sense of the ridiculous, Chekhov asked nothing better. His stories, though often based on themes profoundly tragic, are penetrated by the light and subtle satire that has won him his reputation as a great humorist."

Chekhov became a doctor, but found that he made more money as a writer, contributing humorous stories about Russian life, marriage, relationships and silly situations.  He famously mastered the one act play.

Chekhov's writing focuses on the relationship of marriage, examining infidelity, the whims of men and women, while revealing profound insight into human relationships.

His characters reflect reality, I enjoy reading Chekhov, especially because his characters often start out as arrogant superior know-it-alls and end up learning a serious life lesson before the end of the story.  His characters can almost seem cartoonish in nature, but when you look closer, you see that they may be slightly exaggerated for humor, but still illustrate real life situations, feelings and attitudes.

"Chekhov was awarded the Pushkin Prize in 1888. Next year he was elected a member of the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature. In 1900 he became a member of the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, but resigned his post two years later as a protest against the cancellation by the authorities of Gorky's election to the Academy."

In 1901, he married Olga Knipper, an actress who had acted in many of his plays.  Chekhov died in July 1904

For more details on Chekhov check the two links below.

Describe the uninvited guest in "The Masque of the Red Death."

The uninvited guest in "The Masque of the Red Death" is the mysterious stranger who appears among the revellers after they had been isolated in Prince Prospero's castle for several months. Suddenly, he was simply there. His appearance was hideous:

The figure was tall and gaunt and shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave. The mask which concealed the visage was made so nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiffened corpse that the closest scrutiny must have had difficulty in detecting the cheat . . . . the [figure] had gone so far as to assume the type of the Red Death. His vesture was dabbled in blood--and his broad brow, with all the features of the face, was besprinkled with the scarlet horror.

This guest seemed to be the embodiment of the deadly disease the revellers were attempting to escape. He appeared among them looking like a corpse, covered with blood, and he moved among them "with a slow and solemn movement." He is a spectral, ghostly image of death who inspires shuddering and terror in those who look upon him.

What does the deer at the railway tracks symbolize in the novel "The Body" by Stephen Iing?

The deer is an interesting image.  Prior to the deer's entrance, the conception of identity we are presented is a shared notion.  In other words, everything is about the boys.  Their travels, the coin toss, running away from Chopper, walking to find the body, getting attacked by the beavers, and the stories are all about all of them.  Even their personal experiences are shared, as they all know everything about one another.  The deer is the first moment where the story is actually about Gordie. No one else experiences it and he doesn't tell anyone else about it.  This might represent an aspect of individual freedom, something that he alone will experience that no one else will.  When you examine how King describes it and how Gordie interprets it, pay attention to how this isolates him from everyone else.

In "The Most Dangerous Game," how does Rainsford learn the reputation of Ship-Trap Island?

Rainsford and his friend were talking before he fell off the boat about the island they were passing. His friend told him that ship-trap was evil and avoided by the natives.

"OFF THERE to the right--somewhere--is a large island," said Whitney." It's rather a mystery--"

"What island is it?" Rainsford asked.

"The old charts call it `Ship-Trap Island,"' Whitney replied." A suggestive name, isn't it? Sailors have a curious dread of the place. I don't know why. Some superstition--"

"Can't see it," remarked Rainsford, trying to peer through the dank tropical night that was palpable as it pressed its thick warm blackness in upon the yacht.

"You've good eyes," said Whitney, with a laugh," and I've seen you pick off a moose moving in the brown fall bush at four hundred yards, but even you can't see four miles or so through a moonless Caribbean night."

A bit later in the introduction...we learn more about Ship-Trap Island through a dialogue between Whitney and Rainsford.

Do you think we've passed that island yet?"

"I can't tell in the dark. I hope so."

"Why? " asked Rainsford.

"The place has a reputation--a bad one."

"Cannibals?" suggested Rainsford.

"Hardly. Even cannibals wouldn't live in such a God-forsaken place. But it's gotten into sailor lore, somehow. Didn't you notice that the crew's nerves seemed a bit jumpy today?"

"They were a bit strange, now you mention it. Even Captain Nielsen--"

"Yes, even that tough-minded old Swede, who'd go up to the devil himself and ask him for a light. Those fishy blue eyes held a look I never saw there before. All I could get out of him was `This place has an evil name among seafaring men, sir.' Then he said to me, very gravely, `Don't you feel anything?'--as if the air about us was actually poisonous. Now, you mustn't laugh when I tell you this--I did feel something like a sudden chill.

"There was no breeze. The sea was as flat as a plate-glass window. We were drawing near the island then. What I felt was a--a mental chill; a sort of sudden dread."

"Pure imagination," said Rainsford.

"One superstitious sailor can taint the whole ship's company with his fear."

"Maybe. But sometimes I think sailors have an extra sense that tells them when they are in danger. Sometimes I think evil is a tangible thing--with wave lengths, just as sound and light have. An evil place can, so to speak, broadcast vibrations of evil. Anyhow, I'm glad we're getting out of this zone. Well, I think I'll turn in now, Rainsford."

The sense of foreshadowing in the conversation between Whitney and Rainsford sets the tone that something bad happens in the story.  The name Ship-Trap Island is something that has a bad connotation among the sailors, and the sense that everyone is holding their breath as the ship sails around this place is evident.

How does John escape from the wild dogs?

There are two stages in the story where dogs are mentioned. Firstly, when John has reached the City of the Gods, he sees a dog who obviously begins to hunt John: "he looked at me as if I were meat." As John walks towards some towers on a god-road, he sees that there was a whole pack of dogs with the first dog, obviously waiting to catch and eat him. John escapes from them by finding a tower with a door that he could open and then shut against the dogs, who chose that moment to attack. The door was strong and made of metal, so they were not able to get through.

Towards the end of the story John says of his return journey that he had two fight off the dogs twice to go back home, but he says nothing more than this, so we are left to imagine how he escaped.

What do New York, Gatsby's parties, weather, time, and the faded timetable showing the list of guests symbolize?

Each of theses items in some way connect to the theme of disillusionment with the American Dream. Gatsby's quest for wealth is centered on wanting to obtain Daisy, which is his symbol for the American Dream. If he can win Daisy's heart, he will have achieved all that he desires to achieve; he will have truly made himself something out of nothing. The parties show the amount of wealth that he has built up yet he does not actually know most of his guests. His wealth and popularity are superficial at best, fleeting ideas (much like the American Dream). The idle passing of time and the overbearing heat show the oppression and emptiness that vain pursuits of wealth have. New York is the hub of activity, and a very popular city, yet the descriptions of the areas that Fitzgerald gives are dirty, faded, and failing. This is how Fitzgerald viewed the pursuit of identity, wealth and the American Dream.

The Declaration of Independence declares that "all men are created equal." How is this principle expressed in the structure of the Constitution?

The Constitution reflects the egalitarianism of Jefferson's Declaration in several ways.  In the Preamble, the goals of the Constitution are stated in the manner where equality within the law is present.  The language of the Preamble articulates the goals and purposes of the Constitution as applying to all people.  Particularly of note is the idea of securing the blessings of liberty to ourselves, which suggests that all individuals possess freedom and no one individual can act in a manner that presumes an unequal proportioning of this freedom.  Additionally, the structure of the Constitution in terms of checks and balances, with each branch possessing equal amount of power in relation to one another also confirms the notion of equality within the structure of the Constitution.  Finally, the application of amendments within the Constitution presumes a sense of equality to all and for all.  In situations where the Framers might not have "gotten it right," additional amendments have been added to underscore the reality that the Constitution is a document predicated upon equality for all Americans.

What was the role of the tramps in "Waiting for Godot"?

Vladimir and Estragon, the “tramps” are the central images of waiting in Beckett’s work.    We can then make the assumption that these characters display the best and worst aspect of humanity, discuss elements that define existence and represent triviality, study themselves and one another, and interact with success and failure with each-other and others  They characters live, love, disparage, compliment, converge, and diverge and nothing happens twice.  Their hopes are never quite realized, their words never lead to action, and what is indicated is never quite actualized.  Godot never arrives.

And I think that this is the precise beauty of it.  The theme of paralysis is an overwhelming one in the play.  It seems to me that action is prevented because of the belief that Monsieur Godot is going to arrive.  The characters praise him, hate him, deride him, mock him, and do this to one another.  Yet, he does not arrive and they still wait.   The element of this play is that we all have to endure what the characters do.  We all undergo moments when we are Lucky or Estragon.  We are even sometimes the little boy who says that "Monsieur Godot will not arrive, but will be here tomorrow." The paralysis of these characters is seen in us.  Perhaps, the symbiotic way to examine this is that while the traits of paralysis and inaction are there, both on stage and within us, perhaps, unlike what is happening on stage, there is something we can do about it.  If we listen to the cries of others' suffering and seek to transform what is into what can be and overcome our own sense of paralysis, maybe something will happen... once.  Perhaps, we no longer have to wait for Monsieur Godot to arrive.  The significance of the tramps is that in them, we live.  In us, they live.  We are left with what Beckett himself called, “symbiosis.”

The closing point.  In a recent Bollywood film, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, the closing scene takes place at an airport where there is a sign for the passenger, "Godot."  The person holding it is quite old, presuming that he has been waiting for some time.  If Bollywood can grasp the futility in waiting, I suppose I can, as well.

Faustus' Final NightFaustus' Final Night. What do we learn about Faustus' character during his final night on earth? What do the events and...

When we meet Faustus in the closing scene, he is seen in the company of his three scholar friends. He is desperately on the verge of physical and mental collapse. In this scene, we find the climax culminating into a terrible catastrophe. The most poignant last soliloquy of Doctor Faustus, just an hour before his final doom, reveals forcefully the deep agony of a horror-stricken soul. It reveals in the most convincing manner the spiritual torture of a hopeless but repentant sinner who is about to be overtaken by death and perdition. The last four lines of the monologue  are unsurpassed as far as their effect of horror is concerned. When the clock strikes twelve, the agents of Lucifer snatch away the agonized soul of Faustus to hell to suffer eternal damnation :

My God, my God, look not so fierce on me !

Adders and serpents , let me breathe a while !

Ugly hell, gape not ! come not, Lucifer !

I’ll burn my books ! ― Ah, Mephistophilis !               [Exeunt Devils with Faustus]

Faustus’s very last word is the shriek  ‘Mephistophilis’ and the play comes to a kind of quiet ending, which a great tragedy demands.

The real battle in the play is not fought in a battlefield for any kingdom or crown, but in the limitless regions of the mind. The focus is always on the conflict which was raging within the mind of Faustus―the conflict between the spiritual and the demonic forces. In Doctor Faustus, Marlowe has thus undertaken to present the greatest conflict in the mind of a man. The one dominant impression produced by the play is of the tension and torment suffered by a man who allies himself with the forces of evil for the sake of self and power and who realizes his folly when it is too late for him to repent or retrace his steps.

What one thing does Mafatu do for fun on the island in Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry?What makes Mafatu's voyage home so hard? What makes the...

Mafatu does not have much time to do things for fun on the island, as he has a lot of work to do to ensure his survival and prepare to journey back to his home.  He does take the opportunity to do something for his own enjoyment, however, when he finally finishes his canoe and takes it out on the water for the first time.  Mafatu is filled with pride when he finds how well the canoe handles on the sea; "never (has) he been as happy as in this moment".  Even though he knows that he should get back to the island to climb to the lookout, he stays out on the water, enjoying "to the full this new sensation of confidence in himself, this freedom from the sea's threat".  Mafatu spends time just fishing, and looking down into the amazingly clear water.  He cannot believe "how fantastic (is) that undersea world" ("Drums").

Mafatu's voyage home is difficult for two main reasons.  First of all, he is forced to leave the island precipitously because he is being chased by the eaters-of-men.  The savages chase him for several days, making that part of the journey quite desperate as Mafatu flees for his life.  After he manages to elude his pursuers, Mafatu encounters another problem, the vagaries of the winds and tides.  There is "a drift and pull that appear(s) to make a forward gain impossible", and he is stranded on the water under the blazing sun for many more days as his food and water slowly run out ("Homeward").

When Mafatu finally makes it back to Hikueru and, carrying his spear, approaches the villagers, his father does not at first recognize him.  Then the aged chief sees Uri, the small yellow dog who has been Mafatu's constant companion since childhood, and Kivi, the albatross Mafatu had long ago rescued and who has stayed near to him ever since.  Tavana Nui then knows without doubt that the stranger who has arrived on the island is indeed his long-lost son ("Homeward").

How are ball bearings made?

The ball bearing balls are made from wires of steel with diameter equal to the design diameter of the balls. The wire is cut in to small pieces slightly longer than ball diameter. Each of these piece is pressed between two dies, each having semi-spherical cavities. This results in the cylindrical pieces of wire taking on spherical shape of the dies. However the balls produced in this way have some projection called flash, which looks like ring of Saturn, because some gap remains between the two halves of the dies even when they are pressed together to the maximum.

The flash is ground off by placing the balls in a rough groove between cast iron disks. One of the disk is stationery while the other rotates. This causes the balls to rub and rotate against the rough surface of the groove, which grinds off the flash.

The ball after removal of the flash are heat treated to give them required hardness. The hardened ball are then ground and lapped to the exact required diameter and degree of smoothness.

Through a study of the techniques of characterization, what conflicts are raised and how are they resolved in the fiction story "Araby"?

Authors use indirect and direct methods of characterization:

• INDIRECT:  through direct statements giving the writer's opinion of the character


• DIRECT:  through a physical description


• through the character's actions


• through the comments and reactions of other characters


• through the character's thoughts, feelings, and speeches

With the use of first person point of view, Joyce does not employ any direct characterization.  Rather, it is mainly through the voice of the main character, the boy, that the reader learns of him. As the narrator of "Araby," the boy describes his neighborhood as "sombre" with "dark muddy lanes" where he and his friends

ran the gauntlet of the rough tribes from the cottage, to the back doors of the dark dripping gardens where odours arose from the ashpits, to the dark odorous stables

As a relief from this dark environment, the boy says that "we left our shadow and walked up to Mangan's steps."  His description of Mangan's sister is clearly romanticized:

Her name was like a summons to all my foolish blood....My body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires.

The girl speaks to him, turning a "silver bracelet round and round her wrist."  That she represents an escape from his dismal enviornment is evident, but there is also a subtle conflict which Joyce often includes in his narratives:  The experience of social decline and disillusionment.  His truth of life for the Catholic Irish who were denied the better jobs passed to the British or Prostetants is evident in the many references to money:  Mrs. Mercer as the pawnbroker, the boy holds a florin (silver coin) tightly in his hand as he strides down Buckingham [English reference] Street, and he later allows the "two pennies to fall against the sixpence in my pocket" after he reaches the bazaar too late.  Certainly, that the boy must wait for his uncle to return and give him some money before he can go to the bazaar certainly contributes to his later disappointment and disillusionment.

Other characters' thoughts and speech indicate conflicts of the boy.  The girl, who rolls her silver bracelet, obviously does not have the same idealization of the boy as he does her.  She declines his invitation by saying that she has a religious retreat to attend instead.  His uncle makes light of his desire to go to the bazaar by being late in coming home, after he asks the boy where he is going for the second time, he flippantly asks him if he know "The Arab's Farewell to his Steed" and speaks to him in platitudes:  "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."

Along with his disillusionment, the boy's sense of isolation is apparent from his descriptions of the sombreness of his environment and his viewing the girl through the glass of a window to his sense of emptiness as he drops the money from his pocket, emptying it in the vacated bazaar, where the talk is not romantic, but only idle gossip.

Why is the Bourgeoisie involved in a constant battle?

To understand answer to this question we need to understand the concept of class struggle proposed by Karl Marx. As per this concept, since the beginning of human societies with division of labour, societies have been divided in two broad classes the dominant class and the dominated class. There is always a struggle between dominant class and the dominated class for power and for better share of the outputs of the society. Down the ages it has been observed that with major changes in technology, the dominated class may gain ascendancy over the dominant class and itself become a dominant class with a new dominated class emerging under them. In this way Karl Max identified the following pairs of dominant and dominated classes that emerged and disappeared down the ages.

Free men and slaves

Patrician and plebeian

Baron and serf

Nobility and bourgeoisie

Bourgeoisie and proletariat

As described by Karl Max, bourgeoisie is the class of people owning and managing the means of production. This class emerged with the development of technology for production where the tools of production became an important factor of production, as distinct from labour. Proletariat is the class of people who sell their labour to the bourgeoisie and receive wages from them. The product from the labour of proletariat is owned by bourgeoisie and they earn profit by selling it. This profit is far in excess to their own contribution labour in producing it.

The bourgeoisie, when they initially emerged, were among the dominated class under the nobility. But the new technology gave them power, which they used in their struggle with nobility and gain ascendancy over them.

Thus emerged an new class structure of bourgeoisie as the dominant class and proletariat as the dominated class. Currently as per Karl Marx these two classes are in a struggle to gain power. One sign of this struggle is visible in the labour trade union activities. Advent of communistic form of government is a revolutionary form of this struggle.

It is envisaged by Karl Marx that this current class struggle will come to an end with proletariat gaining ascendancy and then establishing a class less society. How accurate these views of Karl Marx are is a matter of debate.

In "Fahrenheit 451" Bradbury has suggested the story turns on the input from Clarisse. Why must Clarisse be killed or silenced?Explore Clarisse's...

You have an interesting question here--why must Clarisse be killed or silenced?  Well, look at the impact that one small, short encounter with Montag has on Montag's life.  He meets her on the way home from work.  Before his meeting with her, he was a content man, happy with life, enjoying everything.  But then he meets her, has a 5-minute conversation with her, and bam.  He starts questioning everything.  Was he really happy?  He realizes that he actually isn't happy at all.  Her spirit and essence was so different from what he experienced every day that it disturbed him to the extent that he started questioning everything around him.  After all of his meetings with her, before she does "disappear," Montag is a changed man.  He is unhappy, searching, rebelling, and thinking of uprooting an entire system of society.  And, she didn't do this directly--she was just truly happy.  She asked questions.  Her mere presence forced him to introspect and see himself for who and what he really was.  We have all known people that have impacted us in profound ways, and Clarisse was one such person for Montag.

So, imagine if Clarisse wasn't "silenced" or killed.  Imagine how many other people she would inadvertantly impact.  Montag was ready for rebellion after meeting her, and if she inspired others to do that same thing, their government would have a full-fledged revolution on their hands.  And, if other people like Clarisse were allowed in their world, everything would change.  So, to keep control of the people, they had to "control" "wild cards" (as Beatty describes her) like Clarisse.

Clarisse's character is the ideal, the type of character that Bradbury is saying has completely died out in their society. She has an active, questioning, thinking mind, and that is good.  Montag's society says it is bad.  So Bradbury uses Clarisse as a shining flag of an example, that waves in stark contrast to how everyone else is in their society.

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

In "Vanka," what theme does Chekhov develop? Explore setting, contrast, and imagery in the story.

This very poignant story concerns the loss of innocence and misery of Vanka, a nine-year-old boy whose whole world has been taken from him. He had experienced life as a fatherless child, but he had lived with a loving mother and his beloved grandfather in a small Russian village, surrounded by warmth and affection. Now, however, with the death of his mother, Vanka has been ripped from his home on the estate of a wealthy family and sent to Moscow to be apprenticed to a shoemaker who beats and starves him. The setting of the story is Christmas Eve in the master's shop. Surrounded by darkness, alone and filled with dread that he might be caught, Vanka writes a letter to his grandfather begging to be taken home.

Throughout the story, Vanka's memories of home contrast sharply with his present surroundings. At home on this Christmas Eve, his grandfather, a nightwatchman for the estate owners, would be jolly, teasing one of the maids or the cook. The village, as he recalled it, would be beautiful:

It was a dark night, but the whole village with its white roofs, the smoke rising from the chimneys, the trees, silver with rime, the snow-drifts, could be seen distinctly. The sky was sprinkled with gaily twinkling stars, and the Milky Way stood out as clearly as if newly scrubbed for the holiday and polished with snow....

Vanka's sighs at the memory, as he kneels in the light of a candle at the cobbler's bench to write his letter. The contrast is strong. Another vivid contrast concerns Vanka's memory of decorating the tree on the estate while he lived there:

Grandfather would drag the tree to the big house, and they would start decorating it. . . . Miss Olga Ignatyevna, Vanka's favorite, was the busiest of all. While Pelageva, Vanka's mother, was alive and in service at the big house, Olga Ignatyevna used to give Vanka sweets, and amuse herself by teaching him to read, write and count to a hundred, and even to dance the quadrille.

On this Christmas Eve, however, Vanka is alone, surrounded by fear and misery. The others have gone to church, while he writes his letter seeking salvation of another kind.

In Vanka's suffering Chekhov's theme emerges: Children often suffer through no fault of their own, the powerless victims of social forces and adult cruelty. Vanka's attempt to change his fate by writing a letter to his grandfather shows that hope still lives in his heart and there is yet more innocence in him that will be crushed.

What characteristics do the gang's two named exploits (pinching free rides and destroying the house) have in common?

The most significant thing that they have in common is that neither activity serves a purpose other than creating a name and image for the gang. They pinch rides because they can, not to actually get anywhere. They destroy the house because they can, not because of anything that Old Misery has done.

It is just as significant to notice the difference between the two activities. Pinching rides gives the gang a reputation without hurting anyone or anything. It makes them stand out and feel "important" within disrupting society or bringing any real damage. However destroying the house is a personal battle for "T." It has a clear purpose, to destroy, and very real and extreme consequences.

Why is it significant that O'Brien knows the last line of the stanza in the book 1984?

The first reason that O'Brien knowing this is signifcant is that it cements Winston's trust and liking of him.  He had been thinking about O'Brien for the entire book, wondering if he too felt the same way that he did about the Party.  When he gets the note from O'Brien, he is hopeful, and shows up at O'Brien's house.  Here, O'Brien reveals himself to be part of the resistance against the party, and him knowing the last stanza of that poem just cemented Winston's trust of him.  He liked him all the better for it--it proved to Winston that O'Brien knew better times, that he remembered the same things that Winston did, and it was a tacit admission that a different world had once existed.  It was a bonding point for the two of them, and gives Winston even more hope in the future.

Another way that him knowing this stanza is significant is that it is, if you really think about it, a significant piece of foreshadowing.  Winston had had conversations about that song and poem in the bedroom in the prole neighborhood.  He had recited the first parts of that poem out loud, and wished that he had known the rest of it.  In his rented bedroom, Winston had supposedly been safe from eavesdropping and the prying fingers of the Party.  O'Brien coincidentally knows the last stanza to this little, insignificant, obscure and totally random rhyme?  Is that coincidence?  Or did he somehow know of Winston's fascination with it and was prepared with it to win Winston over?  O'Brien's knowledge of it can be seen as too significant to be coincidence, and instead, evidence of foreshadowing of O'Brien's treachery.

One last possible way that it could be significant is that when we know who O'Brien is, we realize that he has access to whatever knowledge, information, research and power that he wants to.  He was able to look up and find an obscure rhyme.  His ability to find information that he wanted to is such a constrast from the rest of their society, where information is controlled down to the letter, and it shows just how power-hungry and hypocritical the Party is.  They can have access to information and truth, but their people can't.  They can drink fine wine and eat real chocolate, but their people can't.  They are all-powerful, and use that power to stay there.  O'Brien knowing the rhyme demonstrates the Party's power.

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

What happened at the end of "Julie of the Wolves"?

Miyax has been staying in the woods with the wolves but she relalizes that the weather is getting worse and she needs to leave. She decides to find a village so that she can get some help from people. On the way she finds a small bird that she names Tornait and takes for a pet. As she travels, she finds a family hunting for caribou and they give her directions to the nearest village. She stays with the family for a little while, then decides to continue searching for her father. She goes to the village and finds that her father used to be there, but is now missing. He was working as a hunting guide. He led tourists on wolf hunts. She figures out that he was responsible for killing one of her wolf friends while she was with the caribui-hunting family. When she discovers this, she decides that she doesn't want to live with him afterall. She returns to her home village and her aunt. She has grown in wisdom over the course of her adventure and she is now ready to work on the problems that she had left behind.

The plaque on the door of the camp read “Work is Liberty.” What was your reaction when you read it? Why would the Nazi’s have put that there?

'Arbeit Macht Frei' was not a plaque on a door, it was  scripted in iron over the gated entrance of Auschwitz. (The same inscription appears at Dachau) The reason I clarify is because it was high enough for everyone to read amid the chaos and confusion once off the trains. 'Arbeit Macht Frei' depending upon which holocaust survivor, translated the phrase either 'the work will set you free' or 'work brings freedom'. Many Jewish prisoners believed just that, they were prisoners being sent to 'work camps'. However, it became apparent to family members held hostage in the Warsaw ghettos that once a person boarded the trains (actually cattle cars) to the 'work camps' they were never heard from again. As an historian, the research suggests that the Nazis erected the statement over the gate for two reasons, both psychological. The first was Hitler's psychological deception of what Auschwitz was. 'Arbeit Macht Frei' was the visible sign that served to counter the negative psychological impact the SS were beginning to manifest due to the 'firing squad' methods of mass murder. Secondly, it served as a 'comfort' element for all thousands of people finally off the trains everyday. Think about it, 5-7 days on a railroad car without tiolets, windows, or food. People were scared, children were crying, people died, the smells must have been horrific. Calculated by Hitler, 'Arbeit Macht Frei' were words of relief to all who exited the trains. That relief, combined with loaves of bread being tossed at the passengers as if they were animals was the first step towards implementing Hitler's Final Solution.

What is W.B.Yeats's poem, "A Woman Homer Sung" about?

This poem "A Woman Homer Sung" is from Yeats' "The Green Helmet and other Poems" (1910). In this poem Yeats (1865-1939} exalts Maud Gonne his lover into Helen of Troy, the woman "Homer sung" about in his epic the "Iliad." For Yeats Maud Gonne had the effect of making art and life seem unreal:

 "For she had fiery blood
When I was young,
And trod so sweetly proud
As 'twere upon a cloud,
A woman Homer sung,
That life and letters seem
But an heroic dream."

It is precisely because, as the title of the poem itself indicates, that Maud Gonne his lover can be equated with Homer's "Iliad" - "a woman Homer sung [about]" - that other things however heroic pale into insignificance. The myth becomes more important to Yeats than the physical body of Maud Gonne.

Maud Gonne was the woman who dominated and tormented him throughout his life and poetic career. Yeats first met her in 1899 and from then on was obsessively infatuated with her. Yeats proposed marriage to her thrice but was rejected because he did not support her Nationalist cause for freedom from England. Maud Gonne later went on to marry the Irish freedom fighter James Macbride. The marriage was catastrophic and Macbride himself was executed for his role in the Easter rising of 1916. Nevertheless Yeats and Maud Gonne consummated their relationship once in the year 1908. This act of sexual consummation is the subject of the poem "A Man Young and Old" in the same volume. However, Maud Gonne promptly severed all contact with him. Yeats much later in life when he was 51 years got married to twenty four year old Georgie Hyde Lees.

This poem describes vividly his feelings for Maud Gonne.The theme of the poem reveals how he sublimates his physical desire for her body into a spiritual and mystical state by the process of mythologizing.Yeats'creation, the poem "The Woman Homer Sung" represents his effort to mimetically represent the universal (the myth of Helen) in his particular poem.

In "Fahrenheit 451" can anyone describe the dual role of fire as a key symbol in this novel?

In "Fahrenheit 451," fire symbolizes both mindless and brutal destruction, and also an opportunity to cleanse and rebuild, to start over again.

In Montag's society, they use fire as the main force of destruction, not only of books, but of independent thinking and rebellion.  Yes, they burn books, but in doing so, they use fire to snuff out and destroy people's ability to use books to help them to think on their own.  As Beatty puts it,

"If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides to a question to worry him."

Books present two sides of the story, the good and bad in life, and encourage people to think on their own.  And it's not only books in houses that they burn, they take away anyone who is slightly different or who might be causing unrest, like Clarisse's family.  People are so afraid of their houses being burnt that the threat alone keeps them from reading and thinking, and expressing discontent--this is what happened to Faber.  He said that he had been a "coward" all these years.  Houses are burnt, and so are free-thinkers and any dissenters.

The second symbolic meaning behind fire is that of rebirth, rejuvenation, and second chances.  This is best expressed in the myth of the Phoenix, that Granger describes at the end of the book.  A bird would burn himself up in a fire every few hundred years, and

"every time he burnt himself up he sprang out of the ashes, he got himself born all over again."

So, Granger says, that is what happening to their society.  It is burned to the ground through fire, the war, but they have a chance to be reborn--to start over and not make the same mistakes.  Sure, Montag's house was burned to the ground and destroyed, but that provided him the opportunity he needed to leave his past behind and start again, the right way.  Sure, their city was destroyed by fire, but, it gave the right people the chance to rebuild, in the right way.

So, fire destroys, but it also provides opportunity for rebirth, for starting over, and for building things that are devoid of the mistakes that destroyed things in the first place.  I hope that those thoughts helped a bit; good luck!

How does Pearl feel towards Hester in The Scarlet Letter?

Pearl's relationship with her mother is complex and puzzling, the result of the circumstances of her birth and her life in the Puritan colony. Pearl loves her mother and sometimes treats her with affection and tenderness. However, at other times she taunts Hester and seems to take pleasure in causing her distress. Always, the little girl shows a persistent and recurring fascination with the scarlet letter Hester wears. Hawthorne writes that as an infant, Pearl's earliest association with and memory of her mother was focused on the letter.

Pearl is the unwitting victim of Hester and Arthur's transgression. She grows up as a social outcast, frequently tormented by other children, and lives in the same circle of isolation that surrounds Hester. Hers is a lonely existence, but she grows to embrace the loneliness, living in a world of her own and finding pleasure in solitary games and acts of creative imagination. Pearl is confused by all she does not understand, including her own parentage, and this confusion is often expressed in anger, much of it aimed at her mother. Only at the conclusion of the novel when she is publicly acknowledged and embraced by her father does Pearl become "a human child." The anger and "otherness" drops away as she weeps.

The end of the novel includes information about Pearl's life as a woman in England. She marries well and has her own child. Gifts that arrived for Hester from England imply that Pearl's love for her mother survived and surpassed her confusing and difficult childhood:

But, through the remainder of Hester's life, there were indications that the recluse of the scarlet letter was the object of love and interest with some inhabitant of another land. Letters came, with armorial seals upon them, though of bearings unknown to English heraldry. In the cottage there were articles of comfort and luxury, such as Hester never cared to use, but which only wealth could have purchased, and affection have imagined for her. There were trifles, too, little ornaments, beautiful tokens of a continual remembrance, that must have been wrought by delicate fingers, at the impulse of a fond heart.

At the end of Hester's life, her daughter loved her without reservation and would have welcomed her into her home in England had Hester been willing to leave her cottage by the sea.

What metaphor does Fitzgerald use to convey the theme of hollowness in the upper class?

There are many ways to go with this question because Fitzgerald uses many metaphors or situations that can operate as metaphors.  I think the concept of "the party" can be seen as a metaphor for the emptiness of the upper class.  If we examine the parties that are featured in the work.  These social gatherings are described in a manner that does not seem to breed sensitivity or emotional connection.  They are populated by shallow people, social butterflies, who congregate at someone else's expense, pass judgments on others and gossip to a great extent.  The wealthy individuals/ upper class at these parties are very nonchalent about their attitudes as they use the trappings of wealth and social status to insulate themselves from real suffering and concrete human connections.  At a dinner party, one is to be "polite" and "refined."  Fitzgerald takes this to a metaphorical level by showing these people using their wealth to build a protected world of privilege and elitism where everything has a price and there is a hollow shell of human contact.  It is at these parties where the worst of human character is on display, whether it is in the characters of Tom, Daisy, or Jordan.  We see the shallow and hollow spirit of the 1920s at its best in these settings.  It seems that repeated party setting and the fact that little redeeming qualities are featured by the upper class at these parties would affirm that the party is a metaphor for hollowness and a certain amount of emptiness amongst the upper class.

Give example(s) of Foreshadowing in the novel, "Green Days by the River".Foreshadow means to "show in advance" and in the novel, specific...

Do you recall in Chapter 1 when Shell meets the three boys under the cashew tree? They were trying to pelt a ripe, jucy-looking cashew but failed in their attempt. The cashew was likened to Rosalie when Len says to Joe, "That's a nice, ripe, sweet darling. But it hard. Like your girlfriend. Nice and sweet but no easy picking.' (P.12). At the start of Chapter 2, Shell revisits the tree and begins to pelt at the same cashwe. With the second shot he "cut the stem cleanly with a flying stone and the cashew came tumbling through the leaves". Failing to get under it quickly to catch it before it hit the ground, the cashew bashed on the ground and was of no use.

This isolated incident seems unimportant but soon forshadows a key development in the plot. All the boys are smitten by Rosalie's beauty-even Len, who teases Joe. She seems to be symbolically hard to win over but it is Shell who manages to have a secret sexual encounter with her- an action that has serious consequences for Shell. Part of Shell's disappointment after hitting the cashew from the tree, is that none of the boys were there to see him do so. Likewise, his subsequent sexual encounter with Rosalie is something unknown to the other characters in the story. Michael Anthony suggests, however, that Mr Gidharee later knew of the encounter and teaches Shell a brutal lesson in the end.

What does Chillingworth discover when Reverend Dimmesdale is sleeping in Chapter 10 of The Scarlet Letter and how does he react to this discovery?

In chapter 10 of The Scarlet Letter, "The Leech and his Patient", Chillingworth tries everything he can to extract from Reverend Dimmesdale the truth about the ailment that has been consuming him alive. Since Dimmesdale refuses to give way, Chillingworth opts to hint at different things that "could" be wrong with the minister, namely, his spiritual health. 

The men keep going back and forth, with Dimmesdale reminding Chillingworth that he (Dimmesale) is the one to deal with his own spiritual matters. Chillingworth lets Dimmesale go along with the certainty that he still will be needed. 

At the end of this chapter, Reverend Dimmesdale falls asleep at around noon while reading. This is rare since Dimmesdale's physical state often rendered him sleepless and nervous. Chillingworth is aware of this and enters the room "without any extraordinary precaution". It is here where he moves the Reverend's robe aside and sees "something".

The reader does not get to know in this chapter exactly what it is that Roger actually sees, but we later find out that Arthur has carved a letter "A" on his own flesh. This means that he commiserates with Hester and her own scarlet letter. This is when Chillingworth makes the connection that Dimmesdale is the secret man that Hester refuses to identify as the father of her child born out of wedlock. 

Chillingworth's reaction is quite surprising for an elder man. He feels a "ghastly rapture", and he essentially becomes extremely ecstatic. He is compared to Satan himself, and how the devil would behave itself in a situation where it had won someone's soul. However, Hawthorne clarifies: 

But what distinguished the physician's ecstasy from Satan's was the trait of wonder in it!

Why did Mr Ripley deceive others and himself about his identity?

Ripley's main reason for deception stems from his wanting to live the life of someone other than himself. He is full of self-loathing and so mimics others to create a new persona so he can break free of his lowly upbringing. He is embarrassed by his lack of financial means and working class social status. He make an effort to get close to people of the upper class who represent culture, wealth, and social standing. Once he manages to ingratiate himself with such people, he learns how to imitate the way they dress and speak, their body language and gestures, so that he can assume their identities. 

How does the language in Act III, scene 4 reflect the characters?

As the coronation banquet is about to commence(act3 sc.4), Macbeth addresses his guests in a language and tone that suggest formal poise and decorousness:'You know your own degrees; sit down:/ At first and last a hearty welcome'. Lady Macbeth also exudes friendly hospitality to corroborate her husband's words like an ideal hostess.

But as the first murderer appears at the door and Macbeth approaches to him, there is a tone of hushed caution in Macbeth's words:'There's blood upon thy face'. Soon thereafter when Macbeth comes to know that Fleance has escaped though Banquo is killed, his language shows paroxysm of fear:[Aside]'Then comes my fit again:I had else been perfect.............'. The murderer speaks an idiom of cold professional cruelty, characteristic of his status and vocation.

After the exit of the murderer, Lady Macbeth speaks accusingly to remind her husband of his discourteous indifference to the assembled guests:'My royal lord,/ You do not give the cheer: the feast is sold..........'. Then the ghost of Banquo appears to Macbeth responding ironically to his recalling of Banquo, and Macbeth's words get instantly soaked with visionary fear:'Thou canst not say I did it: never shake/ Thy gory locks at me'.

From this moment till the abandonment of the banquet, Macbeth's language betrays his fear-stricken mind as he keeps addressing the blood-boltered spectral image of Banquo, e.g.'Avaunt! and quit my sight!let the earth hide thee!' or 'What man dare, I dare:/ Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear.............'.

Lady Macbeth uses her language sarcastically to bring her husband back to normal sense:'This is the very painting of your fear.........../ O, these flaws and starts,/ Impostors to true fear would well become/ A woman's story at a winter's fire...........'.

At the end of the scene, after the departure of the guests, Macbeth sounds rather a bit delirious:'It will have blood:they say blood will have blood:/ Stones have been known to move and trees to speak;/ Augures and understood relations have/ By maggot-pies and choughs and rooks brought forth/ The secret'st man of blood'. Lady Macbeth switches over to softer and more sympathetic tone:'You lack the season of all natures, sleep'.