What are the properties of equalities and what do they do?

Equalities:

I do not define equality. In a babalance , there is a situation when both sides weigh the same. Please feel the situation of the equality.  Both sides you have  masses a and b but weigh the same  or equal. We say a=b.

Now throught the dicussion below, a=b.

Let c be any number. Then a+c=b+c. That is we can add equals to both sides of equals withou affecting equality. Or we can add same to both sides of an equation and the equation remains an equation.

Similarly a-c=b-c. An equality (or equation) remains equality by subracting the equals from both sides.

An equality can be multiplied by any equal quantity,k on both sides, and the result is an equality. a*k = b*k

An equality can be divided by an equal quantity on both sides, without affecting the equality.But zero is an exception.Dividing by zero to establish anythin is not permitted in maths.

a/k=b/k.

If a = b are equal, then a^n = b^n. That is the equal powers of equals are equal . This of course, is a consequence of the previous postulates only.

Finally If a=b, then f(a) = f(b), where f is a function of the arguement and f(x) =g(x) , then f(a)=f(a) =g(a)=f(b). Again this is actually consequence the

These properties of equality are useful in solving an equation or while estiblish the proof of an identity.An identy is a relation or equality true for all values of the variable.

Example:

Solve the equation: The sum five times a quantity and six is 16. What is that quantity. Here the unknown quantiy is can be assume x and rest of the thing is setting up an equation: 5x+6=16.

Subtract 6 from both sides.

5x+6-6 =16-6 . Now simplify both sids.

5x=10

Divide both sides by 5 and simplify:

5x/5=10/2

x=2.

Ex 2:

If 5x^3 -40=0.

Add 40 to both sides:

5x^3-40=0+40. Simplify.

5x^3=40. Divide both sides by 5:

5x^3/5=40/5. Simplify.

x^3=8. Take the power (1/3).Or take cube root.

(x^3)^(1/3) = (8)^(1/3)

x=2

Identity: It is form of equality,true for all values of the variable, whereas an equality is true only for particular values.

Ex

x^2-16=(x+4)(x-4) is an identity and is true for any value of x. Where as, x^2-16=0 is an equation holding good for x=+4 or x=-4.

We can use the properties of equality to establish the proof of an idntity.

In "Ode on a Grecian Urn" what does the speaker seem to admire most about the urn?

In my opinion, the speaker of "Ode on a Grecian Urn" admires the immortality of the urn's subjects (and of the urn itself) even more than its beauty.  With the same idea that a poem can make its subject eternal, this beautiful Grecian urn has the same ability for its subjects to live eternally as well.  For example, in a few of my absolute favorite lines from literature, the speaker comments on two lovers depicted on the side of the urn:

Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss, / Though winning near the goal--yet, do not grieve; / She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss, / Forever wilt thou love, and she be fair! (17-20)

In one of the rare uses of the exclamation point in English Literature, Keats shows that these lovers will always be both beautiful and in love.  Their love achieves immortality.  Further, the speaker hints that a love and a fair maiden cannot remain in that state for all time in real time.

There are other examples of this as well.  The speaker mentions that the leaves of the trees will always be budding in spring and that the passion of the lovers will always be new.  The speaker clinches his thought at the end when he says:

When old age shall this generation waste, / Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe / Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st, / "Beauty is truth, truth beauty,"--that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. (46-50)

Ah, now Keats reveals the secret of life:  that beauty is truth.  It is the immortal beauty this urn holds that reveals the truth of this life; therefore, cling to beauty such as this because that is all you need to know.

What are some things that show irony in The Bluest Eye?

One thing that's ironic in The Bluest Eye is the the term of being ruined. In the novel, the prostitutes are the ruined ones. The neighbors talk about them saying that they are ruined and have no reason to be living; however, characters are even more ruined than they show out to be. The prostitutes in the book are independent and care-free while the Polly is barely hanging on to life. She is dependent on her job not because of the pay but because that is the only thing that keeps her sane and happy.

On another note, the rape of Pecola is another ironic part. Cholly, when he was young, was embarrassed when he was forced to do a sexual act by two white men. The act of him raping his daughter is tied back to that moment because he embarrasses Pecola and forces the act on her.

What is role of the priests in this drama?

The three priests function as a group in a similar fashion to a Greek chorus early in the play, in that they speak to the audience about Becket before he comes onstage. However, the priests are not a single unit; we know this because each priest has a different opinion of Becket. All three of the priests want to help Becket, but they express different opinions about what will happen upon Becket's return to England. The first priest is fearful; the second is hopeful; the third, fatalistic, saying "For good or ill, let the wheel turn." By the second part of the play, all three priests band together to try to persuade Becket to flee for his life.

What are some possible themes in "The Rocking Horse Winner" by D.H. Lawrence?

Themes of pride, dissatisfaction, and greed are all clearly developed in Hester, Paul's mother. She is also a terribly selfish woman, totally incapable of loving anyone, including her son. Her heart is cold. Even when Paul dies, his mother does not feel grief or loss. We have reason to believe she will continue spending, and wasting, whatever money she gets. There will never be enough money for her.

A second theme involves sacrifice. Paul loves his mother and knows how miserable she is because they are poor. He determines to get money for the household, to be "lucky" as his father had not been. When Paul discovers he can pick the winners in horse races, he becomes obsessed with winning more and more money for his mother, but it is never enough. He works harder and harder, growing frail and weak, until he dies. He sacrifices himself for his mother's happiness, a gift she surely does not deserve and one he surely had no responsibility to give her.

Another theme develops from Paul's need for love and recognition. He is a child who is neglected and emotionally abused. His mother never listens to him; he plays no role of importance in her life. He dies trying to please her. Perhaps then she would love him.

As well as FEAR being a major cause of conflict in "The Crucible", what other factors could cause conflict?

Several other important factors were at the center of the conflict in "The Crucible." First of all, GREED played an important part, especially in the actions between Thomas Putnam. Giles Corey, an ultimate victim of the witchcraft hyteria, accused Putnam of taking advantage of those accused of witchcraft by trying to obtain their land. In addition, the THIRST FOR POWER played an important part in the trials. As the trials progress, Abigail and the other girls see their power to disrupt  and change lives simply by accusation. In addition, Judge Danforth seems more concerned with the reputation of the court rather than finding the truth. When Proctor finally admits under duress that he was in league with the devil, Danforth insists Proctor sign a paper admitting his guilt that will be displayed in public. His insistence at further demeaning Proctor in order to show the power and righteousness of the court costs Proctor his life. Finally, simply NAIVETE  brings many people down. Rebecca Nurse, who naively believes that the truth will come out on its own once the girls tire of their games, is brought down by the girls accusations. Giles Corey innocently mentions his wife likes to read books and both husband and wife eventually fall victim to the witchcraft hysteria. All of these factors mixed together to cause the major conflicts in the play.

In the novel "Night" what day of the week was Elie and his Family expelled?

In the novel "Night" the Wiesel family as well as the other Jewish people were expelled on the Sabbath.  As devout Jewish people their Sabbath day begins on Friday night at sundown and continues through Saturday night at sundown.  During this period of time the people do no work or unnecessary activity of any kind.  The Jewish people believe that this is time for reflection, rest, and worship of their Lord.  They were forced to gather all their belongings and leave their homes on this most holy of days.

Why is Rose an important symbol in English literature, especially in romantic love literature? Christianity introduced the rose symbol. But...

by William Faulkner

In literature, roses often symbolize love and beauty; therefore, they represent ladies, also. Roses are a frequently used flower symbol. The rose was made for symbolism, metaphor, allusion. Its beautiful flowers – in the wild, each bearing the symbolically charged number of five petals – bloom alongside vicious thorns. Sight, touch, smell and taste – when petals are distilled into rose water or rose oil – are all captivated From a Christian perspective, a rose is a symbol of heaven and harmony in the world. Furthermore, the rose is considered the flower of the Virgin Mary. The color of the rose is often significant red for romantic love Like the sun,'Rose' is an important symbol in literature. Long ago Robert Burns sang : 'My luve's like a red, red rose'. Chirstina Rossetti wrote about the wonderful rose in the ever poetic style of her own : O Rose , thou flower of flowers, thou fragrant wonder'. The Rose was in the deep of Yeats' hearts. Like other plants, a rose, especially one that is still alive, can also carry overtones of growth, renewal. Roses have thorns which represent the pain or hurt hidden in the beauty, as in "love hurts". Rose bushes can also provide a barrier.

The first impression The Rose makes on its reader is the tactile pleasure of handling a book that has been made into a sumptuous object. The heavy, glossy pages with polished gilt edges emphasize, by counterpoint, a sense-memory of the fleshy softness of the petals depicted in the glorious illustrations. In A Rose for Emily the rose is symbolic...a sort of nod in her direction for her success as an aristocratic representative, the last of her kind, and the conquerer of Homer Baron.

What happens to Kenny's dinosaurs when he plays with LJ in The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963?

Kenny's dinosaurs always seem to disappear when he plays with LJ Jones.  LJ is conniving and manipulative, and takes advantage of Kenny's comparative naivete to steal his toys from him.  At first, LJ confiscates the dinosaurs "one or two at a time", but one day, he hatches a plot to get a whole bunch of Kenny's dinosaurs for himself.

LJ suggests to Kenny that they should have "one great big battle" with the dinosaurs.  Kenny's mother, afraid that Kenny will lose all of his toys to his unscrupulous "friend", has forbidden him to take out all of his dinosaurs at once, but LJ craftily convinces Kenny that they will need all of the dinosaurs for this particular game, and Kenny, caught up in the moment, thinks of a way to get more of his toys out of his room without his mother knowing.  He runs upstairs and drops the pillowcase containing his dinosaurs out the window, and runs to get them before his mother is aware of what is going on.  Kenny and LJ then stage a huge battle, with piles of dinosaurs getting blown up with pretend atom bombs.

At one point, LJ  tells Kenny that the dead dinosaurs are radioactive, and must be buried to prevent the contamination from spreading.  After they have hidden three piles of toys in the dirt, LJ distracts Kenny by suggesting that they go over to see "Banky and Larry Dunn's fort".  Kenny gullibly agrees to the change of activity, and thinks he is being pretty wise by sneaking a peak at LJ's back pockets and socks to make sure he isn't taking any dinosaurs as they clean up.  Unfortunately, Kenny has forgotten about the piles of buried "radioactive" dinosaurs, and when he realizes his oversight later that night and goes to look for them, he of course finds that LJ has gotten there first, and the dinosaurs are all gone (Chapter 3).

Describe the supernaturalism as depicted im the poem "The Listeners".

This poem contains the supernatural in the form of the actual "listeners" that the poem is named after.  In the poem, a traveller comes riding up to a cottage in a forest, "knocks on the moonlit door", delivers a message, then leaves.  But, the entire time, the author describes some strange presences that are on the other side of the cottage door, and how they throng there, listening quietly to the man outside.  Walter de la Mare describes the listeners as a supernatural presence:

"But only a host of phantom listeners/That dwelt in the lone house then/Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight/To that voice from the world of men:/Stood thronging the faint moonbeams on the dark stair."

In this passage, the listeners are described as phantoms that dwell in the moonlight, that are not part of the world of men.  They are a supernatural presence-phantoms or ghosts of some kind.  Later, it mentions that the traveller "felt in his heart their strangeness." It is interesting that even though they do not make a noise, or go swirling around him or hurling butcher knives at him like they tend to do in movies, the traveller can still feel their presence; he knows that they are there.  So they aren't totally absent-they have a palpable presence.  In fact, he can sense them so strongly that he trusts them with his very important-although ambiguous-message, that he kept his word.  He leaves that message with them, and leaves.

So, the supernatural in this poem exists in the form of an entire host of phantoms, who aren't part of the normal world of men, but that can be sensed.  They are a main character in the poem, one that can listen, can be trusted with messages, that move forward to receive the message and disappear "softly backward" when they have received it.  The author leaves a lot to the imagination, not explaining things, allowing you to fill in gaps as you may, to make this supernatural presence whatever you might infer it to be.

In the novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, who is the mysterious stranger who visits Pip at the pub? What are Pip's expectations on...

In Ch.18, "in the fourth year of Pip's apprenticeship to Joe, on a Saturday night" Jaggers meets Joe and Pip at the inn of the 'Three Jolly Bargemen.'  Jaggers does not recognise Pip, but Pip recognises Jaggers as the gentleman whom he had met at Miss Havisham's house on his second visit. Jaggers tells them that he has some important information to convey to them in private.  So the three of them proceed to Joe's house.

As soon as Jaggers announces that "Pip has great expectations,"  Pip records his astonishment thus:

"Joe and I gasped, and looked at one another."

Once, Pip had got over his initial shock and surprise Jaggers tells him that his benefactor wants him to be better educated. Pip replies "I said I had always longed for it." 

So we can safely conclude that Pip's greatest desire was to secure a good education which would in turn help him to become a 'gentleman' and enable him to marry Estella. 

In The Great Gatsby, Gastby says that Daisy's voice is full of money. What does he mean and how does it suggest her importance to him?

The comment that Daisy's voice is full of money has so many connotations. To what is Daisy attracted when she visits Gatsby's mansion? She is attracted to his shirts. She cries over them showing her superficiality and Gatsby's superficiality.Why would anyone want someone who cries over shirts?

Another indication of superficiality: Think about when Gatsby's father shows Nick, Gatsby's to do list, the one he made at seventeen. It is supposed to be made emulating Ben Franklin, but again it is superficial in that it's goals have nothing to do with virtue and all to do with acquiring wealth.

And think of the moonlit night when Gatsby looks up at the stars and sees a ladder to heaven. At that moment he can have anything and what he attaches to is very mortal and superficial--Daisy.

Daisy proves the banality of evil when she is able to kill Mabel and yet feel no guilt. In fact she is able to foist the guilt upon Gatsby.

But Daisy represents much more than herself. She represents what the United States has become, something unreal, gilded, but unreal.

If you read the very last passage, you realize that the first Europeans saw a marvelous, green, Eden and they tried to make it into something it could never be because they were all Gatsbys, searching for something they didn't have at home and caused them humiliation because they didn't have that thing, money and all it could purchase, nobility. etc. They didn't realize that if they had taken the land for what it was, they would have had so much more.

No there never was an American dream. America wasn't a dream. It was a completely different entity that no European bothered to see. And Daisy, the corrupt little woman child, is all that they've been able to attain.

Briefly explain Adam Smith's concept of invisible hand as a justification to capitalism.business ethics and value

Modern readings of capitalism have hit capitalism in a forceful manner with the paradigm of fear.  How can the market regulate itself?  How will it account for all voices that participate within it?  What will ensure profitability for all who invest in the system?  The concept of "the invisible hand" is of critical importance to Smith and the economic theory of capitalism:

Many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. Nor is it always the worse for the society that it was not part of it. By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it. I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good. It is an affectation, indeed, not very common among merchants, and very few words need be employed in dissuading them from it.

The "invisible hand" is the mechanism that allows capitalism to ensure functionality in the midst of each "pursuing his own."  The invisible hand has been used by many to justify the "laissez faire" philosophy of leaving well enough alone for the economic systems of capitalism.  When Smith writes against protectionism and tariffs, he uses the argument of the invisible hand as the tool to explain how the system can regulate itself without the need for external interference.  If each consumer and party is given freedom of choice and allowed to partake without coercive action, the invisible hand of the market will ensure results for all.

The invisible hand theory has been used to justify the lack of government action or regulation.  It would be interesting to see how Smith would view the metaphor in the current economic/ political environment.   Smith uses the invisible hand justification in the understanding that the business playing field has a level of fairness within it, and open to all, without anyone subverting it.  Essentially, Smith is understanding it as a realm free from government action, and certainly devoid of government collusion.  The question would be if Smith would still embrace the metaphor's use if proven that there was collusion between business and government or a type of "rigging" or illicit configuration of the marketplace.  In these settings, there can be a very healthy debate as to whether or not Smith would still employ the metaphor or if he would modify it in the modern context.

Explain the character of Sister in "Why I Live in the P.O." by Eudora Welty.

A funny story written in southern style—“Why I Live at the P. O.” by Eudora Welty takes place in China Grove, Mississippi, a very small town.  Welty’s story concerns a dysfunctional family that squabbles and over reacts to everything.  With eccentric characters and an unusual plot, the story follows the return of the prodigal daughter, who comes home but not alone. 

Sister, the oldest daughter in the family, narrates the story. She is an unreliable speaker because she is unhappy about her younger sister coming back home with her “adopted” daughter. As narrator, Sister’s judgment is clouded. 

Life was going well for Sister until her spiteful sister Stella-Rondo comes home after the collapse of her marriage. 

‘I was getting along find with Mama, Papa-Daddy, and Uncle Rondo until my sister Stella-Rondo came back home again.  Of course, I went with Mr. Whitaker first, when he first appeared here in China Grove, and Stella-Rondo broke us up. Told him I was one-sided.”

The stealing of the boyfriend was the icing on the cake for Sister.  After a lifetime of fussing with her sibling, Sister has had it. Apparently, Stella has always been the favored child. From her marriage, Stella tells the tale of her husband bringing home a little girl, Shirley-T.  Now, Stella brings the little girl home with her.

Sister is exactly one year older than Stella-Rondo. Sister is frank and outspoken; on the other hand, she can be petty and bitter. Her jealousy often gets the best of her, which clouds her view of the world.  The aspects of her personality are just as caustic as are her sibling.

Lying and distorting the truth are the means of communication for every member of the family.  Rather than actually conversing with other members of the family, they prefer to lie, exaggerate, and misconstrue the opinions within the family. This happens every day.  Nothing special has to happen in order for someone to twist the truth.  To further the problems within the family, they habitually embrace negativity, suspicion, and accusation. 

To Sister, everyone else is crazy and deceitful, and she takes no responsibility for her part of aggravating her relatives.  She pesters Stella-Rondo about her adopted daughter. In order to justify her own behavior, Sister recounts all the injustices that have been done to her.  Addressing the audience directly, she accuses Stella of ruining her relationships with all of the other members of the family. Sister watches as Stella-Rondo gains sympathy and understanding from the rest of the family.

Papa-Daddy helped Sister earn the job of Post Mistress for her town.  After Stella takes charge and manipulates the rest of the family, Sister moves into the post office to get away from the family. She essentially means to divorce herself from all of them.

The post office represents independence for Sister.  It is an escape and a haven away from her family. Even after moving into the post office, her involvement with her family does not end.  She still keeps up with what is happening at home. Without the fighting in her family, she has nothing to criticize.   

If Sister were honest with herself, she has alienated every member of the family.  All of the situations may have been caused by Stella; however, Sister does not help herself.  She follows the manipulation of her sister and increases the problems.  Her bitterness and jealousy force her treat even the little child negatively.  Sister should have known better. 

Who did William Shakespeare marry in november 1582? How many children did he have with her?i need my ancwers in absolote detail as if i were in...

shaz88, I hope that these are enough details about Shakespeare's marriage for you:

William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway on November 27, 1582. He married her at the age of 18; she was 26 years old. The consistory court of the Diocese of Worcester issued their marriage license.

Six months after the marriage, Anne gave birth to a daughter named Susanna, the first of the couple's three children.

William and Shakespeare had two more children two years later. The two children were twins named Hamnet and Judith, a son and a daughter, respectively.

I need 3 quotes from To Kill a Mockingbird (with page numbers) that show Atticus is respected, tolerant, knowledgeable, and a good parent.

"I'm afraid our activities would be received with considerable disapprobation by the more learned authorities." 

Jem and I were accustomed to our father's last-will-and-testament diction, and we were at all times free to interrupt Atticus for a translation when it was beyond our understanding. 

"I never went to school," he said, "but I have a feeling that if you tell Miss Caroline we read every night she'll get after me, and I wouldn't want her after me." (3.108-113)

"Don't worry, Scout, it ain't time to worry yet," said Jem. He pointed. "Looka yonder." 

In a group of neighbors, Atticus was standing with his hands in his overcoat pockets. He might have been watching a football game. Miss Maudie was beside him. 

"See there, he's not worried yet," said Jem. (8.105-107)

Atticus is the opposite of a hypocrite: he says what he means, and lives how he thinks. In raising his children, he tries to get them to understand not only how they should behave, but why they should behave that way. This parenting attitude works most of the time, but causes problems when the kids apply Atticus’s principles in ways he doesn’t expect.

We were accustomed to prompt, if not always cheerful acquiescence to Atticus's instructions, but from the way he stood Jem was not thinking of budging.

"Go home, I said."

Jem shook his head. As Atticus's fists went to his hips, so did Jem's, and as they faced each other I could see little resemblance between them: Jem's soft brown hair and eyes, his oval face and snug-fitting ears were our mother's, contrasting oddly with Atticus's graying black hair and square-cut features, but they were somehow alike. Mutual defiance made them alike. (15.97-99)

"Thank you from the bottom of my heart, but I don't want my boy starting out with something like this over his head. Best way to clear the air is to have it all out in the open. Let the county come and bring sandwiches. I don't want him growing up with a whisper about him, I don't want anybody saying, 'Jem Finch... his daddy paid a mint to get him out of that.' Sooner we get this over with the better." (30.34)

"If you shouldn't be defendin' him, then why are you doin' it?" 

"For a number of reasons," said Atticus. "The main one is, if I didn't I couldn't hold up my head in town, I couldn't represent this county in the legislature, I couldn't even tell you or Jem not to do something again. […] Scout, simply by the nature of the work, every lawyer gets at least one case in his lifetime that affects him personally. This one's mine, I guess.” (9.16-21)

"Lemme tell you somethin' now, Billy," a third said, "you know the court appointed him to defend this nigger." "Yeah, but Atticus aims to defend him. That's what I don't like about it." 

This was news, news that put a different light on things: Atticus had to, whether he wanted to or not. I thought it odd that he hadn't said anything to us about it – we could have used it many times in defending him and ourselves. He had to, that's why he was doing it, equaled fewer fights and less fussing. But did that explain the town's attitude? The court appointed Atticus to defend him. Atticus aimed to defend him. That's what they didn't like about it. It was confusing. (16.92)

Well, Mr. Finch didn't act that way to Mayella and old man Ewell when he cross-examined them. The way that man called him 'boy' all the time an' sneered at him, an' looked around at the jury every time he answered-" (19.163)

What does Puck's soliloquy mean, at the end of A Midsummer Night's Dream?

Puck is apologizing for the upsetting events in the play. Basically, he suggests to the audience that if the fairies' activities upset them, they could pretend it was all a dream and that the audience had merely slept there. Puck's final monologue sets things right with the audience. 

In "The Book Thief" what is ugly and beautiful about Liesel, Rosa and Hans Hubermann, Max Vandenburg, Rudy Steiner, and Mrs. Hermann?

Liesel is a hard one, because she is the main character, and very likable, so it is difficult to pick out what is ugly about her.  She tends to be mean to Rudy, not letting him kiss her, and she does think rather mean thoughts about quite a few people, including the mayor's wife, who was very kind to her.  She is a fighter, and willing to fight when she feels it is necessary.  Liesel is beautiful in her vulnerability--she has lost her mother, she loves her adopted parents, she is a good friend, she is sincere, caring, and frightened by nightmares.  All of these things make her unique and beautiful.

Rosa's "ugliness" is more apparent--she has a dirty mouth, and does not easily express love.  She is a bit abrasive and insulting, both to Liesel and Hans.  She is beautiful in that she truly does love both of them, strives to protect and feed them, and is willing to take in a stowaway Jew in a time of war.

Hans often treats his wife with ugliness (in response to her mean treatment of him), and his evasion and wishy-washiness in regards to joining the party or not could be seen as cowardly, which is ugly.  However, he is a beautiful character because he is such a good father figure for Liesel.  He is loving, patient, enduring (he gets up every night to help her with her nightmares), teaches her to read, takes her places, and spends time with her.  He strives to do what is right in the face of war, is hurt by his son's allegiance to the Nazis, and takes in Max.  All of these things make him beautiful.

Rudy's ugliness comes in the form of pride--pride gets him into fights and trouble more than it should.  He is beautiful because he is a good friend to Liesel, he is sincere, he is funny and quirky, and has great fortitude and strength of character.  He would do anything to help someone he cares about.

Max's ugliness comes from what he was before he escaped--a street fighter fighting for money, a man who felt like a coward for not defending his family or saving them from harm.  However, he is beautiful in his humility, in his care and concern for the Hubberman family, in his kindness to Liesel, and in the fact that he finds her after the war.

Mrs. Hermann is ugly in her crass treatment of Rosa and her family.  She is stern, mean, and cold to most everyone who knows her.  However, she is beautiful in her suffering; she loses sons in the war, and her pain is a force that unites all of them in hard times. Her desire to have Liesel read to her shows a softer side, one that has seen the face of war, and is vulnerable to pain.

I hope that those thoughts help; it's an interesting book filled with dynamic characters.  Good luck!

In Ethan Frome how are Zeena's health problems an advantage for her?

Zeena's health problems serve her well in several ways.  The first is that she uses it as a tool to manipulate attention and pity from those around her.  She gets a lot of attention from various doctors, which is always a nice thing, and then her neighbors and members of her community pity her and give her attention also. They bring her food, talk to her, visit and find other ways to help her out.  Zeena enjoys that attention; it's nice to feel loved and cared for, and people feel that most when they are ill and receiving attention.

Another way that Zeena's illness is beneficial to her is that it keeps Ethan working hard for them both, and from leaving her or pursuing his other dreams or hopes--which would also take him away from her.  Through being ill, she is able to manipulate his emotions, constantly using guilt as a way to ensure fidelity, caring and attention.  If Ethan starts acting out or being defiant in any way, all she has to do is claim feeling ill, and put a guilt trip on him about the expense for surgeries.

Being constantly sick also ensures that Zeena doesn't really have to do a lot of the work around the house.  That is what prompts Mattie coming to live with them in the first place.  Zeena can lie around and get better while Mattie does all of the hard work.  That's kind-of nice, and Zeena gets away with it all in the name of good health.

All of this points to the fact that Zeena is probably more mentally ill than physically ill.  She is attention-starved, manipulative, and self-centered.  There are possible personality disorders that are manifest in those behaviors, and her neediness is definitely a drain on Ethan.  I hope those thoughts helped; good luck!

When does the book take place?

We are never given a year for the setting of this book. From the descriptions, such as slang terms and the way the school is described, it sounds like modern day. It begins in the summer before Max and Kevin begin 8th grade. We know this because soon after Max and Kevin meet they go to the park to see the fireworks at the Fourth of July celebration. It chronicles that school year. The majority of the story ends around December although Max does give a follow up in his epilogue that completes the year.

What is naturalism in "The Red Badge of Courage" and what is the relationship between fears, surviving and nature and naturalism in the novel?

Naturalism is a view that man is often controlled by forces he cannot control. There are many examples of this view in "The Red Badge of Courage", but several incidents are often used to support the naturalistic elements of the novel. The first thing we notice is that the men waiting in the Union camp have absolutely no control over when they are going into battle. There are many rumors, but the men have no control is actually deciding when they will be put in a life and death situation. In addition, when they finally are forced into battle, there seems to be no fairness as to who is killed and who survives. Jim Conklin suffers a terrible death even though he had been one of the most noble soldiers in the camp. Henry flees the battle and should not be rewarded for his cowardice. However, after being struck in the head by another Union soldier, everyone thinks he has his "red badge of courage". When Henry makes it back to his regiment, the men there are celebrating their victory. This feeling becomes hollow after Henry and Wilson overhear the officer calling their regiment "a bunch of mule drivers". Finally, as you read the book, you will notice that nature seems really undisturbed by all the fighting. Life goes on normally for the animals while the human continue to destroy themselves.

What is the meaning of the quote beginning with "Who controls the past..."?

The full quote is, "Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past." I believe that in addressing this question, you have to examine the issue of power.  The meaning of this statement is that someone can redefine who they are and, in fact, what a society is by being able to change the perception of how the past is configured.  For example, dictatorships are very passionate in the idea of "rewriting history."  You can see this in Milan Kundera's excellent book, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting.  We can also see this in history.  When Communist rule was at its zenith of power, governments were driven to recreating history in a manner that coordinated with the current government's goals.  In doing this (controlling the perception of the past), more credibility is given to the current, present day policies.  The Khmer Rouge government in Cambodia, after they wrestled power away from European control, declared a "Year Zero" where they made the argument that the past is the present.  By controlling the means of reading the past, they were able to fortify their control of the present.  This is also seen in the French Revolution.  After the French Monarchy was overthrown, they instituted a new view of history where the past was considered immoral and evil, lending greater credibility to the present.

I think you want to focus on the idea that people understand their present and future in how they conceptualize and comprehend the past.  If someone in the position of power can change how the past is viewed, they have a greater chance of controlling the present in that they are able to link the two together.

How the impact of the consequences (society lacks love, happiness and compassion) contribute to the dystopian society as a whole?Love, happiness...

A dystopian society is one that has been dehumanized, where the citizens live in constant fear.  A dystopian society usually has a firece authoritarian, totalitarian government that controls every aspect of life.  This authority imposes harsh rules on the people, enslaving the entire poplation in pursuit of equality and sameness.

"An atmosphere of alienation is established by Bradbury in the opening scenes of Fahrenheit 451, which details a "fireman's" growing dissatisfaction with his conformist society."

The dystopian society that Ray Bradbury creates in Fahrenheit 451 is illlustrated through many aspects of the novel such as the mechanical hound, the lack of emotional connection between the characters, there is no love between Guy and Mildred Montag, they are married, but they do not communicate, they exist in the same house. All these elements create a bleak, dark existence dominated by fear.

There is no thinking allowed, the Seashell radio that plays in Mildred's ears all day makes sure that she does not have any original thoughts, feelings or actions.

This is made even more clear when Montag meets Clarisse McClellan who is a secret rebel who actually shares conversation within her family, stops to contemplate the world and enjoys forbidden things like walking in the rain and observing nature.

Montag's world is a society turn upside down, where fireman set fires not put them out.  Bradbury tells us that over time all buildings became fireproof, so the role of the fireman an a fire extinguisher became obsolete, they then were turned into the tools of destruction when the powers in control decided that books were no longer needed in society.

There is no compassion in this society, that views the elimination and extinction of learning, institutions of learning and books as enemies of the state.  There is no need in a santized society, fire is a purifying agent, for inequality among its people.

"We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the constitution says, but everyone made equal . . . A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it. Take the shot from the weapon. Breach man's mind." (Bradbury)

The best way, Bradbury suggests, to control a society is to dumb them down, to help make them more ignorant, that way they are easier to control, for example, Mildred Montag's entire world, revolves around her television family.  This is illustrated through the use of full wall size television screens in the living room with the goal being to have all four walls covered in super surround sound and pictures so that she can feel like a part of the drama playing out before her.

The family, the television actors, are more important to her than her own husband.

Bradbury is suggesting in this book that society can become like this if we fail to see how technological advancement can isolate us and keep us from real contact with each other.  The consequences of this type of behavior create a world where no one knows anyone, no one cares, there is not emotional connection between people, Mildred calls in her own alarm, reporting her husband who has secretly sneaks books into the house.

Why does Macbeth want to kill Macduff in Shakespeare's "Macbeth"?

Fear. In his soliloquy of Act III of "Macbeth,"  Macbeth admits this to himself:

To be thus [king] is nothing, but [unless] to be safely thus--/Our fears in Banquo stick deep,/And in his royalty of nature reigns that/Which would be feared....(III,i,48-51)

Since hearing the predictions of the weird sisters, Macbeth has been motivated by amition and fear.  After all, it is Lady Macbeth who promises to give him the courage to enact his first murder:

This night's great business into my dispatch;/Which shall to all our nights and days to come/Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom. (I,v,67-69)

Although Macbeth has been described as brave on the battlefied, his "bravery" is ferocious, he overkills in his fear that anyone retaliate against him.  After hearing that he will not be killed by a man "born of a woman,"  Macbeth, ridden with both fear and guilt, becomes a bit paranoic.  As Frost wrote in his poem "The Road Not Taken," "Yet knowing how way leads to way," Macbeth's murderous path to ambition has no end but his own.

In "Editha," what did George's mother mean by stating that Editha's letter left George free?I know she was extremely furious towards Editha, but...

When Editha goes to visit George's mother after his death in the war, she tells the old woman that she would rather have died herself than send George to war to die. She starts to say that she tried to leave George free to make up his own mind about going to war, but George's mother cuts her off. Her words and tone are bitterly sarcastic:

Yes, that letter of yours, that came back with his other things, left him free.

Editha knows what she had written, but she can't believe it was her letter than sent him to war. She, after all, had told him not to open it until he was actually in battle. The truth, however, that George's mother knows is that her son surely read Editha's letter before going to war and that it was her letter that compelled him to go. She tells Editha:

Of course, he wouldn't read a letter of yours, under the circumstances, till he thought you wanted him to.

Again, her response to Editha is bitter in its sarcasm.

A careful reading of the story strongly implies that George's mother is right in assessing why her pacifist son enlisted. George had been a soft, gentle young man who had grown up in a home that abhorred war, largely as a result of his father's service and wounding in the Civil War. (His father had lost an arm in battle.) After spending time with Editha who put enormous pressure on him to enlist and reacts coldly to his own feelings about the matter, George goes to a rally intending to dampen the war fever; instead, he gets drunk, finds himself leading the cries for engagement, and becomes the first in the crowd of young men to enlist. Leaving the rally, he returns to Editha (still in a fever and still inebriated) to tell her what he has done. She gives him her letter and his reading instructions as he is leaving.

The next day, after he has sobered up, George comes back to Editha, and their conversation strongly implies that he has already read her letter. Editha tells George she knows he has enlisted "from the highest motives," and she knows he had not done it "for my sake" because "I couldn't respect you if you had." George replies: "Well, then we'll say I haven't." Clearly, it is Editha's letter, promising to break their engagement if he does not fight, that keeps George headed to war after his drunken act the previous night. The strong suggestion is that were it not for Editha's letter, he might have changed his mind. Her letter, however, has made that impossible since he loves her.

Sarcasm (also known as verbal irony) is defined as saying the opposite of what one means. When George's mother says Editha's letter set her son "free," she is being doubly ironic. The letter did exactly the opposite; it took away George's emotional freedom to make up his own mind about enlisting. Her words imply a deeper irony, as well. The letter set George "free" in the sense that he was now free of life's constraints: He was dead.

How much did it cost for people to watch a performance at the Shakespeare's 'Globe Theatre' in Shakespeare's time?

It's hard to say exactly what people paid to see a work of Shakespeare in Elizabethean England.

In most works, reference is made to admission price being "a coin". However, during the time coins were minted in demonimations from a 1/4 pence to a guinea.

Suffice to say, most people at the time were not earning very much, so the admission price may have been equal to about a penny.

In "This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona," how do the different settings affect Tom's and Victor's relationship?I know that the plane ride...

In "This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona," Victor and Thomas Builds-the Fire had stopped being friends a long time ago. The setting changes introduce new situations for Thomas  and Victor to interact in. In the airplane, Victor gets to see a new side of Thomas; it may be the first time Victor has seen Thomas away from anything familiar and related, even indirectly, to the tribe and reservation. Victor is astounded that Thomas could entice a past Olympic gymnast to happily converse with them. Victor's understanding of Thomas is deepened.

At the setting of Victor's father's home, Victor is metaphorically in another wasps' nest and Thomas once again braves the same danger to nearly the same degree to rescue Victor. This time he helps him get mementos out instead of getting his foot out. This setting introduced the opportunity for Thomas to demonstrate loyalty. As a result of the action in this setting, Victor sees Thomas's character traits on a broader plane and at a deeper level.

The setting change to the truck is a little more convoluted in its affects and purpose. Victor drives continually until he can no longer safely drive, ignoring Thomas's offer to share the driving. This does affect the relationship in that Thomas demonstrates his patience, although there is no indication in the text that Victor notices it. When Thomas finally does drive, two things occur. First, Victor notices how lifeless the desert is. When he sees the jack rabbit, he is elated to have found life.

Second, the jack rabbit does a dive into the road, and Thomas runs it down. Victor responds almost hysterically by demanding that Thomas go back to it. Victor checks and sees that the jack rabbit is indeed dead. He takes it very hard. Thomas suggests that it was suicide instead of jack rabbit murder and laments that he drove only a few minutes and managed to kill the only life in the dessert.

The result of this is that Victor agrees with Thomas's statement that maybe Victor had better do the driving. The probable affect of the events related to this scene change is that Victor has had an opportunity to reciprocate to Thomas. First, Thomas has forgiven Victor for attacking and beating him and dissolving their friendship; now Victor has forgiven Thomas for the jack rabbit death. Second, Thomas has rescued Victor (twice); now Victor rescues Thomas. In a way, they have returned to sharing the bicyle from summers of youth past.

When they get to the reservation, nothing changes between them in their social relationship because Thomas is and always will be the story teller in a culture that doesn't want to hear any more, but the relationship in their hearts has changed. Victor has changed and he has listened to and accepted Thomas's new and better story about his newly deceased father who wil leap as a salomon and "find his way home." Victor and Thomas are reconciled and, because of the reconciliation, Thomas closes his eyes and hears new stories once again.

What is the difference between dramatic situation and theme in "The World Is Too Much with Us" by William Wordsworth.

Dramatic situation involves such elements as the events in a poem, the reason for these events, and the relationship of the speaker to his audience.  This last element is paramount to Wordsworth's "The World Is Too Much With Us," for he writes in a style unlike that of his peers:  Wordsworth employs the English of the average Englishman, a laborer who was dissatisfied with the wealthy landowners' living a luxurious life at the expense of the working man beneath them.  And, as a Romantic poet, Wordsworth also appeals to the common people in their love of Nature.

Now, this relationship to the average Englishman does relate to the theme, or moral truth, of Wordsworth's poem, as well. since there were many "grass roots 19th century English" who were tied to the Romantic Movement.  Concerned with the growing materialism of people, in his sonnet Wordsworth tells people,

Getting and spending, we lay waste our pwers/Little we see in Nature that is ours 

contending that people were better off when they were pagans:

Great God! I'd rather be/A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;/So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,/Have glimpses that wuld make me less forlorn

With the insensitivity of 19th century man to the beauty and tranquility of Nature, Wordsworth feels that man may lose his soul in his desire for material acquistion--"We have given our hearts away"--something that even the pagans did not do.

Wordsworth's theme of the need to abandon materialism and embrace the beauty and enjoyment of Nature is one that is, indeed, timely in this 21st century as many are certainly "out of tune."

What kind of personality do the characters have and how does that effect the events?

Mariam is headstrong and hopeful as a child.  She believes in her father.  After she leaves her mother to visit him, she learns the truth about him.  The result is that her mother kills herself.  Mariam is then forced into a marriage with an older man.

Mariam is a subdued wife who tries to have hope in the marriage, but after she loses his son due to miscarriage he begins to beat and mistreat her.  She spends many years cowering from hi blows just trying to survive.

Mariam gains internal strength after Laila and she develop a mother daughter relationship.  She eventually gets up the courage to protect Laila and kills Rasheed.  She knows her destiny will be to die.  The Taliban kills her for committing murder.  She has become strong.

Laila has always been headstrong.  She goes off with Tariq and even violates the rules by having sex with him before he leaves.  She learns later that she is pregnant by him but she ahd married Rasheed so eh thinks it is his child.  Laila is a smart.  She sneaks money from Rasheed and plans her escape.

She is a kind person who befriends Mariam despite the way Mariam has treated her. She is open and caring.  She is a loving mother.  When she and Mariam try and escape, they are caught and returned to Rasheed who beats them and locks them up and does not give them food nor drink.

She never caves in to Rasheed.  She gives him back the smart answers that he fires at her.  She takes up for Mariam.

Rasheed is a bully and typical of a man who declares ownership of his wives.  He makes them wear Burqua's so no other man can see them.  He talks about purity but has x-rated magazines.  He only cares about having a son.  He mistreats Mariam because she does not give him one.  He marries Laila for sex and to have a son.  Once he has a son he treats her badly but treats his son like a king.

Rasheed beats his wives and is awful to them.  He eventually is killed by Mariam during a fight with the women.  His abusive behaviors have led to his violent end.

What is the significance of the motifs of cars in relation to the theme of the book?

In chapter 4, we are given a description of Gatsby's car that begins with Nick's observation, "I'd seen it.  Everybody had seen it."  This tells us that Gatsby's car was one that stood out from the rest and the description Nick gives us, then, of the car shows how ostentatious it is.  It is big, bright, and it and it is meant to be noticed.  The car fits Gatsby because he wants to show people that he has money and he thinks that having the biggest and brightest car is one way to show that.  This is an example of class difference that is one of the major themes of the book.  Gatsby thinks that merely having money puts him into the same social class as Daisy, but it doesn't.  He is crass with his obvious display of wealth, whereas the Buchanans, with their sedate navy blue car, are much more understated.  The Buchanans don't need to show off their wealth in their car because they are comfortable with their wealth.  They've always had wealth and they wear it with much greater ease than does Gatsby to whom wealth is new.  He wears his wealth like someone with a new pair of shiny, ill-fitting shoes.  They look nice, but they are comfortable.  Another instance of a car playing a role in the story is the minor accident that occurs after one of Gatsby's parties in chapter 3.  This is meant to show the waste and the moral decline that occur in the story.   Of course, one of the biggest examples of how cars work into the theme of the story is when Daisy hits and kills Myrtle Wilson as she is driving home from New York City with Gatsby after the confrontation there.  This scene exemplifies the immorality of the story.  Not only is there a wasted life - Myrtle's - there is the immorality of irresponsibility because Daisy does not step forward and claim that she is the one who killed Myrtle.  She lets Gatsby assume responsibility.  She takes a life and then packs up and leaves.

How does Shakespeare use stage directions to generate sympathy for Juliet in Act 3, Scene 5 of Romeo and Juliet?

Poor Juliet!  She has just spent her wedding night with her husband - whom she has recently learned killed her cousin!  Then, after he has headed off to Mantua, our girl gets news that she is being forced to marry Paris.  No wonder we should feel sympathy for her.

There are 2 instances where Will uses stage directions to make us feel for Juliet.  First, he has her deliver an aside after her mother has just called Romeo a villain.  This aside shows the conflict that she feels: "God pardon him!  I do, with all my heart; And yet no man like he doth grieve my heart." The use of an aside indicates that Juliet can't share her feelings with her mother on the matter.

Second, at the end of the scene, after the blow up with her dad, Shakespeare has each character exit one at a time (Capulet, Lady Capulet, Nurse) until Juliet is left alone on stage, at which point she decides she will see the friar for help or die.  This shows the increasing isolation Juliet feels as her world falls apart.

What is the meaning of the phrase ''blithe spirit'' in Shelley's ''To a Skylark?"

The skylark symbolizes the free soul  .It , according to Shelly's vision is ,ignorant of the sufferings and cares of this world .Blithe means ignorance of worldly desires , and that of the hopes and fears of the people of this world ."Spirit",  suggests ,-soul .Hence the phrase , "Blithe spirit",simply speaks of the disembodied soul .

Does Calpurnia adhere to any stereotypes about blacks? If so, does Lee intend to subvert or call into question these stereotypes? Explain.

Only at one point do we see Calpurnia as a "stereotypical" black woman in this novel.  That is when she takes the children to her church, First Purchase.  Lula confronts her about bringing "white chillin" to her "black church," and Cal replies with a different dialect and voice than what the children are used to.  In order to live in both worlds, Cal must behave in certain ways in front of both sets of people.

Harper Lee definitely calls into question these stereotypesby using Cal as one of the strong female influences in the children's lives.  She is well-educated, and more importantly, she serves as a "mother" figure to a white family.  Most black women would never have the opportunity to work in a house and fit in as well as Cal does with the Finches.  Lee keeps Cal as a minor character, but she plays a very important role, which helps to dispel the prejudice found everywhere else in the novel. 

What are the good things about London and why?I'm doing a project and need to know facts about London.

It's a large city , with over 8 million people, and it's surprisingly diverse in its makeup, much like New York or Paris.  It is the historical center of England, and has a rich and long history that has been remarkably well preserved.  It is full of architectural marvels from Big Ben to Buckingham Palace, and museums chock full of art and history.

It is directly connected to Paris, France with the Chunnel - a high speed train that runs underneath the English Channel.  It is a green city by modern standards, and has greatly reduced auto emissions by charging a heavy toll for driving into the city.

Libraries, double decker buses, Football passion (the British variety) and a ton of things to do for the traveler makes Britain a truly delightful country to visit.

In "Antigone", what did Polynieces do to betray someone?Wasn't he king of the kingdom but went agaisnt his own people and that lead to his death...

Polyneices was the brother of Eteocles. Their father was Oedipus. When Oedipus left Thebes in exile after finding out he had killed his father and married his own mother, he put both brothers on the throne. The brothers were supposed alternate years when each was king. In other words, one year Eteocles was supposed to be king and the next year he was to give the leadership of Thebes to his brother, Polyneices. However, Eteocles refused to give up his throne when the time came for Polyneices to be king. So, Polyneices raised an army and attacked Thebes. In the battle, both brothers were killed. Their uncle, Creon, took the throne and decried that since Polyneices had fought against his own people, he was not to be buried. This fate would condemn his soul to wander the earth for 100 years. That is why his sister, Antigone, is so anxious to bury Polyneices and why she disobeys Creon's edict.

Where are quotes that provide a notion of rural poverty in "To Kill a Mockingbird"?I need 3 for a log. Thanks.

In Chapter 2 of "To Kill a Mockingbird," as Scout attends her first day back in school,  "Molasses buckets appeared from nowhere" at lunch time.  The new teacher, Miss Caroline walks along the desks and stops at the desk of Walter Cunningham:

Walter Cunningham's face told everybody in the first grade he had hookworms.  His absence of shoes told us how he got them.  People caught hookworms going barefooted in barnyards and hog wallows.  If Walter had owned any shoes he would have worn them the first day of school and then discarded them until mid-winter.

Later Atticus said,

professional people were poor because the farmer were poor.  As Maycomb County was farm country, nickels and dimes were hard to come by for doctors and dentists and lawyers.  Entailment was only a part of Mr.Cunningham's vexations.  the acres not entailed were mortgaged to the hilt, and the little cash he made went to interest....As the Cunninghams had no money to pay a lawyer, they simply paid us with what they had....Dr. Reynolds works the same way....He charges some folks a bushel of potatoes for delivery of a baby.

Of course, the Ewells are also very poor.  In Chapter 17 Scout describes how they live:

behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin.  The cabin's plank walls were supplemented with sheets of corrugated iron, its roof shingled with tin cans hammered flats, so only its general shpae suggested its original design...The varmints had a lean time of it, for the Ewells gave the dump a thorough gleaning every day, and the fruits of their industry..made the plot around the cabin look like the playhouse of an insane child....[with]  scrawny ornage chickens pecking hopefully.

And, poor Tom Robinson has company in his poverty with many of the other black members of the town.  When Scout and Jem attend church with Calpurnia, Scout asks Calpurnia why they do not have prayer books.  During the service, a collection is taken up for Mrs. Robinson who cannot find work.  In addition, in the chapters about the trial of Tom, there are indications of the poverty of some of the residents as they appear in the courtroom.

Recognize ironic details in "The Story of an Hour" and explain whether they are dramatic or situational.

Irony abounds in Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour."  For example, after Louise retreats to her room, her sister Josephine knocks on her door and begs her to come out so that she does not suffer alone locked away in her room.  At this point, however, Louise is incredibly happy because she has started to realized all the freedom that she has now that her husband is dead.  This is an example of dramatic irony--the reader and Louise are privy to information that Josephine is not.

Similarly, the last line of the story employs dramatic irony by suggesting that Louise has died from "a happiness that kills."  The reader has already come to an understanding that Louise's life is better without her husband, so when he shows up perfectly alive, Louise's sense of freedom is taken away.  She dies because she feels again imprisoned, not because she is happy.

How do I write my own sonnet?

You said you know the rhyme scheme  of 14 lines (ABAB CDCD EFEF GG) and it's in iambic pentameter (ta DA ta DA ta DA ta DA ta DA).

You will have three stanzas of four lines, followed by a concluding couplet. The final couplet should be some big statement, perhaps about a future relationship or a certain final feeling. The three stanzas could be focused on what specifically about him made your heart stop, what characteristics about him attracted your attention. These can be elaborate description of his walk, his eyes, his hair, etc. Or you can focus on your own emotions for these stanzas.

Don't forget you can do some word inversions (changing the order of the words) in order to keep the meter or rhythm correct, as well as the rhyme.

Check out some examples of Shakespeare or Elizabeth Barrett Browning (especially Browning's "Sonnets from the Portuguese").

As we know, Holden was kicked out of schools several times. What do you think was the reason?

There are quite a few reasons why Holden might have been kicked out of the two schools that he attended before attending (and then leaving) Pencey Prep.  First, he may have suffered from the same bad grades that were about to get him kicked out of Pencey.  Holden tells the reader that he was failing four classes and was about to be kicked out but he decided to leave before that could happen.  This is one possibility.  A second possible reason that he was kicked out of those schools could have been his behavior.  Holden has difficulty getting along with many people and throughout the novel he makes many comments about getting into fights (even though he claims to be a pacifist).    This tendency to fight, argue, and simply not get along with others could have been the reason.  Finally, Holden is a perpetual liar.  It is also possible that his lying was to blame for him getting kicked out of school.

Can you see in our world a similiar religious tendency as we see in BNW?

The parody of religious worship, particuarly of the Catholic/ Christian Church in Chapter 5, presents a picture of religion gone wrong.  There are 12 (Apostles?) members of their society at this Solidarity Service (Mass).  They begin with the sign of the T (Cross).  They place Soma tablets on the table, just as the Catholic Church places the bread on the table.  They pass a "loving cup" of strawberry soma (Wine/Blood) around the table and drink, reminiscent of The Last Supper.  Then they sing hymns --- 12 stanzas again.  Of course it's total silliness, as is much of what goes on in this world.

Do I see this in our present religions?  I do not.  However, I see the tendency toward excess and hedonism in our culture.  Many of our religions attempt to "fight" this culture by emphasizing values and activites that are not hedonism related.  This is not to say that some religions may not be involved in practices that resemble those in the book, just that I am not aware of them and mainstream religions do not seem to be following the path of BNW.

I need to find the value of m in the following equation: (2m - 1)/3 = 5 + m/6I am doing a step wrong somewhere and when i reverse to check answer...

Be sure you have checked your parenthesis before continuing to ensure you have written the question correctly.

you could break it into separate fractions :

2/3 m -  1/3 = 5 + 1/6 m

get like terms together by subtracting 1/6 m from both sides

2/3 m - (1/6 m) - 1/3 = 5     ----> 1/6 m - 1/6 m =0

then add 1/3 to both sides

2/3 m - 1/6 m = 5 + 1/3   ---> -1/3 + 1/3 = 0

then find common denominators

4/6 m - 1/6 m = 15/3 + 1/3  --> 2/3 * 2/2 = 4/6  

                                            5/1 * 3/3 = 15/3

simplify

3/6 m = 16/3

multiply both sides by the reciprocal (flip it) of the coefficient (# in front of m)

6/3 * 3/6 m = 16/3 * 6/3

the fractions cancel each other out  on the left and the right yields 32/3

m = 32/3.

Plug it into original equation and check.

What does the snake in "The Little Prince" story represent?relates to real life

The snake represents several things in "The Little Prince".  From a Biblical perspective, the snake represents the evils of the world, which are unknown to the Little Prince. The Little Prince had not been on the Earth long enough to experience the evils of man; he landed in a desert where these evils would not exist. The pilot was the only human he encountered on Earth, and the pilot displayed no evil towards the Little Prince.

The snake was also very persuasive, and upon learning of The Little Prince's desire to return to his asteroid to see his rose, and alleviate his being homesick, the snake offered him a way to return home.  The snake was the only means for The Little Prince to return to his asteroid, according to the snake. The snake was The Little Prince's "transportation" to his little asteroid and his beloved rose.

The snake also represents death.  Because of the Little Prince's desire to return to his beloved rose, he makes the decision to allow the snake to take him there.  The Little Prince did not understand the explanation of the snake's means of transportation, and as a trusting little child would do, he allowed the snake to bite him, not knowing that the snake would take his life in the process.

In 1984 describe the changes that Winston goes through from the beginning of the novel to the end.

Winston changes dramatically throughout the novel.  At the beginning, he is trying to survive in his society, but all the while doubtful, questioning, and hateful towards the powers that ran it.  He knew things weren't right, but didn't quite know how.  He knew that he couldn't be the only one that hated the party, but felt hopeless that he could connect with anyone else.  He was confused and struggling.

As time passes, and he meets Julia, his confidence in his own mind and rebellion increase.  He realizes that he is not alone in his feelings, and that life might be worth living, if only for a while.  He enjoys life almost, and feels validated in his feelings against the party.  His thoughts become more lucid and powerful; he is able to record more logical and thought-out analogies in his journal.  He grows bolder in his attempts to evade the party, securing the room for himself and Julia.

After he is captured, he goes through a dramatic change.  He mind and body are broken, and he comes out of the experience almost unrecognizable.  For a long time, while he is tortured and questioned, he held on to his logic, his hatred, and his own thought processes, but in the end, they got that too.  They taught him well that truth is only what the party says, even if it doesn't make sense.  They taught him that the party must have his heart also, not just his thoughts.  They taught him that he is a coward that would betray loved ones to save his own skin.  He comes out a total party worshipper; he loves big brother, he loves the party.  He drowns himself in gin and lives a meaningless life filled only with a boring job and a fixation on war, and he doesn't even think of living any other way. His independence, his mind, his hatred, and his agency is completely destroyed.

I hope that those thoughts helped; good luck!

What is Ralph's opinion of his appearance as chapter 7 begins? What do his feelings indicate?

As chapter 7 opens, Ralph notices his dirty shirt, overly long hair, and longs for "a bath, a proper wallow with soap." He also sees that he has begun biting his nails. The fact that he does not remember beginning this habit is evidence that the boys are reverting back to a more infant-like state, as further shown by his remark that he'll be sucking his thumb next. At this point Ralph has a flash of insight, a realization that the boys on this island are moving further away from rationality, and into the realm of savagery and chaos. As he looks at the other boys, he observes

Not one of them was an obvious subject for a shower, and yet—hair, much too long, tangled here and there, knotted round a dead leaf or a twig; faces cleaned fairly well by the process of eating and sweating but marked in less accessible angles with a kind of shadow; clothes, worn away, stiff like his own with sweat, put on, not for decorum or comfort but out of custom; the skin of the body, scurfy with brine—

He discovered with a little fall of the heart that these were the conditions he took as normal now and that he did not mind.

This revelation is a reflection of the boys’ increasing loss of identity. The longer they remain on the island, the farther away from their civilized selves they move. Ralph is the only one that longs for a bath, haircut, and manicure. Thus he is the only one who notices this descent into an almost animal-like state. This will be highlighted later in the chapter, in the pig-killing scene.

What actions or speeches are used to bring out the character traits of Phoenix Jackson in "A Worn Path"

Phoenix Jackson is an elderly woman, a bit infirm, but feisty and determined.  She sets out on a journey to get medicine for her grandson, a journey that takes her through a forest where there are many threats to her safety and her life.  She does not give up on her assigned task, however, overcoming all obstacles, even when she is frightened.

"Old Phoenix said, "Out of my way, all you foxes, owls, beetles, jack rabbits, coons and wild animals!. . . Keep out from under these feet, little bob-whites.... Keep the big wild hogs out of my path. Don't let none of those come running my direction. I got a long way."  (Welty)

Even when she catches her dress on some thorns, she is undeterred, she keep on going.

"I in the thorny bush," she said. "Thorns, you doing your appointed work. Never want to let folks pass, no sir. Old eyes thought you was a pretty little green bush." (Welty)

The character is described as committed to her journey, even when she encounters a man with a gun and a dog, and the man suggests that the old woman should go home, she is too old to be going to town by herself.

"Doesn't the gun scare you?" he said, still pointing it.

"No, sir, I seen plenty go off closer by, in my day, and for less than what I done," she said, holding utterly still." (Welty)

"He smiled, and shouldered the gun. "Well, Granny," he said, "you must be a hundred years old, and scared of nothing. I'd give you a dime if I had any money with me. But you take my advice and stay home, and nothing will happen to you." (Welty)

She is a loving, caring Grandmother, devoted to her sick grandson, who swallowed lye, and now suffers, he is her only relative, and even though she is old, she still makes the trip to town to get the "soothing medicine" for her grandson.

"My little grandson, he sit up there in the house all wrapped up, waiting by himself," Phoenix went on. "We is the only two left in the world. He suffer and it don't seem to put him back at all. He got a sweet look. He going to last. He wear a little patch quilt and peep out holding his mouth open like a little bird. I remembers so plain now. I not going to forget him again, no, the whole enduring time. I could tell him from all the others in creation." (Welty)

Twice in this chapter the narrator tells us he stands next to a "crazy cannon" while watching a football game. How might this prove to be important?

Holden makes a reference to the crazy cannon, which was he says:

"in the Revolutionary War and all" (Salinger)

Holden tries desperately to find things wrong with Pencey Prep, he must find fault with the school, or else he has to blame himself for being kicked out of yet another school.  So he is characterizing this school, as he has other schools, as full of phonies.  He does not believe that the cannon was in the Revolutionary War, he feels deceived by everything that Pencey represents.

He tells us in this chapter that the ads for Pencey are misleading, suggesting that all students at the school play polo.  He resents the idea that the school represents itself as having the ability to mold young men. This is definitely phony, he did not get molded into anything, he is still the same, failing academically and getting kicked out.

Holden trusts no one, and he certainly is not going to believe that the cannon is real, the football game to Holden is considered way too important by the school and the students are expected to really get into the spirit and root for their school.

Holden won't buy into this, he is standing up on the hill, next to the crazy cannon because he won't mingle with the other students in the stands because he won't engage in school spirit and fun.  He proves his point, because he was the manager of the fencing team, and while they were on there way to a match in NYC, he left the equipment on the subway.  He won't take responsibility for this, and feels picked on by the team.  This is more evidence that Holden is immature and unable to accept responsibility for his mistakes.

Holden tells the reader that while he is standing next to the cannon, he is trying to feel a connection with the school.

"Anyway, I kept standing next to that crazy cannon, looking down at the game and freezing my ass off.  Only, I wasn't watching the game too much.  What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of a good-by." (Salinger)

Holden reveals a great deal about himself in this first chapter, he tells us that he cannot feel, he is numb, he is so depressed that he is unemotional, unable to feel an attachment to the school and that scares him.

In To Kill a Mockingbird, what is the target of Atticus's final plea at the close of Tom's trial?

In his summation at the close of Tom's trial, Atticus addresses the jury and makes his last attempt to save Tom's life. After briefly reviewing the evidence, he deals directly with the issue of racism, framing his remarks carefully to suggest that the jury already knows how unjust it would be to convict Tom because of his race, which is certainly not the case. He speaks of "the evil assumption:"

. . . that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women . . .

Which, gentlemen, we know is in itself a lie . . . a lie I do not have to point out to you.

Atticus' final plea, then, on Tom's behalf is aimed at the jury's own prejudice that Atticus knows is deeply entrenched. After reminding them of the principles upon which American courts are founded, he reminds them of their personal responsibility:

Gentlemen, a court is no better than each man of you sitting before me on this jury. A court is only as sound as its jury, and a jury is only as sound as the men who make it up . . . . In the name of God, do your duty.

In his closing speech, Atticus attempts to convince the men on the jury to rise above their own racism, honor the principles of law, and arrive at a just verdict.

Who is the hero of the play The Merchant of Venice and why?

Good question! The identity of the title character has been debated for years, and as if that is not enough controversy, the audience has to decide if the hero of the play is even the title character.  Here are several options:

1. Shylock--although the play is a true Shakespearean comedy, some critics have argued that it meets many of the qualifications of a tragedy.  If you think of Merchant as a tragedy, then Shylock is the tragic hero. While Shylock is not respected socially, he is well known as a businessman and experiences a tremendous downfall (he loses his livelihood, his daughter, his pride, and his faith).

2. Antonio--he is an actual merchant because of his venture business and his involvement in trade. The play begins with his moodiness, and Shakespeare never discloses what has caused Antonio to be so melancholy.

3. Portia and Bassanio--together, this couple makes up the hero of the play as a comedy.  All the conflict in the play, including the three plots (the casket, bond, and ring plots) involve Bassanio, and Portia eventually participates in the bond plot when she questions Shylock.  The couple marries in the course of the play and eventually lives happily ever after--a requirement of a Shakespearean comedy.

What are the characteristics of the literature of the baroque period, with reference to the work of contemporary authors?

Literature of the baroque period is full of metaphor, emblem or symbols, and hyperbole. The purpose of baroque period literature was to move the reader into an emotional state, to lift the reader out of the mundane.

Baroque literature was very complex very much like baroque art and architecture. This very same period in English literature is known as the metaphysical period which focused on the  "unnatural" or "adverse to nature" rather than supernatural. Either way, the baroque period in literature lasts from the end of the Renaissance to the beginning of the neoclassical period when reason and logical senses became the norm.

The Baroque style used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, and music. http://encyclopedia.stateuniversity.com/pages/2383/Baroque-literature.html#ixzz0GztcypUi&A

Some baroque writers include: William Shakespeare, John Donne, Sir Francis Bacon, Sir Walter Raleigh, Capt. John Smith, Theodore Agrippa d'Aubigne, Cervantes (Don Quixote).

The Roman Catholic Church encouraged the Baroque style of art, architecture and literature as a way to influence persons heavenward through the overly ornate architectural styles and art used in the church. This came about after the Council of Trent commissioned art that would appeal to the illiterate masses.

In modern use, the term baroque has little to do with the original time period. Rather, it means any art that is extremely elaborate, overly ornate or overly complicated.

Is "A Rose for Emily" a short story or novel? What theories can be best applied in that story and why?

This is clearly a short story.  People might disagree on how long a work must be to be called a novel, but "A Rose for Emily" is definitely short enough to qualify as a short story.

You might be interested in knowing there is a kind of middle ground, which we call a "novella."  This is a work that is too long to be a short story and too short to be a novel.  One example is The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway. 

According to the Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms & Literary Theory (Cudden and Preston), there is substantial disagreement, but most scholars classify a work as a novel if it is between 60,000 and 200,000 words.  That is not very helpful for most of us, who do not want to count the words in any book, but we are stuck a definition like this because page counts will differ every time a book is published by a different publisher.

The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms & Literary Theory notes that there is also disagreement about what constitutes a short story and points out a range from about 800 words to about 30,000 words. 

Although the Penguin Dictionary does not give a word count for the novella, it seems that a novella's word count would fall between that of a short story and a novel. 

Now, as to theories of the story, those will depend on whom you ask.  From a feminist perspective, the theory of the story might be that Rose was unable to become a self-actualized female because of male oppression (her father.)  From a socio-economic perspective, we might view this as a tale about how the struggle of a formerly powerful and wealthy family in a changed environment.  From a perspective on race relations, we might ask if the change from a slave-based economy and the subsequent fall of Miss Emily's family was responsible for Miss Emily's sad life.  Also, we must remember that Faulkner was a very "Southern" writer, and this story is a kind of snapshot of what had happened to the South.  There are so many ways to read this story, all valuable and all authentic.  I hope you find your own interpretation and value in "A Rose for Emily." 

Who are all the people Hannah Baker blames for her death and why were they blamed?

The thirteen people she names in the tapes are all people who she felt betrayed her.

1. Justin: 1st kiss... snowball effect

2. Alex: listed Hannah in the "who's hot and who's not list"

3. Jessica: her 1st friend, but later betrays her

4. Tyler:  a boy who stalked her and took pictures of her

5. Courtney: a classmates that "uses" Hannah

6. Marcus: Valentine's date went bad at Rosies

7. Zach: A student Hannah thinks is hitting on her. He was at Rosies during the Valentine's day incident.

8. Ryan: printed Hannah's private poem without permission

9. Clay Jensen. (She says he doesn't belong on her list.)

10. Justin Foley: 1st kiss... 1st reason...

11. Jenny Kurtz: A cheerleader that killed a senior citizen after a party

12. Bryce Walker: A classmate that was at the party. He was vulgar to Hannah.

13. Mr. Porter: He was her counselor. She mentioned suicide and he did nothing to stop her.

comparision between Epithalamion and Prothalamion?

Spenser's Prothalamion (1596) is occasioned by betrothals. It also mediates, as critics have noted, metaphysical, vocational, aesthetic, and political matters. Among these we should continue to include Spenser's assessment of the Earl of Essex's role--widely, albeit not uniformly, acclaimed as heroic--in the Cadiz expedition of 1596. We should also think carefully about issues that emerge when we take fuller account of the London setting, specifically its commercial aspects. Prothalamion is deeply interested, I contend, in the relationship between heroic and commercial ethoi. Evidence from The Faerie Queene (Mammon's rejoinders to Guyon come immediately to mind) and from Spenser's patronage connections indicate that Spenser understood perfectly well that heroic enterprises must be financed, whether those enterprises are directed toward developing trade routes, conquering or defending territory, planting colonies or religion, acquiring commodities or precious metals. But through its refrain, imagery, epideictic purposes, and evocation of the Templar Knights, Prothalamion furnishes evidence to suggest that for Spenser, at levels of understanding unconditioned by pragmatism, commercial and heroic values remain fundamentally incompatible.

What are linear equations and linear inequalities?

Definition: Any algebtraic expression whose degree is one is a linear expression.

A linear equation in one variable x is of the form:

5x+9=14 or

x-3=0 or

in general y(x) = ax +b, where a is b are real.

Equations in 2 variables say x and y:

2x+3y+9=0,

x+y=6 ,

y=mx+c , slope and intercept form , m and c are any  number, and

ax+by+c=0 a standard form,

are all linear equations in two variables x, and y.

Note: x^2+y^2 = 9   or xy+x+y =k  are not  linear equations as the algebraic expression is of 2nd degree. The epression involving sqrtx or sqrty type of terms can not be linear expressions.

In general,

a1x1+a2x2+a3x3+...+an*xn =  k, where the xi (for i=1,2,...n ar n suffixes)) are n variables ans ai is ant number.

Inequalities: Inequalities are the relations  involving linear expressons. Infact equation is a special case of relation of inequality only.

example:

ax+by+c < 0  or ax+by+c>0 are inequalities, wheres

ax+by+c=0 is an equality.

ax+b<0 or ax+b>0 are inequalities whereas

ax+b=0 is an equality.

In general

a1x1+a2x2+a3x3+....+anxn < b or a1x1+a2+x2+a3x3+....+anxn>b are linear inequalities, whereas

a1x1+a2x2+a3x3+....+anxn = b is a linear equality or equation. ( Note that the highest degree of the exression is one).

In Gustave Flaubert's "A Simple Heart," Felicite is not a tragic character. What do you feel?

I do not think that Felicite sees herself as a tragic figure.  That would be too complex for her.  This is not to slight her as a character.  Felicite believes in the capacity to love as an extension of who she is.  In fact, she does not even see it as love as much as simply being her.  It is here where she is not tragic.  No matter what conditions might present, she will be this way.  There is no collision between incommensurate notions of the good that pit her in an unenviable position of choice, nor is there an appropriation of the world in accordance to her own subjectivity that leads to nothingness.  In this sense, she is not Emma Bovary.  Felicite is not tragic because of her authenticity and pure transparency in her ability to love.

Yet, it might be here where we, as the reader, recognizes the tragedy in Felicite. She is not a tragic character in her own mind, but we see the traged in our own lives.  Part of this resides in the fact that we recognize that our own world lacks people like Felicite.  We recognize that just as her social order did not entirely validate her, our social order fails to really validate those who represent values like Felicite.  It is here where we understand the tragic condition is not in Felicite, but rather in ourselves.  We are the tragic ones because we live in a world that does not fully authenticate or validate people like Felicite.  The tragedy is not with Felicite, but with us, in our own lives and our own experiences.  When we see Felicite as a "shelter in the storm" and not being validate, we immediately are reminded about our own pain in consciousness because we live in our own "Pont-l'Évêque," without appreciating enough the Felicites, if any, that are around us.  Flaubert understood the salvation in creating someone that is not tragic, but rather reminds humanity of their own tragic condition.  It is the only way to explain someone who could create a characterization like Emma Bovary and have such a brutally honest way about seeing reality as having an equal belief in the power of Felicite and the ability for human beings to represent something of "consolation" as opposed to "desolation," in the words of Flaubert's friend, George Sand.  It is here where the tragic state of Felicite is actually our own.

In "The Way to Rainy Mountain," what significance does Momaday's grandmother have for him, and what does she represent?

Momaday's grandmother is a very significant presence in his personal narrative, even though she has died. It is her death that brings him home again, prompting the story itself. His memories of her are strong, and his love for her is deep. As he writes, "I wanted to be at her grave."

During his story, Momaday remembers her (Aho) vividly:

Now that I can have her only in memory, I see my grandmother in the several postures that were peculiar to her: standing at the wood stove on a winter morning . . . sitting at the south window, bent above her beadwork . . . going out upon a cane, very slowly as she did when the weight of age came upon her; praying. I remember her most often at prayer.

He also remembers growing up in Aho's house, filled with "coming and going, feasting and talk."

Momaday's grandmother was his link to his own Kiowa culture. It was through her that he learned the history of his people and the legends that had survived over centuries. He noted:"

. . . she belonged to the last culture to evolve in North America. Her forebears came down from the high country in Western Montana nearly three centuries ago.

Having lived a very long time, Aho's life had intersected with Kiowa history; she had participated as a child in the last Kiowa Sun Dance (1887), a religious rite, and had been present July 20, 1890, when the Kiowas had been dispersed by soldiers, preventing them forever from practicing "the essential act of their faith." She had experienced, according to Momaday, "a vision of deicide."

In returning to Rainy Mountain to visit Aho's grave, Momaday paid tribute to her and reconnected with his identity as a Kiowa:

. . . I awoke at dawn and went out on the dirt road to Rainy Mountain . . . . There, where it ought to be, at the end of a long and legendary way, was my grandmother's grave. Here and there on the dark stones were ancestral names. Looking back once, I saw the mountain and came away.

Having completed his pilgrimage, Momaday returned to his own life with a greater sense of his own identity.

In The Scarlet Letter, what does Pearl represent? What is her role or contribution?

Pearl's role in the novel is subject to much interpretation. Most obviously, to the Puritans she represented sin, the physical proof of human sinfulness and moral frailty. Her presence branded Hester as much as the scarlet letter she wore. However, Pearl (as well as her mother) were not considered to be beyond spiritual redemption. Pearl's remaining with her mother was contingent upon Hester's instilling in her the tenets of the church.

Hester's view of Pearl was complex. Pearl was a reminder of Hester's spiritual downfall, but she was also a reminder of Hester's love and passion for Dimmesdale. Hester takes a secret pride in Pearl, defiantly dressing her in bright colors. When alone in the forest with Dimmesdale, Hester expresses her love and joy in their child. 

On another level, Pearl represents salvation for Hester, both physically and spiritually. It is Pearl who keeps Hester "in life," and it is she who keeps Hester from further moral downfall. This idea is expressed when Hester explains why she should be allowed to keep her daughter.

Finally, Pearl represents the triumph of love and goodness over hatred and evil. Through her mother's love and devotion, Pearl grows into a strong young woman who moves on to live a good life in England. She inherits all of Chillingworth's estate, his acknowledgment that she had suffered as the result of his obsessive pursuit of revenge against Pearl's father. Of the novel's four major characters, only Pearl was innocent, and innocence is rewarded in the novel's conclusion.

Chlamydia: can this parasite be created by another disease if not treated in time? I have a girlfriend who went to the doctor and she found out...

The websites featured below contain important information on the basis, transmission, and prevention of chlamydia.  I would examine these websites and talk about this with a doctor or registered nurse and analyze the problem and the options that are open to you.

Chlamydia can be transmitted during vaginal, anal, or oral sex. This STD is caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis, a microscopic organism that lives as a parasite inside human cells.  Any sexually active person can be infected with chlamydia. The greater the number of sex partners, the greater the risk of infection. Because the cervix (opening to the uterus) of teenage girls and young women is not fully matured and is probably more susceptible to infection, they are at particularly high risk for infection if sexually active. Since chlamydia can be transmitted by oral or anal sex, men who have sex with men are also at risk for chlamydia infection.

The levels of treatment involve administering antibiotics.  Of the sexually transmitted diseases out there, this one seems to be the one that can be effectively remedied provided that it is caught at an early stage of development.  Persons with chlamydia should abstain from sexual intercourse until they and their sex partners have completed treatment, otherwise re-infection is possible.

What are some character traits for Juliet and examples?Example: Juliet is loyal because she sticks by her husband even after he kills her cousin...

You might want to focus on concrete details first before you go on to make judgements about Juliet's character. Also, what I suggest you do is focus on how her character changes throughout the play - there is definite evidence that the Juliet we meet at the beginning of the play is very different from the Juliet at the end of the play who is willing to plunge a dagger into her breast for love. Here are some ideas to get you started.

We are told in the play that Juliet is not quite fourteen, which means she stands on the cusp between childhood and adulthood. When we first meet Juliet, she is presented as an immature, obedient child, who obviously has not thought much about marriage, and says to her mother that she will try to love Paris. She is also uncomfortable with the Nurse's repeated references to sex. She also, however, shows her determination and resolute nature in these first scenes. She is able to quiet the nurse with a word in Act I scene iii where her mother is unable to quiet the nurse, and in her response to her mother there is a note of passive resistance.

It is when she meets Romeo that Juliet takes a definite step towards adulthood. Although she is head-over-heels in love with Romeo, she is still able to maintain an objective stance and criticise Romeo for his tendency to romanticise their love and for his rash decisions. After Romeo's banishment, she makes a rational decision to take her union with Romeo as her new focal point and to make all other decisions based on this. It must have taken a lot of courage for her to reject her parents and former social position when everyone was encouraging her to marry Paris and keep her marriage with Romeo a secret, yet in her choices and her daring in taking the potion of Friar Lawrence we see a steely determination and resoluteness that is completed in her decision to end her life because of the intensity of her love for Romeo. In this play therefore we see the development of a young child into an eminently capable, strong and resourceful woman.

In "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," in what way is Ichabod easily manipulated by local superstitions and folklore, despite his knowledge and education?

Ichabod Crane of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" has a penchant for tales of the supernatural, enjoying the "direful tales" of Cotton Mather's History of New England Witchcraft, which "flutters his imagination."  Another source of his "fearful pleasure" is to spend "long winter evenings with the old Dutch wives" as they sit spinning their cloth and tales before the fires of their cottages.  Thus, he feeds his imagination with superstitious tales," even contributing to the gossip by delighting the women

by his anecdotes of witchcraft, and of the direful omens and portentous sights and sounds in the air, [and with] speculations upon comets and shooting stars; and with the alarming fact that the world did absolutely turn round....

However, Irving writes that if there were

pleasure in all this, while snugly cuddling in the chimney corner of a chamber that was all of a ruddy glow...where, of course, no spectre dared to show his face, it was dearly purchased by the terrors of his subsequent walk homewards.

When Crane walks in the night, his imagination and his past knowledge of Mther's book work against him, igniting his fears.  He often dreads "to look over his shoulder."

Finally, these terrors of the night are added to the "perplexity" of loving a woman.  Ichabod loves Katrina Van Tassel, but another man, much bigger and stronger, desire her, too.This man, Brom Van Brunt, contributes to Crane's fear one evening at the Van Tassel "castle" where a gathering is celebrating.  Added to this intimidation, Ichabod hears many tales of ghosts and apparitions, including that of the "favorite spectre of Sleepy Hollow, the Headless Horseman.  After his rejection by Katrina, Ichabod "sallied forth" into the night, "quite desolate and chop-fallen" into the "very witching time of night."  In this state of mind, all the stories of goblins and ghosts enter the vivid imagination of Ichabod.  When he thinks he sees the Headless Horseman, who is probably Brom Van Brunt," an emotionally dejected and mentally defeated Ichabod who is already fearful of his robust romantic rival becomes terrified.