What are the characteristics of Pi in chapter 1?

In chapter one, Pi is intelligent - he discusses his academic studies and relates profound insight about them to the reader.  He is also reflective - he looks at his present life in light of his past and what happened to him.  He is also intimate with the reader, sharing his thoughts and feelings about his experience, his studies, death, life, religion, his hurts etc.

What did the hens do to rebel against the giving up their eggs.

The hens, rather than allow their eggs to be sold by Napoleon and his henchmen in chapter 7, lay their eggs on the rafters so that the eggs will smash on the floor of the barn.  They consider what Napoleon wants to do to be murder.  Because Napoleon and Whymper have agreed to sell 400 eggs a week, they punish the hens by not giving them any food.  The hens hold out for five days and then they give in, allowing Whymper to collect the 400 eggs a week.

In Katherine Mansfield's "The Garden Party," what would be some examples of the theme of experience versus inexperience?

Laura is very aware of her inexperience and youth and it causes her great discomfort when put in situations of authority.

When Laura was told to supervise the workers putting up the marquee, she is impressed with their natural ease with one another, as well as the task at hand. She feels all the more inadequate by her job of watching over them.

Laura attempts to be cool and calm as she sets about her task, and she decides to channel her mother's posture and attitude in an attempt to appear confident. When she got out the bread and butter, she realized that there was no where to put it down, and she could not even throw it away, so she was stuck holding it and feeling foolish.

Laura's embarrassment led her to appear strict and stare down the workers, while trying to instruct them with an air of competence she did not feel. Nothing worked, and in the end she felt foolish, and knew her mother or sisters would not have acted in such a way.

While at first idealizing the workers experience and ease, she soon learns that their lives are not carefree.

Would you say the main theme in The Stranger by Albert Camus is existentialism?

I would say it does have an existentialist theme but don't
leave out Absurdism (check out link below).  Camus did not consider himself an
extentialist; he considered himself an Absurdist. There are many similarities, so it is
not some outrageous move on his part. But to be sure, there is one key
difference.

Existentialism means "existence precedes
essence." So, you are born a blank slate (tabula rasa) and you are responsible - and
free since the responsibility is yours - to create, construct meaning in life.  There is
no inherent or essential meaning waiting for you to stumble upon it except via faith.
There are no great truths that have always and will always exist. The meaning in your
life is created by you. The pursuit of meaning may or may not have
meaning.

For Absurdism, all these attempts at meaning are
possible, but essential meaning (which we don't create - the eternal kind like Absolute
Truth) is simply beyond human comprehension - if it exists at all.  The Absurdist
embraces the absurdity that meaning is only possible in general or in the pursuit of
it.

Freedom is a main component of Existentialism and
Absurdity. Meursault is completely free (mentally) because he embraces the Absurdity of
existence. He finds meaning only in what is immediately present to him. Eternal truths
offer nothing to him. Human values, he believes, only serve to keep people in line and
thinking the same way, blinded by an idea of universality. Here's the key point of
existentialism at least with how Meursault is concerned. Meursault is never persuaded or
conditioned or convinced to act in a certain way by any other character or any other
belief system (think of the sections with the priest).  This is existentialism: find
your own way, even at the risk of totally alienating yourself from society (which he
does physically - prison - and psychologically all along).  Meursault's essence is all
his own doing.  As stark as it is, he didn't even let imprisonment or threat of
execution dissuade him from acting of his own free will.

What does Hamlet's fourth soliloquy really mean? Act III scene 1 lines 56–89, "To be, or not to be."

It is still not clear if the Ghost's information is real, is true, much as it fits his own'take' on the situation, just as it is questionable if the Ghost is 'real. He requires more proof, and since the conclusion he believes is true would be treasonous to Claudius, he is very wary of putting it out there, so he decides to test his theory, albeit now that it has been galvanized by the Ghost's coroborration, it is still not clearly, objectively true, and he knows that to pursue the revenge he would like might mean his own death, or further, the death of other innocents (mother, Ophelia, courtiers,unpredictable( as he still cannot tell how complicitous the rest of the court is in the murder of his father. Certainly, Polonius, Ophelia's father seems hand-in-glove with Claudius, and what of Gertrude? Who has benefitted from old Hamlet's death? They are all suspect to young Hamlet.?. He is highly aware that he is the deposed Prince, his safe position has been stolen by Claudus, and he requires a court consensus before he rightfully takes any action against Claudius, happy though it wouldmake him to do so. He is also sorry, angry at his mother's ignorant re-marriage, blithely unconcious of the consequences of what she did.

As he sees Ophelia enter, he hopes she will remember all his sins, and so distance herself emotionally from him, as he knows he must get her to separate, so he can take the dangerous actions which lay somewhere before him.

How does Bernard’s behavior change in Chapter 6 when the Director threatens to send him to Iceland? Not when he is actually sent to Iceland,...

When the Director threatens to send Bernard to Iceland
(this is when Bernard asks for permission to visit the Reservation), he thinks that
Bernard will be scared and will change his behavior to be more like the "normal" people
in the society.

But instead, Bernard goes a bit the other
way.  Strangely enough, he gets really cocky and confident when the Director threatens
him.  It makes him feel more alive.  It makes him feel like he is a rebel.  So now he
feels like he matters, he feels that he is an important person if he is so dangerous as
to be threatened with being sent to Iceland.

I think this
is the passage you need to look at:

readability="16">

"That'll teach him," he said to himself. But he
was mistaken. For Bernard left the room with a swagger, exulting, as he banged the door
behind him, in the thought that he stood alone, embattled against the order of things;
elated by the intoxicating consciousness of his individual significance and importance.
Even the thought of persecution left him undismayed, was rather tonic than depressing.
He felt strong enough to meet and overcome affliction, strong enough to face even
Iceland. And this confidence was the greater for his not for a moment really believing
that he would be called upon to face anything at all. People simply weren't transferred
for things like that. Iceland was just a threat. A most stimulating and life-giving
threat. Walking along the corridor, he actually
whistled.

How does Shakespeare dramatize the conflicting views of nature in King Lear?

To expound on the previous post, for the noble characters in the play, namely Kent, Gloucester, the Fool, Cordelia, and Edgar, the ‘Reason’ of the ‘natural’ world order is to remain loyal to and preserve the orthodox view of ‘nature,’ (which maintains that the established social order should be respected and maintained) regardless of the suffering they must endure. There is a contrasting theory of ‘Reason’ of the ‘natural’ world orderi n the play however. For the evil characters, namely Regan, Goneril, Cornwall, Oswald, and Edmund, the ‘Reason’ is to destroy the ‘natural’ world order. These characters wish to topple the orthodox hierarchy, using whatever means necessary, and place themselves atop a new one.

Of course, the storm that rages during the play, with Lear himself caught in it, is a physical manifestation of nature itself raging against this upheavel.

How are Hareton and Heathcliff alike and different?

Heathcliff and Hareton are alike in many ways both in characteristics and circumstances.  Heathcliff had been a poor orphan brought into the Earnshaw household and at first treated like a son.  After the death of the father, Hindley began to treat Heathcliff as a servant, almost a slave.  In a similar manner, Hareton began life as the son and heir of the house, but when Heathcliff managed to basically steal the estate from Hindley, and Hindley died, Hareton became the servant, and almost slave.  Both Heathcliff and Hareton were raised with little or no education or training in social graces.  The difference between them is that Heathcliff allowed his circumstances to warp him, and grew up desiring little more than revenge.  Even his love for Catharine was somehow swathed in darkness and contributed to her death.  Hareton, although quick tempered, really has a good heart and a desire to improve himself.  He is able to rise above his circumstances and the marriage between him and Catherine closes the deadly cycle of revenge and brings healing to the families involved.  There love can be lived and enjoyed in a way that the tortured love of Heathcliff and Catherine could not be.

How does Shakespeare present Juliet and her realtionship with Lord Capulet in Act 3 scene 5 of 'Romeo & Juliet' ?For this question we are only...

In addition to the above answers I want to add that the whole Capulet family is very dysfunctional.  The Nurse has raised Juliet from day one to the point of being breast-fed by the Nurse.  Lady Capulet tries to talk to Juliet in Act One, Scene Three about how she feels about getting married and when she dismisses the Nurse, Juliet looks to her for guidance and not her mother and the Nurse is then asked to stay.

In Act Three, Scene Five, Lord Capulet says, "Wife, we scarce thought us blest that God had lent us but this only child; But now I see this one is one too much, And we have a curse in having her."  What kind of father calls his daughter, a curse, a good-for nothing person, and an anemic piece of dead flesh?  Lady Capulet goes along with whatever Lord Capulet says and does what she is told.  Back in this time all women married early and were expected to be at their husband's beck and call with no questioins asked.  Women were to feel privileged to have an arranged marriage in a noble family, love didn't really enter the picture.

Source:  The Language and Literature Book by McDougal Littell

In "The Cask of Amontillado," who might Montresor be confessing what he did to? This is an inference question.

 "The Cask of Amontillado" begins with Montresor addressing someone familiar, someone who knows the "nature of his soul."  Now, as to who that might be is anyone's guess.  My thought would be that after fifty years, the only person I would trust enough to tell a secret like this would be my husband or wife and/or possibly my children.  The only reason I would do it then would be to clear my conscience.  Another case scenario could be a direct descendant of Fortunato, which sort of invalidates the whole "nature of his soul" thing, but hey, we are inferring, right.  Suppose a direct descendant of Fortunato's visted upon Montresor's death bed, and in an attempt to gain a little further revenge, he spills this whole story to them.  That makes for an interesting spin on the story if you are guessing to whom the narrator is making his confession.  Hope this helps.  Brenda

Why does Vonnegut use an objective narrator who offers no interpretation of judgements about the story he tells?

The narrative point of view is a splendid example of form contributing to meaning.  By withholding judgment, the narrator participates in the plot of the story concerning people programmed not to think for themselves.  In this way, the author behind that narrative device, Vonnegut, encourages us the readers to make judgments, to participate in shaping the meaning of the story.

Is there any symbolism in Ellie Oscar's name in "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"

Although it is easy to discover that "Arnold Friend" can
be easily read as "An Old Friend" (that is, as a reference to the devil), "Ellie Oscar"
is a bit more difficult to analyze. There is not unified critical agreement in regards
to the meaning of this character's name, but we can be sure that Oates intended for the
name to be meaningful, because of the symbolic meaning found in the story's names,
number combinations, physical descriptions, etc. Here are some of the ways in which we
might interpret Ellie's name:

1. Ellie as "Ally." If Arnold
Friend is the Fiend, then Ellie is his ally, or
friend/sidekick.

2. Ellie as "Eli," which is a biblical
reference.

3. Ellie as short for "Elvis" -- this is
particularly interesting if we see the story as representative of a teenager's
experience with the dangers of adulthood. The pair are rock-and-roll personified.
Rock-and-roll can seem glamorous and fun, but can lead to dangerous
things.

In the novel Crime and Punishment, how is the pawnbroker's room similar to and different from Rodya's room?

Located upstairs in poor tenement buildings, both rooms are tiny,  have yellow wallpaper, and are furnished similarly, with a sofa and small table in front and a few chairs.  Rodya's room is arguably somewhat smaller.

There is a great difference between the ways the rooms present and are cared for.  The pawnbroker's exudes cleanliness, "both furniture and floors had been rubbed until they shone"    (Chapter 1).  When Rodya visits, the room is "brightly illuminated by the setting sun" (Chapter 1), and someone has attempted to make the room comfortable and inviting, adding geraniums, muslin curtains, and framed prints on the walls.

Rodya's room is discribed as being claustrophobic and dirty, with the "grimy...wallpaper everywhere coming off the walls" (Chapter 3).  The furniture is not in good condition, the sofa in rags, and the books on the table are covered in dust.

What was Tom Robinson's Life like? How old was he, how many kids did he have? Just stuff like that. Was it even mentioned in the book?

There is not much told to us in To Kill a Mockingbird about Tom Robinson's life. We know that he is a black man accused of raping a white woman, and that Atticus takes his case. We know that Helen Robinson is Tom's wife. The Robinsons seem to be upstanding citizens in their community in Maycomb. When the trial comes, we finally learn a little more about Tom Robinson. In chapter 19, Atticus brings to light more facts about Tom's life.

     Tom took the oath and stepped into the witness chair. Atticus very quickly induced to tell us (sitting in the courtroom):
     Tom was twenty-five years of age, he was married with three children; he had been in trouble with the law before; he once received thirty days for disorderly conduct.

Atticus goes on to tell us that Tom had severely damaged his left arm in a cotton gin as a child, and has no use of his arm to this day. This is a very important piece of information for the jury. 

What is Frank's horoscope in All My Sons?

Frank dabbles in astrology. He agrees to concoct a horoscope for Larry. He announces that the day Larry disappeared was one of his favorable days-meaning days when success and luck are highest. He determines that it would be unlikely for Larry to have died on this day.

The quote on page 63 is from Boswell's Life of Dr. Johnson. How does this quote capsulize the influence that Clarisse has had on Montag?

I clearly do not have the same edition of the book as you
do, but I think the quote you are talking about is the one at the beginning of Part II
where Montag reads the line about friendship.

To me, this
shows Clarisse's influence because she gradually kept giving him drops and drops of
friendship.  No one particular thing that she said really made him stand up and
understand what he did not like about their life.  But as she kept on being nice to him
and giving him ideas, she eventually reached the point where her influence ran over and
he understood what she was telling him about their society.

Is Simon really "batty"?

Golding makes it clear that Simon has been known to suffer fainting spells.  This helps to encourage the other boys to question his mental alertness.  Some critics have argued that Simon is an epileptic, and that he experiences seizures, which lead to his hallucination in the woods with the pig's head.  Although Golding gives no evidence to this, it is certainly one way to connect his "visions" and his fainting spells. 

Explain how Spenser, in Epithalamion, celebrates not just his wedding but the aspirations of an entirely new class of people.

While there is no mention of, reference to nor allusion to
a class of people in Spenser's Epithalamion, Spenser himself
represented the new class of individuals who had new opportunity--within the outlines of
traditional opportunity--to rise through the arts of English poetry to transition to a
higher social class, the transition being spurred by exploration and
colonization.

Additionally, Spenser and his friend, Philip
Sydney, embraced the dream of building a new class of prestigious English poets, as
English poetry had not produced much in the way of excellence, in Sidney's estimation,
since Chaucer. Sidney and Spenser, part of a group called the Areopagus--who were
sidetracked for a while by trying to make English poetry fit the very dissimilar prosody
of Latin--aspired to create great English language poetry  founded on classical genre
models that had not yet been attempted in English.

As was
true even in Chaucer's time, poets rose socially and economically by means of
preferments, patronage and favor at Court. This was quite true for Spenser, as well as
for Sidney. For example, Spenser was given a yearly fifty pound pension by Queen
Elizabeth I because she was so pleased with The Faerie Queene,
which Spenser hand-delivered to her through the patronage of Sir Walter Raleigh. This
longstanding tradition merged with new worldwide conditions and helped to create a new
class of people.

href="http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/16century/topic_2/welcome.htm">Exploration
was taking place on a worldwide scope and colonization was central to harvesting the
resources of newly discovered lands. Because of colonization, a mercantile class rose up
to import and sell the new goods, like tobacco and tomatoes, from lands like the
Americas. Colonization also opened up many more opportunities for preferment through the
Protestant Court of Queen Elizabeth I, and Spenser was one who benefited, being given
significant government posts in the then Catholic colony of Ireland. There he acquired
many landholdings, some taken from confiscated Catholic Abbey holdings. These
landholdings allowed him to rise to the social class of gentleman along with others who
found the same social mobility resulting from
colonization.

Elizabeth Boyle was the daughter of a landed
gentleman of a long established and important family in Hertfordshire. After the love
trials described in Amoretti, Elizabeth finally agreed to become
Spenser's second wife (first wife, Machabyas Chylde, 1579). Spenser's father was a cloth
weaver in London but of "An house of ancient fame" ("Prothalamion"). Since there is no
evidence that his father John Spenser could provide Spenser with a claim to being a
landed gentleman, it is clear that without colonial-based land acquisitions, Spenser
could never have joined this exploration and colonization based new class of people and,
thus, could never have entertained marrying Elizabeth, and, thus,
Epithalamion would never have been written, nor
Amoretti.

[See href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poet.html?id=6467">Edmund Spenser,
Poetry Foundation for more information.]

Where did the "doctor" learn his skill?from The Scarlet Letter, chapter 3

I assume you're referring to Dr. Chillingworth (Dr. Prynne). He's Hester's husband who was to join her after taking care of some business. We must assume he was educated in Europe since that is where they came from. I'm curious as to why you put the word "doctor" in quotation marks, however. Is there a question here that I'm missing? Please let me know if I haven't answered your question, and I'll try to help you.

How does Irving use two narrators to defend the tale’s credibility and what details reveal a Romantic fascination with the past/nature?

The italicized opening of Washington Irving's "Rip van
Winkle" is more than mere introduction.  It provides a frame, supposedly explaining how
the tale was found, and defending its credibility. But, unlike the "Custom House" which
provides a most serious and intriguing frame to Nathaniel Hawthorne's The
Scarlet Letter, Irving's frame adds mostly humor to his story since
Knickerbocker is clearly an eccentric character of Irving's
imagination.

Aspects of Romanticism are, for
instance, Irving's dwarfing of Rip's domestic problems by the beauty and majesty of
nature.  Lost in the Katskills, Rip van Winkle is calmer and contemplative, much like
the Romantic.  Certainly, Irving's own Romantic ideals are expressed in his satire of
his contemporary post-revolutionary society,  which he suggests is too argumentative,
rationalistic, and dogmatic:

readability="8">

In place of these a lean bilious-looking fellow
with his pockets full of handbills, was haranguing vehemently about rights of
citizens--elections--members of Congress--liberty--Bunker's hill--heroes of
Seventy-six--and other words which were a perfect Babylonish jargon to the bewildered
Van Winkle.

When Rip arrives,
the bystanders shout "A Tory!...a spy!  a Refugee!"  Rip inquires about his old friends,
only to be told that they have died or gone off.

readability="8">

Rip's heart died away at hearing of these sad
changes in his home and friends, and finding himself thus alone in the world--every
anwser puzzled him too by treating... of time and of matters which he could not
understand....

As a Romantic,
Irving expresses nostalgia for the stability, calm, and natural beauty of the colonial
village.

Other than the river, what characteristics of pre-Civil War America does Twain describe in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?

Along with the underlying issue of slavery, Twain spends a
great deal of time describing and portraying the attitudes that people had towards not
only slavery, but the very idea that certain groups of human beings required different
laws, different attitudes, and were not necessarily compatible with everyone else.  If
you look at the chafing between Huck and his father when Huck learns to read and to
educate himself, or the conflict between the widow and Huck as she tries to understand
this obviously bright boy that doesn't always want to follow the rules, you see that a
difficulty in understanding each other is a common theme, pre-civil war and
now.

Another aspect that is portrayed that isn't obvious is
the lack of government authority that existed in much of the South and much of the US at
that point.  The fact that so many conflicts and problems had to be resolved locally,
depending on local resources and local intuition is a part of the country's history that
is gone now with our centralized schooling, centralized law-enforcement, etc., etc. 
Twain brings out the way that people on the frontier had to work out their own problems
both with their land, their making a living, as well as with other families or groups of
people around them.  The constant change led to all kinds of interesting problems but
also a constant state of innovation and compromise evident in the story of Huck and Jim
and their adventures.

What was Elsie's reaction to Homer's trip to the mine in October Sky? Describe the incident.

Elsie is irate upon finding that her husband has taken
Homer into the mine, as they had known she would be. When Homer and his Dad come up out
of the mine, Elsie is waiting there, "standing at the gate still in her church clothes."
When she sees Homer's "grimy face...coal-mascaraed eyes, and...blackened coveralls," she
bursts into tears. There are other miners around, and they look away in embarassment as
Dad tries to shush Elsie. Homer tells his Mom "everything's fine," and Dad "doggedly"
asserts, "he's thinking about being a mining engineer."

At
these words, Elsie's tears "(seem) to dry up instantly," as she growls, "over my dead
body." Dad sends Homer off to take a shower, and hisses at his wife, "What the devil's
wrong with you?" Elsie snaps back at him, "This mine's killed you, but it's not going to
kill my boys," and reminds him that he has a "black spot - about the size of a dime" on
one of his lungs which will someday cause his death. Dad arrogantly tosses a handful of
coal dust into the air and breathes it in, declaring, "I thrive on this stuff." In
response, Elsie turns and marches into the bathhouse to fetch Homer; she grabs him, and
tells him he can finish washing at home (Chapter 11).

Can someone help me write/find a half-page monologue from the book Speak?

Speak's structure is heavily based on
internal monologue. Because Melinda feels like no one will listen to her, most her
emotions are expressed to us through her thoughts. Some of the book's most powerful
moments are achieved by allowing the reader to feel like they are "in Melinda's head"
through her monologues.

I'm assuming this is for a class
project. While I cannot pick an exact passage for you, I would suggest you look at one
of the following sections:

• Fizz
  ed


• The opposite of inspiration is...
  expiration?


• Rent round
  3


• Riding
  shotgun


• Communication
  101

Each of these sections highlights a
different aspect of Melinda's downward spiral into depression. The reader is invited to
share her inner most thoughts and gain insight into what she's going
through.

The odds are against Beowulf in his final battle.Why does he keep fighting?

It is also part of the heroic code - loyalty, bravery, and generosity.  He is just fulfilling this.  He is remaining loyal to his people by battling on despite knowing he will lose.  Beowulf is obviously being brave by fighting the dragon too.  And he is being generous because when he kills the dragon, the cold and spoils will be sent back to his people.  His death fulfills the heroic code and cements his reputation as a great warrior.  Also, as a warrior, what better way to do?  Facing great odds and almost single-handedly vanquishing such a great enemy as the dragon?

What are some pros and cons about homeland security?what would be some great website to find out this information?

I believe that the biggest pro about the Department of
Homeland Security is safety and security. This department does much more than just keep
us safe from things like terrorist threats though. It is really a very large department
and consists of many different components including health affairs, nuclear detection,
transportation security, customs and border protection, and
immigration.

Really the only con I can see is that since
there is a lot more security, for example at airports, it takes us longer to get through
security lines. It also impedes on privacy. The way I see, it is worth it knowing that I
am safer.

Below is the website for the Department of
Homeland Security where you can find detailed information on everything that it does and
is responsible for. 

Act 2 scene 3 Why is the Friar Lawrence given such a long speech when we first meet him?

In my opinion, Friar Lawrence is given such a long speech
because Shakespeare is foreshadowing what is to come.  You can see this in the content
of the Friar's speech.

The Friar's speech meditates on
herbs and plants and their dual nature.  He points out how they can be used in good ways
and bad ways.

This foreshadows what will happen with Juliet
in particular.  She will drink the potion that the Friar will make out of these
plants.

I think the speech also metaphorically talks about
how something good like love can turn into something bad (the tragedy that is going to
happen).

What are the differences between French Symbolism poetry and Modernism?I have found a lot of similarities but I am running short on how to contrast...

That's tough because I would say that French Symbolism is
one branch of the much more broad category of Modernism.  Modernism covers not only a
historical period (roughly from early 19th century up until post WWII or the 1960s
depending on who you ask).  Modernism as a cultural and artistic movement, in my
opinion, includes many movements: Dada, Surrealism, Futurism, Fluxus, Happenings, Pop
art and Symbolism to name a few.  Modernism was all about the avant-garde, all about
rejecting tradition in favor of anything new.  Certainly revolutionary philosophies like
Marxism and Feminism were part of this grand scheme of rejecting tradition (and the
Enlightenment's claim of humanistic progress; we got the technological part down.)
Anything that pointed towards the future. Anything
progressive. 

Although Symbolism is a movement which
occurred during Modernism, you can still compare the two.  Symbolism, like Modernism,
was an attempt to get away from Realism and Naturalism in favor of a more abstract
artform. The Symbolists sought to use metaphoric language and images which symbolized
the essence of being. This essence was also beyond the scope of the senses, so the
senses themselves were mere symbolizers of being.  In general, Symbolism was more
abstract and imagistic than its antagonistic artforms: namely realism and
naturalism. 

Ok. One Big Difference: Modernism focused on
the alienation of the individual in the fast-paced technological world.  Some modernists
ignored technological advances in their work (except for Marinetti) as it was part of
the false Enlightenment project. So a lot of Modernist work was about the anonymity and
loneliness of the individual being pushed along passively, zombie-like as just a cog of
the masses in the machine of technological progress.  Symbolism focused on the
subjectivity of the individual and how to evoke abstract meaning by observing everyday
images and senses. Although different from Romanticism, Symbolism was similar in its
focus on the evocation of meaning through individual experience. So, it wasn't the
alienation of the individual or the individual's reaction to the external
world(Modernism); it was the subjective reaction, the internal, emotional
imagination(Symbolism).

What is Crooks' American dream in Of Mice and Men?

Crooks is a fairly minor character, but an important one. 
The crux of his involvement in the story comes when George has gone into town with the
boys and Lennie wanders into the barn, into Crooks'
bunkhouse.

The conversation that follows is critical to the
story.  Lennie, given his mental limitations, only knows what he is told about race in
the 1930s, and he doesn't understand it, so he is naturally curious like any young
person would be.  The conversation they have is mostly innocent, and Crooks realizes
that Lennie doesn't know to treat him differently.  For the first time, maybe ever,
Crooks feels like an equal with a white man, even perhaps superior with Lennie.  He gets
to drink a feeling of equality very briefly, until George reappears and sets the
situation how it should be socially, in that time frame.

In New Jersey v. T.L.O. (1985) What was the first question the Supreme Court considered in this decision? How did it answer that question? Whose...

The first question that the Court considered in this
decision was whether the 4th Amendment applies to school officials.  In other words,
does a school official need to obey that amendment when considering whether to search
your purse?  The Court said officials do need to abide by the 4th
Amendment.

However, the Court said that schools have way
more latitude to search students' property than police would outside the school.  This
is because the school has to maintain a good learning environment.  The school would
only need to have a reasonable cause to conduct a search (as opposed to probable cause,
which police need outside schools).

Why does Ralph agree to search the island?

In chapter one Ralph agrees to a search to find out if they are truly on an island, to find out if any one else was on the island, and to see the island and what is on it.  Later in chapter seven and eight, they go ans search the island again, this time for the "beast".

Act v. How did Hamlet escape being killed in England?How does he feel about having Rosencrantz and Guildenstern killed in his stead?

Hamlet informs Horatio how he outwitted Claudius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in their plot to have him executed by the king of England as soon as their ship anchored.

He tells Horatio that he had been restless during their journey and could not sleep. He then, during the night, put on his gown and went to seek out Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Once he got into their cabin, he rifled through their belongings and fortunately came upon Claudius' commission, which the two were very proud to have been entrusted with.

Hamlet then went back to his room and, driven by fear, ignored any qualms about breaking the seal on Claudius' letter. The contents of the commission shocked him and he decided to write a new instruction. He used flattering language and words alluding to the amity and alliance between the two countries to sound convincing. In the letter, he instructs that the two bearers of the commission (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern) be executed immediately after presenting the letter. They should not even be allowed opportunity to defend themselves or pray for penance.

Hamlet then forged Claudius' signature, folded the letter in the official style and then used his father's signet ring (that was a copy of the Danish seal and which he carried in his purse) to imprint on the wax used to seal the rewritten commission. He then placed the new commission in Rosencrantz' and Guildenstern's possessions. The switch was never discovered.

The next day their ship was accosted by pirates and Hamlet jumped ship during the altercation. He was on board the pirate ship and became their only prisoner. The pirates stopped pursuing their ship since it was too fast. Hamlet made a deal with the pirates who would then later return him to Denmark.

Hamlet tells Horatio that he felt no guilt for sending Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to their doom for:

" ... their defeat
Does by their own insinuation grow:
'Tis dangerous when the baser nature comes
Between the pass and fell incensed points
Of mighty opposites."

They had themselves to blame for getting involved in the dastardly plot to have him killed. Hamlet says that they had to face the consequences of their cowardly actions - for getting involved in a dispute between two such fierce and powerful rivals (he and Claudius). 

Analyze the nature of a villainous character in Wuthering Heights and show how it enhances meaning in the work.

While Heathecliff is the main villianous character in Wuthering Heights, as stated above,  Cathy is a villianous character herself at times.  She spurns Heathcliff whom she loves for Linton because he is wealthy. Later she hurts Linton by displaying her love for Heathcliff openly.  She suffers because she feels that she cannot marry Heathcliff because of his lower social position, yet when he returns, she finds that she cannot live without him.  Although she dies in childbirth, she really dies of a broken heart telling Heathcliff:  "You and Edgar have broken my heart." 

Although several of the characters have some villianous characteristics, none of them is completely evil and each has extenuating circumstances in that lead them to be what they are.  Even Hindley has a weakness for drink that he cannot control.  I think this enhances Bronte's work because she is showing us a side of human nature that we cannot control.  Heathcliff, Catherine, and even Hindly are like the wild moors on which they live; full of uncontrollable storms, passions, and addictions.  These larger than life passions may be uncontrollable but it makes their lives larger than other live's: lives that may just continue on after death in the storms of the moors where they lived.

What is Ralph's attitude towards Jack throughout the story?An Examination of Motivation

Ralph realizes that Jack has more appealing leadership qualities, yet he also realizes that Jack's lust for hunting is a problem. He finds his inattention to the  details for getting rescued and safety inexcusable.

Ralph can see Jack's gradual lust for savagery increase, and knows this will not bode well for the group.

How does Gandalf get Beorn to welcome the dwarves and Bilbo into his home?

Beorn the "bear man" in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit does not like a lot of company, and he would certainly not willingly accept 13 dwarves, a hobbit and a wizard into his home in one big group.  In order to introduce the party bit by bit so that Beorn will allow them to stay, Gandalf and Bilbo first begin to talk with him about the adventures they have been having with the dwarves.  Beorn becomes so engrossed in the tale that he barely notices when the dwarves begin to arrive two at a time.

Beorn learns about the war from the captured Warg and Goblin, and he rushes to help the dwarves.

While walking through Mirkwood, the dwarves run out of food.  Seeing the twinkling lights and hearing laughter, the dwarves leave the path in the hope of finding friendly folks who will feed them.

Thorin managed to escape the spiders only to be captured by the Wood Elves and put in the Elvenking's dungeon.  Even though Bilbo manages to rescue the remaining dwarves who were ensnared in the spiders' webbing, they, too, get captured by the Wood Elves, and Bilbo is forced to find a way to rescue the whole party.

What makes Boxer seem particularly human and loveable?

Boxer has a good soul. He works hard, complains little, has empathy for others, and is incredibly loyal(much to his detriment). He is like the average hard-working family man in our society, believing in a good work ethic and belief in the good of others.

What type of character assessments can you make about Amir and Hassan from The Kite Runner?

I disagree with sullymonster's assesment of Hassan as a gullible character. He is extremely loyal to Amir, but there are instances in the novel where Amir admits that Hassan has an uncanny ability for illuminating Amir's unfair treatment of him. There is a passage in chapters 5-6 where Amir states that when he tests Hassan's loyalty, Hassan tests his integrity. As Amir's servant, Hassan cannot express fully his displeasure about the way Amir treats him, but he makes his point clear in subtle enough ways where Amir feels regretful for his behavior.

Although Hassan is illiterate, he is also very clever and intelligent. This is evident especially in the first four chapters when Hassan listens to stories that Amir reads to him. He analyzes the narratives, asks questions about what he doesn't understand, and is sincerely interested in the educational benefit of learning from Amir. If there is an instant where something Amir tells him doesn't make sense, Hassan questions the ambiguity. So, gullible is not the word I'd use to describe Hassan. Hope this helps.

What is a detailed explanation of the stanzas of the poem "Ariel" by Sylvia Plath?Discuss the poem "Ariel" by Sylvia Plath pharagraph-wise. Please...

There seems to be critical agreement that "Ariel" is
ostensibly about Sylvia Plath's horse, although at the word "Shadow," she changes her
focus to a metaphysical, symbolic one. The only way to begin to (hopefully) grasp this
highly symbolic and suggestive poem is to look up every key word and try to find a
metaphorically suggestive meaning. Also integral to understanding is a knowledge of the
(true) legend of Lady
Godiva and the fairytale story " href="http://hca.gilead.org.il/li_merma.html">The Little Mermaid," as Path
uses allusions to both of these to make her point.

Which is
a good place to start: Plath's point seems to be that stripping away materialism (hands,
stringencies) leads to immersion in something larger than self (sea) for a larger
purpose than material gain (which is "shadows") and leads to the intellectual and
aesthetic judgments (eye) of a new beginning
(morning).

Space doesn't permit a thorough analysis, but we
can make a start together. Plath uses highly metaphorical language. In Stanza 1, note
that "stasis" suggests motionlessness in the night (blue) where there continuously
appear (pour) high rocks and hills (tor), symbolizing obstacles and journies
encountered. Recall that this is in night, the opposite of
"morning."

Stanza 2 seems to be a straightforward reference
to the experience of riding a horse which Plath becomes at one with, while her worries
(furrow) are torn away and she feels kinship (sister) with the horse. The next four
lines detail the experience of material life through the symbolic representation of
eating a blackberry. At the word "Shadows." the metaphysical shift
occurs.

The shift takes the reader from real life
experience to symbolic and spiritual experience. The irony is that Plath represents the
material experience as shadows, unreal, compared to the spiritual (Something else) that
compels her (hauls me). The Lady Godiva allusion sets up the image of a woman who
protests materialism (taxes against Coventry), sacrificing her self-dignity and honor to
ride unclothed, bare, exposed through the populace. This is a metaphor symbolized by
"dead hands," the symbol of collecting taxes, and "dead stringencies," the symbol of
rigorous requirements pertaining to money: materialism.

Now
comes the little mermaid allusion in which Plath throws herself into the sea in a
symbolic act of self-purging and self-sacrifice that is the result of protesting and
rejecting materialism in the Godiva allusion. In this act, Plath becomes part of the
vast and mighty ocean (a glitter of seas), while the child's cry of protest--symbolic of
innocent ignorance--vanishes from hearing (melts in the
wall).

With "And I" Plath describes her transcendence
following this self-sacrifice. She is metaphorically an arrow, meaning she moves with
the speed of an arrow; she is also metaphorically the dew of sea spray that speeds from
the ocean after her plunge of self-sacrifice (suicidal). She has come to be at one with
the drive into enlightened intellectual and aesthetic judgments (eye) that proceed from
(cauldron: brew) a new beginning (morning). With this, she moves from night (ignorance)
to day (enlightenment).

The latter half is unified with the
first half through the ideas of speed (horse, Stanza 3; arrow; dew that flies) and the
concept of being at one. In the first half, she is at one with the horse, in the latter,
with the drive to enlightenment.

Is there another theme in Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde that goes beyond good and evil? If so, what is it? How can Jekyll be compared to people of his...

Freedom is a theme in this story. Jekyll experiences a level of freedom by turning into Hyde. He is able to indulge his inner passions and desires that go against Victorian society and expectations.

Supernaturalism is another theme in this work. Jekyll goes against the natural law to create Hyde. Jekyll is in effect "playing god" by creating an alter-ego that reveals his dark side. This goes against the laws of God.

Jekyll goes against the typical Victorian expectation of gentlemanly behavior. One is expected to be reserved, scholarly, and religious. Jekyll realizes he has dark desires and great intellect, and with a certain element of smugness, creates a potion that will allow him to be someone else. While rationalizing that his experiment is in the name of learning, he recognizes that he wants to experience life outside of what he is expected to be. Most in this society would never take so much pride or hubris to experience this.

What poetic devices are used by Dickinson in her poem My Life Closed Twice Before Its Close?

When I teach this poem I call attention the rhythm, rhyme scheme, punctuation, and figures of speech, and of course meaning. It consists of two quatrains, abcb and defe. Rhyming words attract each other, connecting their meanings, which here make “see” resonate with “me,” and “befell” resonate with “hell.” (“conceive,” provides a partial rhyme with “me.”) The first and third lines, which don’t rhyme, are iambic tetrameter, and the lines that do rhyme are in iambic trimester, linking them together even more closely in sound and meaning. The sound results in an easy rhythm that carries the easy language of the poem. The personification of “immortality” results from its doing an action—unveiling—which connotes surprise and disguise, but is also a distinctly female event, suggesting secrets hidden and enclosure. “Immortality” is the only word with more than two syllables, increasing its importance in meaning, and the many two-syllable words reinforce the event that occurred “twice” to the speaker already. The period that separates the last two lines, which could otherwise be connected with a comma, suggests the distinctness of each thought, and also tends to make the second thought and the last line a very final after-thought.  The poem is about loss and sorrow.

How does his point of view influence the way the story is told?

Using the lawyer to tell the story makes it more difficult so that the story can be interpreted in a number of ways. The lawyer admits he is a man of "assumptions" and that he's prejudiced, not always allowing him to give an accurate view of the situation. When the lawyer tells us about Bartleby, we have to decide for ourselves whether what the narrator says is true or colored by his own prejudices. Because the lawyer is unreliable, it's more difficult for the reader to unlock the mystery of Bartleby's behavior.

How is the theme of sisterhood depicted in Susan Glaspell's play Trifles?

By showing the basic differences in how men and women think, act, and relate to others, Glaspell gives the reader a picture of sisterhood. The women are there to get things for the woman accused of killing her husband. As their husbands come in and out of the scene, the differences between the two genders are made obvious.

Overall, Glaspell shows us that men are aggressive, self-centered, and rough. Women are more sensitive, circumspect, and intuitive. These differences enable Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale to know exactly what happened in the home of the accused. Their husbands, however, leave the scene feeling there are no clues to be found.

The men look for obvious clues, while the women notice the little things, the "trifles". The women are able to find the dead bird and the damaged birdcage and piece together the events leading to the death of the husband. The men patronizingly dismiss their wives' ideas. The women are sensitive to the isolation and loneliness Mrs. Wright felt because they've been there before themselves. They understand why she would have been driven to murder when John Wright took away the only thing Mrs. Wright had to keep her company. As a gesture of their sisterhood, the two women hide the bird and the birdcage, knowing they would help convict Mrs. Wright. Because of this, she will most likely be found innocent of her husband's murder.

In "To Build a Fire," if you were the dog what would be your point of view?

Concerning the dog's point of view in London's "To Build a
Fire," the question isn't as unusual as it may seem, since London was quite fond of
writing stories from a dog's point of view.  Also, this is the kind of question that
gets you to think about the story and what the dog sees, but there really isn't a
correct or incorrect answer.  You can probably write anything that is serious and
thoughtful and do just fine.

With that in mind, I'll
suggest some ideas and ask some questions that you can keep in mind if you
like:

• As London would write the story, the dog
  would probably make value judgments about the kind of master the man in the story is. 
  Is the man gentle and kind, or does he beat the dog any chance he
  gets?


• Does the dog see the man as knowing what he is up
  against?  Does the man respect nature and its power?  The dog is a part of nature, in a
  sense, in that he is more fit to survive in the cold conditions than the man is.  What
  does the dog think about the man's feeble attempts to survive? 
  


• Why won't the dog go to the man when the man calls him
  near the end of the story?  What does the dog sense?  How does he know not to trust the
  man at that point? 


• How does the dog feel when he takes
  off to head to the next place of warmth?

The
thoughts and questions above should help you write a thoughtful
piece.

By the way, just in case you mean something a little
different in your question than what I've interpreted, technically, telling the story
from the dog's point of view would be using first-person narration if you have the dog
actually doing the talking or writing, or third-person limited omniscient, if you have a
speaker telling the story from the dog's point of view and reading the dog's
thoughts.  

How old was Lady Capulet when Juliet was born?

It appears that Lady Capulet was quite young when Juliet was born.  When she is introducing the idea of marriage to Juliet before the masque in Act I Scene 3, she mentions that she was already a mother by Juliet's age, which is not quite 14:

[quote]

Lady Capulet.
Well, think of marriage now: younger than you,
Here in Verona, ladies of esteem,
Are made already mothers: by my count
I was your mother much upon these years
That you are now a maid. Thus, then, in brief;--
The valiant Paris seeks you for his love.

What was the sonnet (young man) and the (dark lady) about? What exactly was the description of the sonnets?

"Out of the 154 sonnets that Shakespeare wrote, 126 seem to be written to the same person."  He was a rich nobleman and the first twelve sonnets urge him to marry and have children.  After the first twelve Shakespeare changes his tone to one of devotion to the young gentleman.  There has been rumors as to whether his devotion was one of a physical, homosexual nature, but Shakespeare's Sonnet 20 dispels these suppositions. It emphasizes that there existed a loving relationship, but not in the physical sense.

The "dark lady" appears in the last twenty-eight sonnets.  They don't follow any specific order and they address more than one subject and more than one woman.  "One was written to his wife Anne Hathaway, another is about his own soul, "the center of my sinful earth", and the final two are thought to be a pun on the Elizabethan cure for sexually-transmitted disease, sweating in hot tubs."  The Victorians named the mysterious woman, "the dark lady," because he described her hair and coloring as black, which was the total opposite of the woman of Shakespeare's time.  The title of beauty in his day was "fair."  As Shakespeare describes her, she is not fair in any way, "colour, beauty, or morality, and Shakespeare has the intense emotional pain of knowing that she becomes the young man's mistress of the young man he so admires." 

Are the girls pretending to be afflicted by witchcraft? Why?

These girls remind me of teens today who might find
a ouija board up in the attic. They are curious and want to find out if there really is
something magical out there. Tituba represented that ouija board. She being from a
voodoo culture background probably had the girls curious. So, they went out to learn
what they could. Most parents in any culture, but particularly in Puritan culture, would
be mortified to know what these girls were getting into. Many adults do believe in a
heaven and a hell, a good and an evil, a God and a
devil.

The fear of getting caught made the girls fake the
rest of what happened. When we lie, we often support our lies with... yep you guessed
it... other lies.

I think Tituba was likely practicing what
she knew to be witchcraft. I think Abigail sincerely wanted to find out more about it.
The other girls were likely along for the ride. But after the original event in the
beginning, they all lie and fake it in fear of being caught.

In what ways did U.S. expansion in the 1800s & the early 1900s resemble European expansion? In what ways did it differ?

Much of our expansion in the 1800's was conquest and
settlement rather than colonization.  Manifest Destiny and our westward movement
systematically depopulated Native lands in favor of permanent white settlements.  This
was similar to earlier British policy of colonization in the 1700's, but different from
the actions of empires in the later 1800s.

By the late
1800s and early 1900s we had become an empire, much the same as the European powers,
where we had taken colonies like Guam, Puerto Rico and the Philippines for both their
strategic location and their resources, but not as colonies where we would settle large
numbers of white Americans.  This too was similar to how the European powers acted at
that time.

What defeats General Zaroff in "The Most Dangerous Game"?

General Zaroff is defeated by the cunning prowess of Rainsford.  General Zaroff wanted to hunt his ideal quarry which possess the attributes of: "courage, cunning, and above all the ability to reason."  General Zaroff believed that life is for the strong, to be lived by the strong.  The weak of the world were put here to give the strong pleasure."  Obviously  Rainsford possessed all of the above attributes and showed that he was the strong one and Zaroff was the weak one.

Reference:  The Language and Literature Book by McDougal Littell

In Chapter 2 of "1984," what is the bad news delivered through the tele-screen?

Chapter 2 opens with Winston discovering that he did not put away his new diary after having written in it Down With Big Brother, which presages many problems that follow later in the book.  The party, meanwhile, announces that "the chocolate ration would be reduced from thirty grams to twenty." Such "bad news" always follows "good news," Winston recognizes, this time the "good news" being that Oceana's forces had a "glorious victory" against their Eurasian enemy.  The bad news is ususally true, while the good news fictitious, making a pretense for the bad.

There is no offence more heinous as unorthodoxy of behaviour. Why is this so in Brave New World?How can this statement apply to today’s world?

Unorthodoxy of behaviour still strikes at the heart of our
society. While those of us who live in democratic societies have the freedom to
self-construct our identities (unlike those in the World State) one cannot deny that
there are societal and behavioural expectations placed on people, and if they do not
follow them, eyebrows are raised.

For example, while it is
no longer unconventional for new university graduates to move back home for a period of
time to offset the financial costs of education, if this person continues to live in
his/her parents' home in their late 30s or early 40s, society will pass judgment on
him/her. New graduates are expected to either pursue a successful career, build a
family, or both. When one does not meet this criteria, society intrinsically will look
down on that individual as someone who has failed at the game of life, so to
speak.

Another example, in a high school context, would be
a student who does not act in accordance to the social expectations set up by his/her
peers and is rejected because of it. This could be because of clothes, musical tastes,
behaviour, or pretty much anything. While adolescents today undoubtedly want to
establish an individual identity, they don't want to be “too different”, because then
they would risk being rejected by their peers. We've all see examples of this during our
high-school careers, whenever that may have been.

While
these societal expectations are no where near as rigid as those in the World State, one
should recognize that they still exist. Yes there are rebels, and those that veer off
the beaten path, but they are called rebels because their actions represent the
counter-culture and strike at the heart of society's expectations for the
individual.

what are the main themes/topics in Journey's end? Give two examples for each.

 Heroism- This is one theme which can be seen through
Raleigh. Raleigh hero-worships Stanhope and looks up to him till the very end. For
example when Raleigh first arrived in the trenches, he had noticed how much Stanhope had
changed since the last time they had met. Even so, when Raleigh wrote a letter to his
sister, he had written proudly of Stanhope and did not bad-mouth him in any
way.

As shannon1331 had said, food and
alchohol is another theme which can be seen throughout the play. Whenever Stanhope gets
too stressed, he would immediately call for his alchohol and drown his senses in
it. Also it can be seen that most of the conversations relating to the war is usually
done while having their meal. Food serves to distract them from war and also serves as a
comic relief to diffuse the tension, usually by Mason or
Trotter.

Theme of Hierarchy. From the tone of the
characters, this theme is shown. Mason is afraid of the officers. this is shown when
mason accidentally got apricots and told Osborne to tell Stanhope. Another incident is
the raid. As much as the colonel does not want to send their men into a suicide raid, he
cannot refuse the order from the Brigadier General and call it
off.

Hope this helps. ^_^

In Nibelungenlied, what is the relationship between Hagen the Burgundian and Rudiger the Hun?

Hagen is a Burgundian and chief vassal (landowner giving
military aid to the king) of the Burgundian king. His title is Lord of Troneck. Hagen
was captured at one time by the Huns (Hungarians) and held hostage at Etzel of Hungary's
court. Etzel of Hungary is also known in history as Attila the
Hun.

Hagen is responsible for having killed Siegfried who
was lord of Netherlands, Norway, and Nieblungland and husband of Kriemhild, who was
princess of Burgundy before her marriage. After Siegfried's death at Hagen's hand,
Kriemhild married Etzel and so is the wife of the king who held Hagen
hostage.

Rudiger on the other hand is a Hun and the vassal
of Etzel, so he was one of Hagen's captives while he was held hostage. It is Rudiger who
travels to Burgundy to present's Etzel's offer of marriage to Kriemhild after
Siegfried's death. As a vassal to the king of Hungary, Rudiger swears an oath of loyalty
to Kriemhild when she becomes queen and is therefore bound to aid her in her revenge
plot against Hagen for killing Siegfried.

Rudiger's
position is complicated to the level of tragedy because he marries his daughter, a Hun,
to Giselher, a Burgundian and Kriemhild's brother. Kriemhild's revenge plot against
Hagen is not deterred because she is Burgundian and Hagen, Siegfried's murder, is also
Burgundian. According to Rudiger's oath of loyalty, Rudiger is the enemy of Hagen the
Burgundian, a relationship which calls for Rudiger to wage war against Burgundy, his
daughter's new land.