In "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," what does the conversation with Red Sammy contribute to the plot?complication or conviction

The conversation with Red Sammy adds a few things to the plot.  First of all, he is the first to introduce the title of the story "A Good Man is Hard to Find" when he and the grandmother are discussing the state of the world.  This scene also shows the grandmother's initial idea of what a 'good man' is - she declares that Red Sammy is a 'good man' because he let someone charge gas even though the description of Red clearly proves he is not a 'good man'.  It shows that the grandmother's ideas are empty, ignorant, and vain.  Also, this conversation again brings up the Misfit, who everyone pegs as the 'bad' guy, but the grandmother declares he is 'good' before the end.  The author demonstrates throughout the story that all humans are equally in need of grace because we are all very flawed.  And finally, the conversation again reveals the prejudices that the grandmother has.  Pointing out prejudice is one of the author's themes in this work.

What are two things Brom does to get back at Icabod for trying to steal his girl?Legand of sleepy hollow

Brom Bones basically resorted to playing pranks on Ichabod in hopes of making him look foolish so he could win Katrina back.  Brom broke into the school house and messed everything up, he stopped up the school house chimney, and he trained his dog to croon and then introduced it to neighbors as Ichabod.

What were the short term and long term consequences of child labour during the industrial revolution?History project!

Of course, they didn't have sociology and stuff like that
back then to study this, so we don't know for sure.

I
believe that a short term impact of child labor was that the industries that used child
labor were able to grow quickly.  Part of this was due to the low price of child
labor.   Another short term impact was, of course, on the children.  They were forced to
work in hard and dangerous conditions, which must have been quite
unpleasant.

In the long term, I think that child labor's
impact was not so bad.  As the industries became more profitable, people's standards of
living grew.  The companies innovated and were able to start doing without child labor
as they got richer.  I think that is one reason why children in the rich world today
work less than those at any previous time and place in history.

Compare & contrast ethnocentrism & cross-cutting cleavages. How have these two concepts contributed to our political perspectives?

Ethnocentrism can (but does not have to) negate the
possibility of cross cutting cleavages.  You can argue that our party politics would
look different if we had more cross cutting cleavages and less ethnocentrism in the
US.

When a group feels strong ethnocentrism, its ethnicity
becomes its most relevant characteristic.  In such cases, it will not be affected by
cleavages that are based on things like economics or
religion.

You can argue that the Republican Party has
become the party of ethnocentric whites, unable to reach out to blacks and Latinos on
cultural issues, especially.  You can argue that the Democratic Party has become based
on minority groups and has a hard time reaching out to
whites.

Outside of partisan politics, you can see that many
of our economic issues have come to be seen as racial issues and so have issues of
crime.

Explain the conflict of the societies for The Lord of The Flies.Societies (Society in the civilized world, and society in the island)

Perhaps the most telling passage of William Golding's
Lord of the Flies is in the description of the
actions of the character Roger, the "slight furtive boy whom no one
knew":

When
Henry tired of his play and wandered off along the beach, Roger followed him, keeping
beneath the palms and drifting casually in the same direction....Roger stooped, pickd up
a stone, aimed, and threw it at Henry--threw it to miss.  The stone, that token of
preposterous time, bounced five yards to Henry's right and fell in the water....there
was a space round Henry, perhaps six yards in diameter, into which he dared not throw. 
Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life. Round the squatting child was
the protection of parents and school and policemen and the law.  Roger's
arm was conditioned by a civilization that knew nothing of him and was in
ruins.

This
passage about the sadistic Roger illuminates the struggle that a civilized world has
against the innate evil in the nature of man.  For, once the trappings of society are
removed, or masked, as they first are on the island, man easily degenerates to his
inherently evil nature.  In another passage, when Jack first smears on the colored clay
and turns his half-concealed face to Roger, "Roger understood and nodded gravely."  For,
the mask "liberated from shame and self-consciousness" the rules of
society.

That society in a civilized world is not, of
itself, good either is evidenced by the "parents, schools, policemen, and law" that must
condition and recondition people.  This fact is symbolized by the naval officer who
rescues Ralph as he is "a little embarrassed" and turns his eyes to "rest on the trim
cuiser in the distance," the warship. 

Without the
restraints of a civilized world--those trappings in the form of the rational and more
mature Piggy who is killed by the sadistic Roger--there is anarchy and evil.  Only Simon
recognizeds the innate evil in the boys, represented by Roger "whom no one knew," who
wields the rock, the symbol of "preposterous time."  But, Simon cannot communicate this
knowledge of evil, and he, too, is killed by the hunters of whom Roger is a
part.

In The Giver, what four qualities does the Chief Elder say the Receiver of Memory must have?

On page 62 (in the Laurel-Leaf paperback edition), the Chief Elder is talking about why Jonas was skipped as assignments were being announced at the Ceremony of Twelve.  She has returned to Jonas, number 19, and he is on the stage as she says that he was not assigned, but selected.  She informs the audience that his job will be Receiver of Memory.  Jonas isn't sure yet what this means, but he listens as she lists the four important qualities the receiver must have and why the elders consider him to have them:

1. Intelligence.  She says that Jonas has been at the top of his class throughout his school days.

2. Integrity.  She cites the fact that when Jonas has made mistakes, he has presented himself promptly for chastisement.

3. Courage. She does not give a specific example, but says that the elders are certain that he is brave.

4. Wisdom.  She says that the elders are certain that Jonas will acquire wisdom as he goes through his training.

She also lists one final attribute that the Receiver must have - the Capacity to See Beyond.  She tells the audience that she cannot explain it to them.  However, she says that the current Receiver knows that Jonas has it.  

After the Chief Elder is done speaking, the audience begins to chant Jonas' name, showing their acceptance for his new role.  Jonas doesn't know what to expect yet, but he feels proud.

The law of conservation of energy and energy efficiency!!!!!!!Can you please answer the following questions, show clear working out, and please...

1. Kinetic energy will be needed raise body and speed when
leaving the ground?

When the body of mass m = 55 kg is
raised by height h = 0.8 m. The increase in potential energy (e) is given by the
formula:

e = m*h*g

Where g =
acceleration due to gravity = 9.81 m/s^2

Applying value for
given variables in the above formula:

e = 55*0.8*9.81 =
431.64 J

Kinetic energy of an object is given by the
formula:

e =
(1/2)*m*(v^2)

When v represent the velocity required to
enable the athlete to attain the the potential energy this kinetic energy will be equal
to the potential
energy:

Thus:

431.64 =
(1/2)*55*(v^2)

Therefore:

v^2
= 431.64*2/55 =
15.696

And:

v =
3.962 m/s

2.  Given a power input of 400 watts, calculate
the efficiency of devices that produce outputs of:

a) 80
watts

Efficiency = (80/400)*100 =
20%

b) 300 watts

Efficiency =
(300/400)*100 = 75%

3. A catapult stores 25j of elastic
potential energy, but the projectile that fires has a kinetic energy of only 15j. What
is the catapults efficiency?

Efficiency = (15/25)*100 =
60%

4. If the electric motor of a forklift has an
efficiency of 90% how much energy is needed to increase a crates gravitational potential
energy by 2000j?

Energy needed = (Potential
energy)*100/Efficiency

= 2000*100/90 = 2222.2222
J

5. In a torch, the efficiency of a battery in converting
chemical to electrical energy is 85%, and the efficiency of the globe in converting
electrical into light energy is only 2%. What is the overall
efficiency?

Overall efficiency = (Chemical
efficiency)*(Globe efficiency/100

= 85*2/100 =
1.7%

In Lord of the Flies, what is the importance of Simon's death and the discovery of the conch? And why did these things happen at the beach?

In Lord of the Flies, the importance of the conch is to symbolise democracy and fairness. In the first few chapters of the novel, the conch plays an evident part and is the reason leadership and rules are created, and are a reason the boys are able to be at peace with each other to start with. Yet, as their time on the island progresses, the conch becomes less valuable to the other islanders, except Piggy who carries the conch with pride, and Ralph, who feels it still has the ability and power it had initially, and keeps order. In the chapter "Castle Rock", Piggy holds the conch tight by his side, and tries to form another assembly. He clearly feels that despite the segregation of the children, the conch is still a symbol of authority. So, when Roger kills Piggy with the rock and shatters the conch, it shows the real breaking down of the group. The conch shatters, as does the rules and the capable knowledge of Piggy. 

Give an example of personification used in Act V, scene 2 of Hamlet.

"O proud Death, what feast is toward in thine eternal cell that thou so many princes at a shot so bloodily hast struck?" Lines 403-406.

Fortinbras speaks these words upon entering the hall where so many royalty have been slain. He personifies death by making it a proper noun and speaking directly to it as if it were a person itself. He gives it human qualities (i.e.Death feasts, it took princes, it is proud), which is essentially what personification is.

In Chapter 4, what definite stand does Ralph make?

In Chapter 4, Jack succeeds in killing a pig, but in order to do so, he draws away the boys who were supposed to be tending the signal fire, and the fire goes out. It couldn't have happened at a worse time because a ship was passing the island. When Ralph realizes that Jack has been responsible for their failure to be rescued, he is furious. During Jack's moment of triumph, Ralph must discipline Jack for his grave mistake. The excitement of killing the pig and the prospect of meat has taken most of the boys' attention away from being rescued. Ralph reprimands Jack soundly, and Jack takes out his anger on Piggy, punching him and breaking his glasses. Now Ralph also needs to discipline Jack for his violent behavior at a time when the other boys are admiring Jack's strength. He shouts at Jack, "That was a dirty trick!" Jack apologizes, and suddenly the boys perceive Jack to be the gracious one and "Ralph, obscurely, in the wrong."

Ralph reiterates his verbal reprimand, then commands Jack to "light the fire." Ralph is standing amid the ashes of the previous signal fire. He does not move, requiring the boys to build the fire about three yards away from where it had been. No one dares to ask him to move. This physical display of strength and power is actually equal to or more effective than Jack's displays. In this way, "Ralph asserted his chieftainship and could not have chosen a better way if he had thought on it for days." Even Jack was "powerless" against Ralph's display of authority.

Although Ralph wins this power struggle, it creates a permanent rift between him and Jack and creates a strong alliance between Ralph and Piggy.

Is Nick immoral in any way?I've tried finding actual text proof for this, but I just can't find any. Nick seems to hold a good set of values and...

I don't think Nick is immoral...perhaps confused and a bit star-struck, but not immoral.  In Chapter One, Nick reflects on his time with Gatsby, saying, "what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive and short-winded elations of men."  Although Nick may temporarily suffer from a lapse in judgment, I do think he has a strong moral compass to guide him.

Even when he is enchanted by Daisy, the effect is only temporary:  "For a moment the last sunshine fell with romantic affection upon her glowing face; her voice compelled me forward breathlessly as I listened--then the glow faded, each light deserting her like a lingering regret like children leaving a pleasant street at dark."

In the end, Nick reclaims his center.  Of Tom he says, "I couldn't forgive him or like him but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified.  It was all very careless and confused.  They were careless people, Tom and Daisy -- they smashed things up and creatures and then retreated back to their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made...

Without a sense of morality, Nick would not have been able to reach any of these conclusions or see Gatsby and his crowd in a revealing light. 

How is Juliet's soliloquy(lines 33-44) an example of dramatic irony?

Dramatic irony is when something happens that only one or a few characters on stage and the audience know about...all other characters are in the dark.  In this soliloquy, Juliet is grieving that she is in love with Romeo, and he is a member of her family's arch enemy family.  She is speaking on her balcony about how she loves him and how if he were any other name (from any other family) it would all be OK.  She doesn't know it, but Romeo is in the bushes below listening to her every word. The audience knows this, too.  Viola!  Dramatic irony.

The movie The Fly and the Bride of Frankenstein - How is science depicted/presented? What are the implications of science?exploring the themes...

In the movie "The Fly" and the movie "The Bride of
Frankenstein" science is viewed as having negative consequences as a result of the
scientist’s efforts to create something without regard to
ethics.

The scientist creating the transport machine is
idealistic and has a great idea.  He does not think twice about using an animal to
transport with poor results.  In many ways they make the scientists in both movies
overzealous in their careers which have a tragic affect.

In
the second movie the scientist decides he is going to create a bride for his creature
whom he already does not care for and who is abnormal in figure and face so that no one
wants to be near it.  Yet, the scientist is willing to take the risk and try to make
another creature, only a female.

Both movies imply that
science tries to goes to far.

In "A Rose for Emily," what do you think the "long iron-grey hair" found on the pillow next to Homer's body symbolizes?

None of the other answers address this question. What does the hair symbolize? That it belongs to Emily is obvious because of the earlier reference to her hair, "Up until the day of her death at 74, it was still that vigorous iron-gray."

Anyone who has studied Faulkner at all knows that his obsession was the dying/decaying South. That's what this story is all about. The necrophilia is just candy for what Flannery O'Connor would describe as "the average reader." Yeah, there's the stuff about her daddy, but that's not the main point.

Emily, and her Dad, represent the old south. They really are allegorical characters. There's very little character development; she simply is the last remnant of the old south, the confederate gray. She is the old generation.

Yes, it is ironic that she, of all people ends up with a Yankee. But from her generation's point of view, the yankees really did come down and screw the south (to put it gently). The baser capitalisitic and opportunistic values of the north pollute the bed of the south for generations to come. This may be why Emily's relationship with Homer is so unnatural.

The final image of the book is a bed with a rotting corpse of a yankee--Homer--and a single iron-gray hair. The symbolism could not be more obvious.

What is the main idea of the poem" the love song" by Alfred Prufrock? What have we learned about his thoughts about himself? Describe the visuals...

T. S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is the
monologue of a sexually frustrated middle-aged man with unfulfilled desires and an
"overwhelming question" (which is never specifically identified), but the line "Do I
dare disturb the universe?" seems to cover all bases. However, we do not know more
specifically what Prufrock means.

Lines 37-48 reveal
Prufrock in his current state: his thinning hair, skinny arms and legs, his coat drawn
tightly up around his chin all suggesting his age and decrepitness. Prufrock is more
than aware of his appearance; he laments him age and the current state of his body.
Despite his age, Prufrock still imagines a different life, one the challenges himself
and his surroundings. Unfortunately, it is never meant to be as he only wait "till human
voices wake us, and we drown."

In the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, how has Elizabeth changed in the six years since Victor has seen her?

In chapter 7 of Frankenstein, Victor says the
following:

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Time had altered her since I last beheld her; it
had endowed her with loveliness surpassing the beauty of her childish years. There was
the same candour, the same vivacity, but it was allied to an expression more full of
sensibility and intellect. She welcomed me with the greatest
affection.

Although she is
distraught over the death of William, Elizabeth is the paragon of the
matriarch--concerned over children and family above herself.  As such, Shelley
characterizes many of the women in the novel as passive victims of sexism.  Nearly all
of the decisions and activity in the novel is done by
men.

The women, like Elizabeth here, seem only to write
letters, wait by the bedside, and suffer at the hands of men.  Elizabeth, overall, is a
suppliet--one whose suffering and victimization by the Monster is a result of Victor's
tragic mistakes.

What is one of the annoying things about Luce, according to Holden?

A lot of things about Luce annoy Holden, but in Chapter 19, Holden says specifically, "that was one of the annoying things about Luce...he'd make you describe the most personal stuff that happened to you, but if you started asking him questions about himself, he got sore...these intellectrual guys don't like to have an intellectual conversation with you unless they're running the whole thing".  It was annoying to Holden that Luce wanted to control the direction of every conversation.

What is the meaning of the title Heart of Darkness and how does it relate to the story?

There are a number of ways to consider the meaning of the title on its own or as it relates to the story.  You may or may not be aware that Africa was frequently referred to as the "Dark Continent," and Conrad was almost certainly aware of that. The darkness of the continent could refer to its unknown quality or the darkness of the people who resided there. (Remember that the book takes place during a period of colonialism and great racism, and "darkness" in this context might very well have racist overtones today.) 

Another interpretation of the title that you might want to consider is the darkness of men's souls, which could refer to their lack of morality, the darkness of insanity, or the cruelty of colonialism. Remember also that this is a trip upriver, and the source of a river might be considered its "heart," hence the destination might be the source or heart of the darkness of Africa or the men who colonized it. 

Darkness might refer to the darkness of the insanity that the narrator finds at his destination, the darkness of the treatment that he observes on his way upriver, or the despair of the Africans who are so horribly mistreated. When you consider the plot of the entire book, there is little that could not be reasonably called dark. 

How can I analyze the poem 'Black Woman'?

Perhaps the best approach to your analysis of Leopold
Senghor's poem "Black Woman" is to center your discussion on the theme of Negritude, the
development of African culture by expressing the powerful black presence. This theme is
state in the first stanza as the natural black woman around whom Senghor has grown up;
her color is life and her form is beauty. As a student in Paris, Senghor wrote this poem
to celebrate, not just the beauty of the black woman, but also the woman as a figure of
speech for his continent and country.

His poetic quest,
which was originally written in the lyrical French, is replete with personification, and
simile and metaphor, and imagery. For instance, in the first stanza Senghor writes that
her beauty strikes his heart "like the lightening of the eagle."  In the second stanza,
the woman is perceived as a lover,

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Ripe fruit, with firm flesh, dark raptures of
black wine.

Mouth that gives music to my
mouth

Her flesh is
personified and compared metaphorically to a song:

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Of the East Wind, sculptured tom-tom,stretch
drumskin

Moaning under the hands of the
conqueror

Your deep contralto voice is the song of the
Beloved

The poet associates
the "black woman" with eternity by using images of the wind, sun, noon, night, stars. 
For instance, pearls become stars on the darkness of her skin.  This use of natural
imagery ties her to nature and his homeland.

While the
first stanza presents "Femme Noire"/"Black Woman" as mother, and the second as love, the
final stanza depicts her as a nourisher.  The poet tells her he celebrates her beauty
before she becomes ashes:

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Nude woman, black
woman,

I sing your passing beauty, fixing your form in
eternity,

Before a jealous fate turns you to ashes to feed
the roots of life.

Was Lenny's death inevitable?

I feel that Lenny's death was inevitable.  Throughout the many years George and Lenny traveled together in search of work, they were never able to find stability because of Lenny's mental disability, which caused him to have poor judgement and violent tendencies.  They had a shared dream of owning their own peace of land, but both were handicapped from fulfilling this dream:  Lennie because of his disability and the issues it causes and George because he felt a sense of loyalty and responsibility toward Lennie, so he couldn't make the money or have the stability needed to fulfill this dream. 

George certainly killed Lennie because it was the only humane thing in light of the alternative bloody murder which would have ensued.  However, George had to kill Lennie because he was now out of control and murdering people. Even though it was unintentional, the results were the same.  Also, by murdering Lennie, he was not only keeping the world safer, but he was indirectly giving himself a new beginning to possibly live a more normal, stable life.  However, I do feel that if Lennie hadn't killed someone, he would have never harmed Lennie to improve his chances of fulfilling a dream.

What syntax, imagery, themes, and metaphors are in the poem?

The first line has inverted syntax (the subject and
predicate are placed at the end):

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Whose woods these are I think I
know.

The imagery is as
follows:

• natural
  imagery: "woods," "snow," "frozen lake", "downy
  flake"


• sound imagery: "sweep
  of easy wind"; "bells"


• light/dark
  imagery: "snow" vs. "The darkest evening of the
  year."


• man-made imagery:
  "farmhouse," "harness," "village"

The
themes:

• Duty and
  Responsibility: "promises to
  keep"


• Beauty: "the sweep /
  Of easy wind and downy flake."


• Return to
  Nature (and this is the motif / metaphor as well):
  

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With sadness, "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy
Evening" examines just how difficult it has become in the modern world for man to stay
in touch with nature. The poem is made up of contrasting images of the natural and the
man-made: the woods and the village, the farmhouse and the lake, even the horse and the
harness-bells. The speaker is enchanted with the things of nature, but is constantly
reminded of human things, and, after a few minutes of giving in to the enchantment,
decides with regret that this return to nature cannot last. In this poem humanity is
represented not just by objects but by the concept of ownership. The first two words
focus attention on an absent character about whom we only find out two things: that he
lives in the village, away from nature, and that he owns the woods. It is the irony of
this, that the owner does not appreciate what he has, that establishes the poem's mood.
Man, it tells us, is wasteful.

Are the issues in the novel, such as education and corruption, dated, or are they still relevant today?

So much of literature has relevancy to today's world, no matter what time period it was written in.  In the case of this novel, the issue of corruption is timeless.  The idea here is that power corrupts, and the power in the novel is wrapped up in the idea of Capitalism and wealth.  Because Capitalism gives greedy characters an opportunity to earn at the expense of others, these characters (Kimeria, Chui, and Mzigo) exploit others for their cause.  The same thing happens today.  Sweatshops still exist, and the Enron scandal is just one example of corporate corruption. 

In terms of education, the author portrays the conflicts and paradoxes that are currently plaguing the education system.  The conflict here revolves around content - should students be taught facts, or taught how to think?  What is the right balance between them?  How much should culture influence what is being taught?  Multi-cultural education and changes to standardized tests are reactions to these questions. 

What does Lady Macbeth do as Macbeth kills King Duncan?act II scene 2

She talks to herself (and us). She jumps at the sound of owls and she talks about how well she's prepared the scene: she's drugged the guards and laid out the daggers nice and neatly for Macbeth, and there's a suggestion in this speech that she expects Macbeth to bungle it. Of the daggers, she says "he could not miss them," and of the act, she says she fears "the attempt and not the deed confound [them]," meaning she thinks they may be caught in the act.

The noise that startles her--the owl (fatal bellman) is ironic because the cry of the owl is supposed to signify an impending death. Given that she has planned the death of Duncan, her reference to being frightened by the owl is particularly powerful--it is as if she is already afraid of the nature of the act (although it takes her much longer to admit it). She actually reveals quite a bit of her weaknesses here: jumping at the sounds of night creatures, expecting things to go wrong, and not being able to actually stick the knife into Duncan because of her sentimental moment, all show that she is more of a plotter and a planner than a doer. Even as Macbeth acts, she lurks about thinking, and worrying about possible complications and consequences. 

Why is "The Way of the World" considered to be a comedy of manners?

The Comedy of Manners was a particular type of comedy
which was very popular during the Restoration Age. William Congreve's [1670-1729] "The
Way of the World" was first staged in London in the year 1700. It is generally regarded
as one of best examples of the comedy of manners.

Some of
the important features of the comedy of manners are as
follows:

1. The action always
takes place in London. There are many references in the play to actual localities in
London city, for example the servant reports to Mirabell how the marriage between
Waitwell and Foible took place:

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Sir, there's such coupling at
Pancras that they stand behind one
another, as 'twere in a country-dance. Ours was the last couple to lead up; and no hopes
appearing of dispatch, besides, the parson growing hoarse, we were afraid his lungs
would have failed before it came to our turn; so we drove round to
Duke's Place, and there they were
riveted in a trice.

During
Congreve's time both Pancras and Duke's Place in London were notorious places where
couples could get married easily without questions being
asked.

2. There is always a
contrast between the rural and the urban. Squire Witwoud is from
the county of Shropshire and his
arrival in London results in a lot of amusement and humour as Petulant and the others
mock at him.

3. The presence
of atleast one pair of very intelligent young lovers. Mirabell and Millamant are witty
lovers in this play.

4. Witty
dialogue is perhaps the most important feature of the Comedy of Manners. The best
example of a scene of witty dialogue is the 'proviso' scene in which Millamant specifies
her conditions before she agrees to accept Mirabell as her husband and he in turn also
states his conditions. Millamant insists,

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Let us be as strange as if we had
been
married a great while, and as well-bred as if we were not married
at
all.

5.
All the other aspects of the play are usually sacrificed for the sake of contriving a
situation which would give rise to 'witty'
dialogue.

6. The appeal of the
Comedy of Manners is to the intelligence of the audience/reader and not to the
emotions.

7. The 'witty'
dialogue was usually obscene, for the theatres had just reopened after the Restoration
after being closed during the Puritan rule of Oliver Cromwell. Petulant especially is
notrious for embarrassing the ladies by his filthy conversation and Mirabell avoids his
company thus,

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Pray then walk by yourselves. Let not us
be accessory to your putting the ladies out of countenance with
your senseless ribaldry, which you
roar out aloud as often as they pass by you, and when you have made a handsome woman
blush, then you think you have been
severe.

8.The
women in these plays were very emancipated and bold and independent, unlike the heroines
of the Sentimental
dramas.

9.The institution of
marriage was always held to ridicule. Both husbands and wives openly expressed their
dissatisfaction of their spouses:

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MRS. FAIN. Is it possible? Dost thou hate those
vipers, men?

MRS. MAR. I have done hating 'em, and am now come to
despise 'em; the next thing I have to do is eternally to forget
'em.

10.
These plays were mainly intended for the elegant and sophisticated audiences of London
city. Hence the characters were almost always from the upper class society of
London.

11. These plays
portrayed the lifestyle of the idle rich of London city very realistically. Lady
Wishfort wakes late in the day and cannot dress without the help of her servant Foible.
Peg another servant remarks:

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Lord, madam, your ladyship is so impatient.--I
cannot come at the paint, madam: Mrs. Foible has locked it up, and carried the key with
her.

12.
The plays were mildly satirical-the playwright could not afford to hurt
his upper class audience. Congreve remarks in his 'prologue' with tongue in cheek
irony:

He'll
not instruct, lest it should give offence.
Should he by chance a knave or fool
expose,
That hurts none here, sure here are none of
those.

Critically comment on the lyrical qualities of Wordsworth's "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud."

William Wordsworth's  lyric "I Wandered Lonely As A
Cloud," usually anthologized as "Daffodils," recaptures a moment of sheer ecstasy when
he and his sister Dorothy saw the shore of a lake near Grasmere lined with daffodils
during their walk on April 15, 1802.  The final version of the lyric was published in
1815.

A lyric represents the deep feelings and emotions of
the poet as a response to an external stimulus. Some of the important features of a
'Romantic' lyric are as follows:

1. The Romantic lyric is a
very 'personal' poem. It is characterized by the presence of personal pronouns 'I,'
'me,' 'my,' and 'mine.' This can be seen at the very beginning of the poem itself:
"I wandered lonely as a
cloud."

2. The Romantic lyric is an expression of the
poet's own inner feelings and emotions. Wordsworth has recorded in his lyric his joy and
happiness on seeing the daffodils: " a poet could not but be
gay, in such jocund company."

3.
The Romantic lyric is very 'physical', that is, the poet's physical senses are involved
in experiencing the outside world. In Wordsworth's case it is the physical sense of
sight: "when all at once I saw a crowd
a host of golden daffodils."

4. The word lyric is derived
from the Greek word 'lyre' which was a stringed musical instrument. So, literally a
lyric 'is a song written to be sung to the accompaniment of the lyre.' Wordsworth's
lyric can neither be sung nor can it be set to music. He has substituted a regular
metrical pattern for the musical score. The musical architectonic has been replaced with
all the lines of the four stanzas being iambic pentameter. Each stanza is made up of six
lines with the first line of each stanza rhyming with the third and the second with the
fourth and the stanza ending with a couplet. It is this regular pattern which is
repeated throughout the poem which creates the music.

5.
Wordswoth was a worshipper of Nature and this poem captures the natural beauty of the
daffodils on the lake shore: "golden
daffodils."

6. A Romantic lyric will be characterised by an
excessive use of similes and metaphors as a means of conveying to his readers the poet's
own feelings and emotions: "asa
cloud." Wordsworth compares the seemingly endless extent to which the daffodils
stretched across the lake shore to the galaxy of the Milky Way thus linking the
terrestrial with the extra terrestrial

Describe Romeo's behavior in Act I and how it changes in later acts.

In Act 1, Romeo is lonely and depressed. He is deeply infatuated with a girl who essentially shuts him down. However hopeless it seems, though, he swears he will never love another.

The rest of the play is all about his love for the other, new girl, Juliet, whose prime difference from the fair Rosalind is that she returns his affection and his advances.

While some might suggest that Romeo matures with his love of Juliet, I think his character does not change. The circumstances do, but he remains as intense and impulsive as he was at the beginning of the play.

What is the importance that setting plays in the development of the plot in What We Talk About When We Talk About Love?

The setting is the McGinnis' kitchen table in their home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but all four of the characters are "from somewhere else." This fact is important because it shows that it really doesn't matter where these four people are from or where this story is set. It's what the two couples represent--white, working-class America--that is important. Some have called this "Hopelessville, USA" because the characters have no hope of improving their lives. The pessimistic tone grows worse as the evening wears on, and the couples get drunker. The four people "talk" but they don't "communicate". It's only when they get drunker that their true feelings come out, and their feelings reflect the hopelessness of their lives. Once the alcohol is gone, so is the conversation between them, and both couples silently sit at the end, feeling the lack of hope in their futures.

How does Holmes solve his mystery?

Most Sherlock Holmes stories are solved with the same formula.  Holmes and Watson are usually sought out by someone in distress who tells them of their problem.  Then the duo set out to investigate.  In this story, Helen Stoner seeks out Holmes and he and Watson soon arrive to the estate to investigate the death of her sister two years earlier.  The only thing to go on is that the sister said the words, "...the speckled band..." right before she died.  So what was the speckled band?

At the estate Holmes notices a few details, as usual he tends to see what most others have overlooked.  Firstly, he remarks that Helen is being forced to move into the room where her sister died indicating to Holmes that there must be something special about this room and that the murderer might be ready to strike again.  Therefore Holmes investigates the room and find several odd things. For one the bed is nailed down.  By assessing the peculiarities of the room, he is able to put together a plausible course of action.  

In the end, Holmes catches the step-father in the act.  He has used a bell cord and the ventilation system which connected his room with the step daughter's to let down a poisonous snake which was intended to bite her in her sleep. The snake itself is the 'speckled band' to which Helen's sister referred to just before she died. 

Describe Jess's relationship with the members of his family.

Jessie is the middle child and the only boy in his family, "smashed between four sisters...the older two had despised (him) ever since (he) stopped letting them dress (him) up and wheel (him) around in their rusty old doll carriage, and the littlest one cried if you looked at her cross-eyed".  He is tormented by Brenda and Ellie, who are spoiled adolescents, and ends up picking up the slack for the work they won't do, and Joyce Ann, the baby, just annoys him.  He is closest to May Belle, who, "going on seven...worshipped him" (Chapter 1).

Jessie's parents, exhausted and preoccupied with financial worries, don't have much time for him.  His mother heaps the bulk of responsibility for chores onto his shoulders, and his father is distant.  Jessie longs for a better relationship with him, wishing he were little like Joyce Ann and May Belle so his father would show affection to him - "it seemed...that he had been thought too big for that since the day he was born" (Chapter 2) .  When Jessie is in desperate need after Leslie's death, however, his parents, especially his father, are there for him.

Based on the reading The Signifying Monkey, what is a definition of "signifying"?

Signification of signs and signifiers originates with
linguistic theory and was applied to literary theory. In linguistics, the study of signs
and signifiers is called semiotics. In literary theory, the analysis of signs and
signifiers falls under the theoretical approach of literary deconstruction. In
The Signifying Monkey, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. applies signs and
signifiers and signifying to what he refers to as Afro-American
vernacular.

In his study, Gates talks about the "black
tradition" that has developed its "own theories of its nature and function within
elaborate hermeneutical and rhetorical systems." In relation to this, Gates states that
black vernacular language of African Americans is their valued "ultimate sign of
difference." In this context, "signifying" is a complex language construction of ruses
meant to confuse and overwhelm the opponent. In other words, signifying is a verbal
challenge that may make fun of, deceive, irritate, in general win out against the one
viewed as the victim of signifying.

In the Pearl, by John Steinbeck, what did Juana apply to the baby's swollen shoulder?

In the book The Pearl by John
Steinbeck Juana and Kino live a simple existence.  They have each other and a loving
baby boy whom they sit gently in a homemade hanging box to catch some sunshine after the
baby's bath.  Kino is watching his baby smiling and he spots a scorpion climbing down
the side of the chord towards the baby.  Before he can catch the scorpion it stings his
son.  Kino then grabs it up and squashes it in
anger.

Kino's wife Juana pulled the baby out of the box and
sucked the wound trying to suck out any poison.  They took the child to the doctor but
he had refused to see the child and had his servant tell the two that he was
out.

"She
gathered some seaweed and made a flat damp poltice of it, and this she applied to the
baby's swollen shoulder." (15)

How does Gavroche and Marius's relationship compare to that of Pontmercy and Thenardier?

In both cases, the rich benefactor (Marius and Pontmercy) have chosen to look out for and assist their poorer brethern (Gavroche and Thenardier). 

The difference is that Pontmercy does not reveal himself to Thenardier, and gives mostly financial support.  Marius and Gavroche have a closer relationship, and Marius is a mentor to the boy as well as a financial supporter.

What kind of care should one provide for a patient suffering from diabetes?

The American Diabetes Association has a wealth of valuable
information for those who have diabetes. I have listed the link
below.

According the the American Diabetes Association, the
best thing to do is stay one step ahead of the diabetes. This can be done by monitoring
blood glucose levels frequently.  In addition, medications should be taken exactly as
prescribed. Knowing what foods are good to eat and what foods should be avoided is also
very important. Many people with diabetes keep a food
journal.

People with diabetes often have poor circulation
so this is very important to keep in mind. People with diabetes have a higher risk of
heart disease and stroke. Because of poor circulation, wounds also may not heal as
quickly and need to be monitored. Amputations are more common in
diabetics.

What are some examples of Romeo's being irrational?William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

There was a popular song in the late sixties by a female
singer in which she asks her paramour if he is a Romeo or a Heathcliff. In her song,
Romeo means the romantic lover, while Heathcliff--an allusion to the character in
Charolotte Bronte's Wuthering Heights--is the brooding lover.  Of course, the singer
uses these two male characters as prototypes.

So, the
pervading opinion of many about Romeo is that he is emotional, even overly emotional. 
As such, he does tend to become less than rational.  Certainly, it is his emotional
personality that leads him to act as impulsively as he often does.  Here are some
instances of his emotional behavior which prohibits his use of
reason:

---After first meeting Juliet, Romeo falls
hopelessly in love, climbs the fence to her orchard, drops in where a member of the
Capulet household could easily have killed him, but thinks that he is on"love's light
wings"(II,ii,30).  When she steps out onto the balcony, he tells Juliet that he would
rather die than be without her love:

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And but thou love me, let them find me her:/My
life were better ended by their hate,/than death prorogued, wanting of thy love.
(II,ii,80-83)

--Another
instance involves Romeo's Elizabethan superstition of the dark and of evil occurrences
during the dark of night:

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O blessed, blessed night!  I am afeard./Being in
night, all this is but a dream,/Too flattering-sweet to be substantial.
(II,ii,145-147)

then after
wooing Juliet, he rushes to Friar Laurence, and asks the priest to marry
them:

Then
plainly know my heart's dear love is set/On the fair daughter of rich Capulet./As mine
on hers, so hers is set on mine,...We met, we wooed and made exchange of vow,/I'll tell
thee as we pass; but this I pray,/That thou consent to marry us today.
(II,iii,51-58)

Of course,
Friar Laurence is shocked since he knows that Romeo has earlier claimed undying love
for Rosaline.  In fact, he comments on Romeo's
irrationality:

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Young men's love then lies/Not truly in their
hearts, but in their
eyes.(II,iii,61-62)

---During
the confrontation between Mercutio and Tybalt, Romeo unwisely puts himself between the
two.  This was a most unreasonable action since he could have been slain by either one
as their tempers were soaring.  Also, he does not think of how he endangers
Mercutio.

--At the news of his banishment, Romeo loses all
reason and conflicts with Friar Laurence:

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Yet 'banished?  Hang up philosophy!/Unless
philosophy can make a Juliet.
(III,iii,58-59)

To this,
Friar Laurence replies, "O, then I see that madmen have no ears," and Romeo retorts,
"How should they, when that wise men have not eyes?"
(III,iii,63)

---After the Nurse arrives at the cell of
Friar Laurence, Romeo wants to kill himself:

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O tell me, Friar, tell me,/In what vile part of
this anatomy/Doth my name lodge?  tell me, that I may sack/The hateful mansion.
(III,iii,110-113)

(After
these lines, Friar Laurence tries to reason with
Romeo.)

---Certainly, in Romeo's references to Fate, he is
irrational:  He cries,  "O, I am fortune's fool!" after learning of the decree   of the
Prince that anyone of the two families will be banished (III,i,136), and "Then, I defy
thee, stars!" (V,i,24); after Balthasar tells him that Juliet's body "sleeps in Capels'
monument."

---In the tomb of Juliet, Romeo does not try to
ascertain why Juliet's body is still warm when he supposes that she is dead because of
the news brought to him by Balthasar that he [the servant] saw that Juliet was dead a
day ago.

What does the narrator say directly about Tom's character?

There are probably a number of statements Nick makes about Tom, but the most meaningful to me is in the Chapter Nine, where Nick finally reaches an epiphany about Tom, and Daisy as well.  He says:

"I couldn't forgive him or like him but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified.  It was all very careless and confused.  They were careless people, Tom and Daisy-- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made...

I shook hands with him; it seemed silly not to, for I felt suddenly as though I were talking to a child."

"Tom + daisy might treat Gatsby in a despicable manner,but Gatsby is responsible for his own destruction" 2 what extent can you agree or...

Gatsby has set himself up for the rejection that he will
later experience and his own demise through his feelings for Daisy.  Daisy is a woman
who is unkind to him, but he is drawn to her like the moth to the
fire.

Gatsby longed for something that honesty and hard
work would not provide him so he chose an alternate route to gain wealth.  Daisy is
aware of who he really is as a person and who she really is as a person.  She is a
selfish person who allows Gatsby into her life only to show her true nature at a later
time.

Gatsby is at fault because he went after a married
woman who was not his to take.  If Daisy had been unhappy with her marriage she could
have gotten out of it before her affairs.  However, her lifestyle and ability to play
around while married is a part of who she is as well as
Tom.

Daisy and Tom are more alike than Daisy and Gatsby and
they are both shallow people.  By becoming involved with them Gatsby has set-up his own
demise.

Why did Buck refuse to rise and lead the team? What did he have that his masters lacked?

I assume you are talking about what happens towards the
end of Chapter 5.

There seem to be a couple of reasons why
Buck does this.  First, he has lost the will to live.  The men have treated him and the
team so badly on this trip that the "spark of life" is about to go
out.

Second, the book says that he has a sense of
"impending doom."  I would say that this is what Buck has that the men do not.  He
senses somehow that the ice is not going to hold them.

In the book Frankenstein, what is the monster supposed to represent?

The monster, the result of successful scientific experiment, represents the evils of science.  Shelley was writing in time when science was taking new leaps and bounds, concerning many people who felt that nature was being taken for granted, and who sensed that the power science was giving humans was actually dangerous.  In this novel, she has the protagonist create the monster to demonstrate that: 1) Science should not take responsibility for tasks that are a part of nature (such as creation), because 2) Nature can not be controlled.  

Victor Frankenstein creates his monster, abandons him, and assumes all is done.  But he can not control what he has created.  The monster thinks and feels and takes action.  He, in fact, ends up controlling Victor's life.  This is a strong message that if humans try to use science to control nature, it will actually be the science who controls the human.

Was Herbert's death by fate or chance in "The Monkey's Paw"? What are some examples from the story to prove this?

I'm not so sure that the story was meant to be a horror
story, primarily. Certainly a horrible thing happens in the story, the mangling to death
of poor young Howard, but the story is just as philosophical as it is a tale of
horror.

After all, much of the horror is in the mind of the
reader, for no conclusion can be drawn as to why Howard died. And did Howard's
disfigured, bloody corpse claw its way out of the grave, trudge all the way to his
parents' home and knock on there door in the dark of night because of a wish? Or was it
but the wind and your imagination?

Chance or fate? Who's to
say? And how can one hope to prove one's theory one way or the
other?

A wish was made. A death occurred. Money was
obtained. There was a late-night knocking at the door. So?

What racial injustices does Troy see and/or describe in the first act of Fences?

On many levels, Troy is a product and eyewitness to racial
injustices.  On the most basic of levels, Troy understands that there is a sense of
discrimination at his workplace in his complaint that only the white workers are allowed
to drive the truck.  This is significant on a couple of levels.  The first is that it
shows that Troy is sensitive to the issue of race.  However, on another level, it shows
that Troy can only identify the immediate issue of racial discrimination on the most
immediate of levels.  He is unable to see past his own struggle and advocate for a
broader and more sociological discussion and transformation of racial identity.  He sees
racism as something that impacts only him, causing a type of intellectual and emotional
"fence" to be constructed between himself and others, precluding solidarity.  In scene
iii, Troy declares that he simply exists, "moving from one Friday night to another." 
This might be another example of racial injustice, to a certain extent.  Coming on the
heels of Troy's own exploration as to why his dreams were denied by sociological reality
and that he willfully admits that he wants his so to do better than he has fared in his
own life, Troy's statement of existence might be connected to the fact that he perceives
race as having much to do with why he has not resulted as more or with more in his state
of being in the world.  The entire confrontation between father and son is also fostered
by what the father perceives to be racial injustice.  Troy does not want his son to
endure the same obstacles and heartbreak that he suffered with his own dreams, something
that he perceives was a construct of race in America.  The presence of racial injustice
is both seen and felt in Troy's life, which is both a product of racial injustice but
also of the inability to transcend difficulty in being and consciousness in the
world.

How does setting in "Araby" affect the story?

In Joyce's "Araby," the first setting is described in
terms of figurative blindness and paralysis (the street is a dead end, etc.)  This
reflects the young narrator's emotional and mental and spiritual states.  He is blinded
by illusion concerning Mangan's sister, his relationship with her, and the connection
between the religious and the secular.  He sees himself as a religious hero, the girl as
the embodiment of the Virgin Mary, and their relationship as something holy.  He is
unable to separate the religious and the secular.  He is figuratively
blind.

The setting of the bazaar, Araby, later turns out
not to be what he assumes it will be.  Instead of being unique and exotic, it is just a
mediocre traveling exhibit that sells trinkets, sponsored by the church to make money
for the church. 

This setting actually propels the narrator
toward his epiphany or awakening, during which he realizes that just as Araby is an
illusion, so is his idealized vision of the girl as the Virgin Mary, his view of himself
as a religious hero, and his view of their relationship as something
special.

In short, the dark, closed facility of the bazaar,
the trivial, senseless flirting he overhears, the rudeness of the worker, and the items
for sale lead the speaker to his epiphany.  Again, as Araby is not what he thought it
was, neither is Mangan's sister, etc. 

In the closing lines
of the story, the boy sees himself in a new way, and his
eyes burn--his blindness is lifted. 

In lines 48-163 of act III scene 1, examine Antony's monologue carefully and in an essay relate his message in this speech. In Julius Caesar,...

In Act III, Scene 1, of Shakespeare's Julius
Caesar, the "Ides of March have come" as the soothsayer tells Caesar.  But,
he ignores the warning and refuses to read the message of Artimdedorus.  Consequently,
the conspirators are able to slay the ruler.  After they stab Caesar repeatedly,
Anthony, who has been led away by Trebonius, Antony's servant comes to Brutus and the
others and asks for permission on behalf of Antony to speak.  Against the advice of
Cassius, Brutus agrees. 

Knowing what an idealist Brutus
is, Antony takes a chance and tells the conspirators that he is ready to die if they
wish:

I do
beseech ye, if you bear me hard,

Now, whilst your purpled
hadn do reek and smoke,

Fulfill your pleasure.  Live a
thousand years,

I shall not find myself so apt to
die;

No place will please me so, no mean of
death,

As here by Caesar, and by  you cut
off,

The choice and master spirits of this age.
(III,i,156-168)

Here Antony
takes a great risk, but his servant, in repeated his persmission, has probably
also relayed the words of Brutus, "Thy master is a wise and valiant Roman; I never
thought him worse" (III,i,138-139).  So, Marc Antony understands that Brutus is so much
of an idealist that he is unrealistic about the motives of others.  Therefore, counting
on this idealism of Brutus, he feigns his readiness to be assassinated alongside
Caesar. 

By saying these words in the presence of Brutus
and the others, Antony has them off guard, so to speak.  Then, when he does give his
funeral oration, the conspirators do not at first suspect him of wanting to undermine
their "noble" cause until it is too late and Antony has the Roman crowd incensed and a
bloody civil war commences.

The meaning of Marc Antony's
monologue becomes even more apparent to the audience after the conspirators leave.  For,
in his soliloquy, Antony reveals his true feelings as well as his intentions:  He places
a curse upon the "limbs of men";

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Domestic fury and fierce civil
strife

Shall cumber all parts of
Italy;

Blood and destruction shall be so in use
(III,i,261-265) 

Meaning of quote?Where shall a man find sweetness to surpass his own home and his parents? In far lands he shall not, though he find a house of gold

Odysseus' remark, which he makes on the island of Calypso, is perhaps one of the driving forces in his journey. Despite all of the exciting adventures he has and people (not to mention, goddesses) he meets, Odysseus yearns to return to Ithaca, his home. Nowhere else will he find happiness but at home where he can be reunited with his family, including his father, the only parent still surviving. Odysseus could have chosen to remain at any number of places where he was treated lavishly, but he continues his quest for home, even daring to visit the Land of the Dead to ask Tiresias for directions. He makes this comment shortly before he is allowed to leave Ogygia; soon after the Phaeacians will take him back to Ithaca. Until he is home again, Odysseus will not be satisfied.

His words remind readers of The Odyssey of the importance of home and family. 

Examine the relationship between Tom and Sophia in the novel Tom Jones.

The relationship between Tom Jones and Sophia Western in
Tom Jones isn't a very complex one, though it is an important one
and central to the story. The reason it isn't complex is that psychological elements are
not emphasized and their association is straightforward. Tom's and Sophia's fathers'
estates neighbor each other and so Tom and Sophia have been friends since childhood. Tom
loves Sophia, and she loves Tom.

The wrinkle comes into
play because Tom, though possessed of a good and generous heart that values others above
himself, is an adventurer and not morally opposed to immoral adventures with willing
ladies. Sophia finds this trait and activity less than appealing and so tries to keep
Tom at arms length.

When Sophia runs away from home to
escape being forced to marry the despicable and underhanded Mater Blifil, circumstances
conspire for Sophia and Tom to be brought back together. Events show her that Tom has
learned the lessons Squire Allworthy has tried all through the years to teach him and,
once all circumstances have been resolved in Tom's favor, she consents to marry
him.

Tom for his part has always felt that he can never be
happy without Sophia, she is all his heart thinks of, but when fate lays opportunities
at his energetic and attractive feet, he takes advantage of them. Tom shows that he is
intrinsically worthy of Sophia and that he will ultimately partake of the virtue of her
namesake because, though good at getting into trouble, he endangers himself to save and
help others who are in need and of whom higher authorities are dismissive. The meaning
of the name Sophia, derived from a Greek word, is "wisdom." Tom's innate qualities and
his steadfast love of Sophia show that he will in the end be united with Sophia in
person and in name.

In The Canterbury Tales, what symbolism is found in The Clerk's Tale?

The Clerk's tale is generally understood as a response to the Wife of Bath's Prologue where she characterizes herself as a woman of the world whose wisdom about marriage derives from her experience. She has no patience and does not enjoy men who exert power over her.  The clerk gives a different version of marriage, however, in his tale about Griselda and Walter. The story is an allegory of perfect obedience, suggesting in microcosm the macrocosm of larger relationships. That is, just as Griselda gives up everything, including her children, to show her perfect humility and obedience to Walter, so humans must show perfect humility and obedience to God and the Church.  Walter can be understood as a symbol of patriarchy, who, though stern, in the long run proves kind and good in that he rewards Griselda for submitting to him. The story can also be understood as allegorical in relation to the story of Job, where God tests Jobs patience repeatedly. Job obeys (though is occasionally disgruntled), but poor Griselda doesn't even protest. She is a lamb at the slaughter. To the extent that allegory is an extended metaphor, where everything represents something else, we can understand the story as symbolizing the patience and obedience women owe to men and all people owe to God and the Church.

How and why does Jem's opinion of Mrs. Dubose change?

This happens in Chapter
11.

At the start of the chapter, Jem really hates Mrs.
Dubose.  She says such horrible things about Atticus that he cannot help but hate
her.

But then when he ruins her flowers, Atticus makes him
go and read to Mrs. Dubose every day.  He still does not really like her,
though.

Then she dies and Atticus says that she was a great
lady because of the way she fought her morphine addiction.  Because of this, Jem seems
to be rethinking his attitude towards her.

He doesn't
exactly come to like her, but at the end of the chapter he's toying with the flower she
gave him and thinking.  It's implied that he's thinking about
her.

Do Lewis Structures show the correct shape of the compound?

Lewis structures do not show the actual shape of a
compound or element; they simply show the number of valance electrons and the central
atom. While it does not give you the structure immediately, it is a good starting point.
In order to get the structure of the atom, you would need to look into VESPER (valance
shell electron repulsion) theory.

Is Walter Mitty a hero and, if so, why?

Walter Mitty spends most of his adult life living through his daydreams.  He feels trapped in his world, by his job that he doesn't like and by his wife that is characterized as demanding.  In those dreams, Mitty is the stereotypical hero, smart, Witty and in control.  He saves every situation.  However, in his life, he is unwilling to express how he feels and is often failing at his responsibilities because he is so lost in his dreams.  In this sense, he is not a hero, but a sad and unfulfilled man.

Others may argue that Mitty's daydreams are his way of being content with the day to day boredom and monotony of daily life, the things we all have to "do" in order to fulfill our roles in our world.  In this case, Mitty is a hero, because he has found a way to have happiness and remain a husband and employee at the same time. 

Why did Thomas Hardy write Tess of the d'Urbervilles? What was his purpose?

It is difficult to measure the intention of a novelist when writing a piece of literature, for their might be ostensible and subconscious motives involved.  These are often referred to as the text and the subtext. Although at first publishers refused the novel, when it was published it attracted criticism for its sympathetic portrayal of a "fallen woman." Its subtitle, A Pure Woman: Faithfully Presented, was intended to raise the eyebrows of the Victorian middle classes. However, recent criticism of this and similar novels by Hardy suggest that while it might have been intended to shock its audience, the subtext of the novel was that women who break the rules must pay for their mistakes, as Tess does.  This novel was part of the “new woman” genre of the late 1800s, which typically shows a woman who crosses boundaries of what is proper for a woman and ends up, unfortunately, dead.

How does the narrator lure Fortunato to his death?

One word--pride.  Fortunato has apparently slighted
Montressor (the narrator) to the point where he feels must take the ultimate revenge. 
He says there have been a "thousand injuries" which he has overlooked; but Fortunato
insulted him, an act which could not go unpunished. The plan is simple, devious, and
cruel.  Montressor will lure the offender to the catacombs at his
palazzo (the underground burial place for his dead ancestors)  and then bury him
alive.

But, this plan only works if he is able to lure
Fortunato to his vaults. Montressor is apparently a student of human nature, and he uses
his knowledge to carry out his plan.  The story takes place during Carnival, festivities
similar to Mardi Gras.  He tells his servants he will be gone until the morning but they
are NOT to leave--knowing full well they will go join the festivities once they know he
is gone.  Thus, an empty palazzo.

Next, Montressor finds
the slightly drunk Fortunato and tells him he has bought a large quantity (a full pipe)
of Amontillado.  This is unlikely, since it's the middle of Carnival, and both men
express their doubts as to the authenticity of the wine.  Montressor has studied his
victim and begins to set the trap, appealing to Fortunato's pride in being the
only true connoisseur of
wine.

Montressor invites him to come and be the judge,
which he rather reluctantly agrees to do--as he has a bit of a cold and he'd rather be
part of the festivites.  Each time Fortunato appears to hesitate or falter, Montressor
invokes the name of a rival, Luchesi, to lure him back.  When Fortunato insists on
tasting the amontillado, Montressor says, "My friend, no; I will not impose upon your
good nature.  I perceive you have an engagement.  Luchesi--"  The implication, of
course, is that Luchesi would be able to do the job just as well. Each time the name is
invoked, Fortunato is even more adamant that he be taken to the wine cellar to see for
himself.  "As for Luchesi," says Fortunato, "he cannot distinguish between Sherry and
Amontillado."

Thus it continues...all the way down to the
catacombs of the palazzo.  Montressor says Fortunato should turn back because it's damp
and he doesn't want his friend to catch pneumonia, and Fortunato says he is stronger
than that.  Pride again.  Montressor offers to save him the trouble and get Luchesi, and
Fortunato is even more adamant about going.  Even at the end, Montressor acts like a
caring friend, unwilling to have Fortunato harmed or injured in any way, while Fortunato
nearly forces his way into his own grave.

The plan was just
too easy.  It hinged on the knowledge the narrator had of Fortunato's pride and the
consistency with which he used that pride against his enemy.  Montressor's definition of
revenge is that he must not be punished for his act of avenging and the "avenger must
make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong."  The great irony, of course,
is that Fortunato did not, even at the end, understand why Montressor would do such a
thing to him--calling into question both the insult by Fortunato and the excessive
pride of his murderer.

What mood is set in the first 6 paragraphs of "The Monkey's Paw"?

To me, the mood set in these first six paragraphs (up to
the end of the chess game and what Mr. White says when he loses) is a pretty fun mood,
but mixed with a few signs of danger to come.

I say that it
is fun because the weather outside is bad but the family is having a fun time.  The
father is playing chess kind of badly and then trying to distract his son so he won't
notice that he can win.  That seems amusing and fun.

But
the weather is bad and that's ominous.  And Mr. White does get mad and complains about
what their neighborhood's like (although that seems like it's just an excuse to
complain).

If I didn't know the ending, I wouldn't think
much of the bad stuff, though.  I would think it was a fun mood that is being
set.

How did the Nazi Party remove the rights of the Jewish people?

It initially started with the dehumanization of the Jews,
who were increasingly classified in German society as humans with no rights – they were
to be demarcated as a separate community with identifying marks. This was enforced
through the Nuremberg Laws. Driven by anti-Semitic sentiments within the party, the laws
sought to effectively eliminate the so-called race threat that the Nazis had identified
within the Jewish population. It redefined ethnicity (Jews were no longer viewed as a
religious group but were instead recognised by one’s parentage - anyone who had three or
more Jewish grandparents was identified as a Jew) and made it impossible for the Jews to
do anything in Germany. As a minority group that had been financially successful and
disproportionately well-represented, the Jews now found themselves degraded to
second-class citizens in their own country. They were excluded from German citizenship
and increasingly forced to cede their ownership rights of businesses to German
subordinates or colleagues. In an humiliating gesture, the Jews were also forced to bear
identifying marks that demarcated their Jewish status in public. Similarly, anti-Semitic
attacks against the Jewish population were not only tolerated but encouraged by the
party. The laws, by banning mixed marriages and procreation between the “race enemy” and
the pure Aryan, too sought to prevent the Jews from contaminating the German ethnic
race. In doing so, the Nuremberg Laws essentially served as a means to keep the
financial and political power of the Jews in check, and to, in the long run, eliminate
them from all forms of German life. This was followed by ghettoization as Jewish
citizens were forcibly moved to older and poorer neighborhoods and literally fenced in
or confined there by the German police, as well as the
military. 

Such policies were stepped up with the launching
of Operation Barbarossa – the war was to be treated as a war of imperial encroachment.
The Nazi state drew a heavy and close relationship between their aims of destroying the
communist state and obliterating the Jews, who formed the principal targets. Orders were
issued via the army in March, April and May 1941 and mobile killing was carried out by
the Einsatzgruppen, which were heavily armed mobile killing squads that were used to
eliminate all the undesirables in German-occupied
territories.

However, there were simply too many of them to
be killed. The tactic of using the Einsatzgruppen was failing since there were too many
race enemies for the squads to deal with. It was extremely inefficient to continually
increase the number of Einsatzgruppen to be used as that would only strain Germany’s
military capability. As a result, the Germans had to turn to mass extermination and
industrial killing through the establishment of death camps to get rid of the Jews since
there were no other options available. The policy they adopted grew very naturally out
of what they had already been doing and did not divert significantly from the Nazi
worldview.

WHY WHEN WE ARE ON THE DOWNWARD SLOPING SIDE OF THE LAFFER CURVE WOULD A TAX CUT GIVE PEOPLE AN INCENTIVE TO WORK MORE AND JOIN THE LABOR FORCE?I...

Laffer curve, named after economist Arthur Laffer is a
graph of tax rate expressed as a percentage of income versus the total tax revenue.
Please note that the shape of Laffer curve does not determine the behavior of people.
Rather Laffer curve depends on behavior of people.

As
represented by Laffer curve, total revenue initially rises as the tax rate are increase
from a level of 0 % or no tax, reaches a maximum level of total revenue, and then again
declines to reach a level of 0 revenue at the tax rate of 100
percent.

The typical shape of Laffer curve is because of
two factors that contribute to the total revenue. We
know:

Total revenue = Total income x Tax
rate

When the tax rate is low the people retain most of the
amount they earn and therefor have greater motivation to increase their earnings, and as
the tax rate increases they have reduced motivation to earn. leading to reducing total
income as the tax rate rises. Thus tax revenue is a product of two variables, total
income and tax rate. The total income falls as the tax rate increases reaching to a
level of 0 when ax rate is 100%. The tax revenue is thus 0 when either the tax rate or
total income is 0. Therefor the tax revenue is 0 when the tax rate is either 0 or 100%.
In between these two points the tax revenue reaches a maximum level as the rise in tax
is accompanied with less matching fall in total income. The total revenue levels of to a
maximum level at point where rise in tax is accompanied by matching  fall in total
income. After this point the rise in tax is accompanied with more than matching  fall in
total income, resulting in falling tax revenue.