What is the major conflict of The Old Man and the Sea?

The central conflict of Hemingway's novella is man vs. nature.  Santiago is at odds with nature because he makes his living by it, as a fisherman.  However, the sea is not providing him with enough catch to survive on.  He is able to catch the large marlin, but the sea will not allow him to have it, and he returns to shore with nothing but the skeleton.

Symbolically, however, the conflict is representative of man's conflict with overpowering forces in society, and man's resilience against those forces.  Despite being beaten by the sea, Santiago goes to sleep dreaming of more adventures.  He may have been physically beaten, but he is not emotionally beaten.

I need help with finding a good title for my essay...My essay is about how supernatural events drive Macbeth to rely on his ambition and neglect...

As you have said that your subject matter is all about the
influence of the supernatural on Macbeth which distracts him through instigation, I
would suggest you two titles. These are as follows:

1.
Evaluation of the role the supernatural plays in
Macbeth

or,

2.
How far the supernatural is responsible for the tragic consequence in
Macbeth?

You can, now,
choose either. Just make sure the thesis statement does contain the key phrases of your
title.

Good luck!

In The Kite Runner, Amir thinks, "I wanted to be just like Baba and I wanted to be nothing like him." What does he mean?

Amir wants to be like Baba as a father in
several ways.

-He would like to command
respect as Baba always did because other people's approval is obviously very important
to Amir.

-He would like to be willing to sacrifice for his
child as Baba sacrificed for him.  While Baba does not seem to give up much for Amir in
the first 8 chapters of the novel, when he leaves Afghanistan, he sacrifices
everythingfor Amir (wealth, status, comfort, recognition, home,
etc.).

However, Amir certainly does not want
to emulate Baba's

-inability to show
approval toward a child who longs for it

-secrets which
harm his children (Hassan's true origin, Amir's feeling of
betrayal)

-emotional distance

What are the features that make this play an absurdist or avant garde play?What characterizes this play as absurdist drama?

Some of the characteristics of absurdist drama, or theatre of the absurd, are a general sense that life has no meaning, a lack of belief in any kind of god, and absurd or unusual characters set in absurd or fantastic situations.

Cloud Nine can be called absurdist, first of all, by the fact that its characters serve more as caricatures, or types of people, rather than fully developed people. Each one serves as a type to portray the ills of colonialism. Just as the characters serve as stereotypes of colonialism, so also they embody elements of the absurd: Edward is played by a woman; Joshua, the black African servant, is played by a white man; Cathy, the four-year-old daughter, is played by a man. Her mother is also played by a man. The play has the element of the fantastic as well in that in Act 2, while being set one hundred years in the future, the characters have aged only twenty or thirty years.

The author uses these absurd elements to make a statement about gender and racial oppression, making them to be what is the true aburdities.

How does Roger Chillingworth change during the course of the novel?

At the beginning of the novel, Chillingworth is an intelligent older man who has been held captive by the Indians for over a year. When he sees Hester and finds out what she has done, he is shocked, angry, as well as regretful for what he feels is his part in causing the affair. He seems to be a rational, reasonable older man. After meeting with Hester however, he vows to discover and take revenge on the man who had an affair with Hester. As he continues to seek revenge against Dimmesdale, the novel says he becomes more and more evil looking. His entire life revolves around this revenge, and he becomes bound by it. The book even says that at times he looks like the very devil. His appearance becomes more ugly and misshapen. By the end of the novel, when Dimmesdale confesses, Chillingworth has no option except to die, because his whole life has been centered around revenge, and the revenge is no longer possible.

How will you use the concept of transactional analysis to solve dysfunctional behaviour in your organisation.explain with example.

Transactional Analysis (TA) works from the premise that 3
ego states - Parent, Adult, Child - govern our
behavior.

• When we express major emotion, we are
  working from the Child state.


• When we are working
  without major emotions, we are working from the Adult state.
  


• When we are treating other adults like children, we are
  working from the Parent state.

Let's say that I
supervise 3 people and have asked them to help with the physical redesign of our office
space to accommodate a shift in our function and activities.  Two staff start discussing
possible layouts while the 3rd sits with his arms folded across his chest and says
nothing.  When asked for his input, he says it's my job, not his, to redesign the office
layout.

At this point, the three of us engaged in the
discussion are having an Adult-to-Adult transaction.  Our egos are in check and we are
directing our efforts toward a group goal of making our environment more
effective.

The 3rd staffer is having a Child-to-Adult
transaction by acting childlike in his reaction to the task.  If I respond by treating
him like a Child - scolding or yelling - then I am taking on the Parent
state.

The goal is for me to respond from the Adult state,
treating him like an Adult, despite his acting like a Child.  I could point out that
having a say in the decisions about layout will make the workplace more suitable for his
needs and that I'd like everyone's ideas before moving on.  If he responds from an Adult
ego state, we can move on.  If he stays in the Child ego state, I must remain in the
Adult ego state and continue without him; reserving a meeting time for him later where
we can discuss his inappropriate work behavior.

TA
encourages Adult-to-Adult transactions for a more effective work environment.  While
there is much more to TA than this simple example, it is a start.  Many supervisors
forget that they must set the example and work from the Adult ego state.  In this
example, I would have to get more into the sub-layers of the ego states if the 3rd
staffer needed further follow-up on his lack of participation.

What are two personal qualities Granny values and possesses?

Granny values hard work.  She remembers "all the food she had cooked, and all the clothes she had cut and sewed, and all the gardens she had made...she had fenced in a hundred acres once, digging the post holes herself and clamping the wires with just a negro boy to help".  Looking back at all the work she did gives her a sense of pride, and she says, "Well, I didn't do so badly, did I?"

She is also a mother-figure and nurturer.  She raised four children who seek her advice even in their adulthood, and she recalls "riding country roads...when women had their babies...sitting up nights with sick horses and sick negroes and sick children and hardly ever losing one."

How do the animals' lives become harder after the windmill is blown up?

The Chapter you want to examine to answer this question in
Chapter 7. It paints a grim scene of desperate animals working in bitter conditions in
winter to try and re-build the windmill whilst also trying to support themselves. Thus
their lives are made much worse by the destruction of the windmill and they suffer
greatly. Note though that they try to keep on pretending to the outside world that they
are a "success", so they try to hide the shortage of food from the human farmers
surrounding them in case they think that Animal Farm is failing. Comically, the
criticism of the humans that the windmill fell down because its walls were not thick
enough instead of Snowball's destruction is ignored, yet the animals build the walls
twice as thick this time, obviously adding to the work.

The
parallel here is that Russia came up with ever more elaborate schemes and stratagems to
conceal their incompetence from the rest of the world as they felt that it would judge
their enterprise as a failure. The symbol of the windmill therefore is very important to
the pigs as it shows that they are a forward-thinking, technologically sound farm with
advanced methods, which perhaps explains why so much effort is put in to completing it
again.

In Act 1, Scene 1 of The Merchant of Venice, what is the importance of the ships and the setting of Venice?I want to know how these create impact...

What's important about the setting of Venice and ships in
the opening scene of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice is that
they set up the characterization of the characters and the plot of the
drama. 

Antonio's livelihood is trade.  This involves ships
and the city of Venice, which is known for its trade and shipping.  His wealth is tied
up in ships at sea.  His money is not liquid, as we would say today, he cannot get at it
if he should need it.

This situation helps to characterize
him when Bassanio needs financial help to pursue the women he longs for.  Antonio is in
a position of risk, yet he does not hesitate to allow his friend to borrow money on his
own credit.  This puts him at terrible risk, and the venture Bassanio wants to borrow
money for is not even a money-making venture.  Antonio has nothing to gain.  Yet he
immediately and willingly allows Bassanio to use his name to
borrow. 

The situation fuels the plot of the play, then,
when Antonio's ships don't arrive safely as anticipated.  It is Bassanio's need and
Antonio's willingness to fulfill that need that create the situation and the conflict of
the play. 

The quotes are easily found, and the scene is
not particularly long.  Just look for quotes that indicate Antonio is at risk and
waiting for his "ships to come in," so to speak, and look for the part of the scene
during which Antonio agrees to help Bassanio. 

In chapters 30 and 31 of To Kill a Mockingbird, what were Mr. Tate and Atticus arguing over?

They are arguing over Bob Ewell's death.  Tate wants to concoct a story about it being an accident.  But Atticus knows what happened and he will not go along with the falsehood.  Here is an exerpt of their exchange (my edition Ch 30, pg. 315-318). 

"Mr Finch."  Mr. Tate was still planted to the floorboards. "Bob Ewell fell on his knife.  I can prove it."

Atticus wheeled around.  His hands dug into his pockets.  "Heck, can't you try to see it my way?  You've got children of your own, but I'm older than you.  When mine are gorwn I'll be an old man if I'm still around, but right now I'm -- if they don't trust me they won't trust anybody.  if they hear me saying downtown something different happened -- Heck, I won't have them any more.  I can't live one way in town and another in my home."

***

As Atticus has already painfully learned, right doesn't equal justice.  Tate replies, "I may not be much, Mr. Finch, but I'm still sherrif of Maycomb County and Bob Ewell fell on his knife.  Good night, sir."

Atticus is forced to ask Scout, "Can you possibly understand?"  Scout does.  She runs to him, hugs and reassures him. 

The children have not lost their respect for Atticus.  Having witnessed the injustice of the trial, they now know the injustice of the world.  And though they can no longer view him as a god, they can view him as a man who consistently acts morally. 

In To Kill a Mockingbird, how is the culture of the negroes in Maycomb different from the culture of the white people that Jem and Scout...

When attending the Zion church, Scout and Jem first notice the different speech of Calpurnia.  When she is around the Finches, Calpurnia speaks with a traditional white and educated dialect.  However, amongst her fellow negroes, she slips into slang that is more common there.  During the service, the children become aware of the poverty that the church suffers from.  There are not enough hymnals, so everyone has to echo the lyrics of the hymns from another.  The church displays a sense of community that Jem and Scout have been unfamiliar with.  There is a lively atmosphere and a strong reliance on the aid of neighbors.  No one is allowed to leave the church until money has been raised for the Robinsons.  Scout and Jem have been used to a more formal setting, and enjoy the sociable air of the Zion church.  Lee uses this chapter to display the negro community as strong and united, very positive; this will control the reader's attitude as she begins to unfold details of the trial.

Explain the role of the U.S. in the emerging global community?

Global community implies a world in which barriers and
differences between people based on nationalities are diminishing. These barriers have
not been lowered because of  planned attempts of any big and powerful countries to
create a global community. The global community has emerged as a result of evolving
technology and the resultant increase in global trade and
interaction.

Global community has emerged because people
exposed to a wide range of concepts, and cultures have accepted and adopted what they
liked best, irrespective of the the source of such practices. This has enabled people to
choose what is best suited or liked by them irrespective of the constraints of their own
community and culture. This has enriched lives of individuals, and at the same time
developed better understanding among people of different
countries.

What the U.S. or any other country can do to
promote global community is to not to encourage any actions that tend to isolate their
people from rest of the world by creating a false sense of their superiority over
others. Development of global community is because of the free choice given to people by
the technology. The best way to speed up this process is to not to create new barriers
between people.

How does Walton describe his expedition when his new passenger asks about the ship's destination? Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Interestingly, after Frankenstein is satisfied by Walton's
response that he is "on a voyage of discovery towards the
northern pole," he talks with Walton about the expedition, expressing curiosity and
sympathies about this venture:

readability="14">

He entered attentively into all my arguments in
favour of my eventual success, and into every minute detail of the measure I had taken
to secure it.  I was easily led by the sympathy which he evinced to use the language of
my heart; ...and to say, with all the fervour that warmed me, how gladly I would
sacrifice my fortune, my existence, my every hope, to the gurtherance of my
enterprise.

However, as
Walton continues, saying,

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One man's life or death were but a small price to
pay for the acquirement of the knowledge which I
sought

"a dark gloom" comes
over Victor's face.  Here, clearly, is an example of foreshadowing as the reader later
learns.  Of course, the irony, too, is that Walton does not realize how much his words
sound like those of the idealistic Victor who would create his own being.  To Walton,
Victor speaks in "broken accents":

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Unhappy man!  Do you share my madness!  Have you
drank [sic] also of the intoxicating draught?  Hear me--let me reveal my tale, and you
will dash the cup from your
lips!"

This fourth letter
also furthers the completion of the frame around Victor's history as it gives reason to
the
telling.

What does Lady Macbeth's character and behavior say about the role of women in Elizabethan England?

In Shakespeare's Macbeth, Lady
Macbeth is a woman with the intelligence and aggressiveness to lead, who is kept from
leading.  She is a capable woman in a male dominated world.  She can only operate behind
the scenes, so to speak.

We never even see her leave the
castle.  Like Lady Macduff, she is kept at home while her husband runs around performing
momentous actions.  Lady Macbeth is responsible for and relegated to domestic duties,
like preparing for Duncan's arrival. 

Furthermore, she is
only even allowed to participate in decision-making before Macbeth is crowned king. 
Once Macbeth has the crown, he shuts her out of the decision-making
process.

In short, then, if we assume Elizabethan attitudes
toward women are reflected in the play, the character of Lady Macbeth suggests that
women in Elizabethan England:

• were thought
  inferior to men and kept out of politics and the making of major decisions, unless they
  were somehow able to contribute behind the scenes


• were
  supposed to stay at home and cook and clean and prepare for
  guests

That is of course, with the exception of
one woman:  Queen Elizabeth, herself, although she had died by the time
Macbeth was performed.

In the story, "The Gift of the Magi", how are Della and Jim said to be the Magi who started the trend of exchanging gifts?I need really very...

The Magi, or 3 Wise Men, brought gifts to the infant
Jesus.  They traveled long distances to bring what were considered very precious gifts
of exotic oils and spices.  These were things that only the very wealthy could afford
and Mary and Joseph certainly were not wealthy.  Their gifts were meant to honor the
baby who was called the Messiah.  In the short story by O'Henry, Della and Jim each
sacrifice their prized possession to give a precious gift to the other.  Jim bought
beautiful combs for Della to put in her crowning glory, her splendid hair.  To get the
money for the combs, Jim sold his most valuable possession - his pocket watch.  Della
bought Jim a beautiful chain on which Jim could put his pocket watch because she knew
how much that watch meant to Jim.  To get the money to buy the watch chain as a
Christmas gift for her husband, she cut off her hair and sold it.  The gifts showed
self-sacrifice and thoughtfulness, just as the gifts the Magi brought Jesus showed the
same.  To go even further with the comparison - the gifts brought by the Magi to the
baby Jesus weren't gifts that were necessities, they were luxuries meant to show honor. 
The gifts exchanged by Jim and Della were also not necessities but luxuries meant to
show Jim and Della how much love each one had for the other.

In Beowulf, from whom specifically is Grendal descended?

The poem also mentions various and sundry other undesirables such as giants and monsters, but Cain is the most ominous ancestor.  This is ancestor is chosen to make more clear the Anglo-Saxon loyalty to family and kings.  Those to whom you are related and to whom you pledge your life are bonded...however, Cain is considered the most evil because he rebuked that bond.  Anyone who commits this crime in Anglo-Saxon times and literature is usually considered an outcast...therefore, Grendel, being descended of this murderer, is the ultimate miserable outcast.  And so, the setting/background info is laid for the remainder of the poem.  Good Luck, and happy reading!

What news does Mrs.Joe bring at the end of Chapter 7?Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

With great excitement, Mrs. Joe returns from shopping with
the pompous Uncle Pumblechook and unwraps herself hastily, throwing her bonnet onto her
back where it catches since the ribbons remain around her neck.  She pronounces the name
of Miss Havisham with pomp since Miss Havisham is known
as

an
immensely rich and grim lady who lived in a large and dismal house barricaded against
robbers, and who lived a secluded
life.

Because Miss Havisham
is rich, Mrs. Joe anticipates that her asking Pumblechook for a boy to come and play is
portentous:

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...this boy's fortune may be made by his going to
Miss Havisham's....

Here, in
Chapter 7 there is foreshadowing that Pip's life at the forge is about to change.  In
addition, Dickens demonstrates how social status overrides any eccentricities.  For, it
does not matter that Miss Havisham lives alone and has a mansion in decay that is barred
from the outside world.  Mrs. Joe is simply excited that Pip is going to go to the house
of a rich woman.

What details in the lover's last meeting foreshadowed a sinister, threatening reunion?

The flashback in this sinister and disturbing short story
provides many details that should make the alert reader sit up and predict a terrifying
ending for poor Mrs. Drover. Notice the almost ghostly way in which her fiance is
described in the flashback - she seems to almost doubt his
existence:

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The young girl talking to the soldier in the
garden had not ever completely seen his face. It was dark; they were saying goodbye
under a tree. Now and then - for it felt, from not seeing him at this intense moment, as
though she had never seen him at all - she verified his presence for these few moments
longer by putting out a hand, which he each time pressed, without very much kindness,
and painfully, on to one of the breast buttons of his
uniform.

Note how the younger
Mrs. Drover seems to need to check that he is still there, he is so ethereal and
shadow-like. Also note how the man responds to these "checks" and his lack of empathy
and the pain he inflicts on her - this surely indicates his ability to cause her more
pain in the future. This is surely indicated when the narrator
comments:

That
cut of the button on the palm of her hand was, principally, what she was to carry
away.

The pain and scar of
this wound seems to symbolise there relationship. The ghostly comparisons continue as
the girl imagines "spectral glitters" in place of her fiance's eyes and his lack of
emotion and sensitivity and his refusal to embrace or kiss her reinforce his complete
lack of care or concern for her.

Then, finally, note how
the dialogue introduces another chillingly spooky threat. The man tells her that he is
going "not so far as [she] thinks" and then his final speech expresses his promise which
is uttered more like a warning:

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"I shall be with you," he said, "sooner or later.
You won't forget that. You need do nothing but
wait."

All of these points
indicate and foreshadow the terrible ending of this story where Mrs. Drover and her
first fiance are reunited and he keeps his promise.

What exactly is the scholarship boy in Hunger of Memory?

In the Hunger of Memory, Richard Rodriguez uses the construct of the ‘scholarship boy’ to put his own experiences into context. In discussing the concept, he examines what it means to be a scholarship boy both in a general sense as well as in his own specific situation. In this way, he helps the reader understand the tensions and contradictions that afflict him during his education and his early employment.

In general, a scholarship boy, according to Rodriguez, is a student torn between two worlds. Such students at once feel the pull of family and tradition while also trying to fit an academic ideal. They are often self-conscious of both aspects of their life, and the introspection that comes from this causes them to doubt themselves. They are not, he believes, good students even though they may be able to perform well on academic tasks. They focus on regurgitating knowledge rather than true learning:

For although I was a very good student, I was also a very bad student. I was a "scholarship boy," a certain kind of scholarship boy. Always success­ful, I was always unconfident. Exhilarated by my progress. Sad. I became the prized student - anxious and eager to learn. Too eager, too anxious - an imitative and unoriginal pupil.  

Rodriguez also explores the sense of loss, especially with respect to his place in his family, that he felt as a scholarship boy:

The scholarship boy reaches a different conclusion. He cannot afford to admire his parents. (How could he and still pursue such a contrary life?) He permits himself embarrassment at their lack of education. And to evade nostalgia for the life he has lost, he concentrates on the benefits education will bestow upon him.

As Rodriguez recounts his academic life, he sees his successes and failures through the eyes of the scholarship boy that he believes he was. He finds that his self-doubt follows him to college, where he attempts to balance his academic performance with concerns that he is not deserving of his success. He fears that he is a mere product of affirmative action, not his own merits, and that the interest that professors and other students show in him is a result of novelty, not his ideas. These self-doubts follow him into his professional life, leading him to avoid employment that he feels is based on his ethnicity rather than his accomplishments.

Why does Betty cry for her mother after she is awake in Act One of The Crucible? She is not witched, is she?

Betty is

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aged ten... lying on the bed,
inert.

A
ten-year-old is going to be pretty freaked out by taking part in something a bunch of
teenagers were doing in an effort to conjure up spirits. Betty criticizes Abigail for
drinking blood, and for drinking a charm to get Elizabeth Proctor. This is heavy stuff
to participate in and watch at age 10.

I don't think she
was witched, but scared... yes. Wanting to stay silent on purpose to not have to
report... yes. If you listen to the words she says to Abby, she has a mixture of
emotions about what has happened. I sense anger and fear mixed together. Who do all
children cry for during a fear emotion? Their mommy. It makes complete
sense.

Why is "The Last Leave" by O. Henry ironic?Could you include a topic sentence as well?

To me, this story is ironic because of the fact that Mr.
Behrman dies from pneumonia.  This is ironic because that is exactly what he is trying
to save Johnsy from.  She is dying of pneumonia and because she does not believe that
she will be able to live once that last leaf falls.

So
Behrman goes and paints a leaf on the wall.  It convinces her to live, but painting it
kills him because he went out in such bad weather to do
it.

So my topic sentence would be something like "The Last
Leaf is ironic because Mr. Behrman dies of pneumonia because he was trying to prevent
that same thing from happening to Johnsy."

Act IV:Why has Hale returned? How and why has he changed?How and why does Giles die? Why wasn't he hanged?

Hale has returned in an attempt to fix what he helped cause. On his arrival into town, he seemed boastful of his ability to take care of the situation. As the panic and hysteria grew to new heights, Hale has realized that innocent people are dying, and justice is not being served. He attempts to get those imprisoned to lie and "confess" to save their lives, and he has attempted to get the court to postpone any further executions, but he is having no luck.

Giles Corey is not hanged. He is pressed to death using heavy stones. He was given this sentence because he went to court and accused Putnam of getting the girls to accuse people he had issues with, and those who he could profit from their imprisonment. When he refused to name his source for information, he was jailed for contempt of court. He was pressed to death to get a confession from him, and if he confessed, he would have been hanged. In historical transcripts, they say the last words he ever said was "more weight".

Why does Ralph call a meeting? chapter 5

Ralph calls the meeting after the fire was allowed to go out, and their chance at rescue ruined. However, Ralph is not doing a great job of holding a constructive meeting. He has important ideas, but does not express them well. He tries to get the boys to see that their survival and rescue should be the top priorities, instead of hunting for meat.

Ralph maintains that the huts need to be fortified, fresh water must be attained, a fire needs to be constantly nurtured, and some sort of bathroom facilities need to be structured for hygiene's sake.

Jack grows impatient with this meeting, and leads the boys into  a disruption with his boasts of being a great hunter, and belittling Ralph's concerns.

I need to find examples of light and dark imagery in Romeo and Juliet that are easy to understand.

Traditionally, light has symbolized good and dark evil, or at least not-so-good.  While this is sometimes the case with Romeo and Juliet, the standard interpretation is not always true.  In the traditional sense, the balcony scene fits the criteria, for Juliet hopes for the sun to banish the "envious moon" and turn night into day.

But on the other hand, when the lovers spend their first full night together as man and wife, day is shunned for the pleasures that night has delivered.  Both the young lovers try to try to pretend that it is still night, and that the light is actually darkness.  Romeo hears the call of the lark, a bird of the morn, but Juliet desperately wants to pretend it is a nightingale they've heard (thus meaning it is still evening): 

 She says: Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet near day: / It was the nightingale, and not the lark, /  That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear; / Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate-tree: / Believe me, love, it was the nightingale.

And Romeo replies:  It was the lark, the herald of the morn, / No nightingale. Look, love, what envious streaks / Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east (3.5.1-9)

What is the character motivation for the narrator in "Blues Ain't No Mockin Bird"?

Character motivation is by definition the force that drives a character to act or react, which includes behavior actions, thoughts, or feelings. Action, resulting from motivation (reasons), can do several things. It can unleash activity; it can reveal character traits; it can reveal plot points; it can drive the conflict, etc. There may be active motivation or two kinds of passive motivation.

Active motivation results from the inner qualities of the character in question and is when the character acts. S/He is motivated to give her/is last few coins to a poor mother of two children because of a deep sense of compassion, as was the case more than once with Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment. Active motivation reveals the inner qualities of the character and usually renders energetic action in the story.

Passive motivation results from external influences and is when a given character reacts, not acts. Passive motivation requires an influence to which the character can react. The influence may be either direct or indirect.

Direct influence is when something occurs directly to the character. For example, a brick falls from the top of a building and lands on Her easel, to which She reacts.

Indirect influence is when something occurs indirectly to the character. For example, She hears that Her brother's fiance is a jewel thief, to which She reacts.

In "Blues Ain't No Mockin Bird" the narrator is a passively motivated character who is reacting to indirect influences. The indirect influence to which she is reacting is the encroachment of the filmmakers on their quiet family life. The narrator's reaction is to take note of every detail that comes to her attention and write it in a narrative.

By way of contrast, Granny is also a passively motivated character, but she is reacting to direct influence: the filmmakers are attempting to persuade her; they are disregarding her; they are trespassing on her property and trampling her flowerbed.

In To Kill A Mockingbird, who are the Mrunas and who is J. Grimes Everett?

This is a good question. The Mrunas are an African tribe. J. Grimes is the missionary who is working among them. 

In chapter 24, Mrs. Merriweather is speaking to her missionary women's group about the work that J. Grimes is doing. On the one hand, this shows that Maycomb is a Christian town. It even shows compassion and charity to some extent. But the import of the chapter is really about the blindness of Mrs. Merriweather and the other women, who are representative of the people of the town.

Within this conversation, Mrs. Merriweather shows her true colors as a woman of little compassion and great blindness in her hypocrisy. I quote at length to show what kind of person she is.

Mrs. Merriweather faced Mrs. Farrow: “Gertrude, I tell you there’s nothing more distracting than a sulky darky. Their mouths go down to here. Just ruins your day to have one of ‘em in the kitchen. You know what I said to my Sophy, Gertrude? I said, ’Sophy,‘ I said, ’you simply are not being a Christian today. Jesus Christ never went around grumbling and complaining,‘ and you know, it did her good. She took her eyes off that floor and said, ’Nome, Miz Merriweather, Jesus never went around grumblin‘.’ I tell you, Gertrude, you never ought to let an opportunity go by to witness for the Lord.”

The juxtaposition shows that Mrs. Merriweather and the others in Maycomb are blind to their sins and issues. If they did a little more for their own community (instead of far off places), Maycomb would be a better place. 

Explain why permanent tax cuts are likely to lead to bigger increases in consumer spending then temporary tax cuts do.if you can, try to explain a...

In terms of the consumption function, a permanent tax cut
is likely to lead to people having a higher marginal propensity to consume than a
temporary tax cut will.

The reason for this is that people
will be able to count on having the tax cut continue for a long time.  They will know
that the money is going to keep coming so they will be able to plan
ahead.

If the tax cut is temporary, people won't know if it
will last.  So they're more likely to save the money rather than spending it.  This
lowers the MPC.

Why does George tell Leanie to remeber the spot where they are camping?no

If I recall correctly, George tells Lennie to remember the spot so that he will know where to meet should he get into any trouble.  George wants Lennie to have a safe place to hide until he can help him.

Ironically, it is in this safe place that Lennie meets his end, and George is the one who takes Lennie's life.  He does this to help protect his friend from an even worse fate--being caught by Curley and the lynch mob.

What held the community of Umuofia together in Things Fall Apart?

Religious and social customs, along with familial responsibility and tradition all contribute to the community's cohesion in Things Fall Apart. What is important to understand is that what holds the community of Umuofia together are the very same things that hold together the communities of the missionaries...That is, Achebe wants us to see that the Umuofian society is intact; it has social traditions, a complex language, judicial systems, and a committment to family, not unlike any other organized and civilized community, regardless of what the colonizers might believe.

Describe how does Jody gains maturity.

Jody has become adept at watching the animals, as they prepare to give birth. He must endure tragic life lessons, like the pain and death that happens in life. He applies the lessons he has learned with the animals to his own family.

By keeping his grandfather's secret, he understands that death is a part of life.

Do you agree with the message in Thornton Wilder's play Our Town that most people don't appreciate the beauty and wonder of life? Why or why not?

I think to a large extent this message is accurate.  It is similar to Whitman's poem, "The World is Too Much With Us."  We are busy, overwhelmed with work and school and family, and we tend to become to familiar with the flowers, the sky, a simple blade of grass.  We tend not to see these wonders of nature after a while since our minds are on the bills, the kids, the sports, and getting dinner on the table.

Wilder gives lots of examples of this in the play where the dead are speaking to one another and even with some of the instances of the speech of the living.  The subject of daily life becomes to some a ritual and one that is not all that interesting...filled with hum-drum routine.  Even Mrs. Soames comments from the grave,  "My, wasn't life awful--and wonderful." 

Emily's comments to the Stage Manager also reiterate this message. Speaking about her twelfth birthday party, she says, "We don't even have time to look at one another." After one last look at Grover's Corners and being alive, Emily tells the Stage Manager she is ready to go back to the graveyard. She asks, "Doesn't anyone ever realize life while they live it? Every, every minute?"

What happened to the house in the final hours?

Before the house burns, it makes breakfast for the family and asks the mother, want she wants to listen to, then it reads a poem of "Sara Teasdale".

The house begins to burn, because a falling tree crashes into the ktichen window on the stove. It tries to rescue/save itself but without success.

Then it dies.

How does the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale intercede on behalf of Hester?I am reading chapters 6-11.

In chapter 3, when Hester is on the scaffold serving her
public punishment, Rev. Dimmesdale offers Hester a chance to share the name of her lover
as a means of saving her own soul and somehow diminishing her guilt and punishment.  He
knows, however, that her love is strong and she would never betray him--especially since
the usual punishment for the crime of adultery was death.  He could have interceded for
her then she neither asked nor wanted him to do so.

The two
meet again in chapter 8 at the Governor's mansion, and now she is forced to ask for his
intervention and help.  Hester has gone to deliver a pair of embroidered gloves, but her
real mission was to ensure that she would not lose her child.  There she meets Governor
Bellingham, the Rev. John Wilson, Roger Chillingworth, and the Rev. Arthur
Dimmesdale.

Rev. Wilson asks Pearl a few questions in an
effort to determine whether or not Pearl has been appropriately taught about the things
of God by her mother, a "sinner."  The young girl gives foolish answers, causing the men
to question Hester's ability to be a godly parent to this young soul.  When several of
them agree that perhaps Hester is not a fit mother for Pearl, Hester makes an appeal
directly to Dimmesdale.  "Speak thou for me!  Thou knowest--for thou hast sympathies
which these men lack--thou knowest what is in my heart....  Look thou to it!  I will not
lose the child!  Look to it!"

A nervous and emaciated
Dimmesdale is stricken by her passion, as well as his own guilt, and steps forward to
plead her case to the men who have the power (and apparently the intent) to remove Pearl
from her mother.  Despite his weakened condition, he is an eloquent speaker and his
argument is simple:  God gave this child to Hester as both a daily reminder of her past
sin and a hope for her future redemption. "To remind her, at every moment, of her fall
but yet to teach her... that, if she bring the child to heaven, the child will also
bring her parents...."

The argument, as well as the passion
with which it is delivered, is a compelling one.  Without hesitation, Governor
Bellingham agrees that Pearl should remain with her mother.  As a direct result of
Arthur Dimmesdale's intercession (help), Hester is allowed to keep her child, the only
thing she has in this world to love and cherish as her own.

In the Scarlet Ibis, who is the protagonist and who is the antagonist?

A protagonist is the main focus of the story. While in many works of fiction, the protagonist is the hero or inherently good, this does not always have to be the case.

The antagonist is the opposition to the protagonist.

In this story the protagonist is Brother. He is both the narrator and character. We are not told his real name, just that Doodle calls him Brother. Brother is ashamed of his crippled brother, and does not want to be embarrassed by him. He does love him, but does not think about anything other than his challenges. Brother pushes him to walk, then run, and this eventually kills him from the strain.

Brother is heartbroken by the death, and finally realizes that Doodle was a miracle.

At first, it would seem that Doodle is the antagonist to Brother. He causes Brother a lot of unease and trouble. Brother wanted a brother that could do the things all boys can, and was a constant embarrassment.

However, after Doodle's death, it can be seen that Brother was his own antagonist. He was unable or unwilling to see Doodle's wonderful qualities until after he had died.

Why couldn't Macbeth withstand his ambition to do wrong.

Macbeth could not withstand his ambition for doing wrong
because of his lack of brutality and his inert
humanity.

William Shakespeare's Macbeth depicts Macbeth as
a man who has a hidden ambition to be the king, but this is just like dream to him. He
never thinks to execute his plans until the "weird sisters" foretell him that he, once,
would be the king, and his wife poured oil into the fire of ambition. He seems to have
desire, but no wicked motive to achieve his goal. And, this is clearly expressed through
Lady Macbeth's speech: "yet do I fear thy nature, / It is too full o'th'
milk of kindness/ To catch the nearest way.../ What thou wouldst highly, /Thou wouldst
holily" (Act 1, Scene 5).

Later, once
prvoked and instigated, Macbeth is deeply drowned into the bloody sea of crime. He can
not be called a coward for not withstanding his ambition to do wrong, rather it is his
sense of morality which resists him from doing so. His ambition needed a spur, and after
getting it, he begins to lose that sense.

What is the significance of the characters' names in the novel Jane Eyre? How does the name affect the way readers view the reader?

Your question petains to the "rhetorical" power names:  the sound of a character's name or perhaps its origin or what it might allude to--all of these convey meanings that add to our understanding of the character. Mrs. Reed’s name suggests her strictness, a “reed” being a tool that punishes children by whipping them. Mr. Brocklehurst’s same, with the “k” sounds in the middle, also sounds harsh, but it also sounds pompous, which in fact he is. Helen Burns is a passionate girl; in some ways she “burns” with life, and of course she dies from a fever as well. Blanche might sound elegant, but the name half-rhymes with “bland,” which she certainly is, for she lacks the strong moral compass that guides Jane. As for Jane, yes, her name is plain, but “Eyre,” although it too sounds plain in that it consists of a simple syllable, also conveys an ethereal quality in that it is a homonym with “air.” Insofar that “eyre” is also a system of justice in Medieval England, perhaps her name brings with it suggestions of the fairness and the sense of right she seeks and represents. Bertha originates from a German word that means “bright,” which is ironic in terms of the way Rochester has locked her up so that she now lives in the dark. Try using the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) or other online dictionaries to search for meanings of these words. I provide a link below.

What would the story be like if we knew the details of the invalid son at the beginning of the story?

If we knew the details about the invalid grandson right at
the start, the story would necessarily be different. The actual details of Phoenix’s
journey might be the same, but the emphasis would focus on her mission rather on her
frailty and character, which the present structure brings out to a high degree. Thus,
her encounter with the hunter might be shown to be a threat to her grandson as well as
to her. The same would apply to her falling in the ditch. Without such knowledge, Welty
concentrates our attention exclusively on Phoenix until the story’s
end.

What does pink ribbon symbolize, and how does it relate to faith?

The most common answer to your question is that the pink hair ribbons symboize Faith's innocence and when she loses it so that Brown finds them on the ground it signifies her loss of innocence.  But I wonder if the symbolism is as simple as that.  Pink hair ribbons would have been frowned upon if allowed at all in the austere of Puritan New England.  Most women, married or unmarried would have covered their hair with a cap.  So here goes my explanation which may or may not be right.

I believe that one of the theme's of Hawthorne's story is that there is sin in all of us no matter how pious we are on the outside.  This is what Brown realizes in his trip (or dream) to visit the devil.  Even though these people have claimed salvation, Satan still rules their flesh.  Thus the pink ribbons rather than symbolizing purity (they would have been white if that were the case), symbolize the mixture of good and evil (with white for good and the red of Satan for evil) in all of us, including Faith. They, I think, also symbolized the uncertainty of Brown's faith so that when he found them on the ground they represented his loss of faith, and Faith's apparent abandoment of the good half of her for the pure evil of Satan.  The fact that the ribbons are in Faith's hair upon his return would signify that she rejected Satan's total controll and signify Brown's still mixed faith.

After the conspirators kill Caesar, they bathe their hands and swords in Caesar's blood. What do these actions foreshadow?

Upon viewing the play for the first time in 1599, the audience, well-versed in biblical tales, would have got the allusion of handwashing as a reference to Pilot and Jesus. Where Pilot uses water and "washes his hands" of Jesus and takes no responsibility for his actions and Jesus’ fate, Brutus, in contrast, takes full responsibility for the murder, ("..let us bathe our hands in Caesar's blood/Up to the elbows...!") and Casca urges the other conspirators to do the same.  In III.1, Antony acknowledges those responsible ("Let each man render me his bloody hand")  and implies he is now in league with them since in shaking each hand he has bloodied his own.  ("Therefore I took your hands....friends I am with you all.") However, Antony reveals his true intent as Caesar's avenger several lines later when he is alone (Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!) and describes the bloodshed to come.

How do people react when they are fearful? What is the danger in acting out of fear?

When people react out of fear, they tend to react without
thinking.  They do not clearly think through the consequences of their actions. 
Instead, they just go with their gut reaction.  This can at times be very
bad.

From the way you've tagged this, I assume you are
talking about the Depression.  When people reacted out of fear in that era, it wrecked
our economy.  The people, for example, rushed to their banks and tried to draw out all
of their money.  This caused the banks to collapse and that made things worse than they
had to be.

So when we panic, we act without thinking and we
do things that can hurt us worse than more reasoned actions
would.

How does the blend of fantasy and realism add to the story's humorous effects? Is the conclusion a surprise? If so, how does the ending provide a...

Fantasy and realism absolutely contribute to the humor as a man who is dissatisfied with his "real" life seeks the adventure and excitement of a "fantasy".  By being able to pop into Madame Bovary and "play" a little, he escapes the hum-drum of his own life, but what's funny is that his fellow college professors recognize the odd little man who just shows up in the pages of the book as being none other than Kugelmass himself.

One expects that this "too good to be true" story will come to a screeching halt, although Madame Bovary proves to be a little high maintainance and readers realize that Kugelmass and his lover wouldn't last in a long-term relationship.  It is suitable that the machine is blown up and that Kugelmass is stuck in a Spanish textbook with the hairy verb "tener" chasing him all over the place. This is the Spanish verb "to have" which is what Kugelmass is seeking--having the mistress of his dreams.  Instead of having her, the "hairy" verb is determined to "have" him.

The tone itself is a sarcastic and humorous look at a man's mid-life crisis.  You could find more examples that having an affair is not the thing to do in the face of a dissatisfied life.  The boredom and nagging of Madame Bovary hints at this mistake, but the ending is an even more blatant warning against such straying.  Perhaps therapy would be a better choice ?

Why did General Zaroff hunt men, especially when he knew it was wrong?

Simply put, General Zaroff became motivated to hunt men because he found hunting animals to be of no challenge to him anymore.  He desired more of a challenge, and to achieve the challenge he desired, he required a more intelligent "prey."  To him the only prey that equaled his skill as a hunter and provided him with the challenge he desired was man--the ultimate prey.  Rainsford, and, indeed, most human prey, presented him with more of a challenge because they possessed the ability to outwit, out think, and out maneuver him during the hunt; therefore offering him the ultimate hunting experience.  As to the question of why didn't Zaroff stop once he realized he was doing wrong, I don't believe that he ever came to that realization.  Upon looking carefully at Zaroff's character, you see a completely self absorbed individual, concerned only with the fulfillment of his own wants and needs, no matter the cost to anyone else.  Did he know what he was doing was wrong?  Obviously he did, otherwise he would not have gone to such pains to hide himself away on his island away from prying eyes.  Did he care?  Obviously not because, once again, his own needs took precedent over even human life. Hope this helps.

Can anyone give me quotes for ambiguity?This is for an English power point, and my group and I have torn apart the whole book to look for...

In looking for quotes on ambiguity, reexamine the treatment of Arthur Dimmesdale by the community.  He is one of the central characters whose existence and actions illustrate ambiguity.  He has this secret sin in his heart which he is incapable of (or unwilling to) admit, yet the entire community holds him up to be a pillar of virtue and morality.  Then, when he finally does confess his sin, the people don't hate him; instead they say, "Oh, what a good man to admit his sins!" (My paraphrase, by the way! :)

Check the link below for information about this important theme, then have your group reexamine Arthur Dimmesdale - I think you'll be able to find suitable quotes, especially if you look closely at how the townspeople talk to and about him.

In what ways does Scout demonstrate sensivity and compassion in chapters 30 and 31?(Your answer should include two elements)

In chapter 30, Scout asks Atticus:  "It's sorta be like shootin' a mockingbird, wouldn't it?"  She is referring to the possibility that Boo would be arrested for Mr. Ewell's death.  Scout understands that Boo was trying to protect her, and realizes that if people knew and Boo was put on trial, it would be traumatic for this man who has spent his life as a hermit.

In chapter 31, Scout walks Boo home.  On his front porch, she turns and she imagines the street and the community as Boo sees it.  She understands that Boo loves his community and wants to protect it, and she finally "walks a minute in his shoes", as Atticus always urged her to do.

I want the explanation of the poem " I wandered Lonely as a Cloud" by William and is there a hyperbol here ? please help me as quick as...

This poem is about a guy watching a field of daffodils. In
the first stanza, he compares himself to a cloud floating above watching over this great
number of flowers near the lake and underneath the
trees.

The second stanza continues to note their great
number by comparing them to the stars (which are innumberable), calling them a
"never-ending line" and numbering them once by the phrase "ten
thousand."

The third stanza talks about how happy the sight
of this great number of daffodils makes him.

By the last
stanza he notes that when he is alone, he goes back to this imagery to make himself
happy.

Hyperbole can be found
in the 2nd stanza with the references to the stars, the never-ending line and the number
ten thousand.

Good Luck.

“O me, this sight of death is a bell That warns my old age to a sepulcher.”-What does sepulcher mean in this quote in Act 5 Scene 3

Lady Capulet utters these words and is often characterized
as one of the more vain players on this stage.

What she
means with these words as she casts first glance on her dead daughter's corpse is that
to see a child of hers already laid to rest in a tomb makes her feel old. Not only that,
but also to have lost a child will continue to age her with grey hairs and wrinkles as
stress and sorrow always do.

This word sepulcher means to
bury. I think she is noting that since she is burying her daughter, her time might not
be that far off.

How is the study of drama different from the study of novel ? substantiate your answer with reterence to plays you have studies.Plz give an answer...

We cannot write your essay for you, but we can help. First
of all, in discussing differences, you must determine whether you are reading the drama
or watching it (drama is meant to be viewed, not read, for the most part). If you are
reading the drama, the differences are less, because reading makes a dramatic work more
novel-like.

That said, looking at drama as a performance,
athough many of the elements of fiction are the same in drama and in novels (characters,
plot, theme, setting, etc.) the way we arrive at a knowledge of these elements is
different. When reading a novel, an author can write pages and pages of descriptions,
whether it is about a character or whether it is about a situation. When writing a drama
(to be performed), this would make the play extremely boring. So, the dramatist must
take this into account and write dialogue for the characters that is both interesting,
fast-paced, but meaningful. The dramatist must put the character into situations that
reveal his character, whereas a novelist can do this, but in addition, can also write
about the character.

Dramatists do have techniques that
they use to give additional information about their characters. For example, Shakespeare
uses long monologues called soliloqueys in which we can get an insight into the
character. If you have read and then watched any Shakespeare plays, you may have noticed
that you got more out of watching the plays but were confused when reading them. This is
because, in spite of the difficulty of the language, you can pretty much figure out and
appreciate what is going on when watching the play because of the actors' skills,
special effects, etc., whereas when you reading the play, all you have is your own
imagination and that is often not enough with Shakespeare because of the Elizabethan
language.

Think about it this way. Have you ever read a
book and then seen the movie version and commented, "Gee, they left out that important
part where..........." well, when being adapted for film (which is drama), not
everything in the novel works on screen. It would make a long, and boring, film to
include everything that is in the novel.

That is one
important element. There are others, and perhaps some drama experts can give you
additional information.

What was the purpose of Old Major's vision in Animal Farm? How does Animal Farm change? Do any concepts of the vision stay the same?

Every storyline needs a trigger or inciting incident. This
speech set in motion the animals desire for something more. It set the stage for the
purpose of a rebellion.

Animal Farm changes over time, but
it is a cycle by which the animals remain in the same condition, rather, a worse
condition than they were in the beginning. They sought to fulfill the vision Old Major
laid out, but a power hungry leader distracts from this
purpose.

Of the major tenants of the vision, we see nothing
by the end of the book, but what we do see is animals convinced that something has
changed even though nothing has.

What difficulties did people experience, in chapter 2, with food, housing, and living arrangements?

So you are only talking about Chapter 2, where the family
has just been sent to Manzanar, right?

If so, we see them
have problems as soon as they get there.  First of all, they go to have dinner and the
cooks have no idea what kind of stuff Japanese eat.  They put fruit on top of overcooked
rice, not realizing that Japanese didn't eat sweet stuff on
rice.

Then they went to the barracks and the living
quarters were tiny.  They had two 16 by 20 foot rooms for the twelve people in their
family -- that's like two pretty big bedrooms in modern American houses.  In addition,
the walls had cracks in them.  Finally, some people got put into these small rooms with
people they didn't even know.

What theory about Dimmesdale's disease and its cure is expressed in chapter 9 of The Scarlet Letter? Page. 120 paragraph beginning "thus roger...

Chillingworth believed it was essential to know Dimmesdale well before he could cure him.  He needed to know about his mind and heart, not just his physical body.  The text says that for Dimmesdale "thought and imagination were so active...that the bodily infirmity would be likely to have its groundwork there."  In other words, Chillingworth doesn't believe that Dimmesdale's disease is physical.  The cure then, in Chillingworth's mind, was to find out Dimmesdale's secret.  Once the secret was out, then Dimmesdale might be healed.

From whose point of view is the story told?

Everything in the story is seen from the point of view of Jonas, the protagonist.  So I think that you would say that the story is told from his point of view.

However, you should not say that the story is told from a first person point of view.  You do not have Jonas narrating the story saying "I did this" and "I thought that."  Instead, this story is told from a third person limited point of view.  The narrator always talks about "Jonas" and not about "I."  That is third person.  It is limited because the narrator only knows Jonas's thoughts and not those of anyone else in the story.

What is the rhyme, rhythm and alliteration used in "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes?

Alliteration is when the initial consonant sound is
repeated over and over.  For example, think of all of your classic tongue-twisters
(Peter Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers); it is the "p" noise that is repeated over and
over here.  In "Mother to Son," I don't seen any good examples of alliteration.  To be a
good example, it would need to be several words, right after each other, at least in the
same line.  That doesn't really happen.

For rhyme, look to
the third and seventh lines (stair/bare).  The strongest of the three techniques is the
rhythm.  Read it out loud--it has a definite lilt and lyrical quality to it.  The
repetition, short phrases, dialect and metaphorical content all make the poem seem like
a song or a nursery rhyme that a mother is singing to her
son.

I hope that those thoughts helped; good
luck!

Is "tolerance" a coherent liberal concept?

Tolerance, while often propounded as a liberal concept,
rarely truly exists in anyone--conservative or liberal.  Liberals who generally stand
for social liberty and the right to live as one wants would argue that tolerance should
connect more to their agenda than to conservatives'.  However, the issue with being
truly tolerant is that one has to believe wholeheartedly that someone else has the right
to live and think as he so desires.  While Liberals claim to support that ideal, when
someone who has differing political or sometimes religious views than they do expresses
those views, Liberals and others (conservatives and independents included) often engage
in namecalling and begin to argue why the opponent should be silent or forced to change
his or her views.

The word "tolerance" has taken on a new
connotation in recent decades.  It denotatively means an indulgence for someone else's
view which differs from one's own, but lately, its connotation is that one must
virtually take on someone else's views in order to be considered
tolerant.

how does the first sentence describing Atticus's first case give a different impression than when you hear the rest of the story?

The sentence in question is "His first two clients were the last two persons hanged in the Maycomb County jail." This leads us to think that he did not succeed in defending them, and that he was not a particularly good attorney. However, we learn he really didn't have much of a chance to defend them because they committed their crime in "the presence of three witnesses" and then were foolish enough to plead "not guilty." Atticus "was present at their departure," meaning he saw them hanged, which is why he now has a "profound distaste for the practice of criminal law." We learn in the story, however, that Atticus is a very accomplished lawyer, and that no one but he could have made the jury deliberate about Tom as long as they did.

Is the executive branch the most powerful branch of our government? If so, say why. If not, say the most powerful branch and why. Thanks.

It really depends on who you ask, and in many ways the
time period in which you choose to examine the three branches.  Many people argue that
during George W. Bush's presidency and Clinton's that people worked really hard to
expand the powers of the executive branch.  The checks on executive power are supposed
to be in Congress as they can even seek impeachment if they feel that the president has
really gone over the edge and is doing things that are illegal,
etc.

You can also look at the attempt of FDR to change the
Supreme Court and expand it and add liberal judges and his failure to make that happen. 
The balance of power shifts in different time periods,
etc.

The argument extends to cover the other branches as
well.  Is the Supreme Court "legislating from the bench?" Is Congress overstepping their
bounds when they make certain legislation for the
states?

It will really depend on the perspective and you
could back up either answer yes or no.

Why does the narrator of "The Tell-Tale Heart" wait till the eight night to commit the murder?He watched him for 7 nights and on the eighth night...

In certain cultures, the number eight is extremely significant.  In the Jewish culture, for instance, the concept of man having the ability to transcend his nature is represented by the number eight.  When the High Priest officiated, he wore eight garments.  And, from their eighth day onward, animals could be offered as sacrifices.  In Edgar Allan Poe's story, "The Tell-Tale Heart," there seems much importance given to the eighth day by the narrator.  It is the day of completion. Poe's narrator writes,

Never before that night had I felt the extent of my own powers--of my sagacity.  I could scarcely contain my feelings of triumph. 

Not only does the narrator sense the significance of the eighth day, but the old man feels the power of this night as well.  He knows that the narrtor is going to kill him.

How does Lee use plot to emphasize the theme of "loss of innocence"?

There are many examples of the theme of lost innocence in
the various plots and sub-plots of To Kill a Mockingbird. Beginning
with the early death of their mother, Jem and Scout are left to live out their youth
with a different perspective than most children; with the emergence of Dill, another
character enters the realm of innocence lost. One of Scout's first experiences comes on
her long-awaited first day at school. The teacher, Miss Caroline, scolds and punishes
her for various reasons, leaving the budding writer desirous of never returning. A later
teacher, Miss Gates, also gives Scout reason to doubt the qualities of Maycomb's
classroom instructors.

Both of the children get an up-close
view of injustice in action when they witness the virtual entirety of the Tom Robinson
rape trial. They both come to the conclusion that Tom is innocent, and they are enraged
and saddened by the guilty verdict. The later assault on them by Bob Ewell is another
example of an incident that occurs to people much too young. Other examples include the
cementing of the knothole by Mr. Radley; the secrets told by Dolphus Raymond; the time
spent with Mrs. Dubose and the secret that she holds; and the various experiences of
Dill and his absent parents.

What advantage does Daisy have because she does not drink in The Great Gatsby?

Oh my, . . . in my opinion there is something REALLY
important to mention here:

Daisy WAS in fact drunk once
upon a time, and that time reveals exactly why she never planned to get drunk again. 
Just listen to Jordan talk about it:

readability="36">

The day before the wedding [Tom] gave [Daisy] a
string of pearls valued at three hundred and fifty thousand
dollars.

I was a bridesmaid.  I came into her room half an
hour before the bridal dinner, and found her lying on her bed . . . as drunk as a
monkey.  She had a bottle of Sauterne in one hand and a letter in the
other.

"'Gratulate me," she muttered.  "Never had a drink
before, but oh how I do enjoy it."

"What's the matter,
Daisy?"

I was scared, I can tell you; I'd never seen a girl
like that before.

"Here, deares'."  She groped around in a
waste-basket she had with her on the bed and pulled out the string of pearls.  "Take 'em
down-stairs and give 'em back to whoever they belong to.  Tell 'em all Daisy's change'
her mine.  Say:  'Daisy's change' her mine!'"

She began to
cry--she cried and cried. . . . She wouldn't let go of the letter.  She took it in the
tub with her and squeezed it up into a wet ball, and only let me leave it in the
soap-dish when she saw that it was coming to pieces like
snow.

But she didn't say another word. . . . When we walked
out of the room, the pearls were around her neck and the incident was over.  Next day at
five o'clock she married Tom Buchanan without so much as a shiver.  (Fitzgerald
77-78)

The letter, of course,
was from Gatsby.  Gatsby who was desperately working on the status and money he needed
to obtain Daisy.  Gatsby whose ship had sailed a little too late.  Gatsby who was still
desperately in love with (or obsessed with) Daisy.  The same Gatsby who now sits and
stares at the green light at the end of her dock.

When
Daisy gets drunk, she falls for Gatsby.  Period.  She is married now.  Married to a
brute.  Daisy cannot allow that to happen again, that flood of emotion pushing her to
throw her safety, her security, away.  She must think with her head, not her heart. 
Alcohol, as always, removes all inhibitions.  Alcohol destroys even the most solid of
social barriers:  the barriers of the "old rich." 

Alcohol
will always force Daisy to reveal too much. 

Daisy, then,
avoids alcohol for that reason.  Hmmm, perhaps Daisy is smarter than I usually give her
credit for.

Could someone explain the implications of Locard's Exchange Principle in relation to evidence?

Interesting question, actually.  "Locard's Exchange
Principle" says that when two things come into contact an exchange is going to happen.
 What this means for evidence and crime scenes is that when a criminal goes into a place
to commit a crime, he/she will both leave something as well as take something way in
terms of evidence as a result of having physical contact with the
scene.

Think of it this way...when he goes to the scene he
is going to potentially leave footprints, hair, skin cells, fingerprints, clothing
fibers, and all sorts of other things.  When he leaves the scene he is going to take
with him things specific to that area: pollen, dirt stuck to shoes, plant material, and
that kind of thing.   It is the detective's job to seek out this type of evidence by
understanding that it is always there, someplace.

Locard,
the great-grandaddy of crime investigation, knew that highly trained individuals would
have a chance to help solve crimes by collecting this evidence.