What source does Douglass rely on to learn how to read and write?

His mistress, Mrs. Auld, first begins teaching Douglass the alphabet before her husband prohibits her from doing this. His severe opposition told Douglass how important reading must be:  “What he most dreaded, that I most desired.”  He thanked both the master and his wife for enabling his interest in reading: “In learning to read, I owe almost as much to the bitter opposition of my master, as to the kindly aid of my mistress. I acknowledge the benefit of both. After he learned from “the little white boys” how to read, he would always find a book and take it with him where ever he went.  Soon he started to read The Columbian Orator, which taught him about emancipation and changed his life even more. As for writing, Douglass recounts: "The idea as to how I might learn to write was suggested to me by being in Durgin and Bailey's ship-yard, and frequently seeing the ship carpenters, after hewing, and getting a piece of timber ready for use, write on the timber the name of that part of the ship for which it was intended."  He again practices whenever he can, painfully learning how to make letters, and then letters into words.

Compare and contrast the leadership styles and philosophies of Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Dubois, Marcus Garvey, Martin L. King Jr, and Malcolm X

I would say that DuBois and King are similar in terms of
their philosophies.  I would also say that Garvey and Malcolm X are similar to one
another, but different from King and DuBois.  Finally, I would put Washington in a class
by himself.

Washington was the most accomodationist of
these leaders because he did not want to push for rights.  He wanted to wait until
whites were ready to give rights to blacks.

DuBois and King
did not want to wait for rights.  They wanted to push for them right away, but they
wanted to do so in an inclusive way.  Both envisioned an integrated society where whites
and blacks got a long.

Garvey and Malcolm were black
nationalists.  They did not want to join white America.  Instead, they wanted to be
separate and have blacks rely on themselves.

Is it fair or appropriate for one country to judge the cultural practices of another? Why or why not?

I suppose it depends on what you mean by
"judge."

It is in my opinion totally fair for one country
to think whatever they want about another's cultural practices.  After all, we are all
entitled to our opinion.

Now, do you mean to ask if it is
fair for one nation to try to stop another's cultural
practices?  I would say yes again, as long as the country is not doing something like
invading the other country.

For example, let's say we want
to use our money or our policy to stop "female circumcision" in other countries.  I
think it is fine for us to do that as long as we are giving the country a choice -- you
can stop that and get our aid or you can keep doing it and not get our
aid.

There is no reason that one country should have to
help another country do something the first country thinks is morally wrong.  As long as
you are not being violent, I think it's fine to judge and/or try to stop other countries
from doing things we think are wrong.

In chapter 3 of Animal Farm, what are four examples of the pigs' clever use of language to gain there own ends?

The question your teacher is asking is this:  How do the pigs use language to get what they want?  In other words, how do they speak cleverly to convince others to do everything just the way the pigs want it done.

For example, the pigs want the animals to hate humans.  So the pigs come up with an easy slogan to remember "Four legs good, two legs bad."  It is so easy to remember, the other animals can't forget it and will eventually start to believe it.

The pigs also try to make work sound more interesting so that the animals will want to work harder.  Instead of just "providing wool" or "giving eggs", the sheep are part of the Winter Wool Movement and the hens are part of the Egg Production Committee.  This makes them feel more important.

The pigs use rhetorical questions to make the other animals agree with them.  When the animals seem like they won't work too hard, Squealer ask "You don't want Jones to come back, do you?"  This makes it seem like the farmer will come back if the animals don't work their hardest.  Its a threat.  It isn't true, but it convinces the animals through fear.

Finally, the pigs control which animals learn to read.  This way, the pigs can claim to know more and they can sound more important because they can read things and their vocabulary is bigger.

What dramatic elements emerge at the beginning of Act 4, Scene 3?PLEASE AND THANKS!

Also signficant here is the way that Macduff acts as a foil for Macbeth (and Lady Macbeth, too, perhaps).  His first inclination upon hearing of the death of his family is to grieve. "All my pretty ones? / Did you say all?" he moans. When Malcolm says "Dispute it like a man," meaning go and fight Macbeth, Macduff says "I shall do so;/but I must also feel it as a man" (4.3,216-221). Here we have a new definition of manhood not yet seen in the play. Indeed, Lady Macbeth at the beginning worries that her husband is "too full the milk of human kindness" and would herself dash her babe to the ground in order to carry out the murder of Dunca.  Macduff is both warrior and father and husband, a man who can love as well as fight.

What are your predictions for Chapters 11-12 of The Outsiders?

I have also read and taught this book to my students. 
We've discussed what might be outcomes for the characters after the rumble and after
Johnny's death.  When I first read the book many years ago, I would of predicted more
legal consequences for Ponyboy.  I would of also expected more consequences as a result
of the rumble between the two gangs. 

I would of expected
Ponyboy to lose it after all of the things he'd been through at such a young age.  The
socs tried to drown him. He witnessed people getting killed.  He was severely
beaten.  He rescued several children from a burning building.  He was constantly
fighting with his oldest brother. It just kept  on going. In the end, though, he did
have support from his siblings and friends.  They were a tight knit
group. 

As for Dally, I know he was more of a loose cannon,
however, I would of not predicted him getting shot by the police. 
   

Using pink ribbons, describe them as a link between the two conceptions of Faith?

This is a difficult response for “Faith” is very ambiguous in the story, carrying more than two meanings.  The ribbons are mentioned in conjunction with Faith when we meet her “thrust[ing] her own pretty head into the street, letting the wind play with the pink ribbons of her cap.” Her ribbons are mentioned two more times immediately: “Faith with the pink ribbons” blesses him as he leaves, and he looks back to see “Faith still peeping after him, with a melancholy air, in spite of her pink ribbons, causing him to think “Poor little Faith.” Putting these introductory passages together, faith can be bold, sufficient unto itself so that it can play “in the wind” and retain itself; faith can be good and trusting, which we see when Faith blesses Brown, and finally faith can be sad because it is not sufficiently strong to withstand adversity (“poor little Faith”).  It is this final aspect of faith that the story leaves us with at its conclusion, for Brown’s faith was insufficient to trust in his wife and his neighbors, insufficient to allow him to retain a sense of humanity even if its sometimes marred by evil and guilt.