Explain the myth of pre-history.

The "myth of pre-history" is an idea used by some scholars
of indigenous, non-European cultures.  It is an idea that is used to combat the
Eurocentric idea that only Europeans (and possibly a few others) were truly able to
create history and civilization.

Scholars who talk about
this myth argue that Europeans see other cultures as backwards and primitive.  Europeans
see cultures that did not develop literacy and, thereby, written histories and they say
that those cultures are primitive and less developed than those (largely European)
cultures that did create written histories.

By calling this
the "myth of pre-history" scholars are arguing that pre-literate societies that had no
written history were not more primitive than other societies.  They argue that this myth
has simply been created as a way of justifying European dominance of other
cultures.

What are the reasons for considering the murder of Polonius as the turning point in the play Hamlet?

You are right in identifying that Hamlet's murder of
Polonius is a very significant turning point in the play. Firstly, let us remember that
this is Hamlet's first act of open violence in killing somebody. Following "The
Mousetrap," now Claudius understands the true danger that Hamlet represents to his
person. Note what he comments to Gertrude in Act IV scene
1:

His
liberty is full of threats to all,

To you yourself, to us,
to every one.

Claudius
realises the way that Hamlet's presence threatens his own life and power, and continues
to act to do away with him, and thus the murder of Polonius represents an escalation in
the conflict between these two characters.

In addition,
this scene is important because of the way in which Hamlet confronts his mother after
killing Polonius, and makes her see the impropriety of her actions and doubt her
husband. This represents the first break in the relationship between Claudius and
Gertrude, who up to this point in the play had been united in purpose. Gertrude in Act
III scene 4 agrees not to sleep with Claudius any more and obviously begins to side with
Hamlet.

Lastly, let us remember how the murder of Polonius
impacts Ophelia and Hamlet's relationship with her. The madness of Ophelia as
demonstrated in Act IV scene 5 and the way that her father's death at the hand of her
lover has made her "importunate" and "distracted" is of course key in the way that
Laertes comes to side with Claudius against Hamlet, leading to the final tragic duel
that kills them both.

Comment on the conflicts in "Araby."

It seems to be that the biggest conflict in this story is
actually an internal one in the narrator himself, as his sense of romance, innocence and
naivety is confronted with the cold, harsh realism of the final events of this tale.
Note how the narrator describes his feelings for Mangan's sister, and in particular how
he gives them religious connotations:

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These noises converged in a single sensation of
life for me:  I imagined that I bore my chalice safely through a throng of foes. Her
name spran to my lips at moments in strange prayers and praises which I myself did not
understand. My eyes were often full of tears (I could not tell why) and at times a flood
from my heart seemed to pour itself out into my
bosom.

The extent to which he
has taken his love is clearly shown here. It is so important that it has become
something sacred to him, and his emotions rule him. However, when he begins his
much-longed-for journey to the bazaar, it is clear that his dreams and imagination
receives a cold, sharp shock by the reality of the bazaar. As the lights are turned off
inside, he experiences a sudden epiphany:

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Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a
creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and
anger.

In the internal
conflict between romance and realism, realism has won out and the boy leaves a wiser, if
not sadder, individual.

why do the boys fight?

The boys fight because in their "society," aggression is
the answer.  The story is set in a time well before peer counseling and mediation.  It
is also set in a time when children were not given credence or validation as they are
today.  Without the proper "skills," such as peer counseling and mediation, youngsters
sometimes reacted with gut reactions, hence, physical aggression.  In addition, poverty
contributes to aggression.  Although I do not think that poverty is the issue in The
Outsiders.  The wealthy kids in the community were physically aggressive as
well!

So, in a nutshell, the times lent themselves to
aggression.  The United States was in the middle of a war.  The president had recently
been assassinated.  Cuba was a threat to the United States.  The nation was deeply
divided.  I think kids feel helpless in times of political strife as in "What can we
do?" and fighting may serve as an outlet for their frustrations.

Find the distance between the men?An observer at the top of a tower of height 15m sees a man due West of him at an angle of depression 31 degrees....

Let H be the position of the observer and O the point
vertically down the observer on the ground. Let W and S bethe position of the men on the
ground as described.

Now HOW, HOS and and HOS are the 3
right angles in 3 mutually perpendicular planes.

In the
right angled triangle HOW, OH = 15.  OW/OH = tan(90- 31). So OW = OH tan(90-31) = 15
tan59

In the right angled triange HOS, OS/OH tan(90- 17).
So OS = OH tan 73 = 15 tan73.

In the right angled triangle,
WOS,

WS^2 = OW^2+OS^2

WS^2
=(15tan59)^2+(15tan73)^2

WS = 15sqrt(tan^2 59+tan^2 73) =
55.05m

Therefore the distance between the
men  is 55.05m.

Can someone please help me find out the background problems in The English Patient?

You are right in asserting that Ondaatje's work is
complicated.  It is.  No doubt about it.  You will have become very used the idea of
narratives flowing into one another with different backgrounds that converge into
reality.  This is tough. 

The fundamental context of all of
the characters in the book is World War II.  Different elements of this conflict present
themselves to different characters.  Yet, in the end, all of the primary characters find
themselves struggling with the conditions of war and the impact it leaves on the human
being.  Hana is a Canadian nurse during the war, and one who struggles with death from
both a universal and personal perspective.  She is haunted by the constant presence of
soldiers' deaths, and her inability to stop it. At the same time, she is haunted by her
own father's death and the death of her unborn child via abortion.  Kip is an explosives
expert, working for the British army, yet frustrated at the British control of India and
the Western colonization that has suppressed his country.  Caravaggio is an Canadian spy
of Italian descent, and a victim of German torture.  The English patient might be the
most complex of all of the characters here, though.  He is considered English because of
his grasp of language.  Yet, his identity is not really established in terms of his
affinity with political sides.  He is a brilliant cartographer of the North African
desert, who is in love with Katherine Clifton, the British wife of one of the Patient's
colleagues.  After the tragedy in the desert, he is unable to save Katherine because of
his name.  He can only go back after two years, to retrieve her body, and in doing so,
he suffers the accident that disfigures him.  All of these character narratives are
woven with the background of the war, and expressing its pain and brutality becomes the
primary focus of the novel.

Discuss how the film The 11th Hour depicts human involvement in the destruction of the ecosystem.

I think that the primary motivation of the film is to show
how human beings have the power to rectify much of what has been done to the natural
ecosystem.  The film does not presume to tell the audience that it is too late to
change.  Consider the Churchill quote used in the film about how "the right thing" is
usually embraced when "all other possibilities" have been exhausted.  This helps to
bring to light the idea that while human freedom and action has put the ecosystem in a
perilous condition, it can be the same autonomy that makes things right.  The film's
message is located squarely on individual action in stressing that new mental paradigms
have to be adopted and that if individuals make a conscious commitment to living a more
"eco- friendly" life, change can happen.  The film does not examine the natural
conditions or structural elements that allow issues like global warming to happen
outside of human beings.  Rather, the film stresses that "reshaping" and "rethinking"
human place in the larger configuration of nature will help restore balance to a state
of being where it has been lost.

What are some literary devices used in Romeo and Juliet?

In addition to puns and foreshadowing, Shakespeare makes
good use of personification throughout his play, as well. In the beginning of Act II,
Scene 3, the Friar, while tending to his herb garden says, "The gray-eyed morn smiles on
the frowning night,/Check'ring the eastern clouds with streaks of light;". The morning
is personified because it is described as smiling and the night is personified because
it is being described as frowning. The acts of smiling and frowning are actions
performed by people, which makes the example personification. Another example of
personification occurs in Act II, Scene 2, the famous balcony scene in which Romeo and
Juliet profess their love to each other. While watching Juliet on her balcony, Romeo
says to himself, "Two of the fairest stars in al the heaven,/Having some business, do
entreat her eyes/To twinkle in their spheres till they return."  Romeo personifies the
stars as asking Juliet's eyes to shine in their place should they have to attend to
other matters. This is also an example of imagery. Romeo is using images of light to
describe Juliet.

Dramatic irony is another literary device
used in the play. It's a type of irony in which the audience knows information that the
one or more of the characters in the play do not yet know. For example, Lord Capulet has
no idea that Juliet has already secretly married Romeo when he arranges her marriage to
Paris. Another example of dramatic irony occurs in the famous balcony scene. When Juliet
professes her love to Romeo while standing on her balcony, she has no idea Romeo is
hiding below in the garden. That is why she is so surprised and a bit embarassed when he
pops out of the bushes and says he also loves her.

In the question A, B and O are in a horizontal plane and P is vertically above O, where OP=h m. Find the value of h.A is due west of O, B is due...

We have three points A, B and O in a plane and point P
lies a distance h above O. A is due west of O, B is due South of O and AB= 60m. The
angle of elevation of P from A is 25 degrees and the angle of elevation of P from B is
33 degrees.

We have three right triangles here: AOB, AOP
and BOP.

As the angle of elevation of P is 25 degrees from
A, we get:

tan 25 =
h/AO

=> AO = h/tan
25

As the angle of elevation of P from B is 33 degrees, we
get:

tan 33 = h/OB

=>
OB = h/tan 33

Now AB^2 = AO^2 +
OB^2

=> 60^2 = h^2/(tan 25)^2 + h^2/(tan
33)^2

=> h^2 = 60^2*(tan 25)^2*(tan 33)^2/[(tan
25)^2 + (tan 33)^2]

=> h^2 =
516.49

h = sqrt (516.49) = 22.72
m

The height of the point P, h = 22.72
m

In The Crucible, discuss how a protagonist's primary motivation changes throughout the drama.

The easiest example of this would be John Proctor.  Yet, I
think that the change that Elizabeth Proctor undergoes throughout the drama is as
powerful, if not more than that of her husband.  On one hand, Elizabeth starts out the
drama in an emotionally challenging relationship with her husband and cannot see past
her own condition.  The early stages of the play display Elizabeth's emotional
motivation as protecting her own life and her own notion of the good.  It is for this
reason that both she and her husband cannot speak of Abigail's accusations without an
undercurrent of mistrust and skepticism, given what happened in their own marriage. 
Yet, throughout the course of the play, as the town devolves into greater madness,
Elizabeth recognizes a larger element at stake.  Her desire to remain inward is
impossible as the accusations reach a fevered pitch.  She is forced to take the stand
and her motivation changes in that while she lies to protect her husband, she also
understands his good nature.  Elizabeth's fear and emotional frigidity melts as the play
progresses.  It is interesting to note that while the town ends up becoming
progressively worse, the relationship between Elizabeth and John strengthens, with both
of them trusting one another more and being able to turn to the other in a more open
manner.  This is completed when John recognizes that he must stand for the truth and
Elizabeth no longer protests.  It is at this point that Elizabeth's motivation has
transcended beyond her own condition and rather towards an idea.  Being the perfect
wife, the perfect soul mate, or even in acknowledging the goodness of her husband
becomes her motivation.  When she says, "God forbid I take it from him," in speaking
about John's sense of honor and commitment to the truth at the end of the play as he
walks towards his death, Elizabeth's motivation is clear to all as she has become a
transcendent figure who stands for values that are permanent and beyond what is
happening in Salem.

What is the Authorial purpose in The Reluctant Fundamentalist?

One of the purposes, I believe, is to encourage the reader
to think about stereotypes and their function in society. We are asked to look at ways
in which we might be adhering to negative stereotypes or building our lives around
seemingly positive stereotypes only to find out that things are not what they appear to
be. This is certainly true of Changez who initially falls prey to the promise of magical
meritocracy only to come to realise that there is no magic at all. Hamid challenges the
reader to think deeply about aspects of stereotyping and to form our own individual
conclusions.

Explain the meaning of "myrmidons of justice" in Great Expectations.

We first encounter this expression in Chapter Twelve,
which is after Pip has had his fight with the pale blonde boy, whom he does not know the
identity of as yet. He goes home and is very afraid, and when he has to go back to visit
Miss Havisham, the fear reaches new heights:

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When the day came round for my return to the
scene of the deed of violence, my terrors reached their height. Whether the myrmidons of
Justice, specially sent down from London, would be lying in ambush behind the
gate?

Myrmidons is the name
given to the followers of Achilles who fought under him during the Trojan war. However,
it is also a phrase used to indicate a follower who obeys rules mindlessly and without
thinking about the consequences of those rules. What is interesting about this allusion
here is that it is linked to Pip's sense of guilt about having committed a crime, which
is something that dominates the novel and foreshadows his involvement with
Magwitch.

In what sense are the Fool's assertions true or false in Act III scene 2 of King Lear?

This scene is of course famous for the way that the
enraged Lear wanders around the heath during the tempestuous storm. We already begin to
see signs of Lear's madness as he addresses the storm itself, finding a fitting parallel
in its fury with his own emotions. However, it is the Fool that oddly tries to make his
master see reason, and shows himself to be immensely wise in his suggestion. Note what
he says to Lear:

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O nuncle, court holy water in a dry house is
better than this rainwater out o'door. Good nuncle, in, ask thy daughters blessing.
Here's a night pities neither wise men nor
fools.

The Fool thus is oddly
shown to be the wiser of the two characters. He recognises that the storm makes it
dangerous for them to be outside, and so he urges Lear to seek the blessing and
forgiveness of his daughters, humbling himself before them, so at least they can enjoy
the benefits of a "dry house." However, it is King Lear who rejects his fool's wise
advice and clings on to his anger and rage. Thus, there is great truth in what the Fool
says in this scene.

Discuss the idea of dictatorship in Animal Farm.

There is much from which to draw upon for this question. 
I would suggest that chapter 5 might be a good starting
point:

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Napoleon, with the dogs following him, now
mounted on to the raised portion of the floor where Major had previously stood to
deliver his speech. He announced that from now on the Sunday-morning Meetings would come
to an end. They were unnecessary, he said, and wasted
time.

This particular quote
reflects the dictatorship element that Napoleon sought in a couple of ways.  The first
would be the mere staging.  Notice the "raised portion of the floor," indicating that
there is a definite difference between he and the other animals.  The idea of "some
animals being more equal than others" is evident, setting the stage for his
dictatorship.  Additionally, the suspension of public discourse and his referring to
such discussion as an example of "wasted time" also brings to the forefront the idea of
a political setting where one person, he, makes the decisions for all
others.

Another quote that could be useful for you to
explore the issue of a dictatorship in the narrative would be in Chapter 8, continuing
the idea of Napoleon's status being distinctive and more elevated than the other animals
on the farm:

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Napoleon himself was not seen in public as often
as once in a fortnight. When he did appear, he was attended not only by his retinue of
dogs but by a black cockerel who marched in front of him and acted as a kind of
trumpeter, letting out a loud “cock-a-doodle-doo” before Napoleon
spoke.

The idea of Napoleon
not being seen in public is another example of the dictator element, as he does not need
to be amongst the people as he is above them.  Additionally, the "retinue of dogs" that
accompany him help to consolidate his power, as they provide protection, savagely
brutally demonstrated in the forced confessions element of chapter 7. (This would be a
great chapter upon which to focus to demonstrate the real terror in Napoleon's rule.) 
However,  in both presented quotes, the dictatorship theme is developed
nicely.

Please explain and give an example of the "blurring" of literary genres in Edgar Allan Poe's stories.

Though I cannot find a definition specifically for
"blurring literary genres," I can imagine how this would apply to some of the short
stories of Edgar Allan Poe.

First it is helpful to
understand what a literary genre is, which you probably already
know.

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A literary genre is
a category of literary composition. Genres may be determined by literary
technique,  tone, content...

The most general genres in
literature are...epic, tragedy, comedy, novel, short story, and creative
nonfiction. They can all be in the genres prose or poetry, which shows best how loosely
genres are defined.

With this
in mind, Poe's work represents several genres. Poe wrote not only short stories of
horror, but also of detective stories, as well as poetry (such as "The Raven" and
"Annabel Lee"). In terms of the "blurring " of genres, I would expect that this means
that the distinction of genres as listed above are blended to include the
characteristics of more than one genre.

As an example, in
Poe's "The Tell-tale Heart," we have a story of horror. The main character kills the old
man he lives with and hides his body beneath the floorboards. However, this is not just
a story of horror or a thriller, but rather a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_thriller">psychological
thriller, a blend of "thriller" and "horror" genres. There are several themes
in these kinds of stories. Two deal specifically with reality and perception, which Poe
"plays" with in this story. The narrator's sense of reality and perception are skewed,
which heightens the suspense and the reader's sense of terror: the narrator is "haunted"
by the open and clouded blue eye of the old man, and believes he
must kill the older man. His perception is that the eye drives him
to commit murder. Poe also uses an altered reality when the old man's "dead" heart
begins to beat so loudly that the narrator's fragile grip on reality is destroyed: in
this case, his perception and his sense of reality drive him over the edge, and he
admits what he has done to the police.

This is, I believe,
an example of "blurring" literary genres. Poe learned how to do so exceedingly well,
providing dark entertainment for the reader that is the cornerstone of modern horror
stories and thrillers; stories that are not easily forgotten.

What is the significance of Lincoln becoming president, the Emanclpation Proclamation, and the ending of the Civil War and Lincoln's...

Lincoln was elected President in 1860 in a heated race
that included three other major candidates. Lincoln was hated in the South, and
following his election, the Southern states began secession procedures, beginning with
South Carolina about six weeks after the election. Southern states believed that Lincoln
intended to eliminate or restrict slavery, and this was one of the causes of the
American Civil War that followed.

Lincoln's Emancipation
Proclamation was an executive order that proclaimed the freedom of slaves in the
seceding Southern states, which would take effect as the Union armies advanced and took
control in those regions. Oddly, the Proclamation did not include the slaves in the
existing Union slave states (among them Kentucky, Delaware, Maryland and Missouri); nor
did the Proclamation make slavery illegal.

Lincoln was
assassinated just five days after Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House. Lincoln's
killer, actor John Wilkes Booth, had originally formulated plans for Lincoln's
kidnapping a year before, but he decided that murder was a better option after learning
of Lincoln's plans to give Negroes equal voting rights.

How does George Plunkitt define "honest/dishonest graft"?

In the book Plunkitt of Tammany Hall
William Riordan published many of George Washington Plunkitt's thoughts about government
and about big city machines.  In the link below, you can find the passage that explains
the difference between honest and dishonest graft.

Honest
graft is using your connections and knowledge as a government official to enrich
yourself.  It is essentially what we would now call "insider trading."  Honest graft is
when a goverment official goes out (for example) and buys up land because he knows a
city project will need that land and he will be able to make a lot of money by buying
the land now while no one else knows that it is about to be bought by the city.  He can
buy it cheap and then sell it at a higher price to the
city.

Dishonest graft consists of doing things like
blackmailing people who are doing illegal or semi-illegal things.  It can also consist
of actually taking money directly from the city treasury.  It is more of what you would
expect mobsters to do--things like forcing prostitutes to pay money to police in order
to be allowed to work in a given area rather than being
arrested.

Plunkitt compares "honest graft" to what is done
on Wall Street.  He sees it as a gentlemanly and quite acceptable way of using his
poisition to enrich himself.

How successfully does To Kill a Mockingbird represent the time in which it was set?

Author Harper Lee, who just turned 88 years old this past
week, lived during the same time that To Kill a Mockingbird was
set. The story was based on her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, and Scout is a
representation of Lee's own tomboy childhood. Atticus is based on her lawyer father, and
Dill is based on Lee's friend, Truman Persons, who visited Monroeville each summer (and
later became a famous writer under the name Truman
Capote).

The book is a highly realistic look at the
Depression era Deep South. The characters are beautifully developed, show great depth,
and are very believable. Lee adds just the right touch of Southern slang and regional
dialect to her characters, and her detailed accounts of the slow life in the tiny
Alabama town of Maycomb makes it come to life. It becomes kind of an Every Town of the
South--one to which many Southerners who grew up during this time period can easily
relate. The racism, gossip and eccentricities that her characters exhibit show many
different sides to the town's inhabitants, and Lee's charming use of Scout as the
narrator--from both her youthful outlook and from her adult retrospective--maintains an
innocent feel that complements the primary theme of the
novel.

Because it takes place during the Depression, times
are hard, and nearly everyone is poor, as it was in most small, Southern towns during
the 1930s. But life goes on in a simple way, a reminder for new readers how life was
lived before TV, air conditioning, civil rights and computers.

In Book 4, what is Menelaus’ opinion of Odysseus in The Odyssey?

Contented and quite happy in The Odyssey, Menelaus' has
very fond memories of Odysseus.  Along with his wife Helen, both regale Telemachus and
Peisistratus with stories of Odysseus' guile and courage.  Fundamentally, it is evident
in Book Four that Menelaus considers Odysseus very important in the Greek victory over
the Trojans.  After Helen drugs everyone into talking "happy thoughts," Menelaus talks
about Odysseus role in the Trojan Horse campaign and how he helped keep the men focused
when Helen tried to distract them with the voices of their wives.  For her part, Helen,
quite surprisingly, talks about how she kept Odysseus' identity secret during a spying
mission where he collected valuable intelligence to take back to the Greeks.  It would
be natural to see that Menelaus shared this same opinion.  There is a great deal of
reverence for Odysseus present in this book, something that impacts his son, causing him
to tear up at the mention of his lost father.

How would you say $1.7 billion in Spanish?pretty much how would you say any US currency amount in the billions in spanish?

The translation of billions and trillions from an English
language variety to a Spanish or other European language variety all depends on which
value for "billion" and "trillion" is used. Let me explain using
"billion."

Until recently, American English and British
English values for "billion" differed with the AE value being less and the BE value
being more. Oxford Dictionary says the higher BE value used
to be a "million million (i.e. 1,000,000,000,000)" while the lower AE
value was and still is a "thousand million (i.e. 1,000,000,000)." As I
said, BE has recently adopted the AE
value so now both these varieties of English use the lower
American value of a thousand million (i.e.
1,000,000,000).

European
languages show the same value differences that used to exist between AE
and BE: European languages, like Spain's Spanish, use the
higher value for a billion of a million million (i.e. 1,000,000,000,000) while
American English influenced Spanish varieties, like
American-Mexican Spanish, use the lower value of a thousand
million (i.e. 1,000,000,000).

If you count the
zeros to help keep it sorted, the higher value has 12 zeros
while the lower value has 9 zeros. So while Spain's Spanish
uses the 12 zero million million for 'billion" (as the UK used to do), it is possible
that North American varieties of Spanish may use the AE
influenced 9 zero thousand million for "billion."

Industrial revolution multiple choice help please? Thank you very much!Compared to industrial revolution, today the idea which is least acceptable...

This question is worded in a very confusing way.  I assume
that you are asking us to compare the situation today to the situation during the
Industrial Revolution.  Then, I assume that you are asking us to say which statement
about those differences is the least acceptable to a Marxist.  If that is what you are
asking, the answer is C.

Marx argued that there will be a
struggle of class against class for as long as capitalism exists.  He says that
capitalism will always be a system in which the bourgeoisie exploits the proletariat. 
Obviously, capitalism still exists today.  Since this is the case, Marx would say that
class differences still exist and are still important.  Therefore, a Marxist would
disagree with the statement in C.

What keeps Lennie and George together in Of Mice and Men?

One of the most powerful elements in Steinbeck's novella
centers on the idea that shared subjective experiences can provide solidarity between
people. For example, part of what causes Crooks the most amount of pain is that he is
isolated as a person of color, incapable of forging these shared experiences with
anyone.  For Lennie and George, the shared experience of hope is what binds them.  This
hope is what drives the belief that after a certain point, Lennie and George will be
able to "get out" of the life of living as bindle stiffs, moving from ranch to ranch. 
This is the hope that drives both of them.  George's hope is that he can own something
and be his own boss, while Lennie's hope is to "take care of the rabbits."  It is this
collective hope that binds them to one another.  From the opening chapter all the way
through, this vision is what allows both of them to remain in belief of the other.  Even
at the end, when George has to kill Lennie, this vision of hope becomes more poignant
when iti becomes Lennie's last vision.

What is the interpretation of "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost?

The second stanza of the famous Frost poem published
(1923) in New Hampshire contains a highly significant
allusion:

My
little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse
near
Between the woods and frozen
lake
The darkest evening of the year. (my
emphasis)

Although Frost
never made the claim to have done so, it is possible, perhaps even probable that once
written he would have allowed this allusion to the opening lines of Dante's Inferno to
stand. Briefly, the opening lines of the Divina Commedia
(Inferno) find the poet lost midway upon the road of
life within a dark wood, having strayed from the right way. However, Frost's allusion is
far more sweeping in its implication. Not only does it refer to the "woods" of despair
into which the middle-aged Dante has wandered, it takes in the whole topography of Hell,
including its bottom most "frozen lake" in which Satan is encased. This sweeping
allusion imparts a significance to the poem far beyond the simple tableau it
depicts. Frost struggled with despair all his life. What better way to convey this than
by linking his dark winter journey of life to the pilgrim poet par
excellence - Dante whose "dark night of the soul" and search for God are
reflected in the Divine Comedy.

In what specific ways does the family’s decision to "get rid" of the insect affect Gregor?

Gregor's sister, Grete, is the first character to insist
that Gregor must be removed. One day, she plays for paying lodgers at their home, and
Gregor comes forward, drawn by the music. The patrons see him and indignantly declare
that they will not pay for their stay, so Grete decides the family should rid themselves
of the insect. She states that if it was, indeed, Gregor, he would not punish them by
driving away their paying clientele. She suggests that because he is inflicting this
upon them, he must not be Gregor any longer. Gregor takes this to heart, returns to his
room, and dies in the morning. This has a bolstering effect on the family, as they evict
the lodgers and start to see things from a brighter viewpoint, perhaps indicating that
the state of their son had left a dark stain on their outlook.

In J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, what is it that Jane Gallagher does at the movies that Holden Caulfield likes?

In J.D. Salinger's novel, Catcher in the
Rye, Jane Gallagher represents someone who he cares for, who allows him to be
comfortable with himself, especially in her company; this is something Holden struggles
with throughout the book: being positive with others and feeling comfortable in the
company of other people.

Holden genuinely cares for Jane,
recalling an afternoon when they were playing checkers and her stepfather arrived on the
scene. It is very upsetting to Jane, though she will not explain why. However, Holden is
very concerned and tries to comfort her as she
cries.

Holden even finds the way Jane holds hands
noteworthy. While other girls fidget, as if they are worrying that they won't be able to
hold hands "correctly," Jane is comfortable with doing it, and Holden perhaps is
more comfortable about himself because she once again makes it so
easy for him to be who he is, without criticizing
him.

Most
girls, if you hold hands with them, their goddam hand DIES on you, or else they think
they have to keep MOVING their hand all the time, as if they were afraid they’d bore you
or something. Jane was different. We’d get into a goddam movie or something, and right
away we’d start holding hands, and we wouldn’t quit till the movie was over. And without
changing position or making a big deal out of it. You never even worried, with Jane,
whether your hand was sweaty or not. All you knew was, you were happy. You really
were.

However, there is one
thing that Jane does one time at the movie that just about "knocks [Holden] out:" she
casually put her hand on the back of his neck. It is unexpected and shocking, but "so
pretty" that it just about "kills" him.

readability="15">

One time, in this movie, Jane did something that
just a out knocked me out. The newsreel was on or something, and all of a sudden I felt
this hand on the back of my neck, and it was Jane's. It was a funny thing to do. I mean
she was quite young and all, and most girls if you see them putting their hand on the
back of somebody's neck, they're around twenty-five or thirty and usually they're doing
it to their husband or their little kid—I do it to my kid sister...But if a girl's quite
young and all and she does it, it's so pretty it just about kills
you.

Holden is terribly
lonely. He is critical of others and extremely cynical. He is struggling to find where
he fits in the world and doesn't have a great deal of patience with the world. He does,
however, have special feelings and fond memories of Jane, though one wonders why he does
not call her during the story, when she probably could have made him feel better, as she
did before.

Is Look Back in Anger a rage against a frustrating society?

In a stylistic manner, yes. The play Look Back
in Anger , by John Osborne, attempts to break free from the former generation
of playwrights prior to the 1950's. During that era, playwrights had a tendency to
create what is known as "drawing room comedies". These were works that were meant for
mere entertainment and featured characters that were superficial, and whose only purpose
was to make the audience laugh with their
wittiness.

Osborne, however, belonged to a group of
playwrights who wanted to offer their version of the reality of a socially unfair
society and its effects in the modern man. His style wanted to bring out what was really
going on in England at the time without sugar-coating it, to put it in more simplistic
terms. After all, Osborne himself was quite unhappy with his own life by the time the
play was written. Look Back in Anger is basically Osborne's venting
spell at the oppressive life he was leading at the time.

What was the National Origins Quota Act?

I assume that you are asking about the law passed in 1924
that is commonly known either as the Immigration Restriction Act of 1924 or the
Johnson-Reed Act.  This was a law that was meant to reduce the amount of immigration to
the US, particularly from "undesireable" areas of the
world.

In the time from about 1880 to about 1920, there
were waves of immigrants coming to the US from countries in Southern and Eastern
Europe.  These immigrants were seen by many Americans as less desireable than the
Western and Northern Europeans who had made up most of the immigrants who came before
1880.  The 1924 was meant to reduce the flow of the
"undesireables."

To this end, the law set quotas based on
immigrants' nation of origin.  It pegged the number of immigrants from any given country
to 2% of the number of people from that country who had been in the US in 1890.  Thus,
it privileged Western and Northern European countries and limited the numbers from
Southern and Eastern Europe.

Discuss how the following quote applies to the two works, The Great Gatsby and Fences"The difficulty in life is the choice." -George Moore

Moore's quote applies to situations and characters in the
works by Fitzgerald and Wilson.  On one hand, Gatsby must face intense difficulty in the
results of his choice.  His pursuit of Daisy, his reveling in the lifestyle of the rich,
and his need to be loved are all elements of his choices.  Gatsby's fundamental crucible
is to make the choice to become socially accepted.  This is not shown as something for
which difficulty is present, but his difficulty in the course of the narrative lies with
the results of that choice.  In the end, Gatsby's idealism and pursuit of his dream lies
in the difficulty of choice.  In Wilson's drama, Troy's choices become fundamentally
difficult, and this forms the basis of the drama.  Troy's difficulty within his job, his
family, and his life represents difficulty faced in his choices.  His choice of being
with Alberta, the choice of fighting Cory's dream, the choice of not standing with Jim,
as well as his choice to fight against death are all based from the fundamental issue of
choice.  For both Jay Gatsby and Troy Maxson, the difficulty endured is and arises from
the issue of choice

In writing an essay comparing Medea and Antigone, on what should I focus in both protagonists?

I think that one of the most valid points of comparison in
writing about both protagonists is that they are representative of strong women. 
Sophocles and Euripedes construct women who are the very epitome of strength.  They
resist social conventions and the judgments of others in what they believe.  Being a
woman does invoke more criticisms of their actions, but this is something they dismiss
in the name of their belief systems.  Medea is told that as a mother, she must honor her
children and not "cross that line," while Ismene implores Antigone to reconsider her
actions as a woman.  I think that you can find some similarities in their speeches of
why they must do what they must do.  Comparing their language in tone in several moments
where they express their conviction could prove to reflect some basic similarity between
them.  Another point of comparison would be to point out how their positions, regardless
of strength, bring about despair and destruction, as a result.  Antigone's own life is
taken, as well as Creon's son who is in love with Antigone, and Creon's wife. As for
Medea, Jason is forced to see his children murdered by their mother.  In the end, these
positions of strength are non- negotiable ends, and the result is death for those who
are fated to love them.

In Pablo Neruda's Sonnet VI ("Lost in the forest..."), what do sound devices add to the poem?I'm especially confused about the effect of the only...

In Pablo Neruda's early poetry, he used stanzas, rhyme and
syntax, however, as he got older, for instance publishing a book in 1933, his poetic
technique changed drastically.

readability="12">

In [Residence on
Earth], Pablo Neruda moves beyond the lucid, conventional lyricism
of Twenty Love Poems, abandoning normal syntax, rhyme, and stanzaic
organization to create a highly personalized poetic
technique.

It is impossible
to say what the author of poetry or the painter of a portrait means, unless he or she
explains the piece. Different people will perceive different meanings to all kinds of
art: in this case, Neruda's poem, "Lost in the
Forest."

First of all, I do not think that "mind/behind" is
a purposeful rhyme. There is no other rhyme used in the poem. I can only guess that the
words are close because of what Neruda was trying to say in his
poem. It has also been noted (I would assume by those who spoke his native tongue) that
some of Neruda's musical quality is lost when his poems are translated from the Spanish
to the English. I can only assume this to be
true.

Generally, a poem is written to
be musical. The poetic devices an author uses are especially important to the sound of
the poem, and this is also why poetry is best read aloud. Poetic devices that lend
themselves to the musical quality of a poem include assonance, consonance, alliteration,
and onomatopoeia. The ear picks up these things much more quickly than the
eye.

We find assonance in the following line that uses the
"soft" "I" sound, as found in "whisper." Note the sound of the words: "twig," "lifted,"
"its," "whisper," and "lips." The repetition of these sounds support the sense of a
"whisper."

readability="5">

...twig
and lifted its whisper to my
thirsty lips...

However,
traditional poetic devices, in terms of assonance, don't seem to be used purposefully to
achieve a specific response from the reader.

Another thing
that is present that is generally considered a poetic device is onomatopoeia. Words that
fall into this category are: "whisper," "cracked," and "muffled." Poetic devices are
supposed to provide a poem with a musical sound; perhaps the reason that I do not find a
musical quality is that it has been translated from the Spanish,
or that the topic is
not one that makes Neruda feel musical. The
tone of the poem (and the mood) seem to speak to the loss of something in childhood.
Words that set the mood for me are: "lost (used twice)," "broke," "thirsty," "cracked,"
"torn," "muffled," "darkness," "cried," and "wounded."

With
these words in mind, I feel that Neruda is attempting to share with
the reader the sadness over something lost of his childhood, and for me the words listed
actually achieve this, where assonance, consonance, alliteration and onomatopoeia
traditionally do in other poetry, but not
here.

Traditional poetic devices are seen in the
work of Poe and Coleridge, but Robert Frost commented on the use of sounds in
poetry:

'One
of the things that I notice with myself is that I can't make certain word sounds go
together, sometimes they won't "say." This has got something to do with the way one
vowel runs into another, the way one syllable runs into another. And then I never know —
I don't like to reason about that too much. I don't understand it, but I've changed
lines because there was something about them that my ear refused. And I suppose it has
something to do with vowels and consonants.... I don't want any science of
it.'

Perhaps Neruda's words
don't "say" to us here.

From Into the Wild, how is transcendentalism important to Chris McCandless?

Chris considered himself a student of Henry David Thoreau,
the second most important advocate of Transcendentalism. Thoreau promoted the opinion
that Man is meant to live in harmony with nature, being self-sufficient, and rejecting
the excess of material wealth and societal pressure. Reading Thoreau along with similar
writings by Tolstoy and Jack London, Chris created a personal philosophy similar to
Transcendentalism, professing a need to live in the wild and discover inner meanings and
strengths based entirely on his own experiences and
abilities.

readability="14">

"Deliberate Living: Conscious attention to the
basics of life, and a constant attention to your immediate environment and its concerns.
Examples: A job, a task, a book; anything requiring efficient concentration
(Circumstance has no value. It is how one relates to a situation that has value. All
true meaning resides in the personal relationship to a phenomenon, what it means to
you).
(Krakauer, Into the Wild,
Amazon.com)

Chris attempted
to live as his literary heroes did, with few possessions and only the kindness of
strangers and his own work ethic for support. He spoke of the corruption of society and
the way that greed dictates morality and personal entitlements. At the end, Chris
believed himself to have discovered something true about himself; although he did not
describe it, the famous quote from Tolstoy ("I have lived through much, and now I think
I have found what is needed for happiness") seemed to have been important to him. Chris
was a modern Transcendentalist in most respects; he only lacked an experienced mentor to
guide his decisions.

What are the advantages of studying a language as a system rather than a tool of communication ?

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In some cases,
studying a language as a system can make the new language easier to learn. For example,
when I learned Japanese, we studied the new language as a system first. Since we were
having to start over from scratch, it was easier this way. English is based on the Roman
alphabet while Japanese has it's own set of characters (three different sets of
characters actually). We had to take a different approach to learning the language
because our native language was so dissimilar. In other areas, studying a language as a
system can help us understand the nuances and subtle points of that language we might
otherwise miss. In linguistic studies, this is often the case. I know in several courses
I took, we looked at aspects of the English Language which had little to do with
communication. You begin to understand where the language itself comes from and how we
learn it. You begin to see how it was able to adapt and change over the centuries. It is
interesting to study the science and hidden nuances behind the languages themselves.

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In "The Namesake," in what ways does Gogol's sense of self change and evolve because of his culture throughout the story?

I think that Gogol's identity changes in large part due to
his culture because it represents an aspect of his consciousness that has yet to be
fully explored.  Gogol is a character that defines himself in stark opposition to his
family.  Part of this definition against "the other" involves suppressing any notion of
his cultural identity.  Gogol is raised as a prototypical second generation child, born
in the West, and while there is a cultural attachment to another background, it is in
name only.  Gogol definition in opposition to his family makes his heritage collateral
damage in this process.  Gogol ends up suppressing this portion of his own identity. 
When he struggles to find meaning in the world after his father's death, doors of
questioning begin to open and one such portal is to his own heritage, a part of his
identity that had been repressed for so long.  Gogol seeks answers, and the questions
that he raises brings out his heritage or ethnicity as a natural place to locate some
new conception of self, a part of self that had been denied for such a long part of his
life.  In the struggle for meaning and definition, Gogol approaches his own background
as a potential location for where answers might reside.  While the answers do not fully
materialize, Gogol recognizes the need for questions in forming one's own sense of
self.  He opens up first the cultural doors, and then the psychological ones in order to
fully understand his own sense of self.  Cultural plays a role in this process, but it
is not one that gives all of the answers.  It is one part of a larger configuration,
which makes sense because identity in the modern setting is complex enough to find its
residence in multiple dwellings in which culture is merely one of
many.

What is the relationship change between Pip and Joe in Great Expectations in chapter 2,27 and 57 Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

From the time that Pip stands forlornly gazing at the
tombstones in the graveyard on the marshes in Chapter I of Great
Expectations, he searches for a father.  Joe Gargery, his step-father does
not fill the role because he is too subservient to his shrewish wife, Mrs. Joe who
dominates the household.  At the meal in Chapter II, for instance, Pip and Joe seem more
like brothers than anything else.  For, Joe tries to warn Pip about bolting his food
lest Mrs. Joe notice, but when she does Joe, like a child, "looks at her in a helpless
way; then took a helpless bite and looked at me again."  However, Joe, who calls Pip
"Old Chap," is very loving with Pip who "looks up to Joe in [his]
heart."

In Chapter XXVII of Stage Two, Joe has Biddy write
to Pip that he is coming to London in order to visit. But Pip is
dismayed,

Not
with pleasure, though I was bound to him by so many ties; no; with considerable
disturbance, some mortification, and a keen sense of incongruity. If I could have kept
him away by paying money, I certainly would have paid money....I had little objection to
his being seen by Herbert or his father, for both of whom I had a respect; but I had the
sharpest sensitiveness as to his being seen by Drummle, whom I held in contempt. So,
throughout life, our worst weaknesses and meannesses are usually committed for the sake
of the people whom we most
despise.

Once he arrives, Joe
is awkward and speaks to Pip formally, addressing him as "sir" since he perceives Pip
now as his social better. Before he leaves, he tells Pip that he will not come to London
again as he does not belong out of the forge:

readability="11">

"Diwisions among such must come, and must be met
as they come.  If there's been any fault at all today, it's mine.  You and me is not two
figures to be together in alone; nor yet anywheres else but what is private, and
beknown, and understood among
friends.

After he departs,
Pip is ashamed of himself and realizes that "there was a simple dignity in him."  Pip
tries to run after Joe, but the man is gone.

In the Third
Stage of Dicken's great novel, Pip has sunken into debt and after having saved Miss
Havisham from the fire and essayed to help Magwitch escape, Pip falls gravely ill. 
Finally, as he regains more consciousness, he realizes that Joe has come to care for
him:

At last,
one day, I took courage, and said, “Is it
Joe?”

And the dear old home-voice answered, “Which it air,
old chap.”

“O Joe, you break my heart! Look angry at me,
Joe. Strike me, Joe. Tell me of my ingratitude. Don't be so good to
me!”

For, Joe had actually laid his head down on the pillow
at my side, and put his arm round my neck, in his joy that I knew
him.

Remorseful for all the
times that he has not visited the forge and his snobbishness regarding Joe since he has
become a gentleman, Pip utters a prayer, "O God, bless this gentle Christian man!" as he
understands what a dear, loving friend Joe has always been to him.  Now that Mrs. Joe is
dead, Joe is his own man, and Pip can know a father in him.  Like the prodigal son, Pip
returns to the forge when he is well and together he and Joe have "what
larks!"

Is there a quote that explores the theme of identity in Bless Me, Ultima?

For me, the most important quote in this book regarding
identity comes in Chapter 22, when Antonio is having a conversation with his father
about the conflict he has been facing throughout the novel. He has faced the expectation
and desire of his mother him to become a priest and follow the Luna side of his family,
but equally his father has wanted him to become a Marez, and to dwell itinerantly on the
plains. Equally, he has felt torn between the Catholic religion and a more pagan
religious belief represented by the golden carp. In this conversation, he finally
understands that he does not have to pick one and reject the other, but can in fact
incorporate elements of both into who he is as a
person:

"Then
maybe I do not have to be just Marez, or Luna, perhaps I can be both--" I said... "Take
the llano and the river valley, the moon and the sea, God and the golden carp--and make
something new," I said to myself. This was what Ultima meant by building strength from
life.

This is a vital moment
in the story as Antonio sees a way of resolving the intense conflict that he faces as he
can "make a new religion," incorporating pieces of all of the heritages he has grown up
with. He sees that identity can be composite and does not have to be
absolute.

How can I paraphrase this paragraph from "The Necklace"?"She was one of those pretty and charming girls, born as if by an accident of fate into a...

Mademoiselle Mathilde Loisel was fair of face and lovely
of disposition, just the type of girl who should have been the belle of the ball, the
choice of all the most agreeable young bachelors. Alas, however - cruel fate intervened
and caused her to be born the daughter of a head clerk, one of many clerks in the
family. Because of her station in life as the daughter in a poor struggling family with
no dowry to her name, she had no hope of ever meeting, knowing, loving, and marrying
some famous, handsome and rich gentleman who would carry her off to live with him
forever. Her only possibility lay in accepting the marriage arranged by her parents to a
man of their choosing - an assistant clerk who hoped someday to become the head clerk,
as was her father.

The thinker whose name is most clearly identified with political liberalism isThe thinker whose name is most clearly identified with political...

Since your question clearly specifies that you are asking
about political liberalism, the best answer to this
question is D.

The only possible answers here are A and D. 
Robert Owen is best known as a utopian socialist and is therefore not really a political
liberal in the classical sense (as described in the link below).  Engels was a Marxist
and is therefore clearly not interested in liberalism.

Of
the other two, Mill is the better answer than Smith.  This is because Smith was not
really particularly interested in politics.  Smith was certainly an economic liberal who
pushed for people to have broad economic rights.  Mill, however, is much more interested
in political liberalism.  This is why he is listed in the
link below as a major figure in liberalism.

Verify if the solution of the system of equations (x-5)*y=4 and (x-y)o6=12 has integer solutions given that x*y=x+y-5 and xoy=xy-5(x+y)+30

We'll re-write the equations of the system, using the
given laws of composition.

(x-5)*y=4,
where

x*y=x+y-5

We'll
substitute x by (x-5).

(x-5)*y = x - 5 + y -
5

We'll combine like terms:

x
+ y - 10 = 4

x + y = 10+4

x +
y = 14 (1)

Now, we'll re-write the second equation of the
system using the second law of
composition.

(x-y)o6=12

xoy=xy-5(x+y)+30

We'll
substitute x by (x-y) and y by 6:

(x-y)o6 = 6(x-y) -
5(x-y+6) + 30

We'll remove the
brackets:

6x - 6y - 5x + 5y - 30 + 30 =
12

We'll eliminate and combine like
terms:

x - y = 12 (2)

We'll
solve the system formed from (1) and (2). We'll add (1) +
(2):

x + y + x - y = 14 +
12

We'll eliminate and combine like
terms:

2x = 26

x
= 13

We'll substitute x in
(1):

x + y = 14

13 + y =
14

y = 14 - 13

y =
1

Since both values are integers, we'll
validate them, therefore the solution of the system is: {13 ,
1}.

What community effort do the parlor walls incite in Fahrenheit 451?

I am not sure that I am necessarily understanding your
question. It appears that the parlour walls, covered in the three screens that almost
completely surround Mildred and her friends with visions of her "family" do nothing to
promote community effort and do everything to keep people isolated and separated from
each other and also themselves. It seems that this dystopian society is characterised by
a tremendous emptiness that the force of the media can only barely cover. Note how
Montag looks at his wife and her friends as they sit together watching the
screens:

readability="16">

Montag said nothing but stood looking at the
women's faces as he had once looked at the faces of saints in a strange church he had
entered when he was a child. The faces of those enameled creatures meant nothing to him,
though he talked to them and stood in that church for a long time, trying to be of that
religion, trying to know what that religion was, trying to get enough of the raw incense
and special dust of the place into his lungs and thus into his blood to feel touched and
concerned by the meaning of the colourful men and women with the porcelain eyes and the
blood-ruby lips. But there was nothing, nothing; it was a stroll through another store,
and his currency strange and unusable there, and his passion cold, even when he touched
the wood and plaster and
clay.

The overwhelming image
is one of profound emptiness as Montag looks at his wife and her friends and sees
hollow, empty shells. Thus the parlour walls seem to do nothing to promote community
effort; instead they only serve to try to distract people from the empty, hollow feeling
inside of them that has been produced thanks to the eradication of literature and the
general dumbing down of society.

How is the resolution of the conflict dependent on Mr. Martin's personality in James Thurber's "The Catbird Seat"?

Erwin Martin is a creature of habit, set in his routines
and habits. The plot that he hatches to unseat his nemesis, Mrs. Ulgine Barrows, is
dependent upon him breaking every code of his personality. He doesn't curse, he doesn't
drink, and he doesn't smoke. His milquetoast demeanor seems to be ironclad, and Martin
appears totally incapable of change. His boss, Mr. Fitweiler, knows this, so when Mrs.
Barrows comes to him with the astonishing tale of Martin's visit to her apartment, it
seems like an impossibility. He can either believe Mrs. Barrows' incredible story, or he
can trust his instincts about the meek and unchanging Martin. Fitweiler, of course,
cannot believe Mrs. Barrows--exactly as Martin had expected--and Martin's job remains
safe.

Which is a better method of calculating development: HDI or GDP per capita?

Whenever you have two measures of something and one is
more complex, the more complex measure is likely to be the better one.  I would argue
that this is the case with HDI and GDP per capita.

When we
talk about "development," we usually mean the overall development of a country, not just
its wealth.  For example, a country that had oil deposits could become very wealthy in
terms of GDP.  But if that country did not offer its people opportunities for education
and did not provide them with good health care, we would not really think of it as a
"developed" country.

GDP measures only economics.  The HDI
at least factors in things that pertain to the quality of lives that people lead. 
Therefore, the HDI is better than GDP as a measure of development even though it is in
no way perfect.

How does James Thurber uses humor in "The Catbird Seat"?

Hopefully, you, too, will find James Thurber's "The
Catbird Seat" as hilarious as I have always found it. Perhaps the comic irony that
Thurber utilizes is the story's strongest point. In the end, the weakest character wins
out over his formidable nemesis in a battle of wits between the sexes. Erwin Martin is a
typical milquetoast Thurber character: meek, mild and set in his ways. Ulgine Barrows is
a woman with strong, masculine traits: She is "profane," drinks and loves baseball,
unlike Martin, who is a milk drinker with little or no interest in sports. Their role
reversal adds to the comic element. The fact that Martin suddenly changes his
plans--from killing her to merely setting her up--is an unexpected twist that even
Martin didn't expect. His transformation before Mrs. Barrow's eyes into a smoking,
drinking, bomb-making doper is hilarious, as is the finale, when their boss assumes that
the woman must be crazy to make such incredible assertions about the forever-bland
Martin. 

I want to know if I have the best way to combine 5 sentences.1. This waste poses a threat to civilization.2. This waste poses a threat to the...

Once again, your sentence is "correct," and also make use
of formal grammar and sentence structure. However, you might want to "mix things up a
bit," so that your sentences don't sound too similar in structure, which
might occur if this is a pattern that you
repeat.

By changing the structure of your sentence—the
order in which you place its various elements—your writing can sound more interesting.
This is especially true if you are completing this for a class where the sentence is
going to be one of many read. Yours may end up sounding like all
the other sentences; however, as you become a stronger writer, you will want to make
your work stand out. This is something that will serve with college application letters
and essays, as well as the pursuit of employment
prospects.

A perfect example of more sophisticated writing
can be seen with the simplicity of nursery rhymes, such as "Mary had a little lamb," or
first grade readers that use "subject+verb" sentence structures, such as, "I see the
apple." When you see this kind of writing, you recognize that your
own writing is far more sophisticated. However, it
making it more interesting, you don't want your writing to be difficult to understand,
but simply more engaging.

I would first offer some context
here, and then experiment with the order of the sentence. (And don't be afraid to use
commas as necessary, as well as semicolons or
colons.)

Waste
is a necessary by-product of any civilization, but correct processing of it is an
extraordinarily serious concern; it is imperative to avoid a potential threat to the
environment—as seen with the long-lasting and lethal effects of
radiation.

One thing to try
to do when joining these related ideas is to avoid using a word repeatedly.
You have already done this by using "pose" only once, though it
appears in two sentences. You have done the same with "Its radition is so…" Repeating
these words or phrases would make the writing sound monotonous; at the same time, this
repetition in your basic sentences also points to the relationship between these items
and helps you to find elements that can be combined in your final sentence. I took out
"poses" and wrote about "avoiding a potential threat." The content is the same: the
information you have highlighted is included. My suggestion looks at the information in
a slightly different way without losing the central meaning of the
information.

Your sentence is absolutely correct: there is
no question—it is nicely done. At some point you might want to try to experiment with
switching the word order (syntax), and/or the sentence structure to find a different
"sound" for your writing.

Can the king in Chapter 10 of Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince be compared to any historic or contemporary figures?

The interesting thing about the
king in Chapter 10 is that he is completely
incapable of either passing a reasonable
law or upholding any unreasonable laws.
Every decision he makes is formed with the intent of pacifying his
subjects; however, he really has no subjects. He is really king over no
one. There are probably many public figures we can accuse of making decisions with the
sole intent of pacifying others; however, literary critics have actually considered the
king to be a reference to the French government just prior
to and during World War II, particularly acclaimed French World War I general
Henri Philippe Petain who governed France
during Nazi occupation.

Once France surrendered to the
Germans as soon as 1940, the Nazis established a new French government in Vichy that was
run by Henri Philippe Petain. It is noted that the French
allowed the Germans to plunder their resourced and even agreed to sending French
citizens to Nazi labor camps. Prior to France's surrender, France, along with Great
Britain and Italy, signed the Munich Pact, allowing Germany to invade Czechoslovakia,
with the intention of pacifying the Germans. France's early
surrender can also be seen as an effort to pacify the Germans. In addition, it is said
that they allowed German occupation because they "hoped to preserve at least some small
amount of French sovereignty" ( href="http://www.bonjourlafrance.com/france-facts/france-history/france-during-world-war-2.htm">"France
History -- France during World War II"). Since all of France's political
moves, especially under Henri Philippe Petain, were aimed at pacifying Germany rather
than creating any real sovereignty for themselves, we can easily see how the king in
Chapter 10 directly reflects France at this time
period.

Saint-Exupery was a pilot in the
French Air Force during World War II and was sent to the US with the intent of
convincing the US to enter into the war against Germany ( title=""Biography of Antoine de Saint-Exupery," poemhunter.com"
href="http://www.poemhunter.com/antoine-de-saint-exupery/biography/">"Biography of
Antoine de Saint-Exupery"). As a French citizen and a member of the French Air
Force, his government's actions would be very important to him. Hence, it is not a
stretch to interpret the king as being representative of France or of Henri Philippe
Petain in particular.

How does Alberta influence the other characters in Fences?

I think that Alberta wields influence over Troy and Rose,
and is more representative of what Bono would call “the walking blues” to the other
characters.  She is the other woman for Troy, and represents, to a great extent, his own
discontent with his marriage and familial commitments.  Troy’s relationship with her is
more of an escape from his own condition.  Rose is impacted by Alberta in her being “the
other woman, “ a force that changes one’s condition in life as a wife.  At the same
time, Rose takes care of Alberta’s child who is orphaned after her death in child
birth.  In this, Rose is impacted by Alberta even after her death.  I think that the
other characters experience a tangential effect of Alberta.  Alberta does not seek to
impact any of them, and, to a great extent, she probably never intended to impact Rose
in the manner she did.  Bono views Alberta as representative of Troy’s inability to make
his life better and the very embodiment of the “walking blues.”  I think that Cory views
Alberta as the physical representation of his father’s inability to make good on his
commitments and promises, something that Cory himself wishes to avoid as a result of his
interaction with his father.

What effect does changing the initial concentration of substances in a reaction have on the equilibrium constant?

A chemical equation is said to be at chemical equilibrium
when the rate of the forward reaction is equal to the rate of the reverse reaction. The
forward reaction is that of the reactants combining to give the products and the reverse
reaction is that of the products combining to give the
reactants.

Let the rate of the forward reaction be
represented by Kf and the rate of the reverse reaction by
kr.

For a reaction A + B <---> C + D, at
equilibrium kf[A][B] = kr[C][D]

The equilibrium constant Kc
= kf/kr = [C][D]/[A][B]. This is a constant value for each chemical
reaction.

Kc is the same irrespective of the initial
concentrations of the reactants. No matter what the initial concentration of the
reactants is, the concentrations at equilibrium are such that the ratio of the product
of the concentration of the products and the product of the concentration of the
reactants is equal to Kc.

What similarities do the fairies share with humans in A Midsummer Night's Dream?

The primary fairies in the play are Oberon and Titania,
king and queen of the fairies, respectively.  The fairies are immortal, unlike the
humans in the play. The fairies' lives become intermingled with the mortals' lives in
this play.

The fairies are very human in many regards. 
They look very much like humans, first of all.  Secondly, they have human emotions and
feelings.  The experience love, jealousy, desire, anger, etc.  This is apparent with
Oberon's and Titania's jealousies of each others affairs with Hippolyta and Theseus. 
Oberon is also jealous of Titania's relationship with her new child she was given when
one of her handmaids died. Oberon wanted the child for himself, so he exacts revenge on
her via a magic flower "juice".

As you can see the fairies
are so similar to their human counterparts.  The main difference is that the fairies are
immortals.

What are the coefficients of the function f(x) = mx^4 + nx^2 +p, if f(0)=4,f'(1)=14 and definite integral of f(x), x=0 to x=1 is 6?

To calculate f(0), we'll substitute x by 0 in the
expression of f(x):

f(0) = m*0^4 + n*0^2
+p

f(0) = p

But f(0) = 4 (from
enunciation) => p = 4

Now, we'll calculate
f'(x):

f'(x) = (mx^4 + nx^2
+p)'

f'(x) = 4mx^3 + 2nx

But
f'(1) = 14

We'll calculate f'(1) substituting x by 1 in the
expression of the first derivative:

f'(1) = 4m*1^3 +
2n*1

f'(1) = 4m + 2n

But f'(1)
= 14 => 4m + 2n = 14

We'll divide by
2:

2m +  n = 7

n = 7 – 2m
(1)

Now, we'll calculate the definite
integral:

Int f(x) dx = Int (mx^4 + nx^2 +p)dx = F(1) -
F(0)

Int (mx^4 + nx^2 +p)dx = mInt x^4dx + nInt x^2dx +
pInt dx

Int (mx^4 + nx^2 +p)dx =  m*x^5/5 + n*x^3/3 +
px

F(1) = m/5 + n/3 + p

F(0) =
0

But Int f(x)dx = 6 =>  m/5 + n/3 + p =
6

3m + 5n + 15p = 90

But p =
4=> 3m + 5n = 90 - 60

3m + 5n = 30
(2)

We'll substitute (1) in
(2):

3m + 5(7 – 2m) = 30

3m+
35 – 10m = 30

-7m = -5

m =
5/7

n = 7 – 10/7

n =
39/7

The function f(x) is:
f(x) = (5x^4)/7 + (39x^2)/7 + 4

Two sides of a rhombus measure 5x and 2x + 18. Find x.

The length of the sides of a rhombus are 5x and 2x + 18.
As the length of all sides of a rhombus are the same, to determine x equate the two
terms and solve the resulting equation for x.

5x = 2x +
18

Subtract 2x from both the
sides

5x - 2x = 2x - 2x +
18

3x = 18

Divide the two
sides by 3

x = 6

The value of
x is 6.

What is Shakespeare's view or outlook of the world, as portrayed in A Midsummer Night's Dream ?

Shakespeare uses A Midsummer Night's
Dream to point out social injustices and also to portray the foolishness of
mankind. However, Shakespeare also gives us a happy ending for the play, making it a
jovial comedy, and showing us that his outlook on the world is not entirely negative.
While Shakespeare recognizes that the world has its flaws, A Midsummer Night's
Dream portrays his outlook as being generally positive, so long as the world
has a guiding, intervening hand, like the fairies.

We see Shakespeare
portray one social injustice in the very first scene. Egeus is petitioning Duke Theseus
for the right to enact the "ancient privilege of Athens" in order to punish his daughter
for refusing to marry Demetrius (I.i.43). "The ancient privilege" grants a father
permission to either kill a disobedient daughter or to send her to a convent. It's
noteworthy that while having her sent to a convent is an option, Egeus is specifically
asking for the right to "dispose" of Hermia in the matter he sees fit. Specifically, he
is asking for the right to either dispose of her through marriage to Demetrius or
through death, as we see in his lines:

readability="8">

As she is mine, I may dispose of
her;
Which shall be either to this gentleman
Or to her death,
according to out law.
(43-45)

Shakespeare is using
Egeus to point out the social injustice of treating a daughter as a slave; he is also
using Egeus to point out the social injustice of a male dominant
society.

Shakespeare also uses both the Athenian couples and Puck to
point out the foolishness of mankind, especially the irrationality of love. Shakespeare
first uses Demetrius to point out the foolishness of both man and love by having Helena
reveal that there really is no rational, conceivable reason for Demetrius to have
stopped loving her and chosen Hermia above her, especially because she is recognized as
being just as fair as Hermia. Also, when Lysander becomes enchanted into falling in love
with Helena, he declares that it is his reason that is guiding his decision, when in
actuality he is being influenced to act irrationally by the magic flower. Finally, when
all four mixed-up lovers begin quarreling, Puck points out the foolishness of mankind in
his famous lines, "Shall we their fond pageant see? / Lord, what fools these mortals
be!" (III.ii.115-116).

However, while mankind is portrayed as being
socially unjust, irrational, and foolish, at the end, all four lovers are happily united
due to Oberon's and Puck's use of the magic flower. Not only that, Oberon and the
fairies bless their marriages so that they will remain ever true. Shakespeare's ending
shows us that while the world has its flaws, with a guiding hand, things can come out
alright in the end.

what is concept formation and concept development?

A concept is an idea that attempts to join together
several observations. For exmaple, we observe that today the sun is shining, the
temperature of the air around us is pleasant and we remember that we observed the same
phenomenon yesterday, but the day before that it was cloudy, cool and damp. We notice
that the plate that is holding our sandwich is very warm but the grass under our feet is
pleasant.  We might arrive at the concept that sunlight is a form of heat energy.  We
might test this concept by shielding some area and notice that the area is cooler.  By
adding other observations we expand the concept and perhaps even develop a theory about
how all these observations are connected. Thus, we say the concept
developed.

Give and example of foreshadowing in Twelfth Night and explain its significance.

Foreshadowing involves being given a hint of things to
come in a piece of literature.  Foreshadowing is normally subtle and sometimes can be
hard to spot.

In Twelfth Night, a comedy from William Shakespeare, an
example of foreshadowing is when Viola decides to dress as a man to work for the Duke
(Orsino).  She is going to deliberately disguise herself as a man so that she can work
as a page to Orsino to try to help him win the heart of Olivia.  However, this backfires
because Viola ends up falling in love with the Duke
herself.

The foreshadowing, then, is the confusion and
utter chaos that results from her deciding to be a man for a short time.  Just like the
gender confusion, there is much confusion later in the play because Viola is later
mistaken for her twin brother, Sebastian. Olivia, the Duke, Sebastian, and various other
characters are utterly befuddled by this trickery.

Show that the amortization formula may be written as: R = P*i*(1 + i)^n/((1 + i)^n - 1)Here i is the interest charged per period, R the periodic...

The loan of a principal amount P has to be repaid with n
periodic payments of an amount R. The rate of interest is
i.

To determine R in terms of P, i and n we use the present
value formula. An amount X today would have a value equal to X*(1 + i)^t after t
periods. The same can be put the other way round as: an amount X paid after t periods is
equal to X/(1 + i)^t today. This is the present value of the payment that would be made
in the future. To repay the loan the sum of the present value of all the future payments
should be equal to P.

P = R/(1 + i) + R/(1 + i)^2 + R/(1 +
i)^3...+ R/(1 + i)^n ...(1)

The sum of n terms of a
geometric series a, ar, ar^2... is a*(1 - r^n)/(1 - r), for r <
1

In (1), we have the common ratio 1/(1 + i) < 1 and
the first term is R/(1 + i)

This gives [R/(1 + i)][(1 -
(1/(1 + i))^n]/(1 - 1/(1 + i)) = P

=> R[(1 - (1/(1 +
i))^n]/i = P

=> R((1 + i)^n - 1)/((1 + i)^n)*i =
P

=> R = P*i*(1 + i)^n/((1 + i)^n -
1)

The amortization formula is: R = P*i*(1 +
i)^n/((1 + i)^n - 1)

What was the basis of American economic growth between 1945 and 1965?

I would argue that the basis of American economic growth
during this time was World War II.  There are at least three reasons for saying
this.

• Increase in capital.  During the war,
  various technological advances had been achieved.  One example of such advances would be
  the large, long-distance airplane.  These sorts of advances increased the potential of
  the US economy.  So, too, did the GI Bill.  This law greatly increased the level of
  education and training of the US population.  Both of these things increased the
  potential of the economy.


• Destruction of competitiors. 
  Essentially all of the countries that could have been major competitors for the US
  economy were devastated by the war.  This enabled US companies to expand much more than
  they might otherwise have been able to.


• Pent-up demand. 
  Americans had, for at least 4 years, been making money without being able to really
  spend it.  US productive power had been put towards war, not consumer goods, so many
  Americans had much more money to spend than they had in a long time (especially since
  the Depression preceded the war).  This created a pent-up demand that exploded in the
  1950s.

Why did John Byro visit Aram's house in his surrey after getting his horse back in "The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse"?

John Byro visits Aram's house for two reasons as far as I
can see.  The first is to allay Aram's parents fears that their son stole the horse. 
Byro rides back and assures them that all is well and that the horse has been found/
returned.  This move is to ensure the parents that no ill will has been harbored and
developed towards their child, something that Byro knows is extremely important to these
people of the Garoghlanian tribe, where honor and prestige is second to none.  This is
the reason why he cannot bring himself to accuse the boy of theft earlier on the in the
story, even though he knows that the child did steal his horse.  Another reason he
brings the horse back is to show Aram that there is no ill will harbored towards him, as
he remarks that the horse is better behaved and better equipped to deal with riders than
he was before.  In this, Byro offers his gratitude to Aram in a round about manner.  A
moral lesson is taught and learned, without the preachiness or high handed morality that
is seen in most stories like this.  Instead, Byron comes back as one that has earned
Aram's trust and respect for his decency and his sensitivity.