What are the values of crime fiction in The Maltese Falcon?

I think that one can find several examples of values in
crime fiction from Hammett's work.  One of these values is the directed end to which the
crimefighter must succeed.  There is little doubt that in crime fiction, the person
sworn to fight crime and find "the answer" definitely does so.  Sam Spade is shown to be
too shrewd and too insightful to take anything less.  Additionally, much in crime
fiction is developed with the idea that the person who is meant to fight crime is pretty
much incorruptible.  In a setting where so much in way of graft, apathy, and ignorance
have colluded with one another to form a "perfect storm" that will doom society, the
crime fighter in crime fiction is one who stands alone.  The crime fighter is able to
fully embrace the struggle that is present.  I think that another element of crime
fiction values that is present here is that there is a honor in being the sole force
that remedies that which is wrong.  Crime fiction praises the emphasis and actions of
one individual, Sam Spade or Clarice Starling.  In the end, such individuals are driven
to embody one of the critical elements of crime fiction, in that there is an answer and
one simply has to display the commitment in order to find it and demonstrate success in
solving the crime, in question.

Why did the Allies (Great Britain, France, Russia and Italy) negotiate secret treaties during the First World War?Think about the Ottoman Empire...

I assume that you are talking about the secret treaties
and agreements like the Constantinople Agreement and the Sykes-Picot Agreement.  If so,
the major points of this sort of secret treaty were to A) get Russia and Italy to join
in the war and B) to ensure that there would be no disagreements between the various
powers as to who would get what parts of the Ottoman Empire after the
war.

The French and the British felt that it was important
to get Italy and Russia to join the war and to remain motivated to fight.  They felt
that one way to accomplish this was by "buying" those countries off with promises of
territory.  These agreements were kept secret mainly because of how bad they would have
made the Allied Powers look.  They were also kept secret because the appeared to violate
promises made, for example, by the Allies to the Arabs living under Ottoman
Rule.

Overall, then, these treaties were negotiated mainly
to get Italy and Russia's help in the war.

What are the features of Romanticism that can be traced in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre?I read that the novel contains features of romanticism and...

Romanticism is a literary movement which values the
natural aspect of emotions and opts for an unadulterated version of reality. In other
words, is literature that deals with situations that stir the reader's emotions greatly
for the realism of the details, and the fact that it presents people for what they are:
The good is good, the bad is bad, and the horrible is horrible- no chance to "sugar
coat" situations, nor present a more amiable alternative to
challenges.

In Jane Eyre we see a woman who has gone
through some really harsh situations. All throughout her life she had held strongly
against adversity. Even her love situation was a challenge that she would have to carry
heavily in her heart, and suffer from it.

In addition to
this, the story has a Gothic touch, by adding mystery, intrigue, and the addition of
fate, consequences, and other situations that are beyond the control of the characters.
Gothic literature is like the "evil twin" of romantic literature. Jane
Eyre displays an awesome combination of both
genres.

Therefore, the realism of the situations, the
strong and vivid nature of the emotions described, the touches of Gothic elements, and
the story in itself- a rough-ride into the real world-are just a number of the qualities
that make Jane Eyre a great Romantic novel.

In Chapter 3 of Great Expectations, what is unusual about the second convict's face?I'm not sure. Was Pip suprised that it was not the man he...

In Chapter III of Great Expectations,
the first description of the second convict's face is that it is "not the same face, and
had a flat broad-brimmed, low-crowned felt hat on." However, after Pip discovers that
the man in grey whom he has mistaken for his convict of the previous night on the
marshes is a different man, he reaches the first convict and provides him the "wittles"
for which he has asked.

As they talk, Pip broaches the
subject of "the young man" with whom the first convict has threatened Pip.  Startled,
the convict asks Pip about him.  Pip reveals that he wears a hat and leg irons, too.
When the convict inquires if Pip noticed anything about him, Pip replies,  "He had a
badly buised face" and concurs with the convict that it is bruised on the left
cheek. 

While this detail is not mentioned in the third
chapter, later is is revealed that the second convict has a scar on his cheek, as
well.

What is the solution for log(3) x^2 + log(9) x = 2?

The equation to be solved is log(3) x^2 + log(9) x =
2

Use the following properties of
logarithms

log a^b = b*log a , log a + log b = log a*b and
log (b) c = log(a)c / log(a)b

log(3) x^2 + log(9) x =
2

=> log(3) x^2 + log(3) x / log(3) 9 =
2

=> log(3) x^2 + log(3) x / log(3) 3^2 =
2

=> log(3) x^2 + log(3) x^(1/2) =
2

=> log(3) x^2*x^(1/2) =
2

=> log(3) x^(5/2) =
2

=> x^(5/2) =
9

=> x =
9^(2/5)

=> x = 2.4082 (
approximately)

The solution of the equation
is x = 2.4082

Who wrote the Gospel of John in The Bible?

Critics are almost unanimous in believing that the Gospel
of John was written by John the apostle, who is refered to in the Gospels as "the
disciple whom Jesus loved." His name is not actually mentioned in the Gospel, which
would indicate that he himself had wrote it, as you wouldn't necessarily talk about
yourself by name if you are writing the story of somebody else. John the author
obviously had a high level of knowledge of Jewish life, as is seen by his references to
popular Messianic expectations and various other cultural references such as the
practice of circumcision and the animosity between Samaritans and Jews. In addition,
this Gospel contains details that point towards an eye-witness. One of the most cited
examples of this is the house of Bethany with the woman who annoints the feet of Jesus
in John 12:3:

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Then Mary took about a point of pure nard, an
expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And
the house was filled with the fragrance of the
perfume.

Such detailed
touches point towards the account being written by somebody who was there, with Jesus.
Early writers such as Irenaeus and Tertullian argue that John wrote this Gospel, and
other critics have found nothing to argue to the contrary.

In "Dulce et Decorum Est," how does Owen use these horrific images of a poison gas attack to comment upon the saying alluded to in the title?

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori
is from a poem by Horace that was often quoted by World War I era patriots, and means
roughly "it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country." Owen describes combat as far
from heroic or glorious, with soldiers bent over "like beggars" by their packs,
"knock-kneed," "cursing through sludge." Then the gas attack comes and one young man who
is unlucky enough not to get his mask on in time suffers a horrible death, literally
drowning in the fluid from his lungs. Those back home in Britain, claiming that war was
heroic and patriotic, Owen asserts, would feel differently if they saw the realities of
war--for him it was "blood frothing" from the boy's lungs with "white eyes writhing in
his face." In short, like others who followed, most notably Erich Maria Remarque, Owen
tries to use gritty realism to portray the horrors of war, a very effective means of
conveying an anti-war message.

Find the intercepts of y= 2x^2 -4x+8.

Given the curve y= 2x^2 - 4x
+8

We need to find the x and y
intercepts.

First we will determine the
y-intercepts.

The y-intercept is when the curve meets the
y-axis, then the value of x is 0.

==> y= 0+ 8 =
8

Then the y-intercept is (0,
8).

Now we will determine the
x-intercept.

Then y=
0.

==> 2x^2 -4x +8 =
0

==> (2x+4)(x-4) =
0

==> x= -2

==>
x= 4

Then we have two x-intercepts ( -2, 0) and (4,
0)

Then the intercepts
are:

y-intercept (0, 8)

x-intercepts (-2, 0) and
(4,0)

How do you write a thesis statement for an essay on "Seize the Day" by Saul Bellow?

Before writing your thesis statement, you need to
determine what will be the purpose of your essay.  Ask yourself, "What will my essay set
out to prove?"  If your teacher has given specific instructions or a prompt, your thesis
statement will essentially answer the question in the prompt.  If not, then you need to
determine an area on which you wish to concentrate.  Most often, the easiest thing to do
is to write about a theme of the story, and show what message the
author wishes to send, and how he accomplishes his
message.

In "Seize the Day," there are a few themes on
which you could write.  The most prominent is probably the idea of isolation.  Consider
that the story takes place in an urban setting just after WW2, when America's economy is
on a major upswing.  Certainly the main character experiences isolation and loneliness
living in this modern world in which he struggles to find his place.  On a bigger scale,
consider the message about all humans and how progress (economic or otherwise) often
comes at the cost of such isolation.  In times of struggle (like the Great Depression)
humans depend on one another.  When things are financially and otherwise more
comfortable, humans tend to race towards success
alone.

Other themes which stem from the above idea include
the pursuit of the "American Dream," the comparison of success and failure, and the
overall notion of how an individual finds his place in a society, especially one which
does not immediately appear to need
him.

As you explore the themes of the short story and begin
brainstorming ideas, eventually you should come up with a theme
statement which essentially answers the question: what is the author
trying to say about [selected theme subject] and how does he accomplish this?  Answering
this "what" of this question will give your essay one overall focus.  Then, you
establish your mode of organization and development by answering the
"how."

Discuss the postmaster's quest for love and security through his characterization in Tagore's "The Postmaster."

The postmaster's quest for love and security is a fairly
self- interested one.  From nearly the first moment that we are introduced to him, we
understand that his sole desire for happiness is to return back to Calcutta.  This flies
in the face of Ratan's desire for happiness, which is more centered on living life with
him in the village.  In this, his hope for happiness is structured to come at her cost. 
Both of their visions are mutually exclusive, and while there is a conveniences shared,
it is only a temporary one based on contingency.  The postmaster is one whose end goal
for love and security is based on temporary and transcendent ends.  On one hand, he
finds happiness and security in the life that Ratan makes for him.  She tends to house
for him, assists him in his duties, and takes care of him when he is sick.  In this
temporary condition, his quest for love and security is met.  When he receives the
transfer orders to Calcutta and ends up leaving without Ratan, his transcendent or
permanent quest for love and security is also accomplished in that he achieves what he
wants.  There might be some pangs of pain that exist in his when he leaves her behind,
but he rationalizes them away, ensuring that nothing, if anything, will stand in his way
for love and security.  This sense of happiness accomplished at the cost of anothers is
why Tagore cannot identify with him at the end of the narrative. While the story is in
his name, it is really Ratan's, who continues to wander about the village in the hopes
of seeing her "Dadababu" again, and in accomplishing her quest for love and
security.

What are some citations from the novel To Kill a Mockingbird that show Jem's loss of innocence?

JEM AND NATHAN RADLEY.  One
of Jem's earliest discoveries about adult deceit comes when he discovers Boo's brother
cementing their secret knothole. Nathan tells Jem that the tree is diseased, his reason
for the use of the cement. When Jem questions Atticus, Atticus tells him to look for
himself: The tree is perfectly healthy, he tells Jem, who immediately realizes that
Atticus is being straight with him and that Nathan has lied. He has sealed the knothole
only to prevent further communication with
Boo.

JEM AND THE LYNCH MOB. 
Jem discovers that some of Maycomb's citizens are not the "best in the world." Though
Jem may not have understood the group's true intentions, he did recognize that they
would have harmed Atticus if necessary.

JEM
AND THE JURY.  Jem is distraught following the guilty verdict. He
recognized that Atticus proved his case and that Tom could not have been guilty. The
jury's guilty verdict makes Jem wonder about the jury system as well as the goodness of
his neighbors in Maycomb.

What does Dickens want the reader to think about the main character?A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

With the employment of doubles as a major motif
in A Tale of Two Cities, a discussion of the main character, then,
necessitates the inclusion of his alter-ego.  As these doubles, Sydney Carton and
Charles Darnay represent the darker side and the better side of a man.  The darker side,
Carton, seems less mature than Darnay, frivolous of purpose, wasteful of his time, and
directionless.   Allowing his legal acumen to be exploited by C. J. Stryver, who
"shoulders his way" through life, Carton merely drinks up the profits of his grand
efforts and keen insights, chiding himself for his dislike of Darnay.  While Carton's
drinking in the Victorian Age was considered only as a character flaw, Darnay is,
nevertheless, much more the refined gentleman, noble of purpose, and directed in love. 
However, it is this same love for Lucie Manette in a idealistic form that lends Carton
nobility.  Thus united in their love of Lucie, it is Carton's pure form that allows him
to do what Darnay cannot:  He saves Darnay from
execution.

By becoming the sacrificial victim, Carton saves
the life of Darnay, redeems his life, and renews society.  For, as Dickens writes, the
"vigorous tenacity of love [is] always so much stronger than hate."  As he goes to his
death, saving his alter-ego from the sins of his father, and giving himself new life
through his future namesake, Sydney Carton envisions his reincarnation of
spirit,

“I
see that child who lay upon her bosom‚ and who bore my name, a man‚ winning his way up
in that path of life which once was mine. I see him winning it so well, that my name is
made illustrious there by the light of his. I see the blots I threw upon it faded away.
I see him foremost of just judges and honoured men, bringing a boy of my name, with a
forehead that I know‚ and golden hair, to this place—then fair to look upon, with not a
trace of this day’s disfigurement—and I hear him tell the child my story with a tender
and a faltering
voice.

Perhaps, then, Charles
Dickens, the social reformer who felt that often the wretched possessed much
goodness, desires that the reader think of Sydney Carton much as Lucie Manette, the
consummate Victorian heroine thinks of him,

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"...Mr. Carton, I am sure that the best part of
it [his life] might still be; I am sure that you might be much, much, worthier of
yourself."

By his heroic
self-sacrifice, Carton becomes united to his alter-ego and is, thus, no longer
dissipated, but worthy and made whole.

How does Miller compare the Salem Witch Trials to the House of Unamerican Activities hearings (HUAC) in The Crucible?

There are different variations of this question that are
already answered out there in the group for this work.  However, I will focus on the
hearings, themselves.  Miller wants to present the fraudulent nature of both hearings. 
The hearings in Salem are supposed to be governed by impartiality and the idea of being
innocent until proven guilty.  Yet, in the HUAC setting and Salem, this is inverted.  In
both courts, insinuation, innuendo, and rumor help to determine guilt.  This prevents
individuals from receiving a fair trial and helps to ensure that confessions are forced
from those accused.  The fact that so many in both the HUAC and Salem setting
capitulated into making forced confessions was evidence used by those in the position of
power that the hearings work, thereby increasing even more insistence of the trials'
presence.  This consolidation of power for those in the position of authority was one of
the results of both setting.  Miller hopes to bring out the idea that justice is
challenging, not able to be simple or reductive.  Both hearings were not concerned with
the complex nature of justice, but rather in the end product that bolstered the
credibility of those in the position of power.

In "La Belle Dame Sans Merci," what attracts the knight to the lady?

It is clear that from the beginning enchantment or some
form of magic is at the heart of the attraction that the strange lady is able to provoke
in the Knight who is left the worse for ever meeting her. However, at the same time, it
is clear that the lady's beauty has something to do with it. Note the way that the
knight describes the lady in stanza four:

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I met a lady in the
meads,

Full beautiful--a faery's
child;

Her hair was long, her foot was
light,

And her eyes were
wild.

Note the way that her
beauty and her enchantment are linked in this stanza. She is "full beautiful," in fact
so beautiful that the knight concludes she was a "faery's child," or the product of
magic. The "wild" description of her eyes combined with the way that she made "sweet
moan" also add a frankly sexual element to the attraction. The way she is described and
the actions that she engages in suggests that she is casting some kind of spell over the
night, as she sings a "faery's song" to him and gives him "roots of relish sweet" and
other such offerings to eat. Reference to her "wild, wild eyes" is again made later on
in the poem when the knight kisses her eyes four times and closes
them.

Thus it is that if we examine the poem the nature of
the attraction seems to be in the way that the lady is able to enchant the knight with
her beauty and magic. Her other-wordly nature is stressed throughout the poem, and so we
can imagine that the knight finds her exotic and attractive.

Explain Shakespearian comedy features in As You Like It.

In Shakespeare's day, the definition of a comedy was not
the same as it is today. Elizabethan/Shakespearean comedy usually involved a plotline
that revolved around young lovers in difficult situations, deception among the
characters (and often cross-dressing), and an ending that involved more than one
marriage. The comedies emphasized the situation over the relationship and frequently
dealt with class issues. All of these elements show up in As You Like
It. Rosalind is in a difficult situation because her uncle has deposed her
father and sent him to live in the woods; she disguises herself to join him; she falls
in love with Orlando; her cousin, who has accompanied her, also falls in love, as does
the court fool Touchstone. After many silly adventures, all of the lovers are married
and her father regains his throne.

In act 4 scene 5 of Hamlet, comment on the flowers Ophelia gives. How does Ophelia's bouquet relate to various themes of the play?

Ophelia begins by handing out rosemary, which she says is
"for remembrance." This remembrance could be for any of the dead or slain characters
that have been produced by the play's plot thus far, or we as readers could infer that
the remembrance refers to her once-love of Hamlet.

She
proceeds then to pansies, which she says represent "thoughts." Thinking and pensiveness
play heavy roles in this play, as demonstrated by Hamlet's melancholy state, among other
things. These thoughts could be interpreted to be about any one of several possibilities
at this point.

The fennel, columbines, and rue are
supposedly "herbs of grace," used at funerals and other somber occasions. She also says
that her receivers must wear their rue differently, as she is mourning the death of her
father.

Lastly, Ophelia gives a daisy, ordinarily a happy
flower, but she states that she "wishes (she) had violets, but they withered when my
father died." The symbolism here should be obvious.

Every
flower provided has its own meaning, but in each case, the reader can detect double
entendre and a sickening sense of metaphor for all of them. A little internet detective
work on the meaning of flowers will also help the reader. 

In Chapter 17 of To Kill a Mockingbird, Bob Ewell comments that the black families are "dangerous to live around 'sides devaluin' his...

This quote, spoken by Bob Ewell in the novel To
Kill a Mockingbird, is quite ironic in many
ways.

First, Ewell claims that having black people in the
neighborhood would "devalue his property". The fact is that the Ewells are the most
notorious villagers in Macomb, and this notoriety comes for being the lowest of the
lowest in terms of social class. This has nothing to do with their level of poverty,
which is quite bad, but with their overall way of
living.

They are known to be untidy, sickly (due to their
poor hygiene), loud, obnoxious, antisocial, and vulgar. Their place of living is
completely isolated from Macomb because they do not even possess any social skills to
blend in with the rest of the community. In other words, the Ewells devalue the entire
town of Macomb themselves only by being there: They add no value to the
community,whatsoever.

Moreover, it takes a lot of nerve for
someone like Bob Ewell  to dare to mention the flaws of others. This is a man who
probably fondles his own daughter, is racist, violent, and a social outcast. The fact
that he is oblivious to the chaos in his own life shows how dysfunctional, sad, and
sorry is the life of the Ewell family, as a
whole.

Therefore, the comment is an irony in its
entirety.

In chapter 7 of Animal Farm, how do Boxer and Clover respond to the challenges of Animal Farm?

In chapter 7, the animals have just suffered the loss of
the windmill they have toiled over building. They believe Snowball knocked it down, but
it is insinuated that the wind knocked it down as the design didn't account for thick
enough walls.

The animals are feeling hopeless now that it
is winter and they have to start from scratch on such an arduous project. Boxer,
however, sticks to his mantra "I will work harder!" This mantra also inspires other
animals to stick it out and work more tirelessly before. Clover, as always, sticks by
Boxer looking up to him.

Another challenge that is facing
them is this phantom Snowball which has everyone on the farm frightened. Allegedly,
Snowball sneaks onto the farm and causing mischief including stealing corn, knocking
over milk pails and destroying eggs. The animals cannot believe Snowball would do
this.

Boxer becomes vocal about his surprise when he hears
Squealer accusation that Snowball is working for Farmer Pilkington and is aiding in an
attack against Animal Farm. Boxer claims that there is no way this could be when
Snowball was a hero in the "Battle of Cowshed." He refuses to believe Squealer until he
hears that Napoleon himself knows Snowball to have been a traitor from the beginning.
Boxer changes his tune saying "If Comrade Napoleon says it, it must be
right."

These are the two major challenges in chapter 7.
Unless you are referring to the accusations & confessions portion of the
chapter, which I wouldn't call challenges necessarily.

List all key events within Shakespeare's Julius Caesar in chronological order.

Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar,
begins during the Feast of Lupercal. Caesar is a strong military leader and respected
ruler in Rome: he wants to become king. However, he has many enemies as well. Cassius is
one. He wants to assassinate Caesar and tries to get Brutus, a man wholeheartedly
dedicated to the good of Rome, to join Cassius and other conspirators in this plan, even
if he must convince Brutus dishonestly. (Brutus comes to believe that Caesar would harm
the empire.)

A soothsayer warns Caesar to beware of the
"ides of March" (March 15), but Caesar ignores the warning. Cassius resents Caesar on a
personal level because Cassius had once saved the emperor's life, but has not been
rewarded for this act. His jealousy and resentment fuel his need for
revenge.

Brutus is not quick to agree, but eventually joins
the other conspirators, stabbing Caesar to death on March 15. Mark Antony is one who
loved Caesar, and though he pretends to be open to explanations of why Caesar had to die
(from the conspirators), he secretly promises to kill all of them. Brutus addresses the
Roman people, explaining whey Caesar had to die, and at first they are supportive.
However, at Caesar's funeral, Mark Antony gives a grand speech that makes the people
rise up against Brutus and the other conspirators, including Cassius. In light of this
divide of the nation's people, civil war erupts.

Antony,
Octavius and Lepidus are to rule Rome as the new Triumvirate. In Act Four, scenes one
and two, they all agree who must be killed when they take over to guarantee an easy
transition. Lepidus agrees to kill his brother if Antony will agree that his nephew can
be killed. If this isn't enough to question the ethics of Antony, he also arranges with
Octavius that Lepidus will be excluded because he is old, but is useful for the moment
to run "errands."

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"This is a slight unmeritable man, / Meet to be
sent on errands"
(IV.i.12-13)

Eventually it
seems that Brutus and Cassius (who have escaped to Greece) will have to fight the army
of Antony and Octavius. When it seems that they have lost, Cassius covers his face with
a cloth and pleads with his servant to kill him. Brutus goes into battle twice. After
losing a second time, he falls on his sword (committing suicide) rather than being taken
to Rome as a prisoner. He was a man of his convictions, and killed Caesar though he
loved him, for the ultimate good of Rome.

Antony even
praises Brutus at the end, speaking to what kind of man Brutus was, and what he most
cared about—not killing Caesar out of jealousy, but an earnest desire to protect
Rome:

This
was the noblest Roman of them all:
All the conspirators, save only
he
Did that they did in envy of great Caesar,
He, only in a general
honest thought
And common good to all, made one of them.
His life
was gentle, and the elements
So mix'd him that Nature might stand
up
And say to all the world: "This was a
man!"
(V.v.68-75).

When
the war is over, Antony and Octavius are the most powerful men in the
empire.

What are some examples from the book The Ramayana by R.K. Narayan of how "Truth always wins"?

Although Narayan's translation of The Ramayana
is a bit shortened, some of the basic elements of truth triumphing over evil
is present.  Rama slays Ravan.  This would be the most fundamental element of truth
winning over the forces of non- truth.  Rama represents civilized order and structure, a
force of justice and truth in the world.  Ravan represents selfishness, a form of
injustice, and the basic human element of the capacity for evil that has to be rooted
out in order for collective solidarity to emerge.  Rama winning is an example of truth
always wining.  I would also point out that Sita never fades in her chastity.  She was
overpowered by Ravan and could have simply consented to being with him in order to make
her own life comfortable.  Yet, her devotion to Rama causes her to be tormented by
demons and Ravan's other wives.  However, she is willing to take this pain and suffering
in the recognition of her marriage and the bond she shares with Rama.  This represents
truth over illusion and Sita embodies it.  I think that Rama and Sita prevailing over
the illusion that covers so much of human beings represents the idea of truth
prevailing.

What fundamental differences in ideals separated the American colonies from Great Britain after 1763?

Actually, there was not a great deal of difference between
American and British ideals. Almost all Americans prior to the revolution considered
themselves the King's good and loyal servants and were proud of their English heritage.
The most precious of these was their "rights as
Englishmen."

After the Seven Years War when Parliament
attempted to tax the colonies for the expense of defending them, the colonists insisted
that they had been denied their rights as Englishment. Even after Lexington and Concord,
an Olive Branch Petition was sent to George III offering to call off hostilities if they
could only be granted their rights as Englishmen:

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The apprehension of being degraded into a state
of servitude from the preeminent rank of English freemen, while our minds retain the
strongest love of liberty, and clearly foresee the miseries preparing for us and our
posterity, excites emotions in our breasts which, though we cannot describe, we should
not wish to conceal. Feeling as men, and thinking as subjects, in the manner we do,
silence would be disloyalty. By giving this faithful information, we do all in our power
to promote the great objects of your royal cares, the tranquility of your government and
the welfare of your people.

We ask but for peace, liberty,
and safety. We wish not a diminution of the prerogative, nor do we solicit the grant of
any new right in our favor. Your royal authority over us, and our connection with Great
Britain, we shall always carefully and zealously endeavor to support and
maintain.

George III refused
to even read the petition. It was only after this, that Thomas Paine wrote Common sense
in which he argued that the King (and Parliament) were responsible for the war; and that
the Americans had evolved into a separate nation who could no longer be part of the
British Empire:

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Every thing that is right or natural pleads for
separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries,
'tis time to part. Even the distance at which the
Almighty hath placed England and America, is a strong and natural proof, that the
authority of the one, over the other, was never the design of
Heaven.

There is some
argument that during and after the Seven Years War, Americans developed a separate
identity as such. Still American ideals and British ideals were not that
different.

Explain why the Senate can function effectively with a far more informal atmosphere then the House of Representatives?

This statement has been truer in the past than it is in
today's more polarized atmosphere.  However, the Senate typically can do this because of
the more "collegial" atmosphere that is possible in the
Senate.

Senators typically get to know one another much
better the Representatives do.  There are many fewer Senators and they serve much longer
terms than the Representatives do.  This means that they have many more chances to get
to know one another.  In addition, they represent much bigger areas and are therefore
usually less able to hold extreme views because they have to appeal to a broader range
of voters than Representatives do.  For these reasons, they have typically been able to
work more consensually with one another even in a less formal and structured
house.

Comment on Hemingway's famous quote: "Courage is grace under fire." How has Santiago displayed courage in The Old Man and the Sea?

Santiago displays courage in his tireless efforts to
endure and to continue to fight against the nothingness that exists if one does not
strive to "live correctly."

Hemingway himself wrote that
his code hero is

readability="10">

...a man who lives correctly, following the
ideals of honor, courage and endurance in a world that is sometimes chaotic, often
stressful, and always
painful.

Indeed, Santiago is
the code hero as he displays perseverance, courage, and honor. He ventures out to sea
each day, even though he has not caught a fish for eighty-four days. When he finally
catches a marlin, he must fight to bring it in; his hands are bloodied and the one
cramps, but Santiago perseveres just as his baseball hero Joe DiMaggio ran with terrible
bone spurs in his feet. Truly, Santiago exerts himself
bravely: 

But
I have had worse things than that....My hand is only cut a little and the cramp is gone
from the other. My legs are all right....The fish is my friend....But I must kill
him. 

Even when the sharks
attack and eat his catch, Santiago continues to battle. When he can no longer talk to
the fish because it has been so badly ruined, Santiago becomes philosophical, telling
the mangled fish he is sorry that he ventured too far out to sea, and caused the ruin of
them both, still demonstrating courage,

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But we have killed many sharks, you and I....You
do not have that spear on your head for nothing....

Fight
them, he said. I'll fight them until I
die.

This courage, this
willingness to remain a man even in defeat, is what Hemingway refers to as grace under
pressure. When Santiago returns, enervated and with nothing but a skeleton for a catch,
he retains this quality of humility:

readability="7">

His hope and confidence had never gone....He was
too simple to wonder when he had attained humility. But he knew he had attained it and
he knew it was not disgraceful and it carried no loss of true
pride.

Santiago leaves the
skeleton of the great fish tied to his boat, and the other fisherman measure it at
eighteen feet. Destroyed in body, but not in mind, the courageous Santiago returns to
his shack and lies face down on his cot to sleep and dream a memory of his youth: "The
old man was dreaming about the lions."

In "There Will Come Soft Rains," what can you infer about the lives of the former inhabitants?

Bradbury's futuristic short story, "There Will Come Soft
Rains," presents a world in which the quotidian humanity has been removed.  For, it is
the technologically-advanced house that expresses human action. Examples of this assumed
humanity that characterizes the machinery of the house are evident throughout the
narrative.  The "voice-clock sang,"  the garage "lifted its door," the tiny robot mice
"darted," and "thudded against chairs," "popped into their burrows" where their "pink
electric eyes faded."

Outside, the charred figures of the
residents of the house have their images burned into wood, revealing their last
actions.  The boy and girl were playing ball, the mother picking flowers.  They are
nothing but shadow of themselves, just as they have been mere shadows of human beings
when alive.  It is, after all, the house that is the
person:

It
quivered at each sound, the house did....

[When the house
catches fire]  The house tried to save itself....The house gave ground as the fire in
ten billion angry sparks moved ....

The house shuddered,
oak bone on bone, its bared skeleton cringing from the heat, its wire, its nerves
revealed as if a surgeon had torn the skin off to let the red veins and capillaries
quiver in the scalded air.  Help, help!...And the voices wailed Fire, fire, run, run,
....And the voices fading as the wires popped their sheathings like hot
chestnuts.

Clearly, it is the
house that has assumed human qualities while the humans have been subsumed into the
technological world of Bradbury's narrative.

What is the value of x in 2x+12*[1 - (x-2)^(1/2)]=0?

Before solving a square root equation, we'll have to
impose the constraint of existence of the square root.

The
radicand has to be positive:

x -
2>=0

x>=2

So,
all the solutions of the equation have to belong to the interval
[2;+infinite).

Now, we'll solve the equation. We'll divide
by 2:

x + 6 - 6sqrt(x-2) =
0

We'll move - 6sqrt(x-2) to the right side, so that
raising to square both sides, we'll eliminate the square
root.

(x+6)^2 = [6square
root(x-2)]^2

x^2 + 12x + 36 =
36(x-2)

We'll remove the
brackets:

x^2 + 12x + 36 - 36x + 72 =
0

We'll combine like
terms:

x^2 - 24x + 108 = 0

x1
= [24+sqrt(144)]/2

x1 =
(24+12)/2

x1 = 18

x2 =
6

Since both values are in the interval of
possible values, we'll validate them as solutions: x1 = 18 and x2 =
6.

How is the play "The Bear" light-hearted satire of the ways of the Russian aristocracy?

“The Bear” makes fun of the way the
aristocracy lives.  Elena, the widow, lives off her money and refuses to leave the
house.  Smirnov, another wealthy landowner, lives by borrowing and lending
money.

Elena Popova is brooding over the
picture of her husband six months after he died in the beginning of the play.  She has
interred herself in her house.  This is a silly thing to do, from a silly woman. She has
the luxury of grief because she is rich.  She was also loyal to him even though by her
own admission he treated her terribly and cheated on her, yet still expected her to be
loyal to his memory.

readability="15">

I loved him passionately with all my being, as
only a young and imaginative woman can love, I gave him my youth, my happiness, my life,
my fortune, I breathed in him, I worshipped him as if I were a heathen, and... and what
then?

Smirnov seems to be the
opposite of Elena’s husband.  It seems that in his relationships, he was the one who
loved.  However, he also appears to have had his heart
broken.

I
used to love passionately, madly, every blessed way, devil take me; I used to chatter
like a magpie about emancipation, and wasted half my wealth on tender feelings, but
now--you must excuse
me! 

Smirnov and Elena have
real problems, but they are the problems of the aristocracy.  Smirnov goes comically
from being very polite when asking for the money to being very rude when she cannot give
it to him.

Just as he changes his manners, he changes his
passions.  He goes from being angry at her and all women-kind to kissing her and falling
in love with her dimples.

Can you provide a review of "The Open Window" by Saki? H. H. Munroe, author of "The Open Window"

A review of a work of literature usually includes a
summary and synthesis, or overview and interpretation which emphasizes the credibility
of the writer in his narrative.

Therefore, to review Saki's
frame story, "The Open Window," the writer must certainly point to the magnficent use of
irony that Saki uses, for his irony disarms not only the characters Frank Nuttel and
Mrs. Stappleton, but it also completely disarms the readers as well.  It is in this
story of Saki's that the delightful and distinctive quality of Saki's humor is apparent,
an acute humor that has been compared to that of Lewis
Carroll.

With a name such as Vera, derived from the Latin
veritas, or truth, and a story literally and figuratively framed by
an open window, the nervous listener Frank Nuttel is completely duped by Mrs.
Stappleton's niece's tragic tale which she weaves "at short notice" about her two uncles
having gone out to hunt on the same day of the year on which she speaks to Nuttel.  The
men, however, never reappeared at day's end, having been "engulfed in a treacherous
piece of bog" and their bodies never recovered. Vera continues to tell Nuttel that her
deluded aunt continues to believe that the men will return with their dog; for this
reason the window is kept open every evening until
dusk.

When Mrs. Stappleton finally appears, she apologizes
to Nuttel and tells him that she awaits the return of her husband and brother, glancing
out the open window. Unsettled, ironically, by what he perceives as her delusion, Nuttel
bemoans his arrival on this tragic anniversary.  Then, when Mrs. Stappleton remarks,
"Here they are now," Saki writes whimsically that in "a chill shock of nameless fear
Framton swung round in his seat and looked in the same direction." Abruptly, he rushes
from the house, and Mrs. Stappleton remarks at what a strange man he is.  With "romance
at short notice [being] her speciality," Vera fabricates yet another tale as
she explains to her aunt that the spaniel may have frightened Nuttel since he has a
"horror" of dogs. With wry wit, Saki narrates that Nuttel raced so that a cyclist has to
run into a hedge to avoid collision with the frightened
man.

"The Open Window," a story replete with Saki's
characteristic humor and skillful irony, demonstrates what one critic calls "a smiling
acceptance of the less delectable truths of human existence."  For reader, Nuttel, and
Mrs. Stappleton alike are duped by Vera's talent for framed
fabrication.

Why is the Petrov Affair considered an important event in Australia's response to the threat of communism?

The Petrov Affair reflected the extent of concern
regarding the possibility of Soviet espionage in Australia and highlighted the
conflicting responses to that concern, and to Communism in general, among members of the
Australian government.

The timing of Vladimir Petrov's
defection, shortly before the 1954 elections, gave Liberal Party member and Prime
Minister Menzies the opportunity to present a strong anti-Communist stand as he
coordinated the seizure of Evdokia Petrov away from Soviet officials before she could be
returned to the Soviet Union after her husband's defection. Menzies claimed that the
Petrovs provided documents revealing an extensive Communist spy ring in Australia,
including Dr. H. V. Evatt, a well-respected official and Labor Party candidate for Prime
Minister. Evatt's conduct during investigations reflected his view that the Liberal
government had intended to use the defections to its advantage during the election
campaign and that he felt personally as well as politically threatened. The Labor Party,
which had been expected to win the elections, lost as Menzies was reelected.
Anti-Communist sentiment was heightened by the entire affair, even within the Labor
Party, which splintered due to varied reactions to Evatt's statements and
actions.

The point (3,y) lies on the segment with endpoints (3,1); (7,-5). What is y?

We need to determine the equation of the line that passes
through the points: (3,1); (7,-5).

(x2 - x1)/(x - x1) = (y2
- y1)/(y - y1)

We'll identify the
cordinates:

x1 = 3, x2 = 7

y1
= 1, y2 = -5

We'll substitute into the
formula:

(7-3)/(x - 3) = (-5-1)/(y -
1)

4/(x-3) = -6/(y-1)

We'll
divide by 2:

2/(x-3) =
-3/(y-1)

We'll cross
multiply:

-3*(x-3) =
2(y-1)

We'll remove the
brackets:

-3x + 9 = 2y -
2

We'll add 2 both sides:

2y =
-3x + 9 + 2

2y = -3x +
11

We'll divide by 2:

y =
-3x/2 + 11/2

If the point (3,y) is located on the line, y =
-3x/2 + 11/2, then it's coordinates verify the equation of the
line:

y = -3*3/2 + 11/2

y =
-9/2 + 11/2

y = 2/2

y =
1

If  x = 3, the
missing coordinate is y = 1.

In Julius Caesar, do you think Antony was a good politician but did not have a good moral background? Explain.

Yes, I agree with this statement.  A good politician needs
to get the people on his side in order to gain popularity and power.  Because Antony is
such a persuasive speaker, he is highly successful at drumming up support for his
cause.  Originally, this cause is presumed to be revenge for his slain friend Julius
Caesar.  However, during Act 4 we learn about the true Antony, and that Caesar's
assassination was actually his opportunity to crawl out from under Caesar's shadow and a
chance at a power grab.  This is best evidenced in Act 4, Scene I when he makes changes
to Caesar's will so that he can get more of the inheritance.  He also shows he's morally
unjust in the same scene when he secretly plots to remove Lepidus from the
triumvirate.

On the surface, Antony looks like the noblest
of all Romans, but underneathe he is more ambitious and deceitful than any man in Rome. 
This is the sketching of a true politician.

In "Young Goodman Brown," what does the staff represent?

Excellent question. Of course, the staff is first
introduced as belonging to the shadowly gentleman that first meets Goodman Brown as he
ventures into the woods at the beginning of the story. This gentleman is obviously meant
to stand for the Devil, and his "remarkable" staff clearly indicates the way that this
is suggested, coupled with the way in which this man constantly urges Goodman Brown to
travel deeper into the woods with him. Note how the staff is first
described:

readability="12">

But the only thing about him that could be fixed
upon as remarkable was his staff, which bore the likeness of a great black snake, so
curiously wrought that it might almost be seen to twist and wriggle itself like a living
servant. This, of course, must have been an ocular deception assisted by the uncertain
light.

However, what is
interesting is the way that this "staff" is carved as a snake, which is of course a
symbol of temptation and evil. Note the way that this man constantly offers Goodman
Brown his staff to support him on the journey. Also, note what happens when this man
gives Goody Cloyse his staff:

readability="11">

So saying, he threw it down at her feet, where,
perhaps, it assumed life, being one of the rods which its owner had formerly lent to the
Egyptian magi.

The link of
this staff to the ones that the Egyptian magi used in their contest of power against
Moses in the book of Exodus in the Bible clearly indicates the way that the staff is
associated with evil. Let us just consider briefly what we use a staff for. A staff is
used to support us, to give us strength and to aid us, making journeys easier. Clearly,
if we put this together with the presentation of the staff in this story, it is strongly
suggested that the staff therefore represents the act of relying on evil to support us
in our lives.

What is the cumulative effect of Swift presenting the six advantages one after another in "A Modest Proposal"?

Clearly this part of this hilarious and grimly satirical
essay is part of Swift's design of creating a speaker who is above all trying to present
himself as reasonable and logical in the way that he proposes a horrendous idea. If you
read through the six advantages to turning Irish children into a form of human cattle
for consumption, one is struck by the emphasis on reason and logic in the arguments that
the speaker uses. All would benefit from adopting this measure, from the English
landlords to the poor themselves, according to the chain of
argument.

Of course, such emphasis on an appearance of
logic and reason only serves to augment the true horror and disgust that Swift is trying
to produce. In reality, the poor would suffer even more than they were during the famine
in the first place. Thus it is that Swift shows how adopting such a logical, reasonable
and statistical view of humanity can result in converting ourselves into monsters whilst
also protesting against the inaction of the English in doing nothing to alleviate the
horrendous conditions of the Irish famine.

What is an operator.

Math operators are used to perform basic arithmetic
calculation involving numbers. Almost all of these operators will accept real numbers,
complex numbers, and matrices as operands.

The following
sections describe the function of each operator.

ADDx+y

The Add operator calculates
the sum of x and y. The plus symbol can also be used to indicate the sign of a numeric
literal (e.g.,
+5).

Subtract

href="http://www.vanguardsw.com/dphelp4/dph00365.htm">x-y

The Subtract operator
subtracts y from x. The minus symbol is also used to enter negative numbers (e.g.,
-5).

href="http://www.vanguardsw.com/dphelp4/dph00350.htm">Multiply
x*y

The
Multiply operator calculates the product of x and
y.

Implied
multiply

href="http://www.vanguardsw.com/dphelp4/dph00338.htm">kx

Implied Multiply is not
really an operator--instead it is the absence of an operator. For example, the
expression 5x is treated the same as 5*x. In order to use the Implied
Multiply function, k must be a numeric literal and x must be a variable,
primitive, or node name.

MAny more

What is "Ode on a Grecian Urn" all about?

In this excellent poem the speaker addresses a Grecian urn
which has two different scenes painted on it These scenes cause the speaker to consider
and meditate upon the nature of beauty and truth, and the way that this Grecian urn is a
symbol of eternal art and beauty. As the poem draws to its conclusion, the speaker
contemplates the significance of the urn for us as humans, saying that by meditating
upon the urn it "teases us out of thought," thought being that which makes us aware of
our own mortality and the cares of the world. However, contemplating the urn only does
this briefly, and we are left with an overwhelming sense of the ephemeral nature of man.
The Ode ends on a riddle as we are told that "Beauty is Truth, and Truth Beauty." Yet we
are left confused if the speaker is actually celebrating the beauty and truth that is in
the urn and that it symbolises, or whether the speaker is actually arguing that
contemplating the urn should make us more determined to make the most of our brief lives
and search for a truth that is beyond the cold remnant of a dead
civilisation.

In Things Fall Apart, what is Okonkwo's tragic flaw?

In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo has a tragic flaw. His
tragic flaw is his fear of becoming like his father. Unoka, Oknokwo's father, is lazy
and loves a life of leisure. Okonkwo deals with his fear on a daily basis. He becomes
obsessed with hard work in his determination to never be called weak or woman, as did
the children call Okonkow's father.

Okonkwo is driven by
his passion to excel and become a leader in the community. He allows his masculine
desires to overtake him. He becomes abusive to his family, insisting they work as hard
as he does.

Ultimately, Okonkwo allows his fear to totally
consume him. He is so afraid that he will lose his title until he takes his own life. In
the end, he dies without a proper burial, just as his father died without a proper
burial. Okonkwo allowed his fear to take contol of him. His life ends in
tragey.

What were the major contributions of Longinus' On the Sublime to the history of literary criticism?

Longinus regarded the sublime as a thing of spirit, a
spark leaping from writer to reader, rather than a  product of technique.  He lists five
sources of the sublime, the first two of which--great thoughts and noble feelings--are
gifts of nature and the last three of which --lofty fiures, speech, diction and
arrangement--are products of art. 

Longinus identified five
sources of the sublime:

readability="6">

"the power of forming great
conceptions";
"vehement and inspired passion";
"the due formation of
figures";
"noble diction"; and
"dignified and elevated
composition."

Correspondingly,
he highlights three problem areas to avoid while seeking the
sublime:

readability="5">

Tumidity (overblown language)
Puerility
(hair splitting) and Parenthyrsus (false
passion)

In essence, he
realizes the same great men who produce great ideas will, by nature of their 'greatness'
also be capable of deep and sincere feeling.

To achieve
this end, Longinus believed in expressing thoughts and feelings via noble language ("due
formation of figures"), all of which is designed to elevate the individual into the
transdecent: "a figure is at its best when the very fact that it is a figure escapes
attention." 

To achieve this "formation of figures" there
are six figure types:

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amplification
inversions of word
order
polyptota--accumulations, variations, and
climaxes
particulars combined from the plural to the
singular
interchange of persons--addressing the audience as
"you"
periphrasis (circumlocution)--wordiness, circling
around the issue

Hope that
helps.

Is it possible to link "Paul's Case" by Willa Cather and "A Rose for Emily" by Faulkner thematically?

The story Paul's Case by Willa Cather
and the story A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner have certain
themes that they share in common.

One of those themes is
non-conformity and the inability to accept life just like it is. In the case of Paul, he
dreams of having the life of a dandy in such an obsessive way that he stops at nothing
to try to achieve his dream. Similarly,the character of Emily cannot and will not accept
that times have hanged, that she is not the Southern aristocrat that she used to be, and
that she is simply not loved by the man she loves,
Homer.

Like Paul, Emily went outside of the paradigms of
common sense and reason to achieve her desire to keep Homer by killing him and keeping
his body until her death. Paul's extreme measure was to escape to New York, live under a
false identity, and then end his own life when he realized that the end of his lie was
near.

The isolation, dejection, and loneliness that these
two main characters experience is a result of their non-conformity and inability to
adapt to life. Therefore, madness and other strange behaviors take control of them.
Thematically speaking, that would be the best way to combine these two otherwise diverse
stories together. However, it is a fact that the theme of non-conformity and loneliness
hit hard on both stories, with the same results.

How can you tell if the molecule is ionic or covalent?Does an ionic compound HAVE to have a metal? and if the molecule has a metal does it HAVE to...

In nature there are no 100% ionic compounds. Each chemical
compounds has a certain percentage of ionic character in its bonds and the remaining
percentage as covalent bonds. The only compounds that are accepted as being 100%
covalent are the chemical combinations that happen between two similar atoms, like for
example the C-C bond existent in diamond, or the O-O bond in O2. Usually if atoms are
different in the compound it will present a certain percentage of ionicity in its bond,
the highest the difference between electronegativity of elements the highest the
percentage of existent ionic bonds. Thus usually the compounds like NaCl (first element
from group IA, last element from group VIIA) are regarded as ideal ionic compounds,
whereas compounds like GaAs, or InSb (first element from group IIIA, last element from
group VA) are regarded as covalent compounds (although they present about 10-15%
ionicity in their bonds). For metaloids, like Ge-Ge and Si-Si bonds, because they
contain atoms of the same type the bond is almost 100% covalent.

Chapter 10, Book the Third - "The Substance of the Shadow": Describe the contents of the journal of Dr. Manette.A Tale of Two Cities by Charles...

[Because only one question is allowed at a time, your
questions have been consolidated.   See the link below for another relevant
answer.]

This chapter reveals much of the mystery about the
Marquis and his brother, the father of Charles Darnay.  The contents of Dr. Manette's
"melancholy page" is written in 1767 while he is imprisoned in the Bastille; he writes
with the soot and charcoal from scrapings of the chimney mixed with his blood as he uses
a rusty nail.  Dr. Manette writes of how he was stopped and taken by the Evremonde
brothers to attend some peasants, one of whom is a young man wounded by the one twin. 
The other is a young woman, who cries out about her father, dead of a heart attack, and
her brother, stricken by the sword, saying the number 12 which signifies how her husband
died at the twelfth hour after sobbing once for every
hour.

When Dr. Manette picks the young woman up, he
realizes that she is pregnant and will not survive.  After a week, she dies without
revealing her name, just as the brother dies in silence.  After the brother and sister
are dead, the elder brother hands Dr. Manette a rouleau, coins wrapped, of gold. 
However, Manette places it upon the table, refusing the payment. But, the next day, the
rouleau is placed at his door; so, the physician decides to report what has happened. 
Having been occupied this day, Manette does not complete his letter and before he can do
so, a woman, the wife of the "elder" twin, appears at his door, asking him to extend
sympathy to the young woman who was in distress,

readability="6">

Her hope had been to avert the wrath of Heaven
from a House that had long been hateful to the suffering
many. 

However, she does not
know that the young woman has died, and Manette notices that there is a boy in the
carriage, also. whom she calls "Charles" before she departs.  Then, on the night after
Manette delivers his letter to the authorities, there is a knock on his door; his
servant Ernest Defarge answers and leads a man who calls for the doctor to accompany him
on a medical case.  The doctor never returns as he is taken to the Bastille after the
two brothers identify him.  Ending his writing with the denouncement of these Evremonde
brothers, Dr. Manette remains in prison for fourteen years. 

Prove In+2-In=(3^(n+1)-2^(n+1))/(n+1) if In=definite integral of y= x^n/(x^2-1) when x=2 to x=3.

We'll re-write the difference  In+2 - In, based on the
identity given by enunciation: In = Int x^ndx/(x^2 -
1)

In+2 - In = Int x^(n+2)dx/(x^2 - 1) - Int x^ndx/(x^2 -
1)

We'll re-write the power x^(n+2) =
x^n*x^2

In+2 - In = Int x^n*x^2dx/(x^2 - 1) - Int
x^ndx/(x^2 - 1)

We'll use the property of addition of
integrals:

In+2 - In = Int (x^n*x^2 - x^n)dx/(x^2 -
1)

We'll factorize the numerator by
x^n:

In+2 - In = Int x^n*(x^2 - 1)dx/(x^2 -
1)

We'll simplify:

In+2 - In =
Int x^n dx

We'll apply Leibniz Newton formula to evaluate
the definite integral:

Int x^n dx = F(3) -
F(2)

F(3) = 3^(n+1)/(n+1)

F(2)
= 2^(n+1)/(n+1)

F(3) - F(2) = 3^(n+1)/(n+1) -
2^(n+1)/(n+1)

F(3) - F(2) = [3^(n+1) -
2^(n+1)]/(n+1)

The identity In+2 - In =
[3^(n+1) - 2^(n+1)]/(n+1) is verified, if In = Int x^ndx/(x^2 - 1), when the limits of
integration are x = 2 and x = 3.

When does Puck follow and not follow his heart in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream ?

We especially see Puck follow his heart when he reaches
out in sympathy to whom he thinks is Helena. Oberon has just witnessed Demetrius being
cruel to Helena in the woods and has commanded Puck to use the flower on Demetrius in
order to make him fall in love with her, thereby mending her broken heart.
Unfortunately, the only guidance Oberon gives Puck for finding Demetrius is that he
"shalt know the man / By the Athenian garments he hath on," not knowing that there are
actually two Athenian couples in the woods that night (II.i.269). When Puck finds whom
he think is the correct Athenian couple and sees the fair maiden sleeping so very far
away from the gentleman, he assumes that it is because the man is being cruel to her,
rather than that the woman is trying to preserve her maidenhood. Puck's heart genuinely
goes out to the woman in sympathy, and he chastises the man,
saying:

Churl,
upon thy eyes I throw
All the power this charm doth owe:
When thou
wakest let love forbid
Sleep his seat on thy eyelid.
(II.ii.78-81)

In calling whom
he thinks is Demetrius a "churl," Puck is calling him a low and insensitive person. His
chant is also promising that once the man awakes and lays eyes on whom Puck thinks is
Helena, love will never let the man sleep again. Hence, we see that Puck follows his
heart in amending what he thinks is a terrible situation and by doing what he thinks is
rescuing a maiden from cruelty.

In contrast, Puck follows his
prankster instincts rather than his heart when, after realizing he has enchanted
Lysander to fall in love with Helena rather than Demetrius, according to Oberon's
instructions, he brings Helena to Demetrius, but with Lysander in tow. After Oberon sees
how Puck has broken up a true-love relationship rather than mending a broken
relationship, he commands Puck to bring Helena to their part of the forest while Oberon
enchants Demetrius. Puck successfully does this, but Lysander follows after her. Puck
thinks it is great fun to now witness both men fighting over the same woman, as we see
in his lines, "Shall we their fond pageant see? / Lord, what fools these mortals be!"
(III.ii.115-116). Oberon accuses Puck of having brought Lysander with Helena on purpose
thereby inciting a ridiculous fight among all four Athenians, as we see in Oberon's
lines, "This is thy negligence. Still thou mistakest, / Or else committ'st thy knaveries
willfully" (III.ii.361-362). Since it can be said that Puck brought Lysander with Helena
so he could observe their fight, thinking it great "sport," we can say that in this
moment Puck was following his mischievous instincts, rather than his
heart.

What secret does Peeta reveal at the end of his interview in The Hunger Games?

In Chapter Nine, when each of the contestants of the
Hunger Games are interviewed, it is Peeta that is last, and it is Peeta that manages to
steal the show by his confession of love for Katniss in front of all the cameras and
Katniss herself. Note how the chapter ends with this revelation, that is a surprise to
everyone, most of all Katniss. Having been asked why his love is so impossible, Peeta
responds:

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Peeta blushes beet red and stammers out.
"Because... because... she came here with
me."

This of course gains
them both universal sympathy and support, as impossible love situations always manage to
engage the public and the media. However, at the same time, as we consider the personal
drama going on between Peeta and Katniss, this leaves Katniss very unsure of what is
happening, as she doesn't know if this is just a cynical ploy of Peeta's to gain support
for him or if this is genuine.

In Act IV scene 3 of Julius Caesar, how do the two allies pacify one another?

As this scene opens we are presented with a side that
obviously has clear divisions that are opening up between them and threatening to tear
the conspirators apart. Firstly, Cassius is angry with Brutus because of how he punished
Lucius Pella for accepting bribes, but then Brutus is also angry with Cassius because,
according to him, Cassius did not give Brutus money when he asked for it to pay for more
legions. The only thing that (temporarily) pacifies the two of them is when Cassius
threatens to commit suicide to prove his love and loyalty of Brutus. Note what Cassius
says:

For
Cassius is aweary of the world:

Hated by one he loves;
braved by his brother;

Checked like a bondman; all his
faults observed,

Set in a notebook, learned and conned by
rote

To cast into my teeth. O, I could
weep

My spirit from mine
eyes!

Of course, we don't
know whether Cassius is being sincere here or whether this is another deliberately
calculated move to manipulate Brutus, as he has already done so successfully. What is
clear however is that although the situation is temporarily pacified, we as an audience
question how long it will be until these issues flare up again.

Give an example of a function, f(x), that has an inflection point at (1, 4).

The function has an inflection point when the 2nd
derivative is cancelling out.

We'll have to choose a
function of 3rd order, to be differentiated twice.

f(x) =
ax^3 + bx^2 + cx + d

We'll differentiate with respect to
x:

f'(x) = 3ax^2 + 2bx +
c

We'll differentiate with respect to x
again:

f"(x) = 6ax + 2b

We'll
put f"(x) = 0 for x = 1

6a + 2b =
0

3a + b = 0

b =
-3a

We'll calculate f'(1) = 3a + 2b +
c

f'(1) = b + c

f(1) = a + b +
c + d

But f(1) = 4

a + b + c +
d = 4

To determine the function f(x), it would be necessary
to provide another constraint concerning the 1st derivative, otherwise, the coefficients
cannot be determined under the
circumstances.

But, you have to remember that
the function is a polynomial  of 3rd order, at least: f(x) = ax^3 + bx^2 + cx +
d.

Give an example of a function that has a local maximumat (3,-3) and one which has a local minimum at (3.-3).

As you can only ask one question at a time your question
has been edited.

A function f(x) has an extreme point when
f'(x) = 0. To find the x-coordinate, the equation f'(x) = 0 has to be solved. If f''(x)
for the value of x obtained is positive, the point has a minimum value, else if it is
negative the point has a maximum value.

• Let the
  function which has a local minimum at (3, -3) be
  f(x).

f''(3) has to be positive. Let it be
2.

f'(x) = 0 should give a solution of x = 3, an example of
this is f'(x) = 2x - 6.

A function which has a value of -3
at x = 3 is x^2 - 6x + 6

The function f(x) = x^2 - 6x + 6
has a local minimum at (3, -3).

• Let the function
  which has a local maximum at (3, -3) be
  f(x).

f''(3) has to be negative. Let it be
-2.

f'(x) = 0 should give a solution of x = 3, an example
of this is f'(x) = -2x + 6.

A function which has a value of
-3 at x = 3 is -x^2 + 6x -12

The function f(x) = -x^2 + 6x
-12 has a local maximum at (3, -3).

A
function with a local maximum at (3, -3) is f(x) = -x^2 + 6x -12 and a function with a
local minimum at (3, -3) is f(x) = x^2 - 6x + 6

In the book Great Expectations, explain Pip's feelings about his sister's death when he returns to the forge and sees Biddy and Joe.Charles...

Pip learns of the death of his sister in Chapter XXXV of
Great Expectations; her end comes some time after she has been
attacked by an unknown assailant.  Pip narrates,

readability="8">

It was the first time that a grave had opened in
my road of life, and the figure of my sister in her chair by the kitchen fire haunted me
night and day....But I suppose there is a shock of regret which may exist without much
tenderness.

While Pip has not
had a close relationship with his sister, who has brought him "up by hand," Mrs. Joe,
nevertheless, is his only family.  Thus, with her death, Pip senses a "grave open"
before him which takes from him his only relative and, with her, part of his identity. 
Unknowingly, perhaps, Pip feels himself again an orphan--an image which pervades
throughout Great Expectations as well as other works
of Dickens.

The image of shadows also pervades this chapter
as Pip senses the end of his halcyon life with Joe as a child.  He describes his sister
being laid quietly to rest,

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while the larks sang high above it and the light
wind strewed it with beautiful shadows of clouds and
trees.

When they return from
the funeral, Pip talks with Biddy as the "shadows of evening" close in upon them. 
Proudly, Pip berates Biddy for not having written him (he learned of Mrs. Joe's death
from Mr. Trabb).  And, he asks Biddy what she will do after the day; she tells him that
she will work at a school.  Then, Biddy cries as she relates the last words of Mrs.
Joe:  She said "Joe" and once "Pardon"; then she said "Pip."  After this, Biddy looks
towards a dark tree, for she has seen Orlick walking near it of an evening.  At this
revealation, Pip is angered that Orlick stalks her; he promises to visit Joe, but Biddy
wisely questions him "with an honest eye."  For, Biddy knows that Pip has becomes too
affected, but he feels injured that she does not believe
him.

On the next day Pip departs after shaking the
blackened hand of Joe, promising to visit because he knows that Joe will be lonely. 
Significantly, Pip notices the

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glow of health and strength upon his face that
made it show as if the bright sun of the life in store for him were shining on
it.

Here Dickens suggests
that like the shadows of the previous evening, Pip's life will become overcast with
gloom as will the lonely Joe's; however, when he returns to the forge, there will be the
health and strength of Joe waiting and the "bright sun" of life and love will comfort
Pip.  But, unwittingly, Pip leaves and returns to his shadowed life where he and Herbert
will go "from bad to worse" as Pip essays to advance himself socially.  This desire for
self-improvement impinges upon the honor of Joe and Biddy, but Pip does not consider
them.  Only when he sees them does he feel
guilty. 

In what year/time period is Their Eyes Were Watching set?

Zora Neale Hurston's novel Their Eyes Were
Watching God was published in 1937 and is considered one of the most
important works of the Harlem Renaissance, a movement in post-World War I African
American literature centered around a large African-American community in Harlem, an
area in northern Manhattan.

The novel is set in Eatonville,
Florida, a town near Orlando that was the first incorporated African-American community
in the United States. Eatonville was founded in 1887, during the Reconstruction
following the Civil War, in an area with relatively harmonious race relations (compared
to other parts of the south) and soon developed a substantial middle class
African-American population. 

Hurston does not mention the
specific date at which her novel is set, but we can assign a general time period  by
doing some analysis. First, the main action of the novel occurs after the end of World
War I, but before its publication date of 1937. Next, we know that Hurston traveled
around Florida in 1927 and 1928 studying regional folktales, and that some of the
folkloric material she collected was incorporated in the novel. Finally, there was a
hurricane in 1928 quite similar to the one discussed in the book. Therefore, we can say
that the novel is set in approximately 1927-1928, but that as it is a work of creative
fiction rather than journalism, it is more concerned with the nature of relationships
and culture than the specific historical events of those years.

In Act III scene 1 of Romeo and Juliet, there are 3 possible climaxes as listed below. Which is the climax and why?When Mercutio curses both...

I think that it is important to look at the scene as a
whole in order to identify the moment with the highest emotional tendency. Clearly, the
three events you have quoted are related to each other. I would argue that Mercutio's
dying speech and his curse on both houses and then Romeo's reference to the "black day"
are just part of the rising action of this scene that finds its climax in Romeo's
shouted lament of "I am fortune's fool!" Note what Romeo has just done before uttering
this ejaculation. Mercutio having killed by Tybalt, Romeo was honour-bound to fight
Tybalt in turn. Now that Romeo has killed Tybalt, which was something he did everything
he could to avoid because of his marriage to Juliet and the fact that this makes them
kinsmen, he recognises that he must run away from his wife. This explains why he feels
like he is a plaything of fortune and that destiny seems to be acting against
him.

Why was John Brown's Raid significant?

John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, VA in 1859 is
significant because it helped to bring on the Civil War.  In fact, the link below goes
so far as to say that Brown's attempt

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to liberate and arm Virginia slaves makes civil
war inevitable.

The reason
for this is that the raid and its aftermath inflamed the South's suspicion of the North
and made it much less likely that the South would ever trust the North
again.

The South saw Brown's raid as a major evil given
that it was meant to make slaves rebel and kill their masters (and probably many other
people as well).  It is not surprising that the South would resent an effort to cause
many of its citizens to be killed.

A vocal minority of
Northerners saw Brown as a martyr after he was executed.  This enraged the South.  They
felt that this attitude was common in the North.  They felt the North was celebrating
someone who was trying to incite others to kill them.  (Think about how Americans feel
about those who see Osama Bin Laden as a hero...)

Because
of this, the South came to distrust the North even more and there was just about zero
chance of reconciling the two regions.

In "The Death of Ivan Ilyich," what is implied in Tolstoy's calling the colleagues not friends, but "nearest acquaintances"?

There is a certain irony in this use of the phrase
"nearest acquaintances," as actually, the news of the death of their colleague does not
produce grief, as we might expect it to, but rather much excitement about who will
receive Ivan Ilyich's old position. Note the reaction of his former colleagues to the
news of the death of one of their number:

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So on receiving the news of Ivan Ilyich's death
the first thought of each of the gentlemen in that private room was of the changes and
promotions it might occasion among themselves or their
acquaintances.

Their
overwhelming thought, apart from the possibility of securing a promotion, is the
thankfulness of feeling that "it is he who is dead and not I" and then the pain of
having to fulfill the "tiresome demands of propriety" by attending Ivan Ilyich's
funeral. At one stage the narrator calls these gentlemen the "so-called" friends of Ivan
Ilyich, and we can see their insincerity and the way that they, like Ivan Ilyich's
family and almost everyone else in this excellent novella, except for Gerasim, ignore
the reality and enormity of death and its impact on their own
lives.

In "O Captain!My Captain!," please explain some important symbols.For example, I already have that the captain signifies Abraham Lincoln and the...

I think that you might need to broaden your frame of
reference in this question.  Your initial assertions are right in that the “captain”
represents Lincoln and the citizens are “the swaying mass.”  Yet, I think that from this
point onwards, you need to widen the perspective and not seek to create a persona for
each image.  There might be more to it than this reduction.  Whitman writes an elegy, or
a mourning, for the President that he believes was the best leader in the young nation’s
history.  For Whitman, the promises and possibilities of America, are embodied in the
hope and aspirations of Lincoln.  With his death, an experience that Whitman believes is
conveyed through the ideas of “cold” and “dead,” there is a loss of leadership on a
profound level.  This loss is something that is akin to a boat losing a captain. 
Whitman feels that the role Lincoln played in seeing the nation through a Civil War
represented a treacherous journey and the war’s resolution is where a sense of safe has
emerged.  If you see the poem in this light, I think that the images become crisper and
clearer in understanding both Lincoln’s role and Whitman’s analysis of
it.

Describe in detail the character of Jeremy in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.

Jeremy Simms is a very interesting character in the novel.
As a white boy whose father is one of the group of white men that go round lynching and
abusing blacks at night, we would expect him to demonstrate the same kind of belief in
white supremacy that his sister, Lillian Jean does. Of course, the clearest example of
this is when Lillian Jean expects Cassie to apologise for bumping into her and then to
walk on the road to let her pass. However, Jeremy has a friendship with the Logan
children, and in particular, Stacey. Thus it is that Jeremy tries to appease Lillian
Jean and get Cassie out of trouble.

In particular, on
Christmas day, Jeremy brings a bag of nuts to the Logan family and also gives Stacey a
present that he made especially for him: a wooden flute. As such, Jeremy is an important
character as he seems to symbolise the possibility of friendship between whites and
blacks, in spite of Papa's beliefs otherwise:

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"Far as I'm concerned, friendship between black
and white don't mean that much 'cause it usually ain't on an equal basis. Right now you
and Jeremy might get along fine, but in a few years he'll think of himself as a man but
you'll probably still be a boy to
him."

However, in spite of
the doubt that Papa has about Jeremy and his friendship with Stacey, it is clear that
Jeremy seems to symbolise hope of a better, more equitable world in this novel where
blacks are not discriminated against and where they can be respected and loved by
whites.

What literary devices show the innocence and experience in William Blake's "Nurse's Song"?

As with many of the poems in Blake's brilliant
Songs of Innocence and Experience, there are two poems entitled
"Nurse's Song," which although they possess similarities, are very different in terms of
their tone and the message they convey. The first song, extolling innocence, presents us
with a picture of children's happiness as the children are allowed to play "till the
light fades away" before coming home to bed. The children are shown to be innocent and
at one with nature, choosing to remain outside playin with the "little birds" and the
"sheep." The alliteration in this poem helps establish the childlike view of innocence
in such lines as:

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Then the little ones leaped and shouted and
laughed...

Note the
repetition of the "l" sound and how it helps create a light tone whilst also making this
poem almost like a nursery rhyme.

In the opposite poem, the
same sound of children playing evokes a very different reaction in the nurse.
Onomatopoeia is used to create a more sinister and foreboding tone through the reference
to "whisperings are in the dale," and the way that "spring" and "day" are used as
metaphors for youth and innocence, and "winter" and "night" are compared to experience
and the necessity for "disguise" creates a much darker picture.

How does "The Postmaster" reveal a quest for love and security of an orphan village girl?

In my mind, Ratan is the heroine of Tagore's short story. 
The story does revolve around her quest for love and security in a setting where this is
not present for her.  The postmaster might be the title and he might be considered as
the protagonist, but I think that her quest is of central importance to the story.  The
fact that she is introduced as an orphan who cleans the postmaster's house "in return
for a little food" is the beginning of her quest.  As the story unfolds, she begins to
occupy greater importance.  Tagore introduces her as an orphan, someone who is rejected,
for the most pat, in the village, and someone who has little, if any prospects, outside
of serving her "dadababu."  It is here where her character emerges as one who becomes
physically and emotionally close to the postmaster.  We see this at several different
points of the narrative.  When the postmaster talks about his sister or mother, she
appropriates them as her own, using personal pronouns to reflect the connection.  She
tends to him when he is sick, learns to read and write because he teaches her, and
strives to belong. He is looking to get out of the village.  However, Tagore constructs
her character as believing that the postmaster's entry into the village is her shot, her
chance, at love, security, and belonging.  It is for this reason why she is taken aback
when he tells her that he is leaving and asks him to take her with him.  In the end, she
is rejected, but her desire or quest for love and security is not over, as she tends to
his bath, the day after he has rejected her.  The ending is where we see that her quest
is not over, even though the postmaster seems to think it is.  Recognizing that he is
gone and with it much in way of her desire to find love and security, Tagore develops
her character as one who continues to wander near the post office, hoping with some
vague hope that he will return.  The ending reflects that she still believes, with her
"snares of delusion," that he will return, confirming that her quest for love and
security goes on, endures, and will never die.

What is the significance of Charles Grandison Finney?

Charles Grandison Finney is known as the 'Father of Modern
Revivalism'. He was a leader in the 'Second Great Awakening' in the United States,
serving as a Presbyterian, then Congregationalist, minister and religious
writer.

Finney's significance was in innovative preaching
and service procedure. For instance, he allowed women to pray out loud and saved
'anxious' seats in the congregation for people interested in
conversion.

He also supported abolitionism, using his
preaching platform to denounce slavery. Other social reforms that he supported (and
spoke for) were equal educational opportunities for women, and African
Americans.

The Second Great
Awakening was a period, from 1790 to 1850, that led to the enrolment of
millions of new members, and the creation of several new denominations. Amending various
social 'evils' through this Awakening was also thought to be aiding the preparation of
humanity for the anticipated second coming of Jesus Christ. 

What are some important events from chapters 16-20 of Kite Runner?

Without a doubt the most important event in these chapters
occurs in Chapter Seventeen, which is when Amir goes and visits Rahim Khan in Pakistan
and discovers the truth about his relationship with Hassan. Rahim Khan tells him that
Hassan was actually Amir's half-brother, the result of an illicit coupling between his
father and Hassan's mother, who was married at the time. The impact of this revealed
secret is momentous on Amir. Note how he responds:

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I'm thirty-eight years old and I've just found
out my whole life is one big fucking lie! What can you possibly say to make things
better! Nothing. Not a goddamn
thing!

Of course, this
relationship with Hassan makes Amir's childhood betrayal even worse, which in turn makes
Amir feel obliged to do what he can to rescue Hassan's son from Afghanistan and save
him. Thus this revelation is of major importance for the structure of the plot, as it is
the catalyst that sends Amir back to his homeland, and, though he does not know it at
this stage, to redeem himself by facing Hassan's persecutor to save Hassan's
son.

What is the vector u if u*v=12, u*w=14, v=6i+3j, w=2i+j ?

We'll write the vector u
as:

u = x*i + y*j

We'll
apply the definition of dot product.

u*v = (xi +
yj)(6i+3j)

u*v = 6xi^2 + 3xij + 6yij +
3yj^2

since the product of vectors ij = 0 and i^2 = j^2 =
1

u*v = 6x + 3y

We'll
substitute the information given in enunciation and we'll obtain the following
system:

6x + 3y = 12

2x + y =
4

y = 4 - 2x (1)

w*v = (xi +
yj)(2i+j)

u*w = 2x + y

2x + y
= 14 => y = 14 - 2x (2)

We'll equate (2) and
(1):

14 - 2x =  4 - 2x

14 = 4
impossible

Since we've get an impossible
equality, the vector u does not exist in the given
conditions.