Discuss how Della's thoughts, words and actions help reveal her personality to the reader in "The Gift of the Magi."

I would say the biggest aspect of Della's character that
emerges from her thoughts, words and actions in this tremendous story is the way in
which she loves Jim and is willing to do anything she can to get him a gift that she
feels is worthy of that love, even if it involves self-sacrifice. The very first
paragraph of the tale makes it abundantly clear how hard she has been trying to save
money to buy him a present:

readability="6">

Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing
the grocer and the vegetable man and the butched until one's cheeks burned with the
silent imputation of parsiony that such close dealing
implied.

Thus it is revealed
to us that Della has faced shame and censure for Jim, and above all, her action in
sacrificing her hair for Jim reinforces her love for
him:

So now
Della's beautiful hair fell about her rippling and shining like a cascade of brown
waters. It reached below her knee and made itself almost a garment for her. And then she
did it up again nervously and quickly. Once she faltered for a minute and stood still
while a tear or two splashed on the worn red
carpet.

Della's willingness
to sell her hair, which is clearly her pride and joy, for Jim so that she can buy him a
present worthy of her love for him indicates, more than anything else how much she cares
for and loves her husband.

What literary device does Kipling use in the short story "Rikki-tikki-tavi"?

Literary devices include both
elements and
techniques. Literary
elements are things that must have a
place in all stories: form, structure, characters, setting, point of view, etc.
"Rikki-tikki-tavi" is a variation on the form of a fable. A
fable is a short story that teaches a lesson through the exploits of animals that talk,
have personalities, and have adventures in which good overcomes evil or in which some
other virtue is taught. Fables are not allegories because the animal does not represent
the virtue being taught (e.g., allegory: "Wisdom the mouse spoke to Sloppy the worm
...").

The structure begins with one of
Darzee's songs and ends with another that praises Rikki-tikki's victory. The
setting is a garden of a small home, or bungalow, in India,
where Kipling was born to parents who were in Christian ministry. The
characters include three humans, whom Rikki-tikki protects,
and various birds and animals living in the garden. The point of
view is that of an external third person narrator who tells the story
from a limited perspective that is restricted to what Rikki-tikki
experiences:

readability="13">

When he revived, he was lying in the hot sun on
the middle of a garden path, very draggled indeed, and a small boy was [speaking]
....

as Rikki-tikki stole in by the masonry curb where the
bath is put, he heard Nag and Nagaina whispering together outside in the
moonlight.

Literary
techniques are optional choices
author's can make about how to tell their story. These techniques may include things
like symbolism, simile, metaphor, personification, etc. One technique Kipling chose is
hyperbole, which
exaggerates statements or qualities to heighten the effect
of the narrative. An example of hyperbole (exaggeration) is when Rikki-tikki
says:

There
are more things to find out about in this house, ... than all my family could find out
in all their lives.

There is
also a grand example of the technique of
onomatopoeia, which is words that
represent sounds, like "the rocket went boom boom," or "the cat
went phfffft phffft." Kipling uses onomatopoeia in describing
Rikki-tikki-tavi, while, incidentally, revealing the source of his
name:

his
war-cry, as he scuttled through the long grass, was:
"Rikk-tikk-tikki-tikki-tchk!"

As
another example of literary techniques, even though the story is a variation of a fable
(fables don't always have human characters), Kipling also employs
personification, which gives human
characteristics and thoughts to animals. Personification is employed when the narrator
says Rikki-tikki "hopes," which is a human feeling:

readability="8">

[Rikki-tikki] sat on all their laps one after the
other, because every well-brought-up mongoose always hopes to be a house-mongoose some
day and have rooms to run about in,
....

What is the antiderivative of f(x)*cos x if f(x)=ln(1+sin^2x)?

To determine the antiderivative of the product f(x)*cos x,
we'll have to determine the indefinite integral of f(x)*cos
x.

Int f(x)*cos x dx = Int ln[1+(sin x)^2]*cos x
dx

We'll replace sin x by
t:

sin x = t

We'll
differentiate both sides:

cos x dx =
dt

We'll re-write the
integral:

Int
ln[1+(t)^2]dt

We'll integrate by parts using the
formula:

Int udv = u*v - Int
vdu

u = ln(1+t^2) => du = 2t
dt/(1+t^2)

dv = dt => v =
t

Int ln[1+(t)^2]dt = t*ln(1+t^2) - Int 2t^2
dt/(1+t^2)

Int 2t^2 dt/(1+t^2) = 2 Int dt - 2 Int
dt/(1+t^2)

Int 2t^2 dt/(1+t^2) = 2t - 2 arctan t +
C

The antiderivative of the given function
is:

Int ln[1+(t)^2]dt = t*ln(1+t^2) - 2t + 2 arctan t +
C

Int ln[1+(sin x)^2]*cos x dx =sin
x*ln[1+(sin x)^2] - 2sin x + 2*arctan (sin x) + C

What is it that women really want and why? Refer to the "Wife of Bath's Tale" from The Canterbury Tales.

"The Wife of Bath's Tale" complements what the Wife
reveals about her personal life in the prologue to her tale.  She makes it very clear in
her prologue that she was most happily married when she had the
control of the marriage, not the man.  She married several times, some happily, some
less so, so she certainly seems to have become her own expert on the subject of
marriage.

It is no surprise then when in her tale, the
theme of "what women want" comes into play.  The essential plot of the tale is that a
knight is sent on a quest to find out what women want.  The queen sends him on the
quest, and if he fails to get the answer, he will die.  This entire proposition comes
about as a punishment for the knight's rape of a young woman.  As the time nears its
end, the knight meets an old and unattractive women who says that she knows the answer
to the question.  She offers the knight the answer in return for his marrying her.  He
agrees and then she makes one more offer.  She is a witch and she can turn herself
into a beautiful woman who is unfaithful, or stay an ugly women who will be loyal.  The
knight wisely tells the lady that she should decide how she wants
to live her life--he will accept her decision either way.  Because the knight gives this
answer, she decides to give him the ultimate reward:  a beautiful and faithful wife. 
The knight knows that the answer to the question "What do women want?" is "to be the one
with the power in the relationship."  When the knight gives over this power, he saves
himself and is given the best of both of worlds.

In Homer's epic poem, The Odyssey, what simile is used to describe the souls of the dead suitors being taken to Hades?

In Section Twenty-four, of Homer's epic, The
Odyssey, which follows Ulysses' and Telemachus' killing of the unethical and
immoral suitors who overran Ulysses' home and showed such disrespect toward Penelope
(his wife) and his servants, there is a description of how the souls of these dead are
transported to Hades by Mercury of Cyllene, and how these souls act. There is nothing
noble of these men in life, and in death, the simile that describes them pay them no
compliments either.

The souls of the men are described as
"whining and gibbering," and are compared to bats hanging from the roof of a large cave.
With bats, when one falls from the roof, the other bats squeal. The speaker notes that
as the dead suitor's souls are prepared for the afterlife, they "whine and squeal" and
then are led down into Hades. The quote is as
follows:

Then
Mercury of Cyllene summoned the ghosts of the suitors, and in his hand he held the fair
golden wand with which he seals men's eyes in sleep or wakes them just as he pleases;
with this he roused the ghosts and led them, while they followed whining and gibbering
behind him. As bats fly squealing in the hollow of some great cave, when one of them has
fallen out of the cluster in which they hang, even so did the ghosts whine and squeal as
Mercury the healer of sorrow led them down into the dark abode of
death.

I need to know 3 similies in Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements.

A simile is a comparison between two different kinds of
objects that uses words such as like, as, or than. The simile frequently points out a
relationship that is not immediately apparent. Think about some of the similes you have
probably heard in class - "She was as fragrant as a rose" is saying that she smelled
good. "The light is brighter than a new penny" is saying that the light was clean and
shiny.

Good luck going through your book and finding some
similes for your assignment!

In Shakespeare's Macbeth, how is Lady Macbeth presented by Shakespeare from Act 1, Scene 5 to Act 5, Scene 1 where she dies?

Lady Macbeth is corrupted by the very idea of having power
and control over Scotland. She insists that her husband kill King Duncan and gain the
position of king of Scotland. She is the driving force behind Macbeth. She mentions that
Duncan shall never see tomorrow, indicating her plans to have Macbeth murder him. Then,
she exclaims that she and Macbeth will have kingly
power:

LADY
MACBETH:

O, the sun shall never See that
tomorrow! Your face, my baron, is like a book where men May read strange matters. To
divert attention from the time Look like the time; have welcome in your eyes, Your
hands, your tongue. Look like the innocent flower, Only be the serpent underneath it.
The king Must be provided for. And you shall put This night's great business into my
care, Which shall give kingly power and mastery alone To all our nights and days to
come.

Lady
Macbeth has it all figured out, but Macbeth is not so certain as to follow through with
the murder. In fact, Macbeth has decided to postpone murdering Duncan. At this decision,
Lady Macbeth challenges his manhood, using manipulation to get him to follow through
with their plans to murder
Duncan:

MACBETH:

We
will proceed no further in this business. He has recently honored me, and I now have
the Golden opinions from all sorts of people, Which I want to enjoy for a bit longer,
and Not cast them aside so
soon.

LADY
MACBETH:

Was the hope you dressed yourself
in Drunk? Did it go to sleep it off? And does it wake up now, hung over From what it so
freely committed to? I will calculate your love From this time forward. Are you
afraid To be the same man in reality As the one you wish to be? Would you have the
crown Which you believe to be the ornament of life, And yet live like a coward in your
own self-esteem, Letting "I shouldn’t" wait for "I would,"Like the poor cat in the
proverb?

Lady Macbeth is manipulating
and controlling. She is able to convince Macbeth to follow through with the murder of
King Duncan, claiming she would do it herself had Duncan not so resembled her father
sleeping.

LADY
MACBETH:

For shame! I am afraid they have
gotten up, And the deed’s not done. The attempt, and not the deed, Confuses us. Listen!
I laid their daggers ready. He couldn’t have missed them. If the King hadn’t
resembled My father as he slept, I would’ve done it. My
husband!

Again, Lady Macbeth is
manipulating her husband to convince him to kill Duncan, claiming she has the
courage.

Of course, Macbeth murders Duncan. Lady Macbeth
plants the daggers on the guards. She bloodies her own
hands.

Later, she begins suffering from guilt. She appears
to be losing her mind. She cannot wash the bloodstains from her hands. Ultimately, she
takes her own life, thus ending her madness.