Why is a light year the best unit for measuring an object's distance in space?

We commonly use the units of meter, kilometer and miles for measuring distances on Earth. However, space is very vast and such units are of little use for measuring the distance of an object in space. For example, the distance of the Sun from the Earth is 149,597, 870,700 meters or 149,597,870.7 kilometers. The distance of the next nearest star, Alpha Centuri, is about 41.32 x 10^12 kilometers. Now, recall that there are few billion stars in our own galaxy and that there are few billion galaxies. Imagine how difficult it would be to report the distance to other stars and galaxies in kilometers or miles and how many zeroes we would have to use.

Thus, much larger units, such as light years and parsec have been devised. A light year is the distance traveled by light in one year and is equal to 9.461 x 10^12 kilometers. The distance to Alpha Centuri is about 4.3 light years, which is much easier to report than its distance in kilometers. Thus, one can see the value of reporting the distance of objects in space in the units of light years, instead of kilometers or miles.

Hope this helps.

What is the twist in the "The Last Leaf" and how does that twist make the story interesting?

You ask two questions about O. Henry’s “The Last Leaf” here. The first is easily answered, while the second depends more on your own opinion.

The first question asks what the “twist” in this story is. This is objectively clear. The twist in the story is that Behrman painted the leaf onto the wall of the building opposite Johnsy’s window and that, by doing so, he died while she survived. This is a twist because we do not have any inkling it will happen. As far as we can tell before the last paragraph of the story, the leaf hangs on by itself and Johnsy is saved by some sort of natural miracle. Instead, the twist happens and we find out Behrman has, in essence, sacrificed himself to save Johnsy.

The second question does not have an objective answer. It asks how much this twist makes the story “interesting,” and “interesting” is something that each person must define for him- or herself. I think the twist makes the story more interesting because it gives it some meaning. Until the last paragraph, neither Johnsy nor Behrman seem very likable or admirable. Johnsy is self-indulgent and silly, giving up on life because she believes she will die when the last leaf falls. Behrman is an unsuccessful artist who has never really tried to paint the masterpiece he always said he will paint. In a sense, both are pathetic, which makes the story somewhat less appealing. With the twist, however, Behrman actually becomes rather heroic. He finally harnesses the talent he always had and uses it for a very noble cause. He does something to save Johnsy without any regard for his own health. This makes him rather admirable and, to me, it makes the story more interesting.

Climate change is currently a hot political topic but we have seen that the dynamics of climate led to the destruction of many cultures in the...

Nothing good. Several great civilizations have collapsed as a result of climate disruptions, and drought in particular appears to have been the cause behind the fall of both the Old Kingdom in Egypt and possibly the Mayan Empire as well.

The best-case scenario for the people of a fallen civilization was to integrate into a new civilization; in fact, many people in conquered civilizations probably barely noticed, because the new king was much like the old king.

But a civilization destroyed by climate disruption usually didn't offer that option; sometimes people were able to migrate to other places, but often they simply died. The scarcity created by droughts also often triggered wars that accelerated the collapse.

Does this mean that our own civilization is on the verge of collapse due to climate change? I don't think matters are so dire. Our technology is far more advanced now, and we have a lot of options our ancestors didn't for preventing or adapting to climate change.

That doesn't mean climate change won't cause huge damage---it almost certainly will. But we probably don't have to worry about going the way of the Old Kingdom of Egypt.

How would you describe the situation to police if your neighbors had called them and your left arm was missing?

This is certainly a complex matter! First, let's consider a few possibilities.

Is your left arm being missing a new occurrence? Perhaps you lost your arm quite a while ago. If your arm being missing is not a new occurrence, we can disregard this information.

If your arm being missing is a new occurrence, you should report this to the police. If it is a prosthetic arm which has gone missing, you could report this to the police as an instance of theft. If your physical, bodily arm has been removed and is now missing, the police will likely treat this as a much more serious case. Your possible injuries should be treated and accounted for, and your neighbors should alert the police or emergency services to the fact that you need medical attention.

That brings me to the next point to consider-- why are your neighbors calling the police? Is it because your arm is missing? If so, they are very kind to have called emergency services for you. Be sure to tell the police that it was your neighbors who made the call and offer as much information about your situation as possible. Your neighbors may have additional information depending on your situation. For example, if they called the police because you were found unconscious, your neighbors should share as much information as possible about how, when, and where you were found. 

If your neighbors have called the police for a matter entirely unrelated to your missing arm, just be sure to share any information you may have regarding the situation at hand. Whether it's to do with your missing arm or not, just try to answer questions as best as you can and offer any information which might be helpful in resolving the situation.

Who may have murdered Sam Westing in The Westing Game?

No one murdered Sam Westing because he isn’t dead, but all of the residents of Sunset Towers are suspects. 

The Sunset Towers apartment building was specifically designed for a select group of people who had a special connection to Sam Westing.  Technically, they are all suspects at one time or another.  This is why they are chosen to live there and to participate in the Westing Game.  However, it turns out that Westing has been alive and watching them under various aliases all along. 

Westing was a paper products tycoon who made a lot of money and then disappeared. No one has seen him in years, and until the heirs moved into Sunset Towers, the Westing mansion was empty.  You can see the Westing mansion from the apartment building, and one day there was smoke coming from the chimney. 

Westing specifies in his will that he was murdered. 

I, Samuel W. Westing, hereby swear that I did not die of natural causes. My life was taken from me—by one of you!

The police are helpless. The culprit is far too cunning to be apprehended for this dastardly deed. (Ch. 6) 

This pronouncement is obviously intended to pit the heirs against each other and make them suspicious of one another. The heirs are not sure what the purpose of gathering them together is.  They realize they all have a connection to Sam Westing in some way.  When the will is read, they are paired off to participate in a game to win his inheritance.  However, most of them still think that he was murdered. 

“Murder? Does that mean Westing was murdered?” Sandy asked the heir on his left.

Crow turned away in silence.

“Does that mean murder?” he asked the heir on his right.

“Murder? Of course it means murder. Sam Westing was murdered,” Mr. Hoo replied. … (Ch. 6) 

A lot of them have motive.  Crow is Westing's ex-wife, and she definitely has bad blood with him because they divorced after their daughter died the night before her wedding.  Mr. Hoo sued Westing, claiming he stole his invention.  The others could easily just want to kill him for his money.  Someone has been stealing, and bombs keep going off.

It is actually the youngest player in the game who figures out that Sam Westing has been there all along.  He has masqueraded as Barney Northrup, Sandy McSouthers, and Julian R. Eastman.  This way, he could keep an eye on his game.  Turtle discovers the truth, and wins the game.  They become good friends.  Sam Westing later dies of natural causes.

Consider two products: Product A and Product B. The marginal utility (MU) of A is 50 and the price (P) of A is $25. The MU of B is 20 and the price...

From the way the question is worded, it looks like we are to assume that the marginal utility of each of these goods does not diminish as we buy more; normally it would, by the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility, but like many laws in economics, it's like the Pirate Code: More what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules.

Given that the marginal utilities are constant, the goods are perfect substitutes, so the way to maximize utility is going to be either to spend all your money on A or spend all your money on B. (There's also a knife-edge case where your utility is exactly the same no matter how you spend your money, but that doesn't apply here.)

The way to tell which to buy is to find the ratio of marginal utility to price. Product A has a marginal utility of 50, er... utility units are weird... let's call them utilons, and a price of $25, so it provides 2 utilons per dollar. Product B has a marginal utility of 25 utilons and a price of $5, so it provides 5 utilons per dollar. Thus, product B is the better deal.

You can check this by seeing what would happen if we spent all our money on A versus B. Suppose we have $100 to spend. We could either buy 4 units of A, which would give us 200 utilons; or we could buy 20 units of B, which would give us 1000 utilons. We're obviously better off buying B.

Are the majority of women sympathetic or critical toward Hester in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne?

The majority of the women in the village are critical of Hester. In the second chapter, "The Market-Place," an older woman in the crowd in front of the scaffold of the pillory suggests that in punishing Hester "they should have put the brand of a hot iron" on her forehead. Another observes that Hester has shamed them all "and ought to die." Another calls her a "brazen hussy," while yet another opines that her dress should be ripped off her shoulders. Only one woman in the crowd, the youngest of the goodwives, speaks sympathetically of Hester and tries to convince the others that Hester will always feel the pain of her transgression and that they should not let her hear them condemning her. Upon her release from prison, Hester lives on the outskirts of the village and her infrequent interactions with the town's matrons do little to improve her status until many years pass and she is able to gradually (yet temporarily) improve the public's opinion of her.

Why does Mayella think that Atticus is mocking her in To Kill a Mockingbird ?

Mayella Ewell believes that Atticus is "sassing" her when he calls her "ma'am" and "Miss Mayella."

Mayella tells Judge Taylor that Atticus is mocking her when he has actually addressed her in terms of politeness. The judge informs Mayella that Mr. Finch is not making fun of her. Then, the judge asks her, "What's the matter with you?" because he is amazed that she knows nothing about manners or the diction of polite people.
Hearing all this, Scout wonders if Mayella has never been called "Miss" before, and this is the reason that she would take offense with common courtesy. Scout asks herself, "What on earth was her life like?"

After extracting from Mayella what her life is like as the children fend for themselves because the relief check is not enough, or her father squanders it, Atticus asks her if she has any friends. Mayella repeats the words questioningly. Atticus responds again,

"Yes, don't you know anyone near your age, or older, or younger? Boys and girls? Just ordinary friends?"

Something about this question enrages Mayella. "You makin' fun o'me again, Mr. Finch?" Atticus lets this question be the answer. Then, he asks her about what happened with Tom Robinson. It is obvious that Mayella tries to remember what to say. When Atticus asks her if Tom hit her, Mayella first says that she cannot remember, then she says, "I mean yes I do, he hit me." And, she begins crying. When Judge Taylor scolds her, "Don't you cry, young woman--" she cries more.
Again Mayella "sniffed wrathfully" and looks at Atticus, saying, "I'll answer any question you got--get me up her an' mock me , will you? I'll answer any question you got--"

While Mayella confuses Atticus's professional politeness as mocking her, nevertheless, she is aware that Atticus asks her such specific and numerous questions because he hopes to discredit her testimony. She is uncomfortable because she has never been on a witness stand; however, her real discomfiture comes from the fact that she is well aware that she is falsifying her testimony. 

Why was it important for Martin Luther to reform the Catholic Church?

Martin Luther was a monk (as he referred to himself) who lived in Germany during the late fifteenth century and early sixteenth century. At this time in Western Europe, there was one Christian church, the "Catholic" church. "Catholic" is a word that refers to the concept of a universal Christian church, which at that time and place, it was. 

In the time between Jesus Christ's death and Martin Luther's birth, the Church had been through a number of stages that were shaped by certain kinds of realities. The fact was that most people were illiterate, which meant that their only access to the Bible (which was in either the original languages, Hebrew and Greek, or translated into Latin, which most people did not understand) was through priests. The very human priests, over time, succumbed to myriad political and financial pressures across the Medieval period and gradually offered interpretations of scripture that benefited the church at the expense of the parishioners and that could not be challenged by the laity because the laity had no access to the Bible. 

By the time Luther came along, the Church's construction of Christianity could not address the questions he had about the concept of salvation and he also became concerned with the fact that the Church was selling escape from Purgatory and entry into Heaven. Luther challenged this and other practices in his famous 99 Theses. He also was part of the movement to make the Bible available to ordinary people through translating it into his native German. 

Luther was profoundly anti-Semitic and it is hard to overestimate the damage his views on the matter did to the Jewish people of Europe for hundreds of ensuing years. His views on Jews, when compared with actual scripture, are just as absurd as the views of the Church he criticized. At the same time, he managed to challenge the Church and not be martyred. In so doing, the door was opened to the roots of the wide range of Protestant churches in existence today. 

What does To Kill a Mockingbird teach us about how we learn what is "right" and "wrong"?

This book teaches us that our experiences and the people around us shape our growing concept of right and wrong. 

We are shaped by our environment.  This means that the people in our lives and the events we experience turn us into who we are.  Scout, Jem, and Dill had a different exposure to racism than others in Maycomb because of the people in their lives.  Atticus taught his children to respect all people, and practiced what he preached during the trial by defending Tom Robinson.

Atticus corrects Scout when she uses the N-word.

“Do all lawyers defend n-Negroes, Atticus?”

“Of course they do, Scout.”

“Then why did Cecil say you defended niggers? He made it sound like you were runnin‘ a still.”

Atticus sighed. “I’m simply defending a Negro … (Ch. 2)

Atticus also teaches her to treat people of lower classes, like Walter Cunningham, with dignity and respect.  Scout is still trying to understand the way the world works and the social hierarchy of Maycomb.  When children are taught to treat people well, they will.  Racism is learned.

A good example of Atticus’s example taking hold is Jem’s reaction to the trial.  He is absolutely convinced that the rule of law will win out.  Dill is disgusted by the prosecution’s treatment of Tom Robinson, but Jem remains hopeful.  He thinks that Atticus proved that Robinson was innocent and the jury should understand that.

The treatment of Boo Radley is another example of children learning right and wrong from the people around them.  They hear gossip from Stephanie Crawford, but Atticus asks them to leave him alone.  They go from being afraid of him and telling stories about him to seeing him as an actual person.

Scout and Jem learn that people are not always what they seem, and that you have to see the world from another person's point of view to really get along with a person.  They learn these lessons through both example and teaching.

Where in "Raymond's Run" by Toni Cade Bambara is it suggested that Squeaky does not think girls can be true friends?

In Toni Cade Bambara’s short story “Raymond’s Run,” Hazel Elizabeth Deborah Parker, also known as Squeaky, does not believe that girls can be friends. She believes girls are not taught to be true friends because they lack female, adult role models to teach them how to genuinely relate to each other. The women in her life do not possess this skill. Before the race, this becomes evident when she meets Gretchen on the street.

Gretchen smiles, but it’s not a smile, and I’m thinking that girls never really smile at each other because they don’t know how and don’t want to know how and there’s probably no one to teach us how, cause grown-up girls don’t know either.

After the adversaries meet in the May Day race, Squeaky has an epiphany. Not only does Raymond match her stride for stride in the race, but Gretchen comes in a very close second. Squeaky immediately feels respect for Gretchen. Gretchen is dedicated to her running and is proficient at it. When Squeaky realizes this, she turns to Gretchen and gives her a “real” smile showing her ability to seek friendship based on mutual respect. She realizes it takes time and effort to be friends, just as it takes practice to be a great runner. Instead of being something you are not, Squeaky understands it is important to be true to yourself and to find commonality with others to be true friends.

And I look over at Gretchen wondering what the “P” stands for. And I smile. Cause she’s good, no doubt about it. Maybe she’d like to help me coach Raymond; she obviously is serious about running, as any fool can see. And she nods to congratulate me and then she smiles. And I smile. We stand there with this big smile of respect between us. It’s about as real a smile as girls can do for each other, considering we don’t practice real smiling every day, you know, cause maybe we too busy being flowers or fairies or strawberries instead of something honest and worthy of respect . . . you know . . . like being people.

Why did Great Britan raise taxes on its American colonies?

The British had reasons for their policy of increased taxation of their colonies. One of the purposes of establishing colonies was so that Great Britain could make money from their colonies. However, as time passed, it was becoming more expensive to operate the colonies. For example, Great Britain fought France in the French and Indian War. This required a significant amount of resources to be spent by Great Britain. After the French and Indian War ended, the British had to protect the colonists from possible attacks by the Native Americans. As a result, Great Britain was no longer profiting from the colonies as they had in the past.

Developing new tax policies would allow Great Britain to recover some of the cost of running the colonies. The British felt that since the colonists were benefiting from the British rule, they should share in some of the cost of running the colonies. For example, the British felt that since the colonists were benefitting from British protection, they should share some of the cost of having the British soldiers in the colonies that were there to protect them.

 

What is an important theme of the story?

There are several important themes in the novel Little Women.  One important theme that is prominent throughout the story is that of womanhood and femininity.  Societal ideas about womanhood and femininity are contrasted with less traditional ones.

An example of this theme is the contrast between Meg and Jo.  Meg is more traditionally feminine than Jo.  She often reminds Jo to be ladylike, as do the other sisters.  Meg has "a sweet mouth, and white hands" (Chapter 1).  White hands indicate that she is careful not to let her skin tan or freckle, and also that she tries not to do too much manual work.  In the mid 1800s, fair skin with no freckles was desired among many young ladies.  Jo, on the other hand, is "thin, and brown, and remind[s] one of a colt."  This comparison of Jo to a colt shows that she is considered wild.

Meg scolds Jo for being too masculine.  She tells her sister that she is "old enough to leave off boyish tricks, and to behave better."  Jo dismisses this, stating that she wishes she had been born a boy.  She does not like the societal expectations placed on young ladies.

Meg's traditional femininity conflicts with Jo's independent, more masculine spirit and attitude.  Throughout the story, this theme is further shown.  Meg marries and has children, while Jo moves to the city to live independently and start a career. 

Is Vera's practical joke funny or cruel in "The Open Window" by Saki?

The answer, however, will depend on your worldview and personal opinion. If you find Vera's actions compelling, you may come to the conclusion that her practical joke is merely humorous. If, however, you find yourself sympathizing with Framton Nuttel, you may decide Vera's practical joke is cruel and inconsiderate.

In the story, Vera entertains herself at Framton Nuttel's expense. To Vera, Framton's naivety and hypochondriac tendencies are fair game to be exploited for her amusement. Framton is one of those individuals who labors "under the tolerably widespread delusion that total strangers and chance acquaintances are hungry for the least detail" of one's "ailments and infirmities." As a character, Framton may come across as presumptuous and sanctimonious. This may be one of the reasons Vera decides to play a practical joke on him.

At the same time, in her bid to be entertained, Vera appears to ignore Framton's feelings. She lacks empathy for her guest and is unrepentant about her actions. After Framton's hasty retreat, she concocts another tall tale to explain away Framton's apparently strange actions. She is not sorry for the grief she causes her aunt's guest.

In Framton's estimation, Vera's story is an unnerving one, and when he spies the men, he becomes totally horror-stricken. It never enters his mind that Vera might have made up the whole affair about the men's premature deaths. He is too frightened to think coherently about the whole matter, and this is why he feels compelled to leave immediately.

Does Jay Gatsby know that people talk about him?

It's not evident that Gatsby knows the specific details of the rumors -- that he "killed a man" or is related to von Hindenburg -- but clearly he is aware that people have been talking about him.  In chapter 4, on their drive to visit Meyer Wolfsheim, Gatsby says to Nick, "... I'm going to tell you something about my life ... I don't want you to get a wrong idea of me from all these stories you hear."  Later, in chapter 7, Nick asks Gatsby why he fired all of his servants, to which Gatsby replies, "I wanted somebody who wouldn't gossip."  So while he seems to do little to quash the rumors publicly -- perhaps even relishing the mystique they confer upon him -- he's not oblivious to the fact that he has some notoriety among the guests that frequent his parties.

Overall, how does Dickens present the relationship between children and adults in Great Expectations?

As in many of his novels, Charles Dickens portrays children as innocent victims of the actions of adults. This is a reflection of his continued bitterness over his being sent to work in a blacking factory as a child in order to help get his father out of debtors’ prison. His mother forced him to continue working even after his father's release.

In Great Expectations, Dickens portrays Pip as the victim of the abuse of his sister, Mrs. Joe. Pip receives very little education and resents this because he thinks it will limit his future as an adult. His encounter with Abel Magwitch, the convict, leads him to live in constant terror, fearing the convict will return to harm him.

Besides Pip, Estella is also portrayed as the victim of Miss Havisham’s desire to wreak havoc on all men. This prevents her from seeking a normal relationship with Pip and leads her into an abusive marriage.

Both Pip and Estella manage to escape the torments of the adults in their lives as they become adults themselves. The intimation that they eventually find a healthy relationship as adults presents Dickens’s hope for a happy ending for unhappy children.

What makes math different from other subjects?

One significant way that maths are different from other subjects is that maths teach abstract concepts using the abstract symbols of numbers.

While it can be said that all language is communicated through the abstract symbols of words and letters, it is also true that these abstract symbols are part of our daily communication experience from the time that we're one-and-a-half or two years old (or even younger if we're read to). It can also be said that, as much as we love maths, we never use the abstract symbols of numbers in our daily communications of trivia, joys, sorrows, loves and irritations. This is because numbers are abstract symbols of a specialized set.

We are all so familiar with the opening gambit of math learning, "2 + 2 is the same as 4," that we forget these abstract symbols are conveying an abstract concept. True, "2 + 2 is the same as 4" originates in a concrete concept, often involving apples (or perhaps pomegranates): "If you have two apples and someone gives you two more apples, then you have four apples." Apples are very concrete: "two apples and two apples is four apples" is a very concrete concept, so concrete that you can eat those four apples. [It is fair to also say that for the literalist, not innately versed in metaphor, "2 + 2 is the same as or is equal to 4" is clearly an untruth for "2 + 2" and "4" are clearly not the same nor equal.]

The abstract concept behind the two and two is four apples is that things manipulated by rules in a non-spatial context, represented by abstract symbols, produce identical results that can affect the spatial world. To illustrate the abstract nature of maths, think of 10 apples raised to an exponent of 20. You do not want a concrete demonstration of the correct calculation for how many apples that results in (as you might want for 2 + 2 = 4 apples). You want to leave those apples on the abstract plane where they can be manipulated by rules. Ten apples raised to an exponential power of 20 yields 100000000000000000000 apples. To reiterate my opening point: maths are different form other subjects because maths teach abstract concepts using the abstract symbols of numbers (in combination with other abstract symbols: + = < ^ - ( ) and so on).

What is the most useful question to ask before reading “A Sound of Thunder” by Bradbury?

Ray Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder" presents a society in which time travel is not only possible, but a thriving business. Time Safari, Inc. provides customers with the opportunity to go back in time to hunt and kill a dinosaur. In the story, the strict instructions from Time Safari, Inc. are not followed, and as a result, the entire course of history is changed. This prompts the question: in the world of scientific innovation, should we do something just because we can? In a time when advancements are being made by the minute, we are constantly facing ethical issues related to our newfound abilities.

Readers may also want to consider questions such as:

Is losing freedom worse than losing life? (Would it have been better to be killed with the dinosaur?)

Is complete control ever possible? (Control over people, control over a country, control over the environment, control over time, etc.)

What are the three settings in The Shakespeare Stealer?

If we skip the opening setting of Mistress MacGregor's orphanage, then the three settings of The Shakespeare Stealer are the rectory in "the nearby hamlet of Berwick"; the home of Mrs. and Dr. Timothy Bright, a medical practitioner who had studied at Cambridge and who was also the rector of Berwick; Simon Bass's home in Leicester; and the city on the Thames, London City, home of the Globe Theatre.

Widge's stay at the orphanage was dreary. It is not described except to say that the "six or seven" children staying there dined on "barley mush and wild beans," unless times were good and charitably given food was there to fill them up.

When Widge's life came upon a seven-year "grand climateric" [sic], he left behind the dreary orphanage, and the setting changed to the rectory in the hamlet of Berwick, mostly the apothecary in the rectory in Berwick. Dr. Bright was a medical doctor and as such always had "some potion simmering over a pot of burning pitch." The apothecary was clean and neat and "reasonably warm" because of the burning pitch.

A "grand climateric," actually spelled "climacteric," is said to be a life cycle occurring at seven-year intervals, as in years 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, etc. Just when Widge had started to get anxious for himself, as he had been caught in Leeds copying sermons for Bright, and considering running away to Guiana, another "grand climateric" changed the setting again.

The stranger, later known as Falconer, took Widge to the setting of the home of Simon Bass in Leicester. Riding behind Falconer on his horse, from a narrow lane they approached a "substantial house surrounded by a high hedge." In the back was a stable almost as grand as the house. Inside the kitchen, Widge was turned over to kitchen maids who showed him his room in the garret. When he was introduced to Simon Bass, he entered a room so foreign it might have been "another land." It had soft carpet, paneled walls hung with pictures, walls full of books and a writing desk.

Widge left Leicester in the company of Falconer, his safe-passage escort and his minder, to head to the setting of London, with the George, the Globe and Mr. Pope's house. They approached London--a sea of red tile roofs behind the great city walls, clustered up to the river's edge--on Aldersgate Street and entered through Aldersgate. London was (and is) the great city on the River Thames. Ditches ran down the streets for sewage. The thousand buildings on the hill "nudge" the buildings at the river's edge nearly into the water.

They took lodgings at Saint George's Inn, or "the George near the Four Corners." It had an enormous inn room holding massive wooden tables. On the other side of the Thames, polluted with "garbage," lay the Globe Theatre, thirty feet high, three times as wide, eight-sided, built on swampy land drained by ditches crossed on foot bridges. Above the archway was a carving of Atlas supporting the globe, and below was the motto in Latin, "Totus mundus agit histrionem," meaning "All the world's a stage."

Falconer shook his head at [Widge's] ignorance. "All the world's a stage. A line from As You Like It."

Widge was sent by Mr. Heminges to live with Mr. Pope, who had the care of other orphans and "prentices," including Alexander Cooke--or just Sander--with whom Widge would share a "dormer room" [a garret room with a dormer style window]. Mr. Pope and Goodwife Willingson the housekeeper shared the care of these boys in Mr. Pope's house.

Can you compare Joseph Stalin to a modern day dictator?

For me, Stalin is incomparable to today's dictators simply due to the number of people he killed and the capriciousness way in which he killed them.  Yes, some of his killing was genocidal, as his farming program went specifically after Ukrainians, Armenians, and Kazakhs during the Holodomor but he also targeted his own people just as badly.  He killed his top generals during the military purges of 1937 and he also targeted the clergy in an attempt to make the Soviet Union the world's first (and only) atheist empire.  Unlike today's dictators who kill based on religious and ethnic differences, Stalin destroyed anyone who was not useful to him.  

Stalin was also an effective dictator, or at least he appeared to be, and he was not afraid to let the world see how effective he thought he was.  Unlike the current regime in North Korea, which is very secretive, Stalin invited Westerners to his country for them to see how his five-year plans were going.  Many Americans came back home to say that Stalin had found a way to end unemployment and poverty; they never saw how Stalin had destroyed his own people to do it.  Unlike regimes in North Korea and Hussein's regime in Iraq, Stalin did not want to openly go to war with the West, though his use of spies served as a potential "fifth column" during WWII and the early Cold War which created the Iron Curtain.  Today's dictators are murderous, but Stalin is incomparable in terms of quantity of people killed and overall cunning.  

Are there any similes in "Annabel Lee"?

No. Edgar Allan Poe's poem "Annabel Lee" is full of figurative language, but it has no similes.

Similes are figurative comparisons using the word "like" or "as." If Poe had written, for example, that "The moon beams like a memory," or "Her eyes are as bright as stars," then those expressions would be called similes because they would compare one thing to another thing using "like" or "as." But again, Poe didn't write those examples in the poem; there are no similes in "Annabel Lee."

Consider how a simile is just one type of comparison. Interestingly, the poem contains plenty of other figurative comparisons. For example, in the second stanza, the speaker claims that he and Annabel "loved with a love that was more than love." Saying that their love was somehow more than love is a comparison: a way of saying that one thing is more or less intense than another thing. But it's not a simile, which always expresses instead how one thing is equally intense as another thing.

Aside from comparisons like those, "Annabel Lee" also boasts plenty of imagery and hyperbole. It's a highly figurative, richly dramatic poem; it just happens to lack similes!

What references to mockingbirds and songbirds can be found in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird? Why are the references significant?

Many references to songbirds can be found throughout Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird.

In Chapter 10, Lee establishes the symbolism of mockingbirds and songbirds in general when she has Miss Maudie explain to Scout that her father is correct in thinking "it is a sin to kill a mockingbird" because they are innocent creatures that do nothing but bring pleasure by singing, unlike other breeds of birds that are nuisances. Later, Lee draws parallels between the innocent mockingbird and characters to portray those characters' innocence.

One parallel between the innocent mockingbird and Tom Robinson is drawn in Chapter 25. Soon after his death, Scout reports reading an editorial written by Mr. B. B. Underwood, editor and owner of The Maycomb Tribune. In the editorial, Mr. Underwood raves about the injustice of shooting Robinson. Scout paraphrases his ravings in the following:

Mr. Underwood didn't talk about miscarriages of justice, he was writing so children could understand. Mr. Underwood simply figured it was a sin to kill cripples, be they standing, sitting, or escaping. He likened Tom's death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children (Ch. 25).

In other words, in Mr. Underwood's view, since Robinson was crippled, he was obviously innocent of the crimes he was being charged with and, therefore, it was a sin to kill him, just as it is a sin to kill innocent songbirds such as mockingbirds. Even in Chapter 25, we see Lee continue to use her symbolism of mockingbirds to signal innocence in people.

One reference to songbirds that is a bit different from others in the book can be found in Chapter 28. On the Halloween night the children are attacked, they hear a mockingbird as they walk past one of the oak trees in front of the Radley Place. Scout describes the bird's singing as such:

High above us in the darkness a solitary mocker poured out his repertoire in blissful unawareness of whose tree he sat in, plunging from the shrill kee, kee of the sunflower bird to the irascible qua-ack of the bluejay, to the sad lament of Poor Will, Poor Will, Poor Will (Ch. 28).

The last songbird's call is the most interesting symbolically. The call "poor will, poor will" is the call of the North American bird named the whip-poor-will, also spelled whippoorwill. Native Americans tribes have often associated whip-poor-wills with omens of death. As a result, whip-poor-wills have become known to "symbolize natural disasters, imminent trouble and aching solitude," as well as imminent death (The Nature Conservancy). Hence, the mockingbird in Arthur Radley's tree is meaningful on multiple levels. First, as a songbird, it symbolizes Arthur's innocence. Second, in mimicking the whip-poor-will, the mockingbird symbolizes Arthur's "aching solitude," allowing the reader to deeply empathize with Arthur. Third, in mimicking the whip-poor-will, the mockingbird foreshadows the imminent peril the children are in due to Bob Ewell's desire for revenge.

Yet, since it is a mockingbird imitating a whip-poor-will and not just a whip-poor-will singing, we know the mockingbird has deeper symbolic meaning than just foreshadowing impending doom. Interestingly, the mockingbird is also imitating the song of the bluejay, and bluejays symbolize, among other things, faithfulness, intelligence, determination, and assertiveness. Hence, in imitating both the whip-poor-will and the bluejay, the mockingbird not only foreshadows impending doom but also symbolizes and foreshadows Arthur Radley's upcoming moment of bravery; it symbolizes his faithfulness to the children, his intelligence in figuring out how to rescue them, his determination to rescue them, and his assertiveness in his rescue mission, despite any consequences his rescue may bring him.

Is the Iliad older than the Pythagorean theorem?

Interesting question! When studying ancient ideas and works of literature, it's definitely a good idea to establish some relative sense of just how old these ideas and works are.

According to a discussion from Grand Valley State University, the Iliad was created somewhere around 800-725 B.C.E. but wasn't written down until some time between 725 and 675 B.C.E. 

There's disagreement about when the idea behind the Pythagorean theorem truly originated—some say it's a thousand years or more older than Pythagoras himself, going all the way back to the First Babylonian Dynasty—but we do know that Pythagoras lived from approximately 569 B.C.E. to 500 B.C.E. (Please see this discussion from the University of Arkansas for more details.)

What these dates suggest is that the epic poem Iliad is older than the Pythagorean theorem.

Keep in mind, though, that many believe that the relationships between sides of right triangles were understood well before Pythagoras lived, as this often-cited paper explains. Tentatively, then, you can conclude the geometric understanding of right triangles is probably older than the Iliad, even though the Iliad is older than the official Pythagorean theorem.

How many cells are in yeast?

Yeast are classified in Domain Eukarya and Kingdom Fungi. These are heterotrophs which means they must obtain food from pre-formed organic compounds. Yeast are single-- celled (unicellular) fungi.

Yeasts are placed in the group ascomycetes or sac fungi because of their method of reproduction. Yeasts are unicellular and reproduce asexually by a process called budding. The DNA within its nucleus is replicated and the cell's cytoplasm is divided unequally into a parent and a daughter cell- a smaller bud. However, each has an identical set of genes. The bud may eventually break off from the parent cell, or remained attached until it also forms a bud.

Yeast can also reproduce sexually-two haploid nuclei fuse to form a diploid zygote.

Some yeasts are the cause of a fungal disease in the vaginal tract known as a yeast infection. Yeasts carry out fermentation which is a process by which they obtain a small amount of ATP from an energy source like glucose. Wine is formed as yeast cells ferment the sugar in grapes producing alcohol and carbon dioxide as the waste products of this reaction. Bread dough rises when yeast cells are added due to the carbon dioxide released from fermentation.

Why does O. Henry describe Della as prettier than the Queen of Sheba?

O. Henry does not actually say that Della is prettier than the Queen of Sheba; he only says that Della's hair would have been envied by the Queen of Sheba.

Had the Queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let her hair hang out the window some day to dry just to depreciate Her Majesty's jewels and gifts.

This is the wildest kind of hyperbole. Imagine the Queen of Sheba living across the airshaft from Jim and Della's $8-a-week-apartment!

The Queen gave King Solomon 120 talents of gold. But he already had an income of 666 talents of gold per year, as stated in the Bible (King James Version):

Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents of gold.

A talent was an ancient unit of weight and value in Rome, Greece and the Middle East. One talent weighed approximately seventy-five pounds, meaning the Queen of Sheba presented King Solomon with about nine thousand pounds of gold. That is 144,000 ounces. The current price of gold is around $1300 per ounce.

O. Henry's hyperbole is meant to imply, by exaggeration, the value that Della placed on her beautiful long hair, her only treasure. This, of course, will be important when she decides to sell it so she can buy her husband a Christmas present. She will be making a great sacrifice.

Since O. Henry was writing a Christmas story, probably for a Christmas edition of the newspaper he worked for, it seems appropriate that there should be references and allusions to the Bible. In addition to the Queen of Sheba, O. Henry mentions King Solomon and devotes an entire paragraph at the end of his story to the three kings, or Magi, who brought fabulous gifts to the baby Jesus on his birthday, which was traditionally the origin of Christmas and gift-giving.

What is the relationship between Paris and Putnam?

It doesn't seem as though there is any very special relationship between the Reverend Parris and Mr. Putnam.  Putnam is one of the first people to arrive at Parris's house when Betty Parris falls ill, and he is anxious to persuade Parris that witchcraft is at the root of Betty's illness as well as his own daughter, Ruth's, illness.  He wants Parris to announce to the town that a witch or witches are responsible for the girls' sickness.  Putnam tells Parris, "Now look you, sir.  Let you strike out against the Devil, and the village will bless you for it!"  He attempts to compel Parris to proclaim witchcraft by claiming that instead of it being used against Parris by his enemies, he can appear to get in front of it and take credit for his forethought. 

Later in the same act, Putnam outright issues Parris an order, saying, "When Reverend Hale comes, you will proceed to look for signs of witchcraft here."  He seems quite resolute, and due to his bitterness and greed, it seems possible that he may already be attempting to manipulate Parris so that he can accuse his political enemies or those whose land he desires.

How did Hitler kill the Jews?

While over six million Jews died at the hands of Adolf Hitler during the Holocaust, there was a wide variety of ways in which they perished. The most efficient method for eliminating the Jewish population was the 'final solution': relocation to death camps. The prisoners were generally sent to a room where poisonous gas was released, usually carbon monoxide or hydrogen cyanide. From the gas chamber, they were immediately sent to be cremated in a stunningly efficient manner.

In addition to the death camps, there were mobile killing units that would line up Jews and execute them by firing squad. Many Jews perished in labor or concentration camps by exhaustion, hunger, or disease. The relocation of Jewish people to ghettos also had a devastating effect as many perished from lack of food or supplies. Disease and famine were routine causes of death for Jewish people during the Holocaust.

What nation in Africa did Mussolini first invade?

At the end of World War I, there were some nations that were unhappy with the terms of the Versailles Treaty. Germany and Italy were two of these countries. Germany believed the treaty was too harsh on them. Italy believed they didn’t get as much land as they thought they should have received from the treaty. The leaders of both countries wanted to get revenge for the poor treatment they believed each country received.

Benito Mussolini became the leader of Italy. He wanted to return Italy to the glory days of the Roman Empire. One of the things he did was begin to take aggressive actions toward other countries. In 1935, Italy invaded the African country of Ethiopia. Mussolini hoped to expand Italy’s empire. He also wanted to get resources from Ethiopia that could be used to help the Italian economy. Mussolini later went on to invade Albania in 1939. Italy, Germany, and Japan were allies during World War II. Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia was one of many aggressive actions by these countries before the start of World War II.

In the second stanza, what does the narrator tell us should never be forgotten?

In the second stanza, the narrator tells us "never to forget/ The essential delight of the blood drawn from ageless springs/ Breaking through rocks in worlds before our earth."

The "ageless springs" appear to be a metaphor for the Greek muses who were closely associated with the sacred springs of Helicon, Pirene, Castalia, Aganippe, and Hippocrene. It was said that from these springs originated the ageless wisdom of these muses of the arts, literature, and sciences. Accordingly, the muses were born from four sacred springs which sprang from the ground in Helicon (Source: The Esoteric Codex: Deities of Knowledge by Harold Burham).

Essentially, the narrator bids us to remember to cherish the expansive wisdom gleaned from the muses and wise people of old. He encourages us "Never to allow gradually the traffic to smother/ With noise and fog, the flowering of the spirit." Basically, the narrator warns us against letting our hectic daily lives block our path to personal growth and enrichment.

What was the argument made against Great Britain in the Declaration of Independence?

The Declaration of Independence, signed July 4, 1776 has a long and complex history, as it was the result of many years of fighting and struggle between the American colonies and Great Britain. By examining the text, which has been transcribed countless times and is currently available in many forms, we can see some arguments made by Americans against the country that at that time controlled the government in the thirteen colonies.

The Declaration begins with a powerful statement indicating that the colonies believe themselves to be entitled to equal ruling power, and because of this, must “declare the causes which impel them into separation.” This indicates that they will argue for this and against their current ruling government.

One key component you must remember is that at this time, Great Britain was a monarchy, meaning it was ruled by one individual, whose authority was passed down through their family bloodline; at this time, this was King George III. And in many ways, the arguments listed against Great Britain are directed at him, as he was the current ruler of the colonies as well, which until the end of the American Revolution, were British territory.

The main argument made in the Declaration is that “Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,” which is another way of saying that rulers should be elected by the people they represent – a democracy.

There is also a long series of points made in the Declaration that could be considered arguments against continued leadership by Great Britain or King George III, which the document refers to as “a history of repeated injuries and usurpations” resulting in “tyranny.” Some of these points include:

• Laws that the colonies desperately needed to be passed were refused or delayed, and Great Britain (not being firmly present in the colonies) did not understand why these laws were so pressing or significant


• Great Britain had established many offices and legislative officers in the colonies, using up resources while also hindering the growth and autonomy of the colonies


• Armies had been placed in the colonies without consent, in times of peace


• The lucrative trade of commodities around the world had been cut off, which severely restricted the ability of the colonies to trade with other parts of the world. Any exports were considered to be "British" products rather than "American" ones


• Taxes were frequently imposed without consent

There are many additional arguments against Great Britain to be found within the Declaration of Independence. Check out the link below for a transcription of the Declaration of Independence to examine it yourself!

What is the purpose of having a prologue?

A prologue can serve many purposes in a book or play.  Sometimes a prologue tells you what is going to happen before it happens.  An example of this is the prologue of Romeo and Juliet, which lays out the story in broad strokes.

Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life … (Act 1, Prologue)

We all know the story of Romeo and Juliet’s sad end.  Why does Shakespeare tell us everything that happens before the play even starts?  There are a couple of reasons.  First of all, knowing what will ultimately happen does not give us all of the details.  It increases suspense, rather than diminishing it.  It also helps us focus on the whys of what happened, not just the whats.  Romeo and Juliet killed themselves, but why?  What happened to make this feud turn so tragic for a pair of young lovers?

Sometimes a prologue gives you important background information that helps you understand the story.  This might be true of historical fiction or science fiction, or even fantasy.  If there is a lot of information a reader needs to know to fully appreciate a story, a prologue is a good place to put it.

Prologues are not very common, and when an author uses a prologue it is a specific choice.  It means that the author wants the reader to delve deeper.  Do not skip a prologue.  It is more than just an introduction.  Prologues are important parts of a book.  They help identify themes and important background.  Some books also have epilogues, which appear at the end of the book.  These often tell you what happens to the characters after the events of the book, or give further information about the time period or place.

factors that has led to the rise of medieval universities

Many factors led to the rise of medieval universities.  Rising population growth led to a need for more clergymen--the first goal of medieval universities was to produce well-trained members of the clergy.  Universities by the Central Middle Ages produced able bureaucrats and lawyers who got their position by merit and would be able administrators for governments.  Rulers such as Frederick Barbarossa also gave protection to traveling university students, which helped unite Europe culturally as more people looked at traveling between kingdoms as "normal."  As more families grew rich in the Central Middle Ages, they could afford to send their more intellectually able sons to school, thus giving them greater opportunities.  The universities themselves often improved the finances of the cities in which they were located, as students sought out housing, food, and entertainment, similar to how cities benefit from having universities today.   

In what ways did Odysseus perform good deeds?

Odysseus is often recognized for his ego, as he is prone to bouts of pride and arrogance. The mortal's lack of humility usually gets him into trouble with the gods, especially Poseidon, who spends much of the narrative trying to thwart Odysseus' attempts to return home. That said, despite his pride, Odysseus is still virtuous, and he manages to perform several good deeds by the end of the epic poem.

A couple of good deeds come to mind. First of all, he risks his life to save his men from Circe, even after the sorceress changes them into swine. Secondly, while navigating the Sirens' waters, Odysseus has himself tied to a mast and orders his crew to plug their ears with wax and avoid changing course, no matter how much he might beg for it. On both occasions, Odysseus puts his own safety at risk to help his followers, and these good deeds show that, despite his arrogance, Odysseus is a compassionate leader who cares for the lives of his crew. As such, the deeds that he performs are not only heroic, but good, and they display a virtuous quality that is often eclipsed by Odysseus' pride.

What circumstances cause Winston's varicose ulcer to bother him in 1984 by George Orwell?

Winston's varicose ulcer actually bothers him more than twice, but each time it does so coincides with him breaking away from the strict regimentation of Party life. The first time it begins itching "unbearably" in the novel, Winston is trying to think of what to write in his journal and coming up blank. The second time is when Winston wakes from his dream of the golden country and has to get up for his morning exercises. After the dream, he has a coughing fit, which causes his ulcer to start itching. The third time, Winston is trying once again to write in his journal when the ulcer starts up. The fourth time, it is "throbbing" because Winston has been walking around the streets of the city by himself. This is transgressive, as Party members are not supposed to do anything on their own. What Winston is doing is called "ownlife" and is considered eccentric. Further, Winston has been thinking about the past, the "half-forgotten" world of his childhood. Finally, after Winston has been tortured by O'Brien, the ulcer becomes "inflamed" again, although it doesn't particularly seem to bother him this time.

If we look at the instances that the ulcer itches or becomes inflamed before Winston's arrest, there is a pattern that it occurs at times Winston is either doing or thinking something that violates Party orthodoxy: writing in his journal, dreaming of the golden country, trying to remember his childhood, or tramping around the city on his own. There seems little doubt that the itching ulcer is triggered by the anxiety his actions cause him as he transgresses the unspoken rules he has internalized.

Who is the defense attorney in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird?

Atticus Finch is Tom Robinson's defense attorney in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Atticus is the novel's most morally upright individual and chooses to defend Tom Robinson honorably in front of a prejudiced jury. During the trial, Atticus reveals Mayella and Bob Ewell are lying about accusing Tom Robinson of assault and rape. Atticus reveals Tom Robinson was incapable of inflicting the wounds to the right side of Mayella's face because he has a crippled left hand. Atticus suggests Bob Ewell assaulted his daughter after he saw her kiss Tom Robinson. Atticus then pleads with the jury to look past their prejudice and judge the case fairly. Despite Atticus's excellent defense of his client, Tom Robinson is found guilty and becomes a victim of racial injustice.

What is the mood of the story "Soldier's Home" by Ernest Hemingway?

First of all, it's important to remember that mood is the feelings created within the reader. Since mood is a response to the work—and every reader responds differently to a piece—the same work may have a different mood for different readers. This is my response.

In "Soldier's Home," Ernest Hemingway creates a feeling of loneliness and isolation in his story about Krebs, a soldier who just returned home from The Great War (World War I). 

Throughout the story, Hemingway makes it clear Krebs is out of place back at home. Krebs has returned home from the war too late to take part in the heroes' welcome ceremonies and, in fact, "People seemed to think it rather ridiculous for Krebs to be getting back so late, years after the war was over." Moreover, Krebs did not have anyone to listen to his stories about the war because the people in his town "had heard too many atrocity stories to be thrilled by casualties."

Hemingway also uses clothes throughout the story to symbolize the change that has occurred since Krebs left for war. When he left, he and his friends all wore their collars "exactly the same height and style." However, when he returns home the styles have changed, particularly those of the girls who "had their hair cut short" and "wore sweaters and shirt waists with round Dutch collars." While Krebs likes looking at these girls, he never has the urge to speak to them, instead thinking of them as "too complicated" and "something else."

This feeling of being out of place continues at his actual home with his parents and sisters. Harold and his mother's conversations are stagnant and far too formal ("Will you come down to breakfast, Harold?" and "Have you decided what you are going to do yet, Harold?"). It's clear Harold's mother is tiptoeing around his feelings. In addition, his mother does not see Harold's feelings as a sign of trauma, but as a sign of weakness. She sees him as morally broken, when it's clear that is not what is going on with him. She tells him, "I know the temptations you must have been exposed to. I know how weak men are." When she attempts to pray with him, Harold is unable to do so.

Overall, these incidents in the story generate a mood of isolation and loneliness. It's a loneliness perhaps only soldiers can understand and is actually mentioned in the story when Krebs runs into another soldier and they are able to talk and admit the truth about the war: "that he had been badly, sickeningly frightened all the time." Unfortunately for Krebs, these moments of connection do not happen often and he finds himself alone and unwilling to reach out and connect to the world.

How does Arthur Conan Doyle present the character of Thaddeus Sholto?

Thaddeus Sholto is an eccentric, complex, fearful, and rather unpleasant person whose actions set the story in motion. Initially, he is guilty of conspiring to keep a fortune away from its rightful heir, Miss Morstan—a young woman who must struggle to make a living. Yet his conscience bothers him enough to secretly and anonymously send her a kind of guilt-payment each year—a package containing a valuable pearl. He finally sends a mysterious summons to Miss Morstan, which prompts her to seek Sherlock Holmes's advice.

In addition, when the murder is discovered in Chapter V, Thaddeus is intimately connected with it. The dead man is Thaddeus's twin brother and fellow heir to the creepy estate of Pondicherry Lodge. The police arrest him for the crime.

So Thaddeus is important to the plot, but there is more: His introduction to the reader also foreshadows many of the key themes of the novel—selfishness, greed, dishonor, betrayal, revenge, and making amends. Conan Doyle presents the character in a way that creates a sense of mystery and the grotesque, and prepares us for the dark events that occur later.

First, there is what we learn before we meet Thaddeus Sholto. The pearls he sends anonymously suggest a guilty conscience, and his procedures are furtive. The written messages that accompany the packages are written in variety of different disguised hands, but Holmes can tell the same person is behind them all. The final summons sent to Miss Morstan is written on expensive paper, suggesting wealth. And Holmes—applying his 19th century principles of handwriting analysis—tells Watson that the handwriting suggests the writer is a man of weak character.

This mixture of eccentricity, wealth, and furtiveness is repeated again in the description of Thaddeus's home. When Miss Morstan, Holmes, and Watson finally arrive at his residence, it at first seems a disreputable and sinister place:

"We followed [the servant] down a sordid and common passage, ill lit and worse furnished, until he came to a door upon the right, which he threw open."

Then they encounter Sholto himself, amidst a strange collection of rich furnishings:

"We were all astonished by the appearance of the apartment into which he invited us. In that sorry house it looked as out of place as a diamond of the first water in a setting of brass. The richest and glossiest of curtains and tapestries draped the walls…Two great tiger-skins thrown athwart it increased the suggestion of Eastern luxury....A lamp in the fashion of a silver dove was hung from an almost invisible golden wire in the centre of the room. As it burned it filled the air with a subtle and aromatic odor."

And we are given a glimpse at the unattractive physical appearance and nervous manner of Sholto:

"…[A] small man with a very high head, a bristle of red hair all round the fringe of it, and a bald, shining scalp which shot out from among it like a mountain-peak from fir-trees. He writhed his hands together as he stood, and his features were in a perpetual jerk, now smiling, now scowling, but never for an instant in repose. Nature had given him a pendulous lip, and a too visible line of yellow and irregular teeth, which he strove feebly to conceal by constantly passing his hand over the lower part of his face. In spite of his obtrusive baldness, he gave the impression of youth."

We are also presented with immediate evidence that Sholto is a hypochondriac, and rather self-involved. He asks Dr. Watson to listen to his heart because he has "grave doubts as to my mitral valve." When Watson assures him that his heart sounds normal, he makes this insensitive remark to Miss Morstan:

"Had your father, Miss Morstan, refrained from throwing a strain upon his heart, he might have been alive now."  

This outrages Watson and upsets Miss Morstan. Before Sholto's comment, she hadn't known for certain if her father was dead or alive, and Sholto must have realized this.

So Conan Doyle presents Sholto in an unflattering light, and one that speaks to the moral complexity and dark themes of the novel.

In "Winter Dreams" by F. Scott Fitzgerald, what do you learn about Dexter's family and social position?

In the very first paragraph of F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story "Winter Dreams," the third person narrator indicates that Dexter Green's father "owned the second best grocery store in Black Bear—the best one was the 'Hub' patronized by wealthy people from Sherry Island—and Dexter caddied only for pocket money." This snippet of information seems to reveal that Dexter comes from a middle class family but that the narrator, and Dexter himself, are keenly aware of the upper class.

Dexter comes from comfortable circumstances. His father, who is revealed at one point as "prospering now," offers to pay for Dexter's education at a state college, but Dexter strives for something else and attends a "more famous university in the east" (possibly Princeton, where Fitzgerald attended) where he is plagued by "scanty funds." Dexter has an obvious fascination for the rich and wants to become one of them. He directly parallels another Fitzgerald character, Jay Gatsby, who buys a giant mansion on West Egg (a symbol for the new rich) across from East Egg (established wealth). Dexter, too, becomes quite wealthy in the laundry business and eventually moves to New York. Like Gatsby, Dexter falls for a selfish and willful girl, Judy Jones (a forerunner of Daisy Buchanan), who comes from established wealth. And, just like Gatsby, Dexter is rejected in the end.   

What To Kill a Mockingbird quotes show Boo Radley is a caring person?

Boo Radley watches out for the Finch children and even saves their lives.

Boo Radley is a sensitive and reclusive man. His nickname comes from the fact that he never leaves his house. Many neighborhood legends describe him as a monster. This is mostly based on Boo's misspent childhood, where he acted out against his religiously fanatical family.

The first time Boo reaches out to the children to try to make friends, he leaves them gifts in a tree on his property that they pass on the way home from school. The gifts are small things children would appreciate, such as gum, twine, a pocket watch, pennies, and a spelling bee medal. The soap dolls are so accurate that they frighten Scout.

They were almost perfect miniatures of two children. The boy had on shorts, and a shock of soapy hair fell to his eyebrows. I looked up at Jem. A point of straight brown hair kicked downwards from his part. I had never noticed it before. Jem looked from the girl-doll to me. The girl-doll wore bangs. So did I (Chapter 7).

In addition to these gifts, Boo rescues Jem’s pants when he left them behind when escaping the Radley porch. Boo inexpertly sews them up and leaves them for Jem to find so he would not get in trouble. 

They’d been sewed up. Not like a lady sewed ‘em, like somethin’ I’d try to do. All crooked. It’s almost like—”

“—somebody knew you were comin‘ back for ’em” (Chapter 7).

Jem is baffled by this, but it is an example of how considerate and protective Boo is toward the Finch children. 

When Miss Maudie’s house catches fire, Boo sneaks out and puts a blanket on Scout's shoulders. She does not even realize this until Atticus asks her where it came from. Jem knows it was Boo Radley that put it there and begs Atticus not to tell. He does not want to make trouble for Boo. 

“That’s all right, son.” Atticus grinned slowly. “Looks like all of Maycomb was out tonight, in one way or another” (Chapter 8).

Boo’s biggest protective gesture is to save the children from Bob Ewell. He must have been watching Scout and Jem return from the pageant Halloween night. Bob Ewell attacks them, but Boo Radley is there. He protects them and kills Ewell. Because of Boo, Jem only breaks his arm and Scout isn’t badly hurt because she had a thick ham costume on. 

Boo almost never talks when he is at the Finch house.  Atticus and Heck Tate agree to keep what happened secret, telling everyone Bob Ewell was drunk and fell on his knife. Scout walks Boo home, but Atticus makes sure to thank him for saving his children.  

Atticus put his face in my hair and rubbed it. When he got up and walked across the porch into the shadows, his youthful step had returned. Before he went inside the house, he stopped in front of Boo Radley. “Thank you for my children, Arthur,” he said (Chapter 30).

Boo Radley is hardly the monster the children think he is at the beginning of the book. He is a good friend who looks out for Scout and Jem and eventually saves their lives. Scout stands on his porch and feels like she understands what his life is like. He is lonely and shy, and this was the only way he could make friends.

If the animals didn't understand Squealer's words, why do you think they accepted his explanation?

When the reader is first introduced to Squealer, in Chapter Two, it is said that he can "turn black into white." It is this persuasive ability which makes Squealer's words problematic for the other animals.

In Chapter Two, for example, Napoleon steals the milk and apples for the pig's mash. In the next chapter, Squealer addresses the animals about this issue and uses pseudo-scientific claims to justify Napoleon's actions:

Our sole object in taking these things is to preserve our health. Milk and apples (this has been proved by Science, comrades) contains substances absolutely necessary to the well-being of a pig.

Squealer does this because he knows that the animals are more likely to believe him, if he relies on such claims, and less likely to argue back because they are generally less intelligent than the pigs.

Similarly, Squealer often uses indirect threats to make the animals accept his explanations. In Chapter Five, for instance, Napoleon puts an end to the Sunday-morning meetings which prompts much discontent among the animals. To silence them, Squealer uses a technique in which he suggests that Jones will return if the animals do not obey Napoleon's will:

One false step, and our enemies would be upon us. Surely, comrades, you do not want Jones back?

Once again, Squealer uses the art of persuasion to achieve Napoleon's aims.

What are the themes of "Report on the Barnhouse Effect" by Kurt Vonnegut? How can I analyze them?

In this, Vonnegut's first published short story, which appeared in 1950, a good-hearted professor develops the psychic ability to destroy weapons even from a great distance away. He goes into hiding and uses the "Barnhouse Effect" to destroy machines of war and armaments all over the world, leading to an uneasy world peace. To ensure that this peace is maintained, his student has also gone into hiding, to be trained to carry on the Barnhouse effect after his mentor's death.

This is a utopic story, but not without a strong edge of unease. It speaks to the deep desire of people, especially after the horrors of two world wars and the dropping of the atom bomb, to live in a world of peace, but acknowledges how fragile that peace is, even with seemingly limitless psychic power backing it up. Barnhouse imposes peace on an unwilling world, and the story makes clear that many would relish Barnhouse's death if it meant they could return to world of war and domination that, ironically, seems "safer" to them.

War and peace are thus the main themes of the story and it is to Vonnegut's credit that he delivers a tale about the seeming salvation of humans from warfare (this story was written as nuclear power was spreading) with a strong dose of anxiety. The story makes clear that a psychic weapon alone is not enough to ensure peace: the U.S. military would have misused it. The weapon rests on the conscience of the person possessing its secret, so luckily, Professor Barnhouse is, as he puts it, a "weapon with a conscience." But what if the weapon falls into the wrong hands? Weapons alone, the story suggests, are not alone what keep us safe.

It's worth noting that Vonnegut was a prisoner held by the Germans during World War II, and this lived experience informs both his desire for peace and his doubts about the human ability to achieve it. Only with eternal caution and care, the story says, will we achieve the dream of a peaceful world.

How many photons are produced in a laser pulse of 0.188 J at 571 nm?

A photon of frequency f has the energy E = hf, where h is the Planck's constant:

`h = 6.63*10^(-34) J*s` .

The frequency is related to the wavelength as `f = c/lambda` , where c is the speed of light: `c = 3*10^8 m/s^2` . So the photons in the laser pulse with the wavelength of 571 nm have frequency

`f = c/lambda = (3*10^8)/(571*10^(-9)) = 5.25*10^14 s^(-1)` .

Each of these photons then have the energy of `E = hf = 6.63*10^(-34)*5.25*10^14 = 34.8*10^(-20) J = 3.48*10^(-19) J` .

So, if the total energy of the pulse is 0.188 J, this pulse contains the number of photons equal to the total energy divided by the energy of a single photon:

`0.188/(3.48*10^(-19)) = 0.054*10^19 = 54*10^16` photons.

The laser pulse of the given energy and wavelength contains

540,000,000,000,000,000 photons.

What passages in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird tell us Tim Johnson, the mad dog, represents racism?

In Chapter 10 of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, one reason why we know Tim Johnson, the rabid dog, symbolizes racism is the dog is shot to death by Atticus, one who normally refuses to shoot anything because he values all of life too much. Since Atticus is fighting racism by defending Tom Robinson, we know Atticus's killing of Tim Johnson also symbolizes Atticus's fight with and attempt to kill racism. Racism is a serious, life-threatening problem in Maycomb, just as it threatens Robinson's life and just as Tim Johnson threatens the lives of Maycomb's citizens by being rabid. We can consider Sheriff Tate's comments on the urgency of the situation, as he pleads for Atticus to take the shot, as symbolizing the urgent need to kill racism:

For God's sake, Mr. Finch, look where he is! Miss and you'll go straight into the Radley house! I can't shoot that well and you know it! (Ch. 10)

Hence, the dog symbolizes the deadly sickness of racism and the urgent need to kill it, to put an end to it, which is what Atticus is trying to do through his defense of Robinson, just as he took on the responsibility of killing Tim Johnson.

How do people learn in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury?

The society of Fahrenheit 451 emphasizes entertainment over learning. The owning and reading of books is forbidden; instead, people are encouraged to pursue leisure activities, like driving fast and playing sports.

In this society, schools still exist, although their form has changed significantly, as Beatty explains:

School is shortened, discipline relaxed, philosophies, histories, languages dropped. English and spelling gradually neglected… Life is immediate, the job counts, pleasure lies all about after work.

Moreover, learning is discouraged because it may upset certain social groups, like minorities. Society thus focused less and less on learning about the achievements of specific individuals or the history of events and moved towards magazines which became a "nice blend of vanilla tapioca." In other words, offensive and non-intellectual topics became increasingly popular and sought-after:

Let the comic-books survive. And the three-dimensional sex magazines, of course.

Over time, society came to view intellectuals and book-lovers as outsiders. We see this most clearly in the character Clarisse, who the authorities watch and Beatty labels as a "time bomb."

For those few people who still want to learn, their only option is to break society's rules by seeking out books. The people who do this, like Montag and Faber, are cast out by society and run the risk of an encounter with the fearsome Mechanical Hound.

What are four benefits of a business forming a strategic alliance as a means of expanding a business?

A firm that wants to expand its business through strategic alliance(s) will benefit through access to increased resources and capabilities and through broadening market channels and brand recognition. There are many individually identified benefits included in this broad outline, some of which are:

• 
  resources: technological and human resources


• 
  capabilities: new target markets and the global market


• 
  market channels: supply chain, distribution, and marketing channels


• 
  branding: consumer recognition of strong/ stronger brands

The U.S. Small Business Administration identifies alliances as one means through which business expansion can be achieved quickly, especially since the strategy of alliance encompasses other expansion strategies, like global and e-commerce expansion, market area expansion, and diversification expansion.

Strategic alliance facilitates business expansion because such resources as capitalization, production capabilities, products, and intellectual property can be shared within the alliance. With enhanced resources, capabilities, channels, and branding, business growth is less time- and cost-demanding.

To illustrate, consider, as an example, when an alliance includes geographic resources, e.g. store locations, then expanding geographical market area requires less time and cost than if a business were to expand store locations on its own without the benefit of a geographically strong alliance.

Bear in mind that a strategic alliance is "strategic" when it is formed for mutual benefit and for the purpose of helping alliance members achieve specified goals that would remain out of reach if acting alone while independent of an alliance. Consequently not all business alliances are strategic alliances.

Jason Wakeam, "The Five Factors of a Strategic Alliance." Ivey Business Journal.

Why is Tobe’s character essential to the story "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner?

It is, in large part, thanks to Tobe that the character of Miss Emily earns her symbolic "rose." Tobe's loyalty and dedication to Emily until her death infuses in her character a sense of worthiness, and helps her preserve her dignity despite of the fact that the town questioned a lot about her personality.

These are some of the reasons why Tobe, who is Miss Emily's manservant, is essential to the story "A Rose for Emily." While much has been written about the relationship between Emily and Tobe, the facts about his importance to the story that are most obvious are the following:

1. He was the liaison between Emily and the outside world. 

Notice that, as a manservant, it is only Tobe who would open the door to the household each time the people of Jefferson, namely the Board of Aldermen, would attempt to cross the threshold that is the gothic, crumbling old mansion where Emily resides.

Tobe would have also been the person responsible for announcing the death of Miss Emily's father to the townsfolk. After all, Emily's only relations were all the way in Alabama, and she had no friends in town. Could it be that Tobe also requested help to get the body of Emily's father, since she was unwilling to give it up? Was Tobe in any way responsible for luring Homer Barron into the house? 

2. He was the only person who was loyal to Emily.

There is something to be said to whoever wishes to typecast Emily's character. She is not entirely a loner, or entirely alone. She is not entirely unsupported, nor uncared for. This is because Tobe is there. Moreover, he was always there and remained there until the day that Emily died. He kept every one of her secrets, which helped her preserve some degree of dignity. It was his loyalty and his silence, despite of all that he knew, that helped Emily to continuously appear enigmatic and interesting to everyone. This is what built a lot of her legend in Jefferson. Tobe was instrumental in enabling and preserving that, thanks to his silence and loyalty. 

3. His silence shows respect for Emily.

Had Tobe chosen to speak up and tell everyone what was going on in the house, Emily's entire story would have been quite different. The townsfolk would have never had the time to connect with her at the psychological level that they did. After all, a story about "a crazy lady" would have been easier to take in than the exploration of who she really is, and what made her act the way that she did. These latter actions are the ones that drive the town to still hold respect for Emily, and Tobe is to take credit for this. 

Also, had Tobe decided to tell on Emily, her story would have been a tale of morbidity, debauchery, and insanity. Thanks to Toby, Emily, figuratively, earns her memorial "rose."

Other things are telling about Tobe. He ran away from town after Emily's death, likely because he knew what was coming.

The following passage is quite telling:

And so [Emily] died. Fell ill in the house filled with dust and shadows, with only a doddering Negro man to wait on her. We did not even know she was sick; we had long since given up trying to get any information from the Negro. He talked to no one, probably not even to her [this is what the town assumed], for his voice had grown harsh and rusty, as if from disuse.

From this excerpt, we gather that Tobe concedes nothing. We cannot quite ascertain what relationship he and Emily have, but definitely he keeps silence. Moreover, after Emily dies, he knows that "the big secret" will likely be discovered. ...

THE NEGRO met the first of the ladies at the front door and let them in, with their hushed, sibilant voices and their quick, curious glances, and then he disappeared. He walked right through the house and out the back and was not seen again.

Tobe remains loyal until the end and, rather than offering excuses or giving explanations, he majestically opens the doors to the household one last time, and does his job once more before going away forever. If any stories ever surfaced, or any conjectures were ever made about Emily, none of them came from the man who may have known her the most.

Therefore, Tobe is essential to the story for what he REFUSED to say and do, and for helping to preserve the legendary persona of Emily Grierson. 

What is the significance of Sandra Cisneros's quote "I like to think that somehow my family, my Mexicanness, my poverty, all had to do with...

This short essay by Cisneros is about the ways in which she overcame obstacles, especially in regards to her race, childhood economic status, and shyness, and gained confidence in her abilities. After this quote, Cisneros goes on to describe the ways that her parents, her brothers, and other events in her life shaped who she became as an adult and as an artist. 

Thus, this quote is perhaps the "heart" of the essay. It speaks to one of the essay's main ideas, which is that anything in life—be it good, bad, or confusing—is important in forming our identities. Even though it might seem like some experiences are difficult or inconvenient when they first occur, we often discover the richness and value of these moments later on.

Like the essay's title, we can take the "straw" from our lives and turn it into gold. Cisneros talks about how we can find value in virtually anything from our lives, discussing how certain difficult periods in her life influenced The House on Mango Street. She writes, "How was I to know that I would be documenting and recording the women who sat their sadness on an elbow and stared out the window? It would be the city streets of Chicago that I would later record, as seen through a child's eyes. I've done all kinds of things I didn't think I could do since then." 

The quote speaks to the essay's ideas of the ways in which life is surprising and constantly changing, and to the ways we can practice noticing the rich lessons available all around us, in any situation.

Who are the main greasers in The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton?

In Chapter One of S.E. Hinton's novel The Outsiders, the first person narrator Ponyboy Curtis describes his "greaser" brothers and friends. The term greaser refers to the young men who live in the poorer part of the city, which is the setting of the novel (Hinton has admitted that the novel is based on her youth in the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma). They are called greasers because they tend to wear their hair long and slicked back with plenty of hair gel. Ponyboy first introduces the reader to his brothers, Darry, the oldest, and Sodapop, the middle son. The three brothers recently lost their parents, and Darry acts as guardian to his brothers.

Darry is described as tall and muscular. He was once a very good athlete and excellent student in high school, but now works hard to keep his brothers together. He often clashes with the often dreamy and sometimes irresponsible Ponyboy. Sodapop is described as "movie star handsome" and Ponyboy idolizes him. Throughout the novel, Ponyboy compares his brothers, with Darry often being referred to unfavorably and Sodapop portrayed as more understanding. In the end, Ponyboy comes to the realization that Darry truly loves him and is just doing what he believes is best for his brother.  

Two important greasers in the novel are the wild and unpredictable Dally and the shy but lovable Johnny. Most of the plot revolves around Johnny's killing of a Soc and the later episode where Ponyboy, Johnny, and Dally become heroes by saving several children from a burning church. Tragically, both Dally and Johnny will wind up dead by the end of the novel. The other two greasers often mentioned are Two-bit Mathews and Steve Randle, who are close friends of the Curtis brothers and loyal companions. 

In Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, how is Calpurnia influenced by the world she lives in?

Calpurnia is Atticus Finch's cook and nanny. She has a grownup son named Zeebo and she lives in the black section of town. She's watched over Jem and Scout Finch for about four years when the story begins, and as Atticus tells his sister Alexandra, Calpurnia is the only mother the children have ever really known. As a result, Calpurnia loves the children, but she also doesn't allow them to treat her like a push-over or a servant. In fact, Calpurnia is allowed to scold, lecture, or punish the children within reason; and she even teaches Scout to write before she enters the first grade. Calpurnia also teaches the children manners. More specifically, Calpurnia feels the need to lecture Scout in chapter three when the little girl embarasses Walter Cunningham, Jr. at lunch. Calpurnia tells Scout the following:

"Hush your mouth! Don't matter who they are, anybody sets foot in this house's yo' comp'ny, and don't you let me catch you remarkin' on their ways like you was so high and mighty! Yo' folks might be better'n the Cunninghams but it don't count for nothin' the way you're disgracin' 'em--if you can't act fit to eat at the table you can just set here and eat in the kitchen!" (24-25).

This passage shows that Calpurnia's world has taught her to treat others with respect no matter who they are. Cal has also learned that the way one person treats others determines his or her quality of character; and, it's important for her to teach Scout these good qualities.

Calpurnia also knows there are lines drawn between white and black folks. She knows, for example, when Atticus doesn't come back from the legislature on a Sunday that she needs to take the children to church. She can't attend the children's church because she isn't welcome there; so, her choices are either to drop them off unattended or take them to her church. Calpurnia bravely takes the two white children to her black church to uphold Christian values on Sunday. However, she knows that she may receive some flack for it. Fortunately, only Lula asks why Calpurnia has brought the children to their church. Calpurnia shows her strength of will and character by responding with "It's the same God, ain't it?" (119). Then Calpurnia ignores Lula and walks the children into church with her son Zeebo who welcomes the children heartily. Calpurnia doesn't let prejudice influence her decision.

Calpurnia knows her place in the world of segregated Maycomb, though. She keeps her nose out of white people's conversations and gossip; she does the best she can with Jem and Scout; and she is loyal to her employer. She's learned to keep her head up but her mouth closed in social situations that involve white people; but, she is also available upon request to step in and help as needed. If Calpurnia existed in today's world, she probably would have gone to college and become a professional in her chosen field of study, whatever that may be, because she is highly intelligent and wise. In the 1930s, however, she is forced to make her way in a prejudiced world that only allows her to become a house servant or a field hand. She does the best with what she has, which qualifies her as "fine folks" per Scout's definition.

Who are the people who get bad grades because of Nora's poor school performance in The Report Card by Andrew Clements?

In chapter 21 of Andrew Clements's The Report Card, we learn, in the words of Mrs. Hackney, the school principal, that "half of the fifth-grade class decided to treat two quizzes as if they did not matter at all" (113). As Mrs. Noyes explains in a meeting in the principal's office, on that day she handed out two quizzes on the assigned reading in their social studies textbook; she handed one to the first half of the Blue Team during the third-period class and the other to the second half of the Blue Team during the fourth-period class. In both classes, all but two students wrote nonsense answers for the questions, which earned zeroes for all but a total of four students on half of the Blue Team; therefore, we know that half of the fifth-grade class, except for four students, intentionally earned zeroes that day.

The event occurred because Nora's initial plan was failing. Her initial plan was to earn Ds as part of a plot to show that grades are not a true reflection of intelligence and, therefore, not worth the amount of pressure placed on students. Nora's plan goes off track the moment her IQ score reveals her true genius before she's ready for anyone to know. When her friend Stephen finds out about her plan and how it messed up, he helps her think of a new plan. Instead of just Nora earning bad grades on purpose to protest against the reliance on grades, Stephen and Nora encourage all the students in their class to earn bad grades. In Nora's mind, earning zeroes on tests would show the tests' true educational value. She argues that since the tests do not help students think, just memorize, the tests are worth zeroes. Stephen sets the plan in motion by phoning all fifth graders and telling them to get zeroes and by passing out flyers encouraging them to get zeroes.

What were the four main causes of the Great War?

Teachers sometimes talk about the four MAIN causes of World War I because MAIN is an acronym for four factors that are often identified as the most important causes of WWI.  The letters in MAIN stand for militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism.

Militarism can be defined as the glorification of military power. People who believe in this feel that it is very important to have a strong military.  Before WWI, this manifested itself in an arms race, particularly in naval power.  They also became more interested in fighting as they believed that military power was a good thing and should be used.

Before WWI, two main alliances arose in Europe.  The countries involved promised to help one another in the event of war.  This may have helped bring the war about because countries felt they could go to war because they would have support.  More importantly, the alliances caused the war to spread once it started, involving many countries rather than just two.

Imperialism was another cause of WWI.  Many European countries already had empires before 1900.  France and Britain, in particular, had large empires. Germany wanted to be seen as a major power so it wanted an empire as well.  As it tried to take an empire, it worried France and Britain, making them want to fight to prevent Germany from encroaching on their empires.

Finally, nationalism was a major cause of WWI.  This caused countries to be arrogant and aggressive because they felt that they were superior to other countries.  It also helped to create the alliances and to cause the assassination that led to the war.  Slavs allied with other Slavs.  Germans allied with other Germans.  These alliances helped lead to WWI.

Thus, we can say that there were four MAIN factors that caused WWI.

What symbolized bad luck for Huck and Jim?

In Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Jim proves to be a very superstitious character, as he interprets a variety of signs as omens of both good and bad luck. The most prominent symbol of bad luck for Jim, however, is handling snake skin, an assertion that Huck initially scoffs at. This derision proves unwise, as Huck's handling of snake skin in Chapter Ten (which is appropriately called "What Comes of Handling Snake Skin") ultimately results in a snake biting Jim and infecting him with poison. Now, there's no reason for the reader to necessarily believe that true bad luck is at work in this scenario (although it is an unfortunate turn of events, to be sure); Huck's foolish decision to kill a snake, lay its carcass in Jim's bed, and attract its live mate is more to blame than fate or bad luck. However, this sequence is valuable because it illustrates the superstitious nature of Jim and Huck's society, and so it provides an insightful look into the thought processes of a bygone era in American history. 

Compare and contrast Angela and Cathy's families. Do you think their families and home environments make a difference in the way the girls turn out?

Angela and Cathy live drastically different lives in the novel That Was Then, This Is Now. Although Cathy's family is poor, she has loving parents and siblings who care about her. Cathy's family supports one another, and her parents encourage their children to get good grades. In contrast, Angela comes from an unstructured household and is continually fighting with her parents and siblings. Bryon mentions that he hated visiting Angela's home and feels more comfortable at the Carlson household. In my opinion, Cathy and Angela's family environments affect their personalities. Cathy is laid back, kind, and intelligent. Her attitude reflects the fact that she was raised by easygoing, respectful individuals. Angela's confrontational, tough personality was shaped by her home environment. Angela has developed into a negative, bitter individual because she grew up in a household where arguments and fighting were common.

How should I approach a 500-word assignment to reflect on and describe my experience with languages?

What you need to say in this essay obviously depends on your own experience with learning one or more languages. 

A good starting point would be to create an introductory paragraph giving an overview of your basic language skills. You would start by specifying your native language. You would then briefly list the other languages you know. You should then include a transition sentence between your introduction and the main body of your essay.

The main body of your essay should include one heading for each language you intend to discuss. Within specific language sections, you might first mention how old you were when you first encountered the language, the way you acquired it, and your level of fluency. You would discuss whether you picked it up informally while traveling or took classes on it. You might also discuss whether you have lived or traveled in a country where the language was spoken and other informal methods of developing fluency such as watching movies or listening to songs in that language. 

Your final paragraph should attempt to reflect on and draw conclusions about your personal experiences with languages. 

What happened after the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment?

The 14th Amendment was a very important change to the Constitution. It granted citizenship to all people who were born in the United States. This included former slaves that were born in the United States. It also protected the rights of our citizens. These rights can’t be taken away without the due process of law. This was a big improvement for African-Americans.

There was a great deal of unhappiness with this proposed amendment in the South. Many southern states refused to ratify it as part of the terms of their reentry into the Union. This led to the Reconstruction Act of 1867, which divided the South into five military districts. The Radical Republicans believed the South was unwilling to change. This led to the implementation of a harsh plan of Reconstruction for the ten southern states that didn’t ratify the 14th Amendment. The military would be in charge of rebuilding the South, something that the white southerners strongly opposed.

After this amendment was passed, southern states that hadn’t yet been admitted to the Union had to write new state constitutions that ratified the 14th Amendment. Eventually, the 15th Amendment was also passed. This amendment made it illegal to deny people the right to vote based on their race, their color, or if they had been a slave. This amendment gave African-American men the right to vote. The ratification of the 14th and 15th Amendments were very important events in our country's history.

 

What kind of marriage is Yukio Mishima portraying in Patriotism? What is the symbolic meaning of Shinji's and Reiko's marriage?

Shinji's and Reiko's marriage in Patriotism is rooted in tradition.

While Shinji and Reiko are relatively young, they embrace a very traditional understanding of marriage.  Their view of marriage highlights sacrifice.  While both husband and wife love one another, they see their marriage as needing to honor elements larger than themselves.  

Shinji insists that Reiko see herself as a "soldier's wife." Early on in their marriage, he tells her that she must be willing to accept the reality of sacrifice intrinsic to marrying a soldier: "A woman who had become the wife of a soldier should know and resolutely accept that her husband’s death might come at any moment. It could be tomorrow. It could be the day after."  Shinji believes that his marriage to Reiko must embrace the reality of a soldier's duty. Whatever his duty as a soldier, he must honor it.  In turn, she must honor him by living the life of a soldier's wife. 

Reiko views her marriage to Shinji as honoring this sacrifice. When he lectures her about her duties, she demonstrates that she lives to uphold such an honor. Upon revealing to Shinji the dagger her mother gave to her, it was clear that she knows what to do as a soldier's wife.  She shows that she must live her life with honor. This leaves an impact on her husband, as he "never again sought to test his wife's resolve."  Honoring her husband, Reiko lived with him as the center of her universe: "Reiko felt not the slightest surprise that a man who had been a complete stranger until a few months ago should now have become the sun about which her whole world revolved."

The marriage that Mishima depicts in Patriotism is a traditional one.  Both husband and wife live for honor.  He lives for the honor of doing his duty.  He is willing to sacrifice his life for the Imperial Forces.  She lives her life to honor her husband.  She is willing to sacrifice her life for the honor of being a solider's wife.  Their marriage is symbolic of traditional values.  It is a far cry from the modernized paradigm of marriage, where husband and wife live for their own notions of self.  In Patriotism, Mishima wants to depict a marriage that embodies traditional Japanese values.