What is the story Killed at Resaca saying about heroism? The narrator expresses some ambivalence towards Lt. Brayle by using expressions like "vain...

Ambrose Bierce's short story "Killed at Resaca" is a commentary on the meaninglessness of heroism. 

The story follows the battle practices and foolish death of Herman Brayle, a Lieutenant in the Union Army who has been brought in "from some Ohio regiment" to serve as an officer due to the general's belief that to choose a man to lead a brigade who belongs to that brigade would result in distracting jealousy. We get our first sense of what it means to be heroic in the description of the general's reasoning:

Under such circumstances, a man's services had to be very distinguished indeed to be heard of by his family and the friends of his youth; and "the speaking trump of fame" was a trifle hoarse from loquacity, anyhow. 

In other words, it's not enough to simply serve your country in a war to be labeled heroic by your peers; rather, one must do something extraordinary. This seems to suggest the arbitrary nature of the term: that heroism is something to be sought after, like a prize... pursued even more fervently than the greater good of one's fellow unit or of the warring factions themselves.

We learn that Brayle prefers to stay in full uniform, as "a very striking and conspicuous figure," while the other officers prefer to dress more comfortably and with less flair. Although his inferiors admire Brayle, they do recognize his "objectionable and unsoldierly quality" of being "vain of his courage"; Brayle doesn't take cover in battle, whether he's on foot or on horseback. The narrator does suggest that, "in all these needless exposures of life there was no visible bravado nor subsequent narration," but they are needless nonetheless. Whether or not the tonality of these gestures is self-important, they are grounded in the same intention: to appear heroic or be heroic. This is a useless and stupid pursuit, and it is what ultimately costs Brayle his life. 

After being caught at an impassable gully, Brayle is shot to death by Confederate forces. Both sides immediately cease firing, and as Brayle's body is hauled away on a stretcher, Confederate officers pay tribute to this "sacred burden" and the Confederate soldiers play a dirge. This unlikely event highlights how silly military heroics are; two groups of men will pause to admire the "valiant" behavior of someone and then immediately resume killing each other after they are finished. Brayle's death doesn't lead to any real or lasting changes of heart within these troops. The bloody war rages on just as soon as his body is removed. In addition, there was nothing inherently "heroic" about it; Brayle dies in an intentional, suicidal fashion that does not actually aid the war effort in any capacity.

This point is really driven home by the end of the story. The narrator finds a letter in Brayle's belongings that was written by a female love interest. The woman writes that she has heard from another soldier that Brayle was "seen crouching behind a tree" in battle, and that she could "bear to hear of [her] soldier lover's death, but not of his cowardice." Thus, we learn the reasoning behind Brayle's behavior. He has acted in such a brazen, foolish fashion as not to be perceived as cowardly by a woman who knows nothing of the realities of war. He is not at all heroic--but rather, simply full of childish pride. The soldiers who have celebrated Brayle as a hero now look ridiculous given this new context, as they have honored a stubborn man's death at the request of a superficial, thoughtless woman. 

Why does Welty use long, detailed sentences and a slow pace in order to give the beginning of " A Visit to Charity" a sense of foreboding?

Eudora Welty's story, "A Visit of Charity," is an interesting story of a young girl's visit to a home for the elderly. For the girl, it is like stepping into another world. The elderly women are objectified and treated almost like animals. It is a place where the girl feels uncomfortable and out of place.

Welty creates long sentences in the opening scene to shape the setting of the story. She wants the moment to move slowly and give a sense of foreboding because the girl is going into this other world. As she walks into this home, the girl feels disoriented and the opening scene prepares the reader for this. Once inside, she sees how mean the women are to each other and has a glimpse of what her future might be like when she gets older. With the sentence structure and pacing in the opening scene, Welty foreshadows the shocking experience the girl will have once inside.

In statistics (specifically behavioral sciences), what is interpolation? How does linear interpolation relate to frequency distribution charts and...

In statistics, interpolation refers to the process of estimating a value that exists within two points on a line or curve. Linear interpolation is a relatively simple process, because plotting the data on a graph would allow one to visually locate the projected value. Interpolation on a curve requires utilizing the following equation, using the coordinates of the two points:

The units in this equation correspond to the coordinate points of each point used to extrapolate, with (x1, y1) representing one point and (x2, y2) representing the other; the coordinates including the interpolated value are (x, y). This would be the formula utilized to interpolate with frequency distribution curves. Interpolating does not require a different formula if one axis is measured in percentages.

In Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, how does Chua explain her father's disappointment when she got second place in a contest?

On page 16 of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Chua discusses the time she won second prize in a history contest and invited her family to the ceremony at which the awards were given. She writes, "Someone else had won the Kiwanis prize for best all-around student. Afterward, my father said to me: 'Never, never disgrace me like that again'" (pages 16-17). Her father was of Chinese descent and was born in the Philippines, and he won admission to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1960. He later became a professor at Purdue and at University of California at Berkeley, and while he was hard on this children, Chua writes that "I found strength and confidence in my peculiar family" (page 17). She says that while her father would often work until late at night and not register her presence in a room, he also enjoyed introducing her to the delights of America, including sloppy joes, Dairy Queen, sledding, skiing, and camping.

The story centers upon the difference between the world of the Sheridans and that of the Scotts. Laura, the young lady in the story, struggles...

Although before the garden party began Laura was feeling great empathy toward the family of the dead man, after the party she is reluctant to take the basket of sandwiches to them. She is still basking in the "most successful" afternoon where she was complimented and praised, and "she had no room for anything else." Her own world is upper class, and the story is replete with symbols of the Sheridans' wealth: they live atop the hill; they hire a band; flowers are in the garden and flowers arrive from the florist; ten kinds of sandwiches with the crusts trimmed away show that they themselves are the upper crust of society. Laura's hat is the ultimate symbol of the ostentatious frivolity; Laurie's vacuous compliment, "What an absolutely topping hat!" encapsulates the emptiness of their way of life: aren't all hats "topping?"

In contrast, the neighborhood where the Scotts live shows their lower socioeconomic status: It is at the bottom of the hill and depicted as dark, smoky, and cramped. People wear practical clothing and seem to overflow their "mean little cottages." 

Laura is embarrassed making her way to the dead man's home knowing that her clothing and hat set her apart. Inside the Scotts' cottage she is ushered into the room where the corpse lies on the bed. Her reaction is that he is "wonderful, beautiful" and a "marvel." She believes the look on his face says, "This is just as it should be. I am content." He is no longer in a state to be concerned about garden parties one way or another.

This epiphany that the dead man has surpassed the cares of this life is somewhat ambiguous. Does it mean Laura will live as if there is more to life than garden parties, or will she continue to enjoy her advantages, knowing that in the end, all will arrive at the same state of glorious peace? Readers might hope that Laura will return to the ideals of fighting class distinctions that she displayed at the beginning of the story, but the ending of the story gives little reason to hope that will be the case. Her "loud childish sob" and request that the women "forgive my hat" shows that she is still hopelessly wrapped up in what people think of her rather than in trying to lend any comfort to the grieving relatives of the dead man. Although she is crying when she meets Laurie, she says, "It was simply marvelous," and then tries to explain her epiphany by saying, "Isn't life—" Just as Laurie has been able to convince her before to drop her sentimentality for the lower classes by complimenting her hat, chances are he will have the same effect on her here when he says, in his rich and privileged dialect, "Isn't it, darling?"

Katherine Mansfield's maternal grandmother's home was the model for the Sheridans' home in this story. You can read more about her life at the link below.

In Philbrick's Freak the Mighty, what is an example of bias?

When someone is biased, it means that they hold unreasonable, and possibly hostile, feelings towards others from a specific group of people. Since Kevin and Max are in middle school, Tony D., the one they call Blade because he carries a knife around with him, is biased against the two younger boys. Tony D. is biased mostly because he feels powerful when he can beat up or intimidate younger kids. He perceives that it is easier to pick on Max and Kevin because they look weak and scared. Therefore, Tony has unreasonable and hostile feelings towards these boys for no other reason than that they seem to be easy targets. In fact, Tony D. demonstrates his biased feelings when he gets the two boys' attention before running after them, as in the following passage:

"Hey you! Mutt and Jeff! Frankenstein and Igor! Don't look around, I'm talkin' to you, boneheads. What is this, a freak show?" (29).

Tony D. throws out stereotypical comments to criticize and provoke Max and Kevin, which also define the biases he is drawing from. For instance, Max is large and goofy for his age while Kevin is small and dwarf-like for his. Tony D. uses these differences to single the boys out from "normal" society, which is a very biased thing to do, just to gain power and control over someone else. 

What is the unemployment rate if the population is 300 million, the labor force is 150 million, and 7 million people are unemployed? What if the...

The unemployment rate is the proportion of the labor force that is unemployed. The labor force is the working population—that is, those citizens of working age. The population as a whole is comprised of the working population (the labor force) and those who are too young (children), too old (the elderly), or otherwise choose not to work. Those who are not fully capable (people with disablilities) are, in some countries, also not counted as part of the labor force. Also, those who are not actively seeking work, or are economically inactive, might also not be counted. Typically, governments try to understate unemployment in their reported statistics, since high unemployment is a sign of a nation in economic trouble.

In this example, the table indicates that the labor force is 150 million in Year 1, with the number unemployed being 7 million. Therefore, the unemployment rate in Year 1 is 7/150 × 100 = 4.67%. Similarly, the unemployment rate in Year 2 is 7.2/160 x 100 = 4.5%. The rate decreases from Year 1 to Year 2 even though there are 0.2 million more unemployed people, since the labor force increases more (by 10 million people).