What are some examples of how magical realism is used in the book Shoeless Joe?

Magical realism (also called magic realism) is a literary movement often associated with Latin-American authors. Magical realism attempts to establish a realistic setting in which fantastic or paranormal events are accepted as part of the natural world order. Characters who encounter "magic" in their world accept it as a real, concrete event, which serves to draw the reader into the author's creation. 

W.P. Kinsella develops magical realism in Shoeless Joe by allowing his characters to discover that their dreams can be realized as long as they are willing to suspend their skepticism and embrace their imagination. 

I would argue there are three seminal moments of magical realism in Shoeless Joe.

1. After Ray and Salinger talk with the elderly Archibald "Moonlight" Graham, Ray encounters a reincarnation of the younger Graham and decides to help him achieve his dream to play baseball with Shoeless Joe Jackson.


2. As fans flock to Ray's field to watch the other reincarnated players, Salinger accepts the ballplayers' offer to join them as they disappear into the cornfield.


3. Ray has a game of catch with his father's younger self, which allows Ray to bury the resentments of his past.

Characters within Kinsella's world accept these events as real, which seems to strengthen the emotional impact of the magical realism in the novel.  

Why does Gatsby's death mean the end of the American Dream?

Gatsby is something of a romantic, someone who believes in a person's power to change personal destiny and fulfill his or her wildest dreams. In essence, this idea is the classical definition of the American Dream, and it is also, at least at first, the quality that seems to characterize Gatsby's life most. Born to a poor and insignificant family, Gatsby works hard to acquire wealth (often through illegal means), believing that, by amassing a vast fortune, he will win happiness and Daisy's love.

Gatsby's brutal murder instantly shatters this ideal. Gatsby doesn't win Daisy's love, and his decision to take the blame for Daisy's hit-and-run accident results in a quick and ruthless death. In light of these events, Gatsby's mad dash for wealth and possessions becomes quite meaningless. By extension, the American Dream, on which Gatsby's efforts are modeled, is also shown to be rather hollow. 

In Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick, why does Kevin call his mom "the Fair Gwen"?

Kevin's mom is a beautiful woman, and he calls her "the Fair Gwen" because "Gwen" is her first name, "fair" means "beautiful," and because "the Fair Gwen" was also the name of a famous queen from the legends of King Arthur.

You can find Kevin's eager, detailed explanation of all this in Chapter 4, specifically on page 17 in my copy of the novel. And you can find Max's description of Gwen's beauty in Chapter 2, on page 7--basically, he thinks she looks like a movie star even though she's sweaty and dressed kind of sloppy, since she's carrying all those moving boxes.

More specifically, Kevin has chosen this complimentary nickname for his mother because it reflects his own interest in the Arthurian legends. You know how Kevin loves knights, dragons, monsters, and especially quests? Referring to his mom as a lovely queen from the time of knights and quests is just one way that Kevin imaginatively colors his own world. It shows us how creative he is, which is good, but it also shows us that Kevin doesn't quite live in the real world, which is sad.

Why does Georg not consider himself a poacher in Saki's "The Interlopers"?

Georg doesn't consider himself a poacher because he believes he has a claim on the disputed land.

According to the story, the forest land in question is well-stocked with game, and it has been the subject of much controversy between the Znaeym and von Gradwitz families for decades. In a past judgment, a court awarded the land to the von Gradwitz family, but the Znaeym family has never accepted the decision.

A famous law suit, in the days of his grandfather, had wrested it from the illegal possession of a neighboring family of petty landowners; the dispossessed party had never acquiesced in the judgment of the Courts, and a long series of poaching affrays and similar scandals had embittered the relationships between the families for three generations.

Ulrich von Gradwitz often finds himself patrolling his land in anticipation of encroachments by members of the Znaeym family. Ulrich is determined to keep his sworn enemy, Georg, from hunting in his forest. Fueled by decades of "personal ill-will," he resolves to kill Georg should he ever meet him face to face. To Ulrich, Georg is a "tireless game-snatcher and raider of the disputed border-forest." Georg is equally determined to lay claim to the game on Ulrich's land. As a matter of opinion, Georg doesn't consider himself a poacher because he feels the land actually belongs to him and his family.

How do the different isotopes of zinc behave differently to each other? What is the most commonly used isotope of zinc?

Zinc is an element on the periodic table with an atomic number of 30 (meaning there are 30 protons in the nucleus).  The isotopes of a particular element differ in the number of neutrons present in the nucleus.  There are numerous known isotopes of zinc.  Only five of them, however, are found in nature.  Almost half of all naturally occurring zinc is Zn-64 (the mass number is 64).  This means that this particular isotope of zinc contains 30 protons and 34 neutrons.  The four other naturally occurring isotopes are Zn-66, Zn-67, Zn-68, and Zn-70.  All of these are considered radioactively stable.  The other isotopes of zinc only really differ from one another in terms of nuclear stability, with half-lives ranging from hours to nanoseconds.

Which of these species is an outgroup?

An outgroup in the evolutionary sense is a clade of organisms that is closely related to the organisms we're interested in (the ingroup), but not more closely related to anything within that ingroup than anything else, "equidistant" from them in an evolutionary sense. The optimal choice for the outgroup is the clade just outside the ingroup.

Killer whales are not an outgroup for mink whales, because they are several clades apart. They aren't closely related enough.

Horses are an outgroup for pigs, because they are very closely related and if we separated the pig clade into specific species all those species would be equidistant from horses in evolutionary terms.

Horses are not an outgroup for pigs and water buffalo, because horses are more closely related to pigs than they are to water buffalo, and thus fail the "equidistant" criterion.

Mink whales are not an outgroup for cows and water buffalo, because they are too distantly related.

Therefore the correct answer is C: Horses are an outgroup for pigs.

In the novel Monster by Walter Dean Myers, how is Steve treated like he is less than human?

Throughout the novel, Myers examines how the judicial system treats young minorities as subhuman beings instead of unique individuals. At the beginning of the novel, the prosecuting attorney, Sandra Petrocelli, labels Steve Harmon a "monster." From the start of the trial Steve is viewed as less than human. Throughout the majority of the trial, Steve is voiceless and unaware of what is going on. He is essentially treated as an absent participant whose fate lays in the hands of the attorneys and jurors. Whenever Steve is not in the courtroom, he is locked behind bars inside a jail. Steve describes his violent, dangerous environment as a place where inmates continually attempt to harm one another at all hours of the day. Steve fears for his life and is forced to act like he is a callous, threatening individual in order to survive. Steve's experience in prison also makes him feel like he is less than human.