Where does the rising action occur in the novel Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (also page, chapter)? I have to do a project for English for...

Since the rising action of a literary work consists of several actions that build to the climax of the plot, such action in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry involves the number of incidents that indicate racial conflict that exists and is increasing until there is a direct conflict involving the Logan family.

Here, then, is the rising action in Mildred Taylor's novel:

• The Logan children learn from T.J. that Mr. Berry was burned by some white men.


• In Chapter 1, the Logan children have mud splashed on them by the bus carrying white children to school, and "laughing white faces pressed against the bus windows" look down at them.


• In Chapter 2, Papa returns home with a large, strong man named Mr. Morrison. He has lost his job on the railroad because he fought and beat up two white men who started the conflict. Morrison will stay with the Logans and watch out for them while Papa returns to work.


• The story of what happened to the Berry brothers and their uncle is told. John Henry and his brother Beacon were buying gasoline in Strawberry and white men attacked them and set them on fire, supposedly because they had looked at a white woman.


• Because there are some racist white men at the Wallace store, Papa makes the children swear not to go near that place.


• While most of the community has no way of going anywhere else, they are forced to trade at the Wallace store. When there are night raids and rumors of liquor being sold to minors, Mama organizes a boycott of the store and rides to Strawberry to shop for others.


• T. J. reveals that Mrs. Logan has organized the boycott, and when Mr. Logan returns from working in the north on the railroad, he is shot; the Wallaces are roughed up by Mr. Morrison.


• The children are greatly disturbed by the "vision of ghostly headlights.


• There is more tension in Chapter 5 when Cassie and others accompany their mother to Strawberry to shop. When a white woman is helped before Cassie and the others, Cassie asserts her position in line, only to be rebuffed. Outside, she runs into Lillian Jean. When Cassie bumps into her, Lillian Jean tries to humiliate her, and succeeds when Cassie must publicly apologize.


• Mrs. Logan loses her job at the school because of the boycott.

This rising action all takes place before the climax, which is the point at which T. J. breaks into the Barnett store, having been strongly urged by some white children to do this action.

What are some ways that the theme of justice is exhibited in To Kill a Mockingbird?

One ongoing example of the theme of justice in To Kill a Mockingbird is the defense of Tom, a black man, by Atticus, a white lawyer. The judge purposely chose Atticus because he knew that Atticus was the best chance at justice Tom had. Even though, in the end, Tom does not get justice, Atticus' defense of him is an excellent example of justice.

Another example is when Atticus, who has grown weary of the constant taunting and rumors about Boo Radley that even his own children take part in, demands that the children stop tormenting him. Atticus explains that no one can know what Boo Radley's life, or anyone else's life, is like unless they walk a while in that person's shoes.

In chapter 17, Atticus gives what should be enough evidence of Tom's innocence, showing that Tom could not have committed the murder and proving that justice can be found for a black man. However, this evidence proves to be not enough when Tom is found guilty based on the prejudiced views of the jury.

Why did Shirley Jackson choose a lottery as her subject matter?

Are you asking why Shirley Jackson chose to portray the traditions that she does in "The Lottery"? If so, know that Jackson herself gave different answers at different times as to its inspiration.

According to Jackson biographer Ruth Franklin, Jackson cited anti-Semitism as one reason, but at another time she claimed real people were the characters' inspiration. Franklin believes that the most likely reason is a more general one offered by Jackson's correspondence with a literary critic:

“I suppose I hoped, by setting a particularly brutal ancient rite in the present and in my own village, to shock the story’s readers with a graphic dramatization of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives."

In the end, it's typically impossible to pinpoint the sole inspiration that motivates an author to portray a certain situation in a certain way -- after all, even when a writer *knows* what's inspiring them, there may be countless other things influencing their authorial choices on a subconscious level. Though Jackson's intent cannot be defined absolutely, "The Lottery" is a story that allows myriad interpretations and garners diverse reader reactions. 

Why do people in Maycomb find Dolphus Raymond's lifestyle peculiar?

People in Maycomb find Dolphus Raymond's lifestyle peculiar because he is a white man who openly associates with African Americans. In 1930's Alabama, the overwhelming majority of the population is prejudice towards black people. The South abides by Jim Crow laws that segregate the white and black communities. Dolphus Raymond is a wealthy white man who lives with his black mistress. He has several interracial children, and the Maycomb community views him with contempt for his lifestyle. Dolphus confides in Scout and Dill that he pretends to be drunk to give white people a reason to understand his lifestyle. He staggers when he walks and carries a Coke bottle covered in a paper bag that makes it look like he's been drinking liquor all day. White community members blame Dolphus' life choices and affinity for black people on his "alcoholism." Dolphus prefers to live with the black community instead of the hypocritical, ignorant white community. People are indignant toward Dolphus Raymond and discriminate against his "mixed" children. Dolphus has even sent two of his children to the North because of the prevalent racism in Maycomb, Alabama.

Is there any rhyme or alliteration in the poem "Mother to Son?"

Langston Hughes' poem "Mother to Son" contains no rhyme or alliteration. In fact, Hughes deliberately avoids such "prettifying" devices as pleasant rhyme schemes or alliterative devices to underscore how hard the narrator's life has been. The jagged, unrhymed cadences of the poem speak to the jagged lack of beauty in the mother's life. The language is hard, blunt and direct. The mother has lived a life that doesn't rhyme. It has been filled with "tacks" and "splinters" and "boards torn up." As she repeats twice, life for her "ain't been no crystal stair." Instead, she has struggled. At the same time, while life has been hard for her, she encourages her son to keep on going, as she does. "Don't you sit down on the steps" she says, just because life is rough. "Ise still goin'," she tells him. Her unvarnished description of the truth of how life really is becomes an inspiration to the poet that no pretty rhyme could match. 

What is the report given by Casca in Act I, Scene 2 of Julius Caesar?

Publius Servilius Casca in Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar might be considered a minor character. He has few speaking parts, appearing to be little more than an informer for Brutus and Cassius. On the other hand, Casca, a respected Roman senator, draws and lands his sword first in Caesar’s assassination.

After Caesar and his party leave for other public events, Casca comes by invitation to speak to Brutus and Cassius. He describes the events that have occurred in the recent Lupercal celebration.

• First, Antony offered the symbolic crown to Caesar three times; Caesar refused it three times.


• Secondly, the crowd appeared glad that Caesar had refused the crown.

This prompted Casca to say, "Why, there was a crown offered him: and being offered him, he put it by with the back of his hand, thus; and then the people fell a- shouting."

• Next, Casca notes that Caesar wanted to take the crown but resisted. From this episode, Casca describes that Caesar has a seizure possibly prompted by the crown incident.

Casca: Caesar refused the crown that it had almost choked Caesar; for he swooned and fell down at it: and for mine own part, I durst not laugh, for fear of opening my lips and receiving the bad air.

• After Caesar awoke, he apologized. According to Casca, Caesar could have done anything and the crowd would have supported him.


• Cicero spoke out but it was in Greek...Casca could not understand what he had said.


• Lastly, Casca conveyed the news that the soldiers Flavius and Murellus have been punished for taking the drapings from Caesar’s statues.

The reader learns that Casca is both cynical and two-faced. He wants to laugh when Caesar falls down during his seizure, yet he quiets the crowd for Caesar to speak. Furthermore, he answers rudely when Cassius asks him to dinner.

Casca, a minor player, plays a larger role than perceived in the assassination of Caesar. Unfortunately for Casca, his celebration is short since he meets his demise on the same day Caesar dies.

How does Romeo compare Juliet to the sun, moon and stars?

In Act 2, at the beginning of the balcony scene, Romeo overflows with the first raptures of love for Juliet. His initial thought as the sun rises and he sees her in the window is that she is the sun. He accuses the moon of being pale (sick) and green with envy at how much more beautiful the "sun" of Juliet is. He connects the moon with virginity, a classical way of understanding it, calling it the "vestal" [virginal] moon and saying it would be less of a fool if it would cast off the "livery" or clothing of the virgin. 

 Romeo, still in raptures, likens Juliet's eyes to the stars in the heavens. He says that her eyes are so beautiful that "two of the fairest stars" in heaven, off to do business, have asked her eyes to "twinkle" in their place until they return. Juliet's cheeks, says Romeo, are so bright they put those stars to shame. In fact, returning to her eyes again, Romeo says they shine so brightly they would light up the night sky like the sun, so "that birds would sing and think is was not night." Juliet is incredibly beautiful to Romeo, a sun in the sky, brighter than the stars and the moon.

This hyperbolic or over-the-top language represents how head-over-heels in love Romeo is with Juliet and foreshadows the great lengths he will go to in order to be with her.  

What are some ways the Earth can be harmed by weathering?

Weathering is the process by which natural elements, such as water, wind, plants, etc. break down rocks and soil. In this process, Earth's landform changes. Think about how a plant can have extended roots in the cracks of a rock and how it will extend this crack over time, ultimately causing the rock to break. Given the scale of such processes, mountains are weathered and new river paths are forged, resulting in new valleys. Weathering also results in more sediments in flowing water, which may cause sediment deposits at some points (embankment by rivers or river delta). Stream direction changes can cause flooding of previously dry areas and affect the properties of soil. Weathering of rocks and minerals increases the mineral and salt content of the water bodies.

Hope this helps.  

Why does Polonius say that he will spy on Hamlet's conversation with his mother?

Polonius is attempting to help King Claudius, Hamlet's uncle and step-father, ascertain the cause of Hamlet's strange behavior.  Though Hamlet's behavior changed with the death of his father and the very quick remarriage of his mother to his uncle, his oddness has deepened in ways that seem inexplicable.  They worry that he is going "mad."

To get to the bottom of this, Polonius and Claudius stage a scene where they can observe an interaction between Hamlet and Polonius's daughter, Ophelia, who used to be in a relationship with Hamlet until Polonius made her break it off.  Polonius believes, having heard the two speak together, that "The origin and commencement of his grief / Sprung from neglected love" (3.1.191-192).  In an effort to get Hamlet to reveal the cause of his grief, Polonius suggests that they "Let his queen-mother all alone entreat him" to open up to her (3.1.196).  He says, 

Let her be round with him;
And I'll be placed, so please you, in the ear,
Of all their conference.  (3.1.177-179)

Polonius volunteers to hide himself in the room so that he can hear everything that Hamlet says and report it faithfully back to Claudius.  He elaborates on this a bit more, later, when he says,

'Tis meet that some more audience than a mother,
Since nature makes them partial, should o'erhear
The speech of vantage. (3.3.34-36)

In other words, since mothers are partial to their children, Gertrude might be naturally inclined to report the conversation to her husband somewhat less faithfully than one who sees Hamlet more objectively.  Polonius doesn't imply that she would have any intention to deceive, but, rather, that she would inherently want to protect her son and keep his confidence.

What does Darry mean when he says "you don't just stop living because you lose somebody"?

In Chapter 12, Ponyboy and Darry get into a fight about completing homework. Ponyboy tells Darry that he doesn't see what the big deal is about schoolwork and says that he's going to get a job like Sodapop when he drops out. Darry corrects Ponyboy and tells him that he needs to start giving more effort because he has the skills it takes to earn a college scholarship. He then says,

"You're living in a vacuum, Pony, and you're going to have to cut it out. Johnny and Dallas were our buddies, too, but you don't just stop living because you lose someone" (Hinton 148).

Darry is trying to encourage Ponyboy to start living his life again. He feels that Ponyboy has lost focus after witnessing the tragic deaths of his two friends. Darry understands the importance of setting goals and staying focused during tough times. If Ponyboy continues to pity himself and not give effort in the classroom, he will waste his talents. Darry is trying to encourage Ponyboy to snap out of his depression and begin living with a purpose again.

Sometimes the government does not act as a producer of goods and services but still influences private producers. Explain how it might do this?

While the government does not always act as a producer of goods and services, it still influences private producers in the following three ways:

Legislation

The government, in its desire to finance its specific initiatives and programs, will sometimes enact new legislation to raise taxes. This influences the decisions and actions of individuals and companies, private or publicly-traded.

For example, it may legislate a new tax on trucking and other enterprises for tires – their environmentally-proper disposal of, for example. Therefore, this may cause a company to put off re-jigging its fleet of trucks until absolutely necessary. It may also cause a company to refrain from purchasing additional trucks for its fleet right now, due to paying more taxes on replacement costs of parts for its current fleet of vehicles.

The government can institute all sorts of legislation that can have a direct effect on the operations of businesses. Just ask the tobacco industry.

Programs that spur innovation

The government can put in place incentive programs designed to help businesses that provide useful goods and services to innovate. For example, it may give grants or tax breaks to companies that are in the alternative energy business. This may be to help them pioneer new wind technology or solar technology that can decrease the nation’s dependence on fossil fuels. As a result, this financial help from the federal, state, or local governments, enables a company to grow as they innovate. The result may be that the company becomes very profitable, and this may only have happened because of the initiative of the government to help the company.

Programs that spur more employment

Furthermore, the government may give funds or tax breaks to businesses to permit them to hire new employees at a reduced cost to the business. The government is trying to spur employment so that they can receive more payroll taxes and spend less on unemployment payouts. The business can hire more employees to further their initiatives such as increasing production. Therefore, a business may sign on for the government program to drive growth and maybe would not have hired any new employees without this government program, so, certainly, the government is influencing a business’s actions in a significant way.

I'm a little confused. What different types of irony are in "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson?

Irony can be a situation, a verbal expression, or a dramatic circumstance in which something ends up in a completely opposite way from what was expected or meant to happen. In literature, there are three types of irony: 

a) verbal, b) dramatic and c) situational. 

In "The Lottery" you see all three types of irony as the story unfolds.

Verbal irony occurs when we use words to convey a meaning, but this meaning is different from, or completely opposite of, the literal meaning that the words are meant to convey. 

It's a little difficult to identify verbal irony--ironic things that are said (or written, as in a letter) by a character--in this story because most of the story is narrated and because there is little actual dialogue that highlights irony, meaning that most of the lines spoken are not replied to or not replied to significantly. For example, consider the seemingly meaningless yet ironic exchange between Mrs. Hutchinson and Mrs. Delacroix:

"Clean forgot what day it was," [Mrs. Hutchinson] said to Mrs. Delacroix ...  Mrs. Delacroix said, "You're in time, though. They're still talking away up there."

The things Mrs. Hutchinson says are verbal irony but tend to confuse because they also indicate situational irony, as does "Clean forgot what day it was." This is verbal irony because she says she almost forgot the day, and the day is the most important village day of the year. This is also situational irony because her situation makes this the most important day of her all too soon to be ended life. When an author skillfully weaves techniques together in such a seamless way, it can be confusing sorting them out.

Perhaps the clearest example in the story of verbal irony is in the seemingly simple remarks Mr. Summers makes about the timing of the village gathering. He makes two remarks about the timing:

• Mr. Summers said, "that was done pretty fast, and now we've got to be hurrying a little more to get done in time."


• "All right, folks." Mr. Summers said. "Let's finish quickly."

This is verbal irony because he says something, and what he says is commonplace, everyday and innocent sounding, yet it is oddly applied to an annual event of enough significance (we readers don't yet know why it is significant) to require everyone's orderly and ritual-governed attendance (they gather, but not randomly; they gather in regulated family units: "Daughters draw with their husbands' families...."). His words carry meaning that is ironically opposite of the expected meaning: we expect the commonplace; we ironically encounter the bizarre. 

This leads to situational irony. The lottery that the story talks about is clearly a primitive and barbaric sacrificial game of chance. The townspeople have even lost track of the true beginnings of the game: "the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box."

They feel satisfied that the lottery was first created as a way to secure crops through human sacrifice (the words "human sacrifice" are never said in the story): "Used to be a saying about 'Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.'" They also say that some villages have done away with it: "'Some places have already quit lotteries.'" The irony of this particular situation is that villagers bring up this fact, then dismiss it as something that is too ridiculous to consider, that is, they think that ending the lottery is ridiculous and out of place:

“Next thing you know, they'll be wanting to go back to living in caves.”

The characters have completely twisted the worlds of the rational and the irrational. This is a great part of the situational irony of the story. 

Another instance of situational irony is the title. A "lottery" is a game of chance. While the word itself is not indicative of something positive or negative, the overall expectation of a "lottery" is that such a game of chance is an opportunity to gain something good. The situational irony here is that this lottery that the story is about is actually evil and macabre, going contrary to the expectation of good. The lottery does lead to a "win," but "winning" is actually losing: The winner will lose his or her life at the end of the game if their name is selected. Not only will they be killed, but the winner will also be killed mercilessly by the very people with whom he or she shares life every day.

Friends, family, neighbors, everybody partakes in delivering the "win" of "the lottery." Moreover, they all pick their stones and attack the "winner" as they stone the individual to death. Also ironic is the fact that this title is actually what keeps the reader from understanding what is really happening until the very end. It is a clever, ironic play on words.

Now, the dramatic irony is a bit different to catch from the verbal and the situational, especially in this story. The dramatic irony is different in that, first, the foreshadowing sets it up and, second, the audience knows something that the characters do not know. 

Catching the dramatic irony in this story depends upon understanding the hints of foreshadowing provided by the narrator. If you are able to identify the foreshadowing (which, of course, in the first reading, we are not) of the actual meaning of the lottery through the very subtle cues that Shirley Jackson offers, then the dramatic irony is clear to you as you can foreknow what the end of Mrs. Hutchinson and the story will be.

If you do not catch the foreshadowing (and first time readers never do), then this story represents reverse dramatic irony: the characters know what we do not know; the characters know that the lottery will select the human sacrifice whose blood will protect the crops. In this case of reverse dramatic irony, the characters know what the lottery entails, and not the reader.

Therefore, if you catch the foreshadowing, then a good example of dramatic irony is revealed in the foreshadowing that Tessie's name will ultimately be picked as she ironically shows up late for the lottery. If, on the other hand, you miss the foreshadowing, then there is a good example of reverse dramatic irony because the characters know what we readers do not know.

What are some examples of imagery in the story "There Will Come Soft Rains"?

Ray Bradbury's story "There Will Come Soft Rains" includes many haunting images about the absence of human life after a nuclear strike kills all people in this community, at least.

Most of the imagery in the story is visual and creates a sense of emptiness in this world. In the story's second paragraph, Bradbury creates the image of a breakfast waiting to be eaten: "...eight pieces of perfectly browned toast, eight eggs sunnyside up, sixteen slices of bacon, two coffees, and two cool glasses of milk." A few paragraphs later, a car sits "waiting" and playing cards sit "silent" and "untouched."

The most haunting image of this story is Bradbury's description of the family that used to live in this house. All the family members, except for the family dog, died in the nuclear blast. Bradbury describes the image left on the "charred west side" of the house:

"The entire west face of the house was black, save for five places. Here the silhouette in paint of a man moving a lawn. Here, as in a photograph, a woman bent to pick flowers. Still farther over, their images burned on wood in one titanic instant, a small boy, hands flung into the air; higher up, the image of a thrown ball, and opposite him a girl, hands raised to catch a blall which never came down."

Besides the haunting visual imagery, Bradbury creates several instances of audible imagery. The "voice-clock" singing the time and and a second computerized voice saying the date: "Tick-tock, seven o'clock..." and "Today is August 4, 2057." The sound of the house "clicked" and "hummed."

Meanwhile, the imagery related to the fire is animal-like and it was "licking" and eating" and "fed upon Picassos and Matisses."

I need some ideas of texts Julius Caesar would keep. So far I've thought of a superstition list and a poem about Rome but I need more.

Luckily, a great deal of information has been preserved about Roman education in general and Julius Caesar in particular. This means that rather than simply speculating about Caesar's reading habits, you can actually research them.

The first thing to note is that much of Roman education in Caesar's period was based on a Greek, rather than native Roman, cultural tradition. Upper class Romans were bilingual in Greek and Latin, and Roman schools taught the Greek classics.

The foundation of Roman schooling for the upper classes was the study of the seven liberal arts, grammar, rhetoric, dialectic, music, astronomy, geometry, and arithmetic. Literature was studied under the area of "grammar", and normally included the Alexandrian canon of Greek literature, namely the Homeric and Hesiodic epics, the three tragic playwrights, Greek comedy, and such poets as Pindar. The ten Attic orators, most particularly Demosthenes, were the center of rhetorical education, and would have been studied by Caesar. As well as Greek literature, Caesar would have read the Latin comedies of Plautus and Terence, and the Greek historians Thucydides, Herodotus, and Polybius.

Caesar corresponded with Cicero, the greatest of Roman orators, and despite their fraught relationship, would probably have owned some of his orations. As well, he would have maintained extensive records of his own correspondence and letters written to him. 

what was Fredrick Douglas know for after slavery?

Frederick Douglass is most well known for his activism in abolishing slavery and his support of women's suffrage. He spoke regularly on slavery and published several books on his life and experience with and escape from enslavement.

Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born in Maryland in 1818 to a mother in enslavement. This meant that Frederick, too, was a slave, but he was afforded some small privilege when he was selected to work in the home of Hugh Auld. Auld's wife Sophia taught Frederick the alphabet, something which was illegal at the time. Frederick continued learning to read and write from white children after Auld forbade his wife to teach him. Frederick's literacy greatly contributed to his accomplishments in later life. 

In 1838, at the age of twenty, Frederick successfully escaped slavery when he fled to New York, a free state. He later moved on to Massachusetts and took the surname of Douglass. After his escape, Frederick Douglass began speaking at abolitionist meetings and throughout the free states about his life and the evils of slavery. In 1845 he wrote an autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Throughout his life he would revise and publish two more autobiographies.

Douglass published several abolitionist newspapers in his life and was an activist and supporter for women's rights. After the Emancipation Proclamation took effect in 1863, Douglass advised President Lincoln on the treatment of black soldiers during the Civil War conflicts. Douglass was the first African American man to hold a high-ranking office position in the United States government, serving as charge d'affaires for the Dominican Republic, consul general of the Republic of Haiti, and he was even nominated for vice president, though without his knowledge.