What is the conflict in Kate Chopin's short story, "The Story of an Hour"?

The central conflict in Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" is between the main character, Louise Mallard, and society. 

The story begins when Louise's sister, Josephine, is attempting to gently break the news of Mr. Mallard's death in a train accident to Louise.  "She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance.  She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms" and then retreats, alone, to her room.  From this, we can know that Louise is unlike most women of her society because she did not respond as other women have to this same news.

Though her sister fears that she may be doing herself harm, Louise is actually engaged in much different behavior: she notices

the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life.  The delicious breath of rain was in the air [....].  The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves.  There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds [...].

Instead of grieving her dead husband, remembering their life together, mourning the death of his love, Louise is, instead, noticing all the signs of life around her.  She whispers the words, "free, free, free!" and "did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her."  We can understand now that Louise is actually happy, not grieving.  She's not happy her husband is dead, per se, but she is happy for her acquisition of a freedom she could never have possessed while he was alive.

It is not that she didn't love him.  She did...sometimes.  And he loved her.  "She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead."  There was no conflict between them, and he was not a tyrannical husband.  However, "she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that that would belong to her absolutely." 

Louise didn't take issue with her husband, in particular, but the institution of marriage in this time period (the 1890s), in general.  She was the legal property of her husband, with no rights or legal identity of her own, while he lived.  The narrator even tells us that the lines of her face "bespoke repression."  Louise could not be her own person.  Her purpose, while her husband lived, was to be his wife, to bend her will to his, to compromise.  Now, she will be able to follow her own will, to do just as she pleases when she pleases.  Readers can see now that the conflict is not between Mr. and Mrs. Mallard, but it is rather between Mrs. Mallard and society, along with all of society's expectations and limitations of a married woman. Mr. Mallard is only a representative of those expectations.

What effect does Clarisse have on Montag?

Clarisse has a profound effect on Montag and is the catalyst for him to begin thinking about his life and occupation of burning books.  At the beginning of the novel, we witness Montag burning books and his elation while doing it.  His face is covered with soot, and he has a “fierce grin” upon his face.  He is enjoying his job until he meets Clarisse one night on his way home.  Clarisse’s face is described as being “slender and milk-white, and in it was a kind of gentle hunger that touched over everything with tireless curiosity.”  Clarisse’s hunger to know and experience the world around her is in direct conflict with Montag’s soot covered face hungry to burn the knowledge and experiences found in books. 

From Clarisse, Montag learns about nature and enjoying the outdoors and sunrise.  He learns that she and her family sit around and laugh and talk.  He can hear her from his bedroom window as he watches his wife in the cold, dark tomb of their bedroom saved from an overdose of drugs by hospital workers who make house calls.  Before meeting Clarisse, Montag had become numb to society; he was metaphorically dead inside until Clarisse’s infectious curiosity and love of life changes his way of thinking.  Montag becomes more open and willing to question why society burns books.  Because of his brief encounters with Clarisse, Montag begins his journey of rebelling against the society he lives in and becomes a force in keeping the knowledge found in books alive for future generations. 

Why were people settling the Oregon Country? What was attracting them?

There were several reasons why people moved to the Oregon Country. One reason people moved to the Oregon Country was to make money. People had heard that there was a lucrative fur trade in Oregon. People heard about the fortune made by John Jacob Astor. Some people went to the Oregon Country to try to get their share of the profit from the trading of furs.

Other people went for the opportunity to get land. People who went to the Oregon Country were able to farm if they settled in fertile Willamette Valley. Some people hoped they would be more successful as farmers in Oregon than they were in other areas. Some people wanted an opportunity for adventure. They hoped to get land as part of this adventure.

Reports from the Oregon Country indicated there were Native Americans living in the region. Some people realized there was an opportunity to convert the Native Americans in the region to Christianity. Therefore, missionaries went to the Oregon Country to try to help convert people to Christianity.

The idea of Manifest Destiny was on the mind of many Americans. Americans hoped to expand from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Going to the Oregon Country was part of fulfilling the goal of expanding from ocean to ocean.

There were many reasons why people moved to the Oregon Country.

How does Scout feel when she reflects on her relationship with Boo Radley? How would she define the responsibilities of being a neighbor?

Boo Radley saves Scout and Jem's lives when Bob Ewell attacks them. He had also reached out to them in friendship with the gifts he left for them in the knothole of the old tree. As Scout walks Boo home after the Bob Ewell attack, she reflects on their friendship. She realizes with sadness that Boo had always given to her and Jem, but they had not given him anything in return. She recalls with regret that she and Jem had never even left a single gift in the knothole for Boo:

He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives (To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 31).

Scout wishes that she had been a better friend to Boo. She also reflects on the role of neighbors. Boo is her neighbor. She knows that she had not acted neighborly because "neighbors give in return. We never put back into the tree what we took out of it: we had given him nothing, and it made me sad." Scout feels guilty for only taking from Boo.

What three consecutive numbers add up to 93? Is there a method to find them?

To solve this, assume that the three consecutive numbers are all integers. Then, assign a variable that represents the first integer.  Let it be x.  So the next two integers are x+1 and x+2.

Then, add these three integers and set it equal to the given sum.

And solve for x.

This is the first integer. The other two integers are:

second integer

third integer

Therefore, the three consecutive numbers that add up to 93 are 30, 31 and 32.

What do Jem and Reverend Sykes disagree on in Chapter 21 of To Kill a Mockingbird?

Mr. Ewell gave his testimony in court to the jury. He described the crime Tom Robinson was accused of, which was the rape of his daughter. Jem and Scout sat in the balcony with Reverend Sykes and the other African Americans of Maycomb. The Reverend leaned over to Jem and whispered that he should remove Scout from the courtroom. He was worried about her hearing the mature nature of the testimony. Jem disagreed with Reverend Sykes.  

Jem told Reverend Sykes that Scout was too young to understand what was happening. Scout found this suggestion insulting. She insisted that she did understand it all. Reverend Sykes was still concerned.

Reverend Sykes's black eyes were anxious. "Mr. Finch know you all are here? This ain't fit for Miss Jean Louise or you boys either" (Chapter 17).

Jem was firm. He did not want to leave. He reassured Reverend Sykes. Soon their attention turned back to the trial, and the matter was not discussed anymore.

Walt Whitman is often considered to be a larger-than-life poet, writing expansive lines and embracing the whole of America as his inspiration. In...

Today in America we would probably say “Blades of Grass,” but the metaphor speaks to the infinitude of things – stars, individual leaves, individual blades of grass, individual grains of sand, individual drops of rain or flakes of snow, and human individuals.  He recognized and understood the mature notion that, while each of us thinks of ourselves as a unique entity (and rightly so, since we have a “self” consciousness), we form together another entity, be it the starry night sky, the sandy beach, the vast grasslands of the prairie, the deluge of a river or ocean, the blizzard of a winter’s day. Whitman is saying “Our unique individuality is beautiful, useful, important, because together we make up the universe. We are 'leaves of grass.' In that sense we are like a star in the sky – a single manifestation of the fact of universal unity."  So, in describing his own life, he is sharing with us this unity, this marvelous facticity.

What is the theme of "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" by Ernest Hemingway?

"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" by Ernest Hemingway was first published in the March 1933 issue of Scribner’s Magazine. It has three characters, an older waiter, a younger waiter, and a customer, who is an old man. The old man is deaf and apparently relatively wealthy (at least compared to the waiters.) The old man is sitting, drinking brandy, in a cafe, and the younger waiter wishes to go home. 

The first theme of the story is loneliness. Both the older waiter and the old man appreciate the cafe because it provide a "clean, well-lighted place" to drink and hang out, providing an illusion of company, unlike their own homes, where they feel their loneliness more acutely. Although the younger waiter wants to go home to his wife, the older waiter, who is unmarried (perhaps a widower like the old man), understands how the old man would not wish to go home to an empty house.

The second theme of the story is old age. Both the old man and the waiter are confronted with trying to make meaning from life as they gradually lose the things that make life meaningful and move closer to death. The old man has tried to commit suicide by hanging himself but was cut down by his niece.

The final theme is that of the existential crisis faced by people who neither sincerely believe in religion nor have strong social networks or other values. This is exemplified by the old waiter trying to say the Lord's Prayer, but what comes out is only a litany of nothingness:

Our nada who art in nada, nada be thy name thy kingdom nada thy will be nada in nada as it is in nada ...

Who was Harriet Greene's husband?

Harriet Greene was the mother of Araminta Ross and eight other children.  Araminta Ross later changed her name to Harriet Tubman and would go on to lead nearly one hundred people to freedom from slavery using the Underground Railroad.  

Harriet Tubman's mother, Harriet Greene, was a slave who married a man named Benjamin Ross.  Ben Ross was also a slave at the time.  They married informally in the early 1800s and she became Harriet Ross.  Araminta was born in 1822.

Ben Ross was eventually freed.  He took a job and worked hard to save money. He used the wages he had saved to free his wife, Harriet.  He saved up $20, which was an amount equivalent to approximately $2,500 in today's money.  He used this money to buy Harriet's freedom.

The setting of this story may be its most unforgettable element. What are some of its most horrible details?

The torture chamber in which the narrator finds himself in "The Pit and the Pendulum" has multiple horrors. Here are six:

1. Utter darkness: When the narrator first wakes up in the cell, he finds that "the blackness of the eternal night encompassed me," causing him to gasp for breath.

2. The pit: When he encounters the pit, he is unable to see it. He drops a pebble down, and it falls for about a minute before he hears it splash in the water. The fact that he would have fallen into it if he had not tripped on his robe is petrifying; the thought that there may be more than one pit in the chamber is worse. 

3. Decoration: Later, when he can see, he notices the horrible figures of fiends and skeletons drawn on the walls, and when the walls heat up, they become very bright in color and even scarier.

4. The pendulum: This torture device is terrifying, and part of its terror is that it moves so slowly that the character has time to contemplate his oncoming doom.

5. Rats: Rats are constantly swarming about him when he is strapped to the table, and when he spreads the food on his bonds, hundreds of them are crawling all over him, making "a disgust, for which the world has no name, [swell] his bosom." 

6. The walls: After he escapes from under the pendulum, the walls begin closing in on him and heating up until they are just about to force him into the pit.

The torture chamber designed by Poe is certainly one of the creepiest settings in literature.

In The Giver what is Jonas most afraid of?

As he flees from his society and encounters a number of obstacles to their freedom, Jonas is most afraid that he and Gabriel will starve and he will be unable to save Gabriel and even himself.

At the end of Chapter 22, Jonas and Gabriel have traveled for days without food. Jonas's ankle has been sprained, and it is difficult for him to pedal the bicycle. Added to all this, they are exposed to cold and now a chilling rain. Having failed at catching a fish or obtained any food, Jonas is "tortured by hunger," and Gabriel, who has not cried at all during the long, difficult journey, cries now from hunger. Jonas, too, cries; however, he cries not for himself, but for Gabriel that he will not be able to save the child. "He no longer cared for himself."

As he ponders their dilemma of deprivation of food and shelter, Jonas does experience something positive: He feels more love than he has ever experienced in his life. For, in eliminating many of the negatives of life such as hunger and physical pain, the society in which Jonas has lived has also mitigated real emotion, having declared that such words as love are "imprecise." Further, Jonas recalls how glibly his father, who has cared for Gabriel privately at home, tells his son that he has voted for Gabriel's release because the baby is unable to sleep peacefully at night without the comfort of another person. Truly, in his misery of hunger and cold, Jonas acquires an understanding that the positive and wonderful emotions of joy and love can only come after one has felt negative emotions, such as pain and sorrow.

Write the partial fraction decomposition of the rational expression. Check your result algebraically.

To decompose this into partial fractions, factor the denominator.

Write a fraction for each factor. Since the numerators are still unknown, assign a variable to each numerator.

Add these two fractions and set it equal to the given fraction.

To solve for the values of A and B, eliminate the fractions in the equation. So, multiply both sides by the LCD.

Then, plug-in the roots of the factors.

For the factor 2x + 1, its root is x=-1/2.

For the factor x, its root is x=0.

So the partial fraction decomposition of the rational expression is:

And the sign before the second fraction simplifies to:

To check, express these two fractions with same denominators.

Now that they have same denominators, proceed to subtract them.

Therefore,   .

I think Chris McCandless was a hero in Into the Wild. What points from the book should I use to persuade people?

When writing an argument in favor of McCandless, be prepared to meet a crossfire of opinions regarding the topic. Therefore, to argue that McCandless is a "hero", you should have both the evidence to support your statement and evidence that can debunk any counterargument coming your way.

Let's start with the latter.

Counterargument

The story of McCandless has been under fire for some years now, with people from all backgrounds and fields expressing either agreement or disagreement about Krakauer making the man into some sort of legend.

According to the Anchorage Daily News, 2007 Craig Medred wrote:

"Into the Wild” is a misrepresentation, a sham, a fraud. [...] Krakauer took a poor misfortunate prone to paranoia, someone who left a note talking about his desire to kill the “false being within,” someone who managed to starve to death in a deserted bus not far off the George Parks Highway, and made the guy into a celebrity.

Opinions such as these are neither to be condoned, nor condemned. All points of view on the matter have been justified by those who have postulated them, and each point is valid within its own parameters.

This being said, prior to defending McCandless, be ready to expect criticism. For this reason, you should refer to writer Ronald Hamilton's paper which defends McCandless's defense mechanisms and establishes that the man died from neither being unprepared nor ignorant about his project.

Hamilton was the first to make a thorough study debunking the myth that McCandless was an "unprepared fool" who died "not far off the...highway."

Therefore, for any argument in favor of McCandless as a hero, it is very important to cite Hamilton's “The Silent Fire: ODAP and the Death of Christopher McCandless" as a way to fight back any point of view trying to downplay your theory based on the way that he died.

Argument

Now that you have your "bases covered" on McCandless's possible cause of death, let's focus on his life. The best pointers that would indicate that McCandless was a hero in his own right, or that he could be a heroic figure to many who still follow his cult, are the following:

• McCandless is a visionary

Very few people have neither the gumption nor the opportunity to shift entirely from their comfort zones and enter a zone of complete chaos for survival. He does this because he has an inner call which helps him visualize something much higher than himself. He is willing to undergo a complete external and internal shift for the sake of this vision. This is indeed something heroic on its own.

So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security[..]which may appear to give one peace of mind, but [...]nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit [..]than a secure future.

• McCandless chose the road less traveled

To use the phrase coined by Robert Frost (and borrowed by psychiatrist and author M. Scott Peck for his 1978 autobiographical work The Road Less Traveled), Christopher chose the road that was most difficult to take in order to understand the meaning of the things that he had heard and read about. To some, his road was unnecessarily tough. To others, this is the only way to achieve complete redemption. No mystic, or metaphysical seeker, has ever achieved the way to the higher power of knowledge through ease and pleasure. The sacrifices endured by McCandless were part of his journey.

And now after two rambling years comes the final and greatest adventure. The climactic battle to kill the false being within and victoriously conclude the spiritual pilgrimage.

• McCandless did more than just become inspired by readings

He imbibed the spirituality of the readings, adopted them as his way of life, and continued on to pursue the real messages hiding between the lines. McCandless learned things that most people would just take for granted, or dismiss altogether. He actually took those giveaways as facts and hoped to lead a life where he could live by those examples and reach a higher connection with the collective universe.

All true meaning resides in the personal relationship to a phenomenon, what it means to you...

The hero argument

Those who support the point of view of the book agree, like you, that McCandless is a hero of non-conformity. He is a hero because he decided to challenge everything that he had ever know. He moved himself out of his comfort zone and into a war zone of survival and constant problem solving. Moreover, he analyzed his whole life and meaning in isolation. This is, perhaps, the ultimate manifestation of commitment to exploring life walking down the road that nobody else would walk.

What is an example of irony in Oedipus Rex?

Irony is, in fact, a literary technique which originated in Greek tragedy. Most common is dramatic irony in which a character's actions or words are understood by the audience, but unknown to the character.

The drama of Oedipus Rex is based upon the psychological blindness of Oedipus who issues punishments for the murderer of King Laius, who ruled Thebes before King Oedipus. For, he is unknowingly that very murderer who is the cause of the suffering of the people in Thebes.

So, in SCENE I when Oedipus says,

I pray that that man's [the killer of King Laius] life be consumed in evil and wretchedness (234)

Oedipus ironically curses himself. This is an example of dramatic irony, because Oedipus at this point in the drama is unaware of his own guilt and what will become of him.

In another example of dramatic irony from SCENE III, a messenger arrives to inform Oedipus that Polybus "was not your father." For, a shepherd had given the baby Oedipus to this messenger, who in turn gave Oedipus to Polybus. Nevertheless, Oedipus fearlessly replies with great dramatic irony,

But I
Am a child of Luck; I can not be dishonored.
Luck is my mother; the passing month, my brother,
Have seen me rich and poor. (1022-1026)

Of course, Oedipus is, indeed, greatly dishonored and cursed with his own words. And, because he was blind to the truth, he physically blinds and banishes himself.

What is comical about the old man in "The Last Leaf"?

Mr. Behrman is a little old curmudgeon. a little Jewish man with a Yiddish accent. He is the type who complains about almost everything, but he really has a generous heart.

When Johnsy informs him that Sue has declared that she will die when the last leaf falls from the vine outside her window, he immediately flares up and says in his heavy accent,

"Vass!...Is dere people in de world mit der foolishness to die because leafs dey drop off from a confounded vine?" I haf not heard of such a thing....Vy do you allow dot silly pusiness to come in der brain of her? Ach, dot poor leetle Miss Yohnsy."

His angry outburst is comical because of his accent, and because he feels that Sue is supposed to have been capable of preventing her friend Johnsy from thinking certain ways. In addition, he abruptly refuses to pose for Sue, but when she becomes angry, calling him an "old flibbertigibbet," he changes directions by asking her who said that he would not pose, claiming that he has been ready to do so for half an hour. When he does pose for Sue, the reader can imagine how silly he looks on an upturned kettle for a rock upon which he is to sit.

How do the men react to Granny asking them to stop filming in Toni Cade Bambara's "Blues Ain't No Mockin Bird"?

In Toni Cade Bambara's short story "Blues Ain't No Mockin Bird," the two men react towards Granny's command to stop filming her house and family by treating her disrespectfully and behaving as if they were her superiors.

The first way in which the men treat her disrespectfully is by calling her aunty. After she coldly greets the camera man, he says, "Nice place you got here, aunty." While this sentence may look like a compliment, it has hidden meaning. The term aunty, when not used to speak of a relative, is actually a derogatory term in the South, dating back to the mid-20th century, used to speak of elderly black women; it is synonymous with the term prostitute and used to speak of black women being in positions of subordination, ready for exploitation ("Aunt," Green, J., 2005, Cassell's Dictionary of Slang). The term Aunt Jemima, trademark of the popular maple syrup brand, was used, starting in the 1920s, to speak of black women in subservient positions ("Aunt Jemima," Green). Hence, in calling Granny Cain aunty, the camera man is trying to put Granny Cain in a place of subservience and exploitation, which is exactly why Granny soon replies by saying, "Your mama and I are not related."

When his partner, who the narrator calls smilin man, joins camera man to defend their desires to film, smilin man continues to show disrespect by pointing out her vegetable garden and saying that if all people in Granny's social class kept vegetable gardens, there would be no need for the county to provide Granny's people with food stamps. The entire purpose of the men's filming mission is to try to prove to the county that the impoverished people of the county, especially African Americans, are getting by just fine on what they have; therefore, there is no need for the county to spend money on food stamps. Hence, not only are they being disrespectful, they are being blind, ignorant, and unempathetic. They continue to be disrespectful by refusing to leave. They only leave once they are unexpectedly attacked by a hawk and driven off by Granddaddy Cain, who destroys their camera film.

Where do I find explanation and analysis of Thucydides' Melian Dialogue?

The so-called Melian Dialogue is found at the end of Book 5 (sections 84-116) of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War, a military conflict which took place from 431 and 404 BCE and involved Athens and its allies and Sparta and its allies. 

The dialogue takes its name from the little island of Melos, which wanted to remain neutral in the war even though Thucydides says the Melians were a colony of the Spartans. The mighty Athenians were unhappy about the Melians' neutrality and in 416 BCE threatened them with destruction if they did not take the Athenian side in the war. Thucydides presents the conversation between the Athenians and the Melians in the form of a short dialogue.

By the end of the dialogue, the Melians continue to express their faith in the gods, belief that the Spartans will protect them, and their desire to remain neutral in the war, whereas the Athenians, who emerge as bullies in this dialogue, depart from the negotiations and lay siege to the island. Eventually, the Melians surrendered to the Athenians who

put to death all who were of military age, and made slaves of the women and children. They then colonised the island, sending thither five hundred settlers of their own. (Jowett translation)

An article by W. Julian Korab-Karpowicz describes the Melian Dialogue as "The First Realist-Idealist Debate." Korab-Karpowicz identifies the historical importance of this dialogue as follows:

Can international politics be based on a moral order derived from the principles of justice, or will it forever remain the arena of conflicting national interests and power?

The poet examines the nature of human life, hardships, and challenges man has to undergo in the journey of life. Support this statement by drawing...

One way that this poem suggests the hardships of life is that the speaker stops in the woods to escape his daily life. He stops to look at the beauty and simplicity of nature. He is away from civilization (people, towns, cities). The piece of land he is looking at belongs to someone else but that person lives in town. He is in solitude, in the midst of the woods. He is beyond the daily cares, duties, and responsibilities of his life. This is a momentary escape.

He adds that his horse must think it is odd that he would stop and stare at the snow and the trees. The horse is probably used to stopping at homes and villages: not in the middle of nowhere. Some critics suggest that in this momentary contemplation of nature, this temporary escape is actually a contemplation of suicide. If that is the case, it is the contemplation of a permanent escape from the hardships of life. (Frost denied this was the intended meaning.) 

By the final stanza, the momentary escape has passed. While it lasted, the speaker took pleasure in this respite. The woods are "lovely, dark and deep." The "dark" adjective suggests something sinister, perhaps lending credence to the suicide theory. But dark can simply mean mysterious and thereby, full of wonder. This seems to be the more likely intention (according to Frost). He would like to stay in this moment of escape and wonder but he has more ground to cover and more things to do before he can rest for the night ("miles to go before I sleep"). The notion that he has "miles to go before I sleep" could signify things more broadly. For example, it could mean that he will have many more responsibilities (career, marriage, children, etc.) to attend to before he dies in old age (the final "sleep"). In either case, "miles to go" implies actual traveling distance but also figurative notions of responsibilities and hardships during the journey of life. 

What are the effects of changing the rhubarb surface area measured by the rate of reaction between the oxalic acid and the dilute potassium...

Rhubarb contains oxalic acid. When rhubarb is dipped into a solution of potassium permanganate, reduction occurs and solution gets decolorized. The relevant chemical equation is:

Potassium permanganate solution is purple colored. However, it loses its color, when it interacts with oxalic acid in the rhubarb. An increase in the surface area of rhubarb, increases the availability of oxalic acid and increases the rate of reaction. When that happens, the solution decolorizes faster. 

In general, rate of reaction is a function of the available surface area (when the reaction involves a surface); more the surface area, faster is the reaction. Temperature is another factor which positively influences the rate of reaction. In the current case, we can increase the surface area of rhubarb, by cutting it into smaller pieces or splitting it into multiple fragments, etc.

Hope this helps.

In Of Mice and Men, how are George's actions affected by his feelings of loneliness?

George has grown up with Lennie, who was raised by his Aunt Clara. After his aunt’s death, George makes himself responsible for Lennie’s care, who is unreliable when he is frightened and is a danger to himself and others. George frequently wonders what it would be like to be on his own, which Lennie hears and takes to heart. Yet George cannot bring himself to rid himself of Lennie, as much as he might say he wants to. As Lennie says, they are there to look out for each other, though George has the heavier responsibility. With Lennie attached, George has to maintain some distance between himself and the other ranch hands, though he does manage to go to town with the others, leaving Lennie at the ranch to look at his new puppy.

When George takes it upon himself to execute Lennie for the murder of Curlie’s wife, George goes about it in a kind, painless way, both for Lennie and seemingly himself. His attitude after being found with Lennie’s body seems to be cold and heartless, yet it is possible that he takes this attitude on himself in order to refrain from dealing with the pain and horror of what he managed to bring himself to do. Steinbeck leaves him on his own, doubtful that even Candy will prove a satisfactory companion.

What would be some disadvantages to "designer babies?"

Designer babies are babies specifically 'designed' by using genetic engineering to contain some specific traits. These traits could pertain to intelligence, hair color, eye color, health, etc. This can be done by modifying their genetic makeup to add the genes for desired traits or by removing genes that may cause disease, etc. Although there are advantages to this, such as a better life expectancy, lesser health risks, etc., there are a number of disadvantages as well. This technique is fairly new, expensive and still in its infancy. This means that the chance for error is great, which could result in embryos being terminated if something went wrong with the procedure. The child itself has no say in the procedure and hence this could be termed as a violation of his/her rights. The technique could potentially divide our society into designer and non-designer people. Since designer babies would be subjectively superior in some characteristics, the divide between the designer and non-designer babies in terms of intelligence, looks, health, etc. would be large. 

Hope this helps. 

In The Scarlet Letter, why doesn’t Dimmesdale confess until the end?

Dimmesdale's internal conflict has always been "confessing versus not confessing". As early as chapter 11, "The Interior of a Heart," we learn that, while Dimmesdale tries very hard to come to terms with his cowardice, he has also tried to fit his truth, somehow. The problem is that the villagers are blind followers, as such, they will follow their extremely beloved Dimmesdale regardless of what he says to them. They have adopted him as their "young divine." They also treat him as some sort of preternatural being. Therefore, no matter how subtlety Dimmesdale tries to accommodate the fact that it was he who impregnated the pariah of the Puritans, Hester Prynne, his comments will fall on deaf ears.

He had told his hearers that he was altogether vile, a viler companion of the vilest, the worst of sinners, an abomination, a thing of unimaginable iniquity; [...]Could there be plainer speech than this? [...] Not so, indeed! They heard it all, and did but reverence him the more. [...]

Fast forward to chapter XXIII, where we find Dimmesdale again willing to disclose his truth after his most important sermon on Election Day. This time, he does it close to a time when he knows that his end is near. He knew he was dying, and that after the confession, he will go meet his maker, and the world will continue as usual. This was a low blow for Hester, since Dimmesdale even tells her that they will not meet in eternity; that each will meet their fate as God sees fit.

Other reasons to confess at this point include Dimmesdale's inner turmoil, which was consuming him from the inside out. He had carved a letter A on his chest, endured self-mutilation, gone depressed and emaciated, and his brain was in a consistent state of anxiety. Sooner or later, he needed to let go of this burden and move on for good.

By bringing me hither, to die this death of triumphant ignominy before the people! Had either of these agonies been wanting, I had been lost for ever! Praised be his name! His will be done! Farewell!

Therefore, Dimmesdale wanted to confess, but he decided to wait until this poignant moment in the day of the villagers to get his point across...and die quickly to avoid the earthly consequences that will come as a result of losing the place that he has acquired at the top of the pedestal of the community.

Why electricity flows from +ve to -ve terminals?

The electricity does not flow from the positive terminal to the negative terminal, at least not in the technical sense. Electricity flows in the exact opposite direction, that is, from negative terminal to positive terminal. To understand better, one has to be familiar with two types of currents: conventional current and electron current. 

For along time, it was thought that electricity is the flow of positive charge and hence, flows from the positive terminal to the negative terminal. This current is known as the conventional current. Later it was found out that electricity flow is due to the flow of negative charge, that is, electrons. This current flows from the negative terminal to positive terminal and is known as the electron current. And this current is in exact opposite direction to that of conventional current.

Even though we have realized that actual current (electron current) flows from negative to positive terminal, we are still following the older convention and that is why, one often reads that current flow is from positive to negative terminal.

Hope this helps. 

What was Jessie's relationship like with Purvis?

Interesting question! In the book The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox, Purvis and Jessie had an unusual relationship.

Foremost, Jessie appeared to trust Purvis more than some of the other sailors, especially Ben Stout. Throughout the story, Purvis accomplished admirable tasks. For example, he took the blame for stealing from the captain’s personal food supply, despite his innocence. He also cared for Jessie by not letting Jessie’s homesickness overwhelm him. As the text revealed:

“Purvis with his horrible coarse jokes, his bawling and cursing, Purvis whom I trusted."

However, there were also negative aspects of Purvis and Jessie’s relationship. Foremost, Purvis was one of the sailors who kidnapped Jessie. Furthermore, Purvis appeared angry whenever Jessie cared for any of the slaves, which caused tension in their relationship. As the text showed, Jessie’s perspective of Purvis was:

“gratitude mixed with disappointment. I thought of Purvis.”

Thus, in the story, Purvis and Jessie had a more complex relationship. Although Jessie trusted Purvis and appreciated his friendship, Jessie was still disheartened by his actions and beliefs about slavery.

Why is the theme loneliness in Of Mice and Men?

The life of an itinerant rancher during the Great Depression was a lonely one. Often, these men would move from job to job, never having a stable place to live nor having the ability to enjoy a permanent family. George explains this all to Lennie: 

Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no fambly. They don’t belong no place. They come to a ranch an’ work up a stake and then they go into town and blow their stake, and the first thing you know they’re poundin’ their tail on some other ranch. They ain’t got nothing to look ahead to. 

George goes on to explain that he and Lennie can combat this plight. Instead of accepting this lonely lifestyle, they are determined to stay together. Their friendship and their dream of owning a farm help them get through such a lonely existence. Their story is, in part, a strategy of avoiding loneliness. 

Crooks is also a lonely character. He is ostracized from the other ranchers because he is black. He has his own separate bunk in the harness room. Because the other workers shun him, Crooks closely guards his own space. When Lennie comes in to talk with him, Crooks is initially overprotective of his space and wants to be left alone. But over the course of their conversation with Lennie and Candy, Crooks warms to them because he sees them as kindred, lonely spirits. Candy fears that, in his old age, he will eventually been deemed useless and thus will face a lonely time in finding a new job. Crooks and Candy warm to Lennie's dream of owning a farm because they think they would have a place there. They would be accepted. However, Curley's wife puts a stop to this conversation and scares Crooks into returning to his ostracized state. 

Curley's wife is also a lonely figure. She is is only woman on the ranch. She may have felt pressured into marrying Curley for financial security. But she is lonely and therefore she constantly seeks out companionship with the other men. She also laments her missed opportunity. She had a dream of being an actress. Lennie, Crooks, Candy, and Curley's wife all experience loneliness for different reasons. This is why it is such a significant theme in the book. 

What is the purpose of the foreword by Francis Mauriac?

Mauriac introduces Night and its narrator Elie Wiesel, who was a journalist at the time of their meeting. Mauriac draws the reader to the strengths of Night as a sequence of events that occurred to Elie, and his personal account of life during the holocaust. Mauriac met Elie after accepting an interview from him. At the time, Mauriac was wary of interviews with foreign journalists. However, the interview with Elie was different because he was a survivor of the Holocaust.

They talked about the German Occupation of France, which for him was a tumultuous period. Mauriac only heard of events of the Holocaust from his wife, but Elie presented him with an opportunity to get a firsthand account of the events. Mauriac asserted that Elie gave a human face to the impact of the Holocaust on the Jewish community and humanity at large. Mauriac also addressed the loss of faith by the narrator due to the experience and admitted to his inability to adequately explain his beliefs because of the magnitude of Elie’s personal story.

If the Almighty is the Almighty, the last word for each of us belongs to Him. That is what I should have said to the Jewish child. But all I could do was embrace him and weep. - Mauriac

What is the plot of Machiaevelli's Mandrake?

Published in 1524, the Mandrake is a comedy by Niccolo Machiavelli. The book takes places over a 24-hour period and focuses on Callimaco, a man from Florence who has lived in Paris for 20 years. One day, Callimaco hears a fellow Florentine talking about a beautiful woman called Lucrezia who lives in Tuscany and who he becomes determined to meet. Having returned to his homeland, Callimaco encounters a few problems in his quest to be with Lucrezia: she is already married (to an elderly man called Nicia) and is too virtuous to cheat on her husband.

Undeterred, Callimaco enlists the help of Ligurio, a marriage broker who is familiar with Lucrezia and her husband and, more importantly, knows that the couple are desperate to have a son. With this in mind, Callimaco disguises himself as a doctor and tells Nicia that he must drug his wife with a potion made from mandrake root in order for her to fall pregnant, though it will kill the first man that she sleeps with. Callimaco thus suggests that they find a man 'stupid' enough to sleep with Lucrezia. (This is, of course, completely false but all part of Callimaco's plan to be alone with Lucrezia.) After some persuasion from her mother and a friar, Lucrezia sleeps with Callimaco and the pair become lovers. 

In the second sentence in part 2 of "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," the word "secessionist" is used. What does that sentence mean?

"An Occurrence at Owl Breek Bridge" is set during the American Civil War, when the North and South fought over many things, but most importantly, slavery.  The main character of the story, Peyton Farquhar, is described as "a well-to-do planter, of an old and highly respected Alabama family" and a slave owner.  Politically-speaking, then, he sides with the South in their wanting to keep slavery as an economic right.  The South wanted to secede, or split, from the rest of the country and create their own country, which is why they had their own President for a time, Jefferson Davis.  In the context of this story, Farquhar is a proud Southern plantation owner who has devoted himself to their cause from the beginning.  This information is important to the story because it is this fervor for the Southern cause that persuades him to attempt to blow up the Owl Creek Bridge, which he was tricked into doing by a Federal scout (mentioned in the last sentence of Part II); the Federal scout is on the Northern side, but he was dressed in grey, which was the uniform of the Confederates (the South).

What does this quote illustrate: 'These violent delights have violent ends / And in their triumph die, like fire and powder / Which as they kiss...

These words are uttered by Friar Lawrence just before he performs Romeo and Juliet's marriage ceremony.  References to honey and gunpowder may seem strange for a pre-wedding speech, but the crux of what Friar Lawrence is saying is that Romeo and Juliet need to slow things down a bit.  Like gunpowder and a spark coming together, things that are brought hastily together can sometimes explode.  Friar Lawrence also delivers these lines to help Romeo and Juliet to understand that, in truth, what they are feeling at this point is more lust than love.  If they are to build a long-lasting marriage, they will need to love more "moderately" and pace themselves.  As he says, "Long love doth so."

What this illustrates is that, while the friar has consented to marry the two, he feels the need to warn them that their passion will dissipate as the marriage progresses and that they will need to build their marriage's foundation on more stable footing.  That is the key to a lasting marriage.  Sadly for Romeo and Juliet, they will never have a chance to put Friar Lawrence's advice into action.

What was Executive Order 9066, and how did it affect states during the time of war?

Executive Order 9066 was issued during World War II. This order forced the Japanese to relocate away from cities on the west coast for fear they would aid Japan during World War II. This executive order was later viewed as a dark mark in American history as innocent people were forced to relocate only because of their ethnic origin. While this order also impacted some Germans and Italians, the Japanese were by far affected the most. Many Japanese lost their businesses. Some never recovered and died in the camps.

This order affected many states. States along the west coast had to help the War Department enforce and carry out this order. The Japanese had to be notified, rounded up, labeled, and moved to relocation camps in other states mainly away from the west coast. There had been a lot of negative attitudes towards the Japanese because of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. There were people in these west coast states that were glad to see the Japanese being forced to leave the area.

There were several relocation camps in different states that received the relocated Japanese. These camps were in states that included the states of Arkansas, Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho. These states had to help with the relocation and the holding of the Japanese until the executive order was cancelled.

None of the Japanese who were interned were ever convicted of anything. The government made a formal apology to the surviving Japanese and offered them restitution in 1988. This order was a very negative event in American history.

On what page of The Kite Runner does Amir say he thinks of Rahim Khan as more of a father than Baba is?

Rahim Khan is Baba's closest friend and is constantly around Amir growing up. Amir cites instance after instance where Rahim acted the way a father might have, even pointing out that in one of the cherished photos of his childhood he is holding Rahim's hand with his tiny baby's hand, not his father's.

On page 25 in my edition of the book, Amir recalls the way his father reacted when he told him that he had written a story. Rather than ask to read the story as Amir hoped, Baba simply sat and stared at him.

It is then that Rahim Khan asks to see the story. After reading the story, Rahim returns it with another paper with some feedback on it. Amir sits on his bed and wishes "that Rahim Khan had been [his] father." He is so upset by the thought that he races to the bathroom and throws up, but he cannot erase the fact that he thought it.

Could somebody please explain this essay prompt to help me understand it better? Discuss the ideas developed by the text creator in your chosen...

You asked for an explanation of the prompt: 'discuss ideas developed by the text creator in your chosen text about the human need to reconcile the uncertainties of the past with a new or present situation.'

Depending on your particular text, you can use textual evidence to illustrate the main themes of the story. This just means that, if you have finished reading your assigned text, the next step is to determine what the major themes are. Use the themes to illustrate how the author demonstrates the need to reconcile the uncertainties of the past with the present.

Take The Kite Runner, for example. One of the major themes of the novel is betrayal. Early in the novel, Amir betrays Hassan's trust by choosing to do nothing when Hassan is raped by Assef. Later, he callously ignores Hassan's mental and emotional suffering in the aftermath of the rape. Additionally, Amir compounds his betrayal by falsely accusing Hassan of theft. As a result, both Hassan and his father, Ali, are driven from Amir's household.

Another major theme of the novel is redemption. In fact, most of the novel concentrates on Amir's quest to redeem himself from his past failures. He has to prove his manhood to his forbidding father, Baba, as well as make right the wrongs he perpetrated on the faithful Hassan. To do this, Amir must reach into his past, determine his culpability there, and then resolve to choose different paths in his present life. In this story, the protagonist looks back at an uncertain past because he had yet to form his own masculine identity and his own moral values at the time. Now, because of what he has learned from his past, he is able to choose different actions in his present. The human need to reconcile the past with the present is the human need for redemption and closure. The themes of the novel highlight Amir's journey from guilt to redemption.

So, for any text you work with, you can answer your prompt by:

1)establishing the themes of your novel.

2)focusing on a character who has had a troubled and uncertain past, but who chooses to change as time continues.

3)using textual evidence to illustrate moments the author introduces ideas or themes about redemption and closure. For example, is the character hounded by guilt? Like Amir, does he show a change of heart after much internal conflict? Is there evidence to show why the character chooses to act differently in his present? If there is, what is the result of these actions? In essence, show how the character makes peace with an uncertain past by choosing better responses and coping skills in his present.

Hope this helps!

Describe a main character in Raymond's Run?

In Toni Cade Bambara’s short story, “Raymond’s Run”, the main character, the protagonist, is Hazel Elizabeth Deborah Parker who is known as Squeaky. In spite of her small, skinny physique, she is a feisty school-aged girl who would rather fight than take any antagonism from others. Her nickname reflects the tone of her voice.

Squeaky is a self-conflicted young lady. Her family responsibility is to care for her older, disabled brother. Her passion and self absorption in life is to be the fastest runner in her Brooklyn neighborhood. She practices her running and breathing exercises as she and her brother make their way through the streets of Brooklyn. At school, she does not have many true girlfriends. She sees them more as competition than as friends.

At the story’s climax, Squeaky’s persona changes. After the events at the May Day Race, Hazel sees her brother as person with potential and sees herself as having the ability to think of others before herself. She even sees the possibility of becoming friends with one of the new girls in the neighborhood who gives her stiff competition in the race.

What are some good traits of Mr Brocklehurst in Jane Eyre?

This is a fascinating question, as Mr. Brocklehurst is one of the least likable characters in all of English literature. He is the emblem of the Victorian hypocrite, leaving the girls at his Lowood school shivering and half starved while he lives in warmth and well-fed comfort in a large house. He also seldom fails to lecture his pupils on their descent into the fire and brimstone of hell should they continue to sin, and as far as he is concerned,  they are sinners.

In his favor, however, he is good to his own family, and he is consistent, if extremely unpleasant, in his message to his young students. More importantly for Jane, his condemnation of her leads her to become more popular with her schoolmates, all of whom dislike and distrust him. Finally, when illness hits the school, he stays away to protect himself, allowing the girls the chance to live more freely and eat more fully. But, in fact, as portrayed through the eyes of Jane, he is a thoroughly repugnant figure. 

Please provide guidance on a thesis statement for an essay title "Lies my teacher told me".

The premise of your position is questionable and will, therefore, result in a challenging thesis.  The theme and title of your work should reflect an academic, balanced and respectful approach to the topic.  You may be able to argue some of the information provided during educational courses is not the only accepted explanation but categorizing them as lies is a tall order.  Using the phrase "lies my teacher told me" would seem juvenile and would lessen the impact of the work, regardless of the quality or factual nature, unless you are basing your essay on sociologist James W. Loewen's 1995 book of the same title: Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong.

A thesis is nothing more than a succinct way of stating your position and providing several broad defenses.  I suggest any thesis should have at least two, but preferably three defenses.  The thesis should be one or two sentences in length and included in your introductory paragraph.

Following your premise, that your teacher lied to you, there are several ways to develop your thesis.  You can directly challenge one teacher or textbook, or perhaps a more useful approach would be to challenge the conventional teachings of the educational community.  Please, note that just because you believe an alternate explanation for an event does not mean the counter is a lie. 

Your premise should look something like the following:  The educational system has provided inaccurate information on the infamous escape from Alcatraz, evolution, and the first American Thanksgiving.  You can include your own references or topics on which you believe your teacher lied to you.  The benefit of using the position and defense form of a thesis is that you build in your topic headings for later in the paper.  Using the hypothetically presented thesis above, you will have a section on Alcatraz, evolution, and Thanksgiving explaining how or why your teacher lied about each.

In A Christmas Carol, what does the quote, "they were gloomy suite of rooms, in a lowering pile of a building up a yard," show about Scrooge?

This quote appears in the first stave of A Christmas Carol when Scrooge is returning home after his day at work and dinner at the tavern. On one level, it shows us how Scrooge lives. He lives alone, in a building with no other residents and which has decayed over time. But, on another level, it gives the reader an important insight into Scrooge's character and the values he holds. That he would rather live in such a "gloomy" place than spend his money on a proper suite of rooms demonstrates the extent of his miserliness. That he prefers to be alone in this building, without neighbours, is illustrative of his cold-heart and lack of interest in forging relationships with others. 

More importantly, this quote sets the scene for the visits by the three spirits who will demonstrate to Scrooge the need for change. He can no longer live cut off from the rest of the world and hoarding his money. He must reform his character and his manner of living or the consequences on the rest of his life will be extremely dire. 

List two technologies that allow parents to select the sex of their child and two points against this process?

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis or PGD is a technique used to determine the presence of a possible X-linked disease, to detect an abnormal number of chromosomes in an embryo, and to determine the sex of the child. In the process of in vitro fertilization, embryos are examined before implantation for the presence or absence of abnormalities in chromosome number or aneuploidies including X0-Turner's syndrome where the child is missing one X chromosome, among others. It can be used to determine if the child is male-XY or female-XX or if there is an extra sex chromosome as in XYY males.

Another technique used is called sperm sorting which is not 100 percent successful. Because an X chromosome has more DNA than a Y chromosome, when a specific stain is applied, the female-producing X sperm shines brighter than the male producing Y sperm does. By separating the sample according to the desires of the couple, there is a higher chance of conceiving the sex of the child that the couple prefers.

Ethically, it takes away from the acceptance of your unique child and the spontaneity of not knowing which sex that child will be at conception. It may place too much pressure on the parents to have a specific type of child and may affect the numbers of children of each sex. These technologies may place too much emphasis on genetic makeup rather than the love someone has for their child which was created naturally without assisted reproductive technologies.

However, by identifying embryos with life-threatening conditions and even those with potential adult-onset conditions such as Huntington's disease, PGD helps to avoid having to make a decision about whether to abort a fetus further along into the pregnancy.

Why did Beatrice Leep take Roy home?

While Roy is in the janitor's closet with Dana Matherson, about to be pulverized, Beatrice Leep steps in and rescues him. After she partially disrobes the bully and ties him to the flag pole, she takes Roy home on a stolen bicycle. Roy has missed his bus. Roy is surprised Beatrice wants to go to his house, but it turns out she needs medical supplies and wants to get them from Roy. She and Roy lie to Roy's mother about going to Beatrice's house to work on a science experiment. In reality, they go to the junkyard where Mullet Fingers is living in an old Jo-Jo's ice cream truck. The boy has been injured. He has infected and swollen dog bites on his arm. Mullet Fingers was bitten by one of the guard dogs on the Mother Paula's property when he was putting his cottonmouth snakes through the chain link fence. Beatrice chooses Roy to help her with her step-brother's injuries because Roy is the only person who knows anything about Mullet Fingers and because Roy has previously shown interest and compassion toward the boy by trying to track him down and provide him with sneakers to wear.

Several times Atticus emphasizes the need to consider things from another’s point of view. How does following his advice change the children’s...

Atticus teaches his children many things, but his lesson to look at things from another person’s point of view is certainly one of the best lessons Scout and Jem can learn. He brings this up after Scout has an awful first day of school and decides she will never go back. To her, the young teacher Miss Caroline is mean and unfair. Atticus counsels Scout:

“First of all,” he said, “if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view-” 
“Sir?” 
“-until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”

Scout looks at things from Miss Caroline’s point of view and begins to understand why she acted the way she did. Though Scout does not realize it, she is learning to feel empathy for others and their situations. Empathy can go a long way toward preventing anger.

Scout and Jem also change their feelings about Mrs. Dubose, the spiteful old woman who lived down the street. She sat on her porch, called them names, and then insulted Atticus too. Eventually Jem and Scout learn the reason for her behavior and realize she was not the horrible woman they thought; she was a courageous woman making a difficult choice in order to die with her personal integrity intact.

When Scout and Jem go to First Purchase Church with Calpurnia, they see Calpurnia in a new way. They begin to understand her a little more, and they sense the racial tensions even within the African American community.

During the trial, Bob Ewell spits in Atticus’s face. However, Atticus does not retaliate. Instead, he models looking at the situation from Mr. Ewell’s point of view: Mr. Ewell believes Atticus humiliated him and he is embarrassed and angry.  As Atticus explains to Jem, it was better for Mr. Ewell to take out his anger by spitting on Atticus than by beating one of the young Ewell children.

Perhaps Scout’s most insightful look into another person’s point of view occurs at the end of the novel, as she stands on Boo Radley’s porch. Both literally and figuratively, she is seeing Maycomb from Boo’s point of view. He is no longer a scary man just short of a goblin; he is a quiet, gentle, shy man who is not able to function in society.

In Lombardo's translation of Homer's Illiad, how does the imagery add to the characters and/or setting?

Lombardo's 1990s translation of the Iliad interprets the work into colloquial English. For a modern reader, the fresh, direct imagery can help make the epic more understandable and relatable. For example, Lombardo's language helps the reader grasp the in-your-face swagger of Achilles' character. When he decides not to fight at the beginning, Achilles, the greatest of warriors, uses the blunt language of a modern soldier: "You keep your goddamn hands off, you hear?'' When he faces the trickster Odysseus, he frames the warrior's heroic code as "I hate like hell / The man who says one thing and thinks another," making it a clear expression of his straightforward nature.

Lombardo also varies the translation of images that normally have just one translation, such as the oft-used "rosy-fingered dawn." Homer uses this phrase as a marker to note transitions in the story. Lombardo brightens the translations: "Dawn came early, touching the sky with rose," then, "Dawn spread her roselight over the sky" and in yet another rendering, "Light blossomed like roses in the eastern sky." This variety makes the various dawns more vivid and encourages the reader to stop and ponder the beauty of the scene, rather than brushing over the words as mere placeholders. Likewise, Homer's typical bird imagery to describe speech is also rendered in different ways. When Athena speaks to a human, ''she . . . feathered ... words into his ear''; but when Hector crows triumphantly over the very decent Patroclus as he is dying, Lombardo captures some of Hector's brutality in bragging at that moment: ''His words beat down on Patroclus like dark wings.''

In the book Tuck Everlasting, what was Jesse's reaction when he came to know that Winnie had gone with Miles for fishing?

Honestly, Jesse gives almost no reaction at all.  Here is what the text says about Jesse's reaction.  

"Oh?" said Jesse, his eyes on Miles. "Where's the fish, then? How come we got nothing but flapjacks?"

Despite seeming to appear as no reaction at all, I think Jesse's reaction is feigned indifference.  During the previous night, Jesse Tuck sneaked downstairs to talk with Winnie.  He says a bunch of random things to Winnie, but he does convey two important things to her.  First, he gives her the bottle of immortality spring water.  Second, Jesse practically proposes to Winnie. 

"But the thing is, you knowing about the water already, and living right next to it so's you could go there any time, well, listen, how'd it be if you was to wait till you're seventeen, same age as me—heck, that's only six years off—and then you could go and drink some, and then you could go away with me! We could get married, even."

I know this book is a fast moving, young adult novel, but that scene grosses me out every time.  He's 17, she's 11.  That's a high school junior talking about marriage to a fourth grader.  Anyway, it's obvious that Jesse is smitten with Winnie.  So when he comes to learn that his brother got to spend the entire morning alone with Winnie, it has to bother him.  That's probably why Jesse focused all of his attention on Miles and responded with a thinly veiled insult about Miles not catching any fish. 

When does Atticus walk in someone else's shoes?

The book does not specifically say that Atticus walked in the shoes of another person.  He gives this advice to his children several times.  However, Atticus is not a hypocrite.  In fact, he is a man who leads by example.  So, we see him walking in the shoes of another person in many instances.  Let me give you a few examples. 

First, we see this when he considers the Cunninghams.  He realizes The Depression hit farmers the hardest.  So, when he does legal work for them, he does not accept money. Instead, he is happy to receive farm goods.  He does this, because he can see the world from their perspective. 

Second, we see the same ability to walk in another person's shoes when he describes the Ewells.  He explains to Scout that the townspeople allow him to hunt out of season, because they know that he does not take care of his family. He is a drunk.  So, if the laws were applied to Bob Ewell, his children would starve.  In short, Atticus is compassionate and understanding, because he can see from the perspective of many people. Here is what Atticus says to Scout:

“It’s against the law, all right,” said my father, “and it’s certainly bad, but when a man spends his relief checks on green whiskey his children have a way of crying from hunger pains. I don’t know of any landowner around here who begrudges those children any game their father can hit.”