Monday, November 30, 2009

What is the similarity between the H.D. poems "Oread" and "The Pool"?

One major similarity between H.D.'s two poems "Oread" and "The Pool" is that both pieces involve a speaker actively engaging with the natural world, specifically with bodies of water. In "The Pool," we get the sense of a speaker either contemplating the nature of a pool of water itself ("What are you - banded one?" (5)), or something lying within a pool of water. In "Oread," we encounter a speaker forcefully addressing the tumultuous waves of an ocean, comparing them to falling pine trees. In both poems, it seems like the speaker is engaging with and defining bodies of water in some fashion. 


The major difference between the two poems is tone. While "Oread" has a forceful quality that implies the speaker is actively controlling a tempestuous sea, "The Pool" is quieter and more contemplative, and, in some ways, more unsettling. That opening question "Are you alive?" (1) brings to mind the image of a corpse, and so the poem's quiet interrogation of its subject is much more menacing than the exuberant action of "Oread." 

Saturday, November 28, 2009

What is the main theme or message being said throughout the whole book?

Because of Kevin’s shooting spree at school with a crossbow, one might be tempted to say that school violence is the main theme of this book; however, the real theme is Eva’s parental mistakes as a mother.


To begin a look at this theme, one must observe the method the author uses: the novel is a series of letters from Eva to her late husband, Franklin, who we learn has also been killed by Kevin. This begins to show that it is Eva who is the focus here, not necessarily Kevin. In fact, it is a shock to the reader to find out that they are reading letters to a dead person by the end of the novel. Kevin strikes again.


The dark theme of Eva’s parenting begins even before she is pregnant. Eva can’t decided whether she even wants to have children and, when she becomes pregnant, she feels “cold” and “absent” even when trying to breastfeed Kevin.   Eva hires a nanny in order to get out of childcare tasks, and takes Kevin’s insults without delay. Eva continues to ignore many serious things Kevin does, and finally picks a favorite of her two children: Cecilia. Throughout the book, Eva really only has one attempt at bonding with Kevin: a trip out to dinner. At this point, the two “bond” over throwing insults at America. Kevin, of course, ends with insulting his mother:



Maybe I’d rather have a big cow of a mother who at least didn’t think she was better than everybody else.



This line shows the results of the dark parental theme. Things get worse from here. Kevin injures his sister permanently and begins to makes lists of kids to kill at school. Eva continues to ignore many of these red flags. Kevin eventually kills many students at school as well as his father and sister with a crossbow. Eva again averts the situation over the years by visiting Kevin in prison and “forgiving him.” Eva is ready to welcome Kevin home after his release without question. Even Eva’s lack of worry at the end of the story lends itself towards concern.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

In "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles, how do Finny and Gene complete each other?

Gene and Finny complete each other in the same way that the two halves of a Yin and Yang make a complete circle.  Gene and Finny may be best friends, but they are very different in a lot of ways.  Finny embodies a carpe diem attitude, while Gene is much more cautious and reserved.  Those two personalities are constantly playing off of each other, and they serve to balance each boy out.  Without Gene, Finny would not ever consider the consequences of his actions (kind of like how Jiminy Cricket completes Pinocchio).  Without Finny, Gene would never leave the confines of his dorm to stop studying.  It's almost like John Knowles took a regular person's warring impulses between doing what a person should do and doing what a person might want to do and created two caricatures of those personality types.   One caricature is Gene, and the other is Finny.  Put together, they mirror a more realistic, complete person.  

What is our first impression of Mathilde in "The Necklace"? Why is she unhappy?

When we first meet Mathilde in the short story "The Necklace," we see a pretty but rather disconsolate young woman. Although she is married to a man who adores her, she is quite unhappy that he is only a government clerk and cannot afford to give her the lifestyle that she covets. Their simple apartment seems very drab and in sharp contrast to the elegant and richly furnished ones that her wealthier friends live in and this upsets her. She spends her time daydreaming about being rich and able to afford servants, expensive clothes and a more sophisticated lifestyle, which only makes her feel even more unhappy with her own reality.


Mathilde's envious nature doesn't allow her to see the good things she has in life, such as a very loving husband, her youthful beauty and her ability to charm others. Instead she wallows in her self-pity and her worship of materialistic baubles, at the expense of everything that she should hold near and dear to her.

In the book Of Mice of Men, what is Carlson's dream?

Carlson is a laborer on the ranch where George and Lennie come to work. His main purpose in the novel is his killing of Candy's dog with a Luger which foreshadows George's killing of Lennie with the same weapon. If Carlson has a "dream" Steinbeck does not mention it in the book. Unlike Candy and Crooks, he is never part of George's and Lennie's dream of a "little piece of land." 


Carlson doesn't like Candy's dog because it is old and smells bad. He tells Candy that killing the dog would be merciful. The reader, however, may feel that Carlson is simply mean and lacks the ability to understand how much the dog means to Candy. In chapter three he takes the dog out and shoots him. Later in the chapter, Candy comments to George:






“I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn’t ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog.”









The stranger was Carlson and George takes Candy's words to heart as he steals Carlson's Luger after Lennie has accidentally killed Curley's wife. He eventually shoots his friend. As with Candy's dog, Carlson does not understand George's actions toward his friend and, at the end, as George and Slim are leaving the scene, Carlson utters the final lines of the novel:






“Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys?”









Some may say that Carlson is hard hearted or simply ignorant toward the depth of affection which Candy felt for his dog and George for his friend.








Why are the children having erotic playtime in Brave New World?

Children engage in erotic play because it teaches them to equate sex with meaningless fun.


Sex plays a very different role in the modern society than it does in ours.  To them, motherhood and birth are considered vulgar.  Sex is just another activity that people do as a diversion, and is intentionally separated from love.


Erotic play is encouraged among younger children to ensure that they do not ever associate sex with love.  In fact, when young children do not engage in the sexual games they are considered abnormal.



"It's just that this little boy seems rather reluctant to join in the ordinary erotic play. I'd noticed it once or twice before. And now again today. He started yelling just now …" (Ch. 3)



If the children do not engage in this type of play, it is assumed that there is something wrong with them.  It is very important that everyone fit into their role in society, so they take this very seriously.


All individuals in this society are clones.  Most of them are infertile, except for a few who wear Malthusian belts with contraceptives.  The “freemartins” can have sex without consequence.  Either way, this prevents unwanted babies.


Men and women who have a lot of sex are respected in this society.  Consider the description of Helmholtz Watson.



This Escalator-Squash champion, this indefatigable lover (it was said that he had had six hundred and forty different girls in under four years), this admirable committee man and best mixer had realized quite suddenly that sport, women, communal activities were only, so far as he was concerned, second bests. (Ch. 4)



Just as children are considered abnormal when they don’t engage in sexual play, adult men and women are considered dysfunctional and weird if they do not take many casual lovers.  There is no such thing as monogamy, which they view as wrong. 


In a world where "mother" is one of the most vulgar words imaginable, sex is nothing more than a pastime.  People are dependent on mass-consumerism and idle entertainment in an endless pursuit of pleasure with no substance. This keeps the population in check, and ensures that overpopulation will never occur.  That's easy when everyone is a clone.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

What is real history?

There is no official definition of what is and is not “real history.”  The definition of “real history,” then, can differ from historian to historian.  My own view is that real history is not what happened and when, but rather why things happened and what impacts they have had.


Some people think of history as a series of names and dates.  This is one reason why history tends to be unpopular among students.  I do not think of this as real history.  I do not, for example, think that real history is knowing that WWII happened from 1941 to 1945 for the United States.  Instead, real history has to do with why WWII came about and how it impacted people in the short and long terms.


There are also other disputes about what constitutes real history.  Some people believe that real history should concentrate on the doings of the elites.  These are the people who hold government office or who run important businesses.  This school of thought holds that these are the people who actually affect history.  By contrast, others believe that real history has to do with the stories of the masses of people who make up the vast majority of human society.  I do not have a strong position of my own on this issue.


There are, then, different ways to define “real history.”  Perhaps you should ascertain what your instructor thinks on this topic.

Why twisted pair cables are twisted for data transmission?

Twisted pair cables are a set of insulated cables that are twisted over one another. Such an arrangement is commonly used for data transmission, instead of straight or parallel wire pair, due to low interference. Any magnetic field in the surroundings can cause interference which results in voltage in a wire. When the data transmission wires are running parallel to each other, the wire closer to the interference source will have higher voltage than the other wire. This is, obviously, not an optimal scenario as it reduces the signal-to-noise ratio. When the wires are twisted over one another, the voltage is generated in each wire, in turn, and thus, overall interference is extremely low (or zero). This improves the signal-to-noise ratio and results in better data transmission.


Hope this helps. 

How important is democracy today?

Democracy is very important today. If we look at the past and the present, we can see why democracies must exist. In both world wars, countries led by dictatorships or monarchs were responsible for the start of each war. Several countries that had some form of democracy were being attacked. The people who lived in these nondemocratic countries, Germany, Japan, and Italy, had far fewer freedoms than the people who lived in democratic countries such as the United States.


As we fast-forward to today, we see something similar. It is the countries where some form of democracy exists that are fighting the spread of terrorism. The people who live in countries that support terrorism have far fewer rights than the people who live in democratic countries. The same is true in countries that don't have democratic governments. The standard of living and the economy tend to be better in countries where some form of democracy exists. Countries like the United States, Great Britain, and Canada are examples. It is fair to conclude that without democracy, the world would be a much less free place than it is today. If we look at countries like Cuba, North Korea, and China, we see people living in poor conditions with very few rights. A handful of people controls much of what occurs in these countries while the masses live in fear of expressing themselves religiously, politically, and economically.

How did audiences respond to 'A Christmas Carol?' What political issues were being discussed during the Victorian era?

Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol on December 19 1843 and all 6000 copies had sold out by Christmas Eve. On the whole, the book was warmly received, with many commentators drawn to its strong social and political message. The London magazine, Athenaeum, for example, said it was "a tale of make the reader laugh and cry - to open his hands, and open his heart to charity even toward the charitable." Similarly, Dickens' fellow writer, William Makepeace Thackeray, declared A Christmas Carol to be "a national benefit," while the critic, Theodore Martin, who was often cold towards Dickens, said it was "finely felt, and calculated to work much social good." 


Underneath its heart-warming Christmas message, A Christmas Carol had exposed the problem of urban poverty and, through the character of Scrooge, of ignoring the plight of those it affected. This message represented some of the most important political debates of the day, specifically the problem of child labour, an issue which Dickens felt strongly about it. In fact, A Christmas Carol was inspired by the publication of a government report into the shocking working condition of child labourers in the north of England. As the government debated the best course of action, Dickens appealed to the nation to act. In stave three, for example, Scrooge finds two children hiding under the robe of the Ghost of Christmas Present. They represent ignorance and are designed to appeal to the moral conscience of the British middle-class:  



"They were a boy and girl. Yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish; but prostrate, too, in their humility. Where graceful youth should have filled their features out, and touched them with its freshest tints, a stale and shrivelled hand, like that of age, had pinched, and twisted them, and pulled them into shreds."



Dickens' appeal worked: after the publication of A Christmas Carol, the nation was inspired to carry out random acts of charity. The Victorian government continued to debate the problem of child labour and introduced several pieces of legislation to improve the education of poor children, to make their working day safer and to reduce their working hours. 

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Why did the South find the election of Abraham Lincoln to be threatening?

For the South, the election of Abraham Lincoln was the worst-case scenario in the election of 1860. In the 1850s, the relationship between the North and the South had worsened. With the publishing of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act followed by the fighting in Kansas, the issuing of the Dred Scott decision, and the failed attempt of John Brown at Harpers Ferry, much of the trust between the regions had disappeared.  The South believed Lincoln was going to end slavery. They knew, from the Lincoln-Douglas debates, that Lincoln was against slavery. The South believed that if Lincoln got elected he was going to end slavery. The South believed ending slavery would alter their way of life and cause their economy to collapse. However, that perception that Lincoln would definitely end slavery was not accurate. Lincoln said he wanted to prevent slavery from spreading. He indicated he would allow slavery to exist if meant keeping the country together. The South just didn’t believe Lincoln would allow slavery to exist. As a result, when Lincoln got elected, southern states began to secede from the Union leading to the Civil War.

Why did Stevenson decide to set The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in Victorian London? Provide a quotation from Chapter 1 for support.

I think it is likely that Stevenson sets his novella in Victorian London because, in this era, there was such monumental concern about morality, the potentiality for good and evil within each of us.  The work of Charles Darwin had characterized human beings as just another species of animal, driven by instinct and urges just as every other animal is.  The work of Sigmund Freud had essentially reduced human beings and human behavior to our sexual desires.  Works like these made it seem all the more necessary to police morality, and the potential difference between what one could observe versus what was going on behind closed doors made many uncomfortable. 


In other words, it was entirely plausible to think that a man who presented to all the world a scrupulous and upright persona could, underneath that facade, actually be devoid of morality.  Thus, when Mr. Enfield explains to Mr. Utterson why he refers to a particular home as the "Black Mail House," his way of accounting for the strange occurrences he's observed is characteristic of this era.  He describes once seeing a horrible little man emerge from that door and trample a little girl.  The man would have continued on, but passers-by stopped him and insisted that he offer some financial remuneration to the child's family.  This horrid man disappeared into the door of this house and emerged shortly thereafter with a check signed by a reputed local doctor.  Mr. Enfield says that the little man



"was a fellow that nobody could have to do with, a really damnable man; and the person that drew the cheque is the very pink of the proprieties, celebrated too, and (what makes it worse) one of [those] fellows who do what they call good.  Black mail, I suppose; an honest man paying through the nose for some of the capers of his youth."



Therefore, Mr. Enfield automatically attributes this strangeness to the belief that Dr. Jekyll must have some skeletons in his closet, some indiscretion(s) from his past that he would wish to hide, and this terrible man must know it and be using the information to blackmail him.  To leap to such a conclusion might seem strange to us, now, but it seems to make perfect sense to Enfield, and to his auditor, Mr. Utterson.

Monday, November 23, 2009

What does the title Nightwood refer to (or imply)?

Djuna Barnes was a contemporary of Anais Nin, and, like that writer, also very interested in writing about the emotional lives of characters with descriptive and evocative language. Her novel Nightwood caused a sensation in 1937 when it was published; poet T. S. Eliot called the author's use of language "astonishing." The novel's plot and characters seem to be secondary in impact to the use of language, which is full of imagery and symbolism. The novel is about a stormy relationship between two women and the people in their lives who become entangled in their difficulties. In one scene Doctor O'Connor, a complex character who has a sexual identity crisis, goes on a bit of tirade and says to Nora Flood, the protagonist: "Ho, nocturnal hag, whimpering on the thorn, rot in the grist, mildew on the corn." This kind of language, full of somewhat disturbing imagery, allows an understanding of the title's meaning.


The image of a "night wood" or a forest in darkness seems to refer to the shadowy places in our minds and souls that can obsess us when we are unhappy or confused in relationships or when contemplating our own purpose or identity. Carl Jung, whose works were beginning to be popular around the time this novel was written, referred to the forest as one of many archetypes, or ancient symbolic ideas that help us understand human thought and emotions. Forests can be dark, mysterious, tangled, frightening and dangerous. The words "nocturnal hag" conjure an image of an old woman who goes about by night, a sort of witch figure, and witches are also associated with the forest. The title refers overall to the sometimes confusing and frightening state of the human psyche, and the ways in which relationships can feel like a journey into the unknown and unfamiliar.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Please summarize the first act of Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw.

Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw is set just after the Battle of Slivnitsa in the Serb-Bulgarian war during November 1885. The first act is set in the bedroom of Raina, a young Bulgarian woman from a wealthy family.


As the play begins, Raina and her mother are talking about Sergius, a young man to whom Raina is engaged, who is one of the heroes of the victorious Bulgarian army. In this discussion, Raina introduces the main theme of the play, the issue of the romantic visions of love and war versus the realities thereof.


After Catherine, Raina's mother, and the servant Louka leave the room, Captain Bluntschli, a Swiss mercenary who had been fighting on the Serbian side, appears on the balcony, having climbed up there to escape his pursuers. Raina agrees to shelter him, and they have some extended conversations about the reality of war versus the romantic portraits of it. In this discussion, Captain Blunstchli reveals that Sergius' glorious charge was actually tactically stupid and only succeeded because the opposing machine gunners had been issued the wrong ammunition. Hungry and exhausted, Captain Bluntschli falls asleep in Raina's bed, and leaves the next morning.

How did the transcontinental railroad affect people in the west negatively?

The worst outcomes as a result of the transcontinental railroad were unquestionably what happened to Native American populations. Before the railroad was built, relatively few White settlers were able to travel west and colonize land where Native Americans lived, so the harms caused by that colonization were relatively small. But once it was built, White settlers came flooding in and taking over land that Native American peoples had held for generations. Often they were invaded by force, or even slaughtered intentionally. They lost hunting grounds, waterways, and forests; in a few decades many Native Americans were forced onto reservations far from their ancestral homes.

The railroad also had downsides for some of the early White settlers, who had sought out the west to live off the land away from other people, but suddenly found towns and cities sprouting up around them and huge locomotives pumping soot into their air. With higher populations came higher rates of crime and disease. Many of the companies building the railroad were corrupt all the way to the top, and the largest financial scandal of the 19th century was linked to Union Pacific, a key company responsible for building the railroad.

Finally, the railroad project was of course very expensive; it required a lot of tax money to support, as well as huge amounts of lumber and iron that could otherwise have been preserved as natural resources or used for other things. Even worse, most of the laborers were brought in from China, paid extremely low wages, and forced to work under grueling conditions. Hundreds died from overwork, accidents, or hazardous weather.

There were many who gained from the transcontinental railroad, and overall it was good for most people of the United States; but it certainly came with downsides, and many people lost their lives as a result of its construction.

Friday, November 20, 2009

What is magma?

Magma is generated in the area of the lower part of the earth's crust and the upper part of its hot center, the mantle. It consists of rock that has been liquified by heat, and is a mixture made up of four main parts. The first part of magma is the hot liquid which is referred to scientifically as melt. The three other parts of the magma, crystallized minerals, solid rock, and dissolved gases all are incorporated into the melt. Magma is also very hot, ranging anywhere from 700 to 1,300 degrees Celsius (1,292 and 2,372 degrees Fahrenheit). Once magma reaches the earths surface, either by volcano or other openings, it is then referred to as lava. Lava then spreads out and is able to create new landforms. A good example of this is the island of Hawaii, which has recently grown due to active volcanoes spewing lava. Hope this helps!  

Thursday, November 19, 2009

How did the Gulag affect relationships between the government and the people?

The Gulag—which is a Russian acronym that stands for Chief Administration of Corrective Labour Camps—was a major part of the Soviet Union from around 1918 until the mid-1950s. 


The Gulag had a major impact on the relationship between the government and the people simply because of the sheer volume of people who were forced into one of the labor camps. Estimates show that between 40-50 million people were sentenced to long stretches of manual labor in the Gulag. It is believed that between 15 and 30 million people died while in the Gulag.


Soviet citizens feared their government and its leaders during this period of time because there often seemed to be little rhyme or reason why so many were sent to one of the Gulag labor camps—particularly during the reign of Josef Stalin. Stalin's paranoia and his desire to be the absolute power in the country led to many innocent people being sentenced and often killed in the Gulag.


Because the threat of the Gulag was such a pervasive part of life for citizens of the Soviet Union, citizen rebellion or other uprisings were often quelled before they ever began.

In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, what characters represent a mockingbird?

In Chapter 10 Atticus gives Scout and Jem this advice: 



Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird (90).



Miss Maudie explains this to Scout by telling her it is because mockingbirds are basically innocent creatures. They aren't nuisances, they don't eat gardens; they basically do nothing but sing.


So keep this in mind as you consider the symbolism of the mockingbird and apply to it to different characters. You could probably make arguments for several characters to be considered mockingbirds, but there are a few who are considered the most obvious choices.


The first is Boo Radley. The audience knows nothing about him except the rumors told by Miss Stephanie, which all make him out to be a monster, and the fantasies of Jem, Scout, and Dill, which further make him out to be a monster. But as the story progresses we see Boo leaving gifts for the kids in a tree, folding Jem's pants where he can find them, and finally saving Scout and Jem from the attack by Mr. Ewell. Boo Radley is made out to be an antagonist for much of the story when in reality he is a shy, innocent, and mostly good man.


The other most obvious mockingbird-character is Tom Robinson. It is pretty clear by the end of the trial that Tom Robinson is, in fact, innocent. But he is found guilty, and later killed in jail. 



Atticus had used every tool available to free men to save Tom Robinson, but in the secret court of men's hearts Atticus had no case. Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed (241).


Please explain why molten magnesium chloride conducts electricity whereas solid magnesium chloride does not.

In order for a substance to conduct electricity charge must be able to move through it. An ionic solid has a rigid structure in which ions and their electrons remain in fixed positions so charges are unable to move through the substance. This also explains the brittleness of ionic solids. They tend to shatter when a force is applied because of the rigid structure. Particles within the crystal lattice are unable to move in response to the force while maintaining the structure of the lattice.


An ionic solid begins to melt when heated because the increased vibration of the ions overcomes the electrostatic force holding them in the crystal lattice and they begin to move around. An ionic substance conducts electricity in the liquid or molten state because these mobile ions are able to carry charge throughout the material.


The same thing happens when ionic solids dissolve in water. The hydrated ions are free to move and the solution conducts electricity.


Metals, unlike ionic solids, conduct electricity in the solid state because their shared valence electrons are free to move around and carry charge.

What are some of the reasons that Lennie and Curley have a conflicting relationship in Of Mice and Men?

It should be noted that part of John Steinbeck's technique in Of Mice and Men is to create conflict in every chapter of the story. In order for a story to be interesting it must be dramatic. The poet Robert Frost has said:



Everything written is as good as it is dramatic. It need not declare itself in form, but it is drama or nothing.



Drama always involves conflict. It could be inner conflict, or external conflict, or both at the same time. Steinbeck's story does not have an obvious ongoing conflict throughout the book. Instead, he presents a series of conflicts. For example, in the first chapter there is a conflict between George and Lennie over a mouse. Then there is a bigger quarrel in which George berates Lennie for his chronic misbehavior and Lennie offers to go away and live by himself. George also shows that he has an inner conflict. He feels that Lennie is becoming an increasingly heavy burden, but he feels obligated to keep Lennie with him so that he can look after him.


Then in the second chapter the two men just want to sign on and get their bunks. But Steinbeck creates a purely gratuitous conflict between George and the Boss. There seems to be a good possibility that George and Lennie might not get their jobs, even after traveling all this way from San Francisco.


In the next chapter, Steinbeck creates a minor conflict between George and Candy over the can of bug powder. This is just conflict for the sake of conflict. A much bigger conflict develops when Curley enters the bunkhouse and picks a quarrel with both George and Lennie. Steinbeck is following his set plan of creating conflicts to hold the reader's interest.


Curley and Lennie have a conflicting relationship because Lennie gets off to a wrong start by refusing to talk to Curley. 



George said, "S'pose he don't want to talk?"


Curley lashed his body around. "By Christ, he's gotta talk when he's spoke to. What the hell are you gettin' into it for?"



Lennie is experiencing his own inner conflict because George told him not to talk and Curley is telling him he has to talk. Lennie is not competent to handle such internal conflicts.


Candy explains that Curley hates big guys because he is a little guy. He is always trying to pick fights with big guys. Curley is portrayed as a man with an inferiority complex because of his small size. This explains why he has developed his muscles and taken up boxing.


Another apparent reason for Curley's conflict with Lennie is that he thinks Lennie is afraid of him. Lennie is really afraid of getting into trouble. Curley will eventually make the mistake of hitting Lennie viciously for no reason. This will lead to one of the biggest conflicts in the book--the brief fight between these two men. Lennie crushes Curley's hand. After this Curley hates him and will want to kill him when Curley's dead wife is discovered in the barn.


There are many other conflicts in the book, including the conflict between Candy and Carlson, who wants to kill Candy's old dog. The climactic conflict occurs in the barn when Lennie gets a grip on Curley's wife's soft curls and won't let go. 



"Don't you go yellin'," he said, and he shook her; and her body flopped like a fish. And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck.



There is no reasoning with Curley. He leads the other men in a lynching party. It is a moot question whether he wants revenge for his wife's apparent murder or for his mangled hand. George prevents Curley from having his complete revenge, but George must be experiencing an intense inner conflict over what he should do. He seems to have many alternatives, including helping Lennie escape. But all the conflicts end when George fires a single shot with Carlson's gun.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Frankenstein declares that "there can be no community between you and me; we are enemies." What makes them enemies? Why can't they make the choice...

In the book of Frankenstein, the creature and creator (Victor) remain in conflict throughout the novel’s entirety. Although many factors arguably contributed to this inability to become a community, some factors appear more viable. For example, due to the creator's choices and feelings and the creation’s perceived status, the two connected beings remain as enemies.


Victor's choices and feelings cause him to view the creation as inferior and detestable to human beings. When Victor first creates the monster, he begins to feel overwhelmed with guilt and anger and despises his creature. As Victor himself states:



He [the creature] approached; his countenance bespoke bitter anguish, combined with disdain and malignity, while its unearthly ugliness rendered it almost too horrible for human eyes.



Subsequently, he refuses to accept his creation. He believes that the creature’s status is beneath humans and is unworthy of forgiveness or compassion.


Furthermore, in the same passage, the creature cites his status and actions as the cause of their dissonance. For example, the creature believes that his crime of murder deems him as guilty; however, he believes that humans would receive the right to defend themselves and the hope of compassion. However, because of his status as being inhuman, he has no possibility of overcoming the situation and must remain as an enemy of Victor.

How did Brutus manipulate the conspirators in Act II Scene 1 of Julius Caesar?

Brutus’s tragic flaw is his idealism, and his blindness to the potential for evil in man.  He himself is honorable, and strives to justify his actions against Caesar in an honorable manner.  Likewise he paints the conspirators as well as murdering for honorable reasons, though this is not necessarily reality.  Given these propensities of our hero, we can see that as he is speaking to his fellow conspirators in Act II, Scene 1, one could argue that he isn’t so much manipulating others as he is manipulating himself, and persuading his allies to conform to his idea of an honorable murder for the betterment of Roman society.


When Cassius suggests that they take an oath of secrecy, Brutus dissents, and calls upon this honor as rendering any oath superfluous.  He protests,



…do not stain
The even virtue of our enterprise,
Nor th’insuppressive mettle of our spirits,
To think that or our cause or our performance
Did need an oath;



Thus he persuades the conspirators to forego any secret oaths to each other or to their cause, since the cause and the men themselves are noble, and such a virtuous act, among virtuous men, does itself solidify each man’s dedication to the plan.  And so Brutus compliments the others, and challenges their own moral fiber not only as honorable citizens, but also as Romans; the necessity of an oath is only for lesser men than they, for citizens of lesser civilizations.  This challenge forces the others to accept his suggestion, for fear of compromising their own reputations.


Brutus uses a similar tactic in lines 162 to 183 to dissuade the conspirators from assassinating Mark Antony.  “Let’s be sacrificers, but not butchers,” he implores to Cassius, “for Antony is but a limb of Caesar.”  He believes that Antony is harmless without Caesar’s leadership and support, and would have Caesar’s death be clean and honorable.  He will not have them contribute to a limb-hacking bloodbath, and calls upon the men’s reverence of the divine, asking them to “carve him as a dish fit for the gods,” and behave in a manner that will “make our purpose necessary, and not envious; …we shall be called purgers, not muderers.”  In this manner he seeks to persuade the conspirators to temperance in their deed, and therefore he, Brutus, will maintain his reputation for honesty and he can continue to live in his bubble of idealism and honor.  Which, of course, turns out after the fact to be impossible.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” This is one of the...

Your instructor seems to be asking whether you consider this an effective opening. Obviously, only you can decide whether you found it effective and whether it tempted you to continue reading the book. 


As you analyze this opening line and the first two paragraphs of the novel, you should think about the intellectual context of the Enlightenment. In this period, philosophers tended to seek universal truths ascertainable by reason. Whether in religion or science or politics, Enlightenment thinkers were optimistic about their ability to discover universal truths and find solutions to social and intellectual problems by processes of rational thought, following the great example of the discovery of universal laws of motion by Newton. 


While Austen in this and the following lines is satirizing the way the village was treating a man's interest in marrying as a universal law on the order of gravitation, she is making an important point that from the viewpoint of the villagers, social conventions were treated almost as immutable laws; we see this viewpoint in Mrs. Bennett's attempts to persuade her husband to call on Bingley. 


The third person omniscient narrator in these paragraphs is capable of seeing into the minds of both the village as a collective and of the individuals in it. The first sentences move syllogistically, with the first line acting as a major premise, the entrance of a single man into the neighborhood as a minor premise, and the though that this man might be a potential husband for one of the Bennett daughters as a conclusion. 

If I put chocolate powder or syrup in water and the water turns into the color of the chocolate syrup, would you call that dissolving?

When we mix a solute into a solvent, depending on a number of factors, the solute then dissolves in the solvent and we obtain a solution. The rate and degree of dissolution is a function of the saturation potential of the solute into solvent, temperature, etc. There are a number of times when the solute imparts certain properties to the solution. An example is the sweetness of a sugar water solution (formed by mixing sugar and water). Similarly, when colored solutes (such as dyes) are mixed in water, the solution becomes colored.


When we add chocolate powder or syrup to water (or milk), we observe a color change and a change in the taste of the solution. Thus, this situation can be thought of as the dissolution of chocolate powder or syrup into water (or milk). Note that water is the solvent here and chocolate syrup (or powder) is the solute.


Hope this helps.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Describe A Dream Play by August Strindberg.

A Dream Play was written by Swedish playwright August Strindberg in 1907. The play that spawned the creation of the dramatic Expressionism movement.


Expressionism was a modernist movement in theater that developed primarily in Germany, but there were practitioners of the movement throughout Europe. Expressionism is a style that often dramatizes spiritual awakenings and the suffering of protagonists, which are sometimes related to the suffering of Jesus. The narratives of these plays are usually concerned with the struggle between bourgeois values and authority. Sometimes these struggles become symbolized through a conflict between a father and a son. 


In A Dream Play, a character named Agnes is a daughter of the god Indra. She comes to Earth to describe the problems of Earth. While on Earth, Agnes meets with around 40 characters. Each of these characters represents something larger than them, such as philosophy or medicine. (In this way, the play may remind some readers of Brecht and Brecht's Epic Theatre.) After hearing these problems, Agnes decides humans must be pitied. She returns to heaven and the play is described as someone awakening from a dream. 

`8x - 4y = 7, 5x + 2y = 1` Use matricies to solve the system of equations (if possible). Use Gauss-Jordan elimination.

Given system of equations are


`8x - 4y = 7, 5x + 2y = 1`


so the matrices A and B are given as follows


A = `[[8, -4], [5, 2]]`


B = `[[7], [1]]`


so the augmented matrix is [AB] = `[[8, -4, 7], [5, 2, 1]]`


on solving this we get the values of x,y .


step 1 .  Make the pivot in the 1st column by dividing the 1st row by 8


`[[1, -1/2, 7/8], [5, 2, 1]]`



step 2 . muptiply the 1st row by 5


`[[5, -5/2, 35/8], [5, 2, 1]]`



step 3 . subtract the 1st row from the 2nd row


`[[1, -1/2, 7/8], [0, 9/2, -27/8]]`



step 4 divide the second row by 9/2


`[[1, -1/2, 7/8], [0, 1, -3/4]]`



step 5 multiply the 2nd row by -1/2  and subtract the 2nd row from the 1st row


 `[[1, 0, 1/2], [0, 1, -3/4]]`



so, the values of x, y are x= 1/2 and y = -3/4

Sunday, November 15, 2009

What were Alexander Hamilton's views on religion?

As one of the United States' most important founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton displayed non-sectarian approach to religion which was characteristic of this group. His own faith had wavered throughout his life; he was a pious Christian in his youth, had turned to Deism as an adult, and had become more devout in his later years.

His political views toward religion mirrored those of the majority of the founders. He believed religion (by which he would have meant Protestant Christianity) played an important role in national virtue and stability, but he was not too dogmatic about the particular form (denomination, etc.) that religion took. This view is evidenced by President Washington's "Farewell Address," which Hamilton helped him draft.



Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.... And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.



Clearly, Hamilton believed that religion was necessary to the prosperity of the United States, but note that he and Washington did not declare a particular sort of religious practice--or even mention Christianity by name--in this speech.

Why doesn't Daisy refer to her child by name or heed her child's 'reluctant glance'?

Daisy Buchanan is shallow and self-centered. Things and people are really only important in her world if they can make her feel good about herself. She is not a good mother, ignoring her daughter Pammy repeatedly throughout the book. The girl is essentially being raised by a nanny. She is paraded in front of guests when there is some reason for a display of how wonderful everything is in Daisy's world. Daisy hopes Pammy will become "the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool".


This is one of the ironies in The Great Gatsby. Jay Gatsby has spent his entire life becoming the person he thinks Daisy would want. He even takes the blame for the hit-and-run death of Myrtle when it was really Daisy driving. He pays for this with his life. This is his ultimate gift to Daisy, a woman who was really not worth his devotion.

Who are the characters in chapter one of Lyddie?

In this chapter we are introduced to the Worthen family.


Chapter One introduces us to Lyddie and her family.  At this time, Lyddie’s father has left to go out west.  Her mother is raising four children: Lydia/Lyddie (13), Charlie (10), Rachel (6), and Agnes (4).  However, it is actually Lyddie who is raising everyone.  When Lyddie’s father left, Lyddie stepped up. 


Lyddie is independent, intelligent, persistent, and focused.  We see all of these traits in the first chapter when Lyddie responds to a bear that breaks into her cabin.  Lyddie immediately takes charge, getting everyone up into the loft.  She stares down the bear, and eventually it leaves.  This incident demonstrates that Lyddie is not to be trifled with.  



"Don't nobody yell," she said softly. "Just back up slow and quiet to the ladder and climb up to the loft. Charlie, you get Agnes, and Mama, you take Rachel." She heard her mother whimper. "Shhh," she continued, her voice absolutely even. (Ch. 1) 



Lyddie’s mother does not react well to the bear.  She thinks it is a sign.  We can tell by the incident that Lyddie’s mother is not able to handle her situation.  Her husband left her on a barely functional farm with no money and a pile of debt, and she had to take care of four children on her own. 



Behind her left shoulder sat Mama in the one chair, a rocker she had brought from Poultney when she came as a bride. Lyddie stole a glance at her. She was rocking like one dazed, staring unblinking into the fire. 


The truth be told, Mama had gone somewhat queer in the head after their father had left. (Ch. 1) 



Lyddie’s mom leaves with the two younger children, whom Lyddie calls babies.  She goes to stay with her sister.  Lyddie does not think either her mother’s sister or her husband are right in the head.  She describes them as "Clarissa, and her end-of-the-world- shouting husband, Judah."  She is not happy to see her mother go, because Lyddie wants to keep the family together. 


Lyddie and her brother Charlie maintain the farm for a while.  Charlie is steady and resilient.  He helps Lyddie take care of things, and he is clearly one of the most level-headed members of the family.  Lyddie is probably closer to her brother than any other family member. 


Even when the farm is let out to pay debts, Lyddie is sent to work at a tavern, and Charlie is sent to work at a mill, Charlie remains optimistic. 



"The world have not come to the end yit, ey?" He took the letter from her lap, and when she wiped her face and tried to smile, he grinned anxiously and pointed to their mother's primitive spelling. "See, we can stil hop." (Ch. 1)



Charlie is not afraid to ask for help.  He tells Lyddie to ask the Stephens family if she needs anything.  They are neighbors, and we do not meet them until later.  

Saturday, November 14, 2009

What reasons did the 13 colonies have to separate from Great Britain?

There were many reasons why the colonies wanted to separate from Great Britain. One reason revolved around the limiting of access to the new western lands gained from France as a result of the French and Indian War. The British were concerned the Native Americans would attack the colonists. Thus, they passed the Proclamation of 1763 that prevented the colonists from moving west of the Appalachian Mountains. They also wanted the colonists to provide housing for soldiers to enforce this law. These laws weren’t popular with the colonists.


As the colonies became more expensive to operate, the British passed laws to require the colonists to pay for some of these costs of running the colonies. The Stamp Act and Townshend Acts were two tax laws that were designed to raise revenue from the colonists to help pay for the operation of the colonies. The colonists felt their rights were being violated because they had no representatives in Parliament who could vote for these tax laws. Thus, the colonists began to boycott British products.


The situation deteriorated in the 1770s. Five colonists were killed with the Boston Massacre. For the first time, some colonists were killed protesting British actions and policies. Some people believed this would eventually lead to a growing demand for independence. After the Boston Tea Party, the British punished the colonists, especially those in Massachusetts, by passing the Intolerable Acts. The colonists refused to obey this law and began to form their own militias. When fighting occurred in April 1775 at Lexington and Concord, many people on both sides were killed and injured. Many colonists were convinced independence wasn’t far away.


The colonists met to discuss independence. The asked the King to remove these unpopular laws in exchange for peace with the Olive Branch Petition. The King rejected this idea. Eventually, the Declaration of Independence was written and adopted. The Revolutionary War would now begin.

How much does Candy have in savings?

According to the text, Candy has three hundred dollars saved up, and he has fifty dollars coming to him at the end of the month.  Candy reveals to George that the boss gave him two hundred and fifty dollars when he lost his hand on the farm in an accident.  Here is the quote:



“S’pose I went in with you guys. Tha’s three hunderd an’ fifty bucks I’d put in. I ain’t much good, but I could cook and tend the chickens and hoe the garden some. How’d that be?”



The significance of this amount of money is that Candy wants to be a part of the plan to buy and live off the land.  He says that he would give them the money to purchase the land.  He will also work as best as he could, and when he dies, he will leave the land to them. 


After thinking, George agrees.  This makes George and Lennie's dream almost with reach.  As George says, "they can swing it." 

In the book "Monster" by Walter Dean Myers, was it clearly stated if Steven is guilty or innocent or do they not say?

Though the trial ends with Steve Harmon declared "not guilty," the fact of whether or not he was a part of the convenience store robbery is less clear. Most readers, I think, believe that Steve did take part in the crime, due to several inconsistencies in his story.


For example, when he is questioned on the stand, Steve denies being in or around the drugstore at all the day of the robbery (pg 223). Earlier in the story, however, he said he was in the drug store that day, just "looking around" (pg 115) and later he claims that he was "buying mints" in the store the day of the robbery (pg 140). 


Another example that should make readers suspicious of Steve is when he is listening to a testimony of the day of the robbery. He recalls himself that day and describes himself “walking down the street, trying to make my mind a blank screen” (pg 128). Trying to fade the film of his mind to black is a trick readers know Steve does when he doesn't like reality. Why else would he need to do this if he weren't involved?

On final piece of evidence is Steve's obsession with his own goodness. He is terrified throughout the book that he is a monster, a bad person. In fact, that is the reason he is making his screenplay of the trial - to prove that he isn't. An innocent person on trial would not have these concerns with his own conscious. 


Despite all these examples that raise a reader's suspicion, the story never explicitly says that Steve was a part of the robbery. However, most close readers would point to these examples as evidence that he did commit the crime.

Friday, November 13, 2009

What happens when an iron nail is immersed in copper sulphate solution for some time? Justify your observation.

A single displacement reaction takes place, when an iron nail is placed in copper sulfate solution. The chemical reaction can be written as:


Fe (s) + CuSO4 (aq) -> FeSO4 (aq) + Cu (s)


In this case, iron, being more reactive than copper, will displace it from the solution. That is, ferrous ions or Fe(II) will go into the solution, while curic or Cu(II) will be deposited onto the nail. This cause the solution color to change from blue to green. The copper coating on the nail will give it a refdish-brown color. And we end up with solid copper and a solution of ferrous sulfate.


In general, more reactive species displaces less reactive species from a solution, as shown here by displacement of copper by iron.


Hope this helps.

Why do Prince Prospero's courtiers weld the gates shut?

When the prince and his courtiers sealed themselves in the abbey, they were trying their best to avoid the terrible disease that was ravaging their land, so they were obviously willing to go to extremes in order to protect themselves from dying. They welded the gates of the abbey shut for two reasons: to keep things both out and in. They did not want anyone coming into the abbey who might potentially be infected because then their attempts to stay healthy would be futile; the disease would easily spread through the large crowd and they would all be dead, probably within just a single day. They also did not want anyone to change their minds about staying safe within the abbey walls and leave because then that person would most likely die; being locked up in a single place for an indefinite amount of time is a surefire way to get cabin fever, and the prince and his courtiers did not want to die simply because they got bored one day and decided to risk venturing out into the infected world.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, what pushes Junior to make the decisions to go to Reardan?

Anger and hope are what push Junior out of his life on "the rez" and into the world of Reardan.


When Junior starts high school, he is filled with excitement.  He believes that this is the start of a new life filled with hope for the future.  However, these hopes are dashed when he is given an "old, old, old...geometry book"  from which he is to learn.  He recognizes that the book is his mother's and is over thirty years old.  His excitement turns to anger and rage, filling his heart "with the force of a nuclear bomb," while his "hopes and dreams (float) up in a mushroom cloud."  At this instant, Junior is filled with intense anger because he recognizes the limitations of his education on the reservation.  He knows that if he stays on the reservation, he will never become the person he wishes to be.


Anger ends up giving way to hope.  After Junior assaults Mr. P with the geometry book, he shares a profound conversation with the geometry teacher who tells him that Junior is similar in talent to his sister and that he is "a bright and shining star...the smartest kid in the school."  Mr. P confirms what Junior already knows which is that life on the reservation is one where Native Americans are taught to "give up."  It becomes clear that if Junior wants to have a meaningful life he must "go somewhere where other people have hope."  


This realization inspires him to go to Reardan.  He understands the risk involved as he will be one of the few Native Americans there.  However, to do what he wants to with his life, Junior knows that he must pursue his education at the new school.  He is filled with hope when his father drops him off for his first day, calling him "brave" and "a warrior."  His brave resolve underscores how Junior's anger has been channeled back into hope for the future.

From Lois Lowry's The Giver, list the two instructions that Jonas receives for his training as the new Receiver.

Jonas actually receives eight specific instructions that he must follow as the new Receiver. Two of them cause Jonas the most concern, though--they are numbers 6 and 8. Number six tells Jonas that he cannot receive pain medication for pain acquired during his training; and number 8 tells him that he has the right to lie. For number six, Jonas remembers the time his finger was crushed in the door. The community's medication must be very good because his finger had healed immediately after receiving it. Also, this instruction makes him wonder how much pain he will have to endure in his new assignment, which causes him great concern.


For the eighth and final instruction, being able to lie makes him wonder what other assignments and/or adults have the ability to lie. He wonders who might have been lying to him up until this point in his life and he feels doubt for the first time in his life.



"His mind reeled. Now, empowered to ask questions of utmost rudeness--and promised answers--he could, conceivably (though it was almost unimaginable), ask someone, some adult, his father perhaps 'Do you lie?'


But he would have no way of knowing if the answer he received were true" (71).



This creates quite a stir within Jonas because the solid and stable life he once knew has now been shaken.

In the novel Never Let Me Go, do the guardians feel any sympathy for the children? How is lying to someone protecting them?

For one, consider that the faculty and staff at Hailsham are asking the same question you are: What should the children know? What's ethical for them to know? What's right? You might look specifically at how Miss Lucy and Miss Emily's approaches differ and how they speak with the children and reveal (or don't reveal) the truth.


A central theme to Never Let Me Go is identity -- what makes a human being a person, an individual? What is a soul and what nourishes a soul? And what happens in a world where the society has literally created people who aren't recognized as individuals with autonomy and agency? Kathy, Tommy, and the others are nurtured as children for a very specific purpose; they are valued because their bodies ensure prolonging the lives of their copies. How is this social structure ethical? How is it moral? Remember, though, that ethics and morality are subjective, so such conversations are always complex. You mention the lies and deceit, and you're right: there's a lot of it in this novel. However, is it better that the children know or not know what waits for them from the beginning? Lying is, in one way, a kindness, giving them hope for the future and the same sense of self any other child might have. If they were told the truth from day one, could children cope with the knowledge that they're simply "spare parts"? How would that impact their development? Is it better or worse that they know personhood before becoming part of the system? Is it better to rebel against the system or to accept fate?


Ishiguro uses his narrative to provoke such questions from his readers. So, you're on the right track here. To go even deeper, you might ask what similarities you see between Kathy's world and ours and what that suggests about what Ishiguro wants readers to take away from the story.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

In the short story "The Flowers" how do we know that the dead man is actually a black man ?

Interestingly, in Alice Walker's short story "The Flowers", there is no literal indication of the dead man's race. However, using historical and authorial context, the reader can draw the conclusion that he is black. 


Historical Context: Myop, the protagonist, lives in a "sharecropper cabin", which places this story between the 1860s and 1940s, during which time sharecropping was a common practice in the American South. Given this information, the reader can also intuit other common cultural practices of this stated time period. Following slavery, the South underwent a rampant persecution of black men, including commonplace lynchings. The presence of a noose, overalls (common clothing for black men in the South, who were relegated to social positions of servitude), and this stated historical context, the reader can deduce that the victim of the lynching was most likely black. 


Authorial Context: Alice Walker is an African American woman, most of whose characters are black. Therefore, the reader could make the connection to her other works and surmise that he could likely be black. 

Can you help me to solve the indefinite integral `int (xe^x - e^(2x-1))/e^x` ? I don't understand how solve it! Please, help me!

To evaluate this integral, we first need to simplify the exponential expression inside it, by dividing each term in the numerator by the denominator `e^x` .


The first term would become `(xe^x)/e^x = x` because the exponent `e^x` cancels.


The second term would become `e^(2x-1)/e^x = e^(2x-1-x) = e^(x-1)` (Here, the rule of exponent is applied: to divide the powers of the same base, subtract exponents. This could be further rewritten as `e^(x-1) = e^x/e` , again, by applying the same rule of exponents. Remember that e is just a constant, which could be taken out of the integral.


So the expression under the integral, once simplified, becomes


`x - e^x/e` , which is a difference of a power function and an exponential function. The integral of a difference is a difference of integrals, so


`int(x-e^x/x) dx = int(x)dx - int(e^x/e)dx = int(x) dx- 1/e int(e^x)dx `


These integrals can now be evaluated:


`int xdx = x^2/2` (up to a constant) and `int e^x dx = e^x` (up to a constant.)


The final result is therefore `x^2/2 - 1/e*e^x + C = x^2/2 - e^(x-1) + C` , where C is a constant.


The integral in question equals `x^2/2 - e^(x-1) + C` .

In A Thousand Splendid Suns, how has the U.S. foreign policy led to the continuing chaos in Afghanistan?

In A Thousand Splendid Suns, one way that American foreign policy has led to continuing chaos in Afghanistan is by continuing war.


The characters in Hosseini's work have known nothing other than war. Its presence has uprooted their lives.  It has forced them to leave Afghanistan. If the remained, they have seen war result in continual changes of government. From Soviet-backed communists to the rise of the Muhjaideen to the emergence of the Taliban to the presence of American forces, war has been constant in the lives of the people in A Thousand Splendid Suns.  


War has not resolved anything for the lives of the Afghan people.  They have not known peace and the stability that is a part of it.  Instead, the turbulent destruction of war was always been a part of their world.  American foreign policy perpetuates this condition.  The novel makes it clear that American intervention is probably better for Afghanistan than Taliban rule.  However, there is not much in way of clarity as to what will happen once the American forces enter.  When Laila and Tariq return to Afghanistan, hope in American military intervention is communicated.   Yet, there is also the reality that American military operations will simply continue a life of war that has become commonplace for Afghan people.  This chaos seems to be the only constant, something that continues even with the American forces entering the region.

Monday, November 9, 2009

In The Kite Runner, Sohrab states, “‘I want my old life back’” (355). How could the connection between Amir and Sohrab be forged by their...

Sohrab stated that he wanted his old life back just when he was recuperating from an attempted suicide. Earlier, Amir had informed Sohrab that he would put him up in an orphanage, something the boy did not agree with. Sohrab instead wanted to go to America with Amir, but by the time Amir got information that he could go with the boy, Sohrab had slit his wrists in the bathtub. Sohrab was tired of the suffering. He saw the orphanage as an extension of his current situation. He wanted to go back to his past life when he was happier, when he still had his mother and father.


Their desire for the past was connected. For Amir, he lived his younger life not knowing that the person he recognized as a servant was actually his brother. He hoped to go back to the past to rectify his mistakes especially his betrayal of Hassan. Amir and Sohrab both believed that their happiness was in their past, a time when they were around their lost loved ones.



“I want Father and Mother jan. I want Sasa. I want to play with Rahim Khan Sahib in the garden. I want to live in our house again.” He dragged his forearm across his eyes. “I want my old life back.”


I didn’t know what to say, where to look, so I gazed down at my hands. Your old life, I thought. My old life too. I played in the same yard, Sohrab. I lived in the same house. But the grass is dead and a stranger’s jeep is parked in the driveway of our house, pissing oil all over the asphalt. Our old life is gone, Sohrab…



This is in response to your first question, kindly post your second question as a separate question. Thanks.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

In Night by Elie Wiesel, what is Elie's job at Buna?

After being processed at Birkenau and spending three weeks at Auschwitz, Night author Elie Wiesel, his father, and other Jews from the camp are transported to yet another camp--Buna. Elie feels lucky when he gets into what is considered a good unit there. His job is to work in an electrical warehouse where he is responsible for sorting and counting electrical parts like bulbs and bolts as well as electrical fittings. For the most part the workers are left alone to complete their tasks, but new friends Yossi and Tibi tell Elie to watch out for their Kapo Idek who is known to have fits of violence.


Even though the work Elie had to do was not difficult, all of the Jews were treated as slaves. They did not get to choose the work they did and were killed if they did not do it to the satisfaction of the Nazis. Elie felt lucky because so many others had to do the back breaking labor of digging trenches for graves or moving huge rocks from one place to another and other such strenuous work. 

What is the setting of That was Then, This is Now?

Setting deals with the time and place that a story is taking place.  That was Then, This is Now takes place in Oklahoma during the 1960's.  That's a very broad stroke to describe the setting though.  More specifically the story is about two Greaser boys, Bryson and Mark.  Because of the main characters, the story takes place in the rougher parts of town.  The two boys live in the same house, so parts of the story take place there.  Other parts occur in a nearby bar called "Charley's Place."  Bryson's mother gets very sick at one point in the novel, so sequences of the novel take place within the bounds of the hospital too.  Despite being about two teenage boys, very little of the story takes place at school.  The only exception is a dance that the boys attend.  

Was the citizen an individual or did he submit to peer pressure?

"The Unknown Citizen" by W.H. Auden is a very familiar satirical poem based on the irony that even though he is extremely well identified, his true innermost needs and desires are unknown. The citizen of the poem is definitely an individual based on the fact that "the" is used to signify that it is definitely an individual, and also male based on the evidence of him being questioned as a "Modern Man" and the fact that he is married and served in war. This would not be true in the case of a female. Also, the pronoun "he" is used repeatedly throughout the poem, referring to a male individual, and not a female.


As to the question of peer pressure, it is more of a futuristic societal pressure that the citizen had to conform to. Bureaus, agencies, and organizations are capitalized signifying names which served to monitor the citizens and observe them closely. Also, he did serve in a war, possibly to defend the society's way of life. Peer pressure? There really is no evidence that he had any direct or indirect pressure from friends since his friends were specifically called "mates" in the poem, signifying friendships, not anything adversarial.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

In Beowulf, who is Healfdane's son?

Healfdane, son of Beo, had three sons: Hergar (or Heorogar), King of the Danes, Hrothgar, who became king after the death of Heorogar, and Halga, the youngest. Healfdane also had one daugher, Yrs. See lines 57-63 of the Prologue:



The great Healfdane, a fierce fighter
Who led the Danes to the end of his long
Life and left them four children,
Three princes to guide them in battle, Hergar
And Hrothgar and Halga the Good, and one daughter,
Yrs, who was given to Onela, king
Of the Swedes...
(Burton Raffel trans.)



Hrothgar is the only one of the sons who figures prominently in the poem. Hrothgar is an aging king, beloved by his people, builder of the great hall Heorot. When the monster Grendel begins his deadly attacks on the hall, Hrothgar welcomes Beowulf and seeks his protection. Unlike Beowulf, who is able to accomplish great feats through arms, Hrothgar earns his people's love through his compassion, his generousity, and his wisdom.

In "The Necklace," what are two examples of alliteration?

Alliteration is a sound device where the initial consonant sounds of a word are repeated.  This creates a musical effect and often adds a subtle emphasis in a sentence. 


Mathilde is a woman who feels that she deserves a better life.  Her husband is only a lowly clerk, and cannot take care of her with the level of comfort she feels she deserves.  When he tries to please her by getting an invitation to a ball, he expresses his excitement through alliteration.



I had tremendous trouble to get it. Every one wants one; it's very select, and very few go to the clerks. You'll see all the really big people there.



The alliteration is the repetition of the “t” sound in “tremendous trouble” and helps the reader appreciate the importance of the ball.


Mathilde does not respond well, however.  Alliteration is used again to demonstrate his confusion at her reaction.



He stopped, stupefied and utterly at a loss when he saw that his wife was beginning to cry. Two large tears ran slowly down from the corners of her eyes towards the corners of her mouth.



The words “stopped, stupefied” are alliteration of the “st” sound.  Mathilde’s husband was surprised that she wasn’t excited about the invitation to the ball.  He thought she would be glad, but she is just complaining about the fact that she doesn’t have anything she considers appropriate to wear.


After he gives up all of the money he has saved to buy her a new dress worthy of the ball, she is still not happy.  She is worried about her jewelry.



"I'm utterly miserable at not having any jewels, not a single stone, to wear," she replied. "I shall look absolutely no one. I would almost rather not go to the party."



Mathilde uses alliteration to emphasize the fact that she does not have any jewelry she considers worthy of wearing to the ball. Her husband suggests flowers, which she rejects.  He finally recommends asking a wealthy friend to borrow a necklace.  This Mathilde agrees to, and of course that is what gets her into all the trouble.

Why did Helen feel that exams were the chief bugbears of her college life ?

With both truth and humor, Helen describes the act of test-taking in the last six paragraphs of Chapter 20. She loves to learn new material. But she despises tests. She talks about studying for them, spending time cramming before them, and trying to prepare by stuffing every bit of information into her brain. Then when the test time comes, she’s faced with questions about people (for instance) that she cannot remember ever hearing of. “You are amazed at all the things you know which are not on the examination paper,” she says. She puzzles over the possible answers. And then the call comes that the time is up and the test is over. It’s an exasperating situation. And she’s absolutely right: it can be this way. She feels like many of the rest of us feel when we study and take tests on difficult subject matters. We can relate to her plight. What’s most interesting about this story is that she never references here how much more difficult her particular challenge is. She cannot see the test questions and must use adaptive methods to both “read” the questions and to answer them within the allotted time period. The fact that she succeeds at all is still amazing to us today.

In what year did the French Revolution occur?

The French Revolution began in earnest in 1789, when representatives of the Third Estate, barred from the Estates-General (a meeting summoned by King Louis XVI to Versailles), formed a National Assembly that began to enact revolutionary reforms. These reformers had the support of Parisians, who stormed the Bastille, a royal prison, in support. It coincided with a wave of agrarian uprisings known as the Great Fear that swept the countryside, terrorizing the nobility. These events are typically regarded as the first of the Revolution. Its ending is less clear. Many historians regard the end of the Revolution as the year 1795, when the relatively reactionary Directory assumed control of the nation. Others regard it as 1799, when Napoleon staged a coup d'etat that led to the establishment of the First Consulate (essentially a dictatorship). Still others argue that the Revolution continued to 1815, when Napoleon was finally defeated and permanently driven from power. 

How is Juliet in Romeo and Juliet naïve? What are some examples?

Juliet could be described as naive in many ways. This naiveness can easily be found if you look at the balcony scene in Act 2, Scene 2. In her first soliloquy of the scene, Juliet describes her total willingness to be in love with Romeo. While this could be viewed as romantic, it also comes across as someone who is quite naive and juvenile. Romantic love, as many contemporary psychologists, takes time. In this scene, Juliet is expressing a young infatuation. This is to be expected, as Juliet is only a young teenager, but it is naive nonetheless. Also, Juliet's willingness to spare Romeo from her family's hatred and keep him hidden away can also be viewed as naive. ["I would not for the world they saw thee here," line 78 (this line could be seen as a throwaway, and acted as if Juliet is wishing Romeo to leave, but it is actually expressing that Juliet would rather save Romeo from her family's view than reveal him for all the world)]. She is putting Romeo's life in danger, as well as her own life, by pursuing this relationship. Ultimately, their love brings their families together, but it also costs the two lovers their lives. 

What is an example of suspense in the short story, "There Will Come Soft Rains"?

Ray Bradbury creates suspense in two places in his short story, "There Will Come Soft Rains." The story is about an automated house that still functions in the aftermath of a nuclear attack. It is the only house left in a city that has been leveled.


But before revealing that the attack has occurred, we feel suspense as the house goes through its daily routine of preparing breakfast, making important announcements and doing the cleaning. All of this takes place without a hint that any humans are around. The reader wonders why this house is still going through the motions when no human is occupying it. We don't learn about the attack until the house has performed several of its morning duties.


The reader may actually begin to look at the house as a living entity as it continues with its day. Because we have an emotional interest in the house we definitely feel suspense as the fire breaks out. We want the house to survive, just as we would a human protagonist. When we learn that "reinforcements" have been released to fight the fire we feel some relief. Unfortunately, the house cannot be saved and we experience grief over the loss of the last vestiges of intelligence and activity in the gutted city. 

Friday, November 6, 2009

Where in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, does it say that Boo Radley killed his dad?

Boo Radley did not kill his father.  When Boo and his friends are brought into court for driving backwards around the square and imprisoning Mr. Conner in the courthouse outhouse, they were sentenced to the state industrial school.  The other boys attended that school and did quite well.  However, Mr. Radley promised the judge that if Boo was released to his custody, he would assure that Arthur, Boo’s real name, would give no further trouble to the community.  The judge agreed, and Boo was imprisoned in his own home.  No one saw or heard from him for fifteen years.


Then one day, there was a commotion at the house.  Boo had been cutting out some articles from the newspaper when Mr. Radley walked by.  Boo casually stabbed his father in the leg and then returned to cutting out articles in the newspaper. Mrs. Radley overreacted.



“Mrs. Radley ran screaming into the street that Arthur was killing them all, but when the sheriff arrived he found Boo still sitting in the livingroom, cutting up the Tribune. “ (pg 11)



They wanted to send him to an insane asylum, but Mr. Radley, again, intervened and said no Radley was going into any asylum.  So they imprisoned him in the basement of the courthouse by himself. Finally the town council told Mr. Radley that he would have to take Boo back home.



“Boo could not live forever on the bounty of the county.” (pg 11)



No one knew how Mr. Radley controlled Boo and kept him at home, but somehow he did.  Miss Stephanie Crawford, the neighborhood gossip, told the children,



“From the day Mr. Radley took Arthur home, the house died.” (pg 12)



Finally, there came a day when Atticus told the children to be quiet around the Radley home.  Mr. Radley was sick and dying. 



“Dr. Reynolds parked his car in front of our house and walked to the Radley’s every time he was called.” (pg 12)



Mr. Radley died, not from anything Arthur did, but from illness.



“….. we watched from the front porch when Mr. Radley made his final journey past our house.” (pg 12)


What was your reaction to the the ending of "The Ransom of Red Chief"?

The ending seems exaggerated, but the whole story is exaggerated. This is because it is American humor, and exaggeration is one of the principal characteristics of American humor, as Mark Twain and E. B. White both noted. It seems absurd that these two con men would actually pay the kid's father two hundred and fifty dollars to take his son back. This is a sticking point in the story. After all, they are in a hick town in the middle of nowhere. They ought to be able to abandon Red Chief and slip off into the dark prairie. These two con men must have had a lot of experience making getaways all over the Midwest. The last words of the story are gross exaggeration.



And, as dark as it was, and as fat as Bill was, and as good a runner as I am, he was a good mile and a half out of Summit before I could catch up with him.



The only danger seems to be from Red Chief himself. If Ebenezer Dorset doesn't get his money he won't hold the boy for ten minutes in order to allow Sam and Bill to escape. But if they could fool Red Chief into coming back home to his father, they ought to be able to fool him in some other way which would enable them to make their getaway. There is no reason why the two men couldn't just tie the boy up and send his father a note saying where to find him. The story can't be taken too seriously. It is just a good example of American humor of its day. Young people today might not get the humor and might consider the whole story old-fashioned.

What are three character traits of Romeo and Juliet?

Although Romeo and Juliet are different characters, and both have different nuanced character traits, there are definite similarities between the two. When examined closely, these similarities can illuminate the overall text and its themes.


THREE CHARACTER TRAITS ROMEO AND JULIET SHARE:


IMPATIENCE - When Romeo and Juliet want something, they want it as soon as possible. This is demonstrated in their relationship. It takes only an act for Romeo and Juliet to be completely committed to the idea of marrying one another. It is speedy and impatient, but they wouldn't have it any other way. 


IDEALISM - Romeo and Juliet are both prone to idealism. They idealize their love almost immediately, seeing it as a grand affair that is worth risking their lives over.


COMMITMENT - When Romeo and Juliet commit to an idea, they are completely obsessed with it. In this way, Romeo and Juliet both demonstrate a good deal of commitment as characters. 

In Chapter 10, what is an important line of dialogue that conveys the main idea of the chapter?


"People in their right minds never take pride in their talents." (Lee 130)



In the beginning of Chapter 10, Jem and Scout lament about their father's lack of talent and ability. One Saturday, a rabid dog named Tim Johnson is walking through the streets of Maycomb, and Atticus Finch shoots the dog, killing it in one shot. Jem and Scout are in awe of their father's marksmanship. Miss Maudie tells the children that when Atticus was younger he was known as Ol' One-Shot Finch. The children wonder why their father never hunts or brags about his talent. Miss Maudie explains to them that intelligent, humble people never take pride in their talents because they understand that their abilities are God-given. Jem learns several lessons about being a gentleman from witnessing his father's behavior in Chapter 10. He learns that a gentleman maintains his composure in adverse situations, exercises discernment regarding when to use certain abilities, and remains humble following successful outcomes.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

What inferences can be made about Gratiano's character in The Merchant of Venice?

Gratiano has a subordinate role in the play, but his presence helps establish the theme of rollicking bachelorhood. In addition, his voice speaks for the larger society of Shakespeare's time.


One of the first scenes in which we get a sense of Gratiano's character is during his discussion with Bassanio regarding a trip to Belmont. Gratiano has broached the topic, suggesting his assertive character, but Bassanio frustrates his intention to travel to Belmont by questioning the Venetian's character:



But hear the Gratiano; / Thou art too wild, too rude and bold of voice. (2.2.180)



Gratiano responds by promising to confine himself to good behavior (2.2.191-198). Thus, he comes across as playful and earnest in obtaining his desires. At the same time, he is revealed through Bassanio to be a bit of a knave.


In the engagement scene between Bassanio and Portia, we see Gratiano's impetuous character. Upon seeing his good friend hitched, Gratiano points to Portia's maidservant, Nerissa, and requests a marriage as well (3.2.210). In this impulsive act, we also see emphasized the theme of fraternity insofar as Gratiano wants to follow his "brother" into the married state.


Finally, in the court scene, we see the mockery Gratiano is capable of bringing against the minority character, Shylock:



A second Daniel! a Daniel, Jew! (4.1.333)



Just previously, Shylock had hailed Portia (disguised as a lawyer) as like the prophet Daniel, who was known for his sagacity and judgement. But the tables were quickly turned on Shylock, who suddenly found himself on the wrong side of the law. Gratiano's repetition of Shylock's triumphal use of this comparison mocks the money-lender and reveals Gratiano's inclination to strike when his opponent is weak. His voice in this scene melds with the sentiment that England at that time in history felt toward Jews, who, on account of their race, were denied the ability to earn an income in the guided trades, and consequently had to take up usury as their livelihood.

Ernest Rutherford's experimental results greatly surprised him. What do you think Rutherford had been expecting to find? Imagine that you lived in...

Rutherford discovered the proton, and he also discovered that the atom is mainly empty space.


He noticed that a beam of alpha particles was scattered back where it came from by gold atoms, and, since it was known that alpha particles were positive, it was deduced that there was a dense positive core in the nucleus. This dense positive core was called the protons.


Rutherford deduced that the electrons were arranged in concentric shells around this positive core, and this was in stark contrast to the model of the atom that was previously put forth by J.J. Thompson - the plum pudding model - which held that the electrons were scattered in a blob of positive charges like plums in a pudding. Rutherford expected to find the J.J. Thompson model with positive and negative particles - electrons and protons - all mixed together. 


A solar system model in which the electrons were arranged in concentric shells would cause wide angle scattering of x-rays whereas a plum pudding model would not because the positive charge would be more diffuse and allow the alpha particles to pass through. Clearly, anyone who was contemporary with Rutherford would have been (and was) surprised by his model altering discovery.

In Ayn Rand's Anthem, the author uses color as a symbol, how is this interpreted?

Just like many other authors, Ayn Rand uses color to suggest to the mind images for the reader to understand. There are colors that are associated with seasons, for example. If an author describes the setting where the trees have red and yellow leaves, then the reader can know that the time is set in autumn without the author explicitly saying so. Literary devices such as these entice the reader to participate in the story by interpreting the author's descriptive language. One of the first colors that Rand uses in Anthem is black, as in the following passage:



"The walls are cracked and water runs upon them in thin threads without sound, black and glistening as blood" (18).



Equality 7-2521 is writing in the tunnel that he found and describes the walls in an interesting way. At this point in the story he is desperate for knowledge and fulfillment. He lives in a society that is dark intellectually, but also generally because they only have candles and no electric lights. Life for him is dark and frustrating and so the character associates the water running down the walls as having dark qualities such as "black" and "glistening as blood".


Another example of Rand's use of color is when Equality describes the carved out words over the Palace of the World Council, as follows:



"These words were cut long ago. There is green mould in the grooves of the letters and yellow streaks on the marble, which come from more years than men could count" (19).



The green mold symbolizes that no one has bothered to clean up the exterior of the building, or they simply don't have the resources to do so. Both the yellowing marble and the green mold also symbolize age--that this society has existed for a very long time. These are simple devices used to give added hints to the reader as to the characteristics of the community. 


Another color associated with the community is within the sleeping halls. At least the place that Equality sleeps is clean. White can symbolize purity, but in this case, it symbolizes cleanliness and the demand for the citizens to be clean as well. That's not a bad thing, necessarily, but it also means that Equality's life does not have vibrant or happy colors. It's the absence of color in this case that symbolizes a bland, boring, and unfulfilling life.


Finally, and probably the most important color used in Anthem is gold. Out of all of the white (clean and boring), black, green, and yellow (dirty) colors, comes the most radiant one. Equality uses the word "golden" to identify with a woman he falls in love with. The golden images come from the first time he meets her, and with subsequent meetings, as follows:



"Their hair was golden as the sun; their hair flew in the wind, shining and wild, as if it defied men to restrain it" (39).


"The Golden One were kneeling alone at the moat which runs through the field. And the drops of water falling from their hands, as they raised the water to their lips, were like sparks of fire in the sun" (42)."



Golden is the color of his love's hair and the light of the sun associated with everything about her! Before meeting Liberty, Equality sought the light of knowledge; but now, he also seeks to have the light of love in his life and the color that represents that love is gold.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

In Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, what are the mental states of Anne's mother and sister?

Mrs. Frank and Margot seem to be fairly fragile women when it comes to anxiety or stress. For example, when the Franks first get to the Secret Annex in July of 1942, Mr. Frank and Anne keep busy unpacking boxes and setting up their living quarters while Margot and Mrs. Frank need to relax and sleep. Anne also explains the following on that first day about her sister and mother:



"Mummy and Margot were not in a fit state to take part, they were tired and lay down on their beds, they were miserable, and lots more besides . . . Mummy and Margot were too tired and keyed up to eat, and Daddy and I were too busy" (19).



Although Mrs. Frank and Margot are prone to experience a sense of heightened anxiety, they are always in control of their emotions and manners. For example, there are a few times when Anne mentions that Mrs. Van Daan blushes but Mrs. Frank does not. Mrs. Frank can hold her own in an argument and not show a bit of frustration or anger if she so chooses. On the other hand, she does get very frustrated with Anne at times because she is a mother who wants to take care of her daughter. Mrs. Frank doesn't need to worry about Margot, though, because Anne characterizes her sister in the following way:



“I might tell you I don’t want to be in the least like Margot. She is much too soft and passive for my liking, and allows everyone to talk her around, and gives in about everything. I want to be a stronger character!” (66).



In this passage, Anne says that Margot is soft and passive, which might suggest that she isn't as strong-minded as Anne. It might also mean that Margot is simply well-mannered and shy. Nevertheless, based on Anne's perspective, Margot and her Mother are not as independent or strong-minded as she is. For the most part, though, Margot and Mrs. Frank hold in a lot of their anxiety and try not to impose their states of mind on anyone else.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Why do we still have the Electoral College? Why not not use the popular vote in each state? Voting machines and computers, are they vulnerable...

There has been some discussion about why we still have the Electoral College formally choose the President and the Vice President. The Electoral College was originally created because the Founding Fathers didn’t trust the common man to make good decisions. The Electoral College was established in the Constitution as a safeguard against the common people making poor choices for their leaders.


Today, the Electoral College exists mainly because of tradition. It has been a part of our system from the beginning of the Constitution. As a result, efforts to consider changing it meet with opposition from traditionalists. It also would require a constitutional amendment that isn’t easy to achieve. While there is little fear today that people will make poor choices when electing their leaders, and, therefore, letting the popular vote decide the results of presidential elections may sound like a good idea, it would total change the whole primary system and go against the historical precedent used in the country since the Constitution became our plan of government. Further, there have been very few elections where the popular vote winner didn’t win the vote in the Electoral College. As a result, there hasn’t been much movement to change the system we use to choose our President and Vice President.

Monday, November 2, 2009

What is the solution and conclusion in the book "Fahrenheit 451" ?

At the end of the novel, Fahrenheit 451, Montag has joined the group of book hobos where each member of the group has memorized an important work of literature or history.  Montag has memorized two parts of the Bible, Ecclesiastes and Revelations.  There is no real solution to the story because we don’t know what happens to society and Montag after he witnesses the nuclear bombing of the town where he lived and was a fireman.  Bradbury doesn’t give us any hints or clues as to what is to happen to the small group of men other than perhaps a little bit of hope that once the oppressive government is destroyed, knowledge will be born again through the memorization of the books.  By Montag memorizing Ecclesiastes, Bradbury suggests that there is a “time for everything” and the rebuilding of the society will come.


Here is the excerpt Montag memorizes suggesting that a new world is yet to come for the oppressed citizens of Fahrenheit 451.


Ecclesiastes


There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:


    a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
    a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
    a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
    a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
    a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
    a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
    a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Can a country with a fixed exchange rate pursue an independent monetary policy to eliminate a recession?

It is possible for a country to have a fixed exchange rate and an independent monetary policy.  However, it is only possible if the country does not also allow for the free flow of capital in and out of the country.  If the country allows capital to enter and leave, it will not be able to engage in expansionary monetary policy while still having a fixed exchange rate.


Let us say that a country is in a recession.  In order to solve this problem, it will want to lower its interest rates.  When it does this, it will increase its money supply and will thereby stimulate its economy.  However, when it lowers its interest rates, it will become less attractive as a destination for investors’ money.  People will want to take their money and invest it in other countries where they are likely to get higher returns on their investments.  This will mean that money will leave the country.


This is where the problem sets in.  If money leaves the country, the exchange rate will have to drop.  People are selling the country’s currency as they rid themselves of assets from that country.  This increases the supply of the country’s currency and drops the demand for it.  Together, these factors cause the value of the currency to drop. 


If the country wants a fixed exchange rate, it cannot let this happen.  It will have to buy up its currency to reduce supply and maintain demand. If a great deal of money leaves the country, the government will have to spend a great deal of money buying up its currency.  It may well run out of foreign currency to use to buy back its own currency. 


Because of this, it will be impossible for the government to maintain an independent monetary policy while also maintaining a fixed exchange rate.  The only way it can do this is by preventing capital from entering and leaving the country.  However, this is a bad thing to do because it limits the country’s ability to expand its economy.

How does author Elie Wiesel use symbolism to contribute to the meaning of Night?

In his book Night , Elie Wiesel uses symbolism throughout to enhance the text. First of all, the title itself is symbolic. The word "ni...