What was the conflict in the book Touching Spirit Bear?

The main conflict is an internal conflict Cole has with himself.

Cole is a very angry kid.  It is because Cole is so angry that he gets into trouble.  Cole is at war with himself.  He is trying to find a way to handle his father’s abuse and his mother’s distance.  He lashes out at pretty much everyone.

The biggest conflict in the book centers around Cole’s attack of a classmate named Peter.  Peter told on Cole when he broke into a hardware store, and Cole beat Peter up so badly that there was brain damage.  Cole’s attack on Peter was self-loathing turned outward.  Cole was not really a bad person, but he was out of control.

The kid, Peter Driscal, was a ninth grader Cole had picked on many times before just for the fun of it. Still, no one ratted on Cole Matthews without paying the price. (Ch. 1)

Cole blames everyone for his problems.  He thinks that those who try to help him are stupid.  He plays along with the Circle Justice hoping that he will get a lighter sentence, but he does not really want to reform.  He just wants to play everyone else, deceiving them into getting what he wants.

When Cole is sentenced to a period of self-inspection on an island, he accepts it but makes no effort to actually change.  The conflict he faces with himself comes to a boiling point when he attacks the bear.  Again, in attacking the bear he is attacking himself.  The external conflict is a proxy for the internal one.

The mauling didn’t make sense. In the past, everything had always been afraid of him. Why wasn’t the bear scared? A bear with half a brain would have turned tail and run. Instead, this dumb animal had attacked. (Ch. 8)

The bear’s attack makes Cole realize how small he is in the scheme of things.  As he is suffering, incapacitated and close to death, Cole evaluates his life.  For the first time, he can see the bigger picture and his place in the world.

Cole’s injuries are serious.  For the first time, he begins to change.  It is a difficult journey for him.  He has to struggle with his feelings of low self-worth and anger.  In healing himself, he has to face the conflict with Peter and with people like Garvey.

The character versus nature conflict is symbolic in this book.  The struggle against the elements mirrors Cole’s inner struggle.  This is why he gets nowhere when he tries to swim off of the island.  Cole is not really ready to face his inner demons.  By the time he does, he has forgiven Peter, the bear, and himself.

For what reasons would the Unionists fight?

A Unionist is any person that is a member of a union.  Since the early 1900's they have worked hard for the American worker in a number of areas.  After fighting for the right of collective bargaining, and securing that right during the Progressive Era, they successfully battled employers for a number of other rights.  

Unions fight for better wages for all workers.  That includes vacation pay and extra wages for overtime performed.  By bargaining as a large group, unions are able to wield more power.  Unions fight for health care and retirement benefits as well as educational opportunities.  Unions have brought an end to the practices of child labor and constantly fight to ensure that working conditions are as safe as possible.  Throughout history, unionists have helped women, minorities, and other oppressed groups.  Unions also fight against unfair employer procedures and if a member is in trouble, they will make sure that person is treated in a fair and equitable way.  

What effect did America's entry in World War I have?

The entrance of the United States into World War I was a major factor in determining the outcome of the war. Prior to the Americans entering the war, the Allies were, at best, in a stalemate with the Central Powers. Germany was convinced it was close to winning the war. They knew that by resuming the sinking of American merchant ships without warning, the United States would enter World War I on the side of the Allies. Germany believed they could win the war before the United States would become a factor in the fighting and in the war itself.

The entrance of the United States into World War I brought a fresh set of troops into the conflict. Unlike the troops from the Allies and the troops from the Central Powers, our troops hadn’t been fighting since 1914. We were able to supply the Allies with rested troops. We were able to provide the Allies with needed supplies and military materials. The entrance of the United States into World War I was the decisive factor in bringing victory to the Allies over the Central Powers.

What analogy does Scout make about Aunt Alexandra, and what can you infer about Scout’s relationship with Aunt Alexandra based on the analogy in...

Scout compares her aunt to Mt. Everest, which shows that they do not have a very close relationship.

Scout does not have much of a relationship with her aunt.  Aunt Alexandra is Atticus’s sister.  Scout seems to avoid her aunt and her aunt does not seem overly affectionate toward her either.

Had I ever harbored the mystical notions about mountains that seem to obsess lawyers and judges, Aunt Alexandra would have been analogous to Mount Everest: throughout my early life, she was cold and there. (Ch. 9)

Mount Everest is one of the largest mountains in the world, and is of course covered with snow.  By comparing her aunt to Mount Everest, Scout is emphasizing the fact that her aunt is an immovable presence in her life, insurmountable, but not compassionate.  The mountain is dangerous and impassable, and so is Alexandra.

Aunt Alexandra wants to turn Scout into the proper Southern young lady.  She also wants to impress upon Scout the importance of her family history and status.  She would prefer that Scout wear dresses and pearls to overalls, and does not approve of her climbing trees.

Scout even has trouble with Francis, Alexandra’s son.  She finds him incredibly boring except for his tendency to get him in trouble.

As he lived in Mobile, he could not inform on me to school authorities, but he managed to tell everything he knew to Aunt Alexandra, who in turn unburdened herself to Atticus, who either forgot it or gave me hell, whichever struck his fancy. (Ch. 9)

Aunt Alexandra desperately desires to make Scout into the perfect little girl, but Atticus tells Scout that Alexandra does not understand girls because she had never had one.  This is no comfort to Scout.

During the trial, Alexandra does become more compassionate toward Scout and shows that she cares about Scout and Atticus.  Scout sees another side of her, and comes to appreciate her strength and see her as a role model after all.

Who worshipped Aphrodite? How and why was she worshipped?

Aphrodite was the Greek goddess of love and was also associated with war and sailing. Thus she was worshiped by the Ancient Greeks (as well as the Romans, who believed she was the Roman goddess Venus).

Many Greeks worshiped Aphrodite privately with prayers and sacrifices, but she was also the subject of many religious cults, most prominently in Corinth. She was also worshiped during the Adonia festival, which commemorated the death of Aphrodite's lover, Adonis. Athenian women celebrated this festival by planting seeds and then placing the sprouts on the roofs of their houses, an action which quickly killed the plants. This rite was meant to symbolize the youth of Adonis and his relationship with Aphrodite, each of which ended before it could reach its full potential.

What are the characteristics of the president within the executive branch?

The Constitution of the United States explains the characteristics of the president within the executive branch. First, there are requirements that the president must satisfy before even being elected. These requirements include being a native-born, thirty-five-year-old. The presidential candidates are chosen by the respective political parties, and if elected, become the leader of the political party. Presidents serve four-year terms, which was innovative at the time the Constitution was written.

The president is the head of the executive branch and is expected to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” In doing this, he has a number of departments at his disposal (i.e. Department of Education, Department of Transportation, and Department of State. ) According to the Constitution, the president is given the power to nominate individuals to run these departments. Despite appointing secretaries to govern the departments, the president still has authority over all the departments. The president is also given the responsibility of governing the armed forces as commander-in-chief. In total, the president is the commander of around 3.5 million people within the executive branch.

The president enjoys broad powers within the federal government. As president, he can issue rules, regulations and instructions called executive orders, which have the binding force of law upon federal agencies and do not require congressional approval.

How are minerals made on Earth's surface?

Minerals are naturally occurring substances with uniform structure and are composed of one or more chemicals (including elements and salts, etc.). They are formed by a number of processes, including cooling of molten material, evaporation of solutions and high temperature and pressure conditions. Earth's mantle is very hot and this high temperature causes rocks to melt. These molten rocks appear on the surface as lava or magma and form minerals as it cools. Quartz, feldspar and topaz are examples of minerals of magmatic origins. Evaporation of ocean water forms crystals of sodium chloride. Similarly, calcite is formed by evaporation of water (limestone towers in Mono Lake, California are examples of this type of mineral formation). Diamonds are formed by high pressure (metamorphosis). Other gems such as, opal and emeralds are also examples of similar mineral formation processes.

Hope this helps. 

Why are viruses living?

Viruses are generally considered to be nonliving entities that do not possess most of the characteristics living organisms possess.  The only characteristic of living things they have is the ability to multiply, and they have to invade a living organism, known as a host, to do that.  Once invading the host organisms cells, the virus will incorporate its genetic material, or DNA, into that of the host cells DNA.  The cell carries on with its life processes, one of which is replicating, and in the process, makes more viruses.  When the cell becomes too full of viruses, the cell ruptures and dies, releasing a flood of new viruses to attack other cells.  There is no medicine to treat virally caused conditions, such as a cold or the flu.  This is due to the fact that viruses are constantly mutating, or changing.  Often, the only cure is plenty of bed rest, drink lots of fluids, and allow the virus to run its course as the bodys immune system responds to it.  In the example of a cold, recovery time averages anywhere from ten to fourteen days.

What is the significance of the forest in The Scarlet Letter?

Throughout the several chapters in which Hawthorne narrates Hester's encounter with Dimmesdale in the forest, he emphasizes that the forest is a place beyond the reach of law and the Puritan community that punishes Hester with the scarlet A.  At the beginning of Chapter XVI, "A Forest Walk," the text describes Hester's walk,

The road, after the two wayfarers had crossed from the peninsula to the mainland, was no other than a footpath.  It straggled onward into the mystery of the primeval forest.  This hemmed it in so narrowly, and stood so black and dense on either side, and disclosed such imperfect glimpses of the sky above that, to Hester's mind, it imaged not amiss the moral wilderness in which she had so long been wandering.

By describing the forest as "primeval," Hawthone indicates that its existence transcends history and thus stands apart from any given social organization including the Puritan community against which it stands.  Furthermore, the passage creates a symbolic connection between the "mystery of the primeval forest" with Hester's ambiance of "moral wilderness," making the forest a symbol of both Nature and the moral ambiguity that circulates throughout the book.  

In Chapter XVII, "The Pastor and his Parishioner," the novel underscores the forest's connection with Nature (as opposed to culture) in its description of scene of Hester and Dimmesdale's meeting:

It was no wonder that they thus questioned one another's actual and bodily existence, and even doubted their own.  So strangely did they meet, in the dim wood, that it was like their first encounter, in the world beyond the grave, of two spirits who had been intimately connected in their former life, but now stood coldly shuddering, in mutual dread;

The forest takes both characters beyond their historical "actual and bodily existence," turning them into something approximating "two spirits."  From these passages, we see that Hawthorne makes the forest a place symbolically outside of space and time, a space of lawlessness and moral ambiguity because of its untainted connection to Nature.

How did yellow journalism impact America and make it join the war?

Although you do not specify which war you are talking about, I assume that your question has to do with the Spanish-American War.  That war is the only war where yellow journalism is cited as a major cause of American participation.  Yellow journalism helped cause the US to enter this war because it made Americans hate Spain and it made them believe that Spain had committed an atrocity against the US.

Yellow journalism was characterized by sensationalism.  These journalists were more interested in getting exciting stories that people would read than in publishing the truth.  Because of this, they ended up printing many stories that were exaggerations, unfounded conclusions, or just plain falsehoods. 

Before the Spanish-American War, there had been a rebellion in Cuba against Spain.  Spain had, of course, been trying to quell the rebellion and keep Cuba as a colony.  Many Americans were opposed to this because they did not like the idea of European countries having colonies in the Americas.  Because Americans supported the Cuban rebels and opposed Spain, yellow journalists printed many stories portraying the Spanish as brutal and cruel towards the Cubans.  These stories predisposed Americans to dislike Spain.

Ultimately, an act of yellow journalism helped to directly bring the US into the Spanish-American War.  The US government had sent the USS Maine to Cuba to help protect American interests.  While it was in the harbor at Havana, the Maine blew up with much loss of life.  Yellow journalists published stories asserting that there was proof that Spanish agents had blown the ship up.  Americans believed these stories and were therefore in favor of war with Spain.

Thus, yellow journalism made Americans more likely to hate Spain because of Spain’s occupation of Cuba.  It then convinced Americans that Spain had sunk the Maine, thus causing the US to go to war with Spain.

What are sound waves with definition? What is sound? Characteristics of sound? Properties of sound?

Sound is one phenomenon in the world that takes the place of compressional, or longitudinal, waves.  Sound waves are mechanical in nature, meaning they have to have a medium through which to travel.  The only reason you hear someone speaking to you is there are air molecules to transfer the vibrations from their mouth to your ear.  As the density of the medium increases, so does the speed at which sound travels.

Sound waves take the form of longitudinal waves.  A good pictorial example of this would be to take a child's "slinky" toy, the one where it is a series of wire coils, lay it on a flat surface.  Give the slinky a push long-wise, along the length of it's body.  The coils compress and then lengthen out against each other.  This is the way sound waves progress.

Properties of sound waves include frequency, wavelength, amplitude, speed, and direction.  All these describe the multiplicity of various sounds that occur in the natural world.  Sound is detected in humans and other members of the animal world through the ear, which is a sense organ designed to collect sound waves and feed them to the brain, which interprets the various input as hearing.

I love to study the Constitution and it's precepts. In my studies I've noticed that all Constitution copies fail to annotate the changes made by...

It seems from your question that you think published copies of the Constitution ought to reference those portions of the document that are modified or rendered moot or irrelevant by amendments. For example, those parts of the Constitution that reference slavery were amended out of relevance by the Thirteenth Amendment (e.g., the "other persons" in Article I, Section 2 and the persons "Held to Service or Labour" in Article IV, Section 3) and published copies of the Constitution ought to reflect this. I would point out that many published versions of the document, notably those in many textbooks, are actually annotated in the way you describe. Typically this is done by including amended clauses in red, or by crossing them out in such a way that they are still legible.

But the Bill of Rights actually did not make any such changes. None of first ten amendments substantively altered any of the clauses of the Constitution in the way that, say, the Twelfth, Thirteenth, or later amendments did. They may have changed the way we interpret the Constitution as a whole inasmuch as they placed limits on the powers of the federal government, but they did not change the language of the document itself. So they would not appear in the types of annotations described in the question.

N.B. For an annotated copy of the Constitution that reflects the substantive changes made by amendments, see the link below. 

Why does the Nurse seek out Romeo?

The Nurse seeks out Romeo at Juliet's behest, as an intermediary. She comes to find Romeo, to give him a warning about abusing Juliet's trust, and basically to see what Romeo's intentions towards Juliet really are:

Pray you, sir, a word: and as I told you, my young lady bade me inquire you out;

Juliet has sent the Nurse to find Romeo, to talk to him and find out more about him. The Nurse has been taking care of Juliet ever since Juliet was a tiny child, and is very protective of her. So the Nurse also takes this opportunity to issue young Romeo with a gentle threat:

First let me tell ye, if ye should lead her into a fool's paradise, as they say, it were a very gross kind of behavior, as they say: for the gentlewoman is young; and therefore, if you should deal double with her, truly it were an ill thing to be offered to any gentlewoman, and very weak dealing.

To put it in a more modern vernacular, the Nurse is saying: "Listen, mister. If you're leading Juliet on, that's a rotten thing to do, because she is very young. So if you're just two-timing her, that's a terrible thing to do to any lady, and the kind of thing a weak coward would do, besides."

Following this conversation, Romeo delivers a message to Juliet through the Nurse:

Bid her devise some means to come to shrift this afternoon; and there she shall at Friar Laurence' cell be shrived and married. Here is for thy pains.

Romeo tells the Nurse, "Tell Juliet to make up some excuse so she can come to confession this afternoon at Friar Laurence's place. And then not only will he hear her confession, but he will marry us." Then he tries to give the Nurse a coin "for her trouble" in coming to deliver the messages.

What are three diseases that can be caused by unhealthy eating?

Three diseases which can be caused by unhealthy eating are Type II Diabetes, heart disease, and tooth decay.

Over-consumption of sugar can increase the risk of developing Type II diabetes, a condition where the body develops insulin resistance.

Over-consumption of fat can increase the risk of developing coronary heart disease, a condition in which the coronary arteries which supply the heart muscle become blocked. 

Over-consumption of sugar and other acidic foods can lead to tooth decay, the bacterial breakdown of teeth.

None of these conditions are caused by diet alone. Genetic predisposition also plays a role. As do lifestyle habits. It is important to consume a variety of foods in moderation and to foster a healthy lifestyle by getting regular physical exercise to maintain a healthy weight.

What are the figures of speech in "All Summer in a Day"?

Ray Bradbury is a master of using figures of speech to make his writing more descriptive.  His use of metaphors, personification, similes, etc. enhances the reader’s experiences with his stories because they become so visual; and therefore, they are able to be imagined. 

Here are some examples from the story, “All Summer in a Day”.

Simile—“The children pressed to each other like so many roses, so many weeds, intermixed, peering out for a look at the hidden sun.”  Here, Bradbury is comparing the children to roses and weeds or good children and bad children.

Metaphor—“ . . . the endless shaking down of clear bead necklaces upon the roof.”  Bradbury compares the continuous raindrops to clear beads on a necklace.

Metaphor--She was an old photograph dusted from an album, whitened away, and if she spoke at all her voice would be a ghost.  Bradbury is describing Margot, the main character, by relating her to a dusty album and a ghost.

Simile--"It’s like a penny," she said once, eyes closed. "No, it's not!" the children cried. "It's like a fire," she said, "in the stove."  These are Margot’s comparisons of the sun to a penny and a fire in a stove.

“They stopped running and stood in the great jungle that covered Venus, that grew and never stopped growing, tumultuously, even as you watched it. It was a nest of octopuses, clustering up great arms of flesh-like weed, wavering, flowering in this brief spring. It was the color of rubber and ash, this jungle, from the many years without sun. It was the color of stones and white cheeses and ink, and it was the color of the moon.”  This excerpt is full of figures of speech including personification when Bradbury compares the jungle to a nest of octopuses.

In Stephen Crane's short story "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky," what are three symbols?

Stephen Crane uses symbolism in his story “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky” to represent the westward expansion or eastern encroachment into small town Texas. As the newlywed town marshal of Yellow Sky, Jack Potter, and his wife travel westward on the Pullman train it is described as if the “plains of Texas were pouring eastward.” The couple married in San Antonio and were heading west back to his little town where he knew his marriage would change the town’s dynamics. Therefore, the train is a symbol of bringing the more refined culture of the east to western Texas.

As the couple is traveling, there is trouble in the saloon back in Yellow Sky. One of the locals, Scratchy Wilson, has taken it upon himself to over imbibe and is on a shooting rampage in the town. In the saloon, there is a salesman from the east who is quite shocked by the ongoings. The men of the town take the shooting rampage in stride while the salesman does not know what to make of it. Again, symbolism points to how the eastern influence and lack of understanding of the western ways, is evident. The salesman is symbolic of someone who does not know the ways of the “wild” west, and how the small towns will change as the eastern influence becomes more apparent.

The bride herself is a symbol for the change that the town of Yellow Sky is about to experience. When Scratchy goes out to Jack Potter’s house, he is met by the newlyweds sneaking quietly back into town. When he sees the bride, he loses his urge to fight and shuffles away. The bride symbolizes a new civilized way of life does not include such things as drunken gun fights.

"Well, I ‘low it’s off, Jack," said Wilson. He was looking at the ground. "Married!" He was not a student of chivalry; it was merely that in the presence of this foreign condition he was a simple child of the earlier plains. He picked up his starboard revolver, and placing both weapons in their holsters, he went away. His feet made funnel-shaped tracks in the heavy sand.

Why does a charged capacitor discharge when a resistor is connected across it?

One must understand the function of the capacitor to answer this question.  A capacitor is a device designed to store electrical charges in an electrical device.  A resistor is a device designed to dissipate some electrical charges while allowing some to pass.  When you add a resistor to a charged capacitor, one that is already storing an electrical charge, you are completing the circuit, allowing the current to flow.  Some of the charge will be dissipated by the resistor, but the bulk of the charge will flow through the connection of the resistor to the capacitor.  As the charge flows through the resistor, the rate of loss of charge is proportional to the voltage.  It is also proportional to the total charge through the whole system.  The resource I have added makes the analogy of a container of water with a hole in the bottom.  The water will flow greatest when the container is at it's height of fullness, then the flow will decrease as the amount of water decreases.

Sofia wants to place a sticker 2.5 inches long in the center of a switch box that is 3.75 inches wide. How far from the edge will she place the...

Hello!

I suppose a sticker is placed level and that "in the center" means that the distance between the left sides is the same as between the right sides.

If the distance between the left side of a sticker and the left side of a switch box will be feet, then the distance between the right sides will be also  feet.

In such a way, + the length of a sticker + = the width of a switch box, or

or

so

(feet).

This is the answer.

I am reading about the poem called "A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim" and I need help with this question In Whitman's poems we...

Whitman's "A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim" is one of his Civil War poems, and it has a mournful but conversational tone. As the narrator walks through the tents set up in a Civil War camp, he sees three forms and reveals to the reader what they look like, making the reader feel as if he or she is there with Whitman.

In the first stanza, he says, "Three forms I see on stretchers lying, brought out there untended lying,/ Over each the blanket spread, ample brownish woolen blanket, /Gray and heavy blanket, folding, covering all." These three forms lie under the same type of blanket, implying that they have commonalities. Again, the reader feels as if he or she is present at the camp.

In the second stanza, he sees an "elderly man so gaunt and grim," and in the third stanza, he comes across a "sweet boy with cheeks yet blooming." These two figures suggest that both the old and young are affected by the brutality of the war. Finally, in the last stanza, the narrator sees "the face of the Christ himself." The third figure he sees is of Christ, and three is a symbolic number, as it refers to the Holy Trinity. The sight of Christ implies that the dead are saintly.

Even though the themes in this poem are weighted and symbolic, the poem is easy to follow. We as readers follow the narrator as he wonders about the war camp and tells us what he sees. 

Were there any meals or communions in this book?

This is a very interesting question about Nella Larsen's book Passing mostly because of the wording "meals or communions."  Were there any "meals or communions"?  Yes.  Are they significant?  At least one of them is, and I will talk about this one particular meal/communion in detail. 

Probably the most important meal/communion in Nella Larsen's book Passing is Irene's memory of having "tea" with Clare.  This meal/communion or "tea time" was actually in Chicago (not Harlem) when Irene and a friend of hers were invited to eat at Clare's home with her racist husband.  What is interesting is that Clare's husband has no idea that his wife is actually black (due to her white skin).  In Irene's memory, we hear Irene's disgust at this meal/communion, in that Irene and her friend are trapped in Clare's home listening to huge racist speeches by Clare's husband.  The irony is that all three women (despite their olive skin) are black.  The reason why this scene is important is that Irene now recognizes that, after the Chicago episode, Clare wants to "use" Irene to enter society in Harlem. 

In conclusion, I must admit that you could mean "communion" in a more spiritual sense of a church service communion and, in that sense, this "meal" is not found in the book.  There is also another specific lack of communion that is most important:  the lack of communion between the white and black races in 1920s America and, specifically, in Harlem.

What could be a thematic symbol in Chapters 22 - 26 of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird?

In Chapter 26 of To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses Hitler and the Holocaust to symbolize racial prejudices and hypocrisies in the South, specifically in Maycomb County.

In Chapter 26, Scout explains that, each week, her third grade class is assigned to report on a current event based on newspaper clippings brought to class. One day, Cecil Jacobs reports on Adolf Hitler's persecution of the Jews. Miss Gates, Scout's third grade teacher, uses the event to teach the class that persecution does not occur in America because America is a democracy that stands for, as Scout phrases it, "Equal rights for all, special privileges for none," whereas Germany is a dictatorship. Miss Gates further teaches that "persecution comes from people who are prejudiced."

However, Scout sees the irony in Miss Gate's lesson and in her passionate reaction towards the persecution of the Jews. As Scout explains to Jem, the night Robinson was found guilty, she observed Miss Gates walking out of the courthouse ahead of she and Jem and heard Miss Gates talking to Miss Stephanie Crawford. According to Scout, Miss Gates said to Miss Stephanie, "[I]t's time somebody taught 'em a lesson, they were gettin' way above themselves, an' the next thing they think they can do is marry us" (Ch. 26). Scout sees it as ironic that the same woman can speak out against the persecution of the Jews while at the same time persecute "folks right at home" (Ch. 26).

Hence, as Scout shows us, Harper Lee used Hitler and the persecution of the Jews to symbolize the South's persecution of African Americans.

What is the relationship between Mitch and Morrie in Tuesdays with Morrie?

Mitch and Morrie enjoy several different types of relationships over the course of their acquaintance.  Initially, Morrie was Mitch's college professor.  Although the two were quite close, they grew apart as Mitch moved from the Boston area to Detroit and started a hectic adult life as a sports writer.

Years later, Mitch sees Morrie on an evening news program.  Morrie has permitted cameras to film his late-stage battle with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). Mitch initially reaches back out to Morrie to rekindle a friendship, and perhaps with an eye toward approaching Morrie from a journalistic standpoint.  As they meet on Tuesdays, however, Morrie transforms back into his old teaching role.  In this "class", however, Morrie is not teaching Mitch about a specific content area, but is, rather, imparting life wisdom that he has gained over the years.  It is this wisdom that forms the crux of the book.

Why do the hens rebel against Napoleon in Animal Farm? How do they rebel?

The hens rebel because Napoleon took their eggs to sell to the humans.

In Old Major’s speech, one of the things he calls attention to is the fact that the hens have to give up their eggs.  He uses this as an example in his long litany of abuses of the humans.

And you hens, how many eggs have you laid in this last year, and how many of those eggs ever hatched into chickens? The rest have all gone to market to bring in money for Jones and his men. (Ch. 1)

Old Major paints a picture of a world where animals are not enslaved to humans.  This is the dream that he predicts for Animal Farm.  The animals will run the farm and look out for each other.  No animal will exploit any other in this idealistic vision of the farm.

Things do not turn out the way Old Major predicts.  When the animals oust the humans, the pigs end up in charge.  They play the role the humans would have.  Eventually they end up exploiting all other animals just the way the people did.  They do this slowly, before the animals really realize what is happening.  When Napoleon runs Snowball off, the last idealism is gone.

Things do not go well for the hens from the beginning.  When they suggest that Jones used to give them milk in their mash, Napoleon tells them to forget about the milk.  The pigs are using it for themselves, and suggesting to the other animals that they deserve the milk and apples because they are the brains of the farm.

The hens still do their part on the farm.  Even though they are small and have nothing that can be used as hands, the hens help by gathering the last bits of straw so that none is wasted.  The hens are described as among the “stupider animals” who cannot learn the Seven Commandments (Ch. 3).  The first time Napoleon betrays them is when he makes an arrangement to sell their eggs.

He was therefore making arrangements to sell a stack of hay and part of the current year's wheat crop, and later on, if more money were needed, it would have to be made up by the sale of eggs, for which there was always a market in Willingdon. The hens, said Napoleon, should welcome this sacrifice as their own special contribution towards the building of the windmill. (Ch. 6)

It makes the animals uneasy to trade with humans, because this was something they had vowed not to do.  Taking the hens’ eggs is like stealing their children.  It was something the humans had done without thinking, but they did not think the animals in charge would.  When Napoleon demands that the hens give up their eggs, they are not happy about it.

When the hens heard this, they raised a terrible outcry. They had been warned earlier that this sacrifice might be necessary, but had not believed that it would really happen. They were just getting their clutches ready for the spring sitting, and they protested that to take the eggs away now was murder. (Ch. 7)

The hen uprising is the first hint of rebellion at Animal Farm.  Rather than give up their eggs to be sold to the humans, the hens drop them so that they are “smashed to pieces on the floor” (Ch. 7).  In response, Napoleon orders the hens’ rations stopped until they give in.  The pigs tell the animals that the nine hens that died were killed by “coccidiosis.”  Soon this leads to mass confessions, in which “three hens who had been the ringleaders in the attempted rebellion over the eggs now came forward and stated that Snowball had appeared to them in a dream and incited them to disobey Napoleon's orders” (Ch. 7).  They are executed.  Sheep also confess to being in league with snowball.

The story of the hen rebellion is an example of how the lowest class of society is exploited but cannot stand up to the pressure.  This is why the hens confess, and the sheep too.  They are both considered the dumbest animals on the farm.  They succumb to Napoleon’s propaganda even if they do not understand what is going on.

Sketch the region enclosed by the given curves and find its area.

You need to find the intersection points beteen the curves, hence, since |x| = y, you need to discuss two cases, y = -x and y = x.

For y = -x, you need to find the intersection between curves by solving the equation, such that:

Hence, you need to check what curve is greater on interval [-2,1] and you may notice that on [-2,0] and on [0,1], hence, you may evaluate the area. such that:

Hence, evaluating the area enclosed by the curves and yields

The region whose area is is enclosed by the red line and the red curve.

What exactly was John Clay attempting to do and how?

When Holmes sets a trap for John Clay and is waiting in the bank's basement strongroom for him to emerge through the flooring, the reader is shown the prize the notorious criminal is after. Mr. Merryweather the bank director tells Dr. Watson:

"We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the directors have had misgivings upon the subject.”

John Clay wanted to dig a tunnel and steal all 30,000 gold coins. They should be worth over $30,000,000 American dollars at today's gold prices. It would have been perhaps the biggest haul in British history, and it was worth all the time and effort Clay and his accomplish, whom he called Archie, put into it.

Clay had to find a place to start his tunnel. That was what brought Jabez Wilson to Sherlock Holmes. Clay managed to get a job in Wilson's pawnshop by offering to work at half wages. But Wilson was in the way. He and his confederate concocted a phony "Red-Headed League" to get Wilson out of the way for four or five hours a day, six days a week (everyone worked on Saturdays in those times). The inspiration for the idea came from the fact that Wilson had unusually brilliant red hair. He was very happy with his sinecure-- but suddenly the League was dissolved. He came to Holmes because he had heard that the detective would work on a pro bono basis if a case interested him. Wilson had little hope of regaining his job, which was paying four pounds a week, about four times the average London clerk's weekly wages, but as he explains:

"But I want to find out about them, and who they are, and what their object was in playing this prank—if it was a prank—upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it cost them two and thirty pounds.”

Wilson is super-sensitive about being the victim of jokes and pranks because his red hair has made him the butt of jokes all his life. Holmes only takes his apparently petty case because Wilson's description of his assistant, who calls himself Vincent Spaulding, makes Holmes think he is really the notorious criminal John Clay. Wilson describes him as "Small, stout, very quick in his ways." These are good qualifications for a tunnel-digger. His accomplice, who poses as an official of the Red-Headed League, is also described by Wilson as small. This means they can dig a narrower and lower tunnel and scramble around easily. When they are emerging from the tunnel into the bank's strongroom, Clay asks Archie:

 “Have you the chisel and the bags?"

They do not intend to drag the boxes of gold coins through their tunnel. They will dump the coins into bags, which will be easier to drag. The chisel will be needed for breaking into the boxes. Mr. Wilson is sound asleep at this time of night--and it would be very unfortunate for him if he were to wake up and discover what was going on! The thieves would spend several hours dragging the heavy bags through the tunnel into the pawn shop cellar. Then, they would load the bags into a hired wagon and make off with them before daybreak. Holmes explains to Watson:

“Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence—in other words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night.”

When Watson first meets Jabez Wilson he describes him as "a very stout, florid-faced elderly gentleman." This is intended to explain why he would never venture down his steep cellar stairs to see what his assistant was doing down there. His florid face suggests high blood pressure and possible heart trouble. Holmes later describes Wilson as "not over-bright," which would explain why the two crooks were able to hoodwink him with their phony Red-Headed League and to dig their tunnel right under his nose.

In The Crucible, what evidence is there that John Hale has an impact on the townspeople?

When Reverend Hale first arrives in Act 1, he brings a great many big books with him, and he claims that they are heavy because "they are weighted with authority."  Parris, in the stage direction, is described as "a little scared."  So far, we have witnessed an indignant Parris, an anxious Parris, a belligerent Parris, but this is the first time we see him awed by someone else.  Further, his reputation has preceded him to Salem.  Proctor says to him, "I've heard you to be a sensible man, Mr. Hale.  I hope you'll leave some of it in Salem."  He is obviously well-respected by both Parris and Proctor, despite their differences with each other.

Moreover, Parris and the Putnams obviously defer to him when they seem not to defer to anyone else.  As he peruses his books, "All wait, avidly," and Parris speaks to him in "hushed" tones.  Hale's confidence and knowledge seems above them all, including Giles Corey.  When Hale rejects Parris' assertion that the Devil would not come into a minister's house, saying, "What victory would the Devil have to win a soul already bad?  It is the best the Devil wants, and who is better than the minister?"  Giles intones, "That's deep, Mr. Parris, deep, deep!"  So far, everyone seems to be quite impressed with the learned Mr. Hale, even including those people who have very high opinions of themselves and their own ideas about what's going on.

Then, as he questions Abigail, it is clear that he knows just which questions to ask to get to what appears to be the heart of the matter, the cause of Betty's and Ruth's ailment.  He does likewise with Tituba, and it is Hale who is able to extract a full confession from the slave.  He gets her to name others who, she says, came to her with the Devil: Sarah Good, Sarah Osburn, and two more she does not name.  It is the information that he gathers from Tituba that necessitates the setting up of the court, that prompts the girls to accuse more women, and that convinces the town that they are telling the truth.  Without Hale's influence, this fatal chain could not have begun. 

How was the Latin American Revolution different compared to Haitian, American, and the French? What did the Latin American Revolution accomplish...

It is important to view the differences in context with regards to the events that took place in the different revolutions and the revolutionaries involved. The Latin American Revolution should be viewed in plural because there were different revolutions each led by different revolutionaries with differing ideologies.

The Latin American Revolutions differed with the French Revolution because Latin America was dealing with colonialism and imperialism by foreign countries. The French Revolution was by the people against the French monarchy and not external interference by other countries. The French Revolution was fought to overthrow the King while the Latin American Revolutions were fought to gain independence.

Some of the revolutionaries such as Simon Bolivar differed with ideals of the American, Haitian and the French Revolutions to establish democratic republics. A section of the Latin American Revolutionaries gravitated towards British system of monarchy and administration. They did not believe democracy would work in their countries.

After the Latin American Revolution, the church gained dominance while in the French Revolution the church lost its authority.

In the Haitian Revolution, the colonists presented little opposition compared to the violently opposed independence of Latin American countries by the colonists.

What is the theme of "Umbrella Man" by Roald Dahl?

The theme of "The Umbrella Man" is the gullible nature of people.

Dahl's story describes how a man is able to manipulate even skeptical people such as the mother of the narrator who, she declares, is a "suspicious person":

My mother's chin was up and she was staring down at him along the full length of her nose. It was a fearsome thing, this frosty nose stare of my mother's. Most people go to pieces when she gives it to them.

But, the perception of an old gentleman--she knows he's a gentleman, she has told her daughter, by his fine shoes--deceives this skeptical woman. This old gentleman who is willing to selling his £ 20 silk umbrella for £ 1, even though it is worth more, claims that he needs the pound for taxi fare home. For, he explains, he has walked farther than he usually does and now is too exhausted to make the walk back on his "silly old legs." Further, he explains that he has left his wallet in his other jacket--"Isn't that the silliest thing to do?"

After he offers to sell his £ 20 umbrella for only a pound, the daughter gives her mother a stern look for considering "taking advantage of a tired old man." So, the mother offers to just give the man cab fare. But the gentleman will not accept such a thing. "I wouldn't dream of it!" he exclaims. He will only take the pound if she agrees to purchase his umbrella. Believing that she is getting an expensive umbrella for such little money, the mother agrees. As the old gentleman moves away, the mother tells her daughter to get out of the rain and join her under the umbrella. 

"Aren't we lucky? I've never had a silk umbrella before. I couldn't afford it....He was a gentleman. I was very pleased I was able to help him."

She congratulates herself on being able to judge the character of a person, and she tells her daughter that she has learned a "very good lesson" by seeing how her mother took her time and "summed up" the old gentleman before giving him the pound. By taking this time, "you'll never make mistakes," she tells her daughter.

Just then, however, the daughter sees the "old" gentleman hurrying with his "silly old legs" that are somehow able to move him down the next street. The daughter observes to her mother that the man neither looks tired nor as though he is trying to catch a taxi.

The two woman follow him. When the mother and daughter see him enter a pub, the disgruntled mother watches in embarrassment and dismay as he orders a triple shot of whiskey and pays for it with her one-pound note. After finishing his drink, the "gentleman" goes to the coat rack and pulls down his coat while at the same time taking an umbrella. He departs the pub, heading in another direction, in search of another gullible victim.

What does Isis have that the white couple lack? What keeps them from having it?

The answer to this question can be found right in the title of the piece:  “Drenched in Light.”  In the story, Isis is a young vivacious black girl in a small town outside of Orlando, Florida – she has an energy and a natural, compulsive will to live, to celebrate life to the fullest, so much so that her actions require no reflection or weighing of possibility or consequences – she simply acts.  In the story, Isis is never still, except at the beginning as she sits atop the fence waiting to greet cars that come by, and even then she has a purpose.  She is “drenched” in energy, she is always moving and dancing and fidgeting, changing her mind on a dime and stealing her Grandma’s new tablecloth because she needs a Spanish shawl to dance in at the community festival – an impromptu dance, of course.

And the impetus behind Isis’s natural light is her Grandma, always reprimanding, always keeping Isis on her toes – in the story, Hurston is implying through Isis’s relationship with her relatives that this energy is nurtured by culture, and grows within a family, a community, specifically the African American community, of which the white people Isis meets can never be a part.  Hence their lack of “light,” of such inborn love of life.  When they first see Isis dancing at the community festival they are immediately marked as “other” by their response – they are “suppressing mirth discreetly behind gloved hands.”  The rest of those watching Isis are expressing their enjoyment behind no such veils, but are being open and honest with their reactions.

When the white woman asks Isis’s grandmother if the girl can come with them to dance in their hotel, she offers as explanation, “I could stand a little light today.”  And then, in the final lines of the story, she says, “I would like just a little of her sunshine to soak into my soul.  I would like that a lot.”  But of course, because the white people lack the sort of community felt by their young visitor, they can do nothing but be visitors themselves in the light – they can see it, they can feel its rays, but they cannot create it themselves.

What are the definitions of physical and chemical properties of matter?

Physical properties of matter are those that can be observed without the matter undergoing a chemical change (change in composition). Examples of physical properties are color, solubility in water or another solvent, temperature, volume, mass and density. Melting and boiling points are also physical properties. They are related to physical changes, not chemical changes. The physical properties of a substance are those you observe with your senses.  

Chemical properties can only be observed when a substance undergoes a chemical reaction. Examples of chemical properties are flammability, tendency to corrode, and tendency to react with acid. 

Both chemical and physical properties of matter can be further described as intensive or extensive. An intensive property depends on the amount present, such as mass or volume. An extensive property is independent of the amount of the substance present, such as color or density.

In Of Mice and Men, how is Curley lonely?

Curley can be seen as lonely because he is unable to emotionally connect with anyone on the ranch.

Curley brings much of his isolation on himself.  He is threatened by "big guys" and demonstrates physical aggression often, channeling his previous occupation as a boxer. The ranch hands know this, as seen in how Candy describes Curley as always wanting to "pick on big guys."  Curley is also alone because of his status as the boss's son.  No ranch hand really wants to get to know Curley because they know that it might impact their job on the ranch.  Curley accepts the social estrangement associated with being the boss's son and does not seek to overcome this for the purpose of forging emotional connection with the drifting farm hands who make up his social world.  

Curley is also lonely because of his relationship with his wife. He and his wife are not emotionally connected to one another.  As Whit says, Curley's wife spends her time looking for Curley, who, in turn, spends his time looking for her.  Neither one is able to find emotional comfort within the other. The result of this emotional separation is a feeling of loneliness within Curley.  There is a difference between being alone and being lonely.  The former indicates some level of contentment.  Curley is not really alone, but he's lonely because he is unable to find a sustainable emotional connection. 

Where are the human beings in "There Will Come Soft Rains?"

In the short story by Ray Bradbury, the humans are all dead. They have all died during an atomic explosion. The family had been outside when the atomic blast occurred. All that remains are their silhouettes. 

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

This story is set in the future (2026). Technology has advanced to the point that houses are fully animated and are able to accomplish most daily tasks with no human help. This story shows the pros and cons of technology. The house is nearly self-sufficient but the advance of atomic weapons makes it all irrelevant. Even after the humans are gone, the house continues to function according to its programming. It makes breakfast, waters the lawn, reminds the family members (no longer there to hear) about obligations, schedules, and so on. The house "lives on" for a time, oblivious to the fact that its human inhabitants are gone. 

In the poem by Sara Teasdale of the same name, "There Will Come Soft Rains," the events also take place in the future. "There Will" is a phrase that suggests the future. But this could be the near future or decades down the road. Similar to Bradbury's story, the humans are gone and the suggestion is that war has wiped them out. Neither the animals nor "Spring" herself will notice when we (humans) are gone. Any technology and/or civilized progress will be irrelevant. (Bradbury got the title for his story from this poem. The poem is even recited in his story.) 

Who created the American System?

The man who created the American System was Henry Clay.

The American System is the name given to a set of three policies that Clay proposed in 1832.  The point of these policies was to strengthen the US economy and to do something to help each of the main sectors of the US economy.  These sectors were commerce, manufacturing, and agriculture.

The American System proposed to help commerce by creating a national bank.  This bank would make a more stable currency and would help to provide credit for merchants.  The system proposed to help agriculture through a program of “internal improvements.”  Internal improvements were what we would now call infrastructure projects.  By improving transportation, these projects would help farmers get their crops to market.  Finally, the system meant to help industry by imposing a tariff.  This would increase the price of imported goods and make domestic goods more competitive.

Together, these three policies were known as Henry Clay’s “American System.”

Why were Christian leaders at first against the consumption of coffee in Europe?

No matter where one is from, coffee is that one beverage everyone either raves over or resolutely dislikes. There doesn't seem to be any middle ground where coffee is concerned.

Born in the deep country of Muslim Ethiopia, coffee traveled to Europe through the efforts of Italian traders. By 1600, coffee had emerged as the most controversial drink in all Christendom. Indeed, conflict over the drinking of coffee created trouble even in Muslim lands where the drink itself was popular. Take for example, Sultan Murad IV, who banned coffee in Turkey. The claim was that coffee inspired degenerate behavior, but the real truth was that coffee houses had become popular places for gathered citizens to give voice to dissenting and often controversial political opinions.

Ironically, 17th century Christian European leaders fretted over what they termed was a licentious drink from Muslim lands. Already banned by the Orthodox Church, Catholic religious leaders soon sought Pope Clement VIII's help to censure the use of coffee. Accordingly, just as sacramental wine was denied the unbeliever, coffee, considered an infidel beverage by these leaders, should be denied the average Catholic as well. However, when the pope tasted the beverage, he proclaimed it so wonderful that Christian leaders were left embarrassed by their overzealous mission. Eventually, Pope Clement blessed and 'baptized' the brown beverage, to the relief of all Christendom. In so doing, Pope Clement spared Europe an ongoing religious controversy that was to plague Muslim lands for centuries.

Source: The World of Caffeine: The Science and Culture of the World's Most Popular Drug by Bennett Alan Weinberg.

How is Atticus's remark to Jem about why Tom was convicted similar to Dolphus Raymond's?

In Chapter 22, Atticus explains to Jem, when Jem cannot understand how the jury could convict a clearly innocent man, that "They did it before, they did it tonight, and they'll do it again and when they do it--seems that only children weep" (243).

In Chapter 22, the children leave the courtroom because Dill can't deal with how nasty Mr. Gilmer is being to Tom Robinson on the stand, and they encounter Mr. Adolphus Raymond, known for being a miscegenist with "mixed children" and an incurable alcoholic. Mr. Raymond offers Dill something to settle his stomach and Scout is horrified that he would corrupt a child, but it turns out that what Raymond is drinking is only Coca Cola. Scout is fascinated with why anyone would "deliberately perpetrate fraud against himself" (228), so she asks him why. He explains that people would never understand that he lives the way he does (being married to a black woman) because he wants to, but "it helps folks if they can latch onto a reason," like their belief that he's "in the clutches of whiskey" and "can't help himself." She asks him why he's telling them, then, and he says, "Because you're children and you can understand it." He says "things" haven't caught up with Dill yet, which is why he is crying, but when he gets older he won't. Dill says, "Cry about what?" and Raymond says "Cry about the simple hell people give other people--without even thinking. Cry about the hell white people give colored folks, even without stopping to think that they're people, too" (229). 

Both Atticus and Raymond are observing that only children haven't yet been hardened by the world to the point that they no longer see the innate unfairness and horror of racism and bigotry. 

In Fahrenheit 451 what quotations in the book show that technology is bad in their society?

I think any quotations that display the state of Montag and Mildred's relationship are good quotes for your question.  Mildred is addicted to the media technology.  So much so that it has destroyed the relationship between Montag and Mildred.  They simply do not interact as a couple anymore, because Mildred would rather spend time consuming media tech than conversing with her husband.  Not only that though, but the technology actually becomes life threatening to Mildred, because she simply isn't capable of maintaining a healthy life without her pills.  Her problem is that she can't control the amount that she takes.  The technology is destroying her and her ability to operate on anything close to resembling a decent interpersonal relationship with real people.  The following quote is a bit long, but it shows what a hollow shell Mildred has become.  

Without turning on the light he imagined how this room would look. His wife stretched on the bed, uncovered and cold, like a body displayed on the lid of a tomb, her eyes fixed to the ceiling by invisible threads of steel, immovable. And in her ears the little Seashells, the thimble radios tamped tight, and an electronic ocean of sound, of music and talk and music and talk coming in, coming in on the shore of her unsleeping mind. The room was indeed empty. Every night the waves came in and bore her off on their great tides of sound, floating her, wide-eyed, toward morning. There had been no night in the last two years that Mildred had not swum that sea, had not gladly gone down in it for the third time.

This next quote is along the same lines, but it definitely shows how Mildred's TV watching habits have come between the two of them. 

Well, wasn't there a wall between him and Mildred, when you came down to it? Literally not just one, wall but, so far, three! And expensive, too! And the uncles, the aunts, the cousins, the nieces, the nephews, that lived in those walls, the gibbering pack of tree-apes that said nothing, nothing, nothing and said it loud, loud, loud. He had taken to calling them relatives from the very first. "How's Uncle Louis today?" "Who?" "And Aunt Maude?" The most significant memory he had of Mildred, really, was of a little girl in a forest without trees (how odd!) or rather a little girl lost on a plateau where there used to be trees (you could feel the memory of their shapes all about) sitting in the centre of the "living-room." The living-room; what a good job of labelling that was now. No matter when he came in, the walls were always talking to Mildred.

What parallels might be drawn between Deacon Peabody and the tree bearing his name?

The tree bearing Deacon Peabody's name is quite blatantly representative of Peabody himself; the tree is like his person, and the condition of the tree reflects the qualities in him. 

Peabody is said to be damned (sent to Hell for his sins), or he will be, if he continues to be more concerned with the sins of others rather than his own sins. This is represented by the rot that has taken hold of the tree; like Peabody, it is corrupted on the inside, but has a pleasant exterior. Likewise, Peabody probably uses his position as a deacon (a person of authority in a church) to present himself as a person of good moral character. 

The tree is also said to be nearly cut all the way through, so that it might fall over soon; because another fallen tree is said to be representative of a person that had recently died, this might suggest that Peabody is near death as well, even if he doesn't realize it, and that there may not be enough time for him to recover from his internal rot before he dies in that condition. 

Further, Old Scratch mentions that they are "ready for burning", which on the surface suggests that the trees are being used as firewood, but it really means that their souls are ready for burning in Hell. 

Why does Holling think that the real world is sometimes like Hamlet and Bobby Kennedy in June of Gary Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars?

In the chapter titled "June" of Gary Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars, Holling notes how much the real world is full of unexpected disappointments and sorrows. He uses a reference to Shakespeare's character Hamlet to reflect on his mother's feelings of disappointment and sorrow and a reference to Bobby Kennedy to further show just how much the real world is full of unexpected, devastating blows that can severely impact our future.

After reading Much Ado About Nothing, Holling felt disappointed by Shakespeare's representation of romantic love. His disappointment stems from the fact that, at home, he is observing how romantic love fades slowly such as the love between his parents; it doesn't instantaneously stop and start up all over again as it does in Shakespeare's play. Holling then relates the feelings his mother must be suffering as love fades to the feelings of Hamlet:

That's the way it is in the real world. It's not always smiles. Sometimes the real world is like Hamlet. A little scared. Unsure. A little angry. Wishing that you could fix something that you can't fix. ("June")

In other words, because of Mr. Hoodhod's cold and distant behavior, Holling is noting that his mother is beginning to feel sad, uncertain, angry, and to wish for something better, just as Hamlet felt such feelings in Shakespeare's play.

Similarly, Holling relates the real world to major, unexpected disappointments such as Bobby Kennedy being shot before he could be elected president. Bobby Kennedy's death was a serious blow to those who opposed the Vietnam War because Bobby Kennedy promised to withdraw U.S. troops if he was elected. Throughout his seventh-grade year, Holling has come to understand that the real world is full of major disappointments such as death, discrimination, being humiliated, and betrayal.

How can the reader complete an ending for the story "The Lady, or the Tiger?"

Indubitably, an original story, "The Lady of the Tiger" presents the reader with an uncertainly that entertains, while at the same time it confounds.

In writing an ending for this tale of semi-barbaric and passionate love, the reader must decide where the balance of the two will tilt. The young man, who must choose a door which will decide his fate, is aware that the princess will have learned which doors hold the young maiden and the tiger. So, he looks up at her and she points to the right; trusting her, he goes directly to the right and opens this door.

Is he correct in trusting her? This is what the reader must decide. In making this decision, the reader needs to consider the motivation the princess has in pointing to the right. Does she want her lover to live with the maiden, or to die? Either way, she will never again be with him. So, if he dies, she does not lose her lover since he is already lost in death. If he marries the maiden, the princess also loses him but the lose is while he lives happily with this maiden. Does she want the young man's happiness? Is this consistent with her nature? Probably not.

It seems, then, that the princess, who is semi-barbaric in nature, would rather that the lover be killed and eliminated from court than to be granted marriage to the maiden only to remind the princess of what she has lost.

How would I write an essay comparing thematic elements from Farenheit 451 and The Catcher in The Rye?

When writing an essay about two novels that seem to have very little in common, the first step must be to find out how they are, in fact, similar. For The Catcher in the Rye and Fahrenheit 451, the best way to determine similarity is to look at the novels' protagonists, Holden Caulfield and Guy Montag. While the easiest way to answer this question is to look at thematic similarities—both characters face serious alienation from society—I would want to look at something in the plot that happens to both Holden and Montag: the fact that they can not go back home. Now, even though it seems like I'm writing about plot, which is a big no-no when in literary analyses, I will be focusing on symbols and themes throughout.

Note about comparison-contrast essays: since your teacher wants five paragraphs, you should follow the topic-by-topic method. Here's an example:

- Paragraph 1 - Intro with arguable thesis statement.
- Body Paragraph 1 - Topic 1 (characters' views of "home")
-- Holden's view of "home"
-- Montag's view of "home"
- Body Paragraph 2 - Topic 2
-- Holden
-- Montag
- Body Paragraph 3 - Topic 3
-- Holden
-- Montag
- Conclusion (Restate argument and tell your audience why they should care)

To start this five paragraph essay, I'd write an introduction that with a three or four sentences summary of how Holden and Montag, because of choices they make, cannot go home.

In my first body paragraph I would start with how Holden and Montag are both concerned about the idea of "home." For example, one of the most well-known symbols in Catcher is the idea of the ducks in the pond. Holden asks several characters a variation of "what happens to the ducks in the pond when it freezes over?" In Fahrenheit, Montag walks into his home and realizes how cold it feels. After his conversation with Clarisse, the narrator describes Montag's home as in "complete darkness" and "the chamber of a tomb-world where no sound from the great city could penetrate." Of course I'd have to make greater connections and tie the seemingly separate ideas together.

After this, I would probably move on to talk about how both of the characters are not welcome at their homes. Then my final body paragraph would focus on, maybe, on how at the end of both novels, both Montag and Holden finish homeless—Holden in a mental hospital and Montag in the wilderness.

There are many other ways you can approach this topic, but you will probably have to focus on character.

Line 1 of William Wordsworth's "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" contains which of the following poetic devices? A. Metaphor B. Hyperbole C....

William Wordsworth's “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” was published in 1807 and, although not appreciated by some early critics, it eventually became one of the most famous poems in the English language.

Wordsworth was inspired to write the poem during a walk with his sister Dorothy, on which they encountered a vast and beautiful expanse of daffodils. In fact, the poem is alternately known by the name “Daffodils.”

The first lines of the poem are:

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills.

The very first line is a type of figurative language known as a simile. A simile is a comparison of two unlike things using a connective word such as like, as, than, or resembles (“like” and “as” are by far the most commonly used connective words).

Wordsworth's intent in creating the simile is most likely to show how isolated the speaker feels just before he happens to encounter the daffodils. The rest of the poem goes on to show the positive effects of this encounter—he receives gifts from the experience for the rest of his life. Later in life, when he finds himself “in solitude,” he is comforted by the memory of the flowers:

Then my heart with pleasure fills

and dances with the daffodils.

Explain why things are "rough all over" from the Outsiders.

That line is spoken by Cherry in chapter 2.  Ponyboy Curtis has just narrated the past events about Johnny's beating and brush with death.  He told Cherry, so that she could understand why Johnny looks so hurt and scarred.  Cherry expresses her sympathy, but she does not cave and tell Pony that the Greasers have it way worse than the Socs.  She tells Pony that "things are rough all over."  Ponyboy, to his credit, believes her.  Eventually, the reader learns exactly what Cherry was talking about.  The Socs have it equally as rough as the Greasers.  It's just different.  The main problem with the Socs is that they are hollow and emotionless.  They rumble and fight just to feel something, anything.  At the crux of it is the fact that the Socs are every bit the rebellious teenagers that the Greasers are.  They are all trying to fit in some way and not disappoint each other or their families.  

What are five details that the reader could've missed? Why are they important?

When the clock said ten minutes to five, she began to listen, and a few moments later, punctually as always, she heard the car tires on the stones outside, the car door closing, footsteps passing the window, the key turning in the lock. She stood up and went forward to kiss him as he entered.

The author wants to dispel any suspicion that Patrick might want to get out of his marriage because he was having an affair with another woman. Roald Dahl gives several indications that Patrick is not absent from the home except when he is working as a policeman. If the investigating officers had any suspicion that Patrick was having an affair, this could lead them to question Mary's alibi. In a great many cases of murder of one spouse by another, the motive is either jealousy or money. Both these things are easy to trace. A man can hardly be conducting an affair without being seen by witnesses. If a man is having financial problems, this can easily be checked out through credit reports and examination of bank records. The police often find out that one spouse has taken out a life insurance policy on the other.

"Sit down," he said. "Just for a minute, sit down."

This indicates that Mary is always fussing over him, mothering him. He doesn't want all that attention. This is one of the reasons he has decided that he wants to end their marriage.

"But I've thought about it a good deal and I've decided that the only thing to do is to tell you immediately."

If Patrick has decided to give Mary the bad news "immediately," this is another sign that there has been nothing slowly building up, such as an extramarital love affair. Some readers get the wrong idea about Patrick's motive. They think he is in love with another woman. This is not true. He has just fallen out of love with this one woman to whom he is married.

"So there it is," he added. "And I know it's a tough time to be telling you this, but there simply wasn't any other way. Of course, I'll give you money and see that you're taken care of. But there really shouldn't be any problem. I hope not, in any case. It wouldn't be very good for my job."

The fact that Patrick is very much concerned about his job and wants to avoid any possible scandal is intended to serve as proof that he has never talked to anyone about his dissatisfaction with his marriage. He has let everyone believe that he and Mary have a perfect marriage. This obviates any possible suspicion that Mary might have killed Patrick in the course of a family quarrel. Such fighting between spouses, as the police well know, is one of the most common reasons for spousal murder. (As a matter of fact, this was actually the case. Mary killed her husband in a fit of rage--but nobody in the whole wide world knows or even suspects that, except for us readers.)

She carried the meat into the kitchen, put it into a pan, turned on the oven, and put the pan inside. Then she washed her hands, ran upstairs, sat down in front of the mirror, fixed her makeup, and tried to smile.

The author has Mary fixing her makeup and practicing her smile just as a way of killing time. Her biggest problem is getting that leg of lamb cooked before the police ever think of it as a possible weapon. They could consider a frozen leg of lamb a weapon but not a cooked one.

"We usually go out on Thursdays, you know, and now I don't have any vegetables in the house."

It seems unusual that Mary, who is such a domestic woman. wouldn't have any canned vegetables or potatoes on hand and would have to run to the grocery story just because her husband wanted to stay home on the one night when they usually went out to dinner. The trip to the grocery store is intended to be part of Mary's alibi--but it should be one of the main clues that would make the investigating officers suspicious. Furthermore, if the fictitious murderer had been watching the Maloney house, he ought to know that they usually went out on Thursday evenings and would plan his attack for some other evening.

Mary benefits all the way through the story by the fact that all the policemen know her and Patrick and believe they have a perfect marriage. 

Later, one of the detectives sat down beside her. Did she know, he asked, of anything in the house that could have been used as a weapon? Would she look around to see if anything was missing.

If Mary was being ultra-cool she might have suggested that a frozen leg of lamb could have been used as a weapon. Naturally it would have been the first thing she would have thought of. The police must have looked inside the freezer while they were searching the house. Didn't any of them think that a big hunk of frozen meat might make a good murder weapon?

Evaluate the indefinite integral.

You need to use the following substitution  , such that:

Replacing back  for u yields:

Hence, evaluating the indefinite integral, yields

In Chapters 15-17, what is an example of situational irony? What is an example of dramatic irony?

Situational irony is what most people think irony is in general. It is the incongruity with what is expected to happen and what actually does happen. This kind of irony is generally described as "the opposite of what you expect to happen does happen." It does not necessarily have to be the opposite. The result simply has to be unexpected. 

In Chapter 15, a group of men challenge Atticus at the jail in Maycomb. They have come to get Tom Robinson and Atticus is there to talk them out of it. With the tension rising, Scout rushes over to the men and begins talking with Walter Cunningham Sr., a member of this mob. No one could have expected that Scout's awkward conversation (monologue, really) with Walter Sr. would convince him to make the mob clear out. But this is what happens. After a final awkward pause, Walter amiably responds to Scout's request to say hello to Walter Jr. for her: 

“I’ll tell him you said hey, little lady,” he said. Then he straightened up and waved a big paw. “Let’s clear out,” he called. “Let’s get going, boys.” 

Dramatic irony occurs when the spectator (or reader) knows something that a character does not. Thus, the reader is a step ahead of the character. This is quite clear in Chapter 17 when the reader (via Atticus's questioning) is given clues that Atticus is suggesting that Bob Ewell is more likely to have hit Mayella than Tom. Atticus gets Bob to agree with Tate's assessment of Mayella's injuries. Then he shows that Bob is left-handed and thus quite likely that Bob could have been Mayella's attacker. We, readers, have this information before Bob is aware of it. Scout considers this at the end of the chapter: 

Atticus was trying to show, it seemed to me, that Mr. Ewell could have beaten up Mayella. That much I could follow. If her right eye was blacked and she was beaten mostly on the right side of the face, it would tend to show that a left-handed person did it. 

In a later chapter, Atticus will reveal that Tom's left hand is essentially useless, placing even more suspicion on Bob Ewell. 

How did the grandmother react to Matt's sudden visit to the Indian village and why?

The first time Matt went to the Indian village was shortly after he and Attean killed the bear. The village was having a feast to celebrate the bear kill. Saknis gave Attean permission to invite Matt to the feast because of his crucial part in killing the bear with Attean. When he arrived, he realized that not everyone was as happy as Attean and Saknis that he was there.

Attean's grandmother was unhappy that any "white man" was coming to the village, even a child who was her grandson's friend. Attean's parents were both dead. His mother had been killed by the "white man." When Attean's father went to find the people responsible for killing his wife, he never returned. From that time, Attean's grandmother wanted nothing to do with the "white man" and hated all of them.

Later in the story, she had a change of heart and invited Attean to the village herself after Matt helped to save the life of Attean's dog.

Describe both the protagonist and the antagonist of "A White Heron."

The protagonist of this story is young Sylvia, a girl of nine who much prefers the company of animals to people.  She used to live in the city but could not thrive there; however, she seems to have come to life when she moved to her grandmother's farm in the country.  In many ways, then, she is associated with nature, as even her name -- Sylvia -- comes from the word sylvan, which means associated with the woods or the pastoral.

The antagonist of the story is the urban desire to tame and possess nature, as represented by the hunter.  The fact that he is nameless is a good clue that he is representative of something larger than himself: he symbolizes the desire of many urbanites to conquer the country, to exploit its resources for manufacturing, or fashion, or personal use (such as taxidermy). 

The conflict, thus, exists between character (Sylvia) and society (as represented by the hunter).  The hunter himself, in isolation, would not be a terribly crucial problem, but his symbolism of industrialization, of the exploitation of nature for its resources, is the much greater issue.  The danger that modernity posed to nature during this era (the story came out in 1886) was, perhaps, not spoken of enough.  Jewett's story attempts to draw attention to the dangers -- not just to nature, but to humanity -- of the need to conquer and control the pastoral.

What does Junior identify as the worst thing about being poor? What five adjectives describe Junior?

In Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Junior struggles with growing up on a Spokane reservation, being teased for his appearance, and feeling a lack of opportunity in his life. Junior's family is very poor, like most of the families on the "Rez." He feels that the only way for him to break the cycle of poverty, alcoholism, and lack of opportunity which surrounds him is to go to a school of primarily white students off of the reservation. In addition to the stress of being the new kid in school, Junior must deal with feelings of guilt that he is betraying his community by leaving the reservation school. Deep down, Junior wants a better life for himself and his family, and knows what has to be done.

The worst thing about being poor, according to Junior, is that you can't help the people you love. While money might buy a better house for his family, or medicine for his sick dog, Junior simply can't afford those things. It is a sad truth for many First Nations people who live on reservations today that they are trapped in a cycle of poverty. Junior is a very caring young man, who feels deeply for his family, friends, and community. Junior is both very caring and profound to be aware of the system he is trapped in and make the tough decision to break the cycle. 

Junior is also very creative and uses his art to express himself. He draws cartoons to amuse his friends and to deal with situations in his everyday life. Junior has been teased about his appearance for most of his life because he was born with hydrocephaly, resulting in him having a big head and needing to wear "ugly, thick" glasses. Junior has become very resilient to such teasing and has found that he prefers to spend time by himself. When Junior begins attending the "white school," he surprises everyone, even himself, by being courageous enough to try out for the basketball team. 

I think that above all, Junior is motivated. He is keenly aware of what his family's circumstances are like, and he feels a strong sense of duty to make things better.

I hope that if you read through my description of Junior, you can find enough adjectives to describe his personality.

Why did Jem rip his pants in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird?

It is in Chapter 6 of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird that Jem rips and even loses his pants. On Dill's last night in Maycomb for the summer, Jem and Dill concoct a scheme to sneak onto the property of the Radley Place and to "peep in the window with the loose shutter to see if they could get a look at Boo Radley." Scout protests the wisdom of the antic but winds up coming along nonetheless.

The children decide that their best approach to getting on to the property is to sneak under the high bobbed-wire fence that "enclosed a large garden" at the back of the Radley property, near the schoolyard. The children manage to sneak through the garden, through a gate separating the garden from the Radleys' backyard, and to creep to the side of the house where the "window with the hanging shutter stood." They then give Dill a boost up to the tall windowsill so that he can take a look inside, but Dill is unable to see anything of interest. Next, they sneak on to the back porch to get a look through the back window, which is when Scout sees the shadow of a man moving "across the porch toward Jem." As the kids race away from the house, shots ring out. But, as they try to scamper back under the barbed-wire fence, Scout and Dill make it safely under, but Jem gets his pants caught in the wire and must kick them off to get free. It's at the moment that he gets his pants caught in the barbed-wire that he tears them.

More interesting than the moment he tears his pants is the moment he retrieves them. Jem decides to go back for his pants at 2 o'clock in the morning. Later, in Chapter 7, we learn that, when he went back, he found them neatly "folded across the fence" and "sewed up." Jem reaches the conclusion that Arthur (Boo) Radley mended Jem's pants for him, a conclusion that says much about the true nature of Arthur Radley. Author Lee uses the development of Arthur's character to further develop her theme concerning the falseness of prejudiced beliefs.

How do Rappaccini and Baglioni use Beatrice and Giovanni for their own needs in "Rappaccini's Daughter"?

When Giovanni first speaks with his father's old friend, Professor Baglioni, the professor tells him that Dr. Rappaccini cares a great deal more about science than he does about people and that he only sees individuals as potential subjects of his experiments.  However, the narrator implies that Baglioni has an axe to grind because Rappaccini and Baglioni are at odds professionally and that Rappaccini "was generally thought to have gained the advantage" in their disagreements. Therefore, it should not be terribly surprising when Baglioni continues to try to arouse Giovanni's suspicions of Rappaccini and his daughter's motives.  In the end, he gives Giovanni an antidote that should reverse Beatrice's poisonous nature, and, when it kills her, he calls out triumphantly to rub the death of this experiment in his rival's face.  Thus, it appears that he has manipulated Giovanni so that he could use the youth to ruin Rappaccini's most precious experiment: his daughter.

However, Rappaccini has also manipulated Beatrice and Giovanni in order to see if he could convert and procure a husband for his poisonous daughter.  He seems to have purposely cultivated her poison from her birth for the sake of science, and now he wishes to take the experiment to the next level.  He wants to see if he can transform a healthy youth into a poisonous one to be a mate for her daughter in this corrupted Eden.  He doesn't ask his daughter what she wants, and he certainly doesn't consult Giovanni before his conversion.  Beatrice ends up so miserable that she actually embraces death because "the evil" that her father has "striven to mingle with [her] being, will pass away like a dream."  It doesn't seem to be her happiness that her father has sought but rather a continuation of his experiments.

When did Jonas first lie to his parents in The Giver?

Jonas lies to his parents in the end of Chapter 16, after they ask him if he understands that love is a vague concept.

No one in the community is allowed to lie, as far as Jonas knows.  Precision of language is very important.

He had been trained since earliest childhood, since his earliest learning of language, never to lie. It was an integral part of the learning of precise speech. (Ch. 9)

The community values Sameness, and the entire goal of his civilization seems to be avoiding discomfort.  They want to ensure that everyone is toeing the line.  That means that children are indoctrinated from a young age to the community’s procedures and expectations.

When Jonas is selected for the prestigious assignment of Receiver of Memory, one of his instructions is that he can lie.  This confuses and horrifies him.  It never occurred to him that anyone in his community might lie.  He wonders if anyone else has the same instruction, and begins to doubt from that point on if anyone in his community is telling the truth.

This is a pivotal moment in Jonas’s character development.  It is the first time when he begins to wonder about his community.  Jonas will soon learn that his entire community is a lie, in a way.  It professes to be perfect and orderly, with content citizens and no negatives.  Jonas soon learns that the community has carefully constructed this illusion by keeping its citizens almost completely cut off from the human experience.

No one in the community feels any emotion at all.  They are carefully trained from birth to avoid attachment.  Jonas learns through the memories that attachment is part of being human. He realizes that his people do not experience humanity because they are cut off from love and joy as well as suffering.

When Jonas experiences the concept of love, he has already seen many memories of things that the community has stamped out.  The concept of family bothers him the most though.  He enjoys the connectedness that he feels in the memory, and he realizes that it is important.  In an effort to see if any of that connectedness is there, Jonas asks his parents if they love him.  He knows that he is not likely to get expressions of love back, but is totally unprepared for confusion and amusement.

His parents both explain to him that “love” is an imprecise word that has come to be meaningless.

Jonas stared at them. Meaningless? He had never before felt anything as meaningful as the memory.

"And of course our community can't function smoothly if people don't use precise language. You could ask, 'Do you enjoy me?' The answer is 'Yes,' " his mother said. (Ch. 16, p. 160)

When Jonas’s parents ask him if he understands, he lies and says he does.  He lies because he knows that they are the ones who do not understand.  Since no one in the community can experience real affection, or attachment, there is no way that they can understand love.  His entire community has been carefully constructed to avoid it.

While different versions of the book will have different page numbers, you should easily be able to find this incident because it is near the end of Chapter 16.  In my edition of the book, it can be found on page 160.

What kind of objects may Scout have or represent her in Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird? Please explain each.

A character's personal objects and treasures say a lot about his or her personality. For Scout, some of those objects include her overalls, her air rifle, and the objects she receives from Boo Radley. First, the overalls are a symbol of Scout's tomboy/childhood self. She is free to romp and play with the boys in pants where she would be less free in a dress. It is always a source of discomfort for Aunt Alexandra, though.

"Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches; when I said I could do nothing in a dress, she said I wasn't supposed to be doing things that required pants" (81).

Second, her air rifle that she receives at Christmas also symbolizes her personality as a tomboy; but also, Scout is like a gun because she can attack verbally, physically, and just as violently and quickly as one. She attacks Walter Cunningham, Jr., Cecil Jacobs, Francis and Jem just like a quick trigger when she wants to defend herself or her father. The best one is when she pops Francis as follows:

"This time, I split my knuckle to the bone on his front teeth. My left impaired, I sailed in with my right, but not for long. Uncle Jack pinned my arms to my sides and said, "Stand still!" (84).

The other objects are the ones she receives from Boo Radley. She keeps these objects to remind her of him, but they are also great to symbolize who Scout is:

"He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives" (278).

Boo Radley also gave her a blanket to keep warm on a winter night while Miss Maudie's house burned down. But the two soap dolls and the pennies represent her running around with Jem, just the two of them; and the broken watch and chain could symbolize how time seemed to stop for Boo and for Scout. Memories seem to exist in our minds forever, and are never erased by time. Scout also talks about time as she reflects back on her childhood in the following passage:

"People moved slowly then. They ambled across the square, shuffled in and out of the stores around it, took their time about everything. A day was twenty-four hours long but it seemed longer" (5).

Thus, as the watch is broken, then it is as if her childhood time has stopped; but the memories of her childhood are suspended in time through her older self and the book.

How did geography play a role in the development of early societies in Ancient India?

Geography played a critical role in the early history of India, as it did in most locations around the world. Some key geographical factors played a role in the development of civilization and cities. First, the availability of rivers allowed farming settlements to grow into large urban areas. The Saraswati, Indus and Ganges Rivers were important water sources for irrigation.  The flooding of the rivers left behind fertile soil for cultivation. Rivers were also used for transportation which allowed trade.  The seasonal monsoons also brought plenty of water for the fields.

Another advantage of the geography for early Indian settlements is that it isolated India from potential invaders. Mountains and deserts formed a natural geographical advantage and separated the people of India from other areas including the Middle East and China. These barriers assured the city-states that they were safe and allowed civilization to develop without excessive military expenditures for defense. The city-states used these resources instead to develop water systems and paved streets.

How did Andrew Jackson solve the nullification crisis?

The nullification crisis that arose during Andrew Jackson’s presidency was a serious challenge that he had to face. The people of South Carolina was very unhappy with the high protective tariff of 1828 because they believed it hurt the South while benefitting the North. John C. Calhoun believed a state should be able to reject a law if it hurts a state or region while helping another state or region. This would violate the Constitution because the Constitution states that federal laws are supreme.

President Jackson had a clear stance on this issue. He said that states couldn’t nullify federal laws. He indicated that the tariff would be enforced throughout the country. When South Carolina threatened to secede over this issue, Jackson indicated there would be a military response by the federal government. President Jackson was not going to just allow South Carolina to secede. Fortunately, a compromise was reached that allowed for a gradual lowering of the tariff over a ten-year period. South Carolina stayed in the Union and the issue was resolved, at least in the short-term.

What do you think of Odysseus's plan for escaping Polyphemus?

I think Odysseus's plan to escape Polyphemus is pretty ingenious.  He first considers killing the Cyclops by stabbing him in the liver while he sleeps, but then Odysseus correctly realizes that they need Polyphemus to roll the stone away from the door because it is too big for his crew to move.  If he kills the monster, there will be no one to let them out of the cave and they will all perish.  Despite the danger they're in, Odysseus still exercises rationality and forethought and cunning.

Therefore, when Odysseus comes up with the idea to blind Polyphemus so that he can still roll away the stone door, it is quite shrewd and intelligent.  He gets the monster really drunk, he and his men plunge an olive stake into his one eye, and then they ride out of the cave tied underneath the sheep so that Polyphemus will not be able to feel them.  Further, Odysseus had told Polyphemus that his name was "No man," so that when other Cyclopes came to check on him, he would have to tell them that No man had hurt him.  Hearing this, they left him alone. 

Finally, the plan succeeds, and all but the six men Polyphemus ate escape the cave, so it must have been pretty sound!

What is the evidence that Lady Macbeth does not know that Macbeth will kill Banquo?

In Act 3, Scene 2, Macbeth and his wife discuss their mutual problem involving Banquo. They have attained their objective of becoming king and queen, but they dread the thought that Banquo will profit by their crime in having his descendants rather than theirs become the rulers of Scotland. Macbeth assures his wife in cryptic terms that something will be done about that.

Ere the bat hath flown
His cloister'd flight; ere to black Hecate's summons
The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums
Hath rung night's yawning peal, there shall be done
A deed of dreadful note.

When she asks him specifically, "What's to be done?" he tells her:

Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck,
Till thou applaud the deed.

This is the best evidence in the text that Lady Macbeth does not know that her husband will kill Banquo. Macbeth is not concerned about keeping his wife in ignorance of his plans in order to protect her from being an accessory or in order to insure that she does not inadvertently arouse suspicions. Shakespeare has already made his plans perfectly clear in Act 3, Scene 1, and the playwright does not want to risk boring his audience with having everything spelled out to Lady Macbeth which the audience already knows. The words "dearest chuck" may have been intended to suggest that Macbeth had suddenly become protective of his sweet, sensitive wife, but the term of endearment is a weak excuse Shakespeare employs to get out of having to have Macbeth explain what he has already arranged to have done and what the audience will actually see being done in the very next scene when Banquo and his son Fleance are ambushed by the three murderers.

So at this point in the play, Lady Macbeth does not know that her husband intends to have Banquo (and Fleance) killed. Shakespeare probably intended to establish this fact in this scene because she will be all the more bewildered when, in Act 3, Scene 4, her husband sees Banquo's ghost occupying his place at the coronation banquet. She still does not even know Banquo is dead.