How can I relate Odysseus's revenge from Homer's The Odyssey to a situation in real life?

The short story of Odysseus's revenge on the suitors boils down to a few details: he didn't return from the Trojan War in a timely manner, so his community assumed he was dead.  Suitors came to his house to woo his wife, Penelope, but she will not choose one until she has proof that Odysseus is really gone.  The suitors, however, will not leave until she picks a new husband from their ranks.  They proceed to take advantage of the resources of Odysseus's home for years, eating his food, drinking his wine, slaughtering his animals, and so on.  Worse, they won't even share with Odysseus when he is disguised as a beggar!  They've taken advantage of his home's hospitality and exploited it, and they've disrespected his wife and son. 

In modern life, we might find an equivalent if a woman's husband went away on a long trip and never returned; let's say that his plane crashed into the ocean but his body was never recovered.  Now, the community insists that she hold a memorial service so that people can mourn him, and even though she doesn't believe he is dead, she feels obligated to do so because it is socially appropriate.  After the memorial service, everyone comes back to her house for lunch and then, suddenly, all her husband's old friends refuse to leave until she chooses one of them as her new husband.  They set up camp in her home, eating up everything in the pantry, raiding the wine rack, driving his Lexus, and flirting with his daughters.  Finally, one day, after several years, the man returns.  He is exhausted and all he wants to do is see his wife and kids and relax in his home for the first time in a very long time.  Instead, he finds it infested with smarmy jerks who are getting fresh with his wife and using all his stuff. He'd probably very likely seek revenge too, although he might simply choose to sue them for damages.  Obviously, litigation is not the way ancient Greek heroes resolved their conflicts, and so Odysseus takes revenge in the best way available to him: by killing them all in cold blood.

What do Rikki and Nag have in common?

Although Nag is the antagonist and Rikki is the protagonist in "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi," they do have some similarities. They are both crafty, respectful of their adversaries, and determined. 

Nag tries to deceive Rikki at their first meeting. He tilts his head and pretends he would like to get into a philosophical discussion about why eating birds is proper, but he is really trying to distract Rikki so Nagaina can strike. Likewise, Rikki is crafty with the snakes. For example, he enlists Darzee's wife to pretend she is lame to distract Nagaina while he destroys the eggs.

Nag is aware that "mongooses in the garden meant death sooner or later for him and for his family." Rikki is likewise aware of the power of his opponent. While planning how to attack Nag in the bathroom, Rikki says, "If I don't break his back at the first jump, he can still fight; and if he fights—O Rikki!" During the fight, he fully expects to die and is only saved by the man killing Nag with a gun.

Nag is determined to "kill the big man and his wife, and the child if I can." He allows his wife's talk of being "king and queen of the garden" to motivate him to do his deadly work. Similarly, Rikki is determined, but his goal is to save the humans and rid the garden of snakes. He makes sure Nag is killed first, then kills all but one of the baby snakes, and then he goes so far as to follow Nagaina down the rat hole, something very few mongooses would dare to do. 

Nag and Rikki are well-matched adversaries, for each is crafty, respectful of his opponent, and determined to succeed with his plan.

How does the “heavy slab” fall in Great Expectations?

The heavy slab in the story falls when the sultan cuts the rope.

Pip uses the metaphor of the heavy slab to demonstrate that he has entirely lost his life to Estella.  He is completely in love with her, and he has no control over what happens to him.  In other words, he is lost to his heart.

All being made ready with much labor, and the hour come, the sultan was aroused in the dead of the night, and the sharpened axe that was to sever the rope from the great iron ring was put into his hand, and he struck with it, and the rope parted and rushed away, and the ceiling fell. (Ch. 38)

The story that Pip is referring to is Tales of the Genii, which is also about a man who lost his head over a woman.  Pip comments that both he and Estella have been affected by Miss Havisham.  She has influenced both of their abilities to love.

So, in my case; all the work, near and afar, that tended to the end, had been accomplished; and in an instant the blow was struck, and the roof of my stronghold dropped upon me. (Ch. 38)

Pip has known Estella since he was young and impressionable.  He fell in love with her when they were both children.  When he says that the roof came down on him, he is speaking metaphorically.  He is saying that he is completely and hopelessly in love.

Miss Havisham did not just destroy Estella's life with her games.  She created in Estella a weapon to use against men, and she used Pip as a training device.  The end result was successful in that Pip fell in love with Estella, and Estella was incapable of falling in love with anyone.  Both of them were tied together for life.

What is the initial velocity of a ball that is thrown downward from the rooftop of a 12-m building and falls to the ground after 1.14 s. Ignore air...

We can solve this by using the equation of motion.

where s is the distance traveled, u is the initial velocity, t is the time duration and a is the acceleration. 

In this case, the distance traveled (s) is 12 meters. The time taken by the ball to fall down is 1.14 seconds and the acceleration is due to Earth's gravity and is, hence, equal to acceleration due to gravity, g. 

Thus, s = 12 m, t = 1.14 s and a = g = 9.81 m/s^2

Substituting these values into the equation of motion, we get:

12 = 1.14u + 1/2 (9.81) (1.14)^2

Solving the equation, we get, u = 4.94 m/s.

Thus, the ball was thrown with an initial velocity of 4.94 m/s.

Note that resistance by air has been neglected in this case.

Hope this helps. 

What are some numerical examples of how the marginal product curve is u-shaped?

In the link below, you can find a numerical example of how the marginal product curve is shaped like an upside-down “U.”  In this answer, I will give a second example and explain why the numbers are as they are.

Let us imagine that Kevin owns a pizza restaurant.  In the short run, Kevin has a fixed amount of capital.  That means that he only has a given amount of space, a given number of ovens, and a given number of things like pans in which to bake the pizzas.  However, Kevin can hire different numbers of people to work in his restaurant.  The number of people he hires will be shown along the horizontal axis of a marginal product curve.

Let us say that Kevin only hires one worker, who has to do all the work by herself.  She can produce 100 pizzas per week.  She has to take orders, make the pizzas, serve the customers, take payment, and do all the other tasks needed to have a pizza restaurant.  The marginal product of hiring this first worker is 100 pizzas per week.

 Now Kevin hires another worker.  Now, each worker can specialize.  Perhaps the first worker can specialize in actually making the pizzas and cleaning up afterward while the second worker takes care of taking orders, serving customers, and taking payments.  Now, the restaurant produces 250 pizzas in a week and the marginal product of the second worker is 150 pizzas per week.  The marginal product goes up for workers 1 and 2.

Then Kevin hires another worker.  This worker works in the kitchen, so now the restaurant can produce more pizzas.  Let us say that there are two ovens, which means that each kitchen worker can make pizzas for one oven.  However, this is not as big of a help as the second worker.  Worker #1 was able to make a pizza, put it in one oven, then make another pizza while the first was baking and put it in the second oven.  Having a second kitchen worker helps, but not as much as adding a worker to take care of the customers.  Now the restaurant produces 350 pizzas per week and the marginal product of the third worker was 100 pizzas.  We can see that the marginal product is now going down.

Finally, Kevin hires a fourth worker.  This one busses tables and does dishes.  Now the other three have easier jobs because they do not have to clean up, but this only frees up a little bit of their time.  The restaurant produces 400 pizzas per week and the marginal product of the third worker was 50 pizzas.

If we graph these changes, we will see that the marginal product goes up at first and then goes down, making a graph that looks something like an inverted “U.”  This happens because the marginal value of adding more workers eventually goes down as more and more workers are added to work on a fixed amount of capital.

What was the significance of books in Helen Keller's life?

Helen Keller loved books. She took comfort in them and enjoyed reading. She sometimes read independently with raised print or Braille books. At times, others read to her by fingerspelling the words from the book into her hand. In her autobiography The Story of My Life, Helen explained "how much [she had] depended on books not only for pleasure and for the wisdom they bring to all who read, but also for that knowledge which comes to others through their eyes and their ears" (Chapter XXI). Helen enjoyed reading books over and over again. For this reason, she preferred to read on her own rather than to be read to. Few books were published in raised print, so Helen's reading choices were limited. Still, she thoroughly enjoyed what she read.

On Helen's first trip to Boston, she visited a large library at the school for the blind. She spent hours there, in awe of all the books in raised print. Finally, she was able to read on her own to her heart's content. As a child, Helen loved the novel Little Lord Fauntleroy. She read the book so many times that she had most of it memorized. Helen called the character of Little Lord Fauntleroy her "sweet and gentle companion."  

Literature served as a guide for Helen in that she learned from it. She learned an immense amount of information from all the books she read. Mostly, Helen viewed books as her friends. She explained this in her autobiography:

In a word, literature is my Utopia. Here I am not disfranchised. No barrier of the senses shuts me out from the sweet, gracious discourse of my book-friends.

Who did Darcy say was responsible for Elizabeth's acceptance of his marriage proposal in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice?

In Chapter 58 of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, just after Darcy asks Elizabeth if her feelings of loathing for him had changed and is assured that she definitely now loves him, Darcy informs Elizabeth that his aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, is unwittingly responsible for his second proposal and Elizabeth's acceptance.

As Darcy explains, immediately after Lady Catherine imposed herself on Elizabeth at Longbourn, demanding Elizabeth promise not to accept a proposal from Darcy and being refused, Lady Catherine immediately went to see Darcy in London. She had relayed her entire conversation with Elizabeth, including every impertinent word Elizabeth said, with the hopes of showing Darcy how offensive a person Elizabeth is and getting him to promise he would never propose to her. However, against Lady Catherine's desires, Darcy did the exact opposite by promising he would indeed propose to her. Darcy explains that Lady Catherine's recitation of things Elizabeth had said "taught [him] to hope" that Elizabeth now loved him whereas previously he had "scarcely ever allowed [himself] to hope before" (Ch. 58). Darcy's reasoning is he knew Elizabeth would have "frankly and openly" given Lady Catherine any reasons she felt she still had for detesting and refusing Darcy had she still felt as she did when he first proposed. But, instead, Darcy learned from Lady Catherine that Elizabeth did not say he was the "last man in the world" she could ever marry, as she had said to Darcy's own face; instead, Elizabeth only blatantly said, when asked by Lady Catherine to promise never to become engaged to Darcy, "I will make no promise of the kind" (Ch. 34; Ch. 56).

Hence, since Elizabeth did not indicate to Lady Catherine that she would never marry Darcy, Darcy knew he now had hope that she had changed her mind and would indeed be willing to marry him. Therefore, ironically, Darcy and Elizabeth owe their engagement to Lady Catherine, which was the exact opposite of what Lady Catherine had been hoping to accomplish by confronting them.

What would be a reason for recommending Great Expectations?

The only way to answer this question is to quote from the book in order to show the appeal of Charles Dickens' writing. The best example of his writing to be found anywhere in all his extensive works is Chapter 39 of Great Expectations. Characteristically, he opens his chapter with a passage of description to set the place and mood of the scene. The description may be of the interior of a room, or of the weather outside, or of an individual character. In Chapter 39 he begins, quite appropriately, with a description of the stormy night out of which the excepted convict emerges like a ghost of the past.

It was wretched weather; stormy and wet, stormy and wet; mud, mud, mud, deep in all the streets. Day after day, a vast heavy veil had been driving over London from the East, and it drove still, as if in the East there were an eternity of cloud and wind. So furious had been the gusts, that high buildings in town had had the lead stripped off their roofs; and in the country, trees had been torn up, and sails of windmills carried away; and gloomy accounts had come in from the coast, of shipwreck and death. Violent blasts of rain had accompanied these rages of wind, and the day just closed as I sat down to read had been the worst of all. 

In the next paragraph Pip adds further description of the violent storm:

I saw that the lamps in the court were blown out, and that the lamps on the bridges and the shore were shuddering, and that the coal fires in barges on the river were being carried away before the wind like red-hot splashes in the rain.

Many modern readers are impatient and skip descriptions in order to get on with the story, but they are missing some of the best Dickens has to offer. People had more patience in Victorian times because there were so few alternatives for leisure-time recreation. Charles Dickens himself read his works on the stage in England and America for many years. Audiences loved to hear him recite such passages as those quoted above. His descriptions are almost like Impressionistic paintings. Note the vivid image conveyed by the line:

...coal fires in barges on the river were being carried away before the wind like red-hot splashes in the rain.

But this is only the beginning. From out of the distant past Abel Magwitch appears. He seems totally indifferent to the storm because of the life he has lived in England and in far-off Australia. He is there to destroy all of Pip's illusions and to claim him as his foster son. Pip has become a gentleman, and the storm means little to him because he is seated in a comfortable chair, reading a good book in front of a blazing fireplace. He realizes not only how his own comfort and security have depended on the privations and suffering of a lower-class man, but how all ladies and gentlemen of the leisure class are equally helpless, and useless, without the support of the men and women they consider far beneath them.

The dialogue in Chapter 39 is simply marvelous. Stephen Leacock compared Dickens to Shakespeare in Charles Dickens: His Life and Work (1933). Here is one of the best examples of dialogue from Great Expectations:

“Yes, Pip, dear boy, I've made a gentleman on you! It's me wot has done it! I swore that time, sure as ever I earned a guinea, that guinea should go to you. I swore arterwards, sure as ever I spec'lated and got rich, you should get rich. I lived rough, that you should live smooth; I worked hard that you should be above work. I tell it, fur you to know as that there hunted dunghill dog wot you kep life in, got his head so high that he could make a gentleman—and, Pip, you're him!”

Pip knows he was only motivated by fear when he brought the vittles and the file to the convict on the marshes. But Abel Magwitch has experienced so little human kindness that he remembers it all his life. The poor man thinks that a gentleman is the finest specimen of humanity and is proud that he has created one by himself. But Pip knows from his own example that a gentleman is all show and no substance. He is living on the hard-earned money of another man who not only thinks that he acted "nobly" there on the marshes, but that he has become an even more noble person with his fine clothes, fine manners, fine lodging, esoteric books, and perfect command of the King's English. Pip is thoroughly humiliated and has all his dreams destroyed in this magnificent chapter by the great Charles Dickens.

Why does the Giver pressure Jonas into watching the new child's release?

Jonas has been with the Giver receiving memories for months when Jonas asks him if he ever thinks about release. They discuss the issue for awhile and Jonas finds out that the Receiver can never ask for release unless there is someone to take his place. Along those lines, Jonas explains that he was thinking about release because his father had scheduled one for a twin that very day. This discussion opens the way for the Giver to tell Jonas that releasing people means killing them. In chapter 19, it says that the Giver "firmly" tells Jonas that he should watch the recording of the Ceremony of Release for that twin. He explains that Jonas needs to learn everything eventually, as follows:

"Jonas, when you and I have finished our time together, you will be the new Receiver. You can read the books; you'll have the memories. You have access to everything. It's part of your training. If you want to watch a release, you have simply to ask" (147).

The realization that "release" means death is a deal breaker for Jonas and he threatens never to go home again. The Giver must have known that Jonas would not agree with the practice of killing innocent people at will. He probably made Jonas watch the twin die so that he would be fully informed before completely taking over the duties as the Receiver. Also, if Jonas is fully informed, the two of them could implement a plan to stop the community from continuing to live and to kill like they've done for so long--and that's just what they do. Because Jonas finally understands everything that makes his world function, he and the Giver decide to break it down by sending Jonas away. By Jonas leaving, all the memories would be released upon the people, forcing them to understand what they are really doing and want to change.

A dart is projected upwards at an angel of 20° with the horizontal. It has an initial velocity of 20 m/s. In how many seconds will it reach the...

I am assuming (in absence of any further information in the question) that the dart board is at the same vertical level as the point of projection. 

Given data: initial velocity, u = 20 m/s

angle of projection,  = 20  

Using the equation of projectile motion:

where,  is vertical component of velocity and is given as u sin( ).

 Substituting y = 0, we get,

t = 0 sec (initial instant) and

t = 

Thus, it would take about 1.4 seconds for the dart to hit the board. 

The point of projection is at a distance equal to range of the projectile motion. Using the equation for range,

Thus, the dart will strike its target 26.21 m from the point of projection.

Hope this helps. 

What have you found so far that The Giver's society suppresses?

The society where Jonas lives in The Giver is one where behaviors are closely regulated.  Rigid rules dictate the lives of almost all the citizens.  There are scores of behaviors that are suppressed due to the rules of the society.  Here are a few of those behaviors highlighted below:

-  Jobs, spouses, and children are assigned rather than chosen.

-  Citizens are monitored in public to ensure acceptable behavior.  Sameness is emphasized.

-  Community-wide meetings are held and attendance is required.

-  Any sort of sexual desires (also called "the stirrings") are suppressed with medication.  Spousal relationships are platonic.

-  The Giver and the Receiver are the only two people who are allowed to keep memories of history and of life outside of the Community.

-  The rules of the Community dictate when a person is "released" (euthanized).  There are criteria which dictate when a person's life should end.

These are just a few of the ways that the society suppresses behavior in the community.

In Romeo and Juliet, what does Juliet mean when she says "That which we call a rose / By any other word would smell as sweet"?

As she stands on her balcony in Act 2, Scene 2, Juliet is trying to reconcile in her mind the fact that the man that she has just experienced love at first sight with is none other than a Montague, and, specifically, the son of her family's great enemy.

In her musings, she mentions that it is Romeo's name (Montague) and not Romeo himself who is the enemy.  It is then that she utters the next lines:

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose                                   By any other word would smell as sweet.                                        So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called,                               Retain that dear perfection which he owes                              Without that title. (Act 2, Scene 2, lines 43-47).

Juliet is making an analogy here.  Essentially, she is saying that names are meaningless.  A rose would smell sweet whether we called the object a "rose" or a "thumple" or a "gobbeldythwacker" (I am making up these names here -- Juliet didn't come up with these!).  Likewise, Romeo would be just as perfect even if his name were not Romeo Montague.  

In the lines that follow, Juliet states that she wishes that Romeo would trade in his name, and that he could have her instead.  It is at this point that Romeo reveals he has heard this, and that he has been hiding in the bushes nearby all along.

What word does Scout hear when Miss Maudie sees their snowman?

When Scout first awakens and she sees her first snow, she thinks the world is ending. But after a brief discussion with Atticus, Scout discovers that it is snow!  

Jem and Scout had never made a snowman and they decide that is how they will spend the morning since they do not have school. The children create a very unique snowman that Miss Maudie thinks looks too much like Mr. Avery. The children, with Atticus' coaxing, add features such as an apron and a pair of Miss Maudie's clippers to change his looks. Miss Maudie and Atticus then discuss the fact that the snowman has characteristics of a hermaphrodite.

A hermaphrodite is an animal or person that has both male and female characteristics or organs. The word can be used as an adjective or a noun.

Scout only thinks she hears correctly the discussion between Miss Maudie and Atticus. Scout later refers to the melted snowman as the Morphodite which makes Miss Maudie put her hands on her head and laugh loudly. Jem and Scout did not understand why Miss Maudie thought the discussion with Scout was so funny.

Glacial striations gouged into bedrock allow geologists to understand _____.

Glacial striations gouged into bedrock allow geologists to understand the mass and pressure caused by glaciers resulting in the movement of glaciers.

As glaciers move, boulders, rocks, and pebbles are pushed underneath the glacier. The pushing of these rock formations scratch and gouge out the land on which they reside. These scratches and gouges that are caused by the movement of glaciers are called glacial striations.

Glacial striations reveal certain facts to geologists.

1. Glacial striations help geologists determine the direction that the glacier moved.

2. Secondly, glacial striations can reveal the type of material that was moved by the glacier. For example, deep glacial striations are indicative of large boulders being carried by the glacier. Polished bedrock caused by a glacial striation is indicates that the glacier carried finer sediments.

3. Thirdly, glacial striations can be indicative of the speed of the glacier. For example, if a glacial abrasion indicates that there was a lot of debris carried by the glacier (by the size of the striation left behind), then it can be assumed that the glacier moved slowly.

What the characteristics of India's music?

Indian music at its heart is religious, or devotional music, coming from Hindu chants and hymns set to melodies. Indian classical music, such as the music played by popular classical Indian musicians like Ravi Shankar, is largely improvisational, which separates it in a very essential way from Western classical music, which is entirely written in notation before a musical plays it.

Classical Indian ragas are based on a singular melody, with a droning instrument underneath, in the same key. The musician then improvises on the melody, wherever it takes him or her, which leaves the possibilities for creation endless.

In Western music, modern jazz comes closest to matching Indian music in terms of freedom of improvisation, especially such artists as John Coltrane, who was known for soloing over a single chord or key for extended periods.

Indian music was popularly introduced to the west by George Harrison of The Beatles, who introduced the sound of the sitar into Beatles' records, and who studied with Ravi Shankar.

In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, how does Scout describe her sleepless night?

In Chapter 6, Jem, Dill, and Scout make another attempt to get another look at Boo Radley. They decide to go at night because, according to Jem, it is easier to see inside a dark house at night than it is in the daytime. They choose to climb under a fence to go undetected. After getting to the Radley's house, Mr. Radley comes out with a shotgun, apparently thinking it could be a burglar. He fires the gun and the children run away. Jem's pants get caught going back under the fence and he leaves them there. When they return to their block, Atticus and others are there, wondering what all the commotion is. Dill comes up with the idea that they had been playing strip poker. This explains Jem's missing pants. 

Scout is shaken from the whole ordeal. She is still afraid of the stories about Boo and is worried that he will seek revenge somehow: 

Every night-sound I heard from my cot on the back porch was magnified threefold; every scratch of feet on gravel was Boo Radley seeking revenge, every passing Negro laughing in the night was Boo Radley loose and after us; insects splashing against the screen were Boo Radley’s insane fingers picking the wire to pieces; the chinaberry trees were malignant, hovering, alive. I lingered between sleep and wakefulness until I heard Jem murmur. 

Not only is Scout worried about Boo; she also loses sleep while Jem goes back out to retrieve his pants. While he is gone, Scout waits and is worried that she will hear Mr. Radley's shotgun again. Scout stays awake until Jem is silent in his cot. 

What is missing in the routine of activity that the house performs in Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains"?

Humans are missing from the house's routine in Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains." The story's entire premise is based on the idea of what would happen to an automated house meant to make life easier if human life disappeared. To make sure the reader understand the story's premise, Bradbury includes a Sara Teasdale poem, which explores how nature would not mind if "mankind perished utterly."

Throughout the story, it's clear that the house is there to serve humans and the humans are missing. After nearly five paragraphs of the house performing several actions—preparing breakfast, reading the daily agenda, etc.—the narrator reveals that the house is, in fact, empty. The garage door opens to let the car out, but nothing happens. The prepared breakfast sits untouched and "the eggs were shriveled and the toast was like stone."

Eventually, the narrator reveals what has happened to the people who lived in the house, which is the only one left standing in the "ruined city" that "gave off a radioactive glow." The narrator describes the four who used to living in the house as silhouettes caught mid-action when a nuclear strike occurred: the father mowing the lawn, the mother picking flowers, and son and daughter playing catch. 

What was important about Dr. John Snow?

Dr. John Snow was a leading physician in Britain during the Victorian Era. He is one of the founders of modern epidemiology. Epidemiology is the study of epidemic disease this included how it spread, what caused it, and how it could be controlled. He is known for his work to find the source of the 1854 cholera outbreak. At the time the main theory on disease transmission was called miasma theory. Miasma theory stated that diseases were a result of there being miasma in the air. Miasma was thought to be a poisonous vapor that consisted of decaying matter and known for its horrible smell. This theory became popular in the Middle Ages and was the prevailing theory for several centuries. Snow’s study contradicted this theory, his study later was realized to be evidence for germ theory which became a common theory after Snow’s death. Germ theory claims that diseases are caused by micro-organisms that are in the body. This theory slowly gained acceptance in the mid 1800s. Eventually germ theory became the prevailing theory instead of miasma and contagion theories. It completely changed the practice of medicine and is still a guiding theory today.

In London during the Victorian era, the streets were crowded and unsanitary which resulted in cholera being a common ailment. The outbreak in 1854 provided Dr. Snow with the conditions to perform his study that aimed to show that cholera could be spread by contaminated water or food. Snow gathered data on the locations where cholera was causing death. As a result Snow was able to show that most of the cases of cholera centered around one area, a public water pump in Soho. He was able to convince officials to remove the handle from the pump but by the time he did the worst of the epidemic has passed. Dr. John Snow was also an advocate of hygienic practices and anesthesia in medical practices. He did experiments with ether and created a way to use the gas safely on patients. When chloroform became the superior anesthetic, Snow designed a mask to administer it. Snow personally dosed Queen Victoria with chloroform when she was in labor with her eighth and ninth children, in 1853 and 1857. Since the Queen was such a high-profile patient, anesthetics became more accepted by the public for use in child-birth.

In the story, Soldiers Home, how does the vision of Germany and the Rhine in the second paragraph contrast with the description in the first...

"Soldier's Home" is yet another short story by Ernest Hemingway detailing the experience of returning World War I veterans. Harold Krebs fought in many of the important military engagements in the war and comes home to his small Oklahoma town an obviously changed man.

In the first paragraph Hemingway describes a picture of Krebs with his college fraternity brothers before the war. The description focuses on the rigid uniformity of the men:

There is a picture which shows him among his fraternity brothers, all of them wearing exactly the same height and style collar.

There is a perfection in this picture. Young men all looking the same on the eve of a great war where they will go off and perform heroically. It is an emotionless picture which cannot predict the horrors that war will bring.

In contrast, the next paragraph describes a picture of Krebs with another soldier and two women. It is much less than perfect. There are no medals showing (in fact the men look disheveled), and the women are not the beautiful creatures befitting heroes. Even the Rhine River, which is part of heroic myth and folklore, is not in the picture. Instead, Hemingway describes two very ordinary men who have not performed heroically. 

Later in the story Krebs is unable to tell anyone about the atrocities of the war. Instead, they only want to hear heroic tales, which are lies. Those in the town will accept nothing less than the perfection detailed in the first paragraph picture. They want life to return to how it was before the war, and for men that conform to a particular ideal. Unfortunately, Krebs has been through too much and feels like an outsider, revealing that "Soldier's Home" is an ironic title because Krebs no longer feels at home.

In The Great Gatsby, how do Nick and Tom differ from one another?

Firstly, in terms of Nick's description, he comes from a prominent, well-to-do family from the Midwest, which implies that they were middle class. His father ran a wholesale hardware business which was founded by his grandfather's brother. Tom, on the other hand came from an enormously wealthy family, so much so, that "even in college his freedom with money was a matter of reproach."

Furthermore, Nick seems to have been quite bookish and academic at college, the same one Tom attended. He mentioned that he "was rather literary in college." There is no mention of his participation in any sport, whilst Tom in contrast, "had been one of the most powerful ends that ever played football at New Haven" and was some sort of national figure in a way. Nick had also come to the East to find work, more particularly, "to learn the bond business," whilst Tom evidently, because of his family's wealth, did not have to work at all. He instead, traveled at whim, with no particular reason to do so.

Another clear difference between the two characters seems to lie in their intelligence. Tom tends to easily believe what he reads as the truth, without making any informed decisions, which makes him appear gullible. This is displayed in his referencing of books which are obviously based on stereotypical and prejudiced notions, whilst Nick seems to be more circumspect. This also indicates that Tom himself is quite prejudiced towards those of another racial disposition since he makes obnoxious remarks in this regard. Nick, on the other hand, does not come across as so severely judgmental.

This does not mean to say that Nick is completely objective though, because he does pass judgment on a number of characters, such as those who attend Gatsby's parties, Tom and Daisy, the characters who attend Tom's get-togethers, including Myrtle Wilson and even Gatsby himself, whom he clearly favors above everyone else. He states, for example, that Jay is 'worth the whole damn bunch put together' and that 'they're a rotten crowd'.

In terms of character, it seems that Nick is more morally upright than Tom. Tom indulges in seedy extra-marital affairs and seems to be not much concerned about what he does. He is hardly ever apologetic and seems to feel no guilt for what he does because he continuously indulges in these secretive tete-a-tetes. Added to this, he is also a hypocrite stating: 'Nowadays people begin by sneering at family life and family institutions, and next they’ll throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between black and white', whilst he is involved in an extra-marital affair. The last part of his remark also displays his bigotry. Nick, in opposition, shows some moral conscience when firstly, he rejects Gatsby's offer of a job for reward in having agreed to arrange a meeting between Jay and Daisy.

Nick also expresses some guilt in having ended an affair with a previous girlfriend and even about breaking up with Jordan Baker, which he found "awkward and unpleasant." He is also the one of only two Jay's 'friends' who attend his funeral, the other being the man with the owl eye glasses. It can, however, be said that in indulging and assisting Jay by arranging a meeting between him and Daisy, Nick is complicit in their adultery. He also remains silent about the affair, which indicates that in this regard, he lacks moral responsibility.

Nick also displays greater humility than Tom could ever hope to have. Tom comes across as boorish and arrogant - a man made supercilious by his wealth, whereas Nick does not seem to display a similar characteristic.

One can also mention one other minor disparity between the two men. Nick had done military service and fought in the First World War, whilst there is no reference about Tom having done the same. In the end, it is this polarity between the two which informs Nick's great dislike for Tom. In their final encounter, he makes this pertinently clear: 

“What’s the matter, Nick? Do you object to shaking hands with me?”

“Yes. You know what I think of you.”

In Lord of the Flies, pick one of the characters to have as a friend. Describe why you chose that character.

Of all the boys on the island, I would most like to be friends with Simon. Simon is very intelligent, with bright eyes. He thinks deeply about things and understands things that the other boys don't. He is a good friend to Ralph, helping him explore the island and helping to build huts. He is nice to the little 'uns, helping them pick fruit that is too high for them to reach. And he shares his meat with Piggy when Jack is being mean to him, showing that he is really kind. He has the soul of a poet, and I like poetry. He notices the beautiful candle buds on one of the bushes, and he makes a special hideaway in a thicket. Simon also has faith and is able to encourage others; he tells Ralph he knows he will make it off the island. Simon has spiritual insight that none of the other boys have; he is the only one who understands the importance of morality in making the society work. Spirituality is also very important to me. Mostly, though, I would like to be friends with Simon so that maybe I could have prevented him from being murdered by the other boys.

In Buried Onions, why does Eddie want to escape Fresno?

After Mr. Stiles's truck is stolen from Eddie while he stops over at his apartment in southeast Fresno, it is evident that Eddie cannot make it living in his old neighborhood and must eventually leave. He is plagued by bad luck, antagonist "cholos," his family and his own bad judgement. He tries taking vocational classes at Fresno City College but finds that air conditioning repair leaves him bored. He reveals that college was just like high school, the teachers uninspiring and the students apathetic.

He tries to be industrious and goes to work painting numbers on curbsides in the wealthier section of north Fresno. When he is hired by Mr. Stiles, things seem to be working out. Mr. Stiles even trusts him with his truck to take gardening waste to the dump. Eddie, feeling good about himself, foolishly stops at his apartment to get a drink of water and change clothes when the truck is stolen, presumably by gang members who are ubiquitous in Eddie's poverty ridden neighborhood.

Even his family is no help to Eddie. His tía (aunt) is hot for Eddie to go after her son's killer and presents Eddie with a gun to do the deed. He doesn't take the gun but is later approached by Angel, who has taken the gun and wants Eddie to help him get the guy with the "yellow shoes" who supposedly killed Jesús. When he refuses to help Angel he cannot escape the idea that Angel is out to get him. Eventually Eddie has a running brawl with Angel which prompts him to join the Navy and get out of town.

In the final lines of the book the bus which will take Eddie to training camp has stopped near an agricultural field. In the field, the symbolic onions of the novel's title make Eddie cry, but this time he indicates these will be the last tears of his childhood. By leaving Fresno he has hopefully overcome the dead end life he has known since childhood.   

Do you admire, despise, or pity Captain Ahab? Explain.

This is a great question, because it's easy to do all three, even during the course of a single chapter. However, I actually primarily pity Ahab, because I see him as a tragic, nearly Shakespearean, hero.

Herman Melville's Moby Dick was ahead of its time, as its exploration of existence was more closely aligned with the later tenets of Modernism than with the sensibilities of the 19th century. Overall, you can think of Moby Dick, the White Whale, as a symbol of existential meaning. Actually, it would be more accurate to think of the whale as a symbol of existential meaninglessness, as the chapter "The Whiteness of the Whale" essentially examines Moby Dick's whiteness and proclaims it to be a symbol of the meaninglessness of life. As such, Ahab's quest is not just the absurd venture of a crazed and crippled sailor; rather, it's a depiction of humanity struggling against the meaninglessness of life. Ahab's pursuit of the whale is a symbol for the universal search for meaning in life, and the captain's ultimate demise is a reference to the impossibility of such a quest. Whether you agree with Melville's gloomy outlook or not, the fact remains that Ahab is a tragic figure, one who dies trying to find the purpose of existence. As such, I cannot help but pity Ahab, despite his craziness and his cruelty. 

What are the "internal confilcts" Jerry is facing?

Initially, Jerry is conflicted about whether or not he should leave his mother alone.  He desperately wants to go to the "wild bay" and leave her at the "safe beach" that they always visit.  Once she senses this, she offers him the opportunity to leave her, but he declines it the first day and "Contrition sent him running after her."  He feels a little guilty about wanting to leave her.  His "contrition" is again referenced the next day, as is his "chivalry."  He feels responsible to and for her, perhaps in part because she is a widow, but he also really wants more independence and freedom.  He is very torn between staying with her and branching out on his own.

Jerry's second internal conflict has to do with swimming through the tunnel.  Although he sometimes thought that "He would do it if it killed him [...]," but in the next moment, "He thought he would return to the house and lie down, and next summer, perhaps, when he had another year's growth in him -- then he would go through the hole."  Jerry recognizes the danger in attempting such a difficult feat; he very literally could drown in that tunnel.  However, he also wants to do it anyway.  He would prove something to himself in accomplishing it. 

"But even after he made the decision, or thought he had, he found himself sitting upon the rock and looking down into the water, and he knew that now [...] -- this was the moment when he would try.  If he did not do it now, he never would." 

He hemmed and hawed for quite a while, and though Jerry shook with fear and dread, he finally did do it.

What were the effects of the South American revolutions?

The South American revolutions, or wars of independence, occurred between 1808 and 1826. In that short period, eight nations (Colombia, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Argentina, Chile, and Venezuela) gained their independence from Spain and Brazil gained its independence from Portugal. Several of the new nations became republics, and Brazil crowned a king, Dom Pedro I. Revolutionary leader Simon Bolivar, a friend of Napoleon, admirer of the American Revolution, and student of the Enlightenment, was the pivotal figure in most of these revolutions, and eventually united much of the territory gained from Spain into a loose federation called Gran Colombia. His vision for a unified South American republic like that in North America was never realized, but the revolutions resulted in independence for most of the continent. 

Why is Curley's wife not given a name in Of Mice and Men?

Curley's wife, whose name is simply a genitive of him, is a stock character who is perceived as an Eve, or temptress intruding on the fraternity of men in Of Mice and Men.

After her first appearance in the narrative, George, who has noticed the way that she stands and arches her back, warns Lennie to avoid her, referring to her as "jail-bait," who will only get the men in trouble if given the opportunity. Certainly, she acts as a negative force for Curley, who constantly must look for her and worry about what she is doing.

Curley's wife is also a threat to the fraternity of men that Steinbeck proffers as the solution to the alienation that the disenfranchised suffer. For instance, when old Candy finds Lennie talking with Crooks, for the first time Candy enters the area that is Crooks's and talks to him--even revealing George and Lennie's plans for owning a farm. Crooks marvels that it seems as though the men will actually buy some land--"I never seen a guy really do it"--and he asks if he, too, can participate in this plan. Just as the men seem to unify, Curley's wife appears and spoils their fraternity as Candy tries to prevent her from entering. Ironically, she knows where Curley is as he has joined the other men who went to town. Candy asks her, "Then if you know, why you want to ast us where Curley is at?"

Well, I ain't giving you no trouble....Think I like to stick in that house alla time?"

Candy tries to get her to leave, but she refuses. "She looked from one face to another, and they were all closed against her." When an emboldened Crooks tells her that she has no right coming into his room, Curley's wife destroys the men's camaraderie as she derogates Crooks so brutally that he withdraws. Moreover, Curley's wife's cruel words that marginalize him so badly cause Crooks to tell Candy to forget what he said about joining in on the dream of a farm, "Well, jus' forget it...."

The next day Curley's wife finds Lennie in the barn and teases him. Even though Lennie tells her that George has instructed him not to talk with her-- "George says you'll get us in a mess"--she tries to engage with him in conversation, and she asks him to feel her hair. Lennie cannot resist her wiles and when he holds her too tightly, she struggles. As he tries to quiet her, Lennie's great strength accidentally breaks her neck, an act that destroys all hopes for the men for fulfilling their dream of an "Eden" where they can live out their lives happily.

Trends in newspaper readership over the past few years show that readership isA. at an all-time high.B. at a historical low.C. increasing in...

You have chosen the correct answer for this question.  Newspaper readership is at an all-time low in the United States these days.  Many newspapers have stopped publishing and many others have had to cut back on their operations due to loss of readership and of advertising.

The main cause of this decline appears to be the internet.  The internet threatens newspapers in two main ways.  First, it has typically given people a free way to access news.  Some newspapers have had free websites, though this is declining now.  Other news sources, such as news networks, continue to have free sites.  Therefore, people can get more news today without paying for a newspaper.  Second, the internet has taken advertising money from the newspapers.  Ads have migrated online and classified ads have moved to sites like Craigslist. 

These trends have reduced the profitability and the readership levels of American newspapers.

In "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket," what mental strategy does Tom use to get himself to move along the ledge?

In the story, Tom uses one main strategy to keep himself moving, and that is blocking out his own thoughts. He forces himself to concentrate on mechanical movements rather than allowing himself to truly think about what's going on. Of course, that strategy fails a lot, but he clings to it. Let's take a look at this strategy and the others he uses during his harrowing excursion on the ledge of the building:

In the back of his mind he knew he'd better hurry and get this over with before he thought too much, and at the window he didn't allow himself to hesitate.

Above, you can see that he's already steeling himself for the task by telling himself not to think.

It was hard to take the first shuffling sideways step then--to make himself move--and the fear stirred in his stomach, but he did it, again by not allowing himself time to think.

A few moments later, Tom keeps on blocking out his thoughts by focusing on quick action instead. He continues this process:

He simply did not permit himself to look down, though the compulsion to do so never left him; nor did he allow himself actually to think. Mechanically--right foot, left foot, over and again--he shuffled along crabwise, watching the projecting wall ahead loom steadily closer.

As you can see in that quote above, Tom keeps his thoughts focused on his bodily movements rather than on thinking about what's below him or what could potentially happen. However, this strategy is really touch-and-go for him--he does look down, he does get incredibly frightened, and he does imagine what it would be like to fall and to die on the street. But even when these thoughts intrude on his consciousness, he keeps trying to dispel them:

It was extremely likely, he knew, that he would faint, slump down along the wall, his face scraping, and then drop backward, a limp weight, out into nothing. And to save his life he concentrated on holding on to consciousness, drawing deliberate deep breaths of cold air into his lungs, fighting to keep his senses aware.

Later, he keeps on trying to block out his mental processes and focus on moving his feet an his fingers:

Out of utter necessity, knowing that any of these thoughts might be reality in the very next seconds, he was slowly able to shut his mind against every thought but what he now began to do. With fear-soaked slowness, he slid his left foot an inch or two toward his own impossibly distant window. Then he slid the fingers of his shivering left hand a corresponding distance. For a moment he could not bring himself to lift his right foot from one ledge to the other; then he did it, and became aware of the harsh exhalation of air from his throat and realized that he was panting.

Tom's strategy of avoiding any real thinking doesn't seem to be a very good one, but since it eventually helps save him and get him back inside, we have to agree that it helped him avoid passing out and falling to his death, even when he stumbled.

In the Old English poem Beowulf, what are some examples of Beowulf's superior strength?

Beowulf does a number of things in the epic Beowulf that show just how great his strength is.

The most dramatic act, and the one that stays with most people, is when he tears the arm off the monster Grendel, who has killed a lot of people. He doesn't use any weapons, but does this with his bare hands.  That's extremely strong.

There are other examples too though. Well before the encounter with Grendel, Beowulf went swimming--and carried his sword in one hand! Since he was swimming in order to fight sea creatures, he was also wearing mail. It's hard enough to swim in waves naked. To do it in clothes, with one hand holding a weapon, and wearing armor must mean he's very strong. Add to that the fact that he swam for five straight days and nights, and you have some sense of just how strong Beowulf was. He topped off his swim by driving his sword into some of the sea creatures, killing nine sea monsters.

What arguments does Lady Macbeth use to convince Macbeth to commit the murder?

Throughout the play, it is Lady Macbeth who plans and urges her husband to kill King Duncan. In Act One, Scene 7, Macbeth agonizes about whether he can kill Duncan and doesn't feel like his ambition is worth committing regicide. Shortly after, Lady Macbeth enters and Macbeth tells her that he cannot go through with the murder. She then begins to question his manhood and asks Macbeth if he is a coward. Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth that if he follows through with the plan, he will be considered more than a man. She also makes Macbeth feel ashamed by telling him that if she had known he was such a coward, she would have "dashed" their baby's brains out. Macbeth then considers the possibility of failure, but Lady Macbeth quiets his concerns by assuring him that if he has courage they won't fail. She goes on to explain the plan which includes framing Duncan's two chamberlains then acting like they grieve Duncan's death. Lady Macbeth finally succeeds in giving her husband confidence to go through with murdering Duncan. 

Why do transition metals (besides iron) have variable valences?

Transition metals are located in the d-block of the periodic table of elements. There are a total of 38 transition metals and they are present in groups 3 to 12, located in the center of the periodic table. Transition metals (including iron) show multiple valence states or oxidation states. The reason for this is the presence of a d-orbital, which is absent from alkali and alkaline earth metals. Transition elements have d orbitals in addition to s orbitals. These orbitals are very close in energy to each other. The atom has the option of losing electrons from both the s and d orbitals. For example, in the case of iron, there are two electrons in the 4s orbital and 6 electrons in the 3d orbital. An iron atom could lose the two electrons from the 4s orbital and show +2 valency or lose an additional electron from the 3d orbital (and have higher stability due to five 3d orbitals, each containing 1 electron) and exhibit a valence of +3.

Hope this helps. 

In Act 3, Bassanio engages the trial for Portia's hand in marriage. What rationale does he employ to make a decision? What does this rational...

During the trial established by Portia's father, Bassanio sifts the choices by acting upon the premise that appearances mislead.

When musing over the gold and silver, he compares their flashy exterior to the sophistic arts that are applied in the fields of legal and religious debate:

In law, what plea so tainted and corrupt / But, being seasoned with a gracious voice, / Obscures the show of evil? In religion, / What damned error but some sober brow / Will bless it, and approve it with a text, / Hiding the grossness with fair ornament? (3.2.75-80)

Bassanio will go on to extend this meditation on pretexts by considering the beard men grow to appear wise.

Thus, he takes as his rationale the proposition that all flashy displays are deceitful. From this premise he is able to conclude that he ought to choose the lead casket. This reasoning shows him to be a man skeptical of appearances and who applies a syllogistic reasoning process when making decisions.

Is there alliteration in Tangerine by Edward Bloor? If so, on which page?

Sure, we can find some alliteration in this novel. But it's likely to be accidental on the part of the author.

Generally, we look for alliteration in poetry, or in poetic prose, especially in works meant to be enjoyed aloud like plays and speeches. Alliteration is a sound device in which the writer repeats the beginning sounds of words on purpose, in order to grab our attention, add emphasis, make phrases memorable, add rhythm, and so on. For example, "weak and weary" is a phrase featuring alliteration in the line "As I pondered, weak and weary" in Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven."

If you look inside the novel Tangerine, you'll find alliteration in lines like "too many times" (page 11) and "The smoke was thick and strong smelling" (page 33) and "sick to my soul" (page 206). 

However, these examples may not reflect a purposeful use of alliteration by the author. Bloor's narrator in the story, Paul, has a straightforward, factual style of expressing actions and feelings. That's why it's more likely that anything alliterative he says in his narration is just a coincidence rather than an attempt at being poetic. After all, there are only so many sounds in the English language, so it's natural for us to find repetitions of them within even short phrases and sentences.

Please give a short explanation of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a 13-day period during October 1962 in which the United States and the Soviet Union were on the brink of nuclear warfare. The Soviet Union had secretly begun stockpiling nuclear missiles on Cuba, and an American spy plane photographed these missile sites.

President John F. Kennedy and his advisors decided the best course of action was to place a naval blockade around Cuba to stop the Russians from bringing more supplies to Cuba. The Americans refused to remove the blockade until the Soviets destroyed the missile sites.

Many people feared the Soviet Union would respond by shooting a nuclear missile at the United States; the United States would respond in kind, causing a global nuclear catastrophe. Thankfully, this did not happen. The Americans and Soviets reached an agreement; the Soviets would destroy the missile sites and the Americans would leave Cuba alone. Nuclear warfare was averted.

What does the Ghost of Christmas Past tell Scrooge?

The Ghost of Christmas Past visits Scrooge in the second part of "A Christmas Carol." When they first meet, the ghost tells Scrooge that he represents Scrooge's past, not the past in general, and that his visit is prompted by concern for Scrooge's welfare. What is most interesting about this opening conversation is that the ghost appears able to read Scrooge's thoughts. Internally, for example, Scrooge mocks the ghost's reason for visiting, believing that a night of unbroken sleep would have a more positive effect on his welfare. As if by telepathy, the ghost retorts that it is more a question of Scrooge's "reclamation" than of welfare.

The course of the ghost's visit continues along this theme. The ghost shows Scrooge painful memories of his childhood and formative years and appears to know the people from Scrooge's past intimately. Of his sister, Fanny, for instance, the ghost comments on her "large heart," a sentiment which Scrooge shares. 

The pair continue their journey through Scrooge's past. After seeing Belle, Scrooge's former fiancée, Scrooge asks the ghost to take him away from these memories, to which the ghost replies:

"I told you these were shadows of the things that have been,'' said the Ghost. "That they are what they are, do not blame me!''

Here, the ghost tells Scrooge something of crucial importance: that the present-day Scrooge is the product of these early experiences and that the only way to heal the pain of the past is to reform today. This message is so powerful that it begins the process of transformation in Scrooge, forcing him to accept how his actions have impacted the lives of others. This, then, is the foundation of Scrooge's reformation, which is steadily developed over his next two encounters.

What was Tom's conflict in "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket"?

Tom experiences several conflicts throughout the story, both internal and external.  They include man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs. self, and man vs. society. 

To begin, an external, man vs. man conflict is when Tom's wife wants him to join her at a movie for the evening.  However, Tom chooses to stay home to continue working.  

Another external conflict is man vs. nature.  This arises when the draft from the door closing as his wife leaves causes the sheet of paper to fly out the open window.  Tom must risk his life on the edge of the building to retrieve the important piece of paper, which brings us to the two main conflicts of the story.  

Tom's internal, man vs. man conflict revolves around how much importance he should place on his work.  He feels that what he is doing is very imporant; however, he also regrets missing quality time with his wife.  At first, Tom clearly chooses his work over his wife when he decides not to go to the movie with her.  He also puts his work first when he risks his life to recover the paper from the building's ledge.  Tom's internal conflict is also indicative of another external conflict.

Probably the most significant conflict of the story is Tom's external, man vs. society issue.  He feels that he needs to work so hard for a promotion that is not even a given.  There is no telling whether his extra work will pay off in the end; however, he feels the societal pressure to do so in the hopes of earning more money to provide a better life for his family.  

Does Atticus really believe people are created equal, or does he just say this as a strategy to influence the jury? Does he tell the jury this for...

During Atticus' closing remarks, he explains to the jury Mayella's motivation for falsely accusing Tom Robinson of assaulting and raping her and also addresses the significant prejudice against African Americans throughout the community of Maycomb. Atticus concludes his final remarks by commenting on Thomas Jefferson's famous words that "all men are created equal." Atticus mentions that he finds Jefferson's assumption that all men are created equal to be ridiculous. He goes on to say that people vary in different ways from intelligence to opportunity. Atticus then comments that there is one institution where every man is viewed and treated equally. He then mentions that the United States' court system is the only place where all men are considered equal. He goes to say that a court is only as good as its jury and urges each jury member to judge Tom Robinson's case without prejudice.

Atticus mentions that all men are created equal in a court of law to influence the jury's decision. He wants them to treat Tom Robinson equally and not let their prejudiced beliefs get in the way of their judgment.

In what parts of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird do people talk negatively about Tom Robinson being black or talk negatively about black people?

Racist dialogue concerning either Tom Robinson or African Americans in general occurs all throughout Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Some of the best examples can be seen during Aunt Alexandra's missionary circle meeting in Chapter 24.

In this chapter, Scout is invited to join her aunt's missionary circle for refreshments, as part of Scout's training to be a lady, and she does so dressed in her Sunday best. However, Scout witnesses some very unladylike conversation in that the things the ladies say at the meeting are very racist and hypocritical. One example can be seen in the conversation that follows when Mrs. Merriweather says to Scout how fortunate she is to "live in a Christian home" outside of all of the "sin and squalor" of other regions, such as Africa. One woman named Gertrude responds to Mrs. Merriweather's comment about "sin and squalor." While we aren't told what Gertrude says, we are told Mrs. Merriweather's surprising response:

Sin and squalor—what was that Gertrude? ... Oh that. Well, I always say forgive and forget, forgive and forget. Thing that church ought to do is help her lead a Christian life for those children from here on out. (Ch. 24)

When Scout asks Mrs. Merriweather whom she is speaking of, Mrs. Merriweather replies that she is talking about Helen Robinson, Tom Robinson's wife. In other words, Mrs. Merriweather is saying that Helen should be forgiven and her disgraces forgotten, even though Helen has actually not done anything wrong. Mrs. Merriweather is also saying that the town needs to help Helen "lead a Christian life," which assumes Helen has not been doing so already. But that assumption contradicts what we already know to be true of the Robinsons; we learn back in Chapter 9 that the Robinsons are decent folks and active members of Calpurnia's church. All of Mrs. Merriweather's comments show she has judged Tom Robinson to be guilty, despite court evidence proving the contrary. She also believes Tom's guilt has somehow rubbed off on Helen. Mrs. Merriweather's comments further show that she assumes all African Americans are somehow inherently immoral or evil.

We see the exact same prejudiced assumption expressed later in the conversation by Mrs. Farrow:

We can educate 'em til we're blue in the face, we can try till we drop to make Christians out of 'em, but there's no lady safe in her bed these nights. (Ch. 24)

As we can see, Mrs. Farrow's comment shows she assumes that African Americans are incapable of being educated and incapable of being taught Christian values because she assumes not just that they are inferior to whites but that they are inherently evil.

What does the road symbolize in "The Road Not Taken"? What about the woods?

The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost, is potentially the most famous English-language poem. In the poem, a narrator is faced with two different paths in the woods. He takes one of these paths, and foresees himself claiming that this choice "made all the difference." The narrator sees his choice as significant whether or not the choice actually made a difference. In the poem, the roads and the wood are prominently featured, and these images are crucial to the poem's success.

The roads can symbolize a direction or path in life. Pursuing a career as a doctor could be seen as a "road." Studying literature could also be seen as a "road." In this poem, the narrator decides to take a road that has not been trodden by as many people. Some paths, like being a doctor or a lawyer, could be seen as well-trodden paths. Whereas others, like those in the creative fields, are harder to decipher. These would be less-trodden paths. 

The woods can symbolize many things, but they may best symbolize hardship. In this poem, the well-trodden path is often seen as less wooded, meaning it is an easier path to take. The less-trodden path is viewed as more difficult to travel. For instance, one could say a creative "road" is harder because there are more opportunities to fail. 

How does Mordred divert from the code of chivalry?

The chivalric code dates from the Dark Ages of Britain, and was recorded in writing in the eighth century AD. Because this code was in use during the time of the Emperor Charlemagne, it is known as Charlemagne's Code of Chivalry. The medieval document known as the "Song of Roland" mentions the seventeen rules by which a knight was expected to live his life. Of these seventeen items, twelve rules apply to chivalry as opposed to combat, which demonstrates the importance of this code of behavior and ethics. The four specific concepts of chivalry emphasized by the Order of the Knights of the Round Table in the legend of King Arthur were Honor, Honesty, Valor and Loyalty. The seventeen rules described in the "Song of Roland" can be applied to the events in Le Morte D'Arthur. Mordred is generally disloyal and dishonorable because of his disrespectful behavior towards King Arthur.

Mordred, the son of Arthur, is conceived in an act of deception when the witch Morgause, his half sister, seduces him by tricking him into thinking that she is his wife Guinevere. Mordred, like Arthur, is brought up in secret and told that he has a rightful place in the kingdom. But his sense of entitlement (encouraged by his mother, who despises Arthur) is misplaced. In his arrogance he fails to "refrain from the wanton giving of offense," one of the seventeen rules of chivalry. He also shows greed in wanting to rule the kingdom and its wealth, therefore violating the rule of chivalry that states a knight must "despise pecuniary reward."

The main rule of chivalry violated by Mordred is his failure to "serve the liege lord in valor and faith" (liege is another word for king). He also fails to "obey those placed in authority." Mordred believes he has a right to the crown, but because he is of illegitimate birth, Arthur cannot grant him the right to the throne (even though Arthur has no other children). Mordred refuses this ruling and is determined to take Camelot by force, deliberately disobeying his king and betraying the code of honor.

In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, how does Scout's determination change from the beginning of the book to the end of the book?

"Determination" is when someone comes to a decision or becomes set on solving problems in a specific way. Thus, the way Scout solves problems is her determination. At the beginning of the book, Scout is rambunctious. She is quick to start fights with anyone who challenges her. Atticus, although a gentleman, is deliberate when he deals with and teaches Scout about how to change her behavior. He does not teach by violence, for example. He calmly speaks to her and tries to convey his message in reasonable tones. One such incident includes Atticus allowing Scout to listen to him speak about her with Uncle Jack after she got in a fight with her cousin Francis.

"She's coming along, though. Jem's getting older and she follows his example a good bit now. All she needs is assistance sometimes. . . So far I've been able to get by with threats. . . She knows I know she tries. That's what makes the difference. What bothers me is that she and Jem will have to absorb some ugly things pretty soon. I'm not worried about Jem keeping his head, but Scout'd just as soon jump on someone as look at him if her pride's at stake" (88).

Clearly, Atticus knows his daughter very well. He knows that even though she has a few knee-jerk reactions, she is trying to improve. By the end of the book, Scout has learned to be more guarded with her reactions to people who challenge her pride. Scout learns to look at other people from their perspective and she discovers that people aren't always what they seem to be. She grows a woman's heart because she wants to invite Walter Cunningham over for dinner again; she becomes friends with Cecil Jacobs again; and, she learns to mind her manners in public rather than verbally exploding in public.

One of the best demonstrations of Scout practicing her manners in public is when she puts on a dress and attends a tea party with Aunt Alexandra and Miss Maudie at her house. The guests get to gossiping and saying racist things, but Scout keeps her cool. 

"Aunt Alexandra looked across the room at me and smiled. She looked at a tray of cookies on the table and nodded at them. I carefully picked up the tray and watched myself walk to Mrs. Merriweather. With my best company manners, I asked her if she would have some.

After all, if Aunty could be a lady at a time like this, so could I" (237).

By the end of the book Scout has put off most of her tomboy ways and learned manners, how to control her temper, and how to handle some very adult situations. Her determination for solve problems peacefully and without fighting greatly improves.

Explain the relationship between the reactivity of an element and the likelihood of it existing as an uncombined element.

Reactivity is a measure of the reaction potential of an element. In other words, reactivity of an element tells us the likelihood of an element reacting with another element. For example, an element that has a high reactivity with oxygen, is likely to react with it, on exposure to oxygen or air. 

An element, that has a high reactivity, is more likely to exist in the combined form than uncombined form. For example, if an element has a high reactivity with oxygen, it is more likely to exist as oxide than as pure element, in nature. Nonreactive elements (such as noble gases), on the other hand, are more likely to occur in the pure form, since they are unable to combine with other elements. 

Thus, reactivity of an element is a deterrence to its existence in uncombined or pure form, in the nature.

Hope this helps.