In Elie Wiesel's Night, the narrator mentions the Exile of Providence and the destruction of the Temple at the beginning of his account. These...

Elie Wiesel begins his autobiographical narrative of his experiences in the extermination and labor camps established by Nazi Germany, Night, with a story of Moishe the Beadle, “the poorest of the poor of Sighet, the small Transylvanian town where Elie lived with his family. Moishe is the most popular man in this town for the principle reason that he “stayed out of people’s way.” It is Moishe, however, who takes it upon himself to instruct the young Elie in the more mystical components of Judaism, thereby earning his student’s gratitude and a measure of respect. At the opening of Wiesel’s book, the author describes Moishe the Beadle’s eccentric yet morose character:

“He spoke little. He sang, or rather he chanted, and the few snatches I caught here and there spoke of divine suffering, of the Shekhinah in Exile, where, according to Kabbalah, it awaits its redemption linked to that of man. I met him in 1941. I was almost thirteen and deeply observant. By day I studied Talmud and by night I would run to the synagogue to weep over the destruction of the Temple.”

“Shekhinah” is an ancient Jewish reference to God’s presence on Earth; to the Lord’s divine role in determining man’s destination. The “Shekhinah” is not God, but refers to God’s presence. That’s a pretty loose interpretation, but for purposes of discussion, it means a divine presence among the Jews of ancient history. The failure of the Jews to comply entirely with God’s commandments during the years of exile resulted in this presence disappearing or being removed from the First Temple.

The Old Testament, the original Aramaic and Hebrew Bible, is replete with instances of God punishing His people for their myriad transgressions—mainly their lack of faith that God’s covenant with them will come to pass. Wiesel tells the story of Moishe the Beadle because this eccentric individual’s dedication to ancient scripture is destroyed by his treatment at the hands of the Germans. Following his near-death experience—he survives a massacre of Jews after being shot in the leg by pretending to be dead—Moishe is no longer the committed devotee that he was prior to being captured.

As important to Wiesel’s narrative, Moishe will be the oft- and tragically-ignored voice of alarm regarding the fate that awaits the Jews of Sighet. Having witnessed for himself the horrors of the Holocaust, his warnings to his fellow Jews are nevertheless ignored by the unbelieving masses. As Wiesel describes the situation:

“As for Moishe, he wept and pleaded: ‘Jews, listen to me! That's all I ask of you. No money. No pity. Just listen to me!’ he kept shouting in synagogue, between the prayer at dusk and the evening prayer. Even I did not believe him. I often sat with him, after services, and listened to his tales, trying to understand his grief. But all I felt was pity."

Moishe’s warnings, like those of Moses and his most devoted followers, are not heeded, and many will die. As Elie will soon observe for himself, the destruction of European Jewry at the hands of the Germans and their allies across Eastern and Central Europe is akin to the destruction of the ancient Jewish Temples. Europe’s Jews were systematically exiled and targeted for extermination by the most technologically-advanced nation in that vast continent. By relating the story of Moishe the Beadle and by alluding to the Exile of Providence and the destruction of the Temple, Wiesel is drawing a connection from--is foreshadowing--the destruction of the Temple and the forced exodus of the Jews in ancient times to the modern day forced exile and destruction of modern Judaism at the hands of modern man.

Why does the poet repeat a line or phrase three times in stanza 1 and stanza 3?

Repetition is a technique that many poets use to great effect. Some of the reasons poets use repetition are to enhance the lyricism of the poem, to create cohesion within the poem, and to reinforce the meaning of the poem. Two specific types of repetition used in poetry are a refrain and anaphora. A refrain repeats words between stanzas; anaphora repeats the same words at the beginning of subsequent sentences or clauses. In Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade," he uses both types of repetition to create the three effects noted.

In stanza 1, the words "half a league" are repeated three times in succession. This is a type of anaphora. This repeating phrase increases the lyricism of the poem, that is, it makes an appealing sound to our ears. Because the phrase has a special rhythm, called dactylic, it is especially pleasing. This same rhythm is repeated in each stanza, lending cohesion to the poem, helping it hold together as a unit. The dactylic rhythm gives the feeling of riding horseback, and that reinforces the meaning of the poem. To repeat "half a league" three times helps the reader get the feeling of being a cavalryman on horseback getting closer and closer to to desired destination.

In stanza 3, the words "cannon to right of them, / Cannon to left of them, / Cannon in front of them" are mirrored by the similar but slightly different words at the beginning of stanza 5: "cannon to right of them, / Cannon to left of them, / Cannon behind them." Again, this is anaphora. The dactylic rhythm and anaphora continue to be pleasing to the ear while connecting the stanzas to each other. Here the repetition reinforces the meaning of being surrounded by the Russian artillery that bordered three sides of the field the brigade was charging across. The repetition makes readers feel as if they are in the middle of the battle, too. Imagine just saying, "They were surrounded on three sides while charging down the hill." That conveys the meaning, but not the feeling, of being in the battle. The use of repetition allows the reader to enter into the scene emotionally and with the five senses.

The anaphora at the beginning of several stanzas balances out with the refrain at the end of each stanza that refers to the "six hundred" in one way or another. This again enhances the lyric quality of the poem while tying the stanzas and the entire poem together. Thus repetition is a key technique Tennyson uses to immortalize a battle that otherwise may have been lost in the pages of history.

What is the molar mass of magnesium oxide? I want the answer not to be round and to be used by this periodic chart

Molar mass is the mass of one mole of a compound. One mole is 6.02x10^23 molecules of that compound.

The formula for magnesium oxide is MgO. This means every molecule of magnesium oxide contains one magnesium atom and one oxygen atom. In order to find the molar mass of a compound, you must sum the individual molar masses of the atoms which form that compound.

The molar mass of an element is the atomic weight of that element. Using the table you provided, we find the molar masses of Mg and O are 24.305 grams/mol and 15.999 grams/mol, respectively. 

So the molar mass of magnesium oxide is (24.305 + 15.999) = 40.304 grams/mole.

Now, with regards to rounding, 40.304 is a correct answer with respect to significant digits. 

By the end of this poem, how does the person feel about his or her decision?

Presumably the speaker of this poem is Robert Frost himself, as he acknowledged in some of his public readings. He is thinking about a career decision he made many years ago. He had to make a choice between seeking a secure profession which would enable him to live in comfort or to devote himself to poetry and live very simply close to nature. Many aspiring artists are confronted with that choice fairly early in life. They don't know whether to trust their instincts and go ahead with the pursuit of their dreams, or whether to play it safe and get a "day job," so to speak. It is hard to do both. Frost seems to have felt it was impossible for him. The two roads went off in different directions, and as he says in the poem::

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood...

Frost chose to devote his life to his poetry. Looking back, as he does in the poem, he is still not sure if he made the right choice, because he cannot know what would have happened if he had taken the other "road." No doubt he would have continued writing poetry. But since his life would have been so different, he would not have written any of the same poems, such as "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening." His published poetry often reflects a simple, rural life. 

Frost does not appear to regret the choice he made, but he sounds wistful in the last stanza of "The Road Not Taken," as if he wishes he knew what his alternate life would have been like if he had taken the other road. Many people feel this way as they grow older. There are so many crossroads in life and so many hard choices to make. When he says:

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence

The sigh is actually represented in the poem by a break and a repetition of the word "I."

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by...

The "sigh" can be interpreted to mean that he does not necessarily regret the choice he made but that he recalls all the hardships and privations his decision cost him over the years. We get glimpses of his independent lifestyle in many of his poems, such as "Mending Wall" and "Two Tramps in Mud Time."

What is the relationship between Captain Torres and the barber?

Captain Torres and the barber are both enemies. The barber is a secret rebel, the sort hunted by Captain Torres and his soldiers.

The barber initially thinks that his secret has not been discovered by Captain Torres. As he nervously shaves the captain, he tries to appear nonchalant by engaging his enemy in conversation. Meanwhile, Captain Torres knows about the barber's secret revolutionary activities, although he does not let on until the end of the story.

Instead, he tells the barber to go to the local school at six o'clock that evening. There, Captain Torres is planning to execute a freshly captured group of fourteen rebels. Upon hearing this, the barber becomes visibly agitated. He remembers that this is the same captain who forced the whole town to look upon the mutilated, naked bodies of four previously executed rebels. As he performs the tasks of a barber, he toys with the idea of killing his enemy. However, he soon comes to the conclusion that he does not want to be known as a coward who executes his enemies when they are at a disadvantage. Also, he doesn't want the dubious glory of being known as a murderer.

The story ends with Captain Torres thanking the barber for his shave and acknowledging that he came to test whether the barber would kill him if he had him in his power.

What are four examples of Squeaky's negative personality traits, obstacles, or weaknesses from the story "Raymond's Run?"

Squeaky, the narrator in "Raymond's Run" by Toni Cade Bambara, is a wonderful character, but like all realistic characters, she has some negative traits. First of all, she likes to fight. She even says she would rather physically fight someone than talk it out with him/her. 

"I much rather just knock you down and take my chances even if I am a little girl with skinny arms and a squeaky voice, which is how I got the name Squeaky" (Bambara 1)

Squeaky also might be considered a little conceited about her running. She says that she is the fastest runner in the neighborhood other than her dad and brags about winning all of the races she enters.

"There is no track meet that I don't win the first place medal. I use to win the twenty-yard dash when I was a little kid in kindergarten. Nowadays, it's the fifty-yard dash. And tomorrow I'm subject to run the quarter-meter relay all by myself and come in first, second, and third" (Bambara 1-2)

Third, Squeaky is judgmental. She makes fun of Cynthia Procter for not admitting to studying for the spelling bee or practicing piano. Squeaky seems to think she (Squeaky) is the better person for being up front and out in the open about her own practicing. Squeaky is proud of the fact that she practices her running whenever she gets the chance, even if it embarrasses her mother.

Finally, Squeaky also lowers herself to the level of the same group of girls who call Raymond names and make fun of him by calling the girls names like "fatso" and "stupid." On one hand she is defending her brother, but on the other she is doing to them exactly what she doesn't like them doing to her brother. 

Is Batallie's philosophy something we could realistically live by? Critically discuss with reference to the concepts of unproductive expenditure...

First, we will discuss Bataille's principles of unproductive expenditure and transgression. Then, we will look at whether we can realistically live by Bataille's philosophy.

Unproductive expenditures.

Accordingly, Georges Bataille argues that a nation's true economic viability centers on the principle of the accursed share, where unproductive expenditures propel the nation's continued success and relevance. As opposed to the classical economic prototype, Bataille presents a model based on the North American Indian potlatch. A potlatch is a ceremony dedicated to gift-giving; in many Native American cultures, a leader is vested with the responsibility of service to his community as well as the stewardship (not ownership) of the wealth of his tribe. The purpose of these gift-giving ceremonies is to ensure that positions of power do not lead to unmitigated abuses of authority in Native American society.

Read more about the potlatch here.

Therefore, Bataille reasons that every viable economy should not be overtly focused on profit, but rather on the 'unproductive expenditure' of material and non-material goods for the benefit of society. In other words, his economic model is focused on the principle of loss, rather than on accumulation. In expending one's wealth for others, Bataille sees the redistribution of this wealth as intrinsic to social justice and economic equality. He believes that this method of redistributing wealth will weaken the bourgeoisie tendency to expend wealth for selfish purposes, especially for war.

Sources: Reading Bataille now by Shannon Winnubst.

Georges Bataille: A critical introduction by Benjamin Noys.

The Headless Republic: Sacrificial violence in modern French thought by Jesse Goldhammer.

Bataille relishes the principle of absolute loss in his unproductive expenditure theory because it negates the prevailing dominance of economic models circumscribed by rigid rules. In essence, his theory is based on the philosophy of rebellion:

...Bataille expands the domain of unproductive expenditure beyond the economic realm: 'Luxury, mourning, war, cults, the construction of sumptuary monuments, games, spectacles, arts, perverse sexual activity (i.e. deflected from genital finality- all these represent activities which, at least in primitive circumstances, have no end beyond themselves.' (Bataille, The Notion of Expenditure).

Transgression.

Bataille uses the same principle of rebellion in his transgressive theory of life. If you look at the realm of transgressive fiction, you will see that many of the protagonists and characters in these stories focus on eliminating barriers to self-actualization through illicit and bizarre rituals/acts. The idea is to 'transgress' the limits of decency in order to realize self-expression and autonomy. Some examples of transgressive fiction include Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs, American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, Requiem for a Dream by Hubert Selby Jr, and of course, Story of the Eye by Georges Bataille.

Much of transgressive fiction concerns itself with taboo subjects such as necrophilia, pedophilia, incest, random acts of brutal violence, and cannibalism. In essence, Bataille and other authors like him take up subjects antithetical to socially acceptable norms.

Can we realistically live by Bataille's philosophy?

To answer this question, we must first ask ourselves some preliminary questions:

a)How feasible will it be to implement the potlatch concept of redistributive income on society? Can we realistically expect all our leaders to voluntarily submit to the unmitigated loss of their personal property and wealth?

b)If the principle of unproductive expenditures relate to areas as diverse as war and the reproductive system, how will we

i)repopulate the next generation of taxpayers to supplement the needs of the growing aging population in both western and eastern nations?

ii)work to secure our national security needs by investing in new technologies and weapons to combat terrorism?

c)How will society accept the nihilism of a Patrick Bates in American Psycho, who, in order to overcome his despair at living a materialistic lifestyle, chooses to indulge in bizarre acts of sexuality, coupled with brutal violence? Can we accept that all acts are self-actualizing, including murder, torture, and pedophilia?

Examining the personality of Patrick Bateman in American Psycho.

In Lolita, can we accept Humbert Humbert's manipulation and victimization of the defenseless Lolita without reservation? How about the sadistic and macabre sexual acts perpetrated on the unsuspecting Don Aminado by the narrator and two other characters in Georges Bataille's Story of the Eye? In both instances, we would have to tolerate socially taboo practices such as necrophilia, pedophilia, and brutal physical violence as valid responses to despair and alienation.

In essence, should our need for self-actualization take into account the need for others to be safe from physical and emotional acts of violence?

Hopefully, such questions will help you examine your own thoughts about the feasibility of Bataille's philosophy for our modern age. Interesting question!