What was Elizabeth Cady Stanton trying to accomplish by writing Solitude to Self?

In her "Solitude to Self" speech, Elizabeth Cady Stanton argued the case of equal rights. She gave the speech when she retired in 1892 at age 77 from serving as the first president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), of which she was a founder.


Stanton put forward that each individual—in their soul, in their conscience, and as a citizen—had the same rights. In regard to women in particular, she spoke of self determination, as each woman was the "arbiter of her own destiny," on a desert island like a female Robinson Crusoe.


Stanton raised four specific points. The first was the individual woman's right to apply her faculties to securing safety and happiness for herself.


The second point pertained to citizenship. Since women are members of the nation, the principles of government meant they have the same rights as all other members.


Stanton's third point involved rights and duties for happiness and development. These too were equal, based in woman's role in civilization.


Only in the fourth aspect might there be a difference as some specific types of training might be needed for "the incidental relations of life," which included roles as mother or wife.


The overall solitude in self argument meant that given human individuality and the "infinite diversity in human character," a nation would experience a great loss if any whole group of people were "uneducated and unrepresented in the government."
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5315/

Elizabeth Cady Stanton was a renowned feminist and women's rights campaigner of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Over the course of her long, illustrious career as an activist, she made many passionate speeches in support of the cause to which she devoted the whole of her adult life. But the one she valued the most was her farewell speech, the speech she gave upon resigning her position as president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) in 1892.
Stanton's valedictory address, entitled "The Solitude of the Self" is an eloquent plea for the value of each individual human being, men and women alike. What Stanton does in this speech is to place the struggle for women's rights in a broader context. She argues that the campaign for women's equality is ultimately about defending and protecting the rights of each individual; the issue of women's rights is important for everyone, not just women.
Crucially, Stanton draws upon numerous strands of American culture, such as Protestant individualism and the fundamental principles of republican government, to bolster her argument. In doing so, she's attempting to show that the women's rights movement and the values it promotes are entirely consistent with long-standing American traditions.
It's important to remember that, at that time, there was still widespread hostility towards the very notion of women's equality, and not just from men. Opponents argued that activists such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton were turning the established order of things upside-down, destroying the very foundations of society. In placing the women's rights movement in a wider historical, philosophical, and political context, Stanton was attempting to allay these concerns, trying to convince those skeptical of the cause of equality that it emanates from the very deepest and best traditions of American individualism and American liberty.

What are the characteristics of Islamic art?

Artistic traditions developed in diverse ways as Islam spread around the world, beginning in the seventh century. The characteristics of Islamic art vary considerably in different parts of the world and at different times. Several places and periods are especially significant in the development of distinctive styles. Some of the distinguishing characteristics that arose in the past are still maintained today, while others are associated only with those historical periods.
One primary characteristic of Islamic art is the avoidance of depicting living figures, especially human figures, as such depiction was considered idolatry. As such, geometric patterning and stylized naturalistic patterning tends to dominate. This tendency away from representation depends in part on the purpose of the objects of art—whether sacred or secular—and again varies depending on place and time.
Art in all media forms is well developed in Islamic cultures, again with significant variations by place and time. Spectacular examples of Islamic architecture, for example, are associated with the Muslim (Moorish) domination of Spain in the 8th through 15th centuries. The Alhambra complex and the Mosque at Córdoba (later a cathedral) are notable examples.
The text and decoration in the Qur’an is an area where extravagant lavish geometric decoration can be observed. During the Ottoman Empire (centered in Turkey), in particular, extravagant Qur’ans were produced, using polychrome inks and gold.
In the field of decorative arts, Islamic silks of the Safavid period are considered the pinnacle of weaving in Persia (contemporary Iran). These elaborate textiles, often in sumptuous velvets, frequently feature human and animal figures.
https://asia.si.edu/exhibition/the-art-of-the-quran-treasures-from-the-museum-of-turkish-and-islamic-arts/

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/safa_3/hd_safa_3.htm

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/media/moorish-art/

What is the meaning of "sea-scented beach" in the poem "Meeting at Night?"

This poem makes use of a great deal of imagery—vivid descriptions of sensory information—in order to really bring the experience of the speaker to life and to show, perhaps, how vibrant the world appears to one who is involved in a romance. The speaker describes the "grey sea and the long black land" as well as the "yellow half-moon large and low"; both of these are visual images, describing something one might see. The speaker describes the "pushing prow" of the boat and how its speed is slowed by the "slushy sand": both of these are tactile images, describing something one might physically (as opposed to emotionally) feel.
In the poem's second part, after the speaker's boat has landed, the speaker describes the stretch of "warm sea-scented beach," an image that combines both the tactile and the olfactory, something we might physically feel and something we could smell, respectively. Adding an image that addresses the way the place not only looks and feels but also smells makes our mental picture that much more vivid. The sense of smell is supposed to be the most linked to memory, so if the reader has ever smelled the warm beach, such an image is going to be quite effective in terms of conveying experience and bringing the reader emotionally closer to the story told by this poem.

Who’s actions suggest that Philip's attitude may not always help him accomplish his goals?

The reasons for Philip’s attitude problems are not fully explored in Nothing But the Truth. Philip compartmentalizes his life, not acknowledging how the different areas are interrelated. He excels at athletics and will not or cannot understand that his academic performance is the basis on which participation in sports is allowed. It may be that he has a learning disability that affects his performance in English class. For whatever reason, he does not do even the minimum on his English assignments and blames his poor performance on the teacher’s personal opinion of him. When his low grades cause his removal from the track team, he lies to his parents. (For some reason, the coach does not contact the parents about this matter but merely speaks with the child.) Rather than facing the situation, Philip begins to hum in class specifically to annoy his teacher. He does not look ahead to the consequences of his actions, and soon the situation snowballs out of control.

Discuss the ways in which Bradstreet blends domestic and theological imagery in her writings, specifically in "To My Dear and Loving Husband," "Here Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House," and "To my Dear Children."

Anne Bradstreet moves between domestic and theological concerns within a single poem, often using definite visual imagery for the domestic aspects and then moving off into abstract, spiritual matters.
"To My Dear and Loving Husband" initially seems to be a conventional love poem, as the speaker suggests that their union is complete that they are as one. She recounts her connections to her husband with multiple superlatives images, such as “gold” and “riches.” She brings in “the heavens” as solely capable of repaying what she feels she owes him. At the end, the spiritual dimension is strongest as she encourages him to think of their love as having positive effects that may factor into their salvation: “That when we live no more we may live ever.”
"Here Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House" has the greatest amount of concrete imagery of the domestic. It revisits the speaker's fear upon waking to find their house in flames. During the fire, they cried out to God for succor in their distress, but afterward they had to conclude that God had only taken back what was his. The domestic details occupy most of the second half of the poem, as the speaker lists the things they lost and will miss. The theological slant emerges most strongly, however, as they say goodbye to the things that represent false attachment to the material world: “Adieu, adieu, all’s vanity.”
In "To my Dear Children," the only concrete image is a book, which the speaker, a mother, says she is leaving to her children. This may be an actual book, either one that the poet has written or the Bible, or a metaphorical book, meaning the sum of what she has taught her children in raising them. The good values she imparts, the speaker says, and especially her love, will be accompanied by God’s blessing.
http://eada.lib.umd.edu/text-entries/to-my-dear-children/

https://poets.org/poem/my-dear-and-loving-husband

https://poets.org/poem/verses-upon-burning-our-house

Great question. Anne Bradstreet was a Puritan writer who came to America on the Mayflower. The Puritans came to America in search of religious freedom. Their freedom came at a high cost; this small religious group (there were only 102 passengers on the Mayflower) faced starvation, sickness, and conflicts with the Native Americans whose land they colonized. Living in early America, creating a new settlement, was not easy. Bradstreet and her fellow Puritans were strong individuals who survived great trials.
Anne Bradstreet's poems are surprisingly optimistic when we recognize the immense challenges that she faced. For instance, her poem "To My Dear and Loving Husband" discusses Bradstreet's great appreciation for her spouse. She uses a large amount of domestic diction in this poem. For example, she writes, about her husband, "I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold." There are multiple references to the love between Anne Bradstreet and her husband in the poem. She also writes, "Thy love is such I can no way repay." Some of her explanations of her love involve theological imagery. The first line says, "If ever two were one," which references Genesis 2. This verse discusses how two people become one person when they get married. She also writes, "The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray," which is another example of Christian description.
In "Verses upon the Burning of our House" Bradstreet writes that when she heard cries of "Fire!" she started to pray:

And to my God my heart did cryTo straighten me in my Distress And not to leave me succourless.

Since Bradstreet was in a new land, with few resources, the burning of her home, belongings, and even stored food could have been a devastating and hope-crushing experience. Yet Bradstreet does not lose hope. She reminds herself that in all circumstances, even tragedy, God is in control. This is seen in the following religious imagery:

Thou hast a house on high erectFram'd by that mighty Architect, With glory richly furnished Stands permanent, though this be fled.

In other words, though her earthly house burned to the ground, she takes courage in remembering the Biblical idea that God has a home provided for her in Heaven. This connects to John 14, where Jesus tells the people that God has a house with many rooms prepared for his followers.
This poem also has domestic imagery. For instance, the speaker talks of her household goods that made her home cozy and comfortable:

And here and there the places Where oft I sate and long did lie. Here stood that Trunk, and there that chest,There lay that store I counted best,My pleasant things in ashes lieAnd them behold no more shall I.Under the roof no guest shall sit,Nor at thy Table eat a bit.

These lines discuss the comfortable items and furniture that Bradstreet is sorry to lose. However, the speaker also includes another bit of theological imagery by referencing "Thy Table," reminding herself and her readers that God provides food for his followers, and possibly even referencing the sacrament of communion.

Critically review John Dryden's satirical portrayal of the Duke of Buckingham in the extract "The Portrait of Zimri" from the political allegory Absalom and Achitophel.

In “The Portrait of Zimri,” Dryden satirizes the Duke of Buckingham under this pseudonym, a Hebrew word that translates to “my praise” in English.
The Duke, or Zimri, is portrayed as a representative of all men who were born into wealth and privilege. He suggests that the Duke is a man of resolute opinions—all of which are ignorantly wrong—and transient occupation, thinking himself to be a musician one moment and a politician the next. Dryden asserts that the Duke is actually a “buffoon” of sorts who does not have a real identity.
Because of this, the Duke is presented as wasting his time in the company of loose women and fools, both groups that would simply nod in agreement with him. The Duke is also a black-and-white thinker, judging in extremes with no ability to understand nuance, which further suggests he is an immature person, easily taken advantage of by those who used his gullible nature against him.
At the end of the poem, Dryden says that the fools with which Zimri surrounded himself robbed him of his wealth and honor because of his senseless ego. Overall, Dryden is mocking the Duke of Buckingham to illustrate what happens to nobles who believe falsely in their own imperviousness. More concerned with how he appeared than who he actually was, the Duke is a naive figure who is ultimately degraded into a fool.

What style of language and literary devices did James Baldwin use?

Most authors, regardless of the particular language in which they write, do not use a "non-standard" form of that language throughout a novel except for dialogue, quotations, and isolated phrases or sentences. African American English (AAE), is essentially a set of dialects of English. If a novel is set in the African American community (as most of James Baldwin's novels are), a writer generally may employ AAE not for a third-person narrative but for at least some of the dialogue among characters who speak AAE. However, I tend to think that this, a realistic portrayal of the way people speak, would not be defined by most specialists as a "literary device." To give a single example, a literary device would be something such as the use of irony—in other words, a literary technique that exists independently of the specific language or dialect an author is employing.
Perhaps any issue regarding Baldwin's (or other authors') employment of AAE can be understood better if we analogize it with the use of dialects in languages other than English. For instance, in Mario Puzo's The Godfather, many of the characters speak the Sicilian dialect, which is quite different from standard Italian. Though the novel is written in English, Puzo uses Sicilian words in various quotations. But even if he had written his novel in Italian, Puzo would almost certainly have used standard Italian for his third-person narrative, and probably for most of the dialogue as well. Similarly, African American writers generally use standard English, though novels written in the first person sometimes employ AAE, such as Alice Walker's The Color Purple.
https://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/what-ebonics-african-american-english

Can the roots of the Iranian Revolution be traced straight back to the 1953 coup?

It's possible to trace the causes of the 1979 Iranian revolution back to the 1953 coup, which ousted Mohammed Mossadegh, but why stop there? That was just a prominent event in a long struggle for dominance between Iranian nationalists, British colonialists, oil companies, and the dominant forces of the Cold War. Focusing on the coup distorts history; you have to look at everything in context.
By the time Ayatollah Khomeini and his followers seized power in Tehran, Iran was a client state of the United States and a proxy for American influence in Southwest Asia. It was perceived as reliable because the Shah was willing to act in favor of American interests in return for money, arms, and a guaranteed market for Iranian oil. Economic and political inequality in Iran, its alignment with America against the Soviet Union, and Iran's tacit support for Israel, even though it voted against the United Nations' recognition in 1947, contributed to the rise of a nationalist movement allied with radical Islamism in the 1960s and 1970s. The 1979 revolution was the culmination of a power struggle between the nationalists and Islamists, the monarchy and the internationalists, and the outside neo-colonial actors on all sides of the Cold War and globalization.
Pointing to the ouster of Mossadegh as the cause of the Iranian revolution misses the point. Recall that the Shah initially opposed the coup because it was wildly unpopular in Iran. He was coerced by the United States and Britain, and he was convinced to support it by his senior army officers as the best way to retain power. After he relented, he ruled repressively, but more or less securely, until the late 1970s.
After the revolution, all the old political fractures remained unhealed. There was still a conflict over oil, now complicated by American sanctions. There was still a nationalist movement, though not allied with radical Islam, competing with the government and enjoying support in the army. There was still Cold War geopolitics, and there was still regional instability, both of which were made worse by the conflict in Palestine and the rising power of Iraq. These external factors contributed to the change in the balance of power inside Iran that made the revolution possible and helped consolidate it afterwards.
https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/world/mideast/041600iran-coup-timeline.html?mcubz=3

https://web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/war_peace/middleeast/hiranianrev.html

https://www.mei.edu/publications/iranian-revolution-february-1979

Some have said that the focus of Othello is not the title character, as is the case with Shakespeare's other great tragedies, Macbeth, King Lear, and Hamlet. Is Othello simply too one-dimensional to be considered a great tragic hero? Does his seemingly unrealistic gullibility lessen our interest in him and his suffering?

I don't know how widespread that opinion is. In the distant past, critics faulted the play because it was a domestic rather than political tragedy. Thomas Rhymer called it a play whose message is for women "to look to their linen." In more recent years, this seems insulting, especially since it suggests that a male character cannot engage in meaningful action outside of government and war.
The play, like so many of Shakespeare's plays, deals in the way language shapes us and our imagination. It explores the complexity of love, particularly when one loves so much that one thinks that when one stops loving, "chaos is come again." Today, it would more likely fit within the genre of psychological thriller, as we slowly see Iago working upon Othello's confidence in himself and in Desdemona. In order for Iago's scheme to work, he has to play upon Othello's own powers of imagination and his understandable sense of being an Other within Venice, navigating the strange new world of domestic relationships and elite manners.
Another way we can approach the play is by analyzing the stories that are told. Othello narrates the story of his life to the men of Venice who find in them escapist adventures. To Desdemona, they are tales that elicit sympathy—both for Othello and for his gender. Othello loves her because she sighs and wishes "nature had made her such a man." These mutual sympathies lie in both character Desdemona's and Othello's courage and sense of not quite fitting in with social conventions. Desdemona is all too eager to leave Venice behind and follow Othello on his newest challenge.
The stories of the handkerchief also have a powerful effect, and like the first story of how Othello and Desdemona account for their love, the history of the handkerchief differs. Eventually, Othello tells one more story. In this one, he turns himself into the enemy of the state [a Turk] and stabs himself [the circumcised dog] to prove himself still a loyal servant to Venice worthy of being memorialized in the record. His political self must kill himself in order to punish his disloyal betrayal of Desdemona, a pearl of Venice:

And say besides that in Aleppo once,
Where a malignant and a turbaned Turk
Beat a Venetian and traduced the state,
I took by the throat the circumcisèd dog,
And smote him, thus.

In all these key scenes, the inner workings of a mind from a noble and free thinking individual into a tormented, murderous victim of language and false stories captures the modern audience. These inner dynamics are as compelling as Hamlet's or Lear's, to many audiences. In all three of these plays, the mind's capacity to know with certainty one of the most important questions we have [are we loved, is the world knowable, how do I respond when faced with a loss of self] are the central work of the play. In Othello, that occurs in Othello's mind.

How did Anne and her family reach the secret annex?

Anne and her family, along with four other Jews, hid in the Secret Annex in the building where Mr. Frank formerly had his office. To reach the Secret Annex, the family ascended the staircase from the hallway on the first floor up to the third floor. At the top of the stairs, there was a landing. To the left, there was a door that led to the area where the workers stored spices and to the attic and loft in the front of the building. To the right of the landing, there was a plain grey door that led to the Secret Annex. Once they entered that door, there was a staircase straight ahead and, to the left, a hallway that fed into their living room.
To get to the Secret Annex to start their hiding, the Frank family wore extra sets of clothes, as they could not be seen carrying suitcases. Instead, they carried schoolbags and shopping bags and walked (except for Margot, who rode her bike), wearing their yellow stars, to Mr. Frank's office building. There, Miep, a sympathetic office worker who helped the Franks, conducted them up the staircase to the annex.

What was bothering Johnsy as she lay on her sick bed in "The Last Leaf"?

We learn from the doctor that Johnsy, lying sick with pneumonia, has only a one in ten chance of surviving. This is because she has decided she is going to die. As the doctor says,

Your little lady has made up her mind that she's not going to get well. Has she anything on her mind?

Sue finds out that Johnsy has on her mind the idea that once the last leaf falls off the ivy outside her window, she will die. She has been counting the leaves falling from the gnarled vine that grows on the brick wall opposite her. The vine is now down to five leaves.
When the vine gets down to one leaf, the desperate Sue goes to speak with the old painter Behrman. She persuades hims to paint a last leaf on the vine that is so realistic it fools Johnsy into thinking it is real. That way, because this leaf never falls, she has time to recover from her illness.

How is imagery used in Hamlet?

Imagery is used in Hamlet to highlight the theme of madness. Following Hamlet's killing of Polonius, Gertrude declares her son to be as

Mad as the sea and wind when both contendWhich is the mightier. (act 4, scene 1)

This is a very powerful image, as it makes it seem as though Hamlet is an uncontrollable force of nature. That's certainly how he comes across to everyone at court.
The sorrow created by madness, this time Ophelia's, is also expressed through powerful imagery. In act 4, scene 5, for example, Horatio, after seeing how much of a state Ophelia is in, describes sorrow as coming like "battalions." A battalion is a large body of troops ready for battle, and by using this expression, Horatio conveys the sense that Ophelia's madness, on top of everything else, has caused such sorrow that its immense power cannot be held back.
It's as if the entire court has been attacked by an enormous deluge of sadness and has no defense. First, there was old King Hamlet's death and then the death of Polonius. Now, on top of everything else, Ophelia's rapidly losing her mind.

Why is this story titled "Hills Like White Elephants"?

A white elephant is a possession that is useless or no longer wanted by its owner. It's also a high-maintenance item or property that brings little or no profit. According to old legends, white elephants were gifts kings would give to courtiers who were no longer in favor. The expense of maintaining the white elephant would financially ruin the courtier.
The baby Jig is likely carrying is carrying is a white elephant, as far as Jig's boyfriend is concerned. It is the kind of "gift" that he feels is not worth the cost. He wants Jig, therefore, to get an abortion, but he also wants her to go along with it. He wants her to at least pretend the abortion was a joint decision—and, of course, for it to happen, she has to agree. Jig, however, wants to keep a the baby.
The term "white elephant" also connects to the idea of "the elephant in the room," a big problem or issue that everyone in a room is aware of but nobody wants to talk about. Jig and her boyfriend keep talking around the abortion, not calling it by name. A further elephant in the room is their strained, angry relationship. Neither one, at this point, is willing to talk frankly about their problems. Their relationship is both a white elephant—no longer worth the cost of maintenance to either of them—and the elephant in the room they won't discuss.

There are at least a couple of plausible theories about why Hemingway titled the story "Hills Like White Elephants."
The simplest form of the expression is that a white elephant is an unwanted possession. This is why churches and other groups hold "rummage" or "white elephant" sales, where people bring their undesired belongings to be sold off to others. In Hemingway's story, it seems clear that the American does not want Jig to keep the baby that she is carrying. To him, an abortion would be a way of ridding the couple of their metaphoric "white elephant." The "hill" might be a metaphor for the arduous task of the two of them coming to the agreement that the pregnancy will be terminated.
It is also arguable that a second meaning is inferred by the landscape surrounding Jig and the American; it looks like the rounded body of someone in the midst of a pregnancy. This idea complements the inference that the pregnancy is a white elephant. It is amplified and omnipresent as the couple conducts their elliptical conversation.

Early in the story Jig and the American have the following exchange of dialogue regarding the long and white hills across the valley of the Ebro:
"They look like white elephants," she said.
"I've never seen one," the man drank his beer.
"No, you wouldn't have."
"I might have," the man said. "Just because you say I wouldn't have doesn't prove anything."
Jig does not mean that the man would not have seen a real white elephant. What she means is that he would never have seen a mountain that looked like a white elephant. In other words, he doesn't have any imagination. This illustrates a difference between them which may ultimately lead to their separation. The American is practical, realistic, literal-minded. The man does not want to talk about any "white elephants." He is concerned about the logistical problems involved in getting an abortion in a foreign, Catholic country. He is also concerned about keeping Jig "on board," so to speak, with the idea of having an abortion.
To some degree the American resembles Clyde Griffiths in Theodore Dreiser's novel An American Tragedy. Clyde is worried and frightened about Roberta Alden's pregnancy, which she has agreed to terminate if he can find someone to perform an abortion; but Clyde has to pretend to be confident and to know what he is doing.

Identify the evidence which supports the fact that, although Nick as a child, he loses some of his innocence.

Two elements seem to suggest that Nick has been forever changed by what he sees during his night assisting a difficult delivery and a related suicide. Hemingway's subtlety is apparent in this brief story, but careful reading reveals two things that are different as we finish the story.
First, if we look at the types and number of questions that Nick asks, we see a noticeable complexity in his latter ones. Instead of wondering where he is going, for instance, he is now seeking meaning behind what is happening. He sees a complexity to adult human experience that he had not noticed earlier, and the basic expository elements that Hemingway offers underscores that.
Next, we might look at the last sentence for an even more subtle change. In this sentence, we see Hemingway's control of language:

In the early morning on the lake sitting in the stern of the boat with his father rowing, he felt quite sure that he would never die.

Now, Nick (despite his seemingly preposterous claim of immortality) situates himself in relation to all sorts of things. The high number of prepositional phrases shows Nick in relation to other things, and those other things are like the things that cause adults to become aware of life's difficulties and the need to respond to them with courage and grit—rather than like the father, who was unable to bear his relation to his wife's suffering.

What happens in chapter 13 in Deadline?

As Chapter 13 opens, the narrator describes an upcoming championship game to be played at Boise State. He's expecting a huge turnout, and there's a great deal of excitement and build-up. Ben and Cody agree to study old tapes together to ready themselves to face their opponents.
Game Day arrives, and in the stadium, "the atmosphere is electric," Ben reports. Things are tense as the captains of the opposing teams go to shake hands; they treat each other disrespectfully.
After the coach gives the team a pep talk, the game begins, with Cody starting off shaky but quickly improving. He approaches a scout from BSU, and Ben reflects that Cody will probably receive an offer. "I am hugely appreciative, even if it didn’t turn out exactly like I wanted," he thinks, wishing he could have earned a little more glory from football, but content to close that chapter of his life.
That weekend, Ben visits Rudy, and the two discuss the ending of Malcolm X's autobiography. Rudy explains to Ben how the Civil Rights Movement unfolded and how Malcolm X affected his life as well as his philosophy. He tells Ben, "'Things spun out of control. Ben, never let things spin out of control. It’s too hard to get it back.'"
Later on, at the Suzuki house, Dallas massages Ben's back. They talk playfully about how much they love each other, and she confides in him that Joe Henry is her son, that she was a mother at age thirteen. She's eager to secure Ben's devotion to her, she confesses how much she hates keeping her motherhood a secret, and Ben promises her that he'll always be around.
Silently, he panics. How can he make good on that promise if he's dying?

What are the themes and the psychological traits of the characters in “In Praise of Shadows” by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki?

The primary themes of this 1933 essay are nostalgia and the superiority of traditional Japanese aesthetics. As the work is nonfiction, there are not any characters per se. The entire essay consists of Jun'ichirō Tanizaki’s opinions so the narrator occupies the role of the central character.
Following the 1923 Yokohama earthquake, Tanizaki—primarily a fiction writer—moved from the city to Kobe, a neighborhood of Kansai, which was considered to be one of the country’s most traditional areas. Increasingly pulling away from the Western-style modernization that was making inroads in Japan, Tanizaki everywhere sought the persistence of the older principles of beauty. While the essay is especially concerned with architecture, this concept extends beyond design and construction of buildings. It encompasses lacquerware, theater, color palettes, lighting, and landscape; the tiniest details, he says, are noteworthy. Tanizaki, who continued to wear kimono, also addresses personal appearance; his praise of female style centers on the courtesans’ exaggerated style, including shaved eyebrows and white makeup that vastly differs from Western norms. The striking contrast between Japan and the West is everywhere obvious, but the author tends to overlook differences within Japanese society and, in concentrating on female appearance, to convey the primacy of a male gaze.
As Tanizaki is primarily concerned with harmony and appearances, he is an aesthete. As he is so deeply steeped in the values of the past, idealist and escapist are some of his prominent psychological traits. The author refers to Japanese, other Asian, and Western writers and thinkers; notable among these are the actors Kongō Iwao and Baikō, the Buddha, Confucius, and Albert Einstein.
The standard English translation by Thomas Harper and Edward Seidensticker was published in 1977. The 2017 illustrated re-publication in English, translated by Gregory Starr, includes contributions by Kengo Kuma and Eve Zimmerman.
http://www.sorabooksjapan.com/inpraiseofshadows.html

What is the purpose of Miss Phelan's visit to The Jackson Journal and Mr. Blackly?

Eugenia Phelan goes to visit the offices of The Jackson Journal to find work as a journalist. Eugenia's always been a very strong-minded, independent person and instinctively rebels against the restrictive roles that southern society has allotted to women. She doesn't want to be a housewife like so many women of her social class; she wants to be a writer, so she goes to The Jackson Journal hoping to get her big break in journalism.
The editor of the paper, Mr. Blackly, does indeed give Eugenia an opportunity, but it's not quite what she hoped for: he gives her a job writing a weekly housekeeping advice column. Although Eugenia's managed to get her foot in the door, she still can't escape the sexist assumption that women are only capable of writing about housework.

Based on details in the letter, what do you know about King's position and the events that prompted him to write this letter? What claim is he supporting in the argument?

In this letter, Dr. King is responding to criticisms from "moderate whites" that he should have refrained from organizing mass protests in Birmingham because they were ill-timed, incited violence, and broke laws. King begins the letter by stating that he was in Birmingham as part of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). He was invited to the city by the local black population to organize mass nonviolent protests against discriminatory conditions in the city. According to this letter, Birmingham is “probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States.” In the letter, King discusses police brutality, bombings, and injustice through the court system. King also argues that leaders first sought to talk to city politicians, but that these talks brought about no positive change. He goes on the argue that it is only through nonviolent action that attention is brought to the movement and, thus, negotiations can occur.
Without the mass protests, he argues, black concerns are ignored and there are no negotiations. King responds directly to calls from others that he should have waited for things to improve and that the protests were ill-timed. He eloquently and passionately points out that blacks have waited a long time and that history has proven that waiting never yields progress.
Towards the end of his letter, he addresses concerns of blacks breaking laws during their protests. He responds to this concern by explaining the idea of civil disobedience. As such, he argues that it is a citizen’s right, and even duty, to break unjust laws. He gives historical examples of others who were seen as “extremists” in their days and who broke that unjust laws of their world (Jesus, Lincoln, Jefferson, etc).

Power is a human experience. How does the individual human experience vary from the collective human experience?

Arthur Miller presents numerous individuals who seek power as well as those who are negatively affected by their power plays. He reserves his harshest judgments for those entrusted with upholding the common good who turn their backs on their duty for purposes of private aggrandizement or status. The collective experience in The Crucible consists largely of the Salem community's consent or complicity in carrying out the court's sentences even in the absence of convincing evidence.


Judge Danforth, in particular, stands to benefit individually from successful prosecution and killing of the "witches." He worries when the girls' stories develop holes. As a judge, Danforth understands his role in supporting the law and in discounting any challenges based on emotion, but his desire for power is greater than his respect for justice.


Power over oneself as self-control and over others through manipulation are shown by John and Abigail. Proctor seems to think that denial will become reality through simply insisting in its truth. Because he lost control and gave in to physical desire, his later effort to regain control costs him his life. Abigail seems to live for power, as we see her progressively add to her initial claims and add John and Elizabeth's names to the accused.


Regarding collective power, the people of Salem seem slow to recognize that they have the power to stop the witch hunt as well as continue it. Seeing evil as something external rather than a personal quality, they not only accept its presence among their people but also contribute to its gains by turning each other in to the authorities.

How does the horse express the personal in "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"?

The horse is made personal through personification, and he also helps express the speaker’s thoughts and feelings, as well as emphasize his separateness from other people. As the poem begins, the reader does not know if the first-person speaker is alone or accompanied. The speaker’s gender is not indicated. They state, “I think I know” whose woods they are in or near. Their reference to the horse provides additional context and location, that they are between the woods and a lake, not near a dwelling.
The speaker also indicates possession and affection by saying, “My little horse.” A close relationship with the horse and an implication that no other human accompanies the speaker are also suggested. Instead of a person’s comments on the strangeness of the situation, the horse’s probable thoughts are provided. In the way they personify and humanize the horse, the speaker indicates their closeness: “My little horse must think it queer” and “He gives his harness bells a shake / To ask if there is some mistake.” The uncertainty or possible error of stopping at this spot are emphasized by drawing the horse into the commentary. The speaker begins by saying that the owner “will not mind” them stopping by his woods, but then has the horse imply what they are doing is “queer” or “a mistake.” The speaker projects their uncertainty onto their only companion, the little horse.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42891/stopping-by-woods-on-a-snowy-evening

What concepts do children learn by doing constructions? Explain and provide specific examples. Could construction be used as an assessment of their understanding?

Children learn a lot from doing constructions. A construction is drawing shapes accurately without a template, using only various tools (like a compass, a ruler, and a pencil). One of the most fundamental things they learn in this process is the connection between angles and shapes. By doing constructions, a child can learn that the sum of the angles in a certain shape equal specific values. They can also learn that the longer the line you draw on a shape, the larger the angle opposite it must be.
Additionally, constructions help younger children with recognizing shapes and using specific tools. Those tools are very useful in the fields of engineering, architecture, landscaping, and others, so they are actually very practical to begin using frequently.
Construction can certainly help children assess their understanding of certain mathematical concepts as well as their ability to use those tools properly.

What are people who argue that abortion leads to a lack of adoptable babies basing their argument on?

This argument, if anyone is bothering to make it, is factually incorrect. UNICEF estimates that there are about 140 million orphans worldwide, and these are only the ones who have been counted. There are many more children, particularly those who have been kidnapped by sex traffickers, who are not included in this statistic. So, there is no lack of children to adopt. In the United States, the process of adopting a child is complex and time-consuming, which is why many hopeful parents choose children from countries where there are fewer barriers, such as China or Cambodia.
It is also important to note that prospective parents, particularly in the United States, tend to be selective on race and age. Black children are the least likely to be adopted within their own countries. Many parents also prefer to adopt babies or toddlers, which leaves older children in the foster care system, often until adulthood.
There is an ethical argument to make against abortion based on one's personal concept of when life begins. However, the argument that abortion will result in fewer children for prospective parents to adopt is simply not true.
https://www.unicef.org/media/media_45279.html

How could you write an epilogue to The Cask of Amontillado in which a case against Montresor comes to trial, including the prosecuting attorney’s closing argument reminding the jury of any evidence that proves Montresor’s guilt, the defense attorney’s closing argument, and the jury’s final verdict?

There are two kinds of evidence that could be used to prosecute the narrator. One is his confession, which he has provided. The other is the body of Fortunato, which remains walled up in the catacombs. There are several complications, however, which might hinder such a case from getting past a grand jury, much less going to trial.
The narrator may be delivering this confession to a priest or an attorney, in which case the other party would be compelled to keep its contents secret. It could be a deathbed confession, and the narrator might since have died. If neither of those applies and the prosecutor is able to try the case, the narrator could invoke their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
The other evidence would be the victim’s body. The narrator would need to provide the exact location of the body. If this does occur and it is exhumed, after fifty years there may be little or no physical evidence by which to identify the victim. As the story takes places in the 19th century, there would have been no DNA evidence and most likely no dental evidence.
A third possible line of evidence would not have been known then: there might be fingerprints on the outside of the tomb, but their use for identification did not begin until the end of the 19th century.
In sum, a confession and a body would be possible evidence but might not be adequate for trying the case.
https://poestories.com/read/amontillado

https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/law/crime-and-law-enforcement/fingerprint

Why did Maniac Magee paint "101" outside his door?

Jeffrey paints the "101" on the door as a proclamation that the baseball shed has an address. It is now 101 Band Shell Blvd, home of Grayson and Jeffrey. This moment comes at the end of a memorable Thanksgiving holiday for both characters, possibly the best (as Jeffrey says). They have feasted and danced, and Jeffrey feels happy, secure, and at home. His giving the shed an address and painting the numbers on the door symbolizes those feelings and lends significance to this moment in his life.
It also marks the beginning of an important stage in Jeffrey's life, as he grows in this sense of home and constructed family. This emotional moment also adds to the sense of tragedy the reader feels when Grayson passes not long after, five days after he and Jeffrey celebrate Christmas together.

In The Other Wes Moore, why did other Wes find it difficult to take Tony's advice on how to behave at home and at school?

Tony's always full of advice for his kid brother. He's forever telling him how important it is for him to get his head down at school and work hard. Trouble is, Tony's not exactly best placed to give such advice being as how he's a high school dropout and hardened criminal. And not just any criminal, either, but a drug dealer.
This is why Wes finds it so difficult to take Tony's advice: he doesn't practice what he preaches. Wes looks up to Tony, but not in a good way. He wants to be a successful drug dealer just like his brother, to have all the trappings of wealth that this dangerous but lucrative occupation can bring in the rough neighborhoods of Baltimore.
Initially, he starts working for his brother as a look-out, which makes it even harder for him to take Tony's advice seriously. After all, if Tony wants him to stay in school and get an education, then why is he allowing his kid brother to get mixed up in the drugs trade, even if it doesn't yet involve selling drugs?

What is Santiago's attitude in The Old Man and the Sea?

In The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway presents an elderly fisherman who is both attuned to the natural world, having spent most of his life fishing in the open sea, and determined to wrest a living out of this dangerous environment. Santiago is both optimistic and stubborn in staying out in his boat long after it seems he has no chance of catching any fish. Once he hooks the marlin, this tenacity turns to obsession, as the sharks literally consume the fish and the impossible situation figuratively consumes his sanity. Out in the boat, not catching any fish for weeks, he starts to get distracted and then corrects himself, "now is the time to think of only one thing. That which I was born for. There might be a big one around that school, he thought."
When he realizes the huge marlin is within his reach, his strategy depends on respecting the fish and understanding its psychology:

He is a great fish and I must convince him, he thought. I must never let him learn his strength nor what he could do if he made his run.

What were the two aims set by Obi for the betterment of the school?

The short story "Dead Men's Path" focuses upon Michael Obi, a twenty-six year old teacher who has recently been promoted and is to take over as the headmaster of a struggling school. Obi is dedicated to teaching according to modern methods, and feels that the school, Ndume Central School, does not work according to these methods. Indeed, he feels that the school is extremely backward, but also that he has the capacity to fix this. He is particularly cheered that all the other teachers on his staff are to be young, unmarried men, because this means they will give all their energy to the school (although Obi's wife is disheartened at the thought of being the only woman involved with the school).
Obi's chief aims are described as being twofold:
1. "A high standard of teaching was insisted upon"— Obi's primary concern is that the level of teaching at the school must be improved.
2. "The school compound was to be turned into a place of beauty"—this gives Nancy, Obi's wife, an opportunity to set up the beautiful gardens she has dreamed of.

Although women are generally off the scene, in what ways do they influence the characters in Hunters in the Snow?

In the story, the female characters that are generally off the scene are Frank's wife (Nancy), Roxanne Brewer (the babysitter Frank is supposedly leaving Nancy for), Juliet Miller, and Juliet (presumably from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet).
Nancy: In the story, we learn that Frank is thinking of leaving Nancy. He mentions that she's a good wife who has been faithful for many years. For his part, he hasn't told Nancy about his intentions to leave her. So, even though Nancy isn't an active part of the story, her behavior still impacts Frank. He wants to leave her but feels guilty. There is nothing in Nancy's behavior that justifies Frank's callous actions.
Roxanne Brewer: Roxanne is the babysitter Frank is having an affair with. We are told that she is fifteen and will be sixteen in a matter of months. Again, Roxanne isn't an active part of the story. However, her beauty and youth inspire Frank's lust for her and his motivation to leave Nancy.
Juliet Miller: We get only a brief mention of Juliet Miller in the story. During the conversation between Frank and Tub, the latter confuses Juliet Miller with Juliet from Shakespeare's play. Tub mentions that Juliet Miller is still a child who hasn't yet developed a woman's body. Here, the mention of Juliet Miller highlights Frank's selfish and creepy behavior in pursuing the young Roxanne as a love interest.
Juliet (Shakespeare): In the story, Frank mentions Juliet from Shakespeare's play to justify his pursuit of Roxanne. He tells Tub that Juliet was only thirteen in Shakespeare's play. Of course, Tub misunderstands Frank. As for Frank, he maintains that Roxanne is "something special" and has opened up "whole worlds" to him. Basically, Frank uses a fictional character in a play to justify his lust and his desire to leave his wife and children.

In "Berenice" by Edgar Allan Poe, is Berenice really dead, or is she alive? Is she in a state like a zombie?

The narrator describes a "disease" which fell upon Berenice. He says that the disease caused "a spirit of change" to sweep over her, and that this "spirit" pervaded "her mind, her habits, and her character." He also says that the disease "came and went," implying that it did not kill her. This impression is compounded when the narrator says that after the disease went, he "knew her [Berenice] not—or no longer as Berenice." Thus it seems that while the disease did not kill Berenice, it did transform her into a different person, a person that would not have been recognized as the lively Berenice who existed before the disease.
On the other hand, if the Berenice that existed after the disease was essentially a different Berenice to the one that existed before the disease, then it would be correct, in a sense, to say that the disease killed the original Berenice. Perhaps this is why the narrator describes the disease as "a fatal disease."
The Berenice that exists after the disease suffers from a sort of epilepsy, which puts her into a "trance very nearly resembling positive dissolution." The narrator later describes this same Berenice "not as the living and breathing Berenice but as the Berenice of a dream." The Berenice of these descriptions does seem somewhat like a zombie. She seems lifeless, especially when compared to the Berenice that existed before the disease.
Later in the story, the zombie-like Berenice dies after a particularly violent epileptic fit. She then comes back to life and is described as "a disfigured body . . . a body enshrouded, yet still breathing, still palpitating, still alive!" The phrase, "still breathing" implies perhaps a zombie rather than the more conventional ghost. At this point, it is probably correct to say that she certainly isn't, in any meaningful sense of the word, dead. And it is probably just as correct to say that she does exist in something like a zombie state.

Write an essay in which you tell me about your three favorite stories of all time. This is to be a five-paragraph essay, including an introductory paragraph, three body paragraphs (one paragraph for each story), and a conclusion paragraph. In each body paragraph, tell me about the stories themselves, the way you feel about them, and how you encountered them. Notice if all of the stories have anything in common with one another. This paper should be 750–1,000 words long. Try to make your reader really see what you love about each particular story.

This looks like a general literature/writing assignment, intended in large part to display your mastery of writing's technical side. Therefore, when you submit your essay, be certain you have taken all effort to provide correct grammar and syntax, and be sure you've adhered to the five-paragraph format.
With that being said, if I were to give any advice for answering an assignment like this one, it would be this: when it comes to choosing any three stories, be sure to think deeply about just what it is that makes these stories worth reading in your experience. Are there certain genres that you find interesting, or certain themes, or even certain preferences in terms of literary conflict? Do you have a preference for certain character archetypes, or certain genres, or certain character archetypes within certain genres? You can also discuss the plotting of a story, or the writing style of the author who wrote it. These are just a few of the questions that you could ask of the texts (there are a lot more). In any case, when it comes to selecting three stories, I think it would be valuable to think about these sorts of questions and try to identify just what it is that makes these stories so effective. In doing so, you may be able to draw points of comparison and points of contrast, which are always very valuable in an assignment like the one you've been given.

How does Shakespeare use irony in Mark Antony's speech?

Mark Antony’s funeral oration in Julius Caesar (act III, scene 2) is rightfully regarded as a masterpiece in the steady deployment of irony. Antony is both personally distraught over Caesar’s murder and deeply worried about the political future of Rome in the hands of the assassins. He does not dare to challenge them openly, and he also wants to move the public to his side and away from the assassins’ position. Brutus and his co-conspirators have claimed that Caesar had to be removed because of his excessive personal ambition. Antony seems to endorse their views, tells the crowd that they have given him permission ("leave") to speak, and says that his intention is not to praise Caesar.
However, Antony proceeds to utterly demolish the conspirators’ claims, using irony in both direct statements and rhetorical questions. He sets up the rest of the speech near the beginning:

The noble BrutusHath told you Caesar was ambitious:If it were so, it was a grievous fault,And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest—For Brutus is an honourable man;So are they all, all honourable men—Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.

Mentioning the wealth Caesar brought to Rome, Antony asks, “Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?” Similarly, regarding Caesar refusing a king’s crown, he asks, “Was this ambition?” On the third repetition of his statement about Brutus and honor, he adds one more word, “sure,” to emphasize subtly what his real meaning is:

Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;And, sure, he is an honourable man.

By questioning “ambition” and repeating “Brutus is an honourable man,” Antony brings the assembled multitude around to thinking that Caesar was not ambitious but rather a humble leader who served his people’s interests, and that Brutus and the others are anything but honorable.

What is the importance of "patience in the wild" in The Call of the Wild?

Surviving the harsh conditions of the Northland requires patience and extreme skill. Patience allows a person (or animal) to accurately judge the environment and prevents them from making fatal mistakes.
London illustrates the importance of patience by depicting the consequences of acting impulsively in the wild. The inexperienced Hal, Charles, and Mercedes demonstrate a lack of patience and respect for the treacherous environment. London writes:

The wonderful patience of the trail which comes to men who toil hard and suffer sore, and remain sweet of speech and kindly, did not come to these two men and the woman. They had no inkling of such a patience. (52)

As a result of their lack of patience and inexperience, several sled dogs die under their care, and the group makes a fatal mistake by attempting to hurry across thin ice. The entire group and their remaining sled dogs die as a result of their impatience and inexperience.
In contrast, individuals who are patient and remain steadfast in the harsh environment are rewarded. While Buck is fighting a moose, he exercises patience and ends up defeating the massive beast. London writes:

There is a patience of the wild—dogged, tireless, persistent as life itself—that holds motionless for endless hours the spider in its web, the snake in its coils, the panther in its ambuscade; this patience belongs peculiarly to life when it hunts its living food; and it belonged to Buck. (79)

By exercising patience, Buck does not make any fatal mistakes and defeats the impatient, rash animal.

Chapters 2 and 3 (p. 23–59) contain a motif of eyes, and, by extension, of seeing and blindness. In fact, the word "eye" appears in some form or another over 25 times in these two chapters. How is Fitzgerald setting up a theme for this book? Choose three references from these two chapters to eyes and sight and discuss how they work together to help Fitzgerald develop this theme.

One of the most striking examples of eyes in chapter 2 is the description of the Dr. T. J. Eckleburg billboard between West Egg and New York City. In the first paragraph of the chapter, the narrator, Nick Carraway, writes,

But above the gray land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg. The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic — their irises are one yard high. They look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose. Evidently some wild wag of an oculist set them there to fatten his practice in the borough of Queens, and then sank down himself into eternal blindness, or forgot them and moved away. But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days, under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground.

This image of T. J. Eckleburg is a prominent part of this landscape and stands as an ambiguous, complex symbol. This symbol is sometimes interpreted as a version of God looking over the characters who pass in front of the sign. However, this would be an ironic image of God because it's simply a capitalist method to drum up business and is also rather empty. The death of the doctor advertising his practice is described as "eternal blindness," suggesting that there is no omniscience to this "God" figure. If you take this analysis a bit further, you could argue it suggests that there is no higher power looking out for our characters, nothing guiding them in terms or morality. Some of the main characters are marked by their irresponsibility and seeming lack of consideration for others, so Fitzgerald begins setting up this idea in the way he describes the eyes of T. J. Eckleburg.
In chapter 3, Nick goes to his first party at Gatsby's mansion. Nick makes many observations about the party, its participants, and the extravagance of the event. He also meets "Owl Eyes" at this party, a strange man who Nick finds in the library. Owls are often associated with wisdom, and the man seems educated, but he does not know how to answer Nick's questions about party guests's behavior. The party chapter sets up the theme of the unreliable nature of appearances and the danger of valuing style over substance. This theme will of course develop and become darker as the novel continues. The party guests's behavior, particularly the driving accident Nick asks Owl Eyes about, is another example of the irresponsible behavior of these privileged characters.

What is a description of Mr. Tumnus's house?

A description of Mr. Tumnus's house can be found in chapter 2. When Mr. Tumnus invites Lucy to his house for tea, he says that it "is only just round the corner" from the lamp-post. He tells her that "there'll be a roaring fire" as well as various food to eat.
Not far from the lamp-post, Mr. Tumnus's house is located in a place where the ground is "rough" and full of rocks and where there are "little hills up and little hills down." Specifically, Mr. Tumnus's house is located at "the bottom of one small valley"—between the hills—and the entrance is "the entrance of a cave."
Inside the house, Lucy describes a cosy, snug room. There is "a wood fire" and "a carpet on the floor and two little chairs": one of the chairs is for Mr. Tumnus and the other is for a guest. All of the walls (being the walls of a cave) are "of reddish stone," and on one of the walls there is "a shelf full of books"—many of these seem to be about myths and legends, with titles such as "Nymphs and Their Ways" and "Is Man a Myth?" In one corner of the room there is a door which Lucy assumes "must lead to Mr. Tumnus' bedroom," but we never see beyond this door for any further description.
There is also "a table and a dresser and a mantlepiece over the fire" in the room, and above the mantlepiece hangs a picture of "an old Faun with a grey beard," which he later tells Lucy is a picture of his father. This picture of his father is really important because it is what later prompts Mr. Tumnus to decide not to hold Lucy for the White Witch after all. He sees the picture and imagines how ashamed his father would be.
Later in the story, in chapter 6, Lucy returns to Mr. Tumnus's house, only to find that someone has broken in and caused lots of malicious damage. The door has been "wrenched off its hinges and broken to bits," suggesting a violent entry. Inside, the room she saw earlier is no longer warm and cosy but "dark and cold," with "a damp feel and smell"—suggesting that it has been empty "for several days." Snow has found its way into the house, through the broken door, and has settled in a heap on the floor. Mixed in with the snow there are the "charred sticks and ashes from the fire." The crockery that Mr. Tumnus had used to serve tea to Lucy the last time now lies "smashed on the floor," and the picture of Mr. Tumnus's father has been "slashed into shreds with a knife."
Also on the floor of the house—"nailed through the carpet"—there is an arrest warrant which explains that Mr. Tumnus has been arrested "on a charge of High Treason against her Imperial Majesty Jadis, Queen of Narnia." Written at the end of the warrant is: "LONG LIVE THE QUEEN!"

Which detail most strongly develops the theme of loneliness in "The Raven"?

The second stanza is remarkably effective at highlighting the speaker's loneliness and sense of desolation. Recalling that strange night when the raven visited him, he refers to the "bleak December" and how each "dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor." These details provide a suitably gloomy backdrop to the events of the poem as they unfurl.
The speaker is all alone in his study, brooding over the death of his beloved Lenore, eagerly wishing that tomorrow will come. As well as being alone physically, he is also alone with his thoughts of his lost lady love—and will be throughout the rest of the poem.
At first, it seems that the raven will provide some distraction for the speaker: will take his mind off Lenore. But with each insistent squawk of "Nevermore," the speaker becomes ever more deeply mired in loneliness and sorrow, until eventually he screams at the bird to leave his loneliness unbroken.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48860/the-raven

How does Brutus Jones attack the prison guard?

Brutus Jones has been sent to prison for murdering a fellow Pullman porter called Jeff over a gambling dispute. While serving time, Brutus is forced to toil away as part of a road gang. One day, he attacks and kills a prison guard with a shovel before making his escape. After he arrives on the island as a stowaway, Jones is never quite able to shake off the haunting memories of the two murders he's committed.
Later on in the play, when he tries to escape from his irate subjects, the "Emperor" Jones encounters the ghosts of Jeff and the prison guard in a forest. He shoots at Jeff's ghostly apparition, which then vanishes. He then reenacts the murder of the prison guard before shooting at the prison guard's ghost to try and ward it off. But try as he might, Jones just cannot escape from his past, either from his own past or the past of his oppressed race, which both follow him around wherever he goes.

What did Black Beauty live on before he could eat grass?

Black Beauty lives on his mother's milk before he's old enough to eat grass. Like all young horses, Black Beauty needs to wait for his teeth to develop before he can eat solid food. Feeding on his mother's milk allows the frail young foal to form a very close bond with her, running alongside her during the daytime and lying down next to her at night. The mare and her foal are inseparable. They stand by the pond in the shade of the trees when it's hot; when the weather gets cold, they snuggle up together in a nice warm shed near the grove.
When Black Beauty's finally old enough to eat grass, he starts spending less time with his mother. She goes out to work in the morning, returning to be with her foal in the evening.

Evaluate the use of song and dance in The Lion and the Jewel by Wole Soyinka.

Wole Soyinka incorporates numerous dimensions of performance into The Lion and the Jewel. The resulting play is a rich medley of Western and African performance traditions. Rather than relying solely on Western conventions of text, plot, and scenography, Soyinka employs Yoruba music, especially drumming, and performers, often without dialogue, to convey the thematic clashes between tradition and modernity.
Dance overlaps with mime in some performance pieces, such as the “lost traveler” dance, which uses a central character, the foreign photographer, as well as chorus members. In this piece, four women compose the form of the “devil horse,” the man’s automobile, which breaks down. The dance functions to provide the backstory of how Sidi was photographed and how the images then appeared in a magazine.
At other times, music and dance are in the background, such as in the scene between the Bale and Sidi. A group of female dancers briefly appears, in pursuit of a man, accompanied by constant drumming. This lends a different interpretation to the male-female interaction of the pair, which might otherwise be seen as the Bale’s pursuit.
https://www.questia.com/read/13871585/the-lion-and-the-jewel

As they head to catacombs, Fortunato states, “I will die of a cough.“ What is ironic about this statement?

After Montresor successfully manipulates Fortunato into following him down into the depths of his family's catacombs—ostensibly to try the expensive, rare Amontillado wine—Fortunato begins to cough severely in the vaults. Montresor pretends to worry about Fortunato's health and insists that they turn around. Fortunato responds by saying, "Enough . . . the cough's a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough." In a brilliant use of irony, Montresor replies, "True —true."
Irony is a figure of speech in which words are used in such a way that their intended meaning is different from the actual meaning. Montresor's words are also an example of dramatic irony, which is when the audience knows something that the characters do not. The audience is aware that Montresor will murder Fortunato and knows that Fortunato will "not die of a cough" (because he's going to be killed by Montresor instead). While Montresor's words appear to be genuine and to show concern for Fortunato's health, he is actually confirming that Fortunato will die a different way. Later on, Montresor shackles Fortunato to the back wall of the vaults and buries him alive by building a wall around him.
https://literarydevices.net/verbal-irony/

Fortunato actually says he will not die of a cough. When he starts coughing because of the nitre on the walls of the catacombs, Montresor suggests they go back to upstairs to spare his health. He says he will let Fortunato's rival, Luchesi, taste the amontillado instead. Fortunato replies as follows:

“Enough,” he said; “the cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough.”

Montresor replies: "True—true."
Verbal irony occurs when a statement means the opposite of what it is intended to mean. What Fortunato means is that he knows he is healthy enough to expect to live a long life. In that sense, a few coughs are not going to kill him. But what that statement really means in the context of the story—and what Montresor means by saying "—is that a cough will not kill Fortunato because Montresor will kill him. His death will be due to being walled up alive in the catacombs by Montresor.

Why do the authors of the "Hyphenated Americans" speech (1915) and the "Shut the Door" speech (1924) believe it is necessary to strictly define Americans and promote efforts to assimilate, or “Americanize,” immigrants in the United States?

One point to remember is that these two speeches were made in times of international turmoil. In 1915, the United States was being faced with the question of whether or not it should join World War I. The writer of the "Hyphenated Americans" speech, Theodore Roosevelt, believed that the United States should join the war. Roosevelt wanted all the different groups in the United States to drop the hyphen in front of their claimed ethnic groups and become what he called "Americans." He stated that there was no room for loyalty to both a mother country and the United States. He used history as an example, stating that some of the Revolutionary War's greatest foreign heroes were listed as Americans in history books, never with hyphens. Roosevelt's desire to see the United States have one common culture was part of a greater attempt to break down hostilities people had between different ethnic and religious groups. This was part of a longer speech in which Roosevelt pushed for military preparedness as well as loyalty to one flag: that of the United States.
In the "Shut the Door" speech given by Senator Ellison Smith in 1924, Smith states that the United States already had accepted enough immigration and argues that it should close its doors. This was during the Red Scare of the 1920s, and many feared anarchist and communist takeover from eastern and southern Europe. Smith argued that the United States should focus on developing its own culture and that it should guard its own resources and employment opportunities for people already living in the country. Congress would go on to pass the National Origins Act, sharply curtailing immigration from southern and eastern Europe at a time when refugees in these countries needed American sanctuary the most. Smith was part of a growing nativist movement in the United States which feared foreign influence and the potential threat it could pose to the national government.
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5080

What is a summary of "The Over-Soul"?

Ralph Waldo Emerson's 1841 essay begins with the assertion that man is, by nature, a seeker of knowledge about his place in the world, where humanity came from, and what its purpose is.
Emerson posits that the Over-Soul lies within every human being, and that all the parts of the Over-Soul within all men create the unity of humanity. Moreover, there are parts of the Over-Soul in everything that exists in nature:

We see the world piece by piece, as the sun, the moon, the animal, the tree; but the whole, of which these are the shining parts, is the soul.

He believes that answers to the questions man has are inevitably delusive and can never be put into truly meaningful words. Instead, the answers reveal themselves through intuition and experience, and the voice that offers sacred answers speaks from within. Consequently, Emerson believes that philosophers should be classed as either literary or sacred. The ones who speak from within, as Jesus did, are the ones who speak transcendently and are worth hearing.
And finally, Emerson believed that the voice can be found within every human, obviating the need for any kind of intermediary between man and Over-Soul.

What is Sharon Draper's purpose for selecting Out of My Mind as the title of this book?

Out of My Mind, by Sharon Draper, is the story of Melody, a young woman with a brilliant mind who is unable to communicate verbally and thus lives solely inside her head. She has deep, complex thoughts but is unable to express them to anyone. Thus, she feels isolated from the rest of the world, and not only isolated, but invisible. People ignore her. Thoughts and feelings define who a person is, and being unable to express them, Melody had no voice.
People were unable to see her for the individual person that she was, and thus, they saw the only what she projected on the outside—a woman with a disability who had no thoughts or feelings to express at all. For a long time, Melody was defined by her disability, as the thoughts and feelings that distinguished her as a person remained trapped inside her mind. Thus, the book is about Melody’s quest be seen—to be heard—to be recognized and understood. For Melody, that meant coming out of her mind, freeing the thoughts and feelings that defined who she was as a person, and thus, making herself visible to the people around her.

What are three main lessons Gary learns in Woodsong?

In Woodsong, Gary learns three lessons from his interaction with the bear, Scarhead. The first lesson he learns is to not lose his temper at a bear or any wild animal that could easily kill him. Gary reports that he is already having a bad day when Scarhead comes up from the south, following the smell of the burning trash. Gary has tried to be smart about when to burn the trash, waiting for the breeze to blow from the North so the bears and other wild animals are not attracted to the smell of food, but on this day, Scarface is unluckily already south, so the scent of the burning trash carries toward him. When Gary sees the bear in the trash, he narrates:

I picked up a stick, threw it at him, and yelled, “Get out of here.” I have made many mistakes in my life, and will probably make many more, but I hope never to throw a stick at a bear again.

It is obvious from this quote that Gary has reacted with a temper toward the bear; he lost his patience and made the “mistake” of showing aggression toward Scarhead. In the future, Gary will not lose his temper around an animal that could kill him before he could even start to run away or fetch his gun.
The second lesson Gary learns is that the bear does not see Gary as a threat. After Gary throws the stick at the bear and realizes his mistake, all he can do is look into the bear’s small eyes and wait to see if he will kill him or not. Scarface is a real threat to Gary, and luckily, the bear seems to not view Gary as a real threat, because he eventually turns around and returns to the trash. Gary says,

Whether I lived or died depended on him, on his thinking, on his ideas about me—whether I was worth the bother or not. I did not think then.

This quote shows that the narrator learns that his life is inconsequential to such an intimidating creature; he needs to be mindful of his own human frailty.
This lesson leads into the third lesson of the story, which is that man is just another animal—and not a very dominant one. Although many would not agree with his perspective, Gary does say that he views himself as nothing more than an animal by the end of the story—not superior to animals. The narrator keeps animals for a living and lives in the wilderness; he is a human, which means he has a history of dominion over animals. Dominion is a fancy word for being a leader, ruler, and caretaker of animals. For many people of faith, this dominion is God-granted; for others who do not hold that religious belief, mankind is still often considered at the top of the food chain because of his superior intelligence. However, Gary learns respect for the wild creatures during his encounter with Scarhead, and he also learns about his own feebleness in comparison with wild creatures. Thus, Gary says that

when it is all boiled down, I am nothing more and nothing less than any other animal in the woods.

How would I write a summary of A Boy Called H?

A summary of the novel will pay equal attention to the important events and the main character's psychological development. It should also highlight the important themes that the author traces through the entire story.
When the story begins, H is seven years old, and Japan is at war with China. By the end of the novel, Japan has lost the war with the Allied forces, the atomic bombs have been dropped on two Japanese cities, and the army of occupation has entered the country. The novel traces H's journey from an innocent young child through the deprivations of war to his final decision as a young adult to study art.
Early experiences that H witnesses contribute to his understanding of what it means to live in a country during wartime. These include young men being forced to join the military or taking their own lives in order to avoid doing so. Along with external events, H matures internally, as other boys do. He gradually comes to understand the idea of nationalism through restrictions on his personal activities (including wearing the same school uniform as all other children) and the glorification of the empire on its 2600th anniversary.
The gradual imposition of more restrictions, as the country experiences war-time deprivations in food and supplies, are things the boy must accept. Entering his teens, H is required, like other boys, to participate in military exercises, regardless of his lack of interest (as he prefers drawing).
His hometown is bombed, and many families become homeless. Learning of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima near where his relatives live has a devastating effect. Fifteen when the war ends, H must make decisions about his studies and career path amidst a somber atmosphere of defeat and occupation.

In the West, the early promise of détente soured under this news of communist growth in the Third World. As Americans turned against détente, feeling it was the reason for the relative decline in US power, Presidents Ford and Carter still sought to keep détente viable, feeling that, in their estimation, its benefits still outweighed any costs. Ultimately, however, the same misunderstandings that helped precipitate the Cuban Missile Crisis would lead to another cold spell in an already Cold War. The radical differences in how the United States and the Soviet Union understood the expectations placed upon them and the limits of their foreign policy choices under détente varied greatly. Neither side, as in the Cuban Missile Crisis, fully appreciated the different pressures bearing down on each superpower (internally and externally) and their leaders and, thus, did not always interpret their counterparts’ behaviors accurately. Compare and contrast key assumptions and expectations held by the Americans and Soviets regarding détente and its effects on global affairs.

Detente is the term used to describe relations between the East and the West from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. One key reason for detente was the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. The world had come perilously close to nuclear war, and both the Soviet Union and the United States sought to reduce tensions.
Detente is best understood as a phase in the Cold War. It changed the nature of the struggle between East and West, but it did not end it.
Moscow had two main objectives. First, it wanted to reduce military expenditures and improve the standard of living of its population. Second, it wanted the West to finally recognize its hegemony in Eastern Europe.
Richard Nixon was the American president who ushered in the era of detente. Facing a debacle in Vietnam, the Nixon administration sought a new foreign policy that featured an "era of negotiation" instead of war and confrontation.
A number of important agreements came out of detente. There were several treaties between Moscow and Washington to limit nuclear weapons. Also, the Helsinki Accords of 1975 dealt with a number of outstanding European issues.
By the early 1980s, the era of detente was over. The Soviets' invasion of Afghanistan, the crackdown on Solidarity in Poland, and the election of Ronald Reagan ended detente.

Where do they find DeVante?

The novel The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas is about a sixteen-year-old girl by the name of Starr Carter. Starr witnesses the shooting of Khalil, her childhood friend, by a white police officer. She strives to hide this secret from everyone apart from her family members, who are privy to the matter.
Starr meets up with DeVante at Rose Park while she is playing basketball with Seven, her half-brother. As the two enjoy a basketball game at the park, two Garden Disciples in Celtic jerseys approach them and pull a knife on Seven, ordering him to surrender his sneakers and phone. It is at this juncture that DeVante, one of the King Lords, comes to their rescue. He pulls a gun on the two men and brings to their attention the fact that Rose Park is King Lords territory.

The young adult novel The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas tells the story of how the main character Starr Carter, a 16 year old African American girl, becomes involved in activism after she becomes witness to a police shooting.
In the book Starr meets DeVante at the Rose Park basketball courts where she is playing basketball with her brother Seven. While there they are caught up in a fight and threatened by people they call the GDs. A younger boy helps them out by telling the GDs that "Rose Park was King territory." Seven introduces him to his sister as DeVante's and tells her "He's one of King's boys."
After a jury fails to indict the policeman that shot Starr's friend, DeVante is one of the people along with Starr, Chris, and Seven who defend their neighborhood from a gang leader called King.

How is the death of Candy's dog foreshadowing?

Foreshadowing in literature is an event that happens early in a book or story that gives a clue or idea about what is to come later on.
Candy shooting his dog foreshadows George shooting Lennie at the end of the book.
Most of the ranch hands in the book are lonely because they wander from job to job. They can't put down roots, and they can't afford to marry. Candy has a dog for companionship, but the dog is getting old and infirm. It smells bad, and some of the other ranch hands who don't want it around pressure Candy to shoot it and put it out of its misery. Candy loves the dog and doesn't want to kill it, but does not feel he has an alternative.
Likewise, George loves Lennie and enjoys his companionship, but at the end of the book feels he has no choice but to shoot him.

The death of Candy's dog in chapter 3 is foreshadowing because Steinbeck has drawn parallels between the relationship of George and Lennie and of Candy and his dog. After allowing Carlson to shoot his old dog, Candy tells George, "I oughtta of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn't oughta of let no stranger shoot my dog." This puts the thought in George's head that when the time comes, he should be the one to take out Lennie rather than allowing any stranger to kill Lennie.

At the conclusion of the novel when George shoots Lennie to spare him an agonizing death at Curley’s hands, the reader is reminded that a variation of this tragedy occurs earlier in the narrative when Carlson shoots Candy’s old dog to end its misery. Carlson’s shooting the dog humanely in the back of the head foreshadows the manner of Lennie’s death, and like Candy, who consents to putting his dog down, George experiences heartbreaking anguish in doing what must be done. In the context of the novel, Candy’s bond with the old dog is as meaningful as George and Lennie’s friendship, as both relationships forestall loneliness and give purpose to the men’s lives. Candy’s despair as he lies in his bunk and turns his face to the wall after his dog is shot foreshadows George’s feelings of profound loss as he sits on the riverbank next to Lennie’s body.
The parallels between Candy’s and George’s behavior as they eventually accept what they must do emphasize that the scene in the bunkhouse foreshadows the concluding scene at the river. Candy resists agreeing to shoot his dog, delaying the inevitable as long as possible. “Maybe tomorra. Let’s wait till tomorra,” he tells Carlson. Sitting next to Lennie by the river, George also delays the inevitable. Hearing the search party closing in, he says good-bye to Lennie in his own way until time runs out. With the search party too close to ignore, George shoots Lennie humanely in the back of the head with the Luger Carlson used to shoot Candy’s dog.

In chapter 3 of The Other Wes Moore, the author is sent to private school by his mother. Describe the good and bad effects of this change in the author's life.

In chapter 3 of The Other Wes Moore, Wes is sent to a private school by his mother, Joy. She hopes that the school will allow Wes to move beyond his upbringing to a brighter future. She sees the famous alumni and has high hopes for what Wes might become if he attends.
There are good and bad effects of this decision. One of the bad effects is that the school is an "all-white school." There is only one other black kid in the school, Justin, and Wes quickly befriends him. Wes feels alone and isolated because his friends from his old school do not understand his new school life. Wes begins to perform poorly academically.
Justin, however, has a similar background and is doing really well academically. Justin tries to help Wes by encouraging him. Moore learns how to face diversity from this experience, but he first disappoints the people around him by giving into his circumstances instead of rising above them.
During this time, Wes also makes poor choices because he starts getting high and considering selling drugs. He thinks that this is an easier way to get into a good life, because academics are harder than he wants them to be.

How is the central opposition in Pamela between the aristocracy and bourgeoisie?

Pamela's depiction of the relationship between the bourgeoisie and the aristocracy is packed with conflict. Pamela is a model of bourgeoisie virtue, opposed by the privileged and amoral Mr. B who feels he can use her as an erotic object because of the social gulf between them. However, bourgeoisie values win the day with Pamela's virtues impressing Mr. B, subsequently leading to his reform and their marriage.
In the marriage of Pamela and Mr. B, we see a two-way assimilation: Mr. B. becomes more sympathetic to the bourgeoisie value system and Pamela becomes a part of the aristocracy. Their marriage does not end all opposition, of course: Pamela must still learn how to become a lady and Mr. B's sister opposes the union. But in the end, the two worlds reconcile, with Pamela and Mr. B having what appears to be a successful marriage despite the class difference between them.

Why do Jutta and Werner argue about listening to the radio in All The Light We Cannot See?

During World War II, Germany had banned connection to non-local radio transmissions in order to immerse the population in Nazi propaganda. The argument Werner and Jutta have is based on morality and ethics. Jutta listens to broadcasts from other countries, which speak of Germany committing "atrocities".
Jutta believes none of the Nazi's propaganda and seeks to find out the truth about Germany's actions. She asks her brother if it is right to conform to Germany's nationalism just because others do. Werner had been given an opportunity to escape the coal mines and attend a school for Nazi teenagers after impressing Rudolf Siedler by fixing the man's radio. Werner destroys the radio, choosing to conform and effectively alienating his sister. Jutta interprets this action as Werner's betrayal of his morals and identity.

Describe Hawthorn's use of figurative language and sentence structure in chapter 1 of The Scarlet Letter.

Chapter 1 is titled “The Prison-Door,” and it is largely a symbolic chapter that introduces the thematic ideas of the novel. Within this, Hawthorne uses metaphor along with cumulative sentence structure to communicate messages about mankind and nature.
A cumulative sentence contains an independent clause with successive modifiers that add detail about the subject or topic of the sentence. Hawthorne uses cumulative sentences throughout the chapter almost exclusively. His use of dashes, commas, and semicolons serve as markers for the additional detail his style includes.
To illustrate his negative depiction of society, Hawthorne describes the “black flower of civilization.” This metaphor compares society to an evil or dead plant, which indicates a condemnation of people.
Another metaphor that contrasts with the negative view of civilization comes in the description of the wild rose bush. The buds of the flowers are referred to as “delicate gems,” suggesting their beauty, fragility, and preciousness. When the narrator says that these blooms seem to pity a proverbial prisoner who might exit through the door, he suggests that nature is a kind, moral force in the world.

What do you think Shawn means when he says “Am I the done deal?” in Stuck in Neutral?

Shawn's mom and his sister, Cindy, are about to head off with Cindy's friends on their trip to Spokane, leaving Shawn alone with his dad. Just before the party's about to leave, Shawn's dad casually mentions to Vonda, Shawn's caregiver, that he'd like to stay overnight with his son. Shawn overhears this and is immediately worried. His dad has never once stayed with him by himself overnight. Why now, all of a sudden?
That's when Shawn starts to wonder if he's a "done deal." In the context of the story, what this means is that Shawn thinks that his father might somehow try to kill him. It's reasonable for us to make this assumption given that Shawn spends a lot of time in the book genuinely worried about the possibility of being euthanized.

What are some ideas for a research paper question/topic that falls under the given topic: "how and why the United States became a superpower from the Spanish American War to the present; explain the historical relationships between foreign policy and domestic affairs"? An example research question/topic provided: "How did the United States's naval technology help it become a superpower?"

If you are looking at the new technology that helped the United States develop into a superpower, you could look at how the US Navy became a serious force during the Spanish-American War and the period immediately following the conflict. Alfred Thayer Mahan, who wrote a treatise on how navies helped major nations develop, was quite influential in military planning circles around the world at the turn of the century. Many industrialists in the United States viewed the Asian markets as essential to the continued growth of the United States; they viewed China as being a potential major consumer of American goods. In order to reach these lucrative markets, it was important to have coaling stations for ships across the Pacific. The United States needed to attain islands in the Pacific for this purpose. The United States also had commercial sugar interests in the Caribbean that were under constant threat by Cuban rebels who were protesting Spanish mismanagement on the island. In this respect, the Spanish–American War had a domestic as well as a military agenda, as it was largely driven by American commercial interests. After this war, which turned out to be a disaster for the Spanish due to their outdated navy, the United States was taken seriously in the minds of military planners in Europe and Asia. This would be important in the decades to come, in the buildup to World War I.

Compare Richard Nixon and Macbeth as tragic heroes who created their own downfall. Please offer a thesis, 3 main points, and back up your claims with quotes from the text.

Just as Nixon’s presidency was plagued with stressful events and portents leading up to the infamous Watergate Scandal of 1972, so too in Shakespere’s tragedy do we find Macbeth suffering from similar pangs of self-doubt. If there is one personality trait that these two characters shared that shaped the way they approached their individual terms of power, it would probably be paranoia. Both Nixon and Macbeth feared the backlash they were to face by their constituents if word of their failures, in Nixon’s case, or treason, in Macbeth’s, were to be discovered.
For example, prior to 1972, Nixon faced mounting problems internationally in Cambodia and Vietnam. Anti-war demonstrations were becoming endemic, and protests against mounting American fatalities there had thrown the country into civil unrest. Unfortunately, in 1970, Cambodian military leaders staged a coup, forcing the North Vietnamese regime and American military to invade Phnom Penh. The action was widely unpopular, and Nixon thought he was surrounded by enemies. He was quoted saying things like: “We can have peace. We can have prosperity. We can have all the blacks screwing the whites,” and “The press is the enemy.”
Macbeth was concerned that the truth about his murder of King Duncan might come out into the open. For example, in act 3, scene 1, Banquo, a general of the Scottish army, suspects Macbeth’s complicity in the murder. When he leaves Macbeth’s presence at a banquet and does not promise to return quickly, Macbeth resolves to have two murderers kill him. He says,

To be thus is nothing (meaning, ‘To have achieved the throne is no great thing’),But to be safely thus. Our fears in BanquoStick deep, and in his royalty of natureReigns that which would be feared.

Thus, paranoia and fear tainted the rule of both Nixon and Macbeth. To include a second example of the detrimental effects of paranoia on the presidency/kingship, you might consider Nixon’s alcoholism, insomnia, and reliance on prescription sleeping pills. For Macbeth, you might consider how his paranoia drove him to seek out the witches (who initially prophesied that he would become king) in their cavern in order to convince himself that his reign was not in danger. In the links below, I have provided a newspaper article that details further some of Nixon’s shortcomings.
Finally, the nadir of both the Nixon presidency and Macbeth’s kingship can be considered their fall from power: the culmination of the “tragic” aspect of their respective downfalls. The Watergate Scandal refers to the corrupt tactics Nixon used in order to discredit his political opponents—bugging their personal homes, harassing activists, and hiring five men to break into the Democratic party headquarters in 1972 in order to leak information to the president concerning his opponents’ strategies. These underhanded tactics, once exposed, resulted in the complete loss of both his political backing and public support, ultimately forcing him to resign from office in 1974.
These events parallel the ousting of King Macbeth by the Scottish nobleman MacDuff. The witches had told Macbeth that he should be wary of MacDuff, as MacDuff was unsupportive of the king’s reign. Upon MacDuff’s flight to England, Macbeth ordered that his castle be seized and his wife and children murdered. Enraged upon learning this news, MacDuff swore revenge on Macbeth, which he finally executed during the final battle between Macbeth’s Scottish and MacDuff’s English forces. However, unlike Nixon, Macbeth did not yield when MacDuff offered to imprison him and turn him into a spectacle. Macbeth’s response to MacDuff’s offer, which comes in the final act, scene VIII, is

I will not yield,To kiss the ground before young Malcolm’s feetAnd to be baited with the rabble’s curse.

Thus, this discrepancy between the ways in which Nixon and Macbeth chose to be held accountable for their crimes—Nixon voluntarily stepping down from office and Macbeth refusing to submit and being slain because of it—might help you craft an effective thesis statement of your own. One that comes to mind for me is “Corruption, whether one owns up to it or tries to flee its consequences, inevitably destroys the corrupt.”

What, according to the poet, are shadows in "Death at the Leveller"?

As the speaker tells us in the opening lines of the poem, the "glories of our blood and state" are shadows, not substantial things. What he means by this is that our mortal state isn't real; it's just a shadow, and a faint shadow at that, of ultimate reality, which lies beyond the grave.
It doesn't matter how much glory one achieves in one's life or how rich, powerful, or famous one becomes—death will still eventually come, as it must to everyone. This is what is meant by the poem's title, "Death the Leveller." Death brings everyone down to the exact same level, high or low, rich or poor, commoner or king. In death, everyone is made equal in the dust; in the democracy of the dead, where all are equal, there is no room for personal glory or social status or wealth, the shadows of our earthly existence.
https://www.bartleby.com/101/288.html

What is Clint is reticent to do in “The Kind of Light That Shines on Texas” by Reginald McKnight?

Clint's reluctant to fight Oakley, who's itching for a showdown after Clint hit him in the face with a hard-pumped volley ball.
Two other boys, Preston and Nailor, try to goad Clint into a fight by telling him all the many things that Oakley hates about him. (As well as being "colored," he also says "tennis shoes" instead of sneakers, apparently). But Clint doesn't rise to the bait. Instead, when Oakley comes into the locker room, demanding they meet up for a fight, Clint comes right out and asks him why he isn't after Marvin rather than him.
Marvin's one of only two other African-American students at the school, and Clint looks down on him because of his dark skin and low educational level. Clint's outburst is very revealing as it shows everyone just how uncomfortable he is in his own black skin.

What is the wedding theme in "Ode on a Grecian Urn"?

While different critics take varying views of the overall unity of Keats' text, the textually logical explanation of the different scenes that he describes is that all are different parts of the wedding ceremony that has been captured on the urn. It would help if we knew the functional purpose of the urn. Grecian urns were at times used as funereal urns for the ashes of the cremated dead, though they were also used for many other purposes, like to hold water or wine.


Some speculate that perhaps Keats saw the urn in the British Museum when he was there in 1816 and knew the purpose of the urn. If we suppose that the urn was used as a funereal urn for the dead, then we are led to the speculation that it must have been the bride or the groom who died before the fulfillment of the wedding and the celebratory actions attending the wedding, like the sacrifice to Hymen and a procession of guests from the town. It is equally possible that the urn was used as a wine urn for the wedding celebration, in which case the artist may have wanted to capture forever the tender moments before the fulfillment of the marriage.


The wedding Keats describes in the scenes of the "leaf-fring'd legend" was held out of doors. Though Keats knows nothing more than what he sees on the urn, he wonders if it might have been held in the northeastern seacoast Vale of "Tempe" or in the "dales of Arcady," located in southwestern Greece. Keats describes a wedding procession led by a priest--probably the priest of Hymen, the Greek god of weddings--who leads a sacrificial young cow and who is followed by the guests from the nearby town. The bride and groom are serenaded by "timbrels and pipes" and are still poised at a distance from each other in the scene with the wedding unconsummated.

Is the unpardonable sin which is inside the breast of Ethan Brand the devil?

The Unpardonable Sin, which Ethan Brand went on a quest to find, is not the Devil. Bertram, who is new to town and doesn't remember Ethan Brand from when he previously lived there, had heard tales about the strange man who used to work over the lime kiln.
People said that Ethan Brand conversed with the Devil within the flames of the kiln. When Bertram begs Ethan not to bring out the Devil, Ethan scoffs. He replies, "What need have I of the Devil? I have left him behind me, on my track." He claims that the Devil pursues "half-way sinners" like Bertram but ignores Ethan, who has the Unpardonable Sin in his own chest.
If the Unpardonable Sin in Ethan Brand's chest is not the Devil, then what is it? Ethan identifies it as:

the sin of an intellect that triumphed over the sense of brotherhood with man and reverence for God, and sacrificed everything to its own mighty claims!

It seems that Ethan Brand decided to elevate his own intellectual pursuits above moral concerns. He set himself to gain knowledge but did so at the expense of other people.
One example given is Esther, a young woman who ran away to join the circus. Ethan Brand had met her on his travels, and he made her "the subject of a psychological experiment, and wasted, absorbed, and perhaps annihilated her soul, in the process."
However, the story is ambiguous as to whether Ethan Brand actually found the Unpardonable Sin or whether he only thought he had. When the Jewish man shows Ethan the supposedly heavy sin in his magic picture box, readers aren't told what he saw, only that a youth who "peeped in almost at the same moment" saw nothing.
Next, Hawthorne describes a seemingly irrelevant scene of a dog chasing its tail but never catching it. Both events hint that Ethan didn't find the Unpardonable Sin because, in fact, "man's possible guilt" cannot extend "beyond the scope of Heaven's . . . infinite mercy." Hawthorne's point, subtly made, is that God is greater than the Devil, and God's mercy is always greater than man's guilt.

A researcher has collected two samples of data, and the sample variances are 2.16² and 4.82². It would be appropriate to use the two-sample t-test with a common variance.

The purpose of a two-sample t-test is to determine if the difference between the two sample populations is statistically significant—essentially asking if the two samples were taken from the same large population, and therefore are both accurate predictors for the study, or if they are subdivided to a point where they are no longer interchangeable.
Let's say these statistics generated information on how many minutes it takes to receive food at two separate local restaurants. The first thing is to identify the null and alternate hypotheses—and they are standard for every T-test. The null hypothesis is that the time to receive food is the same (we'll say 25 minutes), while the alternate hypothesis is that they are not the same—the mean waiting time of restaurant A is different than 25 minutes, the mean waiting time of restaurant B, or vice versa.
The next step is to find the pooled standard deviation, which combines the standard deviation (or variances) of both of the samples. Since we don't know the sample size for each group, we'll have to make some assumptions or put it algebraically.
Pooled variance, or Vp, is defined as [(m - 1)*V1 + (n - 1)*V2]/(m + n - 2),where m is the size of sample A, n is the size of sample B, and V1 and V2 are the corresponding variances.
Once we know that number, we can begin the two-sample T-test to determine if they are the same. To calculate the t-statistic, you subtract the null hypothesis (the difference of the means is 0) from the difference in the sample means and divide that number by the adjusted standard deviation.
Adjust standard deviation is the square root of the pooled variance multiplied by the square root of the sum of the inverses of the different sample sizes.
Once this is complete, you will find the t-score which gives the correlated p-value from the chart, which you can find on the included link. Once you know that value, you can decide whether or not to accept the null hypothesis.
http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/gerstman/StatPrimer/t-table.pdf