In 1984, what does Julia say Winston should've done when they got lost on the community hike?

During one of their clandestine meetings, Winston begins to tell Julia about his former wife, Katharine, and the problems they had in their sex life (Part Two, Chapter III). Katharine was a very dutiful person and viewed sex as an obligation to the Party. Because she lacked imagination, she did not realize that her husband harbored any subversive thoughts or felt dissatisfied with their Party-controlled life. He realized that her limited range of thinking protected him, but he also resented her conformity. One afternoon, he tells Julia, the couple had been on a community hike and got separated from the Crowd. Being away from the group and unsure of their route back made Katherine very nervous. Their path took them along the edge of a quarry. While showing her some flowers growing out of a cranny, the urge to push her over the edge momentarily takes hold, but he resists. Julia asks him why did didn’t push Katharine over; “I would have,” he said. They discuss it for a few moments, and Winston concludes that her youth blocks her understanding: “she did not understand that to push an inconvenient person over a cliff solves nothing.”

What is the thesis statement for "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"?

A thesis statement is a device used in essays and papers (usually appearing as a single sentence at the end of the first paragraph of your paper) that tells the reader what your paper is about. It can confront the reader with a claim that you'll persuade them to agree with (which is later backed up in the body of the essay with textual evidence and examples) while also providing somewhat of an outline to the paper.
The essay's prompt typically serves as a jumping-off point for your thesis statement. If the prompt is a question, you can directly answer the question and provide a brief statement on why you're answering it that way.
For example, let's say I was confronted with the following topic:

Was Bilbo still a coward at the end of The Hobbit? Give examples from the journey to back up your answer.

My thesis statement at the end of the first paragraph may look something like this:

Bilbo's encounters with the trolls, the goblins, and Gollum show how, along the journey, he transformed from a coward into a brave hobbit.

The thesis statement answers the question while providing an outline of the points I'll be talking about. The body paragraphs of the essay will then elaborate on those examples and explain how they prove Bilbo grew from a coward to someone brave.
Additionally, we can consider Edwards's use of literary devices and techniques to craft a thesis statement for "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." Edwards's sermon is designed to appeal to and persuade sinners, telling them about Hell, comparing the wrath of God to great waters, and saying:

The floods of God’s vengeance have been withheld; but your guilt in the mean time is constantly increasing, and you are every day treasuring up more wrath; the waters are constantly rising, and waxing more and more mighty; and there is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, that holds the waters back, that are unwilling to be stopped, and press hard to go forward.

This quote is an example of the language Edwards uses throughout his sermon as a way to intimidate the sinners (and subsequently the readers). We see other examples throughout the sermon, like when Edwards writes that God will inflict wrath without pity, that He will hold sinners over a pit of hell. This mix of intimidation and fear is even more evident when he writes that you "hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about," ready to break the thread.
Intimidation isn't the only tactic or device he uses. A good example prompt for this could be as follows:

What literary devices and techniques does Edwards use to persuade the reader and how does he use them? Provide textual evidence.

Throughout the sermon, we see a tonal shift, a shift in point of view, intimidating language, and so on. An example thesis statement could be as follows:

Language, tone, and point of view are used throughout Edwards's sermon to convey the life of a sinner and ultimately persuade sinners to follow God.

There are examples of these throughout the sermon, directly up until the concluding sentence when Edwards states "that every tree which brings not forth good fruit, may be hewn down and cast into the fire." The strong language at the end leaves a heavy feeling in the reader, and likely the sinner, and would act as a final persuading note. Strong language like that can be found throughout the piece and used as textual evidence and explained in the context of the thesis statement.

Did John Tyler die in office?

No, John Tyler did not die in office. He served out a full term as president from 1841 to 1845. After leaving office, he would live another seventeen years before passing away at the age of seventy-one.
Although Tyler may not have died in office, he became president due to the death of his predecessor, William Henry Harrison. Tyler had been elected in 1840 as Harrison's Vice President, so when Harrison passed away after just thirty-one days in office, Tyler became president under the provisions of Article II, Section I, Clause VI of the United States Constitution, since superseded by the twenty-fifth Amendment.
Tyler may not have distinguished himself in the White House, but at least he's gone down in history as the first man to accede to the presidency on the death of the incumbent.

What was the military strategy of each side at the start of the Civil War? How and why did it change as the war continued?

When the Civil War began, both sides were counting on it being a quick war, and their strategies reflected this. At the outset, the Confederacy hoped that they could successfully march their army into Washington and sue for independence at gunpoint. For their part, the Union Army planned to force their way into Richmond and capture the Confederate capital and its leaders. After the First Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas) on July 21, 1861, it became clear that the war would not be won so quickly by either side.
At this point, both sides developed more long-term strategies to win the war. The Union developed a strategy with several goals. First, they would attempt to cut the Confederacy off from the possibility of help from abroad and strangle its economy through a blockade of its coasts. Simultaneously they would take control of the Mississippi River, which would cut the Confederacy off from its westernmost states and disrupt internal movement. Meanwhile, they would continue with their original plan of taking Richmond. These strategies involved fighting exclusively on Southern soil, which Union leaders hoped would demoralize the Southern population. These strategies eventually paid off, but it took much more time and blood than Union strategists had initially predicted.
The Southern strategy relied on wearing down the enemy. They counted on their home-field advantage to provide them with enough local support and victories to keep the war going longer than the North would be willing to fight it. The main hope was that they could hold on long enough to secure help from Great Britain. This plan fell apart after the Confederate defeat at Antietam, when Great Britain made it clear that they would not be providing military support to the South. They then double-downed on their strategy of simply exhausting the Union forces. However, this strategy ultimately failed, as the North had more soldiers and resources than the Confederacy could hope to exhaust.
https://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h4283.html

https://www.ushistory.org/us/33h.asp

The strategy for both sides at the beginning of the war was a surge to claim the enemy capitals. This plan fell apart on the Confederate side, as the troops lacked the organization to follow up on their victory at First Bull Run. Both sides thought the war would be over quickly.
Winfield Scott was the military strategist for Washington, and he advocated for a slow strangulation of the Confederacy in what would be called the Anaconda Plan. Scott planned for a long war that would ultimately be won by controlling the coastline of the Confederacy, thus bringing about a blockade. While the blockade was ineffective at first, it gradually began to wear on the South, especially after the Union army regained full control of the Mississippi River after the Battle of Vicksburg. While at first both the eastern and western Union armies moved independently of one another, Grant was put in charge of both armies and made them work in concert in order to bleed the Confederate army of manpower.
The Confederacy hoped to fight a war of attrition that would break Northern morale and force peace. This was to be a defensive war in which the Confederacy only fought on its home soil. Lee took the war north twice. He did so once at Antietam in 1862 and once in Gettysburg in 1863 in order to prove that the Confederacy was strong and worthy of the backing of European powers. He also did this to take pressure of the Shenandoah Valley, which saw a great deal of fighting during the war and also served as a major supplier of food for the Army of Northern Virginia. Both of these efforts failed. The Confederacy then went back to the war of attrition in the hopes of getting a peace candidate elected in Washington in 1864, but this did not work. The Confederacy did not have the money, men, or supplies to win a protracted war against a determined enemy.

George Orwell once offered this definition of heroism: ordinary people doing whatever they can to change social systems that do not respect human decency, even with the knowledge that they can’t possibly succeed. In Winston Smith, the protagonist of 1984, Orwell creates an ordinary person, an “everyman” who stands for all the oppressed citizens of Oceania. Yet, as the novel closes, Winston cries as his love for Big Brother overwhelms him. Is Winston the novel’s hero, by Orwell’s definition? Is he a hero that readers can admire and emulate? Explain your position by tracing Winston’s actions throughout the novel and considering the results of those actions.

Orwell's definition of heroism calls for an ordinary person who fights, knowing that success is impossible, against a tyrannical social system. In my opinion, Winston Smith easily qualifies as a hero according to this definition.
Winston is certainly an ordinary person by most standards. As he says himself, "I'm thirty-nine years old. I've got a wife that I can't get rid of. I've got varicose veins. I've got five false teeth." He also lives in an ordinary apartment, in a building whose hallways smell of "boiled cabbage and old rag mats," where the lift is usually broken.
The social system, represented by the Party, is certainly tyrannical and cares little for human decency. The citizens are kept under constant surveillance, with no privacy. Many, like Winston, are hungry and in poor health. At the beginning of the novel, for example, Winston has nothing but "a hunk of dark-coloured bread" in the kitchen. And at the Ministry of Truth, where Winston works, he and the other workers are served a stew which is described as "a filthy liquid mess that had the appearance of vomit." As well as all this, the Party teaches "that the proles [are] natural inferiors who must be kept in subjection, like animals."
It's clear also that Winston is willing to fight against the Party, at least as much as he can and as far as he is able. The only real option available to him in this regard is the Brotherhood, which he joins in full knowledge of the risks to his own life. When he joins the Brotherhood, along with Julia, and is asked what he would be prepared to do to overthrow the Party, Winston responds, "Anything that we are capable of." He says that he is willing to give his life, to commit murder, sabotage, and treason. In short, he declares himself ready to "do anything which is likely to cause demoralization and weaken the power of the Party." Winston also tries to fight back in other, more subtle ways. He keeps a diary, for example, to try and record the truth about the Party for future generations. He does this knowing that, if caught, he will be "punished by death, or at least by twenty-five years in a forced-labour camp."
The one aspect of Orwell's definition of heroism that we may perhaps question in relation to Winston Smith is whether he really believes that a successful rebellion is impossible. He joins the Brotherhood because he believes in O'Brien. Indeed, when he looks at O'Brien, Winston finds it "impossible to believe that he could be defeated." Winston also, throughout the novel, repeatedly declares that he has hope in the proles. "If there is hope," he says, "it lies in the proles."
Nonetheless, Winston is aware throughout the novel that the fight will be dangerous and extremely difficult. O'Brien tells him that he will "have to get used to living without results and without hope" and that he "will be caught . . . will confess, and . . . will die." He also tells Winston that there is "no possibility that any perceptible change will happen within our own lifetime." The fact that Winston, accepting all that O'Brien tells him, still agrees to fight, and to give himself entirely to the fight, does, I think, satisfy Orwell's definition of a hero. Winston is willing to be a martyr for the cause, and by the end of the novel, although not in the way he envisioned, he becomes exactly that.

"When I look at a person, I see a person—not a class, not a title." Describe what this quote means and how our society can ensure we attain equality.

This quote is attributed to Criss Jami (birth name Christopher James Gilbert), a poet and writer who was born in Lynchburg, VA, in 1987. Jami reminds us that we are all human, regardless of external labels society confers or those which we bestow upon ourselves. In other words, when we try to measure our worth by external factors such as wealth, professional success, or fame, we are not using the correct tools to assess our importance in the world. Of course, we also tend to measure other people using this same criteria.
In a perfect world, we would all strive to treat each other without bias. However, the class system is so entrenched in our society that it is difficult to imagine a world in which one's standing in society doesn't matter.
Only when we practice empathy and truly decide to view all people as equal and valuable members of society will we approach anything like equality.

This quote means that regardless of exterior factors, we are all the same inside. While equality can be a subjective concept, not seeing class or a title can mean that one should respect people from all walks of life. It can also mean that one does not judge a person based on their class or title. Respecting one another as humans and not just for our backgrounds is an excellent way to attain a sense of equality.
How our society can attain equality is an interesting question, because the term is subjective in nature. One person's version of equality can be very different than another person's. The concept of equality in connection with this quote, however, can simply mean to treat one another without bias. Everyone's opinions, thoughts, and feelings matter, regardless of what they do for a living.

What is the theme of chapter 7 of The Lightning Theif?

The major theme throughout chapter 7 in Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief is the idea of identity. Having entered the camp, Percy is now learning much more about the world in which he lives, as well as about the identities of the other children that live there and about himself. Prior to this time, he thought that he was a normal teenager, but he's beginning to learn that he is, in fact, the son of a Greek God, and that all the other children here are demigods as well.
He finally begins to feel like he has a place in the world and is growing closer to understanding his identity and his home as he explores the camp and makes new friends in the experience.

In chapter 7, Percy Jackson learns more about the children at the camp and their parents. He speaks with the other children, especially Annabeth, and starts to get an idea of how the camp serves different purposes for different kids. Some stay without visits for years, apparently for their own protection. In a discussion with Luke, Percy learns more about the Oracle as it relates to him and Annabeth's quest.


The primary theme concerns home. Not understanding where he is or why, Percy had tried to learn about the camp while (unsuccessfully) avoiding bullies. He was resistant and homesick. From speaking with Annabeth, he begins to understand that the camp is home now.
A second theme is identity. Percy had not known of his Olympian parentage. He starts to see how his and the other campers' identities are uniquely shaped by their parents and how the influence differs by which god they are.

Analyze the rhetorical and/or literary devices Jon Krakauer uses in chapter 1 of Into Thin Air. Explain how Krakauer uses these devices to support or enhance his purpose for writing.

One rhetorical device Jon Krakauer uses is enumeratio, which is the listing of details. He writes,

Later—after six bodies had been located, after a search for two others had been abandoned, after surgeons had amputated the gangrenous right hand of my teammate Beck Weathers—people would ask why, if the weather had begun to deteriorate, had climbers on the upper mountain not heeded the signs?

Krakauer lists these details because it helps make his point about how dangerous the events on Mount Everest were by the end. If he had simply said, "later, people would ask why," then it would not have been as effective or chilling a sentence. The additional detail also helps paint a better word picture for the reader about what frame of mind he was in by that time.
Krakauer uses another literary device, foreshadowing, to warn his readers that his will not be a happy and positive narrative about climbing the world's tallest mountain. He says,

Four hundred vertical feet above, where the summit was still washed in bright sunlight under an immaculate cobalt sky, my compadres dallied to memorialize their arrival at the apex of the planet, unfurling flags and snapping photos, using up precious ticks of the clock. None of them imagined that a horrible ordeal was drawing nigh. Nobody suspected that by the end of that long day, every minute would matter.

This makes the reader nervous. They see that something bad is coming and aren't sure yet what it will be. Despite the negative details that Krakauer offers in the chapter—about his climbing partner's amputated hand, for example—this is a vision of success, tinged with the darkness of things to come, that Krakauer uses to foreshadow the events of the rest of the book.

Who is Harry's character foil in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone?

In J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, Draco Malfoy is a clear foil for Harry. From the very beginning of the first novel, we see stark contrasts between Draco and Harry. When Harry first goes to Diagon Alley with Hagrid, Draco is in Madam Malkin's with his mother. Harry, on the other hand, is not there with his parents, because he is an orphan. We immediately get the impression that Draco is a spoiled brat and snobby, whereas Harry has essentially been emotionally abused his entire life and has no sense of entitlement (at least this early in the series) whatsoever.
Draco also makes comments about how he knows he will be a Slytherin:

Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been—imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?

Since Draco does wind up in Slytherin and Harry is sorted into Gryffindor, their houses place them in opposition to each other; in many ways, the houses of Slytherin and Gryffindor are foils to one another as well. The houses share the same qualities of resourcefulness and determination, but their members generally have very different moral beliefs and ideas about right and wrong.
Once the students arrive at Hogwarts, Draco becomes even more of a foil to Harry. Once he realizes who Harry is, Draco says, "You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there," to which Harry coolly replies, "I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself, thanks." Draco is directly saying that Ron Weasley (who winds up being one of Harry's best friends) is unfitting as a friend for the famous Harry Potter.
We later learn that the Malfoys call the Weasleys "blood traitors" and constantly belittle them for not being wealthy and for associating with Muggles and other "undesirable" people. Malfoy's hatred of "mudbloods" is another stark contrast with Harry, since Hermione, who is Muggle-born, winds up becoming Harry's other best friend.
As time goes on, we see more and more of the characters of both Draco and Harry. For example, in the situation that erupts over Neville's Remembrall, Draco is cruel, while Harry is empathetic and friendly. Neville had just injured himself after falling from his broom in flying practice, and Draco snatches his Remembrall, which was left on the ground. Harry, who at this point does not know he can fly, chases Malfoy down by flying to retrieve it—even though Madam Hooch threatened expulsion for anyone she caught flying while she was gone to the hospital wing. Again, they both have a "certain disregard for rules" but are guided by very different moral compasses.
In the end, by seeing how horrible Draco is on a consistent basis in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, readers can appreciate Harry's kindness, generosity, and humility all the more.
https://www.wizardingworld.com/writing-by-jk-rowling/draco-malfoy

Why does Shakespeare use so many comparisons to nature in Venus and Adonis?

First, it is important to keep in mind that Shakespeare relies heavily on the principle that the form of the poem reflects its function and content.
Venus and Adonis is written in the minor epic style popular at the time, which involved giving side characters from legends and myths their own small "epic." Thus, according to convention, Shakespeare wrote the story in narrative form, a series of stanzas that make the story easier to follow through segmentation and simple rhyme schemes (this poem is mostly ABABCC). In the minor epic style, the writer gives agency to these minor characters through giving them their own story, or fleshing out what little we know of them from the major myth. Thus, it can be expected that the major players are those characters and whomever is influencing them (often gods). However, here Shakespeare is giving agency to nature through the continuous comparisons, making the poem also function as a pastoral.
In pastorals, nature is typically beautiful and calm (and Venus is the goddess of beauty), but Shakespeare reflects that it is also primal through Venus's lustful and aggressive love for Adonis. In the poem, this aggression reflects the epic nature but is also contained by the strict rhyme scheme and the convention of the pastoral poem.
Therefore, the nature presented through convention as beautiful, and through Shakespeare's graphic tale as primal, serves to tie the story back to both pastoral and minor epic connotations. Nature is so present so that Shakespeare can show how it is subverted and manipulated through the agency of the actors in the poem, as well as how the actors themselves are restricted and confined to natural tendencies. The poem asks us through the comparisons to nature if nature or the characters Venus and Adonis have more power.

How does Shawn's family treat him like a baby?

In Terry Trueman's young adult novel Stuck in Neutral, Shawn, the protagonist, lives with cerebral palsy, a serious medical condition. His chronic ailment makes his mother overprotective toward him. In one perspective, Shawn could be labeled a "mama's boy." On the other hand, we could consider that the trauma and pain that Shawn's condition caused his family triggered the mother to treat him like a "baby."
Shawn's father, an award-winning poet, wrote a poem about Shawn and abandoned the family because he was so intensely tortured by Shawn's condition. Shawn's mother is seen as the protector of Shawn, whereas the father is akin to Abraham, who has an internal desire to kill his son. Due to this duality between Shawn's parents, the mother is portrayed as someone who is overprotective, but rightfully so, in the narrative's context.

Bring some ideas about migrant deaths at the US-Mexico Border to put into conversation with Candido's experiences in The Tortilla Curtain. Explain the possible limitations of immigrant literature (i.e. The Tortilla Curtain) when considering the political, legal, and humanitarian crises that have marked Mexican immigration in recent decades. Does fiction make the suffering of immigrants more real? Alternatively, is fiction insufficient in representing real-life miseries of the immigrant experience?

It sounds like you're going to participate in a discussion group focusing on immigrant experience, particularly pertaining to the Mexican immigrant experience. The Tortilla Curtain was written in 1995, but many of the difficulties facing Candido and America are still applicable to those crossing the border today. These include the following:
1. Many immigrants are subject to exploitation by US citizens, who know that they live in fear of being deported. In the novel, this is a situation that forces Candido to accept $20 in hush money when he is injured in a car accident, though this means he will find it even more difficult to get work and make ends meet. A good question is as follows: "What would have happened if Candido had died—would his death have been reported?" Would it have been hushed up because he was in the country illegally?
2. There is a lack of access to healthcare. In the novel, the couple's baby dies in a tragic accident, but even if she had not, her parents did not have access to a doctor even to confirm that their baby was, as suspected, blind. Children of immigrants suffer, and die, from this to the present day. They are unregistered, without income, and unable to access vital healthcare.
3. Low-cost labor and the threat of starvation is another problem. In the novel, Candido and America are forced to work low-wage jobs just so they can bring in any income at all. At times, they have to resort to rummaging in dumpsters. This is still a situation in which many immigrants can find themselves.
4. Unsafe housing is something that can lead to the deaths of immigrants. In the novel, Candido's one stroke of luck—being given a turkey with which he hopes to feed his family—actually leads to a fire because he and his wife are living in unsafe accommodations.
Relevant recent issues you could bring to your discussion might include the detention camps at the Mexican border which have, in recent news, been called "death camps" by some. Adults and children alike have been reported as dying in the cramped and unsafe conditions. Meanwhile, parents are unable to adequately provide for their children, who have been taken from them under current US government policy.
There are, naturally, many limitations to immigrant literature, particularly where it is not actually written by an immigrant. While literature can serve to humanize immigrants in the eyes of those who have never gone through a similar experience, it can also fail to capture the reality of the situation. Sometimes, people feel that they have "contributed" something because they have read a tragic novel about immigrants, but while they feel compassion for the characters in the story, this does not translate into any kind of compassion or practical assistance for immigrants in real life.
I hope this gives you something to go on. Here are some recent articles about the immigrant experience which you could also refer to:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/06/us-mexico-border-migrant-deaths-rose-2017
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/05/15/us/us-border-crossing-deaths-invs/index.html

Which person became a tenant by mistake?

The many pairs of tenants in "The Westing Game" all seem to have strong connections to Mr. Westing, especially considering they are all potential heirs to his multi-million dollar fortune. As they are going about their process of discovering his riddles and clues left behind, however, there is one character who seems to be a mistake—one who has little understandable connection to the late Mr. Westing.
Sydella Pulaski has a vague backstory and no connection to any of the other characters or Mr. Westing, making her mysterious and suspicious. She became a tenant apparently by mistake since she has no defined connection. In spite of her separation, though, she still takes kindly to Chris, and she participates willingly in the game.

Why, according to Hopkins in "God's Grandeur," can man not feel God's greatness?

In the hustle and bustle of modern life, man is often too busy to sense God's greatness in the world around him. In this age of mass industrialization, we treat the ground beneath our feet as if it isn't sacred. We no longer feel that it is charged with the grandeur of God. It is just something for treading on, something on which we walk or work.
That's what Hopkins means when he says that "[A]ll is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil." Due to this objectification of nature, man no longer recks Christ's rod; that is to say, doesn't heed his divine authority.
And yet, despite man's ignorance, God is ever present. This is his creation and he is always in it, even if we, as unrepentant sinners, fail to recognize his divine presence.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44395/gods-grandeur

In chapter 24 of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” how is Christianity a validation of prejudice, and why are the conversations that are had by the missionary circle members considered pure hypocrisy?

In chapter 24, Scout is made to participate in Aunt Alexandra's missionary circle. One of the topics of discussion is the Mrunas, a tribe in Africa:

Mrs. Merriweather’s large brown eyes always filled with tears when she considered the oppressed. “Living in that jungle with nobody but J. Grimes Everett,” she said. “Not a white person’ll go near ‘em but that saintly J. Grimes Everett.”

Mrs. Merriweather has presented J. Grimes Everett as a hero simply for interacting with the Mrunas. Her opinions are based on contemporary societal belief that groups of people that have not been Christianized are less advanced and even primitive in comparison to Christianized society.
To be prejudiced is to have preconcieved notions of an individual or group of people that are not based on actual experience or reason. In this case, it is a biased form of conceptualizing others by means of religion. Mrs. Merriweather genuinely believes that J. Grimes Everett and Christianity are saving the Mrunas by introducing them to the true way of life and faith.
Mrs. Meriweather is lamenting over the Mrunas and their supposedly poor and faithless way of life without demonstrating sympathy for Maycomb's struggling black population. Within the social circle, the ladies praise J. Grimes Everett for his missionary work in Africa, while gossiping about those who support equality of black people in the context of Tom Robinson's trial.
Through the missionary circle, Harper Lee accentuates prejudice by way of irony. Mrs. Merriweather acts on the pretense of piousness and concern for the Mrunas, but, in reality, she is an ignorant and prejudiced person.

Give a quote from Fahrenheit 451 that shows Montag questioning his job after talking with Clarisse.

When Montag meets Clarisse and she questions him about firemen, he begins to think. She asks him if it's true that fireman once put out fires instead of setting them. He responds automatically that houses have always been fireproof and that firemen have always started fires. Yet the question bothers him. He brings it up in the firehouse and gets the same response that he gave Clarisse. His raising the question suggests that it has been nagging him.
Later, Montag watches a woman with books die instead of leaving her books, which the firemen are burning. This also weighs heavily on him. Because of Clarisse, he has started to look at the world with empathy, from the point of view of other people. He expresses to Mildred, finally, some doubts about the destructive nature of his profession in the following quote:

"It's not just the woman that died," said Montag. "Last night I thought about all the kerosene I've used in the past ten years. And I thought about books. And for the first time I realized that a man was behind each one of the books. A man had to think them up. A man had to take a long time to put them down on paper. And I'd never even thought that thought before." He got out of bed. "It took some man a lifetime maybe to put some of his thoughts down, looking around at the world and life, and then I came along in two minutes and boom! it's all over."

What was Augustine's conversion experience?

As with many young men, Augustine led a rather dissolute lifestyle. He lacked purpose and direction and had too strong an attachment to the things of this world. Notoriously, he openly lived with a mistress, by whom he had an illegitimate son, Adeodatus. Augustine's mistress converted to Christianity, ending their illicit relationship. However, Augustine himself continued to pursue pleasure despite desiring holiness at the same time.
Inspired by the example of St. Anthony of the Desert, Augustine made strenuous efforts to open his heart to the Christian message. While praying in a garden one day and crying bitterly over his attachment to sin, Augustine suddenly heard a faint voice. The voice appeared to be speaking to him directly, saying "Tolle, lege," which is Latin for "Take up and read." Augustine did as he was instructed and opened the letters of St. Paul at random. The passage he found, in Romans 13:13–14, spoke to his situation directly:

Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.

The word of God had spoken. Augustine abandoned his life of sin to embrace the teachings of Christ. At the Easter Vigil in 388 CE, Augustine was formally received into the Church and baptized alongside Adeodatus by St. Ambrose, the bishop of Milan.

How does Grendel's lair remind you of hell in Beowulf?

Beowulf is an epic full of imaginative detail, and the poem's description of Grendel's lair is no exception. The image evoked can certainly be considered hellish upon close examination.
It might be helpful to first set up Grendel's lair in contrast to Heorot, Hrothgar's mead-hall. This place of merriment offends Grendel to the point that he attacks it and its inhabitants nightly, and considering that Grendel is said to be a descendent of Cain, outcast from God's favor, this makes perfect sense. Heorot is described in the prologue as a place not only majestic, but also heavenly. Hrothgar swears to build a hall for his people that "would hold his mighty / Band and reach higher toward Heaven than anything / That had ever been known to the sons of men" (lines 68–70). It is referred to as the "most beautiful of dwellings" (77). As we meet Grendel in the first stanza of the poem after the prologue, he and his lair are presented as the absolute inverse of Hrothgar's people and Heorot:

A powerful monster, living downIn the darkness, growled in pain, impatientAs day after day the music rangLoud in that hall, the harp's rejoicingCall and the poet's clear songs, sungOf the ancient beginnings of us all, recallingThe Almighty making the earth, shapingThese beautiful plains marked off by oceans,Then proudly setting the sun and moonTo glow across the land and light it;The corners of the earth were made lovely with treesAnd leaves, made quick with life, with eachOf the nations who now move on its face. And thenAs now warriors sang of their pleasure:So Hrothgar's men lived happy in his hallTill the monster stirred, that demon, that fiend,Grendel, who haunted the moors, the wildMarshes, and made his home in a hellNot hell but earth. (1–19)

The poem makes it clear that Grendel represents complete opposition to everything good and holy, such that his lair is described as a kind of hell on Earth. His home is continually described throughout the poem as a place of darkness, and he's known to drag the bodies of the men he kills back to the lair; he punishes them for their joy and mirth by taking them to a place that is more akin to hell than the heavenly mead-hall their king built for them.

What does the depiction of the manservant in "A Rose for Emily" tell us about the historical and social context in America then? How do the townspeople approach him? To what extent would you consider the story a critical commentary about Southern society?

Emily's manservant Tobe could be said to represent the servile attitude that characterizes the townsfolk's behavior towards her. The people of the town put Emily on a pedestal, treating her as a living monument to a supposedly happier, more graceful period in Southern history.
But their understanding of that history is as romanticized as their evaluation of Emily. They don't know the sordid truth of what's been going on behind the elegant, faded facade of the Grierson residence anymore than they know about the evils of slavery on which Antebellum Southern society was based. What's more, they don't want to know.
Ironically, given that he's an African-American, Tobe is complicit in this massive deception. In acting as Emily's sole connection to the outside world, he helps to maintain the dishonest facade (that "all is well") with his mistress and, by extension, the traditional Southern values she's supposed to represent. It's largely because of Tobe acting as the keeper of the flame that the full horrors of what's happened inside the Grierson residence have been kept hidden for all these years.
And yet the white townsfolk must also bear their full share of responsibility for turning a blind eye. In both cases, what this illustrates is the extent to which a servile mentality can corrupt one's soul as well as society at large.

What are some ideas for instilling cultural and social values in an elementary classroom with underrepresented students?

Some ideas for instilling cultural and social values in an elementary classroom with underrepresented students include celebrating non-American holidays. For example, you can create a calendar in the classroom that marks the dates of different holidays that celebrate other (i.e., not mainstream American Christian) cultures, such as Kwanzaa, Carnaval, Chinese New Year, Eid, Diwali, Yom Kippur, and so on.
Additionally, you can teach children about specific aspects of different cultures, using projects like international dishes or art forms (e.g., origami). This will not only expand the multicultural understanding of students, it will also allow them to learn new skills and hobbies.
Another effective way to teach elementary students social and cultural skills is by teaching the basics of a foreign language, such as Spanish or Mandarin. This will not only teach them new talents, it will also help them develop their communication and socialization skills. An enjoyable and easy way to teach a new language is to have them read children's books in a foreign language that also contains the English translation.

What is James Wilson and George Kelling's "Broken Window Theory"? How would you describe the connection between the "order-maintenance" function of policing and crime control according to Wilson and Kelling?

James Wilson and George Kelling's "broken window theory" is a theory in criminology which posits that allowing a neighborhood to be derelict, abandoned, and/or un-patrolled will lead to an increase in crime. The theory's name derives from their thought experiment in which a broken window in a home or commercial building—whether inhabited or not—will tempt criminals to break in.
The theory also posits that signs of a disorderly community and disobedience in general will influence the collective mentality of the neighborhood. For instance, if the residents see multiple abandoned houses in their neighborhood and they do nothing to resolve the issue, they will become complacent, and a mentality of apathy will perpetuate.
Order-Maintenance is simply another term for Broken Window Theory. The application of the theory is singular and well-defined. In this method of policing, minor offenses—for example, illegal parking, loitering, littering, and so on—are punished to set an example for the rest of the community. If minor issues are addressed and resolved immediately, then the probability of major crimes occurring could be reduced.
This style of policing is often seen during martial law. For example, during martial law, it is common for the government to set curfews. Law enforcement officers can then patrol neighborhoods easily and directly respond to minor crimes, which should, theoretically, prevent major crimes from happening.
https://media4.manhattan-institute.org/pdf/_atlantic_monthly-broken_windows.pdf

What three essential qualities does Bilbo have?

Characterization is created in aggregate—in the layering of traits to create a complete personality. If you take a character who is written as brave, intelligent, resolute, and determined, these qualities exist in conversation with each other and build on one another. In a way, I'd suggest, the personality is larger than the sum of its parts.
With that in mind, I would say the single most important element to Bilbo's characterization—and of the themes that are associated with Tolkien—is his normalcy. Tolkien really does tend to focus his eye on normal people with normal lives (though The Silmarillion is very much an exception to this). If we look at The Lord of the Rings, it's notable that, for all of its larger than life characters—Aragorn, Boromir, Legolas, etc.—it's ultimately Frodo and Samwise that the story hinges on (in most conventional heroic narratives, one would expect the hero to be someone like Aragorn).
The Hobbit is similar. Bilbo's a quieter sort of hero than your conventional heroic protagonist. He has no martial training. He's enlisted as a thief, but he's not had any experience in thievery. There's a humility in his background, and what he represents as a protagonist is an average person who's been swept up in a grand adventure. This represents a critical theme, not only in The Hobbit but also within Tolkien's larger body of work: the celebration of everyday people and the heroism ordinary people are capable of (in contrast to the acts of larger-than-life heroic personalities).
In addition, I'd note that Bilbo is brave. We see this in how he's willing to risk his life throughout the book, as well as in his willingness to embark on this kind of adventure (and to remain committed to it). While Bilbo is relatively average, he's more adventurous than most hobbits.
Finally, I would note that he's very resourceful when he has to be. He's a quick thinker, and he is quite skilled with words. We see this illustrated several times within the narrative: for example, in his riddle contest with Gollum and in his encounter with Smaug. One could also highlight the company's escape from the elves of Mirkwood as another example of Bilbo's ingenuity.
These are just a few of the qualities Bilbo displays throughout the book: while it is not an exhaustive list, these traits are essential to understanding Bilbo's character and his role in the story.

As a society what have we learned from the Salem Witch Trials?

What has American society learned from the Salem witch trials of 1692? Answering this question is problematic as it is doubtful that history is well understood by most Americans. And without an understanding of the past, it is not likely that history plays a key role in how society shapes the present-day. Nevertheless, intellectuals and legal procedures have been influenced by the events that took place in Salem.
Although the Salem witch trials were a tragedy, they were much less important than the US Civil War (1861–1865). A recent report from the Southern Poverty Law Center states that the majority of high school students do not know that slavery was the main cause of the war. Therefore, we can extrapolate that the public is not knowledgeable about what happened in Salem and the supposed lessons American society learned from it.
On the other hand, intellectuals have understood what happened in Salem and its ramifications for modern-day society. For instance, Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible (1953), was based on Salem. He compared the trials to the persecution of supposed Communists in mid-twentieth century America.
Legal scholars also learned lessons from Salem. For example, the presumption of innocence and the right to legal representation are now central precepts of American jurisprudence.

What are some quotes from "Out, Out—"?

This is a narrative poem about the pitfalls of technology and its false promises. A boy gets a buzz saw in order to lighten his work load:

To please the boy by giving him the half hour
That a boy counts so much when saved from work.


The boy is happy to have the machine do the work for him so that he can have more time to play.

However, the imagery of the poem shows the buzz saw as dangerous and hostile. It snarls like a wolf and rattles like a snake:


And the saw snarled and rattled, snarled and rattled


Like a dangerous animal, the machine turns on the boy and slices his hand off:



The boy’s first outcry was a rueful laugh,
As he swung toward them holding up the hand
Half in appeal, but half as if to keep
The life from spilling.


Suddenly, the saw that was supposed to make life beautiful ruins everything. The boy would have better off, the poem implies, using old-fashioned, slower technology, rather than trying to find short cuts to save time.


This is also a poem about death. The boy dies in the hospital:



They listened at his heart.
Little—less—nothing!—and that ended it.
No more to build on there.


The final lines of the poem show a chilling indifference to death in this mechanized world:



And they, since they
Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.


There is a sense earlier that too much is asked from this boy, that he is expected to grow up too soon using the buzzsaw:


Doing a man’s work, though a child at heart


All in all, this is a grim and disturbing poem about a young boy who suffers a sad fate about which nobody deeply cares.

Explain how the setting, symbols, and figurative language used in "Volar" and "A Wall of Fire Rising" contributed to how the characters were shaped by their environment and/or scenes from the stories.

In both "Volar" and "A Wall of Fire Rising," the characters are impacted by their environments, and this is indeed reflected in setting, symbolism, and figurative language.
The setting in "Volar" is perceived primarily through a child's perspective. Therefore, there is an element of fantasy woven through the setting. In reality, the setting is dismal. The narrator notes near the end that her mother's view from the kitchen was of "a dismal alley that was littered with refuse thrown from windows . . . it was never cleaned." The narrator overcomes this by imagining herself to be Supergirl, escaping to an alternate version of reality where she is "sleek and hard as a supersonic missile."
The setting of "A Wall of Fire Rising" is a shack in Haiti where there isn't enough to eat, and the father waits behind over seventy other people in hope of a full-time job where he sometimes works. In this town, there are no opportunities, and he dreams of escaping this setting that offers no hope. He tells his wife, "I'd like to sail off somewhere and keep floating until I got to a really nice place with a nice plot of land where I could be something new. I'd build my own house, keep my own garden. Just be something new." This desire for a setting that offers hope and a future drives him to escape in the balloon and ultimately sacrifice his life for the quest.
Both stories also provide symbolism relating to the setting as well. In "Volar," the narrator longs to be Supergirl, who symbolizes strength. As a child, she is completely subject to her own environment, but taking on the identity of Supergirl provides her with the ability to create her own story and to be in charge of her own setting, often spying on the settings of others, from the landlord to her teachers. In "A Wall of Fire," the balloon symbolizes hope. Guy visits the deflated balloon often, always dreaming of leaving his poor town with no opportunity. Guy climbs into the balloon because he envisions the balloon rising into the air, allowing for the hope of a different life—one where he can provide for his family and give his wife the "pretty house" that she longs for. At the end, his wife asks that his eyes be left open because "he likes to look at the sky."
The narrator's mother in "Volar" has chosen "white 'princess' furniture" for her daughter's bedroom. This represents the contrast between the reality of their small apartment and the aspirations she holds for her daughter—a life fit for a princess, not one lived with barely enough to survive and no money for pleasure. In "A Wall of Fire," the balloon that the narrator longs for is inside a barbed-wire fence, representing the inaccessibility of his dreams. They are always just out of reach.
All of these elements together are woven into tales of people who long for an escape from their settings of depravity.

One interesting parallel between the stories is that both children pretend to be or wish that they were someone else. Cofer imagines being Supergirl. Little Guy pretends to be Dutty Boukman. Both are people admired by the children and are more powerful than a child; these figures give them someone to aspire to, outside of the less-than-privileged households the children grow up in.
Some of the figurative language in each story deals with the concept of flight. Guy wants to fly in a hot air balloon and Cofer wants to fly away like Supergirl—while her mother wants to fly in a plane to Puerto Rico to see her family. They dream about flight because they feel trapped in their environments. The Cofers aren't able to achieve flight, but Guy does manage to fly the balloon (before he leaps out to his death).
These environments are stifling because they don't offer the characters release or opportunity. There are dozens of people on a list for a permanent job before Guy. He can't imagine what other opportunities his son might have. Likewise, the Cofer family can't afford to visit their family.
The Cofer family doesn't come to any kind of conclusion, but Guy decides to die rather than to continue in the life he was living. In the end, his son recites lines from his play while his wife orders the onlookers to leave Guy's eyes open so he can see the sky he loved so much.

"Volar" by Judith Ortiz Cofer and "A Wall of Fire Rising" by Edwidge Danticat both use a poetic language to convey a sense of magic realism—a genre often associated with South America that juxtaposes the fantastical with real historical events—but not fully create a fantastical story. Both authors use metaphors and symbolism to describe the respective story's setting, whether it's the "puddles between the shacks" in an impoverished Haitian shantytown or the concrete jungle of America.
Cofer uses these poetic techniques to describe the growth of the main character as well. She describes the girl in her story as if she was magical doll transforming into a young woman with sentences like, ". . . her hair would magically go straight and turn a golden color."
Danticat uses metaphors to describe the people of the Haitian shantytowns as well, but she also infuses some of her stories with folklore and local mythology, giving her work an ethnographic element that teaches the readers about the Haitian culture. This added dimension to her story helps illustrate how her characters develop holistically, meaning they do not just base their life lessons on painful personal experiences but through a spiritual journey as well.
http://www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/pdf/2012/240062.pdf

How did meeting Bill help Sam succeed living off the land in the novel My Side of the Mountain?

Sam may be an independent young man, mature beyond his years, but he still needs some help if he's to live off the land. Enter Bill. Bill shows up one night and teaches Sam how to build a fire, an essential skill if Sam's going to get by on more than just nuts and berries. Bill lives in a cabin in the woods, so we can be fairly confident that he knows what it takes to live out in the wilderness.
Thanks to Bill's help, Sam's able to cook himself a nice fresh meal of catfish; he's never enjoyed a meal like that in his whole life. At the same time, Bill respects Sam's independence. He'll show him how to build a fire, but what he won't do is hold his hand. If Bill did everything for Sam, it would defeat the whole purpose of living independently off the land.

Write a brief summary of Rachel Carson’s chapter “A Fable for Tomorrow" in Silent Spring.

In this “fable,” which is chapter 1 of Silent Spring, Rachel Carson’s lays out two contrasting scenarios, one idyllic and the other apocalyptic. Beginning with an unnamed town in America’s heartland, the narrator describes a lovely, flawless environment. There are farms, forests, orchards, foxes, and deer. All kinds of trees and flowers “delight” the traveler who passes through. More than anything, there are abundant birds, and people come to fish in the clear streams.
Abruptly in the middle of the second paragraph, the narrator switches to distressing images of blight, evil, maladies, and death. Not only plants and animals became ill and died, but children were also “suddenly stricken . . .” The third paragraph consists of the now-famous description of the “silent spring” of the title.

It was a spring without voices . . . [N]ow there was no sound; only silence . . .

The narrator continues by describing the contrast of death and decay that have befallen the various features mentioned earlier: the young animals did not survive, the fruit did not grow, and the streams were “lifeless.” Reiterating the silence, the narrator says the landscape was “deserted by all living things.” Furthermore, they mention a “white granular powder” that had fallen. These calamities were not the result of any evil spell, however; “the people had done it themselves.”
In the chapter’s final paragraph, the narrator explains that this is not a real American town, but it could exist in America or another country. All the catastrophes have not yet occurred simultaneously in one place, but each of them has happened somewhere. In this paragraph the narrator switches to first person:

I know of no community that has experienced all the misfortunes I describe.

This helps make the “fable” believable. The narrator cautions against the real possibility of the imaginary becoming real. Finally, they ask what has silenced the voices, and state that they will try to explain.
https://archive.org/stream/fp_Silent_Spring-Rachel_Carson-1962/Silent_Spring-Rachel_Carson-1962_djvu.txt

"A Fable for Tomorrow" is the title of a chapter in Rachel Carson's investigative book, Silent Spring. The book's thesis—which is emphasized in the chapter, "A Fable for Tomorrow"—is the destructiveness and toxicity of industrial pesticides, and how these pesticides affect the natural environment and public health due to the chemicals in our food, water supplies and air.
The chapter starts out with vivid descriptions of the general American countryside. The setting is a fictional farming community. The prose style is similar to pastoral poetry, or the "Americana" genre in fiction. Carson then interrupts this idyllic scenery with the description of a sudden epidemic, or "strange blight." People begin to get severely ill and farm animals begin to die. The culprit is a white powder substance, which is similar in appearance to pesticides used by farmers. Carson's message is that humans end up poisoning themselves, and there is no other suspect in the crime against nature and public health except ourselves.
https://books.google.com/books?id=SOSD4PFchmsC&hl=en

https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks.html

How did the New Deal reshape the lives of the American people? As always, be sure to offer specifics and avoid vague generalizations.

Short-term, the New Deal brought hope to various people who did not have employment or relief options. The New Deal put people to work making dams for the Tennessee Valley Authority and parks for the Civilian Conservation Corps. The New Deal also led to people believing that government could and should come to their aid in the event of a financial crisis. Though it took years to fully implement, Social Security took senior citizens out of the workplace and put them into a government retirement plan. The government insured bank deposits through FDIC.
This organization was created in order to restore the public trust in the banking system. The Securities Exchange Commission was created in order to restore the public's trust in the stock market. While none of these attempts at reform and relief lowered the unemployment rate below ten percent, they were effective in creating the notion that the government cared for the working class and the New Deal generated a great deal of future interest in the Democratic party.
Long-term, these New Deal programs continue to shape lives. Millions of people in the Southeast enjoy flood control and electricity generated from TVA dams. The Civilian Conservation Corps created many state parks that are still prime tourist spots. Senior citizens still look forward to drawing Social Security and periodic attempts to change the benefit system are met with loud disapproval. People still enjoy the security of knowing that their bank deposits are insured by the federal government. The SEC still controls Wall Street. The New Deal, though criticized both then and now, continues to affect Americans in how they view the role of the federal government in times of crisis.

What is the tug-of-war between destiny and determination for Mathu in A Gathering of Old Men?

It's somewhat difficult to say how Mathu truly feels about destiny vs. determination, because unlike a number of the other characters, we never get a chapter from his perspective. This means that all of his thoughts, emotions, and opinions are only relayed to the reader by other characters. However, because Mathu is the most respected character in the book, it seems we can trust his words as they appear in Rooster's chapter. In it, Mathu presents his own perspective on destiny vs. determination when he and the other black men enter into the house to talk before Mapes is set to take Mathu in.Late in the chapter, when most of the other black men vow to remain by Mathu's side (and therefore go to jail with him, as they continue to claim responsibility for Beau's death), Mathu opens up about his feelings regarding them, saying, "I never thought I woulda seen this day," followed by a lengthy outpouring of emotion:

Till a few minutes ago, I felt the same way that man out there feel about y'all—you never would 'mount to anything. But I was wrong. And he's still wrong. 'Cause he ain't go'n ever face the fact. But now I know. And I thank y'all. And I look up to you. Every man in here. And this the proudest day of my life.

Up until this point, Mathu thinks that it is the fate of the other black men to remain cowards, to not stand up or show self-determination. Perhaps he thinks that his own destiny is to be the only one who does stand up. This suggests that he believes in fate. However, if we continue to look at what he says in the house, we see that this epiphany marks a change in his perspective:

"I been changed," he said. "I been changed. Not by that white man's God. I don't believe in that white man's God. I been changed by y'all. Rooster, Clabber, Dirty Red, Coot—you changed this hardhearted old man."

Because he outwardly denies the "white man's God" and puts the emphasis on the individuals standing for him and with him, he reveals that his perspective has shifted and he now sees the other black men as capable, competent men who are making their own choices to reshape their future and their society.

Give examples of the following quote: "You never really understand a person until you consider things form his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."

Atticus gives this moral advice to Scout in chapter 3. Prejudice is prominent in Maycomb, and he recognizes the importance of understanding multiple perspectives and sympathizing with others—both as a lawyer and as a human being. Black people living in the town are particularly vulnerable to prejudgment. This is a significant factor that shapes the trial of Tom Robinson, a man falsely accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman.
Even Atticus is judged by the town for defending a black man; for instance, Mrs. Dubose tells Jem that his "father is no better" than those he defends.
Bob Ewell is a viciously racist and prejudiced man himself, yet his family is largely ridiculed and alienated by the town for their impropriety and poor status.
Lastly, the town is critical of Boo (Arthur) Radley, who is frequently the subject of gossip. Boo Radley is considered unusual, never leaves his house, and has become a subject of fear. In the end, Boo Radley saves Jem and Scout from an attack by Bob Ewell, and the children discover that Boo is a kind, misunderstood man.

Who were the old people at the end of the book Fried Green Tomatoes who gave the jar of honey to the little girl?

Throughout Fannie Flagg's novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, Idgie Threadgood is described as a bee charmer. These hints lead the reader to believe the older woman at the end of the book is Idgie.
In chapter 26, Idgie wakes up Ruth to take her on an impromptu picnic. While enjoying the day, Idgie shows Ruth her bee charming talents as she walks up to a beehive to get fresh honey for her friend. The scene is important in the development of their relationship: Idgie wants to do something nice for Ruth, but Ruth bursts into tears at the thought that Idgie may be hurt or killed. The event is a bonding experience for the pair and leads to the development of their relationship.

You're just a bee charmer, Idgie Threadgoode. That's what you are, a bee charmer.

At the end of the book, Evelyn goes to visit Ninny's grave. She wants her to know how much happier her life has been and to thank her. During her visit, she sees a note on Ruth's grave from a "bee charmer," letting the reader know that Idgie is still alive and well. This leads us to believe that the old woman at the end of the book is Idgie, still charming bees and selling fresh honey to travelers.

Name 2 social, cultural, or political characteristics among the poleis of Athens, Sparta, and Miletus.

It's important to recognize that Classical Greece comprises a much larger geographic expanse than the modern nation of Greece. Note that Athens and Sparta are located in the modern country of Greece, with Sparta situated in the Peloponnese and Athens situated in Attica, as compared to Miletus, which is located in Asia Minor.
I would note that both Athens and Sparta shared in a great hatred of tyranny. By this, I mean tyranny within the Greek context, in which Greek aristocratic politics would fall under the control of a single dominant personality (For more information, see Ian Morris & Barry B. Powell, The Greeks: History, Culture and Society: Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2006, chapter 8). In both Athens and Sparta, political structures evolved to limit the concentration of power. In the Athenian case, there was ostracism and the use of sortition (by which offices are chosen by random selection). Both served as means to prevent individuals from building too much influence (see Morris & Powell, chapter 10). Meanwhile, one can look at Sparta, with its divided Kingship (there were always two Kings) and the supervisory powers of the Ephors. Indeed, there is an argument that, in the case of Sparta, "different institutions exercised checks and balances on each other. The kings controlled war and religion, the Elders controlled law, and the Ephors fair play." (Morris & Powell, 293)
Additionally, it's worth noting that while Sparta was the most militarized state in Greece, its militarism was largely defensive in purpose, and historically, it's foreign policy was focused largely around the Peloponnese. The Athenians, on the other hand, would become far more ambitious and aggressive, taking a leadership role in Delian League (an alliance aimed against Persia), which it would later convert into empire. This empire would, in turn, fuel the Athenian Golden Age.
Finally, to turn towards Miletus, it's worth noting that Miletus, for part of its history, fell under the control of the Persian Empire. In addition, Miletus was one of the earliest centers of Greek philosophy and was home to critical thinkers such as Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes. This was a key intellectual center during the early history of Greek philosophy, and Athens would emerge as a key intellectual center much later within that history.

While there are certainly similarities between the poleis of Sparta, Athens, and Miletus, there are also some important differences. An interesting social characteristic of Sparta was the fact that the city-state was purely militaristic; a higher military rank signified a higher social status. While it was generally a male-dominated society, women in Sparta had a bit more rights in comparison with the other city-states. Another interesting characteristic is that Sparta actually had two kings who came from two different powerful and aristocratic families.
Athens was economically and politically the most developed society among the Greek city-states. The people of the polis were wealthier in comparison, because they were included in the trade business. Athens also had a male-dominated democratic political system, and the citizens spent their wealth on building various structures and houses, which were considered the most beautiful in all Greece.
Miletus didn’t really have a strong militaristic power like Sparta or a well-developed political system like Athens, but it did hold great commercial power, as the people focused on the trading business. Miletus was probably the only polis where the people heavily concentrated on art, culture, philosophy, and science.

How is the woman who arrives on this particular evening different from most of the sitting parents?

In the short story "Winter Night" by author Kay Boyle, the mysterious brunette sitter shows affection and warmth toward Felicia, the daughter of wealthy parents and whose mother is always absent in the evening. Felicia's father has been abroad fighting in the war for much of Felicia's life, so she does not have any substantial memories of him or with him.
The rotation of maids and sitters who have watched over Felicia in the past performed their job mechanically; they showed no emotional attachment or warmth towards Felicia. In fact, they performed their duties in a robotic manner so that they could quickly get Felicia to bed.
Felicia was treated as just another task. However, the new sitter takes her time to get to know Felicia, and tells her stories about a girl she once knew of whom Felicia reminded her. She even helps Felicia clear up the dinner table so that they can spend some time together sooner.
In the end, Felicia falls asleep in the sitter's arms. When the mother comes home and sees them sleeping, the mother is shocked because the other sitters never showed such closeness towards her young daughter.

How do Abigail Williams' actions significantly affect the outcome in Act 3?

At this stage in the play, John Proctor's getting desperate. Not only is his own life in danger but so is that of his wife Elizabeth. He figures that the only way to save themselves is by getting Mary Warren to testify that the whole witch-craze is based on nothing but a pack of lies. Mary's quite a weak-minded, suggestible individual, and John uses everything he's got to try and intimidate her into telling the truth.
However, John hasn't reckoned on Abigail Williams. When it comes to intimidation, she's in a league of her own. She threatens Mary, making it abundantly clear what she will do to her if she dares to open her mouth in court. This is no idle threat; Mary knows just how nasty and vindictive Abby really is. Just one word from those lying lips of hers could be enough to send Mary to the gallows on a trumped-up charge of witchcraft.
Nevertheless, Mary bravely begins her testimony. But Abby's not done with her yet. She and the other girls start shivering as if they've been placed under a wicked spell. Indeed, that's precisely what they claim has happened; they say that Mary has bewitched them with a cold wind. The court proceedings denigrate into chaos, with Mary succumbing to the atmosphere of hysteria and accusing John Proctor of being the devil's man. Abby's attempt to intimidate Mary has worked, and in the process the last real chance for bringing this whole charade to a close has gone.

What is some biographical information on Beatrice Wood? How does her work reflect life and culture?

Biographical information on the pioneering 20th century American ceramicist Beatrice Wood, who lived to be 105, is available from numerous sources, including her autobiography, I Shock Myself. It is also available in the entry offered by the Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts at the Besant School, where she formerly taught.
Born in 1893 and raised in an affluent California family, Wood studied art in Paris until World War I forced her to return to the United States. While studying theater in New York, she became involved with the French Dada artist Marcel Duchamp. Along with co-founding the Dada magazine The Blind Man, she wrote and illustrated entries in other Dada publications. In the 1920s, relocating to Los Angeles, she began seriously to study Eastern philosophies with Jiddu Krishnamurti. At age 40, she began to dedicate her artistic pursuits to ceramics. She became an expert and innovator in glazes, especially lusterware. Wood continued to produce both functional pieces, such as dinnerware, that was marketed in department stores, along with her fine-art pieces. She lived the last half of her life in Ojai, California. One highlight of her middle years was an intensive lecture tour of India, sponsored by the US State Department. The trip also influenced her to adopt the sari as her regular form of dress.
Wood’s influence includes her work and her life. She is one of the most well-known women ceramicists of her generation. Her embrace of Eastern philosophies also resonates with artistic and spiritual inquiries that continue today. Wood also supposedly inspired the character of Rose in the film Titanic.
https://books.google.com/books/about/I_Shock_Myself.html?id=Lwg4AQAAIAAJ

https://www.beatricewood.com/biography.html

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Beatrice-Wood

What does "a free bird thinks of another breeze" mean?

In Maya Angelou's poem "Caged Bird," the speaker contrasts the imprisonment and suffering of the eponymous caged bird with the freedom and independence of a free bird.
The given quotation,"The free bird thinks of another breeze," has two meanings. Firstly, it refers back to the first stanza, where the free bird is described as flying "on the back of the wind." The wind here symbolizes the freedom of the free bird. Thus, the "breeze" mentioned in the given quotation also symbolizes the free bird's freedom, and the fact that the breeze is "another" breeze implies just how much freedom the free bird enjoys.
The second meaning of the given quotation is tied up with a second meaning of the word "another." The word "another" can also mean "different," and so the line might also be read as, "The free bird thinks of a different breeze." The last lines of the previous, second stanza, are, "for the caged bird / sings of freedom." As we have already established, the "freedom" here is synonymous with the wind, so the "different" breeze could simply refer to the different kind of freedom that the free bird thinks of relative to the caged bird. The caged bird's freedom, or "breeze," is only an imagined, hoped-for freedom, while the free bird's "breeze" is a very real and thus different freedom, which it perhaps takes for granted.

Why did the mufti try to close the Kushal School in I Am Malala?

In her autobiography, I Am Malala, young Malala Yousafzai describes her upbringing, family values, and Pashtuni culture in Pakistan. The events of her life take place in the backdrop of Islamic extremism and the sociopolitical horrors of her region, the Swat Valley.
What is very unique about Malala's family is that her father, Ziauddin, is passionately devoted to the establishment of equal rights for girls and women. Although the family was eventually forced to relocate to Birmingham, England, for many years her father was the principal of the progressive Khushal School, which allowed children of all social ranks to attend. He founded this school himself, with the hope of providing equality in educational opportunities.
Ghulamullah, a mufti (Islamic scholar) in the community, tried to have the Khushal School closed because girls attended as well as boys. According to the extremist interpretation of religious law held by the mufti, girls were supposed to be kept at home.
Eventually, Mufti Ghulamullah and Malala's father, Ziauddin, reached a compromise. The girl students were to enter through a separate gate where they would not be seen by men.

Give a character sketch of Viola.

Twelfth Night is one of the comedy plays of Shakespeare that he wrote in 1601. Critics consider the Twelfth Night as the one of his greatest comedies. The Twelfth Night also named as “What You Will” by the writers community. Twelfth Night is considered to be the twelfth night of Christmas that people celebrated as a festival in which everything would change its role. The play includes a woman who has to disguise herself as a young man. In all the other plays, the major roles have been played by male characters. The character of Malvolio initially seems to be a minor character, however, projects the Puritan image compelling the audience to deliberate upon and view the character in the wholesome perspective.
Malvolio’s character is the most complex and interesting character of the play, and becomes more interesting with the progress of the play. At first appearance, Malvolio seems to be a simple, proper and stiff servant who is Puritan and likes to spoil the fun of other people. Due to his nature of despising others, he earns the enmity of other characters such as Zany, the clever girl Maria and always drunken Sir Toby. Malvolio drags himself into an engineered love affair after receiving a fake and tempered love letter from Olivia, and makes fun of himself by wearing funny dresses and behaving differently from his actual character. The event changes the impression about Malvolio and exposes his extraordinary ambitions of marrying Olivia and becoming the Count Malvolio (Act II). After receiving the fake love letter from Olivia, character of Malvolio undergoes transformation, and he suddenly changes from a person of rigid and inexpressive personification of pompous modesty into a person with the power of self-misconception. After receiving the letter, he becomes pitiable for his actions that he does to impress Olivia. He appears ridiculous in the scenes after receiving the letter when he wears the cross garter and yellow stockings.
Malvolio’s ambitions overcome his common sense that brings grimaces to the audience, every time he appears on the screen. His changed personality compels Olivia to think that he has gone mad. Malvolio, earlier a total joyless person becomes joyful, and runs after an ambition that everybody less Malvolio knew was false. The audience pity for Malvolio increases when the clever girl Maria and Sir Toby confine him in a dark room in order to declare him insane (Act IV). At this stage of play, Malvolio appears to be a victim of the foul play be Maria and Sir Toby. Malvolio character of order and sobriety sacrificed for bringing the enthusiastic spirit in other characters of the play. After the play sacrifices the character of Malvolio, the character starts getting the sympathies and respect of the audience. Although he is asked to spend one single night in the darkness, his character is not tragic as he keeps his sanity in the face of the insistence that he is mad. He remains true to himself and believes he is not insane, and he is simply trying to win the love of Olivia. When Sir Toby releases him from the confines, there is a celebration going on in which he does not have a part to play and leaves the celebrations (Act V). After the play reveals everything, none of the characters apologizes to Malvolio for his sufferings in the dark room. The exit of Malvolio is shaking note in an otherwise comedy play.
A person of Malvolio’s character is the real world rarely exists. Not many Puritans can be found in the world of today, and there are very few people who stick to their traditional values. Also, there may not be many people who does not enjoy the joyful things and who look towards the darker or the mere formal side of things. Believing on a fake love letter from his own lady shows too much innocence on the part of the character. The funny dresses and mad like depiction of the Malvolio also do not reflect the sanity that a person of Malvolio nature would show after being driven into the game of love. His initial appearance and his sober and serious nature did not convince the audience of his actions in the later part of the play. The character of Malvolio seems to be “the odd one out” in the play and if the same person is part of the real world, he will be among the few “odd ones out.” Shakespeare included the character in the play for two reasons. First; to bring comedy in the play when Malvolio is ridiculed by Maria and Sir Tobey. Second; to project puritans’ image as undesired to the audience. Character of Malvolio did not have a place in the chaotic world of the Twelfth Night, and such a person does not have a fair place in the real world too. If everyone enjoys the happiness, someone must suffer to bring happiness to others.

Viola is the focal point of the drama and its subsequent development. She is at the front and center of just about everything that happens in the play, providing the catalyst for the most important action. It's established right from the outset that Viola is a highly intelligent woman. It is this characteristic of hers that allows her to transform herself into Cesario and maintain this cunning disguise without being detected. She's also a fiercely independent woman, taking charge of forging her own identity, which transgresses the boundaries of what's considered acceptable in the society she inhabits.
Being an outsider in Illyria means that Viola isn't subject to the misguided perceptions that bedevil the natives. She's much more practical, more grounded, more down-to-earth, less prone to the dictates of emotion than both Orsino and Olivia. That doesn't mean that Viola doesn't possess a romantic streak in her soul; it's just that it's tempered by a certain practicality. Even so, Viola still has a strongly romantic element in her character, which, combined with her undoubted wisdom, intelligence, and practicality, gives her a better understanding of love and all that it entails. This, combined with her adoption of two conflicting gender roles, allows Viola to teach Orsino and Olivia the true meaning of love from the perspective of both a man and a woman.

What are some things that Sam does that people don’t bother with in Seedfolks?

Unlike many in the neighborhood Sam wants to bring members of the community together. Despite his advanced years he has an energy and a determination to make this happen that would put most people half his age to shame. He's forever organizing things, whether it's a contest for neighborhood kids to work out how they can collect water for garden plants or setting up the community garden itself.
Sam regards this kind of thing as important; otherwise, people would just go about their lives in their own little worlds, without talking to each other. Sam sees the bigger picture, as it were, in a way that few others in the neighborhood do. He knows that this little corner of Cleveland could be so much better than it is, if only people would put aside their differences and come together as one.

How do we see the theme of adversity in As You Like It?

Sweet are the uses of adversity; Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head...
This is a profound insight expressed in a striking simile. It happens very often that, as Buddha says, bad fortune can turn into good fortune, and good fortune can turn into bad fortune. There are many possible real-life examples. For instance, a man loses his job, can't pay his bills, loses his house through foreclosure, and has to move to a different city to obtain another job. However, he finds work he likes better and meets people who are more compatible; maybe he even falls in love. He also discovers that he has hidden resources which he might never have realized if he hadn't be forced to stop and think about his life, his values, his ambitions. Some people go back to school and are guided into new careers they hadn't even known existed. Some people commit crimes and are sent to prison, but there they have the time and motivation to think about their lives and to find comfort and guidance through religion. Adversity is something that practically everyone is going to have to experience sooner or later. It is a part of life. It can be overwhelming or it can be rejuvenating. The banished Duke in As You Like It finds himself living in a forest, but there, like the characters in the Upanishads, he discovers that he prefers a life of freedom and meditation to the artificial and hypocritical life of the typical court. Adversity helps us recognize who our friends are--and who our friends aren't.

Explain how the eternal stage of nature and the transient state of human beings are contrasted in the poem "A Photograph."

Shirley Toulson's "A Photograph" is certainly about the transient, or passing, state of human beings. The speaker studies a photograph of her mother who has been dead for a number of years. Looking at the photograph is a way for the speaker, in some sense, to be with her mother again. Looking at a still image, of a moment frozen in time is a way for the speaker to momentarily ameliorate the pain that is a direct result of the fact that human life is transient.
Perhaps the key image in the poem is the image of the sea washing her mother's "terribly transient feet." The speaker points out that the sea "appears to have changed less" than her mother did. If we interpret the sea here as a symbol of the natural world, this would indeed suggest that nature is, relative to human beings, eternal. When someone we love passes away, it often can seem so strange because the rest of the world seems unaffected. We almost expect the world around us, even the natural world, to show some signs of the pain that we feel. Our world, psychologically and emotionally, has changed so profoundly, but the natural world around us is indifferent and unchanging. This can be an odd, uncomfortable sensation, and this is in part the sensation that the poem captures so well.

What story elements most clearly suggest Mead is living in a dystopian society in "The Pedestrian"?

When answering this question, it's useful to first define dystopia. What does dystopic literature tend to entail? (With that in mind, it also would be useful to consider the subject of utopia as well, and note the way that dystopias and utopias are often connected with one another.) If utopias reflect our hopes about the future, what we wish to become as a culture and society, dystopias represent our fears and anxieties concerning the same. At the same time, they often serve as a form of social criticism, charting potentially harmful trends in contemporary society forward in time, warning about the potential paths to which these trends might lead. So, with that in mind, how is this theme reflected in Bradbury's work?
One question you might want to consider when thinking about this topic is this: would you like to live in this kind of society? Furthermore, is there a warning embedded within this story, and if so, what precisely is Bradbury warning us about? Consider what actually happens to Mead at the end of story, and think about what his fate says about the society in which he lives. Answering these kinds of questions should hopefully provide insight as to the story's dystopian nature.

What did the New Netherlands' economy consist of?

In the seventeenth century, the New Netherlands, headquartered in present day New York, dominated most of the central Atlantic coast of North America, extending from New York through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware to parts of Maryland. It was a very wealthy colony.
The Dutch, initially under the Dutch West India Company, established permanent settlements in the New Netherlands in order to regularize the flow of furs from America to Holland. Fur, especially beaver, was a primary source of wealth from the colony. The economy was also based on exporting lumber, on the export of agricultural products (including tobacco), and, eventually, on slave trading.
In 1640, the Dutch West India Company lost its monopoly on the colony. This allowed other corporations to establish themselves there, which led to greater economic growth and an expanding population of permanent settlers.
The colony became so profitable that it caught the eye of the British, who took it over in 1664.

What are some symbols in Romeo and Juliet?

Flowers: One of the most famous lines in literature comes from Romeo and Juliet: “That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet.” Here, flowers symbolize both beauty and love.
Stars: Romeo and Juliet are the “star-cross’d lovers.” Stars in this play are symbols of fate. The fact that the lovers are “cross’d” bespeaks the tragedy that is to come.
Darkness and Light: At the beginning of the play, Romeo is alone and depressed. His father says that his personal darkness is like “adding clouds to more clouds." But later, his depression lifts when Romeo compares Juliet’s beauty to light, the ethereal quality that defines her: “But soft! What light from yonder window breaks? It is the east and Juliet is the sun."
Poison: Friar Laurence concocts a “poison” that will make Romeo appear dead. His plan backfires and the young lovers commit suicide. Poison is a symbol of the way good people can make bad choices.

What is the main character's definition of bravery in Coraline by Neil Gaiman?

In the book Coraline, the main character is a girl who has to face some frightening supernatural beings, such as the “Other Mother,” who is a copy of Coraline’s real mother from a different world. Coraline wandered into this world by accident.
Facing frightening things with bravery is a theme in the book. At one point, Coraline recalls a story that her father told her about an incident involving wasps. When Coraline was younger, her father went with her for a walk in an abandoned area between their house and some shops.
They had angered some yellow wasps, and Coraline’s father told her to run away. He stayed behind on purpose to let Coraline escape. Then, later, he had to go back in order to get his glasses after they had fallen off. He got stung thirty-nine times, whereas Coraline had only been stung once.
Coraline’s father told her that standing there being stung while letting Coraline escape hadn’t been brave, since it was all he could do. The passage then reads:

But going back to get his glasses, when he knew the wasps were there, when he was really scared. That was brave.

While she’s telling this story to her talking cat, Coraline has to demonstrate this definition of bravery by deliberately going back into the world with the Other Mother, even though this time she knows it’s dangerous.

What caused the Maybury vs Madison case ?

The case arose out of the fierce political rivalry between the outgoing Federalist Administration and its Democratic-Republican opponents. Thomas Jefferson, the Democratic-Republican candidate for President, had defeated the incumbent John Adams in the 1800 election. Yet as Inauguration Day would not take place until March of the following year, Adams remained as President, with all the powers that the role entailed.
One of the most important of those powers was that of judicial appointment. Adams was worried that the incoming administration would undo his entire political program. So in the dying days of his presidency he made a number of appointments to the Federal bench, hoping to pack the courts with his political supporters in order to stymie any attempts by the next administration to undermine his legacy.
One of the men due to be appointed was William Marbury. Yet he was denied his appointment at the 11th hour by the new Secretary of State, James Madison, who had not delivered his formal commission on time before President Jefferson's inauguration. In court, the government argued that as the commission had not been delivered on time, Marbury was not entitled to take up his new position. For his part, Marbury was aggrieved that he had been denied a judicial role given to him by the duly constituted legal authority, i.e. President Adams.
In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court, consisting largely of Federalists such as Chief Justice John Marshall, held that Marbury was not entitled to his appointment, even though Madison's failure to deliver his commission was illegal. The Court's rationale for handing down the decision was purely political. Marshall knew that if the Court ruled in Marbury's favor it would generate a bitter conflict with the Jefferson Administration, which might well result in the Court's having its wings clipped by the President and his supporters, who now had a majority in Congress.
More importantly, the Court also invalidated the law that had given it jurisdiction in the Marbury case. Ironically, then, the Supreme Court struck down a law that had given it more power. Yet in doing so, it arrogated to itself yet greater power: the power of judicial review. The Court had given to the Jefferson Administration with one hand and taken with the other. From that day on, the Supreme Court would have the right to strike down laws as unconstitutional.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/marbury-v-madison-establishes-judicial-review

https://www.oyez.org/cases/1789-1850/5us137

Why did Eurasia conquer America, Africa, and Australia?

Europe and Asia's intent to conquer the Americas, Africa, and Australia grew out of two primary drives. The first was a pervasive religious imperialism founded on the Christian doctrine to spread "God's mission." This drive was most prominent in Europe, while Asia was motivated by its own brand of imperialism based on more secular and dynastic values. Both of these imperialist brands utilized appeals to higher powers (God, or rich national legacies) to morally justify starting physical and ideological warfare that decimated the native cultures of the Americas, Africa, and Australia.
The second drive was arguably an economic imperative to seize the means of production in new and unexploited regions of the world. Most political leaders during the era of colonialism were afraid of what lay on the frontiers of the known world, and fixated on conquering them by gouging out their resources and laying them bare and innocuous. After destroying countless indigenous cultures and incorporating their people into the fledgling slave trade, Europe and, to a lesser extent, Asia, sought to project their values onto the new world and mould it into their ideal self-images.

How is appearance vs reality shown through Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse-Five?

Kurt Vonnegut emphasizes the disconnect between appearance and reality in several ways. The author presents Billy Pilgrim’s story largely as Billy’s understanding of his experiences, but he also offers a narrator’s perspective on the events and ideas that have shaped Billy’s post-war situation. Those events are concentrated on an actual occurrence: the bombing of Dresden.
One important concept is that Billy is “unstuck in time.” This concept can apply to memory, as Billy reflects on his traumatic wartime experiences. It can also apply to time travel, which is linked to space travel through Billy’s alternate life on Tralfamadore. Although it is not a utopian life, Billy appreciates the Tralfamadorians’ approach of concentrating on good times and pleasant memories.
The reader understands that this time-and-space travel is not a mild fantasy but the product of mental instability: it is real to Billy. Although Billy cannot understand this phenomenon in other terms, he also tries to reverse time conceptually by playing a movie backward. He knows that the time in the film is not real, but he aims for respite by controlling the course of events, if only for a brief while.

Your question is about the use of appearance vs reality as a literary device in the novel Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. Written from the perspective of a man who served with the main character, Billy Pilgrim, during the second world war, Slaughterhouse-Five is the narrator’s attempt to tell his story of the bombing of Dresden, in conjunction with the life story of Billy Pilgrim. The novel is told in a non-linear fashion, as Billy perceives the events of his life out of order, sometimes on purpose and sometimes unintentionally. From the beginning, the disconnect between the narrator and Billy sets up a miscommunication of reality. This is not Billy telling his own story, but a friend of his being told the story, and then ordering it in such a way that it reflects Billy’s detachment from time and places the bombing of Dresden at the climax of the novel.

Appearance vs reality in this novel is shown differently when through Billy’s perspective or through the narrator’s telling of the story. The narrator is able to present a situation from all perspectives, usually followed by Billy being led into the situation, or giving context for what is happening around Billy without his knowledge. Despite Billy’s ability to travel through time within his own life, he is frequently surprised by the events taking place around him, occasionally blaming his surprise or inability to understand his own actions on illness and trauma.

One of Billy’s fellow soldiers, Roland Weary, constantly harrasses him during their time together in the European theater and eventually dies, claiming Billy is the cause. From the perspective presented by the narrator, Roland is a villain to Billy, taking advantage of his meek nature. To Billy, Roland is a light nuisance but only a small part of his entire life, which he had already gained the ability to see before Roland’s death. To Paul Lazzaro, who was present for Roland’s final words, Billy is the villain, whom he will ultimately murder, meaning that Roland is the cause of Billy’s future death. Roland died from gangrene, which he contracted by wearing wooden clogs given to him by the germans after his capture, not by Billy’s own action. Whether or not Billy’s story of time travel and living on the planet Tralfamadore is an accurate telling of events doesn’t matter to the narrative, because the narrator presents it in such a way that all perspectives of an interaction can be known to the reader.
Billy dies because of the actions taken by Roland and Lazzaro, but the knowledge of his death nullifies the effectiveness of reality as something to be concerned with. By seeing and knowing his entire life, Billy finds much more interest in the appearances of things, which could be connected to his profession as an optometrist.

How is this a humorous story?

In analyzing "The Open Window" we should not lose sight of the fact that this is a funny story. None of the characters laughs, but that is part of what is funny. Fifteen-year-old Vera not only has a vivid imagination and a mischievous nature, but she has a wild sense of humor. Her whole purpose in making up the story about the three men who died while hunting is to create the reaction she evokes in the hypochondriacal visitor Framton Nuttel.
Framton grabbed wildly at his stick and hat; the hall door, the gravel drive, and the front gate were dimly noted stages in his headlong retreat. A cyclist coming along the road had to run into the hedge to avoid imminent collision.
Except for giving the approaching hunters a look of "dazed horror," Vera remains completely deadpan as her elders wonder why their strange visitor left in such a hurry. But Vera must be laughing on the inside. In fact, she may be having a very hard time to keep from laughing out loud.

What is the meaning or annotation of the following lines from Auden's poem "Spain 1937"? What is "counting frame" in stanza 1, line 3? "Yesterday the abolition of fairies and giants . . . Yesterday the carving of angels and alarming gargoyles," stanza 3. "The trial of heretics among the columns of stone," stanza 4. What are the "columns of stone?"? "Yesterday the belief in the absolute value of the Greek, the fall of the curtain upon the death of a hero," stanza 6. "As the poet whispers, startled among the pines . . . 'O my vision. O send me the luck of a sailor,' " stanza 7. "As the investigator peers through his instrument . . . But the lives of my friends. I inquire, I inquire," stanza 8. "Our day is our loss . . . time the refreshing river," stanza 9. What is the "city state of the sponge" in stanza 10? "Oh no, I am not the mover," stanza 12. What is meant by "mover" here? "On that tableland scored by river . . . the menacing shapes of our fever," stanza 17. "Are precise and alive . . . to the medicine ad . . . the ruin," stanza 18. Please explain stanzas 19 and 20.

Auden's first several stanzas draw contrasts between the Europe of yesterday and the conflict-ridden Europe of the present day. A "counting-frame" (similar to an abacus) is a mathematical instrument, and a "cromlech" is a proto-religious monumental tomb (similar to England's Stonehenge). Auden's first stanza remarks that the world in days gone by was reverential to "angels" and "gargoyles" and replete with "navigators." This is all ultimately compared to "the struggle" of the Civil War (the refrain of stanzas 4–6, 22, and 23). In service of this comparison, Auden adduces "the counting-frame" and "the cromlech" to stand in for mathematical and scientific pursuits and religion, respectively.
The "fairies" represent paganism and other mythical religious folklore, and the "carving of angels" symbolizes the replacement of this folkloric religion with Christianity.
"The trial of heretics among the columns of stone" (stanza 4) is an allusion to the Spanish Inquisition of the mid-fifteenth century, designed to root out false converts to Catholicism among Jews and Muslims. The "columns of stone" refers to the ostentatious and venerable institution of the Catholic Church. Here, Auden is looking to Spain's distant past and perhaps allowing that though it wasn't perfect, it is still (it's implied) preferable to the Civil War.
Stanza 6 is a clear nod to ancient Greek classicism, replete with the tradition of tragic theater that gave us Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Euripides. Auden claims that Spain used to revere the classical standard and aspire to its ideals (heroism, patriotism, beauty); however, it has lost sight of the notional classical roots of European modernity.
"The poet whispers" inaugurates a string of tropes, revealing the present thoughts of people from a variety of circumstances (the poet, the investigator, the poor). All are looking for meaning in their usual places (nature, science, and government). The "luck of the sailor" alludes to Spain's naval supremacy up until the 1800s.
The "investigator, peer[ing] through his instrument," finds no satisfactory answer given by the sciences to account for the suffering of "the lives of [his] friends," which represents humanity at large. The poor peoples' conclusion that "our day is our loss" reveals their collective appraisal that they are living in the worst of times for the Spanish nation. They are witnessing a decline (owing to "the struggle") that they are powerless to stop.
"The city-state of the sponge" is a metaphor suggesting Spain's unique absorbency of other cultures and resulting cultural wealth. Prior to its becoming a country in the fifteenth century, Spain comprised several kingdoms, all with different dialects. Before that, Spain was occupied by the Muslim caliphate (whose religious and architectural presence is still palpable in modern Spain).
"I am not the mover" is spoken by Auden's personified Spain itself, claiming that it has no means to determine the course of events but will duly respond to "your choice, your decision" (that is, the decision of the people).
The "tableland, scored by rivers" is a reference to the geography of Spain. In particular, Spain is a plateau, and its landscape is permeated by rivers (the Ebro, Tagus, and Deuro, to name a few). Auden is commenting on Spain's connection to Europe, but also its geographic uniqueness and relative isolation.
Stanzas 17 and 18 describe the people's resilience and their motivation to unite as a "people's army." They are asserting their control over their country's fate.
Stanzas 19 and 20 illustrate a hopeful future for Spain. The "romantic love" and "photographing of ravens" predicts domestic bliss and, perhaps, the resurgence of scientific research. The "pageant-master and the musician" refer to the the arts and music that, too, will thrive in a peaceful, liberated Spain.
The final three stanzas' references to "increase in the chances of death," a "shared cigarette," and "makeshift consolations" starkly contrast with the sanguine outlook for Spain evident in the previous three stanzas. This is Auden's somber reminder of the high stakes attending the present struggle.

Discuss the economic reasons for subsidizing public transport and taxing private transport.

There are a number of reasons for subsidizing public transport and taxing private transport. On a global and ecological level, it is beneficial to the climate because it reduces carbon emissions, but on an economic level, there are numerous benefits.
First, it provides a ready means of free or cheap transport for low-income individuals to help them access work or shopping that helps to stimulate the economy. Additionally, it reduces traffic and congestion, which in turn allows for smoother transport, provides safer travel for people at large, reduces wear and tear on roads, and provides less traffic for distribution and shipping companies. These benefits and others make it a financially beneficial option for transportation in addition to it being ecologically friendly.

There are several reasons why the government might choose to subsidize public transport in order to help the economy. One of those reasons would be to provide lower-income individuals the ability to both find and keep jobs. In turn, these individuals would then have their incomes taxed, providing revenue for the government. Jobs would mean less spending by the government on social programs such as food stamps because the citizens would have the means to provide for themselves. It would also mean that more money would be put into the economy through individual spending. Public transport would allow people from all walks of life the ability to get around the city in a cheaper manner, and the money that each citizen had been spending on gas and upkeep of their private vehicles would then be put into the economy through other personal purchases.
Taxing private transport would help to pay for repairs to current roads and the building of new ones. This would create jobs, as it takes manpower to build infrastructure. These jobs would not only provide taxable income, it would also provide a means for people to make purchases. The additional purchases would help boost the economy. If private transportation taxation was to be based off of a car's fuel economy or carbon emissions, it could encourage private vehicle owners to turn in their older cars and buy newer, more fuel-efficient ones. This would boost the economy as well as provide additional tax revenue that could, in turn, be put back into communities.