At the meeting what do Ralph and Jack report about the island? What famous books do they reference in describing it and why?

It's chapter 2 of Lord of the Flies and the boys are having their first big meeting. Conch-shell in hand, Ralph announces to the other boys that he, Jack, and Simon have climbed the mountain and in doing so have established that they've all been stranded on an island. But it's a good island with lots of pigs to hunt and eat. Picking up from Piggy's intervention, Ralph goes on to say that, as the boys' plane was shot down in flames, no one knows where they are, and so they may be stuck on the island for quite some time.
In the meantime, though, the boys can enjoy themselves and have some fun. It'll be like something out of a book. At this point, some of the other boys excitedly offer their own suggestions as to what kind of book Ralph might have in mind, famous adventure stories such as Treasure Island, Swallows and Amazons, and Coral Island. The latter of these books inspired William Golding to write Lord of the Flies. It was a rollicking Victorian adventure story about a group of boys stranded on a desert island, and which included characters called Ralph and Jack. But Golding wanted to subvert the original source material, turning a jolly tale about young boys having an awfully big adventure on a desert island into a dark allegory that would depict how such boys would really behave were they to find themselves far away from the watchful gaze of adults.

What kind of term is "true grit"? Is it morally positive? Why is True Grit the title of the novel?

The word "grit" is defined as strength of character and can be applied to an individual who possesses determination and courage. The title True Grit thus refers to someone who possesses real courage and resolve.
Mattie Ross demonstrates grit as a 14-year-old seeking retribution for her father's murder by Tom Chaney. At Fort Smith, the toughest deputy that she can find is Reuben J. Cogburn. She is convinced that he has grit because he has a reputation for violence. Mattie insists on accompanying Cogburn on the search, despite the dangers. Before they set out on their journey, they meet LaBoeuf, a Texas Ranger who is also looking for Tom Chaney. Cogburn and LaBoeuf repeatedly try to leave Mattie behind, but she is determined to seek justice carried out. Mattie joins their posse, and ends up killing Chaney herself. After Chaney's death, she is bitten on the hand by a rattlesnake, describing it in a matter-of-fact way and without complaints of pain:

My hand was swelled and turned black, and then my wrist. On the third day Dr. Medill gave me a sizeable dose of morphine and amputated my arm just above the elbow with a little surgical saw.

In regards to the morality of the title, I would say no. Mattie seeks retribution and kills Chaney out of revenge. Although he would have received a death sentence for his crimes anyway, she is not actually a person of the law and takes justice into her own hands.

Why is Utterson concerned for Dr. Jekyll after reading his will?

Mr. Utterson is concerned after reading Dr. Jekyll's will because his friend is leaving everything to Mr. Hyde, a man Mr. Utterson has never heard of or met. This in itself is strange, because Mr. Utterson and Dr. Jekyll go back a long way and come from the same set of friends. Utterson also worries because the will stipulates that should Dr. Jekyll disappear for more than three months, Mr. Hyde should:

. . . step into the said Henry Jekyll’s shoes without further delay and free from any burthen or obligation beyond the payment of a few small sums to the members of the doctor’s household.

Mr. Utterson's initial thinking, which is that this will is based on a whim or impulse, means it offends his sane and orderly mind. He then starts to suspect that the will may be due to Dr. Jekyll having to hide some "disgrace." Whatever the case, the air of mystery about Mr. Hyde worries him.
Mr. Utterson therefore searches out Mr. Hyde. When he meets him, he is even more concerned because the man is odd, unpleasant, and Satanic. He can't understand why Dr. Jekyll would make such a person his heir. But when he presses his friend about the will, Dr. Jekyll insists that it is a complicated situation and that the will must stay as it is written. Mr. Utterson simply cannot understand any of this.

How are individual and collective human experiences presented in George Orwell's '1984'. Answer the question with adequate textual support and literary techniques.

Individualism is represented in 1984 primarily through Winston Smith and Julia and the relationship they have. Winston takes an individual stance is first shown through his questioning of the “truth” of the ministry’s claims and by keeping a diary which includes such ideas as “Down with Big Brother.” Julia, despite belonging to the Anti-Sex League, freely expresses her own sexuality. Together they enter a clandestine sexual relationship as well as begin rebellious actions.
The collective experiences are shown through the enforced share experiences, including rituals, in which everyone is expected to partake. One such experience is the Two Minutes Hate through which Party allegiance is strengthened by focusing antipathy on the Party’s enemies.
One of the primary literary techniques that George Orwell uses is extensive use of oxymoron. In this device, two or more apparently contradictory ideas are juxtaposed to create an effect. This device is shown in the slogans that the Party promotes, notably “War Is Peace.” It also applies to the names of the government agencies, such as the Ministry of Truth, which produces propaganda consisting of lies that change every day. Another device that the author uses is coinage, or neologism, the invention of new words, often through combining others. Examples are “doublethink” and “newspeak.”
http://www.literarydevices.com/oxymoron/

https://literarydevices.net/neologism/

Do you think that Cry, The Beloved Country would have been different if it was written by a black author experiencing racism and pre-apartheid first-hand? How might Kumalo's character or perspective be different in the hands of a black writer?

This answer assumes that the type of work considered would also be fiction. One factor to consider in thinking about an author's race is that a writer is an individual as well as a member of a group. There are many black and white South African writers who have written critically about their country's political and social injustices under apartheid, and the differences among their perspectives are not neatly divisible along racial lines. However, each individual is going to be influenced by their own personal experience of race and discrimination when discussing the subject of apartheid.
Another important factor to consider is the time period—when the novel is set and the period when the author was actually writing. In Cry, the Beloved Country, Alan Paton presents many sympathetic and unsympathetic characters that are black and white alike. The character of Absalom Kumalo is not a bad person, but he makes bad choices. Arthur Jarvis, the white man he kills, has made good choices, especially in his efforts to help black South Africans.
However, a black author might handle the plot, the characters, and the events differently. For example, the plot might revolve around an incident in which a black protagonist is working toward ending apartheid and the killer might be a white man. Absalom's father, Stephen, reaches out to Arthur's father after his son kills Arthur.
Stephen seems to have been ignorant of the full extent of racially-based discrimination and injustice that was perpetrated against him, which does not always come across as realistic. A black writer might draw a character who is more fully aware and acts out of that knowledge: perhaps a clergyman more similar to Desmond Tutu.

What effect does the first paragraph of the story "The Night the Bed Fell" have on the reader? What is its purpose?

In James Thurber’s story, the narrator presents an apparent jumble of details that were part of the events on that remarkable night. He claims that the night was “the high-water mark” of his youth, leading the reader to believe that his childhood was not very eventful. He also admits that it will come across as an “incredible tale” while insisting that “it did take place.” The narrator’s assertions that this event might seem like a tall tale create an expectation in the reader that it will be a fantastic story. At the same time, he mentions that some people who have heard it numerous times do not find it very fascinating.
In addition, while the reader is clearly about to read this story, the narrator asserts that it is better appreciated if performed; at this point, he mentions the assorted details: throwing furniture, shaking doors, and—the most intriguing—barking like a dog. By cramming all this information, some of of it not obviously related and including apparently contradictory assertions, the author both establishes the humorous quality of the story (for those not familiar with his body of work) and intrigues them about what kind of tall tale will follow—and where the dog fits in.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1933/07/08/my-life-and-hard-times-i-the-night-the-bed-fell

Describe Willie's feelings about being in the big city all alone.

As we can imagine, Willie's pretty apprehensive when he finds himself on the streets of inner-city Oakland. Far from home, and without a single friend or family member to guide him, it's not surprising that he feels incredibly lonely. Originally, he'd planned to travel all the way to San Francisco, but the bus broke down in Oakland, and he's been there ever since.
His first experience of life in this part of the world is unpleasant, to say the least. After his bus broke down, Willie was surrounded by a gang who proceeded to beat him and steal all his money. Taken in by a kindly pimp, however, Willie is soon able to find his feet, and enrolls at a school for troubled teens, known as the OMLC, or the "One More Last Chance" school.

How do hunters damage the wall in "Mending Wall"?

The speaker of the poem describes the myriad reasons he has to come out and repair the stone wall between his own and his neighbor's property, even though he does not actually like the wall or feel that it is necessary. He first describes the effects of the winter's freezing and thawing, and then he says,
The work of hunters is another thing: I have come after them and made repairWhere they have left not one stone on a stone,But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,To please the yelping dogs. (lines 5–9)
It seems, then, that hunters come barreling through the property, running after their dogs (who are chasing after rabbits). They fail to exercise care for this reason, and the hunters end up disturbing the stones in the fence, knocking them over so that they are not stacked even two stones high in those spots. In the excitement of the chase, the hunters knock the stones down, and the speaker is forced to follow behind and repair the damage.

What assumptions did these characters (Nathan Zuckerman, Victor Zuckerman, Judge Leopold Wapter, and I. E. Lonoff) make about being Jewish and about a Jew’s responsibility toward his faith?

Nathan and Victor Zuckerman, Wapter, and Lonoff conceive of the substantiveness of one's Jewish identity as primarily tied up in personal action. Though Lonoff and Wapter do not discuss Judaism much with reference to themselves, the protagonist and narrator Nathan is constantly anxious that his family will not see him as a loyal Jew because he has reneged on past opportunities to assert his faith and familial connection. They often reject the ways he depicts them in his writing, believing that he has a distorted view of reality that makes him incompatible with Judaism. As a result, he comes to see his Jewish identity as something that has to be reclaimed through creative writing. His father, Victor, is ambivalent about the relationship between individual and family with respect to faith; instead, he values the emotional nurture that family members provide for each other.

What are some examples and analysis of three stylistic devices from The Hunt for Red October?

One stylistic device that Tom Clancy uses consistently and effectively is dialogue. Much of the plot unfolds through conversations and meetings in which the characters share information about the unfolding events and, to a lesser extent, personal feelings. In chapter 6, for example, Jack Ryan attends a meeting of the National Security Council in which the president is being informed about the rogue Soviet submarine. The information is provided, questioned, and confirmed in dialogue among the council members.
Clancy uses comparison of two types, sometimes in combination: similes, comparisons using “like” or “as,” and metaphors, direct comparisons. One example that uses both to emphasize the same effect concerns light and vision:

It was said that he could turn dazzling charm on and off like a spotlight. Ryan was being blinded, knew it, and couldn’t do a thing about it.

Closely related to metaphor is synecdoche, a type of metonym in which a part is substituted for a whole. In one instance, Clancy uses “stars,” an emblem the high-ranking military officers wear on their uniforms, as synecdoche for the officers themselves.

The Joint Chiefs arrived three minutes later. Tyler had never seen so many stars in one room.
https://books.google.com/books?id=apOnHACHDwYC&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Tom Clancy was a first rate writer and used many stylistic devices in his novels.
Clancy uses imagery to paint pictures for readers. As a refresher, imagery is when we use figurative language to represent objects and ideas. For example, in The Hunt for Red October, Capt. Bart Mancuso says:
"The hardest part about playing chicken is knowing when to flinch."
Readers begin to understand exactly what Clancy is wanting them to, but without him having to say it.
Clancy also uses metaphor in this book. Metaphor is a comparison we make between two things that are unrelated, but possessing the same characteristics. Here's an example from the book:
“We wait. No sense spooking him. We let him come in nice and close while we do our famous imitation of a hole in the water."
Clancy continues to show us what he is meaning to say, without having to tell. "Show, don't Tell" is a classic rule that all authors abide by. Stylistic devices help with that.
Clancy often uses personification to get his point across. Personification is giving human characteristics to non-human objects, animals, or things. Here's an example from the book:
"If Red October hears them coming, she runs a little harder for whatever port her skipper wants"
Clancy used a lot of stylistic devices in this book, those are just three examples of many.

Further reading:
https://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/writing/style
https://blog.bookstellyouwhy.com/the-importance-of-the-hunt-for-red-october

Why do you think Mrs. Jones handles the situation the way she does in the story, and how do you think the experience is likely to affect Roger's future?

Mrs. Jones's reaction to Roger is one that is often looked at as odd. Here is this young man that has attempted to rob her while she is on her way home at night. Roger, a skinny young man, wanting money to by a par of shoes, has chosen to target her thinking it should be an "easy score". Little does Roger know that Mrs. Jones is far from that easy target.
This older woman places the young man in a head lock and instead of calling for help or calling the police, she drags this young man into her home, makes him wash his face, and feeds him dinner. But why? Mrs. Jones explains this to him near the end of the short story. She too has wanted things; she remembers what is like to be young and wanting. She admits to Roger, without telling him out-right, that she has done things that she would not admit to him nor to God, "if he didn't already know."
Roger may be misguided. Roger certainly is lacking in supervision and likely an adult figure that would teach him right from wrong. Mrs. Jones can see this in this young mans dirty face and the hour that he is out on the streets. It is possible that the kindness and trust that Mrs. Jones offers to him could set him on the right path. It is possible that she hopes her trust in him will change the course of his life.

In "Thank You Ma'am" by Langston Hughes, young Roger meets his match when he attempts to steal the purse of Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones. Instead of grabbing the purse and running away, Roger falls when the strap of the purse breaks. Mrs. Jones lands a kick before pulling Roger up by his shirt. Although she is clearly angry, Mrs. Jones reacts in an unexpected way. Instead of calling for help or calling the police, she proceeds to march the young man to her home. Once there, Mrs. Jones instructs Roger to wash his face and then feeds him dinner. Before bidding him goodnight, she hands him some money.
Why does Mrs. Jones react the way she does? Near the end of the story, Roger shares that he wanted money for a pair of shoes. Mrs. Jones confides that she was also young once and that she wanted things. Roger expects her to continue by saying that she never tried to steal from anyone. However, she doesn't. Instead, she says, "I have done things, too, which I would not tell you, son—neither tell God, if he didn’t already know." It is as if she is communicating to Roger that she has also made mistakes when she was young. She wants him to know that she learned and recovered from her mistakes.
Mrs. Jones wants Roger to know that she cares for him. Although she scolds him and drags him to her home, she instructs him to wash his face. She prepares dinner for him when she realizes no one is home waiting for him. Mrs. Jones wants him to be accountable for his bad choice, but she shows him through her actions that she forgives him.
Roger's experience with Mrs. Jones most likely has a positive impact on him. At one point in the story, Roger has an opportunity to run. However, he chooses to wash his face as she instructs him to do. Then, he notices that her purse is left on the bed. Again, Roger remains trustworthy. Perhaps he remains trustworthy because Mrs. Jones trusts him to do so. Roger "did not trust the woman not to trust him." Mrs. Jones has set an expectation for him and he chooses not to let her down. Her final act of giving him money reinforces her message of caring and forgiveness.

How does Elsa express her freedom in The Road to Mecca?

Elsa's an enlightened, free spirited woman. As a teacher of black children in apartheid-era South Africa, she has an in-depth understanding of the horrors of racial oppression. With this understanding comes a political awareness that gives her the confidence to speak out in a way that would be considered indecent for most women in this deeply conservative society. A woman of great energy and no little confidence, Elsa hopes to encourage similar traits in Helen, traveling the long distance to the old lady's home to help revive her flagging spirits.
Wherever she goes, Elsa shows her freedom by defying expectations of how a respectable white woman should behave. Normally, she'd be expected to have settled down by now, to get married, stay at home, and have kids. But Elsa's not like that at all. For one thing, she's very career-minded. She's passionate about teaching and isn't prepared to let any man come along and stifle that passion.
Her personal life is also characterized by its openness. She's just come out of a very intense romantic relationship, one that has left her somewhat bitter and emotionally scarred. Again, such behavior would not have been considered acceptable for a single woman in South Africa at that time, and by defying society's conventions so blatantly, Elsa is asserting her freedom as an individual and as a woman.

What is the full title of Romeo and Juliet?

The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

Why has the phrase “I rise” been repeated in the last stanza in "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou?

The poem "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou is one of strength and perseverance in spite of suffering and tribulation. The words of this poem outline the option to remain on the ground when you are pushed down or to rise up against oppression and continue moving forward.
The entire poem is intended as a hymn of persistence and stubbornness, an unwillingness to remain defeated. The last stanza is especially evocative of this motif—repeating the phrase "I rise" over and over again to give the imagery that, even if the world pushes me down 1,000 times over, still I rise.
Maya Angelou was extremely famous for her perseverance and success as a social justice figure, and this poem is a kind of autobiography of her struggles, where she has to continually renew her strength and stand up in the face of oppression.

Why did T. S. Eliot write Murder in the Cathedral?

Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot is a drama based on real-life assassination of Archbishop Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral. The play is derived from the eyewitness account provided by Edward Grim.
Eliot wrote this play for the yearly Canterbury Festival in Kent. When Eliot wrote this play, Europe was dealing with the growing tensions brought about by fascism.
The play talks about the conflict between duty and conscience. Thomas Becket was appointed by King Henry II as the Archbishop of Canterbury so he could help quell the growing opposition to his reign. However, Becket took the side of the opposition.
Conflicts erupted between him and his former friend, King Henry II. Facing the possibility of death, Becket deals with the four tempters.
The first tempter offers him safety: “Take a friend’s advice. Leave well alone.”
The second tempter offers him power: “To set down the great, protect the poor, Beneath the throne of God can man do more?”
The third tempter offers alliance with the powerful to overcome the king: “ In fight for liberty. You, my Lord, in being with us, would fight a good stroke.”
Lastly, the fourth tempter who advises him to become a martyr: “You hold the keys to heaven and hell. Power to bind and loose: bind, Thomas, bind.”
Becket answers the tempters by saying, “The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason.”
After eight years of conflict, Becket is killed by four of Henry’s knights in the church.

What state was Oliver Twist's mother in when she was brought to the workshop?

Oliver Twist’s mother dies almost immediately after he is born.
In chapter 1 of the novel, the narrator describes how Oliver struggles to breathe for the first few moments of his life. The reader also gets a brief description of Oliver’s mother in this chapter.
When the surgeon asks about the girl, the nurse states that she was found lying in the street with her shoes completely worn out from walking. More than likely, she had collapsed from exhaustion prior to being brought to the workshop. These are the only details that anyone knows about Oliver’s mother.
One could infer, then, that Oliver’s mother was already about to die when she was discovered and brought to the workhouse to deliver her baby.
Her mysterious appearance and quick death read as tragic origins for the novel’s young protagonist.

What type of words and sentence structures are used by the playwright?

In Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire, Becca is a grieving housewife dealing with the death of her young son Danny. Becca's grief is aggravated by her sister's pregnancy. Her way of dealing with her grief is to essentially erase traces of Danny's memory from the home she shares with her husband Howie, who deals with the loss through obsessive watching of home videos. Becca creates a relationship with Jason, the 17-year-old boy who accidentally hit Danny with his car, the accident that led to Danny's death.
Word choice is called diction, while sentence structure is called syntax.
Throughout the play, Lindsay-Abaire uses conversational diction. This means that the dialogue is written in a way that average people speak. This lends the play its realistic feeling in its representations of grief and healing.
The syntax throughout the play is varied. Some of the characters speak in fragments or partial sentences, another realistic feature of the writing. At certain points in the play, however, a character will have a lengthy monologue that includes compound-complex sentences and even a few run-ons and comma splices. Once again, the syntactical structure in the play establishes verisimilitude and reinforces the authenticity of the plot and its characters.

"How does Hillenbrand weave historical content into the novel and to what effect?"

Unbroken, a work of nonfiction, is not a novel. It is primarily a biography focusing on Louis (Louie) Zamperini’s experiences as a prisoner of war. The book has been criticized, however, for taking too many liberties with the facts, and even as venturing into fiction territory. As the book is mainly about World War II, the overall context and specific events are well presented, and generally support the author’s explanations and much of Zamperini’s personal story. The interspersing of the historical and personal material is sometimes uneven, so that the reader may lose track either of Louie’s story or of what was happening in the world—events of which he, of course, was often ignorant.
Most of the book is set in the 1930s-1940s, before, during and after World War II. The early portions deal with his younger years, growing up and discovering running during the Great Depression. The book primarily explores Zamperini’s experiences as a soldier and prisoner of war. Louie’s ongoing trauma and later struggles, including alcoholism and recovery, are also recounted.
Because Louie’s story is primarily set within the war, Hillenbrand provides a large amount of historical context within which the reader can better understand his experiences. In this regard, the sections about the causes of the war; U.S. involvement, especially in the Pacific Theater; and the experiences of prisoners held by the Japanese are especially important. She successfully weaves together this information and Louie’s personal story. While Louie’s youth is contextualized with information about the Depression, that social situation plays second fiddle to his personal redemption through running.
By the 1930s, Zamperini had become a world-famous runner and competed for the U.S. at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. While serving in World War II as an Air Force pilot, his plane crashed in the Pacific and the surviving crew members drifted for six weeks. Their ordeal did not end when they were picked up, however, because their “rescuers” were Japanese soldiers.
Much of the narrative concerns Louie’s horrific two-year imprisonment in a prisoner-of-war camp on Execution Island. He endured torture during the Japanese efforts to extract information about military matters. Subsequently moved to two other campus, he and many other Americans remained imprisoned until after the war ended in August 1945.
The discussion of the post-war years, including Louie’s marriage and difficulties in recovery, offers less historical context. In that regard, the idea of society shaping the individual is not well matched to the presentation of the pre-war years. Overall, what emerges is the idea that World War II was an unmatched era in world history, and that its effects far outweigh those of other eras.

Who are the schoolchildren in Under Milk Wood?

As the residents of llareggub village begin to wake up, Captain Cat, the old blind sea captain, describes the noises he hears, including the school children getting ready for school. When the school bell goes, he states that he hears their feet on the cobbles and is able to list their names as follows:

Maggie Richards, Ricky Rhys, Tommy Powell, our Sal, little Gerwain, Billy Swansea with the dog's voice, one of Mr Waldo's, nasty Humphrey, Jackie with the sniff. . . . Where's Dicky's Albie? and the boys from Ty-pant? Perhaps they got the rash again.

When morning school finishes, the children play a game called Gwennie that consists of the girls singing a song that asks the boys to either give them a penny or kiss them. None of the girls names are mentioned, but the boys that play are Billy, Dicky, and Johnny Christo.
Thomas doesn't go into much detail about the children's characters. Captain Cat only mentions that Billy has a voice like a dog and because of that thinks he is probably the child that hits Maggie. As he says, "Never trust a boy who barks."

In Parable of Sower by Octavia Butler, how does cognitive estrangement function most significantly challenge norms of power dynamics, such as related to ability/disability, class, culture, economics, gender/sex, politics, race, and the like (choose only one kind of power dynamic)

Cognitive estrangement is a concept which asserts that if we can witness a new way of living within a work of fiction, we can take that new way and incorporate it into the world we know. Thus, fiction makes it easier to envision a world that is different from the current reality. In Octavia Butler's dystopian novel Parable of the Sower, we see cognitive estrangement used as a way to redefine the rigid gender and race roles present in today's society. Because the main character is a young Black woman, gender and race are both prominent aspects of her life. In a world that is facing economic and environmental decline, Lauren is cursed with "hyper-empathy," meaning that she literally feels whatever someone near her is experiencing. She also lives in constant fear of violence from men. Despite her struggles as she navigates a violent wasteland, she perseveres. Lauren eventually follows her dreams, creating a community as well as her own religion. There are not a lot of representations of young, independent, sensitive yet strong-willed Black women in the literary world. By seeing a fictional realm in which Lauren not only survives, but thrives, we can imagine a world in which the same can be said for Black women in real life.

What has been found by archeologists near the base of the pyramids?

Archeologists recently discovered that there is a cemetery near the base of the pyramids in Giza. The cemetery is located on the Giza Plateau, the area where the pyramids are located. While it's understood that the pyramids act as burial spaces for some pharaohs, the cemetery is the burial site of prominent officials from the Old Kingdom’s Fifth Dynasty—more than 4000 years ago.
Along with the sarcophagi of kingdom officials and priests, archaeologists in Egypt have found statues, carvings, and artwork throughout the buried cemetery. Mostafa Waziri, the secretary general of the supreme council of antiquities in Egypt, was quoted saying,

The cemetery houses burial shafts and tombs of top officials . . . One tomb belongs to a priest and judge named Behnui-Ka as well as an official named Nwi, who was a chief of the great state, overseer of the new settlements and the purifier of King Khafre. (Fox News, May 2019)

The tombs' excavation is just one of many recent discoveries throughout Egypt of new tombs and burial grounds. Continued excavation will provide more insight into the use of the cemetery on the Giza Plateau, while experts continue to examine the already unearthed artifacts.

What do the two strangers do when they visit the family's house?

The two strangers are a couple of thugs working for the government. The narrator's family lives in the Dominican Republic, which at that time was controlled by a brutal dictator called Trujillo. The strangers are functionaries of the dictatorship, probably members of the secret police. Earlier in the story, the narrator had an unpleasant encounter with the two men when she was out walking her dog, Liberty. The men are described as "strange" and are wearing dark glasses. It would seem that they're spying on the narrator's family as they're known for being hostile to the regime.
Later on, as the family wait outside the house, ready to leave the Dominican Republic for their new life in America, the narrator imagines what will happen after they've gone. She envisages the two strange men from earlier in the story entering the house and completely trashing the place: destroying old photographs, knocking over the coffee-table, throwing cushions on the floor, and smashing windows.

Was the United States ever part of the British Empire?

The American colonies were a vital part of the British Empire. These colonies were quite lucrative in terms of people and goods for the British. After the Revolutionary War, the United States was not truly a member of the British Empire in the sense that other colonies were; while other former colonies jumped at the chance to come to Britain's aid in various wars, the United States did not.
Commercially, the United States was treated as a favored former member of the British Empire. The United States and Britain traded freely after the American Revolution with few exceptions. In the buildup to the War of 1812, Britain tried to conscript American sailors who they believed left American ships; this led to the United States reasserting its independence in the War of 1812. The United States and Britain briefly shared the Oregon Territory until diplomats decided the property belonged to the United States during the Polk administration. The British royal house visited the United States during the reign of Queen Victoria with much American fanfare. While the United States was only a member of the British Empire during its colonial days, many Americans still feel close ties to the mother country.

When did Darwin develop his interest in the natural world?

It is likely that Charles Darwin was interested in the natural world from early childhood. Charles Darwin grew up in a small town, Shrewsbury, in rural England and enjoyed walking through the countryside, picking up natural materials such as rocks and minerals. His father was a physician, and Charles studied medicine for a time but disliked it, and then turned to studying for the ministry.
While in seminary studies, his interest expanded. He read extensively in natural history studies and met a botany professor. The recently published account of the German naturalist, Alexander von Humboldt, profoundly affected him. Humboldt had traveled through Latin America. He also read Principles of Geology by Charles Lyell, who challenged theological explanations for Earth's formation.
The botanist John Stevens Henslow was instrumental in helping Darwin with the crucial next step: at age twenty-two he shipped out on the HMS Beagle and then spent five years (1831–1836) as its naturalist, sailing around the world. His stay on the Galapagos Islands was especially influential.
http://darwin-online.org.uk/BeagleLibrary/Beagle_Library_Introduction.htm

In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, why does Montag grin with a "fierce grin" before and after he is fighting fires?

Readers read about Montag's "fierce grin" in the opening paragraphs of the book, and it is very much related to the book's opening line that tells readers that Montag finds burning things a "pleasure."
At this point in the book, Montag loves his job. He likes doing what he does, and it gives him a sense of purpose; therefore, merely thinking about doing his job makes him happy. He can't help but smile when he thinks of getting to burn something or having thought about what he burned earlier in the day. His grin is "fierce" because of the nearby heat and because while he is happy, he is also determined to stand up to the flames. It's a happy, brave, and tough image all at the same time.

What is Malcolm X's view of white women?

Though it is hard to be perfectly certain of the views Malcolm X held regarding white women, his autobiography provides glimpses of the opinions he held throughout various periods of his life. Of course, like many of his beliefs, these views were subject to change as he aged.
We can gain deeper insight into his views of white women as a young man by reading about his relationship with "Sophia." Sophia was a young white woman he periodically dated after meeting her on the dance floor of the Roseland.
The following excerpt details Malcolm's initial impressions of Sophia:

Now at that time, in Roxbury, in any black ghetto in America, to have a white woman who wasn't a known, common whore was--for the average black man, at least--a status symbol of the first order. And this one, standing there, eyeing me, was almost too fine to believe. Shoulder-length hair, well built, and her clothes had cost somebody plenty. (Page 70)

It can be assumed from his favorable description of Sophia's appearance that he did find white women physically attractive. Later in the book (and quite some time later), Malcolm goes on to describe another white woman as "beautiful," so we can safely assume that his attraction to white women was not an isolated event with Sophia.
This particular excerpt also reveals Malcolm's acknowledgement of the role white women played in the lives of black men at that time. According to him, a "respectable" white woman who was romantically interested in a black man was seen as a status symbol and something to aspire to. Malcolm echoes this same sentiment many times throughout the book, so he was very well aware of how black men, if not even himself, viewed white women.
As Malcolm proceeds to date Sophia (even after she gets married), we can read how his friends and associates almost admired him for having achieved what many of them merely dreamed of. Though it is not explicitly noted by Malcolm, it can be assumed that his relationship with Sophia was a source of pride. He was quite aware of the positive buzz he created when he brought Sophia around his friends, and it seemed to be something he was greatly entertained by:

I paraded her. The Negro men loved her.(Page 71)

Outside of Malcolm's reflections of Sophia, it is not always clear which opinions of white women are his own opposed to the opinions of others. The book has a habit of blurring the lines between personal ideology and social observations, so it is often difficult to be sure of how Malcolm felt. All the same, it can be assumed that Malcolm adopted or at least reflected upon the opinions of others. For instance, the following excerpt details Malcolm's recollection of conversations he'd had with Sammy about white women and their alleged motivations for dating black men:

And Sammy and I had thoroughly discussed the black man and white woman psychology. I had Sammy to thank that I was entirely prepared for Sophia's marriage.
Sammy said that white women were very practical; he had heard so many of them express how they felt. They knew that the black man had all the strikes against him, that the white man kept the black man down, under his heel, unable to get anywhere, really. The white woman wanted to be comfortable, she wanted to be looked upon with favor by her own kind, but also she wanted to have her pleasure. So some of them just married a white man for convenience and security, and kept right on with the Negro, but they were in love with lust--particularly "taboo" lust. (Page 99)

This is one instance when Malcolm agrees with someone else's view of white women. Malcolm likely believed what Sammy had told him, or else he wouldn't have taken Sophia's marriage nearly as well.
Here we can also see that white women are being portrayed as individuals who are capable of acknowledging social injustice, yet are uninterested in trading their social status or reputation in order to put an actual stop to it. Additionally, Malcolm suggests that white women are primarily motivated by lust as opposed to actual love.
Neither of these opinions are particularly positive, so this could be considered a point in Malcolm's life when his "relationship" with Sophia no longer brings him joy. It could cause us to wonder why Malcolm would continue to see Sophia when he was aware of the fact that he was being used.
Malcolm's view of Sophia (and white women in general) noticeably sours as time goes on, which can be evidenced by this particular excerpt:

The irony is that those white women had no more respect for those Negroes than white men have had for the Negro women they have been "using" since slavery times. And, in turn, Negroes have no respect for the whites they get into bed with. I know the way I felt about Sophia, who still came to New York whenever I called her. (Page 124)

Malcolm's relationship with Sophia goes from being exciting and pride-inspiring to being an association of mere convenience. This excerpt seems to confirm the notion that Malcolm did not respect Sophia, even though he had continued to associate with her. He then goes on to make many disparaging remarks about the white race as a whole, claiming that they have the "world's lowest morals."
Malcolm's decision to continue seeing Sophia may reflect that he'd accepted his opinion that he was only being used to satisfy Sophia's "lust." However, it could also be argued that he had then resolved to use her as well. His decision to involve Sophia in the robberies that would later take place are good evidence of this. At one point, Malcolm actually admits that Sophia and her sister were like "keys" to the city; granting him access to places he could never go on his own. This solidifies the idea that Malcolm did not love or respect Sophia anymore than she did him. Instead, he only viewed her as a convenient trophy that could help him get what he wanted.
There are many other instances in the autobiography that shed light on Malcolm's opinion of white women and men, many of which change as he ages. By the end of his life, Malcolm had amended many of his previously extreme views of the white race and racial relations in America.
On pages 436–437, Malcolm reflects upon instances of regret. He expresses sorrow over his harsh treatment and low opinion of some of the white individuals he'd encountered during his life, and he acknowledged that some of them genuinely wanted to help improve racial tensions. Malcolm had also changed his views on interracial marriage, noting that it was a "personal matter" that each individual person should determine for themselves. This may suggest that he no longer vilified white women the way he once had.

The final scheme devised by Claudius and Laertes is designed to send Hamlet to his death. It appears that Hamlet is aware of the consequences, so why does he attend the fencing competition anyway?

The ever wise Horatio knows that something's up and advises his friend Hamlet not to attend the fencing competition. He doesn't know that Laertes and Claudius plan to have Hamlet killed with a poison-tipped rapier, but he does know that the two men have something nasty in store for his friend.
Even Hamlet suspects there's something fishy going on. He too has a bad feeling about the fencing competition:

But thou wouldst not think how ill all’s here about my heart. (Act V Scene ii).

Yet he still agrees to participate. The reason is that, by this stage in the play, Hamlet's pretty much resigned to his fate. If he should be killed by Laertes, then so be it. Hamlet doesn't just see his death as inevitable, he sees it as part of a bigger picture, in which every life and every death has some significance, even that of a little sparrow. For the first time in the play, Hamlet seems to be at peace with himself, and so he willingly goes off to his fatal duel with Laertes without fear of the consequences.

How is the theme of time standing still conveyed in the poetry of Antonio Machado?

Antonio Machado emerged as the premier poet of Spain's Generation of '98, the youthful artists and intellectuals who aimed for optimism looking toward the new century even as they witnessed the demise of their nation's once-exalted empire. Machado's conflicted nationalism, compounded by a stay in Paris, was sorely tested in the 1930s civil war, when his exile turned out to be permanent.
The poet's preoccupation with time concerns, on the one hand, Spain's historical past (often associated with traditional, regional cultures and beautiful natural landscapes). On the other hand, he became concerned rather early on with death and elegiac remembrance, following the death of his young wife.
As Machado's upbringing was not religious, he struggled with finding meaning in mortality. In dreams, he looked for that significance, as he relived experiences through vivid memories. Poetry allowed him to transcend time and connect with the past, and Machado viewed this quality as the special ability of poets and poetry.
"The Ephemeral Past" encapsulates these concerns, as he describes a man with anachronistic tastes and dress:

This man is neitherof yesterday nor tomorrowbut of never. Hispanic stock, he's notthe fruit that grew to ripen or to rot,but shadow fruitfrom a Spain that did not come to be,that passed away, yet, deadpersists to haunt us with a graying head.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?volume=101&issue=5&page=9

Was Chester Arthur a bad president?

Chester Alan Arthur (1829–86) was the 21st President of the United States (1881–85). He is ranked 31st in a recent poll of political scientists (with 1st being the best). Historians basically agree with political scientists. According to historians, in another poll, Arthur is not in the top twenty presidents. I believe his mediocre ranking is due in part to the fact that he served only one term.
Prior to his unexpected accession to the presidency, Arthur practiced law in New York. He ably served as quartermaster general of New York during the Civil War. Later, he was port collector of New York; in that role, he was honest, but he gave jobs to supporters of Senator Roscoe Conkling. President Rutherford Hayes removed him from his position as port collector. Stalwarts, one faction of the Republican party, supported the practice of awarding jobs to their political supporters.
Arthur became president after the assassination of James Garfield. The public did not expect much from him. However, Arthur was determined to succeed, and he supported the landmark Pendleton Civil Service Act (1883). This disappointed the Stalwarts. Arthur also helped build the US Navy into one of the world's great fleets. Sadly, Arthur also signed the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882), which barred Chinese immigrants to the United States.
Arthur served only one term as president. He had a fatal illness—Bright's disease. He died just one year after leaving office.

How long did Bacon's Rebellion last?

Bacon’s Rebellion was a short-lived revolution against the colonial governor of Virginia, William Berkeley. In the late seventeenth century, colonial Virginia was still mostly wild. Native American tribes still controlled a considerable portion of the land, particularly in the western ends of the state. Colonists, eager to push west and claim land, wished to get governmental permission to retaliate against Native American raids and push forward and seize their land. When Berkeley refused, colonists protested in the capital, Jamestown.
The leader of the protests was Nathaniel Bacon, who convinced his fellow colonists to attack Native Americans against the governor’s orders. Upon returning to Jamestown, he asked the governor for a commission to create a militia to lead against the Native Americans which the governor, yet again, refused. The constant back-and-forth between Bacon and Berkeley finally reached a boiling point on July 30, 1676, when Bacon’s militia issued a declaration (the "Declaration of the People of Virginia") that accused Berkeley of corruption, high taxation, and being pro-Native American. The rebellion had been officially put into writing.
Bacon’s rebel army (several hundred men, perhaps as many as 500) traveled back to Jamestown and seized the city, burning the capital to the ground on September 19, 1676, causing Berkeley to flee the city. However, this was about as much as the rebellion would ever achieve. Bacon died of dysentery about a month later, on October 26, 1676. Once their leader was gone, the rebellion quickly collapsed, and with the help of some ship captains, Berkeley was able to re-take the city. The rebellion lasted around three months from the initial declaration to Bacon’s death and the splintering of the militia.
While the rebellion itself was short-lived, it is worth noting that the effects of Bacon’s rebellion lasted for centuries. Bacon was an influence on some of the founding fathers, like Thomas Jefferson, in encouraging them that revolution was a patriotic duty. However, another important note was that the rebellion contained both white and black indentured servants working together. This set off warning bells among the ruling class, who were terrified of a potential united lower-class revolt. In response to the rebellion, the ruling class began to harden the racial lines around slavery to separate white and black poor in order to prevent them from uniting in future rebellion. The effects of that racial caste system can still be felt today.
https://www.history.org/foundation/journal/Spring15/bacon.cfm

https://www.virginiahistory.org/node/2292

Why do you think the boys in Holes spit in their holes when they are finished digging?

In chapter seven, Stanley Yelnats digs his first hole, which is supposed to measure five feet deep and five feet across. Well before Stanley finishes digging his hole, the other boys finish their work, and Stanley proceeds to watch each boy spit in their own hole before heading back to camp.
There are several explanations as to why the boys engage in this rather odd daily ritual. By spitting in their holes, the boys express their disdain for the arduous, pointless labor. Their spit is also a sign of contempt for the entire administration and facility at Camp Green Lake.
In addition to expressing their disdain for the difficult work and uncomfortable camp, the boys more than likely have excess saliva from lack of hydration, and spitting is a relieving feeling. Overall, the act of spitting in one's hole is a refreshing feeling to the boys, which also happens to express their contempt for their unfortunate situation and difficult work.

The boys have developed their own weird little ritual. After they've finished digging a hole, they all spit into it. There are two possible reasons for this. First of all, it shows contempt for this pointless, menial chore that they're expected to carry out on a daily basis. This is hard, back-breaking work, and by spitting into the holes, the boys are showing just how much they hate all that sweat and toil.
The spitting ritual also shows us what the boys think of Camp Green Lake as a whole. (No pun intended.) They have so much hatred for the camp and all it stands for that they spit on its very soil. This is one of the few opportunities that the boys ever get to express their true feelings about this terrible, oppressive place.

In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, chapter 17, why does Bailey say "the baby prayer" before he goes to sleep?

In chapter 17, Bailey says "the baby prayer" before he goes to sleep, confusing his older sister Maya because, as she says "we had been saying the 'Our Father, which art in heaven' for years" (Angelou, 98). Earlier in the evening, Bailey had been very late coming home, which concerned his family and for which he got a belt whipping from his Uncle Willie.
A few days later, Maya finds out why Bailey had come home so late. He had gone to the movies and seen an actress who looked just like his and Maya's mother (who they call Mother Dear). Although she was a white actress, Mother Dear was very light-skinned and Maya had "no difficulty believing that a white movie star looked like our mother" (Angelou, 98). Mother Dear had left Maya and Bailey to be raised by Momma, their grandmother, and their Uncle Willie. Bailey had been out late because he stayed to watch the film another time, because he missed his mother so much, and said "the baby prayer" because the experience reminded him of being a young child, and the prayers they used to say before bed.
In summary, Bailey says "the baby prayer" because he had seen a film star who looked like his mother, who had left his grandmother and uncle to raise him and his sister. Seeing this actress brought him back to his early childhood, when he would say "the baby prayer" instead of the one for older children.

What role did music play in the other Wes Moore's life?

Being a rapper was one of the goals that the other Wes Moore had for himself; music gave him a sense of purpose and direction.
The other Wes didn't want to be a drug dealer; he didn't intend to live the kind of life his brother Tony did. When he was young, he had two goals in mind: being a football player and a rapper. He thinks that he can just use selling drugs to make some pocket money while he waits to achieve one of those goals.
When he goes to the Job Corps, one of the assurances he asks for is that he can bring his music. He thinks that he'll use some of the time to work on the lyrics. Job Corps does change him, but returning to Baltimore reminds him of the pressures and stresses he has, including supporting four children.
He hears a Jay-Z song about the streets when he gets home and then goes back into the kitchen and begins to make drugs.

Towards the end of the reading, Michel likens himself to a palimpsest. In what way or ways do you think the palimpsest is a productive metaphor for Michel's relationship to and understanding of himself? Remember to support your analysis with direct quotes and specific examples from the text.

First of all, we need to define the word "palimpsest." A palimpsest is a page from a manuscript or book from which the original text has been washed or scraped so that it can be re-used. This was a common practice in ancient cultures, where paper was scarce and expensive.
Michel could be seen as a palimpsest in that his true sexuality has been obscured beneath the inauthentic identity imposed upon him by society. In metaphorical terms, society has written over Michel's authentic self with its own values. As such, there are two Michels: the respectable, outwardly heterosexual man married to Marceline; and the real Michel, the original text beneath the accretions, a gay man forced to suppress his sexuality.
When Michel returns home to France, he finds that the garden fulfills the role previously held by his wife, in that it restores his broken health. In the garden, he experiences something of an epiphany, reconnecting with his true self as he luxuriates in the verdant radiance of the Edenic garden:

My reawakened senses now remembered a whole ancient history of their own — recomposed for themselves a vanished past. They were alive! Alive! They had never ceased to live; they discovered that even during those early studious years they had been living their own latent, cunning life.

The "ancient history" of Michel's sexuality, though long subdued by society and its mores, had never really died. It had lived on since childhood, despite society's attempts to erase this human palimpsest's original text and identity.

What sensory details are used to emphasize sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch in "The Veldt"?

"The Veldt" is a story about a family living in a technologically advanced world in which the children "don’t want to do anything but look and listen and smell," because, as Peter asks, "what else is there to do?” Bradbury uses sensory images to bring the vividness of the nursery into incredibly stark contrast with the mechanized, mindless reality that is the rest of the house; and, as the nursery represents the inner psychological workings of the children, it has quite a bit to bear on their spoiled nature and the way they value the illusion of reality over reality itself.
Most of the sensory details are, therefore, used to describe the African veldt in the nursery. George feels "that sun . . . on his neck, still, like a hot paw." He remembers "the smell of blood." The "odor" of the lions, their roars, and the screams of the parents permeate the entire story.
One of the most descriptive passages is the following, when the lions first begin to run at George and Lydia:

feel the prickling fur on your hand, and your mouth was stuffed with the dusty upholstery smell of their heated pelts, and the yellow of them was in your eyes like the yellow of an exquisite French tapestry, the yellows of lions and summer grass, and the sound of the matted lion lungs exhaling on the silent noontide, and the smell of meat from the panting, dripping mouths. The lions stood looking at George and Lydia Hadley with terrible green-yellow eyes.

This passage is very textural, with lots of elements of touch: the prickling fur, the stuffed and dusty mouth, the heat from the pelts, and the French tapestry; the lions' lungs are "matted." But there's also the upholstery smell and the smell of the raw meat the lions are eating; the sound of their breath in the otherwise silent heat of midday; and the sight of yellow-green eyes and the specific yellow of lions and parched grass. This passage has it all and provides more than enough examples to answer your question.
There are also other examples of sensory images, as when Peter and Wendy come home from the fair, "cheeks like peppermint candy, eyes like bright blue agate marbles, a smell of ozone on their jumpers." The use of simile gives a very specific picture to the visuals, and the ozone smell is also quite particular. Bradbury's images are exact—they are never vague, when lends them a particular vividness that makes them difficult to forget.

Bradbury's "The Veldt" utilizes deeply evocative language to create images and impressions of the African veldt, as recreated by the children's nursery. For example, consider the following passage:

And here were the lions now, fifteen feet away, so real, so feverishly and startlingly real that you could feel the prickling fur on your hand, and your mouth was stuffed with the dull upholstery smell of their heated pelts, and the yellow of them was in your eyes like the yellow of an exquisite French tapestry, the yellows of lions and summer grass, and the sound of matted lion lungs exhaling on the silent noontide, and the smell of meat from the panting, dripping mouths.

Two things about this passage stand out. First, there is the sheer concentration of detail and imagery, which exists on multiple levels: we have touch, sight, smell, and sound, all interwoven together. Second, note that this is all in a single sentence, which continuously builds on itself to further intensify the effect of this use of language.
Throughout this story, Bradbury uses evocative language to create images in the mind's eye. This intensity of the imagery is largely focused around the nursery itself, while the real world is presented far less vividly. This mirrors the degree to which, for the children, the nursery has supplanted their parents, and the way in which this technological fiction has ultimately become more real to them than reality itself.

Bradbury is known for his use of sensory language, language which describes using sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch. Such language is called imagery.
In "The Veldt," Bradbury uses imagery to describe the scenes of the veldt that the children and parents view in the nursery, allowing us to feel we are there. For example, when the parents enter the nursery, we learn that the veldt appears on all four sides of them, and the ceiling of the room becomes a blue sky with a hot sun beating down. "Odorophonics" release the scents of lion grass, the watering hole, the smell of the animals, and the "paprika" scent of dust.
Sounds of the veldt also come into the room: the "thump" of antelope feet and the "papery rustling" of the vultures.
The parents see the lions coming closer. Bradbury offers descriptions of the smell of their "heated pelts" and a visual image of their yellow fur and green-yellow eyes. As Bradbury puts it:

the yellow of them was in your eyes like the yellow of an exquisite French tapestry, the yellows of lions and summer grass, and the sound of the matted lion lungs exhaling on the silent noontide, and the smell of meat from the panting, dripping mouths.

They are so terrifyingly realistic that George and Lydia run from the room. All of Bradbury's sensory details create a scene of heat and menace.

What impression does Shakespeare give of the nurse in act 2, scene 5?

Juliet's nurse is a comic relief character in Romeo and Juliet, but she also plays in important part in helping Juliet to marry her true love, Romeo. In act II, scene 5, the nurse tells Juliet about Friar Lawrence's plan to marry the two lovers in secret and that she must go to the friar to be wed.
The nurse doesn't tell Juliet this news immediately—instead, she toys with Juliet, dodging her constant questions about Romeo and complaining about her body aching. This is an example of the nurse's playful personality coming through—the nurse knows all Juliet cares about right now is Romeo, and she uses that knowledge to mess with her a bit.
We also see a dirty side to the nurse with this line:

I must another way, / To fetch a ladder by the which your love / Must climb a bird's nest soon when it is dark (2.5.65-67)

Meaning that Romeo will climb into Juliet's chambers at night and sleep with her. Again, this shows the nurse making light of Juliet's love for Romeo; while the nurse eventually does tell Juliet what she wants to hear, she lightly teases Juliet first.

When did Annemarie and Ellen have to hide from the German soldiers in Number the Stars?

In Lois Lowry's 1989 novel Number the Stars, the family of ten-year-old Annemarie takes in her Jewish friend Ellen during the Nazi occupation of Denmark. The family pretends that Ellen is Annemarie's deceased sister Lise, trying to protect her from being sent to a concentration camp.
There is an instance in the novel in which Ellen is almost taken by the soldiers after they enter Annemarie's house without warning. Thankfully, Annemarie removes Ellen's necklace, which features the Star of David, before the soldiers are able to see her. The soldiers still almost take Ellen away when they suspect her of being unrelated to Annemarie's family due to her hair color, but Annemarie's parents are able to quell the suspicion using baby photos of Lise in which her hair was dark.
This is an instance in which Annemarie and Ellen had to conceal themselves from the soldiers; however, there are a number of events in the novel in which the two friends and their families and allies must lie or hide from the Nazis (this includes attending Great-Aunt Birtie's "funeral" and Ellen and her family hiding on Henrik's boat).

How does August Wilson use blues music to portray society before the civil rights movement?

The playwright August Wilson uses blues as a device for exploring the melodic, melancholic, resilient, and hopeful inner lives of black people at a time when they sorely lacked political representation and socioeconomic freedoms (even more so than today). He often referred to blues music as his "aesthetic," injecting it figuratively into his stagecraft. Many of his characters enact the blues without singing it; blues is woven into their movements, lyrical diction, and aural qualities. Wilson's plays are also conversational to the point of being mistaken, often, as trivial. This impression of triviality is partly intended to frustrate his unattuned audience members and force them to look more closely for meaning.
Wilson turned away from the normative narrative structures of his profession, choosing to encode meaning in his characters's personalities, ideas, and drives rather than in their explicit discourse. In all of these ways and more, Wilson suggests that the forms of black subjectivity that lived in the time before the civil rights movement were dignified, valid, and beautiful—this is not despite, but because of their differences from white and other hegemonic ways of thinking.

To what extent does Arthur Miller make you feel that Eddie was responsible for his own death?

In A View From the Bridge Arthur Miller shows Eddie Carbone as being very much the architect of his own downfall. His obsessive, unhealthy feelings toward his niece Catherine drive him toward making a series of bad choices that ultimately lead to his death.
Eddie is so insanely jealous that he sets out to get his wife's illegal immigrant cousins, Marco and Rodolpho, deported back to Italy. Catherine's been growing closer to Rodolpho and Eddie just can't handle it. So in a fit of spite and desperation, he rats out his wife's cousins to the authorities. This way he hopes to get Rodolpho out of Catherine's life, leaving the field clear for himself. Unfortunately for Eddie, this fateful decision backfires badly. Not only is he ostracized by the local community for informing on the two Italian immigrants, but he ends up being stabbed to death by an angry, vengeful Marco.

How are the themes of marriage and control expressed throughout the story?

Marriage is presented by Chopin as an institution that stifles women's freedom by subjecting them to the control of their husbands. There's no suggestion that Mr. Mallard has been a bad husband; it's simply that the very nature of marriage inevitably entails his being in control of his wife. That's the general expectation of society, and as a decent, respectable member of the middle-classes, Mr. Mallard unthinkingly goes along with the prevailing conventions.
Furthermore, Mrs. Mallard's heart condition merely adds to the hopelessness of her situation. In fact, one could see her bad heart as a symbol of the relatively weak position which women are forced to adopt inside marriage. Even if Mrs. Mallard wanted to go out into the world and do her own thing, she wouldn't be able to, not just because of her weak heart but also because of society's notions of a woman's proper place. This is reflected in Mrs. Mallard's final heartbreak on seeing her husband walk through the door, very much alive and well. It seems that there's just no escape from the institution of marriage and the complete level of control it exerts over women.

Many readers assume that Chopin's story has at its center a picture of a bad or abusive marriage. To the contrary, details in the story suggest that nothing is particularly wrong with the Mallards' marriage—in fact, Louise Mallard comments that Brently Mallard "never looked save with love upon her"—but that the issue is the institution of marriage itself. In other words, Mrs. Mallard doesn't dislike her marriage in particular but dislikes the concept of marriage in which "a kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime. . . . ." The control man and wife have over the other is at the heart of the story.

What makes Tubal say that Antonio is undone?

As Act III, Scene I of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice comes to a close, the Jewish moneylender Shylock is discussing with his friend Tubal the situation involving the former’s business arrangement with Antonio, the titular character of Shakespeare’s play. As readers or viewers of Shakespeare’s play know, Antonio has stooped to borrowing money from Shylock in exchange for a pound of the merchant’s flesh should he be unable to repay the loan. In Act III, Salanio and Salarino are discussing their good friend Antonio’s misfortune, the merchant’s ship having run aground with its precious cargo lost. When the two men see Shylock approaching, they immediately disparage him, suggesting that he is the devil incarnate. When Shylock comes near, their tone moderates, but the underlying hostility and prejudices are still evident. Shylock is lamenting his daughter’s betrayal, and it is in this scene when he makes his impassioned plea for humanity (“Hath not a Jew eyes?”).
After Salanio and Salarino depart, Shylock encounter his Jewish friend Tubal. Shylock’s anguish regarding his daughter and the disappearance of much of his wealth, the daughter evidently responsible for the theft, is evident to Tubal who informs Shylock of the tragedy afflicting Antonio’s ship—a spell of good fortune for the moneylender desperate for revenge for a history of slights at the merchant’s hands. Tubal attempts to mollify Shylock, distraught by his daughter’s betrayal, by bringing up again the issue of Antonio’s misfortune. Hence, Tubal’s comment that “Antonio is certainly undone.” Tubal is stating what Shylock already now knows, that Antonio cannot repay his debt to Shylock because of the loss of the ship.

The words are spoken by Tubal to Shylock in Act III Scene i. What Tubal means is that Antonio has been financially ruined. One of his merchant ships has been wrecked on its way back from Tripolis. Tubal's had the news confirmed by some of the sailors who were fortunate enough to survive the shipwreck. He's also talked to some of Antonio's creditors, who say that he won't be able to avoid going bankrupt.
Shylock's overjoyed at the news. Now he's absolutely certain that Antonio won't be able to pay back the money he owes him. This means that Shylock will be able to enforce the bargain he made with Antonio and insist on having his pound of flesh. With his longed-for revenge seemingly at hand, a happy and excited Shylock instructs Tubal to fetch an officer of the law to have Antonio arrested.

What do you learn about Soviet governance and culture from One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich?

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is a work by Alexander Solzhenistyn, set in a Soviet labor camp in the 1950s. Solzhenistyn himself spent eight years in Soviet prison camps. The novel’s protagonist, Ivan Denisovich, is accused of being a spy and is sentenced to ten years in a labor camp. Through the novel, we learn much about the system of governance in the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin. When Stalin came to power in 1929, he strengthened and extended secret police forces created under Vladimir Lenin, the previous ruler. The policy of collectivization, or the forced displacement of peasants from their land onto collective, state-owned farms, meant that millions of peasants lost their land and were forced onto community farms. The penalty for resisting collectivization was steep: many peasants were sent to forced labor camps, much like the one Denisovich must endure. Stalin greatly expanded these labor camps, and millions of Soviets were sent there for minor infractions, often without any evidence that crimes of sabotage or conspiracy were committed.
Through Denisovich’s experience, we learn about the extent of repression under Stalin’s rule. While prison camps, or gulags, were not entirely new under Stalin, he expanded their reach. Stalin targeted members of the Communist party he saw as enemies, those who might have threatened his reign of absolute power. Prisoners inside the camp, as the novel details, faced punishment for challenging guards or disobeying orders. For example, the novel includes many examples of the ways in which guards used the cold to torment prisoners. Those who disobeyed were sent outside in frigid temperatures. Denying prisoners food was also a common practice during Stalin’s rule. While the novel is of course a work of fiction, it is based on true events that reveal the extent to which Stalin’s regime would go to consolidate and hold on to power.

What happened in the bath scene involving Mrs. Pearce and Eliza?

Eliza, coming from a very poor background, is not familiar with a bathtub or a bathroom when Henry Higgins commands Mrs. Pearce to give her a bath. At first, Eliza exclaims with a curse word because the bath water is too hot. She also screams when she sees herself in the mirror and reports that she hung a towel over it, presumably so as not to see herself naked.
Overall, however, Eliza takes to bathing. She tells Higgins that richer women have an easy and pleasurable time keeping clean, noting:

I tell you, it’s easy to clean up here. Hot and cold water on tap, just as much as you like, there is. Woolly towels, there is; and a towel horse so hot, it burns your fingers. Soft brushes to scrub yourself, and a wooden bowl of soap smelling like primroses. Now I know why ladies is so clean. Washing’s a treat for them. Wish they saw what it is for the like of me!

Shaw shows here how huge the economic divide is between upper-middle class women and women like Eliza. Eliza, though an adult, has never had a bath in house with indoor plumbing and has never had access to hot and cold running water. Shaw is emphasizing that the differences between rich and poor are not genetic, but environmental. It is nurture, not nature, that has made Eliza who she is.

In "Structure, Sign, and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences," Jacques Derrida outlines his concepts of play and supplementation. Discuss how these Derridean notions provide insight into Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient.

Jacques Derrida was a French postmodern philosopher who came up with the concept of deconstruction, which is a way of understanding the bond between text and meaning. Because his works were often philosophical studies or analyses on the meaning of experience and consciousness, some analysts consider him the most important and most influential philosopher who wrote in the context of phenomenology.
Despite all of this, Derrida also wrote a detailed analysis on writing and speech in which he compared the linguistic theories of ancient times with contemporary ones. He argued that, unlike the ancient cultures, contemporary Western society has always preferred speech over writing, which is how he introduced one of the most influential concepts in modern social studies and analyses—supplementation. According to him, a supplement is something that can complete another thing and, at the same time, something that can completely replace it.
In The English Patient, Ondaatje makes an interesting and notable reference to Derrida’s concept of supplementation.
The titular character, Count Ladislaus de Almásy, suffers severe burns from an airplane crash in Africa and comes under the care of Hana, a young Canadian Army nurse. Before his accident, Almásy always carried the book Histories by Herodotus with him, in which he wrote various texts and collected notes from other authors. This book is the only thing that he manages to salvage from the crash. As Almásy cannot remember anything about himself or his identity, the book is the only thing that he finds valuable and significant. In one notable scene, he asks Hana to give him the book, and he reads a quote from it:

"This history of mine," Herodotus says, "has from the beginning sought out the supplementary to the main argument."

This is how Ondaatje explores Derrida’s concept of supplementation. The notes that the patient wrote in the book, the notes that he collected from various writers, and the notes which Hana wrote after she found the patient’s book can be seen as supplements to the original narrative.
In addition, Ondaatje references Derrida’s concept of play. In the concept of play, Derrida discusses an "event" that defines structure, or rather defines "the structurality of structure." Before this event, man was the center of the universe; after the event, however, he can no longer be considered the center of the universe.
In The English Patient, Almásy loses his "center" because he doesn't know his identity, and the other characters use him as a person to whom they attribute the identities and the personalities of their loved ones. Just as his identity is nonexistent, so too is the line between fiction and reality. The most important thing, however, is the fact that the patient’s spiritual and physical death will not stop the "play" of the "center." Ondaatje suggests that the patient's story will live on just as Derrida's "play" of the "center" will continue, "infinitely redoubling."

How does the relationship between Elinor and Marianne change over the course of the novel Sense and Sensibility?

The relationship between the Dashwood sisters is that of the title: Sense and Sensibility. While each sister begins clearly representing one quality rather than the other, by the novel’s end, Jane Austen shows each as having acquired some of the other’s characteristics, although they do not completely trade places. Elinor, as the older sister, initially embodies “sense”: she is rational, level-headed, and moderate. Marianne felt justified in behaving irresponsibly, as she knew she could depend on Elinor. The younger sister stands for “sensibility,” or emotion: she is impetuous, impractical, and easily swayed.
Elinor undergoes substantial changes in part because of her love for Edward, which finally can be reciprocated. In many ways, Elinor had been behaving as a second mother to her younger sisters as she tried to ease their mother’s burden. The gradual inclusion of Colonel Brandon in their lives not only helps Marianne learn what true love means, but also helps relieve some of Elinor’s family burden. With both sisters married to the appropriate partners, their relationship is more of one between equals.

Sisters Elinor and Marianne have always been very close. Elinor is the "sense" of the novel: she is always logical, practical, and sensible, and she doesn't like to betray what she is feeling.
Marianne is the "sensibility" of the title. That is not a word we use (at least in this sense) anymore, but the closest synonym today would be "sensitivity." You could think of the novel being called Sense and Sensitivity. Marianne is very emotionally sensitive. She feels everything very deeply, and she sometimes alarms Elinor because she always wears her heart on her sleeve. If she likes a person, they know it, but if she hates a person, she will also let them know. Elinor is the one who always has to smooth everything over.
As the novel progresses, Marianne's excess sensibility and Elinor's excessive sense drive the two apart. Elinor becomes increasingly alarmed that Marianne isn't really engaged to Willoughby, as she has led everyone to believe. Marianne, because Elinor hides her emotions so completely, doubts that Elinor is really in love with Edward.
Elinor feels a great deal of frustration with Marianne over her behavior regarding Willoughby. First, she is frustrated with Marianna for assuming they were engaged when Willoughby had no intention of marrying a woman like Marianne with no dowry. Second, Elinor becomes upset that Marianne has an excessive emotional reaction to Willoughby's engagement to another woman. However, when Marianne almost dies from her excessive response to Willoughby's betrayal, the two become closer again, especially at the end of the novel, when Marianne develops enough sense to marry Colonel Brandon, and Elinor opens up more about her sufferings over Edward, whom she eventually marries.

Elinor and Marianne, London
Elinor and Marianne are invited to London by Mrs. Jennings. Elinor expects that Marianne, despising Mrs. Jennings, will reject the offer out of hand. Yet Elinor did not take into account the effect upon Marianne of Willoughby's sudden departure, and the lengths to which Marianne will go to see Willoughby.
Marianne, no matter the company she must keep (Mrs. Jennings, Lady Middleton, Lucy and Anne), suddenly must get to London--which is where Willoughby has gone to for the purpose, as we learn later, of securing an engagement to the wealthy Miss Grey. Marianne must see Willoughby again at any cost, even the cost of accepting the invitation of a woman she loathes, the kindhearted though somewhat vulgar Mrs. Jennings.
To say that Elinor and Marianne go to London to visit friends is a misreading a critical element that sets up complications in Marianne's conflict leading to her eventual epiphany: Marianne pursues the object of her sensibilities despite the claims of sense by reducing herself to misusing people she loathes to attain her desired ends. Marianne accepts an invitation from people who are decidedly not friends.
Plot Versus Subplot
Elinor comprises the plot while Marianne comprises the subplot because Austen focalizes the story through Elinor's perception, comment and experience. To explain, Elinor comments on virtually everything that happens: she comments on Marianne and Willoughby's unfortunate excursion to Allenham; she comments on Marianne's treatment of Brandon; she comments on Lucy; etc. In contrast, Marianne comments on only that which she experiences directly or that which Elinor tells to her, as when Elinor communicates to Marianne both Brandon's and Willoughby's confessions to her.
Elinor is also directly involved in almost every event, with the exception of events like the excursion to Allenham; Brandon's trips to and experiences in London and Barton Cottage; Lucy's engagement to Edward; Lucy's visit with and revelation to Fanny. Still these events are related through the consciousness of Elinor.
Elinor's conflict is that of the quest. Elinor has heroic qualities and is in quest of a goal: Edward's love. In the end, Elinor succeeds in her quest and attains her goal by being true to what she knows to be good and right. Elinor does not undergo character change: she has no epiphany nor any change of heart, nor any lesson learned. Marianne, on the other hand, has a main conflict within herself: her central conflict is her belief system against the outcome of her life. In the end, Marianne experiences an epiphany; has a significant change of heart; learns a lesson; undergoes dramatic character change in the face of a life-threatening event.
Marianne's Tragedy
What is Elinor's role in Marianne's tragedy that begins at the ball and escalates with Willoughby's cold letter the following morning? Is Elinor Marianne's chief support, her source of comfort and strength? How does Marianne react toward and think of Elinor during their time in London, both before and after the ball?
Before the ball, Marianne takes the imprudent step of corresponding with Willoughby, and Elinor is alarmed and uses the fact of correspondence to confirm to herself the existence of a secret engagement between her sister and Willoughby. Elinor is concerned enough about this secret that she writes their mother to require that she insist Marianne explain herself:
They reached town by three o'clock the third day, [...] Elinor determined to employ the interval in writing to her mother, and sat down for that purpose. In a few moments Marianne did the same. "I am writing home, Marianne," said Elinor; "had not you better defer your letter for a day or two?"
"I am NOT going to write to my mother," replied Marianne, hastily, and as if wishing to avoid any farther inquiry. Elinor said no more; it immediately struck her that she must then be writing to Willoughby;....
Elinor resolved to write the next morning to her mother ... and she was still more eagerly bent on this measure by perceiving after breakfast on the morrow, that Marianne was again writing to Willoughby ....
Why is corresponding with Willoughby so imprudent that Elinor and Brandon are concerned and that Elinor presses her mother to "demand from Marianne an account of her real situation with respect to [Willoughby]"? In the Georgian era of Jane Austen (1775-1817), which extended from 1714 to 1830 and included the Regency period of 1811 to 1820, social norms governing relationships between unmarried women and men were strict.
For unmarried men and women to avoid being or even appearing to be vulgar, strict social norms were adhered to. In view of the fact that private conversations and physical contact were chaperoned and prohibited outside rigid social situations, e.g., dancing at balls or supervised parties, one of these norms was that unmarried men and women did not correspond unless they had a definite, publicly known and acknowledged engagement to be married.
For Marianne to correspond with Willoughby exposed her (and him) to accusations of vulgarity if not engaged, and of secrecy and lack of propriety if engaged. Engagements needed to be public and acknowledged in order for honor and reputation to be upheld (it is interesting to consider Lucy's long secret engagement to Edward in this light).
Elinor's concern for Marianne's welfare was awakened from their first day in London when Marianne immediately undertook to write to Willoughby whom she supposed to be still in London, rather than having returned from London to his estate at Combe Magna in Somersetshire.
How does Marianne respond to Elinor's concern? Is she accepting of Elinor's comfort, support or counsel? Might we say that Elinor was Marianne's "mainstay"?
Marianne's first reaction is to snap at Elinor--in such a way as to forestall further inquiry--that she is not writing their mother; she does this without volunteering the name of the person she is writing to: "'I am NOT going to write to my mother,' replied Marianne, hastily, and as if wishing to avoid any farther inquiry." Not many days after, Marianne dashes to grasp a letter that is delivered even though told by Mrs. Jennings' servant that it was addressed to Mrs. Jennings herself. When Elinor compassionately attempts to gain Marianne's confidence regarding Willoughby, Marianne's response is one that is not only intended to put Elinor off but also to give Elinor an affront:
[Said] Elinor in some confusion; "indeed, Marianne, I have nothing to tell."
"Nor I," answered Marianne with energy, "our situations then are alike. We have neither of us any thing to tell; you, because you do not communicate, and I, because I conceal nothing."
Elinor, distressed by this charge of reserve in herself, ... knew not how, under such circumstances, to press for greater openness in Marianne. (Ch 22)
Thus far, there is no indication of Marianne deriving or looking for any comfort or support from Elinor. What about at and after the ball? Does Marianne lean on Elinor as her chief support? Indeed, she does not. When Elinor counsels Marianne to be composed and await Willoughby's notice, Marianne has neither the ability nor the wish to follow her counsel; she has no desire to be supported by Elinor.
Marianne, wholly dispirited, careless of her appearance, and seeming equally indifferent whether she went or staid, prepared, without one look of hope or one expression of pleasure. She sat by the drawing-room fire ... without once stirring from her seat, or altering her attitude, lost in her own thoughts, and insensible of her sister's presence ... They arrived in due time at the place of destination, ... and as Marianne was not in spirits for moving about, she and Elinor luckily succeeding to chairs, ... Elinor perceived Willoughby, standing within a few yards of them, in earnest conversation with a very fashionable looking young woman ... Elinor turned involuntarily to Marianne, to see whether it could be unobserved by her. At that moment she first perceived him, and her whole countenance glowing with sudden delight, she would have moved towards him instantly, had not her sister caught hold of her. ...
"Pray, pray be composed," cried Elinor, "and do not betray what you feel to every body present. Perhaps he has not observed you yet."
[To] be composed at such a moment was not only beyond the reach of Marianne, it was beyond her wish. She sat in an agony of impatience which affected every feature. (Ch 28)
After the encounter with Willoughby, Marianne was in such a state of complete discomposure that Elinor requested Lady Middleton to return them to Mrs. Jennings' home. There, Marianne, in a state of "silent agony, too much oppressed even for tears," went straight to bed without turning to Elinor for support or comfort. The morning found Marianne, without the benefit of either fire or sunlight, struggling to write a letter in dawn's dim light. Elinor was awakened by her violent sobs and rebuffed when she tried to speak to Marianne. It is clear here again that Marianne had no idea of turning to Elinor for or of accepting from Elinor comfort or support in any degree.
Elinor [was] roused from sleep by [Marianne's] agitation and sobs ... [and] after observing her for a few moments with silent anxiety, said, in a tone of the most considerate gentleness,
"Marianne, may I ask-?"
"No, Elinor," she replied, "ask nothing; you will soon know all."
The sort of desperate calmness with which this was said, lasted no longer than while she spoke, and was immediately followed by a return of the same excessive affliction. [...]
Elinor paid her every quiet and unobtrusive attention in her power; and she would have tried to sooth and tranquilize her still more, had not Marianne entreated her ... not to speak to her for the world. In such circumstances, it was better for both that they should not be long together.... (Ch 29)
When Willoughby's last correspondence is read and wept over by Marianne, we see some sign that Marianne recognizes in Elinor a friend and compassionate well-wisher rather than an antagonist of some sort to be resisted. After breakfast with Mrs. Jennings that morning, during which Elinor tried to distract Mrs. Jennings' attention away from the absent Marianne, Elinor dashed back to their room to see if Marianne had received a letter from Willoughby by the early post. When she saw Marianne prostrate upon her bed and nearly "choked by grief" but grasping a letter and surrounded by others, she sat beside her, kissed her hand affectionately, then burst into sympathetic tears and wept along with Marianne. It is here that Marianne shows some sign of seeing a support and comforter in Elinor:
[Elinor] saw Marianne stretched on the bed, almost choked by grief, one letter in her hand, and two or three others laying by her. Elinor drew near, but without saying a word; and seating herself on the bed, took her hand, kissed her affectionately several times, and then gave way to a burst of tears, which at first was scarcely less violent than Marianne's. The latter, though unable to speak, seemed to feel all the tenderness of this behaviour, and after some time thus spent in joint affliction, she put all the letters into Elinor's hands; and then covering her face with her handkerchief, almost screamed with agony.
It is clear from these textual excerpts that Marianne did not think of Elinor as her mainstay; she did not think of Elinor as her comfort and support. On the contrary, she pushed Elinor away as often as Elinor tried to approach with comfort or support. Marianne's reason--although immaterial to understanding her actions--must have been that she knew Elinor would press the claim of sensible behavior against that of behavior of sensibility, and Marianne rejected--just as she did when their father died and when they left Norland--the claim of sense over sensibility.
"Exert yourself, dear Marianne," [Elinor] cried, "if you would not kill yourself and all who love you. ... you must exert yourself."
"I cannot, I cannot," cried Marianne; "leave me, leave me, if I distress you; leave me, hate me, forget me! but do not torture me so."
By her own admission, Marianne's attitude toward Elinor—an attitude that lies at the heart of the conflict between them and at the heart of the principle theme of the story—doesn't change until after Marianne is recovered from her brush with death and both are back at Barton Cottage and she is perceived to be strong enough to physically withstand hearing Willoughby's confession. It is here that Marianne confesses her own faults, particularly her transgressions against Elinor, in whom she did not see a comforter nor a supporter, and acknowledges what Elinor has been and continues to be to her.
But you,—you above all,... had been wronged by me. I, and only I, knew your heart and its sorrows; yet to what did it influence me?—not to any compassion that could benefit you or myself.—Your example was before me; but to what avail?—... Did I imitate your forbearance, or lessen your restraints, ...—No;—not less when I knew you to be unhappy, than when I had believed you at ease, did I turn away from every exertion of duty or friendship; scarcely allowing sorrow to exist but with me, ...
The future must be my proof ... my feelings shall be governed and my temper improved. They shall no longer worry others, nor torture myself. I shall now live solely for my family. You, my mother, and Margaret, must henceforth be all the world to me; you will share my affections entirely between you." (Ch 46)
Marianne's Love for Willoughby: Is It Altered?
Marianne herself gives us the answer to the question of whether she still loves Willoughby after his marriage to Miss Grey, thus there is no need for speculation on this point. However, understanding Marianne depends in part upon applying an understanding of the social norms of Georgian culture to what Marianne says.
Remembering that eschewing even the appearance of vulgarity and impropriety was the driving motivation behind Georgian social norms, we can understand that Marianne would not be able to apply the word "love" to Willoughby after he had married Miss Grey.
She would no longer be able to echo Mrs. Dashwood's protest that to esteem is to love (Ch 4). To do so would be to violate a very serious norm that honored marriage and love within marriage. This is also why Elinor would not tell Marianne the full detail of Willoughby's continued affection (Austen's narrator would not even apply the word "love" here) for Marianne.
When Elinor and Marianne are walking in view of the hill near the cottage—the hill, as Marianne points out, where she first met Willoughby—Marianne reveals the contents of her feelings for Willoughby. We know from social norms and her reactions as well as her words that, though she sees the error—and even the horror—of his behavior, she cannot remove from her heart her fond "remembrance" of him. She only needs to know that he intended from the outset no villainy toward her, that she was not deliberately to be his next Miss Williams, for her heart to rest easy in its continued "remembrance."
We know that while she cannot give up what he meant to her, she asserts she will govern her feelings and check them "by religion, by reason, by constant employment." She will govern her sensibilities. That her feelings for Willoughby are not turned away from love--though she may never speak that word in relation to him, a married man--is confirmed by her final statement that if she "could but know HIS heart," then she would feel easy in her mind.
"There, exactly there,"—pointing with one hand, "on that projecting mound,—there I fell; and there I first saw Willoughby. [...] I am thankful to find that I can look with so little pain on the spot!—shall we ever talk on that subject, Elinor?"—hesitatingly it was said.—"Or will it be wrong?—I can talk of it now, I hope, as I ought to do. ... I do not mean to talk to you of what my feelings have been for him, but what they are NOW.—At present, if I could be ... allowed to think that he was not ALWAYS acting a part, not ALWAYS deceiving me;... how gladly would I suppose him, only fickle, very, very fickle.
[...]
"As for Willoughby—to say that I shall soon or that I shall ever forget him, would be idle. His remembrance can be overcome by no change of circumstances or opinions. But it shall be regulated, it shall be checked by religion, by reason, by constant employment."
She paused—and added in a low voice, "If I could but know HIS heart, everything would become easy."
[...]
[Elinor] softened only his protestations of present regard. Marianne said not a word.—She trembled, her eyes were fixed on the ground, and her lips became whiter than even sickness had left them. ... She caught every syllable with panting eagerness; her hand, unknowingly to herself, closely pressed her sister's, and tears covered her cheeks.
In conclusion, to say that Marianne no longer loved Willoughby would be a statement that Elinor might wish to be true but with which she would be forced to disagree: Marianne sees Willoughby's faults and relinquishes her proclivity to torture herself with regret over not being his wife—regret being a sure sign of continued love—but in her heart and mind, "[h]is remembrance can be overcome by no change of circumstances or opinions."

Amy lives with her parents rent-free, spends $210/week on other living expenses such as food and entertainment, and earns $425/week from her job. Amy is planning to take an unpaid leave from her job to travel in Cambodia. She has already purchased a visa for Cambodia for $55. She would pay $370/week for accommodations and $125/week for other living expenses in Cambodia and $975 for a round-trip flight. What is Amy’s opportunity cost of traveling in Cambodia for 4 weeks? Explain or show how you arrived at your answer

Amy currently earns $425 a week. Take her $425 earnings and multiply by 4 (weeks) to get $1,700.
What Amy spends at home on expenses and entertainment is irrelevant to what she will be spending on her trip, so it is factored out. Amy will lose a month of potential earnings of $1,700 and will have different expenses abroad.
Her $55 (visa one-time expense) + $370 (accommodations) x 4 (weeks) = $1,535.
Her $125 (weekly living expenses) x 4 = $500.
Her round-trip flight costs $975.
Now take the $1,700 (foregone earnings) + $1,535 (visa plus accommodations) + $500 (four weeks living expenses) + $975 (flight) = $4,710.
Therefore, the opportunity cost of Amy's trip is her total lost earnings of $1,700 plus the $3,010 total cost of the trip, for a total opportunity cost of $4,710.

Why does Smirnov challenge Mrs. Popova to a duel?

In Popova's absence, Smirnov rants and raves about how much of a soft touch he is to the people who owe him money. Well, from now on, it's no more Mr. Nice Guy; Smirnov's determined that Popova shall pay back the money that he loaned to her late husband. In fact, he's so determined that he's resolved not to leave Popova's house until she gives him what she owes.
But Popova won't play ball. She soon gets into (another) heated argument with Smirnov, during which she calls him all kinds of names, such as boor, monster, and of course, bear. Smirnov is absolutely shocked that Popova would have the nerve to insult him like this when she's the one who owes him money. He angrily insists that Popova will pay for her insults and that if she wants equality of rights then she will certainly get it. So he challenges her to a duel, which, to Smirnov's surprise, she accepts.

Suppose you were applying for a job with a community services organization as a communications or human resource manager. If they asked you to submit a detailed report (with approximately 4,000 words) explaining what you would develop, establish, promote, and review in workplace communication strategies, what would your report include?

Workplace communication tactics factor in both human resources and marketing concepts. As a communications leader in this organization, you will need to know and understand the laws of the state and city in which the organization is located, as well as any existing policies of the organization itself. Posted communications and those sent out to employees may be subject to scrutiny by the labor/workforce union, the OSHA, or local organizations, depending upon the size and location of the company.
In addition to understanding any regulations and laws, you will want to communicate effectively in the workplace. This is a slightly different skill from communicating with customers, clients, or the general public. It is imperative that communications be conveyed completely and comprehensively to every employee; this may require using various methods to ensure you reach everyone.
Additionally, there may be scenarios in which you will have to offer employees the chance to come to you (or another professional in the organization) with questions or concerns. You will need to establish this protocol with employees before the need for these occasions arises.
In order to piece together your 4000 word proposal, you'll want to consider a few questions. Which organizations oversee the labor force in your area? How large is the organization, and what rules and regulations apply based on that factor? Which groups are employed at the organization and what, if any, special communication factors apply to those kinds of groups? What areas of improvement are you aware of in the organization for which communication could assist?
Once you've answered these questions, it's simply a matter of suggesting a communications plan that addresses those needs and concerns under the stipulations of any rules and regulations. An effective way to lay out your communications plan includes the following: listing each concern, proposing your plan of attack, and finally identifying the reasons for any specifics. For example:

Volunteers at the organization have shared concerns that events are not run as effectively as they could be due to a lack of available information about the event, including time to plan effectively. I suggest implementing a new intranet website specifically for the volunteer force. In addition to sending targeted emails and posting messages on the premises, we could use this site to securely communicate with any of our registered volunteers. This will also give us the opportunity to post any OSHA required disclosures about the event, such as the location, expected weather on that day, and total number of hours each volunteer can legally work.
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/examples-human-resource-communications-11557.html

https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/pages/0603pophal2.aspx

Why is the title Plainsong a great title for the book?

The title of Kent Harufs novel is very appropriate for two main reasons. One refers to the setting and the other to the construction.
The book takes place in and around a Colorado town in the Plains area of the United States.
The second reference is more metaphorical than literal. Plainsong is a type of music that consists of chants and is associated with the Christian church. Rather than a linear sequence of different chants, the individual chants are both distinctive and interrelated. One type is known as Gregorian chant. Plainsong is often used for singing psalms. Each chant has its own individual characteristics, but the dominant theme of a soloist generates response from multiple voices, or a chorus.
In the latter regard, the novel's structure and content resemble this type of vocalizing. Any individual character's voice is heard, and is distinct, but no one character's story line is definitely primary. Rather, their lives and stories intersect in different combinations, and their singular actions influence each other's, singly or in a group.
https://www.britannica.com/art/plainsong-music

Why did Andrew Carnegie see his age as a problem?

Andrew Carnegie devoted much of the latter part of his career to addessing the growing problem of inadequate distribution of wealth. This problem of vastly different standards of living among Americans attended the Industrial Revolution, and was exacerbated by the rise of big businesses in the 19th and early-20th centuries (the so-called “Gilded Age,” of American history, characterized by speculative and extravagant spending by the American upper classes).

Scottish-born Andrew Carnegie was one such businessman. His wealth was amassed in the steel industry, and so was derived from his close attention to business practices, rather than speculative stock investing (like many of his business contemporaries). Adjusted for modern inflation, he would be considered a billionaire today, and was the richest man in America after selling Carnegie Steel.

Just before selling Carnegie Steel, Andrew Carnegie published a seminal text for modern philanthropy and economics. Titled, “The Gospel of Wealth,” it proposed that wealth not be re-distributed in a Communistic fashion (as this, according to Carnegie, is at odds with individualism). Nor, said Carnegie, should the wealthy hoard their money until the end of their lives (at which point it would be taxed excessively). The best course of action for an individual and for society, plagued as it was by the inequality of wealth, was for the wealthy to spend money liberally throughout the course of their lives on public goods and services (i.e. libraries, theaters, etc.). Carnegie suggested that this would solve the problem of a disenfranchised and disillusioned working class, as they would in turn profit from such benefactions, and enjoy a higher standard of living.