Who is Mr. Honeythurder in the novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood?

Luke Honeythunder is a boisterous philanthropist who has assumed guardianship for the orphans Helena and Neville Landless. He arranges for both of them to be educated with Neville living with Honeythunder's sister and Helena living at a Nun's house. Honeythunder is accused of having a part in the disappearance of Edwin Drood, and following this he cuts ties completely with the orphans. This upsets his nephew Septimus, who knows that it will besmirch his reputation as a public philanthropist. Honeythunder is said to have an extremely loud voice, often telling other people how to live their lives and offering unsolicited advice. His penchant for philanthropy is heavy-handed and tiresome, and he has a tendency to disrupt the peace of any moment. He often is imposing and overstays his welcome.

According to the play Our Town, what does the "American Dream" consist of? Give at least one direct quote.

In Our Town, the American Dream is achieved through small-town normalcy, ordinary stability, and savoring the small moments in life. As Mrs. Gibbs says,

. . . choose an unimportant day. Choose the least important day in your life. It will be important enough.

Our Town is a celebration of small-town normalcy in Grover's Corners, in a white America settled by pilgrims. It is a hymn to places where dogs can sleep all day in the street undisturbed and everyone knows everyone else.
Soldiers from different wars are buried in the cemetery in Grover's Corners. We learn, too, that the American Dream was actualized by Union soldiers who went to fight in the Civil War because it was self-evident that holding the United States together was the right thing to do:

All they knew was the name, friends—the United States of America. The United States of America. And they went and died about it.

Wilder's vision of the American Dream in this play is different from the dreams exemplified in other works of American literature. It is not a dream of remaking the world afresh in your image or of finding a source of easy wealth. It is most similar to the simple dream that the characters in Of Mice and Men long for: a house, an ordinary life, some independence, and some roots in a community.

Why does Tom tell Clare that his work has to be done tonight?

Tom's a workaholic. Work has taken over his whole life to the exclusion of all else. He's become completely obsessed with getting promoted at work, and he feels that the in-depth research he's been conducting is essential to his chances of success. That's why Tom has to stay at home to do some work instead of going with his wife Clare to the movies. He feels bad about it, to be sure, but he still puts work ahead of his wife and remains at home, frantically scribbling away on his yellow paper.
This is a man who clearly has his priorities the wrong way round. He needs an urgent lesson in what's really important in life. It duly arrives when his precious sheet of yellow paper is suddenly blown out of the open window and onto the ledge outside.

I am seeking assistance in deciding upon a good thesis statement for a 1,300-word essay I need to write on the novel Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk for a literature class. I need to use one of the following criticisms in my essay: Marxism Gender Theory/Masculinity Phenomenology Psychoanalytic Theory (confined to Freud, Jung, or Lacan) Poststructuralism/Postmodernism I've read the book and I know that: Project Mayhem's actions would fit with the Marxism criticism; The fact that the narrator and Tyler are the same person would work with the Psychoanalytic criticism (id, ego, superego); The narrator's dissatisfaction with his own masculinity and his desire to redefine it through Fight Club might work with the Gender Theory/Masculinity criticism. My problem is that I need assistance figuring out which would work best for a thesis statement and how to build upon it with supporting evidence from the book.

While any of your possible thesis topics could make for a great essay, gender theory and the idea of masculinity as a construct would likely prove easiest to argue with Palahniuk's narrative. Psychoanalytic theory and Marxist ideology could be lenses through which we view Fight Club, but the question of what it means to be a man at the end of the twentieth century is what the novel is truly about.
Palahniuk has been quoted as saying:

bookstores were full of books like The Joy Luck Club and The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and How to Make an American Quilt. These were all novels that presented a social model for women to be together. But there was no novel that presented a new social model for men to share their lives.

Essentially, Chuck Palahniuk raises the question of modern man's search for his place in the world. He writes in the book, "We are God's middle children" (141). The argument is being made that there is nothing unique or noteworthy about modern man or the modern notion of masculinity. Man has been forgotten and abandoned. The search for identity, and reestablishing that identity, is what Fight Club is about. Therefore, while the other theses could make for an interesting and singular thesis; they are just pieces used to find and establish masculine identity in the novel.

Personally, I think psychoanalysis would be a great topic to discuss in this essay because of the clear psychological intrigue in the novel and the film. The dual personality can, in fact, be related to human nature and Freudian themes. I believe a good thesis statement for the novel would be:

The dual personality exhibited by Durden and the narrator is an example of the duality of man, which shows an individual in his struggle to maintain civility against his primal self: the id.

This essay could tackle all the ways in which the narrator attempts to improve himself and control his subconscious desires while Durden acts entirely on impulse, essentially acting as the opposing superego and id. Additionally, you could discuss the narrator's relationships and how they develop differently under the control of each personality—both positively and negatively.

Gender theory and masculinity would be the best topic to choose for Chuck Palahniuk's novel Fight Club. The issue with choosing Marxist criticism or psychoanalytic theory is that both are limited in scope throughout the book. In other words, they are elements in the narrative—e.g., Project Mayhem as a parody of Marxist revolutionary ideals, or the id versus ego mechanisms that contributed to multiple personality disorder—but neither one is the overarching theme.
In essence, Fight Club is about the modern man trying to find meaning in his life. Early in the story, Palahniuk makes a reference to the concept of male insecurity and concepts of emasculation when the protagonist goes to a testicular cancer support group. The loss of one's ability to naturally produce testosterone, and the testicles themselves, which physically and symbolically represent manhood, is the author's hint at the masculinity-emasculation subtext throughout the novel.
Even the philosophical origins of the fight club—which eventually evolves into the terrorist cult group Project Mayhem—are born out of beta male frustrations. The members of the fight club unleash their primal violence to express what they believe is their oppressed masculinity.
Tyler Durden states that urban postmodern culture—e.g., consumerism, the glorification of beautiful celebrities and models, corporate culture, et al.—suppresses the modern man's natural instincts in the same way a domesticated dog no longer resembles its ancient wolf ancestors.
Likewise, the protagonist's split personality is born out of necessity, or as a defense mechanism. Tyler is constructed by the protagonist's subconsciousness because the protagonist lacks the aggression or initiative that Tyler possesses. The protagonist feels inadequate as a beta male and wants to possess alpha male qualities, and thus Tyler is created.
Since the theme of masculinity and the protagonist's struggle with it is present in every element or subplot of the novel, it would make a good thesis subject.

What is the climax of "The Last Class"?

“The Last Class” is a story about the personal effects of nationalism and cultural conflicts. Originally written in French, it tells the story of the German takeover of Alsace, a region in France that has historically been claimed by France and by neighboring Germany. The story takes place in a small Alsatian town, primarily in the school that Franz, the protagonist, attends.
The climax of the story occurs when the teacher, Monsieur Hamel, defends France. He praises its language and associates Alsace with France rather than with Germany. The German takeover results in their banning the use of French. The day after the story’s action, school will be taught in German rather than French. Monsieur Hamel will also have to leave Alsace.
Although we do not see Monsieur Hamel deny the order, as it will not take effect until the next day, the author shows him passionately speaking out for French as the world’s most beautiful language. He reads to the students in French and then has them write over and over for their penmanship lesson, “France, Alsace.”
These rebellious acts lead up to the climax, when he writes on the board, “Vive La France!” or “Long Live France!”

Why has Max always feared his father in chapter 16?

Max's father, Killer Kane, is a scary fellow. He's been in jail for killing Max's mother, but in chapter sixteen after getting out he comes to Max in the middle of the night. Max tells us that he has feared his father getting out of jail and coming for him:

"Somehow I always knew this would happen, that he would come for me, in the middle of the night, that I would wake up to find him there, filling the room, and that I'd feel empty."

Max is also afraid that his father will hurt Grim and Gram. Max says "making noise is the last thing I want to do" because he knows if he makes noise then his grandparents will wake up, and if they come down to his room they will try to stop Killer Kane and likely end up getting hurt themselves.
The title of this chapter, "A Chip off the Old Block," suggests another fear of Max's. Killer Kane uses this phrase to say that Max looks just like his father. But Max does not want to be like his father. Max may have his father's size, but that does not mean Max is exactly like his father.

What are the positive and negative consequences of governing by public opinion?

I would argue that there are certainly both positive and negative consequences to governing by public opinion. Governing by public opinion would demonstrate the influence of the public in policymaking. This would be a great example of democracy in action, truly letting the citizens decide the direction of the nation. Governing by public opinion, however, could cause problems in cases where citizens are not well informed on issues. The nation would likely suffer negative consequences when the opinions of uninformed citizens were deciding significant government action. Additionally, there are many workings of government. It would be difficult to govern strictly by public opinion, because it would require citizens to have opinions on an incredible amount of issues and topics. One of the benefits of a representative democracy is the fact that people have representatives whose responsibility it is to understand the views of their constituents and make decisions on these many issues in (theoretically at least) their name.