Describe at least 3 monsters we see in film or television today. Consider traditional monsters (like Grendel) but also monsters who threaten the well-being of society.

Monsters take many forms in media today. A popular classic is the zombie, which typically represents a number of societal phenomena: consumerism, loss of individualism within society, and a deep fear that humanity is made up of mindless monsters. Zombies are terrifying because they threaten the structure of society (in zombie media, society is often destroyed during the monsters' rise); in this way, they represent a fear of humanity's ability to destroy the society it has created.
Another classic is the werewolf, which, of course, symbolizes the "beast within" and the inability to control one's animal, aggressive urges; a similar, more specific example of this is Dr. Jekyll and his transformation into Mr. Hyde. Grendel can be considered a monster within this category. He is given very little physical description, but is used as a foil to Beowulf, therefore representing the antithesis of the great, noble warrior.
This source from Washington State University gives more detail on Grendel as a monster, as a foil to Beowulf, and monsters in general: WSU MONSTERS FRONTPAGE

As this question depends on your own opinion and addresses social well-being, you could approach it from several perspectives. One promising way would be to give a range of monsters, from literal to abstract. A traditional monster like Grendel could be any evil character from movies or television. Slightly more abstract could be the personification or amplification of threatening characteristics in more modern robot-type or cyborg characters. In the abstract realm, you might use an example of something meant to benefit society that has gone awry, such as the misuses of technology through hacking. Or, paying homage to Shelley’s complex presentation of Frankenstein’s monster and considering modern inversions of monstrosity, including making Grendel a hero, you could reverse that approach and highlight "the good in the bad."
For the first, zombies seem an obvious choice, as they threaten society through literally eating people, For the second, you could consider a figure like the Pretender in the Transformers series, or a classic example such as the Terminator.
For the third, large-scale hacking in data breaches can take on a monstrous scale, affecting all the users of a particular site, like Yahoo or eBay. For a reversal, in which technology is positively humanized, the 2013 Spike Jonze film Her comes to mind.

Why, after fifteen years, does Gene return to school? What does this tell you about how the author will plot the story—that is, arrange its related events?

Gene, the narrator, sets the scene of his return with a long opening descriptive passage about Devon and the town around it. He has come back on his own, because, he states:

There were a couple of places now which I wanted to see. Both were fearful sites, and that was why I wanted to see them.

This tells us that the story will likely be arranged around the events that made these places "fearful" to Gene. We know one site will be the flight of marble stairs in the First Academy building, a set of steps Gene says he climbed every day of his school years at Devon. The second place is on the very edge of the campus, past the main buildings, the secondary buildings, and the muddy playing fields: it is river with a few tree growing by its banks.
We can predict that important action or plot points will take place in these two locales, and, in fact, Gene immediately drifts back in time to a particular tree by the river.

What is the conclusion of "Désirée's Baby"?

The conclusion of "Desiree's Baby" is tragic: Desiree's child is dark-skinned, which implies that either she or her husband Armand have African ancestry. In the Antebellum South of the setting, to be part-black is a mark of shame. Armand, assuming Desiree is the one with black ancestry (since she was a foundling and no one knows who her biological parents are), essentially exiles her from his life.
Desiree is miserable and claims she wants to die if it turns out she is not fully white. Her adopted mother writes her a letter bidding her come back home with her child. After Armand makes it clear he wants Desiree gone, she takes her baby and walks to the bayou, still in her nightclothes.
Chopin makes it clear that Desiree is never seen again at Armand's estate, but the exact nature of her fate is unclear. Depending on the reader, one can assume she and her baby died in the bayou, or (less likely but still valid) she eventually reached Valmonde and lived there with her adopted parents in social exile.
When trying to rid every trace of Desiree from his estate, Armand ends up learning that he is the one who is part-black, as his mother was black. His pride and racism not only compelled him to drive away his wife and baby, but they have also left him humbled.

The conclusion to the story of "Désirée's Baby" is very sad and tragic indeed. Désirée has been abandoned by her husband Armand, who's discovered to his great consternation that his wife is part black. In this deeply race-conscious society the color of one's skin is considered absolutely critical to one's status. African-Americans are slaves, occupying the very lowest rung on society's ladder. That Désirée should have African blood coursing through her veins, even if it's only a drop, is a source of great shame to Armand. That shame is compounded by the fact that the baby to which his wife's just given birth—Armand's baby, no less—is also part black.
Having banished Désirée and her baby from the plantation, Armand sets about destroying her letters and other personal effects. But as he does so, a shocking secret is revealed. While reading an old letter from his mother Armand discovers that, he too, is part black. In that one moment, Armand's exaggerated sense of honor and pride, based on nothing more than racism, has been completely destroyed. Now he realizes, to his horror, that through his mother he belongs to a race cursed with the brand of slavery.

How would you describe the narrators in The Pigman story?

The narrators of The Pigman, John Conlan and Lorraine Jensen, are two teenagers struggling to understand themselves, to get love and recognition by their parents, and to find a place in their school peer group. They're typical adolescents, in other words. That, and the structure of the novel, is what makes them unreliable as narrators.
An unreliable narrator is a character who tells a story that you're not quite sure is true. They have ulterior motives, or they're influenced by external forces which might not be obvious from a simple reading of the text. In The Pigman, John's trouble-making reputation and Lorraine's abusive relationship with her parents make them suspect, because you should wonder about their motivations. Why do they say the things they do about Mr. Pignati? They pledge to report only facts, but can you trust them? After all, they pledged to themselves to take good care of Mr. Pignati's house after his heart attack, and John convinces Lorraine to have a party. Lorraine goes along because she wants John's affection, even though she senses circumstances getting out of control. That should make you, the reader, wonder about their narratives.
The other big factor in creating unreliable narrators is conflicting perspectives. In this case, you're offered two. John and Lorraine alternate storytelling between chapters. Whose is the point of view closest to the truth? How will we know what really happened, when we only get one point of view per chapter even though we know there are two people telling it?
Unreliable narrators do not necessarily make for bad stories. They're devices chosen by authors to set the tone of their stories, to create uncertainty and feelings of conflict.

How does the theme of appearance versus reality appear in Macbeth?

The theme of appearances versus reality runs deep in Shakespeare's Macbeth. When examining this topic, you could examine any of the following ideas:
1. The witches' prophesies: Throughout the play, Macbeth is guided by promises made to him via the witches. From their initial promises until the end of the play, Macbeth's sense of power and destiny hinges on their visions. Consider especially the beginning of act 4, when Macbeth is given three pieces of advice:
"Beware Macduff."
"Laugh to scorn / The power of man, for none of woman born / Shall harm Macbeth."
"Macbeth shall never vanquished be until / Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill / Shall come against him."
Because the witches' predictions have always worked in his favor before, he doesn't even consider last two predictions a possibility. The witches have blurred the reality of the situation by making Macbeth's safety and sense of power appear to be a certainty.
2. Thanks to his wife (and the witches), Macbeth believes that becoming king of Scotland is his destiny, so he doesn't mind helping destiny out a little. He therefore kills King Duncan and plants evidence on Duncan's guards to incriminate them. The reality is that Macbeth is a murderer. But it appears (even if some believe that the situation looks suspicious) as if Duncan's guards have killed their own king.
3. Lady Macbeth is a real force guiding the action of the play. Macbeth isn't quite as quick to act as his wife would like, and she goads him in one of the most cutting ways—by questioning his manhood. When he tells her that "I dare do all that may become a man; / Who dares do more is none," his wife responds, "What beast was't, then, / That made you break this enterprise to me? / When you durst do it, then you were a man" (act 1, scene 7). So while Macbeth appears to be the one actively making murderous decisions, in reality it is Lady Macbeth who is the true mastermind of the plot.

how many neutrons does neon-12 have?

Neon is an inert element and has an atomic number of 10. The atomic mass of Neon is 20. However, there are a number of isotopes of neon, including, Neon-16, Neon-19, Neon-20, Neon-21, Neon-22, Neon-23, Neon-24, etc. Among these, the three stable isotopes of Neon are Neon-20, Neon-21, and Neon-22.
Remember that the isotopes of an element have the same atomic number but different atomic masses.
The atomic mass of an atom is equal to the sum of the protons and neutrons. The atomic number of an atom is equal the number of protons it contains. Hence, Neon has 10 protons.
Neon-20 has 10 neutrons since its atomic mass is 20 (10 protons + 10 neutrons). Similarly, a Neon-21 atom has 10 protons and 11 neutrons. And, a Neon-22 atom has 10 protons and 12 neutrons.
Hope this helps.

What does the line "Your mind is tossing on the ocean" from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice mean?

The words are spoken by Salarino in the opening scene of the play. He can tell from the look on his face that something's eating his good friend Antonio. Salarino uses the metaphor of a ship being tossed about on stormy seas to describe his friend's troubled mental state. That's what he means when he says "Your mind is tossing on the ocean." Just imagine, for one moment, a ship caught in the middle of a particularly violent storm. It would be heaving up and down, just about ready to break up and sink at any moment. That's what Antonio's mind is like as the play begins.
The maritime metaphor is particularly appropriate as Antonio, who's a merchant, has all his money tied up in his ships' valuable cargo. If any one of his ships should sink in stormy seas, then he'll be in serious financial trouble. Indeed, that's precisely why Salarino thinks that Antonio looks so troubled; he's worried about his fleet of merchant ships.

This line appears in the opening of the play, at the beginning of the first act. Antonio is wondering aloud to his friend Salarino why he feels so sad. Antonio says it wearies both of them for him to be so depressed and comments that he doesn't understand himself.
Salarino then says to Antonio, "Your mind is tossing on the ocean." By this he means that Antonio is sad because he is constantly thinking and worrying about the ships he has out at sea. In other words, Salarino is stating that Antonio is stressed and preoccupied with worry that his ships won't come home and his business ventures will fail. Another friend, Solanio, concurs, telling Antonio that he would be in a constant state of worry if he were involved in such risky business.
However, Antonio says that's not why he's sad. He notes he's diversified his risk between different ships and isn't particularly worried. When his friends then suggest that he must be sad because he's in love, he denies that, too, but given that his close friend Bassanio wants to marry Portia, we might suspect that love and fear of losing Bassanio's companionship might be the cause of his depression.