What "singular coincidence" does Helen refer to in chapter 1?

The "singular coincidence" of which Helen speaks in chapter 1 is that one of her ancestors was the first teacher of the deaf in the Swiss city of Zurich. What's interesting here is that he became a pioneer in deaf education in much the same way that Helen's companion Annie Sullivan blazed a trail in relation to educating the blind. It was Annie who memorably helped Helen to establish a connection between herself and the world around her through the power of touch.
Even more remarkable is the fact that Helen's parents were introduced to Annie through the good offices of Alexander Graham Bell, the famous inventor of the telephone, and himself a pioneer in the field of deaf education. It's truly a happy coincidence that the Keller name has been linked with not one, but two trailblazers in the field of deaf education, living in two different eras in two separate countries.

In the first chapter of her memoir, Helen Keller briefly talks about her ancestors. She notes that one, a Swiss man, was the first to teach the deaf in Zurich, Switzerland, and that he also wrote a book on educating the deaf. To her mind, this is a "singular coincidence," because Keller herself ended up deaf and blind, and progressive methods of education for people with these disabilities made a huge difference in her life. Keller says of her ancestor,

One of my Swiss ancestors was the first teacher of the deaf in Zurich and wrote a book on the subject of their education—rather a singular coincidence . . .

She also notes, a bit wryly, that everyone has notable and not-so-notable figures among their ancestors, as if to hint that she doesn't want to make too much out of those who came before her. Primarily, she hopes in her memoir to focus on what happened in her own life that made a difference and to show that it is possible to overcome heavy obstacles.

Why does Summer sit beside August at lunch?

Summer answers this question in part 3, which is on page 119 of my copy of this book. She admits that she sat with him on the first day because she felt sorry for him. She realized that with his strange face, this boy was in even more need of a friend than most new kids.
As Summer got to know August, she stopped sitting with him because she felt sorry for him, but continued to sit with him because she thought he was good company. She discusses how August is not like the other kids in the fifth grade who suddenly consider themselves too busy play games, preferring to "hang out" and "talk" over recess.
Summer proves her loyalty to August at Savanna's Halloween party, when she leaves after Savanna tells her that her chances of being popular and part of the "in crowd" would improve dramatically if she stopped hanging out with August.

It's Auggie's first day at school, and he's understandably very nervous about it. He's going to try and get through the day by keeping his head down so that the other kids don't gawk at his facial disfigurement. At lunchtime, though, that's not possible, and Auggie feels distinctly uncomfortable with all the other kids staring at him.
Thankfully, Summer's on hand to make Auggie feel a little better. She comes over to sit next to him and strikes up a conversation. Summer just sees a strange-looking kid in a brand-new school who looks like he needs a friend. She's naturally a mature, empathetic, caring young lady with an unwavering commitment to doing the right thing. It's also possible that Summer has developed more sensitivity and understanding than other kids her age, due to the death of her father.

What significance do names and their nuances have in The Bonesetter’s Daughter? Why is it so important that Ruth discover her family’s true name? When Ruth discovers what her own name means, how does that realization change her relationship with LuLing?

Names take on significance in Amy Tan’s novels. In The Bonesetter’s Daughter, one important name is that of Precious Auntie. She is referred to as both Bao Mu and Bao Bomu. Each name carries a very different connotation which connects to Precious Auntie’s relationship with her daughter, Lu Ling. Bao can mean “precious” or “protect.” Mu by itself means “mother.” Yet, when the two words are placed together, Bao Mu signifies a nursemaid or babysitter. Gao Ling tells Ruth that everyone called Precious Auntie Bao Mu. She was indeed a protective mother, one who was precious only to Lu Ling, even before her daughter discovered her true identity. Yet, sadly her station was not of mother but of nursemaid to her own daughter. However, Lu Ling called her mother Bao Bomu. The word bomu means “auntie” so it also represents the family’s deception in designating Lu Ling’s real mother to be her aunt or nursemaid. Thus, Precious Auntie’s names are tragically ironic.
Throughout the novel, Lu Ling is unable to remember her mother’s family name. When Lu Ling says the family name is Gu, Ruth believes she is mistaken because the word means “bone.” She thinks Lu Ling is confusing people and events from her past. However, Gao Ling confirms the name and explains that it can actually mean several things—bone, gorge, old, blind, thigh, grain, merchant, or character. Gao Ling intimates that the word “character” is closest to its true meaning. “That’s why we use that expression ‘It’s in your bones.’ It means, ‘That’s your character.’” Gao Ling explains Ruth’s grandmother’s first name was Liu Xin. Ruth thinks it means “shooting star” but her aunt explains it really means “remain true.”
Ruth’s epiphany begins with her conversation with Gao Ling. She realizes that the Chinese language is quite rich, not limited as she had always thought. She thinks of a sentence to represent the word and the past: “The blind bone doctor from the gorge repaired the thigh of the old grain merchant.” Ruth gains a new respect for her mother; she recognizes that Lu Ling has actually been telling her about her grandmother and their family, but she has not been truly listening. Ruth cries because she proudly realizes she belongs to this family. Character is shaped by connection to one’s family.
Heritage becomes important to Ruth now. She keeps a picture of her grandmother on her desk and uses the past to see the present. She finds her voice and begins to write her family’s story. “It is for her grandmother, for herself, for the little girl who became her mother.”

The clearest example of the importance of names in The Bonesetter's Daughter is LuLing trying to remember her mother's name. She knows that her mother told her—she even remembers the conversation—but the name itself eludes her. This haunts her and keeps her from being able to move on. The novel also opens when LuLing is in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's or dementia. This is representative of her lifelong difficulty with memory, beginning with her mother's name.
At the end of the novel, the name is discovered, but it is not as important as it was in the beginning. Ruth knowing her mother's history, repairing her relationship with Art, moving LuLing into an assisted living home, and introducing LuLing to Mr. Tang all have a more tangible impact than the discovery of the long-lost family name.
Just as LuLing's mother communicates through her signs and actions instead of words, Ruth's understanding and the steps she takes to help her mother do more than any name ever could.

Names in The Bonesetter's Daughter have a connection to the person's heritage and true self. LuLing wants to know the name of her mother—the woman she knows only as the Bonesetter's Daughter—and to better understand her past. Ruth wants to know her family's true name so that she can experience the connection with her heritage that she's been denied; when she finally learns her name and the history associated with it, she's able to better understand her mother, LuLing, and be more at peace with her and with herself.
LuLing grows up not knowing that Precious Auntie is her true mother. She only knows that her mother was the Bonesetter's Daughter. Precious Auntie shows LuLing her true family name when she is six, but she can't remember it as an adult and regrets the loss. She calls her mother "Gu" to Ruth, but Ruth realizes it means "bone" and thinks it's a reference to LuLing's mother's family's profession. However, near the end, Ruth learns that "Gu" can have other meanings. GaoLing explains that:

"It sounds the same as the bone gu, but it's written a different way. The third-tone gu can mean many things: 'old,' 'gorge,' 'bone,' also 'thigh,' 'blind,' 'grain,' 'merchant,' lots of things. And the way 'bone' is written can also stand for 'character.' That's why we use that expression 'It's in your bones.' It means, 'That's your character.'"

They also find out that Ruth's grandmother's full name was Gu Liu Xin. As soon as she hears it, Ruth understands that her grandmother existed and that she, LuLing, and Lui Xin all belong to each other.
Ruth also doesn't understand her true name until it is revealed to her at the end of the novel. Amy Tan writes,

Ruth was amazed and gratified that her mother had put so much heart into naming her. For most of her childhood, she had hated both her American and her Chinese names, the old-fashioned sound of "Ruth," which her mother could not even pronounce, and the way "Luyi" sounded like the name of a boy, a boxer, or a bully.

This deeper understanding helps her make peace with both her mother and her Chinese heritage. Caring for her aging and ailing mother no longer seems like the burden it did to Ruth at the beginning of the novel.

What is the setting of Becoming by Michelle Obama?

Becoming, the first book written by former First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama, covers a multitude of different settings. Her book covers much of her life but focuses primarily on the early years of her marriage to former US president Barack Obama.
She writes much about her childhood and growing up on the South Side of Chicago, so this is one of the main settings in the book. Her hometown is where she grew up with her brother and parents and helped shape her into the person she is today.
Not only was Chicago the setting for her childhood, it was also the setting for the early years of her marriage and motherhood. As such, various settings within the South Side of Chicago are part of Obama's account of her schooling and career.
Michelle Obama spent time at both Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey, for her higher education. As such, these places are also settings in her book.
In Becoming, Michelle discusses the lessons she has learned throughout her life in the context of the places she has lived—alone, with her family, and with her husband.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38746485-becoming

How was World War II related to religion?

World War II was related to religion insofar as one of the main protagonists, Nazi Germany, was hell-bent on wiping out the entire Jewish population of Europe. This is not say that the Nazis' genocide was motivated by religion; their warped ideology was steeped in cultural and biological racism. Furthermore, the Nazis regarded Judaism as not just a religion, but a race.
Even so, Judaism was and is a religion, and it suffered appallingly during World War II. It's been estimated that the pre-war Jewish population of Europe was somewhere in the region of 9 million. Yet by the end of the war, that number had declined significantly due to the Holocaust, in which over 6 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis.

What is the theme, tone, mood, and diction in the poem "Letter From a Contract Worker"?

The poem “Letter From a Contract Worker” by Antonio Jacinto presents a fairly straightforward subject matter, which we can use to determine the underlying theme(s). A poem's subject is often described as the topic or simply put, what the poem is about. In this case, we have an obvious love poem, written by a man forced to leave his lover in order to find work, most likely as an itinerant worker. This is evidenced by lines 45-48, where Jacinto's character describes his workplace among the orchards and exotic beasts, where he appears to be far from home, expressed metaphorically in line 50 as "the wind should lose it on the way," referring to his "letter."
So now that we have our subject matter, we can explore the themes in a more in-depth way. On the surface, the poem is about a man yearning to be reunited with his love. If we look closer, we can see that the primary theme behind that idea is the pain of separation. Clearly, the man is miserable and worried about his lady forgetting their precious time together. He worries that she will go on about her life an forget him, while he aches for her daily as he toils. He worries that his work will overshadow his personal life, but that he has no choice in the matter. He also worries that others in her life will persuade her to move on without him. The other notable theme is the cruelty of fate, and how it plays a part in their separation.
Tone and mood are often used together where the author's purpose is to create an emotional experience for the reader. Jacinto expresses several moods: sorrow, passion, frustration, heartbreak, and pessimistic. Overall, the man writing the letter does not seem very hopeful that he will be reunited with his love. The tone of a poem refers to the author's feelings about the subject matter. In this poem, the author seems to portray a sense of pity for the man who finds himself in this difficult situation. He does not give a neat and tidy resolution to the problem, so it appears that the author feels this is a common predicament that men such as this find themselves in.
The diction of this poem leans towards conversational, yet is not something we would necessarily find in a typical love letter. The words in the poem are very visual and convey sensory experiences through rhythm. An example of this is found in the fifth stanza, in the following lines:
"from song to songlament to lamentgabble to gabble"

In his poem “Letter From a Contract Writer,” Antonio Jacinto assumes the persona of a lovesick laborer who is working far away from home—and the woman he adores.
Diction is defined as word choice. The connotations of the words in all but the last stanza of the poem are romantic or sexual. The speaker uses words like “desire,” “yearning,” “intimate,” “caresses,” “passion,” and “hot.” All of these suggest the speaker’s lust for his lover.
The diction of the poem establishes an admiring, passionate tone as the speaker compares his lover’s features to various things he finds beautiful.
Mood, which is how the author intends readers to feel, is created through tone. Readers are supposed to be swept up in the speaker’s passion, wishing he could be reunited with the woman he figuratively worships. One could say the mood is wistful.
To determine the theme, or underlying message, it is important to note the changes in tone and mood that come in the last stanza. The speaker repeats the word “why” to express his frustration at not being able to write the letter he has heretofore described. He uses exclamation points and dashes to indicate an agitated feeling. When the speaker reveals that he can’t write and his lover can’t read, the reader feels the speaker’s agony over his unexpressed emotions.
Theme in this poem could relate to either language or education. Since the title of the poem emphasizes the speaker’s impoverished working-class identity, I will focus on the education theme. Jacinto comments on how limited access to education prevents people from expressing themselves to the world. The speaker’s inability to write down everything he feels is the fault of a lacking education. Yet, the speaker is clearly a creative, intelligent individual who has something to offer the world. This shows that limiting one’s education limits one’s ability to be who one truly is.

Who is the character of Major Metcalf in the play The Mousetrap? What are some examples from his dialogue and body language that show his characterization? What is his intention in the play, and what are his relationships to each character?

Agatha Christie's classic who-done-it, The Mousetrap, is celebrating its 67th year (eight months shy of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II) of being the longest-running play in the world, with over 27,500 performances to date.
Major Metcalf is first mentioned by Mrs. Boyle, who she's left in charge of the luggage she left outside Monkswell Manor in a blizzard. The first thing we learn about Major Metcalf is that he's extremely accommodating.
As he enters Monkswell Manor in act 1, scene 1, Major Metcalf is described by the playwright in the stage notes as "a middle-aged, square-shouldered man, very military in his manner and bearing."
On his entrance we see that he's amiable, polite, and respectful of women. He removes his hat for Mrs. Boyle, even though she left him in the blizzard with her luggage. He remarks that he hasn't seen this kind of weather "since I was on leave in nineteen-forty," which give us another hint about his military background.
A quick exchange between Giles and Major Metcalf seems to confirm his military history.

GILES: (authoritatively) Major!
MAJOR METCALF: (instinctively the soldier) Sir!

In scene 2, Major Metcalf is on the sofa in the main room reading a book, and Mrs. Boyle is sitting in an armchair writing a letter. Mrs. Boyle is complaining bitterly about everything, including the breakfast, the lunch, and the fact she wasn't given the best bedroom.
Major Metcalf does his best to look on the bright side of things, but Mrs. Boyle's pessimism eventually wears him down, and he takes the first opportunity to get away from her, even if the opportunity is to shovel snow away from the back door.

MAJOR METCALF: I'll give you a hand, what? Good exercise. Must have exercise.

When he returns to the others, he learns that the police have been summoned, shortly after Paravicini dropped the poker in the fireplace, startling Major Metcalf, who, according to the stage notes, "stands a though paralyzed." This might be a hint as to a lingering effect of Major Metcalf's wartime experience.
Later in the scene, a policeman, Sergeant Trotter, arrives. He says he's been sent to investigate "the Longridge farm case," and he questions everyone at the Manor about the case.

MAJOR METCALF: ... Read about the case in the papers at the time. I was stationed in Edinburgh then. No personal knowledge.

Without knowing much about the case, or so he says, Major Metcalf accuses Mrs. Boyle of being the magistrate who sent three children to a foster home at Longridge Farms, where they were abused and one child died. Mrs. Boyle admits that she was the magistrate, but she denies she did anything wrong and argues that she was simply doing her duty.
Mrs. Boyle is found dead, murdered, at the end of act 1.
In act 2, Major Metcalf tries to be helpful to Sergeant Trotter's investigation of Mrs. Boyle's murder, but his efforts seem to serve little purpose. In fact, suspicion for the murder falls on Major Metcalf for a time, but he holds up well under the pressure.
In due time, the murderer is revealed, as is Major Metcalf's true identity.

MAJOR METCALF: ...I've had my suspicions about him [the murderer] all along.
MOLLIE: You did? Didn't you believe he was a policeman?
MAJOR METCALF: I knew he wasn't a policeman. You see, Mrs. Ralston, I'm a policeman.

Major Metcalf explains his suspicions, how the Longridge Farm incident relates to Mrs Boyle's murderer, and how he discovered who the murderer was.

Major Metcalf's intention throughout the play is to investigate. He investigates the other people trapped in the house to figure out who's committing the murders. In each scene, his intention is to discover the truth.
Major Metcalf appears as a traditional English gentleman. He is first seen sitting on a couch and reading a book, and he seems like a positive person: he is happy with the breakfast he's eaten that morning and explains that his wife made it all herself. While Mrs. Boyle complains about the food, Major Metcalf finds things to compliment about it.
He's quick to help and volunteers to shovel snow, saying that he needs the exercise. He's kind when he comforts Christopher. He smokes a pipe. His only relationship with the characters in the play is that of a detective to the suspects, the victims, and the murderer. He's friendly to everyone and easy to get along with.
He is startled by things like the loud sound a poker makes when it drops. He is also loud when he's surprised or incredulous, like when calling the police is suggested and he asks again, a few moments later, why the police are coming. (He knows that he's the police officer who's supposed to be there and that Trotter, the man who appears, isn't with the police.)
Major Metcalf leaves the room often, and that appears suspicious. However, he's actually investigating the case; he's the police detective trying to figure out who's committing the murders. He uses chores as excuses to leave and investigate. This can be seen throughout as he subtly questions people with direct statements about their actions. We can also observe this in the way he moves around a room—like a detective interviewing a witness. He's often up, down, and navigating around the room.