What are the literary techniques in "The Metamorphosis", and why are they used?

In the novella “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka, the author utilizes multiple literary techniques to illustrate unique points. For example, Kafka applies irony and metaphors to his story.

Beginning with Kafka’s use of irony in the story, there are several times this occurs. Foremost, authors frequently utilize irony to illustrate a point while sometimes creating humor or intrigue. Kafka employs irony throughout the novella to illustrate the ironic separation that Gregor experiences. Before his transformation,...

In the novella “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka, the author utilizes multiple literary techniques to illustrate unique points. For example, Kafka applies irony and metaphors to his story.

Beginning with Kafka’s use of irony in the story, there are several times this occurs. Foremost, authors frequently utilize irony to illustrate a point while sometimes creating humor or intrigue. Kafka employs irony throughout the novella to illustrate the ironic separation that Gregor experiences. Before his transformation, Gregor spent much time apart from his family and thus, felt much distance from them. However, now that he is physically closer to his family (because he is always at home), Gregor feels even more distant and isolated. As the text reveals:

"Later, however, they had to hold her [Gregor’s mother] back forcefully, and when she then cried ‘Let me go to Gregor. He’s my unlucky son! Don’t you understand that I have to go to him?’ Gregor then thought that perhaps it would be a good thing if his mother came in, not every day, of course, but maybe once a week."

Thus, despite Gregor’s physical closeness, he was ironically even more emotionally distant and isolated from his family.

Subsequently, Kafka also utilizes metaphors throughout the novella. Kafka does this to show how Gregor’s life appears dehumanized or “bug-like” even before his transformation. For example, before the transformation, Gregor debases himself by focusing solely on work to support his family. Thus, after his transformation, he initially concentrates solely on his job. As the text reveals:

“what a demanding job I’ve chosen! Day in, day out on the road. The stresses of trade are much greater than the work going on at head office, and, in addition to that, I have to deal with the problems of traveling, the worries about train connections, irregular bad food, temporary and constantly changing human relationships which never come from the heart.”

Consequently, Kafka utilizes this metaphor of becoming a bug to illustrate the dehumanization of Gregor (even before the transformation).

Therefore, Kafka uses many different literary techniques in his story. However, the literary techniques of irony and metaphor represent some of the most significant techniques in the book. By utilizing these literary techniques, Kafka focuses the reader on the dehumanization of man and the importance of relationships.

The correct formula for a covalent bond that obeys the octet rule is: HCI, PCI2, NCI CCI2, NaCI. Why?

A covalent bond is one in which atoms share electrons (instead of donating or accepting them, as is the case with ionic bonds) in such a way, that octet configuration is achieved. That is, the outer shell is filled with 8 electrons. Lets examine each compound one by one.

HCl is a covalent compound, with hydrogen and chlorine sharing an electron each. This way, hydrogen achieves a fully filled 1s orbital and chlorine also achieves...

A covalent bond is one in which atoms share electrons (instead of donating or accepting them, as is the case with ionic bonds) in such a way, that octet configuration is achieved. That is, the outer shell is filled with 8 electrons. Lets examine each compound one by one.

HCl is a covalent compound, with hydrogen and chlorine sharing an electron each. This way, hydrogen achieves a fully filled 1s orbital and chlorine also achieves the octet. Hence HCl is a covalent compound that fulfills the octet rule.

PCl2 is a covalent compound, but does not obey the octet rule. Phosphorus has a valency of +3 and shares two electrons, one each with a chlorine atom. However, there is still a positive charge leftover (although the two chlorine atoms achieve octet). In fact, `PCl_2^-` is the correct chemical formula.

NCl is a covalent compound. However, Nitrogen has a valency of +3 and requires 2 more chlorine atoms to achieve an octet configuration. In this case, one chlorine atom achieves the octet.

CCl2 is a covalent compound, yet carbon has 2 leftover electrons and does not have a fully filled configuration in this compound. The two chlorine atoms achieve octet configuration, but two more are required for a covalent compound (CCl4).

 NaCl or sodium chloride is an ionic compound, where sodium donates an electron, which is accepted by chlorine (to complete its octet).

Thus, among the given options, only HCl  is a covalent compound which satisfies the octet rule. In all other cases, except for NaCl, chlorine atoms achieve the octet configuration through covalent bonding.

Hope this helps. 

Are the guests suspicious about Macbeth's outburst?

The guests at Macbeth’s party might have been suspicious that he killed Banquo, but Lady Macbeth convinced them that he was just ill.

Macbeth came to power through illegal means, obviously.  He killed the current king.  Because his friend Banquo knew about the witches’ prophecies and Macbeth’s desire to be king, Banquo had to go.  At the party, Macbeth had a lot of guests who saw his outburst.

MACBETH

The table's full.

LENNOX

Here is...

The guests at Macbeth’s party might have been suspicious that he killed Banquo, but Lady Macbeth convinced them that he was just ill.

Macbeth came to power through illegal means, obviously.  He killed the current king.  Because his friend Banquo knew about the witches’ prophecies and Macbeth’s desire to be king, Banquo had to go.  At the party, Macbeth had a lot of guests who saw his outburst.

MACBETH

The table's full.

LENNOX

Here is a place reserved, sir.

MACBETH

Where?

LENNOX

Here, my good lord. What is't that moves your highness?

MACBETH

Which of you have done this? (Act 3, Scene 4)

Macbeth sees the ghost of Banquo at his spot at the table, and will not sit down.  The other guests of course have no idea what is going on.  They think that Macbeth is losing his mind.  It is a reasonable assumption.  After all, he is clearly seeing things.  It becomes obvious that he is seeing a ghost.  Ross and Lady Macbeth jump in and try to make excuses for him.

ROSS

Gentlemen, rise: his highness is not well.

LADY MACBETH

Sit, worthy friends: my lord is often thus,
And hath been from his youth … (Act 3, Scene 4)

Basically they are saying that Macbeth has fits, and that there is nothing wrong with him that is out of the ordinary.  No, he’s not seeing ghosts!  He just got a little confused.  Macbeth yells at the ghost of Banquo, and this would be disturbing.  They have to tell the guests something. 

Do they buy it?  Lennox retreats and wishes Macbeth better health.  The others leave too.  They probably are embarrassed and do not want Macbeth to realize they are witnesses to his weakness.  Whether it is guilt or madness, they do not want to be involved.  After all, people are ending up dead in the kingdom.  First Duncan died, and then Banquo.  It does not take a genius to know that something is up and all is not well with Macbeth.

What principle or idea is the speaker trying to convince his son to accept in the poem "If" by Rudyard Kipling?

The speaker is trying to convince his son that being a man means leading a life of integrity and having depth of character.Many of the admonishments the speaker presents are based on a Judeo-Christian moral code. For example, being patient, not dealing in lies, not hating those who hate you, not being vain or arrogant ("don't look too good, nor talk too wise), not complaining ("never breathe a word about your loss"), being industrious...

The speaker is trying to convince his son that being a man means leading a life of integrity and having depth of character. Many of the admonishments the speaker presents are based on a Judeo-Christian moral code. For example, being patient, not dealing in lies, not hating those who hate you, not being vain or arrogant ("don't look too good, nor talk too wise), not complaining ("never breathe a word about your loss"), being industrious ("fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds’ worth of distance run"), and keeping your virtue are all qualities that religious people would agree are important for a man to have.

Other pieces of advice the father gives have to do with being strong in the face of hardship and overcoming adversity with grace. Keeping your head, trusting yourself, using dreams to motivate but not distract you, not becoming discouraged when things don't go your way or when people betray you, being able to take risks, and having good relationships with people are all behaviors a person develops by having a wide variety of experiences—including both successes and failures—and responding properly to them. The father's lesson that he wants his son to learn is that manhood is not achieved at a certain age; rather, it is attained after someone has developed a track record of acting with integrity and building strong character in the face of the vicissitudes of life.

In what ways are the bowed-out shape of the production possibilities curve and the law of increasing opportunity cost related?

The shape of the production possibilities curve (PPC) is caused by the law of increasing opportunity costs.  If opportunity costs did not increase, PPCs would be straight lines.

The law of increasing opportunity costs says that, as you produce more of one good or service, you have to give up more of another good or service.  In other words, when you start to increase production of Good A, you do not have to give up...

The shape of the production possibilities curve (PPC) is caused by the law of increasing opportunity costs.  If opportunity costs did not increase, PPCs would be straight lines.

The law of increasing opportunity costs says that, as you produce more of one good or service, you have to give up more of another good or service.  In other words, when you start to increase production of Good A, you do not have to give up that much of Good B for every new unit of Good A that you produce.  However, as you continue to increase production, your opportunity costs increase and you give up more of Good B for each new unit of Good A that you produce.  This is because some of your resources are equally useful for making Goods A and B while others are much better for one or the other.

For example, imagine that you are running a restaurant and you have lots of cooks in your kitchen.  Some of them make desserts and some of them make main dishes.  Now let us say that your customers’ tastes change and they want fewer main dishes and more desserts.  At first, this is easy to provide.  Some of your cooks are pretty good at both kinds of food so you don’t give up that many desserts for each new main dish that you produce.  But as you move more and more towards desserts, things get worse.  You have some cooks who were really good at making main dishes and could make many of them in a short amount of time, but who are really bad at making desserts and take a long time.   When you switch those cooks to desserts, you give up lots of main dishes and only get few desserts in return.  Your opportunity costs have risen because you have gotten to the point where your resources (the cooks) are much better at producing one good than the other.

This is why a PPC bows out.  In the middle ranges of the PPC, resources are just about equally good for making either thing (PPCs show tradeoffs between making two things or kinds of things), so the opportunity cost for switching is low.  However, as you reach the ends of the graph, you get into resources that are only really good for one thing or the other.  As you switch those resources, you give up a lot of one product to get only a little bit of the other.  In this way, the law of increasing opportunity costs causes a PPC to have a bowed-out shape.

Why is Brutus essential to the plot to assassinate Caesar?

In the play Julius Caesar Brutus is essential to the success of the conspiracy for many reasons. 

Although Cassius initiates the conspiracy and manipulates Brutus to join the conspiracy, Brutus is already concerned about Caesar in Act I. Brutus reveals that he is "with himself at war" about what to do about Caesar's ambition (I, i, 134). Brutus reveals that he is deeply attached to the Roman Republic. Part of the reason for this attachment...

In the play Julius Caesar Brutus is essential to the success of the conspiracy for many reasons. 

Although Cassius initiates the conspiracy and manipulates Brutus to join the conspiracy, Brutus is already concerned about Caesar in Act I. Brutus reveals that he is "with himself at war" about what to do about Caesar's ambition (I, i, 134). Brutus reveals that he is deeply attached to the Roman Republic. Part of the reason for this attachment is the role that Brutus' ancestors played in establishing the Republic. As Brutus debates what will result from the people's desire to crown Caesar and Caesar's ambition, he concedes that Caesar is like a "serpent's egg" and must be "killed him in the shell" (I, iv, 633-635).

Brutus's concerns are important because they reveal to the reader (and he will reveal to the Roman people at Caesar's funeral) that his reasons for joining the conspiracy are noble. He desires to preserve the Republic.

It is for these reasons why Cassius and Casca both deem it necessary that Brutus join the conspiracy. Casca compares Brutus' "countenance" to "alchemy" in Act I scene iii. This implies that Brutus is not only well-respected, but that he is influential on the Roman people. When Brutus becomes involved in the conspiracy, it legitimizes the cause. Cassius knows that his tumultuous relationship with Caesar may imply that Caesar was killed out of jealousy. But if Brutus leads the conspiracy, the people will support what the conspirators did because as Mark Antony declares in Act V after Brutus dies, "here lies the noblest Roman of them all/ All the conspirators save only he/ Did that they did in envy of great Caesar" (2753-55).

Why, according to the laws of physics, is it impossible to build a perpetual motion machine?

A perpetual motion machine is a machine that could theoretically do work forever, without any energy input. Although spectacular in theory, this type of machine is not possible due to the Laws of Thermodynamics.

According to the First Law of Thermodynamics, energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed to a different form or transferred. Stores of energy for machines are finite, and are used over time and lost due to work...

A perpetual motion machine is a machine that could theoretically do work forever, without any energy input. Although spectacular in theory, this type of machine is not possible due to the Laws of Thermodynamics.

According to the First Law of Thermodynamics, energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed to a different form or transferred. Stores of energy for machines are finite, and are used over time and lost due to work done as well as dissipated by phenomena such as friction, air resistance, electrical resistance, etc. The energy store would then need to be filled with more energy, which would need to be transferred. For a perpetual motion machine, this energy would have to be re-created, and it cannot be created because of the First Law of Thermodynamics.

Perpetual motion machines would only be possible if a substance could be found that generated more energy than it used. And what we know right now is that no such substance exists. Some sort of energy input is needed in all machines, and no machine can do work indefinitely without an energy source.

What are the basic similarities and differences between classicism and neoclassicism?

Claissicalism represents aesthetic attitudes and principles based on the cultural contributions of ancient Greece and Rome. Classicalism is strongly concerned with society, specifically with a reasoned, civilized, modern society that draws definite distinctions between good and bad. This idea of strict ordering is dependant upon notions of individual objectivity and formal correctness. The details of works were often rather convoluted, much to the self-aggrandizement of the artist.

Neoclassicalism was a movement in the arts which...

Claissicalism represents aesthetic attitudes and principles based on the cultural contributions of ancient Greece and Rome. Classicalism is strongly concerned with society, specifically with a reasoned, civilized, modern society that draws definite distinctions between good and bad. This idea of strict ordering is dependant upon notions of individual objectivity and formal correctness. The details of works were often rather convoluted, much to the self-aggrandizement of the artist.

Neoclassicalism was a movement in the arts which was largely concerned with the "art of the ideal." Details of works were often forcibly constrained to simplistic renderings, and largely geometric composition came into favor. Many neoclassical artists sought inspiration from Greek artists, specifically their portrayal of emotional content, and a concept of naturalism was tightly woven throughout many of their works.

What evidence does Golding use to prove that mankind is meant to be savage?

There are several pieces of evidence from the novel Lord of the Flies to suggest that mankind is meant to be a savage. Golding uses the youngest children on the island, the littluns, to portray mankind's primitive instincts and propensity to follow their carnal desires rather than obey Ralph and complete necessary tasks. When the littluns are given the directive to help build the huts and gather driftwood, they wander off into the forest and pick fruit instead. They disobey Ralph and defecate amongst the fruit trees, and continually choose to swim when they are supposed to be helping out. The littluns symbolize innocent human beings void of society's conditioning. Eventually, they follow Jack's tyrannical leadership and their obsession with satiating their carnal desires suggests they are inherently savage.

The transformation in the behaviors of Roger and Maurice throughout the novel is another piece of evidence that suggests humans are innately savage. Roger and Maurice both are helpful and well-behaved towards the beginning of the novel. In the scene where Maurice feels bad for knocking over the littluns' sandcastles, and Roger throws stones at a safe distance away from the littluns, Golding depicts the remains of society's influence on the children. As the novel progresses, Maurice chooses to engage in violent behavior with the hunters, and Roger becomes a sadist, harming and intimidating others for fun. Roger completely dismisses civility and descends quickly in barbarism.

Ralph, the morally upright elected leader of the boys even succumbs to savagery throughout the novel. There are scenes which depict Ralph participating in savage acts like the murder of Simon, and there are times when he loses sight of his central vision, which is maintaining the signal fire to be rescued. When Ralph partakes in the hunt, his savage nature is on display. Golding uses Ralph's lapses in civility to suggest that his primitive urges are too strong.

In the final chapter of the novel, the boys have descended into savagery so far that they actually hunt their former leader, Ralph. The transformation from being a group of civil, law-abiding, innocent children to becoming violent barbarians, displays mankind's inherent savage nature. Golding suggests that void of societal influences, restrictions, and boundaries, human beings will act like savages.

Compare and contrast "The Necklace" by William H. Coles and "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant.

Guy de Maupassant's classic short story, "The Necklace," set in 19th century Paris, is about a middle class woman who longs to be rich. When she borrows and then loses the necklace of the title her life is changed forever. De Maupassant's story is a firm condemnation of materialism as the sought after wealth which the necklace symbolizes turns out to be a fake.

William H. Coles short story of the same name is about...

Guy de Maupassant's classic short story, "The Necklace," set in 19th century Paris, is about a middle class woman who longs to be rich. When she borrows and then loses the necklace of the title her life is changed forever. De Maupassant's story is a firm condemnation of materialism as the sought after wealth which the necklace symbolizes turns out to be a fake.

William H. Coles short story of the same name is about upper middle class Americans on tour in India in the present day. There is a deliberate contrast between the ostentatious materialism of the necklace worn by Betsy and the appalling squalor of the Indian people.

It's possible to compare Madame Loisel with the narrator's companion, Helen. At the beginning of de Maupassant's story Madame Loisel covets the opulence of the rich. She dreams of lavishly furnished rooms with expensive pieces of art and of servants catering to her every whim. In Coles' story, Helen spends part of her life in a seventeen room estate she receives in a divorce. The narrator lives in a small apartment and there is some conflict over where the couple might end up living if they marry. Coles says that Helen "longs" for the comfortable life in her mansion.

In de Maupassant's story Madame Loisel changes over the course of the story. She goes from being a self centered and impetuous young woman to being determined and hard working. Once the necklace is lost her life is changed and she rises to the occasion. At one point de Maupassant calls her heroic in her determination to help her husband pay off the debt they accrue in replacing the necklace.

Likewise, Helen changes over the course of the story. She is profoundly effected by the plight of the Indian poor, especially after the expensive necklace Betsy wears is stolen by street people in New Delhi. In the climax of the story Helen gives away all the worldly possessions she has in her purse to a mob of beggars outside the Taj Mahal. This symbolic cleansing of materialism is similar to the privations experienced by Madame Loisel. Both women have an important epiphany about the importance of wealth. Helen, when Betsy loses the necklace and later dies, and Madame Loisel, when she discovers the necklace she borrowed from Madame Forestier was fake.

A major difference in the stores is that de Maupassant's tale ends on a sad note. Madame Loisel's life is ruined and she seems to realize too late that life's meaning transcends wealth and materialism. For Helen and the narrator of Coles' story, the experience in India strengthens their relationship. Helen will not take her life for granted. She tells the narrator that they can live wherever they want and still be happy. She has realized through the interaction with Betsy and Anwar how important her relationship with the narrator is for her. In a final bit of symbolism relating the two stories, the narrator gives Helen a very inexpensive native Indian necklace as a symbol of their new life.    

In what ways is Luster a stereotype, and what do we understand about Luster because of this in "Split Cherry Tree"?

In the beginning of the story, Luster Sexton seems to typify the backwoods country bumpkin with very little education and knowledge of the world other than his immediate environment.

When Dave comes home late from school and informs his father of the reason, Luster immediately becomes defensive of his family and their socio-economic situation, a typical reaction for people with little education and money. He also criticizes Professor Herbert for being an outsider:  

"Poor man's...

In the beginning of the story, Luster Sexton seems to typify the backwoods country bumpkin with very little education and knowledge of the world other than his immediate environment.

When Dave comes home late from school and informs his father of the reason, Luster immediately becomes defensive of his family and their socio-economic situation, a typical reaction for people with little education and money. He also criticizes Professor Herbert for being an outsider:  

"Poor man's son, huh,....I'll attend to that myself in th' mornin'. I'll take keer o' 'im. He ain't from this county nohow...."

In the morning Luster, carrying his .44 in a holster, accompanies Dave to school. There he appears too large and clearly out of place. Nevertheless, Luster Sexton is willing to listen and learn, unlike the stereotypical Kentucky backwoodsman. Further, he exhibits a knowledge and respect for nature that exceeds that of Professor Herbert, as, for instance, he explains how black snakes serve farmers by killing crop-damaging rodents, so they should not be killed. And, although he is from the backwoods, Luster is not unwilling to learn. So, when Professor Herbert shows him germs under a microscope, Mr. Sexton is not so ignorant that he refuses to understand what he sees. Instead, he acknowledges that learning has changed since he attended school, and Dave must go further in his education so that their family will not become close-minded and remain backward.

"School has changed from my day and time. I'm a dead leaf, Dave. I'm behind. I don't belong here....
You must go on to school. I'm behind Dave. I'm a little man...."

By the story's end, Pa has demonstrated that he is no longer stereotypical, but is many-sided and has displayed the capacity to learn and change.

In Old Major's speech in Animal Farm by George Orwell, there are three major claims, one of which is that man consumes without producing. I am...

In his speech Major never gives a counterargument to his idea that man consumes without producing. His purpose was to rally the animals to rebellion by stating the hardships they faced at the hands of Farmer Jones. He warns them that if a rebellion is successful to never adopt the traits of man, such as living in houses, sleeping in beds, wearing clothes or drinking alcohol.

The counterargument comes later when the pigs are holding...

In his speech Major never gives a counterargument to his idea that man consumes without producing. His purpose was to rally the animals to rebellion by stating the hardships they faced at the hands of Farmer Jones. He warns them that if a rebellion is successful to never adopt the traits of man, such as living in houses, sleeping in beds, wearing clothes or drinking alcohol.

The counterargument comes later when the pigs are holding meetings expounding their system of animalism. Some animals reject the idea of rebellion and animalism. They fear what might happen and argue that they would starve if the farmer were gone:

At the beginning they met with much stupidity and apathy. Some of the animals talked of the duty of loyalty to Mr. Jones, whom they referred to as ‘Master,’ or made elementary remarks such as ‘Mr. Jones feeds us. If he were gone, we should starve to death.’ Others asked such questions as ‘Why should we care what happens after we are dead?’ or ‘If this Rebellion is to happen anyway, what difference does it make whether we work for it or not?’, and the pigs had great difficulty in making them see that this was contrary to the spirit of Animalism. 

Much later in the novel, right before the pigs morph into men, Squealer argues that even though the pigs and dogs consume without producing they have very important jobs. Squealer explains:

"...the pigs had to expend enormous labours every day upon mysterious things called ‘files,’ ‘reports,’ ‘minutes,’ and ‘memoranda.’"

The pigs eventually break every commandment of animalism, and by the end they are walking on two legs, sleeping in beds and drinking alcohol. 

What is important historical or cultural information that might enrich your understanding of the work "Desiree's Baby" by Kate Chopin? Connect the...

Kate Chopin wrote "Desiree's Baby" in 1893 during the Antebellum period. The story takes place in Creole Louisiana where tensions were very high after the Civil War and the end of slavery. During this time, not only were African Americans trying to find their place in society as freed individuals, there was also the matter of people who were mixed race trying to assimilate as well. Because plantation owners had children with slaves, there were many...

Kate Chopin wrote "Desiree's Baby" in 1893 during the Antebellum period. The story takes place in Creole Louisiana where tensions were very high after the Civil War and the end of slavery. During this time, not only were African Americans trying to find their place in society as freed individuals, there was also the matter of people who were mixed race trying to assimilate as well. Because plantation owners had children with slaves, there were many mixed race people at the time and some whose origins were unknown. Racism was still rampant and people with any black heritage were discriminated against. 

It would be important for a reader to know this cultural and historical information when reading "Desiree's Baby" because the story deals with miscegenation (the mixing of people from different races) and its consequences at the time. When Armand discovers his baby has black characteristics, his behavior changes and events are set in motion as a result that lead to Desiree's and the baby's demise. Chopin situated the story in this milieu to show the tragic effects of a society still not acculturated to the changing demographic of the country.

What does Della buy in "The Gift of the Magi?"

In O. Henry’s short story, “The Gift of the Magi,” Della buys her husband, Jim, a “platinum fob chain” to go with his pocket watch. 

In this story, we are told that Jim Young (James Dillingham Young) has one possession of which he is very proud.  This possession

was Jim's gold watch that had been his father's and his grandfather's.

In the days when this story is set, people did not wear wrist watches.  Instead,...

In O. Henry’s short story, “The Gift of the Magi,” Della buys her husband, Jim, a “platinum fob chain” to go with his pocket watch. 

In this story, we are told that Jim Young (James Dillingham Young) has one possession of which he is very proud.  This possession

was Jim's gold watch that had been his father's and his grandfather's.

In the days when this story is set, people did not wear wrist watches.  Instead, men had pocket watches that they carried in their pockets.  The fob chain attached to the watch and was secured in a different pocket than the one in which the watch was carried (please read the annotations in the link below to see an excellent discussion of the importance of fob chains for men who owned pocket watches).  The fob chain would ensure that the watch would not fall on the ground and break if the owner accidentally dropped it.

Della buys the platinum fob chain for Jim because it is something that he would love to have.  She sacrifices her own prized possession (her hair) in order to do so.  In doing this, she is demonstrating how much she loves her husband.

How do the imagery, figurative language, and diction in Chapter 3 contribute to the meaning of the work as a whole?

Most of Chapter Three is devoted to a description of the party where Nick first meets Gatsby. The dominant impression of the chapter is that, while the parties are full of activity and fun, they are also a bit empty; this impression extends to Gatsby himself, who we meet in the chapter, and who may be physically at the party, but emtionally is absent or aloof.

There are plenty of details in the chapter to reinforce this. One thinks of Nick's stumbling on the owl-eyed man in the library, who is amazed at the lengths to which Gatsby had gone to create the illusion of an intellectual life (he is incredulous that the books are "real"). Or the passage in which some of Gatsby's guests speculate on his past (he either "killed a man" or was a spy). Or there is the wonderful description of Gatsby's smile: "It understood you just so far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey."

Fitzgerald is able to establish this dominant impression right from the beginning of the chapter. Here is the first paragraph in its entirety:

There was music from my neighbor’s house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars. At high tide in the afternoon I watched his guests diving from the tower of his raft, or taking the sun on the hot sand of his beach while his two motor-boats slit the waters of the Sound, drawing aquaplanes over cataracts of foam. On week-ends his Rolls-Royce became an omnibus, bearing parties to and from the city between nine in the morning and long past midnight, while his station wagon scampered like a brisk yellow bug to meet all trains. And on Mondays eight servants, including an extra gardener, toiled all day with mops and scrubbing-brushes and hammers and garden-shears, repairing the ravages of the night before.”

Imagery: The passage is rich with sensory detail. We are drawn into the passage immediately by the faint sound of music; we can see the "men and girls" flitting at a distance in Gatsby's gardens at night; we watch the men diving, hear the motorboats on the water, or the comings and goings of his cars. The impression is, above all, one of great wealth, of course, but also of tremendous activity. Gatsby's house seems less a residence than a resort.

Figurative language: Fitzgerald uses similes in the passage to help reinforce his dominant impression of the party. For example, he describes the "men and girls" as "like moths" flitting between the "whisperings, champagne and the stars." The people are ephemeral, coming and going without purpose, attracted to metaphorical "light" of champagne and the stars. The mood is at once mysterious and tantalizing. The word "moth" suggests the warm summer nights of Gatsby's parties; his gardens are "blue," lit subtly and seen from a distance. It is like we are seeing a dream.

Diction: Considering Fitzgerald's word choice reveals a kind of poetic compactness to his prose. There is a musicality to his diction that reinforces the sensory details he describes. For example, when he talks about how Gatsby's motorboats draw aquaplanes "over cataracts of foam," the word "cataracts" both suggests the visual image of rushing water and the roar of a large waterfall; the staccato nature of the word's pronunciation is congruent to the sound of the boats going by. It is a noisy word used to describe a noisy scene. A similar point can be made about his use of the verb "scamper" to describe the travels of his station wagon to and from the train station: "scampering" is a kind of playful running about, which reinforces the impression of vacant activity Fitzgerald is trying convey in the paragraph.

Like Gatsby himself, or his love for Daisy, the party is a kind of hollow exercise; it is like a desire that seems always just out of reach, and even if it could be had, would prove unsatisfying.

In Sherman Alexie's book Flight, why is Zits put into the body of Gus and not someone else?

The period of time where Zits inhabits the body of Gus is very powerful and represents a moment of change in the book. Gus' job as an "Indian Tracker" is to lead his fellow soldiers to a First Nations settlement so that they can attack the people they find there. When he sees a young soldier trying to rescue a boy from the carnage, Gus helps them get away. I think that what Alexie was trying to get across with this narrative is that warfare is never as simple or as "clean" as we might expect. Even in clearly divided attacks, like the American army attacking First Nations people, the two sides are not necessarily monolithic in their experience or attitudes towards the event. Both Gus and Small Saint are two characters who are on the side of the army but change their minds and their actions. Gus says that he joined the army because he wanted to help people, and that is what he does. Alexie has used this character to give us a very powerful look into the fact that people may feel forced to do things they don't really want to do, especially in wartime.

One must wonder whether Gus' actions were entirely his own or whether Zits interfered in his helping Small Saint and Bow Boy. If Zits was able to influence Gus' actions, why couldn't he do so in any of the other bodies he was sent into? Perhaps because, deep down, Gus wanted to help people, Zits was able to steer him in this direction.

Alexie made some important literary decisions in choosing which character he wanted Zits to inhabit during each scene. I think that he chose characters who he could craft a narrative of morality and conscience around. When we read and talk about  historical events, whether it be just days or hundreds of years ago, some of the reality of the situation is lost. We can fall prey to no longer seeing the actors and events as having been composed of real people with thoughts and feelings. Sometimes it just seems like stuff that happened, us versus them, black and white. In truth, even the most horrific of acts in history were committed by people with thoughts and feelings who must have negotiated with their sense of morality.

What best traits of human nature does Edgar Allan Poe reveal in "The Raven"?

In "The Raven," Edgar Allan Poe reveals one of the greatest traits of human nature is the capacity to love, just as the speaker clearly deeply loved the late Lenore. Poe also shows that with love comes the ability to take grief to an extreme.

We can tell how dearly the speaker loves the recently deceased Lenore when he describes her as a "rare and radiant maiden," meaning a unique young woman who shines brightly with beauty and joy. Yet, the speaker is also so grieved by her death that he does nothing but sit in sorrow and try to distract himself by reading. We might even accuse the speaker of being so deep in grief that he hallucinates about being haunted by a raven. Poe uses the poem to satirize such profound grief.

In addition to making one feel extreme grief, love also has the ability to make human beings hope, another excellent human trait. Poe uses the poem to show that even hope can be taken to an absurd extreme. The speaker has dealt with his grief over the loss of Lenore by visualizing himself with her in the afterlife:

Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore—
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore.

Yet, Poe dashes the speaker's hope by having the raven assert that the speaker will hold Lenore "nevermore," meaning not even in the afterlife. In all, the poem calls into question beliefs in the spirit world and the afterlife, beliefs often based purely on hope.

Hence, while Poe reveals two of the best traits of human nature in the poem—love and hope—he also shows both can lead human beings to feel extreme emotions to the point of absurdity, such as extreme grief and extreme hope.

Why is Tybalt even in the play 'Romeo and Juliet'?

In the play, Romeo and Juliet, the character of Tybalt serves a few significant purposes. First, he acts as a foil to Benvolio at the outset, by saying these words:

" What, art thou drawn among these heartless hinds? Turn thee Benvolio, look upon thy death" (Act 1 Scene 1, lines 57 - 58)

While Benvolio is the peacekeeper of the Montague family, Tybalt is the fiery tempered, fight-loving instigator of the Capulets and it...

In the play, Romeo and Juliet, the character of Tybalt serves a few significant purposes. First, he acts as a foil to Benvolio at the outset, by saying these words:

" What, art thou drawn among these heartless hinds? Turn thee Benvolio, look upon thy death" (Act 1 Scene 1, lines 57 - 58)

While Benvolio is the peacekeeper of the Montague family, Tybalt is the fiery tempered, fight-loving instigator of the Capulets and it is, in part, his petulant behavior and attitude that moves the action of the play towards its eventual tragedy.

Later on in the play, in Act 3 scene 1, Tybalt insults Romeo by calling him a villain. Romeo, who has just hours before secretly married Juliet, replies, “I do protest I never injured thee, But love thee better than thou canst devise.” Mercutio steps in to defend Romeo’s honor and returns Tybalt’s insult by calling him “Good King of Cats.” Mercutio draws his sword, then he and Tybalt fight. After Mercutio dies during the fight, Romeo is finally drawn into it and ends up killing Tybalt in return. This action sends Romeo into banishment from Verona and from Juliet. It is Tybalt's character that serves as the catalyst for the events that will lead to the tragic deaths of the two lovers.

Why did Jabez Stone go to Daniel Webster for assistance?

In The Devil and Daniel Websterby Stephen Vincent Benet, Jabez Stone sells his soul to the devil because he is having bad luck growing crops in the rocky soil of his farm in New England.  He agrees with the devil (Ol’ Scratch) that he will give him his soul in seven years.  When the devil comes to collect his due, Jabez talks him into an extension of three years. As the time grows nearer...

In The Devil and Daniel Webster by Stephen Vincent Benet, Jabez Stone sells his soul to the devil because he is having bad luck growing crops in the rocky soil of his farm in New England.  He agrees with the devil (Ol’ Scratch) that he will give him his soul in seven years.  When the devil comes to collect his due, Jabez talks him into an extension of three years. As the time grows nearer for the devil to come and take Jabez’s soul, Jabez goes to see the famous speaker and lawyer, Daniel Webster, convincing his to argue for his soul against the devil in a trial. 

Daniel Webster takes the case and argues in defense of Jabez in front of a tough jury of dead pirates, slavers, criminals, politicians, and even Judge Hawthorne of the Salem Witch Trials.  By pleading to their original emotional love for freedom and democracy, Webster wins the case.  He also insures that Ol’ Scratch will never bother Jabez again by drawing up and having Scratch sign a document agreeing to leave Jabez alone.

Please give an example of dramatic irony from Act 5 in Macbeth? Offer a description of why and how is it dramatic irony.

Another example of dramatic irony--a contradiction between what a character thinks and what the reader or audience knows to be true--occurs in Act V, Scene 5. 

In Scene 4, in the country near Birnam Wood, Malcom and other noblemen with their soldiers move towards the castle of Dunsinane. The general of the English forces, Siward, who is with Malcolm, asks what is ahead of them and he is told that it is "the Wood of...

Another example of dramatic irony--a contradiction between what a character thinks and what the reader or audience knows to be true--occurs in Act V, Scene 5. 

In Scene 4, in the country near Birnam Wood, Malcom and other noblemen with their soldiers move towards the castle of Dunsinane. The general of the English forces, Siward, who is with Malcolm, asks what is ahead of them and he is told that it is "the Wood of Birnam." Malcolm then instructs the soldiers to each cut a branch and use it as camouflage so that their numbers will not be discovered and Macbeth's spies will report inaccurately how many of them there are.

Siward says that he has learned that Macbeth stays inside the castle because his soldiers will only fight if they are forced to do so. Thus, if Malcolm's forces will attack the castle, Macbeth and the others will fight.

In the next scene, Macbeth claims,

Our castle's strength
Will laugh a siege to scorn. Here let them lie
Till famine and the ague eat them up. (5.5.2-4)

When a messenger arrives and tells Macbeth that there is a "moving grove" (5.5.33) approaching the castle, Macbeth recalls the prophecy of the witches. He sounds the alarm and prepares to do battle while taking a fatalistic view: 

Ring the alarum-bell!—Blow, wind! Come, wrack!

At least we’ll die with harness on our back. (5.5.50-51)

This statement is an example of dramatic irony because Macbeth truly believes that Dirnam Wood is moving, but the audience knows that Malcolm has instructed the soldiers to place branches in front of them, which makes it seem as though the forest is moving when it is really not.

How would you describe the tone of "The Lady or the Tiger?"

You could argue that the story is playful, serious, and curious. The story has a playful tone in that the language is old-fashioned and Romantic but with a satiric and sometimes sarcastic intent. The king is "semi-barbaric" and was "given to self-communing." In other words, even if he is only barbaric some of the time, he is barbaric in principle. So, he is barbaric, plain and simple. He only communes with himself and this means...

You could argue that the story is playful, serious, and curious. The story has a playful tone in that the language is old-fashioned and Romantic but with a satiric and sometimes sarcastic intent. The king is "semi-barbaric" and was "given to self-communing." In other words, even if he is only barbaric some of the time, he is barbaric in principle. So, he is barbaric, plain and simple. He only communes with himself and this means that he doesn't listen to or take advice from others. He is like, or considers himself to be like, a semi-vengeful god. Stockton uses these phrases to dance around the direct meanings and get the reader to think. He is also playing with the idea of interpretation and choice. 

Note that the king allows the courtier a choice between one of two doors. Like a semi-barbaric god, he gives the courtier semi-free will. So, the courtier has choice but that choice is limited. What is Stockton doing here? It seems like he is being purposefully playful in provoking the reader to analyze what he is doing. Is it an invitation to the reader to consider what free will really is in a religious context or in the political context of kings and subjects? Just as the courtier must choose, the reader must choose. 

So, as much as the author is being playful and making satiric and sarcastic suggestions about human exploitation of power and the limits of free will, he is also asking serious questions about how far (or how little) humanity has progressed. And playing (seriously) with the notions of free will and choice, Stockton leaves it to the reader to decide what the princess's final decision is. Even if this is a tale about a kingdom long ago (and this is not clear either), would a modern reader conclude that the princess directs the courtier to the tiger? And if that is the case, what does that say about the modern reader's perception of human frailty? This is the beauty of the story. The author is playful, satiric, and serious. His tone combines all of these notions as he asks the reader to think for him/herself. Given that, you could also argue that he subtly shows his curiosity about how the reader will interpret the story and/or what the reader will conclude about the princess's decision. 

Does the written or performed version of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech have better ethos?

Ethos is one of the three rhetorical, or persuasive, appeals that Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, discussed. Ethos is an appeal to authority or credibility. The other appeals are pathos, an appeal to emotions, and logos, an appeal to reason. 

Watching or even listening to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, "I Have a Dream" speech has a more powerful ethos appeal than simply reading it. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered the speech in Washington, D.C., in front...

Ethos is one of the three rhetorical, or persuasive, appeals that Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, discussed. Ethos is an appeal to authority or credibility. The other appeals are pathos, an appeal to emotions, and logos, an appeal to reason. 

Watching or even listening to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, "I Have a Dream" speech has a more powerful ethos appeal than simply reading it. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered the speech in Washington, D.C., in front of the Lincoln Memorial to a group of 250,000 people who had assembled as part of the largest gathering that had ever met in the nation's capital. Just seeing the crowds is impressive, and that helps build MLK's ethos. In addition, when you listen to or watch the speech, you will hear audience reactions punctuating certain phrases. The approbation of the crowd makes you want to respond in the same way, again bolstering the credibility of the speech. 

Some of the specific appeals to authority MLK uses are reinforced by the setting, which comes across better when you watch the speech. MLK refers to the Emancipation Proclamation, signed by Abraham Lincoln, before whose statue he stands. And as he draws on the authority of the nation's founding document, the Declaration of Independence, it is all the more stirring when you see him standing in the seat of the very government that eventually rose from that document. Finally, when MLK calls upon the authority of the Bible or Negro spirituals, his claims are made more powerful when you hear his voice because the cadence and dialect he uses reflect the tone of a Southern gospel preacher. 

For these reasons, to appreciate the full power of the ethos appeal of this speech, you should watch it rather than just read it.

How did Gertrude hurt Hamlet?

By marrying Claudius, Gertrude helps to legitimize him as the lawful ruler of Denmark. Claudius managed to get the electors to choose him in place of Hamlet, who was the obvious heir apparent, by persuasion, bribery, intimidation, or whatever other means this clever villain used. But Gertrude hurt her son by marrying Claudius and helping him to look more legitimate by being married to the already reigning queen.

Claudius keeps assuring Hamlet that he is...

By marrying Claudius, Gertrude helps to legitimize him as the lawful ruler of Denmark. Claudius managed to get the electors to choose him in place of Hamlet, who was the obvious heir apparent, by persuasion, bribery, intimidation, or whatever other means this clever villain used. But Gertrude hurt her son by marrying Claudius and helping him to look more legitimate by being married to the already reigning queen.

Claudius keeps assuring Hamlet that he is next in line of succession. This was one of the arguments Claudius used to get elected while Hamlet was away at Wittenberg. Claudius said that Hamlet would still become king after his death. But in Act 3, Scene 2 when Claudius asks, "How fares out cousin Hamlet?" Hamlet deliberately misconstrues the word "fares" to mean "eats" and replies:

Excellent, i' faith; of the chameleon's dish. I eat
the air, promise-cramm'd. 

Hamlet is saying, in effect--although his uncle does not understand him and thinks he is mad--that he does not trust Claudius' promises to have him inherit the throne. Claudius may have promised Gertrude that her son would still become king in order to get her to marry him. Hamlet knows there are at least two ways in which he could be cheated out of his rightful inheritance. One would be if he fell out of favor with Claudius. Another would be if Gertrude bore Claudius a child. Hamlet hates the torrid love-making that goes on between his mother and his uncle. He not only considers it adulterous, but he knows intuitively that if his mother became pregnant--which still seems possible--then Claudius would give preference in succession to their child, regardless of whether it was a boy or a girl. In fact, Claudius might decide to have Hamlet murdered to forestall any controversy about succession after his death. If Claudius can murder Hamlet's father, then he can certainly murder Hamlet.

That is a second way in which Gertrude hurts Hamlet. The third way is related to that second way. She breaks Hamlet's heart by the way she forgets his father so quickly and engages in what her son considers adulterous, incestuous, and disgusting sexual orgies. In Act 3, Scene 4, he expresses his pent-up loathing for her behavior as well as his hatred for his uncle.

Nay, but to live
In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed,
Stew'd in corruption,honeying and making love
Over the nasty sty!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A murderer and a villain!
A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe
Of your precedent lord; a vice of kings;
A cutpurse of the empire and the rule,
That from a shelf the precious diadem stole
And put it in his pocket!

His mother's fallen condition and her shameful betrayal of her deceased husband's memory are perhaps what hurt Hamlet most of all. He feels personally dishonored as her son and as the son of his noble father. He shares the feelings of the Ghost, who arrives on the scene shortly after he has spoken the above words to his weeping mother.

So Gertrude hurts Hamlet by marrying Claudius and helping to legitimize him as king. She hurts Hamlet publicly by urging him to forget all about his father and accept the new status quo. She hurts Hamlet by engaging in sexual intercourse with his hated uncle which could result in the conception of a child who would certainly destroy Hamlet's chances of ever becoming king. And she hurts her son most of all by dishonoring his father's memory in what he considers adultery, incest, and vile debauchery.

Compare shakespeare's presentation of love in "Romeo and Juliet" and "Macbeth."

Romeo and Juliet experience the type of young romantic love that many of us experience in adolescence. The relationship is based on physical attraction and somewhat unrealistic ideals of love. Notice that both of the young lovers have recently left relationships where they also claimed to have been in love. The feelings they experience are real and powerful, but they are unlikely to last in this way for long. That is part of the tragedy...

Romeo and Juliet experience the type of young romantic love that many of us experience in adolescence. The relationship is based on physical attraction and somewhat unrealistic ideals of love. Notice that both of the young lovers have recently left relationships where they also claimed to have been in love. The feelings they experience are real and powerful, but they are unlikely to last in this way for long. That is part of the tragedy of the play. It explores the folly of passion and romance while also showing its beauty.

Love is very different in "Macbeth." Most of the characters are part of marriages. An interesting thing about Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is that unlike most married couples in Shakespeare there is clearly still passion in their relationship. This is a stronger, more companionate form of love--the kind of love that lasts. The similarity is that Shakespeare shows how this love can be equally dangerous. Lady Macbeth continually pressures her husband to commit the crimes that lead him to becoming king and destroying his own life. In this sense, even though they have more of an adult relationship they are no more capable of escaping tragedy. 

Just because love is beautiful does not mean it is not also destructive. This is a theme in many of Shakespeare's plays.

In Chapter 14 of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, what does the audience learn about Dill Harris?

In Chapter 14, the audience learns about Dill's struggles at home. Following a physical altercation with her brother, Scout steps on something under her bed, only to find out that it is her friend, Dill Harris. Initially, Dill tells Jem and Scout an elaborate story of how he escaped from shackles in a grungy basement before telling them what really happened. Dill then explains to Jem and Scout how he stole $13 from his mother's...

In Chapter 14, the audience learns about Dill's struggles at home. Following a physical altercation with her brother, Scout steps on something under her bed, only to find out that it is her friend, Dill Harris. Initially, Dill tells Jem and Scout an elaborate story of how he escaped from shackles in a grungy basement before telling them what really happened. Dill then explains to Jem and Scout how he stole $13 from his mother's purse to take the train to Maycomb Junction, walked 11 miles off the highway, and rode the remainder of the way on the back of a cotton wagon. Later that night, Scout asks Dill why he ran away. Dill explains to Scout how his parents are rarely home and that they spend the majority of their time alone in their room. Dill laments that he feels unwanted and tells Scout how his father makes empty promises. Dill believes that his parents have no use for him and is constantly lonely, which is why he ran away. Eventually, he admits to Scout that his parents aren't that mean, and they say "goodnight" and "I love you." The audience learns that Dill has an unhappy home life and seeks affection that his parents won't give him. 

What is the physical description of the Headless Horseman in Irving's short story?

In "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" the Headless Horseman is described as the ghost of a Hessian trooper who had his head blown off by a cannonball during the Revolutionary War. The Hessians were German soldiers who fought for the British during the war. Accordingly, the ghost haunts surrounding areas near the churchyard where the body of the soldier is buried. At daybreak, it is said that the ghost hurriedly makes its way back to the cemetery grounds after a night of haunting.

Although some citizens of Sleepy Hollow have reportedly seen the headless ghost during separate occasions, we don't get a distinctive description of the ghost until later in the story. This is when Ichabod Crane leaves the party at the Van Tassel property late at night. With his head full of the ghost stories the men have been exchanging all evening, Crane is on high alert for any suspicious activity from the spirit realm. Sure enough, as Crane continues on his journey home, he finds himself gazing at what he thinks is the Headless Horseman, not far from Wiley's Swamp. The headless rider appears to be 'gigantic in height, and muffled in a cloak,...'

He appeared to be a horseman of large dimensions, and mounted on a black horse of powerful frame.

The Headless Horseman even appears to be carrying his 'head' on the pommel of his saddle. At seeing this fearful ghost, Crane is terrified. He tries to rush his horse, Gunpowder, to the church bridge, where tradition has it that the headless rider will vanish in a huge cloud of fire and brimstone. However, the bridge doesn't save him. In a moment of horrified comprehension, Crane realizes that he has to dodge the head the ghost is throwing at him. Too late, he realizes that he will not be successful.

Just then he saw the goblin rising in his stirrups, and in the very act of hurling his head at him. Ichabod endeavored to dodge the horrible missile, but too late. It encountered his cranium with a tremendous crash,—he was tumbled headlong into the dust, and Gunpowder, the black steed, and the goblin rider, passed by like a whirlwind.

As the story wraps up, we discover that Ichabod Crane is never heard from again. However, his hat and a shattered pumpkin are found close to the bridge where Ichabod supposedly disappeared. All indications point to Brom Bones as the masquerader who frightened off his rival on that fateful night:

Brom Bones, too, who, shortly after his rival's disappearance conducted the blooming Katrina in triumph to the altar, was observed to look exceedingly knowing whenever the story of Ichabod was related, and always burst into a hearty laugh at the mention of the pumpkin; which led some to suspect that he knew more about the matter than he chose to tell.

In the Lord of the Flies, how do the "painted faces" liberate the boys?

The "painted faces" liberate the boys by allowing them to engage in savage behavior without feeling self-conscious or guilty about their actions. Initially, Jack paints his face to blend in with the environment in order to camouflage himself while hunting pigs. In Chapter 4, Jack uses white and red clay, along with charcoal, to paint his face. Golding describes Jack's reaction after he looks at his reflection in the water and writes,

"He looked in...

The "painted faces" liberate the boys by allowing them to engage in savage behavior without feeling self-conscious or guilty about their actions. Initially, Jack paints his face to blend in with the environment in order to camouflage himself while hunting pigs. In Chapter 4, Jack uses white and red clay, along with charcoal, to paint his face. Golding describes Jack's reaction after he looks at his reflection in the water and writes,

"He looked in astonishment, no longer at himself but as an awesome stranger...He began to dance and his laughter became bloodthirsty snarling. He capered toward Bill, and the mask was a thing of its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness." (Golding 64)

The face paint allows Jack to let his inner beast loose without feeling ashamed. The other boys follow suit and descend further into barbarism. Face paint is described as a mask. A mask covers the identity of the individual wearing it, essentially altering their physical appearance. However, in the novel, this change in external appearance is paralleled internally. As the boys begin to paint themselves, they lower their inhibitions, and become increasingly savage.

The boys' face paint correlates with native African warriors who were described as barbarians by early European colonists. This association with barbaric warriors adds to the unnerving imagery surrounding the boys' masks. Golding mentions that the boys were "freed" by paint, which meant they had the liberty to do anything their primitive human instincts desired. Behind the cover of face paint, the boys felt unrestricted.

Later on in the novel, when Ralph and his followers are discussing how they will approach Castle Rock, Eric mentions that the boys will be "painted." Golding writes, "they understood only too well the liberation into savagery that the concealing paint brought." (Golding 172) Golding continually addresses the savage tribe of boys as the "painted group," and Ralph refers to them as "painted fools." (Golding 178) The unrecognizable and unidentifiable boys engage in primitive tribal rituals and oppose Ralph's attempt to solidify a civilized society.

The poet uses a number of direct addresses to the reader. What functions do they have?

In Wordsworth's "The Solitary Reaper" (1805), he uses direct addresses to the audience to emphasize the importance of the scene. The implied audience (i.e. the reader) is to pay attention more strongly when the poet addresses them. The addresses in this poem, "Behold her, single in the field,/Yon solitary Highland Lass!," "Stop here, or gently pass!," and "O listen! for the Vale profound/Is overflowing with the sound," all take place in the first stanza of the poem....

In Wordsworth's "The Solitary Reaper" (1805), he uses direct addresses to the audience to emphasize the importance of the scene. The implied audience (i.e. the reader) is to pay attention more strongly when the poet addresses them. The addresses in this poem, "Behold her, single in the field,/Yon solitary Highland Lass!," "Stop here, or gently pass!," and "O listen! for the Vale profound/Is overflowing with the sound," all take place in the first stanza of the poem. In this way, the first stanza functions as a sort of call to the reader to experience what the poet is telling us. One of Wordsworth's main focuses in his writing was the city versus country motif.
While his city poems (e.g. "Alice Fell" and "The World is Too Much with Us") offer social critiques, much the way William Blake's Chimney Sweep poems do, his nature and rural poems offer a glimpse into the sublime. The sublime is a very important concept for Romantic poets and one of the main ways it can be accessed is through the natural world. The reaper in the field, partly because she is young (see "Ode: Intimations on Immortality"), and partly because she is in nature, is closer to the sublime than those of us distracted by society. Ultimately, Wordsworth's address of the reader functions as a calling to recognize the state of the solitary reaper and share in her glimpse of the sublime. 

What value is attached to the behavior of the littluns and biguns throughout the novel Lord of the Flies?

Throughout the novel, the littluns rely on the help of biguns to collect food, make decisions, provide shelter, and protect them from the "beasty." Initially, the littluns listen to their chief, Ralph, and participate in collecting wood for the fire and helping build the first shelter. As the novel progresses, the littluns lose interest in work, and prefer to pick fruit, play, and swim on the island. The littluns, with the exception of Percival,have...

Throughout the novel, the littluns rely on the help of biguns to collect food, make decisions, provide shelter, and protect them from the "beasty." Initially, the littluns listen to their chief, Ralph, and participate in collecting wood for the fire and helping build the first shelter. As the novel progresses, the littluns lose interest in work, and prefer to pick fruit, play, and swim on the island. The littluns, with the exception of Percival, have not been conditioned by society and choose to satiate their physical needs. They become easily frightened by the thought of the "beasty" and do not differentiate between leaders. They follow either Ralph or Jack, depending on who seems more popular. After analyzing their behavior, one can surmise that Golding suggests that the idea of original sin applies to all humans. The littluns are void of society's restrictions and have not been conditioned by civilization yet. They act according to their physical needs and are generally immoral beings, which is evident by their refusal to listen to Ralph, and Johnny's choice to throw sand in Percival's face in Chapter 4.

At the beginning of the novel, the biguns attempt to establish a functional group that maintains a signal fire, builds shelters, holds assemblies, and hunts together. Their organization and democratic tendencies have been impressed upon them by the civilization they have recently left. As the novel progresses, the group of boys divide themselves amongst two tribes under the leadership of Ralph and Jack. The majority of the boys choose to follow Jack's tribe and live like savages. Eventually, barbarism and savagery reign over civility and structure, and Jack's tribe attempts to kill Ralph. Their behavior suggests that all humans are inherently evil, and void of society's laws and restrictions, primitive instincts will be exposed and thrive. Golding believes that without limitations and boundaries, humans' evil instincts will take over.

In "The Sniper," how is the armored car personified?

Liam O'Flaherty's short story "The Sniper" is about the action between Republican and Free State snipers on the rooftops above Dublin during the Irish Civil War. The reader follows the story from the point of view of the Republican sniper.

Scanning the streets below, the sniper sees an armored car coming across the bridge over the River Liffey through the central section of the city. O'Flaherty uses both personification and metaphor to describe the armored...

Liam O'Flaherty's short story "The Sniper" is about the action between Republican and Free State snipers on the rooftops above Dublin during the Irish Civil War. The reader follows the story from the point of view of the Republican sniper.

Scanning the streets below, the sniper sees an armored car coming across the bridge over the River Liffey through the central section of the city. O'Flaherty uses both personification and metaphor to describe the armored vehicle.

Personification is when a non-human thing is given human qualities. In this case the motor of the car is compared to a person breathing heavily: "The sniper could hear the dull panting of the motor." It is like a person panting or breathing because of the thick, raspy sounds it makes as it advances up the street. The heavy noise alerts the sniper to the approaching danger.

A metaphor is a comparison of two unlike things to reveal the quality or appearance of one of those things. O'Flaherty compares the armored car to a "gray monster."

His bullets would never pierce the steel that covered the gray monster.

In Of Mice and Men, what character traits does Curley's wife possess besides loneliness?

Curley's wife, because she is the spouse of the son of the ranch owner, tries to lord it over the ranch hands, revealing her arrogance and a lack of sensitivity for their feelings. And although Candy and Crooks try to warn her that she shouldn't toy with Lennie, whose behavior can be unpredictable because of his mental disability, her arrogance causes her to disregard their advice, leading to her death. 

Curley's wife, though clearly unhappy,...

Curley's wife, because she is the spouse of the son of the ranch owner, tries to lord it over the ranch hands, revealing her arrogance and a lack of sensitivity for their feelings. And although Candy and Crooks try to warn her that she shouldn't toy with Lennie, whose behavior can be unpredictable because of his mental disability, her arrogance causes her to disregard their advice, leading to her death. 

Curley's wife, though clearly unhappy, comes across in the novel as a petty person. For example, she abuses her power as a white woman over the black Crooks, threatening to say that he made a sexual overture towards her to reduce him to a state of humiliated servility, a petty gesture on her part. Instead of feeling sympathy for her husband's crushed hand, she is glad he got hurt, another instance of her pettiness.

Curley's wife is an angry and disappointed woman, who feels disregarded by her husband and isolated as the only female on the ranch. 

A feminist reading might fault Steinbeck for creating so relentlessly unpleasant a female character as Curley's wife, but a defense could be that Steinbeck sees her too as a victim of a social order that encourages some to feel superior to others merely on the basis of having a little more money. 

In "The Bet" why does the lawyer move from novels to classics?

Evidently the lawyer's only activities after the first year of confinement were reading and thinking. His reading during the first year suggests that he was only using books as a way of killing time. Many people do this all their lives. Much of the literature that gets published is trash. Much of the material in magazines is only there to fill up pages. Romances and mysteries are especially popular. They are escapist reading. The books are often formulaic, and after a while an intelligent reader will realize that they are reading the same plots with different characters and different settings. The reader gets little out of them except temporary diversion.

The lawyer's taste changes because he is in a serious situation. He has to spend fifteen years in isolation. He naturally becomes more serious in his thinking, and this leads to his becoming more serious in his tastes in reading. Like a lot of professionals, he may be realizing that he is woefully ignorant about almost everything except his speciality, which happens to be the law. The banker cannot really know what is going on in the lawyer's mind, and neither can the reader. This can only be guessed at from the books the prisoner requests. Books become a big part of his life because they can serve as companions, acquaintances, even friends. In other words, they are serving the lawyer as substitutes for interaction with real people. The classics offer better "company" than the works of hack writers whose main interest is in making money.

In the first year the books he sent for were principally of a light character; novels with a complicated love plot, sensational and fantastic stories, and so on. In the second year the piano was silent in the lodge, and the prisoner asked only for the classics. 

Books offer opportunities for anyone to meet some of the wisest and most sincere and interesting people who ever lived. Chekhov himself is an example. Leo Tolstoy is an even better example. Holden Caulfield, the lonely boy who narrates The Catcher in the Rye, writes:

What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it.

The reader himself becomes a better and wiser person as a result of forming friendships with such intellectual and creative people. This was an unexpected benefit of the bet the lawyer made with the banker. The lawyer thought he could stand fifteen years of solitary confinement, but he didn't know how he was going to do it until he found himself all alone. 

What is the initial incident of this story?

The inciting event is that which begins the problem in a story. In "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin it is the "sad message" brought by Mr. Mallard's friend Richard that Bently Mallard has been killed in a railroad disaster that forms the inciting event. 

When Mrs. Mallard hears this tragic news, she cries immediately and stands "paralyzed." But, although very distraught, she wants no one to follow her to her room. Ironically, it...

The inciting event is that which begins the problem in a story. In "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin it is the "sad message" brought by Mr. Mallard's friend Richard that Bently Mallard has been killed in a railroad disaster that forms the inciting event. 

When Mrs. Mallard hears this tragic news, she cries immediately and stands "paralyzed." But, although very distraught, she wants no one to follow her to her room. Ironically, it is there, in the privacy of her bedroom, that Mrs. Mallard releases her emotion. This emotion is not mourning, however; instead, Mrs. Mallard feels as though a weight has been lifted from her. Now, she looks out the window and sees the tops of trees, the blue sky, and she hears the sounds of Spring. The words "free! free! free!" escape her lips. Now, the "sad message" does not appear to affect Mrs. Mallard as one would expect. But, things change as the story progresses.

In "A Red, Red Rose" by Robert Burns, is there any evidence the trip is real or does it only take place in his imagination? What is the speaker’s...

The separation here is not a literal trip.  Instead, Burns is using the traditional idea of separation from a love to underscore the tenderness and purity of the speaker's feelings for his beloved.  

He describes it as the freshest of roses "newly sprung in June", and a "melodie sweetly played in tune".  The latter, of course, is a nod to the Scottish oral tradition on which Burns drew in writing his love poetry.  The...

The separation here is not a literal trip.  Instead, Burns is using the traditional idea of separation from a love to underscore the tenderness and purity of the speaker's feelings for his beloved.  

He describes it as the freshest of roses "newly sprung in June", and a "melodie sweetly played in tune".  The latter, of course, is a nod to the Scottish oral tradition on which Burns drew in writing his love poetry.  The speaker then describes the depth of his love as as fair as his beloved herself.  Here again, the expression of love is very traditional, and goes back well into the oral tradition.

However, Burns's description of the time period over which his love will endure marks him as an Enlightenment poet.  He references the geological time recently identified when he discusses the seas drying up, and the rocks melting with the sun.  The time he references here is well beyond the human lifespan, and demonstrates clearly the eternity of the speaker's love for his beloved.  

It was quite common in Scottish poetry of the eighteenth century to reference a separation.  This might be due to the speaker's allegiance to the lost cause of the Jacobites and an exile or it might be due to his forced service in the British army (an aftereffect of the failed Jacobite movement).  The use of hyperbole in the final lines, however, underscores the depth of the speaker's love.

What aspects of contemporary family life do the "Happylife Home" and the nursery satirize? What exactly have the Hadleys "purchased" for their...

The Happylife Home and nursery in "The Veldt" satirize the inventions of the early 20th Century that made life more convenient for many Americans and the rise of television, which became a regular household item about the time the story was published in 1950. 

It's important to look at the history surrounding the writing and publication of "The Veldt." The early 20th Century saw a boom in the creation of items that made life in America easier. Automobiles, radios, televisions, escalators, air conditioning, refrigerators, and electric washing machines were all invented in the decades before Ray Bradbury wrote this story. 

In "The Veldt," Bradbury takes the convenience created in this part of the century and extrapolates what might happen in the near future. This is how the Happylife Home and nursery are created. The Happylife Home offers the Hadleys convenience. The narrator says, "the house clothed and fed and rocked them to sleep and played and sang and was good to them." 

Unfortunately, for the Hadleys, the family has become completely dependent on the home.

When George suggests they shut off the house entirely, Lydia, the wife, says the following:

"[Y]ou'll have to change your life. Like too many others, you've built it around creature comforts. Why, you'd starve tomorrow if something went wrong in the kitchen. You wouldn't know how to tap an egg."

This dependence on household items has continued today. Cell phones, computers and cable television have becomes items originally created for convenience into things that have become crutches for people. Removing these items from peoples' hands can be a traumatic experience. This is why "The Veldt" remains relevant today.

In Amy Tan's short story "Two Kinds," what sacrifice does the mother make for her daughter?

In Amy Tan's short story "Two Kinds," the mother makes many sacrifices for her daughter, the protagonist in the story. The mother has come to San Francisco from China, where she lost all of her family, and she tries to teach her daughter that she can be anything she wants to be. The mother has sacrificed her own life, while contending with painful memories of her dead children in China, to try to make her...

In Amy Tan's short story "Two Kinds," the mother makes many sacrifices for her daughter, the protagonist in the story. The mother has come to San Francisco from China, where she lost all of her family, and she tries to teach her daughter that she can be anything she wants to be. The mother has sacrificed her own life, while contending with painful memories of her dead children in China, to try to make her daughter's life great.

The mother does not make much money cleaning houses, but she is able to gather magazines from the houses she cleans to find stories of amazing children to motivate her daughter to achieve greatness. Later, the mother is convinced her daughter can be a musical prodigy, and she manages to have her daughter take piano lessons, even though she has no money. Tan writes, "She had talked to Mr. Chong, who lived on the first floor of our apartment building. Mr. Chong was a retired piano teacher, and my mother had traded housecleaning services for weekly lessons and a piano for me to practice on every day, two hours a day, from four until six." The mother works hard to provide music lessons to her daughter. 

The daughter is worried that her mother wants her to be a genius, but the mother responds, "'Who ask you to be genius?...Only ask you be your best. For you sake.'” The mother wants her daughter to work as hard as she can--something the daughter has a hard time doing. After the daughter does badly at a recital after failing to practice her piece, the mother wants the daughter to continue to practice piano. However, the daughter refuses, and that's the end of her lessons. It's only many years later, after the daughter inherits the piano from her parents, that she realizes that she has cheated herself by not working hard enough and that what her mother wanted was only hard work, not perfection. 

What are some quotes that show Lennie is mentally challenged in Of Mice and Men?

In Steinbeck's novella the writer uses irony when he gives one of his main characters the last name Small. Lennie is not small. He is a very large and strong man. Steinbeck describes him in contrast to George, the other main character:

Behind him walked his opposite, a huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, and wide, sloping shoulders; and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags...

In Steinbeck's novella the writer uses irony when he gives one of his main characters the last name Small. Lennie is not small. He is a very large and strong man. Steinbeck describes him in contrast to George, the other main character:

Behind him walked his opposite, a huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, and wide, sloping shoulders; and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws. 

But even though Lennie is very large the name fits him because he has a child like mind. Today he would be considered mentally challenged. In the novel, however, he is described as a crazy bastard, crazy as a wedge, nuts and a cuckoo.

Lennie's personality is mostly described through indirect characterization. In his narration, Steinbeck never outwardly says Lennie is intellectually disabled. Rather, what Lennie says and how the other character's describe him in their dialogue reveals his character. In chapter one, George goes into a tirade about how Lennie's behavior and his obsession with soft things:

“You crazy son-of-a-bitch. You keep me in hot water all the time.” He took on the elaborate manner of little girls when they are mimicking one another. “Jus’ wanted to feel that girl’s dress—jus’ wanted to pet it like it was a mouse—Well, how the hell did she know you jus’ wanted to feel her dress? She jerks back and you hold on like it was a mouse. She yells and we got to hide in a irrigation ditch all day with guys lookin’ for us, and we got to sneak out in the dark and get outa the country. All the time somethin’ like that—all the time. I wisht I could put you in a cage with about a million mice an’ let you have fun.” 

In chapter three when George is talking to Slim he explains how he used to play tricks on Lennie because the big man wasn't smart. He also praises Lennie for being a good worker. He says,

“Jus’ tell Lennie what to do an’ he’ll do it if it don’t take no figuring. He can’t think of nothing to do himself, but he sure can take orders.” 

Later in the book when Lennie goes into Crooks' room the black man exploits Lennie's handicap when he suggests the big man doesn't remember anything he's told. Crooks says,

“A guy can talk to you an’ be sure you won’t go blabbin’. Couple of weeks an’ them pups’ll be all right. George knows what he’s about. Jus’ talks, an’ you don’t understand nothing.” 

In chapter five Curley's wife also comments on Lennie's intelligence but also compliments him when they are talking about petting soft things:

“You’re nuts,” she said. “But you’re a kinda nice fella. Jus’ like a big baby. But a person can see kinda what you mean. When I’m doin’ my hair sometimes I jus’ set an’ stroke it ‘cause it’s so soft.” 

Of course, Curley's wife tempts Lennie too much and the big man ends up breaking her neck when she begins screaming.

Why is Julia against the party and Big Brother?

In 1984, Julia is Winston's girlfriend and his co-conspirator against Big Brother and the party. While Winston is an idealist and thinker who seeks to bring down the party for the sake of humanity, Julia is quite the opposite. She is a person who lives for the moment, who expresses herself through her sexuality. As such, she rebels against the party because it seeks to control her sexuality and determine her relationships with others. 

While...

In 1984, Julia is Winston's girlfriend and his co-conspirator against Big Brother and the party. While Winston is an idealist and thinker who seeks to bring down the party for the sake of humanity, Julia is quite the opposite. She is a person who lives for the moment, who expresses herself through her sexuality. As such, she rebels against the party because it seeks to control her sexuality and determine her relationships with others. 

While Julia works for the Junior Anti-Sex League, which promotes celibacy, she mocks and ridicules its aims and propaganda at every opportunity. As she says to Winston in the woods, for example: "Girls are always supposed to be so pure. Here's one who isn't, anyway." She then explains to Winston that she had her first love affair with another party member at the age of 16 and has, since then, slept with hundreds of men. By doing this, Julia is deliberately flouting party rules and creating loyalties to others, not to Big Brother. There is another reason, too, why Big Brother fear these sexual liaisons, as Julia explains in Part 3, Chapter 3:

'When you make love you're using up energy; and afterwards you feel happy and don't give a damn for anything. They can't bear you to feel like that. They want you to be bursting with energy all the time."

Julia is able to successfully rebel against Big Brother for much of her adult life. It is only when she meets O'Brien that her thoughtcrimes are uncovered and her life is put into serious peril. 

Write the function of a connector.

A connector, as the name suggests, connects. More specifically, it is used to connect or disconnect electrical circuits. Connectors are thus, also known as electrical connectors. In general, we have two types of connectors: male and female. Male connectors have 3 pins (in case of 2 pin connector, earth connection is missing), while female connectors have 3 recesses to receive these pins. When male connector is inserted into female connector, the connection is made and...

A connector, as the name suggests, connects. More specifically, it is used to connect or disconnect electrical circuits. Connectors are thus, also known as electrical connectors. In general, we have two types of connectors: male and female. Male connectors have 3 pins (in case of 2 pin connector, earth connection is missing), while female connectors have 3 recesses to receive these pins. When male connector is inserted into female connector, the connection is made and electrical circuit is complete. In many cases, female connectors are covered with insulation, to ensure that no accidents happen (especially by children inserting their fingers in the connector slots). Similarly, to ensure proper orientation of male connector, the earth pin may be made of a different shape than the live and neutral pins.

Hope this helps. 

Is it important that the original paraphernalia for the lottery had been lost?

It is extremely significant that the townspeople lost the original lottery paraphernalia. In addition to the reasons stated in the previous post, the loss of the box is significant in that it symbolizes the idea that the people in the village have no idea why they have to partake in the lottery. Like many traditions, it just is.

In the story, only one person—Old Man Warner—seems to really remember any reason why the lottery has...

It is extremely significant that the townspeople lost the original lottery paraphernalia. In addition to the reasons stated in the previous post, the loss of the box is significant in that it symbolizes the idea that the people in the village have no idea why they have to partake in the lottery. Like many traditions, it just is.

In the story, only one person—Old Man Warner—seems to really remember any reason why the lottery has to be held, who states a saying, "Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon." Then he goes on to discuss what he sees as dangers to abandoning the tradition like those in the north village.

In addition to the lost paraphernalia, other traditional actions that accompanied the lottery had been lost or changed. The villagers used paper instead of wood chips for the names, the "tuneless chant" that preceded the lottery had been abandoned, and the "ritual salute" had also been forgotten.

All of these suggest the idea that traditions are sometimes carried out despite people not knowing the reasons for carrying them out. While, as Old Man Warner points out, the lottery might have originally been held as a sort-of crop sacrifice, the lottery at the time of the story seems to be held as a way of sanctioned killing as evidenced by the boys' excitement of gathering rocks at the beginning of the story. 

Explain why Taft’s policies offended progressives, including Roosevelt.

President Theodore Roosevelt appointed William Howard Taft as his war secretary. He declined to run for reelection and supported Taft for the presidency. Taft won the election, against the Democrat William Jennings Bryan.

Progressives who had supported Theodore Roosevelt for the presidency did the same for Taft. They believed that he would continue supporting the progressive agenda supported by his predecessor. However, they were disappointed when during his presidency they noticed he was a conservative.

...

President Theodore Roosevelt appointed William Howard Taft as his war secretary. He declined to run for reelection and supported Taft for the presidency. Taft won the election, against the Democrat William Jennings Bryan.

Progressives who had supported Theodore Roosevelt for the presidency did the same for Taft. They believed that he would continue supporting the progressive agenda supported by his predecessor. However, they were disappointed when during his presidency they noticed he was a conservative.

Taft as president failed to appoint reformers from the progressive side of the republicans to his cabinet. He was uncooperative of the progressive agenda and supported legislation deemed retrogressive by the progressives. This was observed after Taft supported the Payne-Aldrich Tariff, which did not revise tariff rates to the level expected by progressives. In this regard, Taft was seen to be supporting big business against the small man, an issue of discontent among the progressives.

His relationship with Roosevelt soured when he relieved Gifford Pinchot from his duties as head of the Bureau of Forestry. Pinchot was a friend of Roosevelt and an ardent progressive reformer. In summary, Taft offended the progressives and his predecessor because of his alignment and support of the conservative agenda.

What does Kate DiCamillo's title Because of Winn-Dixie mean to you?

Kate DiCamillo's title indicates that Winn-Dixie accomplished a lot for all the characters in the story, especially for the protagonist, Opal. The title indicates that, because of Winn-Dixie, loneliness was eased; unity was created in the town of Naomi; and tribulations were overcome.It is because lonely Opal meets the stray dog she adopts and names Winn-Dixie that Opal starts getting to know the people in the townshe has just moved to. For...

Kate DiCamillo's title indicates that Winn-Dixie accomplished a lot for all the characters in the story, especially for the protagonist, Opal. The title indicates that, because of Winn-Dixie, loneliness was eased; unity was created in the town of Naomi; and tribulations were overcome.

It is because lonely Opal meets the stray dog she adopts and names Winn-Dixie that Opal starts getting to know the people in the town she has just moved to. For example, Opal meets the librarian, Miss Franny Block, Opal's first friend in Naomi, because Winn-Dixie likes to stand on his hind legs to watch Opal through the library window choosing books and one day scares Miss Franny, who thinks Winn-Dixie is a bear. Opal comforts Miss Franny, and as Opal gets to know Miss Franny, she also gets to know about her loneliness. Another example is that Winn-Dixie runs into Gloria Dump's overgrown yard one summer day, which leads to Gloria and Opal being introduced and to developing their newfound friendship. As Opal phrases it, "Just about everything that happened to me that summer happened because of Winn-Dixie" (Ch. 9).

By the end of the story, Opal gets the idea to throw a party in Gloria's yard, and even to invite her antagonists, such as Stevie and Dunlap Dewberry, who tease Opal and call Gloria a witch, and Amanda Wilkinson, who ignores Opal. While at the party, Gloria convinces the Dewberry boys she is not a witch, and all the guests join in song as Otis plays his guitar. As Gloria states, "We all got to be good friends," and this friendship is due to both Winn-Dixie and to Opal.

In Night by Elie Wiesel, what eight words did the SS men keep repeating when the Jews arrived at Auschwitz?

When Night author Elie Wiesel and the rest of the Jewish people from Sighet arrived at Auschwitz, they were met by the Schutzstaffel, called SS for short. Schutzstaffel is German for "Protective Echelon" or "Protection Squadron." The SS spoke eight words over and over, and those words were, "Men to the left! Women to the right" (Wiesel 27). Elie was quickly separated from his mother and sisters, never to see his mother again. It all...

When Night author Elie Wiesel and the rest of the Jewish people from Sighet arrived at Auschwitz, they were met by the Schutzstaffel, called SS for short. Schutzstaffel is German for "Protective Echelon" or "Protection Squadron." The SS spoke eight words over and over, and those words were, "Men to the left! Women to the right" (Wiesel 27). Elie was quickly separated from his mother and sisters, never to see his mother again. It all happened very fast. Elie and his father were sent in one direction, and the rest of his family in the other. Elie saw his mother and sisters moving away, and they did not even have a chance to say goodbye. Elie's last memory of his family all together would be this moment when he saw his mother holding hands with his little sister. This moment would often come back to haunt Elie Wiesel.

Describe Victor’s relationship with his father in the novel Frankenstein. Do they have a healthy relationship? Why or why not?

The character of Victor Frankenstein is deeply flawed. He tends to blur lines in every aspect of his life, including his desires, wishes, and even his relationships, based on his affection towards people. 

Throughout most of the novel, Victor's only consistent emotion is pain and guilt. However, the spectrum of all of his other emotions range from wild obsession, to ranging anger, to madness, and even to regret.

All of this leads to the conclusion that any positive aspects of any of Victor's relationships were not caused by Victor. He was often the recipient in his relationships:

• Elizabeth gave Victor comfort, succor, love, and security


• Clerval was loyal, charming, joyful, and gave Victor altruistic support and strength.

Similarly, Alphonse Frankenstein, Victor's father, not only gave Victor a good family name, a fantastic upbringing, wealth, and great education. He also gave him the love and support that he (Alphonse) equally gave to the rest of his family. 

However, a closer look into the reading shows that, within the happy walls of the Frankenstein estate, a lot of dysfunction seems to take place

1. The Agrippa issue

During a family vacation, Victor comes upon the writings of Cornelius Agrippa. Fascinated by them, Victor shares his findings with his father, who categorizes the books as "trash" reading.

This incident remained very fresh in Victor's mind, who even hinted at his father's lack of scientific understanding for Victor's eventual obsession with what these writings taught.  

2. Reactions

Alphonse Frankenstein may have been a loving father, but he was not the nurturer that his wife, Caroline, used to be. In fact, upon the death of Caroline, Alphonse seems lost in his role as a widowed man in a patriarchal society: Is he supposed to be a provider, a leader, or a nurturer? Obviously, in his society, this would have been a real issue, as women were almost entirely connected to the nurturing crux of the home life. However, Alphonse did what he could to keep things together. 

The problem is that, as we will notice, Alphonse reacts drastically to situations. It is no surprise that he does, but in being so affected by the tragedies of his family, he is unable to see, hear, feel, or say the things that a true patriarch should. 

A good example comes when Victor, in the middle of his mental crisis, tells his father that he is responsible for what is going on. In more than one occasion, Alphonse simply dismisses his son's words without even considering where they could be coming from. This shows a tendency of Alphonse to "brush off" the things that he cannot deal with, much Victor's disappointment. 

3. Subtle connections

All through the novel Shelley throws more hints of the fatal fatherly ties among Alphonse-Victor and the Creature. When Victor is in prison, his ward announces the visit of a "friend". For some odd reason that Victor himself could not explain, Victor thought that this friend was the monster himself. The visitor, however, was his father. This odd connection happens twice more in the novel.

In this fashion, Shelley wants to unveil to the reader that there is dysfunction among the Frankensteins, even when the home life seems perfect and idyllic. Perhaps she is trying to give the connotation that the bad parent trait, and the inability to communicate effectively with their kin is evident between Victor and Alphonse, and between Victor and the creature. 

Therefore, while the relationship between Alphonse and Victor seems normal from the outside,many issues lurked deep within.