What is meant by "the rule of the road"? Why is it essential to observe it?

The phrase "the rules of the road" refers to rules used on roads to regulate flow of traffic. These rules predate the invention of the automobile. The reason for their existence is a combination of safety and efficiency. Some of these rules are formal and some a matter of informal courtesy.
Whether, for example, people drive on the right or left side of the road does not matter. In Britain people drive on the left and in North America, people drive on the right. What is important, though, is that all drivers in a given region drive on the same side. Similarly, the choice of red to indicate that drivers should stop is arbitrary; any color could work equally well. What matters is that traffic signals in a given region are consistent and understood and followed by all drivers. If people violate these rules, the result will be less efficient traffic flow, and, even worse, accidents.
On a metaphorical level, this is an example of where we give up one liberty (driving wherever and however we wish) in order to preserve a greater good, the freedom to drive safely.

The phrase "rules of the road" refers to a set of guidelines that one must follow when driving. For young drivers, it's a coming of age rite in which they become less reliant on their parents for transportation. It's important to observe road rules because it keeps you out of danger and allows you to get to your destination safely.
For Jenna, this is both literal and metaphorical. As she drives her boss to Texas, she becomes more confident in her driving abilities. In a similar way, Jenna begins to grow as a person while on her journey through life. Initially, she takes this trip as an opportunity to leave behind her alcoholic father, who has been absent for most of her life. However, an encounter with former alcoholic Harry Bender provides Jenna with the contentment needed to accept her father's condition. Although she follows the rules of the road, it's not up to her to decide which rules should be changed. Rather, all she can do is react accordingly and reach her destination in the safest way possible.
 

Compare the roles of the city and jungle in novel Lost City Radio. Make sure to quote the text and closely analyze the metaphors and symbols, and the tone and/or feeling of each scene, demonstrating their connection to your claims and arguments.

In Lost City Radio, the city represents hope, and it plays the role of providing hope for people. When the inhabitants of Victor's town send him to the city, they write a letter to accompany him that states, "We, the residents of 1797, have pooled our monies together and sent him to the city. We want a better life for Victor. There is no future for him here" (page 5). The residents send Victor to Norma because, as the voice of Lost City Radio, she is the voice of hope. Each Saturday night, Norma broadcasts her show, looking for people lost during the war. Her show is described in the following way: "And Norma listened, and then repeated the names in her mellifluous voice, and the board would light up with calls, lonely red lights, people longing to be found" (page 9). Norma is the voice of the city, the voice of hope. The red lights symbolize the lost people who want to find their displaced love ones in the city and forge a better future. The tone in these passages is one of hope and longing for a better tomorrow.
The jungle, on the other hand, represents the forgotten past. The government has changed the names of the villages so that people will forget the misery of the past. The role the jungle plays is one of forgetfulness. As Alarcon writes, "When the war ended, the government confiscated the old maps. They were taken off the shelves at the National Library, turned in by private citizens, cut out of school textbooks, and burned" (page 5). The destruction of the maps symbolizes the destruction of the past. The maps are a symbol of history, and their destruction means that the government is trying to erase the past. Alarcon writes, "Once, Victor's village had a name, but it was lost now. [Norma's] husband, Rey, had vanished near there" (page 5). The jungle is the sight of everything that is past and that has been erased. Even Victor does not know the name of his village before it became 1797, and Norma's husband, Rey, long ago vanished into the jungle, never to appear. The tone of the passages describing the jungle is one of despair.

What does the following statement tell about the mindset of the people who gathered to witness Esmeralda's trial? "This animal is definitely in the league with devils."

For one thing, by stating "this animal is definitely in the league with devils," the people who gather to see Esmeralda's trial are proving to be wholly superstitious. Recalling a witch-hunt ideology, the spectators are also, in a sense, proving to be a bit sexist. In patriarchal societies, men (and, even sometimes, women) are intimated by powerful and independent women and consequently dismiss their unwillingness to conform as mere witchcraft. This happens with Esmeralda when the jealous Fleur realizes Esmeralda to be a romantic threat; she witnesses Esmeralda's goat, Djali, perform a spectacular "spelling trick."
By labeling Esmeralda as a devil, these spectators are similarly dismissing her as inhuman; they are close-minded folks who are entirely unaccepting of other behaviors and lifestyles. They are also scandalous people who enjoy the provocation of a supernatural explanation for Esmeralda's behavior. She is certainly different, and the crowds that only hear rumors of her behavior are quick to dismiss it as simple witchcraft.

What did the suffragettes in Britain do?

The suffragettes sought to secure the vote for women in Britain. They did this in many ways, risking imprisonment and other reprisals for their efforts.
In Britain the suffragette movement was particularly associated with an organization known as the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). This group formed in the early 20th century although debates about granting the vote to women had been brewing since the mid-19th century. The WSPU fought against the mainstream media and an entrenched conservatism that seemed determined to deny women the vote. Those involved in this movement used various measures, including media campaigns, protests, and fundraising to achieve their cause.
The suffragettes turned to increasingly radical methods, eventually resorting to outright civil disobedience (one might even characterize it as a form of "domestic terrorism") and coming into conflict with authorities. Many of the members of the movement were actually jailed and even went on hunger strikes while in prison. In response, prison officials actually force-fed some of these hunger strikers.
The outbreak of World War I and the willingness of many suffragettes to involve themselves in the war effort turned public opinion in their favor. Female property owners over the age of 30 were granted the vote in the general election of 1918, and female suffrage finally became universal in Britain in 1928.

Intermediate Algebra, Chapter 3, 3.4, Section 3.4, Problem 18

Illustrate the linear inequality $x + 2y > 0$ in two variables.

To graph $x + 2y > 0$ we must graph the boundary line $x + 2y = 0$ first. To do this, we need to find the
intercepts of the line

$x$-intercept (set $y = 0$):

$
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
x + 2(0) &= 0 \\
\\
x &= 0
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
$


$y$-intercept (set $x = 0$):

$
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
(0) + 2y &= 0 \\
\\
2y &= 0 \\
\\
y &= 0
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
$


Now, by using test point. Let's say point $(2,2)$ from the right of the boundary line.

$
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
x + 2y &> 0 \\
\\
2 + 2(2) &> 0 \\
\\
2 + 4 &> 0 \\
\\
6 &> 0
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
$


Since the inequality symbol is $ > $, then the boundary line must be dashed.
Moreover, since the test point satisfy the inequality, then we must shade the right
portion of the boundary line. So the graph is,

int (x-2) / ((x+1)^2 + 4) dx Find the indefinite integral

We have to evaluate the integral:\int \frac{x-2}{(x+1)^2+4}dx
Let x+1=u
So, dx=du
Hence we have,
\int \frac{x-2}{(x+1)^2+4}dx=\int \frac{u-3}{u^2+4}du
                       =\int \frac{u}{u^2+2^2}du-\int\frac{3}{u^2+2^2}du
                       
First we will evaluate \int \frac{u}{u^2+4}du
Let u^2+4=t
So, 2udu=dt
Therefore we can write,
\int \frac{u}{u^2+4}du=\int \frac{dt}{2t}
                =\frac{1}{2}ln(t)
                 =\frac{1}{2}ln(u^2+4)
 
Now we will evaluate,  \int \frac{3}{u^2+4}du
\int \frac{3}{u^2+2^2}du=\frac{3}{2}tan^{-1}(\frac{u}{2})
 
Therefore we have,
\int \frac{x-2}{(x+1)^2+4}dx=\frac{1}{2}ln(u^2+4)-\frac{3}{2}tan^{-1}(\frac{u}{2})+C
                       =\frac{1}{2}ln((x+1)^2+4)-\frac{3}{2}tan^{-1}(\frac{x+1}{2})+C
                        =\frac{1}{2}ln(x^2+2x+5)-\frac{3}{2}tan^{-1}(\frac{x+1}{2})+C

What is the conclusion of Bartleby the Scrivener? What is Bartleby's work performance like initially?

Near the end of Bartleby, the Scrivener, Bartleby dies in the Tombs prison, where has been sent because of his homelessness. Bartleby dies of starvation in prison because he prefers not to eat there.
Earlier, when he is first hired as a scrivener, Bartleby's work is exemplary. He is initially very hard-working and productive. Only later does he begin to say "I prefer not to" in reference to his work. "I prefer not to" then becomes his signature phrase.
At the very end of the story, the narrator hears a "rumor" that Bartleby once worked in the Dead Letter Office in Washington, where letters that for some reason could not be delivered to their proper recipients end up. The narrator ruminates on what it must have been like, day after day, to read and then burn letters that never arrived at their destination. As the narrator puts it:

Sometimes from out the folded paper the pale clerk takes a ring:—the finger it was meant for, perhaps, moulders in the grave; a bank-note sent in swiftest charity:—he whom it would relieve, nor eats nor hungers any more; pardon for those who died despairing; hope for those who died unhoping; good tidings for those who died stifled by unrelieved calamities. On errands of life, these letters speed to death.

The narrator believes that for someone like Bartleby, "prone to a pallid hopelessness," such a job could well have increased his sense of isolation and alienation, leading him in the end to shut down completely. 

Calculus: Early Transcendentals, Chapter 4, Review, Section Review, Problem 68

You need to evaluate the function f using the provided information, hence, you need to apply the antiderivative, such that:
int (f'(x) sinhx + 2cosh x)dx = int (f'(x)(e^x - e^(-x))/2) + (e^x + e^(-x)))dx
int (f'(x) sinhx + 2cosh x)dx = (1/2)int (f'(x)(e^x)dx - (1/2)int f'(x) e^(-x)dx + int e^x dx + int e^(-x)dx
You need to evaluate each of the two integrals separately. You may integrate int (f'(x)(e^x)dx using integration by parts. You may consider u = e^x and dv = f'(x), such that:
int udv = uv - int vdu
u = e^x => du = e^x
dv = f'(x) => v = f(x)
int f'(x) e^x dx = f(x) e^x - int f(x)e^x => (1/2)int f'(x) e^x dx = (1/2)f(x) e^x - (1/2)int f(x)e^x
(1/2)int f'(x) e^(-x)dx = (1/2)f(x)e^(-x) + (1/2)int e(-x)f(x) dx
u = e^(-x) => du = -e^(-x)
dv = f'(x) => v = f(x)
(1/2)int (f'(x)(e^x)dx - (1/2)int f'(x) e^(-x)dx= (1/2)f(x) e^x - (1/2)int f(x)e^x - (1/2)f(x)e^(-x) - (1/2)int e(-x)f(x) dx
int e^x dx + int e^(-x)dx = e^x - e^(-x) + c
Hence, evaluating the integral, yields:
int (f'(x) sinhx + 2cosh x)dx = (1/2)f(x) e^x - (1/2)int f(x)e^x - (1/2)f(x)e^(-x) - (1/2)int e^(-x)f(x) dx + e^x - e^(-x) + c
int (f'(x) sinhx + 2cosh x)dx = (1/2)f(x)(e^x - e^(-x)) - (1/2)int (f(x)e^x -e(-x)f(x))dx + e^x - e^(-x) + c
int (f'(x) sinhx + 2cosh x)dx = f(x)sinh x - int f(x) sinh x + 2sinhx + c
Given the provided information, this is the answer for the antiderivative int (f'(x) sinhx + 2cosh x)dx = f(x)sinh x - int f(x) sinh x + 2sinhx + c.

College Algebra, Chapter 3, 3.1, Section 3.1, Problem 26

Evaluate the function $\displaystyle f(x) = \frac{|x|}{x}$ at $f(-2), \quad f(-1), \quad f(0), f(x^2),\quad f\left( \frac{1}{x} \right), \quad f(5)$
For $f(-2)$

$
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
f(-2) &= \frac{|2|}{-2} && \text{Replace } x \text{ by } -2\\
\\
&= \frac{2}{-2} && \text{Simplify}\\
\\
&= -1
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
$


For $f(-1)$

$
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
f(-1) &= \frac{|-1|}{-1} && \text{Replace } x \text{ by } -1\\
\\
&= \frac{1}{-1} && \text{Simplify}\\
\\
&= -1
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
$


For $f(0)$

$
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
f(0) &= \frac{|0|}{0} && \text{Replace } x \text{ by } 0\\
\\
f(0) &= \text{Undefined}
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
$


For $f(x^2)$

$
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
f(x^2) &= \frac{|x^2|}{-2} && \text{Replace } x \text{ by } x^2\\
\\
&= \frac{x^2}{x^2} && \text{Simplify}\\
\\
&= 1
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
$


For $f\left( \frac{1}{x} \right)$

$
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
f\left( \frac{1}{x} \right) &= \frac{\left|\frac{1}{x}\right|}{\frac{1}{x}} && \text{Replace } x \text{ by } \frac{1}{x}\\
\\
&= x\left|\frac{1}{x}\right|
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
$



For $f(5)$

$
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
f(5) &= \frac{|5|}{5} && \text{Replace } x \text{ by }5\\
\\
&= \frac{5}{5} && \text{Simplify}\\
\\
&= 1
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
$

How is social solidarity tied to the division of labor in society? What are the two types of social solidarity that Durkheim identifies? How is criminal justice handled in these two types of societies? How is criminal justice handled in our society today? Is this consistent with Durkheim’s writings on this topic?

According to Durkheim, solidarity is a result of division of labor in society because, when properly divided, each member of the group brings an essential function to the group at large. For instance, if there is a small town of three individuals, one of whom is a seed salesman, the next of whom is a farmer, and the third of whom is a baker, they have each divided up the labor of producing crops and food among themselves, and without one another, they would not survive. Solidarity arises from this because they are unified in pursuit of common needs, and each individual takes a specialized portion of the burden.
Durkheim outlines mechanical and organic solidarity as two opposing types. Mechanical solidarity is essentially enforced solidarity, that is, punitive measures for actions that go against the community that are repressive and typically harmful. Organic is the opposite—aiming to restore the balance and repair damages done. In modern times, criminal justice tends toward mechanical solidarity. Some countries, particularly in Scandinavia, have more organic forms of justice, but most Western societies have punishments for lawbreakers that involve discipline as opposed to restitution.

Social solidarity is tied to the division of labor in society by dynamics. Mechanical solidarity is a type of social solidarity characterized by a relatively small society dependent on religion. Since the number of people is less, there are plenty of resources to cater for everyone; therefore, individuals don't see the need for division of labor. They can still do the same jobs and afford to take care of themselves. Organic solidarity is another form of social solidarity characterized by a huge society with a lot of emphasis on division of labor and specialization. Workers have to be good at a certain job if they want to reap maximum benefits in a society where people are competing for scarce resources. Additionally, organic solidarity practices repressive justice, while mechanical solidarity supports restitutive justice. Today, criminal justice is handled using restitutive punishments. This is consistent with Durkheim's writing on the topic because nowadays most people prefer to live in the cities, where there's competition for jobs. Hence, we live in organic solidarity, where criminals are accountable to the person they wronged instead of the community.
https://legaldictionary.net/repression/

https://www.radford.edu/~junnever/law/onDurkheim.htm

Durkheim believed the division of labor is beneficial for social solidarity because the division of labor draws people together, puts people into frequent contact, and increases the opportunities for people to engage in mutually beneficial relationships. The two types of social solidarity are mechanical solidarity, in which an individual is tied to the larger society without any force except the collective conscious (a system of shared values), and organic solidarity, in which people are connected to each other through the functions they perform and a division of labor that breeds interdependence. 
Societies with mechanical solidarity rely on repressive laws—that is, laws that punish the perpetrator—and have a great number of penal laws. Societies with organic solidarity have rules with restitutive penalties, meaning the laws aim to make the situation right and restore the situation to an earlier state. It could be argued that our society has come to rely more on repressive laws than restitutive laws, and this reality contradicts Durkheim's idea that societies move from repressive to restitutive laws as they become more advanced.

What are two examples of hyperboles and what the author was trying to say by using a hyperbole?

A hyperbole is a figure of speech that involves an exaggeration to emphasize a point. Melinda Sordino continually uses hyperboles throughout the novel and is depicted as a relatively sarcastic, jaded teenager struggling to cope with her traumatic past.
1. When Melinda first enters the high school cafeteria, she uses a hyperbole to describe one of the seniors by saying,

This eight-foot senior in front of me somehow gets three cheeseburgers, French fries, and two Ho-Hos without saying a word (Anderson, 8).

Clearly, the senior that Melinda is describing is not eight feet tall, but her exaggeration emphasizes the height difference between herself and the seniors.
2. Melinda also uses a hyperbole to exaggerate how uncomfortable her social studies teacher's stare makes her feel by saying,

If a teacher stared murder at me for forty-eight minutes, I'd turn into a puddle of melted Jell-O. David stares back (Anderson, 68).

Melinda's comment would be considered a hyperbole because she would not actually turn into a puddle of melted Jell-O simply from her teacher staring at her. However, her hyperbole does emphasize the effectiveness of her teacher's glare.
https://literarydevices.net/hyperbole/

Is immigrant crime an exaggerated fear?

Throughout the history of the United States, there has been a public perception that immigration to the United States has led to higher crime rates in the country. This perception may be fueled by media reports, which have covered crimes that have been committed by immigrants or by fears that immigration will impact people's economic security. I will examine both sides of this issue so you can make an informed decision.
While there has been a criminal element within any group of people within the United States, the data suggests that this perception of immigration is not an accurate perception, now or in the past. Going back to the early 1900s, studies have shown that immigrants have not been more prone to commit crimes than native-born Americans. In 1901, the Industrial Commission issued a report that showed that foreign-born whites were less likely to commit crimes than native-born whites. In 1911, the Immigration Commission reported that immigration didn’t lead to higher crime rates. In 1931, a report from the National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement came to the same conclusion. Data from the city of Los Angeles in the early 2000s showed no evidence that immigrants committed an excessive number of crimes compared to those people born in the United States.
Other research came to the same conclusion. The General Accounting Office found that foreigners accounted for 19 percent of the crimes committed in the United States in the 1980s and the 1990s. During this time, foreigners made up 19.6 percent of the country’s population. Another study found that foreign-born men were less likely to be in prison than native-born men. Therefore, based on the data, it is safe to conclude that the fear of immigrant crime is an exaggerated fear in the United States.
There is another side to the equation. There is evidence that immigrants tend to feel uncomfortable reporting crimes because they are fearful of what might happen when they report them. They fear they could be deported, or they believe that the family should handle situations when crimes occur instead of the police or outside authorities. Additionally, some crimes are committed from locations outside of the United States such as credit card skimming or hacking into computer systems. Some foreign criminals have ties to crime syndicates in the United States. There also are some places near the border with Mexico where people sneak over the border to commit crimes in the United States and then return to Mexico. Additionally, sloppy record keeping may lead to fewer crimes being recorded. One criticism of some of the studies mentioned above is that they combined legal and illegal immigrant crime rates and used data from a nationally representative sample of people in the United States. If only the crime rates of immigrants who were in the country illegally were considered, and if where crimes were committed and from where these immigrants came would be factored into the equation, the results would be very different. As a result, the data that suggests that there isn’t a connection between immigration and criminal activities may be underestimating what actually is taking place.
https://cis.org/Report/Examination-US-Immigration-Policy-and-Serious-Crime

https://www.heritage.org/immigration/commentary/what-the-media-wont-tell-you-about-illegal-immigration-and-criminal-activity

Single Variable Calculus, Chapter 3, 3.8, Section 3.8, Problem 38

At what rate is the beam of light moving along the shore line when it is 1km from P






Using the tangent function
$\displaystyle \tan \theta = \frac{y}{3}$ ; when $\displaystyle y = 1 ; \theta = \tan^{-1}\left[ \frac{1}{3} \right] = 18.4349^{\circ}$
Taking the derivative with respect to time we have


$
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
\sec^ \theta \frac{d \theta}{dt} &= \frac{\frac{dy}{dt}}{3}\\
\\
\frac{dy}{dt} &= 3\sec^2 \theta \frac{d \theta}{dt} && \text{ Equation 1}
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
$


Also,
$\displaystyle \frac{d \theta}{dt} = \frac{4\cancel{\text{rev}}}{\text{min}} \left( \frac{2 \pi \text{rad}}{\cancel{\text{rev}}}\right) = 8 \pi \frac{\text{rad}}{\text{min}}$

Plugging all the values in Equation 1 we have,

$
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
\frac{dy}{dt} &= 3 \sec^2 (18.4349^{\circ}) \left( 8 \pi \frac{\text{rad}}{\text{min}}\right)\\
\\
\frac{dy}{dt} &= \frac{80 \pi}{3} \frac{\text{km}}{\text{min}}
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
$

How does Arthur Conan Doyle present Sherlock Holmes as a detective throughout The Sign of Four?

Arthur Conan Doyle presents Sherlock Holmes as a detective throughout The Sign of the Four by depicting Holmes as a man obsessed with his craft of deduction. In order to solve the complex mystery, Holmes relies on logic and reason to formulate conclusions. It’s clear he has also spent years conducting experiments to find clues that are unseen or meaningless to others, such as when he identifies a suspect as a one-legged man. Holmes also has an underground network of informants in London who help him gather evidence.
It’s important to note that Doyle uses Doctor Watson as the narrator. Doctor Watson serves as a foil to Holmes at points in the narrative, specifically when Watson meets Mary Morstan, the woman who will become his wife. The reader understands Holmes would never marry because it would take time away from his pursuit of deduction.
Also, Watson introduces the reader to the detective’s use of cocaine. When not actively working on an investigation, Holmes uses the drug in an attempt to feel the high he gets from using deduction. This drug use also serves to humanize Holmes as a man with vices; he is not presented as a superhero crime fighter.

In The Sign of Four Sherlock Holmes is presented as the consummate detective: logical, rational, and with truly remarkable powers of deduction. At each stage of the mystery Holmes is completely on top of his game, and we're never left in any doubt that he will solve this most perplexing case.
At the same time, Holmes has a restless nature; he craves excitement, the kind provided by his cerebrally challenging work. (Not to mention the occasional hit of cocaine.) Holmes effectively lives for his work, which makes him a great detective, but somewhat cold and remote as a human being. The poverty of Holmes's emotional life is contrasted in The Sign of Four with Watson's amorous pursuit of Mary Morstan. Watson's greater emotional intelligence allows him to provide Holmes with an element of stability in his life, the kind that would normally be provided by a spouse.

Doyle presents Holmes throughout The Sign of the Four as a man utterly dedicated to using logic and intellect to solve his mysteries. Unlike Watson, who falls in love with Mary and gets engaged during the novel, Holmes has his emotions entirely subordinated to his mind. His "high" in life is the opportunity to solve challenging mysteries, and when he can't satisfy himself that way, he turns to cocaine. This reliance on the "seven-percent solution" worries Watson, but not Holmes.
Holmes moves beyond his trained intellect to make contacts and build a network of people useful to him in crime-solving, showing he is not entirely isolated. He is not so much a recluse as a person single-mindedly bent on one path. He is capable of showing compassion, and his dogged pursuit of the truth shows how deeply he cares about justice: he is satisfied not with any solution to a crime, but only the correct solution.
Watson admires Holmes deeply, encouraging the reader to do the same, but even beyond Watson's admiration, we can see Holmes as a person of integrity who remains true to himself rather than one who bows to conventional social expectations.

The presentation of Sherlock Holmes in Arthur Conan Doyle's novel, The Sign of Four, is as a brilliant and cerebral man who can be extremely perceptive about small details but lacks self-awareness and emotional intelligence. Some readers might wish to argue that Holmes is represented as an example of someone with savant syndrome who might be on the autistic spectrum, albeit on the high-functioning end.
The opening of the novel shows Holmes as addicted to opioids. His unwillingness to follow the advice of Watson, a doctor by profession, is an example of his tendency to be self-centered and unwilling to take advice. Sherlock has a (deservedly) high opinion of himself, and despite his constant insistence on the need for pure rationality, he can show great kindness.
Holmes tends to be secretive, only revealing his discoveries when he has attained complete knowledge of a case—something that helps create suspense. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of matters relevant to his calling and a complete lack of interest in things he deems irrelevant to his interests or purposes.

What are some of the traits that Mr. Tushman says make up a person?

The Henry Ward Beecher Medal is the last award of the day and is presented after the academic excellence awards. The award is named after the great nineteenth-century abolitionist and human rights crusader Henry Ward Beecher and is given to those students who have been exceptional in the area of community service. Before presenting it, Mr. Tushman gives a small speech to explain its purpose. He says that the award is given to recognize greatness—a quality that is not very easy to define. He states that we, as humans, can be pushed to greatness if we possess four key traits: “Courage, kindness, friendship, and character.” Further, quoting from Beecher’s writings, he states that

greatness lies not in being strong, but in the right use of strength. He is the greatest whose strength carries up the most hearts by the attraction of his own.

He then calls upon August Pullman to receive the award.
Earlier on, while giving the “middle-school address,” Mr. Tushman talked about success and how it could be measured at the end of a school year. He advised the students to look at “what they’d done with their time, how they’d chosen to spend their days, and whom they had touched” to measure their success. He also talked about kindness at length and the need for it in everyday life.
Clearly, the two speeches are related in that they explore greatness in humans: how people, young or old, can grow into exceptional human beings. August wins the award not because of his good academic performance but because he has shown courage in the face of great adversity brought on by his facial deformity, kindness and friendship to the members of the school community (even when these were not reciprocated), and strength of character in attending school for the first time after years of homeschooling and in staying on in spite of the challenges he faces.

In Wonder, Mr. Tushman is the principal of the middle school that August Pullman, or Auggie, attends. During the graduation ceremony, Mr. Tushman gives a speech as he is about to name the recipient of the Henry Ward Beecher medal. This award is to honor a student who has been exemplary in some way. Mr. Tushman identifies from a passage written by the namesake of their school, Henry Beecher Ward, the qualities or traits that "define us as human beings" and lead someone to become great. These qualities are "Courage. Kindness. Friendship. Character."
Auggie is the recipient of the award, as he has demonstrated these qualities during his first year at the school. Throughout his year, Auggie is able to form friendships and gain respect from students who, in the beginning, did not give him a chance. Because of his facial abnormalities, many students avoid or tease him at first. However, by the time of his fifth grade graduation ceremony, Auggie receives a standing ovation when he is announced as the winner of the special award.

do you think Dorothy and the Scarecrow will let the Tin Woodman join them?

I suppose a reader could say that Dorothy and the Scarecrow are unlikely to let the Tin Woodman join them; however, I do think that would be a tough point to prove. Yes, I think it is entirely likely that they will let the Tin Woodman join them on their way to see Oz. The best supporting evidence that I can give to this idea is that Dorothy has already proven herself willing to invite fellow travelers with her. She invited the Scarecrow just a bit earlier because he would like to get some brains. Dorothy and the Scarecrow discover the Tin Woodman frozen in place because his joints are rusted up. The Woodman is deeply appreciative when they use oil to get him moving again.

"I might have stood there always if you had not come along," he said; "so you have certainly saved my life."

The Woodman asks the two other characters why they are travelling as they are, and Dorothy explains the situation. The Woodman ponders her answer, and he asks if Oz would be able to provide him with a heart.

The Tin Woodman appeared to think deeply for a moment. Then he said:
"Do you suppose Oz could give me a heart?"

Dorothy and the Scarecrow both agree that Oz should be able to do that, so the Woodman asks if he can join them. I don't believe that readers are really ever meant to question whether or not Dorothy will say yes. She is a loving character who assumes the best about people. She doesn't even hesitate in extending the invite to the Tin Woodman. The Scarecrow has been presented as a jovial and happy character too, and he isn't likely to say no after having been in the same position quite recently.

"Come along," said the Scarecrow heartily, and Dorothy added that she would be pleased to have his company.

How does the war setting make "The Demon Lover" more believable?

The setting of war adds a sense of unreality to Katherine's life and surroundings. Everything is dark, shut off, and unfamiliar because she and her family left the house to avoid the Blitz. This helps a reader more readily believe that supernatural elements—which are also unfamiliar—could exist.
Death and disaster also surround war. This helps add to the sense of foreboding in the story. Katherine questions herself, the appearance of the letter, its meaning, and the man in her memory. She knows so little about him but it's clear that he's kept her in his mind—whoever and whatever he is.
Her life was shaped by the World Wars. The first one caused her to meet and lose the lover that sent the letter. This led to her avoid entanglements until she was old enough that she worried she'd be alone. So she got married and her marriage and family were shaped by World War II because they had to abandon their home. This setting keeps Katherine off balance and lends her life a sense of imminent danger and foreboding which makes the story much more effective.

War is usually a time of great uncertainty and upheaval, when reality itself seems to be turned upside-down. What was once normal is now decidedly abnormal, and vice versa. This certainly seems to be the case with Mrs. Drover. London during the Blitz, with its scores of ruined buildings hollowed out by German bombing raids, is almost unrecognizable. And those houses like Mrs. Drover's, which still stand but lie abandoned, have a certain haunted quality about them, which makes them the ideal location for all manner of strange goings-on.
We don't know for sure if the taxi driver really is the ghost of Mrs. Drover's former lover, or whether it's just a figment of her imagination. But the ghostly setting of London during the war certainly provides an appropriate backdrop to Mrs. Drover's mental disintegration. In the midst of war, all the old certainties are crumbling, and with them Mrs. Drover's mind.

The end of "The Demon Lover" leaves the reader with uncertainties. Has Mrs. Drover's former lover driven off with her screaming in the taxi cab? Is this final scene all in Mrs. Drover's mind due to her traumatizing experiences during the Blitz?
This mysterious final scene ends a story grounded in fact. There are many references to war-torn London throughout the story. During the Blitz, Londoners did abandon their houses and flee to the country. Some streets were left in ruins. The city was transformed by the bombings and many people lived in fear. This was the reality of millions of people in London.
Mrs. Drover observes changes in her neighborhood. She sees "unoccupied houses... [which] meet her look with their damaged stare." She observes chimneys leaning and missing bricks from the bombings. She notices cracks on the wall when she goes inside her own house. These are outward signs of the damage done by the bombs. Inward signs are the trauma and anxiety that Londoners dealt with.
"The Demon Lover" is historical fiction. Historical fiction combines fact and fiction together. The historical facts in the story make it more realistic and believable.

What was the impact of the Berlin Conference on the people of the Gold Coast?

The Gold Coast (Ghana) had been a formal English colony since 1874, over a decade before the Berlin Conference. As such, the Berlin Conference had very little direct impact on the various peoples of the Gold Coast. Indirectly, the Conference may have affected the Ghanan peoples in that one of its goals was to eliminate slavery on the continent. The British were very concerned with eliminating slavery as well and, in reality, had already done so in their spheres of influence before the resolutions of the Berlin Conference.
The Conference's main goal, however, was to establish agreed upon European colonies in Africa. The British already had a firm hold on the Gold Coast since the Dutch abandoned their designs there in the 1870s. There had been a series of conflicts with the Ashanti since the early years of the nineteenth Century. Many coastal tribes, such as the Fante, relied on the British for protection against the Ashanti. This relationship was likely little changed by the Berlin Conference.
By the 1880s, the British were more concerned with shoring up their interests in Egypt and South Africa than in the Gold Coast. They already had a strong and unquestioned presence there. Colonial rule and relationships with the native peoples there were already well established.
http://countrystudies.us/ghana/63.htm

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03ffkfd

How do the themes of Frankenstein directly relate to modern times?

Though Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein nearly two hundred years ago, many of the themes of this novel are relevant to today's society. Let's consider the themes of nature and acceptance in society.
To begin, the theme of nature is characteristic of Romantic literature. The natural world offers both beautiful and harsh environments, endless variations which inspire awe. Romantic writers like Shelley emphasized the value of the natural world as a response to the effects of industrialization on society, which held connotations of forced conformity. To revel in the beauty of nature, even if only through the written word, was to "get back in touch" with the world and our own humanity. 
This brings me to my next point—not all of the interactions between mankind and nature were, or are, pure and revitalizing in the way some Romantic writers portrayed them to be. Shelley confronts the theme of man versus nature through Victor Frankenstein's attempt to bring natural processes into his own hands. Frankenstein's experiments in re-animating cadavers and the creation of his Creature only temporarily gives him the control he is seeking. He is afraid of the abomination he has made by violating natural laws of life and death. Ultimately, Frankenstein realizes he must set things right by killing the Creature and he begins to hunt him down. Before this can happen, he succumbs to the harsh environment of the Arctic. Rather than being refreshed by the experience of nature, Frankenstein attempted to take power over it, and in the end was subdued by the powers he failed to control.
Nature is an important theme in our lives today, despite the fact that much of the world's population live in industrialized settings. Someone who has grown up in the city can still feel the joy and revitalizing quality of a trip to the mountains, sea, or countryside. One of the hallmarks of modern, working life—the vacation—is intended to provide exactly this kind of soul-refreshing break people desire! At the same time that we enjoy nature, many people fear it, too. Our environment is suffering rapid degradation as a result of industrialization and it is becoming more and more difficult to ignore the very real possibility that we humans may be responsible for our own undoing. Similar to how Victor's own creation steals away his happiness and indirectly causes his death, human activity may create an environment where we have erased our own possibility for a joyful existence. We, too, may succumb to nature.
The second theme I would like to discuss is that of acceptance in society. When Victor Frankenstein begins to share his story, we understand him to have been a man possessed by his work. His interest in the sciences always made him a little on the outside, and during his work on the Creature, he was essentially isolated. Frankenstein's work repeatedly forces him to the fringes of society—first in his dedication to his experiments, then after his repulsion at the Creature and resulting illness, and again when he realizes the Creature has committed a murder. Deep down, Frankenstein knew that his experiments went against the moral code of his society. If he had been working at something else—say, a cure for tuberculosis—his fervor and dedication might have been more acceptable. Even if he was reanimating corpses for some other reason perceived as valuable to society, rather than his self-serving interest, it might have been permitted. Frankenstein can never really come clean and be accepted in society because his work was such a violation of social norms.
The Creature is a much more tangible example of acceptance or failure to fit into society. For one, he is singular in having been made from the corpses of others, and is really alone in this unique quality. There is no one who can properly answer his questions about the world and what it means to be alive because he isn't even really "human." Above all, the Creature suffers because he wants affection and companionship, but there are no other beings like him who can be his equal. All of that aside, the Creature's physical appearance gives him away as something strange and repulsive. While his internal emotions make him feel separate from society, his appearance makes society want to separate from him.
Frankenstein has been referenced many times in the field of disability studies and in discussions of what it means to be an abnormal or "monstrous" body in relation to society. Many social scientists argue that we conjure up ideas about monsters in terms of self-definition—we are this, not like that. In this way, the Creature reinforces ideas about the normative, whole, and substantial body which conforms to notions of appropriate development and restraint from excess. In the present day, this sort of "us versus them" mentality persists and has resulted in entire sects of society where people are simultaneously accepted and dehumanized.
If we think of the Creature as an archetype for the deviant body—see Foucault's idea of the "docile body"—we can draw many parallels between the novel and the present-day treatment of people who are disabled, ill, or otherwise not "docile." For example, many neurodivergent people are actively trained or encouraged to act, think, and feel in a way which is contrary to their reality. The Creature learns to make himself more acceptable to others through speech and reading, but his physical appearance remained an obstacle. People run from him in terror—he is only safe when he is alone. Similarly, people who live with mental illness or autism spectrum disorders are often able to learn ways to "blend in" and become more acceptable in society, but are punished when they fail to do so. Throughout history, isolation has been quite literally forced upon neurodivergent people through institutionalization. Today, forced hospitalization is a very rare and extreme punishment for failure to conform to societal norms, but many people experience regular conflict and dehumanization when their condition does not blend seamlessly into social interaction. As I described above for the Creature, personal feelings of guilt or shame surrounding neurodivergence can make a person feel separate from society, while visibly divergent thoughts, feelings, and actions may make others desire to be separate from the individual.
These are just two of the major themes addressed in Mary Shelley's work, but I hope that it gives you an idea of why this novel remains so powerful in the present day.

What conflict do the bells and the wind present to the speaker in Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening?

When the narrator of "Stopping by Wood on a Snowy Evening" pauses on a dark, snowy night to watch the snow fall in the woods, his horse, accustomed to stopping in the town, is confused. "He gives his harness bells a shake/ To ask if there is some mistake." The horse is used to being driven from farmhouse to farmhouse, and he doesn't understand the reason the narrator stops in the dark woods to contemplate nature. The bells are the call back to the town and to human society. As the narrator pauses in the woods, "The only other sound’s the sweep/ Of easy wind and downy flake." In other words, all the narrator can hear is the wind in the woods. The wind is the call to stay in nature that is in opposition to the pull the narrator feels to go back to town. 

Is it possible to make holography using two individual laser light sources, one for object beam another for reference beam? Why?

It is theoretically possible, but practically it would be difficult to get a clear hologram, and it's much easier to just split one beam into two.The reason for this is that in order to produce a clear hologram we need the two laser beams to remain coherent with one another, so that they produce a clean, stable interference pattern. If the beams were almost coherent but not quite, you could still get some sort of hologram, but it would have aberrations and become fuzzier.It's theoretically possible to make a totally separate beam maintain perfect coherence with the original beam, but it's far easier to simply use a beam splitter and obtain that coherence automatically.As an analogy, think of it like the question: "Is it possible to project a negative image of yourself without a mirror?" Sure, it's possible---line up a bunch of LEDs or something in exactly the right pattern, or take a photo, reverse it on a computer, and project that on the screen. But it's much easier to just use a mirror.
http://holocenter.org/what-is-holography/

https://www.britannica.com/technology/holography

What chamber receives blood from the right atrium?

In the heart there are four chambers. The upper chambers are called the left and right atriums; The lower chambers are called the left and right ventricles. Cardiac chambers collect and pump blood into different parts of the body through blood vessels connected to them. The walls of the ventricles are much thicker and muscular than the walls of the atria, since the ventricles perform a lot of work on pumping. After treatment in various tissues of the body, the blood returns back to the heart and enters it through two atria. The right atrium receives blood from all tissues of the body, except the lungs. This blood is poor in oxygen, i.e. oxygen is removed from it, but it contains a lot of carbon dioxide, which must be removed from the body. The left atrium receives from the lungs a rich oxygen (or oxygenated) blood to then inject it into different tissues. Two ventricles are parts of the heart that pump blood into different parts of the body. The oxygen poor blood flows from the right atrium into the right ventricle, which pumps blood into the lungs, where it is enriched with a new amount of oxygen. Similarly, oxygen-enriched blood flows from the left atrium into the left ventricle, which pumps blood into all other parts of the body.

Short answer: the right ventricle.
Long answer: Using the right atrium as an anchored starting point, the right ventricle is where blood would flow to next in a normal human heart (in all normal mammalian hearts, for that matter). It can be difficult to think about the direction of blood flow through the human cardiovascular system in a linear sense because in reality it's an ever-continuous cycle, but here is a quick-and-dirty flow chart to remember the order of blood flow, using your chosen right atrium as our starting point:
Right Atrium -> Right Ventricle -> Pulmonary Artery -> Pulmonary capillaries -> Pulmonary Vein -> Left Atrium -> Left Ventricle -> Aorta -> Arteries and arterioles -> Systemic capillaries -> Venules and veins -> Superior and Inferior Vena Cava -> and back to the right atrium.
Consulting online videos may help with comprehending this complex system more deeply.
Good luck!

Deoxygenated blood from the body will enter the heart's right atrium.  The atria (left and right) will contract and send blood into the ventricles. Then, blood that is in the right atrium will move into the right ventricle.  As it moves from the atrium to the ventricle, the blood will pass through the tricuspid valve.  This valve helps ensure that blood does not flow the wrong direction through the heart.  From the right ventricle, the blood will then be pumped out of the heart to the lungs.  The blood will drop off the carbon dioxide that it is carrying, and it will pick up oxygen.  Once the blood is oxygenated, the blood returns to the heart and enters the left atrium.  The left atrium will contract and send blood to the left ventricle.  The left ventricle will then contract, and oxygenated blood is sent out to the body.  It will return to the right atrium after exchanging its load of oxygen for carbon dioxide. In short, blood goes from the right atrium, to the right ventricle, to the lungs, to the left atrium, to the left ventricle, to the body, and then back to the right atrium to start over. 
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/ab/44/9b/ab449b53015dbbf7dc787b20fe380d2b--cardiac-catheterization-heart-diagram.jpg

How do Della's qualities help her resolve her conflict?

Della's conflict is an internal one; she desperately wants to purchase a nice Christmas gift for her husband, "Something fine and rare and sterling—something just a little bit near to being worthy of the honor of being owned by Jim." The problem? All she's been able to save is one dollar and eighty seven cents. After she cries for a while about the unfairness of it all, especially considering how difficult it is to live on so little as $20 a week, she seems to have an epiphany.

Suddenly she whirled from the window and stood before the glass, her eyes were shining brilliantly, but her face had lost its color within twenty seconds. Rapidly she pulled down her hair and let it fall to its full length.

Della is so giving that she does not seem to think twice before giving up her most valued possession so that she can purchase something beautiful for Jim. She is so selfless that it doesn't occur to her to just spend her $1.87 and be done with it. She is so joyful and loving and willing to sacrifice that, decision made, she has a "brilliant sparkle" in her eye as she "fluttered out the door" on her way to sell her most prized possession. She is also so mature and insightful that she realizes her love for Jim is more important than any material possession.

First of all, we need to establish the precise nature of the conflict that Della must resolve. As it turns out, it's the exact same conflict encountered by Jim. Husband and wife both want to express their love for each other by giving the very best Christmas gifts they could imagine. Unfortunately, Jim and Della are very poor, and therein lies the source of the conflict they both must somehow resolve.
For her part, Della attempts to resolve the conflict by selling some of her beautiful locks of hair to a hairdresser. Della doesn't have much in life, but one thing she does have is incredibly beautiful hair. By selling some of it to pay for Jim's Christmas gift, Della is showing not just her love, but also her selflessness. She is prepared to make a sacrifice in order to bring her husband a touch of happiness on Christmas Day. It's this extraordinary quality, more than any other, that helps her to resolve a seemingly intractable conflict.
 

What is the tone and mood of "The Song of the Chattahoochee"?

This poem is written in the voice of the Chattahoochee river itself, as it describes its journey "out of the hills of Habersham." The tone of the poem is wistful: the river begins its journey in a beautiful place, where it would prefer to stay. All around it, it hears appeals from nature to remain on the high lands: "The rushes cried, 'Abide, Abide,' / The willful waterweeds held me thrall." Yet, the river's journey is not dictated by its own desires but by its ultimate purpose. It moves "with a lover's pain to attain the plain," which is its final goal.
As the river rushes through the high valleys, everything it passes, from the "ferns and the fondling grass" to the "little reeds" begs it to stay. The hickory tells, "fair tales of the shade," and the river finds itself held back by "the smooth brook-stone," which entreats him "with friendly brawl" not to pass out of the valley. The "lures" of the precious stones are appealing to the river; the juxtaposition between the lush descriptions of the upper valleys and the depiction of the "dry fields" below make clear that it would far prefer to linger in the place where it began.
Such is not for the river to decide, however. "Downward the voices of Duty call," and the river must somberly answer this call. Below, on the plain, it must provide water, help the mills turn, and respond to the "myriad flowers" which "mortally yearn" for irrigation. So, the river responds to its duty, despite the plaintive begging of the lush lands in the valley for it to stay there. The mood of the poem suggests that duty must ultimately be the river's guide, even if it causes "a lover's pain" to break away and pursue such a duty.

What did the motives of Germany, Italy, and Japan have in common during World War II?

The most important single motive shared by the so-called Axis powers was the establishment of empire. To that end, Germany, Italy, and Japan felt unable to subscribe to the prevailing norms of international law and politics. Each power routinely disregarded international treaties and conventions in pursuit of its aims, often dividing the Allied powers in the process. The Axis powers tested the prevailing system to destruction, and it took some time before the international community was able to respond effectively to the challenge.
The Germans, Italians, and Japanese looked towards a glorious, mythical past that they wished to recover. Virulent nationalism was the dominant political force in each one of these countries, and their governments were obsessed with the idea of restoring national greatness. This would be achieved at the expense of so-called lesser races and peoples: Chinese and Koreans (Japan); Abyssinians (Fascist Italy); Jews and Slavs (Nazi Germany). The international order established after World War I militated against the whole notion of overseas empires created by armed force.
This generated a profound sense of grievance in Germany, Italy, and Japan, who felt that they were being deprived of colonial territory that was rightfully theirs. The Axis powers wanted to achieve great power status, but the Allies wouldn't let them. This fanned the flames of resentment and gave added impetus to nationalist dreams of imperial conquest. The Nazis, for example, were especially obsessed with the concept of lebensraum, or living space. This would involve the forced seizure of large tracts of territory in Eastern Europe to make room for hordes of German settlers.

I think you are referring to the WWII era when all three of these nations made up the Axis Powers. One major thing that they had in common was that the leaders of all three nations felt disrespected by the peace process which ended WWI. Japan's claims in the Pacific were not honored and the Western imperial powers still maintained colonies there. Germany was blamed for WWI and had to pay back billions in reparations to the Allies all while losing major industrial centers. The Entente promised Italy some territory from the Austro-Hungarian Empire if it would join their side in WWI, but this land never materialized.
Another thing that these nations had in common during WWII was that their leadership was taken over by pro-military strongmen who wanted to expand national borders. Hitler went against the disarmament portion of the Versailles Treaty by building up the infantry and air force arms of the German military. Benito Mussolini desired to re-create the old Roman Empire and turn the Mediterranean into a Roman lake once again. Japan sought to make itself the strongest nation in Asia by using its neighbors for raw materials and slave labor. By embracing militarism and expansion, all three of these nations hoped to gain the respect that they felt was not given to them at Versailles.

What is the importance of oral communication?

Oral communication—using speech to communicate—is essential in both business and interpersonal contexts. A person who wants to succeed in the business world needs to know how to present his or her ideas in a clear, succinct way. It is essential for a person to understand the needs and perspectives of his or her audience as well (see the link below). A person has to know how to communicate his or her ideas in a way that will be easily comprehensible to the audience.
In addition, oral communication is essential to forming friendships and other types of relationships. A person has to be capable of stating his or her ideas in a way that the other person will understand and take in. Part of oral communication is using words and concepts that the other person or people will understand and choosing when to present these ideas, picking a time when the audience is receptive.
https://collegepuzzle.stanford.edu/oral-communication-skills-are-important-for-students/

Oral communication is perhaps one of the most essential skills to master because of its applicability to most academic and professional fields. In fact, employers often rank communication skills as the number one quality they search for in potential candidates.
It is important to consider the setting of oral communication, whether it takes place one-on-one or among a group. These settings have some similarities as well as some differences in terms of the skills necessary to convey one's thoughts and ideas in a meaningful way. For example, in a job interview, employers are more impressed by candidates who respond in extended sentences rather than just "yes" or "no" answers. In a group setting, pitch and volume are key characteristics of oral communication.
Furthermore, non-verbal communication can be just as important as oral communication. Good eye contact, excellent posture, and active listening cues are a few non-verbal communication skills that reinforce oral communication. Fortunately, both oral and non-verbal communication skills can be greatly improved over time with more experience.
Many academic programs from grade school through college deem oral communication so vital that they are including standards for this in their education. The hope is that students will enter the workforce and society with these crucial skills. This article details the history of our nation's emphasis on oral communication skills as well as key competencies college students should attain.
https://www.dol.gov/odep/topics/youth/softskills/Communication.pdf

https://www.in.gov/che/files/NCA-Speaking_and_Listening_Competencies_for_College_Students.pdf

What did the colonies lose by declaring independence?

The short answer to this question is that the colonies lost security. As a member of the vast British Empire, the Thirteen Colonies enjoyed a large degree of both economic and military security. Being a lucrative part of the British Empire, the American colonies were often coveted by other European powers, particularly the French. The British victory in the French and Indian War in 1763 put an end to French intentions on the continent. However, without the protection of the British military, the newly independent United States now found it necessary to raise its own military, something it initially struggled to do.
Furthermore, in the 18th Century, Britain was the head of the largest trade network in the world. Secure and lucrative economic markets existed from India to the Caribbean to Europe. As part of this network, merchants in British North America had access to goods from all over the world and could sell their wares in those markets as well. It is true that merchants in the Thirteen Colonies often chaffed under the restrictions imposed upon them by their imperial masters in England. This, in fact, was a leading cause for the fight for independence. However, after independence was declared in 1776, the young United States no longer had access to the economic markets provided by the British Empire.
Additionally, the Thirteen Colonies were the first to declare independence from their mother country. More revolutions would follow elsewhere in the world in the decades to come. However, this type of independence was uncharted territory in the 1770s. No one knew exactly how the new nation would be governed or how it would function. The security of being part of a well established and powerful Empire vanished when independence was declared. The former colonies faced uncertain and anxious times ahead.

Who are four Victorian era poets and what were their contributions to Victorian Poetry?

The Victorian Period is characterized by multiplicity and extreme variety of style and belief. Four renowned Victorian poets are Alfred Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, Gerald Manley Hopkins, and Thomas Hardy.
Alfred Lord Tennyson
Although Matthew Arnold criticized Tennyson as being without intellectual power because he had no unifying theme, others have praised him for his different types of poetry. Still, Tennyson shared with the other poets of his age a sense of estrangement. Perhaps, he is most notable for his advanced techniques of symbolism. For instance, he made use of the technique of symbolic situation, a method close to allegory as in "The Voyage" and "The Holy Grail," which represent the course of spiritual life. Another long poem,"Maud," achieved psychological naturalism and reflects with poetic brilliance and mellifluous tone the social discontent of mid-century.  
Robert Browning
Browning's career is often defined as the accomplishment of dramatic poetry, a form of poetry which dominated the twentieth century. Browning broke from the traditional poetic confession of the Romantics and moved to the dramatic monologue. "My Last Duchess" stands as an excellent example of such a monologue. In addition, Browning mastered ironic understatement and his diction strips away the superfluous, leaving the essential, a style that became characteristic of the twentieth century.
Gerald Manley Hopkins
Hopkins is, perhaps, best known for his "Sprung Rhythm." This is a pattern in which there are a determined number of stresses, but the number and disposition of unstressed syllables are widely variable. Hopkins himself has said that he chose this meter because it was "the native and natural rhythm of speech," and because it retained the movement of song. This metric is flexible and catches the changing emotions of experience in a natural ways. It scans by accents or stresses alone, without concern for the number of syllables. Such poems as "God's Grandeur" and Pied Beauty" exemplify this "sprung rhythm."
Thomas Hardy
Known as the "good gray poet," Thomas Hardy's style is rugged and idiosyncratic, but it is always sensitive though unsophisticated. His education was in a country environment where he most focused on the bare essentials. Not urbane and sophisticated, Hardy was intent upon the central passions of life, which provide his poems their symbolic wealth.
Perhaps better than many other Victorian poets, Thomas expressed the doubt and despair of his age, but used characterization more than illustrative incidents to do this. Influenced by ballads and folksongs, Hardy experimented with different meters and stanza forms. In addition, he liked to employ "rough-hewn rhythms and colloquial diction." 
 
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/matthew-arnold

https://www.poetseers.org/the-great-poets/victorian-poets/

Why does William Faulkner name his story A Rose for Emily when it is about Emily’s murder of Homer?

Although Emily murders Homer Barron in this narrative, the story is less about Emily's act of murder and more about Emily herself and her experiences with death. The murder of Homer is indeed a significant component of the plot, but there are many other elements that contribute to William Faulkner's protagonist, Emily. Emily deals with and/or faces death in various capacities throughout the narrative. Faulkner's reason for choosing "A Rose For Emily" as the title could be interpreted in various ways, as the symbol of a rose may carry various meanings. Considering the heavy emphasis upon the theme of death throughout the narrative, one might understand the title as a symbol of condolence following a death or as an honoring of a memorial or monument (as Emily is so perceived by the men during her funeral). Another potential meaning for the title could be in reference to the romantic relationship between Emily and Homer and the potential expectation of marriage between them.
The first instance of Emily dealing with death is in the case of her father, when she wishes not to accept the reality of his passing and in fact avoids it. It is several days after his death that she finally breaks down and the people have the opportunity to bury his body. Here, Emily experiences a significant loss with the death of her father. However, her father had also withheld romantic relationships from her, resisting suitors that had come to call upon her in the past. 
Although Emily appeared in public less often after the death of her father, she managed to meet and connect with Homer Barron. Emily's purchasing of a men's toiletry kit and Homer's visits to her home were enough for the people of the town to understand the direction in which the relationship was headed. At one point, after Emily had purchased arsenic and Homer had visited her home, Homer was never seen again. This, then, is the second instance in which Emily interacts with death, in this case, the murder of her lover, Homer Barron. Perhaps the romantic meaning of the title is made plain in the relationship between Emily and Homer, as well as in Emily's attempt to keep the relationship and Homer even after his death. In this interpretation, Homer might be considered Emily's rose, embodying both the romantic and honorary characteristics of the rose symbol.
Finally, the last instance of death in Faulkner's narrative is Emily's own. At this point, the people of the town come to her home as part of her funeral. The people then discover that Emily has kept the dead body of Homer in a locked room in her home. Apparently, Emily would lie with him even after his death, as made evident by the strand of gray hair found on the pillow next to him. This particular scene could again allude to the romantic symbolism of the rose with Emily keeping the dead body of her lover for herself. However, the honorary symbolism of the rose may also be applied to this scene, as the people attend her funeral in honor of her life and death.

In Animal Farm, how does Orwell create a sense of panic and fear in chapter 7? What language does he use to show this?

In chapter seven of Animal Farm, Orwell is able to create a sense of panic and fear through his description of the pain of starvation and the terror of Napoleon.
The opening to chapter seven details how the difficult winter led to food shortages.  Orwell refers to the "dry frosty weather" and how the animals hand to endure "cruel work."  This toil was different than what they had experienced before because they did "not feel so hopeful about it as they had before."  At this point, the reality of Animal Farm is settling into the animals' psyche.  The post-revolution euphoria is gone as the animals were "always cold, and usually hungry as well."  With such a physical description, Orwell is able to establish the fearful mood that grips the animals.
This is enhanced with Napoleon's response to the food shortage.  Orwell describes how rations were reduced and further hardship was brought to bear on the animals so that the outside world would not realize how bad things were on the farm. Orwell describes how "starvation seemed to stare them in the face."  
Reminding us of how bad things are for the animals only sets up how much worse it is going to get.  Animals like the hens and the Minorca pullets who protest Napoleon's actions are dealt with severely and brutally. Napoleon orders all the animals to the courtyard in order to publicly address the rising tide of insurrection.  Orwell's language reflects the fear that the animals have as "They all cowered silently in their places, seeming to know in advance that some terrible thing was about to happen."
Fear turns into panic once the animals witness Napoleon's brutality.  Orwell describes how the dogs act on Napoleon's orders in dealing with "traitors." The dogs attack their victims as they are "squealing with pain and terror," and bring them to Napoleon's feet.  The animals stare in horror as the "dogs had tasted blood and for a few moments they appeared to go quite mad."  As different animals confess, "the dogs promptly tore their throats out."  Orwell conveys what the animals see in harsh detail: 

They were all slain on the spot. And so the tale of  confessions and executions went on, until there was a pile of corpses lying before Napoleon's feet and the air was heavy with the smell of  blood, which had been unknown there since the expulsion of Jones. 

After seeing all of this, the animals were "shaken and miserable," shocked by "the cruel retribution they had just witnessed."
In detailing Napoleon's cruelty, Orwell is able to create a sense of panic and fear.  Weakened by hunger and terrorized by Napoleon's brutality, the animals are besieged with negative thoughts.  They are a very long way from "Beasts of England."  The chapter closes with the hungry animals walking into an future filled with fear and doubt.

What happens to the sand in a sieve? What does this have to do with Montag? What comparison does he make to the sand?

Part Two of the novel is entitled "The Sieve and the Sand," which metaphorically represents Montag's struggle to comprehend the texts that he is reading when he initially attempts to understand literature. While Montag is riding a subway train on his way to visit professor Faber, he attempts to read a passage out of the Bible but cannot focus or comprehend the texts because he is distracted by the extremely loud Denham's Dentrifice blaring through the train's speaker. Montag desperately attempts to read faster and faster in order to understand the texts, but his efforts are in vain.
Montag's inability to comprehend and remember what he has read reminds him of a time when he was a child and visited the beach with his cousin. Montag's cousin had bet him a dime that he could not fill a sieve with sand and Montag accepted the challenge. He proceeded to frantically fill the sieve with sand, only to watch it fall through the bottom. The sieve and the sand metaphor applies to the information Montag is attempting to comprehend, which he instantly forgets the second he reads a word because of the extremely distracting advertisements on the train.

When Montag was a child, his cousin said that if he could fill a sieve with sand, he would get a dime. Of course, Montag failed to get the dime because this task is impossible. The sand will always fall through the holes of the sieve, no matter how quickly it is filled.
When Montag travels to see Faber and is sitting on the subway, he remembers this incident with the sieve and the sand. With a Bible in his lap, he tries to memorize as much of the text as possible, just as he once tried to fill a sieve with sand.
The sieve and the sand, therefore, act as a metaphor in the novel. The sand is comparable to the literature he wants to memorize and understand. Conversely, the sieve is like his mind, desperately trying to retain as much information as possible.
The sieve and the sand also represent Montag's struggle to find meaning and happiness in his life. Just as he struggled to fill the sieve, the novel charts Montag's struggle to overcome the fireman system and erase censorship from his society.

What is the significance of the line “Fair is foul, and foul is fair”?

In Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Macbeth, the audience hears the three witches chant these words in unison at the end of Act I, scene I. They have made a plan to meet Macbeth, and by saying "Fair is foul, and foul is fair," they are telling the audience that not everything is as it seems.
One example of something that seems "fair" but turns out to be "foul" is Macbeth himself, a war hero who turns murderer. One example of something that looks "foul" but turns out to be "fair" is the battle that took place as a result of the Thane's rebellion against the king; though the battle is bloody, it gives Macbeth the opportunity to impress Duncan, which makes for a fair situation for Macbeth.
This warning puts the audience members on the lookout for situations that might seem suspicious. This warning also contributes to the mysterious and supernatural nature of the witches, who do not communicate in clear language like the human characters in the play.

How does the setting of the village scene impact the plot of the novel and the actions of the main protagonists?

There are actually a few village scenes in the story. The rural setting of these village scenes is central to the plot of the novel and the actions of its protagonist, Okonkwo.
The village scenes demonstrate the extent to which nature and its gods affect the lives of the Igbo. For example, "suspicious" deaths are feared by the Igbo because they believe that such deaths will bring curses from the earth goddess. In the book, Unoka (Okonkwo's father) is said to have died from a swelling in the stomach and limbs. This type of death is considered an abomination to the earth goddess. So, Unoka is taken to the Evil Forest to die alone.
Later, Okonkwo desecrates the sacred Week of Peace and offends the earth goddess. He beats his wife, Ojiugo, for failing to cook the afternoon meal in time. Ezeani, the priest, angrily scolds Okonkwo for bringing the curses of Ani, the earth goddess, down on his people. Without the deity's blessings, the crops will not grow, and the people will suffer. To atone for his sins, Okonkwo sacrifices a she-goat and a hen. He also brings a length of cloth and a hundred cowries to the shrine of Ani. So, we can see that the rural setting is central to the plot: it holds the sacred mysteries that the Igbo live by.
A central village scene can be found in Chapter Five. In this chapter, we learn how the villagers celebrate the Feast of the New Yam. Most importantly, we also learn Okonkwo's perspective about such feasts. Basically, he has little patience with them. Certainly, the feast honors the earth goddess, Ani, who is said to be the source of all fertility. Ani is also the ultimate judge of "morality and conduct" and an intercessor for the living before the ancestors.
The village scene in Chapter Five describes the preparations for the feast. Everywhere, there is a festive spirit, and everyone works to prepare the beloved delicacies. Drums can be heard beating in the background. The people's happiness is tied to the land and its attendant gods. For his part, Okonkwo prefers to rely on his own powers to attain material benefits. The difference in perspective between Okonkwo and his fellow Igbo neighbors is made clear in this chapter.
Okonkwo's detachment from the traditional Igbo gods eventually leads to a deep depression, and Okonkwo later dies in an ill-fated suicide. Always impatient for warfare and bloodshed, Okonkwo cannot resign himself to the changes the white man has wrought in his culture. At the same time, he has little faith in the traditional earth worship his people trust in.
Because Okonkwo has always despised failure, he is fully invested in fighting. His greatest fear is to show weakness of any sort. For him, physical strength must subsume all other "types" of strength; indeed, there must never be a superstitious reliance on an earth goddess for one's happiness in life. This is why Okonkwo advocates war against the white man. He can see no other way forward other than to fight. When his fellow Igbo neighbors refuse, Okonkwo commits suicide.
So, the village scenes are central to the plot of the story and the actions of its protagonist, Okonkwo.

sum_(n=0)^oo (2x)^n Find the interval of convergence of the power series. (Be sure to include a check for convergence at the endpoints of the interval.)

Recall the Root test determines the limit as:
lim_(n-gtoo) root(n)(|a_n|)= L
or 
lim_(n-gtoo) |(a_n)|^(1/n)= L
Then, we follow the conditions:
a) Llt1 then the series is absolutely convergent
b) Lgt1 then the series is divergent.
c) L=1 or does not exist  then the test is inconclusive. The series may be divergent, conditionally convergent, or absolutely convergent.
For the given series sum_(n=0)^oo (2x)^n , we have a_n = (2x)^n .
Applying the Root test, we set-up the limit as:
lim_(n-gtoo) |((2x)^n )^(1/n)| =lim_(n-gtoo) |(2x)^(n*1/n)|
                                  =lim_(n-gtoo) |(2x)^(n/n)|
                                  =lim_(n-gtoo) |(2x)^1|
                                  =lim_(n-gtoo) |(2x)|
                                  =|2x|
Applying  Llt1 as the condition for an absolutely convergent series, we let L=|2x| and set-up the interval of convergence as:
|2x|lt1
-1 lt2xlt1
Divide each part by 2:
(-1)/2 lt(2x)/2lt1/2
-1/2ltxlt1/2
The series may converges when L =1 or |2x|=1 . To check on this, we test for convergence at the endpoints: x=-1/2 and x=1/2 by using geometric series test.
The convergence test for the geometric series sum_(n=0)^oo a*r^n  follows the conditions:
a) If |r|lt1  or -1 ltrlt 1 then the geometric series converges to a/(1-r) .
b) If |r|gt=1 then the geometric series diverges.
When we let x=-1/2 on sum_(n=0)^oo (2*(1/2))^n , we get a series:
sum_(n=0)^oo 1*(-2/2)^n =sum_(n=0)^oo 1*(-1)^n
 
It shows that r=-1 and |r|= |-1|=1 which satisfies |r|>=1. The series diverges at the left endpoint.
When we let x=1/2 on sum_(n=0)^oo (2*1/2)^n , we get a series:
sum_(n=0)^oo 1*(2/2)^n =sum_(n=0)^oo 1*(1)^n
It shows that r=1 and |r|= |-1|=1 which satisfies |r|gt=1 . The series diverges at the right endpoint.
Conclusion:
The interval of convergence of the power series sum_(n=0)^oo (2x)^n is -1/2ltxlt1/2 .

How are the men in the novel shaped by the social classes in to which they were born? How does the social context and background of each of the male characters in the novel shape their behavior?

Social class plays an important role in shaping men in the novel. If we start with George Wilson, the most consistently lower-class male character in novel (I am leaving out the servants), he has been made abject and servile by poverty. He runs a gas station, is forced to live in the unpleasant Valley of the Ashes, and is dependent on the business of men like Tom Buchanan. Through much of the novel he is trying to wheedle business from Tom, who uses this as a means to see Myrtle, George's wife. Myrtle holds Wilson in contempt because he can't provide her with a comfortable lifestyle, and she feels justified in having an affair with Tom. We see how poverty "unmans" Wilson.
Tom, the most upper-class male in the novel, is a striking contrast to Wilson. He lives in a grand house by the water, owns a string of polo ponies, and strides through life as if he owns the world. He has inherited his great wealth, not worked for it, and he has a huge sense of entitlement. It means nothing to him to take Wilson's wife. Because he has always traveled in the most upper-class circles, he spots Gatsby as an impostor almost immediately and is immune to his attempts to impress people. Tom's insulated life allows him to be brutal, racist, and classist. He takes for granted that he has the right to feel superior to the rest of the world. If Wilson's lower-class status means he creeps through life like a shadow, Tom dominates the space he occupies, wrecking lives as he goes.
Like Wilson, Gatsby comes from poor roots. While we are told very little about Gatsby's background, Tom spots him immediately as a not a "Nordic" and hence inferior. Gatsby's sense of shame over his poverty drives his ambition and makes him willing to embrace a life of crime to get ahead. Part of his desire for Daisy stems from her wealth; she has never known any want and is the living embodiment of the grace, beauty, and charm that a privileged life offers. When she falls in love with Gatsby, it signals to him that he can rise above his poverty. But he never can quite do it. For all his vast wealth, there are gaps that reveal his past: he wears a pink suit, which is a bit tacky; talks about big game hunting in Europe, which has no "big game" of the sort people went after in Africa and India; and the books in his library have uncut pages, meaning he hasn't read them. His lavish house and parties can't obscure that he comes from humble roots and doesn't quite belong in the upper-class world he pretends to be a part of. In the end, Daisy opts for the safety of the real thing: Tom.
Nick, like Tom, comes from comfortable roots. He has nowhere near Tom's vast wealth, but his family is able to send him to an elite college and bankroll him as he begins in the financial sector in New York City. He can afford to rent a house with a servant. His lifestyle seems quite modest, but that is only in contrast to people like Tom and Gatsby. Because of his privilege, he has been taught by his father not to judge other people—he has been bred in the courtesy of the upper-classes. Most tellingly, he is immediately accepted by Tom as one of his set: not only is Nick a college friend of Tom's and Daisy's cousin, Tom refers to him as a Nordic. He never treats Nick with contempt. Nick's place as an upper-class insider on the periphery, with not much money compared to the superrich, gives him more compassion and sympathy for a climber like Gatsby than a man such as Tom Buchanan can muster.

Considering the attached documents, what are some ideas or examples of thesis statements related to the texts "Boys and Girls," Hamlet, "The Snows of Kilimanjaro," and The Kite Runner?

A thesis is the main idea or claim of an essay, usually stated in one or two sentences in the introduction. When composing a thesis statement, you want to make sure your claim is something arguable, something you can prove. A thesis should also be as clear and specific as possible because it indicates to the reader the focus of the piece of writing. A thesis statement of a literary analysis paper should also include the title(s) and author(s) of the text(s) discussed.
This particular assignment focuses on themes relevant to the texts. Choose for each topic the text that you think most directly connects to the idea. Then rephrase the topic to show the specific message the text sends about that topic. In wording your thesis statement, you may want to use a pattern like this: In [text] [author’s name] illustrates that [theme statement]. Example based on number nine: In the novel The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini illustrates that a single moment of someone’s life can have lasting significance.
This may go beyond what the instructor wants, but you may also want to add a writing technique or literary element the author uses to develop the theme. In that case, you could use a pattern like this: In [text] [author’s name] uses [writing technique/literary element] to illustrate that [theme statement]. Example based on number nine: In the novel The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini uses repetition to illustrate that a single moment of someone’s life can have lasting significance.
This may also go beyond what the instructor intended, but many of these topics would lend themselves to a comparison of two or more texts that relate to a common theme. For example, number eight focuses on the “need to make a commitment or renounce a course of action.” Both Hamlet and The Kite Runner feature protagonists who struggle with decisions and regret.
Best of luck on the assignment! 

It appears that your instructor is asking you to think of potential thesis statements for essays you might write in the future about your assigned readings. The thesis statements need to address certain themes. 
For the theme of identity, you might state that in "Boys and Girl" the narrator originally has an almost genderless identity as a prepubescent child. In the story she gradually begins to develop the identity of a "girl" as she reaches puberty, and finds this identity quite restrictive, especially in the way that it constructs her as inferior to her brother Laird. You could next mention that her moment of decision comes when she lets the horse Flora escape, giving Flora, albeit only briefly, the freedom she herself is about to lose when confined to the woman's world of the kitchen.
For Hamlet, his identity is established as a Prince of Denmark and yet he too has to make a choice as to whether he will identify with his father and take revenge or support Claudius. You could argue that the decisive moment for him is that in which he decides to assume the identity of avenger of his father, as that sets the subsequent plot in motion. Another important element of identity in the play is that of false identity, of Hamlet pretending to be mad and the actors pretending to be characters of the play within the play. One could even argue that Claudius is in a sense assuming a false identity of King, based on murder and duplicity.
In Hemingway's "The Snows of Kilimanjaro," Harry's identity rests on his role as writer and adventurer and for him these two identities are closely tied together. This identity is closely related to his sense of gender, in which the female appears almost as a threat to his self-identity and independence, and something he blames for his creative dry spell.

Who is the real tiger in "The Tiger in the Tunnel"? Is it the tiger or Baldeo?

I think that the tiger is the real tiger in "The Tiger in the Tunnel."
A case could be made that as Baldeo approaches his adversary, he might display some qualities that resemble those of a tiger. Upon entering the top of the cutting, Baldeo walks as cautiously as a knowledgeable predator. Like the tiger, he is very confident of his ability to face down wild animals in the jungle. Baldeo "prided himself in his skill" in using his axe. With a kill list that includes a young boar, Baldeo believes he is a talented hunter.
However, when Baldeo encounters the tiger, it is clear that he, Baldeo, is the hunted. Baldeo is no match for the tiger, who has "preyed" on the men in the jungle for years. The tiger is a "great brute." At the moment of confrontation, his quick and focused movements cannot be avoided. "Flight was useless" for Baldeo, a description that proves his inability to "out-tiger" the tiger.
Baldeo puts up a good fight. He is able to land an agonizing wound on the tiger. However, the real tiger in the story is the tiger himself. He is the one who successfully hunts down Baldeo, "bringing him down and tearing at his broken body."

How many moles are there in 11 grams of carbon dioxide?

Moles and mass are both measures of the quantity of a substance, in this case CO_2.
We can convert between two representations of the same quantity in different units if we can find a relationship between the units. When converting between grams (mass) and moles, we use the molar mass.
The molar mass of a molecular formula such as that of CO_2 is found by adding the molar masses of all of the atoms in the formula. A molecule of carbon dioxide contains one atom of carbon and two atoms of oxygen, so we have
molar mass of CO_2 = molar mass of C + 2 * (molar mass of O)
Using the Periodic Table to find that the molar mass of carbon is 12.01 g and that of oxygen is 16.00 g, we get
molar mass of CO_2 = 12.01 g + 2 * (16.00 g)
= 44.01 g.
We can write that 1 mole CO_2 = 44.01 g CO_2
Any time we have an equality, if we divide both sides by the same quantity, the results are still equal, so we can divide both sides by 44.01 g CO_2 and get
("1 mole")/(44.01 g) = 1
We can always multiply anything by 1 without changing the quantity. This is called a conversion factor, because it converts a quantity from being expressed in one unit to another without changing the value of the quantity.
In the problem we are given 11 g of CO_2 .
The best way to set up a unit conversion problem is to write the given first, then multiply by the conversion factor. We get
11 g CO_2 * ("1 mole")/(44.01 g) = 0.2499 "mole" * (g)/(g) CO_2
Anything divided by itself is equal to 1, so the g/g term disappears. We say "the grams cancel" since they appear in both numerator and denominator. Our answer is in moles.
One step remains. The given value has two significant figures. Since all we did was multiply, our answer should have two significant figures. Thus we get
11 g CO_2 = 0.25 mole CO_2 .

What is the Devil doing when Tom Walker encounters him?

As Tom Walker is taking a shortcut home through the dark, dreary swamp, he stops to rest at an old fort, which has a bad reputation of being a place where Indians once held incantations and made sacrifices. When Tom Walker discovers a skull in the soil, he gives it a kick and is immediately reprimanded by Old Scratch. Tom is surprised by the devil, who is carrying an ax over his shoulder and has been chopping down the surrounding trees, which have the names of prominent men in the colony carved into the bark. The trees in the swamp with the names carved into the bark represent the men's souls. Tom also notices that some of the trees have more scores in them than others, which represents the various sins of particular community members. Old Scratch has just finished chopping down Crowninshield's tree and tells Tom that he will have plenty of firewood for the winter. Later on, Tom discovers that the wealthy Crowninshield has recently died, which reveals that the devil took his soul by chopping down his tree.

When Tom Walker encounters him, the Devil is busy cutting down trees. He tells Tom Walker that he will have a good harvest of firewood for winter.
As Tom surveys his surroundings, he realizes that the Devil has scored the names of important men onto certain trees. The trees are all tall and magnificent in build. However, Tom notices that one of the trees appear to be "fair and flourishing without, but rotten at the core." This tree has Deacon Peabody's name on it, and Tom marks that the tree is almost ready to fall.
In fact, the trunk Tom has been seated on bears the name of Crowninshield, a wealthy man who lived an ostentatious (showy) life, purportedly acquired through buccaneering (piracy). When Tom confronts the Devil about his right to cut down the trees, the Devil answers that the land belonged to him long before any settlers set foot on it. He imagines himself a judge, the "great patron and prompter of slave dealers, and the grand master of the Salem witches."
 
 

 

 

How might random events play a role in what we become?

First, this question assumes that events can be random, and that everything is not already predetermined. With that assumption in mind, think of a random event as a shift in direction. Some events shift a person's direction in a slight way, like a course correction for a pilot. Others may shift a person's direction in huge ways. Both can be impactful.

Consider the following examples: A professional basketball player who was missing a large portion of her free-throws, randomly met a retired professional basketball player who gave her just the right adjustment to increase her free-throw percentage. In this case the random meeting was a small thing by itself, but could potentially impact the current player's overall strength of her game in large ways. In the opposite direction, an injury to a professional sportsperson could do the same thing, potentially ending her or his career.

In another example, a person might go to a huge youth gathering, where they are a specially selected speaker. This is a big deal and a big event, and the youth speaker went through a lot of preparation to get here. Randomly, Oprah is in the audience, and is so moved by the youth speaker that she asks them to come join her team as a Junior Correspondent to the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). This would likely have a huge impact on the rest of the youth speaker's life, because it was a drastic shift.

Important to remember in all events, random or planned, is that small things/acts/decisions make up larger things/acts/decisions. Further, that just because a person or event may shift in small or big ways because of a random or planned event, does not mean that they cannot shift again, either further along the new direction or back to the old direction.

This question is a far deeper question than it first appears. The wording of the question suggests that random events can and do hold the power to influence our future lives. The reason that this question is deep is because it assumes that random events exist. That means philosophies such as fatalism and predestination are automatically assumed false. These would believe that seemingly random events are not random at all.
A variable in this question is what exactly the question means by "random." For example, let's say that you have to take English 2 at some point during high school. The class is taught by two different teachers, and the school registrar assigns you teacher "B." Is that random? It could be, especially if the registrar rolled a set of dice to determine your placement, such as even numbered rolls = section A and odd numbered rolls = section B.
It's possible that the above situation has a huge and important impact on your life. Teacher "B" might be so good and so inspiring about literature you decide that pursuing a career such as an English teacher, editor, or publisher is what you want to do with your life.
The previous example is more of a long-term random event. A student would interact with that teacher for months; however, a random event could be short and equally impactful. Let's say that you are out for a walk, and you witness a car accident. You immediately call 911 and rush to the cars to check on people. You feel completely helpless as to what to do. The EMTs show up soon after, and you are amazed at how calmly they assess the situation and begin administering care to some gruesome injuries. The event causes you to change your college major from business to medicine, because you want to be able to help people in need the way that you saw those men and women do it.
Anecdotally, I had a high school friend who was involved in a bad motorcycle accident. His spinal cord was severed, and he became paralyzed from the waist down. He is now a minister and inspirational speaker. If you asked him how he got into that particular line of work, his answer always involves the accident, his recovery, and the people involved with his recovery. None of those post-accident things would have happened if the random accident didn't happen.

Existentialism is a common theme in Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis, Albert Camus's The Stranger, and Steve McQueen's film, Hunger. How do these three works relate to existentialist thought and the human condition?

Existentialism plays a significant role in each of these works, although its role is perhaps most obvious in The Stranger.
The Metamorphosis
The Metamorphosis uses a strange metaphorical transformation to illustrate the themes of existentialism and its role in the human condition. The main character, Gregor, discovers that he is undergoing a grotesque transformation into a giant insect. This transformation is used to illustrate Gregor's alienation from society and his family, which is a common theme in existentialist thought. The existentialist theme of consequence presents itself as well. Gregor chooses to do meaningless work he hates in order to care for his family and, by doing so, creates his own meaning in life. This story illustrates the painful aspect of alienation in the human condition. In doing what he believes is right, Gregor becomes isolated from his fellow man and loses his humanity. This story could also be considered an example of Absurdism (closely related to Existentialism) with the bizzare and uncontrollable events in the story representing the idea that there is no order or reason in the universe.
The Stranger
The Stranger is one of the strongest examples of existentialist thought in literature and, though Camus rejected the existentialist label, his works are often classified as such. The story follows Meursault, who learns of his mother's death through a telegram and travels to attend her funeral. He exhibits no grief or emotion during the funeral, and after a series of events and acquaintances, he commits a meaningless murder. In the face of execution, Meursault asserts that there is no greater meaning to human life and denies the existence of God, serving as a mouthpiece for many of Camus' existentialist philosophies. In this sense, The Stranger holds that the human condition is a result of human creation and insists that the only true peace to be found lies in accepting that life has no inherent meaning.
Hunger
Hunger is a film that deals with the existential ideas of faith, imprisonment, and consequences. The story focuses on a prisoner who starves himself as a political protest against his imprisonment and the government regime he opposed. It is through this dark event that Hunger explores the nature of choice and consequence, two themes that are essential to existentialist philosophy. Hunger shows the worst of the human condition in a dark prison devoid of comfort or hope. Despite their squalid circumstances, the prisoners find ways to express their ingenuity and anger.
 
http://ojs.ub.gu.se/ojs/index.php/njes/article/viewFile/2927/2513

"I'm weaker than a woman's tear" is an example of what?

"But I am weaker than a woman's tear" is a quote from act 1, scene 1 of one of William Shakespeare's lesser known tragedies Troilus and Cressida and is an example of a simile.
A simile is a literary device in which a comparison is drawn using a connecting word, usually like or as, though in this case that word would be than. A simile can be differentiated from a metaphor in that metaphors often don't use connecting words and similes always do. In this specific simile, Troilus, the speaker and the protagonist of the drama, compares his own strength, or lack thereof, unfavorably to the tear of a woman, a sign of emotional distress traditionally associated with weakness. He uses the literary device to emphasize his point to Pandarus, with whom he is speaking. He is not just weak, he is so weak that even a woman's tear is stronger than he is.
This line is spoken at the very start of the play, after the prologue has introduced the audience to the premise, namely that these events take place in the midst of the Trojan War. Following this prologue, the play proper opens with Troilus, a prince of Troy, explaining that he cannot fight the Greeks because he is too lovesick, hopelessly besotted with Pandarus's niece Cressida. It is this affection that has stripped him of his strength.
The full line of dialogue in which this quote is contained is as follows:

The Greeks are strong and skilful to their strength,Fierce to their skill and to their fierceness valiant;But I am weaker than a woman's tear,Tamer than sleep, fonder than ignorance,Less valiant than the virgin in the nightAnd skilless as unpractised infancy.

As you can see, the line you quoted above is just the first in a long list of similes as Troilus bemoans his own diminished state.

What does the cloud do when leaves are laid in their dreams?

"The Cloud," by Percy Bysshe Shelley, is a poem that heavily relies on a series of literary devices, such as personification. The poem is actually told from the point of view of the cloud itself, which is presented as a being of almost mythical nature. The cloud is the element that is needed to connect and support every other aspect of nature. Many other elements of nature are also personified.
We encounter the leaves you are referring to in the first stanza, which describes some of the cloud's activities. The cloud provides water for thirsty flowers and wakes sleeping buds with morning dew. The cloud is also the source of shade for the leaves as they sleep during the day. Therefore the answer to your question is that the cloud provides shade for the leaves while they dream. As we can see, flowers, leaves, and also many other elements of nature we encounter later on in the poem are all personified. 

I bear light shade for the leaves when laid 
In their noonday dreams.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45117/the-cloud-56d2247bf4112

Define Africanism and the theme of the book.

In Toni Morrison's literary study, Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination, Africanism has rather little to do with Africa itself and more to do with Western and specifically American notions about what blackness is. In the literary works that she studies, including several by Ernest Hemingway, blackness is both blatantly and subtly presented to define what whiteness is not. Thus, "Africanism" in these works is the savage or dark impulse to which European civilization acts as a corrective. Blackness is the space in which white characters (and authors) can contemplate their fears and desires without claiming them—instead projecting them onto black people or, more accurately, onto their ideas about black people.
In the United States, blackness meant not only the "not-free" but also the "not-me." However, Morrison's purpose in writing the short study is not to make judgments against white people, though she was disappointed in liberal critics for lacking perspicacity on exploring black identity in literature. Instead, she uses this metaphor to open up critical discussion:

I want to draw a map . . . of a critical geography and use that map to open as much space for discovery, intellectual adventure, and close exploration as did the original charting of the New World—without the mandate for conquest. I intend to outline an attractive, fruitful, and provocative critical project, unencumbered by dreams of subversion or rallying gestures at fortress walls.