What type of figurative language does Lord Capulet use to describe Juliet’s grieving?

Capulet compares Juliet’s grief over Tybalt's death to a storm.

Figurative language is language that is used descriptively, not literally.  Shakespeare uses figurative language often, because in a play you only have the words of the actors to tell a story and for characterization.  Figurative language helps create a more vivid world for the audience.

When Romeo kills Tybalt, this is a terrible tragedy for the Capulet family.  It is particularly horrific for Juliet.  She...

Capulet compares Juliet’s grief over Tybalt's death to a storm.

Figurative language is language that is used descriptively, not literally.  Shakespeare uses figurative language often, because in a play you only have the words of the actors to tell a story and for characterization.  Figurative language helps create a more vivid world for the audience.

When Romeo kills Tybalt, this is a terrible tragedy for the Capulet family.  It is particularly horrific for Juliet.  She loves both Tybalt and Romeo.  She does not know what to do, and she knows that Romeo is not a bad person.  Her family has no idea that she is not just grieving for Tybalt, but for Romeo too.

Juliet’s parents want her to marry Paris, a nobleman her father has chosen.  They have no idea that she is married already to Romeo.  Romeo has been banished for fighting with Tybalt.  The Capulets agree to let Paris talk to Juliet later, when she is not so upset. 

PARIS

These times of woe afford no time to woo.
Madam, good night: commend me to your daughter.

LADY CAPULET

I will, and know her mind early to-morrow;
To-night she is mew'd up to her heaviness. (Act 3, Scene 4) 

Lady Capulet uses figurative language here, using the metaphor that Juliet is “mew'd up to her heaviness” over Tybalt’s death.  In other words, she is so upset that she has shut herself up in her grief and needs to be left alone. 

Lord Capulet also uses figurative language to describe Juliet’s grief, comparing it to a storm.

When the sun sets, the air doth drizzle dew;
But for the sunset of my brother's son
It rains downright.
How now! a conduit, girl? what, still in tears?
Evermore showering? (Act 3, Scene 5)

A storm is an appropriate metaphor for grief, because you cry and cry when you are sad.  In this comparison, Juliet is crying so much that she is causing a storm.  Capulet wants her to stop crying so that she can move on with her life and marry Paris.

They have no idea how bad things will get.  We have to remember that the entire Capulet family is grieving and not thinking too clearly right now.  It helps to explain why Lord Capulet went from saying that Juliet was too young to agreeing to let Paris marrying her.  Juliet is hurting in ways her family can’t imagine, but they are hurting too.

In George Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man, is Petkoff impressed to see Captain Bluntschli?

George Bernard Shaw was a satirist of the highest order, perhaps one of the greatest in modern history. And he was a cynic, imbued with a less-than-hospitable perception of the artifice and arrogance characteristic of Britain’s upper classes, the common target of his satirical barbs. In his anti-war play Arms and the Man, the family at the center of the story, the Petkoffs, are not necessarily rich, but they are financially-comfortable with aspirations of eventual acceptance into the ranks of the aristocracy. In his introductory comments, Shaw describes the family matriarch, Catherine, as an attractive woman who “might be a very splendid specimen of the wife of a mountain farmer, but is determined to be a Viennese lady.” It is clear, however, that this is a family of fortune relative to many in the Balkans region in which they live.

The Petkoffs are financially-comfortable, and do seek to associate themselves with society’s upper classes, and Shaw’s characters are replete with the kind of exaggerated pretensions that he loved to satirize, albeit, usually in the Victorian culture of his own life. As such, the initial encounter between Raina and the intruder who will be introduced as Captain Bluntschli, a Swiss officer serving in the Serbian Army, is typical of the author’s style of writing. As Raina, alone in her room, ponders her future with Sergius, she is startled by the intrusion, a reaction specified in Shaw’s directions. Note in the following passage the playwright’s description of this scene, in which “the man” who will be introduced as Bluntschli first observes the woman in whose room he has hidden. Note also, though, how quickly Raina regains her composure and confronts the stranger in her midst:

(He reckons up what he can guess about Raina—her age, her social position, her character, the extent to which she is frightened—at a glance, and continues, more politely but still most determinedly) Excuse my disturbing you; but you recognise my uniform—Servian. If I'm caught I shall be killed. (Determinedly.) Do you understand that?

RAINA. Yes.

MAN. Well, I don't intend to get killed if I can help it. (Still more determinedly.) Do you understand that? (He locks the door with a snap.)

RAINA (disdainfully). I suppose not. (She draws herself up superbly, and looks him straight in the face, saying with emphasis) Some soldiers, I know, are afraid of death.

MAN (with grim goodhumor). All of them, dear lady, all of them, believe me. It is our duty to live as long as we can, and kill as many of the enemy as we can. Now if you raise an alarm—

RAINA (cutting him short). You will shoot me. How do you know that I am afraid to die?

MAN (cunningly). Ah; but suppose I don't shoot you, what will happen then? Why, a lot of your cavalry—the greatest blackguards in your army—will burst into this pretty room of yours and slaughter me here like a pig; for I'll fight like a demon: they shan't get me into the street to amuse themselves with: I know what they are. Are you prepared to receive that sort of company in your present undress? (Raina, suddenly conscious of her nightgown, instinctively shrinks and gathers it more closely about her. He watches her, and adds, pitilessly) It's rather scanty, eh? (She turns to the ottoman. He raises his pistol instantly, and cries) Stop! (She stops.) Where are you going?

RAINA (with dignified patience). Only to get my cloak.

MAN (darting to the ottoman and snatching the cloak). A good idea. No: I'll keep the cloak: and you will take care that nobody comes in and sees you without it. This is a better weapon than the pistol. (He throws the pistol down on the ottoman.)

RAINA (revolted). It is not the weapon of a gentleman!

While the sight of the intruder initially, and understandably, startles Raina, she quickly regains her composure and, just as quickly, the upper hand. While Bluntschli obviously has an advantage in that he is a trained soldier armed with a pistol, he is no match for the confident to the point of arrogant Raina. Indeed, her sense of modesty, clothed only a nightgown, appears to be her main point of vulnerability. Beyond that, she is an immediate mental match for the foreign military officer in her bedroom, and she understands that she holds more cards in her hand than does the interloper. Bluntschli is a deserter and, as such, hunted by his own army as well as by that of the enemy he is supposed to stalk. He knows that he is in a precarious position, and Raina quickly comes also to understand that his predicament works to her advantage. Note Shaw’s stage instructions prefacing each of Raina’s comments: “disdainfully,” “cutting him short,” “with dignified patience,” “revolted.” Raina is too self-absorbed and insufficiently endowed with a true sense of situational awareness to be as frightened as one should expect. In short, she is not impressed by Captain Bluntschli. She is, however, curious.

How might one compare and contrast Harold Moore and Joseph Galloway's book We Were Soldiers Once...and Young with A Rumor Of War by Philip Caputo?

Harold Moore and Joseph Galloway’s memoir of the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley, We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young, and Philip Caputo’s Vietnam War memoir A Rumor of War are two distinctly different histories of the conflict in Southeast Asia that would end in defeat at the cost of over 58,000 American lives. Both books depict events that occurred during 1965, the year then-President Lyndon Johnson authorized the first of a series of large-scale U.S. troop deployments to Vietnam and the year that the United States initiated major aerial bombing campaigns against communist-led North Vietnam. Both books reflect the disillusionment that began to seep into the consciousness of American soldiers sent to fight a war of ill-defined objectives and limited means. And both books take serious issue with the way the war was managed “back home” in Washington, D.C. In short, both Moore-Galloway’s book about the first major engagement between American and North Vietnamese soldiers (the American effort in Vietnam previously focused on the communist insurgents known as the Viet Cong) and Caputo’s memoir of his tour of duty—a tour that included his near-court martial for ordering the killing of two Vietnamese civilians, a crime for which he admitted guilt but the guilt for which he contributed to the psychological toll this divisive, ambiguous war took on his psyche—describe in vivid, first-person detail the frustrations and resentments that began to degrade U.S. military morale and the effectiveness of those soldiers in executing that ambiguous mission.

While the two books share these similarities, however, the differences are perhaps more profound. The Battle of Ia Drang demonstrated the Americans’ superior leadership and skills at the “small-unit” level of warfare while bringing into question the merits of the broader enterprise. Caputo’s memoir, in contrast, focuses much more on the debilitating effects of the Vietnam War on those American soldiers who fought in it. Moore and Galloway, the former a battalion commander during that battle, the latter a war journalist who covered the battle, place much of their emphasis on the development of combat tactics, especially with respect to the integration of large-scale use of helicopters to provide infantry with a level of mobility never before attained due to technological limitations. Caputo’s book is more of an autobiography that centers on its subject’s tour in Southeast Asia and the effects of warfare on the individual combatant. By describing his evolution as a platoon commander in Vietnam from idealistic young officer to jaded potential war criminal, guilty of conspiracy to commit murder but spared the harsher judgement of a formal court martial, Caputo’s memoir is more limited in scope, while serving as an indictment of the American role in Vietnam.

A Rumor of War and We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young both depict events during the early, formative period of major American military involvement in Vietnam. Both reflect the cynicism that inevitably developed among military personnel forced into impossible circumstances. Caputo’s book, however, tales a far more limited story, that of the author. Moore and Galloway’s book, in contrast, is a study of a major battle during that war that would come to symbolize much that was right about America and much that was wrong with the decision to wage a half-war against a very determined adversary.

How many times did Dana hit Roy on the head in Hoot?

Dana Matherson is the quintessential bully in Hoot. As the new kid at school, Roy is the perfect target, and Dana plasters his head against the window of the school bus and chokes him. Gasping for air, Roy punches over his head and manages to break Dana's nose. Later, when Roy comes back on the school bus after a two-week bus suspension, Dana starts threatening him. Roy figures he'll let Dana get the revenge...

Dana Matherson is the quintessential bully in Hoot. As the new kid at school, Roy is the perfect target, and Dana plasters his head against the window of the school bus and chokes him. Gasping for air, Roy punches over his head and manages to break Dana's nose. Later, when Roy comes back on the school bus after a two-week bus suspension, Dana starts threatening him. Roy figures he'll let Dana get the revenge out of his system, so he tells Dana to hit him. Dana whacks Roy on the side of the head once, and Roy asks him if he feels better. Dana swears and says he does, then smacks Roy again, toppling him over. Roy sits up and starts reading his comic book again, and Dana hits him one more time. The school bus stops to take on additional students, and Roy gets no more abuse from Dana for the rest of the ride. When Roy looks back toward where Dana is sitting, he sees Beatrice took a seat next to Dana. If it hadn't been for Beatrice, Dana may have hit Roy several more times. As it was, Dana only hit Roy on the head three times, but that was enough to give Roy a "pounding headache."

Why is the time repeated over and over in "There Will Come Soft Rains"?

The repetition of the time by the house is one of Bradbury's literary expressions of science and technology substituting for human thought. After the nuclear blast, this repetition becomes meaningless, demonstrating the absurdity of this substitution of technology for humanity.

In the narrative of Bradbury's story, when the time is announced, various objects appear in order to enable the residents of the house to conduct their routine activities. For instance, at "Two thirty-five,"...

The repetition of the time by the house is one of Bradbury's literary expressions of science and technology substituting for human thought. After the nuclear blast, this repetition becomes meaningless, demonstrating the absurdity of this substitution of technology for humanity.

In the narrative of Bradbury's story, when the time is announced, various objects appear in order to enable the residents of the house to conduct their routine activities. For instance, at "Two thirty-five," as it is written in the narrative, the bridge tables emerge from the patio walls. Playing cards and all that is needed for the card game are set out by automation. Then, at four o'clock, the tables fold themselves and are automatically taken back through the walls' panels. Next, the house announces "Four-thirty" and the activity for this appointed time commences. Thus, the time is announced throughout the day with its mindless regimentation of the inhabitants' lives. Absurdly, the house continues its routine even when the residents are no longer there.

The house was an altar with ten thousand attendants, big, small, servicing, attending, in choirs. But the gods had gone away, and the ritual of the religion continued senselessly, uselessly.

For all its convenience and capabilities, technology cannot substitute for real human thought and creativity. Because the house has continued to senselessly fill bathtubs and sinks with water according to its programming, the reserve supply is depleted; consequently, when a fire starts on the stove, the house's scurrying water rats and wall sprays cannot extinguish this blaze and the house is destroyed. 

Throughout many of his literary works, Ray Bradbury expresses his fears that technology may surpass its value and in its power become a detriment and even a destructive force to humanity. "There Will Come Soft Rains" is a story that demonstrates humankind's growing dependency upon a dehumanizing technology as well as a lack of control over some of our scientific developments. Certainly, the nuclear blast that kills the family exemplifies technology out of control.

In Animal Farm, how does selfishness make you happy?

One of the most striking messages of Animal Farm is the idea that being selfish promotes happiness. This is most-commonly expressed through Orwell's characterisation of the pigs and we see numerous examples in the text.

Firstly, at the end of Chapter Two, Napoleon steals the milk and, later, it is decided that the milk is to be mixed in with the pig's mash. Napoleon's act of selfishness in taking the milk enables the pigs to...

One of the most striking messages of Animal Farm is the idea that being selfish promotes happiness. This is most-commonly expressed through Orwell's characterisation of the pigs and we see numerous examples in the text.

Firstly, at the end of Chapter Two, Napoleon steals the milk and, later, it is decided that the milk is to be mixed in with the pig's mash. Napoleon's act of selfishness in taking the milk enables the pigs to eat better than the other animals and therefore creates a sense of happiness.

Similarly, in Chapter Six, the pigs decide to leave the barn and sleep in the farmhouse. This decision directly contravenes one of the principles of Animalism, ("no animal shall sleep in a bed"), but the pigs know that sleeping in the farmhouse will be much more comfortable than the barn. There is no reason why all of the animals could not live in the farmhouse but, again, this is an example of the pigs' selfishness in pursuit of personal pleasure. They care more about themselves than they do about the other animals.

By the end of the novel, the pigs are in charge of Animal Farm. Through a series of selfish and calculated acts, they have manipulated and overcome the other animals. We, perhaps, see them at their happiest in the closing chapter, when they walk on two legs, consume copious amounts of alcohol and plan for the farm's future. But all of this has come at a great cost: by pursuing a selfish agenda, the, pigs have lost the very characteristics which once defined them. Observing from a window, the other animals look from "pig to man, and from man to pig," but could not tell one from the other. 

`int_0^pi cos^4(2t) dt` Evaluate the integral

Let us call our integral `I.`

`I=int_0^pi cos^4 2t dt=int_0^pi(cos^2 2t)^2dt`

Use formula for cosine of double angle: `cos^2 theta=(1+cos2theta)/2`

`int_0^pi((1+cos4t)/2)^2dt=1/4int_0^pi(1+2cos4t+cos^2 4t)dt=`

`1/4int_0^pi dt+1/2int_0^pi cos4tdt+1/4int_0^picos^2 4tdt`

Let us denote the above three integrals by `I_1,I_2` and `I_3` respectively i.e.

`I=1/4I_1+1/2I_2+1/4I_3`

`I_1=t|_0^pi=pi`

To solve `I_2` we make substitution `u=4t=>(du)/4=dt` with new limits of integration `u_1=4cdot0=0` and `u_2=4cdotpi=4pi.`

`I_2=1/4int_0^(4pi)cos u du=1/4sin u|_0^(4pi)=0`

To calculate `I_3` we use formula for cosine of double angle once again.

`I_3=int_0^pi(1+cos8t)/2 dt`

Make substitution `u=8t=>(du)/8=dt` with new limits of integration `u_1=8cdot0=0` and `u_2=8cdotpi=8pi`

`1/16int_0^(8pi)(1+cos u)du=1/16(u+sin u)|_0^(8pi)=1/16(8pi+0-0-0)=pi/2`

...

Let us call our integral `I.`

`I=int_0^pi cos^4 2t dt=int_0^pi(cos^2 2t)^2dt`

Use formula for cosine of double angle: `cos^2 theta=(1+cos2theta)/2`

`int_0^pi((1+cos4t)/2)^2dt=1/4int_0^pi(1+2cos4t+cos^2 4t)dt=`

`1/4int_0^pi dt+1/2int_0^pi cos4tdt+1/4int_0^picos^2 4tdt`

Let us denote the above three integrals by `I_1,I_2` and `I_3` respectively i.e.

`I=1/4I_1+1/2I_2+1/4I_3`

`I_1=t|_0^pi=pi`

To solve `I_2` we make substitution `u=4t=>(du)/4=dt` with new limits of integration `u_1=4cdot0=0` and `u_2=4cdotpi=4pi.`

`I_2=1/4int_0^(4pi)cos u du=1/4sin u|_0^(4pi)=0`

To calculate `I_3` we use formula for cosine of double angle once again.

`I_3=int_0^pi(1+cos8t)/2 dt`

Make substitution `u=8t=>(du)/8=dt` with new limits of integration `u_1=8cdot0=0` and `u_2=8cdotpi=8pi`

`1/16int_0^(8pi)(1+cos u)du=1/16(u+sin u)|_0^(8pi)=1/16(8pi+0-0-0)=pi/2`

Now that we have calculated the three integrals we can return to calculate `I.`

`I=1/4cdot pi+1/2cdot0+1/4cdotpi/2=pi/4+pi/8=(3pi)/8`                                                                                               

I need help with the following assignment: Topic: Barriers to learning within the African context. Read and organize what you have learned in...

A mind map is a way to brainstorm for a writing assignment by organizing your ideas visually. Place your main topic in the middle of a blank sheet of paper. You might place it inside a circle and draw arrows pointing outward. Each arrow will then point to one of your subpoints. Each subpoint will be a paragraph in your paper. It can have additional arrows leading to supporting statements.

In this case, you would...

A mind map is a way to brainstorm for a writing assignment by organizing your ideas visually. Place your main topic in the middle of a blank sheet of paper. You might place it inside a circle and draw arrows pointing outward. Each arrow will then point to one of your subpoints. Each subpoint will be a paragraph in your paper. It can have additional arrows leading to supporting statements.

In this case, you would write "Barriers to Learning in Africa" in the middle. Draw arrows to connect your main idea to your subpoints, which would be individual barriers to learning. For each barrier, draw additional arrows to your supporting statements, which would be specific facts about how these barriers affect education in Africa and why these problems occur. This information would come from your assigned reading.

For example, one barrier might be language. You could include facts about the many languages that are spoken in Africa and how only one or two languages are spoken in schools, so children who only speak regional dialects will not understand the teacher. Another barrier might be lack of funding for public education. You could include figures about the number of areas that have no schools, which governments do not or cannot fund education, or the problems of overreliance on schools funded by private charities.

Could we stop fighting the Taliban if we found out why they are doing what they are doing?

While some theorists in the field of International Relations feel that conflict occurs when people do not understand one another, I do not believe that they are correct.  I would argue that there are times when people can understand one another perfectly and can still come into conflict.  The situation with the Taliban in Afghanistan is one of these times.

The problem between us and the Taliban arises from the fact that their goals and...

While some theorists in the field of International Relations feel that conflict occurs when people do not understand one another, I do not believe that they are correct.  I would argue that there are times when people can understand one another perfectly and can still come into conflict.  The situation with the Taliban in Afghanistan is one of these times.

The problem between us and the Taliban arises from the fact that their goals and ours contradict one another.  There is no way for us to really get along because we each want something that would prevent the other side from having what it wants.  Right now, we want Afghanistan to have a democracy.  We want its democracy to honor the human rights of all people regardless of their religion or what sex they are.  We want their democracy to be friendly with us and our allies.  The Taliban want none of these things.  They do not really want democracy.  Instead, they want a theocracy in which their version of Islam writes the rules for society.  If their brand of Islam does not tell them to protect what we see as the human rights of women and non-Muslims, they will not protect their rights.  Since we are not interested in supporting a theocracy that believes what the Taliban believes, they are not interested in being our friends.  In short, everything that we want conflicts with things that they want and everything that we want conflicts with what they want.

In this situation, we cannot make things right simply by understanding what the Taliban want.  No matter how much we and they understand one another, we will still be in conflict because we want different things, things that are diametrically opposed to one another.  Therefore, I fear that you are wrong when you say that we and the Taliban could stop shooting one another if only we understood why they act as they do.  Peace between us would require one side or the other to give up the goals that it currently holds.

Who sits with George all night after the accident?

Michaelis, a young Greek who runs the "coffee joint" next to the ashheaps and in the same building as Wilson's Garage, stays with George Wilson the night that Myrtle Wilson is killed. Michaelis is also one of the first to reach Myrtle after she is hit by Daisy Buchanan, who was driving Gatsby's car. Michaelis is subsequently questioned by police. He tries to keep George occupied by asking him questions about his marriage and whether...

Michaelis, a young Greek who runs the "coffee joint" next to the ashheaps and in the same building as Wilson's Garage, stays with George Wilson the night that Myrtle Wilson is killed. Michaelis is also one of the first to reach Myrtle after she is hit by Daisy Buchanan, who was driving Gatsby's car. Michaelis is subsequently questioned by police. He tries to keep George occupied by asking him questions about his marriage and whether he had any kids. He also tells George it would be good if he had a church "for times like this." He tries to convince George that Myrtle's death was just an accident but George suspects that Myrtle had been cheating on him. George shows Michaelis an expensive dog collar which he found in a drawer (presumably for the dog Tom bought for her in New York). George thinks the collar is evidence that she was seeing another man. 

What kind of person is the grandmother in Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find"? How do we know?

The grandmother in "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor is a mean-spirited, self-centered woman who is focused on proving her superiority. For example, she entreats her son, Bailey, to go to Tennessee so that she can visit her relatives, while she is indifferent to the desires of Bailey and his wife and children to go to Florida.

While traveling with Bailey and his family, the grandmother pins a bunch of cloth...

The grandmother in "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor is a mean-spirited, self-centered woman who is focused on proving her superiority. For example, she entreats her son, Bailey, to go to Tennessee so that she can visit her relatives, while she is indifferent to the desires of Bailey and his wife and children to go to Florida.

While traveling with Bailey and his family, the grandmother pins a bunch of cloth violets with a sachet on her dress to keep up her public appearance as a "lady." As O'Connor writes, "In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady." However, the grandmother is not a lady in the true sense of being a moral person. When she drives by a poor African-American child on the road without any pants, she says, "Wouldn't that make a picture, now?" She is insensitive, as she doesn't care that the child has no pants and is only imagining how he'd look in a picture she could paint. 

In her self-centered way, the grandmother insists that the family visit a plantation with a secret panel, and, driving there, the family has an accident and encounters the Misfit, a killer on the loose. Even as the Misfit shoots the rest of the family, the grandmother, without showing any grief for the loss of her loved ones, continues to beg for her life in the ultimate example of self-centeredness. 

What does Scout think her teacher will do when she asks Scout to hold out her hand in To Kill a Mockingbird?

When Scout's teacher tells Scout to hold out her hand, Scout believes that she is going to spit in it as a way of sealing oral contracts, although she wonders what kind of bargain they have made.

To Scout's dismay, Miss Caroline, who is unfamiliar with local customs because she is from Winston County in Northern Alabama, strikes Scout on the the inside of her hand several times; afterwards, she makes Scout stand in a...

When Scout's teacher tells Scout to hold out her hand, Scout believes that she is going to spit in it as a way of sealing oral contracts, although she wonders what kind of bargain they have made.

To Scout's dismay, Miss Caroline, who is unfamiliar with local customs because she is from Winston County in Northern Alabama, strikes Scout on the the inside of her hand several times; afterwards, she makes Scout stand in a corner. When the class realizes that their new teacher has "whipped" Scout, they break out into laughter. Then, when Miss Caroline threatens to do the same to the class, they resume their laughter, only stopping when Miss Blount from across the hall comes over with her hands on her hips. She complains that there is too much noise:

"Miss Caroline, the sixth grade cannot concentrate on the pyramids for all this racket!"

Despite her having been punished, Scout feels a little sorry for her pretty teacher, who is such a stranger to Maycomb. 

Why did Leper spend the night on Mt. Katahdin in Maine?

Leper Lepellier is the oddball or misfit of the group of boys at Devon school in 1942-1943. He is very interested in nature and experiencing the outdoors in a peaceful way. He's usually in his own little world because of his unusual interests. For example, he likes to cross-country ski, look at snails, and find beaver dams, whereas the other boys his age are interested in sports. Gene says that Leper has many vagaries, or unpredictable, random...

Leper Lepellier is the oddball or misfit of the group of boys at Devon school in 1942-1943. He is very interested in nature and experiencing the outdoors in a peaceful way. He's usually in his own little world because of his unusual interests. For example, he likes to cross-country ski, look at snails, and find beaver dams, whereas the other boys his age are interested in sports. Gene says that Leper has many vagaries, or unpredictable, random acts of weirdness that no one really understands. In chapter nine, Gene explains Leper with this example:

". . . such as the time he slept on top of Mount Katahdin in Maine where each morning the sun first strikes the United States territory. On that morning, satisfying one of his urges to participate in nature, Leper Lepellier was the first thing the rising sun struck in the United States" (124).

This passage shows that Leper has random ideas that he follows through with on a whim. He's also an idealist and very naïve. He doesn't seem to think through his ideas before he acts on them, either. Later, this behavior gets Leper in trouble as he is unprepared mentally for enlisting in the army and suffers a mental breakdown.

A runner hopes to complete the 10,000 m run in less than 30.0 min. After exactly 27.0 min, there are still 1100 m to go. The runner must then...

There are two parts to the problem: the runner will accelerate for a time duration and then will run at a constant rate, in order to get to the target in 30 minutes. 

Assuming that the runner ran at a uniform speed for first 27 minutes, his speed is calculated as:

Speed for 27 minutes = distance / time = (10000 - 1100) m / (27 x 60) s = 5.494 m/s.

Thus, u = 5.494 m/s

acceleration, a = 0.2 m/s^2

If he accelerates for t seconds, then v = u + at = 5.494 + 0.2 x t m/s

Now, the remaining 1100 m is ran in two stretches: accelerating stretch and constant speed stretch, both combined for the remaining 3 minutes (= 180 seconds)

The distance covered in accelerating stretch is equal to ut + 1/2 at^2 m

distance ran during constant speed stretch is equal to v x (180 - t) m

Thus, ut + 1/2 at^2 + v x (180 - t) = 1100 

substituting, v = u + at and also the values of u and a and solving the equation, we get:

t = 3.1125 s or 356.8875 s

Since, an answer greater than 180 s is not possible, the time is approximately 3.1 s.

Thus, the runner needs to accelerate for about 3.1 s and then run at a constant speed to get to the target in desired time frame.

Hope this helps. 

How did the Federalist and Antifederalist views shape the writing of the U.S. Constitution?

The Antifederalists did not support the creation of the United States Constitution.  Antifederalists feared that a strong central government was a threat to liberty and would become corrupt and oppressive.  They fought against ratification of the new system of government.  Despite their objections to the new system of government, there were aspects of the U.S. Constitution that limited federal power.  The separation of powers into three branches was done to prevent small groups of people...

The Antifederalists did not support the creation of the United States Constitution.  Antifederalists feared that a strong central government was a threat to liberty and would become corrupt and oppressive.  They fought against ratification of the new system of government.  Despite their objections to the new system of government, there were aspects of the U.S. Constitution that limited federal power.  The separation of powers into three branches was done to prevent small groups of people from acquiring too much power.  The branches check each other's powers through a strict system of responsibilities.  As an example, it takes all three branches of government to make a law permanent.  The idea of two houses in the legislature also protects the interest of Antifederalists, especially by creating an upper house of equal representation for each state.  The Antifederalists also successfully passed the Bill of Rights to protect the power of the state and to guard civil liberties.  Since the U.S. Constitution was a document that gave the federal government more authority than had existed under the Articles of Confederation, most of the tenets of the Constitution support their goals.  In particular, the supremacy of law was a concept that fit the ideals of the federalists.

What themes does Atticus support in To Kill a Mockingbird?

Without Atticus Finch, there wouldn't be many themes in To Kill a Mockingbird at all. He outlines a theme and Scout and Jem discover it. For example, the title of the book is a theme that originates with something that Atticus says when the children receive air rifles for Christmas:

"I'd rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you'll go after birds. Shoot at all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird" (90).

Miss Maudie breaks the meaning of this passage down for Scout by explaining that mockingbirds don't do anything to hurt anybody. They provide sweet songs to listen to and they aren't pests to farmers or anyone else. Anyone who has the advantage over a mockingbird and takes it is committing a sin because it's a defenseless fight. This is symbolic of what happens to Boo Radley and Tom Robinson in the novel as well. They are harmless to society, yet they are taken advantage of by others who have more status or ability than they do, which is unfair and mean. The theme is not to take advantage of others who are defenseless or who have less than you do.

Another theme supported by Atticus is to stand up for other people whenever you are called to do so. Atticus is appointed by Judge Taylor to take the Tom Robinson case. He didn't choose it--it chose him. But rather than do a sloppy job of it to get it out of the way, Atticus stands up to the prejudice surrounding the case by doing his best for his client. The following is a moment when Scout asks her father if he is going to win the Tom Robinson case:

"'Atticus, are we going to win it?'

'No, honey.'

'Then why--'

'Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win'" (76).

Atticus is referring to the hundreds of years of white men keeping black people as slaves. After the Civil War freed them, discrimination in the South was substituted as the new way to keep the black population down and out of control socially and politically. Even though the odds are against his case and his client, Atticus still stands up for what is right.

One final theme to touch on is when Atticus teaches Jem about what true courage is. In chapter 11, Mrs. Dubose calls Atticus terrible names to his children, not to his face. Atticus doesn't hold a grudge, though. In fact, he admires her because she conquers her morphine addiction before she dies. Atticus says the following:

"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in  his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do. Mrs. Dubose won, all ninety-eight pounds of her. According to her views, she died beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew" (112).

Again we see the theme of persevering when the odds are stacked against you; but we also see what courage and bravery are. Atticus says that following through with a goal that seems hard to achieve takes courage, not solving problems with guns or negative influences.

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, describe each character's feelings towards Jewish people.

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, specific characters' feelings towards Jewish people reflect their position on Nazism.

Boyne's book fits in the genre of Young Adult/ Historical Fiction. He does not emphasize how people of the time period were pressured into committing atrocities but resisted due to personal conviction. The book establishes a much clearer paradigm, tailor made for its audience.  Either characters are in support of Nazism or they are against it.  Ultimately,...

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, specific characters' feelings towards Jewish people reflect their position on Nazism.

Boyne's book fits in the genre of Young Adult/ Historical Fiction. He does not emphasize how people of the time period were pressured into committing atrocities but resisted due to personal conviction. The book establishes a much clearer paradigm, tailor made for its audience.  Either characters are in support of Nazism or they are against it.  Ultimately, the book's moral paradigm is reflective of how characters perceive Jewish people.

Characters in the novel who displayed negative feelings towards Jewish people supported Nazism.  For example, since Lieutenant Kotler embraces Nazism, he views Jewish people as a means to display power.  In his actions towards Pavel, Kotler personifies the Nazi feelings towards Jewish people. Father's view towards Jewish people is connected towards career advancement. He continually justifies his move to and position at Auschwitz as "very important" in the Nazi structure.  His feelings towards Jewish people are linked to his job as a Nazi. He does not voice full-throated dislike towards people of the Judaic faith. However, his job is to advance "the final solution" when it comes to Jewish people.  His attitudes towards them are linked to his career's advancement. In much the same way, Gretel sees Jewish individuals as "not really human" because of her devotion towards Nazism. She sees Nazism as a way to gain social acceptance. Accordingly, a desire for popularity in Nazi circles forms her attitudes towards Jewish people.  

Characters in the novel who are not supportive of Nazism display supportive feelings towards Jewish people. When Bruno's grandmother chastises her son for the "terrible, terrible things you do," it is clear that she supports Jewish people because of her rejection of Nazism.  Bruno's mother reluctantly agrees to move the family to Auschwitz, but it is clear she is not in favor of what is being done to Jewish people.  She underscores this in her action of leaving Auschwitz with Gretel at the end of the novel.  Bruno befriends Shmuel, demonstrates respect towards Pavel, and dislikes Kotler.  These actions show support for Jewish people precisely because they repudiate Nazi ideology.

Consider this hypothetical situation: You are aware that someone you know has stolen another student's notebook. The student has been punished by...

There are three students involved in this hypothetical situation. There is a thief, a victim, and a witness to the crime of the stolen notebook. Since the assignment makes the witness solve the problem using Kipling's "If," he (the witness) could start out by telling the victim to remember that if he meets "with Triumph and Disaster" equally, then he will not be as upset and can find a solution to the problem. Life will deal everyone disappointing blows every now and again. It is up to each one to find a way to solve the problem rather than throwing in the towel at the first moment of frustration. Also, the victim can recall the part of the poem that says, "If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you," he can make sure not to give the thief power over his emotions for being robbed (Line 27). Therefore, the witness can tell the victim not to let this experience get him down, but to take control of the situation by talking to the teacher about the misfortune and asking for an extension on the assignment.

As for the thief, the witness could ask him to do the right thing by returning the notebook. Lines from Kipling's poem to use that might persuade the thief could be the following:

"If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating," (Lines 3-7).

The witness could ask the thief what the real reason is behind stealing another person's notebook. Sometimes, people lie because someone lied about them; or people hate because someone first hated them. If that is the case with the thief, he has a chance to make things right by returning the book and not doing that again. True men don't lie, steal, cheat, "make a trap for fools," or hurt other people. By stealing the notebook, the thief hurt someone else, but he can find a way to make things right. And, if the thief needs help with his own notebook, the witness can offer to help him in the future.

What does the phrase "chimney sweepers" mean in London?

Depending on what literary text you are referencing, and what the context of the piece is, "chimney sweeper" may have a very literal or metaphorical meaning.

In a literal context, a chimney sweep(er) is someone who cleans chimneys as a profession. This used to be a very important job in many parts of the world. In homes which use fireplaces or wood-burning stoves for cooking and warmth, the chimney allows smoke to escape cleanly and...

Depending on what literary text you are referencing, and what the context of the piece is, "chimney sweeper" may have a very literal or metaphorical meaning.

In a literal context, a chimney sweep(er) is someone who cleans chimneys as a profession. This used to be a very important job in many parts of the world. In homes which use fireplaces or wood-burning stoves for cooking and warmth, the chimney allows smoke to escape cleanly and safely. Unfortunately, smoke carries with it all kinds of particulate and tar, which can build up inside of the chimney. If the chimney is allowed to get too dirty, it becomes a fire hazard. The chimney sweep would come in with a large brush and sweep out the insides of the chimneys. During the Victorian period, it was not uncommon for children to work as sweeps because their small bodies fit more easily down the chimneys.

In some cases, to call someone a chimney sweep implies racist sentiment. Throughout some European countries, Saint Nicholas (Father Christmas, Santa Claus) has a sidekick who is either portrayed as a chimney sweep or man of African descent. Depending on the tradition, there may be no racism implied at all, as cleaning chimneys comes with the hazard of getting a very sooty face. Many have argued over the colonialist and racist implications of the character, though, and in places like the Netherlands, to call someone "Black Pete" can be a slur. It is possible that in London, depending on the influence of culture, one might use the term chimney sweep as a racist remark.

More recently, several entries in an online slang website (which I do not feel comfortable giving you a link to) have defined "chimney sweep" as a colloquialism for either a gynecologist or proctologist. This is meant to poke fun at the professions of physicians who deal with the more tunnel-like parts of the anatomy.

In what way does Cole become a better person in Touching Spirit Bear?

Cole becomes a better person because he stops being violent and blaming others for his problems.

When the story starts, Cole is a very angry young man.  He is facing a jail sentence for severely beating a classmate, Peter, for telling about a robbery Cole committed on a hardware store.  Cole’s father was abusive and his mother was an alcoholic, so Cole often acted out.  His behavior was really a cry for help.

Cole was offered Circle Justice as an option.  Circle Justice was different from the regular legal system.  The focus was on healing and forgiveness.  Cole had to agree to change and try to change.  At first, Cole participated only to avoid jail time.  He did not believe it would work.

He had no intention of ever honoring the contract he agreed to during the Circle Justice meetings. As soon as they left him alone, this silly game would end. Circle Justice was a bunch of bull. (Ch. 1) 

It is true that Cole does not react well to the island when he first arrives.  He tries to swim away.  He also burns down the cabin that was built for him.  In the ultimate fit of foolishness, he attacks the spirit bear.  This was his biggest mistake, because unlike the cabin the bear could fight back.  It did.  It shredded Cole and he almost died. 

The bear attack was the first time Cole really began to change.  He realized how small and insignificant he was in the scheme of things.  He went from feeling that the bear should fear and respect him to accepting that death would come.  When he was finally rescued, no one believed Cole had seen the spirit bear, let alone been attacked by one.  In the first sign that Cole is changing, he doesn’t care if they believe him or not. 

When Cole returns to the island, it is with a different attitude.  He builds his own cabin, even healing from injuries. He agrees to soak in the stream and carry a rock up a hill as a symbolic exercise.  This new attitude takes time though.  At one point, Garvey and Edwin threaten to take him back.

The most significant even is the arrival of Peter.  Cole was shocked to find out that Peter tried to kill himself.  Believing that the island would do him good, Cole tried to get Peter to forgive him.  It took a long time, but eventually Peter came around.  What Cole says to Peter shows how much he has matured. 

“This morning, when we forgave each other, we also forgave ourselves,” he said. “We allowed ourselves to become a part of the big circle.  That’s why we saw the Spirit Bear.” (Ch. 28) 

Although Peter would never become best friends with Cole, he did learn to live with what had happened to him and realize that Cole was not terrible.  Cole had definitely changed.  He learned to stop being angry at the world and blaming everyone else for his problems.  He also learned how to help others.  Helping Peter was the last step in helping himself.

What is the solution in the novel Tangerine?

The resolution of the novel Tangerine by Edward Bloor ties up many loose ends and gives information on how the characters deal with the choices they've made in the novel.

Paul, the main character, gets expelled from all Tangerine County Public Schools for the remainder of the academic year. This is punishment for his assault on Coach Warner. He expected to be suspended for only three weeks, but his offense was considered a level four infraction, an assault on a staff member or board member, and the punishment for this is expulsion. His mother enrolls him in St. Anthony's private school, and he tells Tino he expects to be back next fall as a starter on the soccer team for Tangerine Public Schools.

Erik, Paul's older brother, along with his friend Arthur Bauer, is found to be responsible for the burglaries of the tented houses in Lake Windsor Downs. The crime is discovered when Paul's mom finds a gas mask and stolen items in their storage unit. Erik and Arthur's fathers get the victims together and promise restitution for the crimes. They ask victims to refrain from pressing charges and tell the victims the sheriff said it had to be a unanimous decision among the victims in order for charges not to be filed. The victims reluctantly agree. 

Arthur is arrested for the murder of Luis Cruz, and Paul finds the courage to tell the truth about the whole incident. Paul saw Arthur hit Luis in the head with a blackjack, a sock filled with lead. He heard Erik encourage him to do it, and heard Erik say afterward, "Arthur takes care of all of my light work."

Erik's dad, who had been completely caught up in "The Erik Fisher Football Dream," has turned his back on his son as he realizes his character is bad. Paul's mother's parents visit and tell his mom and dad that the reason Erik has turned out this way is because they never got him the help he needed when he was much younger after he hurt Paul's eyes. 

I looked back at Mom. She, at least, seemed worried about her firstborn son. Dad, on the other hand, seemed more like those friends who had abandoned Erik, who now regretted ever getting involved with him in the first place.

Tino tells Paul that Luis had been advertising his Golden Dawn tangerines in trade papers, and gets many orders from growers in Florida and other citrus-growing states.

How do you measure a dip angle with a protractor?

The key is that you need some way of knowing which way is down---and for that, we use gravity, using either a level (perpendicular to gravity) or a plumb bob (parallel to gravity).Once you have clearly determined which way is down, simply use the protractor to measure the angle between the surface that you want the dip angle for and the straight downward direction. Remember that a flat, level surface has zero dip; so...

The key is that you need some way of knowing which way is down---and for that, we use gravity, using either a level (perpendicular to gravity) or a plumb bob (parallel to gravity).

Once you have clearly determined which way is down, simply use the protractor to measure the angle between the surface that you want the dip angle for and the straight downward direction. Remember that a flat, level surface has zero dip; so the dip is not the angle with the plumb bob, but 90 degrees (`pi/2 ` radians) minus that angle.

In practice, there is a tool called a Brunton compass that contains a compass, a level, and a protractor, which can be directly used to measure dip angles.

What is the significance of Macbeth's soliloquy in Act 5, scene 5, considering the themes of the text, Shakespeare's use of language, the...

This soliloquy is really a culminating moment in the play, addressing Macbeth's development and some of the play's themes. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have said that it is worthless to get what one wants when one cannot be happy once one has it.  Now, Macbeth describes the pace of life as "petty," implying that it is both slow and small.  Further, we are all just "fools" on our way to our inevitable deaths. 

Macbeth...

This soliloquy is really a culminating moment in the play, addressing Macbeth's development and some of the play's themes. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have said that it is worthless to get what one wants when one cannot be happy once one has it.  Now, Macbeth describes the pace of life as "petty," implying that it is both slow and small.  Further, we are all just "fools" on our way to our inevitable deaths. 

Macbeth uses a number of metaphors that betray his disgust with life at this point in his own.  The comparison of life to a candle shows just how insignificant and fragile it is.  A candle can be snuffed out in a moment and only produces a very small bit of light.  Next, he compares life to an actor who performs for his time on the stage. This comparison makes the drama of life seem insignificant and even unreal, as though it is all a show. Finally, he compares life to an idiot's story, one that makes lots of noise, but ultimately it makes no sense and has no real meaning.  The metaphors help to show how dissatisfied Macbeth is, even though he has done everything to satisfy his own ambition.  Despite this fact, he still feels that life is hollow and futile.

The position of this speech within the text, just before Macbeth goes to face Macduff, shows us his state of mind going into this fight.  He is more than dissatisfied; he realizes that he has nothing to live for.  His wife is gone, he has no family or friends, and he is basically ready to be done.  Macbeth will fight because it is what he should do, but his heart is not in it. 

What is the movie Doctor Zhivago about?

Based on Russian author Boris Pasternak's 1957 novel of the same title, Doctor Zhivago is about a young, idealistic medical student and poet, the titular character, whose marriage to one woman and love for another takes place against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution and ensuing civil war. As is usually the case, the film is a truncated version of the novel, but it succeeds in capturing the tone of Pasternak's prose and providing a genuine feel for life in revolutionary Russia.

Told in flashback by his half-brother, a general in the Soviet Army who has been searching for the long-lost daughter of his now-deceased brother, Yuri, the filmed adaptation of Doctor Zhivago covers the protagonist, Yuri Zhivago's life very briefly, establishing that this orphaned boy is adopted by the Gromykos, a wealthy, aristocratic family whose demise following the overthrow of the czarist regime, serves to illustrate the decline of the old upper-classes of Russia after the Bolsheviks took power. As Yuri grows and prospers as a promising medical student, his marriage to the daughter of the family that raised him, Tonya, is assured. Yuri, however, meets and falls in love with Lara, the beautiful wife of a major figure in the Bolshevik movement known for his ferocity and for the devastation left in his wake wherever he travels.

As Doctor Zhivago progresses, the love triangle involving Yuri, Tonya and Lara becomes increasingly complicated, with the Gromyko family's post-revolution difficulties forcing them into a life of economic destitution. The Gromykos are forced from their once-palatial home to a small home near the Ural Mountains. When Yuri learns that Lara lives in a nearby town, he renews their affair. On one trip to town to see Lara, however, he is essentially kidnapped (or forcibly conscripted) by Bolshevik (or, Red) guerrillas fighting reactionary "White" forces. Kept in a form of enforced servitude, providing medical care to wounded combatants, Yuri eventually escapes only find that his family and Lara have all moved on.

Throughout the course of the film, Yuri loses and reconnects with Lara, their destinies seemingly entwined. In the meantime, the story's narrator, Yuri's half-brother, General Yevgraf, describes his own service in the Russian and then Soviet Army and his encounters with his brother. General Yevgraf takes it upon himself to help Yuri and his family escape the fighting in Moscow, securing for them a place on the train that takes them to the Urals, the aforementioned location of the cabin in which the family takes refuge. Another element of the story involves the character Komarovsky, a clever, intelligent and thoroughly Machiavellian figure whose illicit affair with Lara and subsequent attempts at "helping" Yuri and Lara survive this turbulent period in Russian history serves to contrast the benign, innocent nature of Yuri with the ruthless character of the man who would be his protector.

As the film draws to a close, Yuri has not seen Lara for several years, they having been separated when Komarovsky convinces Yuri and Lara to escape to the Russian Far East with him to avoid the spreading fighting. Yuri and Lara agree to go with Komarovsky despite their shared loathing of him, but Yuri backs out at the last minute, leaving Lara and Komarovsky to leave without him. As they depart, Lara reveals to Komarovsky, with whom she had maintained, in earlier times, a torrid and degrading affair that included Komarovsky's rape of her, that she is pregnant with Yuri's child. The child that will be born of this romance, we are led to believe, is the now-grown child for whom General Yevgraf has been searching. The film ends with Yuri's death following a heart attack he suffers after frantically trying to get to a woman he views from a trolley window and believes to be his long-lost love, Lara. The film then returns to the "current" period, where it began, with General Yevgraf, speaking with this grown woman at the enormous dam where she is employed. The general is convinced that this girl is his niece, but she is extremely reticent, as a general in the Soviet Union is an enormously powerful figure and she is but a laborer. She leaves the meeting with Yevgraf in the arm of her boyfriend, an operator of the dam, a symbol of the industrialization of a once weak and backward country.

How does Emily Bronte use duality to structure Wuthering Heights? How can this help us understand the novel?

The structure of Wuthering Heights is quite complicated. It's natural to think about "duality" as a way of reducing this complexity, but it is a crude method, which will leave unexamined much of what makes this book so great. Is is true, however, that the book is full of pairings. Some of the obvious ones:

• Earnshaws vs Lintons


• Heathcliff vs Cathy


• Heights vs Grange

These pairings suggest other, more thematic, pairings

• Wildness vs Civilization


• Underclass...

The structure of Wuthering Heights is quite complicated. It's natural to think about "duality" as a way of reducing this complexity, but it is a crude method, which will leave unexamined much of what makes this book so great. Is is true, however, that the book is full of pairings. Some of the obvious ones:

• Earnshaws vs Lintons


• Heathcliff vs Cathy


• Heights vs Grange

These pairings suggest other, more thematic, pairings

• Wildness vs Civilization


• Underclass vs Aristocracy


• Mixed race vs White

These can be made even more elemental:

• Good vs Evil


• Light vs Dark


• Love vs Hate

To me, what is so interesting about the book is how, despite the fundamental disunity of things which these pairings suggest, none of these things could exist without the other. Catherine and Heathcliff are locked in an eternal stuggle, but what gives meaning to each of them is the other. When Catherine says to Nellie, "I am Heathcliff," that statement is at once patently false (she isn't, and isn't even going to marry him) and deeply true: She wouldn't be who she is without Heathcliff. Their differences unite them.

In this way, when we consider any of these pairings, we begin to understand that far from representing opposites, what they in fact suggest is a deep connection or unity, which amounts to a sophisticated and (to me) clear-eyed understanding of reality. We can think about Heathcliff as the devil, as a monomaniac bent on revenge, as an elemental force of nature, or as the proletariat rising up and assuming the position of the ruling class, and all these interpretations are true. But if we think about Heathcliff as one half of the Cathy/Heathcliff dyad, we come to realize that whatever he is, he is essential, not just for the story, but for existence itself.

What are a few objects that represent the characters and themes in Jeanne DuPrau's The City of Ember?

One symbol found in Jeanne DuPrau's The City of Ember is the green worm Doon finds that morphs into a moth.

Early in Chapter 3, the narrator informs the reader that Doon loves collecting and studying bugs and has just recently found a new worm on a cabbage leaf and has put the worm in a box to study it. The worm symbolizes Doon's innate curiosity, the same curiosity that drives him to explore the Pipeworks to see if a solution can be found to Ember's failing generator.

Interestingly, on Lina's first day as a messenger, her job takes her to a street that has "grown deep in shadow" because bulbs in four of its streetlamps have blown out, and there are no bulbs to replace them. This realization gets her wondering what will happen once all of the bulbs in Ember's streets blow out and to picture a world of darkness. As she begins to realize the direness of Ember's situation, "a black worm of dread stirred" within her (Ch. 2). Hence, the worm also symbolizes danger and the need for change.

Later in Chapter 15, once Doon and Lina find what they think is the way out of Ember, Doon notes that his green worm had "wrapped itself up in a blanket of threads" (Ch. 15). Just as he is about to leave to meet Lina at the Pipeworks, the green worm bursts its way out of its cocoon; as the worm makes its way out, Doon thinks to himself the word egress, the very important word that led Doon and Lina to find what they think is the way out of Ember. Once the worm is out of the cocoon, Doon can see that the worm has morphed into a "moth with light brown wings" (Ch. 15). The cocoon symbolizes a place of safety, just as Ember once was, but now it is time for its citizens to make their egress, just like the worm, to reveal that they are no longer the content citizens they once were; they are now ready to spread their wings, like the moth, and reach new heights.

What are some examples of how Atticus helps to bring about a change in Scout?

Atticus and Scout have a great father-daughter relationship. Atticus is a kind and patient man who gives Scout the benefit of the doubt as well as teaching her to improve herself. As she starts first grade, she finds that things don't always go as she feels they should. As a result, she winds up solving problems through yelling and punching. Atticus wants her to stop fighting so he gives her some great advice after her first day of school:

"First of all. . . if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view. . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it" (30).

Scout takes this to heart and admits to trying it when involved in arguments with her brother, Jem. It's a skill that needs practice though. For example, Scout gets into a fight with her second cousin Francis at Christmas time. Uncle Jack discusses the situation with Atticus while Scout hides and listens in. Unbeknownst to her, Atticus knows that she's listening, so he says things to his brother that will help her to improve her behavior:

"Bad language is a stage all children go through, and it dies with time when they learn they're not attracting attention with it. Hotheadedness isn't. Scout's got to learn to keep her head and learn soon, with what's in store for her these next few months. She's coming along, though. . . she knows I know she tries. That's what makes the difference" (87-88).

With this conversation, Atticus points out Scout's hotheadedness more directly than with his first piece of advice; but also says he believes in her. Now she knows what she needs to work on and that Atticus knows she can do it.

One more example of Atticus helping Scout bring about a change in herself is how he treats the "evil" Mrs. Dubose in chapter 11. Mrs. Dubose is a cranky old woman who says mean and prejudiced things to the children about their father. Rather than stoop to her level, Atticus always greets her with the tip of his hat and a polite word. Scout witnesses Atticus tell her brother always to show Mrs. Dubose respect and to be a gentleman. What really impacts Scout, though, is how Atticus faces the harshest of criticism with positivity. Scout explains:

"It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived" (100).

She also sees that speaking and acting kindly to people, even though they are disrespectful in return, can bring about respect for oneself as well as a way to de-escalate the situation. Through Atticus's perfect example, Scout learns that she does not have to fight to solve problems--she just has to be patient, kind and brave.

What happened to Native Americans after the Indian Removal Act was passed?

The Indian Removal Act of 1830 gave the President the authority to settle Indian peoples on tribal lands located within states to territorial lands outside of state borders. In short, it empowered Andrew Jackson to remove, through force and negotiation, Indian peoples, who would be sent to "Indian territory" in modern-day Oklahoma. Its effects on Indian people, especially in the Southwest (the modern-day Southeast) were profound. Many, including the Choctaws and Chickasaws, who lived in...

The Indian Removal Act of 1830 gave the President the authority to settle Indian peoples on tribal lands located within states to territorial lands outside of state borders. In short, it empowered Andrew Jackson to remove, through force and negotiation, Indian peoples, who would be sent to "Indian territory" in modern-day Oklahoma. Its effects on Indian people, especially in the Southwest (the modern-day Southeast) were profound. Many, including the Choctaws and Chickasaws, who lived in Mississippi, moved to Indian Territory more or less voluntarily. Others, like the Creeks and the Seminoles, were removed (with some exceptions) without their consent. The Cherokee, who lived in northwestern Georgia, eastern Tennessee, and western North Carolina, divided into factions, with one group accepting removal and another, with far broader popular support within the Cherokee nation, opposing it. A Supreme Court decision in Worcester v Georgia (1832) seemed to support the claims of the anti-removal faction, but the US government held that a treaty negotiated with their rivals was binding on the entire nation. The Cherokee were forcibly removed by the US Army and sent on the disastrous "Trail of Tears" to Indian Territory in 1838. So the effect of the Indian Removal Act, and Jackson's Indian policy more broadly, was the forced migration of hundreds of thousands of Native peoples to distant lands in the west.

Why does Malcolm X discuss the details of his early life in Michigan, Boston, and New York?

When you consider Malcolm X's political worldview, it makes perfect sense that he needed to discuss his early struggles in his life.  Malcolm believes that the white race in America has deliberately attempted to subjugate the black race in a number of different ways.  He does not believe that integration is possible because of this history.  The experiences that he has as a youngster seems to confirm this.  In Michigan, his father was murdered by...

When you consider Malcolm X's political worldview, it makes perfect sense that he needed to discuss his early struggles in his life.  Malcolm believes that the white race in America has deliberately attempted to subjugate the black race in a number of different ways.  He does not believe that integration is possible because of this history.  The experiences that he has as a youngster seems to confirm this.  In Michigan, his father was murdered by white supremacists because of his activism.  Malcolm ends up in Harlem where he is convinced to leave his job as a porter which was a common service job for African-Americans.  He is convinced to do so by a local hustler that hires him in a number of criminal enterprises.  While in Harlem, Malcolm demonstrates his organization skills and is successful as a criminal.  Malcolm makes the case in his autobiography that a lot of African-Americans turn to crime because they have requisite skills to contribute to society but are not permitted to utilize them in legitimate business. After a falling out with his associates in Harlem, Malcolm moves to Boston and has similar success as a criminal.  He is caught burglarizing a home and is unfairly sentenced to do ten years, even though this was his first offense.  It is clear that Malcolm is not able to deliver the message of black separatism and black nationalism without communicating his terrible experiences with racism and injustice.  Malcolm feels his life of crime was a direct reflection of the African-American experience in America.  He does not trust white people because he has had such poor experiences in his earlier days with whites. 

In the book Hoot, how did Roy's bike get a flat tire?

In the book Hoot, Roy's bike tire gets a flat because Beatrice bites a hole in it.  

At the end of chapter six, Roy rides his bike to the construction yard. He is looking for Mullet Fingers, because Roy wants to show him that he can be trusted.  Roy doesn't find anything, and when he comes back to retrieve his bike, it is gone.  Roy starts walking home. 

Chapter seven begins, Beatrice shows up,...

In the book Hoot, Roy's bike tire gets a flat because Beatrice bites a hole in it.  

At the end of chapter six, Roy rides his bike to the construction yard. He is looking for Mullet Fingers, because Roy wants to show him that he can be trusted.  Roy doesn't find anything, and when he comes back to retrieve his bike, it is gone.  Roy starts walking home. 

Chapter seven begins, Beatrice shows up, and she is riding Roy's bike. She orders him to get on the handle bars, and she continues to pedal. Beatrice is really strong. The two of them stop and talk about Mullet Fingers.  Beatrice eventually reveals that Mullet Fingers is her brother. 

Roy has now been out longer than he should have.  In order to explain his tardiness, Beatrice comes up with idea that Roy had a flat tire.  To make it flat, she bites it. 

When the Book of Genesis (4:26) says that “men began to call upon the name of the Lord,” what does it mean?

The meaning of this passage depends on the grammatical structure of the Hebrew text, which is not always precisely reflected in English translation. The most probable sense of the phrase is that in this period people first called the Lord "Jehovah." There are a few possible ways to read this.

One way has to do with the history of Judaism and the way the Bible tries to integrate historical and sacred history. Before the Mosaic...

The meaning of this passage depends on the grammatical structure of the Hebrew text, which is not always precisely reflected in English translation. The most probable sense of the phrase is that in this period people first called the Lord "Jehovah." There are a few possible ways to read this.

One way has to do with the history of Judaism and the way the Bible tries to integrate historical and sacred history. Before the Mosaic books were first composed as a part of oral tradition, there was probably some diffuse form of monotheism that gradually evolved in the Levant. This may have been an outgrowth of polytheism, with one god emerging as the most powerful among many. This passage could reflect that historical evolution in some way, describing how a monotheistic worship of a god called "Jehovah" evolved.

A more theological reading might emphasize that the giving of a name, Jehovah, to God, reflected the ways humans and human language had degenerated from an earlier prelapsarian state of immediate apprehension of God to one where God became mediated through books and language. 

How do critical angles impact the glitter of diamonds?

When light passes between different materials, it can be slowed down to different speeds. In vacuum it moves at its maximum speed (actually the maximum speed allowed by the fundamental laws of the universe); in air it moves slightly slower than that. In a solid such as diamond it moves much slower still, and in some more exotic materials such as Bose-Einstein condensates it can be slowed down by a factor of thousands or even millions. The slowest light ever recorded is slow enough you could pass it with a bicycle. The speed at which light travels in a substance is usually reported as a refraction index, which is the number of times faster it could go in vacuum relative to the speed it goes in that substance. (E.g. if it is slowed down by 1/2, the refractive index would be 2. Diamond slows light to about 2/5 c, so it has a refractive index of about 2.5.)

When light hits a transition between two substances with different refractive index, it changes direction. (Actually it seeks the path of least time, which is linked to some very deep facts about fundamental physics. If you'd like to know more about why it does that, I highly recommend QED by Richard Feynman.) The angle at which it refracts is dependent upon the angle at which it hit the surface, the angle of incidence.

Transitions between substances of very different refractive index can have a critical angle, above which some light waves are refracted so much that they stay inside instead of ever leaving the substance. This is called total internal reflection.

Diamonds have a high enough refractive index (relative to air) that they can do this. A diamond that is cut at the wrong angles can actually appear opaque (or translucent), because a great deal of the light that passes into it is totally internally reflected. At the other extreme it can look completely transparent, which is boring. Cut at the proper angles, however, it can just barely ride that critical angle, so that some light is reflected while some is not, and by turning the diamond in your hand you can change the angles of incidence for nearby light sources, and thus watch the light on different facets go in and out of reflection, looking like they are lights twinkling on and off. This is what creates the highly-prized sparkling effect of a well-cut diamond.

What was the resistance movement? What did they do?

The underground resistance made efforts to save the Jews from mass murder at the Buchenwald camp. On April 5th, all Jews were asked to gather in the Appelplatz. The order came under mysterious circumstances which heightened the prisoners’ sense of doubt. For most of them, the order marked their end. Hitler was living up to his promise of annihilating all Jews.  On their way to the Appelplatz, other prisoners asked them to return to their...

The underground resistance made efforts to save the Jews from mass murder at the Buchenwald camp. On April 5th, all Jews were asked to gather in the Appelplatz. The order came under mysterious circumstances which heightened the prisoners’ sense of doubt. For most of them, the order marked their end. Hitler was living up to his promise of annihilating all Jews.  On their way to the Appelplatz, other prisoners asked them to return to their blocks because the German officers planned to shoot them. Eliezer and the other prisoners established that this was an effort by the underground resistance to save them.

We returned to the block. On our way there, we learned that the underground resistance of the camp had made the decision not to abandon the Jews and to prevent their liquidation.

The resistance movement comprised of armed prisoners, who later launched an attack on the SS, forcing them to flee and abandon the camp. The resistance subsequently took over control of the camp and liberated the prisoners.

The resistance movement decided at that point to act. Armed men appeared from everywhere. Bursts of gunshots. Grenades exploding.
We, the children, remained flat on the floor of the block. The battle did not last long. Around noon, everything was calm again. The SS had fled and the resistance had taken charge of the camp.

Why might Eliot have called this a "love song"? If you were titling it, would you keep "love song" or use some other phrase?

We find the phrase "love song" in the title of the poem for a few reasons.

As a description of the speaker's sad, lonely wanderings and failures to connect with women, "love song" is a fairly accurate and straightforward description: the speaker yearns for love and intimacy without receiving it. Think of how many actual love songs you know that are about unrequited love, or failed relationships! They're very common.

And, paradoxically, "love song"...

We find the phrase "love song" in the title of the poem for a few reasons.

As a description of the speaker's sad, lonely wanderings and failures to connect with women, "love song" is a fairly accurate and straightforward description: the speaker yearns for love and intimacy without receiving it. Think of how many actual love songs you know that are about unrequited love, or failed relationships! They're very common.

And, paradoxically, "love song" works as an ironic description of the speaker's struggles, too. He doesn't find love, and he's too much of a coward to even try very hard to find it, and so he's definitely not singing a love song to any lady in real life!

To sum this up so far, although it sounds crazy, the poem both is and is not a love song, so the phrase "love song" in the title is both straightforwardly appropriate as well as ironic. But here's my favorite guess about why Eliot titled the poem with that phrase: "love song" also works to make the title funny. We might expect a poem to be called, for example, "The Love Song of Romeo" or "The Love Song of James Smith" or any other normal-sounding name. But this is "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," which is hilarious when you think of how stuffy that name really sounds. It's like saying "The Love Song of F. Humphrey Q. Longwhiskers III." I'm exaggerating, but you get the idea: the man's name is awkward and snobby, so putting it next to the phrase "love song" is funny.

For all those reasons, no, I, personally, wouldn't change the title of the poem to something else. It works too well as it is. But if you were interested in creating a more straightforward title, you might pick something like "Lonely Wanderings," or you might just echo a line you particularly like that embodies the theme, like "Ragged Claws" or "Indecisions" or "Music From a Farther Room."

You might be interested to know that Eliot himself originally titled this poem "Prufrock Among the Women" (according to the book T.S. Eliot: A Life by Peter Ackroyd). So if you were looking for a more appropriate title that expresses the fact that Prufrock wanders around among the women without actually wooing them or connecting with them in any meaningful way, that title would do the job.

In To Kill a Mockingbird what are some quotes that show racism?

I like the following quote that has racial implications.  

Lula stopped, but she said, "You ain't got no business bringin' white chillun here—they got their church, we got our'n. It is our church, ain't it, Miss Cal?"

The quote is from chapter twelve.  The reason that I like the quote is because it squarely puts Scout and Jem on the other side of racism.  The two kids have never been on the receiving end...

I like the following quote that has racial implications.  

Lula stopped, but she said, "You ain't got no business bringin' white chillun here—they got their church, we got our'n. It is our church, ain't it, Miss Cal?"

The quote is from chapter twelve.  The reason that I like the quote is because it squarely puts Scout and Jem on the other side of racism.  The two kids have never been on the receiving end of a racist comment.  They are white children, and even without making racist comments themselves, they hear white people making nasty comments about black people.  This is the first time they have heard and gotten a nasty comment about being white. 

The next quote is probably the quote most often associated with Atticus, his parenting, and his views on racism.  The quote comes from chapter eleven. 

"You aren't really a nigger-lover, then, are you?"

"I certainly am. I do my best to love everybody... I'm hard put, sometimes—baby, it's never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is, it doesn't hurt you."

Atticus is teaching Scout an important lesson about racism.  First, Atticus shows that words do have power, but only if you let them.  He also explains that those negative kinds of words often teach you more about the person saying the insult than it does about the person receiving the insult.  Lastly, Atticus is showing Scout why he is a "nigger-lover."  It's because he is doing his best to treat everybody the same.  Atticus isn't in favor of one race more than any other race.  Atticus is teaching Scout about equality. 

Who owns the woods and the touch me not cottage?

The Foster family owns and lives in the touch me not cottage.  The Foster family also owns the nearby woods.  For a brief period in the story, the woods are owned by the man in the yellow suit, but he obtained the woods through devious blackmail.  Both the house and the woods are located in the town of Treegap.  The nickname "touch me not" explains a lot about what the Foster family house is like....

The Foster family owns and lives in the touch me not cottage.  The Foster family also owns the nearby woods.  For a brief period in the story, the woods are owned by the man in the yellow suit, but he obtained the woods through devious blackmail.  Both the house and the woods are located in the town of Treegap.  The nickname "touch me not" explains a lot about what the Foster family house is like. People live there, but to call it a home is probably incorrect.  There is no sense of warmth and love within the house.  The Foster family does care for Winnie, but they show it in a way that Winnie does not understand.  The Fosters try to micromanage Winnie and limit everything that she does.  Winnie feels restricted within the confines of her own home.  She may live there, but she can't have any fun.  That's precisely the reason she is considering running away when the reader meets her in the beginning of the book. 

To produce 350 cal of heat, how many grams of isopropyl alcohol must boil? The heat of fusion of isopropyl alcohol is 21.4 cal/g and the heat of...

First of all, boiling the alcohol (or other materials, such as water, among others) needs energy and does not generate heat. This is the reason, when water or rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) evaporates, we get a cooling sensation (since some heat from our body has been utilized for its evaporation). Secondly, a number of parameters are missing. The initial state (solid or liquid) and the temperature must be provided. We also need the specific heat...

First of all, boiling the alcohol (or other materials, such as water, among others) needs energy and does not generate heat. This is the reason, when water or rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) evaporates, we get a cooling sensation (since some heat from our body has been utilized for its evaporation). Secondly, a number of parameters are missing. The initial state (solid or liquid) and the temperature must be provided. We also need the specific heat in solid and liquid phases and melting and boiling points of the alcohol.

Let us say the alcohol is initially in the solid state at a temperature Ti. Let us say Tm and Tb are melting and boiling points and Ss and Sl are specific heat values in solid and liquid phases. Then energy would be required to

• increase the temperature from initial value to melting point


• phase change from solid to liquid (heat of fusion)


• increase in temperature from melting point to boiling point


• phase change from liquid to gas (heat of vaporization)

This way, we can calculate the heat required.

For the given case and given information, we can assume the alcohol to be in liquid phase at the boiling point. 350 cal of heat would be able to boil

350 cal / (159 cal/g) = 2.2 g isopropyl alcohol.

Thus, we can boil 2.2 g of alcohol with 350 cal heat, without any temperature increase.

To generate heat, the alcohol will need to undergo combustion.

Hope this helps.

Are there any good quotes from Romeo and Juliet that speak about the pair not wanting to live without the other?

Yes! In fact, both Romeo and Juliet say out loud a few times each that they'd rather be dead than live without each other. The poor Nurse and Friar Lawrence have to listen to their dramatic claims. Let's see what they say exactly:

1. In Act 3, Scene 2, Juliet tells the Nurse:

"Hath Romeo slain himself? Say thou but 'ay,'

And that bare vowel I shall poison more

Than the death-darting eye of cockatrice.

I am not I if there be such an I,

Or those eyes shut that makes thee answer 'ay.'"

She means, "Is Romeo dead? Okay, if so, then I'll kill myself."

2. A moment later, Juliet adds:

"Vile earth, to earth resign. End motion here,

And thou and Romeo press one heavy bier."

Meaning that if Romeo really is dead, then she'll kill herself, and she and Romeo will be together in one coffin. 

3. And another moment later, Juliet also says this, meaning that she'll let death take her virginity rather than Romeo, since he's banished:

"Come, cords.—Come, Nurse. I’ll to my wedding bed.

And death, not Romeo, take my maidenhead!"

4. Soon afterward, in Act 3, Scene 3, when Romeo finds out that he's been banished from Verona, he says:

"There is no world without Verona walls

But purgatory, torture, hell itself.

Hence 'banishèd' is banished from the world,

And world’s exile is death."

He means that he'd rather be dead than be banished from Verona, where Juliet lives.

5. He goes on to say to the Friar:

"Hadst thou no poison mixed, no sharp-ground knife,

No sudden mean of death, though ne'er so mean,

But 'banishèd' to kill me?—'Banishèd'!"

He means, "Don't you have any way to just kill me instead of sending me away from Juliet?"

As Huck and Jim begin their travels together, how do the descriptions of natural settings (the cave, the storm, the animals on the island) contrast...

In Chapter 9 of Huckleberry Finn, Twain commences his main theme of Nature/"Natural Living" vs. Living within Society.

It is with pictorial description that Twain sets up the contrast between the natural life and that of society. After Huck escapes from his Pap and feigns his death, he rows away in the moonlit night, stopping at Jackson's Island. The next day as he explores the island, Huck happens upon Jim. Although happy to see him, Huck is rather disconcerted when he learns that Jim has escaped in order to avoid being sold "down the river" to New Orleans.

Since they are now both fugitives, Huck and Jim seek a hiding place and discover a large cavern inside a steep ridge. After they camouflage the canoe in the thick willows, they enter this cavern. Not long after they have spread their blankets and arranged other belongings, a summer storm of strong winds and lightning and thunder begins. However, Huck describes this wild storm as "lovely":

...the rain would thrash along by so thick that the trees...looked dim and spider-webby; and here would come a blast of wind that would bend the trees down and turn up the pale underside of the leaves; and then a perfect ripper of a gust would follow along and set the branches to tossing their arms as if they was just wild; and next when it was just about the bluest and blackest--fst! It was as bright as glory....

Clearly, Huck delights in the majesty, power and awe-inspiring beauty of nature. Further, he describes the "rabbits, and snakes, and such things" on the flooded island as tame because they are starved. Huck realizes they are approachable as they hope for food from him; thus, there is a harmony between human and nature.

This harmony is in sharp contrast to the conflicts which have occurred in previous chapters while Huck has lived in society; there he feels confined by its dictates that he not smoke or wear certain clothing, or that he must pray and bathe. While he may not know the term for Miss Watson's behavior, he wonders that she prays but acts in ways that are contradictory to what she says. Of course, that his drunken reprobate of a father should have control of him instead of Miss Watson raises questions, as well. 

When Jim and Huck begin construction of a raft, they spot a frame house floating down the river. Inside the second story, they discover furniture and clothes and other things strewn about, one of which is a dead body. This dead man has been shot in the back and has been stripped naked, so Jim throws some rags over him so that Huck will not see the grisly sight. Also on the floor are stacks of old greasy playing cards, old whisky bottles, and two black cloth masks. There is the "ignorantest kind of words and pictures" written and drawn on the wall with charcoal. In addition, Huck and Jim find women's clothing and evidence of a baby as there is a bottle still containing milk. The manner in which things lie indicates to Huck that people left in a rush. There are also tools and a hatchet, a leather dog collar, a wooden leg, fish-line, needles and pins, and other assorted items that Huck and Jim take. As they return to the safety of the island away from society, Huck makes Jim lie down in the canoe because the color of his skin can be spotted from a long way away. 

The description of the inside of the flooded house is certainly that of conflict and disharmony, a state that is in profound opposition to the descriptions that Huck provides of the peacefulness of nature on the island. Indeed, the main thematic concerns of Twain are well exemplified in Chapter 9. 

In A Christmas Carol, if the children, Ignorance and Want, belong to man, why do they cling to the Ghost of Christmas Present?

Ignorance and Want, the children of humankind, cling to the Ghost of Christmas Present because, in Scrooge's (and Dickens's present), they are children, young, a new kind of social problem.  To be sure, ignorance and want have always existed, but they exist in a new way during the Victorian era, a time characterized by an extreme disparity between the haves and the have nots.  People who were poor were excruciatingly so, and many of the...

Ignorance and Want, the children of humankind, cling to the Ghost of Christmas Present because, in Scrooge's (and Dickens's present), they are children, young, a new kind of social problem.  To be sure, ignorance and want have always existed, but they exist in a new way during the Victorian era, a time characterized by an extreme disparity between the haves and the have nots.  People who were poor were excruciatingly so, and many of the people with money -- people like Scrooge -- choose to remain ignorant of the problems caused by this extreme want.  Thus, ignorance and want were the two social evils that Dickens believed posed the biggest threat to society. 

In this era, then, a particular kind of ignorance and a particular kind of want were in their infancy, and they would only grow to become more pernicious if not dealt with early on.  Therefore, they are children who cling to the Ghost of Christmas Present because they are relatively small problems in the present; however, they are problems that will grow more significant that longer they are ignored. 

Describe the conflict between the Greasers and the Socs. Be sure to cite specific evidence from the book using quotes.

In S.E. Hinton's novel The Outsiders, there is conflict between the Socs, which is short for Socials, the kids that live on the west side of town and are rich. The greasers live on the east side. Their nickname comes from the way they wear their hair--long and with a lot of oil, or styling gel. Beginning on page three, Ponyboy begins to describe the conflict between the two groups. Throughout the book, the conflict heightens and reaches a climax. The end result is not a complete resolution of the conflict. The greasers win a rumble against the Socs, but there is no textual evidence that the conflict between them will end. Here is Ponyboy's description of the two groups:

"Greasers can't be alone too much or they'll get jumped, or someone will come by and scream 'Greaser!' at them, which doesn't make you feel too hot, if you know what I mean. We get jumped by the Socs. I'm not sure how you spell it, but it's the abbreviation for the Socials, the jet set, the West-side rich kids. It's like the term 'greaser,' which is used to class all us boys from the East Side. We're poorer than the Socs and the middle class. I reckon we're wilder, too. Not like the Socs, who jump greasers and wreck houses and throw beer blasts for kicks, and get editorials in the paper for being a public disgrace one day and an asset to society the next. Greasers are almost like hoods; we steal things and drive old souped-up cars and hold up gas stations and have a gang fight once in a while." 

In chapter one, Ponyboy is walking home alone from the movies when he is surrounded by Socs. They pulled a knife out held it against his throat. Ponyboy's brothers Darry and Sodapop come to his aid. 

In chapter four, Ponyboy and Johnny are walking home from the drive-in when they encounter some Socs. These Socs want to pick a fight because Ponyboy and Johnny were talking to their girlfriends at the drive-in. They push Ponyboy's head under the water of a fountain in the park. Here is a quote from that conflict: 

"'Next time you want a broad, pick up yer own kind--dirt.' I was getting mad. I was hating them enough to lose my head. 

'You know what a greaser is?' Bob asked. 'White trash with long hair.'

I felt the blood draining from my face. I've been cussed out and sworn at, but nothing ever hit me like that did. Johnnycake made a kind of gasp and his eyes were smoldering. 

'You know what a Soc is?' I said, my voice shaking with rage. 'White trash with Mustangs and madras.' And then, because I couldn't think of anything bad enough to call them, I spit at them." 

Johnny, believing they will drown his friend, stabs Bob to death. The two boys then run to Dally for help. He tells them where to hide so they don't get arrested. 

After the stabbing, the Socs call for a "rumble" against the greasers to avenge the death of their friend. During the rumble, Ponyboy makes this observation when Darry starts the fight with his former friend Paul: 

"The silence grew heavier, and I could hear the harsh heavy breathing of the boys around me. Still Darry and the Soc walked in a circle. Even I could feel their hatred. They used to be buddies, I thought, they used to be friends, and now they hate each other because one has to work for a living and the other comes from the West Side. The shouldn't hate each other...I don't hate the Socs any more...they shouldn't hate..." 

The greasers declare themselves winners of this fight. But three deaths occur as a result, either direct or indirect, of the conflict between the greasers and Socs--Bob, Dally, and Johnny. 

Some peace is made between the groups when Ponyboy gets to know Cherry Valance, and Bob's friend Randy. It doesn't seem to have any lasting effects, and the story ends with Ponyboy writing down his story. 

Which characteristic is inherited in fish but learned in humans?

What an interesting question! I think that the best answer is the act of swimming. Fish spend most of their lives swimming as an instinctive behavior. They may appear to "rest" on the bottom of bodies of water, but even then their fins are still gently moving to keep steady. Because fish spend their whole lives in water, swimming as an instinctive behavior certainly gives them an advantage! We humans spend most of our lives...

What an interesting question! I think that the best answer is the act of swimming. Fish spend most of their lives swimming as an instinctive behavior. They may appear to "rest" on the bottom of bodies of water, but even then their fins are still gently moving to keep steady. Because fish spend their whole lives in water, swimming as an instinctive behavior certainly gives them an advantage! We humans spend most of our lives on land, and do not genetically inherit an understanding of swimming. Learning to swim requires good spatial awareness as well as a sense of how to hold breath in our lungs. Some people like to augment their natural swimming skills by using equipment that makes them more fish-like. Have you ever seen a swimmer using flippers on their feet? This helps a swimmer to propel themselves through water. Many people enjoy scuba diving as a hobby, but this requires a special oxygen tank to maintain breathing. Perhaps another inherited trait of fish that humans must learn is how to breathe underwater!