In Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, the "honeymoon period" in which the two families get along well does not last very long. What are some of...

The Franks go into hiding on 6 July and the Van Daans enter the Secret Annex on 13 July 1942. There are only two entries in Anne's diary in August, both of which do not mention any strife or quarreling among the tenants of the annex. However, in the entry dated 2 September 1942, Anne mentions the fact that the Van Daans have had a "terrific quarrel" (24). This entry signifies the end of the...

The Franks go into hiding on 6 July and the Van Daans enter the Secret Annex on 13 July 1942. There are only two entries in Anne's diary in August, both of which do not mention any strife or quarreling among the tenants of the annex. However, in the entry dated 2 September 1942, Anne mentions the fact that the Van Daans have had a "terrific quarrel" (24). This entry signifies the end of the proverbial "honeymoon period." As far as personal differences are concerned, Anne first notes that her parents would never think of shouting at each other the way the Van Daans do. Then she mentions how picky Mrs. Van Daan is about her sheets and dinnerware. It becomes clear very quickly that Mrs. Van Daan is selfish and does not like sharing her things with the Franks. 

In addition to Mrs. Van Daan's personality surfacing for others to see, Mr. Van Daan becomes annoyed with Anne's chattering; Anne becomes annoyed with Peter's laziness; Mrs. Van Daan attempts to get on Margot's nerves about reading too-serious books; Mr. Van Daan shows that he is verbally abusive to his son, Peter; and Mrs. Van Daan also starts flirting with Mr. Frank. And with all of this going on, Anne and her mother become annoyed with each other--Anne because her mother treats her like a baby and Mrs. Frank because Anne is too boisterous and independent. Needless to say, these families are bound to run into each other once in awhile because of the cramped spaces they are confined to and because of all the different personalities under one roof. 

Who are the two childhood friends of Hamlet and what is the significance of them appearing in the play?

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Hamlet’s childhood friends, and he has them killed when they betray him at Claudius's behest.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Hamlet’s school friends. They return at Claudius’s request, and Claudius tries to manipulate them. He tells them that Hamlet has gone crazy because of his father’s death.

Welcome, dear Rosencrantz and Guildenstern!Moreover that we much did long to see you,The need we have to use you did provokeOur hasty...

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Hamlet’s childhood friends, and he has them killed when they betray him at Claudius's behest.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Hamlet’s school friends. They return at Claudius’s request, and Claudius tries to manipulate them. He tells them that Hamlet has gone crazy because of his father’s death.

Welcome, dear Rosencrantz and Guildenstern!
Moreover that we much did long to see you,
The need we have to use you did provoke
Our hasty sending. Something have you heard
Of Hamlet's transformation; so call it,
Sith nor the exterior nor the inward man
Resembles that it was. (Act 2, Scene 2) 

Hamlet, for his part, views his friends’ presence as an interesting development. He seems to be aware of what his uncle is doing. He wants to make sure that they are aware that his crazy act is just an act. He tells Guildenstern that he is not crazy. 

I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is
southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw. (Act 2, Scene 2) 

Hamlet is definitely not crazy. It is interesting that he wants these two to know it, because he doesn’t let many others in on the secret. Apparently he doesn’t want people who used to respect him to think that he went off the deep end.

Later, Hamlet tells Rosencrantz that he is a “sponge,” meaning that he is being manipulated by Claudius. Hamlet’s point is that he knows what Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are up to. He can play the game better than they can. When Claudius sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern with a letter that is supposed to result in Hamlet’s death, Hamlet turns the tables on them and writes his own letter so that they are the ones killed instead. He is not about to be betrayed by either his uncle or his childhood friends.

Describe Gatsby the first time Nick sees him.

Nick first believes he sees Gatsby outside the man's palatial mansion on West Egg one summer night. He is a shadowy figure. He is alone and somewhat aloof as Nick indicates he has the feeling the man wanted to be left undisturbed. Gatsby is looking eastward to the light at the end of the dock where Daisy Buchanan lives in the mansion across the bay in East Egg. He is reaching out "in a curious...

Nick first believes he sees Gatsby outside the man's palatial mansion on West Egg one summer night. He is a shadowy figure. He is alone and somewhat aloof as Nick indicates he has the feeling the man wanted to be left undisturbed. Gatsby is looking eastward to the light at the end of the dock where Daisy Buchanan lives in the mansion across the bay in East Egg. He is reaching out "in a curious way." It is symbolic that Gatsby is in the West and Daisy in the East. He represents the nouveau riche as opposed to the established Eastern money of Tom Buchanan. Daisy is symbolic of the wealth and acceptance which Gatsby strives for and the reason he is portrayed as reaching out.

Nick doesn't actually meet Gatsby until chapter three at one of Gatsby's parties. Nick does not even recognize the man he has been sitting with until he comments that he hasn't met the host yet. Gatsby informs Nick that he is the host and Nick is quite surprised. He is immediately impressed by Gatsby, yet he comments that Gatsby's way of speaking was almost "absurd." Nick seems to recognize that there is something phony about Gatsby but this doesn't keep him from taking an instant liking to the man.  

Where is the theme of honor shown in Act 1 of Julius Caesar?

Marullus and Flavius question the honor of the townspeople for celebrating Caesar’s victory over Pompey, and Cassius discusses Caesar’s honor with Brutus.

Marullus and Flavius are upset because the townspeople have gathered for a holiday, adorning Caesar’s statues.  They remind them that not too long ago they were celebrating and admiring Pompey.  In their minds, it is dishonorable to rejoice at Caesar’s victory over Pompey, a consul of Rome.

And do you now put on...

Marullus and Flavius question the honor of the townspeople for celebrating Caesar’s victory over Pompey, and Cassius discusses Caesar’s honor with Brutus.

Marullus and Flavius are upset because the townspeople have gathered for a holiday, adorning Caesar’s statues.  They remind them that not too long ago they were celebrating and admiring Pompey.  In their minds, it is dishonorable to rejoice at Caesar’s victory over Pompey, a consul of Rome.

And do you now put on your best attire?
And do you now cull out a holiday?
And do you now strew flowers in his way
That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood? Be gone! (Act 1, Scene 1)

They feel that the citizens are betraying Pompey by following Caesar.  Caesar crossed the Rubicon and marched on Rome when Pompey was in charge.  He then defeated Pompey and many other Romans, some of them senators and high-placed businessmen.  This is one of the reasons that everyone keeps calling Caesar arrogant.  They can’t believe he would break the law to take power and then make war on other Romans.

When Cassius and Brutus are discussing Caesar’s arrogance, Cassius tells Brutus that one of Caesar’s greatest sins is that he puts himself above others.

Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus, and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs and peep about
To find ourselves dishonourable graves.
Men at some time are masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings. (Act 1, Scene 2)

This means that if they choose to serve under Caesar, it is their own fault.  They can be slaves if they choose to be slaves.  It is up to them to decide their own fates.  To Cassius, the dishonorable decision is to just sit back and let Caesar take over Rome.  Like Marullus and Flavius, he believes that Caesar has overstepped and has to be stopped, for the good of Rome.

Are the people in Maycomb, Alabama respectful? Would you consider the citizens of Maycomb to be more respectful than citizens living in today's...

Harper Lee presents the citizens of Maycomb as generally respectful individuals who are both friendly and helpful.Citizens of Maycomb visit with each other, offer assistance in times of need and rely upon one another to live a comfortable, peaceful life. As with any community, the citizens have both positive and negative character traits. Although the Maycomb citizens are portrayed as magnanimous, they also hold prejudiced views towards African Americans, and many of them are unapologetically...

Harper Lee presents the citizens of Maycomb as generally respectful individuals who are both friendly and helpful. Citizens of Maycomb visit with each other, offer assistance in times of need and rely upon one another to live a comfortable, peaceful life. As with any community, the citizens have both positive and negative character traits. Although the Maycomb citizens are portrayed as magnanimous, they also hold prejudiced views towards African Americans, and many of them are unapologetically racist. In today's society, prejudiced attitudes are still present, yet overt racism is viewed with contempt and is a cultural taboo in America. Post-Civil Rights era America is more tolerant and accepting of other races, ethnicities, and cultures. In my opinion, it would be unfair to say that today's populace is "more respectful" than the fictional citizens of 1930s Maycomb, Alabama. While our views towards other races, African Americans in general, have developed and modern society is generally more accepting, African Americans still suffer from discrimination throughout America. I would say that today's society treats people of the other races with more respect, but in general, individuals are equally respectful as they were in Harper Lee's Maycomb, Alabama.

How would a person from the lower class watching Macbeth have reacted to the play in the 1600s?

Macbeth would have been a draw for Elizabethans because of the history, the violence, and the supernatural elements.  Although the average Elizabethan peasant may not have cared about history, he or she probably would have enjoyed the witches.  Supernatural elements were very popular back then.  Some people say that Shakespeare included violence and comic relief at various points during the plays in order to satisfy the lowest class of viewers. 

In those days, theater going...

Macbeth would have been a draw for Elizabethans because of the history, the violence, and the supernatural elements.  Although the average Elizabethan peasant may not have cared about history, he or she probably would have enjoyed the witches.  Supernatural elements were very popular back then.  Some people say that Shakespeare included violence and comic relief at various points during the plays in order to satisfy the lowest class of viewers. 

In those days, theater going was very different.  First off there would be some kind of fun entertainment like a boxing match or a bear-baiting.  There would also likely be a lot of drinking.  The peasants would have been in the penny area, where they were known as groundlings.  They would often make a lot of noise if they were not enjoying the show.  For this reason, Shakespeare often catered to the lowest common denominator with bawdy jokes and comedy. The porter is a good example. 

The conversation between Macduff and the porter serves little actual purpose other than comic relief.  It does indicate Macduff’s patience! 

MACDUFF

What three things does drink especially provoke?

Porter

Marry, sir, nose-painting, sleep, and
urine. Lechery, sir, it provokes, and unprovokes;
it provokes the desire, but it takes
away the performance … (Act 2, Scene 3) 

This scene adds some levity to an otherwise pretty dark play.  Of course the witches would have been very popular.  They do not appear in many scenes, but when they do they are fascinating.  Their chants would have likely enthralled the typical peasant.

Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg and owlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble. (Act 4, Scene 1)

This speech or song is both disturbing and funny.  It would have reinforced what most Elizabethans pictured of witches.  Of course, the witches do serve a purpose. They move the plot along.

What does Scout mean when she says that Atticus has an "infinite capacity for calming turbulent seas"?

In Chapter 17, Atticus begins by questioning Mr. Tate concerning the events on November 21st. Atticus is calm and collected, and asks Sheriff Tate specific questions regarding the location of Mayella Ewell's injuries. Scout mentions that the trial is "utterly dull" because there are no arguments, nobody is yelling, and there is no drama. Scout is disappointed thus far and compares Atticus' approach to defending Tom Robinson to that of settling a title dispute. She...

In Chapter 17, Atticus begins by questioning Mr. Tate concerning the events on November 21st. Atticus is calm and collected, and asks Sheriff Tate specific questions regarding the location of Mayella Ewell's injuries. Scout mentions that the trial is "utterly dull" because there are no arguments, nobody is yelling, and there is no drama. Scout is disappointed thus far and compares Atticus' approach to defending Tom Robinson to that of settling a title dispute. She says, "With his infinite capacity for calming turbulent seas, he could make a rape case as dry as a sermon" (Lee 226). Scout is aware of her father's laid-back, didactic manner when he is involved in stressful, serious situations. Atticus is always able to maintain his composure and settle down intense situations when he is under pressure throughout the novel, and his performance during Tom's trial is no different. Scout, along with the rest of Maycomb's citizens, attended the trial to see the excitement and to be entertained. Atticus' calm, moderate demeanor upsets Scout because she wants to witness a thrilling case full of drama and suspense.

What is the plot of Hemingway's "The Snows of Kilimanjaro"?

In Ernest Hemingway's short story "The Snows of Kilimanjaro," a writer, Harry, and his wealthy wife, Helen, are stranded on an African savanna waiting for help to arrive. They have been on safari as a way of escaping the boredom of their privileged life, which the woman provided for the writer when she married him. As the story opens, the couple is talking about the man's leg. It is rotting from gangrene; he injured it...

In Ernest Hemingway's short story "The Snows of Kilimanjaro," a writer, Harry, and his wealthy wife, Helen, are stranded on an African savanna waiting for help to arrive. They have been on safari as a way of escaping the boredom of their privileged life, which the woman provided for the writer when she married him. As the story opens, the couple is talking about the man's leg. It is rotting from gangrene; he injured it several days earlier, and the infection spread quickly without proper medical care. Their vehicle has broken down, and they are waiting for a plane to fly them out in the morning. As the story progresses, it bounces between conversation between the belligerent Harry and the loving, patient Helen and flashbacks of Harry's life, mostly before meeting Helen, as Harry drifts in and out of consciousness. In his conversation, Harry reveals he does not love Helen and that he regrets having squandered his writing talent. Whether Harry is expressing his true feelings or is speaking in such a hurtful way because of the extreme pain and stress of his injury and infection is unclear.

The flashbacks into Harry's past are about incidents of his service in World War I, pleasant skiing vacations, visits to Paris and Constantinople, and his current life as a writer who never finished writing about the things that he really wanted to write about. The flashbacks in the story are written in italics. Mentions of the sounds of hyenas are strewn throughout the story, and the hyena stalking about the camp is a metaphor for the death that is coming ever closer to Harry as the gangrene spreads in his body.

At the end of the story, morning dawns and the rescue plane has come. It takes Harry into the air, but instead of flying him to civilization, it flies him off to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, which, translated, means "House of God." Harry knows that he has been destined to go there. The story returns to Helen in the middle of the night as she realizes Harry has just died. The description of the plane flight was a description of Harry's last unconscious thoughts as he passed away. 

What are the implications of this line for the reader, "For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you"?

There are a lot of ways to understand this line. I guess the question that naturally comes up is, how? How can "every atom" be the same?

The line could be suggesting that:

1) We are the same in that we each are participants in the democratic spirit of the U.S.

2) We are the same in that we are each living, feeling beings, poetically engaged with the world.

3) We are the same in...

There are a lot of ways to understand this line. I guess the question that naturally comes up is, how? How can "every atom" be the same?

The line could be suggesting that:

1) We are the same in that we each are participants in the democratic spirit of the U.S.

2) We are the same in that we are each living, feeling beings, poetically engaged with the world.

3) We are the same in that we are each poets, writing through our lives our own poems.

To me, the line represents nothing less than a stupendous reinvention poetry itself. By positing that poet and reader are the same -- no matter how you understand it -- Whitman throws into doubt the roles of reader and writer. If we are the same, then, somehow, the reader is as much responsible for the poem as the writer. The idea is that the real poem is the meaning created when the "you" and "me" of the line meet in the lines Whitman has written. In this way, the reader actually becomes a kind of author!

What metaphor is used to describe Miss Emily in the first paragraph?

Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" begins with this line:

"When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house"

Here, Miss Emily is compared to a fallen monument, the sort of thing people have respect for, but likely no real affection or love. This makes it an appropriate...

Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" begins with this line:

"When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house"

Here, Miss Emily is compared to a fallen monument, the sort of thing people have respect for, but likely no real affection or love. This makes it an appropriate metaphor for Miss Emily in a number of ways.

For one, the phrase "fallen monument" suggests age and an older time period that has ended. This certainly applies to Miss Emily, who was emblematic throughout her life of life in the antebellum South. Everything from keeping up her family's proud, aristocratic ways to her refusal to pay the taxes that have been forgiven by the kindly alderman demonstrate that Emily is living in an older time.

Miss Emily can also be viewed as a fallen monument due to her place in the town's mythology. Between her pride and her reclusive ways, she is very much on the outside of the action and relationships of the town. Just as a monument is untouchable and distant from everyday lives, Miss Emily had no strong connections or love with any of the townspeople. The narrator suggests a strong "us vs her" sentiment and this demonstrates the distance between Miss Emily and the people of the town.

What happens when two objects of the same mass collide (1-dimension collision) when one object is stationary, assuming friction is negligible? Does...

Assuming this encounter between the two objects is elastic, the initial object that is moving towards the stationary object would transfer all of its kinetic energy and would stop moving while the other object would begin moving at the same speed. 

In order to prove this, we need to define some concepts. First is the elastic collision, which is defined as a collision where all kinetic energy and momentum are conserved and no energy is lost/converted to another form by outside forces. We know this is elastic because there is no friction to lower energy in the system and convert it to heat energy and no other factors such as air resistance. 

Another concept to define is Newton's Third Law: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. This means that whenever a force is applied on an object, the object in turn applies a force in the exact opposite direction and in an exact amount. This is why a coffee cup doesn't fall through a table when set down. Gravity pulls the coffee mug towards the table and the table pushes backwards in an opposite but equal amount, causing the mug to stay stationary on the surface. 

In our situation, I will use the analogy of two pool balls (on a friction-less table), one a cue ball which has been hit towards the other, a motionless 8 ball. Each ball has the following properties:

`Momentum = p = mv`

`KE = (1/2)mv^2`

The momentum of the cue ball is some number greater than zero, as it is moving and it has mass. It also has Kinetic Energy (the energy of movement) for the same reasons. The 8 ball on the other hand is not moving, thus velocity is equal to zero. This means the 8 ball has zero momentum and zero KE. 

The two balls collide and, assuming zero friction and the cue is hitting the 8 as directly as possible (1-dimensional collision), the moving cue ball will act upon the stationary ball transferring all of its kinetic energy into the ball, causing it to move. Due to Newton's Third Law, the stationary 8 ball will also act upon the cue ball in an equal but opposite direction, or with all of the force the cue ball initially had but in the opposite way. This will cause the cue ball to stop and lose all momentum and KE. 

Because this is an elastic collision, all KE and momentum of the system is preserved throughout the collision (energy in is equal to energy out). If the cue ball has come to a complete stop due to the reaction of the 8 ball we can assume all energy was transferred into the 8 ball and the 8 ball is now travelling at the same speed as the cue ball was before the collision. 

In conclusion, due to Newton's Third Law and the understanding of elastic collisions, we can safely assume that if two objects (pool balls) on a friction-less surface were to collide in a 1-directional collision, the initial moving object would transfer all of its energy and momentum into the stationary object and would become stationary itself, while the initially unmoving object would begin to move at a speed equal to the speed of the once moving object before the collision. I hope this answered your question! 

` `

` `

` `

How does the theme “don't judge a book by its cover” apply throughout Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman?

"Don't trust a book by its cover" is a common idiom that means people should not prejudge individuals based on appearance alone. Thematically, there are several examples of this idiom throughout the novel Seedfolksby Paul Fleischman. At the beginning of the novel, Ana spots a Vietnamese girl hiding behind a refrigerator at the lot on Gibb Street digging into the dirt. Ana immediately thinks the girl is burying drugs, money, or a gun. Instead...

"Don't trust a book by its cover" is a common idiom that means people should not prejudge individuals based on appearance alone. Thematically, there are several examples of this idiom throughout the novel Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman. At the beginning of the novel, Ana spots a Vietnamese girl hiding behind a refrigerator at the lot on Gibb Street digging into the dirt. Ana immediately thinks the girl is burying drugs, money, or a gun. Instead of calling the police, Ana travels down to the lot and begins to dig in the same spot where she saw the Vietnamese girl working the ground. Ana discovers the girl was planting beans, not hiding drugs. Ana initially viewed the girl as a criminal but later changed her opinion of the girl. Another example of prejudging a people by their appearances takes place in Chapter 9. Amir mentions that all of the gardeners were afraid of Royce, who looked rather dangerous. As they begin spending more time in the garden with Royce, they find out about his situation and develop a friendship with him. The community gardeners learn Royce is a kind, trustworthy individual, and begin to give him food in exchange for his services. The community initially viewed Royce as a threat, but after getting to know him, they change their opinion of him.

What is the significance of the setting in Hemingway's short story "In Another Country"?

The setting in Ernest Hemingway’s short story “In Another Country” is significant because Nick Lyons is a soldier who is literally and figuratively a man without his country. Lyons, a soldier who is wounded in the war, ends up in Milan. Milan is near the front line fighting but he feels his is “in another country” knowing he will never return to action. Due to his injury, Lyons, is undergoing rehabilitation, on his wounded leg,...

The setting in Ernest Hemingway’s short story “In Another Country” is significant because Nick Lyons is a soldier who is literally and figuratively a man without his country. Lyons, a soldier who is wounded in the war, ends up in Milan. Milan is near the front line fighting but he feels his is “in another country” knowing he will never return to action. Due to his injury, Lyons, is undergoing rehabilitation, on his wounded leg, along with Italian soldiers at a hospital in the city. He is far from his home in America, away from the fighting in Italy, and an outsider in the group of men, which makes him a man "in another country.”

The group of men walk through the streets of Milan each day until they arrive at the hospital. Hemingway reiterates that it is cold with snow, and "darkness comes early." This is not an uplifting setting but rather it points to the desolation that Nick Lyons is feeling.

During their time at the hospital, the Italian men find out that Lyons received his medal for his injury not for the valor associated with his fighting. Upon learning this, the men look at Lyons in a different way, and he is ostracized.

The men have to walk through the “Cova” on the way back to their sleeping quarters. The “Cova” is a raucous part of town in which the young men and women congregate, but once again, the soldiers are excluded and often find themselves walking in the streets to avoid the crowds. They do not belong.

As a setting, the hospital itself contributes to the feeling of hopelessness. The soldiers are subjected to experimental treatments while they are filled with false promises of a return to health. The walls are void of pictures until the Major’s wife dies. When he returns, there are pictures of people who have received successful treatments. This does not phase the Major as he stares blankly out the window knowing that his hand will never be functional again.

In each instance, Hemingway uses the setting to emphasize Nick’s situation of being alone and injured, with no true purpose in life now that his days as a soldier were cut short.  

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

You need to use the fundamental trigonometric formula `sin^2 x = 1 - cos^2 x:`

`int sin^2 t*cos^4 t dt = int (1 - cos^2 t)*cos^4 t dt`

`int (1 - cos^2 t)*cos^4 t dt = int cos^4 t dt - int cos^6 t dt`

You should use the following formula:

`cos^2 t = (1 + cos 2t)/2 => cos^4 t = ((1 + cos 2t)^2)/4`

`cos^6 t = ((1 + cos 2t)^3)/8`

`...

You need to use the fundamental trigonometric formula `sin^2 x = 1 - cos^2 x:`

`int sin^2 t*cos^4 t dt = int (1 - cos^2 t)*cos^4 t dt`

`int (1 - cos^2 t)*cos^4 t dt = int cos^4 t dt - int cos^6 t dt`

You should use the following formula:

`cos^2 t = (1 + cos 2t)/2 => cos^4 t = ((1 + cos 2t)^2)/4`

`cos^6 t = ((1 + cos 2t)^3)/8`

` int cos^4 t dt= (1/4) int ((1 + cos 2t)^2) dt`

` int cos^4 t dt= (1/4) int dt + (1/4) int 2cos 2t dt + (1/4) cos^2 2t dt`

`int cos^4 t dt= (1/4) t + (1/4) sin 2t + (1/4)int (1 + cos 4t)/2dt`

`int cos^4 t dt= (1/4) t + (1/4) sin 2t + (1/8)( t + (sin 4t)/4) + c`

You need to solve  `int cos^6 t` dt such that:

`int cos^6 t dt = int ((1 + cos 2t)^3)/8 dt`

`int cos^6 t dt = (1/8)int dt + (1/8) int cos^3 2t dt + (3/8) int cos^2 2t dt +(3/8) int cos 2t dt`

`(1/8) int cos^3 2t dt = (1/8) int cos^2 2t *cos 2t dt`

 `int cos^2 2t *cos 2t  dt  =  int (1 - sin^2 2t) *cos 2t  dt `

`sin 2t = u => 2cos 2t dt = du`

`int (1 - sin^2 2t) *cos 2t  dt  = int (1 - u^2) *(du)/2`

`int (1 - u^2) *(du)/2 = u/2 - u^3/6`

`int (1 - sin^2 2t) *cos 2t  dt  = (sin 2t)/2 - (sin^3 2t)/6`

` int cos^6 t dt = (1/8)t + (1/8)((sin 2t)/2 - (sin^3 2t)/6) + (3/16) sin 2t + (3/8) int cos^2 2t dt `

` int cos^6 t dt = (1/8)t + (1/8)((sin 2t)/2 - (sin^3 2t)/6) + (3/16) sin 2t + (3/8) int (1 + cos 4t)/2 dt`

` int cos^6 t dt = (1/8)t + (1/8)((sin 2t)/2 - (sin^3 2t)/6) + (3/16) sin 2t + (3/8) (t + (sin 4t)/4)`

Hence, the result of integration is:

`int sin^2 t*cos^4 t dt = (1/4)pi + (1/4) sin 2pi + (1/8)(pi + (sin 8pi)/4)- (1/8)(pi - (1/8)((sin 2pi)/2 - (sin^3 4pi)/6)- (3/16) sin4pi- (3/8) (pi/2 + (sin 8pi)/4)`

`int sin^2 t*cos^4 t dt = int sin^2 t*cos^4 t dt = pi/4 - (3pi)/16 = pi/16`

What is the best known index fossil called?

The term "index fossils" refers to varieties of fossils which can be used in relative dating to approximate the (unknown) time period of another fossil. Index fossils are characteristically widespread in terms of geographic space but exist during a rather narrow window of time. In this way, if one particular kind of fossil is found all over the planet but only during a certain time period, we can associate this fossil with that particular time...

The term "index fossils" refers to varieties of fossils which can be used in relative dating to approximate the (unknown) time period of another fossil. Index fossils are characteristically widespread in terms of geographic space but exist during a rather narrow window of time. In this way, if one particular kind of fossil is found all over the planet but only during a certain time period, we can associate this fossil with that particular time period. Let's imagine a scenario where paleontologists are digging in a particular area and they find two fossils-- one of which they know the age of, and one they do not. Using the first fossil as an index, the paleontologist could infer that the second fossil was formed during the same time period.

Ammonoids, also called ammonites, are the best known index fossils and are regularly used to provide approximate dates for other fossils. Because ammonoids were so widespread and underwent a variety of morphological changes, they can be reliably used to approximate dates for other fossils based upon already known variations through time. Ammonoids can be used to date from about the Devonian Period (419 million years ago) to the Cretacious Period (66 million years ago), when they disappeared along with numerous dinosaur species. 

In Chapter 13 of To Kill a Mockingbird, why does Aunt Alexandra get angry with Atticus? Why does she try to change the family?

Aunt Alexandra is upset with Atticus because he has not informed the children about their ancestry and given them a sense of their family history—a history she believes reflects the "gentle breeding" of the upper class of their society.

It is important to Aunt Alexandra that the children realize that they are from a higher social class than others in Maycomb. For this reason, she believes they must behave in appropriate ways. When Atticus is forced...

Aunt Alexandra is upset with Atticus because he has not informed the children about their ancestry and given them a sense of their family history—a history she believes reflects the "gentle breeding" of the upper class of their society.

It is important to Aunt Alexandra that the children realize that they are from a higher social class than others in Maycomb. For this reason, she believes they must behave in appropriate ways. When Atticus is forced to explain the importance of their heritage to his children, Scout perceives that he has been coerced into doing so. She asks him,

"Atticus is all this behavin' an' stuff gonna make things different? I mean, are you? ... You really want us to do all that? I can't remember everything."

Scout tells her father that she has a hard time recalling everything that Finches can do.

"I don't want you to remember it. Forget it."

It is clear to Scout that Aunt Alexandra has just relayed to her brother that he has not been preserving the reputation of the family name. Now Aunt Alexandra feels it incumbent upon her that she do so because social class is important to her.

When a base is dipped in methyl orange what is the color change?

Methyl orange is a compound commonly used in dying textiles. It is also a pH indicator. pH indicators turn particular colors when exposed to environments that are acidic or basic. Methyl orange is commonly used to monitor pH changes during the titration of weak bases with strong acids. Methyl orange is created from a reaction of sulfanilic acid, sodium nitrite, and dimethylaniline.

The color changes that occur in methyl orange are due to changes in...

Methyl orange is a compound commonly used in dying textiles. It is also a pH indicator. pH indicators turn particular colors when exposed to environments that are acidic or basic. Methyl orange is commonly used to monitor pH changes during the titration of weak bases with strong acids. Methyl orange is created from a reaction of sulfanilic acid, sodium nitrite, and dimethylaniline.

The color changes that occur in methyl orange are due to changes in the electrons associated with the attachment or detachment of hydrogen ions. Normally, the methyl orange molecule absorbs blue-green light. This causes solutions of methyl orange to appear red. When methyl orange is exposed to a basic solution, it loses a hydrogen ion resulting in changes that cause the solution to turn yellow. 

How can I formulate a universal theme that focuses on the idea that money has limitations?

Certainly, you could consider the old adage that Money cannot buy happiness. This is certainly true for Gatsby, and even Daisy and Tom.  They are incredibly rich, but Gatsby can never have what he really wants, no matter how much money he acquires.  He wants to rekindle exactly the same romance he shared with Daisy prior to her marriage and her becoming a mother.  This is impossible.  Tom and Daisy ultimately don't seem very...

Certainly, you could consider the old adage that Money cannot buy happiness. This is certainly true for Gatsby, and even Daisy and Tom.  They are incredibly rich, but Gatsby can never have what he really wants, no matter how much money he acquires.  He wants to rekindle exactly the same romance he shared with Daisy prior to her marriage and her becoming a mother.  This is impossible.  Tom and Daisy ultimately don't seem very happy either.  He has numerous affairs, making her miserable and implying that he isn't satisfied with her.  She has a tumultuous affair with Gatsby, indicating that her emotional needs aren't being met.  No matter how rich they are, they are still unhappy.

You might also consider the idea that Although one can acquire money, it is much more difficult to change one's status.  Gatsby doesn't seem to understand the difference between new money and old money.  His money simply isn't as good as the money the Buchanans have because he had to work for it (and illegal work to boot).  Tom has inherited his money, and this carries with it a different status, a status that Gatsby can never achieve and thus can never offer Daisy.  It may be possible for a person to earn a great deal of money, but it is another thing entirely to be able to change one's status, and this proves to be impossible in the text.

What buildings did Holmes and Watson see on the back side of the block where the pawnbroker's shop was in "The Red-Headed League"?

They find a bank behind the pawnbroker’s shop.

When a pawnbroker comes to Sherlock Holmes with a suspicious story of a job at a Red-Headed League that no longer exists, Holmes is curious. He asks some questions and realizes that there is something going on. One visit to the shop confirms it.

The neighborhood of the pawnbroker’s is Saxe-Coburg Square, which is a “poky, little, shabby-genteel place.” Holmes pretends to be asking directions so that...

They find a bank behind the pawnbroker’s shop.

When a pawnbroker comes to Sherlock Holmes with a suspicious story of a job at a Red-Headed League that no longer exists, Holmes is curious. He asks some questions and realizes that there is something going on. One visit to the shop confirms it.

The neighborhood of the pawnbroker’s is Saxe-Coburg Square, which is a “poky, little, shabby-genteel place.” Holmes pretends to be asking directions so that he can get his eyes on the man he thinks is John Clay. His suspicions are confirmed. He tells Watson that the man is one of the most daring men in England, and also one of the smartest.

Holmes tells Watson they are in enemy territory, and they have a look around. He prides himself on knowing the city well, and wants to confirm that he knows what buildings are there.

They walk around behind the shop, to see what is there.

It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist; the little newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building depot. That carries us right on to the other block.

Once they have had a look around, Holmes decides it’s time for some food and violin. Holmes spends a peaceful and quiet afternoon. It is clear that the most interesting building on that block was the bank. Holmes has confirmed his suspicions yet again.

Holmes is aware that an infamous criminal is impersonating a pawnbroker’s assistant. He also knows that the pawn shop is next to a bank. It is logical to assume that the “assistant” is going to rob the bank. Holmes arranges to catch him in the act, because it’s much better to stop an attempted bank robbery while it’s happening than attempt to arrest someone for planning one.

How does Mercutio describe Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet?

Mercutio says Tybalt is a very adept duelist. 

Mercutio is very aware of Tybalt’s reputation.  He has a temper and likes to fight.  He is also very good at it.  Mercutio calls him “prince of cats.”  At the Capulet’s ball, Tybalt was ready to fight Romeo just for being there.  Capulet tells him he has a temper. 

Later, Mercutio tells Benvolio that Tybalt is an expert with the sword.

More than prince of cats,...

Mercutio says Tybalt is a very adept duelist. 

Mercutio is very aware of Tybalt’s reputation.  He has a temper and likes to fight.  He is also very good at it.  Mercutio calls him “prince of cats.”  At the Capulet’s ball, Tybalt was ready to fight Romeo just for being there.  Capulet tells him he has a temper. 

Later, Mercutio tells Benvolio that Tybalt is an expert with the sword.

More than prince of cats, I can tell you. O, he is
the courageous captain of compliments. He fights as
you sing prick-song, keeps time, distance, and
proportion; rests me his minim rest, one, two, and
the third in your bosom: the very butcher of a silk
button, a duellist, a duelist … (Act 2, Scene 4)

This foreshadows the fight that Mercuito and Tybalt will have.  Tybalt’s quarrel is not with Mercutio, but with Romeo.  However, as we already know, Romeo is not the fighting type.  He is in love with Juliet and considers Tybalt family.  Mercutio will protect Romeo at all costs, and he also knows that the boy will not protect himself.  Also, Mercutio is not one to back down from a fight. 

TYBALT

What wouldst thou have with me?

MERCUTIO

Good king of cats, nothing but one of your nine
lives; that I mean to make bold withal, and as you
shall use me hereafter, drybeat the rest of the
eight. … (Act 3, Scene 1) 

When Mercutio and Tybalt fight, Romeo tries to intervene.  He gets in the way, trying to stop the fight.  Ironically, that is what causes Tybalt to kill Mercutio.  This is why Mercutio curses both of them as he dies.  He is upset at Romeo for being so foolish as to get in the way of what should have been an ordinary duel between two expert swordsman.  Romeo, grieving over Mercutio’s death and his part in it, fights and kills Tybalt to avenge Mercutio's death.

How did Shakespeare use the role of women in Elizabethan times in his play? Do you think he aimed to show society's unjust treatment of women?

Shakespeare may have intended to comment on the generally subservient role of women in his society, but, as always, it is safer to write social commentary through the lens of another culture. Some of his most powerful political analyses are his Roman plays, like Julius Caesar and Coriolanus. His trenchant criticism of self-righteousness can be seen in Measure for Measure, a play that takes place in Vienna. Even though these tales have universally recognizable elements, it is easier to point out the flaws in one’s own society by critiquing a society that is removed from one’s own.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which is set in ancient Athens, features a number of female characters, all of which are powerful in their own way. However, they are also all subject to the control of men. Hermia has no autonomy under the law. She must marry the man her father chooses rather than the one she loves. If she refuses, her fate is “Either to die the death or to abjure / For ever the society of men.” Thanks to some fairy magic, she is able to marry her lover Lysander and escape “the sharp Athenian law.” Helena pursues and harasses her former lover Demetrius, but, unlike Demetrius, she has no legal recourse to force him to marry her.

Even Hippolyta and Titania, Queen of the Amazons and Queen of the Fairies, respectively, seem subject to their husbands. Theseus conquered the Amazons and took Hippolyta as his future wife, admitting, “I woo'd thee with my sword, / And won thy love, doing thee injuries.” Titania stands against her husband Oberon by keeping “a little changeling boy” that he wants as his henchman. She tells him of the child’s emotional value to her, how she was close to his mother and keeps the boy for her sake. Oberon decides to humiliate her by giving her a love potion that makes her fall in love with Bottom, a foolish weaver and actor whose head is transformed into a donkey’s.

It is difficult to know whether this depiction of sexism is entirely intentional on Shakespeare’s part and even if it is meant to apply to Elizabethan society. Certainly he portrays the Athenian law, which is ultimately thwarted, as ridiculously harsh towards women. Whatever the case, there are certainly interesting depictions of gender roles and battles of the sexes in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

When Juliet awakens in the tomb what does Friar Lawrence want her to do?

In the tragic action of Act V, Scene 3 of Shakespeare's Romeo and Julietthe distraught Romeo comes to Capulet's tomb intending to kill himself next to Juliet. Because he had not received Friar Lawrence's letter, Romeo believes Juliet is actually dead. He knows nothing of the friar's plan for Juliet to fake her death and for him to retrieve her from the tomb at the hour of her awakening. Instead, Romeo has come armed...

In the tragic action of Act V, Scene 3 of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet the distraught Romeo comes to Capulet's tomb intending to kill himself next to Juliet. Because he had not received Friar Lawrence's letter, Romeo believes Juliet is actually dead. He knows nothing of the friar's plan for Juliet to fake her death and for him to retrieve her from the tomb at the hour of her awakening. Instead, Romeo has come armed with poison and after killing Paris, who believed Romeo was vandalizing the tomb, enters the vault and drinks the poison. Not long after Romeo collapses dead on the floor, Juliet wakes up just as Friar Lawrence arrives. The friar, seeing Paris and Romeo dead, urges Juliet to leave. He tells her that their plans had been "thwarted" and that he will take her to a convent where, supposedly the nuns will protect her from the potential wrath of Lord Capulet:

Come, I’ll dispose of thee
Among a sisterhood of holy nuns.
Stay not to question, for the watch is coming.
Come, go, good Juliet. I dare no longer stay.

When Juliet refuses to go with the friar he flees, fearing he will be caught in the tomb by the night watch. Juliet then attempts to kiss the poison from Romeo's lips but when this fails she kills herself with his dagger.

What does Granny Weatherall have in common with J. Alfred Prufrock?

Granny Weatherall and J. Alfred Prufrock are two titular characters in Porter's short story and Eliot's poem, respectively. In both of these works of literature, the narration takes us very close to the character's thoughts, and there's a general wandering sense of exploring memories and scenes from the past and present in both of these works. The more specific similarities you might find between Granny and Prufrock are numerous. Let's take a look at each...

Granny Weatherall and J. Alfred Prufrock are two titular characters in Porter's short story and Eliot's poem, respectively. In both of these works of literature, the narration takes us very close to the character's thoughts, and there's a general wandering sense of exploring memories and scenes from the past and present in both of these works. The more specific similarities you might find between Granny and Prufrock are numerous. Let's take a look at each one.

 First, both characters feel like outsiders as sensory details float past them:

• "[Granny] listened to the leaves rustling outside the window. No, somebody was swishing newspapers: no, Cornelia and Doctor Harry were whispering together."


• "I [Prufrock] know the voices dying with a dying fall/Beneath the music from a farther room." 

They both also latch onto specific objects and images as they ruminate on the past:

• "Since the day [Granny's] wedding cake was not cut, but thrown out and wasted."


• "My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,/My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin"

Granny and Prufrock both think mournfully and seriously about the ideas of failed relationships and rejection. In both of their minds, the harshness of reality intrudes on their ideals of romance and romantic images:

• "What does a woman [Granny] do when she has put on the white veil and set out the white cake for a man and he doesn’t come?"


• "When the evening is spread out against the sky/Like a patient etherized upon a table"

Prufrock and Granny also both focus on the inevitability of death, as well as what might happen after death:

• "Granny lay curled down within herself, amazed and watchful, staring at the point of light that was herself; her body was now only a deeper mass of shadow in an endless darkness and this darkness would curl around the light and swallow it up. God, give a sign!"


• "'I am Lazarus, come from the dead,/Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all--'”

They also both react indignantly and with self-consciousness to the notion that they're growing old:

• "Sometimes Granny almost made up her mind to pack up and move back to her own house where nobody could remind her every minute that she was old."


• "With a bald spot in the middle of my hair — /(They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!”)"

Finally, both characters are slightly unreliable as narrators of their own experiences. Granny's failing senses as she approaches death make it hard for her to distinguish among dreams, memory, and reality throughout the story ("Doctor Harry floated like a balloon") and Prufrock seems to contradict himself, saying that he's not a prophet, but he has had a vision of his head brought in on a platter.

At the end of "Recitatif," how do both Twyla's and Roberta's exploration of the "truth" of what they had seen at St. Bonny's many years earlier...

The notion of truth is questionable in Toni Morrison's story "Recitatif." At the end of the story, Twyla and Roberta discuss Maggie and the events that occurred at St. Bonny's in what appears to be an honest way. In their discussion, Roberta reveals to Twyla that they never did kick Maggie, the disabled woman at St. Bonny's, like she'd previously told her. Roberta said that they didn't kick her, but she wanted to, and she...

The notion of truth is questionable in Toni Morrison's story "Recitatif." At the end of the story, Twyla and Roberta discuss Maggie and the events that occurred at St. Bonny's in what appears to be an honest way. In their discussion, Roberta reveals to Twyla that they never did kick Maggie, the disabled woman at St. Bonny's, like she'd previously told her. Roberta said that they didn't kick her, but she wanted to, and she wanted the Gar girls to hurt her. Twyla tries to tell her that they were just kids, and that's what kids did. However, this confession sheds light on the previous events in the story.

Earlier, Roberta was angry and told Twyla that Maggie was black and helpless, and that Twyla kicked her. Twyla doesn't recall either of those things but Roberta insists it is true. Therefore, at the end, when she reveals that they didn't kick Maggie, and she did believe she was black, it is difficult for the reader to know what to believe. What is clear, however, is that Robert is an unreliable character. She says different things at different times, so Twyla doesn't know which version is true.

This question about truth is a good one because the story revolves around truth and memory. Twyla tries to remember and piece together her past and her life at St. Bonny's, but Roberta's version does not always agree with her own memory of it. This disconnect between the truth and her memory causes much of the conflict in the story.

What is a summary of the play 'night, Mother by Marsha Norman?

The two main characters in ‘night, Motherare Jessie Cates and her mother Thelma, whom Jesse calls “Mama.” Jesse is middle-aged and lives with Mama, taking care of all the details of her mother’s life. They live in a small house on a lonely country road, and the onstage action occurs in the living room and kitchen area. At the beginning of the play, Jesse matter-of-factly tells her mother that she is going to kill...

The two main characters in ‘night, Mother are Jessie Cates and her mother Thelma, whom Jesse calls “Mama.” Jesse is middle-aged and lives with Mama, taking care of all the details of her mother’s life. They live in a small house on a lonely country road, and the onstage action occurs in the living room and kitchen area. At the beginning of the play, Jesse matter-of-factly tells her mother that she is going to kill herself that night.

After she announces this, she begins preparing to commit suicide, including gathering old towels to minimize the mess and writing lists of things that need to be tended to after she is gone. At first Mama refuses to believe her, but as the drama progresses, Mama realizes Jessie does intend to shoot herself and tries to talk her daughter out of it.

We learn that Jesse has epilepsy. This means she cannot keep a steady job and must have someone around at all times. She is divorced after being married to a man who never loved her. Her son from the marriage is a small-time thief and general "loser." Jesse has had severe depression for a long time.

Jesse sees her life as stagnant, with no hope of ever changing. There is little in her life that she can control, but she can certainly control her death. The play ends as she goes into her bedroom and locks the door. A moment later, we hear the sound of a gunshot.

Why is The Kite Runner relevant to teenagers?

One reason why The Kite Runner is relevant to teenagers is because of its themes. 

Adolescence is a very confusing time.  As a teenager, choices are made that have a profound impact on the direction of one's life.  Sometimes these choices are not always for the best.  The Kite Runneraddresses how the confusion of adolescence can be the backdrop for choices that we would like to have back.  The opening of the novel...

One reason why The Kite Runner is relevant to teenagers is because of its themes. 

Adolescence is a very confusing time.  As a teenager, choices are made that have a profound impact on the direction of one's life.  Sometimes these choices are not always for the best.  The Kite Runner addresses how the confusion of adolescence can be the backdrop for choices that we would like to have back.  The opening of the novel contains the idea of being "good again." As an older man, Amir travels back to Afghanistan and confronts some of the decisions he made when he was a teenager.  He must accept that he did not act righteously when he failed to stand up for Hassan.  In the process, Amir discovers the way to "be good again."  The novel shows how choices we make as teenagers play a formative role in our identities.  In this way, The Kite Runner  is relevant to teens all over the world.

I think that another reason why teenagers would find The Kite Runner relevant would be due to its affirmation of friendship.  The issue of friendship confronts the lives of many teenagers.  The need to find good friends is an essential part of a teenager's identity.  Amir recognizes that Hassan is a good friend. While there was jealousy for a while, Amir ends up acknowledging that the friendship that he and Hassan shared when they were teenagers represented some of the strongest emotions he had experienced in his life.  Teenagers who have a friendship like that of Hassan and Amir can recognize the important role it will play in their lives.  Those who lack such a friendship can read The Kite Runner to understand what defines the contours of true friendship.  Sacrifice, emotional acknowledgement, and loyalty are the components of real camaraderie.  Teenagers who struggle with whether their friendships are real and valid can use Hosseini's novel as a reference point to gauge the value of their own associations.  The universality of themes such as the power of friendship and the role that choices play in one's identity is a reason why The Kite Runner is relevant to teenagers all over the world. 

Was the colonization of the Americas a positive or a negative?

There are really three groups of people that need to weigh in on this question and they probably would all have different responses. Europeans, especially from the elite classes, would view the exploration of America as a positive. It opened new lands for colonization and the acquisition of material wealth. While that the Europeans sought was not readily available, Europeans benefited from establishing cash crops systems in the New World. The exploration of America also...

There are really three groups of people that need to weigh in on this question and they probably would all have different responses. Europeans, especially from the elite classes, would view the exploration of America as a positive. It opened new lands for colonization and the acquisition of material wealth. While that the Europeans sought was not readily available, Europeans benefited from establishing cash crops systems in the New World. The exploration of America also produced a number of agricultural goods like corn, potato, and tomato that were not available before the voyages of Columbus.

For their part, the Europeans brought the horse to America. They also brought deadly diseases that the Native Americans were not immune to. For this reason, if you ask the Native population, they would view exploration as a disaster. Their populations were practically wiped out by disease and warfare that occurred from defending their homeland. Native populations faced the loss of their ancestral lands for centuries that followed the voyage of Columbus. Africans would not have felt the exploration of the Americas was a positive either. Because of the demand for labor on the large cash crop plantations, Africans were targeted for slave labor in the New World. Millions were forced across the Atlantic Ocean and into slavery in the Americas.

Provide a character sketch of Mr. Keith.

Merton S. Keith was the math and classics tutor who helped Helen Keller as she studied and prepared to enter Radcliffe. While Keller and her teacher, Anne Sullivan, lived in Wrentham, outside Boston, Mr. Keith (who lived in Cambridge) came out twice a week to tutor Keller in Latin, Greek, algebra, and geometry. Later, when Keller lived in Boston, Mr. Keith taught Helen Keller five days a week.

Mr. Keith was extremely patient with Keller,...

Merton S. Keith was the math and classics tutor who helped Helen Keller as she studied and prepared to enter Radcliffe. While Keller and her teacher, Anne Sullivan, lived in Wrentham, outside Boston, Mr. Keith (who lived in Cambridge) came out twice a week to tutor Keller in Latin, Greek, algebra, and geometry. Later, when Keller lived in Boston, Mr. Keith taught Helen Keller five days a week.

Mr. Keith was extremely patient with Keller, who had many obstacles in solving math problems, as she could not see the problems. She often had to construct geometrical figures on a cushion with curved wires, and she had to remember the lettering of the figure and other aspects of a geometric proof in her head. Mr. Keith also made the mathematical work interesting to Keller and taught her how to reason her way through the problems. It was difficult for Keller to pass her Radcliffe examinations in math, as she did not understand the Braille corresponding to the mathematical symbols, but she applied herself to doing so and passed her exams. Mr. Keith then tutored her for another year before she entered college, and he was an encouraging and patient teacher. 

Suggest a different climax for the story "After Twenty Years."

Here us a suggestion for a different ending to "After Twenty Years."

Bob tells the policeman a lot about himself but doesn't introduce himself by name. If he had done so, Jimmy Wells might have felt obliged to do the same thing. So O. Henry intentionally does not have either man mention even his first name. But one might insert a single sentence in which Bob does tell the officer his full name and then have Jimmy remain silent.

Bob has a twenty-minute window of opportunity to get away after Jimmy leaves him. If Jimmy did or said anything that made Bob the least bit suspicious, then when the tall plainclothes detective arrived at the doorway at approximately twenty minutes past ten, he might find the doorway deserted and nothing but a still-smoking cigar butt.

Bob might have even left a note addressed to Jimmy Wells in which he writes that something the cop had said or done, or something he had not said, such as his name, make Bob suspicious. And then he realized he had been talking to Jimmy Wells all along when he thought he was talking to a beat cop.

One of the things that might have made the crafty, experienced Bob suspicious was this dialogue extracted from the text:

“I'll be on my way. Hope your friend comes around all right. Going to call time on him sharp?”

“I should say not!” said the other. “I'll give him half an hour at least. If Jimmy is alive on earth he'll be here by that time. So long, officer.”

Another possibility would be to have Bob leave a note addressed to Jimmy Wells telling him that he knew who he was all along and was wondering why he didn't arrest him. Then when Jimmy left him he knew he was going back to the station either to get help making the arrest or to get someone else to do it. He knew he had a good fifteen or twenty minutes, so he finished his cigar, wrote his note, and disappeared into the night.

The note addressed to Officer Jimmy Wells might be as simple as this:

Dear Jimmy,
I knew it was you all along. Nice to see you again.
Your old friend,
Bob

In Lyddie, who was Lyddie's antagonist?

The antagonist is Mr. Marsden because he leered at Lyddie, forced himself on her, and got her fired.

An antagonist is an enemy, or the opposing force a character faces.  Lyddie’s first antagonist is probably Mrs. Cutler, because she is a horrible boss.  However, she is not at Cutler’s Tavern very long.  Although Mrs. Cutler makes life miserable for Lyddie and then fires her for leaving even though she had permission from the cook, she...

The antagonist is Mr. Marsden because he leered at Lyddie, forced himself on her, and got her fired.

An antagonist is an enemy, or the opposing force a character faces.  Lyddie’s first antagonist is probably Mrs. Cutler, because she is a horrible boss.  However, she is not at Cutler’s Tavern very long.  Although Mrs. Cutler makes life miserable for Lyddie and then fires her for leaving even though she had permission from the cook, she moved on from that experience.  Unfortunately, she found herself facing an even worse boss at the factory.

The factory system was very oppressive to begin with.  The girls had to live in the boarding house and do what the company told them, including dress a certain way and attend church.  Lyddie’s boss at the factory was a leering, completely inappropriate man.  When she was sick he forced himself on her when she couldn’t defend herself, trying to kiss her almost before she realized what was happening.

She tried to stare him down, but her eyes were burning in their sockets. Let me go! She wanted to cry. She tried to pull back from him, but he clutched tighter. He was bringing his strange little mouth closer and closer to her fiery face. (Ch. 16) 

Lyddie stomps him and stumbles away.  After this she is in a fever for several days, and nothing comes of the incident.  By the time she returns to work it is forgotten.  However, she still feels uncomfortable around him because of the way he stares at her. 

One day she sees Mr. Marsden and her friend Brigid.  He is trying to do the same thing to her.  Lyddie does not think.  She just hits him with a bucket. 

At the sound of her hoarse cry, the overseer whirled about.  She crammed the fire bucket down over his shiny pate, his bulging eyes, his rosebud mouth fixed in a perfect little O. The stagnant water sloshed over his shoulders and ran down his trousers. (Ch. 20) 

This time Lyddie is fired, and she accepts this.  He accuses her of being immoral, which is ironic since he is definitely the immoral once.  However, she does write a letter to Mr. Marsden’s wife exposing him and gives it to Brigid.  She tells her she must promise to give it to his wife if he targets her again.  It is the best she can do to protect her and the other girls from this predator.

How do I write an 800-word story on Afghanistan's treatment of women? What books and websites would you suggest I read to learn more?

The first step in this process will be to select an event. If the story needs to be based on an event, then we will need to find a specific occurrence that includes the historical subject you are interested in. You have chosen to focus on the treatment of women in Afghanistan. You have decided to explore questions as to why inequality and specific gender prejudice exists within this context. Next we should identify an event that relates to this subject.

The next step will be to determine the character(s) in the story. Who will be in the story and who will tell the story? Is the story going to be told through the eyes of a first-person protagonist? Will that protagonist be a woman experiencing bullying or segregation or mistreatment? Or will the protagonist be a man or woman witnessing the mistreatment of a female character? The narrative approach will have to be decided on before you start writing.

The final planning step will be to determine what will happen in the story. This does not have to be entirely mapped out before writing, but for a story as short as 800 words there is not much room for zigging and zagging.

The questions you want to explore are solid and your ideas for including a family of women can go a long way to determining the framework of the story, but something has to happen if this is a story about an event. We need to decide what incites the girl's investigation into cultural gender prejudice. 

In researching this subject, you might want to look into the fall of the Taliban and events occurring in the aftermath. There are many news articles that explore life for women in post-Taliban Afghanistan.

You will probably want to go beyond categorical reports and find some specific stories or events. Be prepared for what you find. Here is one story in the New York Times, “Wed and Tortured at 13, an Afghan Girl Finds Rare Justice.” The reason you are interested in this topic is because of the injustice in it, but this means that some of the stories are disturbing, like this one.

Another place to look for specific background on this subject is the novel The Kite Runner, which takes place in Afghanistan (for the most part) and explores many cultural perspectives. The novel does not focus on women and the treatment of women, but it may help to flesh out your ideas. Khaled Hosseini (the author of The Kite Runner) also wrote another novel called A Thousand Splendid Suns, which focuses more on women's treatment in Afghanistan.

Why is methyl orange used in the titration of carbonates?

A titration reaction, in simplest terms, is one in which a substance is added to another substance, ideally drop by drop, till the end point of the reaction is reached. This end point is determined by a noticeable color change in the titrated solution and is facilitated by a chemical known as an indicator, which changes color when the reaction end point is reached. Methyl orange is one such indicator.

When titrating carbonates, which are...

A titration reaction, in simplest terms, is one in which a substance is added to another substance, ideally drop by drop, till the end point of the reaction is reached. This end point is determined by a noticeable color change in the titrated solution and is facilitated by a chemical known as an indicator, which changes color when the reaction end point is reached. Methyl orange is one such indicator.

When titrating carbonates, which are weak acids, we typically use strong acids. There are two steps to this reaction, say we are titrating sodium carbonate against hydrochloric acid.

Step 1: `Na_2CO_3 (aq) + HCl (aq) -> NaHCO_3 (aq) + NaCl (aq)`

Step 2: `NaHCO_3 (aq) + HCl (aq) -> NaCl (aq) + CO_2 (g) + H_2O (aq)`

thus, the overall titration reaction is given as:

`Na_2CO_3 (aq) + 2HCl (aq) -> 2 NaCl (aq) + CO_2 (g) + H_2O (aq)`

When we use something like phenolphthalein as the end-point indicator, the color change corresponds to the first reaction. That is, it will indicate the formation of bicarbonates. Methyl orange, on the other hand, is the perfect indicator for this scenario as it will change color corresponding to the completion of the overall reaction.

We can also argue that the end point (for the overall reaction) is at a pH of about 3.5-4, which is more conducive to methyl orange than other indicators.

Hope this helps.

In what ways is Gatsby careless, selfish or reckless?

Gatsby is careless and reckless when he gives lavish parties at his home and lets anyone enter, mostly people he doesn't even know. He serves alcohol (which is illegal due to prohibition) and generally doesn’t even attend his own parties, so he has no idea what the people are doing. Nick discovers a stranger in Gatsby's library, indicating that party guests have the entire run of the house and could steal or break anything. It's careless and reckless to let drinking strangers run all over your property every Friday night.

Gatsby is selfish and careless because he consumes relentlessly with no thought of those in need. He has "two hulking patent cabinets" which hold masses of suits, ties, dressing gowns, and shirts (the shirts that he throws down on Daisy, causing her to cry because, she says, she's never seen such beautiful shirts). Meanwhile, in the valley of ashes, people like George Wilson struggle to get by. Gatsby passes these poor people every time he drives to or from the city. He also comes from a poor family. There are so many people who could benefit from his help, but he lavishly spends his money on clothes imported from England and an orchestra, alcohol, and piles of lemons and oranges for his weekly parties.

Near the end of the novel, Gatsby is careless and reckless when he lets Tom drive his car into the city and Daisy drive it back. Gatsby has no way of knowing that letting Tom drive his car past the Wilsons' garage will lead to Myrtle's death, but it is reckless to let someone else drive your car. It is certainly reckless behavior when he lets Daisy, who is by this time hysterical and possibly drunk, drive the car back. Daisy is at the wheel when the car runs over and kills Myrtle Wilson.

Gatsby is even reckless and careless in the way he earns his money. It's not explicit but it's pretty obvious that he bootlegs alcohol, which is illegal in the setting of the novel. Hanging around with unsavory characters like Meyer Wolfshiem and engaging in illegal activities are certainly reckless and careless behaviors. This is perhaps one reason that Daisy chooses Tom in the end; although she loves Gatsby and Tom is a cheater who only breaks her heart, as Tom points out, Gatsby is a law-breaker. Perhaps Daisy feels that if she chooses Gatsby, she'll eventually go down with him. 

For more details on Gatsby's character click , and to learn more about The Great Gatsby, click . 

What are some basic facts about the Empire of Mali, Mansa Musa, and the Trans-Saharan Trade Route?

The Trans-Saharan Trade Route existed to link trade between West Africa and some Mediterranean countries. It stretched from the 8th until the late 16th century and primarily involved the empire of Ghana, who began and nourished the trade route during its beginning, and the empire of Mali, who flourished with the demise of Ghana by controlling the trade route. They taxed almost all trade that passed through the west, which brought them unimaginable wealth.

Mansa...

The Trans-Saharan Trade Route existed to link trade between West Africa and some Mediterranean countries. It stretched from the 8th until the late 16th century and primarily involved the empire of Ghana, who began and nourished the trade route during its beginning, and the empire of Mali, who flourished with the demise of Ghana by controlling the trade route. They taxed almost all trade that passed through the west, which brought them unimaginable wealth.

Mansa (which just means "King") Musa ruled the empire of Mali beginning in 1312. He expanded the borders of his empire tremendously, and is still to date one of the richest people in all of human history thanks, in no small part, to the Trans-Saharan Trade Route. 

Musa was a devout Muslim. So, in 1324, he made the 4,000-mile pilgrimage to Mecca. Because he was so rich, Musa's caravan on his pilgrimage was huge. It contained an insane number of horses, wagons, and soldiers. When he passed through Cairo, he gave away such a large amount of money that it caused massive inflation.

Musa died in 1337. His son, who took over the empire after Musa's death, could not hold the vast Mali empire together. So it, like the Ghana empire before it, fell into demise. 

How does Shakespeare present the changes in Benedick and Beatrice’s relationship between 1:1 and 4:1 in the play 'Much Ado About Nothing'?

In the very first scene of Much Ado About Nothing, Beatrice asks about Benedick, making fun of him to a messenger:

MESSENGER: I see, lady, the gentleman is not in your books.

BEATRICE: No; an he were, I would burn my study.

Before they even meet, it is established that the two love to argue with each other. When Benedick arrives, he and Beatrice quickly spar:

BEATRICE: I wonder that you will still be...

In the very first scene of Much Ado About Nothing, Beatrice asks about Benedick, making fun of him to a messenger:

MESSENGER: I see, lady, the gentleman is not in your books.

BEATRICE: No; an he were, I would burn my study.

Before they even meet, it is established that the two love to argue with each other. When Benedick arrives, he and Beatrice quickly spar:

BEATRICE: I wonder that you will still be talking, Signior Benedick: nobody marks you.

BENEDICK: What, my dear Lady Disdain! are you yet living?

It is established that they have known one another for a while, and Benedick does assert that Beatrice is beautiful, “were [she] not possessed with a fury.” They continue to mock each other until Benedick becomes offended and declares, “I would not marry her, though she were endowed with all that Adam bad left him before he transgressed.”

Benedick’s friends determine to matchmake the quarrelsome pair. The men pretend that Beatrice loves Benedick, and the women similarly fool Beatrice. Benedick immediately decides to “be horribly in love with her.” Beatrice also declares, “Benedick, love on; I will requite thee.” Much to the amusement of their friends, the potential couple become lovesick.

The first scene of act four features Hero and Claudio’s disastrous wedding. Claudio accuses Hero of liaising with a man the night before. Benedick is the only one of his friends who sides with Hero, likely because of his love for Beatrice. The two finally confess their love for one another. Benedick admits, “I do love nothing in the world so well as you.” Beatrice concedes, “I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest.”

In contrast to their past behavior, the two are humble and vulnerable together. These former enemies have become lovers. Their relationship does not lose its fire, however. Beatrice demands that Benedick “kill Claudio,” his close friend. He eventually agrees.

What is the most significant moment in "Hills Like White Elephants"?

"Hills Like White Elephants" is Hemingway's short story about an American couple, presumably on vacation in Spain, discussing a very difficult topic. Actually, they are doing their best not to discuss it. At first, they simply talk about what drinks they might order and the scenery. Then the conversation turns to what the reader assumes is the topic of abortion. The man seems to be urging the girl to have one, despite continually saying, "if...

"Hills Like White Elephants" is Hemingway's short story about an American couple, presumably on vacation in Spain, discussing a very difficult topic. Actually, they are doing their best not to discuss it. At first, they simply talk about what drinks they might order and the scenery. Then the conversation turns to what the reader assumes is the topic of abortion. The man seems to be urging the girl to have one, despite continually saying, "if you don't want to you don't have to." 

During the early part of their conversation, the girl mentions that the hills in the distance look like white elephants. A white elephant sometimes refers to a gift that is worthless or useless. The hills are symbolic of the baby the girl is carrying. Later, however, and arguably the most significant moment in their conversation, the girl says,

"They're lovely hills," she said. "They don't really look like white elephants. I just meant the color of their skin through the trees." 

Her comment reveals her true feelings about having the baby. Unfortunately, the man doesn't catch her meaning and continues to try to convince her to go through with the abortion. They basically talk in circles for the remainder of the story until the girl says, 

"Would you please please please please please please please please stop talking?"

At the end, the man is drinking at the bar and the girl at the table, signifying the probable end of their relationship.

In Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome, what happens to the three friends at Datchet when they are looking for a hotel?

This story is recounted by the narrator in Chapter XII, as a memory from a past river trip. The same three friends had landed at Datchet at 10 p.m. and had wanted to find a place to stay overnight. But the first inn they came to didn’t have honeysuckle growing around it (as J. would have preferred); and at the second one, Harris didn’t like the looks of the man who was leaning against the...

This story is recounted by the narrator in Chapter XII, as a memory from a past river trip. The same three friends had landed at Datchet at 10 p.m. and had wanted to find a place to stay overnight. But the first inn they came to didn’t have honeysuckle growing around it (as J. would have preferred); and at the second one, Harris didn’t like the looks of the man who was leaning against the front door. They continued on, and soon found out that these were the only inns in Datchet. They turned around and went back, only to learn that both inns were now quite full of guests. Based on local advice, they then moved on to a beershop, to a grocer’s, and to an old woman who rented rooms. All were full. The men were despondent. Harris sat down and said he would not go any farther.

“At that moment an angel came by in the disguise of a small boy,” J. says. The boy led them to his mother’s small cottage. She fed them fairly decently. George and J. slept in one small bed, and Harris slept in the young boy’s bed, all uncomfortably. They had learned their lesson about being picky about inns, J. concludes. “We were not so uppish about what sort of hotel we would have, next time we went to Datchet.

What is the effect on inductance when an iron rod is inserted into a solenoid?

Initially, our solenoid without the iron core has self-inductance given by:`L = mu_0 N^2 pi R^2 l =( mu_0 N^2 A)/l` Where `mu_0` is the vacuum permeability (for air, we can assume the same value for most practical uses), `N` is the number of windings of our solenoid, `R` its radius, `A` the cross-sectional area and `l` its length.Suppose that we now insert an iron core inside our solenoid. Let's assume that the...

Initially, our solenoid without the iron core has self-inductance given by:

`L = mu_0 N^2 pi R^2 l =( mu_0 N^2 A)/l`

Where `mu_0` is the vacuum permeability (for air, we can assume the same value for most practical uses), `N` is the number of windings of our solenoid, `R` its radius, `A` the cross-sectional area and `l` its length.

Suppose that we now insert an iron core inside our solenoid. Let's assume that the iron core has the same cross-sectional area as our solenoid.
Now, we know that iron has a permeability `mu` higher than the vacuum permeability `mu_0`. So, the inductance of our "new" solenoid becomes:

`L' = (kappa mu_0 N^2 A)/l = kappa L > L`

Where `kappa = mu/mu_0` . Since `kappa gtgt 1` , we see that the self-inductance of our solenoid has increased!

To see the direct effect of increasing the self-inductance, suppose that the solenoid was connected to a circuit consisting of an AC (alternating current) voltage source and a lamp. Suppose also that the lamp is initially bright for our configuration. For AC circuits, inductors (like our solenoid) act as resistances (the self-inductance is a resistance to the change of current passing through). So when we add an iron core to our solenoid, the inductance increases and so the lamp dims (since the permeability of iron is many times greater than that of the vacuum and of air, the lamp might even turn off)!

What is the difference between the Gilded Age and the Ashcan School?

The Gilded Age takes its name from a Mark Twain novel published in 1873 called The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today.  A "golden age" is, typically, an era in which great advancements are made, and mankind's best qualities, including morals, are at their peak.  Gilding, the practice of covering inferior material with a thin layer of gold leaf, implies a false, deceptive facade.  Twain recognized the failures of the Reconstruction period when the...

The Gilded Age takes its name from a Mark Twain novel published in 1873 called The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today.  A "golden age" is, typically, an era in which great advancements are made, and mankind's best qualities, including morals, are at their peak.  Gilding, the practice of covering inferior material with a thin layer of gold leaf, implies a false, deceptive facade.  Twain recognized the failures of the Reconstruction period when the divide between the wealthy and poor grew substantially.  He saw that despite the outward appearance of affluence, the country was in trouble and that relatively few were prospering while others suffered.

The "Ashcan School" takes its name from a 1915 George Bellows drawing entitled "Disappointments of the Ash Can" and encompasses a small group of American realist artists who focused on the details of urban life in New York City. Their nominal leader was Robert Henri, and he and artists William Glackens, George Luks, Everett Shinn, John Sloan, and Bellows, some of whom had been newspaper illustrators, sought to unsentimentally record urban lives, including those of the lower classes. Their movement was, in part, opposition to the popular Impressionistic style and subject matter of the time.

What the two periods have in common in American cultural history is a shared commitment to realism.

What are some importants details from "Raymonds Run" by Toni Cade Bambara?

Some important details from "Raymond's Run" by Toni Cade Bambara are as follows:

The main character and narrator of the story is a girl named Squeaky, who was given her nickname due to her high pitched voice. Her real name is Hazel Elizabeth Deborah Parker. Squeaky is tasked with taking care of her mentally handicapped brother, Raymond. Her older brother, George, used to take care of Raymond, but a lot of people picked on Raymond,...

Some important details from "Raymond's Run" by Toni Cade Bambara are as follows:

The main character and narrator of the story is a girl named Squeaky, who was given her nickname due to her high pitched voice. Her real name is Hazel Elizabeth Deborah Parker. Squeaky is tasked with taking care of her mentally handicapped brother, Raymond. Her older brother, George, used to take care of Raymond, but a lot of people picked on Raymond, and Squeaky is better at standing up to them than George was. 

Squeaky is a runner, and the big kids call her "Mercury" because she is so fast. 

In this story, Squeaky is training for the May Day Races, and she practices all of the time. Raymond is always with her.

Squeaky is in competition with a girl named Gretchen. Gretchen has a group of girls she hangs around with who like to say mean things about Raymond and give Squeaky problems, and Squeaky is always ready to fight them if it should come to that.

During the race, Gretchen and Squeaky nearly tie, but Squeaky comes out ahead. However, she has newfound respect for Gretchen and now sees her as a possible friend and partner. Together, Squeaky thinks, the two of them could coach Raymond because she realizes that he has also run the race on the other side of the fence and has kept up with them the entire time. 

In the play An Inspector Calls, what is Mr Birling's attitude towards the Inspector?

When we are introduced to Mr Birling, he comes across as a man who is quite pompous and arrogant. He is impressed by his status and the fact that he is on the cusp of furthering his prestige since he is due to be awarded a knighthood. He is opinionated and clearly believes that he is worldly-wise, as he freely dispenses advice to his son, Eric, and their guest, Gerald Croft, who has just announced his engagement to Sheila Birling. The family and Gerald have been celebrating the occasion when Inspector Goole arrives.

Mr Birling's response to the inspector is initially quite convivial and he offers him something to drink. The inspector refuses, saying that he is on duty. Mr Birling wastes no time in informing the inspector of his importance:

... I was an alderman for years—and lord mayor two years ago—and I’m still on the bench—so I know the Brumley police offices pretty well—and I thought I’d never seen you before.

Mr Birling assumes that the inspector is there for legal business since he is still on the bench. When he is informed of the real reason, that the inspector is investigating the horrible suicide of one Eva Smith, he becomes quite dismissive and impatient. The inspector then becomes more direct and asks Mr Birling if he knew the girl and shows him a photograph of the deceased.

Mr Birling recalls that he had fired Eva about eighteen months ago but refuses to accept any responsibility for her death. He is fairly rude when the inspector becomes more particular and wishes to know why he had refused Eva and his other employees' requests for a raise, stating that it was none of his business.

When Mr Birling realises that neither his intimidating stance, nor his status, mean anything to the inspector, he presents him with a subtle threat:

How do you get on with our chief constable, colonel Roberts?...

...Perhaps I ought to warn you that he's an old friend of mine, and that I see him fairly frequently. We play golf together sometimes up at the west Brumley.

He is suggesting here that he could get the inspector into a spot of bother if he should continue his harassment. The inspector, however, keeps a cool head and is completely unperturbed.

When Sheila arrives and enquires when they are going to the drawing-room, Mr Birling mentions that they are almost done and will be there soon. The inspector, however, corrects him, saying that there is still some ground to cover. Mr Birling becomes annoyed, saying that he has said as much as he can. When Sheila prepares to return to the drawing-room, the inspector calls her back. This angers Mr Birling, who instructs the inspector that he should not draw her into the mess he has been talking about. He says:

Look here, inspector, I consider this uncalled-for and officious. I've half a mind to report you. I've told you all I know—and it doesn't seem to me very important—and now there isn't the slightest reason why my daughter should be dragged into this unpleasant business.

Mr Birling's later tone changes somewhat when he learns that inspector Goole has not come to see him alone and that it is his intention to speak to everyone. He asks whether the inspector is sure of all his facts, and Goole assures him that he is with some of them. When the inspector emphasizes that Eva Smith is dead and Sheila infers that he is implying that they are responsible, Mr Birling asks if he and the inspector cannot discuss the matter alone in some corner. The suggestion sounds sly and underhanded.

Mr Birling later blames the inspector for having made a nasty mess of their celebration when Sheila becomes distraught on learning about her role in Eva's misery. The inspector, however, reminds him of the mess someone else left behind when she committed suicide.

Throughout the play, Mr Birling does not change his adversarial role much and, as such, becomes Inspector Goole's chief antagonist. At one point later in the play, he declares:

Inspector, I've told you before, I don't like the tone nor the way you're handling this inquiry. And I don't propose to give you much rope.

Sheila notes, insightfully, that the inspector has been giving them a rope with which to hang themselves. 

In the latter parts of the play, whilst the inspector is still present, Mr Birling plays a somewhat secondary role, intermittently coming to the defence of his family. It is only when he discovers Eric's complicity in the whole affair that he is once stirred. He expresses his disgust at his son's actions. He eventually realizes that his family's good name has been tarnished and that he will never get his knighthood. In desperation, he unhappily tells Inspector Goole:

Look, Inspector—I'd give thousands—yes, thousands—

The inspector then tells him that he is offering the money at the wrong time. In summing up, the inspector tells them that they cannot even apologize to Eva for what they have done to her. Before he leaves he reminds the Birlings:

...We don't live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other. And I tell you that the time will soon come when, if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish. Good night.

What great surprise awaits Gulliver when he awakens on the rocky island?

When Gulliver awakens on Lilliput after his ship has wrecked, he cannot move his arms and legs because they "were strongly fastened on each Side to the Ground [...]."  Even his hair is likewise tied down.  He can feel several cords running across his torso and the tops of his legs, and he can see nothing but the sky.  Gulliver feels something "advancing gently forward over [his] Breast," and when he bends his eyes as...

When Gulliver awakens on Lilliput after his ship has wrecked, he cannot move his arms and legs because they "were strongly fastened on each Side to the Ground [...]."  Even his hair is likewise tied down.  He can feel several cords running across his torso and the tops of his legs, and he can see nothing but the sky.  Gulliver feels something "advancing gently forward over [his] Breast," and when he bends his eyes as low as they will go, he sees a tiny man, about six inches tall and about 1/12th the size of Gulliver.  

He is unable to understand the speech of this individual or the others "who durst venture to mount and walk on [his] Body [...]."  They freed him enough to be able to turn over and urinate, and the quantity of urine he voids is remarkable to them.  He slept for a while longer while they deliberated what to do with him, and then they devised a way to transport him to the capital.

Thus, there are several surprises: being tied down, seeing a race of tiny people, and learning that they have some kind of civilized society not altogether different from Gulliver's home in England.

"The Eagle" is not only a description of the appearance of the bird." Do you agree?

In the first line, the speaker describes the eagle standing on a rock. The rock is a crag which is an uneven rock. His "hands" are crooked. The repetition of the "c" sound signifies the tough life the eagle has had. The notion of "crooked hands" (claws) suggests that the eagle is old. The speaker uses "hands" to suggest that this description and the themes that arise could also be applied to a human being. 

...

In the first line, the speaker describes the eagle standing on a rock. The rock is a crag which is an uneven rock. His "hands" are crooked. The repetition of the "c" sound signifies the tough life the eagle has had. The notion of "crooked hands" (claws) suggests that the eagle is old. The speaker uses "hands" to suggest that this description and the themes that arise could also be applied to a human being. 

Being close to the sun implies the eagle is majestic. But, the eagle is standing on a crooked rock. Eventually, the eagle must return to the earth. Tennyson might be making an allusion to the myth of Icarus, a boy who flew too close to the sun and fell into the sea when his wax wings melted. The lesson from the myth is that one should not be too ambitious or too selfish. The other message is that even those that can soar will inevitably come back to the ground. 

"Wrinkled" and "claws" reiterate the eagle's old age. Recall the allusion to Icarus and the implication that the eagle is limited to the world. He must not fly too close to the sun. In the second stanza, the speaker remarks about the walls. This also suggests the eagle's limitations. The eagle's "fall" in the end could be a description of the eagle diving for a fish or some prey. But given the theme of limitations and old age, this is part of the theme that no matter how high one might soar, everyone is limited by his/her own mortality. Thus, the poem is an allegory about human life as well as the eagle's. Also understood allegorically, the eagle has the freedom in life to soar but in the end, he is limited by time and mortality. 

How significant was the Montgomery Bus Boycott? I am struggling to find anything that says it was insignificant.

I don't think very many people would say it was insignificant, which is probably why you're having trouble finding any such sources. But it is important to understand that the bus boycott was not absolutely vital to the civil rights movement, which would have carried on without it. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was one of many protests and sit-ins that contributed to the progress of civil rights in the US; any particular protest could have been removed and the whole would have survived, but remove them all and the movement would have failed. (There is a Chinese proverb I find very insightful on this sort of thing: "No raindrop feels responsible for the flood.")

Rosa Parks initiated the bus boycott quite intentionally; she was not simply a random person fed up with the system as she is often depicted, but a dedicated civil rights activist who was active in the NAACP. Her refusal to sit in the back was not an impromptu decision, but a planned act of civil disobedience.

One thing that was important about the bus boycott was that it triggered the formation of the Montgomery Improvement Association, which elected as its leader a 26-year-old pastor and activist thus far largely unknown: Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I'm guessing you've heard of him.

If not for the bus boycott, it's hard to say whether Martin Luther King would have become the prominent and world-renowned activist leader he ultimately did. My suspicion is that he would have, that some other cause would have arisen for him to lead even if the bus boycott hadn't happened. But it's also possible that MLK himself would have remained unimportant, and other civil rights leaders would have stepped up instead. One thing is certain: The civil rights movement in the US would have carried on regardless.

Activism for the civil rights of African-Americans and others has gone on for hundreds of years, with periods of progress and periods of failure along the way. Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King were important in bringing civil rights issues to public attention in the 1950s, but there were thousands or even millions of other people fighting for the cause.