What was the impact of Puritanism on 19th century American society and literature?

Puritanism began as a religious movement among extreme Protestants during the Christian church reformation in England. Their main agenda was to establish Christian doctrines free from Catholic influence. The movement reached North America through pilgrims from England, who sought to settle in the New World. They succeeded in establishing colonies in North America, which were based on strict values that included self-reliance, hard work and frugality. Similar values were passed on to the American society....

Puritanism began as a religious movement among extreme Protestants during the Christian church reformation in England. Their main agenda was to establish Christian doctrines free from Catholic influence. The movement reached North America through pilgrims from England, who sought to settle in the New World. They succeeded in establishing colonies in North America, which were based on strict values that included self-reliance, hard work and frugality. Similar values were passed on to the American society. Further, congregational democracy in the Puritan church was blended into the modern American democratic sociopolitical life. Puritanism also focused substantial amounts of its energy on education and ensuring the people were informed.

Modern American society can trace its ideals of individualism, mutual respect and privacy to Puritanism. Puritanism ideals held that all Christians were capable of communicating with God thus eliminating the over-reliance on priests as established in Roman Catholicism. This also provided avenues for questioning established authorities by members of the society.

Puritanism had an impact on American literature seen through works that communicate American mythology as developed by the religious society. Puritans were known to keep personal journals which sought to offer a spiritual explanation for their daily events. Spiritual explanations were sought for events that would have rather been considered mere coincidences. Study of such events led to the development of American folklore. The keeping of the personal diaries by the Puritans also helped cultivate writing and reading culture which was necessary for the development of modern American literary works.

Did half of the present-day United States belong to Mexico before 1848?

The statement that half of the present day United States belonged to Mexico before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is not quite true.  The land that the US took from Mexico in that treaty (after the Mexican-American War) was about half of Mexico’s territory at that time.  However, it is nowhere near to one half of what is now the United States.

In 1848, the US and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.  This...

The statement that half of the present day United States belonged to Mexico before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is not quite true.  The land that the US took from Mexico in that treaty (after the Mexican-American War) was about half of Mexico’s territory at that time.  However, it is nowhere near to one half of what is now the United States.

In 1848, the US and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.  This was a treaty that officially put an end to the war between the two countries that had started in 1846.  The treaty gave the United States a very large area of land.  This land included all of what is now California, Nevada, and Utah as well as parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming.  While this is a large area of land, about 525,000 square miles, it is not half of the land area of the present-day United States.  Instead, it is only about 15%, or one-seventh, of the country as it now exists.  Just the contiguous 48 states of the US have a land area of more than 3 million square miles.

The Mexican Cession did add a great deal of land to the United States, but it is not quite accurate to say that one half of what is now the US belonged to Mexico right up until 1848.

What sort of figurative language is used in this sentence: "cautiously, we entered the yawning cave"?

This is an example of personification.

Figurative language is language that is not meant to be taken literally.  It is colorful and creative, and is used to create a picture in the reader’s mind.  Authors can use figurative language to describe a setting or for characterization.

Your example uses personification to describe the cave.  Personification is a type of figurative language in which something that is not human is described as human or given human...

This is an example of personification.

Figurative language is language that is not meant to be taken literally.  It is colorful and creative, and is used to create a picture in the reader’s mind.  Authors can use figurative language to describe a setting or for characterization.

Your example uses personification to describe the cave.  Personification is a type of figurative language in which something that is not human is described as human or given human characteristics. When the cave is described as yawning, it is personification because yawning is something that a human being does.  Describing the cave as yawning means that the entrance to the cave is very big, and possibly scary.

Personification like this helps to enhance the description of the setting and also can create suspense. When you describe a cave as “yawning” it sounds like it is a monster or something. The cave is big, and it is unknown. This is the beauty of figurative language.

What are two quotes that describe why Atticus should not defend Tom Robinson?

In Chapter 9, Atticus has a conversation about the trial with his brother, Jack. Jack asks Atticus how bad he thinks the trial will be, and Atticus says,

"It couldn't be worse, Jack. The only thing we have is a black man's word against the Ewells'. The evidence boils down to you-did—I-didn't. The jury couldn't possibly be expected to take Tom Robinson's word against the Ewells'" (Lee 116).

Atticus' assessment of the trial...

In Chapter 9, Atticus has a conversation about the trial with his brother, Jack. Jack asks Atticus how bad he thinks the trial will be, and Atticus says,

"It couldn't be worse, Jack. The only thing we have is a black man's word against the Ewells'. The evidence boils down to you-did—I-didn't. The jury couldn't possibly be expected to take Tom Robinson's word against the Ewells'" (Lee 116).

Atticus' assessment of the trial is bleak, to say the least. Uncle Jack suggests that Atticus choose not to defend Tom and let this case pass from him. Although the case is unwinnable, Atticus is a morally upright individual and says that he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he chose not to defend Tom. Atticus goes on to tell his brother that he hopes Jem and Scout do not become bitter and listen to the prejudiced community members, but instead, choose to come to him for their answers.

At the beginning of Chapter 15, Sheriff Tate and several community members visit Atticus at his house before the trial. Link Deas comments,

"—don't see why you touched it in the first place...You've got everything to lose from this, Atticus. I mean everything" (Lee 195).

Atticus is fully aware of the weight of his decision to defend an African American in a prejudiced town. Atticus' reputation is at stake, and he is essentially setting his family up to for discrimination throughout the community. He understands that the majority of Maycomb will view him with contempt, and there is a chance his career as a lawyer and statesman will be ruined, but Atticus has the courage to face the adversity.

After I read the given text about Kennedy's failures and successes I was wondering if his presidency was successful or not? What is the correct...

The presidency of John F. Kennedy was successful. However, because he didn’t have the opportunity to complete his entire term, there was some unfinished business.

President Kennedy was successful in several areas. He was very successful in handling the Cuban Missile Crisis. There was a significant concern that this crisis would lead to a nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union. President Kennedy didn’t back down from his insistence that the Soviet Union remove the missiles in Cuba, and that they would dismantle the missile sites there. Through diplomacy, President Kennedy reached an agreement with the Soviet Union that ended the crisis peacefully. We removed our missiles in Turkey and promised not to invade Cuba. The Soviet Union removed their missiles in Cuba and dismantled the missile sites in Cuba.

President Kennedy also furthered the cause of women. He established the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women. The Equal Pay Act was signed in 1963, and he issued an executive order ending gender discrimination for jobs in civil service. He also appointed women to jobs in his administration.

While President, a few other things occurred. The minimum wage increased to $1.25. More jobs were also created, especially in the defensive industry. The groundwork was done for later achievements in the area of civil rights.

There were some goals of President Kennedy that weren’t accomplished. He wanted a health insurance program for the elderly. He also wanted to increase federal aid to public schools. His programs for improvements in civil rights were not progressing in Congress. Part of the problem President Kennedy faced is that when he ran for President in 1960, he didn’t campaign for other Democrats running for office. Thus, these members of Congress didn’t feel they owed anything to him, especially on issues that were considered controversial, such as proposed civil rights laws and health insurance for the elderly.

One failure in foreign policy was the Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba. This was a disastrous event for which President Kennedy took full responsibility.

After Kennedy’s assassination, some of his ideas were passed. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 became law. The Medicare program was established. More federal aid was provided to schools. Thus, while these achievements occurred while President Johnson was in office, President Kennedy was the person who proposed these ideas and worked for their implementation.

President Kennedy’s term in office was a success. He just didn’t have enough time to accomplish more of his goals due to his assassination in November 1963.

Why did the United States go to war with Mexico?

The United States of America had an ideology of Manifest Destiny. The idea of Manifest Destiny was that Americans were chosen by God to settle the whole continent. To many this meant that the country could be settled from "sea to shining sea". As Americans moved westward, they settled in Mexican territory. This was partly due to an invitation by Mexico to Americans. The Americans could live in the territory as long as they pledged...

The United States of America had an ideology of Manifest Destiny. The idea of Manifest Destiny was that Americans were chosen by God to settle the whole continent. To many this meant that the country could be settled from "sea to shining sea". As Americans moved westward, they settled in Mexican territory. This was partly due to an invitation by Mexico to Americans. The Americans could live in the territory as long as they pledged allegiance to Mexico and converted to Catholicism. The Americans did not like how Texas was governed. Therefore, in 1835, Texas began fighting for its independence from Mexico.

In 1836, Texas obtained its Independence from Mexico.The United States annexed Texas into the nation in 1846. A dispute ensued over the southern border of Texas. The Mexicans believed the border was the Nueces River, and the United States stated it was the Rio Grande River. While patrolling the area between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande River, several American soldiers were shot and killed. President James K. Polk asked Congress to go to war against Mexico. 

How do relationships and experiences shape an individual's sense of belonging?

An individual's sense of belonging is shaped by their experiences and relationships in a multitude of ways, and the answer to this is so broad that it cannot really be fully covered even in one book, let alone an essay. However, when looking at To Kill a Mockingbirdfor an answer to this question, it might be a good idea to begin with specific characters, then list an experience that shaped them and a relationship...

An individual's sense of belonging is shaped by their experiences and relationships in a multitude of ways, and the answer to this is so broad that it cannot really be fully covered even in one book, let alone an essay. However, when looking at To Kill a Mockingbird for an answer to this question, it might be a good idea to begin with specific characters, then list an experience that shaped them and a relationship that shaped them. Finally, how did those experiences shape them? Let's take a look at Scout as one example.

At the beginning of the book and for the first half or so, Scout is not only a very young girl, but she is an innocent one. She does not yet know reasons for certain behaviors that she sees in those around her and she is constantly trying to figure things out.

One relationship that shapes Scout is the one she has with her brother, Jem. She looks to him for those answers and for guidance. When she cannot make sense of something on her own, she often turns to Jem even before Atticus. One example of this is in Ch. 26 when Miss Gates talks about Nazi Germany and how much they hate Jews. Miss Gates explains that in America we do not persecute anybody. Scout is confused by this because she knows Miss Gates does not like Blacks, so she asks Jem about this contradiction. She genuinely does not understand how Miss Gates can view one group of people as persecuted and at the same time how she can persecute another group herself. She looks to Jem to help her make decisions about what is right and wrong, about how to view other people, and about how to understand situations she is too young to fully comprehend.

One experience that shapes Scout is in Ch. 15 when she prevents Atticus from being attacked by a mob. They have shown up at the jail to take Tom Robinson and Atticus is the only man standing there to protect him. Scout senses that Atticus is in danger and seeks to diffuse the situation by striking up a conversation with Mr. Cunningham about his son, Walter, who Scout goes to school with. This situation shapes Scout by moving her from being brave in a very childlike way (a tomboy not afraid to stick up for herself) to brave in a more mature way. 

Each of these instances are moments where Scout is perceiving the world more as it is than how she wants it to be. She is recognizing the contradictions in beliefs and behavior of the adults around her, and these actions are slowly shaping the person she wants to be.

Describe the role of women in the 1920s and how their attitudes and behaviors changed. Were these changes positive or negative?

Women’s roles began to change in the 1920s. Prior to this time, many women stayed home and took care of the kids. They rarely shared their views on political or contemporary issues in public. Many women were willing to assume a low-key role.

This all began to change in the 1920s. During World War I, women took jobs outside of the home that the men had previously filled. However, with the men fighting in World...

Women’s roles began to change in the 1920s. Prior to this time, many women stayed home and took care of the kids. They rarely shared their views on political or contemporary issues in public. Many women were willing to assume a low-key role.

This all began to change in the 1920s. During World War I, women took jobs outside of the home that the men had previously filled. However, with the men fighting in World War I, women stepped in and did these jobs. After the war, more women were no longer willing to play a low-key or subservient role. They began to express their views on various political and contemporary issues in public. They wore shorter dresses. They began to smoke and drink in public. Women also got the right to vote. Women were also no longer interested in staying in a marriage if they were unhappy. This led to an increase in the number of divorces.

Some people felt these changes were not good for our country. They felt our values were in decline. They felt that these changes represented a movement away from a religious way of living. They were concerned about the decline of the American family. Other people felt these changes were a sign of progress. They felt it was time for women to expand their roles in our society. They believed women should have more freedom to do the things they wanted to do. They viewed these changes a sign of progress.

What does Jim's present in "The Gift of the Magi" tell you about his character?

Jim sells the gold watch, which O. Henry indicates was his "prized possession", in order to buy Della tortoise shell combs for her hair. His Christmas present shows that he is generous, even to the point of self sacrifice. He's a man who doesn't dwell on material objects. He readily gives up his watch just to make his wife happy. She is the most important thing in his life. He also seems to be a...

Jim sells the gold watch, which O. Henry indicates was his "prized possession", in order to buy Della tortoise shell combs for her hair. His Christmas present shows that he is generous, even to the point of self sacrifice. He's a man who doesn't dwell on material objects. He readily gives up his watch just to make his wife happy. She is the most important thing in his life. He also seems to be a level-headed young man who takes things in stride. While he is slightly taken aback by Della's new hairstyle, he accepts it without negative comment and O. Henry reports that he was neither shocked nor surprised, as Della feared. He simply hugs Della and in this act shows the unqualified love he has for his wife. He tells her that they will put away their presents for now and use them at some future time. This shows a very sensible man who, despite the current financial situation he and Della find themselves in, knows things will get better in the future as long as he has Della's love. While O. Henry says that Jim and Della were "two foolish children" he strongly suggests that the strength of their love and willingness to sacrifice for the other makes them as wise as the Magi who brought presents to the baby Jesus so many Christmases ago. 

How does Jackson foreshadow the ending in paragraphs 2 and 3 of "The Lottery" while also trying to lull us into thinking this is just an ordinary...

The ending is foreshadowed by the boys gathering stones and the adults’ reaction to them.

Jackson does not tell us what is really happening in this village until the very end of the story.  It seems like just an ordinary small-town function, like a pie eating contest or a Founder’s Day parade.  Everything seems sweet and innocent.  However, there are hints from the beginning that things are not right.

Why are the little boys all...

The ending is foreshadowed by the boys gathering stones and the adults’ reaction to them.

Jackson does not tell us what is really happening in this village until the very end of the story.  It seems like just an ordinary small-town function, like a pie eating contest or a Founder’s Day parade.  Everything seems sweet and innocent.  However, there are hints from the beginning that things are not right.

Why are the little boys all gathering stones?

Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones; Bobby and Harry Jones and Dickie Delacroix … eventually made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square and guarded it against the raids of the other boys.

The boys gather stones, so this is obviously something that is part of the town event.  They do it in a businesslike but sort of nervous manner.  Then when their parents arrive, they avoid the stones.  They keep their children away from them and call them back when they go near them.  The stones are the hint that something is not right in what seems like an otherwise normal scene.

They stood together, away from the pile of stones in the corner, and their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed. The women, wearing faded house dresses and sweaters, came shortly after their menfolk.

The reader does not know the purpose of the stones.  The reader may even feel that there is an innocent use for them.  We really do not know.  However, the men’s reactions to the stones seems to indicate something.  The reader might just think they don’t want the boys to play with them.  The boys are drawn to them.  While this is foreshadowing, it is also just a hint.  Boys are drawn to stones no matter what!

The stones are used to kill one citizen a year.  This horrible development is foreshadowed by showing us the stones, and then showing us how people react to the stones.  At the same time, we are told how the town is so simple and small and values tradition.  There is no sign of murderous intent.  Jackson wants us to think all is well until we find out it isn't.

In Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, what does Algernon mean when he says “I keep science for Life" and later connects this idea to...

This statement by Algernon Moncrieff is part of the opening banter of the play. Algy has been playing piano, and he asks Lane, his butler, if he has been listening, which Lane denies. Algy then says that he doesn't play accurately, which is something anyone can do. Instead, he plays with "wonderful expression" and "sentiment." He then states that he keeps science for Life. By the context, we can see that Algy is using the...

This statement by Algernon Moncrieff is part of the opening banter of the play. Algy has been playing piano, and he asks Lane, his butler, if he has been listening, which Lane denies. Algy then says that he doesn't play accurately, which is something anyone can do. Instead, he plays with "wonderful expression" and "sentiment." He then states that he keeps science for Life. By the context, we can see that Algy is using the term "science" as a synonym for accuracy and precision. There is some sense to the nonsense Algy is spewing here, because piano is "playing," whereas "Life" is serious, and so precision and accuracy should, rightly, be expended not on play, but on life. However, as with many of Algy's statements, the veracity of this declaration immediately flies out the window within just a couple of lines. Algy uses his statement about keeping science for life as a segue to asking Lane about the cucumber sandwiches he was supposed to prepare for Lady Bracknell, Algy's aunt. Cucumber sandwiches are intricate, precisely made delicacies designed specifically to impress the ostentatious Lady Bracknell, who is all about appearances rather than substance. So in one sense it is true that Algy is applying great precision to the part of "life" that involves making a good impression upon his aunt. But in another sense, to imply that "life" consists of winning approval from snobbish relatives by properly preparing cucumber sandwiches is nonsense. Certainly this is a game Algy and Lady Bracknell are playing, not a serious attempt at "Life" with a capital "L." This banter appropriately sets up the tone and theme of Wilde's play, which is, as he himself stated, to "treat all the trivial things of life seriously, and all the serious things of life with sincere and studied triviality."

What is the relationship between gods and mortals in Homer's Iliad? |

Greek religion, as portrayed in the Homeric epics, is characterized as "anthropomorphic." That means that the gods have "human forms." They are similar to humans in more than just outward form. Despite being stronger and more powerful than humans, they have human motivations and emotions. Zeus, the king of the gods, is a lecher, chasing after women and boys. Hera, his wife, is jealous. Aphrodite, the goddess of love, commits adultery. The gods are subject...

Greek religion, as portrayed in the Homeric epics, is characterized as "anthropomorphic." That means that the gods have "human forms." They are similar to humans in more than just outward form. Despite being stronger and more powerful than humans, they have human motivations and emotions. Zeus, the king of the gods, is a lecher, chasing after women and boys. Hera, his wife, is jealous. Aphrodite, the goddess of love, commits adultery. The gods are subject to jealousy, anger, lust, pride, and benevolence. Also, rather than acting together, they tend to squabble with each other, just as human families do. 

Next, the relationship between gods and mortals is often described by the Latin phrase "do ut des" ("I give that you might give"). Mortals offer the gods worship, loyalty, and sacrifices in exchange for practical aid in war, marriage, farming, and other daily activities. Mortals also arrange sacrifices to propitiate the gods and avert their anger. 

The gods intervene in every aspect of daily life, giving advice, deflecting weapons, creating magical disguises, sending plagues, and generally using their powers to help the mortals they favor and harm the ones they dislike, limited only by laws of necessity.

Would pigs be a great example of symbolism in Lord of the Flies?

Pigs do come into play in the symbolism of Golding's novel Lord of the Flies; however, they are not a straightforward symbol in that they are used to represent a variety of different ideas. The sow and her nursing piglets represent the innocence of nature; hunting pigs represents the baser human desires; and the "pig's head on a stick" represents the depravity of the human heart. In chapter 8, Jack leads the boys on a pig hunt, and they find several pigs contentedly sleeping in the shadows. Among them is a sow nursing a row of piglets, "sunk deep in maternal bliss." The boys wound her and chase her, trailing her blood, until she comes out into "an open space where bright flowers grew and butterflies danced round each other." As the boys fall upon her, "this dreadful eruption from an unknown world made her frantic." She is brutally killed as the butterflies continue to dance. Golding's description of the blissful pig, tormented and killed by an invading species, speaks of the peaceful innocence of nature on the island apart from the corruption that man brings. 

The novel uses hunting extensively as a symbol of baser human instincts and desires. In the passage where the boys kill the sow, Golding describes how the boys were "wedded to her in lust," and after they kill her, they were "heavy and fulfilled upon her." The desire for hunting and meat causes the boys to leave the signal fire unattended just as a ship passes the island. Jack is able to lure the boys over to his tribe by the enticement of meat, even though most of the boys prefer Ralph as chief when they are thinking about rescue. 

When the boys have killed and gutted the sow, Jack mounts its head on a stick and leaves it as a gift for the beast. Simon, concealed in the thicket, ends up having a vision where he converses with the head. Golding calls the head the Lord of the Flies, and it identifies itself to Simon as the Beast. During the conversation Simon's previous understanding that the beast is "mankind's essential illness" is confirmed when the pig's head says, "You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you? Close, close, close! I'm the reason why it's no go? Why things are what they are?" In this way Golding presents his message that the downfall of the boys' society stems from the depravity in their hearts.

Pigs play a key role in the symbolism of Lord of the Flies and are used at various points to symbolize the innocence of nature, the baser human desires, and human depravity.

Can there be more than one narrator telling a story?

What rmhope says about the "frame story technique" is certainly true. I was reminded by her answer of two stories frequently covered by . They are "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" and "The Red-Headed League." In both these Sherlock Holmes stories the main narrator is Dr. Watson, as is the case in nearly all Sherlock Holmes stories. But both "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" and The Red-Headed League" begin with extremely long back stories told by the clients.

In "The Adventure of the Speckled Band," Helen Stoner tells Holmes and Watson about her mother and stepfather, their lives in India, her mother's death, her mother's will, her stepfather's bad temper, about her sister Julia's strange death, and many other things. It is a story within a story. The same is true with Jabez Wilson, who tells Holmes and Watson all about his pawn shop business, his assistant, his going to work for the Red-Headed League, the dissolution of the League, his search for Duncan Ross, and many other things. In both cases the back stories become so interesting that the reader may forget they are only stories within the stories. The same is true with Henry Baker and his story of the lost goose in "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle."

So I guess a story can have more than one narrator if it is handled adeptly. I suppose a story could even have a story within a story within a story--although the poor writer might go crazy handling the punctuation, It is interesting to observe the punctuation in the openings of both "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" and "The Red-Headed League." For example:

“ ‘I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.’ ”

“ ‘Why that?’ I asks.”

“ ‘Why,’ says he, ‘here's another vacancy on the League of the Redheaded Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.’ ”

Note the single quotes within the double quotes, even when Wilson is quoting himself. Note the punctuation of "'Why,' says he, 'here's... This can get kind of tricky. But Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a meticulous writer and a good model.

Given that the Union and Confederate forces were equally matched at Fort Donelson, what factors do you feel played an important role in the Union's...

One factor that helped the Union win the battle at Fort Donelson, despite being fairly evenly matched with the Confederate army, was the Union’s military leadership. The Union commander at Fort Donelson was U.S. Grant. The Confederate commander was General Johnston. General Johnston decided to defend the fort even though he believed the Union’s military would be too strong to allow the Confederacy to successfully defend it. He even sent additional troops and supplies to...

One factor that helped the Union win the battle at Fort Donelson, despite being fairly evenly matched with the Confederate army, was the Union’s military leadership. The Union commander at Fort Donelson was U.S. Grant. The Confederate commander was General Johnston. General Johnston decided to defend the fort even though he believed the Union’s military would be too strong to allow the Confederacy to successfully defend it. He even sent additional troops and supplies to the fort.

Another Confederate general made a very unusual and a very questionable decision. As a group of Confederate troops had made significant advances against the Union army, Confederate Brigadier General Pillow ordered his troops to go back to their entrenchments. This allowed the Union army to regain the land they had lost. Grant continued to attack, and much to his surprise, the Confederate army decided to surrender.

These military mistakes allowed the Union to capture Fort Donelson and later move into Tennessee while keeping Kentucky in the hands of the Union.

What message does this story convey?

This story conveys the message that what unites all human beings is both our propensity to sin as well as our insistence on concealing our sinful natures from our peers.  In this way, then, we can never truly know or be known by another person because we hide behind the figurative veils that we hold up between ourselves and everyone else. 

Mr. Hooper's first sermon after beginning to wear the veil was about the subject...

This story conveys the message that what unites all human beings is both our propensity to sin as well as our insistence on concealing our sinful natures from our peers.  In this way, then, we can never truly know or be known by another person because we hide behind the figurative veils that we hold up between ourselves and everyone else. 

Mr. Hooper's first sermon after beginning to wear the veil was about the subject of "secret sin," the sins that we seek to hide from the world, ourselves, and even God (though such concealment from God is ultimately impossible).  Further, his conversation with his fiancee, Elizabeth, hints at this secret sorrow as well, especially when he insists that it is not particular to him but true of all mortals.  Finally, in the end, when Mr. Hooper is on his deathbed, he marvels that the veil has been the reason he's spent his life in isolation when he looks at all those around him and says, "'lo! on every face a black veil!'"  People have ostracized him alone because of the physical veil he wears, a veil which is only symbolic of the human condition of sinfulness, the condition of all people.

What does Nick Allen say and do in Andrew Clements' Frindle?

In the opening chapter of Frindle, author Andrew Clements identifies Nick as the type of person who is not entirely a troublemaker, though he certainly does cause a lot of trouble. He has a tendency to cause trouble because he is a very creative person. As a creative person, he thinks outside of the box and does things contrary to the rest of society, which has a tendency to cause trouble. He...

In the opening chapter of Frindle, author Andrew Clements identifies Nick as the type of person who is not entirely a troublemaker, though he certainly does cause a lot of trouble. He has a tendency to cause trouble because he is a very creative person. As a creative person, he thinks outside of the box and does things contrary to the rest of society, which has a tendency to cause trouble. He particularly thinks creatively whenever he feels bored and wants to enliven his boring school days.

Nick began acting upon his creative ideas when, feeling bored of New Hampshire's February winter, he got the brainstorm to turn his third-grade classroom into a tropical island, complete with colorful paper flowers, raised thermostat temperatures, and even "ten cups of fine white sand [spread] all over the classroom floor" (p. 7). In the fourth grade, he enlivened the classroom experience by experimenting with squeaking the high-pitched chirp the red-winged blackbird uses to avoid danger by confusing hawks. Since hawks can't tell where the chirp is coming from, they get confused about where to look for the blackbird. Noticing that his fourth-grade teacher looks like a hawk, Nick decided to test the sound theory on his teacher and found she definitely could not tell who was making the chirp.

When it came time to find a way to make his fifth-grade language class more interesting, headed by a super strict teacher, he tries to hijack classroom time by asking where words come from only to be assigned to research the topic himself and give an oral report. Nick's question and oral report became fodder for his greatest creative idea of all--to challenge the authority of language rules by inventing his own word.

What are the scholar’s duties and how does he cope with them according to Emerson in the "American Scholar"?

In "The American Scholar," Emerson sums up the duties of the scholar in a single phrase. He says that the scholar must become "Man Thinking." He must show mankind the light of truth by teaching them to distinguish "facts amidst appearances." The scholar is, according to Emerson, "the world's eye...the world's heart." This is, to be sure, a heavy burden, and Emerson warns his listeners that it will involve resisting the "vulgar prosperity" that motivates...

In "The American Scholar," Emerson sums up the duties of the scholar in a single phrase. He says that the scholar must become "Man Thinking." He must show mankind the light of truth by teaching them to distinguish "facts amidst appearances." The scholar is, according to Emerson, "the world's eye...the world's heart." This is, to be sure, a heavy burden, and Emerson warns his listeners that it will involve resisting the "vulgar prosperity" that motivates lesser men and at times even accepting "poverty." Emerson is essentially suggesting that the American scholar should seek to create something new rather than mimicking European literary and intellectual achievements. To do this, or "cope with" the duties of a scholar, the American scholar must look within himself. Only by following the dictates of his own conscience and soul could he transcend the artificial boundaries created by centuries of European thought. "In self-trust," Emerson tells his listeners, "all the virtues are comprehended." To turn to one's self was far better than to look to books from the past. To lean excessively on the achievements of others would never promote the true intellectual independence that Emerson thought was essential to the modern American scholar. As Emerson said in so many of his works, the key to coping with the demands placed on the scholar was to be true to one's self.

What is the difference between a renewable and nonrenewable energy source?

Nonrenewable energy sources are those, like fossil fuels pumped or mined from beneath Earth's surface, that exist in a finite supply. In other words, once the oil, coal and natural gas deposits of the world are exhausted, that's it. There will be no more of those sources of energy (although, coal in particular is available in large quantities, its polluting qualities notwithstanding). Fossil fuels, of course, are called "fossil fuels" precisely because they are the...

Nonrenewable energy sources are those, like fossil fuels pumped or mined from beneath Earth's surface, that exist in a finite supply. In other words, once the oil, coal and natural gas deposits of the world are exhausted, that's it. There will be no more of those sources of energy (although, coal in particular is available in large quantities, its polluting qualities notwithstanding). Fossil fuels, of course, are called "fossil fuels" precisely because they are the physical remains of long-dead plants and animals, most dating back to prehistoric periods, even before the dinosaurs. They are nonrenewable because it took hundreds of millions of years for coal and oil to form, and because fossil fuels do exist in finite quantities.

Renewable energy sources, in contrast, are those that naturally replenish such as solar power. Solar power, as the name suggests, is derived from the enormous energy emitted from our nearest star, the Sun. Other forms of renewable energy are wind, water, and geothermal, which is derived from heat that emits directly from the subsurface layers of Earth. While water is considered a renewable form of energy, it probably should not be so categorized given the fragility of much of the planet's fresh water supplies. Water, as we know from vast natural formations like the Grand Canyon, wields enormous power, and is naturally renewable in the form of precipitation. However, its over-usage by modern industrial societies and its waste in inefficient agricultural practices in much of the less-developed world leads to the question of whether water power can be considered a viable form of renewable energy.

What is Dill's claim to fame in To Kill a Mockingbird?

Dill’s claim to fame is that he won a Beautiful Child contest.

The children meet Dill when he comes to stay with his Aunt Rachel during the summer.  They are fascinated with him because he is a new kid, and he seems a bit unique.  Dill tells them his life story, including a tidbit about how he won five dollars. 

His family was from Maycomb County originally, his mother worked for a photographer in Meridian, had...

Dill’s claim to fame is that he won a Beautiful Child contest.

The children meet Dill when he comes to stay with his Aunt Rachel during the summer.  They are fascinated with him because he is a new kid, and he seems a bit unique.  Dill tells them his life story, including a tidbit about how he won five dollars. 

His family was from Maycomb County originally, his mother worked for a photographer in Meridian, had entered his picture in a Beautiful Child contest and won five dollars. She gave the money to Dill, who went to the picture show twenty times on it. (Ch. 1)

The children seem impressed that he has seen so many picture shows, since the opportunity to do so is a bit limited in Maycomb.  Dill’s knowledge of the movies makes their make-believe games more interesting, as does having another actor to play more characters.

“Don’t have any picture shows here, except Jesus ones in the courthouse sometimes,” said Jem. “Ever see anything good?”

Dill had seen Dracula, a revelation that moved Jem to eye him with the beginning of respect. “Tell it to us,” he said. (Ch. 1)

Dill is fascinated with a good story.  He tells a few whoppers himself.  He also is curious about the story of Boo Radley.  He believes that Boo is just misunderstood and lonely, and his goal is to make him come out so that they can talk to him.  Jem and Scout are not disposed to think of Boo so pleasantly, but they do not want to be considered chicken.

Dill does not have much in his life.  His mother ships him off every summer, and he doesn’t know his father.  This is why Dill tells stories.  He loves a good story, true or not. 

Does Atticus believe he will win the Tom Robinson case?

At the beginning of Chapter 9, Scout gets offended when Cecil Jacobs says Atticus defends "niggers" on the playground. Later that night, Scout asks her father if it is true that he defends Negroes. Atticus explains to Scout that he will be defending a black man named Tom Robinson. Atticus proceeds to tell Scout that if he chose not to defend Tom Robinson, then he wouldn't be able to hold his head in town or...

At the beginning of Chapter 9, Scout gets offended when Cecil Jacobs says Atticus defends "niggers" on the playground. Later that night, Scout asks her father if it is true that he defends Negroes. Atticus explains to Scout that he will be defending a black man named Tom Robinson. Atticus proceeds to tell Scout that if he chose not to defend Tom Robinson, then he wouldn't be able to hold his head in town or represent Maycomb in the legislature. Scout then asks Atticus if he is going to win the case. Atticus simply tells Scout, "No, honey" (48). When Scout asks him why he is even going to try to defend Tom, Atticus tells her, "Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win" (48). Atticus realizes he has no chance of winning the case because of the prejudiced jury, but he is still going to defend Tom to the best of his ability.

How do the three branches of the U.S. government impact healthcare today?

It is not usual for all three branches of the federal government to impact health care in important ways.  However, in recent years, all three branches have.  This is because of the continuing controversy over the programs typically known as “Obamacare.”

In general, it is the two elected branches that affect health care.  Congress is the body that enacts health care policy for the nation as a whole.  This means, for example, that Congress decides...

It is not usual for all three branches of the federal government to impact health care in important ways.  However, in recent years, all three branches have.  This is because of the continuing controversy over the programs typically known as “Obamacare.”

In general, it is the two elected branches that affect health care.  Congress is the body that enacts health care policy for the nation as a whole.  This means, for example, that Congress decides what the parameters of the Medicare and Medicaid programs will be.  Recently, it meant that Congress passed Obamacare, creating a new national health insurance regime that is changing the health care system in our country.  It means that, Congress could repeal Obamacare and replace it with some different system.

The executive branch affects health care in at least three ways.  Right now, because President Obama is still in office, the executive branch prevents Congress from repealing Obamacare.  President Obama could and would veto any bill that repealed or replaced his signature accomplishment.  However, President Obama will soon leave office.  When he does, his successor will get to decide whether he or she wants to keep protecting the program since the Congress (which will presumably remain in Republican hands) will still want to repeal it.  The executive branch also affects health care because the president tends to lead public opinion on this issue.  In order to get an alternative to Obamacare, we would probably need a new president to propose and really push a new system.  This means that the identity of the president really helps to determine what kind of system will be proposed.  Finally, the executive branch actually runs the national health care system (those parts that are run by the government).  Because it does this, it affects the way the system works every day.

The judicial branch usually has little to do with health care since health care is not usually connected to major legal and constitutional issues. However, the Supreme Court has recently had to decide whether various parts of Obamacare are constitutional.  It has had to decide on things like whether the national government can require everyone to have health insurance or whether the government can require businesses to provide their employees with insurance programs that cover contraceptives.  Because Obamacare is so controversial, the judicial branch has had to decide which parts of it are constitutional.  In these ways, all three branches effect health care in the US today.

Why does the clock have such a dramatic effect on the dancers in "The Masque of the Red Death"?

Time is an important theme in this story. The seven rooms symbolize the seven stages of life. Therefore, this one evening is construed in terms of a life span. As the guests move from room to room, and as the clock signals the passing hours, they move closer and closer to death.

The fact that the clock is "gigantic" illustrates how powerful and unstoppable time is. They cannot stop time and, therefore, they cannot prevent...

Time is an important theme in this story. The seven rooms symbolize the seven stages of life. Therefore, this one evening is construed in terms of a life span. As the guests move from room to room, and as the clock signals the passing hours, they move closer and closer to death.

The fact that the clock is "gigantic" illustrates how powerful and unstoppable time is. They cannot stop time and, therefore, they cannot prevent their own deaths. The clock is in the western room. Note the symbolism of the succession of rooms, from east to west, and the path of the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. This all emphasizes the passage of time. This allegorically parallels the life span and the notions of morning/birth and night/death.

When the clock signals the hour, the sound is: 

 . . . so peculiar a note and emphasis that, at each lapse of an hour, the musicians of the orchestra were constrained to pause, momentarily, in their performance, to harken to the sound; and thus the waltzers perforce ceased their evolutions; and there was a brief disconcert of the whole gay company . . . 

Each chiming of the hour interrupts the guests' good feelings. Each chime reminds them of time itself and that each hour, regardless of whether or not the plague might get to them, signals they are one step closer to their own deaths.

At midnight, the clock sounds twelve times. Once again, the music and the dancing stops while the clock sounds the hour. This gives the guests more time (twelve tones) to reflect upon the passage of time. This is the point. Each hour, there is one additional tone. So, each time the hour strikes and the music stops, the guests have increasingly more time to stop and ponder time, life, and death. Symbolically, it is at the twelfth hour that they have the time to notice the masked figure.

What could I write in a context paragraph in an essay about my daily surroundings?

In a traditional essay, context is an important link between what you believe is interesting to the reader (hook) and your thesis statement (your argument/claim). Context in an introduction should be brief and give the background information needed to support the thesis.

However, it seems like your teacher is asking for an entire paragraph devoted to the context of your daily surroundings that is separate from the introduction. Most likely, the assignment is asking for...

In a traditional essay, context is an important link between what you believe is interesting to the reader (hook) and your thesis statement (your argument/claim). Context in an introduction should be brief and give the background information needed to support the thesis.

However, it seems like your teacher is asking for an entire paragraph devoted to the context of your daily surroundings that is separate from the introduction. Most likely, the assignment is asking for a description of the most important parts of your daily surroundings. In other words, you should provide the reader a sense of what it is like to live within your daily surroundings. A nice technique in writing to establish context is to check to make sure your writing appeals to the five senses (sight, sound, touch, smell, taste). For example, you can enhance a description of your classroom by describing the sterile odor of whiteboard markers or describing the sound a chair makes on a floor when everyone is working on a stressful test. 

Good luck on the assignment!

What does Piggy fear if Ralph gives up being leader?

Piggy represents pure intellectualism; his body is, essentially, a liability, but Ralph states that Piggy is definitely the best "thinker" out of all of them. However, Piggy strongly depends upon the assurances provided by the rule of law and civilization; being unable to defend himself physically, and having poor social skills, he survives only by the somewhat artificial restrictions placed on the behaviors of others that allow him to be left alone. In the absence...

Piggy represents pure intellectualism; his body is, essentially, a liability, but Ralph states that Piggy is definitely the best "thinker" out of all of them. However, Piggy strongly depends upon the assurances provided by the rule of law and civilization; being unable to defend himself physically, and having poor social skills, he survives only by the somewhat artificial restrictions placed on the behaviors of others that allow him to be left alone. In the absence of these restrictions, as with Jack's tribe, Piggy is little more than a victim. 

As the best thinker, Piggy is aware of this. He knows that his survival depends upon the survival of "law" itself. This is fulfilled when he dies, as the conch "dies" with him, representing that Piggy cannot survive without the order that the conch represents. As the group begins to degenerate into lawlessness, and Ralph despairs of his ability to lead, Piggy pushes him to remain the leader, because he knows that Jack will target him, and that Ralph is the only person who can stand up to Jack. Basically, Piggy fears that, if Ralph gives up being leader, then Piggy will lose any protection he enjoys under Ralph's rule.

"Love and reason keep little company together:" comment in reference to A Midsummer Night's Dream.

The whole madcap story of mixed-up love in this play illustrates the truth of the quote, spoken by Bottom after Titania falls in love with him under the influence of a magic potion. We see throughout the play that love causes people to behave irrationally. Titania, a queen, falls in love with Bottom, a comical, lower class man who, under the influence of magic, has been given the head of an ass. Helena follows Demetrius...

The whole madcap story of mixed-up love in this play illustrates the truth of the quote, spoken by Bottom after Titania falls in love with him under the influence of a magic potion. We see throughout the play that love causes people to behave irrationally. Titania, a queen, falls in love with Bottom, a comical, lower class man who, under the influence of magic, has been given the head of an ass. Helena follows Demetrius into the forest, even though he has told her he is in love with Hermia. Helena also invites him to abuse her as long as he will make her his, another form of madness. Throughout the play, love potions cause forms of zany madness that have everyone falling in love with the wrong person and behaving in ways that defy reason.

We've all witnessed what the heady feeling of first falling in love can do to a person and Shakespeare makes the most of it in this play. Right after he delivers his line about love and reason not keeping company, Bottom says:

The more the pity that some honest neighbors will not make them [love and reason] friends.

Then, in one the more complexly ironic lines in the play, Titania responds:

Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful.

She is blinded by love at this moment: Bottom with his ass's head is not conventionally beautiful, so saying he is as wise as he is handsome is, on the surface, saying he is a fool. It's a gag line. But what complicates the irony is that Bottom's words are wise: so perhaps, the irony is, that love--or the imagination behind love--actually might make him beautiful.

This play, with its focus on the madness of love, demonstrates both what can be most charming and most dangerous about love's unreason. 

In Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, the author shows that the slave masters often did which of the following? A. Lied in order to make the...

Harriet Jacobs continually proves that the answer to your question is most definitely that masters lie to inspire fear in their slaves.  One of the quotations that proves this is as follows:

Ah, if he had ever been a slave he would have known how difficult it was to trust white men.

While this quotation proves that masters lie, Harriet Jacobs also proves that these lies inspire fear through examples from the book.  For example,...

Harriet Jacobs continually proves that the answer to your question is most definitely that masters lie to inspire fear in their slaves.  One of the quotations that proves this is as follows:

Ah, if he had ever been a slave he would have known how difficult it was to trust white men.

While this quotation proves that masters lie, Harriet Jacobs also proves that these lies inspire fear through examples from the book.  For example, at one point Dr. Flint "swore" that he would end Linda's life if she "was not not as silent as the grave" about his sexual advances.  Later Dr. Flint verbally abuses Linda again and asks Linda if she would "like to be sent to jail for your insolence."  This was yet another empty threat given by Dr. Flint.  His continual lies prove that the answer to your question is most definitely "A."

How is the story the Lord of the Flies still applicable in 2016? What does the story aim to teach the reader that is a universal message for all...

The story Lord of the Flies is Golding’s attempt to show that humanity left to its own devices, in other words without rules or laws, will devolve into savagery. This is still a very relevant idea in 2016 when you look at social media and the electronic savagery that occurs there. Because much of social media websites are more accessible to people and less regulated we are given a world with little to no rules...

The story Lord of the Flies is Golding’s attempt to show that humanity left to its own devices, in other words without rules or laws, will devolve into savagery. This is still a very relevant idea in 2016 when you look at social media and the electronic savagery that occurs there. Because much of social media websites are more accessible to people and less regulated we are given a world with little to no rules or laws. Add to this lawlessness the idea of anonymity and people’s cruel nature is revealed. As it was with Ralph in the text most attempts at civilizing behaviors and attempts to establish order are met with ridicule and/or flat out lac of acceptance of the rules. Commenters on sites are banned then open a new account and go right back to their old behaviors; tell people they cannot talk unless they hold the Conch shell and they talk anyway. Places in the world that have little to no oversight, rules, laws or law enforcement show us the reader that Golding’s distrust in human nature is not unfounded.

However, Golding was not all doom and gloom; he presented us with Ralph as the everyman in an attempt to show that there is still good within individuals. Ralph’s concern for the group, and establishing of order, though ultimately destroyed, shows that we all have the capacity for good when we try to help others not just ourselves. This is juxtaposed with Jack who though he says he hunts for everyone, is only doing so to empower himself. Moreover, Jack’s selfishness pulls the others into chaos.

Golding presents his readers with a precarious line between good and evil. If we work for others then we hold back our violent nature, when we help only ourselves we fall to our base nature and this is a very important truth even to this day.

What is free-form or open-form verse?

Free form or open form verse describes poetry that does not follow rules or standards of rhyme, meter, and rhythm. In contrast, closed or fixed form verse follows the rules and patterns of these characteristics. Free or open verse is considered a little more modern because it does not follow these "rules" of what poetry should look and sound like. Sometimes free form verse has a quality more like the natural flow of speech.

Let's compare two poems: one free form, one fixed form.

The World Below the Brine, by Walt Whitman, is an example of free or open form verse. Here is an excerpt:

"...Sluggish existences grazing there suspended, or slowly crawling close to the bottom,

The sperm-whale at the surface blowing air and spray, or disporting with his flukes,

The leaden-eyed shark, the walrus, the turtle, the hairy sea-leopard, and the sting-ray,

Passions there, wars, pursuits, tribes, sight in those ocean-depths, breathing that thick-breathing air, as so many do..."

Note how this poem doesn't ascribe to fixed patterns of rhyme and rhythm.

Now, let's have a look at Edgar Allen Poe's Annabel Lee. The poem begins:

"It was many and many a year ago,

   In a kingdom by the sea,

That a maiden there lived whom you may know

   By the name of Annabel Lee;

And this maiden she lived with no other thought

   Than to love and be loved by me."

Even in this first stanza of the poem, we can see a very clear pattern of rhyme, rhythm, and meter. 

How does Golding portray authority in The Lord of the Flies?

In Lord of the Flies, Golding demonstrates authority through the characters of both Ralph and Jack. They each represent a different type of authority. Through Ralph, Golding shows a democratic authority. Ralph is elected by the others as the leader, and he makes use of the conch shell so that each boy can have a turn in speaking and having a say in the authority on the island. Ralph also develops an assembly in order...

In Lord of the Flies, Golding demonstrates authority through the characters of both Ralph and Jack. They each represent a different type of authority. Through Ralph, Golding shows a democratic authority. Ralph is elected by the others as the leader, and he makes use of the conch shell so that each boy can have a turn in speaking and having a say in the authority on the island. Ralph also develops an assembly in order to make the rules that the boys agree to follow.

Through Jack, Golding alternatively shows a dictatorship style of authority. Jack usurps power and authority by ignoring that the governing group of boys works or that their authority even exists. He takes his authority through fear and manipulation. By contrasting the two boys, Golding can show the variances in different types of authority.

What is a hypertonic solution?

When you are considering the net movement of water across a semi-permeable membrane (osmosis), you must consider the tonicity of the solutions on both sides of the membrane. Tonicity refers to the concentration of solutes (dissolved particles) in a solution. The liquid in which they are dissolved is known as the solvent. Let's consider a red blood cell in a beaker containing a solution.  

The tonicity of the solution inside of a red blood...

When you are considering the net movement of water across a semi-permeable membrane (osmosis), you must consider the tonicity of the solutions on both sides of the membrane. Tonicity refers to the concentration of solutes (dissolved particles) in a solution. The liquid in which they are dissolved is known as the solvent. Let's consider a red blood cell in a beaker containing a solution.  

The tonicity of the solution inside of a red blood cell (intracellular solution) is about 0.9%, but to simplify, we will say 1%. If the solution that the cell is in (the extracellular solution) has a higher tonicity, we say that the solution is hypertonic to the intracellular solution. In our example, a hypertonic solution would have a solute concentration higher than 1%. Water will move more toward the hypertonic solution due to osmotic pressure so water will move from the cell, through the membrane, and into the extracellular solution.

If the tonicity of the extracellular solution is lower than that of the intracellular solution, we say that the extracellular solution is hypotonic to the intracellular solution (you could also say that the intracellular solution is hypertonic to the extracellular solution). Again, the water will move by osmosis toward the more concentrated solution so the water will move mostly into the cell and may cause the cell to burst. This happens when you add red blood cells to distilled water (0% solute).

If the tonicity of both solutions is the same, we say that the solutions are isotonic. In this case, the water will move equally into and out of the cell and the overall shape of the cell will not change.

In Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, does Atticus view Mr. Cunningham as a good or bad person?

Despite the fact that Walter Cunningham led the Old Sarum bunch to Maycomb's jailhouse in order to harm Tom Robinson, Atticus tells his children that Walter is still their friend. Atticus says,

"Mr. Cunningham's basically a good man...he just has his blind spots along with the rest of us." (Lee 97)

Atticus then explains to Jem and Scout that Walter Cunningham was influenced by the group of men that he was around....

Despite the fact that Walter Cunningham led the Old Sarum bunch to Maycomb's jailhouse in order to harm Tom Robinson, Atticus tells his children that Walter is still their friend. Atticus says,

"Mr. Cunningham's basically a good man...he just has his blind spots along with the rest of us." (Lee 97)

Atticus then explains to Jem and Scout that Walter Cunningham was influenced by the group of men that he was around. Atticus goes on to explain mob mentality to his children and mentions that Walter's actions did not reflect his individual personality. Atticus's tolerant demeanor is reflected in his response and explanation of Walter's actions. Scout made Mr. Cunningham see the error in his behavior, which is why Walter told his men to leave. Despite being prejudiced against African Americans and participating in a lynch mob, Walter Cunningham is an honest man who has morals. He's always paid Atticus for his services and is a loyal friend of the Finches. Later on in the novel, Atticus tells his children that one of the Cunninghams voted that Tom Robinson should be acquitted.

How is Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw a satire on attitudes that glorify war and love?

Arms and the Manby George Bernard Shaw is set during the Serbo-Bulgarian War of 1885. In the opening scene, we discover Raina, the female romantic lead of the play, discussing her fiancé, Sergius, who is a soldier fighting in the war. Her views of both Sergius and the war are, as she admits, based on opera, Byron, and Pushkin, works of art rather than the actual reality of fighting. Even before the entrance of Captain Bluntschli,...

Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw is set during the Serbo-Bulgarian War of 1885. In the opening scene, we discover Raina, the female romantic lead of the play, discussing her fiancé, Sergius, who is a soldier fighting in the war. Her views of both Sergius and the war are, as she admits, based on opera, Byron, and Pushkin, works of art rather than the actual reality of fighting. Even before the entrance of Captain Bluntschli, she displays a degree of doubt about whether her ideals are really just products of her own imagination.

The satiric element is mainly provided by situational irony and the comments of Captain Bluntschli, the pragmatic Swiss mercenary who shows that, indeed, the romantic imagery of epic tales, when applied to the actual conduct of a real war, is just silly. While Raina finds the idea of a cavalry charge thrilling, the professional soldier sees riding horses into a machine gun nest as simply absurd and debunks the idea of the man leading a cavalry charge as brave by suggesting that he is in the front because his horse is running away with him, making him an incompetent rider.

The contrast between the reality of war and the romantic image of it is paralleled by a similar duality in the portrait of love, where Raina's infatuation with Sergius is shown to be as little grounded in reality as her image of him as a warrior. It is this dual incongruity, highlighted by the blunt speaking of Captain Bluntschli, that is the basis of the satire.

What is the subject matter of Romeo and Juliet?

By "subject matter" I think that you are asking about what the play's universal themes might be.  

One major theme of Romeo and Julietis the theme of love.  Shakespeare presents a few aspects of love during the play as well.  Yes, absolutely, the play is full of romantic love.  Romeo and Juliet are constantly gushing about what the other person means to them and explain in flowery language how beautiful the other person...

By "subject matter" I think that you are asking about what the play's universal themes might be.  

One major theme of Romeo and Juliet is the theme of love.  Shakespeare presents a few aspects of love during the play as well.  Yes, absolutely, the play is full of romantic love.  Romeo and Juliet are constantly gushing about what the other person means to them and explain in flowery language how beautiful the other person is.  The play also explores the notion that death and dying for love is better than living without your true love.  Winnie from Tuck Everlasting would disagree.  She chose to live without Jesse Tuck, but I digress.  

But the play does more than explore the love between Juliet and Romeo (or Romeo and Rosaline).  Their is no doubt that Shakespeare also wrote about parental love.  Juliet's parents clearly love her and want the best for her.  Lord Capulet clearly respects Juliet's feelings and wants her to marry somebody that she likes.  That's why he tells Paris to wait until Juliet is older.  Lady Capulet is the same way.  She believes that Paris is a good match for Juliet, but Lady Capulet wants Juliet to see that too.  That's why before the party Lady Capulet tells Juliet to keep an open mind about Paris.  

Romeo and Juliet is also full of revenge and hatred themes.  The Capulets and Montagues hate each other.  What's important for the reader to note is that the feud has been going on for a long time, and nobody seems to remember what initially started it.  The two families just go about hating each other.  Then, once Tybalt kills Mercutio, the rest of the killings follow an eye for an eye revenge motif.  Romeo kill Tybalt, which pits the entire Capulet family against Romeo.  It even pits Paris, a man who hopes to be part of the Capulet family, against Romeo.

What criteria would have been used to exonerate Nella Larsen from the plagiarism scandal regarding her story "Sanctuary"? Why didn't she ever...

Nella Larsen’s short story “Sanctuary,” unfortunately, was almost certainly adapted from British author Sheila Kaye-Smith’s story “Mrs. Adis.” While Larsen’s version reflected her own unique history and the culture in which she was raised and lived as an adult, the similarities between the two stories were such that charges of plagiarism were valid. Even Larsen biographer George Hutchinson states in an endnote accompanying his book In Search of Nella Larsen: A Biography of the Color Line that the charge of plagiarism leveled against Larsen was “probably valid.” What made Larsen’s case particularly tragic, and one of the reasons she was unable to continue her career as a writer, was that, being of mixed-race with noticeably dark skin, she was unlikely to receive either the benefit of the doubt in early-20th century America or credit for being a legitimately-talented writer whose “crime” was minor, if that, and little different than what has occurred in the arts for centuries. The only writer, painter, or musician who was not influenced by at least one predecessor had to have existed in biblical times—specifically, within the timeframe of the Old Testament. Adapting a theme to one’s own circumstances, in fact, is very common, whether it was George Harrison’s “plagiarism” of Ronnie Mack’s “She’s so Fine” when he wrote his hit single “My Sweet Lord,” or the openly-acknowledged adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness by film director Francis Ford Coppola and screenwriter John Milius for their surrealistic Vietnam War movie Apocalypse Now. Each generation of artist influences those that follow, and it may have been accurate to accuse Larsen of plagiarism, but it probably was not fair. The fact that Larsen had been seriously and unambiguously influenced by Edith Wharton, however, lent additional credence to the accusation.

In any event, the plagiarism case wounded Larsen’s literary career, but might not have ended it had not her marriage dissolved among accusations of infidelity on the part of her husband, Elmer Imes, a prominent African American physicist. The humiliation of the revelations of Imes’ infidelity and their subsequent divorce is believed to have so adversely affected Larsen that she was never able to recover emotionally or professionally from these two developments.

As to what criteria would have been used to exonerate Larsen or any other individual accused of plagiarism, that would depend upon certain facts in the individual case. Plagiarism is easy to detect in its most obvious form: the verbatim copying of another author’s words. Exonerating somebody from a charge of plagiarism when one or more passages of this person’s work was clearly taken from another source is more than a little difficult. Exonerating somebody whose work was thematically influenced by another writer, however, is another matter. As noted above, it is the very rare writer or artist who hasn’t been influenced during the course of his or her intellectual development by earlier generations of writers or artists. That is why jazz aficionados so enjoy linking disparate jazz musicians to each other; they have all been influenced to greater or lesser degrees by those who came before them, or to contemporaries they admire. Judgements regarding accusations of plagiarism, therefore, can be very subjective. It is this subjectivity that allowed for Larsen’s exoneration. As with political mud-throwing, however, once the charge is made and publicized, protecting one’s reputation is extraordinarily difficult, even if found innocent.

Why is concrete is a mixture and not a pure substance?

Pure substances are substances composed of identical particles. The particles in a pure substance can be identical element particles or identical compound particles. For example, a sample of pure water is composed of identical `~H_2O ` compound particles. 

Mixtures are substances that are composed of two or more different types of particles. The particles in a mixture are still composed of elements and compounds, but they are not all identical. For example, a mixure...

Pure substances are substances composed of identical particles. The particles in a pure substance can be identical element particles or identical compound particles. For example, a sample of pure water is composed of identical `~H_2O ` compound particles. 

Mixtures are substances that are composed of two or more different types of particles. The particles in a mixture are still composed of elements and compounds, but they are not all identical. For example, a mixure of salt and water is composed of dissolved salt compound particles and water compound particles.

Cement is a mixture composed of several different compound particles. These include: calcium oxide, silicon dioxide, aluminum oxide, iron oxide, and calcium sulfate dihydrate. Cement is a mixture because it is composed of different types of compound particles. Each of the components of concrete by themselves would be pure substances. For example, a sample of just calcium oxide would be a pure substance because the particles in the sample would all be identical calcium oxide compounds.

What is an example of burning (with quotes) in Fahrenheit 451?

In Fahrenheit 451, "burning" takes on literal and figurative meaning. Here is an example from Part 3 of the novel:

He burnt the bedroom walls and the cosmetics chest because he wanted to change everything. . . everything that showed that he had lived here in this empty house with a strange woman who would forget him tomorrow.

Here, Montag gladly sets fire to his own home because he is fed up with the government's...

In Fahrenheit 451, "burning" takes on literal and figurative meaning. Here is an example from Part 3 of the novel:

He burnt the bedroom walls and the cosmetics chest because he wanted to change everything. . . everything that showed that he had lived here in this empty house with a strange woman who would forget him tomorrow.

Here, Montag gladly sets fire to his own home because he is fed up with the government's control over the lives of people. Montag decides not to run and to do the "clean-up" of his own home. He wants to destroy the house because it represents the "empty" life he has lived there with Mildred, who is more content to listen to the radio and watch television shows than she is to have a relationship with Montag. For Montag, the burning is a release and a chance to start over. Beatty arrests Montag after this event, so the burning is a signal to all that Montag has been caught in possession of books, but for Montag, the burning is a step towards his intellectual freedom.

Explain how both character flaws and fate contribute to the downfall of Romeo and Juliet in the play of the same name.

A character flaw is a defect or shortcoming in a person's character. It relates to the person's inability to perform or not to perform as expected or to do or not do something with regard to the expected norms prescribed by society. Fate is deemed to be one's destiny - events which are outside our control and are believed to be governed by supernatural forces.

 In Romeo and Juliet, our two unfortunate protagonists are guided by both destiny and the deficiencies in not only their characters but also in those of other characters. The prologue before Act One makes it clear that it was fate that intervened in the lives of these two tragic souls.

Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife. 

The words in bold clearly indicate that Romeo and Juliet were caught in circumstances beyond their control. They were born into families who bore one another an 'ancient grudge' - it was an ingrained hatred which existed since long before their birth. Secondly, the phrase 'starcross'd' suggests that they were destined to meet since it was foretold in the heavens. This, furthermore, means that their joint destiny was irrevocably tied to their circumstances. There was no escaping it and this, ultimately, probably played the most important part in their doom.

There were, however, other factors which added to their eventual downfall, such as their own shortcomings. Both were much too impulsive and took rash decisions, which not only compromised their situation but that of others as well. Their behaviour was irresponsible and naive for they chose to completely ignore the dangers they put themselves into. The tempestuous flame of their desire made them behave in an irrational manner and could have dire consequences, as friar Laurence points out to Romeo in Act 2, scene 6:

These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which as they kiss consume: the sweetest honey
Is loathsome in his own deliciousness
And in the taste confounds the appetite:
Therefore love moderately; long love doth so;
Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.

The friar, in his desire to do good and resolve the lifelong feud between the Capulets and Montagues, also exposes some of his own character defects. He is, probably against his better judgement, also much too impulsive in suggesting that he will marry the two lovers in order to resolve the families' conflict. He is also naive in believing that marrying the two will, in fact, resolve the problem. It is his kindness and an ensuing act of fate, which results in the deaths of the two youngsters.

At a crucial time in the play, the friar's desperate message to Romeo about Juliet's supposed death does not reach the young Montague. The messenger had been delayed due to his incarceration to prevent the spread of the plague as indicated in the following extract from Act 5, scene 2:

FRIAR LAURENCE
Who bare my letter, then, to Romeo?

FRIAR JOHN
I could not send it,--here it is again,--
Nor get a messenger to bring it thee,
So fearful were they of infection.

Therefore, Romeo did not know that his love was still alive and, believing that she was dead, he committed suicide and she did likewise on discovering her lover's dead body lying next to her.

Also, both Mercutio (Romeo's friend) and Tybalt (Juliet's cousin) both had character flaws, in that they were quick-tempered and eager to fight, which added to the drama. Their irrational acts, driven by fiery passion, directly resulted in Romeo's banishment at the risk of execution. Mercutio attacked Tybalt in defence of Romeo for he thought him a coward when Tybalt challenged him. Romeo's intervention in the fight led to Tybalt gaining an advantage and killing Mercutio. Romeo later took revenge by killing Tybalt, an act which resulted in his expulsion from Verona. This obviously complicated matters tremendously.  

The heads of both the Capulet and Montague families also had weaknesses which led to their children's untimely demise. They were stubborn and apathetic in resolving their feud and allowed it to fester and then explode onto the streets of Verona, instead of acting in a mature fashion and finding a solution to their fight. It is only after their children had paid the ultimate price for their recalcitrance, that they wiped the slate clean and buried their, by then, grossly bloodstained hatchets. 

Finally, Juliet's nurse also had some shortcomings of her own which led to the tragedy. She, as much as friar Laurence naively believed that she was doing good by acting as a go-between for the two desperate lovers. In fact, her and the friar's behaviour only encouraged the two. It was their desire to please which was their unfortunate flaw. The nurse was almost obsequious in her desire to fulfil Juliet's every wish. It would have been much better if both adults had taken a firm grasp and took control of the situation, instead of allowing two lovesick youngsters to rule them without compunction. That was their greatest failure.    

Are there quotes which portray friendship in Romeo and Juliet?

Various friendships are implied throughout Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Benvolio and Mercutio are friends with Romeo. The Nurse is Juliet's closest friend and confidant and she is also close to Tybalt. Lord Capulet refers to Paris as his friend when he is insisting that Juliet marry the Count. Friar Lawrence could also be considered friends with Romeo and Juliet. 

In Act I, Scene 1, Benvolio, who is also Romeo's cousin, offers friendly advice  about...

Various friendships are implied throughout Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Benvolio and Mercutio are friends with Romeo. The Nurse is Juliet's closest friend and confidant and she is also close to Tybalt. Lord Capulet refers to Paris as his friend when he is insisting that Juliet marry the Count. Friar Lawrence could also be considered friends with Romeo and Juliet. 

In Act I, Scene 1, Benvolio, who is also Romeo's cousin, offers friendly advice  about women. Romeo is depressed because Rosaline doesn't love him, so Benvolio tells him to look at other women when they go to Capulet's party. He says,

At this same ancient feast of Capulet’s
Sups the fair Rosaline whom thou so loves,
With all the admirèd beauties of Verona.
Go thither, and with unattainted eye
Compare her face with some that I shall show,
And I will make thee think thy swan a crow.

Mercutio too shows his friendship to Romeo by trying to raise his spirits in Act I, Scene 4. Romeo says he'll just hold the torches and look on at the party. Mercutio, however, has different ideas for his friend. He says,

You are a lover. Borrow Cupid’s wings
And soar with them above a common bound.

The Nurse is not only like a parent figure to Juliet but also a best friend. Juliet relies on her help when she is setting the arrangements to marry Romeo. The Nurse displays her affection toward Juliet in Act I, Scene 3,

Thou wast the prettiest babe that e’er I nursed.

Likewise Juliet shows how close she is to the Nurse when she is anxious to find out Romeo's news in Act II, Scene 5,

I’ faith, I am sorry that thou art not well.
Sweet, sweet, sweet nurse, tell me, what says my
love?

Of course, the Nurse figuratively abandons Juliet later after Romeo has been banished and Juliet's father arranges the marriage with Paris. Juliet will not listen to the Nurse's advice to go through with the marriage to the Count.

The Nurse also refers to her relationship with Tybalt, Juliet's cousin. Apparently, though it is never portrayed in the play, the Nurse and Tybalt were quite close because when Tybalt turns up dead, the Nurse says,

O Tybalt, Tybalt, the best friend I had!
O courteous Tybalt, honest gentleman,
That ever I should live to see thee dead!

At the end of Act III Lord Capulet calls Paris his friend in the middle of his temper tantrum while trying to convince Juliet that she should marry Paris. He says,

Thursday is near. Lay hand on heart; advise.
An you be mine, I’ll give you to my friend.

The most obvious friendship in the story could be Romeo and Juliet, yet it seems as though they are simply lovers. They haven't known each other long enough to become close like friends. Their love is mercurial and short lived. Friendships are usually based on mutual interests and the passage of time. Loyalty, however, is a trait of friendship and Juliet is completely loyal to Romeo, so much so that she agrees to take the potion to fake her death. When the the Friar presents her with the vial, she says, in Act IV, Scene 1,

Give me, give me! O, tell not me of fear!

What did Mr I suffer from?

Mr. I is an artist who suddenly became completely colorblind. After a car accident that was potentially caused by a small stroke, Mr. I went home to his wife in a state of confusion. After a long nap, he could not remember the accident, and his wife found out about when she saw the dent in the car. The next week, he suffered from alexia, the inability to read, and complained that words looked as...

Mr. I is an artist who suddenly became completely colorblind. After a car accident that was potentially caused by a small stroke, Mr. I went home to his wife in a state of confusion. After a long nap, he could not remember the accident, and his wife found out about when she saw the dent in the car. The next week, he suffered from alexia, the inability to read, and complained that words looked as if they were in Cyrillic or Greek, two completely foreign languages to him. Though this vanished after a few days, Mr. I then suddenly noticed that his world was drained of color.

Normal color blindness only slightly impairs a person’s ability to see color. It’s a very common vision deficiency that makes it more difficult to differentiate between red and green, as well as sometimes blue and yellow. Mr. I had a completely different form of colorblindness. For him, color ceased to exist. Formerly an abstract painter, he “knew all of the colors of his favorite paintings, but could no longer see them, either when he looked or in his mind’s eye.” Mr. I describes this state as “like living in a room molded by lead.” People were “animated gray statues.”

How are good and bad qualities presented in Curley's wife and other characters in Of Mice and Men?

Curley's wife is shown in a bad light at first because of the way Candy talks about her. Candy tells George that Curley has been married only two weeks and his wife is really pretty. He also says, "she got the eye," which means she checks out the other men on the farm and that's certainly not good. George takes this as a serious warning to stay away from her and makes Lennie promise to stay away and not talk to her. Then, when George and Lennie meet her for the first time, she's painted as a tramp, as follows:

"A girl was standing there looking in. She had full, rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages" (31).

Apparently, red lipstick and fingernails represents hussy in the 1930s because Candy also calls her a tart. Since she's also the boss's son's wife, it's best to stay clear of her so a worker doesn't catch any drama that she might be creating. What the men may know, but can't care about, is the fact that she's lonely. Curley's wife, for the most part, says she doesn't want to cause any trouble and she just wants someone to talk to. In fact, she is really nice to Lennie when she speaks to him. She's even nice enough to let Lennie touch her hair because she discovers that he likes to touch soft things.

As for Lennie, he's all about being good; it's just his lack of reasoning skills and strength that make him do bad things, such as squashing mice and puppies. Lennie isn't evil or looking to be mean, as George always says, but he can't control the his responses to difficult situations. When Lennie panics, he doesn't let go of what he's holding onto, which thereby causes more harm. For example, when George tells him to fight back against Curley's punches, Lennie grabs one of his hands and won't let go. As a result, he crushes Curley's hand. Lennie is more unpredictable and uncontrollable than bad, but bad consequences seem to be the end result.

Finally, there's George. He cares about Lennie and takes care of him, but he wasn't always very nice or respectful to him. George tells Slim the following:

"I used to have a hell of a lot of fun with 'im. Used to play jokes on 'im 'cause he was too dumb to take care of 'imself. But he was too dumb even to know he had a joke played on him. I had fun. Made me seem God damn smart alongside of him" (40).

However, George truly cares about Lennie and, in the end, George chooses to kill him rather than let him perish at the hands of the other men. George shooting Lennie can be both good and bad: Good because it is a mercy kill that spares Lennie from suffering and bad because he was actually able to go through with it.

What is the doctrine of the incarnation? Why is it important to the Christian faith?

In Christianity, the doctrine of the Incarnation is the idea that God became human in the person of Jesus Christ, his son. All forms of Christianity believe in some fashion that Jesus is the Son of God. The precise nature of his connection to God has never been universally agreed upon, but the orthodox position held by Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and Anglican Christians is that God was incarnated equally human and divine in Jesus. Two church councils can help to shed light on the development of the precise relationship between God and Jesus behind the Incarnation: the Council of Nicaea emphasized the Trinity and the equality between three persons of the Trinity (Father, Son, Spirit), while the Council of Chalcedon emphasized the equality of a human and divine nature united in the single person of Jesus.

Nicene Christianity

The first Council of Nicaea was held in 325 AD. As the first ecumenical council of the church, it was especially important in defining the beliefs held by today’s Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Anglican, and Oriental Orthodox churches. The Nicene Creed, a basic outline of Christian belief, professes belief in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. While the original creed does not explicitly define God as a trinity of three persons, one purpose of the Council of Nicaea was to defend Trinitarian belief.  

Chalcedonian Christianity

The Council of Chalcedon was held in 451 AD. Among the churches who hold Chalcedonian theology are the Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and Anglican churches. The Chalcedonian Definition declared that after the Incarnation, Jesus possessed two natures (human and divine) in one person or “hypostasis.” This has since become the orthodox teaching of Christianity, referred to as dyophysitism, though some churches such as the Oriental Orthodox reject the Chalcedonian Definition. These churches follow miaphysitism, the position that after the incarnation Jesus had only a single nature.

Significance

The decisions of the two councils support the dominant position of the Incarnation today: specifically, God exists as a Trinity of three distinct persons who are all of the same essence; the second person of the Trinity, the Son, then became a human called Jesus Christ who in his singular personhood contained two natures, human and divine.

This is significant to Christianity because by affirming the completely human and divine natures of Jesus, as well as his unification with God through the Trinity, he is equipped in the realm of Christian theology to be both savior (from his divinity) and relatable (from his humanity). The Christian God is able to understand humans, because he became one, while also being capable of delivering salvation, thanks to his divinity.

In John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, when Carlson starts to take Candy’s dog out to be shot, Slim reminds him to “[t]ake a shovel.” What does...

Slim is reminding Carlson that he is going to have to bury the old dog after he shoots it. Steinbeck has Slim say this to Carlson to show that Slim is an authority figure among the workmen. Furthermore, Slim shows that he is brighter and has more foresight than the others.

Slim said, "Carlson."

"Yeah?"

"You know what to do."

"What ya mean, Slim?"

"Take a shovel," said Slim shortly.

"Oh, sure! I get you."He...

Slim is reminding Carlson that he is going to have to bury the old dog after he shoots it. Steinbeck has Slim say this to Carlson to show that Slim is an authority figure among the workmen. Furthermore, Slim shows that he is brighter and has more foresight than the others.

Slim said, "Carlson."

"Yeah?"

"You know what to do."

"What ya mean, Slim?"

"Take a shovel," said Slim shortly.

"Oh, sure! I get you."He led the dog out into the darkness.

Carlson wasn't thinking about disposing of the body after he killed the dog. But he would have had to think about it once it was dead. Steinbeck wants to have the dog's execution all wrapped up after the men in the bunkhouse hear the shot being fired outdoors. This little episode provides some drama to the chapter because of the conflict between Carlson and Candy over the dog's fate. Steinbeck sprinkles his book with many such minor conflicts to make the entire work dramatic. In Of Mice and Men, events occur in a "naturalistic" manner. The purpose of this particular event is to show that George can see that there is a German Luger, where it is kept, how it is loaded and fired. He will use this knowledge later when he goes to kill Lennie at the riverside campsite. George learns where to point the handgun when Carlson explains to Candy how he can kill his dog painlessly.

"If you was to take him out and shoot him right in the back of the head--" he leaned over and pointed, "--right there, why he'd never know what hit him."

The novella was written in such a way that it could be quickly converted into a script for a stage play. The book and play came out the same year, 1937. Steinbeck had to keep the staging in mind when he was writing the story. He has the men hear a shot outside. They all know this means Candy's dog is dead. The burial is also done outside. Steinbeck could not simulate a dog's burial offstage, so he prefigures it for his audience by having Slim and Carlson foretell what will happen. When Slim says, "You know what to do," and Carlson says, "Oh, sure! I get you," they are really explaining to the audience what is going to happen outside. Carlson does not come back for some time after the shot is heard offstage. The audience knows he is digging a hole in some dark, out-of-the-way spot and burying the dog. The dog might be said to symbolize what will happen to all the workmen when they get too old to be useful to the ranch owners. 

How does Wordsworth convey his message in his poem "A Night Thought"?

In Wordsworth's poem "A Night Thought," the speaker communicates his displeasure at how so many people seem to be sullen and "smileless." He believes people should be happy and grateful for all the riches that Fortune has bestowed on them. To convey his message, he personifies the moon, and using a pathetic fallacy, holds it up as the example that mankind should follow. The moon, according to the poet, "along the sky / Sails with her...

In Wordsworth's poem "A Night Thought," the speaker communicates his displeasure at how so many people seem to be sullen and "smileless." He believes people should be happy and grateful for all the riches that Fortune has bestowed on them. To convey his message, he personifies the moon, and using a pathetic fallacy, holds it up as the example that mankind should follow. The moon, according to the poet, "along the sky / Sails with her happy destiny." Attributing emotions to inanimate objects of nature as Wordsworth does here is called a pathetic fallacy. Even when clouds obscure the moon, it eventually emerges with a bright attitude. Metaphorically, this means that even when troubles come, as symbolized by the clouds, people should remain cheerful and grateful for what they have. The poet ends by saying that if he ever starts to take on the characteristics of ungrateful, drooping people, he wants to take "a counter impulse ... and be forgiven." Wordsworth uses personification, pathetic fallacy, and symbolism to convey his message that people should be happier and more grateful.