In Macbeth, what do the witches equate fair with? What does paradox mean?

The witches use this expression at the beginning of the play when they have come together to plan their mischief:

Fair is foul, and foul is fair:
Hover through the fog and filthy air.

They compare fair to foul, equating the two. Foul means filthy, dirty, bad or any number of synonyms which refer to something disgusting or evil, whilst fair is a reference to something good or beautiful. In essence, what the witches are saying is that what is bad is good and what is good is bad. This is a paradox.

A paradox may be defined as a statement or expression, or even an event or situation, which may seem to be absurd or a contradiction in itself but proves, on closer investigation, to actually contain a profound truth. An example would be 'Ignorance is bliss' which implies that not knowing something, ensures happiness. As, for example, in a situation where a person who is happy in a relationship is unaware that his or her partner is involved in an illicit affair. Since he or she is ignorant of this fact, he or she remains happy. 

In Macbeth, this paradox is a recurring motif throughout the play. He himself also comments later:

'So fair and foul a day I have not seen'

He means that the day is good because they were victorious and foul since so many were killed and the weather is bad. This ties in with what the witches said at the beginning.

Macbeth, himself, is caught in a paradox. At the beginning of the play he is praised for his noble qualities: courage, loyalty and determination. He is a man of integrity and is seen as good, yet he is the person who, with his wife, commits the most horrendous of crimes, the assassination of his king. So the one who is deemed fair (good) turns out to be foul (malicious). Once he commences on this path, he becomes virtually unstoppable and his tyranny spreads like a disease throughout Scotland.

The witches, as servants of evil, use paradoxical statements throughout the play to deceive and manipulate Macbeth and lead him deeper into evil and towards his own doom. They, for example, tell him through an apparition:

Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn
The power of man, for none of woman born
Shall harm Macbeth.

Macbeth understands this as meaning that he is invincible, for all men and women are of women born. He therefore does not have to fear anyone.

The equivocal nature of this statement becomes horribly clear when he faces Macduff on the battlefield and declares:

Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests;
I bear a charmed life, which must not yield,
To one of woman born.

Macduff, however, replies:

Despair thy charm;
And let the angel whom thou still hast served
Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb
Untimely ripp'd.

It is only then that Macbeth realizes the true meaning of the witches' deception. Macduff was not born by natural means (he did not pass through the birth canal) but was cut out of his mother's womb.

In the end, it is Macbeth's own foolish lack of insight which leads him towards tragedy. He becomes a bloodthirsty dictator and it is this evil that finally destroys him.

Why didn't Friar Lawrence stop Juliet from killing herself?

Shakespeare announces in the sixth line of the play that Romeo and Juliet will kill themselves:

A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life 

With that said, it would also be helpful to look at Act V, Scene 3 and examine the evidence. Friar Lawrence briefly pleads with Juliet to "come away" but does not urge her for very long. He is obviously afraid he will be caught in the tomb and associated with the...

Shakespeare announces in the sixth line of the play that Romeo and Juliet will kill themselves:

A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life 

With that said, it would also be helpful to look at Act V, Scene 3 and examine the evidence. Friar Lawrence briefly pleads with Juliet to "come away" but does not urge her for very long. He is obviously afraid he will be caught in the tomb and associated with the deaths of Romeo and Paris. He must have considered that his entire career and maybe his life would be forfeited if caught in the tomb.

The Friar's suggestion that Juliet go with him to a nunnery probably didn't appeal much to the girl. She displays both a stubborn streak and her loyalty to Romeo as she tells him,

Go, get thee hence, for I will not away.

The following stage directions simply state that he exited. Juliet is relatively quick in her suicide as she first tries the vial of poison, which is empty, and then takes Romeo's dagger and stabs herself, dying just as the Page and Watchman enter the tomb. When questioned, the Friar basically admits he could do nothing and that he is guilty. He says,

I am the greatest, able to do least,
Yet most suspected, as the time and place
Doth make against me, of this direful murder.
And here I stand, both to impeach and purge
Myself condemnèd and myself excused.

The Prince, however, pardons him, the families reconcile and the play ends.

In Bud, Not Buddy, what does rule number 118 mean?

Rule number 118 is a long rule.  There's actually a couple of parts to it.  I'll start with the very last part.  

They Won’t Take Everything Because If They Did They Wouldn’t Have Anything Left To Hold Over Your Head To Hurt You With Later.

What Bud has become intimately familiar with by age ten is that adults like to punish children by taking things away from children.  I'm not going to lie, I...

Rule number 118 is a long rule.  There's actually a couple of parts to it.  I'll start with the very last part.  

They Won’t Take Everything Because If They Did They Wouldn’t Have Anything Left To Hold Over Your Head To Hurt You With Later.

What Bud has become intimately familiar with by age ten is that adults like to punish children by taking things away from children.  I'm not going to lie, I use that tactic with my own children.  The last part of rule 118 explains that an adult won't take everything away from a child, because then the adult can't use the threat of taking something away anymore.  It would be like threatening to shoot somebody with your thumb and index finger held up in the shape of a gun.  There's no real threat there. 

The first part of the rule really shows Bud's understanding of the "adult taking stuff away" tactic.  

You Have To Give The Adults Something That They Think They Can Use To Hurt You By Taking It Away. That Way They Might Not Take Something Away That You Really Do Want

Bud explains that he knows that he has to make adults think that they are taking something away from him that he cares about.  That way the adult feels like the punishment is working, but if the item is really taken away, it's no big deal.  That's why Bud begs Mrs. Amos to not send him back to the orphanage.  Mrs. Amos is now likely to do that, because she feels like it will hurt Bud.  But going back to the home is exactly what Bud wants in the first place.  

"Please don't call the Home, please don't send me back." Shucks, going back to the Home was just what I wanted to do, but I was being just like Brer Rabbit in one of the books Momma used to read to me at night when he yelled out, "Please, Brer Fox, don't throw me into the pricker patch, please, please!"

A ball of mass m is tied to a string that is wrapped around the outside of a pulley. The pulley, which is a uniform solid disk, also has a mass m,...

Let's start by writing down Newton's second law for the ball:

`mvec(g) + vecT = mveca` : The gravity and the force from the string on the ball, `vecT` , provide the ball's acceleration. This force is directed upward, and the gravity is directed downward. If we assume that the acceleration is also downward, the equation becomes

`mg - T = ma` 

The force from the string on the ball is equal in magnitude to the...

Let's start by writing down Newton's second law for the ball:

`mvec(g) + vecT = mveca` : The gravity and the force from the string on the ball, `vecT` , provide the ball's acceleration. This force is directed upward, and the gravity is directed downward. If we assume that the acceleration is also downward, the equation becomes

`mg - T = ma` 

The force from the string on the ball is equal in magnitude to the tension in the string, and it is also equal in magnitude to the force from the string on the pulley. This force provides the torque which is responsible for the rotation of the pulley. The magnitude of the torque, calculated with respect to the pulley's center, is

`tau = T*r` (Since `vecT` is tangential, it is perpendicular to the pulley's radius.)

Newton's second law for rotation is

`I*beta = tau` , where `beta` is angular acceleration and I is the moment of inertia of the pulley. The moment of inertia of the pulley, which is a solid disk, around its central axis is

`I = mr^2/2` 

Plugging this into the equation above, we get

`mr^2/2 * beta = Tr` 

The angular acceleration is related to the linear acceleration of a point on the rim of the pulley as `beta = a/r` . The linear acceleration of a point on the rim of the pulley is the same as the acceleration of the ball, because they are connected by the string. (If the acceleration were different, the string would break.)

So the equation becomes

`mr^2/2*a/r = Tr` 

From here

`T = ma/2`

Combining this with Newton's second law, which we wrote down in the beginning, we get

`mg - ma/2 = ma`

From here `mg = 3ma/2`  and `a = 2/3g`

The answer, then, is: a = 2g/3.

How many moles of aluminum are required to react completely with 18 moles of H2SO4?

Step 1: Write the balanced reaction between Al and `~H_2SO_4` .

The balanced equation for this reaction is:

`~2Al` + `~3H_2SO_4` -> `~Al_2(SO_4)_3` + `~3H_2`

Step 2: Determine the given amount, unit, and substance.

The given amount, unit, and substance is: 18 moles of `~H_2SO_4` .

Step 3: Determine the final unit and substance.

The final unit and substance is: moles of Al.

Step 4: Determine the ratio of moles of Al to `~H_2SO_4` .

...

Step 1: Write the balanced reaction between Al and `~H_2SO_4` .

The balanced equation for this reaction is:

`~2Al` + `~3H_2SO_4` -> `~Al_2(SO_4)_3` + `~3H_2`

Step 2: Determine the given amount, unit, and substance.

The given amount, unit, and substance is: 18 moles of `~H_2SO_4` .

Step 3: Determine the final unit and substance.

The final unit and substance is: moles of Al.

Step 4: Determine the ratio of moles of Al to `~H_2SO_4` .

The ratio of moles between two substances can be described by the coefficients of the substances in the reaction. The coefficient of Al in the reaction is 2. The coefficient of `~H_2SO_4` in the reaction is 3. Therefore, the ratio of Al moles to `~H_2SO_4` is 2 to 3. 

Mole ratios can be written as fractions:

    2 moles Al/3 moles `~H_2SO_4`  OR  3 mole `~H_2SO_4` /2 moles Al

Step 5: Set up the calculation.

The calculation will take the general form:

    given amount x mole ratio

    18 mol `~H_2SO_4 ` x (2 moles Al/3 moles `~H_2SO_4`) = 12 mol of Al

Notice that the mole ratio is oriented such that moles of `~H_2SO_4` is on the bottom. This way, moles of `~H_2SO_4` cancel out and we are left with moles of Al.

Why would a Loyalist think that the American Revolution and the subsequent migration of loyalists to British North America were warranted?

Most Loyalists living in the Thirteen British Colonies prior to the Revolutionary War did not agree with the new taxation that was by order of the king.  Their reaction to their disagreement of the taxes was a peaceful one.  They wanted the Colonies to have more of a voice in the decision making processes, but they did not want to fight against their King or create a new government.  Loyalists did not fight in the Revolutionary War because fighting the King's military was contrary to their beliefs.  They were loyal to the King and to England, though they did not always agree with his policies.

Many Loyalists were alienated from their friends and neighbors due to tensions leading up to the Revolutionary War.  In some cases, there were even divisions within families.  This alienation, loyalty to the king, and disagreements about the Revolutionary War itself led many loyalists to flee the Thirteen Colonies.  Some returned to England, while others went north to what is now Canada.  They settled in Nova Scotia, Lower Canada, Upper Canada, and other parts in the east.  

Loyalists did not think that the American Revolution was warranted as an act of rebellion by the Patriots against the British Crown.  Some Loyalists agreed that the British military forces should engage in war against the Patriots, while others simply wanted peace.  

Loyalists felt that their ill treatment by friends and neighbors was unwarranted.  Some Loyalists left the Colonies by choice, rather than because of ill treatment.  Those who left the Colonies because they felt that they had to most likely felt that their relocation was an injustice.

What are some differences between Shepard's gang, the Brumly boys, and Pony's gang in The Outsiders?

The major difference between Ponyboy's gang and Tim Shepard's and the Brumly gangs is in organization. Ponyboy's gang is made up of "buddies who stuck together" while the other two gangs "had a leader and were organized." Ponyboy believes the reason that his gang is able to beat Tim's gang and Brumly's gang is because in his gang, each member leads himself. They weren't a bunch of followers waiting to get orders from their boss.

Ponyboy's gang is made up of his two brothers, Darry and Sodapop, Steve Randle (Soda's best friend), Two-Bit Williams, Johnny Cade, and Dallas Winston. His gang fights when they need to, but only Dallas "Dally" Winston has a rap sheet with the police. Ponyboy says Dally is "as wild as the boys in the downtown outfits, like Tim Shepard's gang." The members of Ponyboy's gang all hang out together and are connected like brothers; they tease each other endlessly, but they are there for each other when one of the members is in trouble. Ponyboy's gang fights more with fists than with weapons (although Two-Bit carried a switch blade). His gang members never really wanted to hurt anyone.

Tim Shepard is a hood who led a group of hoods from ages fifteen to nineteen. Tim is proud of his bad reputation. Ponyboy says he looks like the type of street kid you see in movies. Tim ran his gang with strict discipline and his members were used to him making decisions. Shepard's gang is used to fighting with all types of weapons, including bottles, bike chains, knives, pool sticks, and guns.

Brumly's gang is similar to Shepard's, a group of guys who would "just get worse as they got older, not better." Ponyboy thinks this gang is made up of illiterate hoods. He doubts that "half of them can read a newspaper or spell much more than their names." Brumly's gang members have "weird vocabularies," likely because they are uneducated. 

What are examples of two helpful Bacteria and two harmful Bacteria?

Examples of helpful bacteria:

Lactobacillus Bacteria: There are several different species of this type of bacteria. These include: Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus reuteri, and Lactobacillus planatarum. They are gram-positive, rod shaped bacteria. Lactobacillus bacteria are beneficial in several ways:

• They make up parts of the normal human oral, intestinal, and vaginal flora. 


• They are able to ferment lactose to lactic acid. This makes them important as a preservative and in yogurt production.

Streptomyces Bacteria:...

Examples of helpful bacteria:

Lactobacillus Bacteria: There are several different species of this type of bacteria. These include: Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus reuteri, and Lactobacillus planatarum. They are gram-positive, rod shaped bacteria. Lactobacillus bacteria are beneficial in several ways:

• They make up parts of the normal human oral, intestinal, and vaginal flora. 


• They are able to ferment lactose to lactic acid. This makes them important as a preservative and in yogurt production.

Streptomyces Bacteria: There are several different species of this type of bacteria. These include: Streptomyces aureofaciens, Streptomyces rimosus, and Streptomyces griseus. They are gram-positive, filamentous bacteria. Streptomyces bacteria are beneficial in the following ways:

• They are important in the decomposition of organic substances in soil.


• Some species are used in the production of antibacterial and antifungal substances.

Examples of harmful bacteria: 

Helicobacter pylori: These bacteria colonize the lining of the stomach. They are gram-negative rod shaped bacteria. H. pylori bacteria cause stomach ulcers by producing ammonia and cytotoxins which damage the lining of the stomach.

Clostridium tetani: These bacteria enter the body through wounds. They are gram-negative rod shaped bacteria. These bacteria produce the disease tetanus. Tetanus causes muscle spasms and death from respiratory failure. 

What process occurs when Na becomes Na+?

Ionization is the process during which an atom gains or loses electron(s) and becomes charged ions. Thus, ionization is the process that occurs when a sodium atom (Na) turns into a sodium ion (Na+). 

Ions are atoms that have lost or gained electrons. Electrons are negatively charged subatomic particles that move around the central nucleus of an atom. Because electrons are negatively charged, the charge of an atom changes when electrons are gained or lost.

...

Ionization is the process during which an atom gains or loses electron(s) and becomes charged ions. Thus, ionization is the process that occurs when a sodium atom (Na) turns into a sodium ion (Na+). 

Ions are atoms that have lost or gained electrons. Electrons are negatively charged subatomic particles that move around the central nucleus of an atom. Because electrons are negatively charged, the charge of an atom changes when electrons are gained or lost.

Atoms gain or lose electrons in order to obtain the octet rule. The octet rule states that, in order to be stable, most main-group elements need eight valence electrons. Valence electrons are the electrons found in the outermost orbital of an atom.

Cations are positively charged ions that have lost electrons.  Element that form cations lose their valance electrons in order to fulfill the octet rule. In this way, they drop to the next lower orbital that is full.

Anions are negatively charged ions. Anions are negatively charged because they have gained additional electrons in order to fulfill the octet rule.

Neutrally charged sodium atoms have one valence electron. In order to fulfill the octet rule, this single valence electron is lost. In this way, sodium drops to the next lower orbital that is full.

Because a sodium atom loses an energy level (orbital) when becoming an ion, sodium ions are smaller than a neutrally-charged sodium atom. 

What has Macbeth realized about becoming king in Act III, scene 2 of Macbeth?

Macbeth has realized that becoming king and remaining king are two different conditions. In other words, what's done is not done.

When Macbeth says, "If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well/It were done quickly" (1.7.1-2) in his soliloquy before he murders Duncan, he believes he can end his dilemma of how to become king. However, he has not considered how to remain king. Now, Macbeth recalls that the prophecy for Banquo has...

Macbeth has realized that becoming king and remaining king are two different conditions. In other words, what's done is not done.

When Macbeth says, "If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well/It were done quickly" (1.7.1-2) in his soliloquy before he murders Duncan, he believes he can end his dilemma of how to become king. However, he has not considered how to remain king. Now, Macbeth recalls that the prophecy for Banquo has been that his descendants will be kings. So, despite Lady Macbeth's saying "what's done is done" (3.2.12), Macbeth tells her that he suffers from mental torture because there are still threats to the throne from Banquo and his son, Fleance. Further, he says, "there shall be done/A deed of dreadful note" (3.2.45-46), and a worried Lady Macbeth asks, "What's to be done?" (3.1.47).

This repetition of the word "done" is a reminder that nothing is really finished. Macbeth hires murderers to kill his old friend Banquo, along with his son, in order to prevent the witches' prophecy from fulfillment. But this act, too, will not be "done," as Fleance is not killed.

What are three reasons why the Cherokee should not have been removed from their land?

If we have to identify three reasons why the Cherokee should not have been removed from their land in the “Indian Removal” of the 1830s, we can say that the reasons are A) that the Cherokee were “civilized,” B) that the treaty that allowed them to be moved was invalid, and C) that it was immoral to remove them regardless of either of the other two factors.

White settlers often argued that they ought to...

If we have to identify three reasons why the Cherokee should not have been removed from their land in the “Indian Removal” of the 1830s, we can say that the reasons are A) that the Cherokee were “civilized,” B) that the treaty that allowed them to be moved was invalid, and C) that it was immoral to remove them regardless of either of the other two factors.

White settlers often argued that they ought to have the Indians’ land because the Indians did not use the land in the way whites did.  Indians typically roamed nomadically rather than settling down in towns.  To the whites, this meant the land was empty.  This was not true of the Cherokee.  They had become “civilized,” owning farms and even slaves.  Therefore, there was no good rationale for removing them.

The removal of the Cherokee was supposedly legal because the Cherokee had signed a treaty allowing themselves to be moved.  However, the government did not make the treaty with the main Cherokee government, headed by John Ross.  Instead, they made the treaty with a small group of Cherokee who claimed to represent the nation.  This treaty should not have been valid so the removal should not have been legal.

Finally, we can simply argue that removing people from their land just because another group wants that land is immoral.  If some big developer wants the land my house is on so that they can build a shopping mall, the government should not be able to kick me off my land and give it to them.  Just because the US had the power to remove the Cherokee by force did not mean that they had the right to do so.  Removing the Cherokee was an immoral action that can only be justified by the idea that “might makes right.”

In the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, who takes a whole bottle of sleeping pills ?

Guy Montag is a fireman who works at nights while his wife Mildred stays at home. He gets home very late and does not turn on the lights because his wife is usually in bed asleep. He normally doesn't talk to her, either, for the same reason. But on one particular night, his attention is directed to his foot that happens to hit something lying on the floor. He flicks on his lighter and sees...

Guy Montag is a fireman who works at nights while his wife Mildred stays at home. He gets home very late and does not turn on the lights because his wife is usually in bed asleep. He normally doesn't talk to her, either, for the same reason. But on one particular night, his attention is directed to his foot that happens to hit something lying on the floor. He flicks on his lighter and sees the following:

"The object he had sent tumbling with his foot now glinted under the edge of his own bed. The small crystal bottle of sleeping tablets which earlier today had been filled with thirty capsules and which now lay uncapped and empty in the light of the tiny flare" (13).

He calls the emergency hospital and they send over two technicians with a stomach-pumping machine. He asks why they didn't send a doctor and they explain that this happens all the time. With so many calls each night for stomachs needing to be pumped, they simply train some people on the machine and charge people fifty bucks after the thirty minute pump is done.

This is a significant event because Montag doesn't understand what moved his wife to do such a thing. He even talks to her about it the next day and she completely denies the whole thing and won't talk to him about it. He wonders what type of unfulfilling life does she lead that would warrant the suicide attempt as well as completely denying there is a problem. This is one reason Montag starts to think that his society is completely inside-out.

Who was one of the men on the jury in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee?

Most of the men on the jury are from "out in the woods," not Maycomb citizens with whom Scout or Jem are familiar. Atticus explains Maycomb citizens either don't care about the trial enough to be on the jury or are scared of getting involved in the whole trial, so they make up excuses to avoid being on the jury. As a result, when Scout watches the trial, she always just sees the jury as...

Most of the men on the jury are from "out in the woods," not Maycomb citizens with whom Scout or Jem are familiar. Atticus explains Maycomb citizens either don't care about the trial enough to be on the jury or are scared of getting involved in the whole trial, so they make up excuses to avoid being on the jury. As a result, when Scout watches the trial, she always just sees the jury as a sea of unknown faces.

Eventually, Scout and Jem learn from Atticus that one of the members of the jury is actually related to the Cunninghams. Specifically, he's a "double first cousin" of a Cunningham. If that sounds odd, it's because "two sisters married two brothers," as Atticus explains. Scout and Jem find this baffling.

What's important to note is that this particular jury member was the only one who wanted to rule that Tom was innocent, not guilty. It's ironic because the Cunninghams are the ones accusing Tom of the crime, but one of their relatives believes Tom is innocent and tries to defend him -- he was probably the reason the jury deliberated for a few hours instead of just a few minutes. Back when the jury was being assembled before the trial began, Atticus thought he'd recognized this jury member, and Atticus had the chance to strike him from the jury. He wisely chose not to do so.

Please explain the humor in "blinking idiot" as it is used in Act 2, scene 9 of The Merchant of Venice.

To understand the phrase and recognise its humour, one should know the context in which it is used. In this instance, the reference to 'blinking idiot' is made by the prince Arragon after he has decided to choose the silver casket in his quest to win the beautiful and wealthy Portia's hand in marriage. Portia's deceased father had determined in his will that she may only wed a suitor who had chosen the correct casket of three: gold, silver and lead. 

Since he had left behind an enormous fortune, the successful suitor would not only increase his own wealth, but he would also have a most beautiful wife. It is for this reason that many suitors came to Belmont to try their fortune. 

The will forbade Portia to assist any of those who chanced their luck and those who were unsuccessful were bound to an agreement not to woo or marry any other woman and to also not reveal which casket they had chosen. It is, therefore, quite a risky venture for those who attempt it.  

The prince Arragon, as his name d, is quite egotistical and arrogant. Portia had mentioned as much to Nerissa when they discussed him in Act 1. On that occasion, he was referred to as the Neapolitan prince. Portia remarked:

Ay, that's a colt indeed, for he doth nothing but
talk of his horse; and he makes it a great
appropriation to his own good parts, that he can
shoe him himself. I am much afeard my lady his
mother played false with a smith.

Portia is mocking the prince and talks about what a braggart he is. Her suggestion is that he lacks noble qualities probably because he was the result of his mother having an illicit love affair with a blacksmith, hence his obsession with horse-shoeing. The audience, at this stage, would already have a perception of a foolish and vain man and would look forward to seeing how he is presented on stage.

It is not surprising then that when the prince of Arragon makes his appearance to choose a casket, he behaves like a buffoon, talking about himself and making derogatory remarks about those who choose the lead and gold caskets. In his bombastic and supercilious speech before choosing, he remarks:

And so have I address'd me. Fortune now
To my heart's hope! Gold; silver; and base lead.
'Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath.'
You shall look fairer, ere I give or hazard.
What says the golden chest? ha! let me see:
'Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire.'
What many men desire! that 'many' may be meant
By the fool multitude, that choose by show,
Not learning more than the fond eye doth teach;
Which pries not to the interior, but, like the martlet,
Builds in the weather on the outward wall,
Even in the force and road of casualty.
I will not choose what many men desire,
Because I will not jump with common spirits
And rank me with the barbarous multitudes.
Why, then to thee, thou silver treasure-house;
Tell me once more what title thou dost bear:
'Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves:'
And well said too; for who shall go about
To cozen fortune and be honourable
Without the stamp of merit? Let none presume
To wear an undeserved dignity.
O, that estates, degrees and offices
Were not derived corruptly, and that clear honour
Were purchased by the merit of the wearer!
How many then should cover that stand bare!
How many be commanded that command!
How much low peasantry would then be glean'd
From the true seed of honour! and how much honour
Pick'd from the chaff and ruin of the times
To be new-varnish'd! Well, but to my choice:
'Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves.'
I will assume desert. Give me a key for this,
And instantly unlock my fortunes here.

At this point, the audience is keen to see what choice the prince makes. His speech has pertinently displayed his vanity and snobbishness. He rejects the lead casket outright, for it is not beautiful or valuable enough to deserve his attention. He also refuses the gold casket since he, in his greatness, cannot be associated with the multitude, the common folk. He is unique and special and deserves only the best. The terms he uses are highly sarcastic and demeaning for he believes that there are many who do not deserve their positions. He, on the other hand, was born into rank and title and, therefore, deserves the best.   

It is with this in mind that he chooses the silver casket for the inscription reads: "Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves." The prince assumes that he deserves quality and believes he has made the perfect choice. The audience awaits with bated breath to see if he truly gets 'what he deserves.'

Once the prince opens the casket, he exclaims:

What's here? the portrait of a blinking idiot,
Presenting me a schedule! I will read it.
How much unlike art thou to Portia!
How much unlike my hopes and my deservings!
'Who chooseth me shall have as much as he deserves.'
Did I deserve no more than a fool's head?
Is that my prize? are my deserts no better?

The prince is obviously shocked, for that was the last thing he expected. At this point the audience would be either laughing or giggling, for the prince would have gotten his just desserts. Serves him right for being so arrogant and pompous! He had been behaving like a fool and rightfully so, he had been rewarded with what he deserves. To add insult to injury, the portrait is 'blinking' which could mean that, to tease the recipient even further, the image has a wink. The word could also be seen as an expletive which the prince utters in shock when he sees his mocking reward.

After reading the scroll, which insults him even more, probably adding to the mirth the audience experiences at this time, he is clearly embarrassed and takes his leave for his continued presence would make him feel even more foolish.

Portia heaves a sigh of relief stating that the prince had burnt himself like a foolish moth does with a candle. She comments further that fools become even more foolish when they attempt to impress others and then lose in the end.

How is the theme of hate portrayed in Romeo and Juliet?

From the outset of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet the audience knows that hatred is one the themes of the play. In the Prologue, Shakespeare calls the rivalry between the Montagues and Capulets an "ancient grudge" and refers to "mutiny," "rage" and "strife."

Hatred rules the day in Act I, Scene 1 as the Capulet servants announce they will rape the Montague women and incite violence by using insulting gestures. Tybalt, Lord Capulet's cousin, is characterized...

From the outset of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet the audience knows that hatred is one the themes of the play. In the Prologue, Shakespeare calls the rivalry between the Montagues and Capulets an "ancient grudge" and refers to "mutiny," "rage" and "strife."

Hatred rules the day in Act I, Scene 1 as the Capulet servants announce they will rape the Montague women and incite violence by using insulting gestures. Tybalt, Lord Capulet's cousin, is characterized as full of bitterness toward the Montagues. When he first appears he threatens the peacemaking Benvolio:

What, drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word
As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee.
Have at thee, coward!

Tybalt again shows his antagonism in Act I, Scene 5 when he overhears Romeo at Capulet's party. He calls for his sword and is ready to fight in the midst of the festivities. He is dissuaded by Capulet, who doesn't want the party spoiled, but this only works to enflame Tybalt's rage and he vows revenge:

Patience perforce with willful choler meeting
Makes my flesh tremble in their different greeting.
I will withdraw, but this intrusion shall,
Now seeming sweet, convert to bitt’rest gall.

Friar Lawrence is inspired to bring the hatred to an end when he agrees with Romeo's request to marry Juliet, despite his misgivings over the speed of the proceedings. He believes the marriage will bring the feud to an end and unite the families. In Act II, Scene 3 he says, 

But come, young waverer, come, go with me.
In one respect I’ll thy assistant be,
For this alliance may so happy prove
To turn your households’ rancor to pure love.

Mercutio too, incites hatred in Act III, Scene 1. He ignores Benvolio's warnings to get off the street and avoid the Capulets. On cue, Tybalt shows up looking for Romeo, labeling him a villain. When Romeo backs down to Tybalt, because he has just secretly married Juliet, Tybalt's cousin, Mercutio is incensed by Romeo's cowardice and challenges Tybalt himself. After being fatally wounded he curses both families for his demise:

A plague o’ both your houses!
They have made worms’ meat of me.
I have it, and soundly, too. Your houses!

Lady Capulet joins in the acrimony by classifying Benvolio a liar and calling for Romeo's death after the death of Tybalt:

He is a kinsman to the Montague.
Affection makes him false; he speaks not true.
Some twenty of them fought in this black strife,
And all those twenty could but kill one life.
I beg for justice, which thou, prince, must give.
Romeo slew Tybalt; Romeo must not live.

The hatred ultimately leads to the tragic suicides of the title characters. The Prince sums up the bitter feud and its consequences in Act V, Scene 3. He also laments his own losses since both Mercutio and Paris were related to him:

Where be these enemies?—Capulet, Montague,
See what a scourge is laid upon your hate,
That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love,
And I, for winking at your discords too,
Have lost a brace of kinsmen. All are punished.

As you read "The Scarlet Ibis," describe two or three things you can infer about its narrator as well as any conclusion you come to about him .

This question is fairly open ended, so the answer will be slightly different for different readers.  Different readers will read into the narrator a bit differently.  As long as you can somewhat explain why you listed the two or three things that you listed, you should be good to go.  

Two things that I infer about the narrator is that he likes nature, and he notices small details.  When reading the first paragraph, it...

This question is fairly open ended, so the answer will be slightly different for different readers.  Different readers will read into the narrator a bit differently.  As long as you can somewhat explain why you listed the two or three things that you listed, you should be good to go.  

Two things that I infer about the narrator is that he likes nature, and he notices small details.  When reading the first paragraph, it is striking to me at all of the beautiful little descriptions that brother is able to give about a simple nature scene.  

The flower garden was strained with rotting brown magnolia petals and ironweeds grew rank amid the purple phlox. The five o'clocks by the chimney still marked time, but the oriole nest in the elm was untenanted and rocked back and forth like an empty cradle.

That passage is full of color and analogy.  It really paints a picture in a reader's mind.  Keep in mind that the narrator is a male.  It's not that men can't talk like that or notice things like that, it's just that a person doesn't hear it very often.  

I also can infer that the narrator is much older now than he was during the events of the story that he is narrating.  The second paragraph alerts readers to this fact.  

It's strange that all this is still so clear to me, now that summer has long since fled and time has had its way.

Lastly, based on the first two paragraphs, a reader can infer that the story brother is going to tell is not going to be a happy one.  The first paragraph talks about "graveyard flowers" and "names of our dead."  The second paragraph mentions a "bleeding tree."  For a narrator that notices such small details about nature, it's foreboding that he is choosing to focus on items dealing with death and pain.  

What is a good thematic statement about appreciation for To Kill a Mockingbird based off the quote: "Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved...

Scout realizes that she had learned to read quite naturally. It is something she had picked up without consciously being aware of it and/or the significance of it. Since it came so naturally, she never thought of "losing it." If one assumes something will always be there, it is easy to take that thing for granted. But when it becomes possible that we can lose something, we start to appreciate it. Scout adds that "One...

Scout realizes that she had learned to read quite naturally. It is something she had picked up without consciously being aware of it and/or the significance of it. Since it came so naturally, she never thought of "losing it." If one assumes something will always be there, it is easy to take that thing for granted. But when it becomes possible that we can lose something, we start to appreciate it. Scout adds that "One does not love breathing." In other words, I don't love breathing because I breathe without even thinking about it. I take it for granted. The larger implication of this is that I should love breathing; I should appreciate each breath and should appreciate being alive. 

This is the lesson behind this quote. We should appreciate life. And when it comes to reading, we should appreciate the knowledge and insights that reading affords us. There are other things that Scout learns to appreciate. She has always had a principled father. She will have more opportunities in life than, say, Tom Robinson's children or Walter Cunningham Jr. These are just a few things that Scout might take for granted and this is to be expected at such a young age. But since this novel is about her maturation, her learning process is about becoming aware of these things. 

How does Edgar Allan Poe kill the old man?

It is important not to confuse the author with the narrator of the story; the narrator is not Poe, and Poe does not commit the dark deeds the narrator describes.  However, if you want to know how Poe, the writer, killed off the old man, the character, in the story, I can answer that. 

The unnamed narrator of the story grows to hate the "vulture eye" of the old man with whom he lives, and...

It is important not to confuse the author with the narrator of the story; the narrator is not Poe, and Poe does not commit the dark deeds the narrator describes.  However, if you want to know how Poe, the writer, killed off the old man, the character, in the story, I can answer that. 

The unnamed narrator of the story grows to hate the "vulture eye" of the old man with whom he lives, and so he determines to kill him.  After many nights' watch, the narrator says that he threw open his lantern and leaped into the old man's room, smothering him by pulling the heavy bed on top of him.  Once the old man's heart has stopped beating, the narrator dismembers him in a tub (to catch all the blood), and he buries the pieces of the body beneath the floorboards. 

In the poem "To the doctor who treated the raped baby and who felt such despair," what is the speaker trying to do in this poem and how is it...

Finuala Dowling is a South African poet who read a news article about a doctor’s reaction to treating a raped baby, and felt compelled to write about it. Her poem “To the doctor who treated the raped baby and felt such despair” is her reaction to that incident.

In the poem the author speaks directly, and gratefully to a doctor who treats a baby who is the victim of a horrific crime. She thanks the...

Finuala Dowling is a South African poet who read a news article about a doctor’s reaction to treating a raped baby, and felt compelled to write about it. Her poem “To the doctor who treated the raped baby and felt such despair” is her reaction to that incident.

In the poem the author speaks directly, and gratefully to a doctor who treats a baby who is the victim of a horrific crime. She thanks the physician for his attempt to save the child.

I wrote as if I were speaking to the doctor in the first instance, but then also to all men who might be feeling ashamed to be men, to all parents, all South Africans.

In order to do this, she creates a dichotomy in the poem by describing how the doctor tends to the baby’s wounds in one line, while in other lines she details how, in more acceptable settings, children are being treated with love. The doctor stitches wounds at the hospital, while in a home, a baby is lovingly nursed to sleep. For each action the doctor takes to care for the child, a responsible adult provides the proper care to another baby.

that on the night in question

there was a light on in the hall

for a nervous little sleeper

and when the bleeding baby was admitted to your care

faraway a Karoo shepherd crooned a ramkietjie lullaby in the veld

In the final stanza, the doctor asks if a God exists because he is so distraught about the child’s ordeal. Yet, the speaker thanks the doctor, not only on her own behalf, but on behalf of society. She feels society can rest easy because people like the doctor will tend to something so wrong that it affects the speaker to her core.

What are the three basic properties of a language?

A simple definition of language is a symbolic system of communication.  Language can refer to spoken or written human language but also to forms of communication such as body language or even math or music. Language in this broad sense does not need to be restricted to human communication, but can also refer to auditory, physical and chemical communication between animals and even plants. 

Many linguists have developed sets of properties that define or describe what constitutes a human language, and these lists vary from scholar to scholar. However, most seem to settle on six, rather than three, properties of human languages: displacement, arbitrariness, productivity, discreetness, duality and cultural transmission.

Displacement means that a language can refer to times and places other than the present. Most animal languages are believed to lack this property. For example, animals are able to convey messages to each other or us through body language, such as a dog wagging his tail, but this message implies that the dog is happy right now. He has no way of conveying that he was happy yesterday, or that he enjoyed that walk in the park last week. 

Human languages have arbitrariness, meaning that the symbols we use have no direct connection to what they represent. The word home is not intrinsically tied in anyway to what a home is, rather the sounds that make up the word home were arbitrarily designated that meaning. Of course, there are instances where words are not entirely arbitrary, the obvious example being onomatopoeia, where words resemble the sound they refer to (for example, the word buzz). 

Productivity refers to the ability of human language to grow and adapt with human learning and culture. It means we have the ability to develop new symbols or combinations of symbols (here we usually mean words and phrases) to represent new ideas or technologies. This allows us to communicate effectively even as we experience changes in the way we think or experience the world.

Discreetness is the property of each sound in the language being unique and having different meaning or interpretation. For example, the sounds made by the letters M and N are similar, but despite the similar sound, we know that the words mate and Nate have different meanings. In animal languages a general sound, such as a grunt or bark, may have a particular meaning, but different animals and even the same animal might not "pronounce" that symbolic sound using the exact same combinations of sounds every time. In human language specific combinations of sounds have specific meanings.

Duality is the nature of human language as comprised of a set of unique sounds, which alone are meaningless, but that are combined to form symbols with specific meanings. The letter L and the sound it makes has no meaning in itself. Neither do the sounds of I, F and E, but when we combine those particular sounds in that order we form the world LIFE, which does have symbolic meaning in English. Duality then is the merging of this set of meaningless sounds with a code of combinations that we have given meaning to.

And finally, human languages all must have cultural transmission, they must be passed from generation to generation. While we may have evolved to learn languages easily, the meanings of the sounds we make are not passed down in our genetics, we must learn the symbols from our parents or those around us. For a human language to effectively communicate, it must be shared among people so that they can understand one another and it must be taught to children so they can understand the symbology of their ancestors, communicate with one another, and use the same symbology to pass their knowledge on to new generations.

How does operations management contribute to the achievement of the success of an organization?

Operations management refers to the management of resources to produce a good or provide a service.  A manager must ensure that resources are used to create a good or provide a service as efficiently as possible and as effectively as possible.

A good operations manager will see to it that there is no waste in the production process, for example, materials not being used properly, people being scheduled inefficiently, or machines breaking down.  Waste in...

Operations management refers to the management of resources to produce a good or provide a service.  A manager must ensure that resources are used to create a good or provide a service as efficiently as possible and as effectively as possible.

A good operations manager will see to it that there is no waste in the production process, for example, materials not being used properly, people being scheduled inefficiently, or machines breaking down.  Waste in the process means that there is less profit for the company. If I have more people scheduled than I need, I must pay them even if they are not producing, and that means higher expenses and less revenue. If I have stacks and stacks of materials standing by, too far in advance, I have tied up the company's money in a way that is not producing any revenue.  If I manage so that there is too much production and inventories build up, I have the expense of storing my inventory, and it is yielding no revenue for the company at all.  Managing to avoid all of these difficulties is a large part of a company's success, the ability to keep expenses low and production at just the right point to be able to sell what is demanded as it is being demanded. Like any other kind of manager, an operations manager helps the company by minimizing expense and maximizing revenue.

A good operations manager will also concern him or herself with quality control. If goods of poor quality are produced, this will cause returns of the product and ultimately will harm a company's reputation. Good management of quality control entails motivating everyone in the company to pay attention to quality and to report any problems immediately. It also entails inspecting the products made and possibly following up with customer surveys.  A problem in quality can thus be attended to.  Checking on one's equipment is important as well.  An operation manager who ignores equipment problems does so at his or her peril, since these can lead to poor quality in production. Operations management includes checking on the quality of the raw materials used in the production process.  If these are of poor quality, what is produced is likely to be of poor quality, too. Without management of quality, a company is not going to be successful.

What happens in chapters 15 through 20 of The Story of My Life by Helen Keller?

Chapter 15:  With hesitation, Helen began writing her autobiography.  She had reservations about writing because a year before, she had unintentionally plagiarized when writing a creative story.  Her teacher encouraged her, and she did persevere in her task.  Helen visited Niagara Falls, which she found incredibly impressive.  She also visited the World's Fair, where her friend Alexander Graham Bell was her guide.  Helen was given special permission to touch many exhibits.  She loved the experience.

Chapter 16:  Helen worked on improving her speech.  She also studied Latin under Mr. Irons.

Chapter 17:  Helen attended an important meeting for "Chautauqua of the American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf."  Helen described her studies in German and French.  She also began to work intensely on improving her spoken language.  Despite her hard work, Helen did not make as much progress as she and her teachers had hoped she would.  Helen wrote about how much she enjoyed her years in New York City.  She ended the chapter sharing her sadness at the death of her dear friend, Mr. John P. Spaulding.

Chapter 18:  Helen entered the Cambridge School for Young Ladies.  She attended the school "to be prepared for Radcliffe."  School was challenging for Helen, but she enjoyed learning.  She discussed the courses she took.  Helen enjoyed being around other girls her age.  Eventually her younger sister, Mildred, attended school with her.  Helen described the tedious process of taking school examinations.

Chapter 19:  Helen faced challenges in her next year at Cambridge.  Despite these challenges, she worked hard and felt that school was becoming more manageable.  Miss Sullivan and Mr. Gilman, the principal, disagreed about how soon Helen should graduate.  This disagreement led to Helen's mother withdrawing both her daughters from the school.  A private tutor, Mr. Keith, worked with Helen and she took her final exams to enter Radcliffe.

Chapter 20:  Helen entered Radcliffe College, and she "began [her] studies with eagerness."  She soon realized that college was not as wonderful as she thought it would be.  She felt alone in her classes.  Helen described how almost everything, including textbooks, had to be rapidly spelled into her hand.  She used a Hammond typewriter for writing.  She discussed the courses she took and which ones she enjoyed.  She also described her dreaded end of semester examinations.  Despite the difficulties, Helen "learned many things [she] should never have known had [she] not tried the experiment" of going to college.

What is the significance of The Grapes of Wrath?

The Grapes of Wrath made a significant impact on the way Americans viewed the victims of the Dust Bowl.  The book was published in the spring of 1939.  The severe drought that contributed largely to the conditions that caused the Dust Bowl did not end until the autumn of that same year.  Until John Steinbeck's book, there was general awareness of what was happening but not a large scale response.  The news reported what was happening to those outside the effected regions and photographers such as Dorothea Lange showed a more human aspect of the devastation.  However, it was John Steinbeck's novel that showed the details of the utter desperation of people who lost their livelihoods, their homes, and their health.  

Many farmers, who could not grow enough crops to make a living, faced eviction and foreclosure.  Many packed up their families and traveled on Route 66 to seek a new life in California.  In California, they faced discrimination.  They were called "Okies," which was a derogatory term.  Some merchants event posted signs saying that they would not serve "Okies."  The work the migrants found paid little and was often seasonal.  Many people suffered health problems due to breathing in dust for years.  "Dust pneumonia" could kill victims.

The fictional Joad family in Steinbeck's book suffered losses of their home and livelihood.  They moved to California to seek a new life.  California was not what they expected.  Their experiences reflected the real experiences of many people.  In writing this story, "Steinbeck was able to familiarize such a complex and interwoven set of events and experiences."  The book was popular and award winning, and this brought awareness of the situation and plight of the migrants.  Well know and influential leaders read it including the First Lady of the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt who, "upon reading the book, called for congressional hearings that resulted in reform to labor laws governing migrant camps."

"The failure of Reconstruction should not be judged by its outcome but its aftermath." Evaluate this statement using your knowledge of the social,...

This statement means that while several laws were created during Reconstruction, they had a limited effect. For example, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution were ratified during Reconstruction. These amendments ended slavery, gave all citizens basic civil rights, and allowed African-American (and all other American-born) men to vote.

However, these laws were largely ignored at the end of Reconstruction and afterward. While some African-Americans attained political office on the state and even...

This statement means that while several laws were created during Reconstruction, they had a limited effect. For example, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution were ratified during Reconstruction. These amendments ended slavery, gave all citizens basic civil rights, and allowed African-American (and all other American-born) men to vote.

However, these laws were largely ignored at the end of Reconstruction and afterward. While some African-Americans attained political office on the state and even federal level during Reconstruction, in the aftermath of Reconstruction, they were largely disenfranchised in the south. In some parts of the south, as few as 5% of eligible African-Americans voted well into the 1960s. In addition, many African-Americans were denied basic civil rights, and they were subject to segregation and Jim Crow legislation until the modern Civil Rights era of the 1950s and 1960s. "Separate but equal" schools and other facilities were ruled legal in the 1896 Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson. In addition, African-Americans did not, for the most part, have access to equality in employment or land ownership. The modern Civil Rights Movement was aimed at rectifying the wrongs that endured in the aftermath of Reconstruction. 

In Lowry's The Giver, what are ten rules everyone must follow in the community?

The community that Jonas is raised in has many rules in order to keep the governing system of Sameness working perfectly. Since everyone must live according to said system, then there are sure to be many rules that everyone must follow. One of the first rules the reader learns about is "Precision of Language." Children are taught at a very young age that word choice is not to be trifled with. The old saying, say what you mean and mean what you say seems to sum up this rule; however, they must keep in mind not to be rude and not to brag at the same time. For example, Lily says that Gabe and Jonas both have "funny eyes," referring to them being light and not dark like everyone else's. Jonas feels Lily was being rude, but he says that it's not a defined rule not to be rude, but to call attention to differences is. Therefore, people should not notice differences and/or have preferences.

Everyone must always pay attention to and obey the voice that comes over the loudspeakers. For example, when the jet flew over the community, citizens were told to leave their bicycles where they were and go indoors immediately and wait for further instructions. 

When anyone inconveniences the community, like Asher did by being late for school one morning, he must make a public apology; whereupon, the community always must answer back, "We accept your apology" (3). This is a regular practice, too.

In family units, everyone must share their feelings about the day at the evening meal. Then, in the morning, everyone must share their dreams. This keeps everyone looking out for one another--or rather spying on each other so if anyone gets out of line, corrections can be made swiftly. Also, families can only apply to have one male and one female. Family units cannot have more members than two adults and two children.

Speaking of corrections, Jonas learned that "objects are not to be removed from the recreation area and that snacks are to be eaten, not hoarded" when he and Asher played catch with an apple after lunch and then he took it home to his dwelling afterwards (23). 

During service hours at the Home of the Old, Jonas and Fiona give elderly people baths. Other than when the Nurturers take care of new children, this is the only other time that it is allowed to look upon another's nakedness. Children and adults are not to look at each other while naked, ever.

People in the community are not permitted to lie. This is closely linked with the precision of language rule because even unintended lies could lead to misunderstanding; but intentional lying is unheard of, considered bad behavior, and rude.

Finally, everyone in the community must take the pill that suppresses the Stirrings when they hit puberty. Since the Stirrings can lead people to prefer one person over another, they must be controlled with medicine. Anyone who does not take his or her pill each day would probably suffer dire consequences if caught. The pills also ensure that people do not even have the desire to prefer someone else other than who is assigned to be in their lives.

What is the theme of "Fur" by Saki?

One reigning theme in "Fur" is friendship vs. convenience, among many other themes that could be extrapolated from the tale.

In this story, two women who are friends, Eleanor and Suzanne, are plotting a way to let Suzanne's rich cousin know that she wants an expensive fur for her birthday. While they are about to carry out their plan, Eleanor asks Suzanne if she could do a favor for her as well: to sit in...

One reigning theme in "Fur" is friendship vs. convenience, among many other themes that could be extrapolated from the tale.

In this story, two women who are friends, Eleanor and Suzanne, are plotting a way to let Suzanne's rich cousin know that she wants an expensive fur for her birthday. While they are about to carry out their plan, Eleanor asks Suzanne if she could do a favor for her as well: to sit in her place at a game of bridge, hosted by some "boring" aunts, in order for Eleanor to see her beau.

Suzanne is a woman who is described as someone who thinks that

the sacrifices of friendship were beautiful in her eyes as long as she was not asked to make them.

Therefore, she refuses to do the favor for Eleanor even though the latter is currently doing a favor for her. This type of "friendship for convenience" and the poor balance of sacrifices that each woman is willing to do for one another are the central topics that the story reflects. Still, there is one more theme, which is revenge.

When Eleanor sees Suzanne's refusal, she actively and discreetly switches her goal and ends up convincing the rich cousin to buy her (Eleanor) a fur after she "revealed" to him the sad story that her family cannot buy her nice things. Not only did she manage to snag the fur for herself, but she also suggested the wrong present for Suzanne's birthday, which was a fan; something that Suzanne absolutely does not need.

What do other characters say or think about the narrator in "The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant"?

In W. D. Wetherell's short story “The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant” the narrator is a nameless fourteen-year-old boy who is smitten with a seventeen-year-old beauty named Sheila Mant. The story is told by an older version of the main character, who has the benefit of hindsight. In fact, he tells us at the end of the story that “I never made the same mistake again” regarding his choice of Sheila over his true loves: fishing and nature.

Although other characters are referenced in the story, it is only Sheila and the narrator that have any meaningful interaction. If we want to look at what other characters think of the narrator, we can really only consider Sheila.

Look at how she reacts to the narrator's choice of transportation:

It was her face that bothered me. It had on its delightful fullness a very dubious expression. 

“Look,” she said. “I can get Dad’s car.” 

“It’s faster this way,” I lied. “Parking’s tense up there. Hey, it’s safe. I won’t tip it or anything.” 

She let herself down reluctantly into the bow.

Sheila isn't crazy about the canoe. That was an early sign that she didn't share the narrator's interests.

Then, at the fair, Sheila decides to leave with the older guy, Eric Caswell, who just happens to have a Corvette. As she parts with the narrator, she says,

“You're a funny kid, you know that?”

What this really means is that there is something different about him, something she doesn't understand. This doesn't seem to bother the older version of the narrator, who follows with a bit of self assessment:

"...funny, different, dreamy, odd, how many times was I to hear that in the years to come..."

Sheila and the narrator don't connect because they are too different. But the narrator's admitted individualism remains intact throughout his life. Sheila wasn't wrong, but she doesn't know why.  He's “funny” because he is himself, his true self, unlike Sheila, who is a reflection of the expectations of others.

Why does Atticus welcome Dill instead of getting mad at him for running away?

In chapter 14, Scout finds Dill hiding under her bed. As the children don't want to snitch on each other, Scout finds a pan of cornbread and some milk for him without telling Atticus. Jem allows Dill to eat and explain how he traveled from Meridian to Maycomb before he goes and tells Atticus. When Atticus does appear at Scout's bedroom, his first response is the following:

"Scout, we can do better than a pan...

In chapter 14, Scout finds Dill hiding under her bed. As the children don't want to snitch on each other, Scout finds a pan of cornbread and some milk for him without telling Atticus. Jem allows Dill to eat and explain how he traveled from Meridian to Maycomb before he goes and tells Atticus. When Atticus does appear at Scout's bedroom, his first response is the following:

"Scout, we can do better than a pan of cold cornbread, can't we? You fill this fellow up and when I get back we'll see what we can see" (141).

Atticus welcomes Dill rather than getting angry because he's not one to panic, he's a kind person, and scaring a little boy with an angry lecture might cause him to run off again. As a father, Atticus knows that Dill needs to stay put while he contacts his Aunt, Miss Rachel, who will then call his mother to let her know that he is fine. There's no need to lose one's head over the situation as long as Dill is safe and sound. 

Dill threatens with a pleading voice that he will run off again if Atticus tells his Aunt Rachel where he is, but Atticus doesn't fall for this. He tells Dill he's just going over to tell Aunt Rachel that he will be staying the night with them. Then he tells him "And for goodness' sake put some of the county back where it belongs, the soil erosion's bad enough as it is" (141). Scout informs him that this means he needs to take a bath. 

Atticus handles the situation perfectly by being a kind host, calming the boy down, adding a bit a humor, and letting Dill's family know where he is. Again, if Atticus had gotten angry, Dill probably would have run away again and then it really would be time to panic.

How can a plant use the sugars made in photosynthesis?

During the process of photosynthesis, plants utilize sunlight and convert it into useful products, according to the following well-balanced chemical equation:

`6CO_2 + 6H_2O + sunlight -> C_6H_12O_6 + 6O_2`

In this reaction, glucose (a common sugar) is produced. These glucose molecules are used by the plant in a number of ways. The most common use is the production of energy (in the form of ATP molecules) through the process of cellular respiration. This process...

During the process of photosynthesis, plants utilize sunlight and convert it into useful products, according to the following well-balanced chemical equation:

`6CO_2 + 6H_2O + sunlight -> C_6H_12O_6 + 6O_2`

In this reaction, glucose (a common sugar) is produced. These glucose molecules are used by the plant in a number of ways. The most common use is the production of energy (in the form of ATP molecules) through the process of cellular respiration. This process can be summarized by the following equation:

`C_6H_12O_6 + 6O_2 -> 6CO_2 + 6H_2O + ATP` 

Note that most of the processes require energy, including the process of photosynthesis. 

During the daytime hours, when photosynthesis is taking place, plants produce more glucose than they can consume. This extra glucose is stored in the plant in the form of starch. Cell walls are made up of starch and that is where much of the extra glucose is used. Sugars are also stored in other parts of the plant. Apart from starch, sugars can be also be stored as fats and oils.

Glucose can also be converted to sucrose and stored in fruits, stem, roots, seeds, etc.  Glucose can also be used in the formation of amino acids, which are then used for protein synthesis in the plants.

Hope this helps. 

In Ernest Hemingway's short story "A Day's Wait," what does the action reveal about the boy?

“A Day's Wait” is a short story by Ernest Hemingway. In the story, a young boy misunderstands the consequences of his fever, thinking that a fever of a hundred and two means that he will die. At first, neither the boy's father nor the reader understands what the boy is thinking. Only after the boy says, “How long will it be before I die?” do we and the father realize what the boy has been struggling with.

...

“A Day's Wait” is a short story by Ernest Hemingway. In the story, a young boy misunderstands the consequences of his fever, thinking that a fever of a hundred and two means that he will die. At first, neither the boy's father nor the reader understands what the boy is thinking. Only after the boy says, “How long will it be before I die?” do we and the father realize what the boy has been struggling with.

Once we have this knowledge, our perception of the boy changes. At first we thought he was merely a little strange, perhaps because of his fever, when he tells the father that he needn't stay in the room with him if it bothers him (the boy means the father can leave him alone if he doesn't want to watch him dying). Then he tells the father not to come in so that he won't catch what he has (the boy is trying to protect his father, thinking he might make him ill with his germs).

These actions on the part of the young boy reveal a poignant concern for his father in the face of his own impending death (or at least what he believes to be his impending death). Hemingway, however, has one more point to make. At the end of the story, after the boy has returned to normal, Hemingway makes an observation about the perplexing nature of human life: The next day "he cried very easily at little things that were of no importance."

We would expect the boy to be so relieved at the idea that we wasn't dying that little disappointments wouldn't cause him any distress. But human beings, unfortunately, don't behave that way in the real world.

How are fate and destiny mentioned in Act 1, scene 4 of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet?

During this scene, Romeo's friends attempt to cheer him up by convincing him to forget Rosaline, the woman who has been scorning his love of late, and go to the big Capulet party with them.  He does not want to go, and it requires a great deal of prodding on their parts in order to get him to agree to accompany them.  Despite the fact that they are headed to a giant celebration, Romeo becomes...

During this scene, Romeo's friends attempt to cheer him up by convincing him to forget Rosaline, the woman who has been scorning his love of late, and go to the big Capulet party with them.  He does not want to go, and it requires a great deal of prodding on their parts in order to get him to agree to accompany them.  Despite the fact that they are headed to a giant celebration, Romeo becomes very thoughtful and seems to sense that going to this party will set him on the path of a destiny that he will have no choice but to fulfill.  He says that his "mind misgives / Some consequence yet hanging in the stars" that will begin tonight with his attendance at this celebration and "expire the term / Of a despised life closed in [his] breast" (1.4.113-114, 116-117).  When he links this "consequence" to the stars, Romeo refers to fate and his belief that he seems to have no real choice in this matter.  He says, "he that hath the steerage of my course / Direct my sail" (1.4.119-120).  Thus, Romeo does not steer his own course anymore; fate compels him to go to the party, even if it will end badly for him.

In the story, "Thank you Ma'am" by Langston Hughes, how does Roger treat Mrs. Jones?

It is important to understand that Roger's attempt at stealing Mrs. Jones's purse is informed by his socio-economic environment. He is obviously an impoverished and neglected child who wants something (a pair of blue suede shoes) that his caregivers cannot provide. He probably assumes that stealing the purse will be a quick action and that his desire will be satisfied. 

Roger's interaction with Mrs. Jones indicates that the rules of conduct when addressing elders have been inculcated into him. When she detains him, he speaks to her with respect. He does not swear or shout at her but is submissive and meekly responds to her questions. His responses are honest, and he does not want to offend her. When Mrs. Jones, for example, asks him why he wanted to steal her purse, he says that he didn't mean to. When she tells him that he is lying, he does not respond. 

Roger's demeanor is acquiescent, apologetic, and cooperative. He tells Mrs. Jones what she wants to know. When she threatens that he will not forget her once she is through with him, his struggle is to avoid whatever severe sanction he assumes she might impose on him. She manages, however, to drag him to her apartment and promises him food and a face wash.

Roger retains his obedient manner when they are in Mrs. Jones's apartment. He remains honest and easily tells her his name and why he wanted money. He gains new insight when she tells him that he could just have asked her for the money to buy the blue suede shoes he so desperately wants. Roger's respect for Mrs. Jones increases when she conveys some insight into herself. She gives him an idea of how she had, on numerous occasions, also acted inappropriately in the past.

During their conversation, Roger considers running away but decides against it. He wants Mrs. Jones to trust him and even offers to run an errand to the shop for her. He sits in a place where she can see him. The boy seems happy about the attention she is giving him and feels comfortable in her presence. During their wholesome meal, Mrs. Jones speaks about herself and does not ask Roger any embarrassing questions about himself or his life. Because of this, Roger's respect for her must, surely, have grown even more.

At the end of the story, Roger finds it difficult to express his gratitude to Mrs. Jones for giving him ten dollars for his shoes and, of course, her generosity in providing him a meal. Roger is probably the most grateful for the life lesson Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones has taught him. Such a gift is priceless.

In "The Rocking-Horse Winner," what might riding the horse symbolize?

In "The Rocking-Horse Winner," Paul feels acutely his mother's need for money. The very walls of the house seem to be saying the family needs more money. In fact, they don't need money, but the mother wants more and more money to try to fill an empty place inside.

Riding the rocking horse could symbolize many things, and you might look at the link below to read about them, but I would focus on...

In "The Rocking-Horse Winner," Paul feels acutely his mother's need for money. The very walls of the house seem to be saying the family needs more money. In fact, they don't need money, but the mother wants more and more money to try to fill an empty place inside.

Riding the rocking horse could symbolize many things, and you might look at the link below to read about them, but I would focus on the rocking on the horse as the symbol of ambition. Paul has internalized his mother's ambition to get ahead by having more money. The rocking horse, however, is a child's toy, symbolizing the immaturity of the mother's ambition. Second, the fact that a rocking horse can never really get anywhere symbolizes the futility of trying to get ahead. No matter how long Paul rocks and how much money Paul wins for his mother, she will never feel ahead any more than the rocking horse does. The money will never be enough. Paul rocks himself to death on that horse and yet we have no sense that his mother is satisfied.

If one were to argue against including Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird in a school's curriculum, what would be a counterclaim?

Many high school English teachers argue against including Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird in the curriculum because, though it deals with the topic of racism, it does so through the eyes of the novel's white author, who tippytoed through the subject delicately.

The novel was written in 1960, in the early years of the Civil Rights Movement, but looks back on the 1930s, a time period in which the oppressed had not yet found their leaders, such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, who would help them raise their voices and take the actions needed to protest against oppression. As a result, Lee approaches the subject of racial oppression without exposing all of its tragic and grizzly details. Instead, she depicts the consequences of racism through the eyes of an innocent white child who really doesn't know a great deal about all of the tragedies that occur around her.

Consequentially, many high school English teachers argue Lee's presentation of racism is shallow and that children today have experienced far more consequences of racism than Lee has had the nerve to write about. Instead, they assert that there are other books today that take a much stronger approach to the topic of racism, and teenagers will be able to relate to those such books much more easily.

That being said, it can also be argued that it was not Lee's intention to expose all of the harsh realities of racial oppression in vivid detail since she was not a member of the oppressed class; one can only write about what one knows about. Instead, she wrote about racism from the perspective of her own white educated class in order to expose the hypocrisies of her own Christian class. In doing so, she contributed a brand new perspective on racism that will always be very relevant and meaningful.

The hypocrisies of the Christian class are especially exposed through such characters as Aunt Alexandra and the members of her missionary circle, members who cry over the conditions the African tribe called the Mrunas are in but get uptight when their own African-American servants go "around grumbling and complaining" any time they face new injustice (Ch. 24). The ladies of the missionary circle further demonstrate hypocrisy when such ladies as Mrs. Merriweather say that the church should help Helen Robinson, Tom Robinson's wife, "lead a Christian life," despite the fact that the Robinsons are already devout Christians and all evidence pointed to Robinson's innocence, not his guilt (Ch. 24). Even the beloved character Miss Maudie displays her fair share of hypocrisy when she once says to Scout, "We're so rarely called on to be Christians, but when we are, we've got men like Atticus to go for us" (Ch. 22). Instead, shouldn't it be said that all Christians are called on to be Christians every single day of their lives?

Hence, all in all, while some may protest that the book presents an outdated, shallow perspective of racism, it can also be argued that it also presents a very realistic perspective of humanity's hypocrisies that will always be relevant.

Explain how the Great Depression changed history.

The Great Depression had a dramatic effect on the United States and also the rest of the world. The democratic response to the Great Depression led by Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal revolutionized the federal government. It created programs that aided those suffering from unemployment. Some programs created jobs preserving the environment or constructing bridges, parks, or dams. Other programs provided direct relief to farmers and the unemployed. All of the programs were...

The Great Depression had a dramatic effect on the United States and also the rest of the world. The democratic response to the Great Depression led by Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal revolutionized the federal government. It created programs that aided those suffering from unemployment. Some programs created jobs preserving the environment or constructing bridges, parks, or dams. Other programs provided direct relief to farmers and the unemployed. All of the programs were funded by the federal government, which was a new development in American history. Americans started to view the federal government's role in a different way.

The stock market crash also had an impact on world trade. Countries like Germany and Japan that were already suffering with weak economies plunged even deeper into despair. These countries could no longer count on loans from the United States.  Inflation and unemployment hit those countries very hard. In response, the new democratic systems that were in place in Italy, Germany, and Japan were replaced by radical autocratic leadership. In many respects, the economic depression of the 1930's was a key reason for World War II.

"No man for any considerable period can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may...

This quotation applies to Chillingworth because he attempts, with great success for a while, to convince both the town and Reverend Dimmesdale that he is simply a caring doctor who has been redeemed from the Native Americans.  However, he is truly a dark and vengeful man who has made it is mission to find out which villager slept with his wife and ruin that man's soul.  Once he comes to believe that Dimmesdale is this man, the separation between these two faces becomes more distinct, and we can no longer be sure which of them is the real him because, in a way, they both are.

Dimmesdale has managed to maintain the appearance of piety and honesty and sinlessness, despite the fact that he has really committed a very egregious sin: sleeping with a married woman.  He feels himself to be a fraud; however, both of these faces are true sides of him.  He has done something dishonest, and his failure to confess it is also problematic, but he is -- at the same time -- a really compelling minister who serves his parishioners well; we would not call him a bad man or a villain.

Finally, for Hester, there is the pious face of conformity that she wears in her community; while, at the same time, she questions them and their rules constantly.  She even considers whether it is worthwhile for her to live, pondering her own suicide and the murder of Pearl, as if to save them both from their terrible circumstances in this society.  However, the fact that she returns to Boston years later, when she does not have to, and resumes wearing the scarlet letter shows that, to some extent, she does accept their laws and punishment as somehow appropriate.  She embodies both the conformist and the nonconformist, and it is difficult to tell which is more truly her.

For an oral presentation, I have to explain how two texts conform to or challenge the conventions of particular genres or modes. Do you have any...

I would suggest choosing two works of poetry as your texts because poems will be more manageable in terms of length and because some types of poems have definite rules they must follow to fall into a specific category of poetry. First, you could use the sonnet as one "genre or mode." A sonnet is a 14-line poem written in iambic pentameter with a specific rhyme scheme (see the link below for more details about...

I would suggest choosing two works of poetry as your texts because poems will be more manageable in terms of length and because some types of poems have definite rules they must follow to fall into a specific category of poetry. First, you could use the sonnet as one "genre or mode." A sonnet is a 14-line poem written in iambic pentameter with a specific rhyme scheme (see the link below for more details about the structure of a sonnet). You can then take any number of sonnets, such as William Wordsworth's "The World Is Too Much with Us" or Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnet 43 ("How Do I Love Thee?") and prove they meet the criteria. Alternatively, you can take a poem that somewhat follows a sonnet format and argue that it is not a true sonnet. For this I would suggest "next to of course god america i" by e. e. cummings or "Dulce et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen. 

My second suggestion is to take a modernist poem, such as William Carlos Williams' "The Red Wheelbarrow" or "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman, and argue it is (or is not) poetry. For this you would have to define what poetry is (see reference below). For example, you could argue that, since "Song of Myself" is not condensed language, does not follow any rhythm other than the rhythm of everyday speech, and could easily be written in paragraph form and not really lose anything, it should not be considered poetry.

Any of these texts should allow you to present a convincing oral report on whether the work fits into its genre or mode.

How does O’Connor use foreshadowing to help us understand the actions of Mr. Shiftlet at the end of "The Life You Save May Be Your Own"?

Mr. Shiftlet is a drifter and his actions at the end, abandoning Lucynell and taking off on his own, are foreshadowed in the story. First, in his initial meeting with Mrs. Crater, he describes his past, noting that he had traveled extensively and "visited every foreign land." He had held many jobs in his life including "gospel singer," an undertaker's assistant, a railroad foreman and a soldier. This is a good hint that he will...

Mr. Shiftlet is a drifter and his actions at the end, abandoning Lucynell and taking off on his own, are foreshadowed in the story. First, in his initial meeting with Mrs. Crater, he describes his past, noting that he had traveled extensively and "visited every foreign land." He had held many jobs in his life including "gospel singer," an undertaker's assistant, a railroad foreman and a soldier. This is a good hint that he will not be happy permanently staying on Mrs. Crater's property.

Second, his immediate interest in the Ford automobile signals to the reader that the car will take on an important role later in the story. At the end, after fixing up the car, he steals it and heads off to Mobile. He leaves Lucynell asleep at a roadside diner, an action he had presumably planned ahead of time. Third, as he bargains with Mrs. Crater over what it will take for him to marry Lucynell, he compares his spirit to the automobile:

"Lady, a man is divided into two parts, body and spirit...The body, lady, is like a house: it don't go anywhere; but the spirit, lady, is like a fine automobile: always on the move, always..."

While he suggests throughout the novel that he would really like to settle down "where I could see me a sun do that every evening" he's also likely to shift his sentiments, as his name suggests. The drifter part of him is always moving, even as it seems he has found what he was looking for, land and a girl who is described as an "angel of gawd." He readily dumps Lucynell to satisfy his wanderlust. 

What is your approach to a "make (in house) or buy (outsource)" decision?

A business making this decision needs to look at a variety of different factors, as often there are both positives and negatives to either choice. The issues I would consider include:

• 
  Cost: Even when you can make a product in house, often a firm that specializes in that product or service can do it more cheaply. Also, one must factor in the opportunity cost of using resources to make a product in house versus focusing on your core business. Often suppliers in low-wage countries can make things more cheaply than you can, but you also need to factor in transportation costs, timeliness of delivery, and potential quality control issues.


• 
  Control: You may wish to make specialized mission-critical products in-house in order to maintain tighter control over quality and delivery schedules. 


• 
  Intellectual Property: If a product involves proprietary technology, you may wish to keep it in house to avoid theft of intellectual property. Any product or service that needs to be surrounded with high levels of security should be done in-house. You do not want to share proprietary technology or information. 


• 
  Suppliers: Most businesses buy many common products such as copier paper, toner cartridges, and other common office supplies. For common, standardized products or services (such as customer support call centers) for which multiple suppliers exist, outsourcing makes sense. If only a small number of suppliers exist, and they are either not particularly reliable or are potential competitors, it's better to keep production in-house. 


• 
  Ethics: With global outsourcing, there are ethical issues involved. First, when you manufacture locally, you build goodwill, which you lose by global outsourcing. Also, you need to carefully vet global suppliers to make sure they don't use child labor or have bad environmental practices, which can be ethical and marketing disasters for your company. Outsourcing may also increase your carbon footprint. Finally, if you deal with suppliers who violate U.S. anti-corruption laws, you may find yourself in a complex legal position. 

In Of Mice and Men, how does Steinbeck use the ranch to explore the problems in American society?

In the novel, Steinbeck uses the microcosm of a small ranch in Salinas to show some of the problems American society was grappling with in the 1930s. One aspect of this is prejudice – racism, sexism, ageism, ableism – you name it, it's taking place on the ranch. From Candy's old age to Lennie's slowness to Crook's skin color, Steinbeck explores them all on the small ranch. He also looks at how the prejudices interact with one...

In the novel, Steinbeck uses the microcosm of a small ranch in Salinas to show some of the problems American society was grappling with in the 1930s. One aspect of this is prejudice – racism, sexism, ageism, ableism – you name it, it's taking place on the ranch. From Candy's old age to Lennie's slowness to Crook's skin color, Steinbeck explores them all on the small ranch. He also looks at how the prejudices interact with one another. Suffering from prejudice can band folks together, such as when George and Lennie invite Candy to join them in saving up to buy a ranch of their own. However, it can also make them lash out at one another, such as when Curley's wife, deprived of her dreams and stuck in a small, cramped life, lashes out at Crooks, who is in the same position, saying,

" 'Well, you keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny.' "

Another problem, related to the one above and equally prevalent on the ranch is the futility of the American Dream. All of the characters have something they want out of life: George and Lennie's ranch, Curley's wife's show business career, Crook's desire for equal treatment. They will never achieve these dreams; the work they do towards them and the longing is futile. As George says in chapter 1,

"Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place. They come to a ranch an' work up a stake and then they go inta town and blow their stake, and the first thing you know they're poundin' their tail on some other ranch. They ain't got nothing to look ahead to."

The people this ranch are without hope, demonstrating the lonely underbelly of America. Ranch hands like we see here represent all the working people who are unable to fulfill the promise of the American Dream. 

How fair is it to say that Othello is by far the most romantic of all Shakespearean heroes?

Sweeping statements like this can be difficult to prove. For one, what is the definition of romantic? What characteristics define a Shakespearean hero? Also, one would have to prove that Othello is more romantic than dozens of Shakespearean heroes. We can narrow down the field by looking only at tragedies and examining the different kinds of romance in them.

A number of tragic heroes show little to no romantic inclinations, such as Coriolanus, King Lear,...

Sweeping statements like this can be difficult to prove. For one, what is the definition of romantic? What characteristics define a Shakespearean hero? Also, one would have to prove that Othello is more romantic than dozens of Shakespearean heroes. We can narrow down the field by looking only at tragedies and examining the different kinds of romance in them.

A number of tragic heroes show little to no romantic inclinations, such as Coriolanus, King Lear, and Titus Andronicus. Hamlet writes a passionate love letter to Ophelia:

Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love.

However, their relationship quickly deteriorates into accusations, manipulation, and eventually suicide.

Macbeth and Brutus are married men, and they appear to have loving partnerships with their wives. Their relationships are more equal than Hamlet and Ophelia’s. However, Lady Macbeth manipulates and berates her husband, and they drift apart after they murder their friend and king. Brutus begins to hide things from his wife, with whom he’s usually so open. She is so loyal, she ends up committing suicide when things go badly for him, and eventually he does too.

Romeo and Mark Antony are two of Shakespeare’s most passionate lovers. Romeo is the definition of a young and impetuous lover, and Antony’s affair with Cleopatra is fiery but destructive.

Initially, Othello is arguably a mixture of ardent husband and equal partner. He loves Desdemona’s soul and desires “to be free and bounteous to her mind.” He finds it important that she speak for herself. Unfortunately, their romance was not to be, because Othello descends into a jealous rage and murders Desdemona, the one he loves most.

Even though Othello describes himself as “one that loved not wisely but too well,” it is difficult to declare him “by far” the most romantic of Shakespeare’s heroes. Still, there is an argument that his relationship with Desdemona is one of the healthiest in Shakespeare before it becomes one of the unhealthiest.

What political issue did the three-fifth's compromise in the Constitution attempt to address?

The southern colonies feared that in any new government designed as a representative democracy, they would lose power because the populations of their states were comprised in large part of slaves, who could not vote. Northern states, by contrast, had very few slaves, and their populations were mostly free, meaning that if representation in congress was proportional and based solely on the number of free men in each state, then the voting power of the...

The southern colonies feared that in any new government designed as a representative democracy, they would lose power because the populations of their states were comprised in large part of slaves, who could not vote. Northern states, by contrast, had very few slaves, and their populations were mostly free, meaning that if representation in congress was proportional and based solely on the number of free men in each state, then the voting power of the southern states would be massively diluted. The southern states did not want to lose their political influence, and refused to sign onto a constitution that would relegate them to being lesser powers with many fewer representatives in the federal legislature.

So the southern states proposed that for purposes of allocating representatives to the House of Representatives, slaves living in their states should be counted. Yet delegates to the Constitutional Convention from the northern states rejected this plan, because it would give the slaveowners in those southern states vastly more representation than any free men in the north, and would tilt the balance of power in the Congress toward southern states and their economic agenda, which were at odds with the agendas of the northern states.

In order to satisfy the southern states that their interests would be represented in the new government, and in order to quell the fears of less populous northern farming states, like New Jersey, delegates to the Constitutional Convention came up with the 3/5th's rule. This rule stated that although slaves would not get the right to vote, be citizens, or have another individual rights, for purposes of allocating representatives in the government, each slaves would be counted as 3/5th of a person. This would give the southern states more representatives than if slaves were not counted at all, but not so many representatives as if each slave were counted as a full person. 

The irony of this decision is that this rule benefitted white plantation owners with thousands of slaves at the expense of both slaves and poor white farmers. The voting power that accrued to states like Virginia and South Carolina as a result of the 3/5th's law was incredibly anti-democratic, and went to perpetuating the institution of slavery. Had the 3/5th's law not been established, slavery might have been abolished much sooner, through votes in a less deadlocked congress, and the country might have avoided the Civil War.