Onboard Note

A dictatorship is “a form of government in which absolute power is concentrated in a dictator or a small clique.” Unlike a democracy, in which the people theoretically rule themselves either through direct voting or by electing representatives to make decisions on their behalf, a dictatorship consolidates power in one person or a small, exclusive administration. The dictator exercises absolute control over most aspects of people’s lives, and society, government, the military, and the economy are usually structured in such a way to ensure the continuation of a dictator’s rule. The form a dictatorship takes can vary, and the way in which power is exercised depends on how a particular government is set up. Economic power, like any other type of power, will ultimately be under the control of the dictator and/or his or her administration. Rather than a more free market system like capitalism, the economy in a dictatorship is usually directly under the government’s control—or at least heavil...

The narrator of the poem is full of sorrow, as he is mourning his "lost Lenore" and attempting to distract himself from these feelings by reading an old "volume of forgotten lore." When he first hears the tapping at his door, he tells himself, half asleep ("nearly napping"), that it is only "'some visitor'" and "'nothing more.'" He mentions, next, that this was in "the bleak December." Midnight, in December especially, is quite dark. December has some of the longest and darkest nights of the year. In general, it is odd to receive a visitor knocking at one's door at midnight. Midnight is hardly a congenial hour to go calling on someone, so it does not strike me as strange that the narrator would be surprised and, perhaps, alarmed by someone at his door at this time of night. Further, the narrator clearly has a good imagination, as we can see when he says that "each separate dying ember [of the fire] wro...

The first sentence is taken from F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Beautiful and Damned and is in the context of a man feeling generally dissatisfied with his purpose in life and, more broadly, the purpose of people on earth. He has been prevented from making his own choices, and he feels that he has been denied every satisfaction—even the satisfaction of being a "figment of a corporate man" (that is, an image or a ghost of a businessman or a shadow of oneself). He feels constrained, essentially. "Den," in the context of the second quotation, is another word for a lounge area or living room. It is used differently in different English-speaking geographical locations. Sometimes it means a room used by the man of the household for his private activities and relaxation, but, more generally, it tends to mean a cozy room used by the whole family to watch television, read, and so on. It has a 1970s connotation, and the first meaning of "den" is not used so commonly ...

Both plays concern how racial stereotyping shapes identities and traps people in stereotypical identities.In Luis Valdez's play I Don't Have to Show You No Stinking Badges!, Sonny's mother and father succumb to American stereotyping of Mexican Americans by pursuing Hollywood careers playing nonspeaking stereotypical roles as a Mexican maid, Mexican gardener, a prostitute, and a robber. The money they earn from playing degrading, stereotypical, marginalized Mexican roles ironically allows them to buy into the stereotypical white suburban American dream; they own a "comfortable, middle-class suburban tract home in Southern California," which is furnished with leather furniture, bookcases, and an expensive entertainment center, and has all the amenities including a fire place, a two-car garage, a deck, and even a swimming pool. They can even afford to send their son Sonny to Harvard to pursue a law degree, a degree they want him to pursue because they want him to hav...

Social behavior can also be considered socialization and interaction. Social behavior occurs when individuals interact with one another, engaging in a group or pairs to communicate and relate. There are many examples of social behavior. For instance, simply hanging out with friends is a social behavior, and so are romantic relationships and athletic groups. Any activity where people are actively engaged with other groups of people is a social activity. In other primates, for example, grooming is a social behavior. Packs of wolves and schools of fish are both examples of social units. Any time an individual, of any species, is interacting with other members of their species, they are engaged in social activity and are relating to other individuals. "Social behavior" can be defined simply as the interaction between or among two or more people or animals, the latter usually discussed in terms of animals of the same species. It is a broad topic that includes both the spoken word ...

Mark Antony was devoted to Julius Caesar. He loved him as if he were his own father. He disguises his feelings when he is meeting with the conspirators after the assassination, but when he is alone with Caesar's body he expresses his feelings eloquently. This is the first time the audience realizes that Antony feels so strongly about Caesar, as well as the first time the audience realizes that Antony is capable of such eloquence. O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!Thou art the ruins of the noblest manThat ever lived in the tide of times.Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!Over thy wounds now do I prophesyWhich like dumb mouths do ope their ruby lipsTo beg the voice and utterance of my tongue,A curse shall light upon the limbs of men;Domestic fury and fierce civil strifeShall cumber all the parts of Italy;Blood and destruction shall be so in use,And dreadful objects so familiar,That mothers shall but smile when they behol...

This would not be true under the conditions and technologies we currently possess. It's as simple as asking any astronaut; if time passed in such a way, astronauts would appear to be gone for dozens of years before returning, but this is not the case. If we ever attain the technology that allows us to travel closer to the speed of light, we would begin to see effects like the one described in the question. The scientific process behind the story you've heard is a phenomenon called time dilation, which is a side effect of relativity. The passage of time has been shown to be influenced by a variety of factors—particularly speed. Scientists have put clocks into orbit, compared them with clocks on the ground, and found very small—but measurable—differences between them. These differences become exponentially larger as you near the speed of light. This is described by the Lorentz factor, which can be calculated mathematically as 1/sqrt (1-v^2/c^2)  where v is the velocity of the mov...

At the beginning of the Civil War, General Winfield Scott developed his "Anaconda Plan" to defeat the Confederacy by blockading the South's ports and then cutting off and controlling the Mississippi River so that the South would be isolated from trade with the rest of the world. By cutting the South in half and controlling both the Mississippi and sea ports, the Union would slowly strangle the South, preventing much-needed supplies from entering the South. Scott developed this plan because he believed it would win the war without massive casualties on both sides—as the South ran out of supplies and food, they would eventually be forced to surrender. However, some Union commanders felt it was too conservative and would lead to a protracted war, and many journalists ridiculed the plan, dubbing it the "Anaconda Plan" after the anaconda snake, which slowly strangles its prey to death. At first the plan proved unsuccessful—about 90% of Confederate ships were able to ...

Find the integral $\displaystyle \int^1_0 \frac{1}{\sqrt{16 t^2 + 1}} dt$ If we let $u = 4t$, then $du = 4dt$, so $\displaystyle dt = \frac{du}{4}$. We know that the anti-derivative of $\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{u^2 + 1}}$ is $\sin h^{-1} x$. When $x = 0, u = 0$ and when $x = 1, u = 4$. Therefore, $ \begin{equation} \begin{aligned} \int^1_0 \frac{1}{\sqrt{16 t^2 + 1}} dt =& \int^4_0 \frac{1}{\sqrt{u^2 + 1}} \cdot \frac{du}{4} \\ \\ \int^1_0 \frac{1}{\sqrt{16 t^2 + 1}} dt =& \frac{1}{4} \int^4_0 \frac{1}{\sqrt{u^2 + 1}} du \\ \\ \int^1_0 \frac{1}{\sqrt{16 t^2 + 1}} dt =& \frac{1}{4} [\sin h^{-1} u]^4_0 \\ \\ \int^1_0 \frac{1}{\sqrt{16 t^2 + 1}} dt =& \frac{1}{4} [\ln (u + \sqrt{u^2 + 1})]^4_0 \\ \\ \int^1_0 \frac{1}{\sqrt{16 t^2 + 1}} dt =& \frac{1}{4} \left[ \ln (4 + \sqrt{(4)^2 + 1}) - \ln (0 + \sqrt{(0)^2 + 1}) \right] \\ \\ \int^1_0 \frac{1}{\sqrt{16 t^2 + 1}} dt =& \frac{1}{4} [\ln (4 + \sqrt{17}) - \ln (\sqrt{1})] \\ \\ \int^1_0 \frac{1}{\sqrt{16 t^2 + 1...

In Bad Feminist, Roxane Gay brings up The Help in the chapter titled “The Solace of Preparing Fried Foods and Other Quaint Remembrances from 1960s Mississippi: Thoughts on The Help.” In this essay, Gay describes her experience seeing the popular film The Help and discusses her disappointment with both the book and the movie. Gay argues that The Help plays into the idea of the “magical negro,” a trope in which a black character uses their power to transform “lost or broken whites” into successful and happy people. Gay points out that Aibileen and Minny both possess a great deal of strength but use their power to help the white characters (like Skeeter and Celia) find happiness instead of using it to help themselves. When, at the end of the movie, Celia and her husband tell Minny that she has a job for life, it is played as a touching moment. However, Gay points out that it is actually pretty sad and offensive that Minny’s “happy ending” is to spend the rest of her life cooking and clean...

From what I can see, it was William Penn who championed the idea of a "holy experiment." He envisioned a city (what is now modern Pennsylvania) that promised religious liberty and political freedom for all. As a Quaker, Penn was a pacifist, and he relished the idea of a peaceful colony that welcomed everyone. Meanwhile, John Winthrop promoted his "city upon a hill" concept. The phrase "city upon a hill" was first introduced by Winthrop in his sermon "A Model of Christian Charity." It can be argued, of course, that John Winthrop and his Puritan colleagues did indeed approach their settlement in New England as a "holy experiment." To Winthrop and the Puritans, New England was the "city upon a hill." Winthrop stressed that the eyes of the world were upon the Puritans. If they failed to impress upon the world their faithfulness in obeying God's precepts, they would be made a "story and a byword through the world." Es...

The two major DC comic book superheroes, Superman and Batman, are perhaps two of the most drastically different superheroes in the entire world of comic books. While sharing many similarities and often battling for the public spotlight as the world's most famous superhero, they are, above all, far more different than they are similar. Perhaps the most important difference occurs with the true identity of each hero. Superman and Batman both have public personas and alter egos that allow their true identity to remain secret. While Bruce Wayne, the billionaire playboy from Gotham city, dons the alter ego of Batman, Superman, an alien named Kal-El that came from the planet Krypton, must take on a persona of his own after being adopted by a well-doing family named the Kents. Bruce Wayne takes the form of Batman to scour the night's streets in order to stop criminals after becoming hellbent on preventing crimes like the murder of his parents. Superman, on the other hand, takes on the...

There are numerous symbols in Mary Shelley's Romantic novel Frankenstein. Many of the symbols are representative of either a specific character or theme presented in the novel. First, a symbol in a text attaches meaning deeper than the face value of the image. Symbols tend to allow figurative "threads" to wind throughout a text, bringing more meaning to the image, character, or symbol than initially thought. One important symbol in the novel is light. Typically in literature, light functions as a symbol of knowledge. This specific symbol is important, given that many of the characters in the text are on a quest for knowledge. Light for Victor represents his unraveling of scientific mystery surrounding life and death. Over the course of the novel, as Victor sheds more and more light upon life and death, the mystery surrounding life and death diminishes. Unfortunately for Victor, this knowledge leads to his downfall and destruction. For the Creature, light works a little di...

The type of literary device that Atticus uses is a simile. A simile is a comparison using "like" or "as". He is comparing two opposite things in the phrase, "This case is as simple as black and white." This phrase is ironic because Atticus is implying that the case is not difficult to understand. The facts of the case are not all that complicated, however the case is dealing with complicated issues. To many people in Maycomb, the case is simple. A black man raped a white woman. In the south at that time, there were no questions asked when an issue like this came up because of the heavy prejudices that were still prevalent. However, Atticus proves that the case is not all that simple. Throughout the trial, Atticus disproves Mayella's testimony with facts such as the bruises she endured could not have been made by Tom due to his injured arm. Atticus proves Tom's innocence, which complicates the trial.  It is also ironic that Atticus uses this phrase ...

We learn from the narrator that the women in any rural village generally think of the schoolmaster as an important person. A school teacher is considered to be a gentleman because of his education. The women of Sleepy Hollow admire schoolmaster Ichabod Crane because he has read "several" books all the way through and is learned in the works of Cotton Mather on New England witchcraft, in which, we learn he "firmly" and "potently" believed. In other words, the narrator is poking fun at the women for looking up to a superstitious man who is not all that well read. The women like to invite him over for tea and cakes, and he enjoys gathering grapes for the young "damsels" or girls who cluster around him. As the narrator describes it, Crane would figure among them [the damsels] in the churchyard . . . gathering grapes for them from the wild vines that overrun the surrounding trees; reciting for their amusement all the epitaphs on the tombstones; or sau...

The opening paragraphs of "The Flowers" portray a pastoral scene of rustic and natural beauty and peace.  Walking outside at a sharecropper's farm, Myop delights in nature: The air held a keenness that made her nose twitch. The harvesting of the corn and cotton, peanuts and squash, made each day a golden surprise that caused excited little tremors to run up her jaws. This young girl is much like Rousseau's Natural Man who is spiritually and mentally free since he is not tied to any of the artificial needs that depict modern society. Myop delights in the music of her stick tapping on the fence, the sun on her face, the "tiny white bubbles" of the stream against the rich, black soil. These opening paragraphs depict the beauty of pristine nature with visual and auditory imagery, such as the pretty "silver ferns" and wildflowers, along with the sounds of her stick tapping out a tune on the wooden fence. For instance, one passage describes Myop discover...

6, -2, 2/3, -2/9 To determine the next two terms, identify if it is an arithmetic or geometric sequence. Take note that an arithmetic sequence has a common difference. While a geometric sequence have a common ratio. To find the common difference, subtract the successive terms. -2-6=-8 2/3-(-2)=8/3 -2/9-2/3=-8/9 Since the three pairs of consecutive terms do not have the same result, the given sequence is not an arithmetic sequence. To find the common ratio, divide the consecutive terms. -2/6=-1/3 (2/3)/(-2) = -1/3 (-2/9)/(2/3)=-1/3 Since the result are the same, the given sequence is geometric. Its common ratio is -1/3 . So the 5th term of the geometric sequence is: -2/9*(-1/3) = 2/27 And its 6th term is: 2/27*(-1/3)=-2/81 Therefore, the next two terms of the given sequence are 2/27 and -2/81.

Daniel's first recruit to his merry band of zealots is Nathan. This young man has the profound misfortune to be the son of a tax collector, an especially despised profession in Judea at that time. The sins of the fathers are often visited on their children and it's no exception here. Poor young Nathan is picked on and despised simply because of what his old man does for a living. He has no alternative but to fight back against the bullies with everything he's got. Daniel is most impressed with how Nathan handles himself against the other boys when they suddenly ambush him and try to give him a good kicking. He also senses perhaps that Nathan will be an effective recruit to the cause as he has a vested interest in putting an end to a system which breeds hated tax collectors like his father.

Binomial series is an example of an infinite series. When it is convergent at |x|lt1 , we may follow the sum of the binomial series as (1+x)^k where k is any number. The formula will be: (1+x)^k = sum_(n=0)^oo (k(k-1)(k-2) ...(k-n+1))/(n!) x^n or (1+x)^k = 1 + kx + (k(k-1))/(2!) x^2 + (k(k-1)(k-2))/(3!)x^3 +(k(k-1)(k-2)(k-3))/(4!)x^4+... To evaluate the given function f(x) = 1/sqrt(4+x^2) , we may apply 4+x^2=4(1+x^2/4) . The function becomes: f(x) =1/sqrt(4(1+x^2/4)) f(x) =1/(2sqrt(1+x^2/4)) Apply radical property: sqrt(x) = x^(1/2) . The function becomes: f(x) =1/(2(1+x^2/4)^(1/2)) Apply Law of Exponents: 1/x^n = x^(-n) to rewrite  the function as: f(x) =1/2(1+x^2/4)^(-1/2) or f(x)=1/2(1+x^2/4)^(-0.5) Apply the aforementioned formula on (1+x^2/4)^(-0.5) by letting: x=x^2/4 and k =-0.5. (1+x^2/4)^(-0.5) = sum_(n=0)^oo (-0.5(-0.5-1)(-0.5-2) ...(-0.5-n+1))/(n!) (x^2/4)^n = sum_(n=0)^oo (-0.5(-1.5)(-2.5) ...(-0.5-n+1))/(n!) x^(2n)/4^n = 1 + (-0.5)*x^(2*1)/4^1+ (-0.5(-1.5))/(2!) *x^(2*2)...

Arguably, Juliet demonstrates rational and mature thinking, but this maturity is, for the most part, demonstrated before she gives her heart to Romeo.  In Act I, Scene 3 of Romeo and Juliet, Lady Capulet asks her daughter if she can consider Count Paris as a husband; she also informs Juliet that Paris will be at their feast. Juliet replies that she will take a look at Paris and try to like him if what she sees is worth liking. But, she adds that she will not let herself fall for Paris any more than her mother's permission allows. In other words, Juliet has a sense of moderation at this point: I’ll look to like if looking liking move. But no more deep will I endart mine eye Than your consent gives strength to make it fly (1.3.99-101) Certainly, this sense of moderation demonstrates a degree of maturity. Further, in the famous balcony scene of Act II, Scene 2, when the passionate and impetuous Romeo swears his love and desire for Juliet, it is she who urges caution: Oh, swear not by ...

Mattie's being bitten by a mosquito is included in the opening chapter of Fever 1793 precisely in order to foreshadow later events, for the deadly fever that descends upon Philadelphia is spread by mosquito bites. At first, the mosquito's insistent buzzing is more irritating than anything else. It's certainly nowhere near as annoying to Mattie as the sound of her mother yelling at her to get out of bed. But over the course of the book, what started out as just a minor irritation will come to take on great significance in the lives of Mattie and her fellow Philadelphians. Mattie may be sick and tired of hearing her mom's screeching voice, but at some point, she's going to have to help out her family as the fever rapidly spreads and the bodies start piling up in the streets. As the story begins, she'd like nothing better than to fly away like a mosquito from her boring, humdrum home life. But the sudden outbreak of yellow fever means that Mattie's ambitious pl...

Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner begins with the novel's protagonist, Amir, receiving a call from his past. His late father's dear friend, Rahim Khan, requests that Amir travel to see him in Pakistan. Knowing that Amir will be hesitant to do so for a plethora of reasons, Rahim Khan tells him, "There is a way to be good again." He seemingly knows Amir better than any other person, even more so than Amir's wife, and he recognizes that Amir will never have peace in his life or find true redemption until he acknowledges what he did all those years ago in Afghanistan and takes action to do good—Amir can never make up for what he did (or didn't do), but Rahim Khan eventually tells Amir that he has an opportunity to save the son of the dear friend that Amir so despicably betrayed. Amir, who has lived a tortured life because of his actions as a young boy, does follow Rahim Khan's advice and in his own way feels redeemed after he has saved Hassan's son. In...

Given the function $\displaystyle f(x) = \frac{1}{x+1}$. Find $f(a)$, $f(a+h)$ and the difference quotient $\displaystyle \frac{f(a+h) - f(a)}{h}$ where $h \neq 0$ For $f(a)$ $\displaystyle f(a) = \frac{1}{a+1}$ Replace $x$ by $a$ For $f(a+h)$ $\displaystyle f(a+h) = \frac{1}{a+h+1}$ Replace $x$ by $(a+h)$ For $\displaystyle \frac{f(a+h)-f(a)}{h}$ $ \begin{equation} \begin{aligned} \frac{f(a-h)-f(a)}{h} &= \frac{\frac{1}{a+h+1} - \frac{1}{a+h} }{h} && \text{Substitute } f(a+h) = \frac{1}{a+h+1} \text{ and } f(a) = \frac{1}{a+h}\\ \\ &= \frac{a+h-(a+h+1)}{h(a+h)(a+h+1)} && \text{Get the LCD}\\ \\ &= \frac{a+h-a-h-1}{h(a+h)(a+h+1)} && \text{Simplify}\\ \\ &= \frac{-1}{h(a+h)(a+h+1)} \end{aligned} \end{equation} $

If you're trying to develop a method of estimating how many hairs are on your head, it would be best to take on this task in two parts: background research and sampling.  Firstly, I suppose you have a reason for asking how many hairs are on your head that is based in something you heard, something you want to know, or something you want to prove wrong. For example, maybe you heard that women have more hair per square centimeter on their heads than men. Or, maybe you heard that we have 60,000 hairs on our heads (on average).  Step 1: Before you dive into this question, ask yourself what you want to know and why. There may be research out there that either talks about how many hairs are on your head or provides a way for you to get at the question thorough a specific method. After you conduct a literature review, you'll have a better idea as to how you will proceed with the next step. Step 2: Take a sample and count hairs within that sample. Depending on your literature review, y...

This question is asking you as a student to imagine how your life might be different. You should note that the lives of the educators answering these questions are not identical to your life and thus that our answers will be quite different from yours. For example, the average life expectancy in many agricultural societies was less than 30 years; this means that many educators who contribute to this site would be dead rather than living productive lives, something that would not be the case for most students of traditional age. Also, you might note that "agricultural society" can refer to anything after the neolithic transition but before the Industrial Revolution, a period of some 10,000 years including many different parts of the world. A peasant in ancient Mesopotamia would have a very different life than an aristocrat in Ming China. Your starting point for examining how your life might differ from that in many agricultural societies would be to think about the sorts of te...

As well as being the inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell also achieved considerable renown as an educator of the deaf. His own wife was deaf, and so he had a deep understanding of the enormous challenges faced by deaf people, especially in relation to education. In fact, education was the motivating factor in the decision of Helen's parents to seek out Bell. They knew that Helen's educational needs simply weren't being met, so they went with Helen to visit Bell as they were sure that only he could be of help. The first meeting between Helen and Alexander Graham Bell was a huge success. Helen immediately established a rapport with Bell, sitting on his lap and feeling safe and secure in his presence. Bell allowed Helen to play with his pocket watch; she was fascinated to feel its vibrations. Even at their first meeting, Bell had already opened up a whole new world for Helen. But most important of all, Helen felt right from the start that Bell understood her. And ...

An Egyptian mummy's burial cloth is estimated to contain $59 \%$ of the carbon-14 it contained originally. Determine the period that the mummy was buried. (The half-life of carbon-14 is 5730 years.) Recall the formula for radioactive decay $m(t) = m_0 e^{-rt}$ in which $\displaystyle r = \frac{\ln 2}{h}$ where $m(t)$ = mass remaining at time $t$ $m_0$ = initial mass $r$ = rate of decay $t$ = time $h$ = half-life If the half-life of carbon-14 is 5730 years, then $\displaystyle r = \frac{\ln 2}{h} = \frac{\ln 2}{5730}$ So, $ \begin{equation} \begin{aligned} 0.59 m_0 =& m_0 e^{- \left( \frac{\ln 2}{5730} \right) (t)} && \text{Divide each side by } m_0 \\ \\ 0.59 =& e^{- \left( \frac{\ln 2}{5730} \right) t} && \text{Take $\ln$ of each side} \\ \\ \ln (0.59) =& - \left( \frac{\ln 2}{5730} \right) t && \text{Divide each side by } \frac{-\ln 2}{5730} \\ \\ t =& - \frac{\ln (0.59)}{\displaystyle \frac{\ln 2}{5730}} && \text{Solve for } t \\ \...

Ned Land, despite his surname, is no landlubber; he is actually a harpooner by profession. This makes him the ideal companion for Professor Aronnax and his assistant, Conseil, as they embark upon their expedition to investigate sightings of a strange, giant sea monster. Ned is just the kind of man to have alongside you on such a perilous voyage: he is brave, strong, honest, and cool under pressure. This is just as well when you consider that our intrepid voyagers need to do battle against cannibals, giant squids, and a gargantuan sea monster that actually turns out to be an equally gargantuan submarine helmed by the twisted, egomaniacal Captain Nemo. Ned's good old-fashioned common sense also comes in handy on the voyage. Whereas Aronnax and Conseil are somewhat overawed by the charismatic Nemo, Ned is none too impressed by the salty old sea dog. His long experience at sea makes him wary of the Captain; there is something about the man he just does not trust. This is for good reaso...

Genetic modification of food crops is done by inserting the genes of other species into their DNA, thereby improving the different properties of the food crop in question. Some of the benefits of genetic modification of food crops are listed below. Increased productivity: Genetically modified crops have higher productivity than traditional crops. This has translated into a higher food productivity and has helped a number of poor and developing countries, minimizing the deficit between demand and supply. A higher productivity also means lower food prices for the consumers. Reduced poverty: Increased food productivity has alleviated the economic conditions of a large number of farmers in economically backward regions of the world. It has been estimated that as many as 65 million people (including farmers and their families) have benefited from the cultivation of genetically modified crops. Better disease resistance: The genetically modified (GM) crops have a higher resistance to the dise...

Brother Isidro treats Juan with compassion and kindness. The friar is attentive to Juan's needs, and he comforts Juan after his terrible bout with the plague. Brother Isidro is also the one who nurses Juan back to health. Knowing that Juan is now bereft of his master (and mistress), Brother Isidro makes inquiries for Juan's future. He confers with the magistrate, but the latter does not seem concerned about the slave boy's state of health. Brother Isidro tells Juan that people like the magistrate are only interested in the labor provided by slaves.  The kindly friar promises Juan that he can stay at the convent until he is well. At the convent, Brother Isidro makes sure that Juan always has food for the day. For his part, Juan spends much of his time at the convent taking care of sick children, the elderly, and the infirm. Juan stays six days at the convent. During that entire time, Brother Isidro shares meals with Juan. Juan is touched by Brother Isidro's kindness. The...

A significant connection between the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) is their common emphases on rights. Both uphold the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1976), which details a statement of rights including economic rights, equal human rights, the right of self-determination and the right to freedom. Consequently both the EU and the UN maintain, for example, the right to a decent standard of living, to employment and to the right to hold and protect property. The EU has more intense involvement in developing and enforcing these rights, but the UN has an intense participation in developing these rights on the world stage as illustrated by the Millennium Development Goals, which have great significance to developing countries where such rights have historically been to varying degrees rejected.A foundational similarity between the EU and the UN is that they are organizations through which sovereign powers meet to increase economic development, safety and security, a...

By telling stories to Shahrayer, Shahrazad is putting her virtuosic mastery as a storyteller to the most dramatic test imaginable. She is also making an ambitious claim to rule, which succeeds when her inventiveness, statecraft, courage, and practical wisdom pay off and she is made royal consort, in addition to saving her sister's life. In other words, Shahrazad's story is, in effect, a handbook for would-be rulers and public servants. Its implicit message is that mastery in the art of storytelling amounts to a plausible claim to rule, because it entails mastery of so many of the virtues appropriate to a ruler. All of the stories told by Shahrazad can be read with reference to their conveyance of the message that the steadfast practice of the virtues—even in the face of duplicitous treatment by others—lead to the conferral of reward and responsibility. Thus, they contain a guidebook for rulers to follow (i.e., the factors that should be considered when elevating others to high ...

From what I read in your assignment, you are being asked to do some creative writing in which you use wordplay. It seems like the instructions give you lots of freedom in terms of form: whether you write in prose or in lines like a play, the instructor basically wants you to experiment with using the same word in multiple forms/situations. It would be best to choose a word that has a few possible meanings, depending on context and part of speech. To help you figure out how to do this, let's look more closely at the lines from A Midsummer Night's Dream. In these lines in the opening scene of the play, Hermia begins by addressing Helena as "fair Helena." Here, Hermia is referring to Helena's beauty. Today, we use "fair" to mean "just" or "right," and we also use it to refer to something of a light color (fair-skinned, fair hair, etc.). In Shakespeare's time, though, "fair" typically meant "beautiful." Helena resp...

Solve the equation $4(x - 2) + 2(x + 3) = 6$, and check your solution. If applicable, tell whether the equation is an identity or contradiction. $ \begin{equation} \begin{aligned} 4(x - 2) + 2(x + 3) =& 6 && \text{Given equation} \\ 4x - 8 + 2x + 6 =& 6 && \text{Distributive property} \\ 6x - 2 =& 6 && \text{Combine like terms} \\ 6x =& 6 + 2 && \text{Add $2$ from each side} \\ 6x =& 8 && \text{Combine like terms} \\ \frac{6x}{6} =& \frac{8}{6} && \text{Divide both sides by $6$} \\ x =& \frac{4}{3} && \text{Reduce to lowest term} \end{aligned} \end{equation} $ Checking: $ \begin{equation} \begin{aligned} 4 \left( \frac{4}{3} - 2 \right) + 2 \left( \frac{4}{3} + 3 \right) =& 6 && \text{Substitute } x = \frac{4}{3} \\ \\ 4 \left( - \frac{2}{3} \right) + 2 \left( \frac{13}{3} \right) =& 6 && \text{Work inside parentheses first} \\ \\ \frac{-8}{3} + \frac{26}{3} =& 6 && \...

Humanism was an intellectual movement which is generally associated with the Italian Renaissance. Its emphasis was the humanistic arts as set forth by the classical Greeks and Romans. It did not, as most modern people assume, refer to a materialistic and non-theistic philosophical outlook. In fact, most of the Renaissance humanists were thoroughly Christian in their worldview, although they were more apt to criticize the Church than Christians in the middle ages. As historian Peter Partner explains in Renaissance Rome, Portrait of a Society 1500–1559: Humanism was not an ideological programme but a body of literary knowledge and linguistic skill based on the "revival of good letters", which was a revival of a late-antique philology and grammar. The humanists believed that medieval scholars had corrupted Latin and the other humanities (such as literature), so they sought to restore it to its original beauty by "purifying" it according to the way it was used by Cicero...

Trade and conversion played major factors in the spread of Islam. Islamic traders controlled valuable roads to Asia. Arabic traders spread their influence into North Africa as well. Though the Arabic world was not as unified as the Roman empire, its influence could be felt from the Indian Ocean to West Africa. In many places, such as Palestine, many were encouraged to convert to Islam or else pay an additional tax. Islam also unified a large portion of the ancient world. Arabic replaced languages such as Aramaic and Greek. Arab coins soon became a popular currency all over the ancient world thanks to the availability of gold. Arabic advances in medicine and other sciences would eventually lead to the spread of the Renaissance in Europe after the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. One final reason for the spread of Islam was the overall fragmented nature of the fallen Roman Empire in the fifth century. Islam was able to take back North Africa due to the weakness of Chr...

Many of the symbols in The Glory Field have multiple meanings. I will look at three of the symbols that have multiple layers of meaning and let you figure out some others. One of the symbols in the book is the Glory Field itself. The Lewis family receives 8 acres in Curry, South Carolina, after the Civil War, and they name their land the Glory Field. The life of a sharecropper is difficult, but the land stands for more than just land. It stands for freedom and promise, even if the promise of freedom takes some time to come true for the Lewis family. The family struggles to make the land profitable and leaves for the north, but, in the end, they reunite in the Glory Field. It is there that Malcolm Lewis, one of the modern-day descendants of the family, realizes the power of his identity and the strength of his family's history. The field symbolizes the strength of the family and its growth from its strong roots in South Carolina. Another important element of symbolism in the novel c...

John does not tell his people about the gods of New York being regular men and women because his father tells him not to.  John's father is not against the people eventually knowing about the Place of the Gods being inhabited by humans. He is against the idea of John telling all of the truth in one moment. After that, I wished to tell all the people but he showed me otherwise. He said, "Truth is a hard deer to hunt. If you eat too much truth at once, you may die of the truth. It was not idly that our fathers forbade the Dead Places." He was right—it is better the truth should come little by little. I have learned that, being a priest. Perhaps, in the old days, they ate knowledge too fast. John's father, the head priest, is afraid the new knowledge will hurt his people. They have a certain belief system in place. That belief system guides their actions, laws, and behaviors. It's the entire basis of their society. If John were to tell the entire truth, it would be t...

Juliet has to be a determined character to get what she wants, which is Romeo. So many barriers have been put in her way by her family and society that the chances of Juliet spending the rest of her life with the man of her dreams are remote, to say the least. Most young women in Juliet's situation would just give up; they'd yield to their parents' wishes and do what society expects of them—albeit reluctantly. But Juliet does not give in. Her love for Romeo is so all-consuming that she's prepared to defy her parents and the prevailing social conventions and do whatever it takes to be with him. As a young girl in an aristocratic family, Juliet is expected to be seen and not heard. This is a society in which marriages between noble families are regarded as strategic political alliances, not love matches. Marriages are arranged, and the wishes of the respective partners are of no concern. The odds, then, are heavily stacked against Juliet. She must be determined, she must ...

The story The Twenty-One Balloons is a story about a utopia, but the question asks about what are some dystopian characteristics. I'll provide information about typical dystopian characteristics, and they can be contrasted with a utopia.   The Merriam-Webster dictionary gives the following definition for "dystopia."   An imaginary place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives. That's a fairly limited and broad definition. It doesn't provide typical features that cause the citizens to be dehumanized and fearful. The following elements are typical features of many dystopian societies.   Propaganda is used heavily to control citizens.  Citizens have a fear of the outside world or other societies.   Information, freedom, and independent thought are restricted.  This is completely different in The Twenty-One Balloons. The story emphasizes the themes of creativity, individuality, and cooperation. Citizens conform to uniform expectations. Individuality and ...

The narrator of this text is of the third person omniscient variety. This means that the narrator is not a participant in the events that take place in the story (this is the "third person" part), but he or she can tell us the thoughts and feelings of all the characters (this is the "omniscient" part). In the first paragraph of chapter 1, for example, the narrator speaks of the "old Gentleman," Mr. Henry Dashwood's, feelings and wishes regarding his family, his comfort, and his old age. Shortly thereafter, Mr. John Dashwood's feelings and character are described, as are those of his wife. Likewise, the narrator soon comes to discuss Elinor Dashwood's personality and disposition, her emotions and her character, as well as her younger sister's Marianne's. This goes on, so on and so forth, and, in short, the narrator is not a participant in the story's plot, but he or she can tell us how all of the characters think and feel. In writing...

Nelly is angry at Catherine. She thinks Catherine is acting the part of a drama queen and pretending to be sick to manipulate Edgar. However, Nelly is quite wrong. Catherine genuinely is very ill. Catherine, who is pregnant, becomes sick because Edgar tries to force her to choose between himself and Heathcliff. His demand throws her into a fit, but Nellie advises Edgar to ignore it. She tells him that Catherine had planned ahead of time to throw a "fit of frenzy." When Catherine runs to her room, Nellie persists in not taking her illness seriously. She doesn't tell Edgar Catherine is ill. When he doesn't come to visit her, Nellie says he is caught up in his books, which Catherine interprets to mean he doesn't care about her. This makes her sicker. Nellie states: I could not get rid of the notion that she acted a part of her disorder. As Catherine becomes increasingly sick and disoriented, Nellie still doesn't tell Edgar. When he happens to burst in and sees ho...

Johnsy has been suffering from acute pneumonia. It seems that she might not recover. Her spirits are low, and she no longer wants to live. The already tenuous ties that keep her attached to the mortal world are breaking one by one. Johnsy is convinced that she will soon die. She also believes that when she does the last leaf will also die. Yet, the leaf lives on despite the howling gale and driving rain outside. Johnsy's fate becomes more and more entwined with that of the leaf. When she awakens the next morning, Johnsy demands to see if the leaf is still there. Much to her surprise, it is. Johnsy now feels slightly embarrassed at all her morbid talk about wanting to die. She believes that somehow the leaf has stayed in place to show her how wrong she was for wanting to die. Her spirits raised, Johnsy asks for a mirror so she can see herself. She also wants to see Sue when she is cooking. The survival of the last leaf has given Johnsy a new lease on life; once again, she expresses ...

In reply to the swallow’s question on why he was weeping, the Happy Prince says that “when he was alive and had a human heart, he did not know what tears were.” When the prince was alive, he lived in the Sans-Souci Palace, where sorrow was unknown. He spent his days playing about the palace gardens with his companions and dancing in the big hall. Since the palace was surrounded by a great wall, beyond which he never ventured during his lifetime, the prince lived happily in his beautiful environs and died without knowing the meaning of sadness or sorrow. He was always happy, and that is why he was called the “Happy Prince.” However, upon his death, when his statue was set on a tall column, from where he could see the whole city, the prince was finally able to see all forms of suffering among the city dwellers. He saw sorrow, and that made him cry. Throughout the rest of the story, the prince then uses the swallow to take away bits of precious metals from parts of himself to give away to...

Russell’s novel The Sparrow, set in the near future, begins with a radio broadcast of music from an unknown alien source near Alpha Centauri. The protagonist , Father Emilio Sandoz, joins the first expedition to Rakhat, the source of the music. Sandoz believes the mission to be divinely inspired. However, he is the only one among his teammates to return to Earth. Music is a major motif in this novel. The radio broadcast from Rakhat is perceived by those on earth as hauntingly beautiful, quasi-religious music. The mechanics of how or why the music was broadcast is not clearly explained. When the expedition makes contact with the culture that produced the music, they are in for a rude awakening. The melodies that they had considered to be divinely inspired are revealed to actually be pornographic celebrations of rape. Sandoz is forced to become a slave of the poet-songwriter who composed the melody that brought the expedition to their planet.    The human travelers who venture to Rakhat ...

Bruno thinks that Poland is in Denmark. He makes this startling announcement to Shmuel during their first meeting. When Shmuel reveals that they are in Poland, Bruno is surprised. He thinks of Poland as a land that is far away. His reaction is significant. It shows that Bruno is largely detached from the horrors of Auschwitz. His parents have chosen to hide the truth from him. This may be because of his youth, but the text also hints that Bruno's parents are not entirely happy with what is happening at "Out-With," as Bruno calls it. During his interaction with Shmuel, Bruno reveals his ignorance about geography and world affairs. The only thing he can say with any measure of certainty is that "Germany is the greatest of all countries." Bruno's words show his bias, and the text reveals that this bias has been carefully cultivated in Bruno by his parents. Earlier in the story, we are shown how Bruno interacts with his father. When Bruno protests their stay at ...

By this time, Edward IV was in the fourth year of his first reign as King of England. With the help of the Earl of Warwick, he had been able to score a succession of impressive victories over the rival Lancastrians in his bid for the throne. However, Edward's reliance of the proud and chronically undependable Warwick meant that his grip on power was never entirely secure. Edward's decision to marry in secret the commoner Elizabeth Woodville was regarded by Warwick as nothing less than a personal insult, a humiliating rebuff to his strenuous efforts to find Edward a suitable French bride. Edward's clandestine marriage permanently damaged his relations with Warwick, turning his erstwhile ally into a sworn enemy. Warwick conspired with Edward's younger brother, George, Duke of Clarence, to depose Edward. Initially, they were successful, and Edward was briefly replaced on the throne by Henry VI, his weak and vacillating predecessor. However, Edward fought back and soon rega...

In poetry, a "foot" is a measure of syllabic meter and stress that includes two syllables. Let's do as you requested and separate the feet within this excerpt from the poem with bold vertical lines: Him STILL  |  must SERVE,  |  him STILL  |  oBEY, And NO-  |  thing ACT  |  and NO-  |  thing SAY, But WHAT  |  her HAUGH-  |  ty LORD  |  thinks FIT, Who WITH  |  the POWER  |  has ALL  |  the WIT. You will also notice that I have placed some words (or parts of words) in all caps while leaving other words without this emphasis. I did this to help you note the pattern of stresses within these four lines. Normally we would "scan" a poem with the use of markings--a small "u" over syllables that are unstressed and an accent or slash ("/") over syllables that are stressed. However, since we are typing this out rather than handwriting the scansion, this is the easiest way to convey the stresses. Unstressed syllables have been left without the capitaliz...

One clue that this story is set in the past and was written in the past is that Bertie is fishing for money and only comes up with a sixpence, which the author refers to earlier as a sixpenny. The sixpence is an outdated English coin that used to be worth six pence, or one-fortieth of a pound sterling. The pound was formerly worth 240 pence. After the United Kingdom decimalized its money system in 1971, the pound was worth 100 pence (called "new pence"). The sixpence continued to be accepted as legal tender until 1980, when it was discontinued. When the United Kingdom decimalized its currency, the 5 pence and 10 pence coins became more useful than the sixpence. Bertie's use of a sixpence coin tells the reader that this story was written and takes place in the past, as modern writers and readers would likely not recognize the sixpence coin. The opening clues us in that "Shot in the Dark" was written and set in the past, for in this story, trains appear to be the ...

Determine the $x$- and $y$-intercept, and graph the equation $3x - 2y = 20$. $x$-intercepts: $ \begin{equation} \begin{aligned} 3x - 2y =& 20 && \text{Given equation} \\ 3x - 2(0) =& 20 && \text{To find the $x$-intercepts, we let $y=0$ and solve for $x$} \\ 3x =& 20 && \\ x =& \frac{20}{3} \end{aligned} \end{equation} $ The $x$-intercept is $\displaystyle \frac{20}{3}$. $y$-intercepts: $ \begin{equation} \begin{aligned} 3x - 2y =& 20 && \text{Given equation} \\ 3(0) - 2y =& 0 && \text{To find the $y$-intercepts, we let $x=0$ and solve for $y$} \\ -2y =& 20 && \\ y =& -10 && \end{aligned} \end{equation} $ The $y$-intercept is $-10$.

In the edition of the play I have, line 33 in this scene is Banquo's, "So I lose none." This is a pivotal scene and moment for Macbeth. Just before the section you have indicated, the two friends discuss the "three weird sisters," and Banquo reveals that he is concerned that they may have shown "some truth" to Macbeth. Macbeth tells Banquo airily, "I think not of them," which is an example of irony as the audience knows that Macbeth has thought of little else. After their conversation, Banquo says that he will keep his "bosom franchised and allegiance clear," which is then juxtaposed with Macbeth's sinister change of tone as he begins the famous "dagger" soliloquy. Having dismissed the servant, we witness Macbeth begin to wrestle with his conscience. This speech, in which Macbeth asks, "is this a dagger which I see before me," is our first true indication that the guilt of what he is about to do is truly begi...