Onboard Note

This is a woman's novel, and in it, women play a large variety of roles. Jane Eyre herself is the steady force throughout the novel; this her story, and it is told in her voice. As an everywoman with no advantages of beauty or fortune, she attracts more than one man through her strength of character and manages to remain true to herself from start to finish. She is a protagonist a reader can easily identify with and root for. Mrs. Reed plays the role of antagonist, a woman who favors her own children over Jane, who is Mrs. Reed's dead husband's poor relation. She is cold and hateful to Jane and ignores how Jane is abused by her spoiled son. She also adds to the abuse by calling Jane a liar. When Jane leaves the Reed household, she finds female role models that she loves. At Lowood School, she learns patience and forbearance from both Helen Burns and Miss Temple. At Thornfield, she finds a companion in the housekeeper, Mrs. Fairfax, and possibly a double of her own repressed...

y = 2arccos(x) - 2sqrt(1-x^2) First, express the radical in exponent form. y = 2arccos(x)-2(1-x^2)^(1/2) To take the derivative of this, use the following formulas: d/dx(arccos(u)) = -1/sqrt(1- u^2) (du)/dx d/dx(u^n)= n*u^(n-1) *(du)/dx Applying these formulas, the derivative of the function will be: (dy)/dx = d/dx[2arccos(x) - 2(1-x^2)^(1/2)] (dy)/dx = d/dx[2arccos(x)] - d/dx[2(1-x^2)^(1/2)] (dy)/dx = 2d/dx[arccos(x)] - 2d/dx[(1-x^2)^(1/2)] (dy)/dx = 2 * (-1/sqrt(1-x^2))*d/dx(x) - 2 * 1/2(1-x^2)^(-1/2) * d/dx(1-x^2) (dy)/dx =2 * (-1/sqrt(1-x^2))*1-2*1/2(1-x^2)^(-1/2)* (-2x) (dy)/dx =2 * (-1/sqrt(1-x^2))*1-2*1/2*1/((1-x^2)^(1/2))* (-2x) (dy)/dx =2 * (-1/sqrt(1-x^2))*1-2*1/2*1/sqrt(1-x^2)* (-2x) (dy)/dx = -2/sqrt(1-x^2) +(2x)/sqrt(1 -x^2) (dy)/dx = (2x-2)/sqrt(1-x^2)   Therefore, the derivative of the function is (dy)/dx = (2x-2)/sqrt(1-x^2) .

In act 2, scene 4, Benvolio reports that Tybalt has sent a letter to Lord Montague's house. Mercutio replies, "A challenge, on my life" (2.4.9). Mercutio seems to assume that Tybalt would challenge Romeo to a duel, perhaps, because Romeo showed up, uninvited, at the big celebration held at the Capulet mansion the night before. Benvolio thinks that his cousin, Romeo, will answer the challenge in an honorable way, but Mercutio says that Romeo is "already dead" because he was killed by Rosaline's coldness and her failure to requite Romeo's love. Mercutio describes Tybalt as a "duelist" while he says that Romeo is "like a dried herring," limp and weak because of his love for Rosaline (2.4.25, 2.4.39). He does not realize, of course, that Romeo is no longer pining for Rosaline but has fallen deeply and quickly in love with Juliet Capulet, Tybalt's cousin. Mercutio suspects that Tybalt's letter contains a challenge of mortal combat ...

The Weird Sisters don't really do anything to respond to the prophecies that Macbeth receives from the apparitions that they conjure in Act IV.  In fact, we never see them again on stage after that second set of prophecies.  In reference to the apparitions, however, the Sisters do conjure them at the behest of their leader, Hecate.  As she said, "And you all know, security / Is mortals' chiefest enemy" (3.5.32-33).  The witches' plan is to make Macbeth feel secure so that he lets down his guard.  Hecate says that feeling safe is actually our biggest enemy because, when we feel safe, we aren't as alert to danger.  Macbeth will be easier to harm if he feels that he is unlikely to be harmed because he won't be on the lookout for danger.  So, the Weird Sisters conjure apparitions that offer enigmatically worded statements designed to make Macbeth feel safe (but that actually can come true in unexpected ways). 

This standard brainteaser has a simple answer: you are on the North Pole. Because "north" is measured relative to the North Pole—and because traveling east and west preserves your distance from the North Pole—following the instructions in the prompt will put you right back where you started. More interesting is figuring out whether there is anyplace else where the same principle holds. In fact, there is a band around the South Pole where the same steps will also bring you to the same place. Because the Earth is (roughly) spherical, its circumference narrows as you approach the poles. That means there is a ring in Antarctica where an east-west circumnavigation of the globe takes exactly 100 miles. At any point on that ring, if you walk 100 miles west, you will end up completing a perfect circle and you will finish exactly at your starting point. So, if you begin the instructions in the prompt precisely 100 miles north of that ring, walk south toward the ring, travel the ring, ...

If I were writing a piece in response to Emily Dickinson's "My Life had stood—a Loaded Gun," I would most certainly have introduced the main idea of the poem in my introduction, especially in my thesis statement. It would be based on what you think the poem means. A poem, like any other piece of art, goes through a metamorphosis when it leaves the hands (or mind) of its creator; in other words, my interpretation may not be the meaning the author intended, and it might not agree with the assessment of others who also have read the poem. That is the magic of art in any form. For me, the most important thing to note about the poem is its use of personification, giving human characteristics to a non-human thing. In this poem, the gun, used to serve at the whim of its owner, takes on a life of its own. The gun is meaningless and unimportant until the owner one day takes notice and "puts the gun to work." My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun -  In Corners - till a Day  Th...

The United States had many European immigrants in the era leading up to WWI.  While most of America sided with the Allies in the war, there were many German Americans, Austrian Americans, and Irish Americans who wanted to see the Entente Powers fail.  There was also worry over work stoppages as after 1917 many industrialists feared a proletarian revolution.  The State Department knew that Germany had spies in the United States, and many were even operating out of the German Embassy.  They were responsible for sabotage, with their most successful attack taking place at Black Tom in New Jersey, where German saboteurs destroyed a munitions plant.   By making it easier to deport these Americans if they were suspected of helping the Central Powers, the United States hoped to ensure that its men and supplies reached the front in a timely manner.  Many were jailed on the grounds of sedition for speaking out against the war and the draft.  Eugene Debs was incarcerated for saying that the war w...