How does the life of Mr. and Mrs. White change because they meddled with fate?
- THE MONKEY’S PAW
How does the life of Mr. and Mrs. White change because they meddled with fate?
“Wish for something sensible,” forewarned Sergeant Major Morris when he presented the talisman in W. W. Jacobs’s short story “The Monkey’s Paw.” But the next owners of the paw, the Whites, made a…
1 educator answer
- GENE RODDENBERRY: THE LAST CONVERSATION
was edith keeler a historical social worker, or was she an invention of gene roddenberry?I…
The Star Trek episode you’re referring to is “City on the Edge of Forever” from the original Star Trek series. It aired in 1967 and is one of the most acclaimed episodes from that series. Unlike…
1 educator answer
- LAW AND POLITICS
Gay Marriage – Should a man be allowed to marry another manWhy is it illegal For a man to marry a…
Just playing devil’s advocate here, not trying to say what I believe or don’t… Freedom doesn’t mean you can do absolutely anything you want. If we’re a free country, how come a woman can’t…
9 educator answers
- HISTORY
What was the bloodiest war in the history of the world?I know that the Civil War killed the most…
By far, World War II killed more people than any other war in human history. The people killed in this war included soldiers, of course. But this was also the war in which more civilians were…
3 educator answers
- THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
Describe the significance of children in The Catcher in the Rye. What role do they play in the…
Just after writing Catcher, J.D. Salinger told Time magazine: “Some of my best friends are children…In fact, all of my best friends are children.” Both author and narrator are, dare I say,…
1 educator answer
- ALL MY SONS
What are the roles of women in the tragedy All My Sons?
This question is a little difficult to approach because the women in the play serve different roles. Some of the characters seem a bit free in their actions, while others are more restricted….
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- THE CHANT OF JIMMIE BLACKSMITH
How is belonging explored in the book, The chant of Jimmie Blacksmith?
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, by Thomas Keneally is the story of Jimmie Blacksmith who killed many people in a violent rage in 1900 in Australia because of how he was treated growing up, in…
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- BUSINESS
Muhammad YunusWhat has Muhammad Yunus done in the past 30 years that revolutionized the banking…
Didn’t he set up a bank that did microcredit loans to people with no collateral? Not that he’s the only one, but he was one of the leaders and an inspiration for many other providers that have…
2 educator answers
- WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
What is the rhythm/ rhyme of “My Heart Leaps up”, William Wordsworth?
The poem’s predominant rhythm is iambic tetrameter. This means that most lines have four feet, each foot consisting of one unstressed (or unaccented) syllable followed by one stressed (or accented)…
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- THE STORY OF MY LIFE
How did Helen learn the meaning of love?
Miss Sullivan did not give up on her, even when she was being defiant and acting spoiled. She cared enough about Helen to not pamper her or pity her because of her disabilities, but instead was…
1 educator answer
- LORD OF THE FLIES
In ch. 5, Ralph and Piggy prayed for a sign from the grown-up world. In ch. 6, they have been…
You’re correct–the sign they receive is the man with the parachute that lands on top of the mountain. The significance of this event is that the man is dead, which could symbolize that the…
2 educator answers
- THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO
What does the word “pipe” mean in Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado?”
It is significant that Montresor claims to have bought such a large quantity of Amontillado. It seems unlikely that he would have wanted that much of that kind of wine for himself. A pipe…
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- FAHRENHEIT 451
How do Mildred and Clarisse illustrate the opposing elements of society in the book Farenheit…
Mildred and Clarisse pull Montag in separate directions. Mildred represents the end result of ambivalence: she doesn’t have opinions of her own, her “world” is her entertainment, and the last thing…
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- THE SCARLET LETTER
How does Roger Chillingworth interact with others throughout the novel The Scarlet Letter?
According to Hawthorne’s narrator, Roger Chillingworth had all his life been kind, though not warmly affectionate, and calm in temperament. He had spent his life as a scholar in solitary pursuit of…
1 educator answer
- BIOLOGY
As you suggest, taxonomy is (when referring to biology) the science of classifying organisms. Taxonomy got its start with the eighteenth century scientist Carolus Linnaeus. He proposed the system…
2 educator answers
- CONFEDERATES IN THE ATTIC
What are the social and emotional reasons why Westerman’s killing becomes such a flashpoint for…
This refers to an event which happened in Todd County, Kentucky in which a man was killed after flying a Confederate flag from his pickup truck. From an African-American perspective, consider what…
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- JAMES THURBER
What is the irony of “The Catbird Seat”?What is considered to be dramatic, verbal, and…
Erwin Martin manages to turn the tables on his nemesis in James Thurber’s short story, “The Catbird Seat.” Martin appears to have little chance of maintaining the status quo at F&S once Ulgine…
1 educator answer
- PERIODIC TABLE
Electrons in the third orbital of sulphur are involved in reactions. How many electrons does a…
Sulphur has 16 electrons about its nucleus. These orbit around at different energy levels, called shells, the innermost shell being the most tightly bound to the positively charged nucleus. Two…
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- INTO THE WILD
From Into the Wild, why does Krakauer refer to Chris as “at peace, serene as a monk gone to God?”
Jon Krakauer, after writing the initial story that led to his research for the book, felt that he had a personal connection to Chris, despite never having crossed his path. Krakauer writes that he…
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- THE ODYSSEY
Please keep in mind that “Odyssey” is the epic poem, and Odysseus is the person about whom the poem was written. Odysseus was, according to legend, the king of the Greek city state of Ithaca. His…
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- INTO THE WILD
From Into the Wild, why does the author cite letters and postcards written by Chris?
Reproducing Chris’s letters and postcards serves two major purposes in the text. First, it allows a better insight into Chris’s mind; since he is not around to explain his motivations, the only…
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- THE AMERICAN WAY OF DEATH REVISITED
What’s the purpose of “The American Way of Death” written by Jessica Mitford ?I have to…
Mitford’s book is an expose which seeks to shed light on not only much of the silliness connected to the mortuary “business” but also to cause readers to consider what is truly necessary when…
1 educator answer
- MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN
Who did Sam obtain his first deer from after all?
In “My Side of the Mountain,” Sam Gribley has left home to live in the wild on an old homestead that had belonged to his great-grandfather. Once up in the mountains, Sam builds himself a home in an…
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- BEOWULF
How did the Stone Gods play apart in the epic?
The part the Stone Gods played were the objects of Pagan rituals. These offerings that the people of Herot made showed the root of their beliefs still lay in paganism. In this time in history…
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- ANNE BRADSTREET
What are the poetic elements in Anne Bradstreet’s “To My Dear and Loving Husband”? List three and…
Bradstreet’s poem features numerous poetic elements. First, it is structured in rhyming couplets, pairs of lines that rhyme. The twelve lines of the poem consist of six couplets. Here is an example…
2 educator answers
- ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR MY CRY
Why was Sam Tatum tarred and feathered in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry? Although this was a…
Sam Tatum was an African-American character in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry who was tarred and feathered for questioning a bill presented to him at the Wallace store. He believed (correctly) that…
1 educator answer
- GUIDE TO LITERARY TERMS
What’s the difference between metaphor and analogy?
Metaphors and analogies are similar in that each is rooted in comparing one thing to another, just as similes are comparisons. The difference between metaphor and analogy is found in their purpose…
2 educator answers
- ROMEO AND JULIET
Can you give one major trait of Juliet for the beginning, middle and at the end of the…
Obedient- When we first meet Juliet, she is a shy, inexperienced child who dutifully follows her parents’ wishes. in Act I, scene iii, she comes when called and asks “Madam, I am here, / What is…
1 educator answer
- BUSINESS
In the book “Freakonomics,when Steven Levitt says he’s not good at math does he mean it?
It appears that he means it to some extent, but is to some extent being self-deprecating. Levitt entered graduate school at a time when the amount of math required for admission to a top economics…
1 educator answer
- A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
What are the love imbalances and their consequences in all of the relationships in the play A…
The love imbalances in A Mid Summer Night’s Dream are mostly between a foursome of Athenians. These imbalances form opposites, doubles and love triangles.The first triangle is that Hermia loves…
1 educator answer
- BUSINESS
Why does Orville’s popcorn have a higher price elasticity of demand than popcorn in general?Is it…
Assuming that your book/teacher is telling you that this particular brand of popcorn has more elastic demand, then yes, you are right. If a person really likes popcorn, then they will be likely to…
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- BUSINESS
When the government increases the money supply I don’t get a raise or anything so how does that…
Maybe you’re not getting a raise yourself, but if the money supply increases, it could potentially affect you, too, in ways that would help cause inflation. And even if it didn’t affect you, it…
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- THE EAGLE
What does the poem of “The Eagle” mean? What does the author want to show us in the poem?
Tennyson’s poem is a very interesting study in the natural world and those creatures who inhabit it. The opening two lines establish the exposition of an eagle set atop a high mountain. The third…
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- BUSINESS
Why will inflation occur if the government increases the money supply?
Inflation is the term for a rise in the average cost of goods and services in an economy. So when prices in general rise, that’s inflation. How can increasing the money supply cause inflation? If…
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- BUSINESS
In economics is there such a thing as scarcity of money? All I hear about is scarcity of time and…
There is not necessarily a scarcity of money because money is not a resource. In theory, a government could print practically infinite amounts of money — to the point where it wouldn’t really be…
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- BUSINESS
Please explain in economic terms the saying “there is no such thing as a free lunch.”
The idea that there is no such thing as a free lunch is an illustration of a couple of the basic ideas of economics — that of scarcity, and that of opportunity cost. The idea of scarcity says that…
2 educator answers
- MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN
What kind of tree did Sam live in?
In the book “My Side of the Mountain,” by Jean Craighead George, a teenager named Sam leaves home intending to go live at his great-grandfather’s old farm up in the Catskill Mountains. He finds the…
1 educator answer
- EMILY DICKINSON
Can someone please tell me about Emily Dickinson’s life story? Please include where she lived and…
This should help you:
3 educator answers
- HARD TIMES
What calling (occupation) does Gradgrind not wish mentioned in his classroom in the book “Hard…
In “Hard Times,” Thomas Gradgrind is the schoolmaster in Cokeworth. He is obsessed with the idea of making sure that his pupils learn facts and nothing but facts. He is also very much into the…
1 educator answer
- THE KITE RUNNER
Is the book ‘The Kite Runner’ culturally specific or universally applicable?
The immediate success of this novel is that it is both cultural and universal in appeal. The reader learns a lot about the background history of Afghanistan and the critical events in more recent…
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- A LESSON BEFORE DYING
What was life like in 1940s Louisiana, including temperature, humidity, housing, etc.?
During the 1940’s, life in Louisiana was mostly rural, except for New Orleans which a hub of trade, being on the gulf coast. Temperature was mainly hot, humid, tropical…a lot of people died from…
1 educator answer
- A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND
Is there a way to compare and contrast “A Good Man is Hard to Find” (O’Connor) & “The Ones…
First, let me compliment you on a challenging and engaging topic. I had to think on this one for a bit. One approach is to compare the idea of sacrificial suffering, of the detriment of the few…
1 educator answer
- MACBETH
Do the witches target anyone else other than Macbeth in the play?
There has been a useful discussion thread on this issue as detailed below. Macbeth is most certainly the focus of the witches’ as they make reference to meeting him in the eighth line of the play….
2 educator answers
- WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Is there a shakespeare quote about: the pain of discipline is less than the pain of regret?I…
I’m afraid that your quote comes from a much less exalted source than Shakespeare… It appears to come from some guy called Jim Rohn who is a motivational speaker from here in the United States….
1 educator answer
- ASTRONOMY
Two stars are observed in the sky.Star A appears 2.5 times brighter than star B, and star A is 4…
The brightness that we see is related to two factors: how much brighter one star is than another and how much closer one is than another. The brightness decreases by the square of the distance….
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- PHYSICS
An observer B, moving at speed 0.5c, fires a projectile forward at speed 0.8c.a) What is the…
The speed of light (c) is considered to be the upper limit of velocity through time-space and is considered to be constant. It’s also considered to be independent of the motion of the observer. If…
1 educator answer
- A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
What prank did Puck played with the dairymaid in the dairy and how?
I assume that you are talking about what the fairy says to Puck when Puck first appears in Act II, Scene 1. At that point, the fairy is trying to make sure that Puck is who she thinks she is and…
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- THE RAVEN
Does the speaker seem to change in “The Raven”? If so, how would you describe his feelings?
The narrator in Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Raven” does indeed go through many emotional changes during the course of the poem. “Weak and weary,” the narrator is nonetheless awake during the middle…
1 educator answer
- FIFTH BUSINESS
Boy and Dunstan are characters who have been twice-born. Compare and contrast these characters,…
I want to answer this question from a very personal point of view. Robertson Davies was my professor in the University of Toronto in 1969-70, the year The Fifth Business was published. In those…
1 educator answer
- THE RAVEN
What words in the poem have sound that reflects and reinforces meaning, such as “rapping,…
Alliteration is the repetition of the initial sound of words, like “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.” Assonance is repeated vowel sounds, like “The fat cat saw a rat, but the rat went…