What are some of Piggy's characteristics in Lord of the Flies?

has many
characteristics that explain why he isn't a favorite among the boys. He is overweight and has
asthma, so he can't be as physically active as the others. He speaks with a lower-class , often
using improper grammar despite his obvious intelligence. He wears glasses to correct his vision.
Piggy is socially awkward. He clings toand fishes for responses from him without being assertive
enough to simply state what he wants. He often refers to his "auntie," which makes him
sound childish. In addition, he can whine at times; after Ralph divulges his name is Piggy, he
nearly cries when he confronts Ralph about that betrayal.

Despite these less
attractive characteristics, Piggy has some clear strengths. He often thinks of ideas that the
other boys never consider. For example, he is the one who thinks of blowing the conch to call a
meeting. He is the only one to think of taking attendance and gathering names at the first
gathering. He tries to create a sundial, and he confronts the idea of ghosts with logic rather
than fear. When other boys seem paralyzed and at a loss about what to do, Piggy's logic shines
forth: "Only Piggy could have the intellectual daring to suggest moving the fire from the
mountain."

Another important quality of Piggy's is his loyalty. He
sticks by Ralph when most others desert him, and he consistently encourages Ralph in his role as
chief. He also has a strong sense of justice, which unfortunately becomes his undoing.
Determined to get his glasses back from , he confronts him with uncharacteristic bravery:
"Which is betterto have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill?" That brave speech,
however, proves to be his last.

Piggy, while having some irritating
qualities, has many good characteristics that make him a "true, wise
friend."

How did the war between Lilliput and Blefuscu begin in Gulliver's Travels?

brilliantly satirizes conflicts in the Western world through the Lilliput - Blefuscu war in his
novel, . Though the war is bitter and violent, the conflict between the
nations of Lilliput and Blefuscu started because of an absurd disagreement: Lilliput believes an
egg should be broken from the small end, while Belfuscu believes it should be broken from the
big end. 

This war is an importantfor one major reason: it pokes fun at the
contemporary wars and conflicts of Swift's day. Though our wars might seem to be based on
rational reasons, Swift says, they're ultimately as silly and absurd as the debate over how to
break open an egg. The truly insignificant nature of the conflict is mirrored by the size of the
citizens of Lilliput and Blefuscu; just as they are physically small, people from Lilliput and
Blefuscu are wrapped up in tiny disputes blown way out of proportion. Thus, through this
humorous depiction of a war, Swift suggests that Western conflicts are small-minded, absurd, and
ultimately unnecessary. 

Why is the subtitle of the play "A Romance"?

This play is based on an
ancient Greek myth about a woman-hating sculptor, named , who created a statue of the perfect
woman and then proceeded to fall in love with it. He named her Galatea, and his feelings for her
were so sincere that the goddess of love, Aphrodite, took pity on him and brought Galatea to
life. Therefore, we might consider the myth a kind of romance, since it ends with a couple
apparently in love with one another. However, the play itself does not. It seems probable that
Eliza and Henry have feelings for one anotherthey fight with lots of passion, to be surebut she
promises to marry Freddy and Henry only laughs at the thought. Therefore, calling this play
"A Romance" seems to be a bit of : either because the two main characters fight like
cats and dogs or because Shaw is, perhaps, commenting on the nature of romance in his era. We
never learn of Galatea's feelingsperhaps she doesn't want to marry Pygmalion but cannot say
sobut we certainly learn Eliza's. It is no longer simply a matter of what the man
wants.

In the play, the discovery, reversal of fortune and catastrophe all occur at the same moment. When is this moment?

This
moment has to be at the end of the drama.  Act IV is the point wherelearns of his true heritage
in that he is Laius' son.  The fact that thespeaks at this moment is quite telling:

Alas, o child of Laius,
if only, if only we had
never
set eyes on you!(1250)
My grief is like a libation poured from
mymouth.
But to speak the truth, becauseof you I could breath again
and
becauseof you I sink my eyes into sleep.

This is the
reality that Oedipus grasps at the end of Act IV. This "sleep" is something that ends
up continuing into Act V, where the disastrous end of the play is where eyes need to be closed
in "sleep."  Oedipus' search for truth that lived outside of the palace walls was an
internal one.  This reversal is initiated at this point and then continued on into the drama's
final act when he recognizes the full extent of the wrong committed and the consequences it
brings onto both his kingdom and his name.  The full catastrophic moment is seen when his wife/
mother hangs herself and he blinds himself.  This is the moment in Act V where the reversal of
fortune is complete.  The intial discovery is one that is seen in Act IV's end and the
implications of it come to fruition in Act V. 

In A Christmas Carol, why does Scrooge say that Fred should not be happy?

In the first
chapter, or stave, of  , Ebeneezer Scrooge receives a visit from his nephew
Fred. Fred has come to invite Scrooge to Christmas dinner. Before Fred can issue an invitation,
however, he must first answer to Scrooge's confrontation about whether Fred has any cause to be
merry at this time of year. Fred arrives with the shout, "A merry Christmas, uncle! God
save you!" Scrooge responds to this with his famous catch-phrase, "Bah! Humbug!"
Fred then questions whether Scrooge really means to call Christmas a humbug, and this is what
opens the door to Scrooge's rant about people who are poor not really having any reason to be
merry. Fred points out the flaw in this logic by asking Scrooge how he can be so dismal and
morose since he is rich. Scrooge continues his explanation of the faulty logic of being merry
while poor, saying that Christmas is "a time for paying bills without money; a time for
finding yourself a year older, but not an hour richer; a time for balancing your books and
having every item in 'em through a round dozen of months presented dead against you." Fred
very eloquently rebuts Scrooge's speech, and Bob Cratchit applauds him from the other
room.

Fred is not the only one who Scrooge believes is too poor to be merry.
Upon hearing Cratchit applaud Fred's speech, Scrooge scolds him with the threat of being fired.
After Fred exchanges season's greetings with Cratchit and departs, Scrooge continues to mutter
about the lunacy of being happy while poor. He specifically cannot understand how Cratchit can
talk of a merry Christmas while only earning fifteen shillings per week and having a wife and
family to support. In Scrooge's view of the world, poor people (a group to which Fred and
Cratchit would supposedly belong) have no cause for joy and do not deserve charity. They can go
to established facilities such as prisons and workhouses. His feelings about charity for these
people are summed up in the statement, "I don't make merry myself at Christmas and I can't
afford to make idle people merry."

Write a story about "Hills Like White Elephants" after the original story ended.

This is a really
interesting assignment. The way you write it depends on what you think Jig, the , will do after
she gets on the train for Madrid. At the end of the story, it is unclear whether she will get an
abortion or not, in spite of the fact that her boyfriend seems to be urging her to do so. She
has reservations about the subject, but she seems to be leaning in that direction.

When you write the story, you can write the conclusion to this question. Will Jig get
an abortion or not? If she does, how will she feel about it? Will she be able to continue in a
relationship with her boyfriend? If she does not get an abortion and has the baby, will her
boyfriend stand by her? How will she raise the baby? You can go in a lot of interesting
directions with this story.

Be sure to stay true to Jig's personality, which
is conflicted and self-effacing (she tells her boyfriend that she does not care about herself).
Has she grown as a character since the end of the original story? If so, explain in which ways
(for example, has she become more self-assertive?).

In The Witch of Blackbird Pond, why does Kit end her relationship with William?

After Kit
is arrested and tried for witchcraft and the charges against her are dropped, William comes to
call at her home. He stayed away during Mercy's illness out of consideration for the family, he
says. Kit is cool toward him because he did not support her during the trial; he didn't even act
as a character witness for her. When Kit shows him out that evening, they have a private
conversation. Although he says he missed her, he makes it clear that he expects her to put her
unpredictable ways...