Describe the dream which Robinson had during his illness.

In the
story, Robinson suffered from a terrible attack of the ague. The text tells us that he could not
eat or drink during his sickest moments.

On the evening of June 27th,
Robinson had a frightening dream. In his dream, Robinson believed himself to be sitting on the
ground. As he looked up, he saw a man descend in a huge dark cloud. The man was clothed in a
shining flame.

Robinson tells us that the man's face and figure were so
bright that he could barely look at him. Most terrifying of all, the man's face showed an
extremely severe expression. Robinson remembers being deathly afraid after the man's footsteps
caused the earth to tremble.

He reports seeing the fearful figure approach
him with a spear or weapon. For his part, Robinson believes that his formidable dream enemy had
intended to kill him. The man had raised his spear and declared that Robinson should die, due to
the fact that he had failed to repent of his sins.

Robinson admits that his
dream frightened him. He became remorseful that he never once considered the state of his soul
throughout the years of his adult life. As he lay in the throes of his terrible illness,
Robinson began to regret his rejection of God and his estrangement from the parents who had
begged him to reconsider his path in life.

Discuss the characters in The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

In my
opinion, the major characters in 's are Santiago (the boy), the King of
Salem, the Englishman, the crystal merchant, the alchemist, and Fatima.

Santiago is a young man who decides to become a shepherd so that he may travel and not
be tied in one place. On his "life journey," he learns from the King of Salem
(Melchizedek) that he has a Personal Legend the reality of his life's dream if he will only
believe in it enough to pursue it and thus realize it.

The journey is not an
easy one, as is the case with life, and there are moments when Santiago is ready to quit and
once again become a shepherd. During one such time, Santiago takes a job with a crystal
merchant, working for him for eleven months to make money to buy more sheep. He helps the
merchant greatly improve his business, and over time, they become close. It is from the merchant
that Santiago further learns the importance of pursuing one's Personal Legend. The merchant also
once had such a dream, but he allowed himself to be diverted from his purpose. Now,
well-established with his business and much older, he is no longer able to pursue his dream to
travel to Mecca, and he has regrets. Eventually Santiago does leave, but
not to buy sheephe decides to continue his quest.

While traveling by caravan
across the desert to find the alchemist, Santiago meets the Englishman, who also wishes to find
the same man. The Englishman has a dream to learn to change common metals into gold (called
"alchemy"). He believes that he can learn most of what he needs from books and he
tries to convince Santiago that his truth is Santiago's truth: that
Santiago must read. Santiago tells the Englishman to listen to the sounds of the desert to hear
the universal language that all parts of the world speak to each other. In time, both men
realize that they cannot live the other's dream, or walk his path. Whereas Santiago is following
a path that will not only help him reach his dream but find true happiness in life, the
Englishman can only see the draw of the gold, and he will never achieve his Personal
Legend.

At the oasis, Santiago meets Fatima, who lives there. He immediately
falls in love, realizing that should he die at that moment, it would all have been worth it, for
love brings him true happiness€¦and Fatima feels the same about
Santiago.

The alchemist is the last major character that Santiago meets. The
alchemist is very knowledgeable, speaking not only the Universal Language, but knowing, too, how
to become one with the Soul of the World (which you are closest to "when you want something
with all your heart"). He knows that for Santiago to realize his Personal Legend, "you
must do the things you think you cannot do:" he must turn himself into the wind. A
seemingly impossible task, Santiago is driven by his will to survive the threat of the soldiers
at the military camp where he and the alchemist have been taken prisoner. He succeeds, but
realizes that even though he may acquire wealth, that which he values the
most is his love for Fatima.

Santiago tells the sun,
"Love is the force that transforms and improves€¦" This is what love does for
Santiago€¦and he fulfills his Personal Legend.

How does Mattie change throughout Fever 1793?

Matilda
Cook (Mattie) is theof ,
a young adult historical novel by Laura Halse
Anderson that takes
place in Philadephia during a yellow fever outbreak that killed ten percent

of the city's population.

Mattie is an adolescent who is transformed
and
matures throughout the course of the story, a process accelerated by the
challenges she faces
during the epidemic.

Mattie,
her...

What is the social contract for Rousseau?

To Rousseau,
the social contract is an agreement between all the people of a society in which they agree to
completely submerge their individual wills and obey the collective will of the people.

Rousseau believed that the average person does not always really understand what is in
their best interest.  Therefore, they will not necessarily govern themselves wisely.  This means
that they need to allow themselves to be governed by the common will, which is much less likely
to make mistakes.  Rousseau believes that the social contract consists of putting all of ones
liberties and ones powers into the collective.  One then gets back exactly what everyone else
gets back.  This is a more communitarian vision in which people allow themselves to be ruled
(even if they do not think at the time that this is best) by the will of the society as a
whole.

How does Lady Macbeth show strong emotions throughout the play in Macbeth?

Ladyis definitely very
interested in having her husband be king.  Once he begins his homicidal spree, she has strong
feelings of guilt.

Ladybecomes very excited when she hears
that Macbeth has been prophesized to be king.  She is ambitious, and wants him to have the
biggest office.

Make thick my blood,

Stop up the access and passage to remorse,(45)

That no compunctious
visitings of nature

Shake my fell purpose nor keep peace between

The effect and it! (Act 1, Scene 5, p. 20)

is
interested in Macbeth coming into power at all costs.  When he falters, she pushes him.  She
calls him a coward and tells him she has a plan, he just needs to follow it.

But screw your courage to the sticking-place,

And
we'll not fail. (Act 1, Scene 5, p. 24)

Once Macbeth
kills , she is still calling the shots.  She scolds him for not putting the daggers by the
victims.  She insists that he play it up, and sound sincere.  They both do an excellent job
acting surprised.

When Macbeth does not stop at killing Duncan, Lady Macbeth
is annoyed.  She tries to stop the ball she started rolling, but Macbeth is no longer under her
influence.  She becomes more and more guilt-ridden, until she has a mental break.

What need we fear who knows it,

when none can
call our power to account? Yet who would

have thought the old man to have had
so much blood in(35)

him? (Act 5, Scene 1)

She eventually succumbs to grief and kills herself.

Explain why John Mills philosophy of utilitarianism does not make the world a better place.

We can argue
that John Stuart Mills idea of utilitarianism would not make the world a better place because it
would encourage behavior that is both immoral and unfair to some people.

Mills philosophy of utilitarianism is a consequentialist view of what people should do.  That
means that it bases its notions of right and wrong on the results of peoples actions, not on
their motives or on how well they conform to moral...

How does Edwards's sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" reflect Puritan religious beliefs?

had
been steeped in the Calvinist theology of the Puritans from an early age. As time went on,
however, it became clear to him, as for many brought up in the same tradition, that something of
the original spirit of Puritanism had been lost.

Like most denominations,
Calvinism had become ossified into a system of formal observances, to which many adherents paid
lip-service without feeling any kind of emotional attachment to their creed. Belief had become a
matter for the head, not for the heart. What preachers such as Edwards sought to do, then, was
to urge people to look inside...