Discuss the ways that Calpurnia, Miss Maudie, and Aunt Alexandra influence Scout's growing understanding of what it means to be a Southern "lady."

Calpurnia teachesthe importance of respecting her company
and treating others with hospitality, which is a significant character trait of courteous
Southern women. Calpurnia also disciplines Scout whenever she misbehaves and acts as a positive
role model to her. Calpurnia provides Scout with significant insight into the black community
and Scout learns the importance of code-switching. Cal also teaches Scout to remain humble and
not brag about her intelligence in front of uneducated people with fewer privileges in
life.

Miss Maudie shows Scout how to maintain
her composure during difficult times and remain positive when faced with adversity. Maudie
remains optimistic after her house burns down and continues to support the Finch family after
the wrongful conviction of Tom Robinson. Miss Maudie also teaches Scout the importance of
following her conscience and staying true to herself by not conforming to racist community
members and defendingduring Aunt Alexandra's missionary...

In 1984, how are the Parsons different from Winston Smith?

is an
intelligent, political dissident, who vehemently opposes the Party and is not brainwashed into
believing the government's overt lies. Winston actively seeks evidence to prove that life was
better before the Party usurped power and is a thoughtcriminal, who writes "DOWN WITH BIG
BROTHER" numerous times in his secret journal. Unlike the Parsons and the overwhelming
majority of the population, Winston Smith is an independent thinker and one of the last
remaining genuine human beings not obsessed with Big Brother.

In contrast,
the Parsons are depicted as ignorant, completely orthodox Party members, who accept and believe
the government's propaganda. Mr. Parsons is a staunch supporter of Big Brother and sacrifices
his personal time to prepare for the Hate Week festivities. Their children are depicted as
aggressive supporters of the Party, who are trained to spy on thoughtcriminals and report them
to the Thought Police. Winston fears the children and discovers that they even turned in their
father for engaging in thoughtcrime.

What are some possible reasons for Laurie to invent Charles in "Charles?"

Laurie inventedbecause he is
immature and unable to handle the socialization of kindergarten.

Young children often want to tell their parents things, but are not sure how to tell
them.  So they invent things.  Charles was Lauries way of telling his parents what he did in
kindergarten without actually telling them.  Every day, Laurie could come home and tell his
parents what he did without actually facing consequences.

We know that Laurie
was an immature child, not actually very good at inhibition.  He also really liked to shock his
parents.  A good example of this is when he told his father the story of the bad word Charles
made the little girl say.

What word? his father asked
unwisely, and Laurie said, Ill have to whisper it to you, its so bad. He got down off his
chair and went around to his father. His father bent his head down and Laurie whispered
joyfully. His fathers eyes widened.

Laurie seems to enjoy
shocking his father.  He gets to get the girl in trouble, get in trouble in school, and say a
bad word to his father, all without consequences.

Charles is really a cry for
help.  Laurie is floundering in kindergarten.  He is unable to socialize to meet the rules and
regulations that the school expects of him and behave the way a civilized person should.  School
is basically all about socialization, especially kindergarten.  Laurie is failing.  His parents
have never taught him manners.

At lunch he spoke
insolently to his father, spilled his baby sisters milk, and remarked that his teacher said we
were not to take the name of the Lord in vain.

Yet as
kindergarten goes on, Laurie seems to get a little better.  His teacher comments that he had a
little trouble adjusting but is doing better with occasional lapses.  His mother, of course,
is clueless.  She still has no idea that Laurie is Charles.  Talking about "Charles"
helps Laurie cope, and is one of the reasons he is getting better.

Invention
is normal for a child, and invention is a coping strategy.  When children invent stories,
sometimes the reason why can be a window into what is really going on in their lives.  In this
case, Charles is Laurie's alter ego, and an expression of his true self.  Inventing him makes it
easier for him to adjust to kindergarten, and helps him share what he is going through with his
parents.

I dont understand the poem "Grandfather" by Jayanta Mahapatra. Can somebody explain the summary of this poem?

This poem is
about an old man who suffered through a famine The old man is the speakers grandfather. The
speaker starts out reading the grandfathers diary, for he says:

The yellowed diarys notes whisper in vernacular

This means that he is reading the grandfathers diary, written in his native language
(vernacular). By reading the diary, the speaker can experience what his...

How does Meursault's decisions throughout the book, The Stranger, by Camus, affect his life at the end?

Meursault,
in Camus' short novel,
, is a very unusual man.  His life reflects a
inordinate
lack of concern, to the positive or negative, about almost anything. He enjoys
the
repetitive nature of his existence, sees no need to change anything, will
go along with what
others want in order to avoid any crisis or discomfort,
and passes from one day to the next
without truly becoming passionate or
caring about anything or anyone in his life.

When his
mother dies and he goes to her funeral, Meursault shows no grief

whatsoever.

When his boss offers him a chance to open a new office in
Paris,
he really doesn't care that this would be a fine opportunity for
him.

...he wanted to know if Id like a
post there.

Youre a young man, he said, and Im pretty sure
youd enjoy living in Paris. And, of
course, you could travel about France for
some months in the year.

I told him
I was quite prepared
to go; but really I didnt care much one way or the other.

Regarding Marie:

Marie came
that evening and asked me if Id marry her. I said I didnt
mind; if she was keen on it, wed get
married.

Then she
asked me again if I loved her. I replied, much as before,
that her question
meant nothing or next to nothingbut I supposed I didnt.

And...

Then she
remarked that
marriage was a serious matter. To which I answered:
No.

She kept silent
after that, staring at me in a curious
way. Then she asked: Suppose another girl had asked you
to marry herI mean, a
girl you liked in the same way as you like mewould you have said €˜Yes to

her, too?

Naturally.

It is
easy to
see that Meursault will go along with whatever Marie suggests, but he
does not take marriage
seriously, and would have said yes to anyone girl who
had asked if he liked her as much as he
liked her. And he cannot tell her he
loves her because he does not. That
would be a
passionate response, and he seems to have no emotional responses other than to
get
annoyed occasionally.

When Raymond gets into trouble
with the police for
beating his girlfriend, he asks Meursault to be his
witness about her infidelity, and Meursault
readily agrees, though he has no
idea if she was unfaithful or not. He simply agrees to do so,
and when he
goes to the police station to give a statement, no one checks it
out.

When Meursault, through a combination of illness and
seeming confusion, kills the Arab,
he admits that he is sad that the man is
dead, but shows no remorse for his part in
it.

He feels
equally disinterested in whether there is a God, even though the
magistrate,
and later the chaplain speak to him about it with great passion. He doesn't see
the
need to believe in God. It makes no difference to him.

This lack of passion,
of caring, of being involved in the world
around him and paying more attention is what gets him
into trouble. By the
time the court case comes around, there are very few who can stand up for
him
to attest to his sincere concern for others, his willingness to be a dedicated friend,
to be
a devoted and caring son, or a man of God. His routine of repeating
each day without dedication
to anything but maintaining the status quo paints
him as a self-centered, uncaring, Godless man
with criminal tendencies, and
he is sentenced to death.

 

What passage in Walker's "Everyday Use" explains the meaning of the title?

Just to
continue from the above answer, Dee sees the quaint belongings of her old home as
decorations.  This is superfluous in the context of the story.  The
family uses these things for everyday use.  The items are not
antiques to the people who live in the home and use them daily.  In a larger context, Dee is
representative of the "new" black woman, what people think black women should be or
become.  The mother and Maggie are what they are, and Walker in the story suggests that they
have their own form of dignity and it may well be superior to that of Dee.

How might Conchetta Pignati have died in The Pigman?

Mrs. Piganti died of natural

causes, probably from a sudden illness because she died
before her
husband.

Although Lorraine is
convinced that Mr. Pignati
killed his wife and buried her body in the
basement, she has the overactive imagination of a
teenager.  When John rifles
through Mr. Pignatis things and finds the funeral bill, he realizes
that she
is dead.  Lorraines first through is that Mr. Pignati killed her because something
is
off about him.  His wife is certainly not away on vacation. 

I thought it was very sad.  I mean, the cute
little girl in the ruffled dress had
already grown up, gotten married, lived
her life, and was underground somewhere.  And Mr.
Pignati wasnt able to admit
it. (Ch. 8)

A sudden illness
would
make sense for Mrs. Pignatis death, because he never came to terms with it.  She
might
have also died from an accident.  He never accepts her death, because
accepting it is too
painful.  It is easier for him to go on pretending, in
simple ways, that she is alive.  He says
she isnt home., and talks about her
in the present tense, saying she loves delicacies as if
she is going to
continue using her credit card.  These self-delusions are the result of the
fact
that he is not ready to let go of her.

At first
Lorraine thinks she just left
him, until John finds the funeral notice.  The
fact that there are no other signs of her death
speaks to a sudden
death.

That wife of hisMr. Pignatis

wifelooked like she didnt take anything with her to California.  All those clothes in
the
closet. (Ch. 7)

Often after a
sudden death, the remaining
loved one with leave everything as it was, as a
shrine.  This seems to be what Mr. Pignati did. 
He was unable to face what
happened.  He told the kids she went to California, but people close
to him
certainly knew the truth.

The cause of Mrs. Pignatis death
probably
does not matter much to him.  He is grieving and clearly weakened as
a result.  He is lonely,
and sad.  The fact that he opens up his life to
these two teenagers shows how desperate for
attention he is, but also how
vulnerable he is.  It is a move he will regret, unfortunately.
 Although they
might bring some company, they will also unintentionally bring him to his

destruction.