Notes

Saturday, 10 September 2016

Would the message of the poem change if it were writen in free verse?

Phillis Wheatley's poem "On Being Brought from Africa to America" would have the same message if it were written in free verse, but the tone might change and the central idea may be more threatening without the rhyme scheme.

The poem's rhyme scheme is aa bb cc dd, which is a very typical and basic rhyme using couplets. The rhyme scheme gives the poem a sing-song quality similar to children's nursery rhymes. The poem is...

'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,

Taught my benighted soul to understand

That there's a God, that there's a Saviour too:

Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.

Some view our sable race with scornful eye,

"Their colour is a diabolic die."

Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain,

May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train.

If you read the poem aloud, you can hear the lyrical but simple quality of the rhymes. This rhyme scheme works to lessen the intensity of the subject matter.

Wheatley begins by saying that she was blessed to be brought to America from Africa, as she has become Christian and has repented her "Pagan[ism]." She implies that learning about God and Christ have had a positive impact on her and that she was, figuratively, in the dark about the error of her ways.

In the next four lines, however, Wheately's message becomes more pointed as she tackles racism and inequality. She refers to "some" who think African Americans are inferior and who associate black people with the devil. She says that "Negros, black as Cain" can also be redeemed through Christianity. The subtle undertone of these lines is that Wheately believes African Americans are not inferior and certainly do not fit the stereotypes white Americans have placed upon them. She uses the common belief in Christianity to make her message more appealing to her white readers. However, the idea that, in this early period of American history, white citizens would accept black citizens as their equals would have been controversial. Using the aa bb cc dd rhyme scheme makes the message softer and gives it a less extreme tone. Free verse (no rhyme scheme) may have come across as more aggressive or straightforward.

Friday, 9 September 2016

What does the coral paperweight symbolize? What does Julia mean when she says, “If you kept the small rule you could break the big ones?” How...

The coral paperweight symbolizes the world apart from the Party that Winston and Julia hope to construct for themselves in the room above Mr. Charrington's shop. In this world, they can live normal lives as a man and woman together in love. As Winston thinks while looking at the paperweight,

It was as though the surface of the glass had been the arch of the sky, enclosing a tiny world with its atmosphere complete. He had the feeling that he could get inside it, and that in fact he was inside it, along with the mahogany bed and the gateleg table, and the clock and the steel engraving and the paperweight itself. The paperweight was the room he was in, and the coral was Julia’s life and his own, fixed in a sort of eternity at the heart of the crystal.

When Julia says if you follow the small rules, you can break the big ones, she means that if you appear completely loyal to the state in small matters, nobody will question your loyalty. If nobody questions your loyalty, you can get away with bigger transgressions because nobody will even suspect you of them. Of course, Julia later finds out this theory is wrong.

Winston is old enough to remember a time before the Party took over Oceania. This makes him more questioning of the system than Julia. He is more quick to believe that the Party tells lies. For example, he remembers airplanes existing in an earlier time, yet the Party claims that it invented them:

Sometimes, indeed, you could put your finger on a definite lie. It was not true, for example, as was claimed in the Party history books, that the Party had invented aeroplanes. He remembered aeroplanes since his earliest childhood.

Julia, however, is young enough that all she has ever known is the Party. She is not interested in history or whether the Party tells the truth about it. She is practical and is focused on making a decent life for herself in the present.

When Winston says the proles are still human, he means that the proles can still live ordinary lives in which they care about other people, they remain loyal to one another, and they have not become hardened inside. As Winston realizes,

What mattered [in the past] were individual relationships, and a completely helpless gesture, an embrace, a tear, a word spoken to a dying man, could have value in itself. The proles, it suddenly occurred to him, had remained in this condition. They were not loyal to a party or a country or an idea, they were loyal to one another.

In contrast, Party members have become dehumanized; they are filled with hate and fear and are disconnected from caring about other people. Winston remembers that just a few weeks before, prior to Julia reconnecting him with his own humanity, he had "seen a severed hand lying on the pavement and had kicked it into the gutter as though it had been a cabbage-stalk."

The Brotherhood is most likely not real. The Party is omipotent and uses the idea of the Brotherhood to trap enemies of the state. Even if the Brotherhood were real, O'Brien would not be part of it. He believes completely in the aims of the state.

Is there a tension between the values of these warrior peoples and the suggested Christianity of the poet in the poem Beowulf?

There may be a tension between New Testament Christianity as we understand it and the values of the Dark Age Danes portrayed in Beowulf. But the brand of Christianity apparently held by the poet seems to fit very well with the demands of his warrior culture.

When thinking of Christianity, most modern readers think first of Jesus and His New Testament teaching, especially the Sermon on the Mount. (See Matthew 5:1 – 7:27.) It is this sermon which contains the most famous sayings of Jesus, and also those which sound the most pacifistic, such as “Blessed are the meek,” “Turn the other cheek,” and “If someone wants to take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.” Taken in isolation, these sayings would seem to be urging the exact opposite of the lifestyle led by Beowulf and company, whose core values seem to be bravery, boastfulness, and vengeance.

But actually, this sharp contrast depends on caricatures of both the epic of Beowulf and of Jesus’ teaching.

The warriors in Beowulf are indeed tough, violent, and not friends of mercy. However, this does not mean they have no moral code. They value loyalty to their king or leader, loyalty to their family and clan (sometimes expressed in vengeance), generosity (the king gives gifts), and self-sacrifice (Beowulf’s exploits are done not only to prove himself but to protect the weak who are being slaughtered by Grendel and the other monsters). Though violent, they are not just barbarians living in chaos.

Jesus’ teaching is also much more rich and complex than “let people walk all over you.” If we look at the totality of his teaching, He preaches a way of life that calls for a great deal of loyalty, generosity, and courage to carry it out. And though, in the Sermon on the Mount, He was warning us against being contemptuous, selfish, and greedy, He does not ever say that we may never defend ourselves or go to war. For example, in Luke 3:10 – 14, John the Baptist, who is calling the people to “repent” and prepare for Jesus’ coming, does not tell Roman soldiers or even tax collectors to leave their jobs; He tells them to do their jobs in a fair way. This is also the tenor of Jesus’ teaching.

As for the poet’s understanding of Christianity, he does not mention Christ's teachings. He has clearly heard of the God of the Bible. He is familiar with certain (not all?) Old Testament events; for example, he says that Grendel and other monsters are descended from Cain.

The poet’s understanding of God actually elevates his warrior values to a beautiful philosophy. In an extended discussion, the poet points out that God alone knows, and chooses, when it is a man’s time to die. This should make a man brave in battle, and it should make him die quietly and uncomplaining, knowing that he cannot stop his death. Though the poet does not use the word, he is articulating the theological doctrine of God’s sovereignty. This is indeed a doctrine that can give people peace in the face of terrible events and can help to make us calm and brave, if we believe it. For example, in Revelation 1:17 – 18, Jesus says, “Do not be afraid … I hold the keys of Death and Hades.”

Both in Christianity and in the values of Beowulf, death is not the worst thing that can happen to a person.

This idea of God being over all also influences how kings are viewed in Beowulf. Again, we are not dealing with barbarians where the only law is the king’s whim. Rather, the king is also governed by certain values. Though there are good and bad kings, and bad kings are not immediately deposed, there is a sense of a value system that is higher than any individual king, and by which kings can be judged.

All in all, the “Christianity” or theology of the Beowulf poet fits in surprisingly well with his warrior culture, and seems to strengthen all that is best in it.

Where is trust a theme in the story "The Red Convertible" by Louise Erdrich?

In the story, the trust between two brothers is an important theme. It is alluded to when Henry goes to fight in the Vietnam War and leaves his trusted red Oldsmobile in Lyman's care.

When Henry was alive, both brothers often took road trips together in the Oldsmobile. They were happy to travel, and enjoyed great adventures together. After Henry became a Marine, he stayed away for three years fighting in the war. Before he left, he gave Lyman his keys to the Oldsmobile. His actions demonstrated his great trust in his brother. He told Lyman to treat the car as his own. While he was gone, Lyman took good care of the car; he kept it in pristine condition for Henry's return.

After Henry returned from the war, however, he was a different man. He became a loner, and he was always mean and easily irritated. Lyman reports that it was difficult to get Henry to laugh, and when he did laugh, it often sounded more like a man who was choking. Although Lyman had kept his brother's trust in him (where the Oldsmobile was concerned), he soon felt that drastic measures were needed to shake Henry out of his self-destructive stupor.

Despite his reservations, Lyman took a hammer to the car. He made the car look so beat up that Henry eventually noticed. Lyman then challenged Henry to restore the car to its initial condition. This conversation was the catalyst that precipitated Henry's frenzied work on the car. After the car was restored, Henry invited Lyman to take a ride with him. At this point, Lyman began to let himself hope that his brother was back to his old self again. The story ends in tragedy, however, when Lyman is swept out to deeper waters by the river currents, in which he drowns.

The trust between the two brothers is one of the main themes in the story. That trust is alluded to when Henry hands his car keys to Lyman just before he leaves for the war. It is again highlighted when Henry quietly repairs the Oldsmobile for Lyman, even though he knows that Lyman damaged the car on purpose. Henry's continued trust in his brother is poignantly and clearly demonstrated when he insists that Lyman take the car for his own. Perhaps, knowing that his life will never approach any sort of normalcy again, Henry gifts the car to Lyman as an emblem of his trust and love.

Wednesday, 7 September 2016

What is the setting (place and time) of "Thank You, M'am"?

Although no definite time or place is stated in the story “Thank you, M’am” by Langston Hughes, there are a few context clues in the story for us to make an educated guess. First of all, Mrs. Jones lives in a boarding house or apartment building with other people. Her apartment is small and suggests that it is a one room flat because the bedroom and kitchen are in the same room. The description of her apartment indicates that the story takes place in a city or urban area. In addition, we can conclude that the story takes place sometime in the 1950’s because of Roger’s desire for a pair of blue suede shoes. The song “Blue Suede Shoes," popularized by Elvis Presley, but written by Carl Perkins in 1955, shows that Roger wants to be stylish and fashionable.

Because we know that Langston Hughes lived and wrote the majority of his works in Harlem in New York City, we can also probably make the assumption that Harlem, a predominately black community, is the physical setting of the story.

How was "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" effective and ineffective? How would you react?

Accounts of the reception of Edwards's sermon that day in 1741 maintain that some in the congregation cried out, some fainted, and some wept. In the short term, it is plausible to assume it shook people up and made them reexamine the ways they were living and thinking about their afterlife. In that way, it could be deemed effective.

It could be said that Edwards's sermon, perhaps a centerpiece of the Great Awakening in the...

It could be said that Edwards's sermon, perhaps a centerpiece of the Great Awakening in the 1730s and 40s, did little to staunch the flow of people abandoning the vestiges of Puritan thought present in his theology. In that way, it was ineffective. As more people came to the colonies, many for reasons unrelated to religious freedom, what came with them were other ways of worship and attitudes toward the role of religion. The Enlightenment greatly influenced the rise of rational thought, and Deism became a more comfortable way for some to think about God.

The last part of your question is more difficult to answer; it's not easy for a person of the 21st century to fully understand the outlook of a person who would have attended this sermon. Since you asked, though, I would say the sermon would be a turn off for me.

Monday, 5 September 2016

`f(x)=sinhx` Prove that the Maclaurin series for the function converges to the function for all x

Maclaurin series is a special case of Taylor series that is centered at `c=0.` The expansion of the function about `0` follows the formula:

`f(x)=sum_(n=0)^oo (f^n(0))/(n!) x^n`

`f(x)= f(0)+(f'(0))/(1!)x+(f^2(0))/(2!)x^2+(f^3(0))/(3!)x^3+(f^4(0))/(4!)x^4 +...`

To determine the Maclaurin series for the given function` f(x)=sinh(x)` , we may apply the formula for Maclaurin series.

For the list of `f^n(x)` , we may apply the derivative formula for hyperbolic trigonometric functions: `d/(dx) sinh(x) = cosh(x)` and `d/(dx) cosh(x) = sinh(x)` .

`f(x) =sinh(x)`

`f'(x) = d/(dx) sinh(x)= cosh(x)`

`f^2(x) = d/(dx) cosh(x)= sinh(x)`

`f^3(x) = d/(dx) sinh(x)=cosh(x)`

`f^4(x) = d/(dx) cosh(x)= sinh(x)`

`f^5(x) = d/(dx) sinh(x)= cosh(x)`

Plug-in `x=0` on each `f^n(x)` , we get:

`f(0) =sinh(0)=0`

`f'(0) = cosh(0)=1`

`f^2(0) = sinh(0)=0`

`f^3(0) = cosh(0)=1`

`f^4(0) = sinh(0)=0`

`f^5(0) = cosh(0)=1`

Plug-in the values on the formula for Maclaurin series, we get:

`sum_(n=0)^oo (f^n(0))/(n!) x^n`

`= 0+1/(1!)x+0/(2!)x^2+1/(3!)x^3+0/(4!)x^4+1/(5!)x^5+...`

`= 1/(1!)x+1/(3!)x^3+1/(5!)x^5+...`

`=sum_(n=0)^oo x^(2n+1)/((2n+1)!)`

The Maclaurin series is `sum_(n=0)^oo x^(2n+1)/((2n+1)!)` for the function `f(x)=sinh(x)` .

To determine the interval of convergence for the Maclaurin series: `sum_(n=0)^oo x^(2n+1)/((2n+1)!)` , we may apply Ratio Test.

In Ratio test, we determine the limit as: `lim_(n-gtoo)|a_(n+1)/a_n| = L` .

The series converges absolutely when it satisfies `Llt1` .

In the Maclaurin series: `sum_(n=0)^oo x^(2n+1)/((2n+1)!)` , we have:

`a_n=x^(2n+1)/((2n+1)!)`

Then,

`1/a_n=((2n+1)!)/x^(2n+1)`

`a_(n+1)=x^(2(n+1)+1)/((2(n+1)+1)!)`

`=x^(2n+2+1)/((2n+2+1)!)`

`=x^((2n+1)+2)/((2n+3)!)`

`=(x^(2n+1)*x^2)/((2n+3)(2n+2)((2n+1)!))`

Applying the Ratio test, we set-up the limit as:

`lim_(n-gtoo)|a_(n+1)/a_n|=lim_(n-gtoo)|a_(n+1)*1/a_n|`

`=lim_(n-gtoo)|(x^(2n+1)*x^2)/((2n+3)(2n+2)((2n+1)!))*((2n+1)!)/x^(2n+1)|`

Cancel out common factors: `x^(2n+1) and ((2n+1)!)` .

`lim_(n-gtoo)|x^2/((2n+3)(2n+2))|`

Evaluate the limit.

`lim_(n-gtoo)|x^2/((2n+3)(2n+2))| = |x^2|lim_(n-gtoo)|1/((2n+3)(2n+2))|`

`=|x^2|*1/oo`

`= |x^2|*0`

`=0`

The `L=0` satisfies` Llt1` for all `x` .

Thus, the Maclaurin series: `sum_(n=0)^oo x^(2n+1)/((2n+1)!)` is absolutely converges for all `x` .

Interval of convergence: `-ooltxltoo` .