What is a theme of Touching Spirit Bear and textual evidence that explains the theme?

Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen is a coming-of-age story about a young man named Cole who undergoes a healing treatment on a deserted island as punishment for violently attacking another boy. Cole is taken under the wings of two men: 

• Garvey—Cole’s parole officer who got him into the rehabilitation program called Circle Justice.


• Edwin—He is one of the Native Americans in charge of Circle Justice.

It’s not surprise that isolation would become a central theme to the book since Cole is put on an island alone to work out his problems. The ideal goal for Cole is to reflect on his actions and reenter society as a changed person. Isolation is explored in several ways—mostly through Cole’s experiences.

 First, Cole feels social isolation from the community. For example, Cole believes that people in his community try to help him be a better person only because they want to get rid of him. Mikaelsen writes, “He hated their fake concern. They didn't really care what happened to him. They were gutless—he could see it in their eyes. They were afraid, glad to be rid of him. They pretended to help only because they didn't know what else to do.” Do you see how Cole is isolated from society? He does it to himself, but his community also pushes him away too.

Second, Cole experiences physical isolation. He is physically placed on an island alone. The separation from others really gets to him. Mikaelsen says, “Some nights he cried himself to sleep from loneliness. He couldn't help it. The silence became overpowering, and he longed to hear another human voice.” It’s not that Cole even wants to interact with others; he just wants to hear them to know that he isn’t alone. 

Isolation persists throughout the book until the end when Cole returns to society. From there, he must use his new skills to reenter his community.

How did the colonists break ties with Great Britain, win the Revolutionary War, and create a national identity?

There was unrest in the Thirteen Colonies for many years before the Revolutionary War.  New taxes, such as the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act, were considered unfair.  The Colonists were not represented in Parliament, and because of this they had no one to speak on their behalf.  The Townshend Revenue Act of 1967 taxed tea and other common commodities.  All of the taxes were eventually repealed except for the one on tea.  Protests in Boston led to British troops occupying the city.  The unrest continued, and led to the Boston Massacre.

The Tea Act was made to benefit the East India Company, which was having financial difficulties.  They had an overstock of tea, which was to be sold cheaply in Boston.  Concern that this would have a negative impact on local merchants combined with the unrest led to the Boston Tea Party.  Tea from ships in the Boston Harbor were thrown into the water in protest.  

Troops were quartered in private homes and buildings, which led to further dissatisfaction with the British government.  Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, Thomas Paine, Paul Revere, and other people began to talk of independence from Britain.  The Sons of Liberty and other organizations were formed.  Local militias were established.  Shots were fired at Lexington and Concord and the Revolutionary War began in 1775.

In 1776, the Second Continental Congress made the decision to officially declare independence from Great Britain.  On July 4th, 1776, the Declaration was Signed.  The Revolutionary War raged on until 1783 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris.  General George Washington and other generals led troops into battle over a period of eight years.  Though the Patriot troops were initially less organized, less trained, and had less supplies, they fought on with determination.  The fact that the Thirteen Colonies spanned a large area filled with countryside benefitted the Patriot troops.  Also, the Patriots did not have a national capital.  A capital could have been captured and would have been a difficult blow to recover from.  The British wore bright red uniforms, which were easy to spot from a distance.  The Patriot troops wore ordinary clothing, and thus looked similar to Loyalist civilians.   Other countries, such as France, also sent troops to fight alongside the Patriots.

Once the war was over, the independent Thirteen Colonies  had to decide exactly what sort of nation they wanted to be.  Many signers of the Declaration of Independence and other men met in 1787 to write the U.S. Constitution.  There were disagreements, but decisions were made.  It was decided that the United States would have a system of checks and balances with three branches of government.  They did not want the tyranny they had experienced under King George III to occur again in their nation.  The Constitution also emphasized personal liberties, which was an uncommon idea at this time.  General George Washington was elected President.  In another decision to set themselves apart from other nations, the founders of the United States decided against having a king.  Instead, they wanted a leader who was elected by the citizens.

`1/2 + 1/5 + 1/10+1/17+1/26+...` Confirm that the Integral Test can be applied to the series. Then use the Integral Test to determine the...

`1/2+1/5+1/10+1/17+1/26+............`

The series can be written as,

`1/(1^2+1)+1/(2^2+1)+1/(3^2+1)+1/(4^2+1)+1/(5^2+1)+..........`

So based on the above pattern we can write the series as,

`sum_(n=1)^oo1/(n^2+1)`

The integral test is applicable if f is positive, continuous and decreasing function on the infinite interval `[k,oo)` where `k>=1` and `a_n=f(x)` . Then the series converges or diverges if and only if the improper integral `int_k^oof(x)dx` converges or diverges.

For the given series `a_n=1/(n^2+1)`

Consider `f(x)=1/(x^2+1)`

Graph of the function is attached. From the...

`1/2+1/5+1/10+1/17+1/26+............`

The series can be written as,

`1/(1^2+1)+1/(2^2+1)+1/(3^2+1)+1/(4^2+1)+1/(5^2+1)+..........`

So based on the above pattern we can write the series as,

`sum_(n=1)^oo1/(n^2+1)`

The integral test is applicable if f is positive, continuous and decreasing function on the infinite interval `[k,oo)` where `k>=1` and `a_n=f(x)` . Then the series converges or diverges if and only if the improper integral `int_k^oof(x)dx` converges or diverges.

For the given series `a_n=1/(n^2+1)`

Consider `f(x)=1/(x^2+1)`

Graph of the function is attached. From the graph we can see that the function is positive, continuous and decreasing on the interval `[1,oo)`

Since the function satisfies the conditions for the integral test, we can apply integral test.

Now let's determine whether the corresponding improper integral `int_1^oo1/(x^2+1)dx` converges or diverges.

`int_1^oo1/(x^2+1)dx=lim_(b->oo)int_1^b1/(x^2+1)dx`

Use the common integral: `int1/(x^2+1)dx=arctan(x)`

`=lim_(b->oo)[arctan(x)]_1^b`

`=lim_(b->oo)[arctan(b)-arctan(1)]`

`=lim_(b->oo)arctan(b)-arctan(1)`

`=pi/2-pi/4`

`=pi/4`

Since the integral `int_1^oo1/(x^2+1)dx` converges, we conclude from the integral test that the series also converges.

Two black holes of mass `m=10M_s` are traveling at 80% the speed of light and collide head on and merge into a new black hole. If `M_s` is the mass...

We must apply conservation of relativistic 4-momentum, `P^(mu)=[E_(t o t)/c,p]` . Where` p=gamma*mv` is the relativistic spatial momentum.

`P_i^(mu)=P_f^(mu)`

`P_(i,1)^(mu)+P_(i,2)^(mu)=P_f^(mu)`

`[E_(m,t o t)/c,gamma*mv]+[E_(m,t o t)/c,gamma*m(-v)]=[E_( t ot)/c,0]`

Notice the first two black holes have the same momentum but are traveling in the opposite direction. The final black hole has no spatial momentum. Setting the spatial components equal to each other is redundant, so set the zeroth energy components equal to each other.

`E_(m,t o...

We must apply conservation of relativistic 4-momentum, `P^(mu)=[E_(t o t)/c,p]` . Where` p=gamma*mv` is the relativistic spatial momentum.

`P_i^(mu)=P_f^(mu)`

`P_(i,1)^(mu)+P_(i,2)^(mu)=P_f^(mu)`

`[E_(m,t o t)/c,gamma*mv]+[E_(m,t o t)/c,gamma*m(-v)]=[E_( t ot)/c,0]`

Notice the first two black holes have the same momentum but are traveling in the opposite direction. The final black hole has no spatial momentum. Setting the spatial components equal to each other is redundant, so set the zeroth energy components equal to each other.

`E_(m,t o t)/c+E_(m,t o t)/c=E_(t o t)/c`

`2E_(m,t o t)=E_(t o t)`

We can use the equation:

`E_(m,t o t)=gamma*mc^2`

Where `gamma` is the lorentz factor, for the initial black holes it is:

`gamma=1/sqrt(1-v^2/c^2)=1/sqrt(1-(0.8c)^2/c^2)`

`gamma=5/3`

`gamma=1 ` when the object is at rest.

`2E_(m,t o t)=E_(t o t)`

`2gamma*mc^2=Mc^2`

Where M is the mass of the final black hole.

`2gamma*m=M`

Then the final mass of the black hole M is equal to:

`M=2gamma*m=2(5/3)(10M_s)~~33.3M_s`

This is not merely the sum of the initial two masses. A huge amount of kinetic energy was converted into the final mass and therefore relativity was essential in in the treatment of this problem.

How does the narrator feel after leaving the signalman following his second visit?

After his second visit, the narrator feels very concerned for the emotional and psychological well-being of the signalman. Note, for example, that the narrator offers to spend the night in the signal box but that the signalman will not hear of it. This shows that the narrator feels a genuine sense of compassion toward the signalman.

Moreover,  after their conversations, the narrator knows that the signalman is an "intelligent" and  "vigilant" person. However, given the...

After his second visit, the narrator feels very concerned for the emotional and psychological well-being of the signalman. Note, for example, that the narrator offers to spend the night in the signal box but that the signalman will not hear of it. This shows that the narrator feels a genuine sense of compassion toward the signalman.

Moreover,  after their conversations, the narrator knows that the signalman is an "intelligent" and  "vigilant" person. However, given the events that have happened, the narrator wonders how long the signalman will remain this way.

It is clear, then, that the narrator believes the signalman's story and is worried about the signalman's state of mind. You will notice that the narrator looks back at the red light more than once as he leaves the signal box, a sign that he understands and shares the signalman's fears and concerns. 

The narrator plans to return to the signalman the next day and accompany him to a medical doctor to prove his version of events. This desire to help the signalman further reinforces the narrator's genuine sense of concern toward the signalman.

How did following the crow pay off for Sam in My Side of the Mountain?

Sam Gribley tells this story in the fifth chapter of the book, titled “This Is About the Old, Old Tree.” It takes place in the early days of his time living on his own in the Catskill Mountains. Sam sees a crow quietly fly into a grove of trees. He had been used to hearing the noisy crows in Central Park when he lived in New York City, so this silent crow is unusual to...

Sam Gribley tells this story in the fifth chapter of the book, titled “This Is About the Old, Old Tree.” It takes place in the early days of his time living on his own in the Catskill Mountains. Sam sees a crow quietly fly into a grove of trees. He had been used to hearing the noisy crows in Central Park when he lived in New York City, so this silent crow is unusual to him. At first he thinks he’s going to try to catch the bird to eat it. But instead, he sees a nearby nest made of big sticks. He climbs the tree and finds that the nest holds crow eggs. He decides to eat them for lunch instead of the bird itself, in addition to a wild-grown salad he put together. He’s beginning to learn to live off the resources the landscape offers.

How is "Digging" a memorable poem?

The memorability of a poem is always relative. However, what is striking about Seamus Heaney's poem, "Digging," is the way in which it analogizes the work of creating poetry with the work of potato farming.

Heaney's narrator, a writer, places himself within a generational lineage of diggers. He evokes this lineage by creating a sense of place in the first two stanzas, drawing himself near to the image of his father digging, as though the man were actually present:

Between my finger and my thumb

The squat pen rests; snug as a gun.

Under my window, a clean rasping sound

When the spade sinks into gravelly ground:

My father, digging. I look down... 

The "squat pen rests" "between [his] finger and [his] thumb" like a spade. However, this is not the comparison he draws; instead he writes, "snug as a gun." There is something uncomfortable about this simile, but also something correct. A pistol can rest snugly in one's hand, but a gun is not an item that creates comfort except for the one in control of it. There is also the contrast between the productivity of creating poetry and farms and the destructiveness imposed by a gun.

The language that Heaney uses in the following stanzas is kinesthetic:

Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds   

Bends low, comes up twenty years away   

Stooping in rhythm through potato drills   

Where he was digging. 

The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft   

Against the inside knee was levered firmly. 

He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep 

To scatter new potatoes that we picked, 

Loving their cool hardness in our hands. 

The present participles "straining" and "stooping" bring past actions into the present. The man "bends low" and "comes up twenty years away" like a perennial, yet also goes through drills -- a metaphor that, again, draws one back to physical exercise as well as to the regularity of farming.

He pauses the narrative, in wonder of his father's agility, then draws back further into his ancestry:

By God, the old man could handle a spade.   

Just like his old man. 

My grandfather cut more turf in a day 

Than any other man on Toner’s bog. 

Once I carried him milk in a bottle 

Corked sloppily with paper. He straightened up 

To drink it, then fell to right away 

Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods 

Over his shoulder, going down and down 

For the good turf. Digging. 

Again, there is a distinction in verb tenses when Heaney's narrator evokes the memory of his grandfather drinking milk, then the memory of his tending to the farm. The latter is given an urgency that connects the grandfather's digging to that of the grandson. His grandfather wanted "the good turf," just as Heaney's narrator wants the good words. They are both digging through time and through materials.

Heaney's narrator must access mental memory to create the farms of his youth, whereas his father and grandfather created the actual farms. Heaney's narrator works with the intangible, while the older men worked with the tangible:

The cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slap 

Of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edge 

Through living roots awaken in my head. 

But I’ve no spade to follow men like them. 

Between my finger and my thumb 

The squat pen rests. 

I’ll dig with it.

In the last stanza, there is repetition of the first, though without the image of violence. It seems now that the speaker regards the "digging" involved in writing less as a fight and now more as an effort in patience and dedication, much like farming. He commits to the effort in the final line: "I'll dig with it [the pen]."