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What are Abigail's characteristics in The Crucible by Arthur Miller?

Abigail Williams, Revernd Samuel Parris's niece, is a 17-year-old orphan with a penchant for lying. Originally encouraging of witchcraft, Abigail eventually blames it on Tituba and Ruth. She originally turns to witchcraft in an effort to make men like her, but later lies about what she has done. When Mary Warren and Betty, other girls, suggest they will tell the authorities in Salem what really happened, Abigail threatens them, saying,

Let either of you breathe...

Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you (page 19).

Just in case the girls don't believe her, Abigail reminds them that she saw her parents' heads bashed in by Native Americans, so she knows how to kill people. Abigail reveals she will do anything to protect her name and accuse others of her own misdeeds.

Abigail is a bitter, nasty person who has no qualms about controlling people and seeking revenge. When John Proctor terminates their sexual relationship, she seeks revenge by accusing his wife, Elizabeth, of witchcraft. Later, as Abigail hypocritically calls on heaven to help her in court, John Proctor attacks her and cries, "How do you call heaven! Whore! Whore!" (page 88). When Elizabeth fails to back up John's confession that he had an affair with Abigail, Abigail is able to triumph in her attempts at deceit and manipulation.

What mood is the author conveying in Jane Eyre? Does it ever change? If so, where?

In a literary work, mood is kindled in the reader by means of setting, theme, diction, and tone. These elements generate emotional responses in readers and thereby establish the emotional attachment of the reader to the text.

Charlotte Bronte's novel, Jane Eyre, is considered by many as a Gothic novel, and as such it has settings that lend themselves to the moods of gloom and mystery. Below, I have described some various plot points and settings in the novel, highlighting various words which help establish the changing moods of the novel.

Gateshead Hall - This is the first home for orphaned Jane and it is a melancholy place for little girl. There she feels imprisoned and unwanted, and she is mistreated by all but the servant Bessie. The red room into which she is unjustly locked causes Jane so much fear and distress that she falls ill. But when Bessie takes Jane under her care, the girl recovers. She likes to listen to Bessie's singing. Nonetheless, when Bessie sings to her after her traumatic experience in which she sees the ghost of her dead uncle, she finds in the maid's sweet voice "an indescribable sadness."

Lowood School - This school for "charity cases" is a very depressing and threatening environment. Jane describes the garden with its high walls and a covered veranda that in January is a barren place:

When full of flowers they would, doubtless, look pretty; but now...all was wintry blight and brown decay. I shuddered as I stood and looked around me: it was an inclement day for outdoor exercise;not positively rainy, but darkened by a drizzling yellow (often a color of evil) fog....

Jane is very unhappy at Lowood. There is a sweet, saintly girl named Helen with whom she has made friends. Even Helen is treated with gratuitous cruelty, but she never becomes bitter. When Helen dies from her abuse, Jane is devastated.

Thornfield Hall - After Jane attains her education, she becomes a teacher at Lowood. But, when her confidante, Miss Temple, leaves the school to marry, Jane decides to accept a position as a governess for Mrs. Rochester's ward, Adele.
When Jane first encounters Mr. Rochester outside of Thornfield Hall, the ground is icy and his horse slips, causing him to fall. A nervous Jane worries if her new employer will approve of her.
Thornfield Hall is the most Gothic of settings. There Jane hears sounds in the night. The place becomes increasingly eerie, as Jane begins to hear what seems to be voices. She thinks that Grace Poole, who stays upstairs is, perhaps, deranged.

Thornfield Hall is becoming more and more eerie, as Jane hears disembodied voices, and one night Rochester almost dies when his bed catches fire under mysterious circumstances.
Further, Jane becomes anxious when it seems that Mr. Rochester will marry Blanche Ingram because Jane, who is in love with her employer, will have to leave if he marries Blanche. She becomes very despondent.
However, Mr. Rochester does not marry Blanche; instead, he reveals his love for Jane so they plan to marry. Without warning a strange man appears on their wedding day only to reveal that Rochester is already married to an insane woman who is locked into a room upstairs with Grace Poole as her caretaker and guard.

Moor House - Jane leaves Thornfield and is absolutely distraught. She starves and is nearly dead when she collapses on the doorstep of a family who turn out to be her cousins on her father's side. Fortunately for Jane, the Rivers women nurse Jane back to health. While living with these cousins, Jane learns that she has inherited a sum of money from her father's brother, and she shares this money with her cousins. Her happiness is mitigated, though, by St. John Rivers's proposal that they marry and she accompany him on his missionary work in India. Jane does not love him, so she refuses him.
Then, one eerie night Jane hears the disembodied voice of Mr. Rochester calling her. Believing in this spiritual and supernatural experience, Jane goes to Thornfield only to discover that his insane wife has succeeded in burning it, although she has killed herself by jumping from the building.

Ferdean - After her marriage to Rochester, Jane is finally happy as she serves as the eyes for her blind husband.

Never did I weary of reading to him; never did I weary of conducting him where he wished to go: of doing for him what he wished done. And there was pleasure in my services without painful shame or humiliation.

Certainly, the moods change during the narrative of Jane Eyre. The frightened and miserable orphan who lives in the cold and painful solitude of Gateshead and Lowood School and the bizarre and eerie Thornfield Hall is rescued at Moor House where she finally feels love and warmth. But, Jane heeds a supernatural calling and rescues the spirit of Mr. Rochester. In the end, Jane finds fulfillment and true happiness.

How did the Sumerians, Egyptians, and Hebrews differ in how they related to their gods?

The Hebrews were monotheists who believed in only one god, while the Sumerians and Egyptians believed in many gods (they were polytheists).

While the Jews believed in a god who was omnipotent (all-powerful), omnipresent (all-present), and omniscient (all-seeing), the Sumerians and Egyptians worshiped gods who behaved very much like powerful human beings. These gods didn't shy away from committing murders, engaging in incest, having affairs, and plotting to overthrow rivals. For example, the Egyptian god Seth murdered his brother, Osiris, because he was jealous of him. Osiris, of course, was married to Isis, his sister. Here's more about the story: The Story of Isis and Osiris.

As for Sumerians, the god Enki was forefront in their worship; with his Mesopotamian equivalent, Ea, Enki was the creator of the world. He was also, in turn, a virile god who had an immense sexual appetite, and he enjoyed sexual encounters with various goddesses. There are also Sumerian accounts of Enki and Inana (the goddess of sex and war) battling each other for the right to rule civilization. Here's more about Enki: Enki/Ea, god of wisdom and the creator of the world.

The Hebrews, for their part, saw their god as infallible and holy. He was viewed as a god they could trust in a time of trouble. The Hebrews believed that their god had a plan for their lives and that his laws were to be obeyed for their own good. The Hebrews viewed their god as the epitome of perfection, one who didn't participate in the sometimes violent and lascivious activities the Sumerian and Egyptian gods engaged in.

A major difference between the Sumerian and Egyptian people also lay in how they saw their gods. The Sumerians saw their gods as deities who had to be placated and catered to, while the Egyptians saw their gods as deities who were largely benign and well-disposed towards humans. For the Sumerians, the most important gods largely kept a distance between themselves and humans, so worshipers often relied on intermediary gods to intercede for them. Since Sumerian city-states often had patron gods and goddesses, the Sumerian people often spent inordinate amounts of time placating these gods with sacrifices and prayers.

On the other hand, the Hebrews approached their god without the benefit of intermediaries. Although they had a priestly caste, the Hebrews largely believed in a personal experience with their god.

For more information, please refer to the links below.

Do Thomas Aquinas's five proofs for the existence of God work together or independently?

St. Thomas Aquinas's five proofs for the existence of God are found in his book Summa Theologica. A summary of this text can be found in the link below.

Aquinas's proofs for the existence of God are used as a classic example of a philosophical argument.

The Five Proofs are as follows:

Argument from Motion

Argument from Efficient Causes

Argument from Possibility and Necessity

Argument from Gradation of Being

Argument from Design

These...

St. Thomas Aquinas's five proofs for the existence of God are found in his book Summa Theologica. A summary of this text can be found in the link below.

Aquinas's proofs for the existence of God are used as a classic example of a philosophical argument.

The Five Proofs are as follows:

Argument from Motion

Argument from Efficient Causes

Argument from Possibility and Necessity

Argument from Gradation of Being

Argument from Design

These five proofs largely work independently, although to some extent there are crossovers and connections between the arguments.

Another useful resource is the first reference link, which contains an analysis of each proof that may be helpful to you in better understanding each one's logical progression.

St. Thomas Aquinas is renowned for his philosophical works and arguments. Working to understand his "Five Proofs for the Existence of God" will help you progress in your comprehension of philosophical proofs and arguments.

What was Neely Crenshaw's philosophy in Bleachers by John Grisham?

Neely Crenshaw is obsessed with the divide between his current life as an ordinary real estate salesman whose wife has left him and his "past life" as a football captain and star adored by the entire town of Messina. His philosophy prior to his career-ending injury during a college game was that of an athlete: complete belief in the glory of the game, a misplaced sense that being a champion is eternal, and a willingness...

Back then, Crenshaw was trapped in his own hero's complex, one that set him at odds with the severe techniques of Coach Eddie Rake. After his career is over, Crenshaw seems to be paralyzed by his faded fame and the fear that the people of Messina resent him for never "making it big." This internal conflict serves as one of the major points of the novel, and is perhaps best described by one of Crenshaw's fellow players:

You count the years until you get a varsity jersey, then you’re a hero, an idol, a cocky bastard because in this town you can do no wrong. You win and win and you’re the king of your own little world, then poof, it’s gone. You play your last game and everybody cries. You can’t believe it’s over. Then another team comes right behind you and you’re forgotten.

Where can I get a full review of Patrick Chamoiseau’s Solibo Magnificent? (Please provide a full review.)

You can “get a full review” of Patrick Chamoiseau’s Solibo Magnificent precisely by doing what you did: asking the question . Now I can provide one for you. (Our Study Guides often contain the summary, themes, characters, etc. However, they usually do not contain a “review,” which is a determination about what the novel is attempting to do and the rationalization as to whether the author did so well.)

Patrick Chamoiseau’s Solibo Magnificent...

Patrick Chamoiseau’s Solibo Magnificent combines formal French language with Creole vernacular. This makes the novel a very interesting piece and an effort to keep Creole alive. (Translation into English provides an even further fun issue.) This novel is about story-telling through the use of language and how the translation of that language can change its meaning. Patrick Chamoiseau is a master at this in Solibo Magnificent.

For example, Solibo Magnificent is dying at the beginning while exclaiming “patat’ sa!” (“that potato!”). During Carnival, call and response is typical; therefore, the people surrounding him do not know he is dying. Solibo Magnificent and his death are synonymous with the death of the Creole language through storytelling. Chamoiseau wants to prevent his own death in the same way; therefore, he tries to tell the story through written word. The story does not live on in the same way (which is precisely Chamoiseau’s point).

The novel then travels through the investigation of Solibo Magnificent’s death by the police. Although some believe Solibo’s death to be natural, Pilon (the inspector) thinks that foul play was involved. The importance here is that Pilon speaks formal French and not Creole; therefore, he has no imaginative approach to the investigation and, therefore, cannot see the truth. The real truth can be found within the stories of the bystanders who speak in Creole. In this way, the characters also tell stories (like Solibo once did) and continue the Creole language. Patrick Chamoiseau’s Solibo Magnificent can now be seen as an expression of the division between the formal authority and the common folk of Martinique.

Thus, Patrick Chamoiseau’s Solibo Magnificent expertly shows how languages should be preserved while preserving its very own: Creole.

why did the cold war start and when

The Cold War began shortly after the end of World War II in 1945. The reason the Cold War started was the the Soviet Union (Russia) violated international agreements about how war-torn Europe would be governed and rebuilt. One such agreement they violated was that territories recaptured from Germany would be given democratic elections. Instead of instituting democratic elections, the Russians set up what were essentially puppet communist governments controlled by the Soviet Union. Angered by this, the United States and the other western democracies refused to "appease" Russia as they had Germany prior to World War II. Instead, they instituted a policy of containment, in which they would not fight the Soviets directly but would seek to prevent them from expanding their territory and ideology into new places. This is why the United States fought several conflicts to promote democracy and prevent communism from spreading during the Cold War.