Comment on the setting and character of "The Fall of the House of Usher."How does setting act as a character?

Excellent observation, as it identifies how the settings
of Poe's stories reflect the characters of their protagonists. Whether it is the
catacombs in "The Cask of Amontillado" that reflect Montresor's disturbed and twisted
character of the House of Usher, whose dilapidation reflects the own mental instability
of its owner, Roderick Usher, Poe always uses setting to great effect in his gothic,
spine-chilling tales of horror. Consider what we are told about the House of
Usher:

Its
principal feature seemed to be that of an excessive antiquity. the discoloration of ages
had been great. Minute fungi overspread the whole exterior, hanging in a fine tangled
web-work from the eaves. Yet all this was apart from any extraordinary dilapidation. No
portion of the masonry had fallen; and there appeared to be a wild inconsistency between
its still perfect adaptation of parts, and the crumbling condition of the individual
stones. In this there was much that reminded me of the specious totality of old woodwork
which has rotted for long years in some neglected vault, with no disturbance from the
breath of the external
air.

Note the overall
emphasis on rottenness and decay. The setting of course is a symbol that could be said
to represent the madness and mental disturbance at the heart of the owner of the house.
At first glance it appears to be of sound quality, but closer examination reveals issues
that could indicate serious structural problems. Remember, the narrator has journeyed
here, not out of choice, but because Roderick Usher, his childhood friend, has written
to him to come and be with him as he is suffering from a "nervous agitation" and a
"mental disorder". How mentally disturbed he is will only be revealed at the end of the
story... Your question correctly identifies that in a sense the house is a symbol of the
diseased and rotting character who owns it.

In "The Sniper", how would you format the summary below into a topic sentence?I need help on how to put this bit of the plot into this format topic...

I would have to say that the answer to this question
depends a lot on what you are actually trying to say. What is the point that you are
trying to argue? It seems you have started off the wrong way round - you appear to be
taking a summary of the story and then looking at how to include it in your essay. This
is a great way to ensure that you get low marks. What you need to do is work out your
thesis statement on this piece and then your points that go towards proving it. Then,
when you have done this, you can back up your thesis statements and your points by
referring to specific quotes that support your points. Then, lastly, you can comment on
those quotes, making it absolutely crystal clear how they support your
points.

For example:

In "The
Sniper", the author uses suspense as a key tool to maintain reader interest and convey
the life-and-death struggle of the rooftop battle that is progressing. For example, note
how the sudden shot from the opposing sniper is used to heighten the tension and
suspense as we wait desperately to find out what will happen to the
sniper:

readability="6">

Suddenly from the opposite roof a shot rang out
and the sniper dropped his rifle with the curse... He stopped to pick the rifle up. He
couldn't lift it. His forearm was
dead.

Note how the word
"Suddenly" quickens the pace as the author describes the shot, and also note the detail
given about the wound the sniper has received and the fact he is unable to use his
rifle. We are left wondering, just like the sniper, how on earth he is going to escape
this new threat alive.

Hopefully you can identify a
structure above - I call it point, proof and deduction, but you can use your topic
paragraph structure too. Good luck!

In Act IV of The Crucible, what is Hale's mission?

Hale's mission in Act IV is to ensure that innocent people
aren't put to death. By this point, he has seen enough spectral evidence to know that
the girls are faking it, and he has heard enough testimony in and out of the courtroom
to know that the people who are on trial are not deserving of the punishment they are
about to receive for the crime they did not commit.

This is
different because prior to his opportunity to get to know these people after their
duration in jail, he was just like everyone else, ready to see these people hung and
believe that they were witches just because someone else said so. Hale came to the town
as an expert in the field, and here he has had no success, and it changed
him.

Describe Burris Ewell in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

Poor Burris Ewell.  He is definitely a product of his
environment.  He lives next door to the dump, has an abusive father, and there is very
little hope for a bright future.  He has taken on the qualities of his father; he is
mean, abusive, and ignorant.  Like his father, he has a nasty reputation with his peers
and intentionally makes Miss Caroline cry on the first day of school.  He comes to
school on the first day only because the law requires it. He is dirty and has a head
full of lice.  He has probably been abused like his other seven brothers and sisters,
and Burris must scavenge for basic necessities in the town dump.  Burris’ mother’s
whereabouts is unknown; she is either dead or has run off from her abusive situation. 
He has been raised by his sister, Mayella, and has probably not experienced much love or
affection.

In the novel, Burris Ewell and his family are
symbols of southern white poverty where the need to survive causes them to do desperate
things for respect and power. This is also shown through Bob Ewell's attack on Scout and
Jem, through his beating of Mayella, and through accusing Tom Robinson of rape.  Burris
is just following in his father's footsteps.

I need a quote on the scar in Lord of the Flies and its symbolism.Anything that has to do with the boys destroying the island is good but...

You are probably having a difficult time finding a quote
because the scar is not related to the boys destroying the island.  The scar is the path
of burned island made by the plane as it went down and the storm dragged it into the
ocean.  The boys destroy the island by fire.  The two ideas are somewhat related because
the destruction on the island is caused by humans--both human error and
malice. 

The scar made by the plane is a constant reminder
of why the boys are on the island.  They were being moved to safety, away from the world
war that made where they lived unsafe--most likely the German bombing of London during
World War 2.  The scar ties the violence that occurs on the island to that of the world
as a whole.  The boys' inability to get along on the island reflects the adults'
inability to get along as well. 

The first reference to the
scar is as follows:

readability="10">

"When we was coming down I looked through one of
them windows.  I saw the other part of the plane.  There were flames coming out of
it.""

He looked up and down the
scar.

"And this is what the cabin
done." 

How was popular sovereignty supposed to work?

In addition to the good information in the above post,
"popular sovereignty" was part of the compromise hammered out in 1850, largely by
Senator Henry Clay, which allowed Texas in as a slave state, and Maine as a free state. 
This maintained the balance in Congress between free and slave
states.

The westward movement and Manifest Destiny had
thrown a monkey wrench in the balance, and the old Mason-Dixon dividing line between new
free and slave states wouldn't work anymore after the Mexican-American War.  Almost all
of the new states from the Mexican Cession would end up being slave states that
way.

So popular sovereignty imagined that once a territory
reached 50,000 residents and qualified for statehood, an election could be held where
the majority rule of the new state could decide its slavery status.  This seems
democratic, and respectful of the culture and opinions of the territories that were to
enter.

Its authors did not foresee the large influx of
radicals from both pro and anti-slave forces that would bring so much violence to
Kansas.

What is the author's tone in Kaffir Boy, and how does he use language to achieve a specific tone? I need two examples.

In Kaffir Boy, the author Mark
Mathabane describes his experiences coming of age in apartheid South Africa. The tone of
the book ranges from fearful and angry to hopeful and
determined.

Through much of the story, Mathabane merely
describes the events from his perspective. In these sections, the tone is often fearful
or confused. In one section when Mathabane is a young child, his father is arrested for
failing to carry a proper pass, a kind of ID book that white South Africans used to use
to keep track of the whereabouts of black South Africans. Mathabane asks his
mother:

"How
come we won't be celebrating Christmas this year,
Mama?"

"Your father isn't here," my mother
said.

"But Christmas is here," I
said.

"Yes, I know," my mother said sadly. "But we don't
have the money to celebrate it
with."

In this segment,
Mathabane matter-of-factly portrays a scene of sadness and confusion, using details
important to a child to show how the absence of his father affected his
family.

In other sections, Mathabane is much more didactic.
Instead of merely relating the events of his life, he comments on them, making direct
points about his beliefs. For instance, he describes how he stood apart and refused to
debase himself as others sometimes did, even if it meant missing the opportunity to earn
money for food:

readability="11">

Throughout all the years that I lived in South
Africa, people were to call me a fool for refusing to live life the way they did and by
doing the things they did. Little did they realize that in our world, the black world,
one could only survive if one played the fool, and bided his
time.

Such passages help to
reinforce Mathabane's themes of the importance of trusting and respecting
oneself.