In "The Chrysanthemums" by John Steinbeck, who says the line, "Looks like a quick puff of colored smoke?"

These words are the inquiry of the tinker who speaks with
Elisa Allan in John Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums."  After Elisa tells him that she
has nothing for him to repair, the tinker looks at the chrysanthemum bed where Elisa has
been working.  He asks what kind of plant they are.  Delighted that someone shows
interest in her flowers, Elisa replies that they are chrysanthemums that she raises
every year.  Then the tinker asks,

readability="5">

"Kind of a long-stemmed flower?  Looks like a
quick puff of colored
smoke!"

With this simile,
Elisa is delighted by the figurative language and the man's imagination in contrast to
her husband's literal and pratical language.  When the tinker expresses a desire to have
some of the chrysanthemums' seeds, Elisa eagerly replies that she can put some in damp
sand for him to carry with him.  The excitement of Elisa as she pots some of the flowers
for the tinker indicates how starved she has been for "a quick puff of colored smoke" of
imagination.

Insects have 6 legs but do they have other appendages?

Insects are Arthropods, which means "jointed appendages". 
Besides the six legs, insects have other appendages which enable them to be the highly
adapted organisms they truly are. Antennae, located on the head, between the eyes, are
movable segmented appendages that serve a sensory function. They are used to perceive
chemical stimuli. Various external mouthparts are used for chewing and grinding the
food, eventually performing the function of ingestion. Two pairs of wings are outgrowths
of the body wall and can be manipulated by muscles for flight. Wings are located on the
thorax region. Appendages on the abdomen are for mating, such as the ovipositor. There
are cerci, non--reproductive appendages for tactile sensations. 

What are some similarities in characterization between Tchichikov in Dead Souls and Bazarov in Turgenev's Father and Sons?

While there are more differences between Turgenev's
Bazarov and Gogol's Tchitchikoff, there are certainly similarities, especially in the
social ramifications of their behavior. Both Bazarov and Tchitchikoff manipulate other
people for their own purposes, though their purposes are unalike. Bazarov manipulates
the ideas and allegiances of younger students, who look up to him, in order to feel
superior and accumulate nihilistic followers. Tchitchikoff manipulates landowners--serfs
in Russia were always attached to the land, so landowners were by definition serf
owners--in order to increase his wealth by his serf purchase scheme. Each callously left
behind a trail of victims of their manipulations; neither set of manipulated people
necessarily felt the manipulation while it was on
going.

Both men were visitors imposing upon hosts'
hospitality and neither could find legitimate sincere attachment from a beloved. Bazarov
was rejected and Tchitchikoff was perpetrating fraud. Both lived determinedly by their
own codes instead of by society's code of behavior. As a result of these things, both
Bazarov and Tchitchikoff alienated other people. Finally, both were punished in the end
for the attitudes they held toward society, toward the worthiness of other people, and
their role in society. Bazarov accidentally infected himself with typhus and died.
Tchitchikoff was discovered in his attempt at fraud and
imprisoned.

How was the American Reconstruction Period considered a success?

Overall it was considered a failure, but that didn't mean
there weren't parts of it that were successful.

For one
thing, the Reconstruction Era from 1865-1877 successfully amended the Constitution not
once, but three times.  Slavery was permanently and formally ended, freed slaves were
given citizenship and black males over 21 the right to vote.  This could never be
legally taken away, although it was delayed and discouraged for a long
time.

The Freedman's Bureau constructed schools for freed
slaves and send 1500 volunteer teachers into the South to run them.  Over the course of
six and a half years, the Freedman's Bureau taught over 200,000 freed slaves to basic
literacy.  While most were still left untaught, that is a staggering number to be
accomplished in such a short time.

Lastly, they did come up
with a way to legally get the southern states back in the Union, and in a way they would
agree to, when they adopted Lincoln's 10% Plan.  This made it very easy for them to
reapply for statehood and to send Senators and Representatives to Congress once
again.

In the Crucible, how do Proctor's motivations affect other characters in the play?

I would say that Proctor's main motivation is protecting
his family and his name.  He and his wife know he is guilty of adultery, though no one
else does.  He hopes the whole hysteria will blow over and he can keep his awful secret,
and in waiting so long, the accusations get out of hand.  More people are accused, in
other words, in part because of his motivation to keep his sin
secret.

Later he decides to come forward and put a stop to
the madness, or try to, and so this pits him against Abigail.  In his desire to save his
friends and especially his wife who also stands accused, he confesses, and this
threatens Abigail's own life as well, along with that of the girls who went along with
her.  This makes her more aggressive, defensive and she defiantly sticks to her
story.

Why did most Northerners tend to oppose the Mexican-American War while most Southerners tended to support it?

The simple answer here is slavery.  The Northerners
thought that this was a war to expand slavery and the South liked the war because they
thought it would give them a chance to expand slavery.

I
should say that it's not that the North really wanted to end slavery.  They just didn't
want it to spread and they didn't want the South to get more political power.  They
thought that taking a bunch of land from Mexico would let slavery expand and would make
a bunch of new states that would have slaves and, thereby, would give the South more
political power.

Malcolm describes Cawdor's last moments before execution, what is Duncan's reply?

The answer you are looking for can be found at the start
of Act I, Scene 4.

In that scene, Malcolm tells Duncan that
the Thane of Cawdor died well.  He begged for the king's forgiveness and apologized for
what he had done (he became a traitor and helped the enemy in the battle that had just
finished).

When Duncan hears this, he is not really all
that impressed.  Basically, he just says there's just now way to know what a person is
really like by looking at them.  He says he trusted Cawdor and that Cawdor's actions
proved he was wrong to do that.

Here's the
quote:

There's
no art
To find the mind's construction in the face:
He was a
gentleman on whom I built 290
An absolute
trust.

Ironically, enough,
Duncan then turns around and puts his trust in Macbeth, making him Thane of Cawdor. 
That doesn't turn out so well for Duncan
either...

Does the mother portray a realistic parent?

The mother is, along with Emily, a major character who
like most parents is vulnerable to doubt about the way she has raised her child. In the
story the mother cites many occasions of regret—the separations, illnesses, instances of
negligence and even neglect, and fears. Her narrative is laced with poignant memories of
pain and helplessness (see paragraphs (24, 29, 30, and 35). It is these which make plain
that the conflict in the story is the ideal vs. the actual upbringing of Emily, the
daughter, with the complementary conflict being that the expected negative results do
not occur but rather that Emily grows up to be a vital, talented young woman. The
affirmative paragraphs near the end (paragraphs 46–50) are not totally negated by the
moderately pessimistic conclusion (paragraphs 54, 55), for these last two may be
considered a function of the anguish and self-doubt that never leave a caring parent.
The mother, in this respect, is real.

Chapter 12: "Lightning rods guarding graves of dead who rested uneasily" - what does this mean? Meant to be ironic, humorous, actual, serious?

Here is the quote to which you are
referring:

A
few graves in the cemetery were marked with crumbling tombstones; newer ones were
outlined with brightly colored glass and broken Coca-Cola
bottles.

Lightning rods guarding some graves denoted dead
who rested uneasily; stumps of burned-out candles stood at the heads of infant graves.
It was a happy cemetery.

In
this chapter, Calpurnia takes Scout and Jem to her church, The First Purchase Church (a
Black church). The children notice right away how different it is from their own church.
There is a cemetary out back. Some of the graves in the cemetary are marked with
lightning rods. A lightning rod is a metal pole that is supposed to deflect lightning or
ground it, so that it will not destroy a structure.

The
irony here is that the graves marked by lightning rods must contain people who are not
resting easily because why would a dead person have to worry about getting struck by
lightning? There really is no logical reason for a grave to have a lightning rod - what
is being protected? The corpse? The author is implying that some of the graves probably
contain people who died while not at peace, or who died violently, or who died without
salvation (since this is a church cemetary).

In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, is there a noticeable difference between the character of Octavius and those of Antony, Cassius, and Brutus?

The most striking difference in the character of Octavius
compared to those of Antony, Cassius, and Brutus is attributable to the difference in
their ages. When they meet on the battlefield at Philippi for a parley in Act V, Scene
1, Casssius calls Octavius

readability="7">

A peevish schoolboy, worthless of such
honor,
Joined with a masquer and a
reveler!

Octavius is a whole
generation younger than the other three men. He has never been in a battle and doesn't
realize the horrors that are in store. Antony has been a professional soldier for much
of his life and has no illusions about the glory of warfare. Earlier when addressing
Caesar's dead body in Act III, Scene 1, he speaks of war as he has experienced
it:

A curse
shall light upon the limbs of men;
Domestic fury and fierce civil
strife
Shall cumber all the parts of Italy;
Blood and destruction
shall be so in use,
And dreadful objects so familiar,
That mothers
shall but smile when they behold
Their infants quartered with the hands of
war,
All pity choked with custom of fell deeds;
And Caesar's spirit,
ranging for revenge,
With Ate by his side come hot from hell,
Shall
in these confines with a monarch's voice
Cry "havoc!" and let slip the dogs of
war,
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion
men, groaning for
burial.

"Carrion men groaning
for burial" is a marvelous description of the landscape after a major battle.

The three older, more experienced soldiers are willing to
stand and converse before giving the signal to start the bloodshed. Brutus obviously
would like to talk about a truce. He begins the parley by
saying:

Words
before blows: is it so,
countrymen?

He is reminding
them that they are all fellow Romans. But Octavius is young, reckless, and hotheaded,
anxious to prove himself as a warrior and a leader. He
responds:

Not
that we love words better, as you
do.

Still hoping for a truce,
Brutus replies:

readability="6">

Good words are better than bad strokes,
Octavius.

But Antony is not
to be won over with friendly words. If he could have been persuaded to join the men of
his generation in arranging a truce, young Octavius would have had to go along with it,
since he is still dependent on Antony's guidance. But Antony sees the necessity of
having a showdown. He perceives Brutus' conciliatory attitude as a sign of weakness. He
also feels obliged to side with Octavius because his own future is tied to that of
Caesar's young heir. Antony replies:

readability="10">

In your bad strokes, Brutus, you give good
words.
Witness the hole you made in Caesar's heart,
Crying "Long
live, hail Caesar!"

Then
Cassius speaks up:

readability="9">

Antony,
The posture of your blows are
yet unknown;
But for your words, they rob the Hybla bees,
And leave
them honeyless.

This is
outrageous flattery coming from an enemy on the battlefield between their assembled
armies. Cassius, too, would obviously love to settle this conflict peacefully. He is
even more motivated to do so because he has repeatedly expressed doubts about the
advisability of fighting Antony and Octavius at
Philippi.

Octavius is a whole generation younger. He is
young, inexperienced, hotheaded, enthusiastic, full of dreams of glory, needing to prove
himself; whereas Antony, Cassius, and Brutus have no illusions about war or about life
in general. Octavius will  end up becoming emperor of Rome, while Cassius and Brutus
will kill themselves at Philippi and years later Antony will commit suicide in Egypt
after being defeated in battle by his former friend and protege Octavius
Caesar.

How do bees find the source of food in the following situation.At a park one day, you see a bee flying around an open can of soda. A few minutes...

I was wondering if the answer posted above is entirely
correct.

It is true that scout bees locate and communicate
the source of quality and abundant food to other bees in the colony by means of dance as
explained in the post above. But there are two aspects of the answer which need to be
examined more closely. First the dance of the scout bee indicates source of food in
terms of general location like a patch of land having many flowers containing good
quality nectar. The dance of the scout bees is not able to indicate location of each
flower or can of soda that can provide the bees with food. The bees must go the patch of
land indicated by scout bees and then find the exact source of food in that patch.It is
important that scout bees are able to communicate location of sources of food that are
several kilometres away. It is not possible for them to indicate a location as specific
as a can of soda from a distance of more than than, say, fifty meters
away.

This brings us the second question left unexplained.
How do the scout bees locate the source of food in the first place. It It is my guess
that ones the scout bees, or other ordinary bees, are in the vicinity of an area having
suitable source of food, must employ some means to locate that source very precisely. I
really do not know how bees do it. But it will be interesting to
know.

What is the radius of a geostationary satellite?

A satellite in a geostationary orbit moves directly above
the Earth’s radius and takes exactly one day to complete one revolution. There, looking
at them from the ground it appears as if they are
stationary.

Now to calculate the distance of a
geostationary orbit, we have to consider the force of gravity of the Earth that attracts
the satellite. This is equal to G*Ms*Me*/R^2, where Ms is the mass of the satellite, Me
is the mass of the Earth, R is the distance of the satellite from the Earth and G is the
universal gravitational constant and the centripetal force. The centripetal force in
terms of the angular speed of the satellite is Ms*w^2*R, where w is the angular speed
and R is the orbital radius.

Now for a geostationary
satellite, the orbital speed is 2*pi / 86164 rad/s. [Note: here we use the duration of 1
sidereal day, which is equal to 86164 s]

So substituting
this, and equating the equations we have on top:

G*Me*/R^2
= w^2*R = (2*pi / 86164) ^2 * R

=> R^3 = G*Me/
w^2

=> R = [G*Me/w^2] ^
(1/3)

Simplifying this using the mass of the
Earth, the universal gravitational constant and the angular speed we get R is
approximately equal to 35786 km.

Find imagery to describe Hawthorne's attitude towards the characters in the conclusion of The Scarlet Letter.

In Chapter XXIV, Hawthorne
writes,

And
Hester Prynne had returned, and taken up her long-forsaken shame!  But where was little
Pearl?....But, through the remainder of Hester's life, there were indications that the
recluse of the scarlet letter was the object of love and interest with some inhaitant of
another land.  Letters came, with armorial seals upon them, though of bearings unknown
to English heraldry.

These
letters are from Hester's daughter, who has married.  She sends lovingly little
ornaments, and beautiful things that have been sewn by hand, indicating that Pearl has
learned the art of needlework from her mother. 

Other
imagery comes in this chapter from the resumption of wearing the scarlet letter by
Hester Prynne.  However, Hawthorne writes that the meaning of this symbol has been
altered to

a
type of something to be sorrowed after and looked upon with awe, yet with reverence,
too.

Hester has weathered the
scorn and shame placed upon her by the strict Puritanical code.  She has redeemed
herself through her good works; for, on her grave, there appears "the semblance of an
engrave escutcheon." Albeit sombre, and in shadow, the scarlet A
now adorns the grave much like a coat of arms.  Hester Prynne has earned
respect; she has, at last, earned a place in her community as  Hawthorne points to the
idea of redemption from sin through good works, a concept counter to that of
Puritanism.

Solve for x : 4sinx - 3cosx = 0

We'll solve the problem using 2
methods

First method:

4 sin x
= 3 cos x

sin x =( 3/4) cos
x

We'll divide by cos
x:

sinx/cosx = 3/4

But the
ratio sinx/cosx = tan x

tan x=
3/4

x = arctan (3/4) +
k*pi

The second
method:

We know that in a right triangle, due to
Pythagorean theorem,

sin^2 x + cos^2 x =
1

sin x = sqrt[1 - cos^2
(x)]

But, from hypothesis, sin x = (3/4)cos
x,so

(3/4)cos (x) = sqrt[1 - cos^2
(x)]

We'll square raise both
sides:

[(3/4)cos (x)]^2 = {sqrt[1 - cos^2
(x)]}^2

(9/16)cos^2 (x)= 1 - cos^2
(x)

(9/16)cos^2 (x )+ cos^2 (x) =
1

The least common denominator is 16, so we'll multiply
with 16, cos^2 (x) and the result will be:

(25/16)cos^2 (x)
= 1

cos^2 (x) = 16/25

cos x =
4/5

x = arccos (4/5) +
2*k*pi

Describe the nature of water and chemical reactions and the special characteristic of carbon.

Water is often referred to as H two O meaning it has two
atoms of oxygen combined with one atom of hydrogen with a chemical formula of H2O (the 2
should be a subscript when normally written).

One of the
basic rules of chemistry is that matter is never created or destroyed during a chemical
reaction. This is called the law of conservation of mass. This means that in a chemical
reaction between elements, or elements and compounds, some chemical bonds are broken and
new ones are formed.

In reference to your second question,
atoms with electrical charges - called ions - are sometimes neutralized during certain
types of chemical reactions but the atoms themselves are not neutralized but are
definitely rearranged.

Carbon is unique because it can form
multiple bonds with itself and with everyone of the non-metal elements on the periodic
table. The result is that there are more compounds containing carbon than all the other
compounds formed from all of the other elements combined.

Describe what the Greek poleis had in common.

Greek poleis (the plural of polis) had several
characteristics in common.  Physically, most poleis were small, with Athens and Sparta
being the exceptions.  Most had a place for citizens to assemble and a center in which
religious worship was performed.  These areas were usually on high, defensible ground
and were used as a place of refuge during an attack.  This place was usually called an
acropolis, which means “high polis”.  Most poleis had an agora, or marketplace, that was
the center of communal life.  In each polis there was usually a temple dedicated to the
god or gods who protected the city. 

Though there were a
great variety of political structures found in the various poleis, there were more or
less similar political characteristics when it came to citizenship and participation in
public life of citizens. To be a citizen in a Greek polis was extremely important. 
There was a strong bond between the polis and its citizens, and the polis was the center
of a citizen’s life.  Citizenship usually was given to adult men and landowners and was
descendant; that is, citizens needed to show descent from at least one parent who was a
citizen, and in some cases, both parents. Of all the residents of a polis, citizens had
the most rights, which included voting, owning land, holding public office and speaking
for themselves in court. But, along with these rights came responsibilities.  Citizens
were expected to provide military service in time of war and to actively participate in
the government of the polis.

What are Chaucer's motives behind his peculiar shifts in narration in The Canterbury Tales?

Chaucer's motive was most likely just his own will to be a
dynamic story teller. Chaucer is frequently regarded as the Father of English
literature. The Canterbury Tales were presented in a brand new
format never before seen in English literature. Boccaccio's
Decameron does however resemble The Canterbury
Tales, as they both have a frame that connects their multiple stories, but
Chaucer's work is much more full and polished. In Chaucer's time, the norm was to only
base your stories after stories previously created, Geoffrey Chaucer had no problem
breaking free of that norm, as evidenced through the tales. He encompasses nearly every
aspect of medieval England, starting with nobility, see the Knight and the Squire,
followed by the clergy, see the Monk and the Prioress, and finally the middle class, see
the Wife of Bath, the Miller, and all the rest.

Chaucer was
well positioned and well favored in his time, and his home was strategically located in
an area where he would have gotten a very in depth look at the lives of all these types
of people. His decision to take on the tone of each character, and his reflection of
their own personality's within the actual stories was
ingenious. 

His transitions between the individual stories
are also very interesting, every prologue sets up a certain dynamic among the pilgrims,
allowing individual relationships to form, making the stories themselves more
interesting. Chaucer could just have easily decided to do an anthology of stories about
these characters that had no connection whatsoever to each other, but instead he builds
the reader's interest by exposing character flaws and poking fun of the corruption of
the time. 

What is the central message of 'No Men are Foreign?"

The central message of the poem is to emphasize a sense of
community and brotherhood.  In a world where wars are waged against an "other," the poem
stresses that the common nature and bonds we all share should preclude any external
identification.  The idea that we are breathe, feel pain, and experience the same
emotions in a different ways is of critical importance.  The poem seeks to broaden
emotional frames of reference so that division on grounds of nation or ideology are not
as embraced.  The central message is one where the transcendent ideas of understanding
and compassion are brought out to the reader who might be in a setting that fosters
division and hatred.  Kirkup's poem is an idealized vision of the global community and
all of its aspirations.

What is the value of traditional literature in its contribution to children's literature?

"Traditional" literature can be defined in many ways, and
each of them makes a contribution to children's literature.  If "traditional" refers to
folk tales and legends, children's literature has derived all kinds of elements from
it.  The earliest folk tales and legends were not necessarily written for children but
easily lend themselves to that genre--think Paul Bunyan and Johnny Appleseed.  If
"traditional" means "classic," children's literature relies heavily on the themes from
classic story lines, such as The Hobbit and Great
Expectations.  If "traditional" means "historical," children's literature is
full of Harriet Tubman, Abe Lincoln, and Paul Revere kinds of characters. If
"traditional" refers to literature which is moral and even spiritual, certainly those
influences can be seen in children's lit, as well.  Ironically, of course, some
literature written for children (such as many of the fairy tales by the Brothers
Grimm) is anything but moral. 

What is an acute angle?

When two rays AO and BO meet at a common point  (or OA and
OB start drom a common point O), then there are two angles AOB at O: Smaller angle AOB
(or BOA) and larger angle AOB( or BOA) at O.

An angle is
the measure of the inclination of two rays with a common  point both
rays..

The angle between the opposite rays is 180 degrees 
or pi radians, or 2right angles.

If a ray stands on another
ray , then there are two angles adding to two right angles(or 180 degrees , or pi
radians).

A ray is said to make  right angles when it
stands on another ray if the the two angles it makes on the other ray are equal in
measure.

If the measure of angle between the two rays
meeting at a common point or starting from a common point is less than the right angle
(90 degrees, or pi/2 radians), then the angle is said to be
acute.

In "Ode to My Socks," by Pablo Neruda, what is the setting? What are 3 important images? What is the theme?

Setting: Neruda gives only a
few clues about the setting of this poem.

In the beginning
of the poem, the speaker tells us that a friend gave him a pair of socks that she had
"knitted herself /with her sheepherder's hands."  This could indicate that the poem is
set in Neruda's homeland of Chile, S.A., where sheepherding is an important
industry.

At the end of the poem, the speaker praises the
value of "two socks / made of wool in winter."  So, we know that the action of the poem
takes place in the
winter.

Images:  

The
most important image is, of course, the socks themselves.   They are described
as:

"soft as
rabbits";

"heavenly";

"handsome"; 

"glowing";

"magnificent."

The
speaker uses several images to explain that he does not want to store away the socks
like a museum piece:

He does not want to "save them
somewhere as schoolboys / keep fireflies, / as learned men collect sacred texts."  In
both these images, a precious object is kept for observation but is not really
used, the way the speaker wants to use his
socks.

Theme:  To me, the
theme of the poem is that a thing of beauty can be best appreciated by using it.  The
poem concludes:

readability="6">

  beauty is twice beauty
and what is
good is doubly good
when it is a matter of two socks
made of wool in
winter.

The speaker seems to
be saying that the socks--when used properly, as coverings for the feet--have a double
beauty: their beauty as something to be observed, and their beauty as something to be
used.

Explain Ratan's quest and love towards the postmaster in Tagore's "The Postmaster."

href="http://beautifulmind-sam.blogspot.com/2008/07/postmaster-by-rabindranath-tagore.html">The
Postmaster by Rabindranath Tagore

I've
figured that it always helps people studying literature, when there is a comprehensive
set of ideas they can start from. I've always loved studying literature and spending
detailed, organized time analyzing my readings. It helps! The insights it gathers and
presents to a person is invaluable.

In the
small village of Ulapur, an Englishman who owns an indigo factory near it manages to get
a post office established. A postmaster from Calcutta gets separated from his family and
transferred to this village. From the noise of the city, he comes to a deserted village
with just scattered glimpses of people.

Tagore, a lover of
nature, uses it to describe the surroundings. The postmaster’s office has a green, slimy
pond, surrounded by dense vegetation. The way he describes this shows that postmaster is
not in a position to appreciate his closeness to nature.

What is Abigail taught by all the "Christian women and their covenanted men" in The Crucible?

Abigail makes this statement in The
Crucible when she is being cast aside once again by the man she loves (or at
least wants), John Proctor.  Early in Act I, John and Abigail share a moment virtually
alone (Betty is unresponsive in her bed) in which Abigail confesses the girls had been
"sportin'" in the forest last night.  This is the cause of all the uproar today, and
John recognizes Abigail's trouble-making ways for what they are, something about which
they both laugh.  Soon, though, the conversation turns personal, and Abigail claims she
knows he still wants to be with her. 

Proctor speaks
earnestly and forcefully, telling her:

readability="8">

Abby, I may think of you softly from time to
time.  But I will cut off my hand before I ever reach for you again.  Wipe it out of
mind.  We never touched,
Abby.

This, of course,
infuriates the young woman who lashes out at him in her hurt.  She begins by denigrating
his wife, Elizabeth, and ends with this satiric condemnation against all the "pure" men
and women of Salem:

readability="9">

John Proctor...took me from my sleep and put
knowledge in my heart!  I never knew what pretense Salem was, I never knew the lying
lessons I was taught by all these Christian women and their covenanted men!  And now you
bid me tear the light out of my eyes?  I will not, I
cannot!

One can almost hear
her spitting out those words "Christian" and "covenanted."  She is clearly incensed and
hurt and is now lashing out at the hypocrisy she sees in the people around her.  The
great irony, of course, is that she is an exceptionally good liar, which is clearly a
sin (as his her adultery) and which condemns almost two dozen people to die.  Miller's
stage direction for Abigail says she has "an endless capacity for dissembling"--in other
words, she is a magnificent liar.  She has learned, she says, that the flawed, sinful
men and women of the town are not what they appear.  If that is true, it seems she is
now one of them.