How can I connect Hamlet's madness to that of a modern-day character like Randle McMurphy in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"? This is for an IB...

The IB IOP is usually 10-15 minutes in length. From what I can see, it looks like you're interested in an oral expose or structured presentation. Granted that you're not given much time, here is what I recommend:

1) Start with a 3 minute introduction. State your thesis. Let's say that you're comparing Randle McMurphy to Hamlet, and you want to explore how both characters disguise their true mental status in order to achieve certain goals. In Shakespeare's play, Hamlet actually feigns insanity on a number of occasions for his own purposes. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Randle McMurphy also feigns insanity to escape prison farm work. A possible thesis statement would be how dramatic irony drives the plot in both works. 

As we read, we come to realize that both men utilize language, behavior, and diction to give the impression that they are mentally compromised individuals. Sadly, their acts of subterfuge ultimately lead to their destruction. In McMurphy's case, his feigned insanity lands him in a mental hospital (he's initially happy about this). However, he soon finds his freedom circumscribed by Nurse Ratched and the hospital staff. He is eventually lobotomized, but Chief Bromden intervenes to save him from a life of degradation (he smothers McMurphy to death). As for Hamlet, the young prince achieves a Pyrrhic vengeance that results in his own death. 

2) 3-4 minutes for Randle McMurphy: McMurphy uses subterfuge to land himself in a mental asylum. Once there, he finds himself under Nurse Ratched's jurisdiction. Far from being free, McMurphy discovers that he's just as captive in the hospital as he would be in a prison environment. While we know that he's far from mad, Nurse Ratched believes that McMurphy exhibits the psychopathic behaviors of a mentally deranged patient. So, she acts according to her beliefs. Much of the plot derives its tension from the conflicts between Nurse Ratched and McMurphy. McMurphy tries to outwit Nurse Ratched, while the latter doubles down on punitive measures and intimidating tactics. Here, try to provide some examples from the novel to demonstrate McMurphy's desperate struggle against Nurse Ratched.

3) 3-4 minutes for Hamlet: Use a quote to support your stance that Hamlet is not clinically insane, for example: "I essentially am not in madness,/ But mad in craft." (Act 3, Scene 4). In this play, Hamlet feigns insanity in order to hide his true goals from King Claudius, Polonius, and the king's circle of friends. You can list some examples of Hamlet doing this. For example, you could make the case that Hamlet is pretending that his overpowering love for Ophelia has driven him to madness. When Ophelia meets with him, Hamlet goes on a bitter tirade against the gentler sex. His cruel words cause Ophelia deep emotional anguish, but Hamlet must persevere in his adopted guise in order to deceive Polonius (and by extension, the king). Hamlet aims to take Claudius down, but he must hide his true intentions until he can make his hopes of vengeance a reality.

4) 3-4 minutes to state your conclusions about Hamlet and Randle McMurphy. In your opinion, do you think that both characters' actions are justified? Do Shakespeare and Ken Kesey adequately use dramatic irony to not just drive the action in both stories but also make the argument that human beings will go to great lengths to protect their right to personal agency? It's a question worth asking.

The above constitutes one way you can order your presentation. You may decide to change certain factors to fit your specifications and your teacher's requirements.

What impact did the Indian slave trade have on North America?

The Indian slave trade, often ignored in high school and even college textbooks, was an important factor in the development of the southern colonies in particular. From the late seventeenth century to the second decade of the eighteenth, when the Tuscarora and Yamassee Wars brought the trade to an end, the Indian slave trade was a major source of labor and capital for the Carolinas and Virginia. The trade was supplied by Indian peoples, including...

The Indian slave trade, often ignored in high school and even college textbooks, was an important factor in the development of the southern colonies in particular. From the late seventeenth century to the second decade of the eighteenth, when the Tuscarora and Yamassee Wars brought the trade to an end, the Indian slave trade was a major source of labor and capital for the Carolinas and Virginia. The trade was supplied by Indian peoples, including the Yamassee and Westos, who gained slaves through raids on surrounding peoples. The result for Indian peoples throughout the Southeast was endemic warfare, infighting within tribes, and population depletion. Many smaller groups sought refuge with larger groups like the Creeks and Catawbas. For the unfortunate people sold into slavery, most were bound for the Caribbean, and the money made from the trade was used as capital to purchase African slaves, among other things. The trade also existed in the North, where many Indian war captives, most notably the Pequot, were sold into slavery. Indian slavery was another form of unfree labor, which was perhaps the defining feature of life in many of the American colonies.

What is unique about the party in Chapter V of The Great Gatsby?

This social gathering isn't so much a party as it is a reunion between Gatsby and Daisy, disguised as an invitation from Nick, her cousin, to tea. Gatsby has asked Jordan to ask Nick to invite Daisy over for tea, and so he has. Daisy is supposed to arrive, alone, at four o'clock, and—at two minutes to four—Gatsby panics that she's not coming. When she does, and Nick lets her in, they return to his...

This social gathering isn't so much a party as it is a reunion between Gatsby and Daisy, disguised as an invitation from Nick, her cousin, to tea. Gatsby has asked Jordan to ask Nick to invite Daisy over for tea, and so he has. Daisy is supposed to arrive, alone, at four o'clock, and—at two minutes to four—Gatsby panics that she's not coming. When she does, and Nick lets her in, they return to his living room, where he finds that Gatsby has vanished. Gatsby then knocks, and "glar[es] tragically into [his] eyes" from the front door. He attempts to appear nonchalant, an attempt which fails miserably and nearly results in the breaking of Nick's clock.

It is odd that, even though Gatsby wanted this meeting with Daisy, he begins to feel that it is a "'terrible mistake'" because it is awkward. Nick forces Gatsby to return to the room while he waits outside in the rain, and when Nick comes back in, Daisy's face is stained with tears and Gatsby "literally glowed," just like the sun that has managed to come out despite the awful rain earlier. They seem to have established that they each still love the other. The three of them then, awkwardly, go to Gatsby's house because he wants to show it off to Daisy but seems not to want to be alone with her yet.

When Kim Jong Il died, many people in the world were confused by what happened to be a genuine outpouring of grief among North Korean citizens....

Johnson's The Orphan Master's Sonhelps the reader understand that while the former leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Il, was a dictator, his people were conditioned to believe he was a benevolent leader. Johnson shows that the media in North Korea only portrayed the better side of their leader. For example, in the introduction to the book, "Our Dear Leader Kim Jong Il was seen offering on-the-spot guidance to the engineers deepening the Taedong...

Johnson's The Orphan Master's Son helps the reader understand that while the former leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Il, was a dictator, his people were conditioned to believe he was a benevolent leader. Johnson shows that the media in North Korea only portrayed the better side of their leader. For example, in the introduction to the book, "Our Dear Leader Kim Jong Il was seen offering on-the-spot guidance to the engineers deepening the Taedong River Channel" (page 3). The media only portrays the leader as omniscient and benevolent, and the culture of the country reinforces people's reverence for their leader. For example, when Commander Ga (really Pak Jun Do) is in prison, he only gets off one day a year--Feburary 16, which is Kim Jong Il's birthday (page 191). The culture reinforces the idea that the leader is a kind of deity, and the culture worships him instead of worshipping religious figures.

Johnson's book also portrays the fear that compels North Koreans to obey their leader. For example, when the new Commander Ga and Sun Moon hear Kim Jong Il say that Pak Jun Do is the real Commander Ga, Pak Jun Do and Sun Moon are aware that the real Commander Ga is lost forever. Sun Moon thinks, "he had been replaced and she would never see him again" (page 258). Though she is crushed, she does not say anything, as everyone fears the leader and his power. This power helps us understand why people obey the North Korean leader, and some perhaps felt compelled to show grief over his death out of fear.

Why and for whom did Charles Dickens write A Christmas Carol?

A Christmas Carol was published on December 19 1843, just months after the release of an important government report into child labour. This report was compiled by Dr Samuel Scriven, at the request of the Home Office, and detailed the lives of children who worked in the pottery industry in Staffordshire. 

As well as being a novelist, Dickens was an active social reformer who read this report with a combination of interest and disgust. Through...

A Christmas Carol was published on December 19 1843, just months after the release of an important government report into child labour. This report was compiled by Dr Samuel Scriven, at the request of the Home Office, and detailed the lives of children who worked in the pottery industry in Staffordshire. 

As well as being a novelist, Dickens was an active social reformer who read this report with a combination of interest and disgust. Through his observation of 173 potteries, Scriven found hundreds of children working upwards of 12 hours per day, in dangerous conditions and for very low wages. The vast majority of these children were barely able to read or write and suffered a number of health and development problems because of their work. According to the report:

"In numberless instances they, are required to labour on to eight, nine, or ten, and this in an atmosphere varying from 100 to 120 degrees; all these extra hours being occasioned, nine times out of ten, by the selfishness or irregularities of their unworthy taskmasters."

Dickens was thus inspired to bring the plight to these children to the public's attention and decided that the best way to do it was through the medium of story-telling. As for the recipients of the story, it seems likely that he wrote A Christmas Carol for those people who were ignorant to life for poorer people in society or, perhaps, for those children in the potteries, to give them a reason to be happy at Christmas. 

What things do Leo and Stargirl have in common?

One trait that Leo and Stargirl both share is their confidence in their unique individuality. Granted, Stargirl is way more comfortable and confident in being her own person than Leo is. He is still much more affected by peer pressure, but readers do get to see how Leo has confidence in himself liking things that are considered weird or not trendy. For example, he likes porcupine ties:

When I was little, my uncle Pete had...

One trait that Leo and Stargirl both share is their confidence in their unique individuality. Granted, Stargirl is way more comfortable and confident in being her own person than Leo is. He is still much more affected by peer pressure, but readers do get to see how Leo has confidence in himself liking things that are considered weird or not trendy. For example, he likes porcupine ties:

When I was little, my uncle Pete had a necktie with a porcupine painted on it. I thought that necktie was just about the neatest thing in the world. . . . I loved that porcupine tie so much that I decided to start a collection.

Both Leo and Stargirl are capable of loving people by accepting the other person's actions or personality. Again, Stargirl is better at this than Leo. It's why she is able to kiss Hillari after being slapped. Leo shows his ability to love people regardless of their quirkiness by being friends with Stargirl and Archie. Archie is basically the neighborhood goof, but that doesn't stop Leo from talking to him and seeking his advice. The love of people and goodness that Leo and Stargirl share is also demonstrated in their missions of random acts of kindness.

Write a short essay on Abraham Lincoln 's contested reputation.

Lincoln's reputation, it should be said, is pretty solid, both among academic historians and the popular imagination. That said, we can look at a few aspects of Lincoln's career that might be deemed controversial:

• Lincoln held views on race that were fairly conventional for his day. To insulate himself against charges of radicalism in the 1858 Senate race against Stephen Douglas, he promised that he was not, and never had been, for the "social and...

Lincoln's reputation, it should be said, is pretty solid, both among academic historians and the popular imagination. That said, we can look at a few aspects of Lincoln's career that might be deemed controversial:

• Lincoln held views on race that were fairly conventional for his day. To insulate himself against charges of radicalism in the 1858 Senate race against Stephen Douglas, he promised that he was not, and never had been, for the "social and political equality of the white and black races." 


• Moreover, Lincoln did not advocate abolition before the war. This would have been politically disastrous for him. He instead argued that slavery should not be allowed to expand into the western territories. The Emancipation Proclamation itself was undertaken as a political and military necessity, though Lincoln had come by that point to believe that slavery had to be destroyed. 


• During the war, Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus, imprisoning many who were deemed Confederate sympathizers, especially in the border state of Maryland. He even briefly contemplated imprisoning the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Roger Taney, and ignored a ruling that Taney handed down on the matter.

It should be noted that each of these points is essentially criticizing Lincoln for being a product of his very difficult times, and for making decisions that he knew at the time to be controversial. So a good essay that engaged with Lincoln's legacy would not shy away from pointing out controversial aspects of his life while not asking too much of the man.