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Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane is upset by his team's loss to the New York Yankees in the 2001 postseason. With the impending departure of star players Johnny Damon, Jason Giambi, and Jason Isringhausen to free agency, Beane needs to assemble a competitive team for 2002, but must overcome Oakland's limited payroll.
During a visit to the Cleveland Indians, Beane meets Peter Brand, a young Yale economics graduate with radical ideas about how to assess players' value. Beane tests Brand's theory by asking whether he would have drafted him (out of high school), Beane having been a Major League player before becoming general manager. Though scouts considered Beane a phenomenal prospect, his career in the Major Leagues was disappointing. After some prodding, Brand admits that he would not have drafted him until the ninth round and surmised that Beane would probably have accepted a scholarship to Stanford instead. Impressed, Beane hires the inexperienced Brand to be the Athletics assistant general manager.
Oakland team scouts are first dismissive and then hostile towards Brand's non-traditional sabermetric approach to scouting players. Most notably, Grady Fuson aggressively confronts Beane, causing him to be fired. Grady then takes to the radio airwaves and doubts the team's future. Rather than relying on the scouts' experience and intuition, Brand selects players based almost exclusively on their on-base percentage (OBP). Beane signs the ones Brand suggests, such as unorthodox submarine pitcher Chad Bradford, past-his-prime outfielder David Justice, and injured Scott Hatteberg. Beane also faces opposition from Art Howe, the Athletics' manager, who does not agree with the new philosophy. With tensions already high between the two due to a contract dispute, Howe disregards Beane's and Brand's strategy and plays a lineup he prefers.
Early in the season, the Athletics fare poorly, leading critics to dismiss the new method as a failure. Beane convinces the owner to stay the course. He trades away the lone traditional first baseman, Carlos PeĂąa, to force Howe to use Hatteberg at that position, threatening to make similar deals if Howe won't cooperate. The A's win 19 consecutive games, tying for the longest winning streak in American League history. Beane's young daughter implores him to go to a game against the Kansas City Royals, where Oakland is already leading 11â0 after the third inning and appears set to win a record-breaking 20th game in a row. Like many baseball players, Beane is superstitious and avoids games in progress, but upon hearing how well the game is going on the radio, he decides to go. Beane arrives in the fourth inning, only to watch the team falter and eventually allow the Royals to even the score at 11. Finally, the A's do win, on a walk-off home run by Hatteberg.
After celebrating that, however, the A's again lose in the postseason, this time to the Minnesota Twins. Beane is disappointed, believing nothing short of a championship should be considered a success. He is contacted by the owner of the Boston Red Sox, who realizes that the sabermetric model is the future of baseball. Beane declines an opportunity to be GM of the Red Sox, despite the $12.5 million salary, which would have made him the highest-paid general manager in sports history. He returns to Oakland, while an epilogue reveals that two years later, the Red Sox won the 2004 World Series, using the model pioneered by the Athletics. | Who is Oakland playing when they attempt their 20th consecutive win? | [
"Kansas City Royals",
"Kansas City Royals"
] |
Varvara Dobroselova and Makar Devushkin are second cousins twice-removed and live across from each other on the same street in terrible apartments. Devushkin's, for example, is merely a portioned-off section of the kitchen, and he lives with several other tenants, such as the Gorshkovs, whose son who groans in agonizing hunger almost the entire story and eventually dies. Devushkin and Dobroselova exchange letters attesting to their terrible living conditions and the former frequently squanders his money on gifts for her.
The reader progressively learns their history. Dobroselova originally lived in the country, but moved to St. Petersburg (which she hates) when her father lost his job. Her father becomes very violent and her mother severely depressed. Her father dies and they move in with Anna Fyodorovna, a landlady who was previously cruel to them but at least pretends to feel sympathy for their situation. Dobroselova is tutored by a poor student named Pokrovsky, whose drunken father occasionally visits. She eventually falls in love with Pokrovsky. She struggles to save a measly amount of money to purchase the complete works of Pushkin at the market for his birthday present, then allows his father to give the books to him instead, claiming that just knowing he received the books will be enough for her happiness. Pokrovsky falls ill soon after, and his dying wish is to see the sun and the world outside. Dobroselova obliges by opening the blinds to reveal grey clouds and dirty rain. In response Pokrovsky only shakes his head and then passes away. Dobroselova's mother dies shortly afterwards, and Dobroselova is left in the care of Anna for a time, but the abuse becomes too much and she goes to live with Fedora across the street.
Devushkin works as a lowly copyist, frequently belittled and picked on by his colleagues. His clothing is worn and dirty, and his living conditions are perhaps worse than Dobroselova's. He considers himself a rat in society. He and Dobroselova exchange letters (and occasional visits that are never detailed), and eventually they also begin to exchange books. Devushkin becomes offended when she sends him a copy of "The Overcoat", because he finds the main character is living a life similar to his own.
Dobroselova considers moving to another part of the city where she can work as a governess. Just as he is out of money and risks being evicted, Devushkin has a stroke of luck: his boss takes pity on him and gives him 100 rubles to buy new clothes. Devushkin pays off his debts and sends some to Dobroselova. She sends him 25 rubles back because she does not need it. The future looks bright for both of them because he can now start to save money and it may be possible for them to move in together.
The writer Ratazyayev, who jokes about using Devushkin as a character in one of his stories offends him, but genuinely seems to like him. Eventually Devushkin's pride is assuaged and their friendship is restored. The Gorshkovs come into money because the father's case is won in court. With the generous settlement they seem to be destined to be perfectly happy, but the father dies, leaving his family in a shambles despite the money. Soon after this, Dobroselova announces that a rich man, Mr. Bykov who had dealings with Anna Fyodorovna and Pokrovsky's father, has proposed to her. She decides to leave with him, and the last few letters attest to her slowly becoming accustomed to her new money.
She asks Devushkin to find linen for her and begins to talk about various luxuries, but leaves him alone in the end despite his improving fortunes. In the last correspondence in the story, on September 29, Devushkin begs Dobroselova to write to him. Dobroselova responds saying that "all is over" an to not forget her. The last letter is from Devushkin saying that he loves her and that he will die when he leaves her. | What is Devushkin's occupation? | [
"Copyist",
"Copyist"
] |
Act One is set in Loam Hall, the household of Lord Loam, a British peer, Crichton being his butler. Loam considers the class divisions in British society to be artificial. He promotes his views during tea-parties where servants mingle with his aristocratic guests, to the embarrassment of all. Crichton particularly disapproves, considering the class system to be "the natural outcome of a civilised society".
At the beginning of Act Two, Loam, his family and friends, and Crichton are shipwrecked on a deserted tropical island. The resourceful Crichton is the only one of the party with any practical knowledge, and he assumes, initially with reluctance, the position of leader. This role begins to take on sinister tones when he starts training Ernest, one of the young aristocrats with them, to break a liking for laboured epigrams by putting his head in a bucket of water whenever he makes one. Crichton's social betters at first resist his growing influence and go their separate ways, but in a pivotal scene they return, showing their acquiescence by accepting the food Crichton alone has been able to find and cook.
Act Three reveals the island two years later. Crichton has civilised the island with farming and house building and now, called "the Guv.", is waited on with the trappings and privileges of power, just as his master had been in Britain. Lady Mary, Loam's daughter, falls in love with him, forgetting her engagement to Lord Brocklehurst at home. Just as she and Crichton are about to be married by a clergyman who was shipwrecked with them, the sound of a ship's gun is heard. After a moment's temptation not to reveal their whereabouts, Crichton makes the conventionally decent choice and launches a signal. As the rescuers greet the castaways, he resumes his status as butler.
Act Four (subtitled "The Other Island") is set back at Loam Hall, where the status quo ante has returned uneasily. The Loams and their friends are embarrassed by Crichton's presence, since Ernest has published a false account of events on the island, presenting himself and Lord Loam in key roles. Lady Brocklehurst, Lord Brocklehurst's mother, quizzes the family and servants about events on the island, suspecting that Lady Mary might have been unfaithful to Lord Brocklehurst. The household evades these questions, except for a final one when Lady Mary reacts with shock â "Oh no, impossible..." â to the suggestion that Crichton might become butler at her married household. To protect her, Crichton explains the impossibility is due to his leaving service, and the play ends with his and Lady Mary's regretful final parting. | At the end of the story, how does the Loam household feel about having Crichton around? | [
"Embarrassed",
"embarrassed"
] |
The novel concerns the rivalry of two men: Valentine Bulmer, the Earl of Etherington, and his half-brother Francis Tyrrel. Both wish to marry Miss Clara Mowbray, who is the sister of John, the laird of Saint Ronanâs.
Saint Ronanâs Well is a spa at Innerleithen, a town near Peebles in southern Scotland.Valentine Bulmer and his half-brother Francis Tyrrel had been Mrs Dods' guests at Cleikum Inn when they were students from Edinburgh, and she gladly welcomed Francis when he arrived, some years afterwards, to stay at the inn again, to fish and sketch in the neighbourhood. A mineral spring had in the meantime been discovered at Saint Ronanâs, and he was invited by the fashionable visitors to dine with them at the Fox Hotel, where he quarrelled with an English baronet named Sir Bingo Binks. On his way back to the Cleikum, he met Clara Mowbray, to whom he had been secretly engaged during his former visit; he had been prevented from marrying her by the treachery of Bulmer, who had now succeeded to the earldom, and was expected at the spa. Tyrrel was visited by Captain MacTurk, and accepted a challenge from the baronet, but failed to keep his appointment, and was posted as an adventurer by the committee of management. He also disappeared from the inn, leading his hostess to consult Mr Bindloose, the sheriff's clerk, under the belief that he had been murdered. A Mr Touchwood came to change a bill, and talked of having been abroad for many years. He showed great interest in the affairs of the Mowbray family, and, having taken up his quarters at the Cleikum, made friends with Rev Mr Cargill, who had been disappointed in love, and startled him with a rumour that Clara was about to be married.
Soon after the earl's arrival, it was reported that he had been shot in the arm by a foot-pad; and, while his wound was healing, he spent his time gambling with John Mowbray, the young laird of St Ronan's, who had borrowed his sister Clara's money to try to improve his luck. Having allowed him to win a considerable sum, his lordship made proposals for Clara's hand, explaining that his grand-uncle had disinherited his only son, and devised his estate to him, on condition that he chose as a wife a lady of the name of Mowbray. In a letter to his friend Jekyl, the earl confessed that he had been winged in a duel with Tyrrel, whom he met on his way to fight Sir Bingo, and that he had also wounded Tyrrel. A few days afterwards the company at the Well assembled at Shaw's Castle to take part in a play, and Mr Touchwood persuaded Rev Mr Cargill to accompany him. While they were walking in the grounds the minister reminded Clara of a secret in his keeping, which made it impossible for her to marry. He also encountered the earl, and, believing him to be Bulmer, attempted to warn him.
The next morning, as John Mowbray was endeavouring to induce Clara to consent to the marriage, he received an anonymous communication that the earl was an impostor; and, in an interview with him, she rejected his suit with loathing and scorn. His lordship then wrote to Jekyl, telling him the circumstances under which, when he was only sixteen, he had arranged with Mr Cargill for a secret marriage between her and Tyrrel; but, learning subsequently the contents of his uncle's will, had incurred their lifelong hatred by impersonating his brother at the ceremony. Tyrrel, who after the duel had gone to a nearby village to recover from his wound, reappeared just in time to rescue Mr Touchwood from drowning; and, at an interview with Jekyl, who undertook to clear his character, offered to forgo his claim to the earldom, of which he had proof, if his brother would leave Clara alone. The earl sneered at the proposal, and, as he was forming fresh schemes for attaining his end, he discovered that Hannah Irwin, Clara's former companion, was dying at St Ronan's, and anxious to confess her share in the secret marriage. Solmes, the earl's valet, was instructed to carry her off, while his master got the brother into his power by ruining him at play, and then promised to cancel the debt if Clara consented to acknowledge him as her husband within four-and-twenty hours.
Mowbray believed he had prevailed with his sister, when Mr Touchwood unexpectedly arrived, and announced himself as Scrogie, the disinherited son, who by bribing Solmes, and in other ways, had learnt everyone's secrets, and was ready with his fortune to arrange all their difficulties. However, Clara had escaped from her room during the night, and, after appearing at the manse to forgive her cousin, who had been confided to Mr Cargill's care, had made her way to the Cleikum, where, in a seeming trance, she had a final interview with Tyrrel, and died soon afterwards from congestion of the brain. Mowbray, meanwhile, in his search for her, encountered the earl and his companions engaged in a shooting match, and killed him in a duel arranged on the spot by Captain MacTurk, with whom he fled to the Continent to escape imprisonment. Mr Touchwood had consequently to seek some other outlet for his wealth, and the Etherington estates were never claimed by the rightful heir, who determined to pass the remainder of his life in a Moravian mission. | How does Bulmer first attempt to gain John Mowbray's approval for his marriage to Clara? | [
"He allows her brother, John, to win a considerable sum of money while gambling.",
"Letting him win while gambling"
] |
The Warden concerns Mr Septimus Harding, the meek, elderly warden of Hiram's Hospital and precentor of Barchester Cathedral, in the fictional county of Barsetshire.
Hiram's Hospital is an almshouse supported by a medieval charitable bequest to the Diocese of Barchester. The income maintains the almshouse itself, supports its twelve bedesmen, and, in addition, provides a comfortable abode and living for its warden. Mr Harding was appointed to this position through the patronage of his old friend the Bishop of Barchester, who is also the father of Archdeacon Grantly to whom Harding's older daughter, Susan, is married. The warden, who lives with his remaining child, an unmarried younger daughter Eleanor, performs his duties conscientiously.
The story concerns the impact upon Harding and his circle when a zealous young reformer, John Bold, launches a campaign to expose the disparity in the apportionment of the charity's income between its object, the bedesmen, and its officer, Mr Harding. John Bold embarks on this campaign in a spirit of public duty despite his romantic involvement with Eleanor and previously cordial relations with Mr Harding. Bold starts a lawsuit and Mr Harding is advised by the indomitable Dr Grantly, his son-in-law, to stand his ground.
Bold attempts to enlist the support of the press and engages the interest of The Jupiter (a newspaper representing The Times) whose editor, Tom Towers, pens editorials supporting reform of the charity, and presenting a portrait of Mr Harding as selfish and derelict in his conduct of his office. This image is taken up by commentators Dr Pessimist Anticant, and Mr Popular Sentiment, who have been seen as caricatures of Thomas Carlyle and Charles Dickens respectively.
Ultimately, despite much browbeating by his son-in-law, the Archdeacon, and the legal opinion solicited from the barrister, Sir Abraham Haphazard, Mr Harding concludes that he cannot in good conscience continue to accept such generous remuneration and resigns the office. John Bold, who has appealed in vain to Tom Towers to redress the injury to Mr Harding, returns to Barchester where he marries Eleanor after halting legal proceedings.
Those of the bedesmen of the hospital who have allowed their appetite for greater income to estrange them from the warden are reproved by their senior member, Bunce, who has been constantly loyal to Harding whose good care and understanding heart are now lost to them. At the end of the novel the bishop decides that the wardenship of Hiram's Hospital be left vacant, and none of the bedesmen are offered the extra money despite the vacancy of the post. Mr Harding, on the other hand, becomes Rector of St. Cuthbert's, a small parish near the Cathedral Close, drawing a much smaller income than before. | Who is the editor of the Jupiter? | [
"Tom Towers",
"Tom Towers"
] |
The tale starts the day after Anodos' twenty-first birthday. He discovers an ancient fairy lady (whom he learns to be his grandmother) in the desk which he opens with a key that he inherited as a birthright from his late father. After the fairy shows him Fairy Land in a vision, Anodos awakes the next day to find that his room, crafted after natural elements, is taking literal form and transforming into a wood. He discovers that he has been transported to Fairy Land.
Anodos then encounters a woman and her daughter in a cottage who warn him about the Ash Tree and the Alder Tree, who seek to destroy him. He is told that the spirits of these trees can leave their tree-hosts and wander throughout Fairy Land. He then explores the world of the fairies, which live in flowers, causing them to glow. The flowers, he is told, die if the fairies leave. He then has a nightmarish encounter with the spirit of the Ash Tree, escapes, and finds rest in the warmth and love of the Beech Tree's spirit.
After this, he finds the statue (fondly called "my Marble Lady" by Anodos) by Pygmalion. After he sings to it, the statue flees from him. He pursues the lady and finds a woman he believes to be her. However, this lady is actually the Maid of the Alder Tree in disguise. The spirit of the Ash Tree joins the Maid and is close to killing Anodos when he is saved by Sir Percivale (who chopped the actual ash tree with an axe). Anodos then meets a woman and her daughter who believe in fairy tales and the magic of Fairy Land, despite the disbelief of the woman's husband. Anodos also finds his shadow, an evil presence that follows and torments Anodos throughout the rest of the story.
Anodos finds a palace that mysteriously belongs to him, and it contains a room with an inscription that reads "Sir Anodos." In the palace, he reads the story of Cosmo of Prague. Cosmo is a believer in fantasy who sacrifices his life to free the soul of his lover from an enchanted mirror (whether the event was a fictional story made by an author from Fairy Land or if it was a recording from an event in Anodos' world is left ambiguous).
Anodos spends much time in the palace, relating his various wanderings and readings. In one such wandering, he comes upon corridors filled with still statues. Hearing the last vestiges of song from the corridors, and considering the statues as recently frozen into immobility upon his approach, Anodos ventures deeper and deeper into the halls. He dreams of the marble lady, that she alone has an empty pedestal among the statues. He later finds this pedestal, and, figuring a way in which to trick the statues into continuing to dance as he enters the room, he eventually sings to the pedestal. The marble lady materializes, but Anodos attempts to grab her. She flees and disappears. Anodos follows, going down into a strange subterranean world with gnome-like creatures (like the German Kobolds) that mock him.
Anodos escapes this place and finds himself in a stormy sea. When a boat arrives, he boards it. It takes him to an "island" with a cottage with four doors which is inhabited by an ancient lady with young eyes. Anodos enters each door in turn, each containing a different world. In the first he becomes a child again, remembering the death of his brother. He comes back to the cottage crying. In the next door he finds the marble lady and Sir Percivale, alive, well, and in love. They are talking about him, and Anodos (previously unnoticed) makes a last outburst of his love for the marble lady. They leave, as does Anodos. The next door recounts the death of a loved one of Anodos, and he finds his family mausoleum. His ancestors help him back to the cottage. Finally, Anodos travels through the last door ("the door of the timeless") but is saved by the ancient lady without remembering anything. The ancient lady says that because she saved him, he must leave (the "island" in fact has an isthmus).
Next Anodos finds himself with two brothers who also call Anodos their "brother," due to a prophecy given to them that a third would come to help them. They are forging armor and swords in order to fight three giants that have fortified a castle nearby, to the dismay of the townsfolk. The brothers are the sons of the king. Anodos joins them in their fight, but they are attacked unarmed by the giants. The brothers die, but Anodos lives, becoming a hero of the kingdom. He wanders to tell a woman, whom one of the brothers loved, of his honorable death, but he finds instead a manifestation of his shadow, who imprisons Anodos in a tower. Anodos is saved by the song of a woman whom he had met before in fairy land, and he is not troubled by his shadow ever again. Anodos becomes the dedicated squire of the knight, and they become good friends. They come upon a temple full of worshipers doing an unknown evil to a select few. Sir Percivale, always seeing good in people, is deceived, but Anodos rises to end the practice. He destroys the idol made of rotting wood that is sitting on a throne. He is killed by the multitude before Percivale can save him. In death Anodos finds peace, having died nobly. He floats, overlooking things, and finally awakes alive in the "real" world, never forgetting his experiences in Fairy Land. His sisters inform him he had been gone 21 days, but to him it felt like 21 years. | Who does Anodos see first when he wakes up? | [
"His sisters",
"his sisters"
] |
Greenleaf begins his book by arguing for the need to suspend prejudices and to be open to conviction, "to follow the truth wherever it may lead us" (p. 1). He cites Bishop Daniel Wilson's Evidences by stating that Christianity does not "bring irresistible evidence" but offers sufficient evidences for "the serious inquirer" (p. 2). He limits the scope of his book to an inquiry "to the testimony of the Four Evangelists, bringing their narratives to the tests to which other evidence is subjected in human tribunals" (p. 2). His specific inquiry is concerned with testing "the veracity of these witnesses by the same rules and means" employed in human tribunals (p. 3). Greenleaf argues the case by first inquiring as to the genuineness of the four gospels as ancient writings. Here he applies what is known in law as the ancient documents rule, stating that "Every document, apparently ancient, coming from the proper repository or custody, and bearing on its face no evident marks of forgery, the law presumes to be genuine, and devolves on the opposing party the burden of proving it to be otherwise" (p. 7). Greenleaf maintains that the Four Gospels do not bear any marks of being forgeries and the oldest extant copies may be received into court as genuine documents.
Greenleaf proceeds to argue that "In matters of public and general interest, all persons must be presumed to be conversant, on the principle that individuals are presumed to be conversant with their own affairs" (p. 9). On the basis of this legal rule, Greenleaf briefly profiles those traditionally attributed as authors of the Four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, concerning (in the case of John and Matthew) their firsthand knowledge of the life of Jesus of Nazareth and (in the case of Mark and Luke) their intimate personal links with Jesus' original band of disciples.
Greenleaf then builds a cumulative case by claiming to cross-examine the oral testimony of the evangelists in their accounts of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Greenleaf develops his case on the basis of the following tests:
"The credit due to the testimony of witnesses depends upon, firstly, their honesty; secondly, their ability; thirdly, their number and the consistency of their testimony; fourthly, the conformity of their testimony with experience; and fifthly, the coincidence of their testimony with collateral circumstances" (p. 28).
Greenleaf then argues that the gospel writers can be shown to be honest in their character and do not show any motives to falsify their testimony (pp. 28–31). He claims that keen observations and meticulous details are related by Matthew and Luke, and he concludes this demonstrates their ability (pp. 31–32). Greenleaf notes that there are parallel accounts from the evangelists concerning the central events of Jesus' life and that these accounts are not verbally identical. He maintains that discrepancies in their accounts are evidence that the writers are not guilty of collusion, and that the discrepancies in their respective accounts can be resolved or harmonized upon careful cross-examination and comparison of the details (pp 32–35). Greenleaf argues against the scepticism of the Scottish empirical philosopher David Hume concerning reports of miracles. He finds fault with Hume's position about "immutable laws from the uniform course of human experience" (p. 36), and goes on to assert that it is a fallacy because "it excludes all knowledge derived by inference or deduction from facts, confining us to what we derive from experience alone" (pp. 37–38). Greenleaf takes as his own assumption that as God exists then such a being is capable of performing miracles. He then argues that the various miracles reported in Jesus' ministry occurred in open or public contexts where friend and foe alike were witnesses (pp 39–42). Lastly, Greenleaf examines the problem of uniform testimony among false and genuine witnesses, and finds there is sufficient circumstantial evidence to support the accounts of the Four Evangelists.
Greenleaf sums up his argument with the following plea:
"All that Christianity asks of men on this subject, is, that they would be consistent with themselves; that they would treat its evidences as they treat the evidence of other things; and that they would try and judge its actors and witnesses, as they deal with their fellow men, when testifying to human affairs and actions, in human tribunals. Let the witnesses be compared with themselves, with each other, and with the surrounding facts and circumstances; and let their testimony be sifted, as if it were given in a court of justice, on the side of the adverse party, the witnesses being subjected to a rigorous cross-examination. The result, it is confidently believed, will be an undoubting conviction of their integrity, ability and truth ... Either the men of Galilee were men of superlative wisdom, and extensive knowledge and experience, and of deeper skill in the arts of deception, than any and all others, before or after them, or they have truly stated the astonishing things which they saw and heard" (pp. 46 & 53). | How is the veracity of the Four Evangelists tested? | [
"By using the same rules employed in human tribunals..",
"The same way as in a court of justice."
] |
Harrington's magnum opus, Oceana is an exposition on an ideal constitution, designed to allow for the existence of a utopian republic. Oceana was read contemporaneously as a metaphor for interregnum England, with its beneficent lawgiver Olphaus Megaletor representing Cromwell. The details of this ideal governing document are set out, from the rights of the state to the salaries of low officials. Its strategies were not implemented at the time.
The first constituent in Harrington's theoretical argument states that the determining element of power in a state is property, particularly property in land. The second is that the executive power ought not to be vested for any considerable time in the same man, men, or class of men. In accordance with the first of these, Harrington recommends an agrarian law, limiting holdings of land to the amount yielding a revenue of ÂŁ2000, and consequently insisting on particular modes of distributing landed property. As a practical issue of the second he lays down the rule of rotation by ballot. A third part of the executive or senate are voted out by ballot every year, and may not be elected again for three years. Harrington explains very carefully how the state and its governing parts are to be constituted by his scheme. | If the regulating power in a state is property, what is the most important property? | [
"Land.",
"land"
] |
The narrator suggests writing an article on Neil Paraday; his new editor agrees. The former spends a week with Neil and writes the article whilst there, alongside reading Paraday's latest book. His editor rejects the article however; he decides to write an article for another newspaper, but it goes unnoticed. Neil Paraday gets excited about writing another book, despite the fact that he doesn't seem successful still. However the narrator comes across a praiseful review in The Empire.
Mr Morrow, a journalist suddenly interested in writing about Neil Paraday's life now that he is successful, comes round and ends up scaring the writer; the narrator manages to see him off. He tells Mr Morrow all there is to know about Paraday is in his work; the journalist is not amused. Later, he publishes an article on Neil's house in the Tatler. Embracing his fame, Paraday takes to going to London luncheons with women.
The narrator meets Miss Hurter, an American admirer of the writer's, in his house. As the writer is again busy with Mrs Wimbush, he explains to the girl that the best thing she can do is not to bother Paraday and only admire him from afar, so as not to interfere with his writings. Nevertheless, he keeps her autograph album to show it to him. Later, he meets with her to read passages from Paraday; once while they are at the opera he points Paraday out to her.
The narrator is annoyed with Mrs Wimbush for inviting Paraday to a party at Prestidge. Subsequently, he quotes from a letter sent to Miss Hunter while he was at the party. In this mise en abyme, he describes the way the other guests have not read Paraday's works; worse still, Lady Augusta confesses to having mislaid the text is expected to read out the next day - there is no extra copy. Paraday falls gravely ill; the guests, enhanced by the Princess, are merry since the party seems to be a success. Dora Forbes joins them - later to become Mrs Wimbrush's next 'henpecked' writer. The party is called off on doctors order; the Princess lets him pass away in one of her houses. Before his death, Paraday had asked the narrator to publish an unfinished text by him. Although the one lost by Lady Augusta has not been found again, the narrator and Miss Hurter, who eventually marry, shall keep Paraday's memory alive through their dedication to his texts. | Who is Paraday often busy with? | [
"Mrs. Wimbush",
"women"
] |
Three thousand years ago, an Aztec warlord named Yaotl and his four generals discover a portal opening into a parallel universe which is said to have great power. Yaotl becomes immortal from the power, but his four generals were turned to stone. The portal releases 13 immortal monsters (such as the Bigfoot, the Centaur, Lethargo the Mapinguari, Aracknor the Jbafofi, Succubor the Popobawa, the Jersey Devil and the Sea Monster) that destroy his army as well as his enemies. In the present, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have grown apart. After defeating the Shredder, Master Splinter has sent Leonardo to Central America for training. Donatello works as an IT specialist, Michelangelo works as a birthday party entertainer called Cowabunga Carl and Raphael works at night as a vigilante nicknamed Nightwatcher. April O'Neil operates a company that locates and acquires relics for collectors with the help of her boyfriend, Casey Jones.
During a business trip to Central America, April runs into Leonardo and tells him that the turtles have drifted apart. She returns to New York with a statue for her client, Max Winters, the richest man in the city. Upon arrival she calls Casey and tells him that she spoke to Leo and tells him that Leo's not coming back. However a little later Leo does return, and April and Casey deliver the statue to Winters. Winters hires Karai and the Foot Clan to search the city for the thirteen beasts before the portal opens again. Raphael encounters Casey, who reveals his knowledge of Raphael's double identity and joins him in hunting criminals.
Winters, who is actually the still-immortal Yaotl, reanimates his generals with his company's advanced technology, but they remain made of stone. Leo returns to the sewer, meeting Splinter. Splinter forbids the Turtles from fighting until they can act as a team again. While training, the Turtles encounter Bigfoot, one of the thirteen beasts battling the Foot Clan. The Turtles engage Bigfoot, going against Leo and Splinter's orders. When Raphael visits Casey, they encounter Vampire Succubor and witness its capture by the Foot Clan and the Stone Generals, who spot them and knock Raphael unconscious. Casey takes him back to the apartment while April calls the Turtles for help and reveals the identities of Yaotl and his Generals. After being revived, Raphael suggests they pursue Yaotl, but Leo forbids him to go until Splinter gives out the order and so Raphael goes out to investigate alone as Nightwatcher.
Leo, Donny and Mikey return to their sewer home to plan their next move, where Donny discovers the reopening of the portal will be directly over Winters' skyscraper headquarters. Splinter informs Leo that his team is incomplete, and that he knows what he must do. After eleven monsters have been captured, General Aguila questions Yaotl's actions. The Generals conspire betray Yaotl, wanting to remain immortal. Raphael encounters Jersey Devil, one of the remaining monsters but drives it off. Leo has been following him, wanting to put an end to the Nightwatcher's vigilante acts, but when Raph is revealed, they battle. Raph breaks Leo's twin swords and seems as though he is about to kill him but runs off instead. Immediately after Raph flees, the Generals ambush Leo, who is shot with a poison dart and too weak to fight them. Raph hears him scream in the distance as he's taken hostage and doubles back in pursuit, but he fails to get there in time. He takes Leo's broken swords back to Splinter and explains what happened.
The Generals intend to substitute Leo for the thirteenth missing beast and Raphael decides to make amends for his past mistakes by rescuing Leo. As the portal opens, Yaotl discovers his Generals' treachery, while Splinter and the Turtles, accompanied by Casey and April, fight their way through the Foot Clan cordon and breach the tower. Yaotl reveals the truth to the heroes: he wants to be free of his curse of immortality. The Generals reveal that they wish to preserve their immortality, but also to use the portal to bring in more monsters to conquer the world.
Having refused to betray Yaotl in exchange for serving the Generals, April, Casey and the Foot Clan work together, searching for the final monster while the Turtles fight the Generals. Splinter and Yaotl fight off numerous monsters emerging from the portal. April, Casey and Karai arrive at the tower with the last monster, the Sea Monster. The Sea Monster crashes into the Generals, dragging them into the portal before it closes. Karai warns them to enjoy their victory while it lasts, claiming they will soon contend with a familiar foe, which the Turtles suspect to be the Shredder. She and the rest of the Foot Clan depart. Yaotl, now mortal, honors the Turtles and Splinter, thanking them with his dying breath for fulfilling his lifelong wish. Splinter places Yaotl's helmet among his trophy collection, as well as Raphael's Nightwatcher helmet and Michelangelo's turtle costume, and the film ends with Raphael narrating that the Turtles will always be brothers. | After capturing all the 13 monsters, what does General Aguila do? | [
"He questions Yaotl's actions. ",
"Questions Yaotl's actions."
] |
Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer and his six-man team, consisting of himself, operators Mac Elliot, Billy Sole, and Blaine Cooper, demolitions and explosives expert Jorge "Poncho" RamĂrez, and radioman Rick Hawkins, are tasked by the CIA with spearheading the rescue of an official held hostage by insurgents in Val Verde. CIA Agent George Dillon, a former commando and an old friend of Dutch's, is assigned to accompany and supervise the team despite Dutch's reservations. The team is taken to a remote jungle and begins the mission.
They soon discover the wreckage of another chopper and three skinned corpses, whom Dutch identifies as U.S. Army Special Forces he once trained. Pressing on, the team reaches the insurgent camp and kills every single guerilla, including a Soviet intelligence officer searching through top-secret CIA documents. Dillon, confronted by a suspicious Dutch, admits the mission was a setup to retrieve intelligence from captured operatives and that the dead unit disappeared weeks earlier in a failed rescue. Upon capturing a female guerilla named Anna, the group proceeds to extraction, unaware that they are being stalked by a nearly invisible creature who tracks them with thermal imaging.
Hawkins chases a fleeing Anna when they are both suddenly confronted by the creature. The unarmed Anna is spared, but Hawkins is swiftly killed and dragged away. Dutch organizes a manhunt for his body, during which Blaine is killed by the creature's plasma weapon, enraging Mac. An ensuing firefight fails to draw out the creature, so the unit regroups and questions Anna, learning that their stalker is an unknown creature locals call "El diablo cazador de hombres" or "El demonio que hace trofeos de los hombres", meaning "The devil man hunter" and "The demon who makes trophies of men" respectively. The next day, an attempt to trap the creature fails, leaving Poncho badly injured. Mac and Dillon pursue the alien, but it outwits and kills them both.
The survivors try to escape, but the creature catches up, killing Billy and Poncho, and wounding Dutch. Dutch sends Anna to the chopper alone and unarmed, upon realizing the creature does not target unarmed prey because there's "no sport". While being pursued by the alien, Dutch slides down a hill into a river, goes over a waterfall and ends up crawling through a patch of mud, only for the creature to catch up to him; its cloaking device malfunctions in the water, allowing Dutch to finally see his hidden enemy. The alien, though standing a few feet from Dutch, does not see him and moves on. This helps him realize that the mud he is now covered in is acting as camouflage by cooling his skin and blocking his body's heat signature from the alien's thermal sensor. Now seeking to avenge his men, Dutch uses his knowledge of jungle warfare to craft a series of traps. Covered in mud and armed with improvised weapons, he lures the creature in with a war cry.
Utilizing his preparations, Dutch beats the alien at its own game, disabling its cloaking device and inflicting minor injuries. However, the creature rallies itself and finally corners him. Acknowledging Dutch as a worthy foe, the alien discards its mask and plasma weapon, and challenges him to a hand-to-hand fight, where it has a clear advantage. After being brutally beaten, Dutch narrowly defeats the creature by using a counterweight to crush it. Standing over the crippled alien, he asks, "What the hell are you?", but the creature simply repeats back "What the hell are you?" in garbled English before activating a self-destruct device on its wrist, laughing sinisterly as the count down begins. Dutch flees and takes cover just before the self-destruct device explodes in a mushroom cloud.
Dutch, the last man standing, is picked up shortly afterwards by his commander, General Phillips, and finds Anna in the helicopter. | How does the creature finally die? | [
"He activates a self-destruct button and blows himself up.",
"He activates the self-destruct device."
] |
Set in the closing years of the 19th century, this two-part novel tells the story of Lewis Haystoun, a young Scottish laird. Part I of the novel is a story of manners and romance in upper class Scotland. Part II is quite different, and is an action tale of adventure and duty in northern India.
When his local Member of Parliament decides to retire, Haystoun is persuaded to stand. Although he is liked and respected by his local tenants, he finds himself unable to speak wholeheartedly and with full conviction at the hustings and is beaten by his opponent, the ambitious and fluent social climber Albert Stocks. Following an initial meeting at a dinner party, both Haystoun and Stocks fall in love with Alice Wishart, the daughter of a rich city merchant. Miss Wishart initially favours Haystoun, but gradually becomes disenchanted with his apparent lack of ability to commit to anything. During a picnic on the moors, Miss Wishart slips and falls into a lake. Haystoun, standing beside her, hesitates just long enough to allow his rival to dive in and make the rescue. Haystoun is devastated, believes himself to be a coward and avoids Miss Wishart's company, pushing her more and more into the company of Stocks. Stocks asks her to marry him and, believing that Haystoun is not interested in her, she agrees.
Rumours have reached the British Government of a possible danger to the Empire via an uncharted area of the northern Indian frontier. Haystoun has explored this area before, and when he is asked by a friend to go out again to reconnoitre in a semi-official capacity, he jumps at the chance to escape his situation and to prove his courage. The night before his departure, Haystoun and Miss Wishart meet and declare their mutual love for the first time. Although there would still be time for Miss Wishart to break her engagement, the pair feel that they have been 'set apart by the fates' and they separate to follow their own individual paths.
In part II of the novel, Haystoun travels to the northern frontier lands where he learns of a Russian plot to invade India via a little-known narrow mountain pass in the Kashmir, with the help of the local hill tribes. Having become aware of an imminent Cossack attack, Haystoun sends word to the local fort, calling on them to telegraph warnings to the northern garrisons and settlements, and sets off alone to try to delay the invaders at the pass. There he dies heroically, but is able to delay the invasion for just time enough for the alarm to be raised and for defences to be put in place. The Empire is saved by his valiant efforts. | Where does the second part of the story take place? | [
"Northern India",
"India "
] |
The novel is set in the 1730s and 1740s and tells the life story (in the first person) of Roderick "Rory" Random, who was born to a Scottish gentleman and a lower-class woman and is thus shunned by his father's family. His mother dies soon after giving birth and his father is driven mad with grief. Random's paternal grandfather coerces a local school master into providing free education for the boy, who becomes popular with his classmates (some of whom he encounters again in subsequent adventures) and learns Latin, French, Italian and ancient Greek. The language accomplishments are despite, rather than because of, the abusive tutor who oppresses Random at every opportunity. Finally Random is cast out after the tutor exacts revenge for one of Random's escapades and denounces him to his grandfather. With none of his paternal family willing to assist him in any way, Random relies on his wits and the occasional support of his maternal uncle, Tom Bowling.
The naive Random then embarks on a series of adventures and misadventures, visiting inter alia: London, Bath, France, the West Indies, West Africa and South America. With little money to support himself, he encounters malice, discrimination and sharpers at every turn. His honest and trustworthy character and medical skills do however win him a few staunch friends.
Roderick spends much of the novel trying to attract the attention of various wealthy women he meets, so that he can live comfortably and take up his rightful entitlement as a gentleman. To that end he poses as a nobleman several times, including once while he is in France.
Roderick and his companion Hugh Strap end up serving twice on British ships, once on a privateer and once on a warship after being press-ganged.
The novel ends happily when Random is reunited with his now wealthy father in Argentina. He inherits some funds immediately, enabling him to marry the lovely Narcissa without the consent of her guardian brother. | Who is Random's maternal uncle? | [
"Tom Bowling",
"Tom Bowling."
] |
In 1980, on the night he fails to win an Emmy Award, Matt Hobbs proposes to his longtime girlfriend Beth. He says the only thing holding him back is his dedication to his career, one which may not always work out, and Beth says that's one of the things she loves most about him. Little more than a year later, with a baby crying and no job for Matt, Beth is overflowing with resentment. By 1993, the pair have been divorced for several years and are living on opposite coasts. Matt auditions for a role in pompous, self-absorbed, and clueless film producer Burke Adler's new project but fails to get the part. He does however agree to chauffeur Adler occasionally. Matt flies to Georgia to pick up his daughter Jeannie for what he believes is a brief visit and discovers Beth is facing a prison term and Jeannie will be living with him for the duration of her sentence. The two return to Hollywood and struggle with their new circumstances and building a relationship (Matt hasn't seen the six-year-old since she was four). When Matt goes in to make a screen test for a lead in a film, he leaves Jeannie with a friend at the studio, and when he picks her up he's stunned to learn she's been cast in a sitcom. There are multiple sub-plots, including one focusing on Matt's relationship with staff script-reader Cathy Breslow and another concerning test screening analyst Nan Mulhanney and her tumultuous relationship with Adler. While a large part of the film is a satire of the film industry, it also skewers relationships from various angles. | Who does Nan have a relationship with? | [
"With Adler, the film producer.",
"Burke Adler"
] |
In the beginning of this mock-epic, Pope declares that a "dire offence" (Canto 1 line 1) has been committed. A lord has assaulted a "gentle belle" (line 8), causing her to reject him. He then proceeds to tell the story of this offence.
While Belinda is still asleep, her guardian Sylph Ariel forewarns her that "some dread event impends". Belinda then awakes and gets ready for the day with the help of her maid, Betty. The Sylphs, though unseen, also contribute: "These set the head, and those divide the hair, some fold the sleeve, whilst others plait the gown" (146â147). Here Pope also describes Belinda's two locks of hair "which graceful hung behind". The Baron, one of Belinda's suitors, greatly admires these locks and conspires to steal one. Building an altar, he places on it "all the trophies of his former loves" (line 40), sets them on fire and fervently prays "soon to obtain, and long possess" (line 44) the lock.
Ariel, disturbed by the impending event although not knowing what it will be, summons many sylphs to him and instructs them to guard Belinda from anything that may befall her, whether she "forget her prayers, or miss a masquerade, Or lost her heart, or necklace, at a ball" (line 108â109). So protected, Belinda arrives at Hampton Court and is invited to play a game of ombre.
The conspiring Baron acquires a pair of scissors and tries to snip off one of her locks but is prevented by the watchful Sylphs. This happens three times, but in the end the Baron succeeds (also cutting a Sylph in two although Pope reassures us, parodying a passage in Paradise Lost, that "airy substance soon unites again" [line 152]). When Belinda discovers her lock is gone, she falls into a tantrum, while the Baron celebrates his victory.
A gnome named Umbriel now journeys to the Cave of Spleen and from the Queen receives a bag of "sighs, sobs, and passions, and the war of tongues" (canto 4 line 84) and a vial filled "with fainting fears, soft sorrows, melting griefs, and flowing tears" (line 85â86) and brings them to Belinda. Finding her dejected in the arms of the woman Thalestris, he pours the contents over them both.
Many people, moved by Belinda's grief, demand the lock back, but the Baron is unrepentant and refuses. Clarissa admonishes them to keep their good humour, but they will not listen and instead a court battle ensues between the nobles, with glares, songs and wits as weapons. Belinda fights with the Baron and throws snuff up his nose to subdue him. When she demands that he restore the lock, however, it is nowhere to be found. It has been made a constellation and is destined to outlast the contestants. | How does pope describe Belinda's locks o hair? | [
"gracefully hung behind",
"\"which graceful hung behind.\""
] |
The first two lines are a complete story by themselves:
" The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door..."
The Zan have killed off all life on Earth other than pairs of specimens for their zoo of exotic Earth fauna. Walter Phelan is the last man on Earth, but Grace Evans, the last woman, is not overly impressed with him and maintains her distance.
The Zan, who are ageless, become disturbed when, one by one, the other animals begin to die. They turn to Walter for advice. He tells them that the creatures have perished from lack of affection, suggesting that they pet the survivors regularly to keep them alive. He demonstrates with one of them. When the Zan begin to die, they depart the planet in fear. It is then revealed that the creature Walter advised them to pet was a poisonous snake.
Then Walter discusses the future of the human race with Grace. She is shocked by his proposal and leaves as he intended to use the Zan technology left behind to create "the master race". The narrative then ends as it began:
"The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door..." | What does Walter plan to do with the Zan technology that was left behind? | [
"Create a \"master race\".",
"create a master race"
] |
Cameron James, a new student at Padua High School in the Seattle area, becomes instantly smitten with popular sophomore Bianca Stratford. Geeky Michael Eckman warns him that Bianca is vapid and conceited, and that her overprotective father does not allow Bianca or her older sister, the shrewish Kat, to date. Kat, a senior, is accepted to Sarah Lawrence College in New York, but her father, Walter, wants her to stay close to home. Bianca wishes to date affluent senior Joey Donner, but Walter, an obstetrician worrisome of teenage pregnancy, will not allow his daughters to date until they graduate. Frustrated by Bianca's insistence and Kat's rebelliousness, Walter declares that Bianca may date only when Kat does, knowing that Kat's antisocial attitude makes this unlikely.
When Cameron asks Bianca out, she informs him of her father's new rule and, as a pretense for allowing her to date Joey, suggests that Cameron find someone willing to date Kat. Cameron selects "bad boy" Patrick Verona, but Patrick scares him off. Michael assists by convincing Joey to pay Patrick to take out Kat, under the pretense that this will allow Joey to date Bianca. Patrick agrees to the deal, but Kat rebuffs his first few advances. Michael and Cameron help him by prying Bianca for information on Kat's likes and dislikes. Armed with this knowledge, Patrick begins to win Kat's interest. She goes to a party with him, which enables Bianca to go as well, much to Walter's dismay.
At the party, Kat becomes upset when she sees Bianca with Joey, and responds by getting drunk. Patrick attends to her, and Kat starts to open up, expressing her interest in starting a band. However, when she tries to kiss him, Patrick pulls away and Kat leaves, infuriated. Meanwhile, Bianca ignores Cameron in favor of Joey, leaving Cameron dejected. Bianca soon realizes, however, that Joey is shallow and self-absorbed, and asks Cameron for a ride home. Cameron admits his feelings for her and his frustration with how she has treated him. Bianca responds by kissing him.
Joey offers to pay Patrick to take Kat to the prom so he can take Bianca. Patrick initially refuses, but relents when Joey offers him more money. Kat is still angry with Patrick, but he wins her over by serenading her with the accompaniment of the marching band, and she helps him sneak out of detention. They go on a date which turns romantic, but Kat becomes suspicious and angry when Patrick insists that she go with him to the prom, an event she is adamantly against. Bianca is irritated that Cameron hasn't asked her to the prom, and so accepts Joey's invitation, but Walter won't allow it unless Kat goes too. Kat confesses to Bianca that she dated Joey when they were freshmen and, succumbing to peer pressure, had sex with him. Afterward she regretted it and Joey dumped her, so she vowed to never again do anything just because everyone else was doing it. Bianca insists that she can make her own choices, so Kat agrees to go to the prom with Patrick, and Bianca decides to go with Cameron instead of Joey.
All is going well at the prom until Bianca learns that Joey planned to have sex with her that night. Angry that Bianca has spurned him for Cameron, Joey reveals his arrangement with Patrick, which causes Kat to leave heartbroken. Joey then punches Cameron, but is in turn beaten up by Bianca for having hurt her, Kat, and Cameron. Bianca and Cameron share another kiss.
The next day, Bianca reconciles with Kat and begins dating Cameron. Walter admits that Kat is capable of taking care of herself, and gives her permission to attend Sarah Lawrence College. For an assignment in which the students were required to write their own version of William Shakespeare's Sonnet 141, Kat reads aloud a poem titled "10 Things I Hate About You", revealing that she still loves Patrick. Patrick surprises her with a guitar bought with the money that Joey paid him, and confesses that he has fallen for her. Kat forgives him, and the two reconcile with a kiss. | What is the main reason that Kat and Bianca's father, Walter, does not allow them to date? | [
"He is worried that they might get pregnant.",
"teenage pregnacy"
] |
The old Michael Snowdon returns from Australia to London after inheriting a substantial sum of money from his deceased son. Despite being able to live a comfortable, if not luxurious life, he spends only on necessities and lives like a poor man, keeping his fortune secret. In London he finds his granddaughter, Jane, a weak child whom he rescues from the tyranny of the Peckovers (mother and daughter), in whose house she is employed as a household drudge. Jane's father, Joseph, is another son of Michael's who disappeared a few years ago in search of work, leaving Jane with the Peckovers. Michael nurtures a plan to bestow his fortune on Jane after his death, but he wants Jane to spend this money on charity and social work rather than on her own needs. He engages Jane in charitable activities and everyday work even before he reveals the secret of his wealth to her, trying to inculcate to her the principles of benevolence.
Joseph Snowdon returns suddenly to London. Formerly he argued with his father and is not on amiable terms with him. Joseph is preyed upon by the young Clem Peckover who marries him after she and her mother begin suspecting that Joseph's father is rich. Michael receives Joseph reservedly, without revealing intent of sharing the fortune with him. Joseph, pestered by his disappointed wife, also believes that Michael is rich, and tries to win his father's respect by improving relations with Jane. He also befriends Jane's older friend, Sidney Kirkwood. Sidney, an honest and sympathetic character, apparently intends to marry Jane in the future, unaware of Michael's fortune. Joseph, fearing that if Sidney, Michael's favorite, marries Jane, then Michael will leave most of the fortune to the young couple. Therefore, he develops a plan to make Clara Hewett, Sidney's former love, more fond of Sidney, and catalyze their marriage.
Clara Hewett is a young attractive woman who left her poor family with an intention of becoming a famous actress and escaping poverty. Clara's brother Bob, a promising artist, chooses to remain in the same social class: he marries a poor and unfortunate girl Pennyloaf whom he does not love. When Clara was living with her family, she, proud and ambitious, scorned the attention of Sidney. Sidney is a friend of her father John and the two quarrel because of Clara after she left. John believes that the loss of his daughter is Sidney's fault. Later, when John's sickly wife dies, Sidney helps the struggling Hewett family with some of his savings, and John becomes contrite about his earlier misunderstanding of Sidney's nature. In search of fame and fortune Clara joins a traveling theatre and shows talent, but her plans are thwarted by a rival actress who, jealous of Clara's success, disfigures Clara's face with an acid. Clara is admitted to a hospital, and Joseph informs John anonymously of her whereabouts. Clara is taken home, but now that all her hopes for better life are ended, she starts re-evaluating her ungratefulness towards her father and Sidney, and also contemplates suicide.
Meanwhile, Michael reveals his secret separately to Jane and Sidney and emphasizes his plan for how the fortune should be spent. At first, Sidney seems to like the idea of life's work for charity, but later believes that Michael's plan is futile and that the money should rather be spent on Jane's education and her enjoyment of life. Disagreeing with Michael's plans, and feeling that his dignity is compromised by Joseph's broaching the question of the old man's money, Sidney reduces his relationship with Jane and instead offers marriage to Clara who accepts it gratefully.
Jane, heartbroken and uncertain of her firmness to carry out Michael's plan, becomes disfavored by the old man. After his explanation with Jane, Michael destroys his will, contemplates the matter, but before he can compose a new will he suffers a stroke and dies. In the absence of a will, the scheming Joseph inherits all the money. His wife is making plans to kill him, but Joseph escapes abroad with the money, content to leave Jane only a small pension.
The novel has a tragic end for all its characters. Sidney and Clara have an unhappy marriage exacerbated by material wants. Jane rejects her father's pension after discovering his intrigues and declines an offer of marriage from a well-to-do business clerk, thus accepting a life of toil. Bob Hewett largely abandons his wife and children and dies fleeing arrest for forging coins. Clem is accused of trying to poison her mother and is tried in court. Joseph's fortune is squandered in the financial markets of the United States, a misfortune that he cannot survive.
'The Nether World' opens near Clerkenwell Close in central London, and throughout the novel focusses on the Clerkenwell area, then largely working class and a centre of workshop and small factory trades. The novel is remarkable for its very strong sense of place. | What kind of marriage do Sidney and Clara have? | [
"an unhappy one",
"unhappy"
] |
In a contemporary day alternate version of Rome, riots are in progress after stores of grain are withheld from citizens and civil liberties are reduced due to a war between Rome and neighbouring Volsci. The rioters are particularly angry at Caius Martius (Ralph Fiennes), a brilliant Roman general whom they blame for the city's problems. During a march, the rioters encounter Martius, who is openly contemptuous and does not hide his low opinion of the regular citizens. The commander of the Volscian army, Tullus Aufidius (Gerard Butler), who has fought Martius on several occasions and considers him a mortal enemy, swears that the next time they meet in battle will be the last. Martius leads a raid against the Volscian city of Corioles and during the siege, with much of Martius's unit being killed, Martius gathers reinforcements and the Romans take the city. After the battle, Martius and Aufidius meet in single combat, which results in both men being wounded but ends when Aufidius' soldiers drag him away from the fight.
Martius returns to Rome victorious and in recognition of his great courage, General Cominius (John Kani) gives him the agnomen of "Coriolanus". Coriolanus's mother Volumnia (Vanessa Redgrave) encourages her son to run for consul within the Roman Senate. Coriolanus is reluctant but he eventually agrees to his mother's wishes. He easily wins the Roman Senate and seems at first to have won over the commoners as well due to his military victories. Two tribunes, Brutus (Paul Jesson) and Sicinius (James Nesbitt), are critical of his entrance into politics, fearing that his popularity would lead to Coriolanus taking power away from the Senate for himself. They scheme to undo Coriolanus and so stir up another riot in opposition to him becoming consul. When they call Coriolanus a traitor, Coriolanus bursts into rage and openly attacks the concept of popular rule as well as the citizens of Rome, demonstrating that he still holds the plebeians in contempt. He compares allowing citizens to have power over the senators as to allowing "crows to peck the eagles". The tribunes term Coriolanus a traitor for his words and order him banished. Coriolanus retorts that it is he who will banish Rome from his presence: "There is a world elsewhere".
After being exiled from Rome, Coriolanus seeks out Aufidius in the Volscian capital of Antium and offers to let Aufidius kill him, to spite the country that banished him. Moved by his plight and honoured to fight alongside the great general, Aufidius and his superiors embrace Coriolanus and allow him to lead a new assault on the city, so that he can claim vengeance on the city which he feels betrayed him. Coriolanus and Aufidius lead a Voscilian attack on Rome. Panicked, Rome sends General Titus to persuade Coriolanus to halt his crusade for vengeance; when Titus reports his failure, Senator Menenius (Brian Cox) follows but is also shunned. In response, Menenius, who has seemingly lost all hope in Coriolanus and Rome, commits suicide by a river bank. Finally, Volumnia is sent to meet with her son, along with Coriolanus' wife Virgilia (Jessica Chastain) and his son. Volumnia succeeds in dissuading her son from destroying Rome and Coriolanus makes peace between the Volscians and the Romans alongside General Cominius. When Coriolanus returns to the Volscian border, he is confronted by Aufidius and his men, who now also brand him as a traitor. They call him Martius and refuse to call him by his "stolen name" of Coriolanus. Aufidius explains to Coriolanus how he put aside his hatred so that they could conquer Rome but now that Coriolanus has prevented this, he has betrayed the promise between them. For this betrayal, Aufidius and his men attack and kill Coriolanus. | Who is Volumnia? | [
"Coriolanus' mother.",
"Coriolanus' mother"
] |
The book is about a young lad, Nils Holgersson, whose "chief delight was to eat and sleep, and after that he liked best to make mischief". He takes great delight in hurting the animals in his family farm. Nils captures a tomte in a net while his family is at church and have left him home to memorize chapters from the Bible. The tomte proposes to Nils that if Nils frees him, the tomte will give him a huge gold coin. Nils rejects the offer and the tomte turns Nils into a tomte, which leaves him shrunken and able to talk with animals, who are thrilled to see the boy reduced to their size and are angry and hungry for revenge. While this is happening, wild geese are flying over the farm on one of their migrations, and a white farm goose attempts to join the wild ones. In an attempt to salvage something before his family returns, Nils holds on to the bird's neck as it successfully takes off and joins the wild birds.
The wild geese, who are not pleased at all to be joined by a boy and a domestic goose, eventually take him on an adventurous trip across all the historical provinces of Sweden observing in passing their natural characteristics and economic resources. At the same time the characters and situations he encounters make him a man: the domestic goose needs to prove his ability to fly like the experienced wild geese, and Nils needs to prove to the geese that he would be a useful companion, despite their initial misgivings. During the trip, Nils learns that if he proves he has changed for the better, the tomte might be disposed to change him back to his normal size.
The book also includes various subplots, concerning people whose lives are touched in one way or another by Nils and the wild geese. For example, one chapter centers on a young provincial man who feels lonely and alienated in the capital Stockholm, is befriended by a nice old gentleman who tells him (and the reader) about the city's history - and only later finds that it was none other than the King of Sweden, walking incognito in the park.
The book was criticized for the fact that the goose and boy don't make any stop in the province Halland. In chapter 53 they fly over Halland on the way back to Scania, but they aren't impressed by the sight and they don't stop. However, such a chapter has been added to some translations of the book. In depictions Nils is usually wearing a red cap, although this is erroneous as he is described in the original Swedish edition as wearing a white cap. | Nils thinks changing what, will get the tomte to change him back? | [
"the way he acts. ",
"For the better."
] |
The year is 1793. In Brittany during the Royalist insurrection of the Chouannerie, a troop of “Blues” (soldiers of the French Republic) encounter in the bocage Michelle Fléchard, a peasant woman, and her three young children, who are fleeing from the conflict. She explains that her husband and parents have been killed in the peasant revolt that started the insurrection. The troop’s commander, Sergeant Radoub, convinces them to look after the family.
Meanwhile, at sea, a group of Royalist “Whites” are planning to land the Marquis de Lantenac, a Breton aristocrat whose leadership could transform the fortunes of the rebellion. While at sea, a sailor fails to properly secure his cannon, which rolls out of control and damages the ship. The sailor risks his life to secure the cannon and save their ship. Lantenac awards the man a medal for his bravery and then executes him (without trial) for failing in his duty. Their corvette is spotted by ships of the Republic. Lantenac slips away in a boat with one supporter, and the corvette distracts the Republican ships by provoking a battle the damaged ship cannot win. The corvette is destroyed, but Lantenac lands safely in Brittany.
Lantenac is hunted by the Blues, but is protected by a local beggar, to whom he gave alms in the past. He meets up with his supporters, and they immediately launch an attack on the Blues. Part of the troop with the family is captured. Lantenac orders them all to be shot, including Michelle. He takes the children with him as hostages. The beggar finds the bodies, and discovers that Michelle is still alive. He nurses her back to health.
Lantenac’s ruthless methods have turned the revolt into a major threat to the Republic. In Paris, Danton, Robespierre and Marat argue about the threat, while also sniping at each other. They promulgate a decree that all rebels and anyone who helps them will be executed. Cimourdain, a committed revolutionary and former priest, is deputed to carry out their orders in Brittany. He is also told to keep an eye on Gauvain, the commander of the Republican troops there, who is related to Lantenac and thought to be too lenient to rebels. Unknown to the revolutionary leaders, Cimourdain was Gauvain’s childhood tutor, and thinks of him as a son.
Lantenac has taken control of Dol-de-Bretagne, in order to secure a landing place for British troops to be sent to support the Royalists. Gauvain launches a surprise attack and uses deception to dislodge and disperse them. Forced to retreat, Lantenac is constantly kept from the coast by Gauvain. With British troops unavailable his supporters melt away. Eventually he and a last few fanatical followers are trapped in his castle.
Meanwhile Michelle has recovered and goes in search of her children. She wanders aimlessly, but eventually hears that they are being held hostage in Lantenac’s castle. At the castle Sergeant Radoub, fighting with the besiegers, spots the children. He persuades Gauvain to let him lead an assault. He manages to break through the defences and kill several rebels, but Lantenac and a few survivors escape through a secret passage after setting fire to the building. As the fire takes hold, Michelle arrives, and sees that her children are trapped. Her hysterical cries of despair are heard by Lantenac. Struck with guilt, he returns through the passage to the castle and rescues the children, helped by Radoub. He then gives himself up.
Gauvain knows that Cimourdain will guillotine Lantenac after a show trial. He visits him in prison, where Lantenac expresses his uncompromising conservative vision of society ordered by hierarchy, deference and duty. Gauvain insists that humane values transcend tradition. To prove it, he allows Lantenac to escape and then gives himself up to the tribunal that was convened to try him. Gauvain's forgiveness after Lantenac's courageous act contrasts with Lantenac's executing the sailor at the beginning of the novel. Gauvain is then tried for treason. The tribunal comprises Cimourdain, Radoub and Gauvain’s deputy, Guéchamp. Radoub votes to acquit, but the others vote to condemn Gauvain to be executed, with Cimourdain casting the deciding vote. Visited by Cimourdain in prison, Gauvain outlines his own vision of a future society with minimal government, no taxes, technological progress and sexual equality. The following morning he is executed by guillotine. At the same moment, Cimourdain shoots himself. | When Lantenac is being hunted by the Blues, who protects him? | [
"A local beggar to who he had once been generous to.",
"a local beggar"
] |
The Prince of Parthia is written to be a Neo-Classical tragedy. It mostly follows the unities of time (happens in a short amount of time, usually 24 hours), place (happens in one place) and plot (one or few plot lines). It also has a five-act structure, and most of the characters follow decorum. However, with verisimilitude (or, the appearance of truth), the play is lacking. The idea that the entire plot line could happen within 24 to 48 hours is astonishing.
In the first act, Phraates, an officer at court, and Gotarzes, a prince, discuss Prince Arsaces’ triumphal return from foreign wars. But, there is trouble at home. Vardanes, Arsaces’ brother, is jealous of his marital successes, and Thermusa, Arsaces’ stepmother and the Queen of Parthia wants to avenge her son Vonones who was killed by Arsaces for treason. Vardanes and his officer, Lysias, decide to use Thermusa’s vengeance to destroy Arsaces. Meanwhile, Evanthe, whose dad, King Bethas, has been imprisoned, is in love with Arsaces. But Artabanus, the King of Parthia, has illicit feelings for Evanthe. The plot then moves into Act Two; when Vardanes and Lysias hear Arsaces tell Bethas that he loves Evanthe, they decide to tell King Artabanus that Arsaces is a traitor for sympathizing with Parthian enemies. And that is all; like most plays with a five-act structure, there are usually one or two acts that are just one scene. This keeps the five-act structure, but does not mess with the believability of the plot.
By the time the plot reaches Act Three, Thermusa is very angry because she knows King Artabanus is lusting after someone else. She tells this to Vardanes, who decides to use this to destroy Arsaces and take the throne of Parthia for himself. Arsaces asks for Evanthe’s hand in marriage in front of King Artabanus. Artabanus decides to let Arsaces have Evanthe because he promised Arsaces anything he wanted for being such an awesome child. Evanthe tells Arsaces that King Artabanus loves her, to which he replies that he loves her more. Vardanes then tells King Artabanus that Arsaces is a traitor.
Act Four takes a sharp plot turn, which causes some incongruities. Phraates tells Gotarzes that he overheard Vardanes and Lysias talking about how they killed King Artabanus in his sleep. Vardanes and Lysias plan on blaming Arsaces, while Phraates and Gotarzes plan on telling the general Barzaphernes about who actually killed the king. Arsaces has been accused of the regicide and thrown in prison along with Bethas. They bond over their fear for Evanthe’s safety. Thermusa enters the prison to kill Arsaces, but she sees a bloody ghost of King Artabanus, which causes her to “brain” herself against the wall, committing suicide. Barzaphernes appears and releases Arsaces. Together, they plan to get Vardanes and make Parthia right once more.
In the exciting conclusion of Act Five, Vardanes comes on to Evanthe, but she does not like it. Before Vardanes can hurt Evanthe, Lysias runs in and tells Vardanes that Arsaces has escaped and knows of Vardanes’ plot. Then, a huge battle occurs, pitting Vardanes, Lysias and all of their followers against Arsaces, Barzaphernes, Phraates, Gotarzes and their men. Cleone, Evanthe’s maid, watches the battle from a window. Cleone believes Arsaces was killed in the battle by Vardanes, but it was really Phraates. Cleone tells this to Evanthe, who drinks a vial of poison. When Arsaces, who has taken down Vardanes, hears of Evanthe’s death, he impales himself on Barzaphernes’ sword. In the end, only Barzaphernes and Gotarzes live. | Where is Cleone watching the battle from? | [
"A window",
"a window"
] |
In the 1990s, U.S. National Security Agency official Thomas Bryan Reynolds (Jon Voight) meets with U.S. Congressman Phil Hammersley (R-NY) (Jason Robards) in a public park to discuss support for new counter-terrorism legislation the U.S. Congress is pushing that dramatically expands the surveillance powers of intelligence agencies on individuals and groups. Hammersley remains committed to blocking its passage, since he believes it would almost totally destroy the privacy of American citizens. Reynolds, determined to have the bill pass so as to gain a long-delayed and anticipated promotion, has his team murder Hammersley, spread heart pills over his car, place him in the car and push it in a lake to make it look like he had a heart attack. In the aftermath, they discover too late that wildlife researcher Daniel Zavits (Jason Lee) had a camera aimed in the woods at their location. Zavits inspects the footage and, realizing he has captured the congressman's murder, calls a journalist he knows. The call is monitored by Reynold's team who attempt to break into his apartment to retrieve the tape. Realizing he is in grave danger, he transfers the video to a ZIP disc and places it into an NEC Turbo handheld before fleeing the apartment ahead of Reynolds's men.
Zavits is eventually killed when he runs into the street in front of a fire truck but immediately prior, he bumped into an old college friend, labor lawyer Robert Clayton Dean (Will Smith), and slipped the disc into his shopping bag without his knowledge. When the NSA discovers that Dean might have the video, Reynolds's team raids his house and plants surveillance devices, but the video does not turn up. The NSA then disseminates false evidence to implicate Dean of working with the mob family of Boss Paulie Pintero (Tom Sizemore) and seeing Rachel Banks (Lisa Bonet), an ex-girlfriend he had an affair with. The subterfuge destroys Dean's life: he is dismissed from his job, his bank accounts are frozen, and his wife Carla (Regina King) throws him out of the house.
Dean believes Pintero is behind the smear campaign as revenge because Dean blackmailed him into backing off his clients in a prior case, with help from Banks' secretive contact "Brill" (Gene Hackman). Dean sets up a face-to-face meet with Brill and the NSA sends an impostor "Brill" to intercept him, but the real Brill rescues him. Brill explains that his pursuers are NSA agents and rids him of tracking devices hidden in his clothing. With Dean and Brill in hiding, the NSA agents kill Banks and frame Dean for the murder.
Dean obtains the disc and Brill identifies Reynolds in the recovered video, but the disc is destroyed during an escape from an NSA raid. Brill, whose real name is Edward Lyle, tells Dean of his past as a communications expert for the NSA; he was stationed in Iran in 1979 when the Iranian Revolution occurred; his partner, Rachel's father, was killed but Lyle made it out and has been in hiding since. Lyle tries to coax Dean into trying to run away, but Dean is adamant about clearing his name.
Dean and Lyle trail another supporter of the surveillance bill, U.S. Congressman Sam Albert (R-NH), by videotaping him having an affair with his aide. Dean and Lyle "hide" one of the NSA's bugs in Albert's room so Albert will find them and have the NSA start an investigation about Albert's tapping. Lyle also deposits into Reynolds's bank account to make it appear that he is taking bribes, putting enormous pressure on Reynolds.
Lyle contacts Reynolds to set up a meeting to exchange the video and get Reynolds to incriminate himself. Reynolds' men instead ambush the meeting and hold Lyle and Dean at gunpoint, demanding the tape. Dean tells them that the Hammersley murder footage is in the hands of Pintero, knowing Pintero's restaurant is under FBI surveillance. Dean, Reynolds, and the NSA team head into Pintero's restaurant. Using ambiguous language, Dean convinces Pintero that Reynolds is after the incriminating video Dean blackmailed him with and the encounter devolves into a massive firefight that kills the mobsters, Reynolds, and several of his NSA team. Lyle escapes while the FBI rescues Dean and uncovers the entire conspiracy.
The U.S. Congress is forced to abandon the passage plan to avoid a national scandal, though they cover up the NSA's involvement to preserve the agency's reputation. Dean is cleared of all charges and is reunited with his wife. Lyle leaves Dean a "goodbye" message via his TV as he's watching, showing himself relaxing in a tropical location. | Who covers up the NSA's involvement? | [
"US Congress",
"The U.S. Congress"
] |
The work is divided into two main parts, the Rechtslehre and the Tugendlehre. Mary J. Gregor's translation (1991) explains these German terms as, respectively, The "Doctrine of Right, which deals with the rights that people have or can acquire, and the Doctrine of Virtue, which deals with the virtues they ought to acquire.
Rechtslehre has also been translated as the Science of Right (Hastie) or the Metaphysical Elements of Justice (Ladd). It is grounded in republican interpretation of origins of political community as civil society and establishment of positive law. Published separately in 1797, the Doctrine of Right is one of the last examples of classical republicanism in political philosophy. The Doctrine of Right contains the most mature of Kant's statements on the peace project and a system of law to ensure individual rights.
The Doctrine of Virtue develops further Kant's ethical theory, which Kant first laid out in the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785). Kant particularly emphasizes treating humanity as an end in itself; in fact the Kant's retake of the second formulation of the categorical imperative (e.g. Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals) makes possible to deduce duties. The duties are analitically treated by Kant, who distinguishes: 1) duties towards ourselves; 2) duties towards others. The duties are: 1) perfect duties; 2) imperfect duties. Kant thinks imperfect duties let a latitudo: i.e., the possibility of choose maxims. The perfect duties instead do not let any latitudo and determine exactly the maxims of actions. | How does Kant view humanity? | [
"As an end unto itself",
"As an end in itself."
] |
The main story of the novel is the narrative of the adventures of Adam More, a British sailor shipwrecked on a homeward voyage from Tasmania. After passing through a subterranean tunnel of volcanic origin, he finds himself in a "lost world" of prehistoric animals, plants and people sustained by volcanic heat despite the long Antarctic night.
A secondary plot of four yachtsmen who find the manuscript written by Adam More and sealed in a copper cylinder forms a frame for the central narrative. They comment on More's report, and one identifies the Kosekin language as a Semitic language, possibly derived from Hebrew.
In his strange volcanic world, More also finds a well-developed human society which in the tradition of topsy-turvy worlds of folklore and satire (compare Sir Thomas More's Utopia, Erewhon by Samuel Butler, or Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Herland) has reversed the values of 19th century Western society: wealth is scorned and poverty is revered, death and darkness are preferred to life and light. Rather than accumulating wealth, the natives seek to divest themselves of it as quickly as possible. Whatever they fail to give away to wealthy people is confiscated by the government, which imposes the burden of wealth upon its unfortunate subjects at the beginning of the next year of reverse taxation as a form of punishment. | What does Adam do for work? | [
"Sailor",
"Sailor"
] |
The story takes place in the late 19th century at Jocelyn's hotel on the beach outside of Newport, Rhode Island, and is told through the voice of a third person narrator. At the hotel croquet court we meet a sickly woman named Louise Maynard and her physician, Dr. Grace Breen. Breen is a graduate of the New York homeopathic school, who has become a doctor to make a difference and prove her worth as a woman. She is cool toward men because the love of her life ran off with her best friend.
When Mr. Libby, an old friend of Mrs. Maynard’s, asks her to go sailing, Dr. Breen insists it will be bad for her health but Mrs. Maynard to goes anyway. The weather takes a turn for the worst and the boat capsizes in the bitter waters. Mrs. Maynard blames Dr. Breen for allowing her to go out into the storm.
After this incident, Mrs. Maynard’s condition worsens and she trusts Dr. Breen even less than she did before. She requests a consultation from a male doctor, so Dr. Breen decides to contact Dr. Rufus Mulbridge, a local allopathic physician.
Miss Gleason, another women staying at the hotel, insists that Dr. Breen is the best option for Mrs. Maynard, and that if she calls for a consultation from Dr. Mulbridge she will be making it harder for female physicians to act without a man’s assistance. When Dr. Breen arrives at Dr. Mulbridge’s office, the reader sees that while he has an established place of business, she works and lives at a hotel, and while he has many patients, she only treats one woman.
After relinquishing Mrs. Maynard’s case to Dr. Mulbridge, Dr. Breen assumes the role of nurse under his instruction. He diagnoses Mrs. Maynard with pneumonia, Dr. Breen telegraphs Mr. Maynard, who is out in Wyoming working on a ranch, telling him of his wife's condition.
Mr. Libby and Dr. Breen take a boat ride to New Leyden to receive a telegraph from Mr. Maynard. Mr. Libby professes his love for Dr. Breen.
In spite of his mother's disdain of the professional woman, Dr. Mulbridge also professes his love for Dr. Breen, and proposes to her. However, since he doesn’t believe in women’s rights or women being able to take men’s positions in the world, and he is a mannerless oaf, Mrs. Mulbridge correctly predicts that she will reject him.
When Mr. Maynard arrives at Jocelyn’s he suggests that Dr. Breen and Mrs. Maynard come out to Wyoming to live with him., where Dr. Breen could have her own practice. However, she decides that she wasted her time training to become a doctor, and that she would rather go to the opera, ballets, and eventually travel to Italy. She professes her love to Mr. Libby, and they walk down the beach in the moonlight together.
Dr. Mulbridge comes back to Jocelyn’s to again ask Dr. Breen to marry him, but she is now an engaged woman. Grace goes on to marry Mr. Libby and they live in southern New Hampshire near his mills. While Mr. Libby works at the mills, Dr. Breen indulges herself by going to plays and shows in Boston, but she also decides to continue practicing medicine.
In the end she has what she originally wanted by practicing medicine, and what she came to love, through her marriage to Mr. Libby. | What city is Jocelyn's hotel located? | [
"Newport",
"Newport"
] |
Tired of being rejected by the beautiful women he lusts after, Chuck Barris (Rockwell) moves to Manhattan to become an NBC page with dreams of becoming famous in television but is eventually fired. He moves back to Philadelphia and becomes Dick Clark's personal assistant on American Bandstand in 1961. He writes the successful song "Palisades Park" and becomes romantically involved with a woman named Penny Pacino (Barrymore). Chuck is given permission to pitch the concept for The Dating Game at the American Broadcasting Company (ABC); he receives $7,500 to create a television pilot for the studio. However, ABC abandons The Dating Game in favor of Hootenanny.
One night after Barris is kicked out of a bar for fighting, he is approached by CIA agent Jim Byrd (Clooney), who recruits him as an assassin. Returning from a mission in Mexico, Barris finds that Penny has become a hippie. Meanwhile, ABC decides to greenlight The Dating Game, and by 1967 the TV show is a phenomenon.
Barris takes another mission for the CIA in Helsinki, Finland, where he meets female operative Patricia Watson (Roberts). He finds more success back home when The Newlywed Game goes on air. He and Penny decide to move to Los Angeles into a house, but Barris is cautious of marriage, much to Penny's dismay. The journey in Barris's life is tied in to the story of Thomas Carlyle's main character in Sartor Resartus, Teufelsdrรถckh, and this parallel is referred to throughout the film. In 1970, Byrd convinces Barris to go on another mission in East Berlin to assassinate communist Hans Colbert (Norman Roy). Barris is introduced there to German-American agent Keeler (Rutger Hauer), whom he helps to murder Colbert. However, he is captured by the KGB and, after some weeks, freed during a West-East spies exchange.
In 1976, in Los Angeles, Barris creates The Gong Show and becomes even more famous as its host; he is also criticized for lowering the general quality of television. Meanwhile, Keeler is murdered and Byrd warns Chuck of a mole in the agency. His TV shows are canceled due to poor ratings, and Penny threatens to leave him after catching him cheating on her. One night, Barris finds Byrd sitting atop the diving board of his backyard pool. Byrd reveals to Barris why he was chosen by the CIA to become an assassin: he is the son of a serial killer and has been raised during his infancy as a girl by his mother, so he "fit the profile". Barris threatens to kill Byrd, and the film cuts to a point soon after Byrd is killed, with Barris still pointing his gun at him.
Faced with the unpleasant truth about himself, Barris begins to spiral out of control. After almost having a nervous breakdown on one of his shows, Barris shuts himself away in a New York City hotel. Penny manages to find him there and tries in vain to convince him to return to California to get married.
Barris finally leaves his room and confronts Patricia in Boston. After a cup of coffee with her, Barris falls to the floor, seemingly poisoned. Patricia then reveals that she is the mole. However, Barris actually tricked Patricia into drinking from the poisoned cup, and he himself wasn't actually poisoned at all. After her death, he returns home and begins to write his autobiography, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. He finally decides to marry Penny. At the end of the ceremony, he notices some of the people he previously killed among the crowd. Distraught, he confesses to her his double life as a CIA agent and assassin, but she merely laughs, assuming he is joking, and he decides not to correct her. In 2002, he prepares for an interview for the film adaptation of his autobiography. | Where does Barris meet Patricia Watson? | [
"Helsinki, Finland",
"Helsinki, Finland"
] |
Ed Saxon (Jeff Daniels), a college professor, wakes up to find his wife has not returned home. He takes some mysterious pills, then calls one of his wife's friends, Susie (Molly Price), confusedly asking whether he should be worried. Susie suggests that he call the local hospital, but they have no record of his wife being admitted. After further consulting Susie, he decides to call the police. When Detective Derm (Gil Bellows) arrives, Derm takes pills similar to Saxon's. They check her workplace and listen to some messages on the answering machine. George Simian (Julian McMahon) has left a message, inquiring about his wife, and Derm remarks that her abandoned car was found near Simian's house. Saxon also has to deal with the college, annoyed that he didn't show up to teach his class, which leads one of his students, Sadie (Emily Bergl), to also leave a message.
Saxon suffers a series of hallucinations and blackouts, advancing time quickly. In short time, he receives increasingly irritated calls from work, which he blows off; an abusive phone call from George Simian, followed by a physical altercation; and a visit by Sadie, concerned about his unexplained absences. Saxon declines to tell Sadie about his missing wife, instead telling her that his wife is visiting her mother. Sadie collapses in the bathroom, bloodying her nose, and complains of having heard a woman scream. Saxon explains that the neighbors, who fight often, can sometimes be heard from his house, and he gives her a change of clothes. After she leaves, Derm returns, wanting to search the house for clues. Sadie's bloody shirt is discovered by Derm, who seems satisfied with Saxon's explanation. Derm also finds a diary, which Saxon didn't know his wife kept. In it, Saxon's wife expresses mixed emotions for her husband, including pity, contempt, and fear. Despite his promise to give the diary to Derm, Saxon burns the diary.
Geoffrey Costas (Zach Grenier), a psychiatrist who leads a victim support group, visits Saxon, offering him comfort. Saxon initially declines, before soliciting stronger medication, to fight off long-term insomnia. Despite the strong medication, Saxon does not seem to fall asleep, though he suffers more blackouts and apparent hallucinations. Sadie returns to his house, concerned that he has missed more classes, but Susie interrupts them. Saxon angrily brushes aside Susie's concerns and explains that Sadie is just a student. After he gets rid of Susie, Sadie expresses her feelings of loneliness and isolation, as well as admiration for Saxon's poetry. This leads to an abortive tryst, which Saxon abruptly calls off. Humiliated and confused, Sadie leaves.
Derm calls Saxon to reveal that they've discovered his wife's body. Depressed, Saxon welcomes the chance to talk to Costas again. They discuss how traumatic events can lead to inappropriate guilt, and Costas convinces Saxon to allow him to speak to the police, on his behalf. However, the police reveal that they have not discovered the wife's body, after all, leading both Costas and Derm to suspect Saxon. Saxon has further hallucinations, leading him to suspect himself, as well. Simian, who had been arrested previously for assaulting Saxon, returns to Saxon's house again, enraged and seeking to kill Saxon. Saxon instead kills Simian, and, consumed with guilt, swallows every pill that he can find. Derm, arriving at the house afterward, kneels down, in front of Saxon, while Saxon denies killing anyone. The bathtub then overflows with blood, and Saxon sees his wife playing the piano. | What does Saxon do with his wife's diary? | [
"Burns it.",
"Burned it"
] |
After breaking out of jail in a small Mexican town, a ruthless criminal, nicknamed Azul, ventures off with a guitar case full of weapons and vows revenge on the local drug lord, Moco, who had had him arrested in the first place. Meanwhile, a young musician arrives in town carrying his own guitar case which contains his signature guitar. He hopes to find work in the town in order to pursue his dream of becoming a mariachi like his father.
From the confines of his heavily guarded villa on the outskirts of town, Moco sends a large group of hitmen to kill Azul. They are told to look for a man who is wearing black and carrying a guitar case, but because the Mariachi also matches this description, the hitmen mistake him for Azul and begin to pursue him. Only Moco, however, knows Azul's actual face. The Mariachi is then forced to kill four of the attackers in self-defense after being chased through the streets. As the Mariachi seeks refuge in a bar owned by a beautiful woman named Dominó, he quickly falls in love with her. Unfortunately, Moco is not only financing the bar, but also has his own romantic interest in Dominó.
When Azul visits the bar for a beer and information about Moco, he accidentally leaves with the Mariachi's guitar case. Moco's thugs capture Azul on the street but let him go when they learn that the case he is carrying contains only a guitar. A short time later, the Mariachi is captured and taken to Moco, who identifies him as the wrong man and sets him free.
Meanwhile, Azul, who has no directions to Moco's home, takes Dominó with him and orders her to take him to Moco's, or Moco will kill the mariachi. Dominó agrees in order to save the Mariachi's life. When they arrive at Moco's gated compound, Azul pretends to take Dominó hostage in order to gain entry. Moco soon realizes that Dominó has fallen for the Mariachi and, in a rage, shoots both her and Azul. Suddenly, the Mariachi arrives to find the woman he loves gunned down. Moco then shoots the Mariachi's left hand, rendering him useless as a guitar player, and proceeds to taunt and laugh at the Mariachi. Overcome with grief and rage, the Mariachi picks up Azul's gun with his right hand and kills Moco, taking revenge for Dominó's death. Moco's surviving henchmen, seeing their leader dead, walk off and leave Moco's body and the wounded Mariachi behind.
The Mariachi leaves the town on Dominó's motorbike, taking her pit bull and her letter-opener by which to remember her. His dreams to become a mariachi have been shattered, and his only protection for his future are Azul's former weapons which he takes along in the guitar case. | Who does Azul take hostage? | [
"Azul takes Domino hostage in order to trick Moco.",
"Domino"
] |
Sam Dawson (Sean Penn), a man with a developmental disability, is the single father of Lucy (Dakota Fanning), following their abandonment by her mother, who is revealed to be a homeless woman who "just needed a place to sleep". Despite his limitations, Sam is well-adjusted and has a supportive group of friends with developmental disabilities, as well as a kind, agoraphobic neighbor Annie (Dianne Wiest) who takes care of Lucy when Sam cannot. Though Sam provides a loving and caring environment for precocious Lucy, she soon surpasses his mental ability. Other children tease her for having a "retard" as a father, and she becomes too embarrassed to accept that she is more intellectually advanced than Sam.
On the advice of his friends, Sam approaches a high-powered lawyer, Rita Harrison (Michelle Pfeiffer), whose brusque manner, fast-paced schedule and difficult personal life have earned her a reputation as cold and unfeeling. In an attempt to prove to others that she is not heartless, Rita surprisingly agrees to take on Sam's case pro bono. As they work together to secure Sam's parental rights, Sam unwittingly helps Rita with her family problems, including encouraging her to leave her philandering husband and repairing her fractious relationship with her son. She and Sam have an emotional moment together when they reveal that they never feel good enough.
At the trial, Sam breaks down after opposing counsel convinces him that he is not capable of being a father. After the trial, Lucy resides in a foster home with Randy Carpenter (Laura Dern), but tries to convince Sam to help her run away, and continually escapes in the middle of the night to go to Sam's apartment, whereupon he immediately returns her. Ultimately, the foster family decide not to adopt her like they initially planned. They decide to return her to Sam, with an arrangement that Randy will help him raise her.
The final scene depicts a soccer game, which Sam referees and in which Lucy participates as a player. In attendance are the foster family, Sam's friendship group, and a newly single Rita with her son. | What is Sam's disability? | [
"He has a developmental disability.",
"developmental"
] |
Stoddard’s novel traces the education and development of a young female in American middle-class society. The protagonist, Cassandra Morgeson, is educated by a series of journeys she makes throughout her youth and early adulthood. Each new setting represents a different stage in her intellectual development.
Cassandra is born in Surrey, a small New England town. Surrey is quiet and isolated, granting a young woman little intellectual stimulation. Cassandra escapes the boredom of domestic life through stories of adventure and exploration. Surrey instills in Cassandra a restlessness that drives her quest for knowledge and experience.
At the age of thirteen, Cassandra’s parents send her to live with her grandfather in Barmouth. Excessively religious, Grandfather Warren takes it upon himself to put Cassandra in her place. She is both intellectually and emotionally starved in Barmouth. Her life becomes narrowed down to home, school and church. In school, all the students dress alike and wear their hair in the same fashion. She learns an important lesson in conformity (peer pressure).
When Cassandra turns eighteen she is invited to stay with some cousins in Rosville. Rosville offers her a glimpse of city life. She attends numerous balls, whist parties and shopping sprees in Boston. She also falls in love with her cousin Charles. Charles’s dark sensuality and power awakens Cassandra’s sexuality, which is an integral part in her self-discovery. Cassandra quickly finds herself caught up in a passionate, adulterous love affair. Their affair is cut short in a tragic accident that costs Charles his life. Cassandra escapes with a scar across her face, which remains with her as a constant reminder of the affair.
Cassandra then travels to Belem, a city of wealth and nobility. She stays in the home of her friend, Ben Somers. In Belem she is forced to confront the social injustice of class. Here she falls for Ben’s brother, Desmond. Desmond sees into Cassandra’s heart through the scar on her face. He finds in Cassandra a reason to reform himself and conquer his alcoholism. He promises himself to her and then goes off to Spain to cure his addiction.
Upon her return to Surrey, Cassandra discovers that her mother has died. As the eldest and most capable daughter, the role of lady of the house is passed down to her. She becomes responsible for managing the household and taking care of her younger sister, Veronica. Cassandra resents her inherited role and envisions the rest of her days spent in monotony and misery. Her sister, Veronica, marries the wealthy but alcoholic Ben Somers. Two years after they are married, Ben dies of alcoholism, leaving Veronica to look after their child who “…never cries, never moves, except when it is moved” (252). Some critics see this child as a physical representation of how Veronica’s search for independence and autonomy has been stunted by her marriage. In the close of the novel “her eyes go no more in quest of something beyond” (252).
Cassandra marries the newly reformed Desmond. Her quest for self-definition does not end with marriage though. Cassandra narrates the closing pages of the novel from her desk. She is in the process of writing her life story. Writing allows Cassandra to take an active role in defining herself. Her novel helps her to assert her autonomy and achieve her goal of self-possession. | Who does Cassandra fall in love with in Rosville? | [
"Her cousin Charles",
"Charles"
] |
A security guard is running through a subway station, he eventually enters a room he cannot escape from and starts begging his reflection in a mirror for his life. Suddenly, his reflection cuts its throat with a mirror shard, killing the "real" security guard.
Ben Carson (Kiefer Sutherland), a suspended police detective, begins his first day as a night security guard at the Mayflower, a luxury department store that was gutted by a fire and shuttered five years prior. The building still contains numerous mirrors from the store.
On Ben's first night of patrol he finds a mirror that appears to be covered with handprints, but only on the reflected side of the glass. He sees an open door in the reflection while it is actually closed. Over time, Ben begins to see more intense visions, which he initially shrugs off as hallucinations. He soon finds the wallet of Gary Lewis, the previous night guard (who died at the beginning of the film). Inside is a note that says "Esseker". After viewing Garyâs crime photos Ben is convinced that the mirrors make people do things to themselves that they are not actually doing.
Meanwhile, Ben's sister, Angie (Amy Smart) is killed by her reflection as it grips its jaw and slowly pull its mouth apart, causing her to bleed profusely. Ben is distraught when he finds her body. In anger, he attempts to destroy the mirrors at the Mayflower, but they are impervious to damage. He demands to know what the mirrors want, and cracks appear on one of the mirrors, spelling out the word "ESSEKER".
Ben enters the flooded basement of the Mayflower and finds a small sign stating "Psychiatric Studies" and "St. Matthew's Hospital" underneath. He moves to the site of the leak and begins pulling at the tiles and brick of the wall and finds a room with a chair surrounded by mirrors beyond it, a Psychomanteum. Realizing that the Mayflower was built on the site of an earlier hospital, Ben asks his police friend Larry (Jason Flemyng) to help him locate the patient-employee manifest for the hospital. Larry finds the name Anna Esseker, a patient of the psychiatric hospital. She was twelve years old at the time and died in a mass suicide.
Ben looks through Anna's file, and finds an Authorization and Consent form that negated her Death Certificate, stating that she had been discharged from the hospital two days before the suicide and is led to believe that Anna is still alive. Meanwhile, Ben's wife Amy (Paula Patton) discovers her son Mikey's (Cameron Boyce) reflection acting differently from the real Mikey. In a panic she calls Ben, who immediately returns home. Together they cover every reflective surface in the house with green paint.
Ben locates Anna Esseker's childhood home, and discovers that as a child she was violent and uncontrollable, and diagnosed with severe schizophrenia. She was taken in by a doctor from St. Matthewâs Hospital, who believed that she was suffering from a rare personality disorder. His treatment was to confine Anna to a chair surrounded by mirrors, believing this would cure her disorder by forcing her to confront her own reflection. Ben is told by her brother that when she returned, apparently cured, strange things started to happen with the mirrors in their home. As a result, her family sent her to a convent, Saint Augustine's Monastery, where mirrors are forbidden.
Ben visits the convent, and finds Anna (Mary Beth Peil), who explains that she was actually possessed by a demon, which was drawn from her and became trapped in the mirrors. She explains that it collects the souls of those it kills and if she were to return it would make it possible for the demon to be brought back into the mortal world. She refuses to go back.
Meanwhile, Amy discovers that Mikey is missing at home and a thin reflective layer of water is completely covering the floor. After putting her daughter in a safe closet, she finds Michael using a chef knife to scrape the paint from the mirrors. Amy tries to stop him but he escapes, obviously possessed.
Having threatened her at gunpoint, Ben returns with Anna to the Mayflower and straps her into the chair in the Psychomanteum. Back at Ben's house Mikey is suddenly pulled through the water on the floor by his reflection and begins to drown. At the Psychomanteum the lights begin to flicker and the building begins to shake as the demons in the mirrors are released. They repossess Anna and all the mirrors in the Mayflower explode. Simultaneously, Mikey is released from the demon's grip and Amy is able to pull him to safety. Ben is then attacked by the repossessed Anna. He manages to kill her by igniting a nearby gas line, setting off a huge explosion. The old building collapses, killing the demon, and trapping Ben under the ceiling as he rushes toward the exit.
Ben pulls himself out of the rubble and stumbles out of the building. Policemen and firemen are everywhere in the street, and a body is seen being taken in a bag by paramedics, but nobody notices Ben. He looks at the older security guard's name tag, and sees it is written backwards, realizing everything is in reverse (like in a mirror). He comes upon a mirrored surface in the city and fails to see his own reflection as he reaches out to touch it. He realizes that he is now trapped in the mirror world: in the living world his hand appears as a handprint on the glass surface. | What covers the floor when Miky goes missing? | [
"A thin layer of water",
"a layer of reflective water"
] |
Arthur Bishop (Charles Bronson) is a "mechanic"âa top hit man (assassin). He works exclusively for a secret international organization, which has very strict rules. Bishop is very sophisticated, as he regularly listens to classical music, has an art collection, and is a connoisseur of fine wines. However, he is forced to live alone - he cannot show emotions or trust people. Bishop is under constant emotional pressure, so much so that he is prescribed medication for depression, and one day he is temporarily hospitalized when he loses consciousness as a result of the stress. Bishop pays a call girl (Jill Ireland) for an ongoing girlfriend experience to have a simulated romantic (social and sexual) relationship, including her writing him fake love letters.
When Bishop is assigned one of the organization's heads, "Big Harry" McKenna (Keenan Wynn), he shoots at Big Harry, while making him think that the shots are being fired by a hidden sniper. Harry, who Bishop knows has a weak heart, runs up a steep incline, which triggers a heart attack. Bishop then finishes Harry off by smothering him.
At Big Harry's funeral, Bishop meets Harry's narcissistic, ruthless and ambitious son Steve (Jan-Michael Vincent). Steve is intrigued by Bishop and seeks to find out more about him. Bishop is also intrigued, as he realizes that Steve has a personality suited for being a hit man, and plays along. As part of his training, Bishop teaches Steve that "every person has a weakness, and that once this weakness is found, the target is easy to kill." But Bishop failed to get his superiors' prior consent for the arrangement. Following a messy assassination conducted by Bishop and Steve, the organization warns Bishop that his irresponsible choice to involve Steve has been interpreted as selfish behavior.
The organization then gives Bishop an urgent mission, this time in Italy. Once again, Bishop involves Steve in the new plan, but just before they leave Bishop happens to find among Steve's belongings a file containing a lot of information about Bishop. This file is very similar to the files Bishop prepared for his targets. Nevertheless, Bishop allows Steve to go with him to Italy.
In Italy, Bishop and Steve approach a boat where their intended victim is supposed to be, but it becomes apparent that this was a trap and they are the real targets. Bishop and Steve are ambushed, but they manage to kill all their would-be assassins.
His apprenticeship apparently complete, Steve shares a celebratory bottle of wine with Bishop, having coated the latter's glass with brucine, a colorless and deadly alkaloid. When Bishop realizes that he has been poisoned, he asks Steve if it was because Bishop had killed Steve's father. Steve responds that he had not realized his father was murdered. Steve taunts Bishop, saying "you told me that everyone has a jelly spot--yours was that you couldn't cut it alone." Steve goes on to reveal that he was not acting on orders to kill Bishop.
Steve returns to Bishop's home to pick up the Ford Mustang he had left there. He finds a note affixed to the rear-view mirror, which reads: "Steve, if you're read this it means I didn't make it back. It also means you've broken a filament controlling a 13-second delay trigger. End of game. Bang! You're dead." As Steve frantically reaches for the door handle, the car explodes. | What does Bishop find amongst Steve's belongings prior to their trip to Italy? | [
"A file containing information about Bishop. ",
"Information about himself, like he would have regarding a target. "
] |
The story takes place on a sailing ship in the Gulf of Siam (now the Gulf of Thailand), at the start of a voyage with cargo for Britain. The date is probably in the 1880s (when Conrad was at sea himself). In common with many of Conrad's stories, it is narrated in the first person. The narrator is the ship's young captain, and he is unfamiliar with both his ship and his crew, having joined the ship only a fortnight earlier. He is unsure of his ability to exert his authority over the officers and crew who have been together for some time, and makes the point several times that he is the "stranger" on board.
After being towed down-river (presumably from Bangkok) by a steam tug, the ship is left at anchor near a group of small barren islands a few miles off shore, waiting for wind to begin its voyage. An incoming ship is anchored similarly a couple of miles away, awaiting a tug to go upriver.
That night, the captain, being restless, unusually takes the watch. As the only man on deck in the small hours, he sees that a man has swum up to the ship's side. The naked swimmer is hesitant to talk or come on board, but seems pleased to discover he is speaking to the captain. Once on board he and the captain find a natural rapport, almost as if he, Leggatt, were the captain's other self; especially as the captain has now fetched some of his own clothes that Leggatt is now wearing.
Still on deck, Leggatt explains that he was the First Mate of the other ship, but under arrest for murdering a crew member. The victim was a disobedient bully. During a storm which nearly sank their ship on their voyage here, Leggatt was physically wrestling with the man to make him to pull a rope when a freak wave threw them both against a bulwark and the man was killed. Leggatt, a "stranger" on the other ship just as our captain was on this, would certainly face the gallows on landing. However, he had escaped his locked cabin and had swum between islands to reach the narrator's ship.
This is the point at which our captain could, and by all the rules should, arrest Leggatt. But instead he leads him to concealment in his cabin. The captain has no plan yet, and the situation is one of extreme difficulty, with his cabin regularly serviced by his steward, the problem of food, a ship's captain's movements being conspicuous to all, and a long voyage ahead. In the morning the captain of Leggatt's ship arrives by boat to enquire if the escapee has been sighted. Our captain, not a natural liar, manages to bluff through, but is left terrified as to what his own officers make of his strained behaviour.
With rising wind the ship gets under way, and there starts a routine of the captain helping Leggatt evade the dutiful visits of the steward to the captain's cabin. Leggatt comes close to discovery several times, almost like a stage farce. All the while, the captain is tormented by any small sign that any of his crew suspect (or even might have discovered) the secret. The captain and Leggatt evolve a plan; Leggatt, being a good swimmer, will drop into the sea and swim ashore further down the Gulf of Siam while the ship is sailed as close in to land as possible. This is done, although the risky manoeuver under the captain's direct command nearly puts the ship onto the rocks, testing his seamanship and horrifying the crew. He succeeds, and leads the ship away. | What body of water does Leggatt jump into? | [
"The Gulf of Siam",
"the gulf of Siam"
] |
The Titus Brothers Contractors company have won a government contract in Peru to blast a tunnel through a mountain and connect two isolated railroad lines. The deadline is approaching, and the contractors have hit a literal wall: excessively hard rock which defies conventional blasting techniques. The company is under pressure to finish, or else the contract will default to their rivals, Blakeson & Grinder. Mr. Job Titus has heard of Tom Swift and Tom's giant cannon, which is used in protecting the Panama Canal, and wants to hire Tom to develop a special blasting powder to help them finish the excavation.
Mr. Damon, Tom's very good friend, arrives in the middle of this conversation, and is unaware of the situation. By coincidence, Mr. Damon is invested in a business which procures cinchona bark from Peru, but production has all but ceased, prompting Mr. Damon to invite Tom to accompany him to Peru and discover the source of the problem.
Tom, Mr. Damon and Mr. Titus (along with Koku, Tom's giant) embark for Peru. On the way, they encounter Professor Swyington Bumper, who is on a lifelong quest to locate the lost city of Pelone. Professor Bumper returns to Peru each season, and has thus far been unsuccessful. When Professor Bumper discovers that Tom is headed to the same general area, Rimac, Professor Bumper decides to join the company. | What does Professor Bumper do upon meeting Tom? | [
"Professor Bumper decides to join Tom's company en route to Rimac. ",
"joins the company"
] |
In Lagrange, Ohio, Curtis LaForche (Michael Shannon) has apocalyptic dreams, and visual and auditory hallucinations; of rain "like fresh motor oil", swarms of menacing black birds, and being harmed by people close to him. He hides all of this from his wife, Samantha (Jessica Chastain), and their deaf daughter Hannah (Tova Stewart). He instead channels his anxieties into a compulsive obsession to build a storm shelter in his backyard; however, his increasingly strange behavior -- including a tendency to cut ties with anyone in his life that has harmed him only in his dreams -- strains his relationship with his family, friends, employer, and the close-knit town. Curtis grudgingly sees a counselor at a free clinic, with whom he talks about his family's psychological history (his mother (Kathy Baker) suffers from paranoid schizophrenia that surfaced in her at about the same age that Curtis is now).
In order to get the expanded storm shelter done, Curtis breaks work rules by using equipment from his construction job at his house, and gets a home improvement loan he can ill afford to start building the shelter - all without telling his wife. Sam becomes angry when she discovers the project. After Curtis takes more than the prescribed dose of a sedative and suffers a seizure, Sam calls an ambulance. He recovers, then finally explains the truth to her, including his dreams.
Curtis begins to miss more work, causing tensions with his boss, as he and Sam make preparations for the cochlear implant surgery Hannah is to undergo in six weeks' time. Having been informed of the borrowed work equipment, Curtis's boss fires him and gives him only two weeks' worth of medical insurance benefits, after placing Dewart (Shea Whigham) (the close friend and co-worker whom Curtis asked to help him start construction of the shelter) on two weeks' unpaid administrative leave.
Curtis buys gas masks for his family, and extends his previous employer's health insurance policy for a few extra weeks. Finding that his counselor at the free clinic has suddenly transferred and been replaced with a new one, he walks out. Tensions linger between Curtis and Sam over his loss of a job/income at such a crucial time for their family. Sam gets Curtis to see an actual psychiatrist, and demands that they attend a social function so she can restore some sense of normalcy to their strained, increasingly isolated life. At a Lions Club community gathering, a bitter Dewart (who has been spreading a whispering campaign about Curtis being crazy) angrily provokes and punches Curtis. Curtis loses his temper and unleashes a frightening verbal tirade upon everyone at the Lions Club dinner. He prophetically shouts that a devastating storm is coming, insisting that none of them are prepared.
Later, a tornado warning sends him and his family into the shelter. After they awaken, Curtis reluctantly removes his gas mask, prompted by Samantha. They go to open the shelter doors, but he still hears a storm outside. His wife implores him, insisting that there's no storm and that he needs to open the door. After a tense standoff, Curtis throws open the doors into the blinding sun; a strong-but-bearable storm has passed, and neighbors are cleaning up broken tree limbs and other yard debris as power company trucks restore electricity along the street.
A psychiatrist advises the couple to go through with their planned, annual beach vacation; but that Curtis will need to get psychiatric care in a facility away from his family upon their return. At Myrtle Beach, while Curtis is building sand castles with Hannah, she signs the word "storm". As Samantha exits their beachhouse, the thick, oily rain that Curtis spoke of begins to fall, staining her outstretched hand. Sam looks up to a bigger version of the ominous storm clouds Curtis had seen, massing over the ocean; tornado-like waterspouts reach down to the ocean's surface, and the tide pulls back as a tsunami looms in the distance. Curtis and Sam exchange knowing glances. | What is Dewart helping Curtis build? | [
"A shelter",
"a shelter"
] |
In New York City, four men armed with submachine guns and using code names (Mr. Blue, Mr. Green, Mr. Grey, and Mr. Brown), wearing similar trenchcoat, glasses and mustache disguises, board the Downtown-bound 6 subway train at different station stops (Green at 59th Street, Grey at 51st Street, Brown at Grand Central, and Blue at 28th Street). The men take seventeen passengers and the conductor hostage, isolate them in the train's first car and then separate the car from the rest of the train.
Meanwhile, Zachary Garber (Walter Matthau), a cynical and curmudgeonly yet light-hearted New York City Transit Authority police lieutenant, is leading a tour of New York's subway command center when it is interrupted by Blue's radio announcement that "your train has been taken". Blue (Robert Shaw), the leader of the hijackers, reveals their demands: a ransom of $1 million, to be delivered within one hour, or else they'll kill one passenger per minute after that.
Garber, the sarcastic lieutenant Rico Patrone (Jerry Stiller), and other transit workers cooperate while trying to guess how the criminals intend to get away. The supervisor at Grand Central decides to confront the hijackers himself. As he approaches the train, Grey (Hector Elizondo) shoots him dead. Various clues surface for Garber: Blue has an English accent, while Green (Martin Balsam) has a cold and periodically sneezes over the radio, to which Garber says "Gesundheit." Garber surmises that as the hijackers are able to operate the train, one is probably a disgruntled transit worker. He also learns that one of the hostages is an undercover police officer.
The mayor finally agrees to pay the ransom. Conversations between the hijackers reveal that Blue was a mercenary in Africa and Green was a motorman caught in a drugs bust. There is also an undercurrent of tension between Blue and Grey; Blue confides to Green that he believes Grey is "mad" and potentially trouble. Garber requests additional time from Blue, believing that the process of gathering the money and transporting it to the train within the hour is practically impossible. Blue refuses to grant any extra time but eventually agrees to a slight change of the conditions of the deadline; the money must now at least reach the 28th Street station nearest the train by the 3:13pm deadline rather than the train itself. During the tense wait for the money, a police officer exchanges gunfire with the hijackers. In retaliation, Blue kills the conductor. The police dispatch a squad car with the ransom money, but it crashes. Garber daringly bluffs to buy time, telling the hijackers that the money has been delivered, delayed only by the walk down the tunnel. A reluctant Blue agrees to wait.
A police motorcycle delivers the ransom and then it is delivered on foot. With the money finally in hand, Blue gives Garber their next demands: that electric power be restored to the subway line, that all signals in the path of the train be set to green, and all police officers be cleared from the tunnel. Having overridden the train's dead-man's switch, a safety device requiring a motorman to continually press down on the throttle or else the train will stop, the hijackers get off the train and set it in motion. As the train starts to move, the undercover officer jumps off and hides. The car begins to travel faster and faster, as no one is controlling its speed.
While following the runaway train above ground, Garber becomes convinced that it is a diversion and that the hijackers must have left it. In the tunnel, the hijackers begin their escape into the emergency exit; however, Grey refuses to leave his gun behind, resulting in a stand-off with Blue, who shoots him dead. The undercover officer manages to kill Brown (Earl Hindman) with one shot. Green escapes onto the street, while Blue shoots at the officer until he wounds him. Garber arrives and, drawing on Blue, orders him to surrender. Told that New York no longer has the death penalty, Blue electrocutes himself by stepping onto the third rail. Meanwhile, the runaway car finally encounters a red signal upon the approach to the South Ferry loop and grinds to a halt; the remaining hostages are safe.
The three dead hijackers are identified, and it is clear that none had piloted trains, so Garber concludes that the remaining hijacker must be the former transit employee. Working their way through a list of former motormen "discharged for cause", Garber and Patrone pay a visit to Harold Longman (Green), who bluffs his way through the officers' questioning. The officers find Longman's alibi weak, but start out the door, until Longman sneezes and Garber says "Gesundheit." Garber re-opens the door, and his expression indicates that he has found the final hijacker. | How many passengers were taken hostage in the train? | [
"17",
"Seventeen. "
] |
The story is told in eight major parts, called Scenes.
Scene One begins in 1846, at Combe-Raven in West Somerset, the country residence of the wealthy Vanstone family: Andrew Vanstone, his wife, and their two daughters. Norah, age 26, is happy and quiet; Magdalen, 18, is beautiful but volatile and willful. They live in peace and contentment, looked after by their governess, Miss Garth.
Through amateur theatricals, Magdalen discovers she is a talented actress and falls in love with Frank Clare, the idle but handsome son of a neighbour, who is also in the play. They want to be married, and their fathers agree. Although Frank fails at every career he reluctantly tries, and his father is not wealthy, Magdalen's fortune will easily support the young couple.
But before they marry, Mr. Vanstone is killed in a train crash and Mrs. Vanstone dies in childbirth. The girls discover from the lawyer, Mr. Pendril, that their parents have only been married for a few months, and their wedding invalidated the will which left everything to the daughters.
Since the daughters are illegitimate, they have no name, no rights, and no property. Combe-Raven and the entire family fortune are inherited by Andrew's older brother, Michael Vanstone, who has been bitterly estranged from the family for many years. He refuses to provide any support for the orphaned young women. With the help only of their governess Miss Garth, they set out to make their own way in the world.
Scene Two is set in York, where Magdalen enlists the help of Captain Wragge, a distant relative of her mother's and a professional swindler. He helps get Magdalen started on the stage in return for a share of the proceeds. His wife Matilda, whom he married for an expected inheritance, is physically huge and kindly but mentally slow; she has to be supervised like a child.
Scene Three is in Vauxhall Walk, Lambeth. Magdalen, having earned some money, forsakes the stage and plots to get her inheritance back. Michael Vanstone has died; his only son Noel is sickly and looked after by his housekeeper, Virginie Lecount, a shrewd woman who hopes to inherit his money. Magdalen goes to Lambeth disguised as Miss Garth to see how the land lies, but Mrs. Lecount sees through her disguise and cuts a bit of cloth from the hem of her brown alpaca dress as a keepsake.
Scene Four is in Aldborough, Suffolk, where Magdalen tries to carry out her plot to regain her inheritance by marrying Noel Vanstone under an assumed name, with Captain and Mrs. Wragge posing as her uncle and aunt. Wragge and Lecount plot and attempt to outdo each other. In the end, Lecount is sent on a false errand to Zurich, and Magdalen and Noel are married. Captain Wragge arranges the marriage on condition that he will never have to see Magdalen again once it has happened.
Scene Five is in Baliol Cottage, Dumfries. Noel is alone, as his wife has left to visit her sister in London. Mrs. Lecount is back from Zurich and explains who his wife really is, with the help of the cut bit of cloth from the brown alpaca dress. Noel, at her direction, rewrites his will, cutting off his wife and leaving a legacy to Lecount and everything else to Admiral Bartram, his cousin. He encloses a secret letter, asking Admiral Bartram that the money be passed to young George Bartram, but only on the condition that he marry someone not a widow within six months, thus ensuring that Magdalen cannot marry George for the money. The strain of this scheming is too much for Noel, and he dies from a weak heart.
Scene Six is in St John's Wood where Magdalen has lodgings. Estranged from Norah and from Miss Garth, who she thinks betrayed her husband's whereabouts to Lecount, she hatches a plot to disguise herself as a maid and infiltrate into Admiral Bartram's house to look for the Secret Trust document. Her own maid Louisa helps to train her in return for Magdalen's giving her the money to marry her fiance, the father of her illegitimate child, and move to Australia.
Scene Seven is at St. Crux, the Bartram country house. Magdalen, working under Louisa's name as a parlour maid for Admiral Bartram, searches through the house for the Secret Trust. Eventually she manages it by following Admiral Bartram as he sleepwalks, but she is discovered and thrown out of the house.
The last scene is set in a poor lodging house, Aaron's Building. Magdalen is ill and destitute, about to be carried off to hospital or the workhouse, when a handsome man appears and rescues her. It is Captain Kirke, a sailor who had seen and become enamored of her at Aldborough. Meanwhile, Norah has married George Bartram, thus placing the inheritance back into the Vanstone family. Magdalen, in her illness and recovery, vows to be a better person and never again undertake any malice. Kirke and Magdalen profess their love for one another. | How does the family inheritance get returned to the Van Stone family? | [
"Norah marries George Bartram",
"Norah marries George Bartram"
] |
A little girl named Lucie lives on a farm called Little-town. She is a good little girl, but has lost three pocket handkerchiefs and a pinafore. She questions Tabby Kitten and Sally Henny-penny about them, but they know nothing (especially since Tabby Kitten licks her paw, and Sally Henny-penny flaps back into the barn clucking, "I go barefoot, barefoot, barefoot!" neither of which is very helpful). Lucie mounts a stile and spies some white cloths lying in the grass high on a hill behind the farm. She scrambles up the hill along a steep path-way which ends under a big rock. She finds a little door in the hillside, and hears someone singing behind it:
Lily-white and clean, oh!
With little frills between, oh!
Smooth and hot – red rusty spot
Never here be seen, oh!
She knocks. A frightened voice cries out, "Who's that?" Lucie opens the door, and discovers a low-ceilinged kitchen. Everything is tiny, even the pots and pans. At the table stands a short, stout person wearing a tucked-up print gown, an apron, and a striped petticoat. She is ironing. Her little black nose goes sniffle, sniffle, snuffle, and her eyes go twinkle, twinkle, and beneath her little white cap are prickles! She is Mrs. Tiggy-winkle, the animals' laundress and "an excellent clear-starcher". She keeps busy with her work. She has found Lucy's lost things, and launders them for her. She also shows Lucie items belonging to Mrs. Tiggywinkle's animal customers. They have tea together though Lucie keeps away from Mrs. Tiggywinkle due to the prickles.
The laundered clothing is tied up in bundles and Lucie's handkerchiefs are neatly folded into her clean pinafore. They set off together down the path to return the fresh laundry to the little animals and birds in the neighbourhood. At the bottom of the hill, Lucie mounts the stile and turns to thank Mrs. Tiggy-winkle. "But what a very odd thing!" Mrs. Tiggy-winkle is "running running running up the hill". Her cap, shawl, and print gown are nowhere to be seen. How small and brown she has grown – and covered with prickles! "Why! Mrs. Tiggy-winkle [is] nothing but a HEDGEHOG!"
The narrator tells the reader that some thought Lucie had fallen asleep on the stile and dreamed the encounter, but if so, then how could she have three clean handkerchiefs and a laundered pinafore? "Besides," the narrator assures the reader, "I have seen that door into the back of the hill called Catbells – and besides I am very well acquainted with dear Mrs. Tiggy-winkle!" | Who does Lucie question about what she has lost? | [
"Tabby and Sally",
"Sally-Henny Penny and Tabby kitten"
] |
The narrator is a London businessman who withdraws to the countryside to write a play, by which he hopes to alleviate his financial problems. Bedford rents a small countryside house in Lympne, in Kent, where he wants to work in peace. He is bothered every afternoon, however, at precisely the same time, by a passer-by making odd noises. After two weeks Bedford accosts the man, who proves to be a reclusive physicist named Mr. Cavor. Bedford befriends Cavor when he learns he is developing a new material, cavorite, which can negate the force of gravity.
When a sheet of cavorite is prematurely processed, it makes the air above it weightless and shoots off into space. Bedford sees in the commercial production of cavorite a possible source of "wealth enough to work any sort of social revolution we fancied; we might own and order the whole world". Cavour hits upon the idea of a spherical spaceship made of "steel, lined with glass", and with sliding "windows or blinds" made of cavorite by which it can be steered, and persuades a reluctant Bedford to undertake a voyage to the moon; Cavor is certain there is no life there.
On the way to the moon, they experience weightlessness, which Bedford finds "exceedingly restful". On the surface of the moon the two men discover a desolate landscape, but as the sun rises, the thin, frozen atmosphere vaporizes and strange plants begin to grow with extraordinary rapidity. Bedford and Cavor leave the capsule, but in romping about get lost in the rapidly growing jungle. They hear for the first time a mysterious booming coming from beneath their feet. They encounter "great beasts", "monsters of mere fatness", that they dub "mooncalves", and five-foot-high "Selenites" tending them. At first they hide and crawl about, but growing hungry partake of some "monstrous coralline growths" of fungus that inebriate them. They wander drunkenly until they encounter a party of six extraterrestrials, who capture them. The insectoid lunar natives (referred to as "Selenites", after Selene, the moon goddess) are part of a complex and technologically sophisticated society that lives underground, but this is revealed only in radio communications received from Cavor after Bedford's return to earth.
Bedford and Cavor break out of captivity beneath the surface of the moon and flee, killing several Selenites. In their flight they discover that gold is common on the moon. In their attempt to find their way back to the surface and to their sphere, they come upon some Selenites carving up mooncalves but fight their way past. Back on the surface, they split up to search for their spaceship. Bedford finds it but returns to Earth without Cavor, who injured himself in a fall and was recaptured by the Selenites, as Bedford learns from a hastily scribbled note he left behind.
Chapter 19, "Mr. Bedford in Infinite Space", plays no role in the plot but is a remarkable set piece in which the narrator describes experiencing a quasi-mystical "pervading doubt of my own identity. . . the doubts within me could still argue: 'It is not you that is reading, it is Bedfordâbut you are not Bedford, you know. That's just where the mistake comes in.' 'Counfound it!' I cried, 'and if I am not Bedford, what am I? But in that direction no light was forthcoming, though the strangest fancies came drifting into my brain, queer remote suspicions like shadow seem from far away... Do you know I had an idea that really I was something quite outside not only the world, but all worlds, and out of space and time, and that this poor Bedford was just a peephole through which I looked at life..."
By good fortune, the narrator lands in the sea off the coast of Britain, near the seaside town of Littlestone, not far from his point of departure. His fortune is made by some gold he brings back, but he loses the sphere when a curious boy named Tommy Simmons climbs into the unattended sphere and shoots off into space. Bedford writes and publishes his story in The Strand Magazine, then learns that "Mr. Julius Wendigee, a Dutch electrician, who has been experimenting with certain apparatus akin to the apparatus used by Mr. Tesla in America", has picked up fragments of radio communications from Cavor sent from inside the moon. During a period of relative freedom Cavor has taught two Selenites English and learned much about lunar society.
Cavor's account explains that Selenites exist in thousands of forms and find fulfillment in carrying out the specific social function for which they have been brought up: specialization is the essence of Selenite society. "With knowledge the Selenites grew and changed; mankind stored their knowledge about them and remained brutesâequipped," remarks the Grand Lunar, when he finally meets Cavor and hears about life on Earth. Unfortunately, Cavor reveals humanity's propensity for war; the lunar leader and those listening to the interview are "stricken with amazement". Bedford infers that it is for this reason that Cavor has been prevented from further broadcasting to Earth. Cavor's transmissions are cut off as he is trying to describe how to make cavorite. His final fate is unknown, but Bedford is sure that "we shall never⌠receive another message from the moon". | Why doesn't Mr. Cavor return to earth? | [
"He is captured by Selenites.",
"It's not known"
] |
The story centers on a country lawyer, Edward Wilkins, and his daughter Ellinor. Edward has an artistic and literary personality, unsuited to his social position as the son of a successful lawyer who takes over his father's practice in the provincial town of Hamley. His legal representation of the local gentry and nobility leads him to try fitting into their social circles, only to be mocked and treated with derision. He develops a drinking problem and spends more money than he can afford to in his attempts to be an equal to his clients. His bad habits lead to problems in his business, and Edward is forced to take on a junior partner named Mr. Dunster.
At the same time, Ellinor becomes engaged to a young upcoming country gentleman named Ralph Corbet. Corbet initiates the engagement partly through love of Ellinor and partly because of a promise of money from Edward. Edward continues to drink and overspend, leading to a confrontation with Mr. Dunster. In the heat of the argument, Edward strikes Mr. Dunster, killing him. Ellinor and a family servant named Dixon help Edward to bury the body in their flower garden.
Ellinor soon tells Ralph that a possible disgrace hangs over her. Ralph questions Edward about this, and Edward insults him in a drunken tirade. Ralph dissolves his engagement to Ellinor because of this, and because he regrets forming an engagement to someone who offers no opportunity of helping him advance in society. He later marries into the nobility and becomes a judge. Edward drinks himself to death and Ellinor moves to a distant town, East Chester, after the Wilkins's home Ford Bank is rented out in order to provide Ellinor with a living. Dixon remains as a servant to watch over the home and property where the body is buried. The secret goes unknown for about 15 years until the body is dug up during the construction of a railroad. Dixon is arrested for the murder and later convicted by Ralph, who acts as the judge in the case. Ellinor then tells Ralph the truth, and Dixon is pardoned. She returns to East Chester and marries a local clergyman, Canon Livingstone, who she had known in her youth, and has two children with him. | What was the final outcome for Dixon after Ellinor tells Ralph the truth about the murder? | [
"He was pardoned",
"Dixon is pardoned for the murder of Mr. Dunster after Elinor tells the truth."
] |
In the present day, Time Agents Ross and Gordon come with settlers to the water-dominated planet, Hawaika, to search remains of the alien Baldies from the distant past. Intelligent dolphins assist them. While setting up their time gate, a storm destroys it and strands them widely in the unknown past.
The dolphins and humans can communicate, and Ross learns Gordon is hostage in a castle through a native, Loketh. Ross and Loketh are captured by seafaring Rovers, then join them. They liberate a Rover island captured by the Baldies. Ross convinces a coalition of natives the Baldies are playing them against one another. Ross finds Ashe at last, in the company of the mystic and advanced Foanna, who turn out to be only three, the last of their race. The Foanna set a trap for the Baldies, using their castle as bait, but they cannot win against the whole force without increasing their numbers. Ross and Ashe agree to a process mentally joining them with the Foanna. A second encounter with the Baldies, they win. In a final encounter, Ross is teleported to a Baldy ship like the one familiar to him from Galactic Derelict, and sets its course to a random destination. The main Baldy installation is simultaneously attacked and the Baldies driven off the planet. | What happened to the Baldies? | [
"They are driven off the planet.",
"a storm destroyed their time gate"
] |
This Conan story is set in mythical Hyborian versions of IndiaâPakistan (then united) and Afghanistan (Vendhya and Ghulistan respectively).
The death of Bunda Chand, King of Vendhya, via a curse channeled to his soul through a lock of his hair leads to the ascension of his sister, Devi Yasmina, who vows to get revenge on his killers, the Black Seers of Yimsha. Conan, meanwhile, has become chief of a tribe of Afghuli hillmen. Seven of his men have been captured by the Vendhyans and Yasmina intends to use them as collateral to force Conan to kill the Seers. However, Conan infiltrates the border fort where they are held and kidnaps the Devi instead (with the intent of exchanging her for the seven men). The problems are complicated by Kerim Shah, an agent of King Yezdigerd of Turan, who arranged Bunda Chand's death in order to lead an army through the mountains and invade in the subsequent confusion and turmoil. His contact with the Black Seers, Khemsa, has fallen in love with the Devi's maid Gitara. They decide to strike out on their own, kill the seven hillmen and pursue Conan and Yasmina to kill them both as well.
Conan escapes into the Afghuli villages of the Zaibar Pass and Himelian Mountains (Hyborian equivalents of the Khyber pass and Himalayas). Yar Afzal, chief of the Wazuli village, is killed by Khemsa and the people turn against Conan, yet he manages to escape again with Yasmina. Khemsa again catches up with the pair but his attack is interrupted by four Rakhshas from Yimsha. His original masters kill Khemsa and Gitara, stun Conan and kidnap Yasmina. Khemsa survives a fall from the mountain-side long enough to give Conan a warning and a magic girdle. Shortly after, Kerim Shah and a group of Irakzai (Iraqis), also intent on capturing the Devi for King Yezdigerd, encounter Conan. They join together to rescue Yasmina, both open about their private reasons for doing so, and approach the mountain of Yimsha. Most of the men are killed in the attempt but, following Khemsa's warnings, Conan succeeds in killing the Black Seers and rescuing Yasmina.
As they escape they encounter the Turanian army of King Yezdigerd in conflict with Conan's former hillmen (who blame him for the death of the seven captives). Despite their attitude, Conan feels obliged to assist but cannot abandon the Devi. This problem is resolved when a Vendhyan army, invading the mountains to rescue their Queen, arrives. Together, Conan with his Afghulis and Yasmina with her cavalry, they destroy the Turanian army. Conan leaves with the hillmen and the Devi returns to her country.
Though they are strongly attracted to each other, the affair between Conan and Yasmina never gets beyond some kissing. Their respective roles pull them in opposite directions - she the Queen of Vendhiya, he the leader of roving hillemen engaged in constant robbery against her domain. In the original Howard stories, they never meet again. In the 1957 Return of Conan BjĂśrn Nyberg and L. Sprague de Camp let Conan and Yasmina meet again for one night of intensive love-making, many years later - when he is already King of Aquilonia and there is no more a conflict of interest. | Where do the Black Seers who kidnapped Queen Devi Yasmina live? | [
"The mountain of Yimsha",
"The mountain of Yimsha"
] |
John Dolittle, MD, is a respected physician and quiet bachelor living with his spinster sister in the small English village of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh. His love of animals grows over the years and his household menagerie eventually scares off his human clientele, leading to loss of wealth. But after learning the secret of speaking to all animals from his parrot Polynesia, he takes up veterinary practice.
His fortunes rise and fall again after a crocodile takes up residence, leading to his sister leaving in disgust with the intention of getting married, but his fame in the animal kingdom spreads throughout the world. He is conscripted into voyaging to Africa to cure a monkey epidemic just as he faces bankruptcy. He has to borrow supplies and a ship, and sails with a crew of his favourite animals, but is shipwrecked upon arriving to Africa. On the way to the monkey kingdom, his band is arrested by the king of Jolliginki, a victim of European exploitation who wants no white men traveling in his country.
The band barely escapes by ruse, but makes it to the monkey kingdom where things are dire indeed as a result of the raging epidemic. He vaccinates the well monkeys and nurses the sick back to health. In appreciation, the monkeys find a pushmi-pullyu, a shy two-headed gazelle-unicorn cross, whose rarity may bring Dr. Dolittle money back home.
On the return trip, they again are captured in Jolliginki. This time they escape with the help of Prince Bumpo, who gives them a ship in exchange for Dolittle's bleaching Bumpo's face white, his greatest desire being to act as a European fairy-tale prince. Dolittle's crew then have a couple of run-ins with pirates, leading to Dolittle's winning a pirate ship loaded with treasures and rescuing a boy whose uncle was abandoned on a rock island. After reuniting the two, Dolittle finally makes it home and tours with the pushmi-pullyu in a circus until he makes enough money to retire to his beloved home in Puddleby.The original edition of the book included language and plot elements that are considered racist by present-day standards, though probably not intended as malicious by the writer. Black African characters are clearly intended by the writer to be sympathetic, but their depiction reflects the paternalistic mindset of colonialism still prevailing in Britain at the time of writing, not to mention the racism in Lofting's adopted United States. Editions starting the 1960s removed some terms for black people which had come to be regarded as offensive. (Exactly when these revisions appeared is difficult to determine, as the changes are not explicitly noted.)
Later editions changed the plot as well, and noted these changes in a new preface for the book. The original edition had a plot line where Bumpo, the African prince, wishes he were white, so that he can marry the Sleeping Beauty. The Doctor, who is imprisoned by the prince's father, grants his wish in exchange for escape by bleaching him. In the original text, this process is accompanied by a strong smell of "burning brown paper". In American editions, there seems to have been a half-hearted attempt at weakening this by changing the bleaching agent to white covering cream; in still later editions, the poor prince Bumpo's ambitions are either changed via hypnosis or he wishes to be a lion. In the later case, he is given a potion that causes his hair to grow out into an impressive mane around his head. Ultimately, he is not excised entirely.
In a 1978 edition, only one sentence is removed from this section: "For the Prince's face had turned as white as snow, and his eyes, which had been mud-colored, were a manly gray!" Since the previous statement was that "all the animals cried out in surprise", the removal of this is rather jarring. | Why did Dr. Dolittle travel to Africa? | [
"To cure a monkey epidemic",
"To cure an monkey epidemic"
] |
In 1950s Christchurch, New Zealand, a 14-year-old girl from a working-class family, Pauline Parker (Lynskey), befriends the more affluent English 15-year-old Juliet Hulme (Winslet) when Juliet transfers to Pauline's school. They bond over a shared history of severe childhood disease and isolating hospitalizations, and over time develop an intense friendship. Pauline admires Juliet's outspoken arrogance and beauty. Together they paint, write stories, make Plasticine figurines, and eventually create a fantasy kingdom called Borovnia. It is the setting of the adventure novels they write together, which they hope to have published and eventually made into films in Hollywood. Over time it begins to be as real to them as the real world. Pauline's relationship with her mother, Honora, becomes increasingly hostile and the two fight constantly. This angry atmosphere is in contrast to the peaceful intellectual life Juliet shares with her family. Pauline spends most of her time at the Hulmes', where she feels accepted. Juliet introduces Pauline to the idea of "the Fourth World", a Heaven without Christians where music and art are celebrated. Juliet believes she will go there when she dies. Certain actors and musicians are "saints" in this afterlife.
During a day trip to Port Levy, Juliet's parents announce that they are going away and plan to leave Juliet behind. Her fear of being left alone makes her hysterical, culminating in her first direct experience of the Fourth World, perceiving it as a land where all is beautiful and she is safe. She asks Pauline to come with her, and the world that Juliet sees becomes visible to Pauline, too. This is presented as a shared spiritual vision, a confirmation of their "Fourth World" belief, that influences the girls' predominant reality and affects their perception of events in the everyday world.
Juliet is diagnosed with tuberculosis and is sent to a clinic. Again her parents leave the country, leaving her alone and desperately missing Pauline. Pauline is desolate without her, and the two begin an intense correspondence, writing not only as themselves, but in the roles of the royal couple of Borovnia. During this time Pauline begins a sexual relationship with a lodger, which makes Juliet jealous. For both of them, their fantasy life becomes a useful escape when under stress in the real world, and the two engage in increasingly violent, even murderous, fantasies about people who oppress them. After four months, Juliet is released from the clinic and their relationship intensifies. Juliet's father blames the intensity of the relationship on Pauline and speaks to her parents, who take her to a doctor. The doctor suspects that Pauline is homosexual, and considers this a cause of her increasing anger at her mother as well as her dramatic weight loss.
Juliet catches her mother having an affair with one of her psychiatric clients and threatens to tell her father, but her mother tells her he knows. Shortly afterward, the two announce their intention to divorce, upsetting Juliet. Soon it is decided that the family will leave Christchurch, with Juliet to be left with a relative in South Africa. She becomes increasingly hysterical at the thought of leaving Pauline, and the two girls plan to run away together. When that plan becomes impossible, the two begin to talk about murdering Pauline's mother as they see her as the primary obstacle to their being together. As the date of Juliet's departure nears, it is decided that the two girls should spend the last three weeks together at Juliet's house. At the end of that time, Pauline returns home and the two finalize plans for the murder. Honora plans a day for the three of them at Victoria Park, and the girls decide this will be the day. Juliet puts a broken piece of brick into a stocking and they go off to the park. After having tea, the three walk down the path and when Honora bends over to pick up a pink charm the girls have put there, Juliet and Pauline bludgeon her to death.
In a postscript, it is revealed that the next day Pauline's diary was found in which the plan for the murder had been outlined which led to Pauline and Juliet getting arrested. The two are tried, convicted, and sentenced to prison. It is a condition of their eventual release that they never meet again. | When Juliet and Pauline find out that they will be permanently separated what is their original plan? | [
"To run away together.",
"They wanted to run away together."
] |
"Once, long ago", the ancient Lord of Darkness (Tim Curry) laments his isolation in the shadows before sensing the presence of two unicorns who safeguard the Power of Light; where upon Darkness instructs Blix (Alice Playten) and his fellow goblins Pox (Peter O'Farrell) and Blunder (Kiran Shah) to kill the unicorns and bring him their horns to free himself. Meanwhile, Princess Lily (Mia Sara), a mischievous and vibrant girl goes alone to the forest to meet her love interest Jack (Tom Cruise), an adventurous forest dweller who teaches her the languages of animals before showing her the unicorns as he promised he would someday do. Against Jack's pleas, Lily approaches the stallion to stroke him, making him distracted and the perfect target for a poisoned dart from Blix's blowpipe. Once hit, the unicorns bolt, and Lily makes light of Jack's fears and sets him a challenge by throwing her ring into a pond, declaring that she will marry whoever finds it.
Jack, proving his love to Lily, dives into the pond to retrieve it. As the stallion dies from the poison and the goblins seize his horn, the forest and the pond freeze, setting the mortal realm into an apocalyptic winter. Lily runs off in terror before Jack can break the surface of the frozen pond. Taking refuge in a frozen cottage, Lily overhears the goblins talking about their slaying of the unicorn and testing the alicorn's magical powers. She follows them to a rendevouz with Darkness, who orders them to hunt down the mare. In a fit of overconfidence, Blunder challenges Darkness with the stallion's horn in hand, but is instead restrained and taken away.
In the forest, Jack encounters the elf Honeythorn Gump (David Bennent, voiced by Alice Playten). Joined by Gump, the fairy Oona (Annabelle Lanyon), and the dwarves Brown Tom and Screwball (Cork Hubbert and Billy Barty), Jack searches for Lily before coming across the lifeless stallion and his mate. Knowing that the horn must be recovered and returned to the stallion, Jack is led by Gump and the others to a cache of ancient weapons while Brown Tom guards the mare. Lily, attempting to make amends for her role in the stallion's death, is captured alongside the mare after Brown Tom is knocked out. Learning what has transpired, Jack and his group enter the ancient temple in the marshes where Darkness resides. Though Jack deals with the swamp hag Meg Mucklebones (Robert Picardo), he and his group fall into a pit trap that takes them to dungeon. There they encounter Blunder, revealed to be a disguised elf, before he is dragged off by the ogre chefs to be cooked into a pie. Oona saves Jack and the others, and they resume searching for Lily and the mare.
Having fallen in love with Lily, Darkness tempts her; and Lily agrees to wed him on the condition that she kills the mare in the upcoming ritual. Overhearing their conversation, Jack and Gump learn that Darkness can be destroyed by daylight. While saving Blunder, the group take giant metal platters to reflect the sunlight to the chamber where the mare is to be sacrificed. As the ritual begins, Lily frees the unicorn, but is knocked out by Darkness. Jack fights Darkness while the others relay the light of the setting sun. Once hit by the light, Darkness is expelled to the edge of a cliff, but, using the unicorn's horn to hold on, he defiantly states to Jack that evil lurks in everyone and that they will never truly defeat him. Jack strikes Darkness' hand, releasing the unicorn's horn, and Darkness is expelled into the stars. As Gump returns the stallion's horn, returning him to life, Jack retrieves the ring from the pond and returns it to Lily, reviving her. | How does Lily challenge Jack? | [
"She throws her ring into the pond and offers a prize for finding it.",
"by throwing her ring in a pond"
] |
One of the wealthiest and most cultured residents of the famed Algonquin Avenue in Buffland (a city intended to be Cleveland), Captain Arthur Farnham is a Civil War veteran and widower—his wife died of illness while accompanying him at a remote frontier post. Since he left the army, he has sought to involve himself in municipal affairs, but fails though political naiveté. The victorious party has allowed him the position of chairman of the library board. In that capacity, he is approached by Maud Matchin, daughter of carpenter Saul Matchin, a man content with his lot. His daughter is not, and seeks employment at the library as a means of bettering herself. Farnham agrees to put her case, but is defeated by a majority on the board, who have their own candidate. She finds herself attracted to Farnham, who is more interested in Alice Belding, daughter of his wealthy widow neighbor.
Saul Matchin had hoped that his daughter would become a house servant, but having attended high school, she feels herself too good for that. She is admired by Saul's assistant Sam Sleeny, who lives with the Matchins, a match favored by her father. Sleeny is busy repairing Farnham's outbuildings, and is made jealous by interactions between the captain and Maud. Seeing Sleeny's discontent, Andrew Jackson Offitt (true name Ananias), a locksmith and "professional reformer", tries to get him to join the Bread-winners, a labor organization. Sleeny is happy with his employment, "Old Saul Matchin and me come to an agreement about time and pay, and both of us was suited. Ef he's got his heel into me, I don't feel it," but due to his unhappiness over Maud, is easy game for Offitt, who gets him to join, and to pay the dues that are Offitt's visible means of support.
Maud has become convinced that she is in love with Farnham, and declares it to him. It is not reciprocated, and the scene is witnessed both by Mrs. Belding and by Sleeny. The widow believes Farnham when he states he had given Maud no encouragement, but her daughter, when her mother incautiously tells her of the incident, does not. When Farnham seeks to marry Alice, she turns him down and asks him never to renew the subject.
Offitt's membership has tired of endless talk, and plans a general strike, a fact of which Farnham is informed by Mr. Temple, a salty-talking vice president of a rolling mill. An element among the strikers also plans to loot houses along Algonquin Avenue, including Farnham's. The strike begins, paralyzing Buffland's commerce, though it is initially nonviolent. Neither the mayor nor the chief of police, when approached by Farnham, are willing to guard Algonquin Avenue. Farnham proceeds to organize Civil War veterans, and purchases weapons to arm them. After Farnham's force rescues the mayor from being attacked, he deputizes them as special police—on condition there is no expense to the city.
Meanwhile, Maud tells her father she will never marry Sleeny. She is wooed by Bott, who is a spiritualist and a Bread-winner, and also by Offitt. Neither meets success, though Offitt dexterously prevents her from actually saying no, and through flattery and stories of his alleged past piques her interest.
By the end of the second day of the strike, which has spread to Buffland's rival city of Clearfield [in the serialization, "Clevealo"], the mood among the laborers has turned ugly. Temple warns that the attacks on Algonquin Avenue are imminent, and aids Farnham's force in turning back assaults on the captain's house and on the Belding residence. Bott and Sleeny are captured by the force; the former is sent to prison but Farnham has pity on Sleeny as a good workman, and the carpenter serves only a few days. The settlement of the strike in Clearfield takes the wind out of the Buffland action, and soon most are back at work, though some agitators are dismissed.
Offitt, despite being one of the leaders of the assault on the Belding house, has escaped blame and befriends the sullen Sleeny on his release. Upon learning that some workers pay their landlord, Farnham, in the evening of the rent day at his home, Offitt comes up with a scheme—rob and murder Farnham and let Sleeny take the blame as Offitt elopes with Maud. Accordingly, Offitt sneaks into Farnham's house with Sleeny's hammer, but just as he is striking the fatal blow, Alice Belding, who can see what is going on from her house through an opera glass, screams, distracting Offitt enough so that Farnham is hurt by the blow, but not killed. Offitt hurries away with the money, and proceeds to frame Sleeny. After realizing Offitt's treachery, Sleeny escapes jail and kills him. The stolen money is found on Offitt's body, clearing Sleeny in the assault on Farnham, but the carpenter must still stand trial for the killing of Offitt, in which he is aided by partisan testimony from Maud. A sympathetic jury ignores the law to find him not guilty. Sleeny wins Maud's hand in marriage, and Farnham and Alice Belding are to be wed. | What are Offitt's visible means of support? | [
"The Dues",
"Union dues. "
] |
Since the original run, Shaffer has extensively revised his play, including changes to plot details; the following is common to all revisions.
At the opening of the tale, Salieri is an old man, having long outlived his fame. Speaking directly to the audience, he claims to have used poison to assassinate Mozart, and promises to explain himself. The action then flashes back to the eighteenth century, at a time when Salieri has not met Mozart in person, but has heard of him and his music. He adores Mozart's compositions, and is thrilled at the chance to meet Mozart in person, during a salon at which some of Mozart's compositions will be played. When he finally does catch sight of Mozart, however, he is deeply disappointed to find that Mozart himself lacks the grace and charm of his compositions: When Salieri first meets him, Mozart is crawling around on his hands and knees, engaging in profane talk with his future bride Constanze Weber.
Salieri cannot reconcile Mozart's boorish behaviour with the genius that God has inexplicably bestowed upon him. Indeed, Salieri, who has been a devout Catholic all his life, cannot believe that God would choose Mozart over him for such a gift. Salieri renounces God and vows to do everything in his power to destroy Mozart as a way of getting back at his Creator.
Throughout much of the rest of the play, Salieri masquerades as Mozart's ally to his face while doing his utmost to destroy his reputation and any success his compositions may have. On more than one occasion it is only the direct intervention of the Emperor himself that allows Mozart to continue (interventions which Salieri opposes, and then is all too happy to take credit for when Mozart assumes it was he who intervened). Salieri also humiliates Mozart's wife when she comes to Salieri for aid, and smears Mozart's character with the Emperor and the court. A major theme in Amadeus is Mozart's repeated attempts to win over the aristocratic "public" with increasingly brilliant compositions, which are always frustrated either by Salieri or by the aristocracy's own inability to appreciate Mozart's genius.
The play ends with Salieri attempting suicide in a last attempt to be remembered, leaving a confession of having murdered Mozart with arsenic. He survives, however, and his confession is met with disbelief, leaving him to wallow once again in mediocrity. | What type of poison does Salieri use? | [
"arsenic",
"arsenic"
] |
The opening panels of the story are set in the Duckburg museum, where Scrooge McDuck is opening a museum exhibit featuring the greatest wonders he has collected during his travels around the world (most of them direct tributes to classic Barks stories).
As Scrooge is bragging to his nephews, Donald Duck and Huey, Dewey and Louie (who all familiar with the artifacts, having taken part in the expeditions for them), Flintheart Glomgold, who is about to open his own exhibit, overhears Scrooge and the conversation between the two rivals turns into a bragging match as to who is the greatest adventurer and treasure-seeker. Scrooge challenges Glomgold to think of something he could find; Glomgold is momentarily nonplussed, then catches sight of Scrooge’s exhibit of Inca artifacts and points out that while Scrooge found the original gold mines of the Incas, he never found the golden artifacts that had been extracted from the mines. Soon Scrooge and his nephews are off on a race with Glomgold to see who can find, and claim the "greater Incan treasure".
The first clue comes as soon as Glomgold has left, as Donald picks up an Incan vase that was knocked over during the bragging match. They find a metal plaque baked inside, providing a map to a temple of Manco Capac in the Andes mountains. Unfortunately, Glomgold is eavesdropping.
Arriving at a village near Cuzco, Scrooge hires a plane to fly them to its location. The pilot of the plane turns out to be Glomgold, who relieves them of the plaque at gunpoint and then parachutes out. Scrooge tries to regain control of the plane and, in a comic episode, inadvertently rips out the belly of the plane while flying too low, dumping his nephews onto the valley floor, still in their seats. As the plane flies off, Glomgold approaches and informs the ducks that Scrooge has frightened away the porters he hired, so they will have to do.
A week later, Glomgold and his reluctant helpers reach a remote mountain, on the summit of which is the temple, built around a large volcanic fumarole (hence, the plaque’s description, the "life breath" of Manco Capac). Glomgold enters the temple’s treasure chamber and is beside himself with glee to discover an enormous store of golden Inca artifacts. Then Scrooge appears, calmly informing Glomgold that he crash-landed the plane on the mountaintop several days ago, and has already filed his claim on the gold using the plane’s radio.
It seems the Scrooge has won, but Huey, Dewey, and Louie are confused about one thing: the plaque makes reference to an Incan "treasure" being moved to the temple, but it actually predates the time of the conquistadors, which is naturally when the gold would have been moved there. Realising there must be another Incan treasure in the temple, Glomgold investigates further and discovers the "Eye" of Manco Capac: an enormous, disc-shaped sunburst festooned with enormous gemstones. Since Scrooge claimed the gold, and not the temple, and there’s no gold on the sunburst, that makes it Glomgold’s.
As Scrooge and Glomgold begin to argue about whose treasure is of greater value, Glomgold begins taking it down from its wall mounting, but it falls and rolls down the temple steps and into the fumarole. It wedges into the hole convex side down, creating a perfect seal. As the volcanic gases build up an enormous pressure, Scrooge notices that the back of the sunburst is sheathed in gold, starting another furious argument between him and Glomgold, and causing them to wedge the sunburst down even more firmly. Before the others can stop them, the pressure mounts and the entire mountaintop, temple and all, is suddenly blown into the sky like a cork from a bottle. The ducks are able to use a tapestry as a makeshift parachute before the temple lands squarely in a nearly bottomless volcanic lake, next to the village they originally started from. The massive splash of water irrigates the villagers’ crop fields, relieving them from the effects of recent drought.
All of the treasure is now completely irretrievable. As the dispirited ducks begin their journey back to civilisation, Scrooge is seen emerging from the village and mentions that he has agreed to build a pumping station for the village so that they will never be troubled by drought again. Glomgold scorns Scrooge's generosity, until Scrooge reveals that in return, the villagers have agreed to sell him the lake for one peso — which makes Scrooge the rightful owner of both the temple and all of the treasure inside it. Even though he cannot retrieve it, Scrooge is now the clear legal owner of all of the treasure — and thus the winner of the contest. | What are both Scrooge and Glomgold in search of finding? | [
"The greater Incan treasure",
"Incan gold"
] |
This symbolic play is centred on a lady called Ellida. She is the daughter of a lighthouse-keeper, and grew up where the fjord met the open sea; she loves the sea. She is married to Doctor Wangel, a doctor in a small town in West Norway (in the mountains). He has two daughters (Bolette and Hilde) by his previous wife (widowed), and he and Ellida had a son who died as a baby. This put big strains on the marriage. Wangel, fearing for Ellidaâs mental health, has invited up Arnholm, Boletteâs former tutor and now the headmaster of a school, in hope that he can help Ellida. However, Arnholm thinks that it is Bolette waiting for him and he proposes. She agrees to marry her former teacher, because she sees this as her only opportunity to get out into the world.
Some years earlier Ellida was deeply in love and engaged to a sailor, but because he murdered his captain he had to escape. Nevertheless, he asked her to wait for him to come and fetch her. She tried to break the engagement but he had too great a hold over her. The sailor then returns all these years later to claim her. However she then has to choose between her love or her husband. Dr Wangel finally recognizes her freedom to choose since he understands that he has no other options. This goes in his favour as she then chooses him. The play ends with the sailor leaving and Ellida and Wangel taking up their lives together again. | How many daughters does Doctor Wangel have? | [
"Two.",
"Two"
] |
The film takes place in 1936, at the height of the Great Depression. Johnny Hooker, a grifter in Joliet, Illinois, cons $11,000 in cash ($187,600 today) in a pigeon drop from an unsuspecting victim with the aid of his partners Luther Coleman and Joe Erie. Buoyed by the windfall, Luther announces his retirement and advises Hooker to seek out an old friend, Henry Gondorff, in Chicago to teach him "the big con". Unfortunately, their victim was a numbers racket courier for vicious crime boss Doyle Lonnegan. Corrupt Joliet police Lieutenant William Snyder confronts Hooker, revealing Lonnegan's involvement and demanding part of Hooker’s cut. Having already spent his share, Hooker pays Snyder in counterfeit bills. Lonnegan's men murder both the courier and Luther, and Hooker flees for his life to Chicago.
Hooker finds Henry Gondorff, a once-great con-man now hiding from the FBI, and asks for his help in taking on the dangerous Lonnegan. Gondorff is initially reluctant, but he relents and recruits a core team of experienced con men to con Lonnegan. They decide to resurrect an elaborate and supposedly obsolete scam known as "the wire", using a larger crew of con artists to create a phony off-track betting parlor. Aboard the opulent 20th Century Limited, Gondorff, posing as boorish Chicago bookie Shaw, buys into Lonnegan's private, high-stakes poker game. Shaw infuriates Lonnegan with his obnoxious behavior, then out-cheats him to win $15,000. Hooker, posing as Shaw's disgruntled employee, Kelly, is sent to collect the winnings and instead convinces Lonnegan that he wants to take over Shaw's operation. Kelly reveals that he has a partner named Les Harmon (actually con man Kid Twist) in the Chicago Western Union office, who will allow them to win bets on horse races by past-posting.
Meanwhile, Snyder has tracked Hooker to Chicago, but his pursuit is thwarted when he is summoned by undercover FBI agents led by Agent Polk, who orders him to assist in their plan to arrest Gondorff using Hooker. At the same time, Lonnegan has grown frustrated with the inability of his men to find and kill Hooker. Unaware that Kelly is Hooker, he demands that Salino, his best assassin, be given the job. A mysterious figure with black leather gloves is then seen following and observing Hooker.
Kelly's connection appears effective, as Harmon provides Lonnegan with the winner of one horse race and the trifecta of another race. Lonnegan agrees to finance a $500,000 ($8,526,000 today) bet at Shaw's parlor to break Shaw and gain revenge. Shortly thereafter, Snyder captures Hooker and brings him before FBI Agent Polk. Polk forces Hooker to betray Gondorff by threatening to incarcerate Luther Coleman's widow.
The night before the sting, Hooker sleeps with Loretta, a waitress from a local restaurant. As Hooker leaves the building the next morning, he sees Loretta walking toward him. The black-gloved man appears behind Hooker and shoots her dead – she was Lonnegan's hired killer, Loretta Salino, and the gunman was hired by Gondorff to protect Hooker.
Armed with Harmon’s tip to "place it on Lucky Dan", Lonnegan makes the $500,000 bet at Shaw’s parlor on Lucky Dan to win. As the race begins, Harmon arrives and expresses shock at Lonnegan's bet, explaining that when he said "place it" he meant, literally, that Lucky Dan would "place" (i.e., finish second). In a panic, Lonnegan rushes the teller window and demands his money back. As this happens, Agent Polk, Lt. Snyder, and a half dozen FBI officers storm the parlor. Polk confronts Gondorff, then tells Hooker he is free to go. Gondorff, reacting to the betrayal, shoots Hooker in the back. Polk then shoots Gondorff and orders Snyder to get the ostensibly respectable Lonnegan away from the crime scene. With Lonnegan and Snyder safely away, Hooker and Gondorff rise amid cheers and laughter. Agent Polk is actually Hickey, a con man, running a con atop Gondorff's con to divert Snyder and provide a solid "blow off". As the con men strip the room of its contents, Hooker refuses his share of the money, saying "I'd only blow it", and walks away with Gondorff. | How big is the bet Lonnegan places at Shaw's betting parlor? | [
"Five hundred thousand dollars.",
"The bet is $500,00."
] |
The hero of Framley Parsonage, Mark Robarts, is a young vicar, settled in the village of Framley in Barsetshire with his wife and children. The living has come into his hands through Lady Lufton, the mother of his childhood friend Ludovic, Lord Lufton. Mark has ambitions to further his career and begins to seek connections in the county's high society. He is soon preyed upon by local Whig Member of Parliament Mr Sowerby to guarantee a substantial loan, which Mark in a moment of weakness agrees to do, even though he does not have the means and knows Sowerby to be a notorious debtor. The consequences of this blunder play a major role in the plot, with Mark eventually being publicly humiliated when bailiffs arrive and begin to take an inventory of the Robarts' furniture. At the last moment, Lord Lufton forces a loan on the reluctant Mark.
Another plot line deals with the romance between Mark's sister Lucy and Lord Lufton. The couple are deeply in love and the young man proposes, but Lady Lufton is against the marriage. She would prefer that her son instead choose the coldly beautiful Griselda Grantly, daughter of Archdeacon Grantly, and fears that Lucy is too "insignificant" for such a high position. Lucy herself recognises the great gulf between their social positions and declines the proposal. When Lord Lufton persists, she agrees only on condition that Lady Lufton ask her to accept her son. Lucy's conduct and charity (especially towards the family of poor priest Josiah Crawley) weaken her ladyship's resolve. In addition, Griselda becomes engaged to Lord Dumbello. But it is the determination of Lord Lufton that in the end vanquishes his doting mother.
The book ends with Lucy and Ludovic's marriage as well as three other marriages. Two of these involve the daughters of Bishop Proudie and Archdeacon Grantly. The rivalry between Mrs Proudie and Mrs Grantly over their matrimonial ambitions forms a significant comic subplot, with the latter triumphant. The other marriage is that of the outspoken heiress, Martha Dunstable, to Doctor Thorne, the eponymous hero of the preceding novel in the series. | How is Mark publically humiliated? | [
"Bailiffs arrive at his home and take inventory of his furninishing. ",
"Bailiffs arrive and begin to take inventory of the Robarts' furniture"
] |
Working with his three friends at their new software development company Skullbocks, Stanford graduate Milo Hoffman is contacted by CEO Gary Winston of NURV (Never Underestimate Radical Vision) for a very attractive programming position: a fat paycheck, an almost-unrestrained working environment, and extensive creative control over his work. Accepting Winston's offer, Hoffman and his girlfriend, Alice Poulson, move to NURV headquarters in Portland, Oregon.
Despite development of the flagship product (Synapse, a worldwide media distribution network) being well on schedule, Hoffman soon becomes suspicious of the excellent source code Winston personally provides to him, seemingly when needed most, while refusing to divulge the code's origin.
After his best friend, Teddy Chin, is murdered, Hoffman discovers that NURV is stealing the code they need from programmers around the world—including Chin—and then killing them to cover their tracks. Hoffman learns that not only does NURV employ an extensive surveillance system to observe and steal code, the company has infiltrated the Justice Department and most of the mainstream media. Even his girlfriend is a plant, an ex-con hired by the company to manipulate him.
While searching through a secret NURV database containing surveillance dossiers on employees, he finds that the company has information of a very personal nature about a friend and co-worker, Lisa Calighan. When he reveals to her that the company has this information, she agrees to help him expose NURV's crimes to the world. Coordinating with Brian Bissel, one of Hoffman's friends from his old startup, they plan to use a local public-access television station to hijack Synapse and broadcast their charges against NURV to the world. However, Calighan turns out to be a double agent, foils Hoffman's plan, and turns him over to Winston.
Hoffman had already confronted Poulson and convinced her to side with him against Winston and NURV. When it became clear that Hoffman had not succeeded, a backup plan is put into motion by Poulson, the fourth member of Skullbocks, and the incorruptible internal security firm hired by NURV. As Winston prepares to kill Hoffman, the second team successfully usurps one of NURV's own work centers—"Building 21"—and transmits the incriminating evidence as well as the Synapse code. Calighan, Winston and his entourage are publicly arrested for their crimes. After parting ways with the redeemed Poulson, Hoffman rejoins Skullbocks. | Who moves to Portland with Hoffman? | [
"Alice Poulson, his girlfriend",
"His girlfriend Alice"
] |
The play is set in a duchy in France, but most of the action takes place in a location called the Forest of Arden. This may be intended as the Ardennes, a forested region covering an area located in southeast Belgium, western Luxembourg and northeastern France, or Arden, Warwickshire, near Shakespeare's home town, which was the ancestral origin of his mother's familyâwho incidentally were called Arden.
Frederick has usurped the Duchy and exiled his older brother, Duke Senior. Duke Senior's daughter, Rosalind, has been permitted to remain at court because she is the closest friend and cousin of Frederick's only child, Celia. Orlando, a young gentleman of the kingdom who at first sight has fallen in love with Rosalind, is forced to flee his home after being persecuted by his older brother, Oliver. Frederick becomes angry and banishes Rosalind from court. Celia and Rosalind decide to flee together accompanied by the court clown, Touchstone, with Rosalind disguised as a young man and Celia disguised as a poor lady.
Rosalind, now disguised as Ganymede ("Jove's own page"), and Celia, now disguised as Aliena (Latin for "stranger"), arrive in the Arcadian Forest of Arden, where the exiled Duke now lives with some supporters, including "the melancholy Jaques," a malcontent figure, who is introduced to us weeping over the slaughter of a deer. "Ganymede" and "Aliena" do not immediately encounter the Duke and his companions, as they meet up with Corin, an impoverished tenant, and offer to buy his master's crude cottage.
Orlando and his servant Adam, meanwhile, find the Duke and his men and are soon living with them and posting simplistic love poems for Rosalind on the trees. (The role of Adam may have been played by Shakespeare, though this story is said to be apocryphal.) Rosalind, also in love with Orlando, meets him as Ganymede and pretends to counsel him to cure him of being in love. Ganymede says that "he" will take Rosalind's place and that "he" and Orlando can act out their relationship.
The shepherdess, Phoebe, with whom Silvius is in love, has fallen in love with Ganymede (Rosalind in disguise), though "Ganymede" continually shows that "he" is not interested in Phoebe. Touchstone, meanwhile, has fallen in love with the dull-witted shepherdess, Audrey, and tries to woo her, but eventually is forced to be married first. William, another shepherd, attempts to marry Audrey as well, but is stopped by Touchstone, who threatens to kill him "a hundred and fifty ways".
Finally, Silvius, Phoebe, Ganymede, and Orlando are brought together in an argument with each other over who will get whom. Ganymede says he will solve the problem, having Orlando promise to marry Rosalind, and Phoebe promise to marry Silvius if she cannot marry Ganymede.
Orlando sees Oliver in the forest and rescues him from a lioness, causing Oliver to repent for mistreating Orlando. Oliver meets Aliena (Celia's false identity) and falls in love with her, and they agree to marry. Orlando and Rosalind, Oliver and Celia, Silvius and Phoebe, and Touchstone and Audrey all are married in the final scene, after which they discover that Frederick also has repented his faults, deciding to restore his legitimate brother to the dukedom and adopt a religious life. Jaques, ever melancholic, declines their invitation to return to the court preferring to stay in the forest and to adopt a religious life as well. Rosalind speaks an epilogue to the audience, commending the play to both men and women in the audience. | Who does Oliver marry in the end? | [
"Celia",
"Celia"
] |
After a failed marriage proposal to his girlfriend Robin Harris, Steven M. Kovacs moves into his own apartment. Taking advice from his friend Rick, Steven bribes cable guy, Ernie "Chip" Douglas, to give him free movie channels, which he does. Chip gets Steven to hang out with him the next day and makes him one of his "preferred customers."
Chip takes Steven to the satellite dish responsible for sending out television signals. Steven tells his problems with Robin to Chip, who advises him to admit his faults to Robin and invite her over to watch Sleepless in Seattle. Steven takes Chip's advice, and Robin agrees to watch the movie with him. Chip begins acting more suspiciously, running into Steven and his friends at the gym and leaving several messages on Steven's answering machine. When Robin arrives to watch the movie, the cable is out, due to Chip, who intentionally sabotaged Steven's cable. Chip fixes the cable under the condition that they hang out again, to which Steven agrees.
Chip takes Steven to Medieval Times, where Chip arranges for them to battle in the arena, referencing the Star Trek episode "Amok Time." Chip behaves aggressively, nearly killing Steven, who eventually bests him in combat. When they arrive at Steven's home, Chip reveals that he's installed an expensive home theater system in his living room. Chip and Steven later host a party and with Chip's help, Steven sleeps with Heather, who later Chip reveals is a prostitute and Steven throws Chip out.
Chip tracks down Robin, who is on a date with another man. When the man goes to the bathroom, Chip severely beats him and tells him to stay away from Robin. He later upgrades Robin's cable, saying that it is on Steven and Robin decides to get back together as a result. Steven tells Chip that they cannot be friends, which hurts Chip, which sets Chip on a series of vengeful acts. He gets Steven arrested for possession of stolen property, although Steven is released on bail.
During a dinner with his family and Robin, Steven is horrified to see Chip in attendance. Steven tells him to leave, but Chip tells him to play along or he will show everyone a picture of Steven with the prostitute. The evening goes from bad to worse, with Steven punching Chip after the latter implies he slept with Robin. Steven is fired from his job when Chip sends out a video of Steven insulting his boss that was recorded on a hidden camera in his apartment.
After doing some investigating, Rick tells Steven that Chip has been fired from the cable company for stalking customers, and uses the names of television characters as aliases. Chip calls Steven that night, telling him he is paying Robin a visit. Steven tracks them down to the satellite dish, where Chip holds Robin hostage. After a physical altercation and a chase, Steven is able to save Robin. As the police arrive, Chip goes into a speech on how he was raised by television and apologizes to Steven for being a bad friend. Chip dives into the satellite dish, knocking out the television signal to the entire town, just as the verdict in a highly publicized case involving a case like the "Lyle and Erik Menendez" killing is about to be revealed.
Chip survives the fall, but injures his back. As Steven and Robin reunite, Steven forgives Chip and asks for his real name. Chip jokingly replies "Ricky Ricardo." Chip is later taken to the hospital in a helicopter. When one of the paramedics addresses him as "buddy", Chip asks the paramedic if he is truly his buddy, to which the paramedic replies "Yeah, sure you are", causing Chip to smile deviously. | What reasoning does Chip give for his actions as police are arriving at the satellite? | [
"Being raised by television.",
"He was raised by television"
] |
Ethan Hunt is alerted by the IMF that someone has used his identity to assist bio-chemical expert Dr. Vladimir Nekhorvich to enter the United States, only to kill him in a subsequent plane crash. Nekhorvich, an old friend of Ethan, had forewarned the IMF of his arrival, planning to deliver to them a new bioweapon, Chimera, and its cure, Bellerophon. He was forced to develop these by Biocyte Pharmaceuticals. IMF determines that rogue IMF agent Sean Ambrose is responsible. IMF assigns Ethan to recover the virus and its cure. It also insists that he recruits Nyah Nordoff-Hall, a professional thief presently operating in Seville, Spain. Later, Ethan finds out that she is Ambrose's ex-girlfriend.
After recruiting Nyah, Ethan assembles his team, computer expert Luther Stickell and pilot Billy Baird, in Sydney, Australia, where Biocyte laboratories are located and Ambrose is staying. As Ethan stakes out Biocyte, Nyah gets close to Ambrose and begins to learn about the Chimera virus. At a horse racing event, Ambrose meets with Biocyte's CEO, John C. McCloy. He shows McCloy a video of Chimera affecting one of Nekhorvich's colleagues. He then blackmails McCloy into cooperating with him. Nyah steals video footage and transfers it to Ethan. Ethan's team learn that Chimera has a 20-hour dormant period before it causes death by mass destruction of the victim's red blood cells. Bellerophon can only save the victim if used within that 20-hour window.
The IMF team kidnaps McCloy to force him to give up Bellerophon. However, they learn that the only samples of Bellerophon were taken by Nekhorvich, and are now in Ambrose's hands. Ambrose has the cure, but does not have the virus (which Nekhorvich injected himself with). As a result, Ambrose forced McCloy to exchange a sample of the virus for a sample of Bellerophon. The team break into Biocyte to destroy the virus. Ambrose, posing as Ethan, tricks Nyah into revealing his plan. Ambrose captures Nyah and raids Biocyte to secure the virus. Ethan is able to destroy all but one sample of the virus before Ambrose intervenes, and a firefight ensues. Ambrose orders Nyah to retrieve the last sample of Chimera. She injects herself with it, preventing Ambrose from simply killing her to get it. Ambrose takes Nyah away, and Ethan escapes from the laboratory.
Ambrose lets Nyah wander the streets of Sydney in a daze, intending to start a pandemic. He offers to sell Bellerophon to McCloy in exchange for stock options, to make him the majority shareholder. He predicts that the price of Biocyte's stock will skyrocket due to demand for Bellerophon after the Chimera outbreak. Ethan infiltrates the meeting and steals the remaining samples of Bellerophon. While Ethan is pursued by Ambrose, Luther and Billy locate Nyah, who has wandered to a cliff side, intent on killing herself to prevent Chimera from spreading. Ethan eventually gains the upper hand over Ambrose and kills him. With little time left on the 20-hour countdown, Luther reaches Ethan, takes Bellerophon and injects Nyah with it. IMF clears Nyah's criminal record and Ethan starts his vacation with her in Sydney. | What was Dr. Vladimir Nechorvich bringing with him to give to the IMF? | [
"He was going to deliver a new biochemical weapon Chimera and a cure for it, Bellerophon.",
"A new bioweapon and its cure."
] |
The novel's plot has been called a plot of female socialization, in which the hero is taught by the heroine how to live peacefully in society. Mauprat resembles the fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast". As this would suggest, the novel is a romance. However, Sand resists the immediate happy ending of marriage between the two main characters in favor of a more gradual story of education, including a reappraisal of the passive female role in courtship and marriage. Sand also calls into question Rousseau's ideal version of the female education as described in his novel Emile, namely, training women for domesticity and the home.
The novel, set before the French Revolution, depicts the coming of age of a nobleman named Bernard Mauprat. The story is narrated by the old Bernard in his country home many years later, as told to a nameless young male visitor. Bernard recounts how, raised by a violent gang of his feudal kinsmen after the death of his mother, he becomes a brutalized "enfant sauvage". When his cousin EdmĂŠe is held captive by Bernard's "family", he helps her escape, but elicits a promise of marriage from her by threatening rape. Thus begins the long courtship of Bernard and EdmĂŠe. The novel ends with a dramatic trial scene, similar to that in Stendhal's The Red and the Black.
During the period Sand wrote the novel, she was gradually becoming more interested in the problem of political equality in society. She had read widely about the views of socialist thinkers such as Pierre Leroux, with whom she went on to form a journal, the Revue IndĂŠpendante. In keeping with Sand's interest in equality, Mauprat depicts a new type of literary figure, the peasant visionary Patience. In addition, part of the novel takes place during the American Revolutionary War. | Does Edmee willing want to marry Bernard? | [
"Edmee does not want to marry Bernard, but she is forced to because he helped her escape.",
"No"
] |
On June 17, 1972, a security guard (Frank Wills, playing himself) at the Watergate complex finds a door kept unlocked with tape. He calls the police, who find and arrest five burglars in the Democratic National Committee headquarters within the complex. The next morning, The Washington Post assigns new reporter Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) to the local courthouse to cover the story, which is thought to be of minor importance.
Woodward learns that the five men, four Cuban-Americans from Miami and James W. McCord, Jr., had bugging equipment and have their own "country club" attorney. At the arraignment, McCord identifies himself in court as having recently left the Central Intelligence Agency and the others also have CIA ties. Woodward connects the burglars to E. Howard Hunt, a former employee of the CIA, and President Richard Nixon's Special Counsel Charles Colson.
Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman), another Post reporter, is assigned to cover the Watergate story with Woodward. The two are reluctant partners, but work well together. Executive editor Benjamin Bradlee (Jason Robards) believes their work is incomplete, however, and not worthy of the Post's front page. He encourages them to continue to gather information.
Woodward contacts "Deep Throat" (Hal Holbrook), a senior government official, an anonymous source he has used in the past. Communicating through copies of The New York Times and a balcony flowerpot, they meet in a parking garage in the middle of the night. Deep Throat speaks in riddles and metaphors about the Watergate break-in, but advises Woodward to "follow the money."
Over the next few weeks, Woodward and Bernstein connect the five burglars to thousands of dollars in diverted campaign contributions to Nixon's Committee to Re-elect the President (CRP, or CREEP). Bradlee and others at the Post dislike the two young reporters' reliance on unnamed sources like Deep Throat, and wonder why the Nixon administration would break the law when the President is likely to defeat Democratic nominee George McGovern.
Through former CREEP treasurer Hugh W. Sloan, Jr. (Stephen Collins), Woodward and Bernstein connect a slush fund of hundreds of thousands of dollars to White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldemanâ"the second most important man in this country"âand former Nixon Attorney General John N. Mitchell, now head of CREEP. They learn that CREEP used the fund to begin a "ratfucking" campaign to sabotage Democratic presidential candidates a year before the Watergate burglary, when Nixon was behind Edmund Muskie in the polls.
Bradlee's demand for thoroughness forces the reporters to obtain other sources to confirm the Haldeman connection. When the White House issues a non-denial denial of the Post's above-the-fold story, the editor thus continues to support them.
At the subtle climax, Woodward again meets secretly with Deep Throat, who finally reveals that the Watergate break-in and cover-up was indeed masterminded by Haldeman. Deep Throat also claims that the cover-up was not to hide the other burglaries or of their involvement with CREEP, but to hide the "covert operations" involving "the entire U.S. intelligence community", and warns that Woodward, Bernstein, and others' lives are in danger. When Woodward and Bernstein relay this to Bradlee, he urges the reporters to continue despite the risk and Nixon's re-election.
In the final scene, set on January 20, 1973, Bernstein and Woodward type out the full story, with the TV in their office showing Nixon taking the Oath of Office, for his second term as President of the United States, in the foreground. A montage of Watergate-related teletype headlines from the following years is shown, ending with Nixon's resignation and the inauguration of Vice President Gerald Ford on August 9, 1974. | What does the security gaurd find at Watergate complex? | [
"A door kept unlocked with tape. ",
"A door kept unlocked with tape"
] |
In Salt Lake City, Alex Corvis (Eric Mabius) is a death row convict framed for the murder of his girlfriend Lauren Randall (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe). Three years later, he is sentenced to death in the electric chair. When he is asked for his last words, he says he still loves Lauren and that he is innocent. However, the guards do their job, and the switch is pulled. The generator is struck by lightning during the electrocution, overriding the electricity, and Alex suffers a painful, excruciating death. Soon after the execution, Alex is resurrected by a mystical crow and gifted with supernatural abilities, so he can clear his name and avenge Lauren's death. Alex follows the crow to the Salt Lake City police department's evidence room, where he discovers that Lauren was killed by a group of corrupt cops. Alex has a vision of one of the killers, who has a scar on his arm matching one he saw just before his execution. Alex finds the knife that was used on Lauren, and then goes to her grave. There, he meets with Lauren's sister Erin (Kirsten Dunst), who believes he is guilty. He tells her that he will prove his innocence, and disappears.
Alex finds Tommy Leonard (David Stevens), a witness at the trial who was paid to give perjured testimony about Alex. Leonard tells Alex that the cops who murdered Lauren were Madden (Bruce McCarthy), Martin Toomey (Tim DeKay), Vincent Erlich (Dale Midkiff), Stan Roberts (Walton Goggins), and Phillip Dutton (Bill Mondy).
Alex kills Erlich in a car crash, but inadvertently drops the list of names of the cops he's after, and Roberts and Toomey find it. Later, Alex gives Erin a piece of paper found in Erlich's car, proving to Erin that he is innocent. She then finds out that her father, Nathan Randall (William Atherton), is in business with the corrupt cops who killed Lauren, and was thus indirectly responsible for her death. Nathan swears he did not intend for Lauren to die, but Erin nevertheless runs from him in horror.
Alex goes to the place where Lauren died and talks to her. Erin goes home, and finds that her father has committed suicide. Later, Alex meets with his lawyer, Peter Walsh, who tells him that Nathan owns a company called Westwind Building, which owns D.E.R.T., a company that serves as front for a drug smuggling operation. Lauren had witnessed John, the police captain (Fred Ward), killing a man at the Key Club; John then had Lauren killed.
Madden kills Walsh, and John kidnaps Erin. Alex starts a shootout at the Key Club in which he impales Roberts with a pipe he breaks off the ceiling, and kills the remaining police. Madden shows up, and tries to kill Alex. Madden accidentally shoots a pipe, which ignites a gas leak; the explosion kills Toomey. Alex walks out of the fire and sees an arm hanging out of the rubble with the scar on it.
The next day, Alex finds out that the man with the scarred arm faked his death, and is still at large. Alex goes to the police station to kill John. However, he is no longer invulnerable, as he "fulfilled his duty" after finding the arm with the scar. John stabs Alex several times. Before Alex dies, he starts to believe he is the one who murdered Lauren. Madden, John, and John's secretary (Kelly Harren) pull Alex into John's taxidermy room, where Erin is tied up with her mouth stitched shut. The crow picks up her locket and drops it next to Alex, who comes back to life. Alex sets Erin free and kills Madden, and she runs out with John in pursuit.
Alex and Erin take John to the same electric chair that Alex died in, and strap him onto it. Alex tells John how much voltage will pass through him when the chair is activated, and John vows to return from his grave and kill both him and Erin. Alex covers John's face with the mask while Erin throws the switch, and they watch him scream in agony as he is electrocuted. After a few minutes, John bursts into flames and dies while Erin and Alex leave his body to cremate on the chair, and exit the facility. Alex disappears in a whirlwind, and Erin puts the necklace that bound him to her on his headstone. | What animal resurrects Alex Corvis? | [
"Crow",
"a crow"
] |
God and Lucifer are engaged in a war for the souls of humanity; a standing wager for the souls of all mankind. Angels and demons are forbidden to manifest on Earth, but they are allowed to possess and influence humans, and half-breeds are used to peddle influence. Exorcist John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) was born with the power to see angels and demons. At age 15, he committed suicide to escape his visions, but he was revived after spending two minutes in Hell, though John explains that since time moves differently in Hell 2 minutes feels like a full lifetime. Consequently, his soul is bound for Hell when he dies for the sin of taking his own life.
John exorcises a girl possessed by a soldier demon trying to break through to Earth, something that should not be possible, as demons cannot take their true physical form on the mortal plane. John seeks an audience with the androgynous half-breed angel Gabriel (Tilda Swinton). He asks Gabriel for a reprieve from his impending death from lung cancer; but Gabriel declines, telling John that his motives for exorcising demons are selfish and will not earn him entry into Heaven. After he leaves Gabriel, John repels an attack by a full demon out in the open. This encounter prompts him to meet with former witch doctor Papa Midnite (Djimon Hounsou) who informs him that all of Hell is waiting for him to die and that he is the one soul Lucifer would come to collect himself. There, John also encounters half-breed demon Balthazar (Gavin Rossdale). Midnite refuses to become involved, wanting to retain the balance between Heaven and Hell. John begins investigating the situation with his associates Beeman (Max Baker), Hennessy (Pruitt Taylor Vince), and Chas Kramer (Shia LaBeouf). Detective Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz) shows up at Constantine's apartment to ask for his help investigating Isabel (Rachel Weisz), her identical twin's, death. Isabel leapt from the top of a psychiatric hospital, where she was a patient; and, despite camera footage showing it, Angela is convinced that Isabel would never commit suicide. At first, John mocks her and denies her request for help; but, after demons chase after Angela on the street outside, Constantine agrees to help.
Later on, John wants to see if Isabel is truly in Hell, he then takes a hold of Angela's cat as a means of teleportation and briefly transports himself into the depths of hell where he finds Isabel, whose soul is damned to eternally reliving the moment of her death. Hennessy's and Beeman's research leads them to conclude that Lucifer's son, Mammon, is plotting to break through to Earth and claim it as his own kingdom. To do so, Mammon requires a powerful psychic and assistance from God. Balthazar kills Hennessy and Beeman, and Angela reveals that she and her sister possessed the same gift as John. Angela rejected her visions and they eventually stopped, but Isabel embraced them and was institutionalized for it. John reawakens Angela's psychic ability through a near death experience, then hunts down and interrogates Balthazar who reveals that Mammon has obtained the Spear of Destiny, which is stained with the blood of Jesus Christ. Afterwards, John proceeds to kill Balthazar and he and Angela then leave. Angela, now possessing the psychic abilities Mammon requires, is abducted by an unseen force and brought to the hospital where Isabel supposedly jumped to her death. John convinces Midnite that the balance is no longer in force, and asks to use "The Chair"; an old electric chair from Sing Sing. The Chair shows John a vision of how the spear was discovered in Mexico and has been brought to Los Angeles. John and Chas head to the hospital and interrupt the ritual, but Chas is beaten to death by an unseen force in the process.
Using incantations and sigils tattooed on his arms, John forces the unseen force, revealed to be an invisible Gabriel, to reveal itself. Gabriel subdues John, admits responsibility for the plan to release Mammon, and reveals the details. Gabriel laments Godâs favoritism towards humans and believes that bringing Hell to Earth will enable those who survive to become truly worthy of Godâs love through suffering, repentance and faith. Gabriel then casts John from the room. As Gabriel moves to stab Angela with the Spear and release Mammon, John slits his wrists and dies. Time stops as Lucifer arrives to personally collect his soul and John tells him about Mammonâs plan to usurp him. Gabriel attempts to smite Lucifer but cannot as God has taken away Gabriel's power, allowing Lucifer to burn Gabriel's wings. Lucifer sends Mammon back to Hell. In return for his help, Lucifer grants John a favor; instead of a longer life, he asks Lucifer to allow Isabel to go to Heaven. Lucifer agrees, but then finds that he is unable to drag John to Hell; John's noble sacrifice having granted him entry to Heaven. Infuriated at losing John Constantine's soul, Lucifer painfully resurrects him and removes his cancer, claiming that John will eventually prove he belongs in Hell. Freed from Mammon's possession, Angela departs with John, leaving behind the now human Gabriel. Some time later, John gifts the Spear to Angela, asking her to hide it somewhere not even he can find it. As she leaves, instead of producing a cigarette, he starts to chew on some nicotine gum.
In a post-credits scene, John visits Chas' grave. Chas appears before him as an angel and flies upward to the sky. | What is Papa Midnite's occupation? | [
"A witch doctor",
"Witch doctor"
] |
In October 1997, 32 years into the future from the perspective of viewers in 1965, the United States is about to launch one of history's great adventures: humanity's colonization of deep space. The Jupiter 2, called Gemini 12 in the original pilot episode, a futuristic saucer-shaped spaceship, stands on its launch pad undergoing final preparations. Its mission is to take a single family on a five-and-a-half-year journey â updated from 98 years in the pilot episode â to a planet orbiting the nearby star Alpha Centauri. The pilot episode had referred to the planet itself as Alpha Centauri, which space probes reveal possesses ideal conditions for human life. The Robinson family, allegedly selected from among two million volunteers for this mission, consisted of Professor John Robinson, played by Guy Williams, his wife, Maureen, played by June Lockhart, their children, Judy (Marta Kristen), Penny (Angela Cartwright), and Will (Billy Mumy). They are accompanied by their pilot, U.S. Space Corps Major Donald West (Mark Goddard), who is trained to fly the ship when the time comes for the eventual landing. Initially the Robinsons and West will be in freezing tubes for the voyage with the tubes set to open when the spacecraft approached its destination. Unless there was a problem with the ship's navigation or guidance system during the voyage, West was only to take the controls during the final approach to and landing on the destination planet while the Robinsons were to strap themselves into contour couches on the lower deck for the landing.
Other nations are racing to colonize space, and they would stop at nothing, not even sabotage, to thwart the United States effort. It turns out that Dr. Zachary Smith (Jonathan Harris), Alpha Control's doctor, and later supposedly a psychologist and environmental control expert, is moonlighting as a foreign secret agent for one of those competing nations. After literally disposing of a guard who catches him onboard after hours, Smith reprograms the Jupiter 2's B-9 environmental control robot, voiced by Dick Tufeld, to destroy critical systems on the spaceship eight hours after launch. Smith, however, unintentionally traps himself aboard at launch and his extra weight throws the Jupiter 2 off course, causing it to encounter a meteor storm. This, plus the robot's Smith-programmed rampage causing the ship to prematurely engage its hyperdrive, causes the expedition to become hopelessly lost in the infinite depths of outer space.
The Robinsons are often placed in danger by Smith, whose self-centered actions and laziness endanger the family on many occasions. After the first half of the first season Smith's role assumes a less evil overtone although he continues to display many character defects. In "The Time Merchant" Smith shows he actually does care about the Robinsons after he travels back in time to the day of the Jupiter 2 launch with the hope of changing his fate by not boarding the ship and allowing the Robinsons start their mission as originally planned. However, once he learns that without his weight altering the ship's course the Jupiter 2 would be destroyed by an uncharted asteroid, he sacrifices his chance to stay on his beloved Earth by electing to re-board the ship, thus saving the lives of those he really does care about and continuing his position amongst them as a reluctant stowaway.
The fate of the Robinsons, Don West and Dr Smith is never resolved as the series unexpected cancellation leaves the Jupiter 2 and her crew literally on the junk-pile at the end of season three. | What did Penny's dad do for a living? | [
"Professor",
"Professor."
] |
Dorothy has risen from bed for the day and is seeing to her friends in the Emerald City and notices that Ozma has not awakened yet. Dorothy goes into Ozma's chambers only to find she is not there.
Glinda awakens in her palace in the Quadling Country and finds her Great Book of Records is missing. She goes to prepare a magic spell to find it- only to see her magic tools are gone as well. She dispatches a messenger to the Emerald City to relay news of the theft. Receiving the news, the Wizard hastily offers his magic tools to assist Glinda, however, these are missing as well. Glinda, Dorothy, and the Wizard organize search parties to find Ozma and the missing magic. Accompanying them are Button-Bright, Trot, and Betsy Bobbin. Dorothy and the Wizard's party begins to search the Winkie Country to the west of the Emerald City.
Meanwhile, in the southwestern corner of the Winkie Country on a plateau belonging to the Yips, and Cayke the cookie cook has had her diamond-studded gold dishpan stolen. The self-proclaimed adviser to the Yips, a human-sized dandy of a frog called the Frogman, hears Cayke's story and offers to help her find the dishpan. When they have gotten down the mountain, Cayke reveals to the Frogman that the dishpan has magic powers, for her cookies come out perfect every time.
Dorothy, the Wizard, and their party enter the previously unknown communities of Thi and Herku. The citizens of Thi are ruled by the High Coco-Lorum (really the King, but the people do not know it) and repeat the same story about the Herkus: they keep giants for their slaves. In the Great Orchard between Thi and Herku, the party enjoys a variety of fruits. Button-Bright eats from the one peach tree in the orchard. When he reaches the peach's center he discovers it to be made of gold. He pockets the gold peach pit to show Dorothy, Betsy, and Trot later â despite warnings from the local animals that the evil Ugu the Shoemaker has enchanted it.
In the city of Herku, Dorothy and the Wizard's party are greeted by the emaciated but jovial Czarover of Herku, who has invented a pure energy compound called zosozo that can make his people strong enough to keep giants as slaves. The Czarover offers them six doses to use in their travels and casually reveals that Ugu the Shoemaker came from Herku. Ugu found magic books in his attic one day because he was descended from the greatest enchanter ever known and learned over time to do a great many magical things. The Shoemaker has since moved from Herku and built a castle high in the mountains. This clue leads Dorothy and the Wizard to think that Ugu might be behind all the recent thefts of magic and the ruler of Oz. They proceed from Herku toward the castle and meet with the Frogman, Cayke the Cookie Cook, and the Lavender Bear the stuffed bear who rules Bear Center. Lavender Bear carries the Little Pink Bear a small wind-up toy that can answer any question about the past put to it.
When the combined party arrives at Ugu's castle, Button-Bright is separated from them and falls into a pit. Before they rescue him, the Wizard asks the Little Pink Bear where Ozma is and it says that she is in the pit, too. After Button-Bright is let out of the pit, the Little Pink Bear says that she is there among the party. Unsure what to make of this seeming contradiction, the party advances toward the castle. Sure enough, Ugu is the culprit and the castle's magical defenses are techniques from Glinda and the Wizard. Upon overcoming these, the party finds themselves standing before the thief himself.
Ugu uses magic to send the room spinning and retreats. Dorothy stops it by making a wish with the magic belt. She uses its power to turn Ugu into a dove, but he modifies the enchantment so he retains human size and aggressive nature. Fighting his way past Dorothy and her companions, Ugu the dove uses Cayke's diamond-studded dishpan to flee to the Quadling Country.
Once the magic tools are recovered, the conquering search party turns their attention to finding Ozma. The Little Pink Bear reveals that Ozma is being carried in Button-Bright's jacket pocket, where he placed the gold peach pit. The Wizard opens it with a knife, and Ozma is released from where Ugu had imprisoned her. She was kidnapped by Ugu when she came upon him stealing her and the Wizard's magic instruments.
The people of the Emerald City and Ozma's friends all celebrate her return. Days later, the transformed Ugu flies in to see Dorothy and ask her forgiveness for what he did. She offers it and offers to change him back with the Magic Belt, but Ugu has decided that he likes being a dove much better. | Why makes Cayke's dishpan so special? | [
"Its magic lets cookies come out perfect every time.",
"It makes her cookies perfect every time she cooks them."
] |
In suburban Chicago, high school senior Ferris Bueller fakes sickness to stay home. Ferris frequently breaks the fourth wall, giving the audience advice on how to skip school, and to narrate about his friends. His younger sister Jeannie is less-convinced, but goes to school anyway. Dean of Discipline Edward Rooney notes and suspects Ferris is being truant again and commits to catching him. However, Ferris uses a computer to alter the school's records to indicate his absences from 9 to 2. Ferris convinces his friend Cameron Frye, who is also absent, to report that his girlfriend Sloane Peterson's grandmother has died. Rooney doubts this, but they succeed as planned.
Borrowing Cameron's father's prized 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder against Cameron's instinct, Ferris, Cameron, and Sloane drive into Chicago to sightsee. Leaving the car with two parking attendants, who promptly joyride it unknowingly to them, the trio visit the Art Institute of Chicago, Sears Tower, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and Wrigley Field. They then go to a French restaurant for lunch where Ferris poses as the "Sausage King of Chicago", Abe Froman, while narrowly avoiding his father, who is eating lunch at the restaurant. Meanwhile, after humiliatingly failing to find Ferris, Rooney visits the Bueller residence and fails to enter, being attacked by the family rotweiller as his car is towed. Jeannie, skipping class, returns home and discovers her brother's ruse, but encounters Rooney snooping. She kicks him and calls the police, who arrest her for false reporting after Rooney leaves. While at the station, Jeannie meets a juvenile delinquent, who advises her not to worry so much about Ferris.
After a cab ride where Cameron exclaims disinterest, Ferris impromptu joins a parade float during the Von Steuben Day parade and lip-syncs Wayne Newton's cover of "Danke Schoen", as well as a rendition of The Beatles' "Twist and Shout" that gets the entire crowd dancing. Just as things shine bright, they retrieve the car and notice that, due to the attendants' joyride, over 100 miles have been added. The revelation shocks Cameron into a state of self-analysis, realizing his life is controlled by his father's figure. After coming sane again, they return the car to Cameron's garage and unsuccessfully try to run it backwards to remove the miles; Ferris suggests that they crack it open and turn it back manually. Cameron refuses and vents anger towards his father, kicking, severely denting, and leaning on the car, which falls off the jack and flies out the back, crashing into a ravine behind. Despite Ferris' insistence, Cameron decides to take a stand against his father after destroying the car. At the police station, Mrs. Bueller picks up Jeannie, whom she finds kissing the delinquent.
Ferris returns Sloane home, but realizes he only has a limited time to return home to avoid trouble. He rushes back to the house, but is spotted by Jeannie driving their mother home, and tries to run him down. Ferris avoids being noticed by Mrs. and Mr. Bueller, who is coming from another direction. They make it home at the same time, but Rooney catches Ferris trying to enter the back door and rhetorically asks if he would like to spend another year under supervision. However, Jeannie discovers his wallet on the kitchen floor as proof he broke in, and she has a change of heart, letting Ferris in and telling Rooney he was hospitalized â indicating awareness of the break-in. She slams the door, and their dog attacks Rooney again. Ferris leaps into his bed at the last second, assuring his parents don't suspect a thing. As they leave, Ferris reminds the audience, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." Ferris then smiles at the camera before fading to black.
As the credits roll, the defeated Rooney heads home and is picked up by a school bus, further humiliated by the students, one offering him a gummy bear. In a post-credits scene, Ferris emerges from his room and bids everyone that "It's over," and to go home. | How many miles had been added to the car when Ferris and Cameron picked up from the parking attendants? | [
"100 miles",
"One hundred."
] |
The film explores several flashbacks and present timelines to show how Dean and Cindy became involved. Dean is a young high school dropout, working for a moving company in Brooklyn. Cindy is a pre-med student living with her constantly fighting parents and also caring for her grandmother in Pennsylvania. Cindy and Dean meet at Cindy's grandmother's nursing home while Dean is delivering a new resident's furniture and they begin dating afterwards.
Cindy discovers she is pregnant, and tells Dean that the baby is most likely not his, as her ex-boyfriend Bobby didn't use protection. Dean asks Cindy whether or not she wants to keep the baby. At an abortion clinic, Cindy decides at the last moment to cancel the procedure, and on a bus ride home, Dean tells her he doesn't mind if the child is not his, and that he wants to begin a family with her. Before the wedding, Bobby finds out about Dean, and beats him up.
Five years later, the couple lives in rural Pennsylvania with their daughter Frankie. Dean works at painting houses while Cindy is a nurse at a clinic. One evening, Dean insists on taking Cindy out for a romantic getaway at a motel so they can have some time off from their preoccupied lives, much to Cindy's reluctance.
While buying wine in a liquor store, Cindy sees Bobby, who asks Cindy if she has ever cheated on her husband. She hesitates, but eventually says no. In the car, Cindy and Dean get into an argument when she mentions seeing Bobby again. At the motel, they continue fighting during sex. Cindy is called away early in the morning to work at the clinic, and she leaves a note for Dean. At the clinic, Cindy's boss, Dr. Feinberg, talks to her about a position he had offered her, and asks if she would move closer to work, suggesting that they would be able to spend time together on weekends. Visibly upset, Cindy says she previously thought he was offering her the position because she was good at her job.
Angered that Cindy left the motel without waking him, Dean shows up drunk at the clinic, leading to a violent altercation with Dr. Feinberg. Cindy says she wants a divorce after Dr. Feinberg fires her. After leaving the clinic, Dean tries to persuade Cindy to give the marriage another chance, asking if she wants their daughter to grow up in a broken home. Cindy says she does not want Frankie to grow up with parents who are so hateful to each other.
Dean reminds Cindy of their wedding vows, and the two apologize to each other. Dean is seen walking away from the house, with Frankie running after him. Dean tells Frankie to go back to her mom despite Frankie begging him to stay. Dean tricks Frankie by challenging her to a race in an attempt to send her back to Cindy, and he continues walking away while Cindy picks up an upset Frankie, who cries "I love him". | Who beats up Dean before the wedding? | [
"Bobby",
"Bobby"
] |
In a mansion in Xanadu, a vast palatial estate in Florida, the elderly Charles Foster Kane is on his deathbed. Holding a snow globe, he utters a word, "Rosebud", and dies; the globe slips from his hand and smashes on the floor. A newsreel obituary tells the life story of Kane, an enormously wealthy newspaper publisher. Kane's death becomes sensational news around the world, and the newsreel's producer tasks reporter Jerry Thompson with discovering the meaning of "Rosebud".
Thompson sets out to interview Kane's friends and associates. He approaches Kane's second wife, Susan Alexander Kane, now an alcoholic who runs her own nightclub, but she refuses to talk to him. Thompson goes to the private archive of the late banker Walter Parks Thatcher. Through Thatcher's written memoirs, Thompson learns that Kane's childhood began in poverty in Colorado.
In 1871, after a gold mine was discovered on her property, Kane's mother Mary Kane sends Charles away to live with Thatcher so that he would be properly educated. While Thatcher and Charles' parents discuss arrangements inside, the young Kane plays happily with a sled in the snow outside his parents' boarding-house and protests being sent to live with Thatcher.
Years later, after gaining full control over his trust fund at the age of 25, Kane enters the newspaper business and embarks on a career of yellow journalism. He takes control of the New York Inquirer and starts publishing scandalous articles that attack Thatcher's business interests. After the stock market crash in 1929, Kane is forced to sell controlling interest of his newspaper empire to Thatcher.
Back in the present, Thompson interviews Kane's personal business manager, Mr. Bernstein. Bernstein recalls how Kane hired the best journalists available to build the Inquirer's circulation. Kane rose to power by successfully manipulating public opinion regarding the SpanishâAmerican War and marrying Emily Norton, the niece of a President of the United States.
Thompson interviews Kane's estranged best friend, Jedediah Leland, in a retirement home. Leland recalls how Kane's marriage to Emily disintegrates more and more over the years, and he begins an affair with amateur singer Susan Alexander while he is running for Governor of New York. Both his wife and his political opponent discover the affair and the public scandal ends his political career. Kane marries Susan and forces her into a humiliating operatic career for which she has neither the talent nor the ambition.
Back in the present, Susan now consents to an interview with Thompson, and recalls her failed opera career. Kane finally allows her to abandon her singing career after she attempts suicide. After years spent dominated by Kane and living in isolation at Xanadu, Susan leaves Kane. Kane's butler Raymond recounts that, after Susan leaves him, Kane begins violently destroying the contents of her bedroom. He suddenly calms down when he sees a snow globe and says, "Rosebud."
Back at Xanadu, Kane's belongings are being cataloged or discarded. Thompson concludes that he is unable to solve the mystery and that the meaning of Kane's last word will forever remain an enigma. As the film ends, the camera reveals that "Rosebud" is the trade name of the sled on which the eight-year-old Kane was playing on the day that he was taken from his home in Colorado. Thought to be junk by Xanadu's staff, the sled is burned in a furnace. | What is the meaning of the word "rosebud" revealed to be? | [
"The trade name of Kane's childhood sled.",
"the trade name of a sled"
] |
On August 12, 2011, large masses thought to be meteors land in the oceans near several major coastal cities. The objects are discovered to be spacecraft containing hostile extraterrestrial life. Marines from Camp Pendleton arrive in Los Angeles, including SSgt. Michael Nantz (Eckhart), an Iraq War veteran. Nantz was to begin retirement, but because of the attack, he is made the acting platoon sergeant for 1st Platoon, Echo Company, of the 2nd Battalion 5th Marines.
Under the command of 2ndLt William Martinez (RodrĂguez), the platoon arrives at Santa Monica Airport, now a Forward Operating Base. The alien ground forces have no apparent air support, so the Air Force prepares to carpet bomb the Santa Monica area, and the platoon is tasked with rescuing civilians from an LAPD police station in West Los Angeles before the bombing. As they advance through the city, they are ambushed and suffer multiple casualties, namely Grayston, Guerrero and Lenihan in the firefight. Nantz takes Imlay and Harris to look for Lenihan, who is missing from the group after having been wounded. After fighting off a hostile alien, they manage to regroup and team up with a group of Army National Guard soldiers from the 40th Infantry Division, and an Air Force intelligence TSgt, Elena Santos (Michelle Rodriguez). At the police station, the platoon finds five civilians: veterinarian Michele (Moynahan), children Hector Rincon (Cass), Kirsten (King) Amy (Gould), and Hector's father Joe (PeĂąa). A helicopter arrives to evacuate the wounded Marines, but cannot rescue the civilians due to weight restrictions. As the helicopter takes off, it is destroyed by alien air forces, killing Grayston, Guerrero, Lenihan and Simmons.
The Marines commandeer a city bus for evacuation. They also vivisect a wounded alien with the help of Santos and find a vulnerable spot in its torso, as well as learning that the alien aircraft are drones that track down humans through radio transmissions. Santos reveals that her original mission was to locate the aliens' central command center, believing that its destruction would deactivate the drones. On the I-10 freeway, the bus comes under attack. Because the off-ramp is destroyed, the Marines are forced to rappel the civilians off the freeway. Marines Stavrou (Pesi) and Mottola (Liao) and the National Guard soldiers are killed, while Joe and Lieutenant Martinez are wounded. Martinez detonates explosives inside the bus, killing himself and the aliens, leaving Nantz in command. The surviving Marines Nantz, Santos, Imlay, Kerns, Lockett, Harris, Adukwu and the civilians escape the bombing zone. A news report speculates that the aliens are seeking Earth's water for fuel while attempting to colonize the planet and eradicate humans. The team prepares for the bombing, but nothing happens. Returning to the FOB, the Marines find that it is destroyed and the military is retreating from Los Angeles. The Marines plan to escort the civilians to an alternate extraction point. Joe dies from his wounds and Lockett confronts Nantz over his brother, Cpl Dwayne G. Lockett and the others who were killed in Nantz's last tour. They come to peace when Nantz explains that he thinks of them every day, and recites each person's name, rank and serial number. Nantz then says that the surviving Marines should move forward united to honor their fallen comrades, including Joe. They successfully reach the extraction point and evacuate through a helicopter.
In mid-air, the chopper experiences a brief loss of power. Nantz theorizes that they are hovering over a location occupied by the alien command center as it relays radio energy to its drones. He decides to recon the area alone, but his team insists on accompanying him. Searching underground, the Marines confirm the presence of a large alien vessel. Kerns radios in to request for missiles, which Nantz manually directs using a laser designator while the others defend his position. Despite Kerns being killed when a Drone spots his signals, the Marines succeed in routing a missile to the command module, which is destroyed. The alien ground forces retreat as their uncontrolled drones crash, just as reinforcements for the Marines arrive. At a Temporary Operating Base in the Mojave Desert, Nantz, Imlay, Lockett, Harris, and Adukwu, the six survivors of the original platoon along with Santos, are greeted as heroes. Despite orders to rest, they re- arm themselves and join the rest of the Marines in retaking Los Angeles as other countries wage similar military operations against the hostile species. | What do alien aircraft use to track down humans? | [
"radio transmission",
"radio transmissions"
] |
When Israel Potter leaves his plow to fight in the American Revolution, he's immediately thrown into the Battle of Bunker Hill, where he receives multiple wounds. However, this does not deter him, and after hearing a rousing speech by General George Washington, he volunteers for further duty, this time at sea, where more ill fortune awaits him. Israel is captured by the British Navy and taken to England. Yet, he makes his escape, and this triggers a series of extraordinary events and meetings with remarkable people. Along the way, Israel encounters King George III, who takes a liking to the Yankee rebel and shelters him in Kew Gardens; Benjamin Franklin, who presses Israel into service as a spy; John Paul Jones, who invites Israel to join his crew aboard The Ranger; and Ethan Allen, whom Israel attempts to free from a British prison. Throughout these adventures, Israel Potter acquits himself bravely, but his patriotic valor does not bring him any closer to his dream of returning to America. After the war, Israel finds himself in London, where he descends into poverty. Finally, fifty years after he left his plough, he makes his way back to his beloved Berkshires. However, few things remain the same. Soon, Israel fades out of being, his name out of memory, and he dies on the same day the oldest oak on his native lands is blown down. | Who convinces Israel Potter to become a spy? | [
"Benjamin Franklin",
"Benjamin Franklin"
] |
On February 10, 1676, the settlement of Lancaster, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, was attacked by Native Americans. The Native Americans burned down houses and opened fire on the British settlers, killing several of them and wounding more. They took many of the survivors captive, including Mary Rowlandson and her three children. Mary and her youngest child are among the injured, while others of her family, including her brother-in-law, are killed. The Native Americans lead the captured survivors from their settlement into the wilderness. Rowlandson and her youngest, Sarah are allowed to stay together, but her two oldest, Joseph and Mary, are separated.
After spending a night in a nearby town, the Native Americans with their captives head further into the wilderness. Being injured, the journey is difficult for Rowlandson and her daughter. They reach an Indian settlement called Wenimesset, where Rowlandson meets another captive named Robert Pepper who tries to help the new captives. After staying in Wenimesset for about a week, Rowlandson’s injured daughter, Sarah, dies. Rowlandson is sold to another Indian who is related to King Philip by marriage. They bury Rowlandson’s dead daughter, and she is allowed to visit her oldest daughter Mary who is also being held in Wenimesset, and her oldest son who is allowed to visit from a nearby Indian settlement. The Indians give Rowlandson a Bible in which she finds a great deal of hope.
After attacking another town the Native Americans decide to head north, and Rowlandson is again separated from her family and “friends” she has made. The Native Americans, along with Rowlandson, began to move quickly through the forest, as the British army was nearby. They come to the Baquaug River and cross it with the British soldiers close behind. However, the British are not able to cross, and Rowlandson and the Indians continue northwest. They reach the Connecticut River and plan on meeting King Philip, but English scouts are present so they must scatter and hide.
Rowlandson and the Indians soon cross the river and meet King Philip. At this settlement, Rowlandson sews for the Indians in return for food. Rowlandson wants to go to Albany in hopes of being sold for gunpowder, but the Indians take her northward and cross the river again. Rowlandson starts hoping she will be returned home, but now the Indians turn south continuing along the Connecticut River instead of heading east towards civilization. The Indians continue their attacks, and Thomas Read joins Rowlandson’s group. Read tells Rowlandson that her husband is alive and well, which gives her hope and comfort. Rowlandson and her group finally start to move east.
They cross the Baquaug River again where they meet messengers telling Rowlandson she must go to Wachuset where the Indians will discuss her possibility of returning to freedom. Rowlandson eagerly heads toward Wachuset, but the journey wears her down and she is disheartened by the sight of an injured colonist from a previous Indian attack. She reaches Wachuset and speaks to King Philip, who guarantees she will be free in two weeks. The council asks how much her husband would pay for her ransom and they send a letter to Boston saying she will be freed for twenty pounds.
After many more Indian attacks and victories, Rowlandson is allowed to travel back to Lancaster, then to Concord and finally to Boston. She is reunited with her husband after 11 long weeks. They stay with a friend in Concord for a while until Rowlandson’s sister, son, and daughter are returned. Now back together, the family builds a house in Boston where they live until 1677. | Which child was not returned home to Mary? | [
"Sarah",
"Sarah"
] |
The story begins with a song which serves as prologue; and then prose takes up the narrative, telling how Aucassin, son of Count Garin of Beaucaire, so loved Nicolette, a Saracen maiden, who had been sold to the Viscount of Beaucaire, baptized and adopted by him, that he had forsaken knighthood and chivalry and even refused to defend his father's territories from enemies. Accordingly, his father ordered the Viscount to send Nicolette away, but the Viscount locked her in a tower of his palace instead. Aucassin is imprisoned by his father to prevent him from going after his beloved Nicolette. But Nicolette escapes, hears Aucassin lamenting in his cell, and comforts him with sweet words. She flees to the forest outside the gates, and there, in order to test Aucassin's fidelity, builds a rustic home to await his arrival. When he is released from prison, Aucassin hears from shepherd lads of Nicolette's hiding-place, and seeks her bower. The lovers, united, resolve to leave the country. They board a ship and are driven to the (fictional) kingdom of "Torelore", whose king they find in child-bed, while the queen is with the army. After a three years' stay in Torelore they are captured by Saracen pirates and separated. Contrary winds blow Aucassin's boat back to Beaucaire, where he succeeds to Garin's estate, while Nicolette is carried to "Cartage" (perhaps a play on Carthage or Cartagena). The sight of the city reminds her that she is the daughter of its king, and a royal marriage is planned for her. But she avoids this by disguising herself in a minstrel's garb and sets sail for Beaucaire to rejoin her beloved Aucassin. There, before Aucassin who does not immediately recognize her, she sings of her own adventures, and in due time makes herself known to him. | Who tells Aucassin where to find Nicolette when he is released from prison? | [
"Shelpard lads",
"Shepherd lads tell Aucassin where to find Nicolette."
] |
The corrupt officials of a small Russian town, headed by the Mayor, react with terror to the news that an incognito inspector (the revizor) will soon be arriving in their town to investigate them. The flurry of activity to cover up their considerable misdeeds is interrupted by the report that a suspicious person has arrived two weeks previously from Saint Petersburg and is staying at the inn. That person, however, is not an inspector; it is Khlestakov, a foppish civil servant with a wild imagination.
Having learned that Khlestakov has been charging his considerable hotel bill to the Crown, the Mayor and his crooked cronies are immediately certain that this upper class twit is the dreaded inspector. For quite some time, however, Khlestakov does not even realize that he has been mistaken for someone else. Meanwhile, he enjoys the officials' terrified deference and moves in as a guest in the Mayor's house. He also demands and receives massive "loans" from the Mayor and all of his associates. He also flirts outrageously with the Mayor's wife and daughter.
Sick and tired of the Mayor's ludicrous demands for bribes, the village's Jewish and Old Believer merchants arrive, begging Khlestakov to have him dismissed from his post. Stunned at the Mayor's rapacious corruption, Khlestakov states that he deserves to be exiled in chains to Siberia. Then, however, he pockets still more "loans" from the merchants, promising to comply with their request.
Terrified that he is now undone, the Mayor pleads with Khlestakov not to have him arrested, only to learn that the latter has become engaged to his daughter. At which point Khlestakov announces that he is returning to St. Petersburg, having been persuaded by his valet Osip that it is too dangerous to continue the charade any longer.
After Khlestakov and Osip depart on a coach driven by the village's fastest horses, the Mayor's friends all arrive to congratulate him. Certain that he now has the upper hand, he summons the merchants, boasting of his daughter's engagement and vowing to squeeze them for every kopeck they are worth. However, the Postmaster suddenly arrives carrying an intercepted letter which reveals Khlestakov's true identityâand his mocking opinion of them all.
The Mayor, after years of bamboozling banter Governors and shaking down criminals of every description, is enraged to have been thus humiliated. He screams at his cronies, stating that they, not himself, are to blame. While they continue arguing, a message arrives from the real Government Inspector, who is demanding to see the Mayor immediately. | What is Khlestakov's job? | [
"a civil servant",
"A civil servant"
] |
The "Minutemen," a team of costumed crime fighters, was formed in 1939 in response to a rise in costumed gangs and criminals; the "Watchmen" was similarly formed decades later. Their existence has dramatically affected world events: Doctor Manhattan's powers have helped the United States win the Vietnam War, and given the West a strategic advantage over the Soviet Union, which by 1985 threatens to escalate the Cold War into a nuclear war. Growing anti-vigilante sentiment leads to masked crime-fighters being outlawed. While many of the heroes retire, Dr Manhattan and The Comedian operate as government-sanctioned agents, and Rorschach continues to operate outside the law.
While investigating the murder of government agent Edward Blake, Rorschach discovers that Blake was the Comedian, and theorizes that someone may be attempting to eliminate former costumed heroes. He warns his retired comradesâ Daniel Dreiberg (Nite Owl II), Dr Manhattan, and the latter's lover Laurie Jupiter (Silk Spectre II). Dr Manhattan ignores Rorschach, and Dreiberg is skeptical, but relays this information to vigilante-turned-billionaire Adrian Veidt (Ozymandias), who also dismisses it.
Following a backlash, Dr Manhattan exiles himself to Mars, giving the Soviet Union the confidence to invade Afghanistan. Rorschach's theory appears to be justified when Veidt narrowly avoids an assassination attempt, and Rorschach finds himself framed for the murder of a former villain named Moloch. When Rorschach is arrested, his identity is revealed to be Walter Kovacs, and he is sent to jail. Jupiter goes to stay with Dreiberg after breaking up with Manhattan. The two become lovers and decide to come out of retirement. After helping Rorschach break out of prison, Jupiter is confronted by Manhattan, who transports her to Mars. As he probes her memories, he discovers that she is Blake's daughter, and realizes the miracle of her life, created in spite of her parents' turbulent relationship. He then returns to Earth with her.
Investigating the conspiracy, Rorschach and Dreiberg discover that Veidt is behind everything. Rorschach records his suspicions in his journal, which he drops off at the publication office of the New Frontiersman, a right-wing tabloid. Rorschach and Dreiberg confront Veidt at his Antarctic retreat. Veidt admits to being responsible for Blake's murder, Manhattan's exile, Rorschach's framing, and his own assassination attempt, which he staged to divert suspicion. He explains that his plan is to unify the United States and the Soviet Union by destroying the world's main cities with exploding energy reactors infused with energy from Manhattan. Rorschach and Dreiberg attempt to stop him, but Veidt subdues them both and reveals that his plan has already been set into motion: the reactors have been detonated, and the energy signatures are recognized as Manhattan's.
Jupiter and Manhattan arrive in a destroyed New York City and determine that Veidt is responsible. They teleport to his base, causing him to retreat and attempt to kill Manhattan. Unsuccessful, he shows them a televised news report in which Nixon states that the United States and Soviet Union have allied against their new "common enemy": Dr Manhattan. Although his allies realize that revealing the truth would only disrupt this new peace, Rorschach refuses to compromise, and attempts to return to America to expose Veidt. Manhattan intervenes, and Rorschach demands that Manhattan kill him to keep him from revealing the truth. Manhattan complies.
Manhattan shares a final kiss with Jupiter before departing permanently to another galaxy, while an enraged Dreiberg attacks Veidt, who makes no effort to defend himself. Nevertheless, he defends his actions, claiming that for world peace to be possible, there had to be sacrifice. Dreiberg rejects his logic declaring that Veidt has deformed and mutilated humanity. Dreiberg and Jupiter return to New York with plans to continue fighting crime. Later, an editor of the New Frontiersman tells a young employee that, as the world is at peace, there is nothing to report on. The editor gives the employee permission to print the contents of a collection of crank mailings, among which is Rorschach's journal. | Why does Dr. Manhattan kill Rorschach? | [
"Rorschach asks him to",
"To keep Rorschach from telling America about Veidt's plan to unify America and the Soviet Union."
] |
Lord Coombe is considered to be the best-dressed man in London. He is also a man whose public reputation, despite his formidable intellect and observant eye, is one of unmitigated wickedness. During one of his social forays, he meets a selfish young woman named 'Feather' with the face of an angel. Fascinated by her, he slowly drifts into her circle. When her husband dies unexpectedly, leaving her alone and desolate in London, he ends up taking her under his wing.
Feather has a daughter named Robin, of whom she takes little notice. She treats Robin with shocking neglect and once Coombe takes over responsibility for the household's finances, Feather readily abandons poor Robin to the less-than-kindly ministrations of her nurse. In fact, Robin doesn't even know Feather is her mother for her first six years, calling her 'The Lady Downstairs'. Robin also hates Coombe, having heard a conversation that blamed him for the loss of her first friend. This was a little boy named Donal who was in fact Coombe's heir. Donal's mother disapproves both of Coombe and Feather and when she discovers that her son has been playing with Robin, she whisks him away, leaving Robin heartbroken. However, Coombe does not return this dislike and in fact makes a point of serving as her guardian, albeit without Robin's knowledge. As Robin grows, he builds her a set of rooms, engages a loving nurse for her, and eventually secures a reputable governess for her. While her mother continues to behave with the selfish freedom of a wanton child.
As Robin grows, she becomes a lovely and intelligent though innocent, girl. Feather's circle includes some unsavory characters, one of whom, a German nobleman, tries to make Robin into his plaything. This caricature of Imperial German stereotypes uses Robin's desire to support herself to trap her in a house of ill repute. His plan fails mainly through the actions of Coombe, but the after-effects leave Robin crushed.
One of Coombe's few true confidants is a dowager Duchess - a woman of both great intellect and great understanding who has recently lost her long-time lady companion. After Robin's experiences with the German, Coombe suggests Robin as a suitable replacement. The Duchess is the one person who knows the secret of Coombe's determination to watch over Robin and why he is willing to tolerate the activities of her mother. This secret is finally communicated to the reader as well during one of Coombe's talks with the Duchess. The Duchess does indeed take in Robin and befriends her. Robin is introduced to the Duchess' children and their friends and finally sponsors a small dance for Robin. At the dance, Robin meets Donal again as Coombe and the Duchess learn that an Austrian Archduke has just been assassinated in Serbia. | As the audience is first introduced to Coombe, what is understood of his personality? | [
"Coombe is intelligent, observant, and wicked.",
"intelligent and wicked"
] |
A centuries long war between humans and vampires has devastated the planet's surface and led to a theocracy under an organization called The Church. They constructed giant walled cities to protect mankind and developed a group of elite warriors, the Priests, to turn the tide against the vampires. The majority of the vampires were killed, while the remainder were placed in reservations. With the war over, the Clergy disbanded the Priests. Outside the walled cities, some humans seek out a living, free from the totalitarian control of the Church.
Priest is approached by Hicks, the sheriff of Augustine, a free town. Priest learns that his brother and his wife, Shannon - Priest's girlfriend before he entered the priesthood - were mortally wounded in a vampire attack, and Priest's niece, Lucy, was kidnapped. Hicks asks for Priest's help in rescuing Lucy. Priest asks the Clergy to reinstate his authority, but Church leader Monsignor Orelas (Christopher Plummer) does not believe the vampire story and refuses. Priest defiantly leaves the city and Orelas sends three Priests and a Priestess to bring him back.
Priest and Hicks arrive at Nightshade Reservation where humans called Familiars, people infected with a pathogen that makes them subservient to the vampires, live alongside a number of the surviving vampires. After a fierce battle, the pair discovers that most of the vampires have taken shelter in Sola Mira, a vampire hive where Priest lost several of his comrades during a major battle. Priestess joins them at Sola Mira, revealing a bond with Priest. The trio destroys a Hive Guardian vampire, then discover that the vampires have bred a new army and dug a tunnel out of the mountain towards a town called Jericho. The other three Priests have arrived at Jericho just as night falls and an armored train arrives, unleashing hundreds of vampires upon the population. The vampires are led by a powerful and mysterious human wearing a black hat. When the three Priests reject Black Hat's offer to join him, he kills them all.
The next morning, Priest, Priestess and Hicks arrive in Jericho and discover the town empty and the three dead Priests crucified. Priest and Priestess share an intimate moment where she makes her move, hoping that now that Shannon has died, he would no longer feel bound to her. Priest, who is clearly not over Shannon, gently refuses. Priest realizes that the vampires have been using the trains to travel by day and attack the free towns by night, with the walled cities at the end of the train line. Hicks believes an attack on the cities would be unwise because of the sun, but Priest reveals that factories, producing massive clouds of smoke and ash, have permanently deprived the city of sunlight, so the vampire attack would be a slaughter.
Hicks threatens Priest, claiming he will shoot him unless he promises to let Lucy live whether she's been infected or not. (Priest had earlier revealed to Hicks, who is in love with Lucy, that if they discovered Lucy had been infected as a Familiar, he'd kill her.) Hicks doesn't understand why Priest, who is basically a stranger to Lucy, cares so much about her. Priestess reveals that Lucy is actually Priest's daughter, and that his brother, Owen stepped in as a husband and a father when Priest was taken by The Church.
While Priestess rushes ahead to plant a bomb on the railroad tracks, Priest and Hicks board the train to rescue Lucy. Battling vampires and Familiars, the two are finally overpowered by Black Hat just as they find Lucy. Black Hat is revealed as one of the Priests who was defeated in the final attack on Sola Mira and a close friend of Priest. After being captured, the vampire Queen gave him her blood, turning him into the first Vampire-Human hybrid who can survive the sun. As Priest fights Black Hat, Lucy discovers the truth about her parentage. Priestess battles several Familiars, finally placing the explosives on her motor bike and crashing it into the train engine. The explosion and subsequent derailment kills the vampires and engulfs Black Hat in fire, while Hicks, Priest, Priestess, and Lucy are able to escape.
Priest returns to the city and confronts Monsignor Orelas during Mass, telling him of the burnt train containing the vampires' bodies. He proves this by throwing a vampire head onto the floor and shocking everyone in the room. Orelas still refuses to believe him, declaring that the war is over. Outside the city Priest meets Priestess and she reveals that the other Priests have been notified and will meet them at a rendezvous point. Priest sets off into the sunset. | Who are the designated "warriors" for the church? | [
"The Priests",
"the Priests"
] |
In 1979, Deputy Sheriff Jack Lamb (Kyle Chandler) of Lillian, Ohio, and his 14-year-old son Joe (Joel Courtney), mourn the death of his mother Elizabeth (Caitriona Balfe) in a steel mill accident. Jack blames her co-worker, Louis Dainard (Ron Eldard), as she was covering his shift while he recovered from a hangover, and all Joe has left is a locket that belonged to her, that he now holds on to.
Four months later, Joe's best friend Charles Kaznyk (Riley Griffiths) decides to make a low-budget zombie movie for an international film competition. Charles enlists the help of Preston Scott (Zach Mills), Martin Read (Gabriel Basso), and Cary McCarthy (Ryan Lee), as well as Dainard's daughter, Alice (Elle Fanning). Though their fathers would be furious, Joe and Alice become infatuated with each other.
Charles has them film a scene at a train depot at midnight. While they are rehearsing, a train approaches, and Charles has them start filming as the train passes to add 'production value'. While filming, Joe witnesses a pickup truck drive onto the tracks and ram the train, causing a massive derailment that destroys the train, the depot and the surrounding area, and the friends barely survive. The children investigate the wreck and find crates full of strange white cubes, then discover the truck's driver is Dr. Woodward (Glynn Turman), their biology teacher. Woodward, barely alive, warns them at gunpoint to forget what they saw that night, or else they and their parents will be killed. The children flee the scene just as a convoy from the local U.S. Air Force base, led by Col. Nelec (Noah Emmerich), arrive at the scene. Nelec discovers an empty Super 8mm film box, and assumes the event was purposely captured on camera.
While Joe and Charles wait for their film to be developed, the town experiences strange events: All the dogs run away, several townspeople go missing, the electrical power fluctuates and electronic items from all over are stolen. Overhearing military communications, Jack approaches Nelec to address the rising panic in town, but Nelec instead orders him arrested. Nelec orders the use of flamethrowers to start wildfires outside of town, as an excuse to evacuate people to the base. Suddenly, soldiers sweep into town to begin the evacuation. Meanwhile, Joe and Charles watch the derailment footage and discover that a large creature escaped from the train.
At the base, Joe learns from Alice's father that she is missing, abducted by the creature. Joe, Charles, Martin, and Cary convince Jen, Charles' older sister, to pretend to hit on Donny (a worker at the camera shop) in order to get into town to rescue Alice. They break into Dr. Woodward's storage trailer and discover films and documents from his time as a government researcher.
They play the film, which reveals that an alien crash-landed in 1958. The Air Force captured the alien and was running experiments on it while keeping it from its ship. Woodward was one of the scientists experimenting on the ship, composed of the white cubes. At one point, the alien grabbed Woodward, apparently establishing a psychic connection with him. Now understanding the alien, he was compelled to rescue it and help it escape from Earth. He found out about the train, years later, and sought the opportunity to help the creature. The boys are caught by Nelec, but as they are taken back to base, the alien attacks their bus. The airmen are killed and the boys escape. Meanwhile, Jack escapes from the base's brig and makes his way to the shelter housing the townsfolk. He learns from Preston about Joe's plan to rescue Alice. Jack and Dainard then agree to put aside their differences to save their kids, making amends along the way.
In town, their hardware malfunctions as the military attempts to kill the alien. Martin is injured in an explosion, so Charles stays behind with him while Joe and Cary head to the cemetery, where Joe had earlier seen something there that made him suspicious. Inside the cemetery's garage, they find a massive tunnel leading to a warren of underground caverns. In a chamber beneath the town's water tower, they find the alien has created a device from the town's stolen electronics, that it appears to be trying to fully activate, attached to the base of the tower. The alien also has several people, including Alice, hanging from the ceiling and unconscious, that it uses for food. Using Cary's firecrackers as a distraction, Joe frees Alice and the others, but they end up trapped in a dead end cavern after the alien chases them down and eats the others. Alice and Cary scream and cower against the tunnel wall, but Joe steps forward and tries to talk to the alien. The alien grabs Joe, who quietly speaks to the alien, telling him over and over that "bad things happen" but that the alien "can still live". After studying Joe for a moment, and then hearing its device fully activating, the alien releases him and departs, allowing the three to return to the surface.
As Joe and Alice reunite with their fathers, everyone watches as various metal objects from all over town are magnetically pulled to the top of the water tower. The white cubes are also pulled in to assemble into the alien's spaceship, using the objects and the water tower as its base. As it nears completion, the alien enters the spaceship. The locket is then drawn from Joe's pocket towards the tower and Joe, after a brief moment, decides to let it go, completing the ship. The water tank implodes and as the tower legs fall a safe distance away into the street, the ship rockets into space. Joe takes Alice's hand as they watch the ship depart into the night sky.
During the credits, the kids' completed film, entitled The Case, is shown. | How was the Air Force able to get people to leave their homes? | [
"by starting wildfires with flamethrowers",
"The Air Force starts firs outside of town to force an evacuation."
] |
Willis imagines a near future (first introduced in her story "Fire Watch" (1982)) in which historians conduct field work by traveling into the past as observers. The research is conducted at the University of Oxford, in the late-21st century England.
In the book's fictional universe, history resists time travel that would cause the past to be altered, by preventing visits to certain places or times. Typically the machine used for time travel will refuse to function, rendering the trip impossible. In other cases "slippage", a shift in the exact time target, occurs. The time-traveler arrives at the nearest place-and-time suitable for preventing a paradox; variance can be anything from 5 minutes to 5 years. Some periods theoretically accessible can also be deemed too dangerous for the historians by the authorities controlling time travel.Kivrin Engle, a young historian specializing in medieval history, asks her reluctant instructor, Professor James Dunworthy, and the authorities running the project to send her to Oxford in 1320. This period had previously been thought too dangerous, because it stretched the time travel net 300 years earlier than it had ever been used before. Professor Gilchrist, who took charge of the project in the absence of the normal department head, coaxes authorities to allow it, in hopes it would enhance his own prestige. Kivrin will be the first historian to visit the period and is confident that she is well prepared for what she will encounter.
Shortly after sending Kivrin to the 14th century, Badri Chaudhuri, the technician who set the time travel coordinates for Kivrin's trip, collapses suddenly, an early victim of a deadly new influenza epidemic that then disrupts the university and eventually leads to the entire city's being quarantined. The time traveler Kivrin also falls ill as soon as she arrives in the past. She awakens, after several days of fever and delirium, at a nearby manor, whose residents have nursed her. Being moved by her rescuers caused her to lose track of where the "drop point" is (in order to return home, she must return to the exact location where she arrived, when the gateway opens at a prearranged time).
The narrative switches between Kivrin in the 14th century and 2054/2055 Oxford during the influenza epidemic. Kivrin discovers many inconsistencies in what she "knows" about the time: the Middle English she learned is different from the local dialect, her maps are useless, her clothing is too fine, and she is far too clean. She can also read and write, skills unusual even for educated men of the time and rare among women. As nuns are the only women commonly possessing these skills, some family members conclude Kivrin has fled her convent and plan to return her to the nearest convent. She fakes amnesia, afraid the background story she originally concocted would have similar inconsistencies, as she tries to find the "drop point".
In future Oxford, fears grow that the virus causing the epidemic has been transmitted from the past via the time travel net, despite the scientific impossibility of that occurrence. This causes Professor Gilchrist to order the net closed, effectively stranding Kivrin in the past, even as Professor Dunworthy tries frantically to reverse the decision.
At parallel points in their respective narratives, Kivrin and Professor Dunworthy realize that she has been sent to England at the wrong time as a result of the technician's illness: she has arrived during the Black Death pandemic in England in 1348, more than 20 years later than her intended arrival. The Black Death cuts a swathe through the Middle Ages just as the influenza overwhelms the medical staff of the 21st century. Many who could have helped Professor Dunworthy fall ill and die, including his good friend Doctor Mary Ahrens, who dies even as she tries to save the other influenza victims, and Professor Dunworthy himself is stricken by the disease.
Meanwhile, in the 14th century, two weeks after Kivrin's arrival, a monk infected with the plague comes to the village. Within days, many residents of the village fall ill. Kivrin tries to nurse the victims, but, lacking modern medicines, she can do little to ease their suffering. The arranged date for retrieval passes with neither side able to make it. At last, in desperation, Professor Dunworthy (despite being in feeble health) arranges for Badri to send him back in time to rescue Kivrin, as he feels responsible for sending his student, so he thinks, to her death.
In the Middle Ages, Kivrin can only watch while all the people she has come to know die from the Black Death. The last is Father Roche, the priest who found her when she was sick and brought her to the manor. Father Roche insisted on staying with his parishioners, despite Kivrin's attempts to arrange an escape, as he feels it his duty to care for them although it may mean his own death. As Roche lies dying in the chapel, he reveals that he was near the drop site when Kivrin came through and misinterpreted the circumstances of her arrival (shimmering light, condensation, a young woman appearing out of thin air) as God delivering a saint to help during the mysterious illness sweeping through England. He dies still believing that she is God's messenger to him and his congregation, while Kivrin comes to appreciate his selfless devotion to his work and to God. As she sits in the graveyard, unable to dig a grave or finish tolling the peal for his death, her rescuers, Professor Dunworthy and Colin (the adventurous great-nephew of Doctor Mary Ahrens), find her. They barely recognize her: her hair is cropped short (from when she was sick with the flu), she is wearing a boy's jerkin, and she is covered in dirt and blood from tending to the sick and dying. The three return to 21st century England shortly after New Year's Day. | How do the people of the past explain Kivrins ability to read and write? | [
"they think she is a nun",
"That she has fled from a convent"
] |
Mr. Stanley forbids his adult daughter, a biology student at Tredgold Women's College and the youngest of his five children, to attend a fancy dress ball in London, causing a crisis. Ann Veronica is planning to attend the dance with friends of a down-at-the-heels artistic family living nearby and has been chafing at other restrictions imposed for no apparent reason on her. After her father resorts to force to stop her from attending the ball, she leaves her home in the fictional south London suburb of Morningside Park in order to live independently in an apartment "in a street near the Hampstead Road" in North London. Unable to find appropriate employment, she borrows forty pounds from Mr. Ramage, an older man, without realizing she is compromising herself.
With this money, Ann Veronica is able to devote herself to study in the biological laboratory of the Central Imperial College (a constituent college of London University) where she meets and falls in love with Capes, the laboratory's "demonstrator." But Mr. Ramage loses little time in trying to take advantage of the situation, precipitating a crisis. Distraught after Ramage tries to force himself on her, Ann Veronica temporarily abandons her studies and devotes herself to the cause of women's suffrage; she is arrested storming Parliament and spends a month in prison.
Sobered by the experience, Ann Veronica convinces herself of the necessity of compromise. She returns to her father's home and engages herself to marry an admirer she does not love, Hubert Manning. But she soon changes her mind, renounces the engagement, and boldly tells Capes she loves him.
Though he returns Ann Veronica's love, at first the thirty-year-old Capes insists on the impossibility of the situation: he is a married (albeit separated) man with a sullied reputation because of an affair that became public. They can only be friends, he declares. But Ann Veronica is undeterred by his confession and his prudence, and finally Capes's resistance buckles: "She stood up and held her arms toward him. 'I want you to kiss me,' she said. . . . 'I want you. I want you to be my lover. I want to give myself to you. I want to be whatever I can to you.' She paused for a moment. 'Is that plain?' she asked."
Capes decides to throw over his employment at the college in order to live with Ann Veronica, and they enjoy a glorious "honeymoon" in the Alps. A final chapter shows the happy couple four years and four months later living in London. Capes has become a successful playwright, and Ann Veronica is pregnant and has reconciled with her family. | Who does Ann love? | [
"Capes",
"Capes."
] |
Matthew Bramble, his family and servants are traveling through England and Scotland. Although the primary motivation for the expedition is to restore the health of the gouty Matthew Bramble, each member of the family uses the excursion to achieve their ends. Leaving from Bramble's estate, Brambleton Hall, in the south-western corner of England, the family passes through many cities, making extended or significant stops at Gloucester, Bath, London, Harrogate, Scarborough and Edinburgh.
The splenetic patriarch, Matthew Bramble, visits various natural spas to alleviate his health problems, and he corresponds primarily with his physician, Dr. Lewis. Through his letters and those of Jeremy, it is revealed that Bramble is misanthropic and something of a hypochondriac. Despite his frequent complaints, he is generally reasonable and extremely charitable to the people he meets on his travels as well as to his servants and wards back at home. His letters introduce and ridicule significant eighteenth century concerns such as medicine, the growth of urban life, class, the growth of the periodical press and the public sphere. His growing disillusionment at the changing moral and social landscape of England, embodies his traditionalist perspective and reveals the absurdities of contemporary culture.
His sister, Tabitha Bramble, is a foolish and cantankerous spinster who uses the expedition as an excuse to search for a husband. Through her correspondence with Mrs. Gwyllim, the house-keeper at Brambleton Hall, Tabitha reveals her selfishness and lack of generosity towards servants and the impoverished. Her social pretensions are rendered all the more comical by her frequent misunderstandings, misuse of common idioms and atrocious spelling.
Tabitha's servant, Winifred or Win Jenkins, also corresponds with the servants at Brambleton Hall. As the only correspondent not related to Matthew Bramble, Ms. Jenkins offers a sympathetic and humorous perspective on the family and their travels. As a comic foil to Tabitha Bramble, Win Jenkins shares many of her misspellings and malapropisms but demonstrates considerably more common sense and intuition in her observation of the family. At London, she becomes infatuated with Humphry Clinker and Methodism both.
Bramble's nephew, Jeremy Melford, is a young man looking for amusement. Corresponding primarily with Sir Watkin Phillips of Jesus College Oxford, Jery also reflects upon issues of city life, class, and the growing public sphere, but often with a more progressive perspective than that of his rather traditional uncle. Despite his generously democratic views and his astute perceptions of the hypocrisy and absurdity of others, he isâas revealed through Bramble's lettersâ"hot-headed" and prone to rash anger and impulsive defenses of perceived slights to his family honor, especially when it relates to his sister's interest in a stage actor below her status. His introduction into society as a young gentleman often occurs during his socializing at the coffeehouse, a burgeoning social institution, especially in eighteenth century London. His study of the places and people of his journey includes the members of his family, whom he comically sketches for the readers. His accounts help provide insight into Matthew Bramble's character.
Bramble's niece, Lydia Melford, is trying to recover from an unfortunate romantic entanglement with a stage actor named Wilson, who is later revealed to be a gentleman named George Dennison. Her letters to Miss Letitia Willis at Gloucester reveal her struggles between familial duty and her affection for Wilson. She describes her secret communications with him, as well as her surprise encounter with the disguised Wilson in Bath. Lydia also reflects upon the wonders of city life, with astonishment and excitement. Having spent most of her life at a boarding school for young women, the expedition serves for Lydia as a debut into society (an important cultural phenomenon with a long literary tradition).
The titular character, Humphry Clinker, is an ostler, a stableman at an inn, who does not make his first appearance until about a quarter of the way through the story. He is taken on by Matthew Bramble and family, while they are traveling toward London, after offending Tabitha and amusing Matthew Bramble. Humphry Clinker is a primarily foolish character whose good-natured earnestness earns him the esteem of Matthew Bramble. He is largely described through the letters of Matthew Bramble and Jeremy Melford and, despite his frequent misunderstandings, is presented as a talented worker and gifted orator, attracting a devoted following of parishioners during a brief oratorical stint in London. After various romantic interludes, Humphry suffers false imprisonment due to accusations of being a highway robber, though he retains the confident support of Matthew Bramble and his family. He is rescued and returned to his sweetheart, the maid Winifred Jenkins. Eventually, it is discovered that Humphry is Mr. Bramble's illegitimate son from a relationship with a barmaid, during his wilder university days. The book ends in a series of weddings. | Where does Bramble go to try to get treatment to feel better? | [
"Bramble goes to different spas to help him get well.",
"Various natural spas"
] |
A criminologist narrates the tale of the newly engaged couple Brad Majors and Janet Weiss who find themselves lost and with a flat tire on a cold and rainy late November evening, somewhere near Denton, Ohio. Seeking a telephone, the couple walk to a nearby castle where they discover a group of strange and outlandish people who are holding an Annual Transylvanian Convention. They are soon swept into the world of Dr. Frank N. Furter, a self-proclaimed "sweet transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania". The ensemble of convention attendees also includes servants Riff Raff, his sister Magenta, and a groupie named Columbia.
In his lab, Frank claims to have discovered the "secret to life itself". His creation, Rocky, is brought to life. The ensuing celebration is soon interrupted by Eddie (an ex-delivery boy, both Frank and Columbia's ex-lover, as well as partial brain donor to Rocky) who rides out of a deep freeze on a motorcycle. In a jealous rage, Frank corners him and kills him with an ice axe. He then departs with Rocky to a bridal suite.
Brad and Janet are shown to separate bedrooms where each is visited and seduced by Frank, who poses as Brad (when visiting Janet) and then as Janet (when visiting Brad). Janet, upset and emotional, wanders off to look for Brad, who she discovers, via a television monitor, is in bed with Frank. She then discovers Rocky, cowering in his birth tank, hiding from Riff Raff, who has been tormenting him. While tending to his wounds, Janet becomes intimate with Rocky, as Magenta and Columbia watch from their bedroom monitor.
After discovering that his creation is missing, Frank returns to the lab with Brad and Riff Raff, where Frank learns that an intruder has entered the building. Brad and Janet's old high school science teacher, Dr. Everett Scott, has come looking for his nephew, Eddie. Frank suspects that Dr. Scott investigates UFOs for the government. Upon learning of Brad and Janet's connection to Dr. Scott, Frank suspects them of working for him. Frank, Dr. Scott, Brad, and Riff Raff then discover Janet and Rocky together under the sheets in Rocky's birth tank, upsetting Frank and Brad. Magenta interrupts the reunion by sounding a massive gong and stating that dinner is prepared.
Rocky and the guests share an uncomfortable dinner, which they soon realize has been prepared from Eddie's mutilated remains. Janet runs screaming into Rocky's arms and is slapped and chased through the halls of the castle by a jealous Frank. Janet, Brad, Dr. Scott, Rocky, and Columbia all meet in Frank's lab, where Frank captures them with the Medusa Transducer, transforming them into nude statues. After dressing them in cabaret costume, Frank "unfreezes" them, from which they spontaneously perform a live cabaret floor show with Frank as the leader.
Riff Raff and Magenta interrupt the performance, revealing themselves and Frank to be aliens from the planet Transsexual in the galaxy of Transylvania. They stage a coup and announce a plan to return to their homeworld. In the process, they kill Columbia, Rocky, and Frank, who has "failed his mission". They release Brad, Janet, and Dr. Scott, then depart by lifting off in the castle itself. The survivors are then left crawling in the dirt, and the narrator concludes that the human race is equivalent to insects crawling on the planet's surface. | What is the name of Frank's creature? | [
"Rocky",
"Rocky"
] |
A Frenchman named Marcelo Desonyers travels to Argentina in 1870, and he marries the elder daughter of Julio Madariaga, the owner of a ranch. Eventually Marcelo, his wife, and his children Julio and Chichi move back to France and live in a mansion in Paris. Julio turns out to be a spoiled, lazy young man who avoids commitments and flirts with a married woman named Marguerite Laurier.
Meanwhile, Madariaga's younger daughter has married a German man named Karl Hartrott, and the Hartrotts move back to Germany. The Desnoyers family and the Hartrott family are thus set against each other with the onset of World War I. However, Julio Desnoyers initially shows no interest in the war, while Hartrott's family eagerly supports the German cause. It is only after Julio's lover, Marguerite, lavishes attention upon her husband after the latter is wounded in battle, that Julio is moved to participate in the war.
While young Julio Desnoyers serves as a soldier, the aging Marcelo Desnoyers leaves the shelter and returns to his mansion, where he watches the German soldiers advance and eventually plunder his belongings and eat his food. At last the French soldiers push back the German soldiers, and Marcelo chooses to defend a German man who had earlier spared Marcelo's life.
Julio Desnoyers returns to his family, wounded in a battle but praised for his valour, and he quickly sets out again to continue fighting. At the close of the war, Julio is killed in battle. The novel ends with Marcelo at his son's grave, regretting that if his daughter, Chichi, has any children, they will not bear the name "Desnoyers." Marcelo finds that Hartrott, too, has lost a son in the war. | Why does Marcelo choose to defend a German soldier? | [
"Because the German soldier had earlier spared his life.",
"Because he spared Marcelo's life."
] |
The film is presented in flashbacks by a Briton named Wilson (Stamp).
Wilson travels to Los Angeles to investigate the death of his daughter, Jenny. She reportedly had died in a car accident, but Wilson suspects she was murdered. Recently released from a British prison, he is a hardened man. Arriving in Los Angeles, he meets Jenny's friends Eduardo (Guzmรกn) and Elaine (Warren) and questions them. Finding they pass his initial inquiry, he elicits their help in investigating Jenny's death. One suspect that emerges is Jenny's boyfriend, a record producer named Terry Valentine (Fonda). Investigating him it is learned that besides his legitimate record company business, Valentine has involvement in drug trafficking. His involvement is managed through his security consultant, Avery (Newman). Wilson locates a warehouse used by the drug trafficker, and questions the men there. Laughing at him, they beat him, insult his daughter and throw him out onto the street. Undeterred, Wilson draws a hidden pistol and returns to the warehouse, shooting dead all but one of the employees. As the survivor flees, Wilson shouts after him "Tell him... I'm coming!"
Back with Elaine and Eduardo, Wilson reminisces about his earlier life with his daughter, whom he remembers only as a child. Worried her father would be sent away to prison, she would threaten to call the police whenever she found evidence of the crimes he had been involved in. He recalls she never followed through on her threats, because she loved him and it became a sad joke between them. However, his life of crime put a strain on his family. He ended up in prison after the men he was involved with sold him out to the police.
Seeking more information from Valentine, Wilson and Eduardo sneak into a party held at Valentine's house. Once there Wilson searches for evidence of Valentines involvement. He finds and steals a picture of Jenny. Attracting suspicion from Avery, Wilson is accosted by a guard whom he swiftly head-butts and throws over a railing to his death. Wilson and Eduardo then flee, but are chased by Avery, who rams their car. Wilson rams Avery's car in return, forcing it over a cliff. He and Eduardo escape, but not before Avery hears Eduardo call out Wilson's name.
Avery hires a hit-man, Stacy (Katt), to track down and kill Wilson and Elaine. Avery is prevented from making the hit by agents of the DEA, who have been monitoring Valentine as part of their investigation of a Mexican drug lord. Wilson and Elaine are taken to meet a DEA investigator. The meeting makes it clear the DEA is after the drug lord who used Valentine to launder money, and the agents will not interfere with Wilson's personal mission. The head agent lets Wilson see their file on Valentine, including his home addresses. Meanwhile, Stacy and his partner, angry at their beating by the DEA agents, plot to double cross Avery and Valentine.
Avery moves Valentine to a safe house in Big Sur, but Wilson knows its address. That night the grounds are penetrated. Avery's guards shoot an intruder, but it turns out the man killed is Stacy. Avery and the guards then engage in a shootout with Stacy's partner, resulting in several deaths. Valentine flees to the beach, but Wilson is still in pursuit. Falling on rocks and breaking his ankle, Valentine cannot escape. Wilson walks up as Valentine begs for his life, admitting his involvement in what happened. He says Jenny had found out about his drug ties. Confronting him about it she picked up the telephone and threatened to call the police. During his desperate attempt to stop her, she fell and accidentally broke her neck. To deflect attention from Valentine over her death, Avery then staged a car accident as the cause.
Haunted by the tale, Wilson knows his own involvement in crime led Jenny to act as she did, repeating the same half-serious bluff they had shared so many times. She would never have turned Valentine in, either. He turns away from Valentine, allowing him to live. Wilson makes his farewells to Elaine and Eduardo, and returns to London. | What did time period did Wilson reminisce about? | [
"His earlier life with his daughter.",
"fatherhood"
] |
The fictional planet Lagash (Kalgash in the novel adaptation) is located in a stellar system containing six suns (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta are the only ones named in the short story; Onos, Dovim, Trey, Patru, Tano, and Sitha are named in the novel), which keep the whole planet continuously illuminated; total darkness is unknown, and as a result, so are all the stars outside the planet's stellar system.
A group of scientists from Saro University begin to make a series of related discoveries: Sheerin 501, a psychologist, researches the effects of prolonged exposure to darkness; Siferra 89, an archaeologist, finds evidence of multiple cyclical collapses of civilization which have occurred regularly about every 2000 years, and Beenay 25 is an astronomer who has discovered irregularities in the orbit of Lagash around its primary sun Alpha. Beenay takes his findings to his superior at the university, Aton, who formulated the Theory of Universal Gravitation (the in-story discussion of this makes light of an article once written about Einstein's theory of relativity, referencing the false notion that "only twelve men" could understand it). This prompts the astronomers at Saro University to seek the cause of this anomaly. Eventually, they discover that the only possible cause of the deviation is an astronomical body that orbits Lagash.
Beenay, through his friend Theremon 762, a reporter, has learned some of the beliefs of the group known as the Cult ("Apostles of Flame" in the novel). They believe the world would be destroyed in a darkness with the appearance of stars that unleash a torrent of fire. Beenay combines what he has learned about the repetitive collapses at the archaeological site, and the new theory of potential eclipses; he concludes that once every 2049 years, the one sun otherwise visible is eclipsed, resulting in a brief "night". His theory is that this "night" was so horrifying to the people who experienced it, they desperately sought out any light source to try to drive it away: particularly, by frantically starting fires which burned down and destroyed their successive civilizations. He also postulates that the "Apostles of the Flame" started out as vague surviving legends and myths after the last eclipse: small children too young to understand what was happening did not go insane but grew up half-feral in the ruins, and as they grew older, the only clues they had were the insane ramblings of adults who had lived through the eclipse. Over the centuries, these vague stories became legend, and then a cult of religious devotion.
Since the current population of Lagash has never experienced general darkness, the scientists conclude that the darkness would traumatize the people and that they would need to prepare for it. When nightfall occurs, the scientists (who have prepared themselves for darkness) and the rest of the planet are most surprised by the sight of hitherto invisible stars outside the six-star system filling the sky. Never having seen other stars in the sky, the inhabitants of Lagash had come to believe that their six-star system contained the entirety of the universe. In one horrifying instant, anyone gazing at the night sky – the first night sky which they have ever known – is suddenly faced with the reality that the universe contains many millions upon billions of stars: the awesome realization of just how vast the universe truly is drives them insane. This night sky is very different from that of Earth's, because Lagash and its stars reside in a globular cluster, where hundreds of thousands of stars are visible in the now-darkened sky.
The short story concludes with the arrival of the night and a crimson glow that was "not the glow of a sun", with the implication that societal collapse has occurred once again. In the novel and X Minus One program, civil disorder breaks out; cities are destroyed in massive fires and civilization collapses, with the ashes of the fallen civilization and the competing groups trying to seize control. | Who believe the world would be destroy in darkness? | [
"The cult.",
"The cult called the Apostles of Flame."
] |
Set in France and Louisiana in the early 18th century, the story follows the hero, the Chevalier des Grieux, and his lover, Manon Lescaut. Des Grieux comes from noble and landed family, but forfeits his hereditary wealth and incurs the disappointment of his father by running away with Manon. In Paris, the young lovers enjoy a blissful cohabitation, while Des Grieux struggles to satisfy Manon's taste for luxury. He scrounges together money by borrowing from his unwaveringly loyal friend Tiberge and by cheating gamblers. On several occasions, Des Grieux's wealth evaporates (by theft, in a house fire, etc.), prompting Manon to leave him for a richer man because she cannot stand the thought of living in penury.
The two lovers finally end up in New Orleans, to which Manon has been deported as a prostitute, where they pretend to be married and live in idyllic peace for a while. But when Des Grieux reveals their unmarried state to the Governor and asks to be wed with Manon, the Governor's nephew sets his sights on winning Manon's hand. In despair, Des Grieux challenges the Governor's nephew to a duel and knocks him unconscious. Thinking he had killed the man and fearing retribution, the couple flee New Orleans and venture into the wilderness of Louisiana, hoping to reach an English settlement. Manon dies of exposure and exhaustion the following morning and, after burying his beloved, Des Grieux is eventually taken back to France by Tiberge. | Why did the main character become estranged from his family? | [
"Because he ran off with a woman that his father disapproved of.",
"He ran away with Manon. "
] |
A sixth-century post-Roman kingdom called Urland is being terrorized by a 400-year-old dragon named Vermithrax Pejorative. To appease the dragon, King Casiodorus (Peter Eyre) offers it virgin girls selected by lottery twice a year. An expedition led by a young man called Valerian (Clarke) seeks the last sorcerer, Ulrich of Craggenmoor (Richardson), for help. A brutish soldier from Urland named Tyrian (Hallam), who has followed the expedition, intimidates the wizard. Ulrich invites Tyrian to stab him to prove his magical powers. Tyrian does so and Ulrich dies instantly, to the horror of his young apprentice Galen Bradwarden (MacNicol) and his elderly servant Hodge (Sydney Bromley). Hodge cremates Ulrich's body and places the ashes in a leather pouch, informing Galen that Ulrich wanted his ashes spread over a lake of burning water.
Galen inherits the wizard's magical amulet, and takes it upon himself to journey to Urland. On the way, he discovers Valerian is really a young woman, who disguised herself to avoid being selected in the lottery. In an effort to discourage the expedition, Tyrian kills Hodge; before dying, he hands Galen the pouch and dies with the words "Burning water..." on his lips.
Arriving in Urland, Galen inspects the dragon's lair and attempts to seal its entrance by causing rocks to fall from the cliff. Tyrian apprehends Galen and takes him to the court of King Casiodorus. King Casiodorus guesses that Galen is not a real wizard and complains that his attack may have angered the dragon instead of killing it, as his own brother and predecessor once did. The king confiscates the amulet and imprisons Galen. His daughter Elspeth (Chloe Salaman) comes to taunt Galen, but is shocked when he informs her of rumours that the lottery is rigged to exclude her name and those who are rich enough to pay to have their children' names removed. Casiodorus is unable to lie convincingly when she confronts him regarding this.
Meanwhile, the dragon frees itself from its prison and causes an earthquake. Galen narrowly escapes, but without the amulet. The village priest, Brother Jacopus (Ian McDiarmid), leads his congregation to confront the dragon, denouncing it as the Devil, but the dragon incinerates him and then heads for the village, burning all in its path.
When the lottery begins anew, Princess Elspeth rigs the draw so that only her name can be chosen. The King returns the amulet to Galen so that he might save Elspeth. Galen uses the amulet to enchant a heavy spear that had been forged by Valerian's father (which he had dubbed Sicarius Dracorum, or "Dragonslayer") with the ability to pierce the dragon's armored hide. Meanwhile, Valerian gathers some molted dragon scales and uses them to make Galen a shield, and the two realize they have romantic feelings for each other. As Galen attempts to rescue Princess Elspeth, he fights and kills Tyrian. The Princess, determined to make amends for all the girls whose names had been chosen in the past, descends into the dragon's cave and to her death. Galen follows her and finds a brood of young dragons feasting on her corpse. He kills them and finds Vermithrax nesting by an underground lake of fire. He manages to wound the monster but the spear is broken. Only Valerian's shield saves him from incineration.
After his failure to kill Vermithrax, Valerian convinces Galen to leave the village with her. As the two lovers prepare to leave, the amulet gives Galen a vision that explains his teacher's final wishes. Ulrich had asked that his ashes be spread over "burning water", and Galen realizes that the wizard had planned his own death and cremation after realizing he was not physically able to make the journey by himself. He used Galen to deliver him to Urland. Galen returns to the cave. When the ashes are spread over the lake, the wizard is resurrected within the flames. Ulrich reveals that his time is short and that Galen must destroy the amulet when the time is right. The wizard then transports himself to the mountaintop and confronts the dragon. After a brief battle, the monster grabs the old man and flies away with him. Galen crushes the amulet with a rock, causing the wizard to explode and kill the dragon, whose corpse falls out of the sky.
Inspecting the wreckage, the villagers credit God with the victory. The king arrives and drives a sword into the dragon's broken carcass to claim the glory for himself. As Galen and Valerian leave Urland together, he confesses that he misses both Ulrich and the amulet. He says "I just wish we had a horse," and a white horse appears to take the incredulous lovers away. | Where does Hodge put the ashes of Ulrich's body after he is killed? | [
"Hodge puts the ashes in a leather pouch. ",
"in a pouch"
] |
Ten years after tracking and taking down serial killer Jame Gumb, FBI Special Agent Clarice Starling is unjustly blamed for a botched drug raid. She is later contacted by Mason Verger, the only surviving victim of the serial killer Hannibal Lecter. A wealthy child molester, Verger was paralyzed and horribly disfigured by Lecter during a therapy session. He has been pursuing an elaborate scheme to capture, torture, and kill Lecter ever since. Using his wealth and political influence, Verger has Starling reassigned to Lecter's case, hoping her involvement will draw Lecter out.
After learning of Starling's public disgrace, Lecter sends her a taunting letter. Starling detects a strange fragrance from the letter. A perfume expert later identifies a skin cream whose ingredients are only available to a few shops in the world. She contacts the police departments of the cities where the shops are located, requesting surveillance tapes. In Florence, one of said cities, Chief Inspector Rinaldo Pazzi is investigating the disappearance of a library curator. Pazzi questions Lecter, who is masquerading as Dr. Fell, the assistant curator and caretaker.
Upon recognizing Dr. Fell in the surveillance tape, Pazzi accesses the ViCAP database of wanted fugitives. He then learns of Verger's US$3 million personal bounty on Lecter. Blinded by greed, Pazzi ignores Starling's warnings and attempts to capture Lecter alone. He recruits a pickpocket to obtain Lecter's fingerprint to show Verger as proof. The pickpocket, mortally wounded by Lecter, manages to get the print and provides it to Pazzi. Lecter baits Pazzi into an isolated room of the Palazzo Vecchio, ties him up, then disembowels and hangs him. He then heads back to the United States.
Verger bribes Justice Department official Paul Krendler to accuse Starling of withholding a note from Lecter, leading to her suspension. Lecter lures Starling to Union Station. Verger's men, having trailed Starling, capture and bring Lecter to Verger. Verger means to feed Lecter alive to a herd of wild boars bred specifically for this purpose. After her superiors refuse to act, Starling infiltrates Verger's estate. After neutralizing the two guards and freeing Lecter she is shot by a third guard that was in hiding. Lecter picks up an unconscious Starling just before the boars break through the doors, they are on their way out when Verger arrives. He orders his physician Cordell Doemling to shoot Lecter, but with Lecter's suggestion, Cordell shoves his hated boss into the pen. Lecter carries Starling and watches the boars eat Verger alive.
Lecter takes Starling to Krendler's secluded lake house and treats her wounds. When Krendler arrives for the Fourth of July, Lecter subdues and drugs him. Starling, disoriented by morphine and dressed in a black velvet evening gown, awakens to find Krendler seated at the table set for an elegant dinner. Weakened by the drugs, she looks on in horror as Lecter removes part of Krendler's prefrontal cortex, sautĂŠs it, and feeds it to him.
After the meal, Starling tries to attack Lecter but he overpowers her and the two share a kiss. Starling then handcuffs his wrist to hers. Hearing the police closing in, Lecter uses a meat cleaver to sever his own wrist in order to free their cuffed hands and escapes. Lecter is later seen on a flight with his own boxed lunch. As he prepares to eat his meal, including what is assumed to be part of a cooked brain, a young boy seated next to him asks to try some of his food. Initially reluctant, Lecter then lets the boy eat some of his lunch. | What happens to Krendler at the lake house? | [
"He is drugged by Lector",
"drugged and has brain eaten"
] |
The Little White Bird is a series of short episodes, including both accounts of the narrator's day-to-day activities in contemporary London and fanciful tales set in Kensington Gardens and elsewhere.The story is set in several locations; the earlier chapters are set in the town of London, contemporaneous to the time of Barrie's writing, and involving some time travel of a few years, and other fantasy elements, while remaining within the London setting. The middle chapters that later became Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens are set in London's famous Kensington Gardens, introduced by the statement that "All perambulators lead to Kensington Gardens". The Kensington Gardens chapters include detailed descriptions of the features of the Gardens, along with fantasy names given to the locations by the story's characters, especially after "Lock-Out Time", described by Barrie as the time at the end of the day when the park gates are closed to the public, and the fairies and other magical inhabitants of the park can move about more freely than during the daylight, when they must hide from ordinary people. The third section of the book, following the Kensington Gardens chapters, are again set generally in London, though there are some short returns to the Gardens that are not part of the Peter Pan stories. In a two-page diversion in chapter 24, Barrie brings the story to Patagonia, and a journey by ship returning to England at the "white cliffs of Albion". | Where was the ship in Pentagonia returned to? | [
"England",
"England"
] |
In 1981, Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) sits at a bus stop in Savannah, Georgia. As a feather floats down toward him, he picks it up and recalls his childhood in Greenbow, Alabama during the 1950s, being raised by a single mother (Sally Field), and having to wear leg braces. Despite being intellectually challenged, Forrest is admitted to public school. On his first day of school, Forrest meets Jenny Curran, who becomes his best friend and is also a victim of child molestation. With Jenny's encouragement, Forrest runs away from a group of bullies, struggling until his leg braces break off and he is able to run very fast. Years later, while fleeing the same group of bullies, he runs onto a football field during a practice observed by legendary coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, which gets him into the University of Alabama on a football scholarship and eventually meets President John F Kennedy as a member of the NCAA "All-American" team.
After graduation, he enlists in the army, where he excels at drill exercises and befriends fellow recruit Benjamin Buford Blue, nicknamed Bubba (Mykelti Williamson), an aspiring shrimp boat captain who suggests they go into the shrimp business together after the war. They are sent to Vietnam under Lieutenant Dan Taylor (Gary Sinise). Bubba is killed during an ambush which leaves many of their fellow soldiers wounded. Lieutenant Dan sustains major injuries and loses both his legs. Forrest is wounded in the buttocks while saving members of his platoon and is awarded the Medal of Honor, presented to him by President Lyndon B. Johnson at the White House. At an anti-war rally in Washington, Forrest reunites with Jenny, who has joined the Hippie movement after being expelled from college over topless photos of herself and experimenting with drugs. While recovering from his wounds, Forrest discovers an aptitude for ping-pong, eventually playing against the Chinese in ping-pong diplomacy. He runs into Lieutenant Dan, who is now in a wheelchair and has become an embittered drunk and receives Disability pension. Forrest moves in with Dan and they spend the holidays together, with Forrest explaining his and Bubba's plan to go into the shrimping business and his intentions to fulfill Bubba's dream, and meeting President Nixon and causing the Watergate scandal.
After being discharged from the Army, Gump returns to Alabama and makes US$25,000 from ping pong endorsements, which he uses to buy a shrimping boat, fulfilling his promise to Bubba. Lieutenant Dan joins Gump, and although they initially have little success, after Hurricane Carmen they are the only boat in the area left standing, and they begin to pull in huge amounts of shrimp. They use their income to buy an entire fleet of shrimp boats. Lieutenant Dan invests the money in Apple and they are financially secure for the rest of their lives. Forrest returns home when his mother falls terminally ill and stays with her until her death. Forrest donates much of his money to various causes and continues to live in the house where he grew up, taking a job as a grounds keeper. However he is lonely and often thinks of Jenny, who has been living a life of promiscuity and substance abuse. One day, she returns to Alabama and stays with Forrest. He asks her to marry him, but she declines due to her troubled past. However, they make love that night. After she leaves the next day, Forrest decides to go for a run, which turns into a coast-to-coast three-and-a-half year journey, bringing him national attention.
In present-day, Gump reveals that he is waiting at the bus stop because he received a letter from Jenny, who is now living in Savannah and had seen him on TV during his running and invited him to visit. Jenny reveals Forrest to be the father of her child, also named Forrest, and that she is suffering from an unknown virus (presumably HIV/AIDS or Hepatitis C as both were unknown diseases at the time and could be spread through intravenous drug use). Jenny proposes to Forrest, and he accepts. Forrest and Jenny return to Greenbow with Forrest Jr and are finally married; Lt. Dan attends the wedding with his fiancĂŠe Susan and has new prosthetic legs. Jenny eventually dies of her illness and Forrest becomes a devoted father to Forrest Jr. Later, Gump is waiting with his son for the school bus to pick him up for his first day of school. As the bus departs, the feather from the beginning of the film floats off into the air. | Which Hurricane wipes out Forrest's shrimping competition? | [
"Hurricane Carmen",
"Hurricane carmen"
] |
The narrative of Clotel plays with history by relating the "perilous antebellum adventures" of a young mixed-race slave Currer and her two light-skinned daughters fathered by Thomas Jefferson. Because the mother is a slave, according to partus sequitur ventrem, which Virginia adopted into law in 1662, her daughters are born into slavery. The book includes "several sub-plots" related to other slaves, religion and anti-slavery. Currer, described as "a bright mulatto" (meaning light-skinned) gives birth to two "near white" daughters: Clotel and Althesa.
After the death of Jefferson, Currer and her daughters are sold as slaves. Horatio Green, a white man, purchases Clotel and takes her as a common-law wife. They cannot legally marry under state laws against miscegenation.
Her mother Currer and sister Althesa remain "in a slave gang." Currer is eventually purchased by Mr. Peck, a preacher. She is enslaved until she dies from yellow fever, shortly before Peck's daughter was preparing to emancipate her.
Althesa marries her white master, Henry Morton, a Northerner, by passing as a white woman. They have daughters Jane and Ellen, who are educated. Although supporting abolition, Morton fails to manumit Althesa and their daughters. After Althesa and Morton both die, their daughters are enslaved. Ellen commits suicide to escape sexual enslavement, and Jane dies in slavery from heartbreak.
Green and Clotel have a daughter Mary, also mixed race of course, and majority white. When Green becomes ambitious and involved in local politics, he abandons his relationship with Clotel and Mary. He marries "a white woman who forces him to sell Clotel and enslave his child."
Clotel is sold to a planter in Vicksburg, Mississippi. There she meets William, another slave, and they plan a bold escape. Dressing as a white man, Clotel is accompanied by William acting as her slave; they travel and gain freedom by reaching the free state of Ohio. (This is based on the tactics of the 1849 escape by Ellen Craft and William Craft). William continues his flight to Canada (an estimated 30,000 fugitive slaves reached there by 1852). Clotel returns to Virginia to try to free her daughter Mary. After being captured in Richmond, Clotel is taken to Washington, DC for sale at its slave market. She escapes and is pursued through the city by slave catchers. Surrounded by them on the Long Bridge, she commits suicide by jumping to her death in the Potomac River.
Thus died Clotel, the daughter of Thomas Jefferson, a president of the United States.
窶披�窶年arrator of Clotel, Page 182
Mary is forced to work as a domestic slave for her father Horatio Green and his white wife. She arranges to trade places in prison with her lover, the slave George. He escapes to Canada. Sold to a slave trader, Mary is purchased by a French man who takes her to Europe. Ten years later, after the Frenchman's death, George and Mary reunite by chance in Dunkirk, France. The novel ends with their marriage. | What are the names of Henry and Althesa's daughters? | [
"Jane and Ellen",
"Jane and Ellen"
] |
The novel spans a period of 10 to 15 years and details the lives of Tom and Maggie Tulliver, siblings growing up at Dorlcote Mill on the River Floss at its junction with the more minor River Ripple near the village of St. Ogg's in Lincolnshire, England. Both the river and the village are fictional.
The novel is most probably set in the 1820s â a number of historical references place the events in the book after the Napoleonic Wars but before the Reform Act of 1832. It includes autobiographical elements, and reflects the disgrace that George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) herself experienced while in a lengthy relationship with a married man, George Henry Lewes.
Maggie Tulliver is the central character of the book. The story begins when she is 9 years old, 13 years into her parents' marriage. Her relationship with her older brother Tom, and her romantic relationships with Philip Wakem (a hunchbacked, sensitive, and intellectual friend) and with Stephen Guest (a vivacious young socialite in St. Ogg's and assumed fiancĂŠ of Maggie's cousin Lucy Deane) constitute the most significant narrative threads.
Tom and Maggie have a close yet complex bond, which continues throughout the novel. Their relationship is coloured by Maggie's desire to recapture the unconditional love her father provides before his death. Tom's pragmatic and reserved nature clashes with Maggie's idealism and fervor for intellectual gains and experience. Various family crises, including bankruptcy, Mr. Tulliver's rancorous relationship with Philip Wakem's father, which results in the loss of the mill, and Mr. Tulliver's untimely death, serve both to intensify Tom's and Maggie's differences and to highlight their love for each other. To help his father repay his debts, Tom leaves school to enter a life of business. He eventually finds a measure of success, restoring the family's former estate. Meanwhile, Maggie languishes in the impoverished Tulliver home, her intellectual aptitude wasted in her socially isolated state. She passes through a period of intense spirituality, during which she renounces the world, spurred by Thomas Ă Kempis's The Imitation of Christ.
This renunciation is tested by a renewed friendship with Philip Wakem, with whom she had developed a friendship while he and Tom were students together. Against the wishes of Tom and her father - who both despise the Wakems - Maggie secretly meets with Philip, and together they go for long walks through the woods. The relationship they forge is founded partially in Maggie's heartfelt pity for broken and neglected human beings, but it also serves as an outlet for her intellectual romantic desires. Philip's and Maggie's attraction is, in any case, inconsequential because of the family antipathy. Philip manages to coax a pledge of love from Maggie. When Tom discovers the relationship between the two, however, he forces his sister to renounce Philip, and with him her hopes of experiencing the broader, more cultured world he represents.
Several more years pass, during which Mr. Tulliver dies. Lucy Deane invites Maggie to come and stay with her and experience the life of cultured leisure that she enjoys. This includes long hours conversing and playing music with Lucy's suitor, Stephen Guest, a prominent St. Ogg's resident. Stephen and Maggie, against their rational judgments, become attracted to each other. The complication is compounded by Philip Wakem's friendship with Lucy and Stephen; he and Maggie are reintroduced, and Philip's love for her is rekindled, while Maggie, no longer isolated, enjoys the clandestine attentions of Stephen Guest, putting her past profession of love for Philip in question. Lucy intrigues to throw Philip and Maggie together on a short rowing trip down the Floss, but Stephen unwittingly takes a sick Philip's place. When Maggie and Stephen find themselves floating down the river, negligent of the distance they have covered, he proposes that they board a passing boat to the next substantial city, Mudport, and get married. Maggie is too tired to argue about it. Stephen takes advantage of her weariness and hails the boat. They are taken on board the boat, and during the trip to Mudport, Maggie struggles between her love for Stephen and her duties to Philip and Lucy, which were established when she was poor, isolated, and dependent on them for what good her life contained. Upon arrival in Mudport she rejects Stephen and makes her way back to St. Ogg's, where she lives for a brief period as an outcast, Stephen having fled to Holland. Although she immediately goes to Tom for forgiveness and shelter, he roughly sends her away, telling her that she will never again be welcome under his roof. Both Lucy and Philip forgive her, in a moving reunion and in an eloquent letter, respectively.
Maggie's brief exile ends when the river floods. The flood has been criticised as a deus ex machina. Those who do not support this view cite the frequent references to flood as foreshadowing, which makes this natural occurrence less contrived. Having struggled through the waters in a boat to find Tom at the old mill, she sets out with him to rescue Lucy Deane and her family. In a brief tender moment, the brother and sister are reconciled from all past differences. When their boat capsizes, the two drown in an embrace, thus giving the book its Biblical epigraph: "In their death they were not divided". | Maggie ends up conversing and playing music with Lucy Deane's suitor, who is this suitor? | [
"Stephen Guest",
"Stephan Guest."
] |
The dramatists chose to portray only the beginning of the story of Caesar and Cleopatra in their play; they concentrate on the events of 48 BC. The play is set in Egypt; at its start, the Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII has sequestered his sister/wife/queen Cleopatra and has assumed sole rule of the kingdom, and the Battle of Pharsalia has not yet occurred. By the play's end, Caesar has deposed Ptolemy and placed Cleopatra in sole possession of the Egyptian crown. The play's Prologue specifically states that the work shows a virginal "Young Cleopatra...and her great Mind / Express'd to the height...." Some of the famous aspects of the story are reproduced in the play: Cleopatra has herself delivered to Caesar in Act III, though enclosed in a "packet" rather than rolled up in a rug.
The playwrights chose to concentrate much of their attention on the figure of Lucius Septimius, the Roman officer who betrayed, murdered, and decapitated Pompey the Great when Pompey landed in Egypt after his Pharsalia defeat (events depicted in Act II). Septimius is the "false one" of the title, and his prominence comes close to turning the work into a "villain play." Yet Septimius is portrayed as lacking any redeeming or sympathetic quality, making him a weak prop on which to mount a drama. The authors' choice in this matter may have been dictated by their desire to comment on contemporaneous political events; in this interpretation, the Pompey of the play represents Sir Walter Raleigh, executed in 1618, while the loathsome reprobate Septimius stands for Raleigh's primary accuser, Sir Lewis Stukeley.
Critics have seen the influence of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra in The False One, and have suggested that the portrayal of Septimius was partially modelled on Shakespeare's Enobarbus. The False One is heavily dominated by political material, rather than dramatic realisations of its characters; for some critics, the split in the play's focus among Cleopatra, Caesar, and Septimius prevents the play from cohering into an effective dramatic whole. | In what time are the events of the story focused? | [
"48 BC",
"48 BC"
] |
Dave, Mike, Cyril, and Moocher are working-class friends living in the college town of Bloomington, Indiana. Now turning 19, they all graduated from high school the year before and are not sure what to do with their lives. They spend much of their time together swimming in an old abandoned water-filled quarry, but also often clash with the more affluent Indiana University students in their hometown, who habitually refer to them as "cutters", a derogatory term for locals stemming from the local Indiana Limestone industry and the stonecutters who worked the quarries.
Dave is obsessed with competitive bicycle racing, and Italian racers in particular, because he recently won a Masi bicycle. His down-to-earth father Ray, a former stonecutter who now operates his own used car business (sometimes unethically), is puzzled and exasperated by his son's love of Italian music and culture, which Dave associates with cycling. However, his mother Evelyn is more understanding.
Dave develops a crush on a university student named Katherine and masquerades as an Italian exchange student in order to romance her. One evening, he serenades "Katerina" outside her sorority house (Friedrich von Flotow's aria "M' ApparĂŹ Tutt' Amor"), with Cyril providing guitar accompaniment. When her boyfriend Rod finds out, he and some of his fraternity brothers beat Cyril up, mistaking him for Dave. Though Cyril wants no trouble, Mike insists on tracking down Rod and starting a brawl. The university president (real-life then President Dr. John W. Ryan) reprimands the students for their arrogance toward the "cutters" and, over their objections, invites the latter to participate in the annual Indiana University Little 500 race.
When a professional Italian cycling team comes to town for a race, Dave is thrilled to be competing with them. However, the Italians become irked when Dave is able to keep up with them. One of them jams a tire pump in Dave's wheel, causing him to crash, which leaves him disillusioned and depressed. He subsequently confesses his deception to Katherine, who tearfully slaps him before storming off.
Dave's friends persuade him to join them in forming a cycling team for the Little 500. Dave's parents provide T-shirts with the name "Cutters" on them. Ray privately tells his son how, when he was a young stonecutter, he was proud to help provide the material to construct the university, yet he never felt comfortable on campus. Later, Dave runs into Katherine, who's going to be leaving for a job in Chicago; they patch things up, and she wishes him luck in the race.
Dave is so much better than the other competitors in the Little 500 that while the college teams switch cyclists every few laps, he rides without a break and builds up a sizable lead. However, he is injured in a crash and has to stop. After some hesitation, Moocher, Cyril, and Mike take turns pedaling, but soon the Cutters' lead vanishes. Finally Dave has them tape his feet to the pedals and starts to make up lost ground; he overtakes Rod, the current rider for the favored fraternity team, on the last lap and wins for the jubilant Cutters. Ray is proud of his son's accomplishment and takes to riding a bicycle himself. Dave later enrolls at the university himself, where he meets a pretty French student. Soon, he is extolling to her the virtues of the Tour de France and French cyclists. | How was Dave able to continue the Little 500 race after being injured? | [
"his feet were taped to the bike pedals",
"Moocher, Cyril and Mike take turns pedaling for Dave."
] |
The protagonist is a boy named Rob Joslyn. His age is not specified. Baum dedicated the book "To My Son, Robert Stanton Baum," who was born in 1886 and would thus have been about fifteen at the time it was published.
Rob is an electrical experimenter whose father encourages him and sees that he "never lacked batteries, motors or supplies of any sort." A "net-work[sic] of wires soon ran throughout the house". He loses track of the elaborately interconnected wires, and trying to get a cardboard house to light up, he "experimented in a rather haphazard fashion, connecting this and that wire blindly and by guesswork, in the hope that he would strike the right combination." There is a bright flash, and a being who calls himself the Demon of Electricity appears. He tells Rob that he has accidentally "touched the Master Key of Electricity" and is entitled "to demand from me three gifts each week for three successive weeks." Rob protests that he does not know what to ask for, and the Demon agrees to select the gifts himself.
During the first week, the Demon gives Rob three gifts:
a silver box of food tablets, each one of which provides sufficient nourishment for a whole day
a "small tube" which can direct "an electric current" at a foe, rendering him unconscious for the period of one hour
a wristwatch-sized transportation device, which allows the wearer to fly at any height and travel at high speeds in any direction, when it is working properly. It is, however, somewhat fragile and becomes damaged and unreliable during Rob's adventures, creating predicaments for him.
During the second week, the Demon gives Rob three additional gifts:
a "garment of protection," which renders him invulnerable to bullets, swords, or other physical attack
a "record of events," which provides remote views of important events taking place in any part of the world at any time within the last twenty-four hours
A "character marker," a set of spectacles: "while you wear them every one you meet will be marked upon the forehead with a letter indicating his or her character. The good will bear the letter 'G,' the evil the letter 'E.' The wise will be marked with a 'W' and the foolish with an 'F.' The kind will show a 'K' upon their foreheads and the cruel a letter 'C.'"
Over the next two weeks, Rob experiences adventures exploring the use of the Demon's gifts, but eventually concludes that neither he nor the world is ready for them. On the third week, Rob rejects the Demon's gifts and tells him to bide his time until humankind knows how to use them. The Demon leaves. With a light heart, Rob concludes that he made the right decision.
Like some of Baum's adult novels, The Master Key features encounters with real historical figures of the period, such as King Edward of Britain, President Loubet of France, and the Duke of OrlĂŠans. | Why does Rob decide not to keep the gifts? | [
"Humankind isn't ready for them yet. ",
"He does not think the world is ready for them."
] |
Heroin addict Mark Renton and his circle of friends are introduced: amoral con artist Simon "Sick Boy" Williamson (also an addict), simple-minded, friendly Daniel "Spud" Murphy (another addict), clean-cut athlete Tommy MacKenzie, and psychopath Francis "Franco" Begbie, who picks fights with people who get in his way.
Renton decides to quit heroin and buys opium rectal suppositories from dealer Mikey Forrester to ease the transition. After his final hit (and a violent spell of diarrhea caused by cessation of heroin) he locks himself into a cheap hotel room to endure withdrawal. He later goes with his friends to a club, finding that his sex drive has returned, he eventually leaves with a young woman named Diane, and they have sex in her home. In the morning, he realises that Diane is a 15-year-old schoolgirl and that her "flatmates" are actually her parents. Anxious, Renton tries to ignore the incident, but is forced to remain in touch after Diane blackmails him.
Spud, Sick Boy, and Renton start using heroin again. Tommy, whose girlfriend dumped him after a chain of events initiated by Renton, begins using as well. One day the group's heroin-induced stupor is abruptly interrupted when Allison, their friend and fellow addict, discovers that her infant daughter Dawn has died from neglect without any of the group noticing. All are horrified, especially Sick Boy, who is implied to have secretly been Dawn's father.
Renton and Spud are caught stealing from a bookshop and arrested. Spud goes to prison, but Renton avoids punishment by entering a Drug Interventions Programme, where he is given methadone. Despite support from his family, Renton is desperate for a more substantial high and escapes to his drug dealer's flat, where he nearly dies of an overdose, and his dealer sends him to hospital in a taxicab. After he leaves the hospital Renton's parents take him home and lock him in his old bedroom to force him through withdrawal. As Renton goes through severe withdrawal symptoms, he has nightmares of Diane singing on the bed, his friends giving him advice, Allison's dead baby crawling on the ceiling, and an imagined TV game show in which host Dale Winton asks Renton's parents questions about HIV.
Renton is finally roused from his nightmares and hallucinations by his parents, who tell him he needs to get tested. Despite years of sharing syringes with other addicts, Renton tests negative. Low-spirited and depressed, he visits Tommy, who has succumbed to addiction and is now severely ill and HIV-positive. Renton moves to London and takes a job as a property letting agent. He begins to enjoy his new life of sobriety and saves up money on the side while corresponding with Diane. However, Begbie, who has committed an armed robbery, and Sick Boy, now a pimp and drug dealer, move into Renton's bedsit unannounced, to Renton's annoyance.
In Edinburgh, Tommy dies from HIV-related toxoplasmosis and the three travel back to Scotland for his funeral. They meet Spud, who has been released from prison. Sick Boy suggests a lucrative but dangerous heroin transaction, but needs Renton to supply half of the initial ÂŁ4,000. Renton injects himself with a sample to test the heroin's purity. The four sell the heroin to a dealer for ÂŁ16,000. During their celebration at a pub, Renton secretly suggests to Spud that they steal the money, but Spud is too scared of Begbie to even consider it. Renton is finally fed up with Begbie after witnessing him glass and then severely beat a man who he bumped into, causing beer to be spilt on him. Early in the morning as the others sleep, Renton quietly takes the money from sleeping Begbie's arms. Spud wakes up just as Renton is leaving the hotel room. The pair stare at each other for a few moments until Renton walks out, Spud remains silent and does not tell the others. When Begbie awakens, he destroys the hotel room in a violent rage, the police arrive causing Spud and Sick Boy to flee. Renton reiterates his vow to live a stable, traditional life and leaves Spud ÂŁ2,000. | How does Renton avoid prison? | [
"Entering a Drug Interventions programme",
"By entering a Drug Interventions Programme."
] |
The tale opens in Boston and New England in the middle of the 19th century, and describes the experiences of two European siblings shifting from the old to the new world. The two protagonists are Eugenia Münster and Felix Young, who since their early childhood have lived in Europe, moving from France to Italy and from Spain to Germany. In this last place, Eugenia entered into a Morganatic marriage with Prince Adolf of Silberstadt-Schreckenstein, the younger brother of the reigning prince who is now being urged by his family to dissolve the marriage for political reasons. Because of this, Eugenia and Felix decide to travel to America to meet their distant cousins, so that Eugenia may "seek her fortune" in the form of a wealthy American husband.
All the cousins live in the countryside around Boston and spend a lot of time together. The first encounter with them corresponds to the first visit of Felix to his family. Mr Wentworth’s family is a puritanical one, far from the Europeans' habits. Felix is fascinated by the patriarchal Mr Wentworth, his son, Clifford, and two daughters, Gertrude and Charlotte. They spend a lot of time together with Mr. Robert Acton and his sister Lizzie, their neighbours.
Eugenia’s reaction after this first approach differs from Felix’s. She is not really interested in sharing her time with this circle. She doesn’t like the Wentworth ladies and does not want to visit them frequently. In contrast, her brother is very happy to share his spare time with Charlotte and Gertrude, spending hours in their piazza or garden creating portraits of the two ladies.Eugenia and her brother Felix arrive in Boston. The next day Felix visits their cousins. He first meets Gertrude, who is shirking attendance at church. He stays over for dinner. The next day Eugenia visits them. Three days later their uncle Mr Wentworth suggests they stay in a little house close to theirs. Felix suggests making a portrait of his uncle. When Mr. Wentworth refuses, he makes plans to do a painting of Gertrude instead. The latter walks into Mr Brand again and bursts out crying when he asserts that he still loves her. She then sits for Felix to do his painting of her, and he reproaches his American relatives for being very puritanical.
Eugenia is talking and flirting with Robert Acton; she says she will divorce her husband. She visits Mrs Acton and says a white lie - that her son has been talking about her a lot - which comes across as a terrible faux-pas. Later, Mr Wentworth tells Felix that Clifford got suspended from Harvard owing to his drinking problem, and that he is improperly in love with Lizzie Acton - Felix suggests fixing him up with Eugenia instead. Later still, Gertrude tells him her father wants her to marry Mr Brand, though she doesn't love him. Mr Brand then criticizes Felix. Gertrude emotionally blackmails Charlotte into keeping him from talking to her, lest she tell him Charlotte likes him. Clifford then visits Eugenia. Robert Acton goes to the Wentworths' but Eugenia is not in their house; he goes into hers and asks her about the divorce note and going to see the Niagara Falls with him. Clifford comes out of his hiding place; the two men get back together.
Felix tells Eugenia he wants to marry Gertrude; she admits to being unsure of Robert. Mr Brand then visits Felix, who tells him Charlotte likes him. Eugenia gives her farewell to Mrs Acton as she prepares to move back to Europe. She walks into Robert, who says he loves her - she has sent the divorce letter; he will have to join her in Europe. Later, Felix asks Charlotte to tell her father he would be a good prospective husband for Gertrude. He then meets with his beloved again, and she says she would leave her family with him.
Three days later, Felix decides to visit his uncle and tell him he wants to marry Gertrude. The latter turns up and tells her father the same thing. Mr Brand asks for Mr Wentworth's consent to marry Gertrude and Felix - he agrees. Mr Brand and Charlotte later marry. Clifford has proposed to Lizzie Acton; Eugenia, however, has repudiated Robert Acton, not actually signed the divorce note, and is traveling back to Europe. Years later, after his mother's funeral, Robert would find a 'nice young girl'... | Who does Felix decide to paint? | [
"Gertrude",
"Gertrude"
] |
As a storm approaches a southern Louisiana bayou community called the "Bathtub" (a community cut off from the rest of the world by a levee), six-year-old Hushpuppy and her ailing, hot-tempered father Wink are optimistic about their life and their future. The children in school are being taught by Miss Bathsheba about nature and the release of prehistoric creatures called "Aurochs" from the melting ice caps. At home, Hushpuppy fends for herself while her father is missing. When he returns, he is wearing a hospital gown and bracelet. They argue, and when Hushpuppy returns to her house, she deliberately sets it on fire. A chase ensues between the two, and she ends up getting slapped by Wink. When she retaliates by punching him in the chest, Wink collapses. Hushpuppy, realizing the damage she has caused, runs for help only to find her father missing when she returns.
Meanwhile, in the Arctic, the frozen Aurochs in an ice shelf start drifting into the ocean.
Many of the Bathtub residents start fleeing due to the threat of an approaching storm. Wink reappears, staggering along the side of the road; he finds Hushpuppy and takes her home to start barricading before the storm hits. In an effort to make his daughter feel better, Wink attempts to scare off the storm by firing a rifle at the clouds. The next day, the two tour the devastation and connect with surviving residents.
The Bathtub residents celebrate and make plans to rebuild their community, but the environment is damaged because of the salt water brought in by the storm surge to fresh waters. Wink hatches a plan to drain the water away by destroying the levee. He and a small group of friends plant dynamite and blow a hole in the wall using an alligator gar, and the water recedes. Authorities arrive and enforce a mandatory evacuation order, removing the residents of the Bathtub to an emergency shelter. Wink receives surgery, but it is too late to restore his health. At the first opportunity, the evacuees leave and escape back to their homes.
Aware of her fatherâs condition, Hushpuppy searches for her absent mother. She and her friends swim to a boat, which takes them to a floating bar, known as the Elysian Fields. Hushpuppy meets a cook who may be her mother, though the woman doesn't recognize her. The cook says that the girl can stay with her if she wants, but Hushpuppy says that she's got to go home. Hushpuppy and her friends return home where she confronts the Aurochs. As the Aurochs leave, Hushpuppy returns home. She says her last goodbyes to the dying Wink, listening to his last heartbeat. She sets his funeral pyre ablaze, standing together with the remaining residents of the Bathtub. | What does Hushpuppy do to the house? | [
"Sets it on fire. ",
"She burned her house"
] |
The film begins with Jeff Patterson, a patient at a mental hospital in Maryland, receiving drugs through a feeding tube. Moments later, he is in a padded room with a straight jacket on, throwing his body against the padded walls.
The film cuts to November 1999, when a group of young tourists—Stephen and his pregnant wife, Tristen, who are researching the Blair Witch for a book they are writing; Erica, a Wiccan; and Kim, a goth psychic—arrive in Burkittsville, Maryland, after seeing The Blair Witch Project. Jeff, a local man, is their tour guide and a paranormal investigator who says his equipment will capture any supernatural events that happen while they visit the Blair Witch site.
They camp for the night in the ruins of Rustin Parr's house, and Jeff places cameras around to capture anything supernatural. As the group gets drunk around a campfire, another tour group arrives and claims to have jurisdiction over the ruins. Jeff and his group convince the others that they saw something horrifying at Coffin Rock earlier, and the other group leaves to investigate. Jeff and his group wake the next morning with no memory of the previous night. Tristen and Stephen's research documents are shredded and strewn about, and Jeff's cameras are destroyed. However, Jeff's tapes are found unharmed in the same spot the Blair Witch Project footage was discovered. Tristen notices that she is bleeding and has miscarried.
The group goes to the Burkittsville hospital, where Tristen's miscarriage is confirmed. As she is about to be discharged, Tristen sees a ghostly young girl walking away backwards. Jeff takes the group back to his home, an abandoned broom factory against a steep hill in the woods. It has an elaborate security system, surveillance cameras, and a front door alarm. That evening, the group reviews Jeff's tapes and find hours of footage to be missing. Only one scene remains, which depicts a naked Erica holding onto a tree and swinging around it backward. Erica remembers no such event and runs off to pray, weeping as she does so. Each of the members of the group now begins to have hallucinations of horrible things (like eating a dead owl, murdering someone, or being locked in an asylum). Kim borrows Jeff's van to drive in to town to pick up food and alcohol, and has a heated argument with the convenience store cashier. The van she drives is attacked by locals as she leaves, and she crashes the vehicle into a telephone pole after swerving to avoid ghostly children walking along the road. Back at Jeff's, she reaches into her shopping bag and pricks herself on a small, bloody nail file stuck among the bottles of beer she purchased.
The three tourists decide to leave the next morning, but Erica mysteriously disappears and no one heard the front door "barking dog" alarm sound to indicate she'd left. Kim discovers Erica's clothes, surrounded by a circle of lit candles. They attempt to call Erica's father at his office, but are told by his secretary that he has no children. Jeff discovers his van is wrecked, but Kim says she had only dented the fender. The county sheriff calls to say that the other tour group was found disemboweled on Coffin Rock. He demands that Jeff reveal what he knows about the crime, but Jeff denies any involvement and hangs up. Kim decides to call for help, but while looking for a telephone directory discovers dossiers on each of the tourists in Jeff's desk. Tristen (whose mental health is rapidly deteriorating) suddenly claims she can see Erica through a window, naked and swinging around a tree. Stephen runs outside to confront Erica, but the walkway connecting the building to the hill collapses under him when he does so. As he climbs to safety, Stephen sees the same girl Tristen did in the hospital. The sheriff calls again and says he is at Jeff's front door. The security monitor shows the bridge is now intact. Jeff hears the sheriff shouting at the door, goes downstairs, grabs a shotgun from a closet, and opens the door—but the bridge has returned to its damaged state and the sheriff is nowhere. Stephen, Kim, and Tristen arrive as Jeff opens the closet to put the gun away, and all three discover Erica's corpse in the closet.
Tristen, in a hallucinatory state, chants about "reversing the evil," leading Kim to suggest they play Jeff's damaged tapes in reverse. The footage now shows Tristen leading the group in satanic worship and a drunken orgy, followed by a subsequent ritual murder of the other tour group. Jeff begins taping Tristen as Stephen demands that she confess to killing Erica. Tristen alternately sneers at the others and asks them for help, luring them to the second floor. Stephen accuses Tristen of deliberately killing their baby. Tristen ties a rope around her own neck, threatening to kill herself. Stephen pushes her over the second-floor banister in a moment of rage, and causes her to hang herself.
After a jump cut, the audience sees that Jeff, Stephen, and Kim have been arrested. Each is interrogated separately, with the police showing each person footage of their crimes. Security camera footage shows Kim stabbing the cashier in the neck with the cashier's nail file. Surveillance camera footage shows a naked Jeff killing Erica, arranging her clothes, and putting her dead body in the closet. Jeff's video shows Stephen assaulting Tristen, accusing her of being a witch and pushing her over the banister (but not Tristen putting the rope around her own neck). All three, close to a nervous breakdown, protest they never did any of those things. | Which of the group goes missing first? | [
"Erica",
"The tour group. "
] |
Pierre Delacroix (whose real name is Peerless Dothan), is an uptight, Harvard University-educated black man, working for the television network CNS. At work, he has to endure torment from his boss Thomas Dunwitty, a tactless, boorish white man. Not only does Dunwitty use AAVE, and use the word "nigger" repeatedly in conversations, he also proudly proclaims that he is more black than Delacroix and that he can use nigger since he is married to a black woman and has two mixed-race children. Dunwitty frequently rejects Delacroix's scripts for television series that portray black people in positive, intelligent scenarios, dismissing them as "Cosby clones".
In an effort to escape his contract through being fired, Delacroix develops a minstrel show with the help of his personal assistant Sloane Hopkins. Mantan: The New Millennium Minstrel Show features black actors in blackface, extremely racist jokes and puns, and offensively stereotyped CGI-animated cartoons that caricature the leading stars of the new show. Delacroix and Hopkins recruit two impoverished street performers â Manray, named after American artist Man Ray, and Womack â to star in the show. While Womack is horrified when Delacroix tells him details about the show, Manray sees it as his big chance to become rich and famous for his tap-dancing skills.
To Delacroix's horror, not only does Dunwitty enthusiastically endorse the show, it also becomes hugely successful. As soon as the show premieres, Manray and Womack become big stars, while Delacroix, contrary to his original stated intent, defends the show as being satirical. Delacroix quickly embraces the show, his newfound fame and awards while Hopkins becomes horrified at the racist nightmare she has helped to unleash. Meanwhile, an underground, militant rap group called the Mau Maus, led by Hopkins' older brother Julius, becomes increasingly angry at the content of the show. Though they had earlier unsuccessfully auditioned for the program's live band position, the group plans to bring the show down using violence.
Eventually, Womack quits, fed up with the show and Manray's increasing ego. Manray and Hopkins grow closer, which angers Delacroix. When he attempts to sabotage their relationship, they only grow closer. Delacroix confronts Hopkins, and when she lashes back at him, he fires her. Then she shows him a videotape she created of racist footage culled from assorted media to shame Delacroix into stopping production of the show, but he refuses to watch it. After an argument with Delacroix, Manray realizes he is being exploited and defiantly announces that he will no longer wear blackface. He appears in front of the studio audience, who are all in blackface, during a TV taping and does his dance number in his regular clothing. The network executives immediately turn against Manray, and Dunwitty (who is also wearing blackface) fires him.
The Mau Maus kidnap Manray and announce his public execution via live webcast. The authorities work feverishly to track down the source of the internet feed, but Manray is nevertheless assassinated while doing his famous tap dancing. At his office, Delacroix (now in blackface make-up himself, mourning Manray's death) fantasizes that the various coon-themed antique collectibles in his office are staring him down and coming to life; in a rage, he destroys many of the racist collectibles. The police kill all the members of The Mau Maus except for a white member known as "One-Sixteenth Black", who tearfully proclaims that he is "black" and demands to die with the rest of his group.
Furious, Hopkins confronts Delacroix at gunpoint with her brother's revolver and demands that he play her tape. As the tape plays, Hopkins reminds him of the lives that were ruined because of his actions. Then Delacroix tries to get the gun from her, but is shot in the stomach. Hopkins, horrified, flees while proclaiming that it was Delacroix's own fault that he got shot. Delacroix, holding the gun in his hands to make his gunshot wound appear self-inflicted, watches the tape as he lies dying on the floor. The film concludes with a long montage of racially insensitive and demeaning clips of black characters from Hollywood films of the first half of the 20th century. After the montage, as the cameras point to Delacroix's dead body on the floor, the camera then shows Manray doing his last Mantan sequence on stage. | What does Manray wish to become famous for? | [
"His tap-dancing skills. ",
"His tap dancing talent."
] |
The story starts with a comet called Gallia, that touches the Earth in its flight and collects a few small chunks of it. The disaster occurred on January 1 of the year 188x in the area around Gibraltar. On the territory that was carried away by the comet there remained a total of thirty-six people of French, English, Spanish and Russian nationality. These people did not realize at first what had happened, and considered the collision an earthquake.
They first noticed weight loss: Captain Servadac's adjutant Ben Zoof to his amazement, jumped twelve meters high. Zoof with Servadac also soon noticed that the alternation of day and night is shortened to six hours, that east and west changed sides, and that water begins to boil at 66 degrees Celsius, from which they rightly deduced that atmosphere became thinner and pressure dropped. At the beginning of their stay in Gallia they noticed the Earth with the Moon, but thought it was an unknown planet. Other important information was obtained through their research expedition with a ship, which the comet also took.
During the voyage they discovered a mountain chain blocking the sea, which they initially considered to be the Mediterranean Sea and then they found the island of Formentera (before the catastrophe a part of the Balearic Islands), where they found a French astronomer Palmyrin Rosette, who helped them to solve all the mysterious phenomena. They were all on the comet which was discovered by Rosette a year ago and predicted a collision course with Earth, but no one believed the astronomer, because a layer of thick fog at the time prevented astronomical observations in other places.
As found by a new research expedition, the circumference of Gallia was 2320Â km. The mass of the comet was calculated by Rosette. He determined it at 209,346 billion tonnes. For the calculation he used spring scales and forty 5-franc silver coins, the weight of which on earth equaled exactly to one kilogram. However, the owner of the scales, Isaac Hakkabut, had rigged the instrument, so the results had to be cut by a quarter.
Involuntary travelers through the Solar system did not have any hope for long-term colonization of their new world, because they were lacking arable land. They ate mainly the animals that were left on the land carried away by Gallia. One strange phenomenon they met was that the sea on the comet did not freeze, even though the temperature dropped below the freezing point (theory that the stationary water level resists freezing level for longer than when a rippled by wind). Once a stone was thrown into the sea, the sea froze in a few moments. The ice was completely smooth and allowed skating and sleigh sailing.
Despite the dire situation in which the castaways found themselves, old power disputes from Earth continued on Gallia, because the French and English officers considered themselves the representatives of their respective governments. The object of their interest was for example previously Spanish Ceuta, which became an island on the comet and which both parties started to consider an unclaimed territory. Captain Servadac therefore attempted to occupy Ceuta, but was not successful. It turned out that the island had been occupied by Englishmen, who maintained a connection to their base at Gibraltar through optical telegraph.
Gallia got to an extreme point of its orbit and then began its return to Earth. In early November Rossete's refined calculations showed that there will be a new collision with the Earth, exactly two years after the first, again on January 1. Therefore, the idea appeared to leave the comet collision in a balloon. The proposal was approved and the castaways made a balloon out of the sails of their ship. In mid-December there was an earthquake, in which Gallia partially fell apart and lost a fragment, which probably killed all Englishmen in Ceuta and Gibraltar. When on January 1 there was again a contact between the atmospheres of Gallia and Earth, the space castaways left in the balloon and landed safely two kilometers from Mostaganem in Algeria. | Who had rigged the spring scales? | [
"Isaac Hakkabut",
"Isaac Hakkabut, the owner of the instrument"
] |
In 1799, New York City police constable Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp) is facing imprisonment for going against traditional methods. Ichabod submits to deployment to the Westchester County hamlet of Sleepy Hollow, New York, which has been plagued by a series of brutal slayings in which the victims are found decapitated: Peter Van Garrett (Martin Landau), a wealthy farmer; his son Dirk; and the widow Emily Winship. Crane is informed that the killer is an undead headless Hessian mercenary from the American Revolutionary War who rides on a black steed in search of his missing head.
Crane begins his investigation, remaining skeptical about the supernatural elements until he actually encounters the Headless Horseman, who kills the town magistrate, Samuel Phillipse (Richard Griffiths). Boarding at the home of the town's richest family, the Van Tassels, Crane is taken with their daughter Katrina (Christina Ricci). Crane and Young Masbath, the son of one of the Horseman's victims, go to the cave dwelling of a reclusive sorceress. She reveals the location of the Tree of the Dead, which marks the Horseman's grave, as well as his portal into the natural world.
Crane discovers that the ground is freshly disturbed and the Horseman's skeleton has the skull missing. He realizes that whoever dug up and stole the skull is the person controlling the Horseman. The Killian family are taken by the Horseman and Katrina's suitor Brom van Brunt (Casper Van Dien) is killed trying to stop the Horseman.
Crane starts to believe that a conspiracy links all the deaths together, so he looks into Van Garrett's Last Will. Van Garrett had made a new will just before he died, leaving all his possessions to his new bride, Emily Winship. Crane deduces that all who knew about the new will were the victims of Horseman and that Katrina's father Baltus Van Tassel (Michael Gambon), who would have inherited the fortune, is the person holding the skull. Katrina, finding out that Crane suspects her father, burns the evidence that Crane has accumulated.
A council is held in the church. The Horseman seemingly kills Katrina's stepmother, Lady Van Tassel, and heads off to the church to get Baltus. Crane realizes the Horseman can't enter the church due to it being holy. A fight breaks out in the church and the chaos ends only when the Horseman harpoons Baltus through a window, dragging him out and acquiring his head. The next day, Crane believes Katrina to be the one who controls the Headless Horsemen.
Crane becomes suspicious when the corpse of Lady Van Tassel has a wound that seems to have been caused post-mortem. The real Lady Van Tassel (Miranda Richardson) then emerges, alive. Lady Van Tassel tells Katrina that her family was driven from their ancestral home by the Van Garretts, and that she became a witch and summoned the Horseman to kill them off and make herself sole heir to the family fortune. She then sends the killer after Katrina to solidify her hold on what she considers her rightful property.
Following a fight and a stagecoach chase, Crane eventually thwarts Lady Van Tassel by throwing the skull to the Horseman, which causes his head to become reattached to his body and the curse broken. The Horseman, no longer under Lady Van Tassel's control, simultaneously kisses and bites her, and hoists her up on his horse. He then rides to Hell, taking her with him, fulfilling her end of the deal with the Devil. Crane returns home to New York with Katrina and Young Masbath, just in time for the new century. | When did the city police constable believe that something supernatural was happening in Sleepy Hallow? | [
"when he encountered the Headless Horseman",
"When he encounters the mercenary."
] |
In His Steps takes place in the railroad town of Raymond, probably located in the eastern U.S.A. (Chicago, IL and the coast of Maine are mentioned as being accessible by train), and Chicago Illinois. The main character is the Rev. Henry Maxwell, pastor of the First Church of Raymond, who challenges his congregation to not do anything for a whole year without first asking: “What Would Jesus Do?” Other characters include Ed Norman, senior editor of the Raymond Daily Newspaper, Rachel Winslow, a talented singer, and Virginia Page, an heiress, to name a few.
The novel begins on a Friday morning when a man out of work (later identified as Jack Manning) appears at the front door of Henry Maxwell while the latter is preparing for that Sunday’s upcoming sermon. Maxwell listens to the man’s helpless plea briefly before brushing him away and closing the door. The same man appears in church at the end of the Sunday sermon, walks up to “the open space in front of the pulpit,” and faces the people. No one stops him. He quietly but frankly confronts the congregation—“I’m not complaining; just stating facts.”—about their compassion, or apathetic lack thereof, for the jobless like him in Raymond. Upon finishing his address to the congregation, he collapses, and dies a few days later.
That next Sunday, Henry Maxwell, deeply moved by the events of the past week, presents a challenge to his congregation: “Do not do anything without first asking, ‘What would Jesus do?’” This challenge is the theme of the novel and is the driving force of the plot. From this point on, the rest of the novel consists of certain episodes that focus on individual characters as their lives are transformed by the challenge.
Norman decides not to print a prize fight, and to discontinue the Sunday edition, leaving a drop in subscriptions. Alexander Powers starts a small meeting for the railroad men, but also discovers the railroad's fraud against the ICC. He resigns his post, and goes to work as a telegraph clerk. Rollin Page proposes to Rachel Winslow, who rejects him, because he has no direction. Later Rachel and Virginia help Mr. and Mrs. Gray with meetings in the Rectangle (an area surrounded by saloons), and Rollin experiences conversion. Later, Virginia takes Laureen, a drunken lady who was earlier converted, to her house, to the dismay of her grandmother who leaves for high society. Jasper Chase, against the "What Would Jesus Do" vow, decides to print his novel anyways. Virginia later uses her inheritance to buy the Rectangle property and also to help Norman's newspaper. Rollin, having a purpose for his life helping people, declares love for Rachel.
Chapters 16–24 shift the action to Chicago, with Dr. Calvin Bruce from Chicago visiting Raymond, and writing what he saw. He then decides to try similarly. Dr. Bruce does a similar pledge. His bishop, Bishop Edward Hampton visits him also. Rachel's cousins, Felicia and Rose are orphaned when their father commits suicide and their mother dies of shock. They go to live in Raymond for a little bit. Dr. Bruce and the Bishop start a work in the Settlement (similar to the Rectangle), with help from Felicia. The Bishop is held up, but the robber realizes the Bishop was the same person who helped him, and he reforms. Some of the characters from the earlier chapters, such as Henry Maxwell, Rachel Winslow, appear to see the work in the Settlement. The last chapter has a vision Henry Maxwell sees, telling some of the future of many of the characters in the book.Jesus appears quietly at first, to one person and then to an expanding group of people in the small town of Raymond. He gradually draws more and more attention, including crowds. Jesus goes from Raymond to New York City and then Washington D.C., at points making a public splash, including media attention. The non-stereotypical character of Jesus seems fully capable of supernatural power (not showing up in pictures, for example), but chooses a nondescript mode of presenting himself. He does not appear to do dramatic public acts such as healing, but instead speaks words of comfort or lends practical help. He has views but relays them with understatement. He wears ordinary business clothes, at times blends into a crowd, and is not memorable in appearance. He is humble, practical and personable. His impact upon lives is not through obvious miracles, but old-fashioned kindness, care, and encouragement. | Who appears in Rev. Maxwell's vision, first to a crowd in Raymond, then New York, then Washington DC? | [
"Jesus",
"Jack Manning"
] |
Tom Swift's father has been working diligently on a secret project, which he reveals at the beginning of the book as a submarine. With the submarine, named the Advance, he plans to enter a contest for a government prize of $50,000. While in New Jersey to launch the submarine, Tom reads in a newspaper that a ship named the Boldero sank off the coast of Uruguay during a storm, taking down with it the sum of $300,000 in gold bullion.
Tom persuades his father to pursue this treasure as opposed to competing for the government prize. While picking up a hired sea captain, Tom's plans are overheard by a contestant in the government contest, and a rivalry for the treasure begins. The other submarine, named the Wonder, soon sets off to follow Tom and his crew after they embark on their journey.
Tom's crew consists of Tom Swift, his father, Mr. Sharp, Captain West, and Mr. Damon. Each of these take chores on board, including Mr. Damon, who seems to be the cook of the voyage.
The submarines hold up at an island to resupply, and during the night, the Advance tries to slip away from the Wonder. Tom knows that the Wonder and its crew is not certain of the location of the wreck, and is merely following the Advance, hoping to steal the treasure at the last moment.
After the Wonder tries to ram the Advance, Tom and his father take to the heavy underwater cannons, and successfully disable the Wonder, leaving her damaged and immobile. Tom and the Advance seize the opportunity to push ahead.
An engine mishap forces the Advance to surface off the coast of Brazil, where they are soon confronted by the Brazilian battleship São Paulo. Tom and his crew are captured and scheduled to be executed two days later, and the submarine turned over to the Brazilian government. Tom and his friends are held prisoners aboard the battleship.
The night before their execution, a hurricane strikes, and the São Paulo is pushed aground by the winds. The crew take this opportunity to break out and escape, while the battleship's crew are busy trying to save the ship. Using cover from the ship, which is acting as a shield from the waves and winds, Tom's group take to a lifeboat, and escape to the Advance, diving just in time to escape the Brazilian crew of the São Paulo.
It is not long before the Advance arrives at the wreck. They struggle to find it at first, but soon are successful. In their extreme-depth diving suits, Tom and Captain West enter the waters where the wreck is, which is at a depth of over 2 miles—similar to the RMS Titanic. Sharks attack but are fought off.
Gold was found in a secret compartment behind the Captain's safe, and recovered from the Boldero just in time to escape from the now-arriving Wonder. With the $300,000 in gold as a deposit at Tom's local bank in Shopton, the bank considers Tom one of their biggest investors, and with this new power, Tom manages to bring his chum, Ned Newton, a promotion. | What weather phenomenon helps the crew of the Advance escape the Sao Paulo? | [
"An hurricane",
"A hurricane."
] |
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