What is the significance of the story's title "A Marker on the Side of the Boat?"I am having trouble with this question

As I understand it, the title of the story is taken from an old Vietnamese folk tale.  The folk tale has to do with a fisherman who was out fishing and dropped his sword (don't ask me why he had a sword) in the lake.  He wanted to be able to find it again so he made a mark on the side of his boat to show where he had dropped it.

The protagonist of the story does a similar thing, in a sense.  He too has something that he loses and would like to find again (the woman).  But he, like the fisherman, does not have any good point of reference for how to find her because all the houses on her street look exactly the same and there are no cross streets or anything to tell him where to look.

What were some problems and their solutions in Treasure Island?

I'm afraid I can't possibly address all the problems and all the solutions to the problems in Treasure Island in the limited space allowed for answers; however, I can help you with the major conflict of the novel.  The major conflict is that Jim, Squire Trelawney, Dr. Livesey, Captain Smollett, and his crew are searching for a treasure that Captain Flint, an old pirate, has left buried after his death. They are challenged by Flint’s former crewmembers, who have tricked Trelawney into hiring them to help sail to Treasure Island.  There is also an excellent one page summary along with other pertinent information at the link below.  Good luck.  Brenda

What sort of person is Jim Smiley?

Jim Smiley is pretty much the main character in this story.  I would say that he is what my grandparents used to call a "character."  In other words, he's kind of eccentric.

His main characteristic seems to be that he really loves to bet.  He loves to bet so much that he will, for example, even go out and find a frog for the stranger so that Jim's own frog can have someone else to compete against.

He's also kind of silly.  I think we see this in how he names his animals after famous people like Andrew Jackson and Daniel Webster.

I have to write an essay about Gulliver's Travels. Can someone give me ideas?

When writing an essay one has to first decide what direction one wants to take and what are the teacher's expectations.  Choosing a specific direction or topic within the book will help you to be able to narrow down and organize your ideas.  In the book Gulliver's Travels Gulliver experiences different points of view as a visitor in the different lands.  He also identifies the politics of the Lilliputs.  You could write an essay on two opposing people's points of view.  Another good topic might be to write about the different hardships that Gulliver experienced. 

What ever you decide to write about, be careful not to make the topic so broad that you can not pull it together. 

Calculate the mass number for an element which has the atomic number 12, knowing that the number of protons is the same with the number of...

We'll use the following notation:

A-mass number

Z-atomic number

The mass number could be calculated as a sum of protons and neutrons, and knowing that the atomic number is given by the number of the protons, that means that Z=12, so we'll have 12 protons.

In the enunciation is given the information that the number of protons and the number of neutrons are equal, so we'll have 12 neutrons, too.

A=protons+neutrons=12+12=24

The electronical configuration will be found out based on the fact that the number of protons is also equal to the number of electrons, so the element will have 12 electrons.

We'll fill up the  levels, according to the maximum number of electrons accepted on each level.

On the first level K, the element will have 2 electrons.

On the next level L, the element will have 8 electrons.

On the following level, M, the element will have the rest of 2 electrons.

The total number of electrons:2+8+2=12.

Searching for the element in the periodic table, knowing it's atomic number Z=12, it will be located on the 12th position, and this element is Magnesium.

In Great Expectations, who are Pip, Magwitch, Joe, Miss Havisham and Estella?

Pip (whose given name is Phillip Pirrip) is the narrator of Great Expectations.  The reader follows Pip through his journey to achieve his expectations as well as his disillusionment that all was not as he "expected".  He never expected that his benefactor would be Abel Magwich, the criminal he helped in the cemetery and not the wealthy Miss Havisham.  Magwich escapes from prison and is aided with food and drink by a young Pip, but is re-captured by the police.  Magwich remembered the boy's kindness, and when he later escapes to Australia, he secretly becomes the boy's benefactor.  Joe is Pip's brother-in-law who took Pip in when his parents died.  He is kind to Pip, unlike Mrs. Joe who "brings him up by hand" and goes after Pip with "the tickler".  Miss Havisham, after being left at the alter by Compeyson, became a bitter recluse.  She adopted Estella, Magwich's daughter, and raised the girl to break men's hearts, extracting Miss Havisham's twisted revenge on all men.  Pip falls in love with Estella, and Miss Havisham encourages him to "love her" just so that his heart would be broken.  Even though Estella warns Pip against loving her, he does so anyway.

Sartre says, "when we say that a man is responsible for himself, we don not only mean that he is responsible for his own individuality, butSartre...

I wouldn't call this a paradoxical statement - in Sartre's context or even in general.  Sartre believed that ideally, we will ourselves to be what we want. He even went so far as to say that we want to become God. Essentially, existentialism means "existence precedes essence." So, we exist and then our essence (who we are, what we think, and how we want others to perceive us) is manifested/created by us.  We are subjective (subjectivities) which means we have our own perspectives and we can't obtain objectivity.  So we are abandoned (as he says) to our freedom. (If we were objective, we'd have no trouble making the correct decision. Since we are subjective, we have to choose - there is no Absolute or Universal answer available to us - we must rely on ourselves; thus responsibility.

As we fashion and mold ourselves into who we want to be, we are doing so selfishly - for our own piece of mind - but also for others to see. This "being seen by the other" is part of Sartre's subjective-objectivized philosophy. We are subjective but we objecitivize others and they objectivize us. Each of us fashions ourselves into an image that the other sees. In this respect, a humanistic take on existentialism, we are creating (in ourselves) an image of what we think a human should be. As I have the ultimate freedom to choose what I become, the responsibility is also mine. And if part of my decision rests upon the idea that I am also creating an image or model (think role model) that humanity could follow, be inspired by or learn from, then I am not just responsible for myself but for all humanity.  This is a more righteous and almost downright optimistic part of Sartre's philosophy which tends to be interpreted as living in anguish, loneliness and despair. But those are all just parts of being free and responsible in difficult situations: situations where we have the freedom to choose but the correct choice is almost never clear.