What does this line from The Great Gatsby mean: "The vitality of his illusion had gone beyond Daisy, beyond everything."?

The line is about Gatsby's obsession.  Gatsby had become consumed with the idea that he could one day win Daisy.  Gatsby had met Daisy some five years earlier and fell completely in love with her,  but Daisy decided to marry Tom Buchanan, who had much more money than he.  Gatsby believed that if he could be wealthy too, Daisy would be within his grasp.  He amasses a fortune much larger than Tom's, chiefly by means of underworld activities.  Gatsby erroneously belives that Dasiy will leave Tom and marry him instead.

Nick makes this comment as he watches Daisy and Gatsby in their long awaited reunion.  The rest of the line reads, "He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion, adding to it all the time, decking it out with every bright feather that drifted his way. No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart."  The ornateness of the home, the lavish parties, everything shows a man obsessed and unwilling to acknowledge Daisy's considerable flaws or the fact that she will never love him as he wants to be loved, no matter what he does or does not do. 

What are some higher level questions on The Marriage of Geraint by Alfred Lord Tennyson?

Using Idylls of the King: Song from The Marriage of Geraint by Alfred Lord Tennyson as a small sample from a extensive work, "higher level" questions are those that require application, analysis, synthesis, or evaluation, as Benjamin Bloom lays out in Bloom's Taxonomy in which he defines the distinctions pertaining to levels of questions. Higher level questions require the discussion of more than knowledge and comprehension. They require the use of higher order cognitive skills.

According to Bloom's Taxonomy (BT), application requires problem solving or the production of a result through the use of "facts, rules and principles." These questions revolve around the phrases "example of," "related to," and "significance of."

BT says that analysis is the process whereby parts are examined to reveal overall structure and to reveal the underlying structure of a communication. Analysis also identifies motives and the separation of a whole into component parts. These questions revolve around the phrases "outline or diagram," "parts or features of," "classify according to," "compare or contrast," "list evidence for."

Synthesis according to BT is the creation of a "unique, original" product in either verbal or physical form. Some call this "creativity": taking the known to form the new by combining ideas to "form a new whole." These questions revolve around the phrases "predict or infer," "add ideas to," "create or design," "what will happen if combined with," "suggest solutions for/to."

Evaluation is the highest level in BT. It requires making value decisions about ideas, works, issues, events, etc. Based on evaluations, controversies or differences of opinion are resolved. In addition, but also based on value decisions, opinions, judgments or decisions are developed. These questions revolve around the phrases "agree with/on," "think about," "most important," "order of priority," decide about," and "criteria used to asses."

On the application level, a higher level question pertaining to Idylls of the King: Song from The Marriage of Geraint might be, "How does Tennyson's defiance of Fortune relate to religious belief?" On the analysis level, a higher level question might be, "What evidence does Tennyson give for his defiance of Fortune?" On the synthesis level, a higher level question might be, "Predict what Tennyson might say to someone whose child was drowned at sea?" On the evaluation level, a higher level question might be, "What criteria would you use to asses the soundness of Tennyson's opinion that Fortune is not to be dreaded?"

The menstrual cycle begins when the brain releases a hormone. Name that hormone.

The hypothalamus is a neuro-endocrine system, active in numerous processes. First, it conducts many slow actions, such as growth, by checking  the pituitary gland, the main center of production of hormones.

The hypothalamus is the source of our emotions and basic needs of hunger, thirst and sex.
Very important is the fact that, by a pulsating secretion, controls the pituitary activity and thereby, the ovarian cycle, cycle whose peak is  ovulation. A normal menstrual cycle would be impossible without some signs of ovarian steroid hormones, and without the involvement of brain centers.

The ovaries also influences, through a negative feedback mechanism, pulsed secretion of the hypothalamus and pituitary. This translates into the fact that hormones secreted by the hypothalamus and "processed" by the pituitary, come through blood to the ovaries, and they secrete estrogen and progesterone which are returning again to the brain.This, according to the needs of the body, limits or extends beyond the production of hormones.

What caused the Sepoy Rebellion in India? What was the legacy it left behind?

The immediate cause of the rebellion was rumors that were spreading among the Indian soldiers regarding the new cartridges they had been issued.  The rumors said that they cartridges were made with either pork or beef fat (depending on whether the soldiers were Muslim or Hindu).  This would have made the soldiers violate their religious laws when they bit the cartridges.

The underlying reason, however, was basic dissatisfaction over the fact that the British were ruling India.  If the Indians had fully accepted British rule, the mutiny would not have happened.

In my opinion, the main legacy of this rebellion was greater mistrust between the British and their Indian subjects.

What is Atticus's explanation of rape in To Kill a Mockingbird?

This is a good question. As Scout learns about the trial, she naturally asks what rape is, as Tom Robinson is on trial because of an alleged rape. So, at first Scout asks Calpurnia. Calpurnia feels uncomfortable in giving an answer, so she tells Scout to ask her father, Atticus. When Atticus finally comes home, Scout asks. Here is the dialogue: 

“What’s rape?” I asked him that night. Atticus looked around from behind his paper. He was in his chair by the window. As we grew older, Jem and I thought it generous to allow Atticus thirty minutes to himself after supper.

He sighed, and said rape was carnal knowledge of a female by force and without consent.

“Well if that’s all it is why did Calpurnia dry me up when I asked her what it was?”

As you can see Atticus was not able to deflect the question. So, he answered her in a direct manner. However, he spoke is a lawyerly way - carnal knowledge of a female by force without consent.

The funny thing is that Scout acted like she understood this definition, when in fact she had no clue what Atticus was saying. The point is that Atticus gave her an answer, but it was above Scout's head and understanding. In doing so, this answer satisfied Scout (she was given an answer), but also did not explain what rape was, as Scout was too young to understand. In the end, Scout and Atticus were satisfied. 

In Chapter 4, why does Roger, throwing stones at one of the littluns, aim just to miss?

Roger is a bully. He entertains himself by producing reactions of sorrow, anger, or fear in others because that makes him feel powerful. As Roger and Maurice come down to the beach, Roger heads right for the littluns who are playing there, destroying their sandcastles with their landscaping.This actually doesn't produce the result Roger was hoping for because the children were not at that moment concerned with the castles Roger had destroyed. Only Percival starts crying because of the sand Maurice, and then Johnny, gets in his eyes. So Roger continues to watch the littluns, perhaps looking for another way to get under their skin. When Henry wanders off down the beach, Roger follows him surreptitiously, certainly with mischief in mind. 

Interestingly, Henry stops to entertain himself with some little transparent creatures living in the tide pools. In a way, Henry is doing to the sea creatures what Roger seeks to do to him. Henry blocks the path of the sea creatures and confuses them without actually bringing any physical harm to them. Yet "he became absorbed beyond mere happiness as he felt himself exercising control over living things." 

Roger, hiding from Henry under some palms, is showered by falling nuts that don't actually hit him. This gives him the idea to confuse and tease Henry. He picks up some stones and throws them around Henry, taking care not to hit him, not because of any concern for Henry but merely in observance of a "taboo of the old life." Henry looks around each time a rock falls near him, and Roger hides. In this way, Roger creates an emotion in Henry of confusion. Again, however, it is not the exact emotion Roger seeks. Roger was trying to create fear, but Henry laughs off the teasing and walks away. Nevertheless, Roger is satisfying his need for power and control, to make someone else yield to him. Later this innate desire for control and mastery finds fulfillment in his delivering the death stab to the sow and in his rolling the rock that kills Piggy.

Why does Hamlet tell his friends that he intends to appear to be insane? Is Hamlet pretending or is he actually going insane? Explain.the question...

Hamlet tells Horatio, and incidentally Marcellus (because he is privy to knowledge that the ghost has appeared and spoken to Hamlet), that he will feign an "antic disposition" because, in a very human way (and Hamlet is nothing if not very human) he needs an ally. Realize, Horatio is the only character in the play who is totally honest. Even Hamlet presents a false visage to everyone else in the play, save Horatio.

Hamlet is not crazy. His antic disposition is all guile, a shield and delay tactic that affords him some time to plan and test his theories. Claudius knows this from observing Hamlet in the nunnery scene "... what he spake, though it lacked form a little,/ Was not like madness." And any reader or theatergoer would be wise to not mistake moments of desperate passion for madness. The “mad in craft” aspects of the play give Shakespeare a chance to work through one of his favorite motifs–the metatheatrical awareness that so many of his characters possess. Throughout the play Hamlet is actor, director and playwright–never more keenly aware of his own role on the stage than in Act V when mortally wounded he says to the court who have been watching their monarchy implode:

You that look pale, and tremble at this chance,
That are but mutes or audience to this act,
Had I but time, as this fell sergeant death
Is strict in his arrest, oh I could tell you –