How does Water for Elephants connect with real life?

Water for Elephants is a story about an elderly man, Jacob, who recalls an adventure in his younger years. He worked as a veterinarian with a circus. During his time there, he fell in love with the head animal trainer's wife, Marlena. The trainer, August, was cruel to the animals in the circus. Other workers at the circus helped to free the animals, including an elephant named Rosie. During the chaos of the animal stampede, Rosie killed August. 
Jacob and Marlena took the animals and started a new life together, including spending some time with the Ringling Brothers. Jacob relays the story of how his wife is now deceased and he has escaped from a nursing facility. He has no close familial relations, and the story concludes with Jacob joining another circus.
There are several concepts within this book that are pertinent to real life. The concept of aging and the isolation sometimes felt by nursing facility residents is a social concern for our aging society. The concept of abusive relationships, like that of August and Marlena, is also a concern in real life. The Ringling Brothers was a popular circus for many years. Animal cruelty is a societal concern, including in a circus setting. Animals in the entertainment industry are often of concern to animal rights activists. The movie version of Water for Elephants is no exception. Please see the below article regarding allegations of animal abuse related to the making of this movie.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/may/10/water-for-elephants-abuse-claims

What does Chaucer think about the nun?

The place to construct the answer to this question is in the general prologue, the part of The Canterbury Tales where Chaucer introduces the characters.
From the outset, it is clear that Chaucer finds the nun to be a fake, even using the term "counterfeit." Her smile is "ingenuous and coy," and her manners are noted to be well-practiced, while her French was perfect but not the French spoken in Paris. The nun gives the impression of someone trying too hard to put on airs. When Chaucer mentions that her "only oath was to Saint Loy," the reader is meant to understand that the nun, like Saint Loy (a Merovingian-era saint who wouldn't take an oath) cannot be trusted to take an oath at all.
Further, Chaucer gives us clues through the name and titles he assigns to her. Being named Eglantine, a word derived from the word "elegant," hints at her worldliness, while referring to her as "Madam," as opposed to "Sister," is meant to lead the reader further in that interpretive direction.
She dresses elegantly, eats well, keeps personal pets, and wears a fancy rosary with the inscription "love conquers all." All of this underlines Chaucer's judgment that this woman has not entered religious life for the sake of piety but instead is using religious life as a means of achieving various pleasures and social standing.

What is an important theme that occurs in part 4?

In stave 4, Scrooge sees that if one does not respect and acknowledge other people during one's life, other people will not respect one after one's death. He has made little effort to get to know people when he is alive, and so people joke about going to his funeral just to get the free lunch. He is interested in business interactions but not with getting to know anyone on a personal level. One man with whom Scrooge has made a particular effort to remain in good standing, with whom Scrooge had some business dealings, even says,

When I come to think of it, I'm not at all sure that I wasn't his most particular friend; for we used to stop and speak whenever we met. Bye, bye!

This man thinks he might actually have been the closest to Scrooge, and yet he does not care to go to the funeral because he "'never wear[s] black gloves'" and "'never eat[s] lunch.'" He's willing to go if any of his friends would go with him. Even though it has just occurred to him that he might have been Scrooge's closest friend, he seems to feel nothing whatsoever toward the old man and quickly forgets him, turning away from his companions to leave. He seems not to give the dead Scrooge a second thought.

In A Room with a View, why is Italy the center of the story?

Italy is at the center of A Room with a View because it forms an opposing force to England that acts on the heroine Lucy Honeychurch. In England, Lucy leads a conventional life, but, after traveling to Italy, her life begins to change. The first element of surprise is that she and her cousin Charlotte are not given a room with a view but are offered the opportunity to switch rooms with two other guests: George Emerson and his father, Mr. Emerson. This incident surprises them, but they do not realize that Italy will forever change the young and impressionable Lucy. She meets George Emerson and his father, who are both unconventional, and then she witnesses a fight that leads to death in a public square. The passion of what she sees around her, along with George's eventual declaration of his love for her, leave her forever changed. Italy is the force that causes her to begin to question her conventional English upbringing.

College Algebra, Chapter 3, 3.2, Section 3.2, Problem 32

Graph the function $\displaystyle k(x) = \frac{1}{32} x^4 - x^2 + 2$ in each of the given viewing rectangles and select the one that produces the most appropriate graph of the function.

a.) $[-1, 1]$ by $[-1,1]$







b.) $[-2, 2]$ by $[-2, 2]$







c.) $[-5, 5]$ by $[-5, 5]$







d.) $[-10, 10]$ by $[-10, 10]$







By observation, we assume that the appropriate viewing rectangle is $[-10, 10]$ by $[-10, 10]$

Who are the characters that would be considered friends?

Certainly, Odysseus is friends with Menelaus.  In fact, it was to recover and protect Menelaus's honor that Odysseus went off to fight in the Trojan War in the first place.  When Paris, the prince of Troy, stole Menelaus's wife, Helen, hers became the "face that launched a thousand ships," according to the playwright, Christopher Marlowe.  Then, when Telemachus travels to Sparta to see if Menelaus has any news about Odysseus, Menelaus tries to be as helpful as possible out of loyalty to his old friend.
It seems as though Odysseus and Agamemnon, Menelaus's brother, must have been friends as well.  When the two meet in the Underworld, Agamemnon attempts to give Odysseus some friendly advice about how best to handle his wife, Penelope.  Agamemnon is still pretty bitter about being murdered by his wife and her lover, and he seems to want to protect Odysseus from being betrayed himself.
In addition, Athena seems like a real friend to Odysseus.  She intercedes with Zeus on Odysseus's behalf, she helps him to find the assistance he needs in Phaeacia, she helps him vanquish the suitors, and on and on.  She even helps his son to begin to make his own name in the world, protecting him from harm, and comforts Penelope when she is upset.

Why have Frankenstein's creature and Frankenstein had such a strong hold on our imagination for nearly 200 years?

One reason Frankenstein and Frankenstein's creature have had such a hold over us for two centuries is because many people can relate to this creature. He is alienated from society, judged and scorned, an outsider, and an outcast. It would be difficult, I think, to find a person who has never felt this way (though, perhaps, to a lesser extent). Further, the fact that the creature justifiably blames his father, Victor, for many of his problems may be easy to relate to for many readers as well. 
Another possible reason for this story's continued relevance to us has to do with the questions of scientific ethics that it raises. Is Victor right to try to create life in this way? Is he trying to "play God"? Should that stop him? Even now, people talk about creating "designer babies" whose physical traits (such as sex, eye color, and hair color) are chosen specifically to please their parents. Is there an ethical dilemma to these kinds of choices? Where is the line? Just because science can do something, does that mean it should do it? What is our responsibility to a baby who doesn't turn out exactly the way we think it will? Even 200 years later, we still struggle with the same kinds of ethical quandaries Shelley appears to have been ruminating on.