A Lesson before Dying, one of Ernest J. Gaines later works, was written in 1993. Some of his earlier works include A Gathering of Old Men and In My Father's House. The novel covers a time period when blacks were still treated unfairly and looked down upon. Jefferson, a main character, has been wrongly...
Today, soaps are made from fats and oils that react with lye (sodium hydroxide). Solid fats like coconut oil, palm oil, tallow (rendered beef fat), or lard (rendered pork fat), are used to form bars of soap that stay hard and resist dissolving in the water left in the soap dish.
Soaps are made of molecules that are both fat and water soluble. The molecule has a long hydrocarbon tail that allows it to dissolve grease, and a polar head that is water soluble. A soap molecule. The grey, red, and white balls represent carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen atoms, respectively. The sodium ion near the negatively charged oxygen atoms is not shown. The head is the sodium or potassium salt of an organic acid.