Why does Portia refuse to marry the Scottish lord in Act one, Scene 2?

In Act one, Scene 2, Portia discusses with Nerissa the various reasons why she refuses to marry any of the previous suitors. After Portia lists why the Neapolitan prince, Count Palatine, and Falconbridge, the English baron are not fit to marry her, Nerissa asks Portia about the Scottish lord. Portia sarcastically comments that he has neighborly charity and is very forgiving since the Englishman boxed his ears and he did not retaliate. Rather than defend himself, the Scottish lord threatened to pay the Englishman back. Then, the Frenchman agreed to help the Scottish lord, but never did, which guaranteed him another another beating from the Englishman. Portia wittingly mocks the Scottish lord's inability to defend himself against the English who took control of Scotland. However, Portia does not go into further detail as to why she chooses not to marry him. One can surmise that his lack of masculinity and willingness to defend his country against invasion is the reason he is not a serious candidate to marry Portia.

Why did the author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks break the book into three sections--"Life," "Death, and "Immortality"?

Rebecca Skloot, the author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, split the book into three distinct sections--"Life," "Death," and "Immortality"--in order to describe the events of Henrietta's life (and the continued life of her cells) in a logical manner.

Thus, the "Life" sections deals with Henrietta's childhood, as she was raised by her grandfather on a farm which had once belonged to a slave owner.

The "Death" section naturally deals with Henrietta's death from cervical cancer and the removal of cells--without consent--from henrietta's cervix during a radiation treatment.

The "Immortality" section deals with the use of Henrietta's cells (which were the first human cells grown in a culture outside of the body) in over 60,000 scientific studies across the world. This section also addresses the immense ethical and financial issues that arose out of the use of these cells, which were removed and replicated without permission from Henrietta or her family.

Interspersed into the narrative is the story of how dramatically this theft of genetic material impacted her family, who received no compensation for these actions (in spite of the immense profits that the cells yielded through medical experimentation) and suffered emotionally upon learning of this violation. 

The setting of the story is very limited; it is confined largely to a room, staircase, and front door. How does this limitation help to express the...

The strict limitations of the setting mirror the strict limitations placed on women during the Victorian era, the time in which Louise Mallard lives.  As Louise mentally processes the fact that her husband is dead, the first words she speaks aloud are "'free, free, free!'"  Though the joy she feels is a "monstrous" one, she feels it nonetheless.  She knows that her husband loved her, and she feels that she, at times, loved him.  However, most tellingly, she reflects on the idea that

There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself.  There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature. A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination.

She seems to have felt trapped in her marriage.  Perhaps she never wanted to marry at all and was forced to as a result of societal expectation.  Perhaps she didn't want to marry Brently but had to because there was no good, socially-acceptable reason to refuse him.  Whatever the case, her marriage seems to have made her feel that she could not live for herself, that she must always give way to whatever her husband wanted, because that is what marriage demanded of Victorian women.  They were forced to live relatively small lives. 

Likewise, the setting is small, and it parallels the figurative "smallness" of Louise's life.  She has been confined, restricted, and almost the first thing she does after learning of her husband's death is to open the window and look outside, as though his death has liberated her from confinement; she notices the birds and the trees and the clouds now.  One of the main themes of the story, about the confinement marriage posed to women during this era (even when the marriage was a loving one), is further expressed by the story's setting.

What happens during the event at Cajamarca that is discussed in Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel?

The event at Cajamarca that Jared Diamond discusses in Guns, Germs, and Steel was the first meeting between the Inca emperor Atahuallpa and Francisco Pizarro and his invading army of Spaniards.  This meeting took place on November 16, 1532 and is discussed beginning on p. 68 of Diamond’s book.

Diamond says that Pizarro had 168 Spaniards with him at Cajamarca while Atahuallpa had 80,000 of his own warriors.  Even so, Diamond says on p. 68, Pizarro captured the Inca “within a few minutes” of the time when the two leaders met.  Diamond then uses Spanish sources to give many more details.  The details of what happened at the actual encounter/battle begin on p. 70.  Essentially, Pizarro planned to capture Atahuallpa.  He divided his forces and hid most of them at various places around the square in the town of Cajamarca.  According to the Spaniards (p. 72), Atahuallpa looked at the Bible and then threw it away, at which point the Spanish attacked.  The Spanish slaughtered the Native Americans, killing (according to the writer that Diamond quotes) something like 7,000 of them before night fell.  Diamond’s long quotation from the Spanish records ends on p. 74.

So, the best way to describe the event at Cajamarca is to say that it was a fight between 168 Spaniards and tens of thousands of Incas.  The Spanish apparently planned all along to kill the Native Americans (or were at least very ready to do so).  They seem to have used the religious “insult” as a pretext for the fight.  The Spanish routed the Incas decisively, killing thousands of them.  Diamond recounts this incident because he wants to think about why it was that the Spanish were able to defeat a force that was so much larger than their own.  He goes on to discuss this issue in the rest of Chapter 3 of Guns, Germs, and Steel.

In ‘‘Rikki- Tikki-Tavi" by Rudyard Kipling, how does Rikki get to the bungalow?

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, the mongoose in Rudyard Kipling's story, originally lived in a burrow with his father and mother. One day a summer storm washes him away from his home. The rushing water carries him into a roadside ditch. At first he is conscious during this flood, but at some point he loses consciousness. That's when the boy, Teddy, finds him. Teddy thinks the animal is dead, and he plans to conduct a funeral for him. But his mother thinks he might be alive and suggests they take him back to their bungalow to dry him off. So they bring him in from the garden path onto which he has washed up and dry him off in the big house. The man determines he isn't dead, merely "half-choked." They wrap him in a cotton cloth and get him warm, and he sneezes himself awake. 

What are some metaphors in the essay "How It Feels to Be Colored Me" by Nora Zeale Hurston?

One of the metaphors in this essay by Zora Neale Hurston is "the front porch might seem a daring place for the rest of the town, but it was a gallery seat for me." Hurston compares the front porch of the house where she grew up in Eatonville, Florida, to a seat in a theatre from which she can watch the passing show. She realized that she was colored when she moved to Jacksonville, and, in another metaphor, she says, "In my heart as well as in the mirror, I became a fast brown, warranted not to rub nor run." Becoming brown in her heart is metaphorical, not literal, and her skin color is compared to a dye that won't run. Later, she writes, "I am off to a flying start and I must not halt in the stretch to look behind and weep." In this metaphor, she compares her life, coming after the end of slavery, to a race. In this race, she says she is off and running, and she says, like a fast runner, that she won't look behind her.

She writes that at Barnard, "Among the thousand white persons, I am a dark rock surged upon, and overswept." In this metaphor, she compares herself to a lone dark rock among a flood of white people, and because she is a single black person among many, whites she feels their numbers as if a tide is passing over her. When she listens to jazz music, she says, "My face is painted red and yellow and my body is painted blue, My pulse is throbbing like a war drum." In this metaphor, she compares herself to someone who is transported to a jungle and wears war paint and does a war dance, as she becomes one with the music. At the end of her essay, she compares herself to a brown bag with a "jumble of small things." This metaphor encapsulates the uniqueness of her identity, similar to a bag that holds a surprising and unique set of objects. 

Where do Pyramus and Thisbe meet?

The rude mechanicals' play, The Most Lamentable Comedy and Most Cruel Death of Pyramus and Thisbe, is based on a Babylonian myth depicting separated lovers. In Shakespeare's version, Pyramus and Thisbe meet at a couple of places. First, they meet at and primarily communicate through a hole in the wall that separates them. Additionally, the lovers meet at night by Ninus' tomb to court each other in secret. It's also suggested that they meet under a mulberry tree, as Thisbe is depicted as waiting under a mulberry tree for Pyramus. This detail is consistent with the original Babylonian myth, which has the two lovers planning to meet under a mulberry tree.

The play as performed in A Midsummer Night's Dream is particularly hilarious, as it parodies the essential plot of Romeo and Juliet in addition to drawing from Babylonian myth. In that case, The Most Lamentable Comedy and Most Cruel Death of Pyramus and Thisbe is a great example of Shakespeare playfully making fun of himself.