Is Portia the real hero of The Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare?

In many ways, Portia is indeed the real hero of The Merchant of Venice. In spite of the fact that she's a woman, she claims more agency than almost any other character in the play. She initially laments her fate as a woman without choice: “O me, the word 'choose!' I may neither choose whom I would nor refuse whom I dislike.” Her now deceased father has set up a system to select Portia’s husband. She has no power to select or turn down the man who passes her father’s test. Even after death, Portia’s life is ruled by patriarchy--one that she chooses to honor.

Fortunately, Portia’s love, Bassanio, passes the test and wins her hand. She asserts that she will submit herself to him as her lord: “Happiest of all is that her gentle spirit / Commits itself to yours to be directed, / As from her lord, her governor, her king.” However, she is hardly a submissive character. Portia in fact exercises more agency and demonstrates more wit than the male Bassanio. She also supports him financially. When his friend Antonio is in trouble, she offers to give thousands of ducats to save him.

Portia’s heroism is on full display during the trial. She disguises herself as a male lawyer and single-handedly delivers Antonio from death. Portia uses logic and the law to defeat Shylock in court. Not a single man there was able to think of a legal way to save Antonio’s life. The duke, Bassanio, and Antonio do nothing but plead for mercy. Portia at first follows this trend, delivering beautiful speeches on mercy and justice. When that fails, she points out that Shylock cannot exactly fulfill his bond without breaking it and that Shylock is breaking the law by conspiring to kill a Venetian citizen.

Portia is the one who saves the day. She retains the upper hand in her relationships, in spite of her initially subservient position as a woman. Portia even tricks Bassanio at the end of the play in order to test his loyalty. It is certainly reasonable to call Portia the play’s hero.

What illnesses do fungi cause?

Fungi cause a wide range of health problems which are very generally referred to as fungal infections. 

Most fungal infections appear as skin rashes. Fungal infections may also occur in the lungs. Rarely, fungal infections affect the blood or the lining of the brain (fungal meningitis). 

The most common fungal infection is a yeast infection (commonly referred to as thrush), which can occur in the mouth, skin, or genitals. Thrush is caused by an overgrowth of the fungus Candida albicans. In the mouth, thrush appears as a white coating on the tongue or gums. If left untreated, the tongue and gums will become painful and may begin to bleed. 

Thrush and other fungal infections are treated with antifungal medications which can be administered orally or applied to the skin as a topical cream. 

In the novel Lord of the Flies, could the hunting of Ralph represent a modern example of conflict?

William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies concludes with the tribe of boys hunting the protagonist Ralph, the original leader of the tribe. While this is certainly an example of conflict, it's interesting to compare it to modern conflict. 

In the modern age, many societies turn on their initial leaders after their fall from power. With such expedient means of communication and little capacity for fact-checking, it has become common to hyperbolize the good or evil nature of a person. As such, many leaders have become demonized by the public once they lose their popularity. In Ralph's case, his policies and recommendations for action were in conflict with his subjects' desires. Because he did not compromise with them and he did not have the ability to overpower them and force them to adhere to his will, he became their prey instead. Connections can easily be drawn to modern politicians and leaders.  

What is the thematic concept and statement of The Winter Room?

The major theme of Gary Paulson’s Winter Room is the endless cycle of life. The story is set on a farm, and told as a memoir from the point of view of eleven-year-old Eldon. He is the youngest family member experiencing the seasons of life on a Minnesota farm. There are farm chores that are specific to each season of the year that occur in a cyclical fashion. Eldon’s reactions to life off the land highlight the theme.

As spring arrives, most of the family members feel it is the season of new birth as the calves are born and the earth is renewed by the melting snow and ice. Eldon sees the mud and muck of the season as it reveals what the winter has hidden. In the cycle of life spring is associated with youth and new beginnings.

Spring moves into summer, the season of the intense work of tending to the crops and animals on the farm. The heat of the day can make the work tiresome and demanding for Eldon’s family. He feels the emotions although he is not yet involved in the heavy work of the season. He is a sickly child, so his parents spare him the backbreaking summer chores, but he is allowed to participate in harvesting and storing the hay for the winter ahead. He enjoys this activity. When one is in the summer of life, it is said "they are making hay." In other words, this is the time when one works the hardest for their living.

As fall arrives, the family slows down for a respite before it is time for the slaughter, which Eldon dislikes. Although the slaughter provides sustenance for the family through the winter, Eldon interprets it as a time of death; but in the circle of life, it is considered a time for reaping the rewards of hard work.

This is followed by the winter, when time seems to slow down and the imperfections of the other seasons are engulfed in snow. Although the farm must be maintained, it is a time when the family gathers in the “winter room.” The uncles tell stories while the boys lounge by the fire and mother knits quietly. This season is idyllic in Eldon’s eyes, but is often interpreted as the time when people age, and their value in life decreases. In this way the story makes a statement about the inevitability of the passing of time from birth and renewal, to slowing down, aging, and death, thus highlighting the continual ebb and flow of the unending cycle of life.

What question does Holden request Stradlater to ask Jane?

Holden is clearly agitated to learn Stradlater is taking Jane Gallagher on a date. Holden met her two summers before and is obviously fond of her. Holden asks Stradlater not to tell Jane that he was kicked out of Pencey Prep. He worries about Stradlater exploiting her because he considers Stradlater "a sexy bastard" who shows interest only in Holden's recollection that Jane's stepfather used to "run around the goddam house, naked. With Jane around, and all."  

Holden's relationship with Jane was a chaste one; he tells Stradlater they "used to play checkers all the time." Holden remembers one of Jane's endearing quirks and tells an unimpressed Stradlater,

She wouldn't move any of her kings. What she'd do, when she'd get a king, she wouldn't move it. She'd just leave it in the back row. She'd get them all lined up in the back row. Then she'd never use them. She just liked the way they looked when they were all in the back row.

Holden tells Stradlater, "Ask her if she still keeps all her kings in the back row."

What is the main idea of the short story "Republican" by Bret Anthony Johnston?

In Republican, Bret Anthony Johnston examines how hope and sorrow continually intersect and how one is rarely present without the other. 

We'll examine one of the major plot points and its conclusion to see how Johnston has set up hope and sorrow to exist simultaneously. 

The relationship between Julian and Melinda:

These two young lovers spend the whole story flirting on the edge of a major make-out session. Julian is interested in Melinda from the beginning of the text, and she answers his attraction with coy one-liners for very nearly all of the story. 

There are at least three places in the text where their relationship is battered back and forth between hope and sorrow. The first is at the catered event in Portland. Melinda asks Julian to stay later than he needs to by suggesting they might dance together. 

For a teenager like Julian, this is a big deal. He waits outside the event hoping and fretting about what this might mean for their relationship:

"I spent the next hour pacing outside the reception hall, pretending I'd just married Melinda. I stole glances at her serving flan and leaning down to ask if people wanted decaf or regular, and the simple fact of her knowing my name amazed me. The prospect of meeting her after dessert sent my heart kicking. I wondered if she was a virgin, if she knew I was."

However, he finally learns that Melinda has left the party without him. In just this small piece of story, Julian experiences huge hope and crushing sorrow. But even that doesn't tell the whole tale. On Julian's drive home he imagines Melinda riding beside him and kissing him. Hope returns.

In a later part of the story, Melinda finally hints that she might be ready to pursue something with Julian (hope) when the health inspector shuts down the restaurant (sorrow). 

And at the end of the story we see Johnston's masterful story-building come to fruition. Melinda finally kisses Julian (insane hope). They drive happily through the streets in a convertible Cadillac. But this is a false hope. Melinda is unaware of what Julian knows full well--the restaurant is closed. She is speeding towards it and we, the readers, know that she will be crushed when she finds it has been replaced with a wig shop. 

A similar juxtaposition of hope and sorrow takes place in the relationship between Julian and his father. Consider these two plot points:

1. Julian's father gives him the Cadillac (hope), but only after the father has cut the roof apart because his wife has left him (sorrow).


2. Julian's father repairs the roof for Julian (hope), but Julian doesn't notice until he has stolen his father's prized possession, a guitar that Elvis played (sorrow). Furthermore, to add sorrow to the moment, the only reason Julian hadn't discovered the repair is that he had been avoiding his father. 

If I were to turn these points into a theme statement, I would say: "Johnston's story examines how hope and sorrow rarely exist separately--how life is made up of their strange juxtaposition." 

What passages in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird tell us Tim Johnson, the mad dog, represents racism?

In Chapter 10 of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, one reason why we know Tim Johnson, the rabid dog, symbolizes racism is the dog is shot to death by Atticus, one who normally refuses to shoot anything because he values all of life too much. Since Atticus is fighting racism by defending Tom Robinson, we know Atticus's killing of Tim Johnson also symbolizes Atticus's fight with and attempt to kill racism. Racism is a serious, life-threatening problem in Maycomb, just as it threatens Robinson's life and just as Tim Johnson threatens the lives of Maycomb's citizens by being rabid. We can consider Sheriff Tate's comments on the urgency of the situation, as he pleads for Atticus to take the shot, as symbolizing the urgent need to kill racism:

For God's sake, Mr. Finch, look where he is! Miss and you'll go straight into the Radley house! I can't shoot that well and you know it! (Ch. 10)

Hence, the dog symbolizes the deadly sickness of racism and the urgent need to kill it, to put an end to it, which is what Atticus is trying to do through his defense of Robinson, just as he took on the responsibility of killing Tim Johnson.