Paper 2 Outline: TATD and TFA

Pride can lead to failure and self-destruction or to accomplishment and self-fulfillment. Discuss the presentation of pride and its consequences in at least two of the works you have studied.

  Within the books Things Fall Apart and The Thief and the Dogs by Chinua Achebe and Naguib Mahfouz, respectively, pride, or hubris, within the protagonists lead to their own self-destruction and failure to reach their goals of power for Okonkwo and revenge for Said where they could not adapt to change when change had come to them within their village and their friends.

1) Mahfouz uses Said’s hubris to further show his mental deterioration as he tries to gain revenge his enemies.

Evidence:

- Chapter 7 when Said states that he is a murderer and can’t be caught until he is able to fulfill his revenge.

2) Okonkwo is fixated on his idea of being a male figure, without any attachments to more feminine aspects like love and affection, that he becomes a brutal and unforgiving figure in the village.

Evidence:

- When Okonkwo is advised to not join the men who were to kill Ikemefuna as he has cared for him. Instead, he denies such an attachment and kills Ikemefuna himself without remorse (until the remorse he is shown to feel later on in the book)

3) Said’s excessive pride only aims to feed his hamartia, which is his spitefulness, until he is unable to think or function without having his goal of murdering Ilish and Rauf in mind.

Evidence:

- When Nur begs Said to stop his killing spree and instead run away with her to a safe place to live out the rest of their lives, Said states that he must kill Rauf and Ilish who have wronged him

4) Okonkwo’s pride at being a powerful male figure in the village and being an avid follower of the rules stops him from being able to adapt to change when the British arrive in the village.

Evidence:

- Okonkwo refuses to allow the British to rule so he tries to stage an attack, only leading to his arrest and when the villagers refuse to stand with him against the British, he kills himself in his defeat.

Character Analysis TATD: Said

Passages (chapter 7):

  "Your turn will come, Nabawiyya. There's no escape from me. I'm the devil himself. I've granted you life, thanks to Sana, but I've enclosed you in a punishment greater than death; fear of death, the unrelenting terror. As long as I live you'll never enjoy the taste of peace.

  He came down Shari Muhammad Ali, in a stupor, without a thought to where he was going. Many people would now have a murderer on their minds. The murderer must hide. He must take care to avoid the rope and the gallows. You must never have the executioner asking what your last wish is, Said! Oh no. The government must be made to ask you this question, but on some better occasion!"

  The passages that are found at the end of chapter seven are extremely significant to Mahfouz’s story, The Thief and the Dogs, as it further characterizes Said, the protagonist, as a tragic hero as well as give insight into his mental deterioration evident throughout the story. The passages start with Said cursing Nabawiyya and stating that she is next in his line of enemies that need to be killed in the name of self-justice. He states “Your turn will come, Nabawiyya. There's no escape from me. I'm the devil himself. I've granted you life, thanks to Sana, but I've enclosed you in a punishment greater than death; fear of death, the unrelenting terror.” Here Said shows his fatal flaw, or hamartia, which is his unrelenting obsessiveness with revenge and his spiteful nature. Instead of being satisfied with, wha Said believed to be his murder of Ilish, he plans to still torture Nabawiyya, his ex-wife. He even uses a metaphor when stating that he is the devil, creating undertones of fear and discomfort in the reader as this mentally unstable man has now admitted that he is alike the very symbol used for evil and death, the devil, that relates to themes of torture and nightmarish hatred. This further shows Said’s mental deterioration as, instead of comparing himself to a warrior of justice as he was when he first began stealing, he now sees himself as a torturer. This extreme use of juxtaposition utilized by Mahfouz, therefore, characterizes Said as a mentally unstable and brutally violent tragic hero whose hamartia is fed by his seemingly never-ending supply of hubris. Another part of these passages that also show Said’s mental deterioration is when he addresses himself in the third-person as ‘The murderer’. He states in the story, “He came down Shari Muhammad Ali, in a stupor, without a thought to where he was going. Many people would now have a murderer on their minds. The murderer must hide. He must take care to avoid the rope and the gallows. You must never have the executioner asking what your last wish is, Said!” In this, Said is mentally vocalizing his thoughts of how he must hide from the government who would, surely, try to execute him for his crimes. He acknowledges himself as a murder, not a warrior or a person fighting for justice, which juxtaposes his previous ideas of how he thought himself to be as such when he was going to rid the world of treacherous people like Rauf, Nabawiyya and Ilish. He calls himself “the murderer” which shows this contrast in ideas but also shows how far he has truly lost his sense of self as he does not even call himself a person, but a title of murderer, which usually links to people who have no heart or are seen as less than people but rather simply criminals. Through this, we see how Said is slowly losing his sense of self as his need for revenge takes over him. He even seemingly talks to himself as he states that the executioner must not ask him what his last wish is, showing how he has somehow split from himself and this murderous and spiteful side of him is alike a new person who is separate from the thief and the broken father known as Said.

Stream of Consciousness Post

  By using a stream of consciousness narration technique style in his writing, Mahfouz is able to characterize Said within the short period of time he is given, due to the fast-paced and extremely short span of time the story takes up before Said’s death, and also give context on how characters, such as Nabawiyya, may have changed drastically. When speaking of how Mahfouz uses Said’s consciousness to be able to characterize him, we are able to not only see the amount of anger and need for revenge that Said imposes and wishes to exact on his enemies like Ilish, we also see his more personal and sensitive sides. One of which is when he becomes paranoid with worry that is shown from a friend to a friend when Nur, a woman who had helped Said and had not changed during his absence, that later changes to a worry of a lover as he realizes that he loves Nur and, even after his acts of revenge and knowledge that he is a wanted man, wishes to live a life of peace with her. Another example is how Said vividly remembers the way he had tried to win the hand of Nabawiyya when she had stilled worked for the Turkish woman beside the hotel. Said is seen to be clever, a trait he openly expresses, but also kind and endearing as he constantly tries to make Nabawiyya notice him and love him the way he loves her. These memories that sprang from Said’s consciousness allow us to see Said in a more caring manner and characterize him as someone who, when they love, they love deeply. Another way Said is characterized is loyal as, when he remembers his memories with Rauf, we see how Said tried his best to meet his expectations and only answered to Rauf and the needs of the revolution rather than try to live a more calm and less politically-driven life. Even after his release, Said is shown to have strong feelings against the government and keeps his ideals against those in general who have wronged him, both characterizing himself as a loyal person to the cause of the Egyptian revolution and also making him stubborn in his thoughts as he refuses to change his stance on his ideals. This stubbornness is again shown when he refuses to stop in his need for revenge even when Nur begs him to stop killing his enemies. There is also the point that this type of narration shows contrast in characters to also give the audience the same amount of shock that Said has when he sees how much his past friends had changed into his current enemies. The first example is Ilish who, from Said’s memories, once was Said’s lackey and a loyal man to Said and his ideas but currently he abandoned his loyalty and married Nabawiyya, Said’s ex-wife, and took in his only child, Sana. Instead of showing Said respect, he mocks him with his friends and kicks Said out of his house. The second example is when Said remembers how Rauf was just a news reporter and was fighting for the revolution while teaching Said as his mentor. He was a loyal man to his values and hated the government with as much vigor as Said, until we see as Rauf himself is a prominent and rich figure, the embodiment of their past enemies, and instead of supporting the revolution and helping Said to exact revenge on those who wronged him, Rauf becomes one of those individuals and sends Said off without his support for Said’s revenge. Said, being shocked, now notes Rauf as his enemy and the story continues.

Paper 2 Skills - Outline

- Explore the use of tension in TATD
- Examine how flashbacks bring ontrast and understanding
- Analyze pacing used through structure

  Naguib Mahfouz, the author of the Thief and the Dogs, writes a fast-paced story following the remaining life of Said after being released from jail where readers follow his acts of misplaced revenge to those that he believes have wronged him.

Mahfouz utilizes pacing through his structure and shortly written scenes, such as Said escaping from his first murder scene, to build tension in the story.

Mahfouz uses flashbacks to be able to explain to readers the contrast that Said sees between his life now to his past and to sympathize with Said on how everything has changed around him.

Mahfouz uses Said’s internal monologues to further explain his personal opinions on situations and to allow readers to understand Said deeper as a character.

Texts in Translation

When translating texts, there is always the potential of losing certain phrases or meanings to the limitations of each language, such as not having certain letters or words that may be used in the original language. Not only this, but translations can also be changed depending on the understanding that the translator has of the text, which could cause the text's meanings to shift according to the liking of the translator. In essence this can also be beneficial to allow texts to be seen in different lights but texts can also be controlled. This is because governments or scholars can decide to censor ideas within translated texts, such as cutting out any anti-government thoughts.

Although, there are also benefits to translating a text. This particularly comes from how, through translating languages, cultures and their traditions and beliefs can be transferred and shared globally. An example is how traditions, such as festivals in a country, can be described and explained or even certain beliefs, like thoughts shared by a community. This example is shown in books like “The Thief and the Dogs” where we are able to learn the thoughts and ideas of people in the Egyptian Revolution and their lives afterwards which many people in countries like Canada, U.K and the U.S.A would not understand due to Arabic not being as widely spread compared to Egypt. Another example of how translating texts are beneficial is how translators can implement their own ideas and versions of the text which can help readers understand how texts and their meanings can be varied. An example is how Feng translated Tagore’s poems into Chinese and how he showed a more sexual side to some of his verses that, before, had been controlled to simply be flowered versions of love verses. Overall, translating texts  can be beneficial to teaching others about cultures or about different ideas that they may never see due to them being too far or because of possible language barriers.

Written Task Two: Practice Intro

How and why is a social group represented in a particular way?

  The opinion column, “Give Me Your Tired Arguments” by Ann Coulter, focuses on the topic of President Trump’s “Muslim Ban” that was signed in the year 2017. This ban had involved seven known majority-Muslim countries and had stopped their citizens from being able to travel to the U.S. for any purposes. In the column, Coulter enforces the image of Muslims being destructive and dangerous believers of their faith through the use of the negative stereotypes already found within the lives of U.S. citizens, such as from news articles and shows and social media. Such stereotypes are utilized by Coulter to ensure that the ban, as discriminating as it is, can be fully supported and justified. This is due to how the victims are, in her eyes, only the largely misrepresented Muslim community that are seen as enemies to the U.S. and its ideals, which strongly follows U.S. conservative beliefs and bias on Muslims and other religions and cultures.

Style Analysis Homework

Passage #1

    Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For some they

come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, nev-

er out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in

resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of

men.

    Now, women forget all those things they don’t want to remember,

and remember everything they don’t want to forget. The dream is the

truth. Then they act and do things accordingly.

    So the beginning of this was a woman and she had come back from

burying the dead. Not the dead of sick and ailing with friends at the

pillow and the feet. She had come back from the sodden and the

bloated; the sudden dead, their eyes flung wide open in judgment.

    The people all saw her come because it was sundown. The sun was

gone, but he had left his footprints in the sky. It was the time for sit-

ting on porches beside the road. It was the time to hear things and

talk.

Passage #2

    nothing she could do to discourage her completely. She felt honored

by Janie’s acquaintance and she quickly forgave and forgot snubs in

order to keep it. Anyone who looked more white folkish than herself

was better than she was in her criteria, therefore it was right that they

should be cruel to her at times, just as she was cruel to those more

negroid than herself in direct ratio to their negroness. Like the

pecking-order in a chicken yard. Insensate cruelty to those you can

whip, and groveling submission to those you can’t. Once having set up

her idols and built altars to them it was inevitable that she would wor-

ship there. It was inevitable that she should accept any inconsistency

and cruelty from her deity as all good worshippers do from theirs. All

gods who receive homage are cruel. All gods dispense suffering

without reason. Otherwise they would not be worshipped. Through in-

discriminate suffering men know fear and fear is the most divine emo-

tion. It is the stones for altars and the beginning of wisdom. Half gods

are worshipped in wine and flowers. Real gods require blood.

   

Passage #3

    The time was past for asking the white folks what to look for

through that door. Six eyes were questioning God.

    Through the screaming wind they heard things crashing and things

hurtling and dashing with unbelievable velocity. A baby rabbit, terror

ridden, squirmed through a hole in the floor and squatted off there in

the shadows against the wall, seeming to know that nobody wanted its

flesh at such a time. And the lake got madder and madder with only its

dikes between them and him.

    In a little wind-lull, Tea Cake touched Janie and said, “Ah reckon

you wish now you had of stayed in yo’ big house ’way from such as dis,

don’t yuh?”

    “Naw.”

    “Naw?”

    “Yeah, naw. People don’t die till dey time come nohow, don’t keer

where you at. Ah’m wid mah husband in uh storm, dat’s all.”

Passage #4

    The pistol and the rifle rang out almost together. The pistol just

enough after the rifle to seem its echo. Tea Cake crumpled as his bullet

buried itself in the joist over Janie’s head. Janie saw the look on his

face and leaped forward as he crashed forward in her arms. She was

trying to hover him as he closed his teeth in the flesh of her forearm.

They came down heavily like that. Janie struggled to a sitting position

and pried the dead Tea Cake’s teeth from her arm.

    It was the meanest moment of eternity. A minute before she was

just a scared human being fighting for its life. Now she was her sacrifi-

cing self with Tea Cake’s head in her lap. She had wanted him to live

so much and he was dead. No hour is ever eternity, but it has its right

to weep. Janie held his head tightly to her breast and wept and

thanked him wordlessly for giving her the chance for loving service.

She had to hug him tight for soon he would be gone, and she had to

tell him for the last time. Then the grief of outer darkness descended.