Passage analysis TATD

The passage I have chosen is the following (from chapter 2, page 32-33) 

I could see my father listening and nodding his head with pleasure, looking at me with a smile as if saying: "Listen and learn." I had been happy then, hoping no one could see me, so I could climb the palm tree or throw up a stone to bring down a date, singing to myself along with those chanting men. Then one evening when I'd come back to the students' hostel in Giza I saw her coming towards me, holding a basket, pretty and charming, all the joys of heaven and torments of hell that I was fated to experience hidden within her.
What had it been about the chanting I'd liked, when they recited: "As soon as He appeared the beacon of faith shone" and: "I saw the crescent moon and the face of the beloved"? But the sun is not yet set. The last golden thread is receding from the window. A long night is waiting for me, the first night of freedom. I am alone with my freedom, or rather I'm in the company of the Sheikh, who is lost in heaven, repeating words that cannot be understood by someone approaching hell. What other refuge have I?

This passage commences with the reminiscence of Said Mahran about his father, as he had just received "asylum" from the Sheikh that is asking him to repent. This passage is one of the many passages that employs stream of consciousness, as we are directed towards Said's thoughts in the form of a flashback, which shifts into him thinking about his freedom. He uses imagery and refers to his ex-wife as all the joys of heaven and torments of hell. This quote highlights the conflicting view he has of her, as he recognises that he had great moments with her, but she has also greatly hurt him. This also further develops his outer conflict with his wife, that causes readers to feel sympathy for Said, as the exposition shows him with bad intentions certainly. Additionally, it also highlights his torment and his inner conflict in the way of categorising his ex-wife, as he still recognises the happiness he felt before she betrayed her, which is why he juxtaposes hell and heaven together. The quote said by his father gives an idea of how his childhood may have been, implying it had been peaceful, contrasting to his current state of just leaving prison and feeling betrayed, increasing that feeling of sympathy amongst readers. This characterises his persistence as an individual but there is also a passage that acts as a foreshadowing for the escalation of events, as for the mention of the last golden threads on the window symbolise a last moment of light before Said plunges into his vicious cycle in the path of destruction, of both himself and others. Said personifies his freedom, saying he is alone with it. This emphasizes his feeling of loneliness, which exemplifies the beginning of his mental deterioration, as he drifts away, noticing that everything had changed and he is now fully alone in his thoughts. He further emphasizes this feeling of loneliness as even his host is unable to understand him. There is use of heaven/hell imagery a second time, in the description of the Sheikh lost in heaven, repeating words that cannot be understood by someone approaching hell. He admits his inability to understand the wise words, which characterises his drift from the possibility of redemption through religion, yet he still acknowledges that his acts are somewhat sinful as he says himself he is approaching hell. This allows the reader to be able to understand that he has lost hope in religion and that he will not envisage in going into a similar path as his father, ruling out the possibility of him ever being religious. Readers also understand his frustration, as the Sheikh gives him mystical anecdotal responses to his very tedious situation.In this moment, Said is characterised as having a lack of flexibility, as he is unable to put in effort in trying to change his cognition and perception of life and his situation, which will ultimately be his hamartia.

Stream of consciousness in TATD

How and to what effect does Mahfouz employ stream of consciousness narration in the novel?

Stream of consciousness is a form of narration that depicts the multitude of thoughts and emotions that go through the protagonist's mind. This method provides a coherent flow of thoughts in the sense that the mechanism very close to the human experience in terms of thought process.  This narrative technique is largely used throughout the novel, and provides a very detailed and complex characterisation of Said Mahran. From the first chapter, Said's intentions of revenge are revealed, through his inner monologue, as his anger is being expressed in a self-explanatory way that the omniscient narrator does not need to touch base on. The escalation of his need for revenge also evolves throughout the book, as readers witness his reaction to the changes that had occurred during his four years in prison. Stream of consciousness characterises Said Mahran as a more despicable character as the plot goes on, and even when readers are made aware of the difficult past he may have had, there is less pity felt for it. This is shown in the ungrateful reaction he had when Rauf offered him money and he refused in the fourth chapter. In this instance, stream of consciousness is essential, as if Said had not voiced his feeling of betrayal seeing that Rauf abandoned his ideals, readers would have assumed he had been struck by jealousy. Said is characterised as spiteful and reckless from external characters, that all claim to know him well (chapter 1 the detective, another chapter Nur said it etc). However, the characterisation of Said from his thoughts shows the different layers of his thought process and how himself lost who he is after 4 years of prison, being guided by his feeling of betrayal, and a sense of loss for a present that looks nothing like his life before prison. 

Oftentimes, Said employs animal imagery to describe his traitors as dogs, which further allows readers to understand his sense of betrayal and almost dehumanisation of his enemies, facilitating his distorted view of the world and his thoughts of murder or committing crime. He calls the people that had betrayed him dogs, which from chapter 3 onwards, becomes mixed entities, rather than the distinct people that have betrayed him. As the plot progresses, there is also use of animal imagery to describe himself, which highlights his loss of control, but also the loss of the capability to think through his actions rather than impulsively act upon them. This also emphasizes his inability to learn from prior mistakes and develops the idea that prison does not change people's nature. Stream of consciousness also contributes largely to the tone and mood of the text, as the plot progresses, not only is Said more driven by his anger, but his despair as well. There is also a revelation of his inner conflict, as even if he is actively considering harming "the dogs", he still aspires for a calm life, which Nur almost gave him by the end of the plot a desire to do so. In addition in chapter 7, he does reveal he will spare Nabbawiyya, as she is the mother of her daughter and he would not want to harm her. Moments like these catalyse Said's rigid nature, however, the stream of consciousness method does favorise the escalation of his thoughts as he believes that the thought of his daughter is negative and holds him back from accomplishing his true goal.This method of narration also allows Said to be able to justify his actions, like why he wants revenge so badly from the "dogs" or what had made him get into burglary in the first place (chapter 11) as he had a difficult life.

Naguib's context of creation is also very essential to consider, as himself in an interview claims he subjected his confusions and paranoia into the thoughts of Said, as he displays these two emotions abundantly. There could be a parallelism between Said's feeling of betrayal towards Rauf's abandonment of his ideals and Mahfouz's dissatisfaction of the results of the Egyptian revolution. The societal issue of elitist society, which was thought to be overthrown with the monarchy but was not, can be examplified in Said's stream of consciousness monologue in the begining of chapter 4. This form of narration splits the writer and the protagonist into two different entities, but also allows Naguib to be able to portray his dislike towards the political climate in an implicit way, as there had been strict censorship after the revolution.

Extension- Comment on how Mahfouz’s narrative style or purpose shares similarities or differences with Achebe.

It is notable that both narrative styles chosen by the writters assure understanding of the context of the story and plot. They are done in a subtle way that encourages the reader themselves to shape their own opinion of the characters, almost like historians shaping historiography. However, it is still different, even if they both have omniscient narrative style, as stream of consciousness does at times conflict with the narrator, or rather than just add details, it just creates more questions for the reader. Both narration styles do recognise the multiple perspectives within a story or lifetime. 

Evaluation of the study of literature in translation

The differences between languages cannot be ignored, as this may vary from more syntax to idioms. The subtleties present in the text that is most understood by its native speakers can oftentimes be lost in translation. Literature is a tool for self-expression and social commentary and with use of it, aspects of socio-cultural backgrounds, history and politics can be easily drawn and voiced by authors. However, with the multitude of languages spoken, it is impossible to speak all languages, which drives it to be essential to translate texts from their original tongue. These translated works offer an insight into cross-cultural differences and give authentic views as well as drives the reader to be more open-minded. This is recurrent in the portrayal of cultures in specific ways of the media. It is also notable to add that even if a piece could be originally written in Arabic, it is a dissolved version as it is made for an audience that is not familiar with the culture, and the author themselves might not be as much as those who write in their native tongues.

Translated books essentially, although they are always translated years later for an audience that was not intended, give a precise view of the author of current issues in the country, which is prominent in the reading Found in Translation and the novel The Thief and the Dogs. Various translated works have given a more precise perspective of the culture, but it can also bring clarification to the new audience, as they could have been affected from pre-existing ideas, but this does not necessarily prevent from understanding the text. In other terms, even if the reception, on a contextual, socio-cultural or economic basis is not the same, the translated work can still be understood by the new audience, although this does require readers to understand the original context of the publishing. Translating works can be challenging, as it may change the intensity of the passage and challenge the actual translation ability of the translators, as they are required to interpret the ideas of the text, and try to salvage as much as it as possible. There are words or idioms which can not be translated and are unique to the language, other formats for example poetry may lose its entire purpose, or the interpretation could even change the targetted audience such as age group from the original one. With the fast globalisation of the world, there is more risk of cross-cultural ambiguity and this can also be problematic as the authenticity can be lost.

Nevertheless, reading translated works is very insightful as the readers acquires a better understanding of the context and the culture at stake through the values and attitudes that are expressed, which may largely impact them as individuals.

Hold your meat because this post is about to sweep your off your feet!!!

Rationale;

The article I have selected is from the Guardian, and is entitled "My meat addiction is over: I’ve gone vegan, and it’s brilliant" by Jack Monroe. This article explores the author's journey into veganism and also deplores the nature of omnivore diets. The bias is on vegan diets, as it claims to be the only way to be healthy, without considering flexitarianism can also be an option for readers. This is prominent in the chosen arguments, as even if they are true and highlight why veganism is better for their environment and health, there are ways it can not benefit them. Additionally, it is the exclusivity of anecdotes from the author's life play into this bias. This parody will be written under author name Jackson Devon, that highlights the magnificence of eating only animal products.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/28/jack-monroe-meat-vegan-food-ingredients

My vegan addiction is over; I eat only animal products and it's brilliant

Jackson Devon (not a certified nutritionist or qualified to give any nutritional advice whatsoever but I will do it anyway because it is the only way I can get attention)

"Now my cooking has gone to a whole other level; I have such a big variety of juicy meat I can include in my dishes" Photography : Jackson Devon

During the new year, with some friends and our young children, I had a crazy night of drinking 1 litre of kombucha and watching the best vegan documentary; Cowspiracy. That night I went to bed, but little did I know that would be the last time I would indulge in that environmentally correct behaviour of limiting meat consumption.

I woke up the first day of the year, and resolved to pick up the habit of smoking and eat exclusively animal products; I ate so much as a vegan I needed something to suppress this appetite. I experimented with meat recipes for a very long time, and I abruptly removed fruit, vegetables, all the superfoods like quinoa and chia seeds as well as the meat substitutes I used to eat all the time. This got me to save money because that stuff is expensive as s***, I'll tell you that. And the best part is, I was no longer deficient in vitamin B12 because all the meat I ate had it. I get my calcium from milk and my iron from chicken liver. I cooked with eggs and steak and I was always obsessively for new meats to try and experiment with! I even tried raising my own chickens and killing them myself, although they wouldn't stop moving and ran away headless, although it didn't cross the street.

When I was a kid, I once announced to my born and raised skinny and pale vegan parents that I wanted to eat meat. The reply I got was "Don't be silly. And finish your quinoa, avocado and kale salad." Out of respect for my parents, who worked really hard to get food on the table, I would eat dinner. Even when they would force feed me grass because they read somewhere it's rich in vitamin D. I was entrapped in a sad vegan childhood, due to my parent's oblivion to the juiciness of meat.

I tried giving up my vegan diet several times, yet like I junkie I always caved in. Premade veggie burger patties, coconut yoghurt, frozen fruit for my smoothies, gosh it was so difficult to resist all these cruelty-free foods! And now when I look back at my recipes published when I was vegan, I try not to cringe at how awfully stupid the concept of having food without animal products is. After all, I evolved to who I am today, from experience and decisions. I now host yearly meat-stock festivals to celebrate this amazing lifestyle, although one of my cohosts had a nearly deadly heart attack and now stopped eating meat. What a fake meat eater!

"Steak became my go to almost every day, vegetables makes your body way too alkaline and it will definitely kill you. Steak has all the macros; carbs, fat and protein"

Vegans, you all secretly hate yourselves. Where do you ever get your protein from? or calcium? Don't you miss meat? The other day I went to my vegan friend's house, but I forgot to warn them about my new journey, and the sight of all the vegan food made me lose my appetite. But it's a good thing I got chicken flavoured tofu and sausage cucumber substitutes; this stuff tastes like veggies and have the same texture but actually are made 100% animal products.

Unless you live under some kind of rock, you know people living in Antarctica only eat seal meat and they are way more spiritually evolved than us. You have to be on a meat only diet to experience these advantages. And do you really have canines to eat celery? Yeah, that is what I thought. Plants give out oxygen, why would you want to eat oxygen sources? The world is a much safer place if we eat animals because that way they won't eat us. Additionally, eating their food is so unjust! 

I could never eat plants that are raised on inhumane farms, given pesticides and GMOs and in such crowded conditions, with less than 1 square millimetre per plant. It is so devastating to see how plants are being killed and deforestation; vegetables can feel too! Eating lettuce has 3 times worst greenhouse emission gases than bacon. There are crazy amount of hormones in soy, and did the plant even deserve to be treated that way? Plus to all men out there you will start growing breasts from eating too much soy, and oh boy having a bigger cup size than your girlfriend is embarrassing (been there done that). But I'm not going to gross you out with science. In my experience, harassing vegans, screaming at them, and feeding them meat by saying it's fake meat doesn't work. You don't really change much. I stopped spamming with memes that make fun of vegans or articles that talk about vegan vitamin deficiencies. You won't get that for me. But what you will get is more food recipes that only have animal products, but honestly, it is just like what I used to do but no longer using lettuce like before. Vegans that can't take nutritional advice are in denial, and that's usually a symptom of all the fibre that is fogging up their brains.

Never skip the steak, that's a mistake.

Family Furnishing IOC passage

Listen to my practice IOC passage here

Alice Munro application to Wallace's theory

In what ways could Wallace’s theory about education be applicable to the writing of Alice Munro? Justify your conclusion

The speech This is Water by David Foster Wallace speaks of the importance of sympathy and consciousness, which can be acquired through education, said to be a true freedom. He discusses how it is very common for humans to place themselves in the centre of their universe, and disregard the possible circumstance of those in their surroundings. He builds his argument that people's consciousness is always on auto, using a fish anecdote, and then to example to the supermarket. To prevent so, there is a possibility of reading literary fiction, as being in the centre of another's person life develops empathy and emotional intelligence. By evaluating simple situations that are easily neglectable and overlooked, his perspective allows us to see the situation from a different viewpoint, that lets empathy and emotional intelligence come through. He also believes that true freedom can only be acquired by learning how to think as well as being aware and conscious.

When it comes to Alice Munro ’s short stories, Wallace’s theory of education can be applied to it; the reader is able to experience the world from the protagonist eyes, and experience multiple emotions due to the fact that the stories have a development in a human experience and character. Building on the example of royal beatings, we develop empathy for the protagonist and her slight difficult childhood. It is through reading literature that we shift away from our « automatic » thought process, and learn how to be well-adjusted, through the recognition of the possible feelings of the protagonist but also our own.

Another aspect is that Munro’s short stories do concentrate on otherwise seen banal stories, in everyday life situations, and Wallace does the same since he depicts the average American adult life during the work week. The simplistic settings allow the reader to have a concentration of the character, to which favorisies the ability to put oneself in the protagonists view, which is the experience of something realistic but out of the ordinary of one’s life.

There are several possible links between Wallace’s theory and the writing of Alice Munro. Wallace's speech encourages us to break from our regular « automatic » thought process, and develop empathy and emotional intelligence through literature, and Alice Munro’s stories are a good way of doing so, as it does build us into being a more empathetic, sympathetic, conscious and adjusted individual.The speech This is Water by Wallace speaks of the importance of sympathy and consciousness, which can be acquired through education, said to be a true freedom. He discusses how it is very common for humans to place themselves in the centre of their universe, and disregard the possible circumstance of those in their surroundings. He builds his argument that people's consciousness is always on auto, using a fish anecdote, and then to example to the supermarket. To prevent so, there is the possibility of reading literary fiction, as being in the centre of another's person life develops empathy and emotional intelligence.

The struggles of being trillingual

At the beginning of this month, I had "officially" started doing my summer work, this had been a very interesting experience, to say the least, as while my relatives are just enjoying down time, I am forcing myself to do work, knowing that I am doomed in either way. Nevertheless, I will persevere because I had started reading two self-help type of books which had highly motivated me ; 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey and Le Chemin Le Moins Fréquenté by Scott Peck (translated in French from his original book; Road Less Traveled), and I highly recommend reading both by the way.

Anyways back to the point, during my stay in Tunisia that has been for the totality of the summer, I had realised that I was truly linguistically confused. How so you may ask? Well, my trilingual self was showing, not subtly but rather as if it had been written on my forehead since at this point I cannot speak for two minutes without subconsciously mixing three languages. Don't get me wrong, I love being trilingual, but the issues with languages are that when you neglect one, you give too much power to the other, causing you to have a hegemony in the way you speak, and a confused grandma that doesn't understand a word you say. 

Nevertheless, I am not the only one in my family to have this struggle. Ameni, my older sister, keeps speaking English whilst we walk the roads of a rural city, and I keep insisting she speaks French or Arabic because I don't want to come out as being a tourist, only to have her start speaking English again a few minutes later. Or my parents keep asking for take away at restaurants when it's actually à emporter. I'm always a stranger wherever I go since in Tunisia I do not speak totality the dialect (which itself is a mix of Tunisian and French, and the ratio varies where you are) and anywhere else I am not a native.

My brain thinks in French when I am writing in English and thinking in English when writing in French, and Arabic I guess had always been at the bottom. I do not speak any of these languages perfectly and I cannot have one as a focal point. By the end of grade 11, my French had regressed due to my lack of practice, but now I guess it's been back again, as I force myself to speak French with my cousins. It's funny because you would expect that the more languages you speak, the less you need google translate but in reality, it's always a tab that is open, because of those troubles in memory of remembering what the word is in another language.

My cousins have a similar struggle as when they go back to school they adopt the strange Yesmine Jargon. I will leave you the benefit of the doubt to what this could be.