Comparative Paper 2 Outline

Prompt 1:

1) 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.

Outline:

Thesis: By establishing the two characters Okonkwo and Said Mahran as tragic heroes, the two authors, Chinua Achebe and Naguib Mahfouz, outline how pride can lead to failure and self – destruction.

T.S. 1: by maintaining specific characteristics within the characters of Okonkwo and Said, Achebe and Mahfouz are able to depict him as the archetype of a tragic hero.

T.S. 2:

T.S. 3: the relationship that the authors form between the characters’ pride and their ultimate death support the self-destructive notions of pride.

Prompt 2:

2) How are challenges to authority presented in the two works you have studied, and what impact have such challenges had on readers or audiences?

Outline:

Thesis: By maintaining the conventions of social commentary, the two literary works presented by Chinua Achebe and Naguib Mahfouz can be seen as a vehicle in which to take a stance against aspects of the political rule during their respective contexts of production.

T.S. 1: something about social commentary

T.S. 2: The two pieces of literature by Achebe and Mahfouz were both published during times of political change and both authors felt oppressed.

T.S. 3: The feelings of oppression and anxiety felt by the majority of the populations in Nigeria and Egypt at the time are reflected by the characters of Okonkwo and Said respectively. 

The Thief and The Dogs Passage Analysis

Passage:

Said eyed a statue of a Chinese god, a perfect embodiment of dignity and repose. "I

learned tailoring in prison."

"So you want to set up a tailoring shop?" said Rauf with surprise.

"Certainly not," Said replied quietly.

"What then?"

Said looked at him. "In my whole life I've mastered only one trade."

"You're going back to burglary?" Rauf seemed almost alarmed.

"It's most rewarding, as you know."

"As I know! How the hell do I know?"

"Why are you so angry?" Said gave him a surprised look. "I meant as you know from

my past. Isn't it so?"

Rauf lowered his eyes as if trying to assess the sincerity of Said's remark, clearly unable

to maintain his bonhomie, and looking for a way to end the meeting. "Listen, Said. Things are

no longer what they used to be. In the past, you were both a thief and my friend, for reasons you

well know. Now the situation has changed. If you go back to burglary you'll be a thief and

nothing else."

Dashed by Rauf's unaccommodating frankness, Said sprang to his feet. Then he stifled

his agitation, sat down again, and said quietly, "All right. Choose a job that's suitable for me."

"Any job, no matter what. You do the talking, I'll listen."

"I should be happy," Said began, without obvious irony, "to work as a journalist on your

paper. I'm a well-educated man and an old disciple of yours. Under your supervision, I've read

countless books, and you often testified to my intelligence."

Analysis:

This passage reveals Said’s hubris and excessive pride, and ultimately the role it plays in leading to his misfortune. Said’s pride is first communicated when he is described as eyeing “a statue of a Chinese God, a perfect embodiment of dignity and repose”. Mahfouz does this to allow the reader to assume that Said feels a connection to the God and views himself on a divine level.

Through the dialogue between Rauf and Said it becomes clear that Said’s pride deems him unable to make a change in his life for the better. This is exemplified in the passage through the egotistic tone that Mahfouz employs in defining Said’s replies to Rauf’s advice. For instance, when asked if he would like to open a tailoring shop, he replied almost with disgust saying “certainly not” also describing it as a menial job. This in turn results in a tense mood between the two characters and Rauf’s complete loss of respect towards Said after he suggests going back to burglary. Said’s pride is further emphasized when he suggests working as a journalist for Rauf, a job usually requiring a university education and experience – both of which Said does not possess. The unfolding of this dialogue, further reinforces the characterization of Said as prideful and introduces the reader to his hubris. Mahfouz also reveals to the reader how Said’s hubris ultimately led to his misfortune with Rauf, possibly to characterize Said as a tragic hero and also to foreshadow the coming events and misfortunes in the plot.

Furthermore, Said’s surprise at Rauf’s anger when he reveals he wants to go back into burglary conveys the gap that Said has in the way people perceive him and the way he perceives himself. Through claiming that Said had a “surprised look” after Rauf gets angry at him, Mahfouz suggests that Said sees no problem with the life that he leads. This discrepancy between Said’s perception of himself and other’s perception of him remains an essential part of the text, most importantly when he acquits himself of murder in a dream.

The passage also reveals Said’s tendency to resist change which Mahfouz introduces to suggest it as Said’s tragic flaw. Despite being urged to make a positive change in his life, Said intends to resort back to the trade that is “most rewarding” burglary. This resistance to change is also what ultimately leads to his death later in the novel as he is unable to move on from the past and is concerned with exacting revenge no matter the consequences. This is employed by Mahfouz to possibly reflect the context of production concerned with the Egyptian revolution. Essentially, he may be suggesting to the Egyptian people that having rigid ideologies under a corrupt government will lead to more harm than good. 

Paper 2 Outline

‘With regards to Thief and the Dogs, explain why Naguib Mahfouz may have chosen to depict events in a particular sequence or order.’

Thesis: Mahfouz chooses to follow a linear chronological timeline while including flashbacks to provide context for events in the novel as well as reflect the context of production in the novel.

T.S. 1: By using flashbacks throughout the novel, Naguib provides the reader with essential information to enhance the present events.

T.S. 2: The two steps forward one step back nature of the flashback narration reflects the Egyptian people’s frustration during the context of production.

T.S. 3: 

The Stream of Consciousness in The Thief and The Dogs

The Thief and the dogs was revolutionary in the sense that it was the first Arab novel to employ the stream of consciousness narrative technique. The technique allows the reader to experience the character’s thoughts in the same way the character does, and can provide another level of insight into the actions and motivations of the characters in a story. In the Thief and the dogs the technique is used in reference to the main protagonist in the novel, Said Mahran.

One of the primary ways Naguib employs the stream of consciousness technique is to further characterize the character of Said, in addition to the remaining characters in the story. In the early chapters of the story, Said seems to think of himself as a dangerous man “Here is a man--a man who can dive like a fish, fly like a hawk, scale walls like a rat, pierce solid doors like a bullet!”. His thoughts reveal his confidence and introduce the raw anger that drives the plot of the story “that woman who sprang from filth, from vermin, from treachery and infidelity”. Yet the reader also witnesses undertones of paranoia and instability “so study the road carefully, and what’s on it. Those shops for instance, where the men are staring at you, cowering like mice.” This begins to foreshadow and hint at Said’s future descent into madness. This technique also helps reveal to the reader the extreme feelings of rejection that he faced when meeting his daughter and the love he has for her. This plays a big role in allowing the reader to understand his motives for revenge and see his perspective on the situation. Naguib does this to build sympathy towards Said from the reader, characterizing him as a tragic hero.

Furthermore, Naguib utilizes the stream of consciousness narration to develop the underlying plot and conflicts in the story through flashbacks and reminiscences. In chapter 11 the reader witnesses a series of evoked reminiscences revealing the level of love and romanticism that Said encountered with Nabbawiyya and the young and flirtatious courtship of her. This introduces the reader to Said’s perspective of the circumstances in an attempt to communicate with the reader Said’s feelings of betrayal and his justifications for revenge. We as the readers, through the flashbacks, also discover more about the past events that have lead to Said’s growing feelings of paranoia and mental instability. Essentially this develops Said’s internal conflict of the past vs the present which culminates with Said’s mental breakdown when Nur doesn’t return home.

The flashbacks also reveal themes relating to Naguib’s context of production reflecting the feelings of disappointment in the revolution and betrayal from the Egyptian leaders; this is exemplified through Said’s memory of being rejected healthcare due to his lower economic status leading to his mother’s death. Therefore, the stream of consciousness can be seen as a vehicle to communicate Naguib’s personal opinions on the current sociopolitical setting in Egypt, which maintains the novel as a form of social commentary. Furthermore, Said’s thoughts throughout the novel can also be seen to reflect Naguib’s. For instance, we see a very opinionated rant from Said’s perspective in reference to Rauf’s newfound wealth; this can essentially be viewed as Naguib’s stance on the topic of economic instability and the unbalanced dispersion of wealth across the population. The consistent feelings of pursuit that Said faces can also reflect Naguib’s own feelings of pursuit at the time as a result of the oppression of intellectuals under the new regime.