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.