Blog Post #32: Fate and Free Will

How does Mahfouz illustrate how fate is a major determiner of one’s happiness in life?

Through the main character, Said, Mahfouz manages to illustrate how fate may play a major determiner of one's happiness in life. Said's birth in a lower class system immediately initiates a conflict with the higher classes and society due to his lack of opportunities and interaction with other people. He had no control over his birth within society, location or family which identifies the event as a form of fate. The circumstances of his birth were left up to faith and now directly impact his happiness as he did not receive as many options as others with his Dad requiring a degree of persuasion in order to allow him to study in a school. This is continued by the uncontrollable event of the death of both his parents, leaving him as an orphan. Not only were these events uncontrollable and up to fate but also lead him to the disrespectful interaction in the luxury hospital with his sick mother. This situation leads him to experience the complex dynamic between the socio-economical classes which fuels his hatred and even drives him to steal while his mother is sick. These events determined his happiness during these time periods and are what fueled his hatred for the higher class society of Egypt further corrupting his soul of any form of happiness. Having a predisposition in society due to his birth was up to fate which is continued by the uncontrollable events which unravelled around him. 

Fate diminishing the possibility of happiness in his life is continued by the actions of others around him as he has no personal control of the behaviour of others. His childhood events lead him to seek safety, admiration and trust in others like Ilish, Rauf and Nabawiyya. However, he is betrayed by Ilish and is sent to jail further limiting his possible happiness in life as he is further constricted. This peripeteia is heightened by Nabawiyya's infidelity leading him to want revenge which prevents him from finding new happiness in love with Nur or religion with the Sheikh. 

Mahfouz demonstrates how fate as in birth or the actions of others may inherently control one's happiness as there is only so much freedom an individual has within society. He does not limit the idea of free-will playing a role but simply highlights the difficulty to determine one's happiness injunction with one's own fate.  

Blog Post #31: TATD Said Passage Analysis

 Passage: Chapter 15, Said's hallucination.

The passage extends on the tragic hero archetype associated with Said as it develops his hubris nature as well as defining the extent of his hamartia. Alongside further characterizations, underlining themes of Said's attitudes towards the government and the higher economic classes are present which heighten his external as well as internal conflicts. These conflicts reflect the context of production as Said is a projection of the author's own frustration with the political state of Egypte during this time period.

In the hallucination, an immediate conflict between Said and the jury is established with lines " "there is a personal animosity between you and them" and "they're kin to the scoundrel". Here, said establishes a separation between himself and the council announcing the mutual tension while stating their preference for Rauf. This highlights the economic social divide within his society which fuels his hatred for the new world and his hamartia resisting to adapt. Furthermore, it embodies the distrust of state and paranoia which would have been present in the people of that time period creating a relatable environment with the readers of Egypt initiating a connection with Said.

"Yes, these words will glitter: they'll be crowned with a not-guilty verdict..." His internal dialogue indirectly emphasizes his hubris as, even though the jury his another adversary, he believes that his speech will be able to win them over. It reiterates his stubborn ideology insisting to himself that his actions are justified as he is attempting to procure revenge on Rauf and the innocent man was simply a harmless casualty. Furthermore, the speech builds his hamartia as he refuses to accept the blame of the death on himself without even considering that he is at fault, rather, it is Rauf's fault. The rejection of responsibility reveals the extent to his hamartia as is hatred of his adversaries and the new world has skewed his moral compass which intensifies his external conflicts.

Describing his situation unveils a slight anagnorisis with, "A hunted man only feeds on new excitements, which pour down upon him in the span of solitude like rain." The metaphor and simile acknowledge how his behavior has caused his path to further stray as now he cannot turn back because of his "excitements". It even foreshadows the never-ending battle up until his death as the simile insists the lack of control he has. Further developing his hamartia, he does not fully go through an anagnorisis as he only accepts that his actions have led him to his present, however, still does not acknowledge that his form of justice may be wrong. 

Blog Post #30: TATD Stream of Consciousness Narration

The stream of consciousness narrative within the technique extremely elevates the themes and characters presented as it gives to contrasting perspectives. Juxtaposing the internal thoughts of the protagonist is a calm objective third person narrative which primarily provides description of the events, surroundings and characters of the novel. This provides the readers with all the external facts and details needed to interpret the story and the actions of characters. However, its seemingly calm and monotone narrative contrasts with the internal thoughts/dialogue of Said which is in italics for ease the reading and understanding of the novel. Said's thoughts present opinion, emotion and a first person perspective which is absent from the other narrative which almost entirely characterizes Said. His bursts of thought present his internal conflicts and how they are what fuel his actions, to some extent, reasoning them to the viewer. The internal thought expresses his hubris and hamartia which develops his character as a tragic hero as well as divulging on his negative emotion like hate and his want for revenge as well as his positive ones like his love for Sana or Nur. This is constantly evident in his descriptions of the traitors within his life as they are most commonly paired with descriptions of Sana or Nur as he decided to spare Nabbawiya's life purely because of Sana. His descriptions of himself and others aid in characterization as well as foreshadowing to his tragic hero fate as he continuously describes himself as this superior thief while the third person narrator reveals all his failures. Which is highlighted in his consciousness prior his actions like breaking into Rauf's house or attempting to kill Ilish as he describes himself using animal imagery while the third person narrator describes his failure the next day. 

Information and characterization from the third person narrator and stream of consciousness narrative technique creates a three dimensional protagonist with a number of flaws and good qualities. It evokes a sense of sympathy and frustration within the audience as they want to root for Said but disagree with his actions and methods of achieving his happy ending. The third person narrative is objective giving an unbiased description of his actions and interactions which exaggerates his internal thoughts as the viewer is exposed to the multiple positive paths he could take. However, due to the corruption of his hubris and hamartia which are expressed in his consciousness, it is as if he cannot change path no matter how hard he tries. After breaking into Ruf's house, both failed attempts at murder and Nur's disappearance, Said is not discouraged or doubts his behaviour but his hamartia continuous to fuel his external conflicts due to his resistance to change and acceptance which is constantly revealed in his consciousness. 

The stream of consciousness narrative technique relates heavily to Mahfouz's context of production as he has expressed his confusion and perplexities during the events of his time through the character of Said. Said's constant struggle with his "traitors", the government and general environment mirrors Mahfouz's struggle with Nasser's changing state as certain aspects which were promised were not fulfilled. Mahfouz cultivates his frustration and opposition through the character of Said due to the censorship of that time as Nasser's rule tended to be hierarchical in adversaries and media with the censorship of both if opposition was present. This ruling power was also described between the relationship of Rauf and Said and Rauf's rebellious spirit is lost in his bureaucratic lifestyle dividing the bond between them and mirroring the separation that occurred between certain classes. This is reiterated in Nur's description of what people thought of Said as the Taxi driver believed Said highlighted justice but was mistaken in his actions while the higher clansman envisioned him as a form of entertainment for the lower class citizens.  

Blog Post #29: Translated Literature

 Your response should demonstrate an awareness of specific benefits and challenges through references to today’s readings, as well as making tangible connections to the learning outcome from Part 3 of the course. 

Firstly, translated texts give readers an insight into an opposing or similar perspective to their own. Translated literature allows readers to experience a first-person or more authentic perspective of a given society, culture or experience that may have more bias, manipulation, or artificiality in their first language resources. This provides them with a better understanding of the events or even educates them on events they were unaware of, which aids individuals and their awareness. Translated texts have a greater possibility of gaining sympathy or an emotional connection with readers even if they have not experienced or are unaware of the given events due to the emotional honesty and genuineness. Resources that may comment on the same events in the reader's first language are most likely from an outside perspective which can be missing crucial information or contain a sterile atmosphere. Not only does it give insight into certain events and cultures but it can provide vital information or connection to previous time periods within other cultures or owns own culture whose language has changed or who do not speak their native language. 

Along with it possibly giving readers a new mindset or attitudes towards certain concepts, it can provide interesting analysis and possible literary styles or differences. Studying translated texts could give people of varying languages information on new methods of stylistic choices or plot development which could aid their own literature and storytelling methods. 

Even though there are many benefits, there are still a lot of complications which comes when translating texts. Many translators still describe the task as "impossible" as it is difficult to retain the literary life within the original text in the new one and often have to create a new life which suits the new language. There are many difficulties translating as the certain phrases or figurative language cannot be translated literally. The difference in culture can also affect the degree of translation as certain phrases, words or concepts might not be cross-cultural which can be hard to maintain similarities in text and intention. This continues with sentence structure, sound and flow of a story as it can be impossible to replicate the original elements of the text in a completely different language, especially if some words are absent in either language. All these factors may lead to a loss of information, atmosphere or emotion while giving the possibility of miscommunication, emotion, atmosphere or information which clouds the a=original intent of the author. 

Blog Post #28: Parody/Pastiche

Parody of: Santa Barbara shooting: Suspect was ‘soft-spoken, polite, a gentleman’, ex-principal says. http://www.whittierdailynews.com/2014/05/25/santa-barbara-shooting-suspect-was-soft-spoken-polite-a-gentleman-ex-principal-says/

Rationale:

The parody article reiterates the biases presented in the original article “ Santa Barbara shooting: Suspect was ‘soft-spoken, polite, a gentleman’, ex-principal says.” It highlights the white victimization bias as a shooter is presented as a victim through the contents portraying him in a certain manner. The subject of the article focuses on the shooters good qualities and life while avoiding the actual event itself which makes the audience ignore the act focusing on his difficulties in life which evoke a sense of sympathy. Through sarcasm and satirical descriptions, the parody article reveals the irrelevance of the details mentioned and how they had nothing to do with the original crime. This sarcasm unveils the portrayal of a victim role within the original article signifying the unreasonableness of the article’s intent and discussion. It highlights the useless justifications of the shooter’s actions through the normalization of what he went through in comparison to many teenagers which describes the unjust justification for his actions.

Santa Barbara Shooting: Shooter could not possibly have done it because he was 'soft-spoken, polite, a white gentlemen', ex-principal says.

Elliot Rodger allegedly killed six people and injured 14 near the University of California before horribly killing himself, however, he had never shown any form of aggression ever in his entire life.

Deborah Smith was mortified and devastated to hear her previous student's alleged attack as she had known him more than two years and had brief conversations with him which really connected her to the student. Her previous principle role allowed her to really connect with the student even though he barely conversed with her. She understood his behavior and his mind prefect;y from their interactions and attempted to make his life in high school as easy as possible.

She could never even imagine Rodger to ever do something like this as she worked with disturbed students and never saw him as one. However, it was known that Rodger was an extremely tortured soul struggling to fit into life. He would be able to convince people that he was just as normal as everyone else but everyone knew he had Asperger's syndrome and constantly battled with social interactions and envy towards his closest friends. His awkwardness prevented him from engaging with anyone at all which stopped him from living a normal teenage life.

Rodger was a straight A student and never absent for a single day of school. He was constantly tormented at school by the other students as girls chose other guys over him and his friends hung out with other people sometimes. These girls and friends drove him to be more self-conscious and uncomfortable around others. The poor teenager had the absolute worst time in high school as he felt "uncool" and "an outsider" which no one ever has to go through.

He may have created an infamous youtube video called “Elliot Rodger’s Retribution” describing his want for revenge for girls who rejected him and guys who were sexually active as it was just so unfair to him and his life. It described how his social anxiety stopped him from living and no one helped him with it making his life so much worse. He even released a manifesto before brutally killing himself which enlightens everyone on the difficulties in his life and how hard it was for him to find happiness.

Practice IOC- Lady Lazarus (in class)

https://youtu.be/Zf1BtKKDAtA

Practice IOC- Sylvia Plath

https://youtu.be/I5RElEV9ReA