Blog Post 30 - How does Mahfouz illustrate how fate is a major determiner of one’s happiness in life?

Prompt: How does Mahfouz illustrate how fate is a major determiner of one's happiness in life?
Throughout the novel, Thief and The Dogs, Mahfouz illustrates the concept of fate. Fate is when an event is beyond an individuals control; it was designed to happen. Based on what the readers are introduced throughout the novel, we already understand that the protagonist; Said Mahran was born within a low societal background. Because of his socio-economic status, it was fate that he began a robber in the first place because of the lack of job opportunity and education during the time. In addition to this, when he was released from prison, he had the choice to change his career path. However, because of the circumstances of his birth, robbing was the only thing that he knew he could do. Furthermore, Fate is a major concept that determines an individuals happiness in life as depicted through Said.  Due to these actions, he continues out of free-will to pursue his robbing; even with the full awareness of this action is what placed him into prison in the first place.  Additionally, it was this reoccurring action (trying to gain revenge both of Rauf and Ilish - where he failed and killed two innocent people) that lead him to his death at the end of the novel. It was fate that drove him to his death as it was his harmatia of not having the ability to recognise the path he pursued even though he had many opportunities to change his ways. An example of the opportunities he has had was when Rauf gave him money at the beginning of the novel to help him set off on the right foot. Nevertheless, we can ultimately claim that it was fate that determines one's happiness as, throughout the novel, the protagonist is given many opportunities to change his path. However,  because of his sense of urgency to seek revenge that ultimately impacted his own happiness in the process, fate eventually took over, getting the best of him because he was unwilling to change, consequently leading to his death.

Blog Post 29- Said's Characterisation

Passage:
" Well, you'll have to go out sooner or later, to take a walk in the night, even if only to safe places, But let's postpone that until the police are worn out looking for you. And let's hope to God Shaban Husain isn't buries in now of these graves here; this is run-down quarter could hardy stand the strain of such a painful irony of fate. Just keep cool, keep patient, until Nur comes back. You must not ask when Nur will come back. You'll have to put up with the dark, the change its naughty ways. Our, poor girl, is caught in it too. What, after all, is her love for you but a bad habit, getting stuck on someone who's already dead of pain and anger, is put off by her affection no less than by her ageing looks, who doesn't really know what to do with her except maybe drink with her, toasting, as it were, defeat and grief, and pity her for her worthy nut hopeless efforts. And in the end you can't even forget she's a woman. Like that slinking bitch Nabawiyya, who'll be in moral fear until the rope's safely installed around your neck or some rotten bullet I lodged in your heart. And the police will tell such lies that the truth of your love for her, as if that, too, was just a bullet that went astray.
Sleep came over Said Mahran and he dozed off for a while on the sofa, unaware that he had been dreaming in his sleep until he awoke, to find himself in complete darkness, still alone in Nur's flat in Sharia Najm al-Din, where Irish Sidra had not spurred him and had not fired a hail of bullets at him. He had no idea what time it was."

Analysis:

This passage reveals Said’s core emotions and opinions of past events by dreaming of which is portrayed through an internal monologue (italics). Throughout the stream of consciousness narration, it is clear that his emotions fluctuates from feeling sympathy to feeling anger and frustrations. Mahfouz uses these flashbacks to provide a greater understanding of Said’s past and his behaviour towards the other characters. Consequently, flashbacks are used to enhance the impact of actions in the present through the contrast of the past.  
Mahfouz depicts Said's harmatia by portraying a one-point perspective of the protagonists opinion towards Nabawiyya in terms she being a "slinking bitch... who'll be in moral fear until the rope's safety installed around [her] neck or some rotten bullet [he] lodged in [her] heart". This uncomfortable, inhuman and aggressive nature demonstrates his harmatia as he is unable to control his desire for vengeance towards characters like Nabawiyya because he is unable to adapt to change. In addition, because of his lack of acceptance, he puts his frustration/anger and does not show any compassion towards woman in his life (particularly Nur) as "in the end you can't even forget she's a woman" because of the betrayal of other characters that occurred before the novel begins. Therefore he is unable to depict some sort of acceptance with the past as Said implies that Nur may betray him even though she is the only one in his life that still remains by his side. He is hesitant yet he is still reliant of Nur as he waits to "keep patient, until Nur comes back. You must not ask when Nur will come back." 
Ultimately in the following line, Mahfouz demonstrates the ever changing mindset from one topic to another. Our mind wonders and when it stumbles on situations that remind us of something significance that remained a memory, it stimulates past memories. This similarly happens to Said through the internal monologues non-linear structure of which depicts this unstable nature of the mind by portraying "You'll have to put up with the dark, the change its naughty ways." then he suddenly changes as the word dark stimulates these past events "Our, poor girl, is caught in it too. What, after all, is her love for you but a bad habit,". Said is further characterised as being sympathetic/pitiful towards his own daughter as he highlights the event that occurred in chapter one, where is daughter rejects him due to the fact that it was his "bad habit" of being a robber is what caused him going to jail, and that time in jail is what caused his daughter to not remember him because of her depiction of being a young age at the time.

Blog Post 28- Consciousness narrative

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

'Stream of consciousness' is a narrative technique that allows an author to reproduce a character's constant feeling of emotion and internal thoughts towards the readers to provide an atmosphere that feels more rational. This style can be revealed through internal monologues, where the character's thoughts and emotions were to take over, providing a deeper connection between the way the character thinks and what is occurring throughout the novel. It gives an impression of what the character's mental/emotional stability is.

This technique is displayed effectively in the psychological realism novel, The Thief and the Dogs by Mahfouz. Mahfouz deviates from the traditional conventions of narration by depicting stream of consciousness and combining it with realism. Through this, it puts the readers into the protagonist's (Said) mind where they become exposed to it, communicating his impressions and thoughts. This raw exposure to Said’s mind of which is not mentally stable throughout the novel shows the readers a deeper understanding of the deterioration of his character throughout the novel. Due to the unstableness of the protagonist's mind, Mahfouz additionally uses third-person narration to balance against the conscious narration. 

With the variety of internal and external conflicts (betrayal, revenge, love, etc.) that the protagonist experiences, they are projected throughout the novel to further characterize Said. Through his consciousness, we are given glimpses of his past, most of which comes in the form of evoked recollection of memories or flashbacks. These specific reminiscences and flashbacks are non-linear purposefully in this unchronological order to emphasize the protagonist's instability. The unfiltered rage and anger of the character in this narrative technique expose to the readers the character's continual betrayal. This unstable characteristic was derived from previous events such as Said being rejected by his daughter a, conflicts with Rauf, having internal conflicts with his previous relationship to the point where it affects how he perceives other people like Nur. Through all of his frustration that is depicted through the stream of consciousness in The Thief and the Dogs highlights the psychological realism that reflects the characters emotional struggle that pushes him on edge constantly throughout the novel. 

Blog 27 - Text in Translation

Translation plays an important role in unifying the gaps between the different nations and cultures. Literary translations assists these different nations to come to a universal ground in responds to a culture. Translated literature allows individuals to gain an insight to other cultures/traditions but more so plays an important role in helping us shape our own understanding of the world we live in. We can explore cross-cultural values and gain a deeper insight to the roots of how similar each culture can be to one another. This will further allow our understanding to be broadened as we all have different perspectives of what is seen in one culture.
Even though the values of translated literature grow overtime these texts are becoming more popular. Reading a translated literature is more valued than being in a culture as this allows the reader to understanding certain nostalgic notions/emotions that certain character portray within their own country in conjunction to being a tourist. This is because as a tourist, you are predominately only get to witness only few of a variety of different cultural heritage. Meaning that we tend to not see the detail. 
However, when producing a type of work that is classified as a translated literature piece, it can be challenging as some phrases or words may be more effective in conveying the overall theme or idea in one language but becomes less evoked in another. In other words the preservation of the meaning will be challenging to maintain as it is difficult to recreate the same energy the primary text produces to the reader in the second text. In addition is can be challenging to maintain both the literal meaning of the text but also maintaining the primary text's culture. Meaning that people that have read a novel from the original text may not be satisfied with the translated novel. This can be based on the respectfulness of the writing, does 
it mimic the original text's literal content? And this is where some translators find it difficult to successfully place their translated literature on the shelves. 

Blog Post 26- In what ways could Wallace’s theory about education be applicable to the writing of Alice Munro?

David Wallace Foster commencement speech/essay "This is water" illustrates a parable of the fish and other concepts including the traffic jam to the audience for the purpose of arguing his opinions to a broader audience of which can relate to these experiences. He keeps his thesis open-ended to allow his wider intended audience to either agree or disagree with his opinions and this links with how he uses repetition of the word 'Default-setting' to portray the unconscious act that we experience. We can say that we are all wired differently in terms of what we believe and what we think is natural. In other words, we can say that he conveys to his audience that human beings are least conscious of the most common thing. David Foster also elaborates on the idea that in a typical "day in and day out" day would be what people tend to go through, including their struggles that we all face in "boredom, routine and petty frustration." He uses this terminology to connect to a lot of his audience as he creates these realistic situations like the supermarket where people "worked really hard all day and is starved and tired and can't even get home and eat." His tone alters in situations like these to elaborate its importance. 

Alice Munro, the author of a variety of short stories such as Boys and Girls, Passion, Royal Beatings and Moons of Jupiter, conveys a parallel thesis in terms of what she wishes to convey to her audience. In terms of Alice Munro and David Wallace Foster, we can state that they both write based upon human experiences that are realistic. Even though Munro writes her experience through the portrayal of fictional characters, she does base her stories on real experiences. 
Literature can give different scenarios that people can relate to in more ways than one, all of which can be based on their social issues. Even though Munro portrays experiences through fictional characters, we still capture the audience's lives indirectly. Yet, on the other hand, Foster completes this directly yet within a different context. Overall,  it just demonstrates to the public and makes them aware of their privileges. 

Blog Post 25 - Summer Experience 'in the Valleys' - The Dialect

What's a summer experience without a camping trip in the country known for it's hills and valleys and people who love sheep. That's right, I am talking about Wales !! Funny story, I actually never knew... FUN FACT: there's more sheep than people in Wales.

Camping is probably my favourite thing to do during holidays as I have a thing for nature. I love to be outside exploring and taking risks. Our family friends and family come together every year to have a blast in mother nature. We were about 2 hours by foot from the nearest town, where we crossed into the English boarder. We have different activities planned on different days; Thursday-Olympic Games; Friday-Annual trek through the forest and Saturday- Canoeing down the River Wye.
The trek was a little bit more exciting, we all dresses up in costumes. Not only this, we were walking through the forest, down into the nearest town in our costumes to the pub to have lunch.
It was definitely an experience to remember !

It triggered my sense of thought of how some things are the same but have a different way of saying it. For example, when we entered the pub, we sat and had food and drinks, I ordered a 'sprite' but in the UK, sprite is considered 'Lemonade'. This make me think a lot about the language and the dialect in which they speak.
Even though I travel to the UK almost every holiday we have, I still have trouble understanding the dialect, including the slang as there is new additions and alterations. However words like "know your onions" (knowledgeable: so it works in this sense: "you really know your onions") and most common "peng" (gorgeous) were definitely some of the slang that I picked up. Not only slang but also the accent. I did find it challenging to understand the new terms however, once you hear it often, you start to understand its meaning and the way it is used in certain situations. I feel that I have already enhanced my accent in the way I pronounciate words as well as adding additional words to my vocabulary.  It's common to pick up your accent once's being surrounded by your culture and the community, however I have learned new ways to speak to people to the point where it is almost a natural feeling.

Blog Post 24-Thesis statement and Three Topic Sentence

The personal history of an author can have a significant influence on the way meaning is constructed in his/her writing. Comment on specific instances of such influence in Things Fall Apart. 

Thesis Statement: Chinua Achebe was a part of the first generation of Nigerians that benefitted from colonisation, however, valued their cultural traditions. This must be considered as an influence on the way Things Fall Apart was written as it allows the audience to communicate the understanding of colonisation.


Topic Sentence:

Achebe uses the secondary character, Mr. brown; to portray how cooperative the missionaries were to compensate both the Christian culture as well as the Igbo culture.

The use of secondary characters have influenced the way the audience interprets the colonisation; specifically when Achebe is trying to create a balance like through the characterisation of Mr. Smith, an extremist who is characterised as a very demanding character.