Paper 2 Outlines

Paper 2 Outline 1:

Show how in one or more works of literature you have studied a character’s isolation (physical, social, psychological) within the work’s setting plays an important part in the story. How does that isolation lead to either self-knowledge or self-destruction – or both?*

Thesis statement: In both the texts, The Thief and the Dogs (TTAD) by Naguib Mahfouz and Things Fall Apart (TFA) by Chinua Achebe, both of the protagonists have pursued their ideologies which has isolated them from their community eventually. Said Mahran, protagonist from TTATD, isolated himself up to the point where it led to his downfall- death. Okonkwo, protagonist of TFA, did not conform to the European way of life, religion and education, which led to his downfall at the end of the novel like the self- destruction of Said Mahran in TTATD. In the two texts, the protagonists in isolation have shown to follow the path of self destruction through the characterization of them as self righteous, most supreme, and natural leaders of the society they belong to whereas, the secondary characters, such as Nur in the TTATD and Nwoye in TFA, are shown to lead themselves to self- knowledge as the plot progresses.

Topic sentence 1: The characterization of Okonkwo and Said Mahran as natural leaders automatically isolated them and that isolation at times led to no consistent moral support so they were only dependent on themselves during the decision- making process and because it was the norm to make decisions with only their own input, the response of dismissal was common when outside input was provided. Many times, the isolation was because of their own personality traits as mentioned and those personality traits characterized them to the path of the protagonists’ self destruction.

Eg from TFA: Obierka’s conversation with Okonkwo

Eg from TTATD: Said Mahran and the Sheik’s relationship characterization

Topic sentence 2: The characterization of the secondary characters as isolated led them to self- knowledge, which further enhanced their personality in the eyes of the reader as their independence was depicted with a positive consequence.

Eg from TFA: Nwoye isolation from his father as he wasn’t as manly as he would have liked to be. Also, that isolation led to him transitioning into christianity where he could express his likings, which was more on the arts side, and that led to the self- knowledge and self- realization that there was a place where he could be accepted for who he is.

Eg from TTATD: Nur was characterized as independent and even though she was a prostitute, she didn’t let the nature of her job affect the nature of her self being and that was reflected within her thoughts and advice. She has the nature of letting go and she wanted Said to do the same and that made the readers look at Nur as someone mature, not hot- headed, loyal and worthy- very unlike the stereotypical chaacteristics of a prostitute.

Topic sentence 3: Through imagery and character dialogue, the author has demonstrated self- isolation as a part of the protagonist's tragic flaw as the inability to look at anyone else’s opinion above, or even equal, to their own provided a singular perspective to their thoughts and ideals.

Eg from TFA: Okonkwo shunning his wives. They wouldn’t dare raise their voice however, it is important to keep in mind the context of that time period as women didn’t take part in family discussions as their main job was to be a homemaker. Also bring about the issue of gender inequality and how not putting value to one’s opinion simple because of gender ends up being harmful to oneself because Ezinma was characterized as a sensible member of the family and even though Okonkwo was fond of her, he would never take advice or discuss his thoughts with her.

Eg from TTATD: Said rejected Nur’s idea of running and starting a new life and he never truly realized the importance of her as she was with him even when everyone else was against him. This loyalty should have been enough for him to take her thoughts and plans into consideration but he was enveloped in his drive for revenge and this tragic flaw within himself is what led to his self- destruction.

Paper 2 Outline 2:

‘Novels and plays often tell the story of how human beings courageously attempt to survive, escape, or best of all transcend, their environment.’ Discuss such attempts in narrative texts you have studied, paying some attention to why the characters have wanted, or needed, to do that. Suggest how successful or otherwise they have been.

Thesis statement: Both the texts, TTATD and TFA , have unique narrations. TFA has a third person omniscient narration whereas TTATD has multiple narration techniques ranging from stream of consciousness to soliloquies to indirect and direct monologue. The narration for each text is highly suitable as the third person omniscient narration allows the protagonist, Okonkwo, in TFA have multiple dimensions to his personality and the excessive focus on his character lays down the secondary characters as rather flat; on the other hand, the technique of multiple narrations is very effective as it allows the reader to think with the protagonist, Said Mahran, and at the same time give a dual view of what is happening around him. These two narrations along with imagery of the environment and characterization of the characters have been successful in conveying the raw and finalized thoughts of the protagonists.

Topic sentence 1: The dual view and multiple dimensional view provided of the protagonists has enhanced the audience’s understanding of the character’s decisions through the narrative techniques.

Eg from TFA: All stages of Okonkwo is described in the text and all the characters have been described with respect to Okonkwo which gives the protagonist’s character more importance. For example, Okonkwo’s father’s failures were described with respect to Okonkwo’s achievements.

Eg from TTATD: The inner workings of Said Mahran gave a perspective of his decisions such as planning to kill Rauf rather than just demonstrate the act of him attempting which would then make that seem senseless to the audience.

Topic sentence 2: Imagery of the environment established the mood of the story effectively

Eg from TFA: Imagery of the rain as that helped ground the value of crops and farming in that environment

Eg from TTATD: The description of the stifling environment of the streets of Cairo when Said was let out of jail in the beginning of the book demonstrated the freedom vs tied down theme which a lot of the story is based on.

Topic sentence 3: The raw and finalized thoughts of both the protagonists shown in the texts has allowed the audience to travel through the plot according to the protagonist.

Eg from TFA: the attitude towards his father, women, community and traditional values were able to be understood as the focus was on the protagonist

Eg from TTATD: the emotions and the reactions upon those emotions were characterized throughout the book, especially in the very beginning when Said goes to meet Sara, his daughter.

Paper 2 Outline 3: ‘Although in poems, plays and novels we meet individual characters in a range of historical, social and cultural settings, their shared humanity allows us to engage with them, despite those differences in setting.’Explore the settings of literary texts you have studied, showing how the ‘shared humanity’ of their characters allows the writing to transcend the limitations of time and place.***

Thesis statement: The setting of both the stories is very region specific. TTATD is set in post- war Egypt, the early 60s. TFA is set in pre colonial Igboland- present day Nigeria- and during the colonization of Igboland by the Europeans. The settings of both the stories play a vital role in the plot as they establish the context of many of the common ideas such as gender, power and the importance of personal beliefs. In both the texts, the concept of ‘shared humanity’ has transcended the limitations of the time and place through the vivid imagery and third person omniscient narration of human feelings within characters, optimistic attitude during hardships and the exploration of relationship building on the basis of shared humanity values such as trust.

Topic sentence 1: The limitation of equal value of gender is explicitly present in both the texts and even with this limitation due to time and place, there were moments where the protagonists were able to transcend that.

Eg from TFA: Okonkwo’s affection towards Ezinma. When she was sick, he was very worried and took it upon himself to take care of her even though she was just his daughter, not his son and this was seen through the third- person omniscient narration. The limitation in this case was that through narration, it was demonstrated how many of the times he wished she was his son but he transcended past that by showing humane feelings towards her.

Eg from TTATD: Nur’s job as a prostitute acted as a limitation in terms of anyone associating with her however, one good side of Said Mahran that was portrayed in this text was how he wasn’t judgmental of Nur based on her profession and in fact, he developed a certain kind of emotional attachment as there was one conversation where he explicitly stated that he truly did care for her.

Topic sentence 2: The idea of power is greatly present in TFA and the idea of justice is evident in TTATD. Both these themes are grounded on setting of shared humanity during those time periods.

Eg from TFA: In TFA, Okonkwo really valued hard work in the beginning of the story, it shows how he worked really hard to attain his position, especially since his father died without a position. This shows how his need to have a position and power in the society didn’t divert him from the path of hard work.

Eg from TTATD: In TTATD, great regard was given to loyalty by the protagonist, and his wife, former best friend and mentor all betrayed him which led to him shattering and instantly wanting revenge so this shows that even with the limitation of the setting, when Egypt was straight out of war and people, like Rauf, were only getting jobs etc based off of connections and corruption, the shared humanity value of loyalty was still present, that too within the protagonist .