CVSP 204 Final, Fall 1995

CIVILIZATION SEQUENCE 204 FINAL EXAMINATION TIME: 2 Hours Jan. 1996 Prof. M. Amyuni Choose ONE of the following topics. Read it carefully and focus on it all the time. qT. On Women of the Twentieth Century Tayib Salih said once that he appreciated Naguib Mahfouz's deep sympathy for the woman, and more precisely for the fallen woman one encounters in his novels. When concepts of shame and sin overload a culture, Salih added, society faces a huge problem. Violence against the woman is violence against civilization, and against life. Discuss the above quotation in each of its important aspects in relation to: 1. Hamida and Mahfouz's intention in creating her and turning her later into a Titi. What kind of a character is she and why does she choose to run her life the way she did? 2. Hosna and the author's intention behind her story 3. Think of the women we encountered in our Western unit (Freud's & Nietzsche's position on women, May and Valerie) and see where they stand in relation to Salih's opinion that you are discussing and more generally, in relation to the status of women in the Arab World. 4. In your conclusion, react personally to the issues you have discussed. OR_Il. On Aggression and Violence Discuss these features in Man, History and Civilization as developed in some of the works we have read by Freud, Malraux, Beckett, Mahfouz and Salih. OR_Ill. On Awareness We have often discussed the question of awareness in general and self- awareness more particularly. Discuss with examples from our course what awareness has meant for man and woman in our Western unit first and second in our Arab unit: What are its results and repercussions on one's vision of the world, society, and the self. Be specific and handle one author after the other, one character after the other for the sake of clarity. Also be selective; you don't have to cover all the material. The main thing is to focus on the question itself and illustrate it well. In conclusion, what does the question of awareness mean to you particularly? OR_IV. On_Submission or Liberty Simone de Beauvoir writes about submission as the great temptation to escape the anxiety of liberty. 1 Discuss this idea in relation to women as mentioned by Simone de Beauvoir (very briefly). Then study the attitudes of submission or liberty with all its anxiety in Chen, Vologin, Kyo, May, Hamida and Hosna. Take a personal stand in your conclusion. On_ The Outsider The theme of alienation recurs in our Twentieth Century Literature. It makes man/woman feel a Stranger, an Outsider in one's home, society and/or the world at large. Discuss it in the light of Chen, Didi and Gogo, Hamida, Mustafa Sa'eed, the narrator, and Hosna. Show in what way each is an Outsider, what is each one's condition, what feelings, problems etc...each has. Is there a way out for the Outsider? Is there a difference between East and West in this respect? Or in this condition in general? Last but not least Focus well, take examples from the texts write clearly and be personal in your conclusion(s), take a stand after you convey what each author says about the problems or the characters you are discussing.