CVSP 204 Final, Fall 2000

an Civilization Sequence 204 FINAL EXAM TIME: Two hours January 25, 2000 at 2:00 p.m. Room 500 Nicely Dr. M. Amyuni with 1. Select ONE of the following topics and write a clear, coherent essay illustrations from the texts. On Time Beckett writes: “Astride of a grave and a difficult birth. Down in the hole, lingeringly, the grave-digger puts on the forceps. We have time to grow old. The air is full of our cries. But habit is a great deadener...” a) This seems to be a very dark image of the human condition. Explain it. b) Let Malraux react to this vision through a few of his heroes in Man’s Fate (Kyo, Katov, Chen, Gisors or Clappique). c) What would be Mahfouz’s position in relation to Beckett’s as seen in Midag Alley? d) What would be Tayeb Salih’s as seen in Season of Migration to the North? OR Simone de Beauvoir writes: The two sexes are each the victim at once of the other and of itself... the war profits neither... Man would be liberated himself in women’s liberation... Liberty can break the circle...Let woman be given responsibilities and she is able to assume them... 1. Explain briefly the quotation, say what is the price woman pays according to S. de Beauvoir to be liberated. Then 2. Step II: How would Malraux, Edward Said, Mahfouz and/or Tayeb Salih react to the above quotation? Give examples from the works we have read by these authors. 3. In your conclusion, react personally to the above. OR 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, Edward Said, Mahfouz and Salih. OR Qn 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), by taking a stand after you convey what each author says about the problems or the characters you are discussing. Choose your illustrations from both our Western and Arab writers.