CVSP 204 Final, Fall 2003

hae “sens | LiBbio RY OF BEIROT CS 204 Fall 2003-2004 Name/I.D. Section 10 King Final Exam Part I (18 pts.) Matching - 10 pts. (1 pt. each) The narrator a. constantly mutters irrelevant phrases; bitter about the past Saniya Afifi, landlady b. marries late in life Hamida, a young woman in her 20s c, earned a Ph.D. in English Literature Umm Hamida, bath attendant d. beaten to death by British soldiers Hosna (Bint Mahmoud) e. hates the alley and leaves it in pursuit of wealth and freedom Abbas, a young barber in love with f. has addictions well-known to the Hamida alley dwellers Kirsha, the cafe owner g. earned a Ph.D. in Economics Mustafa Sa’eed h. dies from a self-inflicted wound Sheikh Darwish, former English teacher _i. a marriage-arranger Wad Rayyes j. changes women like he changes donkeys True/False - 8 pts. (2 pts. each) Naguib Mahfouz is Egyptian, and grew up in Egypt. Tayeb Salih won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1966. Tayeb Salih is from a tribal village in Sudan. The Arabic versions of Mahfouz’s books are banned everywhere in the Arab world. (Turn page over for more >>>>>) | ie ee Hobrtid 7 ipreend BEASEIN YY ss q LIBKARY Part II (102 pts.) OF BEIRUT Note: time-budgeting is the key to success on this section. Don’t forget to keep track of how much time you have left. Please number your answers. Good luck. 1. Choose one of the following two questions, and write an essay around two pages long. (16 pts.) A. Situate Midaq Alley in the broader context of modernization and postcolonialism. Use two characters to illustrate how Mahfouz deals with these themes in the book. B. Although Midaq Alley is set in a specific time and place, on the book jacket we read that “The universality and timelessness of this book cannot be denied.” Comment on this, and support your points with references to specific parts of the book. 2. Choose one of the following two questions, and write an essay around two pages long. (16 pts.) A. Briefly describe the following characters from Season of Migration to the North: the narrator, Hosna Bint Mahmood, and the Mustafa Sa’eed. Then, relate each to the phrase uttered by the narrator as he struggles in the water at the end of the book: “I choose life.” As you do this, be sure to explain the broader context in which life is chosen (or not). B. In Season of Migration to the North the reader encounters both political and inter-personal colonization and domination. But Salih does not portray these in simple, straightforward terms. Sometimes he portrays someone more easily characterized as a dominator or colonizer as passive and dominated, and vice-versa. Give two examples and elaborate on them. 3., 4. Choose two of the following questions, and for each write an essay around one-and-a- half pages long. (35 pts. each) A. In what way are Darwin, Nietzsche, and Freud “modern” authors? Support your answer by referring to the work of at least two of them. B. Nietzsche, de Beauvoir, Malraux and Beckett have all been connected with existentialism. Briefly summarize the idea of existentialism and illustrate it using an example or examples from one or two of these authors. C. Articulate Popper’s main argument regarding the practice of science. D. Waiting for Godot has been interpreted in many ways, for example as a metaphor for life under political repression. Write a short essay about one or more interpretations of the play. E. Of the authors that we read, choose one that touched on the idea of the absurd and elaborate on the absurdity found there. F. How is Edward Said’s Orientalism a critique of knowledge used in service to power? Do you agree with it? Why or why not? (Be sure to address all three of these questions.)