Said’s Characterization in TATD

In the novel “The thief and the dogs” written by Naguib Mahfouz shows the stream of consciousness narration style which delivers psychological shift of the protagonist Said Mahran effectively; best suits with the rapid pace of the novel in order to convey much information throughout the short text. Also, due to usage of the stream of consciousness narrative style, the author shows Said Mahran’s characteristic effectively.

For example, in the chapter 18 of the “The theif and the dogs”, there is such line, “A little out of breath, he came up to the door. _I love you, Nur. With all my heart I do love you, twice as much as you have loved me. In your breast I will bury all my misery, the treachery of those scoundrels and my daughter's alarm._ He knocked on the door.”, which is Said’s psychological thoughts he had in his mind. It shows his characteristic that he did not recognize his love of Nur until the ending chapter of the novel, and he faces the realization of his true love in the later of the story.  One of the reason why he did not recognize his love until the last chapter of the novel is connected with his experience in the early of the novel; where he gets betrayed by his ex-wife Nabawiyya, which could have made him resolute and heartless with his own minds throughout the novel. 

As he recognizes his love in the ending chapter of the novel, it maximizes the tension of the novel as he faces death, and it can cause empathy from the readers as they are seeing Said’s mood shift from the omniscient point of view alongside with the stream of consciousness narrative style. Usage of the stream of consciousness further developed the psychological shift of the protagonist Said Mahran, and it successfully caused empathy throughout the novel.

Stream of consciousness - TATD

In the novel “The theft and the dogs” written by Naguib Mahfouz, it plainly expresses the stream of consciousness that Mahfouz intended to use throughout the novel in order to further explain the emotional shift of the protagonist, Said Mahran. 

First of all, the stream of consciousness means that “the human’s consciousness doesn’t consist of static patterns, but the flow of dynamic images and ideology.”, and Naguib Mahfouz uses this stream of consciousness in order to create empathy with the protagonist Said Mahran. Naguib Mahfouz decided to use the stream of consciousness in the novel as he prioritized the deliverance of the protagonist’s monologue to the readers by using the stream of consciousness. Due to the action, it was successful to fully deliver and allow the readers to understand about Said’s emotional shift in the novel, where he faces burden, despair, and the sense of betrayal. Different from other types of the novel that doesn’t use the stream of consciousness, “The theft and the dogs” successfully deliver the emotional shift of the protagonist Said Mahran and furthermore creates empathy of the dislikable character. 
The stream of consciousness was way more beneficial for the texts like “The theft and the dogs”, as it is containing the fast pace of the novel, it was necessary to put supporting aspects for a better understanding of the plot, and I think it was a nice choice of using the stream of consciousness.

When the readers can understand the psychological shift of Said’s experiences, finally the readers can also understand his actions of external problems that contributed to his internal struggle- which helps the readers to understand the revolutionary counter-narrative and the society that Naguib Mahfouz is talking about.

My thoughts about Literature translation

When I read any of the articles or novels in English, I still prefer to referring to Korean translated version of the text. It is simply because I am too lazy to translate the language that I am less comfortable with to the language that I use fluently- and I also pay more attention and read carefully when it is written in my language. I would say I prefer texts written in my language even though I can speak both of the languages evenly fluent. 

Sometimes I read texts that were written in English and was translated to Korean or the opposite way around. However, like myself as a bi-lingual, it is quite impossible to fully translate the whole text from one language to another; if the historical background of the text differs, should the translator add the additional information explaining about the typical culture to help the reader? But in that case, can we still say the new text as a “translated version” or “a very new text”? Or it could be the other way around; if the translator doesn’t add the explanation and it was delivered to another side of the planet, it won’t deliver as much as feelings and mood that the original text could have in the original country. 

In Korean, there is way more variety of expressing adjectives compared to other languages, and it is based on its sound; mostly, when the sound is harsh and aggressive, it is more often to express harder, deeper, or more sensitive even though it is telling the exact same situation. From your view of my speaking, you won’t understand what am I talking about, because the translation doesn’t provide an appropriate amount of understanding to the context. There’s a lack of diversity that the text could deliver to the viewers throughout the translation.

Of course, the translation could be improved in various ways; like improved language skills of the translator, or by additional information supply(such as how we use appendix?). However it is always difficult to fully translate the original text to other language and I think that is the challenge of the current study of literature translation.

Media Text Inquiry

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/11/21/health/global-insulin-shortage-diabetes-intl/index.html
How could the text be read and interpreted differently by two different readers?
Throughout the Study of Reader, in the article "40 million people with diabetes will be left without insulin by 2030, study predicts" shows how can be people's reaction of reading certain article could be different based on their own situation; typically people who are concerned with the issue will be people with diabetes or people who have family member with diabetes, while other people who do not have any relation with diabetes will not feel any fear through this article.

If the text had been written in a different time or place or language or for a different audience, how and why might it differ?
In the Study of Reader, culture and the text, in the article "South Korean pastor Lee Jae-rock jailed for raping followers" brings us to think about how the text could be different based on its time; as the me-too movement started to emerge in Korea, many people started to speak up with their happenings; which ends up with various news articles related to this situation.

Written Task 2 practice

If the text had been written in a different time or place or language or for a different audience, how and why might it differ?
It is important to know how the text was written under what circumstances. For example, in the text For Women Under 30, Most Births Occur Outside of Marriage was talking about negative events happening on single moms in America, and even though the birth occurring rate outside marriage is increasing worldwide, the statistic depends on the countries. Therefore the place the text was written is highly important as the information might differ based on the culture or country.

How and why is a social group represented in a particular way?
Based on the writer's view of a social group, it can be represented differently in the text. If the writer's view of a social group is negative, the text will create a negative atmosphere throughout the text, or the opposite will happen either. In the text For Women Under 30, Most Births Occur Outside of Marriage talks about the single moms and the rise of birth rate occurring outside of marriage by providing supporting quotes, statistics, and interviews of the reason of rising number of single moms- so the reason for them being a single mom is not their choice.

Practice IOC - 5 short passages from TEWWG

https://www.dropbox.com/s/umz01uz8gmjw0im/Practice%20IOC.m4a?dl=0

(Voice recording)

I was unavailable to do all 5 passages, so I only finished 3 of them. 

I will add other 2 right after I go home tonight.

Passage #1, Chapter 3

"'Cause you told me Ah mus gointer love him, and, and Ah don't. Maybe if somebody was to tell me how, Ah could do it." 

"You come heah wid yo' mouf full uh foolishness on uh busy day. Heah you got uh prop tuh lean on all yo' bawn days, and big protection, and everybody got tuh tip dey hat tuh you and call you Mis' Killicks, and you come worryin' me 'bout love." 

"But Nanny, Ah wants to want him sometimes. Ah don't want him to do all de wantin'." 

"If you don't want him, you sho oughta. Heah you is wid de onliest organ in town, amongst colored folks, in yo' parlor. Got a house bought and paid for and sixty acres uh land right on de big road and . . . Lawd have mussy! Dat's de very prong all us black women gits hung on. Dis love! Dat's just whut's got us uh pullin' and uh haulin' and sweatin' and doin' from can't see in de mornin' till can't see at night. Dat's how come de ole folks say dat bein' uh fool don't kill nobody. It jus' makes you sweat. Ah betcha you wants some dressed up dude dat got to look at de sole of his shoe everytime he cross de street tuh see whether he got enough leather dere tuh make it across. You can buy and sell such as dem wid what you got. In fact you can buy 'em and give 'em away." 

Passage #2, Chapter 8

"Janie! Janie! don't tell me Ah got tuh die, and Ah ain't used tuh thinkin"bout it." 

"'Tain't really no need of you dying, Jody, if you had of—de doctor—but it don't do no good bringin' dat up now. Dat's just whut Ah wants tuh say, Jody. You wouldn't listen. You done lived wid me for twenty years and you don't half know me atall. And you could have but you was so busy worshippin' de works of yo' own hands, and cuffin' folks around in their minds till you didn't see uh whole heap uh things yuh could have." 

"Leave heah, Janie. Don't come heah—" 

"Ah knowed you wasn't gointuh lissen tuh me. You changes everything but nothin' don't change you—not even death. But Ah ain't goin' outa here and Ah ain't gointuh hush. Naw, you gointuh listen tuh me one time befo' you die. Have yo' way all yo' life, trample and mash down and then die ruther than tuh let yo'self heah 'bout it. Listen, Jody, you ain't de Jody ah run off down de road wid. You'se whut's left after he died. Ah run off tuh keep house wid you in uh wonderful way. But you wasn't satisfied wid me de way Ah was. Naw! Mah own mind had tuh be squeezed and crowded out tuh make room for yours in me." 

Passage #3, Chapter 9

Before she slept that night she burnt up every one of her head rags and went about the house next morning with her hair in one thick braid swinging well below her waist. That was the only change people saw in her. She kept the store in the same way except of evenings she sat on the porch and listened and sent Hezekiah in to wait on late custom. She saw no reason to rush at changing things around. She would have the rest of her life to do as she pleased. 

In what ways could Wallace's theory be applicable to [Their Eyes Were Watching God]?
How could this novel specifically develop empathy and emotional intelligence, as well as contribute to the self-awareness of the reader?

Wallace's Theory is people should be thinking about different people's perspective. Simply, people tend to forget the importance of surroundings if they are too close to our daily routine like Wallace made a comparison with young and old goldfish at the beginning of his essay. It is also related to [Thier Eyes Were Watching God] written by Zora Neale Hurston because throughout her novel, it develops the emotion of Janie in detail with much explanation of surroundings or atmosphere of the situation which leads the reader to eventually think in the way how Janie does. Also, the flow of the novel is quite simple and time-based, which allows the reader to understand the situation easier than other novels which keep skipping between multiple points of view in different time periods, which might confuse the reader. As the novel flows naturally, the readers can easily feel emotionally related to the protagonist even though the reader doesn't really have any of the similarities based on their culture or race. As Emotional Intelligence is based on people's ability of empathy, and this novel has many of the aspects of developing empathy throughout reading process, the novel [The Eyes Were Watching God] helps the reader to develop their empathy and emotional intelligence.