An asinine analysis (I don't mean that literally, I just thought the alliteration was cool)

In the spirit of maintaining the vibrant atmosphere created on this online journal, that’s right, once a blog, this webpage has transcended the standard of blogs and has moved into a higher plane of intellectual standing, I feel it right to start this post with a joke.

In a Catholic school cafeteria, a nun places a note in front of a pile of apples, "Only take one. God is watching." Further down the line is a pile of cookies. A little boy makes his own note, "Take all you want. God is watching the apples." 

Today’s WOW word is one that is considered truly intellectual, and in my mind unpronounceable, the word is none other than, apothegm. A word that by definition means, a terse, witty, instructive statement, an apt use of this word would be, “Joshua’s blog, rife with apothegms, was regarded by many as the greatest 21^st century collection of maxims.”

Now the topic of today’s post, courtesy of IB Language and literature, is passage analysis that pertains to characterization.

Passage:

When she'd gone he moved into the reception room and flung himself down on one of the sofas. Now he was alone in the full sense of the word, without even his books which he'd left with Sheikh Ali. He stared up at the cracked white ceiling, a dull echo of the threadbare carpet, killing time. The setting sun flashed through the open window, like a jewel being carried by a flight of doves from one point in time to the next.

Your coldness, Sana, was very disquieting. Like seeing these graves. I don't know if we'll meet again, where or when. You'll certainly never love me now. Not in this life, so full of badly-aimed bullets, desires gone astray. What's left behind is a dangling chain of regrets. The first link was the students' hostel on the road to Giza. Ilish didn't matter much, but Nabawiyya-- she'd shaken him, torn him up by the roots. If only a deceit could be as plainly read in the face as fever or an infectious disease! Then beauty would never be false and many a man would be spared the ravages of deception.

Analysis:

One of the rare moments in the novel where we actually see a break from action, this passage, situated in Chapter 10, presents Said and the reader to reflect back on all that has occurred in the last 10 chapters as well as put it in context. A plot driven book, Mahfouz pays little attention to exposition or characterizing but rather creating plot progressing events. A fast paced novel, Mahfouz sparsely uses these moments for great effect as the reader isn’t confused with motives but fully aware of what they need to be, and that is in time and as aware as Said. A moment of quiet after Nur leaves, Said for the first time reflects back on not only what he has done but instead all the way back to before the novel begins. Referencing the first chapter when Said leaves prison intent on getting revenge on Illish and Nabawiyya we see him have two intentions, the former being one and the main one being to regain custody and the love of his daughter Sana. While over the course of the novel many twists and turns occur, this is the first time we see Said reflect back upon these intentions of his, placing his actions in context and coming to the dire conclusion that his daughter Sana wouldn’t be able to love him now, “Not in this life.” A book that doesn’t focus too much on exposition, it is also the first time we see Said reflect on his betrayal and the extent to which it emotionally shook him. The reader is led to feel for Said and is given a better understanding as to why he posses such a visceral hate for Nabawiyya, because it at its core is a opposite refection of the love he once had for her. His inability to comprehend the betrayal caused such great emotional turmoil that we see it physical manifestation through his misguided decisions. He acknowledges his action from that point forwards as being a “dangling chain of regrets.” This passage is key as it used to effect, balancing physical plot progression with emotional, internal characterization. These rare snippets of reflection interspersed throughout the novel allow the reader to truly engage with the character of Said, following through the plot as he would as making sense of his world the way he would.