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Similarities and differences: The Thief and the Dogs and Beloved

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Similarities and differences: The Thief and the Dogs and Beloved

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These are the notes/ideas we brainstormed in-class:

both have murder: B=murder out of love, alienation and trauma from slavery T=murder that is self-serving, consequence of rejection, inability to function in society

murder= motivated by children

freedom and choice/ authors explore free will and the morality of the characters' actions

main characters with newfound freedom (Sethe from slavery, Said from jail)

troubled relationships from lack of understanding: Said+Nur, Sethe+Paul D

lit devices: T=inner monologue B=flashbacks, both provide context, evoke sympathy from the reader.

blending past and present

T=chronological; B=rememories built into chronology, psychological associations

freedom: physical, but not mental. Internal conflict w/characters’ past

shame: contributes to the characters’ downfall (Sethe and Said)

Beloved wants answers, Said wants revenge

Societal structure influences characters: Beloved=slavery and racism; TTATD=prison and judgement

Structural power struggles: TTATD: men in power; Beloved: Sethe has more power in relationship. Slaves and slaveowners

Past influences the present; Beloved=trauma, TTATD=stubborn

Past: Said acts on the past; Characters from B shove past away and hide

Ethical dilemma: is killing justified? working towards greater good; both involve or are motivated by their children

freedom and purpose: Said=purpose is revenge; freedom is still restricted because he cannot move past. Sethe=purpose is motherhood; freedom is limited to care for herself

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Supporters find the sophisticated contemporary representation of slavery and its effects compelling, while critics find it melodramatic or take issue with its claims about the horrors of slavery.

-Published in 1987 as a result of Morrison's ponderings on women empowerment and freedom associated to motherhood.
-Based on the historical story of Margaret Garner, a runaway slave who killed her own child when a slave-catcher came to collect her.
-Morrison's grandparents were freed slaves, heavily influenced by African Mythology and Christianity.
-Dad was racist against white people. As a coping mechanism to deal with the racism he faced, he thought that he was morally superior to racist whites.
-Intends to write her novels without the "white gaze" (her intended audience isn't white people, she writes her novels for cathartic purposes for herself).
-Intends to throw the reader into the experience, using free-indirect discourse, simple metaphors that hold power within the context of the scene, and blending of past and present
-Interested in women and motherhood. She wrote the novel in the 1980s when women found empowerment in not having children. She wanted to write about situations when women found a lot of power in having children, so she decided to write a novel about slavery when having a child and being able to keep and raise it was the ultimate symbol of freedom and power, not burden.
-Morrison was inspired to write Beloved after finding an article about Margaret Garner when Morrison was compiling and editing The Black Book, a history book compiled of primary source documents that are not traditionally taught in US classrooms (due the the emphasis on white culture).

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Supporters find the sophisticated contemporary representation of slavery and its effects compelling, while critics find it melodramatic or take issue with its claims about the horrors of slavery.

-Published in 1987 as a result of Morrison's ponderings on women empowerment and freedom associated to motherhood.
-Based on the historical story of Margaret Garner, a runaway slave who killed her own child when a slave-catcher came to collect her.
-Morrison's grandparents were freed slaves, heavily influenced by African Mythology and Christianity.
-Dad was racist against white people. As a coping mechanism to deal with the racism he faced, he thought that he was morally superior to racist whites.
-Intends to write her novels without the "white gaze" (her intended audience isn't white people, she writes her novels for cathartic purposes for herself).
-Intends to throw the reader into the experience, using free-indirect discourse, simple metaphors that hold power within the context of the scene, and blending of past and present
-Interested in women and motherhood. She wrote the novel in the 1980s when women found empowerment in not having children. She wanted to write about situations when women found a lot of power in having children, so she decided to write a novel about slavery when having a child and being able to keep and raise it was the ultimate symbol of freedom and power, not burden.
-Morrison was inspired to write Beloved after finding an article about Margaret Garner when Morrison was compiling and editing The Black Book, a history book compiled of primary source documents that are not traditionally taught in US classrooms (due the the emphasis on white culture).

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The Thief and the Dogs--Context and reception

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The Thief and the Dogs--Context and reception

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Mahfouz's biography abbreviated:
-Born in 1911 in Cairo.
-Studied philosophy
-became a civil servant and served in a variety of positions before retiring.
-Questioned the structures of society that guided human behavior (marriage, religion, power, education, etc)
-Lived through a lot of conflict within Egypt.
-First, was the conflict between the rise of Islam and ancient Egypt.
-This inspired works of historical fiction based on ancient Egypt. But, Mahfouz gave it up because he wanted to write about the Egypt that surrounds him. (Hint, hint. That's where this book comes into play)
He decided to focus on the Muslim middle-class in Cairo and wanted to focus on the social, political, religious, and philosophical strains experienced by Egyptians who experienced fast-paced changes after 1952.
-After the revolution of 1952, Mahfouz believed in Marxism, but later found that one ideology cannot solve the ails of society and that no ideology is perfect.
-He was religious, but thought that religion should be practiced in moderation, meaning that he discouraged fanaticism, but encouraged the practice of religion for fundamental morals and the spread of love.
-With that, when he believed in Marxism, he was criticized by religious groups, so he published The Thief and the Dogs. The novel commented on the terrible things that could potentially happen if the people of Egypt turned away from their religion and were consumed by capitalistic drives.
-With this novel, the introduction claims, "Here, Mahfouz uses the stream-of-consciousness technique for the first time to show the mental anguish of his central figure consumed by bitterness and a desire for revenge against the individuals and the society who have corrupted and betrayed him and brought about his inevitable damnation. It is a masterly work, swiftly giving the reader a keenly accurate vision of the workings of a sick and embittered mind doomed to self-destruction. And as he inevitable comes to the protagonist's disillusionment and despair, the reader gains intimate and authentic impressions of the values and structure of Egyptian society of the period" (8-9).
-Published in 1961 after a brief pause in writing.
-Well-received by those who previously criticized him.
-Wrote the novel as a cautionary tale to the Egyptian people: no ideology is perfect, and when society is guided by one, the results are polarizing.
-Further, intended to show the dangers of those who lived on the fringes of society in order with the intent that they were doing good.
-Explores existentialism with free-will, bad faith, and the look.

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Link to notes of Modernism and Existentialism

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Link to notes of Modernism and Existentialism

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Reminders for Modernism and Existentialism to help with the contextual pieces of the novel. This could also influence/help with The Thief and the Dogs.

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14 Modernism and Existentialism: The Influence on Faulkner

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Link to Vaughan Notes for The Sound and the Fury

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Link to Vaughan Notes for The Sound and the Fury

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0 The Sound and the Fury Vaughan Notes (updated regularly)

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Father pontificates. He's caught. He's willing to move forward with societal norms, but sees his family and knows how difficult it is for everyone to change. Further, he's read so much, that he understands that anything progressive that is put out into the universe is actually something that is f...

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Click the image below to take you to Vaughan Notes

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Access Google Docs with a personal Google account or Google Workspace account (for business use).

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Similarities and differences: The Thief and the Dogs and Beloved

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Similarities and differences: The Thief and the Dogs and Beloved

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These are the notes/ideas we brainstormed in-class:

both have murder: B=murder out of love, alienation and trauma from slavery T=murder that is self-serving, consequence of rejection, inability to function in society

murder= motivated by children

freedom and choice/ authors explore free will and the morality of the characters' actions

main characters with newfound freedom (Sethe from slavery, Said from jail)

troubled relationships from lack of understanding: Said+Nur, Sethe+Paul D

lit devices: T=inner monologue B=flashbacks, both provide context, evoke sympathy from the reader.

blending past and present

T=chronological; B=rememories built into chronology, psychological associations

freedom: physical, but not mental. Internal conflict w/characters’ past

shame: contributes to the characters’ downfall (Sethe and Said)

Beloved wants answers, Said wants revenge

Societal structure influences characters: Beloved=slavery and racism; TTATD=prison and judgement

Structural power struggles: TTATD: men in power; Beloved: Sethe has more power in relationship. Slaves and slaveowners

Past influences the present; Beloved=trauma, TTATD=stubborn

Past: Said acts on the past; Characters from B shove past away and hide

Ethical dilemma: is killing justified? working towards greater good; both involve or are motivated by their children

freedom and purpose: Said=purpose is revenge; freedom is still restricted because he cannot move past. Sethe=purpose is motherhood; freedom is limited to care for herself

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Supporters find the sophisticated contemporary representation of slavery and its effects compelling, while critics find it melodramatic or take issue with its claims about the horrors of slavery.

-Published in 1987 as a result of Morrison's ponderings on women empowerment and freedom associated to motherhood.
-Based on the historical story of Margaret Garner, a runaway slave who killed her own child when a slave-catcher came to collect her.
-Morrison's grandparents were freed slaves, heavily influenced by African Mythology and Christianity.
-Dad was racist against white people. As a coping mechanism to deal with the racism he faced, he thought that he was morally superior to racist whites.
-Intends to write her novels without the "white gaze" (her intended audience isn't white people, she writes her novels for cathartic purposes for herself).
-Intends to throw the reader into the experience, using free-indirect discourse, simple metaphors that hold power within the context of the scene, and blending of past and present
-Interested in women and motherhood. She wrote the novel in the 1980s when women found empowerment in not having children. She wanted to write about situations when women found a lot of power in having children, so she decided to write a novel about slavery when having a child and being able to keep and raise it was the ultimate symbol of freedom and power, not burden.
-Morrison was inspired to write Beloved after finding an article about Margaret Garner when Morrison was compiling and editing The Black Book, a history book compiled of primary source documents that are not traditionally taught in US classrooms (due the the emphasis on white culture).

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The Thief and the Dogs--Context and reception

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The Thief and the Dogs--Context and reception

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Mahfouz's biography abbreviated:
-Born in 1911 in Cairo.
-Studied philosophy
-became a civil servant and served in a variety of positions before retiring.
-Questioned the structures of society that guided human behavior (marriage, religion, power, education, etc)
-Lived through a lot of conflict within Egypt.
-First, was the conflict between the rise of Islam and ancient Egypt.
-This inspired works of historical fiction based on ancient Egypt. But, Mahfouz gave it up because he wanted to write about the Egypt that surrounds him. (Hint, hint. That's where this book comes into play)
He decided to focus on the Muslim middle-class in Cairo and wanted to focus on the social, political, religious, and philosophical strains experienced by Egyptians who experienced fast-paced changes after 1952.
-After the revolution of 1952, Mahfouz believed in Marxism, but later found that one ideology cannot solve the ails of society and that no ideology is perfect.
-He was religious, but thought that religion should be practiced in moderation, meaning that he discouraged fanaticism, but encouraged the practice of religion for fundamental morals and the spread of love.
-With that, when he believed in Marxism, he was criticized by religious groups, so he published The Thief and the Dogs. The novel commented on the terrible things that could potentially happen if the people of Egypt turned away from their religion and were consumed by capitalistic drives.
-With this novel, the introduction claims, "Here, Mahfouz uses the stream-of-consciousness technique for the first time to show the mental anguish of his central figure consumed by bitterness and a desire for revenge against the individuals and the society who have corrupted and betrayed him and brought about his inevitable damnation. It is a masterly work, swiftly giving the reader a keenly accurate vision of the workings of a sick and embittered mind doomed to self-destruction. And as he inevitable comes to the protagonist's disillusionment and despair, the reader gains intimate and authentic impressions of the values and structure of Egyptian society of the period" (8-9).
-Published in 1961 after a brief pause in writing.
-Well-received by those who previously criticized him.
-Wrote the novel as a cautionary tale to the Egyptian people: no ideology is perfect, and when society is guided by one, the results are polarizing.
-Further, intended to show the dangers of those who lived on the fringes of society in order with the intent that they were doing good.
-Explores existentialism with free-will, bad faith, and the look.

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Reminders from Faulkner's Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech

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Reminders from Faulkner's Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech

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Faulkner (the modernist) felt like in order to innovate the craft of writing, writers had do the following:
-Write from the heart
-Not care about what others thought because if it came from the heart it would be beautiful art
-Disregard what became the norm in writing in order to be new and innovative to the craft.

Further, he felt like writing, art, and the human spirit will make man prevail even as death seems inevitable (remember, he gave his speech after WW2, pre-Cold War).

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Other important biographical information about Faulkner that might make you say "Ohhhhhh!"

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Other important biographical information about Faulkner that might make you say "Ohhhhhh!"

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Detail #1:
This was his resignation letter to the US Post Office (a job he briefly held):
"As long as I live under the capitalistic system, I expect to have my life influenced by the demands of moneyed people. But I will be damned if I propose to be at the beck and call of every itinerant scoundrel who has two cents to invest in a postage stamp.

This, sir, is my resignation."

Do you see remnants of Jason here? You should! Also, anti-capitalist...sounds a lot about Ibrahim, if you ask me.  But, maybe he is more anti-government than he is anti-capitalist because the postal service is one of the most socialist institutions in the US (anti-government? Yeah, definitely sounds like Ibrahim).

Detail #2
He battled alcoholism throughout his life (think Father...)
Although Father does not reference that he has seen a lot in his lifetime in terms of American society and political change, he definitely has seen a lot within the Compson family. His cynicism also makes one think that he has experienced a lot of unjust pain in his life in order to be so bitter (and drunk). So, Father may not be Faulkner's voice, but the parallels speak to the multi-faceted personality that crafted Faulkner into the writer of the novel.

Detail #3
He had a Dilsey.
He had a black servant in his family who played a similar role in his life. This makes Dilsey's character so complex and so strong! She really has seen everything and still has faith in something bigger than herself and is the most moral character in the novel as she doesn't overthink anything and takes action motivated by her dedication to the family and to God. Please consider why Faulkner decided to focus on Dilsey in the church on Easter Sunday as the last section of the novel (along with Benjy).
Your "ah-ha" moment should be that the most Jesus-like characters of the novel are often the most mistreated and disregarded. Perhaps Faulkner wanted to suggest that the people who could best navigate the rapidly changing social and political standards in society were the most over-looked. Dilsey sacrifices for the family and doesn't listen to gossip and accepts all the Compson children as her own. Benjy, with his castration, could be considered somewhat of a martyr for the family, but it still could not save the Compsons from their fate.

Detail #4
Faulkner hated notoriety. He did not like to openly talk about his Nobel Prize for Literature. (similar to Ibrahim and his rejection of the government's award for writers)
If you have not done so yet, read his Nobel Prize Acceptance speech. He speaks beautifully about the craft of writing and importance of writers persisting to create art for the human spirit rather than profit or to just feel good. (http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1949/faulkner-speech.html)

Detail #5
Morrison studied Faulkner when she received her Masters. She maintained interest in Faulkner's exploration of race (see: Stamp Paid's musings about race), his ability to take thoughts and place them on paper (I'll get back to this), and his internal and external conflicts as a Southern, white male.

Faulkner found important in the way the human experience did not change, just the influences. He as well-read and had an appreciation for Greek, Roman, and Christian mythology. Further, as seen in the characters of Quentin and Father, he was a philosophical man. Below is an analysis of why the novel was difficult for Faulkner to write and difficult for us to read:

Greek philosopher, Plato thought that writing was a tricky craft. Writing takes our complex thoughts and processes them into more "transmittable" pieces that we convey through agreed upon speech patterns that are formalized for production and distribution. Although we often say "write or say what you mean," there are several steps of abstraction from our original feelings or thoughts as they appear in our head (again, making order out of chaos). Faulkner utilized some intensely personal creativity to get into the minds of his characters (he had to have been so meta!). This psychological portrayal of his characters inspired Morrison in her exploration of the way the past affects the present. Remember those chapters from Beloved with the "she is mine" lines throughout? Those had to have been inspired by some Faulknerian stream of consciousness!

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Faulkner was born in 1897. He died in 1962.
If you consider the amount of development that happened in his time, you may get overwhelmed. I'm pretty sure he was overwhelmed too. He felt a lot of conflict. Of course people have to change in order to progress, but how can one know whether it is progress or just change when it happens?

Consider these events that Faulkner lived through:
-His family members lived through Reconstruction (Post-Civil War)
-Spanish-American War (America was expanding and expanding quickly)
-Acquisition and construction of the Panama Canal (that's why Jason is referencing South America)
-Creation of the Model T
-World War 1
-Treaty of Versailles
-The film, "Birth of a Nation"
-Women's suffrage
-The Harlem Renaissance
-Prohibition
(And that's all before 1928!)

Beyond this list, Faulkner was an avid reader and academic (although did not do well according to the social standards of "school." He attended Ole Miss, but never completed his degree). He also lived during scientific developments that were significant in his philosophical musings and navigation of the physical world (remember all those nature descriptions during the end of Quentin's chapter?). Like most people throughout history, people are perplexed of the battle between humans and nature. Why do humans beg to make order out of an unordered world?

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An essay on the composition of the novel

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An essay on the composition of the novel

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http://drc.usask.ca/projects/faulkner/main/criticism/millgate.html

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Faulkner went to Japan to talk about the novel shortly after it was published. This was what he said about his choice to start the novel from Benjy's perspective...
"That began as a short story, it was a short story without plot, of some children being sent away from the house during the grandmother’s funeral. They were too young to be told what was going on and they saw things only incidentally to the childish games they were playing, which was the lugubrious matter of removing the corpse from the house, etc….And then the idea struck me to see how much more I could have got out the idea of the blind, self-centeredness of innocence, typified by children, if one of those children had been truly and innocent, that is, an idiot. So the idiot was born and then I became interested  in the relationship of the idiot to the world that he was in but would never be able to cope with and just where he’d get the tenderness, the help, to shield him in his innocence. I mean ‘innocence’ in that God had stricken him blind at birth, that is, mindless at birth, there was nothing he could ever do about it. And so the character of his sister began to emerge, then the brother, who, that Jason (who to me represented complete evil. He’s the most vicious character in my opinion I ever though of), then he appeared. Then it needs the protagonist, someone to tell the story, so Quentin appeared. By the time I found I couldn’t possibly tell that in a short story…and that’s how the book grew. That is, I wrote that same story four times.

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William Faulkner on his creation of Yoknapatawpha County (based in Mississippi) 

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William Faulkner on his creation of Yoknapatawpha County (based in Mississippi) 

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“Beginning with Sartoris I discovered that my own little postage stamp of native soil was worth writing about and that I would never live long enough to exhaust it...It opened up a gold mine of other peoples, so I created a cosmos of my own.  I can move these people around like God, not only in space but in time too.”

Faulkner wanted to create his own world that was loosely based on his life while having god-like abilities to be able to move them in time and space and bring them back to life in new ways.